YEMENI OFFICIAL: BLAST AT ADEN AIRPORT KILLS 16, WOUNDS 60 PG8

COLD WAVE CONDITIONS PREVAIL IN NORTH INDIA PG5

DELHI PANEL SUGGESTS LOWERING DRINKING AGE FROM 25 TO 21 YEARS PG3

PRIYANKA OPENS UP ON PLAYING THREE ‘AMAZING AND COMPLEX’ ROLES PG12

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: Twenty people who returned to India from the United Kingdom have tested positive for the new UK variant genome of SARS-CoV-2 so far, the Union Health ministry said on Wednesday.

The tally includes six people who were found positive for the new virus strain on Tuesday.

The ministry said the mutated UK strain was detected in eight samples at the National Centre for Dis-ease Control (NCDC), one at the National Institute of Bio-medical Genomics (NIBMG), Kalyani (near Kolkata), one at the National Institute of Virol-ogy (NIV) Pune, seven at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro-Sciences Hospital (NIMHANS) Benga-luru, two at the Centre for Cel-lular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) in Hyderabad and one at the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB), Delhi.

The ministry on Tuesday said six UK returnees were found positive for the mutated UK variant genome and that all these people have been kept in single room isolation at desig-nated health care facilities by respective state governments and their close contacts have also been put under quarantine.

“Comprehensive contact tracing has been initiated for co-travellers, family contacts and others. Genome sequenc-ing on other specimens is going on.

“The situation is under care-ful watch and regular advice is being provided to the states for enhanced surveillance, con-tainment, testing and dispatch of samples to INSACOG labs,” the ministry had said.

The presence of the new UK Variant has already been reported by Denmark, Nether-lands, Australia, Italy, Sweden, France, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Canada, Japan, Leb-anon and Singapore.

India’s COVID-19 caseload increased to 1,02,44,852 with 20,549 new infections being reported in a day while the number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 98.34 lakh pushing the national recovery rate to 95.99 per cent, according to the ministry data updated on Wednesday.

The death toll increased to 1,48,439 with 286 new fatali-ties. The number of people who have recuperated from the dis-ease surged to 98,34,141 push-ing the national recovery rate to 95.99 per cent, while the COVID-19 case fatality rate stands at 1.45 per cent.

Passenger flights between the UK and India would remain suspended till Janu-ary 7 and they will resume in a “strictly regulated” manner thereafter, Aviation minister

Hardeep Singh Puri said on Wednesday.

Puri’s announcement has come following a recommen-dation by the Union Health ministry to extend the suspen-sion of India-UK flights till Jan-uary 7.

Puri said on Twitter: “Deci-sion has been taken to extend the temporary suspension of flights to & from the UK till 7 January 2021.”

“Thereafter strictly reg-ulated resumption will take place for which details will be announced shortly,” he said.

The Coronavirus-induced suspension of scheduled inter-national passenger flights has been extended till January 31, aviation regulator DGCA said on Wednesday.

“However, international scheduled flights may be allowed on selected routes by the competent authority on a case-to-case basis,” the Direc-torate General of Civil Avia-tion added.

The DGCA circular also said that the suspension does not affect the operation of international all-cargo oper-ations and flights specifically approved by it.

millenniumpost.in RNI NO.: DELENG/2005/15351REGD. NO.: DL(S)-01/3420/2018-20

VOL. 15, ISSUE 363 | Thursday, 31 December 2020 | New Delhi | Pages 12 | Rs 3.00PUBLISHED FROM DELHI & KOLKATA

PIYUSH OHRIE

GURUGRAM: At least 32 persons who returned to Gurugram from the UK are untraceable. Accord-ing to officials, they cannot be traced due to incorrect contact details provided by them. A police complaint has been filed to find the whereabouts of these 32 persons.

According to official data, Gurugram has re-ceived a list of 1,240 pas-sengers who have returned from the UK. Out of these, 713 passengers’ samples have been tested for COV-ID-19, 164 have gone back to their respective states and 32 are untraceable and the remaining 313 who came in the second week of December are presently serving their quarantine pe-riod. Of the 713 tested, the results of 380 were found negative while those of the others are awaited. The rest 18 are foreign and Indian staff of airlines that have been kept under quarantine.

32 UK returnees go missing in Gurugram

NO HALF TRUTHS

THE LONG NIGHT MOON

A view of the last full moon (Cold Moon) of this year, in Mumbai, on Wednesday PTI

Health Min asks states to keep vigil on NY celebration events

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: The Union Health ministry has asked all states to keep a strict vigil on New Year celebrations that could be potential COVID-19 super-spreader events and also to curb crowding as a precautionary measure dur-ing the winter season.

In a letter to states and Union Territories, Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan stated that the number of active COVID-19 cases has been declining steadily in the country for the last three-and-half months.

Keeping in view the fresh surge of Coronavirus cases in Europe and the Ameri-cas, there was still a need for maintaining comprehensive precaution and strict sur-veillance within India, he underlined.

“You will appreciate that in the wake of New Year and various celebratory events associated with it as well as ongoing winter season, strict vigil is required to be main-tained to curb all potential ‘super spreader’ events and places where crowds may

gather,” Bhushan said in the letter. The recent advice and guidance to the states by the Home ministry has also been reiterated by the Health Secretary.

The Ministry of Home Affairs has mandated that states and UTs, based on their assessment of the situation, may impose local restric-tions, such as night curfew, with a view to contain the spread of COVID-19.

Meanwhile, hotels, res-taurants, pubs and bars in Maharashtra will remain open till 11 pm on Decem-ber 31, state Home minis-

ter Anil Deshmukh said on Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters, he said gathering of five or more people at public places is prohibited, but there are no restrictions on people step-ping out for the purpose of buying medicines, and vis-iting friends and relatives (after 11 pm in view of the night curfew).

He said local authori-ties have been authorised to ensure that the pan-demic-related restrictions are enforced in hill stations where New Year revellers gather in large numbers.

14 more UK returnees test +ve for new Covid strain

India-UK flights to remain suspended till Jan 7: Puri

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: Extending the dead-line for the third time, the govern-ment on Wednesday allowed individuals to file Income Tax Returns for 2019-20 fiscal till January 10.

The deadline for companies and individu-als who need to get their accounts audited too have been extended by 15 days till February 15, the Finance ministry said in a statement.

The due date for filing Income Tax Return (ITR) by individuals and companies was December 31, 2020, and January 31, 2021, respectively. Over 4.54 crore ITRs for 2019-20 fiscal (assessment year 2020-21) were filed till December 28. In the comparable period last year, 4.77 crore Income Tax Returns were filed.

At the close of deadline for filing ITRs without payment of late fees for fiscal 2018-19 (assessment year 2019-20), over 5.65 crore returns were filed by taxpayers.

The Income Tax department tweeted that the extension in various deadline was given in view of the continued challenges faced by tax-payers in meeting statutory compliances due to the outbreak of COVID-19.

Also, the due date for filing declaration under the direct tax dispute resolution scheme Vivad Se Vishwas has been extended by a month till January 31.

The deadline for filing GST annual return for 2019-20 fiscal has been extended by 2 months till February 28, 2021.

Hotels, pubs to function till 11 pm on NY Eve: Maha govt

In today’s paper

...

Digital platforms, robust ICT infra helped reduce pandemic hardships

PRESIDENT RAM NATH KOVIND

CITY

CITY SEES 677 NEW CASES 3

NATION

CONG LEADER, NEPHEW SHOT DEAD 6

EDIT

LOOKING BACK 7

INTERNATIONAL

HARRIS RECEIVES 1ST DOSE OF COVID VACCINE 8

BUSINESS

‘RCOM OWES ̀ 26K CR TO INDIAN BANKS’ 10

SPORT

BARCELONA HELD 1-1 AT HOME BY EIBAR 11

LONDON: The UK on Wednesday approved a cheaper and easy-to-handle COVID-19 vaccine developed by scien-tists at Oxford University and produced by AstraZeneca for human use, the second Coro-navirus vaccine to be cleared for rollout in Britain after the Pfizer/BioNTech jabs.

The Oxford vaccine, which also has a tie-up with the Serum Institute of India, was being evaluated by the British reg-ulator — the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) — after the final cut of data was submitted by the government last week.

The approval by the MHRA means the vaccine is both “safe

and effective” and the govern-ment’s Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said that the National Health Ser-vice (NHS) will prioritise giving the first of the two-dose vaccine to those in the most high-risk groups quickly.

“It is truly fantastic news and a triumph for British sci-ence that the vaccine has been approved for use. We will now move to vaccinate as many peo-ple as quickly as possible,” said British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock confirmed that the rollout of the second approved vaccine will begin on January 4 and “will really accelerate into

the first few weeks of next year”. “The vaccine is our way out

of the pandemic,” the minis-ter said.

In a statement, the DHSC said the “government has today accepted the recommenda-tion from the Medicines and

Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to authorise Oxford University/AstraZene-ca’s COVID-19 vaccine for use.”

It means the Oxford Uni-versity/AstraZeneca vaccine is now cleared for use for people 18 years or older in the UK.

The transportation and stor-age requirements mean that it needs to be kept at temperatures of 2C to 8C, which is similar to a conventional fridge, for up to six months.

Meanwhile, a 45-year-old nurse in California tested posi-tive for COVID-19 more than a week after receiving Pfizer Inc’s vaccine, an ABC News affiliate reported on Tuesday.

Matthew W, a nurse at two different local hospitals, said in a Facebook post on Decem-ber 18 that he had received the Pfizer vaccine, telling the ABC News affiliate that his arm was sore for a day but that he had suffered no other side-effects. AGENCIES

AstraZeneca-Oxford Covid vaccine cleared by UK as it fights mutant virus

US NURSE TESTS +VE OVER A WEEK AFTER RECEIVING PFIZER VACCINE: REPORT

Govt extends 2019-20 ITR filing deadline till Jan 10

A young woman with her nails painted with ‘2021’ poses for photographs as she prepares to welcome the New Year, in Amritsar, on Wednesday PTI

FARMERS’ PROTEST: 6TH ROUND OF DIALOGUE ENDS; NEXT MEETING ON JAN 4

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: The govern-ment and the farmers’ unions reached some common ground on Wednesday to resolve the concerns over the rise in power tariff and penalties for stub-ble burning, but the two sides remained deadlocked over the main contentious issues of the repeal of three farm laws and a legal guarantee for MSP.

After nearly five hours of the sixth round of negotiations between three Union ministers and a 41-member represen-tative group of thousands of farmers protesting on Delhi’s borders, Agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar said at least 50 per cent resolution has been reached with mutual agreement on two out of four items on the agenda and dis-cussions would continue on the remaining two on January 4 at 2 pm.

He also hoped that the New Year will herald new solutions and asserted that the Modi government has always been sensitive to farmers’ issues.

“Discussions on the three farm laws and MSP are not complete and will continue in the next round of talks... We are hopeful that consensus

would be reached for resolving the two remaining issues also,” Tomar told reporters after the meeting, which saw the two sides breaking the bread but not much ice.

While the three ministers joined the farmer leaders to share their langar (commu-nity kitchen) food during the lunch break, the union repre-sentatives accepted the bever-

age offered by the government during the evening tea break.

For the last few meet-ings, farmer leaders have been arranging their own food and beverages but had so far refused to accept even water offered by the government.

Farmer leaders said the government agreed to their demands for dropping the penal provisions against farm-

ers in an ordinance relating to stubble burning and to put on hold a proposed electricity amendment law.

However, there was no con-crete movement on their main demands for repeal of the three farm laws and a legal guaran-tee for MSP, union leaders said.

The unions, however, have decided to postpone their proposed tractor rally, earlier

scheduled for Thursday, till the next round of talks on Janu-ary 4.

Tomar said talks were held in a cordial atmosphere and the two sides reached an agree-ment on two issues — one relating to the proposed elec-tricity law and the other about an ordinance on penal provi-sions for stubble burning.

He hailed the unions for

maintaining peace and disci-pline during their protest but urged them to send the elderly, women and children back to their homes due to the extreme cold weather.

Tomar said the union lead-ers kept insisting on the repeal of the three farm laws, but the government side tried to explain to them the benefits of the Acts and sought to know specific problems faced by the farmers.

On farmers’ demand for a legal guarantee for procure-ment at Minimum Support Price (MSP), the minister said the government has already said it is ready to give a writ-ten assurance.

“Talks will continue on these two issues,” said Tomar, who was accompanied by Food and Railways Minister Piyush Goyal and Minister of State for Commerce Som Parkash at the meeting.

Later, an official statement said the government offered to set up two committees — one to ensure parity between the MSP and the market price and the other on finding alter-natives to the farmers’ demand for the repeal of the three laws while upholding the constitu-tional values.

Talks deadlocked over MSP, repeal of laws; consensus on two issues

Highlights » Farmer leaders said the government agreed to their demands for dropping the penal provisions against farm-ers in an ordinance relating to stubble burning and to put on hold a proposed elec-tricity amendment law.

» On farmers’ demand for a legal guarantee for procurement at Minimum Support Price (MSP), the minister said the government has already said it is ready to give a written assurance.A delegation of farmers at Vigyan Bhavan for a meeting with the Centre, in New Delhi, on Wednesday PIC/NAVEEN SHARMA

NEW DELHI|THURSDAY, 31 DECEMBER, 2020|millenniumpost

Although every possible care and caution has been taken to avoid errors or omissions, this publication is being sold on the condition and understanding that information given in this publication is merely for reference and must not be taken as having authority of or binding in any way on the writers, editors, publishers, and printers and sellers who do not owe any responsibility for any damage or loss to any person, a purchaser of this publication or not for the result of any action taken on the basis of this work. All disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of competent court and forums in Delhi/New Delhi only

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mp city2DELHI POLICE ALSO REQUEST FARMERS TO GET THEMSELVES TESTED AT THE COVID CARE CENTRES

121ST BOARD MEETING

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: In the list of facili-ties available to the farmers camp-ing at the Singhu border point of Delhi, the latest is a tailoring stall, with two sewing machines, catering to the growing stitching needs of the protesters.

From standard clothing alter-ations such as hemming and sew-ing to zipper replacement, hole and tear repair, and velcro place-ment, nothing is out of bounds for Dalbir Singh, a professional tailor from Punjab's Barnala district who is running the stall.

"I had come to the protest site a week ago with my friends. That is when I realised that there is a lot of wear and tear in the clothes people are wearing.

"Later, someone came to my shop in Barnala and said 'stitch my clothes I need to go Delhi for protest'. That is when the idea of opening this stall at Singhu struck us," said the 38-year-old Singh.

He has found a helping hand in Baljinder Kaur (35) from Lud-hiana who until recently sew

clothes as a hobby.Singh said such is the crowd

at the stall that he has to strug-gle to find time even to attend nature's call. It is their second day and the duo have already attended to over 400 people.

But he is not complaining."This is sewa and I won't stop

till the time the government ful-

fils the demand of the protest-ing farmers. I told my wife not to expect me to come back any-time soon. For my shop back home, I have asked my father and brother to take care of it till the time I am here," said Singh foot-pedalling the sewing machine without a break.

Gurpreet Singh, 40, the man

who had met Dalvir at his shop and is the brain behind opening the stall, said he had brought over 300 new zips and now they are hardly left with 10.

Hailing from Jalandhar, Gur-preet, who is a member of 'Guru Sikh Sewa Society', which is also serving langar, said they will soon put up a stall for turbans,

muffler, caps and inner-wears for those in need.

"Much of the things that we required were already present here. A tailor shop was miss-ing and now we have that too. I guess this would help many peo-ple, especially those putting up here for the past one month, to get their clothes in shape," said Deepjot Bajwa, who had come to fix his ripped jacket.

The protest site already has washing machines, a 'salon sewa' started by a Haryana man, a 'champi parlour' and foot mas-sagers installed by international NGO Khalsa Aid.

Amid all this, the borders remained blocked on Wednes-day as well as farmers contin-ued their agitation against farm laws. According to police, the Chilla and Ghazipur borders were closed for traffic coming from Noida and Ghaziabad to Delhi. Commuters were advised to take alternate route for enter-ing Delhi through Anand Vihar, DND, Apsara, Bhopra and Loni borders.

“Singhu, Auchandi, Piau Maniyari, Saboli and Mangesh borders remained closed. Com-muters were told to take alternate route through Lampur, Safiabad, Palla and Singhu school toll tax borders. Traffic has been diverted from Mukarba and GTK road. Travellers were told to avoid Outer Ring Rd, GTK road and NH-44,” official said.

As per official, "Available open borders to Haryana are Jharoda (only single carriage-way, road), Daurala, Kapash-era, Badusarai, Rajokri NH-8, Bijwasan, Bajghera, Palam Vihar and Dundahera borders."

The Delhi Police has also requested farmers to get them-selves tested at the Covid care centres near the protesting sites. "Delhi Police, besides protecting the farmers even when they are asleep, is also concerned about their health and has been requesting them from time to time to wear masks, maintain social distancing and personal hygiene," police said. (With Agency inputs)

NEW DELHI: From drawing criticism for its probe into the JNU violence case to handling the February riots, Delhi Police had another challenge, which was to ensure enforcement of COVID-19 guidelines and lockdown in the national Capital while pro-tecting its own personnel from the infection.

The year 2020 kept the force on its toes — starting from Jan-uary, when violence broke out at Jawaharlal Nehru University as masked miscreants armed with sticks attacked students and teachers and damaged property on the campus.

No arrest has been made so far by the Crime Branch team of Delhi Police which is probing the JNU violence case.

Delhi riots claimed 53 lives and left over 400 people injured. The force also lost one of its own men — Head Constable Ratan Lal (42), after he sustained an

injury during stone pelting at Gokalpuri.

And soon after the city faced riots, Delhi Police force got its new chief — S N Shrivastava who soon after taking charge said his priority was to restore peace and ensure communal harmony in the national Capital.

Now setting his vision for 2021, Shrivastava told that the focus would be to expand Delhi Police's social media presence to not only address public griev-ances but also to display a pos-itive image of the force and to tackle the negative narratives that are being put out.

He said the top priority will be to ensure faster response to public grievances and look after the welfare of his personnel.

"Improving response to the public complaint will be my prior-ity area. Doing it well and doing it in a shorter time. All these, I will not be able to achieve without

the active help and cooperation of our team - Delhi Police, so I need to look after their welfare also. And be with them in the thick of things," he said.

And now as its personnel are deployed at the Delhi bor-der points, where thousands of farmers, mostly from Punjab and Haryana, have been camp-ing amid cold wave conditions against the new farm laws, the police commissioner said that although large number of pro-testers are there but apart from blocking the way, there is noth-ing on the law and order front. So, things are manageable.

"We are ensuring that the other routes are clear for the essential supplies and movement of people. This is it and we hope that we reach a happy note on this also," he said.

Encapsulating the Delhi riots, Shrivastava said that once the riots were over and things were

contained, they encouraged peo-ple to come forward and register their complaints.

"That's why 755 FIRs were registered... They were investi-gated and special investigation teams were formed," he said.

He pointed out that of the 755 cases registered in connec-tion with northeast Delhi riots, charge sheets have been filed in

395 cases till date. Around 1,696 people have been arrested.

The police, however, have been criticised for their handling of the investigation in various quarters.

Talking about the entire inves-tigation, the police chief asserted that the investigation has been done well and that the teams have been able to unearth the

conspiracy angle."Criticism comes when we do

our job well because those who were affected by our investigation, naturally we never expected them to appreciate it. They will defi-nitely question our investigation.

"It is for the court to decide how the cases were investigated and whether the investigation is on the right line or not is for the court to say," he reiterated.

From creating awareness — to safeguarding the citizens from the spread of COVID-19, issu-ing movement passes, setting up helpline numbers, reaching out to senior citizens, to reaching out to those in need of ration.

This way, the Delhi Police personnel turned out to be "corona warriors", building its image as "Dil ki Police", even as the force lost its own personnel to the pandemic amid the line of their duty while serving the society. AGENCIES

RAHUL SINGH

GREATER NOIDA: Aiming to provide good governance and bring transparency in the work culture, the Greater Noida Indus-trial Development Authority (GNIDA) has approved pro-posal to implement Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) sys-tem in the Authority. The deci-sion was taken in Authority’s 121st board meeting held on Wednesday which was chaired by Commissioner of Indus-trial Development Alok Tan-don who is also the chairman of GNIDA.

As per a senior GNIDA offi-cer, the ERP system will benefit the allottees and farmers and also

bring transparency into the work culture. “The overall records of all allottees will help the allottee and the authority to get all the necessary information regarding allotment date, date of comple-tion, pending dues and all other necessary information. Also a unique code will be provided to the allottee through which he/she

can track the progress of work in one click without visiting the Authority,” the officer said while adding that the Authority will go paperless by March 2021.

Apart from this, the board also approved the one time set-tlement (OTS) scheme for hous-ing sector while the proposal is awaiting a final approval from

government. Informing over the land leaseback, the officer said that over 18, 000 plots of 5/6/10 per cent developed scheme have been allotted to farmers whose land have been acquired for var-ious development work by the authority.

“The Authority will imple-ment land pooling scheme in the to increase industrial land bank. This way we will not only increase industrialisation in the city but will also benefit farm-ers whose land will be acquired,” the officer said. Present in the meeting were CEO GNIDA Nar-endra Bhooshan, CEO Noida authority Ritu Maheshwari and other senior officials of both the authorities.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: AAP’s Punjab's co-in-charge Raghav Chadha vis-ited the Singhu border to ensure proper installation and function-ing of five free Wi-Fi hotspots on the border for the protesting farmers. The party’s National Convener Arvind Kejriwal had directed officials to install the free Wi-Fi hotspot after receiv-ing several complaints from the farmers about poor connectiv-ity in the vicinity.

“We had received complaints from several farmers that due to poor connectivity and reception at the Singhu border, they were unable to stay connected with their families, they were unable to make video calls. Sewaadar Arvind Kejriwalji decided to do something about this, which is why as promised yesterday, we’ve begun the installation of free Wi-Fi hotspots,” Chadha said.

Based on the feedback from farmers about specific spots which had poor connectivity or zero network the areas were identified wherein the work began on Wednesday.

“We vow to install as many Wi-Fi hotspots as required for the farmers. We would also like to tell our farmer brothers that should similar demands arise from the Tikri border, we will extend this facility there as well. Better con-nectivity will enable the farm-ers' access to social media to give a befitting answer to BJP leaders who have been spread-ing fake news about them,” the AAP MLA added.

He also said, “We hope that with this tiny contribution of ours, our farmer brothers will be able to see their loved ones via video call. For a person who puts his blood and sweat to earn an honest livelihood, staying connected with his family is paramount.”

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: A 26-year-old man was arrested for allegedly trying to extort money from a bank manager after threatening to post her morphed obscene pictures on social media, police said on Wednesday.

The accused has been iden-tified as Sumit Jha, a resident of Banghel, Noida Sector-82, they said.

Police said Jha, a B.Com graduate, has so far targeted over 100 women using similar modus operandi. He was pre-viously arrested by the police in Chhattisgarh and Noida in 2018.

According to police, the woman, a manager with a pri-vate bank who lives in Malviya Nagar in Delhi, lodged a com-plaint against the accused. She stated that he was harassing her and trying to extort money from her while threatening that he would post her nude pictures on her social media account after hacking it.

Police obtained technical

details from the social media platform and after analysis, started a search for the accused. He was using voice over inter-net protocol (VoIP) calls through WhatsApp and other mobile applications to avoid being detected, police said.

"During investigation, police nabbed him on Tues-day on the basis of the service provider's report and secret information," Deputy Com-missioner of Police (South) Atul Kumar Thakur said.

The accused said he had learnt phishing techniques in 2018 and started hacking social media accounts of women for cheating and extorting money

from them, the DCP said.He would download profile

pictures of women from their social media accounts, morph the images and after creating a fake profile on the same social media platforms, he would send his target a threatening message that he has her nude pictures, police said.

When the women sought proof, he would sent their morphed pictures. Later, he used to demand money as well as pictures of their private parts, police said.

The mobile phone used for committing the crime was recovered from his possession, they added.

ABHAY SINGH

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police have now directed their officers to exercise due dili-gence in responding to posts in social media. The move came after officials were found need-lessly engaging with unverified cyber entities.

According to one Addi-tional Commissioner of Police, a few instances have come to notice, where the dis-trict, the unit official Twitter, social media handles, accounts have engaged in needlessly responded to or engaged with cyber entities, particularly unverified, which do not have any direct bearing on the func-tioning of Delhi Police.

"Such responses or engage-ments only give unnecessary credence to the cause of vested interests, propagators, who are looking for cheap public-ity in furthering their agenda,"

Additional CP told senior officials.

As per the official, "It is therefore advised that dis-trict, unit in charges, who are dealing with official Twitter or other social media plat-forms should exercise due dil-igence in responding to such posts in cyberspace." The senior officials were told that they must act with circum-spection and discretion, as expected from professional, responsible and senior police officers.

According to Additional CP, "In case of any doubt or need for consultation, the PRO and supervisory officers must be approached to seek sound professional advice before pro-ceeding with the response to such suspect tweet(s) or simi-lar such social media post(s). There should be strict compli-ance of directions."

According to one official, "If

any person contacts us through social media with a grievance. We share our contact details

with that person. We avoid any kind of unnecessary social media arguments."

In May, Delhi Police Com-missioner SN Shrivastava had said, "A social media cell should be constituted to monitor and act upon the inputs received through social media round the clock so that we can assist the needy people promptly."

In another meeting, the police chief discussed the responsibility of PRO branch. "If the media plays some-thing wrong, the responsi-bility of PRO branch is to get correct information and facts from concerned district and unit and bring it to the knowl-edge of media. It should coor-dinate with social media cell to block damaging posts and ensure proper action," he added.

GNIDA approves proposal to implement ERP system

From JNU attacks to farmers' protest, a busy year for Delhi Police

Chadha visits Singhu to get free Wi-Fi

hotspots installed

Man arrested for trying to extort bank manager using her morphed pictures

Police asked to exercise due diligence before responding to social media posts

Tailoring stall for farmers sitting on pins and needles at Singhu border

MAN MURDERED OVER Rs 77,000 NEW DELHI: A 24-year-old man was murdered for not paying Rs 77,000, which he borrowed from the accused in Prem Nagar of Rohini district. Police have arrested the accused in the case. Police have identi-fied the accused as Ankit. On December 29, the body of one Ravi was found tied in a gunny bag in Prem Nagar area. "The accused was arrested after an investigation from his house in Prem Nagar area," the official said. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Rohini) PK Mishra said the accused had lent Rs 77,000 to the deceased during the lockdown, with the promise that the deceased would return the same after a stipulated period. However, the deceased was unable to return the amount and sought some more time from Ankit.

COUPLE DIES AFTER INHALING SMOKE FROM BRAZIER NEW DELHI: A 38-year-old man and his wife died after they allegedly inhaled toxic smoke from a bra-zier (angithi) in their room in southwest Delhi's Samal-kha area, police said on Wednesday. The deceased have been identified as Ram Parvesh and Kavita (34), residents of Gopalji Colony, Samalkha, they said. On Wednesday morning, the children found that their parents had not come out of their room, so they called their relatives, who then informed police. The police said they received information about two unconscious persons who were declared brought dead by Co-lumbia Asia hospital. "There were no injury marks or ligatures on the bodies and prima facia, the cause of death seems to be suffocation," a senior police officer said. The bodies were shifted to DDU Hospital for postmortem, the officer said.

NEWS AT A GLANCE

The accused has so far targeted over

100 women using similar modus

operandi

REST FOR THE WEARY SOUL

A boy sleeps in a tent placed at Ghazipur border during farmers' protest on Wednesday PTI

NEW DELHI: Delhi University has decided to drop the plan of adding five supernumerary seats in undergraduate courses in each affiliated college. The decision was taken after much controversy by students, teachers and a couple of colleges who said that they cannot go ahead with it as the last date of admission is December 31 and there is no time left. The col-lege principals affiliated with the university had welcomed the decision. The decision to add 315 seats in 63 affiliated col-leges as a one-time measure to allow registered students who couldn’t get admission due to any reason related to the pan-demic was notified on December 21. The decision was taken at the request of principals and members of the executive coun-cil, which is the highest decision-making body of the varsity. All the principals were asked to submit the list of five candidates for further approval, as mentioned in the notification. However, as of now, no seats would be included for admission. MPOST

DU drops plan to add five extra seats in UG courses

millenniumpost|NEW DELHI|THURSDAY, 31 DECEMBER, 2020mp city 3

OVER 84,000 TESTS CONDUCTED IN A DAY | POSITIVITY RATE DROPS TO 0.8%

City sees 677 new cases & 21 deaths

TRANSPORT DEPT EXTENDS VALIDITY OF DOCUMENTS TILL MARCH 31, 2021NEW DELHI: The transport department of Delhi government has extended the validity of documents including driving licence, all kinds of permits and fitness certificates among others till March 31, 2021 in view of COVID-19 pandemic. An order issued by the transport department on Tuesday stated that documents including driving licence, all types of permits, registration, vehicle fitness among others that had expired on February 1, 2020 or would expire on December 31, 2020, will be treated as valid till March 31, 2021. The decision to extend the validity of the documents has been taken in accordance with a recent advisory of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, said the order.

DELHI GOVT NOTIFIES TREE TRANSPLANTATION POLICYNEW DELHI: The Delhi government has notified the Tree Transplantation Policy under which agencies will have to transplant a minimum of 80 per cent of the trees affected by their development works. The Delhi Cabinet had approved the policy on October 9.Ten saplings will be planted for each tree trans-planted or felled and the Department of Forests and Wildlife will keep a detailed and up-to-date record of applications approved for tree felling under the Delhi Preservation of Trees Act, 1994 on its website, according to the policy notified on December 24.Invasive exotic tree species such as Leucaena Leuco-cephala, Eucalyptus Globulus and Prosopis Juliflora (Vilayati kikar) will not be considered for transplan-tation and will be excluded, the policy document said.

NEWS AT A GLANCE

TOTAL CASES6,24,795ACTIVE CASES5,838

DEATH TOLL10,523RECOVERED

6,08,434

DELHI COUNT

COVID-19

85,78,080 samples tested so far

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: Restaurants and clubs in the national Capital may soon be allowed to serve liquor till 3 am, with a Delhi government panel suggest-ing this among several other measures as part of “excise reforms”, official sources said on Wednesday.

It has also recommended that retail liquor licenses other than to government corpora-tion be allotted through lottery system once in every two years, a move that will allow flexibility in rules for new private liquor shops in the city.

The panel, set up by Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in September, has suggested lowering legal drinking age to 21 from the 25 in the national Capital.

Sisodia had constituted the committee under the chair-manship of the excise commis-sioner to recommend measures to increase excise revenue and ways to simplify liquor pricing as well as boost the hotel and restaurant industry.

Restuarants and clubs hav-ing an excise license can cur-rently serve liquor to their guests till 1 am in the national capital. At present, there is 24x7 excise licence offered to hotels, but with hefty fee.

“In its report, the commit-tee has recommended that res-tuarants and clubs should be allowed to serve till 3 am. It will also increase the government’s excise revenue. The Delhi gov-ernment’s law department is examining the report,” an offi-cial source said.

According to the recom-mendations, the number of dry days should be reduced to three in parity with the neighbour-ing states of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab.

It stated that there should be three liquor vends in each of 272 municipal wards in the national capital totalling 816 vends, besides one coun-try liquor vend in each of 70 assembly constituencies. At Indira Gandhi International

Aiport, six liquor vends should be set up, the committee said in its recommendations.

“Ensuring equitable access of liquor supply to all residents in NCT of Delhi so that there are no un-served and under-served areas by ward-wise allo-cation of vends,” it stated

On liquor pricing, the committee said, “L-1 licens-ees (a license that is granted for the wholesale supply of Indian liquor) may be at lib-erty to declare the maximum retail price (MRP) instead of ex-distillery price (EDP) with fixed excise duty, VAT as appli-cable, assured retail margin of 8 per cent of the MRP and the remaining amount left of MRP would be wholesale Price for the manufacturer.”

Sources said that it also recommended hat brand reg-istration fee should also be rationalised, a move that will encourage start-ups in the national capital.

They said that at present, brand registration fee is almost the same for prominent com-panies and new company.

If brand registration fee is rationalised, it will encourage start-up and they will not have to pay hefty fee which is appli-cable for prominent liquor, wine and beer brands.

Delhi panel suggests lowering drinking age

from 25 to 21 years

NEW DELHI: Police and fire unit deployment has been beefed up, traffic regulation planned, and restaurants and bars asked to host not more than 50 per cent of their capacity as the national Capital prepares to welcome the New Year amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Officials said they have also taken several measures to ensure women’s safety, and added though breath analyser test will not be used to detect drunken-driving out of precau-tion against coronavirus, delin-quent drivers will be liable for legal action. In order to ensure orderly celebrations, police pres-ence will be strengthened in markets, around malls, five-star hotels, restaurants, pubs and bars, they said.

Delhi Police Commissioner SN Shrivastava said that this year, public gatherings will be subjected to coronavirus protocol.

“There is a restriction on the number of people who can col-lect at a point. So these restric-tions will be there and wearing of masks will be mandatory,”

he said.“We will be making ade-

quate arrangements at places where people normally like to collect. But one thing would be that all such collection would be subject to COVID-19 proto-cols.” He said all other routine measures will be taken. “We hope next year brings us greater luck and much better standards of life and much better lifestyle than what we had witnessed in this current year.”

The traffic police said they are not using alcometer, but will be keeping an eye on drunken-

driving cases.“We are not using alcome-

ter due to the COVID-19, but if someone found in inebriate con-dition, we will medically exam-ine him and action will be taken accordingly. We also want peo-ple to follow COVID-19 guide-lines,” Joint Commissioner of Police (Trafffic) Manish Kumar Agrawal said.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) Eish Singhal said, “We have asked the restau-rants and bars to operate at 50 per cent of their capacity. The bouncers have been informed

not to indulge in any fight and approach the police instead.”

A senior police officer said it will be duty of restaurant-owners to drop a woman to her place if she gets drunk.

After 10 pm, music will be allowed up to only permissible noise limit, police said.

Women police personnel will also be deployed to further widen the safety measures, the officer said.

The traffic movement will be restricted and regulated in and around Connaught Place and India Gate areas, they said.

Public shall not be allowed to exit from Rajiv Chowk Metro Station gates after 9 pm on December 31, they added.

According to fire depart-ment, fire units will be deployed at South Extension market, Lajpat Nagar-II market, Con-naught Place’s Palika Bazaar, Gandhi Nagar Market, New Pacific Mall (Rajouri Garden), Rani Bagh Market, Chhattarpur near Trivoli Garden, Majnu ka Tila, Hauz Khas Village Market from 8.30 pm on Thursday to 12.30 am on Friday. AGENCIES

Capital prepares for New Year’s Eve with traffic measures, police deployment, Covid protocols

Biting cold grips Delhi, no respite for next two days

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: A cold wave swept Delhi on Wednesday as the minimum temperature dipped to 3.5 degrees Cel-sius, the India Meteorological Department said.

It is likely to get even colder on New Year’s Eve, it predicted, as dry and icy winds barrelled through the plains.

The Safdarjung Observa-tory, which provides represen-tative data for the city, recorded a minimum of 3.5 degrees Cel-sius as against 3.6 degrees Cel-sius on Tuesday.

The weather stations at Jafarpur and Lodhi Road recorded a low of 3.5 degrees Celsius and 3.7 degrees Celsius, respectively, it said.

During nighttime, “dense” fog reduced visibility to 50 metres in the Palam area. However, it improved to 400 metres by 9 am. The visibility at Safdarjung was 500 metres.

According to the IMD, “very dense” fog is when visibil-ity is between 0 and 50 metres, 51 and 200 is “dense”, 201 and 500 “moderate”, and 501 and 1,000 “shallow”.

In the plains, the IMD declares a cold wave if the min-imum temperature dips to 4 degrees Celsius. A severe cold wave is when the minimum is 2 degrees Celsius or less.

Cold wave conditions are predicted in parts of the city over the next two days, it said.

Kuldeep Srivastava, the head of the regional forecast-ing centre of the IMD, said cold and dry northerly/northwest-erly winds from the western Himalayas have been barrel-ling through the plains, bring-ing the minimum temperature in north India down.

According to the IMD, a cold wave is also declared when the minimum temperature is 10 degrees Celsius or below and is 4.5 notches less than normal.

A “severe” cold wave is when the minimum tempera-ture dips to two degrees Celsius or the departure is more than 6.4 degrees Celsius.

On December 20, the Safdarjung Observatory recorded a minimum of 3.4 degrees Celsius, the lowest this season so far.

The mean minimum tem-perature (7.06 degrees Celsius) in December this year so far is less than last year when it was 7.6 degrees Celsius.

Last year, the national capi-tal broke the record of the lon-gest cold spell, registering 18 consecutive cold days.

At 9.4 degrees Celsius, Delhi had also recorded the lowest maximum temperature in December in 119 years.

This year, however, the city has witnessed only three “cold” days and 7 “cold wave” days so far. A cold day is declared when the maximum tempera-ture is less than or equal to 16 degrees Celsius.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: The BJP on Wednesday admitted into its fold a man who had allegedly opened fire in the air early this year at an anti-CAA protest site in South East Delhi’s Sha-heen Bagh but cancelled his party membership hours later.

The membership of Kapil Gujjar was cancelled as soon as senior party leaders came to know of his induction into the party, UP BJP’s general secre-tary J P S Rathore said.

“Local leaders had pro-cessed the induction. How-ever, as soon as the state leadership got information

about it, his membership was cancelled,” said Rathore when asked about Gujjar’s entry into the BJP.

“Today (on Wednesday), some youths from the BSP joined the BJP. Kapil Gujjar was also there among them. We did not have information about his (Kapil Gujjar’s) con-troversial past about Shaheen Bagh,” said BJP’s Ghaziabad Mahanagar unit president Sanjeev Sharma earlier in a statement.

“As soon as we got infor-mation about the entire inci-dent, the party’s state unit leadership cancelled his membership with immediate

effect,” Sharma added.A man had allegedly fired

two shots in the air on Febru-ary 1 at Shaheen Bagh area in Delhi’s Jamia Nagar, where an anti-CAA protest was on. He was taken into custody soon after he opened fire in the air, eyewitnesses had said.

No one was injured in the incident which occurred at around 5 pm. According to eyewitnesses, the man, who identified himself as Kapil Gujjar, opened fire close to the police barricades, nearly 250 metres behind the stage. He was overpowered by police personnel and taken into custody. WITH INPUTS FROM AGENCIES

NEW DELHI: Dirty water having high concentration of ammonia is being supplied in several areas in the national cap-ital, Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta charged on Wednesday.

Addressing a press confer-ence here, Gupta said it was “unfortunate” that while Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal him-self was drinking filtered water, people in the city were being “forced” to drink “poisonous” water. A reaction was not imme-diately available from the Delhi government or the ruling Aam Aadmi Party.

A purported video show-ing dirty water being supplied in the city was played during the press conference along with one showing Kejriwal promis-ing 24-hour clean water supply to Delhiites.

“It cannot be more surpris-ing that Delhiites are facing water shortage even in winter. There are many areas like Preet Vihar, Mayur Vihar and Vas-ant Vihar, where dirty water is coming from the taps. There is no supply of water from tank-ers in Seemapuri, Nand Nagri, Patel Nagar, Kondli, Madan Giri, Mangolpuri and Najaf-garh areas where there is no pipeline,” Gupta claimed.

He also charged that 13 com-mon effluent treatment plants have been set up in Delhi, out of which only three are work-ing. Fourteen of 22 drains in Delhi are untapped and dis-charging sewage directly into the Yamuna, he alleged. MPOST

TAKEAWAYS » Breath analyser test will not be used to detect drunken-driving out of precaution against coronavirus, delin-quent drivers will be liable for legal action

» ‘We have asked the restaurants, bars to operate at 50% of their capacity. The bouncers have been informed not to indulge in any fight and approach the police instead’

» A senior police officer said it will be duty of restaurant-owners to drop a woman to her place if she gets drunk

» Public shall not be allowed to exit from Rajiv Chowk Metro Station gates after 9 pm on December 31

CLOSER LOOK » Allow clubs, restaurants to serve liquor till 3 am in national capital: Delhi govt panel

» According to the recommendations, the number of dry days should be reduced to three in parity with the neighbouring states of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab

Shaheen Bagh shooter Kapil Gujjar expelled from BJP hrs after joining

‘Govt supplying water with

high ammonia concentration in several areas’

NEW DELHI: The Delhi gov-ernment has formed a four-member committee to facilitate the participation of students from the national Capital in the upcoming Republic Day celebrations at Rajpath.

In an official order, the city government said students from three schools will participate in the cultural programmes in Republic Day parade in pre-scribed costumes as approved by the Ministry of Defence and the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT).

“The procurement of requi-site costumes etc. shall be made after observing all the codal for-malities,” the order said.

“The Directorate of Edu-cation (DOE) has formed a four-member committee for observing codal formali-ties related to procurement of costumes, services related to

make-up of performers, cho-reographer, artificial jewellery, recording of songs etc,” it said.

Those involved in the prep-arations for the parade have been directed to comply with COVID-19 guidelines.

“Please ensure that Covid-19 Protocol and guidelines issued by Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Health and Fam-ily Welfare conveyed time to time, must be followed strictly. Masks, use of sanitisers and social distancing must be maintained during the prac-tice sessions and performance at Rajpath,” it said.

“It has been further directed by the Ministry of Defence, if the item presented by the school does not continue to keep upto the level of performance, desired by the Expert committee, the item is liable to be dropped at any time,” it added. MPOST

NEW DELHI: Of the 14 sam-ples, including those of UK returnees, sent for testing to the National Centre for Disease Control in Delhi, eight have tested positive for the new strain of the coronavirus detected in that country, official sources said on Wednesday.

These eight people also included a woman who left the Delhi airport and travelled to Andhra Pradesh by train last week, they said. The remaining seven are in quarantine at the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital here, the sources said.

Asked if these seven peo-ple belonged to Delhi, Nutan Mundeja, the head of the DGHS said,”They might not be. Since they disembarked in Delhi, they

are being kept at health facili-ties here.” A total of 33 people, including UK returnees and their contacts, are admitted to a special facility at the LNJP. Their condition is stable, the sources said. Their samples were sent for genome sequencing to ascertain whether they were carrying the new UK strain, they said.

The new strain is more con-tagious but does not appear to be virulent. Special care is being taken, the sources said.

Of the 33 people, 11 were tested through RT-PCR tests at the IGI airport on their arrival from the UK. Nine other UK returnees were found positive in the Delhi government’s district-level door-to-door contact and testing drive, they said. AGENCIES

New UK strain: 8 samples tested in Capital positive

ROUSHAN ALI

NEW DELHI: Delhi recorded 677 fresh COVID-19 cases and 21 fatalities on Wednesday, even as the positivity rate dropped to 0.8 per cent, authorities said.

The infection tally in the city mounted to over 6.24 lakh and the death toll rose to 10,523 on Wednesday, they said, add-ing that over 84,000 tests were conducted on the previous day.

From December 21 to 23, the daily cases count has been below the 1,000-mark. On December 21, 803 cases were reported; 939 on December 22 and 871 on December 23.

However, on December 24, 1,063 cases were recorded, drop-ping again to 758 on December 25 and 655 on December 26. On December 27, 757 cases were recorded while on December 28, the daily cases count was 564, the lowest in the last seven months.

On May 26, Delhi had

recorded 412 COVID-19 cases.The latest 677 cases came

out the 84,680 tests conducted on Tuesday, including 44,221 RT-PCR tests and 40,459 rapid antigen tests, according to the latest bulletin issued by the Delhi health department.

The number of active cases dropped to 5,838 on Wednes-day from 6,122 Tuesday.

The bulletin said the total number of cases has climbed to 6,24,795. The highest single-day spike till date — 8,593 cases — was reported on November 11.

According to the bulle-tin, out of the total number of 18,718 beds in COVID hospi-tals, 16,433 are vacant.

The Delhi government had significantly ramped up testing in the past few weeks, with the count on several times crossing the 80,000-mark. The number of tests done per million, as on Tuesday was over 4.5 lakh, while the total number of tests stood at over 85 lakh.

The bulletin said 6,08,434 patients have recovered, been discharged or migrated so far.

Delhi govt forms panel for students’ participation

in Rajpath R-Day eventNEW DELHI: The AAP had an eventful 2020 marked by a resounding assembly poll vic-tory which was summed up as “memorable and motivating” by its party leader Sanjay Singh.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) started the year with a bang, storming back to power in Delhi by winning 62 seats in the 70-member Delhi Assembly. Arvind Kejriwal was sworn in as chief minister for a third term in February.

Singh said the Delhi assem-bly victory was not just of the party but of “work-based poli-tics” and now its aim in 2021 is to win polls in other states and replicate the Delhi model there.

“The Delhi election results were very encouraging and motivating. The win was a val-idation of our work and alter-native brand of politics,” Singh told PTI, talking about how the year 2020 went for the party.

The AAP started with a fren-zied election campaign which included several townhall meet-ings of Kejriwal apart from elec-

tion rallies.Ahead of polls, Prashant

Kishor-led political consultancy firm I-PAC came on board with the party and what ensued was the intense election campaign.

Kejriwal made it clear that the polls in Delhi will be fought on the basis of work and the party will not indulge in any mudslinging or dirty politics. Schemes such as free travel for women in DTC buses, free elec-tricity, installation of CCTV cameras and free water were his party’s poll planks.

Addressing thousands at the sprawling Ramlila Maidan after taking oath for the third term as chief minister, the 51-year-old had said he wants to take every-one forward with him.

He also stressed that he wants to work in coordination with the Centre and sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s blessings for smooth governance of the national capital.

Soon after Kejriwal assumed office, the coronavirus pan-demic outbreak posed the

first and probably the biggest challenge faced not just by the Delhi government but also by the party.

Kejriwal urged his party workers to go to every village, street and neighbourhood across the country to help people in their battle against COVID-19. He started a campaign under which he asked party workers to check the oxygen level of people with oximeter.

Meanwhile, the party started its work towards expanding other states, especially in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, where it said it would be con-testing the state assembly polls.

Speaking about the party’s vision for 2021, Singh said the AAP will be working towards increasing its reach in these states. “Our dream for 2021 is to replicate the Delhi model in these states. Education, health, CCTVs, water, women safety, free bus ride for women — whatever we did in Delhi we now want to do in these states,” he added. PTI

For AAP, 2020 was an eventful year

DELHI POLICE SECURITY UNIT GETS NEW BUILDING

Delhi Police Commissioner S N Shrivastava on Wednesday inaugurated the a new building of the force’s Security Unit at Bapudham in Chanakyapuri, according to a statement. The Security Unit of the Delhi Police is entrusted with the sensitive and important task of providing security to the president, the vice president, the prime minister, cabinet ministers, judges of the Supreme Court and the Delhi High Court, among others, it said

NEW DELHI|THURSDAY, 31 DECEMBER, 2020|millenniumpostmp nation4

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: It seems the country would get its vac-cine against the Covid-19 in the first week of the New Year as the Subject Expert Com-mittee in the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisa-tion (CDSCO), which met on Wednesday to consider the Emergency Use Authorisa-tion (EUA) request of Pfizer, Serum Institute of India (SII) and Bharat Biotech, has con-vened its next meeting on Fri-day – January 1, 2021 to take a “final call” on vaccine approval.

According to Union Health Ministry, the additional data and information presented by SII and Bharat Biotech was perused and analysed by the

SEC, while Pfizer sought fur-ther time for the presentation of other required data.

“The analysis of the addi-tional data and information is going on. The SEC will convene

again on January 1, 2021,” min-istry said.

As per sources, the SEC has sought updated factsheet and prescribing information from SII and more data from Bharat

Biotech. The SEC would rec-ommend for the approval of the vaccine and the final call in this regard would be taken by the Health Ministry in coordina-tion with CDSCO, the sources said. Notably, the develop-ment has come on the day the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine was granted approval in the United Kingdom. The SII is manufacturing Oxford-Astra-Zeneca in India. The SII had earlier said that it was hoping for the emergency use approval by the end of this month or Jan-uary in India.

Claiming that SII is ready to distribute the vaccine soon after the approval, SII officials said that the government has not yet placed a purchase order for the Covishield vaccine.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: Hitting out at the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for “only aiding corpo-rate interests”, the Congress on Wednesday sought a swift res-olution to the farmers’ protests and repealing of three farm laws enacted in September. Congress has also asked the government to accept the demands of the farmers as a New Year gift to them.

“The central government has met the farm leaders sev-eral times now. It has called the farmers again today, but how will they proceed when the government refuses to com-promise,” said Congress leader Kumari Selja. She added that the government should sup-port the farmers and listen to their demands by repealing the three laws.

At a joint press conference, Haryana Congress president Kumari Selja and her Uttara-khand counterpart Pritam Singh said that the government should not stand on prestige.

“2020 has not been a good year whether for the economy or the corona pandemic or our annadataas and workers. This government has an opportunity to make a new beginning in the New Year,” Selja told reporters at a Press conference.

Selja claimed that instead of helping the farmers, the new laws may end up burdening the farmers with taxations as it seeks to regulate through corporatisa-tion. Slamming Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal, the Con-gress leader said that Haryana has seen the deaths of more than 10 farmers and protests across the State.

“Being from a predomi-

nantly agricultural state, the Chief Minister should have led a delegation to the Prime Min-ister as people in high position may not be aware of ground realities,” she said.

Questioning the govern-ment’s claim of working for the welfare of farmers, Singh alleged fraudulent practices in identi-fying some of the beneficiaries of PM-KISAN — a scheme to transfer Rs 6,000 annually to farmers — in Uttarakhand.

He said that since the new farm laws allow private mandis for procurement, the govern-ment-run mandis will be forced to close down over a period of time. Claiming that farmers from his state also have been protesting at the Singhu bor-der for the past 35 days, he said, “The government should now accept their demands and allow them to go back to their homes.”

Accept farmers’ demands as New Year gift: Cong to Centre

OUR CORRESPONDENT

CHANDIGARH: Taking a note of damage to over 1,600 mobile towers during farm-ers' protest against the Centre's laws, Punjab Governor V P Singh Badnore on Wednesday decided to summon the state's chief secretary and director general of police (DGP) to seek a report on it.

Meanwhile, Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSO-CHAM) has written to Punjab CM, seeking his intervention into the matter.

The industrial body fur-ther said the blockage of key highways linking neighbour-ing states is resulting in losses to the tune of thousands of crores daily.

NEW DELHI: A high-level inter-ministerial steering Com-mittee will guide Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomic Consortia (INSACOG), formed to ascer-tain the status of new variant of the coronavirus, Renu Swarup, Secretary, Department of Bio-technology, said on Wednesday.

The committee will have a Scientific Advisory Group for technical guidance, she said.

The government had launched the INSACOG, com-prising 10 labs, in the wake of the new strain of the coronavi-rus being detected in the UK.

Twenty cases of the new strain have been detected so far in India, prompting the gov-ernment to ramp up genome surveillance.

The overall aim of the Indian SARS-CoV-2 genomics consor-tium is to monitor the genomic variations in the virus on a regu-

lar basis through a multi-labora-tory network. This vital research consortium will also assist in developing potential vaccines in the future, the DBT said.

Dr Renu Swarup, Secretary DBT, informed that INSACOG will have a high level Inter-Min-isterial Steering Committee which will provide guidance and oversight to the consor-tium specially for policy mat-ters and it will have a Scientific Advisory Group for scientific and technical guidance, a DBT statement said.

The consortium will ascer-tain the status of new variant of SARS-CoV-2 (SARS-CoV-2 VUI 202012/01) in the coun-try, establish sentinel surveil-lance for early detection of genomic variants with public health implication, and deter-mine the genomic variants in the unusual events and trends

(super-spreader events, high mortality/morbidity trend areas).

Coordinated by the DBT along with the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, ICMR and CSIR, the strategy and road-map of the INSACOG has been prepared.

The new variant, which was found in the UK, especially in the London region, is defined by multiple mutations in the spike region, as well as mutations in other genomic regions.

In the backdrop of the emer-gence of the newly identified variant of the novel SARS-CoV-2 Virus in the UK, South Africa and some other parts of the world, the government has taken action to accelerate virus surveillance, genome sequenc-ing and characterisation, the DBT said. These mutations are rapidly increasing the number

of variants of the virus. This variant is significantly more transmissible than previously circulating variants, with an estimated potential to increase the reproductive number with an estimated increased trans-missibility of up to 70 percent, the DBT said.

INSACOG will monitor the genomic variations on a regu-lar basis through the multi-lab-oratory network. Knowledge generated through this vital research consortium will also assist in developing diagnos-tics and potential therapeutics and vaccines in the future, the statement added.

DBT-NIBMG, as the coor-dinating unit of the genome sequencing consortium, will closely work with a nodal unit of NCDC on activities like SOPs, data annotation, data analysis, data release. MPOST

COVID-19 vaccine may get approval in early January‘Government has not yet placed a purchase order for vaccine’

Panel to guide INSACOG consortium formed to track new COVID-19 strains

Damage to mobile towers: Punjab

Governor likely to summon CS, DGP

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: The Trinamool Congress on Wednesday said they had submitted a mem-orandum to President Ram Nath Kovind requesting him to remove state Governor Jag-deep Dhankhar for his failure to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution, and added that he was “transgressing constitu-tional limits”.

The signatories to the mem-orandum are Sudip Bandyo-padhyay, Sukhendu Shekhar Roy, Kalyan Banerjee, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar and Derek O’ Brien. It was sent to the Presi-dent on Tuesday night.

They alleged: “He (Gover-nor) had repeatedly breached law declared by the Supreme Court. From the seat of high-est Constitutional office in the state and he has been inducing divisive politics, just because ruling parties at the Centre and state are political opponents.”

“The Governor holds office during the pleasure of the Presi-dent as per Article 156, Clause 1. We have urged the President to withdraw the pleasure, which

translates into removing this governor,” Roy said.

Addressing a press con-ference at Trinamool Bhavan, Roy alleged that the Gover-nor was deliberately spreading canard to tarnish the image of the state government and Tri-namool Congress to keep his bosses at the Centre in good humour. “Not only has he low-ered the post of the Governor but flouted the Indian Consti-tution and law of the Supreme Court,” he said, adding “Ben-gal had great Governors like Chakravarti Rajagopalachari, Harendranath Mukherjee, BD Pandey, Professor Nurul Has-san, Gopal Krishna Gandhi among others. Nowhere in the country one finds a Governor holding press conferences and is vocal through tweets to tarnish

the image of the state govern-ment and the Chief Minister,” he said. He said some of the state-ments, words, tweets, media briefings directed against the state government clearly show his flagrant disregard for the Indian Constitution. Some of these words or statements are “culpable”, “ anarchy”, “lawless-ness”, “political police”, “collapse of law and order”, “time for all to wake up and restore rule of law” etc and are uncalled for.

Roy quoted from the judg-ment given by a seven-judge Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court in Shamsher Singh versus State of Pun-jab, in July 1973, in which the Bench remarked: “For a Cen-trally appointed Constitutional functionary to keep a dossier on his ministers or to report

against them or to take up public stances critical of Government policy settled by the Cabinet or to interfere in the admin-istration directly — these are constitutionally faux pas and run counter to parliamentary system.” Roy cited Dhankhar’s statement seeking expense details of the Bengal Business Summit, his demand for an apology from the Chief Min-ister over some of her recent comments and his “threat to 25 IPS officers” as instances of the Governor “violating his rights and limitations”.

“He has also said it is his duty to ensure free and fair polls. Who is he? It is the domain of the Election Commission. Sim-ilarly, only the CAG (Comp-troller and Auditor General of India) has the authority to seek details of the expenses of state-organised events like the Bengal Business Summit,” Roy maintained.

An angry Dhankhar shot back claiming free and fair elec-tions are not held in the state and that it is his duty to ensure people exercise their franchise without any fear.

TMC writes to Prez seeking recall of GovernorThe signatories to the memorandum are Sudip Bandyopadhyay, Sukhendu Shekhar Roy, Kalyan Banerjee, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar and Derek O’ Brien. It was sent to the President on Tuesday night

GUWAHATI: All the govern-ment-funded Madrassas are set to shut down and transform into general schools with the Assam Assembly on Wednesday passing a Bill amidst a walkout by the opposition after their demand to send the legislation to the Select Committee was rejected. From April 1 next year, over 600 state-run Madrassas will be converted into upper pri-mary, high and higher second-ary schools with no change of status, pay, allowances and ser-vice conditions of the teaching and non-teaching staff.

The opposition slammed the government's move to close the Madrassas, which impart edu-cation on theology along with general subjects, and alleged polarisation tactics in the state, which will have Assembly polls in March-April next year.

After the Education Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma turned down the request of the Con-gress and AIUDF to send The Assam Repealing Bill, 2020 to the select committee to have "proper discussion" and also rejected the amendments, the Speaker placed the bill for voice vote.

Amidst a noisy scene, the controversial bill was passed with majority as all the alli-ance members of the BJP -- Asom Gana Parishad (AGP)

and Bodoland People's Front (BPF) -- supported the gov-ernment move. The approved bill proposes to abolish the two existing acts -- The Assam Madrassa Education (Provin-cialisation) Act, 1995 and The Assam Madrassa Education (Provincialisation of Services of Employees and Re-Organ-isation of Madrassa Educational Institutions) Act, 2018.

"I feel this is going to be a gift to the minority commu-nity. The students studying in those Madrassas will hail the decision after 10 years," Sarma said, replying to the opposition members' objections.

Stating that the said format of school education operates only in Assam and West Bengal, he said the government cannot support teaching of a particular religion in a secular country like India. "It is wrong to say that the government is doing this against the Muslim society. Opposing Islamic fundamentalism is not opposing the religion Islam. Our government has done lot of things to uplift the minority community," Sarma said, cit-ing some examples of schemes.

The NEDA convenor further said that he does not need votes in minority areas for the next 20 years and he has no compulsion unlike the period when he was in the Congress. AGENCIES

Assam Assembly approves Bill to close state-run Madrasas

Azharuddin, 3 others escape unhurt in road accidentJAIPUR: Former Indian cricket team skipper Mohammad Azharuddin escaped unhurt on Wednesday when an SUV in which he was travel-ling along with three other people overturned in Sawai Madhopur district, said police. The three other passengers too escaped unhurt but an employee of an eatery near which the SUV over-turned received minor injuries, said SHO Chan-drabhan Singh of Soorwal police station. Singh said the vehicle overturned into a field and hit the benches of the adjoining eatery. An eatery work-er, who was cleaning dishes, too was hurt in the incident. Soon after the incident, the injured man was taken to a nearby hospital while Azharuddin and his companions resumed their journey for Ranthambore in another vehicle. There were a total of four persons in the vehicle and they all left the place in another vehicle, Sawai Madhopur Circle Officer Narayan Tiwari said. MPOST

Sivan K gets 1-year extension as secy of Department of SpaceNEW DELHI: Sivan K has been given an one-year extension, till January 14, 2022, as the secre-tary, Department of Space, ac-cording to a Personnel Ministry order issued on Wednesday. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the exten-sion of tenure of Sivan K, secretary, Department of Space and chairman, Space Commission, for a period of one-year beyond January 14, 2021, that is up to January 14, 2022, it said. MPOST

New vistadome coaches will make train travel more memorable, says PM ModiOUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday praised the newly designed vis-tadome coaches developed by the Integral Coach Factory and said the comfort they will pro-vide will make journeys more memorable.

The vistadome tourist coaches, which have larger view-ing area including roof top glass and 44 seats for passengers that can rotate up to 180 degrees,

completed the 180 kmph trial run on Tuesday.

"Comfort and cutting edge technology! Will make train journeys more memorable," the PM said in a tweet responding to Railway Minister Piyush Goyal's post on the microblogging site introducing the new coaches.

"It is rightly said, 'Journey is best measured in terms of mem-ories rather than miles'. Take a look at the new Vistadome coaches of Indian Railways that will give an unforgettable travel

experience to passengers and will ensure that they truly have a journey to remember," tweeted Goyal.

The coach also has a Wi-Fi-based passenger information system and for the first time the vistadome coach has been built on the LHB platform, which is safer.

Among other stand-out features of the new vistadome coaches are that they are equipped with air-spring sus-pension in secondary stage for

better ride comfort, large glass windows and glass roof that boast electrically controlled opalescence, transparent roof for the passengers to get a pan-oramic view of their journey, and observatory lounge with a larger window at one end.

In the newly built coaches, a mobile charging socket has been provided for each passen-ger below the seat armrest, an entertainment system integrated with digital display screens and speakers for music lovers.

millenniumpost|NEW DELHI|THURSDAY, 31 DECEMBER, 2020mp nation 5

BAIL PLEA OF SUSPENDED IAS OFFICER IN GOLD SMUGGLING CASE DISMISSEDKOCHI: A court here on Wednesday dismissed the bail plea of suspended IAS officer M Sivasankar, an accused in the case pertaining to gold smuggling through diplomatic channel in Kerala. The Economic Offences Court, Ernakulam, dismissed his bail plea, considering the argument of the Special Prosecutor of Customs (Preventive) Commissionerate that the pe-titioner was likely to tamper with evidence, influence witnesses in the event of granting bail.

RAWAT RECOVERING FAST, TO BE DISCHARGED SOON: OFFICIALSDEHRADUN: Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat who is under treatment at AIIMS, Delhi is recovering fast and will soon be discharged from the hospital, officials said on Wednesday. There has been substantial improvement in the chief minister's condi-tion and all his test reports are normal, an official at the Chief Minister's Office here said. The CM is recov-ering fast and will soon be discharged from hospital, the official said quoting his physician N S Bisht.

BRIEFSNATION

OUR CORRESPONDENT

RAIPUR: Chhattisgarh has topped the country in the dynamic ranking of Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Rurban Mis-sion. The state has once again ranked first in the list of the best performing states in the ranking conducted by the Min-istry of Rural Development, Government of India on the basis of consolidated perfor-mance in the Rurban cluster area.

Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel has called it a proud achievement for the state and has congratulated all the offi-cers and employees from the state level to the ground level involved in the implementation of the Rurban mission. He has expressed hope that Chhattis-garh will be the model state of the country in the implementa-tion of the Rurban Mission. It is noteworthy that earlier Chhat-tisgarh had received the first prize for excellent implementa-tion of the Rurban Mission and as the best-performing state.

It is worth mentioning here that the "Dynamic ranking system" of all Rurban clusters of the country was prepared under the mission by the Min-istry of Rural Development, Government of India, based on a total of 12 indicators, assess-

ing the financial and material progress made so far under the Rurban Mission. The states have been ranked based on the consolidated performance of the cluster allocated to the various states of the country. According to the ranking done on the basis of the above stan-dards, Chhattisgarh has ranked first again in the list of the best performing states.

It is known that Chhattis-garh was awarded the first prize for "excellent implementation of the mission" by the Min-istry of Rural Development, Government of India, at the "National Award Distribution Ceremony" on December 19, 2019. Along with this, the State was awarded the first prize in the category "Best Performing State" under the Rurban Mis-sion at the National Award Dis-tribution ceremony organized by the Ministry of Rural Devel-opment, Government of India, at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi on September 11, 2018.

Chhattisgarh tops in SPMRM rankingCM says a proud achievement

BENGALURU: Both the ruling BJP and opposition Congress in Karnataka on Wednesday claimed major victories for candidates backed by them in the recent elections to over 5,700 village panchayats even as counting of votes polled in the grass-root level exercise was underway.

The elections, not held on party symbols, were conducted to 82,616 seats in 5,728 village panchayats in two phases on December 22 and 27 using bal-lot papers with a voter turnout of 78.58 per cent and counting was taken up on Wednesday morning.

Karnataka State Election Commission officials said counting was on at 226 centres at the Taluk headquarters by adhering to strict COVID-19 protocol of mandatory wearing of face masks, social distancing and hand hygiene.

Though there were no offi-cial declaration of results till night, BJP state chief Nalin Kumar Kateel and senior Con-gress leader Siddaramaiah maintained that candidates backed by their parties were winning in maximum seats.

A total of 2,22,814 can-didates contested the elec-tion, while 8,074 were elected unopposed.

Though these polls are not held on party symbols, all politi-cal parties have put in efforts to ensure that the candidate sup-ported by them wins, so as to have their hold on grass-root level politics.

In a statement, Kateel said BJP “won maximum seats”, for which he gave credit to various strategies drawn by the party.

He said rural-centric schemes such as Gram Swaraj and activation of booth level

committees helped in taking to the people the measures ini-tiated by the Central and state governments for development.

“People supported the devel-opment and voted in favour of the BJP backed candidates,” Kateel said.

Siddaramaiah in a series of tweets claimed that the farmers taught the BJP a lesson.

“Rural India is frustrated by the policies implemented by @BJP4India. Farmers are against anti-farmer laws and they found Gram Panchayat elections as the perfect opportunity to teach @BJP4India a lesson. Reports suggest that @INCKarnataka supported candidates are win-ning,” he said.

“Congress has always stood firmly with farmers and rural India. This has always instilled confidence among people.

Tradition of winning has continued,” he tweeted. AGENCIES

Karnataka: BJP, Congress claim big victory in Panchayat polls

CHANDIGARH: Kickstart-ing the process of recruitment to 50,000 government posts during the current fiscal, the Punjab Cabinet on Wednes-day approved restructuring 10 departments, paving the way for boosting their functional effi-cacy through technical upgra-dation. At a meeting of the state cabinet, chaired by Chief Min-ister Amarinder Singh, it was decided that new and more relevant posts would be cre-ated, where required, in place of the many redundant ones lying vacant for a long time.

"The move marks a major shift towards modernisation of government departments to equip them to meet the contem-porary operational challenges," an official statement said.

The 10 departments to be restructured are: labour, tech-nical education and industrial training, PWD (B and R), ani-mal husbandry, fisheries and dairy development, tourism and cultural affairs, local govern-ment, printing and stationery, sports and youth service wel-fare, defence services welfare, cooperation department. As part of the restructuring exer-cise, as many 2,375 posts will be abolished in these departments with another 785 to be created in the first go, the statement said.

It also said, "The government will recruit 50,000 people in 10 departments by March 31."

The Cabinet also approved

certain amendments to the Punjab Civil Services Rules for granting new pay scales (matrix) on the pattern of the Seventh Central Pay Commis-sion recommendations for all fresh recruits of the state gov-ernment and its entities.

The amendment approved by the Cabinet stipulates that the expression "fixed monthly emoluments" for the employ-ees, appointed to the service before the July 17, 2020, means the amount drawn monthly by a government employee equal to the minimum of the pay band of the service or post to which he is appointed.

The amount shall not include grade pay, special pay, annual increment or any other allowance, except travelling allowance drawn with refer-ence to the grade pay of the rel-evant service or post.

To "enhance efficiency in the functioning" of the Direc-torate of State Council of Edu-cational Research and Training (SCERT) and District Institutes of Education Training (DIETs), the Cabinet gave approval for the creation of separate cadre of their personnel. AGENCIES

Punjab govt to recruit 50,000 people by Mar 31

Punjab Cabinet gives nod to restructuring 10 departments

NEW DELHI: Over 2,300 dogs and 1,415 horses are serving police across states and union territories in the country, and Gujarat has the biggest reserve of animals followed by Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, according to latest govern-ment data.

The police in Gujarat have the maximum number of horses and camels, Maharash-tra the most number of sniffer dogs and UP tracker dogs, as on January 1, 2020, showed the data released by the Bureau of Police Research & Develop-ment (BPR&D).

Police across states and UTs in India have 3,867 animals, including tracker dogs, sniffer dogs, horses and camels, the BPR&D said in its latest data on police organisations.

Altogether, there are 2,365 dogs (1,516 sniffers and 849 trackers), 1,415 horses, 28 cam-els and 59 other animals with the police across the coun-try, the BPR&D, a wing of the Union Home Ministry, said.

Among the states and UTs, the police in Gujarat have the biggest reserve of 574 animals followed by Uttar Pradesh (428), Maharashtra (298), Madhya Pradesh (244), accord-ing to the data.

Gujarat Police have 422 horses, 69 sniffer dogs, 49 trackers dogs, 28 camels and six animals listed in the 'oth-

ers' category.UP Police have 215 horses,

96 sniffer dogs, 117 trackers dogs, while the figures for cam-els and 'other' animals were not available, the data showed.

Maharashtra Police have 194 sniffer dogs and 104 track-ers dogs but no horses or cam-els, while MP Police have 132 horses, 68 sniffer dogs and 44 tracker dogs, according to the BPR&D.

These states are followed by Telangana with 235 animals, Tamil Nadu with 226, Karna-taka 208, West Bengal 197, Raj-asthan 187, Andhra Pradesh 181, Kerala 157, Bihar 147 and Punjab 127.

The Delhi Police's animal reserve stood at 86 with 15 tracker dogs, 59 sniffer dogs and 12 horses, as on January 1,

2020, the data showed.From the lower side, the

UT of Dadra and Nagar Haveli has three animals in its police reserve followed by Mani-pur and Sikkim (six each), Arunachal Pradesh (seven), Mizoram and Puducherry (eight each), it showed.

Goa, Andaman and Nico-bar Islands and Meghalaya have 11 animals each, while Himachal Pradesh has 16, Tri-pura 18, Assam 50, Odisha 41, Uttarakhand 45, Chandi-garh 43, Jammu and Kashmir 59, Jharkhand 62, Haryana 80 and Chhattisgarh 87, the data showed. The BPR&D said no figures were made available from the UTs of Lakshadweep, Ladakh, Daman and Diu, and the northeastern state of Naga-land. MPOST

‘Over 2,300 dogs, 1,415 horses serving police across India’

NEW DELHI: The Republic Day celebrations at Rajpath next month are likely to witness a number of changes including smaller marching contingents, shorter distance for the parade and fewer spectators compared to the previous years in view of the coronavirus pandemic, people familiar with the devel-opment said on Wednesday.

Every year, India displays its military might, rich cultural diversity and socio-economic

progress during the Republic Day celebrations at the Raj-path -- the city's centrepiece boulevard.

The people cited above said though the overall hue of the Republic Day parade will be maintained, its scale and size will be restricted to an extent in view of the coronavirus pandemic.

India has invited British Prime Minister Boris Johnson as the Chief Guest for the Repub-

lic Day parade.The preparations for the

celebrations are being made keeping in mind all COVID-19

protocols, said an official.The people said around

25,000 spectators will be allowed to witness the celebra-tions as against a normal crowd of around 100,000 people and that children below 15 years of age will not be allowed entry.

Similarly, the size of the marching contingents is likely to be brought down from around 144 in each contingent to around 96.

The parade is likely to be

of shorter distance. It will start from Vijay Chowk and end at the National Stadium instead of the Red Fort, the people said.

Sources said over 2,000 Army personnel have arrived in Delhi since late November for Republic Day and Army Day parades and they are being kept in a "safe bubble".

The "safe bubble", created in the Cantonment area, comprises a large number of camps and those selected to stay in them

will have almost "zero connec-tivity" with the outside world till the Republic Day celebra-tions on January 26 are over, sources said.

The Army Day is celebrated on January 15. Similar arrange-ments have been made by the Indian Navy and the Indian Air Force.

Two contingents of the IAF have been selected for the parade and one of them will participate in it. MPOST

R-Day parade likely to be shorter, to have smaller marching contingents

OUR CORRESPONDENT

CHANDIGARH: In a setback on Wednesday, the ruling BJP-JJP combine in Haryana could win only one of three mayoral seats for which elections were held recently.

The mayoral elections in the cities of Ambala, Panch-kula and Sonipat were held on Sunday.

While the BJP struggled to win in Panchkula, the Congress and the Haryana Jan Chetna Party (HJCP) bagged mayoral posts in Sonipat and Ambala, respectively.

It was for the first time that direct elections were held for mayoral posts in the three cities.

The setback for the ruling coalition has come in the wake of the BJP sweeping mayors polls in five Haryana cities two years ago.

In 2018, the party had won mayoral polls in Hisar, Karnal, Panipat, Rohtak and Yamunanagar.

In November this year, the ruling combine had failed to win the Baroda assembly bypolls in Sonipat, with the Congress retaining the seat.

For the post of mayor in

Ambala, HJCP's Shakti Rani Sharma, wife of former Union minister Venod Sharma, emerged as a surprise winner, defeating Vandana Sharma of the BJP by a margin of 8,084 votes.

The Congress candidate ended up at the fourth spot, officials said.

The win came as a boost to the Venod Sharma-led party, which tasted its first win after the 2014 Haryana assembly poll debacle.

Shakti Rani Sharma said her victory was due to people's love and support . When one's intent is clear, people back you, she said.

Kulbushan Goyal of the BJP will be Panchkula's new mayor. He defeated Congress' Upinder Kaur Ahluwalia by 2,057 votes.

For the elections to the mayor's post in Panchkula, 1,333 voters exercised the NOTA option.

The Congress won the Sonipat mayoral polls. The par-ty's Nikhil Madaan defeated BJP's Lalit Batra by 13,818 votes.

Polls were also held to elect councilors of all wards in the three cities. Voting was also held to elect the president

and members of the munic-ipal council in Rewari and the municipal committees of Sampla (Rohtak), Dharuhera (Rewari) and Ukalana (Hisar).

In the Ambala MC polls, the BJP won eight of the 20 seats, HJCP 7, Congress 3 and Haryana Democratic Front 2.

In Sonipat, the BJP won 10 wards and the Congress 9. On one seat, an Independent emerged victorious.

In Panchkula, the BJP and the Congress won nine and seven seats, respectively. The JJP won two.

The post of the Rewari municipal council chairperson was bagged by BJP's Poonam Yadav, who defeated Indepen-dent candidate Upma Yadav by 2,087 votes. The Congress slipped to the third spot here.

The BJP-JJP combine failed to bag posts of president in three municipal committees of Dharuhera, Sampla and Uklana, where Independents reaped gains.

Kanwar Singh won from Dharuhera, defeating another Independent candidate Deena Ram. In Sampla, Pooja defeated BJP's Sonu while Sushil Sahu Wala defeated JJP's Mahender Soni in Uklana.

Haryana: Setback for BJP-JJP combine in mayoral pollsCold wave conditions

prevail in North India

Cabinet nod to opening Indian missions in Estonia, Paraguay, Dominican RepublicNEW DELHI: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the opening of Indian missions in Estonia, Paraguay and Dominican Republic, a move that will help promote trade and cultural relations with these countries, Union minister Prakash Javadekar said. He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has always pitched for maintaining good relations with all countries and the move was part of the efforts to further strengthen ties with other nations. In a tweet, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said the decision will further expand India’s ties with the three countries. MPOST

Cabinet approves export of Akash missile system

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: Cold wave con-ditions continued to prevail in the northern states of the coun-try on Wednesday, while dense fog enveloped several areas, including Jammu where nine flights were cancelled due to poor visibility.

The India Meteorological Department said a cold wave swept through Delhi as the min-imum temperature dipped to 3.5 degrees Celsius.

Nine flights to and from Jammu Airport were cancelled as a dense fog enveloped the region for a second day, while the prevailing cold wave con-dition tightened its grip after the recent snowfall in the high altitude areas. Jammu Airport Director Pravat Ranjan Beuria said five more flights have been delayed. A dense fog returned to Jammu city amid a drop in the night temperature which settled at 2.9 degrees Celsius, 4.5 notches below normal during this part of the season.

However, the sun came out around noon provided some relief from the bone-chilling cold and improvement in the visibility in some areas.

Bhaderwah in Doda dis-trict was the coldest recorded place in Jammu region with a low of minus 3.8 degrees Cel-sius, a spokesman of the MET department said. The shrine atop Trikuta hills and adjoin-ing areas also experienced the first snowfall of the season on the weekend.

Intense cold wave conditions

swept Kashmir as the mercury fell below the freezing point across the valley.

The cloud cover ahead of Tuesday's snowfall had kept the night temperature around the freezing point for two consecu-tive nights in most parts of the valley but the respite ended as the mercury plunged to minus 11 degrees in Gulmarg in north Kashmir, the officials said.

They said Gulmarg tour-ist destination was the cold-est recorded place in the valley.

Pahalgam, which serves as the base camp for annual Amarnath yatra in south Kash-mir, recorded a low of minus 9 degrees Celsius -- a drop of six notches in 24 hours.

The officials said the mini-mum temperature in Srinagar - the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir - was minus 2.2 degrees Celsius on Tuesday night.

There was dense to very dense fog at isolated places

in western Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday and cold wave con-ditions prevailed at a few places across the state. The Lucknow meteorological office said day temperatures fell markedly in Allahabad division, while there was no large change in the state's other divisions.

The day temperature was appreciably below normal in Jhansi, Agra and Meerut divi-sions and normal in the others. The lowest temperature in the state was recorded in Fursatganj at 3.6 degrees Celsius, while the highest was recorded in Banda at 23.6 degrees Celsius.

The weather office forecast said it would most likely remain dry in the state and warned that dense fog was likely in western UP and isolated places in the eastern part of the state.

Cold wave conditions are likely to prevail at isolated places in the state, the weather office said.

The Meteorological Depart-

ment has forecast rain and snowfall in Himachal Pradesh from January 3 to 5. The Shimla MeT Centre has predicted rain-fall in plains and low hills, and rain and snowfall in mid and high hills of the state from Sun-day to Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the weather remained dry in the state in the last 24 hours, Shimla MeT cen-tre director Manmohan Singh said. Keylong, Kalpa, Manali, Dalhousie and Kufri shivered at sub-zero temperature on Wednesday, Singh said.

Tribal district Lahaul-Spiti's administrative centre Keylong remained the coldest place in the state at minus 12.7 degrees Cel-sius, he said. Shimla recorded a low of 0.9 degree Celsius.

Cold conditions persisted in parts of Rajasthan where mercury dipped below freez-ing point at two places.

Mount Abu shivered at minus 4 degrees Celsius, while in the plains Churu was the coldest, recording a mini-mum temperature of minus 1.5 degrees Celsius followed by Pilani where the mercury settled at 0.5 degrees.

Cold wave conditions pre-vailed in most parts of Punjab and Haryana, even as a thick layer of fog enveloped the two states in the morning.

The minimum temperatures hovered well below the nor-mal limits at most places, even though there was a marginal increase as compared to Tues-day's temperatures. At a low of 1.8 degrees Celsius, Amritsar was the coldest place in Punjab.

9 flights cancelled as fog reduces visibility at Jammu airport for 2nd dayNEW DELHI: The CBI on Wednesday carried out searches at the prem-ises of infrastructure firm IVRCL, its Managing Direc-tor E Sudhir Reddy and Joint Managing Director R Balarami Reddy who have been booked by the agency for an alleged fraud worth over Rs 4,800 crore against a consortium of banks, offi-cials said. The agency has booked the Hyderabad-based company and its direc-tors on a complaint from the State Bank of India, CBI Spokesperson RC Joshi said.

"It was alleged that the accused in connivance with unknown public servants and others defrauded the consortium of public sec-tor banks, consisting of State Bank of India, IDBI Bank, Canara Bank, Andhra Bank, Corporation Bank, EXIM Bank, Punjab & Sind Bank, Union Bank of India and caused a loss of Rs 4,837 crore to the banks," he said.

The CBI has alleged that the company had availed credit facilities from consor-tium members and cheated them by not repaying the loan amount. "It was also alleged that as per the foren-sic audit report, the company made payments to related parties through letters of credit, without recording any purchase transactions in the books and routed the funds to the account of the company and thereby misap-propriated the bank funds," Joshi said. AGENCIES

‘Hyd-based infra firm, MD booked by CBI for alleged

bank fraud of Rs 4,837 crore’

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: In a major move to boost domestic defence manufacturing, the government on Wednesday approved the export of indig-enously-developed surface-to-air Akash missile system and set up a panel to ensure faster approvals for acquisition pro-posals by various countries.

The Akash missile systems have over 96 percent indig-enous components and the weapon can hit targets at a range of 25 km.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said the export version of Akash missiles would be differ-ent from the system currently deployed with Indian armed forces.

The decision to export the missile systems was taken at a Cabinet meeting presided by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“Under the #AtmaNirb-harBharat, India is growing in its capabilities of manufactur-ing a wide variety of Defence platforms & missiles. The Cab-inet chaired by PM @naren-dramodi ji today approved the export of Akash Missile Sys-tem and a Committee for faster approvals has been created,” Singh tweeted.

He said Indian defence exports so far included parts and components.

mp nation6

THREE KILLED IN ROAD ACCIDENT ANAND (GUJ): Three men were killed on Wednes-day when a truck hit their motorcycle near Kanbhai-pura village in Gujarat’s Anand district, police said. The incident occurred in the early hours when the trio was headed towards a factory, where they used to work, in Savli in neighbouring Vadodara district, a Khambholaj police station official told reporters. The truck driver fled the spot after the accident, he said, adding that a case has been registered against him under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Motor Vehicles Act.

QUAKE OF 4.3 MAGNITUDE HITS GUJ BHUJ: An earthquake of 4.3 magnitude hit Kutch dis-trict of Gujarat on Wednesday morning, officials said. No casualty was reported due to it, they said. “An earthquake of 4.3 intensity was recorded at 9.46 am with its epicentre at 26 kms East Southeast of Khavda village in Kutch,” Gandhinagar-based Institute of Seis-mological Research said in a statement. Police control room of Kutch-West division said that since the quake hit the desert region of north Kutch, which is sparsely populated and which does not have high-rises, no ca-sualty or damage to property was reported due to it.

BRIEFSNATION

IN WAIT OF PROSPERITY

Young women pose for photographs with ‘2021’ as they prepare to welcome the New Year 2021 in Bhopal on Wednesday PIC/PTI

NEW DELHI|THURSDAY, 31 DECEMBER, 2020|millenniumpost

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed the release of ten women naval officers, who are seeking grant of permanent commis-sion (PC), from the services as scheduled on December 31 this year.

A vacation bench compris-ing justices Indira Banerjee and Aniruddha Bose took note of the submissions of senior advocate Meenakshi Arora, appearing for the women naval officers, and granted the interim relief.

In the proceedings con-ducted through video con-ferencing, the bench said the Centre and the Chief of Naval Staff can file their replies to the petitions of the women officers and fixed their pleas for further hearing on January 19.

"We will direct that the mat-ter be listed on January 19 along with pending writ petitions. In the meanwhile, there will be

a stay on order of December 18 (on release/retirement of women officers)," it said.

The bench said the interim order would not result in any equity in favour of the officers.

Senior Advocate R Balasu-bramanian appeared for the Centre in the matters.

The two separate peti-tions have been filed by ten women Short Service Com-mission (SSC) officers includ-ing Annie Nagaraj and CDR Vijayeta seeking grant of per-manent commission in the Indian Navy.

They were to be released from services on December 31.

Earlier, the top court, in a landmark verdict on March 17 this year, had asked the Cen-tre and the Navy to grant PC to Short Service Commission (SSC) women officers in the Indian Navy and had asked them to complete the modali-ties within three months. MPOST

NEW DELHI: Uttar Pradesh has become the "epicentre of the politics of hate, division and bigotry" and the institu-tions of governance are "steeped in communal poison," alleged 104 retired civil servants in a letter to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. The signatories of the letter, including former for-eign secretary Nirupama Rao, ex-national security adviser Shivshankar Menon, former chief information commis-sioner Wajahat Habibullah, also demanded immediate with-drawal of the anti-conversion ordinance.

They alleged that the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlaw-ful Conversion of Religion Ordinance was being used to "victimise especially those Indian men who are Muslim and women who dare to exer-cise their freedom of choice".

Promulgated on November 27, the ordinance specifies the procedure for undergoing reli-gious conversion and prohibits unlawful religious conversion. The BJP-led Madhya Pradesh government too has come up with a similar ordinance.

"It has become painfully evi-dent that, in recent years, UP state, once known as the cradle of the Ganga-Jamuna civilisa-tion, has become the epicentre of the politics of hate, division and bigotry and that the insti-tutions of governance are now steeped in communal poison," the retired civil servants wrote in the letter dated December 29. They also referred to a case of an interfaith marriage involv-ing a Muslim man and a Hindu woman in Moradabad.

"In the Moradabad inci-dent, 22-year-old Rashid and his 25-year-old brother, Saleem, were arrested, to be released only two weeks later when Rashid's wife, Pinki, gave testi-mony that she had married him willingly, without any compul-sion," the letter, also signed by ex-police commissioner of Pune Meeran Borwankar, stated. MPOST

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Wednesday sought response from the Andhra Pradesh government on a plea challenging the stipulated condition of three years practice as an advocate to be eligible for appearing in exam for appointment as civil judge in the state.

While agreeing to hear the plea, a vacation bench of justices Indira Banerjee and Aniruddha Bose also issued notice to the Registrar (recruitment) of the Andhra Pradesh High Court on the petition.

The apex court was hearing a petition filed by R Venkatesh who has challenged the condition in the Andhra Pradesh State Judicial Service

Rules which stipulates that a person eligible to apply for post of civil judge has to be practising as an advocate for not less than three years.

The plea has also questioned the December 3 notification, which has invited application for general recruitment to the post of civil judge (junior division) and said that the recruitment process shall be governed by Andhra Pradesh State Judicial (Service and Cadre) Rules 2007.

The petitioner's counsel told the bench that as per the December 3 notification, the last date for submission of online application was January 2.

The bench, while issuing notice on the petition, listed it for hearing on January 5.

CHITRAKOOT (UP): A local Congress leader and his nephew were shot dead allegedly by their neighbour in Prasiddh-pur village here, police said on Wednesday.

Pahadi police station SHO Shravan Kumar Singh has been suspended on charges of laxity following the double murder.

Former district unit vice-president of Congress Ashok Patel (55) had an old rivalry with his neighbour Kamlesh Kumar, who arrived at his house on Tuesday night and opened fire with his rifle, Superintendent of Police Ankit Mittal said. Patel's 28-year-old nephew Shubham, who rushed was also shot at, the SP said, adding that both died on the spot. Infuriated over the murder, Patel's family mem-bers tried to set the house of the accused on fire but police arrived on the scene and man-aged to control the situation, the SP said.

Kumar is absconding and teams have been constituted to nab him, the SP said. Police force has been deployed in the village in view of the prevailing tension, the SP said, adding the family of the victim is yet to file a police complaint. The bodies have been sent for a post-mor-tem. SHO Shravan Kumar Singh has been placed under suspen-sion with immediate effect ,find-ing him prima facie guilty of laxity, the SP added. AGENCIES

DEHRADUN: An interfaith couple who had approached the Uttarakhand High Court seeking protection has been booked here along with two others for allegedly not follow-ing the provisions of the state's anti-conversion law, police said on Wednesday. According to police, this is the first case of violation of the Uttarakhand Freedom of Religion Act in the state since it came into force in 2018.

An FIR was lodged at the Patel Nagar police station here on Tuesday against the couple who got married in September, the husband's uncle in whose presence the 'nikah' took place and the qazi who solemnised the alliance, Patel Nagar SHO Pradeep Rana said.

The HC, after the couple approached it seeking protec-tion, had directed the District Magistrate to inquire into the

matter, police said.The police found that the

woman had converted to Islam without informing her parents or the district authorities prior to her marriage as is required by the law, SHO Rana said. Cir-cle Officer Anuj Kumar said it was in violation of sections 3, 8 and 12 of the Uttarakhand Freedom of Religion Act, 2018.

Section 3 of the Act prohib-its conversion either directly or otherwise, by use of misrepre-sentation, force, undue influ-ence, coercion, allurement or by any fraudulent means or by marriage. Section 8 of the Act says, "One who desires to con-vert his religion, shall give a declaration at least one month in advance to the District Mag-istrate or any official authorised by him for the purpose saying that he wishes to convert with-out any force, coercion, undue influence or allurement. MPOST

SHIMLA: After recent snowfall in several places in Himachal Pradesh, people from various parts of the country especially from neighbouring Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh are thronging its tourist hotspots to usher in the New Year.

Most hotels in major tourist areas including Shimla, Manali, Dalhousie and Kufri were fully booked from Christmas till December 27 and they are also expected to be totally occupied from December 31 till January 3, said Mohinder Seth, presi-dent of an association of Him-achal Pradesh tourism industry stakeholders.

Seth said the state gov-ernment allowed the entry of tourists in July after an over three-month ban due to the pandemic, but the tourist

hotspots of the hill state have witnessed the highest number of tourists on Christmas. The tourism boom after the recent snowfall on December 27 comes at the end of a year that saw little or no business even at the state's highly popular holiday resorts due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

The entire hospital-ity industry in the state was shut for almost eight months due to the pandemic and has recently gained momentum in last month of the year. As per government-owned Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (HPTDC) officials, almost all their properties are running on 100 per cent occu-pancy which is a remarkable feat amid the current pandemic situ-ation. However, while the state's

tourism industry is looking for-ward to doing brisk business in the coming weeks, the sharp spike in tourist arrivals has led to fears of increased spread of COVID-19. As on December 26, the state had 4,292 active COVID-19 cases and the death toll due to the disease reached 902. The state also reported 222 fresh cases on Saturday, taking the infection tally to 54,281, and 11 fatalities.

Former Himachal Pradesh chief minister Shanta Kumar's wife Santosh Shailja also died due to COVID-19 on Tues-day. Shimla Superintendent of Police Mohit Chawla said the police and administration are taking all steps to control the spread of the virus and all COVID-related protocols are being followed. AGENCIES

PANAJI: The law department of the Goa government has given approval to a proposal to allow cultivation of marijuana for medicinal purposes, a minis-ter has said, a move which drew flak from opposition parties.

Law Minister Nilesh Cabral told reporters on Tuesday eve-ning that his department has vetted and cleared the pro-posal to allow cultivation of marijuana (ganja or grass) for medicinal purposes in the tourist state. The proposal was moved by the health depart-ment, he said. We have cleared the file from legal perspective. Controlled farming of mari-juana for medicinal purposes would be permitted, he said. The plant was added to the list of banned substances under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotro-

pic Substances (NDPS) in 1985, Cabral said.

Plantation of marijuana would be permitted so that the natural drug can be sold to pharmaceutical companies, he said. Earlier on Tuesday, Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant had said a proposal has been moved before the government to allow cultivation of mari-juana, but no approval has been granted in the matter.

Cabral's statement that his department has cleared the proposal to allow limited cul-tivation of marijuana in the state came hours later. The move drew sharp criticism from opposition parties in the BJP-ruled state. Goa Congress spokesman Amarnath Panjikar, addressing a press conference on Wednesday, said the BJP

government has "stooped to the lowest possible level".

The actions of the state gov-ernment are blatantly illegal. At a time when Goa is strug-gling to fight use of drugs, this move will further inject narcotics in the social system of the state, he said. Panjikar demanded that the government immediately scrap the proposal. The BJP has to admit that it is a party which supports nar-cotics trade, he said. Indepen-dent MLA and former minister Rohan Khaunte also slammed the decision. He tweeted, Can-nabis Legalisation spells Doom! Shameful that @goacm sup-ports this deadly proposal that will destroy Goan Youth by fos-tering Drug Culture, Crimes, Corruption, Social Degradation etc. AGENCIES

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: As the over seven-month-long border standoff with China showed no signs of solution, Defence Min-ister Rajnath Singh on Wednes-day said India cannot accept any unilateral change of the Line of Actual Control (LAC), and hoped the Ladakh dead-lock will be resolved through talks.

Asserting that India has always been in favour of peace, Singh also said the country can never compromise on its dig-nity and self-respect.

The defence minister said there was a possibility of more talks at the military and diplo-matic levels.

India and China are locked in a military standoff in eastern Ladakh since early May and have held multiple rounds of diplomatic and military parleys without any concrete outcome.

“No, how can this happen? The situation will remain the

same as before. India cannot accept unilateral change,” Singh told PTI-Bhasha when asked whether China was trying to change the LAC to make it a permanent one.

Nearly 50,000 troops of the Indian Army are deployed in a high state of combat readiness in various mountainous loca-tions in eastern Ladakh in sub-zero temperatures. China has also deployed an equal number of troops, according to officials.

“The talks are going on....

There is a possibility of more talks at the military and diplo-matic levels. India has always been in favour of peace. So, we hope a solution will be found out through talks,” Singh said.

The defence minister also said India wants to maintain good relations with all the neighbouring countries.

“China is our neighbour and there should be no aggres-sion on their part. We want to maintain good relations with neighbouring countries. The

history of India has also been that we have never attacked any country or occupied one inch of land of others. But it is also a fact that India can never com-promise on its dignity and self-respect,” he said.

The face-off began on May 5 following violent clashes between the armies of India and China in the Pangong lake area. The incident in Pangong Tso was followed by a similar incident in north Sikkim on May 9.

India and China held the last round of diplomatic talks on December 18 during which they agreed to continue work towards ensuring complete disengagement of troops in all friction points along the LAC in eastern Ladakh at the “earliest”.

Meanwhile, the govern-ment on Wednesday said 39 Indian sailors stuck in China will be brought back soon as diplomatic talks are on with the neighbouring country.

Two cargo vessels with a total of 39 Indians on board have been on anchorage in Chi-nese waters as they were not allowed to unload their cargo though some other ships have managed to do so.

“Diplomatic talks are going on for this successfully. Our seafarers will come to India soon,” Ports, Shipping and Waterways Minister Man-sukh Mandaviya said in reply to a query about sailors being stuck in China for the last seven months during Cabinet brief-ing. China on December 25 had said that there is no ‘link’ between stranded Indian ship crew on its Chinese ports and its strained relations with India and Australia.

The statement had come a day after the External Affairs Ministry had said that two cargo vessels with a total of 39 Indians on board have been on anchorage in Chinese waters as they were not allowed to unload their cargo.

THIRUVANANTHA-PURAM: Traditional stage artistes in Kerala can now heave a sigh of relief as the state government has decided to relax the curbs imposed on temple festivals in the wake of the spread of COVID-19.

State Devaswom Minis-ter Kadakampally Surendran said restrictions in connection with the festivities, would be relaxed in temples managed by the Travancore Devaswom Baord (TDB). TDB is an apex temple body in the southern state which manages over 1200 shrines.

The temple art forms can be staged in compliancewith the COVID protocol, the minister said here. "With the permission of the respective local police and in adherence to COVID criteria, stage performances can be conducted in temples," he said. AGENCIES

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: The entire Nagaland was on Wednesday declared a disturbed area for six more months by the central government, enabling the con-tinuation of the controversial AFSPA which empowers secu-rity forces to conduct oper-ations anywhere and arrest anyone without any prior warrant.

The Armed Forces (Spe-cial Powers) Act (AFSPA) has been in force in Nagaland for several decades.

The MHA said in a noti-fication that the central gov-ernment is of the opinion that the area comprising the whole of Nagaland is in such a dis-turbed and dangerous con-dition that the use of armed forces in aid of the civil power is necessary.

Now, therefore, in exer-cise of the powers conferred by Section 3 of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 (No. 28 of 1958), the central government hereby declares that whole of the State of Nagaland to be 'disturbed area' for a period of six months with effect from 30th Decem-ber 2020 for the purpose of the said Act, the notification said.

A home ministry official said the decision to continue the declaration of Nagaland as a "disturbed area" has been taken as killings, loot and extortion have been going on in various parts of the state which necessitated the action for the convenience of the security forces operating there.

There have been demands from various organisa-tions in the Northeast as well as in Jammu and Kash-mir for repealing the AFSPA, which, they allege, gives "sweeping powers" to security forces.

The AFSPA has not been withdrawn even after a frame-work agreement was signed on

August 3, 2015 by Naga insur-gent group NSCN-IM general secretary Thuingaleng Muivah and government interlocutor R N Ravi in te=he presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The framework agreement came after over 80 rounds of negotiations spanning 18 years, with the first break-through in 1997 when the ceasefire agreement was sealed after decades of insurgency in Nagaland.

However, the peace pro-cess has been stuck for some time as the NSCN-IM has been pressing for a sepa-rate flag and Constitution, a demand rejected by the central government.

‘Entire Nagaland declared disturbed area under AFSPA as condition dangerous’

Retd bureaucrats seek withdrawal

of anti-conversion ordinance

Interfaith couple booked for religious conversion

in violation of law

COVID: Ker govt relaxes curbs on temple festivities

SC stays release of 10 women naval officers from services

Cong leader, nephew shot dead in UP's Chitrakoot

Goa govt's law dept gives nod for ganja cultivation

Himachal sees tourist influx due to snowfall, New Year celebrations

SC notice to AP on plea against condition of 3-yr practice as lawyer

to appear in civil judge examPahadi police station SHO Shravan Kumar Singh has been suspended on charges of laxity following the double murder

‘India cannot accept any unilateral change of LAC’

Diplomatic talks with China on; stuck Indian sailors to reach India soon: Mandaviya

SRINAGAR: Police on Wednesday claimed to have killed three militants in an overnight encounter in the city's Parimpora area but fam-ilies of the slain youths said they had no connection with militancy and that two of them were students.

The families from south Kashmir's Pulwama and Shop-ian districts also staged a pro-test outside the police control room here and claimed that of those killed, one was a Class 11 student, one a uni-versity student and the other a carpenter.

While one militant was killed in the early hours of Wednesday, two others were shot dead a few hours later, a police spokesman said.

Referring to the claims made by the families, he said, "Generally parents don't have idea about the activities of their wards. Several OGWs (over-ground workers) after commit-ting terror crimes like grenade throwing and shooting, among others, stay normally with their family."

Though the three killed ter-rorists "were not mentioned in our list of terrorists, yet two of them are hardcore associ-ates of terrorists (OGWs)", the spokesman said, adding that of the two, one was a relative of top Hizbul Mujahideen com-mander Rayees Kachroo, who was killed in 2017. He said it is suspected that the third might have joined militant ranks very recently. AGENCIES

J&K police say 3 militants killed in encounter; families claim they

were not involved in militancy

Attainment of foun-dational literacy and numeracy is the ability of a third

standard child to read and comprehend basic text and to carry out some basic arithmetic operation with Indian numer-als. Several evaluation reports have revealed that among third standard students, the majority of children can neither read a second standard level text nor solve questions on subtrac-tion. Research indicates that if a child is unable to reach a certain degree of grade-level competency by the end of the third standard, the learning gap will only further deepen, perpetuating inequity and eco-nomic loss.

With nearly 10 years of experience in the development sector, Merlia Shaukath, a pas-sionate advocate for equity in education, founded Madhi Foundation in response to this mounting crisis and out of wanting to ensure that policy and implementation goes hand in hand while ensuring equity. Starting with just three schools and a five-member team, Madhi Foundation has now grown to be the Chief Manage-ment Partners of the Depart-ment of School Education, Tamil Nadu for implementing the State Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN) Mission for the next five years and will also be working with the Gov-ernment of Telangana to pilot the Mission in 150 schools, in collaboration with Cen-tral Square Foundation and CEGIS. Madhi will be collab-orating with the department in both states to design and over-see the implementation of the FLN Mission.

Over the years, the organ-isation has worked across Tamil Nadu alongside multiple government departments to implement holistic and multi-pronged education inter-ventions in primary school classrooms. Guided by a vision to put ‘foundational learning first, so every child can thrive’, Madhi is focused on ensuring meaningful primary education for all by transforming class-room learning and systemic administrative processes. The team at Madhi comes with a diverse background ranging

from policy analysis, curricu-lum design, teacher training, and data science, having a firm understanding of classroom realities. Together, they have been able to learn from years of experimentation and growth to develop complex interventions that are tailored to the unique contexts of Tamil Nadu’s gov-ernment schools. With the integration of technology and contextually scalable models in its programme design, Madhi has been able to scale its reach from 15 schools in 2016 and 2000 schools in 2018 to over 37,000 schools and 10 lakh children today.

At the crux of Madhi’s model to effect change is the idea of systemic transforma-tion and partnership with the government. Young and dynamic officers like Pooja Kulkarni, the then State Proj-ect Director, Samgra Shik-sha, its current Director G Latha and visionary Pradeep Yadav, the then Principal Secretary School Education in Tamil Nadu helped to cre-ate an effective public-private partnership. Recognising that student learning outcomes cannot be improved by chang-ing merely the curriculum or

teacher training alone, Mad-hi’s programme design aims to tackle the foundational learning crisis through a 6T approach — by integrating interventions across teaching-learning materials, training, tracking of data, tutoring at home and targeted advocacy efforts all the while leverag-ing Technology. This holistic approach necessitates a pub-lic-private partnership that allows not only scale in reach but also depth in the trans-formation effected. Ensuring that the programme design caters to the unique needs of the context, and are scalable has allowed Madhi to build this partnership which in turn has led to immense learning in terms of altering the pro-gramme design based on field-level inputs and varied experiences of stakeholders.

As a non-profit organisa-tion, Madhi’s efforts to increase its impact has been nurtured by their donor partners as well who have assisted with skill development, programme strategy, and product design, thus expanding the horizons of a public-private partnership to include various other integral stakeholders within the devel-

opment ecosystem.Madhi’s theory of change

emphasises that when peda-gogy is rooted in local contexts, and technology and data are leveraged to accurately cap-ture student learning out-comes and teacher capacities, the system will make evidence-based decisions with a sense of urgency to improve student learning. Emphasising the role of the system as an agent of change, these interventions target multiple levels of stake-holders from administrators and teachers to parents and children.

Over the years, Madhi has seen a 4X average improve-ment in literacy skills, and a 2X average improvement in numeracy skills across stan-dard one to three. The blended teacher training model pio-neered by Madhi has seen warm reception with over 87 per cent attendance and 95 per cent of teachers preferring it over conventional training methods. To improve data-driven decision making at the state level, the Tamil Nadu Vagupparai Nokkin (TNVN) classroom observation applica-tion was launched by the state in partnership with Madhi,

which in turn saw an increase from two per cent to 87 per cent administrators complet-ing tech-enabled classroom observation. Within the class-room, Madhi, along with the State Council of Educa-tional Research and Training (SCERT) and Samagra Shik-sha Tamil Nadu addresses the complexities of teaching in a multigrade classroom by supporting teachers with contextually designed bilin-gual, scripted teacher hand-books, and level-based student workbooks.

In working towards their goal of solving the founda-tional learning crisis in India by 2030, Madhi plans to scale both in-depth and breadth in the coming years. Madhi is focused on creating a model that is both contextual and scalable, as the organisation believes that an interven-tion that does not cater to the diverse and unique needs of a system is not a scalable one. This will include reaching out to more stakeholders within the multiple layers of the sys-tem in Tamil Nadu, as well as expanding to new geogra-phies in partnership with other state governments. Madhi is also hoping to drive data-driven policy design beyond Tamil Nadu by expanding the scope of classroom observa-tion applications embedded within state education depart-ments across the country.

Madhi believes that equi-table and purposeful education can be a great leveller for chil-dren, mitigating the adverse impact of most social, cultural or economic disadvantages on their future, and helping them create life paths of their choice and conquer their destinies. By placing the focus on equitable access, systemic change and contextual solutions, Madhi has embarked on a critical journey to transform class-room realities and is commit-ted to ensuring that no child is left behind.

Madhi presents a won-derful example of the Nexus of Good. Once the proof of concept of good practice was established, it endeavoured to partner with the State Govern-ment to scale the operations.

Views expressed are personal

mp editorial 7

ADITYA SINGLA

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A WELCOME VERDICT

DearEditor

Calcutta High Court on Tuesday directed the police to ensure crowd control and the administration to take Covid-control measures during upcoming year-end festivities. The Court has taken note of media reports of overcrowding during Christmas eve and on Christmas Day. Alarmingly, Covid protocols went for a toss as lakhs of revellers, mostly in groups of families and friends, descended on Park Street, a traditional hotspot in the city to celebrate Christmas last week. Doctors were particularly perturbed by the sight of a large number of visitors without masks in the crowded zone. Large crowds had also been recorded at the zoo, the garden of Victoria Memorial and Eco Park in New Town, among other places. The city’s behaviour during the last festivity was inappropriate for a pandemic season. The experts opine that reckless behaviour could spike in COVID-19 cases. Urging people to be cautious on New Year’s eve, doctors pointed out that it was too early to let guards down since the cases are continuously increasing. The number of cases may have plateaued in Bengal but Mumbai, Kerala and Delhi were still reeling under the second wave of infection which could be triggered in Kolkata if people do not follow the health protocols. Perhaps Covid restrictions need to be maintained for several months more even if the numbers drop further and a vaccine arrives.

The Coronavirus pan-demic has brought the deficiencies in our public health sys-

tem to the forefront. Access to medicines and that too at rea-sonable prices is fundamental to ensure universal health cov-erage, enhancing the quality of life and resultant longevity.

India is described as the ‘pharmacy of the world’, but Indians themselves do not have adequate access to qual-ity medicines at affordable rates. Article 47 of the Direc-tive Principles of State Policy enshrined in the Indian Con-stitution lay adequate empha-sis on the role of the state to improve the public health system.

The intellectual property rights in India allow the drugs and processes to be patented allowing the patentee monop-oly rights for a given period. After the expiration of the pat-ent duration, the drug can be freely produced by any com-pany helping in reducing the prices of these drugs known as generic medicines. Generic medicines are equally effec-tive as their branded counter-parts and are on average 30 per cent-85 per cent cheaper. India is the largest producer of generic medicines world-wide and occupies a 20 per cent share in the global sup-ply of generic medicines by volume. Moreover, the micro, small, and medium enter-prises (MSME) dominate the Indian generic market, there-fore, employ hundreds of thou-sands of persons.

With 1/3rd of the country’s population living in poverty, India has one of the highest pocket expenditure on med-icines and healthcare. India

must take advantage of low priced generic medicines. Recognising the twin benefits of generic medicines to soci-ety, the Government of India started the ‘Jan Aushadhi’ ini-tiative in 2008 for better access to generic medicines. How-ever, so far only about 4,100 Jan Aushadhi Kendras could be made operational, although there are eight lakh retail phar-macies. The Government has also issued directions mak-ing it mandatory for doctors to prescribe generic medi-cines. It is also essential to display generic medicines in retail stores prominently and conspicuously.

The profit margin in the case of branded medicines is many times that for generic medicines. The medical rep-resentatives of these com-panies upscale their sales by sheer money power which is not possible for MSMEs which produce generic medicines. Also, there is deficient regu-

lation for the manufacturing of generic medicines result-ing in difficulty to verify the bioequivalence of generic medicines.

The United States Food and Drug Administration pub-lishes the Orange Book listing all the approved generic med-icines besides the trade name, ingredients and also verifies the therapeutic equivalence of the medicine. In India, the Central Drugs Standard Con-trol Organisation (CDSCO) which is the nodal agency for regulation of manufacturing of generic medicines does not provide any such database that leads to low confidence of people in all generic medi-cines even if these medicines are effective.

On lines of the Orange Book published by USFDA, USA, a list of all generic medi-cines available in India can be created and be given wide pub-licity through different elec-tronic and print media. This

will improve the confidence of doctors and patients in generic medicines.

Access to quality and effective medicines should not be limited by the purchas-ing power of an individual. This wall of haves and have nots has to be broken starting from within the Government. The Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) run by the Government of India and similar schemes opera-tionalised in the state gov-ernments for its officers and employees, including elected representatives like MPs, MLAs, and MLCs.

There are more than 25 million serving government employees in addition to an equal number of retirees who are entitled to free medi-cal treatment in the govern-ment hospitals or the hospitals empanelled by the state gov-ernment or the Central Gov-ernment as the case may be. The medicines are either sup-

plied through government dispensaries procured by the medical health department or the medicines are purchased by the patient and reimbursed by the Government.

Can we think of evolving a system whereby the procured medicines by the government agencies are generic only and if purchased by the patient then only the reimburse-ment is capped to the price of generic medicine if the same is available?

It would serve two-fold purposes; one, it will help the Government in saving money on account of medicines; two, since the government servants shall be purchasing medicines, it will lead to better checks on their quality aspects.

The pharmaceutical indus-try is also overly dependent on China for its raw material, that is, APIs (active pharma-ceutical ingredients). At pres-ent, almost 70 per cent of the APIs in India are sourced from China. Keeping in mind Chi-na’s aggressive and opportu-nistic behaviour, a blockade on exports of APIs to India could pose a major national security threat. Despite hav-ing the capacity and capabil-ity to manufacture APIs, the Indian industry cannot com-pete with the artificially low prices supported by the Chi-nese Government.

Atma Nirbhar Bharat must address the problems faced by the pharmaceutical industry. The Coronavirus vaccines researched, developed and manufactured in India are a testament to India’s capability and capacity.

The writer is a research scholar at JNU. Views expressed are personal

Access to quality and effective medicines should not be limited by the purchasing power of an individual. This wall of haves and have nots has to be broken starting from within the Government

India’s experience with tackling COVID-19 has further highlighted the urgent need to bring affordability and accessibility to India’s healthcare and pharmaceutical sector

Expanding access

Madhi FoundationMaking full use of public-private partnerships, the Madhi Foundation is engaged in the all-important endeavour of ensuring equitable foundational literacy for the children of India

Madhi believes that equitable and purposeful education can be a great leveller for children, mitigating the adverse impact of most social, cultural or economic disadvantages on their future, and helping them create life paths of their choice and conquer their destinies

EDITORIAL

Looking backIt is only on the brink that people find the will to change.

Only at the precipice do we find the will to evolve. These illuminating words of wisdom have likely found expression throughout human history even before they were framed

and enunciated in such a manner in the 2008 movie, ‘The Day the Earth Stood Still’. They signify, of course, that humanity grows by overcoming adversity but there is more to it. It also signifies that we only truly attempt to move forward when the failure of our ways becomes evident. As a race, we only attempt to fix things when they are already at breaking point.

COVID-19 did not simply blindside us and render us help-less in the same way as the robot Gort did to humanity in ‘The Day the Earth Stood Still.’ Indeed, if our society was indeed flipped on its head, it was more a matter of our fragility rather than the absolute nature of this crisis. What Covid exposed was the many cracks and signs of rot that had continued to eat away at the base of our world and its systems for a long time. The virus simply kicked the legs out from under a world soci-ety that was, at best, limping forward. The fragility and ineq-uity of our systems of governance, healthcare, economy, etc., was already a daily reality for many but the pandemic brought home these realities to those who see history as something that happens to others. At the beginning of this year, many of us did not know what to expect, did not see the encompassing nature of this crisis. Now, at the end of 2020, we are all weary, hard-ened and hopefully wiser. 2020 has taught us many lessons as people, as nations and as a species. Above all, 2020 is proof of human resilience and capability under fire. From being virtu-ally unprepared and caught unawares like a deer in the head-lights, we have rallied together and produced several vaccines at a previously inconceivable pace. Although there are worry-ing signs that our baser proclivities will mar our moment of triumph (vaccine nationalism, monopolies, etc), there are also reasons to hope that we will rise above.

Just as 2020 reinforced our faith in science and expertise, it has also (largely) restored faith in our governments. Govern-ment interventions, a much-maligned concept in recent times was revealed to be a critical factor in keeping our economies and societies afloat in this time of crisis. Governments had learning to do as well. The pandemic upended many of the assumptions about good governance and the strength of advanced nations. Many of the world’s greatest economies did not better (and in fact, some did worse) than other less developed economies. While major economies like US and UK failed to mobilise their considerable resources and expertise to effectively tackle the pandemic, smaller nations like Vietnam and Senegal had much more success rallying their limited resources behind unified agendas that served them well at a time when the world’s larg-est economies were facing an uncontrollable crisis. There are indications that leaders throughout the world willfully ignored warnings from the scientific community regarding the state of health security and general vulnerability of current health sys-tems to sudden, expansive shocks like the ongoing pandemic. While it is indeed too early to condense the learnings for good governance to arise out of this crisis, it is a safe bet that health security will finally get its due as a vital part of national secu-rity, inducing governments to take an active role in providing inclusive healthcare. Our systems of work and education will also likely be changed for good as 2020 emphasised the need for operational flexibility. Remote-working and remote-learn-ing will likely not simply be specific coping mechanisms to the pandemic but will rather represent a new way for us to learn and work. Many major companies realised that work from home is in no way less efficent and has many additional prac-tical benefits. Some companies such as Twitter went so far as to say that work from home will remain part of the new work-ing model for good with a signifiant portion of their workforce expected to work permanently from home. On the education side, remote learning has created an opportunity to extend the reach and scale of our systems of education to never before wit-nessed levels. Again, these are not simply coping mechanisms for 2020 but the true evolution of our existing systems that can and must be continued. Finally, one of the biggest lessons of 2020 is not specific to people or governments. It is the message of compassion and human concern, The pandemic highlighted that selfishness is not only morally problematic but detrimen-tal in a practical sense as well. This pandemic and indeed any future crisis cannot be tackled by one nation or even a group of nations. In a simpler sense, the health and safety of your neighbour is also your concern. Ultimately, 2020 is a year that can end with a level of optimism that only a crisis can bring out. There is hope that while humanity stumbled into 2020, it will confidently swagger out towards 2021, head held high and eyes clear with surety and self-confidence.

Madhi has embarked on a critical journey to transform classroom realities and is committed to ensuring that no child is left behind

....KHOKAN DAS, KOLKATA via email

MAMATA BANERJEE@MamataOfficial

On this day in 1943, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose had hoisted the Tricolour for the first time in #PortBlair. On the 77th anniversary of that historic event, tribute to the great leader. #Netaji - a great son of this country - continues to inspire us

tweet OF THE DAY

millenniumpost|NEW DELHI|THURSDAY, 31 DECEMBER, 2020

Nexus of Good

ANIL SWARUP

Despite being the ‘world’s pharmacy’, Indians themselves do not have adequate access to affordable, safe and effective medicines

NEW DELHI|THURSDAY, 31 DECEMBER, 2020|millenniumpostmp world8

No travel history in 1st reported US case of Coronavirus variant

DENVER: A Colorado man who became the first reported person in the US to have a COVID-19 variant that is spreading in the United King-dom hadnt been traveling, health officials have said, trig-gering a host of questions about how the new strain showed up in the Rockies.

Colorado officials were expected to provide more details at a news conference Wednesday about how the man in his 20s from a mostly rural area of rolling plains at the edge of the Denver metro area came down with the variant.

For the moment, the vari-ant is likely still rare in the US, but the lack of travel his-tory in the first case means it is spreading, probably seeded by travelers from Britain in November or December, said scientist Trevor Bedford, who studies the spread of COVID-19 at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.

Now I’m worried there will be another spring wave due to the variant, Bedford said. Its a race with the vaccine, but now the virus has just gotten a little bit faster.

The man is in isolation southeast of Denver in Elbert County, state health officials said. Elbert County is a mainly rural area of rolling plains at the far edge of the Denver metro area that includes a por-tion of Interstate 70, the states main east-west highway.

Colorado Politics reported there is a second suspected case of the variant in the state according to Dwayne Smith, director of public health for Elbert County.

Both of the people were

working in the Elbert County community of Simla. Neither of them are residents of that county expanding the possi-bility of the variant's spread throughout the state.

Scientists in the UK believe the variant is more conta-gious than previously identi-fied strains. The vaccines being given now are thought to be effective against the variant, Colorado health officials said in a news release.

Being more transmissible is no good, Bedford said, add-

ing that the variant will make it harder to rein in the pandemic.

Its not clear exactly why the variant appears to spread faster. It has an unusually large number of genetic changes, or mutations, particularly in areas that affect the Spike protein, according to reports by Public Health England.

And the variant has a quirk: It fails to light up one of three targets in PCR testing, which has allowed scientists in Brit-ain to more easily sort out and compare the variant infections with those caused by the regu-lar Coronavirus.

So far, theyve found no sig-nificant difference in hospital-izations or deaths.

Public Health England deserves praise for that work, Bedford said, and the United States will struggle to accom-plish anything similar because of the fragmented U.S. health care system.

Youll have academics and public health in differ-ent states doing their own studies, he said. I wouldnt imagine being able to do any-thing systematically at the national scale. AGENCIES

Harris receives first dose of

Moderna COVID-19 vaccine on cameraWASHINGTON DC: US Vice President-elect Kamala Harris has received the first dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vac-cine live on television as part of efforts to build public trust in the inoculation and urged Americans to get vaccinated for the virus.

Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff were admin-istered the vaccine at United Medical Center in Washington, DC.

"Let's do it," Harris said before she received her shot on Tuesday.

She took the vaccine one week after President-elect Joe Biden received his.

Describing the process as 'relatively painless', Harris urged all Americans to get vaccinated.

'It's about saving your life, the life of your family mem-bers, and the life of your com-munity,' she said.

"I trust scientists. And it is the scientists who created and approved this vaccine. So I urge everyone, when it is your turn, get vaccinated." AGENCIES

Scientists in UK believe the variant is more contagious than previously identified strains

UK MPs approve 'historic' Brexit

trade deal with EULONDON: Members of the UK Parliament on Wednesday voted in favour of the Brexit trade deal 521 votes to 73.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson had recalled Parliament from its Christmas break to get the Brexit free trade agreement (FTA) struck with the European Union (EU) cleared through all parliamentary stages for the EU (Future Relationship) Bill to become law in time for Janu-ary 1, 2021.

The 80-page Bill, which fol-lows a last-minute deal agreed with the EU last week, just days before the December 31 dead-line of the end of the Brexit tran-sition period, was debated by MPs in the House of Commons followed by the House of Lords.

Johnson had urged MPs to back the "historic" Bill, which he says is not "a rupture but a reso-lution" of the UK's relationship with its European neighbours.

Once both Houses pass the Bill, it will go to the Queen for her Royal Assent to make it law.

"What we sought was not a rupture but a resolution, a res-olution of the old and vexed question of Britain's political relations with Europe, which bedevilled our post-War his-tory," says Johnson, as part of his opening speech in the Commons.

"First we stood aloof, then we became a half-hearted, sometimes obstructive mem-ber of the EU. Now, with this bill, we shall be a friendly neigh-

bour -- the best friend and ally the EU could have -- working hand-in-glove whenever our values and interests coincide while fulfilling the sovereign wish of the British people to live under their own laws, made by their own elected Parliament. That is the historic resolution delivered by this Bill," he said.

Once the bill is passed by Parliament, the UK-EU trade agreement will come into effect after 2300 GMT on Thursday. The once-rebellious Brexiteer wing of the Conservative Party has fallen behind the agreement, paving the way for a relatively smooth passage.

The Opposition Labour Leader, Sir Keir Starmer, had instructed his MPs to vote in favour of the deal, arguing the alternative would be a no-deal Brexit. Labour are also plan-ning to seek amendments to the Bill that would require the government to provide twice-yearly economic impact assessments of the trading relationship.

However, there is some dis-quiet within Labour ranks as senior backbenchers had called on him to rethink his position and oppose the bill. Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), who support Brexit in principle, had said they will not vote in favour of the trade deal due to concerns Northern Ireland remains tied to the EU more closely than the rest of the UK. AGENCIES

Yemeni official: Blast at Aden

airport kills 16, wounds 60

SANAA (Yemen): A large explosion struck the airport in the southern Yemeni city of Aden on Wednesday, shortly after a plane carrying the newly formed Cabinet landed there, security officials said. At least 16 people were killed and 60 were wounded in the blast.

The source of the blast was not immediately clear and no group claimed responsibility for attacking the airport.

AP footage from the scene showed members of the gov-ernment delegation disem-barking as the blast shook the grounds.

No one on the government plane was hurt but many min-isters rushed back inside the plane or ran down the stairs, seeking shelter.

Thick smoke rose into the air from the near the terminal building.

Officials at the scene said they saw bodies lying on the tarmac and elsewhere at the airport. Yemeni Communica-tion Minister Naguib al-Awg, who was also on the govern-ment plane, told The Associ-ated Press that he heard two explosions, suggesting they were drone attacks.

Yemeni Prime Minis-ter Maeen Abdulmalik Saeed and the others were quickly whisked away from the airport to the Mashiq Palace in the city.

It would have been a disas-ter if the plane was bombed, he said, insisting the plane was the target of the attack as it was supposed to land earlier.

Mohammed al-Roubid, deputy head of Adens health office, told the AP that at least 16 people were killed in the explosion and 60 were wounded.

Images shared on social media from the scene showed rubble and broken glass strewn about near the airport building and at least two lifeless bodies, one of them charred, lying on the ground.

In another image, a man was trying to help another man whose clothes were torn to get up from the ground. AGENCIES

mp business � 9millenniumpost|NEW DELHI|THURSDAY, 31 DECEMBER, 2020

TO RAISE ETHANOL PRODUCTION CAPACITY

GOVERNMENT OF WEST BENGALNotice Inviting E-Tender

E.E.- on behalf of JGM Z.P. invites (On line) vide JGM/ZP/N- 21 /2020-21.ID No.2020_ZPHD_311615_1 Bid Submission date end :13/01/2021(Wednesday), up to 14.00 hours. For details visit websit www.jhargram.gov.in & other details may be seen during Office hours. Sd/- Executive Engineer Jhargram Zilla Parishad

KMDA TENDER NOTICE

e-NIT No : 14/SE(EC)/WS/KMDA/N-1 of 2020-21

Notice inviting e-tender is invited by the Superintending Engineer, East Circle, W&S Sector, KMDA, 2nd Floor, Block-C, Unnayan Bhavan, Sector-II, Salt Lake, Kolkata - 700091 for the work Sl. No., Name of Work, Estimated Amount, Earnest Money, Time of Completion 1) Operation and Maintenance of 30 MGD Surface Water Treatment Plant (both for Civil and E&M component of works) including supply of coagulants (Alum & PAC), Liquid Chlorine, Guarding arrangement, Sludge Disposal and supply of required laboratory reports etc. at Baranagar – Kamarhati WTP (Phase-I), 1, R.N. Tagore Road, Kamarhati in District-North 24 Parganas, Rs.6,49,19,665/-, Rs.10,00,000/-, 36 Months, 2) – Same as Sl. 1 – (Phase-II), 1, R.N. Tagore Road, Kamarhati in District – North 24 Parganas, Rs.6,44,73,875/-, Rs.10,00,000/-, 36 Months, 3) – Same as Sl. 1 - 140 MLD – at Madhyamgram District – North 24 Parganas, Rs.6,18,31,489/-, Rs.10,00,000/-, 36 Months, 4) – Same as Sl. 1 – 48 MLD - at Bally, in District-Howrah, Rs.3,12,46,146/-, Rs.6,24,930/-, 36 Months, Last date & time of submission of tender : 23.01.2021 upto 18.50 hrs. For details contact the above office or visit KMDA website.

KMDA-543 www.kmdaonline.org

www.wbtenders.gov.in

ICA- T8709(5)/2020

ICA-1695(4)/2020

ICA- T8712(5)/2020

KMDA TENDER NOTICE

e-NIT No : 03/SE(Cons.)/E&AM/KMDA

of 2020-21 Superintending Engineer, Construction Circle, E&AM Sector, KMDA, Unnayan Bhavan, 8th Floor, Block-A, Kolkata-700091, invites e-Tender from eligible and resourceful contractors for the work Name of Work : Landscape maintenance of existing gardens & grounds of Rabindra Sarobar for the period of one year, Estimated Amount : Rs.52,23,700, Earnest Money : Rs.1,04,474, Time of completion : 1 Year, Last date & time of submission of tender : 25.01.2021 upto 13.00 hrs. For details contact the above office or visit KMDA website.

KMDA-547 www.kmdaonline.org

www.wbtenders.gov.in

ICA- T8716(5)/2020

GOVERNMENT OF WEST BENGAL

ABRIDGED TENDER NOTICE UD & MA DEPT.

E-tender (N.I.T 02(2 nd call) of S.E. East 2020-21) has been invited by the Superintending Engineer, M. E. D., East Circle AB-30/1 PrafullaKanan (West), Krishnapur, Kolkata-101 from Bonafide agency for preparation of DPR for treatment of waste water under different ULBs. Last date of submission- 20.01.2021 . Other details may also be seen from the office notice board/ in wbtenders.gov.in portal. Corrigendum if any will be published in website only. TenderID:2020_MAD_310309_1, 2020_MAD_310309_2 Sd/- Superintending Engineer, East Circle, M.E. Directorate.

ICA- T8720(5)/2020

ICA- T8735(4)/2020

ICA- T8746(5)/2020

ICA- T8747(4)/2020

GOVERNMENT OF WEST BENGALWB HIDCO

N. I. T No.- 51of G.M (E)-II of 2020-2021WB HIDCO invitesonline item rate open tender in two bid system for “Providing and laying Mastic Asphalt over Balance Part of Street No.-852 including providing MSS as a corrective course in AA-IIIE, New Town, Kolkata”for resourceful bonafide Govt. Contactors and eligible outsiders in the manner as described in the detailed tender notice available on http://wbtenders.gov.in on and from 31.12.2020 at 11.00 A. M.Corrigendum / Addendum, if any to this e-tender would appear only on above Website and not be published.

General Manager (Engg)-II WB HIDCO

ICA- T8763(6)/2020

ICA- T8767(6)/2020

ICA- T8730(6)/2020

GOVERNMENT OF WEST BENGAL

e-tender is invited from prospective bidders by Food & Supplies Department, Govt. of West Bengal for supply of sugar (S-30) for monthly AAY Sugar delivery for 12 (twelve) months starting from April, 2021 to March, 2022 plus one time Ramzan Festive Package, 2021 and Puja Festive (Durga Puja, Kali Puja, Diwali & Chhat Puja) Package 2021 to be distributed through PDS in each district of West Bengal. Prospective bidders may download the e-tender documents along with detai led terms and conditions from 30.12.2020 from the website [www.wbtenders.gov.in] Pre-bid conference will be held on 11.01.2021 (3:00 p.m.) at Khadya Shree Bhavan, 11A, Mirza Ghalib Street, Kol-87 Sd/- Director of DDP&S, Food & Supplies Department, Government of West Bengal.

TENDER NOTICE

Food & Supplies Department11-A, Mirza Ghalib Street, Kolkata-700087

Tender ID No: 2020_DFS_311499_1 (for Sugar)Date: 29.12.2020

ICA- T8724(6)/2020

GOVERNMENT OF WEST BENGAL

MSVP, NRS Medical College &Hospital invites e-Tender (NIT No. 1/2020 , NIT No. 2/2020 ,NIT No. 3/2020 NIT No. 4/2020) from reputed manufacturer/ direct importer/ distributors for supply of Medicine & Medicine Related Item, Details in websites- wbtenders.gov. in & wbhealth.gov.in Sd/- MSVP, NRSMC&H.

e-TENDER NOTICE

ICA- T8770(6)/2020

ICA- T8781(5)/2020

ICA- T8785(5)/2020

NEW DELHI: The commerce ministry on Wednesday said an import monitoring system is being developed for several sectors, including alumin-ium, copper, footwear, furni-ture, sports goods, and gym equipment.

The system would help gather advanced information on imports of these products and make it available to the stakeholders, including gov-ernment and domestic indus-tries. The system is already in place for steel and coal.

“Import monitoring sys-tem (IMS) is being developed for aluminium, copper, foot-wear, furniture, paper, sports goods, gym equipment etc,” the ministry said while enlist-ing significant highlights of the Department of Commerce during 2020.

It also said that India had supplied around 45 tons and 400 million tablets of Hydroxy-

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: The Union Cabi-net on Wednesday approved a scheme to provide bank loans at lower rates to distilleries producing ethanol for doping in petrol, with a view to rais-ing India’s ethanol production capacity to suck out surplus sugar as well as cut oil imports.

Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said the government is targeting to more than double blending of ethanol in petrol to 20 per cent by 2030, for which domestic production capac-ity has to be augmented. The Cabinet Committee on Eco-nomic Affairs (CCEA), headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved a modified scheme for extending interest subvention to augment ethanol production capacity, he said.

The government would bear interest subvention for five years, including one-year moratorium against the loan availed by project proponents from banks, at the rate of 6 per cent per annum or 50 per cent of the rate of interest charged by banks, whichever is lower.

The interest subvention would be available for setting up new as well as an expansion of existing molasses or grain-based distilleries and for units that will produce ethanol from other feedstocks such as sugar beet, sweet sorghum and cereals.

“Previously, Rs 4,687 crore interest subvention scheme was approved and now Rs 4,573 crore has been sanctioned,” he said during a news conference

called to brief on decisions taken by the Cabinet.

Currently, India has a molas-ses-based ethanol production capacity of 426 crore litres. This capacity used for supply to both the liquor industry as well as for the blending or doping in petrol.

During 2019-20 ethanol supply year (December 2019 to November 2020), 173 crore litre was procured for doping in petrol, he said adding that this year’s average blending has been 9 per cent. For next year (December 2020 to November 2021), 325 crore litre has been contracted and the volume will rise to 1,000 litres in 2030 when one-fifth (20 per cent) of petrol is targeted to be ethanol, he said.

For this to happen, ethanol manufacturing capacity has to be raised to 1,750 crore litres, which would require an invest-ment of Rs 40,000 crore.

The government, he said, is providing remunerative price for buying ethanol as well as a committed offtake for 10 years.

“Interest subvention would be available to only those dis-tilleries that will supply at least 75 per cent of ethanol produced from the added distillation capacity to oil marketing com-panies for blending with petrol,” a government statement issued after the Cabinet briefing said.

To achieve 20 per cent blending by 2030 and to meet the requirement of chemical and other sectors, about 1,400 crore litres of alcohol/ethanol would be required. Out of this, 1,000 crore litres would be required to achieve 20 per cent blend-ing in petrol and the rest would be the requirement of chemical and other sectors.

Out of the total requirement, 700 crore litres is required to be supplied by the sugar industry and an equal amount by grain-based distilleries. To produce 700 crore litre of ethanol by the sugar industry, about 60 lakh tonne of surplus sugar would be diverted to ethanol which would solve the problem of

excess sugar. It will relieve sugar industry from the problem of storage and improve the revenue realisation of sugar mills, which will facilitate them in making timely payment of cane dues of sugarcane farmers, Pradhan said. About five crore sugar-cane farmers and their families and five lakh workers associated with sugar mills and other ancil-lary activities would be benefit-ted with this intervention.

To produce 700 crore litre of ethanol/alcohol from food grains, about 175 lakh tonnes of food grains would be utilised which will help farmers get a better price for their produce.

Sugarcane and ethanol are produced mainly in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka.

Transporting ethanol to far-flung states from these three states involves huge trans-portation cost. Bringing new grain-based distilleries in the entire country would result in the distributed production of ethanol, helping save on trans-portation cost and cut delays. Pradhan said in ethanol supply year (ESY) 2013-14, the supply of ethanol to oil companies was less than 40 crore litres with petrol blending levels of only 1.53 per cent.

In the past six years, the pro-curement has been stepped up and 172.50 crore litre ethanol bought in ESY 2019-20 helped achieve 5 per cent blending.

“It is expected that in the current ethanol supply year 2020-21, about 325 crore litres of ethanol is likely to be supplied

to oil marketing companies to achieve 8.5 per cent blending levels. It is likely that we will be achieving 10 per cent blending target by 2022,” he said.

With the increase in blend-ing levels, dependence on imported fossil fuel will decrease and so will air pollution.

The statement said there is surplus production of sugar in the country as the sugar sea-son 2010-11 (except reduction due to drought in sugar season 2016-17). Sugar production is likely to remain surplus in the country in coming years due to the introduction of improved varieties of sugarcane.

In normal sugar season (October-September), about 320 lakh tonnes of sugar is produced as against domestic consumption of about 260 lakh tonnes. The surplus sugar has led to sugar mills delaying pay-ments to came farmers.

“Diversion of excess sug-arcane and sugar to ethanol is a correct way forward to deal with surplus stocks. Diversion of excess sugar would help in stabilizing the domestic ex-mill sugar prices and will also help sugar mills to get relieved from storage problems.

“It will improve their cash flows and facilitate them in the clearance of cane price dues of farmers; and will facilitate mills to function in the com-ing years,” it said.

To increase the production of fuel-grade ethanol, the gov-ernment is also encouraging distilleries to produce ethanol from maize and rice available.

Cabinet approves interest subvention of ̀ 4,573 crore

Govt is targeting to more than double blending of ethanol in petrol to 20 per cent by 2030, for which domestic production capacity has to be augmented: Oil Min Pradhan

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar on Wednes-day said the Labour Bureau will launch four all-India level surveys on migrant workers, domestic workers, employment generated by professionals and transport sector in March and complete these studies by Octo-ber, 2021.

“The Bureau has recently been entrusted with four All India surveys on migrant work-ers, domestic workers, employ-ment generated by professionals and transport sector which will be launched by early March, 2020 and the results of these will be available by October, 2021,” said Gangwar while address-ing the occasion of centenary year celebrations of the Labour Bureau. He is of the view that for any evidence-based policy mak-ing for these workers, ‘authentic data’ on employment in organ-ised and unorganised sector enterprises is highly called for.

The minister further informed that the Bureau will soon launch an ‘All India Quar-terly Survey’ on Employment of Enterprises’ that will pro-vide comprehensive data on the employment numbers in both the organized and unor-ganized sectors to address these data needs.

The minister also released a special stamp on the Labour Bureau on the occasion of cen-tenary year celebrations of this esteemed organization in an event held here. On this occa-sion, Director General Labour Bureau D S Negi read out a spe-cial message by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In his message, the Prime Minister highlighted that for the last hundred years, the Bureau has been generating labour, price and employment statistics with great allegiance and dedication.

The message also stated that in keeping with the spirit of the mantra of “Shramev Jayate”, the

government committed to the welfare of labour has taken con-tinuous and integrated steps.

The Prime Minister also opined that the three historic labour codes will not only pro-tect the interests of hardworking workers but will also form the basis for increasing productiv-ity to higher levels. The Bureau’s rich legacy of data generation needs to be fully capitalized for better policy making in the field of labour and employment, he added. He also expressed firm belief that the Bureau will con-tinue to upgrade its working by embracing latest technologies in the field of data collection, anal-ysis and dissemination.

Gangwar also said that besides its mandate of gener-ating various price and labour related statistics, “the Bureau has also earned appreciation for successfully undertaking in record time, all the surveys and studies entrusted to it by the governments from time to time.”

When employment data used to be available in our coun-try only once in five years, the Bureau became the first ever government organization in the country to produce annual

data through its annual All India Household Surveys on employ-ment and unemployment, the minister added.

The Bureau also conducted the first of its kind Quarterly Employment Surveys (QES) of enterprises which will be relaunched in a new format very soon. Further, the Bureau was also entrusted with the task of estimating employment gener-ated under the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) which it carried out in record time.

Calling for greater use of technology in its working, the minister said “I am very hopeful that the Bureau will transform its working in the times to come through greater use of infor-mation technology which will enable it to effectively meet the rapid demands for data in the field of labour and employment”.

On this occasion Labour Secretary Apurva Chandra, highlighted that given the Bureau’s rich experience in col-lection of statistics under the labour laws, it is proposed to designate Labour Bureau as the nodal agency for collection of statistical returns under all the four labour codes.

Labour Bureau to complete 4 surveys by Oct: Gangwar

Gangwar is of the view that for any evidence-based policy making for these workers, ‘authentic data’ on employment in organised and unorganised sector enterprises is highly called for

NEW DELHI: Keeping in line with its mission as the national nodal agency work-ing to promote the livelihoods and empower tribals, both arti-sans and producers, through marketing and provide support to tribal produce and products, TRIFED is continuing its efforts to expand its diverse and attrac-tive range of products on sale in the Tribes India network – both offline in its outlets and online on its e-commerce platforms.

In addition to its weekly endeavour of enhancing its range through the “From Our Homes to Your Home” cam-paign, TRIBES India will now

become an excellent one-stop gifting destination. A webinar was organized on December 30, 2020 to launch Tribes India as a one- stop destination for all gift-ing requirements. Attractive and customisable gift packs from a unique range of products which will be available in all the 126 Tribes India outlets and online platforms were also unveiled on this occasion.

The webinar was attended by renowned designers Rina Dhaka, Masooma Rizvi, Winky Singh, several tribal artisans and suppliers from across the coun-try besides TRIFED officials.

To bring more exposure

to the empaneled tribal arti-sans and to bring their skill sets and products to international standards, TRIFED has been partnering with ace renowned designers for promotion and design development. One such initiative was the designing of premium organic, recyclable, sustainable packing material which has been designed by Dhaka. A highlight of this webi-nar was the launch of premium organic, recyclable, sustainable packaging material designed by Dhaka for the packaging of the exclusive range of Van Dhan naturals and crafts and handloom items. Speaking on

the occasion, Pravir Krishna, Managing Director, TRIFED thanked the designers for their support and efforts in partner-ing with TRIFED. MPOST

TRIFED launches gift hampers in sustainable packaging

NEW DELHI: Adani Green Energy Ltd (AGEL) on Wednes-day said it has commissioned a 100 megawatt (MW) solar power project at Khirsara in Gujarat.

“Adani Solar Energy Kutchh Two Private Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Adani Green Energy Limited (AGEL), has commissioned a 100 MW solar power project at Khirsara, Gujarat, ahead of its scheduled commercial operation date (COD) as per its 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA ) with the Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam India (GUVNL),” AGEL said in a statement.

The PPA is priced at Rs 2.44 per kilowatt-hour, as on Tues-day (December 29).

With this commissioning, AGEL’s total operational renew-able power capacity grows to 2,950 MW, showing a com-pound average growth rate of 55 per cent since March 2016.

The plant will be connected to its Energy Network Opera-tion Centre (ENOC) that con-tinuously monitors and analyses performance of over 80 solar and wind plants across diverse

locations in India, it added.AGEL has a total renewable

capacity of 14,195 MW, includ-ing 11,245 MW awarded and under-implementation proj-ects. It targets commissioning of a renewable capacity of 25 GW by 2025.

Vneet S Jaain, MD & CEO of AGEL, stated, “Adani Green is committed to creating a sustain-able future through rapid proj-ect execution capability in line with the global best practices in the renewable energy sector.”

He added that the com-mencement of 100 MW solar power project in Khirsara, Kutchh, Gujarat is in line with the Adani Group’s leg-acy of scale and speed, and is another significant step towards achieving its vision of 25 giga-watt (GW) renewable energy by 2025. MPOST

Adani Green Energy commissions 100-MW solar

power project in Gujarat

NEW DELHI: RITES Ltd on Wednesday said it has declared an interim dividend of Rs 5 per share on face value of Rs 10 each.

The decision was taken in a board meeting, the company said in a statement.

The dividend amounts to Rs 120.15 crore (at the rate of 50 per cent of paid-up capital), the statement said.

The record date for the pur-pose of payment of dividend is January 11, 2021.

Standalone revenue of the company for the first half of 2020-21 was Rs 852 crore and profit after tax stood at Rs 191 crore, it said. RITES is a mini-ratna public sector enterprise and a leading player in the trans-port consultancy and engineer-ing sector in the country, having diversified services and geo-graphical reach. MPOST

chloroquine to about 114 countries.

Besides, the country has provided around 96 million tablets of Paracetamol to 24 countries.

For trade facilitation, about a 1.3 lakh Certificate of Ori-gin has been issued through an electronic platform, it said.

During April 1 and Decem-ber 30, the directorate general of trade remedies (DGTR) has initiated 43 anti-dump-ing, four countervailing duty, and one safeguard investi-gations to support domestic

manufacturers.“Average time taken to ini-

tiate an anti-dumping investi-gation has been brought down from 43 days in 2018-19 to 33 days in 2019-20 and the aver-age time for completing an investigation has been brought down to 234 days in 2019-20, from 281 days during 2018-19 and more than 400 days in pre-vious years,” it added.

Technical regulations were formulated for 176 products (worth $49.9 billion), and simi-lar norms for 371 goods are in progress. PTI

RITES declares interim dividend

of `5/share

Import monitoring system being developed for several sectors: Commerce Ministry

mp business10 NEW DELHI|THURSDAY, 31 DECEMBER, 2020|millenniumpost

UNION BANK GETS SHAREHOLDERS NOD TO RAISE UP TO RS 6,800 CRORENEW DELHI: Shareholders of Union Bank of India on Wednesday approved the bank’s proposal for raising up to Rs 6,800 crore equity capital to fund business growth. During the Extraordinary General Meeting the shareholders passed the special resolution with the requisite majority for raising capital through FPO (Follow-on Public Offering) /Rights or QIP (Qualified Institutional Placement) or preferential allotment, the bank said in a regulatory filing. It would raise the fund during the current fiscal. “In order to meet the minimum capital and leverage ratio requirements under the Basel III guidelines for the expansion of business assets and based on the estimated growth, your directors have decided to raise equity share capital up to Rs 6,800 crore,” the bank had said.

BULLION VAULT SERVICES START AT GIFT CITY IN GUJARAT’S GANDHINAGARNEW DELHI: Bullion vaulting services have commenced at GIFT City with Sequel Logistics launching precious commodities vault for storage of gold and silver in the country’s only International Financial Services Centre. GIFT City in a statement on Wednesday said Sequel Logistics has begun precious commodities vault services at Gujarat International Finance Tec (GIFT) City in Gandhinagar. Sequel’s Free Trade & Warehousing Zones vault for precious commodities at GIFT City will help in providing a seamless, comprehensive and efficient storage and logistics solution to all the market participants, both in India and overseas, Sequel Logistics Chairman and Managing Director Sharad Jobanputra said.

DIGITAL INDIA DELIVERED OUTCOMES EFFECTIVELY, AMID PANDEMIC: PRASADNEW DELHI: The efficacy and strength of `Digi-tal India’ were proven during the pandemic as the programme delivered the outcomes “effectively and substantially”, IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Wednesday. Prasad said the programme’s role in bridging the digital divide and bringing in inclu-sion was “so evidently” in play during the challenging times of pandemic. “Digital India is a transformative programme, launched in 2015...five-and-a-half years down the line, the pandemic was a big opportunity to test the efficacy of Digital India.

BRIEFSBUSINESS

OUR CORRESPONDENT

MUMBAI: The Sensex and Nifty raced to fresh record highs on Wednesday as gains in financials, auto and cement counters helped benchmarks extend their winning run for the sixth straight session amid positive global cues.

European equities marched higher after the UK became the first country to approve the COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University.

Serum Institute of India (SII) termed the approval as encouraging news and said the company would now wait for the final nod for the vaccine in India.

After succumbing to profit-booking in afternoon trade, the 30-share BSE Sensex closed up by 133.14 points or 0.28 per cent at a record high of 47,746.22. The barometer scaled its all-time intra-day high of 47,807.85.

Similarly, the broad-based NSE Nifty rose by 49.35 points or 0.35 per cent to finish at its lifetime high of 13,981.95. It touched all-time peak of 13,997 in intra-day trade.

Ultratech Cement topped the Sensex gainers’ chart, spurt-ing 4.11 per cent, while Bajaj Finance rose 2.63 per cent and Maruti 2.11 per cent.

Mahindra and Mahindra, Tech Mahindra, Asian Paints, HUL, Kotak Bank, Titan and

Nestle India were among the other prominent gainers.

On the other hand, IndusInd Bank, Sun Pharma, Axis Bank, Bharti Airtel, TCS, SBI and Infosys were among the lag-gards, dropping up to 1.62 per cent.

Domestic sentiment is upbeat, expecting a nod for Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid vaccine usage in India.

Growth sectors like auto, realty and metal led the rally while defensives like pharma continued to remain under pressure.

“Although the market is at its most expensive valuation level, FPIs continue to pump in funds and roll the Indian market higher on a daily basis,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

Sector-wise, the BSE basic materials, auto, realty and metal indices climbed as much as 1.61 per cent, while telecom, teck and IT closed with losses.

In the broader markets,

the BSE midcap and smallcap indices advanced up to 0.53 per cent, outperforming the benchmark.

Britain authorised use of a second COVID-19 vaccine, becoming the first country to greenlight an easy-to-handle shot that its developers hope will become the “vaccine for the world”.

Asian shares were mixed after a lackluster day on Wall Street. Benchmarks fell in Tokyo and Sydney but rallied in Hong Kong, Seoul and Shanghai.

Rising for the fifth straight session, the rupee appreci-ated by 11 paise to close at 73.31 against the US dollar on Wednesday.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, rose 0.80 per cent to $51.50 per barrel.

Foreign institutional inves-tors remained in the buying mode in the domestic capital markets, purchasing shares worth a net Rs 2,349.53 crore on Tuesday, according to pro-visional exchange data.

NEW DELHI: With just two days left for the deadline for individuals to file income tax returns (ITRs) to end, the IT department on Wednesday said more than 4.54 crore tax returns for 2019-20 fiscal have been filed till December 29.

In the comparable period last year, 4.77 crore income tax returns were filed. At the close of deadline for filing ITRs with-out payment of late fees for fis-cal 2018-19 (assessment year (AY) 2019-20), over 5.65 crore returns were filed by taxpayers.

In a tweet on Wednesday, the Income Tax department nudged taxpayers to file their ITRs by the due date. “More than 4.54 crore Income Tax Returns for AY 2020-21 have already been filed till 29th of December, 2020,” the I-T department said.

The data released by the tax department showed that over

2.52 crore ITR-1 have been filed till December 29, 2020, lower than the 2.77 crore filed till August 29, 2019.

Over 1 crore ITR-4 have been filed till December 29 as compared to 99.50 lakh filed till August 29, 2019.

An analysis of the data showed that individuals filing tax return for fiscal 2019-20 have slowed so far in the cur-rent year, while filings by busi-nesses and trusts have increased.

Returns in ITR-1 Sahaj can be filed by an ordinarily res-ident individual whose total income does not exceed Rs 50 lakh, while form ITR-4 Sugam is meant for resident individu-als, Hindu Undivided Families (HUFs) and firms (other than LLP) having a total income of up to Rs 50 lakh and having pre-sumptive income from business and profession. PTI

NEW DELHI: The govern-ment on Wednesday said it has approved a Rs 3,000 crore proj-ect to turn Paradip Port into a world-class port by setting up a dock.

The decision to set up a west-ern dock was taken by the Union Cabinet in its meeting held on Wednesday, Ports, Shipping and Waterways Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said.

“The Cabinet has approved setting up of Western dock at Paradip port at a cost of Rs 3,000 crore which will transform the port into a world-class and modern port. ....The decision has been taken with a futuristic approach as Prime Minister has been laying emphasis on devel-opment of eastern states,” Man-daviya said briefing the media after the Cabinet meeting.

Paradip port in Odisha is one of the 12 major ports under

the control of the Centre.Mandaviya said that the port

handles the cargo of about 115 MT which is likely to increase substantially to about 400 MT by 2030 and the decision to set up western dock was taken to attract large vessels with capac-ity of handling 1.5 tonne cargo.

He said the port after the project can easily handle very large vessels for which 18 metre draft is required and these ship can dock here resulting in

reduction in logistics cost.The minister said this was

the need of the hour to boost EXIM trade in the current global competitive environment and will provide employment to lakhs of people.

He said based on the prime minister’s stress on “waste to best”, it has also been decided to sell the dredging mate-rial and dredging material worth Rs 86 crore have already been sold. PTI

NEW DELHI: State-owned engineering firm BHEL on Wednesday said it has won an order from the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL).

It has bagged the order for supply of 32 Reactor Header Assemblies to NPCIL, a com-pany statement said.

The order has been won under NPCIL’s Fleet Mode Procurement for India’s highest rated indigenously-developed 700 MWe Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors (PHWR) to be set up at four different locations in the country, BHEL said.

Significantly, this is the first equipment order placed by NPCIL under the Fleet Mode

Procurement programme and will give an impetus to domestic manufacturing, it said.

The government had accorded approval for fleet mode implementation of 10 nuclear reactors of 700 MWe PHWRs in 2017.

The setting up of these nuclear reactors will further energise the Prime Minister’s Aatmanirbhar Bharat mission, the statement said.

BHEL has the distinction of being associated with all the three stages of the Indian Nuclear Power Programme and has been the primary supplier for reactor headers, steam tur-bines, steam generators, motors, etc, to NPCIL. MPOST

OUR CORRESPONDENT

MUMBAI: India’s current account surplus moderated to $15.5 billion or 2.4 per cent of the GDP in the July-September quarter of the current fiscal, the RBI said on Wednesday.

The same was at $19.2 bil-lion or 3.8 per cent of the GDP in the preceding three-month period on account of a rise in the merchandise trade deficit, the RBI said in a statement on ‘Developments in India’s Bal-ance of Payments during the Second Quarter (July-Septem-ber) of 2020-21’.

It is for the third consecu-tive quarter that India’s current account remained in surplus. In the last quarter of 2019-20, the surplus was $0.6 billion.

Current account deficit/surplus reflects the difference between the outflow and inflow of foreign exchange in a coun-try’s current account.

A current account deficit of $7.6 billion or 1.1 per cent of the GDP was recorded in the sec-ond quarter of 2019-20.India recorded a current account sur-plus of 3.1 per cent of the GDP in the first half of the fiscal as

against a deficit of 1.6 per cent in the corresponding period of 2019-20. This was mainly on account of a sharp contraction in the trade deficit.

“The narrowing of the cur-rent account surplus in Q2 of 2020-21 was on account of a rise in the merchandise trade deficit to $14.8 billion from $10.8 bil-lion in the preceding quarter,” the central bank said.

As per the RBI’s release, net services receipts increased both sequentially and on a year-on-year basis, primarily on the back of higher net earnings from computer services. Pri-vate transfer receipts, mainly representing remittances by

Indians employed overseas, declined on a year-on-year basis but improved sequentially by 12 per cent to $20.4 billion in the July-September period of 2020-21.

Further, net foreign port-folio investment was $7 billion as compared to $2.5 billion in the second quarter of 2019-20, largely reflecting net purchases in the equity market.

With repayments exceeding fresh disbursals, external com-mercial borrowings to India recorded net outflow of $4.1 billion in the second quarter as against an inflow of $3.1 billion a year ago.

Also, there was an accretion

of $31.6 billion to the foreign exchange reserves (on a Bal-ance of Payments or BoP basis) as compared to $5.1 billion in the second quarter of 2019-20.

Regarding BoP during April-September 2020-21, RBI said net invisible receipts were lower in first half of 2020-21, mainly due to decline in net private transfer receipts.

“Net FDI inflows at $23.8 billion in H1 of 2020-21 were higher than $21.3 billion in H1 of 2019-20,” it said, and added portfolio investment recorded a net inflow of $7.6 billion in H1 of 2020-21, almost at the same level as a year ago. In first half of the current fiscal, there was an accretion of $51.4 billion to

the foreign exchange reserves (on a BoP basis).

In another statement on India’s International Invest-ment Position (IIP), RBI said net claims of non-residents on India declined by $4.6 billion during the quarter and stood at $339.1 billion at end-Sep-tember 2020.

The decline in net claims was due to an increase of $53.4 billion in Indian residents’ over-seas financial assets vis-a-vis a lower increase of $48.8 billion in foreign-owned assets in India.

Appreciation of the Indian rupee against the US dollar dur-ing the quarter contributed to the increase in India’s liabilities, when valued in US dollar terms.

Sensex, Nifty extend record run on vaccine booster

133.14(0.28%)

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`

` per

US $73.76+8p

73.84-5p

73.55+21p

73.49+6p

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73.31+11p

Over 4.54 cr ITRs filed for fiscal 2019-20 till Dec 29

NEW DELHI: Pension fund regulator PFRDA on Wednes-day said the subscribers can now use the online mode also to exit from the National Pen-sion System (NPS).

Under the current pro-cess, the NPS subscribers have to physically approach their Points of Presence (POPs) to complete their withdrawal request process and the task is performed offline, it said in a statement.

The subscribers are required to submit the NPS withdrawal forms along with other sup-porting documents for autho-rization by POPs, the Pension Fund Regulatory and Develop-ment Authority (PFRDA) said.

“Now in addition to the existing offline process as men-tioned above, the subscribers shall also have an online option

to submit the withdrawal doc-uments and authorizing their withdrawal request by using OTP/e-sign to make the pro-cess seamless in a paperless manner,” it said.

In the online process, it said, subscribers associated to a POP will initiate the exit request in Central Record Keeping Agency (CRA) sys-tem using login credentials and provide the relevant details of exit namely corpus allocation for lump sum/annuity, Annu-ity Service Provider (ASP), annuity scheme etc and would upload the withdrawal docu-ments including KYC.

The POP would identify the bank account number of the subscriber by ‘Instant Bank Account Verification’ through penny drop and also verify the uploaded documents. PTI

NEW DELHI: Debt-ridden telecom firm Reliance Commu-nications on Wednesday said the group owes around Rs 26,000 crore to Indian banks and finan-cial institutions.

The Indians banks, vendors and other creditors have made claims of around Rs 86,000 crore on the company which is cur-rently going through insolvency proceedings.

“As per figures certified by the Resolution Professional appointed by the lenders, the RCOM group owed around Rs 26,000 crore to Indian banks and financial institutions as on the date of filing before the NCLT,” Reliance Com-munications (RCom) said in a statement.

The creditors have submitted claims of around Rs 49,000 crore

on RCom, Rs 24,000 crore on Reliance Telecom and Rs 12,600 crore on Reliance Infratel before the National Company Law Tri-bunal (NCLT).

“The alleged ‘fraud’ clas-sification by certain banks is entirely unjustified and unwar-ranted, and the Hon’ble Delhi High Court by an interim order has directed the same to be kept in abeyance for the time being, and the matter is now sub judice,” RCom said.

It further said that the Res-olution Plans unanimously

agreed by the lenders are at vari-ous stages of approval before the NCLT, and upon implemen-tation thereof, the lenders are likely to recover at least 70 per cent of their dues, with poten-tial subsequent upside.

“The financial stress in the telecom sector, owing inter alia to the entry of a new player in 2016 with unlimited free offer-ings, was not unique to Rcom, but decimated the entire indus-try, and led to the shutdown of services by Aircel, Sistema, Videocon, Tata Docomo and several other players, and also severely impacted the finan-cials of global giants like Voda-fone in its Indian operations,” RCom said. The company said that Vodafone Idea has reported losses aggregating Rs 1 lakh crore in the last 15 months. PTI

NEW DELHI: The country’s exports may reach $290 bil-lion by the end of this fiscal as the outbound shipments were hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic during the first half of the year, FIEO said on Wednesday.

Federation of Indian Exports Organisations (FIEO) President Sharad Kumar Saraf also said that 2021 would bring a ray of hope and optimism for the exporting community.

“We are confident that a V- shaped recovery will be wit-nessed in world trade and we will recover much more from what we lost in 2020. Since the first and second quarter have been pretty bad, we may end the financial year 2020-21 with exports of around $290 billion,” he said in a statement.

However, looking into the good order booking position for food including processed food, pharma, medical and diagnostic products, technical textiles, chemical, plastics, elec-tronics and networking prod-ucts, “we should endeavor to take exports to $350 billion in 2021-22,” he added.

He suggested that the gov-ernment should focus on sec-tors where major imports are happening and boost tra-ditional sectors, which are important for exports as well as employment.

During April-November 2020-21, exports dipped by 17.8 per cent to $173.66 bill-lion. India’s exports dipped by 4.78 per cent to $314.31 billion in 2019-20. PTI

NEW DELHI: Vedanta Ltd’s promoters cannot sell or create any security on shares they hold in the group as part of the terms attached to the recent $1.4 bil-lion fund raising -- conditions which technically fall within the definition of ‘encumbrance’ but no pledge on shares has been created, the company said on Wednesday.

Vedanta had on Tuesday informed stock exchanges about its promoters raising $1 billion debt by issuing equivalent notes to Citicorp International Ltd and another $400 million in notes to an entity under Oak-tree Capital Group. The notes in both cases will be partly secured by shares in the Mumbai-listed unit Vedanta Ltd.

“As per the terms of the notes issued, there are certain terms which restrict the promoter companies of Vedanta to cre-

ate any security, or to sell, lease, transfer or otherwise dispose of any of their shares in Vedanta Limited held by them and / or to be acquired by them,” the company said in a statement on Wednesday.

These terms, it said, “tech-nically fall within the definition of the term ‘encumbrance’ pro-vided under Chapter V of the Takeover Regulations of SEBI” and hence the necessary stan-dard disclosures have been filed.

However, “there is no pledge created on any shares of Vedanta Limited held by the Promoters,” it added.

The funds raised from Citi-corp “will be used to fund the tender offer for any and all of Vedanta Resources Limited’s (VRL) outstanding $900 million 8.25 per cent bonds due 2021,” the company had said in a stock exchange filing on Tuesday. PTI

‘Current account surplus moderates to $15.5 bn in Q2’

The same was at $19.2 billion or 3.8 per cent of the GDP in the preceding three- month period on account of a rise in the merchandise trade deficit, the RBI said

RCom group owes around ̀ 26K cr to Indian banks, financial institutions, says Company

PFRDA provides online option to subscribers to exit from NPS

Exports may reach $290 billion by

fiscal-end: FIEO

Govt approves `3,000 crore project for Paradip port

No pledge on shares; fund raise conditions bar promoters from share sale, says Vedanta

NEW DELHI: The Khadi and Village Industries Commis-sion on Wednesday said it has disbursed Rs 29.65 crore to 84 Khadi institutions in Jammu & Kashmir between May and September, benefitting 10,800 artisans.

“The financial assistance has been given under Modi-fied Marketing Development Assistance (MMDA) scheme of KVIC which is directly linked with the production activities. Under this scheme, money is directly transferred into the bank accounts of artisans through direct benefit transfer,” an official statement said.

A special drive was also

launched by KVIC during the COVID-19 period to settle 951 old MMDA claims of J&K Khadi institutions that were related to 2016-17 to 2018-19, pending due to various techni-cal reasons.

“While KVIC worked tire-

lessly for creating sustainable employment across the coun-try, it disbursed Rs 29.65 crore to Khadi Institutions in the hilly terrains of J&K alone, which has been the focus area of the Central Government,” the statement said.

This amount has been disbursed from May 2020 to September 2020 to 84 Khadi institutions in J&K benefitting 10,800 Khadi artisans associ-ated with these institutions, it added.

KVIC Chairman Vinai Kumar Saxena said it has also roped in thousands of women artisans working in self-help groups in Jammu, Udhampur, Pulwama, Kupwara and Anant-nag in stitching of Khadi face masks.

“Almost 7 lakh Khadi face masks were stitched by these women artisans and supplied to the J&K Government,” he added. MPOST

BHEL bags order from Nuclear Power Corp

Amid COVID-19, KVIC disbursed ̀ 29.65 cr to Khadi institutions in Jammu & Kashmir

Highlights » It is for the third consecutive quarter that India’s current ac-count remained in surplus. In the last quarter of 2019-20, the surplus was $0.6 billion

» A current account deficit of $7.6 billion or 1.1 per cent of the GDP was recorded in the second quarter of 2019-20

» India recorded a current account surplus of 3.1 per cent of the GDP in the first half of the fiscal as against a deficit of 1.6 per cent in the corresponding period of 2019-20

mp sports 11millenniumpost|NEW DELHI|THURSDAY, 31 DECEMBER, 2020

Sindhu gets favourable draw, tough outing for Saina as int’l competition returns

NEW DELHI: Olympic sil-ver medallist P V Sindhu has been handed relatively an easy draw but tough outings await Saina Nehwal as the Indian duo returns to international com-petition in Thailand, nearly 10 months after COVID-19 pan-demic halted all tournaments globally.

Sindhu and Saina didn't participate in Denmark Open Super 750 and SaarLorLux Super 100 -- the only two events which could be con-ducted since BWF was forced to suspend the calender after the completion of the All Eng-land Championships in March.

Now all eyes are on the two Super 1000 events -- Yonex Thailand Open (January 12-17) and Toyota Thailand Open (January 19-24) as the world's best returns to action following a prolonged break.

World champion Sindhu, seeded sixth, will open against Denmark's Mia Blichfeldt, while Saina, who has recently recovered from COVID-19, will face formidable Japanese Nozomi Okuhara, seeded third, in the first round.

In the next tournament, Sindhu, who has qualified for the Tokyo Olympics and

has been training in London for the last two months, will meet Thailand's Busanan Ong-bamrungphan in the opening round, while London Olym-pics bronze medallist Saina will square off against another Thai star player Ratchanok Intha-non, seeded fourth.

The 25-year-old Sindhu has been seeded sixth in both the tournaments, according to the draws announced by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) on Tuesday.

In the men's singles, a total of seven Indians, including for-mer world No. 1 Kidambi Sri-kanth, Olympic-bound B Sai Praneeth and young Lakshya Sen, will be participating in both the events.

Srikanth, who had reached the quarterfinals at Denmark Open in October, will cross swords with fellow Indian Sourabh Verma in the open-ing round in the first Thailand event while Lakshya, who lost in second round at Odense, will be up against Denmark's Ras-mus Gemke.

Praneeth will fight it out against local player Kantaphon Wangcharoen.

HS Prannoy will take on eight seed Lee Zii Jia of Malay-

sia, former Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap meets Japan's Kenta Nishimoto while Sameer Verma faces Indonesia's She-sar Hiren Rhustavito.

Srikanth will square up against local player Sitthikom Thammasin in the second event and Praneeth will take on Malaysia's Daren Liew in relatively easier draws but Lak-shya faces an uphill task against second seed Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei.

Among others, Kashyap will face Gemke, Prannoy will face off sixth seed and Asian Games champion Jonatan Christie of Indonesia, while Verma brothers -- Sameer and Sourabh will meet eight seed Zii Jia and fifth seed Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia respectively.

Indian men's pairing of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, who have also qualified for the Tokyo Games, will face Korean combination of Kim Gi Jung and Lee Yong Dae in the first event, while it will be an all-Indian duel in the second tournament with the world no 10 pair taking on Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy. AGENCIES

India retain second spot in ICC WTC rankings

DUBAI: India kept them-selves in contention of com-peting in the final of the ICC World Test Championship next year after winning the Mel-bourne Test that helped them retain their second spot in the updated points table, released on Wednesday.

India bagged 30 points for their eight-wicket win. They are placed second with 390 points and a 72.2 percentage of points (PCT).

Australia continues to occupy the top spot despite losing the Boxing Day Test and copping penalty for main-taining a slow over-rate against

India. They now have 322 points with a 76.6 PCT.

New Zealand consolidated their third spot with a 101-run win over Pakistan in the first Test on Wednesday. The Black Caps earned 60 points for the win and now have a PCT of 66.7.

"New Zealand keep them-selves in contention of making it to the final of the ICC World Test Championship," the Inter-national Cricket (ICC) tweeted on Wednesday.

England and Pakistan form the top five of the WTC points table.

The top two sides at the

end of the league on per-centage points will play the final.

Each series of the league is worth 120 points, distrib-uted evenly over the number of matches in a series, ranging from 60 in two-Test series to 24 for a five-Test series.

Although India leads on the number of points, the ICC last month altered the points system for the WTC owing to the disruption of international cricket due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The factor that determines the final placing is now per-centage points. AGENCIES

Fulham virus outbreak sees EPL game at Tottenham

called offLONDON: A Coronavirus out-break at Fulham has forced the postponement of the Premier League match at Tottenham, hours before kickoff on Wednes-day. It is the second match this week to be called off in the Pre-mier League due to COVID-19 cases after Manchester City's game on Monday at Everton also fell by the wayside.

Tottenham manager Jose Mourinho expressed irritation with a post on Instagram laced with sarcasm as he waited for the postponement decision to be made during Wednesday afternoon. AGENCIES

Barcelona held 1-1 at home by Eibar without Messi

BARCELONA: WBARCE-LONA, Spain (AP) — With Lionel Messi nursing his ankle in the stands, Barcelona fell further behind in the Spanish league on Tuesday after ceding its first-ever point to Eibar at Camp Nou.

Halftime substitute Ous-mane Dembele salvaged Barce-lona a 1-1 draw when he scored in the 67th. That canceled out Kike García’s opener 10 min-utes earlier after a ball-control blunder by center back Ron-ald Araújo.

A second consecutive home draw meant Ronald Koeman’s side slipped into sixth place after Sevilla moved into fourth with a 2-0 win over Villarreal, which fell into fifth.

Front-runners Atlético Madrid and Real Madrid are seven points clear of Barcelona before they play matches on

Wednesday.“Being realistic, the league

title is very complicated. Noth-ing is impossible, but we must recognize the gap,” Koeman said. “We were missing Leo, who is always decisive, but the sensation I have is ‘how is it possible we didn’t win?’ We created chances, missed a penalty, and gave away a goal that was their only shot on target.”

Messi was forced to watch the game tucked in a winter coat with the reserves because of an unspecified right-ankle problem. It is not reported to be serious.

Already without Ansu Fati and Gerard Pique because of serious injuries, Barcelona also lost midfielder Philippe Coutinho in the final minutes with what appeared to be a left knee injury. AGENCIES

Indian women’s hockey team to resume int’l competition with tour of Argentina in Jan

NEW DELHI: Indian hockey will hit the restart button and begin the Olympic prepara-tions when the women's team travels to Argentina next week for its first tour in nearly a year after the COVID-19 pandemic abruptly halted all competitions around the world. A core group of 25 players and seven support staff will leave from New Delhi on January 3. The Indian wom-en's team will compete in eight matches against hosts Argen-tina, starting from January 17. "We have a little over 200 days before we arrive in Tokyo for the Olympic Games in July 2021

and it was very important to play matches against a strong team like Argentina," Indian women's hockey team captain Rani said in a release issued by Hockey India. "The team is really excited for this opportunity and has been keenly looking forward to this tour, this exposure will make us understand the level we are at after nearly a five-month long National Coach-ing Camp in Bengaluru." The Indian women's team last par-ticipated in an international tour in January this year when it travelled to New Zealand for a five-match series. AGENCIES

India, Australia not to travel to Sydney before Jan 4: Hockley

MELBOURNE: The Indian and Australian teams will continue to train in Mel-bourne for few more days and travel to Sydney only three days prior to the third Test beginning at the SCG on January 7.

Usually the teams land in Sydney on the eve of the New Year but due to steady Coro-navirus cases in the city, the players and officials will stay in Melbourne for a longer period this year.

"Last night's announce-ment is we're proceeding in Sydney and we're putting our plans in place to do that and to do that safely.”

“Players will be in Mel-

bourne for a few more days, training there and moving up to Sydney a couple of days ahead of the Test match," CA chief executive Nick Hockley said.

On Tuesday, Cricket Aus-tralia had decided to retain Sydney as the venue for the third Test, ending specu-lation that the game could move to Melbourne because of stringent COVID-19 border restrictions that would have affected the players' move-ment for the fourth match in Brisbane.

Hockley said the proto-cols put in place will ensure that broadcast crew can safely travel to Brisbane. AGENCIES

FC Goa pip Hyderabad 2-1, end year on a highVASCO: FC Goa picked up three points in style as they staged a thrilling comeback to see off Hyderabad FC 2-1 in the Indian Super League (ISL) here on Wednesday.

Aridane Santana (58') put Hyderabad ahead but Goa left it late and scored through sub-stitute Ishan Pandita (87') and Igor Angulo (90') to inflict a third successive defeat on the Nizams.

Joel Chianese, mak-ing a return from injury, was among the three changes made by Hyderabad while Lenny Rodrigues came back in the line-up for Goa at the Tilak Maidan Stadium.

Both teams failed to create clear-cut chances in the first-half, staying defensively organ-ised. As a result, no shots on target were registered. But it was Goa, who appeared more threatening.

They missed the chance to grab the lead in the 10th min-

ute through the first corner of the game.

Brandon Fernandes whipped in a teasing cross for James Donachie but the defender failed to get his header on target.

Goa fashioned another great chance right before the end of

the break. Receiving the ball on the left, Brandon cut inside and flicked the ball for Angulo in the box. The latter tipped his header over the bar.

Hyderabad began the sec-ond half aggressively, taking the game to Goa. Their intent soon paid off as they opened the scor-

ing just before the hour mark.Goa, who have been guilty

of conceding from set-pieces, were exposed again.

Hyderabad won a throw-in and Asish Rai crossed the ball for Aridane, who headed home from close range to bag his fifth goal of the season.

The Gaurs too had their chances and missed a great opportunity to draw parity in the 69th minute. Brandon drilled a cross across the face of goal for Jorge Ortiz Mendoza, who made a run into the box but failed to connect.

Two minutes later, Aridane had the ball in the back of the net, after receiving one from Yasir, but was flagged offside.

Goa kept knocking on the door but lacked the cutting edge in the final third, failing to reg-ister a single shot on target. But Juan Ferrando's men, like they did in the previous game against Jamshedpur, displayed fighting spirit. AGENCIES

Goa fashioned another great chance right before the end of the break

Rohit joins upbeat Indian team in

Melbourne

FC Goa players celebrate a goal against Hyderabad FC during their Indian Super League match at the Tilak Maidan Stadium, Mormugao, Goa, Wednesday PTI

MELBOURNE: Star batsman Rohit Sharma on Wednesday joined the Indian team here after completing his two-week quarantine in Sydney, bolster-ing the tourists who are on a high after scripting an incred-ible comeback in the ongoing four-match Test series against Australia.

Days after recording their lowest Test total of 36 in the series-opener in Adelaide, the Indian team staged a remark-able turnaround to humble Australia by eights wickets and level the rubber at the MCG.

Rohit's inclusion will strengthen the team that was going through one of its worst phases last week.

"So how was your quaran-tine, my friend," chief coach Ravi Shastri was heard ask-ing Rohit in a video posted by BCCI. The batsman was heard saying he is feeling younger. AGENCIES

Sanjay Dutt, who recently recovered from a terminal illness, is getting praises and appreciation by the cast and the crew of the

upcoming movie ‘KGF 2’ as they are in awe of the ‘Prassthanam’ star’s dedication passion and determination.

Dutt had immediately rushed to Bengaluru to join the crew of the film, which was waiting to shoot the intricate climax action sequence featuring him and lead actor Yash.

“Our main concern was Sanjay Dutt’s health. We wanted him to work in a safe and comfortable atmosphere. Yash and direc-tor Prashanth Neel suggested that Dutt’s stunts should be simplified. But he would not hear of it. ‘Do not insult me by suggest-ing that I’m not capable of doing the action

scenes. I will do them exactly the way they were written with no compromise and no cheating’. He proceeded to do the stunts all by himself. Even while doing the dangerous stunts, he refused a body double and he did them perfectly,” informed a source.

The film’s location, where the fight scene was shot, was filled with dust.

“Yash sir suggested that Dutt sahab’s place be freed of dust and sanitised properly before every shot. But Dutt sahab refused and said, ‘How will it look on the screen if my shots are cleaned out? The audience is too clever. They can make out the tampering,” added the source.

Impressed by Sanjay Dutt’s dedication, actor Yash said, “He is a fighter and a real-life hero.” AGENCIES

NEW DELHI|THURSDAY, 31 DECEMBER, 2020|millenniumpostmp entertainment12

OUR CORRESPONDENT

Travel through the epi-curean legends of Italy, India and South-East

Asia at each of The Imperi-al’s restaurants, for a gala New Year’s Eve dinner. Heighten the excitement and experience pleasurable dining, truly The Imperial way.

1911 Restaurant offers a sumptuous ‘New Year Eve Dinner Buffet’ with a selection of fine delicacies like seared yellow fin tuna nicoise, Ten-derloin picattas and other suc-culent delights. Timings are 7 pm -11:45 pm and the buf-fet starts at Rs 3999 (taxes per person) and Rs 1999 (taxes per child) along with additional IMFL liquor at Rs 1999 and imported liquor at Rs 2999.

San GimiIgnano (Tuscan Italian Restaurant) will give

its guests a taste of delectable Tuscan Italian food to choose from on New Year’s Eve, fea-turing Zuppa Di Pesce-tra-ditional soup with prawns, lean fish, squid, scallops, clams and mussels and many other items. The Spice Route (South –East Asian Restau-rant) will embrace epicure-ans with South East Asian delights for New Year by Chef Veena Arora with hand crafted specialties.

On January 1, the New Year celebrations will be extended to elevate festive spirits with the most spectac-ular ‘New Year Brunch Buffet’ at 1911 Restaurant, where one can enjoy their favourite world cuisine and welcome 2021 in style. Pay a vist between 12:30 pm and 3:30 pm and enjoy the ‘New Year’s Brunch Buffet’ at extremely nominal prices.

Legendary Odia music direc-tor Shantanu Mohapatra passed away at the age of 84

on December 30. He was suffering from old age related ailments and finally succumbed to pneumonia and cardiac failure.

Apart from Odia, Mohapatra had worked in different languages. He composed the first modern Odia ballad ‘Konark Gatha’ with lyrics by lyricist Gurukrushna Goswami and sung by Akshay Mohanty. He also wrote ‘Kalijae’ which was sung by Sikandar Alam.

Mohapatra also was the lone Odia music director to work with Hindi film greats like Lata Mangeshkar (‘Surjyamukhi’), Mohammad Rafi (‘Arundhati’), Manna Dey (‘Surjyamukhi’), Usha Mangeskar (‘Arundhati’) and other artists like Suresh Wadekar, Anu-radha Paudwal, Usha Uthup and Kavita Krishnamurthy.

As a music composer, his credits in the field of Odia music includes the first modern lullaby in AIR (‘Soi pada re dhana’ sung by Santilata Rout), first ‘qawali’ (ae ranga rahiba nahi from ‘Sur-jyamukhi’), first ‘bhangra’ tune and first fusion and jumping note.

Mohapatra’s work in Odia films included ‘Sei chuna chuna’ (‘Sur-jyamukhi’), ‘Mayuri go’ (‘Arundhati’), ‘Jaa jare bhasi ja’ (‘Chilika teeray’) and many others. AGENCIES

Bollywood actor Ayush-mann Khurrana is excited for his upcoming projects

in 2021. The 36-year-old actor hopes that his next slate of proj-ects will manage to pull people to the theatres.

“It has been a reflective year for me and it has made me focus on my priorities. I have been fortunate enough to read some really cracking material through the year and have managed to handpick some unique films which I cannot wait for audiences to see,” said the ‘Bala’ star.

Khurrana believes that the content landscape of the cinema has been changed by the Coro-navirus pandemic and that the industry needs to come up with

some superlative ideas to pull people back to the theatres.

“I have been trying to nor-malise taboo conversations in India through my cinema and it was good to shatter a big ste-reotype that leading men can-not play a gay man on screen. I have strongly felt that through cinema, we could tell society to widen its gaze, to think ahead and change the nation. ‘Shubh Mangal Zyaada Saavdhan’ definitely did its best to spark an important conversation about same-sex love,” said Ayushmann. AGENCIES

‘Do not insult me by simplifying my stunts’

Makers of KGF2 suggested that Dutt’s stunts should be simplified keeping his health in mind, but he did

not like the idea

Hollywood actor Robert Pattin-son, known for ‘Twilight’ fran-chise, is pretty much working

way too hard ever since director Matt Reeves started pushing him to his limits during the ongoing shoot of the upcom-ing DC superhero film ‘The Batman’.

The filming process has turned out as a gruelling process, with the director making Robert do over 50 takes, thus

leaving him exhausted, reported ‘the-sun.co.uk’.

“Filming has been a gruelling process, especially for Robert, as Matt is such a perfectionist. He

will insist on doing scenes over and over again and get bogged down in the tiny detail. Sometimes, it is like he does not know when to stop,” said a source.

The source continued: “Matt has done block busters before, but this is another level. Batman is argu-ably the most popular superhero of all and by the time the film is released it will be the Dark Knight’s first solo movie in 10 years.”

“‘War-ner Bros’ cannot afford for

the fan-base to be

disappointed and have thrown 90 million pounds at the film. No one is denying that this is a high stakes pro-duction and that Matt is feeling the pressure to get it right. But Robert has had a tough time on these franchise movies before. He hated ‘Twilight’ by the time it wrapped and the last thing any-one wants is for him to become jaded,” added the insider.

The Coronavirus pandemic has had quite an impact on ‘The Batman’, due to which its release was pushed. Its production was scrapped this March

and was suspended once again after the ‘Tenet’

star caught the virus. Filming reportedly was hit with yet another setback in November when a stuntman had tested positive for COVID-19.

“All these set-backs have made Matt

paranoid about catch-ing the virus. It is got to the

point now where he has been directing scenes while zipped up inside a puffa coat and with ski goggles on. As a Coronavirus-secure outfit, it is ques-tionable. But if it makes him feel more at ease, everyone is going with it,” said the source.

The film also stars actors like Zoe Kravitz, Paul Dano, Jeffrey Wright, Colin Farrell, Peter Sarsgaard and John Tur-turro. AGENCIES

Matt leaves Robert exhausted on

‘The Batman’ shoot

The Coronavirus

pandemic has had quite an impact on

‘The Batman’, due to which its release

was pushed

The Sky is Pink’ star Pri-yanka Chopra took to her ‘Instagram’ handle

to share her story of playing some of the challenging characters which she essayed on the big screen.

“In my 20 years in the enter-tainment industry, I have had the privilege to play some distinct, memorable characters crafted by the finest directors in the business. Today, I’m talking about three such amaz-

ing, complex characters I have played at different points in time

with depth, conflict and resilience and working with three phenomenal direc-

tors who I believe are an institution in themselves - Kashibai (‘Bajirao Mas-tani’) by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Susanna (‘7 Khoon Maaf ’) by Vishal Bhardwaj and Jhilmil (‘Barfi’) by Anurag Basu,” wrote the ‘Baywatch’ star.

She added: “Bold, loyal and fierce, Kashibai was one of the most endear-ing characters I have played. Thank you Sanjay sir and everyone on the team for bringing Kashi into my life. Her grace under fire is still so inspiring to me. ‘7

Khoon Maaf ’ was a dark comedy with a woman protagonist who is look-

ing for true love and tries to find it seven times, but in the end, she is

still lonely. Thank you Vishal Sir for giving me Susanna who was a complex, immersive, impulsive and yet vulnerable person.

To play Jhilmil, a girl with Autism was a serious responsibility. But under Anurag sir’s tutelage, she turned out to be hon-est, raw and brought me so much joy.” AGENCIES

Priyanka opens on playing three ‘amazing and complex’ rolesShe thanked her directors for letting her play challenging roles in ‘Bajirao Mastani’, ‘7 Khoon Maaf ’ and ‘Barfi’Odia music director

Shantanu passes away

Ring in the New Year at the Imperial

Ayushmann is excited for new projects in 2021

The ‘Bala’ star said that Bollywood needs to come up with some superlative ideas to pull people back to the theatres

‘The Sky is Pink’ star Priyanka Chopra took to her ‘Instagram’ handle to share her journey in the entertainment industry

Filming has turned out as a gruelling process, with the director making him do 50+ takes