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News Brief

VOL. 54 * NO. 68* AHMEDABAD WEDNESDAY * 23/09/2020

SSR case: NCBsummons Deepika’smanager Karishma

Mumbai, Widening its probe into

the drug’s connection inBollywood actor SushantSingh Rajput death case, theNCB has summonedKarishma Prakash, the man-ager of actor DeepikaPadukone, and DhruvChitgopekar, CEO of theKwan talent managementagency for questioning.

A top Narcotics ControlBureau (NCB) official relatedto the probe said, “We havesummoned Prakash, whoworks as a manager at Kwanand its CEO Dhruv”.

The official said thatthey have been summonedas some whatsApp chatsshowed they were allegedlyinvolved in the drug case.

The developmentcomes a day after the NCBofficials said they will be is-suing summons toBollywood actors Sara AliKhan, Shraddha Kapoor,Rakul Preet Singh and fash-ion designer SimoneKambhatta this week forquestioning in connectionwith its probe.

Besides Prakash andDhruv, the NCB has alsosummoned Sushant’sformer manager ShrutiModi and talent managerJaya Saha for more ques-tioning.

DRDO works ondevelopingvegetables underintense weather

Ladakh,As the troops are set to

spend harsh winters at theChina border, the DefenceResearch and DevelopmentOrganisation (DRDO) isworking on cultivating veg-etables in the tough condi-tions here, for the IndianArmy, with the technologieslike passive greenhousetechnology, zero energy-based technique storage,and microgreens.The re-search for the same is beingdone by DRDO’s DefenceInstitute of High AltitudeResearch (DIHAR).

While speaking to ANI,DIHAR’s Director, Dr OmPrakash Chaurasia said thatthe focus is now on to aug-ment the availability of freshvegetables in winters likesummers.

“With DRDO technologyand hill council, all veg-etables can be grown insummer but now our focusis on winters that how toaugment the availability offresh items in winters. Thereare two approaches, one isto standardise the green-house technology. This (Leh)place has high intercity ofsolar even during peak win-ter period so we are work-ing on a passive green-house. We will be able togrow cabbage, cauliflower,and even tomato even inthe month of January wherethe temperature drops till -25 degrees. We have an un-derground greenhouse aswell.

Forces recover arms,ammunition droppedby Pak drone

Srinagar,Security forces on Tues-

day recovered a cache ofarms and ammunitiondropped by a Pakistani droneacross the Line of Control(LoC) in the Akhnoor sector ofJammu division in the UnionTerritory (UT) of Jammu &Kashmir (J&K).It was the fifthsuch incident since June 20when a similar arms-ladendrone was shot down by theBorder Security Force (BSF)personnel at Rathua inKathua district’s Hiranagarsector. Pakistan, which is des-perate to fuel terrorism in theUT, has adopted the latestmodus operandi of usingdrones to drop arms, ammu-nition, drugs and money.AJ&K Police official said that aPakistani drone droppedarms and ammunition atSohal Khad a dry rivulet inPallanwala, which is locatedabout 12 kilometres (km)from the Akhnoor sector.

A woman cleaning the grains from dust as harvesting of paddy begins inKashmir outskirts of Srinagar.UNI

Health workers fumigates insecticide to curb mosquito breeding on thelast day of Monsoon session at Jharkhand Assembly in Ranchi. UNI

Candidate show her documents to college admistration before appear inthe Bihar B.Ed Joint Entrance Exam, at a Magadh Mahila College, in Patna. UNI

Rajya Sabha holds crucial meeting asOpposition boycotts Parliament proceedings

New Delhi,The Rajya Sabha has

called its Business AdvisoryCommittee (BAC) meetingon Tuesday after a day-full ofhectic activities, protestsand passage of several bills.

But the Opposition,which announced to boy-cott the Upper House for theremainder of the session,will not attend the meeting.

TMC’s Derek O’Brien,SP’s Ram Gopal Yadav,Congress’s Anand Sharmaand Jairam Ramesh andRJD’s Manoj Kumar Jha arethe five Opposition leaderswho will skip 11-membercommittee meeting.

The BAC is a panel led byRajya Saha chairmanVenkaiah Naidu to discussthe weekly agenda of the

House.The meeting has been

called amid indications thatthe House might be ad-journed in a day or two.

The Opposition partiesalso alleged that they wereinformed just an hour agoabout the BAC meeting,leaving them little time toattend the meeting.

Rajya Sabha officialspointed out that the meet-ing was decided at a shortnotice and all efforts weremade to inform the mem-bers of the panel as quicklyas possible.

On Sunday, the RajyaSabha passed the two keyfarm bills - Farmer’s ProduceTrade and Commerce (Pro-motion and Facilitation) Bill,2020, and the Farmers (Em-

powerment and Protection)Agreement of Price Assur-ance and Farm Services Bill,2020, amid fierce protests inthe house.

While the Oppositionclaimed that the bills wereanti-farmer, the govern-ment says that these billswill help boost the farmingsector through private in-vestments. On Monday,eight Opposition MPs weresuspended for unrulybehaviour.

On Monday, the opposi-tion demonstrated its disap-proval in the Upper Houseof Parliament against thesuspension of MPs and pas-sage of these bills and boy-cotted the Rajya Sabha forthe remaining part of thesession.

China doubled its air bases, air defences and heliports near LACNew Delhi,

Amid the currentstandoff in Ladakh thatbecame public in earlyMay, there have been nu-merous reports of Chinadeploying additionaltroops, special forces,armoured units and air de-fence units on the Tibetanplateau

China began buildingat least 13 new military po-sitions, including airbasesand air defence units, nearthe Line of Actual Control(LAC) with India after the2017 standoff at Doklam,with work on four heliportsbeginning after the cur-rent tensions in

New Parliament building to cost around Rs 970 croreNew Delhi,

The tender for con-struction of the new Par-liament building is underscrutiny, while architec-tural plans for other build-ings are under planningstage, Puri said in re-sponse to a questionraised by All IndiaTrinamool Congress(AITC)MP Mala Roy in the LokSabha on Tuesday.

The estimated cost ofconstruction of the new

Parliament building is Rs971 crore, union housingand urban affairs ministerHardeep Puri informed Par-liament on Tuesday. It is anincrease of Rs 82 crore fromthe Centre’s initial estimate.

The tender for construc-tion of the new Parliamentbuilding is under scrutiny,while architectural plans forother buildings are underplanning stage, Puri said inresponse to a questionraised by All India TrinamoolCongress(AITC) MP Mala

Roy in the Lok Sabha onTuesday. “The estimatedcost for Construction of newParliament Building is Rs971 crore. Estimated cost ofother buildings and devel-opment/ redevelopment ofCentral Vista Avenue shallbe worked out after finaliza-tion of plans,” Puri said.

Last week, Tata ProjectsLimited emerged as thelowest of the two biddersfor the tender to constructthe new Parliament com-plex by quoting a bid of Rs

861.90 crore. According tothe Central Public WorksDepartment’s (CPWD)tender, the estimated costof construction for thenew building is Rs 889crore.

In response to a ques-tion from Trinamool MP,seeking “the rationale be-hind the project in light ofthe fact that economy is indoldrums,” Puri said thatthe facilities and ameni-ties of the 93-year-old ex-isting Parliament building.

Geneva,The coronavirus pan-

demic appears to be accel-erating worldwide, withnew cases soaring last weekto a new seven-day high ofalmost two million, even asnew deaths decreased,WHO statistics showed.Thecoronavirus pandemic ap-pears to be acceleratingworldwide, with new casessoaring last week to a newseven-day high of almosttwo million, even as newdeaths decreased, WHO sta-tistics showed.In a fresh glo-bal update, the World HealthOrganization said late Mon-day that during the weekending on September 20,1,998,897 new cases of thenovel coronavirus were reg-istered around the world.

That marks a six-percentincrease over a week earlierand “the highest number ofreported cases in a singleweek since the beginning ofthe epidemic,” the UNhealth agency said.

World sees recordweekly number ofCovid-19 cases: WHO

After Deepika Padukone Dia MirzaNamed in Bollywood Drug Scandal

New Delhi,After Deepika

Padukone, Dia Mirza's namehas come up in the drugscase related to SushantSingh Rajput death case.According to reports, thedrug peddler Anuj Keswanihas named the 38-year-oldactress in the Narcotics Con-

trol Bureau (NCB) inquiry.Bollywood actor

Sushant Singh Rajput'sdeath has opened a can ofworms which once againthrows a spotlight on theunderbelly of drugs in theshowbiz world. After

Deepika Padukone, Sara AliKhan and Shraddha Kapoor,another shocking name tohave emerged is that of ac-tress-producer Dia Mirza.However, the actress hasoutrightly denied all ofthese allegations, calling it

'false news'. According tosources, Dia's name wasbeen revealed by drug ped-dlers Anuj Keshwani andAnkush during the NCB in-vestigation.

The actress's name ismentioned in FIR no. 16/20.It has been learnt that DiaMirza's manager used to ar-range for drugs and gave itto the actress. In 2019, drugswere procured by her man-ager, who even met the ped-dlers once or twice. The NCBcan summon actress DiaMirza soon in the drugs con-spiracy.

Denying all of these al-legations, Dia Mirza took toTwitter and slammed it. Shewrote: Earlier, explosiveWhatsApp chats dating Oc-tober 2017 betweenDeepika Padukone and hermanager Karishma revealthe drug exchange runningsmoothly in Bollywood andhow! This particular chatwhich has been accessednow is related to October 28,2017, when there was a Hal-loween party at poshMumbai club called Koko.

Soon, DeepikaPadukone, who is currentlyin Goa shooting for aproject, might be sum-moned by the investigatingagency.

Actress slams 'false news'; says'never consumed narcotics'

DRDO conducts successfulflight test of ABHYAS

New Delhi,In yet another mile-

stone for India, the De-fence Research and Devel-opment Organisation(DRDO) on Tuesday con-ducted the successfulflight test of ABHYAS--High-speed ExpendableAerial Target (HEAT). Theflight test was done fromthe Interim Test Range,Balasore in Odisha.

Union Defence Minis-ter Rajnath Singh laudedthe successful flight test ofABHYAS. Taking to micro-blogging site Twitter,Singh said that this can beused as a target for evalu-

ation of various Missilesystems.During the trials,two demonstrator ve-hicles were successfullytest flown. The vehicle canbe used as a target forevaluation of various mis-sile systems. During the testcampaign, the user require-ment of 5 km flying altitude,vehicle speed of 0.5 mach,endurance of 30 minutesand 2g turn capability ofthe test vehicle were suc-cessfully achieved. Abhyasis designed and developedby Aeronautical Develop-ment Establishment (ADE),DRDO. The air vehicle islaunched using twin un-derslung booster.

Chinese hackers targeting governmentwebsites, trigger security concerns in India

New Delhi,Indian security agencies

are concerned over the lat-est development in whichthe United States Depart-ment of Justice has said thatfive Chinese hackers whocharged were involved totarget the Indian govern-ment networks and com-prised of foreign govern-ment computer networks.The US government allegedthat the hackers targeted"over 100 victim companiesin the United States andabroad, including softwaredevelopment companies,computer hardware manu-facturers, telecommunica-tions providers, social mediacompanies, video gamecompanies, non-profit orga-nizations, universities, thinktanks, and foreign govern-

ments, as well as pro-de-mocracy politicians and ac-tivists in Hong Kong.

The Justice Departmentinvestigation once againhighlights how the Chinesehackers systemically con-spiring to hack Indian com-puter networks includingother countries.“There is anurgent need for Indian lawenforcement agencies toinvestigate the leads and fileprosecution against Chi-nese and North Koreanhackers.” said a senior secu-rity official deployed in In-dian Security establishmentto Zee Media.

"In about 2019, the con-spirators compromised gov-ernment of India websites,as well as virtual private net-works and database serverssupporting the governmentof India. The conspirators

used VPS PROVIDER serversto connect to an Open VPNthe network owned by thegovernment of India," theindictment said.

The conspirators had in-stalled "Cobalt strike"malware on Indian govern-ment-protected computers,it added.

As per the investigation,security researchers havetracked using the threat la-bels “APT41,” “Barium,”“Winnti,” “Wicked Panda,”and “Wicked Spider,” facili-tated the theft of sourcecode, software code signingcertificates, customer ac-count data, and valuablebusiness information, saysthe Department of Justice(DOJ). These intrusions alsofacilitated the defendants’other criminal schemes, in-cluding ransomware and

“crypto-jacking” schemes,the latter of which refers tothe group’s unauthorizeduse of victim computers to“mine” cryptocurrency.

“The Department of Jus-tice has used every toolavailable to disrupt the ille-gal computer intrusions andcyberattacks by these Chi-nese citizens,” said DeputyAttorney General Jeffrey A.Rosen. “Regrettably, the Chi-nese communist party haschosen a different path ofmaking China safe forcybercriminals so long asthey attack computers out-side China and steal intellec-tual property helpful toChina.”

The report added, Theracketeering conspiracypertained to the three de-fendants’ conducting theaffairs of Chengdu 404 Net-work Technology(“Chengdu 404”),

Ladakh.Details of thesemilitary positions are out-lined in a report releasedon Tuesday by Stratfor, aleading security and intel-ligence consultancy. Thenew positions includethree airbases, five perma-nent air defence positionsand five heliports.

“Construction on fourof those new heliportsstarted only after the onsetof the current Ladakh cri-sis in May,”

said the reportauthored by Sim Tack, aBelgium-based securityand a military analyst withStratfor.

“The 2017 Doklam cri-

sis appears to have shiftedChina’s strategic objec-tives, with China more thandoubling its total numberof airbases, air defence po-sitions, and heliports nearthe Indian border over thepast three years,” it added.

The Chinese military isbuilding four air defencepositions within existingairbases, and other facili-ties such as additional run-ways and shelters that willhelp obscure combat air-craft from observation. Ithas also been deployingmore air defence systemsand fighter aircraft to exist-ing facilities, the reportsaid.

Amid the currentstandoff in Ladakh thatbecame public in earlyMay, there have been nu-merous reports of Chinadeploying additionaltroops, special forces,armoured units and air de-fence units on the Tibetanplateau.

Analysis of open sourcesatellite imagery hasshown that China has cre-ated a surface-to-air mis-sile site on the banks ofMansarovar Lake in Tibet,and is developing similarfacilities to cover sensitivestretches of the disputedborder in the Doklam andSikkim sectors.

ED attaches Iqbal Mirchi'sDubai assets worth Rs 203 crore

New Delhi, The Enforcement Direc-

torate on Tuesday said it hasattached Dubai-based as-sets worth over Rs 203 croreof late gangster IqbalMirchi's family in connec-tion with a money launder-ing case. The attached assetsinclude 15 commercial andresidential properties be-longing to the "family mem-bers" of Mirchi. They includea hotel called Midwest Ho-tel Apartment, the ED said.

They are valued at Rs203.27 crore and have beenprovisionally attached un-der the Prevention ofMoney Laundering Act(PMLA), the central probeagency said in a statement.

Officials said these as-sets were transferred to theMirchi family by a Dubai-based company owned by

the Wadhawan brothers,Kapil Wadhawan andDheeraj Wadhawan. The

Wadhawan's are the pro-moters of the Dewan Hous-ing Finance Limited (DHFL).They were arrested by theED in another money laun-dering case linked to alleg-edly dubious loans given byYes Bank. Kapil Wadhawanwas also arrested by the

agency in connection withthe Mirchi PMLA case but helater obtained bail. With thisaction, the total attachmentin this case by the ED standsat Rs 776 crore. Two similarattachment orders were is-sued by the ED in Decemberlast year.

Mirchi, who died in 2013in London, was alleged to bethe right-hand man of glo-bal terrorist DawoodIbrahim in drug traffickingand extortion crimes. "He(Mirchi) was an interna-tional drugs dealer andsmuggler who had amassedhuge wealth and acquiredvarious immovable proper-ties and businesses acrossthe globe," the ED had saidearlier. The agency allegedMirchi "indirectly ownedvarious properties in andaround Mumbai".

Iqbal Mirchi, whodied in 2013 in

London, wasalleged to be theright-hand man

of global terroristDawood Ibrahim

Ahmedabad, Page 2

Editorial2

Justice for equalityBoth as lawyer and US Supreme Courtjudge, Ruth Bader Ginsburg furtheredequality before law, and ofopportunity.

In 1960, US Supreme Court judge Felix Frankfurterwas instrumental in denying a young lawyer a job asa supreme court clerk –- he refused to work with awoman. In fact, Ruth Bader Ginsburg found it hard tofind a job at any prestigious law firm, despite being agraduate of both Columbia and Harvard law schools.Since then, her journey, both as a lawyer and a Su-preme Court judge, was marked by milestones, eachanother step towards equality before law, and of op-portunity. Her death last week has sparked a politicalstorm — defying convention, President Donald Trumpand Republicans in the US Senate are trying to nomi-nate and confirm her successor, a conservative juristin all likelihood, in an election year.

As a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union,Ginsburg led the charge in a series of cases that guar-anteed greater gender equality, including equal payand abortion rights. As a judge, she was known asmuch for her judgments as her dissenting opinions.In United States v Virginia, Ginsburg wrote the major-ity opinion, which ended the Virginia Military Institute’smen-only admission policy. In Bush v Gore in 2000, hereloquence then was substituted with the impact ofbrevity. She wrote, simply, “I dissent”.

Unlike in India, there is no retirement age for anAmerican Supreme Court judge. It may appear, then,that if Trump succeeds in appointing a conservativereplacement for Ginsburg, many of the principles shefought for could be under threat. The antidote to thatpessimism may lie in some of the tributes to her. Pho-tos of girls and young women dressed as Ginsburgfor Halloween, or a school function have flooded theinternet. Thanks in large part to her lifetime of work,they will find it a lot easier to follow in Ginsburg’s foot-steps.

FromEditor’sDesk

AHMEDABAD WEDNESDAY 23/09/2020

Tribals making a human chain with placrds in hands in protest againstJharkhand government over implementation of Sarna Code in Ranchi.UNI

BACK TO SCHOOL: Schools reopened in Srinagar on Monday after remainingclosed due to COVID-19 since March this year in Union Territory of jammu andKashmir.UNI

New York, Researchers have devel-

oped a new tool that mim-ics how SARS-CoV-2 — thevirus that causes Covid-19— infects a cell, informationthat could potentially speedthe search for treatmentsagainst the disease.

The tool is a fluorescentnanoparticle probe thatuses the spike protein onthe surface of SARS-CoV-2to bind to cells and triggerthe process that pulls thevirus into the cell.

According to the study,published in the journal ACSNano, the probe could beused in tests to rapidlygauge the ability ofbiologics, drugs and com-pounds to block the actualvirus from infecting humancells. “Our goal is to create ascreening system to findcompounds that blockSARS-CoV-2 from binding tocells and infecting them,”said study author KirillGorshkov from the NationalCenter for Advancing Trans-lational Sciences (NCATS) inthe US. To create the probe,scientists built a fluorescentnanoparticle called a quan-

This new model may speeddrug discovery for Covid-19

tum dot, fashioned fromcadmium and selenium. Ataround 10 nanometers insize, these sphericalnanoparticles are 3,000times smaller than thewidth of a human hair.

The research team thenstudded the quantum dots’surfaces with a section ofthe SARS-CoV-2 spike pro-tein that binds to the angio-tensin-converting enzyme 2(ACE2) receptor on humancells. The union of the spikeprotein with ACE2 is the firststep in the pathway to viralinfection.The glow from thequantum dots allows scien-tists to track the dots’behaviour under a micro-scope.

“Because they’re suchbright fluorescent objects,the quantum dots give us apowerful system to track vi-ral attachment and effectson the cell in real-time,” ex-plained Gorshkov.

The investigatorstracked how the quantumdot probes interacted withhuman cells that have ACE2on their surfaces. Theywatched the nanoparticleprobes attach to ACE2,

which combined with theprobes and pulled theminto the cells. The quantumdot probes did the same ina lung cell line commonlyused in coronavirus assays.

Safety data showed thatthe probes were not toxic tothe test cells at the concen-trations and exposure timesused in the study. The quan-tum dots followed the SARS-CoV-2 pathway into cells,but the research team foundthe probes also mimickedthe virus in the presence ofantibodies.

Antibodies are proteinsmade by the immune sys-tem that can neutralize vi-ruses such as SARS-CoV-2.The antibodies proved to bepotent inhibitors of thequantum dot probes as well,preventing them from bind-ing to ACE2 and enteringhuman cells, the researcherssaid.

That antibody responsemeans the quantum dotprobes could help research-ers rapidly test the ability ofpotential therapeuticagents to block the virusfrom entering and infectingcells.

New Delhi,The Pesticides Manage-

ment Bill 2020 (PMB) thatwas tabled in the RajyaSabha during budget ses-sion is a great opportunityfor the Government to in-clude the experts' recom-mendations of the NationalAcademy of Agricultural Sci-ences (NAAS) and the Trustfor Advancement of Agricul-tural Sciences (TAAS), whichwere prepared after com-prehensive consultationwith all stakeholders, includ-ing farming community.

The Pesticide Manage-ment Bill, 2020, is a long-overdue law in the makingsince 2008. It will replace theold Insecticides Act, 1968.Considering advances in themodern pest managementsciences and the effects ofsynthetic pesticides in ourfood, nutrition, health,wealth, and environmentsecurity,the Pesticide Man-agement Bill should bringIndia's pesticide sector inline with the latest globalnorms, with a robust Regu-latory System.

Prof R.B. Singh, FormerPresident, National Acad-emy of Agricultural Sciences(NAAS), said, "The PMB in thepresent form is not based onscientific facts and doesnotadequately address the con-cerns of the farmers.The in-ternalization of the NAASand TAAS recommenda-tions into the PMB will notonly enhance the credibilityof the Bill, but would alsogreatly augment the agro-

The Govt is Urged to Include NAAS, TAAS, and Farmers’ UnionRecommendations in Pesticides Management Bill 2020 to Render it

ecological and socio-eco-nomic impact of pesticidesas plant health chemicalstowards Greening Agricul-tural Transformation in thecountry”.

He reiterated that pesti-cides play an important rolein increasing agriculturalproductivity and preventingcrop losses. However, de-spite very low intensity ofpesticide use in the country,less than 0.5 kg/ha, againstover 13 kg/ha in China, dueto their indiscriminate use,negative impact on thehealth of humans, animals,biodiversity, and environ-ment are not uncommon.The PMB 2020 has severalloopholes and is silent oncritical issues which will al-low miscreants to compro-mise farmers’ welfare andsocio-economic and envi-ronmental security. TheNAAS and TAAS, involvingthe stakeholders along thevalue-chain, have scientifi-cally identified the short-comings and made science-informed recommenda-tions to render the bill trans-parent and effective to meetpeoples’ aspirations and toserve the farmers.

Prof Singh underpinnedthe highlights of the NAASrecommendations con-tained in NAAS Policy Briefentitled Better Manage-ment of Pesticides in India:Policy Perspectives, June2020. These include:the es-sentiality of explicit and un-ambiguous definition of theterms used in the Bill;

streamlining the import andregistration of technicalgrade pesticides; strength-ening research, technology,innovation, and public-cor-porate collaboration to lo-cally produce efficient newgreen molecules(Aatmnirbhar Bharat); cen-trality of quality control, zerospurious pesticides, neededinfrastructure and qualityhuman resources; pesticidegrouping for pest resistancemanagement; ensuringsafety of workers and re-lated handling/application;decriminalization of the sys-tem, but fixing differenti-ated accountability alongthe value chain; and pro-moting data protection andbuilding comprehensivedata base for need-baseduse through applying dataanalytics.

He further highlightedthat the TAAS-led VirtualDialogue on Current Chal-lenges and Way Forward forPesticides Management,held on July 24, 2020,Chaired by Prof R S Parodaand Co-chaired by himself,had, likewise, deliberated onreorienting the regulatorymechanism, creating en-abling environment forgrowth of pesticide indus-tries, and strengtheningpesticide research and inno-vation for development.

In concluding, ProfSingh emphasized thattimely and effective use ofthe NAAS and TAAS recom-mendations in updating thePMB 2020, which is under

active consideration in theParliament, will greatlystrengthen the cause of theGovernment to serve thefarmer, the youth, thewomen, the economy andthe ecology. By doing so, theGovernment will be human-izing science, becomingmore vocal for local, harmo-nizing the Bill with the inter-national provisions and pro-cedures leading to in-creased international trade,thus promoting internation-alization and rendering localmore global. Most impor-tantly, by accomplishing theneedful, we shall glorify JaiKisan, Jai Vigyan, and JaiAnusandhan.

Shri Bhupinder SinghMann, National President AllIndia Kisan Coordination

Committee and NationalPresident of BhartiyaKisanUnion said, "PMB 2020is an excellent opportunityto replace the old Insecti-cides Act, but, unfortunatelyit has again placed farmersback under the Banyan tree.It promises to address someof the agriculture sector'slongstanding demands andmust provide “Right to tech-nology to Farmers for qual-ity Crop Protection”byoverhauling the regula-tory system. Introduction ofnew technology pesticideson priority, data protection,use of bio-seeds, regulatingspurious pesticides, and up-graded new technology willhelp the agriculture sectorin transition to contempo-rary farming practices.

People gather in Pasawahan village, Sukabumi district of West Java after flash floods in Indonesiaon Sept. 22, 2020. In West Java province's Sukabumi district, flash floods swept away three people,and search and rescue efforts are underway, spokesman of National Disaster Management AgencyRaditya Jati told Xinhua in a text message.UNI

Marathi actressAshalata no more

Mumbai, Veteran actress Ashalata Wabgaonkar, who was report-

edly suffering from Covid-19, died in the early hours of Tues-day after a four-day battle with her illness at a private hos-pital in Satara. She was 79 and had been hospitalised in acritical condition last weekend. The end came at the hospi-tal. Former Chief Minister of Goa, Digambar Kamat, con-firmed the news in a tweet, paying tribute to the Goa-bornactress. “Deeply pained by the passing away of acclaimedGoan Artist Ashalata Wabgaonkar. Her splendid perfor-mances in theatre & films will keep inspiring the genera-tions to come. My condolences to her family & fans. Mayher soul rest in peace,” Kamat tweeted. Ashalata worked inover 100 Hindi and Marathi films. Her notable Hindi filmsinclude “Apne Paraye”, “Ankush”, “Woh 7 Din”, “Ahista Ahista”,“Shaukeen”, and “Namak Halal”. Her Marathi films include“Umbartha”, “Sutradhar”, and “Vahinichi Maya”.

Washington, NASA has shared an up-

date on its Artemisprogramme, including thelatest plans to land the firstwoman and the next manon the surface of the Moonin 2024 at a cost of nearly$28 billion.

However, according toNASA Administrator JimBridenstine, meeting thetight deadline set by theDonald Trump administra-tion would depend a lot onCongress approving $3.2billion quickly for the devel-opment of human-rated lu-nar landers, according to areport in Spaceflight Nowon Monday.

NASA had earlier pro-posed a plan to return hu-mans to Moon by 2028.

In the 18 months sinceNASA accepted the “bold”challenge to accelerate itsexploration plans by morethan four years and estab-lish sustainable explorationby the end of the decade,the agency has continued togain momentum towardsending humans to theMoon again for the first timesince the last Apollo lunarmission in 1972.

“With bipartisan sup-port from Congress, our 21stcentury push to the Moon iswell within America’s reach,”said Bridenstine.

“As we’ve solidifiedmore of our explorationplans in recent months,we’ve continued to refineour budget and architec-ture. We’re going back to theMoon for scientific discov-ery, economic benefits, andinspiration for a new a gen-eration of explorers.”

The NASA Administratorsaid that the agency is alsobuilding momentum “to-

NASA shares $28bn plan toreturn humans to Moon in 2024

ward those first humansteps on the Red Planet.”

The agency’s powerfulnew rocket, the SpaceLaunch System (SLS), andthe Orion spacecraft arecloser than ever to their firstintegrated launch, NASAsaid.

The spacecraft is com-plete while the core stageand its attached four en-gines are undergoing a finalseries of tests that will cul-minate in a critical hot firetest this autumn.

Following a successfulhot fire test, the core stagewill be shipped to theagency’s Kennedy SpaceCenter in Florida for integra-tion with the spacecraft.

NASA will launch an SLSand an Orion together ontwo flight tests around theMoon to check perfor-mance, life support, andcommunication capabilities.

The first mission —known as Artemis I — is ontrack for 2021 without astro-nauts, and Artemis II will flywith crew in 2023.

While preparing for andcarrying out these flight testmissions, NASA already willbe back on the Moonrobotically - using commer-cial delivery services to senddozens of new science in-vestigations and technol-ogy demonstrations to theMoon twice per year begin-ning in 2021.

In 2024, Artemis III willbe humanity’s return to thesurface of the Moon - land-ing the first astronauts onthe lunar South Pole.

After launching on SLS,astronauts will travel about240,000 miles to lunar orbitaboard Orion, at whichpoint they will directlyboard one of the new com-

mercial human landing sys-tems, or dock to the Gate-way to inspect it and gathersupplies before boardingthe landing system for theirexpedition to the surface.

The Gateway will be anoutpost orbiting the Moonthat provides vital supportfor a sustainable, long-termhuman return to the lunarsurface, as well as a stagingpoint for deep space explo-ration.

Wearing modernspacesuits that allow forgreater flexibility and move-ment than those of theirApollo predecessors, astro-nauts will collect samplesand conduct a range of sci-ence experiments over thecourse of nearly seven days.

Using the lander, theywill return to lunar orbit be-fore ultimately headinghome to Earth aboard Orion,NASA said.—IANS

Prem Chopra:Talent is notdependent on age

Mumbai, Veteran actor Prem

Chopra, who will turn 85 onSeptember 23, feels that tal-ent has nothing to do withage. Chopra has played rolesof every shade over the de-cades in more than 360films, and notably “Bobby”,“Kati Patang” and “DoRaaste”. He was one of themost popular screen villainsin Bollywood during the1970s and 1980s.

While he has worked forover six decades, he feels anactor never retires, and thereis always work if a person iswilling to work hard. “Talentis not dependent on age. Ifyou are talented and deliveron whatever character isgiven to you, you will alwaysbe in demand,” he said. Talk-ing about a regular day inhis life, Chopra shared thathe does yoga each morningand likes to swim occasion-ally to stay fit. He also talkedabout his love for poetry,while openiong up on theshow “Zindagi ek Safar” onTata Sky Seniors.

Mumbai, Actress Mouni Roy, who

will soon be seen in the digi-tal film, London Confiden-tial, opposite Purab Kohli,says that lockdown taughther some of the greatest les-sons in life.

The actress, who is cur-rently in Dubai, told IANS: “Irealised a few things duringlockdown that we other-wise never get a chance tosit down and analyse. Ihave understood that, inreality we need very littleto feel happy because hap-piness is there in the smallthings of life. At times wejust gather a lot of stuff inour house for no reason. Innormal life, we tend to en-gage ourselves in manythings that are otherwiseirrelevant! If we want, weactually can stay awayfrom such things!”

“I have also realisedthat as human beings wewill come across differentemotions like anger andbeing upset, but it is alsovery easy to drop thesenegative emotions if wework on these. If we prac-tice meditation and yoga,and not just read thought-provoking books but ap-ply those thoughts in life.We can get rid of negativeemotions. Looking at thebigger picture, we do noteven know what actuallywe are running after! It islike an endless goal, but wedo not know where it isheading!” she said.

The actress shot her newfilm with Purab in Londonjust after the process of un-lock started. While the castand crew of the film main-tained social distancing,Mouni said initially therewas a sense of tension onthe set. “There were severalrules. We were using disin-fectants time and again.Only one department couldbe present at the set . Wewere following all of it but inthe beginning, there wastension because obviouslywe have never been used tosuch rules on a set. Eventu-

Mouni Roy: I amgetting used to

new normalally all these became nor-mal. Since I have leftMumbai, I have done sevenswab tests! But again, this ispart of the new set of rules. Iam getting used to the newnormal,” shared the actress.

“London Confidential” isdirected by Kanwal Sethiand produced by MohitChhabra and Ajay Rai.

The story by S. HussainZaidi revolves around thesearch of people from China

who are involved in thespread of a virus. On hercharacter, Mouni said: “Uma,my character who is anR&AW official facing a chal-lenge and racing againsttime to find the importantevidence and a mole in herteam. There is a backdrop ofpandemic, and of how shecracks the information ofanother upcoming virusthat can create another pan-demic situation.”

The film also featuresKulraj Randhawa, SagarArya, and Diljohn Singhamong others and is slatedto stream on Zee5.

Kangana takes jibe at Deepikaover alleged drug link

Mumbai, Kangana Ranaut has taken a sarcastic jibe at Deepika

Padukone, saying depression is a consequence of drugabuse. “Repeat after me, depression is a consequence ofdrug abuse. So called high society rich star children whoclaim to be classy and have a good upbringing ask theirmanager,” MAAL HAI KYA?” #boycottBollywoodDruggies#DeepikaPadukone,” Kangana tweeted. Just a day afterSushant Singh Rajput’s death, on June 15, Deepika hadtweeted from her verified account: “Repeat after me: de-pression is an illness.” Kangana in her tweets has now takena sarcastic jibe at Deepika using the latter’s catchwords inher anti-depression campaigns. Kangana’s jibe at Deepikacomes after the news channel Times Now revealed aWhatsApp chat, which the channel claims allegedly tookplace between Deepika and her manager KarishmaPrakash, who is reportedly an employee with Kwan TalentManagement Agency.

Ahmedabad, Page 3

A H M E D A B A D * M A R K E T * G U I D E

In the news 3AHMEDABAD WEDNESDAY 23/09/2020

A staff providing hand senitizer to students arrived to appear in exams ofPatna University at an examination centre in Patna.UNI

Manipal,Manipal Academy of

Higher Education hassigned a Memorandum ofUnderstanding (MoU) withthe National Highways Au-thority of India (NHAI) on anexciting research initiative.The initiative will enable theselected faculty members,researchers and students ofMAHE to familiarise with lat-est trends and know how inhighway/transportationsector and get actively in-volved in a few specifichighway projects. The MoUwas signed by the Registrar,MAHE and Project Director,NHAI in July, 2020.

NHAI through its ex-perts engaged in the projectwill disseminate and famil-iarize the knowledge to theselected students and re-searchers. Further, NHAI pro-poses to support creation ofLab infrastructure in the in-stitute and sponsor relevantresearch project that helpsin using alternative resourcematerial and improvingquality of roads. 20 studentsof the institute are expectedto do internship with NHAIas a part of the initiative ev-ery year. MAHE is proposedto adopt the Kundapur toSurathkal 90.05kM stretch

MIT, Manipal and NHAI cometogether on a Research Initiative

highway as Institute SocialResponsibility for a periodof 5years. The adoptedstretch would be used as asite for field study for the re-searchers and students ofthe institute.

The objective of the ini-tiative is to mutually sharethe domain knowledgeavailable for the benefit ofall involved. It will help thestudents to bridge the in-dustry- institute gap by en-gaging with the live projectsof NHAI and benefiting fromthe interaction with the ex-

perts in the field. On theother hand, through the pe-riodic examination of theprojects, the researchersand students of the institutewill provide comprehensiverecommendations on en-hancing the efficiency of theprojects. Further, the aca-demic expertise will beshared with the NHAI re-lated to design and en-hancement of the projectsconsidering all the requiredparameters such as safety,sustenance, environmentand so on.

Ahmedabad,Constantia Flexibles is

proud to call NuvaeHealthcare Pvt. Ltd, located inAhmedabad, Gujarat (India),its newest customer on thecompany’s journey to bringthe recyclable flexible pack-aging solution EcoLamPlusto consumers.

Nuvae Healthcare’s mis-sion is to inspire a healthyand hygienic living with con-venience provided by them.They are committed to main-taining the highest stan-

Nuvae Healthcare and Constantia Flexibleslaunch a fully recyclable packaging solution

dards of quality and consis-tency, which is why NuvaeHealthcare handcrafts one ofits most important productsthe ‘GOSAN Hand Sanitizer’in small batches. GOSAN is aneasy-to-use 70% alcohol-based hand sanitizer for wa-ter-free cleansing. Especiallyin these times, facing a pan-demic, it is key to keep ourhands clean at all times. So,the main purpose of thehand sanitizer is to supportpeople to live a healthy andhygienic life, free from germs

and illness. For this reason,Nuvae and ConstantiaFlexibles joined forces for acomplete recyclable packag-ing made of EcoLamPlus.

EcoLamPlus laminate isone of Constantia Flexibles’products in themonopolymer EcoLam pack-aging family based on PE. Itis ideal to replace non-recy-clable multipolymer struc-tures where water vapor andoxygen barrier are needed,also it helps to sustain highlyvolatile products like alcohol.

“It’s a huge honour forus to partner with NuvaeHealthcare Pvt Ltd as ourvalued customer and topackage their outstandingproduct, GOSAN HandSanitizer, with our recy-clable EcoLamPlus lami-nates. Health and safety isone of our key pillars andthat’s why NuvaeHealthcare is such a strongpartner for us”, says TonySirohi, Executive Chairman,Constantia Flexibles India,and adds: “We are glad tohave this successful andsustainable venture. Look-ing forward to further jointprojects.”

“We are very proud ofour unique formula ofGOSAN. It revolutionizes per-sonal hygiene by making itsimple and highly effective.GOSAN products areparaben free, cruelty free,and vegan.

20A - the entry-level Gam-ing King. Apart from offeringbest in segment processors,fast charge and mega bat-teries with the narzo 20 se-ries, realme also unveiledthe upgraded realme UI 2.0,centralizing on seamlesscreativity, social and produc-tivity quotients for Gen Zusers.

Commenting on thelaunch of narzo 20 series, Mr.Madhav Sheth, Vice Presi-dent, realme and Chief Ex-ecutive Officer, realme Indiaand Europe said, “The narzo10 series embodied ourgene of ‘Powermeets Style’and received overwhelmingresponse and appreciation.We reached a milestone of1million narzo users withina short period of time. Thelaunch of a new generationof narzo series,amplifies our‘Dare to Leap’ vision ofbringing best in class com-bination of power, perfor-mance and fun for youngplayers. Covering diverseprice points, the narzo 20series will cement realme’s

Realme unveils narzo 20 series with fastcharging technology for the young players

New Delhi,realme, the world’s fast-

est-growing smartphonebrand, launched its much-awaited, performancedriven smartphone series,the narzo 20 series, foryoung players and thrill-seeking consumers acrossIndia. The narzo 20 seriesfeatures three trail-blazingsmartphones – narzo 20 Pro- the most powerful 65Wcharging smartphone;narzo 20 - the best mid-range smartphone for gam-ing enthusiasts; and narzo

positioning as a youthfulbrand, deepening our reachamong millions of aspiringsmartphone buyers. To givea distinct identity andflavour to the narzo series,we have imbued the brandlogo with a powerful, victo-rious design to create astrong resonance amongusers who seek a powerfuland superior ownership ex-perience.” The narzo 20 Proprovides seamless perfor-mance with 65W SuperDartCharge for an unparalleledcharging experience thatcharges 100% of the mas-sive 4500mAh battery in just38 mins, making it the mostpowerful 65W chargingsmartphone in its segment.Even with heavy gaming ac-tivity, the battery can becharged up to 47% in just 30minutes. The narzo 20 Prohas the latest MediaTekHelio G95 SoC with300,000+ AnTuTu bench-mark and is exclusively de-signed to be at the core ofan incredible smartphonegaming experience.

Mumbai,The announcement on

Immigration Health Sur-charge (IHS) by the UK gov-ernment comes as a relief forIndian students, which ex-empts them from paying thefees for UK’s world-re-nowned comprehensive Na-tional Health Service. Fami-lies can be reassured thatstudents should be able toaccess health facilities free ofcharge if they properly com-ply with the health surchargefor the period of their immi-gration permission. This cov-ers access to advice from alocal doctor, emergency ser-vices and any required hos-pital treatment under NHS.The Immigration Health Sur-charge (IHS) is part of the UKvisa application and adds£300 a year for student andyouth mobility visas.

The U.K’s NHS is rightlyprized by U.K. residents, in-cluding both British citizensand international students. Alocal doctor is the first pointof contact for medical treat-ment. Students can registerwith a Health Centre or GP'sSurgery to get most of their

U.K. confirms free access for Indianstudents to the National Health Service

illnesses and other problemstreated by the GP. However,if a student needs to see aspecialist, the doctor will re-fer him or her to an appropri-ate hospital department.

Along with consultationswith a Doctor, most GP's Sur-geries and Health Centresalso provide a range of com-munity health services.These include vaccinations,women's health clinics, ser-vices for parents of youngchildren, family planning,contraception and sexualhealth.GP Surgeries andHealth Centres are normallyopen during the daytimeand early evening.

Speaking on this an-nouncement James Pitmanis Managing Director UK / EUfor Study Group said- “Indianfamilies can confidentlychoose to study in the U.K. asthe country is also known forits excellent health service.Hassle -free access to itthrough the ImmigrationHealth Surcharge can be avital factor for the studentswho are gearing up to takethe leap for their educationand careers.”

Ahmedabad,A Mumbai-based health-

tech start-up launched anapplication for Indian citi-zens to book an appoint-ment with the nearest doc-tor or the vaccination clinicto get themselves vacci-nated. Bringing in muchneeded convenience andtransparency, this platformwill ensure vaccinationreaches every nook and cor-ner of India. The health-techfirm, WONDRx, has tied upwith doctors and qualifiedhealthcare service providersacross the country to ensureeasy accessibility of the vac-cine to the concerned citi-zens through an app.WONDRx has alreadycurated and listed 180K plushealthcare providers on itsWONDRx consumer app,making it the largesthealthcare providers’aggregator in India.

Now residents can virtually bookappointment for vaccine in nearby clinics

Speaking on the occa-sion, the co-founder and Di-rector of WONDRx, Mr PankajAgrawal said, “Our app wouldlist the details of all vaccina-tion clinics that we arecurating, along with the feesto be paid for availing thevaccination at a pre-bookedtime slot. Vaccination book-ing via pre-booked slots willensure crowd managementas well while maintainingsocial distancing aspects.People from every nook andcorner of this country wouldbe able to take an informeddecision based on the detailsprovided.”

“Our app would act as abridge between the resi-dents of each state and thevaccination clinics. Thiswould help the people toschedule their appointmentwith the vaccination clinicsof choice and do away withwaiting in uncertainties and

long queues,” he added.The app would be com-

patible with Android phonesin the first phase and iOS ver-sions would be launched atlater stages. This app wouldbe available as a free down-load from Google Play Storefor every consumer andhealthcare provider of thiscountry. Dwelling on the ad-vantages of this product, theFounder and Director ofWONDRx, Mr Pankaj Sindhu,stated, “This product willmake the vaccination jour-ney highly convenient forevery stakeholder -- con-sumer, doctors, vaccine dis-tributors and manufacturers-- while ensuring requiredtransparency and controlaround vaccination. It wouldgive control and visibilityright from the manufacturerto the end consumer at thelast mile and ensure a con-trolled supply chain.”

Molten iron killsone worker

Rajkot,One labourer was killed

and four injured after hotmolten iron fell on them atan iron manufacturing unitin Bhavnagar on Mondaymorning. Police said the in-cident occurred at Akil SteelFactory in Mamasa GIDC onGhogha Road in Bhavnagar.

The factory convertsiron scrap into iron rods. “Onthe fateful day, while thelabourers were carrying atrolley filled with molteniron, the trolley’s wire gotsnapped and it overturned,following which the molteniron fell on the labourers.

“While Rahul Yadav (22)was killed on the spot, theother labourers identified asAnuj, Ravi, Jer Singh andDilip received serious burninjuries. The injuredlabourers were rushed to SirT Hospital in Bhavnagarwhere they were admittedin the burns ward. Their con-ditions is said to be serious,said cops.

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Ahmedabad, Page 4

City-State4 AHMEDABAD WEDNESDAY 23/09/2020

Ahmedabad,Despite nods from the

state and central govern-ments to reopen clubs inaccordance with the stan-dard operating procedure(SOP), clubs in Ahmedabadremain doubly cautious andare resuming normal func-tions in phases. On Monday,the Gujarat Sports Club,which was the first club inthe city to shut its premisesand convert it into a Covid-care centre, finally openedits doors to the members.

Initially, the club will re-main open with restrictionsin timings and for only twofacilities -- health club andrestaurant.

“We have currently re-sumed operations for thehealth club and the restau-rant. Members need to seeka prior appointment foravailing the facilities at thehealth centre and will bepermitted to be at thehealth centre for an houronly,” said Mayur Shah, gen-eral manager of the club.

The club has shifted itshealth club from an air-con-ditioned premise to anopen-air space with due so-cial distancing.

Gujarat Sports Club backin game after six months

“While there is no priorappointment needed forthe restaurant, we are per-mitting people for 75 min-utes only. Arrangementshave been made only for 50people at a time, keepingthe social distancing normsin mind,” Shah added.

In accordance with gov-ernment guidelines, theclub has restricted the entryof senior citizens for thetime being.

“Before the club re-sumed operations, the en-tire staff underwent a Covidtest to ensure their as wellas the members’ safety. Thatapart, we have also con-ducted a dress-rehearsal inthe presence of doctors be-fore the opening of the clubso that members as well asstaff gets attuned to thenew SOP that is supposed tobe followed,” said NaimishMarfatia, honorary secretaryof the club.

The first day did not seemuch footfall at the cluband it was less than 10% ofthe footfall on a regular day.Based on the response, afew other activities will alsobe resumed in the days tocome.

Bus services struggle, receiptsat 34% of pre-lockdown levels

Ahmedabad,The Ahmedabad Municipal Transport Service

(AMTS) and Bus Rapid Transport System (BRTS) are stillstruggling to find passengers. With bus capacities be-ing limited by the authorities as part of Covid protocols,both services combined are seeing just 1.5 lakh to 1.7lakh passengers a day.

The majority of current users are office goers. Se-nior officials said there is a rush from 9am to 11am and5pm to 8pm, while for the rest of the day each bus hasbarely three or four passengers.

Daily ticket receipts of both services combined isbarely Rs 15 lakh, against Rs 44 lakh before the lockdown,a 66% fall.

Atul Bhavsar, chairman of the AMTS committee inthe Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC), said, “Be-fore the lockdown, the AMTS had an average of five lakhpassengers a day and daily ticket receipts was about Rs25 lakh. After services resumed -- limited to 50% of busseating capacity and no standing passengers -- AMTSis now seeing about one lakh passengers a day, withdaily ticket receipts averaging Rs 9 lakh, or Rs 9 per per-son.” Officials said this indicates that those travellinglonger distances are using buses. They added that rid-ership is much below optimal and this is mainly becauseschools and colleges are closed.

In the case of the BRTS, daily passenger traffic aver-ages between 50,000 and 57,000 and daily receipts areabout Rs 9 lakh. Before the lockdown these figurers were1.5 lakh and Rs 19 lakh.

Officials said when both bus services did not crossthe river and had limited routes operational, averagecombined daily ridership was about 90,000. Now, withall routes are operational, about 60,000 passengerstravel across the river everyday, mainly during office traf-fic hours.

Ahmedabad,Five days after city police

caught two men trying tocheat US citizens using thelure of payday loans, it hasnow emerged that theymainly targeted Americansin states most affected bythe Covid-19 pandemic, asthey were easier to cheatbecause they would bemore likely to need loansdue to the financial troublescaused by the pandemic.

Investigators found hatthe price the scammers paidfor personal informationdata has been doubled dueto the Covid-19 pandemic,said police. “During the cus-todial interrogation of thetwo persons nabbed for al-legedly making con calls toAmericans -- Riyaz Shaikh,30, of Shah-E-Alam, andSwapnil Christian, 22, ofHatkeshwar -- we learnedthey were working for a mannamed Devesh Radhani,who was earlier accused ofrunning a con call centre inMeghaninagar,” said a copfrom Sabarmati Riverfront(East) police station.

The two men werecaught on the Sabarmatiriverfront near Jamalpurwhen they were calling UScitizens while sitting ontheir scooter.

He further said, “Theytold us that they mainly tar-geted US citizens living in

Con calls: Americans hit byCovid-19 were prime targets

states most affected by thepandemic. This is becausepeople there were eitheravoiding going out or werefacing financial troubles dueto the current economicslowdown and could bepreyed on using the lure ofeasy loans.”

The accused duo prom-ised loans of $500 to $1,000.

“They would call the UScitizens pretending to bebankers and offer them payday loans. If the target tookthe bait, they would makethem buy ‘I-Tunes’ saying itwas the processing fee forloan, and would redeem themoney from these cardsthrough their money pro-cessors and stop all contactwith the victim,” added apolice officer.

The officer said that ifsuch scammers procuredcontact and personal infor-mation of 50 Americans forRs 2,500, the price for it hasrisen to Rs 5,000 after Covid-19. “If they managed tocheated 25 of these 50 per-sons, they would make be-tween $12,500 and$25,000,” said the officer.

Police said Shaikh hascompleted his Class X, whileChristian is a nursing stu-dent. “They had a scriptgiven to them by the priceaccused Radhani and un-derwent training to get anAmerican accent,” he said.

Medical teachers: HCseeks govt reply

Ahmedabad,The Gujarat high court

has sought reply from thestate government on why ithas excluded Diplomat Na-tional Board (DNB) doctorsfor recruitment for 686 postsof faculty members in gov-ernment medical collegeson 11-month contract.

The state governmentcame up with an advertise-ment on May 29 seeking on-line applications for ap-pointments of medical pro-fessional candidates on con-tractual basis for 686 vacantposts of professor, associateprofessor, assistant profes-sor and tutor in various sub-jects in government col-leges and attached teachinghospitals.

The advertisement wasissued by the governmentafter it came under firewhen the Gujarat high courtcastigated it for its poor re-sponse to Covid-19.

The Association of DNBDoctors has challenged theadvertisement issued onMay 29 for various posts offaculties in governmentmedical colleges. In its peti-tion filed through advocateNarendra Jain, the associa-tion has objected to the ex-clusion of doctors havingDNB qualifications from eli-gibility criteria. It has sub-mitted that the Medical

Council of India (MCI) andthe subsequent legislationconsider the postgraduatequalification of DNB asequivalent to MD, MS andMCh degrees, if not superiorto them.

Those candidates whohave undergone DNB train-ing and teaching experi-ence in particular collegeshaving minimum 100 bedsfor certain period are con-sidered equally eligible forthe post of teaching as anyholder of post-graduationqualification like MD andMS. The petitioner cited ga-zette to this effect.

The petition has urgedthe court to direct the au-thorities to re-notify its ad-vertisement afresh in accor-dance with latest regula-tions and include DNB quali-fication as eligibility criteriafor teaching in medical col-leges. The petitioner hasalso sought to quash the on-going recruitment processand stay it at least till the HCdecides the issue about eli-gibility of DNB doctors forthe post of teachers. ThepeSupreme Court throughits various pronouncementshas held that the regula-tions framed by the MCI arestatutory in character andhence they are binding andmandatory on all universi-ties and colleges.

Vadodara,Around 25 persons were injured when a private bus

carrying nearly 100 passengers from Sanjeli in Dahoddistrict to Kalavad in Jamnagar district overturned. Mostof the passengers in the bus were tribal labourers goingto various places in Saurashtra.

The incident took place on Sunday night near thePadhariya village in Santrampur taluka of Mahisagar dis-trict. An offence regarding it was registered in the earlyhours on Monday at the Santrampur police station.

According to the offence, the driver of the bus wasdriving it in a reckless manner and lost control nearPadhariya. The bus fell on its side making a loud noise.

Emergency ambulances, police and other officialswere informed by those who witnessed the accident.Those injured were rushed to a hospital in Santrampurfrom where some were also taken to Godhra.

Over two dozen injured asbus topples in Mahisagar

Fake cop caught from VastralAhmedabad,

Ramol police of city late on Sunday night caught aperson from a residential society in the Vastral area whowas allegedly posing as a cop and collecting money frompeople.

However, the Ramol police did not reveal the casefor around a day, locals said that the same person wasearlier caught for posing as a mamlatdar and accused ofissuing fake cards under Ma Vatsalya Yojana, a healthscheme by the state government, in 2016.

Local sources said that three vehicles of Ramol po-lice rushed to a house in Jeevan Arya residency in Vastralfrom where they caught a man named Kirit Amin. Theytook him to Ramol police station where they questionedhim about various complaints of posing as cop and col-lecting money from traders. This is second case of catch-ing a fake cop in last four days. Earlier on Friday, policehad arrested a man named Samir Chelana fromPrahladnagar who was posing as a cop and collectedmoney from a trader. Ramol police officers kept mumover the Sunday’s incident. Inspector K S Dave of Ramolpolice said, “We will brief about the incident on Tuesday.”

Caught in the act,pickpocket slits throat

Surat,A 23-year-old suspect

of pickpock by two gramrakshak dal (GRD) jawanswho were taeting slit histhroat using a blade whilebeing taken to a policestation near Kamrej ofSurat district in the earlyhours on Monday. Theman died on the spot be-fore he could be shifted toa hospital. R by two gramrakshak dal (GRD) jawanswho were taegistering acase of accidental deathpolice started an investi-gation.

Yusuf Memon, a resi-dent of Bhestan area, slithis throat on KathoreAmboli road near Kathorewhile going to the policestation in an auto rick-shaw. He was nabbed redhanded by two gramrakshak dal (GRD) jawanswho were taking him toKamrej police station.Cops recovered the bladefrom the auto rickshawand another blade fromthe Memon’s trouserpocket.

The suspect was tryingto rob an auto rickshaw

driver of his mobile phoneand cash when the GRDjawans noticed him withthe blade. The driver wassleeping in his auto rick-shaw parked by two gramrakshak dal (GRD) jawanswho were ta on the road.The jawans caughtMemon and were takinghim to the police station.“One GRD jawan sat withMemon in the rickshawwhile another was on hismotorcycle.

As the rickshaw nearedKathore, the ac by twogram rakshak dal (GRD)jawans who were tacusedtook out a blade and slithis throat. The incidentwas captured on CCT Vcamera,” said a police of-ficer. The GRD jawans im-mediately called for 108ambulance which arrivedon the spot, but by thenMemon was already dead.

Memon is a histor ysheeter who was caughtfor thefts and multipleother crimes including at-tempt to murder in thepast. He was out with hisassociates on Mondaywhen cops caught him.

ATMs broken into, Rs 22L stolenAhmedabad,

Two burglaries were reported in Dholakuva andParbatpura villages in Mansa taluka of Gandhinagardistrict during the wee hours on Sunday. Burglars firstsnapped wires of ATMs, cut them and then decampedwith Rs 22 lakh cash.

Inspector S S Pawar of Mansa police said that thefirst incident was reported at around 2.45am on Sun-day when four burglars broke into an ATM of IndianOverseas Bank and took away Rs 3.26 lakh from it.They then moved to another ATM of Bank of Barodain Dholakuva village. “They cut doors of the ATM ma-chine and stole Rs 19.06 lakh from it and fled away,”said Pawar. He sad that the burglars were well versedwith the alarm system so they had first cut the wiresof alarm and then started cutting the ATM with a gascutter. Pawar said that they did not get clear visualsfrom CCTV and just came to know that there werefour persons.

Man who wanted to marry again bitesson

Ahmedabad,A medical representative from the Dariyapur area

of the city on Monday filed a complaint with city po-lice alleging that his father, 50, bit him on his rightshoulder, back and check as his father wanted tomarry again and he was objecting to it.

Yahya Shaikh, a resident of Hajrat Pol near KalupurTower, states in his FIR that his father NaeemuddinShaikh, since last three years, has served ties with himand his mother Zubedabano. Yahya and Zubedabanowere staying on the first floor of a house whereasNaeemuddin was living on the ground floor of thesame house. On Sunday evening when he was de-scending stairs, Naeemuddin confronted Yahya onhim objecting to his second marriage andNaeemuddin bit on Yahya’s shoulder and back andon his cheek. Naeemuddin also punchedZubedabano on her face when she came for rescue.Injured Yahya called up police and filed a complaintagainst Naeemuddin.

2 days, 3 deaths: CTM bridge turnsinto suicide platform

Ahmedabad,The CTM Crossroads bridge has been the site of

three suicides over two days. Two people jumped todeath off the bridge on Monday afternoon; on Sun-day, a Krishnanagar man had leaped from the samebridge and died. A Ramol police official said thatNana Indai, 55, a resident of Shankhalpur chawl inAmraiwadi, jumped from the bridge at about 2.15 pmon Monday.

“Indai lived alone and was apparently frustratedwith life,” said the official. “Some local residents calledthe 108 ambulance service but by the time paramed-ics arrived, he was dead.” About an hour later, anotherman -- as yet unidentified -- jumped from the samebridge and died on the spot, the official said. Policedid not register an accidental-death case till late onMonday evening as they were verifying the details ofthe deceased.

A massive traffic jam built up on Monday on thebusy crossroads after the two suicides. “It took twohours for the jam to clear,” a local resident said. Ashopkeeper, Amit Thakur, said that people of the areawere rattled by the series of suicides. Sources in po-lice said that cops are being deployed at both endsof the bridge to avert such tragedies.

MICA announces online PG Programin Business Management with IvoryEducation to help professionals

Ahmedabad,MICA is offering Post Graduate Certificate

Programme in Business Management online in asso-ciation with Ivory Education. The program is availableacross India and globally through world-class e-learn-ing environment. The program is designed to helpsmall and medium business owners to enhance theirskills and also get over the recession that is beingbrought about by COVID-19. Working professionalswill find useful to enhance their career and rise in theirprofessional lives with a domain expertise in the areaof Business Management.

Man killed in UP over Rs 300Bijnor (Uttar Pradesh),

Apparently in a drunken stupor, three men killedtheir neighbour with a wooden stick, fitted with nails,following a dispute over Rs 300. The police claimedthat all of the accused were in an inebriated state.The incident took place in Ganj area on Monday. Thevictim, identified as 24-year-old Deepak sustainedmultiple injuries on his body and succumbed on hisway to the hospital.

According to Bijnor superintendent of police(SP), Dharamveer Singh, four youths got Rs 300 froma temple. They began arguing among themselvesover sharing the money which was in Deepak’s pos-session.

As the argument intensified, his neighbours Rav-ish, Mukeepak’s family members reached the spotand took him tosh and Shashi started attacking himwith sticks that had been fitted with nails.

On getting information, Deepak’s family mem-bers reached the spot and took him to hospital whilethe accused fled. Deepak had sustained severe inju-ries in his chest. The SP said: “Police have registereda case against the accused. Ravish has been arrested.Two others are at large and they will be arrestedsoon.

Across 55L, India’s active cases dip,recoveries shoot up

New Delhi, In a major relief India showed a spike of 75,083

fresh coronavirus cases in a day, nearly 20,000 lessthan its daily surge reported last week. Even thoughit crossed the 55 lakh-mark of total cases, it contin-ued to show highest recovery rate, Health Ministrydata showed on Tuesday.

There were now 9,75,861 active cases, while44,97,867 have recovered, with 1,01,468 in the past24 hours while 1,053 died taking the toll to 88,935.

With a tally of 55,62,663 cases, India’s recovery ratestands at 80.86 per cent, and the fatality rate is 1.60per cent, according to the Ministry of Health and Fam-ily Welfare data.

Anubhav Sinha on why it took him solong to work with Manoj Bajpayee

New Delhi, Filmmaker Anubhav Sinha and Manoj Bajpayee

have joined hands for the song, Bambai main ka ba.The filmmaker says it takes strength and courage toapproach certain actors with a project, and Manoj isone of them.

“There are some actors, you need strength to takesomething to them. You should feel that this workcannot be done without this person and you needthis particular person. Manoj is one of those rare ac-tors,” Anubhav told IANS.

Manoj is back in the spotlight rapping the num-ber “Bambai main ka ba”, which highlights the plightof migrant workers.

MSU first state varsity toreduce term fees partially

Vadodara,M S University has be-

come the first state univer-sity in Gujarat which haspartially waived off fees ofstudents for one semester.

The publicly-fundeduniversity on Monday ap-proved a proposal to waiveoff fee components col-lected under selected headsfor one term or the currentsemester between June andDecember due to virtualteaching because of Covid-19.

The decision by the uni-versity will benefit nearly45,000 students currentlyenrolled in various under-graduate and post-graduatecourses in the university.

The fee reduction is inthe range of Rs 1,500 to Rs4,850 in regularprogrammes. For instance,

fee reduction at faculties likecommerce, medicine andBaroda SanskritMahavidyalaya and M KAmin College, Padra standsat Rs 1,500 whereas at Fac-ulty of Medicine it standsat Rs 4,850.

At faculties of law andeducation and psychologythe fee reduction is Rs1,700 whereas at faculty offine arts it is Rs 3,750. Atarts faculty, the reductioncomes to Rs 1,550 whereasat faculty of family andcommunity sciences, itcomes to Rs 1,925. At fac-ulty of performing arts, fac-ulty of technology and en-gineering and pharmacy, itstands at Rs 2,150 whereasat faculty of science, itstands at Rs 1,850. Stu-dents of faculty of socialwork will pay Rs 1,600 less

fees while those of poly-technic college will pay Rs2,250 lesser.

At postgraduate level,the fee reduction is in therange of Rs 1,850 to Rs7,.500. IN select courses,students will get huge re-lief. Students of B Designand M Design courses offine arts will have to pay Rs26,000 less whereas that ofMSc in cell and molecularbiology the reductioncomes to Rs 21,600.

Similarly, there is reduc-tion in the range of Rs6,100 to Rs 8,000 in regu-lar and evening MBAcourses run by faculty ofmanagement studies.

University officials saidthat fees of those studentswho have already the feeswill be adjusted in the nextterm / semester.

1869 posts of principals vacantGandhinagar,

Of the total of 5,116sanctioned posts of princi-pals in government grant-in-aid secondary andhigher secondary schools,as many as 1,869 posts arevacant, the state govern-ment said in reply to a ques-tion in the ongoing Gujaratassembly session.

Mangrol MLABabubhbai Vajha sought in-formation on the number ofgrant-in-aid secondary andhigher secondary schools inthe state, the number ofposts of principals. Englishteachers, mathematicsteachers and science teach-ers that have been sanc-tioned and the number ofvacancies in each. He alsosought to know when thevacancies will be filled.

In his written reply, stateeducation ministerBhupendrasinh Chudasamasaid that the total number ofsanctioned posts of princi-pals in grant-in-aid schoolsof the state is 5,116, the to-tal number of sanctionedposts of English languageteachers is 5,361 and the to-tal number of sanctionedposts of science and math-ematics teachers is 7.431.

Providing details in hiswritten reply, the ministersaid 1,869 posts of princi-pals are yet to be filled, 601posts of English teachers arevacant and 1,049 posts ofmathematics and scienceteachers are vacant in grant-in-aid schools. He addedthat the government in-tends to fill these vacanciesat the earlier.

Parents’ body seeksmass promotion

Ahmedabad,All Gujarat Parents’ As-

sociation have written tochief minister, Vijay Rupani,to consider mass promo-tion of students fromplaygroup to class VIII forthe academic year 2020-2021. Schools in the stateare closed from the last180 days due tocoronavirus pandemic andonly 40% students havebeen able to attend on-lineclasses, the associationclaimed.

“About 60% students inthe state have not beenable to attend classes fromlast six months so we haverequested the governmentto declare mass promotionfor schools,” said a memberof the association. The as-sociation has also de-manded waiver institutionfees for the period theschools remain physicallyclosed due to Covid-19.

Walking ‘encyclopaedia’ onburglary, cop falls prey to nCov

Vadodara,A 52-year-old assistant sub-inspector know for his ex-

pertise in busting burglary gangs across the state, died ofCovid-19 infection in Vadodara on Monday morning.

ASI Arvind Thorat, who was fondly called ‘Arvindmama’by his colleagues,

breathed his last a about 10am in a private hospitalwhere he was admitted on September 19 and his condi-tion deteriorated on Sunday night His last posting was atthe police control room in the city. ”

He died as he got severely infected by Covid-19. Wewill be observing silence in his honour,” said Tejal Patel, ACP.

Thorat got infected some weeks ago and was on leave.After recovering, he had re-joined service. But his healthdeteriorated again three days ago. Throat’s death came asa shocker for many as he was considered to be one of themost resourceful cops in the state. He was anencyclopaedia on burglary gangs and even the Mumbaicrime branch used to seek help from him for tracking downthe criminals.

Thorat, who was posted in the special operations group(SOG) four years ago had busted several burglary gangsand helped in detecting crimes.

Thorat who joined the department in 1988, wasawarded the Police medal for meritorious service in 2018.

Cong want to keepfarmers poor: Paatil

Gandhinagar,State BJP president C R Paatil alleged on Monday that

the Congress is attempting to spread misinformationamong farmers about provisions of the new agriculturalreforms bills introduced in Parliament.

Addressing a virtual press conference on Monday forthe first time after recovering from the Covid-19 infec-tion, Paatil said that the reforms in agriculture will go along way in ensuring that the income of farmers doublesby 2022, as envisaged by the PM.

“The agriculture reforms bills have nothing which cancause damage to farmer’s interests, Congress is upsetover the success of PM Modi in bringing these reforms.Congress wants to keep farmers poor and dependentforever, and that is why the Congress is opposing the farmreforms,” Paatil said. He further said that the Congress isalleging that minimum support price (MSP) mechanismwill be discontinued after the reforms. “These are baseitclear that MSP will continue and farmers will be able tothe MSP,” Paatil said. He added that another provisionwhich will benefit framers is that traders will have to makepayments to farmers within three days of sale. “The Con-gress must go through the new provisions before spread-ing lies,” Paatil said.

Need to check digitalmedia, not print or TV

New Delhi,The Union government

told the Supreme Court onMonday that print and elec-tronic media were generallyresponsible in dissemina-tion of content but therewas a genuine need for aregulatory mechanism forweb-based digital media,which frequently crossedthe line.

A fresh affidavit by theinformation and broadcast-ing ministry impressedupon a bench of Justice D YChandrachud, InduMalhotra and K M Josephthat there were enoughregulatory mechanisms forthe print and electronic me-dia. It said the court shouldleave it to the governmentand legislature to assess theneed for further regulatorymechanism, if needed.

However, it said if at allthe court was inclined to goahead with formulating aregulatory mechanism orlaying down guidelines, itshould start the exercisewith regard to digital media

and web-based magazinesand news portals. It wouldbe desirable for the court tostart “the said exercise firstwith web-based digital me-dia which includes webmagazines and web-basednews channels and web-based newspapers as thesame not only has a verywide reach but is com-pletely uncontrolled.”

Waive school feesor face agitation:Dhanani

Gandhinagar,Paresh Dhanani,

leader of opposition(LOP) in the assembly,said in the monsoon ses-sion of the assembly thatthe Congress will launchan agitation if govern-ment does not step inparents are facing a lot ofhardships because of thelockdown, and the eco-nomic crisis that fol-lowed.

Ahmedabad, Page 5

International 5AHMEDABAD WEDNESDAY 23/09/2020

A woman casts her vote at a polling station in Naples, Italy, on Sept. 20, 2020.Over 46 million Italians are being called to the polls on Sunday and Monday in anationwide constitutional referendum on cutting the number of lawmakers inthe country's parliament.UNI

People walk on Times Square in New York, the United States, Sept. 20, 2020.The number of COVID-19 deaths in the United States on Sunday reached199,474 as of 8:22 p.m. local time (0022 GMT Monday), according to the Centerfor Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.UNI

BACK TO SCHOOL: Schools reopened in Srinagar on Monday after remainingclosed due to COVID-19 since March this year in Union Territory of jammu andKashmir.UNI

‘Path ahead for US economycontinues to be highly uncertain’

Washington, While the US economy

has picked up from its de-pressed level in the secondquarter, the path ahead con-tinues to be “highly uncer-tain” and depend on theCovid-19 pandemic, FederalReserve Chairman JeromePowell said.

“Many economic indica-tors show marked improve-ment. Household spendinglooks to have recoveredabout three-fourths of itsearlier decline,” Powell saidin a testimony posted onMonday on the Fed’swebsite, for a hearing beforethe House Financial ServicesCommittee on Tuesday.

“Both employment andoverall economic activity,however, remain well belowtheir pre-pandemic levels,

and the path ahead contin-ues to be highly uncertain,”Xinhua news agencyquoted the Fed Chair as say-ing.

Powell noted that a fullrecovery is likely to comeonly when people are con-fident that it is safe to re-en-gage in a broad range of ac-tivities. “The path forwardwill depend on keeping thevirus under control, and onpolicy actions taken at alllevels of government,” hesaid.

Since mid-March, theFed has helped unlock morethan $1 trillion of funding,which has helped keep or-ganizations from closingdown, putting them in a bet-ter position to keep workerson and to hire them back asthe economy continues to

recover, according to Powell.“We remain committed

to using our tools to dowhat we can, for as long asit takes, to ensure that therecovery will be as strong aspossible, and to limit lastingdamage to the economy,”he said.

The US economy con-tracted at an annual rate of31.7 per cent in the secondquarter, the steepest declinesince the government be-gan keeping records in1947, according to the Com-merce Department.

A national survey fromthe Fed released earlier thismonth showed that the USeconomy grew modestlyover the summer amid con-tinued uncertainty aboutthe pandemic and its nega-tive effect on consumer andbusiness activity.

United Nations, International Court of

Justice (ICJ) PresidentAbdulqawi Yusuf has high-lighted the crucial role theUN has been playing in safe-guarding the internationalrule of law, urging nations torespect the system of rules.

“For billions of peopleon this planet, reliance onthe international rule of law,the application of the prin-ciple of equal rights and self-determination of peoples,the prohibition of the use offorce among states, and theprotection of human rights,has meant freedom, inde-pendence, progress andpeace in the past 75 years,”Yusuf said on Monday whileaddressing a high-levelmeeting to commemoratethe 75th anniversary of theUN.

“All of which is thanks tothe establishment of theUN,” he added.

Yusuf said the existenceof the international rule oflaw is vital for peace,progress and prosperity ofall nations.

No state can provide se-curity, prosperity and cleanenvironment to its peoplewithout cooperating with

ICJ Prez highlights UN’s role insafeguarding int’l rule of law

other states and nor can allthe problems of a nation beresolved at the nationallevel, according to the ICJchief.

Noting “internationalcooperation has to bebased on a system of rules”,he urged states’ commit-ment to the system of rules.

“Unless this system ofrules is respected by eachstate, the edifice of multilat-eral cooperation may col-lapse,” he said.

Yusuf pointed out that aweb of rules inspired andbased on the fundamentalprinciples of the Charter ofthe UN and of internationallaw are essential to makethe interactions among thenations possible.

These rules “are de-signed and assented to bythe States themselves” and“they are often based onmutual interests and com-mon values”, said the ICJPresident, adding thatstates’ obligations to re-spect the rules is key to “amore peaceful and stableworld.”

“The increased relianceon the rule of law in interna-tional relations as opposedto arbitrary power and thesettlement of disputes bypeaceful means rather thanby force are the greatestsuccess stories of the UN,”he noted.

La Paz, The Office of the UN

High Commissioner for Hu-man Rights (OHCHR) hascondemned the ongoingviolence in several citiesacross Bolivia amid heatedpoll campaigns in the runup to October 18 presiden-tial election.

“Within the frameworkof the International Day ofPeace and two weeks afterthe restart of the electioncampaigns, the mission con-demns the recorded inci-dents of violence that affectthe rights of citizens and thevarious political parties toproselytize,” the OHCHR’smission in Bolivia tweetedon Monday.

The agency called on allsides to ensure campaigns

OHCHR condemns pollcampaign violence in Bolivia

are carried out in a climateof tolerance, civility and mu-tual respect, reports Xinhuanews agency.

“The desire of the Boliv-ian people to hold peacefulelections must prevail,” themission added. Since Sep-tember 6, attacks againstvarious parties have oc-curred in the cities of Potosi,Sucre, La Paz, El Alto, Oruro,Cochabamba and SantaCruz. In two incidents, “presspersonnel” were attacked,the OHCHR said.

Representatives of theBolivian Episcopal Confer-ence, the European Unionand the UN who are moni-toring the transition processon September 19 called forthe campaigns to be carriedout in “an orderly, demo-

cratic process”.Also last week, Bolivia’s

interim President JeanineAnez quit the election race,saying that she did not wantto split the vote and see thereturn to office of formerPresident Evo Morales’ Massocialist party, the BBC re-ported.

Anez was sworn in lastyear after Morales, who cur-rently lives in Argentina, re-signed and left the countryamid allegations of electoralfraud.

Morales later said he wasforced into exile by the po-lice and the military.

He served as Bolivia’sPresident for almost 14years, from 2006 to 2019, af-ter winning three consecu-tive elections.

3 missing, 20injured in Jakartafloods

Jakarta, At least three people

were reported missingand 20 others injured asflash floods and land-slides lashed the Indone-sian capital of Jakarta andits surrounding areas, adisaster agency officialsaid on Tuesday.

Torrential rains sinceMonday have led to ariver to overflow and sub-merged surrounding ar-eas in the capital, whichhas recently been underCovid-19 lockdownagain, spokesman of Na-tional Disaster Manage-ment Agency Raditya Jatitold Xinhua news agency.

In West Javaprovince’s Sukabumi dis-trict, flash floods sweptaway three people, andsearch and rescue effortsare underway, he said.

US federal debt to reach nearlytwice economy’s size in 2050

Washington, The US’ federal debt is

projected to reach nearlytwice the size of theeconomy in 2050, driven bythe massive fiscal responseto the Covid-19-induced re-cession, the CongressionalBudget Office (CBO) said ina report.

“Even after the effects ofthe 2020 coronavirus pan-demic fade, deficits in com-ing decades are projected tobe large by historical stan-dards,” Xinhua news agencyquoted the report as sayingon Monday, expecting thefederal deficit to increasefrom 5 per cent of GDP in2030 to 13 per cent in 2050.

The projected budgetdeficits will boost federaldebt from 98 per cent of theGDP in 2020 to 195 per centof GDP in 2050, just belowtwice the economy’s totalsize, according to the CBO.

“High and rising federaldebt makes the economymore vulnerable to risinginterest rates and, depend-ing on how that debt is fi-nanced, rising inflation,” thereport said, warning the

growing debt burden alsoraises borrowing costs andincreases the risk of a fiscalcrisis.

The International Mon-etary Fund also warned inJune that the US public debt

is on an unsustainable path,and policy adjustments areneeded to lower the fiscaldeficit and to put publicdebt on a gradual down-ward path over the mediumterm.

Italians vote in favour ofreducing number of MPs

Rome, A resounding majority of Italians have voted in

favour of reducing the number of MPs from 945 to 600,Interior Ministry results have revealed.

According to the Interior Ministry’s final tally issuedon Monday, 69.62 per cent of the voters said they werein favour and 30.38 per cent voted against the reform,which cuts Lower House representatives from 630 to400 and Senate members from 315 to 200, reportsXinhua news agency. This reform was a key platformplank of the anti-establishment Five Star Movement,which currently rules Italy in coalition with the centrer-left Democratic Party in the government led by PrimeMinister Giuseppe Conte. “Today we reached a historicthe former leader of the Five Star Movement, wrote onFacebook. He said the reformmeans Italy “will have anormal parliament, with 345 fewer seats and privileges”.

Total turnout for the vote on the referendum was52.67 per cent, with a peak of over 73 per cent in thecent in the southern Sicily region, Interior Ministry num-bers showed.

Ottawa, In recent days, Canada

was witnessed an increasedspike in the number of con-firmed coronavirus cases,taking the the overallcaseload to 144,693, whilethe death toll stood at 9,223,according to health officials.

Provincial authoritieshave continued to reportfresh Covid-19 outbreaks,including in schools, work-places and universities, re-ports Xinhua news agency.

The country’s two mostpopulous provinces of Que-bec and Ontario reportedsurging numbers of caseson Monday.

Quebec reported 586cases, a jump of more than

Canada witnesses increasedspike in Covid-19 cases

100 compared with Sunday,while Ontario’s rose to 425from 365 a day before.

On Monday morning,Quebec declared that a sec-ond wave of the pandemichad begun in the province.

“I’m very, very very wor-ried by the situation, to thepoint where I consider thatnow we may be in a secondwave, we’re in a secondwave at its beginning,”Horacio Arruda, Quebec’spublic health director, toldthe media.

Arruda said the situationis serious and that residentsneed to respect gatheringlimits and health guidelinesin order to limit cases.

“This second wave, we

can transform it into asmaller wave than we expe-rienced before, but if wedon’t make the effort, it canbe even bigger than thefirst,” he added.

Ontario Premier DougFord said on Monday thathis government will an-nounce its plan to deal witha second wave.

The jump in new cases isbeing driven by people un-der the age of 40, who areless likely to get seriously illfrom Covid-19, but can stilltransmit the virus to otherswho are more vulnerable.

Pharaonic tomb discovered in EgyptCairo,

Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities hasannounced that a pharaonic tomb has been discov-ered in the country’s Minya province.

The tomb was unearthed by an Egyptian missionworking at the Tuna al-Gabal archaeological site,Xinhua news agency quoted Mostafa Waziri, head ofthe ministry’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, as say-ing on Monday.

A limestone coffin and a collection of ‘ushabti’(funerary figurine used in ancient Egyptian religion)statues made of faience were found inside the tomb,Waziri said, adding that all the pieces were in goodcondition.

Initial inspection indicated that the tomb belongsto a person called Jahouti Umm Hoteb from the 26thDynasty which ruled Egypt between 664-525 B.C., headded.

The official revealed that the person worked as thesupervisor of the thrones, adding that he was the sonof Hersa Est, whose coffin was uncovered by the samemission in 2018.

‘New WTO head should be capable ofmanaging profound reform’

Brussels, The new chief of the World Trade Organisation

(WTO) should be “capable of managing profound re-forms of the organization”, said Valdis Dombrovskis,Executive Vice-President of the European Commission.

The trade ministers of the European Union (EU)strongly support this principle, Xinhua news agencyquoted Dombrovskis as saying on Monday followingan informal meeting in Berlin.

The EU will support the candidate who is able tofix the dispute settlement system, re-initiate globaltrade negotiations and address the current challengesin international trade, in particular sustainability andthe need for a level playing field, he added.

Dombrovskis didn’t give any name, but said thenew director-general must enjoy the trust of WTOmembers and can present balanced views that reflectthe diverse nature of members.

The five candidates remaining in the race for thepost are Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala from Nigeria, YooMyung-hee from South Korea, Amina Mohamed fromKenya, Mohammad Maziad Al-Tuwaijri from SaudiArabia, and Liam Fox from the UK.

The process for selecting a new chief was triggeredon May 14, when former Director-General RobertoAzevedo informed WTO members he would step downa year his term officially ends.

The Brazilian career diplomat subsequently leftoffice on August 31 after serving seven years at thehelm of the Geneva-based organization.

Italy orders Covid-19 testing fortravellers from France

Rome, Italian Health Minister Roberto Speranza has or-

dered mandatory Covid-19 testing for travellers com-ing from seven regions of France, including Paris.

“I have signed a new order that extends the obli-gation of a test to citizens coming from Paris and otherareas of France with a significant circulation of the vi-rus,” Speranza said in a statement on Monday.

“The European data must not be underestimated.Today Italy is better off (in terms of the coronavirus)than other countries, but we still need great caution inorder not to render useless the sacrifices we have madeso far,” Xinhua news agency quoted the Minister assaying.

The Health Ministry on Monday reported 981 newcases over the past 24 hours taking the overall num-ber of infections since the pandemic hit Italy in Febru-ary to 299,506

A total of 218,703 patients have recovered and theoverall death toll has reached 35,724.

Speranza’s announcement came as France has wit-nessed a recent spike in the number of confirmedcoronavirus cases.

On Monday, the French Health Ministry reportedthat the country’s Covid-19 caseload has surged to458,061 after 5,298 new infections were registered inthe past 24 hours.

The death in France stood at 31,346.Italy and France are the two hardest hit countries

in Europe by the pandemic.

EU adopts new rules for state aid toreduce CO2 emissions

Brussels, The European Commission has unveiled new

guidelines enabling state aid to prevent polluting in-dustries from moving to non-EU countries where theclimate standards are lower.

The new guidelines were adopted on Monday af-ter the European Commission put forward a plan tofurther cut emissions by at least 55 per cent by 2030,reports Xinhua news agency.

The adoption was in line with the European GreenDeal, which was presented by the Commission in De-cember 2019 as a roadmap for making the EU’seconomy sustainable and achieving climate neutral-ity by 2050.

The EU’s revised Emission Trading System (ETS)State aid Guidelines, which will enter into force onJanuary 1, 2021, will replace the previous guidelinesadopted in 2012.

European Commission Executive Vice-PresidentMargrethe Vestager said the new guidelines enablemember states to support those sectors that, becauseof indirect emission costs, are most at risk of carbonleakage.

The new guidelines are aiming at reducing carbonleakage, which happens when companies move theiroperations to countries outside the EU, which have lessambitious climate policies.

This leads to less economic activity in the EU andno reduction in greenhouse gas emissions globally, ac-cording to the Commission.

United Nations, Volkan Bozkir, President

of the 75th session of the UNGeneral Assembly (UNGA),has stressed on the impor-tance of multi-lateralism,calling for collective effortsand prompt action for a bet-ter future.

“Multi-lateralism is notan option but a necessity aswe build back better andgreener for a more equal,more resilient and more sus-tainable world,” Bozkir saidwhile addressing a high-level meeting to com-memorate the 75th anniver-sary of the UN on Monday.

He noted that “the threepillars of the UN — peaceand security, development,and human rights — areequally important, interre-lated, and interdependent”,which is what the worldbody has been striving forover the past 75 years withthe support of the memberstates.

The UN has worked tire-lessly to promote and pro-tect human rights and fun-damental freedoms for alland has also shaped thenorms for international de-velopment, Bozkir told themeeting.

He called for collectiveefforts and continued com-mitment from nations towork together tostrengthen coordinationand global governance forthe common future ofpresent and coming gen-erations. “The UN must be at

UNGA Prez championsmulti-lateralism

the centre of our efforts,”Bozkir said, adding “theworld has changed in un-imaginable ways” since theUN was established.

The UNGA Presidentsaid an upgraded UN mustrespond to challenges andchanges to stay relevantand effective, noting “it mustbe inclusive and consultwidely with all relevantstakeholders” to ensure aneffective response to com-mon challenges.

Bozkir said “no other glo-bal organization gives hopeto many people for a betterworld,” as “there is no otherglobal organization with thelegitimacy, conveningpower and normative im-pact as the UN”. The

organization’s work is morecrucial than ever, especiallyin the context of the threatsposed by the Covid-19 pan-demic, and support from themember states is an indis-pensable part, according tothe UNGA President.

Noting “the UN is only asstrong as its members’ com-mitment to its ideals andeach other”, Bozkir empha-sized that “it is now time tomobilize our resources,strengthen your efforts, andshow unprecedented politi-cal will and leadership toensure the future we want,and the UN we need”.

“It is now time to act. Iam taking the call for re-newed global actions seri-ously,” he added. Egypt Prez, Abu Dhabi Crown

Prince discuss regional issuesCairo,

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi and AbuDhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed AlNahyan discussed a number of regional issues duringa phone call. During the call on Monday, Sisi and AlNahyan exchanged views on the recent developmentsin regional and international issues of common inter-est, Xinhua news agency quoted Egyptian presidentialspokesman Bassam Rady as saying.

The discussions came within the framework of themutual regular consultations between the two leaders,Rady added. They also discussed prospects for furthercooperation in a way that serves the common inter-ests of the two countries. Egypt and the United ArabEmirates (UAE) maintain close political, military andeconomic ties. The UAE, together with other Gulf coun-tries, has supported the Egyptian leadership with bilcancountry’s central bank to help the country’s economyovercome pressing challenges in the past few years.

Wildfire near LA growsto over 100,000 acres

Los Angeles, The massive Bobcat Fire

raging in the Angeles Na-tional Forest has so farscorched 105,345 acres ofland with only 15 per centcontainment, according tothe Los Angeles County FireDepartment (LAFD).

The blaze erupted onSeptember 6 near theCogswell Dam and spreadrapidly amid an intense,Xinhua news agencyquoted the LAFD as sayingit spread over 2,000 acres,making it one of the largestwildfires in the history of the

Los Angeles County.A total of 1,718

firefighters are battling theblaze, specially in its north-ern section, the LAFD said inits latest update, saying thefire threatened homes andforced evacuations in thefoothill communities bor-dering the Antelope Valley.

Since advancement ofthe fire to the southern di-rection has been stoppedby a variety of tactics, citiesin the San Gabriel Valley inSouthern California havecancelled their evacuationorders.

Ahmedabad Page 6

6 SportAHMEDABAD WEDNESDAY 23/09/2020

CHRIS WHEELER: In the grim years since Sir Alex Ferguson retired, it has been easy to write off Manchester United'smalaise as a hangover. A blip. A temporary fault to be fixed before normal service is resumed. The reality is thatUnited are entering their eighth season since Ferguson's departure and still look as far away from winning the Pre-mier League title as ever. 'Crazier things have happened,' said Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (centre) on Friday, perhaps notrealising how that would come across. The prospect of Manchester United being champions of England shouldnever be crazy. His problems are mounting, including a defence containing the unreliable Victor Lindelof (left), theongoing Harry Maguire (inset left) problem, how to fit in new signing Donny van de Beek (second right), the failedpursuit of Jadon Sancho (far right) and the need to justify big spending by club chief Ed Woodward (inset right).

Virgil van Dijk's attitude has been slammed by Dutch legend Wim Kieft, who be-lieves the Liverpool star has become 'lazy and nonchalant'. The Holland centre-backhas enjoyed a meteoric rise since making the move from Southampton to Liverpool in2018 and finished second in last year's Ballon d'Or rankings. But he was blasted as 'ar-rogant' by Jamie Carragher during their opening day victory over Leeds earlier thismonth, and Euro 1988 winner Kieft has urged the 29-year-old to stay grounded.

Liverpool are reportedly in regular contact with Kylian Mbappe over a summermove in 2021 - but the Reds face competition from Real Madrid. Mbappe has twoyears left on his Paris Saint-Germain contract and there is no indication he will sign anew deal with the French champions any time soon despite on-going negotiations.According to French outlet L'Equipe, Jurgen Klopp's side are keeping an eye on theforward's situation with Real also hoping to lure him away from the Ligue 1 side.

Have learnt a lot from Viratbhaiya: Devdutt Padikkal

Dubai, Left-handed batsman Devdutt Padikkal, who played

an instrumental role in Royal Challengers Bangalore’s (RCB)victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in their openinggame of this year’s edition of the Indian Premier League(IPL), has stated that he has learnt a lot from skipper ViratKohli.

On Monday evening, RCB first posted 163/5 in their al-lotted 20 overs and then defended the total by inflicting amonstrous batting collapse for SRH at the Dubai Interna-tional Cricket Stadium, bowling them out for 153 in thefinal over of the match.

Padikkal, who was making his IPL debut, played a 42-ball 56-run knock which was studded with eight bound-aries. “I was very nervous when I got the news that I wouldbe making my debut for RCB. I was just walking in my roomthe day I got the news that I will be playing againstHyderabad. When I came to bat, I got settled then, when Iplayed my first two balls, I really felt good,” Padikkal toldleg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal in a video posted on theofing here, Virat Bhaiya has talked to me and I have learnta lot from him. Whenever I am with him, I keep asking ques-tions from him,” he added.

Bengaluru, Midfielder Nikk i

Pradhan has stated thepresent experiencedmidfielders group willhold the key for the Indianwomen’s hockey team atthe big tournaments inthe upcoming years.

“We are very lucky tohave so many midfieldersin the Indian team, whohave already played 100matches for the nationalside,” said Pradhan.

“Experience is a hugefactor when it comes tobig tournaments like theOlympics and if we play atour hundred per cent thenwe can win against anyteam. Experience teachesone to be calm and thinkclearly under pressureand therefore our experi-enced midfielders groupwill be the key to our suc-cess in the upcomingyears,” she added.

Pradhan has been partof many memorable mo-ments for the nationalside which includes thegold medal win at theWomen’s Asia Cup 2017,victory at the FIH Women’sSeries Finals 2019 andbooking a place at the To-kyo Olympics after defeat-ing USA at the OlympicQualifiers last year.

Experienced midfielders groupwill be key to our success: Pradhan

The 26-year-old, whobecame the first womanhockey player from

Jharkhand to represent In-dia in the Olympics in2016, also spoke about herexperience at the qua-drennial event.

“It was fantastic to takepart in the Rio Olympics.Just being around the topathletes from all over theworld was something else.The Indian women’shockey team made it tothe Olympics after 36years so it was a huge mo-ment for us. “However, itwas disappointing tocome back without a vic-tory. But it didn’t deter usfrom trying harder andHockey India has showntremendous faith in usover all the good and badtimes,” she added.

She further mentionedthat Hockey India throughthe Sports Authority of In-dia (SAI), state govern-ments and state unitshave constructed the“best pitches for practiceand internationalmatches” and instilled be-lief in the team that theycould take on any top sidein the world.

“When we have a tre-mendous backing of ourown federation, then it in-spires us to perform everytime we step on the field,”said the midfielder.

Dubai, South African pacer

Kagiso Rabada, who pro-duced a sensational perfor-mance in the Super Over tohelp Delhi Capitals defeatKings XI Punjab, has statedthat “it was nice to be underso much pressure in the firstgame”. On Sunday, Rabadarestricted Kings XI Punjab tojust two runs in the SuperOver which was chaseddown by Delhi Capitalswithout any hiccups to reg-ister a win in their openingmatch of the 13th edition ofthe Indian Premier League(IPL).

With Marcus Stoinisproving to be vital in theback-end of both the in-nings, Delhi Capitals man-aged to take the game intothe Super Over, and Rabadawas quick to credit his team-mate for the win.

“I think it was incrediblebatting by Stoinis. He playedan unbelievable innings to-wards the end to get us to arespectable total, and I

Was nice to be under so muchpressure in the first game: Rabada

thought Shreyas (Iyer) andRishabh (Pant) batted ex-tremely well together to getus out of that hole early on,”said the South African.

“What a day Stoinis had- he bowled two full tossesand got two wickets so itwas his day. And from there,I think we took our oppor-tunity to win that game,” headded. Having stepped upto deliver in the Super Over,the 25-year-old concededtwo runs off the first ballwith his delivery driftingonto KL Rahul’s legs. How-ever, the South African cameback to pick up the Indianopener’s wicket by follow-ing him down the leg sideand forcing him into an awk-ward position to play thepull shot, which eventuallyfound Axar Patel’s hands.

“You don’t plan any-thing. I don’t plan to win, butinstead I plan to execute towin, and I think I managedto do that well in the SuperOver,” Rabada commentedon how he approached the

six deliveries.The pacer then man-

aged to strike again as hetook apart Nicholas Pooran’soff stump to wrap up the in-nings in just three balls.“That’s just the way a gameof cricket goes. Honestly itwas a big relief because Iknew if I did that, and withthe kind of batters we have,three runs to win, we coulddo that. I was just very re-lieved that I took the wicketand could help the team inwinning,” expressedRabada.

Delhi Capitals will nextface Chennai Super Kingson Friday and Rabada hopesthe top-order, which failedagainst Kings XI, would getback to form and wouldclick.

“Unfortunately our toporder couldn’t do it this time,but we know all of them arequality players and will clickin the upcoming games. So,you know, happy for the winbut there’s still a long way togo in this tournament.”

Kush Maini claims 2ndwin of 2020 in British F3

Leicestershire, Hitech GP’s champi-

onship leader Kush Mainihas claimed his secondwin of the year in the Brit-ish F3 Championship inrace three at theDonington Park, after com-ing out on top of a Lap Onebattle with championshiprival Kaylen Frederick.

At the start, Frederick— who was on pole — hada good lam in 14 races, in-cluding the third place onSaturday in round 13unchto lead the pack down toRedgate, holding off Mainiwho then got a good runon Frederick down theCraner Curves and divedup the inside of his cham-pionship rival at the OldHairpin. Frederick refusedto budge, so the pair wentwheel to wheel throughStarkey’s Bridge andSchwantz with Maini onthe outside, before making

the move stick on the insideof McLeans.

That set the tone for theremainder of the race, withMaini able to pull out asteady gap while De Pauwfendem in 14 races, includ-ing the third place on Satur-day in round 13d offFrederick.

With all that drama go-ing on, Maini had extendedhis lead to over two sec-onds, and he was able topull out further over the fol-lowing laps, with the marginreaching 3.2 seconds at theend of the eighth lap.

The result meant thatMaini claimed his ninth po-dium in 14 races, includingthe third place on Saturdayin round 13. This increasesMaini’s championshippoints to 296 with a lead of54 points with 10 races stillto go. “I knew I had to gethim (Kaylen Frederick) onthe first lap because it’s too

hard to follow aroundhere. I got a good startthankfully and put himunder pressure into turnone, which messed up hisrun down to the Old Hair-pin. I got a run on him,lunged him into the OldHairpin, he kept aroundthe outside and thenwheel tom in 14 races, in-cluding the third place onSaturday in round 13wheel to McLeans. Ibraked really late and hehad nowhere to go, so Igot the move done andI’m really happy,” saidMaini.

“There’s still way toomany races left (to thinkabout the championship),so we’re just going tokeep up this form.”

BRDC British F3 will beback in action in twoweeks’ time at Snettertonin Norfolk, with four raceson October 3-4.

Brisbane Heatsign all-rounderJack Wildermuthfor BBL 10

Brisbane, Brisbane Heat have

signed all-rounder JackWildermuth for the up-coming season of the BigBash League (BBL)

Wildermuth made hisdebut for the Heat in2016-17 in BBL 6, playingin the Heat’s semi-finalteam, before switching tothe Melbourne Ren-egades for the next edi-tion. He was a member oftheir BBL 8 champion-ship squad, playing 10matches, and was againwith the Marvel Stadiumbased team last summer.

The 27-year-old willlink with formerMelbourne teammateTom Cooper on the club’sbooks for BBL 10 and willbe out to add to his ca-reer total of nine matchesfor the Heat, which in-cluded the 2016-17 BBLsemi-final.

Rome, Novak Djokovic, who

has started his 287th weekat the number one positionin the ATP Rankings, hasgone past Pete Sampras(286 weeks) for secondplace in the all-time list ofmost weeks at the numerouno spot.

Sampras, who wasranked number one for thefirst time on April 12, 1993,spent a total of 11 stints intop spot, with his longestrun of 102 weeks between

Djokovic completes 286thweek as No.1, pips Sampras

April 15, 1996 and March 29,1998.

On Monday, Djokovicwon the men’s singles titleat the Italian Open after de-feating Diego Schwartzmanof Argentina in straight sets.He defeated Schwartzman7-5, 6-3 to clinch a record-breaking 36th Masters 1000crown, one more thanRafael Nadal.

“Pete was my childhoodidol growing up, so of coursesurpassing his record is veryspecial to me,” said Djokovic

as per the ATP Tour website.The 17-time Grand Slam

champion, who began hisfifth stint at the summit ofmen’s professional tennis onFebruary 3, 2020, is now 24weeks away from breakingRoger Federer’s record of310 weeks at No. 1. If he con-tinues to hold onto the topspot, he will pass the Swisslegend’s record on March 8next year.

“This is one of my twobiggest professional goals,”said Djokovic.

Social distancing costs a Germanfootball team 37-0 defeat

Berlin, A lower-league amateur football team in Germany

suffered a humiliating 0-37 defeat after only fieldingseven players in a bid to maintain social distancingagainst their opponents as they feared contractingthe coronavirus.

On September 13, SG Ripdorf/Molzen II faced theircity rivals SV Holdenstedt II in the 3. Kreisklasse, oneof the lowest leagues in the German system and lostthe match by a margin of 0-37, as per a report in ESPN.Holdenstedt were ruthless in their approach andscored 37 goals, one nearly every two minutes.

Coming into the game, Ripdorf players had askedfor a postponement when they heard the Holdenstedtplayers had been exposed to an opponent withcoronavirus in the previous weekend’s game. Whilethe Holdenstedt squad later tested negative for thevirus, the Ripdorf players did not feel safe due to the14-day infection period.

Fearing infections with Covid-19, several playersdid not want to take to the pitch and in the end, onlyseven players — the minimum number required for afootball match — appeared for Ripdorf.

“We tried to postpone the match,” Ripdorf co-chairPatrick Ristow told ESPN. “But Holdenstedt wanted toplay.”

“When the game kicked off, one of our playerspassed the ball to the opponent and our team walkedto the sidelines. Holdenstedt scored, but the refereebooked our captain for unsportsmanlike conduct,” headded.

He further said as his team didn’t want to risk any-thing, the players returned to the field but they onlystood on the pitch. “They did not go into direct duelsand observed the social distancing rules, keeping twometres between them and Holdenstedt players.”

The biggest known defeat for a football team is149-0, a remarkable score that occurred in a 2002game between the AS Adema and SO l’Emyrne clubsin Madagascar.

Paraguay, Peru to meet in openingCONMEBOL WC qualifier

Asuncion, Paraguay will host Peru in the opening South

American zone 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifier nextmonth, regional football governing body CONMEBOLhas announced.

The match will be played at the Defensores delChaco Stadium in Asuncion on October 8, kicking offat 7:30pm local time, the entity said in a statement onits official website, reports Xinhua news agency.

Uruguay will meet Chile in Montevideo and Argen-tina face Ecuador in Buenos Aires in other openingday fixtures.

The first round will be completed on October 8when Colombia confront Venezuela in Barranquillaand Brazil encounter Bolivia in Sao Paulo.

The South American zone World Cup qualifierswere originally scheduled to begin in late March butwere suspended because of the coronavirus pan-demic.

The top four teams at the end of the qualifyingtournament will automatically book a place infootball’s showpiece tournament. The fifth-rankedside will advance to a two-legged intercontinentalplayoff.

The next edition of the World Cup will be playedin Qatar from November 21 to December 18, 2022.

Meg Lanning to lead Melbourne Starsin WBBL

Melbourne, Meg Lanning will be leading Melbourne Stars in

the upcoming edition of the Women’s Big BashLeague (WBBL). She will take over the reins from ElyseVillani who led the side last season. Lanning hadcaptained the Stars in the opening two seasons be-fore moving to Perth.

“I’m looking forward to leading the MelbourneStars again and building on the great work Elyse Villanihas done. It’s a privilege to be captain and we’re prettyhappy with how our squad looks ahead of the tour-nament,” Lanning said in an official statement.

“More than anything, I’m really looking forward togetting back to playing cricket, firstly with Australiaand then with Stars in WBBL.”

Meanwhile, the side also announced the signingof all-rounder Bhavi Devchand to complete its rosterfor this WBBL season slated to be played in Sydney,beginning October 25.

Devchand, 27, signed her first contract withVictoria this season and has previously played for thePerth Scorchers and Gloucestershire.

“Bhavi is obviously new to the Stars team and theVictorian squad this season. We’re looking forward tohaving her involved in WBBL and I’m sure she’ll take alot from the opportunity,” Lanning said.

Melbourne Stars squad: Meg Lanning (captain),Katherine Brunt, Nat Sciver, Elyse Villani, Mignon duPreez, Annabel Sutherland, Lucy Cripps, BhaviDevchand, Alana King, Holly Ferling, Erin Osborne, TessFlintoff, Georgia Gall, Sophie Day, Nicole Faltum.

Djokovic clinches record 36th Masterstitle in Rome

Rome, World number one Novak Djokovic won the men’s

singles title at the Italian Open after defeating DiegoSchwartzman of Argentina in straight sets, threeweeks after completing his second Career GoldenMasters at the Western & Southern Open.

On Monday evening, Djokovic defeatedSchwartzman 7-5, 6-3 to clinch a record-breaking 36thMasters 1000 crown, one more than Rafael Nadal.

Entering the summit clash, Schwartzman, 28, wasattempting to join 2016 champion Andy Murray and2017 winner Alexander Zverev as only the third playeroutside of Djokovic and Nadal to win the title in Romesince 2005.

“It was a great week, a very challenging week. Idon’t think I played my best tennis throughout theentire week, but I think I found my best tennis when Ineeded it the most in the decisive moments today,yesterday (and in) practically every match,” saidDjokovic after the match as per the ATP Tour website.

“That definitely makes me very satisfied and proudthat I managed to find that fifth gear when it was mostneeded. Turning to Paris, I couldn’t ask for a better tour-nament here in Rome. Another big title and (I am) su-per pleased with it,” he added.

Ibrahimovic scores twice as Milan winSerie A opener against Bologna

Rome, Zlatan Ibrahimovic continued to prove his value

as the hitman scored twice against Bologna, helpingAC Milan to a good start to the new Serie A season.

On Monday, Milan coach Stefano Pioli benchednew signing Sandro Tonali and selected Ibrahimovicto lead the attacking line, flanked by Ante Rebic andSamu Castillejo, with Turk Hakan Calhanoglu behindclose to finding the net in the 11th minute as his at-tempt went just inches past the far post after a mean-dering run in the box. The 38-year-old broke the dead-lock in the 34th minute as Theo Hernandez whippedin a cross from the left and the Swede out-jumpedtwo defenders to steer his powering header into thenet.

Ensure better umpiring, use techto the max: Wadia urges BCCI

Dubai, Kings XI Punjab co-

owner Ness Wadia hasurged the Board of Controlfor Cricket in India (BCCI) toensure “better” umpiringstandards and make maxi-mum use of the technologyin the Indian PremierLeague (IPL).

This comes after theKings XI Punjab lost their IPL13 opener to Delhi Capitalsin the Super Over on Sun-day.

During the 19th over ofKXIP’s innings when MayankAgarwal and Chris Jordanwere batting, the square legumpire adjudged that a sec-ond run taken by England’sJordan was not complete.However, replays showedJordan’s bat had crossed theline.

“I would request BCCI toensure better umpiring andto ensure henceforth thattechnology is used to themaximum so as to ensurefairness and transparency ina game which is known tobe the best leagues in theworld,” Wadia said in a state-ment on Monday.

The Punjab-based fran-chise feel that the ‘short run’call cost it the game.

“I feel it is unfortunatethat Kings XI were the sub-ject of poor decision-mak-ing by the umpire and thiscost us the game. I do hopethat BCCI implements a sys-tem and process so that theother teams do not sufferthe same plight as Kings XI

did yesterday,” Wadia said.“If technology is not

there to be used for the fair-ness and transparency ofthe game and to ensure thatit is equitable to all, thenwhy use technology at all?”he questioned.

The Kings XI Punjab co-owner also drew referenceto the other leagues andhow technology was usedthere. “It is exceedingly un-fortunate that today withtremendous use of technol-

ogy, we still do not use tech-nology to ensure the totalfairness and transparency incricket game like severalother leagues across theworld including EPL, NBA,etc.”

“VAR has become some-thing which is used acrossthe world. The game of yes-terday in question betweenKings XI and Delhi had twoumpiring mistakes whichcost KXIP the game,” headded.

Beaumont stars as Englandbeat West Indies in first T20I

London, Tammy Beaumont scored a brilliant half century as

England Women defeated West Indies Women by 47runs in the opening T20I of the five-match series at theDerbyshire County Ground.

On Monday evening, Beaumont played a 49-ball 62-run knock, studded with nine 4s and a six as Englandposted 163/8 in their allotted 20 overs.

Electing to bat, the hosts got off to a strong startbefore Stafanie Taylor claimed Windies’ first wicket inthe sixth over of the England innings with the score on43. Taylor soon had her second wicket as she scalpedNat Sciver who could score just seven. Heather Knight(25) and Amy Jones (24) helped Beaumont to push theinnings to take the hosts to 136/3 before the openerfell in the 16th over. That wicket prompted a fightbackfrom West Indies’ bowlers as they claimed a wicket ineach of the last five overs to restrict England to 163/8.Shakera Selman finished with impressive figures of 3/26 from her four overs. The visitors didn’t have a greatstart to their chase as they lost Hayley Matthews (3) inthe third over of their innings. While Deandra Dottin (69)held firm, despite she couldn’t find much support fromIndies batter to reach double-figures and accounted formore than half the team total.

Ahmedabad, Page 7

Business Brief

Business 7AHMEDABAD WEDNESDAY 23/09/2020

New Delhi, While the pace of re-

newable energy growth hasslowed in India, positive out-comes in recent auctionssuggest there remainsplenty of appetite amongdomestic and foreign inves-tors to build renewable in-frastructure, a new IEEFAbriefing note said on Tues-day.

P o l i c y - r e l a t e dheadwinds and a collapse inelectricity demand due tothe Covid-19 crisis have dis-rupted India’s renewableenergy capacity tenderingand commissioning pro-cess.

But despite these set-backs, renewables are prov-ing resilient with investmentcapital available for new

Renewable sector in India attracts$10-20bn of investment: IEEFA

projects with favourablerisk-return profiles, says au-thor Kashish Shah, ResearchAnalyst at the Institute forEnergy Economics and Fi-nancial Analysis (IEEFA).

IEEFA’s note looked atthe outcomes of seven re-newable energy capacityand storage auctions heldto-date in 2020.

It found that togetherthey attracted some $10-20billion of investment com-mitments, despite the pan-demic.

The note points to theSolar Energy Corporation ofIndia’s (SECI) 2 gigawatt(2GW) solar auction in Juneas a particular highlight.

It delivered India’s low-est-yet renewable energytariff at Rs 2.36/kWh ($31/

MWh) with zero indexationfor 25 years.

Developers from aroundthe world secured winningbids: Solarpack (Spain); Enel(Italy); Amp Energy(Canada); Eden Renewables(France); IB Vogt (Germany);Ayana Renewable Power(backed by the UK’s CDCGroup); and ReNew Power(Indian, but backed by AbuDhabi’s ADIA, Canada’sCPPIB, Japan’s JERA and theUS’s Goldman Sachs).

“The cost competitive-ness and continuing pricedeflation of renewablesources makes them a moreviable energy generatorthan many existing thermalpower plants, and all newimport power plants,” saysShah.

Freecharge launches new featurestargeting small and medium business

Gurugram,Freecharge, one of the leading digital platforms

for financial services, has launched unique features –Paisa Plus, Payment Links, Dynamic QR, Digital Khataand On-demand Settlement – for small and mediumbusinesses (SMBs) on the Freecharge Business Apptoday. These features would help the merchants servetheir customers better and increase engagement.

Payment links are an essential and effective wayof receiving payments digitally from their consum-ers or trading partners for the goods or services pro-vided. The COVID-19 pandemic has not only affecteddaily life but also all the markets and industry sectorsglobally, enforcing social distancing to become a newnorm these days. Freecharge payment link services,here, proves highly advantageous, as it provides aswift and secure way to send and receive payments.Through this product, businesses can send SMS, E-mail or WhatsApp messages to their customers witha link for making the pending payment. The con-sumer, on receiving the link can pay using UPI, Cardsor Netbanking.

TECNO set to change the gamein sub-9K smartphone segment with the newSPARK 6 Air variant

New Delhi,TECNO, the global premium smartphone brand,

today rolled out a powerful new variant of the SPARK6 Air.The SPARK series has seen a steadfast growthsupplemented by TECNO’s ‘India-first’ strategy of in-troducing segment first features that will enable thebrand to consolidate its position among topsmartphone players in the sub-10k segment. Andwith the SPARK 6 Air new (3GB + 64GB) variant, TECNOcontinuesto do what they do the best.

SPARK 6 Air (3GB + 64GB) brings in unique com-bination ofcategory defining features such as mas-sive 6000 mAh battery with standby time of 30 days,7” display, 13MP Triple rear camera and a bigger 64GBinternal storage which can be expanded to 1TB withmemory card, and priced aggressively at INR 8,699.The features and the price point make it a stellar of-fering in the sub 9K segment.

TECNO SPARK 6 Air is now available in three vari-ants - 2GB RAM + 32 GB storage atRs 7,999; 3GB RAM+32GB storage atRs 8,499 and 3GB RAM +64GB at Rs.8699. The new 64GB variant smartphone will be avail-able on Amazon India starting from 25thSeptember,2020. SPARK 6 Air (3+64) will be available inthreecolours of Comet black, Ocean blue & Cloudwhite.

Equities fall on lockdown concerns inEurope, Nifty below 11,200

Mumbai, The key Indian equity indices declined on Tues-

day morning, in line with the Asian indices over con-cerns of fresh lockdown restrictions in Europeancountries after a resurgence in Covid-19 cases. TheNifty50 on the National Stock Exchange fell below the11,200 mark. At 10.24 a.m., it was trading at 11,176.05,lower by 74.50 points or 0.66 per cent from its previ-ous close of 11,250.55. The BSE Sensex closed at37,772.18, lower by 261.96 points or 0.69 per centfrom the previous close of 38,034.14. It opened at38,200.71 and has so far touched an intra-day high of38,209.97 and a low of 37,531.14.

With trade wars & conflicts,fabled China economy at risk

By S.P.S PannuNew Delhi,

Chinese President XiJinping has been forced toacknowledge that hiscountry’s economic growthis facing a rising external riskand the export-drivenmodel that establishedChina as the factory for theworld has run into roughweather.

Addressing a meetingon China’s five-year devel-opment plan for 2021-2025on Saturday, Xi put greatemphasis on his “dual circu-lation” strategy to cut thecountry’s dependence onoverseas markets and tech-nology amidst a wideningrift with the United States,Europe and Japan.

“China has strong manu-facturing capacity, verylarge domestic markets andhuge investment poten-tials,” the official Xinhuanews agency quoted Xi assaying in a report fromBeijing. Xi put up a braveface saying “China’seconomy remains resilientand there are ample policytools at Beijing’s disposal toensure growth as globaliza-

tion slows and unilateralismand protectionism are rising.We must seek our develop-ment in a more unstableand uncertain world.”

However, what Xi did notsay is that his own policieshave ended up killing thegeese that laid the goldeneggs for China. He is nowseen at the world stage as aleader who cannot betrusted. After having usedtechnology and invest-ments from the advancedWestern countries to estab-lish the biggest supply chainfor manufacturing goods inthe world and then exploit-ing their markets to rake inhuge profits, China has liter-ally stabbed them in theback. The Xi regime’s con-cealing of facts related tothe deadly coronavirusscourge triggered from themeat market in Wuhan andthe intimidatory display ofnaval and air power in theSouth China Sea along withthe military build-up on theIndian border have madethe world wary of China. Thebrazen violation of humanrights in Hong Kong andChina’s southern province of

Xinjiang has further alien-ated the country.

Sales of goods in over-seas markets have helpedChina to emerge as the fast-est growing economy in theworld with huge balance oftrade surpluses vis-a-vis itsleading trade partners suchas America and Europe. Thetrade with India too hasbeen one-sided as cheapChinese goods have beenflooding the market oftenat the cost of domestic in-dustry. However, with thesemarkets now likely to dryup, China now faces an up-hill task to achieve its goalof becoming a high-incomenation comparable to thewestern countries and Ja-pan.

Under the “dual circula-tion” strategy, Xi aims toboost technological inno-vation and push Chinesefirms up the global valuechain so that they createmore jobs and incomeswithin the country to gen-erate a higher domestic de-mand for goods and ser-vices that will also raise thestandard of living of its vastpopulation.

New Delhi, The Directorate Gen-

eral of Civil Aviation(DGCA) has informed theSupreme Court thatpeople who had bookedair tickets during thelockdown are entitled toimmediate refunds.

The DGCA also clari-fied that in case of ticketsbooked prior to thelockdown up to May 24,the refund would be gov-erned by the credit shelland incentive scheme.

The Centre had earlierintroduced an incentivescheme by which 0.5 percent interest will accrueon the original fare lyingin the credit shell fromthe date of cancellation ofthe f l ight t i l l June 30,2020. Beyond this period,the passenger can avail0.75 per cent interest ev-ery month till March 31,2021.

In a supplementary af-fidavit, the DGCA clarifiedthat the refunds werebroadly divided into threecategories.

The first category is ofthose who booked ticketsprior to the lockdown fortravel up to May 24 (as cali-brated domestic operationrecommenced from May25, 2020), who will be gov-erned by the proposedcredit shell and incentivescheme.

In the second category,passengers who bookedtickets during thelockdown will be entitledfor immediate refund of

DGCA to SC: Tickets booked before,during lockdown refundable

fares by the respective air-lines as the latter were notsupposed to book suchtickets.

In the third categoryare persons who bookedtickets at any point in time,but for travel after May 24,to whom refunds will begoverned by CAR (CivilAviation Requirement)provisions.

Advocate JoseAbraham, representing pe-titioner Pravasi Legal Cell,said: “The present affidavitfiled by the Union of Indiaclarifies that the schemefor full refunds is appli-cable to all tickets bookedprior to the lockdown,which was not clear earlieron. Tickets booked duringthe lockdown are also en-titled to immediate re-funds.... It is definitely awelcome stand as far asthe petitioners are con-cerned.”

On September 9, theCentre had assured the Su-preme Court that therewas no catch in its pro-posal with regard to therefunds for tickets bookedduring the lockdown.

Solicitor GeneralTushar Mehta, represent-ing the Centre, told abench comprising JusticesAshok Bhushan, RS Reddyand MR Shah that if thetickets were booked onMarch 15, before thelockdown, even then thesewould be fully refunded.

In the case of ticketsbooked through tour op-erators, the Centre clarified

that if such operators hadalready paid the money tothe airlines for tickets butthe clients were yet to paythe operators, the ticketswill remain in the name ofthe prospective passen-gers on cancellation andconverted to credit shell. Incase the prospective trav-ellers utilise the creditshell, they will pay themoney to the tour opera-tor/agent and not the air-lines.

The Centre had pro-posed that full refunds begiven by airlines within 15days for tickets bookedduring the lockdown. If anyairline was in financial dis-tress, a credit shell shouldbe provided up to March31, 2021 on the routes ofpassengers’ choice, it said.The full refunds were pro-posed for tickets bookedwith domestic and foreignairlines.

In an affidavit in the Su-preme Court, DGCA OKGupta said full refundsshould be given immedi-ately by domestic airlines

Mumbai,National Stock Ex-

change (NSE) andSingapore Exchange (SGX)have entered into a formalagreement to cement thekey terms foroperationalising the NSEIFSC-SGX Connect whichwill bring together interna-tional and Gujarat Interna-tional Finance Tec-City(GIFT) participants to createa bigger liquidity pool forNifty products in GIFT City.Both NSE and SGX will alsowithdraw the arbitrationproceedings.

Vikram Limaye, Manag-ing Director and Chief Ex-ecutive Officer of NSE said,“This Connect is one of thekey developments for theintegration of GIFT City eco-system with the interna-tional financial markets. Itwould lead to developmentof vibrant and liquid mar-kets for India access prod-ucts at GIFT City with theease of access to interna-tional investors. Our collabo-ration with SGX is an impor-tant step towards fulfilling

NSE and SGX progress onNSE IFSC-SGX Connect

the vision of AtmanirbharBharat as envisaged by ourHonourable Prime Ministerof India with GIFT IFSC play-ing a much larger role in theglobal financial markets. Theconnect will broaden theinternational and domesticparticipant base and furtherstrengthen the capital mar-ket ecosystem in GIFT cityresulting in more broadbased development acrossasset classes and capitalraising activity. I wish tothank the Government ofIndia, SEBI, IFSC RegulatoryAuthority, GIFT City admin-istrative authorities and thegovernment and regulatoryauthorities in Singapore fortheir guidance and sup-port.” Shri Injeti Srinivas,Chairman, International Fi-nancial Services Centres Au-thority, ( IFSC Authority) said,“The NSE-SGX Connect forfunneling trading in NIFTYProducts at SGX to GIFT IFSCis an important joint finan-cial market initiative by Indiaand Singapore. This will cer-tainly give a boost to theIFSC Eco System and pro-

mote larger participation inIFSC. The connect creates awin-win situation for bothsides, which makes it pos-sible to have a sustainableand growing partnershipbetween NSE IFSC and SGX”

The two exchanges haverecently received furtherregulatory clarificationsfrom the relevant authori-ties on the implementationof the Connect, since receiv-ing consent from their re-spective statutory regula-tors on the proposed Con-nect model last year. Bothparties will continue to workwith key stakeholders todevelop the infrastructurefor the Connect and ensuremember readiness prior toits implementation.

Loh Boon Chye, ChiefExecutive Officer of SGX,said, “Building connectivityacross international plat-forms in Singapore and In-dia will facilitate unfetteredaccess for global marketparticipants, and in turn en-hance investments andcapital market flows be-tween India and the world.

Mumbai,SHARP Business Sys-

tems (India) Pvt. Ltd., awholly-owned Indian sub-sidiary of SHARP Corpora-tion, announced the launchof PN-CD701, theworld’s first ‘WindowsCollaboration Display’,which offers best inclass environment forbusiness meetingswith better space uti-lization and more pro-ductive collaborationwith minimal setup.

Windows Collabo-ration Display - PN-CD701, is specially de-signed keeping inmind the office and remoteworking requirements ofthe large corporates. Thenext-generation interactivedisplay enables better spaceutilization and more pro-ductive collaboration inmeetings, boardrooms andtraining rooms which wouldtotally revolutionize the wayofficialconferences are con-ducted whether workingfrom home or office space.The display comes with cer-tification from Microsoftand Skype for businesses.

Announcing the launch,

SHARP Announces World’s First 4K Ultra HD ‘WindowsCollaboration Display’in association with Microsoft

Shinji Minatogawa, Manag-ing Director, SHARP Busi-ness Systems (India) Pvt.Ltd., said, “Sharp has alwaysbeen renowned for its dedi-cation to constantly devel-

oping innovative technolo-gies to support the evolvingneeds of its customers. Ourproducts not only offer im-proved technology and thelatest features but also im-prove their quality of life.With the launch of theworld’s first 4K Ultra HD‘Windows CollaborationDisplay’,’ we have yet againdelivered on this promiseand offered our customerswith the seamless all-in-onesolution that allows them towork comfortably and effi-ciently from anywhere in

the world.”Farhana Haque, Group

Director, Devices, MicrosoftIndia said “Maximizing em-ployee productivity securelyin a hybrid workplace modelis a priority for most organi-zations as they recover fromthe crisis and reimagine theiroperations. The WindowsCollaboration Display Sys-tem from Sharp providesteams the flexibility to col-laborate from wherever theyare working – in office meet-ing rooms, or through virtualmeetings powered byMicrosoft’s suite of produc-tivity apps. In addition, theeasy manageability of thedevice and the best-in-classin-built security features ofWindows 10 Pro enableseamless teamwork in orga-nizations.” Talking about theintegrated corporate offer-ing to remotely working ex-ecutives, Manu Paliwal, Presi-dent-Business Solutions,SHARP Business Systems (In-dia) Pvt. Ltd., said “Due to thechallenging times we live inbecause of the Covid-19pandemic, regular human-to-human engagement atthe workplace has been ad-versely affected.

Gujarat Water Supply &Sewerage Board

Tender Notice No. 10/2020-21On-line Tender I.D. 427037

Tender are Invited through Two Bid E-Tendering by theSuperintending Engineer, P.H. Mechanical Circle, Rajkot.Sr. Name of work Estimated EMD Rs. Tender Class ofNo. Cost in fee Rs Regi.

Rs.inLakhs

1 Supply, Installation,Testing & 134.25 134250 3600 “C” amp; Commissioning ofsubmerged Centrifugal Pump CLASS &sets with MS pontoon with ABOVE Co-Ordinated MechanicalAccessories, ElectricalEquipments etc. with FiveYear Comprehensive Operation,Maintenance and security complete at Dharai Dam HeadWorks, Dharai Dam basedScheme, Dist.Surendranagar

Tender Documents can be seen, Down loaded & submitted onwebsite // http://www.nprocure.com. Last date for on line bidsubmission Dt. 12.10.2020 up to 18.00 Hrs. Physical from latest by Dt.13.10.2020 up to 15.00 Any additional information of the tender will beavailable at above mentioned office. All Right is reserved to reject anyor all Tenders without assigning reasons thereof. If any Amendment willbe Published then if will be published on web site.For The Problem of Drinking water in rural water supply scheme contactToll Free No. 1916

{krníke/MkwhuLÿLkøkh/h40/h0-h1

GUJARAT INDUSTRIALDEVELOPMENT CORPORATION

TENDER NOTICE NO. 03/2020-21

The work having minimum cost Rs 66.30 lakhs to maximum costRs 158.24 lakhs are invited by office of the SuperintendingEngineer, GIDC, Ahmedabad through On-line Tender for the workat Sr.No. 1 to 2.

The Tender for On-line work is to be uploaded on web sitewww.nprocure.com/gidc. The last date for on-line submissionof tender is 07.10.2020.The Detailed tender notice for the On-line works can be seen fromthe Office Notice Board as well as web site www.gidc.gov.in,www.statetenders.com/gidc and www.nprocure.com. Anyamendments, updates regarding these bids will be published inthe web site only.

Superintending EngineerGIDC, AhmedabadNo.INF/ABD/673/2020

TENDER NOTICE NO: 4 OF 2020-21(SECOND TRIAL)

On line tender (E-Tendering) is publically invited byExecutive Engineer, Sardarkrushinagar DantiwadaAgricultural University, S.K. Nagar, Phone : 02748-278232Ta. Dantiwada, Dist: Banaskantha for (1) CREATION OFINFRASTRUCTURE FACILITIES FOR THE HIGHPOTENTIAL KANKREJ BREED FOR LRS AT S.D.A.U. S.K.NAGAR RS.1,27,08,125.72 (2) CONSTRUCTION OFR.C.C. COMPOUND WALL FOR S.D.A.U. AT ASHEDARS.93,41,423.24 (3) ESTABLISHMENT OF PALLET FEEDMILL AT L.R.S. FARM FOR S.D.A.U. @ S.K. NAGARRS.84,19,182.71 (4) CONSTRUCTION OF U.C.R.COMPOUND WALL S.D.A.U. AT LADOL RS.60,74,701.00from Registered Contractor Registered in State R & B,Irrigation , GEB, Railway, GIDC, GSRTC Dept. The last dateof submission of Price bid is up to 09.10.2020 up to 18.00hrs. Work will be done as per availability of grant. The detailregarding tender advertisement will be seen on S.D.A.U.website www.sdau.edu.in/tender and all tender detail willbe seen on www.nprocure.com.

SD/-DEPUTY ENGINEERNo. DDI/PAL/274/2020-2021

Sandalwood drugs case: Lookoutnotice against Vivek Oberoi’s relative

Bengaluru, Setting its eye on nab-

bing Aditya Alva, a high-pro-file event organiser andbrother-in-law of Bollywoodstar, Vivek Oberoi, the Cen-tral Crime Branch of theBengaluru Police, issued aLook Out Circular (LOC) af-ter the CCB learnt that hehas not left the country.

The LOC has also beenissued against another sus-pect, Shivaprakash Chippi,who is accused number onein the Sandalwood drugcase, while Alva is accusednumber six in this case.

Both are abscondingsince the CCB unearthed al-

leged Sandalwood linkswith high profile parties inthe city where allegedlydrugs or banned substanceswere used.

A prominent business-man and a film producer,Chippi is a close friend ofKannada actress RaginiDwivedi, who is accusednumber two in this case. Shehas been remanded to judi-cial custody by the city courtand sent to the ParappanaAgrahara Central Jail on theoutskirts of the city.

According to Joint Com-missioner of Police (Crime),Sandeep Patil, the CCB hadverified with agencies con-

cerned and found that both(absconding) accusedhaven’t fled from the coun-try. “We have issued LOCagainst them,” he said.

Aditya, who owns a fouracre resort named — Houseof Life — near Hebbal, wasallegedly hosting late-nightparties where drugs wereconsumed. The CCB raidedthe resort on September 14and also searched Aditya’shouse in Sadashivanagar.

He is not only thebrother-in-law of Bollywoodstar, Vivek Oberoi, but healso hails from a very influ-ential family in Karnataka.

DisclaimerA d v e r s t i s e m e n tappeared in this NewsPaper have not beenverified factually and“WESTERNTIMES” doesnot stand responsible forthe sales proposition.

Urvashi Rautela: We shouldbe addicted to fitness

Mumbai, Actress and former beauty queen Urvashi Rautela says

rather than be addicted to the short-term pleasures of al-cohol, drugs or gambling, people should invest their timein things that bring lasting happiness.

“At times we motivate ourselves by thinking of whatwe want to become. At times we motivate ourselves bythinking about who we don’t ever want to be like. We areaddicted to our thoughts. We cannot change anything ifwe cannot change our thinking. That’s why we all shouldbe addicted to fitness,” Urvashi said. She believes that fit-ness and compassion are two things that can bring long-term happiness.

“I believe compassion and fitness are among things wecan practice that will bring immediate and long-term hap-piness to our lives. I’m not talking about the short-termgratification of pleasures like alcohol, drugs or gambling(though I’m not knocking them), but something that willbring true and lasting happiness — the kind that sticks. Iswear by and believe in this Dalai Lama quote,” said theactress, who will soon make her Telugu debut in the film“Black Rose”.

News in a Nutshell

Ahmedabad Page 8 CMYK

CMYK

8 NationalAHMEDABAD WEDNESDAY 23/09/2020

Militant killed Kashmir in encounterSrinagar,

One terrorist has been killed in an ongoing en-counter between militants and security forces atChrar-i-Sharief in central Kashmir’s Budgam district,officials said on Tuesday. The firefight started on Mon-day after security forces cordoned off the area andlaunched a search operation after receiving specificinformation.

As the security forces zeroed in on the terrorists’hideout, they came under a heavy firing from the ul-tras that triggered the encounter.

“One unidentified terrorist killed in the Budgamencounter. Operation going on,” police said.

RS Dy Chairman to fast in protest ofunruly behaviour of MPs

New Delhi, Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha Harivansh

has announced that he will observe one day fast inprotest of the unruly behaviour exhibited by themembers on Sunday.

The development comes after the Deputy Chair-man served tea to the agitating MPs who have beensuspended for misbehaving with him during thepassing of the Farm Bills.

The Deputy Chairman in his letter to the Chair-man said that there was violent behaviour in nameof democracy and chair was threatened. He said hewill fast while performing his duties.

The MPs are on sit in protest since Monday andhave spend the entire night in Parliament premises.

The eight suspended Rajya Sabha members havebeen camping near the Gandhi statue singing on thegrass in the high security zone, protesting their sus-pension after Sunday’s unprecedented ruckus insidethe upper house.

Asked when the protest will end, the MPs said itdepends on when their suspension will be revoked.On Monday morning, Rajya Sabha Chairman M.Venkaiah Naidu suspended the eight, minutes afterthe House met.

Samajwadi Party won’t contest Biharpolls, will support RJD

Lucknow, In a significant development, the Samajwadi

Party (SP) has announced that it will not contest theBihar Assembly elections but will instead support theRashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). The SP made the an-nouncement through its official Twitter handle onMonday. The party said, “In the forthcoming Bihar As-sembly elections, Samajwadi Party will not enter intoany alliance in Bihar and will support RJD’s candi-dates.”

SP MLC Udaiveer Singh said, “Yes, the party hasdecided this and made an announcement.”

A senior party functionary, meanwhile, said thereare two primary reasons behind not contesting theBihar polls — one is that the party does not want toweaken like-minded parties and secondly, the SP doesnot have a strong base in Bihar and thus does notwant to waste its energy and resources.

“We will support RJD will all our might and en-sure defeat of the BJP coalition,” the functionaryadded.

RS Deputy Chairman brings teafor protesting suspended MPs

New Delhi, The suspended eight MPs of the Rajya Sabha, who

were all night sitting in the Parliament premises to pro-test against their suspension, had a surprise visitor onTuesday morning. The Deputy Chairman of the RajyaSabha Harivansh Narayan Singh brought tea and snacksfor them. Congress MP Ripun Bora, who was also sus-pended, said Harivansh told them that he had come tomeet them as a colleague, ‘but no government repre-sentative has come to meet them so far’.

The eight suspended Rajya Sabha members havebeen camping near the Gandhi statue in the high secu-rity Parliament House premises, protesting against theirsuspension after Sunday’s unprecedented ruckus insidethe Upper House.

Asked about when the protest will end, Singh said itdepends on when their suspension will be revoked.Rajya Sabha Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu suspendedthe eight MPs on Monday, minutes after the House wasreconvened. These lawmakers are from the Aam AadmiParty (AAP), Trinamool Congress, the Congress and theCPI-M. They were accused of creating the ruckus in Par-liament on Sunday.

India, China discuss borderdisputes for 14 hours

New Delhi, India and China held a

14-hour long diplomatic-military talks in Moldo to re-solve border disputes inEastern Ladakh. The detailsof the deliberations be-tween both the countries’delegates are yet to be an-nounced.

Both countries’ delega-tion had respective foreignministry representative asthe talks started at 9 a.m.and ended at 11 p.m.

It was for the first timethat the Indian delegationhad two Lieutenant Gener-als, two Major Generals anda Joint Secretary from theMinistry of External Affairs(MEA). Headed by Lt GenHarinder Singh, Com-mander of the Leh based 14Corps, the Indian delegationhad Lt Gen PGK Menon fromthe Army headquarter inDelhi. Menon will eventuallytake over Commander ofthe Leh based 14 Corps inNovember.

The Joint SecretaryNavin Srivastava, East Asiapresence was there to en-sure that deliberation withChina takes place on anagreed five-point roadmap,including quick disengage-ment of troops, betweenboth the countries.

The countries reached afive-point roadmap duringthe talks between ExternalAffairs Minister S. Jaishankar

and his Chinese counterpartWang Yi in Russia’s Moscowon September 10.

The delegation had alsoIndo Tibetan Border Police(ITBP) Inspector GeneralDeepam Seth and fourbrigadiers. This was the sixthround of Corps Commanderlevel discussion.

In August, during thefifth round of Corps Com-mander level discussionboth the countries repre-sentatives deliberated uponthe prevailing situation inPangong Lake, the biggestflashpoint in the standoff.

It was 14 Corps Lt GenHarinder Singh and SouthXinjiang Military Districtchief Major General Liu Linwho have been meeting tode-escalate the tension atthe Line of Actual Control inEastern Ladakh. The firstmeeting took place on June6.

Thereafter though a bar-baric attack at patrollingpoint 14 in Galwan Valley onJune 15 was carried out byChinese People’s LiberationArmy (PLA) in which 20 In-dian soldiers and an un-known number of Chinesesoldiers were killed. It wasthe first casualties faced byIndian Army in a clash withthe PLA since 1975 when anIndian patrol was am-bushed by Chinese troops inArunachal Pradesh.

In the North bank of

Pangong Tso, the troops arein an eyeball to eyeball situ-ation between Finger 3 andFinger 4 where warningshots have been fired in theair by both the countries’armies. In the South bank ofthe lake, the troops are a fewmeters away at SpanggurGap, Mukhpari, and RezangLa.

China first made pro-vocative military movesthereafter India too de-ployed mirror troops atthese locations. At these twoplaces, both the countries’troops have fired warningshots to intimidate one an-other.

PLA troops made move-ments to occupy the areabetween Finger 3 and 4 ear-lier this month which led tofiring of around 200 shots inthe air. Thereafter, both thetroops are a few hundredmeters away.

The mountain spurs jut-ting into the lake are re-ferred to as ‘Fingers’ in mili-tary parlance. The northbank of the lake is dividedinto 8 fingers that are con-tested by both sides.

India claims the Line ofActual Control at Finger 8and had been holding on toarea till Finger 4 but in aclear alteration of status quothe Chinese have beencamping at Finger 4 andhave set up fortifications be-tween Finger 5 and 8.

Thane building crashdeath toll mounts to 20

Thane(Maharashtra),

The overnight deathtoll in the building crash inMaharashtra’s Bhiwanditown shot up to 20 withseven more bodies recov-ered from the debris, offi-cials said here on Tuesday.

The deceased includetwo infants, seven minors,seven men and fourwomen, said an official ofthe Bhiwandi-NizampurMunicipal Corporation(BNMC).

Besides, another 25persons have been res-cued so far from the four-decade old Jilani buildingin the Patel Compound,Narpoli, which crashedaround 3.45 a.m. on Mon-day morning.

Catching all the vic-tims unaware as they sleptin their homes, the localrescue teams and theNDRF along with a DogSquad saved over twodozen lives, and at least 10others injured were admit-ted to various hospitals.

Cracking the whip, theBNMC late on Mondaysuspended two civic offi-cials — Sudham Jadhav

and Dudhnath Yadav — inconnection with the crashand the Narpoli Police hasregistered an offenceagainst the builder SyedAhmed Jilani, and othersresponsible for the trag-edy.

Thane Guardian Minis-ter and Urban Develop-ment Minister EknathSinde has ordered a probeinto the lapses leading tothe building crash and ear-lier announced an ex-gra-tia of Rs five lakh to the kinof the dead victims andfree medical treatment tothe injured.

Additionally, another102 buildings in this mi-n o r i t y - d o m i n a t e dpowerloom township aredeclared as ‘dangerous’and all the residents havebeen evacuated as a pre-caution, said the minister.

This is the second ma-jor building collapse in lessthan a month in theMumbai Metropolitan Re-gion. An eight-year oldfive-storey building,Tarique Gardens, hadcrashed on August 24 inthe Mahad town of Raigad,claiming 16 lives.

Opp to boycott Monsoon session ifMPs’ suspension not revoked: Azad

New Delhi, The opposition in the

Rajya Sabha led by Con-gress’ Ghulam Nabi Azaddemanded immediate revo-cation of the suspension ofeight MPs, failing which hethreatened to boycott theremaining monsoon ses-sion.

“Till our demands aremet which include revoca-tion of suspension of theeight MPs and the govern-ment bringing in anotherbill under which no privateplayer can purchase belowMSP, the Opposition willboycott the session,” theLeader of the Oppositionsaid.

“No one is happy withthe incidents that havetaken place in this House.The public wants that theirleaders should be heard. Noone can put across theirviews in just 2-3 minutes.There will be de-escalationif MPs are not constrainedby time to speak,” addedAzad

Samajwadi Party’s RamGopal Yadav apologised onbehalf of the suspendedmembers for their conduct,and demanded immediaterevocation of the suspen-sion but added that there

have been fault from bothsides.

Rajya Sabha ChairmanM. Venkiah Naidu said thiswas not the first time that asuspension has taken place“but I was convinced withthe motion of the Minister”.He also said that there wascertain procedure to re-move the Deputy Chairmanwhich was not in proper for-mat. He also defended theDeputy Chairman and saidthat chair should not beblamed. On Sunday therewas a pandaemonium in theHouse as unruly sceneswere witnessed whenTrinamool MP Derek O’Brienapproached the Chair andtried to snatch a mike whileciting from the rule book.

When his objectionswere overruled, O’Brien torethe rule book called the Bills“Kala Kanoon” or black laws.As the aides of the DeputyHarivansh many oppositionof the House to register theirprotests against the FarmBills. The moment the Housepended eight lawmakers —Rajeev Satav, Ripun Bora,and Syed Naseer Hussain ofCongress, Sanjay Singh ofAam Aadmi Party and K.K.Ragesh and E. Kareem ofCommunist Party of India-Marxist.

Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh Chief

Minister Yogi Adityanathhas announced that theentire Kashi area would bedeveloped as a model ofdevelopment and tourism.

He said that Varanasi isfast emerging as a hub foragriculture export, silk andhandloom production andexport, health and tourism.

Yogi Adityanath saidthat a record developmen-tal work had taken place inthe state during the lastover three years, but thespecial interest of thePrime Minister, coupledwith the coordinated ef-forts of the Centre and thestate, has ensured unprec-edented infrastructure de-velopment in Varanasi.

The Chief Minister,while addressing a reviewmeeting, late on Mondaynight, said that Varanasi hasgot a global identity with aperfect mix of religion andspirituality with moderndevelopment.

The multimodal con-nectivity by road, air andrail has facilitated touristsfrom all over the world tovisit Kashi, which is said tobe the abode of Lord Shiva.

He said that in view of

Kashi to be a model fordevelopment: Yogi

tourism, the heritagesignage, ghat revitalizationand facade improvement of84 ghats, culturalupliftment of the KashiVishwanath Temple andghats, tourism facilities inthe Dashashwamedh ghatand development of a mar-ket complex are some ofthe development worksbeing undertaken inVaranasi.

The Chief Ministerasked the officials to speedup the sewer projects un-der the AMRUT scheme inVaranasi, Jaunpur andGhazipur. The constructionand beautification of parksis being taken up under theAMRUT scheme as well.

During the meetingover video conferencing,the Chief Minister inter-acted with the ministersand elected representa-tives of the area and tooktheir feedback.

The Chief Minister saidthat the network of Ex-pressways in the state willgive impetus to the overalldevelopment.

The Purvanchal Ex-pressway in Ghazipur willgive a new dimension toeastern Uttar Pradesh andthe state’s infrastructure.

To meet testing target, UPdoctor gives his sample 15X

Mathura (UttarPradesh),

In a shocking incident, avideo clip of a Mathura doc-tor giving more than 15 ofhis own samples for con-ducting Corona test forcompleting the samplingtarget, has gone viral on so-cial media.

The video that first cameto light on Sunday is fromthe Baldeo communityhealth centre and samplesof Rajkumar Saraswat wereseen being taken by ahealth worker. The sampleswere sent for tests with fakenames to the CMO office.

In the video, Saraswathimself admitted that he isgiving his own sample, asthe number of samples col-lected are less than the tar-

get set by the chief medicalofficer’s (CMO) office.

In the video, one of thehealth workers can be heardadvising him not to conductso many tests on himself, asit could land him in trouble.The video has now beentaken off the social media

Another doctor from thesame community centre,Amit, filed a complaint withthe CMO regarding this. Ac-cording to Amit, he was as-signed the job of collectingsamples for Covid-19 on July27. He alleged that CHC incharge Yogendra SinghRana pressurized all con-tractual employees includ-ing him to conduct fakesampling, if patients werenot coming to the centre fortests.

New Delhi/Srinagar, Tightening its noose in

the suspended Deputy Su-perintendent (DSP)Davinder Singh and HizbulMujahideen terroristNaveed Babu case, the Na-tional Investigation Agency(NIA) on Tuesday carried outsearches at several locationsin Jammu and Kashmir’sBaramulla district. An NIAofficial privy to the develop-ment told IANS, “NIA is con-ducting raids in differentparts of Baramulla in HMcommander Naveed Babu-Davinder Singh DSP Case.”

The NIA sources inSrinagar said that the anti-terror probe agency teamsalong with police raided thehouse of Rasool Waza inWaza Mohalla RayporaPhalhalan.

According to the source,Waza is a retired govern-ment employee of the stateHealth Department.

The source said that hisone son, namely FarooqAhmad, presently a govern-ment employee in thehealth department, and an-other son, namely MushtaqAhmad Waza, crossed theLoC for illegal arms/ammu-nition training in 1993 andhave not returned till date.

The developmentcomes almost three monthsafter the NIA filed achargesheet against six per-sons, including suspendedJammu and KashmirDeputy Superintendent of

NIA raids several locations in Kashmirin ex-DSP Davinder Singh case

Police, in a special NIA courtin Jammu.

The NIA has namedNaveed Mushtaq aliasNaveed Babu, Irfan Shafi Mir,Rafi Rather, Tanveer AhmadWani, and Syed Irfan in itschargesheet, besidesDavinder Singh. The sus-pended police officer islodged in the Kathua jail atHiranagar in the Jammu di-vision. He was arrested bythe police on January 11 onthe Jammu-Srinagar Na-tional Highway while trans-porting two HM terrorists —Naveed Babu and RafiAhmad Rather — and a law

school dropout Irfan ShafiMir to Jammu.

Naveed’s brother Irfanwas arrested on January 23for his ‘role’ in the conspiracywhile Wani came under thescanner for allegedly givingmoney to Naveed, a formerSpecial Police Officer of J&Kwho had joined the terror-ist ranks. After the arrest ofSingh, initial investigationswere done by the J&K Policebefore the case was handedover to the NIA.

Police had said that thetwo terrorists and the law-yer had planned to travel toPakistan.

New Delhi, Taking a jibe at the advertisement released by the Cen-

tre defending the Farm Bills, former Finance MinisterP.Chidambaram on Tuesday said that the farmers needmany thousand markets all over the country and not justone.

The advertisement, which appeared in the newspapersaid: “One Nation, One Market, will give freedom to the farm-ers.”

Commenting on this, Chidambaram tweeted, “Govern-ment has released advertisements defending the Farm Bills.One line in the advertisement says that ‘One Nation OneMarket’ will give freedom to the farmers.

“85 per cent of farmers are small farmers with little sur-plus to sell. If they have to sell the few bags of paddy orwheat, they need mad advertisements defending the FarmBills. One line in the advertiny thousand markets all overthe country, not one market.” “What do the Bills do to cre-ate thousands of farmers’ markets in large villages and smalltowns? Thousands of markets will give freedom to the farm-ers,” he added.

Farmers need many thousandmarkets, not one: Chidambaram

Jharkhand Water Resources Minister Mithilesh Thakur alongwith UPA MLA's hold placards duringprotest against anti farmer bill on the last day of monsoon session at Jharkhand Assembly in Ranchi.UNI

BJP MLA from Nirsa, Aparna Sengupta hold placards on her various de-mand on the last day of monsoon session at Jharkhand Assembly inRanchi.UNI

New Delhi, The Covid-19 pandemic

has increased the propen-sity of consumers to opt fora comprehensive health in-surance product that givesproper financial protectionfor meeting any medicalemergencies.

Accordingly, overallgrowth in the health busi-ness of general insurers wasstrong at 25 per cent yoy inAugust (13 per cent yoy in5MFY21) with strong perfor-mance reported in retailhealth and governmentbusiness at 40 per cent yoyeach, according to analysisreport by Kotak InstitutionalEquities.

Group health insurance,however, was muted at 12per cent.

“Increasing risk aversionamong consumers, strong

Covid bonanza for health insurers, 25% growth recordeduptick in demand for newCovid-related policies (‘Co-rona Kavacha’ and ‘CoronaRakshak’) and penetrationamong mass segmentsthrough the newlylaunched ‘Arogya Sanjeevni’plans were likely drivers,”the report said. In the healthinsurance category, peoplepreferred taking policiesfrom entities having exper-tise in this line of operation.Accordingly, standalonehealth insurers reported 39per cent yoy increase inhealth premiums led by 51

per cent yoy increase in theretail health business. Privateplayers were up 16 per centyoy in the health business(up 40 per cent in retailhealth) while PSUs were up21 per cent yoy. Investmentby health insurers in digitalrenewal of policies has likelypaid off. Private players wit-nessed 40 per cent yoy in-crease in retail health insur-ance premiums on the back of1.1X yoy growth for RelianceGeneral, 66 per cent yoygrowth for Tata AIG and 65 percent yoy growth for Iffco Tokio.