Actor Shalini Pandey hopes that the yearahead turns out to be an extraordinaryaffair for her

POSITIVE FEELING

cmyk

cmyk

WHO chief says there is no guarantee thatany Covid-19 vaccine in developmentwill work

HOPES SHATTERED

INTERNATIONAL | P10

VOLUME 10, ISSUE 174 | www.orissapost.com

LEISURE | P2

Heavy rains lash Mumbai leaving manyparts of the city in waist deepwater TWO STATES | P7

MUMBAI BATTERED

12 PAGES | `4.00

yy

IRREGULAR by MANJUL

We need to be more efficient. Wecould pass only 7 bills in 3.5 hourseven with the Opposition absent!

WEATHERBHUB

32.6° 34.0°CTK

24.5°MAX

MINTE

MP

Humidity 85% 83%Rainfall Nil Nil

Forecast

Partlycloudy sky

25.4°

INDEX VARIATION

SENSEX 37668.42 65.66

NIFTY 11131.90 21.80

DOLLAR 73.75 `0.04

EURO 86.42 `0.33

GOLD `49,725 `656

SILVER `59,211 `2002BULL

ION

BOU

RSES

CU

RREN

CY

MARKET WATCH

SHORT TAKES

IPS reshuffle: 9officers shifted Bhubaneswar: In a minorreshuffle among senior IPSofficers, the state governmentWednesday transferred ninepolice officers includingDhenkanal SP Anupama James.Anupama has been appointed asVigilance SP. Senior IPS officersArun Kumar Ray, YK Jethwa andRitu Arora, who have recentlyreturned from Centraldeputation, have beenappointed as ADGPCommunication, ADGP Law &Order and OSD to Homedepartment, respectively. LalitDas, a 1992-batch IPS officer, hasbeen posted ADGP headquarterswhile Vinaytosh Mishra istransferred as director of StateCrime Records Bureau (SCRB).Additional police commissionerSanjay Kumar Singh has beenreplaced by Rekha Lohani andtransferred as IGPmodernisation. Besides, 1998-batch IPS officer Rajesh Kumarhas been appointed as IGP StateForensic Science Laboratory.

BHUBANESWAR | THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24 | 2020

AGENCIES

Mumbai, Sept 23: TheNarcotics Control Bureau(NCB) Wednesday said thatit has summoned actorsDeepika Padukone, Sara AliKhan, Shraddha Kapoorand Rakul Preeet Singh forquestioning in a drug-re-lated case.

A senior NCB official re-lated to the probe told IANS,“Summons have been is-sued to Deepika, Sara,Shraddha and Rakul forquestioning.” Besides fourHindi film actors, the NCBhas also summoned fash-ion designer SimoneKhambatta.

The drug law enforcementagency has also summonedDeepika’s manager KarishmaPrakash and Sushant’s for-mer manager Shruti Modifor questioning. AnotherNCB official said that it hassummoned Khambatta,Rakul and Sushant’s formermanager Shruti Modi

September 24. Deepika, alongwith Karishma, has beencalled for questioningSeptember 25 and Sara andShradhha have been calledSeptember 26.

According to media re-ports, Deepika is shootingfor a film in Goa these days.

The development comesin the wake of the investi-gation into a drug-relatedcase linked to the death ofHindi film actor SushantSingh Rajput.

Sushant was found deadJune 14 at his Bandra flat.

The official said that theactors have been summonedafter several alleged chats ofthem discussing drugs cameto the fore during the in-vestigation. The NCB hasregistered a case on the re-quest of the EnforcementDirectorate (ED) after itfound alleged drug chatsbetween Sushant’s girlfriendRhea Chakraborty, herbrother Showik, house man-ager Samuel Miranda.

NCB summons Deepika, Sara in drugs probe

New Delhi: Union MoS forRailways Suresh Angadi passedaway at Delhi Wednesday dueto Covid-19. He was admittedat AIIMS two weeks back.Angadi represented Belagaviconstituency in the Lok Sabhaas a member of the BJP.

MoS for Rlys diesof Covid in AIIMS

POWER TARIFF HIKED BY 20P PER UNIT NEW RATE TO COME INTO EFFECT FROM OCT 1

ELECTRICITY GETS DEARER POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Sept 23: The OdishaElectricity Regulatory Commission(OERC) has increased the power tariffby 20 paise per unit for domestic con-sumers with effect from October 1.Hearing pleas of GRIDCO, the OERCpassed an order in this regard,Wednesday.

However, the revised price will notbe applicable to farmers and BPL con-sumers (Kutir Jyoti). “There is nochange made in the monthly mini-mum fixed charge, demand charge andmeter rent,” the OERC order added.

The Commission said it has not in-creased the tariff in its order issued inApril due to the Covid situation. Asthe GRIDCO appealed again, the OERChas hiked the tariff.

The Commission has passed theorder revising the Aggregate RevenueRequirement (ARR) and Bulk SupplyPrice (BSP) of GRIDCO and resultantrise in retail supply tariff and open ac-cess charges for distribution compa-nies. After revision, the gap in the ARRof GRIDCO has remained at `341.15crore against ̀ 660.15 crore allowed ear-lier for this year, the Commission said.

With the hike, the domestic con-

sumers will now have to pay tariff at`2.70 per unit for the first 50 units, ̀ 4.50per unit above 50 units and up to 200units, `5.50 per unit above 200 and upto 400 units. The tariff has been fixedat ` 5.90 per unit above 400 units permonth. The power tariffs remainedunchanged during last two financialyears—2018-19 and 2019-20.

The OERC has also revised the BSPrate of power distribution companies(discoms) with effect from October 1.

The Commission has allowed relia-

bility surcharge of 10 paise per unit forhigh transmission consumers avail-ing power irrespective of nature offeeder. Similarly, the industrial con-sumers having 1MW or above line anddrawing power in 33 KV will get a re-bate of 10 paise per unit for the unitsconsumed in excess of 70 per cent of theload factor. The rebate will be 20 paise,if the industrial consumer consumesmore than 80 per cent of the load fac-tor per month. Similarly, 2 per cent re-bate will be given to all pre-paid con-

sumers while the rural domestic con-sumers will get 5 paise per unit in ad-dition to all existing prompt paymentrebate, the Commission said.

Meanwhile, Odisha ElectricityConsumers’ Association presidentRamesh Satpathy demanded immediaterollback of the hike. “To safeguard theinterests of GRIDCO and discoms, theCommission has put extra burden on theconsumers, who are struggling for breadand butter due to the pandemic. Wewill take legal action,” he stated.

Rajya Sabha passes FCRA Bill AGENCIES

New Delhi, Sept 23: The Rajya SabhaWednesday passed a Bill sans Oppositionmaking Aadhaar mandatory for regis-tration of organisations receiving for-eign funds, and also to give the gov-ernment powers to stop utilisation offoreign funds by an organisation througha ‘summary enquiry’.

The Foreign Contribution (Regulation)Amendment Bill, 2020, which seeks anamendment to the Foreign Contribution(Regulation) Act, 2010, proposes to include‘public servants’ in the prohibited cat-egory and decrease administrative ex-penses through foreign funds by an or-ganisation to 20 per cent from 50 percent earlier.

“The Bill ensures that the NGO hasto mandatorily open an account in theSBI FCRA branch to receive funds andthen one more account to another bankof choice, for this they don’t have to

travel to Delhi but the nearest SBI branchwill facilitate the opening of account inNew Delhi,” said Minister of State ofHome Nityanand Rai.

It has also sought to prohibit anytransfer of foreign contribution to anyother association or person. Amendmentof Section 17 of the Act has sought to pro-

vide that every person who has beengranted a certificate or prior permissionunder Section 12 shall receive foreign con-tribution only in an account designatedas ‘FCRA Account’.

There was a need to streamline the pro-visions of the earlier Act by strength-ening the compliance mechanism, en-hancing transparency and accountabilityin the receipt and utilisation of foreigncontribution worth thousands of croresof rupees every year and facilitatinggenuine non-governmental organisa-tions or associations who are workingfor the welfare of the society, the min-ister said.

He gave an example of the amend-ment made in 2010 when adminis-trative expenses were reduced to 50 percent, then also a demand was made toreduce it up to 10 per cent. He said PChidambaram had then mentionedthat 10,000 crore of the foreign con-tribution is not even audited.

n An NGO has to mandatorily open anaccount in the SBI FCRA branch toreceive funds

n And then one more account in anotherbank of choice

n For this, it doesn’t have to travel to Delhibut the nearest SBI branch will facilitate

LS adjourned sine dieThe Monsoon Session of the Parliamentwas adjourned sine die Wednesday,seven days before the schedule, amidconcerns of the spread of coronavirusamong lawmakers

AGENCIES

Washington, Sept 23:With PresidentDonald Trump poised to nominate aUS Supreme Court justice to fill thevacancy created by the death of lib-eral icon Ruth Bader Ginsburg, anew 6-3 conservative majority couldbe emboldened to roll back abortionrights.

The ultimate objective for USConservative activists for decadeshas been to overturn the landmark 1973Roe v. Wade decision that legalised abor-tion nationwide. But short of that,there are other options the court hasin curtailing abortion rights.

Republican-led states includingOhio, Georgia, Missouri, Arkansas andAlabama have passed a variety ofabortion restrictions in recent years.Some that seek to ban abortion at anearly stage of pregnancy are stillbeing litigated in lower courts andcould reach the justices relativelysoon.

Abortion is one of the most divisiveissues in the United States.Conservative opposition to it hasbeen a driving force behindRepublicans, including Trump, mak-ing a high priority of judicial ap-pointments in recent years.

Trump has said he intends to an-

nounce his nomination Saturday,with Conservative appeals courtjudges Amy Coney Barrett andBarbara Lagoa considered the fron-trunners to be named to succeedGinsburg, who was a strong defender

of abortion rights. Ginsburg diedlast week at age 87.

The leadership of the Republican-controlled Senate is poised to moveforward with the nomination evenas Trump seeks re-election November3.

Even though the court had a 5-4conservative majority beforeGinsburg’s death, some activists onthe right were concerned about ChiefJustice John Robert’s incrementalapproach. Rober ts angeredConservatives by siding with thecourt’s liberals in June when thecourt ruled 5-4 to strike down aLouisiana abortion restriction in-

volving a requirement imposed ondoctors who perform the procedure.

Roberts, who wrote a separate opin-ion explaining his views, signaledhe may back other abortion restric-tions in future cases but said he feltcompelled to strike down Louisiana’slaw because the justices just fouryears earlier had invalidated a sim-ilar law in Texas.

Trump vowed during the 2016Presidential campaign to appoint jus-tices who would overturn Roe v. Wade.He already has appointed conserva-tives Neil Gorsuch and BrettKavanaugh to the court. Both votedto uphold the Louisiana law.

AGENCIES

Kendrapara, Sept 23: Bodies ofa woman and her pregnant daugh-ter, ‘both murdered’, had beenlying on the roadside for the lastfour days at a remote village ofKendrapara. Their family had re-fused to cremate them, police saidWednesday.

Alleging police inaction, thefamily along with the locals hadbeen protesting since Sunday at theManapada village in Mahulia pan-chayat in the Rajnagar police sta-tion area. Pramila Nath (45) andher daughter Satyapriya (22) werereported missing September 19,Sub Divisional Police Officer(SDPO), Ranjan Kumar Dey said.

A day later, their bodies werefound in a pond in the vicinity ofthe village, he said.

The post-mortem was conductedand the bodies were handed overto their relatives.

Satyapriya was found to be inan advanced stage of pregnancyduring the autopsy, Dey added.

The villagers were alleging thatboth the women were murdered,but police are trying to cover upthe matter.

A case of unnatural death undersection-174 of the CriminalProcedure Code (CrPC) was reg-istered after the post-mortem.Subsequently, a case of murderunder section-302 IPC was alsoregistered and a suspect has beendetained, the officer said.

POST NEWS NETWORK

Baripada, Sept 23: A minor boywas found dead under suspiciouscircumstances hours after he wasbeaten by a neighbour while al-legedly caught stealing Rs500 fromthe latter’s house at Jiapanaposiunder Karanjia police limits inMayurbhanj district.

The deceased was identified asRajan Behera (14), son of JageswarBehera. The family members of theboy informed police about the body.

The policealong with a sci-entific teamstarted an inves-tigation. The in-vestigation re-vealed that Rajan

had entered the house of SasmitaBehera, Tuesday. Sasmita admittedthat she had beaten the boy when“he was caught stealing the money.”It may be noted here that accord-ing to Sasmita “the incident tookplace in the daytime, but he wasfound dead at night.” Police arelooking into various angles.

However, initial media reportssuggested that the minor was‘beaten to death’ over the allegedtheft. Reports added that the mainaccused along with a few others hadbeaten up the boy. The boy had sus-tained grievous injury on his headand other parts of the body, re-ports added. The family membersof the boy took him to the hospi-tal where doctors declared himbrought dead.

State logs 15 Covid-19 fatalities in a dayPNN & AGENCIES

Bhubaneswar, Sept 23: State’snovel coronavirus disease tally roseto 1,92,548 Wednesday as 4,237 morepeople tested positive for the in-fection, while record 15 fresh fa-talities pushed Odisha’s COVID-19death toll to 736, an official of Healthand Family Welfare (H&FW) de-partment said.

The state had registered 14 coro-navirus deaths September 11 andAugust 29, said the official.

Bhubaneswar reported the high-est number of fresh fatalities at

four, followed by two each in Puriand Mayurbhanj and one each inBalasore, Cuttack, Dhenkanal,Kandhamal, Malkangiri, Nayagarhand Nuapada districts, the officialsaid. Ganjam district has so farregistered the highest number ofCOVID-19 deaths at 218, followed

by Khurda (110) and Cuttack (60),added the official.

According to the Informationand Public Relations (I&PR) de-partment, as many as 2,485 newcases were reported in quarantinecentres, while 1,752 people tested pos-itive for the infection during con-

tact tracing. Khurda district, underwhich Bhubaneswar falls, regis-tered the highest number of newcases at 647, followed by Cuttack(577), Puri (219) and Jharsuguda(205), the I&PR department said ina tweet.

Odisha now has 38,546 activecoronavirus cases, while 1,53,213people have been cured of the dis-ease so far. As many as 53 COVID-19 patients have died due to otherailments so far. The state has sofar tested over 29.05 lakh samplesfor COVID-19, including 45,321Tuesday, the official added.

Mystery shroudsminor boy’s death

For 4 days, 2 bodiesrot on roadside inKendrapara village

Post Ginsburg, can Trump change US abortion lawTHE ULTIMATE OBJECTIVE FOR US CONSERVATIVE ACTIVISTS FOR DECADES HAS BEEN TO OVERTURN THE LANDMARK 1973 ROE V. WADE DECISION

Roe v. Wade is on theline in a way it never

has been before. Evenif Roe is not

overturned, we couldbe in a situation

where the court isupholding even more

restrictions onabortion

JULIE RIKELMAN | LAWYER, CENTER FOR

REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS

The deceasedwas identified

as RajanBehera, son ofJageswar Behera

The development comes in the wake of investigation into a drug-related case linkedto the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput

ODISHA’S nCoV TALLY RISES TO 1,92,548 AS 4,237 MORE PEOPLE TEST POSITIVE FOR THE INFECTIONBhubaneswar reports the highest number of fresh fatal-ities at 4, followed by 2 each in Puri and Mayurbhanjand one each in Balasore, Cuttack, Dhenkanal,Kandhamal, Malkangiri, Nayagarh and Nuapada

Ganjam district has so far registered the highest number of Covid-19 deaths at 218, followed by Khurda(110) and Cuttack (60)

UNITS TARIFF (IN `)

0-50 2.7

>50 and <200 4.5

>200 and <400 5.5

>400 5.9

The hike will not be applicable for BPLand agriculture consumers

Mumbai: Indian actor AyushmannKhurrana is in the Time magazine listof 100 Most Influential People thisyear.

The National Award-winning staris among five Indians who have madethe prestigious list in 2020, along

with Prime Minister NarendraModi, Google CEO Sundar

Pichai, London-basedIndian origin doctorRavindra Gupta whoworked to find a cure forAIDS, and Bilkis Dadi,who was at the fore-front of Shaheen Baghprotests in Delhi .

Ayushmann hasbeen listed in the

Artists category, whichalso includes Oscar-win-ning Korean filmmakerBong Joon-ho, Hollywoodstar Michael B Jordan,pop superstars SelenaGomez and J Balvin. IANS

Mumbai: Actress Shalini Pandey,who is all set to make her Hindi filmdebut opposite Ranveer Singh,turned 27 Wednesday. She hopesthat the year ahead turns out tobe extraordinary for her.

Shalini shot to fame as VijayDevarakonda’s co-star in the Telugusuperhit Arjun Reddy, which wasremade in Hindi as KabirSingh. She will nextbe seen inJayeshbhai Jordaaropposite RanveerSingh.

“I hope thisnew year forme is ex-traordinary.I know thatmy fi lmJayeshbhaiJordaar will

release in theatres and I just can’twait for that experience! Peoplewill go back to the theatres to watchcinema post the pandemic, and ourfilm will definitely bring them backto the theatres,” she said.

“The entire team has reallyworked hard on this film and it

will be great to know what au-diences think about our

labour of love,” Shaliniadded.

She loves spend-ing her birthdays

with family andclose friends,and this yearwill be no ex-ception.

IANS

P2 JOHN CUSACK OPENS UP ON EVENTS, HAPPENINGS IN INDIA

leisure Hollywood star John Cusack says he got closer toknowing and understanding India during his pursuit tounderstand the world in a better way. The actor hasbeen vocal about the events, or turmoils, happening inIndia, and addressed them through social media.

The Melissa Benoist-starrer superhero series,Supergirl, will conclude with its sixth season, whichis expected to premiere in 2021. “I’m so excited thatwe get to plan our conclusion to this amazingjourney,” Benoist wrote on Instagram.

THURSDAY | SEPTEMBER 24 | 2020 | BHUBANESWAR

yy

cmyk

cmyk

AQUARIUSLady Luck gazes lovinglyupon you today! Bossesare pleased, colleaguesare happy, and thismakes work seem like leisure. You maywant to get in touch with old friends whohave moved far away.

PISCESWell begun is half done.With this in mind, you willset out to actively seek thecooperation of your col-leagues and the sanction of your seniors to tackle some important projects, says Ganesha.

SAGITTARIUSPersonal grooming willbe on your mind today. Asmall fortune may bespent on enhancing theway you look, especially on a newhair-do. Retail Therapy is on thecards, and you may indulge spendingon clothes and jewellery.

LIBRAIt's a spiritual and har-monious mood thatgrips you today, feelsGanesha. You may wantto focus on meditation, as you essentiallyseek peace. This may have something todo with the fact that at work, your subor-dinates may attempt to throw aroundtheir weight to force you to make drasticchanges.

SCORPIOHouse renovation is in theoffing. You may furnish itwith portraits and arte-facts. Today, you may alsofeel like playing the stock market game andstake your bets, says Ganesha. Have a greattime at home by hosting friends over.

LEOIt's fun, fun and morefun on the horizon!Ganesha foresees youtaking time out forsome leisure and frolic today. Broadenyour horizon with a bit of travel sinceyou are very likely to be going on asmall trip to recharge your batteries.When it comes to work — which youseem to have put on hold — it is a mat-ter of pride for you to play the role thatyou essay within your company.

VIRGOReflect on past gloriesand assemble themachinery for accom-plishing more in thefuture. New relationships will markthe road to progress. You easy-goingnature will help you get along famous-ly with people.

GEMINIIt's time you took stock ofyour personal life. Is theresomeone you want to pro-pose but are afraid to do so? Ganeshaadvises you not to let the fear of rejectionstop you from making an effort. There arestrong indications that you will be accept-ed if you speak your heart today.

CANCERGanesha believes thatyou are likely to have aheightened interest inthe study of philosophyand the working of the metaphysical world.This may be mere curiosity or a part of youreffort to improve your professional skills.

ARIESDecisions about careerand finance will keepyou preoccupied today.After a hectic day, all you may want todo is relax. In that case, Ganesha maysend a short but pleasurable trip yourway, which is sure to rejuvenate you.

FORTUNE FORECAST

TAURUSYou must learn to get tothe root of a routine tokeep things fresh today,feels Ganesha. Just learn the basic psy-chology of people and analyse the facts.All action and decision has a motive, youwill need to understand the chain to getthe most out of things, advises Ganesha.

CAPRICORNYou will prioritise yourneeds, and the most crit-ical would be the need tomanage finances to savefor the future. Also, the company youchoose to keep will reflect the kind ofperson you are. So, beware of who youbefriend, warns Ganesha.

BREVITY

CALVIN AND HOBBES

PEANUTS CROSSWORDSUDOKU

SOLUTIONS

CRO

SSW

ORD

SUD

OKU

CHECK FOR SOLUTIONS OF THE PUZZLES TOMORROW

post To solve the Sudoku puzzle, each row, column and box must contain the numbers 0 to 9 and the letters A to E.

SUPERGIRL TO END WITH SEASON VI NEXT YEAR

CAPITAL I TO BE RELEASEDON STREAMING PLATFORM

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar: Odia film CapitalI, is all set to release September 25at Cinemapreneur, a popular stream-ing platform dedicated to promoteindependent Indian cinemas.

The OTT follows a pay-per-viewmodel. The viewers can directlywatch the film by paying for it,without having to subscribe tothe platform. Cinemapreneur cu-rates hand-picked independentfilms from India, offering somerare gems to the film lovers.

Capital I has been a landmarkfilm in many ways. Critically ac-claimed by critics and film enthu-siasts, the film sparked contro-versies in Odisha for its lesbianperspective. Being the first film tohighlight LGBTQ issues, the film

was opposed by a section in Odishaat its production stage.

However, the movie got a very en-couraging feedback from its limitedtheatrical screenings inBhubaneswar, Kolkata and Mumbai.

Written and directed by AmartyaBhattacharya, the film marks theacting debut of the internationallyacclaimed filmmaker Susant Misra,who has also produced the filmalong with Swastik Choudhury,under the banner of SwastikArthouse.

It also features young actor

Pallavi Priyadarshini in the lead,along with Ipsita Mohanty,Pratyush Patra, PrateekMohapatra, Herijit Alex and lateSidharth Mohapatra who playeda key role.

Amartya said, “Capital I is mydebut feature film, and it will alwaysbe special to me. I feel it is one filmwhich all film lovers must watch atleast once. I’m sure the film willevoke certain feelings from everypassionate art lover. I can’t thankCinemapreneur enough for pre-senting this movie to viewers.

Being the first Odia film to highlight

LGBTQ issues, themovie was opposed

by a section inOdisha during its production stage

Khyanikaa inParliament Koraput MP Saptagiri Ulaka

recently raised a question inParliament as to why Odia movieKhyanikaa –The Lost Idea,produced by Swastik Chaudhuryand directed by AmartyaBhattacharya, was removedunceremoniously from streamingplatform Amazon Prime Videociting issue of languagerestrictions. It is both regressiveand insulting to Odia language, theMP stated. He sought an answerfrom the Minister of Informationand broadcasting PrakashJavadekar but in vain. ProducerChaudhury, however, thanked thelawmaker for taking up the issuein the Parliament. “This is truerepresentation of people’ssentiments and we hope to get aquick response from theconcerned minister,” he added.

B’day girl Shalinigets positive feeling

DEEPIKA MEMES FLOOD INTERNET Mumbai: Social media has beenflooded with memes and trolls tar-geting actress Deepika Padukone,after it was reported that hermanager has been sum-moned by the NarcoticsControl Bureau (NCB),as part of investigationinto the drug anglein the SushantSingh Rajputdeath case.

Twitter isfloodingwith memesfeaturingDeepika, andtrolls targetingallege the actress isa drug addict.

“Now youknow the secrets

of her Healthy body, Skin and Hairs.Dee pika 's Hidden HealthSupplement...Don't consume any ofthem,” wrote a user, with the tags

#DrugMafiaOfBollywood,#BollywoodDruggies,#BollyDawoodKilledSSR.

“Deepika keep calm and havedrugs,” trolled another user.

“Probe JNU presence ofDeepika, now terrorism linked

with drugs will alsocome out,” urged auser reminding thatthe actress had vis-ited JNU during theCAA stir e, in amove that hadbeen criticised asa publicity stuntby many. IANS

Ayushmann amongst world’s 100 Most Influential People

A poster of Khyanikaa

A screen grab from Capital I

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Sept 23: The CentreWednesday sanctioned ̀ 8.2 crore ascollateral-free loans to street ven-dors in Odisha under the PrimeMinister Street Vendor’s AmtaNirbhar Nidhi Scheme (PMSVANidhi).

Union Petroleum and NaturalGas Minister DharmendraPradhan tweeted the an-nouncement.

There are 63,222 street vendorsin Odisha. Out of them, 23,550 ven-dors have applied for affordableworking capital loans. The central

government has sanctioned theloans for all vendors who applied.

Odisha has been among the top10 states to benefit from the PMSVANidhi scheme. The street ven-dors of Sambalpur, Cuttack,

Berhampur, Balasore andother towns in Odisha

have already beenprovided collateralfree loans of up to`10,000.The PM SVANidhi

scheme was launched bythe Ministry of Housing and UrbanAffairs June 1, 2020. It aims to pro-vide affordable working capital

loans to street vendors to resumetheir livelihoods that have been af-fected due to the coronavirus lock-down.

The scheme is projected to helpover 50 lakh vendors who wouldbe eligible to avail a working cap-ital loan of up to ̀ 10,000. They willbe allowed to repay the amount in12 monthly installments. If some-one is able to repay the loan earlier,an interest subsidy of seven percent per annum will be credited tothe bank accounts of beneficiar-ies every quarter.

Also there will not be any penaltyon the early repayment of loans.

P3

downtown

cmyk

cmyk

THURSDAY | SEPTEMBER 24 | 2020 | BHUBANESWARQUALITY MATTERS

A farmer applies manureto a millet field whileothers remove weeds atOUAT in Bhubaneswar,Wednesday

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Sept 23: In a bid tobring consistency in sign boards, theBhubaneswar Development Authority(BDA) notified recently that it willbring a uniform signage plan for her-itage spots and business establish-ments in Ekamra Kshetra to avoid anyconfusion.

As per provision of the OdishaSho ps and CommercialEstablishments (Amendment) Act,2018, name of a business establishmentin the area would be written in Odialanguage and if required, it can bewritten in English as a supporting text.

However, presently, different typesof signage have been installed inEkamra Kshetra by various agen-cies including BhubaneswarMunicipal Corporation (BMC) lead-ing to visual clutter and absence ofproper interpretation creating con-fusion among visitors.

Observing this, the BDA in itsComprehensive DevelopmentProgramme (CDP) 2030, had identi-fied the need to develop guidelines forunified signage designs for special her-itage zones. These zones under theCDP included that of Ekamra Kshetraheritage zone in Old Bhubaneswar,

Aitihashik Kshetra heritage zone(Sishupalgarh) and Sanskritik Kshetraheritage zone (Dhauli).

“As the Old Town or EkamraKshetra of Bhubaneswar is one ofthe most prominent abodes of LordShiva, the Heritage Signage Guidelinewill bring in a perfect sync with thepast and the present as this area is theessence of the State Capital. SimilarGuidelines will also be prepared forother special heritage zones identi-fied under CDP 2030 which will bring

uniformity in information dissemi-nation and improve the overall visi-tor experience,” said BDA ViceChairman, Prem Chandra Chaudhary.

Furthermore, the notification men-tioned that the colour, font, line spac-ing, paragraph style, arrows andicons, material and scale of all signswill be historically sensitive to themonument/building and the dis-tinctiveness of the old town area.These signage guidelines will beadopted as part of the BDA (Planning

and Building standard) Regulations.As per the guidelines, six types of sig-

nages will be put up at heritage siteswhich will indicate directions, inter-pretation, orientation, facilities, busi-ness establishments and buildings.Moreover, these signages will be followedfor all planning and design projects,building plan approval, building con-struction, addition, alteration, reno-vation, display boards, and others inthe notified area.

Meanwhile, the BDA which had ear-lier notified Ekamra Kshetra as ‘NoHoarding Zone’ said that the guide-lines will be strictly followed further.While the existing hoardings from allgovernment and private spaces in thearea would be removed, advertisementthrough painting on the walls will bedisallowed within the heritage zone.

“We felt there is a greater need to de-velop guidelines for unified signage de-signs for special heritage zones asspecified in CDP – 2030 due to heavycongregation of monuments in theOld Town and surrounding areas.Besides, there is a need for strongerbridge between tourism signage asper international standards and unique-ness of heritage resources existingwithin the city,” said Suparna SurabhitaDas, Assistant Town Planner of BDA.

Uniform signage to avoid confusion in heritage spots Currently, different types of signage are installed in Ekamra Kshetra by various agencies leading to visual clutter

KEEPING COVID AT BAY

The seats at Odisha Assembly being separated by glass Wednesday as a precautionary measure against COVID-19ahead of the Monsoon Session of the house OP PHOTO

POSTS NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Sept 23: Doctorstalked about management of COVID-19 for cancer patients during thedaily home isolation interactive ses-sions conducted by the state gov-ernment Wednesday.

Dr Surendranath Senapati, an on-cologist from the Acharya HariharRegional Cancer Centre (AHRCC),Cuttack, said, “In non-serious cases,chemotherapy among patients couldbe deferred for 7-10 days if a cancerpatient suffers from COVID-19.”

“Cancer patients who are under-taking chemotherapy and get in-fected, we can defer it. But in someserious cases, we can give low dosechemotherapy or we can treat themwith hormone therapy or other formsof treatment. In many cases, we canshift the chemotherapy in young andnon-serious patients during the in-fective phase,” he said.

He also said that cancer patientsare usually more vulnerable toCOVID-19 due to their low immu-nity on account of the disease and un-dertaking of treatments likechemotherapy.

He, however, suggested that all pa-tients who are taking chemotherapy

can continue to avail the facilityfrom the District HeadquarterHospital (DHH) with consultationwith AHRCC doctors through DHHtelemedicine facilities. Senapati saidthat many cancer patients are nowreported to have stopped their treat-ment.

“Several cancer patients havestopped or temporary halted theircancer treatment. This can hampertheir health and decrease theirchances of getting better. I want totell that all the District HeadquarterHospitals (DHH) have now severaltreatment facilities for the cancerpatients which they can take dur-ing this time,” he said.

He also added, “There is no need

to come to AHRCC for chemotherapy.They can take chemotherapy at DHHsand also take our consultation throughtelemedicine.”

He also clarified that cancer curedpersons are as good as normal peo-ple in terms of immunity. “Cancercured persons are like general peo-ple. We cannot compare them withthe cancer patients. They have bet-ter immunity than the cancer pa-tients,”

Dr Senapti said that cancer pa-tients with no symptoms of the dis-ease can opt for home isolation butafter consultation with the doctors.He, however, said that symptomaticcancer patients must opt for COVIDHospitals for their treatment.

Govt for CB probe into Lingaraj land grabbing

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Sept 23: Expressinganguish over recording of Lingarajtemple land in favour of privateindividuals, Revenue and DisasterManagement secretary BishnupadaSethi Wednesday recommendedCrime Branch probe into the case.

In a letter to Khurda collector,Sethi said that the land belongingto Lord Lingaraj has been incor-rectly recorded on the name ofthree persons. Khata No 1935 ofVillage Bhimpur was recorded in

favour of Shree Ling arajMahaprabhu. Lingha Pradhan andBaja Pradhan were recorded assub-tenants under the said Khata.

However, in the RoR, the propertyof Lord Lingaraj has been incor-rectly recorded in favour of LinghaPradhan, Ghana Pradhan, andAnnapurna Bhoi.

Shree Lingaraj Mahaprabhu is a

public deity and as per provisions,all deity lands are to be recorded inthe name of public deity, MarfatTrust Board. A thorough study ofthe matter reveals that the record-ing of deity's land in favour of pri-vate persons is apparently erro-neous, he said.

“Tenancy will not be createdagainst the trust property under

the provisions of Odisha LandReforms (OLR) Act and therefore therecording of Lord Linagaraj's landin favour of private persons isclearly a violation of statutory prin-ciples and malafide on the part ofsettlement officials,” the secretarysaid in his letter.

He asked the Collector who isalso the chairman of Shree LingarajTemple Trust to refer the matter tothe Crime Branch for investigationinto the wrong recording of land.

Sethi has asked the EndowmentCommissioner to further examinethe records of Lord Lingaraj andtake all necessary steps to safe-guard the interest of the deity.

The executive officer of LordLingaraj Temple was asked to filerevision case before the Member,Board of Revenue for restoration ofdeity's land.

The Collector has also been askedto make a detailed verification ofLord Lingaraj’s property and fur-nish a status report within a month.

‘Non-serious patients may defer chemo’

Revenue Secretary recommends CB probe

for fraudulently recording Lingaraj

Mahaprabhu’s land in favour of private

individuals

POST NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi, Sept 23: Biju JanataDal (BJD) MP Subhash ChandraSingh Wednesday urged the Uniongovernment to raise the re-muneration given to Ashaand Anganwadi workersciting the nature of theirduty and significantlylow pay.

While speaking dur-ing the Zero Hour in theUpper House, the BJD MPsaid many Anganwadi work-

ers and helpers have been workingfor 40-45 years in projects relatingto women and children. He said,“During the COVID pandemic, the

Anganwadi and ASHAworkers are work-

ing day and nightand are declaredCOVID war-riors.”

“TheseCOVID war-riors are the

backbone of theentire quarantine

centres in Indiaeverywhere. But, unfortunately,the remuneration of an Anganwadiworker is only Rs 4,500. ASHAworkers are also doing hard work.They are getting Rs 2,500 per monthas remuneration. Remunerationfor an Anganwadi worker may beraised to Rs15,000 per month andfor ASHA worker it may be raisedto Rs10,000 per month,” saidSubhash Chandra.

He also said that the state gov-ernment has announced a packagefor ASHA and Anganwadi workers’kin in case of death.

Increase ASHA, Anganwadiworkers’ honorarium: BJD

STATUS REPORTSOUGHT

The land belonging to LordLingaraj has been incorrectly

recorded in the names ofthree persons -- Lingha

Pradhan, Ghana Pradhan andAnnapurna Bhoi

The Collector has also beenasked to make a detailed

verification of Lord Lingaraj’sproperty and furnish a status

report within a month

O D I S H A I N

Street vendors get collateral free loans

PMSVANidhischeme

BJD appoints youth unit bearers POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Sept23: Biju Janata Dal(BJD) president andChief Minister NaveenPatnaik Wednesday ap-proved the appointmentof new working mem-bers and district pres-idents of the youthwing of the par ty.However, president ofthe wing has not beennamed so far. As per astatement issued byBJD general secretary

(youth affairs) PranabBalabantaray,Baikuntha Naik hasbeen appointed as thenew working presidentof Biju Yuva JanataDal (BYJD) whi leElisha Dash is the newsecretary general. RanaPratap Patra, DhrutiRanjan Martha andJyotsnamayeeParida have beenplaced as senior vice-president of theBYJD.

Similarly, Bijaya

Ketan Sahoo has beenappointed as presidentof Bhubaneswar zone,Subhranshu NarayanMishra for Cuttackzone, Nachiketa Swainfor Ganjam, ManindraMohanty—Bolangir,Debasish Parida—Sambalpur and TapasTripathy—Koraput.

COMPREHENSIVE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMEThese zones

under the CDPincludeEkamraKshetra

heritage zone,Aitihashik

Kshetraheritage zone

and SanskritikKshetra

heritage zone

Six types ofsignage will beput up at heritagesites which willindicatedirections,interpretation,orientation,facilities,businessestablishmentsand buildings

The colour, font, line spacing, paragraph style, arrows and icons,material and scale of all signs will

be historically sensitive

n ASYMPTOMATIC PATIENTS CAN OPT FORHOME ISOLATION AFTER DOCTOR’S APPROVAL

n SYMPTOMATIC CANCER PATIENTS NEEDTREATMENT AT COVID HOSPITALS

n CHEMOTHERAPY CAN BE DEFERRED DURINGCOVID INFECTION IN CASE OF NON-SERIOUSPATIENTS

n SERIOUS CANCER AND COVID PATIENTS NEEDCHEMOTHERAPY AND RADIOTHERAPY

ADVISORY FOR CANCER PATIENTS

INFECTED RECOVERED DEAD

World 3,18,80,171 2,34,76,296 9,77,204

India 56,43,481 45,84,392 90,050

Odisha 1,92,548 1,57,265 736

COVID-19 TRACKER

State MPs pose 326 questions

Odisha MPs posed as many as 326written questions to the Uniongovernment in both Houses duringthe 10-day long Monsoon session ofthe Parliament. The session, whichstarted September 14, wasscheduled to conclude October 1after completing 18 sittings.However, due to increase in COVID-19 cases, the government shortenedthe Monsoon session to 10 days.

downtownTHURSDAY | SEPTEMBER 24 | 2020 | BHUBANESWARP4

cmyk

cmyk

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Bhubaneswar, Sept 23: The stategovernment has asked both state-run and private hospitals to avoidconducting coronavirus tests onthe bodies of patients dying whileundergoing treatment for non-COVID ailments, an official saidWednesday.

The directive was prompted byincidents of relatives and neigh-bours abstaining from funerals ofpeople testing positive for the in-fection after their death, he said.

The Health and Family Welfaredepartment, in a notification is-sued Tuesday, asked the hospitalsto avoid undue delay in releasing pa-tients' bodies to prevent harass-ment of bereaved family members.

The department has also directedall hospitals treating COVID-19 pa-tients to submit the death reportalong with the copy of bedheadtickets, investigation reports andcoronavirus test status to theDirector of Health Services, Odisha

within 48 hours of the death of a pa-tient for a state-level death audit.

All the deaths of COVID-19 pa-tients are audited at the state-levelto determine the cause of death, it said.

The hospitals were also asked torecord all the pre-existing diseaseswith signs and symptoms at the

time of admission of a patient alongwith related investigation reportsand submit them to the state-levelcommittee along with the nameand contact number of the treatingphysician. As many as 53 COVID-19 patients have died due to otherailments in the state so far.

Odisha's COVID-19 death tollstands at 736, while 1,53,213 peoplehave recovered from the disease so

far and 38,546 patients are under-going treatment.

“#Odisha has crossed yet an-other milestone in the deadly fightagainst #COVID19 with more than1.5 lakh recoveries. Salute to all thehealth workers and #CovidWarriorswho are working with utmost ded-ication and making huge sacrificeto save every precious life,” ChiefMinister Naveen Patnaik tweeted.

No COVID test after death: Govt

The directive wasprompted by incidents ofrelatives abstaining fromfunerals of people testing positive for theinfection after their death

301 NEW CASES IN CAPITAL CITYBhubaneswar: As many as 301 new COVID-19 cases were detected underBhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) limits in last 24 hours, BMCsaid Wednesday. While 83 of them are quarantine cases, remaining 218are local contact ones. Meanwhile, 392 persons who earlier testedpositive for the disease have recovered. According to a notification issuedby the civic body, as of Wednesday, 19,544 persons have tested positivefor COVID-19 in Bhubaneswar out of which 15,746 have recovered. Whilethere are 3,711 active cases, 73 persons succumbed to the disease.Meanwhile, Odisha’s COVID-19 caseload touched 1,92,548 with thedetection of 4,237 new cases, while 15 more fatalities pushed itscoronavirus death toll to 736. As many as 2,485 new cases were reportedfrom quarantine centres, while 1,752 people tested positive for the infectionduring contact tracing. The state Tuesday tested 45,321 samples for COVID-19, taking the total number of tests conducted so far to 29.05 lakh.

226 freight rakes carried by ECoR in Sept

HITTING THE STREET

Members of various trade unions hold a demonstration at Master Canteen Square in Bhubaneswar, Wednesday, toprotest the ‘anti-people and anti-farmer policies’ of the Centre OP PHOTO

DIRTY SIDE OF CAPITAL CITY

Piles of garbage, coupled with mud, turn the Unit-I vegetable market in Bhubaneswar a filthy place OP PHOTO

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Sept 23: Doctorsdealing with cases of nervous sys-tem and brain claim that loss oftaste and smell arising out of novelcoronavirus infection in some pa-tients are not permanent in nature.

Dr Ashok Kumar Mallik, a neu-rologist from SCB Medical Collegeand Hospital, Cuttack said thatthese symptoms are temporary innature and patients regain thesenses but the time period variesfrom person to person. He alsosaid that in many pa-tients the sense doesnot come immedi-ately after com-pletion of homeisolation orhospitalisa-tion period.

“We haveseen thatmany patientscomplain of lossof smell. We havenot found accurateanswer as to how manydays it takes for recovery.But after recovery the patients canregain the sense of smell and taste.There are very few cases like acci-dents where there are permanentloss to taste and smell,” he said.

He also added, “In COVID, thesense comes after some regenera-tion process. There is nothing topanic. Even after completion of 14

days, the complete loss of tasteand smell may not come back im-mediately in some cases. It variesfrom person to person.”

The doctor, however, warnedthat the viral disease affects thenervous system badly in some casesleading to paralysis, stroke andother ailments. “Patients affectedby COVID-19 see effect on theircentral nervous system, periph-eral nervous system, spinal cord,brain and muscles. Brain infectionand brain stroke are also seen insome patients. Headache, inflam-

mation of different partsof the brain is also seen.

We have also seenparalysis and other

issues with the pa-tients, who are af-fected by novelcoronavirus in-fection,” he said.

Bigger dam-ages to the nerv-

ous patients likeparalysis, brain

stroke amongothers are not

seen in many cases, saidthe physician, adding most of thepatients exhibit mild symptoms.

Mallik also said that there are sev-eral asymptomatic persons and evenyoung people showing symptomslike paralysis, strokes, fainting andother severe forms of damages, butafter examination many such casesturned out to be COVID positive.

POST NEWS NETWORK

B h u b a n e sw a r, S e p t 2 3 :Mumbai-Bhubaneswar KonarkSpecial Express from Mumbaihas been cancelled for Wednesdaydue to heavy rain and water-log-ging on railway track.

Similarly, Bhubaneswar-Mumbai Konark Special Expressf ro m B h u b a n e sw a r fo rSeptember 25 will remain can-celled from Bhubaneswar dueto cancellation of the pairingtrain.

E a rl i e r, t h e M u m b a i -Bhubaneswar Konark Specialwas rescheduled to depart fromMumbai at 10pm Wednesday in-stead of earlier scheduled 3:05pmdue to heavy rain and water-log-ging on railway track in Mumbaiarea.

The India MeteorologicalDepartment Regional Centre,Bhubaneswar Wednesday pre-dicted heavy rain, thunderstormwith lighting in many parts ofodisha from September 25.

It also issued yellow weatherwarning for several districts inthe state during the period.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Cuttack, Sept 23: The Orissa HighCourt Wednesday refused to allowthe termination of pregnancy of aphysically-challenged woman.

Holding the state responsible forher plight, the High Court directedthe Odisha government to pay as animmediate measure a sum of Rs 5lakh by way of ex gratia withinseven days.

The court observed that the ter-mination of the pregnancy, whichis more than 24-week-old, wouldput the woman's life in danger.

The court directed that the stategovernment would further granta sum of Rs 3 lakh if the 22-year-oldwoman delivers a male child and Rs5 lakh if she gives birth to a femalechild.

Additionally, she will be entitled

to receive compensation awardedunder the Victim CompensationScheme, the court said.

“Considering the mental condi-tion of the victim and financialcondition of the family, utmost careof the victim is to be taken in con-tinuation of her pregnancy. Thebest medical facility will be madeavailable so as to ensure propercare and supervision during theperiod of pregnancy as well as post-

natal care at the SCB Medical Collegeand Hospital,” the court said.

“The entire transport, medicaland medicinal expenses, includingaccommodation of the victim andher mother, if necessary, duringtreatment, shall be the responsi-bility of the Jagatsinghpur districtadministration,” said JusticeBiswanath Rath.

The entire education of the yet-to-born child will be the responsi-

bility of the state government, thecourt said.

The woman, also a mentally-challenged, is a resident of a villagein the Kujanga police station areain Jagatsinghpur district. She wasraped by a local and the police com-plaint was filed only August 13 afterher family came to know about it.

By the time, her mother ap-proached the HC, seeking permis-sion to terminate the pregnancy,medical reports indicated that thewoman was already pregnant forover 20 weeks.

The HC also issued an 11-pointspecific direction to the state gov-ernment, and 14-point general di-rectives to other authorities, in-cluding the district courts, StateLegal Aid Services Authorities, po-lice and doctors as to how to han-dle similar cases in the future.

HC no to termination of rape survivor’s pregnancy

InCOVID, the sensecomes after some

regeneration process.There is nothing to panic.

Even after completion of 14days, the complete loss of tasteand smell may not come backimmediately in some cases. Itvaries from person to person

ASHOK KUMAR MALLIK |NEUROLOGIST AT SCB

Loss of taste, smelltransitory: Doctor

COVID INFECTION

Konark SpecialExp cancelled

OHRC breatherfor nCoV +veinjured youthPOST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Sept 23:The OdishaHuman Rights Commission(OHRC), Wednesday, ordered a pri-vate hospital here to carry out sur-gery on an injured youth of thecity who had been denied treat-ment for 12 days after he tested pos-itive for COVID-19.

The victim, Ranjit Nayak, 21, ofChandrasekharpur, was allegedlystabbed at his residence by hisneighbours after a violent con-flict over theft of a mobile phoneSeptember 8. The attack causeddeep injuries in the lower part ofhis belly and he was bleeding pro-fusely. Ranjit’s parents went toChandrasekharpur police stationto lodge an FIR. However, the po-lice suggested them to hospitalisethe youth stating his conditionserious and refused to file the FIR.But much to Ranjit’s ordeal, thehospitals here – both private andpublic – denied him the treatmentciting COVID regulations orpaucity of medical infrastructure.

Ranjit was admitted to emer-gency ward of AIIMS,Bhubaneswar. In the meantime,Ranjit’s blood tests were conductedwhich eventually indicated him tobe COVID positive. The hospital au-thorities allegedly denied surgeryowing to ‘not having operationtheatre for COVID patients.’

Ranjit’s brother filed a petitionin OHRC mentioning that hisbrother was taken from one hos-pital to another for treatment de-spite suffering from severe pain.The OHRC then stated that thepatient cannot be denied surgeryon the plea of COVID.

The commission also asked theHealth and Family Welfare de-partment Secretary to probe thealleged medical negligence andsubmit a report during its nexthearing October 15, 2020.

9 fertiliser dealers face musicPOST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Se pt 23 :Agriculture Minister Arun KumarSahoo Wednesday said that actionhas been taken against nine deal-ers for not supplying fertiliser to thefarmers for Kharif crops.

This apart, licences of 163 deal-ers were cancelled. There arearound 6,881 fertiliser dealer pointsin the state. The minister askedthe authorities to supply fertiliser

to farmers on time. Earlier, in a bid to provide fi-

nancial assistance to the farmers dur-ing the COVID-19 crisis, the Odishagovernment had raised the coop-erative Kharif loan to Rs 9,000 crorefrom Rs 7,500 crore for 2020-21.

As per reports, there has been anotable growth of 13 per cent infarmers’ registration for paddyprocurement under the PriceSuppor t System for this Kharif season.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Bhubaneswar, Sept 23: The EastCoast Railway (ECoR) Wednesdaysaid it has carried 226 rakes of freightin the current month so far throughits business development initiative.

The ECoR authorities have beenin touch with various trade and in-dustry bodies through the businessdevelopment units (BDUs) to in-crease its share in the transporta-tion of goods, it said in a statement.

“Following the efforts of the busi-ness development units created re-cently, ECoR has carried 226 rakesof freight till September 21 andtransported about 0.67 million tonneof goods,” it added.

These include loading of fer-tiliser by IFFCO from Dhanmandal

railway station, fly ash from TataBhushan Steel Ltd sidings atMeramandali. Similarly, maize wascarried from Kesinga and Jeyporestations, cement from Bargarh,iron ore from Kirandul, coal fromWaltair Division along with the

short-distance transportation ofslag and steel from VisakhapatnamSteel Plant to Gangavaram Port.

At least 15 rakes of fertiliser, 40rakes of rice and 32 rakes of ce-ment were transported, while 78rakes of iron ore and 56 rakes of slag

and steel were carried by ECoRsince the beginning of this month,the statement said. The ECoR hasset up BDUs to attract traders andindustrial entities for transporta-tion of their products by railways.

“The BDUs are now stepping uptheir efforts for both short and long-distance transportation of com-modities along with non-bulk items,”it added. The ECoR has also plannedto provide its 28 sheds of goods onan outsourcing basis to variousbusiness units and has called for anexpression of interest for the pur-pose, it said.

The ECoR is now exploring waysto increase miscellaneous non-bulkgoods traffic to improve its share inthe transpor tation of commodities.

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVEn ECoR has carried 226 rakes offreight till September 21 and transported about 0.67 milliontonne of goods

n These include loading of fertiliserby IFFCO from Dhanmandal railwaystation, fly ash from Tata BhushanSteel Ltd sidings at Meramandali

The ECoR has set up BDUs to attract traders and industrial entities fortransportation of their products by railways

Odisha blocked PM Kisanmoney, allege BJP MPsPOST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Sept 23: A dele-gation of Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) MPs Wednesday wrote toUnion Agriculture MinisterNarendra Singh Tomar allegingscam in disbursement of assis-tance under PM Kisan Scheme inOdisha.

The parliamentarians said thatmany of the 37,00,578 registeredfarmers under the scheme are de-prived of the last few installmentsof PM Kisan Samman Nidhi re-leased by the Centre.

The MPs accused the Odishagovernment of blocking the as-sistance from the Centre.

“An examination of this dis-concerting trend of annually de-creasing coverage of beneficiar-ies under the scheme in Odishareveals that for the sixth installment,12.93 lakh farmers have been de-prived of their benefit as Odishagovernment has blocked theirnames for receiving the benefit,without any justification,” the jointletter said.

It also added that the Odishagovernment November 2019 hadissued a circular stating that allsmall and marginal farmer bene-ficiaries identified under the KALIAscheme of the state governmenthad been registered under PMKisan Scheme and would be paidRs 6,000 from the central scheme andthe remaining Rs 4,000 in two in-stallments under KALIA scheme.

“However, we are distressed andalarmed to note that till this daythere is no integration of data per-taining to the beneficiary list ofKALIA scheme with the PM KisanSamman Nidhi Yojana portal,” theletter alleged.

The BJP MPs said that it was dis-appointing to note that these al-leged unjustifiable inaccuraciesand oversight of the state gov-ernment in disbursement of ben-efits under the central scheme tothe needy farmers of Odisha in thebackdrop of COVID-19 causedhardships to the farmers of Odisha.

The MPs sought personal in-tervention of Tomar in the matterand asked him to instruct the of-ficials concerned to institute aprobe by a Central agency to lookinto the alleged ‘blunders’ com-mitted by the state governmentin the implementation of thescheme.

Many of the 37,00,578 registered farmers underthe scheme are deprived ofthe last few installments ofPM Kisan Samman Nidhireleased by the Centre,said the BJP MPs

MAJOR DIRECTIONSnHC directed the state govt to pay the victimRs 5 lakh by way of ex gratia within 7 days

nThe court observed that the termination ofthe pregnancy, which is more than 24-week-old, would put the woman's life in danger

The court directed that the state government would further grant a sum of Rs 3 lakh if the 22-year-old woman delivers a male child and Rs 5 lakh if she gives

birth to a female child

stateTHURSDAY | SEPTEMBER 24 | 2020 | BHUBANESWARP5

SHORT TAKESDance training centres for KoraputKoraput: In an attempt topromote traditional dance formsin the tribal-dominated Koraputdistrict, the Odisha SangeetNatak Academy has set up twodance training centres – one forOdissi and another for Durua inthe district. CollectorMadhusudan Mishra recentlyinaugurated the Odissi dancetraining centre at KoraputKalakar Bhawan to promoteOdissi dance among enthusiasticartistes. Similarly, a Durua dancetraining centre was set up atSorisapadar village underBoipariguda block with an aim ofreviving the dying folk cultureand dance in the district. Rs 2lakh will be provided from DMFfund for the centres.

2 jumbos perish in a weekTensa: Elephant deaths continueto happen in Sundargarh district,despite a host of protectivemeasures by the forestdepartment. An elephant wasfound dead at Araghat underKoida range in the districtTuesday. This is the secondelephant death in a week. Theforest department retrieved itscarcass. The animal is aged bout12 to 15 years. Another elephanthad died in Sardanga forestSeptember 13, but the cause ofits death is yet to be known.

cmyk

cmyk

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhawanipatana, Sept 23: Theagriculture sector has failed to seea remarkable growth in Kalahandias many parts of the district are de-prived of irrigation.

Like other western Odisha dis-tricts, Kalahandi also sees annualmigration of workers to differentstates in search of work.

In view of this, state governmenthas laid more emphasis on irriga-tion to boost development of agri-culture in western Odisha.

Now the focus is on Golamundablock of the district. The block iscomparatively less irrigated thanother parts. Five new minor irri-gation projects will be set up in theblock. It was also learnt that thegovernment has decided to restore13 irrigation projects in the district.

This was revealed by Minister ofEnergy, Industries and MSMEDibyashankar Mishra.

Mishra and chief engineer ofthe minor irrigation departmentSaroj Patnaik had visited minorirrigation projects at Karnakoteand Chahaka under Golamundablock September 20.

They also visited a water har-vesting project of the soil conser-

vation department at Kanipur.After the visit, the chief engi-

neer of the minor irrigation de-partment revealed that 13 minorirrigation projects under this blockwill be restored.

Besides, the government hasmade plans to set up five more newirrigation projects at Gadalajharan,Kalipur, Dandarakhol, Bhitarakoteand Dhingiamunda.

A 42-km long canal of Indravatipasses through Brundabahal,

Dasapur and Pharang underGolamunda block, he added.

Moreover, work of mega liftirrigation projects is underwayat Mahaling, Kuhura, Kenganand Borda while 11KV feederl i n e h a s b e e n d r aw n f r o mDashapur 33/11 substation torun lift irrigation projects inGolamunda.

“Farmers can make use of thefeeder line in lifting water fromthe Tel river at different places,” the

minister said. With all these irrigation proj-

ects, farmers of Golamunda blockwill be immensely benefitted, headded.

It may be noted here that thegovernment has already laid foun-dation of 41 irrigation projects a cou-ple of years ago to provide water to50,000 hectares in Kalahandi,Bargarh, Balangir, Jharsuguda,Sambalpur, Boudh, Subarnapurand Gajapati districts.

5 irrigation units in Kalahandi soonMINOR IRRIGATION DEPT WILL ALSO RENOVATE 13 OTHER PROJECTS IN GOLAMUNDA BLOCK

Like other westernOdisha districts,Kalahandi also seesannual migration ofworkers to differentstates in search of work

In view of this, the stategovernment has laidmore emphasis onirrigation to boostdevelopment ofagriculture in westernOdisha

Now the focus is on Golamunda block of the district. Theblock is comparatively less irrigated than other parts. Fivenew minor irrigation projects will be set up in the block. It

was also learnt that the government has decided torestore 13 irrigation projects in the district

The MSME minister and the chief engineer ofthe minor irrigation department Saroj Patnaikhad visited minor irrigation projects atKarnakote and Chahaka under Golamundablock September 20

MOCK DRILL

Personnel of fire department demonstrate safety measures during a mock drill at Bhadrak Covid hopsital, Wednesday

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhadrak, Sept 23: Acres of landacquired for a food and textile parkat Dhamnagar Chhak in Bhadrakremain unutilised. The issue wastaken up by Bhadrak MP ManjulataMandal in Parliament recently.

She pointed out that 217.71 acreswere acquired in 1995 for the textilepark.

Mandal demanded that if thetextile park is set up on the land, peo-ple from the district would not haveto migrate to Gujarat and otherstates in search of jobs.

The MP drew attention of theUnion Minister of Natural Gas andpetroleum toward the long pendingproject while this project has beenproposed by the IOCL.

“During the pandemic, thou-sands of migrant workers, skilledand unskilled, have returned tothe district, after losing their jobsin other states. They live in miseriesin absence of jobs made availableto them by the administration. If theIOCL’s textile park is set up, thatwill give them employment,” sheadded.

Several other projects have alsobeen in limbo, she added. The onlymajor project that has been made

operational is the Dhamara port.It may be noted here that 217.71

acres had been acquired in 1995 toset up a sugar factory at DhamnagarChhak under Bhandaripokhariblock. Later, the government de-cided that the land be used for a foodand textile park.

Meanwhile, 25 years have passedsince the land acquisition, but theproject has not yet been realised.

On the other hand, people who

had spared their farmland for theproject on the promise of employ-ment opportunities are frustratedover inordinate delay of the proj-ect. People of Pahimahura,Manjurigadia and other villageshave lost their land.

Locals alleged that land acquiredfor industrial projects is lying un-used due to political and adminis-trative apathy while employmentscope has been neglected.

Land for Bhadrak textilespark lies unused for 25 yrs

MP MANJULATA MANDAL RAISED THE ISSUE IN PARLIAMENT

Mandaldeman

ded that ifthe textilepark is set

up on theland, peoplefrom thedistrict wouldnot have tomigrate toGujarat andother states insearch of jobs

THEMP POINTED

OUT THAT 217.71ACRES WERE

ACQUIRED IN 1995FOR THE TEXTILE

PARK

The MP drew attention of theUnion Minister of Natural

Gas and petroleum toward thelong pending project while thisproject has been proposed bythe IOCL

Locals alleged that land acquiredfor industrial projects is lying

unused due to political andadministrative apathy whileemployment scope has beenneglected

POST NEWS NETWORK

Kendrapara, Sept 23: Even devoutHindus these days find it difficult tomemorise Sanskrit slokas (hymns)and mantras. In this backdrop, aMuslim girl reciting Vedic hymnssounds surprising. However, that iswhat has exactly happened inKendrapara district. The young girl,Samjana Khatun, has been lauded bythe all and sundry for reciting Vedichymns with ease.

It doesn’t matter to Samjana thatshe pursues a different faith. It hasnot deterred her from reciting scoresof Sanskrit hymns and Vedic invo-

cations. She can sing bhajans ofLord Ganesh and goddess Saraswati.

Samjana has completed her ma-

triculation (10th standard). ThoughSamjana wants to pursue higher ed-ucation, her family’s poor financial

condition has become a hindrancefor her in pursuing her dreams.

Samjana’s mother Sultana en-courages her daughter to sing de-votional songs belonging to otherreligions also. “I never dissuade mydaughter in whatever she does,”Sultana said.

Samjana’s father SheikhKarimuddin is a differently-abledman while her mother works as adaily-wager to support the family.The poor family stays in a thatchedhouse. They go to sleep hungry whenSultana fails to get work.

Neighbours said Samjana is ameritorious student. They said if

provided with financial assistancethe girl can achieve success in life.

“The girl had called me and ex-pressed her inability to take ad-mission in a local college. I have as-sured to help her. It will be appropriateif the local administration or thestate government provides her withsome financial aid,” said Samjana’steacher Nrusingha Rout.

Kendrapara Sub-CollectorJyotishankar Mohapatra has as-sured all help to Samjana. “I have di-rected the district education officer(DEO) and Kendrapara welfare ex-tension officer to find ways to helpher,” said Mohapatra.

Muslim girl earns accolades for reciting Vedic hymnsIt doesn’t matter toSamjana that shepursues a different faith.It has not deterred herfrom reciting scores ofSanskrit hymns andVedic invocations. Shecan sing bhajans of LordGanesh and goddessSaraswati

Samjana has completed her matriculation (10th standard). Though Samjana wants to pursue higher education, her family’s poor financial

condition has become a hindrance for her in pursuing her dreams

POST NEWS NETWORK

Baripada, Sept 23: Notwithstandinga plethora of measures, poaching ofwild animals inside Similipal Nationalpark has not been curbed.

Arrest of six poachers in theSimilipal National Park is a pointerto this fact. They were arrested fortrying to kill wildlife Tuesday after-noon, forest officials said.

Four crude guns, sharp weapons,five trap nets and several other toolsused for hunting purposes were seizedfrom the arrested poachers, Dukurawildlife range officer Ananta Jena in-formed.

The arrested persons were iden-tified as Madhu Naik, Uttam Bhakta,Gajendra Katual, Galu Naik,Sudarshan Katual and SatrughanKatual. They had entered into theSimilipal reserve forest area twodays back. As they were attempting

to kill wild animals, forest personnelof the tiger reserve nabbed themnear Charichhaka.

A case has been registered againstthem under relevant sections of theWildlife Protection Act, Jena said.Further investigation is underway andforest department suspects involve-ment of a bigger poaching racket.

Link of the poachers’ gang with out-side states, if any, is being verified.

In March, 2020, four poachers hadarrested in the Park. A leopard skinwas seized from them. Surprisingly,the leopard was killed two yearsago inside the Similipal NationalPark, but its hide was seized yearslater.

6 poachers held from SimilipalPoaching and huntingbids have been takingplace over years insideand around theSimilipal, but despiteefforts of the forestdepartment, such illegalactivities have not been curbed

Lifer for serial killer POST NEWS NETWORK

Angul, Sept 23: Serial killerJhasketan Rout was sentenced tolife imprisonment for killing fourpeople -two each in 2015 and 2016 in Angul.

Adjudicating the case throughvideoconferencing, the Districtand Sessions Judge here pro-nounced the quantum of punish-ment Monday. The court has alsoimposed a fine of Rs 3 lakh on theconvict, it was learnt.

According to reports, Jhasketan,a resident of Kusakila villageunder Jarpada police limits inAngul district, had murderedAbala Garnayak (65) and hernephew Kumud Sahu (27), resi-dents of Kukurpeta village May 22,2015. After committing the crime,he had buried Abala’s body neara pond and put concrete mixtureon the spot. In the similar manner,he had also buried Kumud’s bodynear a school.

He again killed two persons--Rajkishore Sahoo and HiranakshyaSahoo of Kusakila village. He com-mitted his second crime February4, 2016 and buried the bodies in asimilar fashion to avoid arrest.

However, a case was lodgedagainst him in connection withthe death of Abala and KumudFebruary 11, 2016. He was arrestedfirst in 2018. For his productionbefore Angul court May 18, 2018, hewas put in a court cell. On the pre-text of attending nature’s call, hewent to the court toilet and fromthere he escaped through the as-bestos roof by breaking it open.

After escaping from the court,he had stayed in Kolkata, Gujaratand in some other places before hid-ing in a jungle near Deogarh.

POST NEWS NETWORK

Chhatrapur, Sept 23: As part ofhis efforts to take on the virulentpandemic, Ganjam Collector VijayAmruta Kulange Tuesday tookstock of the situation at the dis-trict headquar ters town ofChhatrapur.

After a few days’ gap, he againvisited each and every shop on footfrom the bus stand to DashiriJagannath Mandir Chhak to as-certain strict observance of theguidelines such as social distanc-ing, barricading, maintaining con-tact diary, use of mask and sanitizer.

Kulange asked medicine storeowners to immediately intimatethe district administration incase of any suspected Covid-in-fected customer is found pur-

chasing medicine.The District Collector also re-

viewed the sanitation measuresbeing undertaken in the head-quarters town. He advised peopleto sincerely use waste disposalbins. He directed NAC executiveofficer N Ganesh Babu to imple-ment night shift waste disposaland sanitary activities in addi-tion to mor ning shifts fromTuesday night onwards.

Chemists asked to tipoff on Covid suspects

POST NEWS NETWORK

Sundargarh, Sept 23: Eatinggupchup (panipuri) overenthusi-astically may take your life! A casein point was a woman who chokedon her fifth gupchup and died atSarafgarh village under Lephriparapolice station in Sundargarh district,Tuesday night. The deceased hasbeen identified as Phulamati Kisan.

Sources said that Phulamati, a res-ident of Sarafgarh village, stoppedat a gupchup seller’s cart to eat thepopular street food. Phulamati con-sumed four gupchups easily but asshe took the fifth one she startedcoughing. Despite all efforts thecoughing did not stop and finally shefell unconscious near the cart.

Phulamati regained conscious-ness when people sprinkled wateron her face but could not speak anddied within a few minutes. The lo-cals took her to Sundargarh dis-trict headquarters hospital, however,doctors at the CHC examined anddeclared her brought dead.

Sundargarh Chief DistrictMedical Officer (CDMO) SarojKumar Mishra said it was possiblethat the crispy part of the gupchupgot stuck in her windpipe, whichresulted in her death.

Sundargarh woman chokes on gupchup, dies

COMMUNITY EFFORT

Villagers repair the road from Koyaguda to Canal Bank road under Korukundablock in Malkangiri. The road work allegedly botched up by a contractor

OP PHOTO

OP PHOTO

WORDSWORTH

power post P6

W hen Indian elephants meet African elephants, they recognise thatthey are both elephants. So do Indian tigers meeting Siberianones. But I have great difficulty recognising that I am of the same

species as a person who attends a wild foods festival in New Zealand todrink shots of bull and horse semen taken fresh from animals that have hadhumans masturbate these animals.

I suppose that if you eat meat it makes very little difference whether youeat the head, the shoulders or the anus. But there seems something so sav-agely primitive and ugly about people being in celebration at “testicle fes-tivals" held across America in which the testicles of turkey, pigs, bulls andlambs are fried and served.

In the Middle East, grilled testicles along with eyes are served to honouredguests. In New Zealand, they do one better: the young lambs on a farm areroutinely castrated to make them fatter; and their testicles are cooked andeaten for lunch at the farm, in front of the animals. Rocky Mountain oys-ters or prairie oysters are the name for the Canadian/American delicacy madefrom bulls' testicles. They are known as huevos de toro (bulls' eggs) in LatinAmerica and Spain, "ox treasures" in China. In Greece, you call them "un-mentionables". In Scotland, they eat the testicles of deer. In Syria baidghanamor sheep testicles are grilled in lemon juice and garnished in parsley. Bullfries are floured and breaded testicles prepared from the animals killedduring bull-fighting.

Spaniards consider that eating the testicles of prized bulls is a great wayto show their bravery and masculinity. Bulls testicles, pink with red veinsrunning through them, called "Ngầupín" in Vietnamese (which means elec-tric battery), are common in supermarkets all over the world. Most of thesetesticles are from young animals whose privateparts are simply sliced off without anaesthesiawhile they live in pain for another fewmonths/years till they are killed.

Another great favourite is penises. Bull peniscooked with bananas is a traditional dish inJamaica and is considered an aphrodisiac.Chinese and Korean eat them too to increase theirown manliness. Chinese at the 2008 SummerOlympics munched on deer penises all the time.It reminds me of certain tribes in Africa which,several hundred years ago, used to eat parts ofChristian missionaries in order to imbibe their"goodness".

There is no medical evidence that eatingpenises has any health benefit but they arefrozen,dried and sold as Pizzles in the US andeaten in diets that promote low cholesterol andhigh protein, minerals and hormones.

In China, the country that gave the world theCorona virus because of its filthy eating habits,there are restaurants that specialise in animalpenises and testicles. A restaurant called Guolizzhuang, started in 1956,states that eating the penis from the head goat of a Mongolian herd will makewomen more beautiful and men more vigorous. It advertises the genitals of"horses, oxen,chicken, donkeys,dogs, deer, goats, sheep, and snakes."

The dishes are given poetic names such as "The Essence of the GoldenBuddha," "Phoenix Rising," "Jasmine Flowers with 1,000 Layers," "Look forthe Treasure in the Desert Sand," "Head crowned with a Jade Bracelet," and"Dragon in the Flame of Desire."The restaurant also sells stewed deer fae-ces, sheep foetus and peacock claws. They sell a hotpot of all these differentmale genitalia in one dish in order to boost the human libido. After all, whatcould be more energising for a small thin Asian "man" than eat the penisesof every other animal? If you need to celebrate your great manhood, you caneat tiger penises soaked in water with herbs. It is officially banned in Chinaalong with Rhino horns but served openly.

Seal penises are eaten in Canada and the Fur Institute of Canada announcedin 2015 they were going to kill 1,40,000 grey seals to boost the seal penis mar-ket. These penises are also dried and sold as sexual enhancement prod-ucts.They sell a beverage called Dalishen Oral Liquid to Asians, made fromseal penis and testicles.

Cow and pig uteruses are grilled and eaten in Vietnam by pregnantwomen and by everyone in Japan. The Pig Uterus Dish is called Ringeru.In Taiwan, pregnant women eat deer penises which are kept and fermentedin large jars.Chicken ovaries are yellow and full of veins and make excel-lent chewsticks for snacking on in front of the TV.

If you can eat the private parts of animals, you can drink them as well.In Iceland, they sell a beer called Hvalur made from smoking whale testi-cles with sheep dung. Fin whales are an endangered species and it is illegalto kill them. But testicle dungbeer is evidently more essential to the wellbeingof these humans. A beer is made from bull testicles in the US as well. SexOrgan soup made from testicles, scrotum, penis and labiais popular inHongKong. Dick Soups (bull penises) are common in Malaysia.

What a horrible species we are. Even researching and writing this piecehas made me feel sick and disheartened about the future of our planet. But,for a meat eater, it is not such a difficult thing to imagine. After all, if youeat the other parts of a slaughtered animal, its genitalsare no big deal. Andfrom animals the next step would be humans. On the net, there is someonewho has eaten human testicles. This is what he says about the taste, "Thetesticles were hard on the outside and soft and glutinous in the middle,with a fishy or gamey taste."

To join the animal welfare movement contact gandhim@nic.in,www.peopleforanimalsindia.org

Agriculture is the primarysource of livelihood for over60 per cent of the popula-

tion. Farmers here suffer more inmarketing their produces than inraising their crops or harvestingthem season after season. Marketsare not farmer-friendly. Will thenew farm legislationhelpfarmersgeta fair price for their produce?Thisremains to be seen.

Notably, India started facing se-vere shortages of food materialduring World War II. The EssentialCommodities Act (ECA) was en-acted in 1955 to regulate the pro-duction, supply and distribution inorder to make food grains and ce-reals available to consumers at fairprices.The nation went throughsevere droughts in 1965-66, whichled to import food grains. We over-came such grim situations by ush-ering in a Green Revolution underthe guidance of agriculture sci-entist MS Swaminathan. By now,the Indian food and grocery mar-ket is the world’s sixth largest.Thenation produces 298 MT of food-grains. India also has the largest live-stock population –some 31 per centof the world total.

While farming plays a vital rolein India’s economy, the irony is

that when there is a glut in pro-duction of vegetables and crops,there is a shortage of the same inthe market. Prices shoot up due tosevere supply shortages. Profiteersand black-marketers take advantageof the government’s failure to in-tervene. Farmers switch to newcrops due to hardships, uncer-tainties of pestilence and low yields.Bio-engineered seed varieties aresusceptible to virus attacks.Indifferent weather conditionsspoil their Rabi crops; but rain isgood for Kharif crops.

India has the largest populationof hungry people in the world evenas there is abundant food produc-tion. India is among the 15 lead-ing exporters of agricultural prod-ucts. But there is a flipside to thisgreat Indian agriculture story. Foodgrains are rotting in the ware-house. It’s timeto accord priority toaddressing the causes of food stor-age and problems in distribution.It’sa huge paradox that Indian farm-ers are poor in a food-rich India.

The local administrations tryto control or keep low the foodprices to satisfy the urban popu-lation at the cost of farmers’in-terests. In the name of subsidies forfertilizers and free power, the gov-

ernments help well-off farmers in-stead of the ordinary ones whoform some 80 per cent of the farm-ing community. As MahatmaGandhi said, India lives in its vil-lages.All- weather roads still donot connect rural habitations withcities. Lack of cold storages andtransport facility, inadequate post-harvest safeguards, bias in pro-curement policy and inadequatefood processing avenues have all re-sulted in huge waste of food.

TheAgricultural bills2020 pro-mote intra/inter-state trade offarmers’ produce beyond the phys-ical premises of APMC (agriculturalproduce market committee)andMSP (minimum support price) an-dalso facilitateelectronic tradinge-NAM (The Electronic NationalAgriculture Market). E-NAM waslaunched to create a unified na-tional market for agricultural com-modities by networking with the ex-isting APMCs. It has 16.6millionfarmers and131,000 traders regis-tered on its platform whereinsome1,000 mandis are already linked.The state governments are pro-hibited from levying any fee onfarmers, traders, and e-tradingplatforms.

The bills empower farmers to

protect contract farming under athree-level dispute settlement mech-anism. The new law stipulates thatstock limit on agricultural pro-duce must be linked to prices.Essential Commodities(Amendment) Act now allows reg-ulating the supply of certain fooditems only under extraordinarycircumstances. The governmentalso allowed 100 per cent FDI inmarketing for food products on E-commerce platforms. The govern-ment saysthe reforms will helpfarmers get connected to big tradersand exporters, thereby bringingthem more of profits. Anotherpromise is that the new law will ridfarmers and the farm sector ofmiddlemen and other bottlenecks.Yet, farmers have their apprehen-sions as to what fate awaited them.

Farmers in Punjab and Haryanaare up in arms against the law, say-ing this would hit the functioningof APMC. Ironically, middlemen-run the show by buying farmers’ pro-duce in mandis/local bazar at priceseven below the MSP, and take highcommission. Poor farmers have nochoice. Investment in agriculturalinfrastructure such as warehousesand cold storagesis likely to im-prove the lot of Indian farmers.

Paradox of poor farmers in food-rich India

CAUGHT ON WRONG FOOTC

hina's foreign ministerWang Yi recently declaredthat aggression and ex-pansionism have never

been in the Chinese nation's"genes." It is almost astonishing thathe managed to say it with a straightface.Aggression and expansion-ism obviously are not genetictraits, but they have definedPresident Xi Jinping's tenure.

Xi, who in some ways has takenup the expansionist mantle of MaoZedong, is attempting to imple-ment a modern version of the trib-utary system that Chinese em-perors used to establish authorityover vassal states: submit to the em-peror, and reap the benefits ofpeace and trade with the em-pire.For Xi, the Covid-19 pandemic– which has preoccupied the world'sgovernments for months – seemedlike an ideal opportunity to makequick progress on his agenda. So,in April and May, he directed thePeople's Liberation Army (PLA) tolaunch furtive incursions into theicy borderlands of India's Ladakhregion, where it proceeded to es-tablish heavily for tified encampments.

It wasn't nearly as clever a planas Xi probably thought. Far fromentrenching China's regional pre-eminence, it has intensified thepushback by Indo-Pacific powers,which have deepened their secu-rity cooperation. This includesChina's most powerful competi-tor, the United States, thereby es-calating a bilateral strategic con-frontation that has technological,economic, diplomatic, and mili-tary dimensions. The spectre of in-ternational isolation and supply dis-ruptions now looms over China,spurring Xi to announce plans tohoard mammoth quantities ofmineral resources and agricul-tural products.

But Xi's real miscalculation onthe Himalayan border was vis-à-vis India, which has now aban-doned its appeasement policy to-ward China. Not surprisingly,China remains committed to thePLA's incursions, which it con-tinues to portray as defensive ac-tions. Late last month, Xi told sen-ior officials to "solidify border

defences" and "ensure frontier se-curity" in the Himalayan region.

India, however, is ready to fight.In June, after the PLA ambushedand killed Indian soldiers pa-trolling Ladakh'sGalwan Valley,a hand-to-hand confrontation ledto the deaths of numerous Chinesetroops – the first PLA troops killedin action outside United Nationspeacekeeping operations in overfour decades. Xi was so embar-rassed by this outcome that,whereas India honored its 20 fallenas martyrs, China refuses to statethe precise death toll.

The truth is that, without the el-ement of surprise, China is notequipped to dominate India in amilitary confrontation. And Indiais making sure that it will not becaught off guard again. It has nowmatched Chinese military de-ployments along the Himalayanfrontier and activated its entirelogistics network to transport thesupplies needed to sustain thetroops and equipment throughthe coming harsh winter.

In another blow to China, Indianspecial forces recently occupiedstrategic mountain positions over-looking key Chinese deploymentson the southern side of PangongLake. Unlike the PLA, whichprefers to encroach on undefendedborder areas, Indian forces car-ried out their operations rightunder China's nose, in the midstof a major PLA buildup.

If that were not humiliatingenough for China, India eagerlynoted that the Special FrontierForce (SFF) that spearheaded theoperation comprises Tibetanrefugees. The Tibetan soldier whowas killed by a landmine in the op-eration was honoured with a well-attended military funeral.

India's message was clear:China's claims to Tibet, whichseparated India and China untilMao Zedong's regime annexed itin 1951, are not nearly as strong asit pretends they are. Tibetans viewChina as a brutally repressive oc-cupying power, and those eagerto fight the occupiers flocked to theSFF, established after Mao's 1962war with India.Here's the rub:China's claims to India's vastHimalayan borderlands are basedon their alleged historical links toTibet. If China is merely occupy-ing Tibet, how can it claim sov-ereignty over those borderlands?

In any case, Xi's latest effort togain control of territories thataren't China's to take has provenfar more difficult to complete thanit was to launch. As China's ac-tions in the South China Seademonstrate, Xi prefers asym-metrical or hybrid warfare, whichcombines conventional and ir-regular tactics with psychologi-cal and media manipulation, dis-information, law-fare, and coercivediplomacy.

But while Xi managed to change

the South China Sea's geopoliticalmap without firing a shot, it seemsclear that this will not work onChina's Himalayan border. Instead,Xi's approach has placed the Sino-Indian relationship – crucial toregional stability – on a knife’sedge. Xi wants neither to backdown nor to wage an open war,which is unlikely to yield the de-cisive victory he needs to restorehis reputation after the border de-bacle.

China might have the world'slargest active-duty military force,but India's is also massive. Moreimportant, India's battle-hardenedforces have experience in low-in-tensity conflicts at high altitudes;the PLA, by contrast, has had nocombat experience since its dis-astrous 1979 invasion of Vietnam.Given this, a Sino-Indian war in theHimalayas would probably end ina stalemate, with both sides suf-fering heavy losses.

Xi seems to be hoping that he cansimply wear India down. At a timewhen the Indian economy has reg-istered its worst-ever contractiondue to the still-escalating Covid-19crisis, Xi has forced India to divertan increasing share of resourcesto national defence. Meanwhile,ceasefire violations by Pakistan,China's close ally, have increasedto a record high, raising the spec-tre of a two-front war for India. Assome Chinese military analystshave suggested, Xi could useAmerica's preoccupation with itscoming presidential election tocarry out a quick, localized strikeagainst India without seeking tostart a war.

It seems less likely that India willwilt under Chinese pressure thanthat Xi will leave behind a legacyof costly blunders. With hisHimalayan misadventure, he hasprovoked a powerful adversaryand boxed himself into a corner.

The writer is Professor ofStrategic Studies at the New

Delhi-based Center for PolicyResearch and Fellow at the

Robert Bosch Academy in Berlin.

©PROJECT SYNDICATE

LOL

FOCUS

SPECTRUM

Horrible species we are

ROBBERY

After robbing a bank,the robberasks the clerk: “Did you see me

robbing?”Clerk: “Yes I saw you.”

The robber killshim and asks the next

staff: “Did you see merobbing?”The second Clerk: “No, but I guess mywife saw you!”

THURSDAY | SEPTEMBER 24 | 2020 | BHUBANESWAR

Watch the too indignantlyrighteous. Before long you willfind them committing orcondoning the very offence whichthey have so fiercely censured.

SRI AUROBINDO

AGRICULTURE

THE SPECTRE OFINTERNATIONALISOLATION AND

SUPPLY DISRUPTIONSNOW LOOMSOVER CHINA,

SPURRING XI TOANNOUNCE

PLANS TOHOARD

MAMMOTHQUANTITIES OF

MINERALRESOURCES AND

AGRICULTURALPRODUCTS

Brahma Chellaney

ASIA

Readers of Orissa POSTare most welcome to contribute letters(200 words), articles andcolumns (between 750-1250words). Contributors arerequested to send theircontact numbers and fullpostal address/email ID. They may alsosend in their valuable comments, opinionand suggestions, preferably by email, to: edit@orissapost.com

B-15, Rasulgarh Industrial Estate,Bhubaneswar-751010

LettersTO THE EDITOR

INVESTMENT INAGRICULTURAL

INFRASTRUCTURESUCH AS

WAREHOUSES ANDCOLD STORAGES IS

LIKELY TOIMPROVE THE LOT

OF INDIAN FARMERS

Kamal Baruah

Puja, water pollution

Sir, On the occasion of Vishwakarma Puja, all ma-chinery and vehicles are cleaned and washed at dif-ferent water bodies. Thousands of trucks plying inJoda mining areas in Keonjharwere washed in Karo,a tributary of River Baitarani. Due to this,the riverwater was severely polluted with diesel, grease andother materials. The water of the river turned oilyand greasy and,while flowing down, it got mixedwith the waters of Baitarani. The water then turnedunfit for consumption. This situation continued fora few days. As per the Water(Prevention and Controlof Pollution )Act 1974, it is the duty of the PollutionControl Board to maintain the good quality of all ourwater bodies. Yet, a similar scenario persisted for daysall over the state. This caused a serious environ-mental problem. The pollution control board shouldimpose heavy penalties against the errant.

Sudhansu SekharDhada. Jagamara,KHANDAGIRI

Potato prices

Sir, Odisha produces less than half ofits potato requirement. We are de-pendent on West Bengal for its sup-ply.This results in high price for the com-modity from September to Novemberevery year. While the price of potato inFebruary here was as low as six toeight rupees a kilo, it shot up to `30from September. The state governmenttakes some actions every year to in-crease the potato production, but tolittle effect. Worse, Odisha farmers arenot benefited by this price rise. Problemis, the state does not have sufficientcold storage facility for farm produces.Others take full advantage, and thepeople are at the receiving end.

Gopal Mittal,Pagal, BHUBANESWAR

Farm bills, protests

Sir, In the past few days, the nation wit-nessed unprecedented bedlam in theRajyaSabha when discussionson the farmreform bills were on. We are accustomedto see such unruly behavior among the MPsand MLAs, but this is against the spiritsof democracy and theConstitution.Stalwarts of the past con-ducted themselves in impressive ways inParliament. Debates and discussionsare amust before any bill is passed into law.The bills should not be rushed through. Theyshould be referred to the Select Committeefor modifications if need be.The issuesthe Opposition raised over the farm billsare serious. A Union minister has resignedin protest against some provisions of thenew law. Consensus is the way forward.

Ramdas Ray, BHUBANESWAR

cmyk

cmyk

Tracklements

This is a real word, a delightful one. It’s not obsolete, but it’s not widelyknown; it is used almost exclusively in Britain, and not especially

often there. It refers to any kind of savoury condiment served with meat,such as rowan jelly. Someone said he first learned of the word when hebought a pot of mustard many years ago from the Tracklement Company,and in databases the word turns up most often in that firm’s name. Evenamong cookery writers it seems to be an occasional relish to enlivenprose. A rare sighting came from the Independent newspaper in February1999: “In the best of Kosher kitchens, another delicious relish made frombeetroot and horseradish (known as chrain) is the traditional tracklementto both boiled tongue and beef”. The English cookery writer DorothyHartley claimed to have invented the word, which she used for the firsttime in her book Food in England in 1954. She said that she had borrowedit from an English dialect word meaning “appurtenances, impedimenta”.The problem for those tracking down its antecedents is that the dialectword concerned is not easy to identify unambiguously.

If you eat the otherparts of a slaughtered

animal, its genitals are no big

deal. And from animals, the next

step would be humans

Maneka Gandhi

AGENCIES

Mumbai, Sept 23: Heavy rainslashed Mumbai over night, leaving many parts of the metrop-olis in waist deep water and disrupting rail and road trafficWednesday, officials said.

The Santacruz observatoryrecorded 286.4 mm rainfall duringthe 24-hour period ending at 8.30 amWednesday, making it the fourthhighest rainfall in Mumbai since1974, an IMD official said.

At the municipal Nair Hospitalin central Mumbai, the COVID-19

outpatient department (OPD) setup in a temporary shed in the compound was shifted to the ca-sualty ward inside the building dueto waterlogging in the compound,they said. A doctor from the hospital said the normal OPD atthe hospital has been suspendedtemporarily and only emergencycases are being examined at thecasualty ward.

Two watchmen died in Agripadaarea after getting stuck inside a liftin the basement of a high rise build-ing because of waterlogging, a po-lice official said.

There was also waterlogging inseveral areas in the

suburbs like Goregaon, Maladand Dahisar, he said. "Around 6inches high water logging at AndheriSubway.

However traffic has been re-sumed and police personnel fromDN Nagar Police Station are on thespot to ensure convenient

commute for Mumbaikars,"Mumbai Police tweeted. Rainsacross the island city and the west-ern suburbs picked up late Tuesdayevening. There were intense spellsacross Mumbai overnight, a civic

official said. On Wednesday morn-ing, public transport services werehit and normal life affected in thefinancial capital due to heavy down-pour and waterlogging.

Several streets and low-lyingareas were waterlogged due toovernight rains and the road traf-fic was also badly hit, a civic offi-cial said. Some vehicles broke downin the water, affecting the trafficmovement, he added.

Mumbai's municipal commis-sioner Iqbal Singh Chahal has askedthat all offices and establishments inthe city, barring essential services,be shut on Wednesday due to thedownpour and IMD's forecast of"heavy to very heavy rains" in the city.

A Brihanmumbai MunicipalCorporation (BMC) release saidChahal has also appealedMumbaikars not to step out of theirhomes, unless it is an emergency.Suburban train services of CentralRailway and Western Railway weresuspended but resumed later asthe intensity of the downpourwaned. Railways also cancelled orrescheduled many long-distancetrains following the heavy rains.

There was waterlogging in Sion-Kurla and Chunabhatti- Kurla sec-tions and traffic was suspended onCSMT-Thane and CSMT-Vashi sec-tions for safety reasons, a CR offi-cial said.

Suburban trains, considered thelifeline of Mumbai, are being op-erated for essential services em-ployees due to COVID-19 outbreakand common citizens are not au-thorised to travel in them as of now.

cmyk

cmyk

UTTAR PRADESHTHURSDAY | SEPTEMBER 24 | 2020 | BHUBANESWAR

P7MAHARASHTRA

Torrential rains paralyse MumbaiAFTER HEAVY OVERNIGHT RAIN, TWO SECURITY GUARDS, STUCK IN

A FLOODED LIFT OF A BUILDING IN MUMBAI DIED

People wade through a waterlogged street in Mumbai’s Parel area after heavy Monsoon rain PTI

DIVINE PATH

Devotees carry metal pots filled with holy water after taking a dip in Ganga river at Padilla Mahadev temple, during the Manmas month, amid the coronaviruspandemic, in Prayagraj PTI PHOTO

AGENCIES

Ag ra, Se pt 23 : Amid the announcement by Uttar PradeshChief Minister Yogi Adityanath toset up the biggest film city in Indiain Greater Noida, that will have aripple effect on the adjoining Brajmandal, the grim reality of Covid-19 infection spreading its tentaclesin the region, has subdued the euphoria.

The local organisations of theartists, writers and culture-agents,including Mathura MP actor HemaMalini, have welcomed Yogi's an-nouncement to set up a huge filmcity in the western part of the state.This will definitely be a big boostfor promotion of local culture andopen gates for employment to thelocal youth, said Surendra Sharma,president of the Braj MandalHeritage Conservation Society.

The Agra Mayor Navin Jain haswritten a letter to the Chief Ministerto congratulate him and also sug-

gest that a mini film city shouldalso be opened in Agra.

However, the health scene re-mains grim. As daily testing hasgone up in the past month, the num-ber of people testing positive has alsoshown an upward trend. In the past24 hours, Agra reported 127 freshcases and one death. The tally nowis 5,125, the number of discharged

after recovery is 4,048. The num-ber of active cases is 958, cure rate78.99 per cent, case fatality rate 2.32per cent, sample positivity rate 2.99per cent.

The overall picture remains dis-mal, particularly as the medical in-frastructure is showing signs ofstrain. The 45 public health cen-tres have proven inadequate and

unequal to the challenge that isnow emerging. The S N MedicalCollege is under pressure to increase the number of ICU bedsfrom 160 (all full) to at least 180.Health officials said the work hasalready begun.

District Magistrate PNSingh assured there were enough beds inthe district hospital and the supplieshad improved. A private hospital wasbeing roped in to broadbase servicesin case of need.

The district health officials havebeen holding camps to sensitive peo-ple to follow the guidelines and staysafe. The psychological effect of thereopening of the Taj Mahal and theFort, has been helpful and peopleare slowly coming out of their shellswith precautions. The expectationsare that from the first week of October,more people would start arrivingfrom trains and flights to Agra.

But the health experts also warnthat the winter would only aggra-vate the depressing health scenario.

Retired Lt. Col (Dr) Rajesh Chauhantold IANS: "That would be the timefor people to be extremely carefulas the cold conditions could bringflu back in deadly combinationwith Covid-19." Chauhan sees littlelight at the end of the tunnel, till vac-cine with proven efficacy and med-icines become available.

Film city euphoria fails to bring cheer to nCoV-hit Agra regionS’PORE OFFER

ASingapore-based mediacompany has offered an

initial investment of $10 million(approximately `73.51 crore) forsetting up a film academy in theproposed film city in UttarPradesh. The offer came duringan interaction of Chief MinisterYogi Adityanath with a bevy offilmmakers and artists Tuesdayover the new film city projectthat would come up in a 1,000-acre area along YamunaExpressway near Noida, anofficial statement said

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

Lucknow, Sept 23: Webley & Scott(W&S), the iconic British firearmsmanufacturing company, will startblazing its guns in Uttar Pradesh fromNovember when its new unit inHardoi district becomes functional.

The handgun manufacturinggiant has joined hands withLucknow-based Sial ManufacturersPvt. Ltd. for the project and willbegin operations with the pro-duction of revolvers. The new unitwill manufacture its .32 revolver inthe first phase.

Joginder Pal Singh Sial of SialManufacturers, the all-India dis-tributor of W&S products, said,"The government's support andthe Centre's 'Make in India' policyhelped the project take final shape."

He further said, "The cost of the.32 revolver will be`1.6 lakh. We willgive stiff competition to the armsmanufactured by ordnance facto-ries. People will now get world-class weapons at their doorsteps."

According to the government

spokesman, John Bright, the co-owner of Webley & Scott has saidthat they would later manufacturepistols, airguns, shotgun and am-munition as well.

"We decided to invest in India andin the state of Uttar Pradesh keep-ing in view the vast market po-

tential. The idea to expand ourbusiness got shape after discus-sions with the Sial family in 2018.We entered a new joint venture forthe manufacture of firearms andairguns in India for the Indian do-mestic market. We got the licenceto manufacture firearms in Indiain 2019," said Bright in a statement.

He said the original design ofthe Mark IV .32 pistol of 1899 wouldbe used to cater to the Indian mar-ket in the first phase.

Webley & Scott, which armedthe Allied forces during the twoWorld Wars and produced weaponsfor at least 15 countries, will nowmark its presence in the Indiansubcontinent with the new unit inSandila (Hardoi), barely 30 kmfrom Lucknow.

AGENCIES

Thane, Sept 23: The death toll inthe Bhiwandi building collapse inMaharashtra rose to 39 Wednesday,with the recovery of 14 more bodies overnight, police said.

The dead include 18 children inthe age group of two to 15, includ-ing three toddlers, an official said.Twenty five persons have beenpulled out of the debris alive so farand are being treated at hospitalsin Bhiwandi and Thane, he said.

The search operation continuedthroughout the night despite heavyrains, the official said.

The bodies recovered from the de-bris were mutilated and highly de-composed as they had remainedthere for over 50 hours, he said.

The 43-year-old Jilani buildingcollapsed at 3.40 am Monday. Two

civic officials have been suspendedin connection with the collapseand an offence has been registeredagainst the building owner, the of-ficial said.

The building in the powerloomtown - which is around 10 km fromThane - had 40 flats and around150 persons lived there, the offi-cial said.

The building, located at Narpoli'sPatel Compound near DhamankarNaka, collapsed while the residentswere asleep. Teams of the NationalDisaster Response Force (NDRF)and personnel of the Thane DisasterResponse Force (TDRF) are still atthe spot as the search operationcontinues, he said.

The building was not in the listof dilapidated structures of theBhiwandi-Nizampur MunicipalCorporation, he said.

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

Lucknow, Sept 23: The iconicCoffee House in Lucknow, whoseclientele includes litterateur, politicians, playwrights and thecreme de la creme of the UttarPradesh capital, has tweaked itsmenu to suit Covid times.

Apart from the filter coffee -- itsmenu still does not include the likesof Cappuccino, Dalgone or Frappe-- however, the Coffee House hasnow included the immunity boost-ing 'kadha' in its beverage list.

"We have done this keeping inmind the health and well-being ofour customers most of whom aresenior citizens," Aruna Singh, sec-retary of the Indian Coffee Housesaid. She said that the 'kadha' com-prises medicinal herbs, includingcinnamon, giloy leaves, cloves, car-damom, mulethi (liquorice root),

tulsi leaves, and black pepper. Theimmunity boosting drink has beenpriced at`25 per cup (large) and`15per cup (small).

"Ever since we reopened coffeehouse in June, our customers havebeen mainly those who have re-sumed office and come here for abreak. While they prefer coffee andother items, we thought we shouldalso include the basic immunitydrink of any Indian household asit has become the need of the hour,"she said. Most of the customershave welcomed the change in themenu of the Coffee House.

"For years, the Coffee House hasresisted change -- whether it is inthe ambience or the furniture or themenu -- and we are happy that it isnow changing with the times. Wehope they bring some more changesin the coming days," said AshwinLal, a young executive.

BHIWANDI BUILDING COLLAPSE

Death toll rises to39, rescue ops on

INDO-ASIAN NEWS

Badaun (Uttar Pradesh), Sept23: In a shocking incident, a Dalitfarmer was beheaded in UttarPradesh because he refused toshare water for irrigation withanother farmer. The police have ar-rested the accused.

The incident took place inBadaun's Din Nagar Sheikhpurvillage where Nathu Lal Jatavwas watering his field late Monday.

Another farmer, Roop Kishore,asked Jatav to divert water to hisfield but Jatav refused, saying thathis field needed more water. Jatavwas then beaten up and beheadedby the angry farmer.

Some locals tried to intervene,but fled when Roop Kishore at-tacked Jatav with a spade. The 56-year-old farmer is reported to haveslumped to his death.

Jatav's son, Ompal, told re-porters that he and his father hadbeen working in the field till latein the night.

"My father told me to go homeand keep dinner for him. When he did not return home till theearly hours of the morning, I went to the field. On the way, oneof the locals told me that RoopKishore had killed my father. Ireached the spot and saw my fa-ther's beheaded body lying there,"Ompal said.

Ompal further said that RoopKishore alone could not have com-mitted the crime and there werea few others with him.

Superintendent of Police (SP)Siddharth Verma said that an FIRhas been lodged against RoopKishore on the basis of Ompal'scomplaint.

Dalit farmerbeheaded for not sharing water

Webley & Scott guns to

be manufactured in UPTHIS WILL BE THE FIRST FOREIGN COMPANY

TO MANUFACTURE FIREARMS IN INDIA

Iconic Coffee Housetweaks menu toinclude ‘Kadha’

MOST OF THE CUSTOMERS HAVE WELCOMEDTHE CHANGE IN THE MENU

The company isfamous for providingfirearms to severalcountries during two World Wars

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Mumbai, Sept 23: The civic-runKing Edward Memorial (KEM)Hospital in Mumbai today beganphase II and III trials of the OxfordCovishield vaccine for COVID-19, anofficial said.

The hospital, located in Parelarea, Tuesday got the approval ofthe Maharashtra ethics committee for conducting the vac-cine trials.

King Edward Memorial HospitalDean Dr Hemant Deshmukh told

news agency Press Trust of Indiathat the hospital has started screen-ing volunteers for the trials. Themedical facility will be conduct-ing the trials on 100 volunteers, hesaid. The Mumbai-based BYL NairHospital, another facility run bythe Brihanmumbai MunicipalCorporation, has also received ap-proval for conducting trials of thevaccine.

Both the King Edward MemorialHospital and BYL Nair Hospitalwill be conducting the trials col-lectively on over 200 volunteers,

sources told news agency PTI. Aspart of the trials, volunteers whoare found negative for coronavirusin both RT-PCR and antigen testswill be given the vaccine, they said.

Trials of the Oxford vaccine can-didate are being conducted in Puneas well.

The Pune-based Serum Instituteof India (SII) has partnered withBritish-Swedish pharma companyAstraZeneca for manufacturingthe COVID-19 vaccine candidate,being developed by the Universityof Oxford, UK.

Two Mumbai hosps begin phase 2, 3 trials of Covishield vaccine

P8

nationalTHURSDAY | SEPTEMBER 24 | 2020 | BHUBANESWAR

Very fewentrepreneurshave utilised

the services ofMahila E-haat portalas only 321 womenare registered under it

SMRITI IRANI | WCD MINISTER

of theday uote

The recentarchaeologicalexcavations in

Keezhadi and otherparts of Tamil Nadureveal that theworld reputedSangam era can now be dated backto as early as 6th century BCE. Thisplaces Tamil culture and languageas one of the oldest survivingheritages in the world

K. PALANISWAMI | TN CM

An ex-servicemanfrom Jalgaon

district ofMaharashtra, whowas allegedlybeaten up by a BJPMP and his supporters, has beenreceiving threat calls

ANIL DESHMUKH | MAHARASHTRA HOME

MINISTER

Although Parliament is called thetemple of democracy, its dignity

has been shredded many times. Evenduring the ongoing Parliament session, thefunctioning of the government and thebehaviour of Opposition in the House isembarrassing for the dignity ofParliament, Constitution and democracyMAYAWATI | BSP SUPREMO

Prime Minister Narendra Modi willinaugurate the strategic Atal Tunnel, earlierknown as the Rohtang tunnel, October 3 inKullu district, ahead of which HimachalPradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakurreviewed the preparations Wednesday

ATAL TUNNEL INAUGURATION OCT 3

4 BJP leaders join TrinamoolKolkata (WB): Four BJPleaders from West Bengal’sKharagpur, along withhundreds of their supporters,joined the TrinamoolCongress Wednesday, givingthe ruling party in the state afillip in the industrial regionahead of the assemblyelections due in April-Maynext year. BJP leadersSailendra Singh, AjoyChatterjee, Rajdip Guha andSajal Roy joined the TMC inthe presence of Minister ofState for Health and FamilyWelfare, ChandrimaBhattacharya, at the party'sheadquarters here.

Manish Sisodia hospitalised New Delhi: Delhi's DeputyChief Minister ManishSisodia was hospitalisedWednesday due tocoronavirus infection,sources said. The 48-year-oldAam Aadmi Party leader wasadmitted to the state-runLNJP Hospital here at around4 PM following complaints oflow oxygen levels and fever.He has been kept underobservation, they said. Hehad tested positive for theinfection on September 14and was in home isolation.Sisodia was unable to attendthe one-day assemblysession on September 14since he had tested positive.

Ex-VC bookedNew Delhi: The CBI hasregistered an FIR againstformer Visva BharatiUniversity vice-chancellorSushanta Duttagupta foralleged corrupt activitiesduring his tenure at thehistoric university, officialssaid Wednesday. The actioncomes after a two-year-longpreliminary enquiry (PE) intothe allegations levelledagainst him during 2012 and2013. It is alleged that duringhis tenure as the VC he hidthe fact that he was alsogetting pension from theJawaharlal Nehru University,thus receiving excesspayment of over `13 lakh, theofficials said.

Youth arrestedNew Delhi: A married youthhas been arrested on thecharge of firing outside hisalleged lover's house insouth-east Delhi, police saidWednesday. Police saidaccused Sumit Tomar was ina relationship with a youngwoman for the past 10 years.She, however, began ignoringhim after his marriage. LateSunday night, Sumit Tomar, aresident of Aali Vihar, went toher house and fired severalshots from a countrymadepistol he bought fromShamsabad in Agra.

SHORT TAKES

yy

cmyk

cmyk

NO COERCIVE ACTIONAGAINST FB VP: SC

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Sept 23: The SupremeCourt Wednesday directed a DelhiLegislative Assembly panel not totake coercive action againstFacebook India VP and MD AjitMohan till October 15 in connectionwith a summon asking him to de-pose before it with regard to northeast Delhi riots.

Delhi Assembly's peace and har-mony committee had issued a no-tice to Facebook India vice presidentand managing director in connec-tion with complaints accusing thesocial media giant of deliberatelynot taking action to curb hateful con-tent on its platform.

A bench of Justices SanjayKishan Kaul, Aniruddha Bose andKrishna Murari issued notices tothe secretary of the LegislativeAssembly, the ministries of Law andJustice, Home Affairs, Electronicsand IT, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha,represented by the SecretaryGeneral, and Delhi Police, askingthem to respond to the plea.

“Counter affidavit be filed withinone week. Rejoinder affidavit befiled within one week thereafter,”the bench said. It orally observedthat "no coercive action shall betaken against the petitioner tillOctober 15."

The apex court noted that the

only purpose of serving notice toLok Sabha and Rajya Sabha is be-cause in the perception of the pe-titioner's lawyer there may be someinterplay of the powers of the DelhiAssembly and the Secretariats inquestion. The apex court's ordercame on the plea filed by Mohan,Facebook India Online ServicesPvt. Ltd and Facebook, Inc, whichcontended that the committee lacksthe power to summon or hold pe-titioners in breach of its privilegesfor failing to appear and it was ex-ceeding its constitutional limits.

They challenged the September10 and 18 notices issued by the com-mittee that sought Mohan''s pres-ence before the panel which is prob-ing the Delhi riots in February andFB''s role in spread of alleged hatespeeches. Senior advocate HarishSalve, appearing for Mohan, sub-mitted that committee cannot decidethe breach of privilege of the houseand administrative control oversocial media is with the Centralgovernment.

“Privilege is something to be de-cided by the Assembly. A commit-tee cannot decide whether action onprivilege can be taken or not," Salvesaid adding that the Delhi govern-ment could not put Mohan "in thepain of punishment" by asking himto appear before the Committee.

The senior advocate submittedthat Mohan has the fundamentalright not to speak under Article19(1)(a) of the Constitution andbeing an employee of a US-basedcompany he does not want to com-ment on this "politically sensi-tive issue."

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Sept 23: Stepping upthe offensive against the govern-ment over the passage of farm bills,18 opposition parties Wednesdayurged President Ram Nath Kovindnot to sign the contentious billsand alleged that they were passed"unconstitutionally" in "completedisregard" of parliamentary norms.

In a meeting with the Presidenton behalf of these 18 non-NDA par-ties, Leader of Opposition in RajyaSabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said hehas requested the President to re-turn the bills, and only give his as-sent after they have been passedafter following proper rules andprocedures.

Narrating the manner in whichthe two farm bills were passed in

Rajya Sabha on Sunday, Azad toldthe President that the bills werepushed through the House with-out taking up the five resolutionsmoved by the opposition MPs andtwo separate motions demanding thereference of the agriculture mar-keting related bills to a select or

standing committee of Parliament. "The President gave me a patient

hearing and said he would lookinto the issue," Azad told reportersafter the meeting. The 18 oppositionparties have already submitted amemorandum to the President onMonday.

The opposition parties have boy-cotted Parliament proceedingsagainst alleged violation of proce-dures by the government whilepassing the farm bills. It has laiddown three specific conditions to endthe boycott --the government shouldbring bills to ensure that no pri-vate player buys foodgrains fromfarmers below the minimum sup-port price, and the Central and stategovernments should ensure pro-curement above the MSP. They havealso sought fixing of MSP as per rec-ommendations of the Swaminathanreport.

Among the parties opposing thebills are --Congress, CPI-M, CPI,TMC, NCP, Samajwadi Party, ShivSena, RJD, DMK, TRS, AAP, IUML,Kerala Congress (M) and LoktantrikJanata Dal.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Srinagar, Sept 23: Iltija Mufti, thedaughter of former Jammu andKashmir Chief Minister MehboobaMufti, has approached the SupremeCourt seeking to modify her pe-tition challenging the detention ofher mother under the stringentPublic Safety Act (PSA).

Mehbooba, the president ofPeoples Democratic Party (PDP),was arrested on the eve of the ab-rogation of Jammu and Kashmir'sspecial status and its bifurcationinto Union Territories on August5 last year. In her application be-fore the Supreme Court, Iltija saidit has been filed praying for per-mission to amend the writ petitionseeking inter alia a writ of habeascorpus.

"The amendment sought is to in-clude grounds of challenge and ad-ditional prayers for challenging theorders of confirmation (datedFebruary 26) and subsequent ex-tensions (May 5 and July 31) ofthe detention order (of Mehbooba)impugned in the writ petition,"the application reads. The writpetition has challenged Mehbooba'sdetention on several grounds.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Sept 23: ParliamentWednesday passed a Bill for in-clusion of Kashmiri, Dogri andHindi in the list of official lan-guages in the Union Territory ofJammu and Kashmir, in additionto the existing Urdu and English.

The Jammu and KashmirOfficial Languages Bill, 2020 waspassed by Rajya Sabha throughvoice vote. Lok Sabha had clearedthe legislation Tuesday.

Replying to a debate on theBill, Minister of State for HomeG Kishan Reddy said it was along-standing demand of thepeople of Jammu and Kashmirthat the language they speakshould be included in the list ofofficial languages.

The minister pointed outthat around 74 per cent peoplein the Union Territory spokeKashmiri and Dogri languages.He said that according to 2011census, only 0.16 per cent pop-ulation in Jammu and Kashmirspoke Urdu, while 2.3 per centspoke Hindi.

Participating in the debate on

the Bill, Naresh Gujral (SAD)termed it "unfortunate" thatPunjabi was not included inthe Bill and urged the govern-ment to reconsider it.

The J&K Constitution in-cluded Punjabi and the firstChief Minister of J&K was aPunjabi, he said and added: "Ithurts the feeling of those whoare settled there. I would urgethe government to reconsiderbecause language is the basisof cultural heritage of the com-m u n i t y. " H e s a i d 1 3 l a k hPunjabis live in Jammu andKashmir.

Mir Mohammad Fayaz (PDP)demanded inclusion of Gurjari,Punjabi and Pahari in the Bill,saying that the motto of “SabkaSaath, Sabka Vikas” was lack-i n g i n t h e s t a t e. " I n c l u d ePunjabi, Gurjari and Pahariso that we win the trust ofeveryone in J&K," he said.Ramdas Athawale (RPI) ex-pressed "support to Dogri andKashmiri languages" and inhis poetic style said that a daywill come when PoK will cometo India.

VENTING ANGER

Farmers take part in a protest rally by All India Trinamool Congress in Kolkata against the farm bills passed in Parliament

Don’t sign farm bills: Oppn parties to Prez

Mehbooba’s daughter

moves Supreme Court

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Sept 23: An indige-nously developed laser-guided anti-tank guided missile has been suc-cessfully test fired by the DRDO ata firing range in Maharashtra'sAhmednag ar, of ficials saidWednesday.

The weapon, having a range of upto four km, was test fired from anMBT Arjun Tank at KK Ranges inArmoured Corps Centre and School(ACC&S) in Ahmednagar onTuesday, they said. The laser-guidedanti-tank guided missile (ATGM) islikely to significantly enhance thefire-power capability of the IndianArmy particularly along the fron-tiers with Pakistan and China, the

officials said.Defence Minister Rajnath Singh

congratulated the Defence Researchand Development Organisation(DRDO) on successful test firingof the ATGM."Congratulations to@DRDO_India for successfully con-ducting test firing of Laser GuidedAnti Tank Guided Missile fromMBT Arjun at KK Ranges (ACC&S)in Ahmednagar. India is proud ofTeam DRDO which is assiduouslyworking towards reducing importdependency in the near future," hetweeted.

The officials said the ATGM hitthe targets with total accuracy andprecision. "The missile employs a

tandem heat warhead to defeat ex-plosive reactive armour protectedarmoured vehicles. It has been de-veloped with multiple-platformlaunch capability and is currentlyundergoing technical evaluationtrials from gun of MBT Arjun,"said an official.

The Arjun is a third generationmain battle tank developed by theDRDO. Pune-based ArmamentResearch and DevelopmentEstablishment (ARDE) developedthe ATGM in association with HighEnerg y Materials ResearchLaboratory and InstrumentsResearch and DevelopmentEstablishment (IRDE).

DRDO test fires anti-tank missile

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Srinagar, Sept 23: Dubber Cargo,the headquarters of Jammu andKashmir's elite Special OperationsGroup buzzes with activity as var-ious teams work 24X7 to track ter-rorist activity and plan operations.With each team working on a ded-icated task, the SOG is moving fullsteam ahead with its efforts to hitout at terrorists trying to makeSrinagar their base, said senior of-ficials anxious to recast the imageof the force.

The idea, said Jammu andKashmir Director General of PoliceDilbagh Singh, is to ensure thatCargo becomes a centre of excel-lence rather than a place that evokesfear."I wanted to ensure that Cargo,a name which sent chills down peo-

ple's spines earlier, becomes a cen-tre for excellence and I guess thatdream has been realised now," Singhsaid on Tuesday after congratulat-ing SOG personnel for successfullycompleting an operation. The build-ing -- which once housed IndianAirlines cargo, hence the name, andis usually out of bounds for jour-nalists – carries the tagline of theSOG, also known as Special TaskForce (STF). The sign outside says‘CARGO: In pursuit of excellence'.

"Hum awam ke dost hain (We arepeople friendly),” Singh said withInspector General of Police VijayKumar by his side as the successfulSOG squad saluted him. The SOGcommandos, dressed in black andwearing masks in view of the COVID-19 crisis, have adapted the slogan"How's the Josh" from the Bollywood

film "Uri: The Surgical Strike".This year, the SOG conducted

seven special operations withinSrinagar city limits and eliminated

16 terrorists of various outfits, sig-nificantly higher than previousyears. Singh brushes off questionsabout controversies, including thealleged intimidation of journal-

ists, saying it is not possible inthis day and age with so manyCCTVs present.

"Every one summoned here isshown charges and after hearingtheir side of the story they are es-corted out with full respect. Weare doing our job and that's all. Ithink the SOG is doing a good job,"Singh said.

A Cargo unit , headed bySuperintendent of Police TahirAshraf, is using scientific methodsduring interrogation and has de-ployed dedicated teams for specifiedanti-terror activities, officials said.Among the recent additions is a"command vehicle”, providing a360-degree view of the area wherean operation is taking place so it canprovide complete backup to its menon the ground.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Sept 23: Prime MinisterNarendra Modi Wednesday askedstates to reassess if lockdowns ofone or two days are effective in con-taining COVID-19 and told them topress on with full strength in open-ing economic activities while fight-ing the virus.

In a review meeting with chiefministers and representatives ofseven states with a high numberof cases, Modi said "micro con-tainment zones" should be theway forward as it will curb theinfection spread and also allowactivities to go on.

He asked states to further en-hance their focus on effective test-ing, tracing, treatment, surveil-lance and clear messaging to curbthe pandemic. Noting that most ofthe COVID-19 patients are asymp-tomatic, Modi said an effectivemessaging is all the more impor-tant as rumours often get spreadand the common man wonders ifthe testing is wrong.

Some people even make the mis-take of undermining the seri-ousness of the disease, he said,while pitching for the need for aneffective messaging.

Modi reviewsCovid situation

Parliament passes Jammu andKashmir Official Languages Bill

Inside SOG hqs: From tracking social media to planning ops

The laser-guided anti-tank guided missileis likely to significantlyenhance the fire-powercapability of the IndianArmy particularly along

the frontiers withPakistan and China,

officials said

BIG SUCCESS

Jammu and Kashmir Director General of Police Dilbagh Singh at Dubber Cargo, theheadquarters of Jammu and Kashmir’s elite Special Operations Group PTI PHOTO

WITH EACH TEAM WORKINGON A DEDICATED TASK, THE

SOG IS MOVING FULL STEAMAHEAD WITH ITS EFFORTS TO HITOUT AT TERRORISTS TRYING TOMAKE SRINAGAR THEIR BASE,SAID SENIOR OFFICIALS

ACARGO UNIT, HEADED BYSUPERINTENDENT OF POLICE

TAHIR ASHRAF, IS USINGSCIENTIFIC METHODS DURINGINTERROGATION AND HASDEPLOYED DEDICATED TEAMSFOR SPECIFIED ANTI-TERRORACTIVITIES, OFFICIALS SAID

Delhi Assembly's peaceand harmony committee

had issued a notice toFacebook India vice

president and managingdirector in connection

with complaints accusing the social

media giant of deliberately not takingaction to curb hateful

content on its platform

PTI PHOTO

PTI PHOTO

P9

nationalTHURSDAY | SEPTEMBER 24 | 2020 | BHUBANESWAR

Narendra Modi hasdestroyed the web ofrelationships that theCongress built and nurturedover several decadesRAHUL GANDHI | CONGRESS LEADER

Kerala State AgricultureMinister V. S Sunil KumarWednesday became thethird minister to testpositive for Covid-19

KERALA AGRICULTUREMINISTER COVID+VE

yy

cmyk

cmyk

There is noshortage ofoxygen in

Delhi hospitals. Itook a stock of thesituation. There is aslight issue, butthere is enough oxygen for six toseven days in Delhi government-runhospitals

SATYENDAR JAIN | DELHI HEALTH MINISTER

of theday uote

3,000informationtechnology

professionals, whohave returned to thestate from otherparts of the countrydue to the COVID-19 pandemic,have been given job offers throughthe 'Karmo Bhumi' initiative

AMIT MITRA | WEST BENGAL FINANCE AND IT

MINISTER

These newbills will ruinfarmers

NAVJOT SINGH SIDHU |PUNJAB MLA

Covid-19 patientcommits suicide Shimla: A 54-year-old womanCovid-19 patient allegedlycommitted suicide in thestate-run hospital in theHimachal Pradesh capital onWednesday, the police said.She had tested positive onSeptember 18 and wasundergoing treatment in theDayal Upadhyay Hospital. Shebelonged to Chopal in Shimladistrict. DeputyCommissioner Amit Kashyapsaid the woman committedsuicide by hanging herself inthe balcony outside the Covidward. "A magisterial probehas been ordered into thecircumstances that led her tocommit suicide in thehospital," he said.

Pakistan violatesceasefire againJammu: Pakistan Wednesdaycontinued with itsunprovoked firing andshelling at Indian positions onthe Line of Control (LoC) inJ&K's Poonch district for the5th consecutive day."Pakistan army initiatedunprovoked ceasefireviolation around 9 a.m. todayalong the LoC in Shahpur,Kirni and Qasba sectors ofPoonch district by firing withsmall arms and shelling withmortars. Indian armyretaliates befittingly," ColonelDevender Anand, defenceministry spokesman said.

TN minister’s PA releasedChennai: A PersonalAssistant of Tamil Nadu'sAnimal Husbandry MinisterUdumalai K Radhakrishnanwas allegedly kidnappedWednesday but releasedlater on by his abductors,following which a probe hasbeen launched. Police saidKarnan was abducted atknifepoint by four personsfrom Udumalai in Tiruppurdistrict. After Karnan wasdriven off in a car by hisabductors, police launched aprobe and began vehicle-checking drive. Later, theabductors dropped Karan afew km from his office andsped away. The Tiruppurpolice is questioning Karnanto get clues to the incident.

4 killed in UPBahraich (Uttar Pradesh): Fourpersons were killed and sixinjured on Wednesday whenthe car they were travelling inrammed into a tree on theBahraich-Sitapur road in UttarPradesh, police said.According to the police, thecar was over speeding and hita tree after losing control.Superintendent of Police RuralAshok Kumar said 10 personswere in the car travelling fromHaridwar to Tetra Bazaar inSiddharth Nagar. On theBahraich-Sitapur road, the carlost control and rammed intoa tree. Four persons died whilesix were injured.

SHORT TAKES

Bihar DGP in limelight over SSR case takes VRSINDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

Patna, Sept 23: A day after takingvoluntary retirement, speculation isrife that Bihar’s former DirectorGeneral of Police (DGP) GupteshwarPandey may begin his political in-nings. Though nothing has been fi-nalised yet, Pandey says he will talkto people and plan his journey ahead.

Pandey said that it was not nec-essary to join politics to serve thepeople. Pandey, who is active in so-cial service, said after discussingwith people, he will decide on theroad ahead and then disclose his fu-ture plans.

Speaking to reporters Wednesday,he said he was under pressure fromthe people of many districts inBihar, including Jehanabad,Begusarai, Valmiki Nagar andBagaha to contest the forthcomingassembly elections. Thousands ofsupporters from several places inthe state, were in touch with him,he added.

Pandey came into the limelightfor his vocal comments after thedeath of late Bollywood actorSushant Singh Rajput who was

born in Patna. After the SupremeCourt endorsed the CBI investiga-tion recommended by the Bihargovernment, Pandey had said thatRhea Chakraborty "does not havethe aukat (stature)" to comment onthe Chief Minister.

Following the VRS , Shiv Senaleader Sanjay Raut launched a sharpattack on Pandey, saying he hadbeen carrying out a political agendain the Sushant Singh Rajput in-vestigation while holding the postof DGP Bihar. "IPS or IAS officers

of the country should be fair andmust not be influenced by any po-litical party," Raut had said.

Meanwhile, Pandey has deniedall allegations levelled by Shiv Senaand other political parties. "Peopleare connecting my VRS with in-vestigation of Sushant Singh Rajputand blaming me of taken politicaladvantage of it. I want to say thatthe FIR was registered in Patnasince Sushant's old father couldnot travel to Mumbai. He was notsatisfied with the Mumbai Police in-

vestigation. As DGP Bihar, it wasmy duty to help Sushant's father."

Following a sharp attack by ShivSena over Pandey's retirement, theBJP has defended Pandey's right tojoin politics if he so desires. NikhilAnand, the chief spokesperson ofBJP Bihar unit, said it was bestleft to Pandey. "I don't know why par-ties like Shiv Sena are making ahue and cry over his VRS or join-ing politics. We live in a democ-racy and it is his democratic right.The opinion of BJP or any other po-litical parties is not required,"Anand said.

Pandey has praised Bihar ChiefMinister Nitish Kumar. Respondingto a question he said, "Nitish ji isvery strict in terms of adminis-tration and policing. He does not in-tervene in policing nor does he tol-erate any outside interference in itsfunctioning." Pandey, a 1987 batchIPS officer, took over as Bihar DGPlast year. He was scheduled to retirein February 2021 but he took earlyretirement. Pandey, who has heldthe post of Superintendent of Policein several districts in Bihar, isrenowned for his social work.

ARTISTIC TOUCH

An artist gives finishing touch to an idol of Goddess Durga, ahead of upcoming Durga Puja, at Kumartuli in Kolkata, Wednesday PTI PHOTO

B.Tech studentends lifeINDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

Agra, Sept 23: A 21-year-old B. Techstudent in Agra has allegedly shothimself to death using his father'slicensed revolver. However, no sui-cide note has been recovered.

Shubhankar Sharma was at hishouse in Nehru Nagar area whenhe allegedly took the extreme stepon Tuesday. The 3rd year under-graduate student was pursuingB.Tech electronics from NIT Silchar,Assam and had been at home fol-lowing the Covid-induced lockdown.

According to the police,Shubhankar committed suicideon his terrace after locking thedoor of the staircase from outside.Shubhankar's mother Archanasaid that she was taking a walk, infront of her house, when she heardthe gunshot. She ran towards theterrace and found the door locked.

She took help of her neighbourwho jumped to her terrace andfound Shubhankar lying in a poolof blood. They took him to S.N.Medical College emergency butdoctors declared him brought dead.

Additional SP Saurabh Dixitsaid that the family members saidthat Shubhankar had stoppedgoing out or meeting people. Thefamily did not find anything amisssince the boy was preparing forcompetitive examinations. TheASP said that an FIR has beenregistered and the revolver licenseof the father could be cancelledsince it was not kept safely and wasaccessed by his son.

Saudi bans flightsto and from India INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

New Delhi, Sept 23: Saudi Arabiahas banned flights to and fromIndia from Tuesday amid a surgein coronavirus cases, accordingto an official document.

In a circular issued on Tuesday,Saudi Arabia's General Authorityof Civil Aviation (GACA) said itwas "suspending travel to andfrom the following countries:(India, Brazil and Argentina) in-cluding any person who has beenin any of the mentioned coun-tries above in the last 14 daysprior to their arrival to theKingdom". However, it excluded"passengers who have officialgovernment invitations”.

The GACA circular -- titled:‘Suspension of travel to countrieswhere the COVID-19 virus hasoutbreak' -- was marked to all theairlines and chartered flight com-panies operating at the SaudiArabia's airports. Saudi Arabiaand the UAE host a significantIndian migrant population.

Five days back, Air IndiaExpress had said the Dubai CivilAviation Authority (DCAA) sus-pended its flights for 24 hours forbringing two passengers withCOVID-positive certificates onAugust 28 and September 4. Dubaiis the most populous city of theUnited Arab Emirates (UAE).

Scheduled international pas-senger flights have been suspendedin India since March 23 due to theoutbreak.

Angry boy sets off for Haridwar on bicycleINDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

New Delhi, Sep 23: An 11-year-old boy went on to put Delhi po-lice on its toes when he set offfor Haridwar on his bicycle justbecause his mother scolded him.His parents approached the policeat South Rohini police station,and a case of kidnapping wasregistered Friday night.

What followed was strenuousefforts by Delhi Police to look forthe child at various railway sta-tions and bus stops in the na-tional capital followed by check-ing at various highways and busyroads.

"During the investigation, itwas known that recently the minorchild had asked about trains to Goaand Paharganj railway stationfrom his parents and he had alsotaken out around `5,000 from thepurse of his mother on the day hewent missing. He got scared afterhis mother scolded him. CCTVfootage also revealed that theminor boy had gone alone on his

cycle towards Naharpur," saidPK Mishra, DCP Rohini.

Without wasting time and sens-ing the gravity of the matter, theDCP Rohini formed multiple po-lice teams under the close su-pervision of Inspector SanjayKumar, SHO South Rohini. Whileone team tried to find the boy inthe nearby parks, and roads, andhospitals, another team searchedparking lots of Metro Stations,roads towards Karnal bypass.

"Duty Officers of police sta-tions of New Delhi RailwayStation, Old Delhi Railway Station,

and Hazarat Nizamuddin RailwayStation were informed regard-ing the missing child and his pho-tograph was shared with themon WhatsApp," said the police of-ficer.

Since the boy went missing ataround 8.45 p.m., the police triedto find the boy before he couldcross the Delhi border. "Matchingthe time around when the boywent missing, we made a vagueidea how far the boy could travelon his cycle to close in the search.He left without the mobile phonemaking our job difficult, we werealso worried about his safety onthe road," said another police of-ficer, privy to the search operation.

Finally, at around 4.20 a.m, a po-lice team reached the Singhu bor-der and they spotted the missingchild along with his cycle at a teastall, after crossing the border inHaryana. "He was seeking the di-rection towards Haridwar from thetea vendor. The minor child washanded over to his parents safely,"Mishra said.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Sept 23: India's totaltests for detection of COVID-19 hasreached over 6.6 crore and testsper million have risen to 48,028 ason date with the national cumula-tive positivity rate being recordedat 8.52 per cent, the Union healthministry said Wednesday.

The country's testing capacity hassurged to more than 12 lakh testsdaily. Up to September 22, a total of6,62,79,462 samples have been testedwith 9,53,683 samples being testedon Tuesday.

Fourteen states and UnionTerritories, including Gujarat,Punjab, Uttarakhand, Assam,Haryana and Tripura, have demon-strated better COVID-19 responsewith higher tests per million andcommensurate lower positivityrate than the national average, theministry highlighted.

"A high level of testing leads toearly identification of positivecases. As evidence has revealed,eventually the positivity rate willfall. The national cumulative pos-itivity rate is 8.52 per cent and testsper million stand at 48,028 today,"it said.

A total of 83,347 new infectionshave been reported in 24 hours,the ministry said, underscoringthat 74 per cent of the new cases areconcentrated in 10 states and UnionTerritories -- Maharashtra, AndhraPradesh, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh,Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Delhi, WestBengal and Chhattisgarh.

Maharashtra alone has con-tributed more than 18,000 cases fol-lowed by Andhra Pradesh andKarnataka with over 7,000 and 6,000cases respectively, it said.

Also, 1,085 deaths due to COVID-19 have been registered in a day with

10 states and UTs --Maharashtra,Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, TamilNadu, Punjab, West Bengal, AndhraPradesh, Delhi, Haryana andChhattisgarh -- accounting for 83 percent of the new fatalities.

Maharashtra reported 392 deathsfollowed by Karnataka and UttarPradesh with 83 and 77 deaths re-spectively. India's COVID-19 case-load mounted to 56,46,010 with83,347 infections being reported ina day, while the death toll climbedto 90,020 with 1,085 people suc-cumbing to the disease in 24 hours,the data updated at 8 am onWednesday showed.

India crosses 6.6 cr-markin Covid testing: Govt

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Sept 23: The CBI hasbooked a former Commandant ofthe 36 BSF Battalion and three oth-ers, including an alleged illegalcattle-trade kingpin, over rampantcattle smuggling on the India-Bangladesh border, officials saidWednesday.

The agency also carried outsearches at 15 locations spreadacross Delhi; West Bengal's Kolkata,Siliguri and Murshidabad; UttarPradesh's Ghaziabad, Punjab'sAmritsar and Chhattisgarh's Raipur,they said. The case has been reg-istered against Satish Kumar, aformer Commandant of the 36 BSFBattalion, alleged cattle smugglingkingpin Enamul Haque and twoothers -- Anarul SK and MohammedGolam Mustafa, the officials said.Kumar is now posted in Raipur,they said.

Haque was also arrested inMarch, 2018 by the CBI for allegedlybribing another BSF Commandant,Jibu T Mathew, who was arrested

at the Alappuzha railway station inJanuary 2018 with `47 lakh cash.

The agency started digging intoHaque's alleged illegal activitiesthrough a preliminary enquiry inApril, 2018 to unearth his connec-tions with other government offi-cials who facilitated his nefariousbusiness across the India-Bangladesh border.

During enquiry, it emerged thatcattle smuggling was rampantalong the border and is aided bysome corrupt officers of the BSFand Customs who were receivingillegal gratification from the smug-glers, the officials said.

The Border Security Force (BSF)is tasked with guarding the bor-der with Bangladesh.

Cattle smuggling: CBIbooks ex-BSF officer

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

Patna, Sept 23: Political parties inBihar are busy chalking out strate-gies for the Assembly electionswhich are likely to be held inOctober-November this year thoughthe Election Commission (EC) hasnot yet announced the poll dates.

In many cases, parties which werefriends during the last elections willnow be seen as opponents while foesin the last polls have joined hands.

In the last assembly elections,the BJP and the Janata Dal (United)fought against each other but inthis election they are together in theNDA-fold.

The Lok Janshakti Party (LJP)is likely to remain in the NDA thistime as well but the Rashtriya LokSamata Party (RLSP) which was

with the NDA during the last elec-tions has severed ties with it. FormerUnion Minister UpendraKushwaha's party RLSP is now partof the Opposition Grand Alliance

(Mahagathbandhan) for the forth-coming election.

However, the RLSP and theVikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) aresaid to be upset as the seat-shar-

ing formula in the Grand Alliancehas not yet been decided. Former MPPappu Yadav has also announced tocontest this year's election throughthe Jan Adhikar Party (Loktantrik).Yadav has not yet aligned with anyopposition party.

The BJP is enthused with theJDU coming back to the NDA. Theimportance of the Bihar electionsfor the BJP can be gauged from thefact that its National President J.P.Nadda has already reached Patnaand is busy reviewing preparationsfor the polls.

The Left which contested the lastelections alone is likely to join theGrand Alliance this time. Therehave been several rounds of talksbetween the Left and the RJD on con-testing the elections together. RJDspokesperson Mrityunjay Tiwari

said the Opposition grand allianceshould expand its outreach.Negotiations were on with manyother parties, he added. Asked aboutthe resentment over the seat-shar-ing formula, he said candidateswho could guarantee a win werebeing selected.

The BJP's Bihar unit PresidentSanjay Jaiswal says the NDA hasjumped into the poll fray with fullforce. The BJP-led NDA parties werecontesting on the sole plank of de-velopment. In the last Bihar as-sembly elections, the JDU, the RJDand the Congress had contested to-gether under the Grand Allianceand formed the government with ab-solute majority. Later, however theJDU broke away from the allianceand formed the government in Biharby joining hands with the BJP.

PANDEY, WHO IS ACTIVEIN SOCIAL SERVICE,

SAID AFTER DISCUSSINGWITH PEOPLE, HE WILLDECIDE ON THE ROADAHEAD AND THEN DISCLOSEHIS FUTURE PLANS

HE SAID HE WAS UNDERPRESSURE FROM THE

PEOPLE OF MANYDISTRICTS IN BIHAR TOCONTEST THEFORTHCOMING ASSEMBLYELECTIONS

Fourteen states and Union Territories, including Gujarat,Punjab, Uttarakhand, Assam, Haryana and Tripura, havedemonstrated better COVID-19 response with higher testsper million and commensurate lower positivity rate than

the national average, the ministry highlighted

Changing alliances set tone for Bihar pollsSTRATEGIC PLANNING

P10THURSDAY | SEPTEMBER 24 | 2020 | BHUBANESWAR

internationalWe will strike down terroristswho threaten our citizensand we will keep Americaout of endless, ridiculous,stupid foreign warsDONALD TRUMP | US PRESIDENT

Sri Lankan authorities announcedthat they will offer livestreams fromthe island nation's wildlife parks, ina move to help revive a tourismindustry that has been decimatedby the coronavirus pandemic

LIVESTREAMS OF WILDLIFE

cmyk

cmyk

We must moveforward withhumility -

recognising that amicroscopic virushas brought theworld to its knees

ANTONIO GUTERRES |UN SECRETARY-GENERAL

of theday uote

The Kashmirconflict whichis also key to

the stability andpeace of South Asiais still a burningissue

RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN |TURKEY'S PRESIDENT

As tohealthcare,just like in

economy, we nowneed to remove, asmany as possible,obstacles to partnerrelations

VLADIMIR PUTIN | RUSSIAN PRESIDENT

India, Nepallaunch website Kathmandu: India and Nepalhave launched a websitededicated to provideinformation about the 2015post-earthquakereconstruction projectsfunded by New Delhi in theHimalayan nation'seducation sector, the Indianembassy here said. IndianAmbassador to Nepal VinayM Kwatra and CEO of Nepal'sNational ReconstructionAuthority Sushil Gyewalivirtually launched thewebsite Tuesday.

More Covid-19curbs in MadridMadrid: Health authorities inMadrid may extend to morecommunities the restrictionson movement it imposed onareas of the Spanish capitalwith high coronavirusinfection rates. About 860,000Madrid residents already arerequired to justify trips out of37 neighborhoods, mostlyworking-class areas.

Quake hits SouthShetland IslandsBeijing: An earthquake with amagnitude of 5.4 jolted SouthShetland Islands, the USGeological Survey said. Thejolt was felt Tuesday, theXinhua news agencyreported. The epicenter, witha depth of 10.0 km, wasinitially determined to be at62.4625 degrees southlatitude and 58.191 degreeswest longitude, SouthShetland Islands are locatednorth off the AntarcticPeninsula and covers an areaof nearly 3,700 square km.

SHORT TAKES

NEW TWIST

Malaysian oppn leader Anwar plans new govtASSOCIATED PRESS

Kuala Lumpur, Sept 23: Malaysianopposition leader Anwar Ibrahimsaid Wednesday he has secured a majority in Parliament to form anew government that is “strong,stable and formidable." Anwar said he has been granted an audi-ence with the king Tuesday but itwas postponed because the kingwas in a hospital for treatment. Hesaid he will not reveal details untilafter he has met the king.

“Conclusively, we have a strong,formidable majority. I am not talk-ing about four, five or six ... butmuch more than that,” Anwar said.“With a clear and indisputable sup-port and majority behind me, thegovernment led by ... MuhyiddinYassin has fallen." There was noimmediate response fromMuhyiddin, who is due to give atelevised speech later Wednesday.Muhyiddin has been grappling tomaintain support amid infightingin his coalition that has just a slimtwo-seat majority. He can ask the

king to dissolve Parliament to seekearly general elections.

S c i e n c e a n d Te ch n o l o g yMinister Khairy Jamaluddin coun-tered Anwar's claim. He tweeteda picture of the Cabinet meeting,saying: “Cabinet meeting justended. Nothing collapsed or fell."Anwar said it will be the king's

“sole discretion” but noted that hisgovernment will not be an un-elected one even though it involvesnew partners.

Anwar's Alliance of Hope waselected in 2018 but collapsed afterMuhyiddin withdrew his party andtied up with corruption-tainted op-position parties to form a Malay-cen-

tric government in March. Then-Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamadresigned in protest, but Anwar saidWednesday that Mahathir won't bepart his new government.

If he succeeds, it will mark adramatic comeback for Anwar afterhis roller-coaster political journeysince the 1990s.

Once a high flyer in the rulingparty, Anwar was convicted of ho-mosexual sodomy and corruptionafter a power struggle with Mahathirin 1998. He was imprisoned for a sec-ond time for sodomy in 2014. Anwarand his supporters have long de-nied the sodomy allegations, sayingthey were concocted to destroy hispolitical career.

Yet rather than give up, Anwarended his feud with Mahathir fromhis prison cell to forge a new op-position alliance that won a stun-ning victory in May 2018 nationalelections. Mahathir became premiera second time. Anwar was freed witha royal pardon days after the pollsand was Mahathir's designated suc-cessor before their alliance fell apart.

Navalny appears inpublic after leavingBerlin hospitalASSOCIATED PRESS

Berlin, Sept 23: Russian opposi-tion leader Alexei Navalny hasbeen released from a Berlin hospital after more than a month'streatment for poisoning, with doc-tors now believing that a “com-plete recovery” from the Soviet-era nerve agent is possible for him,the hospital said Wednesday.

Navalny spent 32 days at Berlin'sCharite hospital, 24 of them in in-tensive care, before doctors deemedhis “condition had improved suf-ficiently for him to be dischargedfrom acute inpatient care.”

As he was released Tuesday, the44-year-old displayed his charac-teristic sarcastic sense of humor.In an Instagram post, he took swipeat Russian President VladimirPutin, scoffing at reported com-ments by the Russian leader sug-gesting that Navalny might have in-tentionally poisoned himself.Navalny, a politician and corruptioninvestigator who is Putin's mostvisible opponent, was flown toGermany two days after falling illAugust 20 on a domestic flight inRussia. He spent those two daysin a coma in a hospital in theSiberian city of Omsk, whereRussian doctors said they foundno trace of any poisoning.

German chemical weapons ex-perts have determined that he waspoisoned with the Soviet-era nerveagent Novichok — findings cor-roborated by labs in France andSweden. The hospital said basedon Navalny's progress, physiciansbelieve that a “complete recovery ispossible,” but added it ”remainstoo early to gauge the potential long-term effects of his severe poisoning.”In recent days, Navalny has beenposting regular photos of his con-valescence from the hospital onInstagram, first showing him sitting

up in his bed surrounded by hisfamily, then up and about in thebuilding. In his post Tuesday night,he laughed off a report in the Frenchnewspaper Le Monde saying thatPutin suggested to French PresidentEmmanuel Macron in a call thathe “could have taken the poisonhimself.” “Good theory, I believe itdeserves the most careful atten-tion,” Navalny wrote in Russian.

“Cooked Novichok in thekitchen. Took a sip from a flaskon the plane. Fell into a coma.” Hewryly wrote that the “ultimate aimof my cunning plan” must havebeen to die in Siberia, where thecause of death would be “lived longenough.” “But Putin outmaneu-vered me. You can't fool him,”Navalny wrote. “As a result, I layin coma for 18 days like a fool, butdidn't get my way. The provocationfailed!” Kremlin spokesmanDmitry Peskov Wednesday saidthe report about Putin's conversa-tion with Macron was “inaccuratein its reported wording,” but re-fused to elaborate as to which partwas inaccurate.

Protesters rally at Chinese Embassyin Kathmandu against encroachmentPRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Kathmandu, Sept 23: A sponta-neous protest erupted in front of theChinese Embassy in Nepal's capi-tal Kathmandu Wednesday afternoon over encroachment ofthe Himalayan nation's territoryby China in north-western part ofHumla district.

A number of protesters, in-cluding youths, chanted slogansagainst the encroachment and de-manded that the Chinese leaveNepal's territory immediately andrespect the bilateral border treaty.

Some young protesters carriedplacards that asked China to backoff. Later, police dispersed the pro-testers who also demanded the re-opening of two border points be-tween Nepal and China that wereshut 10 months ago.

Tatopani in Sindhupalchok dis-trict and Rasuwagadhi in Rasuwadistrict were shut even before thestart of the coronavirus pandemic,

due to which imported goods andstuff worth billions of rupees com-ing in from China are stuck there.

On Wednesday, the Nepalesemedia had widely reported theconstruction of 11 cemented buildings in the Himalayan na-tion's territory by Chinese securityforces in a remote area of Humladistrict.

However, the Chinese Embassymaintained that the said build-ings were verified to be on the

Chinese side of the China-Nepalborder and asked Nepal to rever-ify its position. The occupied areais remote from Nepal's districtheadquarters concerned, barren,unused and treacherous, but theChinese can easily access it easilydue to proximity and road access.Meanwhile, the Chinese embassyin Kathmandu refuted the allega-tions and said the buildings wereconstructed on the Chinese side ofthe border.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Kyiv, Sept 23: President AlexanderLukashenko of Belarus has as-sumed his sixth term of office inan inauguration ceremony thatwasn't announced in advance.

State news agency Beltra re-ported that Wednesday's ceremonyis taking place in the capital ofMinsk, with several hundred topgovernment official present.

It comes after six weeks of massprotests against the official re-sults of the August 9 presidentialelection that resulted inLukashenko's reelection after 26years in office in office. The opposition in Belarus has chal-lenged the election as rigged.

According to the official results,Lukashenko, who has run the ex-Soviet nation of 9.5 million withan iron fist, won 80% of the vote.The United States and theEuropean Union have also criti-cized the violent police crackdownon post-election protests in Belarus.

During the inauguration cere-mony, Lukashenko swore to “servethe people of the Republic ofBelarus, respect and protect rightsand freedoms of people and citi-zens.” After being sworn in, hewas handed the ID card of thepresident of Belarus by the headof the country's central electioncommission.

Lukashenko's strongest elec-tion opponent, SviatlanaTsikhanouskaya, got 10% of thevote according to the official results.She didn't accept the outcome ofthe election as valid.

‘No guarantee any vaccine in development will work’AGENCIES

Geneva, Sept 23: World HealthOrganisation (WHO) chief TedrosAdhanom Ghebreyesus has saidthat the top health organisationhas no guarantee whether any sin-gle Covid-19 vaccine now in devel-opment will work.

While addressing a vir-tual press conference, theWHO chief said: "Wehave no guarantee thatany single vaccine now in devel-opment will work."

"The more candidates we test,the higher the chance we will haveof a safe and efficacious vaccine,"he added. According to the WHO, al-most 200 vaccines for Covid-19 arecurrently in clinical and pre-clini-cal testing. "The history of vaccine

development tells us that some willfail, and some will succeed,"Ghebreyesus said. Also, the WHO,in collaboration with global vac-cine alliance group Gavi and theCoalition for Epidemic PreparednessInnovations (CEPI), has launcheda scheme COVAX.

The aim of the collaboration is to accel-erate the development ofCovid-19 vaccines andenable equitable access

for every country in the world.The COVAX Facility enables gov-

ernments to spread the risk of vac-cine development and ensure theirpopulations can have early accessto effective vaccines.

Even more importantly, theCOVAX Facility is the mechanismthat will enable a globally-coordi-

nated rollout for the greatest possibleimpact. The facility will help tobring the pandemic under control,

save lives, accelerate economic re-covery and ensure that the race forvaccines is a collaboration, not a con-

test, according to the WHO chief."The fastest route to ending the

pandemic and accelerating theglobal economic recovery is to en-sure some people are vaccinatedin all countries, not all people insome countries," he noted.

Meanwhile, US Health andHuman Services Secretary AlexAzar said Wednesday that the UStrial of AstraZeneca PLC's Covid-19 vaccine remains on holdwhile the US Food and DrugAdministration investigates a pa-tient illness that shut down theglobal trial.

Azar said that the FDA's investig ation, which has continued even after the trial hasresumed outside of the UnitedStates, shows that the agency takessafety of the vaccine seriously.

FB, YT, Twitter ink pact withadvertisers on hate speechINDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

San Francisco, Sept 23: Aftermonths of intensive talks withmajor advertisers, Facebook,YouTube and Twitter have agreedto adopt a common set of definitionsfor hate speech and other harmfulcontent, the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM)said Wednesday.

GARM is a cross-industry ini-tiative founded and led by the WorldFederation of Advertisers (WFA)and supported by other trade bod-ies, including ANA, ISBA and the4A's. The move comes after over200 brands including Starbucksand Levis recently pulled their ad-vertising from Facebook and the#StopHateforProfit campaign gainedmomentum after celebrities, likeKim Kardashian West, froze theirsocial media account for a day.

As a result of the talks between theadvertisers and key global platforms,four key areas for action have beenidentified, designed to boost con-sumer and advertiser safety.

"The issue of harmful content on-

line has become one of the challengesof our generation. As funders of theonline ecosystem, advertisers have acritical role to play in driving positive change and we are pleasedto have reached agreement with theplatforms on an action plan and timeline in order to make the nec-essary improvements," WFA CEOStephan Loerke said in a statement.

"A safer social media environ-ment will provide huge benefits notjust for advertisers and society butalso to the platforms themselves,"Loerke said. WFA believes that thestandards should be applicable toall media given the increased po-larisation of content regardless ofchannel, not just the digital plat-forms. As such, it encourages mem-bers to apply the same adjacencycriteria for all their media spend de-cisions irrespective of the media.

Alleged rapists offerjob to survivor INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

Islamabad, Sep 23: One of the three men allegedly involvedin kidnapping and gang-raping a22-year-old woman gave her "aninfluential" person's phone number to contact if she neededa job, police said Wednesday, while quoting the survivor's statement.

According to a senior policeofficer, the woman said the alleged rapist, while droppingher back, gave her a mobile phonenumber, offering her a job for Rs30,000 a month if she needed employment, Geo TV reported.

Police said Wednesday thatthe investigation into the mobilenumber has been completed andthe contact is of "an influentialperson". However, the probe re-vealed it was not used at thecrime scene.

The day-to-day activities of thesaid influential person were alsochecked but no evidence wasfound of the man's involvementin the incident, authorities added,noting that the data of his chil-dren was also being vetted.

A volunteer places American flags representing some of the 2,00,000 lives lost in the US to the coronavirus disease, on the National Mall in Washington

REMEMBERING COVID VICTIMS

REU

TERS

PH

OTO

BIG COVIDSHOCKER

Belarus Prezsworn in at secret ceremony

Alexei Navalny sits on a bench whileposing for a picture in Berlin, Germany

COURTESY OF INSTAGRAM @NAVALNY

P11

businessTHURSDAY | SEPTEMBER 24 | 2020 | BHUBANESWAR

India has tailwindslike the demographic

advantage to make it a high-growth economy, but the same cannot beconsidered foreordained andrequires continued actionCHARLES KAYE | CEO,WARBURG PINCUS

The world's biggest four-day telecomassembly Mobile World Congress (MWC) hasbeen scheduled to start from June 28, 2021,said global industry body GSM Association.The MWC is held in the last week of Februaryevery year but this year, it was cancelled dueto the COVID-19 pandemic

GSMA POSTPONES MWC

cmyk

cmyk

We have tocarefully lookat the taxation

system withregulation systemparallelly (forcreating demand). Ifthe taxation goes another direction,which is not supporting or notcreating demand it is very difficult

MASAKAZU YOSHIMURA | MD, TKM

of theday uote

At NSE weintend to playa pivotal role

in the idea to IPOjourney forentrepreneurs andinvestors and as thestartup ecosystem develops inIndia, there is an immediate needfor awareness and structuredlearning around private marketsfrom a practitioner POV

RAVI VARANASI | CBDO, NSE

Our (Power)sector is veryvulnerable to

cyber attacks. Wehave connected thewhole country intoone grid...you bringdown one part and rest willcollapse. Therefore, we need tocheck all imports. (In fact) we arechecking if some device is insertedin the imported item

RK SINGH | MINISTER FOR POWER, NEW AND

RENEWABLE ENERGY

Airtel picks upstake in startupNew Delhi: Bharti Airtel haspicked up a strategic stake inWaybeo under its start-upaccelerator programme, inline with its strategy to ramp-up cloud offerings. Thecompany did not divulge intothe financial details of thedeal. Tech startup Waybeo,focused on deep artificialintelligence-based analyticsfor cloud telephony, is fifth tojoin the Airtel StartupAccelerator Program. In thepast, Vahan, Spectacom,Lattu Kids and Voicezen havejoined the programme.

TechM arm sellsstake for $45 mnNew Delhi: IT services majorTech Mahindra (TechM)Wednesday said itssubsidiary has divested over18.5 million shares inAltiostar Networks for $45million (about `331 crore) toRakuten USA, Inc. "TechMahindra (Americas) Inc - anl00% subsidiary of TechMahindra Ltd - divested itsholding of 18,518,518 C1Preferred shares in AltiostarNetworks," TechM said in aregulatory filing.

Flipkart partnerswith Max FashionBangalore: E-commerceplatform Flipkart Wednesdaysaid it has partnered withretailer Max Fashion ahead ofthe upcoming festive seasonand the annual Big BillionDays. The Max Fashion storeon Flipkart will have morethan 13,000 new styles, andmajority of them under`1,000 price point, thecompany said. As a result ofthe partnership, a wideselection of product rangingacross womenswear,menswear, kidswear, andaccessories will now beavailable to over 250 millioncustomers on Flipkart.

Accenture toacquire N3San Francisco: Globalprofessional servicescompany Accenture willacquire N3, a tech-drivensales and demand-generation firm that helpsclients drive sales growth inan increasingly virtualenvironment, the companysaid, without disclosing thefinancial terms of theacquisition. The acquisitionadds approximately 2,200employees to Accentureglobally, along with AI andML capabilities, Accenturesaid Tuesday.

SHORT TAKES

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

New Delhi, Sept 23: In a signthat Indians are now no moreafraid of ordering food despite asurge in caseloads, ZomatoWednesday revealed that the fooddelivery sector has recovered to(and even grown beyond) pre-Covidlevels in a number of large pock-ets of the country, led by some ofthe most affluent residential areasin the country.

With the ongoing IPL season andthe subsequent festival season,Zomato expects food delivery inboth metros and smaller cities tomake a full recovery soon and re-sume growing over pre-Covid levels.

Delhi and Mumbai are nearingfull recovery (95% of pre-Covid lev-els), whereas metros such asBangalore, Hyderabad, and Chennaiare still behind the curve (nearly 80%

of pre-Covid levels)."Some cities such as Kolkata,

Patna, Jamshedpur, Ranchi, andSiliguri have recovered completelyand have exceeded pre-Covid levels,"Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal saidin a statement.

In Delhi-NCR, affluent residentialareas like DLF Phase 1 and 5 haverecovered to 1.5 times of pre-Covidlevels.

In South Delhi, average ordervalue rose by 65% between Februaryand September 2020. Food deliverybusiness in South Delhi is back to110% of pre-Covid levels.

Connaught Place bounced backto pre-Covid levels and some micro-localities within Central Delhi areat two times of pre-Covid levels,said Zomato.

The food delivery industry con-tinues to grow back steadily to pre-Covid levels, with the overall sectorclocking over 85% of pre-Covid

GMV (Gross Merchandise Value),up from nearly 75% last month.

"With more premium restau-rants, -- restaurants where a mealfor two may cost `1,500 and above,now opening up to online delivery

-- a larger number of affluent con-sumers are embracing online or-dering," the company informed.

Overall spends on such premiumrestaurants have grown by over25% over pre-Covid levels.

"Customers are now relying onfood delivery even more than usualwhen a city goes under a lockdown.Some cities such as Kolkata seemore customers ordering onlinewhen the city is (more or less) shut,

but restaurants are open," Goyalstressed.

With lockdown restrictions, cel-ebrations have moved back homeand customers, who had not or-dered since the first day of lock-down, are 20% more likely to orderfor the first time during such festivalsand occasions.

As customers spend more timewith their families, group order-ing has become more relevant thanever, Zomato said.

"Order sizes, i.e. items per order,have increased by 20% over pre-Covid levels. Recovery on singleperson meals, which constitutednearly 60% of all orders pre-Covid,lingers at 50-70% level for most re-gions," Goyal said.

On the other hand, orders withmeals for three or more personshave recovered well and are higherthan even pre-Covid levels currently,the company informed.

‘Affluent Indians lead food delivery market recovery’LEADING THE WAY

With theongoing IPL

season and thesubsequent

festivalseason,Zomato

expects fooddelivery in

both metrosand smaller

cities to makea full recovery

soon

In Delhi-NCR,affluent

residentialareas like

DLF Phase 1and 5 have

recovered to1.5 times of

pre-Covidlevels

Cities likeKolkata, Patna,Jamshedpur,Ranchi, andSiliguri haverecoveredcompletely andhave exceededpre-Covidlevels

DELHI AND MUMBAI ARENEARING FULL RECOVERY

(95% OF PRE-COVID LEVELS)

Honda Cars launches

virtual showroomsPRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Sept 23: Honda CarsIndia Wednesday said it haslaunched virtual showrooms aspart of company’s digital plansto move closer to customers. Thisplatform will enable customersto discover and engage withHonda’s entire model range in aseamless digital experience fromthe comfort of their homes, theJapanese automaker said in astatement.

The interactive showrooms canbe easily accessed through com-puter and smartphone browserswhere customers can intuitivelybrowse and explore the design,features and technical details avail-able for each model, it added.

“With this initiative we havebrought experience of a real Hondashowroom in a virtual form to ourcustomers so that they can digitallyexplore and experience the fea-tures of their favourite Honda carson the go and also from the com-fort of their homes in a convenientmanner,” Honda Cars India SeniorVP and Director, Marketing &Sales, Rajesh Goel said.

In an age where digitisationhas become a defining force inhuman lives and there is an in-creasing trend of customers opt-ing for online car-buying journey,the company aims to give prospec-tive customers an up-close andpersonal experience of brandHonda through a digital platformright from exploration till theydrive out vehicles, he added.

Kotak’s term

extended by 1 yr

as IL&FS ChairmanINDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

New Delhi, Sept 23: Uday Kotakis set to remain the Chairman ofIL&FS for one more year as theCentre has extended his tenure onthe group's board till October 2, 2021.

The restructured board withthe Kotak Mahindra Bank's MD asthe Chairman was formed inOctober 2018 and was mandated tocomplete the resolution of theIL&FS and its group companies,which have a debt of over ̀ 90,000crore, through a fair and trans-parent process.

Resolution of the group com-panies is underway and the groupexpects to address debt of about`57,240 crore out of the total debtof over ̀ 99,000 crore. The revisedestimate is well above the 50 percent mark of the overall debt.

The aggregate value of debtbeing addressed is now estimatedat over ̀ 57,000 crore, with around`50,500 crore likely to be addressedby March 2021, IL&FS had said in July.

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

New Delhi, Sept 23: The GSTCouncil is likely to approve a two-year extension of compensationcess levy on goods and services toallow Centre to pay entire short-fall in GST tax collection by statesexpected till June 2022.

Sources in the government saidthat with 21 states expressing theirpreference for the Borrowing Option-1 proposed by the Centre to meet theGST compensation needs of statesthis year, the next course of actionwould extend the period of cesslevy beyond five year GST transitionperiod that ends in June 2022.

As the Council is likely to adoptthe compensation formula sug-gested by the Centre in the diffi-cult year of Covid-19 pandemic,sources said it may also decide howlong compensation cess levy shouldbe extended to clear all dues tostates.

"A two-year extension of cess isthe most likely outcome of theCouncil meeting scheduled onOctober 5. However, the councilmay decide to adopt compensationformula for FY21 in the next meet-ing and defer decision on cess ex-tension till a more appropriatestudy of the issue is done," sourcesquoted earlier said.

Under the existing GST Act com-pensation for shortfall in GST col-lection over an agreed formula ispayable by the centre for the first fiveyears of the operations of new taxsystem from July 2017 to June 2022.This is paid through collectionmade on account of cess levy on cer-

tain goods and services.The term of the cess is co-ter-

minus with compensation liabil-ity with the Centre. So, the Councilshould withdraw cess also aftercompletion of five years. But withCovid presenting different chal-lenge before the governments and

h as lead to states bleeding overGST collections, the compensationneeds of the Centre has grown man-ifold. As cess could not cover thishigh level of compensation needsthis year and may be next year,there is talk of extending the levyof cess beyond June 2022.

As per the Centre's projection,the total amount expected to be col-lected from Compensation cesswould be to the tune of ̀ 65,000 crorein fy21 while total compensationpayable to all states and union ter-ritories may be to the tune of`3,00,000 crore. So there is a totalshortfall of ̀ 2,35,000 crore expectedthis year.

GST Council likely to approve 2-yr extensionCOMPENSATIONCESS LEVY

AGENCIES

New Delhi, Sept 23: US private eq-uity firm KKR & Co will invest`5,550 crore to buy a 1.28% stake inReliance Industries Ltd's retail armas the Mukesh Ambani-run con-glomerate extends fundraisingspree that has already netted morethan $20 billion.

"KKR will invest `5,550 croreinto Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd(RRVL), a subsidiary of RelianceIndustries Ltd," the Indian firmsaid in a statement.

The investment values RelianceRetail, which runs grocery storesand fashion chains, at a pre-moneyequity value of `4.21 lakh crore.

"KKR's investment will trans-late into a 1.28% equity stake inRRVL on a fully diluted basis," itsaid.

This is the second investmentby KKR in Reliance Industries (RIL)units. It had previously picked upa 2.32% stake in the digital arm, JioPlatforms for `11,367 crore.

For Reliance Retail, KKR is thesecond investor. US private equityfirm Silver Lake Partners had ear-lier this month agreed to buy 1.75%

stake in the venture for ̀ 7,500 crore.Reliance Retail Limited, a sub-

sidiary of RRVL, operates India'slargest, fastest-growing and mostprofitable retail business span-ning supermarkets, consumer elec-tronics chain stores, cash and carrywholesale business, fast-fashionoutlets, and online grocery storeJioMart. It operates almost 12,000stores in nearly 7,000 towns.

The investment will add fire toAmbani's battle for dominance inthe retail market that is also beingeyed by Jeff Bezos' Amazon.com andWalmart Inc's Flipkart.

In May, Reliance launched anonline grocery delivery service

JioMart. It has tied up withWhatsApp to connect customerswith local kirana stores.

Late last month, Reliance ac-quired the retail and logistics busi-nesses of Future Group for ̀ 24,713crore to boost its retail vertical.

Founded in 1976, KKR hasUSD 222 billion in assets undermanagement as of June 30, 2020.It currently has about USD 5.1billion in private equity in-vestments across more than 15Indian companies, includingJio Platforms, JB Chemicals,M a x H e a l t h c a re, E u ro k i d sInternational and Ramky EnviroEngineers.

KKR to invest `5,550 cr inReliance Retail VenturesTHIS IS THE SECOND INVESTMENT BY KKR IN RIL UNITS. IT HAD PREVIOUSLY PICKED

UP A 2.32% STAKE IN THE DIGITAL ARM, JIO PLATFORMS FOR `11,367 CROREINDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

New Delhi, Sept 23: Althoughfresh insolvency proceedings weresuspended in May for a period of sixmonths to help companies weatherthe coronavirus pandemic, ongoingproceedings continued and as manyas 24 companies were ordered to goin for liquidation by NCLT benchesacross the country in about twomonths after the nationwide lock-down was imposed.

As many as 19 of these compa-nies were defunct, according to thedata of the Insolvency andBankruptcy Board of India (IBBI).

The total admitted amount ofthe companies was ̀ 9,302.82 crore,and the total liquidation value wasjust 8.6 per cent of the total admit-ted amount at ̀ 803.89 crore, the datashowed. Data of some of the com-panies, including admitted duesand liquidation were not available.

Three corporate debtors whichwere ordered for liquidation as agoing concern, or which were notdefunct, were Bhatia Global TradingPrivate Ltd, Lotus Auto EngineeringPrivate Ltd and VintronCommunication Private Ltd.

Bhatia Global Trading was or-dered for liquidation by theAhmedabad bench of the NCLT

May 29 while the New Delhi benchordered the same for Lotus AutoEngineering and VintronCommunication on June 1 and 8,respectively.

The admitted claims for BhatiaGlobal Trading amounted to ̀ 1273.93crore while the liquidation valuewas `250.92 crore. Similarly, theadmitted claims for the CIRP ofLotus Auto Engineering was ̀ 458.03crore, while its liquidation value was`87.69 crore. The admitted claimsdue from Vintron Communicationstood at ̀ 29 lakh and its liquidationvalue was not calculated.

Some of the companies orderedfor liquidation during April-June2020, which were defunct, includeSiddharth Tubes Ltd, TopworthPipes and Tubes Private Ltd, RathiSuper Steels Ltd, Nu Tek India Ltd,with admitted claims of `2,146.85crore, ̀ 2,859.10 crore, ̀ 1,023.13 crore,and `8.27 crore, respectively, andtheir liquidation value stood at`12.69 crore, `182 crore, `184.14crore, and `37 lakh, respectively.

24 firms’ liquidationordered by NCLTduring April-June

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Sept 23: For thefirst time, maintenance dredging ma-terial will be utilised for land recla-mation of the Numaligarh RefineryLimited (NRL) storage terminal atParadip. Union Minister of ShippingMansukh Mandavyia has been en-couraging ports for such benefi-cial reuse of dredge materials. Thisis a unique initiative being takenby Dredging Corporation of Indiawith PPT & NRL.

NRL entered into a tripartiteMemorandum of Understanding(MoU) involving Paradip Port Trust(PPT) and Dredging Corporation ofIndia (DCI) for reclamation of the pro-posed 200 acres of land allotted to NRLfor setting up its Crude Oil importterminal (COIT) at Paradip Port.

An MoU was signed to this effectWednesday at Paradip amongst AKMahapatra; Dy. Conservator PPT,CGM DCI- S Divakar and DGM(Projects Pipeline) NRL - AJ Phukanin presence of Rinkesh Roy,Chairman PPT, MD NRL, SK Barua& MD DCI, Rajesh Tripathi andother senior officials from all thethree organisations.

The terminal is being set up as

part of NRL’s integrated RefineryExpansion project that is being im-plemented at an estimated cost ofmore that ̀ 22,000 Crore. The megaproject envisages amongst others,import of crude oil at Paradip Portand laying of pipeline toNumaligarh to transport the same.

Project activities have gatheredpace after receipt of EnvironmentalClearance in the month of July, 2020.

Pact signed for reclamation ofcrude oil import terminal port

BIZ BUZZUnion Bank gets new regional head Bhubaneswar: Hemant Kumar Pradhan joined as the RegionalHead of Union Bank of India, Rayagada Region. Pradhan hasover 35 years of rich banking experience and has worked instates like Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, West Bengal, Bihar,Sikkim, Maharashtra, Goa and Gujarat. As a banker, he hasserved across diverse customer segments from rural, urban,semi-urban, state capitals and metros. In his previous assign-ment, he served as the Branch Head of erstwhile CorporationBank, Gandhidham (Port City-Kandla), Gujarat. Under his leadership: advance-ments in MSME, import-exports and NPAs’ recovery saw a remarkable uptrend.Pradhan envisages scaling up of digital adoption of banking services, advancesunder thrust sectors like agriculture and MSME.

Canara Bank celebrates Hindi Day Bhubaneswar: Canara Bank, Circle Office, Bhubaneswar celebrated ‘Hindi Diwas’recently under the Chairmanship of BL Meena, General Manager. MrityunjayMahapatra, ex-MD and CEO of Syndicate Bank was present as the chief guest at theoccasion. Meena said that the bank is committed tocompliance with the policy and rules of (official lan-guage) Hindi of the Government of India and accord-ingly ensure the implementation in its offices andbranches. Mahapatra spoke about the importance ofHindi language and said that Hindi is the official lan-guage of India as well as the language that binds peo-ple from all parts of the country.

Printed and published by Tathagata Satpathy on behalf of Navajat Printers and Media Pvt. Ltd. and printed at Navajat Printers, B-15 Industrial Estate, Rasulgarh, Bhubaneswar -751010, Odisha;Phone:7894447142(Marketing). Editor: Tathagata Satpathy, RNI No. ORIENG/2011/37159

cm

yk

cm

yk

P12

cm

yk

cm

yk

yy

sportsTHURSDAY | SEPTEMBER 24 | 2020 | BHUBANESWAR

Kings XI all set fora Royal challenge

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Dubai, Sept 23: Kings XI Punjab(KXIP) will look to put behind thecontroversial ‘short run’ decisionin their IPL opener and start afreshwhen they take on Virat Kohli’sbuoyant Royal ChallengersBangalore (RCB) here Thursday.

In their opening game againstDelhi Capitals, the square-leg um-pire erroneously called KXIP’sChris Jordan for a ‘short run’ in thethird ball of the 19th over, effec-tively costing his team the closelyfought game.

KXIP went on to lodge an ap-peal to the match referee over theincident but Thursday, KL Rahuland Co would like forget the un-savoury incident and focus on thetask ahead.

In contrast, RCB opened theircampaign on a winning note de-feating Sunrisers Hyderabad by10 runs, raising hopes that thingsmight finally fall into place forthem this season.

Devdutt Padikkal started hisIPL career on a classy note hittinga sublime half century and willonce again be in focus, while AB deVillers will also look to continue inthe same vein following a crucialhalf century.

Both Kohli and Aaron Finchlooked good Monday night andwould be itching to spend moretime in the middle. YuzvendraChahal, as always, will be the keyman in the RCB bowling attack.The leg-spinner was instrumentalin his team’s victory Monday, trig-

gering a batting collapse.Umesh Yadav continues to leak

runs in the IPL and going by hisshowing in the first game, he couldbe replaced by Mohammad Siraj.It remains to be seen if the team canfit in England all-rounder MoeenAli in the middle-order. With JoshPhillippe being chosen as the spe-cialist wicketkeeper-batsman tostart with, Ali can only replaceDale Steyn in the eleven.

For KXIP, Mayank Agarwallooked in imperious touch but wasgutted to not be able to get his teamover the line with just one run re-quired to win.

Rahul, Glenn Maxwell andNicholas Pooran will be expectedto step up as they possess the abil-ity to take away the game from anyopposition.

Big hitters Chris Gayle, who wasleft out of the opener for betterbalance in the eleven, could beback and batting all-rounder JimmyNeesham could also be given achance.

KXIP’s bowling is spearheadedby Mohammed Shami, who provedhis high worth in the team’s opener.Young leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoiwill go into the game more confi-dent, having impressed againstDelhi Capitals.

TODAY’S

MATCH

KXIP RCBAT 7:30 PM

TELECAST: STAR SPORTS

ROHIT, BOWLERS LIFT MI

COMMENTS ON RR-CSK GAMESTEVE SMITH: I think the last surge from Jofra was an incredible bit of hitting. SanjuSamson, looked like everything he hit went for six. MS smacked a few in the end,and Faf got going too, but nice to get a win

MS DHONI: With 217 on the board, we needed a very good start which was not thecase. Steve (Smith) and (Sanju) Samson batted very well. We need to give credit totheir bowlers. Once you’ve seen the first innings, you knew the lengths to bowl. Theirspinners did well to bowl away from the batsman. Our spinners made the error to bowltoo full. If we would’ve maybe restricted them to 200, it would’ve been a good game

STEPHEN FLEMING: MS (Dhoni) was in the 14th over, which is pretty much optimaltime, and sort of batted accordingly. He is coming back from not playing a hugeamount of cricket. So, the expectations to see him at his best is gonna take sometime. But you see him towards the end, he was very good. Faf (du Plessis) carried theform, so we weren’t too far away. It wasn’t the batting that was the worry to be honest

SANJU SAMSON: I think range-hitting is what the game demands in this generation.I had time to work out in these 5 months, and I think I’ve increased that ability. Mygame plan is ‘stand and deliver’. If it’s in the arc I go for it, and it’s very important tokeep the intent to hit the ball if it’s there to be hit

Gambhir lashes out at DhoniNEW DELHI: MS Dhoni did notlead from the front by droppinghimself down the batting orderduring a mammoth chase, opinedformer India batsman GautamGambhir, tearing into CSK cap-tain’s decision to bat at No.7 againstRajasthan Royals.

Dhoni sent the likes of SamCurran, Ruturaj Gaikwad and KedarJadhav ahead of him. CSK lost thematch by 16 runs.

“I was a bit surprised to be hon-est. MS Dhoni batting at No.7? Andsending (Ruturaj) Gaikwad, SamCurran before him. Makes no senseto me. In fact you should be leadingfrom the front,” Gambhir toldESPNcricinfo’s T20 Time Out.

“This is not what you call lead-ing from the front. Batting at No.7when you’re chasing 217. The gamewas over. Faf was probably the lonewarrior,” he said.

“See, if someone else would havedone this, some other (batsman)captain had batted at No.7, he wouldhave got a lot of flak. It is MS Dhoni

– probably that’s why people don’ttalk about it.”

The 38-year-old Gambhir alsoquestioned CSK’s intent to win thegame. “There is nothing wrong ifyou end up getting out early, at leaststart leading from the front, try-ing to inspire the team as well.What you did in the last over (hit-ting 3 sixes in last over), probablyif you’d done that coming in atNo.4 or 5, alongside Faf, you couldhave made a game out of it,” saidGambhir.

“Probably there was no such in-tent to make a game out of it. Ithought after the (first) six overs,they had literally given up on thegame. And probably MS was tryingto get back into that match rhythmof batting till the end and get someruns under his belt so he can ac-tually play these kind of innings inthe coming games.

“You’ve got to be in the present,try and win each game possible. Ithought there was no intent to winthe game and they were never there

in the chase.”Gambhir said it was ‘absolute

miscalculation’ on the part of CSKto delay Dhoni’s arrival at the crease.“Probably not the right captaincyas well. This is not how you asksomeone like MS to lead the side.”

Holder in for SRH as Marsh out of IPL Dubai: Australian and Sunrisers Hyderabad all-rounder MitchellMarsh was Wednesday ruled out of the remainder of the IPL with anankle injury he suffered in the team’s opener against RCB. WestIndies captain Jason Holder has been named as Marsh’s replacementand is expected to join the Sunrisers squad soon in the UAE. AgainstRCB, Marsh could only bowl four deliveries as he twisted his rightankle in the second ball while trying to stop a shot in his followthrough. This is the second time, after 2017 (due to shoulderproblem), that Marsh has been ruled out of the IPL due to injury.

Morris still recovering froma side strainDubai: South Africa all-rounder Chris Morris is suffering from a side strain,

the team’s Director of Cricket Operations Mike Hesson said. Morris, who wasbought for `10 crore by RCB in a bid to strengthen their weak death bowling

department, had also missed the team’s opener against Sunrisers Hyderabad.“Chris Morris unfortunately picked up a slight side strain a few days ago, he

would have played a huge role through the middle and death overs, hisbatting would have had a huge impact as well,” Hesson said in a video postedby on RCB’s Twitter handle. “Hopefully, Chris will come into consideration for

selection in a game or two, we will continue to monitor him,” he added.

Women’s U-17 WC likelyto be postponed again

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Sept 23: The women’sFIFA U-17 World Cup, which hasbeen rescheduled to February-March, is likely to be postponedyet again in view of the COVID-19pandemic.

Originally scheduled to be playedin five venues of India, November2-21, the women’s age group show-piece was pushed to February 17-March 7 next year due to the pan-demic, which has played havocwith sporting calendars worldwide.

With the health crisis still show-ing no signs of abating and with thequalifying tournaments yet to beheld in Africa, North and CentralAmerica and South America, thereis a high possibility of the tour-nament getting postponed yet again.

“There is a high possibility thatthe women’s FIFA U-17 World Cupwill be postponed again. The newtime frame when the tournamentwill be held is yet not known. Butmost probably it is getting post-poned,” a source privy to the de-velopment told this agency on con-dition of anonymity.

All India Football Federation(AIFF) general secretary KushalDas, however, told this agency thatthere is ‘no official update’ on the

matter yet.But when asked specifically

whether there is a possibility of thepostponement of the tournament inview of the prevailing situation,he said, “It can be (postponed).”

With less than five months leftfor the tournament, the confeder-ations of Africa (CAF), North andCentral America (CONCACAF)and South America (CONMEBOL)are yet to hold their qualifiers.

Europe (UEFA) cancelled itsqualifying tournament last monthand nominated Spain, England andGermany – its highest-ranked teams.The confederation of Oceania (OFA)did the same and nominated NewZealand as its representative inthe U-17 World Cup.

Only Asia (AFC) conducted thequalifiers as scheduled. Japan andNorth Korea qualified after be-coming the champions and run-ners-up respectively in the 2019AFC U-16 Women’s Championship.

The AIFF had planned to startthe national camp early next monthbut it may not happen if the tour-nament is postponed.

Head coach Thomas Dennerbyis still at his home in Sweden afterleaving India in March. The play-ers have also been without out-door training since returning totheir respective homes since the firstannouncement of lockdown dueto pandemic in March.

Originally scheduled tobe played in five venuesof India, November 2-21,the women’s age groupshowpiece was pushedto February 17-March 7

next year due to thecoronavirus pandemic

Morata returns to Juventus Turin: Alvaro Moratareturned to Juventus,signed on a loan deal fromAtletico Madrid. Juventussaid they will pay Atletico10 million euros for theseason-long loan for theSpain striker. They thenhave the option to purchasehis full rights by the end ofthe season for an additional45 million euros. Juventus also said they have theoption to extend the loan for another seasonthrough 2022 for another 10 million euros, afterwhich they can purchase his full rights for 35 millioneuros. Morata won two Serie A titles with Juventusin 2015 and 2016, and played together with newJuventus coach Andrea Pirlo for part of that stint.

Semedo joins Wolves from BarcaBarcelona: Barcelonaannounced Tuesday thedeparture of Nelson Semedoto Wolverhampton Wanderersfor 30 million euros plus 10mneuros in variables. The right-back left the Camp Nou afterthree years, 122 appearancesand two La Liga titles with theCatalan giants. Barcelona areexpected to use the funds from Semedo’s transfer totry and strengthen the squad before the transferwindow closes October 5. Ajax right-back SerginoDest, 19, is leading the list to replace Semedo at theCamp Nou. Premier League side Norwich’s full-backMax Aarons, 20, is also among the discussions for theposition. Memphis Depay and Eric Garcia alsocontinue to be linked with a move to Barcelona.

No Messi, CR7in UEFA POTYlist after 10 yrsREUTERS

Nyon, Sept 23: For the first timein 10 years, Lionel Messi andCristiano Ronaldo are missing fromthe short-list for the UEFA men’sPlayer of the Year (POTY) award.

Kevin De Bruyne and RobertLewandowski are leading the packfor the award, European football’sgoverning body said Wednesday.

Lewandowski guided BayernMunich to their sixth ChampionsLeague title, finishing as the com-petition’s top scorer with 15 goals.The Polish striker netted 55 goalsin 47 games in all competitionsas Bayern won the treble.

City midfielder De Bruyne pro-vided a record-equalling 20 assistsin the Premier League last sea-son, the highest in Europe.

Manchester City full backLucy Bronze, Chelsea strikerPernille Harder and OlympiqueLyonnais defender WendieRenard were short-listed for thewomen’s award.

Serena to resume quest for 24th majorREUTERS

New York, Sept 23: SerenaWilliams’ latest quest to make his-tory begins when the curtain riseson the French Open at RolandGarros next week.

While a Grand Slam brings enor-mous pressure for all, the weight ofexpectation is greater on Williamsthan anyone else in her sport, withspeculation renewed as to whethershe can equal Australian MargaretCourt’s record 24 major titles.

With World No.1 and holder AshBarty plus 2019 and 2020 US Openwinners Bianca Andreescu andNaomi Osaka out of the tourna-ment, the French Open could seeplenty of surprises and a chance forWilliams to pounce.

However, the ninth-rankedAmerican, who has won at RolandGarros three times, most recently in2015, also faces plenty of obstacles.

Her quest for 24 continues onclay – her least productive surface– where Romania’s Italian Openwinner Simona Halep, Spain’sGarbine Muguruza and US Opensemifinal foe Victoria Azarenka of

Belarus could all present a majorchallenge.

Williams must also make a quickswitch from hard court to clay, afteran Achilles injury kept her out ofthe Rome event.

She has come close to winning a24th major on several occasions,

reaching the finals in four since shereturned from maternity leave in 2018but coming up short each time.

Her most recent bid ended at thehands of her long-time rivalAzarenka, who triumphed aftertaming early nerves in a three-setUS Open battle earlier this month.

Azarenka went on to lose in thefinal to Japan’s Osaka.

Speaking to reporters at FlushingMeadows, Williams had said shetried to embrace the pressure ofchasing records.

“As Billie Jean King said,‘Pressure is a privilege’. So I would-n’t want it any other way,” saidWilliams, who will be 39 when theFrench Open women’s singles maindraw begins.

“So I just try to think about howfortunate I am to have been in thisposition, and honestly, to be Serena.It feels weird to say that.”

But Williams’ powerful serveand fearsome backhand, whichwere on full display at Arthur AsheStadium, could once again levelthe field and confirm she is a peren-nial contender.

“As I said always, many girlsfrom the top 10, top 15 have a chanceto win a Grand Slam,” Halep, whodefeated Williams at Wimbledonin 2019, told reporters this week.

“Roland Garros is very open be-cause it’s clay court but it’s a littlebit faster (than other clay courts), soalso the big hitters can win it easy.”

PRAJNESH BOWS OUT OFFRENCH OPEN QUALIFIERSPRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Paris, Sept 23: India’s PrajneshGunneswaran crashed out in thesecond round of the men’s singlesqualifiers of the French Open afterlosing in straight sets to AleksandarVukic of Australia here Wednesday.

Prajnesh, India’s second-high-est ranked singles player who gotthe better of Turkey’s Cem Ilkelin the opening round, lost 4-6, 6-7(4-7) against Vukic to bow out ofthe event.

The other two Indians in the

fray – the country’s top singlespl ayer Sumit Na g al andRamkumar Ramanathan – bowedout in the first round of the qual-ifying event.

While the 16th seed Nagal, whobecame the first Indian in sevenyears to win a singles match at aGrand Slam with his openinground victory at the US Open,lost 6-7(4-7), 5-7 to Germany’s sea-soned player Dustin Brown,Ramanathan was shown the doorby l o c a l w i l d c a rd T r i s t a nLamasine 5-7, 2-6.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Abu Dhabi, Sept 23: SkipperRohit Sharma (80, 54b, 3x4, 6x6)led from the front before his bowlershelped Mumbai Indians (MI) se-cure their first win this year inthe IPL beating Kolkata KnightRiders (KKR) by 49 runs.

Jasprit Bumrah (2/32) was goingbrilliantly, with his figures reading2/5 in three overs. However, he con-ceded 27 off his final over with PatCummins (33, 12b, 1x4, 4x6) clob-bering him for four sixes off that over.

Chasing 196, KKR were neverlooked like troubling MI as they lostthe openers – Shubman Gill (7) andSunil Narine (9) – inside five overswith the scoreboard reading 25/2.Skipper Dinesh Karthik (30) andNitish Rana (24) tried to make amendsbut couldn’t negate a disciplinedMI bowling attack, which eventuallyput a lot of pressure on Eoin Morgan(16) and Andre Russell (11).

A lot was expected from the duo, butthe pressure got the better of them andboth got out in Bumrah’s third over.KKR were down to 101/6 inside 16overs before eventually being re-stricted to 146/9 in their 20 overs.

Earlier, Rohit led from the front toguide MI to 195/5. After Shivam Mavi(2/32) removed opener Quinton DeKock (1) cheaply, Rohit andSuryakumar Yadav (47, 28b, 6x4, 1x6)conjured 90 runs for the second wicket

to pull the team out of trouble. Mumbai raced to 94/1 after 10

overs. Saurabh Tiwary (21), HardikPandya (18) played perfect secondfiddle to Rohit. Mumbai added 48runs in the last five overs.

BRIEF SCORESMumbai Indians 195/5 (RohitSharma 80, Suryakumar Yadav 47;Shivam Mavi 2/32) beat KolkataKnight Riders 146/9 (Pat Cummins33; James Pattinson 2/25, RahulChahar 2/26, Trent Boult 2/30,Jasprit Bumrah 2/32) by 49 runs.

Pollard plays 150thmatch for MumbaiNEW DELHI: At the 2010 IPL player auc-tion, Mumbai Indians (MI), ChennaiSuper Kings (CSK), Royal ChallengersBangalore (RCB), and Kolkata KnightRiders (KKR) were locked in a fiercebidding war for West Indies all-rounderKieron Pollard. Eventually, MI grabbedhim for a whopping USD 2.2 million.Since then, the Trinidadian has been aMI loyalist, and Wednesday, he playedhis 150th IPL match for the four-timeIPL champions when he turned outagainst the KKR in Abu Dhabi. A mas-ter of hitting humongous sixes, 33-year-old Pollard has played 11 consec-utive seasons for MI since 2010, hasscored 2,773 runs at an amazing strikerate of 146.64 – hitting 177 sixes and182 fours, before the start ofWednesday’s game against KKR.

JASPRIT BUMRAH

ROHIT SHARMA