12
A n ugly political drama unfolded in Jaipur on Friday when Congress MLAs in the Ashok Gehlot camp sat on a five-hour dharna at the Raj Bhawan, insisting they will stay put till the Governor sum- mons a session of the State Assembly. They ended their protest after 9 pm after assurance that the Governor will convene a session of the State Assembly as recommended by the State Cabinet. But after the MLAs ended the dharna, the Governor wrote to Gehlot about his “gherao” threat and the Governor Secretariat stat- ing that there is no justification provided for holding of the Session at short notice. In his brief letter to the Chief Minister, the Governor said even before he could dis- cuss the matter with experts regarding Assembly session, you (Gehlot) publically said that if Raj Bhawan is “gheraoed” then it is not your responsibility. “If you & your Home Ministry can’t protect Guv then what about law & order in the State? What agency should be contacted for Governor’s secu- rity? I’ve never heard such statement from any CM. Is this not the beginning of a wrong trend where MLAs protest at Raj Bhawan?,” the Governor wrote. While the MLAs went to the Hotel Fairmount where they have been camping for last several days, the CM headed to his residence, where he held a meeting of his Cabinet meeting to pass a proposal to hold an emergency session of the Assembly. Later, The Governor sec- retariat said the Governor had consulted legal experts on the paper presented by the State Government on the night of July 23, to convene the session of the Assembly at very short notice. “There is no justification provided for holding of the ses- sion at short notice nor any agenda has been proposed for the same. 21-day notice is required for the session to be called according to normal procedures,” said Rajasthan Governor’s Secretariat. It went on to say that the State Government should ensure freedom and free move- ment of all the MLAs. There was no mention of the MLAs kept at Manesar in Haryana by Sachin Pilot. It also pointed out that the Cabinet note didn’t mention any spe- cific date for convening the Assembly. Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said the Rajasthan Governor must call an Assembly session to let the Congress Government prove its majority. He alleged that the BJP’s conspiracy to topple the Gehlot Government was clear. “The country is ruled in accordance with the law and constitution. Governments are formed and run based on peo- ple’s mandate. BJP’s conspira- cy to topple the Rajasthan Government is clear. This is an insult to 8 crore people of Rajasthan. The Governor must call Assembly session so that the truth comes before the country,” he said. The MLAs, led by Gehlot, arrived at Raj Bhawan in four buses from a hotel on the city outskirts around 4pm where they have been camping for the past few days. Before heading for the Raj Bhawan, Gehlot said he had requested the Governor on Thursday night to call a ses- sion of the Assembly on Monday, but the Governor had not heeded his request. . Gehlot said the Governor is the constitutional head and he could not have stopped the Assembly session from taking place “without some pressure from the top”. “Why did he not decide on Thursday? We’ve requested him again to make a decision soon. People are waiting,” Gehlot said, adding, “I am sure that the Governor will not come under any pressure, he will make a decision. We hope the Assembly session begins soon. So we are sitting here in protest. After he gives us a let- ter we will decide the further course of action.” T he Congress on Friday launched an unprecedent- ed attack on judiciary for allegedly tying the hand of the Rajasthan Assembly Speaker for acting against the rebel MLAs with senior party leader and noted lawyer Kapil Sibal going to the extent of saying what was the point in arguing before the court if precedents are brazenly ignored.The Congress also slammed Rajasthan Governor Kalraj Mishra for not calling an Assembly session by accusing him of abdicating his consti- tutional obligation and acting at the behest of the Central Government. The party questioned the Rajasthan High Court’s order maintaining status quo on the disqualification notice issued by the State Assembly Speaker to 19 dissident Congress MLAs, including Sachin Pilot. Sibal said the Rajasthan High Court passes status quo orders against the Constitution bench judgment of the Supreme Court on the power of the Assembly Speaker. He also said may be lawyers should take their robes off since High Courts are no longer bound by even the Constitution bench judg- ments of Supreme Court. T he Rajasthan High Court on Friday ordered main- taining status quo on disqual- ification notice issued by the State Assembly Apeaker to 19 dissident Congress MLAs, including Sachin Pilot. The bench, in its order, said the writ petition is main- tainable and is admitted on the ground of three pleas of the petitioners. “After completion of filing of pleadings of the parties and the intervenors, Counsel for the parties shall be at liberty to file an application for early hearing of the writ petition. Till then, the ‘status quo’, as exists today viz-a-viz impugned notices dated 14.07.2020, shall be maintained,” the order stat- ed. “The writ petition has been admitted and the court has ordered for status quo on the notices dated July 14. The matter will be heard in due course now,” a counsel for the Speaker said. The Speaker issued the notice to the MLAs on July 14 after the Congress complained to him that the MLAs had defied a whip to attend two leg- islature party meetings. Jaipur: For the first time since Rajasthan plunged into a polit- ical crisis almost fortnight ago, the state BJP has said rebel Congress leader Sachin Pilot could be the Chief Minister if the situation allowed. Backing Pilot, BJP State president Satish Poonia, said, “If the situation allows, Sachin Pilot can become the Chief Minister. In fact, he has taken a big step with this goal in mind.” Jaipur: The Rajasthan BJP on Friday demanded the Centre to deploy the CRPF to maintain law and order, reacting sharply to Congress MLAs staging a “dharna” at Raj Bhawan. Incidentally, on December 4, 1993, BJP MLAs had sat on dharna on the lawns of the Raj Bhawan. Baliram Bhagat of Congress was Governor. I ndia on Friday saw yet anoth- er massive spike in coron- avirus cases taking the total well past 13 lakh mark. In the past four days alone, the coun- try has added over 1.82 lakh cases. The country also over- took France on Friday as the number of deaths linked to virus crossed 30,961. The num- ber of deaths in India is now the sixth-biggest behind the US, Brazil, Britain, Mexico and Italy. Maharashtra has the highest number of cases at 3,57,117, followed by Tamil Nadu with 1,99,749 and Delhi with 1,28,389 cases. The num- ber of coronavirus cases in India have doubled in nearly three weeks since July 2 when the country crossed the six lakh-mark. The country’s Covid tally touched the 10 lakh-mark last Friday. Since then, around three lakh new infections have been reported. The first phase of human clinical trial of India’s home- made vaccine against coron- avirus, Covaxin, began at AIIMS in Delhi on Friday, with the first dose of the injec- tion given to a man in his 30s. Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba on Friday reviewed the management of Covid-19 in nine States with high active caseload and advised Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal and Assam to urgent- ly ramp up testing, strictly implement containment plan, augment health infrastructure and ensure effective clinical management. The Union Health Ministry said that in keeping with the “Test Track Treat” strategy, the States were advised to ramp up testing, with special focus on contain- ment zones.Maharashtra reported 9615 fresh cases and 278 deaths in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of cases to 3,57,117 including 1,99,967 recovered patients and 13,132 deaths. Currently, there are 1,44,018 active cases in the State. D riven by extreme poverty and lack of work during the Covid-19 crisis, a migrant labourer in Assam sold his 15- day-old daughter for 45,000 but police rescued the baby, officials said on Friday. The man and two women have been arrested on the charge of human trafficking. Dipak Brahma, a resident of Dhantola Mandaria, a for- est village in Kokrajhar dis- trict, had recently returned from Gujarat, where he worked as a labourer. He was jobless and finding it hard to support his family, according to an official of an NGO working against human traf- ficking. After his return, the fam- ily started living at the house of his in-laws in Kochugaon Patakata village in the same district. The family still lived a hand-to-mouth existence. During these tough times, Brahma’s wife gave birth to the girl, their second daughter, Nedan Foundation chairman Digambar Narzary said. “With almost all doors to earn a living closed, Brahma decided to sell the newborn,” he added. N otwithstanding the pre- vailing stalemate at the volatile Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh, India and China on Friday reiterated their commitment to contin- ue dialogue to defuse tension. They also agreed that Corps Commanders of the two Armies will meet soon to ensure disengagement and de- escalation expeditiously. These talks on the LAC may take place next week. These affirmations in the 17th meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation & Coordination on India- China Border Affairs (WMCC) came against the backdrop of China dilly-dal- lying in withdrawing its more than 40,000 troops from the front and depth areas. Incidentally, the two Corps Commanders in their last round of talks on July 14 had agreed to thin out addi- tional troops as soon as pos- sible as a major confidence- building measure. Giving details of the diplo- matic level talks on Friday, the Ministry of External Affairs said the Indian delegation was led by joint secretary (East Asia) while the Director General of the Boundary & Oceanic Department of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs led the Chinese dele- gation. They agreed that early and complete disengagement of the troops along the LAC and de-escalation from LAC. D espite Covid-19 pandem- ic, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the nation from Red Fort on Independence Day with Army- police parade, guard of honour and 21 gun salute functions with social distancing norms without large people gathering. The Union Home Ministry on Friday in an advisory clar- ified that all functions in rela- tion to Independence Day cel- ebrations will be conducted across the country, including Chief Ministers’ address from the State Capitals, Ministers from district HQs and pan- chayat-level celebrations with usual Army-police parades and Guard of Honours and At- Home functions in Rashtrapati Bhavan and Raj Bhavans. In a detailed five-page advisory, Union Home Ministry directed to keep social distancing, wearing masks and avoiding large crowd gathering on Independence Day cele- brations across the country in the wake of Covid-19. “The Ceremony at Red Fort consisting of the presen- tation of a Guard of Honour by the Armed Forces and the Delhi Police to the Prime Minister, unfurling of the national flag accompanied by the playing of the National Anthem and firing of 21-gun salute, speech by the Prime Minister, singing of the National Anthem immediately after the PM’s speech, and release of tri- coloured balloons at the end,” said advisory. T hose suffering with mild- to-moderate Covid-19 symptoms can now look for- ward to a comparatively cheaper drug with the coun- try’s top drug regulator approving Brinton Pharmaceuticals proposal to sell antiviral drug Favipiravir under the brand name ‘Faviton’ at a maximum retail price of 59 per tablet. “To be available in 200 mg tablets, the drug will be sold at a maximum retail price of 59 per tablet,” Brinton Pharmaceuticals said in a statement after getting the nod from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI). Emerging favourable glob- al clinical evidence suggests, Favipiravir is an effective treat- ment option in the manage- ment of mild-to-moderate Covid-19, it added. Favipiravir is given orally and thus is more convenient than medicines given through veins In India, Favipiravir was first approved by the regula- tory authorities in June 2020 under emergency use autho- risation to treat Covid-19 patients, said the pharma firm. The medicine will be available in strips of 10 tablets and boxes of 50 tablets, which is a rational pack for the treat- ment. It has a shelf life of 90 days. F ormer Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani recorded his statement before a special CBI court in the Babri mosque demolition case and refuted all charges of conspiracy to demolish as politically motivated. “My name was unneces- sarily dragged in this case. The investigation was conducted under political pressure and the chargesheet was forward- ed on the basis of fabricated evidence,” Advani told the spe- cial CBI judge SK Yadav when he recorded his statement through video conferencing from New Delhi before the special CBI court. Advani during his around 4-hour-long cross examina- tion by the prosecution denied all the charges made against him on the conspiracy to demolish the Babri mosque structure. While the special Judge asked 1,050 questions already framed for the purpose, Advani answered them very cautiously. He denied every allegation of conspiracy and pressed that there was no occa- sion to make him stand on trial. New Delhi: The strain of the novel coronavirus in a major- ity of cases in India is the pre- dominant “subtype” found in other parts of the globe, a uni- formity that bodes well for the efficacy of a vaccine or drug developed anywhere in the world, says a top scientist. Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology Director Rakesh Mishra added that detailed gene mapping of the coronavirus also indicated that it is unlikely that it will mutate into a more dangerous strain. Melbourne: Home-made cloth face masks may need a minimum of two layers, and preferably three, to prevent the dispersal of viral droplets associated with Covid-19, according to a study. Researchers, including those from the University of New South Wales in Australia, noted that viral droplets are generated by those infected with the novel coronavirus when they cough, sneeze, or speak.

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Page 1:  · several days, the CM headed to his residence, where he held a ... Rajasthan Governor Kalraj Mishra for not calling an ... support his family, according

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An ugly political dramaunfolded in Jaipur on

Friday when Congress MLAsin the Ashok Gehlot camp saton a five-hour dharna at the RajBhawan, insisting they willstay put till the Governor sum-mons a session of the StateAssembly.

They ended their protestafter 9 pm after assurance thatthe Governor will convene asession of the State Assembly asrecommended by the StateCabinet. But after the MLAsended the dharna, theGovernor wrote to Gehlotabout his “gherao” threat andthe Governor Secretariat stat-ing that there is no justificationprovided for holding of theSession at short notice.

In his brief letter to theChief Minister, the Governorsaid even before he could dis-cuss the matter with expertsregarding Assembly session,you (Gehlot) publically saidthat if Raj Bhawan is“gheraoed” then it is not yourresponsibility.

“If you & your HomeMinistry can’t protect Guv thenwhat about law & order in theState? What agency should becontacted for Governor’s secu-rity? I’ve never heard suchstatement from any CM. Is thisnot the beginning of a wrongtrend where MLAs protest atRaj Bhawan?,” the Governorwrote.

While the MLAs went tothe Hotel Fairmount wherethey have been camping for lastseveral days, the CM headed tohis residence, where he held ameeting of his Cabinet meetingto pass a proposal to hold anemergency session of theAssembly.

Later, The Governor sec-retariat said the Governor hadconsulted legal experts on thepaper presented by the StateGovernment on the night ofJuly 23, to convene the sessionof the Assembly at very shortnotice.

“There is no justificationprovided for holding of the ses-sion at short notice nor anyagenda has been proposed forthe same. 21-day notice isrequired for the session to becalled according to normalprocedures,” said RajasthanGovernor’s Secretariat.

It went on to say that theState Government shouldensure freedom and free move-ment of all the MLAs.

There was no mention ofthe MLAs kept at Manesar inHaryana by Sachin Pilot. It alsopointed out that the Cabinetnote didn’t mention any spe-cific date for convening theAssembly.

Senior Congress leaderRahul Gandhi said theRajasthan Governor must callan Assembly session to let theCongress Government prove itsmajority. He alleged that theBJP’s conspiracy to topple the

Gehlot Government was clear.“The country is ruled in

accordance with the law andconstitution. Governments areformed and run based on peo-ple’s mandate. BJP’s conspira-cy to topple the RajasthanGovernment is clear. This is aninsult to 8 crore people ofRajasthan. The Governor mustcall Assembly session so thatthe truth comes before thecountry,” he said.

The MLAs, led by Gehlot,arrived at Raj Bhawan in fourbuses from a hotel on the cityoutskirts around 4pm wherethey have been camping for thepast few days. Before headingfor the Raj Bhawan, Gehlot saidhe had requested the Governoron Thursday night to call a ses-sion of the Assembly onMonday, but the Governor hadnot heeded his request. .

Gehlot said the Governoris the constitutional head andhe could not have stopped theAssembly session from takingplace “without some pressurefrom the top”.

“Why did he not decide onThursday? We’ve requestedhim again to make a decisionsoon. People are waiting,”Gehlot said, adding, “I amsure that the Governor will notcome under any pressure, hewill make a decision. We hopethe Assembly session beginssoon. So we are sitting here inprotest. After he gives us a let-ter we will decide the furthercourse of action.”

����������� ��������� ���������� ����������������������� ���������������������������������������������� �������������

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The Congress on Fridaylaunched an unprecedent-

ed attack on judiciary forallegedly tying the hand of theRajasthan Assembly Speakerfor acting against the rebelMLAs with senior party leaderand noted lawyer Kapil Sibalgoing to the extent of sayingwhat was the point in arguingbefore the court if precedentsare brazenly ignored.The

Congress also slammedRajasthan Governor KalrajMishra for not calling anAssembly session by accusinghim of abdicating his consti-tutional obligation and actingat the behest of the CentralGovernment.

The party questioned theRajasthan High Court’s ordermaintaining status quo onthe disqualification noticeissued by the State AssemblySpeaker to 19 dissident

Congress MLAs, includingSachin Pilot. Sibal said theRajasthan High Court passesstatus quo orders against theConstitution bench judgmentof the Supreme Court on thepower of the AssemblySpeaker.

He also said may belawyers should take theirrobes off since High Courtsare no longer bound by eventhe Constitution bench judg-ments of Supreme Court.

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The Rajasthan High Courton Friday ordered main-

taining status quo on disqual-ification notice issued by theState Assembly Apeaker to 19dissident Congress MLAs,including Sachin Pilot.

The bench, in its order,said the writ petition is main-tainable and is admitted on theground of three pleas of thepetitioners.

“After completion of filingof pleadings of the parties andthe intervenors, Counsel forthe parties shall be at liberty tofile an application for early

hearing of the writ petition. Tillthen, the ‘status quo’, as existstoday viz-a-viz impugnednotices dated 14.07.2020, shallbe maintained,” the order stat-ed.

“The writ petition hasbeen admitted and the courthas ordered for status quo onthe notices dated July 14. Thematter will be heard in duecourse now,” a counsel for theSpeaker said.

The Speaker issued thenotice to the MLAs on July 14after the Congress complainedto him that the MLAs haddefied a whip to attend two leg-islature party meetings.

Jaipur: For the first time sinceRajasthan plunged into a polit-ical crisis almost fortnight ago,the state BJP has said rebelCongress leader Sachin Pilotcould be the Chief Minister ifthe situation allowed. BackingPilot, BJP State president SatishPoonia, said, “If the situationallows, Sachin Pilot can becomethe Chief Minister. In fact, hehas taken a big step with thisgoal in mind.”

Jaipur: The Rajasthan BJP onFriday demanded the Centre todeploy the CRPF to maintainlaw and order, reacting sharplyto Congress MLAs staging a“dharna” at Raj Bhawan.Incidentally, on December 4,1993, BJP MLAs had sat ondharna on the lawns of the RajBhawan. Baliram Bhagat ofCongress was Governor.

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India on Friday saw yet anoth-er massive spike in coron-

avirus cases taking the totalwell past 13 lakh mark. In thepast four days alone, the coun-try has added over 1.82 lakhcases. The country also over-took France on Friday as thenumber of deaths linked tovirus crossed 30,961. The num-ber of deaths in India is nowthe sixth-biggest behind theUS, Brazil, Britain, Mexico andItaly. Maharashtra has thehighest number of cases at

3,57,117, followed by TamilNadu with 1,99,749 and Delhiwith 1,28,389 cases. The num-ber of coronavirus cases inIndia have doubled in nearlythree weeks since July 2 whenthe country crossed the sixlakh-mark. The country’sCovid tally touched the 10lakh-mark last Friday. Sincethen, around three lakh newinfections have been reported.

The first phase of humanclinical trial of India’s home-made vaccine against coron-avirus, Covaxin, began atAIIMS in Delhi on Friday,

with the first dose of the injec-tion given to a man in his 30s.

Cabinet Secretary RajivGauba on Friday reviewed themanagement of Covid-19 in

nine States with high activecaseload and advisedTelangana, Andhra Pradesh,Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh,Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, WestBengal and Assam to urgent-ly ramp up testing, strictlyimplement containment plan,augment health infrastructureand ensure effective clinicalmanagement.

The Union HealthMinistry said that in keepingwith the “Test Track Treat”strategy, the States wereadvised to ramp up testing,with special focus on contain-

ment zones.Maharashtrareported 9615 fresh cases and278 deaths in the last 24 hours,taking the total number ofcases to 3,57,117 including1,99,967 recovered patients and13,132 deaths. Currently, thereare 1,44,018 active cases in theState.

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Driven by extreme povertyand lack of work during

the Covid-19 crisis, a migrantlabourer in Assam sold his 15-day-old daughter for �45,000but police rescued the baby,officials said on Friday.

The man and two womenhave been arrested on thecharge of human trafficking.

Dipak Brahma, a residentof Dhantola Mandaria, a for-est village in Kokrajhar dis-trict, had recently returnedfrom Gujarat, where heworked as a labourer. He wasjobless and finding it hard to

support his family, accordingto an official of an NGOworking against human traf-ficking.

After his return, the fam-ily started living at the houseof his in-laws in KochugaonPatakata village in the samedistrict. The family still liveda hand-to-mouth existence.

During these tough times,Brahma’s wife gave birth to thegirl, their second daughter,Nedan Foundation chairmanDigambar Narzary said.

“With almost all doors toearn a living closed, Brahmadecided to sell the newborn,”he added.

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Notwithstanding the pre-vailing stalemate at the

volatile Line of Actual Control(LAC) in Ladakh, India andChina on Friday reiteratedtheir commitment to contin-ue dialogue to defuse tension.

They also agreed thatCorps Commanders of thetwo Armies will meet soon toensure disengagement and de-escalation expeditiously. Thesetalks on the LAC may takeplace next week.

These affirmations in the17th meeting of the WorkingMechanism for Consultation& Coordination on India-

China Border Affairs(WMCC) came against thebackdrop of China dilly-dal-lying in withdrawing its morethan 40,000 troops from thefront and depth areas.

Incidentally, the twoCorps Commanders in theirlast round of talks on July 14had agreed to thin out addi-tional troops as soon as pos-sible as a major confidence-building measure.

Giving details of the diplo-matic level talks on Friday, theMinistry of External Affairssaid the Indian delegation wasled by joint secretary (EastAsia) while the DirectorGeneral of the Boundary &Oceanic Department of theChinese Ministry of ForeignAffairs led the Chinese dele-gation.

They agreed that early andcomplete disengagement ofthe troops along the LAC andde-escalation from LAC.

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Despite Covid-19 pandem-ic, Prime Minister

Narendra Modi will address thenation from Red Fort onIndependence Day with Army-police parade, guard of honourand 21 gun salute functionswith social distancing normswithout large people gathering.

The Union Home Ministryon Friday in an advisory clar-ified that all functions in rela-tion to Independence Day cel-ebrations will be conductedacross the country, includingChief Ministers’ address fromthe State Capitals, Ministersfrom district HQs and pan-chayat-level celebrations withusual Army-police parades andGuard of Honours and At-Home functions in RashtrapatiBhavan and Raj Bhavans.

In a detailed five-pageadvisory, Union HomeMinistry directed to keep social

distancing, wearing masks andavoiding large crowd gatheringon Independence Day cele-brations across the country inthe wake of Covid-19.

“The Ceremony at RedFort consisting of the presen-tation of a Guard of Honour bythe Armed Forces and theDelhi Police to the PrimeMinister, unfurling of thenational flag accompanied bythe playing of the NationalAnthem and firing of 21-gunsalute, speech by the PrimeMinister,

singing of the NationalAnthem immediately after thePM’s speech, and release of tri-coloured balloons at the end,”said advisory.

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Those suffering with mild-to-moderate Covid-19

symptoms can now look for-ward to a comparativelycheaper drug with the coun-try’s top drug regulatorapproving BrintonPharmaceuticals proposal tosell antiviral drug Favipiravirunder the brand name‘Faviton’ at a maximum retailprice of �59 per tablet.

“To be available in 200 mgtablets, the drug will be sold ata maximum retail price of�59 per tablet,” BrintonPharmaceuticals said in astatement after getting thenod from the Drug ControllerGeneral of India (DCGI).

Emerging favourable glob-al clinical evidence suggests,Favipiravir is an effective treat-ment option in the manage-ment of mild-to-moderate

Covid-19, it added. Favipiraviris given orally and thus is moreconvenient than medicinesgiven through veins

In India, Favipiravir wasfirst approved by the regula-tory authorities in June 2020under emergency use autho-risation to treat Covid-19patients, said the pharma firm.The medicine will be availablein strips of 10 tablets andboxes of 50 tablets, which is arational pack for the treat-ment. It has a shelf life of 90days.

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Former Deputy PrimeMinister Lal Krishna

Advani recorded his statementbefore a special CBI court inthe Babri mosque demolitioncase and refuted all charges ofconspiracy to demolish aspolitically motivated.

“My name was unneces-sarily dragged in this case. Theinvestigation was conductedunder political pressure andthe chargesheet was forward-ed on the basis of fabricatedevidence,” Advani told the spe-cial CBI judge SK Yadav whenhe recorded his statement

through video conferencingfrom New Delhi before thespecial CBI court.

Advani during his around4-hour-long cross examina-tion by the prosecution deniedall the charges made againsthim on the conspiracy todemolish the Babri mosquestructure.

While the special Judgeasked 1,050 questions alreadyframed for the purpose,Advani answered them verycautiously. He denied everyallegation of conspiracy andpressed that there was no occa-sion to make him stand ontrial.

New Delhi: The strain of thenovel coronavirus in a major-ity of cases in India is the pre-dominant “subtype” found inother parts of the globe, a uni-formity that bodes well for theefficacy of a vaccine or drugdeveloped anywhere in theworld, says a top scientist.Centre for Cellular andMolecular Biology DirectorRakesh Mishra added thatdetailed gene mapping of thecoronavirus also indicated thatit is unlikely that it will mutateinto a more dangerous strain.

Melbourne: Home-madecloth face masks may need aminimum of two layers, andpreferably three, to preventthe dispersal of viral dropletsassociated with Covid-19,according to a study.Researchers, including thosefrom the University of NewSouth Wales in Australia,noted that viral droplets aregenerated by those infectedwith the novel coronaviruswhen they cough, sneeze, orspeak.

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Ayear after the cricketer-turned-politician Navjot

Singh Sidhu retired hurt fromPunjab Cabinet, the AmritsarEast MLA on Thursdayresumed his innings as a crit-ic of his party’s government andas a “representative of his con-stituency” by shooting off a let-ter to the Chief Minister CaptAmarinder Singh criticizingthe “snail pace” of the devel-opment works in his segment.

Sidhu, in his first formalcommunication with the ChiefMinister after his protest depar-ture from the Cabinet, mincedno words to allege that “noth-ing has moved” in his con-stituency since he resignedfrom the Cabinet and all thedevelopment works in his con-stituency “exist only on paper”.

“It is unfortunate but truethat nothing has moved in myconstituency since I resigned.Patiently waiting for over anyear for these works to start, tofacilitate Amritsar East, repeat-edly enquiring from DeputyCommissioner and variousDepartments, but these worksexist only on paper,” he wrote.

Bringing to the chief min-ister’s notice “serious lapses” inthe development works of

Amritsar East constituency,Sidhu shared the details of allthe projects sanctioned or inau-gurated in the current CongressGovernment’s term.

“The five bridges that theChief Minister had inaugurat-ed in October 2018, for Rs 137crore (two of these bridges arein Amritsar East), have pro-gressed at snail's pace. Evenafter I had personally put everyendeavour to take approvals byhand from the Union RailwaysMinistry (which otherwisetakes years), with tenders doneand permissions taken andfunds submitted, yet nothinghas fructified so far,” he stated.

Sidhu added, “InDecember 2019, the ChiefMinister had recommendedworks worth Rs five croreunder Punjab EnvironmentalImprovement Project (Phase I)for Amritsar East.

I had submitted the detailsand specifications for theseprojects but nothing has movedan inch.”The Chief Minister hasfurther allotted Rs 24 croreunder Punjab EnvironmentalImprovement Project (Phase II)in June 2020, I have submitteddetails and specifications for Rs11 crore worth developmentworks, under the aforesaidscheme, he added.

Sidhu went on to add thatthe “Municipal Corporation,Amritsar, through Xen SunilMahajan has sent me details forprojects worth Rs seven croreto be recommended for futuredevelopment of Amritsar East,under the aforesaid scheme.

I have directed him to givedetailed specifications, projectlayout and locations of theworks to be recommended.”

“Earlier, AmritsarImprovement Trust had sanc-tioned works and allotted Rs 13crore for development works inAmritsar East. These workshave been completely stalled orhave progressed without anyinformation to me from anydepartment,” he added.

Sidhu has been stayingaway from party events andalso from media ever since heresigned from the state Cabinetin July 2019. Even as Sidhulaunched his YouTube channel‘Jittega Punjab’ and uploadedhis videos attacking the powersthat ruled Punjab, includingCongress’s current regime.

Amidst reports of Sidhujoining the Aam Aadmi Party,the former Minister shared hisviews with the NRIs at theCongress' high command'sprogramme via videoconfer-encing recently.

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A15-year-old girl has alleged-ly run away from the quar-

antine centre at Balika Niketanin Dehradun. As informed bythe chairperson of StateCommission for Protection ofChild Rights (SCPCR) UshaNegi, the girl who is reported-ly a native of Bihar was foundroaming around in Dehradun afew days back and after policefound her, she was sent to thequarantine centre of BalikaNiketan.

According to Negi, the pro-cedure of sending the girl backto Bihar was under process andsoon, the Dehradun child wel-fare committee (CWC) wasgoing to hand over to a district

child welfare committee ofBihar. However, the girl alleged-ly ran away from the centre, asinformed by Negi. She addedthat the missing report of thegirl has been filed in the NehruColony police station.Meanwhile, Negi said that sincea large number of people fromBihar reside in the slums nearBalika Niketan, it is possiblethat the girl could be in contactwith one of these people andcan be in serious danger.

Therefore, Negi has writtena letter to the SeniorSuperintendent of Police (SSP)of Dehradun asking him to pro-vide all the necessary informa-tion regarding the missing girlto the commission as soon aspossible.

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Thirteen-year-old Rajiv(name changed) from

Amritsar in Punjab, a patientof bipolar disorder, wasthrough his treatment at theCentral Institute of Psychiatry(CIP) by the end of March.

But, he could not leavethe psychiatry institute forthe next two months as gov-ernment imposed a nation-wide lockdown in wake ofCovid-19 pandemic.

Rajiv, who had an earlyonset of the severe mental dis-order and suffered from boutsof aggression and anxiety,resorted to gardening and

making paper lanterns inorder to cope with the lock-down blues. His psychother-apist at CIP, Sarah Hussain,said that involving Rajiv inrecreational activities was aneffective way of helping himcope with the stress of remain-ing confined in a psychiatryinstitute, several hundred kilo-metres away from home whilethe entire country was lockeddown.

At a time when the lock-down blues have got the bet-ter of several healthy adultsacross the globe, childrenundergoing treatment formental disorders at CIP havenot only overcome the stressof confinement but alsoutilised the lockdown periodfor learning and acing newskills. Rajiv was one of sever-al such children, who over-

came the crisis despite allodds. “Children sufferingfrom mental disorders areparticularly prone to relapseswhen exposed to difficult sit-uations.

The lockdown period waschallenging for them, and it isinspiring how they have madetheir way through it,” said Dr.Nishant Goyal, AssistantProfessor of Psychiatry at CIP.

Six-year-old Riya (namechanged), a patient of autism,was also stranded at the insti-tute due to the sudden impo-sition of lockdown. Originallyfrom Jamshedpur, Riya stayedat CIP with her parents fromthe end of March till June andfocused on making soaps.

Like Riya, 11-year-old,Rahul (name changed), suf-fering from conduct disorder,utilised the lockdown by

learning how to make and flykites while he was stuck awayfrom his home in Bihar'sSamastipur district. Doctors atCIP said that children suffer-ing from mental disorders donot like to stay away fromhome for long. And keepingthem interested in variousactivities for two months wasa major challenge for thehealth workers and psy-chotherapists at the institute aschildren were running out ofpatience.

“Around 24 such children,who were through their treat-ment, were stranded at theinstitute due to the lockdown.Their guardians, many of whostayed with the patients at theinstitute, also participated invarious activities to keep thelockdown blues at bay,” saidGoyal. During this period,

doctors at CIP held regularmeetings with parents of theadmitted children andinformed them about the var-ious developments related toCovid-19 pandemic.

They were also guided fortaking better care of theirchildren amid the challengesof a global pandemic. Thelockdown coupled with thefear of Covid-19 infection hascaused a spike in cases ofmental disorders across India,say doctors.

Mood swings, depressiveepisodes and anxiety disordersare on the rise due to the sit-uation, they say. Children,who have a history of mentaldisorders, are particularlyprone to drown in depressionor suffer from relapses due tothe changes caused by thepandemic, say psychiatrists.

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Delhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal on Friday

inspected Shastri Park flyoverproject. While completed por-tion of the flyover will be inau-gurated in August month, theproject is scheduled to be com-pleted by October 2020.

The 700 metres long fly-over will be a two - way flyoverwhile each of the carriagewayswould be around 10.5 metreswide.

According to the designedarchitecture - the flyover willhave two loops; one for thecommuters coming fromKhajuri Chowk towardsKashmiri Gate and the secondfor the commuters comingfrom Gandhi Nagar and turn-ing towards Shahdara.The pro-ject is being constructed toreduce travel time between

Kashmiri Gate inter-state busterminus and Shahdara by fiveto seven minutes.

Kashmiri Gate andShahadra are busy traffic pointsas inter-state operations exe-cute from the ISBT connectingnorthern states with the nation-al Capital.

Kejriwal discussed planwith engineers and PWD offi-cials during site visit.“Construction of bothSeelampur and Shastri Parkflyovers will ease the difficul-ties of the commuters,” saidKejriwal. The project is nearingcompletion and straight por-tion of the flyover will be inau-gurated first.

“The construction of boththe Shastri flyover and theSeelampur flyover has nearlycompleted, Kejriwal said, “Thestraight portion will be inau-gurated in August and the

loops will take around 1.5months more to be complet-ed.”The sanctioned cost of theproject was Rs 303 crores how-ever the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Government is com-pleting the project in Rs 250crore.

“The project got a littledelayed because of COVID, orit would have been completedby now. The project was sup-posed to be completed byAugust, but it will get delayedby 1.5 months due to COVID.I hope that the construction offlyovers will ease out the diffi-culties of the commuters in thearea,” Kejriwal added.

The PWD began the con-struction of Shastri Park flyoverin April -2019. The six lane fly-over with top loops asexplained above will cut thetravel time from Kashmiri Gateto Dilshad Garden.

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Delhi BJP president AdeshGupta has demanded from

Delhi Government to pay thepension of June-July of allsocial security pension benefi-ciaries as per the increasedrates.

Gupta said due to non-release of social security pen-sion for two months in Delhi,lakhs of old age, widow and dif-ferently able pension holdersare going through financialcrisis.

“The Delhi Governmentannounced a double pensionto all social security pensionholders in Delhi due to the sit-uation of Covid-19 lock downin March 2020.

The increased pension waspaid in March-April and theMay 2020 pension was dis-tributed in the last week ofJune. Now two months fromJune to July pension holders are in extremefinancial difficulty withoutpension,” he said.According tothe social welfare department,the Delhi government hadgiven one month advance pen-sion in April-May, but now the

pension given in advance willbe adjusted by not givingJune-July pension, Gupta said,adding after the lock-down,the income of lakhs of poorfamilies come down drasticallyand the increased pension istheir biggest support.

Gupta said just as theCentral Government hasannounced free ration forpoor welfare till November2020,

similarly DelhiGovernment should makeprovision to pay social pensionof increased rates byNovember 2020for the inter-ests of the beneficiaries of allpensions.

He said that the portal wasopened for filling pensionforms for a few days in 2019-20 on which pension formswere filled, but the process oftheir pension has not startedyet.

“Due to irregular, indefi-nite and opaque process of dis-bursement of pension of theold aged differently abled andwidows, pension amount hasnot been sent to the account ofthousands of beneficiaries ofthis scheme even in times ofcrisis, ‘’ he said.

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Augmenting its COVID carecapacity for under-60 mild

and asymptomatic cases, PunjabGovernment has made newLevel-I Covid Care Centres(CCCs) operationalized in 10districts with a total capacity of7520 beds. The remaining 12districts would also soon getsimilar centres with 100 beds

each.The new CCCs made func-tional with various bed capaci-ties in 10 districts are atJalandhar (1000), Amritsar(1000), Patiala (470), Bathinda(950), Ludhiana (1200), Sangrur(800), two at SAS Nagar(Mohali) including 500-bedcapacity at Gian Sagar Hospitaland 1000-bed capacity atChandigarh University)Pathankot (400), Fazilka (100)

and Faridkot (100).Spokesperson said that centresare running in MeritoriousSchools or other institutions tocapacity of 7000 beds which canbe enhanced to 28,000 beds ifcases surge further. “They arebeing managed by DistrictAdministrations and HealthDepartment, and are being usedto keep positive patients havingnone of any symptoms.

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People from outside the statewill now be able to under-

take the Char Dham Yatrawhile following standard oper-ating procedure and condi-tions set by the state govern-ment.

So far, the state govern-ment was allowing peopleresiding in the State to under-take pilgrimage to the CharDham shrines after registeringonline and securing a passfrom the website of the CharDham DevsthanamManagement Board.

The chief executive officerof the board, Ravinath Ramaninformed the media on Fridaythat asymptomatic personswho undergo an RT-PCR testfrom an ICMR authorised laband receive a Covid negativereport not more than 72 hours

before arriving in Uttarakhandwill be allowed to register onthe Devsthanam Board website.They will have to upload theCovid negative test report andphoto ID card to secure thepass to visit the Char Dhamshrine. Those who arrive inUttarakhand without a Covidnegative test report will have toundergo the mandated quar-antine period.

After that, they will have toupload the proof of address oftheir quarantine site and photoID card on the board’s websiteto secure a pass, after whichthey too will be allowed toundertake pilgrimage to CharDham shrines.

Further, during the entirepilgrimage, the people will berequired to keep original doc-uments including the passissued by the board, their quar-antine address proof or RT-

PCR Covid negative test reportand photo ID proof whichthey have uploaded on theboard’s website. These condi-tions are in addition to theguidelines and SOPs issued

from time to time by theUttarakhand State DisasterManagement Authority(USDMA). According to thestate government, the decisionto conditionally allow people

from outside the state to under-take the Char Dham Yatra hasbeen taken in order to boostefforts aimed at revival oftourism and the state’s econo-my.

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The contagion of the novelCoronavirus (Covid-19) is

showing no sign of slowingdown in Uttarakhand. OnFriday the state health depart-ment reported 272 new cases ofthe disease which increased thetally of disease in the state to5717 on the day.

Death of two patients of thedisease was also reported by thehealth department on Fridaywhich increased the death tollto 62 in the state. On the day42 patients of the disease weredischarged from different hos-pitals of the state after recovery.

The surge in contagionhas adversely affected therecovery rate which now is at60.19 per cent.

The surge in the number ofcases in the last 15 days can beunderstood from the fact thaton July 10 the recovery rate was81 percent which now has wit-nessed a slide of more than 20per cent.

The doubling rate too isdecreasing much to the dis-comfiture of the authorities.The doubling rate for the stateon Friday was 19.92 days.Theauthorities reported two deathson Friday. Incidentally both ofthem are from All IndiaInstitute of Medical Sciences(AIIMS) Rishikesh. Here a 47

year old male who was foundpositive for Covid-19 wasreported dead on the day.Similarly a 45 year male patientwas also reported dead.Theauthorities reported 90 cases ofthe disease from Udham SinghNagar district on Friday.Similarly 77 patients werereported in Nainital district and29 from Haridwar.

In Almora which till yes-terday was appearing on thepath of recovery, reported 31new cases. In the provisionalstate capital Dehradun, 30 newcases of the disease werereported.

Here six health care work-ers were among the positivecases reported on Friday. InChampawat district 11 patientssurfaced while two patientswere found in Pithoragarh dis-trict. One patient of the diseasewas also reported inRudraprayag district.

The authorities discharged33 patients from Dehradundistrict, four in Uttarkashi andtwo each in Almora andHaridwar districts. In Tehri onepatient was discharged.To pre-vent the infection from spread-ing further the authorities have

declared 173 areas as contain-ment zones. In Haridwar 139containment zones have beencreated while the districtadministration has declared20 areas as containment zones.

In Dehradun 11 contain-ment zones are there whilethree such zones are inUttarkashi district.The con-tinuous surge of patients result-ed in crossing the number ofactive patients beyond the 2000figure mark.

The state now has 2176active patients of Covid-19.Haridwar with 692 active casesis on top of the table of in thelist of active patients. With 519active cases Udham SinghNagar is at second position.Dehradun now has 396 activecases and is in third position.

Nainital has 347active casesof Covid-19 now whileUttarkashi has 54 and Almora53 active cases.

Tehri has 48, Champawat26, Pauri 22, Pithoragarh 17active patients of Covid-19.Chamoli and Rudraprayag dis-tricts have active cases eachwhile Bageshwar is the onlydistrict in the state where thereis no active case of the disease.

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Due to the recent spike inthe Covid-19 positive

cases in Dehradun district,several people speculated thatit can cause a shortage of bedsin the hospitals for the patientsin the next few weeks.

Addressing this concern,the Dehradun district magis-trate Ashish KumarShrivastava said that there aresufficient beds available forCovid-19 patients consideringthe health facilities inDehradun. About 350 patientscan easily be treated inGovernment Doon MedicalCollege (GDMC) hospitalalone and besides that, over1,000 beds are available inCovid care centres, saidShrivastava.

He said that several ques-tions were recently raisedregarding the shortage of bedsbut he clarified that presentlyaround 390 Covid-19 positivecases are active here but theadministration already has 10times more beds than present-ly occupied by the patients.

According to him, about3000 beds are currently avail-able in the district and if thesituation demands, the admin-

istration can easily extend thenumber of beds up to 7000 forthe treatment of Covid-19patients. On the question ofwhat is the reason for therecent increase in Covid-19positive patients in the district,Shrivastava said that most ofthe contagious patients aremigrants from other districtsand states.

He said that many arrivein Dehradun to visit hospitalsand health care centres fortreatment and they cannot bedenied entry. However,Shrivastava also added that itis also good that the positivecases are being detected ontime due to regular testing ofpeople by the administration.

Furthermore, respondingto the speculation of the com-munity spread of Covid-19 inDehradun, Shrivastava saidthat there is not a singleCovid-19 case in the districtwhose tracing history isunknown.

Besides this, about 50Covid-19 positive cases aredetected daily on an averagewith a certain pace which alsoindicates that there is no com-munity spread of this diseasehere so far, added Shrivastava.He also informed that the

doubling rate of Covid-19 dis-ease is 17 days in theDehradun district while it is 19days in the State. He alsoinformed that the districtadministration is also keepingthe secondary contacts of aCovid-19 positive patient inquarantine besides the prima-ry physical contacts to restrictthe risk of contagion.

Besides this, he alsoinformed that there are eightlabs in the district for the test-ing of Covid-19 disease whereabout 600 tests are being car-ried out daily.

Apart from this, theadministration is also doingrapid antigen test of the peo-ple who are entering throughborders or reaching here bytrains or flights to the district.Meanwhile, the DM alsoappealed people to avoidunnecessary travelling, espe-cially due to weddings.

He said that if a groomand bride live in the same dis-trict, the invitation to the rel-atives living outside the districtshould be avoided to minimisethe risk of contagion amongthe people involved in thewedding and others toobecause health should be toppriority in present times.

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Aconstable in the Jwalapur Kotwali and threeother persons connected to the police station

have been found positive for Covid-19 taking thetotal number of Covid infected policemen in thedistrict to five. Now, all the policemen posted atJwalapur Kotwali are being tested for Covid.

Additionally, a list of all those who had comein contact with the constable is also being pre-pared. The Health department is preparing toquarantine everyone after the test.The Haridwarchief medical officer Dr Shambhu Jha informedthis correspondent that one police constable and

three other persons connected to the JwalapurKotwali had tested positive for Covid. Accordingto sources, so far, at least five policemen have beenfound corona positive in the district. Followingthe latest case in Jwalapur Kotwali, all policemenposted in the station are being tested by theauthorities.

Following this development, the JwalapurKotwali has been closed down temporarily to thegeneral public and all work is being done fromthe Rail post. The police station will be sanitisedsoon. In addition to maximizing sampling, theauthorities are also tracing the contacts of theinfected constable.

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Chief Minister TrivendraSingh Rawat digitally

transferred Rs 143.50 crorereceived as central grantunder the Government ofIndia’s 15th FinanceCommission to the bankaccounts of three t ierPanchayats here on Friday.

This amount was provid-ed to 7,791 Gram Panchayats,95 block Panchayats and 13district Panchayats in thestate.

Speaking on the occa-sion, the chief minister saidthat digital transfer of thefunds to the Panchayats willhelp expedite works and bringabout transparency. This willalso help boost public confi-dence in the government sys-tem.

Rawat said that the stategovernment is making allpossible effort to encouragegrowth centres. Panchayatsand the Panchayati Rajdepartment have an impor-tant role to play in this.

The government is tryingto ensure that all growth cen-tres opened at the NyayPanchayat level have theirown unique identity.

There should be goodbranding of local products in

each growth centre. The CMdirected the Panchayati Rajdepartment officials to ensuregeo-tagging and GIS mappingof all works being undertak-en in Panchayats. Specialfocus should be laid on stan-dards and design in all suchworks which should also bemonitored regularly.

It should also be ensuredthat the funds being provid-ed to the Panchayats are beingput to good use.In addition tofocusing on path lighting inPanchayats, the opinion ofexperts should be taken inworks related to water con-servation.

Prime Minister NarendraModi’s ambitious DigitalIndia programme is aimed atenhancing government ser-vices, making informationabout government schemesavailable online and encour-aging e-governance, addedthe CM.

The Panchayati Raj direc-tor HC Semwal informed thatall three-tier Panchayats are toupload their work plans onthe e-Gram Swaraj portal.

Of the 7,791 GramPanchayats, 6,773 havebecome active on the e-GramSwaraj portal so far. Further,3,554 Gram Panchayats havealso started online payments.

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The war of wits betweenfactions of

Uttarakhand Congressopposed to one another iscontinuing. After formerChief Minister (CM) andgeneral secretary of AllIndia CongressCommittee (AICC)Harish Rawat created stirby saying that the partycan re-induct its defectorsif they tender an apology,the Pradesh CongressCommittee (PCC) presi-dent Pritam Singhquipped on Friday thatthe issue would be decid-ed by the party high com-mand. Rawat while inter-acting with a news chan-

nel on Thursday had saidthat he has no personalgrudge against the leaderswho had defected to BJPand added that they cancome back to party’s foldif they apologise for theiraction.

Nine Congress MLAsincluding former CMVijay Bahuguna, HarakSingh Rawat and SubodhUniyal had left Congressparty and joined BJP in2016 when Harish Rawatwas the Chief Minister.

The PCC Presidentwhen asked about themedia on the statementsaid that the doors of theparty are always open andone can enter and exitfrom this door at any

point of time. He howev-er added that final deci-sion on the issue would be

taken by party high com-mand and everyone has torespect its decision.

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Virtually rejecting thedemand of the serving

teachers, the state administrationhas cleared that the posts of lec-turers where guest teachers aredeployed would not be treatedas vacant for promotions. Itvirtually means that there is noimmediate threat over the jobsof guest teachers of the state.

The secretary, school edu-cation, R Meenakshi Sundaramtold The Pioneer that the postswhere guest teachers would beincluded in the list of vacantseats where promotions ofLecturer Teachers (LT) toLecturers would be done.

He said that the departmenthas enough vacant posts andnon-inclusion of posts whereguest teachers are serving wouldhave no adverse impact on pro-motional avenues of servingteachers.

Sundaram said that theguest teachers have beenappointed recently and it wouldnot be proper to show them exitnow. He however added that theguest teachers are purely tem-porary and would be removedfrom their positions when thedepartment gets teachers eitherby direct recruitment or by pro-motions.After the order of the

Supreme Court (SC) whichallowed the State Government torecruit guest teachers, the stateadministration recruited 3800such teachers on vacant posts oflecturers and LTs in the monthof March 2020. Meanwhile thedepartment also initiated thestalled process of promotions.

The Rajkeeya ShikshakSangh (RSS), the association ofLecturers and LTs is nowdemanding that the posts wherethe guest teachers are appoint-ed should be counted as vacantfor promotions.

Though the promotionalavenues of serving teachers arenot affected by non inclusion ofposts where guest teachers areworking, these teachers areannoyed at the fact that manyguest teachers are appointed inschools which are in accessibleareas.

The general secretary ofthe RSS, Sohan Singh Majila saidthat the promotions of teachersshould have been done in May2019 itself. “The problem wouldnot have occurred had thedepartment completed theprocess of promotions on time.The department should havefirst completed the promotionprocess and then should haveappointed guest teachers onvacant posts,’’ he said.

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The president of theScheduled Caste (SC)

cell of UttarakhandCongress, Rajkumar hasdissolved the old workingcommittees of the cell. Hewould soon appoint newcommittees of the SCcell.

Addressing mediapersons at Rajiv Bhawanhere on Friday, Rajkumarsaid that he would select

a team of highly dedicat-ed and active membersfor different positions atblock, district and statelevels. He criticised theincumbent BJP govern-ment for ignoring theinterests of SC commu-nity and claimed thatincidents of atrocities ondalits are increasing. Hesaid that the Congressparty would continue tofight for the rights ofdalits in the state.

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Former Navy chief, admiral(retd) DK Joshi who is

currently the lieutenant gov-ernor of Andamans andNicobar Islands has donatedall his funds for the braverydecorations he has receivedfrom the government to theUttarakhand War Memorial.

He has recently agreed tobe the patron of the warmemorial. Late ManoharParrikar was the founderpatron and presently theUttarakhand chief ministerTrivendra Singh Rawat is alsoa patron.

The war memorial chair-man Tarun Vijay informedthat admiral Joshi has beenawarded various militaryhonours and receives annualannuities to the tune of aboutRs 90,900.

Admiral Joshi has writtento the Uttarakhand chief min-ister stating that all his regu-

lar income from these annu-ities, which come to himthrough state govt's SainikKalyan department must bepermanently diverted to theUttarakhand War Memorialunder Direct Benefit Transferscheme.

In his moving letter hehas stated to the CM, "Thiscommunication may pleasebe treated as my AuthorityLetter cum Pre-Receipt andannuity amount becomingdue to me credited directly tothe Trust (War Memorial).”

He said, “During nearly43 years of service in whiteuniform, culminating as Chiefof the Naval Staff, I was priv-ileged and fortunate to havebeen awarded five medals .

Being a domicile of theState, I have been receiving‘Annuity’ for these medalsfrom Uttarakhand govern-ment, through the Directorateof Sainik Kalyan EvamPunarvas. I intend to con-

tribute my cur-rent and al ls u b s e q u e n tannuities duefrom theUt t a r a k h a n dg o v e r n m e n ttowards theUt t a r a k h a n dWar MemorialTrust , in anar r an g e m e ntsimilar toDirect BenefitT r a n s f e r(DBT).”

The formerNavy chief said,“I considermyself privi-leged for this opportunity ofpaying homage to sacrificesmade by the bravesons/daughters ofUttarakhand in the security ofour nation and to modestlycontribute towards the causeof the memorialtrust.”Commenting on this

gesture the memorial chair-man Tarun Vijay said that thisis a warrior's salute for themartyred soldiers and aninspiring announcement by ahighly decorated formerNaval chief who is the icon ofhighest integrity and valour inthe nation.

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Clinical trials of indige-nously-prepared Covaxin

vaccine began on Friday at theAll India Institute of MedicalSciences (AIIMS) with a Delhiresident being administeredthe first dose of the Covid-19vaccine. Doctors said no imme-diate side-effects have beenobserved so far.

He will be monitored forthe next seven days. Over 2,000volunteers have enrolled for thefirst phase of human clinicaltrial of Covaxin, said Dr SanjayRai, Professor at the Centre forCommunity Medicine at theAIIMS.

The vaccine has beendeveloped by the Hyderabad-based pharmaceutical compa-ny Bharat Biotech in collabo-ration with National Institute ofVirology (NIV) and Indian

Council of Medical Research(ICMR). AIIMS-Delhi isamong the 12 sites selected by

the Indian Council for MedicalResearch (ICMR) for conduct-ing phase I and II trials.

The first volunteer wasscreened two days ago, said thedoctor.

The clinical trials registryfor the phase 1 and 2 studies

will have 1,125 participants.Around 375 volunteers will beneeded in the phase 1 studyacross 12 sites, and 750 inphase 2.

According to the ethicalguidelines for conductinghuman trials, volunteersshould participate in the clin-ical study only after giving

informed consent, with nofinancial benefit from thesponsor.

If there was a need for trav-el, the participant will be reim-

bursed for the commute, andany cost for controlling the sideeffects will also be borne by thesponsor, one of the investiga-tors said.

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Similarities in symptoms ofCovid-19 and vector-borne

disease dengue, which is athreat now in the monsoonseason, could compound prob-lems for the health care pro-fessionals, especially, in theoutpatient settings.

Nabaneeta Dash from thepediatric infectious diseaseUnit, Department of Pediatrics,Christian Medical College,Vellore, explained that rainy andpost-rainy periods between Julyand October in India report thebulk of seasonal infections suchas dengue, scrub typhus, malar-ia and other tropical fevers.

“Dengue is widely prevalentamong all ages and known topresent with a short history ofundifferentiated fever. Whenboth dengue and Covid-19

reach epidemic proportions atthe same time, it may be diffi-cult to distinguish these two ill-nesses particularly in outpatientsettings….The implications ofpotential temporal overlap ofthese two outbreaks can befourfold,” she pointed out in anarticle published in PediatricsResearch.

However, she said thatwhile the initial clinical symp-toms such as fever, headacheand myalgia are common toboth illnesses, the presence ofrespiratory symptoms such ascough, sore throat and new lossof taste or smell may favour the

diagnosis of Covid-19.Nevertheless, she said,

“The laboratory diagnosis ofindividual infections wouldbecome a challenging task.Being a systemic viral infec-tion, diagnosis of dengue large-ly relies on serological tests.ELISA-based methods are rec-ommended; nevertheless,point-of-care card tests areincreasingly being used due toease of performance and rapid-ity of results.”

Winsley Rose also frompediatric infectious diseaseunit, Department of Pediatrics,CMC and Karthi Nallasamy,

pediatric intensive care unit,Department of Pediatrics,Postgraduate Institute ofMedical Education andResearch, Chandigarh, co-authors of the article citedrecent a report from Singaporeof false-positive card tests fordengue in two patients withSARS-CoV-2 infection whichthey said, raises serious con-cern in the reliability of thesecommercially available testsduring Covid-19 pandemic.

Also, the effect of possibleco-infection with dengue andSARS-CoV-2 or the clinicalcourse of dengue in a recently recovered Covid-19patient is unknown.

Much remains to beunderstood about theimmune-pathogenesis ofsevere disease in dengue, theyadded.

The authors have also

called for studies in infectionwith dengue virus in the context of recent or concurrent SARS-CoV-2-induced immunologicalchanges.

As if this is not enough,burden of both diseases beingborne by crowded urban areascould make the matters worse.“While we exit from the lock-down, we should have a multi-pronged approach toearly case detection, isolationand management of not onlyCovid-19 case, but also variousfebrile illnesses that visit usduring these pre-monsoon andmonsoon times.

“As physical and socialdistancing becomes a norm inthis changed world, so shouldvector control and effectivemanagement of urban andhousehold waters,” said thehealth experts.

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In the backdrop of ongoingtension at the Line of Actual

Control(LAC)in Ladakh,Defence Minister RajnathSingh on Friday urged Israel toforge closer defence ties inmanufacturing weapons here.

This message to his Israelicounterpart Bajnamin Gantzcame as India needs modernrifles for its soldiers guardingthe LAC and the Line ofControl(LOC)facing Pakistan.The Indian Army recently pur-chased more than 10, 000 lightmachine guns from Israel andmay go in for more sniper riflesfor its Special Forces.

In his telephonic conver-sation with Gantz, Rajnathalso invited greater participa-tion of Israeli defence compa-nies under the new liberalisedforeign direct investment (FDI)regime in defence manufac-turing.

These talks took place asthe Indian armed forces arealso going in for emergencydefence purchases includingfrom Israel amid ongoingtensions with China on the

border. In May, theGovernment increased thelimit for FDI in defencethrough the automatic routefrom 49% to 74%.

Giving details of the talks,defence ministry officials saidhere both the Ministersexpressed satisfaction at theprogress of strategic cooperation between the twocountries and discussed possi-bilities of further strengtheningthe defence engagements.

The two Ministers alsoexpressed satisfaction at the

ongoing collaboration inresearch and development infighting pandemic COVID-19. Defence Minister of Israelresponded positively to an invi-tation from Rajnath to visitIndia at the earliest opportunity, an official state-ment added.

Sources said Rajnath alsobriefed his Israeli counterpartabout the current situation onthe LAC, the ongoing stalemateand efforts by India and Chinato defuse tension through mil-itary and diplomatic level par-leys, sources said.

Exercising discretion tobuy weapons in the backdropof the LAC situation, the Armyhas already taken a decision to

order another batch of 12launchers and around 250 mis-siles of Spike Anti-Tank GuidedMissiles(ATGM) and additional Heron unmannedAerial vehicles (UAV) amongothers from Israel through the emergency procurement route.

The three armed forcesare likely to go procure weaponsystems in the coming weeks tomeet any operational require-ments.

To enable them do so, thedefence ministry some daysback granted emergency powers to thearmed forces to procureweapons systems up to �300crore on an urgent basis with-out any

further clearances to cut shortthe procurement cycle.

Similar powers were givento them after the Balakot airstrike in February 2019 duringwhich the first batch of SpikeATGMs were procured.

Israel has emerged as oneof the biggest arms exporters toIndia in the last three decadessince diplomatic relations wereestablished between the twocountries in early 1990s.

The Israeli defence indus-try, at present, is activelyinvolved in various researchand development projects withIndia besides selling them stateof the art weapons, electronicand information technologybased systems.

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Responding fast to the situ-ation developing on the

hostile Line of Actual Control(LAC) by deploying frontlinefighter jets at forward bases,the IAF in the three-day com-manders’ meet here discussedbetter ways to recognise theemerging threats and takeaction accordingly.

In fact, the IAF deploy-ment in the last eight weeks orso earned laurels from DefenceMinister Rajnath Singh, whowhile inaugurating the meet onTuesday, said it sent a messageto the “adversaries.” He alsoappreciated the IAF aerialstrikes carried out in Balakot.

Concluding the confer-ence here, IAF chief R K SBhadauria on Friday articu-lated Vision 2030 laying down

the milestones for transfor-mation of IAF in the comingdecade. He said it was impor-tant to recognise the nature ofemerging threats in a rapidlychanging world, officials said.

He also emphasised onthe need for rapid capacitybuilding, increase in service-ability of all assets and dedi-cated work towards effectiveintegration of new technolo-gies in the shortest timeframes.The IAF chief reiterated thatthe IAF’s long term goals forsustainable capability man-date the acquisition andemployment of niche tech-nologies and development ofindigenous platforms andweapons.

The Chief stated that sincehuman resource was the mostvaluable asset of the IAFrecruitment, training and

motivation strategies shouldkeep pace with the changingtimes.

The commandersreviewed the situation on theLAC and the Line ofControl(LOC)with Pakistan,took stock of operational pre-paredness and strategies forcountering security threatsenvisaged across the entirespectrum.

Chief of Defence Staff(CDS), General Bipin Rawat,Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS),Admiral Karambir Singh andChief of the Army Staff(COAS), General MMNaravane addressed theConference and interactedwith the Commanders as wellas the Principal Staff Officers(PSOs) at Air HQ on mattersof jointness and integratedwarfighting.

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Senior bureaucrat RajeshBhushan has been appoint-

ed as the new Health Secretaryas part of a minor top-levelbureaucratic reshuffle onFriday, according to aPersonnel Ministry order. Hewill succeed Preeti Sudan, whowas given a three-monthextension in April and demitsoffice on July 31, it said.

Bhushan, a 1987 batchBihar cadre IAS officer, is theOfficer on Special Duty in theDepartment of Health andFamily Welfare under theMinistry of Health and FamilyWelfare. He was named OSDin April this year. The HealthMinistry is at the forefront ofthe fight against the novelcoronavirus pandemic.

In another move, MinesSecretary Sushil Kumar hasbeen appointed secretary of

the National Commission forScheduled Castes under theMinistry of Social Justice andEmpowerment. Kumar, a 1987batch IAS officer of Tripuracadre, has been appointed inplace of Ram Kumar Mishra,named Women and ChildDevelopment secretary.

The AppointmentsCommittee of the Cabinet hasalso approved the assignmentof additional charge of the postof secretary, Ministry of Mines,to Anil Kumar Jain, the ordersaid. Jain, a 1986 batch IASofficer of Madhya Pradeshcadre, is secretary, Ministry ofCoal. Mishra succeeds AjayTirkey who has been appoint-ed secretary, Department ofLand Resources.

Tirkey, a 1987 batch IASofficer of Madhya Pradeshcadre, will replaceRuolkhumlien Buhril, whosuperannuates on July 31.

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Despite floods in 11 States thatdisplaced over 70 lakh popu-

lation and damaged lakhs of hectareof crops during this monsoon year,the Ministry of Agriculture’s dataon Friday showed that there is anincrease of over 18 percent inkharif crops’ plantation on 800 lakhhectares as compared to 675 lakhhectares last year till date. The sow-ing of pulses have been recorded 24percent more while it is 18 percent

more for rice cultivation so far. Officials of the agriculture

ministry said that the higheracreage coverage also reflected thatthere is no impact of coronavirusinfections and nationwide lock-down for kharif crops plantation.

According to agriculture min-istry’s data, 220.24 lakh hectare areais covered under rice plantation ascompared to 187.70 lakh hectare,which is an increase of 32.54 lakhhectare areas during the corre-sponding period of last year.

The maximum sowing is

reported from Uttar Pradesh (6.50lakh hectare), Jharkhand (6.10 lakhhectare), Madhya Pradesh (5.98lakh hectare), Bihar (5.66 lakhhectare), Chhattisgarh (3.57 lakhhectare), West Bengal (2.80 lakhhectare), Telangana (2.50 lakhhectare), Assam (1.63 lakh hectare)and Gujarat (1.33 lakh hectare).This despite Assam, Bihar andWest Bengal are reeling undersevere floods this monsoon. Punjab,Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Tripurahave reported less rice plantation sofar.

About99.71 lakhhectare hasbeen cov-ered underp u l s e splantationas com-pared to79.30 lakhh e c t a r eduring thec o r r e -spondingperiod oflast year, anincrease of24 percentor anincrease of20.41 lakhh e c t a r earea. The

maximum areas have been report-ed from Maharashtra (5.32 lakhhectare), Karnataka (4.01 lakhhectare), Madhya Pradesh (3.11lakh hectare), Rajasthan (2.13 lakhhectare), Jharkhand (1.62 lakhhectare) and Telangana (1.09 lakhhectare).

As per the ministry’s data,about 137.13 lakh hectare areacoverage under coarse cereals ascompared to 120.30 lakh hectarewhile about 166.36 lakh hectarearea coverage under oilseeds ascompared to 133.56 lakh hectareduring the corresponding period oflast year.

According to the Ministry ofHome Affairs data, heavy rains inAssam, Bihar, West Bengal andsome other states have led to asevere flood situation resulting indeaths and displacement of people.In Assam, the CWC data says12 sta-tions reported Severe FloodSituation and nine reported AboveNormal Flood Situation. RiverBrahmaputra is in a Severe FloodSituation all along its course fromDibrugarh to Dhubri except inGuwahati where it is flowing inAbove Normal Flood situationwith a rising trend. According toCWC data, Bihar is the worst-affected state due to the flood sit-uation. It said of 33 stations report-ing Severe Flood Situation in thecountry, 14 are in Bihar.

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The Election Commissionon Friday said it will

announce the schedule forholding by-elections toAssembly and Lok Sabha seatsat an "appropriate time". Atotal of 57 bypolls—56Assembly seats and one LokSabha constituency —are due.

But the Commission didnot specify whether the deci-sion has been taken for allpending by-elections. Theannouncement came after thepoll panel decided to defereight bypolls — seven assem-bly and one Lok Sabha seat --citing floods and the COVID-19 pandemic. The six-monthdeadline to hold these eightbypolls was ending onSeptember 7.

The remaining 49 bypollsare due after September. An ECspokesperson tweeted that "adecision to hold by-elections inassembly and parliamentaryconstituencies was taken by theCommission after a reviewtoday (on Friday)."

"The schedule etc. shall beannounced at an appropriatetime," the spokesperson saidwithout specifying whetherthe decision pertained to all 57bypolls or the eight deferreddue to pandemic and floods.

Considering the ongoingpandemic situation and floods,ECI had earlier deferred by-elections of eight constituen-cies up to September 7 thisyear.

“The situation of COVID-19 has not improved in sever-al parts of the country andconducting elections in this sit-uation would pose a graverisk to the health and safety ofthe citizen,” a source fromECI had stated.

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To promote skill develop-ment at doorsteps in rural

India, the Common ServicesCentres (CSC) will work withMATLAB Enabled Centres atCSC Academies that are specif-ically designed to promoteArtificial intelligence andMachine Learning in all cor-ners of life. CSC is an SPVunder Ministry of Electronicsand IT.

MATLAB is used in auto-mobile active safety systems,interplanetary spacecraft,

health monitoring devices,smart power grids, and LTEcellular networks etc.

Artificial Intelligence is theprocess of making machinesintelligent with human-likecharacteristics.

It has the ability to con-tribute to all the sectors of theindustry. It offers many possi-bilities for rural India to grow.We are seeing that implemen-tation of Artificial Intelligence in fieldslike healthcare, education,financial inclusion, digitaleconomy and agriculture.

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Seeking to empower andassociate the marginalised

potters’ community with India’squest to become“Aatmanirbhar”, Union HomeMinister Amit Shah on Fridaydistributed 100 electric potterwheels to 100 trained artisansunder the KumharSashaktikaran Yojana of theKhadi and Village IndustriesCommission (KVIC).Addressing the beneficiaries athis constituency Gandhinagarthrough video conferencing,Shah said proper marketingarrangements including tie-upwith Railways will be made forthe potters’ community to selltheir products.

KVIC Chairman VKSaxena was also present in thefunction.

Shah said the initiativewould go a long way instrengthening the marginal-ized potters’ community byincorporating technology toimprove productivity whilealso reviving the traditional artof pottery.

He also interacted withfive potters trained by KVIC inpottery making and providedwith electric potter wheels andother equipment for theirfuture endeavours.

In Gandhinagar district,KVIC has trained 100 pottersfrom 14 villages and distributed100 electric potter wheels and10 blunger machines.

The average income of pot-ters under the KumharSashaktikaran Yojana has goneup from nearly � 3,000 permonth to nearly �12,000 permonth.

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Concerned over the hike in the number of patients test-ing positive for Covid-19, Tamil Nadu Government has

decided to distribute free face masks through fair priceshops across the State. All ration card holders are beingissued two masks per person whose name figures in thecard. Nearly 16 small scale units in the State are workingovertime to produce quality and safe masks, the distribu-tion of which would begin from Monday.

A senior Revenue Department official in Fort SaintGeorge said that the first consignment of 6.5 lakh maskshave been received by the department. “The masks are beingtested for safety and effectiveness before we start distrib-uting them from ration shops,” said the official.

Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami has made it ahabit to persuade people in the State to wear masks. He isin the habit of affectionately chiding media persons whodo not wear face masks.

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M Sivsankar, the former principalsecretary to Chief Minister Pinarayi

Vijayan, has been asked to be presenthimself on Monday in the Kochi office ofNational Investigating Agency (NIA)probing the gold smuggling scam that hasrocked Kerala politics.

Though the sleuths of NIA interro-gated Sivsankar for five hours last evening,the officials are not satisfied with some ofthe replies given by him to their queries.While the NIA officers remained tight-lipped about what happened during theinterrogation, news trickling out fromsources in the agency is that the IAS offi-cer told them that he was having ‘closerelations’ with Swapna Suresh, the king-pin of the smuggling racket. But he saidhe was ignorant about the smuggling mis-

sion undertaken by Swapna, Sarith andSandeep Nair.

Sivsankar denied that he had under-taken foreign jaunts without informing theKerala Government. But he broke downwhen the NIA offcials encountered himwith details of his passport which haddetails about his private visits abroad.

Similarly, he denied the contention ofthe NIA that he was having close ties withSarith and Sandeep Nair. But the digitalrecords shown by the agency sleuths abouthis presence in the alleged meetings heldby the three to execute the smuggling mis-sion came as a shock to him.

Though he was let off by 9.30 pm onThursday, the officer, who is said to be theconscience keeper of the chief minister hasbeen asked to be ready to face another vol-ley of queries on Monday at the NIA officeat Kochi.

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Situation continued to be grievous in Keraladespite a small fall in the number of patients

diagnosed with Covid-19 on Friday. The State which saw more than 1,000 per-

sons getting afflicted with coronavirus onWednesday and Thursday saw the number ofpositive cases coming down to 885 on Friday. This was stated by Chief MinisterPinarayi Vijayan in his daily press briefing onFriday.

The Chief Minister said the only positivenote on Friday is the increase in the number ofpersons who were cured of the pandemic andwere discharged from hospitals.

For the first time since the pandemicbecame widespread in Kerala, the State saw 968persons getting cured fully from Covid-19.

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Last 24 hours saw Covid-19causing havoc in Tamil

Nadu as it claimed 88 livesacross the State and a recordnumber of 6,785 new personsgetting diagnosed with thepandemic.

There were 53, 132 Covid-19 patients all over the State ason Friday evening according tothe media bulletin issued byGovernment of Tamil Nadu.The State has 114 laboratoriesworking round the clock and

on Friday, 63,182 persons weretested in these laboratories.

6,504 patients were curedof the disease and they weredischarged. While 1,299 per-sons were tested positive inChennai, neighbouringChengalpet (419),Kancheepuram (349) andThiruvallur (378) continuedto have high number ofpatients.

Virudhunagar (424) andThoothukudi (313) did notshow any signs of the numberscoming down. Meanwhile Dr CV Krishnaswamy, eminent

physician , said the testingbeing done in the State needsevaluation.

“There are 114 laborato-ries across the State. But mostof these laboratories were set upafter the pandemic went out ofcontrol. Do we have a mechanism to monitor thequality of tests being done inthese centres?” asked DrKrishnaswami.

He said he was forced tocome out challenging the lab-oratories because there weremany instances when personstested positive by these labo-

ratories tested negative in otherlaboratories to authenticate theefficacy of the laboratories.

He said the unprecedentedincrease in the number ofpatients was yet another indi-cation that modern medicinealone cannot take on thispandemic.

“It is not late even now tolaunch an integrated system oftreatment protocol which weare following. But who is thereto listen,” asked the octogenar-ian doctor who still takes careof hundreds of patientsapproaching him.

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Bengal Opposition outfits onFriday slammed the BJP lead-

ership for preaching “obscuran-tist” and “superstitious” ideasafter BJP leaders from Delhi andMadhya Pradesh prescribed“unscientific and magical ways” tofight corona.

Hours after Union MinisterArjun Meghwal launched a spe-cial kind of Papad claiming it willhelp fight corona and MP ProtemSpeaker Rameshwar Sharma said that the laying downof the foundation stone of RamTemple at Ayodhya will driveaway the pandemic virusCongress Lok Sabha leader Adhir

Chowdhury said “by propagatingsuperstitious and obscurantistideas the BJP leadership hastaken up the responsibility ofdestroying the good works doneby the renaissance icons of India.”

Reminding how “PrimeMinister Narendra Modi upheldthe example of Lord Ganesha toclaim that plastic surgery wasexistent in ancient India,” Chowdhury said “hereare the people who propogate thatbeating of thalis and lightingmobile torches at specific timewill tackle corona virus when thewhole world is burning the mid-night oil in search of a vaccine.”

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Once again acting on the requests of the BengalGovernment the Centre has decided to withdraw

flights from Kolkata on the lockdown days in the State.No aircraft will fly in or out of the Netaji Subhas Chandra

Bose International Airport on Saturday and on July 29 whichhas also been scheduled as a lockdown day, Airport author-ities said.

Bengal Government has decided to impose twice-a-weeklockdown in the coming days to contain the rising cases ofcorona infections. Accordingly the State will impose lock-down on Saturday and Wednesday. Subsequent dates willbe provided by the Government. About 8-10 municipalitiesof the State are also following a week-long lockdown.

During the lockdown that will continue between 5 amand 10 pm when everything will be closed save facilities pro-viding essential commodities. All Government and privateoffices, commercial establishments, public and privatetransport will be barred, State Home Secretary earlier said.

Kolkata: Amala Shankar thefamous ballet dancer, choreogra-pher, actress and writer and wifeof legendary Uday Shankar passedaway early on Friday morning. Shewas 101 and is survived by daugh-ter and actor-cum-dancer MamataShankar apart from daughter-in-law Tanushree Shankar who is alsoa noted ballet exponent.

Uday Shankar, who was theelder brother of the late sitarmaestro Pandit Ravi Shankar,married Amala Shankar then amember of his ballet troupe in1942. The marriage however failedin the subsequent years. PNS

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Four barracks of the Jhansi district jail havebeen converted into a level one Covid hos-

pital after a total of 128 inmates tested Coronapositive.

A spokesman of the Director General(Prisons) said “two inmates were symptomaticwhile 126 were asymptomatic” about theThursday development.

So far, 748 inmates in the district jail havebeen tested and of these, 126 have turned outpositive.

District Magistrate Jhansi, Andhra Vamsi,said: “Four barracks have been converted intoa level one Covid hospital and all the 120 areadmitted there.

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Maharashtra’s former ChiefMinister senior Congress leader

Prithviraj Chavan on Friday droppeda bombshell in the State political cir-cles, as he alleged that theMaharashtra Chief Electoral Officer(CEO) had hired an advertisingagency owned by a member ofBJYM, a youth wing of the BJP, tooperate its social media page duringthe 2019 State Assembly polls.

In a letter written to the chiefElection Commissioner, Chavan said:“It is shocking that a senior of theECI, the Chief Electoral, OfficerMaharashtra, chose a companyowned by a BJP national office bear-

er and asked him to work for him tooperate the CEO’s campaign duringthe October 2019 State Assemblypolls.

Chavan said that there was “clearevidence” to establish that the CEOMaharashtra’s social media cam-paign in the October 2019 Assemblypolls was run by a BJP sponsored dig-ital agency “Social Central” owned bya BJP officer bearer Devang Dave,who is an office bearer of BJP and theNational Convenor of the IT andsocial media cell for the BJYM, theYouth Wing of the BJP.

Demanding an investigation intothe State CEO’s alleged wrong doing,Chavan said: “The ECI is mandatedto monitor social media activity of all

political parties – both direct andproxy – during the elections. But, inthe instant case, the CEOMaharashtra worked with an officebearer of the ruling party”

“The Election Commission hasaccess to voter data bases and demo-graphics. The data is crucial in tar-geting specific voter groups. It is clearthat this data was available to the BJPthrough the social media agency runby the BJP,” the former chief minis-ter said.

“We request you to conduct athorough enquiry into the wholeepisode because the very integrity ofthe free and fair conduct of the elec-tion process appears to be under-mined,” Chavan wrote.

Jammu: After a long gap the total num-ber of recoveries surpassed fresh casesof coronavirus detected in the Union ter-ritory of Jammu &Kashmir on Friday.

In order to contain the spread ofcoronavirus, a 60 hour long weekendlock down began late Friday eveningacross Jammu district . The lock downwill continue till 6.00 a.m on Monday.Neighbouring districts of Udhampur,Reasi, Ramban, Samba, Kathua andRajouri are also witnessing lockdown toeffectively screen local contacts of freshcases.

According to the media bulletin,“353 new positive cases were detected

in J&K while 508 patients were dis-charged from different hospitals afterthey recovered on Friday while 14patients died due to Covid-19 taking thetotal tally of deaths to 296”.

In Jammu, a car show room andtheir workshop had to be closed downafter one of the employees working theretested positive. The employees workingthere are expected to be screened onMonday. In Kathua, 26 jawans of CISF,1 CRPF personnel and 1 army jawantested positive while several local resi-dents from Rajouri and Jammu contin-ue to report positive raising fears amongthe local population. PNS

343��++.'*!���'��05�� ����'New Delhi: The Union HRDMinistry on Friday set up acommittee to form guidelinesand suggest measures to ensurethat more students study inIndia and there is a smoothtransition for students return-ing from abroad due to Covid-19 situation.

The committee, headed bychairman of the UniversityGrants Commission (UGC), isalso supposed to recommend amechanism to increase theintake in well-performing uni-

versities.According to officials,

mechanisms will be exploredfor starting multi-disciplinaryand innovative programs, twin-ning and joint degree pro-grams, cross-country designingof centres, facilitating onlinelectures by eminent facultyabroad, linkage between acad-emia and industry, facilitatejoint degree ventures and lateralentry to Indian higher educa-tion institutions.

HRD Minister Ramesh

Pokhriyal 'Nishank' announcedthe committee will present itsreport within 15 days.”Due tothe current Covid-19 situa-tion, many students who want-ed to pursue studies abroadhave decided to stay back andpursue the studies in India.There is also a rising numberof Indian students returning toIndia with concern about com-pletion of their studies,”Nishank said at a session on“Stay in India and Study inIndia”. PNS

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Page 6:  · several days, the CM headed to his residence, where he held a ... Rajasthan Governor Kalraj Mishra for not calling an ... support his family, according

The COVID-19 pandem-ic has sidelined the issueof climate change. Thiscan have very seriousconsequences given that

the matter had been receiving farfrom adequate attention even beforethe virus began its global surge. Twothings have been impeding progress.First, leaders like US PresidentDonald Trump and President JairBolsonaro of Brazil are known to bedismissive of the environmentalthreat. The second is a lack of willon the part of governments andpeople to take effective preventiveaction.

A recent report in The NewYork Times, (last updated on July 15)by Nadja Popovich, Livia Albeck-Ripka and Kendra Pierre-Louis,cites a New York Times analysis,based on research by Harvard andColumbia law schools and othersources, saying that the Trumpadministration has officiallyreversed, revoked or otherwiserolled back nearly 70 environmen-tal rules and regulations. Morethan 30 other rollbacks are works inprogress.

A report by Sarah Gibbens inthe National Geographic, publishedon February 1, 2019, mentions 15important decisions by the Trumpadministration that would adverse-ly impact the environment. The list,which starts with the US withdraw-al from the Paris ClimateAgreement, includes decisions thatwould undo measures to ensureclean power and fuel, prevent airpollution and protect wildlife.Besides, the Trump administrationhas opened up public land to busi-ness and dropped climate changefrom the list of national securitythreats. Bolsonaro’s policies regard-ing de-regulation of economic activ-ity and tax cuts to encourage FDIare liable to severely damage theenvironment and devastate thelives of Brazil’s indigenous commu-nities.

As to the lack of will to take pre-ventive action against climatechange, one must begin by recog-nising that the task here is vast anddaunting, requiring basic and trans-formational changes in the patternof development followed by mostcountries since the industrial revo-lution in the second half of the 18thcentury. Whether in the form ofsteam produced by burning coal orelectricity generated by coal-basedthermal power plants, diesel orpetrol combustion, it has been dri-ven by fossil-based fuel, the burn-

ing of which has been a potentcause of air pollution. The insti-tutional structures, managementand/or administrative proce-dures, communication systemsand, in more recent times, infor-mation transfer and processing,have all been based on this formof energy utilisation.

Clearly, the pattern of fueluse has to change. Of course, theuse of fossil-based fuel cannot begiven up immediately. It has to begradually reduced and alternativeforms of energy have to be har-nessed. Hydro electricity is a safebet but its generation is limitedby the availability of dam sitesand water. The world has takenbaby steps towards the utilisationof solar and wind (throughwindmills) power. Even thoughthe potential of both are yet to befully grasped, it is doubtfulwhether they can by themselvesmeet the steady, gargantuanincrease in global energydemands that will continue.

This leaves one with nuclearenergy. It produces zero-carbonemission as it is generatedthrough nuclear fission andrequires less land to producemore electricity than any otherclean air source. The second isimportant at a time when find-ing land for establishing powerplants often prompts massprotests against land acquisi-tion, particularly in India. Againstthis, there is still a problem of

waste disposal, though technol-ogy is taking care of it throughits re-processing and re-cyclingto generate nuclear power.

The major fear, of course, isof the spread of radiation throughaccidents like the ones thatoccurred at the Three-MileIsland in the US in 1979,Chernobyl in Ukraine in 1986and Fukushima Daiichi in Japanin 2011. Clearly, one has to pro-ceed very carefully and slowly ingenerating and harnessingnuclear power. Indeed, what oneneeds is a mix in generation pat-terns to cater to diverse con-sumption demands with localvariations. Solar panels, for exam-ple, have already begun provid-ing household power.

The mix will have to be dif-ferent for different countries andeven regions, depending on thenature of power demand. Thiswill require planning at the inter-national, national and regionallevels and also huge amounts ofinvestment for which the devel-oping countries would requireassistance. The World Bank hasincreased climate-related spend-ing and the United NationsEnvironment Programme(UNEP) has set climate changeas a priority in its capacity-building efforts. These efforts areconstrained, however, by fund-ing, that is not commensuratewith the scale of the challenge aswell as by deeper challenges in

the development aid model.Under former President BarrackObama, the US had pledgedthree billion dollars to the GreenClimate Fund — a global reservefund created to, among otherthings, help developing countriesinvest in renewable and low-emission technologies. A sum ofone billion dollars had alreadybeen given during his tenure inoffice. Trump has pledged nomoney to the fund.

The question of funds is par-ticularly important in respect ofthe introduction of technologiesto reduce emissions. An exam-ple is the Carbon Capture andStorage technology, whichfocusses on securing and storingcarbon dioxide emissions beforethey are released into the atmos-phere. Although it is still in itsearly stages, successful pilot pro-jects offer hope of developing andimplementing it on a large scale.Some countries are committed toimplementing variations of itand both bilateral and multilat-eral cooperation is under way.One, however, has still to waitand watch as implementing it ona large scale can be expensivebeside offering few obvious eco-nomic benefits.

Meeting the costs of imple-menting such technologies,indeed of all measures against cli-mate change, will require polit-ical will. This takes us back to thesecond factor — identified at the

beginning of this piece as imped-ing the fight against climatechange — the lack of will on thepart of governments and peopleto take effective preventive action.Governments are constrainedby groups whose incomes andprofits are going to be reduced bythe implementation of climatechange measures as well as thecompulsion of having to decideamong diverse demands on theirresources. People are generallyhostage to their existing ways oflife. This applies especially to theelite, who decide on policiesand measures in every societyand who enjoy all the comforts— like air conditioning, which ishighly polluting, and conve-niences that present technology-powered civilisation has broughtthem.

The answer lies in develop-ing and introducing non-pollut-ing technologies relating to heat-ing/cooling, transportation, cul-tivation, construction and allother human activities. Themoney and effort needed have tobe forthcoming, the COVID-19pandemic and the disruptioncaused by it notwithstanding. Itis important to recall here that theParis Agreement on climatechange, signed on December 12,2015, calls for holding theincrease in global average tem-perature to well below two degreeCelsius above the pre-industrial-revolution level and to try to limitthe temperature increase to 1.5degree Celsius above it, statingthat this would significantlyreduce the risks and impact of cli-mate change. The Special Reporton Global Warming of 1.5°C,released by theIntergovernmental Panel onClimate Change (IPCC) atIncheon, South Korea, onOctober 7, 2018, makes the chill-ing statement that at the currentrate, the global mean temperatureis likely to rise to the 1.5-degreemark sometime between 2030and 2052.

The world has alreadywarmed one degree Celsius sincethe industrial revolution. Hence,it is really a question of anotherhalf degree. Further, the reportclearly indicates that warming,even if limited to 1.5 degreesCelsius, would not reduce therisks and impact of climatechange. Sea levels will continueto rise beyond 2100, threateningcoastal ecosystems and infra-structure. Flooding, drought andextreme weather events willwreak havoc on communitiesaround the globe. Many specieswill continue to be driven towardextinction and marine ecosys-tems could face “irreversibleloss.” The is long and written onthe wall. Humankind will ignoreit at its own peril.

(The writer is ConsultantEditor, The Pioneer, and author)

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Sir — The Defence Ministry’sdecision to grant PermanentCommission (PC) to womenofficers in the Indian Army iswelcome. In effect, this meansa recognition of the sterling rolewomen have played and contin-ue to play — shoulder to shoul-der with their male counter-parts — for the security of thenation. It will now be interest-ing to see how many womenreach top positions.

TKM KumbalamchuvattilMuvattupuzha

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Sir — Many global firms haveinvested in Jio in recent months.These investments are due to tworeasons: One, the large cus-tomer base that Jio has. Two, thelack of personal informationlaw in India. Facebook,Instagram and WhatsApp arealready interconnected and nowGoogle and Jio are also connect-ed with them. All these platformshave our personal information.

We also know thatWhatsApp is going to start itsown e-payment system. Though

the Government hasn’t approvedit yet, after a while, it might givethe go-ahead.

Already, Facebook and otherfirms have been accused of min-ing users’ personal data forpolitical campaigns. No one

knows how else our personaldata will be used. It is a big con-cern. The Government shouldintroduce laws to protect person-al information.

Harshal Suresh DesalePune

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Sir — Ever since the Coronaviruspandemic has been upon us, wehave hailed the doctors as war-riors, equivalent to god. It was

shocking that in Uttar Pradesh,a doctor attempted to rape apatient who tested positive forCorona. The incident will remaina blot on the medical fraternity.

Further, this isn’t the firsttime that an incident of sexualassault has been reported froma hospital during a pandemic. InMaharashtra, a 25-year-oldCOVID-19 patient was arrestedfor allegedly raping a woman ina quarantine facility. Ours is acountry where no place is safe forwomen. Not even a hospital.

Shruti BansalVia email

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Sir — The Government hastaken the right decision to putthe Amarnath yatra on hold inview of the pandemic. In thismanner, we can at least preventfurther cases of Coronavirusand can focus on treating theexisting patients. Prevention isbetter than cure. Pilgrimage canresume in healthy times. Anddivinity is in the mind.

Jatin SinghalVia email

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The nation commemorates Kargil Vijay Diwasevery year on July 26 to recount the sacrificeand martyrdom of our armed forces that

brought laurels to the nation by defeating a deceit-ful and untrustworthy neighbour of ours during theKargil War of 1999. It is celebrated to honour the sac-rifices of our brave soldiers, who laid down their liveson the lofty heights of Kargil on the frontlines tosecure an unparalleled victory in the annals of mil-itary history. The war, fought mainly in the uncom-promising climate of the upper Himalayas, saw theraw courage of Indian soldiers assaulting uphill,unmindful of enemy fire and dislodging them aftera tough hand-to-hand fight. They regained our lostterritory which the enemy forces had occupied sur-reptitiously, throwing to wind the unsigned conven-tion between the two armies of maintaining statusquo in the traditional gaps along the Line ofControl (LoC). But for the raw courage and auda-cious bravery of our soldiers and young officers, his-tory would have been different as the unscrupulousenemy had succeeded in taking us by surprise. Sadlyenough, what happened in Kargil is being replicat-ed, albeit on a much larger scale, across the trans-Himalayan region in Eastern Ladakh along the Lineof Actual Control (LAC).

We were surprised then and we have been sur-prised now. Intelligence, Surveillance andReconnaissance (ISR ) remain our major weakness.Since the war was limited and the LoC was muchsmaller in length, though there were shortages, thecrunch was not felt. The amassing of Bofors guns andammunition played a crucial role in enablinginfantry assaults. The Indian Air Force (IAF), too,played a major role though it was not equipped tofight at those heights with the restriction of not cross-ing the LoC. India also successfully called the nuclearbluff of Pakistan. A determined political leadershipmade a critical difference. The higher military lead-ership and higher direction of war left many ques-tions to be answered which were subsequentlyaddressed by the Kargil Review Committee (KRC)but unfortunately no heads rolled. Our true homageto the martyrs would be to say with certainty andauthority that their sacrifices would not go waste anda Kargil-like situation will not be repeated.

While we can say with confidence that Kargil 2.0will not happen again but while achieving that capa-bility, did we ignore our other neighbour? While weconsidered Pakistan as a threat, we continued to treatChina as a challenge. Our political leadership wasconvinced about averting a conflict with Chinathrough political and diplomatic outreach. Despitethe alarm raised by the Army and other services, thepolitical hierarchy was overconfident of their capa-bility to handle China. Like Pakistan, China, too,proved to be treacherous and lulled our leadershipinto being friendly because it needed the Indian mar-ket to become an economic superpower. China allthe while wanted to be the sole power in Asia butour leadership failed to read the Chinese mind cor-rectly as it did with Pakistan at the time of Kargil.While AB Vajpayee had taken a bus ride to Lahorein search of peace, its scheming Army Chief PervezMusharraf was planning the Kargil incursions.

Like any developing nation with a large segmentof the population below the poverty line, we also facethe dilemma of butter versus barrel of the gun. EveryGovernment had to tread a very cautious path whileallocating resources for defence forces. Even duringKargil, General Malik, the then chief, had said that“my Army will fight with whatever we have.”Immediately after Kargil, unmanned aerial vehicles(UAVs) and other surveillance equipment were addedto the inventory. However, post-Kargil, because ofthe Bofors scandal, all major defence contracts wereput on hold. As a result, the country’s armed forcesbegan to suffer not only obsolescence but shortagesin spares, affecting the battle-readiness of equipment.

However, the trend was reversed post-2014 andbig ticket purchases were made for enhancing thecombat efficiency of the forces. Delegation andenhancement of financial powers was also done to

enable the armed forces to meet theirimmediate and critical needs. Today, ourarmed forces are well-equipped with lat-est platforms, smart munitions, UAVs, mis-siles and so on. We have definitely madea qualitative jump but numerically we arestill short of fighting a sustained two-frontwar. Also criticality still exists in our AirDefence and the infantry weapon systems.The Navy and IAF also have critical gapswhich need to be filled. Depending on thequality of security we need, a percentageof the GDP (not below 3.5) has to be ear-marked for the defence budget.

Unlike 1999, when we had justbecome a nuclear power, today we boastof our triad capability with ICBM capabil-ity. However, in view of the looming threat,we must review our policy of “No FirstUse.” India has always believed in honour-ing various treaties and agreements butboth our neighbours have shown scantrespect for them while threatening us onthe LoC/LAC. In the case of Kargil, theplan was made as early as during the Ziaregime. We should have known about it.Thereafter, Pakistan began a proxy waragainst us. Just prior to Kargil War, it beganregular shelling of the national highway,linking Kashmir and Ladakh. Our respons-es were mainly defensive and ad-hoc. Pro-active and punitive responses were absentdue to the fear of an escalation. Pakistantook advantage of it, ignored the under-standing about “traditional gaps” andpresented us a fait accompli in the formof Kargil incursions.

It is the same with China. Despite sala-mi-slicing, we continued to appease it.Even after Doklam, we failed to wake up.The net result is the multi-point, well-planned incursions in eastern Ladakh witha definite aim of holding out and not vacat-ing. Our planners would have known thatour claim of Aksai Chin and GilgitBaltistan will definitely raise hackles inChina because both are very critical toChinese President Xi Jinping’s pet projectof the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).However, our planners, including themilitary, failed to take any preventive andprecautionary measures to thwart theChinese threat. Once again we are react-ing. Worried about escalation, we did noteven exercise the option of quid pro quo.Now it may be too late though the LAC is

quite vast and the enemy has many vul-nerabilities. The possibility of collusionbetween China and Pakistan cannot beruled out completely, though Islamabaddoes not have the capability to launch suchan offensive for the time being. Where wewere holding the entire frontage with abrigade then, now we have a full infantrydivision with well-sited and hardeneddefences along the entire length of the LoC.Similarly, compared to 1962, our defencesin eastern Ladakh are very strongly heldwith adequate reserves and a well-devel-oped road and track network. The Kargilexperience has shown us that a ratio of 1:9or 1:12 is needed in these heights to launchoffensive operations.

ISR was a weakness then and remainsso even today. Though a lot of structuralchanges have taken place like the DefenceIntelligence Agency (DIA), NationalTechnical Research Organisation (NTRO),Defence Image Processing and AnalysisCentre (DIPAC), yet the optimal has notbeen achieved. The problem does not liein the assets but in timely processing anddissemination. The permanent office of theNational Security Advisor (NSA) is meantto look into this vital aspect of nationalsecurity management but the desiredlevel of integration has not taken place. Wealso need to enhance the capability of oper-ational and tactical intelligence. In such aterrain, with unpredictable and harshweather, a multi-mode, multi-layered, all-weather, 24x7 surveillance grid is needed.We also need to develop capability to mon-itor the movement of Chinese troops andformations to the plateau or towards theLAC from the Xinjiang Military District.Mountains do impose certain restric-tions but we need to invest more in therequired means. Lack of jointness was amajor lesson from Kargil. Here I would liketo quote the first-hand experience of thethen Colonel General Staff of 8 MountainDivision, which was moved from theValley to dislodge the intruders. “Ever sincethe infamous huff between the then Armyand IAF chiefs in the initial stages of theoperations, the Army and Air Force neveroperated in unison. In the first week ofJune, the IAF recommenced OperationSafed Sagar as we were in Operation Vijay.Two standalone operations in a smallmountainous area, where the IAF had

never operated earlier. We were never con-sulted on targets and never apprised ofstrike missions. Occasionally we wouldhear aircraft north-east of Zozila and seesome puffs around some features. Though,the stories of bombs/rockets hitting ourown troops are exaggerated, it is a fact thatsometimes the munitions would land a fewridges away where our troops weredeployed. Fortunately we never had afriendly fire casualty. Equally and impor-tantly we never saw any target destroyed.

“When we were planning an attack onTiger Hill, in order to maintain surprise,the artillery was tasked to fire on distrib-uted targets but the IAF kept hitting TigerHill without consulting us. Infuriated, Hq15 Corps was informed, which also con-firmed that they had no knowledge of airplans.” This should give adequate idea ofthe absence of jointness during the last warwe fought. It would be unfair to say thatthere has been no change. Lot of changesfor the good have taken place. Joint plan-ning is quite obvious in the current stand-off. Even the idea of theatre commands isgaining currency. Post-Kargil, two jointcommands were raised as Strategic ForcesCommand and Andaman & NicobarCommand. Lately, a Special Forces jointcommand has also been raised.

Another recommendation of the KRCwas regarding border management. Oneforce per border has been implemented.But the question of command and controlstill remains an issue. Particularly, alongthe LAC with China where the Indo-TibetBorder Police (ITBP) has been deployed.There is a divided responsibility betweenthe Army and the ITBP, which has provedhighly ineffective in the current stand-off.Incursions happened under the watch ofthe ITBP and the Army had to come inwhen the crisis developed. A poor arrange-ment, particularly when we are faced witha cunning enemy on the other side. TheITBP should be placed under the com-mand of the Army following the LoCmodel.

Needless to say the situation then andnow is quite different. But some of thelessons learnt during the Kargil War stillremain unaddressed for which we paid theprice at Galwan.

(The author is a Jammu-based veter-an and security and strategic analyst.)

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The relationship between map-ping systems and healthcarehas existed for centuries. In

fact, the earliest recorded map visual-isation goes back to 1694 and theplague containment in Italy. Over thelast 300 years, the value of maps as acommunication tool for the under-standing and tracking of infectious dis-eases, be it the yellow fever, cholera, the1918 influenza pandemic or the new-age MERS-CoV, has only heightened.

A review of health geographic infor-mation system (GIS) literature hasshown that almost 30 per cent of allvolumes is focussed on infectiousdisease mapping. This is why one ofour biggest champions in the ongoingfight against COVID-19 is the use ofGIS.

COVID-19 is a challenge like noother in recent times as the virusspread strikingly fast from China to therest of the world. For comparison, onecan look at how MERS took about 30months to infect a thousand people,SARS took around four months andthe Coronavirus reached that figure injust 48 days. When a disease has thecapacity to travel so quickly, informa-tion, too, has to keep up and in fact,outpace it. This is the reason why map-based dashboards have become crucial.So much so that among the top 10

requested applications of GIS servicesas early as February was theCoronavirus dashboard. The interac-tive maps can locate as well as tally con-firmed infections, fatalities and recov-eries, along with graphs detailing theprogression of the virus.

Viewers can see the time and dayof the most recent data update fromvarious sources, which include author-itative bodies such as the WHO andthe Centre for Disease Control andPrevention. If you look at India, theNational Centre for Disease Control isthe source of authoritative data via theapplication programme interface(API). Epidemiologists are utilisingGIS to map disease occurrence mea-sured against multiple parameterssuch as demographics, environment,geographies, past occurrences and soon, to understand the origin of future

outbreaks, the spread pattern as wellas its intensity to be able to implementcontrol, preventative as well as surveil-lance measures.

It is an undeniable fact that inorder to identify at-risk populations inreal-time, public health agencies, pol-icymakers as well as administratorsneed GIS to be able to understand out-break patterns and plan targettedintervention such as the evaluation ofavailable facilities and increasing theirhealthcare capacities. Apart from this,there is also the need for effective com-munication amid all the supportingagencies as well as citizens so that therecan be a coordinated response to thecrisis. Since location is the commondenomination between all these, GISprovides the capability to create a com-mon operating picture that will allowmulti-agency collaboration.

Using GIS functionality such asspatial analytics, mapping and locationintelligence, health officials andGovernment agencies have access toconfirmed and active cases, fatalitiesand recoveries. Since COVID-19impacts demographics in a dispropor-tionate manner, such as the elderly andthose with co-morbidities, mappingcriteria such as social vulnerability, ageand other factors have been helping inmonitoring at-risk groups acrossregions. Based on the available data,agencies can take a look at the relevantarea of interest such as hospitals,location of the cases being reported,areas that have been affected, capaci-ties as well as key demographic datain order to create strategies that can aidin the descriptive, predictive as well asprescriptive stages of combatingCOVID-19.

Ranging from mapping the out-break source, site selection for treat-ment, monitoring supply chains,resource location and so on, GIS hascontributed significantly to fighting thevirus and speeding up efforts in placesthat they are needed the most.

Modern GIS technologies arebased around web tools that improvedata sharing and offer real-time infor-mation that can aid critical decision-making. A comprehensive GIS plat-form can support the entire process ofdisease surveillance, preparedness andresponse. With the world now shift-ing to a new normal, epidemiologistsexpect that outbreaks like this couldhappen more frequently in the future.Hence, GIS will continue to be crucialfor tackling viruses.

(The writer is co-founder anddirector of a technology company)

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Iranian officials on Fridayslammed the interception of

an Iranian passenger plane bya US fighter jet in the skies overSyria as “illegal,” threateningaction against Washington overthe incident.

Iran had said that one of itsairliners, flying from Tehran toBeirut on Thursday, was“harassed” by fighter jets, butlater landed safely in Lebanon.

A US official confirmed

that a US jet had passed by theIranian airliner, but at a safedistance.

According to Iranian stateTV, two fighter jets came with-in a distance of 100 meters (328feet) of the Iranian AirbusA310. The pilot of Mahan AirFlight 1152 quickly took theaircraft to a lower altitude toavoid a collision, the reportsaid.

The sharp maneuvercaused slight injuries amongsome of the passengers.

Beijing: China on Fridayordered the US to close downits consulate in Chengdu inretaliation to Washington’sdecision to shut the Chinesemission in Houston, furtherstraining the already tensebilateral ties.

A statement by the ChineseForeign Ministry said the USEmbassy here has beeninformed of the Chinese gov-ernment’s decision to with-draw its consent for the estab-lishment and operation of theUS Consulate General inChengdu, the provincial capi-tal of southwestern Sichuanprovince.

The consulate, establishedin 1985 and currently havingmore than 200 staff, some 150hired locally, is seen as strate-gically important because itallows the US to gather infor-mation on the sensitive regionof Tibet, where the followers ofthe Dalai Lama have beendemanding meaningful auton-omy.

At a regular press confer-ence on Friday, Chinese foreignministry spokesman Wang

Wenbin accused staff in theChengdu consulate “of inter-fering in China’s internal affairsand harming China’s nationalsecurity interests.”

Wang said that closing theUS mission in Chengdu was a“legitimate and necessaryresponse” to Washingtondemanding that the Chineseconsulate in Houston be shut.US officials have made similaraccusations about Chinesediplomats acting beyond their

duties and engaging in espi-onage related activity.

Earlier, the ministry, in astatement noted that on July 21,the US launched a “unilateralprovocation” by abruptlydemanding that China close itsConsulate General in Houston.

The US move seriouslybreached international law, thebasic norms of internationalrelations, and the terms of theChina-US ConsularConvention, the foreign min-

istry statement said.“It gravely harmed China-

US relations. The measuretaken by China is a legitimateand necessary response to theunjustified act by the US. Itconforms with internationallaw, the basic norms of inter-national relations, and cus-tomary diplomatic practices”, itsaid.

“The current situation inChina-US relations is not whatChina desires to see, and theUS is responsible for all this.We once again urge the US toimmediately retract its wrongdecision and create necessaryconditions for bringing thebilateral relationship back ontrack”, it said.

Chengdu is one of six USforeign missions, including theembassy in Beijing, in main-land China. The US also has aconsulate in Hong Kong.

The US ordered the closureof the Chinese consulate inHouston, a move it said wasaimed “to protect Americanintellectual property and pri-vate information.”

Top American officials

have accused the Chinese con-sulate in Houston of beingpart of Beijing’s espionage oper-ation in the US.

US President DonaldTrump on Wednesday said hemay order the closure of moreChinese consulates in the coun-try. The Chinese consulate inHouston was one of five in theUS, along with the embassy inWashington DC. It has con-sulates in New York, SanFrancisco, Los Angeles andChicago.

Relations between the USand China have taken a turn forthe worse in recent monthsover Beijing’s handling of thecoronavirus pandemic. Freshconcerns over China’s crack-down of its Uygur Muslims inXinjiang and Beijing imposinga controversial national secu-rity law in Hong Kong havealso raised bilateral tensions.

In a major speech on theTrump administration’s Chinapolicy on Thursday, Secretaryof State Mike Pompeo called theChinese consulate in Houston“a hub of spying and intellectualproperty theft.” PTI

Portland (US): A federal judgespecifically blocked US Agentsfrom arresting or using physi-cal force against journalistsand legal observers at protestsin Oregon’s largest city wherePresident Donald Trump istesting the limits of federalpower.

Federal agents appearedto deploy tear gas early Fridayto force thousands of demon-strators from crowding aroundthe federal courthouse.

Protesters had projectedlasers on the building andattempted to take down a secu-rity fence that had been rein-forced to keep demonstrators ata distance.

The protesters moved awayas clouds of gas rose from thearea and flash grenades couldbe heard.

US Judge Michael Simon

made his ruling late Thursday,a day after Portland’s mayorwas tear-gassed by federalagents while making an appear-ance outside a federal court-house during raucous demon-strations.

Protesters have been keptup in the city for nearly two

months since George Floydwas killed in Minneapolis.

Simon had previouslyruled that journalists and legalobservers are exempt frompolice orders requiring pro-testers to disperse once anunlawful assembly has beendeclared. AP

Geneva: Protesters and jour-nalists in US cities, includingPortland in Oregon, must beable to take part in peacefuldemonstrations without riskingarbitrary arrest, detention, theunnecessary use of force orother rights violations, the UNhuman rights office said Friday.

Spokeswoman Liz Throssellof the Office of the HighCommissioner for HumanRights noted reports that somepeaceful demonstrators inPortland had been detained by

unidentified officers. “That is aworry, because it may placethose detained outside the pro-tection of the law, and may giverise to arbitrary detention andother human rights violations,”she told reporters in Geneva.

Throssell said authoritiesshould make sure that securi-ty forces who are deployed are“properly and clearly identi-fied and use force only whennecessary” — proportionate-ly and in line with interna-tional standards. AP

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Washington: Upping the anteon China over its expansion-ist policies and alleged cover-up of the COVID-19 out-break, US Secretary of StateMike Pompeo has pitched fora new “alliance of democra-cies” to counter the challengesposed by the authoritarianChinese regime.

Echoing President DonaldTrump that the US has had“enough” with China, Pompeoannounced “distrust and ver-ify” as US’ new rules ofengagement with the ChineseCommunist Party and calledon all nations to insist on rec-iprocity, transparency andaccountability from them.

Pompeo’s remarks at theNixon Library on Thursday,titled “Communist China andthe Free World’s Future,” castaspersions on Beijing and itsrelations with Washington,

nearly 50 years after PresidentRichard Nixon became the firstUS president to travel to China.

The top American diplo-mat formally announced areversal in the decades-oldChina policy, which nowwould be more of confronta-tionist in nature and organis-ing the rest of the free worldagainst the authoritarianChinese regime led byPresident Xi Jinping.

Today China is “increas-ingly authoritarian at home,and more aggressive in itshostility to freedom every-where else,” he said.

“Let’s not repeat the samemistakes of the past. The chal-lenge of China demands exer-tion from democracies…those in Europe, in Africa, inSouth America, and especial-ly those in the Indo-Pacificregion. This isn’t about con-

tainment. It’s about a complexnew challenge we’ve neverfaced before: The USSR wasclosed off from the free world.Communist China is alreadyhere, within our borders,” heinsisted.

“So we can’t face this chal-lenge alone. The UN, NATO,the G7, the G20, our combinedeconomic, diplomatic, andmilitary power is surelyenough to meet this chal-lenge, if directed properly.Maybe it’s time for a newgrouping of like-mindednations…a new alliance ofdemocracies,” Pompeo said.

He said that if the freeworld did not changeCommunist China, the latterwill change them.

There can be no return topast practices just becausethey are comfortable, or con-venient, he noted. PTI

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Washington: The UnitedStates accused Russia of test-firing an anti-satellite weaponin space, warning that thethreat against Washington’ssystems was “real, serious andincreasing.”

US Space Command saidit “has evidence” that Moscow“conducted a non-destructivetest of a space-based anti-satellite weapon” on July 15.

“Last week’s test is anoth-er example that the threats toUS and Allied space systemsare real, serious and increas-ing,” the Thursday statementcontinued.

“Clearly this is unaccept-

able,” tweeted US nuclear dis-armament negotiator MarshallBillingslea, adding that itwould be a “major issue” dis-cussed next week in Vienna,where he is in talks on a suc-cessor to the New STARTtreaty.

The treaty caps the nuclearwarheads of the US and Russia— the two Cold War-erasuperpowers.

Commenting Friday onthe accusations, Kremlinspokesman Dmitry Peskov saidRussia supports “full demili-tarisation of space and not bas-ing any type of weapons inspace.”

The US Space Commandsaid the test consisted ofRussia’s satellite calledCosmos 2543 injecting anobject into orbit.

Russian state media hassaid that Cosmos-2543 hadbeen deployed by anothersatellite, Cosmos-2542,which was launched on 25 ofNovember 2019 by theRussian military. AFP

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Moscow: Russia on Friday dis-missed accusations from theUnited States and Britain thatit had tested an anti-satelliteweapon in space as “propa-ganda”.

Moscow responded afterthe United States SpaceCommand on Thursdayaccused Russia of test-firing ananti-satellite weapon in spaceand warned the threat againstUS systems was “real, seriousand increasing”. The RussianForeign Ministry insisted onMoscow’s “commitment toobligations on the non-dis-criminatory use and study ofspace with peaceful aims. “Wecall on our US and British col-leagues to show professionalismand instead of some propagan-distic information attacks, sitdown for talks,” the Ministrysaid in a statement. AFP

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Astatue of ChristopherColumbus that drew

chaotic protests in Chicago’sGrant Park was taken downearly Friday amid a plan byPresident Donald Trump todispatch federal law enforce-

ment agents to the city.Crews used a large crane

to remove the statue from itspedestal as a small crowdgathered to watch.

Several work trucks wereseen in the area but it wasunclear where the statue couldbe taken. AP

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Fulfilling a dream of hisIslamic-oriented youth,

Turkish President RecepTayyip Erdogan joined hun-dreds of worshippers on Fridayfor the first Muslim prayers in86 years inside Hagia Sophia,the Istanbul landmark thatserved as one of Christendom’smost significant cathedrals, amosque and a museum beforeits conversion back into aMuslim place of worship.

Thousands of other

Muslim faithful came fromacross Turkey and quicklyfilled specially designated areasoutside of the Byzantine eramonument to join in the inau-gural prayers.

Many others were turnedaway, while OrthodoxChristian church leaders inGreece and the United Statesannounced a “day of mourn-ing” over Hagia Sophia’s returnas a mosque.

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Mechref (Lebanon): France’svisiting foreign ministerpledged Friday 15 millionEuro ($17 million) in aid toLebanon’s schools, which arestruggling under the weight ofthe country’s major econom-ic crisis.

Jean-Yves Le Drian saidFrance will not let the“Lebanese youth alone” facethe crisis that has hit the edu-cation sector hard.

Schools in Lebanon havelet some teachers and admin-istrators go and many face therisk of closure. Parents, strug-gling to pay private schoolfees, enrolled their children inalready overcrowded publicschools.

The French assistance willgo to a network of over 50

French and Francophoneschools. The economic crisishas impacted almost all facetsof life in Lebanon, a smallMediterranean country longconsidered a middle-incomestate. Since last year, unem-ployment has risen and pover-ty deepened, as foreign cur-rency dried up and the cur-rency tumbled to lose morethan 80 per cent of its valuebefore the dollar. Le Drian,who arrived here lateWednesday, said France couldonly help Lebanon face thecrisis if Lebanese officials dotheir part, urging them tointroduce much neededreforms.

Le Drian is the first seniorWestern official to visit thestruggling country. AP

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The Taliban say they areready for talks with

Afghanistan’s political leader-ship after the Muslim holidayof Eid ul Adha at the end ofJuly, offering to hand over thelast of the Government pris-oners in a week’s time, pro-viding the government freesthe last of its Taliban prison-ers.

The offer made byTaliban’s political spokesmanSuhail Shaheen in a tweet late

Thursday follows one of themost significant shakeups inthe Taliban in years.

The group appointed theson of the movement’s fear-some founder to head its mil-itary wing and powerful lead-ership council members to itsnegotiation team.

In Kabul on Friday, theHigh Council for NationalReconciliation, which was cre-ated in May to manage peaceefforts with the Taliban, saidit was still working throughthe Taliban’s prisoner list.

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The exact duration of howlong COVID-19 pandem-

ic will last is still uncertain andresulting in significant down-side risks to growth in FY21,the Reserve Bank of India saidon Friday.

The RBI had earlier saidthe country’s GDP will contractin FY21, but did not give anynumber on the same, even asanalysts are pegging a negativegrowth of up to 9.5 per cent.

“For the fiscal year as awhole, there is still heighteneduncertainty about the durationof the pandemic. As such, thedownside risks to growthremain significant,” the RBIsaid in the half-yearly FinancialStability Report released onFriday.A full restoration ineconomic activity would becontingent upon the supportfor robust health infrastructure,recovery in demand condi-tions and fixing of supply dis-locations, it said. Additionally,the state of global factors liketrade and financial conditionswill also have a bearing on therecovery, the central banksaid.”The near-term economicprospects appear severelyimpacted by lockdown induceddisruptions to both supply anddemand side factors, dimin-ished consumer confidenceand risk aversion,” it noted.

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The Sensex and Nifty endedmarginally lower after a

highly volatile session onFriday as a global equity selloffoutweighed stock-specific gainson the indices.

After gyrating 487 pointsduring the session, the 30-share BSE Sensex settled 11.57points, or 0.03 per cent, lowerat 38,128.90. Similarly, the NSENifty declined 21.30 points, or0.19 per cent, to 11,194.15.

Axis Bank was the top lag-gard in the Sensex pack, shed-ding over 3 per cent, followedby SBI, ICICI Bank, ONGC,HDFC and Kotak Bank.

On the other hand,Reliance Industries’ marketvaluation crossed the ? 14 lakhcrore-mark after its stock ral-lied over 4 per cent to scale itsfresh peak.

HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra,Sun Pharma, IndusInd Bankand Infosys were among theother gainers. According totraders, despite the rally inindex-heavyweight RIL,domestic markets turnedvolatile amid a selloff in glob-al equities on escalating ten-sions between the US andChina.Earlier in the day, Chinaordered the US to close its con-sulate in Chengdu in retaliationto Washington’s decision toshut the Chinese mission inHouston, further straining thealready tense bilateral ties.

Bourses in Shanghai, HongKong, Seoul and Tokyoplunged up to 3.86 per cent.

Stock exchanges in Europewere trading over 1 per centlower in early deals.Meanwhile, international oilbenchmark Brent crude futuresrose 1.09 per cent to USD43.77 per barrel.

Kolkata: Manoj Joshi, GeneralManager, Metro Railway helda high -level meeting with RailVikas Nigam Ltd.(RVNL) offi-cials at Metro Rail Bhavantoday (24.07.2020) to reviewthe progress of different on-going Metro Projects in thecity.

In this meeting, he wasbriefed about the progress ofworks of Noapara-Dakhineswar ExtensionProject. Shri Joshi also took

stock of the present status ofKavi Subhash to HemantaMukherjee Station stretch ofNew Garia- Airport Metroproject as well as Joka toMajerhat stretch of Joka -Esplanade Metro Project.General Manager instructedall to complete all the pendingworks within the stipulatedtime. Senior Officers of MetroRailway were also present inthis meeting.

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Gross non-performing assetsof all banks may jump to

12.5 per cent by the end of thisfiscal under the baseline sce-nario, from 8.5 per cent inMarch 2020, according to theFinancial Stability Report (FSR)released by the Reserve Bankon Friday.

The resilience of Indianbanking in the face of macro-economic shocks was testedthrough macro stress testswhich attempt to assess theimpact of cumulative shocks onbanks balance sheet and gen-erate projections of gross non-performing asset (GNPA)ratios and capital to risk-weighted assets ratio (CRARs)over a one-year horizon undera baseline and three adverse -- medium, severe and verysevere -- scenarios, the reportsaid.

“The stress tests indicatethat the GNPA ratio of allscheduled commercial banks(SCBs) may increase from 8.5per cent in March 2020 to 12.5per cent by March 2021 underthe baseline scenario.

“If the macroeconomicenvironment worsens further,

the ratio may escalate to 14.7per cent under the very severe-ly stressed scenario,” the reportshowed.

The baseline scenario isderived from the forecastedvalues of macroeconomic vari-ables such as GDP growth,combined gross fiscal deficit-to-GDP ratio and CPI infla-tion among others, the reportsaid.

As the asset classification inMarch 2020 could have beeninfluenced by the regulatorymoratorium in the face of theCOVID-19 pandemic, the pro-jections for this exercise arebuilt up using data from June2011 up to the quarter endedDecember 2019 (instead ofMarch 2020), it said.

“Given the fact that impactof moratorium is still uncertainand evolving, the exact natureof how the same will play outon the quality of banking assetsis difficult to ascertain accu-rately,” it said.

The report said that theregulatory dispensations thatthe pandemic has necessitatedin terms of the moratorium onloan instalments and defermentof interest payments may haveimplications for the financial

health of banks, going for-ward.

Under the baseline sce-narios, state-run banks’’ GNPAratio may increase to 15.2 percent by March 2021 from 11.3per cent in March 2020. TheGNPA ratio of private banksand foreign banks may increasefrom 4.2 per cent and 2.3 percent to 7.3 per cent and 3.9 percent, respectively, over thesame period.

The report said systemlevel CRAR is projected todrop from 14.6 per cent inMarch 2020 to 13.3 per cent inMarch 2021 under the baselinescenario and to 11.8 per centunder the very severe stressscenario.

The stress test results indi-cated that five banks may failto meet the minimum capitallevel by March 2021 in a verysevere stress scenario.

The common equity tier I(CET 1) capital ratio of banksmay decline from 11.7 percent in March 2020 to 10.7 percent under the baseline sce-nario and to 9.4 per centunder the very severe stressscenario in March 2021, itshowed.

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The Government has noti-fied new rules for e-com-

merce companies, includingmandatory display of ‘countryof origin’ on their products, andsaid any non-compliance willattract penal action.

The ‘ConsumerProtection (E-Commerce)Rules, 2020’ were notified onThursday. The new rules will beapplicable to all electronicretailers (e-tailers) registered inIndia or abroad but offeringgoods and services to Indianconsumers. The vio-lation of the rules will attractpenal action under theConsumer Protection Act,2019. According to the newrules, the e-commerce playerswill have to display the totalprice of goods and servicesoffered for sale along with abreak-up of other charges.

They are also required tomention the ‘expiry date’ ofgoods offered for sale and the‘country of origin’ of goods andservices that are necessary forenabling the consumer to makean informed decision at the

pre-purchase stage. Underthe rules, e-commerce playershave to display details aboutreturn, refund, exchange, war-ranty and guarantee, deliveryand shipment, and any otherinformation that may berequired by consumers to makeinformed decisions.

Sellers offering goods andservices through a market-place e-commerce entity willhave to provide the abovedetails to the e-commerce enti-ty to be displayed on its plat-form or website.

Under the new rules, e-commerce entities should notimpose “cancellation charges”on consumers cancelling ordersafter confirmation unless sell-ers are ready to pay similarcharges in case cancellation oforders are from their side.

They are also not allowedto “manipulate the price” of thegoods and services offered ontheir platforms to gain unrea-sonable profit and discriminatebetween consumers of thesame class or make any arbi-trary classification of con-sumers affecting their rightsunder the Act.

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The Indian economy willstart recovering complete-

ly by the fourth quarter of thecurrent fiscal and could growby 6 per cent in the next finan-cial year as green shoots are vis-ible in many sectors wherebusiness is back to pre-COVIDlevels, Niti Aayog ViceChairman Rajiv Kumar said onFriday.

Kumar also expressed hopethat COVID-19 will begin totaper off from the metros andtheir economic activity will benormal in the coming quarter.

“I expect the economy tostart recovering completely bythe fourth quarter.... Andachieve a positive growth.

“And next (fiscal) year, itwill be about 6 per cent on alow base,” he said in a Twitter

live session.Several economists, bro-

kerages and multilateral agen-cies have forecast a deep con-traction in India’s economicgrowth, triggered by theCOVID-19 outbreak and sub-sequent lockdowns.

The Niti Aayog vice chair-man noted that green shoots ofrecovery are already visible inmultiple sectors.

“If you notice, in 15-16 sec-tors, businesses are comingback to pre-COVID levels,” hesaid.

Kumar pointed out that forIndia, the timing of theCOVID-19 pandemic wasvery unfortunate as the econ-omy was bottoming out in thelast quarter of 2019-20.

“Our economy was bot-toming out in the fourth quar-ter of 2019-20 after seeing a low

of 4.5 per cent growth but theoutbreak of COVID-19 result-ed in significant negativeimpact in the first quarter ofthis fiscal. “And that downwardmomentum could not bereversed because of COVID-19,” he observed.

Quoting the finance min-ister, Kumar said there is alwaysa possibility of another stimu-lus from the government to

boost demand. “The finance minister has

said there is always the possi-bility of the government com-ing up with another round ofstimulus. Problem is going tobe on the demand side. Thegovernment may look at astimulus again to revive invest-ment spirit and boost demand,”he said.

Kumar also pitched for

asset monetisation of publicsector undertakings (PSUs) asa large number of them areeither under-utilised orunutilised.

“Government holding inland can be brought in as equi-ty and private players can beroped in to do projects in PPP(public private partnership)mode,” he noted.

Kumar also said states canmobilise resources by eitherborrowing from internationalagencies or internally througheffective tax collection.

He said the RBI has donea commendable job by pro-viding liquidity and regulato-ry support to banks and otherfinancial institutions.

“The problem is now indemand and the private sectorwill have to expand capacity,”Kumar emphasised.

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The Government’s endeav-our has been to further

simplify the Direct Tax lawsand has brought in a majorreform by giving option totaxpayers to opt for a new sim-pler tax regime, FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharamansaid on Friday.

In her message on the160th Income Tax Day, theMinister also lauded thedepartment for being respon-sive to the needs of the tax-payers during this pandemictime by relaxing various com-

pliance requirements andaddressing their liquidity con-cerns.

Appreciating its continu-ous efforts towards makingthe tax administration taxpay-er-friendly, transparent andgeared towards facilitating vol-untary compliance, she saidthere has been a paradigmshift in its role in recent years,from being just a revenue col-lecting organisation to becom-ing a more citizen-centricestablishment. “ O u rendeavour has been to contin-ue the initiative of simplifica-tion of Direct Tax laws. In line

with the same, we brought in amajor tax reform by usheringin a new simpler tax regime forour taxpayers, who now havethe option of remaining in theold tax regime or moving to thenew simpler regime,”Sitharaman said.

She said the Governmenthas reduced corporate tax ratesby phasing out exemptions,while encouraging businessesto start manufacturing which isin tandem with the clarion callof Aatmanirbhar Bharat givenby PM Narendra Modi.

She said that the depart-ment has effectively deployed

technological tools to facilitatehonest tax payers and alsoplug revenue leakage.

“Confident that the depart-ment will not only continue toplay a critical role in the growthand prosperity of the nation,but will also strive to keepimproving and set new stan-dards of professionalism,” theMinister added. She laudedthe dept for keeping pace withthe fast changing economiclandscape and adapting to theconcomitant challenge ofensuring that tax revenuesgrow commensurate with thepace of economic growth.

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The upper and lower limitson domestic airfares have

been extended till November24, the Aviation Ministry saidon Friday.

The Ministry had on May21 placed these limits tillAugust 24.

“As per the prevailing sit-uation of COVID-19, theCentral government...directsthat the order shall remain inforce till 2359 hrs on 24thNovember, 2020, or until fur-ther orders,” the AviationMinistry said. Domestic pas-senger services resumed onMay 25 after nearly twomonths of suspension tocombat the coronavirus out-break.

The aviation regulatorDGCA had on May 21 issuedseven bands of ticket pricingwith lower and upper fare lim-its. The first such band con-sists of flights that are of lessthan 40 minutes duration Thelower and the upper fare lim-its for the first band is �2,000and �6,000, respectively.Thesubsequent bands are forflights with durations of 40-60minutes, 60-90 minutes, 90-120 minutes, 120-150 min-utes, 150-180 minutes and180-210 minutes.

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Impact of the loan morato-rium on private non-bank-

ing financial companies(NBFCs) and housing financecompanies (HFCs) can besubstantial, with close to 50per cent of the aggregateassets under moratorium asof April-end, the RBI’sFinancial Stability Reportsaid on Friday.

In March, the RBI hadannounced a moratorium onrepayment of term loans tillMay 31. It was later extend-ed for another three months.

“The impact of themoratorium on privateNBFCs/HFCs can be sub-stantial, with proportion ofassets under the moratoriumfor NBFCs averaged between39-65 per cent based onunderlying assets withapproximately 50 per cent ofthe aggregate assets undermoratorium as on end April2020,” the Financial StabilityReport (FSR) showed.

Based on the disclo-sures made by NBFCs/ HFCs,the assets under moratoriumare dominated by wholesalecustomers and real estatedevelopers, although retailportfolios in the micro-loansand auto loan segments havealso been affected, it said.

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Born in Jashore in 1919 as AmalaNandi, noted Indian danseuse

Amala Shankar died on Friday atthe age of 101. She was sufferingfrom age-related issues, familysources said.

Wife of legendary dancer andchoreographer Uday Shankar, she

was a great practitioner of exper-imental and modern Indian dance.

In 1939, when she was with adance group in Chennai, one nightUday came to Amala and proposedher for marriage. They were mar-ried in 1942 and had two children— Ananda, who went on to

become a reputed compos-er and dancer, and daughterMamata, who is also anactor and dancer.

A sister-in-law of latemusician and composerRavi Shankar who died in2012, she was the mother ofthe late musician AnandaShankar and actor MamataShankar.

“Today, my thamma(grandmother) left us at theage of 101. We just celebrat-ed her birthday last month(June). Feeling so restlessthat there is no flight fromMumbai to Kolkata.Heartbroken. May her soulrest in peace. This is the end

of an era. Love you thamma.Thank you for everything,”her granddaughterSreenanda Shankar tweeted.

She also played the leadrole along with Uday inKalpana (1948), a film byUday about a young dancer’sdreams of setting up a danceacademy, a reflection ofShankar’s own academy,which he founded atAlmora. It was the first filmto present an Indian classi-cal dancer in the leadingrole, and was entirely shot asa dance ballet and a fanta-sy.

She also graced the redcarpet at the Cannes Film

Festival.In 1991, Amala was

conferred the PadmaBhushan. She won manyother recognitions and pres-tigious awards for her extra-ordinary feat in the field ofdancing.

She was also awardedBanga Vibhushan by WestBengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee in 2011for her contributions to theart.

Expressing her condo-lences, CM Mamata saidher demise is an irreparabledamage to the world ofdance.

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When two people meet in achance encounter and instant-ly have a connection, we often

attribute it to luck and discredit the beau-ty of a conscious choice leading to thatepiphany. Filmmaker Aarti Neharsh’sdebut short film, The Song We Sang, pro-duced by Green Chutney Films, exploresthe idea of such choices. Would youregret them or would you considerthem as transformative moments? Twostranger women, Krishna and Alia(played by Serena Walia and AyushiGupta), meet on a festive night ofNavratri. Romance blossoms betweenthem as they walk the night in the lanesof Ahmedabad, exchanging mythologytrivia, laughter, street food and experi-ences of life only to realise it could leadto more.

�Recently, you had said, “Two womenfreely roaming the city, sharing a safespace in the absence of a patriarchalgaze and falling in love was somethingthat I’ve longed to see on screen. Thiswas a very instinctive thought for thislove story...” What did you want toshowcase through this simple yet pow-erful vision?

I majored in film and TV in college.One day, one of my friends, who was alsostudying with me, showed me somebeautiful pictures that he had taken ofPune at night — the empty streets andthe glaring lights. I had just bought a newDSLR then and I remember being real-ly motivated to try my hand at streetphotography for the first time. So whenI was in Mumbai, I took my DSLR outand decided to spend two days walkingdown the lanes of the city without adefinitive plan, taking pictures (I hadmapped out an itinerary of the locals Iwas going to take to make good use ofmy time). But when I actually got downto doing so, I didn’t find it as fulfillingand liberating as I had hoped it to be. Ifound myself looking back every fiveminutes, pulling down my shirt every-time I bent to take a photograph, avoid-ing dark lanes and quiet corners and pri-oritising my safety over a good shot. Itresonated deeply with an Americanpoet and novelist Sylvia Plath’s words:“Yes, my consuming desire is to minglewith road crews, sailors and soldiers, bar-room regulars — to be a part of a scene,anonymous, listening, recording — allthis is spoiled by the fact that I am a girl,a female always supposedly in danger ofassault and battery. My consuminginterest in men and their lives is oftenmisconstrued as a desire to seducethem or as an invitation to intimacy. Yes,God, I want to talk to everybody asdeeply as I can. I want to be able to sleepin an open field, to travel West, to walkfreely at night...”

In this film, I tried showing an idealversion of this reality — one where thecity is a safe space for love, a dreamworld(which hopefully becomes a reality)where two women can immerse them-selves in their conversations and justenjoy their night the way they wish to.

�You said that while writing the film,your co-writer Chintan Bhatt and youwere conscious of the nuances of thegenre. How did you rein everything in?

Conversational films were alwayssomething that both Chintanand I have been drawn towards,especially when it comes to lovestories. We’ve been huge fans offilms where dialogue has led theway for two people to cometogether. To do justice to thisgenre, it was important that weunderstood the heart of the film.The chemistry between Krishnaand Alia was always central and weapproached every conversation,trying to make sure that they seemboth magical and believable at thesame time. This set-up of a first-meet romance automatically gave usa structure that we could play with-

in — one where they go from awkwardsilences, getting to knowing each otherto gradually stripping down their guardsand becoming vulnerable. We used ele-ments like stories, anecdotes as well assome powerful songs in their conversa-tions such as ‘Kai Baar Yuhi Dekha Hai’from Rajnigandha and ‘Na Jaane Kyun’from Chhoti Si Baat to give a warm andnostalgic mood to it. Also, people havecommented on how this was an ode to

Basu Chatterjee’sfilms. I want to

take thismoment tomention thatthis was actual-

ly a homage to

the stunning Vidya Sinha who played thefemale lead in both the above-mentionedfilms. She, unfortunately, passed awaylast year while we were making this film.

�Keeping in mind the mood and thecultural backdrop that form the textureof the film, how does the Navratribackdrop connect with the storyline?

Having my roots in Ahmedabad,Navratri has always been that time of theyear when this otherwise stiff cityloosens up a little and comes to life. I wasnever a good dancer and so I was usu-ally more drawn to what happened out-side the loud garba grounds. People likeme are usually out on the streets, laugh-ing, flirting and eating without any time-bound commitments. There is a sense ofliberation during these nine nights of thefestival (very much contrary to the cel-ebration of the unflawed “divine femi-nine” that Navratri originally stands for).Considering this film is about an instantconnection between two women and anight of romance, this cultural set-up fitreally well. Also, I am a sucker for pret-ty ghaghras so maybe that might havesubconsciously played a role.

�Do you think films around the queercommunity still provoke debates andcontroversies despite attempts to nor-malise conversations?

I am a huge fan of conversationalfilms, especially when it comes to lovestories. But I wouldn’t say I chose a topicto tell this story. It stemmed more fromchoosing a genre that I was keen onexploring as my first film. I don’t thinkthat creative endeavours are always dri-ven by thoughts like what ignites con-troversy and what doesn’t. Of course,there is the politics of the film, which ispretty apparent in what the story is andhow it is told. But I think ultimately, forme and my team, this was an honestattempt to explore a love story in a worldthat was closer to ours. It was an initia-tive to bring something fresh on screenby exploring our understanding of thecraft of filmmaking.

Having said that, it was a consciouschoice to show a queer love story, nor-malising the relationship by not contrast-ing their love with any external backlash.The protagonists are not seeking soci-etal approvals or trying to convince theworld of their sexual orientation, but areunapologetically walking the city andjust breathing in the night of romanceand comfort.

�Chance encounters have been a com-mon leitmotif in films. What wasyour approach while exploring thisidea?

Both Krishna and Alia have livedvery different pasts. The fears that theyhold today, their hopes and desires, toa large extent, have been shaped by thechoices they have made so far. We areafter all a product of our choices — beit conscious ones or even the ones thatmight have seemed inconsequential atthe moment. These two characters arenever passive receivers of their surround-ings but are constantly making choices.Their decision to ditch the garba eventand choosing to roam the streets witheach other is in itself a way of makingthem responsible for this time together.I believe that is what makes the nighteven more special and romantic. Besidesthis, there are also certain choices theymight not be aware of, which have ledthem here. We have tried to explorethose possibilities not just in the narra-tive of the film but also in its structure.

�Since it is a short film, exploring thewarmth of an instant connection,heartbreak and choices, how do you

think they make an impact on themasses?

When has duration not been aproblem? (chuckles) The best reactionswe have gotten on the film so far havebeen that it has made them feel some-thing — be it warmth of an instant con-nection or a heartbreak that made theireyes moist. Like I mentioned, while writ-ing and even while editing the film, ourone truth was the chemistry betweenKrishna and Alia. From writing everyconversation that leads to something big-ger to maintaining the pace and rhythmof the story, choosing small moments,glances, reactions in the edit — every-thing was choreographed keeping inmind the one aim to make these twocharacters and the energy they sharecome alive. It was actually interesting tonot have my editor (also the co-produc-er of the film), Manan Bhatt on set andalso, to have him step in creatively onlywhen the film was at its post-productionstage. This helped in giving it a fresh andunbiased perspective in the edit —something that is always the hardest fora director because you are just soattached with every good moment cap-tured that you just don’t want to let themgo! So to pull all of it off in 20 minuteswas definitely a challenge but a fun one.

�How do think the streaming plat-forms can impact the short film space?

Streaming platforms can hugelyimpact the short film space as I thinkshort films are where the next crop ofcinematic storytellers will emerge. Andjust how streaming platforms are nowrelieving feature films of various limita-tions, dependencies and length bound-ations, they can really help budding pro-duction houses by providing them afinancially-viable model for short films.This will also allow young and indepen-dent filmmakers to focus on the craftitself.

Being a debut film for me and myteam, it has been challenging becausesuch a model for short films is unfortu-nately still close to absent but I am veryhopeful that it will improve in the com-ing years with OTTs and so manystreaming options.

�Such an issue might not find a placein the mainstream cinema. How do youthink short films are the right medium to present such ironies to the audience?

I humbly disagree to the claim thatsuch films might not find a place in themainstream cinema. I believe and hopethat our understanding of mainstreamcinema itself will evolve with the adventof not just new-age filmmakers but witha healthier competition between plat-forms and theatrical releases. Our coun-try has so many different pockets of peo-ple with such varied stories to tell. It isa matter of time that with the tremen-dous exposure to world cinema and for-eign content, which is accessible so eas-ily now, there will be a surge of demandfor feature films which are unique on ourshores as well.

Having said that, like I mentioned,the short-film space is an importantavenue that needs an equally strongmodel to sustain, especially consideringthe digital age and the changing needsand modes of watching films.

�Were there any stereotypes that youhad to hear?

Stereotypes exist in every field andin everything that one does. Isn’t it? ButI think identifying those stereotypes pre-sents an opportunity to pave somethingunique. It is important that we realisethat stereotypes are not norms but aremeant to be identified rightly and bro-ken. One way of doing that is by creat-ing something that challenges thatthought.

(The film will have its India Premiereat 11th edition of Kashish MumbaiInternational Queer Film Festival.)

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� Tell us a little about MrsAmerica, the story of the feministmovement. How did you getinvolved?

It is actually about the drive toratify the Era and the second-wavefeminism. It’s about the equal andopposite women’s movement, whichwas the movement of the tradition-al homemakers, who felt margin-alised by the feminist movement.They felt threatened by the notionof equality. And for me, that was thepoint of wanting to play PhyllisSchlafly, who, at base value, seemsso opposite to me and yet there wasso much lot in common. I wantedto know what was so terrifying forher about the notion of equality.

� You played a woman from yourmother’s generation. Did youspeak to her about it?

When I was growing up, I iden-tified as a feminist in the backlash.So during my childhood, feministswere those who were men-hatingand anti-family. But I thought thatall feminism means to me is equal-ity. Yet my mother who had comeout of that era, even though she wasa single, working parent, didn’tidentify as a feminist in the sensethat I described. But of course, shewould now. So it was a very inter-esting conversation to have with herand particularly because I grew upwith my grandmother. There werea lot of different feelings about whata woman’s role was, which hasalways been fascinating to me.

� While playing the role of PhyllisSchlafly, was it daunting to play areal life person or a historical fig-ure?

There’s another trait that I sharewith Phyllis Schlafly and that is thatI am quite bossy and opinionated.I also feel that I kind of share astrong work ethic with her. And Ilove a challenge. To answer this

question, yes it was absolutelydaunting. And this is for a couple ofreasons — she is not as well-knownas Gloria Steinem, played by RoseByrne who is brilliant by the way.

But to play Phyllis, it was flesh-ing out somebody who had such aparticular and polarising nationalidentity. It was about having to lookbehind and beyond that without anysense of judgement or pre-suppos-ing what she truly thought inside!

� A lot of powerful women areplaying powerful women. How

was the atmosphere like on the set?Loud, noisy but absolutely fun.

� How do you see the currentwave of feminism? How was itworking with women directorson Mrs America?

I’ve always identified as a fem-inist but I was also a part of the anti-wave in the mid-80s and during the90s. Feminism was a dirty word atthe time. The conversation that wasgoing around in the 70s continuednegatively even in the 80s and 90s.Being a feminist meant that you

were anti-family and that is just ananathema to me. I think feminism,at its base, is all about equality,which in itself is powerful. It alsomeans that someone who is holdingall the power has to share, which isfearful for many. True power isabout self-respect and respect forothers. I think if we survive into thenext century, it will be hugely aboutcollaboration. It will involve deep lis-tening, doubt and humility. Womenwho I greatly admire, who’ve doneextraordinary things across indus-tries, I’ll ask them a question hop-ing that they’re going to solve theproblem and they take the time andhave the courage to say ‘I don’tknow, what do you think.’ So sud-denly, you’re in dialogue. Real poweris bringing up other people with youand women are by and large great

in doing that. I am really excitedabout the generations who are com-ing up. It feels now like there are alot of growing examples of womenwho are finding their own voice andhave a more secure and broaderplatform to be seen by audiences.

Alma Har’el’s work was amazingin Honey Boy, and Mariel Heller andClaire Denis — all of these people’swork was so fascinating. I am work-ing on Stateless and finally got towork with the wonderful JocelynMorehouse and Emma Freemanwho are great TV directors. Andapart from Ryan Fleck, all of thedirectors on Mrs America werewomen. Which is incredible!

� In the film, I’m Not There, youplayed Bob Dylan. How do youaccess or inhibit characters thatyou play, particularly those whoare based on a real person?

For that film, Todd Haynes hadapproached me. And he is a quin-tessential director. He came with ahuge mood board and a playlist tohelp me understand the cinematicendeavour and how I could fit intoit.

However, I had a very strangetime and it was quite close to a panicattack. I was almost not going to dothe film because I was I in the mid-dle of playing Elizabeth I. I knew Ihad to lose quite a lot of weight forplaying Dylan. I was a bit out of myhead. And I remember one Saturdaymorning, walking off the set of TheGolden Age, I flew with my kids andhusband to Montreal to film the BobDylan and felt ‘I can do this’. Soevery lunchtime, I was goingthrough the outtakes from thePennebaker documentary to tryand understand his energy. So it wasquite obsessive and I becameobsessed with him in a lot of ways.

(The nine-episode mini-seriesairs on Star World on July 25 and 26at 7 pm.)

� Tell us about the improvi-sation in the film HorribleBosses?

Jason Bateman: There is alot of improvisation in it. Afterwe get the script, which is ofcourse great and that’s whatwe’re here for, we make sure wework on that first. And thenlater, since it’s a three headedthing, you can talk over oneanother and get that conversa-tion rhythmic. If it’s a single shotyou cannot do it, but if there aremultiple you can get therhythm. We did do that a lot.There is surely some funny stuffin that.

� Tell us a little about thescript?

Jason: The script was afunny read. It was very linear,one thing led to the next and soon. You almost predict what’sgoing to happen next, but thatgoes wrong. I thought it wasgoing to be broad, but it wasn’t.The broadness is done in sucha way that its normal for thesecharacters. I was laughing a lot,more than I thought I would,and it was really funny.

� How would you describe

Nick Hendricks?Jason: Nick’s boss wouldn’t

do anything to him outrightly.He’s just very dominating, he

doesn’t give him the promotionthat he deserved. He basicallyappoints himself into that posi-tion. I think its an aggregate of

dominating, emasculating andrelevant stuff and Nick was toodone with it.

He is even seen hanging out

with two guys and they want toget a little proactive with theirfrustration. But that’s not some-thing Nick usually does. So hegot swept up in this and thingsstarted began unfolding in frontof them in a way that theycouldn’t put it back.

� How was it working withSeth Gordon?

Jason: Seth is a very niceperson. As boring as it maysound, but its so important ona set, specially on a comedyset, for things to be light. Youwant to feel safe there becausecomedy is somewhat makinga fool of yourself and you geta lot of laughs if you do notpull your pants down. So,you want to feel safe to makedumb ideas, say and do dumbthings and Seth keeps the setvery nice. There is no yelling,he is a great leader, a kind manand happens to be really tal-ented. I’ve loved every day ofit.

Jennifer Aniston: Sethwas just in hysterics the wholetime. He would finish thetake and used to be so happy.We were all just in a perfectsync. If anything, we were all

like let’s take it a little farther.�What attracted you to therole of Dr Julia Harris?

Jennifer: I’ve never beenasked to do that sort of incred-ibly raunchy and inexcusablecharacter. I read it and justjumped at it immediately. Ihad no fear of the dialogue orthe situation, I just thought itwill be fun.

�Tell us about this film?Jennifer: Almost every

scene is crazy in the film.There was not a single scenewhere I felt it was a little odd.Though, I felt bad for CharlieDay as we met and in just 20minutes we were straddlinghim in lingerie.

�How was it being a part ofthis ensemble comedy?

Jennifer: I’ve always lovedbeing part of an ensemble.That’s the stuff I’m reallyexcited to do, playing such dif-ferent characters. How fun foran actor is to have a day planwith Jb Fox or Julie Bowen,Charlie and Sudeikis. It wasgreat.

(The film premieres onSony PIX on July 26 at 1 pm.)

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The eagerly-awaited IndianPremier League will start on

September 19 in the United ArabEmirates (UAE) with the finalslated on November 8, IPLChairman Brijesh Patel told PTI onFriday.

While the event’s GoverningCouncil will meet next week tochalk out the final details andapprove the schedule, it is under-stood that the BCCI has informal-ly intimated the franchises aboutthe plan.

“The GC will meet shortlybut we have finalised the schedule.It will run from September 19 toNovember 8. We expect the gov-ernment approval to comethrough. It is a full 51-day IPL,”

Patel confirmed the developmentafter PTI reported the dates onThursday.

The IPL has been made possi-ble by the ICC’s decision to post-pone the October-November T20World Cup in Australia owing tothe COVID-19 pandemic due towhich the host country expressedits inability to conduct the event.

Patel said that the StandardOperating Procedure to combat theCOVID-19 threat is being pre-pared and the BCCI will formallywrite to the Emirates CricketBoard.

“We are making the SOP andit will be ready in a few days. Toallow crowd or not depends on theUAE government. Anyway socialdistancing has to be maintained.We have left it for their govern-

ment to decide on that. Will alsobe writing to the UAE board for-mally,” Patel said.

There are three grounds avail-able in the UAE -- DubaiInternational Stadium, SheikhZayed Stadium (Abu Dhabi) andthe Sharjah ground.

It is learnt that the BCCI willbe renting the grounds of the ICCAcademy for training of the teams.

The ICC Academy has twofull-sized cricket grounds alongwith 38 turf pitches, 6 indoorpitches, a 5700 square foot outdoorconditioning area along with phys-iotherapy and medicine centre.

As per the current health pro-tocol in Dubai, there is no need tobe in quarantine if people are car-rying a negative COVID-19 testreport, but if they are not, they will

have to undergo a test.While there was speculation

that the IPL will start fromSeptember 26, the BCCI decided toadvance it by a week in order toensure that the Indian team’s tourof Australia is not jeopardised.

“The Indian team will have amandatory quarantine of 14 daysas per the Australian governmentrules. A delay would have sent theplans haywire," a BCCI official saidon conditions of anonymity.

“The best part is that 51 daysis not at all a curtailed period andbroadcasters will be happy with fullseven-week window,” he added.

While the original schedulehad five double-headers, Patel saidthe new one will feature around 12double-headers which means twomatches each on both Saturdays

and Sundays.The Indians are set to play a

four-match Test series againstAustralia starting December 3 inBrisbane after the IPL.

It is expected that with eachand every team needing at least amonth’s time to train, the IPL fran-chises will be leaving base byAugust 20 which gives them exact-ly four weeks time to prepare.

The cash-rich event was orig-inally scheduled to start at the endof March but the COVID-19 pan-demic and the travel restrictionsthat were put in place to containthe virus, led to an indefinitepostponement.

However, BCCI PresidentSourav Ganguly had always main-tained that the event will be heldsome time this year.

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The lesson of “forward pressagainst fast bowlers” from

Sachin Tendulkar and a tipfrom head coach Ravi Shastri tostand outside the crease led tohis transformation as aprolific Test batsmanafter a disastrousEngland tour in2014, feels India cap-tain Virat Kohli.

Kohli had a night-mare of an Englandtour where he failed in10 successive inningsbut came back later in theyear against Australia scoringfour tons in four games,including two in Adelaide.

In a chat with MayankAgarwal for 'bcci.Tv', theIndian skipper decoded histechnical changes post thatEngland tour.

“The 2014 (tour) willbe a milestone in my career.Lot of people take goodtours as a milestone in theircareers but for me 2014 willbe a milestone,” Kohli toldAgarwal in the show ‘Open

Nets with Mayank’.“I came back from England

and spoke to Sachin Paaji andhad a few sessions with him inMumbai. I told him that I amworking on my hip position. Hemade me realise the importance

of big stride, a for-ward pressagainst fast

bowlers,” Kohliexplained.

“The moment Istarted doing that withmy hip alignment,things started fallingin place nicely and

then the Australiatour happened,”said Kohli.

H eexplained what

went wrong inEngland and how

he realised it.“My hip posi-

tion was an issueduring that England

tour. It was basicallynot adjusting to the

conditions and doingwhat I wanted to do. So

being rigid doesn’t take

you anywhere. It was a long andpainful realization but I realizedit,” he said.

The opening of hip limitedhis shot making ability, Kohlirealized.

“One thing stood out, righthip opens or closes too muchyou now you are in trouble.Keep that hip position nice andside-on and balanced so thatyou can play through both offside and leg side with equal con-trol is very very important,” hesaid.

Anderson was taking himout mainly with outgoing deliv-eries.

“I was too worried thinkingabout the ball that might comein. I was opening up a bit tooearly so the ball that was goingaway I was getting out to it everytime. I just couldn't get past thatconfusion,” he admitted.

“He (Shastri) told me onething, to stand outside thecrease. He explained the mind-set behind it. 'You should be incontrol of the space you areplaying in and not giving oppor-tunities to the bowler to get youout’.”

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England’s truncated battingdepartment fell cheaply as dis-ciplined bowling by the West

Indies reduced the hosts to 131-4 bytea on the first day of the deciding testat Old Trafford on Friday.

Ollie Pope (24) and wicketkeep-er Jos Buttler (2) were aiming torebuild the innings in Manchester,with only a long tail left for Englandafter the dismissals of Ben Stokes andRory Burns in the second session.

Stokes - promoted to No. 4 soEngland could squeeze in another fastbowler - was bowled by a beautythrough the gate by Kemar Roach for20, having added 13 runs to his scoreat lunch.

Burns reached his sixth test half-century but departed soon after for57, wafting at a ball from spinnerRoston Chase that was too close tohim and finding an edge that wastaken one-handed - and brilliantly -by Rahkeem Cornwall at slip.

England is crawling along, scor-ing 65 runs at a rate of 2.5 per overbetween lunch and tea.

Before lunch, the West Indiessnared Dom Sibley in the first overand captain Joe Root - to a run-out -

near the end of the session afterputting England into bat under grayskies.

England's batting lineup has beenweakened after choosing to select fourfast bowlers as well as a spinner forthe test. Stokes, the star of the secondtest won by England inManchester, is struggling for full fit-

ness and unlikely to bowl, so is beingused as a specialist batsman.

West Indies paceman ShannonGabriel started for the third straightmatch this series and spent some timeoff the field with an apparent ham-string strain after pulling up duringhis fourth over. He returned, though,to the relief of captain Jason Holder

and is back bowling.Roach has 2-28 off 12.4 overs, and

needs one more wicket for 200 intests.

The series is tied at 1-1 and theWindies, who won the first test inSouthampton, are looking to capturea test series in England for the firsttime since 1988.

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