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tuesday, july 14, 2020, nashik, vol 35, no. 339www.deshdoottimes.com PaGes 4 3.... watching north maharashtra

Pic : satish devGiRe

COVID-19 melts down ice cream business * Rs 50 cr turnover hit * Demand for 5% GST

Challenge for teachers to grasp attention of childrenNashIk: Online being the new mantra for

today’s education, but has brought obstacles for some teachers who deal with pre-primary and pri-mary section students. An average attention span of a five-year-old is five to seven minutes. Teaching them online where they aren’t physically present, it brings a challenge for teachers to control the kids. In order to understand how all the kids are being handled, Deshdoot Times talked to some teachers and tried to know how they are teaching tiny tots.

I teach the pre primary section, and I believe that if you have to teach them, you have to act like you’re one of them. To grab their attention, we use puppets and do imitations to teach them. We teach rhymes and other concepts to them, and ask them to do repetitions so that learning becomes fun and easy. We also include their mothers while we teach. For example, we ask their mothers to use dough for teaching them shapes. This helps in developing their motor skills. Under the guidance of our Principal, we have started doing interactive calls now. Kids love the individual attention we provide to them. We call eight students daily and talk to them about studying and their daily routine.

- varsha chawla, coordinator, kids Paradise

Teaching primary section is not an easy task. Though the lecture is of 40 minutes, I make them study for 20 minutes only because after that, the noise increases and one comes to know that they won’t pay attention now. However, some teachers just want to finish their syllabus not realising that students aren’t paying attention. Apart from zoom meetings, we call them individually and take updates. We give them worksheets. We praise the students on zoom meeting for answering properly by clapping for them. Looking at this, even other students start trying. We ask each one of them about their good habits and clap for them too to keep interest intact, and to motivate others to inculcate good habits.

- anonymous

Some of the children in our school don’t have a mobile phone. We are thinking to provide them with second hand phones so that the learning process doesn’t stop. Apart from that, if we talk about kids from primary section, we have developed a few things to grab their attention. When we are teaching them on zoom app, we teach them with the help of videos. Also, we make videos in our own voice so as to grab their attention. We mute all the kids while explaining to avoid background noise. Once the lecture is completed, we unmute them for further interaction. We even call our kids individually to analyse their growth. We take their reading, make them recite poetry and ask questions to make things clearer. We even send them worksheets so as to indulge them in studying.

- kavita jain, english Prep school

e-court to be set up soon in district court

NashIk: In a first in country, an e-court will be set up in Nashik district court. It is a first pilot project in the country in which work from home method will be used for work. This court will start its functioning by July end, source informed. If this project succeeds, online work will be started in all courts in the country in future.

The judicial work has been hampered due to lockdown. Many cases are pend-ing. Supreme Court was taking efforts to shift court functioning to online. A com-mittee under justice of Supreme Court Dr Dhananjay Chandrachud has been formed for this. Following its approval a work to set up e-court in district court has gathered a momentum. e-court will be inaugurated online. As all work related to court will go online, complainants will be benefitted, stated Maharashtra and Goa Bar Associa-tion member Adv Jayant Jaibhave.

The concept of e-court will prove important in speeding up judicial process considering the number of cases. Many changes are taking place due to this. The judicial work which has been stalled for the last three months will be restarted due to e-court. The court will function this way in upcoming period, said president of Nashik Bar Association Adv Nitin Thakre.

Works like filing a case, hearing, judge-ment delivery and issuance of summons will be conducted online after start of e-court pro-cess. Lawyers can take part in court function-ing from their chambers or home. Senior as well as young lawyers have positive approach regarding e-court, Adv Thakre has made it clear. Regular court functioning will continue. However, considering current Corona crisis and growing importance of e-court in future, e-court will be useful for lawyers, complain-ants, government, court administration and everyone, he stated.

COVID insurance cover for students giving MUhs exams

Option for students to select nearby exam centre

another leopard trapped in Darna river basin

Samangaon villagers heave sigh of reliefNashIk: A leopard, which had

terrorised the locals as it lurked in the vicinity of Darna area, was finally trapped in a cage here on Monday. The forest depart-ment team had installed about 20 cages in the area and using various equipment and ex-periments to trap the leopard. Final-ly, it succeeded on Monday morning. In Samangaon, an adult male leopard was trapped in a cage set up in a farm.

On June 28, Om Vishnu Kadbhane,

a four years old, who was playing in the garden of Eknath Jagtap’s

house in Patil farm, Samangaon, was at-tacked by a leopard. Fortunately, he sur-vived the attack. Af-ter that the cage was installed according to the marks of leopard. The leopard finally got trapped in the early morning on July 13, in search of prey in the cage set up in the farm land.

As the leopard growled in the cage, it caught the attention of the villagers who had gone to the field in the morning. After

finding out that there is leopard in the cage, the villagers informed the forest department about it. A team of Range Forest Officer Vivek Bhadane, forest ranger Madhukar Gosavi, Anil Ah-irrao, forest ranger Govind Pandhare and Vijay Patil reached Samangaon immediately.

Soon after, the driver Praveen Rathod along with the wildlife rescue vehicle of Nashik west forest depart-ment reached the spot immediately. The leopard’s captive cage was im-mediately moved safely by foresters from the spot. The leopard is a male adult of about eight years old and is in good health and will be medically examined. According to senior forest department sources, the leopard will not be released in its natural habitat.

Loans of over one lakh farmers waived offNashIk: The Mahavikas Aghadi

government has waived off farm loans of over one lakh farmers in the district. The government had promised waiver of loans up to Rs 2 lakh taken by farmers who have registered under its Mahatma Jyotirao Phule farm loan waiver scheme. A loan waiver amount of up to Rs. 2 lakh each has been deposited in the bank accounts of 1,18,799 benefi-ciary farmers, district administration sources said.

The government has fulfilled the promise of loan waiver given to farmers. Nashik district has received a fund of Rs. 1,090.93 crore. Debt waiver amount of Rs. 2 lakhs has been deposited in the accounts of as many as 1,10,290 farmers in the district and many marginalised farmers have

become debt-free. This has paved the way for farmers to get new loans for the current kharif season. With the

waiver fund getting deposited into their accounts, there is an atmosphere of happiness among the beneficiary farmers.

CM Uddhav Thackeray had prom-ised to free the farmers from debt in its poll manifesto and after coming to power had announced the Mahatma Phule Debt Waiver Scheme. He gave big relief by waiving the debts of farm-ers up to Rs 2 lakh without imposing any pre-conditions.

Altogether 1,33,216 farmers in the district were became eligible for loan waiver and a fund of Rs 1445.98

crore was required for complete waiver. The amount was to be cred-ited directly into the ben-eficiaries’ bank accounts. Accordingly, in the first phase, 520 farmers from

Chandori in Niphad tehsil and 258 farmers from Sonambe in Sinnar were received Rs 2 lakh each into their linked bank accounts.

However, the code of conduct for Gram Panchayat elections was en-forced in the district at the beginning of March and as a result of that benefit of debt waiver could not be availed. Then came the crisis of Corona. De-spite shortage of funds in the state’s exchequer, the government however

started disbursing loan waiver amount to the beneficiary farmers for the month of July.

As many as 1,33,000 farmers in the district had become eligible for loan waiver. Out of which 1,18,799 accounts were verified and authenti-cated, while 4,902 accounts adjudged ineligible due to lack of technical information. A total of Rs 1,090.93 crore have been received by banks for debt waiver.

Funds received by banksDistrict Bank - Rs 875.23 crore Nationalised and credit societies - Rs 134.70 crore

the district has received fund of Rs

Rs. 1,090.93 crore from the government for debt waiver. The loan waiver amount has been credited into the bank accounts of 1,10,290 farmers in the district.

- Gautam Balsane, district sub-registrar

q Loan waiver up to Rs two lakh each q District receives Rs 1090.93 crore

NashIk: Maharashtra University of Health Sci-ences (MUHS) has allowed students to select nearby ex-amination centre from their residence to appear for the summer examinations.

A COVID-19 insurance scheme has also been pro-vided for all pre-graduate, post-graduate students and examiness considering the risk of infection while appearing for upcoming university examinations amid Coronavirus epi-demic. MUHS’ manage-ment council and examina-tion board have recently gave its approval to the scheme.

As a special provision pre-graduate students can select nearby college as ex-amination centre or they can select the current college where they are studying. They have to appear for written and practical exami-nations at that examination centre which they select.

All post-graduate stu-dents should select nearby college as examination cen-tre to avoid long distance journey in current situa-tion. They should sent their preference to the university through Principals of their colleges till July 14, 2020, informed examination con-troller Dr Ajit Pathak and

added that a circular re-garding this has been made available on website of the university.

On the backdrop of cur-rent Covid-19 pandemic, all pre-graduate, post-graduate students and examinees will be given Rs 1 lakh for treat-ment in case of infection and Rs 3 lakh in case of death under COVID insur-ance scheme, Dr Pathak also informed.

Vice Chancellor Dr Dilip Mhaisekar and registrar Dr Kalidas Chavan have asked students to follow the guide-lines issued by government regarding COVID-19 and take care of their health.

The ice cream season is completely wasted. The income from the three peak months is used to recover the expenses of the entire year. However it seems that even the amount invested will not be recovered. The government should reduce the GST on ice cream to 5 percent.

- ashish nahar, secretary, indian ice cream manufacturers’

association

NashIk: COVID-19 pandemic has melted down the ice cream busi-ness and rendered hundreds of those engaged in it jobless in the city during the peak months of March, April, May and June.

The ice cream in-dustry including the local and branded one and the retailers as well as roadside vendors were badly hit since enforcement of the lockdown due to Covid-19 pandemic.

According to an estimate, the indus-try has already incurred heavy losses derailing the entire business in the peak season.

During this summers the ice creams were invisible and the ice cream vendors were rendered jobless and penniless in lockdown. The ice cream factories were locked with no production in the season

when marriages were solemnised most. In Nashik district, the turnover of around Rs 50 crore in ice cream sales for 4 peak months of summer has come to a standstill. The Indian Ice Cream Manu-facturers’ Association has demanded

reduction in GST to mitigate loss.

“The GST on ice cream should be re-duced from 18 per

cent to 5 per cent,” the association urged

the central government.Summer and cold drinks have be-

come synonyms for each other. Profits earned during the summer ice cream business in peak months of March, April and May cover the expenses of the entire year. But this summer, the corona has hit the cold drink and ice cream business severely. Therefore, all the ice cream producers in the state, including the district, are more concern about loss

mitigation, unemployment problem and revival of the business in near future as the traders fear the present situation may persists till next season.

Other dairy products including Shrikhand and Paneer are charged with 5 per cent GST while ice cream has been levied 18% GST. As a result of that, trad-ers are demanding 5 per cent GST for at least the next two years.

Four killed in accident

NashIk: Four killed on the spot after a pick-up vehicle collided head-on with two-wheeler. This in-cident occurred on Monday afternoon on Makhmala-bad-Matori road.

A pick-up vehicle which was coming from opposite direction hit two-wheeler (MH 15 CL 2988). As an impact, husband and wife, their three-year-old son and other killed on the spot.

The deceased have been identified as Dilip Namdeo Dive (25, resi-dent of Ojharkhed), Kes-hav Khode (35), Meerabai Keshav Khode (30) and Anil Keshav Khode (3), all residents of Sapgaon, tehsil Trimbakeshwar). Meanwhile, pick-up driver fled from the spot after ac-cident.

Reopening of schoolslocal committee

to decideNashIk: The school

education department has given powers to local com-mittee to decide about when and how schools will be opened. The government has issued guidelines earlier about reopening of schools. As local administration is aware about outbreak of Coronavirus at local level, powers to reopen schools have been given to the District Collector, Gram Panchayat and school man-agement committee.

Meanwhile, private Eng-lish medium schools had been asked not to hike fees as parents are facing finan-cial issue. As schools have gone to the court against this, this matter is under judiciary.

a farmer taking buffalo and calves to farm for grazing.

Covid-19 tally in district crosses 7,000-mark

NashIk: The Covid-19 tally in dis-trict raced past the 7000-mark on Monday after a single-day spike of 322 new cases. With this, the pandemic tally has reached 7,269. On the other, record 1,028 new suspects have been admitted in a single day. As nine patients have succumbed to the disease, the death toll h a s moved up to 341.

Of the total reports received on Monday, 220 patients have tested posi-tive from the city. With this the tally of infected patients in the city has reached 4,263. Of the total positive patients, patients are from Nashik Road, Hirawadi, Peth Road, Old Nashik, Pancha-vati, Jail Road, Indiranagar, Gautamnagar, Saraf Bazaar and Indiranagar areas.

On the other, 86 patients from rural parts of the district have tested positive. With this the number of infected in rural parts has climbed to 1,712. They are from Ojhar, Igatpuri, Lasalgaon, Palse,

Trimbakeshwar, Ghoti, Igatpuri, Vilholi, Dindori, Nandgaon and Deolali Camp.

As six new patients have turned posi-tive on Monday, pandemic tally in Male-gaon has increased to 1,147. The number of non-native patients stands at 137.

As 270 patients have won battle against Covid-19, the number of those recovered has reached 4,789.

On the other hand number of suspect patients is rising. A

record 1,028 new suspect patients have been admit-

ted on Monday. Among them, 733 are from city, two from district civil hospital, 232 from rural parts of the district, 12 from Malegaon and four from Dr Vasan-trao Pawar medical college hospital.

Of the total 28,528 swab samples which have been tested in the district so far, 20,577 have been tested negative, while 7,269 have been turned positive. Currently, district has 2,069 active cases.

Nashik tuesday, July 14, 2020 2Nation / World

c m y k c m y k

Doctors work at an ICU ward of a COVID-19 isolation center in Mumbai.

PM interacts with Google CEO Sundar Pichai

NEw DElhI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday interacted with the CEO of Google Sundar Pichai on using the power of technology to transform the lives of India’s farmers, youngsters and entre-preneurs.

‘ T h i s m o r n i n g , had an ex-t r e m e l y fruitful in-t e r a c t i o n with sun-darpichai. We spoke on a wide range of subjects, particularly leveraging the power of technology to transform the lives of India’s farm-ers, youngsters and entre-preneurs,’ the PM said in a tweet.

In a separate tweet, Pi-

chai said that Google has announced a 10 billion US dollars digitization fund to help accelerate India’s digital economy.

‘#GoogleForIndia we announced a new $10B

digitization fund to help accelerate India’s digital economy. We’re proud to support PMnarendramodi’s vision for Digital India - many thanks to Minister R S Prasad Minister for HRD @DrRPNishank for joining us,’ Sundar Pichai said.

COVid-19: india

Over 8.7 lakh cases, 23174 deaths, 553471 cured: health Ministry

NEw DElhI: India saw yet another record single-day jump of 28,701 COVID-19 cases, pushing its tally to 8,78,254 on Monday, while the death toll climbed to 23,174 with 500 people suc-cumbing to the infection, ac-cording to the Union Health Ministry data.

The number of recoveries stands at 5,53,471 while there are 3,01,609 active cases of coronavirus infection pres-ently in the country and one person has migrated, the up-dated data at 8 am showed.

“Thus, around 63.01 per cent of patients have recov-ered so far,” an official said.

The total number of con-firmed cases includes for-eigners. This was the fourth consecutive day that CO-VID-19 cases in the country

have increased by more than 26,000. According to the ICMR, 1,18,06,256 samples had been tested for CO-VID-19 till July 12, of these 2,19,103 samples were tested on Sunday.

Of the 500 new deaths reported, 173 are from Ma-harashtra, 71 from Karnataka, 68 from Tamil Nadu, 37 from Delhi, 26 from West Bengal, 21 from Uttar Pradesh, 19 from Andhra Pradesh, 13 from Gujarat, 12 from Bihar, 10 from Jammu and Kashmir, nine from Madhya Pradesh, eight from Telangana, seven each from Rajasthan and Jharkhand, four each from Haryana and Punjab, three from Odisha, two each from Kerala, Goa and Chhattis-garh, and one each from Ut-tarakhand and Chandigarh.

Of the total 23,174 deaths reported so far, Maharashtra accounted for the highest 10,289 fatalities followed by Delhi with 3,371, Gujarat 2,045, Tamil Nadu 1,966, Ut-tar Pradesh 934, West Bengal 932, Madhya Pradesh 653, Karnataka 684 and Rajast-han 510. So far, 356 people have died of COVID-19 in Telangana, 328 in Andhra Pradesh, 301 in Haryana, 199 in Punjab, 179 in Jammu and Kashmir, 143 in Bihar, 64 in Odisha, 47 in Uttarakhand, 35 in Assam and 31 in Kerala. Jharkhand has registered 30 deaths, Chhattisgarh 19, Pu-ducherry 18, Goa 14, Him-achal Pradesh 11, Chandigarh eight, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Tripura two and Ladakh has reported one fatality.

Army chief visits forward areas in Jammu

JAMMU: Chief of Army Staff, General MM Naravane on Monday visited forward areas of the Rising Star Corps to review the cur-rent security situation and operational readiness of the troops deployed on ground in Jammu-Pathankot region.

The Army Chief was received in Jammu by Lt Gen RP Singh, GOC-in-C Western Command, Lt Gen Upendra Dwivedi, GOC Ris-ing Star Corps, Maj Gen VB Nair, GOC Tiger Division and Air Cmde AS Pathania, AOC, AF Stn Jammu.

The COAS was briefed by Lt Gen Upendra Dwivedi, GOC, Rising Star Corps on the operational preparedness, up-gradation of security in-frastructure and the internal security matters.

General MM Naravane,

accompanied by GOC Tiger Division, reviewed opera-tional preparedness in for-ward areas. He interacted with the field formation Commanders and troops on ground during forward area visit.

He also visited the for-ward areas of Gurj Division and was briefed by Maj Gen YP Khanduri, GOC Gurj Division. The COAS reinstated the fact of ‘Zero tolerance’ against the cease-fire violations by Pakistan and infiltration attempts by terrorists.

He further highlighted that all agencies of the ser-vices and Govt are working together relentlessly and will continue to do the same to defeat the nefarious design of proxy war being fueled by our adversaries.

Athawale invites Sharad Pawar to join NDA

M U M b A I : U n i o n minister and RPI(A) chief Ramdas Athawale on Mon-day invited NCP president Sharad Pawar to join the BJP-led NDA, saying the country and Maharash-tra will benefit from the veteran politician’s vast experience.

Pawar should support the BJP instead of the Shiv Sena, Athawale, whose party is a constituent of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), said in a statement.

“The BJP, NCP and RPI(A) should form a grand alliance in Maharashtra,” he said, adding that Pawar should work with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“The country and Ma-harashtra will benefit out

of Pawars vast experience and hence, it is extremely necessary for Pawar to con-siderjoining the NDA. I in-vite him to join the NDA,” the Union social justice minister said.

The “grand alliance of the BJP, NCP and RPI(A)”would be a for-midable one, Athawale claimed.

Pawar played a key role in stitching the alliance of the Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress to form govern-ment in Maharashtra last year, after the Uddhav Thackeray-led party fell out with the BJP over the issue of sharing the chief ministerial post.

Pawar said his offer of outside support to the BJP in 2014 to form govern-

ment in Maharashtrawas a “political ploy” aimed to keep the Shiv Sena away from its then ally.

The Maratha strongman admitted he took steps to “widen thedistance between the BJP and Shiv Sena”.

He also said after the last year’s Assembly polls, BJP leaders approached him to support the Deven-dra Fadnavis government in the state, but he said Prime Minister Modi that the NCP will not go with the BJP and if possible, it will form government with the Shiv Sena or sit in the opposition.

“The BJP doesnt believe that non-BJP parties have the right to function in a democratic set up,” Pawar said.

Rahul takes jibe at Amit Shah

NEw DElhI: Continu-ing his attack against the NDA government over its ‘mishandling’ of the COVID pandemic, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday took a jibe on the comments by Home Minister Amit Shah that India is at a “good posi-tion” in the battle against the coronavirus pandemic.

Rahul posted on his Twit-ter account a graph depicting the “ideal curve” for CO-VID-19 cases, showing the seven-day count of average coronavirus cases in the US, India, South Korea and New Zealand..‘India at good posi-tion in #COVID19 battle?,’he posted on twitter.

In his address over a webi-nar link after participating in a mega plantation drive initiated by the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) on Sunday,

Shah had said that the world is appreciating India’s battle against coronavirus. “We are at a good position in this coro-navirus battle and will continue this fight with determination and there is no atmosphere of fear. We have the passion to battle it and enthusiasm to defeat it (coronavirus),” Shah had said . “The world is see-ing that if a successful battle has been fought anywhere across the globe against the coronavirus it is India under the leadership of Prime Min-ister Narendra Modi,” Shah said. Rahul and the Congress party have been critical of the NDA government’s handling of the COVID pandemic and have attacked the government for failing to provide a cash transfer to the poor people who have been severely affected by the pandemic.

Rajasthan crisis

Gehlot camp rubbishes

Pilot’s claimNEw DElhI/JAI-

PUR: With a political crisis threatening the Ashok Ge-hlot government in Rajast-han, as many as 96 Congress MLAs arrived at the Chief Minister’s residence for a legislative party meeting in Jaipur on Monday.The party had issued a whip to all its MLAs, mandating every-one’s presence in the meet-ing. Late on Sunday night, Congress general secretary and Rajasthan-in-charge Avinash Pande dismissed Deputy Chief Minister Sa-chin Pilot’s claims that the government was reduced to a minority, saying that 109 MLAs have signed letters to show their allegiance to the present government.

Govt playing games to hide its failure: Priyanka

lUCkNOw: Terming the decision of two-day weekly lockdown in Uttar Pradesh a puzzle, Con-gress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Monday took a jibe at the government saying that the government was playing games to hide its failure.

Attaching a graph of coronavirus in UP, Vadra tweeted, “Nearly 5,000 cases of novel coronavi-rus have been re-ported in the last three days, which include 1,347 cases on July 10, 1,403 cases on July 11 and 1,388 cases on July 12.”

On the government’s decision of two-day lock-down over the weekend, she said, “The logic be-hind weekend lockdown’s ‘baby pack’ has not been

understood by anybody till now. Playing games to hide failure continues.”

Further, she took a dig quoting a ‘shayari,’ “Marz badhta gaya, jyo jyo dawa ki (Illness increased even as medication was pro-vided).”

Notably, the first 5,000 cases were reported in UP in about 75 days while the pace of the infection is now increasing by the day. However, the pace of coro-navirus testing has also been increased by many times during this time.

Two militants killed in

encounterA N A N T N A G : Tw o

militants were killed in an encounter which ensued after security forces launched a Cordon and Search Operation (CASO) in this south Kash-mir district on Monday.

A woman was injured in the exchange of fire, official sources said.

They said following spe-cific information about pres-ence of militants, a joint CASO was launched by troops of Rashtriya Rifles (RR), CRPF and Special Operations Group (SOG) of Jammu and Kashmir police at Sarigufwara, Anantnag, in the wee hours on Monday.

“All exit points were sealed and house-to-house searches were launched,” they said, adding when the search party was moving towards a particular house, mi l i tants h id ing there , opened fire.

Visitors crowd the beach in Santa Monica, California amid the coronavirus pandemic. A heatwave has brought crowds to California’s beaches as the state

grappled with a spike in coronavirus infections and hospitalizations.

Omar takes dig at people over wearing of masksSRINAGAR: Taking

a dig at people who wear masks without covering nose and mouth for the prevention of COVID-19 pandemic, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdul-lah said the chin does not need protection.

‘Your chin does not need the protection of a mask but your nose and mouth do,’ the vice-president of the Na-tional Conference (NC) said, adding that use a mask for the sake of one’s own health not because one will be fined if seen without it.

Taking to micro-blogging site twitter Omar said, “This tweet is for all the people I’ve seen on TV, on the streets & around me. Your chin doesn’t need the protec-tion of a mask, your nose & mouth do. Use a mask for the sake of your own health not because you will be fined if you don’t”. He also

re-tweeted a tweet of 56th Governor of New York An-drew Cuomo which reads “ One is a mask. The other is a chin guard. No one said you to wear a chin guard. Wear a mask”. Meanwhile, District Magistrate (DM), Srinagar, Dr Shahid Choudhary con-cerned over the reports of people not wearing masks in the city and outskirts, said that the fine for face mask violations has been enhanced to Rs 1,000 whereas the violation of social distancing guidelines in red zones will be fined at 10000 rupees. There will be other punish-ments too, he said.

In another tweet, Abdul-lah sought help from a re-covered COVID-19 pa-tient to donate plasma for a woman saying what better gift can a COVID survivor can give to celebrate his or her recovery than to help someone else recover.

Sikh community in US pledges to work for development of Punjab

wAShINGTON: The Sikh community in the US has vowed to work for the development of Punjab, par-ticularly in areas of education and environment, as they hailed the outreach efforts of the Indian Embassy in resolv-ing their issues.

The Sikhs in America are willing to invest in the devel-opment of Punjab, eminent Sikh American businessman Gary Grewal said after the first-ever virtual meeting of the community with India’s Ambassador to the US Taran-jit Singh Sandhu last week.

About 100 eminent Sikh leaders from across the coun-try participated in the virtual meeting with Sandhu, who organised the event as part of his outreach with the com-munity. “He encouraged us to do other good things. God has blessed us, we should share with others...offering

scholarships to students. Ev-erybody (from the Sikh com-munity) was very happy to be at the meeting. There was a lot of sharing of ideas and thoughts,” Grewal said, add-ing that many members of the community also discussed the reopening of the Kartarpur Corridor with Pakistan.

“I appreciated that Am-bassador Sandhu has invited the Sikh community members for this dialogue and it will be important there is concrete follow up to these sugges-tions which can engage many to contribute positively for the betterment of the younger generation in Punjab,” said Dr Rajwant Singh, president of EcoSikh, and co-founder, National Sikh Campaign.

He said it was important that the vast Punjabi and Sikh diaspora is engaged in re-building Punjab and create a brighter future for the State.

Nearly 10 million children may never return to school: Charity

lONDON: Some 9.7 million children world-wide “could be forced out of school forever” by the end of this year, as a result of increasing poverty and budget cuts incurred by the COVID-19 pandemic, London-headquartered charity Save the Children warned Monday.

In 12 countries, mainly in West and Central Africa but also including Yemen and Afghanistan, children are at extremely high risk of not going back to school after the lockdowns are lifted, while in another 28 countries, they are at high or moderate risk, the charity said in a report published on its website.

Lockdown measures during the pandemic saw a peak of 1.6 billion children out of school globally, ac-

cording to the report.Calling this an unprec-

edented education emer-gency, Inger Ashing, CEO of Save the Children, said: “We know the poorest, most marginalised chil-dren who were already the furthest behind have suf-fered the greatest loss.”

In a mid-range bud-get scenario, some of the poorest countries in the world will see a shortfall of 77 billion US dollars in education spending during the next 18 months, while in those countries where governments use educa-tion spending to tackle COVID-19, the figure could soar to 192 billion dollars by the end of 2021, the report said.

Ashing expressed wor-ries that the impending budget crunch let exist-

ing inequality grow even wider between the rich and the poor, and between boys and girls.

Girls are at increased risk of gender-based vi-olence, child marriage and teen pregnancy dur-ing school shutdown, the report said. To address this education emergency, Save the Children, which has 29 national members worldwide, urges gov-ernments and donors to increase funding of educa-tion, with 35 billion dol-lars to be made available by the World Bank.

The agency also in its report calls on commer-cial creditors to suspend debt repayments by low-income countries, which could free up 14 billion dollars for investment in education.

Human trials of Aussie developed COVID-19 vaccine starts

CANbERRA: Human trials of the COVID-19 vaccine development by Australia’s University of Queensland (UQ) has start-ed, confirmed the university officials on Monday.

First phase of the trial will involve a p p r o x i -mately 120 volunteers aged be -tween 18 a n d 5 5 , they would r e c e i v e two doses of the drug and would follow the same social dis-tancing norms as the general population.

The human trial phase follows months of pre-clinical testing by the Uni-versity, the vaccine can-didate was selected as the

university’s most promising in mid-February. As per UQ vaccine project co-leader Professor Paul Young, the vaccine has is able to induce antibodies that are capable of neutralising the virus and preliminary studies show

that it is safe for people.Results of the f irst

phase are expected to be available in about three months, progression to the next stage of trials is aimed to be undertaken as soon as possible.

Mexico tops 35,000 deaths, 4th highest toll

MExICO CITy: Mex-ican officials say the number of confirmed COVID-19 deaths has passed 35,000, making it the country with the fourth highest total.

A count by Johns Hop-kins University has only the United States, Brazil and Britain with more con-firmed deaths from the new coronavirus. Sunday’s rise to 35,006 confirmed deaths moved Mexico, a country with 130 million inhabitants, past Italy. President Andr s Manuel L pez Obrador in-sisted the development of the pandemic in Mexico is positive, it is good because of the country’s 32 states only nine had increases in infections. The bottom line is that the pandemic is on the downside, that it is losing intensity, Mexico’s president said.

Nashik tuesday, July 14, 2020 3

c m y k

Printed & Published by Rajendra Krishnarao on behalf of Shrirang Prakashan Pvt. Ltd., and Printed at Shrirang Prakashan Pvt. Ltd., Plot No. B-19/20, NICE, Satpur, Nashik- 422007. Ph: 2305466, Pun-lished at New Congress House, M.G. Road, Nashik-422001. 1 Executive Editor - Dr. Vaishali Balajiwale, 1 Managing Editor - Janak Sarda. Ph : Nashik- 2575716, Fax- 2570938, Mumbai - 22042882, Pune- 5530013, Delhi- 25404548, RNI No. 69097/1998

Business / Sports

A Story a Day initiative launches in Nashik

NAShIK: Pehlay Akshar has partnered with Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC) and other government authorities in Maha-rashtra to help students continue learning through their ‘A Story A Day’ initiative as schools remain closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Pehlay Akshar focusses on improving learning outcomes for students in govern-ment schools by developing safe learning spaces and peer networks for teachers across primary and upper primary government schools in India.

The purpose of ‘A Story A Day’ is to share one simple English story with students every day. Listening to such stories will not only improve English skills but also give the children an opportunity to continue learning irrespective of the circumstances.

It involves a simple process wherein a volunteer selects a story either from their personal collection or from the free digital resources available on the website. They can then read, record and upload the story on the form/link provided on the platform. Once received, the Pehlay Akshar team posts the story within24 hours on their digital platforms.

Cricket returns with a bangThis Southampton Test between

England and West Indies will be remembered for ever. The cricket at last returned in some form, probably in its best form, of course amidst all anxi-ety. The Corona threat is far from over. The anxiety of fast bowlers over new rule of not using saliva was making rounds.

The empty stadiums were another big worry. Yet the game was on, played in great spirit and the end was fascinating too. West Indies were underdogs for sure. In spite of some dramatic per-formances in their recent past against host England. But they wrested the initiative early on and never handed it to rivals except when they were 27/3 in second innings chasing 200. At that time, Holder’s men looked like crumbling under pressure but Chase and Blackwood held on for

a while and skipper gave finishing touches. New skipper Ben Stokes who himself had been architect of

many turn arounds in past, had to see the underdogs running away with the game.

On an overcast morn-ing Stokes chose to bat first which seemed very bold move but turned out to be blunder in the end. When the sun came out,

wicket also improved and looked good even on fifth evening. Once the ball became old, the batsmen played freely from both the sides. West Indies, having a good first in-nings lead were left to chase small fourth innings total.

This West Indian batting does not have typical Caribbean flair. Most of them look like grinders, suited for lon-ger version of cricket. You won’t see many of them in limited overs cricket

either. But they look good in tech-nique for this version. Blackwood is probably notable exception. He is real strokemaker and reminds Augustine Logo. In past he has thrown his wicket but not this time until the victory was in sight. He is a good talent and so is wicket keeper Dowrich.

Shennon Gabriel was doubtful because of his fitness issue but he bowled superbly and along with much underrated Jason Holder, they did all the damage. Other bowlers chipped in too. That was commendable bowling performance even though, Stoke’s de-cision helped them lot in first outing.

Ben Stoke will rue his decision of handing over weather advantage to West Indies. And some dropped catches and easy run-outs on last day did not help his team either. But England only know they are beaten in their own backyard and in typical english weather rather cheekily. Not many have done it before !!!

Dr Arun Swadi

Indian GDP to contract 7.5% if Covid-19 vaccine is delayed, 4% in base case: Report

Securitisation volume plunges 85% in Q1 FY21: Crisil

Chinese toys, rakhis may not be sold this festive season

Sensex rises 99 points, Nifty ends above 10,800 as RIL hits record high

Google to pump in Rs 75,000cr to help India go digital

Olympics must go ahead in 2021 as symbol of overcoming Coronavirus: Koike

Hockey Pro League will be ideal test before Olympics: Graham Reid and Manpreet Singh

Alex Marquez extends contract with honda until 2022

MB to not celebrate Mohun Bagan Day due to COVID-19

Bhaker to train for 25m pistol at Delhi’s Karni Singh

shooting rangeKOLKAtA: Ace shooter Manu Bhaker will

shift base to Delhi from her village home in Goria, Haryana to train for the 25m pistol event at Karni Singh Shooting Range. “Yes, for 25m sports pis-tol, I have to come to Delhi, Tughlakabad Shoot-ing Range (Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range) as not a single range for this is available in Haryana,” Bhaker said on Monday. Bhaker has a 10m air pistol shooting range at her home and it was also upgraded to an electronic target system recently but since the COVID-19 lockdown inMarch, the Tokyo Olympics hopeful has not trained in her other pet event, the 25m pistol.

“Since lockdown, I have not shot a single shoot of .22 lr. Mostly every state has their own shooting range, I hope our state will have our own range in near future. Maybe in 10 years,” added Bhaker, a six-time World Cup gold medallist. The National Rifles Association of India’’s (NRAI) has already said that its plans of proposing dates for a national camp to the Sports Authority of India (SAI) at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range after reviewing the situation on July 15 remains on.

NEw DELhI: Alonger wait for a vaccine against COVID-19 virus may lead to a contraction of up to 7.5 per cent in the Indian GDP in FY21, a foreign broker-age said on Monday. Economists at Bank of America Securities also revised down their base case estimates on the real GDP within a week, and now expect it to contract by 4 per cent because of a drop in economic activity.

It can be noted that multiple ef-forts to find a vaccine against the dreaded virus are on both globally as well domestically, but no time-lines have been announced yet. Many analysts are expecting the Indian economy to contract by 5 per cent in FY21 as a result of the nationwide lockdowns, with some also estimating a contraction of up to 7.2 per cent in the GDP.

“India’s real GDP will likely

contract by 7.5 per cent if the global economy has to wait for a vaccine discovery for a year,” the BofA analysts said, calling this as the “bear case”. A base case is the

most probable case or expected case. While a bear case means a typically pessimistic case. The analysts, who were earlier estimating a 5 per cent contrac-

tion in the worst case scenario, said every month of lockdown is costing 1 percentage point from a yearly growth perspective for the Indian economy.

In response, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will cut rates by another 2 per-centage points in FY21, they said. Citing movement on a proprietary indicator on eco-nomic activity, it said the indicator fell 20.6 per cent in May after the

29.7 per cent fall in April. Indus-trial production contracted by 34.7 per cent in May, atop April’s 57.6 per cent, it said, estimating the Q1 GDP to contract to 18 per cent. As

the cases of COVID-19 infections have trebled since the country be-gan getting into an unlock phase, the present restrictions will get extended to mid-September as against an earlier projection of mid-August, the economists said, adding a full restart of activities will only be possible by mid-October.

Apart from this, several states are imposing localised lockdowns like the ones across many urban centres in Maharashtra. “As a result, we now expect FY21 GDP to contract by another 1 per cent to 4 per cent,” they said. The RBI is estimated to cut rates by 0.75 per cent more in the current fiscal as a base case, the Centre’s fiscal deficit will come at 6.85 per cent of GDP as against the budgeted 3.5 per cent and the overall fiscal deficit will be at 10.7 per cent, it said.

NEw DELhI: Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai on Monday announced a Google for India Digitisation Fund through which the company will invest Rs 75,000 crore, or approximately $10 billion, over the next five to seven years to drive digital transformation in the country.

“We’ll do this through a mix of equity investments, partnership investments, and operational, infrastructure and ecosystem investments. This is a reflection of our confidence in the future of India and its digital economy,” Pichai said during the Google for India virtual conference.

The fund will focus on four areas that are important to India’s digitisation. These include enabling affordable access to the internet and to information for every In-dian in their own language and building new products and services that are deeply relevant to India’’s unique needs including consumer tech, education, health and agriculture.

The Google for India Digitisation Fund will also focus on empowering businesses

especially small and medium businesses as they continue or embark on their digital transformation. Another area of focus will be leveraging technology and Artificial Intel-ligence (AI) for social good, including digital literacy, outbreak predictions, and support for rural economies, Pichai said.

Giving a special address at the event, India’s Union IT Minister Ravi Shankar

Prasad expressed hope that with this new fund, Google will also focus on promoting the coun-try’s startups further. “There is immense scope for Google to deploy artificial intelligence and undertake new initiatives in the field of agriculture, weather

prediction, healthcare in the wake of Covid-19 challenges and most importantly in digital education,” Prasad said. “Today, India’s app economy is growing very powerfully, but we must not just download apps. It is important also to upload apps from India,” the IT minis-ter noted. Google also announced new initia-tives as part of its ongoing efforts towards the response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

NEw DELhI: After the Galwan Valley skirmish followed by the economic boycott of Chinese products by India, toys, rakhis and other decorative goods from China may not be sold in the market this festive season.

Indian businessmen have stopped placing orders for toys and decorative lights from China. Rakhi manu-facturer and wholesaler in Delhi’’s Sadar Bazar Magan Jain said the decorative items used in rakhis were no longer being imported from China, so the Chinese accessories will not attract customers on Raksha Band-han this year. He said that any businessman having Chinese goods in stock may use them to make rakhis, but this time around the customers are interested in indigenous rakhis.

The rakhis from Delhi’s

Sadar Bazar are sold all over the country, but with less than a month left for this year’’s Raksha Band-han, the market is not deco-rated with bright rakhis as it used to be in previous years. Raksha Bandhan will be celebrated on August 3 this year. Jain said the rakhi business is sluggish this time due to the ongoing corona pandemic.

Toy Association of India president Ajay Aggarwal said that the retail toy busi-ness in the country is worth around Rs 18,000- Rs 20,000 crore, of which around 75 per cent was met with im-ports from China. Traders say the toy quality control order issued by the Indian government in February this year, which will be effective from September 1, will deter businessmen from importing Chinese goods.

NEw DELhI: Securitisation volume plunged 85 per cent to Rs 6,200 crore in the first quarter of financial year 2020-2021, because of slow collections following the lockdown and the loan moratorium offered by lenders, a Crisil report said on Monday. The report said that the decline comes after 15 months of “frenetic” activity that was mainly driven by non-banking finance companies (NBFCs).

“Deferment of transactions is along expected lines. Limited disbursements in the first quarter reduced the immediate liquidity needs of some larger, well-capi-talised NBFCs,” said Krishnan Sitaraman, Senior Director, Crisil Ratings. “On the demand side, a vast majority of inves-tors are waiting for clarity on economic activity and borrower cash flows and the consequent impact on collections stability,” Sitaraman said.

According to the report, asset-backed securities (ABS) remained

the dominant segment comprising 74 per cent of the overall securi-tised volume in the quarter. Mort-gage-backed securities (MBS) con-stituted the balance volume. Direct assignment (DA) route, being the most-preferred for securitisation of MBS deals, accounted for nearly two-thirds of all deals. However, the partial credit guarantee scheme for direct assignment transactions announced by the government did not draw much traction in the just concluded quarter.

About 34 per cent of the market adopted the pass-through certifi-cate (PTC) route of securitisation. However, in stark contrast with the overall market performance, transactions backed by gold-loan receivables bucked the trend. They comprised nearly half of the total securitisation transactions in the first quarter. That compares with 20 per cent, 7 per cent, and 2 per cent in the comparable periods of fiscals 2020, 2019 and 2018, respectively.

M U M B A I : E q u i t y benchmark Sensex ended 99 points higher on Monday, led by gains in index-heavy-weight Reliance Industries, amid positive global cues. Af-ter rallying 430 points during the session, the 30-share BSE Sensex gave up most of its gains to settle 99.36 points, or 0.27 per cent, higher at 36,693.69.

While, the NSE Nifty closed 34.65 points, or 1.15 per cent, up at 10,802.70. Re-liance Industries was among the top gainers in the Sensex pack, jumping over 3 per cent to hit its record closing high, after the company said it has secured Rs 730 crore from wireless technology leader Qualcomm by selling a small stake in Jio Platforms.

Adding to a slew of in-vestments since April that has crossed Rs 1.18 lakh crore, Qualcomm Ventures’ invest-

ment will translate into 0.15 per cent equity stake in Jio Platforms on a fully diluted basis. Tech Mahindra, HCL Tech, Bharti Airtel, Infosys, HUL and ITC were also among the prominent gainers. However, the gains on the index were capped as index majors HDFC twins slumped up to 2 per cent, after a re-port stating HDFC Bank has conducted an investigation into allegations of improper lending practices and con-flict of interest at its vehicle financing arm. PowerGrid, Bajaj Finance, ICICI Bank, SBI and Kotak Bank were other laggards.

According to traders, mar-ket movement was largely dictated by specific index-heavyweight stocks leading to high volatility. However, positive cues from global markets kept overall senti-ment positive.

tOKYO: Tokyo Gov-ernor Yuriko Koike, often floated as a future Japanese premier, said on Monday the Olympics must go ahead next year as a symbol of world unity in overcoming the novel coronavirus, even

as her city grapples with stub-born spikes in cases.

Japan has not seen an ex-plosive coronavirus outbreak as suffered in some other places but a recent increase in cases in Tokyo, which ac-counts for more than a third of its more than 20,000 total, has fanned worries about a second wave of infections.

The 2020 Olympics were scheduled to start this month but were postponed because of the coronavirus. Koike has pledged to win public sup-port for the Games, although a media survey showed a majority think they should be

cancelled or postponed again.

“I want to host them as a symbol of the world coming together to overcome this tough situation and of strength-ened bonds among hu-mankind,” Koike said. She declined to specify

a deadline for deciding if the Games could go ahead. A media-savvy former televi-sion announcer who speaks English and Arabic, Koike is to many a paradox: a global thinker with a nationalist tinge; a political outsider who advanced with help from old-boy mentors, and a risk-taker who shied away from the big

gamble of running for parlia-ment in 2017 as head of her upstart “Party of Hope”.

The party floundered af-ter Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called a snap election. Instead, Koike stayed on as Tokyo governor and has won plaudits for her straight-talk-ing handling of the COVID-19 outbreak in contrast to what critics called Abe’s clumsy response.

She was re-elected by a landslide last week, reignit-ing talk she has a shot at be-coming Japan’s first woman prime minister. On Monday, she sought to brush such spec-ulation aside. “I’m happy that people have hopes for me but I received support for a second term as governor,” she said. “I want to protect the lives and health of the people of Tokyo by addressing the im-mediate issue of policies for the coronavirus. That is my greatest mission.”

NEw DELhI: Honda Racing Corporation have extended the contract with Alex Marquez until the end of 2022. During 2020, the former Moto3 and Moto2 World Champion will race in the premier class aboard his Honda RC213V in the Repsol Honda Team.

After winning the title in the middleweight class, Marquez has a whole season ahead to gain experience and make progress on HRC’’s long term project, which sees the 24-year old Spanish rider join the LCR Honda Team at the end of 2020. “I am very proud to announce my renewal with Honda Racing Corporation. HRC gave me the opportunity to arrive in MotoGP and I am glad to join the LCR Honda Team at the end of 2020 and compete in a big team with great experience in MotoGP. “Now I am eager to start the season in Jerez and I am completely focused to give

my best this year,” he added Yoshishige Nomura, HRC President, said: “HRC are happy to continue working with Alex Marquez through the learning process in the MotoGP category for the next two seasons. After deep consideration and a thorough analysis of the current situ-ation, we believe Alex has a great opportunity to grow in the premier class with full fac-tory support inside the LCR Honda Team.”

Meanwhile, HRC also announced the signing of Pol Espargaro. The former Moto2 World Champion will join the Repsol Honda Team on a two-year contract. He will join eight-time World Champion Marc Marquez aboard the Honda RC213V. Espargaro is one of the most experienced riders on the grid, having raced in the World Championship since 2006 and with 104 premier class Grands Prix contested.

NEw DELhI: Indian men’s hockey team chief coach Graham Reid has said that the tough competi-tion against top nations in the 2020 FIH Hockey Pro League season will help his team prepare best for the

Tokyo Olympic Games.“It’s very encouraging

to have international com-petition restarting and the Hockey Pro League will give us that tough top level com-petition as a lead-up to the Olympic Games next year,”

Reid said. The Indian team had made an emphatic start to their maiden Hockey Pro League campaign earlier this year with a 5-2 and 3-3 (3-1) win against the Netherlands, followed by a 2-1 win and 3-4 loss against World Cham-

pions Belgium and 3-4 loss and 2-2 (3-1) win against Australia before the Covid-19 pandemic halted the competition.

They will now re-sume their campaign in the 2020 season when they play Argentina on April 10 and 11 next year in the revamped schedule. They will then face Great Britain

away from home on May 8 and 9 before travelling to Spain to play matches on May 12 and 13. The team will take on Germany in away matches on May 18 and 19 before finally playing a home tie on May 29 and 30 against

New Zealand.“We are also working at

the moment to ensure that we have enough competition throughout the latter part of 2020 and the early part of 2021,” stated Reid adding that the team will be prepar-ing for the Asian Champions Trophy that is scheduled for November this year.

“We have the Asian Champions Trophy still planned for November 2020 and a trip to Malaysia to play the Netherlands and a 4 Nations Tournament in New Zealand in February 2021 which are all in the plan-ning stage at the moment as part of our ACTC,” he said. With a continued rise in the number of Covid-19 cases in India, India skipper Manpreet Singh feels the scheduling provides enough time for the team to prepare for a major tournament like the Hockey Pro League.

KOLKAtA: City football giants Mohun Bagan will not celebrate the ‘’Mohun Bagan Day’’ by organising a “physical program” on July 29 this time due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The club, which is now ATK-Mohun Bagan after its merger with the Indian Super League (ISL) champions, has decided to honour hockey legend Gurbux Singh and Bengal first class cricketer Palash Nandy with the Mohun Bagan Ratna.

Ashok Kumar (Hockey), Pranab Ganguly (Football) and Monoranjan Porel (Athletics) will be bestowed with the lifetime achievement award while Span-ish footballer Joseba Beitia, who played a key role in the green and maroon brigade winning the I-League last season, will get the best football player (senior)

prize. Sajal Bag ( U18 team) will be given the best youth player. “The awards would be presented personally to those persons who are available in Kolkata. The awardees who will be unable to receive the honour due to their unavailability in the city would be presented at a later stage when things would be normal,” Mohun Bagan said in a statement.

“...amidst the current circum-stances due to COVID-19 this year the Club Executive Commit-tee has decided not to celebrate the Mohun Bagan Day by orga-nising a physical program,” the statement added ISL champions ATK and Mohun Bagan had announced in January that they would merge into one entity that would compete in the ISL from 2020-21 season slated to start in the third week of November.

Nashik: Planting trees for in-creasing forest cover has, of course, acquired greater urgency in recent times as a major instrumentality of com-bating climate change. Although there is no tree plantation campaign in the state this year due to the Covid-19 crisis, en-vironmentalists however have come forward and planted over 6,000 tree saplings during the Van Mahotsav (forest festival) held from July 1 to 7 in the district.

Government depart-ments, social organisa-tions who want to plant trees are being provided saplings by the social forestry department at a discounted rate. Through this, the dream of Green Nashik is being fulfilled. The greater objective behind organising the Van Mahotsav is to spread mass awareness about the contribution

of tree plantation and conserva-tion of forests for maintaining

ecological balance, and also to augment provision of food, fod-der and fuel wood.

The state government was to plant 50 crore tree saplings in the next five years under the Krantiveer Vasantrao Naik Harit Maharashtra campaign. But the corona crisis has put break on the campaign. The

tree plantation is carried out from 1st July to 30th September every

year. For this, pits are dug for tree planting till March 31. Millions of seedlings are grown in the nursery. But due to Corona, the campaign could not be carried out across the state.

This year no tree plantation target has been given to the dis-tricts by the forest de-partment. Considering the current crisis, it was instructed to plant trees at the local level. Accordingly, during

the forest festival period from 1st to 7th July, social forestry, various government departments and various social organisations planted over 6,000 trees. District collector Suraj Mandhare took part in the drive conducted at Shilapur, the village which has successfully maintained survival

rate of tree saplings at 95 per cent this year too.

A small sapling costs Rs. 15 and is offered at a discounted rate of Rs. 8 only. The price of a big sapling is Rs 70 and it is being made available at a discounted rate of Rs 40.

Free saplings are being provided to those who cannot afford to pay. This is one of the most important parts of the tree planting campaign. Wad, Pimpal, Chinch, Sitaphal, Aun-dumbar are the Indian species of trees which are being planted prioritily.

4City News Nashik tuesday, july 14, 2020

antrim, Northern ireland : a loyalist waves a flag during the Ballycraigy estate 11th night bonfire to mark the start of the Twelfth celebrations.

world through the lense

Teenager ends lifeNashik: A teenager

allegedly committed suicide on Monday by hanging at his residence in Shirwade Wakad village of Niphad taluka here. The deceased has been identified as Pramod Sopan Sonawane (19), who lived in Prabhavati Nagar tribal area. According to the Lasalgaon Police, the incident came to fore when Pramod’s kin found his body hanging from the ceiling after they woke up in the morning.

Subsequently, they alerted the police and a team reached the spot. A panchnama was conducted while the body has been sent for post mortem, police told, adding that the cause of suicide is not yet ascertain. A case has been filed and further probe is underway.

agitators burn power bill copiesGarage owners suffer business loss

Van MahotsaV

Planting hope! Drive continues despite the pandemic * 6000 trees planted * Saplings available at a discounted rate

due to the present crisis, the district did not get the target of tree plantation by the forest department this year. 6,000 trees have been planted during the forest festival held from 1st to 7th july. saplings are being made available at a discounted rate for tree planting.

- Chandrakant Bharmal, divisional forest

officer (social forestry), Nashik

Tourists flock at Pahine, flout govt orders

the business has seen a downfall of more than 50%. Our business has reduced, and we aren’t earning much. even though shops in deolali Camp has opened now, they only functioning till 4 pm. Police starts patrolling from 3:30 pm itself. they charge heavy fines if any shop is operational past 4. They’re right on their part, but due to the curfew, our income has been affected. i didn’t have any other source of income from past three months. i was unemployed for the whole time.

- Shaju, Nityanand Tyres

We have suffered losses for the past three months. We have rented this shop and even during the lockdown, we were paying rent. The owner forgave the first month’s rent, but after that, we were paying. also, loads of oils were stored in our office. Rats destroyed all our packets during the lockdown. the business has been restarted now, but the pace is really slow, only 30%. i have to pay my house rent, and even for other necessary things. It’s becoming difficult.

- Nazim Salim, KK Motors

Our business has dropped almost by 30%. i don’t know anything else expect repairing. i possess only these skills. For the last three months, i have survived on my savings. Four of us work for this garage, and all four of us were unemployed.

- Wasim, National Garage

Nashik: Everyone has witnessed setbacks in their business due to lockdown. However, as Deolali Camp has started functioning again till 4 pm every day, garage owners aren’t still earning well like they used to before. Skilled workers have faced a severe backlash, and the mechan-ics are no exception to that. While Deshdoot Times spoke to mechanics, they informed about their struggle. Nashik: As part of the

state-wide agitation, Swab-himani Shetkari Sanghta-na staged protest here on Monday over the issue of inflated power bills.

Led by regional presi-dent Sandip Jagtap and in presence of former MLA Ramdas Charoskar, the face-covered protestors

demonstrated in front of the Dindori tehsil office.

Sloganeering against the state-run power company MSEDCL, the socially-distant gathering registered their fierce protest by burn-ing copies of the bill while demanding rectification of the hefty charges at the instant.

Later, a delegation met tehsildar and handed over a memorandum detailing their demands.

Jagtap on the occasion demanded to waive off three months’ electricity bill in Maharashtra on the lines of Delhi government, else Sanghtana will take to the street, he warned

Nashik: Tour is t s who were annoyed by the lockdown are now leaving their home and are hitting the tourist spots. On Sun-day, flocks of tourists were seen at the famous Pahine, though the lockdown is still in effect. The tourists crowded the water bodies and hills in the area flouting government ordes. They were enjoying rains though

Covid-19 is spreading.At present, despite the

increasing number of Co-vid-19 patients everywhere, the tourists are turning to-wards Trimbakeshwar and other tourist spots. Nature has flourished since the last few days of continuous rains. But the lockdown did not keep the tourists out. Tourists were seen flocking to Am-boli Ghat, Dugarwadi Falls,

Bramhagiri Pradakshna Marg and Vaitarna dam area.

Youngsters amid lock-down were found clicking selfies and mischief mon-gering. The hotels, which were closed for about the last three months, are also reopened. Meanwhile, the norms of social distancing were seemed faded this time. At the same time, the tourists forgot to take care of themselves.

Many amateur tourists visited Trimbakeshwar on Sunday. They do not under-stand that they are risking their life and others too. Therefore, it is necessary to erect a sanitizing mecha-nism at least or to stop the tourists. Local villagers have also said that the area needs to be sprayed with disinfectant.

Red sand boa trafficking case

Three more arrestsNashik: Nashik east

forest division has arrested three more suspects in red sand boa trafficking case. The department has found the nexus of wildlife traf-fickers in Nashik, Pune, Ahemadnagar and Thane. The number of arrests in the case has now increased to total of 22.

The forest department on July 11 arrested three suspects from Ahemadnagar. The suspects have been iden-fied as Santosh Popat Thorat (40, resident of Thorat Mala, Kedgoan), Subhash Arjun Kamble (50, Shahu Na-gar, Kedgaon) and Devidas Mayaji Wagh (43, Katrad, Rahuri), all from Ahemad-nagar. The suspects were produced before Judicial Magistrate Class Ist, Yeola court on July 13. The court has remanded the suspects to

seven days’ custody.Range Forest Officer,

Sanjay Bhandari, informed that the sessions court has already denied bail to four suspects, ten more suspects have applied for the bail in session court. The depart-ment will request court to extend their custody as the suspects are not cooperating in investigation. Suspects are currently in Central Jail and one suspect is in juvenile jail.

The investigation is go-ing on under guidance of Deputy Forest Conservator, Tushar Chavan, Assistant Conservator of Forest Dr Sanjay Nevase. The team RFO Sanjay Bhandari, RFO Bashir Ramjan Shaikh, RFO Sunit Nirmal, forest ranger MB Pawar, PS Patil and others are investigating in this case.

Bhujbal inaugurates innovative concept of

Lab Door onlineNashik: State Minister for Food, Civil

Supplies and Consumer Protection and Dis-trict Guardian Minister Chhagan Bhujbal stat-ed that the concept of ‘Home Pathlab’ started by the youth of Nashik will be very useful for the citizens during the Corona Crisis.

He inaugurated the innovative concept of Lab Door online from Bhujbal Farm. Yeola Panchayat Samiti member Mohan Shelar, Maratha Entrepreneur Lobby Director Chinteshwar Deore, Dr. Manjushree Ghati, Machhindra Shelar, Pravin Pawar, Santosh Jaybhave Director Rahul Nikam and Ajay Shelar were present online.

On this occasion, Bhujbal said that Rahul Nikam and Ajay Shelar have come together and started this concept for the first time in Nashik after Mumbai and Delhi.

He also said that the reduction in rates for this purpose will be of great benefit to the general public and will also diagnose some of the ailments which do not cause symptoms.

The Guardian Minister appealed to all to get all the tests related to their health by reg-istering on the website www.arlabdoors.com and getting home delivery service.

schools, colleges deserted, no sign of students

Teachers, professors on routine workNashik: The spread of Nov-

el Coronavirus or Covid-19 is increasing throughout the globe. As a result, schools are still closed and students are being taught online.

As a result, schools, colleges and competitive examination centres in the city are getting deserted too. However, there is a presence of teachers and profes-sors in the institutes and their regular work is going on.

Schools and colleges’ admis-sions were supposed to start in July. But at the moment, it is almost closed due to the out-break Covid-19. Students as well as parents are waiting for the schools and colleges to start. Since March, the school bell has not rung even though July has almost ended half. Therefore, parents are wondering when the

schools will restart.Many colleges in the city are

functioning internally and teach-ers or professors are visiting for formal works. Also, the canteen where the students used to hang up also closed. Since the school is closed, the chirping of kids has also been lost and the administra-tion is making efforts to prevent the spread of Coronavirus.

Online admissions for Class Xii and other courses have started on the background of Corona. also, online education for the students have already been started. after completion of admission process, the classes will start online. students are not allowed in the college campus.

- V B Gaikwad, Principal, KTHM College

Entry pass compulsory at district collectorate * Only one person allowed at a time * Area barricaded

Nashik: Amid growing influx of visitors across the district at district collectorate in the wake of increasing cases of Corona infection, the district administration has made entry passes mandatory for the visitors at the collectorate. Besides this only one person has been al-lowed to submit memorandum.

It has been made manda-tory for every visitor to get an entry pass before entering in the Collector’s office. The main entrance has completely been closed and a chain barricade has been erected.

Two public relations de-partments have been set up at the entrance to accept docu-ments. In case any political party wishes to submit memorandum, a maximum of two persons will be allowed to enter through the PR cell.

The Collector’s office has

become a war room of COVID-19 battle. All important meet-ings and planning takes place at the Collectorate, the place from where orders are issued and enforced throughout the district. Ordinary citizens visit the Collector’s office for various activities throughout the day.

Also the political leaders and office bearers agitate and make representations at this district headquarters. In view of this, there remains high risk of spread of the infection at this place.

For this, for a month now, entry is to be given only through thermal scanning of the visitors and by registering their names. Also, entry will be given only after hand sanitising of the entrants.

But now as the threat of co-rona has increased, stricter rules have been laid down for entry into the Collector’s office.

BoGuS SeedSaction against Mahabeej

will be taken: BhuseNashik: As a total of 50,000 complaints have been

received in state against Mahabeej, other seed companies and fertilizer companies, a probe will be conducted into functioning of Mahabeej and action will be taken against those guilty officials and employees, informed state Agriculture Minister Dada Bhuse.

He was addressing a media briefing which was orga-nized before Kharif season review meeting at Raosaheb Thorat hall on Monday. Actual situation regarding seeds and fertilizers in all 27 districts was inspected. 75% kharif sowing has been completed in state, while it has been 73% in district.

Following complaints against Mahabeej, optional seeds and fertilsers have been made available at many places. As Mahabeej company is a government company, it is needed to work responsibly. As it was not happened a detailed enquiry will be conducted into this and action will definitely be taken against guilty.

Complaints about soybean seeds are receiving on higher scale after 2011-12. Complaints regarding all crops including soybean will be solved and cases will be filed against companies, Bhuse said and added that state government is behind farmers in any condition. There will be no shortage of fund for farmers, he assured.

Treeplantation

heldNashik: Central In-

dustrial Security Force (CISF) and Knot of Eternity organised a tree plantation. A total of 450 saplings were planted on the ground at Nehrunagar. MP Hemant Godse and Commandant K K Bharadwaj inaugurated the programme.

Neem, jackfruit and other tree saplings were planted. Over 100 CISF jawans took part in the programme.

General secretary of Press Mazdoor Sangh Jag-dish Godse, working presi-dent Dnyaneshwar Jundre, Sunil Ahire and others were also present on the occa-sion. CISF will also plant a total of 1100 tree saplings at Odha this time.

Last year, 2,000 saplings were planted there.