12
R eaching out to the protest- ing farmers, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday assured them Minimum Support Price (MSP) will remain in place and reiterated the Government’s willingness to hold talks. Urging them to end their ongoing agitation, he also ques- tioned the Opposition, espe- cially the Congress, for taking a “U-turn” on farm reforms. Making these assertions in the Rajya Sabha, Modi also referred to former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s backing to reforms in agriculture sector. Explaining his Government’s stance on the farm laws while replying to a discussion on the President’s address, the Prime Minister also expressed concern over foreign elements trying to foment trouble. He said a new phenome- non has emerged over the past few years wherein “Foreign Destructive Ideology” was evi- dent in the country. He quipped this was the new kind of FDI in obvious reference to singer Rihanna, activist Greta Thunberg and lawyer-author Meena Harris, niece of US Vice President Kamala Harris, backing the farmers’ stir. “The nation is making progress and we are talking about FDI but I see that a new FDI has come to the fore. We have to protect the nation from this new FDI. We need Foreign Direct Investment but the new FDI is ‘Foreign Destructive Ideology’, we have to protect ourselves from it,” the Prime Minister said. He also criticised a section of people seen in every agita- tion in the country and said, “In the last few years, we have witnessed a new category of protesters, “Andolan Jeevi”, who one can witness in every agi- tation. We need to protect this country from these Andolan Jeevi, who are actually “par- jeevi”. They don’t have their own strength, but they join all agitations.” Observing that the farmers’ agitation figured prominently during the 15-hour discussion on the President’s address, Modi said the Opposition, however, did not mention about the basic facts of the laws and roots of the problem. Urging the farmers to end their protest, he said, “We will all sit together and talk. We are ready for talks and I am invit- ing you again for dialogue from this House.” In an effort to allay the apprehension of the farmers about the MSP, Modi said “MSP tha, MSP hai aur MSP rahega. No one should spread misinformation.” Highlighting the need for new farm laws to improve the income and living standard of the farmers, the Prime Minister said he was willing to take the brunt if it meant pushing reforms that were long overdue. He said, “We need to move forwards, not backwards. We need to give these reforms a chance.” Stressing the fact that the number of marginal farmers had increased over the years and the country had a respon- sibility to better their lot, Modi said every Government had spoken in favour of reforms in the agriculture sector. However, they have now taken a “U-turn”, said Modi, apparently referring to the Congress and Sharad Pawar, who was Agriculture Minister during the Congress- led UPA rule. Continued on Page 2 A day after disaster struck at Reni near Joshimath in Chamoli district, the authori- ties have been able to recover 26 bodies while at least 197 people were reported missing till Monday evening. Of the bodies recovered, only two could be identified till the evening. According to the status report of the State Emergency Operations Centre (SEOC), the 197 missing people include 12 people of Reni and three other villages, along with 185 workers of the companies involved in the two hydropow- er projects damaged in the disaster. Further, between 25 and 35 persons — included in the missing persons’ list — are stuck in a tunnel with efforts underway to reach them clear- ing the debris in the tunnel. While six persons are injured, 12 persons were rescued safe- ly from the NTPC project downstream. Personnel of the NDRF, SDRF, ITBP, SSB and armed forces along with State police are undertaking rescue and relief works. Meanwhile, apart from Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat, Union Power Minister RK Singh, Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’, Garhwal MP Tirath Singh Rawat and State Minister Dhan Singh Rawat visited the Tapovan and other affected areas where they viewed the efforts underway and interact- ed with the locals. Even as rescue operations continued throughout the day, ration, medical supplies and other daily use items were sup- plied by helicopter to the 13 vil- lages in the Niti valley which have lost road link due to the disaster. Chamoli District Magistrate Swati Bhadauriya informed that supplies will be provided by helicopters in these villages till an alternative arrangement is made. In addition to the disaster affected area, the district administration team is also searching for the missing per- sons along the banks of the Alaknanda river. M aharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh ordered a probe into whether the BJP pressured celebrities, including Bharat Ratna awardees Lata Mangeshkar, Sachin Tendulkar and actor Akshay Kumar into putting out tweets in response to the global criticism of the Government’s handling of the farmers’ ongoing agitation. Responding to a demand by Maharashtra Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant and other leaders who urged him to look into the tweets put out by the celebrities, Deshmukh said, “Looking at a host of tweets put out by the celebrities (in response to the global criticism of the Government’s handling of the farmers’ ongoing agitation), the questions that arise about the timing of the tweets and whether pressure was brought to bear on these celebrities to put out near similar tweets. For instance, the tweets put out by Akshay Kumar and Saina Nehwal are identical”. “The media is already under tremendous pressure from the Government. If polit- ical leaders criticise the BJP, the Government lets loose the ED and CBI on them.... We will enquire into the issue raised by you. Our intelligence agencies will enquire into whether the BJP put pressure on the celebri- ties to identical or near identi- cal tweets put by the celebrities at the same time,” Deshmukh said. Deshmukh, who has quar- antined himself after testing positive after testing positive for Covid-19, held a zoom meet- ing with Sawant and other Congress leaders. The Minister said that the State Government will also look into the role of a Mumbai BJP office-bearer who had been tagged by actor Suniel Shetty in his tweet. Continued on Page 2 T he Centre has asked social media platform Twitter to remove 1,178 anti-India pro- paganda handles managed by Pakistan and Khalistani users. The list was sent to Twitter on February 4. Twitter has not complied with the January 31 directive of the Indian Government to block 257 tweets and accounts for tweeting inflammatory pro- farmers messages. The Information and Technology Ministry issued the fresh directive after the Ministry of Home furnished inputs about anti-India propa- ganda unleashed by these accounts. According to sources, Twitter responded to the Government that the company is respecting local laws even while “protecting its founda- tional principle of free expres- sion”. “Many of these accounts were also automated bots that were used for sharing and amplifying misinformation and provocative contents on farm- ers’ protests,” said an official. According to officials, Twitter has to comply with the orders of the Government of India and if there is any resis- tance to the order, the social media company would face charges of flouting various laws. “Twitter’s stand on free- dom of expression is an excuse. They are just a platform and must obey the laws and if they violate they will face prosecu- tion,” said officials. At a time when the microblogging site is sur- rounded by controversy and has received a notice from the Government for “violating Indian law” by not taking down tweets related to “farmers geno- cide”, Twitter India’s public pol- icy head Mahima Kaul has resigned from her post citing personal reasons. Kaul had submitted her resignation in the first week of January and will be continuing at the firm till March. Twitter has also listed the job opening on its website. “At the start of this year, Mahima decided to step down from her role as Twitter Public Policy Director for India and South Asia to take a well- deserved break. It’s a loss for all of us at Twitter, but after more than five years in the role we respect her desire to focus on the most important people and relationships in her personal life. Mahima will continue in her role till the end of March and will support the transition,” Twitter global policy head Monique Meche said. T here is no clarity so far on the reasons for the glacier burst and the resultant avalanche and flash floods that wreaked havoc in the upper reaches of the Himalayas in Uttarakhand on Sunday, but experts have zeroed in global warming or Western distur- bance as the possible causes for the melting of the snow and breaking of the glacier that could have triggered the inun- dation in Chamoli district. The Snow and Avalanche Study Establishment (SASE) of the Defence Research and Development Organisation is investigating the tragedy, but there are no clear answers yet for a glacier to have melted in the winter. It is not clear whether the flood is a typical Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF) or some temporary damming due to a landslide and avalanche that might have blocked the mainstream to form a tempo- rary lake which burst, said Ranjit Rath, Director General of the Geological Survey of India (GSI). A GLOF is a type of out- burst flood that occurs when the dam containing a glacial lake fails. “Once the water level recedes a team of experts will assess the damage as well as the triggering factor responsible for the outburst,” Rath told reporters here. As the nightmare envis- aged by numerous environ- mentalists warning against untrammelled development in the mountains came true on Sunday, glaciologist Farooq Azam said a glacial burst is very rare. “We have been trying to understand the event since yesterday. Right now what we can tell is a glacier slipped from around 500-600 metres, which started a landslide with an ice- fall that triggered this disaster,” Azam, Assistant Professor, Glaciology & Hydrology, Indian Institute of Technology, Indore, told a news agency. “For sure there was no glacial lake outburst flood, for sure there is no cloud burst because there is no lake avail- able in the region at this par- ticular time. Even if there are lakes, they are frozen and they don’t have any activity. The dis- aster happened because of an icefall and landslide.” he added. Satellite and Google Earth images, Azam added, do not show a glacial lake near the region, but there’s a possibility there may be a water pocket in the region. “Water pockets are lakes inside the glaciers, which may have erupted leading to this event,” he said. He suggested further analysis of weather reports and data to confirm if this indeed was the case. Climate scientist Roxy Mathew Koll agreed and also said more data are needed. He said the recent climate change assess- ment report for India shows significant melting and decline in glacier mass over the Himalayan region in the recent decades due to warmer tem- peratures. Koll also said it was not clear if an accumulation of glacier melt led to this burst, and noted that Western dis- turbances during last week did bring in a lot of snow over the region, followed by clear sky and warm temperatures. “It is quite possible that cli- mate change and melting of fresh snow led to piling up of water in this area,” Koll, scien- tist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) in Pune said. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s Special Report on Oceans and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (SROCC) also shows that climate change has altered the frequency and magnitude of natural hazards. “The scientists reported with medium confidence that in some regions snow avalanches involving wet snow have increased while the rain on snow floods have also increased at lower elevations in springs,” Prakash, lead author of the ongoing 6th Assessment report of IPCC, said in a statement. Continued on Page 2 S oon after Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged agi- tating farmers to end their stir and resume the dialogue, farm- ers’ unions on Monday asked the Government to fix a date for the next round of talks. Farmer leader Shiv Kumar Kakka, who is a senior mem- ber of the Samkyukta Kisan Morcha which is spearheading the ongoing stir, said they are ready for the next round of talks and the Government should tell them the date and time of the meeting. “We have never refused to hold talks with the government. Whenever it has called us for dialogue, we held discussions with Union ministers. We are ready for talks with them (gov- ernment),” Kakka told PTI. To Modi’s address in the Rajya Sabha during which he assured minimum support price (MSP), Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait said there is no law on MSP and the Government should repeal these farms laws. The farmers leaders sitting across the borders of the city also objected to Modi’s remarks that a new “breed” of agitators called “andolan jivi” has emerged in the country, and said agitation has an important role in a democracy. Talking to media person on Monday, Tikait said business over hunger will not be allowed in the country and the laws should be repealed. Continued on Page 2

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Page 1: The Pioneer...2021/02/09  · Mangeshkar, Sachin Tendulkar and actor Akshay Kumar into putting out tweets in response to the global criticism of the Government’s handling of the

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Reaching out to the protest-ing farmers, Prime Minister

Narendra Modi on Mondayassured them MinimumSupport Price (MSP) willremain in place and reiteratedthe Government’s willingnessto hold talks.

Urging them to end theirongoing agitation, he also ques-tioned the Opposition, espe-cially the Congress, for takinga “U-turn” on farm reforms.Making these assertions in theRajya Sabha, Modi also referredto former Prime MinisterManmohan Singh’s backing toreforms in agriculture sector.

Explaining hisGovernment’s stance on thefarm laws while replying to adiscussion on the President’saddress, the Prime Ministeralso expressed concern overforeign elements trying tofoment trouble.

He said a new phenome-non has emerged over the pastfew years wherein “ForeignDestructive Ideology” was evi-dent in the country. Hequipped this was the new kindof FDI in obvious reference tosinger Rihanna, activist GretaThunberg and lawyer-authorMeena Harris, niece of USVice President Kamala Harris,backing the farmers’ stir.

“The nation is makingprogress and we are talkingabout FDI but I see that a newFDI has come to the fore. Wehave to protect the nation fromthis new FDI. We need ForeignDirect Investment but the newFDI is ‘Foreign DestructiveIdeology’, we have to protectourselves from it,” the PrimeMinister said.

He also criticised a sectionof people seen in every agita-tion in the country and said,“In the last few years, we have

witnessed a new category ofprotesters, “Andolan Jeevi”, whoone can witness in every agi-tation. We need to protect thiscountry from these AndolanJeevi, who are actually “par-jeevi”. They don’t have theirown strength, but they join allagitations.”

Observing that the farmers’agitation figured prominentlyduring the 15-hour discussionon the President’s address,Modi said the Opposition,however, did not mentionabout the basic facts of the lawsand roots of the problem.

Urging the farmers to endtheir protest, he said, “We willall sit together and talk. We areready for talks and I am invit-ing you again for dialoguefrom this House.”

In an effort to allay theapprehension of the farmersabout the MSP, Modi said“MSP tha, MSP hai aur MSPrahega. No one should spreadmisinformation.”

Highlighting the need fornew farm laws to improve theincome and living standard ofthe farmers, the Prime Ministersaid he was willing to take thebrunt if it meant pushingreforms that were long overdue.

He said, “We need to moveforwards, not backwards. Weneed to give these reforms achance.”

Stressing the fact that thenumber of marginal farmershad increased over the yearsand the country had a respon-sibility to better their lot, Modisaid every Government hadspoken in favour of reforms inthe agriculture sector. However,they have now taken a “U-turn”,said Modi, apparently referringto the Congress and SharadPawar, who was AgricultureMinister during the Congress-led UPA rule.

Continued on Page 2

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Aday after disaster struck atReni near Joshimath in

Chamoli district, the authori-ties have been able to recover26 bodies while at least 197people were reported missingtill Monday evening. Of thebodies recovered, only twocould be identified till theevening.

According to the statusreport of the State EmergencyOperations Centre (SEOC),the 197 missing people include12 people of Reni and threeother villages, along with 185workers of the companiesinvolved in the two hydropow-er projects damaged in thedisaster.

Further, between 25 and 35

persons — included in themissing persons’ list — arestuck in a tunnel with effortsunderway to reach them clear-ing the debris in the tunnel.While six persons are injured,12 persons were rescued safe-ly from the NTPC projectdownstream.

Personnel of the NDRF,SDRF, ITBP, SSB and armedforces along with State policeare undertaking rescue andrelief works.

Meanwhile, apart fromChief Minister Trivendra SinghRawat, Union Power MinisterRK Singh, Union EducationMinister Ramesh Pokhriyal‘Nishank’, Garhwal MP TirathSingh Rawat and State MinisterDhan Singh Rawat visited theTapovan and other affected

areas where they viewed theefforts underway and interact-ed with the locals.

Even as rescue operationscontinued throughout the day,ration, medical supplies andother daily use items were sup-plied by helicopter to the 13 vil-lages in the Niti valley whichhave lost road link due to thedisaster.

Chamoli DistrictMagistrate Swati Bhadauriyainformed that supplies will beprovided by helicopters in thesevillages till an alternativearrangement is made.

In addition to the disasteraffected area, the districtadministration team is alsosearching for the missing per-sons along the banks of theAlaknanda river.

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Maharashtra Home MinisterAnil Deshmukh ordered a

probe into whether the BJPpressured celebrities, includingBharat Ratna awardees LataMangeshkar, Sachin Tendulkarand actor Akshay Kumar intoputting out tweets in responseto the global criticism of theGovernment’s handling of thefarmers’ ongoing agitation.

Responding to a demandby Maharashtra Congressspokesperson Sachin Sawantand other leaders who urgedhim to look into the tweets putout by the celebrities,Deshmukh said, “Looking at ahost of tweets put out by thecelebrities (in response to theglobal criticism of theGovernment’s handling of thefarmers’ ongoing agitation),the questions that arise aboutthe timing of the tweets andwhether pressure was brought

to bear on these celebrities toput out near similar tweets. Forinstance, the tweets put out byAkshay Kumar and SainaNehwal are identical”.

“The media is alreadyunder tremendous pressurefrom the Government. If polit-ical leaders criticise the BJP, theGovernment lets loose the EDand CBI on them.... We willenquire into the issue raised byyou. Our intelligence agencieswill enquire into whether theBJP put pressure on the celebri-ties to identical or near identi-

cal tweets put by the celebritiesat the same time,” Deshmukhsaid.

Deshmukh, who has quar-antined himself after testingpositive after testing positive forCovid-19, held a zoom meet-ing with Sawant and otherCongress leaders.

The Minister said that theState Government will alsolook into the role of a MumbaiBJP office-bearer who hadbeen tagged by actor SunielShetty in his tweet.

Continued on Page 2

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The Centre has asked socialmedia platform Twitter to

remove 1,178 anti-India pro-paganda handles managed byPakistan and Khalistani users.The list was sent to Twitter onFebruary 4.

Twitter has not compliedwith the January 31 directive ofthe Indian Government toblock 257 tweets and accountsfor tweeting inflammatory pro-farmers messages.

The Information andTechnology Ministry issuedthe fresh directive after theMinistry of Home furnishedinputs about anti-India propa-ganda unleashed by theseaccounts. According to sources,Twitter responded to theGovernment that the companyis respecting local laws even

while “protecting its founda-tional principle of free expres-sion”.

“Many of these accountswere also automated bots thatwere used for sharing andamplifying misinformation andprovocative contents on farm-ers’ protests,” said an official.

According to officials,Twitter has to comply with the

orders of the Government ofIndia and if there is any resis-tance to the order, the socialmedia company would facecharges of flouting variouslaws.

“Twitter’s stand on free-dom of expression is an excuse.They are just a platform andmust obey the laws and if theyviolate they will face prosecu-

tion,” said officials. At a time when the

microblogging site is sur-rounded by controversy and hasreceived a notice from theGovernment for “violatingIndian law” by not taking downtweets related to “farmers geno-cide”, Twitter India’s public pol-icy head Mahima Kaul hasresigned from her post citingpersonal reasons. Kaul hadsubmitted her resignation in thefirst week of January and will becontinuing at the firm tillMarch. Twitter has also listedthe job opening on its website.

“At the start of this year,Mahima decided to step downfrom her role as Twitter PublicPolicy Director for India andSouth Asia to take a well-deserved break. It’s a loss for allof us at Twitter, but after morethan five years in the role werespect her desire to focus onthe most important people andrelationships in her personallife. Mahima will continue inher role till the end of Marchand will support the transition,”Twitter global policy headMonique Meche said.

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There is no clarity so far onthe reasons for the glacier

burst and the resultantavalanche and flash floods thatwreaked havoc in the upperreaches of the Himalayas inUttarakhand on Sunday, butexperts have zeroed in globalwarming or Western distur-bance as the possible causes forthe melting of the snow andbreaking of the glacier thatcould have triggered the inun-dation in Chamoli district.

The Snow and AvalancheStudy Establishment (SASE)of the Defence Research andDevelopment Organisation isinvestigating the tragedy, butthere are no clear answers yetfor a glacier to have melted in

the winter.It is not clear whether the

flood is a typical Glacial LakeOutburst Flood (GLOF) orsome temporary damming dueto a landslide and avalanchethat might have blocked themainstream to form a tempo-

rary lake which burst, saidRanjit Rath, Director Generalof the Geological Survey ofIndia (GSI).

A GLOF is a type of out-burst flood that occurs whenthe dam containing a glaciallake fails.

“Once the water levelrecedes a team of experts willassess the damage as well as thetriggering factor responsible forthe outburst,” Rath toldreporters here.

As the nightmare envis-aged by numerous environ-mentalists warning againstuntrammelled development inthe mountains came true onSunday, glaciologist FarooqAzam said a glacial burst is veryrare.

“We have been trying tounderstand the event sinceyesterday. Right now what wecan tell is a glacier slipped fromaround 500-600 metres, whichstarted a landslide with an ice-fall that triggered this disaster,”Azam, Assistant Professor,Glaciology & Hydrology,

Indian Institute of Technology,Indore, told a news agency.

“For sure there was noglacial lake outburst flood, forsure there is no cloud burstbecause there is no lake avail-able in the region at this par-ticular time. Even if there arelakes, they are frozen and theydon’t have any activity. The dis-aster happened because of anicefall and landslide.” he added.

Satellite and Google Earthimages, Azam added, do notshow a glacial lake near theregion, but there’s a possibilitythere may be a water pocket inthe region.

“Water pockets are lakesinside the glaciers, which mayhave erupted leading to thisevent,” he said. He suggestedfurther analysis of weather

reports and data to confirm ifthis indeed was the case.Climate scientist Roxy MathewKoll agreed and also said moredata are needed. He said therecent climate change assess-ment report for India showssignificant melting and declinein glacier mass over theHimalayan region in the recentdecades due to warmer tem-peratures.

Koll also said it was notclear if an accumulation ofglacier melt led to this burst,and noted that Western dis-turbances during last week didbring in a lot of snow over theregion, followed by clear skyand warm temperatures.

“It is quite possible that cli-mate change and melting offresh snow led to piling up of

water in this area,” Koll, scien-tist at the Indian Institute ofTropical Meteorology (IITM)in Pune said.

The IntergovernmentalPanel on Climate Change(IPCC)’s Special Report onOceans and Cryosphere in aChanging Climate (SROCC)also shows that climate changehas altered the frequency andmagnitude of natural hazards.“The scientists reported withmedium confidence that insome regions snow avalanchesinvolving wet snow haveincreased while the rain onsnow floods have also increasedat lower elevations in springs,”Prakash, lead author of theongoing 6th Assessment reportof IPCC, said in a statement.

Continued on Page 2

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Soon after Prime MinisterNarendra Modi urged agi-

tating farmers to end their stirand resume the dialogue, farm-ers’ unions on Monday askedthe Government to fix a datefor the next round of talks.

Farmer leader Shiv KumarKakka, who is a senior mem-ber of the Samkyukta KisanMorcha which is spearheadingthe ongoing stir, said they areready for the next round of

talks and the Governmentshould tell them the date andtime of the meeting.

“We have never refused tohold talks with the government.Whenever it has called us fordialogue, we held discussionswith Union ministers. We areready for talks with them (gov-ernment),” Kakka told PTI.

To Modi’s address in theRajya Sabha during which heassured minimum supportprice (MSP), Bharatiya KisanUnion (BKU) leader RakeshTikait said there is no law on

MSP and the Governmentshould repeal these farms laws.

The farmers leaders sittingacross the borders of the cityalso objected to Modi’s remarksthat a new “breed” of agitatorscalled “andolan jivi” hasemerged in the country, andsaid agitation has an importantrole in a democracy.

Talking to media person onMonday, Tikait said businessover hunger will not be allowedin the country and the lawsshould be repealed.

Continued on Page 2

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Apowerful India Caucus inthe US Congress has urged

the Indian Government toensure that the norms ofdemocracy are maintained andprotesters allowed to demon-strate peacefully and haveaccess to the Internet as itheld a meeting with NewDelhi’s envoy here.

India’s Ambassador to theUS Taranjit Singh Sandhu, whoregularly interacts with IndiaCaucus members on a numberof issues, had a virtual meetingwith the top leadership of theCongressional India Caucuslast week.

The members includedcongressmen Brad Shermanand Steve Chabot who are thetwo Co-Chairs of the

Congressional India Caucusalong with Indian-AmericanCongressman Ro Khanna, whois the Vice Chair of the Caucus.

“During this discussion,the caucus leadership wel-comed reforms in the Indianeconomy including in agricul-ture,” sources told PTI.

During the meeting, theleadership of the India Caucus,which is the largest country-specific caucus in the House ofRepresentatives, condemnedthe violence on January 26 inDelhi. Among other things“they were appreciative of thegovernment’s perspective onthe farm reforms,” according tothose familiar with the meeting.

Sherman tweeted that theyurged India to ensure that thenorms of democracy are main-

tained and the protestersallowed to demonstrate peace-fully and have access to theInternet.

“I urged the Indian gov-ernment to make sure that thenorms of democracy are main-tained and that protesters areallowed to protest peaceablyand to have access to theInternet, and to journalists.All friends of India hope thatthe parties can reach an agree-ment,” Sherman said.

The Indian ambassador,who over the last one year hasmet over 100 American law-makers, mostly virtually due tothe Covid-19 restrictions,briefed lawmakers on thenecessity and objectives of theagriculture laws, negotiations aswell as sensitive handling of theagitation.

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New Delhi: Police withdrew onMonday its additional forcewho were deployed across theborders in Delhi during thefarmers’ tractor parade.

According to an orderissued by SpecialCommissioner of Police(Operation and Licensing)Muktesh Chander, as desiredby the police commissioner, theentire staff will go back to theirrespective districts or unitswith effect from Tuesday.

All districts where theadditional force is deployed aredirected to relieve the force by6 pm on Monday with thedirection to report to theirrespective district or unit forfurther duties, it said. The dis-tricts may mobilise additionalforce from their own resourcesto augment police arrange-ments, it added. PTI

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Most of the revered sites ofthe minority Hindu com-

munity in Pakistan are in apoor condition and the author-ity responsible for their upkeephas failed to maintain them,leaving the ancient worshipplaces in a state of decay,according to a recent report bya Supreme Court-appointedcommission.

The report, prepared by aone-man commission, wassubmitted to the SupremeCourt on February 5 and pre-sents a dismal picture of thecommunity’s most revered sitesin the country, the Dawn news-paper reported on Monday.

The report also highlightsthat the Evacuee Trust PropertyBoard (ETPB), responsible fortheir upkeep, has failed tomaintain most of the ancientand holy sites of the minority

community. Dr Shoaib Suddle’sone-man commission has beenestablished by the SupremeCourt but it has three sup-porting members, Dr RameshVankwani, Saqib Jillani and theattorney general for Pakistan,who has nominated the deputyattorney general to participatein fact-finding activities of thecommission, the report said.

The commission membersvisited the Katas Raj Mandir inChakwal on January 6 andPrahlad Mandir in Multan onJanuary 7 in Punjab province.

The findings in the reportpresents a general picture ofdecay and obliteration of two ofthe four most revered evacueesites in Pakistan. The reportsaid that collaborative effortsshould be taken to renovateTerri Mandir (Karak), KatasRaj Temples (Chakwal),Prahlad Mandir (Multan) andHinglaj Mandir (Lasbela).

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The Allahabad High Courton Monday dismissed as

withdrawn a writ petition filedagainst the allotment of land inAyodhya’s Dhannipur villagefor the construction of amosque, following the SupremeCourt verdict in the RamJanmabhoomi-Babri Masjiddispute.

The court, however, grant-ed liberty to the petitioners tomove a fresh petition with appropriatepleadings.

Two Delhi-based sistershad moved the Lucknow Benchof the court on February 3,claiming ownership of the five-acre land allotted to the Uttar

Pradesh Sunni Central WaqfBoard for the construction ofthe mosque.

Appearing for the state,Additional Advocate GeneralRamesh Kumar Singh hadopposed the plea, saying theplot numbers allotted for themosque were different fromthose mentioned in the petition.

He also said the petitionwas filed without ascertainingfacts in such an importantissue and as such it is liable tobe dismissed forthwith.

Justices DK Upadhyay andManish Kumar expressed con-cerns over the filing of the peti-tion in a cursory manner without ascertainingfacts.

Kathmandu: Nepal’s PrimeMinister KP Sharma Oli hassaid that the border issue withIndia should be resolvedthrough serious diplomaticefforts and political dialogue onthe basis of facts and evidence,equality, dignity and justice,instead of bowing down toundue influence and pressure.

Addressing a seminar on‘Coordination among SecurityAgencies in the InternationalBorder Security andManagement of Nepal’ here onSunday, Prime Minister Olisaid Nepal will hold open andfriendly dialogue with India onLimpiyadhura, Lipulekh andKalapani based on facts anddocumented evidence.

“We need to consolidate andimprove our relations with theneighbouring countries on thebasis of facts and evidence, equal-ity, dignity and justice, instead ofbowing down to undue influenceand pressure,” said 68-year-oldOli, who had triggered a borderrow last year after his governmentcame out with a new politicalmap that showed the three Indianterritories as part of Nepal.

It was important for Nepalto establish a cordial relationswith the southern neighbourand expand friendship, forwhich “we must have printedthe new map, hold dialoguewith India and to return ourland through dialogue,” onlythrough which our relations willimprove, he said, adding thereare border issues with India inSusta and Kanchanpur too.

“We need to get back ourland, we should make anymove on the basis of facts andevidence and we will claim ourland on that basis...We need tosettle the unresolved land issueleft on us by history,” he added.

Ties between India andNepal came under severe strainafter Nepal last year publishedthe new political map thatshowed three Indian territories— Limpiyadhura, Kalapaniand Lipulekh — as part ofNepal. After Nepal released themap, India reacted sharply,calling it a “unilateral act” andcautioning Kathmandu thatsuch “artificial enlargement” ofterritorial claims will not beacceptable to it. PTI

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Among other things,Deshmukh slammed the BJPfor its efforts to defame thefarmers who had been agitat-ing peacefully for the past 70days and the manner in whichviolence was unleashed in thenational Capital on January 26.

“The manner in which theGovernment is trying to sab-otage the farmers’ agitation hasevoked negative reactions notjust in the country but alsointernationally. After interna-tional pop star Rihanna andothers reacted to the develop-ments in India, our celebritiesfrom various fields like Latadidi, Sachin Tendulkar haveraised objections to the tweetsby the people like Rihanna andothers. But the timing andidentical content of tweets putout by our celebrities havethrown up a question whethercelebrities put out the tweetsunder some pressure,”Deshmukh said.

Sawant, who made a pre-sentation before Deshmukhon the issue at the Zoom meet-ing, said: “Anyone can com-ment on any issues. But, in this

case, we see a similar contentand the same timing. Fromthis, it appears as if a script wasgiven to the celebrities con-cerned. The whole thing needsto be investigated to check ifthe BJP was behind the wholething”.

“Akshay Kumar and SainaNehwal tweeted the exact samething and actor Suniel Shettytagged a BJP leader. Whileeveryone has a right to expressthemselves, we want theGovernment to probe whetherthese people were pressured bythe Government into puttingout tweets of a similar natureand at the same times,” Sawantsaid.

The twitter war broke outbetween international celebri-ties and their Indian counter-parts after pop star Rihanna,environmental activist GretaThunberg and adult star MiaKhalifa put out posts last weekin support of the farmers’ agi-tation. In retaliation, Indiancelebrities - includingBollywood actors and sportspersons --took twitter in a bigway and posted counter-tweets.

Incidentally, many of thecelebrities used similar hash-tags like #IndiaTogether,#IndiaAgainstPropaganda etcto contradict the tweets post-ed by Rihanna and others insupport of the agitating farm-ers. It may be recalled that onFebruary 3, Tendulkar put outtweets with hashtags# I n d i a T o g e t h e r ,#IndiaAgainstPropaganda:“External forces can be spec-tators but not participants.Indians know India and shoulddecide for India. Let’s remainunited as a nation.”

The same day, Mangeshkaralso tweeted with the same twohashtags: “Namaskar. India isa glorious nation and we allIndians stand with our headsheld high.

As a proud Indian, I havefull faith that any issues orproblems that as a country weface; we are fully equipped toresolve them amicably, keepingthe interest of our people inmind. Jai Hind.”

Coincidentally, Bollywoodactor Akshay Kumar andsports star Saina Nehwal hadposted identical tweets on

February 3 which read thus:“Farmers constitute anextremely important part ofour country. And the effortsbeing undertaken to resolvetheir issues are evident. Let’ssupport an amicable resolu-tion, rather than paying atten-tion to anyone creating differ-ences.”

Alluding to the similarityin tweets and the timing of thetweets, Sawant said: “AkshayKumar and Saina Nehwal post-ed a same word-to-word iden-tical tweet. Suniel Shetty taggeda BJP leader as well and thiscompletely exposed the role ofthe BJP. We suspect that theBJP is behind the whole thing.The party has a role in theBCCI as well and hence prob-ably some cricketers alsotweeted on the said direc-tions,” Sawant said.

Sawant said if these per-sonalities are under pressurefrom the BJP then they need tobe given protection by theState.

On his part, NCP presi-dent Sharad Pawar had askedTendulkar to exercise ‘caution’while commenting on fields

other than cricket.In a related development,

Maharashtra’s former ChiefMinister and senior BJP leaderDevendra Fadnavis hit out atthe Maha Vikas AghadiGovernment for orderinginvestigations into the tweetsby celebrities: “Disgusting &highly deplorable. Where isyour Marathi Pride now?Where is your MaharashtraDharma? We will never findsuch ‘ratnas’ (gems) in theentire nation who order probesagainst Bharat Ratnas whoalways stand strong in onevoice for our nation,” Fadnavistweeted.

However, MaharashtraNavnirman Sena (MNS) pres-ident Raj Thackeray expressedhis displeasure over the man-ner in which the Governmenthad exposed legends like Lataand Sachin to vicious socialmedia trolling by involvingthem unnecessarily in itsefforts to counter internation-al celebrities. He said theGovernment should haveinvolved personalities likeAkshay Kumar and not theicons.

From Page 1“It’s fine that you

(Opposition) are attacking theGovernment on the protestsbut you should have also toldthe farmers that change is nec-essary for development.” Hequoted Manmohan Singh,commenting that “at least they(Opposition) will listen to himif not me” on reforms.

“Manmohan ji is here, Iwill read his quote - “There areother rigidities because of mar-keting regime set up in the1930s which prevent our farm-ers from selling their producewhere they get the highest rateof return. It is our intention toremove all those handicapswhich come in the way ofIndia realising its vast potentialas one large common market,”the Prime Minister quotedManmohan Singh as saying.

Modi added, “ManmohanSingh ji had made his inten-tions clear, to give farmers the

freedom to sell their produce,and have just one market. Andwe are doing it now. “

Modi said the AgricultureMinister was holding constantdialogue with farmers andthere was no tension as boththe sides were trying to under-stand each other.

“We are ready to removeshortcomings. I assure youthat Mandis will be mod-ernised. Cheap ration given toover 80 crore people will con-tinue. Please do not try tospread misinformation. Wealso need to strengthen meansto increase the incomes offarmers,” he also said.

The Prime Minister had adig at Leader of OppositionGhulam Nabi Azad. Statingthat Azad had praised theGovernment for holding localelections in Jammu & Kashmirrecently, Modi said, “I believeyour party will take it in rightspirit, and not make the mis-take of doing opposite by lis-tening to suggestions of G-23.”It was in obvious reference toa term for a group of 23 in theCongress who wrote to partychief Sonia Gandhi last yeardemanding changes in theorganisation.

Azad was one of the sig-natories to that letter.Incidentally, Azad’s term as aRajya Sabha member will endin the next few days as heretires.

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From Page 1“The way rates of a flight

ticket fluctuate three to fourtimes a day, the price of cropswill not be decided the sameway. The farmers are a com-munity which has emergedand people are also supportingthe farmers. The farmersprotesting against the new lawshave already highlighted is thatthere is no law on MSP, becauseof which traders loot them bybuying crops at lower prices,”said Tikait.

“This movement was firstportrayed as Punjab’s issue,then Sikhs’ then Jats, so on andso forth. The farmers of thecountry are united. There is nosmall farmer or big farmer. Themovement belongs to all farm-ers,” said Tikait.

Sukhdev Singh, Punjabgeneral secretary of BKU EktaUgrahan, sought to know whythe government is not ensuringa legal guarantee on MSP forcrops and alleged that it is try-ing to divert the issue. Farmerleader Baldev Singh also saidthat government should repealthese farm laws and provide alegal guarantee on MSP forfarmers’ crops.

To press their demands,protesting unions held anationwide “chakka jam” lastweek, during which nationaland state highways wereblocked in Punjab, Haryanaand other parts of the country.

Eleven rounds of talks havebeen held over the contentious

farm laws but the impasse con-tinues as the farmer unionsremain firm on their demands-- the repeal of the three lawsand legal guarantee for MSP.

In the last round of talks,the Government had offered tosuspend the laws for 12-18months, but the farmer unionsrejected it.

Thousands of agitatingfarmers, mostly from Punjab,Haryana and western UttarPradesh, have been camping atthree Delhi border points ---Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur --- for over 70 days.

However, on Monday, theDelhi Police Commissioner, SN Shrivastava, called back itsadditional force to their origi-nal postings, who weredeployed across the NationalCapital’s borders during theKisan tractor rally.

In an order issued by DrMukesh Chander, the SpecialCommissioner of Police,Operations and Licensing, itwas stated that as per desiredby the Delhi Commissioner ofPolice, the additional forcesdeployed to maintain law andorder and during kisan rallywill go back to their districtsand units with effect fromFebruary 9.

“All concerned districtswhere the additional force isdeployed are directed to relievethe force by 6 PM on Mondayto their respective district andunit for further duties,” statedthe letter.

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From Page 1“The vulnerabilities are

exacerbated by climate changewith risks of glacial lake out-bursts,” Pema Gyamtsho,Director General of theInternational Centre forIntegrated MountainDevelopment (ICIMOD), theKathmandu-based inter-gov-ernmental knowledge centre,said on Monday.

“Across the globe, so manypeople have seen visuals of orheard about the flooding event.The visuals are frightening andheartbreaking. This is once againa grave reminder about how ourshared mountain region is frag-ile and vulnerable to a multitudeof geological and natural process-es. And it is a grave reminder thatvulnerabilities are exacerbated byclimate change,” Gyamtsho saidin a statement.

“Those glaciers provideimportant water storage, butwhen warming across the globeis accelerated, there are changesin water flows and risks ofglacial lake outburst events,”Gyamtsho said.

He added that this is animportant moment for theHindu Kush Himalaya (HKH)countries to pause and recon-sider development in themountains given the emergingrisks posed by climate change.

“While we need infra-structure and other projects toensure the lives and liveli-hoods of mountain communi-ties, we also need to look atways of development that con-sider the fragility of these areas,recognise the inherent risks,and the implications of cas-cading effects on downstreamareas.

“It is with this under-standing and sense of urgencythat, together with our mem-ber Governments, we haveissued an HKH Call to Action,outlining concrete actions atthe local, national and region-al levels to address issues crit-ical to our HKH mountains,” headded.

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New Delhi: Delhi recorded125 new coronavirus cases,while the death toll rose to10,882 on Monday with twonew deaths, the governmentsaid. The active cases droppedto 1,096 from 1,112 the previ-ous day and 6.24 lakh patientshave recovered, the HealthDepartment said. These new125 cases came out of the55,390 tests conducted the pre-vious day, as the positivity ratestood at 0.23 per cent. PTI

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Page 3: The Pioneer...2021/02/09  · Mangeshkar, Sachin Tendulkar and actor Akshay Kumar into putting out tweets in response to the global criticism of the Government’s handling of the

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Delhi school students inter-acted with IAS officer Udit

Prakash, Director Educationand IPS officer Ingit PratapSingh, DCP South West aspart of a unique programmelaunched by Delhi Governmentfor children aspiring for“Union Public ServiceCommission” (UPSC).

IPS Ingit Pratap and IASUdit Prakash interacted withstudents as part of the secondseries of this initiative of DelhiGovernment. Under this pro-gram, UPSC aspirants in Delhischools get a chance to interactwith young IAS/IPS officersevery month.

“The officers share theirexperiences, strategies andinsights about UPSC exampreparation to help studentsdevelop a better understandingof the exam. In the secondepisode of this series today, 75

students from grades 9-12attended the interaction withtwo young officers in personwhile more than 10,000 stu-dents watched it live onYouTube,” the Governmentsaid in a statement.

IPS Ingit Pratap gave hisfour-fold mantra for success —focus, discipline, hard work andperseverance. IAS Udit Prakashsaid that it is our vision toinfuse confidence in the stu-dents through these interac-tions and make them aim high.

Udit Prakash shared thatIngit Pratap Singh’s mother is ateacher in a Delhi governmentschool. He told the students,“There is not any differencebetween you and us. We wereonce in your place. With hardwork and determination, youwill be able to achieve yourdreams and become an inspi-ration to many”.

Ingit Pratap Singh shared hisjourney from entering the armed

forces and having to leave itthrice due to medical conditions,to finally becoming an IPS offi-cer. About his trysts with chal-lenges, he said, “Each time youfail, you have to keep working.You cannot give up. If one dooris closed, knock on the other.”

Deputy Chief MinisterManish Sisodia also joined theinteraction at Sarvodaya BalVidyalaya, Rouse Avenue andexhorted students to followtheir dream with full passion.He said, “One should not studyfor just marks, one shouldstudy to learn. That way, studynever seems like a burden”. Hefurther added that along withknowledge and skills, oneshould be passionate abouttheir dreams.

IPS Ingit Pratap Singhstressed on the importance ofchoosing subjects one is inter-ested in and being as passion-ate about the preparation asone is about cracking the exam.

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Delhi Cooperative MinisterRajendra Pal Gautam on

Monday directed DelhiCooperative Housing FinanceCorporation Limited to reducethe interest rates as comparedto private banks so that thecommon people can avail loansat cheaper rates to buy a house.

Gautam said that the DelhiGovernment under CMArvind Kejriwal has given a bigrelief to Delhi residents byreducing loan interest ratesafter circle rates. Now for loansof �1 lakh you will have to pay�760 instead of the earlier rateof �803.

The Minister on Mondaysaid that Delhi Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal has taken ahistoric decision to reduce thecircle rate of residential, com-mercial and industrial proper-ties to 20 per cent. With thereduction in circle rates, thecommon people will be able to

realize the dream of buying a house for his family,he said.

Rajesh Goyal, Chairman ofDelhi Cooperative HousingFinance Corporation Limited,said “With the decision of theGovernment of Delhi, the rateof interest for Delhiites fortaking housing loan has beenreduced from 7.45 per cent to6.75 per cent. These rates aremuch lower than private banks.

This will provide relief toDelhiites in installments everymonth. While the relief ininstallments will reduce thepressure on the borrowers,they will be able to bring otherhappiness to their family bysaving.”

Goyal also said that thedecision to reduce circle ratesby 20 per cent will enablemore and more people to buyreal estate and the stability in

real estate will also be removed.“This will reduce housingprices and middle-class fami-lies who have been living inrented houses for years will beable to buy homes for them-selves. After lowering the inter-est rate, the installment permonth will be �760 per onelakh rupees, whereas earlier itwas �803,” he said.

Delhi CooperativeHousing Finance Corporation

is planning to announce amore attractive package of ahousing loan scheme for themiddle class and weaker sec-tion soon.

The Delhi Governmenthad on Friday decided toreduce present circle rates relat-ed to residential/commer-cial/industrial properties inDelhi by flat 20 per cent acrossall categories of colonies andareas.

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Union Minister for Housingand Urban Affairs

Hardeep Singh Puri onMonday introduced theNational Capital Territory ofDelhi Laws (Special Provisions)Second (Amendment) Bill,2021 in the Rajya Sabha.

The National CapitalTerritory of Delhi Laws (SpecialProvisions) Second(Amendment) Bill, 2021 whichseeks to replace the NationalCapital Territory of Delhi Laws(Special Provisions) Second(Amendment) Ordinance,2020 (Ordinance No. 15 of2020) provides for extension ofthe validity of the Act of 2011for a period of three years from1st January, 2021 to 31stDecember, 2023.

The National CapitalTerritory of Delhi Laws (SpecialProvisions) Second(Amendment) Ordinance,2020 which was promulgatedby President Ram Nath Kovindon 30th December 2020. It

amended the National CapitalTerritory of Delhi Laws (SpecialProvisions) Second Act, 2011.

The 2011 Act was valid tillDecember 31, 2020. TheOrdinance extended the dead-line to December 31, 2023. The2011 Act provided for the reg-ularisation of the unautho-rised colonies that existed inthe national capital as onMarch 31, 2002 and whereconstruction took place tillJune 1, 2014. The Ordinanceamended this to provide thatthe unauthorised colonies willbe identified for regularisa-tion in accordance with theNational Capital Territory ofDelhi (Recognition of PropertyRights of Residents in

Unauthorised Colonies) Act,2019 and the National CapitalTerritory of Delhi (Recognitionof Property Rights of Residentsin Unauthorised Colonies)Regulations, 2019.

“The Delhi Urban ShelterImprovement Board Act, 2010,which deals with the Jhuggi-Jhompri clusters is in theprocess of amendment to bringit in consonance with the pro-visions of Act of 2011 in so faras date of existence of theseclusters is concerned. Similarly,action envisaged for farm hous-es, special areas and all otherareas of the National CapitalTerritory of Delhi is underconsideration and will takesome more time to complete,”the Bill said.

Therefore, the unautho-rised colonies that existed as onJune 1, 2014 and had wit-nessed 50 per cent develop-ment as on January 1, 2015 willbe eligible for regularisation.Now, the Government wants toconvert the Ordinance into alegislation through this Bill.

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Delhi Cabinet MinisterGopal Rai on Monday

held a review meeting with theMCD officials and directedthem to meet the RWA repre-sentatives to enquire about thecomplaints lodged by the res-idents and work to resolvethem as soon as possible.

During the meeting, Raisaid that there is a need to auditthe stadium work at the TikonaPark independently becauseseveral complaints on this mat-ter were received. Earlier alsoMCD sent two show-causenotices on the same issue to thecontractors but no responsewas received, he said.

Rai said, “I have receivedvarious complaints regarding

the construction work of themini-stadium which is beingbuilt at the Tikona Park. Takingcognizance of these complaintswhich clearly show that sub-standard materials were used inthe construction I have direct-ed to hold a third-party auditon this matter.”

During the meeting, theCorporation officials said thatbecause of the irregularities inthe construction work, theyhad already sent two show-cause notices to the contractor.However, the officials also saidthat despite these notices thecontractors are not followingthe rules and mentioned guide-lines. Rai directed that imme-diate action should be takenand the matter should be thor-oughly probed.

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The children studying in theschools run by the North

Delhi Municipal Corporation(NMC) were not given a singlepenny for books, stationery,school bags, uniforms, shoesand other items despite thecompletion of the entire acad-emic session, Congress leaderin north Corporation MukeshGoel said while initiating dis-cussion on revised Budget esti-mates for the year 2020-2021and Budget estimates for theyear 2021-2022 in the specialmeeting on Monday.

The Corporation’s perfor-mance in the field of education,sanitation and health serviceshas been zero in the last oneyear, he said, adding that inAyush and Allopathic hospitals,medicines were not even pur-

chased for the treatment ofpatients. On the other hand,due to scarcity of broom andother goods, along with thesalary and arrears of the sani-tation workers, there was heapsof garbage all over the year.

Goel further stated that theMunicipal Corporation andthe present Delhi Governmenthave not made any effort toreduce air pollution and land-fill site waste in Delhi. He saidthat during his tenure theCongress Government hadconverted one side of theBhalswa landfill into greenery.

“The Audit report hasquestioned the project ofBhalswa landfill site, it can beinferred that the governmentsof Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)and Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) are not serious and sen-sitive to reduce the legacy

waste at landfill sites,” he said.Presenting the figures in

his budget statement, Goelsaid that in revised budgetestimates for year 2020-21, thebudget has been increased to�1042 crore, 55 lakh, 80 thou-sand rupees. Although, �1100

for school uniforms, �120 forschool bags, �150 for sta-tionery, �130 for buying toys,�1,000 for buying stationeryitems to SC /ST /OBC andminority students studying incorporation primary schoolswere not given by the NMCthis year.

Goel said that in year 2020-21 from July 2020 to December2020 the raw mid-day meal ofsix months for students study-ing in NMC schools waslapsed. Delhi Governmentwrote two letters to the corpo-ration on October 16, 2020 andDecember 9, 2020 to lift theraw ration from FCI go-downs.“From July 2020, children wereto be provided with a rawration kit in the form of a mid-day meal every month. NMChas also not been able to paythe fund for the mid-day meal

for the months of May andJune,” he said.

The Congress leader alsosaid that the MunicipalCorporation is getting incomefrom various sources equal tothe expenditure on salaries ofits employees still the rulingparty is unable to pay thesalaries of the employees.

“About �242.25 crore arespent every month on thesalary and pension. In thiscontext, the corporation has tospend about �4,119 crore annu-ally on the salary and pension.The budgetary figures pre-sented by the commissionershow that in the year 2019-20,the corporation earned a totalof �4,252 crore from all itssources. However, the salaryand pension of 4 to 5 monthshas not been given to themunicipal employees,” he said.

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New Delhi: A large number ofCongress workers along withDelhi Congress president AnilKumar accompanied partycandidates to file their nomi-nation for MCD bye-election.

Congress candidates BalKishan (Ward No 2-E, TrilokPuri East (SC)), DharampalMaurya (Ward No 8-E, KalyanPuri (SC)), Memwati Barwala(Ward No 32-N, Rohini-C)and Mamta (Ward No 62-N,Shalimar Bagh North (W)),Chauhan Banger Ward No 41-E (Seelampur) and ChaudharyZubair Ahamad filed theirnomination papers on Monday.

Kumar asserted thatCongress will sweep all the fiveMCD seats in the bye-elections,as people have now realizedthat only Congress can providedevelopment-driven, people-beneficial governance, whichwas evident from the Congressparty’s excellent track recordwhen it was in power in thecorporations for five years.

The Congress ViceChairman Jaikishan said thatthe MCDs have ruined theclean and green image of Delhiby converting it into a garbagecapital. SR

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The Delhi Police has arrest-ed a 50-year-old man for

allegedly killing a person fol-lowing a quarrel between themafter they drank together inDelhi. Police said that theaccused identified as BalaSahni, allegedly stabbedSubhash Chandra (35) to deathon January 28 after a quarrelbroke out between them whenhe teased him over a woman.

Sahni, who originally hailsfrom Bihar’s Begusarai dis-trict, was arrested based oninputs that he would come toUttam Nagar in Delhi onThursday, police said.

Chandra, an e-rickshawdriver, had consumed alcoholwith Sahni and one other per-son before the incident thattook place at Nawada village ofMohan Garden area in Delhi.

According to SantoshKumar Meena, the DeputyCommissioner of Police (DCP),Dwarka district, with the helpof technical surveillance andfurther investigation, it emergedthat Chandra often teasedSahni, also an e-rickshaw dri-ver, over a woman and that ledto a quarrel between them.

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The Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) candidates filed their

nominations for municipal by-elections on Monday in thepresence of senior Delhi BJPleaders including its presidentAdesh Gupta.

The candidates performedpuja with party workers beforereaching nomination centres insimple yet impressive proces-sions with limited people dueto covid restrictions.

Addressing party workers,Gupta said that Shalimar Baghis a stronghold of BJP andexpressed confidence that partywill win from here with a largemargin. He called upon partyworkers to complete the workof door -to -door voter listcheck in the wards going topolls by the weekend and thenconcentrate on ensuring highvoting by party sympathizerswhich will ensure the party’swin in these polls.

The party candidate fromRohini C ward Rakesh Goel

also offered puja in the pres-ence of senior party leadersincluding North West DistrictPresident Devendra Solankibefore proceeding to file hisnomination papers.

Rakesh Goel accompaniedby MP Hans Raj Hans, seniorMLA Vijender Gupta, DelhiBJP general secretary DineshPratap Singh and the districtpresident filed his nominationat the SDM office in Alipur.MLA Ajay Mahawar and NorthEast district president Mohanalong with party workersaccompanied Chauhan BangarWard candidate Mohd. NazirAnsari as he filed his nomina-tion at SDM office, Seelampur.

Ram Kanojia forKalyanpuri ward and OmPrakash Gugarwal fromTrilokpuri East ward also per-formed puja with party work-ers including Mayur Vihar dis-trict president Vinod Bachetiand MLAs Abhay Verma andOm Prakash Sharma besidesPradesh Purwanchal Morchapresident Kaushal Mishra.

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Five Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) candidates filed

their nominations for theupcoming MCD by-election.

Senior AAP leader andMCD in-charge DurgeshPathak on Monday said thatthe five candidates of AAPwill win by an overwhelmingmajority in the upcomingMCD by-election. He saidthat the citizens of Delhi havemade up their mind to throwBJP out of MCD and elect theAAP.

Dhirendra Kumar (BuntyGautam) from WardKalyanpuri 8E and VijayKumar from Ward TrilokpuriEast 2E filed their nomina-tions at the SDM office ofGeeta Colony. MohammadIsharaq Khan, the candidatefrom Ward Chauhan Banger41E, filed nomination at theSDM office of Seelampur.Ram Chandra, the candidatefrom Ward Rohini C32N,filed nomination at AlipurSDM office. Sunita Mishra,the candidate from WardShalimar Bagh - North 62N,filed nomination atKanjhawala SDM office.

Pathak said, “Five candi-dates of AAP will win by anoverwhelming majority in theupcoming MCD by-election.The citizens of Delhi have madeup their mind to throw BJP outof MCD and elect the AAP.”

Vijay Kumar has been thesecretary of the All India SafaiMazdoor Union and Dr B RAmbedkar JanmahotsavCommittee. Vijay has been theVice President of the MCDsanitation workers’ union. Healso runs animal shelters foranimal health facilities inTrilokpuri. He has beeninvolved in providing educa-tion to poor people of the area.

Sunita Mishra is theShalimar Bagh ward’s Mohallacoordinator and also secretaryof the women’s wing ofShalimar Bagh Assembly.

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Page 4: The Pioneer...2021/02/09  · Mangeshkar, Sachin Tendulkar and actor Akshay Kumar into putting out tweets in response to the global criticism of the Government’s handling of the

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Scientists have found the firstgeological evidence of an

earthquake at HimebastiVillage on the border of Assamand Arunachal Pradesh, docu-mented by historians as theSadiya earthquake in historyand recorded to have causedmassive destruction in theregion almost destroying thetown in 1697 CE.

This finding by the scien-tists from Wadia Institute ofHimalayan Geology (WIHG),a research institute under theDepartment of Science andTechnology (DST), could con-tribute to a seismic hazardmap of the eastern Himalaya,which can facilitate construc-tion and planning in the region.This work has been recentlypublished in the journal‘Scientific Report’.

Historical archives refer tooften recurring earthquakesalong the Eastern Himalaya forwhich geological evidence islacking, raising the question of

whether these events rupturedthe surface or remained blindand how they contribute to theseismic budget of the region,which is home to millions ofinhabitants.

Scientists Arjun Pandey, RJayangondaperumal, GyörgyHetényi, Rao Singh Priyanka,Ishwar Singh, PradeepSrivastava and Hari B Srivastavafrom the Dehradun based insti-tute carried out a mega trench

excavation at Himebasti vil-lage, Arunachal Pradesh, India,where the most recent eventrecords the imprints of the1697 Sadiya earthquake andanalysed it with modern geo-logical techniques.

They found the first geo-logical surface rupture signa-tures in the form of exposeddeposits associated with riversand streams deformed by athrust fault along a Northeast

dipping fault zone. In order toconstrain the causative faultingevent at this site, the team datedtwenty-one radiocarbon sam-ples from the trench exposure.

The scientists also foundlarge tree trunks embedded inthe youngest flood deposits atthe exit of the Subansiri River(Sadiya town is located rough-ly 145 km southeast ofSubansiri river), suggesting thepost-seismic aggradation ofthe river following an array ofaftershocks till six months in anabortive fashion.

The study of the earth-quake at Sadiya standing on agrassy plain, almost surround-ed by forested EasternHimalayas on the right bank ofLohit River, adds an importantsite to the seismic hazardassessment of the easternHimalaya, which will benefitthe inhabitants and help in pro-viding better infrastructureacross the Eastern Himalayanfoothills which is one of themost densely populated regionsin the world, said the study.

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The CBI on Monday arrest-ed a junior engineer of

Military Engineer Service forallegedly demanding andaccepting a bribe of �32,000from the complainant.

A case was registeredagainst the JE, MES (ND),Visakhapatnam on the allega-tions that the complainant wasawarded a contract with certainworks worth �20,92,470 and hecompleted the said works, theCBI said in a statement.

It was further alleged thatthe complainant received �6lakh against the first bill andsubmitted remaining bills tothe office of AGE, B/R-II, MES,Visakhapatnam.

The complainant met theJunior Engineer to enquireabout pending bills, underwhose supervision, the com-plainant executed the work of�4 lakh. The JE allegedly

demanded �32,000 for certify-ing the bills and asked the com-plainant to pay the amount athis office, it said.

It was also alleged that theaccused told the complainantthat if he failed to pay theamount, his remaining billamount would be stopped bysending adverse observations.CBI laid a trap and caught theaccused red handed whiledemanding and accepting abribe of �32,000 from the com-plainant, it said.

Searches were conducted atthe office and residentialpremises of accused atVisakhapatnam and Kovilpatty(Tamil Nadu) which led torecovery of incriminating doc-

uments.The arrested accusedSankar Narayana was producedbefore the Competent Court atVisakhapatnam and remandedto judicial custody for 14 days

The agency on Monday fileda chargesheet against seven

accused including thenCommandant, BSF, SatishKumar and private personsMd. Enamul Haque, AnarulSeikh, Md. Golam Mustafa,Taniya Sanyal, Badal KrishnaSanyal and Rashida Bibi beforethe Special Court, Asansol(West Bengal) in a case relat-ed to alleged illegal cross-bor-der trade of cattle.

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�&"������� /0�1�� ����� ��������������������� ��������� ���� ��� New Delhi:An estimated 6-10

million people in India live withactive epilepsy (Seizure) but alarge magnitude of treatmentgap, ranging from about 22 percent in the urban middle classpopulation and more so in vil-lages, about 90 per cent hauntsthe patients.

“This is because of a stringof reasons such as inadequateaccess to or awareness of anti-epilepsy medications, poverty,stigma/ cultural beliefs associat-ed with epilepsy, insufficienthealth infrastructure, shortage ofprofessionals trained in epilep-tology, inequitable distributionsof available resources in ruralareas and high cost of treatment,”experts pointed out on the occa-sion of the World Epilepsy Daybeing marked on every secondMonday of February.

Dr RK Dhamija, HOD ofthe Neurology at Delhi-basedpremier hospital Dr LadyHardinge Medical College saidthat, “Seizures can be controlled.An estimated 25% of epilepsycases are preventable.

Up to 70 per cent of people

living with the condition couldbecome seizure free with appro-priate use of antiseizure medi-cines. Low-cost treatment isavailable.”He called for urgent

strengthening of the healthcarein the rural areas which has high-er rates of epilepsy cases withhuge gap in treatment. “Epilepsycan result in significant injury as

well as death, if left untreated.Also, status epilepticus (SE) canbe a potentially lethal situation,”added Dr Dhamija.

Dr Nilesh Kurwale, EpilepsySurgeon, Coordinator for BajajAllianz Centre for Epilepsy,Deenanath MangeshkarHospital, Pune was of the opin-ion that if treatment with anti-epileptic medication fails to pro-vide adequate seizure relief, anindividual may be considered fora surgical work up. “There is alarge amount of data to suggest

that some epilepsy syndromesmay be especially amenable tohigh rates of seizure freedomthrough a surgical procedure;temporal lobe epilepsy, being themost common candidate,” hesaid, according to a report.

However, it is the stigmawhich is more fatal than theepilepsy itself. “The stigma of thedisease can discourage peoplefrom seeking treatment forsymptoms, so as to avoid becom-ing identified with the disease,”said the WHO. PNS

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The Left parties on Monday urged theCentre to stop the privatization of

Navratna PSU Visakhapatnam SteelPlant (RINL).

CPI general secretary D Raja said theprivate operators in the steel sector areeyeing on the 23,000 acres of the PSUsteel plant and urged the CabinetCommittee on Economic Affairs towithdraw the 100 percent disinvestmentdecision. CITU general secretary TapanSen welcomed the state wide protestagainst the Centre’s decision to sell offRINL.

“Over 50 years ago, 23,000 acres offarm land were acquired to set up thesteel plant. Farmers were not paid theirmoney properly. Now the land is worthlakhs of crores of rupees. If the presentmove is allowed, a private company willtake over the steel plant and grab theland. The Government has made noeffort to explore all possibilities to runthe steel plant. No iron-ore mine hasbeen allotted to the Visakhapatnam

Steel Plant. All private steel plants getiron-ore mines. Lakhs of people aredirectly and indirectly working for thesteel plant. Even the state governmentheaded by Jagan Mohan Reddy, point-ing out that the plant stands as a testi-mony to the will of the Telugu people hasasked the Union government to recon-sider its decision,” said Raja.

“Centre of Indian Trade Unions(CITU) congratulates the workers andpeople for their collective initiative toresist the disastrous move of theGovernment to privatise VisakhapatnamSteel Plant, RINL through strategic sale.CITU extends solidarity to such unitedstruggle of the people and workers toresist the nefarious move to hand overRINL to private hands and calls upon theworking people in general to express sol-idarity to the ongoing struggle atVisakhapatnam. Everywhere privatiza-tion move must be resisted and must notbe allowed to materialize through peo-ples’ collective action and interventionin order to defend the nation and thenational economy,” said Sen.

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The India-US joint militaryexercise ‘Yudh Abhyas 20’

commenced on Monday inMahajan Field Firing Range ofBikaner district in Rajasthan.This is the 16th edition ofannual bilateral joint exercise ofboth the armies and will con-tinue till the 21st of this month.The previous version of thejoint exercise was held at Seattlein the United States.

Brigadier MukeshBhanwala, Commander of the170 Infantry Brigade of theIndian Army, welcomed the UScontingent at the firing rangeand impressed upon both thearmies to achieve optimumcohesion and interoperabilityduring the exercise.

He laid stress on theimportance of free exchange ofideas, concepts and best prac-tices between the troops andthe necessity to learn from

each other’s operational expe-riences, defence spokespersonLt Col Amitabh Sharma said.

“The exercise will enrichboth the contingents from eachother’s rich experience in

counter-insurgency operations.Besides counter-insurgencyoperations, exchange of expe-riences in humanitarian assis-tance and disaster relief willalso be a part of the exercise,”the spokesperson said in a

statement.The official said a number

of aerial platforms, includingthe newly inducted indigenousAdvance Light Helicopter WSI‘RUDRA’, MI-17, Chinooks,Stryker Vehicles of the USArmy and BMP-II MechanisedInfantry Combat Vehicles ofthe Indian Army, will beutilised in the exercise, whichwill go on till February 21.

The drill comes days afterthe air forces of India andFrance held a five-day jointexercise in Rajasthan inJanuary.

About 250 soldiers fromeach side are participating inthe exercise. The two armieswill share their war-relatedtechniques, skills and experi-ence with each other duringthis exercise. The exercise isone of the largest militarytraining and defense coopera-tion efforts between India andthe United States.

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Drones may soon bringcricket even closer to the

fans, with the DirectorateGeneral of Civil Aviation(DGCA) allowing the Board ofControl for Cricket in India(BCCI) to use the live aerialcinematography to cover crick-et matches in 2021.

The Ministry of CivilAviation (MoCA) had receivedrequests from BCCI and M/sQuidich pertaining to grantingof request and other corre-spondences regarding permis-sion to use Remotely PilotedAircraft Systems (RPAS) forlive aerial filming.

It is yet unclear how earlydrones will be used in cricketmatches, or if they will beused for the next matches in theongoing India-England series.

Aerial cameras, hangingby a cable, known as

Spidercam, Skycam have beencommon in cricket matchesnow. Drones, too, have beenused before, in the 2017Champions Trophy. But thiswas limited to analysing thepitch before the start of thematch.

“The Ministry of CivilAviation (MoCA) andDirectorate General of CivilAviation (DGCA) have grant-ed a conditional exemption tothe Board of Control forCricket in India (BCCI) for thedeployment of drones for liveaerial cinematography of theIndia Cricket Season in 2021,”the Ministry said on Monday.The exemption is valid tillDecember 31, 2021.

According to the MOCA,

the BCCI has to obtain neces-sary clearances from (a) LocalAdministration (b) Ministry ofDefence (c) Ministry of HomeAffairs (d) Air DefenceClearance from Indian AirForce and (e) Airport Authorityof India (AAI) [as applicable]prior to operation of RemotelyPiloted Aircraft System (RPAS).

Moreover, M/s Quidichengaged by BCCI as RPASoperator shall only operate theRPAS models specified in theapproved standard operatingprocedures (SOP) dated 8thJanuary 2021. The operationsof the RPAS having valid DroneAcknowledgement Number(DAN) [specified in the SOP]shall be operated as per theabove-mentioned SOP in thearea specified therein.

Any change in theapproved SOP for e.g. changein procedures or RPAS or usecase or personnel or area spec-ified in the approved SOP shall

be included in the SOP andsubmitted to DGCA forapproval.

Also, the BCCI has to takenecessary permission regardingaerial photography fromDirectorate of Regulations andInformation, DGCA orMinistry of Defence (as applic-able).

"The drone ecosystem isevolving rapidly in our coun-try. Its utilization is expandingfrom agriculture, mining,healthcare and disaster man-agement to sports and enter-tainment. The granting of thispermission is in line with theobjectives of the Governmentof India to promote the com-mercial use of drones in thecountry," said Amber Dubey,Joint Secretary, Ministry ofCivil Aviation said.

"The Drone Rules 2021 arein the final stages of discussionwith the law ministry. We arehoping to receive the approvalsby March 2021," he added.

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After a week-long derailmentby the Opposition, as the

Lok Sabha on Monday resumednormal functioning following anappeal by Defence MinisterRajnath Singh, Congress leaderAdhir Ranjan Chowdhurylaunched a scathing attack on theModi-Government, demandingto know who "leaked" informa-tion on the Balakot-air-strike for"election benefit" and describedit as a case of "treason", He soughtthe Government to constitute aJPC on the "TRP scam" andwanted government to provideinformation on the allegedChinese occupation of "1000 Sqkm of land" on the Line ofControl (LAC) along Ladakh.

Earlier, Singh said that it wasa duty of every member tomaintain the tradition of passingthe Motion of Thanks toPresident's address. He also saidthat Rajya Sabha has alreadypassed the Motion of Thanksafter Prime Minister Narendra

Modi's reply and "I appeal tomembers not to break this tra-dition in the Lok Sabha".

While Speaker Om Birlaalso appealed to the members toallow the House to function andnot indulge in sloganeering,Chowdhury too said that thistradition has been continuingsince 1921 and should not bebroken. "Our demand was to dis-cuss the issue of farmers whohave been sitting in the cold onthe borders of Delhi in protestagainst farm laws. It is regrettablethat they are being stopped fromentering the capital by sharp nailsand barbed wires," he said refer-ring to the reinforced barricad-ing at the farmers' protest sites.

In the backdrop of farmers’agitation, Chowdhury allegedthat government has created a"narrative" first again Muslimsand now vis-a-vis farmers that"they are enemies of the country".

"Why can't prime Ministertalk with farmers? Why is thisarrogance ?," he asked.

He accused that hoisting of

flag in the Red Fort was not car-ried out by farmers but "planned"by the government. "Truth is thatyou wanted this to happen..it isa well-thought out conspiracy ofyours..you reached them there",said Chowdhury and demand-ed a Joint ParliamentaryCommittee (JPC) on it .

The opposition MP criti-cised the government for strik-ing at 18-year-old environmen-tal activist Greta Thunberg forsupporting 'kisan movement'when PM himself had, he said,extended support in the USA bysaying " ab ki baar TrumpSarkar".

Initiating discussion fromhis party on the Vote of thankson the President''s address, theCongress leader said merelyquoting great people likeRabindranath Tagore, SwamiVivekanand or Netaji SubhashChandra Bose does not amountto following their ideas.

He said Prime Ministertalked about great people buttheir ideas need to be imple-

mented too.For the BJP, its MP Locket

Chatterjee initiated the debateaccusing West Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee andher party TMC of "politicising"and "insulting Ram-Sita".

She charged the state gov-ernment with blocking centralschemes and pursuing "appease-ment polices". Opening theDiscussion on the Vote of thankson the President''s address for theBJP, the MP from Hoogly wentall out in accusing TMC leadersof "pocketing money" meant forthe common public.

She said central schemes forfarmers' are blocked by the TMCgovernment.Chatterjee said:“2021 is a historic year whenIndia enters the 75th year of itsindependence and I pay homageto those who lost their lives forour freedom.The Modi govern-ment has taken many big deci-sions for the betterment of thecountry like GST and handlingthe coronavirus pandemic prop-erly.”

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India has become the fastestcountry to vaccinate 6 million

beneficiaries against Covid-19countrywide, said the UnionHealth Ministry as it termed it asa feat achieved in just 24 days. Incontrast, it said that the USAtook 26 days to reach this markwhereas the UK achieved this in46 days. The nationwide Covidvaccination program waslaunched by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on January 16while vaccination of the frontlineworkers commenced from February 2.

At least 60,35,660 benefi-ciaries were vaccinated through1,24,744 sessions, as per theprovisional report till 6 pm onMonday.These include 54,12,270HCWs and 6,23,390 FLWs. TheMinistry said that 35 States/UTsconducted the Covid vaccina-tions on Monday with elevenStates/UT vaccinating more than65 per cent of the registeredHCWs.

At least 11 States/UTs havereported less than 40% coverageof vaccinating HCWs. Theseare- Delhi, J&K, Ladakh, Punjab,D&NH, Chandigarh, TamilNadu, Meghalaya, Nagaland,Manipur, and Puducherry while10 States account for 75.12 percent of the total beneficiaries vac-cinated on Monday.

Total 29 persons have beenhospitalized so far. This com-prises 0.0005% of the total vac-cinations.

“Of the 29 cases of hospital-ization, 19 were discharged aftertreatment, while nine personsdied. In the last 24 hours, oneperson who is suffering from B/LFacial Palsy has been hospitalizedat Kerala Institute of MedicalSciences, Thiruvananathpuram,Kerala and is stable.

“Total 23 deaths have beenrecorded till date. These com-prise 0.0004% of the total vacci-nations. Of the 23, nine personsdied in the hospital while 14deaths are recorded outside thehospital”.

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The induction ceremony of thefirst five Rafale fighter jets into

the IAF at the Ambala airbase inSeptember last year cost the exche-quer �41.32 lakhs, the Governmentinformed the Rajya Sabha onMonday.

Elaborating upon the expensesincurred, Defence Minister RajnathSingh said the armed forces have atradition for such inductions andsuch ceremonies were also heldwhile inducting the Apace andChinook helicopters.

Moreover, this money was spentas India and France held bilateraldelegation level meetings duringthe ceremony, Rajnath said in thehouse. The talks were held betweenthe French and India defence min-isters, Rajnath said.

“All new aircraft types in IAF aretraditionally inducted through abefitting ceremony... The arrange-ments for this event were mademostly through local resources ofIAF,” the Defence Ministry said in a

written reply in the Rajya Sabha.The first five Rafale jets of IAF

were formally inducted into serviceon September 10 last year.

India has contracted 36 Rafalejets in fly away condition under a�7.87 bn Inter GovernmentalAgreement with France in 2016.

The entire lot of 36 will beinducted by next year, Rajnathinformed the House.

I����� ���� ���� ��� ����������0��!���%�� ������� �� ��������(Pakistan has always resorted to an increase in ceasefire violations after

major terrorist attacks like the one in Pathankot and Uri in the last fewyears, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said here on Monday. However, theIndian security forces were giving a befitting reply he said.

Making these points in the Rajya Sabha while responding to questionson spike in ceasefire violations, he said 5,133 incidents took place last yearin which 46 security men were killed. Replying to leader of opposition GhulamNabi Azad’s question that such violations were more during the NDA regimeas compared to the UPA stint, Singh said the number of violations hadincreased from 2011 onwards.

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Lucknow/Ghazipur/Azamgarh(UP): Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath onMonday said the construction ofthe six-lane PurvanchalExpressway will be completed byMarch and it will be inaugurat-ed by Prime Minister NarendraModi in April.

Adityanath was on a visit toGhazipur and Azamgarh toinspect the construction work ofthe expressway. “Once thePurvanchal Expressway is com-plete, people from Ghazipurcan reach Lucknow in threehours and Delhi in 10 hours,”Adityanath said at a programmein Ghazipur.

“The mafia had obstructedthe pace of development inUttar Pradesh (in the past) andnow, the government is seizingtheir illegal properties,” headded.

The campaign initiated

against the mafia will continueand they will not be allowed tostay in Uttar Pradesh, the chiefminister said. He also appealedto the people''s representatives totake the welfare programmes ofthe government to the public.

At Azamgarh, Adityanathsaid, “The construction work ofthe expressway is moving at afast pace. By March, the express-way will be completed andPrime Minister Narendra Modiwill inaugurate it in April.”

He said the expressway willbe built in three years despiteCOVID-19, adding, “Thismodel of development hasbecome a centre of attraction forthe country and the world.”

“Azamgarh had a bad repu-tation till four years ago. Peoplefrom here found it difficult to getrented accommodation in othercities, but the situation haschanged in four years and

Azamgarh is now becoming amodel of development,”Adityanath said.

Speaking at Lucknow later,the chief minister rued thatearlier, even small projects thatwere supposed to be completedin a year took 10 to 12 years tocomplete.

“When the BJP govern-ment came to power in 2017, theBaan Sagar irrigation project wascompleted and dedicated to thenation. This project was plannedin 1973 by the PlanningCommission and the foundationwas laid in 1978 by the thenprime minister Morarji Desai,but it kept lying for almost 40years,” he said, adding that sev-eral schemes were announcedbut the works could not be car-ried out in a time-bound man-ner and the estimates wererevised with the government notgiving funds. PTI

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Jammu: A Pakistani intruder, believedto be a local guide of Pakistan based ter-ror outfit, was gunned down by the alertjawans of the Border Security Forcewhile he was 'aggressively' attemptingto breach the barbed border fencenear BoP (border outpost) ChakFaquira in the Samba sector on Monday.

According to official sources, thesuspicious movement of the intruderwas spotted by the BSF jawans around2.30 a.m and a tight vigil was main-tained to prevent any infiltration bid.After a seven hour long wait, theintruder emerged from the hiding and

started approaching the barbed wirefence very aggressively. The BSF sen-tires present in the border outpost

warned him and also fired warningshots.Instead of retreating the intrud-er approached the barbed wire fencevery 'aggressively' in a bid to breach thesame.

Briefing media persons about theincident, IG BSF Jammu Frontier, N SJamwal told reporters at the border out-post, “at around 9:45 am, alert BSFtroops saw Pakistani Intruder headingtowards border fence near border out-post (BOP) 64 along the internationalborder in Chak Faquira area”.

“Despite repeated warnings, theintruder kept moving under suspi-cious circumstances and approached the

border fence in an aggressive manner.That was the time when BSF personnelopened fire, killing him on the spot,” IGBSF, Jammu frontier said.

Earlier on November 23, 2020another intruder was shot dead by theBSF in the same border belt. Officialsources claimed, the Pak intruder mayhave been acting as a guide and was senton a recce mission ahead of pushing agroup of armed infiltrators inside theIndian territory to launch a terrorstrike.

BSF had also detected a cross bor-der tunnel in the same area in themonth of August 2020. PNS

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As she was welcomed bythousands of party workers

who had thronged theBangalore-Chennai highwaysince morning, V K Sasikala, theformer aide to late J Jayalalithaa,gave enough hints to theAIADMK leadership that shewould not be cowed down byrestrictions and suppression.

“I’ll engage myself in activepolitics in days to come for partyworkers,” Sasikala told mediapersons in a brief interaction atThirupathur where she wasaccorded a rousing reception bythe cadres of AIADMK andAMMK.

She said she was not thetype who could be enslaved bythe powers that be. This was inresponse to the queries byreporters whether she will bevisiting the AIADMK headquarters and the JayalalithaaMemorial at Chennai’s MarinaBeach.

If the crowd which hadgathered to welcome her back toTamil Nadu is any indication,Chief Minister EdappadiPalaniswamy and his deputy OPanneerselvam may have torework their strategies tocounter “Chinnamma”, as she isaddressed even by party leaders.Sasikala (66) was released fromParappana Agrahara CentralJail on January 27 as she com-pleted the four year jail term inconnection with the dispro-portionate asset case.

“This could not be a mobi-lized crowd as it is difficult tobring this many people byorganisers. I am sure most of theparty cadres came to welcomeher on their own,” said a StateIntelligence Officer who wasmonitoring the journey ofSasikala from Bangalore.

Veteran scribe Sam Rajappasaid the turn out of the peopleto welcome Sasikala was his-

toric. “I don't think any politi-cal leaders, both State andNational, were accorded suchwelcome in Tamil Nadu's his-tory,” said Sam Rajappa.

Even as Sasikala set on herjourney to Chennai, what stoodout was the wordy duel betweenher nephew TTV Dhinakaranand D Jayakumar, minister offisheries in EdappadiPalaniswamy Government.

Jayakumar, who had playeda key role in easing out Sasikalaand her family members fromthe AIADMK in September2017, alleged on Sunday thatDhinakaran has taken all moneyowned by Sasikala. “Dhinakaranis afraid that Sasikala would askhim for accounts. Till the otherday he was claiming thatAIADMK was a closed chapter.He had insulted the party sym-bol of Two Leaves by claimingthat with the demise ofJayalalithaa, the party symboltoo has lost relevance,” saidJayakumar.

He said Dhinakaran madea vault face by declaring that theAmma Makkal MunnetraKazhakam was launched withthe intention of retrieving theAIADMK and the Two Leavessymbol. Whatever possibilitiesof patch-up between theAIADMK and the AMMK werethere look bleak as on Mondayas Sasikala accompanied byhundreds of cars was on her wayto the MGR Memorial atRamavaram in a Chennai sub-urb. She had called onRamavaram Gardens, MGR’spersonal residence, while on herway to the Bangalore Prison forsurrendering before the author-ities in 2017.

But what is of interest iswhether she would visitJayalalithaa Memorial at Marinabeach to pay her respects to herAmma (as Jayalalithaa wasaddressed by her) whom sheserved with devotion for morethan three decades.

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KOCHI: The fag end of thePinarayi Vijayan-led KeralaGovernment is witnessingunprecedented agitations byunemployed youth demandingjobs even as various groupshave started submitting mem-orandums to the Governorlisting how the State adminis-tration subverts rank lists pre-pared by Public ServiceCommission and appoints rel-atives of CPI(M) leaders.

Monday saw the ignominyof two youths, disappointedover the Government ignoringtheir plea to appoint themthough they figure the rank listprepared by the PSC, settingthemselves ablaze in front ofthe State Secretariat atThiruvananthapuram. Timelyintervention by Police andonlookers saved their lives.This is the first time in its his-tory an incident like this is hap-

pening in Kerala.Priju and Praveen were

among the youths who havebeen staging a sit-in in front ofthe State Secretariat sinceJanuary 26 demanding they beappointed in GovernmentService as they figure in therank list of last grade employ-ees prepared by the PSC. Butthe Kerala Government hasbeen busy appointing personswho do not figure in the list,demolishing the employmentdreams of these youths.

Meanwhile an organisa-tion by name Save UniversityCampaign Committee based atthe capital city submitted amemorandum to the Governorof Kerala, who is also theChancellor of all theUniversities in the State, listinginstances of impropriety inappointing assistant professorsto various universities.

The committee has given adetailed account of how thewife of M B Rajesh, former MPrepresenting the CPI(M), wasappointed in Sree SankaraSanskrit University allegedlyviolating all norms. “Politicalconsideration looms large allthrough the preparation of therank-list for the Asst. Professorappointment in theMalayalam dept so as toappoint first rank holderNinitha Kanicherry who wasonly a poor 212th rank hold-er in an earlier selectionprocess made by the KPSCfor appointment of Asst:Professors in the GovernmentColleges, overlooking highlyqualified candidates who gothigher position in the PSCrank list over the candidate,”reads the Memorandum, acopy of which is with ThePioneer. PNS

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Ghazipur (UP):Uttar PradeshChief Minister Yogi Adityanathon Monday reiterated that thereis no place for any mafia in theState and said that he hasvowed to eliminate such ele-ments.

The Chief Minister, whileaddressing a programme inGhazipur, said, “Our govern-ment is constantly movingtowards wiping out the entiremafia culture which hinderedthe development of Purvanchalfor long. Previous governmentspatronised mafia and criminalsin the state due to which thedevelopment of the statereceived a massive setback.”

Adityanath was here toreview the progress of the 340-km Purvanchal Expressway.

He said, “There is no placefor those who give patronage tothe mafias, criminal and otherrogue elements in the newUttar Pradesh of 'Ek BharatShrestha Bharat'. While we areworking towards the welfare of

villages, farmers, youth, anddevelopment, on the otherhand, it is also very importantto destroy the mafia culturethat has become a hindrance tothe development ofPurvanchal.”

The Yogi Government hasalready seized illegal assetsworth about �1,000 crore ofmore than 40 mafia elementsincluding Mukhtar Ansari,Ateeq Ahmad, Vijay Mishra,Sundar Bhati and others.

The state government isalso demolishing illegal prop-erties of mafia dons and theirclose aides. Cases have beenregistered against 800gangsters and their close associates. IANS

Gandhinagar: A BJP legislatorfrom Waghodia in Gujarat,Madhu Shrivastav, on Mondayagain courted controversy as hewas caught on camera whileopenly issuing death threat to anelectronic media reporter whenthe latter asked uncomfortablequestions.

“Ask questions in a straightmanner. Why are you actingsmart? I am telling you I'll getyou killed by my men,”Shrivastav threatened Gujaratinews channel 'Mantavya News'reporter Amit Thakor on cam-era.Shrivastav, known as'dabang' politician, has in thepast also allegedly misbehavedwith journalists a couple oftimes and issued similar deaththreats, but got away as nocomplaints were lodged againsthim.Gujarat BJP chief CR Patilsaid: “We will check what hap-pened and confirm it first(before reacting).”

Shrivastav was also accusedof threatening Vadodara votersat a rally in Waghodia area in Vadodara on April 3,2019 if they didn't vote for the BJP in the Lok Sabhaelections.

The election authoritieshad even issued a show-causenotice to him for alleged viola-tion of the Model Code ofConduct. IANS

Baghpat: In a shocking inci-dent, a 30-year-old man killedhis pregnant wife and minordaughter in Baghpat district onMonday following an argu-ment.

The man, who worked as abarber, later went to the policestation and admitted his crime.

The incident took place atthe Gayatri Puram locality hereunder the Kotwali police sta-tion area.

Circle officer M S Rawatsaid the accused Gulfam wassuffering from cancer. IANS

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Varanasi: The 'Mera Ghar MeraVidyalaya' (mohalla class)scheme introduced in Varanasiin Uttar Pradesh is now becom-ing a role model for the wholecountry.

This scheme by the UttarPradesh Basic EducationDepartment was started fromthe Sewapuri block in PrimeMinister Narendra Modi's con-stituency and is proving to be sopopular that parents are givingit preference over conventschools. The scheme waslaunched in 2020 during theCovid-19 pandemic when allschools and educational insti-tutions were shut.

The state government cameup with an initiative of 'MeraGhar Mera Vidyalaya' as anattempt to facilitate learningthrough ancient 'Gurukul' res-idential style of teaching.

Varanasi Basic ShikshaAdhikari, Rakesh Kumar Singh,said, “The scheme was startedwith an aim to provide a school-like environment at homethrough digital means. Since thelaunching the scheme, teachersand staffers of the schools havebeen delivering books and studymaterial to the children. It isbeing received well by the stu-dents and parents alike.”IANS

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letter of the Bengal Governorto the Secretary of State:

“The scale of rioting wasunprecedented. It was apogrom between two rivalarmies of the Calcutta under-world. The fact that over2,000 persons of the goondatype who had been confinedunder the Defence of IndiaRules during the war werereleased the previous year isof great significance. The onlything which prevented a com-plete collapse of the adminis-tration was the three battal-ions of British troops, whowere readily available for thissort of emergency. Thoughthe occasion and nature of theemergency could not be fore-seen, the Army Commanderand I had long agreed on thenecessity of such a dispositionof troops. I could not possi-bly have held Calcutta withthe police alone, and I amdoubtful if Indian troopswould have inspired suffi-cient confidence. That theinfection did not spreadimmediately to the districts isa fact for which we cannot betoo thankful. We had to takea big chance in denudingHowrah and the mill areas oftroops on the 17th.

The obligations of theConstitution made my task farharder. My special responsi-

bility for law and order is nota ‘discretionary’ matter and, inhandling the situation, partic-ularly at the outset, I hadalways to consider the suscep-tibilities of my Ministry. Thedual personality ofSuhrawardy, as Chief Minister(in charge of the Home port-folio) and as the most influ-ential member of the MuslimLeague in Bengal, was a con-stant embarrassment.Yours sincerely,FJ BurrowsCC: Lord Wavell, Viceroy”

What was an even moretragic event, although blood-lessly, was the partition ofBengal in 1905. The idea wasnot new, it was bubblingsince, say, 1875. By dividingBengal on communal linesand encouraging Muslimascendancy in the east, theGovernment was, in Risley’swords, weakening “a solidbody of opponents” to theRaj. Viceroy Curzon was pre-sented with hundreds of peti-tions, which he chose toignore. Bengal united is apower; Bengal divided willpull several different ways.The summer of 1905 was along, hot one in Bengal andthe atmosphere was chargedwith tension. The editor of aleading daily had condemnedthe partition. Overnight,

emotions had risen to feverpitch. People refused to par-ticipate in festivities whereforeign salt or sugar wasused. The giant was stirringand even the Viceroy wasforced to admit “the specta-cle that has been presented bythe streets of Calcutta duringthe past fortnight has not inmy opinion been creditable tothe Capital of a great Empire”.

October 16, the day of thetragedy, became a turningpoint in British India’s histo-ry. The announcement ofpartition shattered the long,legendary belief in the even-tual fairness of the British. Itbecame a day of nationalmourning. No food wascooked in Calcutta’s homes,the domestic hearthsremained unlit. Shops andoffices were closed and, inseveral places, newspaperswere not distributed. PoetRabindranath’s song,“Banglar mati Banglar jal”,thrilled patriotic sentimentsto an all-time high and theball had been set rolling fora mass Raksha Bandhan cer-emony. Virtual strangersstopped each other on thestreets to tie the rakhi thread,symbolising brotherhood.

(The writer is a well-knowncolumnist and an author. Theviews expressed are personal.)

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������������������������ ��Sir— This refers to the editorial‘Reconnected’ (February 8). Truly speak-ing, curtailing the high-speed internet inJammu and Kashmir is like paralysing theUnion Territory and widening the riftbetween people and the Government. Theadministration has done the right thingby restoring 4G services across the UT asit will prove to be a milestone in reinstat-ing confidence among the residents whowill start believing that the Governmentcares about its people.

The people of the valley have alwaysbeen at the receiving end in theGovernment’s fight against terrorism.Their lives have been ruined, businessesdemolished, studies interrupted and theyhave been thrown into gloom and dark-ness. However, the recent step of theGovernment will help in healing theirwounds up to some extent, if not fully. Thepeople of J&K have witnessed violenceand bloodshed due to the cross-borderterrorism and the presence of boots on theground.

The Government must also makeattempts to develop the tourism sector inthe UT. The tourism industry in J&K hasfaced a severe blow after the erstwhileState was scrapped of its special status andtwo UTs were carved out of it—J&K andLadakh. Further, Coronavirus pandemicalso delivered a deadly blow to it. J&K isnow on the path of development andprogress.

Azhar A Khan | Rampur

����������������������������������Sir — Scientists across the world are try-ing their best to come up with more vac-cines against Coronavirus. The good thingis that an inoculation drive has started allover the world, with India supplying itsindigenous vaccines to many countriesacross the globe. India has emerged as aleader in the true sense. However, the threatfrom the pandemic is not over yet as thevirus is coming up with new strainsagainst which there are no vaccines devel-oped yet.

It’s not hard to imagine the plight theworld will go through if the virus startsmutating fast into new virulent strains. It’shard to develop vaccines against every newmutant. The World Health Organisation(WHO) has already cautioned the nationsto beware of more such deadly pandemicscrossing the path of humanity in the future.The health problems faced by people whoare cured of COVID are another issue thatneeds our attention. The complex forms ofillness and its psychological impact isenough to ruin not only individual life butthe life of generations to come. Early diag-nostics, care and treatment are essential tofight such psychological illness. Further,long-term effects of COVID-19 are stillunknown as the symptoms of post-COVIDsyndrome are diverse.

M Pradyu | Kannur

��������������������������������Sir — The recent calamity inUttarakhand, in which many peoplehave died, points out towards our lack-

adaisical approach in dealing with the cli-mate crisis. If the Governments across theworld and organisations of global reputeare serious about the damages that areinflicted on environment, they must takesome concrete action rather than justchalking out five or 10-year plans whichare of no use.

Huge amounts are wasted almostevery year in organising big conferencesand seminars to discuss global warmingand ill effects of climate change but thesituation has largely remainedunchanged. Private organisations andNGOs make huge money working for theenvironment and climate change. It ispublic money and Governments shouldbe very careful about how and where itis spent. Merely levying the carbon taxon poor nations will not serve any pur-pose. It’s time to make concerted efforts.

P Senthil | Mumbai

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The agitators had askedfor a tractor rally onRepublic Day lastmonth. Most govern-

ments would have refused per-mission (as it was a day of con-stitutional celebration) and, per-haps, offered a date before orafter January 26. To the delightof some agitators and to the sur-prise of others, the Governmentaccepted the idea, subject topolice discipline. No one, itwould seem, suspected the dan-gers pregnant in the tractortamasha, namely the hooliganbabies and the enormity of thedamage they could lead to thecause. The day witnessed theworst rioting one could haveseen or imagined except that nota drop of blood was shed; onedeath was of a tractor driverinvolved in an accident. For thefarmers, the rally was the lowpoint of their two-month strug-gle for the cause as demonstrat-ed on the chilly highways aroundDelhi. For the Government, itwas an unexpected bonanza.

Only the Left Front couldenact comedy on the streets ofCalcutta (now Kolkata) whenev-er its ruling Government calleda protest bandh, against whomno one knew, although it wasimpeccably enforced. Not a birdflew near any of the many streetsin the city. Press was free tomove, so I moved about; the boysat street corners guarding thebandh were often keen to beinterviewed and photographed.

It was a comedy for all thosecitizens who enjoyed a holidaybut a sarco-comedy for the poorin the unorganised sector. Therickshawalas, taxi drivers, busoperators, mutias or coolies et alhad to go without wages. WhenI asked a boy at a street cornerabout it, his reply was that thesemen do not belong to ourunions, what do we owe them?Working class was an expressiontoo distant for the boy.

The most tragic rioting thatCalcutta ever witnessed wasbetween August 16 and 18,1946. It was an attempt by MAJinnah to convince London thatHindus and Muslims could notcoexist, hence the Partition. Iquote briefly from the official

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In the Union Budget for 2021-22, FinanceMinister (FM) Nirmala Sitharaman has givena pleasant surprise. This has to do with the

Government’s decision to discontinue with thedecades-old practice of so-called “off-Budget lia-bilities” this time around. “Off-Budget liabilities”is a fancy nomenclature used by governments todenote transfer of certain expenses incurred bythe Union Government to the books of its agen-cies tasked with the implementation of its wel-fare schemes. This helps the former show lowerexpenses on its own books, thereby, helping itbring down fiscal deficit to the desired level. Atypical case relates to the Food Corporation ofIndia (FCI) through which the Centre adminis-ters its mammoth programme of delivering foodsubsidy. Under the National Food Security Act(NFSA), over 800 million beneficiaries receivefood grains, primarily wheat, rice and coarse cere-als, at the heavily subsidised price of �2, �3 and�1 per kg, respectively, which is a fraction of thecost of procurement, handling and distribution.

The task is performed by the FCI on behalfof the Government, which reimburses the short-fall in realisation from sale vis-à-vis the cost tothe former. Termed as food subsidy, reimburse-ment to the FCI is solely the liability of the Centreand is paid from the Union Budget.

If any given year the reimbursement amountdue to the FCI is say “X”, the Government decidesnot to release a portion of this and merely keepsit pending (the extant method of accounting oncash basis i.e. expenses are recorded when actu-al payments are made helps it to do this). To keepits operations going, the agency borrows the“unpaid amount” from the banks or any othersource. These borrowings plus interest accruedremain on the books of the FCI.

This disingenuous mechanism may help theCentre show that it is sticking to the fiscal con-solidation road map. But this gives a misleadingpicture of the Government’s finances and makesit complacent with regard to the dire need forbringing about genuine and sustainable reduc-tion in expenses. It also affects the financial healthof the agency implementing welfare schemes. Inrecent years, ballooning unpaid dues forced theFCI to borrow from the National Small SavingsFund (NSSF). In 2016-17, when the former start-ed borrowing from the latter, the Centre had com-mitted to releasing subsidy arrears to enable theFCI to pay back the loans in subsequent years.But that was not to be, as subsidy arrears keptmounting and the FCI continued borrowingincreasingly from the NSSF. As on March 31,2020, it owed a staggering �3,00,000 crore to thefund.

In the Budget for 2020-21, Sitharaman hadestimated the requirement of food subsidy to be�2,53,000 crore. Add to this the cost of free foodgiven (in the wake of the pandemic) to 800 mil-lion beneficiaries under the NFSA as also tomigrant labour during April-November, 2020.The total requirement comes to �4,22,000 crore.Against this, the Budget support was only�1,26,000 crore (Budgetary Expenditure�1,16,000 crore plus �10,000 crore given by wayof supplementary grant). This would have led toan uncovered gap of close to �3,00,000 crore.Under a business as usual scenario, the FCI would

have borrowed �3,00,000 crorefrom the NSSF. However, doing aturnaround, in the RevisedEstimate (RE) for 2020-21, the FMhas paid all of the food subsidydues �4,22,000 crore from theBudget. In other words, theGovernment has taken all of theexpenses under this head on its bal-ance sheet. The allocation for2021-22 at �2,42,000 crore is alsomore or less close to the likelyrequirement.

This means that even duringnext year, there won’t be anyunpaid dues. Furthermore, consid-ering that the FM has substantial-ly relaxed the Fiscal Deficit trajec-tory to reach 4.5 per cent by 2025-26 (instead of 2.5 per cent in2022-23 as per the NK SinghCommittee on review of FiscalResponsibility and BudgetManagement), thereby implying agood cushion, one would expectthe Government to maintain itsaltered stance even beyond 2021-22. This is welcome as it will bringtransparency and bolster the cred-ibility of Budget numbers. But, thisalone won’t suffice.

There is an urgent need to tack-le the fundamental factors behindthe ballooning food subsidy, likethe ridiculously low price of food—almost scratching the surface —supplied to beneficiaries underthe NFSA; the disproportionatelyhigh number of beneficiaries thatis pegged at a whopping 800 mil-lion (who will believe India hassuch a large number of poor); inef-

ficiency in the Public DistributionSystem (PDS) and rampant misuseof subsidy. This is where almostevery Government has failed.

In early 2015, a committeeunder senior BJP leader ShantaKumar had recommended a cut inthe number of those eligible forsubsidised food from 67 per centto 40 per cent and restricting thebenefit of �1/2/3 per kg only to thepoorest of the poor under the‘Antyodaya Anna Yojana’, whileincreasing the supply to seven kgper person. Others should pay 50per cent of the Minimum SupportPrice (MSP) paid to farmers. Thoserecommendations were quietlyignored.

The NFSA that came into forcein 2013 provided for the sale priceat �1/2/3 per kg to continue for aperiod of three years only.Thereafter, even as there was no baron increasing the price, theGovernment decided not to go forit. Far from that, in 2017, Ram VilasPaswan the then Union Ministerfor Consumer Affairs had declaredthat there would not be anyincrease in the price for threeyears.

In the Economic Survey for2019-20, the Chief EconomicAdviser (CEA), KrishnamurthyVenkata Subramanian had rec-ommended some reduction infood subsidy by limiting thescheme’s coverage and increasingthe issue price of food grainswhich he has reiterated in theEconomic Survey for 2020-21. The

Government has not paid heed tohis advise.

The Direct Benefit Transfer(DBT) of subsidy is a foolproofmechanism for helping poor con-sumers as was amply demonstrat-ed in the case of LPG. It involvesputting money in the account ofbeneficiaries who in turn, can useit to buy food from wherever theychoose. The DBT has been on theGovernment’s radar since 2012-13;yet all that we see are a few pilotprojects being run in some districts.

Now, in view of the farmersdemanding a law on guaranteeingthe MSP and if it is enacted, thiswill dash whatever little hoperemains for launching DBT. This isbecause then the Government willbe legally bound to purchase allcrops (for which the MSP is noti-fied) and the entire quantity thatfarmers offer to sell. In otherwords, the current system of pro-curement albeit at MSP and sellingto beneficiaries at the subsidisedprice will stay. This implies, thatDBT will be off the table as a sub-sidy can’t be given twice over, firstby supplying food at a subsidisedprice and then by transferring thecash to the beneficiary’s account.

To conclude, even as theGovernment has mustered courageto give a truthful account of themoney it spends on food subsidy,there is nothing on the horizon toindicate that this will be reined-in.There is no dearth of prescriptions;but the irony is no one in the polit-ical class has the gumption to act.

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On a calm Sunday morn-ing, the sound of gush-ing water stirred fear in

the minds and hearts of the peo-ple of Chamoli district inUttarakhand as it remindedthem of the fateful day in 2013when a deluge took hundreds oflives, rendered many homelessand devastated the State.

The huge volume of waterand mud flowing towards theunder-construction Rishi GangaHydel Project confirmed theworst fears of the local peoplewho watched helplessly as near-ly 40 labourers at the RishiGanga and Dhauli Ganga damsites came under the swathe ofthe colossal deluge consisting ofwater, muck and debris.

The death toll by Mondayevening climbed to 18, while 27were rescued and over 200were feared missing or dead,with 30-35 feared trapped in atunnel at the Tapovan-Vishnugad project.

These figures would havebeen much more had the inci-dent not taken place on aSunday, which is a weekend andthe number of labourers inattendance is thin.

The magnitude of the dis-aster can be gauged by the factthat the glacial burst caused sud-den flood and avalanche in theDhauli Ganga, Rishi Gangaand Alaknanda rivers totallydevastating the NationalThermal Power Corporation’s(NTPC’s) Tapovan-Vishnugadhydel project and the RishiGanga Hydel Project. It’s unfor-tunate that scientists failed topredict the catastrophe eventhough it was a disaster waitingto happen.

The people of Chamolidistrict and environmentalistshad long been protesting againstthe setting up of the two hydelprojects which has severelycompromised the ecology of theregion.

In 2019 the people of Rainivillage, who have been deeplyimpacted by the latest tragedyhad filed a Public InterestLitigation (PIL) in theUttarakhand High Courtagainst the construction of thehydel project, citing damage tothe environment as the mainreason. The project site in Rainivillage area falls under theNanda Devi Biosphere Reserve,just a few kilometres from theNanda Devi National Park.

Considering its impact onthe environment and the localcommunity owing to the blast-ing and stone crushing activities,the High Court stayed blastingin the project area till furtherorders and constituted a panelunder the Chamoli DistrictMagistrate and MemberSecretary of the State PollutionControl Board to inspect theRishi Ganga HydroelectricProject site.

However, as the project

progressed, the huge pile ofmuck was not disposed as perenvironmental norms and, as aresult, it came gushing downwith the flood waters creatinghavoc.

The Government andcourts must realise that appoint-ing committees and delaying theenvironmental impact assess-ment report of any project isnothing short of playing withthe environment and people’slives. Sunday’s disaster has

proved the same beyond doubt.Apart from scant regard

shown for environmentalnorms and laws by theGovernment, climate changetoo, had a major role to play inthe recent disaster.

The IntergovernmentalPanel on Climate Change’s(IPCC) Special Report onOceans and Cryosphere in aChanging Climate (SROCC)reveals that climate change hastriggered global warming whichin turn has altered the fre-quency and magnitude of nat-ural hazards leading to adverseevents such as the breaking offof a portion of the Nanda Deviglacier on Sunday.

According to the HIMAPassessment report facilitated bythe International Centre forIntegrated MountainDevelopment (ICIMOD), tem-peratures are rising in the HinduKush Himalayan (HKH) regionand the rise in global tempera-

ture will have more impact inthe Himalayan region due toelevation-dependent warming.If the world can keep the tem-perature rise to below1.5°Celsius, in the HKH regionit would translate to at least a riseof 1.8°C, and in some places,above 2.2°C.

The Himalayan region,which has an ultra-delicate ecol-ogy, is least monitored given thedifficult geographical terrainand is susceptible to the increas-es risk of unforeseen extremeweather events such as glacialbursts. As per estimates there are8,000 lakes in the Himalayas, ofwhich 200 are classified as dan-gerous, and as mountain slopesare impacted by glacier retreatand permafrost thaw due to ris-ing temperatures, the lakesbecome unstable and populat-ed regions in the foothillsbecome highly vulnerable toextreme weather events.

The rising heat in the

Himalayas is also attributable tothe excess use of concrete instructures such as dams and res-idential buildings. These struc-ture radiate heat and contributeto the spike in ambient temper-atures. There is an urgent needto make a shift to traditionalbuilding materials such as stoneand wood in order to dial downthe vulnerability to climatechange and also put hydelpower projects under restrictedcategory. In addition to this theGovernment must also set upmore high altitude monitoringstations so that the health of theHimalayas is correctly gauged.This in turn will enable betteradaptation practices.

The Uttarakhand glacierburst has revealed the conse-quences of human apathytowards the environment andclimate change. The end resultis loss of human lives, ruinednature and, as usual, no lessonslearnt.

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Canberra (Australia): China has formallyarrested a Chinese-born Australian journalistfor CGTN, the English-language channel ofChina Central Television, on suspicion of ille-gally supplying state secrets overseas, Australia’sforeign minister said Monday.

The arrest of Cheng Lei last Friday startsan official criminal investigation and came sixmonths after she was detained.

“The Australian government has raised itsserious concerns about Ms. Cheng’s detentionregularly at senior levels, including about herwelfare and conditions of detention,” ForeignMinister Marise Payne said.

“We expect basic standards of justice, pro-cedural fairness and humane treatment to bemet, in accordance with international norms,”she added.

China’s Foreign Ministry confirmedCheng’s arrest and said her legal rights werebeing “fully guaranteed.”

“We hope that Australia will earnestlyrespect China’s judicial sovereignty and refrainfrom interfering in China’s law-based handlingof cases in any way,” ministry spokespersonWang Wenbin said at a daily briefing. AP

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For nearly 17 months, the Trumpadministration tried to deport

the mother and daughter from ElSalvador. The Biden administrationmay finish the job.

They are being held at a familydetention center in remote Dilley,Texas, but have repeatedly been onthe verge of deportation. The Fridaybefore Christmas, both were drivento the San Antonio airport and puton a plane, only to be pulled offwhen attorneys working for immi-grant advocacy groups filed newappeals.

“I have faith first in God and inthe new president who has taken

office, that he’ll give us a chance,”said the mother, who goes by thenickname “Barbi.”

She left behind two other chil-dren in El Salvador and asked not toreveal her real name so as not todraw the attention of criminal gangsthere.

Barbi’s daughter was 8 whenthey crossed the US Border inAugust 2019 and will turn 10 in afew weeks. “It’s not been easy,” shesaid.

It’s unlikely to get easier anytimesoon.

President Joe Biden rushed tosend the most ambitious overhaul ofthe nation’s immigration system ina generation to Congress and signed

nine executive actions to wipe outsome of his predecessor’s toughestmeasures to fortify the U.S.-Mexicoborder.

But a federal court in Texas suspended his 100-day moratoriumon deportations, and the immigra-tion bill is likely to be watered down as lawmakers grapple withmajor coronavirus pandemic reliefbill as well a second impeachmenttrial for former President DonaldTrump.

Even if Biden gets most of whathe wants on immigration, fullyimplementing the kind of sweepingchanges he’s promised will takeweeks, months — perhaps evenyears.

Washington: Donald Trump’shistoric second impeachmenttrial is opening this week witha sense of urgency — byDemocrats who want to hold theformer president accountable forthe violent US Capitol siege andRepublicans who want it over asfast as possible.

Scheduled to begin Tuesday,just over a month since thedeadly riot, the proceedings areexpected to diverge from thelengthy, complicated trial that

resulted in Trump’s acquittal ayear ago on charges that he pri-vately pressured Ukraine to digup dirt on a Democratic rival,Joe Biden, now the president.

This time, Trump’s Jan. 6rally cry to “fight like hell” and

the storming of the Capitolplayed out for the world to see.While Trump very well could beacquitted again, the trial couldbe over in half the time.

Details of the proceedingsare still being negotiated by theSenate leaders, with the durationof opening arguments, senators’questions and deliberations allup for debate.

So far, it appears there willbe few witnesses called, as theprosecutors and defense attor-

neys speak directly to senatorswho have been sworn to deliv-er “impartial justice” as jurors.Most are also witnesses to thesiege, having fled for safety thatday as the rioters broke into theCapitol and temporarily haltedthe electoral count certifyingBiden’s victory.

Defense attorneys forTrump declined a request forhim to testify. Holed up at hisMar-a-Lago club, the formerpresident has been silenced on

social media by Twitter withoutpublic comments since leavingthe White House. Instead,House managers prosecutingthe case are expected to rely onthe trove of videos from thesiege, along with Trump’s incen-diary rhetoric refusing to con-cede the election, to make theircase. His new defense team hassaid it plans to counter with itsown cache of videos ofDemocratic politicians makingfiery speeches. AP

Washington: The Bidenadministration haswarned Yemen’s Houthirebels against ongoingattacks against civiliansjust 48 hours after mov-ing to strike the groupfrom a terrorism black-list.

The StateDepartment on Sundaycalled on the Iran-backedrebel group to immedi-ately stop attacks on civil-ians and new militaryoperations in Yemen.The demand came only

two days after the admin-istration notifiedCongress that it wouldremove the Houthis fromits list of “foreign terror-ist organisations,” a des-ignation that comes withsevere U.S. Sanctions. Italso came just three daysafter President Joe Bidenordered an end to U.S.Support for the Saudi-ledoffensive military opera-tions against the rebels.

“As the president istaking steps to end thewar in Yemen and Saudi

Arabia has endorsed anegotiated settlement,the United States isdeeply troubled by con-tinued Houthi attacks,”State Departmentspokesman Ned Pricesaid in a statement. “Wecall on the Houthis toimmediately ceaseattacks impacting civilianareas inside Saudi Arabiaand to halt any new mil-itary offensives insideYemen, which only bringmore suffering to theYemeni people.” AP

Johannesburg: South Africahas suspended plans to inocu-late its front-line health careworkers with the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine after asmall clinical trial suggestedthat it isn’t effective in pre-venting mild to moderate ill-ness from the variant dominantin the country.

South Africa received itsfirst 1 million doses of theAstraZeneca vaccine last weekand was expected to begingiving jabs to health care work-ers in mid-February.

The disappointing earlyresults indicate that an inocu-lation drive using theAstraZeneca vaccine may notbe useful.

Preliminary data from asmall study suggested that theAstraZeneca vaccine offersonly “minimal protectionagainst mild-moderate disease”caused by the variant in South

Africa. The variant appears more

infectious and is driving adeadly resurgence of the dis-ease in the country, currentlyaccounting for more than 90per cent of the Covid-19 cases,health minister Zweli Mkhizesaid Sunday night.

“The AstraZeneca vaccineappeared effective against theoriginal strain, but not againstthe variant,” Mkhize said.

“We have decided to put atemporary hold on the rolloutof the vaccine ... More workneeds to be done.”

The study, which hasn’t yetbeen peer-reviewed, involved2,000 people, most of whomwere young and healthy. Thevolunteers’ average age was 31.

“Protection against mod-erate-severe disease, hospital-isation or death could not beassessed in this study as the tar-get population were at such low

risk,” said a statement issued byOxford University and theUniversity of theWitwatersrand inJohannesburg.

Scientists will be studyingwhether or not theAstraZeneca vaccine is effectivein preventing severe diseaseand death against the variant,Mkhize said.

Other vaccines have shownreduced efficacy against thevariant, but have providedgood protection from seriousdisease and death.

Public health officials areconcerned about the SouthAfrica variant because it con-tains a mutation of the virus’characteristic spike protein,which is targeted by existingvaccines. South African offi-cials say the variant is morecontagious and evidence isemerging that it may be morevirulent. AP

Yangon: Martial law wasdeclared in parts of Myanmar’ssecond largest city MandalayMonday, after hundreds ofthousands rallied across thecountry against the coup andthe military issued a sternwarning against furtherprotests.

The orders cover seventownships in Mandalay, ban-ning people from protesting orgathering in groups of morethan five, and a curfew will runfrom 8 pm until 4 am, the gen-eral administration depart-ment said in a statement.

A similar declaration hasbeen made in a township inAyeyarwaddy further southand announcements concern-ing other localities are expect-ed to trickle out tonight.

“This order is applied until

further notice,” one Mandalaytownship statement said.

“Some people... are behav-ing in a worrying way that can harm the safety of publicand law enforcement. Such behaviours can affect sta-bility, safety of people, lawenforcement, and peaceful exis-tence of villages and couldcreate riots, that’s why thisorder bans gathering, speakingin public, protest by usingvehicles, rallies,” the statementsaid.

The junta has so farrefrained from using deadlyforce against the demonstra-tions sweeping most of thecountry, but with pressurebuilding riot police fired watercannon in an attempt to dis-perse thousands gathered inNaypyidaw.

The military last weekdetained Suu Kyi and dozens ofother members of her NationalLeague for Democracy party,ending a decade of partialcivilian rule and triggering

international condemnation.In the face of an increas-

ingly bold wave of defiance,state broadcaster MRTVwarned that opposition to thejunta was unlawful and sig-nalled a potential crackdown.

“Action must be takenaccording to the law with effec-tive steps against offenceswhich disturb, prevent anddestroy the state’s stability, pub-lic safety and the rule of law,”said a statement read by anannouncer on the channel.

Tens of thousands of peo-ple overcame a nationwideinternet blockade to rally overthe weekend in the first majoroutpourings of opposition tothe coup.

The movement built onMonday, with protests acrossthe country and the start of anationwide strike. In Yangon,the nation’s commercial capital,crowds spilt onto the city’s mainroads, immobilising traffic anddwarfing the previous day’s rally.

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Canberra: Australia hasdemanded Myanmar immedi-ately release an Australianadviser to Aung San Suu Kyi’sgovernment who was detainedin a military coup, an officialsaid on Monday.

Economic policy adviserSean Turnell had told friendsvia social media that he wasdetained but he has been out ofcontact in recent days.

“We have called for theimmediate release of Australiancitizen Prof. Sean Turnell fromdetention,” Foreign MinisterMarise Payne said.

The Australian Embassy inMyanmar had been providingTurnell with “extensive supportduring this ordeal,” she said.

Turnell’s friend and fellowMyanmar expert MoniqueSkidmore said she believed theMacquarie University eco-nomics professor had beendetained because of his closerelationships with ousted leaderSuu Kyi and other senior mem-bers of her National League forDemocracy party. AP

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Jerusalem: Israeli PrimeMinister Benjamin Netanyahupleaded not guilty on Monday ashis trial on corruption chargesresumed in a Jerusalem court-room just weeks before nation-al elections in which he hopes toextend his 12-year rule.

Netanyahu was indicted lastyear for fraud, breach of trustand accepting bribes in threeseparate cases. In recent months,Israelis have held weekly protestscalling on him to resign over thecharges and criticising his gov-ernment’s response to the coro-navirus crisis. AP

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Tokyo: A Japanese navy sub-marine and a commercial shipcollided off Japan’s southerncoast on Monday, causingminor injuries to threecrewmembers of the submarineand damage to its mast, defenseofficials said.

The submarine Soryu wasin the process of surfacingabout 27 nautical miles (50kilometers) south of CapeAshizuri on Japan’s southwest-ern island of Shikoku when itcollided with the commercialship, the Maritime Self-DefenseForce said in a statement.

There was slight damage tothe submarine’s mast but it wasable to continue sailing on itsown, it said. The navy did notidentify the commercial ship,but NHK public television saidit was the Hong Kong-registeredbulk carrier Ocean Artemis. Itwas transporting 90,000 tons ofiron to Okayama in westernJapan after leaving the Chineseport of Qingdao last Fridaywith 21 Chinese crewmem-bers, it said. Defense MinisterNobuo Kishi told reporters thatthe collision was “extremelyregrettable.” AP

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Page 9: The Pioneer...2021/02/09  · Mangeshkar, Sachin Tendulkar and actor Akshay Kumar into putting out tweets in response to the global criticism of the Government’s handling of the

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The Govt’s paddy procure-ment at minimum support

price (MSP) has increased17.52% to 616.43 lakh tonne sofar in the 2020-21 kharif mar-keting year, with maximumbeen purchased from Punjab,

according to the Food Ministry.The Centre’s nodal agency

Food Corporation of India(FCI) and state agencies under-take procurement of food-grains to meet the food secu-rity needs under various wel-fare schemes and exigencies aswell as to ensure MSP to farm-

ers.Procurement of paddygrown during the kharif seasonof 2020-21 crop year is under-way. In a statement, the min-istry said paddy procurementis continuing “smoothly” in theprocuring states with a pur-chase of 616.43 lakh tonne ofpaddy up to February 7 this

year.”This is an increase of17.52 per cent against the lastyear corresponding purchase of524.52 lakh tonne,” it said.

Out of the total purchase,Punjab alone has contributed202.82 lakh tonne which is32.90 per cent of the total pro-curement, it added.

Besides, the governmenthas procured through its nodalagencies about 3,08,783.12tonne of moong, urad, tur,groundnut pods and soybean atan MSP value of Rs 1,662.68crores benefitting 1,67,362farmers in Tamil Nadu,Karnataka, Maharashtra.

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The Centre on Mondayasked State Governments

to submit their proposals seek-ing additional funds for theration card portability scheme,called ‘One Nation-One Ration

Card’ (ONORC), by

February 15.Under the ONORC plan,

beneficiaries can lift their enti-tled foodgrains from any elec-tronic point of sale device(ePoS)-enabled fair price shopsof their choice by using theirexisting ration cards with bio-metric authentication.

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Domestic air travel demandcontracted by 41 per cent

year-on-year to around 76 lakhpassengers in January withsequential growth also slowingdown to 3.5 per cent during themonth over December 2020, areport said on Monday.

Indian carriers had flowna total of 1.27 crore passengerson domestic routes in January2020.

Indian aviation industryhas witnessed a continuedrecovery in domestic passengertraffic in January 2021.However, the pace of growthslowed down in the reportingmonth, with a sequentialgrowth (over December 2020)of around 3.5 per cent toaround 76 lakh passengers,rating agency Icra said in arelease.

On a y-o-y basis, however,domestic passenger trafficdeclined by around 41 percent in January over the samemonth of 2020, it added.

The capacity deploymentin the previous month ataround 71 per cent is a signif-

icant increase over the 59 percent capacity deployed inNovember last year andaround 67 per cent inDecember, Icra said.

The number of flightsdeparting has also graduallyincreased from 416 on May 25,2020, when commercial airpassenger services resumed,to 2,294 till January 18, 2021,said Kinjal Shah, Vice Presidentat Icra.

For January 2021, theaverage daily departures werearound 2,190, significantlylower than the average dailydepartures of 3,080 in January2020, though better thanaround 2,048 in December2020, she said.

“The average number ofpassengers per flight duringJanuary 2021 was 111, againstan average of 134 passengersper flight in January 2020.Thus, it is expected that thedomestic aviation industryoperated at a passenger loadfactor (PLF) of around 72 percent in the previous monthagainst 86 per cent in January2020, that too on a low capac-ity,” she added.

New Delhi:The Indian phar-maceutical industry has provedto be a dependable supplier ofquality drugs in a time of glob-al need on account of theCovid-19 pandemic, and isexpected to reach a size of USD130 billion by 2030, Chemicaland Fertiliser

Minister D V SadanandaGowda said on Monday.

Following the onset of thepandemic, the Indian pharmaindustry has shown its role asa reliable supplier of drugsand medical devices in a timeof need, he added.

“The total market size ofthe Indian pharma industry isexpected to reach USD 130 bil-lion by 2030.

The medical devices indus-try in India has the potential togrow at 28 per cent per annumto reach USD 50 billion by2025,” Gowda said.

He was addressing thecurtain raiser press conferenceon the 6th edition of ‘IndianPharma & India MedicalDevice 2021’. “India has beenserving more than 200 coun-tries with its pharma productsand will continue to dischargeits responsibilities.

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India’s risk-based internalaudit requirement for non-

banking finance companies iscredit positive, MoodysInvestors Service said.

The Reserve Bank of India(RBI) issued guidelines for thecountry’s largest non-bankingfinance companies (NBFCs)to implement a risk-basedinternal audit framework, inline with banks. The frame-work requires an NBFC’s inter-nal audit function to assessrisks independently of its exist-ing risk-management func-tions.

The requirement is creditpositive because it adds anoth-er layer of risk monitoring andimproves the companies’resilience to unexpectedshocks, Moody’s said.

The guidelines will apply toall deposit-taking NBFCs orNBFCs with assets of morethan Rs 500 billion as of March31, 2022. The framework’sapplication to the largestNBFCs reflects the RBI’s ongo-ing efforts to strengthen and

harmonise regulatory normsbetween NBFCs and banks.The NBFC sector has beenincreasingly important to cred-it growth in India.

NBFCs’ total balance sheetmore than doubled to Rs 49trillion in 2020 from around Rs20 trillion in 2015. At the sametime, banks’ exposures toNBFCs have also increased,and according to RBI data,8.5% of gross bank credit wasto NBFCs as of December2020, compared with 4.8% inDecember 2016.

Banks have traditionallybeen subject to stricter regula-tions and risk controls thanNBFCs, creating regulatoryarbitrage for NBFCs, eventhough they provide similarfinancial services.

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Extending its winning streakto the sixth session, equity

benchmark Sensex rallied 617points to end above the 51,000-mark for the first time onMonday, tracking strong gainsin Infosys, ICICI Bank andReliance Industries amid apositive trend in global mar-kets.After touching a lifetimehigh of 51,523.38 during theday, the 30-share BSE indexended 617.14 points or 1.22 percent higher at its record clos-ing peak of 51,348.77.

Similarly, the broader NSENifty surged 191.55 points or1.28 per cent to its lifetime clos-ing high of 15,115.80. Ittouched an intra-day record of15,159.90.

Mahindra and Mahindra(M&M) was the top gainer inthe Sensex pack, soaring

around 7 per cent, followed byBajaj Finserv, Bharti Airtel,

PowerGrid, Infosys andICICI Bank., Kotak Bank, BajajFinance and ITC were amongthe laggards. According toBinod Modi, Head-Strategy atReliance Securities, domesticequities remained in the grip ofbulls with benchmark indicesextending gains for the sixthconsecutive day.“Improvedprospects of sustained eco-nomic recovery on the back-drop of sharp increase in cap-ital expenditures and boldreform measures have embold-ened investors. “While globalequities remained favourabletoday, benchmark index Niftyand Sensex recorded fresh all-time highs,” he said. Elsewherein Asia, bourses in Shanghai,Hong Kong and Tokyo endedwith significant gains, whileSeoul was in the red.

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Markets regulator Sebi onMonday barred

Capitalaim Financial AdvisoryPvt Ltd and five individualsfrom accessing securities mar-ket for selling services to clientswithout consideration of theirfinancial position, investmentobjective and risk profiling.

The individuals who havebeen barred are the company’spresent and former directors-- Abhijeet Bajpai, Anant Tiwari,Debabrata Bhattacharjee,Sheetal Foujdar and AbhilashaVerma.As per an interim orderof Sebi, Capitalaim and its pre-sent directors Bajpai and Tiwariare directed to cease and desistfrom acting as an investmentadvisor.

Besides, they have beendirected not to divert any fundsraised from the investors.

Also, the regulator hasdirected them to immediatelywithdraw and remove alladvertisements, representa-tions, communications in rela-tion to its investment advisoryactivity or any other activity inthe securities market.

The interim direc-tion comes after the regulatorprima facie found Capitalaimand individuals in violations ofPFUTP (Prohibition ofFraudulent and Unfair TradePractices) norms as well asInvestment Advisor (IA) regu-lations.

A probe by the Securitiesand Exchange Board of India(Sebi) found that Capitalaimwas selling products and ser-vices to its clients withoutcommunicating the risk profileto them. Further it wasobserved that Capitalaim wascharging fees from clientswhich is disproportionate oftheir annual income and sell-ing same services or packagesto same clients on multipleoccasion at different arbitraryprice for future period / over-lapping period, while an exist-ing subscription is still active,which has the effect of lockingin the client to the InvestmentAdvisor, as IA has “no refundand cancellation” policy. It hadcharged different arbitraryadvisory fees from the sameand different clients, Sebinoted.

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Page 10: The Pioneer...2021/02/09  · Mangeshkar, Sachin Tendulkar and actor Akshay Kumar into putting out tweets in response to the global criticism of the Government’s handling of the

How often do we switch tohealthy snacking while

watching our favourite web seriesor for that matter to satisfy thoselate night hunger pangs? Theanswer is very rarely. And even ifwe try to do so we don’t findmuch tasty options.

Here comes CaliforniaPistachios to your rescue.

“Pistachios are a great sourceof healthy fats, fiber, protein,Vitamin B6, potassium, thiamine,copper, phosphorous and power-ful antioxidants like lutein andzeaxanthin. They are also the low-est calorie nut so you can havemore pistachios in a single serv-ing as compared to any othercommonly consumed nuts. Theresults from the largest ran-domised clinical trial to date onnuts and Diabetes showed thateating about 2 ounces of nuts aday for three months, as a replace-ment for carbohydrate foods,may improve long-term bloodsugar control and LDL cholesterolin people with Type II Diabetes,”Luke Coutinho , Holistic LifestyleCoach — Integrative Medicine &Founder — Luke CoutinhoHolistic Healing Systems Pvt Ltd,tells you.

He adds that the researchshows that adding pistachios todifferent common carbohydratefoods, such as rice and pasta, waslinked to reduced relative bloodsugar response of the meal.

However, there are variousbeliefs associated with eatingnuts. Eating them only in wintersis one. But that is, of course, nottrue. “Eating a handful of nuts likepistachios should be a part ofeveryone’s daily and balanceddiet,” Coutinho, who was recent-

ly announced as the AmericanPistachio Growers (APG)Lifestyle Ambassador in Indiaduring a virtual press conference,says.

For those who are alwaysangsting about not putting extrakgs, pistachios can help them too.“Researchers recently discoveredthat eating as much as 20 per centof calories from American pista-chios may not lead to weight gain,but it may provide the added ben-efit of improving health.American pistachios are also oneof the lowest-calorie nuts with just160 calories in a single ouncewhich is equivalent to 49 pista-chios. Also the act of openingeach pistachio shell to get out thenut slows down the eatingprocess, which lead to greater sat-isfaction and fullness after eating,”Coutinho explains.

He adds that it’s time we stopfearing good fats and blame themfor making us put on weight. “We

need good fats for so many bod-ily functions. It is a poor lifestyle,sedentary day, overeating junk,toxic emotions, poor sleep pat-terns, that actually lead to weightgain,” Coutinho asserts.

Now many of us would won-der how to select the best varietyof pistachios, Coutinho shareswords of wisdom to help them.

“Not many know that main-ly only two countries generate thebiggest yields of pistachios: the USand Iran. In the US, pistachios areprimarily grown in California.What makes these two kinds dif-ferent is the fat content. Californiapistachios are lower in saturatedfats (1.5 grams per serving) andhigh in protein (6 grams), mak-ing them a healthier choice thantheir counterparts from othercountries, giving you yet anoth-er reason to include it into yourdaily diet and open up one moreavenue for healthful snacking,”Coutinho explains.

�����%� Bathua orchenopodium leaves arefilled with many nutritionalqualities which can dowonders for your overallhealth. It is loaded withessential minerals andantioxidants.

It is a powerhouse ofVitamin A, C and B complex.The leaves are a good source ofamino acids too. Amino acidsplay a significant role incell function andcell repair. Alarge propor-tion of our cells,muscles and tis-sues are made up ofamino acids.

Minerals likeiron, potassium, phos-phorus and calcium arealso present in abundance

in Bathua. Rich in fibre andwater content, bathua alsocures constipation(due to itslaxative properties) and a hostof your tummy problems byaiding digestion and boostingintestinal activity too. Bathua’srole in keeping your liverhealthy has also made theselovely greens a hit in the healthand nutritioncircuit.

With fading hopes, butwith a stern decisionof not giving in to thecircumstances, Ali

Hamad’s parents thought of reach-ing out to HCMT ManipalHospitals after hearing ‘no’ frommany big hospitals in Delhi.

It was their strong will tosave their baby that even fortunefavoured them, so much so thatsuch a complicated surgery wassuccessfully done in nine-monthold Hamad.

Liver transplants are oftentricky. Sometimes it is too late fora transplant, while the other timesthe body doesn’t accept the donor’sliver at all. However, the most riskyof all is the transplant in babies lessthat one year of age and 10 kg ofweight. So was the case withHamad who suffered from liverfailure due to a rare disorder.

Dr Sailendra Lalwani, Head ofthe Department of LiverTransplant and Hepato-Pancreatic-Bil iar y Surger y,HCMCT Manipal Hospitals per-formed the surgery that makesHamad one of the youngest babiesundergoing a very complex livertransplant procedure. Dr SailendraLalwani’s team was supported byDr Lalit Sehgal HOD — GeneralAnesthesia, Liver TransplantAnesthesia, Liver Critical Care, DrVikas Taneja, HOD — Pediatricsand Dr Sufla Saxena, Consultant— Paediatric Gastroenterologistand Hepatologist.

Hamad was a known case ofProgressive Familial IntrahepaticCholestasis Type II (PFIC TYPE2). He had jaundice since birth.

The patient had multiple hospital-isations in Iraq for jaundice andrecurrent cholangitis. “He wasevaluated for jaundice and a liverbiopsy done in Iraq was suggestiveof progressive familial intrahepat-ic cholestasis Type 2. Three othersiblings of the patient died becauseof jaundice and they remainedundiagnosed. Given the history,clinical condition, and patholog-ical diagnosis patient was referredfor a liver transplant,” Dr Lalwanitells you.

This is not all. Hamad washaving infection with cholangitisfor which he was admitted andtreated. “Apart from recurrentcholangitis, the patient was havingmarked ascites and growth failurewith a bodyweight of 6.1 kg. Heunderwent evaluation for a livingdonor liver transplant and hismother was evaluated as aprospective donor. During anevaluation, CT scan showed cir-rhotic changes,hepatosplenomegaly with attenu-ated portal vein with no portalflow with significant ascites andsignificant portosystemic collater-als,” Dr Lalawani says.

He adds that no supply ofblood to the liver or clinicallyspeaking attenuated portal vein isa big challenge to any liver trans-plant team as vascular complica-tions are high in paediatric trans-plant patients. The reconstructionof the portal vein with graft isalways a challenge as it increasesthe risk of thrombotic complica-tions.

“To overcome this challenge,we planned to use an iliac vein

graft procured during cadavericliver transplant,” Dr Lalwaniexplains.

Hamad underwent a trans-plant on January 3, 2021. “Therewas no flow in the portal vein. Weplaced the interposition vein graftto give inflow to the liver. It tookaround nine hours to complete thetransplant and baby was shifted toICU on a ventilator,” Dr Lalwanielaborates.

The baby was off the ventila-tor the next morning and gradu-ally in the next few days, he start-ed accepting oral feed, toleratingwell, and gaining weight. “Finally,after 20 days of surgery baby was

discharged from the hospital. Thefamily plans to go back to Iraqnow,” Dr Lalwani adds. The baby,however, was given 80 per cent ofsuccessful surgery with a 20 percent of risk.

“There are no complications inHamad right now, but since hisimmunity is almost zero, he needsextra care, especially during thepandemic. However, the donor ishealthy and has nothing to worryabout. She was on medication forabout five days post the surgery,but is now completely fine,” DrLalwani explains.

Dr Saxena says that it has beenpossible because the parentsbrought the baby right in timewhich contributed to the success-ful surgery. “There are three phas-es of liver failure. Phase I is themost treatable, while in Phase IIand III it is comparitively difficultto treat the patient. Hamad wasbrought to the hospital in thebeginning of Phase II, hence wetook the chance and with God’sgrace completed the surgery,” DrSaxena tells you.

Hamad’s mother, who alsobecame the donor, says that shewas extremely afraid about losingher child again. “He is my fourthson, earlier three died perhaps suf-fering from the same liver disease.I was very afraid about Hamad’ssurvival, but the doctors heresaved the life of my son. Weexpress since gratitude towards alldoctors of Manipal Hospitals.From day one they assured me thateverything will be right and I willgo back to Iraq with a healthychild,” she says.

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Over five decades, since the first successful heart transplantwas carried out by Christiaan Barnard in Cape Town, South

Africa, this procedure remains the most effective proven ther-apy to alleviate symptoms, improve quality of life and confer sur-vival benefit for a selection of end-stage heart failure (HF) patientswho have no further medical or non-transplant surgical optionsavailable to them. Typically, these patients will have less than 50per cent chance of surviving the next two years without the sur-gical intervention.

The following are indications for heart transplantation:Idiopathic Dilated Cardiomyopathy: This is a disease of

unknown cause that affects the heart muscle such that one orboth ventricles, or main pumping chambers of the heart, tendto dilate and cause reduced function, The heart is then unableto pump sufficient blood around the body, particularly when itdemands more oxygen and nutrients during exertion.

Ischaemic Cardiomyopathy: This is caused by disease ofthe arteries of the heart whereby the arteries are either narrowedor blocked by local deposition and collection of fatty materialthrough a process called atherosclerosis. Many patients will havehad intervention by way of stents placed inside the diseased arter-ies, or have had bypass surgery. Some patients with ischaemic

heart disease can also haverefractory chest pain, or angi-na, that is not amenable to per-cutaneous or surgical treat-ment. They also benefit fromheart transplantation.

Valvular Heart Disease:A condition where disease ofone or more heart valves leadsto damage of the heart musclewith enlargement of the heartand poor function.

Hypertrophic cardiomy-opathy: Characterised byabnormal thickening of theheart muscle, typically the leftventricle, such that it becomesstiff and unable to perform thenecessary pumping action. Thiscondition is often linked to aninherited genetic defect.

Infiltrative cardiomyopa-thy: Both genetic and acquired causes lead to the depositionof abnormal material within the tissues of the heart leading toheart failure. Some of these diseases are Amyloidosis, Sarcoidosis,Haemochromatosis, Fabry disease, Danon disease and Friedreich’sataxia.

Congenital Heart Disease (CHD): Some complex congen-ital heart diseases are not amenable to surgical correction or repairand require neonatal heart transplantation. However, many con-ditions can be corrected or repaired in childhood and over thatover 80 per cent of patients with CHD now survive to adulthood.A proportion of patients who have had one or more surgical pro-cedure will develop heart failure later in life. Some of these con-ditions will eventually result in damage to the lungs also withthe requirement of a combined heart and lung transplant.

Persistent Ventricular Arrhythmia: Intermittent malignantheart rhythms can become intractable with damage to the heartmuscle and eventual heart failure.

Primary Cardiac Tumour: Rarely, a primary cardiac can-cer without risk of metastasis may also be amenable to heart trans-plantation.

Other conditions: Heart muscle can also be damaged byalcohol, drugs, viral infection (viral myocarditis), following child-birth (post-partum cardiomyopathy) and also in the context ofthyroid disease or Diabetes.

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Flu season is starting.While catching coldand cough may not be

that big of a deal, but dur-ing the pandemic it candefinitely give you a miniheart attack.

Here are a fewtips that canhelp.

D r i n kwarm water.D r i n k i n gwarm watertwice a day,with or with-out having aflu is beneficial.It not only helpsrelieve sore throat but

also helps to detoxifyyour body.

Salt water gargle.Add one tsp of salt to

lukewarm water and gargletwice daily. It will help killthe bacteria in throat and

will relieve pain and dis-comfort.

Take steam. Boil waterin a pan, cover your headwith a towel and inhale thesteam for at least 15 min-

utes. Do this twice daily.This will help relieve

stuffy nose, sorethroat and even

reduce headaches.

D r i n kginger tea.Ginger isknown for its

anti-inf lam-matory proper-

ties. Drinking gin-ger tea once a day will

help reduce cold.Vitamin C helps. Mix

lemon in lukewarm waterand drink it daily. VitaminC is rich in antioxidantswhich help improve immu-nity and fight cold and flu.

Seasonal flus are annoying.and threatening too, espe-

cially during this pandemic.ROSHANI DEVI shares easyhome remedies that can helptreat the flu without having

to put too much efforts

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Vitamin E is a fat-soluble vitamin.Our body stores and uses it as need-ed. Vitamin E in food is found in

vegetable oils, margarine, nuts, seeds, cere-als and leafy greens. People usually getenough vitamin E from the foods they eat.People with certain disorders may needextra Vitamin E from supplements.Vitamin E is an antioxidant, it plays animportant role in the immune systembuilding and metabolic processes.

Here are seven reasons to add VitaminE in your daily diet

Boosts immune systemVitamin E is a powerful antioxidant

which protects cells from oxidative dam-age when cells are exposed to free radicals.It slows down the ageing process of yourcells. It helps people with higher environ-mental lifestyle risk factors to fight againstinfections by boosting the immune system.

Enhances muscle healthVitamin E plays a very important role

in preparing and growing muscle tissue.After exercising, the cells and tissuesbecome torn and it helps to restore themquickly and build them up stronger.

Keeps heart healthyGetting more Vitamin E into the diet

from healthy foods helps to protect theheart muscle from cramping and bloodclotting. People who have cardiovascularproblems are usually advised to have moreof a Vitamin E rich diet as well as a sup-plement.

Supports eye healthIf you suffer from eye problems then

taking Vitamin E daily can help to preventfurther damage. It supports the health ofthe small muscles surrounding the retinaand protects it against damage from highblood sugar regimen and also protects theeye from free radical damage.

Maintains hair growthAs Vitamin E is a natural antioxidant,

it also helps to maintain healthy hairgrowth. This can lower the risk of thin-ning hair as we get older by reducingoxidative stress and damage to the hair fol-licles.

Protects nerve health & hormonalhealth

Vitamin E is a fat-soluble nutrient, ithelps to protect the cover of the body’snerve endings called the myelin sheath.Hormones in the body are made using fatand cholesterol as their raw material.Being an antioxidant and fat-solublenutrient, it also protects exposures fromfree radical damage especially duringmenopause, Pms and stressful times.

Maintains healthy skinVitamin E is a powerful antioxidant

which helps you in giving healthy skin asit repairs the skin damage caused due toexposure to air pollution and ultravioletrays of the sun.

To conclude, Vitamin E is sensitive toheat so it must be consumed from raw anduncooked foods to protect its nutritionalvalue. Add Vitamin E to your daily diet toattain its health benefits.����� ��� ��� �� � ���<�������� ��'�� � �� ��

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Valentine’s Day marks the cele-bration of love. It is that time ofthe year when love and romance

blossom in every heart and in everycorner of the world. The couplesexplore new ways to express their emo-tions and make their partner feel spe-cial. There are many things that youcan do to make someone feel special,yet there are some people who want towear their hearts, literally, on theirsleeves by getting a permanent tattooon their skin!

Couple tattoos have gainedtremendous popularity in the last fewyears. Getting a beautiful piece of arttattooed on your body to dedicate it toyour spouse/partner is somethingthoughtful and cherishable. Both inkand love require lifelong commit-ments as they never fade, regardless ofhow much time passes. So if you wantto show your partner that you’re pret-ty serious about the relationship andit’s a ‘forever’ kind of love, then match-ing tattoos are the new, modern wayto reveal how much this bond mattersto you!

There are a variety of tattoo stylesthat are trending these days. People

have become creative and are findingdifferent ways of inking their love.Some designs include, king and queencrowns, connecting puzzle tattoo,

partner’s name, name initials, zodiacsymbols, infinity sign, or wedding dateetc.

An award-winning tattoo artist,

Lokesh Verma who is the founder ofDevil’z Tattooz, has listed down sometrends that are popular among couples:

Name or date: Many couples tend toget too romantic on this specific dayand get each other’s names inked toshow how much they love each other.The most popular example of this wasSaif Ali Khan’s tattoo for his lady love,Kareena Kapoor Khan. One can alsoget special dates inked, such as wed-ding anniversary or the first time youmet. These are special memories andmoments to cherish.

Identical ones: For an everlastingbond, a lot of people prefer to find thatone common thing which both thepartners can connect with such asword or phrase, musical notes or anysymbol. Having the same tattoo linksyou together for life. Even, PriyankaChopra Jonas and Nick Jonas markedtheir first anniversary of their engage-ment by getting matching tattoos tocelebrate that.

Connecting tattoos: Connecting or

Maya Anelou had said, “There is no greater agonythan bearing an untold story inside you.” So if

you want to be a writer, you must do two things aboveall others: read a lot and write a lot. But how can bur-geoning writers take their idea to a book-length real-ity? Well, Wattpad’s author, Neil D’Silva shares a fewtips on how to get started.

Write what you like to readDo not make the mistake of emulating market

trends and getting influenced by the latest bestsellingbooks. Stay true to your conviction. Even if your storyis unconventional and of a kind that has never beenwritten before, go ahead and write it if you are con-vinced. In fact, you must definitely write stories ofthe kind that have never been written.

Dedicate yourself to a writing regimenIf you dream to get published, you need to stop

thinking of writing as a hobby and give it seriousattention. Allot a couple of hours per day or morewhen you will only write, without distractions. Keepthe phone off and don’t check your social media whenyou write. Writing every day is absolutely essential.You have to keep writing till it becomes second natureto you.

Join writing groups and communities online andoffline

Writers who are starting out can reap great ben-efits by being part of a community where they canshare their writing and get feedback. It also makesyou less lonely and motivates you to see that thereare many others sharing the same passion as you.Writing groups on various social media platforms arewonderful places to mingle with fellow writers.

Bollywood star AyushmannKhurrana had announced

his next, Anek, directed byfilmmaker Anubhav Sinha. Inthe first look, the actor is seensporting an eyebrow slit andthe actor reveals how he tookthis idea to his director.

Ayushmann, who playsthe character of Joshua in thefilm, says, “I have been fortu-nate enough to collaboratewith filmmakers who havealways encouraged my creativeinputs to their vision of story-telling. The eyebrow slit thatI’m sporting in the film was anidea that I discussed withAnubhav sir. It was about cre-ating a distinct look that audi-ences have never seen me inand I’m glad that people havetaken notice of this and arediscussing it.”

He adds, “I have to thankmy director for being open tomy suggestion and that’s whatmakes our creative partnershipso exciting. I have always beenan eager artist who wants tocontribute towards buildingmy character.”

Ayushmann has beenvocalising his ideas to hisdirectors in the recent past. Hesays, “I always make thesemental notes and discuss themwith my director. Like inShubh Mangal ZyadaSaavdhan, my character wearsa nose ring. I had bounced thisidea with Hitesh (Kewalya)and Anand Rai sir and I’mglad they took this input onboard. Similarly, Shoojit sirwas happy with the idea thatI wanted to have a lisp inGulabo Sitabo.”

Ayushmann adds, “I liketo be an active voice when Iteam up with someone, dis-cussing everything under thesun about my character andthe film. I feel invested if Iopenly speak my mind andthankfully I have always hadfilmmakers who have appreci-ated what I bring to the table.”

The writer’s desk $��������������������� � ������������������T�$��������������� ��

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half and half tattoo is complete onlywhen the couple is together. Thus,depicting that they are incomplete with-out each other. One example is theheartbeat tattoo that runs from one tothe other. Couples who are in a long-dis-tance relationship also get connectingtattoos to represent how you and yourpartner may be miles apart but still con-nected.

Minimalistic designs: To make a bigimpact, go small! A lot of people like tokeep things personal, super discreet,nothing to elaborate, visible, flashy orbold. For such private and simple peo-ple, the minimalistic tattoos are the bestoptions — small tattoos to define thelarge amount of love you feel. Want toconvey a powerful message in a subtleway? Then small tattoos characterisedwith clean lines are the way to go!

Ink the fingerprint: This is somethingquirky and unique — getting the finger-print of your partner printed on your-self. It’s like a signature of love inked onyou, which is the ultimate seal of love.

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Page 12: The Pioneer...2021/02/09  · Mangeshkar, Sachin Tendulkar and actor Akshay Kumar into putting out tweets in response to the global criticism of the Government’s handling of the

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India were left with the her-culean task of chasing aworld record 420 after

England refused to declare inan unfocussed second essay,cut short by RavichandranAshwin’s brilliance on a sharplyturning fourth day strip in theopening Test here on Monday.

At stumps, India were 39for one, requiring another 381runs to set a new record andtake a 1-0 lead in the four-match series. The previousbest is 418, chased by WestIndies against Australia in2003.

Relishing bowling on aresponsive pitch, the seasonedAshwin returned excellent fig-ures of 6/61 to snap England’ssecond innings at 178 after thehome team conceded a mas-sive first-innings lead of 241runs.

With opener Rohit Sharma(12) back in the hut, ShubmanGill (15) and CheteshwarPujara (12) will begin the pro-ceedings for India on the fifthand final day at the MAChidambaram pitch, whichhas started to play tricks.

India would have been ina bigger hole had it not beenfor a seventh-wicket partner-ship of 80 runs between new-comer Washington Sundar(85) and Ashwin, who alsocontributed a 31 with the batbefore picking his career’s 28thfive-wicket haul.

But despite the duo’s bestefforts, the hosts still fell wayshort of the follow-on targetafter being bowled out for337. India resumed the day at257 for six.

Hoping to give theirbowlers some respite from thesweltering heat, Englanddecided against enforcing thefollow-on and batted again.

But the start wasn’t the onethey wanted as Ashwin bowledhis off-spinners to deadly effectwith the new ball, the bounceaiding him in his endeavour.

Ashwin removed RoryBurns with the very first ball ofthe second innings when heinduced an edge for AjinkyaRahane to take an easy catch in

the first slip.Having ambled to 16 off 37

balls, Dominic Sibley wasshown the door by Ashwin,with the bounce again helpingthe off-spinner.

Veteran pacer IshantSharma was rewarded for bowl-ing with a lot of hearth through-out the match when he hadDaniel Lawrence trapped infront of the wicket with the onethat snaked in.

That was wicket number300 for Ishant, making him thesixth Indian and third pacerfrom the country to reach thelandmark.

Ben Stokes could not repli-cate the form of his first inningsas he played away from his bodyto give Rishabh Pant a catch offAshwin.

As wickets kept falling atone end, skipper Joe Root (40off 32 balls) looked like he wasbatting on a pitch differentfrom the one where the ball wasturning from one end to the

other, scoring runs withoutmuch ado.

With all the confidence inthe world, first-innings doublecenturion Root swept andreverse swept the India spinners,including Ashwin, as runs cameat a fast clip when he was in hiselement in the second session.

He not just negated but alsoattacked the spinners withaplomb but what Root could nottackle was a delivery that keptlow on landing before thuddingagainst the English run-machine’s pads.

The umpire had no hesita-tion in raising his finger asJasprit Bumrah appealed for anLBW.

Ollie Pope (28), Jos Buttler(24) and Dom Bess (25) madeuseful contributions, butEngland strangely kept on bat-

ting even after the lead crossed350 and then 400 on a trackwhich is expected to give thebowlers a lot of purchase on thefinal day.

While 16 wickets fell on thefirst three days, a staggering 15fell by the wayside on Mondayand the Chepauk pitch playeda major part.

While Ashwin did anadmirable job, India captainVirat Kohli may have missed atrick or two by not trying outWashington’s off-breaks whenleft-arm spinner ShahbazNadeem was leaking runs,including overstepping on afew occasions and adding to hisfirst innings no balls.

When India came out to batagain, left-arm spinner JackLeach bowled Rohit with apeach of delivery that landed onthe leg-stump before hittingthe off-stump, the turn leavingthe home team with plenty toworry about going into thefinal day’s play.

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Lionel Messi came off thebench to inspire Barcelona

to a 3-2 victory over Real Betison Sunday, as Ronald Koeman’srotation gamble just about paidoff.

Messi was among severalkey players rested, with

Koeman seemingly prioritisingWednesday’s Copa del Reysemi-final against Sevilla aheadof Barca’s fading title chal-lenge in La Liga.

Defeat would have calledthat decision into question butMessi drove in an equaliser twominutes after coming on in thesecond half and then helped setup Francisco Trincao to scorea late winner and his firstBarcelona goal.

Koeman’s side sit sevenpoints behind La Liga’s leadersAtletico Madrid, who haveplayed two games fewer andface Celta Vigo at home onMonday night.

Success also came at a costas Barca’s best available centraldefender Ronald Araujo wasforced off with an ankle injuryearly on.

With Gerard Pique alreadya long-term absentee, Araujo’sfitness will be a huge concern,especially with a ChampionsLeague last 16 first leg at hometo Paris Saint-Germain tocome, a week after the testagainst Sevilla.

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Manchester City ended an18-year wait to beat

Liverpool at Anfield instyle with a 4-1 win onSunday to take a firmgrip on the PremierLeague title race.

Ilkay Gundoganscored twice and misseda penalty as PepGuardiola’s men movedfive points clear ofManchester United, with a

game in hand to come, at thetop of the table.

A third consecutive homedefeat leaves Liverpool 10

points off the top infourth, having alsoplayed a game morethan City.

Raheem Sterlingand the outstandingPhil Foden were alsoon target for the vis-itors on a day to for-

get for Liverpool goalkeeperAlisson Becker, who was at

fault for three of City’s goals.After a club record-break-

ing run of 68 league gamesunbeaten at Anfield,Liverpool have now lost threeconsecutive home leaguegames for the first time since1963.

The margin of defeat wasalso the Reds’ biggest in thePremier League era as Citylanded a knockout blow totheir title defence.

City’s club record run of14 consecutive wins, 10 ofwhich have come in theleague, has seen them pullaway from the pack at the topof the table from what seemeda wide-open title race just afew weeks ago.

That run is reminiscent ofthe City and Liverpool sidesat their best over the pastthree seasons as they have ranup record points tallies incombining to win the lastthree league titles.

However, Liverpoolappear to have run out of gasin an injury-hit campaignafter ending a 30-year wait towin a league title by takingCity’s crown as championslast season.

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It’s been so long since he had asizeable crowd to play for, the

showman in Novak Djokovicjust had to come out.

Top-ranked Djokovic haswon eight titles at the AustralianOpen. He began his quest for aninth with a clinical, 6-3, 6-1, 6-2 victory over Jeremy Chardy inthe closing act of the day 1 pro-gram on Rod Laver Arena.

The total crowd Monday atMelbourne Park was 17,922,including day and night sessionsin three divided zones. It was welldown on the 64,387 fans thatcrammed onto the grounds onDay 1 of last year’s AustralianOpen, but way more than anyother major since then.

After an austere year for ten-nis during the COVID-19 pan-demic, there was a unanimousrefrain from players across theday, starting with Naomi Osaka

in the opening match on RodLaver, to Serena and VenusWilliams, and to mercurial localfavorite Nick Kyrgios, who closedthe day on the so-called Peoples'court: Thanks for coming.

The state government isallowing up to 30,000 people perday into Melbourne Park, about

50% of capacity. There were nofans allowed at the U.S. Open,only about 1,000 per day wereallowed at Roland Garros andWimbledon was canceled.

But with the Australian Openstarting three weeks later thanusual - now it's outside the sum-mer holidays - and some people

still nervous about going out incrowds following a harshMelbourne lockdown last year, itwas a predictably cautious start.

That wasn’t the case at all forSerena Williams, who arrivedready to race to start her bid fora record-equaling 24th GrandSlam singles title.

In a colorful one-legged cat-suit she said was inspired by for-mer Olympic champion FlorenceGriffith Joyner, Williams droppedher opening serve but reboundedto win 10 consecutive games and

beat Laura Siegemund 6-1, 6-1.As she left the court she

flexed her biceps, and laterdonned a T-shirt that read“Unstoppable Queen.”

Speed was of the essence alsofor No. 2-ranked Simona Halepand No. 3 Osaka, who each onlydropped three games.

U.S. Open champion Osakabeat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-1, 6-2, and two-time major win-ner Halep opened the night ses-sion on the main show court witha 6-2, 6-1 win over Australianwild-card entry Lizette Cabrera.

Joining them in the secondround were No. 7 ArynaSabalenka, two-time Wimbledonchampion Petra Kvitova, FrenchOpen winner Iga Swiatek and2019 U.S. Open champion BiancaAndreescu, who returned from 15months on the sidelines to beatMihaela Buzarnescu 6-2, 4-6, 6-3. Rebecca Marino, a former top-40 player competing in a Grand

Slam event for the first time ineight years, beat Kimberly Birrell6-0, 7-6 (9).

Venus Williams, a seven-timemajor winner, won a Grand Slammatch for the first time since 2019.

Playing in her 21st AustralianOpen, the elder Williams beatKirsten Flipkens 7-5, 6-2. At 40,Venus is the oldest woman in thisyear's draw and just the sixth play-er in her 40s to compete at theAustralian Open.

U.S. Open championDominic Thiem was a breakdown and saved set points beforebeating veteran MikhailKukushkin 7-6 (2), 6-2, 6-3 in hisfirst match at the tournamentsince losing last year’s final toNovak Djokovic.

Alexander Zverev, who lostthe final to Thiem in New York,lost the first set in a tiebreakerthen lost his temper in the secondand belted his racket into thecourt.

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Chelsea’s revival under Thomas Tuchelcontinued as the Blues closed to with-

in a point of the top four with a hard-fought2-1 win at bottom-of-the-table SheffieldUnited.

Mason Mount’s well-worked openerjust before half-time was cancelled out bya bizarre own goal from Antonio Rudigeras Chelsea conceded for the first time infour games under Tuchel.

But Jorginho’s penalty quickly restoredthe visitors’ lead and they held out for athird win in four games since the Germanreplaced the sacked Frank Lampard.

Chelsea are now breathing downLiverpool’s necks for a place in next sea-son’s Champions League.

Tuchel has benefited from a kind runof fixtures to bed himself into Englishfootball, but the former Paris Saint-Germain manager has quickly imple-mented his ideas, even if it has come at thecost of a number of big names.

N’Golo Kante and Hakim Ziyechwere again left on the bench, while therewas no place in the squad for Kai Havertzor Christian Pulisic.

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Medium pacer Hasan Alitook a maiden ten-wick-

et haul to help Pakistan win itsfirst series against South Africasince 2003 with a 95-run vic-tory in the second Test on thefifth and final day inRawalpindi on Monday.

Hasan finished with 5-60to record his best match fig-ures of 10-114 and help dis-miss South Africa — whowere set a daunting 370 tochase — for 274 before the teabreak.

Hasan’s new-ball partnerShaheen Shah Afridi finishedwith 4-51, while spinner YasirShah took the last wicket tospark jubilation among thePakistan players.

Opener Aiden Markramscored a fighting 108 andTemba Bavuma 61.

They put on a 106-runstand for the fourth wicket togive Pakistan a scare.

Markram took a single offthe last ball before lunch asSouth Africa reached the breakon 219-3, needing 151 for a win.

But Hasan ripped throughthe tourists’ batting order,which lost seven wickets for

just 33 runs with the secondnew ball.

Hasan struck with the sec-ond over of the new ball to endMarkram’s resistance by get-ting the opener caught in theslip and end his 335-minutefight.

Markram’s fifth Test cen-tury — the first outside SouthAfrica — included 13 bound-aries and three sixes.

Next ball, Hasan hadQuinton de Kock caught in theslip for nought, ending SouthAfrican skipper’s miserableseries with just 46 runs.

Hasan dismissed George

Linde for four to record histhird five-wicket haul as heimproved upon his previousbest match figures of 7-83against New Zealand in AbuDhabi in 2018.

This is Pakistan’s only sec-ond Test series win over SouthAfrica in 12 attempts, havinglost eight and drawn three.

Pakistan last beat SouthAfrica 1-0 in a two-matchseries at home in 2003.

The series win also liftsPakistan to fifth in internation-al Test rankings — the firsttime they have placed in thetop five since January 2017.

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Ishant Sharma’s work ethic hasbeen exemplary over the last 14

years, feels Ravichandran Ashwin,who wishes to see his India team-mate enter the 400-wicket cluband set a bench mark for theemerging quicks of this country.

Ishant, the most-capped Testplayer in this current line-up, onMonday, became the third Indianpacer after Kapil Dev (434 wick-ets) and Zaheer Khan (311) toreach the 300-wicket milestone.

“Look, Ishant has been one ofthe most hard-working crick-eters, that I have seen in thatIndian team dressing room.

“He has worked extremelyhard, for more than just one rea-

son, because being that tall (6 ft4 inch) itself requires a lot of facetsto be managed through a careerwhich is spanned out throughalmost 14 years now,” saidAshwin.

Ishant is only two short of 100Test appearances and will only bethe second pace bowler fromIndia to achieve that covetedlandmark.

For Ashwin, that itself is ameasure of his achievement.

“Ishant, who went toAustralia and got Ricky Pontingout (in 2007-08), and then hasgone through so many othertours, had his fair share of injuries,for a fast bowler to get close to 100Tests in India is not a joke and itis fantastic fantastic achievement,”

said thewily off-spinner.

“I cankeep goingon and keepcompliment-ing Ishant, but Ireally wish to seehim get to 400 andprobably 500 wickets, whichshould be sort of road map for alot of Indian quicks going for-ward.”

So what’s it that makes IshantSharma special as a person?

“If I have to say somethingabout Ishant, his biggest plus isthe smile. He is ever smiling.Even if he is very tired, he issmiling.

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