ˇ* · 17/02/2021  · movement was gathering pace. seven days later, akbar, a cel-ebrated editor,...

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D eclaring that the right of reputation cannot be pro- tected at the cost of right of life and dignity, a Delhi court on Wednesday threw out former Union Minister and editor MJ Akbar’s criminal defamation suit against journalist Priya Ramani, who has accused him of sexual harassment. Delivering the landmark judgment being hailed as a watershed moment for the #MeToo movement against sexual harassment, the court maintained that a woman has the right to put forward her grievances before any platform of her choice even after decades. A woman cannot be pun- ished for raising her voice against such abuse, Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Ravindra Kumar Pandey said as he dismissed Akbar’s com- plaint and held that no charges were proved against Ramani. The time has come for society to understand sexual abuse and harassment and their implications on victims, the judge said while acquitting the journalist. The court asked her to furnish a bail bond of 10,000 in case of an appeal. It feels great to have the truth validated before the court, a beaming Ramani told reporters after the verdict. “It feels amazing, truly does. I feel vindicated on behalf of all the women who have ever spoken out against sexual harassment at the workplace. It was me the victim who had to stand up in the court as an accused,” Ramani, who named Akbar in a tweet with reference to an article titled “To the Harvey Weinsteins of the World” she had written in Vogue India in 2017, added. The tweet was on October 8, 2018, when the #MeToo movement was gathering pace. Seven days later, Akbar, a cel- ebrated editor, filed a criminal complaint against her for allegedly defaming him by accusing him of sexual mis- conduct decades ago when he was a journalist. Two days after that, on October 17, 2018, he resigned as minister of state for External Affairs and denied all the alle- gations of sexual harassment levelled by several women. Delivering a 91-page ver- dict in the keenly followed case, the court said it is shame- ful that incidents of crime and violence against women are happening in a country where epics such as the “Mahabarata” and “Ramayana” were written around the theme of respect for women. “… the right of reputation cannot be protected at the cost of the right of life and dignity of woman as guaranteed in Constitution under article 21 and right of equality before law and equal protection of law as guaranteed under article 14 of the Constitution,” it said. Continued on Page 2 D ays after Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said that no clear-cut or final decision has been taken on the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines in the private market yet, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Director Dr Randeep Guleria on Wednesday said that the jabs might be available for masses by this year’s end after the prime targeted people are cov- ered and there is an equivalence of supply and demand in the market. “Vaccine will be available in the open market only when prime targets — people to be vaccinated — are covered. And there has to be equivalence in supply and demand. Hopefully, there would be such a situation by year-end or before that. Then, there may be a likelihood of vaccine to come to the open market,” Dr Guleria said. Sharing his experience of his past 28 days (a time dura- tion for the second dose), Dr Guleria, said, “Today I took the second dose of Covaxin vaccine and I haven’t found any side effect from the first dose. “I didn’t face any difficul- ty. I would urge people not to fear the vaccine and it is total- ly safe. People should come out and take the vaccine. This is essential if we want to come out of the pandemic.” He highlighted that pan- demic is still not over and India is in a good position but peo- ple should not have vaccine hesitancy and get inoculated. “Right now our situation is fine and many might believe that in India pandemic case is less but I would say this is our window of opportunity to get the vaccine as the pandemic is still not over and the situation can change anytime. As we have seen in Brazil, Europe, South Africa and the United Kingdom lockdown has been imposed again as the cases spiked. We should maintain the present situation in the coun- try as it is necessary,” the AIIMS Director added. On Monday, the Union Health Minister said that one must appreciate that the vac- cines are approved under Emergency Use Authorisations (EUA). “During the course of EUA, it is the responsibility of the Government to keep things totally under control. This is the reason vaccines are still not available in the open market,” he added. A delegation of foreign diplo- mats from 24 countries on Wednesday arrived on a two-day visit to the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir to take stock of the ground sit- uation and assess how demo- cratic institutions at the grass- roots level were working in the region after the revocation of its special station in August 2019. On their arrival by a spe- cial flight in Srinagar, the del- egation was accorded a red car- pet welcome amid heightened security arrangements. The Modi Government organised similar visits first in October 2019 and the second in January 2020. Envoys of Chile, Brazil, Cuba, Bolivia, Estonia, Finland, France, Ireland, Netherlands, Portugal, EU, Belgium, Spain, Sweden, Italy, Bangladesh, Malawi, Eritrea, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Senegal, Malaysia, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan are part of the visiting delegation. Incidentally, parts of Srinagar witnessed shutdown even in the absence of any for- mal shutdown call by any group or political party. Soon after their arrival in Srinagar the foreign diplomats visited Magam in the central Kashmir district of Budgam to witness “Block Diwas”, a pub- lic outreach initiative organised every week by the local admin- istrations in Jammu & Kashmir. At the venue they were briefed on Panchayati Raj and grievance redressal through “Back to villages” programme, when administration reaches the doorstep of people. “The visit provided the envoys an opportunity to inter- act and hear from the public and their local level people’s representatives on function- ing and empowerment of grassroot democratic institu- tions, devolution of power, developmental activities among others,” official sources present at the venue said. Continued on Page 2 R eaffirming the Congress’ trust among Punjab voters, the ruling party on Wednesday captured six of the seven municipal corporations, the elections for which were held amid the farmers’ agitation, with the BJP finishing close to a complete wipeout. The Congress won Bathinda, Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala, Abohar, Batala, and Pathankot corporations, besides 106 of the total 109 municipal councils or nagar panchayats that went for polls on Sunday, registering 71 per cent voter turnout. In Moga Corporation, the Congress though secured the highest 20 seats, it failed to secure majority. The result for Mohali Municipal Corporation would be declared on Thursday as the State’s poll panel had deferred the counting of votes for a day to conduct a repoll on two polling booths. The election result has come as a boost for the Congress, which is also eyeing to win the Assembly elections due early next year, with Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh terming it as a “foretaste” of 2022 Assembly elections. Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar, elated over party’s performance, maintained, “This victory has further increased the party’s responsi- bility towards the State and its people, and party is initiating its campaign for next year Assembly polls. ‘Captainfor2022’ — the party’s mission under Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh is being launched today,” he declared. Other Opposition parties — the Shiromani Akali Dal, the Aam Aadmi Party, and the BJP — failed to make a mark in the elections for the municipal corporations. Independent candidates finished second by securing 20 per cent of the total seats. Of the more than 1,800 wards that went for poll, the SAD could secure just 252; 29 by BJP, 51 by AAP, and five by BSP. The ruling party celebrat- ed the victory in Bathinda, a known Akali citadel and SAD MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal’s constituency. As the Congress won 43 wards and the SAD just seven, Punjab Finance Minister and Bathinda Urban MLA Manpreet Singh Badal said that Bathinda will now get its first Congress mayor in 53 years. Continued on Page 2 A ir quality in Delhi was recorded as poor with overall Air Quality Index (AQI) being measured at 321μgm-3 on the National Ambient Air Quality Index (NAAQI). According to SAFAR (System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research), Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), the air qual- ity is likely to improve from February 20. The values of suspended particulate matters (SPMs) also recorded high on the SAFAR’s index. Values of primary pol- lutants — particulate matters (PMs) 10 and 2.5 were 311 and 147 in microgram per cubic on Wednesday. Meanwhile in short range air quality forecast, SAFAR said overall Delhi air quality is in the low-end of the very poor category as forecast. Surface winds are low and forecasted to improve and change in direc- tion to easterly. Better ventila- tion is likely to influence AQI positively. AQI is likely to stay in the lower end of very poor for the next two days. AQI is likely to further improve on February 20. SAFAR updated air quali- ty in Delhi University, Pusa Road, Lodhi Road, Mathura Road, IIT Delhi, Indira Gandhi International Airport (Terminal 3) and Ayanagar recorded air quality in the very poor category with an AQI of 332, 314, 330, 365, 323, 326 and 332 respectively. AQI between 51 and 100 is considered as satisfactory or very good, 101-200 moderate, 201-300 poor, 300-400 consid- ered as very poor. Whilw lev- els between 401-500 fall under the hazardous category. W est Bengal is set to wit- ness high voltage politi- cal slugfest over the next few days with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah raising poll pitch in the elec- tion-bound State and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee planning to address counter- rallies. Mamata will address her counter rallies at places where Central BJP leaders including the Prime Minister, the Home Minister and BJP national pres- ident JP Nadda will hold their meetings. Accordingly Mamata will hold a rally at Chinsurah in Hooghly district a day after Modi addresses a rally on February 22. Whereas the Chief Minister and her nephew and MP Abhishek Banerjee will hold simultaneous rallies at South 24 Parganas where Shah will hold rallies on Friday. . Shah will reach Kolkata on Wednesday and flag off the BJP’s fifth and final parivartan rath yatra from Namkhana in South 24 Parganas on Thursday. On the other hand, the PM is expected to hold a public rally in Hooghly on February 22 after inaugurating the 4-km extension of the city’s north-south Metro corridor from Noapara to Dakshineshwar on February 22. The fifth rath yatra will pass through the prestigious constituencies of Diamond Harbour and South Kolkata. The first one is represented by Abhishek Banerjee, while Mamata Banerjee is the MLA of Bhawanipur Assembly con- stituency in South Kolkata. The rally is likely to pro- ceed through Sirakol in Diamond Harbour where the convoy of BJP national presi- dent JP Nadda was attacked on December 10, 2020. About 20 per cent booths of Bengal are violence prone, sources quoting the EC said, adding the poll panel is mak- ing an elaborate arrangement to ensure free and fare polls. Continued on Page 2 T he Samyukt Kisan Morcha on Wednesday accused the Centre of trying to “counter and destroy” the farmers’ movement against the new agri laws and said it has appealed for peaceful protests during the “rail roko” agitation on February 18. The statement of the umbrella body of protesting unions came a day after BJP chief JP Nadda and Home Minister Amit Shah met party functionaries, MPs and MLAs from Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh in the wake of mahapanchayats being organ- ised by farmer leaders. During the meeting, the BJP leaders from the farm community of these States were asked to clear misconceptions about the laws, sources had said. The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), which had last week announced the rail block- ade to press for its demand to repeal the legislations, said that it “appeals to everyone for a peaceful protest in the nation- wide “rail roko” programme on February 18”. Earlier, farmer unions had called a “chakka jam” on February 6 and a ‘tractor parade’ in Delhi on January 26, during which a section of pro- testers clashed with police, overturned vehicles while some hoisted a religious flag from the ramparts of the Red Fort. “The (rail roko) pro- gramme will be organised from 12 pm to 4 pm in which sup- port is expected from all over the country,” the SKM said in a statement. The SKM has taken note of the high-level meeting of the BJP president, Shah and other ministers with elected party leaders from Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Rajasthan, it said. Continued on Page 2 T he process for nursery admissions in schools across Delhi will begin from Thursday and the application window will close on March 4. The Directorate of Education last week notified the admis- sion schedule, bringing respite for anxious parents who have been waiting for the notifica- tion for over two months. As per the notified sched- ule, the first list of selected chil- dren will be displayed on March 20, followed by second list on March 25 and subse- quent list for admission, if any, on March 27. The entire admis- sion process will conclude on March 31. Usually, nursery admis- sions in around 1,700 schools in the national capital begin in the last week of November. The DoE releases guidelines and schools are asked to furnish required information, following which the application process is rolled out in December. However, there has been no development on it in 2020. New Delhi: A 30-year-old man allegedly seen swinging swords with the intent of “motivating” and “energising” protesters at Red Fort during the violence on Republic Day has been arrested, police said on Wednesday. Maninder Singh, who runs a sword training school near his home in Swaroop Nagar in northwest Delhi and works as a car AC mechanic, was arrest- ed around 7.45 pm on Tuesday. United Nations: India, hailed as the pharmacy of the world, on Wednesday announced a gift of 2,00,000 Covid-19 doses for UN peacekeepers. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar made the announce- ment at the UN Security Council open debate on the implementation of resolution 2532 (2020) on the cessation of hostilities in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. “Keeping in mind the UN Peacekeepers who operate in such difficult circumstances, we would like to announce today a gift of 2,00,000 doses for them,” Jaishankar told the UN Security Council in a virtual address. Quoting the Bhagvad Gita, Jaishankar said, “Do your work with the welfare of oth- ers always in mind.” T he Ministry of Civil Aviation on Wednesday released an updated standard operating procedure (SOP) for international passengers arriv- ing in India after cases of the South Africa and Brazil vari- ants of the Covid-18 virus were detected. The Ministry in its updat- ed SOP said the guidelines will supersede the one issued since August 2, 2020 and will come into effect from 23.59 hours on February 22. There are fresh guidelines for all international travellers coming/transiting through flights originating from the UK, Europe and West Asia. Continued on Page 2

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Page 1: ˇ* · 17/02/2021  · movement was gathering pace. Seven days later, Akbar, a cel-ebrated editor, filed a criminal ... Road, IIT Delhi, Indira Gandhi International Airport (Terminal

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Declaring that the right ofreputation cannot be pro-

tected at the cost of right of lifeand dignity, a Delhi court onWednesday threw out formerUnion Minister and editor MJAkbar’s criminal defamationsuit against journalist PriyaRamani, who has accused himof sexual harassment.

Delivering the landmarkjudgment being hailed as awatershed moment for the#MeToo movement againstsexual harassment, the courtmaintained that a woman hasthe right to put forward hergrievances before any platformof her choice even afterdecades.

A woman cannot be pun-ished for raising her voiceagainst such abuse, AdditionalChief Metropolitan MagistrateRavindra Kumar Pandey saidas he dismissed Akbar’s com-plaint and held that no chargeswere proved against Ramani.

The time has come forsociety to understand sexualabuse and harassment andtheir implications on victims,the judge said while acquittingthe journalist. The court askedher to furnish a bail bond of�10,000 in case of an appeal.

It feels great to have thetruth validated before the court,a beaming Ramani toldreporters after the verdict.

“It feels amazing, truly

does. I feel vindicated on behalfof all the women who have everspoken out against sexualharassment at the workplace. Itwas me the victim who had tostand up in the court as anaccused,” Ramani, who namedAkbar in a tweet with referenceto an article titled “To theHarvey Weinsteins of theWorld” she had written inVogue India in 2017, added.

The tweet was on October8, 2018, when the #MeToomovement was gathering pace.Seven days later, Akbar, a cel-ebrated editor, filed a criminalcomplaint against her forallegedly defaming him byaccusing him of sexual mis-conduct decades ago when hewas a journalist.

Two days after that, onOctober 17, 2018, he resigned

as minister of state for ExternalAffairs and denied all the alle-gations of sexual harassmentlevelled by several women.

Delivering a 91-page ver-dict in the keenly followedcase, the court said it is shame-ful that incidents of crime andviolence against women arehappening in a country whereepics such as the “Mahabarata”and “Ramayana” were writtenaround the theme of respect forwomen.

“… the right of reputationcannot be protected at the costof the right of life and dignityof woman as guaranteed inConstitution under article 21and right of equality before lawand equal protection of law asguaranteed under article 14 ofthe Constitution,” it said.

Continued on Page 2

����� �-��.-/�'

Days after Union HealthMinister Harsh Vardhan

said that no clear-cut or finaldecision has been taken on therollout of Covid-19 vaccines inthe private market yet, AllIndia Institute of MedicalSciences (AIIMS) Director DrRandeep Guleria onWednesday said that the jabsmight be available for massesby this year’s end after theprime targeted people are cov-ered and there is an equivalenceof supply and demand in themarket.

“Vaccine will be availablein the open market only whenprime targets — people to bevaccinated — are covered. Andthere has to be equivalence insupply and demand. Hopefully,there would be such a situationby year-end or before that.Then, there may be a likelihood

of vaccine to come to the openmarket,” Dr Guleria said.

Sharing his experience ofhis past 28 days (a time dura-tion for the second dose), DrGuleria, said, “Today I took thesecond dose of Covaxin vaccineand I haven’t found any sideeffect from the first dose.

“I didn’t face any difficul-ty. I would urge people not tofear the vaccine and it is total-ly safe. People should come outand take the vaccine. This isessential if we want to come outof the pandemic.”

He highlighted that pan-demic is still not over and Indiais in a good position but peo-ple should not have vaccinehesitancy and get inoculated.

“Right now our situation isfine and many might believethat in India pandemic case isless but I would say this is ourwindow of opportunity to getthe vaccine as the pandemic is

still not over and the situationcan change anytime. As wehave seen in Brazil, Europe,South Africa and the UnitedKingdom lockdown has beenimposed again as the casesspiked. We should maintain thepresent situation in the coun-try as it is necessary,” theAIIMS Director added.

On Monday, the Union

Health Minister said that onemust appreciate that the vac-cines are approved underEmergency Use Authorisations(EUA). “During the course ofEUA, it is the responsibility ofthe Government to keep thingstotally under control. This isthe reason vaccines are still notavailable in the open market,”he added.

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Adelegation of foreign diplo-mats from 24 countries

on Wednesday arrived on atwo-day visit to the UnionTerritory of Jammu & Kashmirto take stock of the ground sit-uation and assess how demo-cratic institutions at the grass-roots level were working in theregion after the revocation of itsspecial station in August 2019.

On their arrival by a spe-cial flight in Srinagar, the del-egation was accorded a red car-pet welcome amid heightenedsecurity arrangements.

The Modi Governmentorganised similar visits first inOctober 2019 and the secondin January 2020.

Envoys of Chile, Brazil,Cuba, Bolivia, Estonia, Finland,France, Ireland, Netherlands,Portugal, EU, Belgium, Spain,

Sweden, Italy, Bangladesh,Malawi, Eritrea, Cote d’Ivoire,Ghana, Senegal, Malaysia,Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan arepart of the visiting delegation.

Incidentally, parts ofSrinagar witnessed shutdowneven in the absence of any for-mal shutdown call by anygroup or political party.

Soon after their arrival inSrinagar the foreign diplomatsvisited Magam in the centralKashmir district of Budgam towitness “Block Diwas”, a pub-lic outreach initiative organisedevery week by the local admin-istrations in Jammu & Kashmir.

At the venue they werebriefed on Panchayati Raj andgrievance redressal through“Back to villages” programme,when administration reachesthe doorstep of people.

“The visit provided theenvoys an opportunity to inter-act and hear from the publicand their local level people’srepresentatives on function-ing and empowerment ofgrassroot democratic institu-tions, devolution of power,developmental activities amongothers,” official sources presentat the venue said.

Continued on Page 2

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Reaffirming the Congress’trust among Punjab voters,

the ruling party on Wednesdaycaptured six of the sevenmunicipal corporations, theelections for which were heldamid the farmers’ agitation,with the BJP finishing close toa complete wipeout.

The Congress wonBathinda, Hoshiarpur,Kapurthala, Abohar, Batala,and Pathankot corporations,besides 106 of the total 109municipal councils or nagarpanchayats that went for pollson Sunday, registering 71 percent voter turnout.

In Moga Corporation, theCongress though secured thehighest 20 seats, it failed tosecure majority. The result forMohali Municipal Corporationwould be declared on Thursdayas the State’s poll panel haddeferred the counting of votesfor a day to conduct a repoll ontwo polling booths.

The election result hascome as a boost for theCongress, which is also eyeingto win the Assembly electionsdue early next year, with Chief

Minister Capt AmarinderSingh terming it as a “foretaste”of 2022 Assembly elections.

Punjab Congress chiefSunil Jakhar, elated over party’sperformance, maintained,“This victory has furtherincreased the party’s responsi-bility towards the State and itspeople, and party is initiatingits campaign for next yearAssembly polls.‘Captainfor2022’ — the party’smission under Chief MinisterCapt Amarinder Singh is beinglaunched today,” he declared.

Other Opposition parties— the Shiromani Akali Dal, theAam Aadmi Party, and the BJP— failed to make a mark in theelections for the municipal

corporations.Independent candidates

finished second by securing 20per cent of the total seats. Ofthe more than 1,800 wards thatwent for poll, the SAD couldsecure just 252; 29 by BJP, 51 byAAP, and five by BSP.

The ruling party celebrat-ed the victory in Bathinda, aknown Akali citadel and SADMP Harsimrat Kaur Badal’sconstituency. As the Congresswon 43 wards and the SAD justseven, Punjab Finance Ministerand Bathinda Urban MLAManpreet Singh Badal saidthat Bathinda will now get itsfirst Congress mayor in 53years.

Continued on Page 2

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Air quality in Delhi wasrecorded as poor with

overall Air Quality Index (AQI)being measured at 321μgm-3on the National Ambient AirQuality Index (NAAQI).

According to SAFAR(System of Air Quality andWeather Forecasting AndResearch), Ministry of EarthSciences (MoES), the air qual-ity is likely to improve fromFebruary 20.

The values of suspendedparticulate matters (SPMs) alsorecorded high on the SAFAR’sindex. Values of primary pol-lutants — particulate matters(PMs) 10 and 2.5 were 311 and147 in microgram per cubic onWednesday.

Meanwhile in short rangeair quality forecast, SAFARsaid overall Delhi air quality isin the low-end of the very poor

category as forecast. Surfacewinds are low and forecasted toimprove and change in direc-tion to easterly. Better ventila-tion is likely to influence AQIpositively. AQI is likely to stayin the lower end of very poorfor the next two days. AQI islikely to further improve onFebruary 20.

SAFAR updated air quali-ty in Delhi University, PusaRoad, Lodhi Road, MathuraRoad, IIT Delhi, Indira GandhiInternational Airport(Terminal 3) and Ayanagarrecorded air quality in the verypoor category with an AQI of332, 314, 330, 365, 323, 326 and332 respectively.

AQI between 51 and 100 isconsidered as satisfactory orvery good, 101-200 moderate,201-300 poor, 300-400 consid-ered as very poor. Whilw lev-els between 401-500 fall underthe hazardous category.

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West Bengal is set to wit-ness high voltage politi-

cal slugfest over the next fewdays with Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and UnionHome Minister Amit Shahraising poll pitch in the elec-tion-bound State and ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjeeplanning to address counter-rallies.

Mamata will address hercounter rallies at places whereCentral BJP leaders includingthe Prime Minister, the HomeMinister and BJP national pres-ident JP Nadda will hold theirmeetings.

Accordingly Mamata willhold a rally at Chinsurah inHooghly district a day afterModi addresses a rally onFebruary 22. Whereas the

Chief Minister and her nephewand MP Abhishek Banerjeewill hold simultaneous rallies atSouth 24 Parganas where Shahwill hold rallies on Friday. .

Shah will reach Kolkata onWednesday and flag off theBJP’s fifth and final parivartanrath yatra from Namkhana inSouth 24 Parganas onThursday. On the other hand,the PM is expected to hold apublic rally in Hooghly onFebruary 22 after inauguratingthe 4-km extension of the city’snorth-south Metro corridor

from Noapara toDakshineshwar on February22.

The fifth rath yatra willpass through the prestigiousconstituencies of DiamondHarbour and South Kolkata.The first one is represented byAbhishek Banerjee, whileMamata Banerjee is the MLAof Bhawanipur Assembly con-stituency in South Kolkata.

The rally is likely to pro-ceed through Sirakol inDiamond Harbour where theconvoy of BJP national presi-dent JP Nadda was attacked onDecember 10, 2020.

About 20 per cent boothsof Bengal are violence prone,sources quoting the EC said,adding the poll panel is mak-ing an elaborate arrangementto ensure free and fare polls.

Continued on Page 2

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The Samyukt Kisan Morchaon Wednesday accused the

Centre of trying to “counterand destroy” the farmers’movement against the newagri laws and said it hasappealed for peaceful protestsduring the “rail roko” agitationon February 18.

The statement of theumbrella body of protestingunions came a day after BJPchief JP Nadda and HomeMinister Amit Shah met partyfunctionaries, MPs and MLAsfrom Haryana, Rajasthan andUttar Pradesh in the wake ofmahapanchayats being organ-ised by farmer leaders.

During the meeting, theBJP leaders from the farmcommunity of these States wereasked to clear misconceptionsabout the laws, sources hadsaid.

The Samyukt KisanMorcha (SKM), which had lastweek announced the rail block-ade to press for its demand torepeal the legislations, saidthat it “appeals to everyone fora peaceful protest in the nation-wide “rail roko” programme onFebruary 18”.

Earlier, farmer unions hadcalled a “chakka jam” onFebruary 6 and a ‘tractorparade’ in Delhi on January 26,during which a section of pro-testers clashed with police,overturned vehicles while somehoisted a religious flag from theramparts of the Red Fort.

“The (rail roko) pro-gramme will be organised from12 pm to 4 pm in which sup-port is expected from all overthe country,” the SKM said ina statement.

The SKM has taken note ofthe high-level meeting of theBJP president, Shah and other

ministers with elected partyleaders from Haryana, UttarPradesh, Punjab and Rajasthan,it said.

Continued on Page 2

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The process for nurseryadmissions in schools

across Delhi will begin fromThursday and the applicationwindow will close on March 4.The Directorate of Educationlast week notified the admis-sion schedule, bringing respitefor anxious parents who havebeen waiting for the notifica-tion for over two months.

As per the notified sched-ule, the first list of selected chil-dren will be displayed onMarch 20, followed by secondlist on March 25 and subse-quent list for admission, if any,on March 27. The entire admis-sion process will conclude onMarch 31.

Usually, nursery admis-sions in around 1,700 schoolsin the national capital begin inthe last week of November. TheDoE releases guidelines andschools are asked to furnishrequired information, followingwhich the application processis rolled out in December.However, there has been nodevelopment on it in 2020.

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New Delhi: A 30-year-old manallegedly seen swinging swordswith the intent of “motivating”and “energising” protesters atRed Fort during the violenceon Republic Day has beenarrested, police said onWednesday.

Maninder Singh, who runsa sword training school near hishome in Swaroop Nagar innorthwest Delhi and works asa car AC mechanic, was arrest-ed around 7.45 pm on Tuesday.

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United Nations: India, hailedas the pharmacy of the world,on Wednesday announced agift of 2,00,000 Covid-19 dosesfor UN peacekeepers.

External Affairs Minister SJaishankar made the announce-ment at the UN SecurityCouncil open debate on theimplementation of resolution2532 (2020) on the cessation ofhostilities in the context of the

Covid-19 pandemic.“Keeping in mind the UN

Peacekeepers who operate insuch difficult circumstances, wewould like to announce todaya gift of 2,00,000 doses forthem,” Jaishankar told the UNSecurity Council in a virtualaddress. Quoting the BhagvadGita, Jaishankar said, “Do yourwork with the welfare of oth-ers always in mind.”

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The Ministry of CivilAviation on Wednesday

released an updated standardoperating procedure (SOP) forinternational passengers arriv-ing in India after cases of theSouth Africa and Brazil vari-ants of the Covid-18 viruswere detected.

The Ministry in its updat-ed SOP said the guidelineswill supersede the one issuedsince August 2, 2020 and willcome into effect from 23.59hours on February 22.

There are fresh guidelinesfor all international travellerscoming/transiting throughflights originating from theUK, Europe and West Asia.

Continued on Page 2

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Page 2: ˇ* · 17/02/2021  · movement was gathering pace. Seven days later, Akbar, a cel-ebrated editor, filed a criminal ... Road, IIT Delhi, Indira Gandhi International Airport (Terminal

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New Delhi: India is graduallyinching towards one croremilestone with around 92 lakhbeneficiaries being adminis-tered Covid -19 vaccine in thecountry so far since the launchof the nationwide vaccinationdrive kicked off from January16, this year. Around 37 peo-ple have been hospitalized afterthe vaccination and 29 deathshave been reported so far.However, none of them wererelated to the jab.

In a media briefing in NewDelhi on Wednesday, an UnionHealth Ministry official saidthat a total of 91,86,757 bene-ficiaries have been inoculatedwith Covid-19 vaccine doses.He said that on Wednesday1,87,527 beneficiaries wereinoculated.

Maximum number of

doses has been administeredtoday in Karnataka followed byMaharashtra, Tamil Nadu,Rajasthan and AndhraPradesh.

The official said that a totalof 65,21,785 health care work-ers have been inoculated withCOVID-19 vaccine doses.“More than 61,79,000 healthcare workers have been admin-istered the first dose whereasmore than 3,42,000 have beeninoculated with the seconddose so far while 26,64,972frontline health workers havebeen administered the COVID-19 vaccine jab,” he added.

In terms of first dose cov-erage, Bihar stands at top posi-tion with 84.7 per cent cover-age followed by Tripura,Odisha, Lakshadweep andGujarat. Around 37 people

have been hospitalized after thevaccination and 29 deaths havebeen reported so far. However,no new case of hospitalizationand new death have beenreported in the past 24 hours.

Meanwhile, India’s totalactive caseload currently standsat 1.36 lakh (1,36,549) as onWednesday, just 1.25 per centof India’s total positive cases.

Eighteen States/UTs havenot reported any COVID19deaths in the last 24 hours.These are Uttar Pradesh,Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh,J&K , Jharkhand, Puducherry,Himachal Pradesh,Lakshadweep, Manipur,Ladakh, Assam, Andaman andNagar Islands, Sikkim,Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram,Arunachal Pradesh and Dadarand Nagar Haveli. ���

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New Delhi: The SupremeCourt Wednesday permitted anNGO to make HimachalPradesh and Madhya Pradeshas parties to a pending petitionchallenging the controversialstate laws regulating conver-sions due to inter-faith mar-riages.

A bench headed by Chief

Justice S A Bobde also allowedMuslim body Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind to become a party to thepetition on the ground that alarge number of Muslims arebeing harassed under theselaws across the country.

The apex court on January6 had agreed to examine con-troversial new laws of UttarPradesh and Uttarakhand reg-ulating religious conversionsdue to interfaith marriages.The bench, also comprisingJustices A S Bopanna and VRamasubramanian, however

refused to stay the controver-sial provisions of the laws andissued notices to both the stategovernments on the petitions.

The pleas, filed by advocateVishal Thakre and others andan NGO 'Citizens for Justiceand Peace', have challenged theConstitutional validity of theUttar Pradesh Prohibition ofUnlawful Religious ConversionOrdinance, 2020 and theUttarakhand Freedom ofReligion Act, 2018 which reg-ulate religious conversions ofinterfaith marriages. PTI

New Delhi: The SupremeCourt on Wednesday allowedthe Centre to respond to the"allegations" of the Chairman ofcommittee on Chardham pro-ject linking broadening of theroad to the recent flash floodson Dhauliganga river, whichdamaged Tapovan hydro pro-ject and caused loss of lives inUttarakahnd.

Attorney General K KVenugopal told the apex courtthat he would like to file aresponse to a letter of thechairman of a top courtappointed high-powered com-mittee in which several "alle-gations" have been made withregard to broadening of theroad and the recent disaster inthe state.The High-Powered Committee(HPC) is monitoring the

Chardham highway project onthe widening of the roads up toIndo-China border inUttarakhand.

Venugopal said that thehigh powered committee chair-person Ravi Chopra has on hisown written a letter to the gov-ernment linking the disasterwith the Chardhamproject.Taking note of his sub-mission, a bench comprisingJustices R F Nariman, HemantGupta and B R Gavai, said "Youfile response to it" and listed thematter for hearing after twoweeks.

The strategic 900-kmChardham highway projectaims to provide all-weatherconnectivity to four holy towns-- Yamunotri, Gangotri,Kedarnath and Badrinath -- inUttarakhand. PTI

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In an effort to attract touriststo Maharashtra in a big way,

the Shiv Sena-led MVA Gov-ernment on Wednesdayapproved its own Caravan pol-icy to promote leisure traveland tourism in the State.

In line with the existingCaravan tourism policy of theGovernment of India, theUddhav Thackeray dispensa-tion unveiled its own Caravanpolicy – under which the state-

run Maharashtra TourismDevelopment Corporation(MTDC) will allow privateplayers to construct CaravanParks, accommodations fortourists and operate campervans in around the designatedtourist destinations.

At a weekly Cabinet meet-ing presided over by chief min-ister Uddhav Thackeray here,the state Cabinet cleared theCaravan Tourism Policy whichthe state government intends toimplement during the post-

Covid-19 period in an elabo-rate way.

State Tourism MinisterAditya Thackeray, who is push-ing the implementation of thepolicy, said: “Caravan Tourismwill add to the experiencesoffered by the State governmentto the tourists”.

The caravan and caravanpark professionals shall betrained in marketing, hygiene,and management of the newniche sector through theDirectorate of Tourism.

It may be recalled that theMTDC had released a draftCaravan Tourism Policy inSeptember last year and soughtsuggestions and objectionsfrom various stake-holders

Under the policy, the pri-vate players can set up Caravanparks by procuring theCaravans and creating otherinfrastructure for promotingtourism in the state. Theseparks will be allowed to be setup in the buffer zone of a for-est, near a dam or foothills of

a fort. The policy will facilitateprovision of caravans andcamper vans to provide all thefacilities to tourists in areaswhere permanent construc-tion is prohibited. At the cara-van parks, recreational vehicleswill be allowed to be parked.These vehicles will have all thefacilities including water refill,battery charging and disposalof sewage will be made avail-able.

The caravans with single,twin axles, tent trailers, folding

or camper trailers would havea kitchen, bed facilities, toilet,a living area and other ameni-ties to make the journeysmooth.

Given it is known for itspicturesque beaches, forts,mountain ranges, hill stations,forests, heritage sites, cavesand dams, Maharashtra hashuge potential to promoteCaravan tourism.

The MTDC plans to pro-mote caravan parks and cara-vans through Public-private

partnership (PPP). While theMTDC will provide land, thestate holders will create variousamenities.

To be promoted and mar-keted under MTDC’sMahabhraman scheme, thecaravan parks will remain oper-ational 24X7 during touristseasons. They will be connect-ed by fair-weather roads frommain carriageways.

According to the policy,each park will come upon aminimum of 2.5-acre space

and will have a maximum of 20parking bays. Further, suchcentres will have to adopt atourism-friendly policy whichalso benefits the local com-munity and is eco-friendly.

“The private players andoperators interested in partic-ipating in Caravan Tourism willhave to register themselvesonline with Directorate ofTourism and at www.maha-rashtratourism.gov.in respec-tively,” a senior MTDC officialsaid.

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After the initial success ofthe Uttar Pradesh Atal

Bhujal Yojana, the YogiAdityanath Government hasdecided to extend it across theState. The scheme, which aimsat ensuring public participationand improvement in ground-water conservation and man-agement, was introduced as apilot project in 10 districtsMahoba, Jhansi, Banda,Hamirpur, Chitrakoot, Lalitpur,Muzaffarnagar, Shamli,Baghpat and Meerut.

"After getting a favourableresponse, the government hasdecided to implement thescheme in other 65 districts aswell. Now, the scheme will beimplemented all over the state,"a senior official said.

A government order (GO)

in this regard has been issued.It says that barring the workunder convergence, the budgeton other works will be borne bythe departmental budget.

Out of the 826 blocks in thestate, the scheme was imple-mented in only 26 groundwa-ter-stressed blocks but fromApril 1, 2021, all 826 blockswould be covered by thisscheme, a government state-ment said.

The scheme has beendesigned with the principalobjective of strengthening theinstitutional framework forparticipatory groundwatermanagement and for bringingabout behavioural changes atthe community level for sus-tainable groundwater resourcemanagement. Public partici-pation through tangible sup-port as well as on awareness

level has been the major com-ponent of this scheme.

Chief Minister YogiAdityanath's sustained effortsto double the income of farm-ers will also be served by thisscheme as improvement ingroundwater profile will auto-matically fulfill the irrigationrequirements.

"With this focus, 10 dis-tricts, many of them from theBundelkhand region, weretaken up in the first go as thesewere the areas where watermanagement was required themost," the official said.

The scheme, which has tobe implemented till 2026, willtake up development of watersecurity plan in the first year,cover 75 over-exploited blocksin second year, critical blocksin the third and semi-criticalblocks in the fourth year.

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Bengal will to polls in acouple of months from now.According to EC sources, about18,801 booths have been iden-tified as highly sensitive where-as “about 50 per cent of totalnumbers of booths are critical.”

The State has more than 1lakh booths.

In 2016 and 2019 elec-tions Bengal had 78,903 pollingbooths. However, consideringpandemic situation the EC hasincreased the number of boothsto 101,790. Considering about30 per cent rise in the numberof booths the poll panel hasdecided to deploy a record 1

lakh Central security personnelin the State which is about25,000 more than what it wasin 2019 or 2016 elections.

According to sources theCommission has identified fivedistricts as highly sensitive andis taking measures according-ly. These districts areMurshidabad, Nadia, South 24Parganas, Hooghly and EastMidnapore. While inMurshidabad the ruling TMCis likely to get a stiff challengefrom the Left-Congress com-bine in the remaining fourplaces the TMC will have atough fight with the BJP.

From Page 1DDC chairman, Budgam

Nazir Ahmad Khan, who alsointeracted with the foreign diplo-mats said, “It’s been a monthsince we assumed our posts andwe received the opportunity tointeract with foreign delegation.We interacted about our devel-opment schemes, work doneand work which remains to bedone.”

Later, the diplomats attend-ed a separatel u n c h e o nmeeting withthe elected dis-trict develop-ment council

members, elected members ofthe urban local bodies and rep-resentatives of political parties.

The Mayor of SrinagarMunicipal Corporation JunaiAzim Mattu, who also attendedthe meeting, told reporters thatthe visiting dignitaries wereapprised of the landmark elec-tions of DDC and urban localbodies. “They wanted to knowthe ground realities. Elected rep-resentatives from all politicalopinions and parties participat-ed,” he said.

The key issue discussed wasdecentralisation of power andplanning and empowerment ofthe grassroots representatives. “Ibelieve the most important thinghappening now is the empow-

erment of local elected repre-sentatives at grassroots level,” hesaid.

The members of the dele-gation also visited the reveredshrine of Hazratbal located onthe banks of world famous DalLake.

The group of foreign envoyswas received by the Imams of theHazratbal shrine in Srinagarand was briefed on its signifi-cance as the holy relic of ProphetMuhammad is preserved in themosque. The delegation is sched-uled to visit Jammu on Thursday.During their day-long visit theyare expected to meet Lt-GovManoj Sinha, members of thecivil society and others beforereturning to the Capital.

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Accepting Ramani’s contentionthat Akbar is not a man of stellarreputation on the basis of testimo-ny of witnesses, the court said itcannot be ignored that the offenceof sexual- harassment and sexualabuse mostly takes place behindclosed doors.

Sometimes victims themselvesdo not understand what is hap-pening to them or that what is hap-pening to them is wrong, itobserved.

Despite how well respectedsome persons are in society, “theyin their personal lives could showextreme cruelty” to females, itadded.

The court also made note of“systematic abuse at workplace” dueto the lack of mechanisms toredress grievances of sexual-harassment at the time of the inci-dent, before the Vishaka guidelineswere issued and the enactment ofThe Sexual Harassment of Womenat Workplace (Prevention,

Prohibition and Redressal) Act,2013.

“The ‘glass ceiling’ will not pre-vent the Indian women... For theiradvancement in the society, ifequal opportunity and social pro-tection be given to them,” it said.

The court referred to “socialstigma” and “shame” attached withthe sexual harassment of womenand the trauma they have to face.Sometimes, victims of sexual abusedon’t speak a word for many years,the judge said, adding, “The victimmay keep believing that she is atfault and victim may live with thatshame for years or for decades.”

The sexual abuse takes “awayher dignity and her self confidence”,the court said.

Reacting to the verdict,Ramani’s lawyer Rebecca John saidit was perhaps the most importantcase of her career. “It was anextremely difficult trial. When youfight powerful people and youhave only truth on your side, thejourney becomes very very relevantto you personally,” she toldreporters.

As the case drew to a close aftertwo years, scores of womenactivists, lawyers, showbiz celebri-ties and civil society members wel-comed the decision which they wasan empowering one that would givecourage to more women to speakup against abuse and exploitation.

“Bravo #PriyaRamani. Yourabuser @mjakbar hit you with aSLAP suit but you stand vindicat-ed. Verdict empowers women, say-ing we should understand thatsometimes a victim may for yearsnot speak up due to mental trau-ma, cannot be punished for raisingher voice against sexual abuse,” saidKavita Krishnan, secretary of theAll India Progressive Women’sAssociation.

Senior advocate Indira Jaisingcalled the verdict a big win forwomen.

“Congratulations to PriyaRamani and her able legal team ledby Rebecca John, a big win forwomen in general and for her inparticular. Thank you Priya forspeaking up when you did. This isa big victory for the #MeToo move-

ment,” she tweeted. “Thappad” star Taapsee Pannu

said the verdict had instilled herfaith in justice at a time when theworld looked bleak.

“Amidst all the wrongs andunfair happening around, this didbring a ray of hope that somewheresomething is keeping our hope inrighteousness alive. Long live truthand justice,” she wrote on Twitter.

Filmmaker Onir called theDelhi court’s verdict a “milestonejudgement”. “This is spectacular. Amilestone judgement when itcomes to sexual harassment.Important that the court points outthat it’s not time-bound. Amazing#PriyaRamani #Rebeccajon” hetweeted.

Screenwriter-editor ApurvaAsrani said Ramani’s acquittal is a“relief ” for those women whofound the courage to call out theirabusers but said it’s only half thebattle won.

“MJ Akbar must be heldaccountable for the harassmentthat she has endured. #MeToo,” hewrote.

“It is clear that instead ofresolving the ongoing struggleand emands, the BJP is tryingits best to counter and destroyit. SKM condemns this attitudeof the ruling party,” the SKMsaid. It demanded that the gov-ernment resolve farmers’ issuesimmediately.

“SKM avows that it willintensify the struggle andmobilise more farmers in itssupport,” the outfit asserted.

Union AgricultureMinister Narendra SinghTomar and his cabinet col-league Sanjeev Balyan werealso among those who attend-ed the meeting called by Shahand Nadda on Tuesday.Farmers, mostly from Punjab,Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, areprotesting at Delhi’s bordersagainst the legislations sinceNovember 28 last year anddemanding these be repealed.

Their agitation is againstthe Farmers (Empowermentand Protection) Agreement of

Price Assurance and FarmServices Act, 2020, the FarmersProduce Trade and Commerce(Promotion and Facilitation)Act, 2020, and the EssentialCommodities (Amendment)Act, 2020.

In a mahapanchayat heldin Bilari in Uttar Pradesh onWednesday, the “impressive”turnout of farmers in the pub-lic meeting indicated that theongoing farmers’ movementis gathering more strength, theSKM statement said.

The outfit also alleged anattack by an outfit on a “peace-ful” protest that was beingorganised by All India KrishakKhet Majdoor Sangathan inMuzaffarpur.

The banners, placards andsound system of the protestorswere destroyed by the attackers,SKM said and alleged “inac-tion” of the local police.

The farmers protests atDelhi borders continue as 11rounds of talks between theirleaders and the central gov-ernment failed to break thedeadlock.

The government has sus-pended international sched-uled flights till February 28.

"Attention Passengers! Toreduce the risk of importationof mutant strains of SARS-CoV-2, SOP for InternationalPassengers arriving in Indiahave been updated in supers-ession of all guidelines on thesubject since 2 Aug20. The newSOP will be in effect on 23:59hrs on 22nd Feb,21," theMinistry posted on its officialTwitter handle.

The updated SOP consistsof parts A and B; the former isfor all international travellersarriving in India except thosearriving in flights originating inthe United Kingdom, Europeand Middle East. Part B, mean-while, is for all internationaltravellers coming/transitingthrough flights originatingfrom these places.

Part A of the SOP is divid-

ed into four sections-planningfor travel, before boarding,during travel and on arrival.When planning for travel toIndia, passengers are requiredto submit a self-declarationform and provide a negativeCovid-19 RT-PCR test report.They are also required to sub-mit an undertaking that theywould follow the decision of anappropriate authority to under-go home quarantine for 14days. For those arriving in thecountry in the event of a deathin their family, no negative RT-PCR report is required.

“All travellers should (i)submit a self-declaration formon the online Air Suvidha por-tal (www.newdelhiairport.in)before the scheduled travel (ii)upload a negative COVID-19RT-PCR report. This testshould have been conductedwithin 72 hrs prior to under-taking the journey. Each pas-senger shall also submit a dec-laration with respect to theauthenticity of the report and

will be liable for criminal pros-ecution if found otherwise,” itsaid.

They should also give anundertaking on the portal orotherwise to the Ministry ofCivil Aviation, Govt. of India,through concerned airlinesbefore they are allowed toundertake the journey thatthey would abide by the deci-sion of the appropriate gov-ernment authority to undergohome quarantine/ self-moni-toring of their health for 14days, or as warranted.

“Arrival in India without anegative report shall be allowedonly for those traveling toIndia in the exigency of deathin the family. If they wish toseek such exemption underpara (iii) above, they shallapply to the online portal(www.newdelhiairport.in) atleast 72 hours before boarding.The decision taken by the gov-ernment as communicated onthe online portal will be final,”it said.

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Marine Patterson, who is amember of the UK chap-

ter of Extinction Rebellion(XR), role will be investigatedby Delhi Police after the ongo-ing probe revealed that sheallegedly along with Nikitaand Shantanu drafted contentfor a tweet storm on February4 and 5. Police said along withNikita and Shantanu draftedcontent between February 1and 2 for next tweet stormplanned for February 4 and 5.

The senior police officialssaid while examining theWhatsApp chats, another nameThilaka, also a member of XR,emerged and during investiga-tion, police found that Thilakaalso helped them in draftingthe document and was in con-tact with Nikita and Disha,which is being investigated bythe police teams.

According to a seniorpolice official, MarinaPatterson made a package andadded to the documentthrough hyperlink.

“The toolkit was accident-ly published when she wassimultaneously editing it. shewrote that police are attackingprotesters… many injured,many disappearing and manyindividuals are already report-ed dead. This was created tomislead in future. They wroteit before the actual thing hap-pened,” he said.

Meanwhile, police givingdetails about the sequence saidthat there was a connectionestablished between Nikita,Shantanu and Disha during2019-2020 and Puneet, aCanada based woman andmember of Poetic JusticeFoundation (PJF), connectedwith Nikita and Shantanu onInstagram in the first week ofDecember.

On December 6, Disha,Nikita, Shantanu and Dishastarted a WhatsApp group andShantanu created an email [email protected] onDecember 11. PJF started itswork on January 26 protest onJanuary 3. On January 9, PJFannounced Global day ofAction on January 26, police

said.Zoom meeting was held on

January 11 between all collab-orators, including PJF founderMo Dhaliwal, its co-founderAnita Lal along with Nikita,Shantanu and others, policesaid.

PJF and other organisa-tions added several hyperlinksto the toolkit document. Oneof these is genocidewatch.com,they said.

Nikita, Shantanu and Dishaand others collaborated withothers to finalise the toolkitcontent between January 11-12.On Janury 18,AskIndiaWhy.com site waslaunched by PJF, police said.

On January 20, the drafttoolkit Google doc was sharedbetween Nikita, Shantanu andDisha for final vetting.Shantanu was here in thenational capital from January21 to 27 at protest site, policesaid.

Police, however, claimedthat dispite the violent activi-ty by farmers on Republic Day,the desired impact could not becreated due to police restrain.

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The vehicles parking prob-lem will soon be resolved in

the city's oldest Sadar Bazararea. For this, a six floor mul-tilevel parking space is beingbuilt close to Sadar Bazar nearSohna Chowk on the OldRailway Road. The construc-tion work of this project isgoing on in full swing.

Local MLA Sudhir Singla,who took sort of the undergo-ing project on Wednesday said,this multilevel parking lot nearSohna Chowk will have thefacility to park around 404small and large vehicles.

"There is a lot of parkingproblem in the old city.Especially in areas like SadarBazar where a footfall of peo-ple is very high. In view of this,the government had givenapproval to build multilevelparking near Sadar Bazar,"Singla said.

He informed that the base-ment work is almost completeof the project. Constructionwork that was disrupted due toCorona epidemic is now beingdone at a rapid pace.

"The construction compa-ny has given time to completethe project in 24 months. 404vehicles can be parked in thisparking lot costing 39.93 crores,

which includes 238 four wheel-ers (cars) and 166 two wheel-ers," the MLA asserted.

Singla said that this park-ing will be of six floors. Out ofwhich there will be 3 base-ments. The remaining threefloors will have shops on theground and first floor, the sec-ond, third, fourth and fifthfloors will be used as parking,while the sixth floor will havea grand banquet hall which willbe used for multipurpose alongwith parking".

Meanwhile, the MunicipalCorporation of Gurugram(MCG) officials said that thestate government has framed aparking policy to stop unau-thorised parking on roads.

Located within a radius ofa kilometre of each other, SadarBazar and Sohna Chowk areamong the city’s most con-gested commercial and resi-dential spaces. Despite housingmore than 1,100 shops andinviting a daily footfall of morethan 10,000 people, SadarBazar has no designated park-ing space. “These parking lotswill surely help to decongestparking issues at these locationsin the city. It will also help tocurb unauthorised parking onthe city roads. Multilevel park-ing space will also provide abetter facility to the visitor," saida MCG Official.

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North Delhi Mayor JaiPrakash on Wednesday

visited the family of RinkuSharma at Mangolpuri whowas killed last week andannounced that the road inter-section near his house will benamed after him.

He also appealed to theDelhi Government to releaseRs 1 cr in compensation andoffer a job to his next of kin. Aday earlier, Delhi BJP leaderKapil Mishra had met Sharma'sfamily to provide financialassistance of Rs 1 crore, andalleged that the youth was tar-geted and killed for takingpart in collection of donationfor Ram temple construction inAyodhya.

"I met Rinku Sharma'sfamily to express my condo-lences to them. As a mayor, Imade the announcement therethat the 'chowk' near his house

will be named after him,"Prakash said.

Also, efforts will be madeto see, if a job can be offered tohis next of kin, he said, adding,"we have asked for the bioda-ta from his family". "I alsoappeal to the Delhi Govern-ment to release Rs 1 crore ascompensation to his family," hesaid. The mayor condemnedSharma's murder and demand-ed that strictest action be takenagainst the culprits.

"The North DelhiMunicipal Corporation willname Mangolpuri chowk in thename of the deceased, RinkuSharma, for which a proposal

will be brought by the areacouncillor Raj Prakash," hewas later quoted as saying in astatement issued by his office.

Police has denied anycommunal angle in the murderof the youth in Mangolpuri lastweek, though BJP, VHP andBajrang Dal leaders have beencharging it was the fallout of hisparticipation in a donationdrive for the Ram temple.

Police has arrested fivepeople in connection with 25-year-old Sharma's killing.

The case has been transferred from local police tothe Crime Branch of DelhiPolice.

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The admission process forenrolling nursery students

in private and Governmentaided schools across the nation-al capital will begin fromThursday and the applicationwindow will close on March 4.The Directorate of Education(DoE) last week notified theadmission schedule, bringingrespite for anxious parents whohave been waiting for the noti-fication for over two months.

As per the notification,DoE, the first list of selectedchildren will be displayed onMarch 20, followed by secondlist on March 25 and subse-quent list for admission, if any,on March 27.

The entire admissionprocess will conclude on March31. Usually, nursery admis-sions in around 1,700 schoolsin the national capital begin inthe last week of November. TheDoE releases guidelines andschools are asked to furnishrequired information, following

which the application processis rolled out in December.However, there has been nodevelopment on it in 2020.

It may recalled that Delhigovernment officials inDecember said that a propos-al to scrap nursery admissionis being considered as theschools have been closed fornine month due to Covid -19and will remain closed till avaccine is available.

. A whole year of onlinelearning for small childrenseems unviable, they had said.

But school principals hadopposed this idea.

"Since schools are closed inview of the COVID-19 pan-demic and physical class roomlearning is not going on forentry level classes at present,schools have been directedthat no fee except prescribedregistration fee, admission fee,caution fee (if school alreadycharges) and tuition fee, shallbe charged at the time ofadmission by the schools andthereafter only tuition fee shallbe charged from the students

till further orders."No deviation from the

notified schedule shall be per-mitted. Each school shall dis-play the admission schedule onits notice board and website.Further each school shallensure that application formsfor admission are made avail-able to all applicants till the lastdate of submission of admis-sion's application form," asenior DoE official said.

Schools can only charge anon-refundable amount of Rs25 from the parents as admis-sion registration fee and thepurchase of prospectus of theschool by the parents has beenkept optional.

Schools were asked tonotify their number of seatsand admission criteria byFebruary 15. DoE has direct-ed that the number of seats atthe entry levels shall not be lessthan the highest number ofseats in the entry level classesduring the last three years2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21.

"Schools shall develop and

adopt criteria for admissionwhich shall be fair, reasonable,well defined, equitable, non-discriminatory, unambiguousand transparent.

"No school shall adopt thecriterion abolished by thedepartment including charginga capitation fees or donations.Pre-schools ormontessorischools run by registered soci-eties or trusts as branches ofrecognised unaided schoolswill have to follow singleadmission process for theirpre-school and main schoolconsidering them as one insti-tution," the official said.

A monitoring cell is beingconstituted in each districtunder the chairmanship of theDeputy Director (District) con-cerned, who shall ensure thateach private school uploads thecriteria and their points on theonline module and furtherensure that the school shall notadopt those criteria which wereabolished by the departmentand upheld by the Delhi HighCourt.

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In an initiative towards eco-nomic offences, the

Economic Offenses Wing ofDelhi Police has designed aEconomic Offences Awareness

Rath - 'Prabodhini' in collabo-ration with State Bank of Indiafor public awareness.

According to Anil Mittal,the Additional Public RelationOfficer (APRO) of Delhi Police,this vehicle is equipped with all

necessary and modern Audio-Visual Aids.

“With the help of thisawareness rath, sincere effortswill be made at the malls,parks, colleges, schools andother public places to make

public aware and alert aboutthe economic offences by pro-viding them the latest infor-mation,” said Mittal.

“Prabodhini will play vitalrole in establishing active com-munication with the public atvarious places for impartingknowledge through short films,course material and mass inter-actions. The various econom-ic offences will be explained indetail with regard to the pre-ventive measures to be taken against them,” said AnilMittal.

“The questions and doubtsof the people pertaining tothese offences will also beaddressed appropriately. Therepresentatives of Reserve Bankof India, SEBI and otherFinancial Institutions will alsobe included in this Awareness Campaign. This isa special initiative of DelhiPolice for value based SocialConsciousness and MeaningfulEngagement with more andmore people,” Anil Mittaladded.

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Agroup of Indian YouthCongress (IYC) activists

staged a demonstration atConnaught Place here onWednesday against risingprices of petrol, diesel andcooking gas, and demandedthat the government roll backthe hike.

The protesters gathered atOuter Circle of ConnaughtPlace, rode bicycles and worecricket kits to highlight howpetrol and diesel prices are ris-ing and about to hit the centu-ry mark -- Rs 100 per litre.

By increasing the prices ofpetrol, diesel and LPG cylin-ders again, the Modi govern-ment has made it clear that itwas not concerned about theproblems of the common peo-ple, said Indian Youth Congress(IYC) president Srinivas BV.

"...common people arebadly hit by inflation. Petroland diesel prices are increasingcontinuously despite the lowprices of crude oil in the inter-national market," he said.

Petrol and diesel prices onMonday were hiked for the sev-enth day in a row as a rally ininternational oil prices tookretail rates in India to newhighs. Petrol price wasincreased by 26 paise per litreand diesel by 29 paise, accord-

ing to a price notification ofstate-owned fuel retailers. Thehike took petrol price in Delhito a record Rs 88.99 per litreand diesel to Rs 79.35 a litre.

The cooking gas cylinderprices have increased by Rs 75within the last 14 days. It is a"pity" for the Modi governmentthat a new record is being setin the prices of petrol anddiesel, Srinivas said.

National media in-chargeof Indian Youth Congress(IYC) Rahul Rao said, "Wedemand that the increasedprices should be withdrawnwith immediate effect and theincrease in excise duty shouldbe rolled back to provide reliefto the masses suffering frominflation and recession."

The protesters also includedIYC national secretaryKhushboo Sharma, secretaryMukesh Kumar, Delhi YouthCongress vice president RanvijaySingh Lochav and ShubhamSharma among others.

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The Delhi Police has arrest-ed a man who brandished

swords in his both hands, withthe intent of "motivating" and"energising" protesters at RedFort during the violence onRepublic Day.

The accused has been iden-tified as Maninder Singh, whoruns a sword training schoolnear his home in SwaroopNagar in northwest Delhi andworks as a car AC mechanic.

According to PramodSingh Kushwaha, the DeputyCommissioner of Police(DCP), Special Cell, Singh wasarrested around 7.45 PM onTuesday near the C D block busstop in nearby Pitampura.

“Singh was seen in a videoswinging two swords at RedFort with the intent of moti-vating or radicalising and ener-gising violent anti-national ele-ments indulging in brutalassault and attacking police

persons on duty with swords,'khandas', iron rods, axes,'barsaas', sticks etc and dam-aging the historical Red Fort onRepublic Day,” said the DCP.

“Singh was "radicalised"by seeing provoking Facebookposts of various groups. Hewould frequently visit theSinghu border and was "high-ly motivated" by speeches madeby leaders there. He also "moti-vated" six people from theneighbourhood who hadaccompanied the tractorparade that headed fromSinghu border towards theMukarba Chowk,” said theDCP.

“Two swords -- 4.3-foot-long 'khandas' -- used by Singhhave been recovered from hishouse. According to the plan,Singh, five of his associates andother unknown armed menentered the Red Fort where hedid a sword dance,” said theDCP.

“That sword dance moti-

vated violent protesters to causemore mayhem at Red Fort byindulging in all sorts of violenceagainst public servants, includ-ing policemen on duty there,and causing damage to the RedFort,” said the DCP.

“The video of him swing-ing swords at the Red Fort wasfound in his mobile phone.Other photos of his presence atSinghu border are also thereand an investigation was on,”said the DCP.

Over 120 people have beenarrested so far in connectionwith the violence across Delhion January 26, officials said.

Clashes broke out betweenprotesters and police during thetractor parade called by farmerunions to highlight theirdemand for a rollback of theCentre's three farm laws. Manyprotesters reached the Red Forton tractors and entered themonument, some hoisting reli-gious flags on the flagstaff andits domes.

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The Delhi Police has arresteda man for allegedly attack-

ing a Station House Officer(SHO) and fleeing with his carat the Singhu border, wherefarmers are protesting againstthree new agriculture laws of theCentre. According to a seniorpolice official, the incident thatresulted in minor injuries to theofficer took place around 8 pmon Tuesday.

“The accused, who was inan inebriated state, snatchedthe car keys of one of the offi-cers at the protest site and fledthe spot. Being chased by the

police, the accused abandonedthe vehicle, snatched a two-wheeler from another manand fled,” said the senior policeofficial.

“The security personnelfinally overpowered him nearthe Mukarba Chowk around8.30 pm and the station houseofficer (SHO) sustained injuriescaused by a sword on his fin-ger and neck while trying tonab him,” he said.

“The SHO was taken to ahospital, from where he wasdischarged after treatment. Theaccused has been arrested andfurther investigation is under-way,” he added.

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Saraswati Puja was celebrat-ed with much fanfare at

Greater Noida by the residentsof La Residentia society. People,especially students worshipSaraswati, the goddess of wis-dom and knowledge on thisoccasion.

The puja was organizedfollowing social distancingnorms in which people partic-ipated extensively in paintingcompetitions and cultural pro-grams. Rupam Varma, one ofthe organisers informed thatBasant Panchami marks thebeginning of the spring andconclusion of the winter and allthe residents including childrenparticipated in puja with greatzeal. The idol was immersed inHindon River, she said.

Worshippers offered'Pushpanjali' (floral offering) tothe Goddess of Learning amidchanting of hymns.

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The Union Cabinet onWednesday approved

amendments to the JuvenileJustice (Care and Protection ofChildren) Act 2015, increasingthe role of District Magistratesand Additional DistrictMagistrates.

Addressing the media onthe Cabinet decision, Womenand Child DevelopmentMinister Smriti Irani said inevery district, the DM andADM will get the power tomonitor functions of agenciesresponsible for the implemen-tation of the Act. The districtchild protection unit will alsofunction under the DistrictMagistrate, she said.

Irani said till now therewas no specific direction tocarry out a background checkof people who are to becomemembers of the child welfarecommittees (CWC).According to the amendmentscleared by the Cabinet, beforebecoming a member of theCWC, background and educa-tional qualification checks willbe included, she noted.Minister said earlier any organ-isation which wanted to run achild care institution wouldneed to give its purpose to the

state government. In the proposed amend-

ments, before registration of achild care centre, the DM willconduct its capacity and back-ground check and then submitthe recommendations to thestate government, she said.The DM can independentlyevaluate a specialised CWC,juvenile police unit and regis-

tered institutions. The scope of the Juvenile

Justice Act has been expanded.Child victims of traffickingand drug abuse and thoseabandoned by their guardianswill be included in the defini-tion of "child in need of care"and protection, she said. Atpresent, the Act has three cat-egories of petty, serious andheinous crimes

"One more category willbe included that offences wherethe sentence is more than sevenyears but no minimum sen-tence is prescribed or a mini-mum sentence of less thanseven years is provided shall betreated as serious offencesunder the Act," she said.

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In an effort to speed up mod-ernisation and acquisition

process, the Union Cabinet onWednesday approvedenhanced delegation ofFinancial Powers under CapitalProcurement to levels belowVice-Chief of Armed Forces.

As per the approval, underOther Capital ProcurementProcedure (OCPP) of DefenceAcquisition Procedure-2020,financial powers up to Rs 100crore has been delegated toGeneral Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C), FlagOfficer Commanding-in-Chief(FOC-in-C), Air OfficerCommanding-in-Chief (AOC-in-C) at Services Commandand Regional Commanders,Indian Coast Guard (ICG).

Powers up to Rs 200 crorehas been delegated to DeputyChief of Army Staff (CD & S)/MGS (Master GeneralSustenance), COM (Chief ofMaterial), AOM (Air OfficerMaintenance), DCIDS (DeputyChief Integrated Defence Staff)and ADG ICG (AdditionalDirector General Indian CoastGuard).

This delegation of powerswithin Service Headquartersand up to Command Level foritems of Capital nature such as

overhauls, refits and upgradeswill enhance the utility ofexisting assets and will facili-tate faster processing andimplementation of projects formodernization of ArmedForces to meet the securitychallenges.

The Cabinet has alsoapproved enhanced financialpowers in the Make-I catego-ry under which Governmentfunding up to 70% of the pro-totype development cost isavailable for Design &Development of equipment,systems, major platforms orupgrades thereof.

Chief of IntegratedDefence Staff to the ChairmanChiefs of Staff Committee(CISC), Vice Chief of ArmyStaff (VCOAS), Vice Chief ofNaval Staff (VCNS), DeputyChief of Air Staff (DCAS),and Director General CoastGuard (DG(CG)) have nowbeen given powers to sanctionGovernment support up to Rs50 crore towards cost of pro-totype development.

Financial powers have alsobeen enhanced for other com-petent financial authoritiesunder ‘Make-I’ in line with thegovernment’s vision of‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ and‘Make in India’ for a robustdefence industrial ecosystem.

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Situation on the Line ofActual Control(LAC) in

Ladakh and continuing bel-ligerence by Pakistan at theLine of Control (LoC) inJammu and Kashmir are like-ly to figure prominently duringPrime Minister NarendraModi’s interaction at theCombined Commanders’ con-ference in March.

Operational readiness todeal with emerging challengesin the Indian sub-continent willalso come up during the con-ference to be held in Kevadia,Gujarat. The Prime Minister isexpected to give the directionto the military top brass onstrategic and international rela-tions, sources said here onWednesday.

The CombinedCommanders’ Conference isheld annually and the PrimeMinister addresses the topcommanders. They includeofficers from the Navy, IndianAir Force and the Army. Chiefof Defence Staff(CDS)and threeServices Chiefs are some of theprominent officers to take partin the deliberations.

Modi will be briefed aboutthe various modernizationprocesses on in the Services tofight the modern day war withthe advent of information tech-

nology and space.The commanders will also

update the Prime Ministerabout the pace of reforms in thearmed forces to make themlean and mean, better utiliza-tion of resources and fightingthe future conflicts jointly. Inthat direction, Modi will takestock of the process of forma-tion of theatre commandsbesides air defence command,officials said.

He will also briefed aboutthe Special Forces Agency,Cyber Security Agency andSpace Agency. These newlycreated organizations havepooled in the resources of thearmed forces for better andfaster utilization of resourcesand manpower.

Besides these issues, thePrime Minister will take stockof current situation at the LACwhere the first stage of pullback of the armies of India andChina is currently on. The

LAC in Ladakh saw a ten-month long stand-off includinga bloody brawl in the Galwanvalley. Twenty Indian armypersonnel including the com-manding officer were killed inthe incident on June 15.

Since then both the sidesramped up their force strengthand at present more than onelakh troops of the two armiesare facing each other.Moreover, the entire 4,000 kmlong LAC is now sensitive andthe Indian security establish-ment has made sure Chinadoes not spring any surprise.The LAC stretches fromLadakh in the west toArunachal Pradesh in the east.

Pakistan continues to vio-late ceasefire in Jammu andKashmir apart from fomentingterrorism there. The overallsecurity scenario may also bediscussed during Modi’s inter-action with the commanders,sources said.

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The CBI on Wednesday filed achargesheet before the designated

court at Lucknow against the thenExecutive Engineer, Lucknow Division,Sharda Canal (LDSC), Lucknow andothers in connection with a case relat-ing to alleged corruption in the GomtiRiver Front Project.

Besides the then ExecutiveEngineer, LDSC, Lucknow, Roop SinghYadav (also the then In-chargeSuperintending Engineer, XII Circle,Irrigation Works, Lucknow), othersnamed in the chargesheet are the thenJunior Assistant, Irrigation Works,Lucknow, Raj Kumar Yadav, Directorsof KK Spun Pipe Pvt. Ltd., HimanshuGupta and Kavish Gupta, SeniorAdvisor, Brand Eagles Longjian JV,Badri Shrestha and the firm KK SpunPipe Pvt. Ltd.

The case relates to an allegedirregular award of work of InterceptingTrunk Drain in the case related to

Gomti River Front Project.The CBI had registered a case on

November 30, 2017 on the request ofUttar Pradesh Government and furthernotification from the Centre and tookover the investigation of the case, ear-lier registered vide FIR No. 831/2017at Police Station, Gomti Nagar,Lucknow.

It was alleged that irregularitieswere committed in implementation of“Gomti River Channelization Project”’and “Gomti River Front Development”

by the Irrigation Department,Government of UP.

It was further alleged that theaccused awarded the work forIntercepting Trunk Drain to an ineli-gible private firm and the date of ten-der was twice extended to accommo-date the said firm.

It was also alleged that forged doc-uments of another bidder/private partywere also arranged by the accused tocomplete the quorum of three partic-ipants in the tender. The agreement forthe work was allegedly executed by theaccused without obtaining the approvaland allotment of funds. The bank guar-antee of the L-2 firm was allegedly pre-pared from the bank account of the L-1 company, the CBI said.

During investigation, both the pub-lic servants were arrested on November19, 2020 and are presently in judicialcustody.

Further investigation is continuingto look into the role of otheraccused/suspect persons, it added.

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After granting conditionalpermission to Board of

Control for Cricket in India(BCCI) to use drones for liveaerial cinematography of crick-et matches till December 31, theCentre has allowed Kochi MetroRail Ltd to use drones for theIntegrated Urban Regeneration& Water Transport System(IURWTS) project, subject tocertain conditions. The condi-tional approval is valid tillDecember 31 this year or untilfull operationalisation of DigitalSky Platform (Phase-1),

whichever is earlier."The Ministry of Civil

Aviation (MoCA) and DirectorateGeneral of Civil Aviation(DGCA) have granted a condi-tional exemption for Remotely

Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS)usage to Kochi Metro RailLimited, Kerala for IURWTS," theministry said in a statement.

Kochi Metro Rail Ltd(KMRL) should obtain necessaryclearances from the local admin-istration, defence ministry, homeministry, Air Force and AirportAuthority of India (AAI) asapplicable prior to operating aRPAS.

Senselmage Technologies,engaged by KMRL throughTechno Vision Survey &Mappings Ltd, would only oper-ate the RPAS, as per the state-ment.

Photographs and videographs taken through RPASshould be used by only KMRL,which would also be responsi-ble for safety and security ofRPAS and data col lectedthrough it.

"The operation of RPASshall be restricted to day opera-tions (from sunrise to Sunset),within Visual Line of Sight(VLOS) in uncontrolled airspaceonly...," it said.

Among other conditions, theoperator has to intimate theschedule of operation to DGCAwell in advance for conductingsafety oversight.

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The Ministry of Housingand Urban Affairs

(MoHUA) has launched anenrolment module forTECHNOGRAHIS – studentsfrom IITs, NITs, engineering,planning and architecture col-leges, faculty members, acade-micians. This module willenable them to visit six LightHousing Projects (LHPs) acrossthe country.

The foundation stone of sixLHPs was laid by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi onJanuary 1, 2021, at Indore,Rajkot, Chennai, Ranchi,Agartala and Lucknow. LHPsare being built as part of theGlobal Housing TechnologyChallenge-India (GHTC-India) initiative under thePradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-U).

Launching the module,

MoHUA secretary DurgaShankar Mishra said that can-didates can register themselvesto visit live laboratories at sixLight House Project (LHP)sites for learning, consultation,generation of ideas and solu-tions, experimentation, inno-vation, and technical awareness.The ministry is promoting sixLHPs as live laboratories.

“This will help them ingetting a first-hand account ofthe technologies being usedand in turn, they can adapt andadopt them as per their require-ments in the construction sec-tor for a ‘Make in India’approach”, Misra added.

The LHPs comprise about1000 houses at each locationalong with allied infrastruc-ture facilities. These LHPswill demonstrate the merits ofthe world-class innovativeconstruction technologies.These projects will demon-

strate and deliver ready to livehouses at an expedited pacewithin twelve months, as com-pared to conventional brickand mortar construction, andwill be more economical, sus-tainable, of high quality anddurability. LHPs showcase thebest of new-age alternate glob-al technology. This technolo-gy revolution is cost-effective,environment-friendly andpromotes speedier construc-tion. The initiative will proveto be a major push towardstechnical transformation inIndia.

Mishra also launched thefirst volume of LHP e-newslet-ter which captures the progressof the projects at each location.Twelve such e-newsletters will bereleased every month to informthe students, faculty, stakehold-ers and public about the devel-opment works. through write-ups and photographs.

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Bestowed with a long coastlineof over 7500 km, India will

finally soon have its own BlueEconomy policy outlining thevision and strategy that theGovernment plans to adopt toutilise the plethora of oceanicresources available across thecoastal States in the country.

The Union Ministry of EarthSciences has rolled out the draftof the proposed policy invitingsuggestions on the plans aimingto achieve holistic growth of thecoastal region through "manu-facturing, emerging industries,trade, technology, services, andskill development"..

"The policy document hasbeen disseminated for pubic con-sultation. Stakeholders have beeninvited to submit inputs andideas by February 27, 2021," anofficial statement said here onWednesday.

The draft has been preparedin line with the Government’sVision of New India by 2030. Ithighlighted blue economy as oneof the ten core dimensions for

national growth, said the state-ment.

Among the seven thematicareas, which the Ministry hasrecognised to emphasize in orderto achieve holistic growth, is"Manufacturing, emerging indus-tries, trade, technology, services,and skill development".

To catalyze the developmentof the Blue Economy, the draftreport says, it aims to set upresearch and development hubsin the nine coastal states and pro-mote use of Artificial Intelligence(AI) and other new technologiesin marine sectors such as deep-sea mining, marine logistics andshipping

India's blue economy is

understood as a subset of thenational economy comprising anentire ocean resources system andhuman-made economic infra-structure in marine, maritime,and onshore coastal zones with-in the country's legal jurisdiction.

The coastal economy sustainsover 40 lakh sherfolk and coastalcommunities. With these vastmaritime interests, the blue econ-omy occupies a vital potentialposition in India's economicgrowth, said the statement.

With a coastline of nearly7,500 kilometres, India has aunique maritime position. Nine ofits 29 states are coastal and thenation's geography includes 1,382islands. There are nearly 199

ports, including 12 major onesthat handle approximately 1,400million tonnes of cargo each year.

The coastal economy sustainsover 40 lakh fisherfolk and coastalcommunities. With these vastmaritime interests, the blue econ-omy occupies a vital potentialposition in India's economicgrowth.

“The draft Policy aims to sig-nificantly enhance the contribu-tion of the Blue Economy toIndia’s GDP in the next fiveyears, improve lives of coastalcommunities, preserve ourmarine biodiversity and maintainthe security of our marine areasand resources.

“Today, the Blue Economyholds the promise of being thenext multiplier of economicgrowth and well-being, providedthat the strategy places sustain-ability and socio-economic wel-fare at the centre stage. Therefore,the proposed roadmap for evolv-ing a Blue Economy Policy wouldbe a crucial step towards unlock-ing the potential of economicgrowth and welfare,” said thereport.

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The NIA on Wednesday said it hasfiled a chargesheet against 11 alleged

terrorists in JMB (Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh) Dacoity Cases,Bengaluru before the NIA Special Courtin Bengaluru.

The NIA had registered four casesfrom RC-15 to 18/2020 here. Thosenamed in the chargesheet are JahidulIslam, 40 (Jamalpur, Bangladesh), NajirSheikh alias Patla Anas, 25, Asif Ikbal,23, Adil Sheikh, 27, Abdul Karim, 21,and Mosaraf Hossain, 22, all fromMurshidabad District, West Bengal.These besides, Arif Hussain alias MotaAnas, 24 of Barpeta, Assam, Kador Kazi.33, Habibur Rahaman Sk, 28, andMustafizur Rahman, 39 of Birbhum andMd Dilwar Hossain, 28 of Malda havealso been named in the chargesheetunder various Sections of the IndianPenal Coe and provisions of theUnlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

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Jaunpur (Uttar Pradesh): With thePanchayat elections barely a few weeks away,a 50-year-old outgoing village head inJaunpur district was shot dead by uniden-tified persons.

The incident led to demonstrations andangry mobs pelted stones and damagedvehicles in protest.

According to reports, the incident tookplace on Tuesday evening when Raj KumarYadav, the head of the Makhmelpur villagein Sarai Khwaja, was shot by some motor-cycle-borne youths when he was going toJaunpur city.

Additional Superintendent of PoliceSanjay Kumar said the deceased received fivebullet injuries and was rushed to a hospi-tal, where doctors declared him broughtdead.

Following the incident, locals blockedthe Jaunpur-Shahganj road at Kokrideeha.

The body has been sent for post mortemand additional forces have been deployed inthe area.

Family members said the killing wasrelated to poll rivalry.

IANS

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Salim Kumar, the celebrated filmartist who had been honoured

with the National Award for the BestActor and a number of national andState honours was snubbed andhumiliated by the CPI(M)-led KeralaGovernment, according to film andtheatre artists in the State.

Salim Kumar, who had essayedhundreds of memorable roles infilms that include the 2010 movie“Abu, the Son of Adam” (for whichhe was honoured with the nationalAward for Best Actor) and AchanUrangatha Veedu (The House wherethe Father Doesn’t Sleep) the 2005film which earned him the SecondBest Actor Award for portraying therole of a helpless father of the vic-tim of a sexually molested girl isknown for his links with theCongress Party.

A TV and stage show per-former who made spectators laughand cry with his scintillating per-formance, Salim Kumar had grad-

uated into the big league ofMalayalam film industry onlybecause of his talents. ButMohammed Majeed Kamaludeen,chairman, Kerala State FilmAcademy, who is the main organis-er of the Government sponsoredInternational Film Festival of Kerala(IFFK 2021) had other ideas.

“He and other organisers con-veniently ignored Salim Kumarwhile preparing the list of inviteesfor the Kochi-leg of the IFFK whichgot going on Wednesday. Due toCovid-19 related issues, the IFFK isbeing held in two editions. TheThiruvananthapuram leg wasbetween February 9 and 14 while theKochi edition is during February 17to 21.

Kamaludeen denied reports thatalleged Salim Kumar was not invit-ed for the festival. “OrganisingCommittee decided to give a chanceto youngsters and hence we includ-ed new generation film personalitiesamong those who would light thelamp on the occasion,” Kamaludeen

told reporters. He also said that thefestival cannot be held without thepresence pf Salim Kumar.

But the versatile actor told ThePioneer from Paravoor that he hasnot yet received any invitation fromthe organising committee. “I amleast bothered whether they includeme or not among the VIPs who lightthe lamp. But a formal invitationwould have been sufficient for me.They wanted to keep me out becauseof political reasons. It is known toall and many persons are afraid totell it openly,” said Salim Kumar.

The incident comes to lightwithin days of Rajasenan, a reputedMalayalam movie maker, who has astring of hots to his credit, chargedthat Malayalam film industry hasbeen hijacked by Love Jihad ele-ments.

In a no holds barred attack onsome quarters, the soft spokenRajasenan said that move industryin Kerala has been usurped by acabal which has vested interests.

Kamaludeen was in the news

recently when the letter he wrote tocultural minister A K Balan askingthe latter to regularise the servicesof Left-leaning casual staff in theFilm Academy was released in theLegislative Assembly by Leader ofthe Opposition RameshChennithala. Kamaludeen said thathis letter was to ensure film profes-sionals with leanings to SanghParivar do not enter the precincts ofMalayalam film industry.

Salim Kumar said theThiruvananthapuram edition of theFilm Festival was inaugurated by 76-year-old Chief Minister PinarayiVijayan in the presence of 79-yearold Adoor Gopalakrishnan.

Politicisation ofMalayalam filmindustry has given rise to many leadartists expressing their solidaritywith either the Congreess or the BJP.Krishnakumar, the lead TV artisthad joined the BJP in presence ofparty president J P Nadda whileRamesh Pisharady and DharmanBolghatty declared their support tothe Congress in a recent function.

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New Delhi: All India Councilfor Technical Education andHaryana Granth Akademiwould work together to pro-mote as a medium of technicaleducation. A formal agreementpaving the way to this collabo-ration between the two gov-ernment institutions was signedat AICTE Headquarters in NewDelhi in the digital presence ofUnion Education Minister Dr.Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishankduring the launching ceremo-ny of NEET 2.0. HaryanaGranth Akademi(HGA)Deputy Chairman & DirectorDr. Virender Singh Chauhanand AICTE Member SecretaryProf. Rajiv Kumar signed theagreement and exchanged rel-evant documents. AICTEChairman Prof.Anil D.Sahashrabuddhe was also pre-sent on this occasion.

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An Improvised explosive device (IED) plant-ed inside a pressure cooker was detected by

the members of the road opening party of theIndian Army near Manjakote along the JammuPoonch highway early wednesday morning.

Four days ago, a nursing student,identifiedas Suhail from Pulwama was arrested by theJammu and Kashmir police after an IED weigh-ing 6.5 kgs was recovered from his bag near thebus stand area in Jammu. Handlers belongingto Al-Badr had tasked him to trigger a blast atone of the busy locations in Jammu.

Both these recoveries were made close onthe heels of arrest of two top ranking terroristsof Lashkar-e- Mustafa and The ResistanceFront in Jammu.

The traffic on the busy road was halted fromboth the sides and teams of bomb disposal squadof the Indian army from a nearby camp wererushed to the spot to detonate the IED. "This

morning, a road opening patrol (ROP) of thearmy found a suspicious object along the high-way near Manjakote. Soon, traffic was controlledon the highway and a bomb disposal squad wascalled in," said Rajouri SSP, Chandan Kohli.

The suspected material packed in a fruitpacking box was later destroyed through a con-trolled explosion, he added. Further investiga-tion is going on in the case registered atManjakote police station under relevant sectionsof law.

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The Bombay High Court onWednesday granted Mumbai-

based activist Nikita Jacob transitbail for three weeks in the GretaTheunberg ‘tool-kit’ case relating tothe farmers’ agitation and ruled thatin the event of her arrest, shewould be released on bail on a per-sonal bond of Rs 25,000 and onesurety of like amount.

While granting relief to Jacob,Justice P. D. Naik of the high courtruled: “This protection is grantedfor a period of three weeks fromtoday to enable the applicant toapproach the competent court forseeking appropriate relief,”

The high court was hearingJacob’s plea against a non-bailablearrest warrant issued against her andanother activist Shantanu Muluk, bythe Tis Hazari Court in Delhi.

The high court had reserved its

order on Jacob when the matter washeard here on Tuesday.

In a related development, theAurangabad bench of Bombay HighCourt had on Tuesday granted a 10-day transit bail to Muluk, an engi-neer from Beed, in the same case.

In non-bailable warrants againstthem, the Delhi Police had onMonday charged Jacob and Muluk,who work for a UK-based NGOExtinction Rebellion, with creatingthe toolkit tweeted by Thunberg onthe farmers’ protest.

Jacob has been booked underIPC Sections 124(A) for sedition,153(A) for promoting enmitybetween different groups, and120(B) for criminal conspiracy.

Another accused activist DishaRavi – who was arrested by DelhiPolice on February 13 for allegedinvolvement with an online ‘toolk-it’ relating to Greta Theunberg-farmers’ agitation -- is currently in

police custody for five days. On their part, the Delhi Police

have claimed that Disha, Jacob andMuluk had created the ‘toolkit’relating to the farmers’ agitationwhich was shared with Thunberg.

Ms Jacob had told the highcourt on Tuesday that there was aZoom meeting before RepublicDay, which was attended by PoeticJustice Foundation founder MODhaliwal, and other fellow activists,including Disha.

Jacob’s lawyer Mihir Desai hadtold the court that the "toolkit" wasprepared by Extinction Rebellion(XR) India volunteers for present-ing the whole picture with a simplebreakdown for an internationalaudience. Desai had also argued thatJacob was a young woman, prac-tising law since the past 6 to 7 yearsand was a responsible environ-mental activist who was moved bythe plight of the agitating farmers.

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Amaravati: The third phase of four-phased Panchayatelections in Andhra Pradesh kicked off onWednesday with voting commencing at 6.30 a.m.in 18 revenue divisions.

The revenue divisions in which polls are beingheld are Srikakulam, Palakonda, Vizianagaram,Paderu, Rampachodavaram, Yetapaka,Jangareddygudem, Kukunuru, Machilipatnam,Gurazala, Kandukur, Gudur, Naidupeta, Adoni,Kurnool, Ananthapur, Rajampet, Kadapa andMadanapalle.

As many as 2,639 sarpanch posts are being con-tested, along with 19,553 wards.

In Kurnool district, elections started off on apeaceful note and district collector Veerapandian reit-erated that people should exercise their franchise fear-lessly.

He adviced people to call control room number1800-4255180 in case any forces are trying to influ-ence the elections.

Similar to the second phase polls, district offi-cials made arrangements to complete vote countingfaster in major panchayats.

Starting 5:30 a.m. on Wednesday, senior officialshave been monitoring the election arrangements andpolls in the control room set up at the Collectorate.

As many as 14 mandals, comprising 245 pan-chayats and 2,516 wards are going to the polls at 2,204polling centres.

Kurnool district administration deployed 2,557policemen on poll duty.As many as 219 villages aregoing for the polls in the district.

Out of the 2,204 polling stations, the district iden-tified 605 polling stations as troublesome ones andanother 374 as hyper sensitive.

Polling and vote counting officials number is7,250 in the Rayalaseema district.

Zonal officials, shadow teams, striking forceteams, route mobile teams, flying squads, drones andweb casting are deployed to monitor the elections.

Police Act 30 and CrPc Section 144 have beenimposed in the district, including banning victoryrallies, pyrotechnics and other musical celebrations.

"Non-locals, newcomers and people not relatedto the polls are banned from the villages where pollsare occurring," reiterated an official statement.

In Anantapur district, elections are happeningin 19 mandalams. Out of 379 panchayats, 23sarpanches have been elected unanimously, while 936contestants are competing for the remaining 356sarpanch posts. IANS

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Mumbai: India is brimmingwith confidence, and the eventson the borders and theGovernment's decision to lib-eralise geospatial data are rep-resentative of the same, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi saidon Wednesday.

Modi said in the past, secu-rity considerations were thebiggest “red light” which pre-vented the government fromundertaking the measure to lib-eralise map making and accessto geospatial data. In theremarks, which come amid aslew of reports suggesting a dis-engagement between Indianand Chinese forces in icyheights of Eastern Ladakh,Modi said the confidence is avery big asset.

“Today, India is brimmingwith confidence. We are seeingit on the borders,” he said, with-out explicitly mentioning thethaw with China after nearly 10months of a standoff.It can be noted that there wasa heavy troop and militaryhardware buildup in theHimalayan region since lastsummer, after China movedtroops to newer grounds amidthe pandemic.

One of the many con-frontations turned ugly leadingto deaths of soldiers in fist-fights and warning shots werealso fired in another instance.The troops continued to be onvigil braving the hostile winterand according to reports, therehas been a “disengagement” on

the banks of Pangong Tso andsouth of it.

Addressing the annualNasscom Technology andLeadership Forum organisedby the IT industry lobby group-ing, Modi said the decision toliberalise the geospatial dataand map making is not justrestricted to the area of tech-nology, nor should it be seen asanother administrative reformwhere the government exits aparticular field.

“This decision is illustrativeof India's capabilities. India isconfident that even after thisdecision, we can ensure oursecurity and also give an oppor-tunity for the country's youngpopulation to excel at the worldstage,” Modi said. PTI

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Mumbai: Prime Minister Narendra Modi onWednesday urged India's startup foundersto think how to create institutions and notfocus on valuations alone. Addressing theNasscom Technology and Leadership Forumhere, Modi said that startups should notrestrict themselves only to valuations on exitstrategies. They should think of creating aninstitution that can outlive this century bycreating world class products that will set theglobal benchmark of excellence.

The Prime Minister further said the largepopulation of the country is the IT indus-try's biggest strength as people are eager toadopt newer solutions. IT industry's cor-porate social responsibility (CSR) efforts todevelop lateral thinking in rural kids canprove to be a gamechanger for India, Modinoted. The country is not short of ideas, hesaid, adding that it needs mentors to helpturn ideas into reality. PTI

Chennai: Prime Minister NarendraModi on Wednesday said that India isworking to meet growing energydemand, while reducing its energyimport dependence and also diversi-fying import sources. In his addressafter launching oil and gas projects inTamil Nadu through video confer-encing, he said the country was try-ing to ensure this through capacitybuilding.In 2019-20, India was fourthin world in refining capacity. About65.2 million tonnes of petroleumproducts have been exported andthis number is expected to rise evenfurther, he said.

The Prime Minister noted adiverse and talented nation like Indiawas more dependent on imports forits energy requirements. During 2019-20, India imported over 85 per cent ofoil and 53 per cent of gas to meet its

domestic demand."I don't want to crit-icise anyone, but I want to say had wefocused on this sector much earlier,our middle class would not havebeen burdened.

Now it is our collectively duty towork towards clean and green sourceof energy and reduce energy depen-dence," he said. Stating that his gov-ernment is sensitive to the concerns ofthe middle class, Modi said the coun-try is increasing the focus on ethanolto help farmers and consumers, tak-ing steps to become leader in solarpower, encouraging public transportto make people's lives productive andembracing alternative source like LEDbulbs to enable huge savings for mid-dle class households.He noted thatmore Indian cities have metro cover-age and solar pumps getting morepopular helping farmers greatly."Our

companies have ventured overseas inacquisition of quality oil and gasassets.

Today Indian oil and gas compa-nies are present in 27 countries withinvestment worth about Rs 2.70 lakhcrore.

We are developing a gas pipelinenetwork to achieve one nation, onegrid. We have plan to spend 7.5 lakhcrore in creating oil and gas infra-structure over next five years.

A strong emphasis had been laidon expansion on expansion of city gasdistribution network by covering 470districts. The Prime Minister said con-sumer focus scheme like Pahal andPM Ujwala Yojna were helping everyIndian household access gas, and that95 per cent of Tamil Nadu's LPG con-sumers have joined Pahalscheme. IANS

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The Maharashtra Police hasarrested two German

nationals from a private bun-galow at Wai town in Sataradistrict of western Maharashtrafor allegedly cultivatingCannabis (Ganja) at home.

Acting on a tip-off thatabout two foreigners staying atbungalow at Nandanvan Parkowned by a local resident andconducting themselves in asuspicious manner, the Satararaided the place on Tuesdayand found that large quantitiesof Ganja being grown insidehalf-a-dozen rooms, on theroof and outside.

The police arrested twoGerman nationals – identifiedas Sergis Victor Manca (31)and Sebastian Stein Muller(25) – from the bungalow theyraided.The two arrestedGerman nationals were laterproduced before a court, whichremanded them in police cus-tody till February 20.

During the raids, the policeseized 29 kgs of home-grownGanja worth around Rs. 3-lakh,all packed in bags.

The police also recoveredsophisticated artificial light-ing equipment, LED lights,laptops, mobiles, etc from thebungalow.

During the course of theraids, one of the Germannationals tried to flee the bun-galow only to be caught by the

police personnel present.The Satara police have,

meanwhile, experts withknowledge of Ganja cultivationfrom Pune to assist them in theinvestigations.

The preliminary investiga-tions have revealed that bothManca and Muller are history-sheeters who had been arrest-ed in a drugs case by theNarcotics Control Bureau(NCB) in Goa in 2017.

Subsequently, the BombayHigh Court (Goa Bench) hadreleased them on bail on a con-dition that they would hence-forth live in Satara district.

As per the orders issued bythe high court in 2017, the twoGerman nationals had deposit-ed their passports with the GoaPolice.

As a consequence, theycannot leave the country till thecase registered by the NCB ispending against them.

“As part of our investiga-tions, we have asked the GoaPolice to give us details of thepassports and visas of the twoarrested German nationals,”Satara’s District PoliceSuperintendent AjaykumarBansal said.

The Satara police are try-ing to ascertain if the twoarrested German nationals haddeveloped a network of ped-dlers and customers to sell theCannabis grown by them dur-ing their stay at the bungalowlasting more than 18 months.

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Sher Ali, an active terroristfrom Poonch, was arrested

by the Poonch police fromJammu airport on Wednesday.

According to a policespokesman, "Sher Ali is themain coordinator and facilita-tor of terrorist activities ofvarious terrorist groups involv-ing facilitating infiltration ofterrorists, smuggling of armsand ammunition, narcoticsfrom POJK to Indian Territoryfrom Balakote area of Poonchdistrict".

He has been arrested inconnection with case FIR No.292/2020 P/S Mendhar and isalso involved in many othercases of district Poonch.

"Sitting aboard, Sher Ali

was involved in sending twoPakistan terrorists from Dabbiarea of Balakote Sector on24/25 of Nov. 2020 at thebehest of Pakstani handler @Sultan. The two terrorists of JKGazanavi force were later killedin an encounter on 13th ofDecember-2020 in Poshanaarea of Surankote", the policespokesman added.

Sher Ali also smuggledarms and ammunition whichincluded 3 pistols and 1 IEDbesides other ammunitionthrough Balakote sector inMendhar district Poonch. Thereceiver of these Arms andammunition namely MushtaqAhmed (father of Sher Ali) andRaskeem Akhter (sister of SherAli) were arrested by PoonchPolice on 11-9-2020 and FIR

was registered at P/S Mendherin this regard.

So-far 05 OGWs namelyMushtafa R/O Kandi Galuta,Mohd Yaseen R/O DabbiBalakote, Younis, Irfan andRaskeem have been arrestedwho were involved in the ter-ror network led by Sher Ali.

Sher Ali was also involvedin drug smuggling along withsmuggling of arms and ammu-nitions and 2 Kgs heroineworth approximately Rs 8crores in the international mar-ket were also recovered fromthis terror network which wasmeant to be used for terrorfinancing. So-far from thisnetwork 05 Pistols, 13 grenadesand one live IED has beenrecovered. Further investiga-tion is in progress.

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Son of a famous local eatery located in thehigh security zone of Sonwar was shot

at from a close range by unidentified ter-rorists late Wednesday evening in Srinagar.

The daring attack on a civilian tookplace barely hours after the 24 member del-egation of foreign diplomats winded uptheir day long schedule of meetings aimedat assessing the ground situation in Jammuand Kashmir.

Local police identified the injured vic-tim as Aakash Mehra son of a popularKrishna Dhaba owner Ramesh KumarMehta. This is the second major attack ona minority businessman in Srinagar inrecent times.

Earlier, a jeweller Satpal Nischal fromPunjab settled in Srinagar for several yearsand was killed in cold blood in the firstweek of January 2021.Police sourcesclaimed Aakash was shot at from a closerange.He took the bullets on his chest andwas rushed to a nearby SMHS hospital.

Terror group Muslim Janbaaz ForceJammu and Kashmir has claimed respon-sibility for the attack on Krishna Dhab inSrinagar outside UN Office.

Former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah,who occasionally visited the eatery in thepast condemned the terrorist attack in histweet. Omar tweeted, "Very sorry to hearabout the attack on the Krishna Dhaba inSrinagar, these attacks are unacceptable. Ihope the injured person who is himselfassociated with the dhaba & is undergoingtreatment in a city hospital makes a com-plete & speedy recovery".

Junaid Azim Mattu, Mayor of SrinagarMunicipal Corporation in a tweet said,"Deeply anguished to hear about an appar-ent attack by terrorists at the Krishna Dhabain Sonwar, Srinagar where a civilian hasreceived injuries. Strongly condemn this actof cowardice and barbarism. My prayers forthe speedy and complete recovery of theinjured civilian".

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Within hours of the foundation lay-ing ceremony of the statue of

Maharaja Suheldev by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, a controversy has erupt-ed over the legendary warrior king's caste.

BJP MP from Basgaon, KamleshPaswan, has written a letter to thePresident Ram Nath Kovind, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi and chief min-ister Yogi Adityanath.

Alleging that some vested interestshad suffixed 'Rajbhar' to the name ofSuheldev whereas the warrior kingbelonged to the Pasi community. He fur-ther said that the state governmentshould mention his name as 'MaharajaSuheldev Pasi' on the memorial and alsoon other projects launched by the PrimeMinister to mark his contribution.

UP minister Anil Rajbhar, mean-while, claimed that Maharaja Suheldevbelonged to the Rajbhar communitywhile Paswan maintained that the min-ister's assertion was igniting anger among

the Pasi community that had great admi-ration regard for Maharaja Suheldev.

The BJP MP said that the state gov-ernment should verify historical docu-ments and add Pasi surname to thememorial and other projects being ded-icated to the king.

Om Prakash Rajbhar, former UPminister and president of the SuheldevBhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP), claimed thatas per the historical texts, includingMirat-i-Masudi written by AbdurRehman Chishti, Suheldev belonged tothe 'Bhar' community which is a sub-casteof Rajbhar.

"My party will oppose any move bythe state government to project Suheldevas a Pasi. We are going to organise meet-ings in Rajbhar-dominated constituenciesacross the state to make our communi-ty aware of his contribution," he said.

BSP leader Ram Achal Rajbhar, onthe other hand, stated that it was theBahujan Samaj Party (BSP) that had firsthighlighted the role of Suheldev inupliftment of weaker sections.

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of men that the defences ofpeace must be constructed.”The untold sufferings of theWorld Wars and the crueltyon Hiroshima and Nagasakileft people with no option butto strive hard to avoid wars infuture, and sincerely movetowards a world of peace. Toaugment their faith, therewere luminaries like AlbertEinstein and MahatmaGandhi. They motivatedmany more, prominent men-tions being Martin LutherKing, Jr, and Nelson Mandela.Yes, there was an alternativeavailable which preachedglobal brotherhood throughmutual trust and faith intruth and nonviolence.Unfortunately, it has notclicked effectively so far.

The how and why of thedichotomy of the expectationsof the 20th century, and wherewe stand in the 21st at thisstage, deserves an incisivescrutiny. The fundamentalswere not beyond the compre-hension of the luminaries whohad an awareness of factorsthat could lead to serious dis-tortions of the core valuesnecessary for a vibrant democ-racy. When Gandhi respond-ed to Julian Huxley, the thenDirector General of Unesco,on the draft of the UniversalDeclaration of Human Rights

Charter, he put on record aneternal guiding principlewhich is the lifeline of sustain-ing humanity on earth: “Ifeveryone does his duty, every-one else would get his right.”Men and women devoted tothe cause of human rights theworld over would not findeven a treatise on the subjectthat could say more. Thisprinciple is to be implement-ed at the grassroots, andshould extend to the top level.There are only two ways toachieve the transformation:Those in control of power andauthority at every level are con-vinced that to create a bettertomorrow for the generationsahead — including their ownkith and kin — they must behonest to themselves and per-form their duties with integri-ty. Without this, they would betotally unfair to their progeny.This could be a national cam-paign. In the long term,schoolteachers could be ropedin to realise how they are theprime movers in the process ofpreparing the next genera-tions. In fact, they are at the topof the workforce pyramid thatcreates national future.

They are the acharyas;people are supposed to followtheir conduct, character andcomposure. They are the orig-inal icons. If a teacher is punc-

tual, sincere, dexterous andempathetic, he would neverhave to tell children about val-ues and human qualities. Thesewould silently be absorbed byhis wards. A national plan onthese lines shall need no finan-cial investment. It is the initialschooling that could — with-out burdening the textbooks —let children learn that naturecould offer sufficient resourcesto meet the need of everyonebut not the greed of anyone. Ageneration could be preparedin about a decade that wouldsincerely realise its primary rolein maintaining the sensitiveman-nature relationship and beready to accept its responsibil-ity to maintain and sustain it.

Human beings have thegift to envision, both individ-ually and collectively. Ashumans we have not appliedour minds, and often humanindiscretion and greed havetriggered disasters that werealready anticipated. The lat-est tragedy in Uttarakhandcould be one more eye open-er. Too many hydel powerplants, cutting of trees andindiscreet mining wereknown to cause disasters. Letthis warning from MotherNature not go unheeded.

(The author works in edu-cation and social cohesion. Theviews expressed are personal.)

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The first two decades ofthe 21st century are over.We are saddled withwars and violence all

around, distrust and apprehen-sions can be smelled across inter-national borders, and terrorismand fundamentalism havewracked the backbone of sever-al nations, leaving them in greaterpoverty and insecurity. Imaginethe plight of those who are forcedto migrate to unfamiliar lands.This happens despite the fact thata considerable number of nationshas moved ahead economicallyand achieved some semblance ofsocial and cultural uplift, besidesthe equality of opportunity inaccess and success. Lookingaround, one would find globaldeliberations getting centredaround markets, GDP growth,economic policies; of courseissues like global warming, cli-mate change and environmentaldegradation do come up regular-ly, but without much commit-ment. The greatest promise of the20th century was inclusion, equal-ity of opportunity, and that meanthuman dignity to all those whohad been deprived of it by vest-ed interests, suffering subhumanpractices like racism, apartheid,caste considerations, gender sub-jugation and a lot more. Thebiggest decision of the 20th cen-tury was to respect diversity andcut down on exclusion.

Numerous initiatives at thenational and international levelmay be cited in support of anemerging climate that wouldpermit every human to savourthe scent of fresh breeze in anenvironment of liberty, equali-ty and fraternity! By implication,it would mean eradication ofignorance, poverty, poor healthand universal access to humanrights. People in such a societymust know their rights and becommitted to performing theirduties. When the UNO (now theUN) was established on October24, 1945, it was expected that theworld would henceforth movetowards global peace, harmonyand brotherhood. The sameyear, Unesco was also born witha preamble to its constitutionthat generated huge hopes allaround: “Since wars begin in theminds of men, it is in the minds

SOUNDBITE����������������� ���������Sir—The removal of Kiran Bedi asPuducherry’s Lieutenant Governor (L-G)must be a great relief not only for ChiefMinister V Narayanasamy but also for alarge section of people of the UnionTerritory who were fed up with the man-ner in which Bedi obstructed the function-ing of the Government and halted the devel-opment of the UT and welfare of its peo-ple.

She exhibited only confrontational atti-tude and animosity towards the electedGovernment and did everything that goesagainst the dignity of the post of L-G, andbehaved as if she is subservient only to theinterests of the BJP. Bedi actively promot-ed the interests of the saffron party.However, her autocratic and arrogantmoves have done more damage to the BJPthan benefiting the party and it will defi-nitely reflect in the Assembly electionresults. It is unfortunate that the NDAGovernment at the Centre has decided toremove her only after allowing her to con-tinue with her unconstitutional agenda forso long.

If the party was really interested in thewelfare of the people of the UT, it shouldhave sacked her long back. Further, sheshould not be posted as L-G or Governorin any other non-BJP ruled State as doingso will only bring disgrace to the office ofPresident which makes these appoint-ments. She has manifested very clearly dur-ing her stay in the Raj Nivas that she def-initely doesn’t deserve to hold any consti-tutional post.

Tharcius S Fernando | Chennai

��������������������������Sir —This refers to the editorial ‘Dust bowlpolitics’ (February 17). The Indian crick-et team has always been at the receivingend when it comes to the preparation ofpitches, especially for a Test series at home.During the India-England second Test atChepauk in Chennai, Stuart Broad likeda tweet by ex-Australian batsman MarkWaugh, who called the pitch “unaccept-able”, while Ben Stokes liked a tweet by

Matt Prior who suggested “the pitch is notfor a five-day match”. But England’s losscan’t be entirely blamed on the pitch.

The ground reality is that batting wassurely difficult but Rohit, Rahane andKohli proved in the first innings that it wasfar from being unplayable. Ashwin’s hero-ics with the bat and bowl were a messagefor English cricketers that it had little todo with the pitch and more with intent,skills and experimenting with new tech-niques under tough conditions. The pitch-es of England, Australia and South Africahave seaming conditions when India orany sub-continent team visits there. India’swin was in outplaying England in a justand skilful manner. Nobody should under-estimate or downplay it. Our team is oneof the best teams in the world and the play-ers have proved it time and again.

Nischai Vats | Sultanpur

����������������������������Sir —Accidents have become common inIndia. Every now and then we hear about

some tragic road accident in which peo-ple die for no fault of theirs. The condi-tion of our roads, including highways, ispathetic. Those who survive are just plainlucky.

The condition of State Highways isvery poor as compared to NationalHighways. There are still many roadswhich are not one-way. Further, privatebuses and vehicles, which follow no traf-fic rules, continue to operate with impuni-ty under the patronage of corrupt trans-port department officials and policemen.These corrupt officials do not take actionagainst the errant vehicles or their own-ers and extort money from them. Evenmany school buses don’t undergo regularcheckup that includes checking the effica-cy of their brakes and checking tail lights.It endangers the life of children who go toschool in these buses.

MR Jayanthi | Mumbai

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Nature’s laws are immutable. Where forestsare removed indiscriminately, drought,pestilence, famine and flash floods rear their

ugly heads. When the green revolution came toIndia in the early 50s, a whopping 1,973.4 millionhectare (Ha) of forest land either went under theplough or was destroyed for various developmentpurposes and this process is still going on. Water,soil health and climate change play a major rolein making or breaking the agrarian economy. Inthe context of the above, the role of trees in enhanc-ing and sustaining productivity of the soil, waterand biodiversity assumes great significance. Hence,the need for agroforestry research and extensionis required in various kinds of marginal land. Forinstance, in Kenya and in other countries realprogress has been made in sustainable agriculturewith the introduction of appropriate trees.

The International Council for Research inAgroforestry (ICRAF) has stated that its central aimis to foster research on the place of woody peren-nials in combination with crops or animals to solvethe problem of small farmers. This approach wonover Chinese peasants to forestry. Chinese farm-ers included timber trees with woody perennialsfor all purposes like orchards, bamboo, groves andso on, while Chinese foresters encouraged anddemonstrated intercropping. It is an irony thatdespite the ongoing farmers’ agitation and the per-sistent agrarian crisis in the country, one seldomfinds any debate highlighting the crunch and itslinkage with the deteriorating health of naturalresources, which apparently is the main factorbehind this messy situation.

There cannot be any denial of the fact that thehealth of the ecosystem in India has come to a stagewhere its carrying capacity has already beenstretched to the limit and it seems to be on the brinkof a precipice. While India’s overall food produc-tion has grown, declining productivity is evidentfor oilseeds and pulses. In the rainfed areas, yieldsare declining and rapid land degradation is evident.Even in the irrigated, high-yield crop areas, stag-nation is apparent and their sustainability is alsoa matter of doubt.

The environmental impact of the green revo-lution that is based on high input and output, iswell-documented but the cost of maintaining itnecessitates various limits and the economicinequality resulting from this development is appar-ent now. Two kinds of fertiliser fertility problemsare commonly encountered in the country: Lowand declining soil fertility. Tackling a decline in fer-tility is linked to working with nature and assist-ing the restoration of the natural processes. It mayalso require external inputs like fertilisers and wateralong with trees. The result of five years of workof the Indian Grassland and Fodder ResearchInstitute (IGFRI) Jhansi has revealed a significantreduction in soil nutrient losses and improvementin soil fertility. In a recently-published article in anational daily, Atul Thakur revealed how produc-tive quality and prices are key factors that have com-bined to keep the Indian farmers poor. Based onquantitative data he observed that returns per Hafrom kharif crops as a per cent of inputs and labourcost are steeply declining. He summarised: “Farmreturns were falling and low to begin with.Divided over four months of the kharif season theaverage paddy farmers’ monthly returns were

�4,903 in 2013-14. That declined to�4,620 by 2017-18.”

“Furthermore, for other crops,the returns have stagnated. Therehas been no significant increase inthe last five years. This means theGovernment’s target of doublingfarmers’ incomes by 2022 willremain a pipe dream,” he says.

Thakur further observes thatIndia’s yield when compared toother countries, is the lowest per Hafor most crops and uses more landand labour to produce lower yields.Indian agriculture adds 16 per centto the Gross Domestic Product(GDP) but provides 41 per cent jobswhereas China adds 71 per cent tothe GDP with 25 per cent labour andBrazil adds 4.4 per cent with nine percent labour. Further, due to highinputs Indian farmers cannot com-pete in the international marketbecause of their high prices.

In India, industrial agriculturewas powered by the Haber-BoschProcess that was invented by FritzHaber and Carl Bosch which pro-duces ammonia for chemical fertilis-ers. This process makes nature’s fer-tilisation via sunlight, macrobioticsoils and crop rotation very margin-al. Ammonia production now con-sumes two per cent of the energysupply globally and produces 1.5-1.6trillion CO2 emissions per year.Nitrogenous fertilisers derived fromthe Haber-Bosch Process currentlyprovide roughly half of all the nitro-gen required for world crops.Organic recycling, manure, cropresidues and atmospheric deposition

provide another half. In India thisratio must be much higher.

Duke University’s SubhrenduPattanayak concludes that industri-al agriculture is a leading cause ofdeforestation as it accounted for 80per cent of it between 2000 and 2010.Soya and palm oil cultivation causedover 30 per cent deforestation acrossAsia and 70 per cent in LatinAmerica.

Industrial monocroppingexhausts soil nutrients, polluteswater channels, destroys habitats andbiodiversity. Industrial agriculturecosts the world over $3 trillion perannum. Sustainable agriculture withagroforestry reduces soil damage,chemical use, diversifies agricultureand protects habitat for biodiversi-ty.

Sir Albert Howard in his treaties,‘Soil and Health’, observes: “Forest isan effective agent in the preventionof soil erosion... The trees andundergrowth break up the rainfallinto fine spray and the litter on theground further protects the soil fromthe impact of descending waterstreams. The roots and residues ofthe trees and animal life in allwoodlands are converted intohumus, which is then absorbed bythe soil underneath, increasing itsporosity and water- holding power.The trees not only prevent soil ero-sion but store large volumes of waterand sequester atmospheric carbon.Mechanical measures to arrest soilerosion like terracing are secondarymatters.

Excessive use of irrigation

required for industrial agriculturegradually destroys the bindingpower of organic matter whichkeeps the soil particles together. Itdisplaces the soil air, which is vitalfor the respiratory function of theroots. The main strategy of indus-trial farming is oriented for rice orwheat at huge indirect and directcost but keeps farmers away fromgrowing fruits, nuts, vegetables andpulses. Intensive industrial mono-culture deserves to be debatedthroughout the country.

The big question remains thatdespite all the obvious advantages ofagroforestry why has it remainedconfined so far to a few places, whereforest-based industries have pushedit for clonal plantation of eucalyp-tus or poplar trees? There is no dis-pute over the capacity of clonal plan-tations combined with crops inindustrial plantations to create jobsthrough forward and backwardeconomic linkage. The growth ofYamunanagar is a shining exampleof how the produce of agroforestryacted as the catalyst to change asmall township into a vibrant indus-trial complex.

Anyone who is conversant withsoil, water and tree should be con-vinced about the limitation of indus-trial agriculture and the potential ofagroforestry in the country.However, for large-scale adoption ofagroforestry its constraints must beremoved first. In such a situation treeplantation can play a complemen-tary role to agriculture and helprestore the health of the land.

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The COVID-19 pandem-ic resulted in the biggestglobal health emergency

in living memory. A whopping24,31,445 Coronavirus-relateddeaths were recorded aroundthe world from the time thecontagion spread in 2019.

India, the second-mostpopulated country in theworld, faced an unprecedent-ed health crisis due to the out-break. However, theGovernment took all the stepsnecessary to flatten the curveand now, over ten monthsafter the first lockdown wasannounced in the countrythere seems to be a ray of hope.As many as 1,06,44,858 peoplehave recovered from the dis-ease so far and the nationalrecovery rate stands at 97.33per cent. India on Wednesdayrecorded just 11,610 newCOVID-19 cases, taking thetotal tally of infections to1,09,37,320, according to data

from the Union HealthMinistry. With 10 more fatal-ities in the last 24 hours, thedeath toll has reached 1,55,913.

There has been a lot ofspeculation and debates overalleged under-reporting ofCOVID-19 deaths in India.However, no robust evidencehas been provided by registra-tion offices located at crema-toriums or burial places, hos-pitals and other registrationoffices. Therefore, it is counter-intuitive to assume that hun-dreds of thousands of deathshave not been reported in thecountry.

Further, accurate and con-tinuous recording of deaths ispertinent for designing imme-diate health interventions inthis unprecedented healthcarecrisis. Hence, the role of theCivil Registration System(CRS) in the complete and reli-able recording of COVID-19related fatalities cannot be

stressed enough.Mortality data obtained

from the CRS is based on real-time and continuous record-ing. Besides, it is verified by thecivil authority, therefore, it ishighly reliable for decision-making. The CRS provides anannual report on birth anddeath statistics with baselinecharacteristics such as age,gender and place of residence.It is an important data sourcefor the causes of death statis-tics.

Accurate and reliableinformation on mortality hasmany utilities for policymak-ers and health officers.Complete death statistics arepertinent for health experts toknow the age and gender-spe-cific death rate, distributionand cause of mortality.

Plus, CRS is the only datasource that provides death sta-tistics at the lower administra-tive level. Adequate and time-

ly information on casualtiesand causes of death at the dis-trict or block level is essentialfor health officers for initiatingimmediate healthcare inter-ventions. Besides, CRS mayprovide an accurate baselinefor assessing excess mortalitydue to COVID-19. Data onfatalities for the last three orfive years could be comparedwith current statistics toobserve the sudden increase or

decrease in the number ofcasualties and its causes.

Although the CRS is per-manent, systematic and func-tional across India’s length andbreadth, it suffers from manychallenges. Lack of staff, logis-tics, irregular training and noregular supervision are somehighlighted performance bar-riers. Apart from this, a delayedand incomplete publication ofthe annual report hasdecreased the utility of this vitaldata. Hence, CRS data is notthe topmost priority amongpolicymakers and health offi-cers, even though it is takeninto consideration.

According to the latestOffice of the Registrar-Generaland Census Commissioner(ORGI) report for 2020, near-ly 14 per cent of deaths werenot recorded in 2018. Besides,the level of registration ofmortalities is widely variedacross the country. Many big-

ger States like Bihar, Jharkhand,Telangana, Uttar Pradesh,Assam and Madhya Pradesh,recorded fewer than 50 percent of the deaths.

Further, information oncauses of fatalities is limitedand not reliable in most cases.As per the latest ‘MedicalCertification of Cause of Death’report only 21 per cent of fatal-ities are medically certified.

Looking at the CRS’ sys-tematic and broader network,complete vital statistics basedon CRS must be published ontime. Also, a monthly reportmay provide critical factors fordecision-making and initiatingpreventive measures at thetime of a health emergency.

Timely information onexcess of deaths at the localadministrative level may alerthealth officials for adequatehealthcare intervention.Moreover, comparing thetrends and patterns of mortal-

ities will give accurate estimatesof excess deaths due to thevirus. It is not practical toexpect medical certificationfor all deaths due to lack ofqualified staff and resourceconstraints, but verbal autop-sy may identify COVID-19related deaths. Further, CRSstaff must be provided withPersonal Protective Equipmentand other resources to contin-ue their duty safely and ade-quately.

Places where facilities foronline death registration areavailable, must record casual-ties on time and share datawith the State headquarters fortimely compilation and gener-ation of a monthly report.

CRS data must be seen asa priority among the authori-ties and stakeholders for itscomplete and timely utilisationby health officers, particular-ly during a health emergency,such as the current pandemic.

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POINTCOUNTERPOINT

The writer is a formerIFS officer.

The views expressed are personal.

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Gandhi is a developmentpractitioner, educator andwriter, while Kumar is aJunior Research Fellow atJNU. The views expressed

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Thousands of demonstra-tors flooded the streets of

Myanmar’s biggest cityWednesday, in one of largestprotests yet of a coup, despitewarnings from a UN humanrights expert that recent troopmovements could indicate themilitary was planning a violentcrackdown.

In Yangon, protestersmarched carrying signs callingfor ousted leader Aung San SuuKyi to be released from deten-tion, while others feigned cartrouble, strategically abandon-ing their vehicles — and leav-ing the hoods up — to preventsecurity forces from easilyaccessing the demonstrations.Large rallies were also held inthe country’s second-biggestcity, Mandalay, and the capitalof Naypyitaw, in defiance of anorder banning gatherings offive or more people.

One motorist, who spokeon condition of anonymitybecause he feared being tar-geted, explained tongue-in-cheek that his car had broken

down “due to the sufferingthat our people are undergoingnow. We just stopped the carshere on the road to show thatwe do not want the military

regime.”The demonstrations came

a day after UN rapporteurTom Andrews expressed alarmat reports of soldiers being

transported into Yangon, not-ing that such movements hadpreviously preceded killings,disappearances and massarrests.

“I am terrified that giventhe confluence of these twodevelopments- — plannedmass protests and troops con-verging — we could be on theprecipice of the military com-mitting even greater crimesagainst the people ofMyanmar,” he said in a state-ment issued by the UN HumanRights office in Geneva.

By Wednesday evening,there had been no reports ofmajor violence.

The military seized poweron February 1, the day newlyelected parliamentarians weresupposed to take their seats —a shocking backslide for acountry that had been takingtentative steps toward democ-racy.

The junta said the takeoverwas necessary because SuuKyi’s government had failed toinvestigate fraud claims in elec-tions her party won in a land-slide; the election commissionhas dismissed those claims.

The high protest turnoutcame a day after junta leadershad declared that the demon-strations were dying down —

and Kyi Pyar, a former law-maker from Suu Kyi’s party,said that dismissal only servedto spur on the resistance.

“This upset the people,” shesaid. “We are not weak, we willnever step back in the fightagainst the military regime. Sowe are back on the street again.”

In Naypyitaw, thousands ofpeople, including private bankemployees and engineers,marched down the city’s wideboulevards, chanting for therelease of Suu Kyi and PresidentWin Myint.

Protesters also poured intothe streets of Mandalay, whereearlier in the week securityforces pointed guns at demon-strators and attacked themwith slingshots and sticks.Local media reported that sev-eral people were injured.

The marches have beenorganised as part of a civil dis-obedience movement, spear-headed by medical workersand supported by many civilservants. Police filed a newcharge against Suu Kyi, herlawyer said Tuesday, a movelikely to keep her under house

arrest and further fuel publicanger. It was the second chargeagainst Suu Kyi — the first forillegally possessing walkie-talkies, the second for analleged violation of coronavirusrestrictions — both apparentattempts to provide a legalveneer for her detention.British Prime Minister BorisJohnson issued a strong denun-ciation of the legal maneuver.

“New charges against AungSan Suu Kyi fabricated by theMyanmar military are a clearviolation of her human rights,”he tweeted.

“We stand with the peopleof Myanmar and will ensurethose responsible for this coupare held to account.”

On Tuesday night, the mil-itary for a third day in a rowordered an internet blackout —almost entirely blocking onlineaccess from 1 am to 9 am.

While the military did notsay why the internet was beingblocked, there is widespreadspeculation that the govern-ment is installing a firewall sys-tem to allow it to monitor orblock online activity.

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Four weeks into his presi-dency, Joe Biden says he’s

still getting used to the trap-pings of the office.

Biden offered a frankdescription of what it’s like tolive at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.During his CNN town hallTuesday night, referencing pastpresidents who have spoken ofthe building as “a little like agilded cage.”

“I get up in the morningand look at Jill and say, Wherethe hell are we?’” Biden joked,adding that he wasn’t used tohousehold staff waiting onhim.

“I find myself extremelyself-conscious,” Biden added,saying he was unaccustomed tosomeone “handing me my suit-coat.”

Biden’s working-classupbringing in Scranton,Pennsylvania, has long been acentral part of his politicalbrand. He most recently lived

in a large house in theWilmington, Delaware, sub-urbs.

The White House featuresa spacious lawn that has anunimpeded view of theWashington and LincolnMonuments, but is otherwisesurrounded by high fencingand a small army of guards.Biden said it’s “totally different”from the vice president’s resi-dence, set on 80 acres and

offering ample room to swim,explore and exercise in greaterprivacy.

The former vice presidentsaid he’d been in the OvalOffice 100 times or more overthe years, but had never beento the residential areas of theWhite House.

Even if the residence stillfeels new, Biden suggested he’salready settled deeply into thework of the presidency.

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Donald Trump has launcheda scathing personal attack

on Mitch McConnell, callinghim a “dour, sullen and unsmil-ing political hack,” days afterthe top Republican Senatorand former close ally voted toacquit the ex-US president inhis second impeachment trial.

McConnell, who led theSenate for years, voted to acquitTrump in his impeachmenttrial last week. But the 78-year-old Senator from Kentuckythen attacked Trump as“morally responsible” for thedeadly US Capitol riot onJanuary 6.

Trump and McConnell —the two most powerful men inthe Republican Party — havebeen estranged in recentmonths after working closelyduring the former president’sfour years in office. But things

changed after Trump lost theNovember 3 election to hisDemocratic rival, Joe Biden.

“Mitch is a dour, sullen,and unsmiling political hack,and if Republican Senators aregoing to stay with him, theywill not win again,” Trump saidin the terse statement onTuesday against the SenateMinority Leader.

“He will never do whatneeds to be done, or what isright for our country. Wherenecessary and appropriate, Iwill back primary rivals whoespouse Making America GreatAgain and our policy ofAmerica First. We want bril-liant, strong, thoughtful, andcompassionate leadership,” the74-year-old former president said.

Trump asserted thatMcConnell’s shortcomings hadcontributed to the RepublicanParty’s loss of the Senate

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The United Nations’ humanrights body said

Wednesday it will seek infor-mation from the United ArabEmirates about a daughter ofDubai’s powerful ruler after shesaid in video messages that shewas being imprisoned in aheavily guarded villa.

Sheikha Latifa bintMohammed Al Maktoum triedto flee the wealthy Gulf state in2018 but was detained by com-mandos in a boat off India. Shehad not been heard from untilTuesday, when the BBC’s“Panorama” investigative pro-gramme broadcast video mes-sages from the sheikha.

In the videos, which appearto have been recorded covert-ly, the 35-year-old princesssays she is “worried about mysafety and my life.”

“I don’t really know if I’mgoing to survive this situation,”she says in one of the videos.The BBC said they were record-ed over months on a phone shesecretly received about a yearafter her capture.

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Pakistan is unlikely to exit theFinancial Action Task

Force’s “grey” list until June,despite its efforts to garner sup-port from the member nationsahead of the plenary meeting ofthe global terror financing andmoney laundering watchdog

next week, according to amedia report on Wednesday.

The FATF’s Plenary andWorking Group meetings,scheduled to be held fromFebruary 21 to 26 in Paris, is allset to decide on Pakistan’s greylist status.

Pakistan was placed onthe FATF “grey” list in June

2018 and given a timeline toaddress global concerns byimplementing 27 action points.

The FATF, during its vir-tual plenary in October lastyear, concluded that Pakistanwill continue in its ‘grey’ list tillFebruary 2021 as it has failedto fulfil six key obligations ofthe global money laundering.

Taipei: Ma Xiaolin frequentlywrote about current affairs onone of China’s leadingmicroblogging sites, where hehas 2 million followers. Butrecently, he said in a post, theWeibo site called and asked himnot to post original content on

topics ranging from politics toeconomic and military issues.

“As an international affairsresearcher, it looks like I canonly go the route of entertain-ment, food and beverage now,”the international relations pro-fessor wrote on Jan. 31. AP

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Executioners who put 13inmates to death in the last

months of the Trump admin-istration likened the process ofdying by lethal injection tofalling asleep and called gur-neys “beds” and final breaths“snores.”

But those tranquil accountsare at odds with reports by TheAssociated Press and other media witnesses of how pris-

oners’ stomachs rolled, shookand shuddered as the pento-barbital took effect inside theUS penitentiary death chamberin Terre Haute, Indiana. TheAP witnessed every execution.

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On a day when petrolcrossed the Rs 100 mark,

Prime Minister Narendra Modion Wednesday said the middle-class would not have been bur-dened if the previous govern-ments had focussed on reduc-ing India’s energy importdependence. Without refer-ring to the relentless increase inretail fuel prices, which arelinked to international rates, hesaid India imported over 85 percent of its oil needs in the 2019-20 financial year and 53 percent of its gas requirement.

“Can a diverse and talent-ed nation like ours be so ener-gy import dependent?” heasked, addressing an onlineevent to inaugurate oil and gasprojects in poll-bound TamilNadu.

“I do not want to criticise

anyone but I want to say (that)had we focused on this subjectmuch earlier, our middle-classwould not be burdened,” hesaid.Price of petrol crossed theRs 100 per litre mark inRajasthan after fuel rates werehiked for the ninth day in arow. Since India imports themajority of its oil needs, retailrates are benchmarked to inter-national prices, which havespiralled in recent weeks.

Opposition parties includ-ing Congress have criticised theprice hikes, blaming it on theModi government raising taxesto scoop out the benefit thatarose from international oilrates plunging to a two-decadelow in April/May last year.While global rates haverebounded with pick up indemand, the government hasnot restored the taxes, whichare at a record high.

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Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman on Wednesday

addressed the board of marketsregulator Sebi for the first timeafter the presentation of theUnion Budget earlier thismonth. After the presentationof the Budget every year, it iscustomary for the finance min-ister to address the boards ofSebi and RBI.In a tweet, thefinance ministry saidSitharaman addressed theboard of Sebi (Securities andExchange Board of India) inthe national capital onWednesday. The ministry alsotweeted photos of the meeting.

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Equity indices buckled underselling pressure for the sec-

ond straight session onWednesday as risk appetiteremained subdued amid abearish trend overseas.

Profit-booking was seen infinance, IT and FMCG coun-ters, while a depreciating rupeealso weighed on investor sen-timent, traders said.

The 30-share BSE Sensexslumped 400.34 points or 0.77per cent to close at 51,703.83.The broader NSE Nifty tum-bled 104.55 points or 0.68 per

cent to 15,208.90.Nestle India was the top

loser in the Sensex pack, shed-ding 2.80 per cent, followed byBajaj Finserv, Asian Paints,HDFC Bank, IndusInd Bank,Maruti, Dr Reddy’s and HDFC.

HDFC twins accounted forover half of the benchmark’slosses. On the other hand, SBI,PowerGrid, NTPC, RelianceIndustries and Bajaj Auto wereamong the gainers, climbing upto 2.39 per cent. Global mar-kets were on the backfoot amidrising US Treasury yields andconcerns over frothy valua-tions.

New Delhi:Bharti Airtel onWednesday said it will acquire20 per cent stake in its DTHarm Bharti Telemedia from anaffiliate of Warburg Pincus forabout Rs 3,126 crore.

The Warburg Pincus affil-iate had acquired 20 per centequity stake in BhartiTelemedia in 2018 after theannouncement of the deal inDecember 2017.The transac-tion will be discharged pri-marily via issuance of about3.64 crore equity shares ofAirtel at a price of Rs 600 pershare and and up to Rs 1,037.8crore in cash, Bharti Airtelsaid in a statement. PTI

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The Government onWednesday approved a

12,195 crore production-linkedincentive (PLI) scheme fortelecom gear manufacturingin India which is expected toencourage production of equip-ment worth Rs 2.44 lakh croreand create direct and indirectemployment for about 40,000people, Union minister RaviShankar Prasad said.

The PLI scheme for tele-com gear manufacturing willbe operational from April 1,2021.

“In the coming five yearswe hope to have incrementalproduction of Rs 2,44,200crore, export worth Rs 1,95,360crore, direct and indirectemployment to 40,000 peopleand tax revenue of approxi-mately Rs 17,000 crore to thecountry,” telecom minister Ravi

Shankar Prasad said after theCabinet meeting.According toan official statement, thescheme is expected to bringinvestment of over Rs 3,000crore and generate huge directand indirect employment andtaxes both. Addressingreporters after the Cabinetmeeting, Prasad said that thegovernment is positioningIndia as a global powerhousefor manufacturing, and hascreated a conducive environ-ment for ease of doing business.

“Cabinet has approved PLIfor telecom sector ... To ensurefurther progress of Make-in-India in telecom equipmentspace...5G equipment will alsocome...So it was important togive incentives. We held wide-spread consultation with stake-holders,” Prasad said addingthat the scheme also aims topromote MSMEs in“Aatmanirbhar Bharat’.

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S&P Global Ratings onWednesday said India will

be one of the fastest growingemerging market economieswith a 10 per cent growth in thenext fiscal, and future sovereignrating action would hinge onlowering fiscal deficit and sus-taining debt burden.

S&P Director, Sovereign &International Public FinanceRatings, Andrew Wood saidthe forecast for India in 2021 ison stronger side and shows thata lot of economic activity,

which was frozen last year, iscoming back on line to nor-malisation thereby brighteningthe growth prospects, as well asstructural strengths of Indianeconomy coming back to thefore.

“India will be one of thefastest-growing economy inthe EM (emerging market)space. India’s contraction thisyear was steep and may bedeeper than global average,but bounce back of 10% that weare expecting next fiscal yearwill be putting India amongstthe fastest growers in 2021and more importantly we seeIndian economy growing at 6%over medium term, may beslightly higher, and that com-pares very well to EM all

around the world,” Wood saidin a webinar on India outlookfor 2021.

S&P said India’s economyhas stabilised over recentmonths, with progressively bet-ter manufacturing, services,labour market, and revenuedata. The hard part will be con-verting these trends into a sus-tained recovery over the nextfew years.

India has exceeded its fis-cal deficit target of 3.5 per centin the current fiscal by a widemargin due to higher spend-ings to stimulate economyamid the pandemic.

The fiscal deficit - theexcess of government expen-diture over its revenues - hasbeen pegged at 9.5 per cent of

the gross domestic product(GDP) in the current fiscalending March 31, as per therevised estimate.

For the next 2021-22 fiscal,the deficit has been put at 6.8per cent of the GDP, which willbe further lowered to 4.5 percent by 2025-26 fiscal endingMarch 31, 2026.

“Vast economic growth iscrucial and critical for main-taining those deficits at thoserates financing them and keep-ing debt stocks from rising evenfurther.

If that were the case if theeconomy were to recover at amuch lower pace than expect-ed we would have additionalconcerns regarding the sus-tainability of those fiscal

accounts,” Wood added.S&P currently has a ‘BBB-

’ rating on India, with a stableoutlook.

To a query on what couldput downside pressure on rat-ings, Wood said, “If we have amuch lower than expectedrecovery, slower nominal GDPgrowth, that would be a con-cern.

If economy is not growingquickly then fiscal deficit wouldbe lot higher and debt stockcould be rising rather than sta-bilising. That would entail highgovernment

deficit and higher generalgovernment debt stock whichcould cause us to question thesustainability of India’s publicfinances.”

New Delhi:Google onWednesday said it would give$15 million (nearly Rs 109crore) to support small andmicro enterprises in India inthe face of Covid-19 pandem-ic.

The investment is part of

the $75 million commitmentfrom Google to help smallbusinesses outside of the US.

“In India, we will invest $15million to support small andmicro enterprises across thecountry and are in discussionswith local partners,” the com-

pany said in a statement.The company is working

with non-government part-ners who have a long trackrecord of providing resourcesto businesses that are general-ly overlooked by traditionallenders. IANS

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Global forecasting firmOxford Economics on

Wednesday revised India’s eco-nomic growth projection for2021 to 10.2 per cent from theearlier 8.8 per cent, citingreceding Covid-19 risks andthe shift in the monetary pol-icy outlook.

It further said the Budget2021-22 will create positive

externalities for the privatesector, and forecast slower fis-cal consolidation in FY22 thanthe government projections.

“Alongside the plannedgovernment spending boostin Q1 and receding Covid-19risks, the shift in the monetarypolicy outlook supports our2021 growth upgrade to 10.2 per cent from 8.8 per centearlier,” Oxford Economicssaid.

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The rupee depreciated by 5paise to close at 72.74

against the US dollar onWednesday tracking losses inthe domestic equity marketsand strengthening Americancurrency in the global mar-kets.

US bond yields rising toone-year high due to strongrecovery prospects also hit therupee sentiment, analysts said.

At the interbank forexmarket, the local unit openedat 72.90 against the greenbackand witnessed an intra-dayhigh of 72.72 and a low of72.92.

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New Delhi:Three top brokeragefirms - CLSA, Credit Suisse andAxis Capital - have assigned“Buy” or “Outperform” rating tothe ITC stock.Credit Suisseincreased the target price to�265 from �255 on roll forwardwhile maintaining an outper-form rating. ComparableFMCG growth in Q3 was 11%year-on-year, which remainsvery healthy. “We remain pos-itive on ITC as we see strongcigarette recovery as consumermobility recovers...and increas-ing value of FMCG businesswith strong EBIDTA perfor-mance,” the brokerage said.PTI

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The world is a beautifulplace with many chal-lenges. And on our jour-

neys, we change! One thingthat remains constant is the

fact that it needs power. Mymantra has always been

— we learn to bend sothat we may seldombreak. I push my lim-

its every single day,”reads one of the cap-tions on actor MalaikaArora’s Instagram

account. Well, these linesquite evidently reflect the

actor’s approach and perspec-tive towards life and its chal-

lenges.Though the fitness enthusiast is

not too often seen on the big screen, she hasbeen giving us some major fashion and fit-ness goals. Here she shares a few healthtips. Excerpts

�How do you choose to associate withany brand?

To attach myself to a brand, I need tostrongly believe in its ethos. It should add

relevance to my life.For instance, I have been a strong stand-

ing partner with Reebok because I love itsproducts and the brand has helped me growwithin my fitness journey.

�What has been your fitness mantra?I start my day with yoga and meditation

in the morning, followed by a walk. I thencome back and eat a nutritious meal. I lookforward to each day with positive energy andenthusiasm which keeps me mentallyhealthy too.

�Can you give us a breakdown of the dietyou follow to stay in shape?

I usually don’t follow any particular diet.I try to eat everything that my bodydemands but of course in moderation — beit avocados or biryani.

�You have been giving us some major‘yoga goals’ through your Instagramaccount. Can you give us a deeper insightinto your fitness journey?

I discovered yoga when I had a leginjury. It didn’t just give me the mentalstrength to recover from my injury but alsohelped me heal from inside out. It was thenI realised that I need to include this as a partof my routine.

�A lot of people take supple-ments nowadays. How essen-

tial are they to our health?As long as you are aware of using the

right supplements that won’t have any sideeffects on your body, it is okay to use themsince it provides a boost to your body whichhelps you achieve your goals. I strongly urgeeveryone to consult a dietician and a phys-ical trainer before taking any supplement.

�During the lockdown, most of us wereworking out from home, with the help ofonline fitness apps. What would you sayabout their increasing popularity?

I feel the lockdown period has helpedto raise awareness about how fitness is anessential part of our lives. People took thetime out to research how to make themselvesmore efficient and how fitness can helpaccentuate their daily performance. Fitnessapps fit in well here since gyms or parksweren’t open for exercise.

�Please share a few fitness tips that you’dwant your audience to follow.

A few fitness tips that people can followare:

�Choose the right gear (clothes andshoes) that makes you feel comfortable.

�Create a routine that works for you.�Set reasonable expectations to keep

yourself motivated throughout.�For beginners, take up walking as an

exercise as it has multiple benefits for yourbody and mind. With Reebok introducingits new walking category with shoes likeReebok Ever Road DMX, Austin, Druhan,Ease Slip On, Fusion Lux, Motionpulse, thisis the best time to grab a pair and begin yourfitness journey.

Whenever we think of dec-orating our homes, walls

fall last into the list or might noteven get a chance. They oftenremain neglected as we focus onfurnishings, furniture andaccessories to add a spark.

Sushhmita Siingh, thePrinciple designer at SushmitaSingh Design shares a few ideasthat one can explore to makeyour walls speak. Let theseideas be an inspiration in mak-ing your walls your canvas ofself-expression.

HANG PICTURES ANDPHOTOS

The paint colour of yourwall is relevant when you makea collage of memories on yourwall. The images you choose todisplay should have a contrastor light and dark monochromeones. The frame that youchoose need to balance the sizeof the wall and the room. Weoften see a huge painting withreally broad frames when theroom size id 12ft x12ft, whichis totally out of context. A senseof balance is extremely impor-tant. Often people tend to over-look such minor but veryimportant details, which canadd or destroy the look. Familyportraits, paintings, posters(digitally printed, hand paintedones) add emotions to the wall.

It becomes a great conversationstarter and lends your walls anovel persona.

GREENERY INDOORSInstead of having plants

that sit comfortably on yourfloor, hang them on the wall ifspace and cleaning is a con-

straint. Fix wall hanging potsand fancy holders that makeyour greens look attractive.Greenery can be seasonalcolourful flowers and colouredleaf plants that add colour to anotherwise plain wall. You canalso decorate an entire wall fullof crawlers covering the wall in

beautiful patterns, formed nat-urally. Nowadays availability ofgood quality artificial plantscome in handy when maintain-ing real plants is an issue. Theyhave size variants, which ishelpful. Digital wallpapers,block printed fabric wall papersalso are a great add-ons toyour walls, which can be bothformal and informal.

DIY IDEASIf you are a creative person

or like to use your free time increating things, you can dedi-cate a wall for your creativespace. Hang your paintings,your origami objects and craftson the wall. Use the walls tosupport your creations. If yousculpt then use it to keep itagainst a wall, it has a dedicatespace. Make selves on the wallto display your DIY projects andstay motivated on your creativejourney.

BOOKSHELVESDedicate a wall to your

books. Books lend character toany room. If you don’t own toomany, you may fill the space withmemoires and display articlesfrom your latest collection.Pillows and decorative ceramicsmake for great space filler on ashelf as well. You may also usebookshelves as storage spaces.Also photo frames and smalllamps to highlight the acces-sories can be displayed.

WANDERLUSTDecorate your wall with a

large size map of the world.Scratch out maps is also intrend. You can also display yourpurchases on your journeyacross the globe. If you have nottravelled much you can alwaysuse this space to make a moodboard and manifest your traveldreams.

LIGHTSFancy LED lights on walls

create a pattern which adds tothe ambience as well as con-tributes to the illumination ofthe room, thus a multifunction-al element and also value formoney.

When you style a wall, youmust know that it is a place youwill be looking at often. So havesomething that will inspire you.

Producer Ekta Kapoor is all set to release newweb series, The Married Woman, and she

says she waited to make the intense drama showon a digital platform because it wouldn’t be pos-sible to do justice to its content on televisionor film.

The web series is based on Manju Kapur’sbook of the same name, and stars Ridhi Dograand Monica Dogra in lead roles.

Asked why she decided to make the showbased on the book, Ekta said, “I read the bookand I liked it, so I wanted to make a show outof it. When I met Manju (Kapur) ji, I thoughtit’s a great book but there was no way I coulddo it on television or film. So, I waited for amedium that gave birth to individual viewing.This was probably the show that was waitingto be made and I thought the digital mediumwould be a perfect platform for it.”

The trailer of the show delves into the char-acters of Astha (Ridhi) and Peeplika (Monica).Set in the nineties, the story revolves aroundAstha, a dutiful wife and a doting mother, whosets out on a journey of self-discovery after shemeets an unconventional artist, Peeplika.

Asked how responsible she feels to bringvaried stories to the audience through the dig-ital platform, Ekta said, “I cater to every kindof audience and I have no problem when I caterto the masses. I make really aspirational and,at times, escapist programming for people whowant to enjoy themselves. At times I make relat-able, heartwarming and really touching storiesbecause for me it is therapeutic as I get theopportunity to tell different kinds of stories.”

“When you do one show for television, itgoes on for 20 years or sometimes 5,000

episodes. So, at one point you get tired of it. Infilms, it’s all actor-driven. I enjoy telling a vari-ety of stories and the language in the show isdifferent from a lot of other shows,” sheadded.

The series also stars Imaad Shah, AyeshaRaza, Rahul Vohra, Divya Seth Shah, NadiraBabbar and Suhaas Ahuja in key roles.

(The series will stream on ALT Balaji andZee5 from March 8.)

Nushrratt Bharuccha recentlylaunched her first ever music

video with Honey Singh. Featuringin Saiyaan Ji has been a special jour-ney for the actor, here’s why.

She says, “It is extremely closeto my heart as its my first ever withHoney Sir. This is our fourth songtogether, after Dil Chori, Care NiKarda and Chote Chote Peg. Withthe song now crossing 100 millionviews, we have maintained our win-ning streak. I’m overwhelmed withall the love coming my way from theaudiences. The fact that the song hasbecome such a massive hit, is suchan amazing hype for us.”

“The song is also special to me,as I shot it right after the lockdownwas lifted. That time, I was promot-ing Chhalaang, and was runningbetween one activity to another, butsomehow we fixed up the dates andworked it out — even if it meantshooting for 18 hours a day. I’m real-ly glad that it bore a fruitful out-come,” the actress added.

Next in her pipeline is Hurdangopposite Vijay Varma, Janhit MeinJaari and Chhorii for which she wasrecently seen shooting.

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Chhattisgarh holds a specialplace in the country in termsof mineral resources. While

the production of minerals leads todevelopment of the area throughmineral-based industries, newemployment opportunities are alsogenerated. However, the other sideof the coin is the problem faced bypeople living in the area. In such asituation, it becomes the responsibil-ity of the government to take specialcare of the interests and welfare ofthe local people from the miningaffected area. The recent efforts, inthis regard, are highly commendable,and what is more applaudable is thatthese responsibilities are being dis-charged with seriousness.

The government is ensuringparticipation of mining lease hold-ers for the interests and welfare of thepeople living in the area affected bymining operations. For this, theprovision of the formation of theDistrict Mineral Institute Trust in theMineral Act was made in the previ-ous government. However, manyshortcomings were being felt in thisprovision by the experts as the par-ticipation of public representativeswas not being ensured. Moreover, theparticipation of local people was alsominimal. Apart from this, properutilisation of funds was not beingdone for the welfare of the directlyaffected people. In simple words,those in need were not getting ben-efitted from the allotted funds.Several other similar shortcomingswere also observed in the precedingprovision.

In order to overcome theseshortcomings and to provide prop-er benefits to the affected local peo-ple in the fields of health, education,environment and sanitation, thestate government has made severalimportant reforms in the old provi-sion to provide benefits directly tothe affected people.

�INCLUSIVE DEVELOPMENTIN ALL DISTRICTS OFCHHATTISGARH THROUGHDMF

The Chhattisgarh governmenthas utilised the DMF fund signifi-cantly for development in the state.All sector including education,health, infrastructure development,electricity, water, sanitation, etc havebeen developed with the help ofDMF fund in all districts ofChhattisgarh. The fund is also usedin building Atmanand GovernmentEnglish-medium schools in variousdistricts of state. The cases of mal-nutrition have also dipped with the

help of DMF. Moreover, it has beenused in improving the health infra-structure and providing relief to thepeople during Coronavirus crisis.The changes can be felt in almost allthe districts of state, however, thenotable examples are mentionedbelow.

�Representation of public repre-sentatives ensured

The primary step taken by thegovernment is to ensure representa-tion of public representatives in thetrust. For which, the minister incharge of the district has beenappointed as ex-officio chairman ofthe governing council. Along withthis, all the MLAs of the district havebeen appointed as its ex-officiomembers. Previously, according tothe old provision, the collector of thedistrict used to be the chairman ofthe governing council.

�Increased representation of locals The other significant change in

the provision made by the BhupeshBaghel’s government is the increasedparticipation of local residents of theaffected area. It is worth mentioningthat in the previous provision, onlythose affected by mining were spe-cially not given enough space in thecouncil. As per the amendment,the state government has decided tomake provision for the appoint-

ment of at least 10 members of theGram Sabha, residents of the direct-ly affected area in the council com-pared to the earlier provision ofnominating only two sarpanchs.�Benefit directly to the needy

The state government furthermakes necessary changes in the pre-ceding provision to make theamount received in the trust direct-ly to the needy. As per the amend-ments, 50 per cent of the amountreceived in the trust will be used forthe welfare of the directly affectedarea/persons. This has resulted ineconomic and social development ofthe residents. It is to be noted thatin the previous provision, the entiredistrict was considered affected andthe amount was spent at will andonly a part of the profit reached theneedy.

�Five-year vision document underincubation

As per the amended provisions,beneficiaries benefiting from thetrust fund will be identified in orderto prepare a five-year vision docu-ment as per the requirement of theaffected area/residents, for an over-all development of these areas. Thiswork has already started in theDantewada, Korba and Bastar dis-tricts.

�New sectors included

New sectors have been includedin the works edited by the trust fundfor sustainable livelihood, publictransport, preserving cultural valuesand promoting youth activities. It isbeing implemented in Dantewada,Jashpur, Surguja and Kanker districts.Many important efforts are beingmade in the field of drinking water,health and education under the lead-ership of the CM, the trust funds arebeing fully utilised in the state. Solarenergy-based project in drinkingwater, health care facilities in govern-ment hospitals, providing education-al fees/hostel fees in governmentinstitutions for higher education tofamily members of directly affectedareas in education as well as allcompetitive examinations. Provisionhas been made for coaching and res-idential training. Sankalp coaching inJashpur district is an excellent exam-ple of this.

Apart from this, storage and pro-cessing units of agricultural productsare being encouraged along withfood processing, minor forest produceand forest processing. Additionally,organic farming is also being promot-ed and employment opportunities arebeing provided to women. Throughthis manure is being prepared foragriculture. Cleanliness of drainsand intensive plantation works arebeing encouraged. Whereas previous-ly, the description of only agricultur-

al machinery/non-standard seedswere of prime focus. Now in infra-structure related works, only 20 percent amount is being used in sectorsother than drinking water, health andeducation.

�Monitoring of trust worksMonitoring of tasks amended by

the trust is necessary. Hence, it hasbeen decided to hold a meeting of thestate level monitoring committeeonce a year. A provision has beenmade to set up a state level DistrictMineral Institute Trust Cell to mon-itor the works of the trust.

�Successful execution of ChiefMinister’s flagship scheme

The state government has issuedinstructions to spend the amountfrom DMF in this work to solve theproblem of health, malnutrition in theaffected areas and to make employ-ment to agriculture works, the resultsare very encouraging. In Dantewadadistrict, malnutrition has decreasedby four per cent over the previousyear. Similarly, only 50 thousandpatients have been treated free of costin Dantewada at Haat Bazar Clinicsince June 2019.

� Improvement of MaharaniHospital of Jagdalpur

Human resources and medicalsupplies were absolutely required forthe operation of Maharani Hospital,the largest government hospital inBastar division. It was supplied fromthe DMFT item by the district admin-istration there. Today, thousands ofpatients are receiving their treat-ment in this hospital.

�Cultural values are being protect-ed in Dantewada district

The district administration ispreserving cultural values throughDantewada district DMF item. Underthis, work is being done to preservethe priceless culture and heritage ofthe tribals by rejuvenating Devgudiin 143 gram panchayats of the districtand developing it into a tourist cen-tre. This initiative is proving effectivein further strengthening the tribalculture and values.

�Mungeli district fighting withmalnutrition

DMF is helping to free Mungelidistrict from malnutrition. About2,400 children of the district are beingbenefited from this scheme.

There are various examples in thestate that strongly establishes that theamount of DMF is being used betternow than earlier.

North Delhi Mayorinspected Hindu Rao

hospital in view of COVID-19 vaccination to sanitationworkers. During the inspec-tion, Standing Committeechairman, Chhail BihariGoswami, MedicalSuperintendent of the hospi-tal, Dr Anu Kapoor andother senior officials werealso present.

Mayor Jai Prakash saidthat vaccination campaign offrontline warriors is going onin North DMC hospitals. Hesaid, “Sanitation workers area part of the frontline war-riors. Everyone is activelyparticipating in this vaccina-tion drive. Our sanitationworkers had contributed sig-nificantly in keeping the cityclean during the pandemic.

Around 50 safai karamcharishave been vaccinated andrest will be vaccinated in aphased manner.”

“India has set an exam-ple before the whole worldby controlling the virus. Weare on the way to become a

Corona-free nation now. Weare also providing COVID-19 vaccine to other nations,”the Mayor added.

The president of NorthernRailway Women’s Welfare

Organisation (NRWWO),Shikha Gangal, inauguratedthe Physiotherapy Unit in thepresence of GM NorthernRailway, Ashutosh Gangal,Additional General Managerof Northern Railway (NR),Naveen Gulati, PCMD/NR,NK Yadav and other PHoDsof Northern Railway alsograced the occasion.

NRWWO is a voluntaryorgansation, run by thespouse of railway officers. Itplays an active role in the wel-fare activities of railway staffproviding help to the wards ofrailway employees in theiracademic, cultural and sportsactivities.

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The Tribes India AadiMahotsav came to a suc-

cessful close. The closing cer-emony was presided byRamesh Chand Meena,Chairman, TRIFED in thepresence of Krishnadhan Das,Chairman, Tripura MARK-FED and Pravir Krishna,Managing Director, TRIFED.

The closing programmebegan with the visit of digni-taries to the stalls of the festi-val. Following which, theywere welcomed and felicitatedby Pravir Krishna, ManagingDirector, TRIFED and theTRIFED team. In his wel-come address, Krishnathanked the dignitaries fortheir visit and the residents ofDelhi for making this event agrand success. He was confi-dent that the heavy footfall andthe phenomenal sales regis-tered despite the times welive in, would definitely go along way in helping the tribalartisans and dwellers over-come the setback that theyfaced during the pandemicinduced-lockdown.

The short ceremony alsosaw the felicitation of the topthree tribal artisans cate-gorised in different groupssuch as textiles, gifts andassortments, organic prod-ucts, cane and bamboo, jew-ellery, metal, paintings, potteryand tribal cuisine based ontheir sales and popularity withthe audience. The artisans/organisations felicitated weregiven a memento. The cere-mony came to a close with acultural programme and din-ner.

The fortnight-longNational Tribal Festival saw

the participation of 1000s oftribal artisans, chefs, artistsand cultural troupes from 25states across the country. Therich tribal culture as evident inthe form of rare tribal handi-crafts, handloom and naturalproducts, tribal cuisines wereon display in about 200 stalls.The Aadi Mahotsav succeed-ed in winning the hearts of theresidents of Delhi as witnessedby the heavy footfall over thepast 15 days and the sales reg-istered.

The wares of the tribalartisans, be it the f inePattachitra paintings, the love-ly silks from Assam or theexquisite tribal jewellery fromOdisha and the beaded neck-laces from the North-easthave, have been very appreci-ated. Add to it the earthy, exot-ic cuisine of the tribals, rang-ing from momos from Sikkim,mahua laddoos fromChhattisgarh, dhuska and littichokha from Jharkhand tothapdi roti of Odisha andchapda chutney ofChhattisgarh, all were a part ofthe festival.

Making up for the lossesregistered due to the lock-down, the Aadi Mahotsav hasseen the tribal artisans regis-ter approximately �4 crore indirect sales over the past fort-night. Moreover, a purchaseorder worth �8 crores hasbeen placed by TRIFED; lead-ing to a total of approximate-ly �12 crores in business trans-actions for the tribals partici-pating in this festival.

The Aadi Mahotsav hastruly been a celebration of thespirit of tribal life, crafts, cul-ture and cuisine.

An OSV, Greatship Rohiniwith 18 crew members

onboard reported fire onFebruary 13 while the shipwas 92 Nautical Miles North-West off Mumbai, near theNQO Platform of MumbaiHigh. One crew reported fireinjury and was evacuated anddisembarked ashore by ONGChelicopter for medical treat-ment. Three others were miss-ing and trapped in the engineroom. On receipt of the infor-mation, Coast GuardOperation Centre Mumbai,diverted Offshore Patrol VesselSamarth to the scene of action.Simultaneously, CG Dornieraircraft was launched for assess-ment of the situation. CG ShipSamarth reached the area at1335 hours and took over as OnScene Coordinator. Initially,MV Albatross-5 operating invicinity, tied up a hawser fromforecastle of Greatship Rohiniand pulled her out to safe loca-tion from NQO platform rig.

ICGS Samarth, with itsadvance External Fire Fightingsystem in coordination withOSV Priya 27, established

boundary cooling for control-ling the spread of fire. TheBoarding Team from ICG ShipSamarth boarded the vesselfor carrying out situationassessment. However, theefforts of the team wereimpinged due to heat and heavysmoke gushing out of engineroom. Fire fighting efforts were

restricted due to non-avail-ability of power supplyonboard.

Meanwhile, PollutionControl Vessel SamudraPraheri was sailed out to reachthe scene of incident. Fourteencrew of the distressed vesselwere safely evacuated to ICGSSamudra Praheri. The fire-

fighting and boundary coolingcontinued for over 24 hours byICGS Samudra Praheri along-with OSV Priya-23 and ETVWater Lily. The OSV GreatshipAhilya also joined the operationfor augmenting the SAR efforts.

The condition of the dis-tressed vessel is being moni-tored closely.

As per the instructionsissued by Ministry of

Road Transport &Highways, DTC observedNational Road Safety Monthfrom January 18 to February17. During this month, DTCundertook various activi-ties on safer road mobility tospread the cause of saferroads amongst the stake-holders.

DTC operates over3,719 buses in Delhi and itsadjoining areas and is hold-ing the largest CNG pro-pelled fleet. Keeping in viewthe safety of women and spe-cial people while travellingthrough public transport,DTC has deployed BusMarshals special enforce-ment teams with 20 Eeco

Vans throughout Delhi.These vans remain mobile inthe concerned regional areasunder the supervision ofRegional Managers and reg-ular checks are being carriedout at terminals and busqueue shelters.

During the Road Safetymonth, DTC also arrangeda seminar on Accessible andSafer Public Transport,chaired by Vijay KumarBidhuri, MD, DTC.

DTC has been adjudgedfor ‘Best Urban TransportOrganisation’ for road safe-ty by the Ministry of RoadTransport & Highways,Government of India, for theyears 2009-10, 2010-11,2011-12, 2012-13, 2018-19,2019-20 and 2020-21.

NTPC Limited hasstarted releasing

compensation to the fam-ilies of Tapovan workers,who have lost their lives inthe Uttarakhand naturaldisaster that hit the stateon February 7.

The first cheque of�20 lakh was handed overto Vimala Devi, wife oflate Narendra Ji ofTapovan Vihar. A teamfrom NTPC, led by RPAhirwar, head of Tapovanproject, visited Vimala

Devi on Monday.While Tapovan team

has accelerated comple-tion of all modalities tofast-track distribution ofcompensation, the com-pany has decided to handover compensation fromits end to the families ofits deceased workers asper ex-gratia list releasedby the state government.

Meanwhile, rescueoperation at site is in fullswing for the ninth con-secutive day with exten-

sive coordinated workbeing carried out by mul-tiple agencies includingNTPC to reach thosetrapped in the tunnel.

While dedicatedteams from NTPC aremanaging the entire res-cue operation behind thescene by assisting the res-cue teams, the companyairlifted machineriesincluding high-end sub-mersible slush removalpumps to fast-track theoperation.

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North Delhi Mayor inspects Hindu Rao hospital

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Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipasrecovered from two setsdown to stun Rafael Nadal

in the Australian Open quarter-finals on Wednesday, ending theSpaniard’s bid for a record 21stGrand Slam title.

Second seed Nadal was oncourse for a comfortable victorybefore the 22-year-old Tsitsipasturned the match around to prevail3-6, 2-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-4, 7-5.

It was just the second timeNadal had lost when two sets up ina Grand Slam, having previously fall-en to Fabio Fognini in the thirdround of the 2015 US Open, and thethird time in his career after a 2005match against Roger Federer.

Fifth seed Tsitsipas will nowattempt to reach his first Grand Slamfinal when he plays the in-formDaniil Medvedev in the semi-final.

“I don’t know what happenedafter the third set — I fly like littlebird, everything was working for me,”said Tsitsipas, who hit 49 winners and17 aces. It was just his second winover Nadal in eight matches.

“The emotions at the end wereindescribable, they were some-thing else.”

The 22-year-old credited acomposed temperament for histurnaround.

“I was able to be consistent withmy mood and be calm in the cru-cial moments,” he said. “I’ve beentrying to keep everything to myselfand I’m happy with my attitude Ishowed on the court.”

Nadal, sweating profusely inthe muggy conditions, was in vin-

tage form until a nerveless Tsitsipasturned the match on its head aftersnatching the tiebreak in the thirdset of the fixture.

The momentum shifted towards

Tsitsipas in the fourth set and hefinally cracked Nadal’s serve to forcea deciding set.

Both players served well underpressure in a tense fifth set before

Tsitsipas gained the pivotal break inthe 11th game and then clinched hismemorable victory with a backhandwinner down the line.

That drama had appeared

unlikely when an aggressive Nadalcruised through the opening twosets, toying with Tsitsipas and mov-ing him around the court.

Tsitsipas, however, hung inthere to force a third set tiebreak,where Nadal’s loose play ultimate-ly proved fatal.

Another tough challenge awaitshim in the semi-final as he has 1-5 record against the RussianMedvedev.

“He’s playing very well and is ingood shape. I know he is going togive me a difficult time on thecourt. I need to recover and do anice ice bath.”

WINS HEAT & RUBLEVEarlier in all-Russian battle

Daniil Medvedev came out on top ofa brutal clash against Andrey Rublevto move into his first AustralianOpen semi-final and inch closer toa first Grand Slam title.

The fourth seed had more fire-power than his younger, seventh-seeded rival in scorching conditionson Rod Laver Arena, grinding himdown 7-5, 6-3, 6-2 to extend hiswin-streak to 19 matches.

“I would say the three lastpoints when I was getting ready forthe serve I could not really movemy left leg,” he said, with both play-ers cramping in the “super-tough”conditions.

“But I’ve known him a longtime and I know how to neutralisehis big shots. That’s definitely oneof the best matches I’ve played late-ly, not even just here but last year,”Medvedev added.

“It was unbelievable, because hewas playing really good and I man-aged to beat him in three sets.”

Medvedev is now riding a 19-match run dating back toNovember, taking in titles at theParis 1000, the ATP Finals inLondon and the ATP Cup withRussia in the lead-up to the open-ing Grand Slam of the year.

He is into his first semi atMelbourne Park as he continues toknock on the door of Grand Slamsuccess, having reached the 2019US Open final and the last four inNew York in 2020.

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Kylian Mbappé outplayedLionel Messi as Paris Saint-

Germain put Barcelona up againstthe ropes in the ChampionsLeague again.

And with Mbappé in thatkind of form, it’s hard to seeBarcelona staging another epiccomeback this time.

After Messi put Barcelonaahead from the penalty spot,Mbappé netted a hat trick at theCamp Nou on Tuesday to givePSG a 4-1 win in the first leg oftheir round-of-16 matchup.

It was the team’s first meetingsince Barcelona erased a 4-0 deficitby winning the second leg 6-1 atthe same stage of the competitionfour years ago. But Ronald

Koeman’s team was thoroughlyoutplayed at home, even withPSG missing Brazil star Neymar,and now has to attempt a come-back in Paris instead.

“It was a very importantmatch for us,” Mbappé said.

“We wanted to come hereand win. We did that in style.Tonight was magnificent,but we haven’t won any-thing yet.”

Mbappé scored fiveminutes after Messi’sopener and added twosecond-half goals tobecome the first play-er to score an awayhat-trick at the CampNou in theChampions Leaguesince Andriy Shevchenko for

Dynamo Kyiv in a 4-0 win in 1997.His dominance was epito-

mized by the image of GerardPique — making his return froma long-term injury layoff — pullingat Mbappé’s shirt in an unsuccess-ful attempt at slowing down theFrance star as he rushed forward

in attack.“There’s no doubt that

Kylian is one of the best play-ers in the world, despite hisyoung age,” said PSG coachMauricio Pochettino, who wasin charge of his firstChampions League game withthe French club, having ledTottenham to the final twoyears ago.

“He’s already done extraor-dinary things. But we have tostay humble.”

Moise Kean also scored inthe second half for PSG, last sea-son’s finalist which looked farmore dangerous than the hoststhroughout the match at theempty Camp Nou.

The second leg will be onMarch 10 in Paris.

“I’m not going to lie, it’s verydifficult to come back from a 4-1first-leg loss at home,” Koemansaid.

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Liverpool rediscovered lost formand seized the initiative against RB

Leipzig in the first leg of theirChampions League last-16 clash bycruising to a 2-0 win in a chillyBudapest on Tuesday.

Clinical early second-half strikesfrom Salah and Mane, both courtesyof dreadful defensive errors, proveddecisive and left the German side fac-ing a formidable task in the return legon March 10.

The win moves Jurgen Klopp’smen to the brink of the ChampionsLeague quarter-finals and also endsa run of three straight defeats that hasleft the English champions 13 pointsbehind leaders Manchester City in thePremier League.

“It was a game we wanted it wasa game we needed tonight,” Klopptold BT Sport afterwards. “Leipzig canbe a real monster. The way they playin the Bundesliga they overrun teams,they can be really physical in every-

thing and tonight we controlledthem in an exceptional way.

“They had their momentsbecause of the quality they have butwe controlled the game so tonight Ithink we got the result we deserved,”he said.

“We made two huge mistakes

which would be punished at anylevel,” Nagelsmann told DAZN.“Mistakes happen, we didn’t playbadly and we have to live with theresult, we have to score twice just totake the game (return leg) to extratime, but we will try to do our best,”he said.

Johannesburg: Former South Africa captain Faf duPlessis on Wednesday announced his retirement fromTest cricket to focus on the shorter formats with T20being his priority.

The 36-year-old made the announcement througha statement on his Instagram page.

“It has been a year of refinement in the fire forus all. Uncertain were the times but they broughtclarity for me in many aspects. My heart is clearand time is right to walk into a new chapter,” duPlessis posted.

“It has been an honour to play for my country inall formats of the game but the time has come for meto retire from Test cricket.”

Du Plessis said his focus now shifts to T20 crick-et but ODIs will also remain a part of his plans.

“The next two years are ICC T20 World Cup years.Because of this my focus is shifting to this format andI want to play as much of it as possible around the worldso that I can be the best player I can possibly be.

“I strongly believe I have a lot to offer to the Proteasin this format. This does mean that ODI cricket is nolonger in the plans, I am just making T20 cricket pri-ority in the short-term,” he said.

Du Plessis played 69 Tests, scoring 4163 runsat an average of 40.02 including 10 hundreds and21 fifties.

He stepped down as South Africa’s Test and T20captain last year after taking over from the charismat-ic AB de Villiers back in 2016. He captained the teamis 36 Tests, winning 18 of them. PTI

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Flamboyant Australian GlennMaxwell is expected to be a

favourite, despite his under-whelming record, along withEngland’s spin bowling all-rounder Moeen Ali during acondensed IPL players auctionslated here on Thursday.

A total of 292 players havebeen enlisted for the shortenedauctions — 164 of them Indianand 125 overseas. There willalso be three associate players inthe auction.

With 61 slots across eightfranchises up for grabs, RoyalChallengers Bangalore has themaximum, 11 vacancies, to fillwith a purse of �35.4 crore whileSunrisers Hyderabad has onlythree slots available with �10.75crore in its kitty.

The highest purse avail-able is with Anil Kumblecoached Punjab Kings, former-ly Kings XI Punjab, which has�53.20 crore available for spend-ing on nine spots.

With the IPL back in Indiaafter being held in the UAE lastyear, focus will be on big-hittersas well as slow bowlers andMaxwell and Moeen fit the cat-egory to the T.

However, Maxwell averages22 in the tournament, havingplayed 82 matches for his 1505runs. He last played for Punjab.

Moeen, on the other hand,was seen in action for RoyalChallengers Bangalore in theprevious season.

While Maxwell and his for-mer skipper Steve Smith are

both in the highest biddingcategory of �2 crore, one namethat will surely attract attentionis world’s No 1 ranked T20 bats-man Dawid Malan.

A strike-rate of nearly 150in 19 T20Is has catapultedMalan into limelight and a fewteams may like to raise theirbids for the 33-year-old with abase price of �1.5 crore.

One of the most keenly-watched teams going into theauction will be Chennai SuperKings after a nightmarish 2020season when they failed toqualify for the IPL play-offs for

the first time in tournament’shistory.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni andhead coach Stephen Fleminghave always valued experienceway more than exuberance ofyouth in their team.

So, with �19.90 crore tospend and six vacancies to fill,Dhoni will look at some poten-tial big hitters to help him,Suresh Raina and Faf du Plessisin the middle.

Since the IPL will be held inIndia, Maxwell despite hisunder-achieving stats could bepicked for his skills as a tight

off-break bowler on slowertracks.

In case of Malan, Kings XIPunjab could walk away withhim considering their purseand lack of consistent firepow-er at the top of the order.

The only part that is debat-able about Malan is how goodhe is when it comes to playingslow bowlers in Indian condi-tions.

Among Indian players, thethree notable capped namesare Kedar Jadhav, veteran off-spinner Harbhajn Singh and fastbowler Umesh Yadav.

The auction dynamics,when it comes to Indian play-ers, have been very differentcompared to foreign playersdue to the limited availableslots (8) in each squad.

That’s the reason SunrisersHyderabad or a RajasthanRoyals won’t mind having anUmesh on board because of hisexperience at the highest level.

Similarly, Kedar andHarbhajan, with high-end baseprices may go unsold during thefirst lot. But they are likely topicked up in the final hour afterfranchises have settled squads.

Ditto for Steve Smith,among those with the highestbase price but having a strike-rate which is not the greatest fora top-order batsman, might notfind too many bidders unlessany franchise is looking for asuitable captaincy candidate.

As usual, there would besome eye-popping bids for theuncapped domestic players likeKerala’s MohammedAzharuddeen (Junior), TamilNadu’s handsome hulk ShahRukh Khan, all-rounder R SonuYadav, Baroda’s Vishnu Solankiand Bengal’s Akash Deep. Theycould invite mini-bidding warswith their lowest base pricebracket of �20 lakh.

Sachin Tendulkar’s sonArjun, a left arm fast bowlerwho made his senior Mumbaiteam debut this year, is brack-eted in the �20 lakh categoryand the kind of traction that theyoung kid brings along couldmean that some bidders will bethere for him.

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The selectors on Wednesdayretained 17 of the 18 members in

the Indian squad for the final twoTests against England while seniorpacer Umesh Yadav’s inclusion woulddepend on his fitness assessmentahead of the Day/Night game inAhmedabad.

Shardul Thakur is the only play-er who has not been kept as he willbe released to compete in the VijayHazare Trophy.

The anticipation was aroundsenior pacer Mohammed Shami’s fit-ness and it has been learnt that he isstill not 100 percent fit for the rigoursof five-day games.

“Umesh Yadav will join the teamin Ahmedabad and after his fitnessassessment will replace ShardulThakur, who will be released forVijay Hazare Trophy,” BCCI secretaryJay Shah said in a press release.

Predictably, left-arm spinnerShahbaz Nadeem has been droppedfrom stand-by list after his poorshow in the first Test. Leg-spinnerRahul Chahar and keeper-batsmanKona Srikar Bharat are stand-by play-ers.

Priyank Panchal and AbhimanyuEaswaran have also been released toplay Vijay Hazare Trophy.

The five net bowlers, who were inChennai will also join the team inAhmedabad. They are Ankit Rajpoot,Avesh Khan, Sandeep Warrier,Krishnappa Gowtham and SaurabhKumar.

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Karolina Muchova staged astunning comeback on

Thursday to upset Ashleigh Bartyand storm into the AustralianOpen semi-finals, rallying from aset down to shatter the worldnumber one’s dreams.

The Czech 25th seed lookedon her way out after Barty racedthrough the opening set, but aftera medical timeout Muchovareturned a different player to win1-6, 6-3, 6-2 on Rod Laver Arenaas the Australian crumbled.

She will now face JenniferBrady for a place in the final afterthe big-serving American stageda comeback three-set victory overfellow countrymate Jessica Pegulain a 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 win.

“I started feeling a bit lost bythe end of the first set. She playedalmost like no mistakes,” saidMuchova, whose best previous

Grand Slam run was to the lasteight at Wimbledon in 2019.

“It was very tough and I wasa bit lost on the court and my headwas spinning so I took a break. Ithelped me. I tried to get back,played a bit faster rallies so wedon’t play the long ones as in thefirst set and it worked well.”

Her come-from-behind winended top seed Barty’s hopes ofbecoming the first home winnerat the Australian Open in 43years after Chris O’Neil’s break-through in 1978.

Barty, the 2019 French Openchampion, had made a flyingstart to her year, winning thewarm-up Yarra Valley Classic andhad not lost a set before meetingMuchova.

“It’s heartbreaking, of course,”Barty said. “But the sun will comeup tomorrow. You’re either win-ning or you’re learning, and todayis a massive learning curve for me.”

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