2020/10/03  · and priyanka gandhi finallyentire incident, including sex-the uttar pradesh...

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T he Uttar Pradesh Government finally did a series of course corrections on Saturday in face of massive crit- icism it faced for preventing the media and political leaders from meeting the family mem- bers of the Hathras gangrape victim and not reaching out to the traumatised family. In a clear indication that the administration was feeling the heat of public and media outrage, the Government first allowed the media to enter the Hathras village to meet the family members of the victim. Then the DGP and Additional Chief Secretary of Uttar Pradesh visited the family members and tried to provide them solace and give them the assurance that the Government will address their concerns. This was the first visit by high-ranking officials of the Government and police since the alleged gangrape that took place on September 14. Then came the biggest climbdown of all — Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi were allowed to enter UP after the State Government deployed thou- sands of policemen to stop them from visiting Hathras. On Friday BJP leader Uma Bharati had slammed the Yo g i Government for not allowing the media or political leaders from visiting Hathras. The day ended with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath ordering a CBI probe into the entire incident, including sex- ual assault on the girl and her midnight cremation. The CM’s decision may not be the end of the story as the family members want a judicial probe into the matter. Talking to the media, several members said they want a court-monitored judicial probe and were not interested in the CBI probe. The UP Government had little option but to order the CBI probe since the police faced massive criticism for the way it handled the entire case, starting from September 14 when the girl was assaulted and on the fateful night when she was cremated without the pres- ence of her family members, who were locked inside their house. After the Government decided to place under sus- pension the Superintendent of Police and four other cops and the family members alleged that the members of the Special Investigation Team tried to buy their silence, the Government had no option but to order a CBI probe to defuse the crisis. Meanwhile, a day after he was prevented by the Uttar Pradesh administration from visiting Hathras, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi finally met the grieving family. “It is the UP Government’s duty to protect the family of the Hathras gangrape victim,” Rahul Gandhi said after meet- ing the family while Priyanka said, “We will continue to struggle till justice is done”. The family members, including the mother of the victim, started crying and hugged Priyanka soon after she reached the place. Priyanka, who had sought the resignation of Adityanath on the issue, after meeting the mother of the rape victim said the State CM should understand his respon- sibility. “The family needs protec- tion,” Priyanka said after a one-on-one chat with the vic- tim’s mother when the Gandhis were inside the house of the victim. “The family couldn’t see their daughter for the one last time. UP CM Yogi Adityanath should understand his respon- sibility. Till the time justice is delivered, we’ll continue this fight,” Priyanka said, adding that the family wants a judicial enquiry into the incident. Rahul before starting his journey on Saturday morning took to Twitter to announce that no power on this earth can stop him from visiting Hathras and meet the family of the rape victim whose body was cre- mated secretly. The visit of Rahul and Priyanka and senior Congress leaders came after a dramatic standoff with the cops at the Delhi-UP border. Rahul Gandhi set off from Delhi at around 2.30 pm in a silver Toyota Innova that Priyanka was driving. Their convoy con- sisted of around 30 Congress MPs, including AICC general secretary KC Venugopal, party MPs Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Shashi Tharoor for the 200 km drive via Yamuna e-way. “Nothing in the world can stop me from going to Hathras to meet this unhappy family to share their pain,” Rahul said before leaving, while Priyanka said “If not this time, then we will try again”. A large number of police- men —some in riot gear and wielding lathis — were deployed at the toll plaza along the Delhi-Noida Direct (DND) Flyover with definite instruc- tions — do not allow Congress leaders to cross the border. However, Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi were allowed to leave for Hathras from Delhi along with three other leaders. DAY’S HIGHLIGHTS W ith growing political influence and attempts to push the issue into a caste con- flict, the family members of the Hathras victim have evinced no interest in the investigation being transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and want the case to be inves- tigated by a retired judge of the Supreme Court, that too under the supervision of the SC. They also expressed dis- pleasure over the enquiry made by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) so far and refused to undergo narco analysis or polygraph test. “We want a probe by the Supreme Court as the CBI probe could be influenced through political pressures,” the brother of the victim said on Saturday. The family mem- bers were talking to the media after the district authorities lifted a ban after two days on Saturday. They alleged that the State police were hand-in-gloves with the accused and hence had raised the issue of CBI probe and narco test. “We have not said anything false before the police and media so why should we undergo a narco test,” the sis- ter-in-law and brother of the victim said. Earlier Uttar Pradesh Additional Chief Secretary, Home Awanish Awasthi met- ing the victim’s kin at their house. “It is an extremely sad incident. We met everyone in the family. We spoke to them and assured them that the strictest action would be taken against all those found guilty,” Awasthi told reporters. T ributes poured in from across the State from all quarters and different sections of society after the demise of Minister of Minority Welfare and veteran JMM leader Hazi Hussain Ansari on Saturday. The man, close acquaintances said, was not only a hum- ble soul but was an old friend and well-wish- er of JMM supremo Shibu Soren right from the initial days of the separate Jharkhand movement. The State government has declared a two day state mourning on the death of Minister Haji Hussain Ansari. There will be State mourning from October 4 to October 5 in honour of the late Minister. Also there will be a government holiday on Monday. He will be cremated with full State honours. The State will observe half-mast of flags for the next two days. JMM chief and Rajya Sabha MP Shibu Soren said in his condolence message: “I am heartbroken with the death of Haji Hussain Ansari ji. Late Haji Hussain Ansari was an all- time popular leader as well as my dear com- panion. The true leader of Jharkhand, who is always vigilant about the issues of organi- zation and public interest, is not among us today. Late Ansari's death is an incomplete loss for our party. I pray to God that his bereaved family members, supporters and party workers get endurance and the depart- ed soul gets peace.” Governor Droupadi Murmu has expressed deep sorrow and grief over the pass- ing away of Haji Hussain Ansari, Minister of Minority Welfare of the State. She said that due to the demise of Haji Hussain Ansari, there was irreparable damage in the political and social sphere. The Governor said that God bless his soul and his family should be empowered to bear this suffering. Chief Minister Hemant Soren also expressed deep condolences on the death of Ansari. The CM said, “I am deeply hurt by the death of respected Haji Hussain Ansari sahab. Haji Sahab played a leading role in the Jharkhand movement. He was a simple-mind- ed mass leader. May God give peace to the soul of Haji Sahib and give the family the strength to bear this hour of grief.” “Sad news of the death of Haji Hussain Ansari, Minister of Minority Welfare of Jharkhand. May God give his soul peace and his family the strength to bear the suffering,” said former CM Raghubar Das Union Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda said in his message: “I was deeply sad- dened to hear the news of the death of Jharkhand's Minority Welfare Minister Haji Hussain Ansari. May his soul rest in peace and give strength to his family to bear it.” Press Advisor to the Chief Minister, Abhishek Prasad has condoled the death of Ansari. He said that Haji sahab’s death is an irreparable loss to the entire Jharkhand, which cannot be repaid. May his soul rest in peace and give the family the strength to bear this immense sorrow S tate Minority Welfare Minister and four-time MLA Haji Hussain Ansari died during treatment at Ranchi’s Medanta Hospital on Saturday, hardly 24 hours after recovering from Covid-19 infection, authorities from the private hospital said. Seventy-three-year-old Ansari, who scripted a success story in politics during the days of unified Bihar-Jharkhand, was hospitalised after testing positive for Covid-19 last week. Owing to his frail health and age, the minister was admitted in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of Medanta Hospital despite testing negative for the viral infection on Friday, sources said. The senior Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader was known as the voice of the minor- ity communities in Jharkhand politics. He had served as the Minority Welfare Minister dur- ing a former UPA government in Jharkhand as well, and was actively involved in facilitating the annual Haj tour to Mecca for pilgrims in Jharkhand. Ansari was among the five Covid-19 patients who died dur- ing treatment on Saturday, tak- ing the Covid toll in the state to 734. As per a bulletin released by the National Health Mission (NHM), as many as 877 people were found infected on the day across Jharkhand, while 1176 Covid patients recovered from the infection. Saturday’s findings take the Covid-19 tally in Jharkhand to 86,277. However, the number of active cases dropped to 10,939 after recoveries outnumbered fresh cases of infection, the NHM data stated. The number of active cases, however, increased in Ranchi after the district reported 384 cases against 353 recoveries. As per government data, as many as 3,356 people were battling the viral infection in Ranchi. The number of active cases reduced significantly in East Singhbhum after only 61 cases of infection surfaced in the district against 246 recoveries. The num- ber of active cases of infection in East Singhbhum stood at 1,965 on Saturday night. Health workers on Saturday tested swab samples of 38,327 people across Jharkhand and 877 of came positive. The gov- ernment has so far collected swab samples of 23.70 lakh peo- ple and tested 23.63 lakh of them. As per government data, Saturday’s findings took Jharkhand’s Covid-19 recovery rate to 86.47 per cent, while the Covid mortality rate further dropped to 0.85 per cent. The national Covid recovery rate was 83.80 per cent and the mor- tality rate was 1.60 per cent. As many as 76,604 of the 86,000- odd people infected by the mys- terious virus in Jharkhand have recovered so far, highlights gov- ernment data.

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Page 1: 2020/10/03  · and Priyanka Gandhi finallyentire incident, including sex-The Uttar Pradesh Government finally did a series of course corrections on Saturday in face of massive

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The Uttar PradeshGovernment finally did a

series of course corrections onSaturday in face of massive crit-icism it faced for preventing themedia and political leadersfrom meeting the family mem-bers of the Hathras gangrapevictim and not reaching out tothe traumatised family.

In a clear indication thatthe administration was feelingthe heat of public and mediaoutrage, the Government firstallowed the media to enter theHathras village to meet thefamily members of the victim.Then the DGP and AdditionalChief Secretary of UttarPradesh visited the familymembers and tried to providethem solace and give them theassurance that the Governmentwill address their concerns.

This was the first visit byhigh-ranking officials of theGovernment and police sincethe alleged gangrape that tookplace on September 14.

Then came the biggestclimbdown of all — Congressleader Rahul Gandhi andPriyanka Gandhi were allowedto enter UP after the StateGovernment deployed thou-sands of policemen to stopthem from visiting Hathras. OnFriday BJP leader Uma Bharatihad slammed the YogiGovernment for not allowingthe media or political leadersfrom visiting Hathras.

The day ended with ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanathordering a CBI probe into the

entire incident, including sex-ual assault on the girl and hermidnight cremation.

The CM’s decision maynot be the end of the story asthe family members want ajudicial probe into the matter.Talking to the media, severalmembers said they want acourt-monitored judicial probeand were not interested in theCBI probe.

The UP Government hadlittle option but to order theCBI probe since the policefaced massive criticism for theway it handled the entire case,starting from September 14when the girl was assaulted andon the fateful night when shewas cremated without the pres-ence of her family members,who were locked inside theirhouse. After the Governmentdecided to place under sus-pension the Superintendent ofPolice and four other cops andthe family members allegedthat the members of the SpecialInvestigation Team tried tobuy their silence, theGovernment had no option butto order a CBI probe to defusethe crisis.

Meanwhile, a day after hewas prevented by the UttarPradesh administration fromvisiting Hathras, Rahul Gandhi

and Priyanka Gandhi finallymet the grieving family.

“It is the UP Government’sduty to protect the family of theHathras gangrape victim,”Rahul Gandhi said after meet-ing the family while Priyankasaid, “We will continue tostruggle till justice is done”. Thefamily members, including themother of the victim, startedcrying and hugged Priyankasoon after she reached theplace. Priyanka, who hadsought the resignation ofAdityanath on the issue, aftermeeting the mother of therape victim said the State CMshould understand his respon-sibility.

“The family needs protec-tion,” Priyanka said after aone-on-one chat with the vic-tim’s mother when the Gandhiswere inside the house of thevictim.

“The family couldn’t seetheir daughter for the one lasttime. UP CM Yogi Adityanathshould understand his respon-sibility. Till the time justice isdelivered, we’ll continue thisfight,” Priyanka said, addingthat the family wants a judicialenquiry into the incident.

Rahul before starting hisjourney on Saturday morningtook to Twitter to announcethat no power on this earth canstop him from visiting Hathrasand meet the family of the rapevictim whose body was cre-

mated secretly. The visit of Rahul and

Priyanka and senior Congressleaders came after a dramaticstandoff with the cops at theDelhi-UP border. RahulGandhi set off from Delhi ataround 2.30 pm in a silverToyota Innova that Priyankawas driving. Their convoy con-sisted of around 30 CongressMPs, including AICC general

secretary KC Venugopal, partyMPs Adhir RanjanChowdhury, Shashi Tharoorfor the 200 km drive viaYamuna e-way.

“Nothing in the world canstop me from going to Hathrasto meet this unhappy family toshare their pain,” Rahul saidbefore leaving, while Priyankasaid “If not this time, then wewill try again”.

A large number of police-men —some in riot gear andwielding lathis — weredeployed at the toll plaza alongthe Delhi-Noida Direct (DND)Flyover with definite instruc-tions — do not allow Congressleaders to cross the border.

However, Rahul andPriyanka Gandhi were allowedto leave for Hathras from Delhialong with three other leaders.

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With growing politicalinfluence and attempts to

push the issue into a caste con-flict, the family members of theHathras victim have evinced nointerest in the investigationbeing transferred to the CentralBureau of Investigation (CBI)

and want the case to be inves-tigated by a retired judge of theSupreme Court, that too underthe supervision of the SC.

They also expressed dis-pleasure over the enquiry madeby the Special InvestigationTeam (SIT) so far and refusedto undergo narco analysis orpolygraph test.

“We want a probe by theSupreme Court as the CBIprobe could be influencedthrough political pressures,”

the brother of the victim saidon Saturday. The family mem-bers were talking to the mediaafter the district authoritieslifted a ban after two days onSaturday.

They alleged that the Statepolice were hand-in-gloveswith the accused and hence hadraised the issue of CBI probeand narco test.

“We have not said anythingfalse before the police andmedia so why should we

undergo a narco test,” the sis-ter-in-law and brother of thevictim said.

Earlier Uttar PradeshAdditional Chief Secretary,Home Awanish Awasthi met-ing the victim’s kin at theirhouse. “It is an extremely sadincident. We met everyone inthe family. We spoke to themand assured them that thestrictest action would be takenagainst all those found guilty,”Awasthi told reporters.

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Tributes poured in from across the Statefrom all quarters and different sections of

society after the demise of Minister ofMinority Welfare and veteran JMM leaderHazi Hussain Ansari on Saturday. The man,close acquaintances said, was not only a hum-ble soul but was an old friend and well-wish-er of JMM supremo Shibu Soren right from the initial days of the separate Jharkhandmovement.

The State government has declared a twoday state mourning on the death of MinisterHaji Hussain Ansari. There will be Statemourning from October 4 to October 5 inhonour of the late Minister. Also there willbe a government holiday on Monday. He willbe cremated with full State honours. The State will observe half-mast of flags forthe next two days.

JMM chief and Rajya Sabha MP ShibuSoren said in his condolence message: “I amheartbroken with the death of Haji HussainAnsari ji. Late Haji Hussain Ansari was an all-time popular leader as well as my dear com-panion. The true leader of Jharkhand, whois always vigilant about the issues of organi-zation and public interest, is not among ustoday. Late Ansari's death is an incompleteloss for our party. I pray to God that hisbereaved family members, supporters andparty workers get endurance and the depart-ed soul gets peace.”

Governor Droupadi Murmu hasexpressed deep sorrow and grief over the pass-ing away of Haji Hussain Ansari, Minister ofMinority Welfare of the State. She said thatdue to the demise of Haji Hussain Ansari,there was irreparable damage in the politicaland social sphere. The Governor said thatGod bless his soul and his family should beempowered to bear this suffering.

Chief Minister Hemant Soren also

expressed deep condolences on the death ofAnsari. The CM said, “I am deeply hurt bythe death of respected Haji Hussain Ansarisahab. Haji Sahab played a leading role in theJharkhand movement. He was a simple-mind-ed mass leader. May God give peace to thesoul of Haji Sahib and give the family thestrength to bear this hour of grief.”

“Sad news of the death of Haji HussainAnsari, Minister of Minority Welfare ofJharkhand. May God give his soul peace andhis family the strength to bear the suffering,”said former CM Raghubar Das

Union Tribal Affairs Minister ArjunMunda said in his message: “I was deeply sad-dened to hear the news of the death ofJharkhand's Minority Welfare Minister HajiHussain Ansari. May his soul rest in peace andgive strength to his family to bear it.”

Press Advisor to the Chief Minister,Abhishek Prasad has condoled the death ofAnsari. He said that Haji sahab’s death is anirreparable loss to the entire Jharkhand, whichcannot be repaid. May his soul rest in peaceand give the family the strength to bear thisimmense sorrow

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State Minority WelfareMinister and four-time MLA

Haji Hussain Ansari died duringtreatment at Ranchi’s MedantaHospital on Saturday, hardly 24hours after recovering fromCovid-19 infection, authoritiesfrom the private hospital said.

Seventy-three-year-oldAnsari, who scripted a successstory in politics during the daysof unified Bihar-Jharkhand, washospitalised after testing positivefor Covid-19 last week. Owing tohis frail health and age, theminister was admitted in theIntensive Care Unit (ICU) ofMedanta Hospital despite testingnegative for the viral infection onFriday, sources said.

The senior Jharkhand MuktiMorcha (JMM) leader wasknown as the voice of the minor-ity communities in Jharkhandpolitics.

He had served as theMinority Welfare Minister dur-ing a former UPA government inJharkhand as well, and wasactively involved in facilitatingthe annual Haj tour to Mecca forpilgrims in Jharkhand.

Ansari was among the fiveCovid-19 patients who died dur-ing treatment on Saturday, tak-ing the Covid toll in the state to734. As per a bulletin released bythe National Health Mission(NHM), as many as 877 peoplewere found infected on the dayacross Jharkhand, while 1176

Covid patients recovered fromthe infection.

Saturday’s findings take theCovid-19 tally in Jharkhand to86,277. However, the number ofactive cases dropped to 10,939after recoveries outnumberedfresh cases of infection, theNHM data stated.

The number of active cases,however, increased in Ranchiafter the district reported 384cases against 353 recoveries. Asper government data, as many as3,356 people were battling theviral infection in Ranchi.

The number of active casesreduced significantly in EastSinghbhum after only 61 cases ofinfection surfaced in the districtagainst 246 recoveries. The num-ber of active cases of infection inEast Singhbhum stood at 1,965

on Saturday night.Health workers on Saturday

tested swab samples of 38,327people across Jharkhand and877 of came positive. The gov-ernment has so far collectedswab samples of 23.70 lakh peo-ple and tested 23.63 lakh ofthem.

As per government data,Saturday’s findings tookJharkhand’s Covid-19 recoveryrate to 86.47 per cent, while theCovid mortality rate furtherdropped to 0.85 per cent. Thenational Covid recovery ratewas 83.80 per cent and the mor-tality rate was 1.60 per cent. Asmany as 76,604 of the 86,000-odd people infected by the mys-terious virus in Jharkhand haverecovered so far, highlights gov-ernment data.

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Almost all of us lie aboutsomething or the other —either to get out of a tight

situation or because we feel thatthe other person is not receptiveor open to listen to the truth. Butwhat happens when someone’sentire life becomes a lie? Weknow that the truth has to comeout sometime. And that is thetime when it rocks our world andeverything around us comescrumbling down.

Directed by Sudhir Mishra,Serious Men is based on the bookby Manu Joseph. It is a beautifultake on the ageold class divide —upper and the lower caste. Thisdivide has been told ratherbrilliantly by NawazuddinSiddiqui’s character Ayyan Mani,who works as a personal assistantin a research institute.

While Siddiqui’s outwardpersona doesn’t make it possiblefor him to fit the mould of theBollywood hero but his sheerbrilliance as an actor makes itpossible for him to explore

different characters while playingthe lead protagonist.

Ayyan, in the office issubmissive but outside, he haslearnt to fight the society and theinjustice that comes his waybecause of his caste. Outside heis out there to dominate.

Therefore, willing to dowhatever it takes to ensure thathe will never allow the samething to happen with his son. Heknows that to achieve this, hemust make sure that his son getsa huge kickstart in life.

To play these two roles,Siddiqui has reiterated what agreat performer he is onscreen.His expressions, his bodylanguage and dialogue deliverykeep you engrossed in a story thatis simple and yet hard-hitting.

Mishra, through Ayyan takesus on a journey that has wit andsatire. A movie that makes for agreat watch.

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It is not very often that Indiancinema is able to make amurder-mystery that is

gripping and keeps you ontenterhooks till the very end.Nishabdham directed by HemantMadhukar set in the US, gives theviewers a great start and takes youback to 1972 with a dual murderwhich remains unsolved and thehouse is deemed haunted and shutfor 46 years till it is sold and thedoors open with another murder.

In 1972, the police may havegiven up and the people declaredit the work of a ghost, in 2019,that is not the case. And soNishabdham spins the story of abillionaire, in the era of filthy richmen, two orphan girls, one ofthem extremely talented andcatches the eye of the billionaire.Definitely a fairy tale.Unfortunately, the billionaireends up dead and so do a wholeslew of women from across thecountry. Obviously, the two haveto be connected.

That is where the film startsto lose its character and the 125minutes of run time make it a bittedious. We do know it can’t be

the hand of a ghost since 50 percent of the plot is revealed mid-ways. After that is it just onewanting to know the answer tothe question why. Though if onewas paying attention, one wouldget the answer to the why muchearlier.

This is what ails this movie.A murder- mystery thriller issupposed to keep the viewerguessing till the very end so thatthen the murdered is finallyunveiled, there is a gasp. Movieslike Khamosh and Drishyammanaged to do this beautifully.But not all is lost here. AnushkaShetty and R Mahadevan give agood performance. Also, whilethe movie is in Telugu, theEnglish subtitles make it possiblefor the non-Telugu speakingpeople to follow this movie.

Over all, Nishabdham is amovie that starts off rather wellonly to disappoint as it ends.

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Promise of a treat that falls flat

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Union Tribal Affairs MinisterArjun Munda on Saturday

defended the Farm Acts, recentlypassed by the Parliament andaccented by President RamnathKovind amid widespread protests,and said that the Acts wouldtransform the lives of farmers inIndia by allowing them to sell theirproduce in the international mar-ket, while getting maximum pos-sible returns without having todeal with middlemen.

“This law will double theincome of farmers, increase yieldand ensure quality production,”said Munda, addressing mediapersons at the Jharkhand head-quarters of Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) in Ranchi.

The Farmers’ Produce Tradeand Commerce (Promotion andFacilitation) Act, 2020, andFarmers (Empowerment andProtection) Agreement on PriceAssurance and Farm Services Act,

2020 have been challenged by theopposition in the Centre, whilesome states have also decided toknock at the door of the apex courtagainst the Acts terming. WhileChhattisgarh, Maharashtra, andPunjab have said they might notimplement the new laws, Keralaand Punjab have declared theirintention to challenge them in theSupreme Court,

However, Munda on Saturdaysaid that the Congress party andsome other opposition partieswere spreading confusion regard-ing the Acts in order to politicisethe matter.

“Farmers from Congress-ruled states were also consultedbefore framing the laws. The gov-ernment is working in favour offarmers, and aims at ensuringmaximum benefits and conduciveworking environment for thefarmers,” said the union minister.

He said that the oppositionwas only concerned about the ben-efits of capitalists, while they were

overlooking the benefits of farm-ers. “From a global perspective,this bill is in the interest of farm-ers. In the open market, farmerswill now be able to sell their cropwithout any tax,” Munda added.

The law, he said, will giveIndian farmers access to the inter-national market and thereby boost

the economy of the country. Thefarmers, he added, will have thefreedom to decide their own mar-ket after the enactment of theselaws.

“Farmers will now be allowedto sell their yields in the open mar-ket and also sign agreements withcompanies,” Munda said.

There is immense potential offish farming in the country, and thelatest agrarian law includes fish-eries. The laws, he said, will pro-vide e-trading opportunity tofarmers. “At least 10,000 farmergroups are being formed in thecountry. These groups will work inthe direction of adding smallfarmers to bring their crops tomarket,” Munda said, adding thatfarmers will get an assurance ofprice before sowing and the pricewill increase as per the marketvalue.

The Farmers (Empowermentand Protection) Agreement onPrice Assurance and Farm ServicesAct, 2020, provides for contractfarming, under which farmers willproduce crops as per contracts withcorporate investors for a mutual-ly agreed remuneration.Opposition parties fear thatinvestors would bind farmers inunfavourable contracts under thelaw, which could lead to exploita-tion.

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Former President of JharkhandPradesh Congress Committee

(JPCC) Ajay Kumar reachedJharkhand for the first time afterhis return to the Congress Partyafter getting the approval of AllIndia Congress Committee(AICC) President, Sonia Gandhi.

After Kumar's arrival at BirsaMunda Airport in Ranchi onSsaturday, JPCC workers wel-comed him. He directly reachedJPCC Chief, Rameshwar Oraon'sresidence to meet him. After thathe reached JPCC Head Quarterin the State Capital where he waswelcomed by JPCC MahilaMorcha Chief, Gunjan Singh,JPCC OBC Morcha Chief,Abhlash Sahu and others.

The former IPS officerturned politician Ajay Kumaronce again joined the CongressParty after resigning from thepost of Jharkhand PradeshCongress Committee (JPCC)Chief after declaration of LokSabha elections results. Inspiredby Rahul Gandhi, he has decid-ed to return to the Congress.

After leaving the CongressParty Kumar had joined theAam Aadmi Party (AAP).

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elec-tions, the Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) badly defeated Congressled alliance in which otheralliance partner were JharkhandMukti Morcha (JMM),Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (JVM)and the Rashtriya Janata Dal

(RJD). The Congress could man-age to win only one seat, whilethe JMM could win one seat.

Sources said that after theresults of the Lok Sabha elec-tions, the Congress was dividedinto two groups. One was led byKumar and the other was head-ed by former Union MinisterSubodh Kant Sahay and theother. After a clash betweenparty workers, the leaders of boththe groups also had a meeting inNew Delhi.

Kumar had alleged thatSahay and other leaders were try-ing to get tickets for familymembers in the Lok Sabha elec-tions and the upcoming assem-bly elections.

In the letter sent to RahulGandhi, Kumar made his pointin a very sharp tone. He had saidthat he has received gallantryawards as IPS but as allies gethim, even the worst criminalslook better than him.

He alleged that party work-ers were loyal to the leaders, notthe Congress.

Current JPCC ChiefRameshwar Oraon had said thatall those who have left theCongress cannot join theCongress again for the next sixyears. In such a situation, nowthe speculation of SukhdevBhagat, Pradeep Balmuchu, andManoj Yadav coming back toCongress has intensified.

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Though the southwest mon-soon ended over Jharkhand

on September 30, rains are yetto bid adieu to the State as fair-ly widespread showers areexpected to occur in the firstweek of October.

As per the MeteorologicalCentre, Ranchi most parts ofthe State will receive light tomoderate showers fromOctober 4 to October 7. OnOctober 6 isolated places in thewestern parts of the State couldwitness heavy showers accom-panied with thunderstorm andlightning activity. On October7 isolated places in the north-ern region could receive heavyrainfall with thunderstorm andlightning activity.

“It is normal for monsoonto exit from Jharkhand aroundOctober 10. A low pressure sys-tem is present in the Bay ofBengal adjoining to the Odishacoastline. The system is likelyto move west- north west-wards in the coming days.Under the influence of this sys-tem fairly widespread rainfalland thunderstorm activity is

expected over Jharkhand,” saidDeputy Director, MET Centre,Ranchi Abhishek Anand.

As per the statisticsreleased by the MET Centre,Ranchi during the four- monthlong monsoon period fromJune 1 to September 30, thisyear Jharkhand received a totalof 901.5 mm of rainfall asagainst the normal amount of1054.7 mm facing a deficit of14 percent.

In 2019 the rainy seasonhad ended with an 18 percentdeficit. As per the weathermen,a rain deficit of up to 19 per-cent is considered to benormal.

In the post monsoon peri-od from October 1 to October3, Jharkhand has received atotal of 17.5 mm of rainfall asagainst the normal amount of14.5 mm which is 21 percentmore than the normal amount.

As per the communiquéreleased by the Department onOctober 3, from October 4 toOctober 7 the maximum tem-perature in the State capital andits surrounding regions willremain near normal at around29 degree Celsius.

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Jharkhand PradeshCongress Committee

(JPCC) Chief, RameshwarOraon, CongressLegislature Party LeaderAlamagar Alam, HealthMinister Banna Guptaand Agriculture MinisterBadal, State CongressSpokesperson AlokKumar Dubey, LalKishorenath Shahdeo,Rajesh Gupta and otherleaders mourned thedeath of Minority WelfareMinister Haji HussainAnsari.

Oraon said in hiscondolence message thatthe death of Haji HussainAnsari, active in politicsand social work for more than three decades,has caused irreparable damage to the entireState. He said that despite being on the postof MLA and Minister, he was always accessi-ble to the general public, his simplicity can begauged from this, the person who came tomeet him at home never returned withoutmeeting.

Alamgir Alam said that since the time hefirst became MLA in 2000, he had a person-al relationship with Haji Hussain Ansari. Hisdeath is an irreparable loss to the state, whileit is a personal loss for him.

Agriculture Minister Badal said that thedeath of Haji Hussain Ansari is a loss for theentire State but it is a personal loss for him.Haji Hussain Ansari has great contribution inbecoming his MLA.

Banna Gupta said that he had personal

relations with Haji saheb, he was always arespected person, he used to consult him inmatters of public interest even in VidhanSabha, I have always got his guidance as aguardian. He said that his death is very painfuland this incident has shaken my heart.

JPCC Spokesperson Alok Kumar Dubeysaid that Haji Hussain Ansari was not just aleader of a particular region, there is no dearthof fans in all areas of the State, his death hascaused irreparable damage to Jharkhand.

JPCC Spokesperson Lal KishorenathShahdeo said that Haji Hussain Ansari, in hislifetime, tried to help every needy person with-out any discrimination, due to his simplicityand popularity, his rivals were also respectedhim. JPCC Spokesperson, Gupta said that itis very sad for a leader like Haji Hussain Ansarileft the world untimely.

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The Railway Protection Force (RPF) in Ranchi on Saturdayrescued 14 girls from being trafficked. The girls were being

taken from Latehar to Hyderabad to get sewing training. Thewoman trafficker has been arrested by the RPF.

RPF Sub Inspector Sunita Tirkey informed that when the girlawere entering the station in suspicious condition the RPF per-sonnel deployed there stopped them and enquired about thewhereabouts of the girls. During the enquiry the RPF team foundthat a woman Meena Devi resident of Latehar brought them hereto take them to Hyderabad for sewing training, she added.

"When asked about the sewing training centre’s address,Meena Devi could not tell the name of any organization nor couldshe submit any legal documents for sewing training to the girls,"said Tirkey.

Out of total 14 girls, 8 girls were minor girls and six girls wereadults. All girls have been handed over to the Kotwali PoliceStation In-Charge, Ranchi, so that further action can be takenin this regard. The RPF Ranchi launched the Nanhe Farishteyprogramme on August, 15 to control child trafficking cases inthe State. Around 20 children have been rescued so far out ofwhich 14 are minor.

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To curb the spread of coronavirus,Ranchi district administration has set

up static testing centres in the urban areasas well as various block of the State capi-tal. Sample collection will be at the 8 cen-tres set up in the district from 10 am to 6pm. Residents can submit their swabsamples while details including name,address, police station, mobile number willalso be required. Some of the locationswhere the centres have been made are atGovernment Girls School Bariatu, MiddleSchool Morabadi, Government GirlsSchool Doranda and Birla Maidan Ranchi.

Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner(DC) Chhavi Ranjan along with DeputyDevelopment Commissioner (DDC)

Ananya Mittal inspected the implemen-tation of MNREGA and other develop-ment schemes in the Lapung block onOctober 3.

During the visit, the DC inspected theBirsa Harit Gram Yojana under MNREGAat the Sapukera panchayat and the drink-ing water supply constructed under SCAat the Kakariya panchayat. The DC furtherinspected the tourist spots in the blockincluding Lataratu Dam and issued nec-essary guidelines to the District PlanningOfficer.

At the Ranchi Headquarters, the DChas directed construction of road from thegate to the building along with plantationof trees on the road side under MNREGA.Ranjan also inspected the solar plant andsoak pit located at the premises.

District Planning Officer, DistrictEngineer, Executive Engineer NREP-1and Project Manager were also present onthe occasion.

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Avisual treat will soon beready for Ranchiites as

thousands of butterflies will beseen descending at the State’sfirst open air butterfly parklocated at the Bhagwan BirsaBiological Park, Ormanjhi.Promising the visitors colour-ful new species of butterflies,the said park is proposed toopen to the public by March2021.

Spread across approxi-mately 20 acres, the estimatedbudget for the park has been setat Rs 2 crore. As a part of thefirst phase fencing and planta-tion of about 100 species ofhost and nectar plants hasalready been completed. As perthe plan no trees present on thepremises will be disturbed inthe development of the project.

“The work at the butterflypark is in progress and we havetaken advantage of the lock-down period to carry out the

work. It will be open to thepublic once the conservatory ismade in about six monthstime. A tender will soon befloated for making a conserva-tory where the butterflies willbe reared and later released inthe open. Plantation of host,nectar and flowering plantsalong with fencing work has

been completed. A wide vari-ety of butterflies can already beseen visiting the premises,”said the Director of BirsaZoological Park, DVenkateshwarlu.

The proposed conserva-tory will be a glass buildingwhich will provide a favourableatmosphere for butterflies to

grow. Host and nectar flowerbeds will also have signagesabout the butterflies and theplants making it easier for thevisitors to identify differentbreeds and learn interestingfacts about them. The premis-es will also have a water bodyand a mud puddle.

The park will have all theadequate structure requiredfor making it a natural breed-ing ground for butterflies. Allthe local varities of butterflieswill also get attracted if theyfind a suitable habitat withcolourful plants further statedthe official.

Interactive sculptures ofbutterflies will also be made asselfie points. A preservationroom for pupa under con-trolled climatic conditions anda nursery are also part of theproposal. Ticket counter, cafe-teria, children’s park, wash-rooms and parking space fortwo and four wheelers willalso be there.

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Spread of COVID-19 cases isstabilising in the city. Going

by the trends in the city, the sit-uation is getting normal. Duringa telephonic media interaction,Dr Rajan Choudhry, advisor,and former general manager,medical services, Tata Steelmade the above observation. Hesaid that it is his viewpoint thatthe situation is showing signs ofimprovement.

Meanwhile, TMH has alsodecided to set up a postCovid19 care clinic at its OPD.Sensing the need of thosepatients who recovered fromcoronavirus, the hospital willstart operating the clinic by

next week.He said that they have wit-

nessed post COVID-19 ail-ments in patients who haverecovered. “ Lethargy, jointpains, difficulty in breathing,itching and other skin relateddiseases are some ailmentsfound in the patients post therecovery. We have decided toprovide a consultant to suchpatients who want furthertreatment. It will be a paid ser-vice,” said the advisor.

He said that a doctor alongwith other para medical staffwill be appointed for the clin-ic and it will start functioningfrom next week.

Meanwhile, the recoveryrate of COVID-19 patients at

Tata Main Hospital ( TMH) hasimproved from 82.38 per centto 83.16. The former generalmanager said that going by thetrend it seems that the situationis becoming normal in the

city. A total of 3551 patientshave been admitted at the hos-pital.

While last week 246patients were admitted thisweek the numbers reduced to

201. The positive sign ofimprovement is also reflectedfrom the fact that positivity inRT-PCR tests has reduced fromto 18.49 per cent and AntigenTest 5.19 per cent to 3.80.

During the week, about217 patients were discharged.Moreover, 59 patients hailingfrom 80 years and above havebeen discharged so far. Thisweek alone 8 patients were dis-charged.

He went on to inform thatthe recovery of COVID-19patients at one of the largesthospitals in Jharkhand, TataMain Hospital ( TMH) hasimproved. Dr Rajan Choudhrysaid that the hospital is pro-viding the best services to the

people of Jharkhand. However,they too can cater to patients toa certain amount.

In order to help worriedfamily members get everydetail of their COVID patientadmitted at the hospital, TMHhas started its app TMHVishwas to provide every detailof their patient through it.

The prime health hub ofJamshedpur city manages atotal 1087 beds for COVID-19management which includes661 beds for COVID positivepatients, 112 number of routineisolation beds, 18 ICU isolationbeds and 36 ICU COVID beds.TMH is equipped with 83 ven-tilators for the critical patients.

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Covid-19 patients undergoingtreatment in private hospitals

will soon be able to get PlasmaTherapy, only available at gov-ernment facilities so far. However,the therapy at private healthcarefacilities may come at a hefty price,say doctors.

According to officials, thepatients of private hospitals will-ing to undergo plasma therapywould have to pay Rs 9500 inadvance with full details of therecipient at plasma.dmftdhan-bad.in .Only the patients who reg-ister online will be eligible to getdonors. PMCH superintendentAK Choudhary said , the chargeis for the kit that is being usedwhile administering the plasma tothe recipient.

The patients who would applyonline would get plasma withinthe shortest possible time.

It's worth mentioning herethat plasma therapy commencedin Dhanbad for the critical covidpatients last week and on an aver-age two donors are donatingplasma on a daily basis.

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Palamu MP V D Ram today in his press conference did notgive any importance to the combined opposition parties’

political onslaught on the recent Farmers Acts but heexhausted his entire 45 minutes press briefing in dispellingthe doubts and confusions of the farmers over these Acts relat-ed to their ‘benefit in the larger sense and perspective.’

Ram chose the three contentious issues first the MSP, sec-ond the ‘Mandee’ and third the contract farming. He spokeon these issues without any discomfort.

Ram said “MSP was, is and will be. There is no room forany doubt about its continuation. Farmers should believe it.”

Asked if MSP will be brought under the ambit of the rulesof the Act this former IPS officer V D Ram who had held thepost of state DGP said “When MSP is all inclusive then whereis the need for its protectionism right now.”

Everyone had thought that V D Ram would attack theCongress for ‘misleading’ the farmers’ but he on the other handwent on counting the advantages in store for the farmers.

The MP said, “It won’t vanish. There will be another sponsor ( read buyer). A healthy

competition will set in which will be beneficial to the farm-ers who will have a choice of buyers.” Ram talked about a fewstates that collect taxes from the farmers at varied rates forselling their agricultural produce in the Mandees which usedto make ‘holes’ in their pockets..

On contract farming, the MP said the farmers’ worries aremisplaced. The contract between the farmer and the sponsorwill be on equal terms where the sponsor will have no lever-age. The farmer’s land will not be a part of this contract farm-ing but only the crop he reminded.

BOKARO: Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL), the largeststeel producing Company in India, has supplied the majority por-tion of steel in the construction of the Atal Rohtang Tunnel, whichwill be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. SAIL hassupplied more than 9000 Tonnes of its quality steel, out of the15000 Tonnes of steel used in the entire project. The tunnel isset to become the world’s longest road tunnel at an altitude ofabove 3,000 meters. The Company has once again partnered inbuilding a vital infrastructure for the Nation and making Indiastronger.

Union Minister for Petroleum Natural Gas and SteelDharmendra Pradhan complimented SAIL and said, “This tun-nel will be of great significance to the locals as well as for strate-gic movements. It will boost connectivity of the Spiti Valley”.

An all-weather tunnel, Atal Tunnel will connect Manali toLahaul and Spiti Valley in Himachal Pradesh throughout the year.The 9000 Tonnes of steel supplied by SAIL consisted of around6500 tonnes of TMT, 1500 Tonnes of Structurals and 1000 Tonnesof Plates for fabricating Beams and small quantity of SAIL GPGC sheets for constructing stations and control rooms.

Anil Kumar Chaudhary, Chairman, SAIL commented,“SAIL has always committed itself and will continue to be in theservice of the Nation. It is a proud moment for the Company tohave partnered in such an important project for strengtheningIndia”. PNS

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State Bank of India is cele-brating JOY OF GIVING

week from 02.10.2020 to08.10.2020 all over India. SBIbeing a leading financial insti-tution of the country has beenplaying an important role insuch programs. In addition toits core business under theBank CSR, a unique initiativehas been taken by the bank'slocal head office, Patna, to dis-charge its responsibilities as asociety-sensitive organization.Bank has organized a freeshopping camp in which food

items, clothing (new and usedold), toys, books, electronicdevices, personal hygiene prod-ucts such as masks, sanitizersetc. are distributed among thedeprived sections of the soci-ety.

On the occasion of Gandhi

Jayanti, the bankd i s t r i b u t e dclothes and fooditems among thepoor anddeprived sectionsof the society bythe main branchChas andJodhadih of the

bank located in Bokaro SteelCity. According to the Bank'sRegional Manager, Bokaro-based Sapan Kumar, in thecoming days such programswill also be organized by otherbranches of Bokarodistrict.

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'Film' has connotation ofcraft. 'Movie' connotes businessand 'Cinema' connotes philos-ophy - A larger vision.

This is the best time torestructure, reignite and capi-talize over the current northIndian states' sentimentsagainst the Bollywood Myopia.Our nascent Film Industry, anuntapped territory so far hasimmense economic potential tobe looked upon for.

Being an actor working inMumbai since last 26 years,connected with home StateJharkhand's film industry andkeenly observing it since 1981,just felt like sharing my viewshere to reignite the idea sowedin 2015 by then Government ofJharkhand.

Subsequently, instituted agoverning body then named -Jharkhand film DevelopmentAuthority, chaired by Mr.Anupam Kher, bureaucrats andfew known personalities fromtheir respective fields of reputein the region.

It has provision for uptorupees 2 crore being 25% fornon Jharkhandi languages(means 8 crore film) or 50% (4crore film) for any one out of7 Jharkhandi enlisted languagesfor a viable film project.Exceptional provision upto 5crore can also be considered onrarer case depending upon theproject's USP and on the spe-cial discretion of ChiefMinister.

Under the scheme of finan-cial assistance from this gov-ernment body few films likeMahesh Bhatt's 'Begum Jaan',Konkana Sen's 'A Death in aGunj', Local film maker RishiPrakash Mishra's 'Ajab Singh kiGajab Kahani' Anupam kher's'Ranchi Diaries' Prem Modi'sPanchlait etc. shot inJharkhand, released and show-cased in IFFI 2019, Goa too,where I was also an invitee byour state Jharkhand, being the'focus state' of that year.

Apart from these, manymore film's projects gotapproval to go ahead from theJharkhand government.

At this time of Bollywoodmess when decentralisingBollywood, is the hot debateamongst the film makers fromacross the country either in thename of disapproving nepo-tism, expensive, stardom, cater-ing flimsy or filthy content orfunctioning in a coterie etc etc.

Even Bollywood itself isbored of its routine content,locations, studios, superficialcopied sets, same recognisablejuniors in crowd in all the localshoots etc...

Because of internet andOTT platforms audience has

now plethora of options ofhigh quality original movies,webseries, documentaries andTV series shot minutely inreal locations, stuff, flora andfauna and real natives in thescenes making the contentmore relatable and true to nar-rative.

It makes huge difference inthe viewing experience, can't bedenied at all.

Bollywood too needs tobreathe fresh air to keep itssupremacy intact and that'sthe reason audience mighthave realized that right fromcontent to stars/actors and reallocations have got their due inmainstream so calledBollywood films, off late.

Probably that's the reasonbecause of which actors like lateSushant Singh, Rajkumar Rao,Aakash khurana, NawazuddinSiddiqui, Irrfan khan, RajpalYadav, Pankaj Tripathi etc...started getting prominenceeven in the mainstream films,real small towns or B class citiesas well getting incorporated inthe script.

Lucknow, Bhopal, manycities of Rajasthan, Chandigarh,Indore, Ghaziabaad, Patnastarted their gradual entry inthe main plotting for the sheerreason of getting real feel of theplace, ambience and milieu.

There are some startlingfacts.

It’s shocking to know thatshooting in Switzerland ischeaper than in Manali.

I shot some project inBangkok and Mauritius in lessthan what otherwise wouldhave spent here in Mumbai.

Switzerland becamehotspot for tourism amongstIndians, only after Yash Choprashowcased it beautifully in hisfilms for romantic settings,benefiting that country mone-tarily.

This is the time provenexample for many countries,now to have provision of sub-sidies more or less around 30%to the foreign film makers allover the world, and India beinga sub continent with a sub-stantial mass with ever increas-ing hunger for globe trottingnow a days, coupled with deeppocket too, is a big draw tothese far off countries.

Some of these projects Ihave also been part too, toexperience the host countries'pampering and warm wel-come.

The writer is born, broughtup and has graduated fromRanchi. He is a Post Graduatefrom National School ofDrama New Delhi in Acting(88-91). He cleared NET(UGC) for fellowship for PhDand lecturer ship inPerforming Arts in 1991 andhas secured HonoraryDoctorate in performing arts.He is a Member - film devel-opment council of Jharkhandgovernment and is currentlypracticing as a full time actorin Mumbai since last 26 years.The views expressed in thearticle is his own.

To be continued

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Page 5: 2020/10/03  · and Priyanka Gandhi finallyentire incident, including sex-The Uttar Pradesh Government finally did a series of course corrections on Saturday in face of massive

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The Army has honoured its20 personnel, including the

commanding officer who werekilled in a bloody brawl withthe Chinese troops in theGalwan Valley, Ladakh, onJune 15, by building a memo-rial there. The defence ministryhas also started the process ofinscribing the names of themartyrs at the National Warmemorial here.

The memorial in Ladakh islocated at Post 120 in easternLadakh and inaugurated earli-er this week, sources said hereon Saturday. The memorialhighlights the heroics of the‘Gallants of Galwan’ underoperation ‘Snow Leopard’ andthe way they evicted theChinese People’s LiberationArmy (PLA) troops from thearea while inflicting “heavycasualties” on them in “hand-to-hand combat.” Post 120 liesalong the Shyok-Daulat BegOldi (DBO) road. The namesof all the 20 Indian Army per-sonnel including CommandingOfficer Colonel B Santosh Babuof Bihar Regiment wereinscribed at the unit-levelmemorial.

Though China has, so far,not disclosed the number ofits troops killed in the brawlin which they used nail-stud-ded batons and other crudeweapons to assault theIndians. Reports from west-ern media suggest more than

35 Chinese including theircommanding officer alsodied.

The clash took place onJune 15 when the Indianpatrol asked the Chinese tovacate the area aroundPatrolling Point 14 as agreedupon the military level talkssome days ago. However, theChinese ambushed the Indianteam with superior number oftroops. A free for all ensuedin which Colonel Babu waskilled.

Realising the seriousnessof the situation, other Indianunits posted nearby rushed to

the site and another round ofbloody brawl commenced.The clash increased the ten-sion at the Line of ActualControl(LAC) and the standoffs continue till date. Indiatermed the clashes as “a pre-meditated and planned actionby China”.

Giving a brief account ofOperation “Snow Leopard”,the Army mentioned in aplaque at the memorial thatColonel Babu led the ‘QuickReaction Force’ of 16 BiharRegiment and attached troopstasked to evict a group ofChinese troops from the gen-

eral area in ‘Y nala’ (a junc-tion) and stop them frommoving further to PatrollingPoint 14.

“The column successful-ly evicted the PLA OP from YNala and reached PP14 wherea fierce skirmish broke outbetween the IA (IndianArmy) and PLA troops. Col BSantosh Babu led from thefront and his troops foughtgallantly in hand-to-handcombat, causing heavy casu-alties to the PLA. In the ensu-ing fight twenty ‘Gallants ofGalwan’ achieved martyr-dom,” the Army wrote. The

list of 20 personnel in thememorial included three naibsubedars, three havildars and12 sepoys.

The defence ministry hasalso started the process toinscribe the names of ColonelBabu and other soldiers at theNational War Memorial in

Delhi. During a visit toLukung forward post in east-ern Ladakh on July 17,Defence Minister RajnathSingh personally conveyedhis appreciation and compli-ments to the troops from theBihar regiment for displayingexemplary grit and courage in

fighting the Chinese troops.In his address to the sol-

diers, the defence ministersaid the Indian soldiers killedin the Galwan Valley clash notonly showed exemplar ycourage in safeguarding theborder but also protected thepride of 130 crore Indians.

Army Chief Gen M MNaravane has already award-ed ‘Commendation Cards’ tofive soldiers of the unit fortheir bravery in dealing withChinese troops during theGalwan Valley clashes as wellas confronting them inPangong Tso in May.

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In yet another step toenhance the military capa-

bilities amid unabated tensionat the Line of ActualControl(LAC)in Ladakh, sci-entists on Saturday success-fully test-fired its indigenous-ly developed nuclear capablehypersonic missile Shauryawith a strike range of around800 km from a test range inOdisha.

This breakthrough comesas India has already deployedits Brahmos supersonic cruisemissile besides Nirbhay andAkash missiles at strategiclocations close to the LAC.The preventive move cameafter China positioned itsstrategic missiles in the Tibetregion in the last few weeksbesides enhancing its troopstrength and fighter jet fleet inthe volatile region.

Shaurya, which is the land

variant of India’s K-15 missile,has a strike range of 700 kmto 1.000 km and is capable ofcarrying payloads of 200 kg to1,000 kg, sources said here onSaturday. The K-15 missile isfired from a submarine under-water. Both the missiles aredesigned by the DefenceResearch and DevelopmentOrganisation(DRDO).

The surface-to-surfacetactical missile Shaurya was

blasted off from a can-ister strapped to the groundlauncher from launch complex4 of the Integrated Test Range(ITR) in the APJ Abdul KalamIsland around 12.10 pm andcovered the desired range,sources said.

It is 10 metres long, 74 cmin diameter and weighs 6.2tonnes. Its two stages use solidpropellants.

Describing the trial as

successful, sources said thestate-of-the-art missile per-formed a manoeuvre in theclosing stages of its flight andhit the impact point in the Bayof Bengal with precision andaccuracy.

During the test flight, themissile was tracked by varioustelemetry stations and radarsand performed well, he said.

Officials rate Shaurya asone of the top 10 missiles inthe world in its class with itshigh performance navigationand guidance systems, effi-cient propulsion systems,sophisticated control tech-nologies and canisterisedlaunch.

The missile can belaunched from silos and can-isters mounted on a truckand fixed on the ground, theysaid adding that it can be eas-ily moved around. A truckitself can become a launchingplatform. Moreover, these mis-siles are difficult to be trackedby enemy satellites.

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Researchers in the US havedeveloped a new test

‘SARS-CoV-2 RapidPlex’ witha low-cost sensor that mayenable the at-home diagnosis ofa Covid infection through rapidanalysis of small volumes ofsaliva or blood, without the

involvement of a medical pro-fessional, in less than 10 min-utes.

This will help identify theasymptomatic patients, do notshow any signs of infection butare carrier of the virus, said theresearchers citing importance ofthe test.

A crucial part of the glob-

al effort to stem the spread ofthe pandemic, therefore, isthe development of tests thatcan rapidly identify infectionsin people who are not yetsymptomatic.

The research was con-ducted in the lab of Wei Gao,assistant professor in theAndrew and Peggy Cherng

department of medical engi-neering.

Gao’s sensors are made ofgraphene, a sheet-like form ofcarbon. A plastic sheet etchedwith a laser generates a 3Dgraphene structure with tinypores.

Those pores create a largeamount of surface area on thesensor, which makes it sensi-tive enough to detect, withhigh accuracy, compoundsthat are only present in verysmall amounts. In this sensor,the graphene structures are

coupled with antibodies,immune system moleculesthat are sensitive to specificproteins, like those on thesurface of a Covid virus, forexample.

Though preliminaryresults indicate that the sensor

is highly accurate, a larger-scale test with real-worldpatients rather than laborato-ry samples must be performed,Gao cautions, to definitivelydetermine its accuracy.

“Our ultimate aim really ishome use,” he said.

“In the following year, weplan to mail them to high-riskindividuals for at-home testing. And in the future,this platform could be modi-f ied for other types of infectious disease testing athome.”

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Hyderabad-based drugmanufacturer, Dr Reddy’s

Laboratories, has soughtapproval from the DrugsController General of India(DGCI) to conduct the phase3 human clinical trials ofSputnik V, the Russian vaccineto treat Covid-19.

The top drug regulatorwill carry out a technical eval-uation of the applicationbefore giving the nod.

Russia’s sovereign wealthfund has inked a pact with the

pharmaceuticalmajor for clin-ical trials and distribution ofits experimental vaccine,

which was approved by theRussian Government inAugust.

The phase 3 trial ofSputnik V, developed byGamaleya National ResearchCentre of Epidemiology andMicrobiology and the RussianDirect Investment Fund(RDIF), is underway in Russiasince September 1 on around40,000 subjects.

The trial would be multi-centre, observer-blind, ran-domised controlled study. TheRDIF had earlier said thatupon regulatory approval inIndia, it shall supply 100 mil-lion doses of the vaccine to theIndian pharma company,

according to various reports.“Russia has a good histo-

ry as far as manufacturingvaccines is concerned; theymake good vaccines so wepresume this vaccine is good.

“They have published thefirst study of 76 patients in themedical journal The Lancetwhich is showing good effec-tiveness and good antibodyimmunity generation,” DrBalram Bhargava, DG of theIndian Council of MedicalResearch (ICMR), had saidwhen RDIF and Dr Reddy’shad agreed to collaborate.

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The CBI on Saturdayarrested its recent ly

retired officer, who wasinvolved in fodder scamprobe in Bihar and also inves-tigated other high profilecases, for allegedly receiving�25 lakh as alleged bribefrom a firm, Usha Martin, tosettle a case against it probedby him.

The agency nabbed for-mer CBI officer NMP Sinhaalong with a private personwho had allegedly deliveredthe bribe money to him. Themoney was also recovered bythe agency, officials said.

The CBI on Saturday alsoconducted searches at eightlocations in multiple cities,including the retired officer’sresidence in Faridabad.

Other places searchedinclude offices of Usha Martinin Ranchi, besides other loca-tions in Delhi and Ghaziabad.

Sinha, posted in theEconomic Offences Wing(EOW) of the CBI, was han-dling a case of al leged cheating against mining com-pany Usha Martin regardinga lease given to it for an ironore mine in Jharkhand in2005.

Sinha retired in Augustthis year and was said to bethe OSD to the then SpecialDirector of CBI, RakeshAsthana, officials said.

It is alleged that thearrested former officials wasin touch with the representative of the compa-ny and had demanded a bribeof �25 lakh to settle the case

against it, they said.Based on source infor-

mation, a CBI team nabbedthe private person involved inthe case and also recoveredthe bribe amount which was delivered to the retired officer,they said.

The CBI has registered acase of alleged criminal con-spiracy and cheating underthe Indian Penal Code (IPC)and relevant provisions ofthe Prevention of CorruptionAct against promoters of UshaMartin, the company andthen Jharkhand Governmentmines director ID Paswan,they said.

It is alleged that theaccused company wasfavoured in the grant of oremining lease in Ghatkuri village in Singhbhum Westdistrict in 2005 over five otherapplicants.

The State Governmenthad favoured Usha Martin inits recommendation to theCentre for the allotment of the mine as thecompany had al legedlypromised that it would use theore in its steel plant inGhamaria in the State.

The undertaking by thecompany led the StateGovernment to recommend itas a special case for captiveconsumption.

The CBI has alleged thatthe company later back-tracked from the undertakingtaking advantage of the factthat the special reason for thegrant of the mining lease wasnot specifically mentioned inthe Cabinet note in this connection.

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Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) onSaturday postponed its

Parliamentary Board meetingcalled to decide on its ties withthe National DemocraticAlliance(NDA) in Bihar andseat sharing as the condition ofUnion Minister Ram VilasPaswan, hospitalised here, issaid to have deteriorated.

The LJP President ChiragPaswan who is also son of RamVilas Paswan left the meetingto rush to the hospital to bewith his ailing father.

While the nominationprocess has commenced forthe first phase of Assembly

polls in Bihar, LJP is yet noton board on the seat-sharingissue with the NDA allies and“may go it alone” in the Stateelections.

LJP has sought as high as42 seats as against 23 to 27 oddseats offered by the BJP.

LJP top leadership hadcalled a meeting of its Board totake a final call o n “ announc-ing its decision to field its can-didates in 143 seats against theJDU.”

In case of the LJP goingalone, BJP will not be contest-ing seats where LJP fields itscandidates, sources said adding“ informal friendly alliancewill continue with the BJP”,sources said.

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The Election Commission(EC) on Saturday came out

with a procedure for senior cit-izens above 80 years of age toavail of postal ballot facility forBihar elections.

As per the procedure, onlybooth level officers (BLO) willvisit the houses of the con-cerned electors, and deliverForm- 12-D form to the con-cerned electors. If an elector isnot available, he/she will sharehis/her contact details andrevisit to collect it within fivedays of the notification.

The postal ballot will beapplicable for only personswith disability and for votersabove 80 years.

The elector may or may notopt for postal ballot in theacknowledgement attached

with the Form 12-D. If electoropts for postal ballot then theBLO will collect the filled-inForm 12-D from the house ofthe elector within five days ofthe notification and deposit itwith the returning officer forthwith.

Sector Officer shall super-vise it under the overall super-vision of RO.

These procedures werefinalized by the poll body afterreceiving feedback from Civil Societies and Media onthe postal ballot facility for 80years and above.

The Commission has askedchief electoral officers of allstates and union territories tofollow these instructions tofacilitate all activities concerning postal ballot optionat the doorstep of the electorsthroughout India.

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RJD MP Manoj Jha hasmoved the the Supreme

Court challenging the consti-tutional validity of the newlyenacted three agriculture laws,saying they are “discriminato-ry and manifestly arbitrary”and will expose marginal farm-ers to exploitation by big cor-porates.

Parliament has recentlypassed the three Bills — theFarmers’ (Empowerment andProtection) Agreement ofPrice Assurance and FarmSer vices Act, 2020, theFarmers’ Produce Trade andCommerce (Promotion andFacilitation) Act, 2020 and theEssential Commodities(Amendment) Act 2020.These have came into effectfrom September 27 afterPresident Ram Nath Kovindgave his assent.

Jha, a Rajya Sabha mem-ber of the Rashtriya Janata Dal(RJD), has filed the plea in thetop court through lawyerFauzia Shakil.

Besides Jha, Congress LokSabha member from KeralaTN Prathapan and DravidaMunnetra Kazhagam (DMK)Rajya Sabha member fromTamil Nadu Tiruchi Siva hadmoved the top court againstthe farm laws.

Jha, in his plea, said, “Theimpugned legislations corpo-ratise agriculture and ushersin an unregulated andexploitative regime.

A farmer would not havethe knowledge to negotiate thebest terms with a private com-pany. This leads to unequalbargaining position in nego-tiating the farm agreementwith corporates would lead to

corporates monopolising theagriculture sector.”

The plea said the lawshave been passed byParliament “in breach of theParliamentary Rules and con-vention and the impugnedacts are unconstitutional onthe ground that it is discrim-inatory and manifestly arbi-trary and further violates theBasic Structure of theConstitution.”

These laws encourage“corporatisation” of Indianagriculture which is the life-line of the poor farmers andkey to the survival of thenation’s agriculture sector, itsaid.

“The impugned Acts pri-marily intends to sacrifice theinterest of the farmers andleave them at the mercy of thesponsors without any properdispute resolution mecha-nism. The Acts provide for‘farming agreements’ betweenthe farmers (of whom 85% aremarginal farmers owning upto 2 acres) and the Corporateentities,” it said.

It is noteworthy that thefarmers by way of these legis-lations are pitted against thecorporates with dispropor-tionate bargaining powers,

the RJD leader said in the plea.The price determination

mechanism under new laws isonly through the agreementsbetween the corporate entitiesand farmers and do not stip-ulate that the price should notbe below the minimum sellingprice (MSP) and does noteven guarantee the price givenby the Agriculture ProduceMarket Committee (APMC),it said.

Instead of the ensuringMSP, the laws intend to cor-poratise peasant agricultureand erode the existing legalsafeguards that prevent directinvasion of rural agriculturemarket by the monopoly cor-porate forces, it said.

The laws enable the spon-sors to deprive the marketcommittees of their market feeon transaction within thespecified Market Yards underthe State Mandi Laws, the pleasaid.

“The farmers currentlyhave the freedom to sell theirfarm produce to anyone any-where. The freedom howeveris not real but is bereft of anysafety or guarantees, to protectthem against the superior bar-gaining force of the buyers,”the plea said.

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APIL has been filed in theSupreme Court seeking

“gender and religion neutral”uniform grounds of mainte-nance and alimony for all cit-izens keeping with the spirit ofthe Constitution and interna-tional conventions.

The plea filed by BJPleader and advocate AshwiniKumar Upadhyay seeks direc-tions to the Union home andlaw ministries to take appro-priate steps to remove the pre-vailing anomalies in thegrounds of maintenance andalimony and make them uni-form for all citizens withoutdiscrimination on the basis ofreligion, race, cast, sex or placeof birth.

The petition, filed throughadvocate Ashwani KumarDubey, said that despite theeloquent provisions in theConstitution, the central gov-ernment has totally failed toprovide even gender-neutral,religion-neutral uniformgrounds of maintenance andalimony for all citizens.

Maintenance and alimonyis the only source of livelihoodhence discrimination on thebasis of religion, race, caste, sexor place of birth is a directattack on the right to life, lib-erty and dignity, guaranteedunder Article 21 of theConstitution, it said.

“Even after 73 years ofIndependence and 70 years ofIndia becoming a socialist sec-ular democratic republic, lawsrelating to maintenance andalimony are not only complexand cumbersome but alsoagainst the constitutional mandate of being equal, ratio-nal and just,” it said.

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Page 6: 2020/10/03  · and Priyanka Gandhi finallyentire incident, including sex-The Uttar Pradesh Government finally did a series of course corrections on Saturday in face of massive

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State-owned SAIL on Fridaysaid it has supplied over

9,000 tonnes of steel for the all-weather Atal Tunnel whichreduces the distance betweenManali and Leh by 46 kms andtravel time by four to fivehours.

Atal Tunnel is the longesthighway tunnel in the world.The 9.02

km long tunnel connectsManali to Lahaul-Spiti valley,ensuring connectivity through-out the year. The valley was ear-lier cut off for about six monthsevery year due to heavy snow-fall.

Prime Minister NarendraModi will inaugurate the tun-nel on Saturday along withDefence Minister RajnathSingh.

In a statement, the SteelAuthority of India Ltd (SAIL)said it has contributed to themega project by supplyingmore than 9,000 tonnes ofsteel.

Two-thirds of the total15,000 tonnes of steel used inthe project has been suppliedby SAIL, it said.

Out of the 9,000 tonnes,6,500 tonnes was TMT, 1,500tonnes structurals and 1,000tonnes plates for fabricatingbeams, besides a small quanti-ty of GP/GC sheets for con-structing stations and controlrooms.

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After contracting for sixmonths in a row, the coun-

try’s exports grew by 5.27 percent year-on-year to USD 27.4billion in September, and thetrade deficit narrowed to athree-month low of USD 2.91billion, according to the com-merce ministry data releasedon Friday.

Imports declined by 19.6per cent to USD 30.31 billionin September.

The trade deficit inSeptember 2019 stood at USD11.67 billion. In June, the coun-try had recorded a trade sur-plus of USD 0.79 billion.

Outbound shipments inSeptember last year were USD26.02 billion.

Exports during April-September this fiscal dipped by21.43 per cent to USD 125.06billion, the preliminary datashowed. Imports during theperiod stood at USD 148.69 bil-lion, recording a negative

growth of 40.06 per cent.Commodities that regis-

tered positive growth in exportsin September include iron ore(109.52 per cent), rice (92.44per cent), oil meals (43.9 percent), carpet (42.89 per cent),pharmaceuticals (24.36 percent), Meat, dairy and poultryproducts (19.96 per cent),Cotton yarn/fabrics/madeups,handloom products (14.82 percent), Tobacco (11.09 per cent),Spices (10.07 per cent), petro-leum products (4.17 per cent),Engineering goods (3.73 percent), chemicals (2.87 per cent),and coffee (0.79 per cent).

The ministry said that inSeptember 2020, oil imports fell35.92 per cent to USD USD5.82 billion. During April-September 2020-21, it con-tracted 51.14 per cent to USD31.85 billion. Non-oil importsin September too fell 14.41 percent to USD 24.48 billion. Theimports during the first half ofthe current fiscal declined 36.12per cent to USD 116.83 billion,

the preliminary data showed.Gold imports dipped by

52.85 per cent duringSeptember this year.

Since March, the exportswere recording negative growthdue to COVID-19 pandemicand sluggish global demand.

Commenting on the num-bers, Federation of IndianExport Organisations (FIEO)President Sharad Kumar Sarafsaid that the monthly exportshave grown for the first timeduring 2020-21, showing signsof revival as a gradual lifting oflockdown have furtherimproved the business senti-ments. "Anti-China sentimentsacross the globe has also beenone of the reasons for theimproved performance inexports. As business activitiesand economic sentiments areinching towards normalcyglobally, exporters have start-ed receiving a lot of enquiriesand orders from across theglobe helping many sectors," hesaid in a statement.

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After touching a lifetimehigh in the previous week,

the country’s foreign exchangereserves declined by USD 3.017billion to USD 542.021 billionin the week ended September25, RBI data showed on Friday.

In the week endedSeptember 18, the reserves hadincreased by USD 3.378 billionto a record USD 545.038 bil-lion. During the reportingweek, the decline in the forexkitty was mainly due to a fall inforeign currency assets (FCAs),a major component of theoverall reserves.

FCAs decreased by USD1.523 billion to USD 499.941billion, the central bank datashowed. Expressed in dollarterms, the foreign currencyassets include the effect ofappreciation or depreciation ofnon-US units like the euro,pound and yen held in the for-eign exchange reserves.

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Trade unions on Friday gavea call for a nationwide

strike on November 26 toprotest against the governmentpolicies.

The decision to go onstrike was taken during anonline or virtual NationalConvention of Workers onOctober 2, 2020, as per a dec-laration adopted by ten centralunions and their associates.

"The Convention callsupon all the working people,whether unionised or not, affil-iated or independent, whetherfrom organised sector or unor-ganised sector, to intensify theunited struggle against theanti-people, anti-worker, anti-farmer and anti-national poli-cies of the government andmake the call for a countrywidegeneral strike on 26th

November 2020 a total suc-cess," it said.

The National ConventionOf Workers organised onlinejointly by the Central TradeUnions and independentFederations/Associations forthe first time amid the pan-demic.

While all indicators point-ed to economy drastically slow-ing down due to lack ofdemand, the government con-tinued to steer its policies in thename of "ease of doing busi-ness", aggravating widespreadimpoverishment and deepen-ing the crisis further, the unionsalleged. The convention calledupon the working class toorganise joint state/ district/industry/sectoral level con-ventions, physically whereverpossible, online otherwise,before the end of October2020.

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No steel company has shownInterest in bidding for four

coking coal blocks of 38 minesput on auction for commercialmining as they have concernabout fuel quality and high cap-ital cost, officials said on Friday.

Of the four blocks withcoking coal, a key raw materi-al for manufacturing of themetal, two received bids fromcompanies which do not makesteel, they said.

"Steel companies did notshow interest in bidding for thecoking coal blocks as the qual-ity of the fuel from these minesis not very good and capitalexpenditure for mining is high.

"Availability of capex (cap-ital expenditure) funds is alsolimited during the COVID-19pandemic. Import is a viableoption," an official of a steelcompany said on condition of

anonymity.He said, "The four mines

were offered four times in thepast for captive use but no steelmakers had shown interestearlier. In this round, steelcompanies have not submittedbids."

The two coking coal minesthat received bids areBrahamadiha in Jharkhandand Urtan in Madhya Pradesh,he claimed.

The government has intotal put up for auction 38 coalblocks for commercial min-ing.

As many as 42 companieshave submitted 76 bids for 23coal mines in the auctionprocess. The coal ministry hadsaid two or more bids werereceived for 19 coal mines.

"The government will goahead with the 19 coal blocksfor which two or more bidswere submitted. The auction-

ing process has been annulledfor the rest of the mines thatreceived either one bid or noth-ing," another official said.

In the auction process,eight of 11 blocks in MadhyaPradesh received bids, whilecompanies have shown theirinterest in six of nine coalmines in Jharkhand.

Firms submitted bids forfive of Odisha’s nine blocks puton for sale, while two of sevenmines in Chhattisgarh attract-ed bidders. Maharashtra wit-nessed interest of companiesfor its two mines put on forauction.

In June, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi launched theauction process for 41 coalblocks for commercial mining,a move that opens India’s coalsector for private players, andtermed it a major step in the

direction of the countryachieving self-reliance.

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New supply of residentialproperties fell nearly 60

per cent in January-Septemberthis year as low demand due toCOVID-19 forced developersto go slow on launching newprojects, according to proper-ty consultant Anarock.

Fresh housing supply inJanuary-September 2020 acrossseven major cities declined to75,150 units from 1,84,700units in the same period pre-vious year. This is in line withsales that plunged 57 per centto 87,460 units, the datashowed.

As per the Anarock data,new supply of homes in thenational capital region (Delhi-NCR) dipped to 13,010 units inJanuary-September 2020 from27,390 units in the year-agoperiod.

In Mumbai MetropolitanRegion (MMR), where thespread of the coronavirus dis-ease was high, new supplyplunged to 18,380 units from63,930 units.Bengaluru saw adecline in fresh supply to15,020 units from 29,440 units,and Pune witnessed supplygoing down to 12,720 unitsfrom 36,540 units. New supplyof residential properties inHyderabad fell to 8,290 unitsfrom 11,050 units. In Chennai,it decreased to 5,240 unitsfrom 9,580 units.In Kolkata, thefresh supply went down to2,490 units in January-September period of this cal-endar year from 6,770 units inthe corresponding period pre-vious year. Anarock said thatmost of the launches of newhousing projects after Aprilhave been done on virtual plat-forms due to the pandemic.

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The Centre has informedthe Supreme Court that

accounts becoming non-per-forming due to bank’s or anyother delay need not suffer thelabel of Non-Performing Assets(NPAs).

The Centre said concernshave also been expressedregarding possible downgra-dation of loan accounts fromstandard to NPAs and conse-quent impact on ratings.

"The resolution framework

announced by the RBI providesthat loans accounts which slipinto NPA between invocationand implementation may beupgraded as standard on thedate of implementation itself,"an affidavit submitted by thegovernment said.

For example, if a borrow-er had defaulted on February10, such borrower would beeligible for invoking restruc-turing as the account was lessthan 30 days overdue on March1."Invocation of restructuringis now done on, say, October 9

and completed by, say,November 9. Even if theaccount slips into NPA onOctober 10, it could be stan-dard on November 9," the affi-davit explained.

The Centre told theSupreme Court that more than50 per cent borrowers have notavailed of the moratorium, andif waiving interest on all loansand advances is consideredthen it would have to forego inexcess of Rs 6 lakh crore.

The response from theCentre came on petitions that

sought waiver of interest oninterest during the moratori-um.

The affidavit said thatthough it may not be possible

to give the exact percentage ofborrowers who have notavailed of the moratorium andhave deposited their instal-ments, approximately such

class would be more than 50per cent.

Reiterating that waiver ofinterest on all loans is notpractical, the Centre said: "Ifthe government were to con-sider waiving interest on allloans and advances to all class-es and categories of borrowerscorresponding to the six-month period for which themoratorium was made avail-able under the relevant RBI cir-cular, the estimated amount ismore than Rs 6 lakh crore."

The Centre emphasised

that if banks were to bear thisburden, then it would neces-sarily wipe out a substantial anda major part of their net worth,rendering most of the banksunviable and raising a very seri-ous question mark over theirsurvival.

But, keeping in interest ofpeople facing hardships amidthe Covid-19 pandemic, theCentre said it will go with thetradition of "hand-holdingsmall borrowers", and decidedto grant waiver of compound-ed interest for borrowers of

loans of up to Rs 2 crore.The Centre also provided

clarification on the concern inconnection with downgradingof credit rating.

The affidavit cited circularsissued by Securities andExchange Board of India(SEBI) on March 30 andAugust 31. The Centre said itwould engage with SEBI for ahumane and holistic view inresolving the issues.

The Supreme Court willhear the case next on October5.

New Delhi: 75 per cent con-sumers feel children are beingmisled in many advertisementsfor apps, gaming and otheronline services, according to asurvey by Local Circles.

87 per cent consumers saythey have difficulty in reading,viewing and hearing dis-claimers while 86 per centhave come across child inap-propriate ads in the last oneyear.

In August, the Ministry ofConsumer Affairs issued adraft for ‘Central ConsumerProtection Authority

(Prevention of MisleadingAdvertisements and NecessaryDue Diligence forEndorsement ofAdvertisements) Guidelines,2020 aimed at preventingunfair trade practices and pro-tecting consumers’ interest.

According to the survey onthese guidelines, 87 per centconsumers find disclaimers inadvertisements difficult to read,view and hear. The draft guide-lines clearly state that a dis-claimer should not attempt tocorrect a misleading claimmade in an advertisement and

should be clearly visible to theconsumer. Non-legible dis-claimers will also be consideredas misleading ads.

Around 86 per cent con-sumers have come across childinappropriate ads on television,digital sites or newsprint in thelast 1 year. Consumer report-ed how on video sites childinappropriate ads are present-ed between children videosand how sites should onlyshow ads based on the videocontent being watched.

75 per cent consumershave come across ads of apps,

games and online products/ser-vices that were designed to mis-lead children into spending.

On this front, the draft saysthat the ad should not takeadvantage of children’s inex-perience, credulity or sense ofloyalty, or exaggerate the fea-tures of a good or service in away that could lead to childrenhaving unrealistic expectationsof such good or service, andinclude a direct promotion tochildren to purchase a good orservice or to persuade theirparents to purchase a good orservice for them.

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Apparel Training and DesignCentre (ATDC), the train-

ing wing of the Apparel ExportPromotion Council (AEPC),has partnered with 77 apparelmanufacturing units in TamilNadu for a World Bank-fund-ed skilling project.

"We have received supportletters from 77 factories basedin Tirupur and Chennai appar-el cluster for the World Bankfunded Skills Strengtheningfor Industrial ValueEnhancement (STRIVE) pro-ject," ATDC Chairman A.Sakthivel said.

AEPC, which has morethan 8,000 apparel exporters asmembers, has applied for theproject, and ATDC will impartthe three-month classroomtraining to 240 apprentices infive different courses followedby a 12-month on-the-jobtraining under the mandatory

apprenticeship scheme in part-ner factories.

"This is a win-win for bothindustry and workers. Courseswere designed after consultingthe industry so that they canhave an upgraded workforce.While the apprentices will earna stipend of Rs 4,500 to Rs9,000 per month during the 12-month training period, theystand a good chance to getabsorbed in the same factory,"Sakthivel who is also theChairman of AEPC said.

‘STRIVE’ is a World Bank

funded project under theMinistry of Skill Developmentand Entrepreneurship with atotal cost of Rs 2,200 croreaimed at improving the pro-ductivity at MSMEs in variousindustrial clusters. It also aimsto enhance the delivery quali-ty of ITIs through apprentice-ship scheme in all sectors.

ATDC further plans toestablish the IndustryApprenticeship Initiative Celland expand the work ofTraining of Trainers (ToT)through Apparel Made-Up andHome Furnishing Sector SkillCouncil (AMH-SSC) underthe skilling project.

ATDC Vice ChairmanRakesh Vaid, while addressingthe 17th Annual GeneralMeeting of ATDC recently,said that ‘Pro-up’ or‘Professional Up-gradation’programs for apparel exporterson an on-site basis will com-mence from January 2021.

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Juba: Sudan’s transitionalauthorities and a rebel alliancesigned on Saturday a peace dealinitialed in August that aims toput an end to the country’sdecades-long civil wars, in atelevised ceremony markingthe agreement.

“The next biggest chal-lenge is to work with all localand international partners topreach the agreement and itsbenefits,” Prime MinisterAbdalla Hamdok tweeted onFriday upon his arrival at Juba,the capital of South Sudan.

Reaching a negotiated set-tlement with rebels in Sudan’sfar-flung provinces has been acrucial goal for the transition-al government, which assumed

power after a popular uprisingled the military to overthrowPresident Omar al-Bashir inApril 2019.

Sudanese civilian leadershope the deal will allow themto revive the country’s batteredeconomy by slashing militaryspending, which takes up muchof the national budget.

Saturday’s official signing inJuba sealed the peace dealreached in late August betweenthe Sudanese government andthe Sudan Revolutionary Front,a coalition of several armedgroups.

The summit was attendedby South Sudan President SalvaKiir, whose own country gainedindependence from Sudan in

2011 following decades of civilwar. The head of Sudan’s sov-ereign council, Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan and his deputyGen. Mohammed HamadanDagalo, also attended the cer-emony. Dagalo, the commanderof paramilitary Rapid SupportForces, signed the agreementalong with rebel leaders.

Also attending the cere-mony were several foreign offi-cials including the U.S. SpecialEnvoy for Sudan Donald Booth,African Union chairmanMoussa Faki, and EgyptianPrime Minister MustafaMadbouly, along with otherAfrican and Arab officials.

The deal would grant self-rule for the southern provinces

of Blue Nile, South Kordofanand West Kordofan, accordingto a draft obtained by TheAssociated Press. Rebel forceswould be integrated intoSudan’s armed forces.

The Sudan RevolutionaryFront, centered in the westernDarfur region, South Kordofanand Blue Nile, is part of the pro-democracy movement that ledto the uprising against al-Bashir,but the rebels didn’t fully sup-port the military-civilianpower-sharing deal. That dealincludes a six-month deadlinefor achieving peace, which ranout in February.

Sudan’s largest single rebelgroup, the Sudan LiberationMovement-North led by Abdel-

Aziz al-Hilu, was involved inthe talks but has yet to reach adeal with the government.

Al-Hilu has called for a sec-ular state with no role for reli-gion in lawmaking, the dis-banding of al-Bashir’s militiasand the revamping of the coun-try’s military. The group hassaid if its demands are not met,it would call for self-determi-nation in areas it controls in theBlue Nile and South Kordofanprovinces.

Al-Hilu attended Saturday’sceremony and met withHamdok and Kiir to discuss theongoing talks between hismovement and the govern-ment, according to Hamdok’soffice. AP

Baku: Heavy fighting betweenArmenia and Azerbaijan con-tinued Saturday in their conflictover the separatist territory ofNagorno-Karabakh, whileAzerbaijan’s president criti-cised the international media-tors who have tried for decadesto resolve the dispute.

Fighting that startedSeptember 27 is the worst toafflict Nagorno-Karabakh andsurrounding areas since the1994 end of a war that left theregion in Azerbaijan under thecontrol of ethnic Armenianlocal forces backed by Armenia.

Shushan Stepanian, aspokeswoman for theArmenian Defence Ministry,told The Associated Press that“intensive fighting is takingplace along the entire frontline,” and claimed thatArmenian forces had shotdown three planes.

Azerbaijan’s defence min-istry did not respond to theclaim of planes being shotdown, but said Armenianforces had shelled civilian ter-ritory within Azerbaijan,including the city of Terter.

Nagorno-Karabakh offi-cials have said more than 150servicemen on their side havebeen killed so far.

Azerbaijani authoritieshaven’t given details on theirmilitary casualties but said 19civilians have been killed and55 more wounded.

Nagorno-Karabakh was adesignated autonomous region

within Azerbaijan during theSoviet era. It claimed indepen-dence from Azerbaijan in 1991,about three months before theSoviet Union’s collapse.

Full-scale war that brokeout in 1992 killed an estimat-ed 30,000 people. By the timeit ended in 1994, Armenianforces not only held Nagorno-Karabakh itself but substantialareas outside the territory’sformal borders.

Several United NationsSecurity Council resolutionshave called for withdrawalfrom those areas, which theArmenian forces have disre-garded. Azerbaijani PresidentIlham Aliyev said in a televisioninterview that the forces mustwithdraw from those areas

before fighting can stop.In the interview with al-

Jazeera, a transcript of whichwas distributed Saturday by thepresidential press office, Aliyevcriticized the so-called MinskGroup of the Organisation forSecurity and Cooperation inEurope, which has tried tomediate a resolution of theNagorno-Karabakh dispute.

One of the reasons behindthe current fighting is that“the mediators do not insist orexert pressure to start imple-menting the resolutions of theUnited Nations SecurityCouncil,” he said.

“We have no time to waitanother 30 years. The conflictmust be resolved now.” Aliyevsaid. AP

Kathmandu: Nepal PrimeMinister KP Sharma Oli’s chiefadvisor and his other two aideshave contracted coronavirusthat has claimed 528 lives andinfected over 84,500 people inthe country.

During the tests conduct-ed on Friday, Oli’s chief advi-sor Bishnu Rimal, press advi-sor Surya Thapa, and foreignaffairs advisor Rajan Bhattaraitested positive for COVID-19.

The key advisors con-firmed the developmentthrough their social mediaaccounts.

Posting on Twitter andFacebook, they requested allthose who came in their con-tact to be cautions.

Nepal’s COVID–19 tallyjumped to 84,570 on Saturdayas 2,120 new coronavirus caseswere detected in the country.

A total of 2,044 peoplehave been discharged fromdifferent health facilities aftertheir full recovery from theinfection.

The total number of recov-eries has reached 62,740 in thecountry. With the death ofeight more COVID-19 patients,Nepal’s number of fatalitieshas gone up to 528. PTI

London: There is growing hope thata vaccine against coronavirus may begiven the green light by health regu-lators by the end of this year to berolled out for a vaccination pro-gramme in six months’ time or evenless, according to a UK media report.

The vaccine candidate under trialby University of Oxford scientists incollaboration with pharmaceuticalgiant AstraZeneca is the furthest in theprocess of trials and, according to areport in ‘The Times’, it could be giventhe required clearances by Christmasin December.

The newspaper quoted UK gov-ernment sources involved in the mak-ing and distribution of vaccines as say-ing that a full vaccine roll-out pro-gramme for adults could take sixmonths or less after approval.

“We are looking at closer to six

months and it is likely to be far short-er than that,” a government sourcesaid.

Under a protocol developed by theUK’s Joint Committee on Vaccinationand Immunisation, any approved vac-cine will then be given to all over 65s,followed by younger adults at higherrisk, which could include those fromethnic minorities as well as those withserious health issues based on theirhigher risk from the deadly virus.People over 50 will be next in line, withyounger adults at the back of thequeue.

The UK government has ordered100 million doses of the Oxford vac-cine once it is ready for roll-out andthe doses are being manufacturedbefore it has been shown to be suc-cessful in order to save time once itclears all the regulatory stages. AP

Washington: President DonaldTrump, who was flown to amilitary hospital for treatmentof COVID-19, is in “excep-tionally good spirits” and hasbeen “fever free” for the last 24hours, his doctors said onSaturday.

Col. Sean N Dooley saidthat President Trump is not onoxygen and is not having dif-ficulty breathing or walkingaround.

“He is in exceptionallygood spirits,” he said while updating on the presi-dent’s health. “We are moni-toring him very closely forany evidence of complicationsfrom either the coronavirus illness or the therapies that weare prescribing to make himbetter,” CNN quoted him assaying.

Dooley said the president’scardiac, kidney and liver func-tions were all normal thismorning.

Trump’s physician Dr. SeanConley said the president hada “mild cough and some nasalcongestion, fatigue” onThursday, “all of which areresolving and improving.”

“The first week of COVIDand in particular the daysseven to 10 are the most criti-cal in determining the likelycourse of this illness. At thistime the team and I areextremely happy with theprogress the President hasmade,” Conley said.

Trump, who showed “mildsymptoms” of COVID-19, wasflown to Walter Reed MilitaryMedical Centre in Bethesda, aMaryland suburb ofWashington DC, on Friday.Trump walked from his resi-dence to take Marine One atthe South Lawns of the WhiteHouse to travel to Walter Reedhospital.

Trump, 74, and his wifeFirst Lady Melania Trump, 50,tested positive for COVID-19on Friday.

“Going well, I think!Thank you to all. LOVE!!!”Trump tweeted on Saturdaymorning.

While the president wastaken to the military hospital,the first lady stayed back at theWhite House.

Conley earlier said thepresident was “fatigued but ingood spirits”.

He said medical specialistshave recommendedRemdesivir therapy to treatthe president’s COVID-19infection.

“I am happy to report thatthe president is doing well,”Conley said in a health bulletinon Friday night, the first afterthe president was moved to themilitary hospital as a precau-tionary measure. “He is notrequiring any supplementaloxygen, but in consultationwith specialists we have elect-ed to initiate Remdesivir ther-apy,” he said. PTI

Bangkok: The head ofThailand’s state zoologicalagency was shot dead Saturdayas he was pursuing an investi-gation into the suspicious dis-appearance of rare animalsfrom a zoo in a southernprovince.

Police Capt. KomalpanSrithep said that SuriyaSaengpong, the director-generalof the Zoological ParkOrganisation of Thailand, wasshot several times in the officesof the Songkhla Zoo.

Srithep said the suspectedgunman, a senior official at thezoo, fled the scene of the shoot-ing and killed himself in his liv-ing quarters.

The motive for the killingswas not immediately clear,though Srithep said the sus-pected gunman was one offour senior zoo officials beinginvestigated.

Missing animals fromSongkhla Zoo became headline

news in Thailand this pastweek when leaked documentsshowed that Minister of NaturalResources and EnvironmentVarawut Silpa-archa was dis-satisfied with an initial probeinto the disappearance of arare albino barking deer fromthere in February.

Songkhla Zoo directorChalermvudh Kasetsomboonhad reported that he hadobtained photos that indicatedthe deer was eaten by aBurmese python, but his asser-tion was received with skepti-cism.

The online site Isra News,which published the leakeddocuments, said there weresuspicions that the missingdeer, along with other animals,was sold to or stolen by wildlifetraffickers. Varawut thenordered a a new investigation,which Suriya traveled toSongkhla from Bangkok tolaunch Saturday. AP

Paris: An investigation has beenopened after anti-Semitic graffiti wasfound in a kosher restaurant in theFrench capital, the Paris prosecutors’office said.

A video posted on social media bythe Union of Jewish Students of Franceshows the restaurant in the 19th districtof Paris with anti-Semitic slogans andswastikas painted on the wall, brokenwindows and destroyed tables andchairs.

The probe was opened Friday into“racist degradations,” the prosecutorssaid. Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo con-demned “with the utmost firmness thishateful act of anti-Semitic vandalism.”

She expressed on Twitter her “fullsupport” to the Jewish community. “Wewill not tolerate this,” she said.

Prime Minister Jean Castex alsotweeted his “solidarity with our Jewishcompatriots,” saying he shares their“emotion and outrage.” AP

Kabul: A suicide truck bombattack on Saturday killed atleast 13 people in easternAfghanistan, government offi-cials said.

Interior Ministryspokesman Tariq Arian saysthat at least 38 people werewounded in the blast inNangarhar province’sGhanikhail district, when it hitnear a mosque as locals weregathering for the afternoonprayers.

Provincial governorspokesman Attaullah Khogyanisays that several armed menafter the explosion wanted toenter the provincial districtbuildings but the Afghan forceskilled them before reaching thefacility.

No one immediatelyclaimed responsibility for theattack but both Islamic State

affiliates and Taliban are activein the area. Both groups havecarried out attacks against theAfghan government, nationalsecurity and defense personnel,and civilians.

The attack happens as rep-resentatives of both the Afghan

government and Taliban areopening intra-Afghan negoti-ations in the Middle EasternState of Qatar to end the coun-try’s decades-long long war, fol-lowing a US-Taliban peacedeal signed February 29 inDoha. AP

Sanaa: Yemeni officials andtribal leaders said Saturdayfighting between governmentforces and Houthi rebels haskilled at least two dozen peo-ple in the past three days inMarib province and the keyport city of Hodeida.

The war in Yemen erupt-ed in 2014, when the Iran-allied Houthis seized the cap-ital and much of the country’snorth. A Saudi-led coalition,determined to restore theauthority of President AbedRabbo Mansour Hadi’s gov-ernment, launched a sweepingmilitary intervention monthslater.

The officials said morethan 23 people were killedand dozens were woundedfrom both sides in the mostrecent fighting for the oil-rich

Marib. The Iranian-backedrebels have sought to takecontrol of the region from theinternationally recognised gov-ernment, in order to strength-en their position in ongoingU.N.-mediated peace talks.

Tribal leaders said theHouthis have deployed rein-forcements to break govern-ment defenses in Marib, butthey have made no progress.

Saudi-led forces have hitHouthi military convoys inthe region’s desert, according tothe tribal leaders.

In Hodeida, fierce fightingerupted on Wednesday in thetown of Durayhimi, just southof the strategic Hodeida port,which handles about 70 percent of Yemen’s commercialand humanitarian imports,Yemeni officials said. AP

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Islamabad: Pakistan Prime Minister ImranKhan has asked his party leaders to devise a legalstrategy to bring back former premier NawazSharif from the UK as in the absence of an extra-dition treaty between the two countries itwould be difficult to get him extradited, accord-ing to a media report.

Presiding over the first meeting of a com-mittee recently formed to counter theOpposition, Prime Minister Khan on Fridayasked Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leaders tofoil all moves of the Opposition aimed at desta-bilising the government and “maligning” theArmy, the Dawn News reported.

The government had earlier sent a request to the British government for thePakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)leader’s repatriation to ensure that he faces thecorruption cases pending against him in thecourts.

Sharif has been living in London sinceNovember last year when he was allowed to gothere for medical treatment. His recent speech-es targeting the army for political interferencehas apparently unnerved the Imran Khan gov-ernment. PTI

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Page 8: 2020/10/03  · and Priyanka Gandhi finallyentire incident, including sex-The Uttar Pradesh Government finally did a series of course corrections on Saturday in face of massive

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Boasting anexplosive bat-

ting line-up thatcomplements their effective death bowling, MumbaiIndians will have their nose ahead in the IPL match againstSunrisers Hyderabad here on Sunday.

To add to SRH’s worry, doubts remained over leadseamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s participation in the match.

Bhuvneshwar picked up an injury on Friday night andwas unable to complete his final over in the game againstChennai Super Kings. He walked off the field with the helpof the team physio.

In the event the experienced seamer misses out, table-toppers Mumbai will fancy their chances more at theSharjah Cricket Stadium, whose boundaries are muchshorter than Dubai and Abu Dhabi and have been a par-adise for power-hitters.

The defending champions, having humbled a strongKings XI Punjab in their last game, are unlikely to makeany changes to the winning combination.

Skipper Rohit Sharma is in sublime form and he canpummel any attack into submission on his day. Rohit hasscored 170 runs from four games this season.

While the poor form of QuintonDe Kock is worrisome, the prolificSuryakumar Yadav would be morethan keen to convert his starts.

The biggest positive for thedefending champions is that theirmiddle-order has finally deliveredwith Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya and Kieron Pollardlaunching into opposition attacks with their big-hittingprowess.

Young Kishan has been the find for MI, after his blis-tering yet responsible knock against RoyalChallengers Bangalore.

Given the abilities and power of Hardik andPollard, both can rip apart the SRH bowlingespecially at Sharjah, where even the outsideedges fly into the stands.

Mumbai are unlikely to make any changesto their bowling combination, with all theirbowlers putting up a splendid show againstKings XI Punjab.

Apart from the pacers, spinners RahulChahar and Krunal Pandya have played theirparts to perfection and will be more thankeen to contain the SRH batters.

SRH will also take a lot of confidencefrom their seven-run win over CSK, whereall their youngsters delivered after the bigguns failed to fire.

The team management would behoping that skipper David Warner,Jonny Bairstow and Manish Pandey areamong the runs again.

Kane Williamson also is a certainty in theplaying XI, given his ability to take theinnings deep and hold one end up.

If the seniors fire, that will reduce thepressure on young guns Abhishek Sharma,Priyam Garg and Abdul Samad.

But if Bhuvneshwar misses out, thatwould mean more pressure on yorker special-ist T Natarajan, left-arm pacer Khaleel Ahmedand star spinner Rashid Khan. In that case,they will have to choose from their other pac-ers — Basil Thampi, Sandeep Sharma orSiddharth Kaul — but none can matchup Bhuvneshwar’s skills and experience.

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Hit hard by a start that leastdefines them, Chennai

Super Kings would be desper-ate to find answers to their

predicament when theytake on Kings XIPunjab in Dubai onSunday.

So used to be ontop of their game inthe previous edi-tions, sitting at the

bottom of the pointstable now with threelosses in four match-es is an unknownterritor y for theMahendra Singh

Dhoni-led side.Nothing has worked

for them despite having theresources.

They even made threechanges to their playingXI for Friday’s gameagainst SunrisersHyderabad but neither

comeback of AmbatiRayudu nor the pres-ence of Dwayne Bravo

could lift the gloom.A misf ir ing top-

order, save Faf du Plessis,combined with inadequate

run-flow in the middle overs

and the habit of leaving waytoo much for the climax,proved to be their bane in thethree consecutive defeats.

They have it in them toturn it around but everything— fielding, bowling and bat-ting — has to come together.

When the result go ateam’s way, many of the frail-ties gets hidden but even thesmallest of things get exposedwhen the opposite happens.

CSK will need one of theirtop-order batsmen to put runson the board and run-rate inthe middle overs need to betaken care of, too. If that hap-pens, it will allow Dhoni tofind his feet.

Dhoni has batted undertremendous pressure in theinitial games and the hugeexpectations make his and histeam’s failure look worse. Bythe time he goes after theattack, the asking rate wouldsoar to unprecedented levels.

If the team can manageenough runs in the middleovers, it will give some cush-ion to Dhoni and other capa-ble batsmen down the order.

But the job would be eas-ier said than done since theyare up against a side which hasbeen batting well, though

results have not exactly gonein their favour.

Skipper KL Rahul andMayank Agarwal have been intop form.

But despite scoring inexcess of 200 twice, the Punjabside lost those matchesbecause of their limited bowl-ing resources. None, expect

Mohammed Shami, gives con-fidence of stopping the rivalbatsmen.

This is exactly what CSKmust look to exploit. Theyneed to get Punjab’s top-orderearly.

Overall, CSK have betterresources but they must utilisethem to the hilt.

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Captain Virat Kohli roaredback to form with anunbeaten 72 and stitched

a 99-run stand with DevduttPadikkal (63) to power RoyalChallengers Bangalore to a com-fortable eight-wicket win overRajasthan Royals in an IPLmatch here on Saturday.

This was after wrist spinnerYuzvendra Chahal snared threewickets in an impressive bowl-ing show that helped themrestrict RR to 154 for 6.

Kohli’s knock came off 53balls with seven fours and twosixes. It was RCB’s third win infour matches.

Padikkal yet again producedan impressive innings before hewas dismissed by Jofra Archer inthe 16th over, after hitting sixfours and one six.

The young RCB openerallowed his captain to get in andsettle down before Kohli pro-

duced some of his trademarkshots later on to accelerate.

The RCB needed 31 runsafter Padikkal’s dismissal andanother in-form batman AB deVilliers (12 not out) ensured thathis side reached the target withfive balls to spare.

Having failed to score big inhis earlier three innings (14, 1,3), Kohli took time to settledown and scored mostly inones and twos initially.

Padikkal continued his goodform having scored 56, 1, 54 inhis three earlier innings. Hereached to his fifty in 34 balls.He was the dominant batsmanin RCB’s opening stand of 25runs with Finch who was out inthe third over with a score of 8.

Earlier, Chahal returnedwith figures of 3/24 from his fourovers to restrict RR to 154 for 6.

Opting to bat, the Royalslost their top-order batsmencheaply inside the powerplayovers but recovered to some

extent to post a decent total,thanks to Mahipal Lomror’sknock of 47.

Royals skipper Steve Smith(5) fell cheaply for the secondconsecutive time with IsuruUdana taking his wicket in thethird over. He was followed inthe hut by Englishman JosButtler (22) who failed to comeup with a big score yet again.

Sanju Samson (4), whohad two sensational inningsof 74 and 85 in the firsttwo matches, was dis-missed in the fifth overwith Chahal taking alow catch in his follow-through.

The Royals were31/3 and they reached70/3 at halfway markwith Robin Uthappa (17)and Lomror stitching a39-run stand for thefourth wicket. ButUthappa failed again withChahal getting himcaught at long off.

Chahal endedLomror’s innings in the 17thover as the batsman slicedup a widish delivery toPadikkal at long off.

Rahul Tewatia (24not out), looking for yetanother explosiveinnings after the oneagainst Kings XIPunjab, hit two sixesin the last over afterenduring a beamerfrom Navdeep Sainion his chest.

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Back to form with an unbeaten fifty,RCB captain Virat

Kohli on Saturday saidhis teammates’ goodshow gave him enoughtime to come out ofa short leanpatch in

the ongo-ing IPL.

K o h l ihad previously

scored 14, 1, 3 in thefirst three matches

before starring with 72not out off 53 balls in first

afternoon game of the sea-son.

“It’s a funny game, anamazing game and I wastelling Jos that I love this

game and hate it too. It’ssomething you need tounderstand (bad form) butwhen the team is doing well,you get more time to applyyourself,” Kohli said afterthe match.

“Very important twopoints. The kind of game

we had last time, it’s veryimportant to back thatup.”

He praised the 20-year-old DevduttPadikkal, who yet againcame good, scoring histhird fifty in fourmatches.

“There wasn’tmuch to reveal (toDevdutt) and I toldSimon (Katich) thisguy has got serioustalent — reach, and

a great eye.“And a left-hander, very clean

shots. You hardly feel he’s taking risks,you get that feeling rarely at this level.Today he carried from 40 to 65 odd, sohe’s a smart guy and he understands thegame well.”

Padikkal, on his part, said it was “anunreal feeling” to bat with Kohli, whomhe has been following for a long time.He said he was getting tired towards theend due to the heat.

“He (Kohli) just kept pushing me.I was getting tired, cramping up, but hepushed me. He said I need to see theteam through. That’s how he bats andhe was conveying that to me too.

“I’m just playing on the merit,watching as closely as I can and mak-ing a decision. It was hot, especially afterfielding for 20 overs it was difficult tobat.”

Yuzvendra Chahal, who wasadjudged man-of-the-match for his3/24 to restrict RR to 154/6, said he wasable to flight the ball more as the groundwas big.

“When you come into bowl and geta wicket in the first over, it makes youconfident. They take less chances andthen I just vary the pace. I thinkSanju’s wicket was the most special one.

Royals captain Steven Smith ruedthat his side did not score enough runsafter electing to bat.

“We could have done a lot better.It was a good wicket but we couldn’t geta partnership together. Jofra bowledexceptionally, our leggies bowled well,”he said.

“Our top 3 should be doing the joba lot more. The last two games it’s costus. We bat quite deep, but our top 3need to bat longer and get ourselves intothe innings.”

Smith praised Mahipal Lomror,who made 47 to help RR go past the150-mark.

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Shreyas Iyer showed hisclass with a captain's

knock of 88 not out off 38balls after Prithvi Shaw'sopening act that propelledDelhi Capitals to a com-mendable 228 for four againstKolkata Knight Riders in anIPL game held on a battingparadise here on Saturdayevening.

If that was not enough,Rishabh Pant (38 off 17 balls)dusted off his rustiness witha quickfire knock.

If the Powerplaybelonged to Shaw, whoblazed his way to 66 off 41balls with four boundariesand as many sixes, Iyer dom-inated the remaining part ofthe innings with his silkensmooth batting as he scythedthe opposition attack withseven fours and half a dozensixes.

A few of Iyer's sixes land-ed either in the top tier or gotlost in the car park adjoining

the stadium, such was thetiming rather than bruteforce that the DC skipper

used.Containment was never

possible on such a track withCapitals batsmen hitting asmany as 14 sixes and 18boundaries in the entireinnings.

After two good games,young Kamlesh Nagarkoti

(1/35 in 3 overs) and ShivamMavi (0/40 in 3 overs) gotharsh lessons as DineshKarthik couldn't risk com-pleting their quota of overs.

Patrick Cummins (0/49in 4 overs) was taken to taskby Shaw in the Powerplay ashe repeatedly cleared the in-field. Mavi opening the bowl-ing also got the hammeringas he lost his length early on,bowling either too full or tooshort to the DC openers.

Such was Shaw's formthat even Shikhar Dhawan(26 off 16 balls) was over-shadowed despite somedecent hits in a 56-run open-ing stand.

However, the man whoentralled one and all was Iyerwith some monstrous hits.

The two spinners VarunChakravarthy (1/49 in 4overs) and Sunil Narine (0/26in 2 overs) were simply sentinto the orbit.

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Captain Mahendra SinghDhoni admitted that his

beleaguered Chennai Super Kingsteam needs to “get a lot of thingsright” to effect a turnaround in theongoing Indian Premier League.

Chasing 166 for victoryagainst Sunrisers Hyderabad onFriday, CSK fell short by by sevenruns, with skipper Dhoni stayingunbeaten on 47 off 36 balls.

“I was not able tomiddle a lot of deliveries.Was trying to hit it toohard. When the wicket isslightly at the slowerside, it is better to timeit. Looking at outfield itwas subconsciously coming to usto hit the ball hard,” Dhoni said.

This was his side’s third defeatin four matches.

Asked about his struggletowards the end, Dhoni said, “Itried to get as much as time aspossible. It is quite dry out here.So, the throat gets dry and youstart to cough. When you havelegal signs, you can take sometime off.”

Dhoni made three changes to

his playing XI but could notarrest the slide. He acknowledgedthat they need to find solutions.

“Long time back once we lostthree in a row. We need to get alot of things right. It is the profes-sionalism. We need to take ourcatches, not bowl no-balls. Thoseare the controllables and may bewe are getting too relaxed,” hesaid.

“We have been a bit toorelaxed at times. After the 16th

over, we had two goodovers but overall wecould have been slight-ly better.

“Nobody wants todrop catches but at thislevel, we need to draw a

line and say these catches thatneed to be taken, especially whenthe team hasn’t been doing thatoutstandingly well,” he said, refer-ring to the spilled chances whenSRH’s Abhishek Sharma was bat-ting.

"Catches like these can ham-per your knockout stage games. Itis very important to be at yourbest. There are plenty of positivesin this game but we will try tocome back strong.”

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So what categorises food as a super-food? The whole idea of superfoodsis a little vague. I have a simple defi-nition/way for them. But first, weneed to understand why we need to

include them in our diet.I believe and always have that when you

begin putting the right food on the plate (byright food, I mean food that does somethinggood for you), then calories take care ofthemselves, and your weight issues get tack-led on their own.

So when you think nutrition and notweight loss — you get both. Whereas whenyou think just weight loss, then you knowwhat happens right? You lose some and thengain that back and more! So no good comesout of it.

This is where superfoods come in. Thetruth is that we are in general overfed, butour diet is completely inadequate.Superfoods help fill that gap. Even thoughthere is no agreed definition and very oftenit is simply used as a marketing term, andmisused, but still, it is not that difficult toidentify the actual superfoods. They mustmeet certain conditions.

So what are superfoods? These foodsdeliver concentrated — extra-large doses ofvitamins and minerals — nutrients andantioxidant that are good for you. Now everyfood has some goodness inherent in it, butsome foods deliver them en masse, in loads.They are so nutrient dense, that they arealmost like a medication, a supplement. Butof course far better. Once you have identifiedthem, the next step is the draw the best outof them. This book is an attempt to help youdo that easily. Sharing an excerpt from thechapter:

������When my mother is staying with us, the

menu automatically changes for the better.Suddenly, all the healthy, forgotten dishesstart getting cooked. The regular dishes —dal chawal and those same two or three sub-zis cooked by rotation get replaced by inter-esting, super-healthy, and sometimes slightlyunusual dishes. And the best news is thatradish (mooli) makes an appearance on ourplates more often. For example, mooli kaparantha wolfed down with dhania-amla-mint chutney and beaten curd, and mychildhood favourite mooli bhurjee with theleaves, relished with missi roti… and moresuch dishes. I don’t know anyone else (likemy mom) who can eat radishes with somuch joy! She loves them! And thankfullythat seems to have passed on to me too.

������� ���A winter staple, radish is very good for

us. This slightly bitter root is amazingly lowin calories (100 gm of radish gives less than

20 calories), is loaded with vitaminC, and is rich in folate, Vitamin B6,riboflavin, thiamin and minerals likeiron, magnesium and copper.

�����������������������Radish is high in roughage, con-

tains a lot of water, and is low on theglycemic index too (keeps blood sugar sta-ble), so it is a great food even for those whoare watching their weight or sugar levels.

����������������Radish is a great source of anthocyanins,

a type of antioxidant that is great for ourheart and displays anti-cance and anto-inflamatory properties. In fact, the folic acid,vitamin C and anthocyanins in radish makeit a very effective cancer-fighting food.

�������������Eating radishes regularly keeps choles-

terol levels in check, and the potassium in itkeeps blood pressure low.

����������������������Radish is fabulous for winter months as

it naturally decreases the congestion of therespiratory system, cuts the irritation of thenose, throat and windpipe, and decongeststhe lungs — symptoms that accompany fre-quent colds, infections, allergies and othercauses common during these months.

So, a mooli parantha or a radish salad,when in season, is undoubtedly a no-brainerto keep winter ailments in check.

���������������Why radish leaves, you ask? That’s

because the leaves are even more nutrient-dense than the radish. They deliver lots ofiron, which helps cut fatigue, preventanaemia and boost the haemoglobin level.They are a good source of vitamin C (asmuch as six times more per serving than theradish itself), which boosts immunity bigtime and delivers some vitamin A, thiamine(vitamin B1), pyridoxin (vitamin B6), folicacid (vitamin B9), calcium and the hard-to-find phosphorous. In fact, the high level ofpotassium, iron, vitamin C and dietary fab-ric found in radish greens help strengthenthe heart and keep our cholesterol levelssorted.

����������Radish greens display an impressive

antioxidant capacity too, ranking right upthere with other big shots like broccoli andkale. This means they can help fight againstoxidative stress and chronic diseases in thebody. They, in fact, have some uniqueantioxidants called sulforaphane indoles andanthocyanins, which are known for theircancer-prevention abilities. Having enough

antioxidants in thediet is actually great news

for our skin too, as they helpthe skin to stay young and alsoreduce the appearance of blem-ishes and scars.

�����������The best news though is that

radish leaves are a natural diuretic —perfect for those who suffer from waterretention and feel bloated all the time. Thevitamin B6 in them even helps dissolve kid-ney stones and improves liver function.

����������� ����These leaves also demonstrate strong lax-

ative properties as they stimulate peristalticmotion and prevent a number of gastroin-testinal problems. Thus, they naturally helpease constipation and a bloated stomach, andkeep our gut smiling by improving its nutri-ent-absorption efficiency.

����������The radish is high in fibre (100 gm radish

gives a whopping 4 gm fibre), so it helps youfeel-and-stay full for longer. This will helpyou keep a check on your cravings betweenmeals and curb over-eating. It is high in fibreand has a low glycemic index, so it’s a fabu-lous food for diabetics too and helps keepblood sugar level under control.

������ ���������������Make one radish part of your salad

every day. In fact, if you need some crunchin your salads but want to keep it healthy,add radishes instead of croutons. Cookmooli subzi, or use radishes to make sambarand chutney like they do in the southernpart of our country. You can even pickle and

eat them with your regular meals, or roastthem with garlic and add to pastas, sand-wiches and salads.

Try this salad: In a salad bowl, combinesliced radishes and cucumbers, and choppedgreen onions. To make the dressing, whisktogether equal parts yoghurt, sour cream,chopped garlic, a little bit of olive oil, and saltand pepper to taste in a mixing bowl. Add the

dressing to the salad; mix well, chill andenjoy.

Also never throw the leaves —cook them with some radish (or carrot)

pieces in mustard oil with just salt, asafoetida,carom seeds, ginger and green chillies. Youcan also add them to salads, sandwiches anddals. You can even make a side dish by justwilting them and adding some butter andlemon juice, or mix them up with potatoesand onions and make a nice soup.

Or try a radish green pesto (myfavourite): Mix some radish leaves with fresh-ly grated parmesan cheese, garlic, olive oil,almonds and walnuts (or sunflower seeds).Spread over a cracker or a toast and have it.

The peppery, earthy taste of radish and itsleaves takes a little getting used to, but it’stotally worth the benefits.

����������The benefits of eating radish include:● Acting as a natural detox ● Keeping your blood pressure tamed ● Easing constipation and a bloated stomach ● Reducing blemishes and scars ● Preventing winter congestion

Fun Fact: Radish was so highly regardedin ancient Greece that its gold replicas werepresented to their god, Apollo!

Excerpted with permission from Fix it withFood by Kavita Devgan, Rupa, �295

DISH UP THE

RADISHRADISH

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There is no circumventing thefact that this year has beenquite taxing upon the human

experience of being alive — a pan-demic, natural disasters, worseninggeopolitical feuds and mass unem-ployment do not a pleasant yearmake, by any means. While it isunderstandable to be caught up inall of this; perhaps we should alsobe cognizant of the fact that thisyear has been incredibly strenuousupon the natural world, too — andthe animals that live in it.

Indeed, it has only beenaround seven months since thedeadly Australian fires, the largestof their kind — killed over half abillion animals, and caused histori-cal damage in their wake. It mayfeel like eternities ago that the blaz-ing pyres blackened out the skiesand brightened headlines; but thereality is that fires follow a simple,almost rudimentary path ofdestruction, one that can be under-stood. The human arbitrationsinvolved in perpetuating a culturalsystem of violence towards animalshowever, is anything but simple;and it is only fitting that it isaddressed on World Animal Day,celebrated around the world annu-ally on 4th October.

At the heart of this culture liesa clear issue — that of what ani-mals are classified as vermin ornot, which subsequently decidesthe level of legal violence that is notonly normalised, but also deeplyaffects the cultural perception ofsaid animal. We are all aware of thehorrifying death of Saumya, theelephant; and while the anger andbacklash is welcome; the aspect ofthe story that goes under discussedis that the explosive fruit was des-tined for another animal — andthe sympathy comes from the acci-dent, as well as the favourable per-ception of elephants. Had thatexplosive snared pineapple madeits way to a wild boar’s mouth, itwould be not be a story — for suchmethods of ‘dealing’ with verminare ‘acceptable’ and occur everyday.

Vermin animals are dealt with

in exceedingly inhumane waysacross the world — mass culling,live burials (such as rabbits inAustralia) and of course, food trapsare some of the more widely prac-ticed ways. In India, ThePrevention of Cruelty to AnimalsAct applies to all animals; but thereis a catch — the vermin exceptionto animals protected under theIndian Wildlife Act allows for aglaring oversight that feeds thiscycle of violence. To be clear, theseanimals do cause tangible andmaterial damage to businesses,especially farmers; but just becausethey are deemed as economicallyuseless doesn’t mean they deserveto be exterminated in abhorrentways.

While not a perfect compari-son by any means (for a multitudeof factors don’t translate directly),but think of us humans for amoment — do we view fellow peo-ple in society that are unable tocontribute economically in such areductionist view? Do we value lifeonly if it manages to materiallyprovide us with something? And— forget value — do we set out todestroy economically ‘unfeasible’lives because of this very drive?

The truth is that the issuedeserves deep examination whichmust be followed by reform. Asthings stand, under Section 62 of

the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972,states can provide a list of wild ani-mals to the Centre requesting it todeclare them vermin for selectiveslaughter — meaning there is noconsensus even, on what is classi-fied as vermin. Nilgai and wildboars are considered vermin inBihar and even some parts ofRajasthan, and in 2016 RhesusMacaques were given vermin statusin Himachal Pradesh, for the thirdtime. Not only does this highlightthe degree arbitration — forMacaques exist in Rajasthan inhealthy populations too, and arealmost marketed as a part of somecities’ (Jaipur, Jodhpur) intrinsiccharm; but it also gives way to awindow of sustained cruelty that ishard to ever close again.

The issue of vermin animalsversus farmer’s produce CAN besolved through policy change andinvestment in innovative andhumane methods, of which thereexist many — sterilisation pro-grams, visual markers to driveaway crop invasion (think scare-crows but with tact and sciencebehind it) and so forth. If we aren’teven willing to start the discourseof scientific and financial invest-ment towards ways of optimallymanaging wildlife, then we contin-ue to fuel this almost primalinstinct to harm other living beingsin horrifying ways, driven by eco-nomic motives.

As long as people are legallyfree to kill animals under the arbi-trary umbrella of ‘pests’ and ‘ver-min’, countless animals will diehorrific deaths like Saumya’s on adaily basis, and will continue to doso in the distant future. Perhapsthese deaths won’t go ‘viral’ —indeed, thousands don’t, but deathdescends upon these creatures thesame. And unlike in the case of theall-consuming, simple fire, thereexists no rhyme, no reason and noway to extinguish human whimsy.

The writer is the ExecutiveDirector of the Federation of Indian

Animal Protection Organisations(FIAPO), India’s apex animal pro-

tection organisations

Over the past two months, theteam at Sustain Labs hasbeen pouring over the finan-cial reports of over 200 com-panies in India so as to find

India’s most sustainable companies. Indoing so we found that 43.8% companieshave reported losses in Q1 of FY 2020-21 — the first quarter of the currentfinancial year corresponds to the periodof the meteoric spread of the Coronavirusfrom 2,280 cases on April 1 to 2,20,546cases on June 30 in India. In fact sever-al Indian companies who were profitablein Q4 2019-20 have now reported loss-es in Q1 2020-21.

While the pandemic has evidentlyrubbed off on the economy, the result-ing financial losses incurred by compa-nies then pushed down their CSR spend-ing.

The amendment notified in theCompanies Act, 2013 requires companieswith a net worth of INR 5 billion or more,or an annual turnover of INR 10 billionor more, or net profit of INR 50 millionor more, to spend 2 percent of their aver-age net profits of three years on CSR.

This means that CSR might be leasteffective at a time now when private sec-tor contribution to society is needed themost. This is an example of why corpo-rates need to contribute to society, inways that go beyond CSR.

One way to do so is via buildingrobust public private partnerships inIndia. For this, there is first a dire needto build state capacity to be able to struc-ture such viable partnerships. There is adearth of technical skills to do so.Further, culture of simply seeking CSRfunds from companies is so embedded inthe system that often there is hardly anyeffort made by the government to part-ner with the private sector in a way thatis mutually conducive for both parties.

Apathy to the private sector alsolends itself to the way government, soci-ety, and private sector are not able to suc-cessfully work together. For example dur-ing the early stages of the spread of thepandemic, the Brihanmumbai MunicipalCorporation forcibly took over a 22storey building in DB Realty’s OneMahalaxmi project to quarantine high-risk people who came in contact withCOVID-19 patients under the provisionsof Epidemic Diseases Act 1897.

There were more instances of assetsbeing forcefully taken from the privatesector for the government’s COVIDrelief work. This coercion was unneces-sary if a policy had been established bythe government to offer credit TDR equal

in value to that of the property they tem-porarily hand over for the centres, for thesubsequent project developed by thebuilder.

Such a public private partnershipwould incentivise the builder to give uphis property now to the government freeof cost, and also incentivise him to kick-start economic activity sooner by devel-oping his next project. This policy pro-posal was part of a plan I had drafted totransform vacant buildings in to tempo-rary COVID hospitals, and submitted tothe Prime Minister’s Office, clearly to noavail.

Later, a member of the local govern-ment in Delhi told me that this was too

difficult a route when it is easier to coerceprivate hotels to give up their banquethalls for the purpose. I am sure there areseveral more ways to structure partner-ships between the government and theprivate sector, but for which a pre-req-uisite is a desire of all parties to work onmutually beneficial and respectful terms.

Further, both the government and theprivate sector needs to learn to work bet-ter in partnership with universities inIndia. Many innovations for resource effi-ciency and smart ways of structuringpublic private partnerships come from avastly under utilised set of people whoare on the cusp of practice and research.These innovations indeed need the sup-

port of the private sector and the govern-ment for implementation, and so are sim-ply perceived as commercial vendors bythose holding public office.

In my experience, even when a pri-vate sector company and a researchinstitution has come together to offer astate government the funds as well as aviable innovative solution that has alreadybeen tried and tested elsewhere to pro-vide COVID recovery facilities topatients, it is likely to fall on deaf ears.It requires immense effort to get the gov-ernment to implement a proven innov-ative idea even when it is fully funded.It is baffling how difficult it is to help thegovernment.

So far CSR contributions are per-ceived by the government and the pub-lic as the primary means for corporationsto contribute to the benefit of society. IfCSR is complimented by the government,private sector, and society, workingtogether in partnership mode all yearround in ways that are mutually benefi-cial to all parties, then we can hope forthe private sector contribution to soci-ety to be more sustainable.

The writer is CEO of Sustain Labsand Adjunct Professor at SciencesPo

Paris. She is also a columnist andauthor of the 2019 bestseller IndianInstincts — essays on freedom and

equality in India

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2013, when Nirbhaya’s gan-grape and murder galvanised anationwide protest and forcedthe slumbering political classfor action, the nation exudedconfidence that the promisedstringent legislation will instilfear in the minds of potentialsexual predators. Seven yearslater, however, the NationalCrime Records Bureau data —year 2019 saw 32,033 cases ofrape, about 34 per cent jumpfrom 2012 — on sexual assaultcases and the recent Hathrasand Balrampur rapes havedashed that hope. It has nowdawned on the masses thatmore battles lie ahead in thewar against the rape culture.

Although, violence againstwomen is as old as human civil-isation, and has existed in allsocieties, albeit with varieddegrees, it is a blot on our mod-ern democratic system whosefounding fathers tried to infusescientific temper in the people.Also, there is characteristic dis-tinction in the sexual assaultcases in the urban and rural set-up. While rapes in urban areasare mostly sexual crimes againstwomen, in rural areas wherethere in no constant influx ofpopulation, rape is used as aweapon to perpetuate the inhu-man hierarchy of class andcaste, and sometimes religion.A case in point is the 2016 Jatquota agitation, when the afflu-ent agrarian community mem-bers dragged Dalit women outof their houses and raped them.

Dalits are vulnerable tocaste-based discrimination atthe hands of OBC and theupper caste communities inimpoverished rural India.Moreover, Dalit women’s finan-cial and social vulnerabilityfurther instigates caste preda-tors to assault them sexually

with impunity.However, tragically only a

few rape cases get wider atten-tion from the political class.Although no information ishidden from the public in theage of diverse media platforms,all sexual assaults don’t get thesame level of response from thepublic, the media and politicalparties. It is a systemic malady.There is a certain amount ofskepticism about the commit-ment of the political classtowards making the environ-ment safe for women. While,

public outrage against widelypublicised ghastly rapes is gen-uine, most politicians weighpros and cons before even pay-ing lip service. Their hypocrisyis an open secret. Either theyshed crocodile tears or out-rightly blame the victims ofrape. We have some infamousquotes on rape: ThenSamajwadi Party supremoMulayam Singh Yadav said,“Boys will be boys, they com-mit mistakes” and his partyleader Abu Azmi said, “If awoman is caught (in a rape

case), then both she and theboy should be punished”.

Protest against rape is anexpedient platform for politicalparties, particularly those in theOpposition, and is also anagent of change of a govern-ment as was seen in 2013 whenNirbhaya’s case proved to be thelast nail in the Congress’ coffinin Delhi. The brutal Hathrasincident has the same potential,and, therefore, there is a com-pulsive urge for politicaltourism to Hathras. Their pur-ported aim is to lay bare secrets

surrounding the tragic incident.However, courtesy the media,the truth, suppressed till now bythe district administration, hasalready come to the fore.

It is interesting to analysewhy certain political partieshave been hell-bent on reach-ing the village to meet the fam-ily members of the Hathras vic-tim, while a similar ghastlyrape-murder in Balrampur hasnot evoked similar reactionsfrom those parties. In fact, allprotests don’t give politicaldividends, and therefore the

discrimination. Though vic-tims in both Hathras andBalrampur are Dalit women,the rapist-murders’ identitiesare different in the two cases.The Hathras accused are menfrom upper caste, a politicallydivided community not con-sidered the solid vote bank bythe political Opposition; butBalarampur accused are menfrom another religion, whichare their traditional vote bank.This dreadful revelation is aneye-opener for the uninitiatedto the fact that most political

parties are not committed tohitting at the root cause of thesocietal malady if their effortsare not politically beneficial.

When politics feeds on suchterrible crimes, the rot in thecriminal justice system has along life. Every now and then,India witnesses paroxysms ofpublic outrage against sexualassault cases, but the protest diesdown after some time as newevents hog public attention. Ifthe pressure is mounted, we see“instant justice” as seen onNovember 6, 2019 inHyderabad when all rape-mur-der accused were shot dead inan encounter with the police.That was a tragic incident fordemocratic India as manycheered the encounter deathsand saw it as an epitome of aparallel justice delivery systemfor the fallen daughters of India.

For this systemic rot, theblame goes to the politicalestablishment and political par-ties who make officials scape-goats when no solution isimmediately visible. However,at the same time, it must berealised that legislation againstsexual assaults is not a silverbullet. Laws don’t shape thesocial system and the caste-based hierarchy in rural India.Laws which are divorced fromthe social demands and desireswill always be in conflict withthe social set-up.

Caste is in the DNA ofIndia and parties doing castepolitics do everything to exploitcaste dynamics in every aspectof life, especially in villages.Therefore, any social tensionthat builds on the caste dynam-ics yields dividends for suchparties.

(The writer is AssociateEditor & News Editor, ThePioneer)

�������8�������������#���"����$������$������The renewed conflict

between Azerbaijan andArmenia, the two former Sovietrepublics, heralds a new era oftension in the Caucasus region.This war is an absolute viola-tion of the ceasefire agree-ment signed by the Presidentsof Azerbaijan and Armenia inOctober 2017 under the aus-pices of the Minsk Group inGeneva. The Minsk Group is amediation group created by theOrganization for Security andCooperation in Europe (OSCE)to settle conflict by exploring allpossible avenues in this twoneighbouring nations. It iswidely believed that the currenthostilities point towards a totalbreakdown of the mediationefforts, increased militarisa-tion by both the parties andfinally, a failure of the interna-tional organisations to offer aplausible framework for settle-ment of the dispute.

The root of the warbetween these two countries isa self-declared region called“Nagorno-Karabakh”, which isclaimed as part of their sover-eign territories. Nagorno orNagorno-Karabakh is the mod-ern name of an area located inthe Southern Caucasus region.The word “Karabakh” comesfrom the Turkish and Persianwhich means “Black Garden”. Itdates back to Georgian andPersian sources from the 13thand 14th centuries. It refers toan Armenian principality calledas Artsakh or Khatchenby themodern chroniclers.

This conflict dates back tonearly a century of recent polit-ical developments in the erst-while USSR. In the 1920s, thethen Soviet Government underLenin established the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region(NKAR) within Azerbaijan.The NKAR consisted of 95 percent ethnic Armenian popula-tion. Under the SovietBolshevik regime, the sim-mering tension betweenAzerbaijan and Armenia werekept under check by the pow-erful Russian Army. But thegradual collapse of theCommunist regime of theUSSR in the 1990s led to therise of differences between

these two bordering republics.In fact by 1988, the NKARLegislature passed a historicresolution to join Armenia,knowing full well that theregion is physically locatedwithin Azerbaijan. Those werethe days, the world was aboutto witness the imminent fall ofan order created by Lenin wayback in 1917. And it all camewith full chaos, confusion andreversal of the global power cal-culus. As tensions rose on bothsides of the border in Armeniaand Azerbaijan, Sumgaitpogrom (1988), Baku pogrom(1990) and Khojaly Massacre(1992) took place, sendingshock waves across the world.On December 31, 1991, theUSSR was formally on the wayto dissolution, and theautonomous region declaredindependence from Azerbaijanon January 6, 1992, invitingimmediate trouble from bothArmenia and Azerbaijan. Thefirst war that took placebetween Azerbaijan andArmenia from 1988-94 saw thedeath of more than 30,000people and the displacement ofan estimated one million peo-ple. The NKAR has been tra-ditionally inhabited by ethnicChristian Armenians andMuslim Turks. The biggestirony is that though Armeniafully backs the NKAR, it hasnever ever officially recognisedthe status of the region.

On the ground, what ishappening is the death of hun-dreds of soldiers and civilianson both sides. The rival armiesare accusing each other ofshelling across the Line ofControl, separating forces inthe contested Nagorno-Karabakh region. Interestingly,the enclave is officially a part ofAzerbaijan, but governed byethnic Armenians so far.

What Azerbaijan peoplefeel is that Armenia is simplyobstructing peace in the region.Thus, many of them are urgingArmenia to vacate their land asearly as possible. In addition tothe Nagorno area, it is believedthat Armenia has so far occu-pied seven more cities ofAzerbaijan. What goes aroundin Azerbaijan is that Karabakh

is an integral part of it.However, Armenia does notaccept it. The allegations ofoccupation leveled againstArmenia are thought to be amassive media campaign byAzerbaijan to malign its glob-al image.

There is every possibilitythat this Nagorno-Karabakhtinderbox might lead to a larg-er war, involving major powerssuch as Turkey, France andRussia. Meanwhile FrenchPresident Emmanuel Macronwarned Turkey of sending war-like signals to Armenia.Macron is promising moresupport to Armenia. In thebeginning of this week, heaired his view: “I say toArmenia and to theArmenians, France will play itsrole.” This clearly indicates that

in case of a full-blown war,France will play a decisive role.It must be noted here that hun-dreds of thousands of Frenchpeople are of Armeniandescent. On the other hand,Turkish President Recep TayyipErdogan is fully ready to helpAzerbaijan recover the enclave.In fact, Turkey is an ally ofAzerbaijan and closed its bor-der with Armenia in 1993 insolidarity with the NKAR,when the first set of conflictsbroke out between the twonations from 1988-1994.

In fact, Russia’s role is verycomplex in the conflict. It playsdiverse, but at times takes con-tradictory positions.Interestingly, Moscow offersArmenia with security guaran-tees through established bilat-eral ties and Collective Security

Treaty Organizations. But thisdoes not extend to the currentcombat zone of the NKARwhich is globally recognised asa part of Azerbaijan. Further,Russia supplies weapons toboth the countries and also theco-chair of the Minsk Group.For now, Moscow has called fora ceasefire, but unlike the pre-vious clashes that took placebetween these two formerrepublics, Putin regime is yet tocall for a high-level meetingbetween the high profile politi-co-military leaders of the war-ring nations.

The UNSC urgent meet onNagorno-Karabakh this weekhas strongly condemned theuse of force. The members ofthe UNSC have backedSecretary General AntonioGuterres’ call to stop the fight-

ing, deescalate tensions andresume talks betweenAzerbaijan and Armenia with-out delay. Earlier the leadersfrom both the nations brushedoff peace talks and accusedeach other of blocking negoti-ations at the moment.Azerbaijan President IlhamAliyev has made it clear thatBaku is committed to negoti-ating a resolution but Armeniais obstructing the entireprocess. As Armenia publiclydeclares Nagorno Karabakh asits integral part, how couldthere be a discussion on theissue, Aliyev complaints. Hehas also reminded the inter-national community that as perthe principles brokered by theMinsk Group, “territoriesaround the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region

should be transferred toAzerbaijan”. Further Aliyevcontends that if ArmenianPrime Minister NikolPashinyan claims that“Karabakh is Armenia andthat we should negotiate withthe so-called puppet regime ofNagorno-Karabakh, he is try-ing to break the format ofnegotiations that existed for 20years”. If this is the background,undoubtedly, Armenia’s claimover the NKAR is highly con-tested. But Yerevan has entire-ly different claim on the dis-puted enclave that leaves noplace for Baku to claim andfight for ever. But Pashinyanclearly stated that when fiercemilitary fights are on, there isno question of negotiation ortalks. It is good that he isvying for a compromise insteadof a military solution. But hewanted an immediate end ofaggression on the part ofAzerbaijan towards bothNKAR and Armenia. He thensays, “We all perceive this as anexistential threat to our nation,we basically perceive it as a warthat was declared to theArmenian people and our peo-ple are now simply forced touse the right for self-defence.”This demonstrates where thewar is heading to. Even theAzerbaijan President hasvowed to fight on untilArmenian forces leave the dis-puted territory.

Considering the groundrealities, the war seems to bedragging for a longer period.How France plays its part willcertainly make a huge differ-ence in the current scenario. It’stime for Yerevan and Baku tolook for pragmatic solutionsinstead of counting whichworld power is on their side.Both need to understand thatthey can’t change their bordersunless in case of a natural dis-aster or an all out war to changethe status of the NKAR. Beyondthe Minsk Group initiatives, theUN must work out a frame-work under which both thewarring parties and the NKARrepresentatives could meet.

(The writer is an expert oninternational affairs)

Page 12: 2020/10/03  · and Priyanka Gandhi finallyentire incident, including sex-The Uttar Pradesh Government finally did a series of course corrections on Saturday in face of massive

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The ongoing pandemic, has vindi-cated beyond doubt, the relevanceof ancient India’s concept of

“Vasudhaiva kutumbakam”. The importof this phrase is that wellness of thewhole world is a precondition to secureindividual wellbeing. For, the manifestworld, with all its enormity and diversi-ty, is at the core level a unified organism,where no individual has a reality, inde-pendent of the whole. In fact, all exis-tences are set into an interdependentstructure, in a way that collective effortsof all carry on the life cycle.

The concept has been beautifullyexplained in Kathopanishada through theimagery of an inverted Asvat tree(Banyan tree). With root of the treeassigned to unseen dimension of the cos-mos, it has its trunk, branches, and twigswith all the leaves thereon turned down-wards, symbolising the manifest world.Without the root, there will be no tree.Here again, if any component of the treeis ever separated from the main body, itwill turn lifeless. They carry meaning tillthey remain an integral part of the maintree. Of late, even the science fraternityaffirms this view. Paul Davies, anAustralian Physicist says: “For a naïve

realist, the world is a collection ofobjects. For a quantum physicist, it is aninseparable web of an vibrating energypatterns, where no individual componenthas a reality independent of the entirety,included in that entirety is the observer.”

In such an integrated framework,the wrong doing or irresponsible con-duct of even a few could unsettle thewhole world. See, how the virus thaterupted in Wuhan state of Chinabecause of irresponsible conduct of afew has engulfed the whole world. It hasspared none. Almost 1 million peopleare dead by now. That makes it incum-bent upon us to be conscious about ourcollective obligations and conductresponsibly. We all have to ensure well-being of our collective existence. Whatplays a spoiler in the whole game plan inthis human dominated world is thatevery being is born unique. Each carriesvarying desire and mind-trends, and allare driven by individualistic sense ofego. See, how varying perceptions ofthose at the head of nations have failedto arrive at the consensus necessary tocombat the pandemic. Truth, however,remains that whether we like it or not,we have no choice than to be in accord

with each other to secure our healthyexistence. The same model will work atthe level of nations as well as in our uni-tary family setup.

Coming down to family life, all mar-ried couple are unique, each carryingvarying attributes and vulnerabilities. Toensure a harmonious life, they need tobe conscious about their collective oblig-ations, which helps them being inaccord, overriding their limitations.They then will care for each other’s con-cerns and sensibilities. The paradox,however, is that more often caught up intheir own aspirational urges, egotisticalwhims and fancies, the couple forgetabout their collective obligations. Theythen try to impose their will on theother, which often leads to dispute.

A feuding couple after being coun-selled, work upon themselves and thenlive in peace for a while thereafter. Theirold habits again overtake their mind,when they begin fighting on trivialissues. After a while, when sense of rea-son dawns on them, they again come forcounselling. Let us look at their habittendencies.

Both husband and wife are basicallywell meaning people, coming as it mayas benevolent Jupiter having its imprint

on their lagna sign. But husband’s lagnabeing Aries, with its lord Mars placedadverse to mind indicating Moon,makes him aggressive, impulsive, irrita-ble. He wishes to live in a demandingmode. Moon being in emotive signCancer and placed adverse to Venusmakes him too much touchy and sensi-tive, who gets overexercised even ontrivial issues. The sun placed adverse toSaturn, brings in a sense of insecurity. Incase of wife, Mars conjunct Mercury,both placed adverse to Saturn, makesher restless. That doesn’t allow space toobjectively look at the issues in hand,and she gets into fighting mode. If thatwould not be enough, Moon placed inVirgo sign is conjunct headless Ketu.That instils a sense of “I am the onlyright person syndrome’ which makes herblame others for all the wrong happen-ing. And the result is there to see.Should they invoke their Jupiterianinfluence in right earnest, they may beable to relate well, overlooking theirindividual weaknesses. Their life maythen turn into a pleasant experience.

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