2020/12/15  · june 15 in the galwan valley in eastern ladakh. twenty indian army personnel,...

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A s India gears up for Covid- 19 vaccination drive, the Government has prepared an extensive immunisation plan according to which only 100 people per “session” are likely to be vaccinated against the virus and the process will be similar to the election process. The number of people per session may go up as high as 200 people if logistics allow on the days as fixed by the States and Union Territories, as per the ‘Covid-19 Vaccines Operational Guidelines’ which was released by the Union Health Ministry recently. In the phase one of the vac- cination drive, the Government plans to vaccinate nearly 30 crore people, including health- care & frontline workers, peo- ple above 50 years of age and those under 50 with comor- bidities. “Anticipating that Covid- 19 vaccine may soon be avail- able, the Government is preparing for its introduction in the country so that it can be expeditiously rolled out when available. One of the mile- stones in this direction has been the constitution of a National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for Covid-19 (NEGVAC). The NEGVAC guides on all aspects of Covid-19 vaccine introduc- tion in India,” the Ministry wrote in the 112 pages docu- ment, calling the conduct of the vaccination process (will be) similar to the election process. Union Minister Prakash Javadekar while speaking at International Coronavirus Short Film Festival on Monday indicated that vaccine for the novel coronavirus will be soon available in India. “Coronavirus vaccines would be available in India soon. I urge everyone to not let their guard down before anti- bodies are created and second dose of the vaccine adminis- tered: Union Minister @Prakash Javadekar while speaking at International Coronavirus Short Film Festival,” PIB tweeted. Presently, popular vaccine candidates in line for Emergency Use Authorisation include Pfizer-BioNTech’s vac- cine, Astrazeneca and Oxford university developed and Serum Institute of India man- ufactured ‘Covishield’ and ‘Covaxin’ by Bharat Biotech Limited, raising hopes of vac- cination at the earliest. The document containing vaccination guidelines talks about aspects such as training vaccine workers and keeping logistics in place. The vaccines need cold storage units to keep them in usable condition. “One session for 100 ben- eficiaries. While most of the healthcare and frontline work- ers would be vaccinated at fixed session sites, vaccination of other high-risk population may require outreach session sites, and mobile sites and teams,” the document states. A vaccination team will comprise of five members — the main officer with four aides. The officer can be a doc- tor, nurse, pharmacist or any- one legally qualified to give the injection. The second will secu- rity personnel to check user registration and guard the entry point at the vaccination session. The third officer will verify documents, while the fourth and fifth officers will be responsible for managing crowd and communication as directed by the Home Ministry. The Government is also gearing up with 28,947 cold chain points with 85,643 pieces of equipment across the coun- try to store the vaccines. A s talks with the Centre remained inconclusive, several developments took place vis-à-vis farmers’ protest on Monday with leaders of around 32 farmer unions observing a day-long hunger strike from 8 am to 5 pm at Delhi’s Singhu border to protest against the Centre’s farm laws. And as peasants claimed that they are set to intensify their protest further to press their demands, over 2,000 women from the families of protesting farmers at Singhu Border will join the ongoing agitation in the coming days. Even on Monday there was no respite for Delhi as several Delhi border points were closed and police asked motorists to take alternative routes on Monday. Farmers from Rajasthan on Monday blocked the Delhi- Jaipur national highway at Shahjahanpur in Alwar district after police stopped them from marching to the national Capital. In Punjab too the protest is going on with farm- ers holding protests at district headquarters in the State and Haryana on call given for a nationwide stir. The unions claimed that demonstrations were also held at various district headquarters across the country. The unions claimed that more people expected to join the ongoing agitation, which entered the third week. United Farmers’ Front said leaders also observed a two minute-silence over the alleged deaths of over 20 pro- testers at Delhi borders in last 18 days. In view of the nationwide protest, the Delhi Police also enhanced security at city bor- der points. Multi-layered cemented barriers, additional police force and barbed wires formed the first layer of secu- rity at the protest site at the Singhu border. The second layer of barri- cades deployed by the Delhi Police is being guarded by a team of the Rapid Action Force along with paramilitary forces. M aking it clear that the recent farm laws — which the farmers want to be scrapped — were undertaken keeping the best interests of farmers in mind, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday said there is no ques- tion of taking any “retrograde” steps against the farm sector. However, he said the Centre is open for discussion on the farm laws. Addressing the annual convention of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) against the backdrop of farmers’ protest, Singh said the Government is “always willing to listen to our farmer brothers”. Y ouTube, Gmail, Google Docs and other Google services were restored on Monday after over an hour-long outage that hit users in several parts of the world, including India. “We’re back up and running! You should be able to access YouTube again and enjoy videos as normal,” YouTube said in a tweet, updating the status of the service. Google said that the services like Gmail, Google Docs, Google Classroom and all other affected services should now be working for the vast majority of affect- ed users. “The problem with Gmail should be resolved for the vast majority of affect- ed users. We will continue to work towards restoring service for the remaining affect- ed users, but no further updates will be provided on the Google Workspace Status Dashboard,” Google said. E mergency is something which should not have happened,” the Supreme Court on Monday said as it agreed to hear a plea of a 94-year-old woman seeking to declare as “wholly unconstitutional” the proclamation made in 1975 during the tenure of the then Indira Gandhi-led Congress Government. The SC, which issued notice to the Centre, said it would also examine whether it is “feasible or desirable” to make a sim- pliciter declaration of the proclamation after a lapse of 45 years. “We are having dif- ficulty. Emergency is something which should not have happened,” said a bench headed by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul. T ata Group, US-based fund Interups Inc, and a group of 219 Air India employ- ees are among “multiple” entities that on Monday put in preliminary bids for buy- ing loss-making national carrier Air India. “Multiple expressions of interest have been received for strategic disinvestment of Air India. The transaction will now move to the second stage,” Department of Investment and Public Asset Management Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey tweeted. He, however, did not reveal either the identi- ty of the bidders or the number of bids. Sources said Tata Sons has put in an EoI and so did Interups, whose chairman Laxmi Prasad had in the run-up to the dis- investment made his intentions clear to bid for Air India. Detailed report on P9 New Delhi: As farmers’ protest against the three new agri laws continues, yet another delega- tion of farmers, led by All India Kisan Coordination Committee (AIKCC), met agri- culture minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Monday to extend their support to the con- tentious legislations. This is a fourth group of farmers to have extended their support to the agriculture reform laws in the past two weeks. T he Centre has written to Punjab and Haryana Governments to facilitate secu- rity at toll plazas following the heavy revenue losses in toll col- lection due to the ongoing farmers protest that has blocked the plazas leading to losses of about 200 crore in last two months. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) had to pitch in to incur the losses to tune of 1,900 crore to the conces- sionaries of NHAI due to the Covid pandemic related lock- down across the country. A senior MoRTH official said the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has suffered a revenue loss of about 200 crore so far on account of farmers’ protest at toll plazas in Punjab and Haryana since October 1. The protesting farmers are not allowing toll collection. The Central road-making agency has written twice to the Punjab Government over the blockages at toll plazas. W ith no let-up in tension on the Line of Actual Control (LAC), Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday said “unprovoked aggression” on the Himalayan frontiers is a reminder of the changing world and China not abiding with existing agree- ments. Without naming the eastern neighbour, he also said it was asserting its power in the Indo-Pacific region, too. Making this point here, Rajnath praised the armed forces and said they have shown exemplary courage and remarkable fortitude and “fought the PLA with utmost bravery and forced them to go back.” This was in reference to the bloody brawl between the Indian and Chinese troops on June 15 in the Galwan valley in eastern Ladakh. Twenty Indian Army personnel, including the commanding officer were killed in the fracas. China, however, has not disclosed the number of its personnel killed in the clash. This blunt observation came days after Rajnath last week called for exercising self- restraint and avoid actions that may worsen the situation. The Minister made these remarks virtually at a conclave of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) where his Chinese counterpart Weng Fei was also present. The two leaders had held marathon face to face talks two months ago on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Moscow. The two Ministers had then discussed ways to defuse tension at the LAC. On Monday while address- ing a seminar organised by the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), Rajnath said the “unprovoked aggression” on the Himalayan frontiers is a reminder of how the world is changing, how existing agree- ments are being challenged, how power is being asserted not just in the Himalayas but across the Indo-Pacific. “Whenever there is a situ- ation at the LAC, the most obvious outcome is a compar- ison between India and China’s military strength. There can be a serious debate on who owns more military might but when it comes to soft power there is no scope of ambiguity. India is far ahead of China when it comes to leading the world with ideas, he said. Due to its location, size, population and economy, India has always been at the strategic forefront of global security, he added. Stating that India has been a victim of cross-border ter- rorism, Rajnath said India fought the scourge alone even when there was no one to sup- port but later, the world under- stood that India was right about “Pakistan being the foun- tainhead of terrorism”. New Delhi : Slamming Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s statement on the ongoing farmers’ protest in India as “uncalled for, discon- nected with ground realities and served merely to fan the flames”, a group of former Indian diplomats claimed on Monday that Canada’s support has led to the protesters hardening their stand and adopting an “all or nothing” approach. M isty conditions prevailed throughout the day in state capital along with light showers bringing down day temperature below 20 degree Celsius. Guna, Gwalior, Bhopal, Raisen, Rajgarh, Dewas and Chattarpur districts would wit- ness shallow to moderate fog in the next 24 hours which has been issued as warning by Met department. Rainfall has been witnessed for the past four days in sever- al parts of the state. In the past 24 hours highest rainfall has been witnessed in Rajgarh at 1 cm. Few parts in Bhopal, Hoshangabad, Jabalpur and Shahdol divsions and isolated places in Indore, Ujjain and Sagar divisions witnessed rain- fall. The temperatures have dipped significantly and dif- ference between day and night temperatures have narrowed. Bhopal recorded day and night temperature at 19 and 17.4 degree Celsius respectively which is likely to remain same on Tuesday according to the forecast. Rewa, Shahdol, Jabalpur, Sagar, Hoshangabad and Bhopal divisions and Burhanpur, Khandwa, Ujjain, Dewas, Shajapur, Agar, Guna districts are likely to receive light rainfall and thundery activities. Temperatures in west Madhya Pradesh dipped more as compared to east Madhya Pradesh. Datia and Narsinghpur recorded night temperature at 11 degree Celsius. Mandla recorded night temperature at 13.6 degree Celsius. Continued on Page 3 T he Madhya Pradesh School of Drama (MPSD) has been closed after ten students in the campus tested postive for coro- navirus . The students and the parents are angry with the man- agement of MPSD for conduct- ing the classes during Covid-19 pandemic. The 10 students of batch 2020-21 have been tested posi- tive after attending the classes. According to the sources, MPSD was conducting the classes with- out permission from the State Government. The students who tested positive have been admitted to JK Hospital for 15-days quar- antine. Besides, all the classes have been shut down until fur- ther notice. The faculty mem- bers, including Director MPSD Alok Chatterjee, have self quar- antined themselves for four days. According to the sources, parents will complain to the Minister of Culture regarding the same. Condemning all the state- ments, Director MPSD Alok Chatterjee said, "All the accusa- tions are false. No classes were conducted without the permis- sion of the State government." Continued on Page 3 RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd. No. L-2/BPLON/41/2006-2008

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Page 1: 2020/12/15  · June 15 in the Galwan valley in eastern Ladakh. Twenty Indian Army personnel, including the commanding officer were killed in the fracas. China, however, has not

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As India gears up for Covid-19 vaccination drive, the

Government has prepared anextensive immunisation planaccording to which only 100people per “session” are likelyto be vaccinated against thevirus and the process will besimilar to the election process.

The number of people persession may go up as high as200 people if logistics allow onthe days as fixed by the Statesand Union Territories, as perthe ‘Covid-19 VaccinesOperational Guidelines’ whichwas released by the UnionHealth Ministry recently.

In the phase one of the vac-cination drive, the Governmentplans to vaccinate nearly 30crore people, including health-care & frontline workers, peo-ple above 50 years of age andthose under 50 with comor-bidities.

“Anticipating that Covid-19 vaccine may soon be avail-able, the Government ispreparing for its introductionin the country so that it can beexpeditiously rolled out whenavailable. One of the mile-stones in this direction hasbeen the constitution of aNational Expert Group onVaccine Administration forCovid-19 (NEGVAC). TheNEGVAC guides on all aspectsof Covid-19 vaccine introduc-tion in India,” the Ministrywrote in the 112 pages docu-ment, calling the conduct of thevaccination process (will be)similar to the election process.

Union Minister PrakashJavadekar while speaking atInternational CoronavirusShort Film Festival on Mondayindicated that vaccine for thenovel coronavirus will be soonavailable in India.

“Coronavirus vaccineswould be available in Indiasoon. I urge everyone to not lettheir guard down before anti-bodies are created and seconddose of the vaccine adminis-tered: Union Minister@Prakash Javadekar whilespeaking at InternationalCoronavirus Short FilmFestival,” PIB tweeted.

Presently, popular vaccinecandidates in line forEmergency Use Authorisationinclude Pfizer-BioNTech’s vac-

cine, Astrazeneca and Oxforduniversity developed andSerum Institute of India man-ufactured ‘Covishield’ and‘Covaxin’ by Bharat BiotechLimited, raising hopes of vac-cination at the earliest.

The document containingvaccination guidelines talksabout aspects such as trainingvaccine workers and keepinglogistics in place. The vaccinesneed cold storage units to keepthem in usable condition.

“One session for 100 ben-eficiaries. While most of thehealthcare and frontline work-ers would be vaccinated atfixed session sites, vaccinationof other high-risk populationmay require outreach sessionsites, and mobile sites andteams,” the document states.

A vaccination team willcomprise of five members —the main officer with fouraides. The officer can be a doc-tor, nurse, pharmacist or any-one legally qualified to give theinjection. The second will secu-rity personnel to check userregistration and guard the entrypoint at the vaccination session.The third officer will verifydocuments, while the fourthand fifth officers will beresponsible for managingcrowd and communication asdirected by the Home Ministry.

The Government is alsogearing up with 28,947 coldchain points with 85,643 piecesof equipment across the coun-try to store the vaccines.

�������������� #4$��456+

As talks with the Centreremained inconclusive,

several developments tookplace vis-à-vis farmers’ proteston Monday with leaders ofaround 32 farmer unionsobserving a day-long hungerstrike from 8 am to 5 pm atDelhi’s Singhu border to protestagainst the Centre’s farm laws.

And as peasants claimedthat they are set to intensifytheir protest further to presstheir demands, over 2,000women from the families ofprotesting farmers at SinghuBorder will join the ongoingagitation in the coming days.Even on Monday there was norespite for Delhi as severalDelhi border points wereclosed and police askedmotorists to take alternativeroutes on Monday.

Farmers from Rajasthanon Monday blocked the Delhi-Jaipur national highway atShahjahanpur in Alwar districtafter police stopped them frommarching to the nationalCapital. In Punjab too theprotest is going on with farm-ers holding protests at districtheadquarters in the State and

Haryana on call given for anationwide stir.

The unions claimed thatdemonstrations were also heldat various district headquartersacross the country. The unionsclaimed that more peopleexpected to join the ongoingagitation, which entered thethird week. United Farmers’

Front said leaders also observeda two minute-silence over thealleged deaths of over 20 pro-testers at Delhi borders in last18 days.

In view of the nationwideprotest, the Delhi Police alsoenhanced security at city bor-der points. Multi-layeredcemented barriers, additional

police force and barbed wiresformed the first layer of secu-rity at the protest site at theSinghu border.

The second layer of barri-cades deployed by the DelhiPolice is being guarded by ateam of the Rapid Action Forcealong with paramilitary forces.

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Making it clear that therecent farm laws — which

the farmers want to bescrapped — were undertakenkeeping the best interests offarmers in mind, DefenceMinister Rajnath Singh onMonday said there is no ques-tion of taking any “retrograde”steps against the farm sector.However, he said the Centre isopen for discussion on thefarm laws.

Addressing the annualconvention of the Federation ofIndian Chambers ofCommerce and Industry(FICCI) against the backdropof farmers’ protest, Singh saidthe Government is “alwayswilling to listen to our farmerbrothers”.

�������#4$��456+

YouTube, Gmail, Google Docs andother Google services were restored on

Monday after over an hour-long outagethat hit users in several parts of the world,including India.

“We’re back up and running! Youshould be able to access YouTube again andenjoy videos as normal,” YouTube said ina tweet, updating the status of the service.

Google said that the services likeGmail, Google Docs, Google Classroomand all other affected services should nowbe working for the vast majority of affect-ed users. “The problem with Gmail shouldbe resolved for the vast majority of affect-ed users. We will continue to work towardsrestoring service for the remaining affect-ed users, but no further updates will beprovided on the Google Workspace StatusDashboard,” Google said.

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Emergency is something which shouldnot have happened,” the Supreme

Court on Monday said as it agreed to heara plea of a 94-year-old woman seeking todeclare as “wholly unconstitutional” theproclamation made in 1975 during thetenure of the then Indira Gandhi-ledCongress Government.

The SC, which issued notice to theCentre, said it would also examine whetherit is “feasible or desirable” to make a sim-pliciter declaration of the proclamationafter a lapse of 45 years. “We are having dif-ficulty. Emergency is something whichshould not have happened,” said a benchheaded by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul.

������#4$��456+

Tata Group, US-based fund Interups Inc,and a group of 219 Air India employ-

ees are among “multiple” entities that onMonday put in preliminary bids for buy-ing loss-making national carrier Air India.

“Multiple expressions of interest havebeen received for strategic disinvestmentof Air India. The transaction will nowmove to the second stage,” Department ofInvestment and Public Asset ManagementSecretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey tweeted. He,however, did not reveal either the identi-ty of the bidders or the number of bids.

Sources said Tata Sons has put in anEoI and so did Interups, whose chairmanLaxmi Prasad had in the run-up to the dis-investment made his intentions clear to bidfor Air India. Detailed report on P9

New Delhi: As farmers’ protestagainst the three new agri lawscontinues, yet another delega-tion of farmers, led by AllIndia Kisan CoordinationCommittee (AIKCC), met agri-culture minister NarendraSingh Tomar on Monday toextend their support to the con-tentious legislations.

This is a fourth group offarmers to have extended theirsupport to the agriculturereform laws in the past twoweeks.

���������������#4$��456+

The Centre has written toPunjab and Haryana

Governments to facilitate secu-rity at toll plazas following theheavy revenue losses in toll col-lection due to the ongoingfarmers protest that hasblocked the plazas leading tolosses of about �200 crore inlast two months.

The Ministry of RoadTransport and Highways(MoRTH) had to pitch in toincur the losses to tune of�1,900 crore to the conces-sionaries of NHAI due to theCovid pandemic related lock-down across the country.

A senior MoRTH officialsaid the National Highways

Authority of India (NHAI) hassuffered a revenue loss of about�200 crore so far on account offarmers’ protest at toll plazas inPunjab and Haryana sinceOctober 1. The protestingfarmers are not allowing tollcollection.

The Central road-makingagency has written twice to thePunjab Government over theblockages at toll plazas.

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With no let-up in tensionon the Line of Actual

Control (LAC), DefenceMinister Rajnath Singh onMonday said “unprovokedaggression” on the Himalayanfrontiers is a reminder of thechanging world and China notabiding with existing agree-ments. Without naming theeastern neighbour, he also saidit was asserting its power in theIndo-Pacific region, too.

Making this point here,Rajnath praised the armedforces and said they haveshown exemplary courage andremarkable fortitude and“fought the PLA with utmostbravery and forced them to goback.”

This was in reference to thebloody brawl between theIndian and Chinese troops onJune 15 in the Galwan valley ineastern Ladakh. Twenty IndianArmy personnel, including thecommanding officer werekilled in the fracas. China,however, has not disclosed thenumber of its personnel killedin the clash.

This blunt observationcame days after Rajnath last

week called for exercising self-restraint and avoid actions thatmay worsen the situation. TheMinister made these remarksvirtually at a conclave ofSoutheast Asian Nations(ASEAN) where his Chinesecounterpart Weng Fei was alsopresent.

The two leaders had heldmarathon face to face talks twomonths ago on the sidelines ofthe Shanghai CooperationOrganisation (SCO) inMoscow. The two Ministershad then discussed ways todefuse tension at the LAC.

On Monday while address-ing a seminar organised by theFederation of Indian Chamberof Commerce and Industry(FICCI), Rajnath said the“unprovoked aggression” onthe Himalayan frontiers is areminder of how the world ischanging, how existing agree-ments are being challenged,how power is being asserted

not just in the Himalayas butacross the Indo-Pacific.

“Whenever there is a situ-ation at the LAC, the mostobvious outcome is a compar-ison between India and China’smilitary strength. There can bea serious debate on who ownsmore military might but whenit comes to soft power there isno scope of ambiguity. India isfar ahead of China when itcomes to leading the worldwith ideas, he said. Due to itslocation, size, population andeconomy, India has alwaysbeen at the strategic forefrontof global security, he added.

Stating that India has beena victim of cross-border ter-rorism, Rajnath said Indiafought the scourge alone evenwhen there was no one to sup-port but later, the world under-stood that India was rightabout “Pakistan being the foun-tainhead of terrorism”.

New Delhi : SlammingCanadian Prime MinisterJustin Trudeau’s statement onthe ongoing farmers’ protest inIndia as “uncalled for, discon-nected with ground realitiesand served merely to fan the

flames”, a group of formerIndian diplomats claimed onMonday that Canada’s supporthas led to the protesters hardening their stand andadopting an “all or nothing”approach.

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Misty conditions prevailedthroughout the day in

state capital along with lightshowers bringing down daytemperature below 20 degreeCelsius. Guna, Gwalior, Bhopal,Raisen, Rajgarh, Dewas andChattarpur districts would wit-ness shallow to moderate fog inthe next 24 hours which hasbeen issued as warning by Metdepartment.

Rainfall has been witnessedfor the past four days in sever-al parts of the state. In the past24 hours highest rainfall hasbeen witnessed in Rajgarh at 1cm. Few parts in Bhopal,

Hoshangabad, Jabalpur andShahdol divsions and isolatedplaces in Indore, Ujjain andSagar divisions witnessed rain-fall. The temperatures have

dipped significantly and dif-ference between day and nighttemperatures have narrowed.

Bhopal recorded day andnight temperature at 19 and 17.4

degree Celsius respectivelywhich is likely to remain sameon Tuesday according to theforecast. Rewa, Shahdol,Jabalpur, Sagar, Hoshangabadand Bhopal divisions andBurhanpur, Khandwa, Ujjain,Dewas, Shajapur, Agar, Gunadistricts are likely to receive lightrainfall and thundery activities.

Temperatures in westMadhya Pradesh dipped moreas compared to east MadhyaPradesh. Datia andNarsinghpur recorded nighttemperature at 11 degreeCelsius. Mandla recorded nighttemperature at 13.6 degreeCelsius.

Continued on Page 3

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The Madhya Pradesh Schoolof Drama (MPSD) has been

closed after ten students in thecampus tested postive for coro-navirus . The students and theparents are angry with the man-agement of MPSD for conduct-ing the classes during Covid-19pandemic.

The 10 students of batch2020-21 have been tested posi-tive after attending the classes.According to the sources, MPSDwas conducting the classes with-out permission from the StateGovernment.

The students who tested

positive have been admitted toJK Hospital for 15-days quar-antine. Besides, all the classeshave been shut down until fur-ther notice. The faculty mem-bers, including Director MPSDAlok Chatterjee, have self quar-antined themselves for fourdays. According to the sources,parents will complain to theMinister of Culture regardingthe same.

Condemning all the state-ments, Director MPSD AlokChatterjee said, "All the accusa-tions are false. No classes wereconducted without the permis-sion of the State government."

Continued on Page 3

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Under the latest and popu-lar online series of Indira

Gandhi Rashtriya ManavSangrahalaya entitled ‘Exhibitof Week’ the ERAJBALA – Amask whose Measurement –Length- 51.5 cm , Width – 14.5cm, Height -9.5 cm collectedfrom1996 Muriya communityof Bastar Chhattisgarh wasdisplayed to the audience as thesecond exhibit of the month ofDecember2020 through officialwebsite, Facebook, Instagramand twitter page of the IGRMS.

In this regard PraveenKumar Mishra, Director,IGRMS said that this series of

“exhibit of the Week” presentsthe best of the artefacts thatshowcases the incredible cul-tural history of the ethnic tribesor areas across the country.

Masks are worn on variousoccasions which may be eitherceremonial or purposive.Constituent material variesdepending on the user. Everymask is a representation of acharacter, whether it may be ademon or a deity. Erajbala is alightweight wooden mask wornby the Muria Jester during thedance performance, especiallyon a ceremonial parade of theChherta expedition and otherfestivals.

Regarding this object

Sudeepa Roy said that TheChherta is one of the popular cel-ebrations held with great fun bythe Murias boys and girls. Theleading dancer is enacted with aJester appearance to entertain the

villagers, and they visit eachhouse and perform dances to askfor liquor, rice, pulse, and otherfoods to arrange a feast.

This mask worn by theJester is represented by twopairs of projected wooden horns,brass rings fixed as an orbit tothe eyes, metal teeth, and mous-taches of animal hair containingstrips of hides.

During the performance,the Jester used to wear this mask,and he also accompanies a propof stick to entertain the audience.In the present situation, this kindof rare artifact is slowly disap-pearing from the glorious tra-dition of the Muria festivity .

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Chief Minister Shivraj SinghChouhan has said that new

agricultural laws will be useful inthe economic development offarmers. The Farmers(Empowerment and Protection)Agreement on Price Assuranceand Farm Services Act, 2020 isbeing effectively implemented inMadhya Pradesh. Apart from themandi, farmers will get the ben-efit of alternative methods to selltheir crop.

Chief Minister Chouhansaid that the irrigation area ofMadhya Pradesh will be contin-ually increased. This is the toppriority of the state government.For me, after God it is thefarmer. The farmer grows foodon the earth by toiling hard.Farmers are the focal point of oursystem. The expansion of irri-gation resources is a boon forthese sons of the soil (farmers).Irrigation area of the state will beraised to 65 lakhs. PrimeMinister Shri Modi wants todouble the income of farmers.

Madhya Pradesh will beactive in accomplishing thisgoal. Chief Minister ShivrajSingh Chouhan was addressing

the virtual dedication and bhoo-mi pujan programme of irriga-tion schemes at Minto Hall onMonday.

Chouhan said that the irri-gation potential created in thestate is being fully utilized. Thisyear Madhya Pradesh surpassedPunjab in wheat production. Atleast there was no food crisis dur-ing Corona period. It proved to

be a relief during this period.Agricultural infrastructure willbe strengthened in the state.Farmer Producer Organization(FPO) will be given the form ofa movement. Our aim is tochange the condition of farmers.

Chouhan said that the areaunder irrigation used to be only7-8 lakh hectare earlier, which wehave increased to 40 lakh hectare.

Now the target is 65 lakh hectare.Every inch of agricultural landwill be irrigated. Chouhan saidthat schemes worth Rs 30,000crore will be approved in thecoming year. Narmada water willbe fully utilized. The imple-mentation of Narmada schemeswill also be completed in threeyears.

The Kisan Rail is running on

the initiative of Prime MinisterModi. Necessary steps will beconstantly taken to ensure thatthe farmer gets the right price forhis produce. In the state, 27major, 47 medium and 287minor irrigation projects costingRs 60,737 crore are under con-struction.

Their irrigation potentialwill be of 24 lakh hectares. Thework for accomplishing thisgoal has started. Partial irrigationfacility has been provided inabout four lakh hectare area.Sprinkler irrigation method isalso being encouraged. ChiefMinister Chouhan said thatCovid-19 has affected the con-struction of schemes to someextent but this year the target isto develop additional irrigationpotential in 1.25 lakh hectares bycompleting about 100 projects.Chief Minister Shri Chouhansaid that the cost of 50 schemesdedicated today is Rs 384.35crore. This will irrigate an areaof 16,336 hectares. Farmers of131 villages of 9 districts of thestate will be benefited. ChiefMinister Shri Chouhan also per-formed bhoomi pujan for threeother irrigation schemes worthRs. 7.82 crore in Ratlam district.

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Acampus placement drivewas carried out on Monday

at AISECT University. Notably, model training

centres have been set up in eachdistrict by the Government ofIndia, the Prime Minister'sSkill Centers. located at ScopeCampus, Hoshangabad and isconstantly working for employ-ment-oriented training andplacement of youth.

After being shut down dur-ing the Covid-19 pandemic,again this institution is slowlyaccelerating its work. In thesame sequence, many compa-nies visited the campus thisweek and registered candi-dates have been selected forvarious posts at the centre.

Recently 57 candidates

were interviewed by PaytmLimited and qualified candi-dates have been provided jobs.The temperature and oxygenlevel of all the candidates werealso measured during theplacement process, taking spe-cial care of social distance,sanitization, and mask.

Prime Minister SkillCenter's Project Head SaurabhPandey and Zonal HeadRajesh Shukla Ji congratulatedall the candidates includingCenter Head DevelopmentPandey and Placement OfficerMukesh Thackeray.

The students of variousacademic branches were a partof the campus drive. The selec-tion was held in three rounds.The first was the written test ofthe participants. The partici-pants who qualified the writtentest then appeared for the tech-

nical round.The students were asked

about the technical upgrades inthe market. The qualified stu-dents then appeared for the HRinterview. After the HR inter-view, the students were short-listed for the company.

Prior to the campus drive,the representatives from dif-ferent companies addressedthe students. They alsoinformed the students abouttheir company through apower-point presentation.During the powerpoint pre-sentation, an interaction ses-sion was also carried out. Thestudents asked about theirqueries to the experts for theirfuture endeavours.

It is to be noted that vari-ous companies are carrying outtheir campus drives at theScope College.

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Massive consignment ofdrugs weighing 845 kg

worth Rs 1.7 crore was seizedby Morena police near Porsavillage and seized truck carry-ing drugs, two motorbikes andone gun in the operation.

Morena police receivedinformation from theRajahmundry district ofAndhra Pradesh a large amountof Cannabis guarded by armedassailants would be delivered inMorena and SDOP Jaura andhis team acting immediately onthe information and trackedlocation of the truck which wastrying to escape in the darkfrom Porsa where teamdeployed, managed to seizetruck and the two motorcycles.

On searching the truck,large quantity of cannabis andfirearm were found. On inter-rogating the arrested accused,

they told that smuggling ofCannabis has been done fromOrissa and Andhra Pradesh forthe last one year. The accusedare involved in smuggling ofdrugs in the districts of Agra,Bhind, Dhaulpur, Etawah andMorena. Eight accused werearrested by the police team.

The truck body was mod-ified to hide the drugs. In theoperation 845 kg of cannabisloaded in truck, a truck con-tainer of Rs 26 lakhs, a 315 borerifle and 10 live cartridges, twomotorbikes were recovered thetotal worth of seized is Rs 2crore.

Superintendent of PoliceMorena has prepared a team forprevention and smuggling ofdrugs smuggling and teams arebeing sent to Orissa andAndhra Pradesh. The localsdealers of drugs would be inves-tigated.

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The Aadi Vidrohi TheatreFestival kick-started with

play ‘Shankar Raghunath Shah’on Monday. The play was per-formed at Shaheed Bhavan.

The programme was heldunder Directorate of SwarajSansthan, Bhopal. Directed byKG Trivedi, the play was stagedby the artists of TrikarshiTheatre Troupe, Bhopal.

The play narrates the brav-ery tales of King RaghunathShah and his son ShahnkarShah during British era. Theplay Shah: Shankar Raghunathwas all about a particular inci-dent happened during the time

of British rule, in the year1854, when in September 1854both, Shankar Shah andRaghunaath Shah were assas-sinated by the Britishers andblown away by the cannon.

The baseline of the playpresented the time of Britishrule in India. It illustrated thelife span of Shankar Shah, theruler of a small kingdom atJabalpur and his sonRaghunaath Shah. Both foughtagainst the British rule andtried to captivate more andmore people in their struggle.Even the children of their king-dom were a part of this fight.

The curtains were openedwith the song by King Shankar

Shah, with which he used togather people and participate inhis freedom struggle. Later thissong was banned by the BritishGovernment. The struggle andassassination of father and sonformed the rest of the story.

Notably, this was the firstincident ever happened inIndian history, when father andson were assassinated at thesame time. This unpleasant inci-dent is rarely known to people.

The audiences were totallyenthralled by the performance.The costumes, light and stage-craft was commendable and theacting skills of the artists madethe audience to watch the playwith rapt attention.

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Two miscreants involved in robberynear Chambal Colony under Ashoka

Garden police station area were nabbedlate in the night on Sunday; three accusedattacked 21-year-old victim with sharpedged weapon and escaped with mobilephone and cash.

The victim Nikhil Verma who was onhis way to home at Roop Nagar wasrobbed by three miscreants Farooq, Amirand Sachin.

During the investigation, it was foundthat the accused work at a shop in MPNagar and when he was on his way tohome, his acquainted, Farooq asked forlift and when they reached near Chambalcolony two of his aide Sachin and Amirtook him behind a parked bus androbbed him at knife point and when he

opposed he was attacked in his nose withsharp edged weapon. The three escapedspot, later victim approached police andlodged complaint.

Victim was taken to hospital wherehis condition was reportedly stable andpolice were informed.

In the initial investigation two of themiscreants Farooq and Sachin weretracked and arrested while Amir is stillabsconding and search has been intensi-fied to nab him.

The police have recovered mobilephone and Rs 2050 from their possessionwhich were robbed from the victim.

Farooq was acquainted with the vic-tim and reason behind attack was old dis-pute or victim was targeted for robberywould be investigated. The crime recordof accused would be investigated in thefurther investigation.

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To overcome the challengesof the energy crisis, we

need to focus on the alterna-tives that avoid spreading pol-lution and climate change,"said Prashant Kant BardarePresident and Professor,Department of EnergyMaulana Azad NationalInstitute of Technology.

He was addressing a virtu-al event held to observe theEnergy Conservation Day onMonday. The virtual event wasorganised by Madhya PradeshCouncil of Science andTechnology (MPCST) and JHPostgraduate College, Betul.As many as 400 students par-

ticipated in the event. It is to be noted that every

year, December 14 is celebrat-ed as Energy ConservationDay to raise awareness on theimportance of energy conser-vation for the present andfuture generations. The con-servation of energy is animportant step that needs to betaken to ensure that the com-ing generations live in abrighter tomorrow.

He said that the mostnotable aspect of briquettesfuel is that it does not createsmoke while burning. He toldthat in India, 10 million livesare lost every year due tosmoke.

He said that there is a

machine for making briquettesin the Energy Department ofManit. Briquettes of differentmaterials can be prepared fromthis machine. Raw materials forthis are readily available in ruralareas. He further told the stu-dents that they could also starttheir own business by trainingBriquettes technology in theEnergy Department of Manit.

The Chief Scientist andGroup Head of the Council,S.K Arya explained about var-ious alternative energy sources.He expressed his views aboutthe use of alternative energyand the current scenario ofenergy in daily life. InitiallyN.K. Shivahare, SeniorPrincipal Scientist and

Principal Science andTechnology, Publicization,explained in detail about theimportance of energy conser-vation.

Council 's PrincipalScientist and the convener ofthe programme, Vikas Shende,provided various technicalinformation related to energyconservation to the students.

The principal of JHPostgraduate College, Betul,while giving information aboutthe use and conservation ofenergy. Vinita Chabe inspiredthe students to become suc-cessful entrepreneurs bypreparing the energy productsof the left and the best.

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Public Works Minister GopalBhargav said that Madhya

Pradesh will become the mostdeveloped state in the countryin the next three years throughthe theme of AtmanirbharMadhya Pradesh.

In this, the role of indus-trial institutions along withstrong infrastructure will beimportant. Bhargav said this onthe occasion of the inaugura-tion of Madhya PradeshInfrastructure Conclave orga-nized by Confederation ofIndian Industries at MintoHall, Bhopal.

Bhargav said that the statehas set new records in the fieldof infrastructure as well asagriculture, irrigation andindustrial development afterthe year 2003. But developmentis a continuous process. Whennew technologies are invented,the order of improvingresources continues.

He said that when PrimeMinister Shri Narendra Modigave the vision of Atmanirbhar

Bharat to the country, theroadmap for “AtmanirbharMadhya Pradesh” was pre-pared by the Madhya Pradeshgovernment under the leader-ship of Chief Minister ShivrajSingh Chouhan to achieve thatgoal, and work on it has alsostarted at a rapid pace.

Shri Bhargav said that it isappreciable that the target of 30days (one month) given to allthe departments has been met.The next target is 90 days (3months) and 3 years. By theyear 2023, all the targets will befulfilled in Madhya Pradesh.

The Minister said thatindustrial institutions need towork in social sector along withindustrial development activi-ties. There is a need to createawareness among citizensregarding their social respon-sibility.

Only then we will be ableto achieve the goal ofAtmanirbhar Bharat fromAtmanrbhar Madhya Pradesh.He appealed to the industrial-ists taking part in the virtual

conclave to participate in thedevelopment of the state withan open heart.

Additional Chief Secretaryand Managing DirectorNarmada Basin ProjectCompany Limited I.C.P.Keshari said that the wholeworld is facing the challenge ofCovid in the present era. It alsohas an impact on India. Boththe country and the state aremoving ahead in powerfulways in this challenging time.

He informed that over Rs5 lakh crore has been investedin Madhya Pradesh and othersectors including infrastructurein the last 5-6 years. Roadmapto take it further has been pre-pared in the state.

Additional Chief SecretaryPublic Health EngineeringMalay Srivastava, PrincipalSecretary Public WorksDepartment Neeraj Mandloi,Principal Secretary UrbanDevelopment and HousingNitesh Vyas and other senioradministrative officialsexpressed their views in theconclave.

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Fuelled with money disputea 26-year-old youth was

attacked by armed miscreantwith sharp-edged weapons atNawab Colony underNishatpura police station policestation area on Monday.

Police said that a youth wasrushed to hospital after he wasattacked by armed miscreant athis house in Nawab ColonyBhainskhedi. The injured wasidentified as Shakti Chouhanwho was attacked by ZuberAkhtar with sharp edged weaponin his face, neck and back.

In the initial investigationafter victim reported incidentpolice arrested the accused.

SHO Nishatpura policeMM Chouhan said that the twohave old dispute over moneyZuber asked Shakti to meet athis home and during the dis-cussion when victim failed to

go according to Zuber he wasattacked in his face, neck andback. The victim is underobservation.

Accused has been arrested,crime record of Shakti would beinvestigated as he lives inHanumanganj area while Zuberdo not have crime record.

Based on the complaintafter the preliminary investi-gation, the police have regis-tered a case under section 307

of the IPC.Meanwhile Bairagarh

Police raided One Tree HillsMadhu Namkeen Factoryalong with Food Departmentteam, district police is takingcontinuous action under spe-cial campaign against peopleinvolved in manufacturing

adulterated foods items.Police in-charge Shivpal

Kushwaha jointly with the FoodDepartment raided factory ofMohan Manwani on One TreeHills, where the snacks weremade under the name Madhu,where expired packets havebeen found. A sample of the

spices and gram flour used bythe team was taken.

SDM Manoj Vice Presidentand Tehsil Dar Gulab Singh andChief Food Safety Officer AKPatel BS Dhakad and ArchanaPrabhakar were involved inthis action and action wastaken under the Food Act.

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Several farmer organisationswhich have mushroomed

after agitation started havebeen formed by oppositionand middlemen said StateAgriculture Minister KamalPatel while speaking withmedia persons.

Patel questioned thesefarmer organisations and agita-tion and said that the wholeepisode is not pro-farmer asthese are made by oppositionand middlemen. These organ-

isations are anti-nationals andare flourishing with the help andsupport of anti-national powerswhich do not want country tobecome strengthened.

They want to destabilisegovernment and country andby Kisan Janjagran campaignthe truth should be revealed.

He said that both Congressleaders and activists are con-fused about the new agricul-tural law. The farmers are beingtold that the mandis will beclosed and they would beslaved by industrialists whowould rob them but they donot know that this law is to pro-tect the farmers from middle-men and they would get rid ofindustrialists.

The minister said that the

law does not require farmers toworry about MSP. The gov-ernment will guarantee MRP tofarmers, not MSP.

Due to the wrong policiesof the Congress governments,farmers were forced to commitsuicide, but now farming willbecome a business of profit.For the first time after inde-pendence, the central govern-ment has given Rs 1 lakh crorefor the change in the farminginfrastructure.

To increase the income offarmers by forming FarmerProducer Groups (FPOs), 766FPOs will be created. The bankwill provide loans to the farm-ers of the group. There will alsobe a rebate of interest in threepercent loan.

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Barring minor skirmishes, theday-long hunger strikes and

protests by farmers acrossHaryana on Monday outside theoffices of the DeputyCommissioner went off peace-fully following a nationwide callagainst the contentious centralfarm laws.

Protesters raised slogansoutside the offices of DistrictCommissioners and took outprotest marches in different dis-tricts of the state. State Policeclosed the Ambala-Patiala high-way after protesters gathered atthe Shambhu border pointadjoining Punjab.

In the state, protests werereported from Fatehabad, Jind,Sirsa, Kurukshetra, Gurgaon,Faridabad, Bhiwani, Kaithal and

Ambala.In Jind, a minor skirmish

occurred as the protesting farm-ers tried to enter the DeputyCommissioner's office and thepolice had to use force to stopthem. In Fatehabad, they tookout a tractor procession beforesome of them sat on a hungerstrike at the district secretariat.In Ambala city too, there was slo-gan shouting outside the DC’soffice. In Faridabad, farmerstook out a march towards thesecretariat. A group of lawyersalso sat on a ‘dharna’ there,extending support to the farm-ers.Memorandums were sub-mitted to the CentralGovernment through theDeputy Commissioners at otherplaces in Haryana, demandingthe scrapping of the new laws.

“We want a legal guarantee

on the MSP and the repeal of thefarm laws,” said a Fatehabadfarmer.

Moreover, thousands offarmers in the state have beencamping at the entry points toDelhi for days. Monday’s district-level protests were part of thisagitation. The farmers also stagedprotests and sit-ins outside res-idences and offices of BJP lead-ers in both the states. Farmerunions are seeking the repeal ofthe three agri-marketing lawsenacted at the Centre inSeptember.

Negotiations, so far, with theCentre have failed to break thedeadlock over the laws, whichthe farmers’ unions say weakenthe minimum support price(MSP) system and will leavethem at the mercy of big corpo-rates.

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Punjab Chief Minister CaptAmarinder Singh on

Monday said that Delhi ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal’s des-perate attempts to hide hisGovernment’s utter failure toprotect the farmers’ interestswill not save him from theirwrath, nor will they safeguardhis party from being decimat-ed in the next Punjab Assemblyelections.

At the same time, CaptAmarinder minced no wordsto dub the Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) leader a “coward whohad run scared and apolo-gized when cornered in adefamation case by SAD’sBikram Majithia”.

“Just as every Punjabiknows that I am not one to becowed down by any amount offalse ED or other cases, theyalso know that you will sellyour soul if it serves your pur-pose,” the Chief Minister said,in a resounding response toKejriwal’s allegations and accu-sations against him.

Daring his Delhi counter-part to cite even a singleinstance when he backed offunder pressure of ED or anyother agency, Punjab ChiefMinister pointed out that fromOperation Bluestar to SYL andnow to the farm laws issue, “Ihave always done the rightthing in sharp contrast toKejriwal, whom the whole ofPunjab has seen cringing infear in the face of a minordefamation case and the wholeof Delhi has seen begging theCentre for help amid the pan-demic”.

Asserting that the wholeworld had seen how Kejriwalhad sold off farmers’ interestsby notifying one of the blackfarm laws in the national cap-ital at a time when the farmerswere preparing to march toDelhi, Capt Amarinder saidthat Delhi Chief Minister hadexposed his own ‘setting’ withthe Central Government withthis act.

“Why did you do

that,Kejriwal? What pressuredid the Centre have on you? Oris it so you can go grovelingback to them again the nexttime your pathetic govern-ment is floundering to handlethe COVID crisis, as you havealready done twice?” CaptAmarinder asked Kejriwal.

Taking a dig at Kejriwal’sself-proclaimed anger over theconspiracy of certain vestedinterests to undermine thefarmers’ agitation by linkingwith anti-nationalism, CaptAmarinder said that the farm-ers needed no endorsement oftheir genuineness from theman who had hobnobbed withKhalistanis in the run-up to the2017 Punjab Assembly polls.

“If you think farmers aregoing to be taken in by yourdramatics and crocodile tears,then you are totally mistaken,just as you were mistaken whenyou thought AAP would sweepPunjab elections in 2017,” saidCapt Amarinder.

Likening the Delhi ChiefMinister to a dust storm thatmoves in the direction in whichit sees the winds moving, theChief Minister said thatKejriwal’s attempts to sweep thefarmers’ agitation, where he iscurrently seeing an opportunityto promote his political agen-da, will not succeed.

“You should back off beforeyou and your party are sweptoff the political landscape ofIndia altogether,” said CaptAmarinder, warning Kejriwalagainst playing with fire.Nobody has ever survived theanger of cheated masses, andKejriwal, who has alreadycheated the farmers more thanonce, will not be able to endureit either, said the ChiefMinister.

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Athick layer of smogengulfed parts of the

National Capital on Mondayleading to decreased visibility,the Indian MeteorologicalDepartment ( IMD ) said.

The IMD said, “Moderateto dense fog in isolated pock-ets over Delhi in the morninghours will be witnessed onDecember 14 th and 15th.Dense to very dense fog in iso-lated pockets is very likelyover north Uttar Pradesh dur-ing the next 5 days," IMD stat-ed.Due to this thick forg, manypeople preferred to jog onlyafter the sunrise for better vis-ibility. However, this was thefirst time in winter seasonwhen air quality recorded inmoderate quality.

According to the System ofAir Quality and WeatherForecasting And Research(SAFAR), "The air quality inthe national capital hasimproved and has now enteredthe 'moderate' category. TheOverall AQI stands at 118."OnSunday, the Air Quality Indexin Delhi was 344 and stood atthe 'very poor category'.

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As temperatures dipped inthe national capital, half a

dozen "thelas" (makeshift stalls)selling winter wear have sud-denly sprung up on the edges ofthe Singhu border protest site tohelp farmers keep warm whilethey continue their fight againstthe Centre's new farm laws.

Some of the regular andother visiting shopkeepers in thearea said they were here to sup-port the farmers in their fightand at the same time make a liv-ing for themselves in theprocess.

"Hum yahaaan kisano kosahyog karne aaye hain, aur isstarah thoda humaara bhi sahyoghoga (We are here to supportthe farmers in their cause, andwith this shop we can also earnsomething)," said MohammadAshraf Alam, who said hisgrandfather was also a "kisan"(farmer).

Ashraf set up a stall onMonday morning at the protestsite where thousands of farmers,most of them from Punjab andHaryana, have stayed put forover two weeks, demandingrepeal of new three agriculturelaws. .

With a variety of winterjackets, for both men andwomen lying in heaps, Ashrafsaid the garments, all priced atRs 400, have been selling likehot cakes since morning.

He added that business hasbeen better than what it usual-ly is at this time of the year athis eight-year-old regular spotin Mangal Bazaar inJahangirpuri.

Ashraf has brought inenough stock and hopes to sellall of it in "2-4 days".

Like Ashraf, Sagir Ahmadtoo has set up his stall at theprotest site instead of his regu-lar haunt at a market inJahangirpuri, hoping to earn alittle more than usual, thanks tothe thousands of farmers gath-ered here.

"We usually put up ourstalls at Jahangirpuri but thisyear, we decided to come hereas there is a huge crowd of farm-ers. So, we thought this wouldthe right place to set up shop.

"Also, they have been livingout in the open and with tem-peratures dipping further, theywill be in need of winter wear.The cost is just Rs 350. This way,we will will make an extraearning," he said, adding that

since putting up the stall, he hasnot been disappointed.

"We are doing good busi-ness. We started our stall onlyyesterday but there is a highdemand for jackets and coats.Sometimes we have so manycustomers that it becomes dif-ficult to manage them all atonce," he added.

Mohammad Sahib, wholives in a nearby village, also putup his stall on Sunday.

From lowers and jackets tocoats in all colours and sizes, hismultiple "thelas" have all kindsof winter wear that one mightwant, and all for just Rs 250.

Sahib, who has been sellingwinter wear in the area for thelast three years, said "We start-ed our stall just yesterday andwe are getting a good response.

"With the ongoing agitation,we do have customers floodingin to check out winter wear. Sofar, it is going good. We are sell-ing export materials and have agood range of varieties availablein all sizes."

For Sarfraz Alam, who hasbeen selling winter wear in thearea for the last seven years,business has decreased becauseof the protest but he is not com-plaining.

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From Page 1The abrupt weather conditions are likely to be witnessed for

the next 2-3 days and later dry conditions would prevail. Afterthe weather conditions would witness clear sky temperatureswould further dip taking mercury to extreme cold conditionsin the season.

During the day on Monday rainfall and thundershowers havebeen witnessed in the state. The west Madhya Pradesh regionwitnessed dense fog in the past 24 hours at several places.

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From Page 1 He said that Principal

Secretary was present on theinaugural day of classes. AlokChatterjee said, "The Covid 19test was conducted two daysago and 10 students out of 26students were tested positive.

Immediately the students weresent to the hospital and class-es are shut down." He furthersaid that the classes will notresume until further notice.

Chatterjee said, "The mes-sages doing rounds onWhatsApp and social mediaabout parents complaint arefalse." It is to be noted thatmost all the students are fromdifferent parts of the State.

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Himachal PradeshGovernment on Monday

decided to extend night curfewin four districts of the state tillJanuary 5, 2021 keeping inview COVID-19 pandemic.

The decision was takenduring the cabinet meetingheld under Chief Minister JaiRam Thakur here.

“The government hasdecided to continue with exist-ing COVID-19 standard oper-ating procedures (SOPs) andnight curfew in four districtsnamely Shimla, Mandi, Kangraand Kullu till January 5, 2021,”said an official spokesman.

It was on November 23when the State Governmenthad imposed night curfew infour districts and also,announced closing education-al institutions till December 31.

The spokesman said thecabinet has also given approvalto grant ex post facto permis-sion to operationalize ‘makeshift hospitals’ at Shimla,Nalagarh, Tanda andNerchowk in public interest ata cost of Rs 1.37 crore, Rs 2.36crore, Rs 3.44 crore and Rs 6.11crore respectively, out of which50 percent funds have beenprovided to CSIR or CBRIRoorkee in advance.

The cabinet also gave itsconsent to create a Pain andPalliative Care Cell under theRadiotherapy Department inIndira Gandhi Medical College,Shimla for providing betterhealth facilities to the people.

Govt amends order regard-ing Himachal Pradesh LandPreservation Act, 1978

The cabinet has given itsapproval to amend order datedSeptember 10, 2002 under

Himachal Pradesh LandPreservation Act, 1978 forfelling of trees from the privateland under ten years ‘Pattan’programme by empoweringconcerned Divisional ForestOfficers to grant permission forfelling of upto 200 trees in placeof upto 50 trees in a year, con-cerned Chief Conservator ofForests or Chief Conservator ofForests upto 300 trees in placeof upto 100 trees in a year,Principal Chief ConservatorForests upto 400 trees in placeof upto 200 trees in a year andHimachal Government above400 trees in place of above 200trees in a year, the spokesmansaid.

In case of trees are notfelled within a prescribed year,the competent authority mayextend the period upto oneyear where the process ofdemarcation of land and mark-ing of trees have been com-pleted during the prescribedyear of felling and the fellingorders stand issued by the con-cerned DFO but felling of treeshave not been done or has beendone partially and whereprocess of demarcation of landand marking of trees has beencompleted during the pre-scribed year of felling butfelling orders has not beenissued, the spokesman added.

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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE BOARD OF INDIASEBI BHAVAN, 3rd FLOOR ZONE - 2,

C 7, G BLOCK, BANDRA KURLA COMPLEXBANDRA EAST, MUMBAI 400051,Tel: 26449452 / 9460

Expression of Interest

SEBI invites Expression of Interest (EOI) fromcompanies/firms (bidders) for 'Information TechnologyRisk Assessment, Policy & SOP Documentation andPreparing Process Design Specification'. Detailedspecifications and general terms and conditions areavailable on SEBI website 'www.sebi.gov.in'.

Last date for receipt of responses towards EOI: January08, 2021; 3:00 PM

Davp 15204/11/0245/2021

Page 4: 2020/12/15  · June 15 in the Galwan valley in eastern Ladakh. Twenty Indian Army personnel, including the commanding officer were killed in the fracas. China, however, has not

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At least 10 organisations rep-resenting farmers from

Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, TamilNadu, Telangana, Bihar andHaryana and associated withthe All India KisanCoordination Committee(AIKCC) on Monday metUnion agriculture MinisterNarendra Singh Tomar to lendtheir support to the three farmlaws and advised to allow theexisting mandi system underthe control of State Governmentin Punjab and other Stateswhich were opposing it. This isthe fifth group of farmers whohave extended support to thelaws in the last one week.

After the meeting, the agri-culture Minister said that theGovernment is engaging withfarmers’ leaders to decide on thenext date of talks. “TheGovernment is ready for dis-cussion anytime. The farmerleaders have to ‘decide andconvey’ when they are ready forthe next meeting,” Tomaradded.

“We tried to convince farm-

ers and farmer unions’ leaders.Our wish is that they come forclause-by-clause discussion. Ifthey are ready to express theirviews clause by clause, we areready for discussion,” he said.Tomar also met Home MinisterAmit Shah and discussed theway forward to end the dead-lock.

Led by its General SecretaryGunavath Patil Hangergekar,the AIKCC, which has presencein 28 States, submitted a repre-sentation to the AgricultureMinister seeking continuationof the three farm laws, thoughwith some amendments.

The farmers unions haveurged the Government toencourage those States who areready to implement the agrireforms. They also demanded toabolish the essential commodi-ties Act.

On Sunday, a delegation ofmore than 100 farmers fromUttarakhand had extendedtheir support to the laws.Before that, a delegation of 29farmers from Haryana metTomar on Saturday to extendtheir support to the new

legislations and threatened tostage a protest if those arerepealed. The delegation, led byBharatiya Kisan Union’s(Mann) Haryana State leaderGuni Prakash, submitted a“letter of support” to Tomar on

the farm laws passed byParliament in September anddemanded the Government tocontinue with these legislations.

Last week, farmers, repre-senting Har Kisan, an organi-

sation of 116 farmer-ownedagricultural enterprises knownas farmer producer organisa-tions, met the agriculture minister and asked for a sepa-rate meeting with him withmore members.

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Citing its serial win in theState and local bodies elec-

tions across the country, theBJP on Monday claimed thatfarmers and the “poor” arestanding with the party, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andthe new farm laws and hit-outat the Congress and AAP forallegedly “misleading” farmersfor “achieving” their “ownpolitical ends”.

As the stand-off with theCentral government and agi-tating farmers calling for theroll-back of three new farmlaws is nearing three weeks ,the BJP has stepped up itsefforts to collect support forthe Government even as it alsoattacks the opposition for itsalleged attempts to exploitfarmers’ protest on the out-skirts of Delhi.

“ Since the notification ofnew farm laws, BJP has won allelections be it Bihar Assemblypolls or local bodies electionsin Hyderabad (Telangana),

Rajasthan, Assam, ArunachalPradesh and latest in Goa‘Zila Panchayat’ polls...it saysloud that ‘gaon, garib aurkisan’ BJP aur Modiji keSaath hain”, announced BJP’snational spokesperson SambitPatra here at a press confer-ence.

Counting the results ofGoa ‘Zila Panchayat’ resultswhere he said BJP was inch-ing towards majority mark(already winning 27 out of 48seats vis-a-vis three of theCongress). Patra said withoutthe support of “‘gaon, garibaur kisan”, who form the spineof this country, the BJP wouldnot have won all these elec-tions,

Lashing out at Congressand AAP leader and DelhiCM Arvind Kejriwal for “creating confusion amongfarmers” and “misleading”them,

BJP spokesperson saidboth the opposition partiestried to “lay siege to PrimeMinister Modi on four issuesof Coronavirus, economic cri-

sis, migrant labourers andnew farm laws but badly lostout...”.

Claiming that Congressleader Rahul Gandhi who“knows little about agricul-ture” and may “ confuse Rabiand Kharif crops with thenames of BJP workers”, hesaid, “Rahul is spreading con-fusion among farmers”.

“Farm agitation hasturned into a fight of politicalparties..Punjab CM AttackingDelhi CM..they have forgottenfarmers”, said BJP leader.

Pointing out that AAP,which also contested in Goalocal body polls and scored aduck, Patra quipped “ KejriwalGoa main Zero hain, yahanhero hain..”.

He said it was Kejriwalwho had said that if his partywere to be in power in Punjab,“he would remove middle-men and reform APMC. “Younotified farm bill in Delhi andare now sitting on hungerstrike,,: the BJP leader saidcondemning the “double-faced stand” of AAP.

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After China, India is alsoplanning to establish a

regional climate centre (RCC)for the Himalayan mountainregion which will not onlyprovide weather-related advicewithin the country but also toits neighbours. The RCC islikely to come up in Delhi. Thecentre will provide weather-related services specially for thefarmers and tribes residingthere.

According to the IndiaMeteorological Department(IMD) Director GeneralMrutunjay Mohapatra thework for establishing such acentre has already begun andtalks are also on with theWorld MeteorologicalOrganisation (WMO). China isalso building a similar region-al climate centre on its side ofthe Himalayas.

Addressing a webinar on‘Weather and Climate Servicesover Mountains Region’,Mohapatra said India has theeastern ghats, western ghatsalong the east and the westcoast and the Myanmar hills inthe northeast. Consideringthe size of Himalayas and itsrole in India’s hydrology, mete-orology, disaster management,ecosystem and many otheractivities, the world has cor-rectly recognised it as the ‘thirdpole of the world’, he noted.

As a part of the ecosystem,as a part of the land, ocean,

atmosphere system, the moun-tains, including the Himalayasand all other hill ranges play asignificant role, Mohapatrastressed. Being a data sparseregion, the relative observa-tional network is limited ascompared to the plain ranges ofthe country, Mohapatraobserved. He said there is ascope to improve further thephysical understanding of var-ious processes occurring inthese mountains regions, theirmodelling and hence the fore-casting and warning services.

“At the same time, we haveto develop the climate applica-tions scenarios, especially withrespect to water sector, indus-tries, tourism, agriculture,specifically in these mountainsregions.”We are planning toestablish a regional climatecentre for the mountains regionand it will be providing advicesnot only to India but also to theentire region in the Himalayas,”

he said.Himansh, the country’s

remote and high altituderesearch centre, established in2016, will also undertakeweather research activities inthe Himalayas. Mohapatra saidnatural calamities in Himalayaslike the earthquakes are well-recognised — the heavy rain-fall leading to cloud burstsand also many other phenom-ena that affect the local agri-culture, local industry, localbio-system, local lives.

Mohapatra said a lot of ini-tiatives have been taken by theMinistry of Earth Sciences andIMD for augmentation ofobservational network withdeployment of doppler radarsand automated weather stationsand with the development ofregion specific numerical models and application activ-ities with improvement in fore-cast activities and warning ser-vices.

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The India MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD) on

Monday predicted a fall intemperature by three to fivedegree Celsius over most partsof northwest India during thenext four days after snow fallsin Jammu and Kashmir andHimalayan region. Parts ofnorthern India experiencedsnowfall on Sunday, leading totemperatures below ‘zero’degrees Celsius in Jammu andKashmir. Cold weather condi-tions prevailed in many partsNorth West India.

“There will be no signifi-cant change in minimum tem-peratures over most parts ofCentral and East India duringthe next two-three days andthen fall by two-four degreesCelsius thereafter’, the IMDsaid.

According to IMD, duringthe next 24 hours, “cold day tosevere cold day conditions”

are very likely at a few placesover Punjab, and “cold day con-ditions” are very likely at iso-lated places over Haryana,Chandigarh, and northwestRajasthan.

The IMD said the ski-resort of Gulmarg registeredminus 7.6 degrees Celsius andwas the coldest place in Jammuand Kashmir. Pahalgam touristresort in south Kashmir record-ed a low of minus 3.2 degreesCelsius, while the night tem-perature in Kokernag settled atminus 2.3 degrees Celsius.Mercury dipped below freezingpoint in Mount Abu, the solehill station of Rajasthan, wherethe night temperature was 0.4degrees Celsius. In the plains,Sikar was the coldest placewith a minimum of 4.5 degreesCelsius. Hisar in Haryanarecorded a low of 6.2 degreesCelsius. In Punjab, Amritsarexperienced a cold night at 5.6degrees Celsius.

“Dense fog very likely inisolated pockets overUttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana,Chandigarh, northwestRajasthan, northwest UttarPradesh, Bihar, Sub HimalayanWest Bengal, Sikkim, Assam,Meghalaya, and Tripura onDecember 14,” the IMD said.

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Rajya Sabha memberPriyanka Chaturvedi has

written to the Defence Ministrysaying the MaharashtraGovernment is “happy to coop-erate in restoring and preserv-ing the historical ship” INSViraat, which served as India’saircraft carrier. “It was with greatsadness and concern [that] Iread that the scrapping of thehistoric INS Viraat has been ini-tiated at Alang in Gujarat,”Chaturvedi, the Shiv Sena MPwrote in her letter to DefenceMinister Rajtanth Singh.

The letter, which asks theDefence Ministry for a no-objection certificate to preserveViraat, comes at a time when thedecommissioned warship isbeing pulled ashore by a ship-breaker in Alang before it isdestroyed for scrap.

“We as a nation must useour decommissioned navalships to help citizens to betterunderstand the significance

of India’s maritime history. Itsaddens me further to note that

though there is an offer to con-vert the warship into a mar-itime museum, it awaits a no-objection certificate from theMinistry of Defence for trans-fer of the warship,”Chauturvedi said.

The letter comes followingseries of media reports whichhighlighted the plight of Viraat,the decommissioned IndianNavy warship which was India’sflagship for several decadesand came to define India’smaritime power. Before beingcommissioned into the IndianNavy in 1986, Viraat served asHMS Hermes in the RoyalNavy where she fought withdistinction in the FalklandIslands war in 1982 in thesouth Atlantic.

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The CBI has bookedMumbai-based Soni Ispat

Ltd for alleged fraud in con-nection with credit facilitiesavailed by it from Bank ofIndia.

The case under IndianPenal Code Sections relating tocriminal conspiracy, criminalbreach of trust by public ser-vant and cheating under IndianPenal Code and criminal mis-conduct under Prevention ofCorruption Act was registeredon a complaint from Bank ofIndia.

Besides the firm, five indi-viduals includingpromoter/directors have beennamed as accused in the case.

The fraud, according to theFIR, was allegedly committedby siphoning and diversion offunds, causing loss of publicmoney to the tune of Rs 12.12crore and uncharged interest ofRs 16.83 crore by the accusedfirm.

“Soni Ispat Ltd during theyear 2008-11 entered into crim-inal conspiracy with unknownpublic servants to commit

fraud upon the Bank and inpursuance thereof have fraud-ulently obtained credit facilitiesfrom Bank of India, andsiphoned off/diverted the loanamount and thereby causedwrongful gain to themselves

and wrongful loss to Bank ofIndia to the tune of Rs 12.12crore (as on the date of the NonPerforming Asset i.e.31.05.2011),” reads the FIR.

Soni Ispat had intentional-ly misappropriated Letter ofCredit transactions for siphon-ing of bank funds to clear pay-ments towards the devolvedLetters of Credit of the shellcompanies and the accountbecame overdue due to nonservicing of interest /principalwhich rendered the loanaccount to become NPA. Thebank has declared the loanaccount as fraud on June 16 thisyear and reported to theReserve Bank of India on July6 this year.

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With about one in 10 chil-dren and young people

suffering from mental healthproblems such as depression,anxiety and conduct disorderacross the world, Union HealthMinister Dr Harsh Vardhan onMonday outlined 3Cs—con-nect, concentration and coun-seling — as the three mantrasfor the well being of the impres-sionable minds, particularlyduring the Corona pandemic.

“We should understandthat children go through crit-ical stages of mental healthduring their childhood andadolescent times. Also due tothe pressure of studies, com-petition and a new change ofliving style due to the involve-ment of technology in ourlives it becomes necessary totalk about mental health issuesof our children,” said Dr. HarshVardhan after inaugurating a e-conclave on mental health for

children organised byAffordable Private School s’Association and The Life isBeautiful Foundation.

The tendency of stress,anxiety, anger and depressionhave increased within our chil-dren nowadays, he said addingthat connection with family,friends and society is oneimportant aspect which givesa sense of security and plat-form to discuss personal prob-lems.

The concentration attainedthrough Yoga is another veryimportant tool for building acalm and stress-free mindwhile counselling of childrenin case of any issue like stress,anxiety and fear is anotherimportant area which must beavailable for our children, theMinister added.

Lakshya Chhabaria,President of Affordable Privateschools’ Association, said thatthe aim to hold such an e-con-clave is to understand kids

related issues like emotions,behaviour and perceptions andsolutions.

Jyoti Arora, PrincipalMount Abu Public School,Rohini cautioned against over-exposure of digital technolo-gies, while Dr. Rajesh Sagar,Professor, Department ofPsychiatry, AIIMS, pointedout that there’s a myth thatchildren do not have mentalhealth problems. “If a child issad for more than 2 weeks thenhe has depression issues whichmust be taken care of,” hepointed out and called forintegration of mental healthservices with mainstreamhealth services.

In fact, Saad Omer,Director of the Yale Institute ofGlobal Health, in anotherevent recently organized by hisinstitute had cautioned that theCovid pandemic’s silent killeris having its impact on people’smental health, particularlychildren.

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High blood pressure appearsto accelerate a decline in

cognitive performance whichincludes memory, verbal flu-ency, attention and concentra-tion in middle-aged and olderadults, according to a studypublished in Hypertension, anAmerican Heart Associationjournal.

Although the participantsof the study were adults fromBrazil, the findings are applic-able to India too where hyper-tension is the most importantrisk factor for chronic diseaseburden. Studies from variousparts of India have reportedhigh prevalence of hyperten-sion. To make the matter worse,hypertension is increasing andthere is low awareness andcontrol in India.

Blood pressure of 120mmHg - 129 mmHg systolic(the top number in a reading)or higher is considered elevat-ed. Systolic pressure above 130mmHg, or diastolic pressure(the bottom number) of 80mmHg or higher is consideredhypertension.

“We initially anticipatedthat the negative effects ofhypertension on cognitivefunction would be more criti-

cal when hypertension startedat a younger age, however, ourresults show similar accelerat-ed cognitive performancedecline whether hypertensionstarted in middle age or at olderages,” said study author SandhiM Barreto, Professor of medi-cine at the UniversidadeFederal de Minas Gerais inBelo Horizonte, Brazil.

“We also found that effec-tively treating high blood pres-sure at any age in adulthoodcould reduce or prevent thisacceleration. Collectively, thefindings suggest hypertensionneeds to be prevented, diag-nosed and effectively treated inadults of any age to preservecognitive function.”

Barreto and colleaguesanalyzed findings from anexisting study that includedblood pressure and cognitivehealth information for morethan 7,000 adults in Brazil,whose average age was about 59years old at the study’s start.The study participants were fol-lowed for an average of nearly4 years; testing included analy-sis of memory, verbal fluencyand executive function, whichincludes attention, concentra-tion and other factors associ-ated with thinking and rea-soning.

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The Supreme Court onMonday asked the Centre

to apprise it about the stepstaken so far by theCommission for Air QualityManagement (CAQM) in theNational Capital Region andAdjoining Areas to tackle airpollution.

A bench headed by ChiefJustice S A Bobde was told byAdditional Solicitor GeneralAishwarya Bhati, appearingfor the Centre, that the gov-

ernment is readying a com-prehensive affidavit to be filedin the apex court in the mat-ter.

“You file your affidavit,”said the bench, also compris-ing Justices A S Bopanna andV Ramasubramanian.

The top court said theaffidavit should have details ofwhat steps have been taken tillnow by the Commission.

During the proceedingsconducted through video-conferencing, the apex court,which was hearing the matters

relating to air pollution inDelhi-National Capital Region(NCR), was told that theCommission has not doneanything.

“The committee has 14members but they have notdone anything. They shouldfile some affidavit,” senioradvocate Vikas Singh,appearing for petitionerAditya Dubey who hasraised the issue of pollutioncaused due to stubble burn-ing in neighbouring states ofDelhi, said

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Page 5: 2020/12/15  · June 15 in the Galwan valley in eastern Ladakh. Twenty Indian Army personnel, including the commanding officer were killed in the fracas. China, however, has not

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The third and final phase ofpolling to local bodies con-

cluded in Kerala on Mondaywith more than 75 per cent ofthe electorate casting their votestill 5 pm. Both the fronts (LDFand the UDF) claim they wouldsweep the polls while the BJPsaid Kerala’s wait for the ThirdAlternative would become areality with this edition of thelocal body polls.

Chief Minister PinarayiVijayan, who cast his vote at hisvillage in Pinarayi, Kannur dis-trict, told reporters that theCPI(M)-led LDF would sweepthe polls. “The electorate isthoroughly impressed with theexcellent work done by the gov-ernment during the last four andhalf years. Kerala has neverseen such a dedicated and self-less service rendered by any gov-ernment in the past and hencethey would vote en mass for us,”said Vijayan.

Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, whohad to step down as party’s statesecretary recently following thearrest of his son Bineesh by theEnforcement Directorate in con-nection with drug traffickingand hawala transactions, saidthere was a Marxist wave inKerala. “There is no doubt aboutthe victory of the LDF. We areon the way to sweeping the polls.The Congress-led UDF woulddisintegrate immediately afterthe local body election,” he said.

But K Sudhakaran, MP,who is the veteran Congressleader from the Malabar regionscoffed at the comments madeby Vijayan and Balakrishnan. “Icouldn’t control my laughterafter listening to the duo. Do youthink Swapna Suresh, Sarith,Sandeep Nair and M Sivsankar,the jailed associates of the chiefminister, in connection withgold smuggling and hawalatransactions would bring votesto the CPI(M)? No sensiblepersons would vote for theCPI(M) or the LDF.

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KOCHI: Bishop Franko Mulakkal, theJallandhar based chief of the JesusCongregation, and facing trial in a Keralacourt for alleged sexual exploitation of anun, is back in the news. This time, a sec-tion of the laity came out in the open onMonday morning and burnt copies of the2021 calendar that featured picture of thecontroversial bishop issued by the ThrissurArchdiocese.

It is customary on the part of theThrissur Archdiocese to publish the annu-al calendar every year that features pho-tographs of bishops hailing from theArchdiocese. Since Bishop Mulackel hailsfrom the archdiocese, “Catholic Church”,its mouthpiece had included his picture inthe page featuring March 2021. All the 12pages in the calendar has pictures of bish-ops who were born in the respectivemonths.

But Father Raphel Akkamattathil,managing director of the publication,told media persons that there was noth-

ing abnormal in publishing the photographof the Bishop. “He is still functioning as thehead of the Jesus Congregation in his posi-tion as bishop. Well, there is a case againsthim in a Kerala court. But the court hasnot pronounced it’s verdict. So there is noneed to remove his picture from the cal-endar,’ said Fr Akkamattathil.

Jaison Mazhuvancherry, a Catholicyouth based in Pulluvazhi said till theBishop is declared as an accused by thecourt, it was not proper to stage demon-strations of this kind. The copies of the cal-endars were burnt under the auspices ofthe Catholic Church Reforms Committee,Church Act Action Council and UnitedChristian Movement.

Bishop Mulakkal declined to make anycomments on the issue. “I am facingcharges in a court. Let the court declare itsverdict. Till then it is not fair on my partto make any comments on this issue. AllI could say is that let God Almighty saveeverybody,” he told The Pioneer. PNS

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Aligarh: For Aligarh MuslimUniversity (AMU) alumnus, DrHashima Hasan,Program/Discipline Scientistat the NASA, USA; the fasci-nation with space sciencebegan when she watched theSputnik launch, stargazing aclear night sky offering anengrossing display of celestialbodies at her home town inLucknow in 1957.

“I was a little girl back then,but the spectacular satellitelaunch made me eager to fol-low every success and failure inthe newspaper. I clearlyremember the day man land-ed on the moon,” said DrHashima in her interview tothe NASA STEM Stars. PNS

Aligarh: AligsCare, a cancerfoundation established by USAbased AMU alumni has beenproviding vital support to can-cer patients from the lowereconomic strata being treatedat JN Medical College (JNMC).

Under the MoU withAligarh Muslim University(AMU) Alumni RelationsCommittee, it is facilitatingthe treatment of more than 80cancer patients at the JNMC.According to Professor SufiyanBeg, Chairman, Alumni AffairsCommittee, the patients are notonly receiving high qualitycare, but are also providedwith free ration and otherhousehold supplies. PNS

Aligarh: Disruption caused byCovid-19 is no longer a hurdlefor the girl students fromlower-economic strata at theWomen's College of AligarhMuslim University (AMU).They are being provided withfree tablets for access to onlineclasses amid the pandemic.

At least 550 tablets havebeen purchased with a gener-ous contribution by the AligarhAlumni Association, GreaterChicago, USA. The Associationhas donated Rs 60 lakhs for thepurchase of gadgets to providethe Women's College studentsfrom financially weaker back-grounds with technology medi-ated and digitally empoweredlearning during the Covid pan-demic. PNS

Thiruvananthapuram: Withjust 31,893 samples send fortesting in the past 24 hours,2,707 new Covid cases werereported in Kerala on Monday.

In a statement issued hereby State Health Minister K. K.Shailaja it said the number ofactive cases stands at 57,640,while the day saw 4,481 recov-eries taking the total number to6,11,600.

24 people succumbed tothe virus on Monday taking thetotal death toll to 2,647.

3,10,107 people are underobservation across the stateincluding 13,187 in the hospi-tals. IANS

Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh): An army offi-cer, in the rank of Colonel, posted at theCentral Ordnance Depot (COD) inKanpur, allegedly raped his friend's Russianwife at the officer's mess in the Cantt areaafter sedating the husband.

The incident took place on December10, but came to light when an FIR waslodged against the Colonel under section376 (rape) and other relevant section ofIPC following a complaint by the woman'shusband at the Cantt police station onSaturday. According to the woman's hus-band, his friend Neeraj Gehlot, who isColonel in COD, invited him and hisRussian wife for dinner at his place. Heagreed and they reached Kanpur fromLucknow on December 10.

Superintendent of Police Raj KumarAgarwal said, “After shopping in the day,they went to the Colonel's official bunga-

low in COD where the latter offered hima drink laced with sedatives. Soon afterconsuming it, he became unconscious. TheColonel then dragged his friend's wife toanother room and tried to force himselfon her. She pushed him away and shout-ed, but he brutally assaulted her. Thewoman lost her consciousness.”

The woman narrated her ordeal to herhusband when he regained consciousness.The victim's husband accompanied her tothe Cantt police station on Sunday to filea complaint. He told police that his wifewas a Russian and had been living in Indiafor the past 10 years.

The police officer said, “We have sentthe woman for a medical examination andthe report is awaited.” Police said the sur-vivor would be produced before a magis-trate on Monday. “The Colonel is currentlyon the run,” the SP added. IANS

Jaipur: Chief Minister Mr. Ashok Gehlot hasapproved the proposal for special reliefscheme for relaxation in penalty and inter-est on the amount of stamp duty in pendingstamp cases at various levels during the cur-rent financial year. The scheme will be effec-tive from 31 March 2021 from the date ofissue of notification.

This decision of Mr. Gehlot will makepossible the disposal of pending stampcases, and the cases pending in the court willalso be reduced. Also, the public will get relieffrom exemption in interest and penalty onstamp duty.

It is noteworthy that the state govern-ment had earlier also issued a special reliefscheme for exemption in interest and penal-ty payable on stamp duty, the duration ofwhich was till August 31, 2020.

Maharajganj (Uttar Pradesh): A 14-year-oldboy has been held for allegedly kidnapping andkilling his six-year-old nephew in Maharajganjdistrict. The accused minor has confessed tokidnapping and killing his nephew and alsowriting a letter demanding Rs 50 lakh ransomfrom the victim's family.

During questioning, the boy told the policethat the victim's parents would call him a 'thief 'and they would scold him whenever he com-plained about them.

The teenager has been apprehended andhas now been sent to a juvenile shelter home.

It may be recalled that on December 9, thevictim, son of Deepak Gupta, resident ofBanspar village in Maharajganj district, waskidnapped and the family received a ransomnote for Rs 50 lakh ransom.

The police had then launched a probe andthe 14-year-old boy was suspected of the crimeafter his handwriting matched the ransomnote. IANS

Bhadohi (Uttar Pradesh): A 55-year-old manwas allegedly killed by his wife and elder daugh-ter-in-law for having illicit relations with hisyounger daughter-in-law.

According to the police, the incident tookplace under Koirana police limits on Sunday.

Bhadohi Superintendent of Police RamBadan Singh, said that the man's wife and theirelder daughter-in-law attacked him and slashedhis throat with a knife.

The SP said the man was rushed to a hos-pital but was declared 'brought dead'.

The man had four sons, all living inMumbai as migrant workers. Two of them weremarried and their wives were living in the vil-lage with their in-laws.

The man had developed an illicit relation-ship with his younger daughter-in-law, and hiswife and elder daughter-in-law objected to thisrelationship.

The man's wife sent the younger daughter-

in-law to her father's house.Angered over this, the man attacked his elder

daughter-in-law and damaged her eyes.He also threw his wife and elder daughter-

in-law out of the house and they had been liv-ing on the street.

The man then brought back his youngerdaughter-in-law from her parents' place

The man's wife and his elder daughter-in-law, barged into the house on the interveningnight of Saturday/Sunday and attacked him, fol-lowing which the younger daughter-in-lawfled the house and reached a police station whereshe told police that her mother-in-law and sis-ter-in-law had attacked her and her father-in-law.

When the police reached the man's house,they found him lying in a pool of blood with hisneck slit open. The police have registered a mur-der case and informed all four sons of the vic-tim, said the SP. IANS

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After powerful Trinamoolsatrap Suvendu Adhikari

and his erstwhile Cabinet col-league Rajiv Banerjee it is nowthe turn of senior party leaderand Asansol Mayor JitendraTewari to unfurl the banner ofrebellion in the TrinamoolCongress.

In a rather astounding let-ter Tewari has charged the StateGovernment with blocking cen-tral funds. The letter written toState Urban DevelopmentMinister Firhad Hakim sayshow Asansol corporation hadbeen perennially starved offunds whereas all theGovernment allotments hadgone to Kolkata MunicipalCorporation and the neigh-bouring Rajarhat-Salt Lakemunicipal board.

A war of words soon ensuedwith Hakim blaming Tewari ofbeing in touch with the BJP. Ameeting had been lined up forTuesday to iron out the differ-ences, inside sources said addingHakim will meet Tewari inKolkata in the presence of elec-tion strategist Prashant Kishorewho has been appointed by theparty to prepare its electoralstrategy for 2021. Tewari whosaid that Asansol did not receivecentral funds of Rupees 2,000crore due to state governmentwhich blocked its passage, alsodenied Hakim’s allegations ofbeing in touch with BJP.

The letter reads written byoutgoing Asansol Mayor andpresent Administrator “… due topolitical reasons”, Asansol wasdeprived of Rs 2,000 crore underthe Government of India’s Smart

City Mission project despitebeing selected by the Ministry ofUrban Development.

Earlier powerful TMCleader and former Minister andMP Suvendu Adhikari quit hisministerial post and returned theState police security cover beforesnapping all the communicationchannels with the party.

He was followed by ForestMinister Rajiv Banerjee whoalleged only corrupt sidekickswere given responsible assign-ments in the party. He would notonly not retract from his com-ments but also said “aage aagedekho hota hai kya … (wait andwatch what unfolds next).” Thereare other leaders and MLAs likeMihir Goswami who alreadyjoined the BJP this month, SilBhadra Dutta and a set of otherMLAs who have openly revolt-ed against the party. JitendraTewari is only next in the line.

Meanwhile the BJP has dis-missed Trinamool Congress’fear that Chief Minister MamataBanerjee might be murdered as“unfounded, manufactured andpolitically designed to win sym-pathy” from voters.

Reacting to the remark of apossible assassination bid on theChief Minister by the BJP,Bengal BJP president DilipGhosh said “this is an old tacticwhich Mamata Banerjee tries onthe people of Bengal to garnersympathy votes. She has done soearlier also. But this time this willnot cut much ice with the elec-torate … the ploy will bomb inthe electoral market…”

Earlier senior TrinamoolCongress leader and PanchayatMinister Subroto Mukherjeetold in a meeting that the BJP

was planning to assassinate theChief Minister as she was thestumbling block between the saf-fron party and power in Bengal.

“They (BJP) are hatching aconspiracy to eliminate MamataBanerjee if it fails to come topower in Bengal in the comingelections,” Mukherjee saidadding however that the peopleand the TMC cadres wouldshed their blood to protectBanerjee who was the mother ofcrores of poor people in Bengal.

“They (read BJP) are mak-ing secret plans to secretly assas-sinate Mamata Banerjee … Thisthey can do even by hiring peo-ple for the purpose. But the peo-ple of Bengal will foil theirplans,” Mukherjee who alsotagged with his speech an excusefor the December 10 attack onBJP president JP Nadda’s convoysaid. Accusing the BJP of tryingto gain sympathy he said “Ourmembers, following an investi-gation, have confirmed that theBJP hired people to hurl stonesat his vehicle so as to bring badname to Bengal, humiliateMamata Banerjee” and find outan excuse to impose Article 356in the State.”

Erosion of public support ismaking the TMC to talk non-sense BJP strongman and MPArjun Singh said. Singh said that“Mamata Banerjee herself is athreat to all the opposition par-ties and the people of Bengal…she is a terror… how can she beterrorized… even if we are tobelieve that she is facing a threaton her life then it is not from theBJP but her own men … whodoes not know about the infight-ing and defections in theTrinamool.”

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After Bihar the All IndiaM a j l i s - e - I t t e h a d u l

Muslimeen's (AIMIM) hasturned its attention on Bengal.

With the Assembly electionsscheduled to take place in mid2021 AIMIM chief AsaduddinOwaisi has aired his view to visitBengal sometime soon.

He is known to have con-ducted a meeting of senior partyfunctionaries at Hyderabad. Themeeting held on Saturday withparty representatives fromBengal has been said to be “sat-isfactory.” The Bengal AIMIMleaders have told Owaisi that thesituation in the State was perfectfor his entry and that the partycould get more support thanexpected from the minority vot-ers, many of who are disillu-

sioned with Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee’s style of func-tioning.

The meeting was held fortaking their (Bengal leaders’)detailed views with regards toupcoming polls and the politi-cal situation in the state, partysources said. According tosources Owaisi was briefed bythe Bengal party leaders aboutAIMIM’s areas of strength.

The meeting was “fruitful”Owaisi was quoted as saying.“He was briefed about the polit-ical situation in the State whichhe listened with quite interestand asked us whether we areprepared to jump into the elec-toral fray to which we said wecan,” a Bengal AIMIM leadersaid.

Bengal has about 27 percentminority voters though in actu-

al terms it reaches 30 percentbecause the minority voterturnout is more than that of themajority community.

According to sources whilethe Muslims voters may impactabout 125 out of 294 Assemblyseats the AIMIM has a sizeablepresence in about 35 seats.

The Trinamool Congresshas recently come down heavi-ly on the AIMIM and Owaisi forits alleged act of “cutting the anti-BJP votes.” Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee whose partycommands most of the Muslimvotes told a recent meeting that“some parties from Hyderabadfunded by the BJP are trying tocome to Bengal… they willbreak the secular fabric of theState and help the BJP by cuttingminority votes as they did inBihar.”

2����������&��������������������D���������������!�����%���Panaji: The ruling BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP) on Mondayswept polls to two zilla pan-chayat bodies in the state, in anelection which Chief MinisterPramod Sawant claimed was a“test” for his government.

While the final results arenot out yet, the BJP has alreadywon 17 out of the 25 seats of theNorth Goa Zilla Panchayat,while the party has won 14seats out of the 23 seats of theSouth Goa Zilla Panchayatbody. The Congress, so far, haswon one seat in North Goa,while in South Goa the partymanaged to win only threeseats. The MaharashtrawadiGomantak Party won threeseats across both the ZP bod-ies, while the Aam AadmiParty and Nationalist CongressParty won one seat each. IANS

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Apersonal security officer,deployed on security duty

of a Peoples Democratic Partyleader Haji Parvaiz Ahmad,was killed by unidentified ter-rorists at Asthan Mohalla areaof Natipora in Srinagar onMonday.

According to groundreports, around 10.50 a.m ter-rorists opened indiscriminatefiring at the front gate of thePDP leader and tried to gainaccess inside the house. One ofthe PSO' s stationed therereceived bullet injuries andwas rushed to the nearby hos-pital where he succumbed tohis fatal injuries.

According to a Jammu andKashmir police spokesman, atabout 10:50 a.m, Srinagar

police received informationabout a terror crime incident atNatipora area of Srinagar dis-trict where terrorists had firedupon PSO of PDP leader.

The Police spokesman said,“Preliminary investigationsrevealed that terrorists hadfired upon PSO of PDP leaderHaji Parviaz Ahmad at AsthanMohalla Natipora. The injured

PSO was evacuat-ed to nearby hos-pital for treatmentwhere he suc-cumbed to hisinjuries andattained martyr-dom”.

He has beenidentified as SgCtManzoor Ahmadof 11th BNSecurity”, he

added. Later, the mortal remains

of the martyred cop were hand-ed over to his family in Srinagarafter a formal wreath layingceremony at DPL, Srinagar.

DGP Dilbagh Singh, IGP,Kashmir range Vijay Kumaralong with other senior officerspaid rich floral tributes to themartyred cop.

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Maharashtra’s Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS)has busted a major illegal immigrants’ rack-

et by arresting eight Bangladshi nationals andseizing a cache of illegal Indian documents,including several fake Indian identity cards, pass-ports and material used for making illegal trav-el documents.

Acting on a tip-off that one Bangladeshinational staying in Mumbai as an illegal immi-grant was indulging in preparation and supplyof Indian identity cards other Bangladeshinationals, the ATS sleuths laid laid a trap andcaught an illegal Bangladeshi national fromSewree, Akram Ollauddin Khan (28) hailingfrom Novokhali district in the neighbouringcountry.

Akram’s custodial interrogation revealed thathe had travelled to India without any valid doc-uments. Later, persons identified as Noornabi,a resident of Wadala, Mumbai and RafiqShaikh, Kausa, Mumbra, Thane helped Akramin preparing forged Aadhar card, Pan card andIndian passport in his name.

Based on the inputs given by Akram, theATS arrested one Mohd. Rafiq Rehmatullasayyad (42), a resident of Kausa near Mumbrain Thane district and his interrogationrevealed that he had been indulging in as agentin preparation of counterfeit passports since2013.

The investigations also revealed that Rafiqwas involved in preparation of many passportof illegal Bangladeshi immigrants.

“On scrutiny of records, we have found thathe has been involved in providing at least 85 fakeIndian identity cards and passport to illegalBangladeshi immigrants,” a senior ATS officersaid.

“Shaikh used forged documents like Pancards, Aadhar cards, election cards, rationcards, electric bills, rent agreements, school leav-ing certificate, birth certificates, bank passbooksrequired for processing passports,” he said.

The ATS officials went onto arrest Shaikh’saccomplices Idris Mohammad Shaikh (57), a res-ident of Kausa, Mumbra, Avin GangaramKedare (35) Yrs, resident of Antop Hill, Mumbaiand One Nitin Rajaram Nikam (43), a residentof Taloja, Navi Mumbai.

While Idris had played an active role inpreparing forged school leaving certificates andbirth certificates, Kedare helped Idris in prepar-ing fake rubber stamps to make these forgeddocuments. Nikam provided fake bank pass-books and election cards.

In addition, the ATS officials Mohd. SoahilAbdul Subhan Shaikh (33), Abdul KhairSamsulhaq (42) and Abul Hasham alias AbulKasham Shaikh (26) for entering into India andresiding without valid documents of their stayand seized forged Indian identity cards and pass-ports from them.

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In fresh trouble for contro-versial Bollywood actress

Kangana Ranaut, senior ShivSena MLA Pratap Sarnaik onMonday filed a breach of priv-ilege notice against some mediaoutlets for running storiesallegedly based on a tweet putout by the actress that aPakistani credit card was foundduring the recent raids con-ducted by the EnforcementDirectorate (ED) on his hous-es.

Sarnaik, a three-time MLAand close aide of chief minis-ter Uddhav Thackeray, in hisbreach of privilege notice filedagainst Kangana before thePrincipal Secretary of theMaharashtra Legislature said:“On November 24, the EDraided my houses in Mumbaiand Thane and seized several

documents. The ED called meand my son for inquiry and weare cooperating with the ED”.

“On December 12 and 13,some selected news papers,electronic media and web por-tals -- based on a tweet byKangana – reported that aPakistani credit card was foundin my house during the raids.They published without anyproof. The only basis they hadwas a false tweet put out by theactress. The news reports havedefamed me and projected mein a poor light,” Sarnaik statedin his notice.

He has urged the PrincipalSecretary concerned to for-ward his notice/complaint tothe Privilege Committee ofMaharashtra LegislativeAssembly so that an inquiryinto the matter of breach ofprivilege and necessary actioncan be taken against Kangana.

if the breach of privilegenotice against the media outletsadmitted by the StateLegislature, Kangana -- apartfrom the media houses -- mayalso asked to appear before thePrivileges Committee to knowon what basis she put out the“false” tweet which, Sarnaik hasalleged, has maligned hisimage as an elected represen-tative.

It may be recalled thatSarnaik had earlier inSeptember moved a breach ofprivilege motion in the StateAssembly against ArnabGoswami, Republic TV editorin chief, for using “derogatory”language against MaharashtraChief Minister UddhavThackeray and NCP chiefSharad Pawar. Sarnaik had alsoaccused Goswami of insultingministers and MPs during hisTV debates.

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Patna: A man in Bihar'sBhagalpur district bet his wifeand lost her while gambling. Hethen forced her to have sex withhis gambler friends and pouredacid on her when she refused tocontinue sexual relations, an offi-cial said. The 30-year-old victimrefused to have sexual relationswith other men after two orthree times and her husbandthen threw acid on her. Sourcessaid that he wanted purificationof his wife.

Rajesh Kumar Jha, SHO of

Mozahidpur police station, saidthat the accused husband SonuHarijan was arrested and an FIRwas registered against him onSunday evening.

“As the case is extremelysensitive, we have immediatelyregistered an FIR and arrestedthe accused. Further investiga-tion is underway and otheraccused will be arrested too ifthey are found to be involved inthis case,” Jha said.

In a statement to the police,the accused said that he lost the

bet some one and a half monthsago. As per the commitment, thevictim was to be handed over tothe winners of the bet for amonth but the victim refused togo with them after two or threetimes.

“We are studying the state-ment of the victim and havearrested the accused. He hasconfessed that he lost his wife ina gambling bet and also forcedher to have sexual relationswith his gambler friends,” Jhasaid. As the victim had sustained

burn injuries, her in- laws heldher captive in a house inMozahidpur to hide the inci-dent. They gave her primarymedical treatment.

The incident came to lighton Sunday when the womanmanaged to escape from her in-laws house and reached herfather's residence in Lodipur andnarrated her ordeal. Her parentsimmediately took her to Lodipurpolice station where the policeasked the victim to go toMozahidpur police station.IANS

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Page 6: 2020/12/15  · June 15 in the Galwan valley in eastern Ladakh. Twenty Indian Army personnel, including the commanding officer were killed in the fracas. China, however, has not

Closer to the UnionBudget-making exer-cise, Finance Ministersare compelled to recallKautilya’s “capacity to

pay” principle from theArthashastra that a tax collectorshould collect taxes “just as a beecollects honey from a flower, with-out disturbing its petals”. For fis-cal 2021/22, this will be a daunt-ing task as any FM would rathersting like the bee from any sourcethat yielded supernatural gainswhile remaining benign towardsthe most afflicted sectors. Thefocus of this article is to put one-self into the Government’s shoesand suggest possible avenues forraising revenues while also offer-ing relief, where necessary.

The Organisation forEconomic Cooperation andDevelopment (OECD) estimatesthat for each month of contain-ment, there is a need to factor intwo per cent loss of annual GDP.The IMF advises that duringperiods of hardship, Governmentsmust go slow in restoring publicfinances as raising taxes must becommensurate with resumptionof economic activity.

As India entered the crisis withweak balance sheets in banks,shadow banks and corporates,their current state of recovery orindebtedness cannot be deter-mined till the next fiscal year dueto moratoriums and the ‘standstillclause’ in operation to avoid theNPA tag on COVID-hit companiesthat have gone in for restructuringloans. Should some sectors havegotten further singed in the lastnine months, two risks get com-pounded: The systemic risks ofincreased NPAs; and the increasednumber of retail loans comingunder pressure due to debt servic-ing limitations of borrowers whoseincome growth is uncertain.

Central avenues for taxation:Ideally, how should countries

tax after the pandemic?As nations compete for

investment and jobs, taxation isone of the competitive levers toattract FDI as well as to encour-age domestic consumption andCapex expansion.

But most likely, new taxes onthe “super profits” of digital inter-net companies will be the keyavenue for raising revenue. We,therefore, must think of applyinga higher corporate tax rate on largecorporations in ‘oligopolised sec-tors’ with excess rates of return, justfor a limited one-year period.

Second, though wealth taxwas abolished in 2015-16, the

scope for raising just one-timerevenues through this avenuecannot be underestimated inthe post-COVID times.However, this does not call forreverting permanently to thedays of wealth tax and estateduty as that would amount tounfair and double taxation.

Indians who have made it tothe world’s richest lists must betaxed progressively higher thana normal HNI. Super-HNIs,according to the IIFL WealthHurun India Rich List 2019,have an average net worth of�5,000 crore among the 953richest Indians. Their combinednet worth is a quarter of India’sGDP. Levying even a one-time,say a four per cent, WT on themcan yield much-needed addi-tional resources. Such provisionsshould be one-off in nature,applicable for just one fiscal year.

Other prospective avenuesfor raising revenue are:Introduce Leave Travel &Stay Allowance (LTSA):

While high-frequency datapoints to a firm recovery in con-sumption, manufacturing, retail,housing and consumer durables,the losses in the contact-inten-sive services sectors of aviation,tourism and hospitality have suf-fered irrecoverable losses.

Every rupee spent ontourism has a threefold impacton the economy. Tourism createsmaximum employment acrossthe economic classes of labour.One way to boost tourism is toannounce a relief package direct-ly impacting the expenditurebudget of the Government. Theother is to announce benefits tothe masses. The existing LeaveTravel Allowance scheme is rid-dled with several strictures.

The Government mayintroduce LTSA as deductibleincome for FY22 and FY23provided it is spent only inIndia, allow hotel and stayexpenses and multiple vaca-tions be allowed. TheGovernment may recover the

tax foregone through increasedspending and GST recovery.Education Fee Deduction:

The education fee deductionwas set up many decades ago at�200 per child. Today it will notcover the cost of even a textbook.This needs reinstatement torealistic levels. A deduction of�25,000 for formal educationfrom pre-primary to graduationlevel or its equivalent and�50,000 for Post-Graduation/professional cours-es per child annually for a max-imum of two children should beallowed. This will help achieveSustainable Development Goalsas set by the UN and adopted byIndia.Special WFH Allowance:

People have had toredesign their homes for creat-ing work space and haveincurred expenses to that effect.A special allowance of�1,00,000 must be allowed forFY 2020-21 and FY 2021-22.The actual expense incurred toredesign, repair, purchase PCs,laptops, internet devices and soon should be allowed.Special levy on fliers:

The Government mayimpose a special COVID levy of�500 on the economy class and�1,000 on business class oninternational travel. A speciallevy of �100 may be imposed ondomestic air travellers. Byimposing a small amount, thetravel is not rendered uneco-nomical. The Government maymake a revenue of �3,500 crorefrom seven crore internationaltravellers and �3,000 crore from30 crore domestic travellers.Creation of strategic holdingcompanies for banks, PSUsand infrastructure:

The Government shouldtransfer its holdings in all banks,PSUs and special institutionssuch as NABARD, NHAI, PFCand REC to a sector-specificholdco. This holdco shouldreceive funding from theGovernment which can be lever-

aged and then given to operat-ing companies as debt or equi-ty. This will ease theGovernment’s burden of sup-porting companies through fis-cal allocation.

The Government may con-tribute Viability Gap Funding(VGF) as equity in holdcoswhich, in turn, invests thesame as equity in infrastructureprojects. The repayment ofdebt of holdcos could be fromdividend income and/or sale ofinvestment. Holdco structurewould allow timing of disin-vestment instead of fire-sale.Besides, consolidation of landholdings of subsidiaries couldhelp achieve affordable housingtargets as well.

Also, nations will be in await-and-watch mode beforerecalibrating their domestic poli-cies depending on whether theJoe Biden administration retainsstatus quo on Donald Trumpera’s taxation which loweredcorporate rates to 25 per cent.Future avenues for State taxation:

The ratio of States’ debt toGDP is poised to rise to adecadal high of 36 per cent thisfiscal, according to a CRISILreport. Given the massive taxshortfall due to higher spend-ing on health and relief mea-sures, States must look toenhance their own tax basethrough the avenues still with-in their purview, like agricul-ture and land by:

Affluent farmers’ netincome above �1 crore mustcome under the tax net by tak-ing a three-year average ofearnings (permitting them thisbenefit due to climate varia-tions). In 1969, the KN RajCommittee had first initiatedthe suggestion to tax farmincome. But it has never beenacted upon as political consid-erations have outweighed eco-nomic considerations. There isno economic rationale forexcluding such large earners

out of the tax base. Since thiswill require a constitutionalamendment with the supportof States, let the entire proceedsof such collections devolveupon States as quid pro quo.This will also reduce the devo-lution commitment of theUnion. The sense of inequitabletreatment will be addressedthat emanates from this sectorgetting the largesse of farm loanincentives without tax obliga-tions. Taxing income ofarhatiyas needs to be intro-duced given high income lev-els. As per the PanjabiUniversity, Patiala, report of2016, in Punjab alone around�1,400 crore was outstanding asloan from arhatiyas at 12 percent to 18 per cent interest.

Lowering of stamp duty, asMaharashtra and Gujarat havedone, will increase constructionactivity and bring in more rev-enue through economic activ-ity. Lowering stamp duty inconjunction with low interestrates is a big incentive forhome buyers. The case forlowering stamp duty variesbetween 2 per cent to 7 percent. This reduction will boostreal estate transactions, encour-age price transparency andencourage fuller declarationof capital gains.

Lastly, it is time to dispensewith an aggressive, adversari-al and target-oriented taxdepartment for encouragingcompliance and reducing liti-gation. The taxpayer must betreated as partner in nationbuilding. For building astronger India, it is imperativefor the policy-makers to bal-ance welfare with growth; lay-ing out a red carpet that facil-itates FDI but also handholdsall sections of the domesticindustry.

(Dalmia is a columnist andChairperson NCFIL at NitiAayog and Joshi is Founder &CEO Oyster Capital and ex-MD&CEO India Ratings)

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��������� ��!�

������������ ��������Sir — The Opposition and manytrade bodies are opportunistical-ly supporting the farmer agitation,reminiscent of when a moribundBJP revived itself by jumping ontothe Anna Hazare-led India AgainstCorruption bandwagon.

Now the boot is on the otherfoot. The ruling party is trying todiscredit farmer leaders andattempting to drive a wedge amongtheir groupings. There is genuinefear that APMCs may collapse as aresult of these laws and farmers willthen be at the mercy of corporates.When procurement through MSPis delayed or denied, farmers underduress will fall into the clutches ofcorporations run by oligarchs.

The unsolved question, there-fore, is how to ensure that thereforms do not lead to monopolyor cartelisation? Equally importantis the issue of federalism, as agricul-ture is a State subject. The States playa critical role in the sector but theyhave scarcely been involved in thepassing of farm laws. If theGovernment admits that no onehas a magic formula for societal andeconomic problems, it will open upavenues for dialogue and lead tofaster and amicable solutions.

Shovanlal ChakrabortyKolkata

�������������������Sir — Lakhs of farmers areprotesting against the three farmlaws for the past 20 days but nota single Coronavirus case has beenreported from the huge gather-ings. It leads one to wonderwhether the figures and datareleased by the Government arebogus and aimed only at creating

fear to extract money from thepeople in the form of treatmentand facilities by doctors, hospitals,testing laboratories and chemists.

This has resulted in somepeople not reporting COVIDsymptoms and taking home treat-ment to avoid being cheated byhealth professionals who are loot-ing patients. However, the farm-ers are well organised in the

aspect of healthcare and have amedical team with them.

Bhagwan ThadaniMumbai

�������������������Sir — After 70 long years, cheetahis going to be reintroduced onIndian soil. The apex wildlife bodyof India has started evaluating sitesfor the big cat’s reintroduction.

The site evaluators must thinkhard about the required prey base,water availability, climate andtopography before shortlisting/finalising the sites. Also, for thelongevity of this project, a suitablebudget must be allocated for anti-poaching squads, CCTVs, dronesand other paraphernalia. Fromenvironmental bio-diversity tosustainable tourism, all points ofview seem to merge into whatlooks like a win-win situation.

Sunil ChilwalHaldwani

����������������������Sir — The Madhya PradeshGovernment has launched ‘PashuDhan Bima Yojana’ under whichan insurance cover would beoffered to indigenous cattle ownedby farmers. This will help themmitigate the losses they suffer dueto the death of their cattle.

The scheme has been imple-mented across the State. It is a wel-come step and one hopes that thescheme will benefit the maxi-mum number of farmers andencourage them to adopt animalhusbandry as a livelihood option.

Amit Singh KushwahaSatna

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The Department of Investment and PublicAsset Management (Dipam) has come outwith a circular requiring Central Public

Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) to pay interim div-idend every quarter or half-yearly, depending onwhether it is a relatively higher dividend (100 percent or �10 on a share of �10) or less. Even thosewhich can’t pay the prescribed “minimum”must give an interim dividend. Further, at least90 per cent of the projected annual dividendshould be paid as interim. Even as the bureau-crats justify this in terms of easing cash flow andimproving the investment sentiment, the reali-ty is that the Government is squeezing CPSEs tolessen its fiscal woes. However, there are betterand potent ways to do this; for instance, by plug-ging leakages in direct and indirect tax collec-tions. The Centre should collect money fromwhere it is due, instead of squeezing CPSEs forbridging its fiscal gaps.

The CPSEs have also been asked to pay thefinal dividend of the last financial year (FY)(April-March) soon after the Annual GeneralMeeting (AGM) is over (normally, it is held inSeptember of the FY) in cases where the inter-im dividend has not been paid out fully duringthe last FY and there is a balance to be paid outas final dividend.

A shareholder is eligible to receive dividendon the share capital held by him/her in a com-pany if it makes profit in a year. The profit madeis the revenue generated from its operations (saleof products or services or any other incomesource) minus expenses (on raw materials/otherinputs, wages and salaries, interest payments andso on). While this is pre-tax profit, the surplusleft after payment of tax or Profit After-Tax (PAT)is normally used for building resources such ascapital reserves (to offset capital losses), securi-ties premium reserve (used for buyback ofshares), general reserves (used for working cap-ital) and so on.

After appropriation to the reserves, the left-over amount is surplus cash, which can be usedfor paying the dividend. Therefore, the amountavailable for distributing the dividend is aderived figure through a complex process thathas to keep in mind the overarching interest ofrunning the enterprise in a robust and sustain-able manner. This has to come from the compa-ny management. Unfortunately, in the case ofCPSEs, leveraging its majority ownership andcontrol, the Government follows a top downapproach, issuing directions from time to time.

As a general principle, the guidelines issuedby the Dipam require the CPSEs to pay a mini-mum annual dividend of 30 per cent of PAT orfive per cent of the net worth, whichever is high-er. This is seriously flawed. Given its financialposition, the enterprise may not be able to affordthe dividend as per this diktat of the Government.Yet, being forced to give can result in derailmentof its business plans and impact its viability.

This was bad enough. Now, the Dipam hascome out with excruciating directions on the“interim dividend.” This is a dividend paymentmade before a company’s Annual GeneralMeeting (AGM) and the release of final finan-cial statements (audited accounts and the balancesheet). Its declaration is normally accompaniedby release of the company’s interim financialstatements. What is the need for interim divi-dend?

For any given FY (say, 2019-20 ending March31), it takes time to prepare, process and finalisethe financial statements, get these audited andapproved in the AGM, which normally happens

six months after the end of the FY. Thismeans that the regular dividend can’tbe declared till that time (orSeptember). Having to wait that longcan make the shareholders jittery. Theidea of declaring interim dividend —normally done towards the end orFebruary/March of the concerned FY— is to put some cash in their hands.This practice is fairly logical as at thetime of declaring the interim dividend,the FY is almost over and the manage-ment has got a broad idea of theprofit/loss the company is expected tomake. But to stretch it to a point where-by the CPSE is asked to give “interimdividend” at the end of each of the fourquarters or half-yearly (as contemplat-ed in the Dipam circular) during the FY,is appalling.

The performance of a company cannever be consistent throughout the year.If it has made “X” amount of profit dur-ing the first quarter (April-June) of theFY, it does not necessarily follow thatin the remaining quarters, it will sus-tain this trend. The profit could be lessor there could even be loss during sub-sequent quarters. In such a scenario, ifinterim dividend is paid in the firstquarter, it will spell financial trouble forthe enterprise even as payment oncemade can’t be reversed after financialsare finalised for the whole year.

Furthermore, directions such asforcing companies which can’t paydividend as per the prescribed “mini-mum,” to pay interim dividend and thattoo at the end of the first half of the FY(during October/November) or pay-ment of at least 90 per cent of the pro-jected annual dividend, in one or moreinstallments as interim dividend, arecompletely devoid of any logic.

By nature, an interim dividend canonly be a small portion of the regulardividend. Yet, if 90 per cent is given asinterim, it tantamounts to demeaningthe very concept itself.

Bureaucrats have sought to justifyquarterly/half-yearly payments citingthat bunching of interim dividend

payouts in February-March may com-pete with their cash availability for year-end payments to suppliers, as well astowards advance tax. They also aver thatthis will improve investment sentimentby assuring investors of regular and cer-tain dividend receipt during the year.The argument is untenable.

When to make payments to thesuppliers and discharge other liabilitiesis purely a commercial matter and thecompany management is best equippedto ensure that these are met satisfacto-rily, without causing any cash flowproblem. As regards investment senti-ment, the investor sees the fundamen-tals of an enterprise and its ability toensure a reasonable return on invest-ment on a sustained basis — not by howfrequently the dividend payment ismade. The real reason behind issuingthe obnoxious guidelines lies else-where.

The Union Government gets agood portion of its non-tax revenue asdividend receipts from CPSEs — sur-plus transfer from the Reserve Bank ofIndia (RBI) and telecom spectrumreceipts being the other major compo-nents. In recent years, these receiptshave declined (courtesy, reduction in itsshareholding in many profitable enter-prises via disinvestment). For the cur-rent year, the situation has worsened.Against the Budget estimate of close to�66,000 crore, it has so far received only�10,000 crore.

This, together with a substantialdecline in tax revenue (during April-September, this was only �4,60,000crore. This is a reduction of about 33per cent over the corresponding peri-od last year) and the surge in expendi-ture due to COVID-19 has made theGovernment desperate. No wonder, itis making highly unrealistic demands.

Shockingly, the directive has comeat a time when the profits of CPSEs haveplunged due to the pandemic. If theirfinancials don’t justify payment of div-idend (at the rate desired by theCentre), how does one expect them to

pay? This looks even more anomalouswhen seen in juxtaposition with theGovernment goading these very CPSEsto undertake spending on a massivescale (to make up for the substantialdecline in investment by the private sec-tor and, during the current year, by theGovernment too). How can the latterspend on projects and, at the same time,fill the coffers of the Centre?

To wriggle out of a tight fiscal sit-uation, the Government is goadingthese public enterprises to dip into theiraccumulated reserves on the one handand take recourse to borrowings on theother. True, this way they will be ableto fund capital spending. But this willmake the enterprises over-leveraged.Surely, this is not a sustainable way offinancing investment.

The Government can’t have thecake and eat it too. It can’t keep ondenuding the CPSEs and yet expectthem to remain healthy and contributeto capital formation. To meet the ris-ing expenditure and keep fiscal deficitwithin the prescribed ceiling, no doubtit needs to raise resources. But there arebetter ways. For instance, during 2019-20 (then the impact of the Coronaviruswas not there), there was a shortfall ofabout �2,00,000 crore in tax collectionsvis-à-vis even revised estimates. Underthe Goods and Services Tax, there arefraudulent claims of input tax credit ofclose to �1,00,000 crore since its launchfrom July 1, 2017. From the ‘Vivad seVishwas’ initiative launched in theBudget for 2020-21 on direct taxdemand of about �10,00,000 croreunder dispute, the expected recovery isabout �70,000 crore — a meagre sevenper cent. The list is unending.

The message is loud and clear. TheGovernment should collect moneyfrom all those who owe it instead ofsqueezing CPSEs for bridging its fiscalgaps. This is in no way healthy for theeconomy in the long run, nor is it sus-tainable for the CPSEs.

(The writer is a New Delhi-basedpolicy analyst)

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The continuing protests by the farmingcommunity for the last 20 days mightbe one of the biggest challenges of the

Narendra Modi-led Government. Thoughthe Centre is seized of the issue, the con-frontation still continues. Perhaps it is timeto look back and see how India went frombeing one of the largest food grain importersafter Independence, to achieving self-suffi-ciency.

Former Prime Ministers Lal BahadurShastri and his successor Indira Gandhi wereresponsible for the Green Revolution inIndia. The food crisis began in the last year

of the Jawaharlal Nehru era, as the first twoFive-Year Plans did not pay adequate atten-tion to agriculture. In 1949 the Indian foodsituation was difficult and the foreignexchange position was worse. In November1949 Nehru made his first visit to the US andduring his talks with US President HarryTruman he mentioned the scarcity of foodin India. Truman’s response was positive, butbureaucratic hurdles, resistance in the USCongress, red-tapism and other difficulties,including the US’ bid to barter wheat forstrategic materials, ensured that there was nopact in the end.

As a result of the continued food short-ages in some of the States, India witnessedriots. It was then that the country resortedto PL480 food grains as part of the US’ pol-icy of ‘Food for Peace.’ However, soon, Indiafaced a crisis in the supply of food grainsfrom the US, as President Lyndon Johnson’sfood politics was a puzzle even to his admin-istration. However, it had a happy endingbecause, by the time Johnson left office, Indiaexperienced a Green Revolution.

Prime Minister Shastri had in his very

first month in office in June 1964 indicateda policy shift from heavy to light industryand towards consumer goods and agricul-ture. Shastri asked his Agriculture MinisterChidambaram Subramaniam to chalk out anew strategy to increase production. By giv-ing the slogan “Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan” Shastriinspired both, farmers as well as farm sci-entists, to sow the seeds of the GreenRevolution.

Meanwhile, within a few months of hissecond term in office, Lyndon Johnsondecided to take a tougher approach to foodgrain supply to India and Pakistan. Johnsontold his puzzled officials, “I will take care ofthe problem.” He always waited till the lastminute before personally authorising theshipments. Then American Ambassador toIndia, Chester Bowles, called the supply the“ship to mouth” programme as it never wentthrough the warehouses.

After Indira Gandhi took over as thePrime Minister in January 1966 she contin-ued the focus on agriculture. One of the firstthings Indira Gandhi sought from Johnsonduring her first visit to Washington as Prime

Minister in March 1966 was food aid.Though Johnson was bowled over by hercharm he made it clear that the two prima-ry conditions for the US’ aid — self-help andmore focus on agriculture — were necessary.

Things began to change for the better asIndia ushered in an era of expansion in thefarm sector, which started with the introduc-tion of high-yielding varieties of wheat in thelate 1960s. With all the push for agriculture,coupled with the efforts of leading scientistslike Dr MS Swaminathan, slowly India beganto see improved yields and got closer to solv-ing the chronic food shortages in the coun-try.

Indira Gandhi made the GreenRevolution a priority of her Government andalong with new hybrid seeds, initiated Statesubsidies and ensured the provision ofelectricity, water, fertilisers and credit to farm-ers. Agricultural income was not taxable.

The result was that India became self-sufficient in food. This was something thatIndira Gandhi wanted to achieve with all herheart, particularly given her frustrationwith Johnson’s erratic and conditional food

aid. Once, as soon as she hung up after talk-ing to Johnson, Indira Gandhi is reported tohave said angrily, “I don’t ever want us to haveto beg for food again.”

She hit back at Johnson and signed adeclaration calling for an end to “imperial-ist aggression” against the Vietnamese peo-ple. Lyndon Johnson’s response was swift andfood grain shipments to India slowed down.But later, once Johnson was satisfied that theGreen Revolution in India was on track, hebecame liberal and tried to get the supportof other countries to share the burden withthe US.

The World Bank, too, started a consor-tium for food supply. Today, India hasachieved self-sufficiency as food productionhas gone up from less than 50 million tonnes(MT) in 1947 to 292 MT in 2019-20.

Meanwhile, Government investmentin agriculture rose sharply, too. Apart fromthat, institutional credit, remunerative pricesand the availability of new technology at lowprices were facilitated. By the 1980s not onlyhad India become self-sufficient in food grainproduction, it was exporting farm produce

to pay off its debts and loaning it to food-deficit countries, too.

Over the decades, successive govern-ments have thrown sops at farmers, includ-ing large subsidies on power and fuel, butthere has been little sustained or strategiceffort to modernise the sector. The ModiGovernment, too, came up with severalschemes for growers and is now talking ofan ‘Evergreen Revolution’ in the farming sec-tor.

However, the new farm laws seem tohave created apprehensions among thefarmers, who have been protesting onDelhi’s borders since November 26. Thoughthe Government has held six rounds of talkswith farmers’ organisations, there seems tobe a trust deficit and the Opposition parties,too, have joined hands with the growers toattack the Government. The Centre as wellas farmers should resolve the issue ratherthan prolonging it. This would be beneficialfor the entire country. No one wants to seethe nation’s “annadata” suffering in the fieldsand on the streets, too.

(The writer is a senior journalist)

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Page 8: 2020/12/15  · June 15 in the Galwan valley in eastern Ladakh. Twenty Indian Army personnel, including the commanding officer were killed in the fracas. China, however, has not

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Tehran: Iran’s President HassanRouhani on Monday claimedthat Israel was behind thekilling of a scientist who found-ed the Islamic Republic’s mili-tary nuclear program in the2000s in an effort to start a warin the last days of PresidentTrump’s administration.

Rouhani’s comments in anews conference marked thefirst time he has directlyaccused the Jewish state of car-rying out the killing of MohsenFakhrizadeh late last month.

Israel, long suspected ofkilling Iranian nuclear scientistsover the last decade, has repeat-edly declined to comment onthe attack. “Waging instabilityand war in the final days of theTrump administration was themain aim of the Zionist regimein the assassination,” Rouhanisaid.

Rouhani vowed to avengethe killing but said his countrywill not allow Israel to decidethe “time or venue” of anyretaliatory action. He said Iranwill not allow instability in theregion. Fakhrizadeh headedIran’s so-called AMAD pro-

gramme, which Israel and theWest have alleged was a militaryoperation looking at the feasi-bility of building a nuclearweapon.

The International AtomicEnergy Agency says that “struc-tured program” ended in 2003.US intelligence agencies con-curred with that assessment ina 2007 report.

After the killing ofFakhrizadeh , a top Iraniansecurity official, Ali Shamkhani,accused Israel of using “elec-tronic devices” to remotely killthe scientist.

Israel insists Iran still main-tains the ambition of develop-ing nuclear weapons, pointingto Tehran’s ballistic missile pro-gram and research into othertechnologies. Iran long hasmaintained that its nuclear pro-gramme is for peaceful pur-poses. AP

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The US Embassy inKhartoum said on Monday

that President Donald Trump’sadministration has removedSudan from the US List of statesponsors of terrorism, a movethat could help the Africancountry get international loansto revive its battered economyand end its pariah status.

The US Embassy inKhartoum said in a Facebookpost that the removal of Sudanwas effective as of Monday, andthat a notification to that effect,signed by U.S. Secretary ofState Mike Pompeo, would be

published in the FederalRegister.

It said the 45-day congres-sional notification period haslapsed.

The designation of Sudanas a state sponsor of terrorismdates back to the 1990s, whenSudan briefly hosted al-Qaidaleader Osama bin Laden andother wanted militants. Sudanwas also believed to haveserved as a pipeline for Iran tosupply weapons to Palestinianmilitants in the Gaza Strip.

Delisting Sudan is also akey incentive for the govern-ment in Khartoum to nor-malise relations with Israel.

Atlanta: What could be themain event in Georgia’s twin USSenate runoffs — early in-per-son voting — begins onMonday.

More than half of the record5 million votes in the November3 general election were castduring the two-week early vot-ing period. Early in-person vot-ing could be even more impor-tant in the January 5 runoffsbecause of the short time frame

for voters to request and sendback ballots by mail, as the tworaces decide which party willcontrol the US Senate.

“It’s very important,”Democrat Raphael Warnock,who is challenging RepublicanUS Senator Kelly Loeffler in oneof the races, said Friday after aspeech to labor union can-vassers.

“It’s how we won in the gen-eral and it’s how we’re going to

win in the runoff.” No oneexpects turnout to be as high inthe Warnock-Loeffler contest orthe race between US SenatorDavid Perdue and Democrat JonOssoff. But Bernard Fraga, anEmory University professor whostudies voting, said overallturnout could rise as high as fourmillion.

More than 125,000 peoplecast ballots in October on thefirst day of early in-person vot-

ing before the general election.Gabriel Sterling, election systemimplementation manager forthe Georgia Secretary of State,said he expects a surge of peo-ple on Monday. Some Atlanta-area early voting sites in Octoberand November saw people fre-quently lined up for hours.

“As always, on the first dayof early voting, it’s kind of likewhen the iPhone comes out,”Sterling said last week. “People

want to go get the new iPhoneat the Apple store. They’re goingto stand in line for a while.”

One question is how manymail-in ballots will be cast in theelection. By Friday, 1.2 millionmail-in ballots had been request-ed and 200,000 returned. In thegeneral election, Democrat JoeBiden won 65 per cent of the 1.3million absentee ballots thatwere returned, a record fueled bythe coronavirus pandemic. AP

Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia):Malaysian authorities haveseized more than two tons ofcrystal methamphetamineworth more than $26 millionaboard a small boat off thecountry’s western coast, thelargest ever such haul in the

country’s history.The Malaysian Maritime

Enforcement Agency said overthe weekend that it made theseizure on December 9 off thecoast of Penang.

The agency said in a state-ment that a maritime patrol

found the drugs on a recre-ational boat that was behavingstrangely. Methamphetamineis illicitly smuggled acrossmuch of Southeast Asia, Chinaand Australia, part of a multi-billion dollar illegal trade in thedrug. AP

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AUS court has denied thebail plea of Pakistani-ori-

gin Canadian businessmanTahawwur Rana, a key accusedin the 2008 Mumbai terrorattack and declared a fugitiveby India, asserting that he hasnot negated the “risk of flight”.

Rana, 59, a childhoodfriend of David ColemanHeadley, was rearrested onJune 10 in Los Angeles on anextradition request by India forhis involvement in the Mumbaiterror attack in which 166 peo-ple, including six Americans,

were killed.Pakistani-American LeT

terrorist Headley was involvedin plotting the 2008 Mumbaiterror attack. He was made anapprover in the case, and is cur-rently serving a 35-year prisonterm in the US for his role inthe attack.

Magistrate JudgeJacqueline Chooljian, the USDistrict Court of Los Angeles,in his order on December 10said that Rana “presented arobust bail package” andoffered conditions that signif-icantly mitigate the risk offlight.

But the “Court cannot findthat he has negated the risk offlight” and as such granted therequest of the US governmentto the continued detention ofRana.

Meanwhile, the US gov-ernment in the court has sup-ported India’s request that thedocuments submitted by it insupport of extradition of Ranabe not made public.

The extradition documentspresented by India apparentlyinclude information aboutRana’s involvement in theMumbai terrorist attack thatwould be shared with him.

London: Some bacteria can travel from one con-tinent to another ‘hidden’ in atmospheric dust,according to a new study which says thesemicrobes may not only affect human and ani-mal health, but also impact climate and ecosys-tems.

The research, published in the journalAtmospheric Research, deciphered the mysteryof the transport of microorganisms across con-tinents via ‘giant’ atmospheric particles callediberulites that could be inhaled by humans.

According to scientists, including those fromthe University of Granada (UGR) in Spain, theseaerosols act like a “launch vehicle” for bacteria,and may pose risk of disease transmission acrosscontinents.

They explained that iberulites are giantatmospheric bioaerosols made of multiple min-erals, measuring on average one hundredmicrons approximately.

While these bioaerosols were discovered in2008, the scientists said the mechanism by whichbacteria are involved in the formation of atmos-pheric iberulites remained unknown.

In the current study, the researchers analysedatmospheric dust deposits in the city of Granadain Spain. PTI

Washington: Presidential elec-tors are meeting across theUnited States on Monday toformally choose Joe Biden asthe nation’s next president.

Monday is the day set bylaw for the meeting of theElectoral College. In reality,electors meet in all 50 statesand the District of Columbia tocast their ballots.

The results will be sent toWashington and tallied in aJanuary 6 joint session ofCongress over which VicePresident Mike Pence will pre-side.

The electors’ votes havedrawn more attention thanusual this year becausePresident Donald Trump hasrefused to concede the electionand continued to make baselessallegations of fraud.

Biden is planning toaddress the nation Mondaynight, after the electors havevoted. Trump, meanwhile, isclinging to his false claims thathe won the election, but alsoundermining Biden’s presi-dency even before it begins.

“No, I worry about thecountry having an illegitimatepresident, that’s what I worryabout. A president that lost andlost badly,” Trump said in a FoxNews interview that was tapedSaturday.

Following weeks ofRepublican legal challengesthat were easily dismissed byjudges, Trump and Republicanallies tried to persuade the

Supreme Court last week to setaside 62 electoral votes forBiden in four states, whichmight have thrown the out-come into doubt.

The justices rejected theeffort on Friday.

Biden won 306 electoralvotes to 232 votes for Trump.It takes 270 votes to be elected.

In 32 states and the Districtof Columbia, laws require elec-tors to vote for the popular-votewinner. The Supreme Courtunanimously upheld thisarrangement in July.

Electors almost always votefor the state winner anywaybecause they generally aredevoted to their political party.There’s no reason to expect anydefections this year. Amongprominent electors areDemocrat Stacey Abrams ofGeorgia and Republican Gov.Kristi Noem of South Dakota.

The voting is decidedlylow tech, by paper ballot.Electors cast one vote each forpresident and vice president.

The Electoral College wasthe product of compromiseduring the drafting of theConstitution between thosewho favored electing the pres-ident by popular vote andthose who opposed giving thepeople the power to choosetheir leader.

Each state gets a number ofelectors equal to their totalnumber of seats in Congress:two senators plus howevermany members the state has inthe House of Representatives.

Washington, D.C., hasthree votes, under a constitu-tional amendment that wasratified in 1961. With theexception of Maine andNebraska, states award all theirElectoral College votes to thewinner of the popular vote intheir state.

The bargain struck by thenation’s founders has producedfive elections in which thepresident did not win the pop-ular vote. Trump was the mostrecent example in 2016. AP

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New York: A former aide toNew York Guv AndrewCuomo who is now runningfor Manhattan borough pres-ident accused him of sexualharassment in a series of tweetson Sunday, saying he madeinappropriate comments abouther appearance.

Lindsey Boylan tweetedthat the Democratic governor“sexually harassed me foryears. Many saw it, andwatched.” “I could never antic-ipate what to expect: would Ibe grilled on my work (whichwas very good) or harassedabout my looks. Or would it beboth in the same conversation?This was the way for years,” she

continued. Boylan, 36, workedfor the Cuomo administrationfrom March 2015 to October2018, serving first as executivevice president of Empire StateDevelopment, and then as aspecial adviser to Cuomo foreconomic development.

She did not provide detailsof the alleged harassment anddidn’t immediately respondto messages from TheAssociated Press. Boylan latertweeted, “To be clear: I have nointerest in talking to journal-ists.

The Associated Press ear-lier reported that Joe Bidenmight consider Coumo for thejob of Attorney General. AP

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Singapore: Singapore hasapproved the Covid-19 vaccinedeveloped by American phar-maceutical giant Pfizer andGerman firm BioNTech andthe first shipment will arrive bythe end of this month, PrimeMinister Lee Hsien Loongannounced on Monday.

Lee, in a televised addresson Singapore’s Covid-19 situa-tion, said the Health SciencesAuthority (HSA) approved thePfizer-BioNTech vaccine afterstudying the scientific evidenceand clinical trial data.

He said other vaccines arealso expected to arrive in thecoming months, and the coun-try “will have enough vaccinesfor everyone” by the thirdquarter of next year if all goesaccording to plan, the ChannelNews Asia reported. PTI

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Kathmandu: Nepal’s main Opposition party Nepali Congresson Monday accused the KP Sharma Oli Government of tacit-ly supporting pro-monarchy rallies that have recently surfacedin different parts of the country, demanding reinstatement ofconstitutional monarchy and re-establishing the country as aHindu state.

Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba, address-ing a massive anti-government demonstration in Hetauda in cen-tral Nepal, alleged that “Prime Minister Oli seems to have beenstanding behind those who are staging demonstrations.”

“Otherwise, how come they are taking to the streets freelyat the moment?” Deuba questioned.

Former prime minister Deuba, however,ruled out the possibility of revival of monarchyat present.

“There should not be any illusion at allabout reinstatement of monarchy in the coun-try,” he said.

Deuaba was pointing to the recently helddemonstrations by loyalists of ex-KingGyanendra in different parts of the country,including capital city Kathmandu that demand-ed the government to declare Nepal a Hindustate and restoration of monarchy. PTI

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Page 9: 2020/12/15  · June 15 in the Galwan valley in eastern Ladakh. Twenty Indian Army personnel, including the commanding officer were killed in the fracas. China, however, has not

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Salt-to-software conglomer-ate Tata Group and US-

based fund Interups Inc wereamong “multiple” entities thaton Monday put in preliminarybids for buying loss-makingcarrier Air India.

A group of 219 Air Indiaemployees submitted anexpression of interest (EoI) forthe carrier in partnership withInterups at the close of thedeadline on Monday.

“Multiple expressions ofinterest have been received forstrategic disinvestment of AirIndia. The Transaction willnow move to the second stage,”Department of Investment andPublic Asset Management(DIPAM) Secretary TuhinKanta Pandey tweeted.

He, however, did not revealeither the identity of the bid-

ders or the number of bidsreceived for buying the nation-al carrier.

Sources said Tata Sons, theholding company of the TataGroup, has put in an EoI andso did Interups, whose chair-man Laxmi Prasad had in therun-up to the disinvestmentmade his intentions clear to bidfor Air India.

It was not, however, imme-diately clear if Tatas have bidalone or through its budget air-line AirAsia India.

A group of 219 Air IndiaLtd employees, each one con-tributing at least Rs 1 lakh, hold51 per cent in the bidding con-sortium. The remaining 49 percent is with Interups.

An official said the trans-action advisor will inform bid-ders before January 6, if theirbids have been qualified.

Qualified bidders will then

be asked to submit financial bids.The government is selling

its entire 100 per cent stake inAir India that has been inlosses ever since its 2007 merg-er with domestic operatorIndian Airlines.

The airline, which startedas a mail carrier in 1932, will

give a successful bidder controlof 4,400 domestic and 1,800international landing and park-ing slots at domestic airports,as well as 900 slots at airportsoverseas.

Besides, the bidder wouldalso get 100 per cent of the low-cost arm Air India Express and

50 per cent of AISATS, whichprovides cargo and groundhandling services at majorIndian airports.

With previous attemptssince 2017 failing to get any sig-nificant interest, the govern-ment had this time sweetenedthe deal by giving freedom topotential suitors to decide howmuch of the airline’s debt theywant to take on as part of thetransaction.

Previously, the bidderswere required to take over theentire Rs 60,074 crore debt.

Tatas operate two airlines -full-service carrier Vistara inpartnership with SingaporeAirlines, and budget airlineAirAsia India in alliance withMalaysia’s AirAsia Group.

The DIPAM secretary hadearlier said that potentialinvestors in Air India have givenfeedback that due to the uncer-

tainty created by COVID in theaviation sector the debt shouldnot be fixed at the EoI stage.

Hence, the government latein October decided to do bid-ding for Air India based onenterprise value, which includesmarket capitalisation of a com-pany, short-term and long-termdebt as well as any cash on thecompany’s balance sheet.

Sale of stake in Air India ispart of the government’s targetto raise a record Rs 2.10 lakhcrore from disinvestment pro-ceeds. The target includes Rs1.20 lakh crore from the sale ofshares of central public sectorenterprises and Rs 90,000 crorefrom a share sale in public sec-tor banks and financial insti-tutions, including the listing ofinsurance behemoth LIC.

So far this fiscal, Rs 6,138crore has been mopped upthrough CPSE stake sale.

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The GST Network on Monday said it has launched the“communication between taxpayer” feature

on its portal. “The new functionality will provide communication platform for taxpayers where-in a recipient/purchaser can ask his supplier/s toupload any particular invoice/s that has not beenuploaded but is required by the recipient to avail input tax credit (ITC),” GST Network (GSTN) saidin a statement.

Now, businesses can communicate with their sup-plier on GSTN portal about invoice uploading or anydeficiency therein.

Besides, the supplier can send reply to his recipientthrough the same facility. Similarly, supplier can also sendnotification to his recipient about any document

uploaded in outward supply statement filed in FormGSTR-1.

GSTN said that whenever a communication is sentby a taxpayer to his counterpart, intimation by GSTNwould also be sent to such counterpart through emailand SMS on mobile phone.

This facility is expected to help taxpayers in recon-ciliation of invoices, it added.

“A buyer whose supplier has not uploaded his invoicecan use this communication channel to clearly conveyhis desire to the supplier that the invoices be uploadedforthwith as he is interested in remaining compliant andexpects his suppliers to report all invoices on which heis availing ITC,” GSTN added.

GSTN is also planning more features in this tool suchas facility to import invoices from communication facil-ity to GSTR 1, it said.

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Chief Justice of India SharadArvind Bobde, who is

heading the bench hearing thehigh-stake Tata-Mistry caseon Monday disclosed that hisadvocate son Shrinivas Bobde,has been representing a sub-sidiary company of Shapoorji Pallonji Group in aslum redevelopment matterfor about two years.

The top court is hearingcross appeals filed by TataSons and Cyrus Investmentsagainst appellate tribunalNCLAT’s order which hadrestored Cyrus Mistry as theexecutive chairman of the overUSD 100 billion salt-to-soft-ware Tata conglomerate.

A bench of the Chief Justiceand Justices AS Bopanna and VRamasubramanian asked thelawyers appearing for both TataGroup and SP Group, whetherthey have any objections withthe disclosure. Senior advocatesHarish Salve, appearing forTatas and C A Sundaram, rep-resenting SP Group said thatthey have no objection with theChief Justice led bench hearingthe matter, which continued forthe fourth day.

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Equity benchmarks darted up tofresh all-time highs on Monday as

investors accumulated energy, infraand banking stocks amid supportivemacroeconomic cues.

A strengthening rupee and robustforeign fund inflows further buoyedsentiment, traders said.

After touching its record intra-daypeak of 46,373.34, the 30-share BSESensex ended 154.45 points or 0.34 percent higher at 46,253.46, its new clos-ing record.

Similarly, the broader NSE Niftyrose 44.30 points or 0.33 per cent to fin-ish at a record 13,558.15.

It hit a lifetime high of 13,597.50during the session.

ONGC was the top gainer in theSensex pack, rallying 4.91 per cent, fol-lowed by L&T, NTPC, ICICI Bank, SunPharma, HCL Tech, Titan and AsianPaints. On the other hand, M&M,Bajaj Auto, Tech Mahindra, BajajFinserv, HDFC Bank and RelianceIndustries were among the main lag-gards, dropping up to 1.98 per cent.

Global markets were on a firm foot-ing as a last-minute extension toBritain-EU talks calmed fears over a no-deal Brexit.

“Domestic equities remained firmand witnessed fresh record highs main-ly supported by continued rebound inPSU banks. Barring auto, most of sec-toral indices traded in positive range.Notably, volatility index shot up sharplytoday indicating unease about current

valuations of the market.“Positive data flows along with

persistent FPI flows have been quitesupportive for the markets. Further, bet-ter than expected IIP data for Oct’20along with sharp jump in electricity sug-gests that industrial activities are backon growth track, which bodes well forequities. However, rich valuations ofmarket do not offer much comfort andany threat to earnings recovery may leadto a reversal and broad-based rally willbe difficult to sustain,” said BinodModi, Head-Strategy at RelianceSecurities.

India’s industrial production rose toan eight-month high of 3.6 per cent inOctober on the back of recovery inmanufacturing, consumer goods andpower sectors, official data released aftermarket hours on Friday showed.

The wholesale price-based inflationrose to a nine-month high of 1.55 percent in November as manufacturedproducts turned costlier, while foodprices eased, as per data released onMonday.

Sector-wise, BSE capital goods, oiland gas, industrials, utilities, metal, basicmaterials and bankex rose up to 2.10 percent, while auto, realty and telecomindices closed with losses.

Broader BSE midcap and smallcapindices spurted up to 0.79 per cent.

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses inShanghai and Tokyo ended on a posi-tive note, while Hong Kong and Seoulwere in the red.

Stock exchanges in Europe weretrading with gains in early deals.

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WhatsApp on Monday denied in theSupreme Court the allegations

that its data can be hacked by Israeli syp-ware Pegasus, which had led to a con-troversy last year over breach of priva-cy following claims that Indian jour-nalists and human rights activists wereamong those globally spied upon byunnamed entities.

The issue cropped up before abench headed by Chief Justice S ABobde which was hearing a plea filedby Rajya Sabha MP Binoy Viswam seek-ing direction to the Reserve Bank ofIndia (RBI) for framing regulation toensure that data collected on UPI plat-forms is not “exploited” or used in anymanner other than for processing pay-ments.

“An allegation is that WhatsAppdata can be hacked by a software calledPegasus,” the bench, also comprisingJustices A S Bopanna and VRamasubramanian, told senior advocateKapil Sibal, who was appearing forWhatsApp. Sibal said “these are all alle-gations. None of them are correct.”

WhatsApp had said last year that itwas suing an Israeli surveillance firmthat is reportedly behind the technol-ogy that helped unnamed entities’ spiesto hack into phones of roughly 1,400users.

During the hearing conductedthrough video-conferencing onMonday, senior advocate KrishnanVenugopal, appearing for Viswam, toldthe bench that RBI has filed an affidavitin the matter and the National PaymentsCorporation of India (NPCI) shouldalso make its stand clear in the matter.

“Additional safeguards should bethere. WhatsApp’s security is not up tothe mark and the third point is of data

localisation. Data is being shared bycompanies like Facebook, WhatsAppand Amazon. This is a breach of privacy.All the data are being shared in viola-tion of the NPCI norms,” Venugopalsaid. He referred to the Pegasus con-troversy and said that WhatsApp’s datacan be hacked by the spyware.

The counsel appearing for NPCIsaid that he would file an affidavit in thematter. The bench has posted the mat-ter for further hearing in the fourthweek of January.

On October 15, the apex court hadsought responses from the Centre,RBI, NPCI and others including GoogleInc, Facebook Inc, WhatsApp andAmazon Inc on the plea.

Viswam, the Communist Party ofIndia (CPI) leader, has sought a direc-tion to the RBI and the NPCI to ensurethat data collected on Unified PaymentsInterface (UPI) platforms is not sharedwith their parent company or anyother third party under any circum-stances.

“In India, the UPI payments systemis being regulated and supervised byRespondent no. 1 (RBI) andRespondent no. 2 (NPCI), however theRBI and the NPCI instead of fulfillingtheir statutory obligations and protect-ing and securing the sensitive data ofusers are compromising the interest ofthe Indian users by allowing the non-compliant foreign entities to operate itspayment services in India,” the plea hasalleged.

The RBI and NPCI have permittedthe three members of ‘Big Four TechGiants’ i.e. Amazon, Google andFacebook/WhatsApp (Beta phase) toparticipate in the UPI ecosystem with-out much scrutiny and in spite of bla-tant violations of UPI guidelines andRBI regulations,” it has claimed.

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Telecom operator Reliance Jio has alleged thatindustry peers Bharti Airtel and Vodafone

Idea Ltd (VIL) are running “vicious and divi-sive campaign” against it and making prepos-terous claims that migrating Jio mobile num-bers to their networks would be an act of sup-port to farmers’ protests.

The country’s biggest telecom operator ina letter to the Telecom Regulatory Authority ofIndia (Trai) has sought strict action against thetwo companies and said that such acts of therival companies can jeopardise safety and secu-rity of Jio’s employees.

In response to Jio’s claims, both Bharti Airteland Vodafone Idea have termed the complaint as“baseless” and refuted the charges. Reliance Jio fur-ther said that earlier also it had written to Traiabout “unethical and anti-competitive mobilenumber portability campaign” by Airtel and VILto capitalise on farmer protests. “We submit thatAirtel and VIL remain unabated in pursuing thisvicious and divisive campaign through its employ-ees, agents and retailers. They are inciting the pub-lic by making preposterous claims that migratingJio mobile subscribers to their networks would bean act of support to farmers’ protests,” Jio said inits latest letter. Thousands of farmers, mostly fromPunjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, are protest-ing at various border points of Delhi against thenew farm laws enacted in the Monsoon Sessionof Parliament.

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Softening prices of food itemslike cereals, fruits and milk

pulled down retail inflation to6.93 per cent in November,though it remained above thecomfort level of the ReserveBank of India.

Retail inflation based onthe Consumer Price Index(CPI) stood at 7.61 per cent inOctober and 7.27 per cent inSeptember.

According to data releasedby the National StatisticalOffice (NSO) on Monday,inflation in the food basket was9.43 per cent in November,down from 11 per cent in theprevious month.

Inflation in the ‘cereals andproducts’ category reduced to2.32 per cent from 3.39 per centin October.

The rate of price rise in‘meat and fish’ segment was16.67 per cent in November, ascompared to 18.7 per cent inthe previous month.

Similarly, inflation in veg-etables was lower at 15.63 percent from 22.51 per cent.

Inflation in fruits and ‘milkand products’ was also lowerover October. The rate of pricerise in the ‘fuel and light’ seg-ment too moderated to 1.9 percent as against 2.28 per cent inOctober.

The RBI, which mainlyfactors in retail inflation whilearriving at key policy rates, hasbeen mandated by the govern-ment to keep inflation at 4 percent (+, - 2 per cent).

The central bank hadmaintained status quo in thepolicy rate earlier this monthdue to high inflation.

Commenting on the data,Sachin Chhabra, Founder ofB2B grocery business Peel-Works, said it was hearteningto note that the inflation sub-sided in November, riding pri-

marily on softer food prices.“We expect inflationary

pressure to subside even fur-ther in Q4 of the current fiscal.This will provide elbow roomto RBI to continue its accom-modative stance, which is crit-ical for sustained revival ofdemand,” he added.

Sunil Kumar Sinha, prin-cipal economist, India Ratingsand Research, said retail infla-tion at is still outside the com-fort zone of the RBI.

However, core inflation(non-food and non-energy)and core-core inflation (non-food, non-energy and transportand communication) arebroadly stable in the range of5 per cent to 5.79 per cent and4.72 per cent to 4.95 per cent,respectively, since May 2020, hesaid. India Ratings andResearch (Ind-Ra) expects theretail inflation to decline to 5.5per cent to 6 per cent range inthe fourth quarter of the fiscaldue to the cooling-off of foodprices.

The NSO data furtherrevealed that retail inflation was7.2 per cent in rural India and6.73 per cent in urban areas,taking the combined CPI-based inflation to 6.93 percent. Aditi Nayar, principaleconomist, ICRA said, “The headline CPI inflation forNovember 2020 printed appre-ciably lower than our expecta-tions, benefiting from stablevegetable prices at the retaillevel.

While this provides wel-come relief, it is unlikely toprove adequate for any immi-nent rate easing.”

The price data are collect-ed from representative andselected 1,114 urban marketsand 1,181 villages covering allstates/union territories throughpersonal visits by field staff ofField Operations Division ofthe NSO on a weekly roster.

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Page 10: 2020/12/15  · June 15 in the Galwan valley in eastern Ladakh. Twenty Indian Army personnel, including the commanding officer were killed in the fracas. China, however, has not

It’s a no-brainer that the rootcause of all our problems is inour gut. A happy gut means ahappy and healthy body. In a

time when immunity has taken thedriver's seat and anything andeverything that claims to be immu-nity booster is running out of theshelves at lightning speed.

But what if we tell you for astronger immune system, all youneed is to take good care of yourgut. Would you mind believing it?If one has to go by the experts’words COVID-19 is definitelyrelated to our gut and severalstudies have proven it.

“Gut releases more antibodies.Hence, strengthening the gutmeans strengthening immunity,”Ishi Khosla, a practicing clinicalnutritionist, columnist, author, anentrepreneur, researcher and wel-fare worker, said addressing awebinar COVID & Gut, organisedby the Celiac Society of India.

Dr Neerja Hajela, Head,Science, Yakult Danone IndiaPrivate Ltd, explained that there isa connection between the gut andthe lungs. “Before one is tested pos-itive for COVID, there are alwayssome GI symptoms,” Hajela said.

Dr Pankaj Verma, ConsultantPhysician & Head of Department,Integrative Medicine, MahavirJaipuria Rajasthan Hospital, agreedwith Hajela and added that almost30 to 50 per cent COVID patientsexperience some kind of GI symp-

toms, including abdominal pain,diarrhoea and vomiting.

“Also, the most commonsymptom is anorexia. Almost 80per cent of patients are complain-ing of this symptom. It has alsobeen observed that people with GIsymptoms present with moresevere form of COVID and ofcourse a prolonged course of ill-ness. Moreover, the susceptiblegroup, including the elderly,Diabetics and patients with heartdiseases, have some problem of thegut. So, definitely it has to be linkedwith COVID,” Verma explained.

In such a case, it is advisablefor patients to eat light food likedaliya, replenish water intake andavoid having a lot of high proteindiet. “If we combine diet modifi-cation with COVID treatment,symptoms decrease and the courseof the illness also shortens,” Vermasaid.

When one talks about guthealth, it is impossible to miss theuse of pre and probiotics. “The bal-ance of good and bad bacteria isimportant in the gut. Probioticsmean for life . They go into the gutalive unlike other gut friendlysupplements and balance the bac-terial growth. They improve guthealth and build gut flora andthereby helps in building immuni-ty,” Hajela said.

Dr Tom O’Bryan, a world-renowned expert in the field ofgluten-related disorders, Non-

Celiac Gluten Sensitivity, CeliacDisease and their link to otherchronic conditions, includingautoimmune disorders and dis-eases, explained that the reasonbehind having more bad bacteriain the gut is because of eatingwrong and unhealthy food.

“All we tell people is to aim fora healthy gut. If you have arthritisor weak immune system, just builda healthy gut. It is the ultimatesolution. For this, we recommenda rainbow diet, which comprise ofdifferent types of fruits and vegeta-bles,” he said.

More often than not, we focuson adding all the greens in our diet.But Celebrity Chef Sanjeev Kapoortells you that it is probably aWestern concept and that not onlythe greens, but all the differentcolours of course make for a rain-bow diet. “Onion, garlic, tomatoes,coconut, unripe bananas, unripemangoes and apples all work won-ders. These are probiotic rich andare extremely good for the gut,”Kapoor said.

For those who wonder, what isthe right amount of fruits and veg-etables that one has to have daily,Khosla had a piece of advice forthem. “Follow the half plate rule,fill up half of your plate with veg-etables of different colours andthen everything else, includingrice and chapatis, on the other side.Make sure you are having all thecolours in a day,” she advised.

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India is considered to be the fifth most polluted country in theworld. We can witness the thick layer of hazy air which caus-

es difficulties in breathing for not only the working people butalso for the children and aged people. With the increasinginstances of global warming, the situation is getting worse. Thisis the time for us to take initiative for our health by having healthyfood and take precautions. Here are some vitamins which helpto fight the effects of air pollution.

Vitamin A: Vitamin A enriched food items especially leafygreen vegetables like spinach, lettuce, radish leaves and root veg-etables like beetroot, carrot etc help to fight the inflammationcaused by air pollution. The beta carotene in these food itemshelp to boost the overall immune system. Vitamin A also pro-tects eyes and skin from the harmful particles in the air.

Vitamin B: Regular consumption of vitamin B helps to pro-tect the respiratory system. There are various tiny particles inthe outside air. Vitamin B prevents them from enterting into thebody. Even if they enter, it reduces their negative impact on body.Vitamin B is called the diverse vitamin as it is divided into sixforms such as B1, B2, B3, B5, B6 and B12. It has a wide rangeof functions from producing different hormones, healthy cho-lesterol, helping in the replication of DNA to the maintenance

of the nerve cell, synthesizingcarbohydrates and fats in orderto produce energy and produc-ing RBC’s. Vitamin B deficien-cy can cause severe diseases likemegaloblastic anemia, demen-tia, paranoia, fatigue, nausea,depression, dermatitis etc.There are various vitamin Bsupplements available in mar-ket. Vitamin B is present in awide range of food productslike whole grains, lentils, beans,different kinds of seeds andnuts, dark leafy vegetables, avo-cados, bananas etc. along withanimal products like eggs, redmeat, poultry, oily fishes, milk,cheese etc.

Vitamin C: This is a mirac-ulous anti-oxidant vitamin which is capable to slow down theaging process. It eradicates the free radicals from the body.Vitamin C helps to heal injuries and produces collagen that playsa major role in boosting the immunity. It prepares the body tofight the harmful gases outside. It forms iron in the body, animportant component to distribute the oxygen to different bodyparts. It helps to maintain healthy lungs. Vitamin C deficiencycauses diseases like fatigue, scurvy, depression, internal bleed-ing, delayed wound healing, gingivitis, internal bleeding so onand so forth. We can get vitamin C from citrus fruits like orange,kiwi, strawberries, sweet potatoes, Brussels, red and green pep-pers, spinach, tomatoes, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, sprouts,leafy vegetables, squash etc.

Vitamin E: This anti-oxidant enriched vitamin is responsi-ble for a better defense and prevents the skin damage caused byair pollution. It also helps in repairing muscle cells and boost-ing the effectiveness of vitamin K. The deficiency of vitamin Ecauses Crohn’s disease, poor skin, cuticles; cystic fibrosis alongwith some generic diseases like ataxia etc. Vitamin E is presentin food items like asparagus, spinach, nuts, almonds, sunflowerseeds, corn, turnip greens, soybeans, bell peppers, breakfast cere-als, margarine, spreads, juices etc. There are also spices whichyou must keep in your diet to strengthen your immunity suchas cloves, chili powder, oregano, paprika, parsley etc. Replace yournormal cooking oil with plant based oils like peanut and oliveorcanola.

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������� This spice isbelieved to be thewarmest of all. Nutmeg isconsidered to be high inpotassium, calcium, ironand manganese, andVitamin C and B. Consuminga pinch of it daily can notonly stimulate digestionbut can treat intestinalproblems as well.

Nutmeg can contribute totreating various oral problemssuch as cavities, bleeding gumsand toothache. It can preventyour liver from the adverseeffects of environmental pollu-tion, stress and unbalanceddiet.

Copper is an importantnutrient in nutmeg which helpsto balance the blood pressureand consequently helps in themaintenance of heart rate. It

reduces hair fall by increasingblood circulation and enhanc-ing hair growth. It is also richin minerals that help in keep-ing the immune system of thebody robust.

Last but not the least, nut-meg is a good ingredient forskincare because of its anti-microbial and anti-inflamma-tory properties as well as itsability to remove blackheads,treat acne and clogged pores.

While catching acough and cold isthe worst thing to

have during this pandemic,it is not always because ofthe COVID-19 infection.If you face the problem ofdry cough and night anddon’t what the reason is, itmight be because ofGastroesophagealreflux disease( G E R D ) .However, it isalways advisableto consult yourdoctor becausethere can be mayunderlying reasonsfor it.

Having said that, thereare several home remediesthat can help prevent andcure it.

Tackle your GERD.Avoid eating spicy or oilyfoods. Antacids as per your

doctor’s prescription canhelp.

Drink plenty of water.Water has a solution tomany problems. Keep your-self hydrated throughoutthe day and increase theintake during the periods of

cough. Water will helpto neutralise the

acid reflux.Try honey.

You can trytaking honeyby the tea-spoon severaltimes daily, or

add it to tea orwarm water to

drink. Turmeric can help. It

contains curcumin, a com-pound which may haveanti-inflammatory, antiviral,and antibacterial proper-ties. It may also be benefi-cial for dry cough.

Many people suffer from drycough at night. The most

common reason for this isGERD. ROSHANI DEVI

shares easy home remediesthat can help relieve it

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India has the most number of children withdevelopmental disabilities (about 1.15

crore) out of 195 countries surveyed accord-ing to a 2018 study by the medical journalThe Lancet. These are children with physi-cal, mental, or emotional difficulties whorequire constant care and check on theirprogress in order to get better. Fast forwardto 2020, the pandemic has taken a hit on thelives of everyone in the world and has result-ed in these children losing out on educationand regular skill development therapy ses-sions.

The COVID-19 has confined people totheir homes. Work-from-home and socialdistancing have become the new normal.While people, in general, are feeling men-tally exhausted, the pandemic has led to fur-ther deteriorating the condition of specialneeds children.

Social skills and interaction are one ofthe hardest for these children and no out-door exposure has added to the struggle.Professional in-person therapy has seen adrastic decline as therapy centres haveremained closed for months and evennow as they are gradually reopening, par-ents are choosing to continue with virtualtherapy sessions in fear of contracting thevirus.

However, the world has adapted to thenew norms and soon will the children, withtheir parent’s support and active involve-ment in helping them adjust to the currentcircumstances. The best pedagogy in suchdifficult times is to adapt and implement amodel where the parent become the child’sco-therapist and keep them engaged asmuch as possible to encourage skill devel-opment.

It’s time we go digital: Digital hasbecome the reality of the world during thepandemic. Enabling the child with digitalpractices and actively getting involvedwith them can improve their conditionimmensely. These online therapy sessionsnot only help children but also help parentsto learn and work with the children them-selves.

Focusing on mildly challenging activ-ities: These times have already put a lot ofburden on children. Losing on socialengagement, outdoor games and propertraining has led to a lot of children experi-encing angry outbursts, disruption in theroutine, and negative impact on theirhealth. To ensure that the child is coping theright way, focusing on mildly challengingactivities that are not too demanding canbe of great help.

It’s important to stimulate the child cog-nitively at all times. From activities as sim-ple as sorting, matching, pattern buildingto complex cognitive tasks, depending onthe potential of the child, something shoulddefinitely be included in the child’s dailyintervention plan in some way or the other.

Build on already developed strengths:A parent should also focus on coping bet-ter with their own stress and continuing tobuild the strengths of their child. This willnot only help them get better while stayingat home but will also make sure there is nottoo much pressure on the child when theyget back to regular therapy.

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YOUR SPECIALONES NEED CARE

The UK’s leading sports andnutrition brand has nowmade its entry to India and

has launched few unique productswith interesting flavours to treat thetaste buds of all the fitness enthu-siasts.

Impact Whey Protein —Masala Chai Flavour: It is a trib-ute to the country’s love for acuppa. Every serving features 21gof protein, with less than 1g of carbsand 1.9g of fats, and only 103 calo-ries. Perfect for lovers of tea whoare looking to build muscle andsupplement their protein.

Six layered protein bar:Another recent release in India isMyprotein’s Layered Protein Bar.Each bar features six layers of tasteand texture to provide a hit of pro-tein, carbohydrates, and fibre.Packed with over 20g protein,essential minerals calcium andcopper, these mouth-wateringtreats are the ideal way to upgradeyour healthy snacking.

Clear Whey Isolate — LycheeFlavour: Hugely popular ClearWhey will now be available inLychee flavour, also an Indianfavourite. This light and refreshinghealth drink has absolutely nomilky taste or texture and is verylow in sugar.

There is more to the list —IWPRocky Road. All these products areavailable at www.myprotein.in.

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6����������������Getting a hair transplant

comes with a lot of angstand confusion. Here are a fewmyths and facts about theprocedure.Myth: The process is verypainful.Fact: Like every other surgi-cal process, there is an under-lying conception for hairtransplant to be painful whichis not true. The procedurebegins with inducing localanesthesia which is a pin-prick with a very fine needlefollowing which the procedureof transplant is rather com-fortable and painless. Myth: Causes headaches andmigraine.Fact: People anticipate that theprocedure might causeheadache or migraines whichis not true. There have neverbeen a case as such where peo-ple who have had hair trans-plant complain about condi-tions as such. Myth: Hair don’t grow long Fact: Post transplant you cangrow your hair as long as youwant without any further

treatment or procedures. Oncegrafted they become as natur-al as your existing hair. Myth: One can make out theyare not naturally grown hair.Fact:This entirely depends onthe person who performs theprocedure. If done by a wellexperienced professional, anonlooker cannot make out ifthe hair has been transplant-ed. It is highly recommendedto do a proper research beforeopting in for the procedure. Myth: Related to cancer.Fact: There is no relation tocancer at all. The transplantdoesn’t cause any health con-ditions. Myth: The transplant is tem-porary.Fact: The hair is taken fromthe safe zone and will remainlife long without any losses.Whereas, there is nothingtemporary about transplantedhair, the characteristics mightchange with age like whiten-ing of hair.Myth: Old people cannothave a hair transplant.Fact: As long as you are not

suffering from any uncon-trolled pre-existing healthconditions, advancing age isnot barMyth: Donor can be anyone.Fact: Only your own hair canbe transplanted on you. Myth: The procedure leavesscars: Fact: Scars are generally notseen on the scalp if extractedin a proper manner. There areseldom a few chest extractionscases that leave scars onpatients with a tendancy forkeloids. Whereas any break inskin leaves a scar which aregenerally lifelong, with a pro-fessionally done hair trans-plant, there will hardly beany visible scarring. Myth: Cut and stitch.Fact: The cut and stitch tech-nique has now been replacedand individual grafts areextracted by aided equipment,an entirely modernised proce-dure with absolute precision.

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Avideo of Indipop singerLucky Ali recently went

viral, in which he can be seenperforming his hit number, OSanam, in front of a small crowdin Arambol, Goa. Shared byTwitter user and actor Nafisa AliSodhi, the video features a groupof people sitting close to eachother. While netizens seemed tobe in awe of the singer giving animpromtu performance, soon,comments questioning the socialdistancing norms started to pourin. During his performance,which seems like a very intimateaffair in the video, nobody in the

crowd is seen wearing masks orfollowing the distancing proto-col, owing to the COVID-19pandemic.

Nafisa, who is currentlyresiding in Goa, shared the videoin which the singer is seen treat-ing his fans with another soulfulrendition of the song. She wrote,“Lucky Ali’s live and impromp-tu performance at Arambol. Atthe Garden of Dreams @official-luckyali #goa.” The 62-year-oldsinger is dressed in casuals as heplays the tunes on his guitar.When he pauses after singing,“nazron se ab na humko giraana”,

the crowd completes by singing“toh bhool na jaana” in unison.

“Love... Please tell him I’mhis biggest fan,” wrote a user,while another user shared, “OLucky, how wonderfully yousang! Straight from the heart.”“So good to see him. I am a die-hard fan of Lucky sir. My child-

hood memories are filled witheach and every song of his,”shared another user. One userwrote, “The crowd must havegone crazy and one is in awe ofLucky’s magical voice.”

One user commented,“Lucky Ali always such a delightto hear. But that latest video is

scaring me. Not one person iswearing a mask, no social dis-tancing. Is COVID over in Goa?”Another wrote, “So many peopleare retweeting the Lucky Alivideo, no one is asking questionsabout not one person is wearinga mask. Is this from 2020 or anold video? Or did everyone inGoa already got the vaccine?”

Taking a dig at scene, aTwitter user retweeted with com-ment, “Goa is now post-COVID,it seems!”

“Lovely song, lovely settingand all, yes, but why no masks onanyone? This video is reallypissing me off. Some of ushaven’t met loved ones in monthsbecause there’s a pandemic onand we are too scared of whatmight happen if we are even thetiniest bit careless,” commentedanother user on Twitter.

The cases are still rising but

the people in the video are tooengrossed to care about the pan-demic. “Lovely! But why none ofthe people in the audience arewearing masks and what aboutsocial distancing? Why are theysitting so close? Am I the onlyone left with this consciousnessnow?,” another user questioned.

Last month, a video of thesinger crooning this hit andplaying it on the guitar hadgone viral. In the video, thesinger stops at a line wherethere is a mention of the word‘death’, drawing widespread emo-tional response from fans.

Well, this makes it evidenthow precautionary measureskeeping in mind the COVID sit-uation have taken to our con-sciousness and are being priori-tised over a social gatheringthat looks less preferable now.

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As the world gears up to welcomethe New Year with hope, opti-mism and renewed vigour, one

in every three Indian is planning totravel and take a holiday during theforthcoming Christmas and New Yearseason. A recent survey conducted bya travel company, Goibibo indicatesthat 60 per cent respondents are will-ing to travel during the winter holidayseason and spend the vacationing inthe hills or by the beach. Among thesurveyed, more than 70 per cent arehoping to relax and celebrate this sea-son with their family or partner whilethe rest are looking to end the yeartravelling with friends and long-not-met colleagues.

While travellers are equally splitbetween beaches and mountains as hol-iday destination choice in India, theyconcur that the destination has to bringthem closer to nature and be scenic,more than anything else. It is to notethat nearly 70 per cent respondentswant to spend time outdoors, soakingin the sights or doing adventure activ-ities like rafting, hiking, water sport orjust sightseeing. Only 20 per cent arelooking to wrap the year at bars or par-ties.

Commenting on the travel trends,Rajesh Magow, Co-

Founder & GroupCEO, MakeMyTrip

Limited, goibibo shared, “Pent-upwanderlust is real and these surveyfindings reflect that Indians are find-ing new ways to fulfill their travel aspi-rations and are confidently steppingforward when assured of safe travelchoices. Over the past few months, we

have worked closely andcreatively with the

entire travel and hospitality valuechain to raise safety standards and helpcustomers make the journey frombeing homebound to being travellersagain. Bookings for the winter festiveholiday season on our site indicate anincrease in travel to domestic leisuredestinations including Goa, Lonavala,Mahabaleshwar, Pondicherry, Coorg,Shimla, Manali and Darjeeling. As westep into 2021, we are confident of acontinued upward travel trend that willfind more force as mass vaccine roll-

out plan materialises.”

The survey conducted among 2000+respondents between November 15 toDecember 5 further indicates sometrends:

Long distance leisure travelmakes a comeback

The trends indicate that the seasonwill witness leisure travellers bookinga trip for two or more days. Amongthem, 50 per cent are willing to opt forair travel signaling a boost in passen-ger confidence and trust in hopping onto a flight post-pandemic. With flightholidays in equal consideration asdrive-through holidays, the prefer-ence to air travel can also be attributedto the mini-road trips undertaken bypeople since unlock was announced inJuly.

Relax and unwind More than 80 per cent respondents

are looking for on-premise engagementactivities. Findings reveal that almost50 per cent of the surveyed are keen onopting for properties that offer bonfire,barbeque options and a private partyplace options on Christmas and NewYear’s Eve; and 37 per cent are lookingfor in-house dining options that serve

a variety of local delicacies allowingtravellers to indulge in local delicaciesof the destination.

Prioritise safetyAs safety remains paramount, survey

responders gave highest preference to sani-tisation, hygiene and safety certification intheir order of priority while choosing theirstay option. 90 per cent respondents arewilling to spend more on safety, hygieneand sanitisation facilities during their stay.Some of the parameters that travellers areactively considering while booking ahotel include availability of sanitised andtrained staff with protective gears (46 percent), regular deep cleaning and sanitisa-tion of rooms (46 per cent) and COVIDfree certified hotels (41 per cent) amongothers. Additionally, as people now spendmore time weighing various travel para-meters before firming up their travel plansthey are looking for easy and flexible book-ing options with 86 per cent opting for fullyrefundable air tickets and hotel vouchersfor their next travel booking.

It is the perfect time to get ready forthe post-pandemic blow. Beach bars,cocktails, adventure and new experienceswill certainly make you feel that the lock-down days and isolation is far away.

AstaGuru will showcase acomprehensive collection of

masterpieces and rare works in itsforthcoming Modern Indian ArtAuction. The auction cataloguehas been carefully curated andincludes iconic artworks of his-torical importance and thosethat shine a spotlight on the pio-neers of Indian modernism. Itfurther presents an extraordinaryopportunity to acquire severalremarkable works from NationalTreasure artworks to IndianMasters.

Tushar Sethi, CEO, AstaGurusaid, “Our primary objectivewhile compiling the ModernIndian Art catalogue was toshowcase the versatility thatIndian modernism has to offer.Presenting a comprehensive cat-alogue is always a challengegiven the scarcity of importantworks by modern masters.However, our dedicated researchteam makes it possible to procurethese rare works. Our forthcom-ing sale offers several works ofhistorical importance of whichmany will be making their auc-tion debut. I am confident thatthe selected works will intriguethe imagination of art aficiona-dos. We eagerly look forward tothe auction.”

The online auction is led byLot 28, a portrait of Victor Eganby Amrita Sher-Gil, Circa 1939.This rare Amrita Sher-Gil, oil oncanvas will be making its firstever auction appearance. Thepresented lot (Lot 28) is inter-twined with the artist’s personallife and has emotional senti-ments attached to it since it’s aportrait of her husband paintedby her. Amrita Sher-Gil createdthe work as a parting gift to herhusband, Victor Egan’s family.After they got married, Victorand Amrita lived in Hungary.However, due to the looming warsituation, they decided to shift toIndia in the year 1939 to AmritaSher-Gils’ parental home in UttarPradesh, thereafter moving toLahore in 1941. Victor Egan wasa Hungarian Army doctor andtherefore, while executing thiswork, she captured her husband,clad in his Army uniform. Theyshared a spiritual bond, whichinspired her to capture his pres-ence in glory. Estimated at �10-15 crores. Born in 1913 inBudapest, she was the first signif-icant woman artist from India toattain fame internationally inthe 1930s.

Appearing in the auction isHimalayas by Nicholas Roerich

(Lot 20), a great artist, scholar,writer and humanitarian. Hislegacy of works and inimitableideology till date awaits a prede-cessor of stature. He was pre-emi-nently a symbolic painter, onewho’s hues of sapphire and clan-destine clouds of white will for-ever be etched as magnificentrepresentations of the Himalayanrange. Nicolas Roerich’s associa-tion with India began during hischildhood, when he came acrossa portrait of a majestic mountainrange that enthralled him. Heeventually found out that it wasa painting of Kanchenjunga inthe Himalayas, and knew then it

was where he had to be. Hiscolour compositions and vividimagery were all derivatives of amind that perceived much morethan what meets the eye. It is esti-mated between �5-7 crores.

One of the key Lots debutingin this auction is SH Raza’sSanshari (Lot 27) (150 x 150 cm),created in 1994. Raza experi-mented with a number of mod-ernist styles, however, he is bestknown for his Bindu series. It isestimated at �3-4 crores.

Also making its debut will beJehangir Sabavala’s Under theShadow Of... II, (Lot 13). His artis defined by its attributes of soli-

tude in the midst of elegance. Thesubdued colour compositionestablishes his inclinationtowards the triggers of light andshadow. The presented land-scape (Lot 13), composed withthe aid of fragmented geometry,has a multi-facet imagery ofcontinuity. Jehangir Sabavala putstogether the elements ofdespaired land surface only toredeem them with uninhibitedbeauty and thus, proves his mas-tery in terms of colouring, textureand lighting.

Next in the presented lot isPrabhakar Barwe’s The Landscape(Lot 8). He was an abstraction-

ist who was influenced by Tantricsymbolism and played with spaceand form like free verse. Alsomaking its auction debut is MFHusain’s Untitled Ganesha (Lot7), from 1979, an acrylic oncanvas, estimated at �30-40 lakh.Husain’s repertoire is rich in itsdepiction of Hindu deities. Ofthese, the artist gives the ele-phant-headed god Ganesha aspecial and prominent place. Inparticularly, Ganesha works arevery popular among collectorsand highly sought after.

(The auction will take placeonline on www.astaguru.com onDecember 19 and 20.)

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Lionel Messi saved Barcelonafrom another embarrassing

result by scoring the decisivegoal in a 1-0 win over lowlyLevante on Sunday.

Messi struck with 14 min-utes remaining of a lacklustredisplay from Barca at the CampNou which will do little to easefan fears following their 3-0hammering at the hands ofJuventus.

Ronald Koeman’s side arestill way off the pace in the titlerace, nine points behindSociedad who reclaimed firstplace despite only drawing 1-1with Eibar.

Barcelona do however havetwo games in hand on theBasque outfit.

Atletico are level on 26points with Sociedad and alsohave two games in hand whileReal Madrid are now just threepoints behind the leaders hav-ing played one less after beat-ing their local rivals 2-0 onSaturday.

������,��-�Paris Saint-Germain surrendered top spotin Ligue 1 after losing 1-0 at home to Lyon on Sundaybut potentially suffered a more devastating blow asan anguished Neymar was stretchered off with anankle injury.

Tino Kadewere’s first-half goal secured Lyon aseventh win in eight matches as they moved levelwith Lille, who took over first place earlier in the dayfollowing a 2-1 home victory over Bordeaux.

PSG dropped to third after losing for the fourthtime in 14 games this season, but the far greater con-cern will be the health of Neymar after his ankleappeared to twist awkwardly under a challenge fromThiago Mendes in stoppage time.

The Lyon midfielder was sent off for the tack-le following a VAR review while a distraught Neymar,in considerable pain, was taken off on a stretcher hav-ing immediately signalled for medical assistance.

Lyon’s first win away to PSG since October 2007,provided fresh hope of a genuine title race this termwith the top five teams separated by just three points.

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Cristiano Ronaldo marked his 100thgame for Juventus with a pair of

penalties in a 3-1 success over Genoaon Sunday, as the champions closed thegap on Serie A leaders AC Milan whowere held at home against Parma.

French defender Theo Hernandez’sbrace rescued a point at the death forAC Milan who came from two goalsdown to draw 2-2 in the San Siro.

Milan’s lead on second-placedInter was cut to three points afterAntonio Conte’s side staged a 3-1comeback win at Cagliari.

Playing without injured top scor-er Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Milan hadlooked set for their first league defeatthis season.

Hakan Calhanoglu rattled thewoodwork three times with BrahimDiaz also hitting the post for the hostsbefore Hernani put Parma ahead afterquarter of an hour.

The Brazilian midfielder then setup Jasmin Kurtic for the second after56 minutes.

But two minutes later Hernandezheaded in off a Calhanoglu corner withthe French defender adding a secondin injury time off a rebound.

Chasing a first league title since2011, Milan are unbeaten in the first 11matches of a Serie A season since the2003/2004, when they also won theScudetto.

In Genoa, Juventus were boostedafter their 3-0 Champions League winin Barcelona, with Paulo Dybala get-ting his first goal this season.

Stefano Sturaro levelled for thehosts after an hour.

But Nicolo Rovella’s foul on JuanCuadrado allowed Ronaldo to slot inhis first penalty after 78 minutes withthe second coming a minute from timeafter goalkeeper Mattia Perin broughtdown Alvaro Morata.

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Barcelona’s clash against lastseason’s runner-up Paris

Saint-Germain headlines theUefa Champions League roundof 16 fixtures as the draw for thefirst knockout round was com-pleted on Monday.

Defending championsBayern Munich, who are yet tolose a match since the beginningof the last season in theChampions League and beatPSG in the 2020 final, faceItaly’s Lazio in what will be thefirst meeting between the twosides in this event.

Frank Lampard’s Chelseawere handed a tough draw, fac-ing Atletico Madrid in the firstknockout round of Europe’smost coveted club competition.

English giants ManchesterCity and Liverpool will both befacing Bundesliga clubs, takingon Borussian Monchengladbachand RB Leipzig respectively.

Cristiano Ronaldo andJuventus will play Portuguese

side Porto, winners in 2004,while the competition’s mostsuccessful side Madrid take onlast season’s surprise quarter-finalists Atalanta.

The round of 16 first legs arescheduled for 16/17/23/24February, with the second legson 9/10/16/17 March. The teams

that finished first in their groupswill play the second leg at home.

TOUGH FOR UNITED, ARSENALIn Europa League, strug-

gling in the domestic league,Manchester United and Arsenalhave been handed tough match-es in the round of 32.

United, having slipped intoEuropa League after crashingout of their group in theChampions League, face high-flying La Liga side RealSociedad.

Meanwhile Arsenal, whoare in crisis in the PremierLeague but had a perfect recordin Europe, take on Portuguesegiants Benfica. The latter areplaced second in Portugal’s topflight while Arsenal are startingat a relegation battle in thePremier League.

Tottenham face Austrianside Wolfsberger and LeicesterCity will take on Slavia Prague,while Scottish Premiership lead-ers Rangers play Belgian sideRoyal Antwerp.

Winners of Europa Leagueget direct entry into next season’sChampions League.

The first legs of the knock-out fixtures are scheduled forThursday 18 February, with thesecond legs on 25 February.Seeded teams are at home in thesecond legs.

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New Zealand shot to the topof the world Test rankings

on Monday when they thrashedthe West Indies by an inningsand 12 runs to wrap up anemphatic series win.

It lifted the Black Caps to116 points, equal with Australiaat the head of the rankingstable, and also extended theirunbeaten home run to 15 Tests.

New Zealand also stayed inthe hunt for the inaugural WorldTest Championship final as theyovertook England to move intothird in the standings behindAustralia and India, who start afour-Test series this week.

“It does sound pretty cool,”said Tom Latham, NewZealand’s stand-in captain whileKane Williamson is on paterni-ty leave.

“I didn’t realise that until thismorning,” he said of the rank-ings boost. “We have been play-ing some good cricket as of latein our conditions, and away forthat matter, and it’s a pretty coolthing.”

After Williamson pulledout on the eve of the second Test,Latham said the team stepped

up with Henry Nicholls over-coming a form slump to score174 and lay the foundations ofthe victory.

Kyle Jamieson, in only hisfourth Test, took five wickets inthe first innings and two in the

second to be man of the series.Tim Southee took seven in

the Test. New Zealand also wonthe first Test in Hamilton by aninnings.

“It was great for our squadthat we do have depth whereguys can come in and performstraight away,” Latham said.

But it was a disappointingtour for the West Indies, withboth Tests ending on the fourthmorning. They have now lostfour in a row since beatingEngland in Southampton inJuly.

Captain Jason Holder saidthey only had themselves toblame.

“It’s just tough when we did-n’t take our opportunities whenthey came. We were good inpatches but still not goodenough,” he said.

After losing the first Test inNew Zealand by an innings

and 134 runs, and being rolledfor 131 in the first innings of thesecond Test, they saved their bestfor their final bat on tour, scor-ing 317 all out in their secondinnings.

The tourists resumed theday at 244/6, needing a further85 runs to make New Zealandbat again and with Jason Holderon 60 and Joshua da Silva on 25.

Holder added one to hisovernight 60 before he wasbowled by Tim Southee, whoalso had Alzarri Joseph caughtbehind after an entertaining 24— all from boundaries.

Da Silva marked his maid-en Test with a half-century buton 57 he fell lbw to Neil Wagner,who also bowled ShannonGabriel without scoring to leaveChemar Holder not out 13.

For New Zealand, Wagnertook three for 54 and Trent Boultfinished with three for 96.

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Wriddhiman Saha’s farsuperior glovework may

be given preference overRishabh Pant’s blazing blade inIndia’s opening day/night Testagainst Australia, starting atthe Adelaide Oval fromThursday.

One of the most hotlydebated topics going into thefirst Test has been the Indianteam’s probable playing XI,with the jury still out onwhether the better keeper in36-year-old Saha pips the bet-ter batsman that the 23-year-old Pant is.

There is a school ofthought in the team that Saha’ssuperior glovework and alsosafe batting should be valuedmore at this point of time.

Coach Ravi Shastri, cap-tain Virat Kohli, assistantcoaches Vikram Rathour,Bharat Arun and travellingselector Harvinder Singh willbe assessing both Pant andSaha’s performance based ontheir individual contributionsin match situations.

Saha’s 54 came whenIndia could have lost the gameand he bailed the team outwhile facing a top-qualityattack. The score read 143 fornine and the team could havelost to Australia A, but heguided a young Kartik Tyagi,scored his runs and saved thegame.

The attack that Saha facedhad James Pattinson, MichaelNeser and Cameron Green,which was international stan-dard.

Compared to that, Pantcame after India had alreadytaken control of the pink balldress rehearsal with leg-spin-ner Mitchell Swepson andpart-timer Nick Maddinson inoperation.

All the hard work wasdone by Shubman Gill,Mayank Agarwal andHanuma Vihari before Pantjoined the proceedings.

Saha averages 30 plus in37 Tests with 1238 runs andthree hundreds in his kitty.Besides, he has 103 dismissalsbehind the stumps, including

92 catches and 11 stumpings.Still, even if Saha goes on

to play the first Test, it would-n’t mean that Pant would beout of equation as the Bengal

stumper would need to per-form decently with the bat tokeep his younger competitorout of reckoning for a place inthe first XI.

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Injury-ravaged it might be butsenior off-spinner NathanLyon feels that the current

Australian team is the “tightestgroup” that he has been a partof and is certainly in a much bet-ter space than what it was twoyears back, when India tri-umphed 1-2 in Tests.

The veteran of 96 Testmatches is expected to play a keyrole for Australia in the upcom-ing four Tests against India,starting with the Day-Nightgame in Adelaide fromDecember 17.

“We obviously know whathappened in the last seriesagainst India and how well theyplayed. We have spoken aboutthat and come up with few dif-ferent plans,” Lyon said duringa virtual media conference.

While Lyon didn’t reveal hisgamelan but did mention thatthe whole team is in a betterhead space even though it willbe missing key players likeDavid Warner due to injury.

“I can’t reveal my plans for

Indians to read about but thereis a great vibe in this Australianteam and we are in far betterplace than we were two years

ago. It’s exciting and the tightestAussie team that I have been apart of,” Lyon said.

“We have done a bit of

homework and ready to go. It’sdisappointing when you loseguys to injuries and we allknow what quality of playerWarner is,” he added.

He is happy that one of hisclose friends, Mitchell Starc, isback in the mix for the first Testand revealed how he intends totrouble the Indian right-han-ders. “Obviously, I will try to getedges on both sides, catchesaround the bat. I love footmarkscreated by Starc. He (Starc) ispretty pumped up and not onlya quality player but also a qual-ity bloke,” said Lyon.

He is also not unduly wor-ried about Starc not having a lotof preparation due to the breakhe got on compassionateground due to an illness in thefamily.

“Mitch has played a lot ofcricket. He played three Shieldgames. I am not worried aboutlack of preparation and in facthe bowled with the pink ball atthe Sydney nets. We all knowhow good he is with the pinkball,” he said.

For someone with seven

five-wicket hauls against India,Lyon loves the challenge ofattacking the defence of Indianbatsmen for long periods oftime.

“We have best bowlingattack in the world, so we shouldmake sure that we do our stuff,challenging the Indian (bat-ters’) defence for long periods oftime,” he said.

“For me, it’s not about mysuccess but about playing myrole and helping in picking 20wickets.”

Lyon is only 10 wicketsshort of 400 Test scalps. He saidhe is quite chuffed about beingjust the second Australian spin-ner after Shane Warne to getthere.

“From where I had startedto where I am at present, it ispretty exciting. Hopefully, I cancreate chances and get close to400 wicket mark,” he said.

“In the last five years, mybowling has gone to an altogeth-er new level. I love the challengeof playing an attacking side likeIndia.”

������������ �,�������*=�?�����7�9"��������� Smarting from theseries defeat to India at hometwo summers ago, Australianspeed merchant Mitchell Starc isready to make amends in theupcoming four-match rubberagainst one of their biggestrivals, terming it a chance to“rectify” that.

Under Virat Kohli's captain-cy, India humbled hostsAustralia 2-1 in 2018-19 for theirfirst series win Down Underafter seventy years of trying.

“You never want to lose aseries and you certainly neverwant to lose one in Australia,”Starc told ESPN’s The CricketMonthly.

“India were just better thanus throughout the (2018-19)series with bat and ball.

“Sure, we haven’t hiddenaway from that. We needed to bebetter in all facets of the gameand this summer’s certainly achance to rectify that,” the paceace added. PTI

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All-rounder MoisesHenriques was on Monday

added to Australia’s injury-hitsquad for the opening Testagainst India while pacer SeanAbott was ruled out of thematch due to a calf strain.

Henriques, who had missedthe three-day second practicegame due to a low-grade ham-string strain, cleared the fitnessTest on Monday to return to theTest squad after a gap of fouryears.

“All-rounder MoisesHenriques has been added toAustralia’s squad for the firstVodafone Test against Indiaafter the hosts’ camp continues

to be hit with injury,” a report incricket.com.au. Said.

Abbott became the latestAustralian player to join theinjury list after being picking upthe strain during the secondwarm-up game in Sydney whichended in a draw. He is, howev-er, expected to be available forthe second Test in Melbourne,which begins on December 26.

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Indian wicketkeeper-bats-man Rishabh Pant says the

hundred that he struck in therecently-concluded pink-ballwarm-up game was just theconfidence-booster he need-ed ahead of the Test seriesagainst Australia startingDecember 17.

Pant, who struggled withfitness and form in this year’sIPL in the UAE, created ahappy selection dilemma forthe Indian team managementby smashing a 73-ball 103 inthe visitors’ second inningsagainst Australia A in thesecond practice game.

“When I went out to bata lot of overs were left, so(Hanuma) Vihari and I want-ed to build a good partnership.We wanted to bat as much aspossible. I was just trying to

give myself as much time aspossible and slowly I started todevelop confidence,” Pant toldthe BCCI’s official website.

“This hundred has been abig confidence-booster forme. It’s been a month, I am inAustralia but I didn’t get thechance to play in the firstpractice match because of astiff neck.

“In the first innings hereI was unlucky as I felt theLBW decision was wrongfrom the umpire. In the sec-ond innings, my focus was tospend as much time as possi-ble and the result is I got agood innings under my belt,”he said.

The 23-year-old left-han-der said the team's main focusin the second practice game,as a batting unit, was to spendtime in the middle against thepink ball.

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