˘ ˇ˘ ˆ€¦ · delhi. a doctor from fortis escorts heart institute, who was a resident of batla...

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S ending out a stern message in the backdrop of the ongo- ing India-China stand-off on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the eastern Ladakh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said the country has given a befitting response to “those who cast an evil eye on Indian soil in Ladakh” and affirmed that India was capa- ble of answering any adversary. Addressing the nation in his monthly radio broadcast ‘Maan ki Baat’, the Prime Minister said the world after acknowledging Indian spirit of universal brotherhood in the difficult time of coronavirus pandemic, has now also noticed India’s commitment and might “when it comes to safeguarding her sovereignty and territorial integrity.” Towards this end, he said India would not “shy away” from giving a befitting response to his adversary, Modi said. “Those who cast an evil eye on Indian soil in Ladakh have got a befitting response. India honours the spirit of friend- ship…she is also capable of giv- ing an appropriate response to any adversary, without shying away. Our brave soldiers have proven that they will not let anyone cast an evil eye on the glory and honour of Mother India,” the Prime Minister said in his address which was devot- ed to the border escalation, coronavirus pandemic and theme of ‘Atmnirbharta’ (self- reliance). Without naming the ‘Galwan` in eastern Ladakh where 20 Indian soldiers were killed in skirmish with Chinese army, the Prime Minister said the entire country comes together in paying tributes to the bravery of our jawans who “attained martyrdom in Ladakh.” “The entire country bows to them in reverence, with gratitude. Just like their fami- ly members, every Indian painfully regrets the loss. The inner sense of pride that fam- ilies feel on the supreme sacri- fice of their brave sons…their sentiment for the country, con- stitutes the true power, the might of the country”, he said. Without naming India and China, Prime Minster quoted a Sanskrit saying to explain two diverse characters. “Vidya Vivadaya Dhanam Madaay, Shaktih Pareshaan Paripeednayakhalasya Sadhoh Vipareetam Etat, Gyaanaydaanaych Rakshanay. Which means, a person who is wicked by nature, uses educa- tion to foster conflict, wealth for conceit and strength to trouble others. Whereas, a gen- tleman uses education for knowledge, wealth for helping and strength for protecting. India has always used her might, echoing the same sen- timent. India’s solemn resolve is to safeguard her honour and sovereignty. India’s aim is a self- reliant India,” he said. The Prime Minister said all should strive towards enhanc- ing the country’s capabilities and capacities in safeguarding our borders. “A self-reliant India would be a tribute to our martyrs in the truest, deepest sense,” Modi said and cited messages from across the country pledging to buy only ‘swadeshi’ goods. “Rajni ji has written to me from Assam. She says, after watching what happened in eastern Ladakh, she has taken a vow…and the vow is that she will buy only ‘local’….and for the sake of ‘local’, she will also be vocal. I am receiving mes- sages on these lines from every corner of the country. Many have expressed through their letters that they have adopted this very path. “Similarly, Mohan Ramamurthy from Madurai, writes that he wishes India to be self-reliant in the defence sector,” the Prime Minister said lending a new credence to ‘boycott-China’ pitch in the country. The current trade deficit is heavily loaded in favour of China which existed in the times of Congress rule but continued to be same during the Modi Government. The current border escalation has fuelled anti-China sentiments across the country with Prime Minister asking countrymen to adopt a new ‘mantra’ of Swadeshi. Modi said in the fields of defence and technology, India is relentlessly endeavouring to advance and taking strides towards self-reliance. Continued on Page 2 F acing a BJP offensive on fund received from China by the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, the Congress on Sunday hit back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for receiving about 50 crore as donation from Chinese com- panies in the PM Cares Fund to fight Covid-19 pandemic in India. The Congress alleged that even after the Chinese forces have transgressed into Indian territory, the Prime Minister kept receiving donations from Chinese companies. The Opposition party also sought details from BJP chief JP Nadda about certain funding of the BJP and the RSS from China and asked the ruling party to disclose its link with the “China Association for International Friendly Contact” (CAIFC) and reasons for its regular interactions with the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Senior Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi asked, “Why has PM Modi received Chinese money in the PM Cares Fund, despite the overt Chinese hostilities? Has the PM received 7 crore from the controversial compa- ny Huawei? Does Huawei have a direct connection with People’s Liberation Army of China? Has the Chinese com- pany owning TikTok facilitat- ed a donation of 30 crore to the controversial PM Cares Fund?” The Congress also sought to know whether the PM Cares Fund received donations about 100 crores from Paytm, which has 38 per cent Chinese own- ership, and from other Chinese firms like Oppo 1 crore and Xiomi 15 crore in the fund. “Has Prime Minister Modi diverted the donations received in PMNRF to the controversial PM Cares Fund and how many hundred crores is the amount diverted?” Singhvi asked at the AICC virtual Press conference. Singhvi said reports sug- gest that as on May 20, 2020, the fund received 9,678 crore. “No one knows the con- stitutional or operational framework of the PM Cares Fund and how it is controlled or money given to it utilised. The fund is not even subject to audit by any public authority including CAG. The PMO has gone to the extent of saying this fund is not a public authority.” “The fund appears to be solely run by the Prime Minister in an opaque and secret fashion with zero trans- parency and zero accountabil- ity,” claimed Singhvi. Continued on Page 2 U nion Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday said there was no community transmis- sion of the novel coronavirus in Delhi, and said the Centre was coordinating with the state on managing the outbreak. In an interview to ANI, Shah also said remarks made by Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in early June about the national capital reaching 5.5 lakh Covid-19 cases by the end of July had cre- ated “fear” among people and he expressed confidence that the stage will not be reached. He said the Government had already planned in providing 30,000 Covid-19 beds by end of June in Delhi. Shah said the Centre has taken several steps to ramp up infrastructure and health facil- ities in Delhi in order to con- tain the spread of novel coro- navirus in the national Capital. In that process, the Government had already planned in providing 30,000 Covid-19 beds by end of June, Shah said. He said the rates of isola- tion beds and ICU treatment has also been reduced signifi- cantly in Delhi and a commit- tee was set up for the purpose. “By June 30, 30,000 beds will be available. Eight thou- sand beds have been made in railway coaches and 8,000 beds are being prepared. DRDO is making an exclusive Covid- hospital in which there will be 250 ICU beds and with venti- lators. A 10,000-bed facility has also been set up at the Radha Soami Beas, (Chhattarpur) keeping the rainy season in mind. The 9,937 beds arranged by Delhi Government earlier have not been occupied com- pletely. It is not that they have not made arrangements but if the situation worsens, we have planned in advance,” Shah said, as reported by ANI. He said it was the concern of people of Delhi that private hospitals are charging arbi- trary rates. “In my meeting, a decision was taken that a committee of doctors would be set up that would listen to pri- vate hospitals, consider best practices and extra cost in treating Covid-19 patients,” he said. “The rates for ICU without ventilators were between 34,000 to 43,000. Now it is 13,000 to 15,000. ICUs with ventilators previously use to cost 44,000 to 54,000. It has now been brought down to 15,000 to 18,000. It includes tests for Covid-19, medicines. And in case of a diabetic patient, the next treatment is also included. It is a sealed package,” he added. Continued on Page 2 C hina reinforced its troops near the Indian border with mountain climbers and martial arts fighters shortly before a deadly clash this month, state media reported. Tensions are common between the two nuclear-armed neighbours in the mountainous border terrain, but this month’s fighting was their deadliest encounter in over 50 years. Five new militia divisions, including former members of a Mount Everest Olympic torch relay team and fighters from a mixed martial arts club, pre- sented themselves for inspection at Lhasa on June 15, official mil- itary newspaper China National Defense News reported. State broadcaster CCTV showed footage of hundreds of new troops lining up in the Tibetan capital. Tibet commander Wang Haijiang said the Enbo Fight Club recruits would “greatly raise the organisation and mobilisation strength” of troops and their “rapid response and support ability,” China National Defense News reported, although he did not explicitly confirm their deployment was linked to ongoing border ten- sions. Chinese and Indian troops clashed later that day in the most violent confrontation between the two powers in decades, in the Ladakh region 1,300 kilometres away. India says 20 of its soldiers were killed in brutal hand-to- hand combat that day, while China suffered an unknown number of casualties in the skirmish fought with rocks and batons without any shots fired. India on Thursday said it had reinforced troops in the contested Himalayan border region, saying it was matching a similar buildup by China. Chinese state media have in recent weeks highlighted military activity, including high-altitude anti-aircraft drills, in the Tibet region bordering India. The new troops were recruited with the aim of “strengthening the border and stabilising Tibet,” China National Defense News said. Continued on Page 2 A doctor of the city Government-run LNJP Hospital died of Covid-19 in the ICU of a private dedicated coronavirus facility here on Sunday, sources said. The doctor, a consultant anaesthesiologist, died in the morning, they added. LNJP Hospital is a dedi- cated Covid-19 facility under the Delhi Government. “He lost the battle today after a valiant fight,” a hospital source said. Sources said the doctor died in the ICU of Max Smart, a dedicated Covid-19 facility in Saket. Several hundreds of health- care workers have been infect- ed with Covid-19 till date in Delhi. A doctor from Fortis Escorts Heart Institute, who was a resident of Batla House in south Delhi, recently died of the novel coronavirus infection. A 39-year-old doctor from Odisha had died of Covid-19 in the ICU of the Delhi Government-run Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital on June 20. T he United States Centers for Disease Control has added three new symptoms to iden- tify coronavirus infection, tak- ing the total number of symp- toms up to 12. The new symp- toms are congestion or runny nose, nausea or vomiting, and diarrhoea. The symptoms were added on May 13, but have been reported only now. Earlier, the CDC consid- ered chills, muscle pain, headache, sore throat, loss of taste or smell as Covid-19 symptoms. The other symp- toms are fever, cough and shortness of breath. In its May 13 update, the CDC said the new list does not include all possible symptoms, and that it would be updated again as the organisation continues to learn more about the contagion. In April, the CDC had asserted that runny nose was rarely a symptom of the virus, and that sneezing had not yet been identified as a symptom. People with Covid-19 have had a wide range of symptoms reported, said a statement. Continued on P2 P olice brutality claimed one more life in Tamil Nadu. An autorickshaw driver who was subjected to severe assault in police custody died in a Government Hospital at Tenkasi on Sunday. The youth has been identified as Kumaresan. Navaneethakrishnan, father of Kumaresan, alleged in a complaint that his son was subjected to third degree phys- ical assault by Sub Inspector Chandrasekar and constable Kumar in connection with a land dispute. Kumareasan was taken to the police station twice and was beaten up by the sub-inspector and constable. A case has been filed against cops Chandrasekhar and Kumar under section 174 (3) of Cr.PC. for allegedly beating Kumaresan to death. Meanwhile, following mass protests across the State, the Tamil Nadu Government has decided to transfer the investi- gation into the Satankulam custodial death case from Tamil Nadu Police to the CBI. This was announced by Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami while speaking to journalists at Salem on Sunday. The decision comes a day ahead of the hearing of the suo motu petition by the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court about the custodial death of P Jeyaraaj and his son J Feniks. “The Government will explain about the decision to hand over the probe to the CBI to the Court on Monday and only after getting the court’s approval, it will be handed over to the CBI,” said the CM. “We have already instruct- ed the police to deal with gen- eral public and traders deli- cately. In case of a problem, a case should be filed before taking any action. We have also told police to not disturb the general public unnecessarily,” said Palaniswami. Jeyaraaj and Feniks were taken into custody by police on June 19 on charges of violating the lockdown rules. Both the father and son died immediately after they were sent to Kovilpatti prison following their remands and since then there has been an uproar from a cross section of society demanding action against cops responsible for the deaths. C onfirmed coronavirus infections have surpassed the 10 million mark worldwide. A tally compiled by Johns Hopkins University registered the grim milestone on Sunday, after India and Russia added thousands of new cases. The United States has confirmed more than 2.5 million infec- tions, the most in the world. Globally, the Hopkins tally has reported nearly 500,000 deaths. While Hopkins reports only confirmed coronavirus cases, experts believe the true number of people who have been infected could be as much as 10 times that figure, given that so many people can’t get tested or may have the virus without showing any symptoms. Meanwhile in India, a record single-day spike in Covid-19 cases was reported in several States like Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and West Bengal as the country-wide tally rose by nearly 20,000 on Sunday. N epal’s Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on Sunday claimed that efforts are being made to oust him after his Government redrew the coun- try’s political map by incorpo- rating three strategically key Indian territories. “Efforts are being made to remove me from power, but that will not succeed,” Oli claimed, without naming any person or country.He said nobody has openly asked him to quit. “But I have smelt undercurrent movements,” Oli said on Sunday while speaking at an event. Continued on P2

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Page 1: ˘ ˇ˘ ˆ€¦ · Delhi. A doctor from Fortis Escorts Heart Institute, who was a resident of Batla House in south Delhi, recently died of the novel coronavirus infection. A 39-year-old

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Sending out a stern messagein the backdrop of the ongo-

ing India-China stand-off onthe Line of Actual Control(LAC) in the eastern Ladakh,Prime Minister Narendra Modion Sunday said the country hasgiven a befitting response to“those who cast an evil eye onIndian soil in Ladakh” andaffirmed that India was capa-ble of answering any adversary.

Addressing the nation inhis monthly radio broadcast‘Maan ki Baat’, the PrimeMinister said the world afteracknowledging Indian spiritof universal brotherhood in thedifficult time of coronaviruspandemic, has now alsonoticed India’s commitmentand might “when it comes tosafeguarding her sovereigntyand territorial integrity.”

Towards this end, he saidIndia would not “shy away”from giving a befitting responseto his adversary, Modi said.

“Those who cast an evil eyeon Indian soil in Ladakh havegot a befitting response. Indiahonours the spirit of friend-ship…she is also capable of giv-ing an appropriate response to

any adversary, without shyingaway. Our brave soldiers haveproven that they will not letanyone cast an evil eye on theglory and honour of MotherIndia,” the Prime Minister saidin his address which was devot-ed to the border escalation,coronavirus pandemic andtheme of ‘Atmnirbharta’ (self-reliance).

Without naming the‘Galwan` in eastern Ladakhwhere 20 Indian soldiers werekilled in skirmish with Chinesearmy, the Prime Minister saidthe entire country comestogether in paying tributes tothe bravery of our jawans who“attained martyrdom inLadakh.”

“The entire country bowsto them in reverence, with

gratitude. Just like their fami-ly members, every Indianpainfully regrets the loss. Theinner sense of pride that fam-ilies feel on the supreme sacri-fice of their brave sons…theirsentiment for the country, con-stitutes the true power, themight of the country”, he said.

Without naming India andChina, Prime Minster quoteda Sanskrit saying to explain twodiverse characters.

“Vidya Vivadaya DhanamMadaay, Shaktih PareshaanParipeednayakhalasya SadhohVipareetam Etat,Gyaanaydaanaych Rakshanay.Which means, a person who iswicked by nature, uses educa-tion to foster conflict, wealthfor conceit and strength totrouble others. Whereas, a gen-

tleman uses education forknowledge, wealth for helpingand strength for protecting.India has always used hermight, echoing the same sen-timent. India’s solemn resolveis to safeguard her honour andsovereignty. India’s aim is a self-reliant India,” he said.

The Prime Minister said allshould strive towards enhanc-ing the country’s capabilitiesand capacities in safeguardingour borders.

“A self-reliant India wouldbe a tribute to our martyrs inthe truest, deepest sense,” Modisaid and cited messages fromacross the country pledging tobuy only ‘swadeshi’ goods.

“Rajni ji has written to mefrom Assam. She says, afterwatching what happened in

eastern Ladakh, she has takena vow…and the vow is that shewill buy only ‘local’….and forthe sake of ‘local’, she will alsobe vocal. I am receiving mes-sages on these lines from everycorner of the country. Manyhave expressed through theirletters that they have adoptedthis very path.

“Similarly, MohanRamamurthy from Madurai,writes that he wishes India tobe self-reliant in the defencesector,” the Prime Ministersaid lending a new credence to‘boycott-China’ pitch in thecountry.

The current trade deficit isheavily loaded in favour ofChina which existed in thetimes of Congress rule butcontinued to be same duringthe Modi Government. Thecurrent border escalation hasfuelled anti-China sentimentsacross the country with PrimeMinister asking countrymen toadopt a new ‘mantra’ ofSwadeshi.

Modi said in the fields ofdefence and technology, Indiais relentlessly endeavouring toadvance and taking stridestowards self-reliance.

Continued on Page 2

' ��� +80� 893:

Facing a BJP offensive onfund received from China

by the Rajiv GandhiFoundation, the Congress onSunday hit back at PrimeMinister Narendra Modi forreceiving about �50 crore asdonation from Chinese com-panies in the PM Cares Fundto fight Covid-19 pandemic inIndia.

The Congress alleged thateven after the Chinese forceshave transgressed into Indianterritory, the Prime Ministerkept receiving donations fromChinese companies.

The Opposition party alsosought details from BJP chief JPNadda about certain funding ofthe BJP and the RSS fromChina and asked the rulingparty to disclose its link withthe “China Association forInternational Friendly Contact”(CAIFC) and reasons for itsregular interactions with theruling Chinese CommunistParty (CCP).

Senior Congressspokesperson Abhishek ManuSinghvi asked, “Why has PMModi received Chinese moneyin the PM Cares Fund, despitethe overt Chinese hostilities?

Has the PM received �7 crorefrom the controversial compa-ny Huawei? Does Huawei havea direct connection withPeople’s Liberation Army ofChina? Has the Chinese com-pany owning TikTok facilitat-ed a donation of �30 crore tothe controversial PM CaresFund?”

The Congress also soughtto know whether the PM CaresFund received donations about

�100 crores from Paytm, whichhas 38 per cent Chinese own-ership, and from other Chinesefirms like Oppo �1 crore andXiomi �15 crore in the fund.

“Has Prime Minister Modidiverted the donations receivedin PMNRF to the controversialPM Cares Fund and how manyhundred crores is the amountdiverted?” Singhvi asked at theAICC virtual Press conference.

Singhvi said reports sug-gest that as on May 20, 2020,the fund received �9,678 crore.

“No one knows the con-stitutional or operationalframework of the PM CaresFund and how it is controlledor money given to it utilised.The fund is not even subject toaudit by any public authorityincluding CAG. The PMO hasgone to the extent of sayingthis fund is not a publicauthority.”

“The fund appears to besolely run by the PrimeMinister in an opaque andsecret fashion with zero trans-parency and zero accountabil-ity,” claimed Singhvi.

Continued on Page 2

��������'������� +80� 893:

Union Home Minister AmitShah on Sunday said there

was no community transmis-sion of the novel coronavirus inDelhi, and said the Centre wascoordinating with the state onmanaging the outbreak.

In an interview to ANI,Shah also said remarks madeby Delhi Deputy Chief MinisterManish Sisodia in early Juneabout the national capitalreaching 5.5 lakh Covid-19cases by the end of July had cre-ated “fear” among people andhe expressed confidence thatthe stage will not be reached.He said the Government hadalready planned in providing30,000 Covid-19 beds by end ofJune in Delhi.

Shah said the Centre hastaken several steps to ramp upinfrastructure and health facil-ities in Delhi in order to con-tain the spread of novel coro-navirus in the national Capital.In that process, theGovernment had alreadyplanned in providing 30,000Covid-19 beds by end of June,Shah said.

He said the rates of isola-tion beds and ICU treatmenthas also been reduced signifi-cantly in Delhi and a commit-tee was set up for the purpose.

“By June 30, 30,000 bedswill be available. Eight thou-sand beds have been made inrailway coaches and 8,000 bedsare being prepared. DRDO ismaking an exclusive Covid-hospital in which there will be250 ICU beds and with venti-lators. A 10,000-bed facility hasalso been set up at the RadhaSoami Beas, (Chhattarpur)keeping the rainy season inmind. The 9,937 beds arrangedby Delhi Government earlierhave not been occupied com-pletely. It is not that they havenot made arrangements but ifthe situation worsens, we haveplanned in advance,” Shah said,

as reported by ANI.He said it was the concern

of people of Delhi that privatehospitals are charging arbi-trary rates. “In my meeting, adecision was taken that acommittee of doctors would beset up that would listen to pri-vate hospitals, consider bestpractices and extra cost intreating Covid-19 patients,” hesaid.

“The rates for ICU without

ventilators were between�34,000 to �43,000. Now it is�13,000 to �15,000. ICUs withventilators previously use tocost �44,000 to �54,000. It hasnow been brought down to�15,000 to �18,000. It includestests for Covid-19, medicines.And in case of a diabeticpatient, the next treatment isalso included. It is a sealedpackage,” he added.

Continued on Page 2

��'�� +80� 893:

China reinforced its troopsnear the Indian border

with mountain climbers andmartial arts fighters shortlybefore a deadly clash thismonth, state media reported.

Tensions are commonbetween the two nuclear-armedneighbours in the mountainousborder terrain, but this month’sfighting was their deadliestencounter in over 50 years.

Five new militia divisions,including former members of aMount Everest Olympic torchrelay team and fighters from amixed martial arts club, pre-sented themselves for inspectionat Lhasa on June 15, official mil-itary newspaper China NationalDefense News reported.

State broadcaster CCTVshowed footage of hundreds ofnew troops lining up in theTibetan capital.

Tibet commander WangHaijiang said the Enbo Fight

Club recruits would “greatlyraise the organisation andmobilisation strength” of troopsand their “rapid response andsupport ability,” China NationalDefense News reported,although he did not explicitlyconfirm their deployment waslinked to ongoing border ten-sions.

Chinese and Indian troopsclashed later that day in themost violent confrontationbetween the two powers indecades, in the Ladakh region1,300 kilometres away.

India says 20 of its soldierswere killed in brutal hand-to-hand combat that day, whileChina suffered an unknown

number of casualties in theskirmish fought with rocksand batons without any shotsfired. India on Thursday said ithad reinforced troops in thecontested Himalayan borderregion, saying it was matchinga similar buildup by China.

Chinese state media havein recent weeks highlightedmilitary activity, includinghigh-altitude anti-aircraft drills,in the Tibet region borderingIndia.

The new troops wererecruited with the aim of“strengthening the border andstabilising Tibet,” ChinaNational Defense News said.

Continued on Page 2

��������'������� +80� 893:

Adoctor of the cityGovernment-run LNJP

Hospital died of Covid-19 inthe ICU of a private dedicatedcoronavirus facility here onSunday, sources said.

The doctor, a consultantanaesthesiologist, died in themorning, they added.

LNJP Hospital is a dedi-cated Covid-19 facility underthe Delhi Government.

“He lost the battle todayafter a valiant fight,” a hospitalsource said.

Sources said the doctordied in the ICU of Max Smart,a dedicated Covid-19 facility inSaket.

Several hundreds of health-care workers have been infect-ed with Covid-19 till date inDelhi.

A doctor from FortisEscorts Heart Institute, whowas a resident of Batla Housein south Delhi, recently died ofthe novel coronavirus infection.

A 39-year-old doctor fromOdisha had died of Covid-19 inthe ICU of the DelhiGovernment-run Rajiv GandhiSuper Speciality Hospital onJune 20.

' ��� +80� 893:

The United States Centers forDisease Control has added

three new symptoms to iden-tify coronavirus infection, tak-ing the total number of symp-toms up to 12. The new symp-toms are congestion or runnynose, nausea or vomiting, anddiarrhoea. The symptoms wereadded on May 13, but havebeen reported only now.

Earlier, the CDC consid-ered chills, muscle pain,headache, sore throat, loss oftaste or smell as Covid-19symptoms. The other symp-toms are fever, cough andshortness of breath. In its May13 update, the CDC said thenew list does not include allpossible symptoms, and that itwould be updated again as theorganisation continues to learnmore about the contagion.

In April, the CDC hadasserted that runny nose wasrarely a symptom of the virus,and that sneezing had not yetbeen identified as a symptom.People with Covid-19 havehad a wide range of symptomsreported, said a statement.

Continued on P2

()����������''� ��;38++�:

Police brutality claimed onemore life in Tamil Nadu. An

autorickshaw driver who wassubjected to severe assault inpolice custody died in aGovernment Hospital atTenkasi on Sunday. The youthhas been identified asKumaresan.

Navaneethakr ishnan,father of Kumaresan, alleged ina complaint that his son wassubjected to third degree phys-ical assault by Sub InspectorChandrasekar and constableKumar in connection with aland dispute.

Kumareasan was taken tothe police station twice and wasbeaten up by the sub-inspectorand constable. A case has beenfiled against copsChandrasekhar and Kumarunder section 174 (3) of Cr.PC.for allegedly beatingKumaresan to death.

Meanwhile, following massprotests across the State, theTamil Nadu Government hasdecided to transfer the investi-

gation into the Satankulamcustodial death case from TamilNadu Police to the CBI. Thiswas announced by ChiefMinister EdappadiPalaniswami while speakingto journalists at Salem onSunday.

The decision comes a dayahead of the hearing of the suomotu petition by the MaduraiBench of the Madras HighCourt about the custodial deathof P Jeyaraaj and his son JFeniks.

“The Government willexplain about the decision tohand over the probe to the CBIto the Court on Monday andonly after getting the court’sapproval, it will be handedover to the CBI,” said the CM.

“We have already instruct-ed the police to deal with gen-eral public and traders deli-cately. In case of a problem, acase should be filed beforetaking any action. We have alsotold police to not disturb thegeneral public unnecessarily,”said Palaniswami.

Jeyaraaj and Feniks weretaken into custody by police onJune 19 on charges of violatingthe lockdown rules.

Both the father and sondied immediately after theywere sent to Kovilpatti prisonfollowing their remands andsince then there has been anuproar from a cross section ofsociety demanding actionagainst cops responsible for thedeaths.

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Confirmed coronavirusinfections have surpassed

the 10 million mark worldwide.A tally compiled by JohnsHopkins University registeredthe grim milestone on Sunday,after India and Russia addedthousands of new cases. TheUnited States has confirmedmore than 2.5 million infec-tions, the most in the world.

Globally, the Hopkins tallyhas reported nearly 500,000deaths. While Hopkins reports

only confirmed coronaviruscases, experts believe the truenumber of people who havebeen infected could be as muchas 10 times that figure, given thatso many people can’t get testedor may have the virus withoutshowing any symptoms.

Meanwhile in India, arecord single-day spike inCovid-19 cases was reported inseveral States like Maharashtra,Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh,Karnataka and West Bengal asthe country-wide tally rose bynearly 20,000 on Sunday.

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Nepal’s Prime Minister KPSharma Oli on Sunday

claimed that efforts are beingmade to oust him after hisGovernment redrew the coun-try’s political map by incorpo-rating three strategically keyIndian territories.

“Efforts are being made toremove me from power, butthat will not succeed,” Oliclaimed, without naming anyperson or country.He saidnobody has openly asked himto quit. “But I have smeltundercurrent movements,” Olisaid on Sunday while speakingat an event.

Continued on P2

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Page 2: ˘ ˇ˘ ˆ€¦ · Delhi. A doctor from Fortis Escorts Heart Institute, who was a resident of Batla House in south Delhi, recently died of the novel coronavirus infection. A 39-year-old

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Maharashtra recorded5,000-plus Coronavirus

positive cases for the thirdconsecutive cases on Sunday, asthe State added 5,493 newinfected cases to its tally and156 more succumbed to thepandemic.

After it recorded 5,024 and5,318 deaths on Friday andSaturday respectively,Maharashtra once again wit-nessed a biggest-ever record of5493 positive cases, taking thetotal number of the infectedcases in the State to 1,64,626.

Out of the 156 deathsreported in the state today, 60occurred in the last 48 hoursand 96 deaths are from the pre-vious period.

With 156 new deaths, thetotal number of deaths in thestate mounted to 7,429.

Of the 156 deaths report-ed on Sunday, Mumbaiaccounted for 87 deaths, a tallythat took the total number ofdeaths in Mumbai from 4,284

to 4,371 now. The total num-ber of infected cases in themetropolis rose by 1,287 casesto touch 75,539.

In addition to 87 deathsrecorded in Mumbai, therewere 26 deaths in Thane, 20deaths in Pune, 8 in Nashik, 6in Jalgaon, 4 in Solapur anddeath each in Jalna, Amravati,Yavatmal, Sangli and Ratnagiri.

With 34,257 cases and 845fatalities, Thane district - hasemerged as the second worst-hit district after Mumbai in thestate. With 86,575 patients hav-ing been discharged from var-

ious hospitals after full recov-ery since the second week ofMarch this year, the recoveryrate in the state stood at 52.59per cent. The mortality rate inthe state is 4.51 per cent. Thestate health authorities peggedthe number of “active cases” inthe state at 70,607.

On the laboratory testingfront, 1,64,626 (17.82%) outof 9,23,502 samples sent to lab-oraties tested positive forCovid-19 until Sunday.

Currently, 5,70,475 peo-ple are in home quarantinewhile 37,350 people are ininstitutional quarantine.

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Bengaluru: No private hospi-tal or medical establishment inKarnataka can turn away ordeny treatment to Covidpatients, said a top official onSunday. “Private medical estab-lishments in the state shall notdeny, refuse or avoid treatmentto patients with Covid andCovid like symptoms,” orderedChief Secretary T.M. VijayBhaskar.

Bhaskar highlighted thatthe government took note ofsome private medical estab-lishments in the state refusingtreatment to Covid patients.

According to the chief sec-retary, such refusals amount toviolating Section 11 of theKarnataka Private MedicalEstablishment Act, 2017, whichmandates that every privatemedical establishment shouldactively participate in the imple-mentation of all national andstate health programmes.

“Private medical establish-ments shall actively participatein the implementation of allnational and state health pro-

grammes in such manner asthe state government may noti-fy,” said Bhaskar.

The chief secretary said itis also the statutory duty of allprivate medical facilities toprevent the spread of commu-nicable diseases and adhere tothe Patient's Charter.

Bhaskar invoked theDisaster Management Act 2005and passed the orders in thecapacity of the chairman of theState Executive Committee,Disaster Management, underthe powers vested underSections 24(f) and 24(I).

He also directed the privatehospitals to strictly complywith the provisions of Sections11 and 11 A of the KarnatakaPrivate Medical EstablishmentsAct 2017 and the Indian PenalCode (IPC).

State HealthCommissioner Pankaj KumarPandey also clarified that noprivate medical college, hospi-tal or similar establishmentcan deny treatment to Covidpatients. IANS

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Andhra Pradesh's Covid-19tally witnessed yet anoth-

er massive jump in cases onSunday, with 813 new casesreported from various parts ofthe state. The Sunday's tally isthe highest single-day count ofcorona cases reported so far.The update, which includesreturnees from other statesand overseas, takes the overalltally to 13,098 in AndhraPradesh.

The previous single-dayhigh of 796 was reported a dayearlier, on Saturday. The 24hours ending 9 a.m., Sundayalso saw as many as 25,778

samples tested for the virus. Tilldate, the state has conductedtests on 8,41,860 samples tests.

On Sunday, the number ofrecoveries was also high with401 persons cured and dis-charged from hospitals in thestate. The tally of cured personsis 5,908 while 7,021 persons arecurrently being treated at dif-ferent hospitals in AndhraPradesh.

The death toll also climbedup significantly on Sunday,with 12 persons reported dead.The latest updates take thestate death toll to 169. Of the12 deaths reported on Sunday,six occurred in Kurnool, fivewere reported from the Krishna

districts, and one death wasreported from the WestGodavari district.

On Sunday, 12 of the 13districts reported fresh casesduring the preceding 24 hours.Kadapa reported the highesttally of 111 cases followed byKurnool with 103, and Gunturwith 90 cases. Some of theother districts with high inci-dence include Chittoor with 82cases, and Krishna with 79cases. Srikakulam district wasthe lone district where noteven a single new case wasdetected during the preceding24 hours.

The Sunday did not wit-ness much change in the num-

ber of covid cases detectedamong people returning fromother states. Compared to 51cases on Saturday, 50 new caseswere detected in this categoryon Sunday.

The bulk of positive caseswere detected among theTelangana returnees with 18positive cases. Similarly, 14 ofthe covid positive samplesbelonged to the returnees fromTamil Nadu, and 10 cases werefrom Maharashtra. Apart fromthis, three cases from Delhi,two from Madhya Pradesh,and one each from Odishaand Chattisgarh were alsoreported in the past 24 hours.

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The Government hasapproved an additional

�1,691 crore for highway worksby the Border RoadsOrganisation (BRO) in Jammu& Kashmir and Uttarakhandfor 2020-21.

Of this, �1,351.10 crorehas been sanctioned to BRO forroad works in Jammu &Kashmir, the road transportand highways ministry said ina communication to BorderRoads Development Board(BRDB) Director General LtGen Harpal Singh.

A total of �340 crore ceil-ing has been approved forUttarakhand for national high-ways, according to the com-munication dated June 24.

In addition, it has alsogiven nod for additional sanc-tion of �71 crore for highwayworks by the state's PublicWorks Department in Jammu& Kashmir, Ladakh, Sikkimand Tamil Nadu,

Besides, it has alsoenhanced the total ceiling to�1,955 crore for highways workfor Nagaland under Tribal Sub-Plan (TSP) from the existing

�1,081 crore.“Competent authority has

approved the additional sanc-tion ceiling for NH(O) worksfor the year 2020-21 to states/UTs of Jammu & Kashmir,Ladakh, Nagaland, Sikkim andTamil Nadu for state PWDsand for state/ UT of Jammu &Kashmir and Uttarakhand forBRO,” the communication said.

It said that the existingsanction for national highways(original) work for state PWDswas �2,269 crore, which hasbeen raised to �2,340 crore. Inaddition, �1,691 crore ceilingwas approved for BRO, takingthe additional ceiling of Rs4,081 crore for national high-ways in these areas.

“For NH(O)-General pro-jects for state govt/UTs, 20 percent of the sanction ceiling hasbeen proposed for crossdrainage works. Sanction ofdamaged cross drainage workmay be given topmost priori-ty,” the communication said.

Widening of national high-ways (NHs) and their strength-ening under the annual plan2020-21 may be suitablyfinalised by project zones in

consultation with additionalDG/ DG (road development)and special secretary, it said.

“Efforts may be made toaward all the sanctioned worksunder spillover/ balance sanc-tion ceiling and additionalsanction ceiling already givenand at least 50 per cent of sanc-tioned works under instantadditional sanction ceiling,” itadded.

Earlier, National Highwaysand InfrastructureDevelopment Corporation(NHIDCL) enhanced theremuneration of its personnelworking in tough terrains.

NHIDCL, a fully-ownedcompany of the Government ofIndia, under the Ministry ofRoad Transport and Highways,is engaged in building, main-taining and upgrading nation-al highways and strategic roads,including interconnectingroads in parts of the countrywhich share internationalboundaries with neighbour-ing countries.

The roads are built in dif-ficult terrain under inhos-pitable and hostile weatherconditions and other environ-mental factors.

New Delhi: The Government hasagain extended the deadline to bidfor Air India by two months tillAugust 31 as the Covid-19 fallouthas disrupted economic activitiesglobally.

This is the third time thedeadline has been extended.

The divestment process forthe national carrier was initiatedon January 27.

Issuing a corrigendum to theExpression of Interest (EoI) forsale of Air India, the Departmentof Investment and Public AssetManagement (DIPAM) said thedeadline has been extended inview of the “request receivedfrom the IBs (interested bidders)in view of the prevailing situation arising out of Covid-19.”

While issuing the EoI inJanuary, the last date for bids waskept at March 17, which waslater extended till April 30. Thiswas further extended to June 30,and now till August 31.

Also, the date for intimationto Qualified Interested Bidders(QIBs) has been extended by twomonths till September 14, theDIPAM said in the corrigendumposted on its website.

“Further changes with respectto the Important Dates, if any, willbe communicated to theInterested Bidders subsequently,”it added.

The Covid-19 pandemic andsubsequent lockdowns have dis-rupted economic activities glob-ally.

The aviation sector has beenhit hard by the coronavirus pan-demic, with airlines cancellingflights and announcing pay cutsfor employees.

The Government has alreadyextended the time given toinvestors to bid for its entire52.98 per cent stake in BharatPetroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) toJuly 31. The initial deadline wasMay 2, which was extended tillJune 13.

After its unsuccessful bid tosell Air India in 2018, the gov-ernment in January 2020 restart-ed the divestment process andinvited bids for selling 100 percent equity in the state-owned air-line, including Air India's 100 percent shareholding in AI ExpressLtd and 50 per cent stake in AirIndia SATS Airport ServicesPrivate Ltd.

In 2018, the government hadoffered to sell 76 per cent stake inthe airline.

Of the airline's total debt of Rs60,074 crore as of March 31,2019, the buyer would be requiredto absorb � 23,286.5 crore, whilethe rest would be transferred toAir India Assets Holding Ltd(AIAHL), a special purpose vehi-cle. PTI

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Coronavirus continues tobatter Gujarat, as 624

new cases were detected,taking the total count to over31,000-mark, though dailydeath count has reduced,health officials said onSunday.

The state has been wit-nessing over 580 new casesof virus infection everyday,for the last couple of days,taking the count of infectedpersons and casualties high-er and higher. Surpassing theSaturday's highest count of615, the state Registered 624new cases, taking the total to31,397.

Ahmedabad came upwith 211 new cases, a sub-stantial decrease from 300,over the past week or so.

Now Surat is turning outto be a new epicenter in thestate. The city witnessed thesecond highest number ofpositive cases detected so far-- 184, matching Friday's182.

Surat was followed byVadodara, which has asteady daily count of around44-45 positive cases. Sundaywas no exception as 44 newcases were added.

Vadodara was followedby Valsad (36), Gandhinagarand Patan (11 each), Rajkot,

Kutch, Surendranagar,Amreli and Junagadh (10each), Mehsana andBhavnagar (8 each),Banaskantha and Bharuch(7 each), Kheda (6), Aravalli,Navsari and Morbi (4 each),Sabarkantha, Anand andBotad (3 each),Panchmahals, Jamnagar andPorbandar (2 each) and Gir-Somnath, Tapi andNarmada with one positivecase each.

The silver lining in theCorona crisis since last cou-ple of days is that, the num-ber of casualties which hadbeen over 30 for almostentire month of June hasnow come down under 20.Just like previous three days,Sunday reported 18 casual-ties out of whichAhmedabad had the highestshare of 13 casualties, while3 patients died in Surat.

With this, the death tollin the state has crossed1,800-mark with 1,809 totalfatalities. The total numberof Corona deaths inAhmedabad has reached1,426 (78.82 per cent), 151died in Surat, 49 inVadodara, 29 inGandhinagar, 16 in Aravalli,15 each in Panchmahals andPatan, 13 each in Bhavnagarand Anand and 11 havedied in Mehsana. IANS

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From Page 1He said teams were con-

stituted comprising doctorsfrom the Delhi Government,AIIMS and ICMR to helpreduce shortcomings.

Speaking about his visit tothe Lok Nayak Jai PrakashNarayan Hospital (LNJP), Shahsaid not only did it bring issuesbeing faced on the ground tothe front, but also boosted themorale of the health workers.He said the Delhi Governmentconveyed that the number ofambulances, oxygen cylindersand ventilators needed toincrease.

“We immediately provid-ed 500 oxygen cylinders,around 10,000 oximeters and440 ventilators and will providemore as and when needed.

From Page 1The symptom ranged from

mild symptoms to severe ill-nesses,” the CDC said in a state-ment in April, adding thesesymptoms may appear 2-14days after exposure to thevirus.

The health body also laidout a set of emergency warningsigns for Covid-19 that requireimmediate medical attention –including persistent pain orpressure in the chest, troublebreathing, new confusion, andbluish lips or face.

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From Page 1On the coronavirus crisis, Modi said the country

has moved out of the lockdown phase to the unlockphase and will have to focus deeply on two points --defeating corona and strengthening the economy andbolstering it.

“Only your alertness can save you from corona.Always, remember, if you do not wear a mask, do notobserve the two-yard social distancing norms or donot take other precautions, you are putting others atrisk besides yourselves, especially the elderly and chil-dren at home”, he said and requested countrymen tonot be negligent.

In another reference, the Prime Minister quotedan inspiring story of Mandavali, Karnataka, where, hesaid, an 80-85 year-old elder Kamegowda.Kamegowdaji, an ordinary farmer, who takes out hisanimals for grazing but at the same time has taken itupon himself to build new ponds and, so far, dug out16 ponds in his area, Modi said.

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From Page 1India says Chinese troops ambushed

Indian soldiers and forced them down aridge where they had gone to remove aChinese “encroachment”. A bilateralaccord prevents the use of guns, but thefighting was still fierce, with rudimenta-ry weapons.

China has in turn accused Indian sol-diers of twice crossing the Line of ActualControl, the unofficial boundary, pro-voking its troops.

The two countries fought a war overthe border in 1962. There is an under-standing between the nuclear-armedneighbours that their troops in the dis-puted and inhospitable region will not usefirearms.

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From Page 1It was held to commemo-

rate the 69th birth anniversaryof the popular leader of theNepal Communist Party lateMadan Bhandari at the PrimeMinister’s residence.”Therehave been various kinds ofactivities in the embassies andhotels,” he claimed. “If you lis-ten to the news media fromDelhi, you will get the gesture.”He said some Nepalese leaderswere also involved in the gameto remove himimmediately.The differencesbetween Prime Minister Oliand his opponents includingthe ruling party’s executivechairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal“Prachanda” have surfaced dur-ing the ongoing StandingCommittee meeting of theparty. Oli, who faced criticismwithin his party for skippingthe first and the second day ofthe Standing Committee meet-ings, attended the third meet-ing on Saturday, but briefly. He,however, did not speak at themeeting.

“In the past when I signedtrade agreements with Beijing,my minority government col-lapsed. But this time we have agovernment with a full-fledgedmajority, so no one can removeme now,” Oli said on Sunday.“I did not commit any mistakeby claiming our land, which hasbeen snatched from us for thepast 58 years after Nepalenjoyed the rights over theseareas for 146 years,” Oli said.

Nepal this month com-pleted the process of redrawingthe country’s political mapthrough a Constitutionalamendment, incorporatingthree strategically important

Indian areas. India hastermed as “untenable” the “arti-ficial enlargement” of the ter-ritorial claims by Nepal after itsParliament unanimouslyapproved the new politicalmap of the country featuringLipulekh, Kalapani andLimpiyadhura areas whichIndia maintains belong to it.

The India-Nepal bilateralties came under strain afterDefence Minister RajnathSingh inaugurated a 80-km-long strategically crucial roadconnecting the Lipulekh passwith Dharchula in Uttarakhandon May 8. N e p a lreacted sharply to the inaugu-ration of the road claiming thatit passed through Nepaleseterritory. India rejected theclaim asserting that the roadlies completely within its terri-tory. Speaking on condi-tion of anonymity, a seniorleader of the ruling NCP toldPTI that Oli’s indication was hisopponents within the rulingparty, not from outside.

“There has been growingdifferences within the rulingparty and the Prime Ministeris being cornered within hisown party and his own col-leagues are criticising the gov-ernment’s performance,” hesaid. Another NCP leadersaid that Oli’s absence in thefirst two days of the meetingsshowed the growing differ-ences between him andPrachanda.Prachanda has time and againspoken about the lack of coor-dination between the govern-ment and the party and he waspressing for a one-man oneposition system to be followedby the NCP. PTI

From Page 1The Congress spokesper-

son questioned that “if thePrime Minister of India willcompromise his position byaccepting donations of hun-dreds of crores from Chinesecompanies in the controversialand opaque fund, then how willhe defend the country againstChinese aggression?”

The Congress alleged thatthe Modi Government contin-ues to sidestep the brazenChinese transgressions andoccupation of Indian territoryby Chinese forces in GalwanValley, Pangong Tso lake area,Hot Springs and Depsangplains up to Y-Junction.

“Prime Minister NarendraModi unashamedly misleadsthe nation and serves the sin-ister agenda of the Chinese byclaiming that China has neverintruded into the Indian terri-tory, nor is it in occupation ofany territory,” alleged Singhvi.

The Congress leader saidthat the party will keep askingthese questions in the nation-al interest.

Two days ago BJP presi-

dent JP Nadda had allegedthat the RGF, which is headedby Sonia Gandhi, continuous-ly received donations from theChinese Embassy between2005-09, from the “tax haven”of Luxemburg between 2006-09 and NGOs with commercialinterests.

Congress clarified on thisissue on late Saturday night thatgrant RGF accounts were dulyaudited and statutory returnswere filed under ForeignContributions Regulation Act(FCRA) to the Government ofIndia.

“This grant has been dulyreflected in all filings to theincome tax and the HomeMinistry and no authority hasever found any wrongdoing ofany nature.

Pursuant to the unprece-dented Tsunami in the lastweek of 2004, RGF received amodest amount of Rs 20 lakhfrom the Prime Minister’sNational Relief Fund in theFinancial Year 2005 which wasduly utilised to undertake reliefactivities in the Andaman andNicobar Islands,” the Congresssaid in a statement.

Page 3: ˘ ˇ˘ ˆ€¦ · Delhi. A doctor from Fortis Escorts Heart Institute, who was a resident of Batla House in south Delhi, recently died of the novel coronavirus infection. A 39-year-old

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New Delhi: A 23-year-old secu-rity guard of a cinema hall incentral Delhi’s Daryaganj areaallegedly committed suicide byhanging himself from the ceilingof the theatre’s switch room onSunday. The deceased was iden-tified as Sanjay Kumar (23), res-ident of Balliya in Uttar Pradesh.

According to Sanjay Bhatia,the Deputy Commissioner ofPolice (DCP), Central district, onSunday a PCR call was received

that a person had committed sui-cide at Delite Cinema on Asaf AliRoad, Daryganj.

“Acting on the call, a policeteam was dispatched for thespot. On reaching the spot, aman was found hanging fromthe ceiling of the switch roomof the cinema hall. He wasidentified as Sanjay Kumar,who was working as a securi-ty guard at the cinema hall,”said the DCP. SR

��������'������� +80� 893:

With diesel price being ona record high in Delhi

and petrol on a two-year high,Delhi Congress has planned tohold protests at around 400petrol pumps across the Capitalon Monday to protest againstthe fuel hike.

Delhi Congress presidentAnil Kumar will lead theprotest on Monday anddemand immediate roll back ofthe price hike by both theCentre and Delhi Government.Congress workers will followthe social distancing normswhile holding the protests, theparty said in a statement.

Kumar said prices of petroland diesel are being increased by the insensitiveModi Government for the lastthree weeks.

At the same time, theKejriwal Government has alsohiked ‘Vaur Added Tax’ (VAT)on petrol and diesel which isunfair.

��������'������� +7: �

The Gautam Buddh Nagarpolice has nabbed seven

people in Greater Noida onSunday allegedly for illegalmining. According to a seniorpolice official, an earthmover(JCB) and a tractor-trolley werealso impounded during themining in a jungle near KhediBhanauta village, under theSurajpur police station limits.

“Those held have beenidentified as Jagvendra, ManojKumar, Mahendra Singh,Rajesh Pal, Rambabu Singh,Lalit Kumar and Hari Om,” saidthe senior police official.

“Except for Hari Om, whois a native of nearby Baghat dis-trict, all accused are local res-idents,” he said.

“One more of their accom-plice, who has been identifiedas local resident Rakam Singh, fled the mining spot andsearch is underway to arresthim,” he added.

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In a survey conducted by theConfederation of All India

Traders (CAIT) across thecountry, at least 98.8 per centpeople supported the boycott ofChinese goods.

While disclosing the resultsof the survey, CAIT nationalpresident B C Bhartia and sec-retary general PraveenKhandelwal said that CAIT’sonline survey conducted fornine days among cross sectionof the people including traders,farmers, hawkers, consumers,self-entrepreneurs, womenentrepreneurs, working women,students and people from socialorganisations enthusiasticallyparticipated in the survey.

“About 11 thousand peopleacross the Country were invit-ed to take part in the survey outof which 9,735 people respond-ed to the survey,” they said.

The survey was conductedfrom June 19 to June 27 and9,735 people from across thecountry while participating in

the survey expressed theiropinion on nine questionsasked in the survey andanswers to the extent of morethan 90 per cent were in affir-mative which reflects that Indiastands united against Chinaaggression and the people ofIndia are determined this timeto teach a lesson to China, thetraders’ body said.

Bhartia added nine ques-tions asked in the survey. “Therespective responses were verysimilar on most of the issueslike when asked do you agreethat China aggression againstIndian Army is wrong, 95.8 percent were agreed. When askedthat do you feel pain after the

death of 20 brave Indian sol-diers in Ladakh recently, 97.6per cent said yes,” he said.

Similarly, when asked ifyou agree that it is enough andwe should teach a lesson toChina, 97.6 per cent had givena similar opinion saying yes.The next question asked, ‘Doyou stand with Indian Army,99.8 per cent agreed,” he added.

Khandelwal said the resultsof the survey affirm the strongcommitment of Indian people tofight vigorously against China inlarge numbers. “It was importantto observe that the percentage ofanswers to all the questions inthe nine-day survey remainedthe same which shows that peo-ple across the country have avery firm and transparent opin-ion on the issue and there is noillusion at all,” he said

The traders’ body hadalready called for a boycott ofChinese goods, listing 450imported items, condemningChina’s military aggressionalong the Line of ActualControl in Eastern Ladakh.

New Delhi: The Delhi Police hasarrested a 31-year-old man forallegedly duping Sanjaya Baru,a political commentator andpolicy analyst of Rs 24,000 onthe pretext of online delivery ofliquor. The accused —AkibJaved, a resident of Kaman,Bharatpur, was nabbed from hisnative place after a raid onSaturday. He used to work as taxidriver earlier but indulged incyber crime to make easymoney, police said, addingefforts are being made to nab hisassociates who are absconding.

According to Atul KumarThakur, the DeputyCommissioner of Police (DCP),South district, the matter cameto notice on June 2, after theyreceived a complaint from Baru.“In his complaint, he alleged thatwhile he was searching for ashop online to purchase liquor,he found an online liquor shopin the name “La Cave Wines andSpirits”. When he contacted onthe given number to place theorder, he was asked to pay

online,” said the DCP. “After making a payment of

approximately Rs 24,000, thealleged person switched offhis mobile phone. A case wasregistered at Hauz Khas policestation under section 420(Cheating and dishonestlyinducing delivery of property)of the Indian Penal Code andan investigation was taken up,said the DCP. “During prelim-inary investigation, the bankstatements, flow of cheatedmoney and call details of thealleged mobile numbers weredone and that they wereobtained on the basis of fakeKYC details,” said the DCP.

“After analysing transac-tions details, various mobilenumbers used to avail bankingalerts, accused was traced toKaman, Baharatpur area. Tomislead investigators, accusedtook SIM cards and bankaccounts registered at differentStates like Assam, Maharashtra,Punjab and Rajasthan,” the DCPsaid. SR

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Over 30 birds suffering fromheat exhaustion have been

rescued by Wildlife SOS in themonths of May and June inDelhi-NCR. These birds weretreated for dehydration andinjuries caused mid-flight andhave been safely released intotheir natural habitat.

As the temperature has sky-rocketed in the national Capital,birds in and around Delhi-NCRare also facing the brunt of theheat wave gripping the city.

A wildlife official said, “Astemperatures reached 45degrees Celsius last week, aflood of calls on the WildlifeSOS emergency helpline num-ber (+91-9871963535) kept therescue team on their toes!”

On a single day, the teamhas responded to over ten callsregarding exhausted birds thatwere found in precarious con-ditions, amongst them Blackkites, Pigeons, Asian Koyals,Barn Owls and CommonMynah birds. In one such inci-dent, a baby Mynah had fallenout of its nest in Shankar Viharand was rescued by a WildlifeSOS team when the familynoticed the tiny bird in their

garden. It was reunited with itsmother soon after!

Kartick Satyanarayan,CEO,Wildlife SOS, said, “Themost common symptoms wehave been observing in thesebirds are dehydration and heatexhaustion. Every year we gethundreds of calls during thepeak of summer regarding birdsthat have fallen victim to theheat. We are very grateful forthese individual acts of kindnessand for the people who take thetime and effort to care for thesebirds while help arrives.”

In another incident, anAsian Koel crashed headlonginto a glass building in South

Extension, New Delhi due toheat stroke. The bird sustainedminor injuries and was releasedby the Wildlife SOS team aftersuccessful treatment.

Wasim Akram, DeputyDirector - Special Projects,Wildlife SOS, said, “A largenumber of birds are falling preyto the soaring temperature dueto heat exhaustion and lack ofshade. With various parts ofNorth India reeling under theheatwave such cases are boundto escalate in the months tocome. Even the water bowls putout for these birds are drying upin the heat and so are local waterbodies. As birds need to bathe

themselves in summer to keepcool, this is causing quite a dif-ficult situation. In most cases,immediate medical attention isrequired to prevent them fromsuccumbing to heat stroke.”

Summer season is thebreeding time for birds, so theconservation organisation hasreceived many calls involvingbaby birds. Raptors such askites are more prone to heatexhaustion as they fly at high-er altitudes. Planting moretrees and leaving earthen waterbowls around residential com-plexes, windows and terraces ishelpful in preventing such sit-uations from arising.

��������'������� +80� 893:

Deputy Chief MinisterManish Sisodia on Sunday

said the Delhi Governmenthas received tremendous sup-port from the Centre in thefight against coronavirus.

“Delhi Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal sought helpand support of every agency toprevent the further spread andgot tremendous support fromCentral Government, religiousorganisations like Radha SoamiSatsang, Akshardham templetrust, Terapanthi, various hotels,banquets halls, private hospitalsand NGOs,” he said.

Sisodia said in the firstweek of June, there was a sud-den spike in corona cases. “Anumber of measures were

taken to control the situationsuch as reserving 40 per centbeds in all big private hospitalsfor Covid in addition to declar-ing some big hospitals likeGTB hospital as Covid hospi-tals. Hotels were convertedinto hospitals and 3,500 beds were prepared in hotelswhich addressed the shortageof beds.” he said.

“Today, there is no short-age of beds in Delhi. We soughtcentral government help toincrease testing and theyhelped us with procuring rapidtesting kits. Since then, testinghas been increased by fourtimes. The CentralGovernment also provided uswith oxygen cylinders, ITBP doctors and nurses forRadha Soami Covid centre

and guidance from domainexperts,” he said.

Delhi CM has broughteveryone together and his effortsseem to be paying off, he said,adding last week saw things sta-bilising with the recovery ratehas increased to 62 per cent.

“Today more patients arerecovering in Delhi than thosewho are falling ill, the numberof deaths are coming down,

and the positivity rate isdecreasing rapidly,” he added.

“We are hopeful that thesituation will improve in thecoming weeks and will cer-

tainly not be as bleak as itlooked in the first week of Junewhen domain experts predict-ed 5.5 lakh cases in Delhi by 31July,” he said.

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Following the Intelligenceinputs of possible terrorist

attack at busy markets in Delhiand in view of the prevailingsecurity scenario, the DelhiPolice conducted a mock drillexercise at Southeast Delhi’sNehru Place Market.

Nehru Place complex is thelargest market of Asia for com-puters in present scenario.

According to KumarGyanesh, the AdditionalDeputy Commissioner ofPolice (DCP), Southeast dis-trict, to check preparation ofpolice official and personnel inuntoward situation and tocheck coordinated responsefrom other agencies, a MockDrill exercise was conducted onSaturday at Nehru PlaceMarket, Kalkaji Delhi.

“Around 1,000 Government,

Semi-Government and privateoffices and shops are situated inthe complex. Mock Drill wasstarted at 11.00 AM when a PCRcall about a blast near PunjabiKhana Nehru Place Market wasreceived at Kalkaji police station,”the Additional DCP said.

“Acting on the call, armedwith sophisticated weaponsand other equipments, imme-diately rushed to the spot andcontrolled the situation. The

area was immediately cordonedoff by Police teams. All fourinjured were rushed to ESICHospital and Apollo Hospitalby PCR Van and ERV,” said theadditional DCP.

“Continuous announce-ments were made by PA systemso that people do not createpanic. Local Police, SWAT team,District Disaster team, SpecialCell staff, Civil Defence team,PCR vans, CATS Ambulance,

Bomb Disposal Squad, FireBrigade, Crime team and otheragencies reached the spot intime and controlled the situa-tion,” he added.

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With over 2,889 fresh coro-navirus cases reported on

Sunday, the number of cases hasreached 83,077 in the nationalCapital. However, 2,623 per-sons have died till now in which65 died on Sunday. As per theSunday heath bulletin releasedby the Delhi Government,52,607 patients have recovered,been discharged or migrated sofar, while number of activecases stood at 27,847, adding4,98,416 tests have been con-ducted till date, it said

The number of contain-ment zones in the city on

Sunday stood at 417. It addedcalls received in the controlroom are 378 and the totalnumber of calls dispatched to

ambulances is 875.Meanwhile, the Delhi

Government has issued anorder regarding creation of hos-pital bed capacity by linking theoperation of health care facili-ties for Covid-19 in identifiedbanquet halls to the hospitals forrunning the centres as extend-ed facilities of the hospital.

“An order has been issuedregarding operating hospitalbeds in banquet halls in coor-dination with the linked hos-pital and another order wasalso issued regarding opera-tionalisation of 450 beds inBurari hospital in phased man-ner,” it said.

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Former Delhi BJP presidentVijender Gupta on Sunday

inaugurated two isolation cen-tres in Rohini that are equippedwith all required infrastructure.

“These isolation centershave been developed by thesocieties at our request. Sixbeds in the isolation center ofAtma Vallabh Society havebeen arranged. There is also anarrangement of oxygen cylin-ders on each bed,” Gupta said.

Gupta added the move is

taken to strengthen our fightagainst Corona. “The isola-tion center in the society is alsoimportant that if someone gets

infected, they will be able to gettreatment in the same envi-ronment as home and willrecover soon,” he added.

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The gap between cured coro-navirus patients and active

cases of Covid-19 has crossed1,00,000 on Sunday, accordingto Union Health Ministry evenas total coronavirus cases in thecountry has surged to 5,28,859while the death toll increasedto 16,095.

Presently, there are2,03,051 active cases while atotal of 3,09,712 patients havebeen cured of COVID-19 sofar. 13,832 patients recoveredin the last 24 hours. The recov-ered cases have exceeded theactive cases by 1,06,661 as onSaturday, the ministry said.

The recovery rate is58.56% amongst COVID-19patients.

India now has 1,036 diag-nostic labs dedicated toCOVID-19. This includes 749in the government sector and287 private labs.

“Daily more than 2,00,000

samples are being tested. Thesamples tested in the last 24hours have further increased to2,31,095. The total number ofsamples tested, as on date, is82,27,802,” the Governmentsaid.

As on June 28, the COVIDrelated health infrastructurehas been strengthened with theavailability of 1,055 dedicatedCOVID Hospitals with1,77,529 isolation beds, 23,168

ICU beds and 78,060 oxygensupported beds, it said.

Also, 2,400 dedicatedCOVID Health Centres with1,40,099 isolation beds, 11,508ICU beds and 51,371 oxygensupported beds have also beenoperationalised.

Besides, 9,519 COVIDCare Centres with 8,34,128beds are now available to com-bat Covid-19 in the country,the Ministry said.

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The Congress on Sundaysought details from BJP

chief J P Nadda about certainfunding sources to the BJPand the RSS from China anddemanded disclosure of itslink to the “China Associationfor International FriendlyContact” (CAIFC) and itspersistent interactions withthe ruling ChineseCommunist Party (CCP).

The attack comes twodays after BJP President J PNadda had alleged that theRajiv Gandhi Foundation,which is headed by SoniaGandhi, continuouslyreceived donations from theChinese embassy between2005 and 2009, from the “taxhaven” of Luxemburg between2006 and 2009 and NGOswith commercial interests.

TheCongress sought toclarify the issue late onSaturday saying the grants toRGF accounts were dulyaudited and statutory returnswere filed under ForeignContributions Regulation Act(FCRA) to the Government ofIndia/

In turn, it attacked theBJP and RSS for receivingfunds from China and underthe leadership of three partychiefs at different times-Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari,Amit Shah.

“This (RGF) grant hasbeen duly reflected in all fil-ings to the income tax and theHome Ministr y and noauthority has ever found anywrongdoing of any nature.Pursuant to the unprecedent-ed Tsunami in the last week of2004, RGF received a modestamount of Rs. 20 lakh fromthe Prime Minister’s NationalRelief Fund in the FinancialYear 2005 which was dulyutilised to undertake reliefactivities in the Andamanand Nicobar Islands,”Congress said in a statement.

Congress, in anotherstatement on Sunday, also

said that the allegations byNadda were his f lai l ingattempts at distraction anddiversion from the issues ofnational security and territo-rial integrity.

Congress spokespersonRandeep Surjewala said theBJP chief has made it his“favourite pastime to mis-lead the country by makingsensational claims”.

Surjewala accused the BJPof receiving foreign funding.Surjewala also said the BJPleadership was scared of thequestions being asked on its“deep-rooted” Chinese con-nections.

Surjewala posed 10counter questions to Nadda inresponse to the questionsposed by the latter to attackthe Congress. “What is thehistorical relat ionshipbetween BJP and CCP spokenabout by the then BJPPresident, Rajnath Singh during the visit of a CCP del-egation on January 30th, 2007and reiterated by him duringthe meeting with members ofPolitburo of the CCP onOctober 17th, 2008,”Surjewala asked.

Congress also soughtexplanation as to why theRSS) go to China in January2009 on an invite from theCCP? Why was a delegation

of RSS invited by the CCPdespite it not being a politicalparty and what discussionswere held on our sensitiveState of Arunachal Pradesh asalso Tibet?

It further asked why didthe then BJP President, NitinGadkari go to China on a five-day visit on January 19th,2011 at the invitation of theCommunist Party of China(CCP)?

Why did the then BJPPresident, Amit Shah send adelegation of MP's/MLA's inNovember 2014 to China fora week-long study in “TheParty School” of the ChineseCommunist Party (CCP)?.

Besides questioning theseveral visits by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi toChina, Congress asked BJP tomake public the list of all itsdonors and the amountsreceived including from allforeign sources includingindividuals, entities, organi-sations, and governments.

Surjewala also questionedfunding to VivekanandaFoundation and the IndiaFoundation and demandedthat the ruling side declarethe name of donors fromwhom it has received thou-sands of crores in donations through electoralbonds.

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The Ministry ofCivil Aviation

on Sunday saidthat Air India willbe conducting 114flights to and from17 countries between July 3 and15 under the fourth phase ofthe Vande Bharat Mission tobring back stranded Indianabroad.

Under the fourth phase ofthe mission, Air India will beconducting 114 flights con-necting India with Canada,the US, the UK, Kenya, SriLanka, Philippines, Kyrgyzstan,Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh,Thailand, South Africa, Russia,Australia, Myanmar, Japan,Ukraine and Vietnam. TheMinistry also stated that privateairlines have volunteered tocontribute significantly to thenew phase. operating around498 flights.

The Government startedthe mission on May 6 to helpstranded people reach theirdestinations using specialrepatriation flights. Scheduledinternational passenger flightshave been suspended in Indiasince March 23 due to thecoronavirus pandemic.

Under the fourth phase,31 flights will be operated toUSA, 19 to UK, nine toCanada and eight to Australia.The national carrier will oper-ate 26 flights between Indiaand Saudi Arabia, it added.

Air India Express isscheduled to operate 300 char-tered flights to and from var-ious countries in July. Ofthem, 136 flights is scheduledto be by July 14 while 164f lights wil l be operatedbetween July 15 and 31. Thefirst phase was from May 7 to

16, following which the sec-ond phase began.

The US Department ofTransportation announced onJune 22 that it has barred AirIndia from operating char-tered flights between Indiaand the United States fromJuly 22 without its priorapproval, in an apparent retal-iation for the IndianGovernment not allowingAmerican carriers to operatebetween the two countries.Therefore, on June 23, theAviation Ministry had saidthat it was considering estab-lishing “individual bilateralbubbles” with the US, theUK, Germany and Franceallowing airlines of each coun-try in the pact to operateinternational passengerflights.

The Directorate General ofCivil Aviation (DGCA) said lastFriday it is extending the sus-pension of scheduled interna-tional passenger flights in thecountry till July 15 but added thatsome international scheduledservices on selected routes maybe permitted on a case-to-casebasis.

According to Civil AviationMinister Hardeep Puri, morethan 1,47,000 Indians havereturned and more than 52,000have flown out to different coun-tries so far under the mission.

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In a move to cover up lock-down losses, farmers across

India have sown in around31.56 million hectares so far,which was 104.25 per centmore than the same period lastyear. In just one week, the areaunder cultivation has gone upfrom 13.13 million hectares to31.56 million hectares.According to Ministry ofAgriculture’s data, acreage ofalmost all crops was higherthan last year.

The biggest increase is inoilseeds, under which area hasgone up by more than sixtimes. The area under pulseshas increased by up to threetimes. Central India, whichhas received the heaviest rain-fall in the country this season,is a major area for these crops.In just one week, the areaunder cultivation has gone upfrom 13.13 million hectares to31.56 million hectares.

The data showed that areaunder rice the main kharifcrop, has increased to about37.71 lakh hectare (ha) this yearas compared to 32.05 lakhhectare during the corresponding period of lastyear, an increase of 34 percent.Higher acreage of rice report-ed from Punjab (3.99 lakhhectare), Uttar Pradesh ( 2.63lakh ha), Madhya Pradesh (2.15lakh ha), Arunachal Pradesh (0.98 lakh ha) while less areasunder rice cultivation are

reported from Chhattisgarh,Haryana, Odisha, West Bengaland Karnataka.

Similarly Pulses were sownin around 1.94 million hectares, as against 0.60 millionhectares last year. The higherpulses cultivation reportedfrom Maharashtra, MP,Telangana, Karnataka, UttarPradesh, Jharkhand andGujarat while sugarcane sownhigher from UP, Karnatakaand Maharashtra.

The data showed thatabout 49.69 lakh ha area cov-erage under sugarcane as com-pared to 47.77 lakh ha duringthe corresponding period oflast year.

Oilseeds were sown inaround 8.33 million hectarestill Friday, compared to 1.33million hectares in the corre-sponding period last year.Cotton was sown in around7.16 million hectares, com-

pared to just 2.70 millionhectares last year.

Coarse cereals were plant-ed in around 4.79 millionhectares, as opposed to 2.44million hectares last year.

The Government has set atarget of 149.92 million tonnesof food grain production inthe current kharif season and148.4 million tonnes in therabi (winter sown) season,taking total food grains targetto a record 298.3 milliontonnes in the 2020-21 cropyear.

The Met Department hadpredicted above normal mon-soon this year.

India has received 174.6mm rainfall, an increase of 22percent so far as against thenormal of 143.3 mm.

Till date, the southwestmonsoon has covered theentire country, 12 days aheadof its normal onset.

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Union Home Minister AmitShah on Sunday spoke to

Bihar Chief Minister NitishKumar and enquired about therising water level of Mahanandariver and assured him of all helpfrom the central Government forthe protection of the people ofthe State.

Separately, the home min-ister also spoke to Assam ChiefMinister Sarbananda Sonowaland Minister Himanta BiswaSarma and took stock of thealarming situation developing

due to the rising water of theBrahmaputra.

“I spoke to Chief MinisterShri @nitishkumar ji about therising water level of MahanandaRiver in Bihar and assured himof all possible help from the cen-tral government for the protec-tion of the people of Bihar,” Shahtweeted in Hindi.

The home minister alsotweeted: “Spoke to Assam ChiefMinister Shri @sarbanandson-wal and Shri @himantabiswa totake stock of the alarming situ-ation in Brahmaputra river andlandslides near Guwahati. All

possible help has been assuredto the State. Modi governmentstands firmly with the people ofAssam”.

Water level of theMahananda river is expected togo up due to heavy rains inNepal and areas between theMahananda and Bagmati riverbasins.

The flood situation inAssam worsened on Saturdaywith two more people losingtheir lives due to the deluge,which has affected over 4.6 lakhpeople across 21 districts, offi-cials said.

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The Supreme Court onSunday in an urgent hear-

ing dismissed a plea seekingcancellation of the remainingtwo Class 10 examinationsscheduled to be held on June29-30, to be conducted by theboard of secondary educationof Rajasthan, said a lawyerappearing for the StateGovernment.

The bench of Justices A MKhanwilkar, DineshMaheshwari and SanjivKhanna, in an urgent hearingconducted on Sunday eveningthrough video conferencing,dismissed the plea filed by oneMaghi Devi.

Senior advocate ManishSinghvi who appeared for thestate government said thebench after hearing the peti-

tioner and the state dismissedthe plea.

The apex court was hear-ing an appeal filed by Devi,mother of an examinee of theClass 10 board, against the May29 order of the Rajasthan highcourt which had dismissed aplea seeking cancellation ofthe remaining examinationsconducted by the State’s boardof secondary education.

The appeal said that theboard of secondary educationof Rajasthan had passed adirection for conducting theremaining two papers of Class10 on June 29 and June 30 and11,86,418 students are likely toappear.

It said the board had con-ducted the last exam on March18 and thereafter the examinations were deferreddue to the COVID-19 pan-

demic and the nationwidelockdown.

The appeal further con-tended that around 120schools, which have been ear-marked as examination centres, had been used toquarantine migrant workersduring transit to their nativeplaces.

The appeal also referred tothe June 26 order of the topcourt with regard to remain-ing examinations of Class 10and Class 12 of CBSE board aswell as of ICSE board.

The appeal had sought aninterim stay on the remainingexaminations to be conductedon Monday and Tuesday.

The petitioner before theHigh Court had also soughtcancellation of remainingexaminations to be conductedby CBSE due to COVID-19.

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The Court of ChiefCommissioner for

Persons with Disabilities(CCPD), which operatesunder the Union Ministryof Social Justice andEmpowerment’s Personswith DisabilitiesDepartment has directedthe IDBI Bank to providedetails of the marks ofgroup discussion andinterviews of all the can-didates appeared for itsDGM post during 2011 to2019.

The move followed acomplaint by one AnujBhardwaj with 80 percent of the locomotordisabi l ity who hadalleged that despite hiseligibility for the saidpost, he was ignored byhis organisation wherehe had been working forthe past 28 years.

Bhardwaj hadapproached the CCPD inAugust last year butbecause of the Covid-19pandemic, his case couldnot be taken up. Butnow the CCPD whichhas started taking griev-ances through videoconferencing held the

enquiry in his case onJune 24.

Bhardwaj submittedthat he had joined IDBIBank as Hindi-cum-English typist way backin 1991 under PwD cat-egory and rose up to therank of AssistantGeneral Manager due tohis hard work.

In 2011, he hadapplied for the post ofDGM but was not select-ed. Ditto in 2014, 2015,2016, 2018 and 2019when while his juniorswere promoted he wasdenied the same for allthese years.

He was told by theIDBI that as there was noreservation in promo-tion within the Officer’scadre.

However, not readyto give in, Bhardwajapproached the CCPDalleging that the IDBIwas taking pretext of‘Selection Method’ of theorganization whichchanges as per the con-venience of the manage-ment.

He said that while heachieved all the parame-ters prescribed in variouscategories, but that hisi n t e r v i e w / G r o u p

Discussion was lacking isdebatable.

He also alleged thatnever a list of total markof all the officers calledfor group discussion waspublished nor the detailsof marks were displayed,which could suggesttransparency in theselection process.

During hearing, theIDBI also admitted thatonly four officers withdisabilities were pro-moted during 2011-2019.

After hearing thecomplainant and goingthrough the written sub-missions of the respon-dent and other docu-ments avai lable onrecord, the CCPD ChiefC o m m i s s i o n e rShakuntala DoleyGamlin) has nowinstructed the IBDIBank to submit detailswhich could provetransparency in theselection process.

The CCPD has alsosought details of the cutof marks of all the can-didates as well minutesof the selection commit-tee appeared from 2011to 2019 within the nexttwo weeks.

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Unlock 1.0 saw Bengalreturning to its known

ways of political clashes withthe BJP giving the rulingTrinamool Congress a taste ofits own medicine at Nandigramwhere the cadres of the twoparties engaged in a bloodyclash on Sunday leaving sever-al persons including a BJP dis-trict secretary injured, sourcessaid.

Khejuri block adjoiningNandigram in West Midnaporedistrict witnessed indiscrimi-nate firing, bombing andhousebreaking while maraud-ing members from two sidesfought with each other whilethe police looked the other way.

While the police refusedreports of firing, Bengal BJPpresident Dilip Ghosh saidPabitra Das the district BJP sec-retary and “a very active work-er was targeted by theTrinamool Congress goonswith guns… he received gun-shot injuries and has beenadmitted in a local hospital.”Some other party men too

were injured in the clash, hecomplained.

Khejuri has been a tradi-tional Left bastion that hadrecently turned saffron. Das aformer CPI(M) local commit-tee secretary who joined the BJPahead of the panchayat electionswas protesting against theTMC-run panchayat’s allegeddecision to sell off trees uproot-ed in super cyclone Amphanwithout floating tenders.

“Tension ran high in thevillage with both sides mount-ing attacks and counterattacksthroughout the last week thatsaw many houses being lootedand ransacked and many peo-ple getting injured in intermit-tent clashes,” a local districtofficer said requestinganonymity.

“This is a governmentwhich has literally sold out theentire State to the syndicatewallahs and when our men areprotesting they are beingattacked with guns and bombs,”Ghosh said in Kolkata adding.

Post lockdown Bengal hadwitnessed clashes breaking outbetween the two parties at var-

ious places of North and South24 Parganas, Hooghly,Burdwan and Howrah overissues that were mostly relatedto corruption.

Khejuri is adjacent toNandigram that hit nationalheadlines following bloodyclashes during a massive landmovement led by ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee (thethen opposition leader) and herMidnapore points-man andpresent Minister SubhenduAdhikary in 2007. The move-ment eventually catapultedBanerjee to power.

With lockdown goneBengal has started witnessingsporadic sporadic clashesbetween the BJP and TMCwith the former launching ral-lies protesting against allegedcorruption in providing reliefto the people hit by Amphan.

Refuting BJP’s allegationsformer Union Minister andlocal Trinamool MP SisirAdhikary said his party hadnothing to do with the clashadding the fight was betweenBJP and CPI(M) as many Leftmembers were leaving that

party to join the saffron group.“We have our MP, MLA

and the panchayat so whyshould we soil our party’s namein the area by engaging in suchfights. I have heard that theclash took place between theCPI(M) and BJP as many Leftworkers are leaving that party,”Adhikary said.

Meanwhile the TMC hasdenied reports that the party isgoing to launch its third virtu-al rally on July 3 for the nextyear’s Assembly elections.

This was made known byan official statement from theparty that said, “we have beenapprised of multiple reports inthe media about an upcomingAll India Trinamool Congresscampaign. This is to clarify thatthere is no such official partycampaign and the news isfalse.”

Earlier reports said thatTMC had decided to launch itsthird virtual campaign ‘SojaBanglay Bolchi’ (puttingstraight in Bengali.) much likethe earlier ones like ‘Didi keBolo’ and ‘Banglar GorboMamata’ campaigns.

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Yet another day of new highsand records in coronavirus

pandemic in Tamil Nadu. OnSunday 3,940 persons wereadded to the list of patientsdiagnosed with coronavirus inTamil Nadu. The State also saw54 deaths on a single day whichtook the toll till date to 1,079.Chennai continues to be thecity of death as 809 out of the1,079 persons who lost theirlives are from Greater ChennaiMunicipal limits.

As on Sunday eveningthere were 35,656 covid-19patients in the State. The totalnumber of covid-19 casesreported in Tamil Nadu till daterose to 82, 275.

Chennai which has beenlocked down since June 19,reported 1,992 coronaviruscases. With the State adminis-

tration giving clearance to onemore private laboratory onSunday, Tamil Nadu has 90testing centres functioning24X7. The laboratories contin-ued aggressive testing with31,505 persons getting testedon Sunday. According to amedia release issued by theGovernment of Tamil Nadulate Sunday evening, a total of1.05 million people have beentested in the State till date.

1,443 patients were dis-charged from hospitals acrossthe State on Sunday taking thetotal number of persons gettingcured to 45,537 till date. Out ofthe 54 persons succumbed onSunday, 46 died with co-mor-bidities while eight had no co-morbidity history.

Chief Minister EdappadiPalaniswami has convened acrucial meeting of medicalexperts and bureaucrats onMonday to discuss the state of

affairs. Corridors of power,especially in Fort Saint George,are agog with rumors of a pos-sible extension of lock down inthe four districts of Chennai,Chengalpet, Kancheepuramand Thiruvallur and Maduraimunicipal corporation.

Giving credence to therumors about extension of lockdown is the number of personsdiagnosed in these districts.Chengalpet (183),Kancheepuram (92), Madurai(284) and Thiruvallur (99)continue to be problematicspots in Tamil Nadu.

There was a small respitefor neighboring Kerala whichdiagnosed 118 persons with

covid-19 on Sunday. It was arelief for Kerala where 195persons were tested positive onSaturday. But the number ofcovid-19 patients in the Statecontinued to be above 100even on the 9th day in succes-sion.

The State HealthDepartment blamed the expa-triates for the continued spurtin the pandemic. Out of the 118positive cases, 68 were expa-triates and 36 from other partsof the country. There were 14cases of community transmis-sion in the State on Sunday(cases in which the patientscould not point out the sourcefrom where they got infected).There are 1,75 lakh personsunder observation in the State.On Sunday, 335 persons werehospitalized while the Statehas sent 2.2 lakh samples fortesting, said the release fromthe department of health.

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Security forces in KashmirValley are in the habit of

escorting parents, especiallymother of a terrorist, near anencounter site to make a lastminute 'emotional' appeal tohim to lay down his arms andsurrender before them but inone of the rare cases, Jammu &Kashmir police has now arrest-ed Naseema Bano, mother of aslain Hizbul Mujahideen ter-rorist under the UnlawfulActivities Prevention Act(UAPA) from one of the SouthKashmir districts of Kulgam.

Her son Tausif Sheikh wasearlier gunned down by thesecurity forces along with oneof the top Hizbul Mujahideencommander Saddam Padderand Mohammad Rafi Bhat, anassistant professor in KashmirUniversity in Badigam area of

Shopian on 6th May 2018.According to official

sources, Naseema Bano wasevading arrest since then.According to police, she wasarrested last week on June 20from her residence in Ramporavillage of Qaimoh in Kulgam.

Quoting Inspector Generalof Police, Kashmir range, thetwitter handle of Kashmir zonepolice Sunday afternoon post-ed a tweet stating, “Jammu &

Kashmir Police does not targetfamily of terrorists withoutevidence. Sister of active ter-rorist Abbas Sheikh & motherof neutralised terrorist Tausif,Naseema Banoo was arrestedon 20 June 2020 in FIR30/2018. Besides, recentinvolvement in recruitingyouth into terrorist ranks”.

According to police,Naseema Bano has beencharged by police for her recentinvolvement in recruitingyouth in to terrorist ranks.Images of Naseema Bano,holding an automatic weapon,were also circulated on the var-ious social media platforms.

Taking note of fewprovocative posts, aimed atinstigating emotions of localresidents, the police authoritieshave warned netizens againstsuch acts aimed at disturbingpeace.

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Jaipur: The Bhilwara districtadministration has slapped�6.26 lakh fine on a family fororganising a lavish wedding,attended by 250 guests floutingall Covid-19 norms and restric-tions, on June 13.

While the number ofguests was much above the per-mitted 50, one person died and15 attendees, including thegroom, had tested coronaviruspositive by June 27.

Officials said the groom'sgrand-father died from Covid-19, and his aunt and uncle alsotested coronavirus positive.However, the bride and 17others tested negative.

All the 15 Covid-19patients have been admitted tohospital and over 100 quaran-tined.

The State Governmentslapped a notice on the groom'sfather ordering him to foot thebill of the quarantine facilityand treatment of infected peo-ple by paying �6,26,600 fine.

Bhilwara DistrictMagistrate Rajendra Bhatt hasasked the Tehsildar to recoverthe fine from the groom's

father within 3 days, anddeposit that in the ChiefMinister Relief Fund.

Other expenses, to beincurred in coming days,should also be recovered fromthe groom's family, the order,issued under the Epidemic Act,added.

The order also said thegroom, Rizul, and his fatherGheesu Lal Rathi didn't followthe social distancing norms,were not wearing masks andthere was no use of sanitiser atthe event. IANS

Kannauj (UP): In a tragic inci-dent, a bride died even beforethe wedding rituals could becompleted and the groom hadto return without the bride.

The incident took place inBhagatpurwa village underThathia police circle inKannauj. The groom, Sanjay,arrived with his family mem-bers and the wedding ritualsbegan on Friday night.

As the rituals began 19-year-old bride Vinita, sudden-ly complained of uneasinessand collapsed. Her familymembers rushed her to a med-ical facility that denied heradmission until she tested neg-ative for Corona. IANS

Srinagar: Former Jammu &Kashmir Chief Minister andNational Conference presidentFarooq Abdullah on Sundaysaid that the domicile law isunconstitutional and illegal.

Speaking to reporters inSouth Kashmir's Anantnag dis-trict, he said he is not going toaccept anything that is uncon-stitutional.

“We are united againsteverything they have done, it isillegal, unconstitutional. Howdo you think I am going toaccept something what isunconstitutional,” Farooq said.

Taking about the currentstand-off between India andChina at the Line of ActualControl in Ladakh, he said waris no solution to resolve the dis-putes between the countries.

“India-China or India-Pakistan, the only future istalks, war is not a solution,” hesaid. IANS

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Covid testing laboratories in Karnatakacannot reveal the test result to patients

directly but upload the information on theIndian Council of Medical Research(ICMR) portal daily, said an official onSunday.

“The Covid positive result statusshould not be conveyed to the individual(patient) by the authorities of the gov-ernment or the private laboratories by anymeans,” said a health official.

All government and private labora-tories should upload the details of Covidpositive and negative cases on the ICMRportal on a daily basis.

The laboratories should also submitthe details of positive results to the con-cerned district surveillance officers, Covidsurveillance officers, Bruhat BengaluruMahanagara Palike (BBMP) andBengaluru and state surveillance units.

In the event of a violation, authoritieswill recommend de-recognising the lab-oratories.

“If labs deviate from this, they wouldbe recommended for de-recognition byBBMP,” said a civic body official about labslocated in the city.

Currently, more than 75 laboratoriesare testing the virus samples in this south-ern state. So far, Karnataka has testedmore than 5.81 lakh samples for Covid.

Aizawl: In an innovative attempt to follow 'socialdistancing by people, the Central paramilitary AssamRifles have been distributing umbrellas to eco-nomically weaker sections of society and senior cit-izens in Mizoram, officials said here on Sunday.

An Assam Rifles official said the troops dis-tributed umbrellas in Ngopa, Mimbung, Kawlbem,New Vaikhawtlang and Hnahlan villages in Aizawldistrict on Saturday, keeping in view the impend-ing monsoons and to curb the spread of Covid-19.This initiative aims at promoting the maxim --‘Break the Chain' -- in the fight against Covid-19.

“The residents have been urged to use umbrel-las voluntarily at public places which would auto-matically ensure social distancing without any con-scious effort,” an official release said.

The new initiative by Assam Rifles was appre-ciated by village authorities and the residents as well. IANS

Lucknow: The UP unit of the Congress, hereon Sunday, said the State Government's claimof providing more than one crore jobs wasfalse.

Addressing the media, UP Congress chiefAjay Kumar Lallu said the Bharatiya JanataParty (BJP) government's claim of providing1.25 crore jobs was 'plain trickery'. By mak-ing such claims, the BJP government wascheating people, he said.

“The BJP had promised two crore jobsevery year. The unemployment in the state isat the 45-year high, as revealed by the gov-ernment data. The unemployed youth arebeing cane-charged for demanding jobs,”Lallu said.

No recruitment process was completed ina time-bound manner in the state, he added.

The Congress leader said the state gov-ernment was claiming credit for providing jobsto the people engaged in traditional professionsfor generations.

He said the coronavirus pandemic hadcaused an economic disaster. “All the majorindigenous industries, like glassware, brass-ware, carpet, weaving, furniture, leather,hosiery, dairy, pottery and fishery-hatchery,have been hit. Millions of weavers are in apitiable condition. There is no governmentsupport for them,” he said.

Lallu said people were being forced tocommit suicide because of the financial rea-sons. Citing an incident, he said a migrantworker, who had returned to his village in theBanda district from Surat, committed suicideon Friday. IANS

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Agra: A recovery rate of 84.04 percent from Covid-19 in Agra hasbeen achieved after a multi-pronged attack on the virus, witha sustained focus on over 60 con-tainment and buffer zones, healthofficials here have said.

In the past 24 hours, 12 newcases increased the tally to 1,196,while the number of patients dis-charged rose to 1,009 after 18 weresent home on Saturday followingrecovery. The number of deathswas 85. District Magistrate P.N.Singh said the number of activecases now was 103. So far 21,113samples have been collected.

Health officials, however, warnthat July would be the crucialmonth when the rate could spiketo alarming heights, as Malaria andDengue could compound the sit-uation and increase the pressure onthe already burdened medicalinfrastructure.

Accordingly, various govern-ment agencies and departments arebeing geared up, and their activi-ties being coordinated andreviewed by the nodal officerappointed by the Yogi government.

The Agra MunicipalCorporation has mounted a pro-paganda blitz to sensitise people onhealth related issues. Teams ofdoctors are visiting mohallas in theinterior city to give consultationsand medicines to the sick. The S.N.Medical College will have 200beds ready for corona patients byJune end. IANS

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Smarting under the discomfi-ture over Sharad Pawar’s sug-

gestion to Rahul Gandhi not topoliticise India-China violentstand-off, the MaharashtraCongress on Sunday said thatusing one of NCP chief ’s com-ments the media “should notdraw any conclusions” and “rushto give a clean chit to Modi” andquestion Gandhi’s stand onChina.

A day after the media quot-ed Pawar as saying that “mattersof national security should not bepoliticised” and “one cannot for-get China had captured about45,000 sq km of Indian landafter the 1962 war” in the contextof Rahul’s criticism of Modi,Maharashtra Congress presidentBalasaheb Thorat said: “It is stillnot completely clear what Shri.Sharad Pawar Saheb hassaid”.

“And by using just one of hiscomments the media should notdraw any conclusions and rush togive a clean chit to the PrimeMinister and raise questions onthe stand taken by Shri. Rahul jiGandhi. I am sure that PawarSaheb is worried by Chineseincursion too,” Thorat said.

Talking to media persons at

Satara in western Maharashtra,Pawar had said: “We can’t forgetwhat had happened in 1962 whenChina occupied 45,000 squarekilometres of India’s territory.While making these allegations,one should also look at what hadhappened in the past. This is anissue of national interest andonce should not bring in politicshere”.

Pawar, who is the supremeleader of the NCP that has formeda three-party government inalliance with the Shiv Sena andCongress in Maharashtra, hadmade these remarks when hisattention was drawn to Gandhi’sallegation that Prime MinisterNarendra Modi had surrenderedIndian Territory to the Chineseaggression.

Among other things, the NCPchief had also said that the Centrecould not be blamed for thestandoff at Galwan Valley. “Oursoldiers tried to push backChinese army men when theytried to encroach upon Indiansoil. To say this is the failure ofanyone or of the defence minis-ter isn’t correct. Had our army notbeen on alert, we wouldn’t haveknown Chinese assertion,” Pawarsaid.

In response, the StateCongress president said in a

statement issued here: “TheCongress is with the governmenton the China issue, but that does-n't mean that questions shouldn'tbe asked on the issues of nation-al interest”.

“The questions raised by Shri.Rahul ji Gandhi on border secu-rity is not politics, but a respon-sibility given by the people. Wecannot compare the situation in1962 with what is happeningtoday,” Thorat said.

“Not a single soldier has losthis life on the India-China borderin 45 years. Our 20 soldiers weremartyred at Galwan Valley due toChina's aggression. Even then thePrime Minister says no-oneintruded on our territory. Usingthese statements of his, China iscalling our martyrs as intruders.Just like the Congress Party,Sharad Pawar Saheb too musthave been saddened by this,”Thorat said.

Maintaining that Gandhi hadraised questions that are on theminds of the general public,Thorat said: “The concerns raisedby Rahul ji are regarding theintegrity of our Country. Eventoday the PM didn't utter a sin-gle word regarding the Chineseaggression in his Maan Ki Baatprogram. This is not the time tokeep quiet”.

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Page 6: ˘ ˇ˘ ˆ€¦ · Delhi. A doctor from Fortis Escorts Heart Institute, who was a resident of Batla House in south Delhi, recently died of the novel coronavirus infection. A 39-year-old

The Chinese management of itsnarrative has been exceptional-ly crafted and has seen unprece-dented levels of intra-coordina-tion within different layers of

governance. This was possible because itis a one-party State. The seemingly seam-less integration of its economic, diplomat-ic, military, strategic and psychologicalimperatives into the making of the Chinesejuggernaut has fructified the patience allud-ed to by Deng Xiaoping when he said,“Hide your strengths, bide your time.”China’s transformation from being a pre-dominantly agrarian nation with a bloat-ed and antiquated People’s LiberationArmy (PLA) to that of the world’s second-largest economy with ocean-roamingnuclear submarines, intercontinental bal-listic missiles, stealth bombers and cyber-capabilities has been astonishing.

With a slew of geo-strategic initiatives(for example, the Belt and Road Initiativeand the China-Pakistan EconomicCorridor among others), Beijing is easingits purse-strings to debt-trap other nations.It is also carefully calibrating limited mil-itary engagements (for example, challeng-ing US Navy capability in the South ChinaSea or the recent Galwan Valley face-offwith India). China has been asserting itsexpansionist and hegemonic instincts.Behind this ruthless clarity of thought andaction are “cultural” and “political” reflex-ivities that define its nonlinearity ofaction. China can simultaneously charm,buy out, intimidate or coerce otherstowards its end. Such behaviour is extreme-ly difficult to read as it deploys and pos-tures asymmetric stances that are predi-cated on deceit.

Between 2014 and 2018, over 70 percent of Beijing’s arms imports came fromRussia, which sold its state-of-the-art SU-35 fighter jets and S-400 anti-aircraft sys-tems, only to see its technology brazenlyripped and reverse engineered, in line withChina’s patented theft of technology. TheRussian state-owned conglomerate Rostec’schief of intellectual property was leftfuming: “China alone has copied aircraftengines, Sukhoi planes, deck jets, airdefence systems, portable air defencemissiles and analogues of the Pantsir medi-um-range surface-to-air systems.” Butnothing came out as cash-strappedRussians recognised the price of doingbusiness with China.

Further, the US military and its sup-pliers have been “under cyber siege” forlong as Beijing relentlessly seeks to buildits military capabilities by stealing andhacking into critical military information,all this without having to fire a single shot.Besides espionage, this Chinese cyberwar-fare infrastructure and capability are usedfor intimidation, and cause deadly disrup-tions that can create havoc in civic andpolitical realms. Recently, when Australian

Prime Minister Scott Morisonlamented that a “sophisticatedState-based cyber actor” wastrying to hack all levels ofGovernment, personal, businessand infrastructure-related infor-mation, the finger was unmistak-ably pointed towards China. It isowing to such fears that the US,Australia and NATO countriesare putting barriers and blockingthe Chinese conglomerate,Huawei, from developing the 5Gnetwork. The intermingling andcross-ownership of industrymakes them suspect all Chineseconglomerates in order to realisethe goal of “Chinese century”through any means possible.

However, it is China’sunapologetic and amoralrealpolitik in international diplo-macy that stuns and shocks theopponents, who consistently failto understand the deceit levelsborn of Chinese ambitions. Be itthe Nehruvian naivety of HindiChini Bhai Bhai (India and Chinaare brothers) or the brazenbailout afforded to an interna-tional terrorist like MasoodAzhar on “technical” grounds atthe UN or the most recent back-stabbing in the Galwan Valley —the Chinese have always renegedon their word. Chairman Maohad once explained the Chineseaphorism “to seize someone’spigtail” and then added that inthe Sino-India dimension they“do not seize each other’s pigtail.We are not on the alert againsteach other.” This was said justbefore 1962. China patronisesroguish nations like Pakistan

and North Korea and turns theminto vassal States. In the Chinesemanual of practicality, there is nocontradiction in being the “all-weather friend” of Pakistan, anavowedly “Islamic” country, whileit is a “communist” country aslong as the ends justify themeans. Even domestically, it is thedeceitful commitment towards its“one country, two systems” prin-ciple that defines Hong Kong’sconcerns as China goes aboutsurreptitiously dissolving thepolitical-social-cultural bound-aries with its project of“Mainlandisation”, akin to Tibetearlier and one that hauntsTaiwan always.

It is said that unlike theWestern notions of war anddiplomacy, which are essential-ly based on overwhelming forceand technology, the Chinese aremasters of strategy and strata-gems. It has produced militaryclassics like Sun Tzu’s Art of Warand has institutionalised strate-gic tenets like ingyizha li (war isdeception), sheng-dong ji-xi(point to the east but attack thewest), shang-bing fa-mou (criti-cal to attack enemy’s strategy),chu-qi zhi-sheng (win by doingthe abnormal), bishi ji-xu (attackthe enemy’s weakest point andstay clear of its strengths), yi-yuwei-zhi (take the most deviousroute to surprise and overcome),yin-di zhi-sheng (emerge victori-ous by changing the tacticsaccording to the situation, don’tbe fixated), yi-rouke-gang (againstthe hard, be soft and gentle towin), hou-fa zhi-ren (retaliate and

go up on the enemy after it hasstarted the fracas) and suchdialectics that underline andreflect Chinese actions.

Unlike the US or India, notonly does China have a “strate-gic culture” but it also incorpo-rates the same in its State func-tioning with the additionaladvantage of being able to deploydiplomacy, commerce, militaryand psychological wherewithal inperfect unison. It remains impos-sible to decipher and it exploitsthe “strategic configuration ofpower” unabashedly and confi-dently.

Therefore, for all its militaris-tic posturing, China has nottaken on any resource-drainingcommitments in the global con-flict, for example, the MiddleEast, and bides its time as theWest slowly burns and exhaustsits resources and enthusiasm. Therise and assertion of China isundeniable but it is also losing itscrucial “soft power” in the bar-gain as the COVID-19 worldlicks its wounds at the utterlydeceitful Chinese ways of “man-aging” the same. The littoralStates surrounding the SouthChina Sea, Japan, Taiwan, India,Australia and the Western worldare realising that they have beentruly outsmarted through deceit,more than once by a hawkishChina. Only in this honest real-isation lies the future recourse ofcalling and mitigating all futurebluffs of Chinese deceit.

(The writer, a military veter-an, is a former Lt Governor ofAndaman & Nicobar Islands)

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Sir — The death of a father-sonduo in Tamil Nadu’s Tuticorin,while they were in judicial cus-tody, is distressing. The TamilNadu police acted in the mostinhuman manner. There can beno justification for the allegedpolice brutality. While it is truethat the accused had violatedlockdown rules, the police offi-cials have exceeded their brief.Their offence definitely didn’twarrant such a treatment. Thepolice should have filed an FIRand sealed the shop. The way inwhich they manhandled theaccused suggests that they had apersonal score to settle. It wassheer abuse of power.

Following the brutal attack,the two officials were trans-ferred. But would that bring anychange in the mindset? Therehave been several calls for stricterpunishment. The police are vest-ed with the authority to maintainthe law and order but that does-n’t mean that they can take thelaw into their own hands.

With the matter up with theHigh Court, an independentagency must ensure a fair inves-tigation. The case will remain a

black mark in the annals ofpolice history. This incidentmust lead to the issuance ofnorms for policemen to handlelockdown violations.

VS JayaramanChennai

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Sir — Hindustan Unilever’sannouncement that it would dropterms such as “fair/fairness”,“white/whitening” and

“light/lightening” from its iconicskin-care brand Fair & Lovely iswelcome. Ironically though, thechange came only when the firmwas threatened with punitiveaction, possible lawsuits and aglobal movement. As a matter of

fact, such creams are popularacross South Asia where complex-ionism is rampant. The renamingof a face cream may not uproot thedeep-seated prejudices, whichhave been entrenched by suchcompanies who sell fairnesscreams.

Shankar SinghVia email

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Sir — It is unfortunate that overone hundred people died whenstruck by lightning in north andNortheast India. During mon-soon, lightning strikes are com-mon. People need to be madeaware of this aspect and to adoptsafety measures to prevent loss oflife. We should not rush for shel-ter below trees, where lightningstrike is severe. If caught in an openarea, one should sit crouchingdown with feet together and headtucked in over the knees. Such tipsshould be passed on to all by thelocal administration, especially inrural, isolated and remote areas.

Subhash VaidVia email

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Page 7: ˘ ˇ˘ ˆ€¦ · Delhi. A doctor from Fortis Escorts Heart Institute, who was a resident of Batla House in south Delhi, recently died of the novel coronavirus infection. A 39-year-old

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Warora is a small township in theChandrapur district of Maharashtra.It is best known for the small village

republic the great humanist Baba Amte set upfor disabled people alienated by mainstreamsociety. The most vulnerable among these areleprosy patients who still suffer from social stig-ma but find love and dignity in this wonderfulvillage named Anandwan, a forest of bliss.

One of the closest villages to the town isWanoja, a hamlet of 300 families. Twenty fiveyears ago, it was a bootlegger’s paradise withunruly men stumbling about in a drunken stu-por. Today, as we battle COVID-19, this villagestands out as a model of resilience. The spiritbehind this collective determination is sarpanchNirmala Geghate, who symbolises the multipleroles women play in a crisis like a pandemic.Primarily as caregivers, women are not just sus-taining families but also serving as front-lineresponders, mainly in the health and service sec-tor of the country, even in rural India.

During my early career in the State Bank ofIndia (SBI), I was posted as manager of the localbranch. I also happened to be piloting the self-help group (SHG) movement. One of the firstvillages that we chose for our pilot project wasWanoja.

Nirmala was a shy woman and there wasnothing outstanding about her that could qual-ify her for a leadership role. But I was impressedby her simplicity and honesty and offered herthe role of SBI’s ambassador for the SHG move-ment in her village. Nirmala was taken abackand asked me why I chose her. I told her thateverybody in the village had vouched for her.Nirmala hesitated for several days but finallyyielded to our gentle and persuasive prodding.What tipped the scales in our favour was thather mother-in-law was quite supportive andpromised to relieve her of a number of house-hold chores. Nirmala convinced neighbouringwomen to band together and the first SHG wasborn in the village. It was christened SavitribaiPhule Bachat Gat, appropriately named afterrural India’s pioneering woman reformer. Allwomen in the SHG, barring Nirmala, wereunlettered. Nirmala persevered hard to teach hergroup members the nuts and bolts of manag-ing the group. Every time she visited the bank,she made one woman accompany her by rota-tion so that they could observe how a bankworked. In the end, these women started trans-acting business at the bank independently.

Nirmala’s hard work paid off and the groupprospered. This had a multiplier effect in theentire village as several more SHGs emerged. Asthe SHGs’ focus was more on collective enter-prise, the number of businesses the women haveset up in this long journey include a retail agencyfor farm inputs. The most recent success storyis the Government support that has enabled eachSHG member to set up an independent poul-try unit. There are now around 300 poultry unitswith the chicks, poultry feed and shed, all fund-ed by the Government.

In the process of mapping out her SHG’s tra-jectory and navigating murky village politics,Nirmala was drawn into electoral politics.Panchayat Raj was already beckoning womento join governance and she couldn’t remain insu-lated from political currents, much as she triedto avoid them. She represented her ward for twoterms and finally became the village sarpanch,

a post she has been holding for the lastfive years. As the elected village head,she oversees the administration of pub-lic services. There is 100 per cent lit-eracy in the village now and all boysand girls attend college. No men drinknow and there is total prohibition. Thevillage has a very good recreation parkfor the children.

All houses have indoor toilets andpiped water supply. They get filtereddrinking water from a plant installedby a power generation company underits CSR initiative. The firm has also setup a medical centre manned by a qual-ified medical team. The village isperiodically disinfected by the compa-ny. The sarpanch has made sure thatthe donors get enough value from theirinvestment and has provided promi-nent visibility and branding to theirwork so that they are able to enhancetheir social bottom line.

Women’s leadership in agricul-ture is increasingly being recognised asa key to tackling climate change. Theyare playing a strong role in adaptingnew technology, spreading informationand urging action. They have takenadvantage of a slew of agricultural ini-tiatives in the last few years that havefocussed on aiding marginalised com-munities and women farmers.

The COVID-19 and the lockdownhave made little difference to life inWanoja village. The village headensured that social distancing andother mandatory lockdown instruc-tions were meticulously practised andall the entry and exit points to the vil-lage were sealed. As the sarpanch,Nirmala formed teams to protect hervillage from COVID-19. She is ensur-ing access to accurate information tokeep the SHGs, the women, theirfamilies and their communities safe.These efforts include essential guidance

on preventive measures such as socialdistancing, hand washing as well ashow to identify symptoms of the dis-ease. She has also made sure that all thepromised Government relief reachesevery family.

Reflecting on the success of theSHGs in the village as also the progressmade by the gram panchayat, Nirmalasays the women of her village neverthought they would pull the “cart” sofar. She is happy in her role as the “cartpuller” and envisions a prosperousfuture for her village. The first SHG,which began with a monthly contribu-tion of �20 from each member, hasnow increased the amount to �200, anindication of the increased income andsaving capacity of the women.

Changes at the individual, house-hold and community level have accom-panied the economic impact of theSHGs. Participating in group meetingshas provided women with new oppor-tunities and experiences. They havealso become confident in dealing withpublic officials and authority figures.

The most perceptible change forthe women at the household level is themen’s attitudes towards housework. Inthe past, women had few income-earn-ing opportunities and were mainlyengaged in housework. Their husbandsgave them little or no assistance in thiswork. Now, because of the success ofthe SHGs, the tension between remu-nerative work and housework hasbeen resolved by men sharing somehousehold responsibilities.

Women of the village are gettingincreased recognition as the breadwin-ners and this is substantially alteringthe family relationships at the grass-roots level. To the women, theirinvolvement in SHGs results in fewer“problems” with their husbands.Women, as they say, are now granted

more respect and authority within thefamily unit, reflecting positively onintra-household relationships betweenthe sexes. Aware of the benefits derivedfrom their exposure, village women areincreasingly articulating their interestin broadening their knowledge bytravelling outside the immediate villageenvironment.

The success story of Wanoja’sSHGs and its women underscores theimportance of giving poor peopleaccess to loans, savings accounts andother financial services that can sup-port their precarious lives and busi-nesses and enable them to reach theirfull potential. It can also alter thesocially-constructed roles and identi-ties of these women who live in someof the most challenging and fragile con-texts. For the resilient women ofWanoja, every disaster is an opportu-nity to move forward. Recurrentdroughts have given the women achance to show their families that theycan be leaders too.

Women have a unique vantagepoint for identifying trends at the locallevel that might signal the start of anoutbreak. They are the eyes and ears ofnot only the medical establishment butalso the administrative apparatus.

When she looks back at her ownevolution, Nirmala is grateful for hav-ing achieved a satisfactory level of well-being for her family and the commu-nity. The women of the SHGs say theyare now able to assert their right to beheard and to have their opinions takenseriously. Over the years, some gainswill undoubtedly be reversed; otherswill be resilient to reversals. Womenlike the ones in Wanoja provide usshiny silver glimmers of hope as webattle COVID-19.

(The writer is a well-known devel-opment professional)

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While watching TV footage ofthe recent race riots in theUS, I recognised one of the

many African American protestersbeing arrested in Washington DC. Theprotester was Ahmad Farooq, whomI had met in 2018 when he approachedme after a talk I had delivered at theInternational Forum for DemocraticStudies, where I was stationed as aResearch Fellow.

After the talk, Ahmad invited mefor coffee. All I knew about him wasthat he lived in Virginia and was aretired college professor. A week later,while visiting the area for something

entirely different, I decided to visitAhmad. We met at a bar just behindhis office and had lunch there. Ahmadtold me that his ancestors were someof the first Muslims to come to the US,over 500 years ago. This wasn’t somefancy talk. In her 1998 book, Servantsof Allah, American historian SylvianeDiouf writes that among the firstbatches of African slaves brought to theUS by Europeans in the early 17th cen-tury, were many Muslims. But accord-ing to historian Sam Haselby, a formerfaculty member of the AmericanUniversity of Beirut, there was, in fact,a Muslim presence in the US evenbefore European Puritans set up theirfirst colony in the region in 1607. In anessay for the May 2019 issue of Aeon,Haselby writes that Muslims regular-ly arrived in the Americas with Spanishexpeditions in the 15th and 16th cen-turies, sometimes as slaves and some-times even as advisers.

A majority of them were fromGranada, a Muslim stronghold inEurope before it was overthrown by the

Spanish in the 15th century.According to Diouf, the majority

of African slaves brought to the US,especially during the cotton boom inthe 18th and 19th centuries, followedtraditional African religions and manywere also Muslim. Both Diouf andHaselby write that a large number ofthem converted to Christianity andthose who didn’t, managed to remainMuslim. According to the Encyclopediaof American Religious History, therewere no mosques in the US until 1921.

Ahmad told me that his ancestorsbelonged to Senegal in Africa andarrived in South America as slaves inthe late 16th century on a Spanish ship.They escaped and reached Mexico,from where they moved to whatbecame Arizona in the US.

The history of South-AsianMuslims in the US is equally interest-ing. Professor of Religious StudiesKathleen Moore writes that the firstMuslims from South Asia arrived in theUS in the late 19th century. They wereall from areas constituting present-day

Pakistani and Indian Punjabs.According to Moore, these early

immigrants from South Asia weremostly Sikhs, but some among themwere also Muslims and Hindus.However, Moore adds that they wereall clubbed as Hindus by the Americanswho believed they followed the samefaith. They largely worked as hiredhands in agriculture and factories.Around 6,000 such South Asiansmigrated to the US between the late19th century and 1917, when the USCongress placed restrictions on migra-tions from India. In 1923, the USSupreme Court declared that Indianmigrants were not eligible for US cit-izenship because they were not White.Moore writes that since they continuedbeing called Hindu and faced racialattacks, some moved the courts toplead that they were descendants ofancient Aryans, and therefore shouldbe treated as Whites. The ploy did notwork. Restrictions on immigrationfrom South Asia were lifted in 1946.From 1947 onward, a majority of

South-Asian Muslims in the US arrivedfrom Pakistan. According to Moore,approximately 1,800 Pakistanis migrat-ed to the US between 1947 and 1965.Almost all of them were men. Andsince they were unable to bring wivesand children with them, many marriedLatin-American women in the US.When US immigration laws were fur-ther relaxed in 1965, the number ofPakistanis migrating there increasedmanifold. These also included youngPakistani men and women interestedin higher education in American uni-versities and colleges. According toMoore, these first groups of Pakistanimigrants did not exhibit any outwarddisplays of their faith and quicklyadopted “the American way of life.”

However, things in this contextbegan to gradually change from theearly 1980s. Palestinian ProfessorBishara Khader writes that one of thefactors that instilled a greater role ofreligion in the lives of Muslims inEurope was the fact that more andmore Muslim migrants began to

acquire wives from home. When thewives arrived in Europe and had chil-dren there, both parents began to adoptreligiosity, especially when their chil-dren entered their teens. They felt thiswould help them keep a check on theirchildren growing up in “permissive”societies. A similar thing happened inthe US.

Moore writes that even though thefirst groups of Pakistani migrantswere not very demonstrative abouttheir faith and had either becomeentirely Westernised or placed moreemphasis on their ethnic customs andcultures, the last batch of this genera-tion of migrants became conservativewhen their children reached school-going age. Impacted by the growth ofthe “politics of identity” in the US, thechildren grew up looking for theirroots. But instead of finding these rootsin Pakistan, as such, the children wereactually handed explanations in thiscontext by Islamist evangelical outfitsthat mushroomed in the US, especial-ly from the 1980s onwards.

Another factor behind the trans-formation was when the AmericanGovernment adopted the idea of mul-ticulturalism in the 1990s. This meantthat a group could exist with its owncultural ethos within a larger meta-cul-ture, without fully integrating. So thequestion of identity, Islamic evangelismand multiculturalism combined, espe-cially in the post-9/11 scenario, for sec-ond generation Pakistani migrants,who began to signal their identitythrough Islamic symbols.

This actually played out during mylunch with Ahmad. Later he informedme that the bar we were in was start-ed by a Pakistani named Humayun. Hehad migrated to the US in the 1960s,and started the bar in the early 1970s.In the mid-1980s, he suddenly sold thebar because of “community pressure.”So what happened to Humayun? “No,he didn’t end up in Afghanistan. He’sstill here in Virginia. But I don’t thinkhis children know that daddy onceowned a bar”, Ahmad smiled.

(Courtesy: Dawn)

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Page 8: ˘ ˇ˘ ˆ€¦ · Delhi. A doctor from Fortis Escorts Heart Institute, who was a resident of Batla House in south Delhi, recently died of the novel coronavirus infection. A 39-year-old

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Dhaka: With the monsoonsetting in and waters fromIndia rushing downstream,Bangladesh is facing a seriousthreat of floods that couldcause extensive damage tofarmlands across the deltanation’s vast northern regions,officials said Sunday.

The country’s FloodForecasting and WarningCenter said water levels in many rivers were continuingto rise, posing threats to flood protection embankmentsthat could burst, potentiallyaffecting hundreds of thou-sands of people in more than20 districts. AP

Kathmandu: The coronavirusinfection has spread to all the 77districts in Nepal with the detec-tion of 463 new COVID-19cases in the country, the healthministry said on Sunday.

The deadly virus has so farclaimed 28 lives in Nepal, healthministry spokespersonJageshwar Gautam said at hisdaily press briefing.

With the detection of 463new coronavirus cases in the last24 hours, the total tally nowstands at 12,772, he said. The

coronavirus has now spread toall the 77 districts in the coun-try, the ministry said. As manyas 179 coronavirus patients,including 13 women, were dis-charged from hospitals, takingthe total number of recoveriesto 3,013. As on Sunday, 9,731COVID-19 patients wereundergoing treatment at differ-ent health facilities across Nepal.Health authorities have so farconducted 2,15,839 coronavirustests, including 4,962 in the last24 hours, the ministry said. PTI

London: Ireland’s Indian-ori-gin Prime Minister, LeoVaradkar, has stepped down tomake way for new Irish PrimeMinister Micheál Martin aspart of a historic coalition dealwhich will see him return as thePM in over two years’ time.

The office of Taoiseach, asthe Irish PM is known, is to

rotate between Ireland’s twocentrist parties — Varadkar’sFine Gael and Martin’s FiannaFail — after they agreed ambi-tious climate targets to seal apower-sharing deal with theGreen Party this week.

Martin is expected to leadIreland until December 2022,when Varadkar is expected to

take over again as Taoiseach.“My first official duties as

Tanaiste [Deputy Head] today.Commemorating theConnaught Rangers who, onehundred years ago, mutinied inIndia in support of Irish inde-pendence,” said Varadkar in hisfirst Twitter message as the newIrish deputy on Sunday. PTI

Beijing: China’s legislature onSunday began reviewing a con-troversial national security billfor Hong Kong that criticsworldwide say will severelycompromise human rights inthe semi-autonomous Chineseterritory.

The National People’sCongress Standing Committeetook up the matter at the startof a three-day session, China’sofficial Xinhua News Agencyreported. China has said it isdetermined to enact the law, andits passage is expected byTuesday.

The US says it will respondby ending favorable tradingterms granted to the formerBritish colony after it passed toChinese control in 1997. TheSenate on Thursday unani-mously approved a bill toimpose sanctions on business-es and individuals — includingthe police — that undermineHong Kong’s autonomy orrestrict freedoms promised tothe city’s residents.

The Senate bill targetspolice units that have crackeddown on Hong Kong protesters,as well as Chinese CommunistParty officials responsible forimposing the national securitylaw. The measure also wouldimpose sanctions on banks thatdo business with entities foundto violate the law.

Last week, a former UnitedNations human rights chief andeight former UN special envoysurged the body’s secretary-gen-eral to appoint a special envoyon Hong Kong over what theysaid is a pending “humanitari-an tragedy.”

Britain has said it wouldgrant passports to as many as 3million of Hong Kong’s 7.8million people.

Beijing has denounced allsuch moves as gross interferencein its internal affairs.

The law would criminalizesecession, subversion of statepower, terrorist activities andcolluding with foreign forces toendanger national security.

Critics say Hong Kong’s legalstatutes already account forsuch matters and that Beijing isdetermined to use the law topursue political opponents.

The central government inBeijing also would set up anational security office in HongKong to collect and analyzeintelligence and deal with crim-inal cases related to nationalsecurity.

Few details have beenreleased, but it appears thatBeijing will have ultimatepower over governmentappointments, further reducingthe relative independence itpromised to Hong Kong in a1984 joint declaration withBritain that is considered aninternational treaty.The mea-sures have been widely seen asthe most significant erosion todate of Hong Kong’s British-style rule of law and highdegree of autonomy that Chinapromised Hong Kong wouldhave under a “one country, twosystems” principle. AP

Dubai: An expiring UnitedNations weapons embargo onIran must remain in place to pre-vent it from “becoming thearms dealer of choice for rogueregimes and terrorist organiza-tions around the world,” the USspecial representative to Iran saidSunday.

Brian Hook told TheAssociated Press that the worldshould ignore Iran’s threats toretaliate if the arms embargoset to expire in October isextended, calling it a “mafiatactic.” Among its options, theIslamic Republic could expelinternational inspectors mon-itoring Iran’s nuclear program,deepening a crisis created byPresident Trump unilaterallywithdrawing from Tehran’s2015 atomic accord with glob-al powers.

The UN arms embargo sofar has stopped Iran from pur-chasing fighter jets, tanks, war-ships and other weaponry, buthas failed to halt its smugglingof weapons into war zones.Despite that, Hook argued bothan import and export ban onTehran must remain in place tosecure the wider Mideast.

“If we let it expire, you can

be certain that what Iran hasbeen doing in the dark, it will doin broad daylight and thensome,” Hook said. Iran’s missionto the United Nations did notimmediately respond to arequest for comment on Hook’sremarks. Hook made the com-ments while on a visit to AbuDhabi, the capital of the US-allied United Arab Emirates, aspart of a Mideast tour. Hook metSaturday with Emirati ForeignMinister Abdullah bin Zayed AlNahyan and planned Sunday tomeet with other officials. Hookdeclined to say where else hewould travel on his trip.

Hook spoke to AP journal-ists in Dubai via videoconfer-ence as Abu Dhabi’s bordersremain closed to the UAE’s sixother sheikhdoms over the coro-navirus pandemic. The UnitedNations banned Iran from buy-ing major foreign weapon sys-tems in 2010 amid tensionsover its nuclear program. Thatblocked Iran from replacing itsaging equipment, much ofwhich had been purchased bythe shah before the 1979 IslamicRevolution. An earlier embargotargeted Iranian arms exports.

AP

Jackson (US): Spectators at theMississippi Capitol broke intoapplause Saturday as lawmakerstook the first steps toward eras-ing the Confederate battleemblem from the state flag, asymbol that has come underintensifying criticism in recentweeks amid nationwide protestsagainst racial injustice.

“The eyes of the state, thenation and indeed the world areon this House,” the second-ranking office in the MississippiHouse, Jason White, told his col-leagues.

The House voted by morethan the required two-thirdsmajority to suspend legislativedeadlines and file a bill tochange the flag. The Senate wasexpect to vote on the suspensionlater Saturday. That would allowdebate on a bill as soon asSunday.

Republican Gov. TateReeves said Saturday for the firsttime that he would sign a bill tochange the flag if theR e p u b l i c a n - c o n t r o l l e d

Legislature sends him one. Hehad previously said that hewould not veto one — a morepassive stance.

“The legislature has beendeadlocked for days as it con-siders a new state flag,” Reevessaid on social media.

“The argument over the1894 flag has become as divisiveas the flag itself and it’s time toend it. If they send me a bill thisweekend, I will sign it.” A billwill only need a simple major-ity to pass the House and Senate.It will say that the current flagwill be removed from state law.

A commission woulddesign a new flag that cannotinclude the Confederate battleemblem but must include thephrase “In God We Trust.”The new design would be puton the ballot Nov. 3. If a major-ity voting that day accept thenew design, it would becomethe state flag. If a majority rejectit, the commission woulddesign a new flag using thesame guidelines. AP

Taipei: The Taiwanese capitalheld its annual LGBT prideparade on Sunday, making itone of the few places in theworld to proceed with such anevent in the face of the coro-navirus pandemic.

The parade in Taipei hasdrawn tens of thousands ofpeople in the past, but partic-ipant numbers on Sunday werereduced by both virus con-cerns and heavy rain.

Still, those who did takepart said it was a testamentboth to Taiwan’s ability to con-tain the pandemic and its com-mitment to rights for people ofall sexual orientations.

Taiwan is the only place in Asia where same-sex marriage is legal, and its liberal political system has long promoted human rights,free speech and freedom ofassembly.

American student LorenCouse, 28, said Taipei’s abilityto hold the parade was “reallyimpressive.” “I think Taiwan hasdone a really good job so far,and I am really proud of livinghere, not only because it’s soopen to people like myself, thegay community, but alsobecause I think it’s such anexample for the world andhow to handle the pandemic sofar,” Couse said. AP

Washington: The number ofCovid-19 cases in the US hassurged to over 2.5 million, asthe country witnessed a recentuptick in the number of infec-tions, prompting many states toconsider reopening theireconomies and to imposestricter restrictions to curb thevirus spread.

As of Sunday morning,the overall number of con-firmed COVID-19 cases stoodat 2,510,092, while the deathtoll increased to 125,539,according to the Johns HopkinsUniversity.

The tallies currentlyaccount for the world’s highestboth in terms of cases and fatal-ities.

More than 42,000 newcases were reported nationwideas of Saturday, the second dayin a row that the daily increasehas surged to above 40,000,Xinhua news agencyquotedThe Washington Post assaying in a report.

The states of Arizona,Arkansas, Delaware, Florida,Idaho, Louisiana, Maine,Nevada, New Mexico, NorthCarolina, Texas andWashington have either rolledback or paused their reopeningplans due to a sudden spike inthe number of cases.

On Saturday, Washingtonstate Governor Jay Insleeannounced the suspension of

counties looking to move intothe Phase 4 of reopening due toan increase in the number ofnew COVID-19 cases.

“We all want to get back todoing all the things we love inWashington during the sum-mer, and fully open our econ-omy, but we aren’t there yet,”Inslee said in a statement.

“This is an evolving situa-tion and we will continue tomake decisions based on thedata.”

Washington is taking aphased approach to reopening,allowing some counties to

reopen before others.Phase 4 would resume

recreational activities and allowfor gatherings of more than 50people, according to the state’s“Safe Start” plan.

For the third time in thefour days, Florida set a newdaily record for novel coron-avirus cases with more than9,500 confirmed on Saturday.

The 9,585 new COVID-19cases brought the state’s total to132,545, according to figuresreleased by the FloridaDepartment of Health.

The Department of Health

Services of Arizona reported3,591 new cases Saturdaymorning, pushing the tally inthe western state to 70,051.

The new lab-confirmedcases number, which jumpedby 5.4 per cent from the previ-ous 24 hours, exposed part ofthe worrisome landscape thatArizona is facing to contain thepandemic.

Texas also set a record forcoronavirus-related hospital-izations for the 16th consecu-tive day on Saturday, with5,523 patients currently beingtreated, reported The

Washington Post.Hospitalizations have risen

rapidly since Memorial Day,when there were 1,511COVID-19 patients in thestate’s hospitals.

Meanwhile, New Yorkstate, once the epicentre of thepandemic in the US, reported391,923 cases and 31,362deaths, both tallies the highest

in the state.But the state’s COVID-19

test positivity rate has droppedto around 1 per cent, the low-est among the country’s bigstates, according to New YorkGovernor Andrew Cuomo.

Other states with over100,000 cases includeCalifornia, New Jersey, Illinoisand Massachusetts. IANS

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Washington: For many statesand counties in the U.S., the darkdays of the coronavirus pan-demic in April unfolded ontheir television screens, not ontheir doorsteps. But now, someplaces that appeared to haveavoided the worst are seeingsurges of infections, as worriesshift from major cities to ruralareas.

While much of the focus ofconcerns that the United Statesis entering a dangerous newphase has been on big Sunbeltstates that are reporting thou-sands of new cases a day — likeTexas and Florida — the wor-rying trend is also happening inplaces like Kansas, where live-stock outnumber people.

In early June, Kansas looked

to be bringing its outbreakunder control, but its dailyreported case numbers havemore than doubled in recentweeks. On June 5, the seven-dayaverage for daily new cases hov-ered at around 96; by Friday, thatfigure was 211. As cases rise, theU.S. Army commander at FortRiley in the state’s northeastordered his soldiers to stay outof a popular nearby restaurantand bar district after 10 p.m.

Idaho and Oklahoma haveseen similarly large percentageincreases over the same three-week period, albeit from lowstarting points. In Oklahoma,the seven-day average for dailynew cases climbed from about81 to 376; Idaho’s jumped fromaround 40 to 160. AP

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21�������������������'�� ���������������������&�-�����*���&����������������&�London: The UK governmenton Sunday said it is planning toimpose localised lockdownsin some regions showing aspike in coronavirus infec-tions, as latest figures showedthat Indian-origin peopleremain in the category of thosehardest hit from the deadlyvirus among Britain’s ethnicminorities.

Home Secretary Priti Patelconfirmed as “correct” thereports of the first such locallockdown for Leicester, a region

in eastern England with a largeIndian-origin population.

“We have seen flare-upsacross the country already, justin the last three or four weeksin particular. There will be sup-port going into Leicester,” saidPatel.

“With local flare-ups it isright we have a localised solu-tion in terms of infection con-trol, social distancing, testingand many of the tools actuallywithin the Public HealthEngland space that will come

together to control the virusand to stop the spread so wecan get on top of the infection,”she said.

Patel’s confirmation cameas England has seen an over-all fall in the daily death tolland prepares to substantiallylift its lockdown restrictionsfrom July 4, when bars, restau-rants and cinemas will begin toopen up to public access amidCovid-secure guidelines of safedistancing and hygienic con-ditions. PTI

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The Sri Lankan governmenton Sunday completely lift-

ed a curfew imposed to containthe spread of the coronavirusafter no new case of communityinfection was recorded for near-ly two months in the country.

Sri Lanka has been under acontinuous lockdown sinceMarch 20, a week after the firstlocal victim of the pandemic

was reported. Initially, a nation-wide blanket curfew wasimposed but it was later easedfor about two-thirds of thecountry and was mostly con-fined to nighttime.

The government hadordered partial opening ofoffices and businesses mid-May. From early June, therestrictions were further relaxedwith public transport beingallowed.

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New Delhi: The Country’slargest power generator- NTPCLtd. with a group installedcapacity of 62110 MW, declaredthe financial results for FY20along with the unaudited finan-cial results for Q4 FY20 on 27June 2020.

In FY20, NTPC hasrecorded the highest ever com-mercial capacity addition of8260 MW which includesacquisition of 2970 MW capac-ity of THDC and NEEPCO.The gross generation of NTPCGroup for FY20 was 290.19Billion units as against 305.90Billion units during the previ-ous year.

In addition, the gross gen-eration of THDC & NEEPCOwas 10.91 Billion Units. OnStandalone basis, the grossgeneration of NTPC for FY20was 259.62 Billion units asagainst 274.45 Billion units inthe previous year.

Coal stations achieved a

Plant Load Factor of 68.20% asagainst National Average of55.89% with an availabilityfactor of 89.67%.

For FY20, the total incomecrossed the one lakh croremark and was �100,478.41crore as against �92,179.56crore in FY19, registering anincrease of 9%.

For Q4 FY20, total incomewas �28,278.75 crore as against�22,545.61 crore in Q4 FY19,registering an increase of25.43%.

Profit before tax was �14,465.92 crore in FY20 asagainst �12,672.52 crore inFY19 registering an increase of14.15%. For Q4 FY20, PBTwas �4,383.77 crore, as againstRs 3,537.17 crore in Q4 FY19registering an increase of23.93%.

Profit after tax was ?10,112.81 crore in FY20 asagainst �11,749.89 crore inFY19.

'�%�� +80� 893:

India will block the requestsof Japan and Chinese Taipei

for setting up of a dispute set-tlement panel at the WorldTrade Organization (WTO)against New Delhi’s customsduties on imports of certaininformation and communica-tions technology (ICT) prod-ucts, an official said.

The requests of both thecountries are scheduled tocome up on Monday in the dis-pute settlement body meetingin Geneva and “we will blockit”, the official added.

According to the trade dis-pute norms of the WTO, ifthese countries would comewith their requests for secondtime, the panel will be set up inthe case.

In May last year, both thecountries filed a case againstIndia in the WTO over theimport duties imposed on cer-tain electronic goods, includingtelephones for cellular net-works; machines for recep-tion, conversion and transmis-sion or regeneration of voice,images or other data; and partsof telephone sets.

They have alleged thatimposition of import duties onthese products by Indiainfringes WTO norms as Indiahas committed zero per centbound tariffs on these prod-ucts. India has stronglyopposed these allegations.

While bound tariffs or

duties refer to the ceiling overwhich a WTO member coun-try cannot impose import duty,the applied tariff is the dutywhich is currently in place.

India has stated that theseICT products are part ofWTO’s InformationTechnology Products (ITA-2)agreement, and New Delhi isnot part of this pact. India is apart of ITA-1, signed in 1997,in which it did not contain anyobligation to eliminate cus-toms duties on these products.

According to the minutesof the meeting of the disputesettlement body, which washeld in February and March,India had stated that it was fullycommitted to its ITA-1 com-mitment and had been abidingby it over the years.

India wished to reiteratethat it had not intended tocommit, and would not com-mit, to any obligations beyondthe scope of India’s ITA-1 com-mitment and it has maintainedthat the products arising out oftechnological progressioncould not be covered by ITA-1, the minutes had said.

“It was evident from aWTO document...That India

had made it very clear at thetime of undertaking commit-ments under ITA-1 that Indiareserved the right to maketechnical changes to its sched-ule and to correct any errors,omissions or inaccuracies,” ithad added.

Citing examples, they havestated that India applies a 20per cent duty on products liketelephones for cellular net-works, which clearly “exceeds”the applicable bound rate ofzero per cent set forth in India’sschedule.

A WTO member countrycan file a dispute if it perceivesthat another country’s tradepolicies or actions are violatingglobal trade norms and impact-ing their localindustry.According to the glob-al trade rules, seeking consul-tation is the first step of disputesettlement process.

If the bilateral consulta-tions do not result in a satis-factory solution, the com-plainant can request the WTOto set up a dispute panel to passa ruling on the matter.

In this case, as the con-sultations have not yieldedpositive results, Japan andChinese Taipei haveapproached the WTO to set upthe panel. Even after establish-ment of a panel, it would takeabout 1-1.5 years to come withthe ruling.

Due to the COVID-19pandemic, the passing of theruling may take more time.

'�%�� +80� 893:

The World Bank on Sundaysaid its Board of Executive

Directors has approved $ 500million (about �3,700 crore)loan to improve quality andgovernance of school educationin six Indian states. The boardapproved a loan forStrengthening Teaching-Learning and Results for StatesProgram (STARS) on June 24,2020, the World Bank said ina statement.”Some 250 millionstudents (between the age of 6and 17) in 1.5 million schools,and over 10 million teacherswill benefit from the program.The STARS program builds onthe long partnership betweenIndia and the World Bank(since 1994), for strengtheningpublic school education and tosupport the country’s goal ofproviding Education for All,” itsaid.

Prior to STARS, the bankhad provided a total assistanceof more than �3 billion towardsthis goal.At the national level,through the Samagra Shiksha,and in partnership with thestates of Himachal Pradesh,Kerala, Madhya Pradesh,Maharashtra, Odisha, andRajasthan, it said.

'�%�� +80� 893:

Power producers’ total out-standing dues owed by dis-

tribution firms rose nearly 63per cent to �1.23 lakh crore inApril 2020 over the samemonth previous year, reflectingstress in the sector.

Distribution companies(discoms) owed a total of �75,642 crore to power genera-tion firms in April 2019,according to portal PRAAPTI(Payment Ratification AndAnalysis in Power procure-ment for bringingTransparency in Invoicing ofgenerators).

The portal was launched inMay 2018 to bring in trans-parency in power purchasetransactions between the gen-erators and discoms.

In April 2020, the totaloverdue amount, which wasnot cleared even after 60 daysof grace period offered by gen-erators, stood at �1,08,487crore as against �58,200 crorein the same month of the pre-ceding year.

According to the latest dataon the portal, total outstandingdues in April has increased overthe preceding month. In March2020, the total dues of discomsstood at �1,13,048 crore.

The overdue amount inApril 2020 also increased from�1,01,181 crore in March2020.

Power producers give 60days to discoms for paying billsfor the supply of electricity.After that, outstanding duesbecome overdue and genera-

tors charge penal interest onthat in most cases.

In order to give relief topower generation companies(gencos), the Centre enforceda payment security mecha-nism from August 1, 2019.

Under this mechanism,discoms are required to openletters of credit for gettingpower supply.

The central Governmenthad given moratorium to dis-coms for paying dues to powergenerating companies (gen-cos) in view of COVID-19-induced lockdown.

The Government had alsowaived the penal charges forlate payment of dues in thedirective.

Last month, theGovernment announced �90,000 crore liquidity infusionfor discoms under which theseutilities would get loan at eco-nomical rates from PowerFinance Corporation and RECLtd. This was an initiative of theGovernment to help gencos toremain afloat.

Discoms in Rajasthan,Uttar Pradesh, Jammu &Kashmir, Telangana, AndhraPradesh, Karnataka andTamil Nadu account for themajor portion of dues topower gencos, the datashowed.

Overdues of independentpower producers amount to 37per cent of the total overdue of�1,08,387 crore of discoms inJanuary.

The proportion of centralPSU gencos in the overdue was35.47 per cent.

'�%�� +80� 893:

The answer to calls for boy-cotting Chinese imports

lies in making Indian manu-facturing much more competitive, deeper and wide-spread, but people shouldremember that shunning prod-ucts from the neighbouringcountry may lead to them pay-ing more for goods, Maruti Suzuki Chairman RCBhargava said.

While stating that import-ing continuously for long peri-od “is not really in anybody’scommercial interest”, Bhargavaalso asserted that certain prod-ucts continue to be imported asthere is “little choice in the mat-ter” due to their non-availabil-ity in India, or because ofquality and pricing issues.

“Everybody knows thatimporting products over timeactually becomes more andmore expensive as the rupeegets weaker. If you wereimporting something 10 yearsago, the same product todaywill cost 60-70% higher...

“So it is not really in any-body’s commercial interest tocontinue to import, you importbecause you really have littlechoice in the matter,” Bhargavatold PTI in an interview.

'�%�� +80� 893:

Tightening import norms,India will check all power

equipment bought from Chinafor malware and Trojan hors-es that can be potentially usedto trigger electricity grid fail-ures to cripple economic activ-ity in the country, PowerMinister RK Singh said.

India has in the recentdays taken steps to imposestringent quality control mea-sures and higher tariffs ongoods from China as it looks toboost domestic manufacturingto cut reliance on imports.

In an interview to PTI,Singh said his renewable ener-gy ministry has proposedimposing customs duties onsome solar power equipmentstarting August 1 as part of thecountry’s goal of becomingself-sufficient.

“Power is a very sensitiveand strategic sector for anycountry.

Electricity runs all indus-tries, communication systemsand all databases includingstrategic ones and so we haveto guard it against any sabotageby countries which are adver-saries or possible adversaries,”he said. “We want to build afirewall.”

'�%�� +80� 893:

Industry body COAI hasurged the Government for

urgent rationalisation of “highburden” of regulatory levies ontelecom service providers(TSPs), including a cut in spec-trum charges and licence fee, asit cited adverse impact of theCOVID-19 pandemic on thesector. In a letter to FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharaman,the Cellular Operators’Association of India (COAI)also made a plea for refund ofthe unutilised input tax creditimmediately.

“Else, we request that softloan at MCLR rate (marginalcost of funding-based lendingrate) should be given to com-panies, using the GST inputcredit as collateral,” COAIDirector General RajanMathews said in the letterdated June 26.

The association has alsourged the Government to ratio-nalise the “high burden of theregulatory levies on the TSPswith immediate effect” citing“the adverse impact on theeconomy and operations ofthe digital communication

industry due to the COVID-19pandemic”.

“The effective rate of thespectrum usage charge (SUC)should be reduced by 3 per centfor all the telecom serviceproviders...Licence fee contri-bution should be immediatelybrought down from 8 per centto 3 per cent,” Mathews said.

On the issue of good andservice tax (GST) or service tax,COAI said levy of GST shouldbe exempted on licence fees,SUC and payment of spectrumacquired in auctions.

“Exempt service tax onamount of licence fee/spec-trum usage charges payable bytelecom operators in compli-ance with...Supreme Courtorder,” COAI said. COAI high-lighted that it represents allleading telecom serviceproviders, network equipmentmanufacturers, e-commerce,digital content providers, infra-structure providers and tech-nology partners.All leadingplayers in these sectors, includ-ing Reliance Jio, Vodafone Idea,Bharti Airtel, Nokia, Ericsson,Sterlite, Indus, Cisco, Facebook,Google, Amazon, are membersof COAI.

'�%�� +80� 893:

Regulator Irdai has invitedthe public to come up with

names for three insurance poli-cies keeping in view the needsand aspirations of the targetgroup.

The Insurance Regulatoryand Development Authorityof India (Irdai) has soughtnames for standard productsfor dwellings and small busi-nesses in the segment of‘Standard Fire and SpecialPerils’.

It has announced an awardof �10,000 each and a citationfor suggesting appropriatenames. The names shouldconvey the objective of the pol-

icy which is to provide a pro-tective shield to dwelling unitsand small businesses from cat-astrophic events, largely floods.

“Recognising the impor-tance of having appropriatenames for the proposed stan-dard products that wouldappeal to the targeted individ-uals/entities, theAuthority...Invites suggestionsfrom the public for suitablenames for the products.

“While suggesting names,relevance, simplicity and easeof recall may be kept in mindin addition to the Pan-Indiausage,” it said.

The three policies forwhich names are being soughtare - policy covering dwellingsfor any sum insured; policycovering micro commercialentities having value at risk atany one location not exceeding�5 crore; and policy coveringsmall commercial entities thathave value at risk not exceed-ing �50 crore across all insur-able asset classes at any onelocation. Participants arerequired to send their entries toIrdai by July 10. Earlier thisweek, it named the policy relat-

ing to the treatment ofCOVID-19 as ‘Corona KavachPolicy’. Meanwhile, Irdai hasissued an advisory on COVID19-related phishing attack cam-paigns.

Phishing refers to datatheft by internet attackers pos-ing as accredited entities.

The Indian ComputerEmergency Response Team(CERT-In) had recently issuedan advisory to guard againstlarge-scale phishing attacksagainst Indian individuals andbusinesses. All insurers andregulated entities are advised toalert their staff to exerciseextreme caution to preventany such malicious activities,Irdai said.

'�%�� +80� 893:

The Government hasallowed individuals under

new lower tax regime to claimI-T exemption on conveyanceallowance received fromemployers.

The Central Board ofDirect Taxes (CBDT) has nowamended Income Tax rules toprescribe certain exemptionswhich can be availed by theemployees.These include anyallowance granted to meet thecost of travel on tour or on

transfer, any allowance,whether, granted on tour or forthe period of journey in con-nection with transfer, to meetthe ordinary daily chargesincurred by an employee onaccount of absence from hisnormal place of duty.

It also includes exemptionfor any allowance granted tomeet the expenditure incurredon conveyance in performanceof duties of an office or employ-ment of profit, provided thatfree conveyance is not provid-ed by the employer.

The CBDT has furtherclarified that while determin-ing value of perquisites, noexemption will be available inrespect of free food and non-alcoholic beverage providedby employer through paidvoucher.

Further, blind, deaf anddumb or orthopedically hand-icap employees can also claimad-hoc exemption of trans-port allowance of �3,200 permonth while computingsalaried income.

Offering an optional lower

rate of income tax to individ-uals, Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman in herBudget for 2020-21 proposednew optional tax regimeunder section 115BAC of I-TAct for individuals willing toforego certain specif ieddeductions or exemptionswhile computing total incomefor tax purpose.

Under this, annual incomeup to �2.5 lakh is exempt fromtax. Those individuals earningbetween � 2.5 lakh and � 5 lakhwill pay 5 per cent tax.

'�%�� +80� 893:

Reversing the three-monthselling streak in June, for-

eign portfolio investors (FPIs)pumped in a net �21,235 crorein domestic markets amidincreasing liquidity and grad-ual opening up of economy.

According to data fromdepositories, FPIs invested �22,893 crore into equities butpulled out � 1,658 crore fromthe debt segment, taking thetotal net investment to � 21,235crore between June 1 and June26. Prior to this, foreigninvestors remained net sellersfor three consecutive months.They pulled out a net �7,366crore in May, �15,403 crore inApril and a record �1.1 lakhcrore in March.

“FPIs are increasing theirinvestments in small- and mid-cap stocks that they werealready investing in for over ayear now,” said Harsh Jain, co-founder and chief operatingofficer at Groww, said.

India has emerged as thebest-performing equity marketin the past three months andthis is certainly adding toIndia’s appeal as an invest-ment destination, he added.

He further said India hasdone well in contact-tracing ofpatients, which is helping openup the economy.

“Currently, the valuationsare still compressed and equi-ties are attractively priced,which is a good buying oppor-

tunity. With a relatively long-term

investment horizon, Indianequities could be a good invest-ment option for FPIs especial-ly once the COVID-19 crisis isresolved and the current mar-ket trend reverses,” HimanshuSrivastava, associate director-manager research atMorningstar India, said.

In addition to that,increased liquidity in the glob-al markets will also pave its wayinto the emerging markets,with India also benefiting,Srivastava added.

The Indian financial mar-kets will continue to witnessrotational trend with respect toforeign flows. One can expectbouts of sharp net inflows andoutflows by FPIs in the Indianfinancial markets, dependingon their changing opinion andglobal trends, he said.

%� ��� 18:5:+,

The profits of China’s majorindustrial companies

dropped by 19.3 per cent yearon year between January andMay this year due to the impactof the COVID-19 pandemic,the National Bureau ofStatistics (NBS) said.Accordingto the NBS, industrial profitsstood at 1.84 trillion yuan($260 billion) for the first fivemonths of the year, reports Efenews.The figure is less than theprojections offered by analysts,who had predicted a 22 percent fall in profits during thisperiod.

The indicator is based onthe results of industrial firmswith annual revenues above 20million yuan. Of the 41 indus-trial sectors surveyed by theNBS, 30 registered a drop inprofits between January andMay, one managed to retain thesame profit while 10 witnessedtheir earnings rise.

New Delhi: NHPC Limited,India’s premier hydropowercompany and a ‘Mini Ratna’Category-I Enterprise of theGovernment of India hasdeclared its Audited FinancialResults for the Financial Year2019-20. The Board ofDirectors approved the AuditedFinancial Results for FY 19-20in the e-meeting held on June27, 2020 at Faridabad.

NHPC has reported netprofit after tax of �3,007.17Crore on standalone basis inthe FY 2019-20 compared to �2,630.55 crore for the last fis-cal year. Sales for the FY 2019-20 stood at �8,735.41 crore to� 8,161.18 crore in the last fis-cal year. Consolidated profit for2019-20 stood at �3,324.72crore before non-controllinginterest compared to �2,835.79crore in 2018-19. Consolidatedtotal income of the company in2019-20 is �10,776.64 crore asagainst �9,846.81 crore in 2018-19.

NHPC Power Stationsachieved highest ever genera-tion of 26121 Million Units

(MU) in FY 2019-20 as com-pared to 24193 MUS in FY2018-19.

The Board of Directorshave also recommended finaldividend of �0.32 /- per sharefor Financial Year 19-20 inaddition to interim dividend of�1.18/- per share already paidby the Company in March2020. The total dividend pay-out for FY 19-20 is �1,506.76crore as compared to total div-idend payout of �1,466.58crore for FY 18-19. NHPC,today has about seven lakhshareholders.

AK Singh, CMD, NHPCsaid, “NHPC has set a target of10,000 MW installed capacityby 2022 and 13,000 MWinstalled capacity by 2024 fromits current installed capacity of7071.2 MW. In addition, wehave pan-India plans to expandNHPC’s solar and wind powerportfolio alongwith its corebusiness of hydropower devel-opment and we are striving toachieve additional solar capac-ity of 5,000 MW by 2022through these sources.”

NHPC is currently on anaggressive expansion modeand has established dialogueswith concerned authoritiesacross all levels towards explor-ing newer avenues for devel-opment of Hydropower, Solarand Wind projects. NHPCrecently held meeting withGovernment of HimachalPradesh for execution of 449MW Dugar HydroelectricProject, 260 MW Sach Khas,130 MW Rashil and 104 MWTandi in the state. A meetingwas also held with Governmentof Sikkim for execution of 500MW Teesta-VI, 120 MWRangit-IV and 520 MW Teesta-IV to be executed by NHPC.NHPC has recently signed anMOU with HydropowerInvestment and DevelopmentCompany Limited, Nepal forjointly developing hydropow-er projects in Nepal. NHPC hasalso held meetings with topofficials for development ofsolar projects in AndhraPradesh, Uttar Pradesh andUnion Territory of Ladakh andexploring in Rajasthan also.

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In view of the danger ofKovid 19 infection, the

Ghaziabad DevelopmentAuthority has selected theHindi Bhawan at Lohia Nagarinstead of the GDA complexfor auction of properties.

In this link, industrial plotsof Madhuban Bapudham andIndraprastha Yojana were auc-tioned today, in which thehighest bid of 11 plots wasmade, in this auction the GDAhas earned �12 crore.

This information was givenby GDA Secretary SantoshKumar Rai.

He said that following thesocial disputes in the auction,complete transparency hasbeen taken under the supervi-sion of a committee. Not onlythis, the entire video graph ofthe auction process has alsobeen sung.

The Auction Committeeconsists of the Chief Engineerof GDA, Chief City Planner,Special Officer etc.

He said that earlier the auc-tion process used to take placein the auditorium room of theGDA, but keeping in view thesocial disturbance, the venue ofthe auction has been changedto a large space Hindi Bhawan.

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Imagine a frozen landscape, anabsolute white blanket with no signof life anywhere, except for an occa-

sional reindeer. After just a few weeks,the sun came out. Then it rose highereach day. The snow started melting,flowers and insects burst out bright whilebirds arrived from different parts ofEurope. And the desolate patch of landturned a vibrant green.

Set in three of the most seasonallychangeable landscapes on earth, the newseries on Sony BBC Earth, SeasonalWonderlands, reveals the stunning trans-formations that occur each year and howwildlife copes with them. In Svalbard,one can follow the transformation froma dark, frozen winter to the rich Tundra,home to birds, Arctic foxes, polar bears,walrus and reindeer. In the OkavangoDelta, the film reveals how the yearlyflood not only transforms the landscapeand impacts the lives of the animals thatlive here but also creates an extraordi-nary delta. And in New England, as thevivid greens of summer give way to theblazing reds of the fall, the final filmshows how the trees work hand in handwith the forest’s inhabitants to create thisvibrant fiesta. We talk to Paul Williams,the wildlife TV director and producer ofthe first episode:

� How did you conceptualise theseries?

We have been making a small seriesabout Nature’s changing shades acrossthe different parts of the world such asMexico and Amsterdam for quite a fewyears now. We wanted to do somethingdifferent with this three-part seriesincluding New England, Okavango andSvalbard. And the thought of seasonalchange was quite fascinating to me.There was a story to be told. Seasons indifferent parts of the world change in dif-ferent ways. We, thereafter, researchedmore about it and found the places peo-ple would love to travel. Based on ourown experience, we found these threelocations have interesting insights andmany stories to share. New England isabout forests and changes in life there,Svalbard is about a frozen landscape withbarely anything moving. This series is allabout life transformation, animal inter-action and personal connection. Wewant to connect everything, from tinylittle creatures to great changers. It isabout how life changes within seconds.

� What are some of the remarkablefinds you chanced upon while filmingthis series?

We are all naturalists and love to digdeep into the natural world. We havecome across many different things,which were stories naturally connectedto each other. One of the things Ifound most surprising is how connect-ed animals are to the changing seasons.It’s interesting how a single place couldgive remarkable stories. From the bondbetween animals to the changing nature,all were vibrating positivity. When we

were in the forests in New England, wewere starving and wanted to come outof shade, and it required a lot of patiencebut the positive vibes over there let usdo everything with our heart for the restof the world to see. I personally lovedhow people were connected to eachother and were involved in giving theirbest for the series. These were themoments where I would pinch myself,where we are enjoying the wonders ofnature closer, capturing those momentsfor the rest of the world to see. It’s aboutshowing people the wonders of our plan-et.

� The series is set in three of the mostseasonally changeable landscapes onearth. Can you explain how these sea-sonal transformations affect thewildlife there?

Fundamentally, these changes areabout animal reproduction and theyneed to fine tune with nature. So inSvalbard, for example, when changeoccurs, the entire landscape was frozen,there was no life anywhere, except foroccasional reindeer. After just a fewweeks, the sun rose higher each day andthe snow started melting, flowers andinsects came out, birds arrived from dif-ferent parts of Europe. This was thechange that we saw, a frozen land trans-forming into a green world. It wasincredibly romantic and the timing wasperfect. There is a chain reaction thathappens. In New England, when snowmelts and trees start growing leaves, awoodpecker arrives and when you hearwoodpeckers and hummingbirds, that’swhen you know that spring is on its way.That’s what we wanted to capture,everything from tiny to big landscapechanges.

� What were the challenges and dif-ficulties faced while shooting theseries?

One of the biggest challenges that wehave faced is how to make a story aboutlittle creatures, how to narrate thatstory to the audience and most impor-tantly and how to use technology. I per-sonally went back to capture changes andit was quite difficult for me because hadI missed even a single element, then thewhole shoot could go down, so timingwas very important. Apart from this, westruggled to get intimate shots and to getthat, it requires a lot of patience. We werein the wood castle and sometimes weeven climbed trees. We also made holes

in trees to set up our cameras but eachmoment was worth it. We really cher-ished all those moments and put ourheart to it. People can totally relate to theshow and feel the essence of it.

� How is this show different from theother shows you have worked on?What should the audience look for-ward to in this series?

I think the three places that werechosen are what many people would loveto visit. And what we wanted to do wasshow a very intimate portrayal of thoseseasonal changes and connections. Soit was one of those rare opportunitiesfor the viewer to completely immersethemselves and fall in love with nature.

They can escape to these magnificentplaces. Most of the series I have madehave been global, where we travel allaround the world and film different ani-mals. But here, you have a story of theseforests and how they change. Every sin-gle moment of the film is part of thebigger picture. So I feel people can sitand enjoy the changes and see it them-selves.

As there is so much happening inthe world with people facing too muchnegativity. This show is a chance toescape. It helps you to see nature andits richness. Take an hour from yourroutine, remain stress free, so that youcan enjoy nature being at home andremain positive.

The latest show, Aarya, directed byRam Madhvani, has successfully

managed to rule the hearts of the entirenation. Actor Salman Khan took tosocial media to praise the Sushmita Sen-starrer web series. He calls her Dabangg.Recently, popular television actors likeDivyanka Tripathi, Mohsin Khan, HinaKhan and Prince Narula also participat-ed in the #Aaryadialoguebaazi challenge.

The Hotstar Specials’ web series isan adaptation of Dutch drama Penoza,which revolves around Aarya Sareen(played by Sushmita Sen), who takes itupon herself to get to the bottom of thetruth and bring the culprit to justice afterher husband Tej Sareen (played byChandrachur Singh) is murdered by amasked man. But everyone in the serieshas secrets of their own. Aarya is reluc-tant to be involved in the illegal narcoticsfamily business. But her life suddenlyturns upside down as her family is beingthreatened. In the quest to protectthem, she is forced to become the veryperson she always avoided. She realisesthat to protect her family from criminals,she herself needs to become one. Theseries explores a few questions — Whohas murdered her husband and why?How far will Aarya go to survive andprotect her family?

Praising the show in the clip, Salmansaid, “What can be more fun than clas-sic filmy dialogue-baazi and a show likeAarya has got some amazing lines tothrow around. Seeing Sushmita lead theseries fills my heart with such joy, shehas been such an amazing on-screenpartner and is a gem of a human beingoutside of work too.” He added, “Ek baarjo maine pehla episode dekh lia uske baadsaare episodes dekhe bina mai nahiuthta!” The line renders a quirky twistto his popular Wanted dialogue: Ek baarjo maine commitment kar di, toh phirmain khudki bhi nahi sunta.

The star captioned the video, whichcurrently has over 1.4 million views onthe photo-sharing website: “Swagat tohkaro Aarya ka! What a comeback andwhat a show! Congratulations SushmitaSen aur dher saara pyaar.”

Actors Sushmita Sen andChandrachur Singh returned to thescreen after a long hiatus. The show alsofeatures actors Namit Das, SikandarKher, Jayant Kripalani, Sohaila Kapoor,Sugandha Garg, Maya Sareen,Vishwajeet Pradhan and ManishChaudhary in pivotal roles.

With all that has been happeningaround the world, everybody is

going through a lot of stress these days.Anxiety levels are on the rise, too. Withan aim to analyse sleep patterns duringthe lockdown, a sleep monitoring devicecompany has studied sleep of over 382people (14,483 sleeps recorded over 10weeks) belonging to the age group of 10to 85 years.

Various parameters such as sleepduration, sleeping time, wake up timeand stress levels were monitored. DrManvir Bhatia, sleep expertshared,“During this time, I have seenmore than 100 patients (teleconsultation)of all ages and genders with sleep com-plaints. This has resulted in the heavi-ness of head during the day, increasedlethargy, poor productivity and a lowmood. These problems appeared new insome patients and some who already hadinsomnia were doing much worse dur-ing this period. As symptoms of anxiety,a few also had complaints of palpitationsand difficulty in breathing just beforefalling asleep. The advice to everyone isto make sure you follow a good day andnight routine, adequate exercise, avoidexcess use of caffeine and alcohol, andhave a relaxing pre-bedtime routine. Ifthe problems persist then please seekhelp and do not self medicate.”

Following were the parametersexplained in detail:

Sleep duration: Time period wherethe person is actually sleeping (in N1,N2, N3, REM stage of the sleep cycle).Sleep duration during lockdown didn’tdeviate much and the median sleep dura-tion continued to remain 430 minutes.For people between 35 to 45 years, medi-an sleep duration increased nearly by 60minutes and this was particularly foundamong men.

Sleep time: Sleep onset time, anoth-er parameter, especially in the age groupof 10 to 45 years had increased by almost30 minutes. There was a gender dispar-ity when it comes to sleep time. Women’ssleep time increased by nearly 90 min-utes. However, for men, it increased onlyby 20 minutes. Women in the 18 to 45age-group are staying up 90 minutesmore late than usual. Earlier, 40 per centof people used to sleep before 12 am andduring lockdown, only 36 per cent ofpeople are sleeping before 12 am.

Wake up time: Wake up time has

increased by 30 minutes across all agegroups. However, between 18 to 45 yearsof age, the wake up time has increasedby 70 minutes. While median wake uptime for women increased by more than

90 minutes (from 7.30 am to 8.45 am),for males, it increased by 60 minutes(from 7.45 am to 8.45 am). This is a bigshift in the circadian rhythm (or biolog-ical clock) that governs the hormone

cycle in our body. Once this cycle is off,we are at a higher risk of lifestyle disor-ders such as obesity, diabetes, hyperten-sion, cardiovascular diseases and men-tal disorders. Earlier, 53 per cent of peo-ple used to wake up after 8 am and dur-ing the lockdown, 49 per cent of peopleare waking up after 8 am.

Time taken to fall asleep: It’s thetime period elapsed between the persongoing to bed and falling asleep. The timetaken to fall asleep has graduallyincreased during the lockdown and hasdoubled during the first week of May. Ithas been witnessed across all age groups.Time taken to fall asleep is directly linkedto insomnia, which in turn, is highly co-morbid with depression. Growing anx-iety because of the lockdown and finan-cial insecurity might be the leading rea-sons for this increase in the time to fallasleep.

Stress levels: Autonomous nervoussystem activity measured through heartrate variability: There wasn’t any signif-icant change in the stress levels of peo-ple witnessed. Even though the lock-down has changed people’s routine, thestress levels for them have remained thesame.

Naps: Initially, the number of napsincreased, however, now a dip has beenwitnessed once the lockdown started toopen up.

(The survey is conducted by Dozee.)

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It’s a known fact that during the last two decades,the agriculture sector across the Indian sub-con-

tinent has witnessed crisis in the form of decline inrate of growth, rising numbers of farmer’s suicides,declining prices of several crops, and a widening gapbetween the agriculture and non-agriculture sectors.

It can thus be said that the indian agriculture sec-tor is experiencing unprecedented crisis with stag-nation or declining rural employment growth andas a result, food security and employment opportu-nities for the rural poor have been eroded. Variousstudies done by research scientists and scholars overa period of time reveal that poverty remains the mostcommon reason for suicides in the country.

As per a report tabled by NCRB in 2015, Indiareported 5,650 farmer suicides, whereas the high-est number of farmer suicides were recorded in 2004when 18,241 farmers committed suicide as per offi-cial figures. In view of these statistics, it becomes clearwhat havoc skyrocketing prices would have playedin the lives of not only farm-ers but all those who hadalready been strugglingeach day to make bothends meet, those who arebeing pushed to the edgeevery day because they havehardly any means to live. Inaddition to this, increase inprices of fuel, essential com-modities, and a steep hikein the cost of food grainsand vegetables, have madeliving conditions for thecommon man unbearable, making him pay throughthe nose. And still, there seems little hope that thesituation would roll back to normal. The repercus-sions of these are serious. While many are driven totake the extreme step out of despair as stated above,there are others who take to illegal means to maketheir living. In a crisis situation like the one wholeworld is facing right now, which has outlived the pub-lic’s patience span, morality is the first casualty. So,while in the offices, corruption tends to increase rob-beries and murders, incidents of chain snatchings,auto-thefts become the order of the day. This is thebitter truth of today.

Even though many NGO’s are working toimprove the lot of the destitute and create employ-ment opportunities for them so that they can earna living by honest means. But it is not completely pos-sible for these voluntary groups to wipe out pover-ty and unemployment on their own and their hardefforts will continue to be an uphill struggle as longas the government does not zealously implement pro-poor policies. Ascending prices are always comple-mented with a sharp decline in the morality levelsof the citizens and a surge in the crime graph of thecountry. As always, it is the poor, the weak and themarginalised sections, including the women andsenior citizens, who become soft targets of crime.When taxes are increased, it is fixed income groupwhich bears most of the brunt. The so-called creamylayer — those who amass most of the wealth — oftenmanage to avoid the taxes and pay the minimum theycan, by manipulations. In such a situation, the bulkof population is sandwiched between too little incomeand too many payments. And seeing the rich get awayeasy, morality to them becomes nothing more thana burden to be shed. It is another thing that therealways have been some people who want to takeshort cuts or bypass the law to make a quick buck,but many are forced into unethical practices by unaf-fordable cost of living. Hence, the policy makers andthe movers and shakers of the country’s economy,who dream of making India a global power in the21st century should very well remember that greatnations are built on the foundations of a strong char-acter.

So, if we still continue to ignore the social andethical consequences of our policies in order toachieve quick economic growth, we may end upturning the country into a moral wasteland wheresome people have more wealth but nobody has anycontentment, security, peace of mind or true andlasting happiness.

Bhilwara — one of the worstCOVID affected districts in

Rajasthan, is being lauded for itsefforts for containing the spreadof virus by employing successfuland effective strategies.

As per the health depart-ment, over 6,50,000 homes and 24lakh people were screened ensur-ing 100 per cent coverage in bothurban and rural regions of the dis-trict. The credit for the implemen-tation of the strategy is being right-fully given to “Corona Captains,”who were appointed from amongSDMs and BDOs and their teamof “Corona Fighters” that consist-ed of four to five members includ-ing the panchayat members,teachers and ASHA workers. Ofthis team, it was the group of 1,66,600 ASHA workers who havebeen fighting the deadly virussince its advent into the district.They have been working tireless-ly since March to help the govern-ment in its efforts. They have beenentrusted with the door-to door

survey to keep track of ‘High-risk’patients with Corona symptoms,especially among older persons,those with heart conditions,hypertension, respiratory prob-lems, pregnant women and chil-dren of up to 10 years. They alsomust keep track of those who havecome from outside or from con-tainment zones or highly conta-gious places.

Susheela, one of the ASHA(Accredited Social Health Activist)workers from Dadabari area intextile town in Bhilwara district,was given the task of surveying atleast 80 houses for Corona casesin a day. To achieve the target, shewould start her day at eight in themorning and work through thescorching heat till late evenings —much beyond the official workhours. “After meeting our targets,there was seldom a day when wegot to go home on time. We eitherhad to attend to emergency deliv-ery or had to trace travel historyof people returning from outside.

Then, we were required toreport if that person neededto undergo quarantine orself-isolation. Since Corona,it has become a 24-hour job,we hardly have time to relax,”shared Susheela.

If not for ASHA workerslike Susheela, the state govern-ment would have found itimpossible to do the contacttracing required to zero downa Corona positive patient.Each day these workers sur-veyed up to 100 houses,entailing a distance of at leastsix to seven kms, mostly onfoot.

According to ShakuntalaSanghi, 62, another ASHAworker in Bhilwara, they arejust given a mask and some-times gloves along with handsanitisers till date. “We too areat risk and because of it ourfamilies have to face physicalas well as mental stress.”

To compensate frontline

workers, who die in the lineof duty, the state governmenthad announced a compensa-tion package of ��50,000 yetwhen fifty-two-year-oldVimla Devi, a ASHA workerdied, she was denied the assis-tance. Before her death, shewas given the duty of watch-ing over a Corona positivepatient and she diligently per-formed the task for 22 days.

While their designatedwork hours are four, it oftenstretches for more than eighthours, especially during timeof emergency. For long, theyhave been demanding to beregularised as governmentemployees and are protestingfor an increase in salary of upto ��18,000, which currentlyis � 2500.

Although, for their ded-icated contribution in statesefforts to contain the virus,they have been honoured asCorona Fighters but at the

same time, they have onlybeen given ��1000 as incen-tive while nurses and policeworking in the frontline havebeen given an incentive of �2500. Are the lives of ASHAsany less important?

However, apart from this,ASHAs are officially cate-gorised as “volunteers”. Thekey link between rural com-munity and the public healthdelivery system under theNational Rural HealthMission, ASHAs have beenentrusted with crucial rolesand responsibilities. Theycounsel pregnant women,record every birth in the vil-lage, keep track of antenatalcheck-ups, immunisation,supplementary nutrition, san-itation, counsel couples forfamily planning and alsomake the community awareabout government’s varioushealth programmes.

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While COVID-19 has taught usmany new things, the biggestlearning has been to be with

family and your loved ones. Pandemic iso-lation has been hard on all of us, notbecause of something else, but just the factthat we are stuck at home. We are so usedto meeting people and living world out-side that being at home is hurting us.While the matured minds are struggling,think of the younger ones, who don’t evenknow much about the crisis the world isdealing with. Here, it’s important for theparents to be the protection shield and savethe kids from all sorts of frustration andloneliness that might creep in due to pan-demic.

It has been found that kids worryabout anxiety and fear due to a drastic cutdown in their social interaction. This canhave an adverse effect on their socio-cul-tural development. In order to handle thisright and keep them calm, it is importantfor parents to understand their psycholog-ical levels first and then channelise theirenergies in the right direction.

In this initiative, the foremost step thatneeds to be taken is to bring back the kid’slife to a routine and discipline. Parentsneed to understand that due to lockdownand over-burdened digital classes, kidshave lost discipline in life, which used tobe an integral part of regular schooling.

They need to prepare a routine forMonday-Friday and weekend should bedevoted to relaxation and fun activities.

To begin with, the day should startwith some workout or 10-min yoga ses-sion, followed by shower and breakfast andthen regular digital classes should be car-ried till first half of the day with regularintervals in between. Make sure that theydrink water in between and walk a bit tokeep the digestive system at ease. Post-lunch a power nap is equally advisablekeeping the humid weather in mind andevening hour should be dedicated toonline surfing.

While excessive use of digital worldis not good for mental health of kids buta balanced interaction is good. Parents

need to take care of this and should makesure that this platform is not only used forstudies but also to engage kids with theirpeer to fight with anxiety and help themconnect with them and break the monot-ony. It is also suggested that parents canco-ordinate with other parents and plansome virtual games and fun activities forkids, where they all participate. This willnot only bring them close, but will alsomake kids feel happier, especially duringevening hours, when they love to be out-door and spend time with friends.

Apart from this, the digital world canbe used to develop new skills among kidstoo. There are various online platformsoffering courses and learning opportuni-ties that will sharpen the aptitude skills of

kids. It is important for parents to takesome time out, study about such oppor-tunities and help kids utilise the oppor-tunity to sharpen new skills.

Evening hours of weekdays can alsobe used for in-house extra-curricular activ-ities like sketching, painting, writing,gardening, pottery and much more. Theseactivities are refreshing and also keep themaway from screen and phone.

You can also use this time andindulge with them in cooking activities ortake them out for grocery and veggiesshopping. Baking and cooking are consid-ered as effective de-stressing mantras. Youcan excite kids with the same and spendtime in kitchen and make them learnabout spices and other ingredients. This

might develop a sense of passion in themand they might develop cooking as ahobby. Don’t forget to teach them the pre-cautionary measures to be taken care inkitchen and also instruct them not to enterthe kitchen area alone.

Make sure that they are early to bed,so that they get good 8-10 hours of sleepand relax body and mind. To cheerthem, you may allow them for 30 -45 min-utes relaxation time by enjoying cartoonnetwork or any animated film.

An interesting way to make themutilise time is to ask them to journal thedaily routine in a notebook. This willimprove their handwriting and also helpyou understand their interest in writingand creativity in weaving stories.

All these activities need to be plannedfrom the space of mental stimulation,emotional, and social benefits. Thereneed to be a balance of virtual events toonline play dates with peers to texting tovideo calling along with social mediaengagements. They also need to beinformed that these are a part of the newnormal and also it is primary for theirmental well-being.

For children, family and friends is acohesive unit that aids in their develop-ment mentally, socially, and emotionally.As a part of existence, it is the duty of par-ents to teach them the family values andtraditions. Connecting with family, rela-tives, grandparents, and friends help chil-dren maintain connectedness and unityand this time can be used to strengthenthe same via social media platforms. Also,parents can guide kids to make family treeand cherish the same. This will make themunderstand the pictorial representation ofthe same, how important it is to be con-nected with the roots of existence.

Apart from this, parents just need tolisten to them, this will help you under-stand their feelings, thoughts, and behav-iour better; this is significant as it resultsin invalidating their feelings. While thisactivity sounds lame to many, but thishelps them easily exchange feelings. Andwe all know that how important it is toshare feelings and express what you feelinside-out.

Also, it is important for parents tomake kids understand the value of com-munication. They can do the same by keepthat channel open and let them express theplethora of experiences by them. This willhelp in controlling the trauma effect of thepandemic and will keep kids happy andcheerful. Some other activities that can beadded to the above-detailed ones are:Virtual kids party with school friends andfamily get-togethers, Quiz or competitionwith peer group, Virtual tour to a muse-um or historical monument, Art and craftworkshop and story writing and craftshow.

All these will help maintain the con-nectedness and keep them away from thenegativity of being at home. Most impor-tantly, this will help them understand thevalue of family and being with the closedones.

(The writer is the Managing Director,Cambridge Montessori Preschool andDaycare Pvt ltd.)

The widening gap

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Page 12: ˘ ˇ˘ ˆ€¦ · Delhi. A doctor from Fortis Escorts Heart Institute, who was a resident of Batla House in south Delhi, recently died of the novel coronavirus infection. A 39-year-old

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He might be perceived as the weak-est link in the West Indies pace

attack but young Alzarri Josephbelieves that being relatively“unknown” entity will work to hisadvantage during the upcoming Testseries against England starting July 8.

The West Indies will be playing athree-Test series against England in abio-secure environment amid theCOVID-19 pandemic, the first of itskind in the sport.

The 23-year-old Joseph has playednine Tests so far is a part of the quar-tet led by Shannon Gabriel along withKemar Roach and Jason Holder forcompany.

“Obviously those three guys havea lot more experience than I do,”Joseph was quoted as saying by the‘Cricbuzz’.

“I’d think more often than not,teams would see me as the weaker link.I think my job is to come in and justback those bowlers (up) and keep thepressure on.

“It’s not necessarily because ofage, but because of the number ofmatches I’ve played compared to theother three bowlers,” the young rightarm fast bowler added.

But not being known has its set ofadvantages as well.

“I could use it as an advantage - Iknow my abilities and they might notknow. But once I turn up on the dayand get the job done, I know I can geton top of any opponent.

“I see this tour as an opportunityfor me to help the team to get higherup the rankings. Any opportunity I getto play, I'll take it, and whatever thecaptain and the team require me to do,I’ll put my best foot forward.”

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Former India pacer Irfan Pathan has revealedthat World Cup-winning ex-skipper

Mahendra Singh Dhoni liked to control hisbowlers when he started his captaincy stint backin 2007 but came to trust them by 2013, a phaseduring which he also became a calmer leader.

“In 2007, it was the first time and you under-stand that when you are given a big responsi-bility of leading ateam, you get excited,”Pathan said on StarSports' 'CricketConnected’ whenasked how Dhonichanged as a captainbetween 2007 and2013.

“The team meet-ings were always smallthough, both in 2007and 2013 duringChampions Trophy,just 5 minutes meet-ing,” added the bowler, who announced his retire-ment from all forms of cricket earlier this year.

Talking about the one change that henoticed in Dhoni, Pathan said, “when youngMahendra Singh Dhoni became a captain in2007, he used to run from the wicket-keepingend to the bowler in excitement and try to con-trol the bowler as well.

“By 2013, he was letting the bowler controlthemselves rather he controlling them, so heunderstood that and he was very calm and incontrol in 2013 Champions Trophy.”

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Spectators certainly add to any high octanecontest but the entertainment value of any

sport can only be determined by its quality asthe English Premier League has shown since itsresumption amid the COVID-19 pandemic, feelsfast bowling great Michael Holding.

International cricket will be resuming withthe much-awaited Test series between Englandand the West Indies at the Old Trafford from July8 in a 'bio-secure’ spectator-less environment.

Will cricket in the COVID-19 times bedevoid of fun and entertainment with fans beingkept away?

“Entertainment in any sport is determinedby the standard of play in that sport and not bywhat is happening in the stands," Holding, oneof the most respected voices in world cricket,told PTI in an exclusive interaction.

Holding, who spends most of his time in theUK, gave an example of how the quality of EPL’sgames didn't take a hit despite matches beingplayed in front of empty stands.

"Crowds are very important to add theatmosphere but like football, that has restartedin the UK, the entertainment has been the stan-dard of football played,” Holding said.

Asked if the economic implications ofCOVID-19 will hurt Test cricket in coming daysas boards might be inclined to play more white-ball bilaterals, he answered in negative.

“I dont see how that should affect the typeof cricket played,” Holding said.

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India captain Virat Kohlihas the ability to play

each format according towhat its demands are andthe best thing about him ishis commitment to thegame, according to theteam's batting coachVikram Rathour.

“For me, the best thingabout Virat Kohli is hiscommitment to the game,”Rathour told Sportskeeda."He wants to be the bestplayer in the world and heworks hard for that. Heputs in the hard yards, andhe is the hardest workingcricketer that I have seen.Other than that I believehis adaptability is hisbiggest strength.”

“He is not a onedimensional player, he canchange his game as andwhen required. He playsevery format differentlyand that has been one of hisgreatest strengths,” Rathouradded.

Rathour took theexample of the 2016 seasonof the Indian PremierLeague where with a mindnumbing 973 runs Kohlialmost single handedlytook Royal Challengers

Bangalore to the final. “One of the best exam-

ple in which I saw was inthe 2016 IPL where hescored four hundreds andhit 40 odd sixes. He wasgoing through a great patchof form and after that wehad a tour to the WestIndies. After playing likethat for two months in theIPL, he goes to the WestIndies and in the firstmatch he scores a double

hundred without hitting asingle ball in the air,” hefurther said.

“So that kind of changeto bring into your battingbecause you are playing adifferent format, not manycricketers can do that. WithVirat Kohli, I think he canplay the way he wants toplay. He can play accordingto different situations andthat I think is his biggeststrength,” Rathour said.

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England spinner Jack Leach isn’tperturbed by the competition for

places in the national team and stat-ed that he wants to bring over his bestform from club cricket to the interna-tional arena in order to become a reg-ular starter in the Test team.

“I’m thinking about trying tobring my best to the England set-up,”Leach was quoted as saying byCricbuzz. "I feel like I haven’t done thatyet and it takes a bit of working outmentally how you want to go aboutthings.”

“You’ve come from county crick-et where you feel like you are massive-ly involved and you do that throughperforming over and over. Here I feellike I haven’t done that yet and I thinkI have a better understanding of whythat is,” he said.

Leach remains in contention fora place in the England line-up that willtake on West Indies in the first Test ofthe three-match series at Ageas Bowlstarting July 8.

The series will mark the resump-tion of cricket after the sport was sus-pended in March due to coronaviruspandemic.

“My main aim (is) to bring mybest to the party and if I do that thenI won't be far away,” Leach said.“We’ve got five really good spinnershere so it feels like there’s everythingto play for, like 30 guys all are play-ing for spots.

“There’s lots of competitionthroughout the squad and spin is nodifferent. It’s about us all workingtogether to all be at our best.

“Then it’s up to the selectors andnot up to us who takes that spot. I’mso glad to see Mo (Moeen Ali) backas well. Mo at his best is an unbeliev-able player, so yes it'll be interesting tosee,” he added.

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Lazio fought back from a goal down to beatFiorentina 2-1 in Serie A and keep its fad-

ing title hopes alive.Luis Alberto struck seven minutes from

time to cut the gap to league leader Juventusback to four points.

Ciro Immobile converted a penalty to can-cel out Franck Ribéry's opener for Fiorentina.

Lazio's hopes of claiming a first league titlesince 2000 took a hit midweek when its 21-match unbeaten run ended with a defeat atAtalanta in its first match back following thehiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic.

And it seemed as if it wasgoing to slide further when Ribérycurled in the opener following amagnificent solo run in the 25thminute.

But Immobile, who is leadingthe Serie A goal-scoring chart,

converted a penalty in the 67th for his 28th ofthe season after Fiorentina goalkeeperBartlomiej Dragowski fouled Felipe Caicedo.

Lazio snatched all three points when LuisAlberto surged forward from midfield and anattempted pass to his teammate took a kinddeflection back to him and he fired in the win-ner.

AC Milan thrashed AS Roma by 2-0 in theongoing Serie A here on Sunday.

Both the teams gave each other a toughcompetition in the first half, restricting oneanother from taking a lead.

The second half also witnessed a similarcontest between the two until the 76th minutewhen Ante Rebic scored to break the deadlock.

Hakan Calhanoglu then doubled ACMilan's lead from the penalty spot in the finalfew minutes, after Chris Smalling was adjudgedto have fouled Theo Hernandez.

AFP � London

Chelsea moved into the FA Cup semi-finals as Ross Barkley sealed a 1-0 win

at Leicester, while Arsenal joined theirLondon rivals in the last four after a dra-matic 2-1 victory against Sheffield Unitedon Sunday.

Looking to win the first trophy ofFrank Lampard’s reign, Chelsea recoveredfrom a woeful start at the King PowerStadium. The Blues could easily have beenbehind before the break, but Lampard rangthe changes at half-time and Barkley - oneof the players introduced - grabbed thewinner with a cool finish.

Chelsea’s quarter-final success couldbe a good omen for the Blues, who beatLeicester at the same stage en route to win-ning the competition for the eighth andmost recent time in 2018. Lampard madesix changes to the team that handed thePremier League title to Liverpool with avictory over Manchester City on Thursday.

Chelsea were initially out of sorts asa result and Leicester’s Harvey Barnes hada sight of goal inside 30 seconds, thewinger's heavy touch letting the ballsquirt away as he prepared to shoot. It wasa sluggish start from Chelsea and Bluesdefender Antonio Rudiger angrily admon-ished his team-mates after snuffing out aYouri Tielemans raid.

When Wilfred Ndidi was given acresof space to head straight at Willy Caballero,Lampard could be heard bellowing “livenup” at his sloppy stars.

There was no immediate improve-ment from Chelsea and Billy Gilmour gift-ed possession to Tielemans, who forcedCaballero to turn his drive away for a cor-ner. Leicester defender Jonny Evans head-ed Ben Chilwell's free-kick wastefullywide from close range.

Christian Pulisic had scored ineach of Chelsea’s first two gamessince the restart and the UnitedStates winger led their responsewith a fierce strike that KasperSchmeichel tipped over. Lampardstill wasn’t satisfied and sent onBarkley, Mateo Kovacic and CesarAzpilicueta at half-time. Chelsealooked more vibrant after the changes, withKovacic dominating in midfield. Pressingharder and breaking with purpose, Chelseatook the lead in the 63rd minute.

Willian swung in a teasing cross fromthe right and Barkley got in front of Evans

to guide a clinical finish past Schmeichel.It was the England midfielder's fourth

club goal of the season, with threeof those coming in the FA Cup.There was a worry for Lampardwhen the in-form Pulisic was forcedto come off and needed an ice packon his leg when he reached thebench.

�������;������% ��At Bramall Lane, Dani Ceballos fired

Arsenal into last four alongside Chelseaand Manchester United. Mikel Arteta's siderode their luck after surviving a second-half barrage from the Blades. Nicolas Pepeput Arsenal ahead with a first-half penal-

ty after Chris Basham fouled AlexandreLacazette.

David McGoldrick equalised withthree minutes left, but on-loan RealMadrid midfielder Ceballos settled it in thefinal moments. Arteta was Arsenal’s cap-tain when they won the FA Cup finalagainst Hull in 2014. And the Gunnersboss remains on course to get his handson the silverware again as Arsenal look towin the competition for a record-extend-ing 14th time.

le Gunnar Solskjaer believesManchester United’s strength in depth willbe crucial to their bid to win the FA Cupafter they moved into the semi-finals witha 2-1 win over 10-man Norwich on

Saturday.Solskjaer’s side had to work hard for

their last-four place as Harry Maguire wonit late in extra time at Carrow Road.

Odion Ighalo’s opener was cancelledout by Norwich’s Todd Cantwell, butCanaries defender Timm Klose was sentoff for hauling down Ighalo in the 89thminute.

United gradually wore Norwich downand England defender Maguire pouncedto extend their unbeaten run to 14 gamesin all competitions.

United, who won their 12th andmost recent FA Cup in 2016, remain oncourse to reach the final for the secondtime in three years.

'�%�� +80� 893:

Former Australia and JamshedpurFC striker Tim Cahill believes

Indian football’s young talents canflourish with systematic exposure atthe top level.

Cahill, who brought his sterlingcareer to an end following his stintwith the Jamshedpur-based side inthe 2018-19 season of the IndianSuper League (ISL), said his expe-rience convinced him that India haswhat it takes to excel on the conti-

nental and world stages.“Indian talents just need more

games, get them playing all the timeand competing and when they gointo international fixtures, you(will) see that they can handle thepressure,” Cahill was quoted assaying by 'Star Sports FootballUnited' according to the AsianFootball Federation website.

The 40-year-old said India ismoving towards the right directionto achieve greater heights.

“The ISL and the leagues that

are being played with its infrastruc-ture are great and the only thingthat the game needs more than any-thing is unity.

“Everyone is flowing in thesame direction to get to that onegoal - which is to win an AFC AsianCup title, to reach the World Cupand help women’s football and todevelop your own leagues.”

Cahill's spell at Jamshedpurwas cut short to 11 matches due toinjury but the Australian legend hasfond memories of his time with The

Red Miners.“It was amazing, I lived and

breathed everything and was veryclose to the community as well asthe owners from the Tata Group,”said Cahill, who had also spenteight years at English PremierLeague side Everton, featuring in226 matches with 56 goals to hiscredit.

“One of the best things aboutthe club was that everything we didwas for our fans and everythingJamshedpur FC did was for players.”

'�%�� +80� 893:

Senior India pacer Shikha Pandeyfinds suggestions such as use of

smaller balls and shorter pitches tomake women's game appealing to be“superfluous" and urged the ICC “notto tinker" with rules to attract moreaudience.

“I have been reading/ hearing a lotabout the changes being suggested tohelp grow women's cricket/ make it amore attractive product. I personallyfeel most of the suggestions to be super-fluous," 31-year-old Pandey, a servingofficer of the Indian Air Force, wrote.

Pandey, who has 113 wickets from104 international appearances, drew theanalogy of 100m sprints while describ-ing what a light weight ball and 20-yardpitch would mean for women’s cricket.

“An Olympic 100m female sprint-er doesn't run 80m to win First placemedal and clock the same timing as hermale counterpart.

“So the whole 'decreasing the lengthof the pitch' for whatever reasonsseems dubious. Also, it almost definite-ly takes the double headers out of ques-tion,” she wrote.

While she is game for reduction ofsize of the cricket ball in women’s gamebut she is completely against reducingthe weight simply because of the per-ception that they can't hit the ball long.

“Please don't bring the boundariesin! We have surprised you with ourpower-hitting in recent times, soremember, this is only the beginning;

we will get better. Please have patience.We are skilled players, who are evolv-ing,” wrote Shikha.

What she finds objectionable is try-ing to achieve growth through tinker-ing of rules rather than robust market-ing.

“Growth can also be achieved bymarketing the sport well. We don't haveto tinker with rules or the very fabricof the game to attract an audience.

“Why not have DRS, Snicko,Hotspot, all of the technical acumenand live broadcast for every game thatwe play anywhere in the world,” shequestioned, asking for more investmentat the grassroots.

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