˘ˇˆ˙ ˝˛˚˜ ˜ˇ!...2020/12/29 · maoists ranjit tudu and chhotu lal hansda are resi-dents...

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The Giridih police onMonday brought six hard-

core Maoists, including three

priests, arrested from differentforest areas under Pirtand policestation areas.

Among the three Maoistsarrested, Prashant Manjhi,

Prabha Di alias Prabha Sorenand Sudhir Kisku were carryinga reward of Rs 10 lakh each ontheir head.

Sudhir Kisku belongs to

Kali Pahari village ofShikaripada police station areaof Dumka. While Prashant andhis wife Prabha Soreon belongto Joshi Tola of the Pirtandpolice station area.

During a press conferencehere on Monday, SP Amit Renusaid that Prabha Soren's arresthas been made from her mater-nal uncle’s home. At the sametime, three other HardcoreMaoists Ranjit Tudu andChhotu Lal Hansda are resi-dents of Tesafuli and Dholkattavillages of Madhuban police sta-tion. While the bright Ganjhuhails from Mucharu village ofPannak police station area ofBokaro district.

Madhuban CRPF

Commandant Achuthanand,Deputy CommandantMoolchand along with ASPGulshan Tirkey and DSPPramod Mishra were also pre-sent in the press conference.

The SP said that on thebasis of secret information, dur-ing the joint operation of policeand CRPF, these Maoists werearrested from Banaso andManjira villages of Pirtandpolice station.

Based on the information,on the instructions of SP, sepa-rate teams were formed and asearch operation was conduct-ed in both the villages and dur-ing the search operation, theseMaoists were captured withweapons.

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Ranchi: Sri Sathya Sai SevaOrganisation (SSSSO), Ranchiin association withRamakrishna Mission organiseddistribution of warm shawls intwo villages, namely Tumna inKhunti Block and Pancha villagein Bundu Block on December20.

These villages are locatedaround 20 Kms from the CapitalCity. As many as 111 shawls (56gents and 55 ladies) were dis-tributed in Tumna village pop-ulated mostly by the scheduledtribes. The distribution inPancha village, on the premis-es of Pranava Nanda VidyaMandir, was done on December27 and was facilitated by BharatSevashram, Tupudana.

This village, where 109shawls were distributed (60gents and 49 ladies), also had alarge tribal population. InPancha village, after shawl dis-tribution, a Narayan Seva wasundertaken where ‘Khichidibhog’ was served to all the vil-lagers. Bharat SevashramSangha had made all the nec-essary arrangements for thesame. In Tumna and Pancha,copies, pens and pencils wereprovided to school children. Thechildren were delighted to havetoffees and candies. In both thevillages the programme startedwith chanting of Omkar andVedic hymns. The atmosphereand ambience in the villages wasserene and charged with divin-ity. There was happiness anddelight in the faces of the villagefolks. The effort to reach outto the needy was in line with themotto of Sri Sathya Sai SevaOrganisation which is ‘Serviceto Man is Service to God’. PNS

�� !�"##��$��"#��!%��!��&&� Jamshedpur: Close on heels of

fierce encounters with ultras ofthe outfit People's LiberationFront of India (PLFI), the secu-rity forces on Monday recovered22 can bombs meant for target-ing patrolling security men. Theexplosives were recovered froma lane from Regadbera toArahasa under Goilkera policestation of West SinghbhumDistrict.

Acting on a tip off, a teamcomprising district policeCRPF 60 battalion, 157 bat-talion and Jharkhand Jaguarwas rushed to the spot forsearch operation. During thedrive 22 bombs were recoveredfrom a 120 meters area lead-ing towards a forest.

Ajay Linda, SP, WestSinghbhum said that the secu-rity forces successfully dif-fused the bombs. The areawhere the explosives wererecovered was usually fre-quented by commoners andvillagers.

Police said that the securi-ty has been beefed up in the areaand they were keeping strict vigilon movement of the Naxlites. “In view of the New Year we haveincreased the security.,” said asecurity official. He said that itis confirmed it is handiwork ofMaoists. PNS

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Agreeing to discuss the four-point agenda of the farm-

ers, the Ministry of Agricultureon Monday invited 40 protest-ing farmers’ unions for the nextround of talks on Wednesdayto find a “logical solution” tothe current impasse over thethree new farm laws that hasled to massive protests nearDelhi’s borders for the last onemonth.

This will be the sixth timethat the Centre will be makingan attempt to convince farmersto call off their month-long agi-tation. However, a joint front offarmer unions had proposedthat the talks be held onTuesday.

Meanwhile, reacting to theGovernment response, farmers’unions have agreed “in-princi-ple” to a Government propos-al for talks, but said the Centreshould have spelt out the agen-da of the meeting in its invite.

Samyukt Kisan Morcha —an umbrella body of 40 unionsprotesting against the con-tentious legislations — saidthe farmers have agreed to gofor the meeting on the dateproposed by the Centre, whileAll India Kisan SangharshCoordination Committee(AIKSCC) has said the Centrehas shown an unwillingness toresolve the issue.

“The Government hasused vague and unspecific lan-guage, indicating its unwill-

ingness to discuss the full agen-da items proposed by farmers,”the organisation said in astatement. It also said theGovernment is trying to findways to blame farmers in orderto cover up its consistentadamant stand of continuingwith the three farm laws andElectricity Amendment Bill.

Union AgricultureMinister Narendra SinghTomar, however, said he is

hopeful to find an early solu-tion to end the impasse.Speaking at a virtual eventorganised by Confederation ofNGOs of Rural India (CNRI),he said a “wall of lies” has beenspread in a “planned manner”among farmers against the newfarm laws, but it will not lastlong and protesting peasantswill soon realise the truth.

Earlier in a letter to theunions, Agriculture Secretary

Sanjay Agarwal noted that thefarmers’ groups had commu-nicated their willingness tohold discussions with an openmind.

“The Government of Indiais also committed to logicalsolution of the relevant issueswith an open mind and honestintentions,” he said.

However, the Governmentletter does not specifically makereference to the farmers’ key

demand for repeal of threereform laws.

With regard to the pro-posed agenda by the unions forthe meeting, Aggarwal said adetailed discussion will takeplace on three farm laws, MSPprocurement system as well asElectricity Amendment Billand ordinance to tackle air pol-lution in and around Delhi andNCR.

The decision to finalisethe date for next of roundtalks was after a high-levelmeeting held by Union Home

Minister Amit Shah withUnion Minister Piyush Goyaland Union AgricultureMinister Narendra SinghTomar on the farmer crisis.

However, the Governmentletter did not make any specif-ic reference to one key condi-tion proposed by the unionsseeking talks on modalities forthe repeal of the Acts. The dategiven by the Government forthe next round of talks is thesame day when unions havealso decided to hold a tractormarch from Singhu Border

and Tikri Border to the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) high-way.

The last formal meetingtook place on December 5, inwhich union leaders haddemanded a clear “yes or no”answer from the Governmenton their main demand of therepeal of the three laws whilethe sixth round of talks origi-nally scheduled for December9 was called off a day after aninformal meeting of Shah withsome union leaders failed toreach any breakthrough.

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More than 1,500 telecomtowers in Punjab have

been damaged by farmersprotesting against the threefarm laws, disrupting servicesin some pockets, sources said.

Power supply to towersthat relay telecom signals wassnapped and cables cut inseveral parts of the state asfarmers vented their anger onthe infrastructure owned bybillionaire Mukesh Ambani’sfirm Jio as they saw him alongwith infrastructure tycoonGautam Adani as major ben-

eficiaries of the new laws.Neither Ambani’s Reliance

group nor Adani's companiesare into the business of procur-ing foodgrains fromfarmers.

“Till yesterday, 1,411 tow-ers were damaged and todaythe count has gone well past

1,500,” a source with knowl-edge of the matter said.

In Jalandhar, some bun-dles of Jio’s fibre cable were alsoburnt. Jio has 9,000 plus tow-ers in the state.

Another source said themost common way of damag-ing the telecom towers was tocut off the power supply.

In at least one case, thegenerator at a tower site wasphysically taken away andallegedly donated to a localgurudwara. Videos of Jioemployees being threatenedand made to flee have goneviral.

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The Union Home Ministryon Monday extended the

Covid-19 Pandemic Guidelinesfor Surveillance, Containmentand Caution to January 31, ask-ing States to keep vigil on thetackling of new variant of thevirus in the United Kingdom.

The current guideline wasissued up to December 31.

“The Ministry of HomeAffairs (MHA) issued an ordertoday to extend the earlierGuidelines for Surveillance toremain in force up to31.01.2021. While there hasbeen a continuous decline inthe active and new Covid-19cases, there is need to maintainsurveillance, containment andcaution, keeping in view thesurge in cases globally, andemergence of a new variant ofthe virus in the UnitedKingdom (UK),” said the HomeMinistry in a statement.

The Ministry said con-tainment zones should bedemarcated carefully and pre-scribed containment measuresmust be strictly followed with-in these zones.

“Covid-appropriate behav-iour promoted and strictlyenforced; and the StandardOperating Procedures (SOPs)prescribed in respect of variouspermitted activities followedscrupulously,” said the MHAasking States to adhere to theStandard Operating Procedures(SOPs) prescribed by theUnion Health Ministry.

In November, the MHAhad said in addition to guide-lines already in place sinceOctober, States and UnionTerritories, based on theirassessment of the situation,may impose local restrictions,such as a night curfew.However, the MHA has saidState Governments shall notimpose any local lockdownoutside the containment zones,without prior consultation withthe Union Government.

The Government hasadvised vulnerable persons, i.e.,persons above 65 years of age,persons with co-morbidities,pregnant women, and childrenbelow the age of 10 years, to stayat home, except for meetingessential requirements and forhealth purposes.

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On the first anniversary ofhis Government, Chief

Minister Hemant Soren is set tolaunch and announce a slew ofschemes and programmesincluding the farmer loan waiv-er plan along with 15 newschemes on December 29.

Projects worth �1,458.95crore will be inaugurated whilefoundation stones of new pro-jects worth �1091.92 crore willbe laid on the occasion.Celebrations to mark the daywill be held in all districtssimultaneously, while the mainfunction will be held at historicMorhabadi ground. Morhabadiground where a year backHemant Soren took oath hasbeen decked with huge cutoutsof Hemant and his council ofministers. The venue greetswith the Santhali word AabuaRaj Ek Saal Suruwat Ananek(Ours governance: one year,many beginnings).

The JMM/Congress ledalliance headed by Soren lastyear came to power defeatingBJP. The Soren Governmentduring this corona pandemic

has seen several ups anddowns, but the pandemic hasnot come in way inGovernment fulfilling people’saspirations.

From waiving farmers’loanupto Rs 50,000 to providinggreen ration card to 15 lakhbeneficiaries, the governmenthas taken several welfare ini-tiatives. The government inMay this year, facing the pos-sibility of a steep rise in the rateof unemployment in villagesfollowing the arrival of large-scale stranded migrant workersfrom other States, launchedthree labour intensive pro-grammes to restore the ruraleconomy.

The Birsa Harit GramYojana (BHGY), NeelambarPitambar JAL SammridhiYojana (NPJSY) and Veer SahidPoto Ho Khel Vikas Scheme(VSPHKVS) aims to createwage employment for workersin rural areas.

The Soren Governmentalso gave the power to spend�25 lakh from his or her MLAfund for workers benefit andunder which �1000 and �2000was to be deposited in theaccount of migrant workers liv-ing in State and outside Staterespectively.

The government duringthis corona pandemic workedon seven measures whichincluded testing, quarantine,

relief and others so as to checkthe spread of infections. In itseffort in rapid testing ofpatients, 32,000 sahiya workerswere engaged resulting in anincrease in Covid 19 recoveryrate. The State recovery ratestands at 97.03 per cent whilethe mortality rate is 0.89 percent.

While on one hand, thegovernment worked in check-ing the spread of infections atthe same time developmentwork was given pace and in thisdirection the government hasconducted eleven Cabinetmeetings, in which 207 pro-

posals were given nod.Working in the step of job cre-ation, the government hasmade recommendations to9215 posts under JharkhandStaff Selection Commission.At corona pandemic times,when most of the educationalinstitutions are closed, theJharkhand governmentlaunched Digi School andLearnytic 2.0 platforms for stu-dents.

In the Health sector thegovernment has sanctioned a

budget of Rs 178 crore toSuper Specialty Hospital inMedica City and 30 per centbeds has been reserved forpatients from lower incomegroup category at the sametime state medical collegeshave been renamed after free-dom fighters and Jharkhandmovement crusaders.

In the social security sec-tor, the government has set upcommissions for backwardSC/ST apart from contemplat-ing to reserve 75 per cent seats

for OBC, SC/ST students ingovernment and private sec-tors.

The government is alsoworking in step of developingmartyrs villages such asUlihatu, Silagai among others.

In the energy sector sixpower grids were inauguratedby Chief Minister HemantSoren at Giridih, Jasidih,Bhognadih, Saria and others. Inthe direction of womenempowerment in rural areas,the government has set upPalash Board. Restoring therich culture and heritage of theState, the government changedthe logo of the Jharkhand gov-ernment in which state richcultural heritage, age old tra-ditions, musical instruments,folklore and dance are reflect-ed in the new logo.

In food security 25,000PDS dealers have been linkedwith e-pose machines at thesame time 76 per cent duplicateration cards have been can-celled. For development ofmicro industries, the govern-ment has started the process ofsetting up industrial parks atthe cost of Rs 67.33 croreamong others.

The government is alsoworking in the direction offorestation and the govern-ment has once again decided tocarry out plantation drives onthe banks of rivers.

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Over 150 Covid-19 patients testednegative for the virus on Monday,

taking the total number of Covidrecoveries in Jharkhand close to1,11,818 figures compiled by theNational Health Mission (NHM) stat-ed.

Jharkhand’s recovery rate furtherimproved on the day and reached97.72 per cent after only 152 fresh casesof infection surfaced against 154 recov-eries, a daily bulletin released by theNHM highlighted. The national Covid-19 recovery rate, as per governmentdata, was 95.80 per cent on Saturday.

While recoveries outnumbered thenumber of fresh cases, the Covid toll inthe state also increased as one morepatient from Khunti died during treat-ment in 24 hours. As per governmentdata, as many as 1020 people have diedof Covid-19 in Jharkhand so far, and at

least 212 of them were from Ranchi. TheCovid mortality rate in Jharkhand was0.89 per cent against the national aver-age of 1.40 per cent.

As many as 71 people were found

infected in Ranchi on the day against55 recoveries, while East Singhbhumreported 30cases against 30 recoveriesand Bokaro reported 10 cases against 10recoveries, the NHM bulletin high-

lighted.Around 779 people were battling

the infection in Ranchi, while 205were undergoing treatment in EastSinghbhum on Friday. So far, the gov-ernment has collected swab samples of47.62 lakh people and tested 47.53 lakhof them. Of the over 47 lakh people test-ed, 1,14,420 were found infected.

As per the NHM bulletin today, 152corona positive patients were con-firmed, including 71 from Ranchi, 10from Bokaro, 1 from Chatra, 5 fromDeoghar, 3 from Dhanbad, 1 fromDumka, 30 from East Singhbhum, 1from Garhwa, 2 from Giridih, 4 fromGumla, 3 from Hazaribagh, 1 fromJamtara, 1 from Latehar, 1 fromLohardaga, 5 from Palamu, 4 fromRamgarh, 3 from Saraikela, 1 fromSimdega and 5 from West Singhbhum.

On Monday, health workers acrossJharkhand tested swab samples of14,059 people and over 1 per cent ofthem were found infected. At least 1582people were battling the virus across thestate by the end of Monday, governmentdata stated.

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Defense Minister of IndiaRajnath Singh called upon

youngsters to draw inspirationfrom eminent personalities assource of inspiration in nationbuilding. Rajnath said, youth isthe source of innovation, inven-tion and ideas and India beinga country with the maximumyoung population has the poten-tial to become a very powerfulcountry in future.

The Union Minister, whowas speaking as chief guest atIndian Institute of Management(IIM) Ranchi’s ninth convoca-tion on virtual mode askedyouth to take inspiration fromeminent personalities such asSrinivasa Ramanujan, NelsonMandela, Steve Jobs, SwamiVivekananda, Baudhayana,

Aryabhata, Varahamihira,Brahmagupta, Charaka,Sushruta, Nagarjuna, Jai Singh.

Stressing on the need topromote local entrepreneur-ship, he said, “Young talentsfrom IIM Ranchi should help inpromoting and strengtheninglocal entrepreneurship with thehelp of technology so that localbecomes global. Overall, apartfrom education we should alsofocus on developing researchand problem solving.”

Rajnath added, as businessleaders, students have the dutyto ensure that companies alsoprovide benefits to the societywhere they operate. He addedthat IIM Ranchi is a nationally-acclaimed management insti-tute, its primary responsibility isto help organizations, both gov-ernment and corporate inenhancing their efficiency andeffectiveness. Congratulatingfaculty for nourishing youngminds, he said, “Today Covid 19has confined our physical con-nection, and technology has

helped us stay connected, thanksto innovation. IIM Ranchi hasfollowed its core values of humil-ity, hard work, and honesty for11 years now. The students herehave been achieving outstandingexcellence, which shows theinstitutional excellence of IIMRanchi.”

The ninth convocation washeld virtually at seminar hall, atpermanent campus of IIMRanchi on Monday. The con-vocation ceremony started with

the academic procession fol-lowed by Saraswati Vandana,lighting of lamp and nationalsong.

Prof. Shailendra Singh,Director, IIM, Ranchi, deliver-ing the welcome speech and pre-senting institute report said,“The institute has performedoutstanding, based on MHRD,MOU and the students havebrought many laurels to theinstitute, 60 awards, Tata Motor,Tata Steel, RBI awards, Bombay

Stock Exchange, to name a few.We have signed 9 MOUs for theexchange program, includingthe institutes from Greece, USA,Canada, China, and manymore.” He also emphasised onthe achievements of facultymembers towards their researchand publications.

He mentioned that IIMRanchi has taken several otherinitiatives, including undertak-ing impactful policy research,through the Atal Bihari VajpayeeCentre on Leadership, Policyand Governance (ABVCLPG)and the Birsa Munda Centre forTribal studies that focus on skilldevelopment amongst tribalcommunities.

During the 9th convocation,degrees were conferred virtual-ly on 272 students from thegraduating students from thevarious programmes, such as:PhD: three students, MBA: 182students, MBA- HRM: 66 stu-dents, Post-Graduate ExecutiveProgramme in Management(PGEXP): 21 students.

Jasmeet Singh Bindrareceived first position as(Recipient of BoG Chairman’sMedal and Certificate of Merit)in MBA 2018-20 batch. SurabhiSethi received the first position(Recipient of BoG Chairman’sMedal and Certificate of Merit)in MBA-HRM 2018-20 batch.Kaushik Chopra received firstposition (Recipient of BoGChairman’s Medal andCertificate of Merit) in Post-Graduate Executive Programmein Management (PGEXP). TheICSI Signature Award – GoldMedal was awarded to JasmeetSingh Bindra for securing thehighest CGPA in the MBAProgramme. Prof. Ashish HajelaMemorial Award was awardedto Alok Raj for securing highestGPA in the StrategicManagement Area in MBAProgramme.

The convocation wasattended by Praveen ShankarPandya, Chairman, BoG, facul-ty members, staff and studentsof institute.

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Owing to the pandemic manyparty spots in the City have

decided to end the year on a quietnote this time. While leadingrestaurants have opted to host low-key celebrations for a limitedcrowd, hotels have decided to nothost any year end events.

On December 31, PranaLounge in Harmu is set to welcomethe New Year with foot tappingmusic played by DJ X SquareMusic from Bangalore and theparty is slated to begin at 8 pm.

“Unlike every year we havedecided to do away with a commondance floor and for those who wishto dance can do so around theirtables only. The charges have beenfixed at Rs 8000 for a couple whilesingle men and women will have topay Rs 5000 each which will includefood and beverages. To limit thecrowds, passes are available onlythrough reference at the restaurantand also digitally on a first comefirst serve basis. The number ofentries has been limited to 50 as

against 70 people till last year. TheNew Year party will be on therooftop while the restaurant will beoperational for walk-ins,” said theowner Ashutosh Bajaj.

The Ruin House in Morabadiwill have DJ Su and Fakri band

from New Delhi to entertain thecrowds. “The entry charges havebeen fixed at Rs 6000 per headwhich will include food, drinks andentertainment. The entry is restrict-ed on pre booked passes only andno more than 200 people will be

allowed at the venue. Thetheme for the evening isFernweh which means an urgeto travel. Based on the themeface masks will be provided tothe visitors. For foodies livecounters serving Japanese, ori-ental and Lebanese cuisine willbe served,” said the ownerAnirudh Budhia.

One of the premier hotelsof the City, Capitol Residencyhas decided to host a gala din-ner. “We have received numer-ous family queries forDecember 31 and will beorganising a dinner with somelive music and food. Thecharges have been fixed at Rs1500 per person while alcoholwill be charged extra. Asagainst last year where wewould also conduct family

bonding games, this time due toCovid- 19 no such thing is beingdone. Our banquets are availablefor booking of private parties ofabout 50- 60 people,” saidKaranveer Bhatia, Director CapitolResidency.

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Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM)on Monday claimed that the

State Government will provideGovernment jobs to 50 thousandyouths of the State within the nextthree months.

Addressing a press meet JMMGeneral Secretary cumSpokesperson, SupriyoBhattacharya said that the StateGovernment has set an example oneverything from employment toother matters and in the comingfour years, the Government willgive new identity to Jharkhand andits culture The manifesto issued byJMM in 2019 will be brought onthe ground and confidence will begained from the public again byissuing a Performance letter in2024, he added.

Bhattacharya said that theCentral Government has beencontinuously ignoring Jharkhandfor the last one year. "Despite this,Hemant Soren brilliantly pushedthe State on the path of develop-ment. “This year, when the bud-get was presented in the Assemblysession, before that theGovernment released a whitepaper and made the public awareabout the financial situation of theState," he added.

"As soon as the Governmentchanged, the DVC started pres-

surising them to ask for money. Rs5500 crores were due during theprevious Raghubar Governmentbut it was not talked about at thattime and the State Governmentowed Rs 66,000 crore owed to thecoal companies, but the CoalMinister gave only Rs 250 crore.The State did not get the money ofGST which is Rs 25,000 crore.Despite this, Hemant Soren drovethe State out despite the Coronacrisis," said Bhatatcharya.

The party Spokesperson saidthat during the Corona period,several steps were taken by theState Government to protect thepeople from the Corona and thedoctors, nurses, para medical staff,scavengers and police took per-formed very well during the peri-od.

"In every block, an investiga-

tion was arranged with the trunetmachine for check up. Many ini-tiatives also took place at the dis-trict level. As a result, Jharkhanddid not fall into the danger trap likeother states. Here the recovery ratehas been 97.71 percent is betterthan the national level. Alongwith prevention from disease,employment arrangements weremade for migrant workers andurban poor. 25 crore man dayswere created through MNREGAand the wage rate was increasedfrom 200 to 300," saidBhattacharya.

Hitting hard on the previousState Government the partySpokesperson said thatMomentum Jharkhand andgroundbreaking programmes tookplace during the RaghubarGovernment and 155 helicopterswere flown during the time."Elephant was also flown. Daswent to Las Vegas, Thailand to callinvestors. Despite this, companiesdid not come here. But 68 unitswere established here under theHemant Government,” he added.

Bhattacharya claimed that inthe current financial year, Rs18,318 lakh will be used to standup industries which are on theverge of closure and in education,sports, tourism, social welfare andother areas too, the Governmentis preparing to take big steps.

'�� '��

The Indian National Congress(INC) celebrated its 136th

Foundation Day across the State onMonday. On this occasion theparty workers organised theNational Flag hoisting programmeat Jharkhand Pradesh CongressCommittee (JPCC) office and eachblock and district office of theparty. The party also held TirangaYatra in all the district headquar-ters including the party head-quarters in Ranchi. Many promi-nent leaders, MLAs and workersattended the Foundation Day func-tion in their respective areas.

The main function was organ-ised in the State Capital under lead-ership of JPCC Chief, RameshwarOraon. Addressing the party work-ers near Raj Bhawan in the StateCapital Oraon said that Oraon saidthat the Country will remain onlyas long as secularism and socialismremain. We are members of anational party which has a glori-

ous history of its own, he added.The Tiranga Yatra started from

Congress Bhawan and reachedAlbert Ekka Chowk via ShaheedChowk, where the statue ofParamvir Chakra winner ShahidAlbert Ekka was garlanded. Afterthat, the yatra reached ShahidSthal and the party workers paidtribute to martyrs of Jharkhand.

After this, the yatra reached theconcluding site in front of RajBhavan via Kachari Chowk and themain event was organized there.Many party old leaders were alsohonored during this period.

The JPCC Chief said thattoday the farmers of the Countryhave been agitating against thethree black laws for continuously

a month."Their words are not being

heard by the Government.Capitalism is being introduced inthe agriculture sector from theback door. Whereas the Congressparty is raising its voice from theroad to the house in favor of the62 million farmers and the effortsare being made to weaken theresult of the Green Revolutionbrought by former PM late IndiraGandhi. We assure our farmerbrothers that under the leadershipof Sonia Gandhi-Rahul Gandhi,the party will continue to raise thevoice of farmers," he added.

On this occasion varioussenior leder like former UnionMinister, Subodh Kant Sahay, MPGita Koda, MLA Bhushan Bara,Rajesh Kachap, Bandhu Tirki,Executive presidents Keshav MahtoKamlesh, Rajesh Thakur, JPCCSpokesperson, Alok Dubey,Kishorenath Shahdeo, RajeshGupta, Rajiv Ranjan Sahay, andothers were present.

Jamshedpur: In a major road mishap, four personsof a family were killed and two others seriouslyinjured as the car they were travelling in hit a sta-tionary truck along Daruda village on NH - 33 underIchagarh police station area in the adjoiningSeraikela-Kharsawan district on Monday afternoon.

Two of the injured were rushed to the Tata MainHospital, where their condition is described as seri-ous.

Those killed include two women, one of themwas 55-year-old identified as Mamta Devi and theother one was 27-year-old Madhu Devi. The othertwo deceased were identified as Abhay Prasad (30)and Aman Kumar (24), all residents of Majhitola inAdityapur.

According to police, family members of PrabhatPrasad were on their way to Dassam falls in Ranchiin two cars. In one of the cars, Prabhat Prasad andsome members were travelling in whereas inanother car which was trailing behind was occupiedby those fell victim to the mishap.

"We are investigating the mishap. It appears thatas the other car had moved faster than, the driverof the vehicle was moving at a high speed to catchthe car and incidentally rammed into the station-ary truck," said Vinod Singh, OC, Ichagarh policestation. PNS

Jamshedpur: As part of its commitment to sustainability,Tata Steel has set-up Dalma View Point, a picnic areaon the Marine Drive (Western Corridor), adjacent tothe management institute, XLRI at Jamshedpur. Spreadover an area of 5 acres, the Dalma View Point is TataSteel`s strategic committed to improving green coverin and around Jamshedpur Steel Works.

The Dalma View Point was inaugurated byChanakya Chaudhary, vice president (corporate ser-vices), Tata Steel along with R Rabi Prasad, president,Tata Workers’ Union amidst a small gathering.

Chanakya Chaudhary said that it is yet another ini-tiative to reiterate Tata Steel`s commitment to sustain-ability and the clean and green environment is not onlyadding to the beauty of the area but is also helping con-serve biodiversity and sustainable development.

R Rabi Prasad congratulated the Corporate Servicesteam for transforming the Municipal Solid Waste (MSW)dump into a lush green picnic area and said that it is agood site to spend time with family and friends andadmire nature.

Earlier the site was a MSW landfill area with lim-ited vegetative growth. The existing dump has been con-verted into a green park by layering the dump with soiland plantation of variety ranging from erosion of soilto stabilisation of slopes.

Air and water pollution from the contaminateddump site was affecting the adjoining area. Vigorousgrowth of weeds and bushes provided an enjoyableatmosphere for varieties of creatures and poisonoussnakes. Local and migratory birds stopped coming to

this area.The slopes of the dump have been stabilised by

Wadelia trilobata, a plant species which has an exten-sive root system. These species help in attracting vari-ous species of butterflies mainly Zizeeria karandra,Eurema hecabe, etc. The surrounding area to the dumphas been converted into a green zone ranging from plan-tation area, grass lawns and picnic area. The picnic areais attracting species of butterflies, birds and insects byplanting trees and shrubs of various nature and impor-tance.

A pond has been developed inside the picnic areato use the run-off water and also enhance the aesthet-ical view. The pond is equipped with a fountain to main-tain the dissolved oxygen level and improve the quali-ty of water in the pond. PNS

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While most political partiesrefused to speculate on

Board for Control for Cricketin India president SouravGanguli’s two-hour-long parleywith Bengal Governor JagdeepDhankhar, State BJP presidentDilip Ghosh on Mondayreminded that performance wasthe key to getting priced posi-tions in the BJP adding peoplelike Ganguli would be an assetto the party.

When asked to commenton the Monday’s one-on-onemeeting between Dhankhar—often alleged by the rulingTrinamool Congress as the BJP’sde facto points-man in Bengal— and the former India captain,Ghosh said he had no infor-mation about such discussionshaving taken place between thetwo.

“He is a famous personal-ity … one of the most success-ful batsmen and captains of theIndian cricket team … notonly Sourav Ganguli but any-one can meet the Governor,” hesaid adding however “I don’tknow whether there is anypolitical connection in thismeeting.”

On his willingness to get thecricketing southpaw in the BJP’steam he said, his party alwayswanted people like SouravGanguly to its ranks.

“Our doors are always openfor people like him. In the pasttoo, many celebrities joined ourparty and in the coming daysmore willcome. When good people of

repute join your party it sendsa positive message to the peo-ple.”

When asked as to whetherGanguli featured on top of the

BJP’s list of next ChiefMinisterial candidate Ghoshsaid, “anyone can work on anyposition because the BJP alwaysputs right kind of people in rightplace so as to serve the peopleproperly.” When asked specifi-cally whether he would like tosee him as the next ChiefMinister of the State she said,“anyone can be a Chief Ministerbut for that one has to join theparty, perform and deliver,”adding the top leadership woulddecide the things at an appro-priate moment.

When the same questionwas put to senior BengalMinister Subroto Mukherjeehe too showed his ignoranceabout the Sunday’s meetinghaving taken place between theGovernor and Ganguli. Whentold that the meeting had indeedtaken place he said “I should not comment on

anyone meeting the Governor… I can only say that India isplaying well in the second testin Australia … but for themeeting you are talking aboutI am least interested aboutthat…”

Ganguli who enjoys anexcellent chemistry with UnionHome Minister Amit Shah ear-lier told the media not to readmuch into the Sunday’s meetingas it was a courtesy call.

“A meeting was long over-due as he had expressed hisinterest in visiting the EdenGardens … I had gone to invitehim to visit the stadium …nothing more should be readinto this meeting,” Ganguli whohas throughout his career main-tained a neutral political stancenotwithstanding his goodchemistry with all the politicalparties like the Left Front, TMCand now the BJP said.

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Little more than a week after HomeMinister Amit Shah’s grand road-

show at Bolpur, Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee is all set to take outher own “padyatra” along the same routeon Tuesday.

Though the road show is seen as ananswer to Shah’s rally the main themeof the of Tuesday’s march have beenbased on the songs of Poet LaureateRabindranath Tagore who foundedShantiniketan at Bolpur then a smalltribal hamlet.

Several artists from various districtsof Bengal will participate in the road-show and perform Rabindra Sangeet,sources said.

Meanwhile in a related developmentBanerjee on Monday said that theState Public Works Department (PWD)

would take back the control of a roadnear the Visva Bharati University cam-pus.

The 2.9 km long road connectingtwo campuses of the centrally controlleduniversity -- Santiniketan andSriniketan – was handed over to theuniversity in 2017.

The decision was taken after reportsthat the University authorities hadmade the road out of bounds for thegeneral public. The Chief Ministerwho was at Bolpur on Monday said“there are many complaints from localpeople that they are not being allowedto use the road and it was causing incon-venience. So, the PWD will now takecontrol of it.”

The decision is seen as a part of theongoing Centre-State (read BJP-TMCconflict in the run up to 2021 BengalAssembly elections.

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With the ruling Janata Dal(United) going through a

crisis in Bihar, the reins of theparty have been entrusted toChief Minister Nitish Kumar'smost trusted aide and formerIndian Administrative Serviceofficer RCP Singh.

How well would Singh playthe role of the JDU's 'Bigg Boss',only time will tell. But it isbelieved that strengthening the

organisational structure andexpanding the party to otherStates will be a major challengefor Singh.

Nitish Kumar has been theuniversally accepted and tow-ering leader in the JDU. In sucha situation, there are seriousapprehensions whether Singhwill be able to create his ownimage as an acceptable leaderof the party. There are manystrong leaders in the partywho have the capability to take

over the leadership reins. Willthey accept Singh as theirleader, is a question beingasked.

The JDU, which was thelargest party in Bihar, couldonly achieve the third positionin the recently concludedAssembly polls. Singh had ear-lier earned praise for the role heplayed in the expansion andstrengthening of the party.

In the JDU's NationalExecutive meeting, the party

had indicated that it no longerwants to be strong only in Biharand passed a proposal regard-ing the JDU's expansion toother states on similar lines asin Bihar.

Former Bihar minister andLegislative Councillor NeerajKumar said, “Singh has beenassociated with the JDU for along time and has played animportant role in the organi-sation. His administrative expe-rience and communication

skills will prove to be very use-ful in the organisational devel-opment of the JDU.”

A senior JDU leader said it

was becoming quite a dauntingchallenge for Nitish Kumar tohandle the dual responsibilityof Chief Minister as well asparty President. Change wasconsidered necessary to give anopportunity to new generationleaders and to energise theparty workers so entrusting theresponsibility of leading theparty was given to Singh.

Even when GeorgeFernandes and Sharad Yadavwere president of the JDU

Nitish Kumar remained themost visible face of the party.Party leaders said that Kumarhad taken the party to newheights.

From the start, Singh wasseen as the successor of NitishKumar. Singh comes from theKurmi caste and is one ofKumar's most trusted aides.

It is also considered a chal-lenge for Singh to keep in stepwith the other political outfitswho are part of the NDA

alliance in Bihar. Senior BJPleader and Rajya Sabha MPSushil Kumar Modi said thatunder Singh's leadership theBJP-JDU political relations andalliance will be furtherstrengthened.

Congratulatory messageshave been pouring in afterSingh became the party'sNational President, but itremains to be seen how hewould deal with the upcomingchallenges.

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Under the new educationpolicy, children from class

3rd to 5th will be given pre-pri-mary education at Anganwadicentres along with meals. Forthis, educational data of theworkers and assistants workingat these centers will be pre-pared. This will also do thework of teaching children.After the preparation of theeducational data, these willalso be given training at BlockResource Centers (BRC).

There is a plan for pre-pri-mary studies in Basic

Education Council schoolsunder the new education pol-icy. Anganwadi centers will beused for pre-primary studies.Children between three andfive years of age will study here.

Also, activities will be con-ducted at these centers underthe supervision of the BasicEducation Department.

This has also created thepossibility of additional workon departmental employees.

Teachers or academic per-sons will give the training to theworkers of Anganwadi centers.This will also provide addi-tional work on them.

Panaji: Higher secondary andcollege examinations will beheld offline this academic yearin Goa, Chief Minister PramodSawant said on Monday.

Speaking at a functionorganised to felicitate meritori-ous students at the HarmalPanchkroshi educational insti-tute in North Goa district,Sawant said that there was anx-iety among students about whenand how the exams would beconducted.

“A lot of students are won-dering when higher secondaryschools or colleges will resumeclasses. We are stressing on

offline exams this year. Class XI,XII as well as college exams willbe held offline,” Sawant said.Currently, schools in Goa areonly allowed to hold offlineclasses for Class X and Class XIIstudents, while other studentsare taught online by education-al institutions. Classes for ClassX and Class XII students beganfrom November 21 this year.

According to the GoaBoard of Secondary and HigherSecondary Education, examsfor Class X are scheduled tobegin from May 13, while ClassXII exams are scheduled tostart from April 26. IANS

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With the arrest of another overground worker (OGW)

belonging to the Lashkar-e-Tayyebaterror outfit , the joint team of secu-rity forces in Jammu & Kashmirhave unearthed a sinister plot ofPakistan based handlers to targetfamous religious places and disturbpeace in the region.

In the last four days, jointteams of security forces have avert-ed three major terror strikes withthe arrest of six terrorists and theirassociates and recovery of arms andammunition.

According to the preliminaryreports, handlers sitting acrossPakistan were directing theseOGW's to carry out terror strikesespecially on famous religiousplaces in order to disturb peace in

the communally sensitive Jammuregion.

According to a statement issuedby the office of Inspector Generalof Police, Jammu range on Monday,“Police in Jammu district arrestedone person linked with the pro-scribed terrorist organization LeTwho was tasked by the handlersfrom across the border to carry outgrenade blasts in the city at NHWbye pass road last evening”.

Police have identified thearrested person as MohammadAshraf S/O Ghulam Din R/O Lar,Mahore, Reasi A/P Peerbaghcolony, Sunjawan, Jammu. Twohand grenades were recovered fromhis possession.

Official sources claimed thehandler across the border was incontact with more terror operatives.Jammu police have launched a

massive manhunt to track downtheir footprints to avert any otherstrike.

This is the second terror mod-ule linked with LeT which has beenbusted by the Jammu police in thepast one week. A similar modulelinked with TRF (LeT) was bustedearlier in which 02 persons name-ly Raees Ahmad Dar S/O GhulamHassan Dar R/O Churath, Devsar,Qazigund and Sabzar AhmadSheikh S/o Ghulam Ahmad SheikhR/o Ashmuji, Kulgam were arrest-ed with one Ak series rifle, one pis-tol, two magazines of AK rifle, 60rounds of AK rifle and 15 roundsof pistol.

Another module was busted inPoonch on Sunday with the arrestof three militants of the newly float-ed JK Ghaznavi Force in Mendhararea who were planning to target

religious places of minorities start-ing with the famous temple of Ari.Six grenades have so far beenrecovered from their possession.Apart from three arrests, two morepersons have been detained forquestioning. SSP Poonch RameshAngral said that the arrested mili-tants were planning to carry out agrenade attack on a religious placeat Ari in Mendhar at the behest oftheir Pakistani handler to disturbpeace and communal amity in thedistrict.

Some videos regarding tacticsof grenade lobbying were alsofound in the mobile phones of theaccused. SSP Poonch added that itis a major success for securityforces as a major terror plot of mil-itant strikes and inciting commu-nal violence has been averted inPoonch.

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Aman has filed a complaintagainst his newly-married

wife who has allegedly runaway from his home with cashand gold jewellery.

In his complaint filed at theShamli police station, Pinku,who is a resident of theSimbhalka village in Shamlidistrict, said he got married onNovember 25. His wife, who isa resident of Baghpat district,was missing from December 26night.

Pinku alleged that his wifehas run away from his homeand has taken away Rs 70,000cash and gold jewellery.

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Prayagraj (Uttar Pradesh):TheAkhil Bharatiya AkharaParishad (ABAP) now wantsthe Kumbh Mela in Haridwarto be held on a grand scalebecause the pandemic is slow-ing down.

The ABAP has sent aninvitation to Uttarakhand ChiefMinister Trivendra SinghRawat to visit Prayagraj in thenew year and see the arrange-ments made for the annualMagh Mela. Incidentally, theUttarakhand Chief Ministerhas tested positive for Covidand is in hospital.

“We want him to see howthe Magh Mela is being orga-nized on a grand scale, despitethe pandemic. The ABAP hadbeen contemplating to holdHaridwar Kumbh Mela on asmaller scale till now, but nowthat the cases of corona aresteadily decreasing, the ABAPhas decided that the fair shouldbe held in full grandeur, fol-lowing all the safety norms,”said ABAP chief MahantNarendra Giri.

Mahant Hari Giri, generalsecretary of ABAP and chiefpatron of Juna Akhara, saidthat this decision has beentaken in view of the present sit-uation in terms of decliningnumber of corona cases acrossthe country. IANS

Patna:A 16-year-old girl,returning from a householdchore, was allegedly waylaidand gang raped by three knownpersons in Bihar's Rohtas dis-trict, police said on Monday.

The crime was committedin Rohtas' Dehri-on-Sonelocality on December 23 butwas reported to police only onFriday, Dehri SDPO SanjayKumar said.

“We have registered anFIR under Section 376 D (gangrape) of the IPC and efforts areon to nab the accused. Duringpreliminary investigation, itappeared that the accused arefriendly with the victim,” hesaid.

As per the statement of thevictim's mother, her twodaughters went to a nearbyshop to buy some domesticitems on December 23. Whilereturning, the accused inter-cepted them and took them toa deserted house in the vicin-ity, where they tied up theyounger girl and took turns torape the 16-year-old.

“After the incident, theaccused released the victimand her sister and threatenedthem with dire consequences ifthey revealed the incident toanyone. The victim, after reach-ing home, narrated her ordealto her mother, who theninformed the police,” Kumarsaid. IANS

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Aday after the EnforcementDirectorate (ED) sum-

moned his wife Varsha toappear before it in connectionwith the PMC Bank scam onDecember 29, Shiv Sena leaderSanjay Raut on Monday hit outat the BJP for its “act of cow-ardice” which reflected its“frustration” against him for hisrole in MVA Government’sformation in the State andcharged that through the ED, itwas targetting the rulingalliance leaders for the past oneyear.

Hitting out at the BJP-ledNDA for “misusing” its inves-tigating agencies against itspolitical rivals, Raut said at anews conference here:“Targetting the women of ahousehold is an act of cow-ardice. We are notscared of anyone and willrespond accordingly. The BJP’sact reflects its frustrationagainst him, owing to his rolein the formation of the MahaVikas Aghadi (MVA) government in the State lastyear and his refusal to yield topressure to make itunstable”.

Raut, it may be recalled ,had played a key role in bring-ing the Shiv Sena, NCP andCongress, together to form a

three-party alliance govern-ment in Maharashtra inNovember last year.

Asserting that the BJPshould learn to learn to facepolitical battles should be“fought face to face” instead ofusing its investigating agenciesagainst political rivals, Rautsaid: “I have spoken to ChiefMinister Uddhav Thackerayin this regard. The Shiv Senawill respond to the BJP in itsown way. There’s no need topanic”.

Alluding to the “blatantmisuse” of the Central investi-gating agencies against its polit-ical rivals, Raut said: “Duringthe past one year, our leaderslike Sharad Pawar, EknathKhadse and Pratap Sarnaikgot notices from the ED. NowI am being discussed in con-nection with the summonsissued to my wife” .

Raut's wife Varsha willappear before the ED onTuesday. The ED is under-stood to be investigatingalleged financial transactionsbetween Varsha Raut andPravin Raut, who is under arrest in the PMC Bankcase.

“The ED wanted somepapers and we have submittedthem in time,” Raut said, evenas he dismissed the notices as“pieces of paper, nothing else”.

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Replying to a private newschannel’s query on “onenation, one election”,Chief Election

Commissioner (CEC) Sunil Arorapithily said that the ElectionCommission was ready for it if thelegislature (Parliament) carriesout the necessary (constitutional)amendments. The ElectionCommission was not authorisedto decide on it, he clarified.

The amendments that theCEC was referring to were per-haps Article 83 (2) and 172 of theConstitution of India which per-tain to durations of the House ofPeople and State Assemblies,respectively. At present, theyenjoy a term of “five years fromthe date appointed for its firstmeeting”. At any given time, dif-ferent State Assemblies would bein different stages of their lifecycle. No elected Governmentwould voluntarily like to give upthe term even a day earlier thanis absolutely necessary. However,at present, the President of Indiaunder Article 85 (2) (b) can dis-solve the Lok Sabha. TheGovernor of a State, under Article174 (2) (b), can dissolve a legisla-tive Assembly.

Prime Minister NarendraModi’s idea of simultaneous elec-tions is apparently more compre-hensive. The BJP’s election man-ifesto, “Sankalp Patra-2019”,pitches for simultaneous elec-tions to Parliament, StateAssemblies and local bodies witha view to “reducing expenditure,ensure efficient utilisation of theGovernment’s resources and secu-rity forces, and effective policyplanning”. The manifesto statesthat the BJP will try to build con-sensus on this issue with all polit-ical parties. However, no attemptat “consensus building” appears tohave been undertaken by it so far.

The Election Commission ofIndia’s authority to conduct elec-tions extends over the House ofPeople (the Lok Sabha), Councilof States (the Rajya Sabha), Statelegislative Assemblies, legislativeCouncils, the President and theVice-President of India and so on.It has been constituted underArticle 324 of the Constitution ofIndia. The offices of the ChiefElectoral Officers in all States andUnion Territories are part of theElection Commission. The elec-tion to local bodies like panchay-ats and municipal corporations/municipalities, on the other hand,are conducted by the StateElection Commissions constitut-ed under Article 243K. Moreover,

panchayats and municipalitiesalso enjoy five-year durationunder Articles 243 E and 243 U,respectively, of the Constitutionof India. However, there are noclear-cut constitutional provi-sions to dissolve these localbodies prematurely.

In 2015, the department-related Parliamentary StandingCommittee of Personnel,Public, Law and Justice hadexamined the issue of“Feasibility of HoldingSimultaneous Elections to theHouse of People (Lok Sabha)and State LegislativeAssemblies”. From ReportNo.79 of the StandingCommittee — tabled in bothHouses of Parliament — onDecember 17, 2015, it appearsthat political parties were divid-ed on the subject. In their writ-ten submissions, the AIADMK,DMDK, Asom Gana Parishad,the Indian Union MuslimLeague and the ShiromaniAkali Dal supported the idea,though with certain riders. Onthe other hand, the IndianNational Congress, TrinamoolCongress, the NCP, the CPI andthe AIMIM opposed the idea asimpractical.

The first general electionsto the Lok Sabha and to theState Assemblies were heldsimultaneously in 1952. Thepractice continued in threesubsequent elections in 1957,1962 and 1967. However, thesynchrony got disturbed due tothe premature dissolution tosome legislative Assemblies in1968 and 1969. Later, the term

of the Fifth Lok Sabha wasextended until 1977 underArticle 352. Thereafter, theSixth, Seventh, Ninth, Eleventh,Twelfth and Thirteenth LokSabha were dissolved prema-turely. On numerous occa-sions, various States went underthe President’s rule underArticle 356, and came out of itat different times through freshlegislative elections.

The committee found thatseven out of 16 Lok Sabhaselected in 1969, 1977, 1980,1984, 1996, 1998 and 1999witnessed premature dissolu-tion. The Anti-Defection Act,1985, that prevented switchoverby breakaway factions in casethe Government loses majori-ty, has a direct bearing upon theterm of the legislature.

Putting the clock back to1952 might not be easy. But amore important question is,how desirable would it be? Theproposal comes with attendantlogistical and expenditure chal-lenges. In terms of numbers, theElection Commission of Indiahas Electronic Voting Machines(EVMs) and Voter VerifiablePaper Audit Trail (VVPAT)machines in excess to the num-ber required for the Lok Sabhaelections. In reply to a questionin the Lok Sabha (vide unstarredquestion 1911 dated July 3,2019), Law Minister RaviShankar Prasad informed theHouse that 14.88 lakh BallotUnits and 11.3 lakh ControlUnits (constituting an EVM)and 11.59 lakh VVPATmachines were used in the 2019

general elections. The ElectionCommission has 23.3 lakh BallotUnits, 16.35 lakh Control Unitsand 17.4 lakh VVPAT machines,including those blocked in elec-tion petition cases. A majority ofthese were procured over thepreceding three years. In replyto another question (videunstarred question 5198 datedJuly 24, 2019), the Ministerreplied that the ElectionCommission had procured13.95 lakh Ballot Units and10.55 Control Units between2016 and 2019 at an estimatedcost of �2056.20 crore (exclud-ing taxes and transport).

The Election Commissionknows the template of handlingsimultaneous elections. The2019 general elections wereheld simultaneously along withelections to four legislativeAssemblies like AndhraPradesh, Sikkim, ArunachalPradesh and Odisha. However,the Election Commission’sinventory of EVMs andVVPAT machines, though inexcess to the requirement forgeneral elections, might bequite insufficient for holdingsimultaneous elections all overIndia. The older EVMs, whichhave outlived their lifespan,have to be retired and replaced.This would mean (a) signifi-cant enhancement, if not dou-bling, in the number of EVMsand VVPAT machines avail-able; (b) augmenting storagefacilities for these during elec-tions (strong rooms) and per-manently (warehouses).

The Standing Committee

concluded that simultaneouselections are not feasible in thenear future. However, citingthat under Sections 14 and 15of the Representation of thePeople Act, 1951, the ElectionCommission can notify elec-tions to the Lok Sabha and Statelegislative Assemblies sixmonths prior to the end of theirnatural term, it suggested hold-ing elections in two phases. Itimplied that elections to somelegislative Assemblies could beheld along with the Lok Sabhapolls, and others in the mid-term of the Lok Sabha. TheStanding Committee recom-mended the plan to be initiat-ed with effect from November2016. The Government sat overthe report for more than twoyears before sending it to theLaw Commission. The LawCommission’s report has notbeen finalised as of date. In fact,after the 21st Law Commission’stenure ended on August 31,2018, there is no clarity aboutthe Law Commission itself.This has recently resulted in apublic interest litigation beingfiled in the Supreme Court.

At present, “one nation,one election” seems more of arhetoric than a resolution. Eventhe ruling party knows well thatit would be difficult to tacklethe situation if simultaneouselections result in hungAssemblies in four or fiveStates simultaneously.

(The writer is an author andindependent researcher based inNew Delhi. The views expressedare personal.)

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Sir — It is really shocking that inan alleged honour killing case, ayoung man was murdered by hiswife’s relatives in Kerala, andwhat makes it more horrendousis that this crime took place in aState known for its literacy rateand progressive nature. A simi-lar incident had occurred a yearago in the State which boasts ofgender and social equality and iswell known for its political andsocial consciousness.

Kerala is the birthplace ofone of the greatest reformists ournation has seen — Sree NarayanaGurudev, who devoted his entirelife for the uplift of the downtrod-den and put an end to casteismand communalism during theearly period of the last centuryand paved the way for a highlyliterate, enlightened and progres-sive society which later becamea role model for the nation.

Such shameful incidents tar-nish the good reputation of theState and its people whose pro-gressive thinking, passion foruniversal literacy and robustpublic healthcare system havealways earned wide praise.

M PradyuKannur

�� Sir — India is the second mostpopulated country in the worldwith nearly 1.35 billion people.Not only after the lockdown butbefore that too, India was awholesale market of unem-ployed youth.

This sorry state clearly begsthe question, which type ofself-reliant India do we wish for

if the country with the highestpercentage of youth is unable todirect them and offer thememployment? It seems surpris-ing that the results of an elec-tion pop up everywhere but theresults of competitive examshardly make it to the news. Thepromises of employment seemto be made just for addingbeauty to manifestoes or for the

sake of making announcements.The unemployment scenario

is getting worse. If India gets touse her own youth’s brainpower,that would be the true definitionof becoming self-reliant ratherthan using the technologies ofother countries and calling itdeveloped and digital India.

Aman JaiswalDelhi

��Sir — United Kingdom (UK)Prime Minister Boris Johnson, byaccepting India’s invite to be thechief guest at the next RepublicDay parade in New Delhi, haspleased a host of nations, andrubbed a few the wrong way.

That it would be his firstofficial tour abroad after exitingthe European Union indicatesthe importance attached byhim to the Indo-UK coopera-tion. Both nations are tradition-ally bound together throughareas of common interest.Mutual trust has always beenthe glue that has firmly heldtogether the two countries.

An early harvest deal and afree trade agreement are expect-ed to be inked by Johnson andPM Narendra Modi. The“Enhanced Trade Partnership” isall set to see the light of the dayas also a decade-long roadmapbetween the two countries. Afterthe pandemic, India and the UKseem committed to reinvigorat-ing the badly affected economythrough each other’s largesse.

Ganapathi BhatAkola

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The green shoots seen in October, in partic-ular the rise in the Index of IndustrialProduction (IIP) by 3.6 per cent, have

prompted agencies to revise their growth assess-ment for the current financial year (FY) from theminus 9.5-10.5 per cent projected earlier to minus7.5-8.5 per cent, now. For the FY 2021-22, whenthe impact of the virus is expected to subside toa large extent due to the availability of the vac-cine, it is only natural to expect an economicrebound. However, it is necessary to take a prag-matic view based on an objective assessment ofhow the situation unfolds on ground zero.

To begin with, the Gross Domestic Product(GDP) growth had already started sliding fromthe third quarter (Q3) of the FY 2018-19 and con-tinued all through the FY 2019-20, culminatingin a low of three per cent during its last quarterending March 31. During the whole of 2019-20,the growth plummeted to a decade low of 4.2 percent, down from an average 7.5 per cent record-ed in the previous five years.

A nationwide lockdown in March dwelt abody blow by bringing most of the economicactivities to a grinding halt. As a result, there wasa precipitous decline in GDP growth by 24 percent during Q1 of the current FY ending June 30.The slide continued during Q2 ending onSeptember 30, though the deceleration wasmodest at 7.5 per cent (courtesy the graded exitfrom the hard lockdown).

However, the crucial point is that even ifgrowth rebounds to the seven per cent-10 per centrange, the resultant GDP would have merely recu-perated to the 2019-20 level or about �14,500,000crore or $2.1 trillion. The Union Budget for 2020-21 was prepared with an overarching focus onmaking India a $5 trillion economy by 2024-25,a target that Prime Minister Narendra Modi setat the start of his second inning in May 2019.

To reach there, the economy needed to growclose to 20 per cent per annum consistently overa period of five years — a rate never seen beforeeven in a single year. It was totally unrealistic.Now, with the setback of 2019-20 and 2020-21and India likely to remain stuck at $2.1 trillionduring 2021-22, the target of $5 trillion by 2024-25 is unrealistic. For now, we need to analyse thereason behind the slowdown during these twoyears apart from the COVID-19 impact. The twodeterminants of growth are demand (this includesprivate consumption, Government demand andexports) and investment.

During 2019-20, thanks to the massive lossof jobs and declining incomes, even as privateconsumption suffered, an increase in Governmentspending failed to offset this loss. A number offiscal measures announced by Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman in August/September 2019(steep reduction in corporate tax, tax refund toexporters, sops for the real estate sector, supportto housing finance companies and so on) besidesmonetary policy support, including reduction inthe repo rate by 1.35 per cent, failed to providethe required demand boost.

During 2020-21, both the Reserve Bank ofIndia (RBI) and the Centre unleashed their fire-power to counter the effect of the virus. Whilethe former cut the repo rate again by 1.15 per centand injected mammoth liquidity close to�8,00,000 crore besides granting a six-monthmoratorium on repayment of banks loans, the lat-ter came up with stimulus packages announcedby Sitharaman in three tranches in May, October

and November. These packages interalia targeted MSMEs (micro, smalland medium enterprises), NBFCs,power distribution companies (PDCs),migrant labour, agricultural credit, thelower middle class, agriculture infra-structure and farm reforms, structuralreforms in coal, minerals, civil aviation,defence, fertilisers and the MahatmaGandhi National Rural EmploymentGuarantee Act (MGNREGA), healthand the State Governments’ resourcesand public sector reforms. Together withthe RBI’s support, including on-tapTargeted Long Term Repo Operations(TLTROs) of �1,00,000 croreannounced on October 11, these add toa grand total of nearly �30 lakh croreor 15 per cent of the GDP.

This is in addition to the demandboosters announced in the Budget pre-sented on February 1. Those includedinter alia changes in personal incometax to leave more money in the handsof individual assesses, abolition ofDividend Distribution Tax (DDT),concessions for MSMEs (includinginnovative steps for timely payment oftheir dues and increase in financingespecially through “invoice financ-ing”), start-ups, exporters and the realestate sector.

Given the canvas of thereforms/measures and the “seemingly”large quantum of money promised forall affected segments, it is only naturalto expect a rebound of the economyafter the impact of the pandemic isreduced and eventually dissipated.However, it is necessary to make anobjective assessment of how many of theabove policy announcements and mea-sures have been operationalised onground zero.

First, in several areas, theGovernment has merely camouflagedexpenses on existing schemes under the

stimulus package. For instance, �75,000crore under PM-KISAN, �90,000 croreto PDCs to enable them to clear theirpending dues to power generators,�65,000 crore to clear pending subsidydues to fertiliser manufacturers and soon. Second, of the total package of�30,00,000 crore, the actual outgo byway of budgetary support is just about�4,00,000 crore. Out of this, a majorslice of �1,50,000 crore is for providingfree food — five kg per person permonth to over 80 crore people coveredunder the National Food Security Act(NFSA) and one kg pulse per householdto 16 crore households. Being help inkind, it does not put cash in the handsof beneficiaries; hence it does notboost demand.

Third, an overwhelming share ofthe stimulus is in the form of loan frombanks and Financial Institutions (FIs).For instance, �3,00,000 crore to MSMEsor identified stressed sectors under theEmergency Credit Line GuaranteeScheme (ECLGS), loan of �75,000crore loan to NBFCs, housing financecompanies (HFCs), microfinance insti-tutions (MFIs), �30,000 crore addition-al emergency working capital (upfront)to farmers for crop loans from theNational Bank for Agriculture andRural Development (NABARD) and soon.

The impact thereof is only to theextent these facilities are actually availedof. Here, one is reminded of the proverb“there’s many a slip between the cup andthe lip.” Look at these numbers: Underthe ECLGS, �3,00,000 crore was intend-ed to be loaned to eight million MSMEs.Against this, only about �1,50,000 crorehas been given to four million suchenterprises. Fourth, the Government isbetting big on investment in infrastruc-ture. Of the �100 lakh crore proposedover the next five years, 39 per cent has

to come from the Centre and States each(balance 22 per cent by the private sec-tor). This translates to �8,00,000 croreannually by the Centre and State each.But there is no blueprint on how theseresources will be garnered. Even so,given the current financial health ofbanks with ballooning non-performingassets, they don’t have the wherewith-al for financing on this scale.

Put shortly, there is too muchfocus on packaging but too little fromthe Government by way of budgetarysupport. On the other hand, even as theRBI has pumped too much money intothe loan tap, with the fundamentals ofdemand being weak, there are notmany takers. Loan sanctions and dis-bursements have also been affected dueto inherent weaknesses of NBFCs (theyare mostly into giving loans to MSMEsand individuals). Some of the big onessuch as Dewan Housing FinanceCorporation Limited, InfrastructureLeasing & Financial Services Limitedand so on, have gone bust.

Going forward, a big push togrowth during 2021-22 could be hit bycontinuing vulnerabilities of banks andNBFCs, overleveraged agencies imple-menting projects such as the NationalHighway Authority of India and theinability of the Government to imple-ment long-pending reforms. This wouldinclude failure to implement land andfarm reforms, the inability to makedirect benefit transfers of fertiliser andpower subsidy, enforcement of con-tracts, elimination of bureaucratic redtape, removing bottlenecks in trans-portation and clearances at the portsand so on. So, while we must be opti-mistic about the coming year, we haveto be realistic, too.

(The writer is a New Delhi-based policy analyst. The views expressed

are personal.)

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Today a large part of the Indianmedia has lost its voice andthe trust of the people, too. It

has become a “godi media.” Insteadof being the Fourth Estate andserving the Indian people, it haslargely become part of the FirstEstate, as stated by eminent journal-ist and Magsaysay Award winnerRavish Kumar. This brings us to thekey question: What is the role of themedia?

This was explained by JusticeHugo Black of the US SupremeCourt in The New York Times vs. US,1971 (the Pentagon Papers case) in

these stirring words: “In the FirstAmendment, the Founding Fathersgave the free Press the protection itmust have to fulfil its essential rolein our democracy. The Press was toserve the governed, not the gover-nors. The Government’s power tocensor the Press was abolished sothat the Press would remain forev-er free to censure the Government.The Press was protected so that itcould bare the secrets of theGovernment and inform the people.Only a free and unrestrained Presscan effectively expose deception inGovernment. And paramountamong the responsibilities of a freePress is the duty to prevent any partof the Government from deceivingthe people and sending them off todistant lands to die of foreign feversand foreign shot and shell. In myview, far from deserving condemna-tion for their courageous reporting,The New York Times , TheWashington Post and other newspa-pers should be commended forserving the purpose that the

Founding Fathers saw so clearly. Inrevealing the workings of theGovernment that led to the Vietnamwar, the newspapers nobly did pre-cisely that which the Foundershoped and trusted they would do.”

Historically, the media arose inEngland and France in the 17th and18th centuries as an organ of thepeople against feudal oppression. Atthat time all the organs of powerwere in the hands of the feudalauthorities (kings, aristocrats and soon). Hence, the people had to cre-ate new organs which would repre-sent their interests and the media(apart from the Parliament), was oneof these new organs. In Europe andAmerica, it represented the voice ofthe future, in contrast to the old, feu-dal organs which wanted to preservethe status quo.

Great writers like Voltaire,Rousseau, Thomas Paine and so onused the media (which was thenonly print media and that, too, notin the form of regular newspapersbut pamphlets and leaflets) to com-

bat feudalism, religious bigotry andsuperstitions.

Thus, the media was of greathelp in transforming Europeansociety from the feudal to the mod-ern age. India’s national aim is totransform itself from an underdevel-oped to a highly developed andhighly industrialised country. If wedon’t do so, we will remain con-demned to massive poverty, recordunemployment, appalling level ofchild malnourishment, almost totallack of proper healthcare and goodeducation for the masses, amongother things.

Our media must play an impor-tant role in this historical transfor-mation, as the European mediadid. But for that it must stop behav-ing like a mouthpiece and serve thegoverned, not the governors (asJustice Black said in his judgment).The Indian media must attack feu-dal forces like casteism and commu-nalism, condemn religious bigotryand attempts to polarise our society.It must promote scientific ideas,

social harmony and the unity of ourpeople. It should stop divertingattention from real issues and focus-ing on relative non-issues like thelives of film stars and cricketers (e.g.the suicide of Sushant Singh Rajput,allegations made by KanganaRanaut, Kareena Kapoor’s secondpregnancy and Virat Kohli’s decisionto take paternity leave and so on),petty politics, astrology, among oth-ers, and instead focus on the realissues, which are mainly socio-eco-nomic. This includes the problemsof unemployment, malnourishment,lack of healthcare, price rise, theagrarian crisis and so on.

For years, the Indian mediaturned a Nelson’s eye to the largenumber of farmers’ suicides in ourcountry, until a brave journalist, PSainath, revealed the sad truththrough his persistent reporting. Itwas only then that the rest of themedia began reporting the agrari-an distress in the country.

Some years ago, a fashion showwas held in Mumbai during the

Lakmé Fashion Week in which themodels wore cotton outfits. Thisevent was covered by over 500fashion/lifestyle journalists while thefarmers who produced that cottonwere committing suicide just anhour’s flight away, in Vidarbha. Noone covered those suicides exceptfor a few local journalists.

Many TV anchors forget theirjournalistic ethics and just indulgein propaganda. To give an example,some time ago an organisationcalled the Tablighi Jamaat was lam-basted by the media as spreaders ofthe Coronavirus. They were evengiven despicable names like “Coronajihadis” and “Corona bombs.” Imade a personal investigation intothis and found that the allegationsagainst the Tablighi Jamaat werefalse. The Tablighi Jamaat is a reli-gious organisation which meets atits Markaz in Delhi once or twice ayear, where Muslims come from sev-eral countries. This year, too, manypeople came from Indonesia,Malaysia, Kazakhstan, the United

Arab Emirates and so on. Some ofthem were apparently infected withthe virus, without being aware of it.But to say that they knowinglybrought the disease with them tospread it in India, as propagated bycertain sections of the media, waspatently false (as indeed the courthas now found).

Another example of the parti-san behaviour of the “godi media”is the way they have characterisedthe ongoing farmers’ agitation as amovement of Khalistanis, Pakistanis,Maoists and anti-nationals.Countless examples of this kind ofbiased reporting can be given.

One can only hope that theIndian media will some day get overits sorry plight and emerge as achampion of the people instead ofbeing, to use US President DonaldTrump’s words, “an enemy of thepeople.” Only then will it earn thepeople’s respect.

(The writer is a former judge ofthe Supreme Court of India. Theviews expressed are personal.)

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Karachi: Neha loved thehymns that filled her churchwith music. But she lost thechance to sing them last yearwhen, at the age of 14, she wasforcibly converted fromChristianity to Islam and mar-ried to a 45-year-old man withchildren twice her age.

She tells her story in a voiceso low it occasionally fadesaway. She all but disappears asshe wraps a blue scarf tightlyaround her face and head.Neha’s husband is in jail nowfacing charges of rape for theunderage marriage, but she isin hiding, afraid after securityguards confiscated a pistolfrom his brother in court.

“He brought the gun toshoot me,” said Neha, whoselast name The Associated Pressis not using for her safety.

Neha is one of nearly 1,000girls from religious minoritieswho are forced to convert toIslam in Pakistan each year,largely to pave the way for mar-riages that are under the legalage and non-consensual.

Human rights activists saythe practice has acceleratedduring lockdowns against thecoronavirus, when girls areout of school and more visible,bride traffickers are more activeon the Internet and families aremore in debt.

The US State Departmentthis month declared Pakistan “acountry of particular concern”for violations of religious free-doms — a designation thePakistani government rejects.The declaration was based inpart on an appraisal by the USCommission on InternationalReligious Freedom that under-age girls in the minority Hindu,Christian, and Sikh communi-ties were “kidnapped for forcedconversion to Islam… forciblymarried and subjected to rape.”

While most of the con-verted girls are impoverishedHindus from southern Sindhprovince, two new cases involv-ing Christians, includingNeha’s, have roiled the countryin recent months.

The girls generally are kid-napped by complicit acquain-tances and relatives or menlooking for brides. Sometimesthey are taken by powerfullandlords as payment for out-standing debts by their farm-hand parents, and police oftenlook the other way. Once con-verted, the girls are quicklymarried off, often to oldermen or to their abductors,according to the independentHuman Rights Commissionof Pakistan.

Forced conversions thriveunchecked on a money-mak-

ing web that involves Islamicclerics who solemnise the mar-riages, magistrates who legalisethe unions and corrupt localpolice who aid the culprits byrefusing to investigate or sab-otaging investigations, say childprotection activists.

One activist, Jibran Nasir,called the network a “mafia”that preys on non-Muslimgirls because they are the mostvulnerable and the easiest tar-gets “for older men withpedophilia urges.” The goal isto secure virginal brides ratherthan to seek new converts toIslam.

Minorities make up just 3.6percent of Pakistan’s 220 mil-lion people and often are thetarget of discrimination. Thosewho report forced conversions,for example, can be targetedwith charges of blasphemy.

In the feudal Kashmoreregion of southern Sindhprovince, 13-year-old SoniaKumari was kidnapped, and aday later police told her parentsshe had converted fromHinduism to Islam. Her moth-er pleaded for her return in avideo widely viewed on theinternet: “For the sake of God,the Quran, whatever youbelieve, please return mydaughter, she was forcibly takenfrom our home.” AP

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First came the Brexit tradedeal. Now comes the red

tape.Four days after sealing a

free trade agreement with theEuropean Union, the Britishgovernment warned business-es to get ready for disruptionsand “bumpy moments” whenthe new rules take effect onThursday night.

Businesses were scram-bling Monday to digest thedetails and implications of the1,240-page deal sealed by theEU and the UK on ChristmasEve.

The UK left the EU almosta year ago, but remained with-in the bloc’s economic embraceduring a transition period thatends at midnight Brussels time— 11 pm in London — onDecember 31.

The agreement, hammeredout after nine months of tensenegotiations, will ensure Britainand the 27-nation bloc cancontinue to trade in goodswithout tariffs or quotas.

That should help protect the660 USD 894 billion in annualtrade between the two sides, andthe hundreds of thousands ofjobs that rely on it.

But the end to Britain’smembership in the EU’s vastsingle market and customsunion will still bring inconve-nience and new expenses forboth individuals and business-es - from the need for touriststo have travel insurance to themillions of new customs dec-larations that firms will have tofill out.

“Businesses will need tomake sure that they’re readyfor new customs proceduresand we as individuals willneed to make sure that ourpassports are up to datebecause they need to have atleast six months before expiryon them in order to be able totravel abroad,” said MichaelGove, the British Cabinet min-ister in charge of Brexit prepa-rations.

“I’m sure there will bebumpy moments but we arethere in order to try to doeverything we can to smooththe path,” he told the BBC.

British Prime Minister BorisJohnson’s Conservative govern-ment argues that any short-termdisruption from Brexit will beworth it, because the UK willnow be free to set its own rulesand strike new trade dealsaround the world. AP

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most prominent womens rightsactivists was sentenced onMonday to nearly six years inprison under a vague andbroadly-worded law aimed atcombating terrorism, accordingto state-linked media.

Loujain al-Hathlouls case,and her imprisonment for thepast two and a half years, havedrawn criticism from rightsgroups, members of the U.S.Congress and European Unionlawmakers.

Al-Hathloul was among ahandful of Saudi women whoopenly called for the right todrive before it was granted in2018 and for the removal ofmale guardianship laws thathad long stifled womens free-dom of movement and ability

to travel abroad.State-linked Saudi news

outlet Sabq reported that al-Hathloul was found guilty bythe kingdoms anti-terrorismcourt on charges includingagitating for change, pursuinga foreign agenda, using theinternet to harm public orderand and cooperating with indi-viduals and entities that havecommitted crimes according toanti-terror laws. She has 30days to appeal the verdict.

A rights group called“Prisoners of Conscience” thatfocuses on Saudi politicaldetainees said that al-Hathloulcould be released as early as theend of March 2021 based ontime served. She has beenimprisoned since May 2018and 34 months of her sentenc-

ing will be suspended.The judge ordered her to

serve five years and eightmonths in prison for violatinganti-terrorism laws, accordingto Sabq, which said its reporterwas allowed inside the court-room during Mondays ses-sion.

Sabq reported that thejudge said the defendant had confessed to committingthe crimes and that her con-fessions were made voluntari-ly and without coercion. Thejudge said the verdict wasissued in the presence of theprosecutor, the defendant, a representative from the Governments Human RightsCommission and a handful of select local media represen-tatives. AP

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West Palm Beach: PresidentDonald Trump has signed a$900 billion pandemic reliefpackage that will deliver long-sought cash to businesses andindividuals.

It also averts a Governmentshutdown.

Trump announced thesigning in a statement onSunday night.

The massive bill includes$1.4 trillion to fund govern-ment agencies throughSeptember and contains otherend-of-session priorities suchas money for cash-starved tran-sit systems and an increase infood stamp benefits.

Democrats are promisingmore aid to come oncePresident-elect Joe Biden takesoffice, but Republicans are sig-nalling a wait-and-seeapproach. AP

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AChinese citizen journalistwas jailed for four years

Monday for her reporting fromWuhan as the Covid-19 out-break unfurled, her lawyersaid, almost a year after detailsof an “unknown viral pneu-monia” surfaced in the centralChina city.

Zhang Zhan, a formerlawyer, was sentenced at abrief hearing in a Shanghaicourt for allegedly “pickingquarrels and provoking trou-ble” during her reporting in thechaotic initial stages of the out-break.

Her live reports and essayswere shared on social mediaplatforms in February, grab-bing the attention of authori-ties, who have punished eightvirus whistleblowers so far asthey defang criticism of the

government’s response to theoutbreak.

Beijing has congratulateditself for “extraordinary” suc-cess in controlling the virusinside its borders, with aneconomy on the rebound whilemuch of the rest of the worldstutters through painful lock-downs and surging caseloads ayear on from the start of thepandemic in Wuhan.

Controlling the informa-tion flow during an unprece-dented global health crisis hasbeen pivotal in allowingChina’s communist authoritiesto reframe the narrative intheir favour, with President XiJinping being garlanded for hisleadership by the country’sruling party.

But that has come at a seri-ous cost to anyone who haspicked holes in the official sto-ryline.

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Kathmandu: A high-levelChinese delegation led by a viceminister of the CommunistParty of China met top NepalCommunist Party leaders onMonday and discussed thepolitical situation in the coun-try, amid an intensified effort byBeijing to patch up differencesbetween Nepal’s feuding leaders.

Vice Minister of theInternational Department ofthe CPC Guo Yezhou, whoarrived here on Sunday in whatis believed to be China’s des-perate attempt to avert a verti-cal split in the NCP, on Mondaymet Pushpa Kamal Dahal‘Prachanda’, who claims controlover the ruling party afterremoving Prime Minister KPSharma Oli from the posts ofthe party’s parliamentary leaderand chair.

Contemporary politics,

especially that has arisen afterOli’s move to dissolve theHouse of Representatives, thepossibility of bringing the twofactions of the NCP together

and Nepal-China cooperationfigured during the talks, TheKathmandu Post reported,quoting Prachanda’s secre-tariat. PTI

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Cairo: Tribal clashes in Sudan’stroubled Darfur region havekilled at least 15 people inrecent days, forcing authoritiesto deploy more troops, thestate-run news agency report-ed.

The violence came as thou-sands of displaced peopleprotested against a decision bythe U.N. Security Council toend the mandate of a U.N.-African Union peacekeepingforce in Darfur and replace itwith a smaller political mission.

The clashes over the week-end in the town of Gereida inSouth Darfur province pittedthe Fallata tribe against theArab Masalit. The unrest posesa challenge to authorities in thecapital, Khartoum, who aretrying to end the country’slong-running rebellions as partof a fragile transition to democ-racy following last year’s over-throw of President Omar al-Bashir.

Al-Bashir waged ascorched-earth campaign

against rebels in Darfur in theearly 2000s. Some 300,000 peo-ple were killed and 2.7 millionwere forcibly displaced. TheInternational Criminal Courtlater charged al-Bashir andothers with genocide andcrimes against humanity.

The latest violence comesamid tensions between militaryand civilian authorities, who aresharing power in a transition-al government. Civilian leadersare demanding greater controland oversight over the military’s

economic assets, built up overdecades of internal conflicts.

The violence was linked toa dispute over a water source,Omar al-Malek, a local leader,was quoted as saying by thestate-run SUNA news agencylate Sunday. It said the Fallataretaliated after two of its tribes-men were slain, killing at least13 members of the Masalit andwounding at least 34 others.

Mahdi Musa, the governorof South Darfur, said authori-ties have deployed troops to

help detain those implicated inthe fighting.

“The era of reconciliationconferences is over, and the eraof enforcing the law has come,”he was quoted as saying bySUNA. He was referring torecent negotiations to settle thedispute. The clashes came afterthe UN Security Council votedunanimously last week not toextend the mandate of thejoint mission, known asUNAMID, when it runs out onDec. 31. AP

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Moscow: Azerbaijan’s DefenseMinistry said on Monday itsarmy units have been attackedby “an illegal Armenian armedgroup” in Nagorno-Karabakh,killing one Azerbaijani service-man and wounding another.

The ministry said the attacktook place in the Khojavendregion on Sunday afternoon andwas thwarted, leaving all sixattackers dead.

The statement comes just

hours after the ArmenianDefense Ministry denied mediareports of fighting in the neigh-boring Hadrut region and saidthe ethnic Armenian forces inNagorno-Karabakh were “strict-ly observing” the cease-fire.

Neither Armenian orNagorno-Karabakh officialshave so far commented onAzerbaijan’s statement.

Nagorno-Karabakh lieswithin Azerbaijan but was

under the control of ethnicArmenian forces backed byArmenia since a separatist warthere ended in 1994. That warleft Nagorno-Karabakh itselfand substantial surroundingterritory in Armenian hands.

Heavy fighting erupted inlate September in the biggestescalation of the decades-oldconflict between Armenia andAzerbaijan, killing more than5,600 people on both sides. AP

01��+��2��-��-��/3��+�� Kabul: At least four people

were killed in separate attacksacross Afghanistan on Monday,officials said, raising furtherconcerns about the fate of peacetalks that have been suspendeduntil at least next month.

No one claimed responsi-bility for the attacks, and alocal Islamic State affiliateopposed to the peace processhas continued to regularly tar-get civilians and Afghan secu-rity forces. The IS militantshave even clashed with thelarger and more well-estab-lished Taliban.

The Taliban have haltedtheir attacks on US and inter-national forces but continue totarget Afghan security forceseven as the insurgents haveheld talks this year with the US-backed government.

The Taliban attacked apolice district headquarters in

the western Farah provinceearly Monday, killing onepoliceman and wounding threeothers, according to MohibullahMohib, a spokesman for theprovincial police chief.

He said the attack beganwhen a suicide bomber was shotby police. His vehicle exploded,however, and then gunmenopened fire. He said at least fourinsurgents were killed and eightothers were wounded.

In the eastern Ghazniprovince, two employees of theprovincial revenue agency wereshot and killed, according toAhmad Khan Serat, aspokesman for the provincialpolice chief. In the easternKhost province, a roadsidebomb killed a member of thesecurity forces and woundedtwo other people, including aprovincial council member,according to Kafel Rayan, headof the provincial council. AP

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Jaipur: After the death of theGovernment personnel,Rajasthan Chief MinisterAshok Gehlot has given relax-ation in 84 cases of applicationfor compassionate appoint-ment by the dependents. Inthese challenging circum-stances of the Covid-19 pan-demic, this sensitive decision ofthe Chief Minister will helpthese families.

Gehlot has relaxed in con-sidering sympathetic consid-eration of minimum age limit

and delay of 9, one of the max-imum age limit and 74 cases oflate application.

This will provide relief tothese families dependent on thedeceased.

It is noteworthy that afterthe death of a governmentemployee, the dependent has toapply for a compassionateappointment within 90 days.Also, in case of a dependentbecoming a minor, there is aprovision to apply within 3years of attaining majority.

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Sheatwork, a one-stop knowl-edge hub for women entre-

preneurs has partnered withThe Entrepreneurship School,a pioneer in entrepreneurshipeducation to unveilAatmanirbhar She AgileStartup Program, a speciallydesigned 8-week (16 sessions)online course for aspiringwomen entrepreneurs.

The Aatmanirbhar She AgileStartup Program is a spe-

cially created program forwomen entrepreneurs spreadacross eight weeks exposingparticipants to lessons thatwill equip them with therequired knowledge on struc-turing business, and finallysetting it up.

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Extending gains for thefourth straight session, key

stock indices Sensex and Niftyraced to new peaks on Mondayin line with broad-based rallyin global equities as investorscheered a USD 2.3 trillion USstimulus package and last-minute Brexit deal.

The benchmark indexSensex settled up by 380.21points or 0.81 per cent at its all-time closing high of 47,353.75.The index also scaled its freshrecord intra-day peak of47,406.72 on the back of gainsin banking and energy stocks.

The NSE Nifty ended123.95 points or 0.90 per cent

up at new closing high of13,873.20. It also touched itsall-time intra-day high of13,885.30.

On the Sensex chart, Titan,SBI, L&T, IndusInd Bank,Ultratech Cement, HDFCBank, and Asian Paints weretop gainers.

Reliance Industries, KotakBank, HDFC, ICICI Bank, AxisBank, Bharti Airtel and ONGCwere among the gainers.

While, HUL, Sun Pharma,Dr Reddy and Bajaj FinServclosed with losses. Of theSensex constituents, 26 stockssettled with gains and 4 withlosses.

In the previous trading dayon Thursday, the 30-share

Sensex had surged 529.36points or 1.14 per cent to closeat 46,973.54. The broader NSENifty had zoomed 148.15points or 1.09 per cent to13,749.25. Markets were closedon Friday on account ofChristmas.

“Indian market started onan upbeat note in the final weekof the year owing to positiveglobal cues. The global marketcheered the news of the USD2.3 trillion pandemic stimulusannounced in the US and thehistoric post-Brexit trade dealstruck between the UK andEU,” Vinod Nair, Head ofResearch at Geojit Financialservices, said.

US President Donald

Trump has signed into law amassive USD 2.3

trillion spending bill thatincludes a USD 900 billioncoronavirus

relief package, averting agovernment shutdown andextending coronavirus

aid to millions sufferingfrom the economic impact ofthe pandemic.

Trump initially hadrefused to approve the legisla-tion for days

after receiving it. He hadcalled the bill “a disgrace”.

The advancement ofrollout of COVID-19 vaccinesin India too uplifted

domestic sentiments, lead-ing to positive momentum

across all the sectors.“We can expect the

momentum to be maintainedas investors are focusing moreon the positive side of theseevents and are not worriedabout the peak valuations andlockdowns triggered by thenew strain of virus,” Nair said.

Among the BSE sectoralindices, realty rose by 2.65 percent, metal by 2.25 per cent,consumer durables by 2.19per cent, industrials by 1.76per cent and banks by 1.5 percent.

Broader small cap, mid capand large cap indices outper-formed the benchmark indexSensex, rising by up to 1.49 percent.

“Domestic equitiesremained upbeat and gainedsharply led by strong reboundin financials and cyclical sec-tors.

Satisfactory progress onvaccination rollout globally,Brexit trade deal and presidentTrump signing pandemic reliefbill in the USA bolsteredinvestors’ confidence globally,”Binod Modi, Head- Strategy atReliance Securities said.

Among Nifty constituents,41 stocks advanced while ninedropped. Tata Motors, JSWSteel, Titan and SBI wereamong top Nifty gainers,whereas Shree Cement, SunPharma, Cipla and Britanniawere laggards.

New Delhi:Markets regulatorSebi is looking to rope in an inde-pendent agency that will traceaccused entities against whomnotices have been issued by theauthorities, and serve summonsto them.The work is expected tobe carried out by engaging sys-tems through competent man-power such as ex-servicemen,ex-police personnel, investiga-tors, detectives and alike. In anotice issued on Monday, theregulator invited applicationsfor empanelment of an agencyfor providing such services. Thescope of the work includes trac-ing of accused entity based onrecords and addresses provid-ed by the regulator and servingof summons or notices issued bythe Sebi’s special courts andSebi authorities .

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The export subsidy of Rs3,500 crore, recently

announced by the governmentfor sugar season 2020-21(SS21), stable domesticdemand and rise in ethanolprice are likely to increase theoperating margin of sugar millsto 10.5-11.5 per cent this finan-cial year, according to a report.

The export subsidy,announced by the governmentfor October-September SS21,will help sustain the commod-ity’s exports at almost last year’slevel, Crisil Ratings said in areport.

This, together with stabledomestic demand, higher con-tribution from ethanol due tohigher cane diversion forethanol production andincreased ethanol price, will

lead to a 100-200 basis points(bps) increase in the operatingmargin of sugar mills to 10.5-11.5 per cent this fiscal, itadded.The Cabinet Committeeon Economic Affairs (CCEA)had recently approved anexport subsidy of Rs 3,500crore for up to 6 million tonnes(around Rs 5.8 per kg) forSS21. “Though lower than theRs 10.4 per kg subsidyannounced for SS20, the cur-rent subsidy, in tandem withruling international prices willhelp domestic mills cover thecost of production, renderingexports viable,” Crisil RatingsSenior Director Anuj Sethisaid.Crisil expects export vol-umes in SS21 to be in the 5-5.5million tonnes range, slightlybelow the target of 6 milliontonnes, due to the smallerexport window available.

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The Finance Ministry hasreleased the ninth weekly

instalment of �6,000 crore tothe States to meet the GSTcompensation shortfall.

Out of this, an amount of�5,516.60 crore has beenreleased to 23 States and anamount of �483.40 crore hasbeen released to the threeUnion Territories (UT) withLegislative Assembly (Delhi,Jammu & Kashmir andPuducherry) who are membersof the GST Council. Theremaining 5 states -- ArunachalPradesh, Manipur, Mizoram,Nagaland and Sikkim -- do nothave a gap in revenue onaccount of GST implementa-tion.

The government had set upa special borrowing window in

October 2020 to meet the esti-mated shortfall of Rs 1.10 lakhcrore in revenue arising onaccount of implementation ofGST.The borrowings are beingdone through this window bythe Centre on behalf of thestates and UTs. The borrowingshave been done in 9 rounds.The amount borrowed so farwas released to the States onOctober 23, November 2,November 9, November 23,December 1, December 7,December 14, December 21and December 28.

The amount released thisweek was the 9th instalment ofsuch funds provided to thestates. The amount has beenborrowed this week at an inter-est rate of 5.1508 per cent.

So far, an amount of Rs54,000 crore has been bor-rowed by the Central govern-

ment through the special bor-rowing window at an averageinterest rate of 4.7488 per cent.

In addition to providingfunds through the special bor-rowing window to meet theshortfall in revenue on accountof GST implementation, theGovernment has also grantedadditional borrowing permis-sion equivalent to 0.50 percent of Gross States DomesticProduct (GSDP) to the stateschoosing Option-I to meetGST compensation shortfallto help them in mobilisingadditional financial resources.

All the states have beengiven their preference forOption 1. Permission for bor-rowing the entire additionalamount of Rs 1,06,830 lakhcrore (0.50 per cent of GSDP)has been granted to 28 statesunder this provision.

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At least in the oil sector, theglobal health emergency

caused by coronavirus is com-ing to India’s advantage. Whilethe relatively lower globalprices helped the governmentboost its revenues by increas-ing duty on auto fuels, thedemand squeeze due to thepandemic and softer crudeprices could help it further bysharply reducing the import billthat may fall to decade-low lev-els of $60 billion in FY21.

Declining consistentlysince April, India’s oil importsfell 18.14 per cent (YoY) toaround 122.7 million tonnes(MT) in April-November peri-od of FY21 as compared to129.9 MT in the same periodlast year.

In value terms, the April-June oil imports stood at $32.4billion, down 53.44 per cent inthe dollar terms from $69.6 bil-lion in April-November ofFY20.With international crudeprices hovering lower than thelevels prevailing in Decemberlast year by almost $15 a bar-rel and average crude prices inJanuary-March period expect-ed to remain at the same lev-els of the previous fiscal, India’simport bill could fall below $60billion in FY21, the lowestlevel in last decade.A similarimport bill was witnessed inFY16 when crude had fallen to$26 a barrel for some time.Thelower import bill will comeeven if oil imports remain atthe same levels of last year. InFY20, India imported 227 MTof crude.

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Air India pilots’ associationshas asked its members to

maintain the printed weeklyoffs and not to change them.

“You are hereby directed tomaintain CMS Printed WeeklyOffs and Not to change yourPrinted Weekly Offs. This is foryour kind information andstrict compliance Contract co-pilots do not come under thepurview of this directiveMembers are advised to contactoffice bearers in case of anydoubts or clarification”, theIndian Pilots’ Guild and IndianCommercial Pilots’ Associationsaid in a joint directive to AirIndia pilots.

Earlier, the Indian Pilots’Guild and Indian CommercialPilots Association had direct-

ed Air India pilots not to giveany extension on “Flight Time”,“Flight Duty Time” or“Landing” till further notice.

In a letter to their mem-bers, the associations said thatthe hostile work environmentprevailing in the company forthe last few months has signif-icantly increased the mentalpressure on pilots. “Active mit-igation is now unavoidable tokeep flight operations safe,”the letter said.

Informing the manage-ment of their decision, the AirIndia pilots said in letter toR.S.Sandhu, Director(Operations), Air India, “Thisis to inform you that we will nolonger extend unconditionalcooperation while the top man-agement continues to mock thedignity of our profession”.

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The rupee appreciated by 6paise to close at 73.49

against the US dollar onMonday, following a rally instock markets and weaknessin the American currency.Thesustained foreign fund inflowsalso supported the rupee,traders said.

At the interbank forex mar-ket, the domestic unit

opened at 73.52against the USdollar and witnessed an intra-

day high of 73.47 and a low of73.61.The local unit finallysettled at 73.49 against theAmerican currency, register-ing a rise of 6 paise over itsprevious close.On Thursday,the rupee had settled at 73.55against the US dollar.Forexand equity markets wereclosed on Friday forChristmas.Meanwhile, thedollar index, which gauges thegreenback’s strength against abasket of six currencies,slipped 0.25 per cent to 89.99.

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Telecom service providersexpect the Government to

take immediate steps to resolvethe issues of the sector whichhas played the role of anenabler for other key industryverticals and supported 30-35per cent of GDP during theCOVID-19 crisis, industrybody COAI said.

COAI Director GeneralLt Gen SP Kochhar told PTIthat the telecom sector needs tomake huge investment in infra-structure and needs regulato-ry support, review of theadjusted gross revenue (AGR)definition, GST exemption onAGR dues, promises made inNational DigitalCommunications Policy 2018for ease of doing business etc.

“Telecom is not a verticalindustry in itself; rather it is an

enabler of horizontal growthacross industries, be it manu-facturing, e-commerce, health-care, education, and so on.Thus, the concerns affectingthe telecom industry becomethe concerns of these indus-tries, and so the issues of tele-com need to be addressed as anissue affecting the overall econ-omy of the country, so it shouldbe given priority,” Kochharsaid.

He said that the transfor-mation that was seen in 2020after the pandemic has furtherproved how telecom acts as agrowth catalyst in a digitalsociety.

“Telecom has enabled 30-35 per cent of the GDP in theCOVID-19 lockdown, otherthan the present 6 per centdirect contribution to theGDP. This is significant con-sidering the fact that overall,

54 per cent of India’s GDPcomes from the services sec-tor,” Kochhar said.

The sector narrowlyescaped financial collapse fol-lowing the apex court uphold-ing the government’s method tocalculate revenue share withtelecom operators. The rulingburdened telecom operatorswith total dues of around Rs1.47 lakh crore.

“Some of the top chal-lenges faced by our memberTSPs today are those related toAGR issues, spectrum pricing,Right of Way (RoW) rules, andcell tower radiation. COAI hasbeen pressing the governmentand TRAI on these,” Kochharsaid.

The successful bidders inthe upcoming auction of spec-trum worth Rs 3.92 lakh crorewill also need to pay 3 per centAGR on revenue.

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Move over millennials as Gen Zis becoming a more important

target audience for social media mar-keting as they enter adulthood,according to a new study by AmazonAlexa.

While 68 per cent of Gen Zers“expect brands to contribute to soci-ety,” 71 per cent of Gen Zers say theywant ads to have more diversity.

“That means your social mediachannels should display what yourbrand is doing in that respect,” saidKim Kosaka, Director of Marketingat Alexa, detailing the social mediatrends that will rule 2021.

Anyone born between 1981 and1996 is considered a Millennial, andanyone born from 1997 onward ispart of a new generation called Z.

COVID-19 has drasticallychanged the way people utilise socialmedia. “With a 74 per cent rise insocial media marketing spend dur-ing the pandemic, marketers areinvesting more money in socialmedia marketing. They expect tospend the same, if not more, in thecoming year,” Kosaka said in a blogpost.

One of the most unique things

about Gen Z is their world outlook— they often see themselves as glob-al citizens.

Gen Zers care about what’sgoing on in the world becausethey’re more connected to it than anyother generation before them.

As the aptly nicknamed“iGeneration,” they’re the first gen-eration to have grown up withsmartphones and social media eas-ily at their disposal, Kosaka noted.

“Generally speaking, Gen Zerswant to see brands that care aboutequality and the environment, andneed those values prominently dis-played on social media in order forthem to engage.”

Another key piece of the socialmedia puzzle for Gen Z is givingthem options. “Younger genera-tions are constantly toggling between

different apps and social mediachannels. It’s your job to make sureyou’re right there with them whenthey decide to make the jump fromInstagram to TikTok,” she empha-sised.

Speaking of TikTok, the video-sharing social network has becomeone of the most successful socialmedia channels during the pandem-ic.

TikTok saw nearly 100 per centgrowth in the United States in 2019,and the average time spent onTikTok per user in the US inSeptember 2019 was nearly 500minutes. “TikTok has also continuedto produce a number of viral videosover the course of the pandemic,”said Kosaka.

On average, TikTok ads clock inat around $10 per 1,000 impressions

(CPM) vs Instagram, which only hasa CPM of about $8.

“People are using social mediato connect with more brands fromhome and shopping from their lap-tops and phones. The role of influ-encers in that sales process hasbeen amplified by the pandemic,” sheobserved.

Social media influencers arealso becoming increasingly impor-tant in relaying health messages toyounger audiences during the pan-demic.

“The UK government hiredinfluencers to help relay COVID-19safety messages to young peopleusing the platform. This trend willlikely continue in 2021 as the pan-demic continues to be part of oureveryday lives,” she added.

—IANS

Even though it has been a challeng-ing year for various sectors,including the tattoo industry, we

have seen a fair share of tattoo trendsthis time. As minimalistic trends wereon the rise, we could see the micropieces of ink popped up everywhere.Right from the neck tattoos to match-ing pieces shared among friends, therewere plenty of options to take inspira-tion from. Just like tattoos, we also sawsome piercing trends. While some peo-ple choose makeup or outfit as a meansof expressing their style, some prefer todo this through various accessories —and ear piercings are one of the mostvisible ways to do so.

Next year — 2021 — is upon us, andthere are various emerging tattoo andpiercing trends to try this year. Here’s

a list to choose from:

��+��These tattoos are characterised by

maximising the life-like quality of any-thing we see in the world — monu-ments, animals, flowers etc. It can alsobe categorised as a “3D” tattoo withaccurate representations of real-life

imagery. It is important to note that a real-

ism tattoo done by an inexperiencedartist or someone who isn’t trained inthat particular style can be a disaster.But if done right, it will surely make youstand out. Tattoo expert, Lokesh Verma,founder of Devil’z Tattooz, is known forhis coloured realism and portraits style

of tattooing that is mastered by only afew people across the world.

��!�Also known as chest tattoo, these

tattoos are considered among one of thebest chest tattoos for women because itlooks great aesthetically and gives a fem-inine feel.

“People are crazy over these charm-ing sternum tattoos; it is done over anintimate place which means it’s not foreveryone to see all the time. The underbreast area is a sensitive spot, closer toyour bones so you can definitely expectthis one to hurt. The amount of pain willalso depend on the kind of design andstyle you have chosen and the kind ofartist you are with. So, go for a rathersimple design if you are a first timer,”says celebrity tattoo artist, Vikas Malani,co-founder, BodyCanvas Tattoos.

�,��6��F��+*��(�A new, revolutionary way to immor-

talise voices or your favourite tunethrough body art is the futuristic, lat-est invention in the world of tattooing.“Soundwave tattoos are a new technol-ogy and it’s really cool. You can have themessages or sound of your special oneand hear it anytime you want. This ismore like a coded message which noone else can know, but whenever youfeel like hearing their sound you can justscan the tattoo and playback,” saysLokesh Verma, who is known for pio-neering soundwave audible tattoos inIndia.

Here is how it works: Record anaudio clip between five to 30 seconds ofyour loved ones and send it to your tat-

too studio. They will create a soundwaveof that audio clip and ink it on your skinpermanently which you can playback byscanning it with your mobile phonewhenever you want to hear their pre-cious voice.

So, if you want to tattoo the sound-wave of your baby’s first words, a mes-sage from your partner or the voicemessage in memory of your late grand-parent/loved one, then go for this tat-too.

��!"��These are for people who want

bold tattoos. While they are mostly pop-ular among men, it has also gained a lotof female attention nowadays. Armbandsare usually like a bracelet usually doneon arms as the name itself suggests. Theycan be of different types — solid blackor with a theme like tribal, mandala,polynesian, nature-related or space-related. These tattoos can look very cooland aesthetically pleasing without tak-ing up too much space on the forearmor bicep.

',��These are mostly rendered in a real-

istic style that portrays head shot of aperson. Portrait tattoos are usually fortattoo lovers who want to memorialisean important figure or person. They typ-ically represent something or someoneextremely meaningful — could be of aloved one who recently passed away, anewly born baby, a pet or your favouritemusician.

!��!�+�“Less is more” is the word on the

street. Too much makeup, too manyaccessories, loud clothing, etc. is no morein trend and might lose anyone’s atten-tion. People simply don’t have any cluewhere to look first. The same applies totattoos. Often, it’s the dainty tattoos thathave a huge influence on your style.Want to convey across a powerful mes-sage in a subtle way? Then small tattooscharacterised with clean lines are the wayto go.

Miniscule tattoos are one kind of tat-toos that are super discreet, incrediblydetailed, pretty and aren’t likely to date.That is why the millennials, especiallywomen still haven’t grown tired of thetiny trend.

�!�+ �G��+�'��(A piercing through the upper lip

frenulum is sometimes called a “smiley,”because it is usually only visible whensmiling. Similarly, the lower lip frenu-lum piercing is sometimes referred to asa “frowny.” Originally called an “UpperLip Frenulum Piercing,” people soonbegan calling it a “scrumpur.”

Vikas says, “Since ages, piercingshave always been in trend but the stylechanges over the period of time. Smileypiercings have managed to become oneof the hottest piercing trends of the year.Due to its increase in popularity anddemand, the youngsters have been veryopen to getting a smiley piercing; most-ly because of its location.”

An industrial piercing also called asscaffold piercing or construction pierc-ing, is any two pierced holes connectedwith a single straight piece of jewelleryor a bar, however, it typically refers to adouble perforation of the upper ear car-tilage specifically and looks like a con-necting bridge. This is one of the uniqueear piercings and most trending too.

The Song of Scorpions, thelast film of late actor

Irrfan Khan, will release onthe big screen in early 2021.

Directed by Anup Singh,the drama revolves around anindependent young tribalwoman, who tries to over-come a brutal betrayal so as tofind her voice. Irrfan, whopassed away in April thisyear, will be seen in the roleof a camel trader.

Also featuring WaheedaRehman and Iranian starGolshifteh Farahani, the filmhad its world premiere at the70th Locarno Film Festival in2017.

“The Song of Scorpions isa special story and it is trulyan honour for us to presentIrrfan Khan’s final perfor-mance in it. We will be offer-ing this film to the audiencesas a tribute to the beloved starof the Indian cinema,” said

Abhishek Pathak of PanoramaSpotlight, one of the produc-ers of the film.

“We feel blessed that weare the chosen ones to presentthis gem to the world,” saidGyan Sharma of producers 70MM Talkies.

Irrfan breathed his last onApril 29 at the age of 54. Hewas admitted to Mumbai’sKokilaben Dhirubhai Ambanihospital due to a colon infec-tion. However, he succumbedto his ailment.

The actor was still undertreatment for colon cancerwhen he returned to the act-ing world with his last release,Angrezi Medium, a follow-upto his 2017 hit, Hindi Medium.He was away from the bigscreen since the release ofKarwaan in 2018, the year hewas diagnosed with the dis-ease.

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India marched towards adominant series-levelling vic-tory after their formidable

bowlers scythed through theAustralian batting, relentlesslypressing home the advantage ofa sizeable first-innings lead onthe third day of the second Test,here on Monday.

Australia were wobbling at133 for six at stumps on the thirdday of the Boxing Day Test at themagnificent Melbourne CricketGround.

Aiming to exorcise theghosts of being bowled out fora lowest ever 36 in the series-opener, the visitors had put up326 on the board for a 131-runlead in reply to Australia’s first-innings total of 195 all out.

Australia were ahead by

only two runs at close of play.“This game is not over yet,

we still have to get four morewickets,” India skipper AjinkyaRahane, whose hundred on thesecond day set the tone for theside, said at the end of day’s play.

“Credit to the bowlers, theybowled in the right areas,” headded.

Seeking to wipe out thedeficit, Australia began their sec-ond innings on a disastrous noteas Joe Burns (4) not only got outfor a poor score, but also wast-ed a review after pacer UmeshYadav (1/5) opened him upwith the one that swung awayvery late.

Introduced early into theattack, seasoned off-spinnerRavichandran Ashwin (1/46)once again showed his classwhen he bamboozled Marnus

Labuschagne (28 off 49 balls)with a slider that went straightwith the angle.

Ashwin let one slide acrossand with the batsman looking todefend. The ball went the otherway and took an outside edge onits way to Rahane at first slip.

Matthew Wade (27 batting,89 balls) and Steve Smith (6 bat-ting, 20 balls) survived theremaining overs prior to the teabreak, which they took at 65 fortwo. At that break, the hoststrailed India by 66 runs.

More misery awaitedAustralia in the final sessionwhen they lost four wickets forthe addition of 68 runs, takingIndia closer to an equaliser in thefour-match series after thehumiliating defeat in the open-er at Adelaide Oval.

Smith’s horror run in the

series continued as he wasbowled by Jasprit Bumrah (1/34)round his legs when the ballclipped the bails of the off-stumpafter the batsman had shuffledtoo much.

Wade, looking the bestamong Australian batsmen, wastrapped in front of the wicket byRavindra Jadeja (2/25) at 98 forfour.

And while the scoreremained the same, Australialost another wicket in TravisHead a couple of overs later.

There was no encore ofskipper Tim Paine’s battlingknock in the first Test as he wascaught behind off the bowling ofJadeja.

Australia could have beenseven down had Pant held on toa Pat Cummins edge off Ashwin.

However, India too have a

'�� :*��

India captain Virat Kohli onMonday headlined the ICC

top honours for the decade, win-ning the Sir Garfield Sobersaward for the best male cricketerof the past 10 years.

Kohli was also picked forthe ODI Cricketer of the Decadeaward.

Former India skipper M SDhoni won the ICC Spirit ofCricket Award of the Decade,chosen by fans for his gesture ofcalling back England batsmanIan Bell after a bizarre run outin the Nottingham Test in 2011.

The International CricketCouncil made the announce-ments via Twitter, bestowing thetop honours on Kohli, whoscored 66 out of his 70 interna-tional hundreds, in the ‘ICCAwards’ period.

In the same period, he wasalso the batsman with mostfifties (94), most runs (20396)besides having the maximumaverage (56.97) among playerswith 70 plus innings.

Overall, the 32-year-old has

amassed 12040 runs in ODIs,7318 runs in Tests and 2928runs in T20Is, averaging morethan 50 across formats. Kohliwas also part of the WorldCup-winning India squad in2011, something he will cherishfor life.

“Firstly, it’s a great honourfor me to receive this award. Themoments I hold closest to myheart in the last decade definite-ly has to be the World Cup winin 2011, the Champions Trophywin in 2013 and winning theseries in Australia in 2018,”said Kohli in a statement.

On Sunday, Kohli was the

lone player to be named inteams of the decade across for-mats and was named captain ofthe Test all-stars.

On being also named theODI Cricketer of the Decade,Kohli added: “ODI cricket issomething that I took to veryearly. I came to the ODI teamfirst and then, I made my Testdebut a couple of years later.

“So, I got the understandingof my game pretty soon, prettyearly. And as I mentionedbefore, my only intention andmindset was to make winningcontributions for the team andI just tried to do every game thatI play.

“I never focussed on statsand numbers along the journeyat all and those things justbecome the by-product of whatyou do on the field and those forme, just end up being milestonesthat you cross on the way to thepath to victory.” For the ODIhonour, Kohli was the onlyplayer with 10,000 plus runs inthe ICC Awards period includ-ing 39 hundreds and 48 fiftiesat an average of 61.83.

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New Test captain MohammadRizwan made 71 and Faheem

Ashraf 91 to help Pakistan weathera top-order collapse, then fight backon a day punctuated by lashing rainand hail to reach 239 before their lastwicket fell in the last over on Mondayon the third day of the first Testagainst New Zealand.

Rizwan came tothe crease whenPakistan was 52-5 dur-ing a morning session in which theylost four wickets for 32 runs. He leftwhen they were 186-7 in the final ses-sion, having done as much as a cap-tain can to rescue his team fromimminent peril.

With Faheem, who made hishighest Test score and was the lastman out, Rizwan put backbone intothe Pakistan innings as they repliedto New Zealand’s first innings of 431.

Faheem outlasted Rizwan and

played some elegant shots, somestreaky to accumulate 15 fours anda six and ensure Pakistan avoided afollow on NZ likely would not haveenforced late in the day. He carriedPakistan past the follow-on mark of231 with a four from the bowling ofWagner 15 minutes before stumpswhich also took him past his previ-ous highest test score of 83.

India close in on series-parity*!$��#��(��##�#��%��>O�%�#��!%"�%%%�#��0%��-��%��"

cause for concern as Umeshhobbled off the field after suffer-ing a calf injury in the innings’eighth over.

Bowling his fourth over, thepacer had complained of pain inhis calf and had been taken forscans after being assessed by theBCCI medical team.

Earlier, riding captainAjinkya Rahane’s classy hundredand Ravindra Jadeja’s 15th half-century, India managed enoughruns on the board to putAustralia under pressure despitelosing their five remaining wick-ets for only 49 runs after resum-ing the day on 277 for five.

Jadeja (57) added 123 runsfor the sixth wicket with skipperRahane, whose vigil came to anwhen he was run out, his first inTests, after making a classy 112with the help of 12 boundariesin 223 balls.

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There were no demons in the MCGpitch but very very poor batting by the

Australian batsmen, said the legendaryRicky Ponting, lashing out at the homebatters for playing rash shots against theIndian bowlers in the second Test.

India are marching towards a domi-nant series-levelling victory after reduc-ing Australia to 133 for six at stumps onthe third day. The hosts are ahead by justtwo runs with only four wickets in hand,going into the penultimate day.

And Ponting minced no words in crit-icising the Australian batsmen.

“You can’t blame the pitch. Thepitch has been absolutely perfecttoday. It’s a little bit of spin, yes, butyou’d expect that. Day three of aTest Match. Very little on offerfor the fast bowlers, but it’s justbeen poor batting. Very, verypoor batting so far,” Pontingwas quoted has saying bySeven.

The former skip-per believes theAustralians were notproactive enough against theIndian bowlers in this match.

“It’s been one of the reasons, I think,that they've eventually got themselves out,playing rash shots. They haven't been ableto tick the scoreboard over on a regularenough basis. Pressure builds. When pres-sure builds, bad shots come,” Ponting said.

“I talked about it in first innings aswell particularly with the way they playedRavi Ashwin. They weren’t proactiveagainst him. Yes, it's been good bowling,but sometimes against the best bowlersyou have to take more risks as a batsman.For the sheer fact they’re not going to bowlbad balls.”

He went on to praise the display of theIndian bowling attack.

“The lesser skilled bowlers you cansit on all day because you know you'regoing to one or two scoring opportu-nities an over, but Bumrah, Ashwin,

Jadeja, even Siraj to a cer-tain degree in this game,they don’t make many

mistakes. “They’ve actual-ly forced the Australian

batsman into making mis-takes. When you're just sit-ting there waiting for goodbowlers to make mistakes,you're basically are a sitting

duck,” Ponting said.

'��1��* :�'�

India’s debutant pacerMohammed Siraj on Monday

said that the MCG track hasslowed down considerably and towipe off the Australian tail, theywill have to hit one area consis-tently.

The Indian bowlers, despiteUmesh Yadav’s injury early intothe second innings, reduced thehome team to 133 for six. Thehosts have just a two-run leadwith four wickets remaining inthe second Test.

“The track on the first daywas very helpful for bowling butit has become very slow today.Not much is happening andthere wasn’t much swing onoffer. The key is to remain patientand hit one area consistently,”Siraj said during the virtualmedia conference.

His senior pace bowlingpartner Jasprit Bumrah told himthat the only way to get wicketson a flat deck is to build pressurewith a lot of dot balls.

“Jassi bhai told me that don'ttry anything different. Bowl inone are and create pressure with

dot balls and there should beequal focus on each ball,” the 26-year-old Hyderabad pacer said,having already got three wicketsin the match including that ofTravis Head in the secondinnings.

Siraj’s elevation as a Testbowler has happened in thewake of some great performancesfor Hyderabad and India A at the

first-class level.“During lockdown, I had

worked very hard on my fitnessand that's paying off well. I didwell for India A in red ball for-mat and that really helped andafter my good performance withthe white ball in this year's IPL,I got confidence that I can do wellfor senior team also and hopeful-ly, I will keep up the good work

in future too,” he said.What helped Siraj perform

impressively with the red kook-aburra is his experience of play-ing for A team in New Zealandearlier this year.

“The SG seam is more pro-nounced and the kookaburraseam flattens quickly like it hashappened now. I bowled well inNew Zealand during A tour andthat experience helped me a lot.

"Actually, if you see there isnot much difference as to howyou perform in Ranji Trophy andat this level. Yes, performances atthe Test level has its own valuebut the basics don’t change,” hesaid.

He is indebted to Indianteam's bowling coach BharathArun, who was also his mentorwhen he first came up the ranksfor the Hyderabad Ranji side.

“I have always said aboutArun sir's contribution in mycareer. When he was Hyderabadcoach, he would tell me, “Thekind of quality you have, you canget any batsman out in worldcricket. Same here before my Testdebut, he gave me a lot of encour-agement,” he said.

'�� 1��* :�'�

Ajinkya Rahane produced amaster-class after taking

over the reins at a low point forhis team but when it comes tohis best knock, the stand-inIndia skipper Monday placedhis century at Lord’s ahead ofthe latest effort, againstAustralia.

Rahane’s classy 112 pavedthe way for India taking a sub-stantial 131-run first inningslead in the ongoing secondTest against Australia, whowere in all sorts of trouble atthe close of play on the thirdday.

“It was really special.Getting a century always is.Still feel that my hundredagainst England at Lord's is mybest," Rahane said after theday’s play.

The unassuming Indianentered the Lord's HonoursBoard when he struck an ele-gant 103 off 154 balls during

the Indian team’s tour ofEngland in 2014.

Leading the side just daysafter a humiliating defeat inthe series-opener at AdelaideOval, Rahane earned praisefrom the cricket fraternity forthe manner in which he han-dled his bowlers and his field

placements at Melbourne.“Captaincy is all about

backing your instinct. You’vegot to back your gut feeling.Credit to the bowlers, theybowled in the right areas,” headded.

After his effort with the bat,his bowlers put India in sight

of a series-levelling win byreducing Australia to 133 for sixin their second innings.

Asked about the match, hepreferred to stay cautious.

“This game is not over yet,still have to get four morewickets.”

Leading the team in theabsence of Virat Kohli, Rahanecame into the match after los-ing seasoned pacerMohammed Shami and he wasalso held responsible for run-ning out Kohli in Adelaide.

However, on Monday itwas Rahane who found himselfat the receiving end after whatseemed like a needless call byRavindra Jadeja, which led tohis dismissal.

Asked about his run out,Rahane said, “I initially thoughtI was in. I told him (Jadeja) notto worry about my run out andto do keep doing well.”

Jadeja went on to score his15th Test fifty but got out afterreaching the milestone.

�'�� '9:�� '

Faf du Plessis fell for 199 to miss out on a first careertest double-century but that was the only disap-

pointment for South Africa as it took complete con-trol of the first test Monday against a Sri Lanka teambattered by injuries.

Du Plessis’ career-best score sent South Africato 621 all out at SuperSport Park on Day 3 and a 225-run first-innings lead.

Sri Lanka's tough position was exacerbated bythe fact that it has had five players injured in the open-ing three days of the test, with three of them ruledout for the rest of the game.

Du Plessis’ big hundred, and half-centuries fromfour other South African batsmen, wiped out SriLanka's early advantage. The tourists made 396 intheir first innings - their best total in South Africa -and were feeling good about their chances after thefirst day-and-a-half in Centurion.

Those positive Sri Lankan vibes disappeared bythe end of Day 3.

The South Africans also made inroads in the fieldin the 12 overs they bowled before stumps as LungiNgidi struck twice in the space of two overs late inthe day.

Sri Lanka was 65-2 in its second innings and still160 behind when Dinesh Chandimal (21 not out)limped off at stumps alongside Kusal Perera (33 notout).

Chandimal reached the edge of the field beforebeing picked up by a medic on a golf buggy and car-ried away, the latest Sri Lankan worry in what mightbe the worst run of injuries for a team in a test.

Allrounder Dhananjaya de Silva and fast bowlersKasun Rajitha and Lahiru Kumara were definitelyruled out for the rest of the game, Flower said, whilelegspinner Wanindu Hasaranga and Chandimalwould be assessed overnight.

De Silva was injured while batting on the firstday, Rajitha went off after bowling just 13 deliveries

on the second day, and the other three all gotinjured on Monday.

Flower said it’s probable that SriLanka’s lack of any four-day cricket in the

buildup to this two-test tour because ofthe coronavirus pandemic meant theplayers were out of condition. It wasunclear how many Sri Lankansmight be able to make it out on thefield to bat on the fourth day.

Flower said all that was left nowwas for the fit players to show some

grit.He wasn't the only one to cash in.

Dean Elgar made 95 and AidenMarkram 68 in their 141-run open-ing stand on Sunday. Temba Bavumahit 71 in a 179-run stand with duPlessis, and then tailender KeshavMaharaj added to the pain for the SriLankans with his best test score of 73.

It seemed du Plessis’ double-century would top off the day for theSouth Africans but, needing one runfor his 200, he tried to hit over thetop and lobbed a catch to Sri Lankacaptain Dimuth Karunaratne atmid-on.

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India fast bowler Umesh Yadav hob-bled off the field after suffering a calf

muscle injury during the third day ofthe second Test against Australiahere on Monday and has been takenfor scans.

Umesh, 33, was in the middle ofa fine spell when he experienced painin his left leg and called for immedi-ate medical attention. He later limped

back to the dressing room.“Umesh Yadav complained

of pain in his calf while bowl-ing his 4th over and wasassessed by the BCCI medicalteam. He is being taken forscans now,” BCCI media teamreleased a statement.

Umesh had dismissedopener Joe Burns with a peachof a delivery in only his sec-ond over earlier. Debutantpacer Mohammed Siraj complet-ed what was the eighth over ofthe innings.

India are already missing theservices of seasoned pacersMohammed Shami and IshantSharma and the latest injury wouldadd to the visiting team’s woes in thefour-match Test series.

With updates awaited onUmesh’s injury, India’s decision toplay five bowlers at the MelbourneCricket Ground might help theircause.

Having bowled out Australiafor 195 in their first innings,India put up 326 for a substan-tial lead of 131 runs.

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˘ˇˆ˙ ˝˛˚˜ ˜ˇ!...2020/12/29 · maoists ranjit tudu and chhotu lal hansda are resi-dents...

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