· 2020. 7. 28. · included a 55-year-old man, a 39-year-old man and a 59-year-old man. the...

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Chief Minister NaveenPatnaik on Tuesday

announced that the families ofCovid warriors who die on dutywould be given an assistance ofRs 50 lakh each. Chairing areview meeting on the Covid-19situation, Patnaik said allemployees engaged and people’srepresentatives (Sarpanches andothers) in Covid fight would getthe compensation in case theydie while on duty.

Families of Anganwadi andASHA Workers would getmonthly pensions of Rs 7,500and Rs 5,000, respectively, incase they die on duty. Theseassistances would be given tothe families till the age of 60years of concerned Anganwadiand ASHA Workers.

Patnaik directed the

administration to ensure thatassistances paid to concernedfamilies at the earliest.

Besides, the CM directedthe Health Department andMedical authorities to ensurethat non-Covid patients gettreatment without any diffi-culty. He advised to enhancethe Ambulance network in theState. He too emphasised oncremation of bodies of Coviddeceased in a dignified mannerunder new guidelines set by theGovernment.

These apart, the CM askedobservers and senior officers tocollect feedback from Covidpatients and ensure qualitytreatment to them. Observers ofAngul, Dhenkanal, Deogarh,Keonhar, Mayurbhanj,Bolangir, Bargarh and Nuapadaappraised about the Covidmanagement of their districts.

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Seven more Covid-19 deathswere recorded in the State

on Tuesday, increasing the tollto 154. The deceased includeda five-year-old physically-chal-lenged boy of Bhubaneswar.

While three deaths werereported from Ganjam dis-trict, Rayagada district report-ed two deaths while Cuttackdistrict and Bhubaneswar reg-istered one each.

The deceased of Ganjamincluded a 55-year-old man, a39-year-old man and a 59-year-old man.

The deceased of Rayagadaincluded a 31-year-old manand a 72-year-old man, who was also suffering fromdiabetes.

The deceased of Cuttackdistrict was also suffering frombronchial asthma and diabetes.The deceased of Bhubaneswarwas a five-year old boy, whowas also suffering from cerebralpalsy with seizure disorder.

Besides, a 16-year-old girl of

Baleswar district died due toacute lymphocytic leukemia withimmune suppression. With this,the number of deaths due toother health complications roseto 35, the Health and FamilyWelfare Department said.

Meanwhile, 1,215 new pos-itive cases were detected on theday in the State, with which thetotal cases increased to 28,107.

While 753 cases werereported from different quar-antine centres, 462 were local contacts.

Ganjam district again reg-

istered the day’s highest 392cases followed by Khordha312, Gajapati 89, Keonjhar 77,Koraput 73, Cuttack 60,Jagatsinghpur 47, Baleswar 29,Rayagada 24, Mayurbhanj 22,Balangir 21, Jajpur 20Kendrapada, Kandhamal andMalkangir 14 each, Angul andPuri 11 each, Bargarh: 10,

Nuapada and Kalahandi eighteach, Nayagada seven,Bhadrak, Boudh, Subarnapur,Jharsuguda and Sundargarhtwo each and Deogarh andDhenkanal districts one each.

However, another 687patients recovered on Tuesday,taking the total recoveries to18,060.

The highest 307 recoveredin Ganjam, followed by 59 inJagatsinghpur, 52 in Bhadrak,35 in Nayagarh, 30 inJharsuguda, 25 in Jajpur, 24 inCuttack, 23 in Gajapati, 18 inMalkangiri, 17 in Koraput, 16in Kandhamal 14 in Keonjhar,12 in Bargarh 11 each inBaleswar Kendrapada andSambalpur, 10 in Rayagada, fivein Angul, three inNabarangpur, two in Kalahandiand one each in Balangir andSundargarh.

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Chief Secretary Asit Tripathyhas directed OPTCL,

GRIDCO and distributioncompanies (Discoms) to makethe power sector self-sustain-ing through aggressive systemreforms and reduction inaggregate technical and com-mercial (AT&C) loss.

Tripathy gave this directionwhile reviewing the Covid-19impact and current challengesin the power sector at a meet-ing held digitally on Mondayevening.

Tripathy directed OPTCLand Discoms to improve qual-ity and reliability of powersupply by optimising the use ofthe existing network.

Principal Secreaty andGridco CMD Saurabh Gargsaid the percentage of AT & Closs has been reduced from

57% to around 29.94%. TheState has power surplus ofaround 1,000 MW per year.

Review showed thatbecause of the shutdown andlockdowns, the power demandhas reduced by 14% during the period from March-June 2020 in comparison to theprevious year. The captive gen-eration and consumption hasalso reduced by 25% in April,12% in May and 2% in June.

The meeting decided toextend necessary financialguarantee support to Gridco aspower is a critical basic need.

Discoms were directed toachieve at least 98% of thebilling and collection capacityduring this year.

Tripathy directed to focuson reduction of AT& C loss, asreduction of 1% AT&C lossleads to around Rs 130 crore ofrevenue gain.

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While face-off is still on atsome friction points on

the Line of Actual Control(LAC) in Ladakh and India isasking China to “sincerely”implement pacts to defuse ten-sion, Beijing on Tuesdayclaimed that the troops fromboth sides have completed dis-engagement and situation is“cooling down.”

China made this assertioneven though more than 40,000of its troops are still deployedon the front and depth areasand its soldiers have not with-drawn from Pangong Tso(lake).

The Chinese ForeignMinistry also said efforts are onto hold the fifth round ofCorps Commander-level talks.It is likely to take place later thisweek. The last meeting tookplace on July 14.

The Global Times, theGovernment mouthpiece ofChina, while reporting ChineseForeign Ministry spokespersonWang Wenbin’s observations,also said the disengagement onthe frontline has completed inmost locations following closecommunications between thetwo sides via military anddiplomatic channels.

“The situation is now con-tinuing to head in the directionof easing and cooling down,”the spokesperson said at a rou-tine press conference in Beijingon Tuesday.

“A fifth round of com-mander-level talks is current-ly under preparations to resolvethe remaining issues,” Wangsaid. Four rounds of comman-der-level talks and three meet-ings on border affair discus-sions and coordination havebeen held, he added.

Wang said China hopes

India can meet China halfway,implement the consensus bothsides have reached and safe-guard peace and stability in theborder region together.

His statement came afterapparently expressing concernover the Chinese reluctance topull back its troops, India

asked it last week to “sincerelyimplement” the agreementarrived between the two CorpsCommanders on the last fourrounds of parleys.

Responding to a specificquestion on Tuesday in Beijingwhether the Chinese hadpulled back from friction

points, including the GalwanValley, Hot Springs and Gogra,Wenbin said disengagementwas completed in most areas.

Last Friday, joint secretarylevel officers of the foreignministries of two countriesheld talks under the aegis theWorking Mechanism forConsultation and Coordination(WMCC) on border affairs.India then asked China tohonour all the agreements andrestore peace and tranquility.

The External AffairsMinistry in a statement saidafter the meeting the two sidesagreed “it was necessary forboth sides to sincerely imple-ment the understandingsreached between senior (mili-tary) commanders in theirmeetings till date.”

India has throughoutmaintained since the face-offsbegan nearly nine weeks backthat status quo ante has to be

restored with the Chinesetroops going back to theirpositions as in April last.

Incidentally, the first stand-off was triggered in thePangong Tso after the Chinesetroops obstructed an Indianpatrol leading to fisticuffs onMay 5. The Chinese intrudedmore than five kms there andare yet to withdraw leading totension in the area.

In the next round of talks,the two Corps Commanderswill focus on hastening theprocess of withdrawal of addi-tional troops from the frontand depth areas, sources saidhere on Tuesday. India will alsoask China to pull back from thePangong Tso where theChinese have now occupiedsome heights on mountainspurs. The Chinese have alsobuilt a temporary jetty in theIndian region of the lake for itsfast interceptor boats.

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India on Tuesday surpassedthe 15 lakh count of Covid-

19 cases where the tally of theinfected people reached15,31,783 with addition of49,280 new patients duringthe day. As many as 770patients died during the day,stretching the tally of the deadto 34,224.

The day saw major spikesin southern States while Stateslike Maharashtra and Delhihave started to flatten the curveof the infection.

Andhra Pradesh led thepack among the States with adaily count of 7,948. The over-all tally has reached 1,10,297with 58 deaths during the dayadding to the total casualties of1,148 people.

This is for the first timethat a State has surpassed thedaily case count of Maharashtrathat reported 7,717 new caseson Tuesday. However,Maharashtra continues to be atthe top in terms of number of

people infected so far with atotal case count of 3,91,440.The State alone reported 282deaths due to Covid-19 duringthe day, taking the tally ofdeceased to 14,165.

Tamil Nadu reported 6,972new cases of infection, takingthe tally to 2,27,688. The Stateregistered 88 deaths duringthe day where the toll has nowreached 3,659.

Delhi reported 1,056 casesduring the last 24 hours wherethe case count has reached1,32,275. Delhi reported 28deaths due to the pandemicduring the day where 3,881people have succumbed to theviral infection till now.

Karnataka reported 5,536cases during the last 24 hours,stretching the tally to 1,07,001.The State lost 102 persons toCovid-19 and the death counthas now reached 2,057.

Uttar Pradesh logged 3,458new cases of Covid-19, takingthe tally to 73,951. During theday, the State reported 41deaths where the death toll has

reached 1,497. Bihar reported 2,480 new

cases of infection where thetally of Covid-hit patients hasreached 43,591. Fourteen per-sons died due to the diseaseduring the day where the deathcount has reached 269.

West Bengal reported 2,134new cases, taking the casecount to 62,964. The death tollduring the day stood at 38 inthe State that has recorded1,449 casualties till now.

Telangana recorded 1,610new cases where 57,142 per-sons have been infected tillnow. Nine casualties during theday took the death count in theState to 480.

Gujarat added 1,108 freshcases of infection to stretch thetally to 57,982. The State has reported 2,368 casu-alties including 24 deaths dur-ing the day.

Rajasthan reported 406cases, taking the tally to 37,970.The death count has reached640 with seven casualties dur-ing the day.

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Out of the 50 tiger reserves inthe country, Uttarakhand’s

Corbett Tiger Reserve brimswith 231 big cats — highest inthe country — while three tigerhabitats in Mizoram, WestBengal, and Jharkhand have nopresence of the majestic animalanymore. These findings arepart of the fourth All India TigerEstimation 2018, which wasreleased by Union EnvironmentMinister Prakash Javadekar onthe eve of Global Tiger Day, cel-ebrated on July 29 every year.

The over 600-page docu-ment — ‘Status of Tigers, Co-predators and Prey in Indiareport for 2018 — which showsreserve-wise and State-wise tigerpopulation, the distributionreveals that three reserves —Mizoram’s Dampa reserve, WestBengal’s Buxa reserve andJharkhand’s Palamau reserve —have no tigers left. Currently, thetiger population within thereserves is 1,923 (65 per cent ofthe total tiger population ofIndia), the report said.According to the populationestimation of tigers in reservesfor 2018-19, Corbett has 231tigers followed by Nagarhole andBandipore reserves in Karnatakawith 127 and 126 tigers respec-tively.

Assam’s Kaziranga andMadhya Pradesh’s Bandhavgarhrecorded 104 tigers each, thereport said.

It said some reserves likeSimilipal (Odisha), Amrabadand Kawal in Telangana,Nagarjunsagar Sri Sailam(Andhra Pradesh), Palamau(Jharkhand), Sanjay-Dubri(MP), Nameri and Manas inAssam, Buxa (West Bengal),Dampa (Mizoram), AnshiDandeli (Karnataka) and Pakke(Arunachal Pradesh) are belowtheir potential and requireresources and targeted manage-ment. “In areas where tigers havenot been recorded or the popu-lation has declined, restorationneeds to proceed by improvingprotection, augmentation of prey,and reintroduction of tigersfrom an appropriate source.

“For reintroduction of tigersinto Palamau, prey augmenta-tion needs to be achieved cou-pled with the restoration of lawand order,” it said.

“For tiger reintroduction

or supplementation in Palamauand Similipal, tigers need to besourced from the closest sourcein the same genetic cluster.Buxa and Dampa can be repop-ulated through reintroductionsfrom Kaziranga, after preyrestoration in Buxa andstrengthening protection inDampa which has a good preybase,” it said.

According to the report, inthe State-wise distribution oftigers, Madhya Pradesh wasfound with maximum tigers at526 followed by Karnataka at524 and 442 in Uttarakhand.

Last year Prime MinisterNarendra Modi had released thefour-yearly tiger census reportaccording to which the tigerpopulation in the country hadgrown from 1,400 in 2014 to2,967 in 2019. He said all ofIndia’s 50 tiger reserves were notpoor quality. Javadekar alsoannounced that his Ministry isworking on a programme inwhich efforts would be made toprovide water and fodder to ani-

mals in the forest itself to dealwith the challenge of human-animal conflict which is causingdeaths of animals. For thisLIDAR based survey technolo-gy will be used for the first time.Lidar is a method for measuringdistances by illuminating the tar-get with laser light and measur-ing the reflection with a sensor.

Minister of State ofEnvironment, Babul Supriyosaid human- animal conflictcan be avoided but it cannot beruled out in the country. Hesaid frontline officials havedone commendable job in rais-ing the numbers of the tiger inthe country. Javadekar pointedout that India is ready to takea leadership role and workwith other tiger range countriesfor the management of thereserves. There are currently13 tiger range countries —India, Bangladesh, Bhutan,Cambodia, China, Indonesia,Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar,Nepal, Russia, Thailand, andVietnam.

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The coronavirus infectionscontinued to surge in

Bhubaneswar on Tuesday withdetection of 215 new positivecases, taking the capital city’stotal tally to 2,325.

Out of the new cases, 150were from quarantine centresand 65 were local contacts, theBhubaneswar MunicipalCorporation (BMC) said.

The quarantine casesincluded 19 of Unit-9 nearBaya Baba Mutt Basti linkedwith an earlier case; 11 of SaliaSahi linked with an earliercase; 11 cases, all employees ofa private hospital; 10 cases, allmale of Aiginia Alu Gadi,linked with an earlier case;nine of Unit-4 MLA ColonyBasti linked with an earliercase; five of Bisheswar Basti;four of Unit-3 linked with anearlier case; three ofBaramunda Fire Station Basti

linked with an earlier case;three of Nayapalli GanapatiNagar Basti; three cases, allwomen, of Kalinga Nagar K-9; two cases, both male railwaystaffs; two cases of DumdumaSukha Vihar; and two cases ofSatya Nagar.

The local contact casesincluded six employees of aprivate hospital; three cases, allwomen employees of a privatehospital; three cases of SaliaSahi; two of Unit-3; two ofKalinga Nanar near SUMHospital; and two ofKhandagiri Bari.

Cuttack city reported 41more positive cases on the day,taking the total tally to 777.Four Covid warriors wereamong the infected,

Of the new cases, 12 werereported from institutionalquarantine centres, two werelocal contacts and 27 wereunder home quarantine, theCuttack MunicipalCorporation (CMC) said.

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Even as the National TigerConservation Authority

(NTCA) has reported that tigerpopulation in Odisha hasremained unchanged between2014 and 2018 with 28 big catsliving in jungles of the State, theWildlife Society of Orissa hasalleged that tiger protection hascollapsed in the State, Similipalbeing the worst-hit.

Union EnvironmentMinister Prakash Javadekarreleased the NTCA tiger censusreport on the Global Tiger Day

in New Delhi on TuesdayAs per the report, the num-

ber of tigers in Odisha stood at45 in 2006, 32 in 2010, 28 in2014 and 28 in 2018. “While theall India results of 2,967 tigers in2018 compared to 2,226 tigersin 2014 have brought cheer totiger lovers, the two tigerreserves, Satkosia and Simlipal,in Odisha have revealed shock-ing decline in numbers. MostStates have done well addinghuge numbers in the four-yearperiod after 2014,” said WSOsecretary Biswajit Mohanty.

A total of 141 camera traps

were laid in Simlipal and 4,400trap nights were spent in cap-turing tiger pictures. Only eightindividuals were recorded in thetiger reserve.

No tigers were found inBargarh Forest Division, BamraWildlife Division, Bonai ForestDivision, Kalahandi ForestDivision, Khalasuni WildlifeSanctuary, Khalasuni WildlifeSanctuary, Keonjhar WildlifeDivision, Kuldiha WildlifeSanctuary, Rourkela ForestDivision, Sunabeda WildlifeSanctuary and SundargarhForest Division.

Since there were 28 tigers in2014 in Odisha what happenedto the new born tigers that aremore than 1 year old, wanted toknow Mohanty.

Notably, the census ignorestiger cubs less than 1 year old asthe survival is uncertain.

“The State should haveadded at least 12 to 15 tigers dur-ing the last four years. Odishahas a minimum of 10 tigers asrecorded in the camera traps.The only possible explanation isrampant poaching which is tak-ing a heavy toll of tigers inOdisha,” said Mohanty.

Mentioning that Odishahad reported 192 tigers, includ-ing 60 cubs, he said there shouldhave been a minimum of 132tigers, excluding cubs, in 2018to maintain parity. “We have lost104 adult tigers in Odishathough at least Rs 60 crore hasbeen spent on their protectionand management by the State,”rued Mohanty.

According to NTCA cen-sus result for 2014 and 2018, thenumber of tigers in MadhyaPradesh rose by 71% from 318to 526, in Maharashtra by 64%from 119 to 312, in Kerala by

49% from 136 to 190, inKarnataka by 29% from 406 to524. “Since tigers are goodbreeders provided there is suf-ficient prey base and protectionfrom poaching, the State couldhave easily doubled the tigernumbers to at least 264 in 16years,” pointed out Mohanty.

He said Simlipal TigerReserve lost 75 wild tigers as perthe State Government censusfigures of 2006 and 2016, but noaccountability was fixed on for-est officials though crores ofrupees spend on tiger protectiontill mid 2020.

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Already trained to sniff outdrugs, narcotics and explo-

sive substances, dogs are like-ly to emerge as front-lineCovid-19 warriors as they arecapable of detecting signs ofcoronavirus infection inhumans after a few days oftraining. Researchers fromFrance, Lebanon and Germanyhave found that dogs are capa-ble of identifying people infect-ed with the coronavirus infec-tions. In Chile, police dogs arebeing trained to identify peo-ple who are infected, even inthe earliest stages of the disease.

A German veterinary uni-versity’s related study on dogswas conducted jointly with theGerman armed forces, theHannover Medical School andthe University Medical CenterH a m b u r g - E p p e n d o r f .According to the study, eightdogs from the German armedforces were trained for a weekto study coronavirus cases.

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To ensure that coronavirus isnot transmitted to various

institutions meant for beggarsand abandoned or lonely seniorcitizens, the State Governmenthas issued guidelines for allrehabilitation centres for beg-gars and old-age homes foradmission of new inmates.

The Department of SocialSecurity and Empowermentof Persons with Disabilitieshas written a letter to the dis-

trict Collectors to issue neces-sary instructions to such insti-tutions in this regard and monitor the steps taken by them.

“Since beggars and seniorcitizens are being referred tothese centres/ homes duringthis pandemic, all such insti-tutions should take adequatesteps for ensuring prevention ofCovid-19,” the letter said.

According to the guidelinesfor admission of new inmatesto rehabilitation centres for

beggars and old-age homes, incase of a newfound individualrequired to stay in any centre/home is to be positively testedfor Covid-19; and, if found neg-ative, shall only be admitted tothe same. Until such time theirstay can be arranged by thelocal administration either in atransit house for the purpose ora Covid Care Centre, as thecase may be.

All the centres/ homesshould admit only Covid-19-negative persons.

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After encouraging resultsfrom the plasma therapy,

the State Government launched another plasma bankat the Capital Hospital here on Tuesday.

Chief Minister NaveenPatnaik in the presence of theHealth Minister and the ChiefSecretary inaugurated the sec-ond plasma bank in the Statethrough videoconferencing. Hesaid three other plasma bankswould come up at IGH,Rourkela; VIMSAR, Burla; and

MKCG Hospital, Berhampur inphases soon.

Additional Chief SecretaryPK Mohapatra informed thatthe Rourkela IGH plasma bankwould be ready by Wednesday.

The CM also launched anIT portal for registration ofplasma donors.

While recognising theefforts made by doctors, para-medics and police personnel,he thanked them all.

The State’s first plasmabank had been opened at theSCB Medical College Hospital,Cuttack.

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Members of the Protectionfor Democratic Human

Rights of India (PDHRI) onSunday planted ayurvedic treesalong Kargil Road here on the

occasion of the Kargil VijayDiwas on Sunday.

“The day commemoratesthe success of the OperationVijay launched by Indian Armyto drive back Pakistani intrud-ers from the Kargil-Drass sec-

tor in 1999. We pay rich trib-utes to the soldiers who sacri-ficed their lives for the moth-er land. We planted the trees toremember their incomparablesacrifices,” said PDHRI centralsecretary Lingaraj Sahoo.

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The Odisha Government hascommended the doctors

of AIIMS, New Delhi for per-forming rarest of the raresurgery on Jaga and Balia.

ACS Health and FamilyWelfare, Pradipta KumarMohapatra while applaudingthe rare feat, stated that “onbehalf of the Government ofOdisha I express my sinceregratitude to the team of doctorsand paramedics those whoconducted the successfulsurgery of the conjoined twinsof Kandhamal, famously

known as Jaga-Balia.”Writing a letter of appreci-

ation to the Director All IndiaInstitute of Medical Sciences(AIIMS), New Delhi,Mohapatra said, “It is one of therareset of rare surgeries thusmaking history in MedicalSciences.”

Mohapatra said, “Onceagain convey my best wishes toall the Members of the Teamfor their successful futurecareer.” This was the first suc-cessful craniopagus conjoinedtwin separation surgery fromIndia wherein both the chil-dren have survived.

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AClass-X girl was foundhanging from a tree in the

premises of her house withhands and legs tied at DumdumaPhase-II under the Khandagiripolice station here on Sundaynight. The deceased was daugh-ter of one Maina Jena.

Though the deceased’sfamily members on Mondaylodged complaint with policealleging that miscreants killedher and hanged her body fromthe tree to make it look like asuicide, locals suspect it to bea case of honour killing.

The nieghbours allege thatfamily bickered quite often overthe girl’s love affair. The familyhad been opposing her rela-tionship with a youth and analtercation had occurred onthe fateful night. Moreover, thetowel with which her legs weretied was of her father, claimeda local. Police are investigatingthe death from different aspectsbesides detaining a local youthfor interrogation.

On the basis of circum-stantial evidence and prelimi-nary investigation, police sus-pect it to be a case of honourkilling. Khandagiri PS IICRashmi Ranjan Mohapatra saidthe family had recovered thebody before police reached thespot and the girl had no otherinjury mark on her body. Andthe detained youth has con-fessed his love for the girl.

“The body has been sentfor postmortem. The reasonbehind her death can be ascer-tained once the report comesin,” added Mohapatra.

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The Central Governmentreleased the Goods and

Services Tax (GST) compen-sation amounting to Rs 5,122crore to Odisha for FinancialYear 2019-20.

While the CentralGovernment had recentlyreleased GST compensation ofRs 13,806 crore to States forMarch, 2020, Odisha receivedRs 328.75 crore, said an official.

The total amount of com-pensation released for the year2019-20 is Rs 1,65,302 crorewhereas the amount of cess col-lected during the year 2019-20was Rs 95,444 crore.

“The Union Governmenthas utilised the balance cessamount of previous fiscal yearsto compensate States for theirrevenue losses during 2019-20,”said a senior official.

“The Centre had alsotransferred an amount of Rs33,412 crore from theConsolidated Fund of India tothe Compensation Fund as apart of an exercise to apportionbalance of IGST pertaining to2017-18,” said a UnionMinistry of Finance release.

“The compensationreleased will come as a big reliefto States like Odisha impactedby revenue losses due to thepandemic situation. The fullGST compensation will also

provide fiscal boost to speed updevelopment works and furtherassist the States/UTs in scaling-up the ongoing response toCovid-19,” said Union MinisterDharmendra Pradhan.

It is pertinent to mentionthat, Odisha’s revenue collec-tions have dipped by 23 percent in the first quarter (April-June) of the current financialyear 2020-21 in comparison tocorresponding time of previous year due to the Covid-19 situation.

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Doctors in the Burns andPlastic Surgery depart-

ment of the IMS and SUMHospital here have been able tosuccessfully treat a youngwoman who had suffered 70per cent burns following explo-sion in a cooking gas cylinder.

The 35-year-old woman,who hails from Ramnagar areaof Digha in West Bengal, suf-fered the burns while engagedin cooking and was rushed tothe hospital in a critical con-dition on June 6. She had also

inhaled the fumes which hadaffected her lungs.

“We had to conduct a tra-cheostomy as she was unable tobreathe properly. She had to beput on the ventilator for 20 days before her conditionshowed improvement,”Associate Professor in thedepartment Dr M Lopamudra,under whose supervision shewas treated, said. Her conditionimproved slowly and she wasable to walk following physio-therapy, she said, adding shewas discharged after 50 days oftreatment in the hospital.

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For the foundation-stone lay-ing ceremony of Sri Ram

temple in Ayodhya on August5, collection of holy water andsoil as part of a countrywideexercise was held in Puri by theViswa Hindu Parishad (VHP)on Tuesday.

Under the supervision ofvice president VHP, Odisha(East ) Prof (Dr) Malay KumarMohanty, the holy soil was col-lected from the auspicious placecalled Koili Baikunth situatedinside the premises of Lord SriJagannath Temple, Puri, alongwith holy water of temple well

Suna Kua and of sea(Mahodadhi) and of Mahanandifrom Gadagadeswar Ghat. Theywere sent after due rituals.

On the occasion, the Statein charge of VHP OdishaAnandji Pande, State secretaryPrasant Panda and State levelfunctionaries were present.

After much awaiting, final-ly with the interferance ofSupreme Court and theGovernment Of India, nowthe holy temple of Lord SriRam is going to be construct-ed in Ayodhya. The ViswaHindu Parisad (VHP) alongwith others struggled hard fordecades and now the dream

temple of Lord Sri Ram isgoing to be constructed in his

birth place in Ayodhya, said theVHP leaders.

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Two BJP MLAs scuffled withpolice while trying to barge

into the Sambalpur districtCollector’s office along withtheir supporters on Tuesday.

As restrictions have beenimposed on people visiting theCollectorate till August 31 inview of the Covid-19 pandem-ic, Sambalpur MLAJayanarayan Mishra andRengali MLA Nauri Nayakalong with supporters were

stopped by the police fromentering the Collectorate.

But the two legislators werenot ready to adhere to thedirective and wanted to meet Sambalpur Collector

Shubham Saxena to submit amemorandum.

For some time, tensionprevailed when Mishra andNayak tried to forcefully enterinto the Collectorate.

In his reaction, Mishrasaid preventing the people’srepresentatives from enteringthe Collector’s office is uncon-stitutional. He further accusedthe district administrations ofnot paying attention to theissues of citizens during thepandemic.

��

The BJP on Tuesday allegedthat migrant workers are

going to other States in searchof work as the OdishaGovernment has failed to pro-vide works to them under theMahatma Gandhi NationalRural Employment GuaranteeAct (MGNREGA).

“The Union Governmenthas been allocating more funds

to Odisha to undertake MGN-RGA works. But the StateGovernment has failed in man-aging the funds. As a result, migrant workers aregoing to other States for earn-ing a living,” alleged BJP Stategeneral secretary GolakMohapatra.

He alleged that the MGN-REGA has gone out of its waydue to bonhomie amongBDOs, contractors and BJD

leaders. Money is being with-drawn in the names of deadpersons, Government officials,persons staying outside Odishaand old-age pensioners, healleged.

Mohapatra said the BJPwould stage protests at allblock offices across the State if the irregularities are not investigated and actionnot taken against the errantsoon.

��

The Congress on Tuesdaymoved the Odisha Human

Rights Commission (OHRC)seeking a proper probe into thekilling of Pattamundai’s DebasisSethi in Puri and arrest of theculprits at the earliest.

In a memorandum, partyleaders mentioned that Sethihad love relationship withPattamundai police station Sub-Inspector Chandrika Mohapatra,a resident of Puri Bali Sahi, forthe 11 years and this was knownto their friends and police.

After a misunderstandingoccurred between them, some

of their common friends calledDebasis to Puri on July 4, 2020.While Debasis reached there at10.30 am, his dead body wasrecovered from the Bhargaviriver mouth later around 5,30pm. After the incident,Chandrika Mohapatra hasabsconded from Pattamundai.

“Chandrika and otheraccused have not been arrest-ed yet. We demand your earlyintervention into the matterand justice be given to Debasis’swidow mother,” demandedMLA Suresh Kumar Routray,Bhagabati Sethi, UcchabanandaMallick and Haladhar Sethi,among others.

��

Apearl farmer who hadundergone training at

ICAR-Central Institute ofFreshwater Aquaculture,Bhubaneswar, got a specialmention in Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s Mann Ki Baatprogramme on July 26.

Jaishankar Kumar, aGovernment servant-turnedpearl farmer from Begusarai,Bihar had attended the pearlculture training organised bythe ICAR-CIFA.

Later he went onto estab-

lish his pearl culture farm andstarted producing pearls in anintegrated farming model withfish, duck, poultry, and vermi-composting.

He is one of the successfulpearl farmers in the countryand is now imparting trainingon pearl farming to other farm-

ers and migrant workers whoreturned home due to theCovid-19 crisis.

Deputy Director General(Fisheries Science), ICAR, NewDelhi, Dr JK Jena and Director(Acting), ICAR-CIFA, Dr SarojKumar Swain congratulatedthe farmer.

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Aforeign-returnee hadallegedly to pay Rs 3,000

for accommodation and food ata Government quarantine cen-tre in Jaripada panchayat ofKhordha district.

Manoj Behera (28) ofJagannathpur Sahi in the pan-chayat was kept at the quaran-tine centre for 16 days from July 10 after he returnedfrom Oman.

On the conclusion of hisstay period, PanchayatExecutive Officer (PEO) AjayKumar Rayguru allegedly askedhim to pay Rs 3,000 towards hisfood expenses and use of bedand other facilities. A video of

this has gone viral on socialmedia.

An official of the districtadministration said that as pernorms, Behera, being a foreignreturnee, should have under-gone home quarantine or paidquarantine for 28 days.

However, due to the lack ofboth, he urged the PEO to stayat the Government quarantinecentre. The PEO had then toldhim to pay for his stay.

As inmates at aGovernment quarantine centrecan’t be charged for their stays,the PEO should have consult-ed with the district adminis-tration in this regard, the offi-cial added.

The district Collector hasordered a probe into the matter.

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The convalescent plasmatherapy seems to be a new

hope for Covid-19 patients inthe State’s worst-hit Ganjamdistrict. As many as threepatients who were adminis-tered plasma have been curedof the deadly disease.

District Collector VijayAmruta Kulange on Tuesdaytweeted: “Glad to share thatthese are the first three patientswho got plasma & got cured in Tata Hospital. Weappreciate the efforts of ourdoctors. We request all curedpatients to come forward forplasma donation.”

So far, over 200 people inthe district have already registered themselves for plas-ma donation.

The plasma therapy forserious Covid-19 patientsbegan in the district on July 22.The plasma bank at the SCBMedical College Hospital had

collected plasmas from curedpatients which were adminis-tered to serious patients. The

trial showed promising results;and then, it was extended toother Covid Hospitals.

For setting up of a plasmaunit in Ganjam, a sum of Rs 25crore was sanctioned from theChief Minister’s Relief Fund.

Among the plasma donors,Patrapur Tehsildar SrinivasBehera, who got cured fromCovid-19, donated plasma.

Notably, over 50 per cent ofthe total corona deaths in the State have been report-

ed from Ganjam.Of the State’s 154deaths, 85

have taken place in Ganjam bynow. So far, 9,501 positivecases have been reported fromthis district of which there are3,414 active cases. What isencouraging for the districtadministration is that nearly 60per cent (5,996) of the infect-ed people have recovered.

�� &��

In view of the rising Covidpositive cases, the

Kandhamal district adminis-tration has announced impo-sition of a 10-day lockdown inthe entire district from 5am ofJuly 29 to August 7 midnight.

During lockdown, shopsselling essential items likerations, vegetables, egg andmeet, medicine stores, medicalswill remain open.Organisations rendering essen-tial services will continue tooperate. However, all othershops, business establishmentand offices will remain closed,said the order issued by districtCollector Dr Brundha D.

With 14 new cases detect-ed, the number of Covid pos-itives in Kandhamal rose to 452on Tuesday. While a person hasdied, 245 have recovered and206 are undergoing treatmentat different Covid Hospitals inthe State.

�� ?��

In a partial modification in itsprevious order, the Boudh

district administration hasallowed ‘Work from Home’for Government employeesduring the ongoing shutdown.

The administration hasannounced two-phase shut-down in the district with effectfrom July 27 till July 31. AllGovernment offices, excepthealth institutions and policestations, will remain closed

during the shutdown, reads anotification issued by CollectorLalatendu Mishra.

The Government employ-ee would do office workthrough mobile phones or lap-tops. If required, they would beasked to come to offices in ashort notice.

Earlier on July 24, theadministration had announcedclosure of all Governmentoffices, except health institu-tions and police stations, forindefinite period.

�� .�?��

The Integrated Social Welfare and HumanResource Development (ISWHRD) with

support of New Delhi-based NGO “Goonj” hasbeen distributing ration items to the homelessand distressed people in villages under theNirakarpur area in Khordha district for long.

On Saturday, the ISWHRD undertook a pro-gramme, named “Samman Pain Karya” (Workfor dignity) in Kantalbai and Routapada villagesunder the Tangi block where 60 villagers wereengaged in leaning works and provided rationpackets containing rice, dal, flour, chuda, salt,spices, soap and mustard oil.

ISWHRD secretary Mrutyunjay Pradhanand Goonj programme officer Ashok KumarBehera were present. Villagers thanked Goonjdirector Anshu Gupta and Odisha chief Suesh

Kumar for providing support to them during thenatural disasters.

PARADIP: The Paradip PortTrust would soon launch a CovidCare Centre (CCC) at the PortClub here to provide healthcareto suspected Covid-infectedemployees of the port. The workfor the CCC is going on in fullswing. While the PPT has takensuch a decision a few days afterthe State Government asked thecorporates to make their ownCovid Care Centers (CCC),some people having vested inter-est are now spreading misinfor-mation that the Cente wouldinfect the local populace.

However, educated peoplehave decried the rumour. At

the CCC, there would be sixfeet gap between two beds toprevent the spread of the infec-tion. The patients would beprovided with the facemask.

Even as home isolation formild/asymptomatic cases is rec-ommended, a separate roomwith toilet facility is unavailablein most of the houses in PortTownship. Besides, there arefour to six quarters in a building.If a mild-asymptomatic Covidpatient remains in home isola-tion in such structures, otherfamilies might get infected. Thus,a CCC is being erected to pro-vide better facilities to patients.

“The windows of the roomswill mostly remain closed due toair conditioning. There are mos-quito nets available in the win-dows. Residential colony is locat-ed several meters away from theClub (about 100 meters). PortClub has its own boundary wall.As per the guidelines of day, allare required to cover their noseand face while out of their hous-es. The biomedical waste will besafely disposed in adherence tothe Biomedical WasteManagement Act. Therefore,the viral infection from the facil-ity can’t spread to the com-muters,” said the PPT. PNS

�� 9��

To check the spread of coro-navirus infection, the

Bargarh district administra-tion extended shutdown in the Attabira NAC area tillAugust 2.

Earlier in the day, a coor-dination committee was heldamong administration person-nel, members of the SachetanaNagarika Mancha, varioustrade unions, Bar Association,leaders of different politicalparties and NAC officials. Theydecided to extend shutdown tillAugust 2 in view of 21 personstested positive for Covid in thearea on Monday.

During the shutdown,shops selling essential com-modities like medicine, petrolpumps, water supply, electric-ity personnel, LPG distributionand milk booths would remain

open.So far, the district has

reported 376 positive cases outof which a patient has died and287 have recovered. Thus, 88others are undergoing treat-ment at different Covid hospi-tals, informed district CollectorJyotiranjan Pradhan.

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In view of the rising Covid-19cases in Gajapati, the district

administration has imposed afour-day shutdown and three-day lockdown every week inmost parts of the district untilfurther orders.

The lockdown fromMonday to Wednesday andthe shutdown from Thursdayto Sunday would be imposed inKerandi gram panchayat (GP),Katalakaitha GP of Gosaniblock, Ranipentha GP ofKashinagar block, Jhammi GP

of Gumma block, all blockheadquarters and municipaljurisdictions ofParalakhemundi andKashinagar.

Due to the close proximi-ty of Kerandi, Katalakaitha,Ranipenta and Jhammi GPs tothe containment zones ofParalakhemundi Municipality,these GPs have been includedin the lockdown and shut-down.

Further, the entry and exitpoints of block headquarters,Paralakhemundi Municipalityand Kashinagar NAC have

been sealed to restrict move-ment of people and vehicles.Only goods carriers and emer-gency medical vehicles shall beallowed for inter-district/inter-State movement. No public(visitors) shall be allowed inany public offices.

Shops of vegetables, gro-cery, milk, fruit, fish, meat,chicken and egg would beallowed to remain openbetween 6 am and 1 pm.

During the shutdown peri-od, Rapid Response Teams(RRTs) would undertake door-to-door health screening.

1+�+�*+�,+��-�+�+?4

In a casestudy, it

has beeno b s e r v e dthat El Niñois having severe impacts on cli-matological conditions ofOdisha. During the El Ninoevent 1997-98 people of Odishaexperienced massive sunstrokein the year 1998 and SuperCyclone in 1999. Similarly ElNino 2014-16 gave tropicalcyclones Phailin and Hudhud.Recently, during the ongoing ElNino 2019 Odisha faced againanother super cyclone Faniwhich devastated a vast areacovering districts of Puri,Khordha and Cuttack.

The same year againanother cyclone Bulbul pro-duced heavy rain and squalls,causing agricultural damage,uprooting trees, and knockingdown power lines in Odisha.Further, it has also affected theregular monsoon in the State.Later, it intensified the mon-

soon causing severe flood.El Nino and La Nina are all

terms referring to a majorocean-current together calledas El Nino Southern Oscillation(ENSO). This is associatedwith a band of warm oceanwater that develops in the cen-tral and east-central equatori-al Pacific, including off thePacific coast of South America.

Fishermen in Peru were thefirst to notice these irregularcycles of rising ocean tempera-tures because fish disappearedwhen the water warmed. Theynamed this as El Nino (Spanishfor the little boy) since they oftenoccur around Christmas time.La Nina (little girl) results when

the eastern tropical Pacific cools.El Niño occurs simultaneouslywith the southern oscillation.The southern oscillation is achange in air pressure over thetropical Pacific ocean.

When coastal watersbecome warmer in the easterntropical Pacific (El Niño), theatmospheric pressure abovethe ocean decreases.Climatologists define theselinked phenomena as El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO).The ENSO cycle, both El Niñoand La Niña, cause globalchanges of both temperaturesand precipitation. As El Niñobrings rain to South America;it brings droughts to Indonesia

and Australia. These droughtsthreaten the region’s water sup-plies, as reservoirs dry andrivers carry less water.

Agriculture, whichdepends on water for irrigation,is vastly threatened. Overall, ElNino influences global climateas well as extreme weatherevents such as floods, droughtsand tropical cyclones leading tolarge societal impacts.

Developing countriesdepending on their own agri-culture and fishing, particularlythose bordering the PacificOcean, are mostly affected. ElNiño was first recorded in1986 which originated in thecentral Pacific. Advancedresearch and re analysis tech-niques have managed to find atleast 26 El Niño events since1900, with the 1982–83,1997–98 and 2014–16 eventsamong the strongest on record.El Niño events of 1982-83 and1997-98 were the most intenseof the 20th century. Since 2000,El Niño events have beenobserved in 2002–03, 2004–05,2006–07, 2009–10, 2014–16,and 2019.

An especially intense ElNiño event in 1998 caused anestimated 16% of the world’sreef systems to die. The eventtemporarily warmed air tem-perature by 1.5 °C, comparedto the usual increase of 0.25 °Cassociated with El Niño events.

Extreme weather condi-tions related to the El Niñocycle correlate with changes inthe incidence of epidemic dis-eases. For example, the El Niñocycle is associated withincreased risks of some of thevector borne diseases, such asmalaria, dengue fever, Zikavirus and Rift Valley fever.Cycles of malaria in India,Venezuela, Brazil, andColombia have now beenlinked to El Niño. Outbreaks ofanother mosquito-transmitteddisease, Australian encephali-tis (Murray Valley encephali-tis—MVE), occur in temperatesouth-east Australia after heavyrainfall and flooding, which areassociated with La Niña events.A severe outbreak of Rift Valleyfever occurred after extremerainfall in north-eastern Kenyaand southern Somalia during

the 1997–98 El Niño.ENSO conditions have also

been related to Kawasaki dis-ease incidence in Japan and thewest coast of the United States,via the linkage to tropospher-ic winds across the NorthPacific Ocean. The El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO)cycle causes ripples through theglobal climate, affecting rainfalland air currents. These shifts,in turn, can cause disease car-riers to interact in new ways,creating novel pathogens.

This cannot be overruledthat El Nino 2019 might havecaused outbreak of Covid-19pandemic which has alreadytaken more than 5 lakh livesthroughout the world. Theintimate relationship of El Niñoevents with disease outbreaksand disasters like tropicalcyclones underscores theimportance of preventive mea-sures to be taken in future.

(Dr Senapati is DeanScience, Biju Patnaik Universityof Technology and Professor ofChemistry Trident Academy ofTechnology Bhubaneswar)

*+17+��*+8

Do students learn torespect the time of the

teacher? Are they obedientand disciplined when itcomes to spending theirallotted time on laptop?Do we , as parents, helpthe teachers with ourchild’s learning experi-ences and perceptions? These are allfrequently asked questions related toonline classes in the ongoing pan-demic time.

Academicians say “the digitaldivide in the country may turn on-line

classes into an operationalnightmare”. Due to Covid-19 , a tendency has beendeveloped across thecountry towards digitalteaching- learning thoughit’s feasibility is very poorin the rural area of ourcountry. There is a grow-ing tendency to use theteaching Apps , E- learn-

ing tools, video conferencing but allthese accessories have ultimatelyproven to be insufficient against thelive classroom teaching and student-teacher interaction.

A large section of parents who is

basically handicapped in informationtechnology and for whom the first pri-ority is to ensure food for the family,e-learning for their ward is definite-ly a difficult concept.

It is proven in a research studythat students enrolled in distancelearning are comparatively averageperformers than the students in reg-ular classroom teaching. Apparently,on-line teaching in the perspective ofCovid-19 can’t give benefit to the goodand proficient students. Onlineresources can’t supplement theresources available in four walls in aclassroom.

Computer based instruction is

generally limited to power pointvideo lecture, but it can’t be an alter-native to discussion or participatorymethod of a classroom. Can we thinkin group activities , co –operativelearning in an on line class? It is truethat a student learns a very little fromthe text books. No instructional tech-nology or material has been developedto replace group activities or student’slearning from the lab. Topic dis-cussed in the classroom makes theclass vibrant, on the contrary, teach-ers as well as students miss a lot ifthere is no face- to -face interaction.A teacher in a classroom can do mir-acle and is able to motivate all learn-

ers as per their capacity instantlywhich is impossible in digital teach-ing. It inflicts a process of participa-tion in e-learning.

A teacher in physics or chemistrymight not be feeling as comfortablein on –line class as he feels quite goodin chalk and board in the class or intest tubes in the lab in chemistry prac-tical classes.

(The writer is former faculty, DMSof Regional Institute of Education(NCERT), Bhubaneswar and associat-ed with different academic bodies of ourcountry. He participated in a UNESCOeducational programme at Bangkok)

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A58-year-old woman heartpatient of Jaleswar, who

returned to her village aftersurgery, had to wait for morethan four hours before she couldonly enter into her brother’s vil-lage due to Covid-induced fearresistance of her co-villagers. Shefinally entered her brother’shouse following interventionby the local Srapanch.

Champabati Patra, whowas residing with her daughterat Sikharpur in Cuttack, wassuffering from cardiac ailmentsfor a long time. About twoweeks ago while her condition

deteriorated, she was admittedin a private hospital inBhubaneswar and subsequent-ly underwent a surgery.

After discharge from thehospital, she was returning toher village by an ambulance.Although her daughter showedher Covid-free report, thelocals refused to let her enterthe village. Following Sarpanch Harekrushna Giri’sintervention, she was taken toher brother’s house in anothervillage, Rajnagar, under thesame GP.

Regarding the issue, a rel-ative of the woman lodged acomplaint with local police.

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Busting an inter-State ganjasmuggling racket, the

Special Task Force (STF) ofCrime Branch on Tuesdayseized cannabis weighing 850kg stashed in a tanker fromPitaguda under the Nandapurpolice limits in Koraput district.

The cops also arrested fivepersons, including three fromUttar Pradesh, in this connec-tion. They are Dharmjit

Sharma, Rajnish Sharma andKanhaiya Singh of UP andtwo locals Madhusudan Golariand Ugra Pujari.

The contraband was beingtrafficked to Mathura in UttarPradesh. Police seized thetanker and cash of Rs 17,000from the traffickers’ possession.

“The accused persons havebeen booked under Sections 20(b)(ii)(c) of NDPS Act 1985.Further investigation is under-way,” an official said.

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Tragedy struck Badatelenpali village under Sadar block inBalangir district as three women were charred to death and

an 18-year-old girl was injured in lightning while working in afarmland on Tuesday.

Sources said 18 people, including women, had been engagedin the paddy field of one Chabina Dharua when the lightningstruck them.

Meanwhile, family members of the deceased have demand-ed compensation for the loss of their kin.

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The Election Commissionon Tuesday raised strong

objections to Jammu andKashmir Lieutenant-GovernorGC Murmu's statements indi-cating that Assembly polls inthe Union Territory (UT) couldbe held after the delimitationexercise is completed.

In a statement, the EC saidthat such statements “virtual-ly tantamount to interfering”with its “Constitutional man-date. It also said other author-ities should refrain from mak-ing such statements. It is rarefor the EC to issue a publicstatement against another con-stitutional functionary.

Tuesday’s statement cameafter Murmu again spoke onthe election timing in an inter-view. This time, he said theelections to the J&K Assemblywould be held after the delim-itation exercise. Murmu hadreportedly claimed that elec-tions in the Union Territorycan be held after the ongoingdelimitation exercise.

While taking note of var-ious statements of Murmu onelection timing in the UnionTerritory, the EC said it “takesexception to such statementsand would like to state that inthe constitutional scheme of

things, the timings etc. of elec-tions is the sole remit of theElection Commission of India”.

Before deciding the timingof any election, the EC said, it“takes into consideration all therelevant factors includingtopography, weather, and sen-sitivities, arising out of region-al and local festivities in thearea(s), where the election is totake place”.

The EC further said, “Itwould be proper for authoritiesother than the ElectionCommission to refrain frommaking such statements whichvirtually tantamount to inter-fering with the Constitutionalmandate of ElectionCommission.”

“For example, in the cur-rent times, COVID-19 hasintroduced a new dynamic,which has to be and shall betaken into consideration atthe due time. In the instantcase, the outcome of delimita-tion is also germane to thedecision. Similarly, availabili-ty of central forces and railwaycoaches, etc. for the trans-portation of CPFs are impor-

tant factors. All this is doneafter meticulous homeworkby the senior officials of theCommission and a detailedassessment in due consultationwith concerned authorities”,it stated.

The EC noted that it visit-ed the States concerned asrequired and consulted allstakeholders. “It would beproper for authorities otherthan the Election Commissionof India to refrain from mak-ing such statements, whichvirtually tantamount to inter-fering with the constitutionalmandate of the Commission”,the statement said.

The union territory of J&Kcame into being on October31, 2019 after the State wasreorganised and bifurcatedinto two Union Territories,Ladakh being the other. Thereis a provision of a state legis-lature in the union territory ofJ&K.

A DelimitationCommission set up by thegovernment earlier this yearhas started the exercise ofredrawing the assembly andparliamentary seats in J&Kand some northeastern states.Delimitation is the process offixing limits or boundaries ofassembly and parliamentaryconstituencies in the country.

��

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The Covid-19 pandemic hasalready started showing

adverse ripple effects on India’sAIDS response with a study bythe ICMR warning that theGovernment may miss thenational target to end the dead-ly disease by 2030. That targetwould be difficult to achieve asthe decline in annual new HIVinfections was only 27 per centfrom 2010 to 2017 against anational target of a 75% declineby 2020.

The warning comes in astudy by the ICMR-NationalInstitute of Medical Statistics,Division of Strategic information— Surveillance andEpidemiology, and the NationalAIDS Control Organizationunder the Union HealthMinistry.

As per the study publishedin the latest issue of the IndianJournal of Medical Research, thenational adult prevalence of HIVwas estimated to be 0.22 per centin 2017. Mizoram, Manipur andNagaland had the highest preva-lence of over 1 per cent.

The study found an esti-mated 2.1 million people were

living with the AIDS virus,HIV, in 2017, with Maharashtraestimated to have the highestnumber. Of the 88,000 annualnew HIV infections nationallyin 2017, Telangana accountedfor the largest share.

“HIV incidence was foundto be higher among key popu-lation groups, especially peoplewho inject drugs. The annualAIDS-related deaths were esti-mated to be 69,000 nationally,"the study said. “...At the sub-national level some states havemade better progress to reducenew HIV infection. It calls forreinforcement of HIV preven-tion, diagnosis and treatmentefforts by geographical regionsand population groups."

The States with the highestnumber of people living withHIV in 2017 were Maharashtra(0.33 million), Andhra Pradesh(0.27 million) and Karnataka(0.24 million). Telangana, WestBengal, Tamil Nadu, Uttar

Pradesh and Bihar had between0.2 and 0.1 million suchpatients.

The study highlighted thatprevention of mother-to-childtransmission (PMTCT) of HIVis another critical target to beachieved by 2020. Of the 22,677such cases in India, 58.2 per centwere on treatment as ofDecember 2018. Bihar,Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh andTelangana had relatively high-er PMTCT need. However,treatment coverage was stillsignificantly lower than thenational average.

It also dwelled on 15 statesaccounting for 87 per cent of thetotal population of HIV-infect-ed persons in 2017. There weresigns of rising new HIV infec-tions in the low-burden states ofArunachal Pradesh, Assam,Mizoram, Meghalaya andUttarakhand in 2017 comparedwith 2010, the study pointedout.

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The EnforcementDirectorate (ED) on

Tuesday conducted searchesagainst GVK Group andMumbai International AirportLtd. (MIAL) and others inconnection with alleged irreg-ularities to the tune of �705crore in operating the Mumbaiairport.

The multi-location search-es were carried out at ninepremises in Mumbai andHyderabad under the provisionof the Prevention of MoneyLaundering Act (PMLA), offi-cials said.

The agency’s search oper-ation covered the offices of theGVK group, MIAL and thepremises of GVK group pro-moters, they said.

The ED had filed anEnforcement Case InformationReport (FIR IN police par-lance) on July 7 under thePMLA after taking cognisanceof a recent CBI FIR filed againstthe same set of individualsand entities as money laun-dering is a predicate offence.

The ED is probing if gen-uine funds were laundered tocreate “proceeds of crime” andamass personal assets by illegalrouting of funds by theaccused.

The ED and CBI case per-tain to the alleged siphoning offRs 705 crore from the funds ofMIAL, a joint venture underpublic-private partnership(PPP) between the GVKAirport Holdings Limited andthe Airports Authority of India(AAI) besides other investors,

by showing inflated expendi-ture, under-reporting of rev-enues, fudging of recordsamong others.

Earlier, the Central Bureauof Investigation (CBI) hadbooked Gunupati, a director inMIAL, his son GV SanjayReddy, managing director inMIAL, the companies—MIAL,GVK Airport HoldingsLimited (a GVK group com-pany) and nine other privatecompanies allegedly used tocamouflage the inflated figuresthrough sham deals andunidentified AAI officials (pub-lic servants).

On April 4, 2006, the AAIhad entered into an agreementwith MIAL for the modernisa-tion, upkeep, operation andmaintenance of the Mumbaiairport.

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An additional 6.7 millionkids under the age of five

across the world suffer fromwasting this year due to steepdeclines in household incomes,changes in the availability andaffordability of nutritious foodsamid Covid-19 pandemic, theUNICEF warned on Tuesday.

According to the worldbody, in India, there are stillaround 20 million childrenunder five years of age who aresuffering from wasting. Wastingis a life-threatening form ofmalnutrition, which makes chil-dren too thin and weak, and putsthem at greater risk of dying,poor growth, development andlearning.

“It’s been seven months sincethe first Covid-19 cases werereported and it is increasingly

clear that the repercussions of thepandemic are causing moreharm to children than the diseaseitself,” said UNICEF ExecutiveDirector Henrietta Fore.

“Household poverty andfood insecurity rates haveincreased. Essential nutritionservices and supply chains havebeen disrupted. Food priceshave soared. As a result, the qual-ity of children’s diets has gonedown and malnutrition rates willgo up.”

According to the UNICEF,even before the Covid-19 pan-demic, 47 million children werealready wasted in 2019. Withouturgent action, the global numberof children suffering from wast-ing could reach almost 54 mil-lion over the course of the year.This would bring global wastingto levels not seen this millenni-um.

A report published in theLancet finds that the prevalenceof wasting among children underthe age of five could increase by14.3 per cent in low- and mid-dle-income countries this year,due to the socio-economicimpacts of Covid-19. Such anincrease in child malnutritionwould translate into over 10,000additional child deaths permonth with over 50 per cent ofthese deaths in sub-SaharanAfrica.

The estimated increase inchild wasting is only the tip ofthe iceberg, UN agencies warn.Covid-19 will also increaseother forms of malnutrition inchildren and women, includingstunting, micronutrient defi-ciencies and overweight andobesity as a result of poorerdiets and the disruption ofnutrition services.

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Calling hepatitis a seriouschallenge, Lok Sabha

Speaker Om Birla on Tuesdayurged Members of Parliament tospread awareness about liver dis-ease amid the Covid-19 pan-demic. Hepatitis is a conditionof severe inflammation of theliver tissues that could evenresult in fatality.

Observing that liver careduring the difficult times ofCovid-19 is important, Birlasaid it was the lawmakers’ dutyto sensitise people and make thefight against the pandemic amass movement.

“Hepatitis is a serious chal-lenge that can be overcomeonly with collective effort andresolve. For this, the role of pub-lic representatives, especiallyMPs, becomes crucial,” Birlasaid on the occasion of WorldHepatitis Day on Tuesday.

He was chairing the‘Empathy Conclave 2020’, organ-ised by the Institute of Liver andBiliary Sciences (ILBS) and the

Airports Authority of India(AAI) at the Parliament House.

The theme of this year’sevent was ‘Keep your liver safein times of Covid-19.’ He hopeda vaccine for it would be dis-covered soon while UnionHealth Minister HarshVardhansaid the government hadannounced a � 15,000 crorepackage to deal with the coro-navirus crisis.

Earlier, Dr Sarin said thathealth of the live was directlylinked to many diseases, like dia-betes, hypertension and heart

ailments, thus it was extremelyimportant to take care of theliver.

“If one is on medications forchronic hepatitis during thistime, they must ensure that theyhave adequate stock for anextended period of time. Thestocking up is important duringuncertain times of lockdown asskipping a day's medicine canflare up the virus and increaseliver damage risk,” said DrDinesh Kini K Director -Gastroenterology & Hepatology,Sakra World Hospital.

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The Congress onTuesday alleged that

despite the Governmentclaiming that it hasbarred Chinese compa-nies from working in India, themeter installation project inJammu and Kashmir is beingindirectly handled by a Chinesecompany which has worked inPakistan also.

Congress spokespersonPawan Khera alleged, "TheGovernment has facilitatedback-door entry of the Chinesecompany for such a sensitivework in Jammu and Kashmir."

The party at a Press con-ference further alleged thatDongfang company is active invarious countries and has spe-cial relations with Pakistan.The company has worked inPakistan's Nandipur powerproject and is known for mak-ing software and hardware forRadio Frequency Technology.

"The company which hasgot the work in J&K to installsmart electric metres has givenits work to Dongfang which isChinese company and reportsto the Chinese Army and theGovernment. The tender has

been given by the PowerMinistry under rural electrifi-cation program," Kheraalleged.

According to the docu-ments shared by Congress, thecompany has to install onelakh smart metres in Jammuand another one lakh inSrinagar. "But in the smartmeter the important compo-nent like RadioCommunication System, thenature of work and the geo-graphical region make it asensitive issue, and when it isdone in kashmir, it a nationalsecurity issue," alleged Khera.

"There is a threat that withall the data with the Chinesecompany, this may create ablackout," said Khera.

In a statement, theCongress said that when theentire world has a threat ofcyber attack then we should becautious in handing over suchsensitive work to Chinese com-panies.

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The Supreme CourtTuesday dismissed the

pleas seeking removal offormer Director General ofPolice (DGP) of UttarPradesh K L Gupta from the3-member inquiry com-mission set up to probe thekilling of gangster VikasDubey in police encounter.

A bench headed byChief Justice S A Bobde saidit would not allow the peti-tioners, who had referred tostatements given by Guptato the media for seeking hisremoval, to cast aspersionson the member of inquirycommission.

The commission willalso probe the killing ofeight policemen allegedly byDubey's gang and the sub-sequent encounter of thegangster and five of hispurported associates by thecops.

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Patna: Torrential rain in thecatchment areas of Bihar andNepal has aggravated the floodsituation in the State with almostall major rivers flowing abovethe danger mark.

Nearly 25 lakh people havebeen displaced in the Stateand eight lost their life. Despiterelief and rescue operations bythe Bihar Government peopleare in dire straits. Traffic hasbeen affected in many areas.

According to a report by thewater resources department onTuesday, the water level of theKosi, near Veerpur barrage,was at a dangerous level at 8 a.m.Similarly, the water level in theGandak river has crossed thedanger mark near Balmikinagarbarrage.

Rivers such as the Bagmati,Budhi Gandak, Kamla Balanand Ganga are flowing abovethe danger mark in many areas.

People have left their homesand taken refuge in higherareas.

Disaster management sec-retary Ramchandra Dua saidthat in view of the increased

water level of various rivers inBihar, the disaster managementdepartment is constantly main-taining a vigil. As many as 765panchayats in 93 blocks across11 districts of Bihar have beenaffected by the surging waters.

As many as 29 relief campshave been set up in the flood-affected areas which house near-

ly 13,000 people, Ramachandrasaid. He informed that 703community kitchens are beingrun which feed 3,28,357 peopleevery day.

The floods have affected 25lakh people in the state, headded. The NDRF and SDRFteams are carrying out relief andrescue operations round theclock. Some 1,67,005 peoplehave been evacuated. However,eight persons have died due tofloods, including four each inDarbhanga and WestChamparan.

Chief minister NitishKumar has instructed engi-neers to remain stationed for 24hours at embankments so thatemergency repairs can be car-ried out. IANS

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Former Karnataka Congressminister Raja Madangopal

Nayak died of Covid-19 in adesignated hospital atKalaburagi in the State's north-ern region, an official said onTuesday. He was 70.

“Nayak succumbed tocoronavirus on Monday at ESIHospital where he was admit-ted on July 23 after he was brought from his nativeplace (Surpur) in the adjacentYadigir district,” Kalaburagidistrict health official K.S.Mallikarjun told IANS onphone.

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Guwahati: While the annualmonsoon floods in Assamclaim hundreds of lives, dam-age crops, infrastructure andassets, the animals too are notspared. These include theendangered rhinos in theworld famous KazirangaNational Park, home to morethan 2,200 one-horned Indianrhinos.

Kaziranga National ParkDirector Karmashree P.Sivakumar said on Tuesdaythat this year at least 137 wildanimals have died so far due

to the floods while 163 havebeen rescued, even as over 95per cent of the 884 sq kmKaziranga Park was inundat-ed last week. Even with theoverall improvement in theflood situation in the state byTuesday, 75 per cent of thepark area remained flooded.

“Last year 263 animalsincluding many endangeredrhinos were killed due to thefloods while 169 animals wererescued. Currently, we are inthe middle of the four month

(June to September) longmonsoon. I do not know whatwould be the final situation.However, all-out efforts arebeing made to take care of theanimals in the entireKaziranga National Park,”Sivakumar told IANS overphone.

The animals that haveperished in the monsoonfloods this year include 14 rhi-nos, 101 hog deer, ten wildboars, five wild buffaloes, threeporcupines and two swampdeer. IANS

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There was no respite forTamil Nadu on Tuesday in

the number of persons diag-nosed with Covid-19 or thenumber of persons succumbedto the pandemic as 88 deathswere reported and 6, 972 newpatients were identified duringthe last 24 hours.

The medical bulletin issuedby the Government of TamilNadu said that by the end ofTuesday, there were 57,073active coronavirus cases in theState. As part of aggressivetesting, the number of labora-tories operating in the statewere increased to 119. Theselaboratories on Tuesday tested

59,584 persons for the Covid-19.

With the 88 deaths report-ed on Tuesday, the fatalities inthe State increased to 3,659.While Chennai gave hopesabout the possibilities of tam-ing the coronavirus, situation inthe three neighbouring districtsremained critical. Chengalpet(365), Kancheepuram (223)and Thiruvallur (486)remained dangerous as thenumber of patients increased inthese three districts.

Virudhunagar diagnosed586 new patients with corona.Chief Minister EdappadiPalaniswami has convened ameeting of district collectors onWednesday for devising strate-gies to counter the pandemic.

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The situation in Kerala arising out ofthe spread of Covid-19 has become

grave by Tuesday, according to ChiefMinister Pinarayi Vijayan. HealthDepartment on Tuesday diagnosed1,167 new patients who had contract-ed Covid-19, said the Chief Ministerduring his media briefing on Tuesday.

While 679 persons recovered fromthe pandemic on Tuesday, the day sawthe number of persons infected throughlocal transmission reaching 888, saidthe Chief Minister. “We lost four per-sons to Covid-19 during the last 24hours and the situation in the State hasbecome really serious. All 14 districtsin the State are in the grip of coron-avirus,” said Vijayan.

There were 55 infected persons on

Tuesday who could not pinpoint thetime, place, and sources from wherethey contracted the pandemic, said theChief Minister. “The capital city ofThiruvananthapuram is grievous. OnTuesday we had 227 positive cases inthe district.

The situation is becoming worse bythe day,” he said. There are 486 hotspotsin the State while 1,167 persons wereadmitted to hospitals. “As on Tuesday,there are 10,091 Covid-19 patientsundergoing treatment in hospitals,” hesaid.

The chief minister was all praise forthe Church and Madrasa officials in theState who are supporting the initiativestaken by the Government. “The mediain Kerala is not sincere in their report-ing about the fatalities reported fromvarious places in the State,” saidPinarayi Vijayan.

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The Bengal Government has extend-ed the lockdown till August 31.

Informing about the decision ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesdaysaid that the “current lockdown will con-tinue till August 31 where after theGovernment will take a further decisiondepending on the situation.”

As this is “not a complete lockdown”the lockdown protocols will apply to the-aters, multiplexes, educational institutionsand other places and ceremonies involv-ing public gathering, government sourcessaid.

Besides, the weekly lockdown willcontinue for one more month save on thedays of Bakr-Eid, Raksha Bandhan andIndependence Day, the Chief Ministermaintained adding all there will be com-plete lockdown on Sundays and anotherday in a week. “However I will request allthe people concerned to celebrate theirfestivals maintaining social distancing and

following all other rules prescribed by thedoctors,” Banerjee said.

“Complete lockdown will be enforcedon all the Sundays” she said adding “therewill be complete lockdown on August 2,5, 8, 9 16, 17 23 24 and 31.”

On the UGC’s suggestion for hold-ing the final exams in colleges Banerjeesaid “we will not be able to hold examsbecause of the grim situation and we donot want to push the students in deeperproblem.”

On the opening of the State’s educa-tional institutions she said “there is a pro-posal of opening the schools and collegesafter Teachers’ Day which is the birth dayof Dr Radhakrishnan… but that too willdepend upon the situation then … evenif the schools and colleges are opened itwill be done with 50 percent capacity.” Onthe State’s corona infrastructure she said“Bengal had a better infrastructure and sit-uation than many other States” adding theState has 56 labs conducting about 16-17thousand tests per day.

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In what the critics called aploy to bring the pro-

Mamata Banerjee police offi-cers under pressure a yearahead of the State electionsBengal Governor JagdeepDhankhar on Tuesday calledfor a probe into the “financialcapabilities” (read asset) ofsenior police officers.

Raising an issue that noother Governor had raisedbefore since IndependenceDhankhar in a letter written toChief Minister MamataBanerjee said “police in theState have fingers in very pieand this does not augur well fordemocracy.”

Alleging that it was thepolice officers who were actu-ally running the State he wrote“Inputs indicate that the gov-ernance in the State is policedriven --- a worrisome scenariothat leads to a police state.”Hinting that hat a time hadcome when the police officersshould be probed, he wrote “…time to take note of the fiscalempowerment of those in thepolice, in position of authori-ty, and it will be eye-opener asmany assert.” Incidentally theChief Minister is also the State’sPolice Minister.

Hitting out at Banerjee forlodging a complaint with thePrime Minister Narendra Modiagainst him Dhankhar wrote“your observations are bereftoff any fact, premise or foun-dation --- there being not evenone illustration to sustainthese.

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The Pune-based DefenceInstitute of Advanced

Technology, (DIAT) a“deemed-to-be” University,Pune has developed a low costreusable Medical Bed IsolationSystem to combat COVID-19by stopping or minimizing thespread of virus/ infectionreleased by the patient.

“This (Aashray) is a lowcost, reusable solution to main-tain proper isolation of Covid-19 patients by creating suction/negative pressure near exhale,and further filtering and dis-infecting the aerosol,” a Pune-based defence spokespersonsaid.

Bed Isolation Systemenvelopes are made up of spe-cialized material and manu-facturing process with eachtransparent and translucentenvelope measuring 7.5 feet inlength, seven feet in width and

6.5 ft height supported onmedical grade materials struc-ture.

The product is modularand portable in design and canbe suitable for different require-ments such as institutional,hospitals and home/ individualquarantine. The envelope isreusable as it is antibacterial-antifungal and can be sanitized.

“Apart from serving as abed, each envelope is capable ofhousing one set of bed, tableand chair along with somewalking space. The width of the

envelope canbe adjusted asper the avail-ability ofs p a c e .Envelope isopaque up to 3ft from bottomto maintainprivacy of thepatient,” thespokesperson

said.The entire envelope is

maintained at a low pressure(suction) with adjustable flowrate to restrain spread of virus/infection inside the hall/ ICU.

“Each envelope is con-nected to the main ductequipped with UV light and fil-ter circuit of Pre, fine andHEPA filter (recommendedfor medical application) andsuction blower. The cross flowof air from top of the envelopetowards the main duct is reg-ulated (with a flap valve) as perthe comfort conditions of thepatient,” the spokesperson said.

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In a clear evidence of the flat-tening Covid-19 curve in the

country’s commercial Capital,the daily tally of infected casescame down to a low of 700 newcases on Tuesday, while thenumber of deaths remainedrelatively low at 55.

From 1021 new casesreported on Monday, the totalnumber of infections inMumbai – which has been theCovid-19 affected city in theentire country --dropped to700 on Tuesday -- which inci-dentally during the last threemonths.

Till Monday, the number ofdeaths in Mumbai had rangedfrom 39 (July 27) to 65 (July 18)during the past ten days, thenumber of infected cases rangedfrom 992 (July 21) and 1310(July 22) during the past 10days.

With 700 fresh infections,the total number of infections inthe metropolis rose to 110,882

in Mumbai, while the totalnumber of deaths increased by55 from to touch 6,187.

The BrihanmumbaiMunicipal Corporation (BMC),which has been waging a grimbattle against coronavirus forthe past three and a half months,was in for pleasant surprise, asthe number of new infectionsdropped to as low as 700 caseson Tuesday -- which inciden-tally was the day when highest8776 Covid-19 tests were con-ducted in the metropolis.

“The good news: Only 700cases today in Mumbai & thattoo with highest testing till datein Mumbai in a singleday(8776).This is to chase thevirus in full capacity. A majorrelief after 3 months. Caution:don’t let the guard down! Don’tlet your mask down! Only getnumbers down!,” a happyMaharashtra Minister AadityaThackeray tweeted.

“Mumbai will see moretesting with chase the virusinitiative of the @mybmc . It isalso the only city to have liber-alised testing and allowed citi-zens to “test at will”, Aadityatweeted.”Chase the Virus modelof Mumbai is being imple-mented in MMR region active-

ly that has seen a ramping up offacilities in the past few weeks.Along with MMR, rest ofMaharashtra too is taking allefforts to tackle covid pandem-ic effectively,” Aaditya added.

In another good piece ofnews, the recovery rate inMumbai has increased to 73percent, while the case doublingrate is 68 days in the metropo-lis.

In Mumbai, over 4.85 lakhCovid-19 tests have been doneso far, while the overall growth from 20-26 July is 1.03per cent.

In Mumbai, the BMC hasreplicated the “chase the virus”which it had successfully adopt-ed “chase the virus” at Dharavislum in north-centralMumbaiBeing densely popu-lated (2,27,136 persons/ sq.km), Dharavi had 491 cases inApril 2020 with a 12% growthrate and a case doubling periodof 18 days. The proactive mea-sures adopted by BMC reducedthe COVID-19 growth rate to4.3 per cent in May 2020 andfurther to 1.02% in June. Thesemeasures also ensured animproved case doubling time to43 days in May 2020 and 78days in June 2020.

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For those lodged in prisonsin Uttar Pradesh, it will be

a lonely 'Raksha Bandhan' thisyear.

The jail administration hasdecided not to permit relatives,mainly sisters, from visitingprisoners and tying rakhi.

Family members, however,can send rakhis about 24 hoursbefore the festival so that theycan be sanitised and given tothe inmates.

The Raksha Bandhan fes-tival will be held on August 3this year.

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Twelve weeks after the intru-sions in Ladakh, Lt Gen YKJoshi, in charge of managingthe Line of Control (LoC)and the Line of Actual

Control (LAC) in Jammu & Kashmirand Ladakh, said, “We shall continueall efforts to restore the status quo antealong the LAC,” confirming the doubtsexpressed by Defence Minister RajnathSingh about a positive outcome on dis-engagement. After three rounds of dia-logue of the working mechanism(fourth round is due on Friday) andfour rounds of talks between the mil-itary commanders (next round isexpected this week), the disengagementand de-escalation process (DDP)remains stalled with a disadvantageddisengagement at Galwan — LACshifted one km on the Indian side —and partial disengagement atHotsprings, Gogra region and Finger4. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA)is stubbornly resisting disengagementat Depsang, where it has intruded 18km on the Indian side of the LAC.

At most places, the PLA has donea Doklam: Dug down and construct-ed fortifications. The Chinese have uni-laterally altered status quo by shiftingthe LAC further west, attempting tosurpass their 1960 claim line andcushioning the G-219 strategic high-way from Kashgar to Lhasa through theAksai Chin. The ball has been in India’scourt since April 19, when intelligencereports about PLA intrusions wereignored. By default, India has accept-ed a China-dictated DDP model: Thecreation of buffer zones while India hasbeen withdrawing from its own terri-tory and forfeiting legitimate rights ofpatrolling. A July 22 Stratfor report bySim Tack notes that 26 new Chineseencampments, 22 new support basesand two new helipads have mush-roomed behind the intrusion points onthe Chinese side of the LAC.

In its negotiating strategy, India hasput the cart before the horse: Allowingmilitary commanders to determine theDDP whereas a high-level politicalengagement should have establishedthe parameters for withdrawal, factor-ing in lessons from earlier intrusions,especially front-loading restoration ofstatus quo ante, followed by theChinese golden rule of “those whoadvance first must withdraw first”and “mutual and equal security.”Instead, India accepted buffer zonesand attendant restrictions, which couldtransform LAC into LoC, given inorder to match the PLA’s deploymentof four to five combined arms brigades,India had to post three additional divi-sions ahead of its main defences toblock the intrusion points.

Interestingly, while Indiahas stressed on complete disen-gagement along the LAC andfull restoration of peace andtranquility for the smooth andoverall development of bilater-al relations, China has consis-tently avoided using the LAC(instead uses border areas) andis focussing on complete with-drawal from “friction points.”Restoration of status quo hasbeen replaced with completedisengagement and full restora-tion of peace and tranquility.Even the blind should see this.

Till date, the Governmenthas not clarified the actualground situation, except GenJoshi’s comforting but embar-rassing statement about thereinstatement of status quo.Compounding the problem isthe Government peddling afake narrative that the PLA hasnot encroached across the LACduring the Galwan clash.According to Lt Gen SLNarasimhan from the NationalSecurity Advisory Board(NSAB), Indian soldiers mayhave crossed the Chinese sideof the LAC in the melee.

Prime Minister NarendraModi and Rajnath Singh cankeep delivering veiled threats ofgiving a befitting reply whenthe intention is clearly to de-escalate. Under the muscularModi Government, two sets ofresponses have evolved againstthe adversary’s depredations— a Balakot airstrike againstPakistan and a banners-battle

of containment against China. Emboldened by India’s

familiar weakness to meet coer-cion with counter-coercion,China has begun bullyingBhutan. Though Thimphu hasmaintained silence overLadakh, it has rejected Chineseclaims to territory in easternBhutan. Until now, Bhutan hasbeen guided by India on its 24rounds of border talks withChina. But if India fails tovacate Chinese aggression,Bhutan may slip out of its con-trol and treaty obligations in itsown national interest. Popularsentiment in Bhutan is not tomess with China. K5 — KingJigme Khesar NamgyelWangchuck, unlike K4 (JigmeSingye Wangchuck, his father)may not have put all his eggs inIndia’s basket.

India’s military options arecircumscribed by the threeNos: No escalation, no shoot-ing, no war despite threats of abefitting reply. As always, Chinais the satisfied power after hav-ing annexed approximately 60sq km of the territory. It hasalready imposed heavy costs onIndia by sucking in three addi-tional divisions towards theLAC. New Delhi must containand push back intrusionsthrough dialogue, secure thestrategic highway to DaulatBeg Oldie, seize Galwan heightsand defend airfield at DBO.

An infantry brigade backedby T90 tanks and light andheavy artillery has reportedly

ring-fenced DBO. Indian forcesare currently deployed 50 to 60km ahead of its main defencesin the high mountainous ter-rain defending Leh. Any futureconflict will be in the 15,000feet high plains area fromGalwan to Depsang.

This is the first time that30,000 troops might have toweather it out in a harsh win-ter, in hostile habitat.Previously, there were not morethan 2,000-3,000 troops nearthe LAC, that, too, mainlyITBP. Further, there have beenno joint exercises between theIndian Air Force (IAF) and theArmy along the LAC due torestrictions of border protocols.

India’s best bet is leveragingits partnership with the USagainst China — Washington isin an unprecedented Cold Warwith Beijing — both militarilyand economically. DefenceSecretary Mark Esper andSecretary of State Mike Pompeohave supported India in itsresistance to Chinese bullyingand aggression. Maritime sol-idarity has been demonstratedthrough Malabar Naval exer-cises, feelers have been thrownabout upgrading the QUAD inthe Indo-Pacific region andthe building of a coalition of democracies to containChina.

But India’s ForeignMinister, S Jaishankar, is loud-thinking: About incongruenceof non-alignment, the need tomake choices and taking risks.

Still, a reset in India-China rela-tions must wait till the outcomeof DDP and restoration of sta-tus quo. Till then, India hold-ing out the threats to decouplefrom China economically willneither be easy nor bereft ofcost, so intricately entwined arethe two economies and supplychains. Although New Delhiwill wait for Beijing to undo theintrusions, some preliminarypunitive steps have been takenand signals for more have beensent out.

Punditry about China’smotives in shedding fig leaf of“hide your strength; bide yourtime” abounds: Varying fromaggression being the diver-sionary strategy for mishan-dling of the COVID-19 pan-demic to realising ChinesePresident Xi Jinping’s Chinesedream of reasserting suzerain-ty issues that are not India-spe-cific but part of reclaiming theterritory lost through historicalinjustices and unequal treaties.Putting the genie back into thebottle will not be easy forChina. Equally, an altered sta-tus quo along the LAC will beunacceptable to India. AsRajnath Singh said in Leh onJuly 17: “India will respondwith force to attempts to hurtIndia’s self-esteem.”

(The writer, a retired MajorGeneral, was Commander IPKFSouth, Sri Lanka and foundermember of the Defence PlanningStaff, currently the IntegratedDefence Staff.)

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Sinking under loans” (July27). The Reserve Bank of India(RBI) and the commercial banksunder it must be made indepen-dent. They need to be grantedtotal autonomy if the menace ofnon-performing assets (NPAs) isto be rooted out. The RBI mustenjoy as much independence asthe judiciary does. Interference bythe Government and politiciansholding high positions is one ofthe main reasons for NPA gener-ation. If adequate collateral secu-rity is obtained before lending,NPAs will not arise at all. Banksmust be allowed to take lendingdecisions based on merit and theprescribed norms.

KV SeetharamaiahHassan

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Sir — When in power at theCentre, both the Congress andthe BJP have been accused of mis-using the office of the Governorfor political purposes. And whenin Opposition, both have allegedmurder of democracy and the

Constitution. But the Congress’idea to capture the imagination ofthe country by holding “savedemocracy” protests in theParliament failed to impress evensome of its own leaders, leavealone those in political and pub-lic circles because of the party’s

notorious past of stifling democ-racy. Starting with the thenCongress-led Government’s deci-sion to dismiss the EMSNamboodiripad-led Governmentin Kerala in 1959 to the dismissalof the Ajoy Mukherjee-ledGovernment in West Bengal in

1967, such acts of topplingGovernments are endless in theCongress’ history.

P Venkatasubbaiah’s action todismiss the SR BommaiGovernment had led to a legalbattle, which ended up in thelandmark Bommai judgement

of the Supreme Court of 1994.Many Chief Ministers have fall-en a victim to the Congress’conspiracy of dismissingGovernments despite them com-manding a majority in respectiveAssemblies. It is necessary for theCongress, especially SoniaGandhi and Rahul Gandhi, to gothrough the party’s past beforeleading any movement for thesake of democracy.

Duggaraju Srinivasa RaoVijayawada

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Sir — As all our attention remainsfocussed on decoding theCoronavirus curve, surprisinglythis is the season when diseasessuch as dengue and malaria see aspike. But little empathy has beenshown for patients suffering fromthese diseases as they have beencompelled to rely on tele-medi-cine. The time is ripe to take thisvirus in our stride and battle it bytaking into account all safetyprotocols and move forward.

SrinivasVia email

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Soon after the 2008 global financial crisis, 63countries prepared a National DevelopmentFramework or National Employment Policy

(NEP) to create a road map for employment gen-eration, says the International Labour Organisation(ILO). There is evidence that other nations, too, aremoving away from tackling employment issues sole-ly through the use of active labour market policies.They are moving towards development and areadopting comprehensive NEPs, bringing togethervarious sectoral measures, programmes and insti-tutions that influence the dynamic demand and sup-ply of labour and the functioning of the labour mar-ket, responding to the short, medium and long-termprospects and priorities.

The proposal to bring the NEP in India wasintroduced in 2008 during the first tenure of theUPA. An inter-ministerial group had examined theproposal but nothing concrete had emerged fromit. In UPA-II, the then Minister of Labour andEmployment Mallikarjun Kharge had said in theRajya Sabha in 2010 that the NEP was under con-sideration. In 2016, the idea of the NEP took shapeat the first meeting of the BRICS employment work-ing group, after which the NDA Government start-ed to work on it. Since then, the Government, pol-icy makers, industry bodies, media and other stake-holders are continuously debating and rooting fora comprehensive NEP policy document.

The country needs one more than ever now asit is facing the dual challenge of the highest unem-ployment rate in the last 45 years and the oneroustask of generating jobs for around 10 million entrantsin the labour force every year. Other important issuesare jobless growth, structural transformation,underemployment, informal employment, skilledworkforce, high levels of educational enrolment andaspiration of the youth, sectoral issues, decent jobsand so on. In addition, the participation of womenin the workforce is not only low but also decliningsince the 2000s. In this context, a NEP with a prac-tical vision and a comprehensive macro-economicand sectoral policy roadmap for achieving the coun-try’s employment goal is urgently required.

COVID-19, employment and livelihood: TheIndian economy had slowed down before the out-break but the ongoing pandemic has pushed it fur-ther into a recession. As per the data from the Centrefor Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), theemployment rate skyrocketed to 23.5 per cent in themonths of April and May, owing to the hard lock-down. Apart from this, the CMIE has also estimat-ed that 27 million youths in the age bracket of 20-30 years lost their jobs in April because of the lock-down. This will have a greater impact on livelihoodsin the future.

Further, these problems differ across regions andsectors of employment. Therefore, recognisingthese challenges and putting in place appropriate pol-icy responses to tackle them are a priority. As mul-tiple forces ranging from technological advances, cli-mate change to demographic changes transform theworld of work, the absence of a decisive policy actionwill further disrupt livelihoods and exacerbateinequalities. The Government needs to take appro-priate steps urgently to assess the current employ-ment situation in the country, including the macro-economic environment, demographic context andsectoral challenges in employment generation, fol-lowing which it will set targets and monitor them.

NEP amid the pandemic: Given the huge joblosses due to the contagion’s socio-economicimpact, assisting the labour force is important dur-

ing this crisis. Since numerous social pro-tection programmes are already in placefor workers, a NEP would be importantfor understanding the dynamics of ben-efits for workers, employers and theUnion and State Governments.

The recent push for a NEP on a fasttrack basis by the Minister of Labour andEmployment is a welcome move. TheLabour Minister has asked officials to lookat the employment policy while keepingin mind the challenges and disruptionsthat have occurred because of COVID-19.India has ample intellectual and practicalknowledge to formulate a policy that takesinto consideration gender, caste and eco-logical concerns. The lack of such a pol-icy could result in a warped economictransformation, resulting in avoidablestress on employment, social and genderharmony.

Labour empowerment: It is veryimportant to have an inclusive policy,which caters to the challenges and needsof the marginalised, women, divyangs(physically challenged) and so on. Theaspirational districts and the prioritysectors needing more attention must beidentified. This will go a long way inachieving the principles of ‘Sabka Saath,Sabka Vikaas, Sabka Vishwas (togetherwith all, for the development of all andwith the trust of all)’. The NEP will havean immense advisory role and create roadmaps for clarity. Moral persuasion andappropriate signalling are important toensure consistency, predictability, stabil-ity and a strong future outlook for ensur-ing confidence at par with India competi-tors. This would detail the direction of theeconomy in a holistic manner.

New investment areas, entrepreneur-ship, innovative initiatives, start-up ecosys-tems, gig economy, conventional sectors,

studies and projects would identify thenew and emerging focus areas for contin-uous feedback into the system.

Research and development is the coreof the NEP. The policies and schemes ofrelevant Ministries and committees needto be streamlined and studied to collectevidence and provide essential inputs forpolicy-making since it is an ongoingprocess.

The NEP will also be crucial forimplementation, monitoring and evalu-ation. This is important for Digital India’sobjectives and outcome-based decision-making as per the Ministry of Statisticsand Programme Implementation andNITI Aayog’s recent efforts for data andplanning. For this, the maintenance of areal-time database and repository andmonitoring of the employment status ofthe labour force is important. It wouldrequire enormous efforts in the beginningbut would yield more than proportionateresults in the immediate future.

In times of disasters and State andnational emergencies, the NEP would pro-vide a backbone and architecture tocomplement the efforts of theGovernment and maximise relief to theaffected families and enterprises. Thiswould minimise economic losses andoptimise the use of limited resources. Thiswould complement the Prime Minister’svision of a New India and help in achiev-ing the $5 trillion economy with specialemphasis on “labour respect and empow-erment.”

Atma Nirbhar Bharat and NewIndia: The NEP can provide a compre-hensive framework, with inclusive andsustainable planning, an enabling environ-ment and a holistic, impactful approachtowards decent employment and thevision of a New India. The Sustainable

Development Goal (SDG) eight focusseson promoting sustained, inclusive and sus-tainable economic growth, full and pro-ductive employment and decent work forall. The consultation paper for the draftNational Urban Policy Framework, 2018is an important document template for theNEP to start taking shape. In the past,most policy documents pertaining to theNEP, by and large, have been suggestivein nature.

There is an urgent need for a compre-hensive NEP, based on responsive real-time data analysis, integrating sectors thatwill help emerging sectoral employmentpolicies and programmes amid theCOVID-19 pandemic. The preparation ofthe NEP warrants a broad-based nation-al consensus among various stakeholders.This can be ensured through a consulta-tive process by taking various stakehold-ers’ views and the constituents’ demandsinto consideration during the policy for-mulation process.

The most important part of the NEPis to formulate a link between policyoptions, budgetary allocations and/orfinancial mechanisms, considering theconvergence among various departmentsor sectors. Further, an institutional frame-work detailing roles and responsibilitiesfor the implementation and monitoringof progress should also be part of the pol-icy document.

Such a policy document will effective-ly help in formulating appropriate employ-ment strategies which ensure decentwork, empowerment and sustainabilitytowards an ‘Atma Nirbhar Bharat’ andcontribute significantly towards achievingthe goals of the 2030 Agenda forSustainable Development.

(Mehta is Research Director andKumar is Director, IMPRI)

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Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibaltweeted on July 12: “Worriedabout our party. Will we wake up

only after the horses have bolted fromour stables?” Sibal’s statement depictsthe despondent mood in the CongressParty.

Indeed, this is the question manysenior Congress leaders are asking, asthey helplessly watch the dramaunfolding in Rajasthan. Even thoughit looks as if Chief Minister AshokGehlot might manage to avert the pre-sent crisis but there is a big questionmark on the survival of the CongressParty itself. With such a fragile major-ity, Gehlot will not find it easy to keep

the flock together for long, even if hemanages to win the trust vote for now.

The party should have expectedthe blow from Sachin Pilot. The cri-sis — three months after the Congresslost a charismatic leader likeJyotiraditya Scindia and also the hard-won State of Madhya Pradesh to theBJP — was not unexpected. In fact,insiders say that Pilot was planning todo a Scindia in March itself. Butbecause of the outbreak of theCoronavirus, he deferred his depar-ture.

The fact is that the party loses aState even after winning it because ofthe internal power struggle betweenthe “old guard” and the “young Turks.”It has not been able to nip thisunhealthy rivalry in its camps nor hasit been able to strike a balance betweenthe experience of the older generationand the aspirations of the younger lot,who want to make their mark andcome out of the shadows of thesenior leadership.

No doubt, this “head in the sand”approach is not going to help as the

party had missed many wake-up callsin the last six years, after it lost boththe 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls, aswell as some Congress-ruled States likeKarnataka and Madhya Pradesh.

A big party like the Congress,which ruled most of the States in thepast, must learn lessons from theongoing crisis and use them to preventsuch situations from recurring in thefuture. The Congress leadershipshould introspect about what is goingwrong within the party and how to fixit.

The party must also address theleadership vacuum at the top. SinceAugust 2019, Sonia Gandhi has beenin the saddle and she had weatheredmany crises earlier. But today, she isunable to assert herself. ThoughRahul Gandhi has quit his presiden-cy, the Congress scion continues totake most of the decisions, be it onappointments, transfers or policymatters. Hence, there is a difference ofopinion on almost every issue betweenthe “old guard” loyal to Sonia and the“young Turks” who are in Rahul’s

team. This situation is not good foreither camp as nothing gets done inthe party.

Even in the present crisis, it isRahul’s team members like RandeepSurjewala who are camping in Jaipur.The party leadership knew that Pilotwas working to split the Congress butdid nothing to mollify him. After all,Pilot is said to be close to Rahul, sothey could have worked somethingout. But nothing was done to bridgethe growing chasm. This smacks ofarrogance or a lack of understandingof the growing frustration of theyoung leaders within the party, forcedto take a back seat despite their obvi-ous talents.

The Congress leadership shouldset its house right and run a tight ship.Right now there is factionalism, indis-cipline and nepotism. All sorts of illsare dogging the party. The workers areconfused and fear that the presentstrategy of letting status quo prevail isspelling doom for them all. The partylacks direction, idealism, strategy anda new narrative. Unless these issues are

settled and shortcomings are rectified,the desertions will continue.

One might ask how Sonia man-aged to arrest the erosion when sheentered politics in 1998. She not onlyprovided leadership but also broughtthe party to power not once but twicein 2004 and 2009. But now, after morethan a decade things have changed.She brought her son to head theCongress but the mother and son didnot concentrate on building up theparty or nurturing bright, youngleaders.

No doubt the Congress was ableto win Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarhand Rajasthan but the party was notable to hold on to these States. Withthe result it has already lost MadhyaPradesh and is in the process of los-ing Rajasthan — all mainly due tointernal indiscipline and an unendingpower struggle. There is a power strug-gle going on in Punjab, Chhattisgarhand Maharashtra, too. If this is notchecked, more States like Chhattisgarhmight follow Madhya Pradesh andRajasthan. There is likely to be more

erosion as other younger leaders likeMilind Deora and Jitin Prasada mightdo a Scindia.

Rahul is expected to come back asparty chief soon and if he fails tounderstand the aspirations of theyounger leaders and apprehensions ofthe “old guard”, the present crisis in theparty will exacerbate further.

The Congress should also intro-spect why it is not able to unite theOpposition. None of the other partieshave come out in its support duringthe present crisis in Rajasthan.

On the contrary, Bahujan SamajParty (BSP) supremo Mayawati haslashed out at Gehlot and the party forweaning away six BSP MLAs fromRajasthan and merging them with theCongress. She has threatened to takethe fight against the party to theSupreme Court.

Notwithstanding all these set-backs, there is still hope for theCongress if its leadership learnslessons from the crisis and sets itshouse in order before it is too late.

(The writer is a senior journalist)

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Kuala Lumpur: A Malaysiancourt sentenced former PrimeMinister Najib Razak to serveup to 12 years in prison onTuesday after finding him guiltyof crimes involving the multi-billion-dollar looting of the1MDB state investment fundthat brought down his govern-ment in a shocking electionouster two years ago.

Najib was calm and stone-faced as he became the firstMalaysian leader to be con-victed. He has vowed to appealthe verdict and took an oath inbrief remarks from the dockbefore the sentencing that hewas unaware of the graft.

Judge Mohamad NazlanGhazali sentenced Najib to 12years in jail on one count ofabuse of power, 10 years eachfor three counts of criminalbreach of trust, and 10 yearseach for three counts of moneylaundering, as well as a fine of210 million ringgit (USD 49.4million). But he ordered thesentences to run concurrently,meaning that Najib will face upto 12 years in jail.

The judge said the sentencewas “appropriate and propor-tionate” taking into account thatNajib had committed the crimefrom a “position of trust” asprime minister, his final pleaand the need to deter othersfrom committing the samecrime.

The ruling in the first of hisfive corruption trials came fivemonths after Najib’s Malayparty returned to governmentas the biggest bloc in an alliancethat took power from thereformist government that oust-ed Najib’s in 2018.

Analysts said the rulingwould bolster the prosecution’scase in Najib’s other trials andwould signal to the businesscommunity the Malaysia’s legalsystem has strength in tacklinginternational financial crimes.But others cautioned the rulingcould be overturned and hispolitical party remains in office.

“I find the accused guiltyand convict the accused of allseven charges,” the judge saidafter spending two hours read-ing out an elaborate ruling. AP

Portland (US): The mayors ofPortland, Oregon, and five othermajor US cities appealedMonday to Congress to make itillegal for the federal govern-ment to deploy militarisedagents to cities that don’t wantthem.

“This administration’s egre-gious use of federal force oncities over the objections of localauthorities should never hap-pen,” the mayors of Portland;Seattle; Chicago; Kansas City;Albuquerque, New Mexico; andWashington wrote to leaders ofthe US House and Senate.

Video from early Tuesdayshowed law enforcement offi-cers filling a street with gas todisperse protesters. Several loud

booms could be heard.Portland Mayor Ted

Wheeler and CityCommissioner Jo Ann Hardestylate called for a meeting withActing Homeland SecuritySecretary Chad Wolf to discussa cease-fire and removal ofheightened federal forces fromPortland. Earlier in the day, a USofficial said militarised officerswould remain in Portland untilattacks on a federal courthousecease — and more officers maysoon be on the way.

“It is not a solution to tellfederal officers to leave whenthere continues to be attacks onfederal property and personnel,”US Attorney Billy Williamssaid. AP

Kathmandu: Nepal’s rulingcommunist party leaders onTuesday once again failed tonegotiate a power-sharing dealbetween Prime Minister KPSharma Oli and executivechairperson Pushpa KamalDahal ‘Prachanda’, who con-vened a meeting of the power-ful Standing Committee despiteOli’s decision to postpone it.

Prachanda and some seniorleaders reached the PrimeMinister’s official residence atBaluwatar at around 11 am forthe scheduled meeting of the45-member StandingCommittee of the NepalCommunist Party (NCP) toiron out the differences betweenthe two warring factions.

However, Prime Minister’spress advisor Surya Thapa saidthe meeting was postponed.

But Matrika Yadav, a StandingCommittee member, said themeeting would be held at anycost, even if Prime Minister Olirefused to attend, theKathmandu Post reported.

Prachanda and seniorparty leader Jhalanath Khanalthen went to meet Oli only toreturn to the meeting hall afterthe latter told them to dowhatever they wished to, thepaper said. At the meetinghall, Prachanda briefed theStanding Committee membersabout his talks with Oli.

The Standing Committeemembers close to Oli did notattend the unilateral meetingconvened by Prachanda.However, 29 StandingCommittee members and twoinvitees were present at themeeting, which started ataround 3:00 pm and lasted forone hour, party sources said.

Standing Committeemember Ganesh Shah said themeeting was postponed as thetwo leaders need more time forinformal consultations to sortout their differences. The

Standing Committee meetingshave been postponed for ninetimes since June 24.

“It was against the partystatute and inappropriate forPM Oli to postpone the meet-ing unilaterally,” Partyspokesperson NarayankajiShrestha told reporters.

“Today’s meeting did notdiscuss the party’s agenda butit decided to hand over theresponsibility of conveninganother Standing Committeemeeting to party chairmanPrachanda,” he said.

Those who spoke on theoccasion criticised PrimeMinister Oli. On Wednesdaylast, a Standing Committeemeeting was briefly held at thePM’s official residence.However, the prime ministerdid not attend the meeting.

Then, the party decided toconvene another meeting onJuly 28 to review government’sperformance, finalising divisionof work among party’s cadresand leaders, and proposed gen-eral convention among otherissues. PTI

Jerusalem: Israeli PrimeMinister Benjamin Netanyahu’seldest son Yair has apologised toHindus after he faced flak fromsome Indians who found one ofhis tweets to be “quite offensive”.

On Sunday, the 29-year-oldYair, who is very active onsocial media and often defendshis father’s policies, posted a pic-ture of the Hindu goddessDurga, with the face of Liat BenAri, the prosecutor in hisfather’s corruption cases, super-imposed over the goddess’ face.

Her many arms were alsoraised giving the middle finger.

“I’ve tweeted a meme froma satirical page, criticising polit-ical figures in Israel. I didn’trealise the meme also portrayedan image connected to themajestic Hindu faith. As soon asI realised it from comments ofour Indian friends, I haveremoved the tweet. I apologise,”Yair said in a tweet.

Attorney General AvichaiMandelbit’s face was superim-

posed over that of a tigeraccompanying the goddessunder a caption that said, “knowyour place you despicable peo-ple”.

The Twitter users were splitin their reaction over the postwith some Indians harshly crit-icising him for the offensivetweet while others giving himthe benefit of doubt andattributing it to general igno-rance about the Hindu faith inthe West.

Yair, who has been at thecentre of several controversies,was appreciated by some Israelisfor “showing courage in apolo-gising for his mistake”, but wasalso condemned in equal mea-sure by others for “being irre-sponsible”.

Earlier this month, Yairissued an apology to journalistDana Weiss for appearing tosuggest the top news anchor hadattained her position throughsexual favours, according to alocal media report. PTI

Harare: Zimbabwe’s ruling partyhas threatened the United Statesambassador with expulsion, call-ing him a “thug” and accusinghim of funding organisers ofanti-government protestsplanned for Friday.

Zimbabwe’s government inrecent weeks has increasinglyaccused the US Embassy ofsupporting anti-governmentactivists who are piling pressureon President EmmersonMnangagwa as the economycollapses amid new allegationsof corruption and human rightsabuses.

The embassy denies theaccusations of meddling in localpolitics in the southern Africancountry. Ruling ZANU-PF partyspokesman Patrick Chinamasa

on Monday said USAmbassador Brian Nichols anda “coterie of gangsters” shouldstop “mobilising and fundingdisturbances, coordinating vio-lence and training insurgency.

Our leadership will not hes-itate to give him marchingorders.” He added: “Diplomatsshould not behave like thugs,and Brian Nichols is a thug.” Theembassy did not immediatelycomment on that.

In the past week, informa-tion minister MonicaMutsvangwa and foreign affairsminister Sibusiso Moyo haveaccused Western countries ofsponsoring Hopewell Chin’ono,a prominent journalist knownfor exposing alleged governmentcorruption. AP

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�4��4�!��@��)�� <�� 4��%��!��8)Beijing: China announced thesuspension on Tuesday ofHong Kong’s extraditiontreaties with Canada, Australiaand Britain in a tit-for-tatmove following similar deci-sions by those countries overa controversial new securitylaw.

Western nations haveangered Beijing over theirresponses to the law imposedon Hong Kong which they seeas an erosion of the civil lib-erties and human rights thecity has enjoyed since its han-dover from Britain in 1997.

The United States hasdecided to rescind HongKong’s special trading privi-leges while Washington’s “FiveEyes” intelligence partners havesuspended their extraditiontreaties with the city, with NewZealand on Tuesday joiningCanada, Britain and Australia.

The United States has sig-nalled it was preparing to dothe same.

China has accused thecountries of interfering in itsinternal affairs and defendedthe security law as crucial to

restore order in Hong Kongfollowing a wave of pro-democracy protests marred byviolence.

“The wrong action ofCanada, Australia and the UKin politicising judicial cooper-ation with Hong Kong hasseriously hurt the basis ofjudicial cooperation,” said for-eign ministry spokesmanWang Wenbin at a regularpress briefing.

“China has decided to sus-pend extradition treatiesbetween Hong Kong andCanada, Australia and UK, as

well as criminal justice coop-eration agreements.”

Wang accused the coun-tries of having used the nation-al security law as “an excuse tounilaterally announce the sus-pension of extradition treaties”with Hong Kong.

Britain suspended itsextradition treaty last week,following moves by Australiaand Canada, saying the secu-rity law had “significantlychanged key assumptions”including a provision to trycertain cases in mainlandChina. AFP

Wellington: New Zealand onTuesday announced that itwill follow the lead of its intel-ligence allies by suspending itsextradition treaty with HongKong.

The move comes inresponse to China passing asweeping new security law forthe semi-autonomous terri-tory.

New Zealand is the finalmember of the “Five Eyes”intelligence-sharing allianceto take such action after theUS, Australia, Canada and theUK previously announcedsimilar measures.

New Zealand relies onChina as its largest tradingpartner and in the past hasoften tried to avoid directpolitical confrontation.

China each year buys bil-lions of dollars worth of NewZealand’s agricultural goods,including its lucrative milkpowder which is used in infantformula. But Foreign MinisterWinston Peters said the newlaw went against commitmentsChina had made to the inter-national community.

“New Zealand can no

longer trust that Hong Kong’scriminal justice system is suf-ficiently independent fromChina,” Peters said.

He said there would beother changes to the relation-ship. New Zealand would nowtreat military and technologyexports to Hong Kong in thesame way as it treats suchexports to China, he said, andhad updated its travel advice towarn New Zealanders aboutthe risks they faced under thenew law.

Prime Minister JacindaArdern said New Zealand wasfollowing its principles.

“We do have a maturerelationship with China,”Ardern said. “There have beenoccasions where we have takendifferent positions. This obvi-ously will be one of them.”

China says the new secu-rity law is needed to combatterrorism and separatism andprevent Hong Kong frombecoming a base for under-mining Chinese state power. Ingeneral, cases would be tried inHong Kong, but the law allowsfor mainland jurisdiction insome circumstances. AP

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Tehran: Iran’s RevolutionaryGuards blasted a mock-up of aUS aircraft carrier with missileson Tuesday during militaryexercises in sensitive Gulfwaters, state television said.

The exercises — dubbed“Prophet Mohammed 14th” —were held near the Strait ofHormuz, a vital shipping lanefor a fifth of global oil output.

They were staged at a timeof heightened tensions betweenIran and its decades-old archenemy the United States.

Footage of the war gamesbroadcast on state televisionshowed the Guards’ air andnaval forces readying for anattack off the country’s south-

west coast. Speedboatsskimmed across the water information before ground forcesfired cannons and a missile waslaunched from a helicopter.

The mock-up of a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier came intoview with rows of dummyfighter jets on either side of itslanding strip.

The television then cut torockets being fired out to seafrom the backs of trucks, beforeshowing damage to the hull ofthe mock-up aircraft carrier.

Another missile fired froma helicopter left a trail of smokebefore appearing to smash intothe side of the fake warship.

Armed forces were then

seen rappelling onto the deckof the vessel, before around a

dozen speedboats circlearound it. AFP

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Dubai: The United States Navyon Tuesday criticised Iran as“irresponsible and reckless” forconducting an exercise involv-ing firing a missile at a replicaaircraft carrier in Gulf waters.

“We are aware of theIranian exercise involvingattacking a mock-up of a ves-sel similar to a motionless air-craft carrier,” US Fifth Fleetspokeswoman Rebecca

Rebarich told AFP. “While we are always

watchful of this type of irre-sponsible and reckless behav-iour by Iran in the vicinity ofbusy international waterways,this exercise has not disruptedcoalition operations in the areanor had any impacts to the freeflow of commerce in the Straitof Hormuz and surroundingwaters.” AFP

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The head of the ChineseCenter for Disease Control

and Prevention says he hasbeen injected with an experi-mental coronavirus vaccine inan attempt to persuade thepublic to follow suit when oneis approved.

“I’m going to reveal something undercover : I am injected with one of the vaccines,” Gao Fu said in a webinar Sunday hosted by Alibaba Health, an arm of the Chinese e-commercegiant, and Cell Press, anAmerican publisher of scien-tific journals.

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Gold prices in the nationalcapital on Tuesday wit-

nessed a fall after rising for thepast seven days and declined �187 to �52,846 per 10 gram, intandem with weak interna-tional trends, according toHDFC Securities.In the previ-ous trade, the precious metalhad closed at �53,033 per 10gram. Silver also tumbled �1,933 to �64,297 per kg, against�66,230 per kg on Monday.

Both gold and silver havewitnessed decline after sevendays of gain, according toHDFC Securities. “Spot goldprices for 24 karat in Delhi wit-nessed correction by �187 witha decline in international goldprices,” HDFC SecuritiesSenior Analyst (Commodities)Tapan Patel said. In the inter-national market, gold was quot-ing lower at USD 1,923 perounce and silver at USD 23.60per ounce.”Gold prices wit-nessed profit-booking on dol-lar recovery,” he added.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi will meet heads of

large banks and NBFCs onWednesday to take stock of theeconomy that has been hithard by the outbreak of coro-navirus pandemic.

According to an officialstatement, the prime ministerwill join stakeholders frombanks and NBFCs onWednesday to discuss anddeliberate on vision androadmap for the future.

“The topics on agendainclude credit products andefficient models for delivery,financial empowermentthrough technology, prudentialpractices for stability and sus-tainability of financial sector,”it said. The banking sectorplays an important role in eco-nomic growth through financ-ing infrastructure, agriculture,local manufacturing includingMSMEs. Financial inclusioncan play a big role in financialempowerment through tech-nology, it said. Senior officersfrom the government will alsobe a part of the interaction, itadded.

This is part of a series ofmeetings that the prime min-ister is holding for the last few

weeks on various sectors of theeconomy, sources said.Discussion is likely to bearound reviving the economywhich is expected to contractby 4.5 per cent in the currentfiscal, according to some esti-mates. Banks and other finan-cial institutions are imple-menting the bulk of the mea-sures announced under the�20.97-lakh crore economicpackage to deal with theCOVID crisis in May.The Govtannounced one of the world’sbiggest stimulus packages witha focus on the survival of thebusiness and setting a roadmapfor the revival of the economy.

The five-part stimuluspackage announced by FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharamanbeginning May 13 comprised�5.94 lakh crore in the firsttranche that provided creditline to small businesses andsupport to shadow banks andelectricity distribution com-panies. The second trancheincluded free foodgrain tostranded migrant workers fortwo months and credit to farm-ers, totalling �3.10 lakh crore.Spending on agri infrastructureand other measures for agri-culture and allied sectors in thethird tranche totalled to �1.5lakh crore.

Bengaluru: Jio said on Tue itnow has aSubscriber base ofover two crore-plus customersin Karnataka. Jio said in a state-ment it has grown constantly inspite of the telecom industryseeing a continuous decline innumbers. Jio plans to connect 20lakh plus homes across variouscities in the ongoing phase ofJioFiber launch inKarnataka.”JioFiber assures cus-tomers speeds up to 1 Gigabyte& host of multiple OTT plat-form content inbuilt likeAmazon Prime, Disney +Hotstar, Zee5, AltBalaji, Colors,SunNxt, Voot etc through 4KHD set top box”, the statementadded. PTI

New Delhi: Walmart-ownedFlipkart on Tuesday announced90-minute delivery for gro-ceries as it seeks to take onAmazon.Com and billionaireMukesh Ambani’s upstartJioMart in the fast-growingIndian market. The hyperlocaldelivery service ‘Flipkart Quick’,which will also offer 90-minutedeliveries of fresh vegetables,meat, and mobile phones. PTI

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The Government has noti-fied changes in Foreign

Direct Investment (FDI) normson civil aviation, which willpermit non-resident Indiannationals to own 100 per centstake of Air India.

The gazette notificationcomes amid the ongoingprocess of strategic disinvest-ment of Air India.

Last month, theGovernment for the third timeextended the deadline to bid forAir India as the Covid-19 fall-out has disrupted economicactivities globally.

The deadline was extend-ed by two months till August31. The divestment process forthe national carrier was initi-ated on January 27.

“These rules may be calledthe Foreign ExchangeManagement (Non-debtInstruments) (ThirdAmendment) Rules, 2020,” theofficial notification dated July27, 2020 said.

They shall come into forceon the date of their publica-tion in the Official Gazette, itsaid.

“Foreign investments in

M/s Air India Limited, includ-ing that of foreign airlines shallnot exceed 49 per cent eitherdirectly or indirectly except incase of those NRIs, who areIndian Nationals, where foreigninvestments is permitted up to100 per cent under automaticroute,” it said.

Substantial ownership andeffective control of Air IndiaLimited shall continue to bevested in Indian Nationals asstipulated in Aircraft Rules,1937, it added.

As per the present FDIPolicy, 100 per cent FDI is per-mitted in scheduled AirTransport Service/DomesticScheduled Passenger Airline(Automatic up to 49 per centand Government route beyond49 per cent).

However, for NRIs 100 percent FDI is permitted underautomatic route in ScheduledAir TransportService/Domestic ScheduledPassenger Airline.

The Government permits100 per cent FDI under auto-matic route in helicopter ser-vices/seaplane services requir-ing Directorate General ofCivil Aviation (DGCA)approval.

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The Government must lookat rationalising levies on the

telecom sector and close longstanding legal disputes thatare a big drag on the perfor-mance of operators, in order toensure industry viability with3+1 player structure, BhartiAirtel Chairman Sunil Mittalhas said. Mittal in his message

to shareholders in the compa-ny’s latest annual report said,while it is clear that the “worstmay be behind for India’s tele-com industry”, it is yet toemerge from the woods. “Indiastill has some of the lowest datatariffs globally and the indus-try is barely able to cover thecost of capital. It requires muchmore support to repair thedeep damage to its finances and

make it viable for telecomoperators to invest in futuretechnologies,” Mittal said in thecompany’s FY20 annual report.Exhorting the Government to“look into the urgent needs ofoperators”, Mittal said thatalthough the recent tariffincrease had provided somecushion, the sector is still waybelow the levels to make theindustry viable.

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At least in the oil sector, theglobal health emergency

caused by coronavirus is com-ing to India’s advantage. Whilethe severe demand squeezedue to the pandemic helpedIndia save on oil imports, lowglobal crude prices could helpit further in reducing sharplythe import bill.

Declining consistentlysince April, India’s oil importsfell about 29 per cent (YoY) toaround 13.44 million tonnes inJune, the lowest since October2011.

In value terms, the June oilimports stood at $4.93 billion(�37,341.70 crore), down 55.29per cent in the dollar termsfrom $11.03 billion (�76,586.73 crore) in June 2019.

In April, it fell to 16.55 mil-lion tonnes, a 16 per cent YoYdecline, from 17.28 milliontonnes reported earlier. In May,crude oil imports fell 22.6 percent, the biggest drop since atleast 2005, to 14.61 milliontonnes against the year-agomonth.If the trend continues,crude oil imports in FY21 mayfall to 180 million tonnes, 50million tonnes lower than 227million tonnes imported inFY20. At current prices, thevalue of this 50 million tonneswill be around $20 billion.

Moreover, India may fur-ther reduce its oil import billwith crude oil prices remaininglow or range-bound around$35-45 a barrel in FY21.

Assuming $40 a barrelaverage crude oil price and therupee-dollar rate holding clos-er to current levels, and month-ly imports remaining low at 15million tonnes (average), forFY21, the import bill could slipto 60 per cent of the last year’s$60-65 billion. Similar level ofimport bill was witnessed inFY16 when crude had fallen to$26 a barrel for some time.

India has already reducedoil import bill by over 60 percent in the first quarter (April-June) of FY21. In Q1FY21, oilimports were worth $13.08billion (�99,259.42 crore),which was 62.47 per cent lowerin the dollar terms from $34.85billion (�2,42,398.55 crore) forQ1FY20. According to thePetroleum Planning andAnalysis Cell (PPAC) of the oilministry, imports stood ataround 227 million tonnes inFY20 against 226.5 mt in FY19.The import bill last year was$101.4 billion against $111.9billion in FY19.

A $1 fall in crude oil priceshelps India reduce import billby almost �2,900 crore, whileone rupee fall in value of thecurrency against dollar raisesspending by around �2,700crore.

“The oil import bill mayfall below $100 billion thisyear as coronavirus and itscontinuity may have furtherdented the oil market. It couldbring down the country’s oilpurchase bill sharply,” said anoil sector expert.

While India imported $112billion crude oil in FY19, itsimport bill had transited sub-stantially lower in the previousthree financial years with oilimport bill standing at $64 bil-lion in FY16, when oil slippedon oversupply, especially withthe entry of US shale oil.

Lower volume of crudeprocessing by refiners is alsoexpected to have an impact onthe import bill.

For India, lower oil pricesact as big incentive as thecountry depends on imports tomeet 86 per cent of its require-ments. Lower import bill willalso have positive impact on thecountry’s fiscal deficit that hasslipped from earlier targets inthe wake of higher governmentexpenditure this year to curbfalling GDP growth.

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Global forecasting firmOxford Economics on

Tuesday said it expects India’sGDP growth to lose momen-tum from late third quarter(October-December) of thecurrent fiscal as the push fromthe initial reopening fades.

It further said India faresthe worst in its Asia recoveryscorecard, implying that thecountry will likely take thelongest among majoreconomies to converge to itspre-coronavirus growth level.

Oxford Economics, in areport titled ‘India: A reopen-ing gone wrong’, said the cen-tral government’s attempts torestart the economy are alreadyrunning aground.

“In our baseline, we expectGDP growth to lose momen-tum from late Q3 on, once the

push from the initial reopeningfades and, likely compoundedby the ongoing pandemic andinadequate policy support,legacy economic headwindsre-assert themselves.

“The risk clearly is thatproactive steps by regionalGovernments, especially thericher ones, to stem the spreadof the virus bring the tippingpoint forward,” it said.

According to OxfordEconomics, early data sug-gests that the positive eco-nomic impact of the acceler-ated lockdown exit will be feltin June, with the effect rein-forced by a global growth pick-up that has aided a recovery inexports.

“The outlook beyond that,however, has turned more wor-risome.

The reopening drive isalready beginning to hit road-

blocks, amid the surge inCOVID-19 cases,” it observed.

It pointed out that newvirus hotspots have emergedacross the country since lateJune and, barring Delhi, nomajor region has had notablesuccess in containing the virus.“First, while we do see a highprobability of restrictions beingtightened anew, we do notexpect them to match the strin-gency of the phase one of thenationwide lockdown thatcaused the maximum eco-nomic damage.

“Second, the rural econo-my, which is leading the recov-ery so far, seems at a muchlower risk of shutting downagain compared to cities, andshould help cushion the down-side to domestic demand,” itnoted. India’s eco-nomic growth stood at 4.2 percent in 2019-20.

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Reversing two sessions ofdeclines, the Sensex surged

over 558 points while the Niftyrecaptured the 11,300-markon Tuesday as investorssnapped up IT, auto and finan-cial stocks amid firm globalcues.

After opening above thekey 38,000-level, the 30-shareBSE Sensex went on to touchthe day’s high of 38,555 in late-afternoon trade. It finallyclosed at 38,492.95, up 558.22points or 1.47 per cent.

Likewise, the broader NSENifty vaulted 168.75 points or

1.52 per cent to end at11,300.55. UltraTech Cementwas the top gainer in the Sensexpack, leaping 7.17 per cent, fol-lowing better-than-expectedresults.

The Aditya Birla Groupfirm reported a 38 per centdecline in consolidated netprofit at �796.31 crore for theJune quarter, but managed tobeat Street estimates.

TCS, Kotak MahindraBank, M&M, Maruti, IndusIndBank and Bajaj Auto were theother prominent gainers, risingas much as 4.69 per cent.

Only five index con-stituents finished in the red --ICICI Bank, Nestle, AsianPaints, ONGC and ITC, shed-ding up to 1.84 per cent.

Asian markets posted sig-nificant gains following upbeat

US stocks in anticipation ofmore growth-supportive mea-sures by the US Federal Reservelater this week.

“Indian benchmarkindices closed up by around 1.4per cent, with Auto and IT con-stituents contributing the most

to the gains. Some of the stocks rallied

on the basis of their earningsresults, with operating marginsand earnings visibility being thekey notables.

“Globally, there was anexpectation that the US Fed

would continue with its dovishpolicy stance, which wouldensure liquidity, especially intoemerging markets like India.Liquidity has been a key driverfor the market performance,and the Fed decision is likely tobe greeted positively. Theadvice to remain cautiousremains and investors mustaccumulate only quality stocks,”said Vinod Nair, Head ofResearch at Geojit FinancialServices.

All BSE sectoral indicesclosed with gains, led by auto(3.26 per cent), IT (2.54 percent), basic materials (2.41 percent), metal (2.32 per cent) andteck (2.18 per cent).

However, the BSE small-cap, mid-cap and large-capindices under-performed thebenchmark, with 0.61 per cent,0.76 per cent and 1.46 per centgains, respectively.

Global oil benchmarkBrent crude slipped 0.07 percent to USD 43.87 per barrel.

New Delhi: Highlighting theplight of the hospitality sectoramid the Covid-19 pandemic,the Hotel Association of India(HAI) has said that in absenceof support from the govern-ment and the RBI, the Indianhotel industry will collapse.

The industry body has reit-erated its demands includingextension of the moratoriumon interest and repayment ofprincipal for the entire finan-cial year 2021 till March 31, andthe interest due is added backto the total principal out-standing and the loan termextended by 12 months.”Thiswill solve the current cashcrunch as there is expected tobe almost no demand forFY21,” an HAI statement said.

Further for the ‘revivalphase’ interest rate should be200 basis points higher thanrepo rate.Citing a recent studyby McKinsey, the HAI said air-

lines and hotels will be theworst impacted sector in India,with around 75 per cent outputdecline in Q1 FY21 comparedto Q4 FY20.The revenue loss tothe hotel industry is expectedto be to the tune of Rs 90,000crore in the year 2020, it added.

“The Covid-19 pandemichas led to demand destructionin excess of 90 per cent for thetourism and hospitality sectorwhich employs nearly 4.5 crorepeople, provides livelihood toaround 16 crore people, andcontributes 9 per cent to India’sGDP,” it said.

While the RBI hasannounced an immediate termto avert the crisis by allowingmoratorium on loan repay-ment, HAI said that on behalfof the Indian hospitality sector,it has been recommendingmore relief measures for the“survival, revival, and thrival”of the sector. IANS

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Mumbai: The rupee closedalmost flat at 74.84 againstthe US currency on Tuesdaydespite steller gains in equi-ty markets and stable oilprices.Analysts said month-end dollar demand fromgold importers and forexoutflows restricted gains inthe local unit. Investors arealso awaiting the outcome ofthe two-day policy meetingof the Federal Reserve thatwill conclude on Wed, theysaid. At the interbank forexmarket, the rupee witnessedhigh volatility and touchedan intra-day high of 74.71and a low of 74.90 against theUS dollar. The rupee finallyclosed at 74.84 against the USdollar, down by just 1 paisaover its last close of74.83.Meanwhile, the dollarindex, which gauges thegreenback’s strength againsta basket of six currencies,rose by 0.25 % to 93.90.“Rupee is not responding tothe dollar weakness since lastcouple of days amid month-end dollar demand from goldimporters ahead of festiveseason,”HDFC SecuritiesDeputy Head Retail ResearchDevarsh Vakil said addingthat so far this month, dollarindex has declined 3.5% whilethe rupee has appreciatedonly 0.9%. PTI

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Leading stock exchangeNSE on Tuesday extend-

ed the discontinuation dateof its NOW platform toDecember 28, followingrequests from trading mem-bers.

The platform wasscheduled to discontinuefrom September 14.

“On account of requestsfrom members to extendthe deadline for NOW dis-continuation and consider-ing the prevailing situationcaused by the spread ofCOVID-19, NSE has decid-ed to revise the discontinu-ation date of NOW toDecember 28, 2020,” theexchange said in a statement.

Accordingly, membershave been urged to takeadvantage of the extendedtimelines and migrate toalternate trading platformsavailable in the market byend of December 27.

It has requested mem-bers to adhere to the time-lines since no further exten-sion will be done.NOW is aComputer to Computer Link(CTCL) facility throughwhich brokers were access-ing the exchange’s tradingplatform.

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The St Xavier’s High School,Ghaziabad, NH 24, organised

Mandala Workshop and AngerManagement webinar sessions viatheir Facebook page on Saturday andSunday, respectively. Jayashree Arora,a motivational speaker and film, TVand theatre actress, conducted theanger management session.

Around 500 students explorednew realms of their artistic bent in theMandala Workshop & Competitionwhich was open to the age group offive-15. The participants learnt aboutthe brief history of Mandala art formand created different patterns fromgeometrical designs during the work-

shop conducted by Karishma, an artteacher.

Arora addressed parents andstudents by suggesting tips on howto manage frustration & anxiety andcreate stronger base for communi-cation in the family. She also said:“Anger has become a common emo-tion in this lockdown, amongst par-ents, children and teachers. It can bevery well managed if we understandthe origin of this emotion scientifi-cally — our brain has two hemi-spheres- right and left. Right partbecomes active in frustration, but leftpart lets the logic sink in. In order tomanage our anger, we must give our-selves some time and let the left brainactivate the logical side.”

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The Vedica ScholarProgramme for

Women on July 27,2020 announces thecommencement of itslatest cohort for itsManagement Practiceand LeadershipProgramme onSeptember 1, 2020.

In light of theongoing pandemic,the batch will com-mence in Septemberwith an online induc-tion model followedby a hybrid model

from October tillDecember, and in-person classesJanuary 2021onwards. Vedica hasissued detailedCOVID guidelines toensure safety of stu-dents on campus andhostel.

The programmewill start with anonline induction. It isintended to introducestudents to the strongculture, new normaland learning method-ologies of the pro-gramme.

Aerospace is a branch of engineer-ing that never ceases to kindle a

curious mind. Even in the current timesof struggles and negativity around usthat has got the entire world in a tur-moil, we can cheer as Space X becomesthe first private entity to launch humansto the International Space Station.Falcon 9 launched Crew Dragon to theISS with NASA astronauts BobBehnken and Doug Hurley on board.

The Indian Space ResearchOrganisation — ISRO continues tomarch forward with the same strongspirit in announcing opportunity forDevelopment of Technologies for sus-tained Indian Human Space ProgramedSpace Exploration in April 2020. ISRO’sHuman Space Program will endeavorto send humans to destinations fromlow earth orbits and beyond.

Human Space Mission requiresinnovations and creative technologiesfor space explorations which will leadto widening of scientific knowledge,economic growth, value addition to thequality of life of a common man andthus national development. There isneed to build capabilities to derive sci-entific benefits from ISRO’s HumanSpaceflight Program. Initiatives likethese help us to understand that thereis no limit and hurdles we cannot over-come. The courses that students canexplore in Aerospace world: BTechAerospace Engineering:

�Major subjects cover: FlightMechanics, Aerodynamics, AircraftStructures, Aerospace Propulsion,Rocket Propulsion, Aircraft Design,Helicopter Engineering, Space

Dynamics and Space Science andSpace Environment,

BTech Aerospace withSpecialisation in Avionics:

�Major subjects cover: FlightMechanics, Aircraft Structures,Aerospace Propulsion, Signal andSystem, Digital Avionics, Digital SignalProcessing, Digital Signal Processing,Aircraft Electrical System, RADARTechnology, Embedded System,Avionics System and Design

For pursing a degree in AerospaceEngineering students must have agood knowledge in physics and math-ematics at school level. Coding has alsobecome an integral part of the cur-riculum. Students should be providedwith projects and assignments thatinvolve partially or completely the dig-ital system.

An aerospace engineer shouldhave a never stop learning attitude,strong sense of responsibility, a goodsense of time management. The stu-dents should keep themselves updatedto the current happenings in the field,

read a lot and subscribe to the maga-zines and articles and build a mind setfor research by accessing the latest pub-lications and targeting good quality pro-jects.

Here is a look at the career oppor-tunities Aerospace Engineering offersstudents:

Aerospace Engineers have the jobto involve in Design, System integration,Structural Analysis, Trouble Shooting.The field opens up other plethora ofcareer avenues in engineering servicesprovider organisations. The students ofAerospace Engineering have opportu-nities to become either:� Aircraft Design & Analysis Engineer � Aircraft Production Engineer � Aerospace Modelling & Simulation

Engineer� Air Defense Systems Engineer � Scientist in Defense Research and

Development Organisations � Scientist in National Aerospace

Laboratories � Aircraft Maintenance Engineer

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The coronavirus pandemic is thegreatest public health crisis theworld has faced in over a 100

years. It has forced educators and stu-dents to move from physical to onlineteaching spaces. The most pronouncedaspect of this immediate transition isthat a majority of students don't haveaccess to devices and high speed inter-net connectivity needed for distancelearning. When it comes to access, wefail to address something moreinequitable than access to technology— access to critical thinking resources.

The gap needs to be addressedAsk any expert about how tech-

nology is going to shape the future ofwork, and one they will all tell you thatknowledge and skills are not the onlythings you need. The ability to unlearnand relearn is essential. If we want toprepare students to solve problems wehave not yet seen, making use of tech-nologies that are yet to be created, infields that don’t exist, educators shouldmake teaching critical thinking theirpriority.

Unfortunately, critical thinkingcontinues to remain a unattended incurriculum. The core set of skills,including the ability to reason, analysemultiple perspectives, display healthyskepticism, and seek evidence in orderto support or refute claims, are hard toteach. What complicates this is the factthat it gets even harder to teach criti-cal thinking across disciplines. Forinstance, the critical thinking skillsneeded to ponder complex questionsin the field of medicine requires a greatdeal of insight into expertise that is sub-ject specific. It is vastly different fromwhat a social media marketer or a factchecker would need. Moreover, diffi-culty alone does not help us address thegap in reality. Most educators swear bythe importance of future-readiness forstudents, but only a small portion ofthem make it a point to teach criticalthinking.

The gap in critical thinking ped-agogy is one of the most significant andoverlooked challenges across all levelsof education today. Education leadersare trying to solve distance learningrelated access challenges at a time whenschools are cancelling standardisedtests till everything gets back to nor-mal. For the point of view of equity, itmeans we will return to a system wherethe underprivileged students will endup failing these exams disproportion-

ately. For teachers who make it a pointto talk about the absurdity of teachingfor tests, understanding that thesetests require a lot of critical thinkinghelps. The question is — if it is so essen-tial, why is it still not a core to teach-ing pedagogy?

The pandemic and critical think-ing

With the pandemic upending dayto day lives, teaching critical thinkingis more essential than ever before. Withthe lockdowns across the country, thecurrent situation presents a greatopportunity to teach young people tonavigate their way through the uncer-tainties when they come of age. Thepandemic and our reaction to the cri-sis have driven home the necessity toequip our students with necessarycritical thinking skills and mindset.

Adopting the willingness to incor-porate critical thinking also requires ashift in our leadership values. Decisiveand bold actions conform with thestereotypes of what is expected from a

strong leader. In complex and rapidlyshifting situations where the risk is highand the information is limited, the rigidstyle is inferior compared to the one thatis based on making thoughtful deci-sions with humility and an awarenessof the unknown. Students will benefitimmensely from instructional materi-al that can help them develop inquisi-tiveness and equip them with the abil-ity to collect and make sense of avail-able information. Even though tech-nology has made it possible to have allthe information at your fingertips, it ismeaningless unless you have the abil-ity to ask the right questions, recogniseconflicting information, evaluate theaccuracy and credibility of the infor-mation, and determine the actions thatneed to be taken in response.

For instance, in January, the direc-tor of the National Health Commissionin China noted that asymptomaticcoronavirus patients can still infect oth-ers. This makes it more challenging tocontrol. However, the CDC (Centre for

Disease Control) maintained that it didnot have clear evidence of patients beinginfectious before the onset of symp-toms, but was investigating the possi-bility. Now, faced with the prospect ofa staggering death toll, would you acton the research that says asymptomaticpatients can infect others? Or wouldyou rely on the finding that says thereis no clear evidence? Would you ratherbe right or do right? If it is the former,you will rely on information that playsto your bias. If it is the latter, then youranalysis will go towards the consider-ation of conflicting information andevaluating the costs of getting thingswrong. At a time like this, when criti-cal thinking is a matter of life and death,there is no option but to put in everyeffort to inculcate critical thinking asa habit and we need to integrate it acrossall levels of education. It is the only wayforward.

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Living in an era of changes,where anticipating ‘what next’ is

difficult, resilience and agility aretwo very important life skills. MBAcourses are designed to shape lead-ers who are resilient and have theability to evolve through adversity.When students step into theirmanagerial or entrepreneurialcareers, building resilience in theirteam and modelling their behaviourbecomes the key to accept thechange process in the organisation.

The current pandemic and theensuing uncertainty is exactly thekind of challenge that future man-agers and professionals should betrained for and sensitised to.

Role transitions are commonfor a fresher. When students enteran organisation, they tend to workon mundane and repetitive tasks.With time and experience, they arepromoted as managers or teamleaders, managing a larger team ofpeople. Through these transitions,young managers learn how torealign their priorities. Duringsuch kind of transitions, MBAgraduates learn about leadershippractices in a complex scenario.

While such learnings comewithin the organisational context,an MBA should prepare you for fac-ing the real world. Building per-sonal resilience, the ability to copewith stress and change, dealing withethical dilemmas, developing newskills, all of it come as a bundle oflearnings to build personal

resilience, thereby building organ-isational resilience.

Let us see what are the pillarsof building a resilient organisationthrough the skills learnt during anMBA programme:

Accepting and adapting to thechange: The first step to buildingresilience in an organisation is toaccept the change. Understandinghow a disruption or change can beadapted to one’s advantage paves theway towards organisationaladvancement. Adaption will alwayshelp an organisation to foreseeand reduce negative consequences.An MBA helps you to develop thenecessary skills to deal with andmanage ambiguity. Courses likeChange Management will enableyou to create lasting improvementsand transform the organisation.

Being cognizant of changes inthe market: At times of crisis, anx-iety and stress might turn employ-ees away from the external oppor-tunities and changing market

dynamics. During such times,stakeholder communication is cru-cial in order to strengthen rela-tionships. Strategic communicationas a part of your MBA course willteach you how to eliminate confu-sion during tough times, and ensurepeople are being heard. You will alsolearn how to empower people, andmaintain successful relationshipsinside and outside of the workplace.

Creative problem solving: AnMBA curriculum will alwaysencourage you to be innovative inyour thinking and foster creativeproblem solving skills. Linear orconventional thinking may nothelp to build organisationalresilience. Adversity often bringsabout innovation, and is the timeto think out of the box. An MBAgraduate is trained to think strate-gically yet in a creative manner, toassess what is missing in a businessin their field of expertise. Basis theassessment, through relevant tools,they are able to provide solutions.

Accountability: While learningleadership skills during MBA, per-sonal accountability is also anequally important skill which goesa long way. When faced with diffi-cult situations, your own resilienceas an individual in order to devel-op strategies plays an importantrole. Similarly executing and own-ership of a particular task by theentire team helps in deliveringdesired results even during times ofcrisis.

Managing business processes:Business critical processes in certainareas must be robust and compli-ant. This ensures that the internaloperations are efficient, incur lowercosts and deliver quality. This inturn also builds the trust of stake-holders and customers.Management graduates pursue adiscipline that enables them tomeasure performance and uncov-er opportunities for cost savings.This is achieved through differenttools including analysis of existingprocesses, process optimisationand aligning the business functions.

These are some of the ways thatwill help you build a resilientorganisation. With this, a lot ofmoving, changing, transformingwill take place. Bouncing back, get-ting up and fighting strong will bethe way out during crisis situations.Armed with the right skills andtools will ensure that you will be infor the long haul.

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Vidyamandir Classes, a name synonymouswith IITJEE and NEET preparation is all

set to initiate online classes for XII pass students,Rapid Success Programme from August, 2020across India. This would be the most rigorous,success-oriented programme for studentspreparing for JEE/NEET 2021 in the country.Students of this course will be entitled to a 50per cent COVID Support scholarship.

Due to the prevailing uncertainty triggeredby COVID–19 crises this course has a flexibleformat which allows a smooth exit of the stu-dents who will crack NEET/IITJEE exams inSeptember-2020 with a refund of the balancecourse fee and rest can continue the prepara-

tion for entrance exams of 2021. With an aimto provide an extra edge to the training of thestudents, VMC has conceptualised this nine-month course to emphasise on a focusedapproach of propelling students to score high-er grades within the reduced time frame. Theprogramme would also follow the VMCPedagogy for best learning outcomes that hashelped VMC students achieve the highest selec-tion rate both for engineering & medicalentrance exams. This also happens to be theonly program that gives students flexibility tokeep their options for both JEE and NEET 2020& 2021.

During the entire period of this course, 20+hours of course delivery every week from bestteachers in India (including VMC Founders)

who have a good track record of excellent resultsin the past three decades. Students also receivespecially designed study material with highfocus on the most important concepts and prac-tice questions. These courses have beendesigned for helping droppers to preparestrategically within a short period of time.

There is a strong focus on methodicallearning which brushes up the conceptualunderstanding of the students and improvedapplication to solve toughest of problems. Theprogramme design will also help them in com-prehending their weak areas and work uponthem in a short time. Students who are part ofVMC’s Fast Track Success program can alsotake admission in Rapid Success Program forthe September batch.

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EduVantage Pvt Ltd, Ed-tech,assessment and certifica-

tion organisation, has launchedits learning app —EduVantageLearning App for kindergartento Class XII (K-12) students.The app is aimed at increasingengagement in student learningactivities, improving digital lit-eracy skills and providing anentertainment-centric effectivelearning solution while keepingthe affordability quotient inmind. It can be downloadedfrom Google Play Store and caneasily be activated using acoupon code.

The app has preloadedlearning content with classesfrom India’s best educators andfacilitators. The comprehensive

modules have been made avail-able in both English and Hindiso that more people can be ben-efitted. Ease of access has beenensured and the app provides astep-by-step guide that can helplearners navigate easily. Theactivity-based learning app canbe accessed anytime, anywhereusing mobile or web-enableddevices.

The syllabus and contentprovided on the app is suitablefor CBSE Board as well as otherState Boards and the content hasalso been mapped with NCERT.The learning modules havebeen structured for a more per-sonalised experience and expe-riential learning. Each lessonand course intuitively adjustsitself to suit the learning patternand aptitude of the child.

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The Sanskriti University, Mathura invites application foradmission to different diploma, under graduate, post

Graduate and Doctoral programmes for its 2020-21 batch. The university is invitingonline application for admission to

diploma, under graduate, and post graduate programmes inManagement & Commerce, Education, Special education,Humanities & Social Science, Pharmacy, Agriculture, FashionDesign & Fine Arts, Law and Legal Studies, Yoga andNaturopathy, Tourism & Hotel Management, Medical & AlliedSciences, Basic & Applied Sciences, Ayurveda, Unani,Rehabilitation, and Engineering.

Applicants seeking admission are required to fill a separateapplication form for the same. The submission of the form canbe done online or in person at the university. For online sub-mission, use the link given on the Website.

Eligibility: Applicants who have passed or will appear forthe qualifying examinations under the higher secondary (10+2)from any recognised Board such as AISSCE/IB/ICSE, or equiv-alents.

Last date to apply: September 30, 2020.How to apply: Log on to https://www.sanskriti.edu.in/admis-

sions/admission-procedure.php.

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When we talk about educationin the post COVID world it isimperative one understands

how each one of us got here. The edu-cation timeline can be broken downinto pre-lockdown, during lockdownand post-lockdown period.

In the pre-lockdown era, we wereliving in a world where each one of usbelieved that education only existed inthe physical world where childrenwent to a physical school, be taught bya teacher who is present in the class-room and that was the de facto formof learning for years for almost all stu-dents and schools in India. Then thereis supplementary education, which istuitions and test preparations that pri-marily took place in coaching centersand tuition classes and a bit of it tookplace digitally.

However, did we imagine such adrastic change where all of us are lockedinto our houses and the physical formof education is replaced by online learn-ing suddenly? It was so quick that mostof us did not even get time to processthis change that was taking place.

Effective online learning can con-tribute to good screen time and here aresome parameters that can help any par-ent or school achieve that. First, onlinelearning should be age-appropriate,which means that when you teachsomeone between the age of three tofive years, you cannot have an longonline session because children thatsmall have very little attention span.Engaging the child through an activi-ty and play will definitely improvelearning and that too in a much short-er span of time and limited screen time.

Second, online learning has to bemulti-modal, where children areengaged through slide decks, worksheets, demonstrations and activities.The online session should be created ina way that allows children to pause orreplay a lecture according to their levelof understanding. Simply expectingchildren, of any age, to group stare ata monotonous online session is notgoing to help the learner and will ren-der the exercise futile.

Therefore online learning has to be

delivered in a way that it contributes togood screen time instead of becominga disconnected method of teaching thatdoesn't help the child and leads to poorlearning.

Online learning is here to stay butnot in isolation. When schools reopenthey will have to take care of two things,one being safety and hygiene at utmostpriority and second ensuring seamlesshybrid online-offline learning modelbecause all children will not be inschool on all days. This hybrid methodof learning will in turn provide a goodand higher quality of education.Government intervention through apolicy that supports creating the rightkind of online learning will definitelyabate the current worries of parents andalso help in providing the right kind oflearning to our children.

Hopefully, it works out for every-one since we can adopt good things outof offline learning and adapt to the newthings being taught by online learning.It therefore makes sense to worktowards creating online learning morerobust and mindful so that it adds togood screen time and not poor screentime.

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The Victoria University ofWellington invitesapplications for its

Master of Fine Arts interna-tional scholarship.

Eligibility: Scholarshipholders must have an offer tostudy in Master of Fine Arts(Creative Practice) at theUniversity of Wellington.Supporting Documents:Applicants can provide the fol-lowing materials as part of theapplication: Pre-qualificationdegree, copies of academictranscripts, certificates ofEnglish language proficiency, astatement, and a copy of pass-port. Admission require-ments: The minimum require-ment for admission is a bach-elor’s degree in a relevant sub-ject or extensive experience.

Language requirement:IELTS overall band of 6.5, nosub-score below 6, or 90 on theinternet-based test with a min-imum of 20 in writing, or aminimum of two ratings of 5and two ratings of 4 in theVictoria University ofWellington Certificate ofProficiency in English test, orPearson Test of English, with ascore of 58 (with a commu-nicative score of not less than50).

How to apply: There is noseparate application processfor this application . You will beassessed when you apply for an

approved course at VictoriaUniversity of Wellington by

December 1, 2020.Application deadline: It is

December 1, 2020.

The University ofIndianapolis invites applica-tions for InternationalStudent Grant by providingthe 30% tuition fee annually,this grant will assist students toachieve their educational goalswithout any hurdles. Only stu-dents applying for admission atthis institution can benefitfrom this opportunity.

Eligibility: You should bean international student. Youshould have minimum GPA: Bor above. You must be accept-ed into any UG degree pro-gramme at the University ofIndianapolis. Aspirants mustsubmit the following docu-ments: Pre-qualification degree,copies of academic transcripts,certificates of English languageproficiency, a statement, and acopy of passport.

Language requirement:Applicants must have suffi-cient knowledge of English iftheir first language is notEnglish. The minimumrequirement of the university isTOEFL 70, IELTS 6.0, or PTEA54.

How to apply: Applicantsdon’t need to make a formalapplication. They will auto-matically be identified oncethey are admitted into an eli-gible course at the university.

Application deadline: It isNovember 1, 2020.

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Now that Class XII result areout, there may b some stu-dents who are still unclear

what to pursue. Here are a fewsought after courses vis-à-vis rightcareer options. Talking ofHumanities, Aristotle said:“Educating the mind without edu-cating the heart is no education atall.”

Educating the heart is feasibleonly when we enter the faculty ofArts. Unlike yesteryears that echoedone’s fascination for Science,Technology, Engineering andMathematics(STEM) courses,today, a paradigm shift can be seenfrom STEM to Arts and Humanitiesnot just because Humanities toooffers an array of bright careeroptions but more becauseHumanities teaches us how to liveas well as how to make a living.

Pertinently, a few days beforehis death, Steve Jobs had said: “It istechnology married with LiberalArts and Humanities that yields theresults that makes our hearts sing”.Although, one can have more than100 career options by pursuingBachelor and Master degrees in ahost of Humanities subjects likeAnthropology, Archaeology,

Economics, Education, English,Geography, History, Indian andForeign languages, Linguistics,Philosophy, Political Science,Psychology, Rural Studies, SocialWork and Sociology.

English and ForeignLanguages: A bachelor’s degree fol-lowed by a Master’s will help youpursue a career of blogger, colum-nist, editor, lexicographer (dictio-nary builder), teacher (Nursery toTertiary Level), proofreader, nov-elist, translator, interpreter inembassies and international organ-isations like UNESCO andUNICEF.

Political Science &International Relations: A bache-lor’s degree followed by a masterdegree will help one pursue acareer of political analyst/scientist,diplomat, intelligence specialist,lawyer, PR in MNCs, Civil Servicesand World Bank.

Mass Communication andJournalism: A degree in Journalismand Mass Communication willhelp one pursue a career of adver-tising officer, content writer, editor,interviewer, journalist, event man-ager, news analyst, news anchor andreader.

Law: A degree in law, which isone of the most sought after cours-es in Humanities, will help one pur-sue a career as a lawyer, lecturer inlaw colleges, legal advisor, legaljournalist and taxation officer.

History: A bachelor’s degreefollowed by a master’s will help onepursue a career of an archivist,archaeologist, Civil Services, histo-rian, heritage conservator, librarian,and museum curatorand or man-ager.

Sociology: A bachelor’s degreefollowed by a master’s will help onepursue a career of a correctionalcounselor, public health educator,social activist, social researcher andurban planner.

Geography: A bachelor’s degreefollowed by a master’swill help onepursue a career of a cartographer,environmentalist, geologist, GISanalyst, weather scientist andresearcher.

Fine Arts and PerformingArts: A degree in Fine Arts orPerforming Arts will help one pur-sue a career of painter, sculpturer,graphic designer, cartoonist, musi-cian, actor, dancer and photogra-pher.

Design: This degree will help

one pursue a career of costumedesigner, writer for fashion maga-zine, fashion designer for textilecompanies, boutiques, garmentexport houses, marketing and mediadepartment of fashion brands.

Hotel Management: A bache-lor’ s degree followed by a Master’swill help one pursue a career as achef, food service manager, frontoffice manager, housekeepingsupervisor in hotels, restaurants,cruise ships, railways, resorts andairlines.

Economics: A bachelor’sdegree followed by a master’s willhelp one pursue a career of businessanalyst, economist, statistician,work in banks, risk advisory asso-ciate, research associate in financialconsultancies, ministries, insur-ance and accountancy firms andpolicy maker.

Education: A bachelor’s degreefollowed by a Master’s will help onepursue a career as a teacher, humandevelopment officer, curriculumdesigner, communication expert,researcher in child development,Human Relations, education plan-ning and education technology.

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India’s premier spinnerRavichandran Ashwin

wants technology to beused to track the batsmanat the non-striker’s endwho is backing up too far,which he believes is anunfair advantage for thebatting side.

He has always beenconsistent about his standand suggested that thetechnology used to checkfront foot no balls can bealso used to keep a tab onnon-strikers backing upeven before the bowlerreaches the popping crease.

“Just hope that tech-nology will see if a bats-men is backing up beforethe bowler bowls a balland disallow the runs ofthat ball every time thebatter does so!!Thus, parity willbe restored asfar as the frontline is con-c e r n e d , ”Ashwin putforth hisview pointon a series

of tweets.Ashwin has been one

of the big advocates of“Mankading” and his dis-missal of Jos Buttler duringKings XI Punkab's IPLencounter againstRajasthan Royals grabbedheadlines last year.

“Many of you will notbe able to see the grave dis-aparity here, so let me takesome time out to clarify tothe best of my abilities.

“If the non-striker

backs up 2 feet and man-ages to come back for a 2,he will put the same bats-men on strike for the nextball,” he said.

“Putting the same bats-men on strike might costme a 4 or a 6 from the nextball and eventually costme 7 more runs instead ofmay be a 1 and a dot ballpossibility at a differentbatsmen. The same willmean massively for a bat-ter wanting to get off strikeeven in a Test match,” heexplained elaborately.

For Ashwin, its allabout restoring the bal-ance between bat and ballin a game that is loadedheavily in favour of wil-low wielders.

“It is time to restorethe balance in what is anincreasingly tough envi-ronment for the bowlers,”he said.

Technology won't be ahindrance, feels Ashwin.

“We can use thesame tech that we areproposing for a no ballcheck 120 balls in aT20 game,” saidAshwin.

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All-rounder Curtis Campherreceived his maiden interna-

tional call up as Irelandannounced a 14-man squad forthe opening match of the three-ODI series against Englandstarting at the Ageas Bowl onThursday.

Andrew Balbirnie will cap-tain the side, while Paul Stirlingwill be his deputy.

The 21-year-old Campher,a South Africa-born cricketer,had scored two fifties for IrelandA.

Harry Tector will also hopeto make his ODI debut havingplayed 20 T20I for Ireland.

“One notable inclusion forIrish fans is Curtis Campher,who has been called up to theIreland senior squad for the firsttime,” Andrew White, Chair ofnational men's selectors, said.

“Curtis has impressed selec-tors and coaches with both hisbatting and bowling, playedvery well for the Ireland Wolvesagainst Namibia in February, hastrained well in recent weeks andprovides a great balance to theside.”

Talking about Tector, Whitesaid: “Harry has already featuredin 20 T20 Internationals forIreland, and has demonstratedduring warm-up games and intraining that he is ready for thisformat of the game.

“His half-century on Sundaywas against an excellent attack,and demonstrated a maturity inhis batting for a player so earlyin their career.”

Mark Adair, who hademerged as the leading ODIwicket-taker in 2019, has not yetrecovered completely from anankle injury suffered earlier thisyear and remains the mostnotable player missing in thesquad.

George Dockrell and GaryWilson have been placed amongthe reserves for the series whichwill also launch the ICC ODISuper League, the qualificationsystem for the 2023 World Cupin India.

“These ODIs are not only agreat opportunity for our squadto test themselves against theWorld Champions, but areextremely important in the con-text of qualification for the 2023Cricket World Cup,” White said.

4+�� @��@

Australia cricketer DavidWarner on Tuesday said he

felt honoured when he wasnamed as Sunrisers Hyderabadcaptain again earlier this year.New Zealand skipper KaneWilliamson returned Warnerthe armband after leading theside in the 2018 and 2019 sea-sons respectively.

Warner, who led SRH totheir only Indian PremierLeague title in 2016, was bannedfrom participating in the 2018edition of the cash-rich leaguefor his part in the infamous CapeTown ball-tampering scandal.

After participating in the2019 season under the leader-ship of Williamson, Warner washanded over the reigns of theteam once again in February, justone month prior to the actualdate of start of the 13th edition

of the IPL. "I don't see it as aredemption tale, I just see it asan honour to captain theSunrisers in an IPL franchise.I've got a great relationship withthe players and the staff andmost importantly with the own-ers, and I've expressed my grat-itude and I thank them forthat," Warner was quoted as say-ing by Cricbuzz.

“I’ll put my thinking cap onand try my best to move us for-ward to another IPL title.Obviously Kane and Bhuvi(Bhuvaneshwar Kumar) did afantastic job without me there.

“It’s great to be back andleading. Having Kane there addsso much value and knowledge ofthe way the game is played aswell. Similarly, we rebound offeach other with our ideas quitewell and obviously playingagainst him — it helps when youare leading a team.

“But from where I sit, noth-ing different. I still consideredmyself a leader when I wasthere last year, as I said it does-n't matter if you have a ‘c’ nextto your name or not,” he added.

Warner will now get achance to lead his team to gloryin the UAE as IPL chairmanBrijesh Patel had last weekconfirmed to IANS that thisyear's league will be playedaround the September 19 toNovember 8 window and thesame has been communicatedto the franchises.

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The Swimming Federation ofIndia on Tuesday said it will

look to organise a training campfor its Olympic hopefuls outsidethe country if pools are not per-mitted to reopen in the thirdphase of relaxations to end theCOVID-19 lockdown.

The third phase of 'Unlock'starts on August 3 and SFISecretary General MonalChokshi told PTI that the fed-eration is hopeful of gettingpermission to restart training atleast for those six swimmers,who have achieved the ‘B’ qual-ification mark for next year’sTokyo Olympics.

“There is some move togive a bit of relaxation for theOlympic hopeful swimmers (inthe next phase of unlock guide-lines). They are looking at it,”Chokshi said.

“If they don't relax it in thisround then we are also lookingat the possibility of training out-side India. Dubai is one optionas it has opened up and flightsare operational,” he added.

Although the SFI has notpresented a proposal like this inwriting yet, the federation hasbeen in talks with the SportsAuthority of India (SAI) andhopes the government will bear

the cost of the camp.“We are in touch with SAI at

the DG level. We haven’t givenanything in writing yet but wehave spoken about it as one ofalternative options.”

The federation has conduct-ed preliminarily talks with theprospective training venues andcalculated the cost of the camp.

“We have looked at the fea-sibility, we have discussed withthe training venues and we havethe costs involved. We are awareof what it would take to gothrough it,” Chokshi said.

Swimming has been one ofthe worst affected sports as faras training is concerned.

While sports complexes andstadia were allowed to openwithout spectators, clearing thepath for the resumption of halt-ed training camps in May, swim-mers have not entered the poolsince late March.

Frustrated at not being ableto resume training, last month,Asian Games Bronze-medallistVirdhawal Khade said he wascontemplating retiring.

Six swimmers, includingKhade, Sajan Prakash andSrihari Natraj, have achieved the'B' qualification in their respec-tive events for the Olympics andare hoping to make the ‘A’ stan-dard.

4+��

India skipper Virat Kohli was at hiscandid best when teammate

Mayank Agarwal quizzed him aboutthings both on and off the field in afreewheeling chat on the latter'sshow 'Open Nets with Mayank'.

In the second installment of thevideo, uploaded on BCCI.tv, Mayankasked Kohli as to why the skipperpicked him during the crucialAustralia tour of 2018. He becamethe 295th man to represent India inthe longest format and that too in theBoxing Day Test.

“Abe tu mujhe apne tareef ke liyebulaya hai kya yahan pe? Show pebulaunga and apni tareef karwaun-

ga (Have you called me to talk aboutyou only. It's like I'll call him on myshow and make him speak goodthings about me),” Kohli laughedwhen Mayank asked him why he waspicked for the Australia tour. “For methe biggest marker is how a personapproaches a game. So for examplewhen you opened and we made(Hanuma) Vihari open with you...wehad seen Vihari the way he played.He would come towards the ball, hewas brave, he was sure of himself,”Kohli said.

“And the first opportunity waspresented to him he said ‘I am goingto do it'. That to me matters morethan anything else because I openedin my first series for India and I had-

n't opened before. I said yes to anopportunity and things worked outfine for me. “So a guy who wants toget into the difficult stuff will comeout either with his head high orlearning, there is no loss in that. Sothat is what stood out.

“I had seen you play at RCB andI knew you would play internation-al bowlers with absolute conviction.You were performing well in first-class cricket for a while and in a dom-inating way,” he added.

Mayank then asked him aboutthe famous photograph in whichKohli is seen lifting Sachin Tendulkaron his shoulders after India won the2011 World Cup final against SriLanka at the Wankhede stadium.

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England won the first cricketseries in four months when itdefeated the West Indies in the

deciding third test by 269 runs onthe last day Tuesday at Old Trafford.

England snatched the bio-secure series 2-1 after losing the firsttest by 113 runs in Southampton.

The West Indies, resuming thefifth and last day on 10-2, had a tallorder to bat out the day to force aseries-saving draw, any hope ofmaking 399 to win long gone. The weather wasn’t going to save thetourists, either, though they stoppedfor showers three times.

The visitors lost three wicketsin the morning session, and the restwithin 90 minutes after lunch to beall out for 129.

Fast bowler Stuart Broad’s firstwicket of the day made him the sev-enth man in test history to claim500 test wickets.

The series-winning last wicketgave Broad 4-36 in the innings and10 for the match, his first 10-forsince 2013.

In between the milestones,Chris Woakes bowled for 11 straightovers and took 5-50.

A run out bagged the otherWest Indies wicket.

It was a bad end for the WestIndies, but the team deserved kudosfor agreeing to travel to one of theworld's worst hotspots in the pan-demic, following the health proto-cols, and contributing to a grippingcontest. Cricket’s first internation-al action since March saw the WestIndies win the first test, and Englandthe second. Both went down to thelast day. For this third test, England

chose a four-man pace attack andthe West Indies couldn’t resist,falling for 197 and 129 againstEngland's 369 and 226 declared.

It was the first time since 1912that England pacers took 50 wick-ets in a three-match series.

Broad, angry at being droppedfor the first test, proved his point bysetting up this victory on Sunday.He took four wickets to finish off theWest Indies first innings, then thefirst two of the second innings in theevening to end West Indies’ slimhopes of batting to win. Instead, thetourists were made to bat to survive.

The washout on Monday mere-ly delayed England’s march to vic-tory, and the last day had an air ofinevitability.

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India captain Virat Kohli and his deputyRohit Sharma continue to occupy the

top two batting spots in the ICC ODIrankings while pacer Jasprit Bumrahstayed put in second place among bowlersin the latest list issued on Tuesday.

With 871 rating points, Kohli is at thetop followed by Rohit (855) and Pakistan'sBabar Azam (829).

In the bowlers list, Bumrah (719) isbehind New Zealand pacer Trent Boult(722), while Afghanistan’s Mujeeb UrRahman (701) occupies the third spot.

Ravindra Jadeja is the lone Indian tofeature in the top 10 all-rounders rank-ings at the eight spot. Afghanistan'sMohammad Nabi is leading pack inthis category, closely followed byEngland all-rounder Ben Stokes.

Meanwhile, England’s JasonRoy and Jonny Bairstow will be infocus from the rankings perspectiveas the reigning World Cup champi-ons kick off the ICC Men's CricketWorld Cup Super League with theirthree-match home series againstIreland on Thursday.

Opener Roy and wicket-keeper-batsman Bairstow, whoare currently ranked 11th and14th, respectively, in the ICCODI player rankings for bats-man, could work their way backinto the top 10, having both enjoyed per-sonal best rankings of ninth positionin the past. Roy was in ninth placein July last year and Bairstow inOctober 2018.

World Cup-win-ning captain EoinMorgan, who is thethird best-ranked bats-man from his side in23rd position, will be

leading against a side for whom hescored 99 on ODI debut against Scotland14 years ago.

With none of the England players fea-turing in their Test series against the WestIndies named for the ODIs, England willbe missing their premier fast bowlers andwill be led by spin twins Adil Rashid(29th) and vice-captain Moeen Ali (44th).

For Ireland, skipper AndyBalbirnie, who took over fromlong-time skipper William

Porterfield last Novemberand has only led in a three-ODI series in theCaribbean in January, is

ranked 46th among bats-men.

Paul Stirling remains theirtop-ranked batsman in 27th

position, having held a career-high position of seventh in 2013.

Off-spinner Andy McBrine(31st) and paceman Boyd

Rankin (joint-40th) aretheir leading bowlers

according to the rank-ings.

The England-Ireland series marksthe start of the

much-awaited SuperLeague that will see 13

teams vie for direct qualify-ing places in the next ICCMen's Cricket World Cup in

India in 2023.India and seven other

teams will make it directlyfrom the league with theremaining teams getting a sec-ond chance through a qualifer.

Teams will be awarded 10points for a win, five for a tie, no-result or abandoned match and

none for a loss.

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Batsman Fawad Alam couldmake a comeback to

Pakistan’s Test team after 11years after been named in the20-member squad along withtwo specialist spinners, for theupcoming Test series againstEngland.

The tour selection com-mittee headed by head coachand chief selector, Misbah-ul-Haq left out batsmen IfthikarAhmed, Khushdil Shah, FakharZaman and uncapped HaiderAli, handing Fawad with a goodchance to make a comeback.

The left-hander played thelast of his three Tests way backin 2009 in New Zealand.

The selectors also includedtwo specialist spinners, KashifBhatti and the experienced YasirShah apart from two all-rounders in Faheem Ashrafand Shadab Khan.

The squad has beenfinalised from a list of 29 play-ers who were sent to Englandin different batches due tothe COVID-19 pandemic.

The selectors short-listed the 20 players afterthe two four-day intrasquad matches inDerbyshire.

The selectors have alsoretained former captain andwicketkeeper-batsman, SarfarazAhmed in the Test squad, giv-ing an indication that a come-back might be awaiting him.

The Test series will begin inManchester from August 5.

Test Squad: Azhar Ali (C),Babar Azam (vice-captain), AbidAli, Asad Shafiq, Faheem Ashraf,Fawad Alam, Imam ul Haq,Imran Khan(Sr), Kashif Bhatti,Mohammad Abbas,Mohammad Rizwan, NaseemShah, Sarfaraz Ahmed, ShadabKhan, Shaheen Shah Afridi,Shan Masood, Sohail Khan,Usman Shinwari,Wahab Riazand YasirShah.

4+�� @

Pakistan batting coachYounis Khan has urged

talisman Babar Azam toconvert starts into big hun-dreds in their upcomingTest series against England.The two teams are scheduledto play three Tests and asmany T20Is after England’sseries against West Indies.

For all his talent, Azamhasn’t gone past the

three-figure mark inthe longest format asoften he has done inODIs. He has scoredjust five centuries in26 Tests in compar-ison to 11 tons in74 ODIs.Moreover, he has-n't hit a singlescore in excess of150 in Test cricket,

with his highestbeing 143.

“I have tried to workwith everyone in the sideincluding Babar Azam.These players are our future.I have no doubts about theskills of Babar,” Younis toldreporters via videoconfer-

ence as per Cricket Pakistan.“I want him to keep per-

forming better and better.He should strive for a 150when he makes a 100 andthen go on to even 200,” headded.

Younis feels tailendersare going to play a big rolein the challenging conditionsof England. He pointedtowards fast bowlerMohammad Abbas to makeimportant contributionswith the bat in the upcom-ing series.

“We are trying to makeMohammad Abbas theleader of the tailenders. Youneed to fight till the lastwicket in a Test match,”Younis said.

The first Test betweenthe two teams will be playedin Manchester startingAugust 5 while the final twoTests are scheduled to beplayed in Southampton fromAugust 13 and August 21respectively.

The three T20Is, mean-while, will be played at a sin-gle venue in Manchester onAugust 28, August 30 andSeptember 1 respectively.

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