· 2021. 1. 16. · modi congratulated citizens and sci- ... death of a brown fish owl in its...

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India launched its mammoth vac-cination drive on Saturday to bring

the pandemic under control with twolocally-produced vaccines —Covishield and Covaxin — withnearly two lakh out of tragetted threelakh taking shot against the pathogenon the first day on Saturday.

Launching the “world’s largestvaccination drive” against Covid-19,Modi congratulated citizens and sci-entists for the feat but cautioned peo-ple against being careless and not tak-ing precautions after taking the firstdose of the vaccination.

The Prime Minister also alertedpeople against the rumours spreadabout the vaccines. He said Indianvaccines are the “cheapest and thebest in the world”.

Modi, in a televised addressbefore the vaccine rollout, said thereare several nations whose entirepopulation is less than 3 crore, butIndia will be vaccinating as many

people in just the first phase. Hesaluted scientists for developing thevaccines in such a short span of time.

The PM cautioned people toensure that they take both the dosesat one month’s gap and showpatience as the country begins togive the antidote to its huge popu-lation.

“Don’t make the mistake of tak-ing one dose and then forgettingabout dose two and don’t forgetcoronavirus appropriate behaviourafter getting the dose. The patiencewith which you fought coronavirus,show the same patience during vac-cination now,” Modi said.

As the PM kicked off the vaccinerollout with a click of a button, avideo message played the Sanskritchant — sarve bhavantu sukhinah,sarve santu niramaya (All be happy,all be free of illness).

The Covid-19 vaccination drivewas successfully conducted on thefirst day, Additional Secretary in theUnion health Ministry Manohar

Agnani said during a press briefinghere organised late evening after thedrive was wrapped up for the day. Ofthree lakh planned to be inoculated,around 1,91,181 beneficiaries weregiven the shot of Covid-19 vaccineson first day involving 16,755 per-sonnel at 3,351 vaccination ses-sions.

Agnani said that Covid-19 vac-cines Covaxin and Covishield(developed by Bharat Biotech andSerum Institute of India (SII) respec-tively) were given at 3,351 sessionacross the country.

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It was neither the age, nor the wayto go. Usha Srivastava, 59, who

headed the Hindi Pioneer since itsbirth in 2011, passed away at 11.30at the Max hospital, Saket, in NewDelhi on Saturday.

She left behind a grieving fami-ly, shell-shocked colleagues, a largenumber of friends, well-wishers,and acquaintance who would foundit difficult to accept that this (the)cheerful, friendly, demure face ofHindi journalism is no more.

Usha was suffering from a liverailment and had undergone a livertransplant. She could never recoverfrom the post-operation complica-tions.

A host of political leaders andjournalists have mourned her death.

An emotional Chandan Mitra,the Editor-in-Chief of The Pioneer,nearly broke down on hearing thenews of Usha’s demise. “She nurtured

the Hindi Pioneer like her own baby.She was a spirited, committed, andlively colleague, whose absence can-not be filled easily. I’m speechlesswith grief,” he said.

Uttar Pradesh Chief MinisterYogi Adityanath mourned Usha’sdeath and conveyed his condolencesto her family. Union Minister NitinGadara and Haryana Chief Minister

Manohar Lal Khattar were amongthose who mourned Usha’s death.

The Pioneer CEO ShoboriGanguly described Usha as a “valu-able” colleague who also cared foreveryone around her. “I find it so dif-ficult to come to terms with her pass-ing away. She was such a noble soul,”she said.

When her wait for a liver donorended on December 25 after nearlya fortnight of a wait during which shewas bedridden in the hospital, in andout of the ICUs, at The Pioneer wetook a sigh of relief.

Many of us met her before shewas wheeled into the operation the-atre the next day. Little did we knowthat it would be the last time wewould see her.

Her valiant fight for survival, ourprayers, and doctors’ efforts couldnot change what destiny had instore for her. She left us without aword, without even opening her eyesfor nearly three weeks.

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Adead owl in the Delhizoo has been infected

with bird flu as the sampleswere found positive for H5N8avian influenza virus underRT-PCR test done by ICAR-National Institute of HighSecurity Animal Disease(NIHSAD), Bhopal, on Friday,officials said on Saturday.

“The zoo witnessed thedeath of a brown fish owl inits captivity. Its cloacal, tra-cheal and ocular swabs weresent to the animal husbandryunit of the Delhi Governmentfor serological examination,”zoo Director Ramesh Pandeysaid.

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The Bhartiya Kisan Union Lokshaktiapproached the Supreme Court on

Saturday, requesting it to remove theremaining three members of a com-mittee it had set up to hold talks withthe farmers protesting against the threecontentious farm laws.

The BKU (Lokshakti) has request-ed the court to nominate people to thecommittee who can do the job “on thebasis of mutual harmony”.

The BKU (Lokshakti) is one of the40-odd farmer unions spearheading theagitation on various border points ofDelhi for about 50 days now, demand-

ing repeal of the farm laws.In an affidavit, the BKU

(Lokshakti) said the principle of naturaljustice is going to be violated as thoseappointed to the four-member com-mittee “have already supported theselaws”.

“It is important to mention herewith great regret that the principle ofnatural justice is going to be violatedby making these persons as membersof the committee.... how they will hearall farmers on equal parameters whenthey have already supported theselaws,” it said.

The union also sought dismissal ofa plea of the Central Government, filedthrough the Delhi Police, seeking aninjunction against the proposed trac-tor march or any other kind of protestby farmers that could disrupt the gath-ering and celebrations of the RepublicDay on January 26.

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On day one of the launch of India’shistoric nationwide vaccination

drive against Covid-19, Delhi,Maharashtra and Haryana recordedcases of adverse events — though noneof them fatal — even as the Centreasserted that the inoculation drive wassuccessfully conducted and no case ofpost-vaccination hospitalisation report-ed so far.

In Delhi, 52 healthcare workersdeveloped minor adverse event follow-ing immunisation (AEFI), while 1severe case was reported as per dataavailable from the Government.

Haryana recorded 13 adverse eventcases following the immunisation.

Officials from Maharashtra saidthey are further investigating the 14cases of adverse events.

At some sites like RML hospital inthe national Capital, a section of doc-tors were apprehensive of an adverseevent as they doubted the efficacy of theCovaxin developed by the BharatBiotech, which is yet to complete thephase three trials.

The Drugs Controller General ofIndia (DCGI) had earlier this monthapproved Oxford Covid-19 vaccineCovishield, manufactured by theSerum Institute, and indigenously

developed Covaxin of Bharat Biotechfor restricted emergency use in thecountry.

The Resident Doctors’ Association(RDA) of the Central Governmenthospital, RML refused to take the shotand requested the MedicalSuperintendent to vaccinate them withOxford Covid-19 vaccine Covishield.

In a letter to the MS, the associa-tion said the resident doctors were “abit apprehensive” about Covaxin andmight not participate in the immuni-sation drive in large numbers.

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The Drugs Controller General of India(DCGI) has given approval to Dr Reddy’s

Laboratories to conduct phase 3 clinical trialsof Russia’s Covid-19 vaccine candidate, SputnikV, in the country.

The phase 3 trial will be conducted on 1,500subjects as part of the randomised, double-blind, parallel group, placebo controlled studyin India, Dr Reddy said in a statement here onFriday.

Earlier, the Data and Safety MonitoringBoard (DSMB) reviewed the safety data fromthe phase 2 clinical trials of the vaccine and rec-ommended phase 3 recruitment. In its report,the DSMB concluded that no safety concernswere identified and the study met the primaryendpoints of safety.

Dr Reddy’s Laboratories co-chairman andMD GV Prasad said, “This is an important mile-stone in the progress of this pivotal clinical trialof the vaccine. We expect to commence phase3 study within this month and will continue tofast-track our efforts to bring in a safe and effi-cacious vaccine for the Indian population”.

In September 2020, Dr Reddy’s partneredwith the Russian Direct Investment Fund toconduct the clinical trials of the Sputnik V vac-cine and for its distribution rights in India.

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Serum Institute CEO AdarPoonawalla was administered thefirst dose of the Covishield coron-avirus vaccine on Saturday afternoon,hours after Prime Minister NarendraModi launched India’s nationwidevaccination drive.

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� What made you say yes toplay Farishta in Naagin 5?

I have never done asupernatural fantasy showearlier and also I was gettinga chance to work with Balajiafter three-and-a-half years,so that’s what attracted me tothe role. Not to mention, thatit is an interesting characterand different from what Ihave done till date.

� What all can the audienceexpect from this new entry?

There is a lot of craze forNaagin among the audience.I can’t reveal the track but Iam sure it wil l be asinteresting as it has been allthese years with me joiningthe show as a cameo.

� Did the role offer anychallenges?

The role is challengingbecause the technique toshoot a fantasy thriller isdifferent from a daily soap. Ihave never joined a showmidway and believe it will befun and also a learningexperience.

� In all these years, what hasbeen your biggest takeawayfrom the industry?

I am growing andevolving with every projectthat I do, not only as an actorbut also as a human being.That’s my biggest takeaway. Iam fortunate enough to havebeen able to work with suchgood people all through. I amgrateful for whatever I haveachieved and my journey isnothing short of amazing.

� You have been a part of afew music videos as well.How did that happen?

I got an offer, I had timeand so I did it. I didn’t give itmuch thought. And the lastmusic video that I did — EkDafa To Mil, was shot anddirected very well.

� How did acting happen toyou?

It happened after school.I always wanted to act. I toldmy parents that I want to go

to Mumbai. They weresupportive and encouragedmy decision. They were happyof what I wanted to do. I cameto Mumbai and startedauditioning. Thankfully,within two months of comingto Mumbai, I got work. Therewas no struggle that I had togo through because of myparents or any other thing. Itall went smooth for me.

� Did you have anyapprehensions?

Not at all. I knew what Iwanted to do and I just wentwith my intuitions. A lot ofpeople are worried about thefuture and they do want tohave a back-up plan if thingsdidn’t go their way. But I wasdedicated enough to this craftand that is all I cared about. Iwas sure things will work outon their own and there wasnothing that I was worriedabout.

� What next?There are a few things in

the pipeline and I will talkabout it and share moredetails soon as things will getconfirmed.

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This 38-minute each episode created byAli Abbas Zafar may not have been ableto scratch the surface as far as intrigue

and twists are concerned but that doesn’tmean that they are missing. The Season 1 thathas nine episodes takes you on a behindclosed doors journey of politics where playingperson against the other, murder and usingthe common man as a stepping stone tofurther one’s career is fair game — all thatmatters is the position and the power thatcomes with it.

While the story appears to have been toldmany times, Tandav manages to keep oneengaged. Who doesn’t want to know how thegame is played and however fictional thecharacters may be, a reference to a ladypolitician can’t help one try and draw parallel

even if the said people are no more and themere mention of the names can be construedin bad taste. But then, this is reel life notreality.

The makers have ensured that no onepoint is dragged for long and the story movesat a pace that is interesting and offers plentyof turns that may leave one stumped only tobe thrown a curve ball with another twist —all within a span of minutes.

The performance too keeps one glued tothis series. Sunil Grover as Gurpal is awelcome change. It is good to see him movetotally away from Dr Gulati’s role in The KapilSharma show. Saif Ali Khan plays his role justas brilliantly.

As a wannabe king to a kingmaker, hischaracter keeps the interest alive. DimpleKapadia may look a tad old but one can’t takeaway the elegance with which she portraysherself here. The others actors, and there areso many, do their bit.

It makes for a good watch since it gasplenty of twists and turns.

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There is a thrill that comes with watching an action-thriller and whenthat is embellished with sci-fi the experience of watching the sameis at another level. It goes without saying that one must enjoy this

genre otherwise it can be a drag as one tries to grapple with what isunfolding.

The storyline is simple enough to begin with — bring down a madmanall set to wage a war against the US by going after the nukes that are in hiding.The curve ball? The setting is 2036 with a Civil War in Europe.

Then there is the whole thing about using machines to fight this unrestand caught in between are the locals who only want peace and go on withtheir lives. Machines fighting? Sound familiar? Remember the Terminatorseries? Outside The Wire takes that on to a whole new dimension — ahumanoid — a prototype — capable of doing things out-the-box; a lean meanfighting machine but capable of emotions. Definitely dangerous because itmeans it can think independently of its maker.

Outside The Wire directed by Mikael Hafstrom is definitely anambitious project that starts off on a rather intriguing idea and keeps oneengaged for the majority of the film. Anthony Mackie who is also one ofthe producers here pairs up with Damon Idris, plays the role of an androidofficer rather well. The downer is that the movie somewhat looses its steamas it progresses to become a film that is all about killing the enemy — theUS — in order for to stop its android soldiers’ project since the prototypehas gone rogue.

The repetitive shoot-out are a drag but those who love bullets flying atthe drop of a hat would love this one. After all to watch machines go all outis what action thrillers are all about even if the climax is a bit of a let downgiven a good start. 1�$��$��

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Retelling the tales of history andmythology on TV is a pure delightboth for the makers and the

audience. No matter how many times onesees such stories, they still look as freshand entertaining. Take for exampleRamanand Sagar’s Ramayan, which evenafter so many years became one of themost watched series on TV during thelockdown or for that matter BR Chopra’sMahabharat which was also topping thelist.

One wonders what is it with suchshows that they can never go out oftrend. “Our soul lies there. We areable to connect with thesestories and that’s the reasonthey are always on our watchlists. The other reason isthat people get life lessonsfrom them in anentertaining way. If we’llpreach them something, theaudience immediately loseinterest, but instead if weteach them in a fun way theywill learn from it,” RajeshShringarpure, who plays MalharRao Holkar in SET’s PunyashlokAhilya Bai, says.

The story, he says, is the 17th centuryperiod drama and is not about thechronicles or glory of Malhar Rao, but therapport that he shared with his daughter-in-law, Ahilya Bai Holkar. “Malhar Rao iscompassionate, endearing and heunderstands even the smallest of emotionsof every one. He has been given the titleof subedar by the Peshwas. He came froma humble and subdued family. Hesupports his daughter-in-law in all walksof her journey. The relationship that isshown here between the father-in-lawand daughter-in-law is very unique,” heexplains.

On what attracted Shringarpure tothe show, he says, is of course the storyitself. “It is a matter of pride foranyone to be a part of such inspiringstories. Also, the character itself is sostrong. Not to mention, the progressivethoughts that the story has to offer, Iwas instantly attracted towards this roleand the show,” he says.

There is always a learning lesson whenis a part of historical shows, he adds.“People always tell you to forget the pastand move on. But when we become a partof such stories, it is then we realise thatwe shouldn’t forget our past, roots,forefathers and what they did for us. It isbecause of them we are able to live a happyand independent life,” he says.

With such roles, he says, comes a lot

of responsibility to do justice to thecharacter. “When one plays a characterwho is praised like God by a society, thereis a lot of things that one has to take careof. This is a huge character and there is alot of responsibility on my shoulders. Asan actor I need to execute it right. Sinceit is winters, the costume is not an issue.Come April, and then it will be a bit ofhassle. Also, the body language and themannerisms has to be spot-on. If he iswith Ahilya, his tone will be different. Hewill talk to her like a man does to a girl.But, if he is with the other people, he willspeak with authority. Fortunately, I havebeen blessed with a voice that can do

justice to it, hence things get simpler,”he tells you.

Shringarpure adds that if one hasunderstood the characteristics of the

character that he plays, then thereis not much to research about. “Ifyou know the characteristics,visualise what you play and thenjust layer it up,” Shringarpure, whodebuted with Param Vir Chakra,says. However, acting was never on

his cards.“In school and college, I was into

dramatics but never thought that I willbe in this line. I wanted to join theDefence forces and I was selected asa pilot in the Air Force, but during themedical I got rejected due to somereasons. I was worried what do tonext and then I got to know that RKbanner was presenting a film ParamVir Chakra . Initially, I wasapprehensive and I didn’t feel likegoing to their studio. My friendinsisted that I should give it a try. Iwent there and spoke formally with

the director. The first thing about methat striked them was my voice. I

didn’t tell them the reason of my visitand they told me that I should visitthem more often. I took it verypositively and made it a point to go theretwice a week. But I couldn’t open mymouth in front of them, I thought thatthey should realise what I was there for.It went on for sometime.

One day, I got to know that theyneed an instructor to train theshortlisted candidates. A jawan came toteach them from Colaba and the directorurged me that I should also join him and

give commands to people. Then after a fewdays, a spot boy asked me why am I notplaying the role in the film since I wastrained enough. Then, the votinghappened and everyone on the sets wasin the favour of me getting the role.Fortunately, I got that project,” he tells you.

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Amassive vaccination driveagainst the novel

Coronavirus (Covid-19) start-ed in Uttarakhand onSaturday. On the first day atotal of 2276 health careworkers were inoculated withthe Covishield, the vaccinedeveloped by OxfordUniversity- AstraZeneca andmanufactured in India bySerum Institute of India (SII).The health department hadorganised a total of 34 vacci-nation sessions in differenthospitals of the state and hadplanned to vaccinate 3182health care workers on thefirst day. The departmentclaimed that 72 percent vac-cination target was achieved

on the first day.The Chief Minister

Trivendra Singh Rawat for-mally inaugurated the vacci-nation drive in the state at10.30 am at GovernmentDoon Medical College(GDMC) hospital. The firstvaccine jab was administeredto the ward boy of GDMChospital, Shailendra Diwediand the second person to getinoculated in the hospitalwas the Head of Department(HoD) of chest and TB andCovid-19 in charge, DrAnurag Agarwal.

Addressing media per-sons on the occasion, the CMsaid that Prime MinisterNarendra Modi has startedthe biggest vaccination drivein the world and it would helpin containing the menace of

the disease to a large extent.He appealed that the peopleshould avoid believing anynegative publicity about thevaccination because the vac-cine is completely safe.Terming the vaccine as aneffective method of prevent-ing the disease, the CM said

that everyone should contin-ue to follow the safety mea-sures for Covid-19 like wash-ing hands, wearing masksand maintaining social dis-tancing. “By following themantra of Dawai Bhi KadaiBhi we can remain safe fromthe disease,’’ he said.

The Mayor of DehradunMunicipal Corporat ion(DMC) Sunil Uniyal Gama,Rajpur MLA Khajan Das,Health Secretary Amit SinghNegi, secretary in-charge DrPankaj Kumar Pandey,Director General (DG) statehealth services, Dr Amita

Upreti, Vice Chancellor (VC)of Uttarakhand MedicalUniversity Dr H C Pandey,the Principal of GDMC, DrAshutosh Sayana and othersenior officers of state health

department were present onthe occasion.

A total of 34 vaccination ses-sions were organised in thestate on the day. Five sessionswere held in Dehradun district

while Haridwar and UdhamSingh Nagar had four such ses-sions each. Three sessions wereorganised in Nainital while theremaining nine districts hadtwo vaccination sessions each.

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The state health depart-ment has claimed there

was no adverse reactionreported in any of the benefi-ciaries inoculated with thevaccine on the first day of thedrive in Uttarakhand. TheChief Operation Officer(COO) of the state CovidControl Room, Dr AbhishekTripathi said that 72 percent ofthe targeted beneficiaries were

vaccinated on the first day inUttarakhand. He said that thepercentage of beneficiariesvaccinated in Uttarakhand ismuch higher that many statesand added that those left outtoday would be vaccinatedsoon.

Tripathi claimed that thevaccination drive was donestrictly in accordance withthe operational guidelines ofthe government of India.

The data of the depart-ment suggests that a total of2276 people were vaccinatedon the first day against a tar-get of 3,182.

With 84 percent vaccina-

tion, Chamoli remained atthe top of the table. Here 110out of 131 targeted were inoc-ulated. Champawat and Paurirecorded 80 percent each vac-cination while 79 percent tar-get was achieved inRudraprayag district.

In Dehradun district 353people were vaccinated againsttargeted 509 beneficiaries. It islearnt that some beneficiariesciting health issues refrainedfrom getting vaccinated.

The health authority hasmade it clear that the vaccinewould be administered onlyafter obtaining consent of theindividual.

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In Dehradun, five vaccinationsessions were organised on

the first day of the drive. InHimalayan Hospital Jollygrant,the first vaccine was adminis-tered to Lalit Thapa, a memberof housekeeping staff of thehospital. A total of ten boothswere prepared in the hospitalfor vaccination where healthand other front line workerswere inoculated. The ViceChancellor (VC) of theHimalayan University VijayDhasmana who was present onthe occasion said that vaccina-tion is like a Suraksha Chakraagainst Covid-19 virus. Thehospital had constituted a teamof doctors headed by HospitalSuperintendent Dr S L Jethani

and nodal officer Dr Sanay Dasfor the vaccination. A total of64 health care workers wereadministered vaccines on theday.

Lalit Thapa who was thefirst person to be inoculated onthe day in the hospital said thathe had worked in the Covid-19ward and served the patients ofthe disease in the hospital.Expressing happiness onreceiving the vaccine jab hesaid that everyone in the soci-ety would now remain safefrom the disease.

The deputy Chief MedicalOfficer (Dy CMO) ofDehradun Dr Sanjiv Dutt, SubDivisional Magistrate (SDM) ofDoiwala Laxmiraj Chauhanand others were present on theoccasion.

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The director of All IndiaInstitute of Medical

Sciences (AIIMS) RishikeshRavikant has said that peopleshould follow the social dis-tancing norms and wear maskstill 90 percent of the popula-tion of the country is vacci-nated against the Covid-19.

Ravikant said that the vac-cine made by the Indian sci-entists is completely safe andthere should be no confusionabout the vaccine.

The AIIMS Director wasthe second person to be vac-cinated at the AIIMSRishikesh on the first day ofthe vaccination. The hospital

authorities administered thefirst vaccine jab to MeenaDevi, a class IV employee ofthe hospital. She said that shefelt totally healthy after receiv-ing the vaccine. She added thatshe gets pride in serving in aninstitute like AIIMS Rishikesh.

The hospital administra-

tion informed that in the firstphase, vaccines will be given tothose frontline workers ofAIIMS who are doing duty inthe Covid wards.

These include doctorsposted in Covid duty, nursingstaff, sanitation staff and atten-dants.

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Various issues were dis-cussed and party pro-

grammes were finalised in themeeting of the Bharatiya JanataParty state core group held hereon Saturday evening.Informing the media aboutthe decisions taken in themeeting, the BJP State presi-dent Banshidhar Bhagat saidthat the issues of the farmerswere discussed in the meetingand all the core group membersunanimously opined that theparty should now come in theelection mode. The importantinitiatives of the BJP StateGovernment including facili-tation of tap water connectionin rural areas for Re one eachwere also discussed in themeeting. It was also decidedthat the Chief Minister

Trivendra Singh Rawat willhimself guide the ministersabout visiting areas in the dis-tricts they are in-charge of. TheMinisters will then visit the

areas and report back to thechief minister within a month,said Bhagat.

Chief Minister TrivendraSingh Rawat, party state in-charge Dushyant KumarGautam, co-in-charge RekhaVerma, cabinet minister MadanKaushik, State minister DhanSingh Rawat, senior leaderVijay Bahuguna and othermembers of the core groupwere also present in the meet-ing.

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Even as the vaccination driveagainst the novel

Coronavirus (Covid-19) start-ed on good note inUttarakhand on Saturday, thecontagion of the disease israpidly declining in the state.The state health departmentreported only 226 new cases ofCovid-19 on Saturday afterwhich the number of patientsof novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) in the state climbed to94691. The department alsoreported the death of fourpatients of the disease on theday after which the death tollmounted to 1606 in the state.The health department dis-charged 272 patients from dif-ferent hospitals on Friday. Atotal of 89,182 patients haverecovered from the disease so

far in the state. The recoverypercentage from the disease isnow at 94.47 and the samplepositivity rate is 4.79 percent.

Two patients of Covid-19were reported dead at All IndiaInstitute of Medical Sciences(AIIMS) Rishikesh on Saturday.Similarly one patient each suc-cumbed to the disease atDistrict hospital Chamoli andSushila Tiwari Governmenthospital, Haldwani on the day.

The authorities reported90 new cases of the diseasefrom Dehradun, 40 fromNainital, 31 from Haridwar, 18from Udham Singh Nagar, 14from Almora, nine fromTehri, six from Chamoli andtwo each from Champawat,Pauri, Rudraprayag andUttarkashi on Saturday.

With increased number ofrecoveries and less number ofnew cases of the disease, thenumber of active patients ofthe disease is on decline.

The state now has only2349 active cases of the dis-ease. Dehradun district has

maximum number of activecases (549) followed byNainital (430) and Haridwar(300). Champawat now hasonly 28 active cases of the dis-ease and is at bottom of thetable of active cases of the dis-ease.

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Chief Minister TrivendraSingh Rawat has directed

the formation of a committeecomprising UrbanDevelopment minister MadanKaushik and State minister forHigher Education, Dhan SinghRawat for drinking water tariffrevision. This committee willcheck the relevant facts in depthand then present its recom-mendations to the chief minis-ter after which a policy decisionwill be taken regarding the

revision of drinking water tar-iff.

Chairing a meeting onSaturday regarding drinkingwater tariff revision, the chiefminister said that it is importantto simplify the rigidity of tariffscurrently implemented forwater and sewer maintenance.For this, he directed the UrbanDevelopment minister and theState minister for HigherEducation to evaluate all rele-vant facts and present theirrecommendations.

Other issues like unautho-

rised use of water, chargingannual water tax from thosesecuring water by boring forgroundwater and from otherwater plants, buildings/estab-lishments not connected toavailable sewer facility and otheraspects were also discussed indetail during the meeting.

Urban Development min-ister Madan Kaushik, State min-ister for Higher Education, chiefsecretary Om Prakash, secre-taries Amit Singh Negi andNitesh Jha among others werealso present in the meeting.

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The remaining works relat-ed to the Kumbh Mela in

Haridwar should be complet-ed soon and special focusshould be laid on the sanita-tion arrangements. Chiefminister Trivendra SinghRawat issued these directionswhile chairing a meeting toreview Kumbh Mela workshere on Saturday.

The CM said that consid-ering the convenience ofdevotees, all the arrangementsshould be completed on time.The cooperation of voluntaryorganisations, social organi-sations and the public shouldalso be taken in the cleanli-ness campaign. Further, theCovid-19 standards shouldbe fully observed, stressedRawat. He said that all worksof a permanent nature should

be completed by the end ofJanuary, adding that any neg-ligence towards the quality ofworks will not be tolerated.He also directed that an elab-orate public awareness cam-paign be undertaken in viewof the Kumbh Mela.

Stating that all depart-ments should work in coor-dination with the Melaadministration for a clean,beautiful and safe KumbhMela, Rawat said that thereshould be adequate arrange-ment for masks and sanitisersin the Mela area. The Melaand district administrationshould also undertake a pub-lic awareness campaign onCovid-19 through variousmedia. The remaining worksof a temporary nature shouldalso be completed soon alongwith the beautification workwhich should also be com-pleted on time, he said. Allarrangements should be madewith advance planning as thenumber of devotees willincrease considerably on thespecial Kumbh Mela occa-sions, said the CM.

The Urban Developmentminister Madan Kaushik said

that various aspects of thenation and state related toreligion, culture and faith willbe brought to the fore in theKumbh Mela.

The officials concernedhave been directed that thereshould be no shortcomingtowards organising a divineand grand Kumbh Mela, saidthe minister.

Urban Development sec-retar y Shai lesh Bagauli

informed that top priority isbeing accorded to KumbhMela works.

On the approved propos-als, decisions are being takenimmediately and the budget isalso being allocated, he said.

Kumbh Mela of f icerDeepak Rawat informed about the worksbeing undertaken for theKumbh Mela stating that themajority of works of a per-

m a n e n tn a t u r ehave beencompletedwhile theremainingworks willa lso becompleteds o o n .Maj or i t yof thew o r k srelated toroads andb r i d g e shave alsobeen com-p l e t e dwhile allnecessaryworks of

the national highway will also be completed soon,he added.

Chief secretar y OmPrakash, director general ofpolice, Ashok Kumar, secre-taries Amit Singh Negi,Nitesh Jha, Pankaj Pandey, SAMurugeshan, inspector general (Kumbh Mela) SanjayGunjyal and officials of theexecuting agencies were alsopresent in the meeting.

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Punjab Chief Minister CaptAmarinder Singh on

Saturday said he would gethimself vaccinated for Covid-19 vaccine in the next phase ashe rolled out the inoculationdrive here.

Four healthcare workers,including three doctors, wereadministered the first dose ofCovishield vaccine in the pres-ence of the chief minister atcivil hospital. Capt Amarinderalso gifted saplings to these fivehealthcare workers as a tokenof appreciation.

The Chief Minister said itwas his desire to get vaccinat-ed first but in accordance withthe directives of theGovernment of India onlyhealthcare workers could becovered in the first phase. “Iwould definitely get myself

vaccinated in the next phase,”he said.

The CM said the vaccinewould be administered to thehealth workers first, followedby the Army and police per-sonnel, in line with the guide-lines of the Government ofIndia. In the first phase, 1.74lakh health workers would beinoculated.

He said he had written tothe Prime Minister for per-mission for free distributionamong the people belonging tothe lower income groups. Inresponse to a query on vaccinesafety, the Chief Minister saidthe vaccine will not have beenapproved unless the scientistswere sure of its safety.

He noted that Covid vac-cines around the world hadbeen taken by many eminentpersonalities, including QueenElizabeth of the UK who is 93

and her husband who is 99,without any side effects.

Earlier, in his address, thechief minister said he was

delighted to announce thestate-wide launch of the Covidvaccine, while appealing to thepeople to continue to wear

masks and observe all social distancing and othersafety norms.

He noted that all the

restrictions imposed duringlockdown, curfew and there-after had been aimed at delay-ing the peak of the pandemicso that the vaccine could beavailable.

The CM thanked the peo-ple for their patience and coop-eration during this difficultphase. Hoping that the vacci-nation would pave the way forthe complete eradication ofthe Covid pandemic fromPunjab and the rest of India,the CM said it was undoubtedlya memorable day when thelong awaited vaccine hadarrived after getting all themandatory approvals fromhealth experts in theGovernment of India.

He prayed to the almightyfor the success of the vaccina-tion drive to ensure the safetyand protection of every citizen.

Amarinder lauded the

healthcare workers and othersresponsible for keeping thespread of the pandemic incheck in the State, where thenumber of daily cases hadcome down from the peak of3,700 to 242.

The target was to bringthem down to zero, he said,asserting that his Governmentwould continue its endeavourto safeguard the interests of allPunjabis.

Capt Amarinder said thefirst Covid case in the countrywas reported from Kerala onJanuary 20, 2020, while the firstinstance of Covid -19 came to notice in Punjab onMarch 5, 2020 with a travel his-tory of Italy.

Since then, in Punjab about1.20 crore persons have beenscreened for symptoms andover 41 lakh persons have beentested so far, he said, adding

that nearly 1.7 lakh peoplehave been diagnosed withCovid-19.

The CM pointed out thatPunjab was the first state toimpose lockdown and curfew,besides ensuring home deliveryof food items and medicinesduring curfew.

Health Minister BalbirSingh Sidhu said all arrange-ments had been put in place forsmooth vaccination, includ-ing online portal for registra-tion, operationalisation of sitesfor administering the dose,etc. in the State.

In the initial stage, as manyas 408 vaccination teams hadbeen constituted and 59 teamswere working to inoculate thehealthcare workers, he added.Sidhu said 729 cold chainpoints had been established inthe state for adequate storage ofvials at the desired temperature.

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Stating that the vaccinationprogramme would prove to

be an effective step in overcom-ing global Covid-19 pandemic,Haryana Chief MinisterManohar Lal Khattar onSaturday said the StateGovernment has made all nec-essary arrangements for the suc-cessful implementation of Covid-19 vaccination programme com-mencing today at 77 sites in theState.

He said two vaccines name-

ly Covishield of Serum Instituteof India and Covaxin of IndiaBiotech are authorised for emer-gency use in Haryana. He saidthat on January 13, the State hadreceived more than 2.4 lakhdoses of Covishield vaccine andthe first supply of 20,000 dosesof Covaxin.

Khattar was interacting withthe Covid vaccination benefi-ciaries and service providers ofMedanta-The Medicity,Gurugram and other govern-ment and private health institu-tions in the State through video

conferencing here inChandigarh.

The address of Chief Ministerwas telecast live at all 77 sites inthe State including two-way con-nectivity at Civil Dispensary,Sector-4, Panchkula andGovernment Primary School,Wazirabad, Gurugram.

He said the population hasbeen prioritised in view of thehigh demand of vaccines initially.Several groups have been includ-ed in the vaccination of Covid-19 and the vaccine would beadministered sequentially start-ing from Health Care Workers.

Khattar said those who havebeen included in Group 1include health workers (doctors,nurse, ANM, pharmacists,sweeper, lab technician, helper,ASHA, Anganwadi workers, etc).

Similarly, those who havebeen included in Group-2 includefrontline workers such as munic-ipal and sanitation workers, stateand central police forces, civilsecurity, prison staff and armedforces like armed line workers.Now the revenue staff has beenadded to it. He said that the pop-ulation above 50 years of age andPopulation below 50 years withco-morbidities have been includ-ed in Group-3.

The Chief Minister said thatto ensure smooth, effective andtarget based implementation ofvaccination programme, bene-ficiaries have been enrolled in thedigital platform (CoWIN soft-ware).

He said for the successfulimplementation of the vaccina-tion programme, health careworkers and health facilitieshave been registered on theCoWIN platform.

This includes about twolakh health workers, 5,044 vac-cinators, 765 Public Health facil-ities, 3,634 Private health facili-ties, 18,921 session sites and1,005 observers.

He said that Haryana hasadequate cold chain space tostore the Covid-19 vaccine. AState Level Vaccine Store hasbeen set up in Kurukshetra.Apart from this, four regionallevel stores have been set up inHisar, Rohtak, Kurukshetra andGurugram.

Also, 22 vaccine stores (one ineach district) have also been set up.Apart from this, arrangement of22 insulated vaccine vans hasbeen made for the transportationof vaccine to 659 cold chainpoints across Haryana.

Khattar said that Haryanahad enough Covid hospitals totreat Corona patients and all thehospitals are equipped with oxy-gen beds, ICU beds and ventila-tors. He said that the HealthDepartment has also set up a1075 helpline for the assistanceof citizens of the State. Today therecovery rate in Haryana is morethan 98 percent and the mortal-ity rate is about 1 percent whichis much lower than most states,he asserted.

He said however, cases ofCoronavirus are decreasing andthe Covid-19 vaccine has alsocome up, the people still needto be vigilant to prevent the fur-ther spread of CoronaVirus byfollowing precautionary mea-sures like wearing a mask, main-taining hand hygiene and aphysical distance of two yards.He also urged the people not topanic from Corona as it is com-pletely curable. Citing his ownexample, the Chief Minister saidthat he remained admitted inMedanta, Gurugram for 17days due to Corona. As a resultof strong will power and dedi-cation of doctors, he successful-ly recovered from Covid.

Additional Chief Secretary,Health and Family Welfare, RajeevArora said that Saroj Bala was thefirst Healthcare worker to havebeen successfully vaccinated atGovernment Dispensary, Sector-4, Panchkula.

He said that Director GeneralHealth Services Suraj BhanKamboj, Additional DirectorGeneral Health Services, Dr VeenaSingh, Director, National HealthMission, Haryana Dr VK Bansal,Civil Surgeon, Panchkula DrJasjeet Kaur, State ImmunizationOfficer Dr. Virender Ahlawat,were among the few who cameforward and got themselves vac-cinated so as to infuse confidenceamong other people of the Statetowards the vaccination.

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A20-year-old sanitationworker received the first

shot of the coronavirus vaccineas the inoculation drive commenced in Chandigarhon Saturday.

Arun, who works as asweeper at the GovernmentMulti-Specialty Hospital atSector 16, said he was feelinggood and had no worry beforebeing administered the jab.After administering the vac-cine, the youth was kept forobservations for 30 minutes tocheck any side effects.

“There’s no anxiety, ratherI am feeling good,” said Arun,who was also given a bouquetof flowers. Arun, whose moth-er came to meet him when hewas vaccinated, said he was toldthat he was the first one to getthe vaccine in the Union terri-tory.

The vaccination drive wasconducted at five sites inChandigarh.

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Chandigarh: Prison Radio waslaunched in District Jail,Panipat on Saturday by JailMinister Ranjit Singh, bringingjoy to the inmates.

Earlier in December, 2020,six inmates of Central Jail,Ambala, five inmates of DistrictJail Panipat and 10 inmatesincluding five female inmatesof District Jail Faridabad wereprovided Radio Jockey trainingby Dr. Vartika Nanda, Founderof Tinka Tinka Foundation.

Speaking on the occasion,Ranjit Singh said that this ini-tiative will help in convertingPrisons into CorrectionalHomes. Additional ChiefSecretary, Home and JailsDepartment, Rajeev Arora,said that jail radio is a uniqueinitiative for positive engage-ment which will facilitate bet-ter communication amongprison inmates and help inbringing out their positivityand creativity. Director Generalof Police/ Prisons, K. Selvarajsaid that new radio stations atFaridabad and Ambala jails willbe launched shortly.

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Haryana Government onSaturday approved 218

new schemes costing Rs 245crore and six schemes costingRs 49.27 crore of Public HealthEngineering Department inthe 52nd meeting of HaryanaState Drought Relief and FloodControl Board held under the

Chairmanship of ChiefMinister Manohar Lal Khattarhere in Chandigarh.

Deputy Chief MinisterDushyant Chautala andAgriculture and Farmers’Welfare MinisterJP Dalal werealso present in the meeting.

During the meeting, theChief Minister directed theDeputy Commissioners in the

State and SuperintendingEngineers (SEs) of line depart-ments to ensure speedy imple-mentations of these schemeswith a target to complete allshort term schemes by June 30,2021.

The Chief Minister alsodirected the officers of PublicHealth EngineeringDepartment to coordinate

with the DeputyCommissioners and DistrictMunicipal Commissioners todraft separate dewateringplans for those areas whichhave not been included in theschemes approved in today’smeeting so as to deal with theproblem of water logging insuch areas.

During the meeting,Additional Chief Secretary,Irrigation and WaterResources Department,Devender Singh said that theIrrigation Department by tak-ing further the StateGovernment’s vision of waterconservation has laid morethrust on water conservationand land reclamation in addi-tion to its mandate to save thestate from fury of floods. Heinformed that the 218 schemesapproved in today’s meetinginclude water conservation,reclamation, protection ofAbadi/Agriculture Land,Procurement of Flood Machinery andRepair/Reconstruction ofBridges/Structures etc.

He informed that last yearno flood situation along River

Yamuna though some dis-tricts like Hisar, Sonipat,Ambala, Jhajjar Jind, Julanaexperienced water logging dueto localized heavy rains. Hesaid that all the flood protec-tion schemes proposed werereviewed and recommendedby the Haryana State AdvisoryCommittee in the meetingheld on January 6, 2021 underthe Chairmanship ofAdditional Chief Secretaryand Financial Commissioner,Revenue and DisasterManagement Sanjeev Kaushal.

He further intimated thesuccess of last year’s executedland/soil reclamation pilotschemes and said that thesame have been proposed tobe replicated on a wider scaleto other districts to reclaim thesubmerged areas whereby sav-ing crops and increasing agri-culture produce.

During the meeting, theChief Minister also launcheda web portal for “MicroIrrigation Initiative” on theweb site https://cada-haryana.nic.in for invitingapplications from the farm-ers/WUA.

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The campaign for energyconservation should not

be limited to seminars.Through activities like debatecompetitions in schools andcolleges, awareness on energyconservation should be raisedamong the youngsters.Traditional agricultural prac-tices and systems for energyconservation should be pre-served and encouraged. Statingthis, the governor Baby RaniMaurya appealed to the peopleof Uttarakhand to use a cyclefor commuting at least once ina week. The Governor wasspeaking as the chief guest atSaksham-2021 oil and gas con-servation campaign organisedby the Petroleum ConservationResearch Association (PCRA)and oil companies at the RajBhawan auditorium here onSaturday.

Speaking on the occasion,the governor said that petrole-um products have an importantrole in the nation’s economicdevelopment and progress. Thenation has to import 85 percent of the total petroleumrequirement from abroad. The

conservation of petroleum isalso necessary for decreasingthe dependence on import.The governor stressed on theneed for encouraging the use ofrenewable sources of energylike solar, wind and hydropower. She said that the use ofgreen energy will also help inaddressing issues like environ-mental conservation and cli-mate change.

Taking collective responsi-bility, all people, industries,organisations and governmentsshould maximise the use ofalternative green energy. Theuse of solar energy should be

encouraged wherever possibleat homes, offices and indus-tries, added the governor.

The oil industryUttarakhand state level coor-dinator Neeraj Kansal said thatit is a collective responsibilityto make the energy conserva-tion campaign a success. Greenand clean energy should beaccorded priority, he added.Additional secretary SushilKumar, representatives of var-ious oil companies among oth-ers were present on the occa-sion along with more than 300participants who attended theeven virtually.

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The Himalayan region isconsidered overly sensi-

tive to earthquakes andEarthquake Observatory byWadia Institute of HimalayanGeology set up at Ghuttu inTehri district to keep an eyeon the subtle movements ofthe earth is providing impor-tant information on the sub-tle movements of the earth inHimalayan region. The sci-entists are working on variousparameters by collecting thedata about the physicalchanges in earth duringearthquake in Uttarakhandthrough this observatory. Theresearch scientists havereached the conclusion of achange in the radon gas emis-sion before the earthquake.

Earthquake is a naturalcalamity which, if reportedon time, can reduce the lossof life and property. In 2007,Wadia Institute of HimalayanGeology established a multi-dimensional observatory inGhuttu to collect the earth-quake data. This observatoryrecords data on various phys-ical changes in the earthwhen the earthquake occursusing, eight different kinds ofunique parameters out ofwhich two equipment’s tomeasure Radon have beeninstalled.

The first is in the waterand the other deep in theground. Apart from thisGPS system has also beeninstalled to monitor the levelof ground water, to monitorthe resistance capacity of theEarth, super-conducting

gravimeter, and the GPS tomonitor axis longitude.

“Physical changes thathappen when earthquakesoccur is being researchedfrom the obser vator y.Research has seen a change inthe radon before the earth-quake. With the help of thesedata in future, some newinformation may be obtainedin the field of earthquakeforecasting”, disclosed Dr.Sushil Kumar, Group HeadGeophysics, Wadia Instituteof Himalayan Geology

All the data from these

equipments have been linkedto the lab of Wadia Instituteof Himalayan Geolog y,Dehradun. Research work isbeing carried out on theearth's gravity, radon, mag-netic field, resistant capacity,physical changes in the flowof water before the earth-quake occurs. So far, scien-tists have monitored thechanges in Radon beforeearthquake.

It is expected that scien-tists will be able to forecastearthquakes after completingthe study here.

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The CBI has re-registeredJ&K ACB FIR in connec-

tion with the alleged irregu-larities committed in transferof land under the RoshniScheme against 13 persons ofPulwama, including seventhen officials posted in the dis-trict l ike the DeputyCommissioner, Pulwama andhis subordinates.

The then DeputyCommissioner, Pulwama,Mehraj Ahmad Kakroo, thethen Additional DeputyCommissioner, PulwamaIftikhar-ul Hasnain, the thenAssistant Commissioner,Revenue, Mohammad RajabBhatt, the then TehsildarMohammad Hussain, the thenNaib Tehsildar, Kakpora,Mohammad MaqboolAhanger, the then Girdawar,Kakpora, Ghulam AhmadSheikh and the then PatwariHalqa , Kakpora, Abdul RazakWagey have been named inthe FIR.

In addition, private per-sons named in the FIR areAhmad Pandith, Nabi Naikoo,Mohammad Amin Pandith,Dr Farhat Pandith, Abdul

Majid Sheikh and GhulamRasool Wani.

The accused have beenbooked under Section 120-B(criminal conspiracy) of theRanbir Penal Code and rele-vant provisions of thePrevention of Corruption Act.

“In pursuance of the J&KHigh Court, FIR No 29/2015OF Police Station-VOK, nowACB, J&K is re-registered,”reads the FIR.

An audit report of thePrincipal Accountant General(Audit) alleged irregularitiescommitted in the transfer ofland under the Roshni scheme.The report revealed that theoff icers and off icials ofRevenue department ofPulwama have by abuse and

misuse of their official positionas public servants conferredundue pecuniary benefit uponthe illegal occupants of stateland by arbitrarily fixing theprice of land which was lowerthan the prevailing marketrate of the area, incorrectapplication of rates and unau-thorised change of classifica-tion of land from residential toagricultural.

Verification revealed thatthe ownership rights of thestate land measuring sixKanals, 10 Marlas and fourSirsai was transferred in thename of the six accused per-sons under Jammu andKashmir State Land (vesting ofownership) Act, 2001, itadded.

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Former Union Minister PChidambaram on Saturday

hit out at the Centre over theimpasse on the farm laws, alleg-ing that “no one” was consultedfor the legislations, and assert-ed that the only way out for theGovernment was to agree tostart on a “clean slate”. Hisremarks came a day after theCentre asked protesting farmersto form an informal group toprepare a concrete proposalabout their objections and sug-gestions on the farm laws for fur-ther discussion at their nextmeeting on January 19 to endthe long-running protest at var-ious Delhi borders.

The protesting farmerunions, however, stuck to theirmain demand of a completerepeal of the three legislations.In a series of tweets,Chidambaram said that asexpected, another round of talksbetween the farmers and gov-ernment has failed.

The fault lies with theGovernment because it will notagree to get rid of the disputedlaws, the former Union minis-ter said. “RTI responses haveexposed as a lie the government’s

claim that there were extensiveconsultations before the FarmLaws Ordinances were promul-gated. The truth is that no onewas consulted. In particular,state governments were notconsulted,” he alleged.

The only way out of theimpasse is for the government toadmit its mistake and agree tostart on a clean slate,Chidambaram said. Thousandsof farmers, mostly from Haryanaand Punjab, have been protest-ing at several border points ofDelhi since November 28 lastyear, demanding a repeal of thethree laws and a legal guaranteeto the minimum support price(MSP) system for their crops.

Enacted in September lastyear, the three laws have beenprojected by the Centre as majorreforms in the agriculture sectorthat will remove middlemen andallow farmers to sell their pro-duce anywhere in the country.

However, the protestingfarmers have expressed theirapprehension that the new lawswould pave the way for elimi-nating the safety cushion of theMSP and do away with the“mandi” (wholesale market) sys-tem, leaving them at the mercyof big corporates.

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To promote toy manufac-turing among domestic

players, particularly amongrural entrepreneurs, theCommon Service Centre(CSC), an SPV under theMinistry of Electronics andIT Ministry, has joined handswith the All India Council forTechnical Education (AICTE)to organise ‘Toycathon-2021’.

“Toycathon-2021 is aimedat understanding the creativi-ty among start-ups in ruralareas, students and profes-sionals for developing andmanufacturing toys. It is aunique opportunity for stu-dents, teachers, start-ups andtoy experts/professionals inIndia to submit their innovativetoys/games concepts and winprizes worth Rs.50 lakhs,” saidCSC Managing Director DrDinesh Tyagi.

Toycathon-2021 is aninter-ministerial initiativeinvolving six ministries.Organised by the Ministry ofEducation’s Innovation Cellwith support from AICTE,the initiative is being support-ed by the Ministry of Womenand Child Development,Ministry of Commerce andIndustry, Ministry of MSME,Ministry of Textiles andMinistry of Information and

Broadcasting.Toycathon-2021 will be

conducted through CSCAcademy, an arm of CSC, at6,000 block and taluka levelwhere CSC Academies arepresent. “CSC Academy, a not-for-profit society which deliv-ers specialized courses/trainingprogrammes, and promotesentrepreneurship among therural masses, is best suited for

this unique initiative due to itsreach and expertise.

CSC Academies are beingutilised to create awareness,promote and conductToycathon-2021 in rural areas.The new concepts of toys gen-erated from Tyocathon-2021might also be useful in solvingour societal problems,” saidTyagi, who is also Secretary ofthe CSC Academy.

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Traders’ body CAIT onSaturday filed a petition in

the Supreme Court, making aplea to direct WhatsApp towithdraw its new privacy pol-icy

The body issued a state-ment claiming that the newWhatsApp privacy policyencroaches upon various fun-damental rights of the citizens.

About the petition, thetraders’’ body said it “has alsoprayed that Union of Indiamust frame guidelines to gov-ern big technology companieslike WhatsApp and frame poli-cies which would protect theprivacy of citizens and busi-nesses”.

“The Confederation of AllIndia Traders (CAIT) hastoday filed a petition in theSupreme Court with the prayerto direct WhatsApp to with-draw its new privacy policy,which is encroaching uponvarious fundamental rights ofthe citizens granted byConstitution of India,” thestatement said.

Meanwhile, WhatsApp hasannounced delaying by threemonths the implementationof the new privacy policy thathas faced a massive backlash

with tens of millions of its usersmoving from the platform torivals like Signal and Telegram.

The policy change wasoriginally scheduled to comeinto effect on February 8, theFacebook-owned companysaid.

It has clarified that theupdate does not affect datasharing with Facebook withregard to personal conversa-tions or other profile infor-mation and only addressesbusiness chats in the event auser converses with a compa-ny’’s customer service plat-form through WhatsApp.

“The petition especiallyhighlights the difference ofapproach in EU and Indiacountries with respect to theprivacy policy of WhatsAppand how the data of Indianusers can be misused by suchbig tech companies,” CAITsaid.

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The Supreme Court hasimposed a fine of�25,000

on Gujarat for wasting judicialtime, irked over the “lethargyand incompetence” of thestate government in filing apetition before it after a delayof over a year.

A bench, headed byJustice Sanjay Kishan Kaul,pulled up the state forapproaching the apex court ina “casual manner” and dis-missed the plea on the groundof delay.

It observed that such kindof “certificate cases” are filedwith the only objective toobtain a quietus from the topcourt on the ground thatnothing could be donebecause the highest court haddismissed the appeal.

The petition was filed inthe the top court by the stategovernment after a delay of427 days against an order ofthe Gujarat High Court passedin March 2019 in a case.

“The objective is to com-plete a mere formality andsave the skin of the officerswho may be in default in fol-lowing the due process ormay have done it deliberate-ly. We have deprecated suchpractice and process and wedo so again.

“We refuse to grant suchcertificates and if the govern-ment suffers losses, it is timewhen concerned officersresponsible for the same bearthe consequences,” said thebench, also comprisingJustices Dinesh Maheshwariand Hrishikesh Roy.

“The irony, emphasisedby us repeatedly, is that noaction is ever taken against theofficers and if the court push-es it, some mild warning is allthat happens,” the bench saidin its order passed earlier thisweek.

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Former president of theSupreme Court Bar

Association (SCBA) andsenior advocate Vikas Singhon Saturday requested ChiefJustice S A Bobde to constitutea bench to resolve the electionstalemate of the professionalbody of lawyers.

He said Dushyant Dave,who resigned from the post ofSCBA president on Thursday,was to constitute the electioncommittee in the first week ofNovember last year as theterm of the executive com-mittee was ending onDecember 13.

“He delayed the decisionby a month. Even after decid-ing on December 4, hedelayed communicating tothe election committee byanother week. When the EChad already decided to con-duct the election virtually,there was no occasion forhim to call an EC to ratify theelection committee decision ofappointing NSDL,” Singh saidin a letter to the RegistrarGeneral of the SupremeCourt.

“If a hybrid mode (of elec-tion) was what they wanted,they should have decided onDecember 4. Now asking theelection committee to deferthe election to third week ofFebruary is again an attemptby Dave to prolong his tenuretill then creating a drama ofresignation and then makingthe EC to reject his decision toresign,” the letter stated.

The senior lawyer said allthe three members of the theelection committee resignedon Friday night as the SCBArefused to accept its decisionto hold elections throughNSDL, a digital firm.

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Nepal does not acceptinterference in its

domestic politics as it is capa-ble of handling its internalproblems, Nepalese ForeignMinister Pradeep KumarGyawali said on Saturday, incomments that came againstthe backdrop of China wad-ing into the political turmoilin the Himalayan nation fol-lowing the dissolution of itsparliament.

Gyawali’s assertion cameat a media interaction whenasked about China’s attemptto play a role in the after-math of fast-paced politicaldevelopments in Nepal lastmonth.

“We never accept inter-ference in our domestic pol-itics. We are able to settleour own problems. As aclose neighbour, there maybe some concerns or ques-tions but we never accept

interference,” the Nepaleseforeign minister said.

Nepal plunged into apolitical turmoil followingPrime Minister K P SharmaOli’s sudden decision to dis-solve parliament and callfor fresh elections in view ofinternal feud in the rulingNepal Communist Party(NCP).

As the crisis deepened,China rushed a high-levelte am he ade d by ViceMinister of the InternationalD ep ar t ment of t heCommunist Party of China(CPC) Guo Ye zhou toKathmandu to hold talkswith the rival factions with-in the NCP after the Chineseambassador in the countryfailed to sort out differ-ences.

The team held talks withalmost all top Nepalese lead-ers but had to return emptyhanded. The Chinese med-dling in Nepalese politicaldevelopments triggered strong

criticism within Nepal.Gyawali said Nepal’s rela-

tions with both India andChina are excellent and that itnever compares ties with eachother.

Asked about the politicalcrisis and role of NCP leaderPushpa Kamal Dahal who ispopularly known asPrachanda, Gyawali refused tomake any direct commentand said as foreign minister ofthe country, he representseveryone in Nepal.

At the same time, theNepalese foreign minister jus-tified Oli’s decision to dissolveparliament saying he followedthe democratic principle ofseeking fresh mandate fromthe people whose decisions aresupreme in a democracy.

“In democracy, people arethe final authority to decideabout who will govern. I thinkdissolution of the parliamentis a reflection of the internalissue. It is not wise to blameanybody,” Gyawali said.

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Days after booking its fourpersonnel for allegedly

receiving bribe to compromiseon investigation against com-panies accused of bank fraud,the CBI has suspended two ofthem —Inspector KapilDhankad and StenographerSamir Kumar Singh — and rec-ommended administrativeaction against the other two.

Officials said on Saturdaythat the agency has recom-mended to the Department ofPersonnel and Training to ini-tiate administrative actionagainst deputy superintendentsof police R K Rishi and R KSangwan.

The Department ofPersonnel and Training is thenodal ministry for the CBI,they said.

According to the chargeslevelled in the eight-page FIR,made public on Friday after thecompletion of a search opera-tion by the agency, InspectorDhankad received bribe moneyfrom Sangwan and Rishi, whowere soliciting favours forShree Shyam Pulp and BoardMills, accused in a Rs 700-crorebank fraud case, and FrostInternational, accused in a Rs3,600-crore bank fraud case.

The CBI has booked itsfour personnel, besides twoadvocates, Additional Directorof Shree Shyam Pulp and BoardMills Mandeep Kaur Dhillonand Directors of FrostInternational Sujay Desai andUday Desai.

“The CBI has a zero tol-erance policy towards corrup-tion, be it other departments orwithin the organisation. Thecase is a result of strict vigil andaction on any input whichindicates involvement of ourofficials in corrupt practice,” anofficial said.

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The Centre on Saturday saidbird flu in poultry has been

confirmed in nine districts ofMaharashtra, while cullingoperation in poultry is under-way in one district each inMadhya Pradesh andChhattisgarh. Apart from poul-try, the viral disease has beenconfirmed in crow inUttarakhand, Gujarat and UttarPradesh, while in pigeon,brown fish owl and Heron inDelhi.

The Ministry of AnimalHusbandry on Saturday saidthat Avian Influenza has beenconfirmed in Chhatarpur dis-trict of Madhya Pradesh(crow); Surat, Navsari andNarmada districts of Gujarat(crow); Dehradun district ofUttarakhand (crow); Kanpurdistrict of Uttar Pradesh (crow).Additionally, in Delhi, Pigeonand brown fish owl inNajafgarh and Heron in Rohinihave tested positive for avianinfluenza. “Till 16 January,

2021 cases of Avian Influenzahave been confirmed in poul-try in Latur, Parbhani, Nanded,Pune, Solapur, Yavatmal,Ahmednagar, Beed and Raigaddistricts of Maharashtra,” itsaid.

However, the ministryagain requested state govern-ments to “rethink” their deci-sions to impose ban sale ofpoultry products and allowsale of poultry items sourcedfrom the non-infectedareas/states.

As per the report, receivedfrom Central PoultryDevelopment OrganisationMumbai, unusual mortality ofpoultry have been found in thefarm. The samples have beensent to the designated labora-tory for testing.

The ministry has againasked the states to rethinktheir decisions to impose banon sale of poultry and poultryproducts and allow selling ofpoultry and poultry productssourced from the non-infectedareas/States.

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There will be no letup in theintense cold and dense to

very dense fog conditions in thenorth and north western partsof the country at least the nextthree to four days. Dense tovery dense fog over north andcentral India has delayed sev-eral trains and rescheduledflights in Delhi, Amritsar andLucknow on Saturday due topoor to zero visibility.

According to the IndiaMeteorological Department(IMD), zero visibility wasreported over Delhi, Lucknowand Amritsar due to variableand calm lower-level windson Saturday. “Zero visibilityshown over Delhi, Lucknowand Amritsar...,” the IMD saidin a tweet. This is the third timeduring this winter season thatthe visibility has dropped tozero in several cities. Densefog-induced low visibility con-ditions led to delay of over 40flights from the Indira GandhiInternational Airport (IGIA)here on Saturday. According toairport sources, poor visibilityconditions and non-compli-ant CAT III B trained pilots ledto the delays.

According to IMD,Ludhiana, Patiala, Karnal andAligarh reported visibility-50meters each at 5.30 pm onSaturday and Bahraich,Gangtok, Cooch Behar-200each. As regards Delhi andSafdarjung have reported visi-bility 500 meters while visibil-ity in Palam was reported1000meters.

The dense fog is likely topersist on Sunday and Mondayas well. “Dense to very densefog at some/many pockets verylikely over Punjab, Haryana,Chandigarh & Delhi, UttarPradesh, north Rajasthan; atisolated pockets over Sub-Himalayan West Bengal &Sikkim, Bihar during the next

two-three days,” the IMD said.“This will also lead to

dense fog conditions with vis-ibility at below 200 metres inthe morning hours, which canimpact the transport and powersectors,” it said.

Due to the prevalence ofdry north and north-westerlywinds, minimum temperaturesare likely to fall by 2-4 degreesover most parts of northwestIndia during the next two days.The cold and chilly winter thisyear is due to the prevailing LaNina condition which is aweather phenomenon causeddue to the cooling of the PacificOcean. This has led to the dropin temperature and long spellsof cold. Also, the western dis-turbances brought rains andsnowfall in the first week ofJanuary which has also impact-ed the weather.

Kuldeep Srivastava, head ofregional forecasting at theRegional MeteorologicalDepartment in Delhi, said thattemperatures will begin to risefrom January 19. “The La Ninaconditions will persist till thefirst week of February 2021. Weexpect day temperatures togradually increase fromJanuary-end which will givesome respite to people,” hesaid.

Dense fog also added toextreme cold in Jammu &Kashmir on Saturday, and theweather office forecast nomajor change during the next

five days in the prevailingweather conditions. Srinagarcity — the summer capitalofJammu and Kashmir --recorded a low of minus 8.2degrees Celsius, down fromminus 7.6 degrees Celsius theprevious night.

Cold wave conditions pre-vailed in Punjab and Haryanaon Saturday, with Bathindaregistering a minimum tem-perature of 4 degrees Celsius.Among other places in Punjab,Amritsar, Ludhiana and Patialabraved the chill at 6.5, 7.8 and6.7 degrees Celsius, respec-tively, up to three degreesabove normal.

In Uttar Pradesh, the low-est temperature in UttarPradesh was 2.6 degreesCelsius, recorded at Churkobservatory, while Jhansi reg-istered a high of 24.2 degreeCelsius -- the highest in thestate.

Cold wave conditions con-tinued in Himachal Pradeshwith Keylong shivering atminus 6.8 degrees Celsius.IMD has predicted dry butcold weather in the state tillJanuary 22. Tribal Lahaul andSpiti’s administrative centreKeylong continued to be thecoldest place in the state atminus 6.8 degrees Celsius,Shimla MeT centre directorManmohan Singh said. Kalpain Kinnaur district recorded alow of zero degrees Celsius, headded.

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With the RBI raising con-cern over the issuance of

zero coupon bonds for recap-italisation of public sectorbanks (PSBs), the FinanceMinistry is examining otheravenues for affordable capitalinfusion including setting up ofa Bank Investment

Company (BIC), sourcessaid. Setting up a BIC as a hold-ing company or a core invest-ment company was suggestedby the P J Nayak Committee inits report on ‘Governance ofBoards of Banks in India’.

The report recommendedtransferring shares of the gov-ernment in the banks to theBIC which would become theparent holding company of allthese banks, as a result of this,

all the PSBs would become‘limited’ banks. BIC will beautonomous and it will havethe power to appoint the boardof directors and make otherpolicy decisions about sub-sidiaries.

The idea of BIC, whichwill serve as a super holdingcompany, was also discussed atthe first Gyan Sangam bankers’retreat organised in 2014,sources said, adding it wasproposed that the holding com-pany would look into the cap-ital needs of banks and arrangefunds for them without gov-ernment support.

It would also look at alter-native ways of raising capitalsuch as the sale of non-votingshares in a bid to garner afford-able capital.

With this in place, the

dependence of PSBs on gov-ernment support would alsocome down and ease fiscalpressure.

To save interest burdenand ease the fiscal pressure, thegovernment decided to issuezero-coupon bonds for meetingthe capital needs of the banks.

The first test case of thenew mechanism was a capitalinfusion of Rs 5,500 crore intoPunjab & Sind Bank by issuingzero-coupon bonds of six dif-ferent maturities last year.These special securities withtenure of 10-15 years are non-interest bearing and valued atpar.

However, the ReserveBank of India (RBI) expressedconcerns over zero-couponbonds for the recapitalisation ofPSBs.

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The country’s largest privatesector lender HDFC Bank

on Saturday reported a 14.36per cent jump in consolidatednet profit to �8,760 crore forthe December quarter, drivenby a surge in core income.

At the standalone level,net profit for the three-monthperiod grew 18.09 per cent to�8,758.29 crore, on the back ofa 15.1 per cent growth in thecore net interest income at �16,317 crore. Its deposits grew19.1 per cent and the share oflow-cost current and savingsaccount deposits was 43 percent. HDFC Bank is the firstmajor lender to declare itsresults for the December quar-ter. This is also the maidenearnings declaration under

new chief executive and man-aging director SashidharJagdishan, who succeededAditya Puri as the head of thebank.The bank’s credit growthcame at 15.6 per cent, while thenet interest margin was 4.2 percent. The non-interest incomegrew 11 per cent to �7,443crore, largely on the back of again or revaluation in an invest-ment at �1,109 crore, whichstood at �676 crore in theyear-ago period.

The results showed animprovement in the asset qual-ity with the gross non-per-forming assets ratio stood at0.81 per cent of the total assetsas against 1.42 per cent in theyear-ago period and 1.08 percent at the end of the preced-ing September quarter, thebank said.If one were to

exclude the benefit of theSupreme Court order askingbanks not to classify stressduring the moratorium periodin NPA computation, theGNPA ratio would have beenat 1.38 per cent, it added.Itsoverall provisions and contin-gencies for the reporting quar-ter, which saw the economytrying to recover from thereverses of the pandemic, grewto �3,414 crore as against�3,043 crore in the year-agoperiod.

It held contingent provi-sions of �8,656 crore and float-ing provisions of �1,451 croreas of Dec 31.It said 0.5 per centof its �10.82 lakh crore inadvances have been restruc-tured under the special schemeannounced by the RBI to han-dle the COVID-related stress.

New Delhi:Newsprint cost hasjumped 20 per cent in the lastthree months due to demand-supply imbalance post pan-demic, prompting news pub-lishers to petition the govern-ment for waiver of 5 per centimport duty to help cut cost.

The industry has been hithard due to COVID-19 led dis-ruptions and the most news-

papers havestopped send-ing newspapersto rural areaswhere there isless than 50copies toreduce the dis-tribution cost,said the IndianN e w s p a p e rSociety (INS)President LAdimoolam.

In a repre-sentation to theF i n a n c eM i n i s t e r

Nirmala Sitharaman onThursday ahead of the forth-coming union budget, INS hassuggested to take steps as toreduce the customs duty onimport of newsprints, a stim-ulus package for the industry orat least to help the publicationsby releasing advertisement withan increased tariff of 50 percent “If working out a stimu-lus package for print media isdifficult at this juncture, DAVP(Directorate of Advertising andVisual Publicity) may pleaseconsider releasing advertise-ment for all its departments toall publications with anincreased tariff of 50 per cent,which would be highly helpfulfor the industry as a whole,” theINS representation said. It hasalso asked to extend the valid-ity of RNI (Registrar ofNewspapers for India)Circulation Certificates up toMarch 31, 2022 which willenable DAVP rates to remainthe same till next year.

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Traders’ body CAIT onSaturday filed a petition in

the Supreme Court, making aplea to direct WhatsApp towithdraw its new privacy pol-icy The body issued a statementclaiming that the newWhatsApp privacy policyencroaches upon various fun-damental rights of the citizens.

About the petition, thetraders’ body said it “has alsoprayed that Union of Indiamust frame guidelines to gov-ern big technology companieslike WhatsApp and frame poli-cies which would protect theprivacy of citizens and busi-

nesses”.“The Confederation of

All India Traders (CAIT) hastoday filed a petition in theSupreme Court with the prayerto direct WhatsApp to with-draw its new privacy policy,which is encroaching uponvarious fundamental rights ofthe citizens granted byConstitution of India,” thestatement said. Meanwhile,WhatsApp has announceddelaying by three months theimplementation of the newprivacy policy that has faced amassive backlash with tens ofmillions of its users movingfrom the platform to rivals likeSignal and Telegram.

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Reserve Bank of India (RBI)Governor Shaktikanta Das

on Saturday said the centralbank remains steadfast to takeany further measures as may berequired to support growthwithout compromising onfinancial stability.

Delivering the 39thPalkhivala Memorial Lecture,the governor said the principalobjective during the pandem-ic period was to support eco-nomic activity; and lookingback, it is evident that policiesof the RBI have helped in eas-ing the severity of the economicimpact of the pandemic.

“I would like to unam-biguously reiterate that theReserve Bank remains steadfastto take any further measures, asmay be necessary, while at thesame time remaining fullycommitted to maintainingfinancial stability,” he said.

In a bid to maintain finan-cial stability, Das emphasisedthe need for banks to raiseresources in advance as abuffer.

Going ahead, he said,

financial institutions in Indiahave to walk a tightrope in nur-turing the economic recoverywithin the overarching objec-tive of preserving long-termstability of the financial system.

The current COVID-19pandemic related shock willplace greater pressure on thebalance sheets of banks interms of non-performingassets, leading to erosion ofcapital, he said, adding build-ing buffers and raising capitalby banks – both in the publicand private sector – will be cru-cial not only to ensure creditflow but also to build resiliencein the financial system.

“We have advised all banks,large non-deposit takingNBFCs and all deposit-takingNBFCs to assess the impact ofCOVID-19 on their balancesheet, asset quality, liquidity,capital adequacy, and workout possible mitigation mea-sures, including capital plan-ning, capital raising, and con-tingency liquidity planning,among others,” he said.

Prudently, a few large pub-lic sector banks (PSBs) andmajor private sector banks

(PVBs) have already raisedcapital, and some have plans toraise further resources takingadvantage of benign financialconditions.“This process needsto be put on the fast track,” headded. The governor saidrecent experience across coun-tries during the pandemic sug-gest that banks, non-banks,financial markets and paymentsystems remain at the core offinancial stability issues, therewas a need to work much clos-er at the system in its entirety.

“In this sense, the overallobjective of financial stabilitypolicies should be closely inter-twined with the health of thereal economy,” he noted.

The financial stabilityneeds to be seen in a broaderperspective and must includenot just the stability of thefinancial system and price sta-bility but also ‘fiscal sustain-ability and external sector via-bility’, Das said.

Noting that good gover-nance will have to be support-ed by effective risk manage-ment functions and assurancemechanisms, he said banksand non-banking finance insti-

tutions need to identify risksearly, monitor them closelyand manage them effectively.

The risk managementfunction in banks and NBFCsshould evolve with changingtimes as technology becomesall-pervasive and should be insync with international bestpractices. In this context, instill-ing an appropriate risk culturein the organisation is impor-tant,” he said.

A robust assurance mech-anism by way of internal auditfunction was another impor-tant component of sound cor-porate governance and riskmanagement, Das said, addingit provides independent evalu-

ation and assurance to theBoard that the “operationswere performed in accordancewith set policies and proce-dures”.

He said the central bankhas already taken a number ofmeasures and would continueto do so.“Recent efforts in thisdirection were geared towardsenhancing the role and statureof compliance and internalaudit functions in banks byclarifying supervisor expecta-tions and aligning the guide-lines with best practices.

“Some more measures onimproving governance in banksand NBFCs are in the pipeline,”he said.

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As the Union Budget forFY21-22 nears, stockbro-

kers have sought rationalisationand streamlining of the struc-ture for the capital market.

The industry body stock-brokers Association of NationalExchanges Member of India(ANMI) has written to CentralBank Direct Taxation (CBDT)on doing away with the multi-

ple classification system forcalculating tax on capital mar-ket income.

In a statement, ANMInoted that financial marketsworldwide play an importantrole in garnering growth cap-ital for the economy. In theyears following the coronaviruspandemic, catalysing equitymarket participation will holdthe key to reviving India’s GDPgrowth, it added.

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Petrol and diesel pricesremained unchanged for

the second consecutive day onSaturday.

In the national capital,petrol was sold at the recordhigh level of Rs 84.70 per litre.Prices in Mumbai, Chennaiand Kolkata were Rs 91.32, Rs87.40 and Rs 86.15 per litre,respectively.

Across the country, pumpprice of petrol and dieselremained static on Saturday.

In Delhi, Mumbai,Chennai and Kolkata, dieselwas sold for Rs 74.88, Rs 81.60,Rs 80.19 and Rs 78.47 perlitre, respectively.

Auto fuel price rise was onhold for the last five days afterpetrol and diesel prices hadincreased on two successivedays last week on Wednesday

and Thursday taking gasolineto record high levels in Delhiwhile keeping prices very closeto record high levels in othermetro cities.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Saturday

announced the launch of Rs1,000-crore ‘Startup India SeedFund’ to support startups andhelp budding entrepreneurspursue innovative ideas.

Addressing the ‘Prarambh:Startup India InternationalSummit’, Modi exuded confi-dence that the growth of star-tups will help in generating jobsand improving lives of peoplein the region.

“In order to provide initialcapital for startups, the nationis launching a Rs 1,000 croreStartup India Seed Fund. Thiswill help in setting up new star-tups and promote theirgrowth,” the Prime Ministersaid.

The summit marked thefifth anniversary of the StartupIndia initiative launched byModi on this day in 2016.

The government, Modiadded, has been implementingthe Fund of Fund Scheme tohelp startups raise equity cap-ital. Going forward, the gov-ernment will also help startupsin raising debt capital, headded. India, the PrimeMinister said, is home to theworld’s third largest startupecosystem which has helpedseveral budding entrepreneursto come up with innovativetechnologies and become bigcorporations.

He further said that star-tups in India are not limited tobig cities and about 40 per centof such budding entrepreneursare coming from tier-II and -III cities. Modi said in 2014there were only four startups inthe unicorn club, but todaythere are more than 30.

He informed that 11 star-tups entered the unicorn clubin 2020 itself. India is theworld’s third largest startupecosystem. There are over41,000 startups in the country.

Jaipur:Chief MinisterShri Ashok Gehlot saidthat due to efficientmanagement of coronaby the state govern-ment, limiting thenumber of Covidpatients in the state andintroduction of vaccinetoday is a happy coin-cidence. Just as we have fought thecorona in the best way with thecooperation of all, similarly wewill set an example by makingthis vaccination campaign asuccess. To ensure that the corona iscompletely eradicated despitethe vaccine, everyone shouldensure continued adherenceto other health protocols,including masking, social dis-tancing, and more.

Shri Gehlot was addressingthe state-level inaugurationceremony of corona vaccina-tion through video conferenceat the Chief Minister’s residenceon Saturday. On this occasion

simultaneous vaccination wasstarted at 167 sites in the state.Along with Dr. SudhirBhandari, Principal of SMSMedical College, doctors ofmajor medical institutes gotvaccinated on these sites on thefirst day. The CM congratulat-ed all the scientists, experts andother personnel associated withpreparing the vaccine in ashort time and said that every-one is proud of them. He saidthat this vaccine, which cameafter many trials and investi-gations, would help us in con-quering the corona.

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Washington: US President-elect Joe Biden has announcedan ambitious goal of inoculat-ing 100 million of total 331 mil-lion Americans with Covid-19vaccines in the first 100 days ofhis administration, noting thevaccine rollout in the country,the worst hit by the pandemic,has been a “dismal failure.”

Ahead of his inaugurationon January 20, Biden on Fridayheld a briefing with his team onaddressing the major healthcrisis that has engulfed thenation for nearly a year now.

The US is the worst-affect-ed country in the world withmore than 23,523,000 COVID-19 infections and 391,955deaths, according to the JohnsHopkins Coronavirus tracker.

During his election cam-paign, Biden, a Democrat,made tackling COVID-19 andthe economic hardships it hadput on Americans a core pitchto voters.

“The vaccine rollout in theUnited States has been a dismalfailure thus far and in today’sbriefing we discussed fivethings, five things we will do inan attempt to turn things

around, five things to turnfrustration into motivation,five things to help us meet ourgoal of 100 million shots by theend of our first 100 days inoffice. Some wonder if we arereaching too far for that goal.Is it achievable? It’s a legitimatequestion to ask,” Biden toldreporters in Wilmington,Delaware.

“Let me be clear; I am con-vinced we can get it done, andthis is the time to set big goalsto pursue them with courageand conviction because thehealth of the nation is literallyat stake. First, we will imme-

diately work with states toopen up vaccinations to morepriority groups,” he said.

Biden said that the processof establishing priority groups isdriven by science, but the prob-lem is the implementation hasbeen too rigid and confusing.

“If you were to ask mostpeople today, they couldn’t tellyou who exactly is gettingvaccinated. What they doknow is there are tens of mil-lions of doses of vaccine sittingunused in freezers around thecountry while people whowant and need the vaccinecan’t get it,” he said. PTI

Washington: Outgoing US VicePresident Mike Pence has calledhis soon-to-be successorKamala Harris to congratulateher and offer his full co-opera-tion in the transition of power,according to multiple mediareports said.

However, there has been nocommunication between out-going President Donald Trumpand president-elect Joe Biden,which is unprecedented inrecent memory.

“Vice President Mike Pencetelephoned Vice President-electKamala Harris Thursday tocongratulate her and offer hisbelated assistance — filling aleadership role all but abdicat-ed by President Trump, who isplanning to fly out of the capi-tal shortly before Joseph RBiden Jr is sworn in next week,”The New York Times reported.

Friday’s call was the firsttime Pence, 61, and Harris, 56,had an one-to-one conversationsince their vice presidentialdebate in October last year. Itwas also the first direct contactbetween the two leaders sincethe November 3 presidential

election.The traditional in-person

meeting between the outgoingpresident and the president-elect has not happened. Same isthe case with the outgoing vicepresident and his successor.

In a rare departure from thetradition, Trump hasannounced that he will notattend Biden’s inauguration onJanuary 6. Trump would departthe White House for his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida justbefore the inauguration.

Though Trump has stillrefused to actually concede his2020 election loss to Biden, hepromised that a “peaceful tran-sition” of power would takeplace.

He was impeached onWednesday for inciting theCapitol Hill riot that stemmedfrom his unsubstantiated claimsof voter fraud. The deadly insur-rection at the Capitol on January6 by Trump’s supporters, whounsuccessfully tried to stopCongress from certifying Biden’swin, resulted in the deaths offive people, including a policeofficer. PTI

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Terre Haute (US): The Trumpadministration has carried outits 13th federal execution sinceJuly, an unprecedented runthat concluded just five daysbefore the inauguration ofPresident-elect Joe Biden — anopponent of the federal deathpenalty.

Dustin Higgs, convictedin the killings of three womenin a Maryland wildlife refuge in1996, was the third to receivea lethal injection this week atthe federal prison in TerreHaute, Indiana.

President Donald Trump’sJustice Department resumedfederal executions last year fol-lowing a 17-year hiatus. Nopresident in more than 120years had overseen as manyfederal executions.

Higgs, 48, was pronounceddead at 1:23 am on Friday.

The number of federaldeath sentences carried out under Trump since 2020 is more than in the previous 56 years combined, reducingthe number of prisoners onfederal death row by nearly aquarter. AP

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ADallas-area real estateagent who is facing

charges for allegedly beingpart of the pro-PresidentDonald Trump mob thatstormed the U.S. Capitol lastweek said she’s a “normal per-son” who listened to her pres-ident.

Jenna Ryan, 50, is accusedof “knowingly” entering orremaining in the restrictedbuilding or grounds withoutlawful authority and disorder-ly conduct on Capitol groundson Jan. 6, according to a crim-inal complaint filed by the FBIin a Washington federal court.

Matt DeSarno, specialagent in charge of the FBIDallas office, confirmed thatRyan had turned herself in andthat her Carrollton apartmentwas searched Friday. No per-sonal telephone for Ryan wasavailable, and court recordsdidn’t list a lawyer for her as ofFriday.

Ryan shared photos andvideos on social media, includ-

ing a video in which she says,“We’re gonna go down andstorm the Capitol,” in front ofa bathroom mirror, accordingto the FBI criminal complaint.

The agent who signed thecomplaint also noted that Ryanlive-streamed a 21-minuteFacebook video of her and agroup walking toward theCapitol.

“We are going to (exple-tive) go in here,” Ryan said inthe video as she approachedthe top of the stairs on the westside of the Capitol building.“Life or death, it doesn’t mat-ter. Here we go.” She thenturned the camera to exposeher face, the complaint noted,and said, “Y’all know who tohire for your Realtor, JennaRyan for your Realtor.”

Nearly halfway through,Ryan appears to have made itto the front door, chanting,“USA, USA” and “Here we are,in the name of Jesus.” In aninterview with KTVT-TV inFort Worth, Ryan said shehoped that Trump would par-don her.

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Berlin: Germany, France andBritain pressed Iran on Saturdayto back off the latest plannedviolation of its 2015 nuclear dealwith world powers, saying thatTehran has “no credible civilianuse” for uranium metal.

The International AtomicEnergy Agency said ThursdayIran had informed it that it hadbegun installing equipment forthe production of uraniummetal. It said Tehran maintainsits plans to conduct researchand development on uraniummetal production are part of its“declared aim to design animproved type of fuel.”

Uranium metal can also beused for a nuclear bomb, how-ever, and research on its pro-duction is specifically prohib-ited under the nuclear deal —the so-called JointComprehensive Plan of Action

— that Tehran signed withGermany, France, Britain,China, Russia and the UnitedStates in 2015.

Since the unilateralAmerican withdrawal from thedeal in 2018, the other mem-bers have been working to pre-serve the accord. Iran has beenusing violations of the deal toput pressure on the other sig-natories to provide more incen-tives to Iran to offset cripplingAmerican sanctions re-imposedafter the US pullout.

A joint statement from theGerman, French and Britishforeign ministries said theyare “deeply concerned” by thelatest Iranian announcement.

“Iran has no credible civil-ian use for uranium metal,” itsaid. “The production of urani-um metal has potentially gravemilitary implications.” AP

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Tehran: Iran’s paramilitaryRevolutionary Guard conduct-ed a drill Saturday launchinganti-warship ballistic missiles ata simulated target in the IndianOcean, state television reported,amid heightened tensions overTehran’s nuclear programmeand a US pressure campaignagainst the Islamic Republic.

Footage showed two mis-siles smash into a target thatIranian state television describedas “hypothetical hostile enemyships” at a distance of 1,800 kilo-meters (1,120 miles). The reportdid not specify the type of mis-siles used.

In the first phase of the drillFriday, the Guard’s aerospacedivision launched surface-to-surface ballistic missiles anddrones against “hypotheticalenemy bases.” Iranian state tele-vision described the drill as

taking place in the country’s vastcentral desert, the latest in aseries of snap exercises calledamid the escalating tensionsover its nuclear programme.Footage also showed fourunmanned, triangle-shapeddrones flying in a tight forma-tion, smashing into targets andexploding. Tensions betweenWashington and Tehran haveincreased amid a series of inci-dents stemming from PresidentDonald Trump’s unilateral with-drawal from Iran’s nuclear dealwith world powers.

Amid Trump’s final days aspresident, Tehran has recentlyseized a South Korean oil tankerand begun enriching uraniumcloser to weapons-grade levels,while the US has sent B-52bombers, the USS Nimitz air-craft carrier and a nuclear sub-marine into the region. AP

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Kampala: Uganda’s electoralcommission says longtimePresident Yoweri Museveni haswon a sixth term while topOpposition challenger BobiWine alleges rigging and offi-cials struggle to explain howpolling results were compiledamid an internet blackout.

In a generational clashwidely watched across theAfrican continent, with abooming young populationand a host of aging leaders, the38-year-old singer-turned-lawmaker Wine posed arguablythe greatest challenge yet toMuseveni. He had strong sup-port in urban centers wherefrustration with unemploy-ment and corruption is high.

The electoral commissionsaid Museveni received 58% ofballots and Wine 34%, andvoter turnout was 52%.

The top United States

diplomat to Africa has calledthe electoral process “funda-mentally flawed.”

Thursday’s vote followedthe East African country’sworst pre-election violencesince the 76-year-old Musevenitook office in 1986. Wine andother opposition candidateswere often harassed, and morethan 50 people were killed

when security forces put downriots in November over Winesarrest. Wine petitioned theInternational Criminal Courtthis month over alleged tortureand other abuses by securityforces.

While the president holdson to power, at least 15 of hisCabinet ministers, includingthe vice president, were voted

out, with many losing to can-didates from Wines party, localmedia reported.

Wine claimed victoryFriday, asserting that he hadvideo evidence of vote-riggingand saying “every legal optionis on the table” to challenge theofficial election results, includ-ing peaceful protests.Candidates can challenge elec-tion results at the SupremeCourt.

Hours later, he tweetedthat the military had enteredhis home compound and “weare in serious trouble,” which amilitary spokeswoman denied.Wine, whose real name isKyagulanyi Ssentamu, wasroughed up and arrested sev-eral times while campaigningbut was never convicted, andeventually he campaignedwearing a flak jacket and saidhe feared for his life.

A heavy presence of secu-rity forces remained around hishome, where he has said he wasalone with his wife and a sin-gle security guard. AP

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Dakar: A United Nationspeacekeeper from Egypt waskilled in Mali’s northern Kidalregion on Friday, and anotherwas seriously injured, aftertheir vehicle hit an explosivedevice during a logistics con-voy, the UN said.

It brought the toll to fiveUN peacekeepers killed in

northern Mali in just a week.Another explosive device

was found at the scene inTessalit and disabled, the UNmission in Mali said late Friday.

UN Secretary-GeneralAntonio Guterres on Saturdaystrongly condemned the attackand said attacks against peace-keepers may constitute war

crimes, spokesman StephaneDujarric said.

Four peacekeepers fromIvory Coast died from animprovised explosive deviceand an attack Wednesday byunidentified gunmen in theTimbuktu region.

The UN said six werewounded. AP

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Berlin: Chancellor AngelaMerkel’s center-right party onSaturday chose ArminLaschet, the pragmaticGovernor of Germany’s mostpopulous state, as its newleader — sending a signal ofcontinuity months before anelection in which voters willdecide who becomes the newchancellor.

Laschet defeated FriedrichMerz, a conservative and one-time Merkel rival, at an onlineconvention of the ChristianDemocratic Union. Laschetwon 521 votes to Merz’s 466;a third candidate, prominentlawmaker Norbert Roettgen,was eliminated in a first roundof voting.

Saturday’s vote isn’t thefinal word on who will run as

the center-right candidate forchancellor in Germany’s Sept.26 election, but Laschet willeither run for chancellor orwill have a big say in who does.

Merkel, who has beenchancellor since 2005,announced in late 2018 thatshe wouldn’t seek a fifth term.She also stepped down fromthe CDU leadership.

The decision ends an 11-month leadership limbo inGermany’s strongest partyafter outgoing leader AnnegretKramp-Karrenbauer, who hadfailed to impose her authori-ty on the party, announced herresignation. A vote on her suc-cessor was delayed twicebecause of the coronaviruspandemic.

There had been no clear

favorite going into Saturday’sconvention, but the election ofMerz would have marked atleast a symbolic break with theMerkel era. Laschet will nowhave to work to strengthenparty unity — somethingKramp-Karrenbauer struggledwith.

Laschet, 59, was elected in2017 as governor of NorthRhine-Westphalia state, a tra-ditionally center-left strong-hold. He governs the region ina coalition with the pro-busi-ness Free Democrats, theCDU’s traditional ally on theright, but would likely be ableto work smoothly with a moreliberal partner, too.

Laschet pointed Saturdayto the value of continuity andmoderation. AP

Cairo: Sudanese authorities onSaturday imposed a round-the-clock curfew in the entireWest Darfur province aftertribal clashes between Arabsand non-Arabs killed at leastsix people and wounded atleast 28 others.

Gov. Mohammed Abdallaal-Douma said the curfewbegan Saturday and wouldlast until further notice, andincludes the closure of allmarkets and a ban on gather-ings across the province. Al-Douma also granted securityforces and soldiers a mandateto use force to control the sit-uation, according to decreesobtained by The AssociatedPress.

The violence comes twoweeks after the U.N. SecurityCouncil ended the joint U.N.-African Union peacekeepingforce’s mandate in the Darfurregion, following pressurefrom Sudan’s transitional gov-ernment, Russia and otherAfrican nations. The Darfurregion remains scarred by warafter a rebellion in the early2000s was brutally suppressed.

The clashes erupted Fridayin Genena, West Darfur’sprovincial capital, when a manwas killed at a market in theKrinding camp for internallydisplaced people. AP

Islamabad: A team ofNepalese climbers on Saturdaymade history by scaling theworld’s second highest peak —Pakistan’s K2 — in the winterseason, a local Alpine Clubofficial said.

The secretary of Pakistan’sAlpine Club, Karrar Haideri,said 10 Nepali Sherpas reachedthe summit around 5 pm.

At 8,611 metres (28,251feet), K2 is the most prominentpeak on the Pakistani side ofthe Himalayan range, and theworld’s second tallest afterMount Everest. Winter windson K2 can blow at more than200 kilometers per hour (125miles per hour) and tempera-tures drop to minus 60 degreesCelsius (minus 76 Fahrenheit).

“This was never done byanyone before in winter,” saidHaideri.

He added that four inter-national climbing teams hadarrived about a month ago totry scaling K2 — the last peakabove 8,000 meters in theworld to not be climbed in thewinter. Of these dozens ofclimbers, the group of 10Nepalis have so far been theonly successful team, saidHaideri.

Since the maiden attemptback in 1988, just a handful ofwinter expeditions have beenattempted on the storied8,611-metre peak in theKarakoram range along theChinese border that leads intothe Himalayas.

Haideri said no moun-taineers had reached higherthan 7,750 metres, untilSaturday when fair weatherconditions allowed theclimbers to push ahead. AP

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Rohit Sharma’s indiscreet shotselection pegged India backafter rookie bowling attack

restricted Australia to 369 on a rain-curtailed second day of the fourthTest on Saturday.

With heavy thundershowerspreventing any play in the post teasession, India ended the day at 62for two.

Rohit was elegant as ever in his44 off 74 balls before Nathan Lyonin his 100th Test enticed him tocome down the track but the half-chip-half-loft was safely pouched byMitchell Starc in the deep.

India also lost Shubman Gill (7)who edged one off Pat Cummins toSteve Smith.

Cheteshwar Pujara (8) andAjinkya Rahane (2) added onlytwo runs in the 6.1 overs before thebreak.

There were six boundaries fromRohit but he did not fiddle at deliv-eries in and around the off-stumpchannel even as Cummins and JoshHazlewood bowled a testing spellunder overcast conditions.

The shot of the session was anon-drive off Cummins which cameafter a streaky boundary through theslips in the same over. Anotherdelightful stroke was an off-drive offCameron Green as 49 runs wereadded for the second wicket.

There wasn’t much swing onoffer but the pace off the track hasincreased compared to the first dayand it only helped that theAustralian pace attack is a more wellbuilt one with average speed beingat least 6-7 kmph more than theirIndian counterparts.

Pujara, at the other end wasplaying his usual ‘grinding out’game but it didn’t look too arduous

till Rohit kept the scoreboard tick-ing at the other end.

It wouldn’t be an over statementto say that among all top order bats-man across both sides, Rohit lookedthe most comfortable and till his dis-missal never looked like being trou-bled by the four-pronged attack.

However as has been his wontin SENA countries, Rohit just before

the tea break went after Lyon whenthe situation demanded that hecould have played for session-end.

It was very similar to his dis-missal off Moeen Ali at the strokeof tea during the 2014 series and thatwas also after being set in the mid-dle-order.

India, who have been forced tofield a depleted side won’t mind an

inclement weather which effective-ly makes the home team more jit-tery as a draw would be enough forAjinkya Rahane to lift the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

In the first session, India’s rook-ie bowling line-up did put up a lion-hearted effort, getting the last fivewickets for 95 runs.

Shardul Thakur (3/94) alongwith debutants Washington Sundar(3/89) and Thangarasu Natarajan(3/78) got the breakthroughs whileMohammed Siraj (28-10-77-1) gotone on the opening day.

For an attack as thin on expe-rience as India, the effort in adversetimes can only be commended.India lost five main bowlers throughthe three Test matches and wereforced to hand Test debuts toNatarajan and Washington.

Nathan Lyon (24 off 22 balls)and Mitchell Starc (20 off 35 balls)counter-attacked the inexperiencedIndian attack with a brisk 39-runpartnership to take Australia past350-run mark.

Going by statistics, Australiahave never lost a Test match at theGabba after scoring 350 in the firstinnings.

Resuming at 274 for five, TimPaine (50) and Cameron Green (47)extended their stand to 98 beforethe home team encountered a mini-collapse.

Thakur bowled a fuller deliverythat shaped away and Paine’s lazydrive without going to the pitch ofthe delivery saw Rohit Sharma takea regulation catch at the second slip.

Paine was just getting into thegroove with some good drives

when Thakur provided the break-through.

With the partnership broken,Green probably lost his concentra-tion as he played for the turn to an

angle delivery from Sundar whichstraightened after pitching andbreached through his defences.

Pat Cummins (2) was adjudgedleg before as he yorked himself to

a fuller delivery from Thakur asAustralia slumped from 311 for fiveto 315 for eight before the tailwagged once again to beef up thetotal.

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India’s vice-captain RohitSharma is extremely

impressed with ThangarasuNatarajan’s “solid character”and believes that the TamilNadu left-arm seamer is hereto stay with his insatiablehunger to succeed at the toplevel.

Natarajan, who came inas a net bowler, joined fellowrookies Mohammed Siraj,Washington Sundar andShardul Thakur to restrictAustralia to 369, whichaccording to Rohit is no

mean feat.“Natarajan bowled pret-

ty well, to be honest. Playingoutside the country (interna-tionals) for the first time andbowling to such batsmen, itwasn’t going to be easy andhe was not under any pres-sure,” Rohit said about thedebutant, who was the pickof the bowlers with 3/78 in24.2 overs.

“From ball one, he wasright up there. He showed a

lot of composure, is a strongcharacter who doesn’t speakmuch but we all know he hasa solid personality. He wantsto do well for the team andalso for himself. He is here tostay,” he said.

For Rohit, consideringthat cumulative experience ofthe bowling attack was fourTest matches, they need to belauded for keeping Australiaunder check on a good bat-ting wicket.

“Most of these guys areplaying first time in Australia.Siraj has played a couple ofgames and Saini played inSydney. Obviously, there’snot a lot of experience there.

“They showed a lot ofdiscipline and overall if Ihad to analyse the perfor-mance of these bowlers, Iwould say they bowled pret-ty well. It’s a good pitch still.This is a great experience forthem bowling against the

best batters, and test them-selves,” he said.

Rohit believes that eachand every youngster in thisset-up knows that with somuch competition for places,there aren’t too manychances that will be up forgrabs.

“Basically it boils downto where they are comingfrom. There is a lot of hungerto perform. You don’t get alot of opportunities at thislevel and we all know that. Sowhen you get an opportuni-ty, you have to make thatcount.”

It’s not every team thatcan restrict Australia to lessthan 400 hundred in sixcompleted innings and that’sa big credit to bowling unit.

“The A tours must havehelped. Shardul, Navdeepand Siraj have played a lot ofA team cricket. They knowhow difficult it can be inAustralia. Their understand-ing of conditions helpedthem.

“To not let Australiascore 400 is an achievementin itself. These tours theyhave done has helped themstay in control,” he said.

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Australia’s assistant coach AndrewMcDonald on Saturday praised

the highly inexperienced Indianbowling attack for the final Test andsingled out Washington Sundar, say-ing the young off-spinner filled theshoes of Ravichandran Ashwin “quitewell”.

Hit by a barrage of injuriesthrough the series, India pickeddebutants Washington (3/89) andmedium pacer T Natarajan (3/78) inthe playing eleven on Friday.

The duo was travelling with thesquad as net bowlers.

“I thought they (the Indianbowlers) were very consistent. Ithought Washington Sundar in par-ticular was disciplined and fill thatrole of Ravi Ashwin quite well andkept it tight and was able to take somekey wickets on the way,” McDonaldsaid at post-day conference.

“So, for me I suppose, he is abowler who controlled well thetempo of the game and I think itstood out for me.”

McDonald, who also coaches inthe IPL, was also impressed byNatarajan.

“...Natarajan shaped the ballearly, there is lot (to like) about him,left-arm swing bowler, no doubt heis inexperienced but has enoughplayed first-class games to be play hisfirst Test on this tour, (that) is a greatachievement, so I think they held

their own,” the 39-year-old said.The left-arm pacer had

impressed in the limited overs leg ofthe tour after making the Indian teamat the back of a stellar IPL.

Australia were bowled out for369 in the first session of the rain-cur-tailed second day. Like Washingtonand Natarajan, Shardul Thakur alsotook three wickets..

“They (Indian bowlers) appliedpressure throughout the innings andthey made (it) difficult for our-selves. Times when we felt we wouldget on the top, they were able tobounce back and get key wickets atcrucial times. It was great arm-wrestle, so full credit to their attack,”the Australian assistant coach said.

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Joe Root completed his fourthdouble century for England on

Saturday but insisted it will meannothing if his side cannot overcomea defiant Sri Lanka in the first Test.

The England captain made 228of his team’s 421 all out — 26 runsshort of his brilliant 254 career bestagainst Pakistan at Old Trafford in2016.

But Lahiru Thirimanne led SriLanka’s stubborn resistance, hittingan unbeaten 75 while Kusal Pereramade 62 as the home team reached156/2 in their second innings. Aftertheir disappointing 135 in the firstinnings, they need another 130 toreach England’s total.

Root’s 321 ball innings with a sixand 18 fours dominated the day. Ittook less than an hour in the open-

ing session to add the 32 runs to hisovernight total. He reached 200with a four off Lasith Emuldeniya.

While the empty Covid-19-stricken stadium meant that only his

teammates in the pavilion and a loneEngland fan watching from a near-by fort could applaud, the perfor-mance confirmed Root’s return as abatsman after a barren 2020 saw himfall to number 11 in the ICC rank-ings.

He had not reached three figuresin a Test since his 226 in NewZealand in November 2019.

But he indicated his disappoint-ment after seeing six wickets fall toSri Lanka’s bowlers in the morningsession and then the struggle by hisown attack.

Running out of partners, Rootwas the last man out, caught byEmuldeniya on the boundary as hewent for a six off Dilruwan Perera.

He saw fast bowler AsithaFernando take Jos Buttler (30) andSam Curran (0) with successiveballs.

In the next over Root hit hislandmark four then Dom Bess wasrun out as the tourists suffered a boutof nerves.

Perera also took Jack Leach andMark Wood in successive overs tofinish on four for 109 runs.

After their first innings collapse,Sri Lanka looked a different side inthe second.

Perera and Thirimanne made101 for the first wicket.

Perera took a fiery Mark Woodbouncer on his hand and needed atight bandage to continue. He even-tually gave a catch to Jack Leach onthe boundary off a wayward SamCurran delivery.

After four straight Test zerosKusal Mendis broke the spell andscored 15 patient runs before he gavea catch to wicketkeeper Jos Buttleroff Leach’s bowling.

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South Africa have always been adifficult opposition but Pakistan

will have the home advantage thistime as they host the visitors for thefirst time in nearly 14 years, said headcoach Misbah-ul-Haq.

Back from New Zealand after adisappointing tour which endedwith a 0-2 loss in the two-Testseries, Pakistan will now play twoTests against South Africa at Karachi(January 26-30) and Rawalpindi(February 4-8), followed by a three-match T20I series at Lahore, begin-ning from February 11.

“South Africa has never been aneasy side to beat, but them playingafter 13 years in Pakistan will be anadvantage for us, and we have a greatchance to improve our record againstthem,” Misbah said.

He said the two Test matches arepart of the ICC WorldChampionship and are very impor-tant for the home side which will tryto get maximum points out of it toimprove their position on the table.

“Playing at home ground isalways encouraging for the players,and it reflected in our performancesin the series against Sri Lanka andBangladesh last year,” Misbah said.

Pakistan won Tests against SriLanka and Bangladesh in late 2019

and early 2020 at home but have lostsuccessive away Test tours toAustralia, England and New Zealandleading to a criticism of the team’sperformances and selection policieswith Misbah under-fire.

Following their dismal tour ofNew Zealand, Pakistan’s new chiefselector Muhammad Wasim namednine uncapped players in a revamped20-member squad for the test seriesagainst South Africa.

“The series against South Africa

is an important one, and I am surethe players selected in the squad havethe potential and hunger to give bestresults in the series,” Misbah said.

The South African cricket team,which last toured Pakistan in late2007, arrived in Karachi on Saturday.

The visiting team’s head coachMark Boucher cautioned his team,saying his batsmen will face a toughtask against a “dangerous” side likePakistan.

“Pakistan is a dangerous side athome; we will have to come up witha proper strategy to beat them at theirown backyard,” the former wicket-keeper said.

“The wickets here in Pakistan arebatting friendly, and we are relyingon our batsmen to score runs. Theirconfidence will be high after scoringruns against Sri Lanka. Our fastbowlers will have to work very hardto get wickets.”

“Pakistan bowlers will havehome advantage, so this series will bea test for our batsmen, but once theyare successful in occupying thecrease, they will be able to scorefreely,” Boucher said. “We are excit-ed to play in Pakistan again, andexpect a great series ahead with allfocus on the game.”

South Africa had won the two-Test series 1-0 during their last tourof Pakistan in 2007.

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Punjab inched closer to a knockoutberth with a 10-wicket rout of Jammu

and Kashmir in a Group A game of the SyedMushtaq Ali Trophy here on Saturday, theirfourth win in a row.

Shubham Pundir top-scored with 42 totake J&K to 139 for eight in 20 overs.

Punjab made short of the target, can-tering to victory in 14.3 overs with open-ers Simran Singh (59 not out off 42) andAbhishek Sharma (73 not out off 46) shar-ing an unbeaten 140-run stand.

Sharma smashed half a dozen sixes andhis opening partner hit four of them.

Senior pacer Siddarth Kaul was the pickof the Punjab bowlers with four wicket for33 runs in four overs.

In other Group A games, Karnatakadefeated Railways for their third win in fourgames.

A struggling Uttar Pradesh recordedtheir first win of the tournament with nine-wicket victory over Tripura. Opener KaranSharma top scored for UP with an unbeat-en 68 off 36 balls. Suresh Raina tooremained unbeaten with 36 off 23 balls.

In Vadodara, Baroda too continuedtheir winning run by claiming a 60-run vic-tory over Maharashtra in an Elite 'C' Groupgame.

This is Baroda’s fourth win on the trotin the league stage after having defeatedUttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh andChhattisgarh in their first three outings.

Put in to bat, Baroda rode on stand-inskipper Kedar Devdhar’s stroke-filledunbeaten 99 off 71 balls to post a compet-

itive 158 for four.Right-arm medium pacer Atit Sheth

(4/17) then wreaked havoc to scuttle outMaharashtra for a meagre 98 and give histeam four full points.

Devdhar was handed the captaincy afterregular skipper Krunal Pandya left the bub-ble following his father’s demise.

In Group B match at Eden Gardens inKolkata, Assam pulled off an upset 13-runwin over Bengal while Tamil Nadu won itsfourth straight match to go top of the pointstable.

Bengal opted to field and saw the tal-ented Riyan Parag (77, 54 balls, 5 fours, 5sixes) help Assam put up a fighting 157 for5 in 20 overs. The visiting team restrictedBengal to 144 for 8.

In another match, skipper DineshKarthik (40 not out, 30 balls, 2X4, 2X6) andN Jagadeesan (78 not out, 51 balls, 4X4, 5X6)saw Tamil Nadu home against Hyderabadafter a brief stutter in the middle of theinnings.

Earlier, Hyderabad made 152 for 7 in20 overs thanks to contributions from BSandeep (41) and Pragnay Reddy (30) andlate hitting by C V Milind (30, 11 balls, 3sixes).

TN leads the group with 16 points afterfour consecutive wins followed by Bengal(12). The two teams face off on January 18with the top spot on the line.

As per the format of the tournament,the top ranked teams from each group(Five in Elite and 1 Plate) will qualify forthe knockout stage along with the nexttwo teams in Elite Groups A to E withthe most points.

Sydney: Sydney Cricket Ground officials have launchedan investigation after an Indian supporter alleged that hewas subjected to racial profiling and abuse by a securityofficer during the final day of the third Test againstAustralia.

The incident took place after Indian fast bowlerMohammed Siraj was allegedly racially abused by spec-tators on the third and fourth day of the drawn Test at SCG.

Sydney resident Krishna Kumar met Venues NSW legalpersonnel on Thursday to lodge an official complaint,accusing the security at the venue of racial profiling andunjustified frisking.

He informed the authorities that he felt “stripped andnaked” by his treatment on the final day of the third Test(January 11), according to a report in the Sydney MorningHerald.

Kumar, who attended three days’ play of the third Test,told Venues NSW that he was targeted after trying to carryfour banners reading: “Rivalry is good, racism is not”, “Noracism mate”, “Brown inclusion matters” and “CricketAustralia more diversity please”.

A security officer stopped Kumar, informing him thatthat one of the banners exceeded the permitted dimensions.

When he requested to speak to a security supervisor,Kumar was asked to leave.

“He told me, ‘If you need to address this matter, go backto where you belong’,” Kumar said.

Kumar said the official then told the junior guards to“make sure we give him a complete frisking when he getsback”.

“To me this a pure case of profiling. They changed theirentire formation so the guy next to the boundary is stand-ing right in front of me and facing me,” Kumar said.

“I want justice. I want accountability. I was feelingstripped, feeling watched and I went there to fight racism.

“Why should I be stopped from addressing racism, espe-cially at a ground where it was debatable whether it was hap-pening or not?,” he added. PTI

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Rohit Sharma understands thecriticism that his untimely

dismissal has invited but the Indiavice-captain has “no regrets” aboutgoing after Nathan Lyon, sayingthat’s his way of putting bowlersunder pressure.

Rohit looked in good touchduring his 44 off 74 balls but wasdismissed trying to loft Lyon overmid-wicket, the kind of shotsthat has often brought about hisdismissal even during earlier Testmatches.

“You always have a plan andI actually have no regret of play-ing that shot. It is something thatI always like to do — put pressureon bowlers. Nathan Lyon is asmart bowler and he bowled intome which made it difficult for meto get some elevation,” Rohit saidat the post-match virtual confer-ence.

His shot selection invited crit-icism from the commentary box.India were 62 for two at stumpswhen Rohit could have gone fora big score after a good start.

Rohit understands the disap-pointment but in his defencewould explain why he went forthat kind of a high-risk stroke.

“It’s not that it is (that shot)coming out of nowhere. It’s a shotthat I have played well in the past.

That’s something that I backmyself to play and that’s the kindof role I play in this team. Whenit looks like that, it looks bad, butI don’t think too much as my focusis to make it count once I am in,”he said.

“Having said that, there is aprocess I like to follow. Sometimesyou get out and sometimes it goesover the ropes. Unfortunate andsad dismissal in the end to be hon-est. Like I said, those are my shotsand I will keep playing them,” thesenior player was forthright abouthis mind-set.

As he has always maintained,he doesn’t have much time for hiscritics and would rather focus onthe role his team wants him toperform.

“The team has shown lot ofconfidence in me. It’s just that Ihave to do what the team expectsme to do and not worry aboutwhat happens anywhere else orwhat people talk about.”

On the match situation, Rohitsaid that although 369 at theGabba was a very good firstinnings score and there is no rea-son why India with two of theirmost seasoned campaigners at thecrease can’t match the home team’stotal on a good batting track.

“We have got solid batters tocome in now. Two of the mostexperienced players are still outthere in the middle. The pitch isgood and I don’t see any reasonwhy we can’t get to that total offirst innings.”

His advice for the batsmen isto play session by session ratherthan looking at the final total.

“We should focus on what’sthere in front of us rather thanthinking too far ahead. It’s a bigscore and we have to focus on ses-sions, take it as it comes. The pitchis playing good and we have toback ourselves. We have the guysto do it and I don’t see why we canbat well on day three,” he said.

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In 2013-14 racial attacks on NorthEasterners were common. We were moreoften than not referred to as Chinki orChinese. In 2014, a boy, Nido Taniam, waskilled for his hairstyle in Delhi. This shook

the conscience of the entire community, recallsShyam Kanu Mahanta

It was this incident that made Mahanta situp and take notice, egged on by other young-sters from the North Eastern states to do some-thing to bring about a positive change. Aftercareful thought, Mahanta, who after havingworked across the country had turned entrepre-neur, decided to start a festival that would repre-sent the distinct culture, food and more of theplace. Over the years his brainchild, the NorthEast Festival, has become a must-visit event onthe capital’s social calendar and in many waysrepresentative of the changes that are graduallyenveloping the perception about a region whichfor the longest of time was considered distant,different and inaccessible.

Powering this perception are several reasonswhich lie within the region as well as in the larg-er ecosystem of the country and the world.

�� Mahanta believes that while the new govern-

ment has undertaken several measures, it wasformer Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee whokick-started the effort of connecting North Eastto the rest of the country. “He travelled to theregion and then Manmohan Singh carried thisintegration forward when he became a Memberof Parliament from Assam. Though he was notvery vocal, this choice registered in the mindspace of people,” says Mahanta who runs MMSAdvisory Pvt Ltd, a consultancy for road con-struction, besides the festival which he is betterknown for.

Ranjit Das, President of the Tour OperatorsAssociation of Assam (TOAA), while talkingabout his industry pins the beginning of the risein tourist numbers to one particular decision.He says, “In 2009-10 the DoNER Minister ManiShanker Aiyer promoted tourism by persuadinggovernment officials to use their Leave TravelConcession to visit the region which led to ahuge surge of tourists in the North East.”

The changed political thought process,where there was focus on the region, meant thatconnectivity improved and development acceler-ated. Mahanta believes that the present govern-ment and especially the Prime Minister and theDoNER Minister Jitendra Singh’s attention hasbeen important in creating apositive impression amongpeople and has put the regionon the highway to develop-ment.

Riniki Bhuyan Sharma,Chairman and ManagingDirector, Pride EastEntertainments Pvt Ltd, aregional media house,agrees when she says, “WithModiji’s emphasis on develop-ment, investment has poured inand new avenues have opened up.”This naturally meant a positiveimpression all around.

� ��Earlier the perception with-

in the region of being neglect-ed, and often times exploited,by the Centre gave rise to insur-

gency. “People felt that in order to get evensomething as simple as a bridge or a refinerymeant that they had to struggle for it. The dis-tance from Indian mainland and mindset didn’thelp resulting in insurgency movements in 80sor 90s against the perceived discrimination ofthe region by the Centre,” says Mahanta whobelieves that the increased attention was instru-mental in bringing peace to the area.

Dr Parveez Ubed, CEO & Founder, ERC EyeCare (P) Limited which works towards democ-ratising digital health (eye) care for the people inIndia & South-East Asia points out that insur-gency affected business in different ways. “Itmeant that the offices were not operationalevery day which naturally led to erratic workconditions,” he says.

Mahanta says that with more peace hav-ing prevailed, the conditions in Guwahati arealmost similar to Delhi. “In fact, it is muchsafer for women. It has good restaurants, dis-cotheques, all the major brands and a lot of peo-ple are coming to work here. It’s very cosmopoli-tan. During insurgency people were scared offlaunting their wealth. Now they are buyingexpensive cars and splurging money which natu-rally helps the economy,” says Mahanta.

�� Smitakshi B Goswami, Director, Pratidin

Group which owns Asomiya Pratidin (thelargest circulated Assamese daily) and PratidinTime (a 24-hour Assamese news channel) saysthat the efforts of the state governments shoredup the remaining gap. “When Chief MinisterSarbananda Sonowal conducted Khelo India inJanuary last year, sports tourism got a fillip andpeople who came here saw the development aswell as the future potential of the place. Theinternational level stadiums were important inchanging the thought process of the people whocame from outside,” she says.

�� So, rather than the news of a flood or insur-

gency activities, there was positivity emanatingfrom the region which grabbed eyeballs. Whilethe ones who had visited the area saw thechange for themselves, there were still others

who were prompted to plan atrip because of the posi-

tive impression in themedia. Das says,

“During the TOAA’sannual convention, wediscussed the changingperception and dynamics

due to the print and elec-tronic media coverage. The

international audience becamemore aware of the different kinds of experiencesthat the region held out thanks to programmeson channels like National Geographic.” Roadshows and participation in travel fairs by touroperators created awareness among domesticand international tourists about the scenicbeauty of the region.

Moreover, the growth of social mediameant that potential travellers often got the

informa-tion from

people intheir own cir-

cle who hadbeen to theregion. “Livestreaming of a

destination cre-ates an impact like

no other. The trav-el industry too tapped

into the potential of the new media,”says Das.

�� Designer Jenjum Gadi, who calls

Delhi home, believes that the changehas been brought about primarily by theyoungsters. “We have faced a lot of

racism in metros and the youngstersworked on countering it by engaging in

discussions, both online and offline, aboutthe people, food and culture. This created

awareness and dispelled myths.” He hasnoticed a marked shift in the number of peo-ple wanting to travel to the region and beingmore tolerant of the food habits than theywere when he came from a remote village inArunachal Pradesh to the capital to study16 years back.

The fashion world was the one of thefirst industries to integrate people from the

North East since they have an inherent senseof style. “There are stylists, designers, graphicdesigners and more in the industry which, tobegin with, was always open,” feels Gadi.

Sharma believes that the new crop of young-sters has done their bit in bridging the gapwhich existed on both sides. “Slowly we are try-ing to assimilate ourselves in the mainstream.Earlier, people found a million reasons not toreturn to Guwahati after having studied orworked outside. It could be low salaries, stan-dard of living or opportunities,” she says andadds that media, like her channel, bring togetherall the eight states which, in turn, fuels newerideas for cooperation and development. “Weoften hear of stories of a boy from some remotearea developing software or something equallyamazing. There is no dearth of talent here. Withthe availability of internet, there is an exchangeof ideas and more exposure for the younger gen-eration. The basic education system has beenstrengthened. The economically independentyoung minds are applying their knowledgeeverywhere,” she says.

�� The entry of youngsters in tourism has

transformed the way even this industry operates.Das says, “About 20 colleges and universities inAssam offering a course on tourism came up inthe last four-five years. There are thousands ofstudents pursuing these courses and, when theygraduate, they are getting into different kinds ofactivities, exploring new destinations and look-ing at giving an authentic experience to tourist.People are now looking at tourism as an avenue

of income andemployment.”

Dr Ubed, who faced an uphilltask while setting up his company in

2013, recalls, “People were surprised asthey felt I was giving up a great career as

a doctor. Start-ups were not a badge of hon-our. It was very difficult to get mentors to

structure the business properly. I had to reachout to some friends in the US on Facebook whohelped me. When I started in Jorhat, the localchartered accountants were not sure about howto register a local company as they hadn’t done itbefore. Investors liked me, my idea and theopportunity it held out but did not want to comedown to Assam to meet me.”

He feels that the transformation in the ecosystem where there is a change in attitude as wellas money and mentorship being easily availableare the reasons why start-ups are thriving.

Gadi believes that a lot of youngsters havedecided to head back home after getting an edu-cation in the metros as they no longer want agovernment job. “Home delivery for medicines,grocery and more are run by start-ups byyoungsters. These developments are at par withwhat is happening in the country. Earlier, theydid not think that this kind of thing can happenhere as well.”

However, Smitakshi says that it is the com-panies which are working with unique productslike Eri Silk, organic farming and ingredientslike Bhut Jolokia, the hottest chilli in the world,have created a unique footprint.

The change in the attitude towards start-ups,says Dr Ubed, is evident in the way he can nowhave the pick of people he employs. “Earlier theyasked a lot of questions and would want to workfor two-three days to see if the environment wasgood and whether I could pay or not. There isan attitudinal shift and the start-ups are nowconsidered cool,” he says.

��

The connectivity has improved dramatically.According to the Ministry for Road Transport &Highways, 4484.9 km of National Highwayswere built in between 2014-2018 in the region.Guwahati, which was the first airport in theNorth East, is now the eighth busiest in thecountry. The Lokapriya Gopinath BardoloiInternational Airport, which till three decadesago was handling only two or three flights a day,has over 120 commercial flights — both arrivaland departure — in addition to chartered flightsand aircrafts of the Indian Air Force. It regis-tered over six million footfalls during 2018-19,which is a whopping 27.46 per cent increasefrom 2017-18. According to Airports Authorityof India the airport handled 55,066 aircraftmovements during 2018-19 which is a 20.99 percent increase of aircraft movement over the pre-vious 12 months.

Gadi’s home state does not have an airportbut Arunachal Pradesh would be getting onein another three-four years which, he says,would naturally make it more accessible.Sharma says that there is a flurry of activity,“Airports are coming up, there are investmentsummits taking place as the CMs take initia-tives to improve connectivity.”

This naturally has had a positive impact.Das says, “The perception has changed becauseof the development of communications networkand also connectivity. Guwahati, for instance,has direct flights to all the metros.”

Gadi feels that a lot of festivals like the Ziroin Arunachal Pradesh, Hornbill in Nagalandhave also become must-visit events for travellers.“People who have gone to these festivals returnwith beautiful memories. That has naturallyhelped create a positive impression about thepeople and the place,” he says.

Mahanta offers a different take when hesays, “The North East festival has united thestates of the region. It is a meeting point wheredisagreements have been sorted out and barri-ers been broken. There is a common agendafor infrastructure, tourism, industry and more.The festival in Guwahati this year had just 100visitors but saw three lakh digital footfallsworldwide.”

As Sharma puts it, “Earlier, the odds seemedto be insurmountable but now the dots are beingjoined and everything is coming together.” Thisis certainly not the last we have heard of theNorth East success story. ■

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KarthiyayaniKunhamma, my moth-er, passed away peace-fully on November 6,2020. Her departure

from this world was as uneventfulas she lived for 90 years. Therewere no theatrics or high dramaaccompanying the event. She wasthere alive one moment and thenthe other she was gone. My long-time friend and physician Dr Rajivrushed home upon hearing thenews and certified that Amma wasno more.

Death was not a painful eventas far as my mother’s departurewas concerned. On the seventhday, we completed the the last ritesimmersing the ashes in PoornaRiver flowing throughPerumbavoor. Within the nexttwo days, I was admitted to theICU of Kochi Medical Collegehaving tested positive for Covid-19 and diagnosed with pneumo-nia. Two books that gave me com-pany during this period werePreparing For Death by Dr ArunShourie and Death: An InsideStory by Sadhguru.

The books were an eye openerfor me, surrounded as I was bymore than 25 Covid-19 patientswho were in various phases of thepandemic. Some of them highlycritical while others in an aggres-sive mood, testing the patience ofdoctors, nurses and other para-medical staff, working round theclock taking care of the patients.

It was the stay in ICU whichmade me think about my owndeath for the first time. I was wor-ried only about whether mydemise would be painful, suffocat-ing or peaceful. The only time Ihave read about a person’s lastminutes in this world was aboutSir C P Ramaswamy Aiyer, theformer Divan of the princely Stateof Travancore who was also amember of the Viceroy’s ExecutiveCouncil and the ConstituentAssembly. Sir CP, as he wasaddressed had the “most sudden,painless and peaceful end,”according to his biographer SarojaSundararajan.

“A journalist who came to theNational Liberal Club where hewas staying in London at 11.30 amon 26 september 1966, enquired ifhe was not well , thinking Sir CPhad a cold. CP laughed loudly atthis and replied in a cheerfulvoice, “My dear lady, I have neverbeen ill a day in my life .” So say-ing he leaned back in his uphol-stered chair when his headdrooped and he was no more,”

writes Sundararajan. Prof TMPMahadevan, eminent philosopher,has been quoted as saying in histributes: “The world envies vari-ous aspects of the life of Sir CP,from his birth with a silver spoonin his mouth , through a multi-faceted career. I envy him hisdeath. What a wonderful way todie!”

With the oxygen mask con-nected to my face, I had nothingelse to do other than ‘scanning’the pages of Preparing for Death,Dr Shourie’s account of the finalhours of some of the great menand a woman in the sub continent.He recounts the last days and lastmoments of Lord Budha, SriRamakrishna Paramahamsa,Ramana Maharshi, Kasturba,Mahatma Gandhi and VinobaBhave. What makes the bookunique is Dr Shourie’s descriptionabout his own life and how fate

had been cruel to him throughoutthis life.

Even if one is born great orbecomes great through his/herdeeds, death follows us from themoment we come into this worldas an uninvited friend. But thetragic truth is that none of usthink or worry about this eternaland omnipresent character shad-owing us all the from mother’swomb.

The pain and sufferingsundergone by RamakrishnaParamahamsa and RamanaMaharshi in the prelude to theirsamadhi should be read to bebelieved. These great men neverprayed to God Almighty to lessentheir sufferings and tribulations.The reminiscences stand outbecause of the unique ArunShourie style. Dr Shourie is bril-liant in his description of the finalhours of Ramakrishna, Ramana,

Kasturba and Gandhiji. The bookshe refers to, the quotes he uses andthe way he projects the events on awide canvas... only a master storyteller could do the same.

Add to this his sense of humoreven in the face of adversities.“Just like those whom we don’tknow, our closest relatives, amongthem those whom we have lovedthe most and our friends die everso often-some months it seems asif we have to set up a camp officeat the Lodhi Road crematorium.Fed up, a relative has declared, “Iam not going to any more crema-tions. If possible, I will skip myown too.”

Thus begins Dr Shourie hislatest work that also includes hisrecent brush with death in Pune.The collage like articles haveeverything that elevates the read-ers to new levels of thinking.While there are ever so many

books and articles about life post-death, the sad thing is that we areignorant about the complex natureof death. This is a subject oneshould be thorough and knowl-edgeable to condition us about ourown final hours.

When it was time for me to bedischarged from the ICU andtransported to Ernakulam MedicalCentre, I had graduated to readingDeath: An Inside Story bySadhguru. I don’t have words todescribe this pathbreaking book,full of humour and one whichopens the windows to the world ofdeath. “You must understand thatwhat you refer to as death is aunique happening. It is the verylast moment of your life. Almosteverything in your life may hap-pen many times over, but the finalmoment when you transcend thelimitations of your physical bodywill happen only once in your life-

time. It is the last thing that youwill do in your life. Moving fromthe physical to non-physical is thegreatest moment in your life.

A lot has been discussed aboutlife after death, rebirth, salvationand post-death phenomenon. Butwe are yet to discuss in detail themysteries associated with the finalmoments of our life. Sadhguru, inhis own inimitable style, asks hith-erto unasked questions on deathand explains in a scintillating stylefacts associated with death. I haveseen Sadhguru demolishing anddestroying the arguments of “self-styled intellectuals” who dared tochallenge the Indian system ofknowledge. But this is the firsttime I read a book authored byhim and that too about death.What I feel after reading the book,especially the chapters, PreparingFor a Good Death and AssistanceFor The Dying, is that I under-

stood that death is an interestingand entertaining phenomenonand it’s not something bad aspropagated by the Abrahamic reli-gion. All one could feel after goingthrough the book is, fine, here Iam, waiting happily for me ren-dezvous with the person whom Iwas born with but yet to see faceto face with him.

Vayalar Ramavarma, a leftistpoet in Kerala, had written apoem way back in the 1970s spit-ting venom at death. “Oh death,get lost. I am not willing to join youin your solitude as I don’t havedeath and I am immortal” he hadwritten in the revolutionary song.Had Ramavarma read whatSadhguru has to speak aboutdeath, I am sure, he would havesimply welcomed death for thatenlightening encounter. Yes, Deathis beautiful provided you learn thebasics of its science.

At a time when the entireworld is struggling withCovid-19 pandemic,

which has brought the economyalmost to a standstill, it becomesimpending on the leaders to gothe extra mile, exhibit resilientbehaviour and leadership quali-ties to help the common man sailthrough this trying time safely.

And, the passion to drive thisresilience requires a clear under-standing to help and guide theright behaviour. Author RiteshVig has tried to catalyse thishuman trait through his bookLeadership in UnprecedentedTimes that offers help to businessleaders, special business entrepre-neurs, common man and young-sters to build confidence to fightback by deploying unprecedentedmeasures.

There are no set rules to findsolutions to times of uncertaintyin the midst of whirlwind, rightlyasserts Vig, a financial strategistin his debut book. He tries toaddress today’s unprecedentedchallenges being faced by theleaders while laying the founda-tion that is needed to emergestronger. When confidence levelof many people is at its low, lead-ers need to retain their moralhigh, maintaining ‘never say die’attitude, says the writer, who hasover two decades of experienceas a financial consultant.

Soft Bank, India CountryHead Manoj Kohli who launchedthe book at an online eventrecently, lauded the writer’sthoughtful initiative of penningthe inspiration, saying that it pro-vides a future context of constantdisruption for entrepreneurs and

senior management. In thisregard, he also drew the attentiontowards Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s vision of‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ (Self-reliantIndia) in the unprecedentedtimes which, he said, has given usopportunity to be part of thechanging face of the marketwhere digital and start-ups arethe focus of the business.

Agreeing with the book’spitch, Kohli said that leadersneed to keep in mind that “It isabout acceptance of the change.We can say there are courageousand bold decisions to be made,but it isn’t like that. It is some-times difficult to accept majorchange and this causes problems.According to me (and the book),look at the change; accept,embrace, and love it. Once youdo that, it will be easier for you to

change the model, the culture,and the product range according-ly. All changes become easythen.”

Kohli goes on to share thatevery company will go throughmultiple crisis situations. “Thereis competition crisis, there areregulation and government cri-sis, there are cost issues, andthen performance and culturecrisis. Strong, forward-lookingleadership is the only way to suc-cess. If the leadership can dothings in a systematic and order-ly way, it can overcome everysingle crisis.”

Published by ‘White Falcon’the book, divided in seven sec-tions or ‘milestones’, aims to offera step by step guidance to convertcrisis into opportunities and pre-sents a strategy to define robustframework, evaluate new busi-

ness scenarios and redefine busi-ness shields for any crisis ahead.

Last but not the least, itdefines the new normal for thegrowth of the business. To put itin other words, whether you feellike you’ve hit a wall, lost yourfire, or are looking for innovativestrategies to take your business tothe next level, Leadership inunprecedented times has attempt-ed to answers all.

According to the author, peo-ple from all walks of life and allkinds of readers will be enlight-ened by this book, which he says,has the potential to transformtheir outlook for better in diffi-cult times. In one of the mile-stones, for instance, the writertries to advice a clueless businessleader to how to identify strategiclive asset and minimise losesbesides understanding internal

strength of his business.Leadership quality is not just adomain of a certain group ofpeople.

Vig writes that a commonman too can display leadership atthree levels: at home as parents,at job as an employee and for thenation, building true values inchildren.

Parents should use theseunprecedented times as anopportunity to inculcate leader-ship qualities in their childrenand save them from anxiety andfears. The book is more relevantfor youngsters, who the authorsays, can understand how leader-ship should be embedded withinthem to take on the future role ofleaders.

Vig has also chronicled theintegrity and strength of the lead-ers required to fight the pandem-

ic, sharing the thoughts that‘there are no set rules to findsolutions to times of uncertain-ty’.

Real leadership, Vig stress-es, requires clear communica-tion, compassion for others, anda commitment to truth-telling— no matter how frighteningthe times may be. Going fur-ther, the writer has also touchedupon the past pandemics andkey learnings from them. Forinstance, Vig points out, howsoon after The GreatDepression that started in 1929till 1941 left the economy reel-ing with unemployment, pover-ty, deflation and ill regulatedloans among other financial cri-sis.

But that did not overshad-ow the spirit of leaders of those

times who rose to the occasion toface challenges thrown by theturbulent environment. RalphHornblower III, a well knownglobal investment manager in hisforeword compliment the writerfor reminding “us that we muststay positive if we want to suc-ceed and vanquish the tsunamiwaves of humanitarian challengesthat such calamities as the 2008financial crisis and the presentCovid 19 pandemic have broughtto the doorstep of virtually everycountry on the planet.”

Priced at �449, the book,overall is a good read, that nobusiness leader, entrepreneur or aserious executive or for that mat-ter a common man can afford tomiss. For, it attempts to help dri-ving people out of the myriad ofcrises created by the coronaviruspandemic.

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concern in India at the change ofguard in the United States ofAmerica on January 20 after the elec-tion of Democratic candidate JoeBiden as the new President, partic-ularly since the bilateral relations reg-istered remarkable progress underPresident Donald Trump, given hisdetermination to deal with Chinaheadlong and his hard-line views onPakistan’s complicity and directinvolvement in international Islamicterrorism. Trump was outspoken andmade his point without any prevar-ication which was liked in India.Warm personal chemistry betweenhim and Prime Minister NarendraModi also, no doubt, has been seenas a positive contributing factor.

However, it needs to be notedthat Biden has been very supportiveof strong ties with India. AsChairman of powerful ForeignAffairs Committee of the Senate, heplayed a pivotal role in getting theIndia-US civil nuclear cooperationagreement cleared. Later, he servedas Vice President in the ObamaAdministration when the US andIndia signed LEMOA paving the wayfor India’s recognition by the USA asa “major Defence partner” andlicence- free access to a wide rangeof dual use technologies.

Writing in an ethnic Indiancommunity journal, Biden promisedthat his administration would “buildon the great progress” made in therelationship with India duringObama years. He also asserted thatIndia and the USA “can and shouldbe natural allies”. Significantly, PrimeMinister Atal Behari Vajpayee hadalso described the India-USA rela-tionship as being that between nat-ural allies.

In geo-political terms, it is wide-ly expected that the firm line againstChina initiated under the Trumppresidency would broadly continuebecause of rather combative stanceof China, which seems to be in ahurry to assert its primacy on theglobal stage. Its aggression againstIndia and other neighbouring coun-tries surrounding South China Seahas also not gone unnoticed by theBiden team. In fact, Secretary of Statenominee Blinken has been on recordas having said that “strengtheningand deepening of relationship withIndia is going to be a high priority”for the US particularly in the contextof its objectives of peace, stability andrules-based order in the Indo-Pacific

region. Under these circumstances it can

be expected that the USA underBiden would continue to regardIndia as a “key partner”. Notably,India’s External Affairs MinisterJaishankar, while commenting onthis issue, expressed his confidencethat Indo-US relations could onlymove up further in the comingmonths.

The presence of Kamala Harrisas Vice President and likely induc-tion of several persons of Indian ori-gins (PIOs) in senior position in thenew administration is also a factorwhich would favourably impact onthe bilateral relationship. In fact, elec-tion of a PIO as the Vice Presidentof the country itself is a landmarkdevelopment. The credit for it obvi-ously goes to Biden for having cho-sen Kamala Harris as his runningmate, but it also signifies the com-ing of age of the vast and influentialIndian community in the USA. It iswell recognised that given theirlarge numbers and relatively highincome levels, PIOs in the USA havebegun to play increasingly salient rolein the country’s politics and in pro-viding a generally positive thrust tofurthering India-US ties.

In the last two decades there hasbeen a steady and continuing growthin Indo-US Defence and intelli-gence cooperation despite govern-ment changes in both countries indi-cating a broad bipartisan support onboth sides for closer relations. Shareddemocratic and liberal values andgenerally positive perception thatboth countries have about eachother have, no doubt, contributed tocreation of a positive climate butthere is no denying that commonthreat from China and consequentconvergence of geo-political interestshas mainly brought the two countriestogether.

Starting with the “General secu-rity of military information agree-ment” in 2002, India and the USAhave now completed the full spec-trum of foundational Defenceagreements at the recently conclud-ed 2+2 dialogue with the signing ofBECA providing for sharing of geo-spatial intelligence. In the meanwhile,the USA has also eased exportrestrictions on India for high techequipment, including sensitiveDefence technologies by designatingit as a “Strategic Trade Authorization-1 (STA-1)” country even thoughIndia is yet to gain entry into the

NSG club. In fact, the USA hasemerged as a major arms supplier toIndia over the last few years. Thismomentum is bound to continuebecause both countries face the jointchallenge of countering China’sgrowing military weight. India andthe USA also actively cooperate incountering terrorism, another majorthreat to the world peace and sta-bility. There are understandable con-cerns in India about the need to maintain country’s strategicautonomy but that does not get com-promised by a closer military coor-dination with the USA in order todeal with our existing security threatperception.

India has a massive economicand commercial relationship with theUSA with trade in goods and servicestotaling $150 billion. Unlike Chinawith whom we have a huge deficit,India enjoys considerable trade sur-

plus with the USA. Energy partner-ship has also emerged as an impor-tant constituent of that relationshipcontributing greatly to India’s quest to diversify its sources ofenergy supplies.

Biden has been quite emphaticabout bringing the USA back into theParis Climate Accord and in ensur-ing greater coordination and align-ment with the allies on global polit-ical and economic issues. India’s ster-ling record on promised reduction ofemission levels jells quite well withhis priorities.

It is widely expected that underBiden, the USA will seek to reclaimits centre stage role in global affairswhich could, inter alia, see it playinga reinvigorated role in Indo-pacificregion involving closer coordinationwith India and traditional alliessuch as Japan and Australia, includ-ing military and maritime exercises

to enhance inter-operability both inbilateral and “quad” framework.

The onset of Covid-19 pan-demic which has affected millionsacross the world resulting in heavycasualties would in all likelihooddeepen the fissures between Chinaand the western countries. China’sdubious role in the spread of virusand suppression of information inthe early stages has already come infor sharp criticism by western lead-ers and general population alike.Consequently, one could well see thewestern countries acting in concertto keep China’s rise in check andIndia could play a pivotal role in thateffort.

They would also move at leastsome of the manufacturing facilitiesout of China and India could offeritself as a credible alternative if we areto take further steps to improve themanufacturing climate in India and

bring our practices and regulationsmore in line with the internationalbest practices.

To conclude, the evolution ofgeo-political dynamics in the Indo-pacific region and indeed the worldat large and emergent threat fromChina’s aggressive posture wouldrequire both India and the USA tocontinue to work as close strategicpartners. Based on current indica-tions and affirmations on both sides,the cooperation between them at theGovernment level is likely to furthersolidify in Biden presidency.

(The writer retired from theIndian Foreign Service a few years agoafter having served as IndianAmbassador in several countries andcontinues to take active interest in for-eign policy issues. He is currently pres-ident of well-known NGO AntarRashtriya Sahyog Parishad).

Over the years sufficient lit-erature has appeared on

India’s strategic planning. Manyforeign scholars have madecontributions towards theresearch on the modernisationof our Defence programmeand the need for gearing upand updating.

One rarely comes across abalanced and dispassionateassessment of the issue sincethere hasn’t been enough focuson a precise strategic planning.

However, the NationalEducational Policy (NEP) 2020is a sincere effort to fill the gapin the existing realms of knowledge about the contem-porary importance of interdis-ciplinary and multidiscipli-nary studies.

As India needs to diversi-fy its strategies to counter thechallenges it faces fromPakistan and China, the strate-gic knowledge and anticipatingthe move and motive would behelpful in nipping the problemsin the bud.

Recently Chief of DefenceStaff General Bipin Rawat laud-ed the NEP and found it quiteuseful for armed forces toidentify the inner strength,resilience, intellect and accu-racy of thinking and excellentcoordination between mindand body among the youth,particularly from rural areas,for serving the nation with allthe integrity and conviction.This is not only an attempt tobring them to the mainstreambut a major step towards ful-filling the inner penchant ofequity and social justice.

The procedure of account-ability and disclosure wereanxiously awaited and wouldmake system foolproof. TheNEP involving more practical-based approach at the tertiarylevel would help catching andidentifying the inclination

among the new generationtowards strengthening coun-try’s forces.

The new attention andscope for innovation wouldattract the talent and enlight-en them to seek career oppor-tunities in Defence services.The NEP 2020 has provided anew gateway to problem-solv-ing mechanism and a hugeplatform for education sectorin India. Undoubtedly tremen-dous efforts have been madetowards creating an environ-ment that generates smooth,easily understandable yet cog-nitive, constructive and ana-lytical skills among the har-bingers of future.

The provision of a singleregulator and numerous entryand exit options with regard toformal degrees have been someof the salient features of theNEP which deserve all theappreciation as a new begin-ning to understand the coresecurity problems which can becomprehended in brightermanner with an option ofchoosing Defence and securi-ty as one of the important sub-jects of the larger disciplineeither at the undergraduate orpostgraduate levels.

The research on such issueswould invite tremendousreceptiveness on the part ofhigher education since theongoing low intensity insur-gency perpetuated by Pakistanand over expansionist missionof China have reaffirmed theobnoxious conspiracy to hitIndia where it matters themost by creating socio-reli-gious and security quagmire.

Besides, it will send out aloud and clear message thatIndia cannot reciprocate inthe same manner as it has cer-tain firm convictions and poli-cies towards ensuring peacethrough defensive mechanism.

This has carried forward thequestion of reestablishing thecredibility and confidenceamong people that India is nota soft state but it wants to avoidwar and conflict as far as pos-sible.

The new learning of socio-political aspects of the problemof insurgency, terrorism andNaxal violence would helpsecurity personnel get wellversed with the psychology ofterrorists and criminals.

John Milton once com-mented “hours have wings andthey fly up to the author offame dedicated to their cause”.The attempt to sensitise aboutexploring our domestic under-pinnings with renewed focuson the role of addressing themyriad shades such as gender

sensitisation and concern ofmarginalised communities byway of creation of SpecialEducation Zones throughinclusive social democraticideas and values in the processdeserve all the appreciation.

The provisions ofMultidisciplinary Educationand Research Universities(MERUs) on par with IITs andIIMs, the National ResearchFoundation, the NationalEducational TechnologyForum and Indian Institutes ofTranslation and Interpretationwould create an environmentfor students to reach theirpotential best by encouragingacademic excellence of globallevel, embracing new informa-tion on the one hand andopening new areas of job-ori-

ented courses on the other. Besides, it would help in

understanding social respon-sibility. In addition to this anew approach can also providea clear way forward for stu-dents interested in Defencestudies by getting them tolearn new techniques.

The much talked aboutnew provisions of new educa-tion formal orientation of“5+3+3+4” and learning inmother tongue or regional lan-guage till Class V would openup fresh outlook and generatean introspective discourse andseek multiple options and view-points to see one’s right placeaccording to one’s interest.

There are numerous pro-visions under NEP which canensure a collaborative creation

of ideas and providing tips tocomprehend even the tediousand complex issues.

As far as education at thetertiary level is concerned,NEP’s approach appears to setout a very clear way forward bygetting the mentors fullyinvolved in new techniquesand developing challengingstrategies to meet the need ofall categories of students.

Hence, in order to enhancethe standard of students itwould be imperative to devel-op self-academic orientationand excellence to deliver andprovide a problem-solving andinquiry-based learning activi-ties with which students canfurther formulate and test theirideas, draw conclusions andinferences, and pool and con-

vey their knowledge in a col-laborative learning environ-ment.

An introduction of newsyllabus would provide a vividand deeper insight into theproblem of terrorism and itscauses and thereby may lead toa road map towards a foolproofencountering strategy. Thiscombating strategy will have tolook into the basis of the fund-ing for terrorism, nexus amongarms dealer, drug traffickers,smugglers and terrorists. Aproper knowledge about thenexus between organised crimeand terrorism can be ofimmense use.

The vision of the NEP isbound to make India the mostcompetitive in the field ofDefence education and wouldhave many takers. The newfacilities in security andDefence areas would enthrallnew generation and providenew perspective to all theaspiring academicians and stu-dents who are shortly going tostep out into the world ofcompetition much beyond aregulated framework.

Our Defence policiesshould be able to adapt to thechallenging environment aswell as efficiently implementrecommendations.

A modern, vigilant andassertive military, intelligence,police and paramilitary net-work should replace the oldone.

Since it has always been theacademic class which providespolicy orientation to the poli-cy makers, the NEP has thepotential to produce a newbreed of intellectuals to ensurefullest realisation of the muchneeded strategic thinking in theDefence and security area.

(The author is a professorand expert on strategic affairs)

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No sooner I get into the processsuggested to calm my overtaxedmind, I get into sleep mode.

Obviously, when I get up, I feel tem-porarily relaxed. But soon after mymonkey mind comes into active play.Tell me where I am going wrong. Soasked a disciple, who is serious aboutgetting over the limitations of his mind.“Getting into sleep mode during theprocess is not desirable,” I answered.“Why then is it happening?” he asked.Well, as you close your eyes, you get cutoff from all that you would be con-sciously watching in the outer world aswell as the self-excited thoughts within,which includes lot of negative impres-sions. Nothing to process, mind getsinto sleep mode. “How do I get over thissyndrome?” he then asked.

While introducing you to the 8 foldcourse of Patanjali Yoga Sutra, I hadexplained that meditation proper beginsby getting into state of Pratyahara. I hadalso explained the significance andapplication of Pratyahara. The processcalls for getting disengaged from wakingstate consciousness and instead turningyour attention inwards. Fact remainsthat you have ignored the most impor-

tant part of the process, which is whyyou get into sleep mode. Should youlook within, your sub-conscious mindwill come into full play. That will bringinto focus random thoughts picked upin the immediate past, many of themunpleasant and inconsequential. Thosethoughts keep alive your grieving mind.Also, persistent desires and feelings maykeep knocking you. These thoughtsengage your attention so much, that youare hardly have the space necessary toprocess any fresh thoughts objectively,and with obvious consequences.

Remember, mind-calming process istrue to the calling of Pratyahara. Shouldyou follow the process correctly, mindwill have a task in hand. It has to wit-ness the inflowing thoughts, but at thesame time train it to remain disengagedfrom them. Following which, thosethoughts will go out of reckoning over aperiod of time. Consequently, you willnot only feel relaxed, but also freshmind-space will be available to processany fresh thoughts objectively. And thatmakes the difference. I could make outthat this fellow is not able to turn hisattention inwards. To facilitate that, Isuggested him to keep his attention on

his breath cycle during the process —inbreath and outbreath both included.

The next time the person visitedme, informed that he no longer gets intosleep mode. “In fact, I am able to see apattern in my thought flow, whichmakes me understand and acknowledgemy mental traits. I have realised that Icarry a sense of fear and insecurity. Ialso suffer from a sense of ‘identity cri-sis’ which tempts me prove my pointwhatever way I can. Where does it comefrom? Also, I wish to realise my dreamperceptions fast, which is not happeningon expected lines. You have to nowguide me how to resolve them and alsorealise my potential fast.” the personasked.

The sense of fear and identity crisishas actually become a part of your psy-che, coming as them may as reflectionof your unpleasant memory imprintspicked up during early childhood. TheSun, which is marked with your identityand confidence level is in debility, and isplaced opposite its dire enemy Saturn,which too is in debility. It implies thatduring early childhood, your parentswould have tried to forcefully disciplineyou. You would have been subject tobeating and chastised on every occasion

you committed some mistake or whenyour performance level was not onexpected lines. Your parent’s intent can’tbe questioned. But instead of handlingyou with a sense of love, they forcefullytried to impose their whip on you. Theirony of the whole situation is that bornwith Aries lagna ruled by fiery Mars,and prominently placed, it was difficultfor you to digest commandeering. In theprocess, your confidence level got downand developed a sense of fear, whichwith time became a part of your psyche.Now that you are on your own, there isno relevance of those past happenings.Once, this thought gets registered inyour mind, you will get over this hang.He began working on suggested lines,and soon he overcame this problem.

This way, with time, he went onidentifying and acknowledging his men-tal limitations one by one, and then gotover them. As he got over his negatives,his performance level too began toimprove.

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