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    The farmers’ agitation seemspoised to occupy centrestage in the Budget Session ofParliament. On Thursday, theOpposition once again tried tocorner the Government on theissue of farm laws, forcingadjournment of the Lok Sabhaand raising the heat of discus-sion in the Upper House.

    The Lok Sabha proceed-ings again remained paralysedwith the Opposition memberscontinuing their protest againstthree new farm laws. TheHouse started amid the dinwith Opposition MPs on theirfeet and carrying placardsagainst farm laws.

    As Union TransportMinister Nitin Gadkarianswered questions on“Bharatmala Pariyojna” onroads and highways, theOpposition parties shoutedslogans “India wants justice”,“we want justice” and “Modi-Government shame-shame”.

    Gadkari continued tospeak amid the din givingdetails of “Char Dham” roadproject in Uttarakhand.

    The Speaker appealed tomembers to take their seats butthe Opposition remained defi-ant to his advice. After 15minutes, the House wasadjourned till 5 pm.

    When the House resumedBJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi wasin the chair. Amid slogan-shouting, Union Law MinisterRavi Shankar Prasad intro-duced Rehabilitation andReconciliation (amendment)Bill, 2021.

    Bedlam continued and the

    House was adjourned till 6 pm.When it resumed proceedings,BJP MP Rajendra Agarwal wasin the Chair who againappealed to the Oppositionmembers to take their seats andstart a discussion but loudprotests continued in theHouse, derailing the proceed-ings. The din continued andthe House was adjourned againby the Chair till 7pm.

    In the Rajya Sabha, on thesecond day of discussion onmotion of thanks to thePresident’s address, severalOpposition members observeda minute’s silence in memory ofdeath of more than 150 farm-ers. They reportedly died in theongoing agitation for the lastmore than two months at theborders of the national Capital.

    The Treasury Benches,however, denied the chargethat the laws are anti-farmerand BJP member JyotiradityaScindia said the Congress in itselection manifesto in 2019 hadpromised to bring these laws.He also referred to a letter writ-ten by then AgricultureMinister Sharad Pawar in 2010to various AgricultureMinisters in the States aboutthe advantages of such laws togive more freedom to the farm-ers by involving the private sec-tor and increasing theirincome.

    Participating in the dis-cussion, Petroleum MinisterDharmendra Pradhan held theprevious UPA regime respon-sible for not paying an adequateMinimum Support Price(MSP) and claimed the NDA

    Government has increasedMSP manifold in the last fewyears.

    Resuming the discussionon Thursday, the first speakerManoj Jha (RJD) blamed theGovernment of adopting anaggressive posture while talk-ing to the agitating farmers. Healso said the 11 rounds held sofar were more of a monologueby the Government.

    Calling for the immediaterepeal of the three laws, Jha saidthe Government had lostpatience to listen and bearcriticism. Instead, any con-trary view was painted as anti-national, he said.

    Stressing the point thatprotests and agitations are thelifeblood of democracy, hecontested the Governmentstatement of 11 rounds of dia-

    logue have concluded with agi-tating farmers, saying itsMinisters “believe in mono-logue and not dialogue.”

    “They talk of having giventhis and that to farmers, butthere is no place for languageof charity in a democracy. Themonologues should be ended,”he said.

    Lamenting that the pro-testers were labeled as terror-ists and Naxalites, Jha said set-ting up barricades and barbedwires at the borders looked asif the Government was treatingthe farmers as enemies.

    Digvijaya Singh (Congress)lashed out at the BJPGovernment, saying right fromdemonetisation to theCitizenship Amendment Act(CAA) and the management ofcorona fight were blundersthat hit the people hard. He alsoalleged corruption in procuringventilators and PPE kits.

    Former Prime Ministerand JD(S) leader HD DeveGowda called farmers the back-bone of the country and saidmiscreants and anti-social ele-ments were behind the eventsof Republic Day and all polit-ical parties have condemnedtheir actions and agree thatthey need to be punished. Butthe farmers’ issue should not bemixed with it, he said andadded that the issue should bedealt with amicably.

    Sanjay Singh (AAP)charged the BJP with engi-neering the incidents at the RedFort on January 26. Claimingthat seven other routes onwhich the tractor rally wasbrought out no incidents werereported.

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    Aday after Swedish teen cli-mate change activist GretaThunberg tweeted abouttoolkit, while supporting thefarmers’ protest, the DelhiPolice has lodged a FirstInformation Report (FIR) inconnection with the matterwhich contained informationon how to back the farmers’protests. The toolkit has beendoing the rounds on socialmedia and police have alsobooked toolkit creators. Theclimate activist deleted thattweet and later reposted anupdated version of the toolk-it.

    Praveer Ranjan, the SpecialCommissioner of Police,Crime, along with ChinmoyBiswal, the DeputyCommissioner of Police(DCP), Crime, and AnyeshRoy, the DCP, Cyber Crime,addressed a Press conferenceon Thursday where he said thepolice are monitoring socialmedia in connection with thekisan agitation and police havealso identified more than 300accounts which have been usedfor pushing hateful and mali-cious contents.

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    Unfazed by a Delhi PoliceFIR in an alleged overseas“conspiracy” and an attempt to“promote enmity betweengroups, climate activists GretaThunberg has tweeted that she“still” stands with farmers and“no amount of threats” wouldchange that.

    The Delhi Police citedGreta’s first tweet backing of thefarmer’ protest in an FIR thatincludes charges of sedition, anoverseas “conspiracy” and anattempt to “promote enmitybetween groups”.

    Thunberg and a host ofinternational celebrities, includ-ing US Vice President KamalaHarris niece and pop starRihanna, have come out in sup-port of the farmers’ protest.

    The subject of the FIRrefers to Thunberg’s tweet thismorning on a “toolkit” guiding

    people on how to support thefarmers’ protests. The DelhiPolice said “some elements”were trying to take advantageof the farmer protests and “oneaccount” had posted a toolkitthat was authored by a groupcalled the “Poetic JusticeFoundation” that was a“Khalistani organisation”.

    Meanwhile, BJP MPMeenakshi Lekhi took a swipeat Thunberg saying she wouldpropose her name for “childbravery award” as the 18-year-old activist has done a “huge”service to the country byuploading the toolkit which,according to Lekhi, proved theconspiracy being designed todestabilise India. Another BJPspokesman Gaurav Bhatiadescribed Thunberg’s toolkit as“anarchy-school-kit” that gaveaway evidence of internation-al conspiracy against India.

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    The Government onThursday cautioned thepeople against letting theirguard down noting that a largeproportion of population isstill vulnerable to the Covid-19infection as it cited the latestnational sero-survey conduct-ed by the Indian Council ofMedical Research (ICMR).

    Presenting the findings ofthe survey conducted by thecountry’s premier healthresearch body betweenDecember 7 last year andJanuary 8, ICMR DirectorGeneral Dr Balram Bhargavasaid that 21.4 per cent of the28,589 people, aged 18 yearsand above, surveyed during theperiod showed evidence ofpast exposure to the coron-avirus infection.

    “While 25.3 per cent ofchildren aged 10 to 17 yearsfrom the same number of sur-veyed population have had thedisease,” he said. The 3rd sero-survey was done fromDecember 17, 2020 to January8, 2021, says Balram Bhargava,

    DG ICMR.Urban slums (31.7 per

    cent) and urban non-slums(26.2 per cent) had a higherSARS-CoV-2 prevalence thanthat in rural areas (19.1 percent), Bhargava said, addingthat 23.4 per cent of individu-als above 60 years of age hadsuffered from Covid-19.

    Blood samples of 7,171healthcare workers were alsocollected during the same peri-od and the seroprevalence wasfound to be 25.7 per cent, theICMR director general said.

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    The year 2021 has not begunon a good note for the royalbig cats with at least 16 of them,including three cubs, dying inthe first month of Januaryitself. On an average a stripedcat succumbed to various rea-sons such as injuries, territor-ial fights, speeding vehicles,human-animal conflicts andpoisoning every second day.

    Maharashtra topped thelist with the death of six big catsclosely followed by MadhyaPradesh where five tigers diedin the said period, as per dataavailable from the Tigernet, anofficial database of the NationalTiger Conservation Authority,a statutory body under theUnion Environment Ministry.

    At least ten big cats werefound dead outside their pro-tected habitat, suggesting thateither they were poisoned orsuccumbed in man-animalconflict with the locals as they

    moved out in search of foodprobably after they were dis-placed from their terrains fol-lowing a territorial fight withtheir counterparts.

    But what was shockingwas the four deaths inMaharashtra where in two sep-arate incidents a tiger and atigress with her three cubswere poisoned by the locals inUmred-Karhandla-PaoniWildlife Sanctuary (UKPWS).

    According to an official

    from the Ministry, one DivakarDattuji Nagekar, Navegaon(Sadhu) village bordering thesanctuary was taken into cus-tody. He is said to have admit-ted that he had poisoned thecarcass of his cow when hefound that his livestock waskilled by the tigress. The felinewas a resident of the sanctuaryand was about 4-5 years oldwhile the cubs were about 5months old.

    On January 27, a tiger was

    found dead under BhadravatiForest Range of Chandrapurdistrict in Maharashtra. A for-est department staffer onpatrolling duty detected thecarcass of the feline at com-partment no-210 under therange.

    In the last two years, 40tigers have died in the financialcapital, Maharashtra, of thecountry.

    Apart from Maharashtraand Madhya Pradesh, the Stateswhich lost tigers wereUttarakhand (2) while Bihar,Chattisgarh and Kerala lostone each tiger in January itself.

    In Uttarakhand, on January16, the forest authorities ofHaridwar forest division foundthe carcass of a tigress, aroundfive-year-old, in the Shyampurforest range. The DFO ofHaridwar, Neeraj Verma, ruledout any poaching attempt orany accident behind the deathof the big cat and attributed itto anaemia. On January 6, yet

    another 12-year-old tigress wasfound dead at Fatehpur rangeof Haldwani forest division inUttarakhand by a speedingSUV while in Bihar, a tiger’scarcass was found in the forestof Valmiki Tiger Reserve(VTR) in the State’s WestChamparan district midJanuary.

    Similarly, on January 28, atiger who was around 18 wasfound dead in the core area ofMadhya Pradesh’s Pench TigerReserve. “The carcass wasrecovered by the patrollingparty, in the Gumtara Range ofthe tiger reserve,” its field direc-tor Vikram Singh Parihar said.

    A senior official from theMinistry said that death of 16tigers in a month is a matter ofconcern and calls for furtherstrengthening the conserva-tion measures, including com-munity participation to protectthe tigers.

    Intriguingly, just when thetiger number has been showing

    increase in the country —home to nearly 3,000 predatorsand there is an urgent need toprotect them, the fiscal’s allo-cation of �350 crore for ProjectTiger, an initiative for con-serving the wildcat has beenreduced to �300 crore in theBudget 2021-22.

    Also, the Budget forNTCA, responsible for tigercensus and conservation ofwild cats, saw a minor raise of�50 lakh from �10 crore lastyear to �10.5 crore for 2021-22.

    Union EnvironmentMinister Prakash Javadekar,last year, after releasing thedetailed Status of Tigers Co-predators and Prey in India2018 had said, “Despite India’sconstraint of 2.5 percent ofglobal land, four per cent ofrainfall and 16 per cent ofworld’s human population,India is home to eight per centof world’s biodiversity whichincludes 70 per cent of world’stiger population.”

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    Nineteen days after launch-ing the nationwide megavaccination drive on January16, the Government onThursday said the seconddose of vaccine against thecoronavirus will be adminis-tered to healthcare workersfrom February 13.

    “Only the first dose hasbeen given to them so far,”NITI Aayog member VK Paulsaid at a Press conferencehere.

    Details are being workedout, said an official from theUnion Health Ministry.

    Meanwhile, the Ministrysaid that nearly 4.5 millionbeneficiaries have receivedCovid-19 vaccine shots in 19days.

    “Many other countrieshave had a head start ofalmost 65 days. Indialaunched the countrywideCovid-19 vaccination drive onJanuary 16. The number ofbeneficiaries being vaccinat-ed every day has also showna progressive increase,” theMinistry said.

    In a span of 24 hours,3,10,604 people were vacci-nated across 8,041 sessions, itsaid, adding 84,617 sessionshave been conducted so far.

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    The Cabinet’s decision ofproviding relaxation in agecut off for Jharkhand PublicService Commission (JPSC)aspirants will not only help theGovernment achieve itsrecruitment targets, but alsoprovide an opportunity toworking professionals to switchfrom jobs in the private sectorto the public sector, academi-cians said on Thursday.

    “At a time when sustainingjobs in the private sector isbecoming more challengingthan ever, leaving employeeswith limited scope of growth,the government’s decisioncomes as an opportunity forthose working professionalswho want to leave their cor-porate jobs and join a govern-ment job,” said Dr. VP Sharan,a city-based academician andformer Vice Chancellor ofRanchi University.

    The Cabinet onWednesday decided that gen-eral category aspirants, whowere either 35-year-old oryounger on August 1, 2016 willbe eligible to appear for theupcoming seventh JPSCexams. Candidates belongingto the Scheduled Tribe orScheduled Caste communitieswill get additional relaxationson the age cut off as per therules.

    Sharan said that the Covid-19 pandemic wreaked havoc onpeople working in the privatesector with layoffs and salarycuts announced in almost allcorporate houses. “Even theones who have retained their

    jobs are overworked andunderpaid. Most of the work-ing professionals dealing withsuch issues are around the ageof 40 years, and the govern-ment’s decision will now givethem a chance to appear for theexams and make a careerchange,” he said.

    As per the Cabinet deci-sion, even a 40-year-old generalcategory candidate was eligibleto give a shot at the civil ser-vices examinations inJharkhand. Usually, the cut-offage for appearing in JPSCexams is 35 years.

    Chief Minister HemantSoren has said on a number ofoccasions that year 2021 will bea year of recruitment inJharkhand. Soon after comingto power, he said that his gov-ernment will prioritise fillingup the vacant positions acrossthe state and provide employ-ment to the youth.

    However, some academi-cians are of the opinion that therelaxations in the age cut-offmay not benefit job-seekers toa large extent as there were very

    few vacancies in the state incomparison to the enormousnumber of qualified yet unem-ployed youths.

    “Around 3 lakh to 4 lakhcandidates will appear for theexams, and not even 10 percent of them will get jobsthrough JPSC,” said renownedeconomist and former ViceChancellor of Vinoba BhaveUniversity, Dr. Ramesh Sharan.

    He, however, accepted thatthe relaxations provided bythe government will benefit thecandidates who have beenpreparing for civil services foryears, but could not crack theexams.

    The Jharkhand Cabinet onWednesday also decided togive additional relaxations toST/SC candidates appearingfor the JPSC exams by doingaway with the clause that thecut off marks for ST/SC can-didates cannot be less than 8per cent from the cut off forgeneral candidates. The deci-sion is aimed at filling up the15 per cent quota for reservedcategory candidates.

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    The State Government hasapproved its first-ever CSRpolicy with a view to realise theoverall development of its peo-ple, to create an enabling envi-ronment and to increase thetotal volume of CSR invest-ments.

    With the help of this newJharkhand CSR policy, theGovernment plans to create aconducive environment forattracting CSR investments andbest management practices toaddress various developmentalchallenges within the state ofJharkhand. It will lead to theestablishment of a partnershipbetween the State Government,Corporates, civil society orga-nizations and streamline theirpriorities and activities.

    This policy will also createtransparency and avoid dupli-

    cation of efforts arising out ofsimilar central and state-spon-sored schemes and therebyrationalizing the utilization ofresources for positive impact. Itwill also help prioritize mean-ingful CSR projects to create asustainable, long-term impacton communities and the envi-ronment.

    The government alsoassumes that with this new pol-icy Corporates will also get toknow about the areas of prior-ities to work upon, whereasearlier in the absence of thispolicy corporate houses used toface difficulty in the selectionof projects which will prove tobe a long-term sustainabledevelopment project.

    To realize the goal of theJharkhand CSR Policy 2020,Jharkhand Corporate SocialResponsibility Authority will beconstituted under the admin-

    istrative control of theDepartment of Industrieschaired by the Chief Ministerof Jharkhand. This authoritywill work towards increasingCSR investments in Jharkhand.After the establishment of theJharkhand CSR Authority, theJharkhand CSR Council will bedisbanded.

    To bring in transparencyand ensure efficient and seam-less information flow, a CSRportal will also be made oper-ational. The CSR Portal will bemade under the supervision ofthe JCSRC, An entity estab-lished in the year 2015 as theJharkhand CSR Council.

    The CSR Portal will containdetails on the current projectsbeing funded through CSR clas-sified according to sectors, dis-tricts, departments, etc. A shelfof projects will also be availablefor companies for future projectselections. Apart from this, allother details related to CSRfunding, Policy & operationalguidelines of CSR funding, for-mats for project proposal,Corporate registration form,MOU, etc will also be madeavailable on the website.

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    As a creative person with acurious, enrapt mind –many things may tug at yourheartstrings!

    You want to write thatnovel, paint with your barehands, play that rock guitar…

    You want to spend a semes-ter in France studyingRenaissance sculpture, appren-tice at Le Cordon Bleu to maketarts that dissolve like sweetmist in your mouth, forage forwild herbs to concoct somehealing magic.

    You want to climb TheAndes and incant in the citadelof Machu Pichu, work at theNew York atelier of yourfavourite designer, write songsabout race and culture, learnarchery from Mongolianshamans, or just dance underthe Turkish moon to the drum-beat of your heart…

    Oh, the places you couldgo, the things you could do –if only you could stop thinkingin terms of ‘making a living’,‘climbing a career ladder’, ‘fit-ting into society’.

    What would happen if yourefuse to adhere to labels andnorms? Who would you be?

    You drift amongst the gos-samers of your dreams allthrough the night, and thenscratch your head in confusionwaking up to morning’s coldlight.

    You brush your teeth, dressyour kids, clean dog poop offyour doorstep, race to work,you have an appointment withyour dentist at lunch break –where you make frantic to-dolists and anxious phone calls inthe waiting room. By day’s end,you are exhausted. Head home,spare your wife a view, down

    some dinner and collapse intobed! The demands of your‘normal’ life have swallowedyou whole – along with yourpassion, creativity and joy.

    Your dreams get corneredinto the ‘maybe someday’recesses of your mind, alter-natively enticing you withlonging and dunking you in amouldy pond of guilt. So what’sreally going on, when thethings you want the most arethe things you make least timeand efforts for, in your life?

    Crafting your art, chasingthe sun and new ideas, new cul-tures, new ways of showing upin the world – are acts that notonly change you, but change theworld around you. You and theworld will not be the same afteryou’ve broken stigma throughyour art, after you’ve defiedstrongholds of career trajecto-ries, planted that organic gar-den, burned your hut for yourboat or burned your boat for ahut…

    The world will not be thesame after you’ve sung yoursong, fought that wrong, chis-elled your body strong. Youradventures in Uzbekistan, yourromance with a tall Turk, yourstory of selling hand-madesweets in an Indian flea market,your spending that week withtribal children telling themabout a big world out there…will not only transform youprofoundly, but will leave a dentin humanity.

    How will your life changeif you can take small, creativerisks daily? What if you slow-ly start stretching your capac-ity beyond so-called con-straints? What if you gatheredcourage to cross off labels justfor one day each week, and besomeone other than whoyou’ve been all along? What ifyou build up courage and con-fidence brick by brick, andsoon one day, end up standingon a bedrock of faith in yourpossibilities? Maybe not juststanding, but dancing on it?

    The world offers itself to usin every moment, quiet in it’spromise, savage in it’s beauty,unbounded in it’s essence.What will it take, to raise oureyes past our selfies and judge-ments and incessant fears?What if the world we’re bent onruling has its own soul andpulse and divine intelligence?What if evolutionary harmonyis restored by the agency of ourhearts and voices?

    Liberation is always per-sonal, yet always more thanpersonal. When you free your-self, you contribute to freedomin all forms of life. Serve thisemergence with your love, yourstrength, your joy. And you willopen a portal for all others.

    The writer is a HolisticWellness Expert.

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    Coal India Ltd (CIL) hassigned a Memorandum ofUnderstanding (MoU) withEnergy Efficiency Services Ltd(EESL) - a JV Company underthe Ministry of Power - forstrategic partnership to collab-orate in the area of energy effi-ciency and resource conserva-tion for de-carbonisation ofCoal India. This MoU willenable EECL to help CIL reduce10% – 15% of its annual con-sumption of 4600 MU of ener-gy.

    CIL will now collaboratewith EESL in the areas of ener-gy efficiency and resource con-servation, reduce carbon foot-print and improve its overalloperational efficiency and prof-itability. EESL will help CILwith energy efficiency inprocesses along with de-cen-

    tralized captive solar plantsand help to improve operationalefficiencies of CIL’s subsidiariesand reduce significant costs,without any upfront invest-ment.

    EESL will help CIL to con-duct energy audits and under-take assignments to minimizelosses on account of energythrough financialESCO/RESCO model. In theESCO/RESCO model, theentire project cost shall beborne by EESL against the pro-posed energy savings projectand the payment to EESL shall

    be monetised through energysavings. CIL and EESL will alsoexplore business opportunitiesin the field of energy efficien-cy, electric vehicle hiringincluding establishment ofcharging stations, solar powergeneration, RAISE, Green ener-gy building, smart energy solu-tions, etc.

    Sanjiv Soni, Director(Finance), CIL signed theMOU on behalf of CIL andVenkatesh Dwivedi, Director– Projects & BusinessDevelopment, EESL signedthe document on behalf ofEESL. Pramod Agrawal,Chairman, CIL and FDs ofCIL were present on the occa-sion, while Dr. Anil KumarJain, Secretary-Coal, Govt. ofIndia and senior managementof EESL joined the signing ofMoU via video conferencingfrom New Delhi.

    (�"���������Standup comicSundeep Sharma will be performingin the city on Friday. The standupcomic, known for his everyday jokeslaced with sarcasm, will be performing in thecity for the first time. He will perform at ScratchSports Bar & Grill, Sonari.

    Saurav Sinha, managing director, Scratch, saidthat they have been giving opportunities to localartists to perform but it is for the first time that theyhave invited a national level comedian to perform.The show will start by 7: 30 pm with performancesby the local artists followed by Sundeep himself.

    He informed that Mumbai-based Sundeep isone of the rare comedians who can perform polit-ical satires with in-depth knowledge with hilariousanalogies that everyone can understand.

    “We will ensure that Covid-19 protocols are inplace and will allow only limited gathering. Scratchis the new most happening place in Jamshedpur.There is a whole section for bands and artists per-forming,” said Sinha. PNS

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    Meharbhai Tata MemorialHospital (MTMH) hasprovided a boost to cancercare in the city. Besides servingthe people of Jharkhand, itextends its services toGovernment and Public Sectorundertakings such as, SAIL,CCL, NML, Railways etc.

    “Over the years, the risingnumber of cancer patients and

    advancement in cancer carethrew up the need for expan-sion and upgradation of thehospital. In 2017, Tata Trustsapproved a project to upgradeMTMH from a 72- beddedcancer hospital to a compre-hensive 128-bedded cancercare facility,” said an official ofthe hospital.

    The foundation laying cer-emony for this project wasdone on 2nd March 2018 by

    Mr. Ratan Tata. Over a periodof one year, a new extensionbuilding has come up in theTMH campus, connected toMTMH by a skybridge. Thetwo buildings together housecomprehensive cancer carefacility, including an OPD,Medical Oncology andRadiotherapy wards, Day Carechemotherapy ward and PritpalPalliative Care Centre (fundedby Suri Foundation).

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    In a shocking incident twoelephants were killed afterbeing hit by a speeding goodstrain (Millenium parcel train)at Bisra near Manoharpur inWest Singhbhum district,about 190 Km from here in thesmall hours of Thursday. Theelephants were an adult ( 15year) and an elephant calf ( 5years).

    According to railwaysources, the incident took placepast 1 am, when the two wild

    elephants were trying to crossthe railway tracks betweenBhalulata - Jeraikela railwaysection.

    The train was running at aspeed of around 100 Kmph,when it hit the two tuskers. Thespot of mishap was close toOdisha's Sundargarh district.

    Sources informed thatsoon after the mishap, a teamfrom the forest departmentrushed to the spot. They start-ed protesting against themishap and blamed the railway

    authorities for negligence.Sensing trouble, RPF jawanstook the forest departmentteam hostage for three hours.They were released only afterpromise of probe.

    “It is a tragic incidentwhich took place at around1.10 am. An investigation hasbeen initiated in this regardby Chakradharpur division, "said Sanjay Ghosh, chief pub-lic relations officer of SouthEastern Railway. The seniorrailway official went on to saythat no speed restrictions

    were imposed by the forestdepartment in that section.

    According to him, all thefour- wheels of the front trol-ley of the parcel van (next toengine) got derailed after themishap.

    Restoration work at thespot of mishap got completedat around 9 am after whichtrain services in that railwaysection resumed.

    “It was really shocking toread about the death of ele-phants on railway tracks.

    Trains continue to kill ele-phants despite the govern-ment claiming to pay activeattention to the problem for atleast the past five years. In con-sultation with theEnvironment and ForestMinistry and the forest depart-ments of state govern-ments,Railways must attemptto find a more lasting solutionin the matter through depositworks consisting of measuressuch as construction of rampsand underpasses,” said a local.

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    In order to increase the par-ticipation of SC/ST andwomen entrepreneurs in BSL procurement,the restructured new R&R cell was inaugu-rated by Executive Director (MaterialsManagement) VK Pandey. On this occasion,Chief General Manager (Purchasing) FRAzmi, Chief General Manager (MaterialsManagement) B Chaudhary, GeneralManager-in-Charge (Inspection and Progress)Bhupendra Singh and other officers and per-sonnel were present.

    During the program, Pandey discussedthe vendor registration process and vendorrating in detail with the officials, whileencouraging the personnel on the unique ini-tiative of Bokaro Steel Plant.

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    The North-East could wellbecome the country’s can-cer hotspot with health expertscautioning that the number ofnew cases in the region is like-ly to increase to 57,131 by 2025in comparison to the estimat-ed 50,317 in 2020.

    Citing the report by theIndian Council of MedicalResearch (ICMR) and theNational Centre for DiseaseInformatics and Research(NCDIR), Bengaluru, whichwas released on Thursday onthe occasion of World CancerDay, the experts said that thereis a need to focus on early diag-nosis and prevention of cancer.

    As per the report ‘Profile ofcancer and related health indi-cators in the Northeast Regionof India’, in all the States, theincidence of cancer was high-er in males than in femalesexcept in Manipur and Sikkim.The commonly occurring can-cers among males were cancerof the oesophagus (13.6 percent) and lung (10.9 per cent),while in females, cancer of thebreast was the leading site(14.5 per cent), followed by thatof cervix uteri (12.2 per cent).

    The highest incidence ratein males (269.4 per 100,000population) was recorded inAizawl district in Mizoramand among females (219.8 per

    100,000) in Papumpare districtin Arunachal Pradesh.

    The proportion of tobacco-related cancers was 49.3 percent in males and 22.8 per centin females, said the report.

    At the time of diagnosis ofbreast, cervix, head and neck,stomach and lung cancers, lessthan one-third were localised,while the remaining werespread either nearby or dis-tantly in the body. The pro-portion of cancer patients seek-ing treatment outside the northeast was highest for Sikkim(95.3 per cent) and Nagaland(58. Per cent).

    “The report has given usvaluable insights into the pre-vailing risk factors of cancer -all the stakeholders must nowcome together to fight itsincreasing incidence,” said DrGK Rath, Head of AIIMS,BRAIRCH and NCI, Jhajjar.

    The Report also includesdata from seven hospital-basedcancer registries (HBCRs) inAssam, Manipur, Mizoram andTripura from 2012 to 2016.

    “The scientific evidencegenerated from the registrieshas led to strengthening ofhealth infrastructure in theregion and will provide theguidance for future policy deci-sions,” Dr Balram Bhargava,Director General, ICMR, saidin a statement.

    Terming it as a wakeup call

    amid Carona pandemic, DrRahul Bhargava, Director-BoneMarrow TransplantProgramme, Fortis MemorialResearch Institute, Gurugramstrongly felt that cancer patientsneed to be given priority forvaccination.

    “We know that the mostvulnerable group is people whohave suffered cancer or areundergoing chemotherapy.They should get vaccination ona priority basis so that theycontinue with the chemother-apy treatment. However, theymust consult their doctors forthe type of vaccine and timingof the vaccine inoculation sothat they can develop the ade-quate amount of antibodiesbefore they take chemothera-py.”

    Besides providing cancerdata, the ICMR report alsogives insight into the prevailingcancer risk factor profile capac-ity for treating cancer anddeath statistics for each statefrom various sources. Amongthe eight northeast states, cur-rent tobacco use was highest inTripura at 64.5 per cent andlowest in Sikkim at 17.9 percent.

    Men (59 per cent) andwomen (26.3 per cent) fromArunachal Pradesh, who wereover 15 years of age, consumedhigher proportions of alcoholthan in other NE states whilethe prevalence of obesityamong women aged 15-49years was highest in Sikkim(34.7 per cent) followed byManipur (34.1 per cent). Incontrast, in men, it was high-est in Sikkim (36.3 per cent)and lowest in Meghalaya (13.9per cent).

    The report said Sikkimhad the highest prevalence ofhypertension in men (41.6 percent) and women (34.5 percent), followed by Manipur(men 33.2 per cent and women23.0 per cent).

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    The National InvestigationAgency (NIA) on Thursdaysaid it has recovered �20 lakhin cash and 130 live rounds inconnection with the probe intoHizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM)narco terror case.

    The NIA conductedsearches in Amritsar andGurdaspur districts of Punjab atthe premises of suspectManpreet Singh of KalaAfghana, Teja Khurd, Batala,Amritsar, a close associate ofcharge-sheeted accused RanjitSingh alias Cheetah and IqbalSingh alias Shera in connectionwith investigation of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) NarcoTerror Case, the agency said ina statement.

    The case relates to arrest ofHilal Ahmad Shergojri, an overground worker of HM and aclose associate of Riyaz AhmedNaikoo, the then commander ofHM who had come to Amritsarto collect the funds to furtherthe terrorist activities in Jammuand Kashmir.

    � 29 lakh along with a Tatatruck was seized from theaccused on April 25 last year byPunjab Police.

    This case was originallyregistered as case FIR number135/20 dated April 25, 2020 atPolice Station Sadar, AmritsarCity, Punjab, under varioussections of Unlawful Activities(Prevention) Act, 1967 in con-

    nection with seizure of �29lakhs which were drug pro-ceeds. Subsequently sectionsof the Narcotic Drugs andPsychotropic Substances(NDPS) Act were added duringinvestigation.

    The case was re-registeredby NIA on May 8, 2020 andtook up the investigation.

    The NIA has filedchargesheets against 11 accusedpersons in Special NIA Court,Mohali in the case.

    “During investigation, itwas revealed that ManpreetSingh a hawala operator, hadcollected heroin, drug proceedsand weapons and transportedthem in his i20 and Verna caras per directions of accusedRanjit Singh alias Cheetah andIqbal Singh alias Shera. Further,Manpreet Singh delivered thedrugs proceeds to the tune of�35 lakh and weapons to thecharge-sheeted accused BikramSingh alias Vicky, relative ofRanjeet Singh during themonth of March, 2020,” theNIA said in a statement.

    During the searches con-ducted on Thursday, �20 lakh(drug proceeds) 130 live roundsof 9 mm, mobile phones, pendrive, one bunch of polythenebags used for packing heroin,one Hyundai Verna car, a twowheeler, documents related toproperties, and other incrimi-nating documents have beenseized from the house of thesuspect, it added.

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    The EnforcementDirectorate has attachedassets worth over �14 crorebelonging to the GitanjaliGroup and its promoter andjeweller Mehul Choksi, one ofthe prime accused in thealleged over �13,000 crorePNB loan fraud case.

    The properties attached,under the anti-money laun-dering law, include a flat mea-suring 1,460 sq feet located atO2 Tower in Goregaon area ofMumbai, gold and platinumjewellery, diamond stones,necklaces made of silver andpearls, watches and aMercedes Benz car, the EDsaid in a statement.

    A provisional order forattachment has been issuedunder the Prevention ofMoney Laundering Act(PMLA) for the assets worth atotal �14.45 crore that are inthe name of Gitanjali Group ofcompanies and its directorMehul Choksi, it said.

    Choksi, 61, is the maternaluncle of Nirav Modi who is theother prime accused in thealleged over �13,000 crore)Punjab National Bank (PNB)fraud case.

    Choksi has fled India andis stated by probe agencies tobe based in Antigua andBarbuda.

    Modi, 49, is in a Londonjail after he was held byauthorities there in 2019 onthe basis of a legal requestmade by the ED and theCentral Bureau ofInvestigation (CBI) in thiscase. He is contesting extradi-tion to India.

    The two, their familymembers and employees, bankofficials and others werebooked by the ED and the CBIin 2018 for perpetrating thealleged fraud in the BradyHouse branch of the PNB inMumbai.

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    Two Delhi-based sistersmoved the Allahabad HighCourt on Wednesday claimingthe ownership of the five-acreland allotted to the UttarPradesh Sunni Central WaqfBoard for the construction ofa mosque in Ayodhya in accor-dance with the Supreme Courtverdict in the RamJanmabhoomi-Babri Masjidcase.

    The petition before theLucknow Bench of AllahabadHC was filed in the court’s reg-istry and is likely to come upfor hearing on February 8.

    Rani Kapoor alias RaniBaluja and Rama Rani Punjabihave said in the writ petitionthat their father Gyan ChandraPunjabi had come to Indiaduring partition in 1947 fromPunjab and settled in Faizabad(now Ayodhya) district.

    They have claimed thattheir father was allotted 28-acreland in Dhannipur village bythe Nazul Department for fiveyears which he continued topossess beyond that period.Later, his name was included inthe revenue records, the peti-tioners have said.

    However, his name wasstruck down from the recordsagainst which their father filed

    an appeal before the AdditionalCommissioner, Ayodhya,which was allowed, they haveclaimed.

    The petitioners furtherclaimed that the consolidationofficer again removed theirfather’s name from the recordsduring consolidation proceed-ings.

    Against the order of theconsolidation officer, an appealwas preferred before theSettlement Officer of

    Consolidation, Sadar, Ayodhya,but without considering thesaid petition, the authoritieshave allotted five-acre of their28-acre land to the Waqf Boardfor the constructing of mosque,they said.

    The petitioners havedemanded the authorities berestrained from transferringthe land to the Sunni WaqfBoard till the pendency of dis-pute before the settlement offi-cer.

    The State Government hasallotted five-acre land to theSunni Waqf Board inDhannipur village for con-struction of mosque in com-pliance with Supreme Courtdirection on November 7, 2019in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri mosque title suit.

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  • sions and service contours.The agonising conditions inTEIs are accentuated by thearchaic and opaque recruit-ment procedures. An example:In July 2020, 1,427 schoolteach-ers with fake degrees wereidentified in UP, 927 removedand �900 crore fraudulentlydrawn as salaries. The author-ities must gear up to ensurecleansing of the system as wellas of the recruitment process.Surely punish the teacherswho committed fraud, but donot also spare those who gotthem appointed.

    Sincere efforts made to setthings right after the JusticeVerma Commission reportresulted in the mafia comingtogether and filing innumer-able court cases against theNCTE. The mafia brother-hood resisted the change vig-orously and led to the head ofthe organisation demittingoffice, probably in sheer frus-tration. The observations of theJustice Verma Commissionalso find a mention in theNational Education Policy(NEP-2020): “Regulatoryefforts so far have neither beenable to curb the malpractices inthe system nor enforce basicstandards for quality and, infact, had the negative effect ofcurbing the growth of excel-lence and innovation.” In light

    of the Shimla reports, would itbe incorrect to infer that hun-dreds of thousands of youthhave been lured, cheated andleft to fend for themselveswith fake degrees? Apparently,the regulatory systems havefailed, or were lethargic andprofessionally inadequate. Butthis is only partially true. It isthe inadequacy within the sys-tem that has not shown enoughalertness and commitment toprofessional ethics.

    This topic is normallyavoided lest it hurt certainsensitivities. It must, however,be stated plainly in profession-al interest. Each of the 10,000institutes mentioned in theJustice Verma Commissionreport was visited by a profes-sional experts’ committee for acouple of days to inspect,examine and ensure that all theprescribed norms and stan-dards are in place; that the insti-tute is fully equipped to preparequality teachers. If these aresubsequently found deficient,why must responsibility not befixed on the 30,000 expertswho had accepted the hospital-ity and put their signatures onthe institutes’ worthiness?Imagine the measure of dam-age that could be inflicted onstudents by a poorly trainedteacher, or by someoneappointed on the basis of a fake

    degree. This vicious circle mustbe exposed and broken. Theinitiative for it must comefrom within, from every aca-demic, every professional andevery committed teacher. Thisis how it finds reflection in theNEP-2020 where it stipulates:“In order to improve theintegrity and credibilityrequired to restore the prestigeof the teaching profession, theregulatory system shall beempowered to take stringentaction against the substandardand dysfunctional TEIs that donot meet the basic education-al criteria, after giving oneyear for remedy of breaches. By2030, only the educationallysound, multidisciplinary andintegrated teacher educationprogrammes shall be in force.”This is an encouraging recom-mendation; it applies in equalmeasure to professional cours-es like medical, engineering,pharmacy, and others.

    As the NEP-2020 is beinganalysed at every level and itsimplementation has begun inearnest, it would be in order thatthe most critical role is playedby competent and committedteachers — right from the pri-mary level to the academics ofthe institutes of excellence.

    (The author works in edu-cation and social cohesion. Theviews expressed are personal.)

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    The agitation over the three farm reforms hasbecome protracted and vexed. TheGovernment which initially claimed that theActs will benefit the farmers has now recog-nised that there are problems in the AgriculturalProduce Trade and Commerce (Promotion andFacilitation) Act (popularly known as APMC mandiBypass Act) and the Farmers (Empowerment andProtection) Agreement on Price Assurance and FarmServices Act (in short, Contract Farming Act).Therefore, it is now open to amending them, whilethe farmer unions are demanding a repeal of all three,including the Essential Commodities Act (ECA,2020) though the ECA is not a new Act, arguing thatthey are so poorly designed that amendments won’tdo. Let’s see some of the provisions and implicationshere.

    ECA, 2020: The ECA, as per its original man-date, can be amended in terms of inclusion or exclu-sion of any commodity from the list of essential com-modities. The amended ECA provides for relaxationfor stocking of cereals, edible oil, pulses, onion andpotato crops, though that would still not be absolutefreedom from the ECA. Such freedom can never bepossible in a country like India where agriculture isgoverned by both producer and consumer interest.Even the Minimum Support Price (MSP) is deter-mined keeping in mind both producer and consumerinterest. This ECA relaxation allows larger stockswithout limits for various users of farm produce likeexporters, processors and value chain participants.Still, the option of imposing stock limits for reasonsof war, famine, natural calamity and extraordinaryprice rise is retained. The amended Act places stocklimits if horticultural produce prices rise 100 per centand prices of non-perishables by 50 per cent abovethe previous year/five-year average price respective-ly. It is debatable whether this kind of price rise shouldbe allowed before imposing stock limits given the lev-els of food insecurity and poverty in India.

    These ECA relaxations sound good from the per-spective of value chain participants but may not real-ly help growers directly. In fact, the “de-fanging” ofthe ECA would be a windfall for trading companieswho speculate on prices. Only some FarmerProducer Organisations (FPOs) may be able to useit for storing their produce for better prices and pro-cessing/value addition, if they have warehouses andare into processing, storage, packing, transport anddistribution. The consumer benefit of this relaxationis not a given as it may actually lead to larger hoard-ing and therefore, higher consumer prices.

    The APMC mandi bypass Act, 2020: This cre-ates a new trade area outside the APMC marketyards/sub-yards where any buyer with a PermanentAccount Number (PAN) can buy directly fromfarmer sellers and the State Government can’timpose taxes on such a transaction. It is expected tolower costs for buyers and bring higher prices forfarmers. But, buying at a lower price does not nec-essarily mean that buyers would pass on the savingto farmers as a higher purchase price.The claim isalso made of growers having many channels for sell-ing now and not just the APMC one. This is mis-placed as majority of the farm produce (with theexception of some States like Punjab and Haryana)did not go through APMCs. Further, most agricul-tural States have already provided for a channel choiceby amending their APMC Acts and direct purchaseand contract farming are common now.Problematically, in the new trade area, there is noauthority to provide counterparty risk coverage forfarmer sellers unlike the APMC where licenced buy-ers and commission agents had to give bank guar-antees. The argument that APMC mandis are

    monopolistic and exploitative is notentirely true. In States like Karnataka,Gujarat and Maharashtra, there areelections for APMC office-bearers.There are representatives of traders,commission against, farmers, cooper-atives and the Government onAPMCs and they are multi-stakehold-er elected bodies. Only Punjab has nothad an election to the APMCs in near-ly 40 years. It only nominates chair-persons and members. It is importantto recognise that, for small and mar-ginal growers, the APMC mandi is thelast resort channel of sale. If APMCsare reduced in importance, smallfarmers would not gain unless moreof them are organised into FPOs andbecome attractive to private agenciesfor contract farming or direct pur-chase from which they are, by andlarge, excluded till now.

    Contract Farming Act, 2020: Theuse of the term farming agreement inthe Act itself is unusual as it is beingconfused with other arrangements likesharecropping or leasing pacts. Thebiggest problem is that it is being con-fused with corporate farming (firmsdoing their own farming on leased orowned land) and it is definitely notthat, as land leasing and land ceilingsActs at the State level are still intactthough they may not remain so forlong, going by what Karnataka,Rajasthan and Punjab are planning interms of opening up of land markets.But, the way the “production agree-ment” is defined raises doubts whetherit is more about land leasing and cor-porate farming rather than contractfarming. The confusion has led to theRajasthan Amendment Bill, 2020assuming that the sponsor can leasefarmers’ land. The “trade and com-merce agreement” under the Act alsoincludes direct purchase which is notthe appropriate transaction underthis Act. The other indication that

    direct purchase is a part of this Act isin the fact that large retailers are men-tioned as contracting parties.

    The global and the Indian truthabout large retailers or supermarketsis that they don’t have contract pactswith farmers and buy directly withoutany advance commitment of price orquantity and a farmer does not growfor them to begin with.

    The Act links bonus and premi-um over and above the guaranteedprice, with the mandi price or electron-ic market price which is anti-contractfarming in nature. The contract price,like many other basic aspects of con-tract, should be left to the parties tonegotiate and can’t be tied to any otherchannel especially APMC price, asthese markets were seen as not decid-ing the prices efficiently. Now, goingback to the same mandi does not speakvery well of the Act. Since contractfarming takes mandi to the farm, it isa channel with serious implications forfarmers in terms of production. But itleaves out many sophisticated aspectsof modern contract farming practiceslike contract cancellation clauses anddamages therein. The very basicaspects of contract farming likeacreage, quantity and time of deliveryare not specified, which is a must forany law regulating it as these aremandatory aspects of such an arrange-ment whether with supply of inputs orotherwise. In fact, the 2003 model ofthe APMC Act had such provisionsand even a model contract farmingpact. Therefore, it required well-thought-out regulation but the Actfares poorly on that count.

    The Act specifically mentionsthat quality, grade and standards forpesticide residue, food safety, goodfarming practices, labour and socialdevelopment standards may also beadopted in the farming agreement. Itis sad that the social and labour aspects

    are only suggested and not mademandatory given the fact that childlabour and labour exploitation inwages and work conditions are wide-ly prevalent in contract farming. It isalso affecting India’s exports and rep-utation in global markets for fair tradeand ethical products.

    The Act is more about facilitationand promotion of the contract farm-ing mechanism rather than its regu-lation. That the Act goes all the wayto facilitate contract farming is clearfrom the fact that it mentions thatECA, 2020 would not apply to contractfarmed produce. Why should this pro-vision of another Act be specificallymentioned in another law which hasnothing to do with this law directly orindirectly?

    In both the new farm Acts, FPOsare treated only as a farmer and not abuyer which also needs correction asthese entities themselves also under-take contract farming in many Statesand are never involved in productionand, therefore, can’t be called farmer.The APMC mandi bypass Act alsoprovides for separate payment rules forFPOs which is unnecessary as these aremember-owned bodies and don’tneed to be told when and how to paytheir members. It is like telling Amulhow to pay its members!

    One of the major objectives of thenew Acts is to attract private invest-ments in agri-business and markets.But investments come not due to achange in law, but incentives. Biharcompletely deregulated the marketinstead of reforming it in 2006 byrepealing the APMC Act. But one hasnot seen any new investments there.The APMC structure has collapsedthere with procurement and purchasecentres falling. The two farm Acts andthe ECA seem more like a package offreedom for corporate buyers in thename of freedom for farmers.

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    ��������Moscow: The Kremlin said onThursday that thousands ofarrests at protests against thejailing of Opposition leaderAlexei Navalny were a neces-sary response to the unsanc-tioned rallies and stronglyrebuffed Western criticism.

    Asked about the harshtreatment of thousands ofdetainees, many of whom spentlong hours on police buses andwere put in overcrowded cells,Russian President VladimirPutin’s spokesman, Dmitry

    Peskov, said that they have tobear responsibility for joiningthe unauthorised protests.

    “The situation wasn’t pro-voked by law enforcement, itwas provoked by participants inunsanctioned actions,” Peskovsaid in a call with reporters.

    Massive protests eruptedafter Navalny was arrested Jan.17 upon returning from hisfive-month convalescence inGermany from a nerve agentpoisoning, which he hasblamed on the Kremlin. AP

    Yangon: Myanmar’s new mil-itary Government blockedaccess to Facebook as resistanceto Monday’s coup surged amidcalls for civil disobedience toprotest the ousting of the elect-ed Government and its leader,Aung San Suu Kyi.

    Facebook is especially pop-ular in Myanmar and is howmost people access the internet.

    The military seized powershortly before a new session ofParliament was to convene onMonday and detained Suu Kyiand other top politicians.

    It said it acted because thegovernment had refused toaddress its complaints that lastNovember’s general election, inwhich Suu Kyi’s party won alandslide victory, was marred bywidespread voting irregularities.The state Election Commissionhas refuted the allegations.

    About 70 recently electedlawmakers defied the new mil-itary government on Thursdayby convening a symbolic meet-ing of the Parliament that wasprevented from opening.

    They signed their oaths ofoffice at a government guest-

    house in the capital, Naypyitaw,where about 400 of them weredetained in the aftermath of thetakeover. They have since beentold they can return to theirhome districts.

    The unofficial conveningwas a symbolic gesture to assertthat they, not the military, arethe country’s legitimate law-makers. Some expressed theiranger and their determinationto resist the coup as they left theguesthouse.

    “This violates the humanrights of the whole citizenry.

    This is not a coup. This is atreason against the govern-ment. I will have to say that thisis state treason,” said Khin SoeSoe Kyi, a member of SuuKyi’s National League forDemocracy party.

    The military declared aone-year state of emergencyand put all state powers intothe hands of the junta, includ-ing legislative functions. Itsaid that at the end of thatperiod it will call an electionand turn over power to thewinner. AP

    The Hague: The InternationalCriminal Court on Thursdayconvicted a former comman-der in the notorious Ugandan rebel group the Lord’sResistance Army of dozens ofwar crimes and crimes againsthumanity ranging from multi-ple murders to forced mar-riages.

    Dominic Ongwen, whowas abducted by the shadowymilitia as a 9-year-old boy andtransformed into a child soldier

    and later promoted to a seniorleadership rank, will be sen-tenced at a later date. He facesa maximum punishment of lifeimprisonment.

    The judgment outlined thehorrors of the LRA’s attacks oncamps for displaced civilians innorthern Uganda in the early2000s, and of Ongwen’s abuseof women forced to be his“wives”. Presiding JudgeBertram Schmitt said thatOngwen’s history as an abduct-

    ed child turned fighter could beconsidered at the sentencingstage of the trial.

    But he made clear: “Thiscase is about crimes commit-ted by Dominic Ongwen as afully responsible adult as acommander of the LRA in hismid- to late 20s.”

    Defence lawyers hadargued that Ongwen was a“victim and not a victim andperpetrator at the same time.”

    AP

    Kathmandu: The normal lifewas paralysed across Nepal onThursday during a nation-wide general strike called by theNepal Communist Party’ssplinter faction-led by PushpaKamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ tooppose the appointment ofoffice bearers and members ofvarious constitutional bodies byPrime Minister KP SharmaOli-led caretaker Government.

    Major markets, education-al institutions, offices and fac-tories were shut down whiletransport services were dis-rupted during the strike.

    The Government hadmobilised at least 5,000 securitypersonnel in KathmanduValley to prevent any untowardincident. Only few motorbikeswere seen moving around thecapital city since morning.

    Meanwhile, police havearrested at least 157 cadres ofthe Prachanda-led faction forenforcing the general strike indifferent parts of the country.Nepal Communist Party’sCentral Committee membersAshta Laxmi Shakya, Himal

    Sharma and Amrita Thapawere among those arrested.The protesters vandalised atleast three vehicles inKathmandu for defying thestrike.

    “Eighty people have beenarrested from the KathmanduValley, while the remaining 77were arrested from outside theValley,” Senior Superintendentof Police Basanta Kunwar,spokesperson for Nepal Police,

    told reporters.Her said that those

    involved in vandalism andarson have been arrested.According to the MetropolitanTraffic Police Kathmandu, ataxi was set on fire by demon-strators near Gongabu BusPark early in the morning.Another taxi and a microbuswere vandalised at Swoyambhuand Chabahil areas on the out-skirt of Kathmandu. PTI

    Washington: A pro-China net-work of fake and imposteraccounts found a global audi-ence on YouTube, Facebookand Twitter to mock the USresponse to the Covid-19 pan-demic as well as the deadly riotin Washington that left fivedead, new research publishedon Thursday found.

    Messages posted by thenetwork, which also praisedChina, reached the socialmedia feeds of governmentofficials, including some inChina and Venezuela whoretweeted posts from the fakeaccounts to millions of theirfollowers.

    The international reachmarked new territory for a pro-China social media networkthat has been operating foryears, said Ben Nimmo, head ofinvestigations for Graphika,the social media analysis firmthat monitored the activity.

    “For the very first time, it started to get a little bit ofaudience interaction,” Nimmosaid.

    The network’s messagingaligns closely with posts andcomments made by Chinese

    state officials. But it is unclearwho is behind the fakeaccounts, which posted morethan 1,400 videos in English,Mandarin or Cantonese,Nimmo said.

    One of the Twitteraccounts, which had a follow-ing of roughly 2,000 usersmostly from Latin American,also tweeted the messaging inSpanish.

    The posts appear to targetsocial media users outside ofAmerica, gaining traction in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Venezuela — places where Chinese and US diplo-matic or financial interestshave increasingly come intoconflict.

    “The overall message is:America is doing very badly.China is doing very well,”Nimmo said. “Who do youwant to be like?”

    The network used photosof Chinese celebrities on theaccounts and, in one case,hijacked the verified Twitteraccount of a Latin Americansoap opera show to post mes-sages, according to Graphika’sreport. AP

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    A�����������������������������������(�����������������(��-�����@�0��(���New York: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has vowed to mobilise theinternational community toput enough pressure onMyanmar to ensure that themilitary coup in the country“fails”, saying it is unfortunatethat the Security Council is not yet united in dealing withthe crisis.

    The UN Security Councilmet on Tuesday to discuss the situation in Myanmar after the military seized powerand detained State CounsellorAung San Suu Kyi, President UWin Myint and other top polit-ical leaders in the bloodlesscoup.

    Suu Kyi has been chargedwith illegally importing walkie-

    talkies, a move by which shecan be detained until February15.

    In an interview to TheWashington Post, Guterressaid: “Unfortunately, theSecurity Council was not yetable to have unity in this regardand we will do everything wecan to mobilise all the keyactors of the international com-

    munity to put enough pressureon Myanmar to make surethat this coup fails”.

    Guterres said that after theNovember elections inMyanmar, which “took placenormally” and after the largeperiod of transition, it is“absolutely unacceptable” toreverse the results of the elec-tion and the will of the people.

    The Council is yet to issueany statement on the situationin Myanmar.

    An initial draft by Britainput forth for discussion among the 15-member Councilcondemns the coup, calls for the military to respect therule of law and for the imme-diate release of the detainedleaders. AP

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    Islamabad: Pakistan onThursday said that China’sSinopharm vaccine is not effec-tive for people over 60 years ofage, a day after it began its coun-trywide covi vaccination pro-gramme with the Chinese jabs.

    China donated half a mil-lion doses of Sinopharm vac-cines to Pakistan which sent aspecial plane to airlift the jabson Monday.

    Special Assistant to thePrime Minister on Health, Dr

    Faisal Sultan told the media onThursday that Pakistan’s expertcommittee while consideringthe preliminary analysis datarecommended the vaccine onlyfor people aged 18-60 years.

    “At this stage, the expertcommittee has not authorisedthe Sinopharm vaccine forpeople older than 60,” he said,adding that after getting moredata, a decision will be madewhether it can be used forelderly. PTI

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