7THE HIMALAYAN MAIL JAMMU TUESDAY NOVEMBER 03, 2020

NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL

NEW DELHI, NO-VEMBER 2: Delhi Envi-ronment Minister GopalRai on Monday targeted theBJP and the Congress overthe issue of stubble burning,saying the share of farmfires in Delhi’s pollution hassoared to 40 per cent butopposition parties were indenial.

According to the Ministryof Earth Sciences’ air qual-ity monitor, SAFAR, theshare of stubble burning inDelhi’s pollution rose to 40per cent on Sunday, themaximum so far this sea-son.

It was 32 per cent on Sat-urday, 19 per cent on Fridayand 36 per cent on Thurs-day, the second-highest thisseason so far.

“We have been saying itagain and again that stubbleburning is a major reasonbehind severe levels of pollu-tion in Delhi around Diwali,but the BJP and the Con-gress say the share of farmfires in Delhi’s pollution wasjust 4 to 6 per cent, whereas

statistics show it has in-creased to 40 per cent,” Raitold reporters.

He said the Delhi govern-ment has been doing every-thing possible to curb bio-mass burning, andvehicular and dust pollu-tion, “but what should we

do about stubble burning?” Last year, the stubble con-

tribution to Delhi’s pollu-tion had peaked to 44 percent on November 1, ac-cording to SAFAR data.

NASA’s satellite imageryshowed a large, dense clus-ter of fire dots coveringPunjab and parts ofHaryana and UttarPradesh.

Rai said strict action onthe ground was more im-portant than creating newcommissions.

The Centre introduced anew law recently through anordinance that put in placea powerful Commission forAir Quality Management inthe National Capital Regionand Adjoining Areas to curbair pollution.

Farm fire share in Delhi’s pollution 40 percent, but Oppn in denial: Gopal RaiJAIPUR, NOVEMBER

2: The Rajasthan govern-ment on Monday said theywere open to further nego-tiations with Gurjars, whoare demanding reservationeven as agitating membersof the community contin-ued to block a rail track inBharatpur’s Bayana.

The protest called by theGurjar Aarakshan SangarshSamiti entered its secondday.

Movement of roadwaysbuses was stopped onDausa, Bharatpur, Karauli,Dholpur and Hindaunroutes, and road trafficmovement entering fromUttar Pradesh was also af-fected due to the agitation.

A North-Western Rail-ways spokesman said theRailways had cancelledthree trains and diverted 29trains in the wake of theGurjar agitation.

According to police,youths in large numbersblocked a rail track inBayana and also damagedtracks.

According to ministry offi-cials, Kota-Hazrat Niza-muddin, Dehradun-Kotaand Hazrat Nizamuddin-Kota trains have been can-celled.

Hundreds of protestersfrom the Gurjar communityhave blocked railway tracksin Rajasthan to demandreservation in jobs and ed-ucational institutions. Dueto the protest, trains on theDelhi-Mumbai route havebeen stopped.

The issue was also raisedin the Rajasthan Assemblysession.

As soon as the session be-gan, Deputy Leader of Op-position Rajendra Rathoresought a reply from thestate government on the is-sue, saying the cabinet sub-committee held talks with

Gurjars but members of thecommunity were still block-ing railway tracks.

Rathore said Internet ser-vices were suspended invarious districts and rail-road traffic had also beenstopped.

“The state governmentshould inform the House onthe issue,” he said.

Speaker CP Joshi thenasked the state governmentto give a reply on it afterpassing three bills to negatethe effect of farms billspassed by the Centre re-cently.

Health Minister RaghuSharma said the door wasalways open for holdingtalks and any problem canbe solved through a dia-logue.

“We have made an agree-ment and if there are anydeficiencies... they can besolved through a meeting.The door is always open forholding talks. The state gov-ernment provided five percent reservation which waspending from years,”Sharma told reporters out-side the assembly.

He said taking the law

into one’s hands and dam-aging property is not a solu-tion to any problem, andadded that the peopleshould understand it causeslosses to the country.

The major Gurjar organi-sation started the agitationover reservation on Sunday,a day after community lead-ers held talks with the Ra-jasthan government andreached a consensus on 14points.

The convenor of the or-ganisation, Colonel KiroriSingh Bainsla, on Sundayasked state Sports andYouth Minister AshokChandna to come to Bayanafrom Jaipur.

Later, Chandna reachedHindaun to meet Bainslaand the members of theSamiti but meeting did nottake place due to Bainsla’shealth and blockade onHindaun-Peelupura route.

“The agitation will affecttraffic on the Delhi-Mumbairail route. The movement oftraffic was disrupted on theBayana-Hindaun road,” po-lice had said.

Earlier on Saturday, Gur-jar leader Himmat Singh

said the talks with the gov-ernment were positive.

Mobile Internet servicescontinue to remain sus-pended in many districts.The Home Department hadevoked the National Secu-rity Act (NSA) in Bharatpur,Dholpur, Sawai Madhopur,Dausa, Tonk, Bundi, Jha-lawar and Karauli districts.

The organisation is de-manding that the Rajasthangovernment should get theGurjars included in theNinth Schedule of the Con-stitution, fill the backlog ofvacancies and give the bene-fit of five per cent reserva-tion to the Most BackwardClasses (MBCs) in the pend-ing recruitment process.

The 14 points on which aconsensus emerged duringthe talks on Saturday in-clude providing regular payscale to 1,252 MBC employ-ees who have completedtheir probation period.

The state government willonce again write to the Cen-tre to include the provisionrelated to reservation forthe MBCs in the NinthSchedule of the Constitu-tion.

Gurjar agitation: Railways cancels 3 trains, diverts 29 others;Rajasthan govt says open to negotiations with Gurjars

NEW DELHI, NO-VEMBER 2: India contin-ues to occupy the top posi-tion globally in terms ofCOVID-19 recoveries whilethe total number of activecases have witnessed a sus-tained downward trendwith its percentage havingreduced more than threetimes in just two months,the Union Health Ministrysaid on Monday.

With 53,285 people recu-perating from the infectionin a day, the total number ofrecoveries have surged to75,44,798 on Monday,while at the same time thecountry recorded 45,231new cases.

There are 5,61,908 activecases of coronavirus infec-tion which comprises only6.83 per cent of the totalcaseload in the country, theministry said. The numberof active cases remained be-low six lakh for four days in arow.

“In a span of just twomonths, the percentage of

active cases have reducedmore than three times. OnSeptember 3, the percent-age of active cases was 21.16per cent,” it highlighted.

India has demonstratedan exponential increase inthe number of COVID-19cumulative tests since Janu-ary 2020. Expanded testinghas led to early identifica-tion and appropriate treat-ment of COVID-19. It hascrossed the landmark of 11crore total tests so far, theministry said.

The country’s testing ca-pacities have multiplied

manifold with 2,037 labora-tories across the countryand with collaborative ef-forts of the Centre, statesand union territories, itsaid.The higher number ofrecoveries is also reflectedin the continuous increasein the national recoveryrate, which is at present91.68 per cent. Of the newrecovered cases registeredin a day, 78 per cent arefrom 10 states and UnionTerritories.

Kerala and Karnatakahave contributed the high-est number to these with

more than 8,000 cases.Delhi and West Bengalrecorded more than 4,000recovered cases each.

The Ministry said 80 percent of the 45,231 new infec-tions are concentrated in 10states and UTs. Keralasurged to first place with7,025 new cases while Delhiand Maharashtra, both re-ported more than 5,000daily new cases.

Also, 496 deaths havebeen registered in a daywith 10 states and UnionTerritories accounting for82 per cent of new fatalities,the ministry said, adding 22per cent of deaths reportedare from Maharashtra with113 followed by West Bengalwith 59 fatalities.

The COVID-19 caseloadmounted to 82,29,313 onMonday with 45,231 peopletesting positive for the in-fection in a day, while thedeath toll climbed to1,22,607 with 496 new fa-talities, the data updated at 8am showed.

India in pole position globally in COVID-19 recoveries;active cases witness steady downward trend

NEW DELHI, NO-VEMBER 2: The SupremeCourt on Monday stayed theElection Commission’s de-cision to revoke the “starcampaigner” status of se-nior Congress leader andformer Madhya PradeshChief Minister Kamal Nathfor allegedly violating themodel code of conduct dur-ing an assembly by-electioncampaign in the state.

"Who gives you the powerto determine who is theleader of the party. We staythis order. You have no suchpower...," a Bench headedby CJI SA Bobde told theCommission while stayingits October 30 order.

While a political partypays for the expenditure ofits star campaigners, indi-vidual candidates pay forthe expenditure of othercampaigners.

On behalf of the EC, se-nior advocate RakeshDwivedi submitted that the

matter had become infruc-tuous because the electioncampaign was already over.

However, the Benchchose to issue a notice to theEC.

"How can the EC deter-mine who will be a leader(campaigner) of the party?"it wondered.

Kamal Nath on Saturdaymoved the Supreme Courtagainst the Election Com-mission’s decision to revokehis “star campaigner” statusfor allegedly violating the

model code of conduct dur-ing by-election campaignfor 28 assembly seats in thestate.

The Madhya PradeshCongress Committee Pres-ident had sought quashingof the EC’s October 30 or-der on the ground that theorder was passed withoutany notice to him just basedon a complaint by a BJPleader.

Alleging that the orderwas “completely unrea-soned and passed without

application of mind”, hehad also raised severalquestions of law regardingfundamental right to free-dom of speech and expres-sion.

He had urged the court todirect the EC to frame ap-propriate guidelines forspeeches by star campaign-ers/campaigners, “keepingin mind the right to free-dom of speech and expres-sion and concept of democ-ratic elections”.

“It is submitted that theimpugned order is illegal,arbitrary, unreasoned,passed in complete viola-tion of basic canons of nat-ural justice and in the nega-tion of fair play andtherefore, deserves to bequashed. Further, no noticehas been issued to the peti-tioner (Kamal Nath) withregard to the impugned or-der in complete violation ofprinciples of natural injus-tice,” his petition read.

SC stays EC order directing Kamal Nath's removal as'star campaigner' for violating model code of conduct

MUMBAI, NOVEM-BER 2: Bollywood actorDeepika Padukone’s man-ager Karishma Prakash,who is being probed by theNarcotics Control Bureauin a drug-related case inconnection with SushantSingh Rajput’s death, hasbeen “untraceable” aftershe was summoned by theNCB for questioning, offi-cials said on Monday.

An NCB source said asPrakash failed to appearbefore the NCB or reply tothe summons, the agencyhas now handed over thesummons to her motherand owners and colleaguesof Kwaan talent agency.

“It is true that Prakashhas gone untraceable afterbeing summoned for ques-

tioning,” an NCB official re-lated to the probe toldIANS.

The official said she wasasked to appear before theNCB on October 27.

The official, however,said it was not verified if theemployees of Kwan TalentManagement had beensummoned for question-

ing.The fresh summons were

issued after the NCB recov-ered 1.7 gm of ‘charas’ andsome bottles of CBD oilfrom her premises lastmonth.

Earlier Deepika andPrakash appeared beforethe NCB for questioningonce.

Besides Deepika, theNCB has also questionedBollywood actor ShraddhaKapoor and Sara Ali Khanin connection with a drug-related case to Sushant’sdeath.The NCB has alsoseized the phones of thesethree actors and sent themto the forensic department.

The drug law enforce-ment agency had regis-tered a case on the requestof the Enforcement Direc-torate (ED) after some al-leged chats discussingdrugs came to the fore inAugust.

Sushant was found deadin his flat on June 14. Be-sides NCB, the CBI and EDare probing separate casesin connection with thedeath of the late actor.

Deepika’s manager Karishma untraceableafter NCB summons: Officials

NEW DELHI, NOV02: Rashtriya Janata Dalleader Tejashwi Yadav onMonday attacked BiharChief Minister Nitish Ku-mar alleging that the CM istired and not able to handlethe state anymore.

"Nitish Ji is not able tohandle Bihar. There're only77 policemen per lakh popu-lation in Bihar and job va-cancies have not been filledyet. We're asking the publicto give us a chance, so wecan do what the Chief Minis-ter couldn't achieve in 15years. His farewell is guar-anteed," said RJD chief Te-jashwi Yadav.

Attacking the Nitish gov-ernment over policy dis-

crepancies, RJD scionclaimed that the health andeducation sectors were inshambles under the currentgovernment.

"Lack of enough doctorsand nurses have left hospi-

tals in a bad shape. Even theeducation system is inshambles under Nitish Ji'sgovernance. We would liketo ask him why Bihar is con-sidered the poorest stateacross India?" Tejashwi

added.The Mahagathbandhan

(grand alliance) chief min-isterial candidate furtherassured his party's victory inthe polls.

"We are certain of NitishJi's fall and Mahagathban-dan's rise in these elections.His recent statements makeus wonder about his years ofpolitical experience," Yadavconcluded.

The first phase of Biharassembly elections to 71seats was held on October28. The remaining 172 as-sembly constituencies willgo to polls on November 3and November 7 and the re-sults are scheduled to be an-nounced on November 10.

Nitish Kumar is not able tohandle Bihar: Tejashwi

NEW DELHI, NOV 02: A teacherwho spent the last year pursuing a pro-gramme at Oxford, Manish Barriarr'selection symbol is the mike.

His party is called Voxx -- Latin forvoice.

"People don't understand my degree.I get respect and they sit and talk to meonly because I am a teacher," says Barri-arr, 44, an MBA who provides coach-ing in finance and mathematics tomanagement aspirants in Patna.

He also visits management and tech-nical institutes in other parts of thecountry to give lectures.

Last year, he fulfilled his dream of go-ing to Oxford for the OrganisationLeadership programme at the SaidBusiness School.

Some of his students had gone toprestigious universities abroad while

he had to bottle up his own desire foryears because there was never enoughmoney during his student days.

His opportunity came 15, 16 yearslater.

At Said, he was the only Indianamong 47 others from 28 countries.

Yet, Barriarr wears his accomplish-ment rather lightly.

"Only journalists who cover my cam-paign are enamoured by the Oxford la-bel. Education does not mean only go-ing to college and collecting degrees,grassroot work is also education."

"Those who work at the ward or pan-chayat level understand policies at theground level and should not be dis-missed just because they are rustic."

"Our democracy needs a mix of both -- grassroot functionaries along with ed-ucated representatives who have a vi-

sion."Barriarr is contesting the Bankipur

seat as an independent.His campaign supporters include

friends, students, relatives and localityacquaintances.

The constituency has been repre-sented by the Bharatiya Janata Partysince 1995.

Some of the other candidates in thefray include the three-time BJP MLANitin Nabin whose father representedthe seat before him, Congress debutantLuv Sinha, son of actor-politician Sha-trughan Sinha, and Pushpam PriyaChoudhury, another debutant whograduated from the London School ofEconomics and is the daughter ofJanata Dal-United leader VinodChaudhury who is contesting from thePlurals party she founded.

The Oxford alumnusfighting the Bihar election