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PUBLISHED SIMULTANEOUSLY FROM GUWAHATI & DIBRUGARH
RN-1127/57 TECH/GH – 103/2018-2020, VOL. 82, NO. 200 GUWAHATI, FRIDAY, JULY 24, 2020
82 years of service to the nation
www.assamtribune.com Pages 12 Price: 6.00
p2 p11NF Railway taking measuresto boost freight traffic
China refutes US claim ofvirus originating in Wuhan lab
p5 First quarter GST, I-Tmop-up encouraging
Bypolls put offNEW DELHI, July 23:
The EC has deferredbyelections for one LokSabha and seven assemblyseats due to “someextraordinary circumstancespeculiar to theseconstituencies” and the pollpanel will meet on Friday todiscuss scheduling of thesebypolls. – PTI
Defence moveNEW DELHI, July 23:
The Ministry of Defencehas issued an order forgrant of permanentcommission to all servingwomen officers in the Armywho were recruited underthe Short ServiceCommission scheme. – PTI
nnnnn Also see page 6
Travel orderGUWAHATI, July 23:
The State government willallow inter-districtmovement on July 30 and31 subject to strictcompliance of COVID-19regulations, an officialorder here on Thursdaystated. – Staff Reporter
Mars missionBEIJING, July 23: China
successfully launched itsfirst Mars probe today,aiming to completeorbiting, landing androving in a single mission,taking an ambitious steptowards planetaryexploration of the solarsystem. – PTI
nnnnn Also see page 2
GUWAHATI, July 23: The Assam government will re-
lease 376 prisoners in the next few days to decongest jails
across the State after 535 inmates tested positive for COVID-
19, an official said on Thursday.
Of the 376 prisoners to be released, 111 are presently
lodged in Guwahati Central Jail, he said.
The rest of the prisoners are now lodged in the district
jails of Nalbari, Dhubri, Karimganj, North Lakhimpur,
Golaghat, Diphu and
Udalguri, he added.
Inspector General of
Prisons Dasarath Das
told PTI that 535
prisoners in 10 jails
across the State have been affected by the pandemic. The
highest number of 435 are from Guwahati.
Das said the authorities were releasing prisoners at reg-
ular intervals according to the direction of the Supreme
Court to decongest the jails and another set of inmates will
be released soon.
“The High Powered Committee formed after the SC set
the guidelines met yesterday. We have sent a proposal to
release 376 prisoners from eight overcrowded jails. This
includes 111 inmates from Guwahati Central Jail,” he said.
376 prisonersin State to be
released
Move to decongest jails
535 inmatestested COVID-19positive
India won’taccept Chinabid to change
LAC status quoNEW DELHI, July 23: In-
dia on Thursday forcefully re-
iterated that it will not accept
any unilateral attempts to
change the status quo along
the Line of Actual Control
(LAC) with China.
In his weekly briefing, the
Ministry of External Affairs
spokesperson Anurag
Srivastava said, “India is fully
committed to observing and
respecting the LAC and that
we will not accept any unilat-
eral attempts to change the
status quo along the LAC.”
The statement comes
amid speculation that the
talks between India and China
are running into a stalemate
over the LAC issue in Ladakh.
Recalling his June 26 state-
ment, Srivastava said, “I had
noted that the conduct of Chi-
nese forces this year, includ-
ing the deployment of a large
body of troops and changes
in behaviour, accompanied by
unjustified and untenable
claims, has been in complete
disregard of all the mutual
agreements.”
Floods claim 4 more lives,State death toll 93
Governor undertakes aerial survey of flood affected areas
STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI, July 23: The overallflood situation in Assam deteriorat-ed further on Thursday even as fourmore lives were lost due to the del-uge taking the death toll in the Statethis year to 93.
The four new fatalities have been re-
ported from the districts of Bongaigaon,
Kokrajhar, Morigaon and Golaghat, while
the number of flood-hit people in the State
swelled to over 28 lakh with several new
habitations being inundated.
Governor Jagdish Mukhi undertook
an aerial survey of the flood affected ar-
eas on Thursday and said that he would
recommend to the Centre for finding
out a permanent solution to the flood
and erosion problem of the State.
“My experience over the last three
years as the Governor of the State con-
vinced me that every year flood creates
havoc leaving people, animal and the
physical infrastructures in tatters.
Therefore, taking on the problem annu-
ally will not suffice,” he said after the
aerial survey of floods in seven lower
Assam districts.
According to the ASDMA, 26 districts
– Dhemaji, Lakhimpur, Sonitpur, Biswa-
nath, Darrang, Baksa, Nalbari, Barpeta,
Chirang, Bongaigaon, Kokrajhar, Dhubri,
South Salmara, Goalpara, Kamrup, Kam-
rup (Metro), Morigaon, Nagaon, Gola-
ghat, Jorhat, Majuli, Sivasagar, Dibrugarh,
Tinsukia, West Karbi Anglong and Cach-
ar – are still under flood waters, affecting
28,32,410 people in 2,643 villages under
74 revenue circles.
Among the affected people, 47,213 are
taking shelter in 456 relief camps across
the State.
As many as 152 forest camps in Ka-
ziranga National Park, 19 camps in Orang
National Park and three camps in Tinsukia
Wildlife Division also got affected in floods.
The Brahmaputra and most of its trib-
utaries in the State have been flowing
above the danger level. In the past 24
hours, flood waters have damaged a
number of embankments in Kokrajhar
district along with several roads in
Jorhat, Dhubri, Kokrajhar, Nalbari, Bar-
peta, Bongaigaon, South Salmara, Mori-
gaon and Golaghat districts. Incidents of
flood-triggered erosion have also been
reported from several districts.
Meanwhile, addressing a press con-
ference here on Thursday, Agriculture
Minister Atul Bora said that up to July
22, floods affected altogether 9,95,260
farm families of Assam and submerged
75,607 hectares of summer paddy, 8,089
hectares of autumn paddy and 82,322
hectares of winter paddy cultivation.
Flood waters further damaged 7,122
hectares of summer maize, 122 hec-
tares of rabi maize, 106 hectares of oil
seeds, 4,963 hectares of summer pulse,
38,142 hectares of jute and mesta,
1,186 hectares of sugarcane, 19,777
hectares of kharif vegetables, 300 hec-
tares of spices, 998 hectares of fruit and
plantation crops and 18,627 hectares of
other crops cultivation.
Governor Jagdish Mukhi making an aerial survey of the flood-affected areas of Assam on Thursday. – PTI
Indo-Bangla tiestime-tested,
historic: MEASPL CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI, July 23: In-
dia on Thursday played down
Pakistan Prime Minister Im-
ran Khan’s call to his Bangla-
desh counterpart Sheikh
Hasina, stating that the rela-
tions between Delhi and
Dhaka are time-tested.
“Relation between India
and Bangladesh are time-test-
ed and historic,” said Minis-
try of External Affairs spokes-
man Anurag Srivastav.
STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI, July 23:
With the total count of COV-
ID-19 cases touching the
30,000 mark, Health Minis-
ter Himanta Biswa Sarma to-
day said that the State is try-
ing its best to contain the
number of cases.
“Although the Centre has
projected that the State will
have around 65,000 infec-
tions by August 15, we are
trying to keep the count as
low as possible. But that
would depend upon how the
people behave,” the
State COVID-19tally touches 30,000
Minister said.
The Minister also in-
formed that the State will
soon be able to provide re-
sults of up to 20,000 samples
within 48 hours.
Meanwhile, the Health
Department sources
projected that the COVID-
19 cases in Guwahati is ex-
pected to reach its peak in
the next one month or so.
So far over 12,000 persons
have been tested positive
for COVID-19 in
Guwahati.
SEE PAGE 6
SEE PAGE 6 SEE PAGE 6
SEE PAGE 6
SEE PAGE 6
Except the lotus, the floods
swept everything away!
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BEIJING, July 23: China success-
fully launched its first Mars probe
on Thursday, aiming to complete or-
biting, landing and roving in a single
mission, taking an ambitious step
towards planetary exploration of the
solar system.
A Long March-5 rocket, China’s
largest and most powerful launch
vehicle, carrying the spacecraft with
a mass of about five tonnes, soared
into the sky from the Wenchang
Spacecraft Launch Site on the coast
of southern China’s island province
of Hainan, the official Xinhua news
agency reported.
About 36 minutes after the launch,
the spacecraft, including an orbiter and
a rover, was sent into the Earth-Mars
transfer orbit, embarking on an almost
seven-month journey to the red plan-
et, according to the China National
Space Administration (CNSA).
The Chinese Mars probe named
Tianwen 1 or Quest for Heavenly
Truth 1, will fulfil three scientific
objectives: orbiting the red planet
for comprehensive observation, land-
ing on Martian soil and sending a
rover to roam the landing site.
It will conduct scientific investiga-
Fire burns near the village of Galataki as authorities evacuate the place near Corinth, Greece on
Wednesday. More than 250 firefighters, backed by water-dropping aircraft, were struggling on
Wednesday to contain a large wildfire fanned by strong winds that has forced the evacuation of
five settlements in southern Greece. – AP/PTI
China launches Mars mission
tions into the planet’s soil, geological
structure, environment, atmosphere
and water, media reports said.
It should arrive in orbit around the
red planet in February.
The Long March 5 rocket will trans-
port the robotic probe to the Earth-
Mars transfer trajectory before the
spacecraft begins its self-propelled
flight toward Mars’ gravity field.
According to China Aerospace
Science and Technology Corp, a
State-owned space conglomerate,
the probe will travel for about sev-
en months before it reaches Mars,
which at the farthest point of its or-
bit is about 400 million kilometres
from Earth and 55 million kilome-
tres at the nearest point.
It said the probe consists of three
parts – the orbiter, the lander and
the rover – and they will separate in
Mars orbit. The orbiter will remain
in the orbit for scientific operations
and to relay signals while the lander-
rover combination makes an auton-
omous descent and landing.
The rover has six wheels and four
solar panels and carries six scientific
instruments. It weighs over 200 kil-
ogrammes and will work for about
three months on the planet, the de-
signers said.
China aims to catch up with India,
the US, Russia and the European
Union to reach the red planet.
“The triple-task expedition of Tian-
wen-1 marks another milestone in
China’s aerospace science and tech-
nology development, as well as a fresh
daring adventure in the country’s long
march of outer space exploration fol-
lowing its lunar programme and the
endeavour to build a space station,”
the state-run media commented.
In a paper last week, the scientific
team behind Tianwen-1 said the probe
is “going to orbit, land and release a
rover all on the very first try, and co-
ordinate observations with an orbiter.
No planetary missions have ever been
implemented in this way.” – PTI
China refutes US claim overvirus originating in Wuhan lab
BEIJING, July 23: The Chinese For-
eign Ministry refuted the claim by
some US politicians that the novel coro-
navirus originated in a laboratory in
Wuhan.
Spokesperson Wang Wenbin on
Wednesday made the remarks at a dai-
ly press briefing when asked for com-
ments about the so-called latest evi-
dence of the origin of the virus as re-
cently revealed by an internal cable of
the US State Department, Xinhua news
agency reported.
With respect to the management and
research of the Wuhan Institute of Vi-
rology (WIV), Yuan Zhiming, director of
the National Biosafety Laboratory at the
institute, had given a comprehensive in-
troduction during an inclusive interview,
Wang said.
“The laboratory has high-standard
bio-safety facilities and a strict man-
agement system. All the researchers
must undergo systematic theoretical
and operation training, and obtain the
qualification and approval before en-
tering the laboratory,” Wang quoted
Yuan as saying.
The spokesperson said that a few pol-
iticians in the United States spread ru-
mours and even claimed to have “a large
amount of evidence” to support their
so-called “truth,” showing they have no
morals at all.
“The contents disclosed by the rele-
vant reports have enabled the world to
see once again how little truth is in the
NONTHABURI (Thailand), July 23:
For decades, some Thai parents
warned their naughty children that if
they didn’t behave, Si
Ouey would come eat
their livers.
If the threat of a
ghostly visit from the
executed child killer,
long called a cannibal,
proved ineffective,
those children could
always be taken to
see Si Ouey. After all,
his mummified
corpse “gnarled and
blackened” for years
stood on display in a
glass case in the Fo-
rensic Museum at Bangkok’s Siriraj
Hospital.
In recent years, however, doubts
were raised about whether the man
called Thailand’s first serial killer was
Thai serial killer cremated after decades as museum displaygiven justice and a campaign was
launched to at least give him a proper
funeral.
On Thursday, six decades after his
execution, that finally happened.
Nine Buddhist monks at a temple
north of Bangkok chanted prayers and
paper flowers were placed in front of
Si Ouey’s coffin, which was then
moved to the crematorium, where the
head of the Corrections Department
lit the fire. Hospital officials as well as
residents of a town where he once
lived looked on.
Si Ouey, a Chinese immigrant who
worked as a gardener, was reported-
ly caught red-handed in 1958 in a for-
est in Rayong province burning the
body of a 8-year-old boy who had dis-
appeared on an errand.
Police were quick to pin on him at
least five previous unsolved murders
of children dating back to 1954, some
in other provinces. Lurid newspaper
accounts detailed how he supposedly
relished eating their hearts, livers and
intestines.
Si Ouey was said to have told po-
lice that he acquired a taste for hu-
man flesh during World War-II,
when as a Chinese soldier in a unit
besieged by the Japanese he sur-
vived by eating the bodies of those
killed in battle.
He was tried and found guilty of
murder and executed by firing squad
on September 16, 1959. He was 32.
His body was then handed over to
Siriraj Hospital for what was de-
scribed as medical study. His story
soon became a regular staple of hor-
ror books and B-movies.
The truth about Si Ouey’s case,
however, is difficult to confirm.
Police at the time had a reputation
for beating confessions out of suspects,
and popular newspapers dished out
tabloid-style sensationalism.
Si Ouey was also at a disadvantage
because he was a poor immigrant, ar-
riving from China in 1946 at age 19.
Thailand’s military governments at the
time were keen to stir up anti-Chi-
nese sentiment in the Cold War at-
mosphere and often blamed immi-
grants for crime and unrest. – AP
so-called evidence and truth of the Unit-
ed States,” Wang said, noting even US
experts agree that there is no evidence
in the diplomatic cables to support the
claim that the novel coronavirus came
from the laboratory.
“Speaking of the truth, we do hope
that the US government will tell the
truth about issues such as the Fort Det-
rick biolab and give an explanation to
the American people and the interna-
tional community,” he said.
The spokesperson said the United
States is forming cliques and provok-
ing ideological confrontations in inter-
national relations, running counter to
the trend of the times embodying
peace, development and cooperation as
well as to the wishes of the majority of
countries. – IANS
BEIJING, July 23: China said “ma-
licious slander” is behind an order by
the US government to close its con-
sulate in Houston, Texas, and main-
tained on Thursday that its officials
have never operated outside ordinary
diplomatic norms.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson
Wang Wenbin said the order to close
the consulate “violates international
law and basic norms governing inter-
national relations,” and “seriously un-
dermines China-US relations.”
“This is breaking down the bridge
of friendship between the Chinese and
American people,” Wang told report-
ers at a daily briefing.
The order this week to close the
consulate, one of China’s six missions
in the United States, is seen as esca-
lating tensions between the world’s
two largest economies while Presi-
dent Donald Trump steers blame and
punitive measures against China ahead
of the November US election.
Beijing has said it would take action
in response, although Wang gave no
details on Thursday.
Relations between the two sides
have nose-dived in recent months over
the conronavirus pandemic as well as
disputes over trade, human rights,
Hong Kong and Chinese assertiveness
in the South China Sea.
In its statement on the closing of
the consulate, the State Department
alleged that Chinese agents have tried
to steal data from facilities in Texas,
including the Texas A&M medical sys-
tem statewide and The University of
Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
in Houston.
Wang said there was no basis to that
claim.
“This is completely malicious slan-
der,” Wang said. – AP
‘Malicious slander’
Afghan forces kill31 Taliban militantsKABUL, July 23: Afghan security forces killed 31 Taliban
militants and injured 15 others in Nangarhar province, the
Defence Ministry said on Thursday.
“The Afghan National Defence and Security Forces
(ANDSF) were aware of an im-
minent attack on checkpoints
in Qelgho area of Khogyani
district late on Wednesday. The
ANDSF launched a responsive
attack, leaving the casualties
among the Taliban,” the
Ministry said in a state-
ment. Ten vehicles were
also destroyed during the
fighting and five improvised
explosive devices (IEDs)
were defused after the
clashes, Xinhua news
agency reported citing the
statement as saying.
Attahulla Khogiani, pro-
vincial government spokes-
man, told Xinhua that 13 of the killed Taliban members
were foreign militants.
“Thirteen non-Afghan nationals were among the killed.
The peace pact signed between the US and the Taliban in
Doha in February required the Taliban militants to reduce
violence and cut ties with foreign militants and militants of
Al-Qaeda international terrorist group,” Khogiani said.
“But Taliban did not sever ties with the international
terrorists, and the foreign militants still support Taliban in
the fight against the government and the people of Af-
ghanistan,” he said. Since the signing of the peace deal,
Afghan leaders, including President Ashraf Ghani, have fre-
quently demanded the Taliban to reduce violence. The mili-
tants, however, have intensified attacks, killing and injuring
scores of combatants and civilians. – IANS
Saudi kingundergoes surgery
DUBAI, July 23: Saudi Arabia’s King Salman, 84, under-
went a successful surgery that re-
moved his gallbladder, the kingdom
said on Thursday, just days after
being admitted to the hospital over
an inflammation of the organ.
Surgeons at Riyadh’s King
Faisal Specialist Hospital oper-
ated on the King, the state-run
Saudi Press Agency reported, de-
scribing the procedure as a laparoscopic surgery. That’s a
low-risk procedure that usually involves only small inci-
sions and a small camera to aid the surgeons’ work. King
Salman will remain at the hospital for some time to re-
cover and be observed by doctors, the report said, citing
a statement from the Saudi royal court.
The King thanked all his well-wishers, the report said.
King Salman has been in power since January 2015. He is
considered the last Saudi monarch of his generation of broth-
ers who have held power since the death of their father and
founder of Saudi Arabia, King Abdulaziz. – AP
King Salman
FRIDAY, JULY 24, 2020 THE ASSAM TRIBUNE, GUWAHATI 3
NATIONAL
NEW DELHI, July 23: The
Supreme Court on Thursday
refused to restrain the Rajas-
than High Court from passing
order on a plea of sacked Dep-
uty Chief Minister Sachin Pi-
lot and 18 other dissident Con-
gress MLAs
challenging the
disqualification
notice against
them and said it
would be subject to the out-
come of petition before the
apex court.
Observing that “voice of dis-
sent” in a democracy cannot be
shut down, the apex court re-
fused to accept the request of Ra-
jasthan Assembly Speaker CP
Joshi to either stay the matter
pending before the high court or
transfer it to the apex court.
A bench headed by Justice
Arun Mishra was hearing an
appeal filed by Joshi against the
Rajasthan HC to passorders on plea of MLAs
Directions subject to outcome of
Speaker’s appeal: SC
high court’s direction asking
him to defer the disqualifica-
tion proceedings till July 24.
The high court is scheduled
to pass its order on Friday on
the plea filed by the 19 dissi-
dent Congress MLAs.
The apex court said that is-
sue raised in the plea filed by
the Speaker required “pro-
longed hearing” as it involved
“larger question” related to
the democracy and how it will
survive.
“As the high court has already
heard the matter after pro-
longed arguments and reserved
the order, we are not staying
the passing of the order. How-
ever, whatever order is passed,
shall be ultimately subject to the
outcome of this petition,” the
bench, also comprising Justices
BR Gavai and Krishna Murari,
said and fixed the matter for
hearing on July 27.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal,
appearing for the Speaker,
raised questions
over jurisdiction
of the high court
in entertaining
the plea filed by
the MLAs and said that the court
can only intervene after the
Speaker takes a decision on ei-
ther suspension or disqualifica-
tion of a member of the House.
The bench observed,
“Voice of dissent in democ-
racy cannot be shut down like
this... This is not a simple
matter. This is a matter
where persons are elected by
the public. They are peoples’
representative,” the bench
said. – PTI
NEW DELHI, July 23: The
Jawaharlal Nehru University
(JNU) approved a proposal for
digital submission of M Phil,
M Tech dissertations and PhD
theses on Thursday.
According to a statement
from Professor Chintamani
Mahapatra, Rector-I of JNU,
the proposal was approved at
the 286th Executive Council
meeting of the university.
“JNU will be taking the lead
in India to launch this novel
process of dissertation and
thesis submission through the
digital mode. This will facili-
tate a timely, hassle-free and
very convenient process of
submission of M Phil disserta-
tions, M Tech dissertations and
PhD theses for evaluation by
research scholars of the uni-
versity,” the statement said.
The JNU has already put in
place an online theses-track-
ing system.
Even before the COVID-19
pandemic, the Academic
JNU approves digitalsubmission of
dissertations, thesesCouncil of the university had
authorised the holding of viva
voce examinations for the
award of research degrees.
More than 150 viva voce
tests for the award of doctoral
degrees have been conducted
online during the pandemic,
the statement said.
The procedure of online
submission of dissertations and
theses includes the “No Dues
Clearance” form submission
by the students. The school or
centre offices will process the
acquisition of the relevant
clearances for the students
online and the students will no
longer have to move from
place to place with a physical
form to get “No Dues” clear-
ances under the new proce-
dure.
All the official require-
ments, such as a plagiarism
check of the draft dissertations
and theses and payment of fees
will be done digitally, the state-
ment said. – PTI
AYODHYA, July 23: The
proposed Ram temple in Ayo-
dhya will now be bigger and
taller in size.
According to Nikhil Sompu-
ra, an architect and son of C
Sompura, chief architect of the
temple, “The earlier design
was prepared in 1988. Over
30 years have passed... the
footfall is likely to increase.
People are also very enthusi-
astic about visiting the temple.
So, we thought its size should
be increased. As per the re-
vised design, the height of the
Ayodhya Ram temple to bebigger, taller, more magnificent
temple has been increased
from 141-feet to 161-feet.”
Sompura said that two man-
daps have also been added to
the design and all pillars and
the stones that were carved
based on the earlier design will
still be used. Only two new
‘mandaps’ have been added.
The construction will begin
after a grand ground-breaking
ceremony on August 5
The construction of temple
will take around 3.5 years,
Sompura said. “As soon as the
ground breaking ceremony or
the ‘bhumi pujan’ is done, the
construction work will begin.
The team of Larsen & Toubro,
along with machinery and ma-
terials, have reached the spot
and the work on foundation
will start right away. It will take
3 to 3.5 years for the comple-
tion of the work,” he said.
Three-day long Vedic ritu-
als will be held ahead of the
grand ground-breaking cere-
mony, which will revolve
around the installation of a 40
kg silver brick as the founda-
tion stone. – IANS
4 THE ASSAM TRIBUNE, GUWAHATI FRIDAY, JULY 24, 2020
MESSAGE FOR TODAY
You can never cross the ocean until you have
the courage to lose sight of the shore.
– CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS
Sensational caseA sensational case is unfolding in Kerala involving the
smuggling of gold from the United Arab Emirates. Under
normal circumstances, smuggling of gold into India is noth-
ing out of the ordinary and every year scores of attempts
are foiled by the Indian Customs authorities. India is one of
the countries where inordinate value is associated with the
yellow metal which is deemed absolutely essential during
rituals and ceremonies. However, this particular episode
has become extraordinarily sensational because of the in-
ternational ramifications involving another foreign country
as also the political associations which has allowed Opposi-
tion parties to exploit it to the heels against the ruling Left
Democratic Front Government in the State. The matter first
came to light when 30 kgs of gold valued at Rs 15 crore was
apprehended by the Customs at the Thiruvananthapuram
international airport on July 5. Addressed to the UAE Con-
sulate, the consignment was designated diplomatic baggage.
A preliminary investigation revealed that the accused had
received several such diplomatic consignments over the
last few years. The Customs now believe that in the last one
year, at least 230 kgs of gold was smuggled into the country
by using some employees of the United Arab Emirates dip-
lomatic mission! Such cases are normally pursued by the
Customs, but this case was handed over to the National
Investigation Agency (NIA), and other Central agencies
including the Enforcement Directorate were roped in.
This is the first time that the NIA has taken up a smug-
gling case in the country, testifying to its sensitive nature,
considering that the Consulate of another nation is involved.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) at the time of trans-
ferring the probe from the Customs to the NIA had also
asserted that the case has national security implications. In
the remand extension petition for the four accused, includ-
ing a high-profile woman named Swapna Suresh, before a
special court, the NIA has stated that the accused were part
of a larger conspiracy that aimed at financing terrorism in
the country. It has been alleged that Swapna Suresh, a con-
sultant with the Kerala IT Department, was close to the
State Government, something perhaps borne out by the fact
that soon after her name cropped up, the CM’s powerful
principal secretary M Sivasankar and his IT fellow Arun
Balachandran, were sacked! This has left a chink open in
the armour of the Pinarayi Vijayan Government, with the
State BJP chief K Surendran alleging that the IT Secretary
and Chief Minister’s office exerted pressure for the re-
lease of Swapna. That the State Ministry is in serious trou-
ble can also be gauged by the fact that the case has driven a
wedge in the ruling coalition with the CPI, junior partner in
the Government, expressing serious reservations over
‘some deviations’ in Left ideology and criticizing the Gov-
ernment’s move to hire multinational consultant agencies.
Erosion woesA serious and persisting concern that has been left unad-
dressed by successive governments happens to be erosion
of landmass by the State’s rivers, especially the Brahmapu-
tra. According to official estimates, some 60 lakh bighas of
land equivalent to 8,000 sq km have been eroded since
1951, destroying in the process cropland and settlements.
More than anything else, it strongly indicates the apathy of
successive governments that have failed to accord priority
on resolving this critical problem. All these decades, our
efforts towards tackling erosion has not gone beyond seek-
ing ad hoc solutions whereas the fact stands that it is futile to
tame the Brahmaputra with piecemeal interventions. In-
deed, there has been little scientific study on the dynamics
of the complex Brahmaputra river system which abounds
with peculiarities of its own. Any long-term intervention on
the Brahmaputra, therefore, has to be preceded by a thor-
ough study and understanding of the Brahmaputra. The
Brahmaputra Board which could have done a good job about
it has failed in its mandate. The flood and erosion control
projects in the State have also earned notoriety for shoddy,
corruption-riddled execution. It has been rendered a milch
cow for a thriving coterie of contractors, government offi-
cials and politicians that is perpetuating widespread corrup-
tion in the name of flood and erosion containment. It is for the
Government to put in place a stringent monitoring mecha-
nism so that accountability can be fixed in the event of any
compromise on quality.
River erosion needs to be recognized as a bigger con-
cern than even the recurring annual floods that cause wide-
spread damages. The seasonal floods come with their re-
deeming aspects such as replenishment of cropland and
wetlands but erosion has none of this benevolence. Over
the years vast landmasses including settlements and
prime agricultural land have disappeared into the Brah-
maputra. This is having a damaging effect on the State’s
predominantly agrarian economy. Since short-term inter-
ventions without addressing the peculiarities of the prob-
lem will not serve much purpose, a holistic approach to-
wards flood and erosion control, taking into account the
related diverse aspects – including the environmental ones
– of the phenomenon is a dire need. In recent years, mount-
ing anthropogenic pressures have severely impacted riv-
er dynamics, resulting in aggravated floods and erosion. It
is also highly imperative that we explore the prospects of
replicating the best practices from outside while mixing
the same with local expertise, including indigenous meth-
ods. As siltation has been a major factor behind both floods
and erosion, large-scale plantation on the hills, sandbars
and the catchment areas can be an ideal way to reduce
siltation. All this calls for a rethink on the anti-erosion strat-
egy we want to adopt. Since flood and erosion are related
phenomena, an integrated approach is imperative for their
management.
he Covid-19 pandemic
has now spread to 216
countries, affecting mil-
lions of people, causing
lakhs of death and many more are
living with the fear of infection glo-
bally. The pandemic has devastated
our lives in an unprecedented way.
The whole world is fighting a battle
today against the pandemic. The bat-
tle has brought the globe almost to a
standstill leading to major medical,
social and economic problems. This
highly infectious virus has already put
enormous strain on the healthcare
systems worldwide as more and
more positive cases are being re-
ported daily. Scientists and research-
ers are continuing their studies to
learn more about this novel corona-
virus. As we scramble to keep our-
selves safe from this Covid-19-caus-
ing virus, medical researchers are
discovering new information on the
virus every day in a bid to under-
stand more about the pathogen.
Recently many researches are
pointing to the fact that the ABO
blood group might play an impor-
tant role in a person’s susceptibility
to Covid-19 and its severity of ill-
ness. The latest research by genet-
ic-testing giant 23andMe has thrown
up some interesting points for med-
ical researchers to ponder about the
relationship between the ABO blood
group and Covid-19 susceptibility.
According to the preliminary data
collected by 23andMe, people with
blood group O appear to be protec-
tive against the virus when compared
to other ABO groups. The report is
based on a research conducted on
more than 7,50,000 participants. The
report states that individuals with
blood group O are between 9-18%
T
Lettersto the
EDITOR
Underwater tunnel
Sir, – Sanjib Sabhapandit in his
response (AT, July 20) to my letter
on the above subject asserts that
rather than technological arrogance,
the tunnel project is going to be the
product of ‘ultramodern sophisticat-
ed technology’. I can
hardly pretend to any knowledge
of geology and engineering
involved in various scientific
aspects of the project. My
concerns are about possible impact
on the people and their habitat,
both of which are under heavy
stress these days.
The Baghjan catastrophe he
mentions is in fact a telling example
of technological miscalculation and
lapse that impose immense costs
and suffering on the people by
damaging the environment
irreversibly. Such incidents may
have happened elsewhere, but that
is no consolation to the affected
people. Massive mega projects may
be technologically feasible, but they
may not be to the benefit of local
indigenous population.
I understand that boring a tunnel
less likely than the individuals with
other ABO grouping to have tested
positive for Covid-19.
Several other studies looking both
at the severity of illness and suscep-
tibility to Covid-19 have also suggest-
ed that the ABO blood group plays a
role. In a study conducted by medi-
cal researchers from the Southern
University of Science and Technolo-
gy in Shenzhen, China, in collabora-
tion with colleagues from other Chi-
nese institutions, looked at
the ABO blood group dis-
tribution amongst 2,173
individuals admitted to
hospitals with Covid-19.
The team then compared
the Covid-19 patients’
ABO blood group distri-
bution with a group of the
general population of 3,694
people residing in Wuhan.
The researchers found
that the proportion of peo-
ple with blood group A
was significantly higher
among the group of hospi-
talized with Covid-19 than
among the general popu-
lation. Additionally, the
proportion of people with
blood group O was signifi-
cantly lower among the
group of hospitalized with Covid-19
than among the general population.
As per the research, 37% of Covid-
19 patients had blood group A when
compared to 26% of Covid-19 posi-
tive cases with blood group O. Based
on these findings, co-first study au-
thor Jiao Zhao and his colleagues pub-
lished an online research paper to
MedRxiv. As per this retrospective
data review, individuals with blood
group A were found to have a 20%
increased risk of acquiring Covid-19
compared to non-A blood group in-
dividuals. Individuals with blood
group O had a lower risk of Covid-
19 compared to non-O individuals.
In another study, published on April
11, 2020 online to MedRxiv, scien-
tists looked at 1,559 people tested
for Covid-19 at New York Presby-
terian Hospital; of those, 682 tested
positive. Individuals with blood
group A were 33% more likely to
test positive than other ABO blood
groups. Blood group O was less like-
ly to test positive than other ABO
blood groups.
Regarding the relationship be-
tween ABO blood group and Cov-
id-19 severity, among the Wuhan
Jinyintan Hospital Covid-19 pa-
tients, blood group O was associat-
ed with lower risk of mortality com-
pared to blood group A, which was
associated with a 48% risk of mor-
tality. As per another study by med-
ical researchers in Italy and Spain
on 1600 samples from Covid-19
positive cases (from Covid-19 epi-
centres) who experienced respira-
tory failure revealed that having
blood group A was linked to a 50%
increase in the likelihood that a pa-
tient would require a ventilator.
Biological factors that determine
susceptibility to Covid-19 and its se-
verity of illness are yet to be under-
stood. Why one type of ABO blood
group might increase or decrease a
person’s risk of getting Covid-19 and
its severity of illness is yet to be
cleared. It’s been suggest-
ed by different medical
researchers that genetics
could play a part with re-
ports that people with
blood group A could be at
greater risk of contract-
ing Covid-19 and of suf-
fering from serious com-
plications of Covid-19, and
people with blood group
O could be at lower risk
of contracting Covid-19
and less severity of illness.
According to the re-
searchers, certain antibod-
ies present in different
ABO blood groups may
be responsible for the dif-
ferences in risk from the
Covid-19-causing virus.
But does this really
mean that people with blood group
A have added cause for concern,
while those with blood group O can
relax? The answer is ‘No’. To date,
we don’t have robust scientific evi-
dence to prove that ABO blood
group has a direct relationship with
Covid-19 infection. The available
studies are preliminary and are only
available online in pre-print form.
These are yet to be published in a
peer-reviewed journal, which
means that other researchers and
experts haven’t yet had a chance to
assess the researchers’ methods of
findings and evaluate the same.
Moreover, given that Covid-19
is a pandemic, the sample size that
the researchers analysed is not suf-
ficient to draw a firm conclusion that
ABO blood group has a relation-
ship with Covid-19 infection. As a
result, this information needs to be
taken with pinch of a salt as further
investigation needs to be conduct-
ed to understand the relationship
between the ABO blood group and
Covid-19 susceptibility. Without
establishing casual links between
the virus and ABO blood group an-
tigens, it’s difficult to understand
this conclusion, which might be
purely coincidental. There is little
evidence to substantiate any claim
that there is any more than a coin-
cidental correlation between ABO
blood group and susceptibility of
contracting Covid-19. There is a
need of further scientific research
in this regard.
People need not panic over these
findings as, clearly, further scientific
research is required to substantiate
these claims. People with blood group
A shouldn’t worry because of this
preliminary study’s result. Howev-
er, if further research confirms the
study’s findings, they could help med-
ical professionals to identify people
most of risk of infection with this novel
coronavirus. Till then, these results
shouldn’t lead to any change in clini-
cal management of Covid-19 patients
and we all need to continue practices
such as universal social distancing,
mask wearing, taking care of our per-
sonal hygiene, proper hand hygiene,
respiratory hygiene, cough etiquette
and follow the government guidelines
to battle this highly infectious disease.
Covid lessons for us the Assamesedversities, as they say,
spur the men (and wom-
en) of character. And,
those with character
scout, find or carve out a way
through the minefield of adversi-
ties to the oasis of opportunities.
Every tunnel has a light at the end
of it. Likewise, every cloud has a
silver lining. Civilization has weath-
ered umpteen stormy nights to
welcome a bright sunny morning,
many a time. This is the law of na-
ture, without any exception, never
once, not this time also.
Taking into view the grave dark-
ness we are going through, it may
sound a bit too optimistic to many of
the esteemed readers. But, yours
truly is not going to love being la-
belled a pessimist either.
There is no denying the fact that
this is unprecedented. Let alone us,
many generations preceding also
denied having encountered a crisis
of such magnitude during their life-
time. Our history books have
chronicled two World Wars, many
disasters, famines and outbreaks
but nothing of this sort had ever
occurred earlier. Never ever, in the
history of civilization, humanity was
so fiercely challenged. So, without
an iota of doubt, times are now se-
riously challenging.
n Luit Pathak
The latest crisis of Covid-19 pan-
demic has shown mankind its prop-
er place in the skim of things. A tini-
est virus, which cannot be gauged
by empty eyes, has punctured the
arrogance of excellence we were
complacent with for far too long.
Mightiest of the nations have crum-
bled on their knees; most developed
nations are busy counting body bags
while the scourge of the Covid-19
is going unabated. Nature, other-
wise taken for granted by the arro-
gant mankind, has poked into our
eyes to show us who the ‘Real Boss’
is. We were given plenty of time
and ignored those multiple warn-
ings. Civilization has plenty of dues
to clear with Mother Nature and it
is definitely going to take time.
From economy to daily life, every-
thing is in shambles and nobody
knows when the regular rhythm will
be restored. Amidst such depress-
ing gloom, we will have to start our
search for refreshing light. Let us
begin it from home.
The present crisis has thrown a
number of lessons for the people of
Assam. If we can learn from them, it
will be an altogether different story
for our State.
First, one would like to draw
your attention to a story from Na-
gaon. A local young man from that
small town has started giving hair-
cuts to people living in his ward
and nearby. He was offering on-call,
door-to-door service around the
locality. As the regular barber, who
is not from Assam, was found to be
suspected of being Covid-19 posi-
tive, scared people thronged to this
local lad to keep their looks in or-
der during lockdown. The young
man was harvesting major moolah
during this time of crisis.
Though someone would love to
call it one off, we can find a great
positive in this story. When did we
know that even our youth can eke
out a living by giving haircuts to own
people? It is not that our young men
do not ply this trade, but how many
of the barbers you bump into a regu-
lar saloon are our very own? Hope
no one would try to smell anything
such as regional narrow-mindedness
in it. The point is, this crisis has
shown that even our boys and girls
are capable of manning, or with little
desire, application and perseverance,
owning the saloons mushrooming
across Assam’s cities, towns and vil-
lages. This is true to many such small
trades. We would have never known
it, if it were not for Covid-19.
In Assam, the worst hit of the
lot are the farmers. For an econo-
my, almost 75% of which is depend-
ent on agriculture, Covid-19 has
dealt it with a severe body blow.
The farmers, deprived of the right
price for their produce even dur-
ing normal times, are finding it dif-
ficult even to bring their harvests
to the markets nowadays. The pa-
thetic pictures of agriculture pro-
duce perishing in the fields, des-
perate farmers dumping their pro-
duce in the rivers are mocking our
collective conscience from the TV
screens and newspapers. In such a
grim scenario, some enterprising
farmers have taken it upon them-
selves to ferry the products them-
selves, door-to-door, in their own
villages as well as cities and towns
nearby. But for Covid-19, we would
never have known that even our
farmers can boss over the market,
though with the help of a local chain,
thereby amputating off the cancer
of middlemen altogether.
Here, we must also note that this
crisis can act as a stimulant to the
local NGOs, media persons, and lo-
cal administration to build a direct
bridge between the field and the
market. This will, eventually, free our
farmers from the clutches of mid-
dlemen permanently and make agri-
culture a profitable vocation for the
youth in the times to come. Covid-
19 has offered us an opportunity to
ponder over our strength to capture
the market and the fields together. If
we are able to tap it now, the future
may be different altogether.
Thousands of our youth are cur-
rently working as security guards or
engaged in small jobs outside the
State for a pittance. This is at a time
when our agriculture sector is reel-
ing under a serious crisis of skilled,
semi-skilled and unskilled labourers.
With due regard to their vocations,
we are confident enough to claim that
Assam still has a lot to offer them in
terms of livelihood. A mere boost to
agriculture can arrest the trend of
migration of blue collar labourers
from the State. Proper planning is
needed for this. A number of highly
educated professionals have shunned
lucrative jobs in government as well
as the corporate sector to revolu-
tionize agriculture.
Covid-19 has taught us that, even
the Assamese people can do without
meaningless gossip sessions. If hard
pressed, even we are capable of do-
ing or creating something in solitaire.
Now we know for sure that partying
is not a matter of life and death. That
we can easily do without fast foods.
That unnecessary socializing is not
unavoidable. That life is still beautiful
away from the closed shutters of
night clubs, wine shops, bars and dis-
cos. That we can survive even with
the offering of our yards. And, above
all, humans are not the boss but
guests of nature; and unfortunately,
the world is a better place without an
uncivil civilization.
A
Articles (within 1000-1100 words) and
Letters to the Editor for publication in
the editorial page may be sent to the
email ID: [email protected].
Covid-19 and ABO blood group
of such huge dimensions, half the
length of the Channel Tunnel, will
involve both blasting and use of
giant Tunnel Boring Machines
(TBM) weighing up to hundreds of
tons. Carrying them to the site is
also bound to disturb normal life for
miles around.
My information is that the
Northeast with its recent terrestrial
origin is composed of soft rock like
sandstone, clay and sand overlaid in
part with a layer of river-borne silt,
which while easier to bore through
are also more vulnerable to
slippage and collapse. Besides, the
Brahmaputra these days has a deep
layer of sediment on its bed which
is prone to instability for obvious
reasons. Continuous construction at
whatever level of depth below is
bound to cause vibrations which
however minute at the ground level
will probably result in a strong
enough cumulative disturbance in
the layer of silt, resulting in
turbidity of water at the surface.
We do not know what kind and
degree of geotechnical survey has
been or will be undertaken, thanks
to security reasons (though
inevitable collaboration with foreign
firms in possession of ‘ultramodern
sophisticated technology’ makes the
plea of national security thin). In the
absence of critical information on
design, local experts with sufficient
knowledge will not be able to
assess the potential damage to the
environment. Particularly the
disposal of the enormous volume of
debris and waste will surely cause
serious problems. If it is dumped on
paddy fields, it will certainly ruin
the lives and livelihoods of lakhs of
indigenous people of the region.
As for dispensing with approach
roads with high raised embank-
ments with advanced technology,
one is left wondering how in this
rain-drenched flood-prone region
the natural flow of overground
water will be managed without
raised structures. Yours etc.,
HIREN GOHAIN, Nijarapar Road,
Guwahati.
Police high-handednessSir, – Once again a case of police
high-handedness has come to the
fore, this time from Dhubri,
surrounding the arrest of a
journalist, Rajib Sarma. The related
report published in The Assam
Tribune (July 18) discloses that the
journalist working for an electronic
media has been following the trail of
illegal cattle trade across the Indo-
Bangladesh border and is demand-
ing a high-level inquiry into the
cattle smuggling in Dhubri.
Besides, the journalist also telecast
news related to the corruption of
the Forest Department in Dhubri
which instigated his arrest. The
incident raises a doubt over how
the network of corruption is well-
knit and deep-rooted prompting the
arrest of the journalist made from
his residence at the wee hours of
July 16. When this State Govern-
ment took office in May 2016, it
promised to root out financial
corruption but except overt action
of arrests including forest officials,
no intended result has been
achieved in the past four years.
Apart from public condemnation of
the arrest of the journalist and his
father’s shocking death thereafter,
the journalistic fraternity strongly
reacted to it and demanded strong
action. The three teams to be
formed for investigating allied cases
of deception will surely find out the
truth. Yours etc., PANNALAL
DEY, Guwahati.
It’s been suggested by different
medical researchers that
genetics could play a part with
reports that people with blood
group A could be at greater risk
of contracting Covid-19 and of
suffering from serious
complications of Covid-19, and
people with blood group O
could be at lower risk of
contracting Covid-19 and less
severity of illness.
Environmental lawsSir, – The Indian Government
came up with the Environment
Protection Act in 1986. This Act
had a new process called EIA
(Environment Impact Assess-
ment). This is applicable to all
projects in India – construction,
infrastructure projects like a
dam, highway, coal mine or a
chemical plant. This process
specifies that before starting the
project, one has to see the
impact that it may have on the
environment. If there are
negative impacts, then the
authorities concerned should
look for an alternative. For this
to be implemented properly,
public hearing is an integral part.
The story behind the fire in the
gas well in Baghjan is that public
hearings were not conducted in
this case. This project violated
the environmental laws, but still
was in operation for such a long
time. Yours etc., PAYEL BORA,
Panjabari, Guwahati.
n Dr Dharmakanta Kumbhakar
FRIDAY, JULY 24, 2020 THE ASSAM TRIBUNE, GUWAHATI 5CITY
WEATHER
GUWAHATILOCAL FORECAST: Gener-ally cloudy sky with moder-ate rain. Maximum and mini-mum temperatures are mostlikely to be 33°C and 25°C re-spectively on Friday.
TEMPERATURE:Max33.3°C :: Min 25.4°C
STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI, July 23: Expressing its lack oftrust over the land-related policies of the Stategovernment, the Co-ordination CommitteeAgainst Citizenship Amendment Act has soughtrepeal of both the MSME ordinance and theAssam Agricultural Land (Regulation of Reclas-sification and Transfer for Non-Agricultural Pur-pose) Act, 2015, to secure the land rights of theindigenous communities of Assam.
The committee, headed by Dr Hiren Gohainas its president, has stated that even as the Stategovernment tried to curb the opposition againstthe MSME ordinance by promising strict com-pliance with the Land Act of 2015, in reality,both the land policies are not enough to protectthe agricultural land. It also alleged that both theordinance and the legislation have several gaps,leaving enough scope for manipulation.
“With concerns raised from different quar-ters regarding the possibility of MSME ordi-
Call to repeal ‘faulty’ policies to protectindigenous communities’ land rights
nance jeopardizing the land rights of indige-nous people, the Assam government had an-nounced about certain amendments in the or-dinance. State Industries and Commerce Min-ister Chandra Mohan Patowary announced thatall the provisions of the Assam AgriculturalLand (Regulation of Reclassification and Trans-fer for Non-Agricultural Purpose) Act, 2015and other land laws will have to be followedand adhered for setting up of any enterprise.However, the way this government forms andimplements its laws, we are apprehensiveabout the fate of land rights of the people ofAssam,” the committee stated.
The committee further alleged that a closerlook into the land Act of 2015 reveals that itpromotes the use of agricultural land for non-agricultural (primarily business) purpose. It alsoraised its objections over Section 3 (I) of the Actdealing with fine and premium for regular re-classification, a post facto regularisation underSection 9(II) and some other clauses like Sec-
tion 9(II) (4), Section 13 (4), power given to adeputy commissioner for land re-classification,and provisions for district level high power com-mittee for land classification and valuation.
“Floods, natural calamities or several otherfactors may lead to a discontinuation of agricul-tural activities on the agricultural land. It doesnot mean the government should make way forselling those lands for business activities. Rath-er, steps should be taken to assist the farmers tomake best use of their land and augment theirsources of income. The state government musttake proper measures to make agriculture a sus-tainable livelihood option,” it further mentioned.
The committee also demanded a proper landpolicy in Assam, protecting the land rights of peo-ple of Assam, land patta for landless indigenouspeople, land allotment to those affected in floodand erosion, etc. It also called upon the farmers’organisations and land rights bodies to form stronglocal committees across the State to raise theirland-related concerns in a strong way.
State Fire and Emergency Services personnel rescuing a cow that had
fallen into a drain on Mother Teresa Road, in Guwahati on Thursday. –
Photo: Samarendra Sarma
STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI, July 23: As many
as 17,118 pigs died so far due to
African swine fever (ASF) in 422
villages of Lakhimpur, Dhemaji,
Biswanath, Sivasagar, Jorhat,
Dibrugarh, Majuli, Golaghat,
Nagaon, Kamrup (Metro),
Morigaon, Karbi Anglong, West
Karbi Anglong and Sonitpur
districts.
Veterinary Minister Atul Bora
revealed the data while address-
ing a press conference here on
Thursday.
According to him, around
20,000 pig rearing families have
been affected due to ASF outbreak
and caused financial loss of around
African swine fever takes tollon State’s pig population
Rs 30,000 per family. So, the total
loss caused by this disease will be
around Rs 60 crore. In such a
situation, the Veterinary
department has sought rehabili-
tation package under the Assam
Agribusiness and Rural Transfor-
mation Project.
Meanwhile, the department also
pointed out that there is a huge
gap between payment of compen-
sation amount and repopulation
and every pig farmer incurred a
loss of at least Rs 15,000 against an
infected pig.
In such a difficult time, a
recent order issued by the Joint
Secretary of Union Ministry of
Fisheries, Animal, Husbandry
and Dairy, allowing pig farmers
of Punjab and Haryana to export
pigs to the northeastern states,
has drawn flak from the pig
farmers’ community in Assam.
The local pig farmers stated
that such step will cause long-
term affect in the market as the
local pig farmers are already
reeling under utmost distress
caused by the AFS.
Implementation of such steps
will also allow outsiders to
capture the local markets.
Meanwhile, Bora stated that
he has already written to Union
Minister of Animal Husbandry,
Dairy and Fisheries Giriraj Singh
in connection with the matter
and urged him to immediately
withdraw the communication.
STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI, July 23: The Con-gress party has alleged that theruling BJP and the SarbanandaSonowal-led State government areacting in a partisan manner andpreventing MLAs and elected rep-resentatives of opposition partiesfrom discharging their constitu-tional duties and responsibilities.
Assam Pradesh Congress Com-mittee (APCC) president RipunBora alleged that the governmentand the ruling party are deliberate-ly preventing opposition leadersand elected representatives fromattending government functions bynot extending invitations to them.
“Chief Minister SarbanandaSonowal went on an official visit to
‘State Govt preventing Opp MLAs
from doing constitutional duties’Barpeta district on July 20. Dur-ing the trip he inaugurated the newbuilding of the Sarthebari PoliceStation in Sarukhetri Assemblyconstituency. But the local MLA ofSarukhetri was not invited for theevent just because he belongs tothe Congress party,” said Bora.
He added, “Today the ChiefMinister has gone to Darrang dis-trict to undertake a review of theflood situation. The MP of Man-galdoi Lok Sabha constituency andthe legislators of the Mangaldoi,Sipajhar and Kalaigaon Assemblyconstituencies have been invitedfor the official meeting of the ChiefMinister. However, there is alsoanother constituency named Dal-gaon in Darrang and the MLA ofthat constituency belongs to the
Congress party. He has not beeninvited for today’s event.”
Bora alleged that such practiceshave been going on for a long timeunder the present government.
“This shows the authoritarianand anti-democratic tendency ofthe BJP-led government, whichtries to prevent opposition mem-bers from fulfilling their constitu-tional responsibilities. We con-demn this kind of behaviour. Thisis not a sign of healthy democracy.We want to remind Sonowal thathe is not only the Chief Ministerof the BJP MLAs, he is the ChiefMinister of 3.30 crore people ofAssam,” Bora said, adding that hehas written a letter to Sonowalseeking the State government’sclarification on the matter.
PRANJAL BHUYAN
GUWAHATI, July 23: Northeast Frontier Railway
(NFR) said it has undertaken certain steps to boost
freight traffic at a time when the prevailing pandemic
situation along with the annual floods have created
many logistical problems in this region.
"The focus is on adopting measures to improve trans-
portation of freight traffic. This is very crucial at this
time of pandemic when places like the North East,
which are located very far from the major industrial
and economic hubs, need to be kept regularly supplied
with essential commodities. Also, the monsoon sea-
son is a challenging period in this part of the country,
with road networks at times getting snapped due to
rising water levels. As part of the new initiatives, our
zone has now opened up additional stations for goods
traffic," a senior NFR official said.
Three stations - Hojai and Kamalajari in Assam,
besides Ambasa in Tripura - were recently opened
for freight booking.
NF Railway taking steps to boost freight traffic"The decision to allow booking of both inward
and outward bound goods traffic from these three
stations has proved to be a very positive step.
These stations are also handling special parcel
trains now, besides regular freight services. Trans-
portation of essential commodities to and from
nearby areas of these stations have now become
easier. This has also helped our zone improve its
customer interface. Local traders and businessmen
are now able to bring and book items through these
stations," said the official.
Sources said the decision of the Indian Railways to
introduce some relaxations in freight transportation
and to offer several incentives have helped the NFR
zone ramp up its goods traffic.
It is noteworthy that during the days of the initial
lockdown phase, the railways had made some relax-
ations in schemes for customers who want to book
less than the standard length rakes or who want to
book rakes originating at two points or having two
different destinations.
Levy of demurrage, wharfage and other ancillary charg-
es had been suspended in case of goods and parcel traffic.
Besides, detention charge and ground usage charge were
also been done away with for container traffic.
"All these measures have resulted in a major boost
to freight traffic. Besides, our zone was able to trans-
port over 2,000 tonnes of materials by special COVID
parcel trains originating from stations like Guwahati,
New Guwahati, Tinsukia and Dimapur. This played a
crucial role in facilitating availability of essential com-
modities for people of this region," said an official.
Meanwhile, loading and un-loading activities of
freight carrying trains in the areas falling under NFR
have shown improvement in recent days.
"Loading of food grains during July up to July 16
this year is more than the corresponding period of
last year. Till July 16, the total loading of food grains
was 0.094 million tonnes, which is about 50 per cent
more than the figure of 0.062 million tonnes report-
ed during the corresponding period of last year. This
increase signals towards a revival of normal activi-
ties pertaining to local economy. The total loading
figures considering all types of freight is also picking
up gradually," Subhanan Chanda, chief public relations
officer (CPRO) of NFR, said.
As part of the initiative to increase freight load-
ing, NFR had recently set up business develop-
ment units (BDUs) at its Maligaon headquarters
here as well as in all the five divisions of the zone.
These BDUs are holding discussions with traders,
merchants, local entrepreneurs and logistic sup-
pliers to have a better understanding of their needs
so that the railways can provide required facilities
to keep the local economy moving.
"The actual outcome and benefits of such discus-
sions are expected within short time in the form of
new goods traffic," Chanda said. He said NFR has also
taken up various development works for betterment
of facilities in all the goods sheds.
"During June, a total of 826 freight-loaded rakes were
unloaded in our zone as compared to 771 rakes during
the corresponding month of last year," Chanda added.
APDCL moveon employees’
incrementopposed
STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI, July 23: In view
of the present financial condition
of the State, the Assam Power
Distribution Company Limited
(APDCL) has decided to defer the
annual increment of all sections of
employees.
The Assam State Power Work-
ers’ Union has opposed the deci-
sion and submitted a memorandum
to the APDCL Managing Director
in this regard. The union has de-
manded immediate withdrawal of
the decision and warned of a mas-
sive protest in coming days if the
authorities concerned do not take
the matter seriously.
Ex-army manarrested
STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI, July 23: The
Crime Branch, Guwahati on
Thursday arrested former army
personnel named Tirtha Chaliha
from the Satgaon area here on
charges of giving death threat to
Health Minister Dr Himanta
Biswa Sarma and his children
through a Facebook post. He has
been booked under sections 294,
506 and 354 of IPC and section 67
of IT Act.
Online essaycontest
STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI, July 23: The Cen-
tral Guwahati Development Com-
mittee is organising an online es-
say competition among students
in two groups.
The two topics for Group-A
(Class-8 to Class-10) are: Books –
the best company in lockdown and
COVID-19 and tourism.
The topics for Group-B (Class-
11 and Class-12) are: Impact of
lockdown on environment and hu-
man life and COVID-19, role and
impact of social media.
The judges for the competi-
tion are Subhransu Chakraborty,
principal, Guru Nanak National
High School; Ahmed Hussain,
principal, Pragjyotish English
High School; Jurismita Dutta, ad-
vocate, Gauhati High Court and
Nayanjit Konwar, advocate, Gau-
hati High Court.
The award for first prize is Rs
3,000, that for second prize is Rs
2,000 and that for third prize is Rs
1,000. Results will be declared on
August 12 and prizes will be dis-
tributed on August 15. Maximum
word limit of the essay is 1,500
words.
According to the organisers in-
terested participants can mail their
essay and details such as name,
class, school, contact number, ad-
dress, etc., to shivtechcpl@gmail.
com by August 5.
Memorandum onadmission fees
STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI, July 23: The All
Assam Law Students’ Association
(AALSA) recently submitted a
memorandum to Education Min-
ister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma
demanding relaxation of admis-
sion fees for the students study-
ing in private law colleges.
WebinarGUWAHATI, July 23: Rotary
Club of Gauhati South is arrang-
ing a webinar on the topic ‘The
positive aspects of Nature and
Environment amidst the Pan-
demic’ at 6 pm on July 26 on
Zoom platform. Subhasish Chat-
terjee will inaugurate the webi-
nar, said a press release.
The speaker will be Dr Bibhab
Kr Talukdar, CEO Aaranyak and
Asia Coordinator, International
Rhino Foundation.
STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI, July 23: Accus-
ing the Congress party of trying
to gain political mileage out of the
COVID-19 pandemic and ongo-
ing massive floods, the ruling
BJP today called upon all politi-
cal parties and non-political or-
ganisations to join hands with
g o v e r n m e n t
during this cru-
cial period
when the State
is facing the
twin challenges.
“At a time
when all the
ministers, MPs
and MLAs of
the BJP are
working in the
ground and
reaching out to the flood-affect-
ed masses and the State machin-
ery is working round the clock
to provide relief, the Congress
party is spreading certain false-
hood to divert the attention of
the citizens and to gain publici-
ty,” State BJP chief spokesper-
son Rupam Goswami said at a
press conference.
He said that the Congress,
which ruled Assam for decades,
never bothered to address the
problem of erosion.
“And now they (Congress) are
shedding crocodile’s tears. Due
to the strong stand taken by Chief
Minister Sarbananda Sonowal,
Cong trying to gainpolitical mileage
through falsehood: BJPriver erosion has now been in-
cluded in the list of natural ca-
lamities by the Centre. The Con-
gress party, which never both-
ered to do anything to tackle As-
sam’s flood and erosion prob-
lems since Independence, has no
moral right to question us. The
NDA government under Prime
Minister Narendra Modi has
shown its com-
mitment to ad-
dress these
problems as is
evident from
the formation
of the North
East Water
Management
A u t h o r i t y, ”
Goswami said.
The BJP
leader added
that the Centre had already de-
clared immediate release of Rs
346 crore to the Assam govern-
ment as the first instalment un-
der the Flood Management Pro-
gramme (FMP). He said ade-
quate relief supplies have been
provided to flood-affected people
of the State.
Goswami also claimed that the
Centre’s assistance to Assam un-
der the Calamity Relief Funds
(CRF) and National Calamity
Contingency Fund (NCCF) has
been higher during the NDA gov-
ernment compared to what it was
during the previous UPA dispen-
sation.
Call to
organisations,
political
parties to join
hands with
Govt in fight
against
COVID-19, floods
STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI, July 23: The Na-
tional Disaster Response Force
(NDRF) has deployed 16 search
and rescue teams with eight in-
flatable rescue boats, five deep
divers and other life saving
equipment in the flood-affected
areas of Assam including Jorhat,
Golaghat, Bongaigaon, Kamrup
Metro, Kamrup Rural, Dhubri,
Barpeta, Cachar, Sivasagar,
Volunteers distributing food among needy people during ‘Unlock 2’, in Guwahati on Thursday. – AT photo
NDRF teams actively involvedin search, rescue operations
Sonitpur, Dhemaji and Tinsukia.
On Wednesday, one search and
rescue team of NDRF was de-
ployed in Kokrajhar for flood
rescue operations as the situa-
tion worsened in the district due
to rising water level of the River
Saralbhanga.
The NDRF rescue teams car-
ried out operations in a number of
flood-affected areas in eight dis-
tricts of Assam over the past one
week and evacuated more than
2,500 marooned villagers and
transported them to safer places.
Besides, teams are also assisting
district administrations in distri-
bution of relief material and in dis-
tribution of masks in view of the
COVID-19 situation.
NDRF teams are also helping
the civil administration in car-
rying out thermal screening and
maintaining proper social dis-
tancing amid the pandemic situ-
ation.
Tourism studentsmove UGC on
exam guidelinesGUWAHATI, July 23: The All
Assam Tourism Students Union
(AATSU) has sought a change in
the new UGC guidelines regard-
ing physical appearance of stu-
dents in semester exams.
In a letter to the Chairman of
the University Grants Commis-
sion (UGC), AATSU pointed out
that the students cannot afford to
risk their lives by physically ap-
pearing in semester exams as As-
sam is now facing the dual prob-
lems of COVID-19 and flood.
The student body pointed out
that many people have lost their
lives both due to COVID-19 and
floods. It also drew the UGC Chair-
man’s attention to the fact that it is
not possible for every student to
take online exams because not all
can afford smartphones.
The student body requested the
UGC to promote the students of
tourism to the final semester on
the basis of previous academic per-
formance.
Online mimeworkshop held
STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI, July 23: The State
Bal Bhawan, Guwahati today or-
ganised an online mime workshop
titled ‘Expression’ in association
with Nirabaak group. The work-
shop was conducted by Kunal Mot-
ling, a renowned mime artist from
Mumbai.
Around 20 students and all the
teachers of State Bal Bhawan par-
ticipated in the workshop.
FRIDAY, JULY 24, 20206 THE ASSAM TRIBUNE, GUWAHATI NATIONAL
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· - ¬ı±øÓ¬˘ Œ √̋√±ª± ¬Û?œ˚̨Ú1 ¬Û≈Ú1œé¬Ì (Re-examine of Rejected Registration)
˝◊√√˚˛±1 ¡Z±1± NATIONAL MEANS CUM - MERIT SCHOLARSHIP SCHEME1 ’ôL·«Ó¬ ø¬ı·Ó¬ 2018-
19 ’±1n∏ 2019-20 ¬ı¯∏«¸˜”˝√√Ó¬ "National Scholarship Portal" Ó¬Ô± www.scholarships.gov.in
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Œ˙¯∏Ó¬ ¸fl¡À˘± ø˙鬱ԫœfl¡ ’ª·Ó¬ fl¡1± ˝√√˚˛ Œ˚, ¤˝◊√√ ¸˜ô¶ õ∂øSê˚˛± ˆ¬±1Ó¬ ‰¬1fl¡±11 ˜±Úª ¸•Û√ ˜LaÚ±˘˚˛1(MHRD) ¡Z±1± øÚ1+ø¬ÛÓ¬ ›¬ÛÀ1±Mê√ ÚœøÓ¬ ’Ú≈¸ø1 ¬Ûø1¬Û”1fl¡ Œ˝√√±ª±ÀÓ¬± ¬ı±>Úœ˚˛º
fl¡±˚«±˘˚˛1 øͬfl¡Ú± –
¬Û1œé¬± ’±1n∏ õ∂ø˙é¬Ì ˙±‡±˜±Ò…ø˜fl¡ ø˙鬱 ¸=±˘fl¡±˘˚˛, ’¸˜fl¡±ø˝√√ø˘¬Û±1±, &ª±˝√√±È¬œ-781019
Œª¬ıÂ√±˝◊√√Ȭ- www.madhyamik.assam.gov.in
ŒÙ¬±Ú- 0361-2381657
94357-76767 (94357-76767)
¸=±˘fl¡,˜±Ò…ø˜fl¡ ø˙鬱 ¸=±˘fl¡±˘˚˛, ’¸˜fl¡±ø˝√√ø˘¬Û±1±, &ª±˝√√±È¬œ-781019
Janasanyog/D/2070/20
ASSAM INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT
CORPORATION LIMITED(A Government of Assam Undertaking)
R. G. Baruah Road, Guwahati-781024
Ph. 0361-2201215, 2202216, Fax: 0361-2200060,
Email: [email protected]
CIN : U75112AS19655GC001246
NO: AIDC/GM/PMU (PMFME)/93/2020/
Assam Industrial Development Corporation Ltd. (AIDC Ltd),
as nodal agency to the Industries & Commerce Department,
Govt. of Assam, invites application from Consultants & Young
Professionals for recruitment of 9 (nine) purely temporary
Contractual position viz (i) State Lead Project Manager-1 No.,
(ii) Manager (Marketing)-1 No, (iii) Enterprise Development
Manager- 1 No., (iv) Manager (Food Technology) 2 Nos., (v)
Manager (Social Sector Specialist)- 1No., (vi) Manager (MIS)-
1No., (vii) Executive Assistant (Accounts)-1 No., (viii)
Executive Assistant (GA)-1 No. for setting up of a State Project
Management Unit (PMU) under scheme "PM Formalisation of
Micro food processing Enterprises (PMFME)" of Ministry of
Food Processing Industries (MoFPI), Government of India.
Interested candidates who are citizen of India as defined under
the Constitution of India and fulfil the Eligibility Norms of
minimum required qualification and experience, Job
Responsibilities, Tenure, Selection Process, age, as per
Contractual Terms & Conditions of Ministry of Food Processing
Industries, Government of India. (Model PMU Contract No.
FM-11/17/2020-DS (FME) dated- July, 2020) provided in the
URL www.aidcltd.com are requested to apply through e-
mail mode only. Applications received through any other mode
except e- mail would not be entertained for the selection
process. Only short listed candidates would be informed for
next phases of selection process.
The Last date of received the complete application in prescribed
format alongwith other relevant documents through email at
[email protected] by latest 31.07.2020 upto 17.00 Hrs.
Sd/- Managing DirectorJanasanyog/CF/1163/20
UWS (T)-2105/2015/208/1201-1207
SHORT NOTICE INVITING QUOTATION
NO- 01 OF 2020-21The Managing Director Assam Urban Water Supply and
Sewerage Board invites Sealed Quotation from reputed
Manufacturers/dealer/authorized agents for supplying
installation, testing and commissioning of one Laptop
computer, 4 Nos. of Desktop computer and 2 Nos. printer of
reputed brand of the following specification.
Laptop specification
A thin and light laptop for office use of make Asus, Dell,
H.P, Acer, Microsoft and with all genuine specifications
mentioned below (Minimum specifications)
Processor: i5
RAM: 8 GB
Screen: 13 to 14 inch
HDD: 1 TB
Operating System: Windows 10 original
M.S. Office Home and Student 2019
Desktop specification
All in one or tower PC for office use of brands Asus, Dell,
H.P, Acer, Lenovo and Microsoft (not assembled) with all
genuine specifications mentioned below (Minimum
specifications)
Processor: i3
RAM: 4 GB
Screen: 18 inch
HDD: 500 GB
Operating System: Windows 10 original
Printer specification
Ink tank printer of brands Canon, H.P, Epson, Samsung
minimum specification as below
Multifunction (Copy, Scan)
Coloured
The quotationer should offer their rates clearly and mentioning
the brand name of the computer and printer in the sealed
cover. The offer will be received up to 3.00 PM of 03.08.2020
and the same will be open on the same date at 3.30 PM in the
office of the undersigned in presence of the quotationer or
authorized representative who would like to be present.
If last date of receipt and opening of quotation happen to be
a any type of ‘Bandh’, the next working date will be consider
as the last date of received and opening of quotations.Sd/- Managing Director,Assam Urban Water Supply andJanasanyog/CF/1161/20 Sewerage Board, Guwahati-6
(Contd from page 1)
“So far, we have released a
total of 6,801 prisoners since
March to decongest the jails.
This includes 6,671 undertri-
als who were released on bail
and personal bonds. Out of
these, 2,000 undertrials were
released at one go in the initial
period,” Das said.
Another 115, who are con-
victs, were allowed to go home
on annual leave, while 15 more
were released on parole, he
added.
Every eligible convict gets
30 days of annual leave for
emergency purposes accord-
ing to the rule.
“Since March we have been
taking various measures
proactively to make our jails
coronavirus free and we suc-
ceeded to a large extent. But
after the first case on June 4,
the inmates got infected, most-
ly in Guwahati,” the IG, Pris-
ons said.
Das said a 200-bed COV-
ID Care Centre (CCC) has
been set up inside Guwahati
Central Jail to treat asymp-
tomatic prisoners and the au-
thorities are creating a sec-
ond such facility at Nagaon
Special Jail. – PTI
Staff Reporter adds: The
Gauhati High Court today di-
rected the Jail authorities to
file an affidavit vis-à-vis the
steps taken in view of increas-
ing number of inmates testing
positive for COVID-19.
The Court today observed
that since the jail manual man-
dates restricted entry, it is ap-
parent that appropriate pre-
cautions were not taken to
avoid the spread of COVID-
19 in the jails.
It has also directed the In-
spector General of Prisons to
file his personal affidavit stat-
ing existing number of posi-
tive cases in each of the jails,
precautions taken before the
inmates were tested positive,
steps taken to disinfect the
prisons including the kind of
medical care provided to the
inmates.
The High Court asked the
IGP to state as to how many
COVID-19 positive inmates
are asymptomatic and symp-
tomatic.
The next date for
hearing has been fixed at
September 8.
376 prisoners ...
(Contd from page 1)
The spokesperson said,
“Respecting and strictly abid-
ing by the LAC is the basis of
peace and tranquillity in the
border areas. Several agree-
ments concluded by India and
China since 1993 firmly ac-
knowledge this.”
The two sides, he said, have
agreed during the conversa-
tion of the Special Representa-
tives to work towards com-
plete disengagement of the
troops along the LAC and de-
escalation from India-China
border areas for full restora-
tion of peace and tranquility.
“Both sides are engaged in
discussion through the estab-
lished diplomatic and military
channels to achieve this ob-
jective expeditiously,”
Srivastava said.
The fourth round of the
meeting of the senior com-
manders was held on July 14,
where they also discussed fur-
ther steps to ensure complete
disengagement.
Another meeting of the
Working Mechanism for Con-
sultation and Coordination on
India-China Border Affairs is
also expected to be scheduled
soon, he said.
The maintenance of peace
and tranquility in the border
areas is the basis of India-
China bilateral relationship,
the spokesperson said. –
IANS
India won’t ...
(Contd from page 1)
The Health Minister while
inaugurating the 16th testing
laboratory at the Ayurvedic
College, said that with the
State Government planning to
set up two more laboratories
at Sonapur Civil Hospital and
Army’s 51 Sub Area Hospital,
Narengi which would enable
providing the test reports
within a short time.
The testing laboratory set
up at the Department of Mo-
lecular Biology at the
Ayurvedic College, Jalukbari
by Krishna Diagnostics has
been set up as part of the pub-
lic-private partnership and can
facilitate 4,000 tests on a daily
basis.
“Heartening to see private
sector respond to my call for
supporting the Government’s
efforts in COVID-19 testing,”
the Minister tweeted.
Sarma also inspected the
preparedness of the 650-bed
COVID care centre at Mirza
today. The centre will soon
become functional.
As on Wednesday, the over-
all count of COVID-19 positive
cases was 27,744, of which
8,325 are still active. The num-
ber of discharged patients as on
today stands at 19,350. As of
today, 66 persons have lost their
lives due to COVID-19.
State COVID-19 ...
Indo-Bangla ...(Contd from page 1)
“Both the countries have taken lots of steps
to strengthen ties. We have also stood with
Bangladesh,” he said, adding, all developments
in Jammu and Kashmir are internal to India and
Bangladesh has accepted this.
Hasina exchanged greetings with Khan yes-
terday afternoon when the latter called her.
Sharing Pakistan’s perspective on what he
termed the grave situation in the ‘Indian Occu-
pied Jammu and Kashmir’, Khan stressed the
importance of peaceful resolution of the dis-
pute for a safe and prosperous region, accord-
ing to reports.
Floods claim 4 ...(Contd from page 1)
Bora informed that in such a critical time,
the agriculture department has allocated Rs
9 crore under the Remunerative Approach
for Agriculture and Allied Sector Rejuvena-
tion Scheme for raising community nursery
through which 58,710 farmers will be bene-
fitted in the coming days.
Flood waters also affected 22,33,850 live-
stock and 14,39,318 poultry so far and claimed
lives of 331 livestock. To assist farmers in the
time of distress, the veterinary department
is running 832 veterinary camps in the flood-
affected areas.
Tibetanprotestersunfurl banneragainst China
DHARAMSHALA (HP),
July 23: A group of Tibetan
protesters hung up a banner
here today denouncing the
Chinese Communist Party
(CCP) on its 99th founding
anniversary.
The Students for Free
Tibet (STF) activists hung a
50 feet x 30 feet protest
banner on Temple Road
Building at McLeodganj in
the city protesting against
China’s ruling political party
that was founded on July 23,
1921. The banner was
inscribed with slogans,
including “Tibet ki azaadi,
Bharat ki suraksha”, “Free
Tibet Now” and “Down
with China”.
Speaking to media-
persons, Rigzin Choden,
National Director of
Students for Free Tibet said,
“It is really a sad day for the
people of Tibet, Turkistan,
Taiwan, Hong Kong and
Southern Mongolia, as CCP
have killed lakhs of innocents
of these countries to capture
the area by force.”
She said China has become
a big threat to India and
other neighbouring coun-
tries. “It is the right time for
India to recognise Tibet as an
independent country to stop
further Chinese activities,”
the activist added. The STF
requests India and other
friendly countries to not vote
for China in the upcoming
conference of the United
Nations Human Rights
Council in October 2020,
Rigzin said. – PTI
NEW DELHI, July 23: The
Indian Army has started the
process to grant permanent
commission to short service
commissioned women officers
in 10 streams, the force said
on Thursday.
The Ministry of Defence
has issued the formal govern-
ment sanction letter for grant
of permanent commission to
women officers in the Indian
Army, paving the way for em-
powering women officers to
shoulder larger roles in the
organisation.
The order specifies grant of
Permanent Commission to
Short Service Commissioned
(SSC) Women Officers in all
10 streams of the Indian Army
– Army Air Defence, Signals,
Engineers, Army Aviation,
Electronics and Mechanical
Engineers, Army Service
Corps, Army Ordnance Corps,
and Intelligence Corps in ad-
dition to the existing streams
of Judge and Advocate Gener-
al and Army Educational
Corps.
In anticipation, the Army
Headquarters had set in mo-
tion a series of preparatory
action for conduct of the Per-
manent Commission Selection
Board for affected women of-
ficers. The Selection Board
will be scheduled as soon as all
affected short service commis-
sion women officers exercise
their option and complete req-
uisite documentation.
“The Indian Army is com-
mitted to provide equal oppor-
tunities to all personnel, in-
cluding women officers to
serve the nation,” the force
said in a statement.
It was after the Supreme
Court ordered the Indian
Army in February this year to
grant permanent commission
to women officers within three
months, that the Army start-
ed the process to give serving
women officers a bigger role.
A bench comprising Justic-
es DY Chandrachud and Ajay
Rastogi said, “Short Service
Commission (SSC) women
officers, both within the peri-
od of 14 years service and be-
yond, should equally be enti-
tled to consideration for the
grant of PCs.”
The court insisted on shak-
ing off typical arguments
founded on the physical
strengths and weaknesses of
men and women and on as-
sumptions about women in the
social context of marriage and
family that do not constitute a
constitutionally valid basis for
denying equal opportunity to
women officers.
“To cast aspersion on their
abilities on the ground of gen-
der is an affront not only to
their dignity as women, but to
the dignity of the members of
the Indian Army – men and
women who serve as equal cit-
izens in a common mission,”
noted the top court.
The Indian Army then had
stated that all women offic-
ers serving in the force from
now on would be considered
for permanent commission.
– IANS
Army starts permanentcommission for women officers
T H I R U V A N A N -
THAPURAM, July 23: Crucial
days lie ahead for Kerala Chief
Minister Pinarayi Vijayan as his
former Principal Secretary
and ex-Kerala IT Secretary M
Sivasankar presented himself
before the NIA today evening
in the sensational gold smug-
gling case.
The Customs Department,
which began probe into the
case last week, had questioned
Sivasankar for over nine hours.
The gold smuggling case
which has largescale political
ramifications, first surfaced
when PS Sarith, a former em-
ployee of the UAE consulate
here, was arrested by the
Customs on July 5 when he
was facilitating smuggling of
30 kg of gold in diplomatic
baggage to Thiruvanan-
thapuram from Dubai.
It turned murkier when the
name of Swapna Suresh, a
former employee of the UAE
consulate and employed with
the State IT Department, sur-
faced. The case turned full cir-
cle when their links with sen-
ior IAS official Sivasankar, who
has been suspended and boot-
ed out from two key posts,
were unearthed.
On Wednesday, the NIA had
completed a joint questioning
session with the three arrest-
ed – Sarith, Swapna and San-
dip Nair and it was only a mat-
ter of time when Sivasankar
was told to appear.
Though Vijayan has been
trying to wash his hands off
Sivasankar as his stock state-
ment has been “None will be
spared, whosoever he is”.
With the news of Sivasankar
appearing before the NIA,
State BJP president K Suren-
dran said that the time is up
for Vijayan and he must quit.
“With each passing moment
of you sticking to your post,
you are challenging the basic
principle of democracy. The
country is expecting that you
would show the example of
resigning as that’s what is ex-
pected to uphold the political
morality,” wrote Surendran on
Facebook. But Congress leg-
islator KS Sabarinath said all
know what Vijayan will say
now. – IANS
Crucial time for Vijayan as NIA beginsquestioning ex-Secy in gold smuggling case
NEW DELHI, July 23: A
Delhi-based private laborato-
ry has claimed that it has been
selected as the central lab for
human clinical trials of Covax-
in, India’s indigenous COVID-
19 vaccine candidate.
The vaccine is being devel-
oped and manufactured by
Bharat Biotech in collaboration
with the Indian Council of
Medical Research and the Na-
tional Institute of Virology.
Dr Dangs Lab said on
Wednesday that it has part-
nered with Bharat Biotech for
conducting the trials.
“We are extremely privi-
leged to announce that Dr
Dangs Lab, New Delhi has
been provided the opportuni-
ty to serve the nation by being
selected as the central lab for
the human clinical trials of
Covaxin; India’s indigenous
COVID-19 vaccine being de-
veloped and manufactured by
Bharat Biotech in collaboration
with the Indian Council of
Medical Research (ICMR) –
National Institute of Virology
(NIV),” it said in a statement.
This is a “randomised, dou-
ble blind, placebo controlled
multicentric clinical trial in In-
dia”, it added.
“Dr Dangs Lab is currently
processing all samples for
screening and safety for the
various phases of this clinical
trial, whereas all the efficacy
studies will be performed in
NIV (Pune),” the statement
said.The lab has already start-
ed receiving samples from 50
to 100 subjects per day from
various trial sites for safety
testing and will be increasing
operations as per assigned
timelines to cover 12 sites
across the length and breadth
of the country over this month,
it added.
“Stringent quality norms driv-
en by good clinical laboratory
practice guidelines are being
followed as mandated by regu-
latory authorities. The lab has
renowned experts in each field,
the statement added. – PTI
Dr Dangs selected as central labfor Covaxin human clinical trials
FRIDAY, JULY 24, 2020 THE ASSAM TRIBUNE, GUWAHATI 7NORTH EAST
WEATHER
NORTHEASTForecast for NE: Rain/thun-dershower is very likely tooccur at most places overArunachal Pradesh, Assam,Meghalaya, Nagaland, Ma-nipur, Mizoram and Tripura.
Warning: Thunderstorm with
lightning is very likely to oc-
cur at isolated places over
Arunachal Pradesh, Assam,
Meghalaya, Nagaland,
Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura.
Heavy to very heavy rain is
very likely to occur at isolated
places over Assam and
Meghalaya. Heavy rain is very
likely to occur at isolated
places over Arunachal
Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur,
Mizoram and Tripura.
Temperatures:
Max (°C) Min (°C)
Dibrugarh 32.2 25.6
Tezpur 32.7 26.3
Silchar 33.0 26.4
Dhubri 28.3 25.3
Jorhat 28.3 24.3
N Lakhimpur 29.0 23.8
Shillong 24.1 18.5
Cherrapunjee21.7 17.9
Aizawl 22.9 19.3
Kohima 24.2 17.8
Pasighat 32.8 24.4
Itanagar 32.8 24.3
Imphal 26.4 22.3
Agartala 31.7 26.0
PM lays foundation of Manipurwater supply project
CORRESPONDENT
IMPHAL, July 23: Prime
Minister Narendra Modi to-
day laid the foundation stone
of the ambitious Manipur
water supply project through
videoconferencing. The Rs
3050-crore project is aimed
at providing safe drinking
water to every rural house-
hold in Manipur by 2024.
Speaking in the virtual cere-
mony, the Prime Minister said
that apart from Greater Imphal,
the project would benefit 25
small towns and 1,700 villages.
About 25 lakh poor people in
Manipur have received free
foodgrains under the Pradhan
Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yo-
jana, Modi added.
Similarly, more than 1.5
lakh women in Manipur have
got free cooking gas under
the Ujjwala scheme, the
Prime Minister said. He ap-
preciated the Manipur Gov-
ernment for making all nec-
essary arrangements for
smooth running of the State
during the lockdown.
Earlier, in his welcome ad-
dress, Chief Minister N Bi-
ren Singh said that potable
drinking water would be pro-
vided to every household of
the State by 2024 under the
project. He stated that the
New Development Bank-
funded project is the largest
single compact project ever
sanctioned by the Centre for
Manipur.
Biren Singh said that un-
der the leadership and guid-
ance of Prime Minister Modi,
there have been positive
changes in Manipur during
the last three years. The
bandh culture is also becom-
ing a thing of the past, he
maintained.
The Chief Minister said
that various developmental
activities are being taken up
in the State for the welfare of
the people. The Government
has been able to build a wom-
en's market in every district
of the State, he added.
Manipur Governor Dr Na-
jma Heptulla, Union Minis-
ter for Jal Shakti Gajendra
Singh Sekhawat, Minister of
State for the Union Ministry
of Development of North
Eastern Region Dr Jitendra
Singh, Manipur Deputy Chief
Minister Y Joykumar, State
Cabinet ministers, MLAs,
the Chief Secretary and oth-
er high-ranking officials were
present during the day’s cer-
emony, a Manipur DIPR re-
port stated.
Manipur CM N Biren Singh delivering the welcome address during the foundation stone laying ceremony of the Manipur Water
Supply Project by the Prime Minister through video conferencing, in Imphal on Thursday
. – A Manipur DIPR photo
Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb receiving the cargo at the Akhaura Integrated Check
Post in Agartala on Thursday. – Photo: Correspondent
Cargo shipped via Chittagong port reaches TripuraCORRESPONDENT
AGARTALA, July 23:
Tripura Chief Minister Bi-
plap Kumar Deb today re-
ceived the first goods con-
signment, which was shipped
from the Haldia port in West
Bengal to Agartala via the
Chittagong port in Bangla-
desh, at the Akhaura Inte-
grated Check Post (ICP)
here. This development
opens a new chapter in the
Indo-Bangladesh maritime
cooperation.
This has been made possi-
ble through the signing of the
India-Bangladesh Coastal
Agreement last month.
The new transhipment
route – Haldia-Chittagoing-
Akhaura-Agrartala – will not
only benefit Tripura but also
other North Eastern States,
said the Chief Minister while
speaking on the occasion.
Heaping praise on Prime
Minister Narendra Modi and
Bangladesh Prime Minister
Sheikh Hasina for opening
the Chittagong port to the
North Eastern region of In-
dia, Deb said the consignment
comprising four containers
that came from Haldia to
Agartala via the Chittagong
port, has brought a lot of hope
for the people of Tripura.
“The distance between
Haldia and Agartala via As-
sam is 1,600 km, but the new
coastal route of Haldia-Chit-
tagong- Akhaura-Agrartala
runs only 600 km. I have
heard that the parties that
have brought the four con-
tainers through the new
coastal route have saved Rs
50,000. The new route will
“Connectivity has got a
major fillip during the past
two years. Tripura is now
well connected by rail and
roads. Today, the State has
received the first goods con-
signment by utilising tran-
shipment facilities,” the Chief
Minister said.
Deb said that due to heavy
rain and steep rise in the
water level of the Comilla
(Bangladesh), the floating jet-
ty at Srimantapur (Sonamu-
ra) could not be inaugurated,
but it would be operational
soon.
It may be noted that the
cargo vessel had sailed from
Haldia and headed towards
Chittagong on July 19. On July
22, four containers ferried by
the vessel were loaded in
four trailers that reached
Akhaura today.
be more cost-effective once
the Feni bridge is made op-
erational. An amount of Rs
800 can be saved against oneMT of goods,” he pointed
out.
Meghalaya togo for randomantigen testsSTAFF CORRESPONDENT
SHILLONG, July 23: The
Meghalaya Government to-
day announced that it would
conduct random tests with
antigen kits in 71 clusters
across the State.
Deputy Chief Minister
Prestone Tynsong said that
the decision to conduct the
random tests was taken fol-
lowing a proposal from the
State Health Department to-
day.
“The Government has de-
cided to conduct random
testing in 71 clusters across
the State, as proposed by the
Health Department. The
testing will commence im-
mediately,” Tynsong added.
The Deputy Chief Minister
said that the 7000-odd COV-
ID-19 management commit-
tees across the State would
assist Heath workers in con-
ducting the tests. If a test
through an antigen kit comes
out positive, the individual will
be quarantined and then an
RT-PCR test will be conduct-
ed to confirm positivity.
Random testing has al-
ready begun in some clusters
including Umpling, Nong-
mynsong, Mapwpat, Khana-
para and others. Tynsong ex-
pressed gratitude to Health
workers and doctors who are
working tirelessly without
thinking of their own safety.
He also warned private hos-
pitals not to stigmatize peo-
ple by turning them away if
they happen to come from a
particular locality with high-
risk persons.
Meanwhile, the total
number of active cases has
risen to 448 in Meghalaya
with 19 new cases reported
in the past 24 hours. Four
persons have also recovered
during this period, taking the
total recoveries to 82.
The maximum number of
active cases is in the East
Khasi Hills district which has
375, followed by Ri-Bhoi dis-
trict with 42. Out of this to-
tal, 281 are BSF personnel,
14 are from other armed forc-
es and the rest are civilians.
Highestsingle-day
spike of casesin Nagaland
CORRESPONDENT
DIMAPUR, July 23: Naga-
land today recorded 90 COV-
ID-19 positive cases, marking
the highest single-day spike in
the State so far. The total pos-
itive cases now stand at 1,174.
Of the 90 fresh cases, 61
are from Kohima, 26 from
Dimapur, two from Peren
and one from Phek.
Principal Director of the
State Health and Family Wel-
fare Department, Dr Vizolie
Z Soukhrie, said that among
the new cases, 43 are from
the armed forces, 42 from
within the quarantine centres,
four are traced contacts and
one is a frontline worker.
So far, 486 COVID-19 pa-
tients have recovered in Na-
galand, while the total number
of active cases is 688.
Arunachal seessteep rise in
COVID-19 casesCORRESPONDENT
ITANAGAR, July 23: Aru-
nachal Pradesh on Wednes-
day recorded its highest sin-
gle-day spike of COVID-19
cases with the addition of 91
new cases.
The fresh cases took the
State’s tally to 949, stated a
bulletin issued by the State
Directorate of Health Serv-
ices here late last night.
The number of active cas-
es in the State now stands at
632, while 314 patients have
been discharged so far. Three
persons have died of the vi-
rus in the State.
Of the fresh cases, 31 were
reported from the Itanagar
Capital Complex (ICC), 15
from East Siang, 13 from Ti-
rap, 10 from West Siang, sev-
en from Namsai, three each
from Papum Pare, Longding
and Lower Dibang Valley, two
each from Upper Siang and
West Kameng, and one each
of Lower Siang and Kamle.
All the 31 cases in the ICC
were detected outside quar-
antine facilities. Of the posi-
tive cases in East Siang, one
is a healthcare worker, two
drivers of vehicles transport-
ing essential commodities
and the rest are returnees,
who tested positive in quar-
antine facilities.
Twenty-eight out of the 31
cases in the ICC were detect-
ed through RDT-Antigen tests
which include one from Modir-
ijo, eight from D-sector, three
from Polo Colony, one each
from near Gurudwara, E-sec-
tor, Prem Nagar and the State
quarantine facility at Lekhi,
four each from G-sector, G-
extension and near Sunday
Market, three from GHSS,
Nirjuli, and one from the
Banderdewa check gate.
Three others tested posi-
tive in RT-PCR tests – two
near Sunday Market and one
near Lekhi Middle School.
As per the bulletin, 85 cas-
es were asymptomatic and
six symptomatic. Mean-
while, 11 patients were re-
leased from COVID Care
Centres after they were
cured of the disease.
Among the discharged
cases, four are from West
Kameng, two each from
Namsai and Longding, and
one each from Lower Sub-
ansiri, Upper Subansiri and
Lower Siang districts.
Manipur tallyclimbs to 2,115
CORRESPONDENT
IMPHAL, July 23: With the
detection of 55 new cases, the
COVID-19 tally of Manipur
today reached 2,115. The to-
tal active and recovered cases
stand at 655 and 1,460 respec-
tively, stated official sources.
The recovery rate in the State
is 69.03 per cent.
Out of the 55 new cases, 50
are males and five are females.
They were confirmed positive
at the VRDLs of the RIMS,
the JNIMS, the district hospi-
tals of Thoubal and another lab-
oratory, stated a release issued
by the COVID-19 common
control centre.
The fresh cases belong to
Imphal West, Kakching, Kam-
jong, Leimakhong Garrison,
Kangpokpi, Tengnoupal, Thou-
bal and Ukhrul districts. All
(except 12 with local contact
history in Thoubal district) are
returnees from other States.
In the past 24 hours, 42
cured persons were dis-
charged from the COVID care
centres at Meitram in Imphal
West, Senapati, Kakching, RD
Wing, Lamphel and Thoubal.
Meanwhile, the Manipur
Government has issued a list
of activities permitted during
the seven-day total lockdown
that came into force across the
State on Thursday.
According to an order is-
sued by Manipur Chief Sec-
retary Dr J Suresh Babu, the
permitted activities include
essential services, cargo and
goods movement, health-re-
lated activities, public utilities,
agricultural activities, fish-
eries, animal husbandry, fi-
nance and social sector, print
and electronic media, couri-
er services, food processing
units, bottled water manufac-
turing and distribution, con-
struction activities, private
vehicles for emergency pur-
poses, all offices of Central
and State governments of-
fering essential services and
all Treasury offices.
Retail shops dealing in es-
sential commodities, vegeta-
bles, fruits, milk booths, poul-
try meat and fish will be open
in all districts from 6 am to
10 am on all days except Sun-
days, the order said. No ve-
hicles will, however, be al-
lowed to ply.
Meanwhile, 69 persons
were detained and 52 vehicles
were seized in the State for
violation of lockdown norms,
stated police sources.
Nine new casesin Mizoram
CORRESPONDENT
AIZAWL, July 23: Mizo-
ram today reported nine
fresh cases of COVID-19,
taking the State’s tally to 326.
Of 365 samples tested at
the Zoram Medical College
laboratory, eight turned out
to be positive. One person
tested positive in a rapid
antigen test in Champhai
district, an official release
stated.
The fresh cases include a
10-year-old child, while the
rest are aged between 26 and
51 years.
Meanwhile, 16 recovered
patients have been dis-
charged in the past 48 hours.
Ten National Disaster Re-
sponse Force personnel and
one Assam Rifles jawan
were discharged in Aizawl on
Wednesday, while five BSF
personnel were discharged
in Lunglei today.
With this, Mizoram cur-
rently has 142 active cases,
184 discharged cases and no
death.
In another development,
BSF Director General SS
Deswal informed the newly-
elected Rajya Sabha member
from Mizoram, K Vanlalvena,
that movement of the force’s
battalions has been suspend-
ed in the wake of the surge in
COVID-19 cases among par-
amilitary personnel.
The BSF DG met Vanlal-
vena at the BSF headquar-
ters in New Delhi today.
Vanlalvena, who was
sworn in on Wednesday,
called on the top BSF official
to discuss the recent surge
in COVID-19 among paramil-
itary forces in Mizoram.
According to an official
statement from the Mizoram
Government, during the
meeting Deswal telephoned
the BSF Additional DG,
Kolkata, and instructed him
to set up more quarantine fa-
cilities and hospitals within
the BSF campuses.
Vanlalvena also voiced
concern over illegal influx
from Bangladesh. The BSF
DG assured him that secu-
rity would be tightened
along the border, the state-
ment said.
Meanwhile, Deswal ex-
pressed happiness over the
Rajya Sabha MP’s plan to
visit BSF posts along the
border and assured him of
all possible assistance from
the BSF officials.
Tripura registersninth virus death
AGARTALA, July 23:
Tripura registered its ninth
COVID-19 fatality after a 76-
year-old woman succumbed
to the disease here, while 126
fresh cases pushed the State’s
tally to 3,469, an official said
today.
The woman, Gitarani Pal,
was admitted to the Agartala
Government Medical College
on July 11 and she died on
Wednesday, the official said.
Pal also had diabetes, car-
diac problems and high blood
pressure, he said.
“Alert! 126 people found
COVID-19 positive out of
3,051 samples tested. 120
found positive in Antigen test,
Contact:4, Symptomatic:2.
Unfortunately, 1 COVID-19
positive patient died today,”
Tripura Chief Minister Bi-
plab Kumar Deb said in a
tweet on Wednesday night.
So far, 2,033 people have
recovered from the disease,
the official said. The State
now has 1,409 active COV-
ID-19 cases.
Nine patients have died of
the infection and 18 have mi-
grated to other States, he said.
Besides State-run hospitals,
private health facilities will
have to conduct antigen tests
for all patients to detect the
coronavirus cases early, Health
and Family Welfare Director
Dr Radha Debbarma said.
The private hospitals and
nursing homes will need to
buy antigen test kits at Rs 450
a unit from the National Health
Mission office here. The State
Health Department has ap-
pointed a medical officer to
coordinate with various insti-
tutions, he said. – PTI
108 new cases in SikkimGANGTOK, July 23: Sik-
kim on Wednesday reported
the highest single-day COV-
ID-19 spike with the detec-
tion of 108 new cases, taking
the tally of active cases to
326. The total number of per-
sons cured and discharged
now stands at 112, while the
total has touched 438.
As per a health bulletin is-
sued, 108 persons have test-
ed positive in the last 24
hours in the State. Of the new
cases, 61 have been report-
ed from East district, 46 from
South district and one from
Timburbong in West district.
Altogether 52 positive per-
sons from Rangpo and Chana-
tar areas have been shifted to
Himalayan Pharmacy Boys
Hostel, while 46 cases from
Mamring have been shifted to
the isolation facility at the Sik-
kim State Cooperative Union
building. – A Correspondent
BSF’s bid tocheck virus
spreadSTAFF CORRESPONDENT
SHILLONG, July 23: The
Border Security Force (BSF)
is working on a war footing to
tackle the spread of COVID-
19, which has infected over
269 of its personnel, besides
claiming the life of a jawan, at
its frontier headquarters
here.
“We have closed all our of-
fices, except the control
rooms, and restricted the
movement of our personnel
inside the campus,” DIG of
BSF’s Meghalaya frontier
headquarters UK Nayal told
The Assam Tribune.
Personnel considered being
in the “high-risk” category and
their family members have
been quarantined in their re-
spective quarters and neces-
sary information is pasted on
the doors to caution others
about the status of the family.
Others have been segre-
gated from their friends and
families. The campus is be-
ing sanitized periodically.
The BSF has its own hos-
pital inside the campus, but
it has only 30 beds and not
geared up for such an emer-
gency. Therefore, several
buildings and barracks at the
headquarters have been con-
verted into temporary hos-
pitals. The active COVID-19
personnel are being kept in
separate rooms as an ex-
treme precaution.
“In another 10 days’ time,
we would be able to overcome
this infection,” Nayal said.
FRIDAY, JULY 24, 2020 8 THE ASSAM TRIBUNE, GUWAHATI
STATENEWS IN BRIEF
Shops looted in DibrugarhDIBRUGARH, July 23: Unidentified miscreants on
Wednesday night broke open at least five shops inBoiragimoth area of Dibrugarh and stole cash and othergoods. The shops were those of hardware, pharmacy,footwear, pan and vegetables. It may be mentionedhere that the theft occurred during the curfew hours.– Staff Correspondent
Book translated to HindiDERGAON, July 23: Junti Duarah, assistant professor
and head of the Department of Hindi at GolaghatCommerce College, has translated a history book inAssamese to Hindi. She translated the book Asam AruManipurar Buranjir Jilingani (Glimpses of the History ofAssam and Manipur) written by writer journalist ApurbaBaruah of Golaghat and published in 2014. The Hindititle is Asom Aur Manipur Ke Itihas Ki Jhalak in Hindiand has been published by Adhikaran Prakashan of NewDelhi. The book contains the annals of pre-Ahom period,Pal, Barman, Barbhuyans, 600-year Ahom regime,Assam under British, role of Assam in the freedomstruggle, relation of Assam and Manipur along with theother Northeastern states. Junti Duarah has an MA inHindi and Sociology along with MPhil, BEd and Ratna inRastrabhasha. – Correspondent
Salons, parlours reopenHAILAKANDI, July 23: The Hailakandi district
administration has lifted the closure order on barbershops, salons and parlours, allowing them to functiononly for hair trimming purpose. In an order issued onWednesday, District Development Commissioner cumDDMA CEO in-charge Vikram Dev Sharma said barbershops and parlours have to maintain detailed records ofcustomers along with their addresses and contactnumbers. The order directed the owners to ensuresanitisation, use of masks and to adhere strictly tosocial distancing norms. Any violation will attract legalaction under the Disaster Management Act, 2005. Theshops will remain open from 7 am to 5 pm from Mondayto Friday. – Correspondent
Body found in ditchBARPETA, July 23: A body was recovered from a
roadside ditch on the Amrikhowa Majdia road underSarthebari PS on Wednesday. The body was identifiedas that of Abu Sama (35). It was learnt that Sama was adriver by profession and his car was hired by someonefrom Guwahati to Bilasipara. The miscreants took awaythe car after killing him. – Correspondent
Fire at Diphu marketDIPHU, July 23: Several houses were damaged in a
devastating fire in Santipatty slum area of Diphu town.A number of LPG cylinders blew up in the blaze butthere was no human casualty. According to somevictims, household property worth lakhs of rupees weredestroyed in the blaze. Last week, a similar fireincident near that locality gutted several businessestablishments. – Correspondent
Meritorious students fetedBISWANATH CHARIALI, July 23: The students who
secured more than 90 per cent marks in the last class10 and 12 examinations were felicitated in Jnan BharatiSchool here on Wednesday at a meeting held maintain-ing social distancing. The meeting was chaired bySanjeev Sarma and was attended by leading education-ists. – Correspondent
Containment zoneGOSSAIGAON, July 23: The Gossaigaon Civil
administration has declared the entire Gossaigaonmunicipality area as a containment zone. The initiativewas taken to prevent the spread of the novel coronavi-rus. As per the order, all business establishments havebeen told to remain closed. The administration alsoappealed to the people to cooperate with the adminis-tration during the lockdown. – ANN Service
AASU fetes studentsRAHA, July 23: The AASU, Raha unit on Wednesday
felicitated meritorious students of greater Raha areawho excelled in the HSLC and HS examinations. Ameeting was organised at Sankardev Sishu VidyaNiketan where 73 meritorious students were accordedwarm felicitation with a phulam gamosa and a citationeach. The programme was attended by Prafulla Das,‘pradhan acharya’ of Raha Sankardev Sishu VidyaNiketan, AASU state executive member MridulHazarika, AASU Raha regional unit president SanjayKakati and secretary Pankaj Hazarika. – ANN Service
‘COVID-19 impact on women’JORHAT, July 23: A two-day national webinar was
held at Bahona College, Jorhat on July 20-21. Thewebinar titled ‘Peace, Security and Social Justice:Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Women’ sawparticipation of many students and teachers. Thewebinar, organised by Bahona College in collaborationwith the Internal Quality Assurance Cell, wasinaugurated by principal Dr Prasanna Kumar Dutta. –Staff Correspondent
Guidelines for shopsTIHU, July 23: As a precautionary measure to
prevent the spread of COVID-19, the Tihu townexecutive officer has introduced new guidelines foropening of shops and business establishments.According to the Tihu Chambers of Commerce, theshops located in the east and north side of the mainroads of Tihu town are allowed to open on Monday,Wednesday and Friday, while shops located in the westand south side are allowed to open on Tuesday andThursday. – ANN Service
Kaziranga National Park director P Sivakumar pettingfemale elephant Rukmini, who gave birth to a male calfrecently. – Photo: Sanjoy Kumar Hazarika
Santa NathSarma: a tribute
CORRESPONDENT
MANGALDAI, July 23:
Darrang Deputy Commis-
sioner Dilip Kumar Borah has
felt the necessity of recognis-
ing the service to humanity
by people performing the last
rites of a person dying of the
coronavirus infection.
Talking to this newspaper
at the Tengabari public cre-
matorium here while attend-
ing the funeral of the first
woman who died in the dis-
trict due to COVID-19 infec-
tion, Borah said, “It is very
important that every human
being gets the due honour
even after death. It is his le-
gitimate right in our country
and we are trying to take care
of this during the pandemic
too, when the situation is
completely different.”
Borah said the municipali-
ty staff who have shown great
‘Need to laud peopleperforming last rites
during pandemic’character beyond their nor-
mal duty while performing
the funeral of COVID-19
bodies should get due public
recognition of the highest de-
gree of service to society.
“What these people are
doing is undoubtedly the su-
preme level of service to
mankind. Even very close
relatives of the deceased, in-
cluding son or daughter turn
reluctant to accompany the
body to the crematorium. I
am considering offering pub-
lic recognition to these peo-
ple in the forthcoming Inde-
pendence Day celebrations.
I will also try to give priority
to their appeal in case of any
better job opportunities in
future.”
It may be mentioned here
that Borah attended the fu-
neral of two persons in the
district who became victims
of COVID-19.
STAFF CORRESPONDENT
JORHAT, July 23: The
COVID-19 testing centre at
the CSIR-NEIST at Pulibor
here has completed testing
of 10,000 swab samples.
It may be mentioned here
that on May 30, Health and
Family Welfare Minister
Himanta Biswa Sarma had
inaugurated the testing labo-
ratory of the institute.
Disclosing to this newspa-
per, a CSIR-NEIST official
said that after the successful
completion of testing 10,000
samples, the CSIR-NEIST
authorities have decided to
ramp up the daily testing ca-
pacity of the laboratory, from
its present 400 samples per
day to 3,000 samples per day,
in view of the present COV-
ID-19 scenario of the district.
The official stated that the
institute wanted to enhance
the testing capacity of the
laboratory with an aim to
check the spread of the nov-
el coronavirus.
The official informed that
CSIR-NEIST labconducts 10,000COVID-19 tests
CSIR-NEIST Director Dr G
Narahari Sastry has initiat-
ed the process to boost the
testing capacity of the labo-
ratory per day in consulta-
tion with the Jorhat district
administration and the State
Government. “The infra-
structure development for
raising the testing capacity
of the laboratory will be done
by the CSIR, while addi-
tional manpower and the
running expenditure will be
met by the Assam Govern-
ment,” he said.
The proposed strengthen-
ing of the testing capacity of
the laboratory was expected
to be ready within a week.
The initiative was taken
with strong support extend-
ed by the Director-General
of CSIR, Dr Shekhar
Mande, after having discus-
sion with the Union Health
and Family Welfare Minister
Harsh Vardhan. The CSIR-
NEIST laboratory became
the eight laboratory for test-
ing COVID-19 in the State
at the time of its opening.
OBITUARY
Ambika ThakurCORRESPONDENT
DERGAON, July 23: Am-
bika Thakur, retired head-
master of Kochgaon LP
School of Kamargaon Der-
gaon, passed away recently
at Jorhat Medical College
Hospital due to old-age ail-
ments. He was 83. His death
was widely mourned in the
locality. Thakur leaves be-
hind his wife, a son, a daugh-
ter and a host of relatives.
STAFF CORRESPONDENT
SILCHAR, July 23: At a time when COV-
ID-19 positive cases are on the rise in Cachar
district, Deputy Commissioner Keerthi Jalli
has allayed fears, terming the situation to be
well under control.
Addressing a press conference at her of-
fice, Jalli said the administration is fully geared
up to tackle the COVID-19 situation and steps
are being taken to meet any exigency in case
of increase in positive cases.
In reply to a question regarding enforcing
total lockdown to contain the spread of nov-
el coronavirus, the Deputy Commissioner
said enforcing total lockdown would hit the
common man hard and deprive them of their
livelihood.
However, she was quick to add that the
administration would take all segments of
people into confidence before placing a pro-
Red Crosshelping out
flood-hit peopleGUWAHATI, July 23:
Since the onset of floods in
Assam, more than 1,200 vol-
unteers of the Indian Red
Cross Society are on the
ground, providing support to
affected people, stated a
press release issued here.
Till date, 9,283 tarpaulins
have been distributed for
shelter to 46,000 people.
Moreover, 2,000 families are
being supported in camps set
up by IRCS Assam.
All beneficiaries are being
provided dry ration, utensils,
mosquito nets, soaps, masks
and clean drinking water.
IRCS Assam has installed 25
family tents in different COV-
ID-19 quarantine centres,
highways, railway lines and
embankments. Red Cross
reached 40,000 people
(10,000 families) with aid
during the floods. IRCS has
also installed hand pumps to
ensure that the affected fam-
ilies have access to clean
drinking water.
Cachar DC allays fears onCOVID-19 situation
posal to the state government.
Jalli said she had also met religious lead-
ers of all faiths and urged them to cooperate
with the administration and follow all proto-
col at places of worship to arrest the spread
of coronavirus.
Urging the media to act as a change agent
in disseminating information to intensify safe-
ty measures, Jalli said there was no fear of a
COVID-19 victim spreading contamination.
“There is no fear whatsoever of a dead body
of COVID-19 victim spreading disease once
he or she passes away and there should be no
stigma attached,” she said, adding that SoPs
are being strictly followed in performing the
last rites of such a victim.
Meanwhile, Additional Deputy Commis-
sioner (Health) Sumit Sattawan said the ad-
ministration has laid emphasis on contact trac-
ing and with priority to the senior citizens,
pregnant women and symptomatic cases.
CORRESPONDENT
GOALPARA, July 23: A
webinar ‘Foreign Policy in
the Post-COVID World: In-
dia’s strategy and global chal-
lenges’ was organised by the
Department of Political Sci-
ence in association with
IQAC, Goalpara College.
The webinar was addressed
by two distinguished speak-
ers – Dr Namrata Goswami,
strategic analyst and author
at Futures Laboratory, Ala-
bama, US, who was former-
ly with IDSA, New Delhi, and
Dr Pahi Saikia of IIT, Guwa-
hati. More than 285 partici-
pants from across the coun-
try and abroad took part.
Goswami traced the op-
portunities and challenges of
foreign policy and speculat-
ed certain trends in the post-
COVID world. Despite the
Chinese aggressive posture
Webinars on post-COVIDscenario held at Goalpara
towards its neighbours, the
loan diplomacy carried out by
China is quite relevant in
present times. She empha-
sised on the use of India’s
own space systems and
health diplomacy to counter
China. Saikia stressed good
relations of India with the
neighbouring countries de-
spite the precarious nature
of the security scenario in the
South Asian region. Assist-
ant professor Dr Jayanta Ku-
mar Brahma moderated the
webinar and Dhrubajyoti Das
offered the vote of thanks.
In another webinar organ-
ised by the English depart-
ment of Goalpara College –
titled ‘Literature, Environ-
ment and Pandemic’ – three
sessions were chaired by
three professors from dif-
ferent universities of India.
Prof Mukesh Ranjan from
Jamia Millia Islamia Univer-
sity, New Delhi, Prof Nan-
dana Dutta from Gauhati
University and Dr Saugata
Kumar Nath from Assam
University, spoke on the top-
ics “Literature and Pandem-
ic”, “Literature and Pan-
demic: Retelling of lives”,
and “Literature, Environ-
ment and Pandemic: Expe-
dition through time”. As
many as 313 participants
joined the webinar.
Dr Dulal Booroah, assist-
ant professor of Goalpara
College, Manamendra Sar-
ma, assistant professor of B
Borooah College, and Deep-
jyoti Kalita helped in making
the webinar a grand success.
The webinar was initiated by
assistant professor Mozbul
Haque Choudhury, while the
vote of thanks was offered by
Loni Baruah of the Depart-
ment of English, Goalpara
College.
CORRESPONDENT
DHEMAJI, July 23: Mem-
bers of the All Assam Stu-
dents’ Union, Dhemaji dis-
trict unit have made a bam-
boo bridge over the Morid-
hal river at No.2 Jamuguri
village, located 7 km east of
Dhemaji town on Tuesday.
AASU’s Dhemaji unit gen-
eral secretary Karunjyoti
Chetiya said that the union
members along with the
Moridhal anchalik committee
functionaries and villagers
built the bridge, which links
Chenimai, Lalung and Ka-
lpanapur villages of Moridhal
panchayat with the NH-15 via
No.1 Jamuguri.
About 150 families, who
were facing innumerable
problems due to lack of a
bridge on the river, will be
benefited from the bamboo
bridge link.
The local people said the
Jamuguri area under Morid-
hal panchayat has been de-
Scribe’s bailextended
CORRESPONDENT
DHUBRI, July 23: The
Chief Judicial Magistrate of
Dhubri on Wednesday ex-
tended the interim bail of
scribe Rajib Sarma, who was
arrested following an FIR
lodged by Dhubri DFO
Biswajit Roy.
The CJM had granted him
interim bail till July 18. On
July 18, his bail was extend-
ed till July 31. “Now the case
has been handed over to the
CID. The rituals of Sarma’s
father is due, so the interim
bail has been extended,” said
the journalist’s advocate
Jamser Talukder.
He said they are hopeful
that on July 31, Sarma will
be granted absolute bail.
Meanwhie, the Dhubri
District Working Journalists’
Association has submitted a
memorandum to the Chief
Minister through the Dhubri
Deputy Commissioner, stat-
ing that the arrest of Sarma
like a dreaded criminal was
defamatory to the entire jour-
nalist community.
The Dhubri District Youth
Congress Committee, in a
recently held press confer-
ence, demanded a CBI probe
into the entire episode of
Sarma’s arrest.
Repair ofbreached dykes
urgedANN SERVICE
PATACHARKUCHI, July
23: The Patacharkuchi Ancha-
lik Nagarik Manch has urged
the authorities to repair
breached dykes of the Deo-
jara river to save the entire
area from floods. It is worth
mentioning here that the De-
ojara creates havoc every
year in the area by breaching
the dyke in two places and
inundating a large area.
As the damaged portions
were not repaired, when the
water level in the tributary
rises due to rain, water sub-
merges the area comprising
more than 15 villages. Due
to the flood, the surface com-
munication also gets affected
following heavy damage on
the main roads.
The Nagarik Manch sub-
mitted a memorandum to the
Barpeta DC through the Ba-
jali circle officer, urging him
to look into the matter.
Students buildbamboo bridge
Vast tracts of land have come under the grip of erosion by the Charikaria river in Dhakuakhana, as seen on Thursday.– UB Photos
prived of all means of infra-
structure and road commu-
nication for decades. “The
political leaders assured to
take initiative for road devel-
opment with RCC bridge
construction over the river
at the eve of election, but
nothing has been done,” said
the local villagers.
AASU’s Dhemaji district
president Dipak Sarma and
general secretary Kalyan
Gogoi have criticised Dhe-
maji MLA Dr Ranoj Pegu and
Lakhimpur MP Pradan Baru-
ah for their indifferent atti-
tude towards the villagers of
Jamuguri (Moridhal). They
said MLA Pegu and MP Baru-
ah assured of road and bridge
scheme at Jamuguri on the
eve of election, but forgot all
after gaining power.
The AASU leaders also
cautioned the elected leaders
not to deceive the rural peo-
ple, who are staring at their
help to fulfill their develop-
mental demands.
Santa Nath Sarma, a retired professor and social worker
breathed his last on July 14 in Guwahati
at the age of 89. Born in 1931 at Mukta-
pur village of Kamrup district, Sarma
was a brilliant student. He passed his
matriculation examination from Bijni
High School and completed his BSc
degree in 1957 from Cotton College.
Since he was compelled to look after
his poor family, he joined Panbazar Girls’ High School as a
teacher in mathematics. After a few years, he completed his
MSc in mathematics from Gauhati University in 1964.
His motto in life was to become a good teacher. He joined
Mangaldai College in 1965 as a lecturer in mathematics,
and served there till his retirement. He was also the found-
er president of the Darrang District Science Society.
A resident of Beltola, Guwahati, Sarma rendered com-
mendable services as principal of Patidarrang College after
his retirement. He was also keen on study of astronomical
sciences and performed pujas and yajnas. Sarma, as working
president of Sukreswar Devalaya, Guwahati, worked for its
all-round development. He was associated with many or-
ganisations like Bharat Gyan Vigyan Jatha, Brahman Samaj,
Muktapur Unnayan Samiti, Janardan Devalaya Yajna Com-
mittee, Balichanda Sangha, Sadou Asom Devalaya Sangha.
He leaves behind his wife, a son, and four daughters. I pray
to the Almighty to grant eternal peace to his departed soul.
– Suresh Chandra Bhattacharyya
THE ASSAM TRIBUNE, GUWAHATI 9FRIDAY, JULY 24, 2020
STATE
Government of Assam
Public works Roads Department
Office of the Chief Engineer (EAP)ARR&TI Complex Fatasil Ambari, Guwahati-25, Assam, Email: [email protected]
RFB No.: CE/APART/40/2020/7
REQUEST FOR BIDS (RFB)
E-PROCUREMENT NOTICE(Two-Envelope Bidding Process with e-Procurement)
The Government of Assam through Government of India has received financing from the World Bank towards the
cost of the APART Project and intends to apply part of the proceeds to the eligible payment under the contract. Bids
are invited online from the eligible bidders from India for the following works as detailed in the table below.
TABLE
Sl. Package no. Name of the work Approx. Bid Cost of Bid Comple-
No. value of security Documents tion
work (INR) (INR) Period
(Rupees in (month)
Lakh)
1 APART/NOCP/ Construction of road from Moranjan to 86.86 1,73,720 5000 12
ROADS/NL-07 Pagladiya embankment of 3 no Balitara village
Paschim Banbhag Mouza in Nalbari District
(Length-0.805 KM)
2 APART/NOCP/ Construction of road from Panimajkuchi 185.87 3,71,740 5000 15
ROADS/NL-08 Chowk to Mini Culvert of Panimajkuchi village
in Nalbari District (Length-1.440 KM)
3 APART/NOCP/ Renovation of official building of District 27.90 55,800 2000 6
DICC/LKR-01 Industries and Commerce Centres in the
Lakhimpur District
4 APART/NOCP/ Renovation of official building of District 27.68 55,360 2000 6
DICC/GLT-01 Industries and Commerce Centres in the
Golaghat District
The bidding documents are available online on http://www.assamtenders.gov.in from 28/07/2020 to 28/08/2020.
Bidders will be required to register on the website which is free of cost. For submission of the bids, the bidder is required
to have Digital Signature Certificate (DSC). Bids must be submitted online on http://www.assamtenders.gov.in on or
before 14:00 Hours on 28/08/2020. Other details can be seen in the bidding document.
Sd/- Chief Engineer, PWRD (EAP)
Assam, Fatasil Ambari, Guwahati-25Janasanyog/CF/1166/20
ADVERTISEMENTApplications are invited from the eligible candidates
for a Facilitator of Diploma in Agricultural Extension
Service for Input Dealer (DAESI) Programme in Barpeta
District of Assam on honorarium basis for a period of
1(one) year as per norms and conditions mentioned
below within 15 days from the date of publication.
1. Educational Qualification : Graduate/ Post Graduate
in Agriculture/Horticulture with 5 years experience in
these sectors. Preference will be given to Agriculture
Graduate having an experience of around 20 years
in the Department of Agriculture, SAUs or KVKs or
retired person with sufficient field experience.
2. The candidate should have adequate knowledge
about the Agricultural activities undertaken in the
District, experience in organizing training
programmes and should be capable of mobilizing
input dealers for DAESI programme.
3. Honorarium will be paid as per rules framed for
DAESI programme.
4. Application should be supported by 2(two) copies
of passport size photograph along with certificates
of age, educational qualification and other
experiences should be submitted in favour of
Project Director, ATMA, Department of Agriculture,
Barpeta, Assam during the working hours.
5. No application will be received after due date.
Sd/- District Agricultural Officer
cum PD ATMA, BarpetaJanasanyog/D/2077/20
ASSAM PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION
*****No. 61PSC/DR-6/2/2019-2020
NOTIFICATIONIn continuation of this office Advt. No. 03/2020 vide No. 18PSC/
DR-5/1/2020-2021, Dated, Guwahati, the 24.06.2020 which
was issued for filling up of 11 (Eleven) Nos. of posts of Asstt.
Architect under Public Works (B&N.H.) Department, it is for
information to all concerned that the last date of receipt of
application form is hereby extended up to 17.08.2020 instead
of 27.07.2020 as the lockdown was imposed up to 19.07.2020
due to the outbreak of Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
The other terms and conditions of the earlier Advt. mentioned
above will remain the same.
Sd/- Secretary,
Assam Public Service Commission,
Jawaharnagar, Khanapara, Ghy-22Janasanyog/D/2079/20
No. MS/DWSC/TEZ-I/2020-21/SBM 2861
SHORT NOTICE INVITING
EXPRESSION OF INTERESTE.O.I. No.- 01 of 2020-21
The District Water and Sanitation Committee, Sonitpur invites
Expression of Interest (EOI) from interested and experienced registered
Agencies/ Contractors/ NGOs/SHGs having GST No. preferably working
in Sonitpur District for their empanelment to implement “COMMUNITY
MANAGED SANITARY COMPLEX” in different villages under Sonitpur
District.
The detailed EOI document is available in the O/O the Executive
Engineer (PHE), Tezpur Division-1, Tezpur from 10:00 hr of 24.07.2020
up to 16:00 hrs 30.07.2020. Bids are to be submitted in hard copy to the
O/O the Executive Engineer (PHE), Tezpur Division-1, Tezpur on or
before the closing date and time of EOI.
Sd/- Member Secretary. DWSC, Sonitpur
Cum Executive Engineer (PHE)
Janasanyog/C/2384/20 Tezpur Division No. 1, Tezpur
PRESS NOTICE INVITING TENDERExecutive Engineer, PWRD, Nalbari District Territorial
Road Division, Nalbari on behalf of Governor of Assam
invites bids for “Reconstruction of roads & Cross
drainage works under SOPD(G) for the Financial year
2019-20 for 9 (Nine) nos of packages of Nalbari District
of Assam, amounting to Rs. 158.13 L (Approx). Details
may be seen at the office of the undersigned from
30.07.2020 to 31.07.2020 during office hours.
Sd/- Executive Engineer, PWRD,
Nalbari District Territorial Road Division,
Janasanyog/CF/1159/20 Nalbari
ONLINE ESSAY COMPETITIONA. From Class V to Class VII
Topic: Flood Situation in Assam and its impact onagriculture and wildlife. Ways to tackle it.
B. From Class VIII to Class XTopic: Recent conflict between India and Nepal. HistoricalPerspective and ways ahead.
C. From Class XI to Class XIITopic: COVID-19 and its impact on Indian Economy.Suggest measures to boost the economic growth.
General Instructions to the participants1. An essay should not contain more than seven hundred
(700) words.2. Both Assamese and English medium can be used.3. Essays can be both typed and handwritten without any
bar but it should be sent in PDF format.4. A participant should clearly mentioned his/her name,
Guardian’s Name, Contact Number, Class, Name andAddress of his/her institution.
5. This competition is only for the students studying in variousinstitutions of Barpeta District.
6. Only online submission of essays will be accepted.Essays should be sent to the official Email ID ofDistrict Legal Services Authority, Barpeta which [email protected].
7. Essays should be sent to the official Email ID on or before5 pm on 07.08.2020. Essays sent after the last date willnot be considered.
8. Three (03) winners will be selected from each category.Each winner will be given prize and certificate from DLSA,Barpeta. Decision of the DLSA, Barpeta authority will befinal, without any clarification.
9. Participants must submit one entry.10. Participants must submit scanned recent size passport
photograph.11. Participants should submit scanned copy of their School/
College ID Card, if available.12. The winning essays and photographs of winners will be
displayed on the Facebook page & Notice board of DistrictLegal Services Authority, Barpeta to encourage thewinners.
13. For further information/queries, please contact in thefollowing Mobile No. 6026735350.
Sd/- SecretaryJanasanyog/D/2086/20 DLSA, Barpeta
CORRESPONDENT
DOOMDOOMA, July 23:
The National Green Tribunal
(NGT) has directed the Un-
ion Ministry of Forest, Envi-
ronment and Climate Change,
Oil India Limited (OIL), the
Assam State Pollution Control
Board and the Assam State
Biodiversity Board to explain
how the proposed drilling of
seven oil wells in the Dibru-
Saikhowa National Park situ-
ated in Tinsukia district of
Upper Assam was permitted.
After taking the hearing
through video conferencing
NGT seeks explanation onproposed drilling of oil wells
on a petition (04/2020/EZ)
filed by two environmental
activists Bimal Gogoi and
Mridu Paban Phukan, the
NGT issued this directive on
July 20 against the environ-
ment clear-
ance to OIL
on May 11 for
drilling of hy-
drocarbons in
the Dibru-Saikhowa Nation-
al Park violating of a Su-
preme Court order of Sep-
tember 2017.
The Eastern Zone Bench
of the NGT comprising Jus-
tice SP Wangdi and expert
member Nagin Nada also
took note of the petitioners’
contention that “OIL did not
carry out a biodiversity as-
sessment study for the sev-
en-well exploratory drilling
project be-
sides not
conducting a
public hear-
ing as man-
dated by the Environment
Impact Assessment (EIA)
Notification of 2006.”
The petitioners further
contented that “the EIA re-
port grossly undermines the
risk of the project by stating
that the threat due to ‘blow-
out’ was ‘negligible’. The
NGT noted that the report
“only considered the blow-
out risk applicable to the US
and did not give data from
India in general.”
The petitions also said,
“OIL suppressed the recent
blowout of Baghjan Well No.
5 that has resulted in massive
irreparable injury to the en-
vironment and the people of
the surrounding villages.”
The NGT has given the re-
spondents 30 days time to
give the explanation from the
date of issuing the order.
Dibru-Saikhowa
National Park
STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI, July 23: Chief
Minister Sarbananda Sonow-
al today visited Solmari area
in Rangiya under Kamrup dis-
trict which has been inundat-
ed by flood water of Puthima-
ri river and assessed the dam-
ages and government relief
measures for the flood-hit.
He also visited a flood relief
camp set up by the district ad-
ministration at Rangiya TT
College and interacted with the
relief camp inmates and took
stock of their condition as well
as the quality of food items
being served at the camp.
Talking to mediapersons
after visiting the flood-hit, the
Chief Minister said that the
current wave of flood has se-
verely affected 27 districts,
claiming the lives of a number
of people. He said that the
State Government had taken
serious note of the damages
caused by the Puthimari in
Rangiya subdivision and the
district administration has
been asked to extend all nec-
essary help and support to the
flood-affected people.
Besides, he added, the Water
Resources Department has
been directed to take immedi-
ate steps for repair of the breach
caused by the Puthimari at Bo-
goribari and that fund for the
purpose has been released.
The Chief Minister said
that the high-level committee
constituted by the Prime Min-
ister under the chairmanship
of NITI Aayog Vice Chairman
has recommended setting up
of North East Water Manage-
ment Authority for adopting
a holistic approach. He said
that the Central Government
would take steps for passing
an ordinance to that effect in
the forthcoming session of the
Parliament. The Chief Minis-
ter felt that such an initiative
CM visits flood-hit Solmari area in Rangiya
Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal visiting flood-affected Solmari area in Rangiya on Thursday.– UB Photos
would lead to a permanent
solution of the flood and ero-
sion problem of the State.
Water Resources Minister
Keshav Mahanta and Minis-
ter of State (i/c) for Irrigation
Bhabesh Kalita were also
present, among others, dur-
ing the Chief Minister’s visit
to Rangiya today.
Our correspondent from
Mangaldai adds: Chief Min-
ister Sarbananda Sonowal on
Thursday denied the common
allegation against the Water
Resource Department’s inten-
tional delay in taking up repair
works of the damaged em-
bankments of the State. The
Chief Minister was talking to
mediapersons during his visit
to the site of the ongoing dam-
age repairing work of river
Saktola embankment at Jonar-
amchowka near here.
“The department had com-
pleted the tender process by
December. But due to the sit-
uation arising out of the COV-
ID-19 pandemic and early bad
weather, the works could not
be started on time. Howev-
er, progress of works in most
of damaged embankments is
now good.”
Regarding the progress of
works in Darrang district, the
Chief Minister further said,
“Repair of the breached portion
of Saktola embankment is al-
ready completed and the works
of the incomplete remaining
portion will be completed with-
in a week. Progress of work on
river Nanoi embankment in Si-
pajhar is also going on well.”
However, the Chief Minister
did not mention anything signif-
icant regarding the prevailing sit-
uation due to COVID-19.
Sonowal later visited a flood re-
lief camp at Maharishi Vidya-
mandir, Mangaldai and also re-
viewed the recent flood scenar-
io of the district with Deputy
Commissioner Dilip Kumar
Borah and other district heads
of the relevant government de-
partments. Water Resource
Minister Keshav Mahanta, Irri-
gation Minister Bhabesh Kalita,
Mangaldai MP Dilip Saikia be-
sides two BJP MLAs of the dis-
trict Gurujyoti Das and Binanda
Kr Saikia gave him company
during his short stay here. Ear-
lier, Sonowal reached Jonaram-
chowka at 3-30 pm directly from
Rangiya by road.
STAFF CORRESPONDENT
SILCHAR, July 23: At a time when specula-
tions regarding conduct of examinations by
Assam University Silchar amidst the rising
figures of COVID-19 cases is fetching diverse
reactions from various segments of students
and the society at large, authorities of the
Central varsity here have issued an examina-
tion notification for the final year post gradu-
ate and under graduate students.
In a notification issued by Registrar in-charge
Dr Pradosh Kiran Nath, the authorities have
mentioned that students of TDC CBCS inter-
mediate semesters (2nd & 4th) in affiliated col-
leges of the university would be promoted to
the next semester as per the guidelines issued
by the University Grants Commission (UGC)
on the basis of 50 per cent marks secured in
Internal Assessment and 50 per cent in the
previous semester. However, for students of
TDC 6th semester, offline examination (pen
and paper mode) along with arrear/backlog pa-
pers shall be held after re-opening of the cam-
pus. The tentative schedule of examination is
from September 8 to 28 this year, the notifica-
tion stated. Further instructions to the affiliat-
ed colleges and respective departments at the
university have been notified as well. Mean-
Assam varsity announces tentativeschedule for final year exams
while, the post graduate students are asked to
appear in the examinations likely to start from
September 15, as per the notification.
Talking to The Assam Tribune on the de-
velopments, Vice Chancellor Prof Dilip Chan-
dra Nath said, “the university understands the
gravity of the situation with COVID-19 cases
increasing at brisk pace. The schedule is ten-
tative and we shall go ahead once and only
when the Government gives us a clearance
to conduct examination. However, we must
realise that without examination in the pen
and paper format, the degrees of the final stu-
dents will not be recognised by anyone and
the students must understand that we are tak-
ing measures for their careers only.”
He informed that if the situation demands
the examination will be held three months
later and we shall do accordingly but the stu-
dents must attend the examination for which
we are taking comprehensive steps ensuing
their safety by adhering to the guidelines. The
varsity has asked the district administration
to vacate the campus by August 10 and to hand
over the buildings used as quarantine centres
by sanitising and cleaning them within August
15. Also, additional medical staff is being roped
in with systematic shuttling of bus services as
per the COVID-19 guideline.
STAFF CORRESPONDENT
DIBRUGARH, July 23: The
demand for unconditional re-
lease of peasant leader Akhil
Gogoi by local organizations is
gaining momentum in the dis-
trict as a series of protests con-
tinues to be staged in different
parts of the district.
Protests were staged in at
least three separate locations
in the district today in support
of their demand for release of
Akhil Gogoi and other issues.
The Krishak Mukti Sangram
Samiitee (KMSS) today
Demand for release of AkhilGogoi gains momentum
formed a human chain on Man-
cotta Road from near Chowkid-
inghee intersection as a mark
of protest against Sarbananda
Sonowal-led State government
for alleged unjustified arrest of
their leader Akhil Gogoi.
Similar protest was also or-
ganized by the Chabua unit of
the All Assam Mottock Stu-
dents’ Union on NH-37 in
Chabua town. Besides their
demand for the release of Akhil
Gogoi, the student body also
demanded revocation of the
recent new land policy passed
by the Sarbananda Sonowal-
led cabinet, terming it to be
anti-people of the State. They
also condemned the State gov-
ernment for failing to check the
price rise of commodities.
The Dikom unit of All As-
sam Mottock Students’ Un-
ion also staged a protest
against the new land policy of
the State government by
blocking NH-37 near Dikom.
They also burnt the effigy of
Chief Minister Sarbananda
Sonowal. The student body
too raised the issue of price
rise and demanded release of
peasant leader Akhil Gogoi.
One more Coviddeath in Jorhat
STAFF CORRESPONDENT
JORHAT, July 23: A COV-
ID-19 positive patient of Mar-
iani under Titabar Civil Sub-
division of the district expired
at JMCH on Wednesday, in-
formed Jorhat Deputy Com-
missioner Roshni A Korati on
Thursday evening.
Korati stated that Alok
Ghosh (54) died of COVID-
19 on Wednesday. She further
informed that 62 new positive
cases were found today in the
district thereby increasing the
total number of positive cas-
es of Jorhat district to 1169.
The Deputy Commission-
er stated that out of the 62
people found positive, 58 per-
sons were without travel his-
tory. Among the 62 positive
people, 45 were from Jorhat
town out which 44 did not have
travel history.
She said that the number
of active cases of Jorhat dis-
trict is 718 as on Thursday.
Abscondingcooperativesociety fieldassistant inpolice net
CORRESPONDENT
DHEMAJI, July 23: Dhemaji
police posted at Jonai PS on
Wednesday arrested woman
Field Assistant of Asom Bahu-
mukhi Samabai Samiti (ABSS)
Ltd, Jonai branch Dipanjali Do-
ley Das, who was absconding
for the last two months. She,
along with two others, have
been accused of misappropri-
ation of credit money.
The police following analy-
sis of mobile call records and
tower trekking method traced
her existence at Pangin town
in Siang district of Arunachal
Pradesh. Police team led by
ASI Krishna Kanta Sarma (I/
O) later nabbed the abscond-
ing accused from a relative’s
house near Pangin town with
the help of Arunachal Police on
Tuesday evening.
Arrested Dipanjali was
produced before the Sub di-
visional Judicial Magistrate at
Jonai on today and the magis-
trate consigned her two-day
police custody (remand) for
interrogation.
The police following investi-
gation of the case (PS case no.
47/2020) under Sections – 420/
406/464/34 of Indian Penal Code
earlier arrested two other ac-
cused – cashier of the Cooper-
ative Society Bonti Mili (Tay-
eng) and collection agent Mou-
sumi Doley (Pegu), who are
presently in judicial custody.
The investigating officer of
the case said that they served
notice under CrPC to the ac-
cused trio to appear at Jonai PS
for statement, but they did not
respond to the police notice.
Branch Manager of the Co-
operative Society, who lodged
complaint with the police, stat-
ed that the accused trio misap-
propriated about Rs 1.30 crore
‘credit money’ during three fi-
nancial years by manipulating
financial statements.
318 active casesin Golaghat dist
CORRESPONDENT
DERGAON, July 23: After
detection of 42 new positive
cases and the discharge of 29
patients, the number of active
cases has increased to 318 and
cumulative active cases in-
creased to 1090 in Golaghat
district as on Thursday.
Among the 42 new cases,
12 were detected by RT-PCR
while 30 were detected at
(RAT) Rapid Antigen Test.
With this the cumulative
positive cases in the district has
increased to 1090, out of which
772 were discharged and one
died so far of Covid infection
and another died infected with
Covid but with co-morbidities.
DIPRO in-charge Papu Go-
goi said that among the new
cases, 3 were detected from
passengers, 19 were found
among jail inmates trough
RAT, 11 from contact tracing
while 9 from other sources.
As the most of the cases are
detected from Kumarpatty
and Allupatty so these two
areas have been declared as
containment zones.
Protest againstcremation ofCovid patient
STAFF CORRESPONDENT
DIBRUGARH, July 23:
Neighbours surrounding
Chowkidinghee community
crematorium here last night
tried to prevent conduct of last
rites on the mortal remains of
one Mona Das, who reported-
ly succumbed while undergo-
ing treatment for COVID-19
at the Assam Medical College
and Hospital here yesterday.
The apprehension among
the people is that community
transmission of the disease
would escalate in the area if the
last rites on the mortal remains
of Covid patients are performed
at the crematorium. The pro-
test was staged by a section of
the local people. They appeared
determined not to allow cre-
mation of the body at the cre-
matorium before officials from
the civil administration and po-
lice intervened. After pro-
longed arbitration, civil ad-
ministration and the police
managed to bring the situa-
tion under control and later
the last rites were performed.
Meanwhile, the surge in
the Covid cases has already
instilled panic in the minds of
the people in the town as the
number of commuters, traffic
movement and shopping en-
thusiasts are gradually declin-
ing. Following detection of
some 91 new COVID-19 pos-
itive cases today, the district
was close to reaching 1000
mark till this afternoon.
Volleyball player PuneeMech Paul passes away
DULIAJAN, July 23: Former national- level volleyball play-
er Punee Mech Paul (32) died of coronavirus on Wednesday.
According to information, Punee Mech Paul has been under-
going treatment for kidney-related ailments for the last four
years. On July 19, she became seriously ill after which she was
admitted at Namrup Civil Hospital and later shifted to AMCH
for better treatment. She breathed her last on Wednesday.
The post-mortem report confirmed that she had been in-
fected with coronavirus. Paul has been in service at Namrup
PS. The sudden demise of Paul was mourned by the sports and
social organizations of Namrup, Jeypore and Naharkatia and
greater Dibrugarh district. She leaves behind her husband, a
son, his mother and many relatives. – ANN Service
07:45 Pratham Xongbad
14:00 Biyolir Headline
16:00 Abelir Khabar
16:30 Superfast Prime Time100
17:00 City18
18:00 Prime Time18
19:00 Dintur Shironam
20:00 Porjyobekhyon
21:30 Aparadh Nama
22:00 North East Scan
22:30 Noixo Xironam
08:30 Devotional Music
08:45 Swachh Bharat Batori
08.50 Batori
15:00 Vigyan Prasar
15:30 Classical Music
16:00 Abelir Batori
16:05 Akholor Juti
16:30 Chiphung
17:00 Nimishote Batori
17:02 DD Kisan TV Serial in Hindi
17:30 Krishi Darshan
18:00 Dharabahik
18:30 Batori
18:45 NE News
12:00 Bandbudh Aur Budbak
13:30 Oggy Ka Pataakha
Phuss
15:30 Oggy Spl-Mehman
Aaye Band Bajaaye
17:00 Oggy And The Cock...
18:30 Bandbuh Aur Budbak
20:30 Oggy And The Cock...
11:30 Chhota Bheem Aur
Arazim Ka Raaz
12:30 Chhota Bheem
16:00 Grizzy And The
Lemmings
18:00 Chhota Bheem
21:00 Grizzy And The
Lemmings
22:00 Mr. Bean: The Anim...
23:00 M.A.D.
23:30 Grizzy And The Lem...
LOCKHORNS
THE PHANTOM ® By Lee Falk
HAGAR THE HORRIBLE
BLONDIE
Know your DAYBy JACQUELINE BIGAR
HAPPY BIRTHDAY for Friday, July 24, 2020:
Attractive and exciting, you can be drawn to unstable situations, but this
year you succeed by progressing slowly, one step at a time. Your talent does
not have to be proved to anyone, but shines through on its own merit. If single,
it’s not for long, as suitors literally clamor for you. If attached, your relationship
is passionate and at times dramatic. Tone it down if you want longevity. LIBRA
balances you.
The Stars Show the Kind of Day You’ll Have: 5-Dynamic; 4-Positive; 3-
Average; 2-So-so; 1-Difficult.
ARIES (March 21-April 19)HH Nervous energy abounds. Take time to release stress. Tempera-
ture extremes impact your health. Focus on ways to beat the heat.
Chronic health situations can take a turn for the better, or promising new
treatments can surface today. Tonight: Cool off.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20)HHHHH It is easy to reveal your deepest feelings; you’ll wear your
heart on your sleeve today. Prepare for a time of excitement and
intensity in love. Relationships with young people are uplifting. A fairy tale
character provides inspiration. Tonight: Write your own fairy tale.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20)HHH Discussions revolve around home improvements and decisions
about your residence. Prepare a house blessing by smudging with
sage. Visitors suggest interesting ideas and offer valuable insights during
casual conversation. Tonight: Explore the different options, but sleep on it
before initiating change.
CANCER (June 21-July 22)HHHH Today, anticipate some intriguing conversations and mes-
sages. Several short journeys are likely. It’s a great time to catch up
on current events. Much is taking place in the world around you. Tonight: Catch
up with old and long-lost friends with phone calls and emails.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22)HHH A relationship takes a turn for the better. Clarify financial situ-
ations; be wary of advice if something doesn’t ring true. A contact
connected to an old job acquired in years past might become a financial
blessing. Tonight: Make a social occasion of doing chores.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22)H Today brings inspiration and suggestions from assertive individuals.
The words and actions of others push your buttons. Be sure to get all
sides of the story before acting if controversy arises. A legal or ethical dilemma
might need your attention. Tonight: Turn the world off.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22)HHHH Dreams reflect past life recollections and provide insights
concerning your path. Be aware of how repeating habits and patterns
affect your life’s path for good or ill. Examine the past if you want to know the
future. Tonight: Start writing – a personal journal or dream journal.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21)HHHH Today brings an excellent cycle for networking. Community
activities, politics and new friendships link to long-term goals. A per-
spective on how you affect associates, what you can and can’t do with them,
is a focus. Tonight: Draw up a list of different people you know.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21)HHHH Today ushers in progressive conditions regarding your career.
Changes can be sudden and unexpected. Look toward the future, not
back at the past, then all will be well. Any volatile situations with in-laws should
settle down. Tonight: You will be delighted.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19)HHHH You’re experiencing a growth spurt. An underlying sense of
being jolted from your comfort zone prevails. Rise to the occasion. Your
horizons are widening. You might sense a completion or release of a project or
relationship you’ve outgrown. Tonight: It’s time to move forward.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18)HHHH Today brings a dreamy but scattered mood. Organize your
surroundings with a feng shui session. Donate items you haven’t been
using to a worthy cause, and you will experience good karma in return. Decluttering
and clearing out old closets frees you. Tonight: Relief.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20)HHH Today finds a close partner overcoming an obstacle and prepar-
ing to move forward. Your support and encouragement will be appreci-
ated and will inspire a commitment. Problems and arguments are resolved.
Tonight: Consider changing your priorities and accept unusual invitations.
H H H
Thought for the day
My own view is that every company requires a long-term view.– JEFF BEZOS
Life is for each man a solitary cell whose
___ are ___. – Eugene O’Neill (5,..,7)
Words: Parry, roads, tiller, swampy.Answer: Life is for each man a solitary cell
whose walls are mirrors. – Eugene O’Neill
Given below are four jumbled words. Solvethe jumbles to make proper words and movethem to the respective squares below. Selectthe letters in the shaded squares and jumblethem to get the answer for the given quip.
JUMBLED WORDSHEALTH CAPSULES®
by Bron Smith
Health Capsules is not intendedto be of a diagnostic nature.
CROSSWORD - 6954
Across: 3 Clefs, 8 Venue, 10 Iller, 11 Pub, 12 Allay, 13
Netball, 15 Sears, 18 Ifs, 19 Screen, 21 Antonio, 22 Rang, 23
Bold, 24 Ham it up, 26 Shogun, 29 Log, 31 Toyed, 32 Newborn,
34 Ashes, 35 Ewe, 36 Macro, 37 Males, 38 Snood.
Down: 1 Tepee, 2 Rubbing, 4 Loll, 5 Fiasco, 6 Slyer, 7
Genre, 9 Nut, 12 Also-ran, 14 Aft, 16 Aesop, 17 Snide, 19
Similes, 20 Grist, 21 Annoy, 23 Bugbear, 24 Hudson, 25 Tow,
27 Horal, 28 Gears, 30 Creel, 32 Nero, 33 Owl.
SOLUTION
12:00 Monster Croc Wrangler
12:30 Snakes In The City
13:30 Monster Fish
14:00 Primal Survivor
15:00 Snakes In The City
15:30 Dirty Rotten Survival
16:30 Brain Games
17:00 Science Of Stupid
18:00 Weird But True
19:00 Snakes In The City
20:00 Monster Fish
21:00 Primal Survivor
22:00 Dirty Rotten Survial
23:00 To Catch A Smuggler
23:30 Legendary Catch
12:00 Forged In Fire
12:30 Ancient Aliens13:30 Pawn Stars
14:00 Storage Wars
14:30 Food Tech
15:00 OMG! Yeh Mera India
16:00 Forged In Fire
16:30 Counting Cars
17:00 Storage Wars
17:30 Shipping Wars
18:00 Monster Motor...
19:00 Moon Landing: The...
20:00 OMG! Yeh Mera India
21:00 Forged In Fire21:30 Pawn Stars22:00 Storage Wars22:30 Shipping Wars
23:00 Forged In Fire
07:00 Breakfast Live08:00 Live at 809:00 Good morning Assam10:00 Assamese news11:30 Kotha Barta (R)12:00 Mid Day Live13:00 Assamese Telefilm14:30 Afternoon Prime17:30 Guwahati Bisesh18:00 Guwahati Live18:30 Breaking @ 6:3019:00 Assamesse Prime Time20:00 Discussion Show21:00 Super Prime Time22:00 Live at 1022:30 Noixo Guwahati
23:00 Noixo Batori
1700 Xopun1730 Barala Kai1830 Xopunor Aasutia Rang2000 Jonaki Kareng2030 Xopun2100 Oi Khapla2130 Bah Amarawati Bah2200 Borola Kai
11:00 India vs The World15:00 You Name The Game19:00 Cricket Connected19:30 Vivo IPL HLs20:00 Cricket Connected20:30 Vivo IPL HLs21:00 Cricket Connected21:30 Vivo IPL HLs22:00 Cricket Connected22:30 Vivo IPL HLs23:00 WT20 HLs23:00 Hero ISL HLs
11:00 India vs The World
14:30 Vivo IPL HLs
15:00 You Name The Game
19:00 Cricket Connected
19:30 Vivo IPL HLs
20:00 Cricket Connected
20:30 Vivo IPL HLs
21:00 Cricket Connected
21:30 Vivo IPL HLs
22:00 Cricket Connected
22:30 Vivo IPL HLs
23:00 WT20 HLs
23:0 Football United Special
11:00 Sports Stars Uncovered
11:30 Eng vs WI Test HLs
12:30 Whacked Out Sports
13:00 Champions League
14:00 Great Centuries
14:30 Eng vs WI Test HLs
15:30 England vs WI Test Live
22:00 Whacked Out Sports
23:00 Eng vs WI Test HLs
11:00 WWE Main Event
12:00 The Immortals
12:30 WWE SmackDown
14:30 WWE Main Event
15:30 Australian Open Classic
16:00 WWE SmackDown
18:00 WWE BlockBusters
10:10 Sarfarosh
13:15 Hatya
16:30 Trimurti
19:45 Gupt
22:45 Main Faisla Karunga
10:15 Frozen
12:00 The Expendables
13:45 The Expendables 2
15:15 The Expendables 3
18:00 John Wick: Chapter 2
19:30 Primeval
21:00 Captain America: Civil
War
11:45 Hitman: Agent 47
10:00 Jackass Presents: Bad
Grandpa 5
10:55 Mortal Kombat
12:30 Kiss the Girls
14:20 Footloose
16:15 Pretty Bird
17:15 Dolphin Tale
19:40 The Death of Superman
21:00 Road Trip
22:00 Executive Decision
10:10 The School of Rock
12:10 Staying Alive
13:55 Crawl
15:20 The Meg
17:15 Cloverfield
18:45 Rocketman
21:00 Godzilla: King of the
Monsters
23:30 Entourage
ZEE CINEMA
23:30 The Real Tiger
HBO
23:30 Entourage
WB
22:00 Executive Decision
STAR MOVIES
11:45 Hitman: Agent 47
10:15 Nagina
13:30 The Hero – Love Story of
a Spy
16:40 Sabse Bada Khiladi
19:55 Shaan
23:40 Pyaar Koi Khel Nahin
12:00 Movie15:00 Movie18:00 Movie21:00 Movie
11:20 Koi... Mil Gaya14:45 Kesari18:00 Rustom21:00 Jawaani Jaaneman23:30 The Real Tiger
12:00 Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah
Chashma
16:00 Maddam Sir
16:30 Baalveer Returns
17:00 Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah...
19:00 Tera Kya Hoga Alia
19:30 Tenali Rama
20:00 Baalveer Returns
20:30 Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah...
21:00 Aladdin - Naam Toh...
21:30 Bhakharwadi
22:00 Maddam Sir
22:30 Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah...
23:30 Best of F.I.R.
12:00 Ye Rishtey Hai Pyaar Ke
12:30 Yeh Rishta Kya
Kehlata Hai
15:00 Saath Nibhaana Saathiya
18:00 Anupamaa
18:30 Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata
19:00 Sai Baba
19:30 Uttar Ramayan
20:00 Kasautii Zindagii Kay
20:30 Mahabharat
21:00 Ye Rishtey Hain Pyar...
21:30 Yeh Rishta Kya...
22:00 Anupamaa
22:30 Yeh Hai Chahatein
23:00 Kasautii Zindagii Kay
23:30 Yeh Rishtey Hai Pyar...
12:00 Khatra Khatra Khatra
13:30 Kichen Champion
15:30 Naagin 3
18:00 Internet Wala Love
20:00 Naagin 3
12:10 Khatra Khatra Khatra
15:10 Khatron Ke Khiladi
Pain In Spain
17:00 Balika Vadhu
19:00 Ishq Mein Marjawa...19:30 Choti Sarrdaarni20:00 Shakti Astitva Ke...20:30 Barrister Babu21:00 Shubharamabh21:30 Naati Pinky Ki Lambi...22:00 Pavitra Bhagya
SOLUTION TO TRIBUNE CROSSWORD – 6954
10:15 Badle Ki Aag Ninja 2
12:15 Arthur and the Minimoys
14:35 Monkey Up1
16:25 Ice Quake
18:25 Riddick
21:00 Avengers: Infinity War
12:00 Baby’s Day Out
14:10 Judwaa 2
17:55 Makkhi
19:55 Golmaal Again
23:10 Hulchul
Across
3 Musical
symbols (5)
8 Locale (5)
10 More unwell (5)
11 Tavern (3)
12 Put at rest (5)
13 A type of game
– “ban tell”
anagram ? (7)
15 Singes (5)
18 Uncertainties
(3)
19 Coarse sieve
(6)
21 The Merchant
of Venice (7)
22 Telephoned (4)
23 Courageous (4)
24 Overact (3,2,2)
26 Military
commander of
Japan (6)
29 Record events
(3)
31 Played with (5)
32 Young baby (7)
34 Cricket trophy
(5)
35 A female sheep
(3)
36 Very large in
scale (5)
37 Men (5)
38 Head wrap (5)
Down
1 Conical tent (5)
2 Chafing (7)
4 Lie lazily (4)
5 A complete
failure (6)
6 More cunning (5)
7 Literary category
(5)
9 Crazy person (3)
12 Loser (4-3)
LEISURE & LIFESTYLE10 THE ASSAM TRIBUNE, GUWAHATI FRIDAY, JULY 24, 2020
19:00 Champions League
20:00 WWE SmackDown
22:00 WWE BlockBusters
23:00 NBA Classics
12:00 UFC 200
13:00 Impact Wrestling
14:00 The Emirates FA Cup HLs
15:00 Impact Wrestling
17:00 NBA Classics
18:15 Football Greatest
18:40 UFC 200 Greatest Fighters
of all Time
19:45 Immortal
20:15 Football Greatest
20:45 Serie A Live
12:00 Untamed Summer
14:00 Born In Africa
15:00 Africa's Deadly Kingdom
16:00 World Snake Day
19:00 Real Wild Battles
20:00 Animal Fight Club
21:00 Africa's Deadliest
22:00 When Predators Attack
23:00 Dangerous Encounters
23:30 Animal Fight Club
12:00 Life’s Journey
13:00 Mysterious Wild
13:30 Animal Unleashed
14:00 Wild Frank
15:00 Animal Planet Exclusives
15:30 Killer Instincts
16:00 Mahayudh
17:00 Spy In The Wild
17:30 Animals Unleashed
18:00 Weird, True & Freaky
19:00 Animal Planet Exclusives
20:00 Fierce 5
20:30 Animals Unleashed
21:00 Jeremy Wade's...
22:00 Coyote Peterson: Brav
22:30 Brave Wilderness
23:00 Mysterious Wild
23:30 Animal Planet Exclusives
14 Toward the
stern (3)
16 Fable writer (5)
17 Sneering (5)
19 Common
figures of
speech (7)
20 Grain to be
ground (5)
21 Harass (5)
23 Persistent
problem (7)
24 NY river;
Canadian Bay
(6)
25 Haul (3)
27 Hourly (5)
28 Toothed
wheels (5)
30 Fish basket (5)
32 Roman
emperor (4)
33 Night bird (3)
22:30 Ishq Mein Marjawan23:00 Choti Sarrdaarni23:30 Barrister Babu
12:00 Guddan Tumse Na...
12:30 Kumkum Bhagya
13:00 Kundali Bhagya
13:30 Guddan Tumse Na...
14:00 Tujhse Hai Raabta
14:30 Kumkum Bhagya
15:00 Pavitra Rishta
17:00 Ramaiya Vastavaiya
20:00 Guddan Tumse Na Ho...
20:30 Tujhse Hai Raabta
21:00 Kumkum Bhagya
21:30 Kundali Bhagya
22:00 Qurbaan Hua
22:30 Manmohini
23:00 Happu Ki Ulta Paltan
23:30 Kundali Bhagya
12:00 Best Of Crime Patrol
19:00 Mere Sai - Shraddha...
20:00 Vighnaharta Ganesh
20:30 Indian Idol
22:00 Mere Dad Ki Dulhan...
22:30 Mil Jate Hai Jo Ba...
23:00 Crime Patrol
It seems like chocolate is good for the heart
as researchers have said that consuming
chocolate at least once a week is linked
with a reduced risk of heart disease.
The study, published in the European
Journal of Preventive Cardiology, suggests that
chocolate helps keep the heart’s blood vessels
healthy.
In the past, clinical studies have shown that
chocolate is beneficial for both blood pressure
and the lining of blood vessels.
“I wanted to see if it affects the blood
vessels supplying the heart (the coronary
arteries) or not. And if it does, is it beneficial
or harmful?” said study lead author Chayakrit
Krittanawong from the Baylor College of
Medicine in the US.
The researchers conducted a combined
analysis of studies from the past five decades
examining the association between chocolate
consumption and coronary artery disease (the
blockage of the coronary arteries).
The analysis included six studies with a total
of 336,289 participants who reported their
chocolate consumption.
During a median follow-up of nearly nine
years, 14,043 participants developed coronary
artery disease and 4,667 had a heart attack.
Compared with consuming chocolate less
than once a week, the findings showed that
eating chocolate more than once a week was
associated with an eight per cent decreased
risk of coronary artery disease.
“Chocolate contains heart-healthy nutrients
such as flavonoids, methylxanthines, polyphe-
nols and stearic acid which may reduce
inflammation and increase good cholesterol
(high-density lipoprotein or HDL cholester-
ol),” Krittanawong said.
The research team noted that the study did
not examine whether any particular type of
chocolate is more beneficial and whether
there is ideal portion size.
“Chocolate appears promising for preven-
tion of coronary artery disease, but more
research is needed to pinpoint how much and
what kind of chocolate could be recommend-
ed,” the study authors wrote.
While it’s not clear how much chocolate is
optimal, the study researchers warned against
overeating. “Moderate amounts of chocolate
seem to protect the coronary arteries but it’s
likely that large quantities do not,” they said.
“The calories, sugar, milk and fat in
commercially available products need to be
considered, particularly in diabetics and obese
people,” the research team concluded.
(Source: IANS)
Chocolate isheart-healthy
Consuming chocolate helps keep the heart’s
blood vessels healthy
FRIDAY, JULY 24, 2020 THE ASSAM TRIBUNE, GUWAHATI 11BUSINESS & ECONOMY
FM tells PSUs to complete FY21capex plans to push economic growthNEW DELHI, July 23:
Government has asked pub-lic sector undertakings(PSUs) to complete all theirplanned capex for FY21 ontime and become vehiclesof growth for the economyhit by the coronavirus pan-demic.
With private investmenton a standstill, the govern-ment wants companies ad-ministered by it to change themood in the country by step-ping up expenditure and gen-erating economic activitythat results in income gen-
eration and job creation.At a review meeting held
by the Finance Minister Nir-mala Sitharaman today withSecretaries of Ministries ofCivil Aviation, Steel, and theChairman, Railway Boardalong with the CMDs of 7CPSEs belonging to theseMinistries, the Finance Min-ister said that better per-formance of CPSEs can helpthe economy in a big way torecover from the impact ofCOVID-19.
In this regard, she said it isimportant that CPSEs en-
sure that capital outlay pro-vided to them for FY21 is“spent properly and withintime”.
Sitharaman asked Secre-taries to closely monitor theperformance of CPSEs inorder to ensure capital ex-penditure to the tune of 50per cent of capital outlay byQ2 2020-21.
She said that to achievethis planning should be donein advance and all unresolvedissues should be brought be-fore the ministry for imme-diate solution.
The concern this year isthat sluggish economic activ-ities on account of COVID-19 and sagging demand con-ditions may also push PSUsto step back on their invest-ments.
In FY 2019-20, against thecapex target of Rs 30,420crore for the 7 CPSEs, theachievement was Rs 25,974crore, i.e., 85 per cent. In Q1(FY 2019-20) achievementwas Rs 3,878 crore (13 percent) and achievement of Q1(FY 2020-21) has sloweddown to Rs 3,557 crore (14
per cent). Capex target for 7PSUs for 2020-21 is Rs24,663 crore.
This review meeting washeld as part of the series ofmeetings that the FinanceMinister is having with vari-ous stakeholders to acceler-ate the economic growth.
The Finance Minister alsostated that extraordinary sit-uation requires extraordinaryefforts and with collective ef-forts, “we will not only per-form better but also help theIndian economy to achievebetter results.” – IANS
Union Minister Prakash Javadekar addresses during the launch of the pilot project of
National Transit Pass System via video-conference, in New Delhi on Thursday. – PTI
Identified 20 sectorswhere India can be
global supplier: GoyalNEW DELHI, July 23: The
government has so far iden-tified 20 sectors where Indiacan meet domestic demandas well as become a globalsupplier, Commerce and In-dustry Minister Piyush Goy-al said today.
He said industry bodyFICCI and other associationsare working with the gov-ernment in this regard.
“We have identified first 12sectors and now 8 more, sowe have 20 sectors in whichFICCI and other associationsare very much part of ourengagement, where we haveidentified sectors where In-dia can not only meet owndomestic needs but also be-come globally competitiveand become global leader sup-plying to the world,” he said
in a FICCI webinar.These sectors include food
processing, organic farming,agro-chemicals, electronics,industrial machinery, furni-ture, leather, auto parts andtextiles, among others.
He also highlighted thatdespite having skilled carpen-ters and artisans, India con-tinues to import furniture.
“Can we not prepare Indiato become the factory of theworld for furniture, can wenot build to scale at compet-itive prices so that the worldlooks at India, to source fromIndia,” he added.
Further talking aboutyoga, the minister said yogaholds huge potential for in-dustry and young entrepre-neurs as the world is excit-ed about it. – PTI
Q1 GST, I-T mop-upvery encouraging,says Finance SecyNEW DELHI, July 23: Tax
mop-up in first quarter of thecurrent fiscal is “very encour-aging” and indicates that theeconomy is recovering soonerthan what was anticipated at thetime of imposition of lockdown,Finance Secretary Ajay Bhush-an Pandey said today.
He said the Revenue de-partment wants to bring inself-compliance among tax-payers by making availabledata of all financial transactionsvia Form 26AS at the time offiling income tax (I-T) return.
Pandey, who is also the Rev-enue Secretary, said about 70per cent of the Rs 91,000-crore goods and services tax(GST) collected in June is onaccount of transactions in May.
“For the month of June, go-ing by the current trends, wehave certain trend about howmany people have made pay-ment so far, and also the e-waybill... truck movement... allthese things are giving en-couraging signals that the econ-omy is coming back to therealm sooner than what wasbeing anticipated when thelockdown was started inMarch,” he said while address-
ing a FICCI event here.Besides, income tax collec-
tion, by way of advance taxand TDS, in the April-Junequarter was about 80 per centof what was collected in thesame period last year.
“These two numbers – GSTand income tax – are encour-aging numbers and also givesus some hope that whereverpossible businesses are find-ing ways to get started. Butthere were certain sectors likehospitality, education, tourism,which are facing difficulty,”Pandey added.
The government had inMay notified revised Form26AS which would have addi-tional details on taxpayers’high-value financial transac-tions... undertaken during a fi-nancial year, and would facili-tate voluntary compliance andease of e-filing of I-T returns.
Pandey said if a personsees all his transaction at oneplace, it makes return filingvery easy and helps honesttaxpayers. It also sends amessage to those personswho are on the borderline,and they would also try to beon the right side of law. – PTI
Reliance breaks into top 50most valued cos globally
NEW DELHI, July 23: Bil-lionaire Mukesh Ambani’sReliance Industries Ltd hasbroken into the top 50 mostvalued companies globallyafter it became the first com-pany with market capitalisa-tion of over Rs 13-lakh crore.
The oil-to-telecom con-glomerate is ranked 48th inmarket cap globally, accord-ing to stock market data.
Globally, Saudi Aramco is
the company with the high-est market cap of $1.7 trillion,followed by Apple, Microsoft,Amazon, and Alphabet.
Reliance today closed at Rs2,060.65 on the BSE, up 2.82per cent over the previousday’s close. This gave thefirm a m-cap of over Rs 13-lakh crore.
Together with the firm’spartly-paid shares thatwere issued in the recent
rights issue and are tradedseparately, the companyhad a combined m-cap ofRs 13.5-lakh crore or over$181 billion.
No Indian company hasever crossed an m-cap of Rs13-lakh crore.
This is higher than Chev-ron’s about $170 billion m-cap as well as the likes of Or-acle, Unilever, Bank of Chi-na, BHP Group, Royal Dutch
Shell and SoftBank Group.Reliance is the 10th high-
est m-cap company in Asia.China’s Alibaba Group isranked 7th globally.
The only other Indiancompany in the top 100 firmsis Tata Consultancy Servic-es. As per its closing price ofRs 2,170.75 on the BSE,TCS has an m-cap of Rs 8.14-lakh crore or about $109 bil-lion. – PTI
Indian economy set for post-COVID-19rebound as FDI remains buoyant: ReportNEW DELHI, July 23: The
Indian economy is likely torebound in the second half of2020 as the impact of theCOVID-19 pandemic re-cedes, and is projected togrow by 6.7 per cent in thenext financial year, IHS Markitsaid today.
The pandemic resulted insevere disruptions in indus-trial production and consump-tion spending in India duringApril and May.
“The severe negative im-pact is expected to result in asignificant contraction in GDPin the April-June quarter of2020, resulting in a recessionin the 2020-21 financial yearwith GDP expected to con-tract by 6.3 per cent year-on-year,” it said in its outlook onthe Indian economy.
However, as lockdown con-ditions have been progres-
sively eased, early signs ofrecovery were evident in themost recent economic data.
The IHS Markit Purchas-ing Managers’ surveys forIndia showed that economicmomentum improved in June,reflecting the easing of COV-ID-19-related restrictionsduring May and June.
India imposed a total lock-down beginning March 25and restrictions were easedfrom May.
“IHS Markit forecast thatthe Indian economy will re-bound as the impact of the pan-demic recedes, with improv-ing economic growth momen-tum in the second half of 2020and positive GDP growth of6.7 per cent in the 2021-22 fi-nancial year,” said RajivBiswas, Asia Pacific ChiefEconomist at IHS Markit.
Despite the negative short-
term shocks from the pan-demic, total foreign direct in-vestment into India has re-mained buoyant. Foreign di-rect investment by technolo-gy firms in the first sevenmonths of 2020 has alreadyreached around $17 billion,boosted by the $10 billion newinvestment announced byGoogle in mid-July.
Facebook, Amazon andFoxconn are among the otherglobal technology firms thathave committed large newinvestments into India thisyear, IHS said.
“A major boost to investorconfidence in the Indian me-dium-term economic outlookhas come from new foreigndirect investment into Indiaannounced during 2020 by UStechnology companies likeGoogle, Facebook, and Ama-zon,” Biswas said.
IHS said the medium-term economic outlook forIndia remains favourable,supported by a number ofkey growth drivers.
“An important positive fac-tor for India is its large andfast-growing middle class,which is helping to drive con-sumer spending. Total Indianconsumer spending is forecastto grow by 42 per cent be-tween 2020 and 2025, meas-ured in USD terms at con-stant prices,” it said.
IHS Markit forecast India’sconsumption expenditure todouble from $1.6 trillion in2020 to $3.2 trillion by 2030,measured in constant prices,boosted by strong averageannual GDP growth and rap-idly rising per capita incomesfor the country’s fast-grow-ing middle-class urban house-holds. – PTI
CAIT calls for extension of deadline by 2 yrsCompulsory hallmarking of gold
NEW DELHI, July 23:Citing higher prices and lowsupply, the Confederation ofAll India Traders todayurged the Centre to extendthe provision for compulso-ry gold hallmarking by twoyears, so that leftover stockcan enter the market.
Gold prices today wentup to Rs 51,500 per 10gram, while silver ended atRs 62,000 per kg, CAITsaid, adding that the safe
asset class has gaineddemand as an outcome ofthe COVID-19-inducedeconomic turbulence.
Accordingly, the confed-eration expects a sustaineddemand for gold and silverduring the festive seasonstarting from RakshaBandhan on August 3.
The confederationexpects gold prices to touchRs 55,000 per 10 grams onDiwali.
According to PraveenKhandelwal, SecretaryGeneral, CAIT and PankajArora, National Convenorof All India Jewellers andGoldsmith Federation,silver price is expected tobe in a range of Rs 72,000to Rs 75,000 per kilogram.
He was quoted as sayingin a statement: “Gold hasalways been the best andsafest choice of investmentfor the customers as gold
prices generally keep onincreasing whereas on theother hand, it is also themost important invest-ment for traders which isquite safe.”
Prior to the lockdown,gold prices stood at Rs41,000 per 10 gram andthat of silver was at Rs40,000 per kg and now in aperiod of just 4 monthsthere is an increase of 28-30 per cent in gold and in
silver, the increase is ofabout 45 per cent, he said.
The confederation saidthat to allow the jewellersto liquidate their old stocks,the Centre should provide afurther extension of 2years, in the view ofCOVID-19 disruption.
Earlier, the Centre hadmade ‘hallmarking’ onevery gold item compul-sory from January 15,2021. – IANS
SpiceJet allowedto operate
India-US flightsNEW DELHI, July 23: Air-
line major SpiceJet has beenallowed to operate flights be-tween India and US.
Accordingly, the Centre hasdesignated the airline as an In-dian scheduled carrier to oper-ate between India and the US.
The designation allows forthe international expansion ofthe airline. However, com-mence dates or destinationshave not been revealed.
“It gives me immensepleasure to share that Spice-Jet has been designated as anIndian scheduled carrier tooperate between India andthe US,” SpiceJet CMD AjaySingh said today.
“This designation wouldhelp us plan for our interna-tional expansion in a muchbetter and calibrated manner.I have always maintained thatthere is an opportunity inevery adversity and thepresent crisis situation hasseen SpiceJet rise to the oc-casion and play a pivotal role.”
Presently, only Air Indiaoperates flights between In-dia and the US. Apart fromSpiceJet, IndiGo got thisdesignation last year. – IANS
GoAirlaunchesGoMorescheme
Adjacent seatbooking
MUMBAI, July 23: Budgetcarrier GoAir has launchedGoMore scheme, which willallow passengers to book ad-jacent seat on the same PNRin order to maintain social dis-tancing amid the pandemic.
Besides, the city-basedairline also announced thelaunch ‘Online Doctor Con-sultation’ facility in associa-tion with MFine, an on-de-mand healthcare platform.
The Wadia Group-promot-ed GoAir is the third domes-tic carrier after Vistara andIndiGo to come out with suchan offer, wherein the passen-ger will have to shell out addi-tional cost for a safe air travel.
The Supreme Court onJune 26 had ordered that theairlines in the country will nothave to keep the middle seatvacant. The apex court heldthat airlines had followed ad-equate safety measures toensure safety of passengersduring COVID-19 pandemic.
“GoAir today launchedtwo initiatives that will pro-vide deep confidence to pas-sengers when they plan theirtravel. The airline has intro-duced GoMore wherein pas-sengers can book anotheradjacent seat on the samePNR in order to provide ad-ditional safety.
“Also with the launch ofonline doctor consultation,GoAir passengers will haveinstant access to over 3,000doctors across more than 500hospitals network on a back-and-call by just paying con-sultation fee of Rs 99,” theairline said in a release. – PTI
HDFC AMCnet up 4%
MUMBAI, July 23: HDFCAsset Management Compa-ny today reported a muted 4per cent increase in net prof-it to Rs 302.4 crore for theJune quarter, as its funds un-der management declined by2 per cent.
The largest mutual fundmanager’s AUM declined 2per cent to Rs 3,56,200 crore,compared to Rs 3,62,400crore in June 2019. It has amarket share of 14.5 per cent.
It declared a dividend of Rs28 a share, as against Rs 24per share in the same periodlast year. – PTI
Jio tops 4Gdownload
speed chartNEW DELHI, July 23:
Reliance Jio topped 4G speedchart with an average down-load speed of 16.5 mbps inJune, while Vodafone and Idealed in terms of upload speed,according to TRAI data.
Idea followed Jio in downloadspeed chart with 8 mbps speed,data published on TRAI’sMyspeed portal showed.
The Telecom RegulatoryAuthority of India (TRAI) re-corded average downloadspeed of 7.5 mbps and 7.2 mbpson 4G network of Vodafoneand Bharti Airtel in June.
For upload speed, Vodafoneand Idea led the chart withspeed of 6.2 mbps each. Jioand Airtel recorded averageupload speed of 3.4 mbps each.
The data speed of telecomoperators’ networks showedincrease in June after plum-meting to their lows inMarch-April period. – PTI
12 THE ASSAM TRIBUNE, GUWAHATISPORTS
FRIDAY, JULY 24, 2020
Printed and published by Ganesh Ch. Das on behalf of Assam Tribune Pvt. Ltd. at the Tribune Press, Tribune Buildings, P.O.- Assam Tribune, M.R.D. Road, Chandmari, Guwahati-781003. Tel. 0361-2660102 (EPABX), 0361-2661360, 0361-2668807 (News Desk), FAX 0361-2666396. E-mail:
[email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]. Editor: Prafulla Govinda Baruah
Originating from Japan,
‘su do ku’ is a mind game
and a puzzle that can be
solved with proper
reasoning and logic. Fill
the grid with digits in such
a manner that every row,
every column and every
3 x 3 box accommodates
the digits 1 to 9 without
repeating any.
Solution of last problem
SU DO KU
NEW DELHI, July 23: Former Sri
Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara on
Thursday delivered a powerful message
against racism, saying education with-
out values will not stop discrimination.
Sangakkara said a change can be
brought only by teaching real history
instead of a sanitised version of it.
Offering his views on the ‘Black
Lives Matter’ movement that has gath-
ered momentum following the death
of African-American George Floyd,
Sangakkara said, “It doesn’t matter if
you are educated or not. I have seen
some of the worse acts committed by
people with best education.”
“If your education is not based on
values and not rooted in that in-built
moral campus then you will be in trou-
ble. Education is not going to take away
any of your prejudices, it will only help
you argue them away better,” he told
Cricbuzz.
Sangakkara said there are various
Teach real history instead of a sanitizedversion: Sangakkara on racism
versions of racism and “skin colour is
not the only basis for discrimination.”
“If you take Black Lives Matter, if
you take racism and discrimination in
the world, I think one of the most im-
portant things is to teach our children
history as it should be, and not the san-
itised version of it. We need to shine
the spotlight on the
whole character – the
good, the bad and the
ugly,” he said.
“Once one under-
stand what real his-
tory is, we will find
changes in
attitude. If you wake people up to that
reality instead of believing we are the be
all and end all of civilization, I think that
will be a powerful lesson to everyone.
“Change won’t happen overnight,
it’s not the flavour of the month where
you protest about it and forget it. It’s a
slow and tedious process involving eve-
ryone in the world.”
The ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement
has found support from former and cur-
rent cricketers around the world. In
fact, the opening England-West Indies
Test saw players from both sides take
a knee to express solidarity to the
cause. Sangakkara, who has scored
12400 runs in 134 Tests and 14234
runs in 404 ODIs, said, “We
are all taught to love our coun-
try but sometimes we follow
that blindly and that stops up
from appreciating other cul-
tures, races, religion and
ethnicity.” – PTI
LIVERPOOL, July 23: Standing on
the Kop that should have been filled
with Liverpool’s most ardent sup-
porters, Jordan Henderson did what
no captain of the team had done be-
fore: Lift the Premier League trophy.
As fireworks exploded from the
roofs of the mostly empty Anfield
stands, red smoke filled the void.
Not since 1990 two years before
the inception of the Premier
League has Liverpool been
crowned champion of England.
Only a late government reprieve
ensured players at least had a few
family members inside the stadium
to witness the crowning moment
of a season like no other in the his-
tory of English football.
Top-flight football trophies are
never handed out in July in England,
but the chilly weather inside Anfield
felt more like winter when Liver-
pool started to run away with the
championship, only the pandemic no
opponent put glory in doubt.
For three months, players and
fans agonized whether the season
Liverpool players receive PL trophy
would even resume. The only way
it could was with fans shut out of
the stadiums. No exemptions, even
for a title party.
Instead seats in the centre of the
Kop were removed and replaced
by the purple podium where man-
ager Jrgen Klopp followed by his
coaching team and players went up
to collect their winners’ medals.
I was never on the Kop before, it
was pretty special, Klopp said.
It makes sense in the moment
when the people are not in that we
use the Kop to celebrate it with
them together in our hearts.
Mohamed Salah, whose goals
have transformed Liverpool into
English, European and world cham-
pions, was wrapped in an Egypt flag.
Trent Alexander-Arnold, the 21-
year-old Liverpool-born defender,
peered down as he inspected his
medal. He really was a Premier
League champion, achieving what
hometown greats Steven Gerrard
and Jamie Carragher had been una-
ble to as the drought persisted.
In the Main Stand, Kenny Dal-
glish wearing a red face mask fea-
turing a club crest sipped cham-
pagne. He was manager in 1990
when Liverpool won what was then
the Division One title.
Now Liverpool is finally a 19-time
champion of England, one behind the
record held by Manchester United,
which usurped the Reds by collect-
ing the Premier League trophy 13
times from 1993 to 2013. – AP
Liverpool’ players with the English Premier League trophy. – AP/PTI
Inter draw clears wayfor Juventus to seal title
ROME, July 23: Juventus
is one win away from a
record-extending ninth
straight Serie A title.
Inter Milan twice hit the
post but was held to a 0-0
draw by Fiorentina on
Wednesday, meaning that ri-
val Juventus can clinch the
trophy on Thursday.
If Juventus wins at Udi-
nese, it will move nine points
clear of Atalanta with three
rounds remaining – and the
Bianconeri hold the tiebreak-
er over the Bergamo squad
courtesy of a better head-to-
head record.
Inter is third, one point
behind Atalanta, and remains
in the running for second
place.
Second place has no mean-
ing for me, said Inter coach
Antonio Conte, who man-
aged Juventus to the first
three titles of its streak.
It just means you’re atop
the losers’ list.
Romelu Lukaku and Alex-
is Snchez each hit the wood-
work for Inter, which also had
a potential goal from Anto-
nio Candreva waved off for
offside.
We played a solid match
but you’ve got to score goals,
Conte said. “We’re lacking
the killer instinct.
Parma beat Napoli 2-1 in a
match with three penalties.
Gianluca Caprari and Dejan
Kusulevski converted for
Parma while Lorenzo Insigne
converted for Napoli.
It was the second time this
season that Parma beat Na-
poli, which dropped behind
Roma and AC Milan in the
race for fifth place. – AP
Archer needs to figure ifhe’s in right frame: Anderson
MANCHESTER, July 23: Veteran England
pacer James Anderson reckons both he and
Jofra Archer should play the series-decider
against the West Indies but insisted his fellow
speedster should first figure if he is in right
frame of mind to play.
The 25-year-old Archer had claimed that
he was subjected to racist abuse on
social media for breaking the bio-bubble
protocol.
The visit to his home in Brighton led to his
axing from the second Test.
He was placed in five days of isolation at
Old Trafford’s on-site hotel and was also fined
at a disciplinary hearing.
“We’ve not seen much of Jofra because he’s
obviously been in isolation for a few days but,
knowing him as I do, I’m sure he’ll want to
play in this game, with it being so crucial and
the series resting on it.
“Over the next few days he’s going to have
to sit down with the captain and coach and
figure out if he is in the right place to play,”
Anderson said on Wednesday, responding to
Archer’s claim.
Archer has been on the receiving end of
racist abuse in the past, notably during the
second Test defeat by New Zealand last year.
“The scrutiny is always something that can
be difficult for guys coming into the interna-
tional set-up because it is very different; you
do feel more under the spotlight and it’s just
finding coping methods for that, finding ways
of dealing with the extra attention,” Ander-
son said. – PTI
Jofra Archer
GUWAHATI, July 23:
Chief Minister Sarbananda
Sonowal today distributed
annual grants-in-aid to Dis-
trict Sports Associations and
State Sports Associations af-
filiated to Assam Olympic As-
sociation (AOA) through a
video conference at Brah-
maputra State Guest House.
An amount of Rs 34,800
each was distributed to 25
district sports associations
and Rs 72,752 each was dis-
tributed to 29 state sports
associations today.
Speaking on the occasion,
Chief Minister Sonowal, who
is also the president of AOA,
said that Assam was going
through a very difficult phase
with COVID-19 pandemic,
flood, erosion, storm, land-
slide, Baghjan oil well fire inci-
dent etc. He urged the sports
associations to slowly revive
sporting activities in the state
along with keeping the sport-
sperson of the state motivat-
ed during these difficult times.
Along with sports activi-
ties, the Chief Minister also
appealed the sports associa-
tions to volunteer in the
flood relief and rehabilitation
activities.
AOA general secretary La-
khya Konwar, vice president
Bishnuram Nunisa, AOA
member Pronoy Bordoloi
were also present during the
video conference, a release said.
Grants-in-aid distributedto sports associations
Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal during a video conference of Assam Olympic Association inGuwahati on Thursday.
NZC will issue NOCs toall IPL-bound players
NEW DELHI, July 23: New Zealand Cricket (NZC)
will issue No Objection Certificates (NOCs) to all its six
internationals set to compete in the IPL but said the “due
diligence” on health safety protocols will have to be done
by the players themselves.
The six New Zealand players who are set to play in the
IPL are Jimmy Neesham (Kings XI Punjab), Lockie Fer-
guson (Kolkata Knight Riders), Mitchell McClenaghan
and Trent Boult (Mumbai Indians), Kane Williamson (Sun-
risers Hyderabad) and Mitchell Santner (Chennai Super
Kings).
“Regarding the IPL, NZC will be issuing NOCs to the
relevant players and it’s up to them to decide,” NZC
spokesperson Richard Boock told PTI via email.
The IPL is likely to be held from September-end till
November, a window thrown open by the ICC’s decision
to postpone the October-November T20 World Cup in
Australia due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
While the NZC will be updating its players about the
health safety protocols and latest COVID-19 related de-
velopments, the onus will be on the six individuals to do
due diligence.
“Well, yes, the issuing of NOCs is considered on a case-
by-case basis and it’s rare that they are ever refused.
However, the due diligence is something for the respec-
tive players to shoulder - although we are happy to pass
on as much info as we can to assist in these matters,”
Boock added. – PTI
NZ A tour ofIndia cancelled
NEW DELHI, July 23:
New Zealand A team’s tour
of India has been cancelled.
PTI had earlier reported
that the tour scheduled in
August was unlikely to go
through due to the surge of
COVID-19 cases in India.
“My information is that
the A tour of India will not be
happening. It was decision
taken by mutual agreement
between both the boards,”
NZC Spokesman Boock said.
While the Indian men
team’s itinerary is in place
with away series in Austral-
ia and home series against
England, the next group –
India A – will be in a quan-
dary as at least four assign-
ments (home and away)
during the season might
be cancelled or postponed.
– PTI
Amir testsnegative againKARACHI, July 23: Paki-
stan left-arm pacer Muham-
mad Amir was on Thursday
cleared to join the national
side in England after his sec-
ond test also returned nega-
tive for coronavirus.
Amir plays only the short-
er formats.
“The PCB will now be
making arrangements to
send Amir and masseur,
Muhammad Imran to Eng-
land as soon as possible so
that they can join the train-
ing camp in Derbyshire,” the
Pakistan Cricket Board
(PCB) said in a release.
Amir, 28, left many peo-
ple disappointed including
the national team’s head
coach and chief selector,
Misbah-ul-Haq when he
announced his sudden re-
tirement from Test cricket
last year.
Former players are of
the opinion that if Amir is
available and fit, then he
should also be considered
for the Test series against
England. – PTI
Anand loses to Carlsen inLegends of Chess tourneyCHENNAI, July 23: India’s Viswanathan Anand suffered
his second consecutive loss, going down to world No.1
Magnus Carlsen in the second round of the USD 150,000
chess24 Legends of Chess online tournament.
The former world champion had kept the Norwegian
ace in check in three games of the best-of-four contest
before slipping 1.5-2.5 by in the final game late on Wednes-
day. The Indian ace is making his maiden appearance on the
Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour.
He had gone down by a similar margin to Russia’s Peter
Svidler in the opening round. He takes on another former
world champion Vladimir Kramnik in the third round.
Anand is back in action after having last participated in
the Online Nations Cup in May.
Carlsen is in joint lead with veteran Israeli Boris Gelfand
and Svidler. All of them have six points after two victories
each. – PTI
Diamond League track meetin England cancelled
LONDON, July 23: The Diamond League track meet in
Gateshead, England, has been canceled because of the coro-
navirus pandemic.
It is the fifth of the 15 meets in the series to be cancelled.
The event in London was also called off.
The Gateshead meet was originally scheduled for Aug.
16 and then moved to Sept. 12 before being canceled.
The first full Diamond League meet is currently set to
be held on Aug. 14 in Monaco.
Exhibition meets have been organized remotely from
Oslo and Zurich with athletes worldwide competing simul-
taneously in a few events. – AP
Bangladesh Test tour to SLcould be rescheduled
NEW DELHI, July 23: Bangladesh is planning to tour Sri
Lanka in October for their rescheduled three-Test series,
following the postponement of this year’s ICC T20 World
Cup because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to a report in ESPNcricinfo, the Bangladesh
Cricket Board (BCB) are currently in talks with its Sri
Lankan counterparts (SLC) and if everything falls into place
“Bangladesh men’s pending three-Test series against hosts
Sri Lanka could be rescheduled to October.”
The three-Test series, which is part of the ICC World
Test Championship, was earlier scheduled to be held be-
tween July and August but was deferred due to the pan-
demic. The ICC on Monday postponed the T20 World Cup
which was scheduled to be held in Australia between Octo-
ber-November.
The report said that both “boards are keen on having the
Test series squeezed into the earliest possible window”.
“The ICC’s announcement of the three major tourna-
ments has provided what window we can work with, as
now that we know that the tournament dates are fixed, we
can work around with our schedule,” BCB CEO Nizamud-
din Chowdhury told the website. – PTI
FIDE Online ChessOlympiad to start on July 25CHENNAI, July 23: The FIDE Online Chess Olympiad,
which will feature top players like world no.3 Ding Liren
and Indian ace Viswanathan Anand among others, will be
held from July 25 to August 30.
Teams from 163 countries will take part in the first-ever
online Olympiad. Russia is the top-ranked team, followed
by China, USA, Armenia and Ukraine.
The India team, captained by Vidit Santosh Gujrati, is
the seventh-seed in the prestigious competition.
India is placed in the top division along with the likes of
Russia, China, US, Ukraine and others. Eight teams from
the top division will qualify for stage 2 and battle it out with
countries from other divisions.
World no.1 Magnus Carlsen is a notable absentee from
the event. – PTI
India confident of Tokyohosting Games next year
NEW DELHI, July 23: The Indian Olympic Association
on Thursday said that it is confident of Tokyo hosting “the
best ever Games” next year and the country is looking
forward to participating in the multi-sporting spectacle.
In a message on the occasion to mark exactly one year
before the Olympics, the IOA wished the athletes and offi-
cials world over, and the Tokyo organisers a successful
Games next year.
“We are confident that the IOC, its associates, and our
friends in Tokyo would be hosting the best ever Games in
the history of the Olympic movement one year from now,”
IOA Secretary General Rajeev Mehta said.
“The entire nation is looking forward to Team India’s
participation in the Games,” he said in a statement. – PTI