€¦ · second phase, the rashtrapati bhawan said. the 275-member house of representatives, which...

��

Despite the Governmentmaking efforts for a break-

through in talks with the farm-ers’ unions, the agitating farm-ers on Sunday announced tointensify their protest againstthe three farm laws.

Besides a day-long relayhunger strike at all protestsites along national Capital onMonday, they decided to halttoll collections in Haryanafrom December 25 to 27.

“Farmers will begin a day-long relay hunger strike onMonday at all sites of protestagainst the new agri laws. It willbe started by a team of 11members at protests sites here,”Swaraj India chief YogendraYadav said at a press conferenceat the Singhu Border. He alsourged people demonstratingagainst the laws across thecountry to observe a day-longhunger strike at their respectiveprotest sites.

Announcing the nextmove, farmer leader JagjeetSingh Dalewala said, “OnDecember 27, during PrimeMinister Modi’s Mann Ki Baat,

we would appeal to everyone tobeat ‘thali’ at their homes dur-ing the programme.”

Farmers’ leader RakeshTikait, who was also part of thepress conference, alsong withYadav and Dalewala, said thatfarmers protesting the newagri laws will celebrate KisanDiwas on December 23 and“we request people to not cooklunch for a day”.

On Sunday, the agitatingfarmers paid tribute to thefarmers who lost their livesduring this agitation, and con-dolence meets were organisedat different places. Punjabfarmer leader Gurvinder Singh,associated with the BKU, saidtribute is being paid to thefarmers who lost their livesduring the agitation whilefighting for their basic rights.As many as at least 30 farmershave died since the proteststarted.

Protesting farmers’ unionshad earlier responded to PMModi and Agriculture MinisterTomar in an open letter sayingtheir statements were “fact-less” and that the Centre haszero sympathy with farmers.

��

��

Nepal’s embattled PrimeMinister KP Sharma Oli

on Sunday sprang a surprise onhis rivals and got the Presidentto dissolve Parliament, a con-troversial move amidst a pro-longed tussle for powerbetween him and former pre-mier Pushpa Kamal Dahal“Prachanda” within the rulingdispensation.

President Bidya DeviBhandari dissolved Parliament’sHouse of Representatives atOli’s recommendation andannounced mid-term generalelection in April-May, a deci-sion termed “unconstitutional,impulsive and autocratic” bythe Opposition and dissidentsin the Nepal Communist Party(NCP).

Expressing dissatisfaction

over Oli’s move to dissolve theHouse, seven ministers, belong-ing to the Prachanda faction,announced their resignation ina joint statement issued duringa press conference here.

Earlier in the day, an emer-gency meeting of the Cabinetchaired by Oli decided to rec-ommend the President for thedissolution of Parliament, asenior Standing Committeemember of the NCP told PTI.

The first phase of the mid-term election will be held onApril 30 and May 10 for thesecond phase, the RashtrapatiBhawan said.

The 275-member House ofRepresentatives, which is thelower house of Parliament, waselected in 2017 for a five-yearterm. The upper house is theNational Assembly.

Continued on Page 6

��

��

�� !

��

Tomake marbe je araalebarche shey … Ebar era gelo

(Your terminator is growingunder cover … now these peo-ple are gone). Karim Mollah, asmall time tailor craned hishead out of his small windowto watch the overflowinghumanity and unmindfullyuttered these “unlikely” words.Unlikely because you wouldnot usually hear a Muslimman quoting lines fromMahabharata — presagingLord Krishna’s arrival to elim-inate Kansha the cruel king.

No living person in Bolpurremembers when for the lasttime such a large sea of human-

ity marched down the one-mileconnecter between DakBungalow Crossing and BolpurCircle.

True, seldom has Bolpurseen a crowd explode like theone it did on Sunday whenUnion Home Minister AmitShah led a huge road show call-ing for a second Parivartan(political change) in Bengal.

“This large crowd will her-ald the Parivartan… Parivartanto stop infiltration, to finishtolabazi (extortion) and endpolitical violence so that wecan transform Didi’s Bengalinto Sonar Bangla as envisagedby the likes of Subhas Babu(Netaji Subhash ChandraBose).”

Continued on Page 6

��

Men are not only highlyvulnerable to catching

coronavirus disease comparedto women, the hospitalisedmale Covid-19 patients have a30 per cent greater risk ofdying compared to women ofthe same age and health status,a study has found. The study ispublished in the ClinicalInfectious Diseases.

Hospitalised patients whowere obese, had hypertensionor poorly managed diabetesalso had a higher risk of dyingcompared to those who did nothave these conditions, said thestudy.

Those aged 20 to 39 withthese conditions had thebiggest difference in their riskof dying compared to theirhealthier peers.

For the study, theresearchers evaluated nearly67,000 hospitalised Covid-19patients in 613 hospitals acrossthe United States to determinethe link between certain com-mon patient characteristics andthe risk of dying from Covid-19.

“Predicting which hospi-talised Covid-19 patients havethe highest risk of dying hastaken on urgent importance ascases and hospitalisations in theUS continue to surge to record

high numbers during themonth of December,” said thestudy authored among othersby Anthony Harris, Professor atUniversity of Maryland Schoolof Medicine (UMSOM) in the US.

“Knowledge is power inmany ways, so I think under-standing which hospitalisedCovid-19 patients are at high-est risk of mortality can helpguide difficult treatment deci-sions,.” Harris said.

For example, higher-riskpatients may be consideredfor closer monitoring or ICUadmission. Healthcareproviders may also want toconsider these risks when

determining which Covid-19patients could benefit the mostfrom the new monoclonal anti-body therapies that, if given inthe first few days of the infec-tion, can reduce the risk of hos-pitalisation.

Age remained the strongestpredictor of mortality fromCovid-19. Overall, nearly 19per cent of hospitalised Covid-19 patients died from theirinfection with the lowest mor-tality among pediatric patients,which was less than 2 per cent.Mortality rates increased witheach decade of life with thehighest mortality, 34 per cent,among those aged 80 and older.

Continued on Page 6

��

��"� ��! ��#��$��!� ��%&%'��$��$�� ()

��

Several European Unionnations on Sunday banned

flights from the UK andGermany was considering lim-iting such flights to make surethat a new strain of coronavirussweeping across southernEngland does not establish astrong foothold on the continent.

The Netherlands bannedflights from the UK. For at leastthe rest of the year while Belgiumissued a flight ban for 24 hoursstarting at midnight and alsohalted train links to Britain,including the Eurostar.

Austria and Italy said theywould halt flights from the UKbut did not give details on anytiming of the ban.

Italian Foreign MinisterLuigi Di Maio said on Twitterthat the Government was prepar-ing the measure “to protectItalians” from the new coron-avirus variant.

About two dozen flightswere scheduled to arrive in Italyon Sunday, most in the northernregion of Lombardy but also inVeneto and Lazio, which include Venice and Rome respectively.

Continued on Page 6

� �� !"��"��"#��$�� $$�� "$�$��!�#�!"�!��%��$��%#� ��$��&��!��"��%%�'(��'��)*)+��,"��"�(�)*)-.�"�$��/�0��&��0��$"�!��1��!"(2��#$�.��$��#��"�!��"'�#��"��%��0��$"�!�%"��#��$�3��"�� !�$�#"��!�!�� "� ��%��#!��4��$�#��#(��'��#��!�'(� "(�)*)5.��!"��"��"#��!�6��7�8��9��1�� $"�!2

��

��

The Pakistan-sponsored theResistance Front (TRF), a ter-

ror group floated by the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), has said thepolice is its prime target in Jammu& Kashmir and next on the radaris the Government.

TRF commander Irfan said,“The war we have waged is inparticular against the Statepolice because they are our realenemies and then the occupyingIndia.”

Urging his family not to tracehim, he exhorted the youth ofKashmir to be ready for jehad.

�� !��"#$ ��

%� �� &��& �'�($��)�� &� ��

��!��

The Ministry of Agricultureon Sunday sent out an

invite to 39 farmers' unions tojoin discussion with theGovernment again to providedetails of their remaining con-cerns and doubts and askedthem to fix the date of themeeting at Vigyan Bhavanaccording to their convenienceto end the protests.

Earlier in the day, UnionHome Minister Amit Shah saidthere has been progress intalks with farmers and thenext round of discussion byfarmers' unions is likely to beheld on Monday or day after.

"I am not exactly aware ofthe timing but Tomar is likelyto meet the representatives offarmers on Monday or the dayafter to discuss their demands,"Shah said while addressing apress conference in Bolpur,West Bengal.

Referring to theGovernment's earlier writtenproposal on December 9 foramendments that the farmergroups had rejected, Ministryof Agriculture's Joint Secretaryand CEO PM-KISAN VivekAggarwal said: "I request thosepreviously invited protestingunion leaders to provide detailsof their remaining concernsand doubts and suggest a dateas per convenience for thenext round of talks. Pleaseinform us of your remainingconcerns and inform us of a

date convenient to you for ameeting at Vigyan Bhawan sothat a solution can be arrivedat and the present agitationends soon."

Previous five rounds offormal talks between theGovernment and 40 farmers'unions failed to break thedeadlock with the farmersinsisting on repeal of the

Centre's three laws and arecamping at various borderpoints of Delhi for over threeweeks now.

In a five-page letter,Aggrawal said the Centre ismaking all efforts to findappropriate solution to resolveall the issues raised by the farm-ers with an open mind. In theletter, the Government has sent

a detailed proposal to farmers incorporating all theirconcerns and apprehensions.The letter also highlighted the previous meetings heldwith farmers' unions. At the same time the Governmentis continuing talks with representatives of differentfarmers groups to remove theirconcerns.

:��"�#(�� %"��'��2��!"�#(��*

��

��$�" �"�2��!"�#(��

�"��8��( "�#$�5;<��%%&' +--=��1��"� ��&��"��%��#��"'#�

��'#�$��!�>��8�� 1��

��8�� 8��/�� ?��9,�?��

�%( )#�%*'��+,-��

�� .��! ��!�� +��/��+��

�+�,-,+-�.��>��,�1��?��

/+�01�22�� 88�1��8�� 1

��1�18��/��@��?��

��+��23

��8�8��1��)*�1��1

��

��

*�� +��,�� -��.��/��-� ��0��

��

�� 8��

Reiterating the commitmentof the government to dou-

ble the income of farmers by2022, Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath onSunday sought to make it clearthat all the endeavours of theNarendra Modi government atthe Centre and his governmentin the state were aimed towardsthis and the overall welfare ofthe farmer community.

He said it was for everyoneto see and realise that ever sincethe Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)came to power, the welfare offarmers had always been on topof the agenda.

“I appeal to you to not bemisguided by the misinfor-mation campaign unleashedby the opposition and beassured that we are not goingto leave a single stone unturnedto ensure your betterment,”the chief minister saidwhile making an impassionedappeal to farmers during hisinteraction with the farmersat Acharya Narendra DevAgriculture University,Kumarganj in Ayodhya.

The UP chief minister laidthe foundation stones and ded-icated 40 projects worth aboutRs 90 crore for agriculture,agriculture science andresearch, animal husbandry,fishery and irrigation inAyodhya, Gorakhpur, Basti,Bahraich, Barabanki,Balrampur, Siddharth Nagar,Ambedkar Nagar, Amethi,Sultanpur, Jaunpur, Ghazipur,Mau, Chandauli andSonbhadra.

The chief ministerannounced on this occasionthat Prime Minister NarendraModi would transfer in theaccounts of nine crore farmersa total sum of Rs 18,000 croreunder the PM Kisan SammanNidhi on December 25, thebirth anniversary of formerprime minister Atal BehariVajpayee.

Out of these, as many as2.30 crore farmers belong toUttar Pradesh.

Yogi Adityanath made it

clear that contract farmingwas the need of the time and itwas not going to hurt theinterests of the farmers inany way and would insteadincrease their incomes consid-erably.

He said the governmentwas already giving guaranteethat the farmers would getthe right price for their pro-duce.

“The farmers also have theliberty to sell their producewherever they get the bestprice and the government willnot have any kind of interfer-ence with their decision andwill also ensure that they do nothave any kind of loss,” headded.

“Some people are trying tomisguide the farmers andspreading rumours that theminimum support price (MSP)will be quashed and the man-dis will be closed. Time andagain our prime minister isassuring that nothing of thiskind is going to happen and itis our continuous endeavourthat the farmers get the bestreturns for their produce andtheir income is doubled,” Yogiasserted.

The chief minister alsoattacked the opposition partiesand said they had no interest inthe well-being of the farmers,adding that earlier middlemenand brokers had the upperhand.

“The SwaminathanCommission’s report (on theMSP) was never taken cogni-sance of as the Congress hadnothing to do with the interestsof the farmers. Now the samepeople are again protesting theagriculture bills that are com-pletely in the favour and inter-est of the farmers and theyouth,” Yogi said.

The chief minister said inorder to infuse the latest tech-nique in agriculture and pro-mote research in the field, thestate government had set up 20Kisan Vigyan Kendras withthe assistance of the agricultureuniversities in the past threeyears.

“Some of these centres will

be upgraded to centres of excel-lence so that the latest studiesand researches reach the farm-ers in the right earnest,” hepointed out.

Recalling that his govern-ment in its first cabinet meet-ing in 2017 had decided towaive loans of the farmers hesaid loans amounting to Rs36,000 crore loans were waived,benefiting about 86 lakh farm-ers.

“Even during theCOVID-19 times, the stategovernment continued itsefforts for the betterment of thefarmers and 26 lakh MT ofwheat and 52 lakh MT ofpaddy has been purchased sofar,” he added.

��

�� ! ��""��!�#��$��%&''()*(��+��+��,��&--./��0�� .��1��%�2��3��$��2��3��$101��')*(456��%+� �"��32�.783 )-(())!93'- 55:'�. ��;��3<)5-'=' '):*:�' '*)*:�-'>) ()��"��;��3<)5*'='-) ))(�'-) *(��;��3<)5 '=' * '> �' * '>5�?� ��;��31��(�7��@� �7�%��7��A��1�%?� ��&**)))'��3)**& )**) 55��//��;��3!&-*��(�1;0?.�@��/7��1��&')*-)*�B��3)*')& :6>:))C :6>>))

�� !�� "�� #��$��%�� &�� !��

�� !"� # #

),�4��,%��

��

�� 8��

The initiative taken by ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath

to support the industries dur-ing the COVID-19 pandemichas paid rich dividendsbecause as many as 5,12,000micro and small units of UttarPradesh have availed of loansamounting to Rs 22, 800 croreto further increase their busi-nesses.

“With this money, theindustries not only increasedproduction in the coronaviruspandemic period but alsomade a stronghold in the mar-ket,” a government spokesmansaid.

The MSME sector, consid-ered to be the backbone of thecountry, may have faced a lotof problems during theCOVID-19 period, but due togovernment’s policy the microand small units in the statehave got a lot of relief.

An official said the chiefminister himself distributedthe loans to the MSMEs sev-eral times through loan fairsand issued instructions tobanks that businessmen shouldnot face problems in gettingloans.

“As a result, the micro andsmall units under CGTMSE(Credit Guarantee Fund Trustfor Micro and SmallEnterprises) have reached thefirst position in taking loans inthe country,” he said.

CGTMSE CEO SandeepVerma said that under thisscheme, loans were guaranteedto small-scale entrepreneurs sothat entrepreneurs who did nothave bank guarantees andwanted to grow their business

could get loans under thisscheme and increase theirbusiness further.

“Since loans are guaran-teed under the CGTMSEscheme, therefore banks do notface any problem in givingloans. The Uttar Pradesh gov-ernment has done fabulouswork under this scheme,”Verma said.

The CGTMSE scheme isbeing operated under the jointinitiative of the Ministry of

Micro and Small Industries,and SIDBI of the Central gov-ernment.

The CGTMSE schemecompensates the loss of loanamount received from banksby micro and small-scaleindustrial units working inthe country.

It is worth mentioningthat the top eleven states thathave provided the maximumamount of loans to the indus-tries are Uttar Pradesh, TamilNadu, Maharashtra,Karnataka, Kerala, WestBengal, Gujarat, MadhyaPradesh, Odisha, AndhraPradesh and Bihar.

Lucknow (PNS): Shivpal SinghYadav, who heads Pragatisheel SamajwadiParty (Lohia), termed Samajwadi Partypresident Akhilesh Yadav’s offer to leaveone seat for his uncle’s party in the 2022Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls “a crueljoke”.

Shivpal Yadav and nephew Akhileshfell out politically following a protract-ed Yadav family feud over the control ofthe party when Akhilesh was the chiefminister of UP.

Shivpal said his party was looking fora handful of winnable seats for the PSPLto enter into any alliance with SP.

Shivpal said in Etawah on Sundaythat he would launch his party’s poll cam-paign with a rally in Meerut on Mondayand from December 24 onwards his partywould launch a state-wide village-levelcontact programme over farmers’ issues.

The day before Diwali, AkhileshYadav had said in Saifai, Etawah that hisparty would make an “adjustment” andleave Shivpal’s Jaswantnagar seat. He said

he would also make Shivpal Yadav a cab-inet minister when the SP returned topower in the state.

Shivpal is the sitting MLA fromJaswantnagar.

In response, Shivpal dismissed theoffer. “The one-seat offer is a joke. So faras the idea of being accommodated ascabinet minister is concerned, I havebeen a cabinet minister several times. So,it is not a big deal. What we are lookingfor is a handful of winnable seats,” he said.

He reiterated that all socialist partiesmust come on a single platform if theywished to defeat the ruling BharatiyaJanata Party.

)�� "��'�� & '�� 8��

Spearheading a campaign against the three agri-culture laws, UP Congress leaders on Sunday

gheraoed the Bharatiya Janata Party legislators andparliamentarians in several districts across thestate.

Where the BJP legislators were not availableat their residences, the Congress leaders pasteda memorandum on the gates.

In several districts, the Congress leaders weredetained and put under house arrest when theywere going to meet the BJP legislators.

The Congress approached the BJP legislatorsin Gorakhpur, Shamli, Kaushambi and Basti. InSonbhadra district, the Congress leaders weredetained and put under house arrest while inPrayagraj district, they were arrested.

The Congress workers staged a demonstra-tion opposite the residence of the BJP MLA inEtawah and raised slogans denouncing the threelegislations. Police had to use a mild force inAyodhya district where the Congress workers triedto mob the BJP MLAs.

� �� ' �� && '�� 8��

With Delhi witnessingprotest for the past 23

days against the new farmlaws, farmers and members ofHind Mazdoor Kisan Samiti inUttar Pradesh on Sunday tookout a 46-kilometre- long trac-tor march from Meerut toGhaziabad in support of theCentre’s three farm laws.

The activists who partici-pated in this tractor march sangpatriotic songs and raised slo-gans of Jai Hind during theentire route. There were morethan 500 tractors in the march.

After the tractor march, theHind Mazdoor Kisan Samitiheld a rally at Ramlila groundin Indrapuram in Ghaziabad,where the speakers made thefarmers aware of the benefits ofthe new farm laws.

�� 8��

On the lines of travel and tour majors likeMake My Trip, Go Ibibo, the Yogi

Adityanath government is preparing the mostunique and attractive package for tourists incollaboration with the Forest Corporation andTourism department.

The package will include forest destina-tions besides UP’s favourite destinations.

“Through these packages, the state gov-ernment will promote those places which havethe potential to become a tourist destinationbut due to the neglect of the previous govern-ments, till now they have been away from theeyes of tourists,” a government spokesmansaid.

He said the government was now prepar-ing to make these places a hot destination fortourism. These packages will also provide carfacilities for tourists to live, eat and movearound.

The government will also provide a guidefacility to explain the importance of tourismareas and to tell their history.

“The Forest department has prepared this

proposal. With the approval of the Tourismdepartment and the state government, itwill be offered to the tourists,” the officialsaid.

For these packages, the state governmentis trying to promote the home stay scheme aswell. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath plans tobring people living in rural and forest areasinto the mainstream of employment througha home stay scheme.

In the chief minister’s review meetings, topofficials of the government have also beeninstructed to link local people with employ-ment and the development of the tourismindustry, especially, the areas that have theirown historical significance.

The Forest department is also running thescheme to promote home stay. The scheme isbeing started in the districts of Terai as wellas in Bundelkhand and Vindhya region.

According to a senior Forest departmentofficial, the package for tourists will bearranged from Lucknow, Delhi and Noida.Tourists will also make their booking for theplace. From there the car will take them totheir destinations.

�� 8��

Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath

has issued directions for fur-ther strengthening of theinvestor-friendly industrialecosystem and for building arobust logistics infrastructurein the state.

The chief minister’sresponse comes in the wake ofkeen interest evinced by theinvestors and investmentsworth several hundred billionrupees being in the pipelinedue to the industry-friendlypolicies of the state.

The state government hasnominated Additional ChiefSecretary (Infrastructure &Industrial Development) AlokKumar as state nodal officerfor developing the integratedstate logistics plan aimed atoverall development of logis-tics sector. Kumar will head anewly created state logisticscell to function in sync withnational logistics division fordevelopment of supply chainsand warehousing facilities forindustries.

The officials of state gov-ernment departments likePlanning, Transport, CivilAviation, Revenue, PWD,Export Promotion Bureau,UP Expressways IndustrialDevelopment Authority(UPEIDA) will be the keymembers on board, and nodalofficers from Central agencieslike National HighwaysAuthority of India (NHAI),Airports Authority of India(AAI), Inland WaterwaysAuthority of India (IWAI),etc. will be special invitees tothe cell.

The state government willalso set up a state logisticscoordination committee underthe chairmanship of the chiefsecretary to monitor the

progress and implementationof the logistics plan.

UP’s IndustrialDevelopment Minister SatishMahana said in a statementhere on Sunday that, “In thebackdrop of AtmanirbharBharat mission for building aself-reliant India and inresponse to supply chain dis-ruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic, such an integrat-ed plan would ensure coordi-nated action and focusedattention towards logistics andsupply chain issues in thestate.”

Additional Chief Secretary(Infrastructure & IndustrialDevelopment) Alok Kumarsaid that in addition to grant-ing industry status to thelogistics sector and drastical-ly reducing cost of land andoperations, the state govern-ment had already madenumerous new provisions togive impetus to this sector.

As a result, Uttar Pradeshis attracting sizable invest-ments in the warehousing andlogistics sector. So far, six pro-posals worth approximately Rs438 crores of investment havebeen received in the sector.

Kumar said the state gov-ernment would work on siximprovement parameters, viz.ease of arranging logistics atcompetitive rates, quality oflogistics infrastructure, qual-ity of logistics serviceproviders, safety and securityof cargo movement, efficien-cy of regulatory proceduresand state coordination andfacilitation to strengthen thelogistics infrastructure in UP.

It is pertinent here tomention that the UP govern-ment had launched its incen-tive policy for warehousingand logistics in 2018.Moreover, recently the UttarPradesh government ratio-

nalised its land use policy tofacilitate land for the logisticssector at lower prices andlower conversion fees.

The development author-ities in the state are according-ly amending their zoning reg-ulations, master plans and by-laws to apply industrial landuse and industrial land useconversion charges for logis-tics parks and units besideslowering the eligibility limitsfrom 50 acres to 25 acres forsetting up logistics parksacross the state.

With a network ofexpressways and the EasternDedicated Freight Corridor(EDFC) and the WesternDedicated Freight Corridor(WDFC) intersecting at Dadriin Greater Noida, it is envis-aged to be the largest logisticshub in India. The state iscoming up with multi-modallogistics/ transport hubs atBoraki and Varanasi. UttarPradesh is one of the pioneer-ing states to come up with aprivate logistics park policy.

The upcoming NoidaInternational Airport at Jewarin Greater Noida, which willbe one of the largest interna-tional airports in India, hasadded to the state’s advantage.Together with the upcomingNational Waterways-1 to ferrycargo from the eastern seaportof Haldia to Varanasi, theconnectivity web of air, water,road and rail network createdin the state will help the indus-tries and manufacturing unitsswitch seamlessly between dif-ferent modes of transport asthey send their goods to mar-kets in India and abroad.

Being one of the focusstates under UDAN RegionalConnectivity Scheme, over 25routes have been identified inthe state to strengthen the localair connectivity.

0��1��

On the third and concluding day of InternationalScience Olympiad ‘Quanta-2020’, organised online by CityMontessori School, Chowk Campus, the participating stu-dents from Brazil, Germany, Jordan, Bangladesh, Russiaand various states of India displayed outstanding knowl-edge of science in a quiz held on Sunday. At the same time,the participants from India and abroad presented a viewof the future world which would be based on the latesttechnology and advances in science. The participants’ per-formance in this competition drew massive appreciationby the audience. The quiz was held online and conduct-ed in two rounds. The winners of the written round gotthe opportunity to participate in the final round. Earlier,CMS founder Jagdish Gandhi said that time has come forthe student community to unite and create an ideal worldorder.

+�� '��&� '��& '��*�4�� !��!��! �"#""�

$��!��

�� 8��

Joint Commissioner of Police (Law andOrder) Naveen Arora, along with a

team, inspected the centres where exams forthe posts of jail wardens, firemen and forArakshi Ghudsawar were held on Sunday.Similar arrangements were also in placeduring the exams on Saturday.

Arora inspected the exam centres inSarojininagar and Krishnanagar and keptseeking details of every development fromhis subordinates at other exam centres.

A spokesman said the exams were con-ducted in a peaceful and transparent man-ner. He said 72 inspectors, 180 sub-inspec-tors, 435 head constables/constables and76 women constables were deployed onduty.

“DCPs, ADCPs, ACPs and stationhouse officers of all the zones in the city,PRV vehicles, polygon, pink mobile teams,large number of policemen and LIU offi-cials remained on the duty to keep a closewatch on the exam centres,” he said.

Under the arrangements, the police hadkept door-frame metal detectors and cam-eras at the exam centres while there was alsoprovision for biometric attendance.Ambulances and fire tenders were also

deployed and the exam was conductedwhile adhering to Covid protocols.

More than 31,000 candidates appearedfor the exams. The papers were taken to theexam centres and then to Reserve PoliceLines under heavy security arrangements.

��!��0�2�An online mathematics talent hunt quiz

competition was organised by theMathematics department of BBAU on theoccasion of National Mathematics Day andbirth anniversary of great mathematicianSrinivasa Ramanujan. This quiz competi-tion is being conducted in two phases andthe first phase was held on Sunday.

“In this phase, 20 multiple choicequestions were asked from participantsthrough Google Sheets. As many as 209participants from across the country par-ticipated in the contest. The 20 best per-forming contestants have been selected forthe second round and they have been noti-fied by email,” the BBAU spokesperson said.The second phase of the competition willbe held on December 22 through GoogleMeet. The best three participants will beawarded. Besides, e-certificates will beawarded to all the participants in the sec-ond phase.

�� 8��

With the aim to empower women,the Uttar Pradesh government

has made plans to provide permanentlivelihood by linking women self-helpgroups associated with the UP StateRural Livelihood Mission with supple-mentary nutritional food productionunits.

In the first phase, nutritional foodproduction units will be set up inFatehpur and Unnao at a cost of Rs. 40lakhs where women will make refresh-ments with modern machines.

"The operation of this modern pro-duction centre will be entirely in thehands of women. They will meet thedemand of Integrated ChildDevelopment Services (ICDS) to sup-ply supplementary nutritious food tothe beneficiaries," a governmentspokesman said.

It May be mentioned here thatthrough Uttar Pradesh State RuralLivelihood Mission, the women of sup-

plementary nutritional food groups willbe distributed in 204 developmentblocks of 18 districts, includingPrayagraj, Sultanpur, Aligarh, Lucknow,Mirzapur, Unnao, Etawah, andGorakhpur. For this, similar productionunits equipped with modern machineswill be installed. The UP StateLivelihood Rural Mission will set up 15to 20 women of SHGs to micro enter-prises. The women associated with itwill also do the work of PAN card andbank account opening.

According to officials of theNational Rural Livelihood Mission,more than 3,000 groups of women willbecome entrepreneurs under this pro-ject. They will have permanent self-employment. Each woman will getmore than 240 days of employment ina year. The women will be able to earnup to Rs 6,000 per month.

Apart from this, women will alsobe given a share in the benefits receivedon supplementary nutritious food dis-tributed to Anganwadi centres.

� ��/��

1�/$��'��"��$��#��"�(��"#�%��!�

%$&��'��

(&��

1�A$��B$�"��%%��"��#4��@�1��0�"#�?"!"0

�� !�� "�� #��$��%� �� "�� #�� &�' �� (

?� ��"��0��#�$��.�$�"##��$�

�� )�� !"� # #

�� 8��

The process is underwayfor establishing the east-

west corridor of Lucknowmetro for better connectivity.Uttar Pradesh Metro RailCorporation (UPMRC) hasalready submitted the DPR tothe state government in thisregard and waiting for theapproval. A senior official saidthey are providing details ofwhatever departmental obser-vations that are being asked byUPMRC. He said the east-westcorridor has been muchdelayed and it should havebegun three years ago.

The east-west corridorfrom Charbagh to Vasant Kunj

is 11.165 kms with 6.789 kmsbeing underground and 4.286kms elevated. There will be 12stations — seven undergroundand five elevated.

Regarding the construc-tion methodology, he said thatfor the elevated section, theviaduct will be consisting ofpre-stressed concrete doubleU-girders up to a radius of 300metres and for radius lessthan 300 m and at locationswhere points and crossings areto be provided, it is suggest-ed to use I-girder on singlepier with pile. For the under-ground section, tunnel boringmachine will be used and allunderground stations exceptPandeyganj station will be by

cut-and-cover methodology.He said the financial inter-

nal rate of return (FIRR)obtained for 30 years lifecyclebusiness model, including theconstruction period, is 4.52%.The EIRR works out to be16.61%, he said. He added thatthe monuments in the oldarea did not pose a problembecause the corridor is away from them. The estimat-ed cost of the project is Rs4,366 crore.

“With growing cities, themetro corridors also grow andit is also a requirement consid-ering the fact that full connec-tivity is only possible whenboth the corridors are work-ing,” the official said.

% ��'�� &� � ��'�� 8��

An early dip in temperaturethis year and an indication

of forthcoming severe wintersraises concern for damage toseveral crops and ornamentalplants. Director of CentralInstitute for SubtropicalHorticulture (CISH) ShailendraRajan said very low temperaturenearing zero degrees may dam-age the mango-flowering buds, thus reducing the yield significantly.

“Newly-planted fruit plantsduring this year require specialattention for their protectionfrom cold waves by thatchingand providing regular irrigation.Plants planted at lower elevationsare badly damaged by the frost.In northern plains, farmersshould plan for the protection ofnewly planted grafts duringmid-December as the frost mayinvade any day and mangoplants die in one night afterexperiencing sub-zero temper-ature exposure. Other fruit cropslike bananas and papaya do notrelish low temperatures and arethus protected by irrigating atregular intervals,” he said.

“Expected rains during thisperiod may harm vegetableslike tomato and potato which areprone to diseases like Alternariablight. Rains will increasehumidity and low temperaturepromotes diseases. Fungicidespray and light irrigation canprotect these plants from frost aswell as the disease. Irrigationplays an important role in pro-tecting plants during low-tem-perature exposure at night,” hesaid. He added that many of theornamental plants are alsouncomfortable during wintersdue to low temperature. “Severalof them can withstand the freez-ing temperature whereas thereare good numbers of plantsthat may die due to exposure toextreme cold. These are to beprotected from exposure to coldwave. Winter annuals enjoy lowtemperature but most of thegreen plants are sensitive tolow temperature during thenight and require protection bycovering them with cloth orpolythene cover. This can reducethe chance of injury by insulat-ing foliage from the cool air,” he said.

Lucknow (PNS): The DRMoffice, North Eastern Railway,bagged prestigious honours atthe 30th National EnergyConservation Awards 2020(NECA), organised by Bureauof Energy Efficiency (BEE).The DRM office bagged theawards in building categories(government offices) for dri-ving energy conservationthrough solar power generationand application of energy effi-cient products like energy effi-cient air conditioner, LED

lights, occupancy sensors.Through 180 kWp rooftopsolar panels installed at theDRM office building, railwayshas achieved massive unitsgeneration not only for its ownuse but also for export to thegrid.

Also, on December 14(Energy Conservation Day),the DRM office had bagged thefirst prize in energy savingcampaign in governmentbuilding category which wasannounced by Minister for

Energy and Additional Sourcesof Energy Shrikant Sharma.Energy saving campaign wasorganised by Uttar PradeshNew and Renewable EnergyDevelopment Agency (UPNE-DA). DRM Monica Agnihotricongratulated senior DEEDhananjay Mishra and histeam for the success and saidthese awards are recognition ofspecial efforts done byLucknow division of NER in the field of energy conservation.

�� 8��

The minimum temperaturewent further down as the

state capital shivered at 4 degreeCelsius because of the icy coldnorth-westerly winds onSunday. The minimum tem-perature was 4.7 degrees belownormal while the maximumtemperature was 18.6 degreeCelsius, which was 5.6 degreesbelow normal.

The weatherman issued awarning of cold wave condi-tions at isolated places over thestate with cold day conditionsprevailing over isolated placesover eastern UP and dense fogvery likely at isolated placesover the state in the morning.In the state, the weather is mostlikely to be dry while inLucknow, shallow to moderatefog is likely in the morning andclear skies thereafter. The max-imum and minimum temper-

ature is expected to be around20 degree Celsius and 3 degreeCelsius, respectively.

Muzaffarnagar was thecoldest in the state with a min-

imum temperature of 2 degreeCelsius, followed by Barabanki2.6 degree Celsius, Fursatganj2.8 degree Celsius, Churk 3degree Celsius, Bareilly 3.3

degree Celsius and Faizabad 3.5degree Celsius.

Ayurvedic experts havesuggested ways to keep the coldat bay. “Hot ginger, cardamom

tea, turmeric milk and jaggeryare ideal for protection fromcold. One should eat lightboiled food and avoid greasystuff. Seasonal vegetables anddry fruits along with warmwater and honey in the morn-ing are of great help,” an expertsaid.

Lucknow MunicipalCorporation has made zone-wise arrangements for pur-chase of wood for bonfire inview of the cold weather con-ditions. “Our permanent nightshelters are running well and anumber of temporary oneshave been set up for the poorand needy. Arrangements ofbonfire have also been made atthese shelter homes,” mayorSanyukta Bhatia said.

She said that a team ofLMC also moved on the roadsand shifted those sleeping onthe pavements to the closestnight shelters.

�� 8��

The husband of gram prad-han was shot near his brick

kiln in Mohanlalganj by motor-cycle-borne unidentified mis-creants on Sunday evening.The profusely bleeding victim,identified as Sujeet Pandey ofIndrajeet Kheda, was rushed toMedanta Hospital where hewas declared brought dead.There were reports that Pandeysuffered eight gunshot all overhis body, but the police saidthey were waiting for the autop-sy report. Also, there werereports that the miscreantsused automatic weapons toshoot Pandey. The police saidthey were yet to find the makeof the weapons. From the crimescene, the police recoveredeight cartridges.

Commissioner of PoliceDH Thakur said the victimsuffered a single gunshot.“There is only entry-and-exitwound. There were reports thatPandey opened fire from hislicenced pistol in his defenceand police are verifying thesame,” he said.

About the sequence of the

events, the CP said Pandeyused to visit the brick kilndaily and he reached there asper his routine. “Two attackerswere on a bike and theyattacked Pandey, who suffereda gunshot. The police recoveredeight cartridges from the crimescene,” he said.

He said Pandey was thepresident of Vyapar Mandal ofMohanlalganj and was a formergram pradhan of the villagewhile his wife Sandhya Pandeyis the current gram pradhan.

Thakur denied reports thatit was a contract killing and saidthe attackers did not attempt toloot anything from Pandey. Hesaid the family had not namedanyone as yet. “Pandey was apopular person in the localityand he had no enmity with any-one, as per the investigationsconducted so far,” he added.

Meanwhile, a youth waskilled while his companioninjured after a speeding carknocked their motorcycle inGhazipur police station area onSaturday night. The deceasedwas identified as Ipsit Tiwari(23) of Indiranagar while hisfriend as Priyanshu.

As per reports, Ipsit, alongwith Priyanshu, was returninghome from an automobile ser-vice centre. When they reachedthe embankment in SarvodayNagar, the speeding car hittheir bike. Ipsit and Priyanshusuffered injuries and wererushed to KGMU TraumaCentre where Ipsit died duringtreatment. The police said theyare trying to trace the errantcar-diver after identifying theregistration number of the car.

Meanwhile, a youth work-ing at the under-constructionflyover at Tedhipulia crossing inJankipuram died after he felldown from the scaffold onSunday morning. He wasadmitted to a private hospital.

Reports said Ali Husain(22) of Sitapur fell down around10 am and suffered injuries inthe leg and head. His brotherSadiq said he was informed ofthe incident by an official of thecompany getting the construc-tion work done. “My brotherhas been admitted to a hospi-tal and his condition is serious.He had not been provided withsafety gadgets, including a beltfor protection,” he alleged.

�� 8��

Asking officials to keep aneye on Lucknow, Chief

Minister Yogi Adityanath hasdirected them to maintain aneffective system of preven-tion and treatment of COVID-19, saying that caution andvigilance should be taken atevery level to break the chainof novel coronavirus infection.The chief minister, who waspresiding over an unlockreview meeting at his officialresidence here on Sunday, saidthat special attention should begiven to Lucknow district andthe system of treatment shouldbe further strengthened. Hesaid a plan should also bemade in this regard and actionshould be taken accordingly.

Lucknow continued to bethe hot spot in the state, with226 new positive cases andfour COVID-19 deaths beingreported from the state capi-tal on Sunday. In other dis-tricts the new coronaviruspositive cases were in doubledigits.

The chief minister alsostressed that contact tracingand surveillance should becontinued actively and Covidtesting should also be carriedout with full capacity. He saidpeople should be continuous-ly made aware about protec-tion from COVID-19 and forthis, public address systemsshould be widely used alongwith other means of publicity.Additional Chief Secretary(Health) Amit Mohan Prasadsaid that the use of Ivermectinfor the treatment of COVID-19 in UP had been appreciat-ed globally.

Meanwhile, the number ofactive coronavirus positivecases is decreasing day by dayand on Sunday, 1,247 freshcases were reported against1,559 recoveries taking thestate’s recovery rate to 95.57per cent. The total casualty inthe state due to the coron-avirus so far is 8,196 with 19

COVID-19 patients succumb-ing to the virus in the last 24hours. The additional chiefsecretary said 1,34,633 sampleswere tested on Saturday andnow the total Covid tests donein the state had gone up to2,24,39,369, the highest in thecountry. In Lucknow, 226 per-sons tested positive on Sunday

while 256 patients recovered.The state capital recorded fourdeaths while there are 2,845active cases in the district. Thefresh cases included 22 fromGomtinagar, 25 fromIndiranagar, 12 from RaeBareli road, and 10 each fromAliganj, Chowk, Hazratganj,Madiaon & Cantt.

)5*�5��&&� �� 6�� '��

�� 8��

Anew online portal has beenset up for the Covid vacci-

nation process. It has beennamed ‘Cowin’, which implieswinning over Covid. Districtimmunisation officer MKSingh said the list of people tobe vaccinated in Lucknow inthe first phase has alreadybeen uploaded on the portal,both unit-wise and pin code-wise.

“When the drive beginsbegins, people will be sentmessages mentioning time,date and place of the vaccina-tion. People coming to thevaccination centres will have tostay in the waiting roomswhere their eligibility will beverified with the help of detailsuploaded on the ‘Cowin’ por-tal. As soon as people areadministered the vaccine, theirstatus (vaccinated) will beupdated on the portal andthey will be sent messages. Thebeneficiaries can also down-load the report that they havebeen vaccinated on their smart-phones,” he explained.

The beneficiaries will thenhave to stay in the observationrooms for half-an-hour. Thereis an equal number of male andfemale beneficiaries for thefirst phase of vaccination to becarried out in the district.

Singh pointed out thatthough they are still waiting for

guidelines, a person who isCovid positive is unlikely to bevaccinated. If a woman is preg-nant, she will most likely bevaccinated. Regarding contain-ment activities for coronavirusin the district, Singh said sur-veillance and testing activitieswill go ahead in the usualmanner along with the Covid-19 vaccination drive.

Secretary, People’s HealthOrganisation, Dr Ishwar Giladasaid people have been usingmasks for the last nine monthsand will have to continue usingit possibly for next one yeardespite vaccination. “One ques-tion we are asked is that can weuse the same mask again andagain and is it safe. It is impor-tant to go by the research andguidelines of global and nation-al agencies. Using a used maskrepeatedly is worse than notusing a mask,” he pointed out.Touching used masks and fail-ure to follow sanitisation inbetween gets the risk fortified,he added.

“We need to remove masksfor drinking water or eating, soif the same mask is used againand again day after day, it getsdirty and unsafe. One maskdaily is a good solution butpeople may not want to spendso much. Indian culture is‘wash and wear’ not ‘wear andtear’. Cotton masks can beused repeatedly with dailywash,” he said.

8�3��"#�$��%��0"��"��$$

�� !��"#�$�% &! � '��

7��&�� '�� Lucknow (PNS): Nawab Wajid Ali Shah ZoologicalGarden is one of the three zoos in India selected byCentral Zoo Authority for universal accessibility.Lucknow zoo director RK Singh said that this is aimedat increasing accessibility to all categories of the dis-abled. “Various enabling features will be set up atLucknow zoo to help the disabled roam around. Onlythree zoos have been selected by the Central ZooAuthority and the other two are Bhopal and Mysorezoos. “Only the zoos with unique features have beenselected. Lucknow zoo is unique because it is run by asociety,” Singh said.

�� ' �# %�()� ��*�!�� !�"'�"�� (�'�#)

&��)� ��!��)��

�� %%��'" $��$�� $�"3"�!$��1��$��

(��1��2��1��

�� *�� !"� # #

�� .��"��9��1�

The attractive shringar (dec-oration) of temple of Maa

Annapurna, Goddess Motherof Food, was done here onSunday with paddy earringswhich marked the conclusionof the 17-day Mahavrat and tofulfill their vows, many did 51parikarmas while some 501 onthe occasion. The festival is cel-ebrated every year when thefarmers offer their first crop ofpaddy to Goddess Annapurna.

On the occasion, the entiretemple premises and idols weredecorated with 11 quintals ofpaddy. In the wee hours, thetemple premises was washedand then Upmahant (deputypriest) bathed the idol of MaaAnnapurna and others and itwas followed by the shringarwith paddy earrings. Later, thegates of the temple wereopened for the devotees. As perthe tradition, not only thepaddy growers of Varanasi butalso of many other districts ofPurvanchal (eastern UP) offertheir first crops to the Goddess

for her blessings.It is believed that Lord

Shiva himself had asked foralms in front of MaaAnnapurna and since thenthere is no shortage of food andthe local believe that due to

blessings of Maa Annapurna,no one sleeps empty stomachin this holy city. As per tradi-tion, the paddy earring will bedistributed on the second dayto the devotees as ‘prasad’ whokeep the same in their granary.

Mahant Rameshwapuri saidthat this Mahavrat removesone’s all kinds of sufferings andbrings prosperity. He alsoprayed to the Goddess to helpthe people get an early rid ofglobal coronavirus pandemic.

�� .��"��

Union Minister of State forHealth and Family Welfare

Ashwini Choube said that thegovernment is preparing togive 60 crore doses of vaccineto protect people from Covidinfection. For this, 29000 coldchain points have been made.Efforts will be made for thispurpose at the booth level.The Election Commission willhelp in vaccination. Covid vac-cination will be done under thesame strategy as it is to win theelection. The Union Ministersaid that 20 per cent of the vac-cine dose will be given to thepoor countries along with theneedy, health workers, coronawarriors and the elderly.

In a press conference at theCircuit House held recently,

Minister Ashwini Choubeysaid that vaccines will be sentin the same way as we havesupplied medicines for Covidtreatment abroad. He said thatpreparations for giving doses ofCovid vaccine to 300 millionpeople in the last six to eightmonths are in the final stages.For this, the task force of offi-cers is working day and nightto form and monitor teams. Hesaid that the vaccine trial is inthe final stage. Five companiesare engaged in this work.Orders have been given to all.At the same time, The PrimeMinister Narendra Modi hasalso encouraged scientists byvisiting pharmaceutical compa-nies.

The Union Minister ofState said that the corona vac-cine will protect against infec-

tion. For this, more than 29,000cold chain points and 85,634devices are available. In the firstphase, one crore health work-ers will be given the benefit ofvaccination to the corona war-riors and the sick, elderly.Marking work is being done forthis purpose. During the talks,MP Kesari Devi Patel, CGHSAD Chaudhary, CMO DrPrabhakar Rai and others werepresent.

Union Minister of State forHealth Ashwini Choubey alsotargeted all political parties onthe issue of farmer agitation. Hewas more aggressive inCongress. He said that thework done by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi in the interestof farmers is visible on theground. Political people whowere missing from the

Parliament during the debateare now cooking politicalloaves. People without issue arespreading confusion amongthe farmers. The work whichcould not be done in theCongress regime in the 70years, the BJP did that withina few years and this is unbear-able for the opposition, headded.

The Union Minister saidthat the cases of farmer suicidesare worrisome. We are trou-bled, but those who tell it areforgetting, its graph was muchhigher at the time of theirgovernment. He said that theCentral Government has madea provision of �3500 crore toprovide relief to sugarcanefarmers. This amount will godirectly to the accounts of thefarmers.

�� .��"��

Corona on Saturday nightgripped a total of 67 per-

sons into its grip. This includ-ed Professor of Saidabad-basedPandit Deen Dayal UpadhyayDegree College, VigilanceOfficer of Railways, BranchManager of PNB. With this, thetotal number of corona patientsin the district has increased to27,802. Dr Rishi Sahai, theNodal Officer of Corona con-firmed this.

On the other hand, accord-ing to the information releasedby CMO Dr Prabhakar Rai,26,686 people have been infec-tion-free so far against theinfected people. 35 people havebecome infection free onSaturday. Home isolation of 24people has been completedamong them. However, 11 peo-ple have been discharged. Inthis, 10 people have been dis-charged from Swaroop RaniNehru Hospital and one personwas discharged from a privatehospital after his report testednegative. At present, the num-ber of active cases is 749.

There are 60 people admit-ted in SRN Hospital, 48 in Beliand 19 in private hospitals.Whereas, 622 infected are inhome isolation. A total of 5,873people have been screened on

Saturday. Of them, 3,101 per-sons got their test done throughan antigen kit. 2,528 patients byRTPCR, while 98 persons gottheir test conducted in a privatelab and 146 people have beentested through Trunat. Of this,60 positives have been found inthe city and five in rural areas.

According to Dr. RishiSahay, those found infectedincluded PNB branch manag-er at Sangam Palace, Professorof Deen Dayal Upadhyay,Income Tax Inspector,Railway's Vigilance Officer,High Court advocate, andsenior assistant in the FinanceDepartment of AllahabadUniversity. Not a single deathoccurred from Corona afterseveral days on Saturday. TheHealth department hasbreathed a sigh of relief.

Meanwhile, the AllahabadHigh Court has asked the dis-trict administration that thecity will have to be convertedinto a fortress to prevent coro-na infection during the MaghMela. Admission should begiven to the same person com-ing from outside the melawhose RTPCR report is nega-tive. That too at the city limitsonly after conducting antigentest and RTPCR test again. Thecourt has directed to release afresh detailed guide line,

expressing dissatisfaction withthe district administration'sguideline on the rescue ofCorona during the Magh Mela.

A division bench of JusticeSiddharth Verma and JusticeAjit Kumar, hearing the coro-na infection case, has said thatafter tireless efforts, there hasbeen a decrease in the numberof corona infections inPrayagraj. If people are allowedto come from outside the citywithout negative reports, thenall the efforts of infection con-trol so far will be in vain. Thecourt said that the 18-pointguideline that has been drawnis just the guide line on aware-ness. The court has suggestedto the government that not onlythe fair area should be moni-tored but also attention shouldbe paid to the banks of Gangaand Yamuna in the city.

On the direction of thecourt, the police of Meerut,Ghaziabad, Gautam BudhNagar, and Lucknow submittedthe report and filed a list withthe names of the police person-nel deployed to implement theCorona guidelines. The lawyerssaid that the police personnelwho have been deployed arenot monitoring them proper-ly. The court has directed thepolice officers to be more activeand make their subordinates

also aware of the issue.Additional Solicitor

General of India SP Singh gavethe information received inthe court quoting the DrugController General of India. Itwas informed that the SerumInstitute of India, Pfizer IndiaLimited has sought permissionto use the emergency of thevaccine. For this, a duly consti-tuted committee is studying thedata of clinical trials. Onlyafter the report of the commit-tee, a decision will be made onallowing the use of the vaccine.The committee has asked formore data from the SerumInstitute and Bharat Biotech,while Pfizer has asked for time.

The court took informa-tion about the vaccine fromvideo conferencing from JointDirector of Drugs ControllerGeneral of India, Dr PBNPrasad and LA ConsultantRishi Kant Singh. He said thatclinical trials are still beingdone.

The court said that the vac-cine is not visible at themoment. Struggle continueswith the Covid infection. Thecourt has asked the schoolcolleges to work with mini-mum staff and students withsafety measures. Because thereis no vaccine yet and the coro-na infection continues.

�� .��"��

The PDA team, whichreached the Civil Lines to

shift the idol from theHanuman temple near theHigh Court, faced tremendousopposition. The team had toreturn after the protest by thelocal people. Angry peopleshouted slogans too. However,the police continued to denyany such incident.

Locals said that thePrayagraj DevelopmentAuthority wants to remove thetemple while they are opposingit. They said that the temple is

the centre of faith for thousandsof people as well as advocates.Local people said that the PDAerected a platform under thetree next to the temple from 4o'clock on Saturday morning.Around 11 am, PDA employ-ees tried to shift the idol fromthe temple to the platform butcould not succeed due to theprotest.

Around 5 o'clock in theevening, the PDA workersagain reached the temple. Onseeing this, the local peoplegathered and started protesting.Seeing their outrage, PDAemployees had to return.

During this, angry locals alsoshouted slogans. LaxmikantMishra, who was among thosewho protested, said that play-ing with faith will not be toler-ated.

In this case, CO Ajit SinghChauhan said that he has notreceived any information relat-ed to such an incident.

SAXENA SABHARELEASES MAGAZINE: TheSaxena Sabha, a registered soci-ety has successfully released itssilver jubilee magazine onlineon Sunday. President of SaxenaSabha, Pramod Kumar, IPSreleased the souvenir and con-

gratulated the editorial boardespecially chief editor ArunaAsthana

General secretary KaushalSaxena said that it is a matterof pride for the Saxena Sabhathat the silver jubilee souveniris being published this year.Aruna Asthana, the editor-in-chief of the souvenir, said thatthe publication of the sou-venir in the midst of theCOVID-19 epidemic was avery challenging task whichcould be completed with thehelp of Rakesh Kumar, AnjaniSaxena, Vijay Laxmi, KaushalSaxena etc.

�� .��"��9��1�

Dense foggy conditions tillthe late morning hours

have affected the normal lifebadly here on Sunday, slowingdown the speed of trains androad transportation apart fromdelaying the arrivals of sever-al flights, scheduled to landespecially during the morninghours. Foggy condition alsoaffected the life at the interna-tionally famous ghats as onlythin attendance of visitors wasseen there.

Due to foggy conditions,

the Railways has already can-celled many trains and as onlya limited number of trains arebeing run on the tracks, thecommuters and others are fac-ing a lot of inconveniences. Itmay be mentioned that thoughafter lockdown imposed toprevent the spread of coron-avirus many trains have beenrestarted but regular train ser-vice has yet not been resumedas most of the trains are beingrun as special trains.

In absence of running ofpassengers trains, the peopleare mainly depending on the

buses and other road trans-portation. The foggy conditionsalso slowed down the speed ofbuses.

Besides, the flight serviceshave also been affected badly.According to informationreceived from Lal BahadurShastri International Airport,Babatpur, over a dozen flightsscheduled to arrive here duringmorning hours were delayed.These included SpiceJet (SG-250, SG-704), Vistara (UK-621), GoAir (G8-513), SriLankan Airlines (UK-3612)and Air India (AI-695) flights

from Mumbai apart from G8-101, GE-2136 (IndoGo), AI-406 from Delhi, G8-707 fromAhmedabad, 6E-397 fromBengaluru, 6E-216 fromHyderabad and 6E-513 fromChennai.

Meanwhile, as the mini-mum temperature has droppedaround 6 degree Celsius due tocontinuous snow fall in north-ern India region, resentmenthas started brewing up amongthe poor vendors and rickshawpullers as Nagar Nigam has yetnot made arrangements forbonfires.

�� .��"��

After Ayodhya, it is the turnof Kashi-Mathura. After

the construction of the grandRam temple, Kashi andMathura will also be freed.Jagadguru VasudevanandSaraswati, a member of theRam JanmabhoomiTirthakshetra Trust, spoke toreporters after attending theVHP saint conference onSaturday.

Swami VasudevanandSaraswati said that first thetemple will be constructed atRam Janmabhoomi. After theconstruction of the Ram tem-ple, work will be done to freethe Krishna Janmabhoomi ofKashi Vishwanath andMathura. Nobody can stop it.Mahant Narendra Giri, presi-dent of the Akhil BharatiyaAkhara Parishad, also dis-cussed the agenda of liberatingKashi-Mathura.

The president of theAkhara Parishad said that agrand Ram temple will be builtin Ayodhya with public partic-ipation. But, after the con-struction of the Ram temple,

the monks have a big respon-sibility to free Kashi andMathura as well. He said thatthe sadhus-sant wants to liber-ate Kashi and Mathura andbuild grand temples again onthose two shrines. Mahant

Narendra Giri said that a strat-egy is being chalked out for thismove.

Kashi and Mathura will beliberated in a constitutionalmanner with the cooperationof all Hinduist organisations

and sages. These two shrineswere occupied and mosqueswere once built. In such a sit-uation, they will be freed andbrought back to their old con-dition, added VasudevanandSaraswati.

�� *��+ ��, -��)��

�� 3�� 3"��/��

.��/#��$��

89��)�� !�

�1: ��'�& ��

-��3��4��5��67��

�� &&� �� '��&�

�� &�5�:��

��!�� 3��

VARANASI (PNS): As manyas 45 new patients have beendetected in the district onSunday, increasing the totalnumber to 20,643. The day alsosaw two more deaths, increas-ing the toll to 343. During theday, the follow-up negativereports included 62 and all ofthem have been recovered fromhome isolation, increasing thenumber to 16,986. As nopatient has been dischargedfrom any hospital, the numberof recovered patients from the

hospitals remained at 2,898respectively. The total numberof patients who have beenrecovered so far is 19,884, leav-ing 416 active cases. The recov-ery rate is 96.32 per cent whilethe mortality rate is 1.66 percent.

Chief Medical Officer(CMO) Dr VB Singh hasinformed that in the first reportof the day, 29 positive patientswere found out of 2,166 reportsreceived. Till then, the total testreports received were 4,87,022

and the results of 2,928 areawaited. Out of them, 4,66,395were negative, while 20,627positive. The total number ofsamples collected was 5,08,115.With the addition of six newred zones, the total number ofhotspots has increased to 2,603including 204 red zones. Thereare 2,399 green zones withtwo new ones.

On the instructions of theDistrict Magistrate (DM)Kaushal Raj Sharma, mass/group antigen tests continued

to be conducted at VaranasiJunction (Cantt.) andManduadih railway but all 66and 56 tests conducted thererespectively have been foundnegative. Besides, all the 142tests have been found negativeat Shree Shiv Prasad Gupta(SSPG) Hospital, Kabirchauraapart from 31 at CHC Shivpur,105 at LBS Hospital Ramnagar,137 at Government Women’sHospital, 72 at SwamiVivekanand Hospital, Bhelupurand 92 at SSH BHU.

0��1��

.��&��2�� .��"��9��1

The Ganga Parikrama Yatra,an initiative of veterans of

armed forces and severalorganisations to rejuvenateriver Ganga under the AtulyaGanga Mission, was flagged offby the Group HeadquartersVaranasi ‘A’ at Subeh-e-Banaras,Assi here on Sunday. TheGanga Parikrama Yatra wasreceived by NCC cadets, PIStaff, Officers of GroupHeadquarters Varanasi ‘A’ andcivil dignitaries here.

Subeh-e-Banaras team atvenue presented booklets andleaflets. Ganga Parikrama Yatrateam was also greeted by thelocal visitors present there.Subeh-e-Banaras team there-after escorted the yatra toSurya Haveli for their nightstay. Retired Lt Col HemLohmi, founder of the Atulya

Ganga said, ‘the motive behindthe parikrama is to spread themessage to protect and con-serve river Ganga from pollu-tion as it is one of the most pol-luted rivers in the world.’

All the arrangements atthe Subeh-e-Banaras were con-ducted by 3 UP Armd Sqn

NCC, BHU, Varansi Officer,JCO, PI Staff & civil staff.

DHARNA : Extendingtheir support to the ongoingagitation of the farmers at theborders of national capital inprotest against the three farmlaws, the activists of SuheldevBharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP)

on Sunday staged a token dhar-na at Shastry Ghat, here anddemanded, the governmentshould repeal the black laws.

The government at Centrebrought the agriculture laws tobenefit the capitalists and it isdenying roll backing theseblack laws under their pressure,the agitated activists blamedadding, the SBSP willcontinue supporting thefarmer’s stir until these laws arerepealed. No government couldsurvive while showing the atti-tude of dictatorship, they saidblaming, the Yogi Governmentis working under the pressureof the Central Government.They justified the act of DelhiChief Minister Arvind Kejriwalto tear the copies of farm laws.Among those who joined thetoken dharna were ShashiPratap Singh and JagdeshwarRajbhar.

8��1�� 9��3��

�� +�� !"� # #

�;$$2��;1?21+�'(�)�#*�

MP Anupriya Patel hasdirected the officials to

take the advice of farmers tooin running the canals andincorporate their suggestionsbefore finalising the schedule.These views were expressed bythe MP while chairing themeeting of the DistrictDevelopment Coordinationand Monitoring Committee inthe meeting hall of JilaPanchayat on Saturday.

Addressing the meetingthe MP made it clear thatthose seeking pension underwelfare schemes should not beharassed at any stage and allapplications should be dealtwith transparency and all ofthem should be compiled at theblock level. The MP directedChief Medical Officer (CMO)Dr Prabhu Dayal Gupta toactivate the ANM centres andensure their stay at their respec-tive headquarters positively.The CMO was directed too toexpedite the preparation of

golden cards and distributethem to the genuine benefi-ciaries. The BSA was directedto get the high-tension electricwires removed from the schoolbuildings as a drive and contacther if there was any problem inthe work. The MP made itclear that the suggestion of thepeople’s representatives shouldbe sought in the developmentalactivities taken under PrimeMinister Mining Area Welfare

Scheme. In the meeting allpoints related to welfare anddevelopment were discussedand the MP directed the officialsconcerned to ensure the avail-ability of benefits to the eligiblepersons. The meeting was alsoattended by District MagistrateSushil Kumar Patel, ChiefDevelopment Officer (CDO),Avinash Singh, PD, DRDA,Rishimuni Upadhyay and otherdistrict level officials.

�;$$2��;1?21+� $+��,-#*�

General Manager of NorthEastern Railway (NER)

Vinay Kumar Tripathi made athorough inspection of themechanical workshop here onSaturday. On the occasionPrincipal Chief MechanicalEngineer (PCME) ArvindKumar Pandey, ChiefWorkshop Engineer BS

Dohare, Chief WorkshopM a n a g e r / M e c h a n i c a lWorkshop Atul Chandra Besraalong with senior railway offi-cials were present.

At the beginning of theinspection, GM Vinay KumarTripathi inaugurated the cutoutof steam loco and observed the3D model of the mechanicalworksop. While inspecting themachine shop of the mechan-ical workshop he inauguratedthe hydraulic shock absorbertesting machine by cutting theribbon. He inspected the main-tenance of LHB coaches andconversion of NMG coaches insmithy shop. Inspecting thewheel shop, Tripathi instruct-ed the officials concerned tocomplete the maintenancework of wheel turning androller bearing by ensuring qual-ity. He made a thoroughinspection of the computerisedgreasing work in roller bearingsand observed the springs usedin LHB coaches in the springshop as well as directed the offi-cials concerned to pay specialattention with caution to itstagging and painting. Whileinspecting the bogie shopTripathi expressed happinessover the maintenance of theultra-modern fiat bogie. Forgiving information to the depotconcerned online the GM ded-icated the FBIMS software onthe occasion. While inspectingthe air brake shop he observed

the methodology of air brakeoverhauling of LBH andMEMU coaches and also inau-gurated the computerised DBtest bench. While inspectingthe shell shop, the GM gaveinstructions for the change ofcomposite head stock and bet-ter maintenance of various ele-ments of welding, safety equip-ment and water tank. Duringthe inspection, GM inaugurat-

ed the renovated air-condi-tioned staff canteen for theconvenience of the workshopworkers as well as observed theheritage coach established inthe mechanical workshop. TheGM closely inspected theQuality Control Departmentand the Chemical and MetalLaboratory (CMT Lab).During the last phase of theinspection, the GM by planti-ng sapling in the park of theadministrative building showedhis commitment towards envi-ronmental protection. Afterthis in a meeting with theprincipal chief mechanicalengineer, chief workshop man-ager, chief workshop engineerbesides senior railway officialsof the Mechanical department,he gave very important sug-gestions to increase the quali-ty and productivity of mechan-ical workshop.

While addressing the meet-ing, Tripathi said that pro-duction and other works in theworkshop were satisfactory. Inorder to make LHB springfailure negligible he instructedto find new ways and the causealong with Research Designs &Standards Organisation(RDSO). He said that no fail-ure of bearings was a proof ofgood working of the workshop.The mechanical workshop wasnot short of resources, he said.“We had so many resourcesthat we can build anything,” he

said. To increase the out-turn,the GM emphasised on per-formance with quality. GMcongratulating the ChiefWorkshop Manager for bettermaintenance of workshop,announced a collective awardof �50,000. On the occasionthe GM released the bookbased on the mechanical work-shop, met the office-bearers ofvarious railway unions andgave an assurance to considerthe problems of the railwaymensympathetically.

CANCELLATION: Dueto the ongoing farmers’ agita-tion in Punjab, the cancellationof the following trains will bedone by the railway adminis-tration, Chief Public RelationsOfficer (CPRO) Pankaj KumarSingh said. The 05211Darbhanga-Amritsar specialtrain to run from Darbhangaon December 21 will remaincancelled. Likewise the 05212Amritsar-Darbhanga specialtrain to run from Amritsar onDecember 23 will remain can-celled.

ACTION TAKEN: TheRailway Protection Force(RPF), NER, makes constantefforts to protect passengersand provide them better trav-el facilities. In the samesequence in the month ofNovember the RPF took effec-tive action by providinghumanitarian assistance, par-ticipating in joint ticket check-ing campaign, launching adrive against poison pedlars,acting against reservation toutsand alarm chain-pulling etc.During the aforesaid periodstolen signal cable worth �30lakh was recovered. Effectiveaction was taken against reser-vation touts at 10 places in dif-ferent areas of NER. Besides 13reservation touts were arrestedand a large number of reservedtickets were recovered.Moreover, two mobile phonethieves were arrested. Afterrecovering the cell phones ofpassengers they were handedover to them. The RPF recov-ered unclaimed goods in vari-ous trains throughout themonth and handed over thelost luggage of passengers in 36cases. Moreover as many as 31lost children were recoveredand handed over to theirrespective guardians and ChildLines. In addition, active sup-port was given in joint ticketchecking.

�:. 8�� 1��

+,-��%�! �#�� #��**��"'�

1��!��)��;$$2��;1?21+�'(�)�#*�

Valuables worth lakhs werestolen from a jewellery

shop in Purushottampur mar-ket under Chunar police sta-tion. According to a report,Ramsagar Singh, a resident ofSahaspura village has a jew-ellery shop in Purushottampurmarket. After closing it onFriday he went to his house. OnSaturday when he opened it hewas taken aback when he foundsomeone had sneaked into itfrom the rear side by drilling ahole in its wall and valuables

were lying scattered there. Heinformed the area police aboutit and gave a list of the stolenitems, �65,000 in cash. Thepolice registered a case in thisconnection and was investi-gating it.

ROADS INAUGURAT-ED: MLA City RatnakarMishra while inaugurating fourroads costing more than �1crore in Rajarshinagar Colonyon Saturday claimed that in allthe projects their quality hadbeen kept on priority. Heappealed to people to informhim if any project was found

below standard in his con-stituency. He said that everyvoter of his constituency had theright to inquire about the qual-ity of the construction and ifthere was lack of transparency hewas ready to take action. Theinauguration of the roads wasperformed amidst the chantingof Vedic shlokas by a team ofSanskrit scholars and ‘puja’ wasdone prior to the unveiling ofplaques. Prominent amongthose who graced the functionwere KK Dubey, DhanendraPandey, Ramji Agrawal, andAlankar Jaiswal.

�;$$2��;1?21+� .+/0-�1��

Under the guidance of thechairperson of Jyotsana

Mahila Samiti of NorthernCoalfields Limited (NCL)’sheadquarters Sangeeta Sinha,its vice-chairperson Dr SunitaKumari, Suchandra Sinha andLakshmi Dubey sweaters weredistributed in CETI, Jagmorwaand Kolan Basti-situatedSanskar Kendras recently. Thisdistribution was done keeping

in mind the increasing cold.A total of 97 children werebenefitted. The JyotsanaMahila Samiti had in thepast too done many worksto cater to the needs of chil-dren in Sanskar Kendras.On the occasion the chil-dren were made aware ofthe methods to avoid coldand advised to wear masks,wash hands frequently andfollow social distancing toprevent Covid-19.

��!�� 4��

13�"��$�!�$��'��!��1"�$�"��!�"$

�� .��"��

Afire broke out in a house inGujaini under Govind

Nagar police station due toleakage in cooking gas cylinderon Sunday morning.

The fire gutted the entirehousehold goods. The local res-idents somehow managed tothrow the burning LPG cylin-der out on the street and con-trolled the flames.

Rickshaw-puller RamKishore is a tenant in the houseof Dipu in Gujaini A Block. OnSunday morning, when he wascooking, the gas exhausted.After replacing the cylinder,when he lit the stove, a firebroke out due to gas leakage.The fire soon spread to otherparts of the room and guttedthe household goods.

When Ram Kishore raisedan alarm and ran out of hishouse, the local residentsrushed to the spot and afterinforming the police controlroom, made efforts to extin-guish the fire.

Scared of sudden explosionof the cylinder, nobody daredto enter the house.

The neighboursextinguished the fire by pour-ing water from their sub-mersible pumps after aroundone hour.

�� .��"��

Kanpur DivisionalCommissioner Raj

Shekhar, while addressing ameeting on the proposed outerring road at his camp officehere, directed the NHAI andconsultant team to modify thealignments as per the prelimi-nary discussions in the next 72hours.

He said once this was donethe consultant team would visitKanpur Nagar next week andremain stationed for two daysto finalise the alignment inconsultation with the KDA

and the district administration.He said once this was done,

the next meeting with theNHAI chairman and the chiefsecretary would be arranged bythe administration in Delhi andLucknow respectively.

He said meanwhile theNHAI, district administrationand KDA officials would workout various models to financethe project and to make itmore viable.

The presentation on theproposed alignment was madby the NHAI team before thedivisional commissioner andthe detailed discussions

focused on the pros and consof both.

The second proposal of101 km was found suitable withsome officials suggestedchanges in the alignment.

The DC said that the outerring road would have

seven railway over bridges(ROB) and five small bridgesand would involve around 103-108 villages depending upon onthe final alignment.

Shekhar said that out of thetotal 101 km proposed align-ment, the Mandhana to Bhauti22-km stretch would be takenup as priority section.

Later the team visited bothsites of Mandhana and Bhautialong with all NHAI and otherofficials concerned.

The DC said the alignmentwas found to be good and hadbeen done keeping in view theminimum removal of existingstructures or avoiding them .

Prominent among thosewho formed the team wereKDA VC, ADM (FR), ADM(LA), NHAI regional officer,KDA chief engineer, NHAIproject directors of Kanpurand Kannauj, officials of NHAIconsultant, and KDA townplanner.

�� .��"��

The Kanpur Private SchoolsAssociation, during its

maiden annual convention atKDMA, decided that for theteaching work to be carried outsmoothly in schools it wouldstrictly adopt the principle of‘no fees no examinations, nopromotions, no TCs’.

It said that if this principlewas not adopted then it wouldlead to grave financial problemsfor the schools.

National IndependentSchool Alliance PresidentKulbhushan Sharma said thatalthough the COVID-19 erawas a crisis for every segmentof the country and to recoverfrom it was a big challenge, yetteaching work had been doneefficiently in coordination withparents, school managementand government.

He said the new educationpolicy was welcome but itfailed to take note of how topreserve the right to educationin times of disaster.

He said the biggest prob-lem while imparting onlineeducation was that the poorchildren who did not haveaccess to electronic devices

were deprived of their right toeducation and this had to beconsidered in the right earnestwhile maintaining the qualityand continuity.

Addressing the meeting,Rahul Kesarwani, secretary,the Confederation of Schools,Meerut, mooted the formationof such organisations andappealed for full supportfrom the parents. He addedthat similar approach wasexpected from the tutors aswell.

The other members tookup the issue of financial crisisfaced by schools which had feesas the sole means to run the

institution. They also said over50 per cent of the teachers hadbeen retrenched and the exist-ing teachers were working onsalary between 50 per centand 80 per cent.

They said when the gov-ernment school teachers weregetting full salary since March2020, then why were the privateschool teachers forced to suf-fer although the quality ofeducation was far more supe-rior in private schools.

World Education Councilfounder Sunita Gandhi praisedthe NEP.

CBSER, Etawah, coordi-nator Ram Mohan also

addressed the meeting. KPSA general secretary

and CBSE coordinatorBalwinder Singh read out thereport.

Prominent among thosewho took part in the meetingwere Nagendra Swarup,Mukhtarul Amin, KumkumSwarup, Yusuf Baig, SubodhKatiyar, Prateek Katiyar,Gurcharan Singh, BhawnaKapoor and DipendraChauhan.

P E N S I O N E R S ’DEMANDS : Members ofPensioners Forum have unan-imously decided to send a let-ter to Prime Minister NarendraModi to apprise him abouttheir problems.

In a virtual meeting heldon the occasion of PensionersDay, forum’s general secretaryAnand Awasthi they weredemanding increase of 20 percent pension after 20 years ofretirement in four instalments,LTC facility after retirement,treatment of pensioners underESI scheme, hike in pension asper the recommendations ofthe Koshiyari Committee 2012and release of dearnessallowance lying suspendedsince January.

�� .��"��

Chief Medical Officer Dr AKMishra said that as per the

directive of the government,the administration had formed100 teams for the COVID-19vaccination drive and in thefirst phase, 50 teams would bedeployed and their numberwould be increased gradually.

He said the details of allthose who would be vacci-nated would be fed in theCOVINapp.

The CMO said in the firstphase, GSVM MedicalCollege, private medical col-leges, CHCs, PHCs, urbanPHCs had been included andthe sites had been earmarked.He said the first phase of thevaccination drive wouldtake off from January 1, 2021and continue till January 4,2021.

He said after 28 days ofthe vaccination, the drivewould be relaunched onJanuary 29, 30 and 31 , 2021.He said each person would gettwo doses at a gap of 28 days.

He said all necessarypreparations had been madeand the moment the govern-ment gave a green signal, thecampaign would take off.

He said 900-litre ice linedrefrigerator (ILR) was readyand five more ILRs were aboutto reach the city in a shorttime.

He said the drive wouldalso be carried out in the ruralareas as well and would beunder strict monitoring ofthe officials.

He said the special train-ing on vaccinating a personhad been completed and theteam was waiting for the gov-ernment nod.

03�� .��"��

Kanpur Nagar reported 41more coronavirus positive

cases on Sunday evening. ChiefMedical Officer Dr Anil KMishra said that 41 more peo-ple had tested positive forcoronavirus infection betweenSaturday evening and Sundayevening taking the tally ofconfirmed cases to 31,831cases. He said that 4 patientswere discharged from hospi-tal. He said no COVID-19death in the city was report-ed till Sunday eveningkeeping the death toll to 809.The CMO said at present 655active cases were undergoingtreatment. Dr Mishra said3313 samples were sent fortesting in the city. Two deathsdated November 21 and 24 hadbeen missed on the portalwhich were included puttingthe total to 811 as on date.

��-�� .�/��1��.��.��

1)��-7:,��'��&�� '��

*&-��

(�� !�� -�!6��

:�7:�� '�� '�� .��"��

ASHA workers’ organisa-tion held a state-level con-

vention at Bal Bhawan inPhoolbagh on Saturday.

Chief Medical Officer DrAnil Kumar Mishra inaugu-rated the convention whichwas chaired by Provident FundOrganisation National AdvisorRajesh Kumar Shukla.

Convenor AbhaChaturvedi, while welcomingthe guests, spoke on uniting theASHA workers and launchingcampaign for their leadershiptraining.

She said the Hind MahilaSabha, in association with theinternational organisation PSI,was uniting the ASHA workersand they were being apprisedof their rights andfacilities/allowances allowableto them.

Many district units of thestate had handed over theircharter of demands to therespective CMOs, she said.

Addressing the conven-tion, local unit presidentArchana Mishra highlightedthe problems of ASHA work-ers and demanded hike intheir honorarium up to Rs15,000 per month.

She demanded timely pay-ment of incentives and otherallowances and presented theannual report of the organisa-tion.

On this occasion, a 21-point charter of demands washanded over to the chief med-ical officer. Anita Verma,Shabana, Urmila Dixit andNeeta also described the prob-lems of the ASHA workersand urged the chief guest toresolve them.

Dr Anil Kumar Mishraassured the ASHA organisa-tion’s leaders that theirdemands would be consideredsoon and a women’s cell wouldbe set up in Kanpur Nagar.

He also felicitated ASHAworkers for their ground-levelwork during the COVID-19pandemic.

JK Pandey (Railway), RaviShukla, Rakesh Mishra, RamaKant Mishra, DN Malviya,Dinesh Singh Bhole and SeemaAgarwal also praised the effortsof ASHA workers during theCOVID-19 pandemic andurged the chief guest to resolvetheir problems.

In his presidential speech,Rajesh Kumar Shukla lent hissupport to ASHA workers’fight and urged the chief guestto resolve their problems onpriority.

�� !�� 3�� !��

The Federation of IndianExport Organisation PresidentSharad Kumar Saraf has writ-ten a letter to the Union gov-ernment, urging it to include

the valid points of the FIEO inthe forthcoming Budget 2021-22.

He said as overseas mar-keting was a big challenge forexporters because it entailed avery high cost, there was needto bring double tax deductionscheme for internationalisa-tion to allow exporters todeduct against their taxableincome, twice the qualifyingexpenses incurred for approvedoverseas activities, includingmarket preparation, explo-ration, promotion and pres-ence. He said a ceiling of US$5,00,000 may be put under thescheme so that the investmentand tax deduction were limit-ed.

Saraf said the marketingsupport under Market AccessInitiative was very small andengendered the need to createan Export Development Fundwith a corpus of 0.5 per cent ofthe country’s exports for help-ing the micro, small and medi-um enterprises (MSME).

He said Section 35(2AB) ofthe Income Tax Act may berelooked so as to provide taxdeduction not only on researchand development (R&D) butalso on product developmentwhich was key in exports andshould be encouraged.

The FIEO president saidthe tax deduction on R&Dexpenditure, which had comedown from 200 per cent to 100

per cent, may be restored to itsoriginal position as R&Dinvestment in India wasextremely low and most of theR&D was being done at thebehest of the government or insectors like pharma where itwas a Hobson’s choice.

He said the industry wel-comed reduction in corporatetax to 15 per cent for newinvestors and 25 per cent toexisting investors and this hadcreated widespread disparitywith non-corporate MSMEswho were subject to higher tax-ation of 35 per cent.

He underlined the need forencouragement to the MSMEs,removal of anomaly in respectof leave encashment for non-government employees andSection 10 (10AA (i) of theIncome Tax Act.

Saraf said one of the rea-sons for fluctuations in India’sexport performance had beenthe lack of consistency inindustrial or manufacturinggrowth. He mooted that thegovernment may consider tointroduce a scheme in linewith Sabka Vishwas. He said ashealth sector was one of thefastest growing services sectorbut it required close to tree mil-lion beds to reach the target ofthree beds per 1,000 people by2025 and about 1.5 milliondoctors and 2.5 million nurs-es to meet the growing demandof the sector.

��3)-+';�� <��

��

�� ,�� !"� # #

New Delhi: Prime MinisterNarendra Modi will deliverthe inaugural address at theIndia International ScienceFestival (IISF) on Tuesday viavideo conferencing, the Prime

Minister's Office (PMO) saidon Sunday.

To promote scientific tem-per in society, the Ministry ofScience and Technology andMinistry of Earth Sciences in

association with VijnanaBharati conceptualised theIndia International ScienceFestival.

Prime Minister Modi willdeliver the inaugural address at

the India International ScienceFestival-2020 on December 22at 4:30 pm via video confer-encing, the Prime Minister'sOffice said.

Union Minister Harsh

Vardhan will also be present onthe occasion, it said.

Launched in 2015, the IISFis a celebration to promote sci-ence and technology.

The aim is to engage the

public with science, celebratethe joy of science and showhow Science, Technology,Engineering and Mathematics(STEM) can provide solutionsto improve lives.

The goal of IndiaInternational Science Festival-2020 is to help the youth devel-op 21st century skills, with afocus on scientific knowledge,creativity, critical thinking,

problem-solving, and team-work.

A long-term objective is toencourage students to studyand work in scientific fields.

PTI

�5�� ,��,��

New Delhi: At least two dozen"innocent" accused in theFebruary riots in northeastDelhi which broke out follow-ing clashes over the CAA havemanaged to secure bail withlegal help from the JamiatUlama-i-Hind, the organisa-tion said.

JUH President ArshadMadani said: "Our legal strug-gle will continue for justice toall innocent people."

The Jamiat, in a statement,

said that the Delhi High Courthas granted conditional bail toRehan Pardhan, ArshadQayyum, Irshad Ahmed,Muhammad Rehan, Reyast Ali,Shah Alam, Rashid Saifi andZubair Ahmed while accusedZubair Ahmed has beenreleased from jail.

Earlier, bail was granted toAli, Shah Alam, Saifi, Qayyum,Mohammad Shadab,Mohammad Abid and otheraccused by the Karkarduma

Sessions Court.Advocate Zaheer-ud-Din

Babar Chauhan and his assis-tant, Advocate Dinesh,appeared for the accused onbehalf of Jamiat.

Welcoming the bail to 24accused, Madani said that theJamiat's intention is not only tosecure release on bail, but "anattempt to bring justice to theinnocent people who have beenarrested in the riots on falsecharges".

He said that their team oflawyers is working on thispoint and release of the accusedon bail is the first success of thelawyers "but our legal strugglewill continue until such peopleare given complete justice".

Madani also contendedthat reports of some newspa-pers and human rights grouplike Amnesty Internationalhave uncovered the "true story"of the Delhi riots.

"The truth has come out to

the world that in the name ofinvestigation and action, thereal culprits have been saved bythe police, and the innocentpeople who did nothing in theriots have been arrested. JamiatUlama-i-Hind could notremain silent on this blatantinjustice, so it decided to pro-vide free legal aid to the victimsand formed a regular panel ofexperienced professionals," hesaid.

The JUH chief said that his

organisation has, for the last 70years, been demanding a strictlaw against violence, atrocitiesand riots based on religion inwhich the district administra-tion should be held account-able. He said that "there is nodoubt that Delhi riots wereplanned and communal forceswere working behind it, but itwas unfortunate that the inves-tigation file was almost closedby arresting innocent people".

IANS

+�! �.�� #/�0 '��!��#��"�� %�& #�("�'��#��!�� '1��234

From Page 1The Mamata Banerjee

Government epitomised“politicisation of administra-tion, criminalisation of politicsand institutionalisation of cor-ruption”, Union Home MinisterAmit Shah on Sunday toldreporters launching a blisteringattack on the Bengal rulingparty Trinamool Congress.

Calling for a change ofpower the Home Minister sin-gled out the Trinamool

Congress’ bid to focus on itsachievements saying despitetall claims Bengal hadremained a laggard in everyfield and it was only PrimeMinister Narendra Modi whocould restore the State to its for-mer glory. He also said a son ofsoil will be BJP’ Bengal CMcandidate.

Though at a little distancedistrict Trinamool Congresspresident Anubrata Mondalmaking a desperate attempt tosqueeze out some attentionfrom Shah’s rally — with acounter street march not evenone-tenth in size of the first one— dismissed the saffron pro-cession as one “filled with peo-ple ferried in from outside,” thechock-a-block balconies andbrimming terraces said it all.

“BJP aschei … bhai ebaarguchiye phel, (the BJP is defi-nitely comingnow arrange foryour exit),” Samir Roy, a TMCworker from Nichupatti,said indesperation: “Eshob CP(M)erkhela (this is all CPI(M)’s gameplan).”

The women like Pragyashowed concerns for the HomeMinister’s securitywondering“what is the need to move in anopen vehicle … there are bad-people in the prowl,” even asher companion Gayitri said“the securitypeople must havesanitized the entire area… eachperson is undersurveillance.”

Arindam, a school teacherBandh Goda, said “if the crowdsignifiessomething then wewill be able to caste our vote …we have not beenable to do sofor the past several years.” Hisfriend from DangaliKali Tolasaid “Bolpur was earlier knownfor Shantiniketan … today itisknown for a local TMC politi-cian who openly threatens tobombpolice vehicles and chopoff opposition hands … Onehopes the HomeMinister willbe able to stop this.”

But then others people inthe crowd like the gentlemenfrom NatunPalli and SriNiketan wondered whether theBJP would be able tobringabout change because in2016 too we saw Left rallieslonger and biggerthan that ofthe Trinamool but people likeus were never allowed to vote.”

One of them --- a workerat a local rice mill --- whorefused to share his nameinformed how “Bolpur has aminority vote share of about 35per cent” and how in the 2019Parliamentary elections theBJP and TMC fought neckand neck with the former lead-ing in 5 out of 11Assemblyseats.

“The TMC was barely 3per cent ahead of the BJP … ifthis huge turnout means some-thing then this time they willoverwhelm Mamata Banerjee

From Page 1The move comes as the

intra-party feud reached climaxin the ruling NCP which hasbeen witnessing months longtussle between two factions,one led by 68-year-old Oli andParty’s chairman and anotherled by 66-year-old “Prachanda”,also the executive chair of theparty and former premier.

Expressing dissatisfactionover Oli’s move to dissolve theHouse, seven ministers fromhis Cabinet resigned in protest.Those who put in their papersare minister for science andeducation Giriraj ManiPokharel, minister for energyand water resources BarshamanPun, minister for agricultureGhanashyam Bhushal, minister

for labour and employmentRameshwor Raya Yadav, min-ister for tourism YogeshBhattarai, minister for forestand environment Shakti Basnetand minister for drinking waterand sanitation Bina Magar.

The seven ministers,belonging to the Prachandafaction, announced their res-ignation in a joint statementissued during a press confer-ence here.

The Nepali Congress (NC),the main Opposition inParliament, said that Oli’s rec-ommendation to dissolve theHouse was against the provi-sions and spirit of theConstitution, and the partywill strongly oppose the move.“We have taken this move as

Oli’s final attempt to fulfil hisauthoritarian desire,” the NCsaid in a statement issued byparty’s spokesman BishwaPrakash Sharma.

“It is condemnable to pushthe country towards instabilitybecause of intra-party conflictamidst the Covid-19 pandem-ic.” The party also called thedecision “unconstitutional andimpulsive”, and appealed toPresident Bhandari to fulfil herrole as a guardian of theConstitution by rejecting it.

Spokesperson of the NCPNarayankaji Shrestha termedOli’s move as “undemocratic,anti-constitutional and auto-cratic”. Meanwhile, the NCP’sStanding Committee meetingtermed Oli’s move as “uncon-

stitutional, undemocratic andbased on his personal whim”,and recommended to take a dis-ciplinary action against theprime minister, StandingCommittee member GaneshShah told PTI.

The recommendation foraction will be forwarded to theCentral Committee meetingwhich will be held onWednesday, he said. Of thetotal 44 members of theStanding Committee, 27 werepresent. Oli and his supportersskipped the meeting.

“The leaders have consult-ed about the problems causedby the decision of PM Oli,” saidPrachanda’s press advisorBishnu Sapkota. Prachanda hadvisited Oli’s residence on Sunday

morning, but he had returnedwithout meeting the PrimeMinister, media reports said.

Senior NCP leader andformer premier Madhav KumarNepal termed the move asunconstitutional.

Constitutional experts havealso termed the move as uncon-stitutional. As per theConstitution, there is no provi-sion of dissolving Parliament bythe Prime Minister of a major-ity government, they said,adding that it is likely to be chal-lenged in court.

As long as there is a possi-bility of forming the govern-ment, there is no provision todissolve the House, said consti-tutional expert Dinesh Tripathi.

Another expert Bhimarjun

Acharya termed it a constitu-tional coup. Former premier DrBaburam Bhattarai said: “Byinviting political uncertaintylike before, this decision hastorn apart our effort to improvethe system from theConstitution Assembly. This isagainst democratic values andthe Constitution”.

The Prachanda andMadhav Nepal faction had beenurging Oli to quit the post ofPrime Minister amidst growingaccusation and counter-accu-sation between the two factionsin the NCP.

In June, Oli, known for hispro-China leanings, claimedthat efforts were being made tooust him after his governmentredrew the country’s political

map by incorporating threestrategically key Indian territo-ries. India had termed as“untenable” the “artificialenlargement” of the territorialclaims by Nepal after itsParliament unanimouslyapproved the new political mapof the country featuringLipulekh, Kalapani, andLimpiyadhura areas which Indiamaintains belong to it.

The NCP, formed after themerger between Oli led CPN-UML and Prachanda-led CPN(Maoist Centre) in May 2018, isdivided along the two factionsled by Oli and Prachanda. ThePrachanda faction enjoys amajority in the nine-memberSecretariat, the highest decision-making body of the party.

From Page 1German officials, mean-

while, were considering “seriousoptions” regarding incomingflights from the UK, but have notyet taken action.

The Czech Republic,meanwhile, imposed stricterquarantine measures from peo-ple arriving from the U.K.

The EU governments saythey are acting in response totougher measures imposedSaturday in London and its sur-rounding areas by British PrimeMinister Boris Johnson. Heimmediately put those regionsinto a new Tier 4 level of restric-

tions, saying that a fast-movingnew variant of the virus that is70 per cent more transmissiblethan existing strains appears tobe driving the rapid spread ofnew infections in London andsouthern England.

“There’s no evidence to sug-gest it is more lethal or causesmore severe illness,” Johnsonsaid, or that vaccines will be lesseffective against it.

Belgian Prime MinisterAlexander De Croo said Sunday said he was issuingthe flight ban for 24 hours start-ing at midnight “out of precau-tion.” “There are a great many

questions about this new muta-tion and if it is not already on themainland,” he said. He hoped tohave more clarity by Tuesday.The World Health Organisationtweeted late Saturday that “We’rein close contact with UK officialson the new #COVID19 virusvariant.”

It promised to update gov-ernments and the public asmore is learned about this vari-ant.

The new strain of coron-avirus was identified in south-eastern England in Septemberand has been circulating in thearea since, a WHO official told

the BBC on Sunday.“What we understand is

that it does have increased trans-missibility, in terms of its abili-ty to spread,” said Maria VanKerkhove, WHO’s technical leadon COVID-19.

Studies are under way tobetter understand how fast itspreads and and whether “it’srelated to the variant itself, or acombination of factors withbehavior,” she said.

She said the strain had alsobeen identified in Denmark, theNetherlands and Australia,where there was one case thatdid not spread further. AP

%� �� &��& �'�($��)�� &� ��

�� -��.� /��%��0-�'�� 1��'��

4��&��4��$��

From Page 1“Older patients still have

the highest risk of dying, butyounger patients with obesityor hypertension have the high-est risk of dying relative toother patients their age with-out these conditions,” said thestudy lead author KatherineGoodman, a postdoctoral fel-low at UMSOM.

“Doctors may want to bepaying extra attention to theseyounger patients when they’rehospitalised to ensure theydetect any complicationsquickly,” the study said.

The researchers alsofound some good news intheir study findings. Deathrates among hospitalisedpatients have fallen dramati-cally since the early weeks ofthe pandemic in April.

This is likely due to theavailability of new treatmentsand more knowledge in themedical community on howto properly manage and carefor hospitalised patients.

��0�#��"'#��8�0�!�!�"��

New Delhi: As global warmingaffects the Himalayas, theMinistry of Earth Sciences isplanning to measure the depthof glaciers in the region toassess their volume and gaugethe water available in them,officials said on Sunday.

The project will start nextsummer, sometime in June-July, said, M Rajeevan, theministry's secretary.

Ravichandran, the Directorof the National Centre forPolar and Ocean Research(NCPOR), which will executethe project, said the country'sremote and high-altituderesearch centre, Himansh, is

also studying the Himalayanclimate. The centre was estab-lished in 2016. "The planis to first study seven glaciersin the Chandra river basin," hesaid. The Chandra river is amajor tributary of the Chenabriver which itself is a tributaryof the Indus. The Himalayanglaciers are a major source ofwater for rivers originatingfrom there. The Himalayanrivers are also a lifeline for theIndo-Gangetic plains, hometo several million people.

The NCPOR director saidwhile the area of the glaciers isalready known with the help ofsatellites, what needs to be

known is the volume. "The purpose of studying

the depth of the glaciers is tounderstand the volume. Thiswill also help us understand theavailability of water andwhether the glaciers areincreasing or shrinking,"Ravichandran added.

He said they will be usinga radar technology that usesmicrowave signals. It can pen-etrate through the ice andreach the rocks, somethingwhich the satellite images can-not do. The signals, afterreflecting on the rocks canhelp understand the depth.

PTI

5��#�1'"��#��6 "��! �% 1#��*�4�6"'")"�&'"�� !��#��"�� "# !�"�"�'"(�'�#)

New Delhi: In a major relief tocentral government pensionersamid the COVID-19 pandem-ic, the date for submission oflife certificate has been extend-ed up to February 28 next year,Union Minister Jitendra Singhsaid on Sunday.

"This decision has beentaken considering all the sen-sitivities to avoid pandemicrisk emanating from gatheringof crowds at the pension dis-bursing banks," said Singh,the Minister of State forPersonnel.

PTI

�� !��,�� !��

�!�� 8�

The chargesheet filed by theSpecial Investigation

Team(SIT) probing the allegedforgery of documents to defameCardinal George Alencherry,head of Catholic Church in theState against three priests and amember of the laity before aKochi Court on Friday hasgiven rise to more suspicionsamong the believers.

Various wings of the Churchare of the view that extremistorganizations have managed toinfiltrate into the Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese headedby the Cardinal and are influ-encing the decision makingprocess.

The allegations against the75-year-old Cardinal includeillegal dealings in the sale of landbelonging to the Archdiocese.The probe by the SIT of theKerala Police found that the doc-uments submitted by a group ofthree priests that include AntonyKallookkaran, Paul Thelekkat,Benny John Maramparambiland Adithya Z Valavi fromKochi (a post graduate in engi-neering who reportedly fabri-cated the documents at theinstance of the above men-tioned priests) were fake.

While the priests had man-aged to escape arrest by availinganticipatory bail, Adithya wasarrested by the police and thisled to some members of the laitycoming out in the open ques-tioning the stance of the Churchin the episode.

The SIT probe was based ona complaint by the Archdiocesethat some of the senior priests

had forged documents to tarnishthe image of the Cardinal. Thefour accused have been slappedwith charges of criminal con-spiracy, forgery, forgery for thepurpose of cheating, fraudu-lently use as genuine a forgeddocument, forgery for the pur-pose of harming reputation,cheating and causing disap-pearance of evidence of theIPC. “There are enough evi-dences to suggest that thesethree priests and some others aresupporting the jihadi elements.We have seen these three priestswith Jihadi links staging demon-strations over non-issues,” saidJaison Mazhuvancherry, a laityleader from Pulluvazhi.

A spokesperson of theChristian Action for SocialAction (CASA), an umbrellaorganisation fighting for therights of the community, saidthey were worried over thepresence of Islamic extremistactivists and leaders in some ofthe rallies and demonstrationsstaged by the laity. “TheseJehadis took part in these ralliesin large numbers. There areenough reasons for us to worryover their motives. Besides thethree priests mentioned in thecharge-sheet, there are morepersons behind the conspiracy,”he said.

He also pointed out thatwhen some nuns staged a sit-inin front of the Kerala HighCourt demanding the immedi-ate arrest of Bishop FrancoMulakkal, head of the JalandharDiocese, on charges of molesta-tion of a nun, various Islamicextremist organisations hadtaken part in the demonstration.

*��, $��$��&��5��!�'

�� 1��/��

ACentral Reserve PoliceForce (CRPF) trooper was

injured in a militant attack inJ&K's Anantnag district onSunday, police said. Militantshurled a grenade at a party ofthe security forces in Achabalarea of Anantnag in theevening.

�.*��

! �� ,� �

After the successful con-duct of the eight phase

long district developmentcouncil polls, which record-ed over 50 percent voterturnout in Jammu andKashmir, all eyes are now seton the performance of thecandidates belonging to theBharatiya Janta Party and thePeople's Alliance for GupkarDeclaration (PAGD).

Ahead of the counting ofvotes on December 22,Lieutenant Governor, ManojSinha Sunday congratulatedthe people of Jammu andKashmir and the electionmachinery for the successfulconduct of Distr ic tDevelopment Council (DDC)and Panchayat Elections inthe Union Territory.

“ Despite harsh weatherconditions, the polling sta-tions across the UT witnessedlong queues of enthusiasticvoters and people came out tovote in large numbers, withthe voter turnout percentageeven in the traditionally low

percentage areas registeringmanifold increase as com-pared to earl ier heldParliamentar y elect ions,which itself manifests thatfaith of the people of Jammuand Kashmir in the democ-ratic process has deepened”,he added.

He further said that withthe culmination of DDC elec-tions, the people of J&K will,for the first time in history,see a truly empowered grassroot democracy entailingdirect funding and decen-tralized decision making inthe planning and develop-ment of rural areas.

Compared to theKashmir region, where voterturnout between 35 to 40percent was recorded, theJammu region recorded 65 to70 percent polling.

Among all other politicalpart ies in the f ray theBharatiya Janta Party ran ahigh voltage campaign cen-tered around the perfor-mance of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi. The entirepoll campaign was micro

managed by the core group ofthe party to ensure victory fortheir party candidates.

BJP is also hoping to wina majority of seats in Jammuregion as West Pakistanirefugees, members of theValmiki community andGorkha community partici-pated in the polls for the firsttime. In Kashmir valley, partyis expected to improve itstally by making inroads inseveral pockets of centraland North Kashmir. Insidereports claimed, BJP mayend up winning around 10-14seats across 10 districts ofKashmir valley while it isexpected to win majorityseats across six districts ofJammu region.

On the other hand,PAGD is expected to garnermajority votes in Kashmirvalley. Congress and Jammuand Kashmir Apni Party rana relatively lacklustre cam-paign and may end up secur-ing third and fourth place inthe finally tally.

During the month longcampaign, BJP parachuted

star campaigners and unionministers to woo the elec-torate and on the other handcentral Congress leadersstayed away from the cam-paign.

Barr ing J&K Unitincharge Rajni Patil no othercentral leader visited Jammuand Kashmir to address pollmeetings. JKPCC Chief GAMir and Jammu based con-gress leaders were left to fendfor themselves.Even the topbrass of the Nat ionalConference including thefather son duo of Dr FarooqAbdullh, Omar Abdullahstayed away from the cam-paign meetings while formerparty MLA's ,ex-ministersran the party campaign intheir absence. Omar was rel-atively more active on thesocial media while Dr FarooqAbdullah only posted videomessages urging voters toelect PAGD candidates todefeat divisive agenda of theBJP.

Political observers track-ing the DDC polls told ThePioneer, “Impressive voter

turnout of over 50 percent inthese polls has silenced allthose critics who were raisingquestion marks over the tim-ing of the polls amid grow-ing unrest among theKashmiri population in theaftermath of reorganisation ofthe erstwhile state of Jammuand Kashmir and creation oftwo Union Territories onAugust 5, 2019”.

In their election cam-paign meetings BJP leadersmaintained, “The fight isbetween who will carry theTiranga in Jammu Kashmirand who will not protect it”.BJP leaders also targeted PDPleaders claiming they areopenly saying that they willnot hoist the national flaguntil Article 370 is restored”.

“ They are seekingChinese and Pakistani sup-port for restoration of Article370,” .

“The fight is betweennationalist forces and forceswho want disturbance in J&Kand also between those whowant normalcy and thosewho don’t want it. This is a

very special election whereon one hand, the BJP is fight-ing for the national flag whilethe others are Chinese andPakistan lovers.”

BJP leaders also tried toexpose the agenda of thePAGD leaders and accusedthem of diverting develop-ment funds meant for thewelfare of the people ofJammu and Kashmir. Theparty also sought votes on thedevelopment plank and per-formance of the Modi gov-ernment at the centre.

BJP leaders also wooedthe women electorate in a bigway across Jammu region toconsolidate its hold over itsvote bank.

They roped in SmritiIrani and other local womenleaders who campaignedaggressively and exposed thePAGD alliance which collec-tively deprived women oftheir property rights duringtheir term in office. On theother hand, PAGD leadersfocused on restoring state-hood and special status ofJammu and Kashmir.

�� " 22� #�� 345

Aizawl:Mizoram Governor P.S.Sreedharan Pillai has urgedPrime Minister Narendra Modito set up an All India Instituteof Medical Sciences (AIIMS) inthe state which is battling severaldreaded diseases includingHIV/AIDS, cancer, and malar-ia, an official statement said onSunday.

According to the statement,the Governor met Modi at thelatter's residence in the nation-al capital on Saturday and sub-mitted a memorandum for set-ting up of an AIIMS or at leastan AIIMS-like super specialityfacility in Mizoram.

The Prime Minister was

enlightened on key issues in thehealth sectors within Mizoramwith special highlights onHIV/AIDS, cancer, malaria,heart diseases, and neurologicalproblems among others, it said.

In the health sector, theGovernor suggested to thePrime Minister that the healthsector in Mizoram leaves a lot tobe desired and is still under-developed, with even the districtheadquarters falling behind inbasic amenities. Modi was alsoinformed that even in the statecapital, the hospitals do nothave adequate medical infra-structures for treatment of somecritically-ill patients.

+�7�!"6�5��!& ��,+�#�� #��1��+��#"#

�� 6�� !"� # #

��

The Pakistan-sponsored TheResistance Front (TRF), a

terror group floated by theJaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), hassaid police is its prime target inJammu & Kashmir and next onthe radar is the Government.

The TRF self-styled com-mander Irfan in a statementsaid, “The war we have wagedis in particular against theState Police because they areour real enemies and then theoccupying India.”

While urging his familymembers not to trace him, heexhorted the youth of Kashmir,especially those from Srinagar tobe ready for the so-called jehad.

The TRF statement furtherextended assurance that thosewho had recently met Irfanshould also be ready for actionas part of the self styledLiberation army of TRF.

TRF’s Irfan also sought toexpress solidarity with hisneighbour Peoples DemocraticParty (PDP) leader HajiParveez who had recently cir-culated a video in which he

claimed that Kashmiri armedfighters came to target him.

“But that is not the fact. Wehave nothing to do withParveez. If we had to targethim, it was quite easy. I saw himearly in the morning and Iwished him, so there was noquestion of him as our target.But, yes, the guards of state

police which accompaniedParveez were our target.Unfortunately there was only(policeman) one present at thespot when we targeted him,”the outfit said.

The JeM had late last yearfloated the TRF in order to pro-ject the Pakistan-sponsoredterrorism as a home grown

jehad and help Islamabad indenying its role for terrorism inIndia, sources said.

Post the Balakot strikesand Indian agencies’ bid toeliminate the JeM bossMaulana Masood Azharthrough poisonous injection bya set of compromised doctorsof the Pak military medicalcorps, the outfit has been dis-tancing itself from being seenas the key terror player in theregion, they added.

��

Refusing to give up, theIndian Medical Association

(IMA) has moved the SupremeCourt against a Central Councilof Indian Medicine (CCIM)order to authorise postgraduatepractitioners in specifiedstreams of Ayurveda system ofmedicine to be trained to per-form general surgical proce-dures. “The petition was filedon Saturday to urge the court toset aside or quash the amend-ment to regulations to thePostgraduate Ayurveda Surgeryby CCIM and declare that thecouncil does not have the pow-ers to include modern medicinein syllabus,” IMA president DrRajan Sharma said.

The move has drawn a lot ofcriticism from doctors of mod-ern medicine, leading to a seriesof protests by IMA membersacross the country this month.

Lakhs of doctors, includingthose employed in governmenthospitals, wore black armbandsat work and hit the streets insmall groups to agitate againstthe CCIM`s notification.

The Central Governmenthad allowed PG students ofAyurveda to perform variouskinds of general surgery andmedical procedures, includingorthopaedic, ophthalmology,ENT and dental, by notifyingan amendment in a gazettenotification the CCIM issued inNovember.

The latest amendmentallows PG Ayurveda students toreceive formal training for suchprocedures. The training mod-ules for surgical procedures

will be added to the curriculumof Ayurvedic studies.

The CCIM amended theIndian Medicine CentralCouncil (PostgraduateAyurveda Education)Regulations, 2016, to includethe aforementioned regulationto allow the PG students ofAyurveda system to practicegeneral surgery.

The IMA has been openlyopposing such policy moves bythe Centre, especially the plan tomix modern medicine with the

��

Prime Minister NarendraModi made a surprise visit

to Gurdwara Rakab Ganj onSunday and paid tributes toGuru Teg Bahadur, the ninthSikh guru, for his supremesacrifice.

Guru Teg Bahadur, whosedeath anniversary wasobserved on Saturday, was cre-mated at Gurudwara RakabGanj. Modi offered prayersduring his visit to the gurud-wara for which no police ban-dobast or traffic barriers were put in place torestrict movement of the com-mon man, official sources said.

The Prime Minister tweet-ed after his visit, “This morn-ing, I prayed at the historic

Gurdwara Rakab Ganj Sahib,where the pious body of SriGuru Teg Bahadur Ji was cre-mated. I felt extremely blessed.I, like millions around theworld, am deeply inspired bythe kindnesses of Sri GuruTeg Bahadur Ji.”

He also tweeted in Punjabiand noted that the Guru gavethe supreme sacrifice whiledefending Hindu religion andspread the message of univer-sal brotherhood. Hailed in reli-gious traditions as a defenderof Hindus and Sikhs, Guru TegBahadur was executed by theMughals for defying them.

In another tweet, Modisaid, “It is the special Kripa ofthe Guru Sahibs that we willmark the special occasion ofthe 400th Parkash Parv of Sri

Guru Teg Bahadur Ji duringour Government’s tenure. Letus mark this blessed occasionin a historic way and celebratethe ideals of Sri Guru TegBahadur Ji.”

The PM’s visit to one of themost popular gurdwarasamong the devotees in thenational capital assumes signif-icance as it comes amid intenseprotests by farmers, especiallyfrom Punjab, against the threefarm laws enacted by hisGovernment.

Modi has been at pains toexplain the benefits of farmreforms and often assuredfarmers that the existing gov-ernment mechanism to sup-port them, including mini-mum support price and agri-culture mandis, will continue.

��

As BJP has intensified it’s‘awareness campaign’

around the three new contro-versial farm laws, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi is tohave a virtual meet with thefarmers of Uttar Pradesh on thebirth anniversary of formerPrime Minister Atal BihariVajpayee on December 25.

Farmers agitation on theoutskirts of Delhi for scrappingfarm laws has entered 21stday. The NDA allies inRajasthan — RashtriyaLoktantrik Party (RLP) — indi-cated its plan to exit the allianceover the Central Laws after itschief and MP from Nagaur,Hanuman Beniwal announcedhis resignation from three dif-ferent committees ofParliament.

In his outreach to farmers,Modi has been accusing theOpposition of “misleading”farmers on the farm laws, the“mandi-system” and MinimumSupport Price. The PM hasasserted these will continuedespite the new contract farm-ing which has come into effectin last six months.

In the continuation of his“virtual dialogue” with thefarmers, Modi will have inter-action with the farmers of UPon December 25. The BJP iscurrently undertaking its“awareness” campaign over 700districts in the country aroundvillage “chaupals”, according tothe party. Central Ministers arepart of the programme whichmainly includes dispellingdoubts about three farm laws,contract farming and assuringfarmers that the “mandi-system”and the MSP will not be discon-tinued. The BJP will hold “kisansamvad” at over 2,500 places inUttar Pradesh.

UP BJP presidentSwatantra Dev Singh and partyleader Radha Mohan Singh,who is also State-in-charge,held a virtual meeting in thisregard with party office-bearersfrom parts of the UP. Radha

Mohan Singh charged theOpposition parties with spread-ing lies regarding the new farm laws.

Thousands of farmers,especially Sikhs from Punjaband from Haryana, have beenprotesting at Delhi bordersagainst the Farmers(Empowerment and

Protection) Agreement of PriceAssurance and Farm ServicesAct, 2020; the Farmers ProduceTrade and Commerce(Promotion and Facilitation)Act, 2020; and the EssentialCommodities (Amendment)Act 2020.

The stand-off between theagitating farmers and the

Centre is refusing to end withthe farmers demanding com-plete roll-back of farm laws andthe Government seeking themto walk mid-way and be satis-fied with key amendmentswhich Central Ministers arereportedly agreeing to in asmany as five-rounds of talksbetween the two sides.

"#$� ��6��*��

� ��>�$�#%B$�(#�!��"�!��%"��"�$�"��$"�!.�C��3"��3��"0��3" �!��$��"��#"��" "��$��1�"��#��'��"�$��(�"��"#��$�"�!��(�� !�"

� ��#�� $�%"��#(��'��$��"��.��&��!��(��%�"$��.�$��"##(��$��%��1��" "��'��"!(�%��$�B�"##�!4��"!

� ��>A$��%"��"#$��$�� &��$$�$�#�!"��(�3��$�� '��#�$��"��"��(�6��7�#�"!��"4��"�0��D3��"!��#(��#"��!�"0�!��3��#"��!��"�"$��"��!�%� ��$��"��"� ��

� ��,� ��"!�#"��#"$��(�"�%#�"��!��>��!��4��"��$�"�B$��$��!��$��"$�"�� 3�4��"!�"�!��#��$#"�"'"!��!��(�� $��#��%��$��!�".�$��$�$"�!

6��-$��$$6��+ �� &�� '��&:�� '��&�'�� &� '��

��=��,�� 3�/��,��

��4�.��5��!�� "��6��

�� ""�� #�� .�� 7�&�- ��8

��(� �� -�� ()

(� �� >��"+;��>�� -��+��8��?�� ()

�� 8��.�1��8��/��-�� ()

traditional systems of Ayurveda,Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani,Siddha, and Homoeopathy(AYUSH) in coming years.

Sharma had earlier saidthat an integrative system ofmedicine would create a“khichdi medical system” andproduce hybrid doctors.

The apex body of privatepractitioners of modern med-icine had also condemned theCentre’s ambitious “one nationone system” policy in medicaleducation and called it a cock-tail of disaster.

What’s commonamong the GreatIndian Hornbill,Indian LaburnumCassia that

blooms on the Golden ShowerTree, Coconut Tree, Elephant andPearlspot? These are all designat-ed as the State bird, State flower,State tree, State animal and Statefish, respectively, of Kerala.Another important common fac-tor is that all of them are facing thethreat of extinction due to wide-spread environmental destructionand massive deforestation.

Also, there has been no majorindustrialisation drive in the Stateas entrepreneurs think many a timebefore investing in the State. Keralamay be the only State in the coun-try where industrialists and entre-preneurs commit suicide becauseof the indifferent attitude of thebabus and their political masters.The State which claimed that it haseradicated the pandemic on the100th day of the reporting of thefirst incident is all set to face thethird wave, with Health MinisterKK Shailaja asking the people to getready for self-lockdown. This is thesituation in the State a day after theresults of the local body electionswere announced.

One is reminded of a cartoondrawn by the legendary RKLaxman in the early 1980s when KKarunakaran was the ChiefMinister. In a wordy duel betweentwo Cabinet Ministers, one is seenshouting at the other: “I am morehonest than you are. There areeight corruption charges againstyou and only six against me!”

The situation is no different in2020 as the Ministers in theCPI(M)-led Government facecharges of corruption, improprietyand scams. Legislative AssemblySpeaker P Sreeramakrishnan hadto convene a Press meet andthreaten the Opposition that hewould initiate legal action againstall who linked his name to SwapnaSuresh, the gold smuggling king-pin. Tourism MinisterKadakampally Surendran, whovisited the UAE ConsulateGeneral’s office inThiruvananthapuram, claims thathe had called on the ConsulGeneral to discuss the traffic con-gestion problem in front of theconsulate! Much has already beenwritten about KT Jaleel, the HigherEducation Minister and a formerleader of the banned StudentsIslamic Movement of India (SIMI).

As I write this article, newschannels flash the news that CMRaveendran, the additional private

secretary to Chief MinisterPinarayi Vijayan, is being inter-rogated by the EnforcementDirectorate officials about thedisproportionate assets amassedby him and his wife during thepast 20 years.

M Sivasankar, former prin-cipal secretary to the ChiefMinister, has been sent to jailand he is yet to secure bail.Sivasankar, described as the‘conscience keeper of the ChiefMinister’, was arrested by theCustoms and ED for his allegedlinks with Swapna Suresh, Saritand Sandeep Nair, the kingpinsof the gold smuggling racketthrough diplomatic channels. Ifthe pattern of investigation bythe Central agencies continueslike this, Pinarayi too is likely tobe grilled.

The Chief Minister hasalleged that the Centre is misus-ing agencies like the ED and DRIto tarnish his Government’s“good image” by spreading false-hoods. Besides gold smuggling,the agencies are investigatinghawala and reverse hawalatransactions, the LIFE Missionkickbacks (one of the flagshipprogrammes of the CPI(M)-ledLDF Government) and K-Fone(Kerala Fibre Optic Network)project. Sadly, all the develop-ment schemes declared by theGovernment are enmeshed inscams and graft.

Kodiyeri Balakrishnan hadto step down as the party’s sec-retary in-charge of Kerala fol-lowing the arrest of his youngerson Binish Kodiyeri by the EDand NCB on the charges of drugtrafficking, hawala transactionsand money laundering.

It is in this background thatthe local body polls were held inthree phases. The CPI(M) wasliterally fighting with its back to

the wall because at no point inits history, the party has faced somany corruption charges. TheChief Minister himself askedNew Delhi to depute Centralagencies to probe the allegations.He would not have expected theintensity of the probe and noweverything associated with theCPI(M) is being seen as illegalby the State’s people. Sadly, theUralunkal Labour CreditCooperative Society (ULCCS)— an NGO launched in 1925with the blessings of Malabar’sgreat social reformerVaghbhatananda to uplift thelives of the suppressed andoppressed classes — washijacked by the CPI(M) anddegenerated as a money laun-dering centre for the party. TheED is grilling Raveendran, pop-ularly known as Kerala’s superChief Minister, for his allegedrole in the illegal dealings ofULCCS.

A close scrutiny of the localbody election results throws upsome interesting facts. Thoughthe CPI(M)-led LDF won five ofthe six municipal corporations,it would be able to wrest controlin two only through horse trad-ing or with the support of theCongress. The Grand Old Party,which had more than 30 seats inthe ThiruvananthapuramMunicipal Corporation, hasbeen decimated and had to becontent with just 10 seats.

In most of the seats won bythe CPI(M), the BJP-led NDA isthe runner-up. The BJP hasfailed to win any district pan-chayat as the LDF walked awaywith 10, leaving four for theUDF. The Congress and itsallies won 45 of the 86 munici-pal councils while the LDFended up with 35. The NDAretained the Palakkadu

Municipal Council while itwrested the Pandhalam munic-ipality from the CPI(M). Of the941 village panchayats, the LDFwon 514, the UDF 375 and theNDA 23. Twenty 20, a politicalentity promoted by entrepreneurSabu M Jacob in 2015, not onlyretained its home turf ofKizhakkambalam but won threemore village panchayats, shock-ing the established political par-ties.

But the talking point is thedebacle suffered by theCongress-led UDF. The frontwhich literally swept the LokSabha election in May 2019 bywinning 19 of the 20 seats fromthe State has lost heavily in thiselection. “It is a reflection of theCongress high command’sweakness. It is true thatCongress is at the crossroads.The UDF won the 2019 electionbecause of the consolidation ofthe minority vote. You maywant to remember the Assemblypoll results in Rajasthan,Madhya Pradesh andChhattisgarh in November2018, which were all won by theCongress. The minorities inKerala were under the impres-sion that this would be replicat-ed in the 2019 Lok Sabha elec-tions but that turned out to beincorrect. So the minorities,especially the Christians, havestarted moving away from theCongress,” said P Rajan, arenowned political commenta-tor and author. He said theChurch, especially the bishops,doubt the soft approach of theCongress towards Islamic ter-rorism and Love Jihad.

Sreejith Panickar, a cybersecurity specialist who is a keenfollower of the voting pattern inKerala, says that the UDF’sbase has been eroded over the

past year. “In most places, theBJP has finished the runner-up.This is a change which signalsthe beginning of a politicalprocess that would result in theformation of a Third Alternativein Kerala. What has happenedis that traditional UDF voteshave gone to the NDA. TheCongress should have a rethinkon its approach towards Islamicextremist parties like theWelfare Party of India andSDPI. The secularism propagat-ed by the Congress and theUDF should be thoroughly dis-cussed as the Christian minori-ties in the State have starteddoubting their intentions. It’s forthe national leadership of theCongress to initiate this discus-sion,” said Panickar. He also saidthat the Kerala Congress is fac-ing a leadership crisis. “There isnot a face other than OommenChandy’s who is acceptable to allsections but Chandy is plaguedby ill health,” he added.

Though the BJP hasreached a position from whereit could play a crucial role in theState’s politics but Kerala’s waitfor a Third alternative would notend soon. “It may materialiseafter the 2021 Assembly elec-tions, provided the BJP plays itscards smartly,” said Rajan. Tillthen, Keralites may have towait like the Great IndianHornbill for the occasional rainwith which it quenches its thirst.

PS: The BJP too is not freefrom factionalism andgroupism. The truth is thatthere are no capable leaders inthe party to guide it at this cru-cial hour. Moreover, the partyhas its own share of SarithaNairs and Swapna Sureshs.

(The writer is a seniorjournalist. The views expressed

are personal.)�� -�� !

�� !��"�� (��!��!��!��23��"��4(��"��(�� 5678!79�� :��-�;��(��7<�5��0��

�� (��%��+;��'��.��#��=��:��-�;��,�� (��<2�� .�� /��(��>��?��(�� 0�� -�;��$��'�$��!��!��(�� !��@�� "��#�� !��A��#��=��BC��,��=��#��B��"�� (��!�� !��(�� !��C��,��(��

?��,��.��(�� %��%�� ,��!�� %�� (��%��!�� .��5678��(�� /�)�� 6!5��"��23��(��!��(��!��D��E�� "��(��+;��1��*��F7 ��(��D��?��=��E�.�� G

"�=��!��!�� !��

�� D��!��E�H�� $�� !�� D�� E�� .��.��%��D99�9��E��=��

�� %�� ,��/��+��=��?��=��@=?=A�� !��!��>��!��(��=��.��$�� $�� (��!��!$��!�� %��.��.��!��0:#�(�� %��!��0��!�� !�� .��.��#�� $��!C��!��D��E��B��52�� !��

"�� $�� !��?��.�� %��#�� !��*��#��?��=�� !��-��$��G"��:��#��0��.�� .�� .��,��/��,��/��#��=��?��,��,��#�� !��D��E�� .��$��H��!�� BD.��E��!�� %�� %��(�� !��5655��0:#%�� ..%��!��0��=��'��I�� !��*#��.�� (�� =�� !�� "�� *#�� .�� D�� E��!��!��

)��&� ��;

�� Sir — Most of the people in ourcountry are poor and earn theirliving from farming; and byreforming agriculture, we canovercome poverty. Will Rogers,an American actor andhumourist, once said: “Thefarmer has to be an optimist orhe wouldn’t be a farmer.” Let’s notsnatch that optimism from him.

The ongoing farmer crisis isin no way either new orunique:11.2 per cent of all sui-cides in India are by farmers.Anti-farmer laws, high debt bur-dens, poor Government policies,corruption in subsidies, cropfailure and mental health, all takea toll on them.

The Government introducedthe farm laws to improve the lotof farmers and has assured themthat the Minimum Support Price(MSP) will stay. This reformwas overdue as it could have beenimplemented in 1991 when thenew economic reforms wereintroduced. As most people inrural India earn their livelihoodfrom farming, any improvementin the conditions of this sectorwill directly help alleviate thepoor condition of the farmers.

Yash Pal RalhanJalandhar

��Sir — Across north India, thechilly weather intensifies inDecember-January. The coldestday in Delhi in a century wasrecorded last winter. This year,November is said to be one of thecoldest Novembers in theCapital’s history.

Amid such harsh weather

conditions, the plight of theimpoverished homeless and thedestitutes is unimaginable. Eventhose with roofs over their headsuffer since Indian houses, unlikethose in the western countries,are not constructed to enduresevere cold conditions.

Arranging food, shelter andwarm clothes for the lakhs ofhomeless is a demanding, but

inevitable, task for anyGovernment. Philanthropists arealready on their toes; food andblankets will be the need of thehour for the homeless and thestray animals exposed to the chill.Temporary shelters require to beput up to protect the shelterlessagainst the dangerous cold.

Ganapathi BhatAkola

�� Sir — It’s heartening to know thatthe Central Bureau ofInvestigation (CBI) has filed acharge sheet against four accusedin the alleged gang rape-murderin Hathras in September. Underpressure following a nationwideoutcry, the UP Government hadrecommended a CBI probe intothe case on October 2.

The victim’s dying declara-tion on September 22, in whichshe had claimed that she was gan-graped by four youth of the vil-lage, was the basis of the CBIcharge sheet. This after the Statepolice had said that “no rape organg rape took place”. All theyouth named were arrested by thelocal police by September 26. Thecase hit the headlines after thevictim’s family alleged that herbody was hastily cremated by thelocal administration after mid-night without their consent.

Now the courts must awarddeath to the four accused andthey must hang as early as possi-ble to provide a semblance of jus-tice to the victim and her family.

Bhagwan ThadaniMumbai

� : � % � � / , � 7 � � : � � , + -

��8%"�')1�� !8��6%"��'��2��!"�#(��E :��"�#(��E ��$�" �"�2��!"�#(��

�# �� !"� # #

�9

��#��$��<**�"��(�#�"!��$�3��"#�0��#"��%��8��$��3��"##�3$%��%��!��%�$��"�!��"��%�#�"$$��'#(2

��7 (��7 #�89'%��'7(F��8�"�!�"'"'��"�!�

��

��$��%��$��!��"#�G��A�6��'��5H72� 9��#(� $��"�� .� �� #��"#� ��"�� $�"��!'�� !�%%��#��%��#�� "��#�8�� $$

6� 87�� "#�$��0��(��!��#��$��%8��%� ��$�� "�"�"� �"��4��A$� ��3� �'��$��"��4��.�3��$�$��$�!��'��#��"#�$��$$��"$�3�##.�"�!�3��"��(��"!��$�"��"��(�3��2

�$�� "�!$��,�A$��!��$�$��3��1�"��!�� #"$��"�#�"��"�(��#��3��"��(�3��5I�$�"�$�� 8A$��" ��.��,��$��$��"0��"�"�B�!�"��#"��!2�� $��1�"�A$�3�B!"(�0�$�� "#.��"��(�� !�!�$��$'(��1�"��#�"!��$�F��#�!�� 8�$�"#3"��$1�0��!��!��"��.� �1��#'�"!�"��"�"�!��(��###�"!��"'��#�$#"��F�%��#�� "��(A$��"��$2

�##��$��"��"��$�"�� "�!(��B$��"��%��,�A$��#��"#�!��"�� "#2��3.1�"�A$� �#"�� 3�� )**��%� ��)H)� $�"�$� �� $$��'#(��##$��1�"��"$�"#$��%%#�!"�%�3�%�"��$��#��"#��!��$2��3�##��"$�"��B��'#�3�� "�"�"��%��,�A$��%�$��"�� $��$��!$��"�"!�� 8A$�!�%��$��%��%��!�"2

��3�0��.��,��%"��$�"��$�� J��$��"$��3��$��#!��$��"$��%��$��"#�%"��$$��'#(��#��$�!��#B "(��&��(�"��0��"$�%��B��1��"0�/"� �#(A$��"��$�!�� !$��$�� "�!2��3�0��.��0��$��"��%��!�A$��#��B��"#�$�"��"�!��$3"(�$��#!$��0��1�"��A$��B�#�2�/�0��"��#��$��$�"� "��#��3��'�D"��3�$�$"�!��$��##��#"$��.�"�(��!��"(�%"##�%#"��$�%"��2��.�#��A$�3"��"�!�3"��3��3"(��#��B��"#��'#�$�� "#��$��"��!2

Azhar A KhanRampur

��1��<#'(('9%(�8��7''9:;< �#$=�<�

��&��<

��"�!��3�##��$�B��&��"!��"#�$.�'��"��$�"� "��"��!$��'��'��! �!2��"#3"($3"��"#�� 2

�9�(�%*��9�<'�!�7�%('9F��$�,��$��

�$��##��'"##��$�"�"�0��(��"$��$�" ��%3��$��$��#!��"!�%��3"�!2��"��$��$�0��(��&�� %��"�#��%��#��3"�� "��2

�7�� >>1%8�77'9F��$�3��

� � � � � 7 � � : �� ; � � 2 < � : 7

� : � = 2 1 < � ��"0��J��"�� $3��$�'��"!��$��3��"�� "�!� ��.�"�!�3"$"$��!��&��$$��3��"$�(��%��#$��"��K��"�L�'��"�'� ��"��$2

��##?@�� =(�9�A��=�7F��"'��"��"�

6��)��7��

8�� )��6��!��!��,�0��"��#��0��#��9��0��#��0��3

8��:�� $�#�$��%��B��"$��#��"#�'�!(��#��$��"#"��0��"��8�� $$B#�!��>A$�'"$��"$��!�!�$� ��%��"��#(�$��1"'�"��##$�

93+��;��=

.��)��!��

�� !�� !�� .� ��"�� .��

��!��$�B��!��

��"��.��

�� . ��"��.�� $��B��5��

,��:�=��7,��

There is a tempest in India’s farmlands even astheir tillers wage an extraordinary crusade foralleviating age-old distresses. Away from the

bustle of the raging storm in the Delhi-NationalCapital Region is a small semi-literate group ofwomen farmers in a remote hinterland who areassiduously managing a farmer producer compa-ny (FPC) to help alleviate the woes of other womengrowers in Satara.

The Mann Deshi Farmer Producer Company(MDFPC) plans to organise 12,000 small and mar-ginal growers (70 per cent of whom are women) tosecure better prices for their agricultural produce.The MDFPC was founded by Chetna Gala Sinha,the well-known social entrepreneur who is shep-herding a rural revolution in western Maharashtra.The epicenter of this movement is Mhaswad, a largevillage that nestles in Satara district, on the placidbanks of the Manganga River, some 300 km south-east of Mumbai. A 45-year-old woman farmerVanita Pise is the co-founder of the MDFPC.However, she does not let the fact that she is semi-literate stop her from trying to better the lot of grow-ers like her.

On account of adversities at home, Vanita could-n’t study beyond class IX. She married a farmer inMhaswad when she was 17. Within a week she wasrequired to take charge of the family poultry. Shehad never entered a poultry shed before. With per-sistence and tenacity, she was able to grasp the entireoperations. When the poultry business had to bewound up after an outbreak of bird flu, she becamea daily wage labourer. The failed business left thefamily with a debt of �55,000. It was at this time thatVanita came to know of Mann Deshi Bank and itswork with rural women. She approached them andsecured a loan for a buffalo. Luckily for Vanita, with-in a week the buffalo delivered a calf. The enterpris-ing woman started selling the milk. With her earn-ings, she repaid the loan in six months. Vanita tookanother loan and bought a machine for manufac-turing paper cups. Six months later 10 women ofher village, impressed by Vanita’s success,approached her to help them set up similar units.

Sadly, their ventures could not succeed and shehad to face a backlash from them. Undeterred bythis setback, Vanita went back to the Mann Deshi,and took a course in financial management fromtheir business school. Her experience in business,farming and grassroots community mobilisationcame in handy when the group decided to set upthe MDFPC. It was clear to Vanita that the futureof small farmers lay in collectivising themselves. Inthis model, scattered small farms are systematical-ly aggregated and provided centralised production,post-harvest and marketing services. This helpsreduce the transaction costs of the farms for access-ing the value chains and makes it easier for smallfarmers to access inputs, technology and the mar-ket.

The task was not easy. Vanita and her team facedseveral challenges, most of them related to the con-tentious issue of categorisation of women as farm-ers. In the registration process, they were told bythe officials concerned that since women did notown farms they could not be classified as farmers.Similar hiccups continued but now that they havebeen able to make this venture a success. Vanita nowwants to spread the word so that other women farm-ers like her can replicate her success. “Women havecome a long way in several fields. They are also themainstay of farming, doing much of the primary

work in the fields. Ironically they cannotclaim themselves to be farmers becausethey don’t own the land they till. It is inthe name of their husbands. This makesa huge difference to their economic andsocial status and disqualifies them fromseveral official development benefits,”avers Vanita.

The FPC was finally registered whenthe husbands certified that their wiveswere coparceners in their land parcels.Since then the MDFPC has been tryingto make women farmers coparceners intheir husband’s property and registeringthese women as members in the FPC.Vanita’s work as the team leader is verychallenging. She has to oversee all majoroperations at the company. She has tosupervise aggregation of the farm produceand the entire intermediate operationsleading to despatch of consignments to themarket. This includes sorting and grad-ing and organising the logistics in the sup-ply chain. Vanita explains her businessmodel: “Our model of procurement is dif-ferent and is done through weekly farmbazaars. Women farmers are contactedand we send vehicles to their homes toprocure the agricultural produce. Inaddition to vegetables and grains we alsodeal in processing and manufacturingproducts including hard toffee, syrups,flaxseed chutneys, amla candy, picklesamong other products.”

Though the FPC was formed twoyears ago, it has been operating informal-ly for the last couple of years. The com-pany deals in both perishables and non-perishables. About four truckloads of veg-etables are sent to Mumbai daily and theseare supplied to 5-star hotels and local retailoutfits. The MDFPC’s formal journeybegan in September 2018 with onions, ahighly uncertain and volatile crop. Thereason for severe and frequent price

shocks for onions is the production fluc-tuations and changes in the nature ofdemand. The FPC helped the farmersgrow high quality onions so that theycould get a better price. “We struggled agreat deal but succeeded in our effortsalbeit partially. Getting a market was dif-ficult because Mhaswad is geographical-ly not well-connected and we face sever-al logistical impediments”, admits Vanita.

“Bringing women farmers on a com-mon platform, designing appropriatecrop patterns, aggregating and marketingthe produce requires rigorous planningand execution. Some enterprising womenhave been able to sell their produce inMumbai markets and got good value forit, too. But it is important to get morewomen farmers enrolled in the collectiveand make them align their crop patternwith the market”, says Vanita.

Meanwhile, the FPC inked an agree-ment with a leading company that want-ed to export okra. The members wereexcited with the opportunity and 16women joined the project. Unfortunately,things didn’t work as per the plans. Theagreement, which was worded in techni-cal English, stipulated that agronomistswould visit the farmers and guide themon quality control, which actually didn’thappen. The FPC had to compensate thecounter party because they couldn’t ful-fil the contractual commitments.However, the women learnt an importantlesson: When you want to survive andprosper despite the competition, you haveto maintain quality and honour everyterm of the contract. In addition, timelydelivery is important.

This learning came handy in a recentcontract. The FPC received an order for11,000 kg of pulses. The grain was to besupplied in 22,000 packets of 500 gramseach. The FPC approached the women

farmers in Latur, who grabbed the oppor-tunity. In just eight days, the women coor-dinated the entire chain consisting of har-vesting, aggregating, packaging and otherlogistics. At the last moment, the teamfound a bug in one of the cartons. Theydecided to recheck the entire consign-ment. It took the women an entire day butit made them understand the importanceof quality and the credibility of the sell-er that hinges on the consignment.

“During this project, I found thatmany women farmers store pulses athome and not in warehouses because ofthe logistical and transport issues. Thesewomen would prefer warehouses if theycould be assured of a loan against thepledge of warehouse receipts”, addsVanita.

She believes that the best gift for farm-ers would be to initiate practical solutionsfor their basic problems. The Governmenthas introduced three new farm laws. Andthere has been a mixed reaction to them.Vanita feels this can work only if properinfrastructure is created through ware-houses, cold storages and other supportsystems. Farmers are capable of produc-ing good quality crops if they get therequired extension services, such as soil-testing, advisory in agro-economics andso on. Instead of grandiose reforms, thefarmers need solutions to their fundamen-tal problems. This cannot be done byNGOs alone. The Government will haveto actively invest in it. It is also importantto build the capacity of FPCs. In theBudget last year the Finance Minister hadannounced a plan to form 10,000 FarmerProducer Organisations (FPOs) over aperiod of five years. This will requireextensive Government support.

(The writer is a well-known develop-ment professional of international repute.The views expressed are personal)

�)� ��;��<$7��)��-��)�� )��

�� >! < 7 � � � : � � � =

4�1 �"6�%% �1"�!

��4� ��

��0�0"#��"��!��"��"��#"��#�$$$��#��'�#��0��"��"��"��2��>A$��$�"��! �� !��

+��?�@<

9�� >�8��

1�9��8��/�1.

�1��>��

8��111��>

8��/��1��>�� 1

>�� 12��/1��8�11.��?��?��>>8��1

8��8��1�8�� >�� 1.��?�8��8��11>��1

>�� 121 ��88��18��?��9�� 1

9��1�88�11.�9��

��1��1��

��1�� >�� 1��

��8��8��

1�88�11

J�� !�� ?��

�� @�� =+C(1!��A��+�� J��

"� �� =+C(1!79 �� "� �� @�� A��"��+�� 4"��K'��!��"�� 0�� ;��!�� "��%��/��!�� %�� H��

"�� =+C(1!��(�� %��!��"��

#�� !��!��#�� D��!��E��"��!��!�� !�� @��!� �� A��+��

'�� "�?��H��J��@?HJA�� (�� (��96��

(�� (�(�� !�� "��*�� !��"��D�� !��E"��!��?HJ%��J�� "��'�� !�� (��"��!��'�� J�� !�� "��?HJ%��D�� E+�� !�� /��"�?HJ%��"�� "��

@�� !��"��#��A

Asingle theme runs across themovies of the British docu-mentary film-maker, Adam

Curtis. He has scripted and direct-ed over a dozen documentaries forthe BBC. They are mostly sardoniclaments on how, ever since the late1970s, governments have allowedtheir roles to recede in addressingvarious issues.

Curtis often tries to demonstratethat, in the wake of increasing eco-nomic, social and political complex-ities, governments that were once atthe forefront of providing leadershipand solutions, began to shrink fromthis responsibility. This happenedparticularly once the paradigm thatthey had established in this context

began to shift, especially after the1973 international oil crisis.

According to Curtis, govern-ments began to outsource theirresponsibilities to large private oper-ators such as banks and big busi-nesses, which had furnished loansand services to them when they hadbeen badly impacted by a series ofeconomic downturns triggered bythe crisis.

The role of the State continuedto shrink. To Curtis, politiciansand civil servants who were onceexpected to lead and plan theircountries’ progress and well-being,simply became nothing more thanprops. However, from the mid-2000s, all eyes and expectations fellupon the Government again whenmajor financial scandals and eco-nomic recessions exposed the dan-gers of overtly banking on the pri-vate sector to provide services whichwere once the domain and purposeof State institutions.

In the July 24, 2012 issue of TheGuardian, the British philosopherJulian Baggini writes that govern-ments struggled to come to termswith the economic and social fall-

out of the new recessions. What’smore, by then, the public had alsolost their trust in the private sector.According to Baggini, unable or feel-ing helpless to address and resolvethe problems, politicians began tolook to present themselves asguardians of other things. If theywere unable to prevent economicdeclines, they posed that they werenow there to halt moral declines.

Baggini writes that the mostfundamental problem with moral-ity is that society still lacks a senseof where it comes from and who isqualified to make claims for it. Thereis great irony in politicians, a natu-rally amoral lot, speaking of moral-ity. Baggini is right to observe thatmost people are highly sceptical ofpoliticians in this regard. And it isalso a fact that those whose domainit was to define and judge morality— i.e. priests, clerics, pandits and soon — lost their credibility after therapid emergence of modernity.

Therefore, according to Baggini,“the danger is that we will either fallback on the old authorities or allownew moral leaders to emerge, whomay well base their pronouncements

on little more than populist senti-ment.” This is exactly what has beenhappening in various countriessince Baggini wrote his essay eightyears ago. Unable to control eco-nomic declines, various heads ofgovernments in Europe, South andNorth America and in South andEast Asia, have increased their talkabout morality, in an attempt to dis-tract the attention of the polity fromlarger and less-abstract issues.

India’s Prime Minister NarendraModi promised economic miraclesbut, after being in power for almostsix years, there has been more talkof temples, mosques, cows and theHindutva identity than about thecountry’s faltering economy. USPresident Donald Trump, before hisdefeat in this year’s presidentialelection, continued to surroundhimself with animated evangelists,while completely failing to controlthe spread of COVID-19 and thedevastating impact it has had on thecountry’s economy.

Governments in Brazil, thePhilippines, Turkey, Pakistan,Hungary and Poland are adoptingsimilar tactics. For example, in the

face of the rising criticism on hisregime’s chaotic style of governanceand its mishandling of the economy,Pakistan’s Prime Minister ImranKhan constantly reminds everyonehow he overcame the dangers ofWesternisation and colonialism tobecome a man of impeccablemorals. He says this after milkingeverything there was to about such‘immoral’ Westernisation when hewas a popular lifestyle liberal, beforehe turned 40 and “rediscovered hisfaith.” As Pakistan’s economy con-tinues to nosedive and Oppositionparties prepare to oust him afteraccusing him of incompetence,Khan can often be seen lecturingyoung people on what Islam is, whatthe poet-philosopher Iqbal meant,and how to understand Sufismthough Turkish soap operas! Tomost sociologists, the idea of moral-ity largely derives from and attractsthe urban middle-classes. It is thisclass that is most receptive to Khan’smoral posturing. In a 1993 essay forthe Wilson Quarterly, the Americanpolitical scientist and sociologistAllan Wolfe writes that the “old mid-dle class” that experienced some

form of economic prosperity in the1960s because of the developmen-tal economics that was all the rageat the time, was less concerned withmorality as an issue. After the 1973oil crisis, when global economiesbegan to cave in, a new middle classemerged. But this one had to strug-gle more than the previous one.

According to Wolfe, there are,therefore, two competing ideas ofmiddle-class morality. Coming ofage in uncertain times, the middleclass that appeared from the turmoilof the 1970s tries to save moral cap-ital rather than economic capital.Wolfe writes that it is a lot more con-servative than the older middleclass and wants morality to take cen-tre stage in political and social dis-courses. But he also writes that thismay include those who would ratherexhibit morality in public whilelargely ignoring it in private, creat-ing cognitive dissonance.

A report published in the April2, 1977 issue of the now-defunctPakistani eveninger Leader, quotesa young shopkeeper in Karachiwho was taking part in the move-ment against the Zulfikar Ali Bhutto

regime. He tells the reporter that“Bhutto (with his socialist policies)had usurped the dignity of thecountry’s middle classes.”

He also adds that the regimewas doing this by spreadingimmorality and obscenity, eventhough he was interviewed whilecoming out from a cinema afterenjoying a Hollywood film. Post-1970s generations of the urbanmiddle classes in Pakistan, too, areexamples of cognitive dissonance inthis context.

But this is how they address it.Khan tries to rationalise this disso-nance by suggesting that it is actu-ally a mandate of the country’smajority faith that morality be high-lighted in public and episodes ofimmorality be kept private and notspoken about.

This idea of middle-class moral-ity thus absolves him of hypocrisy,comforting him to go on lecturingwithout having to bother about theirony attached to it and, withoutaddressing more tangible issues,such as a depressed economy andpolitical polarisation.

(Courtesy: Dawn)

8��!�� !�"#��$�� %��"&�"��''$�� '�$��(��$��)$�%��*��)��"�+�� )"�"��)$�� "�"#�*��(��!,�$'�� -��"#�$�"#� !��,+#��*�$��"&

��0��+��7��;�

�� !"� # #

��8%"�')1�� !8��6

�� A�� !"� # #

��

E-commerce major AmazonIndia on Sunday said 1.5

lakh new sellers joined its plat-form this year, and over 70,000Indian exporters in its globalselling programme havecrossed USD 2 billion in cumu-lative exports.

Amazon India, in its SMBImpact Report 2020, notedthat it works with more than 10lakh small and mid-size busi-ness (SMBs) including sellers,delivery and logistics partners,neighbourhood stores, enter-prises, developers, content cre-ators and authors work with thecompany in the country.

“This year has beenunprecedented and has impact-ed the way we work and live.Yet, we remain inspired by theundying entrepreneurial spir-it, creativity, resolve and trustin us of businesses, creators andauthors to overcome challengesand grow,” Amazon IndiaSenior VP and Country HeadAmit Agarwal said.

He added that technologyadoption and digitisation willcontinue to play a crucial rolein offering expanded accessand opportunities to SMBs, andthat the company remainscommitted to invest and part-ner in success of SMBs inIndia.

Earlier this year, Amazonhad pledged to invest USD 1billion to digitise 10 millionSMBs, enable e-commerceexports worth USD 10 billionand create 1 million incre-mental jobs by 2025.

The SMB Impact Report2020 said 1.5 lakh new sellersjoined Amazon.In in 2020 withover 50,000 registering in Hindiand Tamil.

“(A total of) 4,152 Indiansellers surpassed Rs 1 crore insales in 2020 and the numberof crorepati sellers grew 29 percent year-on-year,” it added.

Amazon has over sevenlakh sellers on its platform.

Amazon.In has unveiledthe top 10 states and union ter-ritories with most number ofsellers. With more than1,10,000 sellers, Delhi has thelargest number of Amazon.Insellers in the country, followedby Maharashtra (87,000) andGujarat (79,000).

��

Reliance Industries and itspartner BP will get only

USD 4.06 a unit for the new gasthey have started to producefrom the eastern offshore KG-D6 field even though theyhave discovered a higher rate inan open market auction,sources said.

Reliance-BP in November2019 auctioned initial gas fromthe R-Series field at a biddablepercentage of Brent crude oilprice.

If Brent crude oil stays inthe current range of USD 50 to51 a barrel, the price comes toUSD 4.2 to 4.4 per millionBritish thermal unit, twosources at the buyers of R-Series gas said.

Even though operatorshave pricing freedom, theycan’t sell gas at a rate higherthan the cap the governmentnotifies every six months. Thecap for six months to March 31,2021, is USD 4.06 per mmBtuand so Reliance-BP would getonly that amount for theremainder of the current fiscal,they said.

Essar Steel, Adani Groupand state-owned GAIL inNovember 2019 bought the

majority of the initial 5 millionstandard cubic meters per dayof gas planned to be producedfrom R-Series in the KG-D6block by bidding between 8.5and 8.6 per cent of dated Brentprice.

Emails sent to Relianceand BP for commentsremained unanswered.

The rate discovered in theNovember 2019 auction at thelower end of the Brent priceband is the same as the one thatReliance got in the first fiveyears of production fromDhirubhai-1 and 3 and MAfields in the KG-D6 block.These fields ceased to pro-duce a few months back.

Reliance got USD 4.205per mmBtu for gas from D1and D3 and MA fields duringApril 2019 and March 2014. Itwould have got double of thatrate if a new formula pro-posed by the Rangarajan com-mittee was approved but thenew BJP government scrappedit and brought a new formulaon pricing gas at rates prevalentin export surplus nations suchas the US and Russia.

The rates came to USD5.05 in 2014 and are currentlyat USD 1.79 per mmBtu.

Sources said the govern-

ment in 2016 allowed a high-er price for any new gas to beproduced from a difficult pro-ject such as the deep sea field.R-Cluster field fell in that def-inition and gas from it was freeto be sold but subject to theprice cap.

The price cap for October2020 to March 2021 period isUSD 4.06 per mmBtu, downfrom USD 5.61 in the previoussix month.

Reliance and BP had onNovember 18 stated that theyhave the commencement ofnatural gas production fromAsia’s deepest gas project, R-Cluster or R-Series. The twofirms are investing USD 5 bil-lion in bringing to productionthree deepwater gas projects inblock KG D6 – R-Cluster,Satellites Cluster, and MJ –which together are expected tomeet about 15 per cent ofIndia’s gas demand by 2023. R-Cluster will have a peak outputof 12.9 mmscmd while satel-lites, which are supposed tobegin output from the thirdquarter of 2021 calendar year,would produce a maximum of7 mmscmd. MJ field will startproduction in the third quar-ter of 2022 and will have a peakoutput of 12 mmscmd.

��

Even when faced with chal-lenges of connectivity and

bandwidth, companies acrosssectors embraced digital train-ing or learning and develop-ment (L&D) for blue collar staff, which witnessedfrom nearly nothing to doublefold growth, as the pandemicfast tracked adoption of tech-nology by two decades, saysexperts.

“Specific to blue collaredstaff, the thinking was alwaysthat they will not be able tolearn effectively using tech-nology.

��

Saudi Arabia, the world’slargest oil exporter, on

Sunday said its investmentplans in India are on track, not-ing that the Indian economyhas the strength to recoverfrom the adverse impact of thecoronavirus crisis.

In February last year, SaudiCrown Prince Mohammed binSalman announced that SaudiArabia would invest over USD100 billion in India in petro-chemicals, refining, infra-structure, mining and manu-facturing, agriculture and sev-eral other sectors.

“Our plans to invest inIndia are on track and we arein discussion to prioritiseinvestment opportunities inseveral sectors in both coun-

tries,” Saudi Ambassador DrSaud bin Mohammed Al Satitold PTI in an interview.

Stating that Saudi Arabiavalues India as a strategic part-ner and a close friend, Al Satiidentified ongoing coopera-tion in areas of training, knowl-edge sharing and combatingterrorism as key elements of thepartnership in defence andsecurity sphere.

Al Sati complimentedIndia’s measures to revive itseconomy in view of the impactof the pandemic and said theeconomic recovery of bothcountries will help elevate othereconomies in the region as well.

“The economic relief pack-age provided by India for itsmost prominent sectors is com-mendable. As the fifth-largestglobal economy and the largesteconomy in South Asia, theIndian economy has the impe-tus to recover from the impactof the ongoing pandemic,” hesaid.

Without commenting onArmy Chief Gen MMNaravane’s visit to Saudi Arabia

last week, the Ambassador saidthe setting up of the StrategicPartnership Council by thetwo countries opened newavenues of cooperation in sev-eral sectors including defenceand security and counter-ter-rorism.”The Strategic(Partnership) Council set up bythe two countries in 2019 hasopened new avenues on part-nership in strategic areas likedefence, security counter-ter-rorism, energy security andrenewable energy,” he said.

Gen Naravane on Sundayheld extensive talks withCommander of Royal Saudiland forces Gen Fahd BinAbdullah Mohammed Al-Mutir as he began a two-dayrare visit to the Gulf country tolay the ground for deeper mil-itary ties.

In the first-ever visit by ahead of the Indian Army, GenNaravane travelled to Saudicapital city Riyadh last weekwhere he held talks with topmilitary brass.

The two sides set up theStrategic Partnership Council

during Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s visit to Riyadhin October last year. The coun-cil is mandated to monitor theprogress of strategic relation-ships in a whole range of keyareas.

“The current decade haswitnessed a remarkable stridein the relations between SaudiArabia and India. What wasonce viewed as ties between

two friendly countries isnow a strong strategic part-nership between two formida-ble economies,” Al Sati said.

“From energy cooperation,security and defense, bur-geoning trade relations tohealth cooperation, the natureof this relationship has diver-sified immensely allowing forexpanded growth. The leader-ship on both sides have her-alded this transformation forSaudi – India ties,” he said.On trade partnership, theenvoy referred to the decisionby Saudi Public InvestmentFund (PIF) to invest approxi-mately USD 1.3 billion inReliance Retail and USD 1.5

billion in Reliance’s Jio plat-forms”Saudi Aramco is com-mitted to investing in India’senergy sector. Aramco’s deci-sion to buy a stake in RelianceIndustries Oil to Chemicalbusiness and Aramco’s com-mitment to invest in the WestCoast refinery petrochemicalproject signifies the interestSaudi Arabia places in thedevelopment of India’s energysector,” he said.

Apart from this, Al Satisaid Saudi Arabia is continuingto explore new investmentopportunities in India. Theenvoy also highlighted SaudiArabia’s recent Labor ReformInitiative (LRI), saying they willfurther help Saudi Arabia andIndia to cement their econom-ic relationship.

“It will enhance the con-tractual relationship betweenworkers and employers, andwill support the Kingdom’svision of establishing an attrac-tive job market, empoweringand developing labour compe-tencies and developing thework environment,” he said.

�� /��

Due to its close proximitywith five countries, unique

culture and traditions besidespicturesque beauty of its moun-tains and lush green land-scapes, northeast India couldbe an ideal tourist destinationpost-Covid, experts andadministrators said on the finalday of the North East Festival(NEF) here on Sunday.

The two-day 8th edition ofNEF concluded after setting theNE growth agenda as its pri-ority with businessmen,administrators and expertsexpressing their strong confi-dence on the travel and tourismindustry’s revival in post Covidsituation, by showcasing poten-tials of the region.

Assam Tourism SecretaryRazvee Hussain said thatCovid-19 can be a blessing indisguise.

“All northeastern states canbe a great tourism destination.Focus on tea tourism where oldbungalows can get converted toboutique hotels. Experiencingthe life of a tea planter here canbe a tourist attraction. Chopper

service availability fromGuwahati to Kaziranga, Majulietc will also help the tourismindustry here,” he said.

Assam TourismDepartment Director DebaKumar Mishra said that focuson local tourism, more fromdomestic tourists, creativelyplanned projects for establish-ments of good tourism wouldattract and appeal more people.

Mishra said: “Northeastregion shares borders of dif-ferent countries and it is anincredible boon.

Assam has ‘Chicken-Neck’with West Bengal and fiveinternational frontiers alongthe eight northeastern states arebest for tourism.

Stress on eco-culturaltourism, flourishing more localcommodities, local lifestyleand food could boost thetourism industry.””One moremajor focus is in ‘MedicalTourism’. Need to welcomehigh level and leading toursfrom Mumbai, Telangana,Delhi and other big states. Weare blessed with resources, wehave to think with regional per-spective,” the Director added.

��

India’s gold imports declinedby 40 per cent to nearly

$12.3 billion during the April-November period as demandweakened amid the pandemic,as per Commerce Ministry’sdata.

During the same period ofthe last financial year, goldimports stood at nearly $20.6billion.

However, imports of theyellow metal witnessed a 2.65per cent growth last month, atover $3 billion, compared to$2.94 billion in November2019.

Silver imports during

April-November this fiscalplunged 65.68 per cent to$751.92 million, from nearly$2.2 billion during the year agoperiod.

In November 2020, silverworth only $9.30 million wasimported, compared to $90.39million in November 2019.

This decline in gold and sil-ver imports has led to the nar-rowing of India’s trade deficit.

��

The Confederation of IndianIndustry (CII) has urged

the government to considercreation of multiple bad banksto address the adverse impactof non-performing assets accu-mulated by public sector banksin the recent past, and whichhave got further accentuatedduring the pandemic.

In its pre-budget memo-randum submitted to the gov-ernment, the industry body hasrecommended the governmentto consider enabling ForeignPortfolio Investors (FPIs) andAlternative Investment Funds(AIFs) to purchase NPAs.

CII President Uday Kotaksaid: “In the aftermath ofCovid, it is important to find aresolution mechanism througha market determined price dis-covery. With huge liquidity,

both globally and domestical-ly multiple bad banks canaddress this issue in a trans-parent manner and get thecredit cycle back in action.”

As per the industry body,a robust market-based mecha-nism will encourage publicsector banks to sell their badloans, without fear of questionsbeing raised later. With clean-er balance sheets, PSBs shouldbe able to raise capital from themarket, obviating the need forre-capitalisation by govern-ment, a bill which the govern-ment can ill-afford to foot atthis point of time, it said.

The government has put inRs 80,000 crore in bank re-cap-italisation in FY18, Rs 1.08 lakhcrore in FY19 and Rs 70,000crore in FY20. In September thisyear, the parliament approvedanother Rs 20,000 crore of cap-ital infusion into PSBs.

��

Oil and Natural GasCorporation Ltd (ONGC)

has commenced oil productionfrom the Asokenagar-1 well,Bengal Basin in West Bengal’s24 Paragana districts.In astatement, the public sectorenergy major said that UnionPetroleum & Natural GasMinister, DharmendraPradhan on Sunday dedicatedthe Bengal Basin, the eight pro-ducing basin of India to thenation.With the development,the Bengal Basin has joined theranks of Krishna-Godavari(KG), Mumbai Offshore,Assam Shelf, Rajasthan,Cauvery, Assam-Arakan FoldBelt and Cambay.Pradhan,while dedicating theAsokenagar discovery to thenation, said that the discoverywould play a role for India’senergy security.

��

Centre has granted permis-sion for additional mobilise

additional financial resourcesto the tune of �16,728 crorethrough open market borrow-ings to five States.

The permission has beengranted as the state have so farcompleted the stipulatedreforms in the ease of doingbusiness. These states areAndhra Pradesh, Karnataka,Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Naduand Telangana, said a FinanceMinistry statement.

In view of the resourcerequirement to meet the chal-

lenges posed by the pandemic,the government had on May17, 2020 enhanced the bor-rowing limit of the states by 2per cent of their GSDP. Half ofthis special dispensation waslinked to undertaking citizencentric reforms by the states.

The four citizen centricareas for reforms identifiedwere implementation of ‘OneNation One Ration Card’ sys-tem, ease of doing businessreform, urban local body orutility reforms and power sec-tor reforms.

So far 10 states have imple-mented the One Nation OneRation Card system, five Stateshave done ‘ease of doing busi-ness’ reforms, and two stateshave done local body reforms.

Besides additional bor-rowing permissions, the states

completing three out of thefour reforms are entitled to getadditional financial assistanceunder the “Scheme forFinancial Assistance to Statesfor Capital Expenditure”.

Under the scheme, anamount of Rs 2,000 crore is ear-marked for this purpose.

To facilitate more states toundertake the reforms andavail additional borrowings,theDepartment of Expenditure,Ministry of Finance had recent-ly extended the deadline for thestates to complete citizen cen-tric reforms in various sectors.Now, if the recommendationfrom the nodal ministry con-cerned regarding implementa-tion of the reform is received byFebruary 15, 2020, the state willbe eligible for reform linkedbenefits, said the statement.

��

As economic activities gath-er pace and hopes of vac-

cines to counter the coron-avirus pandemic rise, confi-dence among Indian con-sumers have also improved.

The monthly Refinitiv-Ipsos Primary ConsumerSentiment Index (PCSI) forIndia, has inched up by 2.1 per-centage points in December2020, said an Ipsos statement

The monthly PCSI, whichis driven by the aggregation ofthe four weighted sub-indices,has shown improvement acrossthe four indices, in December.

The PCSI EmploymentConfidence Sub-Index is up by0.6 percentage points, theEconomic Expectations SubIndex, is up by 1.1 percentagepoints.The Current PersonalFinancial Conditions Sub-Index and the InvestmentClimate Sub-Index haveincreased by 4.2 percentagepoints and 3.3 percentagepoints respectively.”The con-sumer sentiment has furtherimproved in December, whichshows there is confidence injobs, ability to spend and saveand there is confidence in theeconomy,” said Amit Adarkar,CEO, Ipsos India.

�� ?�?��

South Central Railway haswon three national energy

conservation awardsannounced by the Bureau ofEnergy Efficiency, Ministry ofPower, Government of India.

These awards weredeclared for the year 2020 aspart of the National EnergyConservation week being cel-ebrated from December 14 toDecember 21 throughout theyear.

The awards are announcedevery year to recognize theefforts of various industrialunits/establishments/organi-zations who have shownexemplary performance inconservation of energy andeffective utilization of availableenergy.

Diesel Loco Shed,Vijayawada got the first prize in

the industry/railway workshopscategory.

Lekha Bhavan (SCRAccounts Office building) gotthe second prize in the build-ing/government offices cate-gory. South Central Railway(SCR) zone also got theCertificate of Merit in trans-port/zonal railways category.

SCR being at the forefrontin energy conservation hasbeen winning these awardsfrom the union ministry ofpower for the last nine yearsconsistently.

The zone has been able tobag these awards throughrelentless efforts in the area ofenergy efficiency and green ini-tiatives by all the divisions,workshops, field units of all thedepartments, even with thestiff competition from variousministries, PSUs and corporatesectors, SCR said.

��

As India’s smartphone mar-ket registered a massive

year-over-year (YoY) growth of42 per cent in October shipping21 million units, 25 per cent ofthe market sat in top tier cities-- New Delhi, Mumbai,Bengaluru, Chennai, andKolkata -- registering morethan 50 per cent YoY growth inOctober.According to the IDC,the next set of emerging mar-kets, namely Jaipur, Gurgaon,Chandigarh, Lucknow, Bhopaland Coimbatore, also grew bynearly 50 per cent YoY.

However, the rest of thestates (up-country markets)registered slower growth (aver-

age 25 per cent), primarilyowing to looming economicconcerns and consumer spend-ing narrowing to essentialsonly, according to theInternational Data Corporation(IDC) India MonthlySmartphone Tracker.The lead-ing 50 cities accounted for 55per cent demand national-ly.”Despite delayed deliveriesdue to restrictions in severalzones, consumers went foronline purchases, especially onthird party e-Tailer platforms,registering 23 per cent YoYgrowth with 50 per cent share,”the report showed.

Bigger cities leaned heavi-ly towards online channels,with 57 per cent online share in

the top 5 metros.”But supplyconstraints remained, impact-ing offline channel sales as aresult of fewer retail walk-ins”.While Xiaomi led in 34 ofthe major 50 cities within theonline channel, Vivo led in 44of the major 50 cities within theoffline channel.Half a million5G devices were sold, withalmost 80 per cent from the top10 cities of India.”Though 5Gis a driver from a technologi-cal advancement standpoint,uncertainties on spectrumavailability, clear use cases andhigh prices might restrict itsuptake to few bigger cities ini-tially,” said Sachin Mehta,Market Analyst, Client Devices,IDC India.

��

The Government hasdeferred implementation

of the strict disclosure require-ments for auditor reports ofcompanies by one year, a movethat comes amid the disrup-tions caused by the coron-avirus pandemic.

Now, the Companies(Auditor’s Report) Order, 2020would come into effect fromfinancial years commencingon or after April 1, 2021,according to a notificationissued by the corporate affairsministry.

The ministry is imple-menting the companies law.

Sanjeev Singhal, Partner atS R Batliboi and Co LLP, saidthe coronavirus pandemic hascaused significant disruptionsforcing the companies to focuson ensuring business continu-ity.

“Deferral of CARO 2020by one year will give the much-needed relief to companiesand they will be able to use theadditional time to prioritiseallocation of resources andbetter prepare for the enhanced

requirements.It will be equally helpful

for the auditors as well,” Singhalsaid.

Earlier, CARO 2020 was tocome into force from financialyear starting on or after April1, 2020.

The CARO requires com-panies to comply with stricterdisclosure requirements onvarious issues, including whis-tle blower complaints anddefault in repayment of bor-rowings.

“CARO 2020 would neces-sitate enhanced due diligenceand disclosures on the part ofauditors of eligible compa-nies, and has been designed tobring in greater transparencyin the financial state of affairsof such companies,” the min-istry had said in February thisyear.

Under this stricter frame-work, auditors are required toprovide detailed disclosuresabout loan defaults, amount ofcash losses and immovableproperties as well as otheraspects about companies intheir annual reports.

:�� '�� +-�6�,�� C��

4��6��,�-��!��!�"��(�"$�$�� '��'"��

��#�"��.�� /�0��"��!��%��1��-2*<�%��3� "$�%��/B�<

�!1�!"# ��**"�!��+��% * !��61' 6 �#"#��*� ��!% !

�� -��<�.��

��B�� <�� AC+��&� ��

��

Business of small andmedium enterprises sell-

ing products on Amazon.inwitnessed growth amid thepandemic and around 4,152Indian sellers surpassed salesworth Rs 1 crore in 2020 onAmazon.in, said a report bythe e-commerce major.

The report noted thatthe number of ‘crorepati’ sell-ers on the platform grew 29per cent on a year-on-yearbasis.

It said that emergingbrands on AmazonLaunchpad saw their businessgrow by 135 per cent YoY.Further, the number ofwomen entrepreneurs under‘Saheli’ programme saw theirbusiness grow nearly ‘15x’,and weavers and artisans partof ‘Karigar’ program saw their

business grow by 2.8 times.Amazon.in on Sunday

published the 2020 Small andMedium Business (SMB)Impact Report. The reportmarks some of the achieve-ments made by the SMBsworking with Amazon andhighlights the impact of digi-tisation on entrepreneurs andbusinesses across sectors.

Amit Agarwal, Senior VPand Country Head forAmazon India, said: “It’shumbling to see over 10 lakhsmall businesses associatedwith Amazon in India. Thisyear has been unprecedentedand has impacted the way wework and live.””Yet, weremain inspired by the undy-ing entrepreneurial spirit,creativity, resolve and trust inus of businesses, creators,authors, etc. to overcomechallenges and grow,” he said.

$:��%�"�� '' !��!1"��"' ��!#��!��6"7��

��%�"��"��( �"��% "'�#��!��#�% �#��"#��1��#; ��%��<1 !#�

-��$��7� �!��<��=�� $��)��

+-�)��

� %�6�'#�1' �("%("��#��"%%! ��,�� #��5��#

-��+�� @��

��;��!�"��$��"��);M�%�$�"��"��'��

�� #�� -� *� #�� #�D=�% �� EA�C) -�

.�� AA�� !"� # #

�� ?�

Harley Davidson bikersdressed in Santa Claus

costumes rode through thestreets of central Tokyo onSunday for their annual paradeagainst child abuse, sayingmore children were vulnerablein 2020 due to the coronaviruspandemic.

The parade, followed by atoy run to donate toys to kids,is a global tradition aroundChristmas time. In Tokyo, theevent is held by members of the“Harley Santa Club”, founded in2008.

At the parade, bikers saidthis year’s event meant more,because more children werevulnerable to domestic violenceduring the coronavirus year.

“Especially because of thecoronavirus pandemic thisyear, I think there are manychild abuse cases out of sight,”said Takashi Mine, director ofthe event.

“It is very likely now that

parents will take the stress outon their children after losingtheir jobs, so I think particu-larly during the pandemic wehave to do the parade,” hesaid.

The number of child abusecases in Japan per month roseup to 20% between January andMarch versus the same periodlast year, as more families spenttime at home because of thepandemic, the daily AsahiShimbun reported.

The number of reportedchild abuse cases was a recordhigh last year, according to thehealth ministry.

Normally hundreds ofmotorcyclists take part in theparade, but because of coron-avirus only about 100 rode thisyear.

Still, riders proudly roaredtheir engines to bringChristmas joy to kids living inchildren’s homes. Riders plan tovisit four homes in Tokyo thisyear to donate toys and candyto about 400 children.

Kabul: A car bomb blast thatrocked Afghanistan’s capitalSunday morning killed at leastnine people, according to theAfghan Interior Ministry.

Interior Minister MasoudAndarabi told reporters at thesite of the attack that the attackwounded around 20 others,including a member of parlia-ment, Khan MohammadWardak. Andarabi said thelawmaker was in “good condi-tion.”

The interior ministeradded that the casualty tollcould rise further.

The attack happened while

the lawmaker’s convey waspassing through an intersectionin Kabul’s Khoshal Khan neigh-borhood. The blast set afiresurrounding civilian vehicles,as well as damaging nearbybuildings and shops.

No one immediatelyclaimed responsibility for theattack.

In a statement condemningthe attack, Afghan PresidentAshraf Ghani said that theTaliban should stop violenceagainst civilians and accept aceasefire, to facilitate the cur-rent peace process.

PTI

Maiduguri (Nigeria): Gunmenin Nigeria abducted more than80 Islamic school students innorthwestern Katsina state onSaturday night, but the pupilswere quickly rescued by securityforces after a fierce gun battle,police announced on Sunday.

The foiled abductioncomes less than two days afterthe release of 344 schoolboyswho were kidnapped in thesame area on Dec. 11. The inci-dents have highlighted theinsecurity in northern Nigeria.

Saturday night’s attemptedkidnapping took place inDandume, about 64 kilometers(40 miles) from Kankara, thetown where the earlier kid-napping of schoolboysoccurred.

The bandits had alreadyabducted four people andstolen a dozen cows when theyran into the schoolchildrenwho were on their way homefrom a celebration, Katsinastate police spokesman, GamboIsa, said early on Sunday morn-ing. Police and a local com-munity self-defense group res-cued the children from the

bandits after a gunfight, he said.“The teams succeeded in

dislodging the bandits and res-cued all the 84 kidnapped vic-tims and recovered all the 12rustled cows.” said Isa in a state-

ment.“Search parties are still

combing the area with a viewof arresting the injured banditsand/or the recovery of theirdead bodies.”

Dandume, an area bor-dering the northern part ofKaduna state, is one of theregion’s hotspots for banditryand kidnapping, according toresidents.

“Dandume is a no-go-areafor many of us because of thehigh level of crimes and inse-curity being perpetrated byarmed bandits,” said SaiduLawal, an official of a local civicgroup in Katsina, told TheAssociated Press.

“Despite Governmentefforts to open up the area byconstructing roads leadingfrom the metropolitan loca-tions to the hinterlands ofDandume ... The banditry stillpersists,” said Lawal.

“On many occasions, thebandits block the Dandume-Sabuwa highways to attack trav-elers. It was based on that rea-son that many people haveabandoned the new route.” AP

Samut Sakhon: Thousands ofpeople lined up for coron-avirus tests in a province nearBangkok on Sunday, as Thaiauthorities scrambled to con-tain an outbreak of the virusthat has infected nearly 700people.

Triple lines of mainlymigrant workers stretched foraround 100 metres in one loca-tion alone, at Mahachai inSamut Sakhon province, ashealth officials in mobile unitsmethodically took nasal swabs.There were three locations intotal in the area.

Nearby, razor wire andpolice guards blocked access tothe Klang Koong, or CentralShrimp, seafood market -- oneof Thailand’s largest -- and itsassociated housing, the epi-centre of the new cluster.

Thailand’s Disease ControlDepartment said on Sundaythat they found 141 more caseslinked to the market outbreak.

On Saturday, the depart-ment reported 548 cases,

Thailand’s biggest daily spike,sending shockwaves through acountry that has seen only asmall number of infectionsover the past several monthsdue to strict border and quar-antine controls.

The new outbreak has beentraced to a 67-year-old shrimpvendor at the seafood market.

Health officials say most ofthose who have been infectedare migrant workers fromMyanmar.

The workers live close tothe market in crowded accom-modations, raising fears thatthe virus could spread expo-nentially.

Samut Sakhon is 34 kilo-metres (21 miles) southwest ofBangkok, the capital. SamutSakhon’s governor has imposeda night curfew and other trav-el restrictions until January 3.

Many public places in theprovince, including shoppingmalls, schools, cinemas, spasand sports stadiums, have beenordered closed. AP

Islamabad: A lawyer repre-senting the parents of slain USjournalist Daniel Pearl hasproduced a handwritten letterin Pakistan’s Supreme Court inwhich the key accused in thecase claimed that he was a“scapegoat” arrested under“US pressure” and the realmastermind was a Karachi-based terrorist.

Pearl, the 38-year-oldSouth Asia bureau chief forThe Wall Street Journal, wasabducted and beheaded whilehe was in Pakistan investigat-ing a story in 2002 on the linksbetween the country’s power-ful spy agency ISI and al-Qaeda.

British-born al-Qaedaleader Ahmed Omar SaeedSheikh and his three aideswere convicted and sentencedin the abduction and murdercase of Pearl. In April, theywere exonerated by the SindhHigh Court and an appealagainst their acquittal is beingheard in the Supreme Court.

According to a ExpressTribune report on Sunday,Faisal Siddiqui, counsel forPearl’s parents, has produced

the handwritten letter in theSupreme Court in whichSheikh claimed that the realculprit was a militant, AttaurRehman, from Karachi.

Siddiqui told the apexcourt that the letter was sub-mitted to the Sindh HighCourt on July 19, 2019.

In the letter, Sheikhclaimed that he was “a scape-goat” arrested on the “US pres-sure” and that the real culpritwas Rehman.

The letter was producedduring a hearing of the appealsagainst the acquittal of the fouraccused in the Pearl murdercase. A three-judge specialbench led by Justice MushirAlam heard the appeals of theSindh government and Pearl’s

parents, Ruth and Judie Pearl,against the high court ruling.

Siddiqui contended thatthe bench must consider it.However, the apex court willdecide on it on the next date ofhearing on January 4, thereport said.

Sheikh further said in hisletter that he had been inprison under the death sen-tence since 2002, charged andconvicted for the abductionand murder of Pearl. However,it was on public record thatneither did he abduct Pearl nordid he murder him and it hadbeen acknowledged by the USgovernment and by Pakistan’sformer president PervezMusharraf in his book.

Sheikh said his role in thiscase was a relatively minor one,which did not warrant thedeath sentence, adding that hehad already served in prison —most of which has been in ille-gal solitary confinement.

According to the letter,the pressure on the Pakistangovernment at the time (in2002) by the US was so intensethat Sheikh was used as a“scapegoat” to lessen that pres-

sure. “Therefore, evidence was

fabricated against me to con-vict me of the abduction andmurder of Daniel Pearl,”Sheikh claimed.

“Later, when the person(Rehman alias NaeemBukhari) who actually abduct-ed Daniel was arrested, hewas not charged with the casebecause to do so would haveexposed the lies and perjuredevidence that the Musharrafgovernment used to convictme,” he added.

The letter claimed thatdespite Rs 1 million rewardmoney on Rehman — becauseof his role in the case — he wasnot produced in court but waskept in secret illegal custody ofthe Rangers for five years,then in Sukkur jail for twoyears and charged only with afabricated case of possession ofdrugs.

After Rehman’s release, heis alleged to have organisedsome of the most devastatingattacks Karachi has ever seen,including blowing up of theRangers Headquarters inNazimabad, where he was pre-

viously secretly held, Sheikhclaimed.

The letter also claimedthat if Ata was executed thenthe evidence, which wouldprove the truth about Pearl’scase, would be lost forever.Therefore, Sheikh requestedthe court to pass a stay orderthat would ensure thatRehman was not executeduntil testified in the Pearl case.

“The court is also request-ed to arrange for the hearing ofthis appeal without furtherdelay on a day to day basis andto summon both me andRehman to the court for hear-ing so that I may be exonerat-ed of the fabricated chargesagainst me and given an oppor-tunity to clarify my actual rolein this matter so that my sen-tence may be reduced, accord-ingly to one which is consistentwith the requirements of jus-tice,” the letter stated.

Two days after the SindhHigh Court overturnedSheikh’s conviction in April,the Sindh government invokedthe Maintenance of PublicOrder to keep the four convictsin jail. PTI

Mexico City : MexicanPresident Andrés ManuelLópez Obrador said he spokewith US President-elect JoeBiden by phone on Saturday,five days after he sent a tardyand somewhat chilly letter ofcongratulations to Biden.

“We reaffirmed our com-mitment to work together forthe good of our peoples andour countries,” López Obradorwrote in his social mediaaccounts.

López Obrador and Brazil’spresident, Jair Bolsonaro, final-ly congratulated Biden onlyafter the Electoral College voteconfirmed his victory.

The two were the lastmajor Latin American leadersto send congratulations. BothLópez Obrador and Bolsonarowere seen as friendly toPresident Donald Trump.

The Mexican president hasstressed that maintaining goodrelations with the United States— Mexico’s northern neigh-bour and by far its top tradingpartner — is one of his top pri-orities. AP

��

Passengers bound for Nepal'sJanakpur were in for a sur-

prise after they ended up inPokhara, 255 kilometres awayfrom the actual destination,after a rare flight mix-up by aleading private carrier, accord-ing to a media report onSunday.

The incident happened onFriday to 69 passengers travel-ling on Buddha Air, TheKathmandu Post reported.

The weather was not quitefavourable for the flights onFriday so carriers were makinguse of every available weatherwindow to take the passengerson board as quickly as possibleand take off, the report said.

Buddha Air's flight U4505was cleared to take off forJanakpur airport in the plains.Passengers were taken in andthe plane took off, with its esti-mated arrival time at Janakpurby 3:15 pm.

Washington: President DonaldTrump floated naming lawyerSidney Powell, who was boot-ed from his campaign’s legalteam after pushing unfoundedconspiracy theories, as a specialcounsel investigating allega-tions of voter fraud.

During a Friday meeting atthe White House, Trump wentas far as discussing gettingPowell security clearance,according to two people famil-iar with the meeting, who spokeon condition of anonymity todiscuss private conversations.

It is unclear whetherTrump intends to move for-ward with the effort. Underfederal law, the US attorneygeneral, not the President, isresponsible for appointing spe-cial counsels. And numerousRepublicans, from outgoingAttorney General William Barrto Governors and state electionofficials, have said again andagain that there is no evidenceof the kind of mass voter fraudTrump has been alleging sincehe lost the November 3 electionto Democrat Joe Biden.

That Trump is even enter-

taining the idea of installingPowell underscores the increas-ingly desperate steps he hasbeen weighing as he tries toreverse the results of the elec-tion and remain in power.

Trump has increasinglyentertained conspiracy theoriesand outlandish ways to stay inoffice, egged on by allies likeformer national security advis-er Michael Flynn and formerNew York Mayor RudyGiuliani, the president’s per-sonal attorney.

Indeed, at the meeting,Giuliani pushed Trump to seizevoting machines, which theDepartment of Homeland

Security made clear it had noauthority to do. It is alsounclear what that wouldaccomplish, given that theDepartments of Justice andHomeland Security have bothlooked into the issue. Paper bal-lots are also retained under fed-eral law.

Flynn, whom Trumprecently pardoned for lying tothe FBI, went even further, dis-cussing the idea of imposingmartial law and using the mil-itary to re-run the election.Trump’s chief of staff, MarkMeadows, and White Housecounsel Pat Cipollone voicedtheir objections. AP

!�� !

Kathmandu: VeteranCommunist leader K P SharmaOli kindled hopes for much-needed political stability inNepal when he assumed powerfor the second time in 2018after the Left alliance swept thehistoric parliamentary polls.

However, his surprise moveto recommend the dissolutionof Parliament after weeks ofpower tussle within the rulingNepal Communist Partydashed all hopes, once againcreated political instability andpaved the way for a possiblesplit in the largest communistparty of the country.

Oli, who joined politics asa student activist in his teenageand spent 14 years in jail foropposing the now-abolishedmonarchy, became Nepal’sPrime Minister for a secondtime in 2018 as a joint candi-date of the Left alliance.

The alliance between theCPN (UnifiedMarxist–Leninist) and Pushpa

Kamal Dahal-led CPN (MaoistCentre) won a majority in theHouse of Representatives andin six of the seven provincialassemblies in the 2017 elec-tions. After their victory, thetwo parties formally merged inMay 2018.

Known for his pro-Chinastance, 68-year-old Oli hadearlier served as the country’sprime minister from October11, 2015 to August 3, 2016 dur-ing which Kathmandu’s tieswith New Delhi had strained.

During his first term, Olihad publicly criticised India forinterfering in Nepal’s internalmatters and accused it of top-pling his government. He, how-ever, promised to forge a part-nership with India to move for-ward the country towards thepath of economic prosperityahead of assuming office for thesecond term.

In 2015, when Nepaladopted a new Constitutionthat split it into seven states, the

ethnic Madhesi group, mostlyof Indian-origin, protested formonths, saying they were notgetting enough territory in oneof the provinces and were alsofacing discrimination. Theissue had strained Indo-Nepalties.

During his second term,Oli claimed that efforts werebeing made to oust him afterhis government redrew Nepal’spolitical map by incorporatingthree strategically key Indianterritories, a move that strainedties between the two countries.

India had termed as“untenable” the “artificialenlargement” of the territorialclaims by Nepal after itsParliament unanimouslyapproved the new politicalmap of the country featuringLipulekh, Kalapani, andLimpiyadhura areas whichIndia maintains belong to it.

Oli accused his rivals with-in the party of making effortsto topple his government. PTI

��A�� 1��/�� ,��

�� <�2��

�� 1��;��%&��

!�� 1�� !

�� '�' ��

-�� 9* &��##��

%�� %�� A�

�� .�

��B��1��Dubai: Kuwait’s Sheikh NasserSabah Al Sabah, the eldest sonof the late emir, who emergedas an influential reformer in theoil-rich Gulf sheikhdom, diedon Sunday, the country’s state-run news agency reported. Hewas 72.

Sheikh Nasser, who heldvarious government posts overthe years including minister ofdefense and deputy prime min-ister, had been considered a topcontender for crown prince fol-lowing the death in Septemberof his father, the 91-year-oldSheikh Sabah Al Ahmad AlSabah.

Although he drew popularsupport for his ambitiousmega-projects and anti-cor-ruption efforts, he was passedover for his uncle, SheikhMeshal Al Ahmed Al Jaber AlSabah, a more cautious choiceof heir apparent at a turbulenttime for Kuwait’s politics andthe wider region. The KUNAstate-run news agency did notspecify how Sheikh Nasser

died, but he was known to bein fragile health after having alung tumor removed two yearsago.

In a country that dependson oil for some 90% of its rev-enues, Sheikh Nasser champi-oned bold plans to diversifyKuwait’s economy by buildingup a business hub with a freezone and deep sea port in thecountry’s north. But with manyin Kuwait’s parliament com-mitted to the status quo, hisideas repeatedly ran agroundeven as fears mounted that thecountry was falling behind itsmore powerful and better-developed neighbors, SaudiArabia and the United ArabEmirates.

Last year, Sheikh Nasser’spublic allegations of govern-ment corruption vaulted himinto the national politicalscene, as he pressed for inves-tigations into the suspectedembezzlement of hundreds ofmillions of dollars from a mil-itary fund. AP

��,�1�� C%

-��$��!��8�� !��

8��-�� &�)��,�-��

(�� (��1

5�=� �� (��

-��>�� &��8?�� *��

*��

�� !"� # #

��"�� $�� (�"%��3�"�$��0�"#$��"$�'��%��#�� $��!��$��!�#�$��"�B��!��"!��"��2��"0��"�3"$$�� "��"#��"!�$��%��"��%�� 4��2

1��$�"��!�"�$�#%��%��%#� ��.��$�� "�%"��$��#!�"�!�"$�2��"��3��@�C��3"(�'"��KK��%��%��#�� $��!��$��!�#�$�L0��0��!��(��"��K�� $��0��"3"(�%��.�"��"!�!�'"��%��"##(KN

��$�0��"#��%��$�$.�$��0��"��!��"��"#��"!�$�3��13��D��#"�!2

��!�� .��"$'��!��$�"��$��B��B%��%�#�.��2��%�#��$��!��!�"�!!��!�'(��(�"�!�,��$$�2�

1��"��"#��"��0��%��.��$��(��0�#0�$�"��!�"��" � ��#�6�#"(�!�'(��3�7�3��"#�$�$��"��"�$��"� ��"�!�$3��'��.3��$��.��"$�'��$��

'(��$$�� '��2��(��$��%��!��'��"��" ��"B��0��3��#!��%��"�$"�!��'��$2�

C��A��##�!��"0��$�!�"#�3��0��$"#�3��"$��!��"��B"��"#��#�"$��%��%�#��$��$��!�'#��3$�%��$�"$�%�#�B�"��$.�"�!�%��"�!��"��!��3��#!.�3��3"��"��(��&��B��%�#�$��B

"��$�" "��.N�$"�!��$$��'��$2

/!�� .�� .� ��%�� %�� %��-�� "�� "�� "��'� #�.��F

�%�� '�� < ��%� ��8��"� �� .�� < �� #��#��C G�� 2�8�2��8� �� &��#�� 'F G��H� �� I��F <" < �� '�� #��$ -��&�' � "�%�� " �� .�� &�� " �� #��#�� 'F�� & ��C0J5��'�� 7��

��

%%�� A�

/�� .��.�� 0��.�2��0�.3��"!��3��'� ��#�"$�$��$(�"��F��"�!��.�$"�!�!��"�B!��$�(�"��3��'(�#��3��3"$�%��$�'��"$�"��"��3��3�##2

��)*)*.��"3"D�!!��3"$$��3��4��$�$��#"(�� ,"��#�?"!"0��"�!��(("� "��.3��"0��'��3��%��$��B�"'#��"�"��$��!�"��$�"��.��"�(�"�3��0�$�"#��"��"$�'��!�%��!'(�!� ��"#��2

�� '"��"��$�)*)*�4��(.�"3"D�!!��$"�!.C�$�"��"��'�� $�(�"��"$� ��'(#��$2��"$"��"��.��%�3��$��.�3��%�#�$��#�"$�!��"�!�""��#��"�2N

��Shonda Rhimes is finally coming to Netflix. The

showrunner’s first release is an adaptation of JuliaQuinn’s romance novel series about the wealthy,English Bridgerton family and their affairs. JulieAndrews is among the stars. It releases onDecember 25.

�� Do you just nuke your leftovers in the microwave, or

otherwise let them go to waste? Then you could learn athing or two from the cooks on this competition serieswho are masters in leftover cooking and take onchallenges that give new life to old meals. It releases onDecember 30 on Netflix.

��George Clooney is getting in the director’s chair to adapt

Lily Brooks-Dalton’s novel Good Morning, Midnight. He alsostars in the film, playing a (heavily bearded) scientist, iso-lated in the Arctic in a post-apocalyptic world, who sets outto stop a space crew led by Felicity Jones from returningto a catastrophic Earth. It releases on December 23 onNetflix.

G � 1 1 � 2

Standing only a few hundred yardssouth of the mausoleum of emper-or Humayun is the monumental

tomb built by Abdur Rahim Khan-I-Khanan for his wife — Mah Banu. Builtin 1598 AD, this would be the first mon-umental tomb built for a lady in Mughaltimes and, on his death, Rahim was alsoburied in the mausoleum. Son of BairamKhan-I-Khanan, a close associate ofEmperor Humayun and the regent ofthe young Akbar, Rahim was also thegreatest of Akbar’s nobles; a statesman,courtier, linguist, humanitarian, patronand above all, poet.

Despite the historical, architectur-al and archaeological significance of thestructure, by the 21st century, Rahim’sTomb was in a ruinous condition witha risk of complete collapse. Though anestimated six million people drive pastthe mausoleum annually, very few areaware that the ruin is the tomb of thelegendary Rahim. The marble andsandstone cladding on the dome, facade,flooring of the terrace and the tomb, theparapets, lattice screens have largelybeen stripped of the building over theyears including significant loss of fab-ric in the 20th century.

In-line with the vision of revivingheritage monuments in the country,InterGlobe Foundation and Aga KhanTrust for Culture (AKTC) announcedthe completion of restoration work onRahim’s tomb in the Nizamuddin area.The foundation supported the projectbeing executed by AKTC for the phys-ical restoration of the Rahim’s tomb andcultural revival of Rahim and his poet-ry. Archaeological Survey of India, thecustodian of the monument was a key

supporter and partner in the project,which started in 2014.

The physical revival includedrepairs to the major damaged structureson the interior and exterior of the mau-soleum dalans, canopies (chattris),dome, façade and landscape, alongwith the wall and ceiling surfaces. Thelandscape around Rahim’s tomb hasbeen restored to original slopes andheight. The conservation of the domehas been completed with a symbolicaddition of marble cladding.

Commenting on the project com-pletion, Rohini Bhatia, chairperson,InterGlobe Foundation, said, “India isknown for its cultural heritage, hence,the preservation of our art and cultureis essential for our identity. We arepleased to be a part of restoration ofRahim’s mausoleum. In addition tophysical restoration, we are also estab-lishing the relevance of sites and creat-ing awareness among communitiestowards the need for preservation of cul-ture and heritage. We strive to conservethe cultural heritage of our nation.”

Rahim ornamented his wife’s mau-soleum with diverse motifs — in plas-ter and stone. As with his poetry, thesepatterns include both geometric and flo-ral patterns commonly seen in mau-soleums but also patterns seen in Hindubuildings — Swastika and Peacockamong these. Each of the arches of theground level arcade boast of medallionsof varying designs in the spandrels ofthe arches. Where these was evidenceof original design, the medallions wererestored, carefully matching the quali-ty of the 16th century craftsmen.

On cleaning layers of soot and20th century paint layers, the principaltomb chamber and five arched bays oneach façade of the ground level arcadewere found to be ornamented withbreath-taking incised plaster patterns.Careful cleaning, using soft brushes,revealed that much of the ornamenta-tion of the principal tomb chamber hadsurvived; its revelation led Prof EbbaKoch to comment, “… the cleaning ofthe amazing decoration of the inner hall.We can now see again and marvel aboutthe wonderful patterns which decoratethe walls and the dome. Your workchanges our perception of Mughalmonuments.”

The tomb is crowned with a doubledome, where the outer dome wouldhave originally been clad with marbleserving as a protective layer for theunderlying masonry. Though severalpeer reviews suggested completing themarble cladding on the dome, on theadvice of the Archaeological Survey ofIndia, restoration of marble claddingwas limited to the base. This served thedual purpose of strengthening the baseas well as to indicate to visitors the orig-inal finish of the dome. In view of theseveral opinions expressed on this mat-ter, it is possible that sometime in thefuture opinion will veer towards com-pleting the marble cladding on thegrand dome of Rahim’s mausoleum. Onthe roof, anastylosis of four canopieswas possible with stone elements foundat site.

All conservation works utilise ‘avail-able traditional craftsmanship in thecountry and the use of traditionalbuilding materials and skills as an inte-gral part of the conservation process. Allrepairs have focussed on imparting sta-bility and to prevent loss of originalmaterial. The conservation effort haveprimarily aimed to ‘prolong the life’ ofthe mausoleum while preventing anyfurther damage and deterioration byminimising the impact of externalagents of decay (natural and humaninduced) on its setting, structure andmaterial.

Ratish Nanda, CEO of Aga KhanTrust for Culture said, “Conservation atRahim’s tomb has been possible with apublic-private partnership. Not only hasa significant monument been con-served for posterity but dignity has beenrestored to the resting place of the cul-tural icon, Rahim. Conservation in theIndian context can benefit from thou-sands of years of building craft tradi-tions and recourse to an inter-discipli-nary scientific approach. Around1,75,000 craft days of work has helpedrestore this grandeur.”

Designers Shantanu and Nikhil Mehrafeel the post-COVID era will be all

about being disruptive and fearless. “I feelthat this pandemic has definitely taught usa lot and I think all the young buddingdesigners, artists from whatever walks oflives, they should feel a lot more fearless. Noone is going to judge you for what you areor how you plan to pursue your career as abrand,” Shantanu said.

“Just be a little disruptive, even if youfeel you can’t make it on your own, have theguts and the courage to go seek a job becausetoday everybody is looking for some talent.So if you have it in you or even if you feelthat you do not have the talent or courageto start your own business, brand or entre-preneurship journey because the pandem-ic has given you that suffering or pain points,don’t hesitate in going back to the drawingboard and say okay I think I’m going to workfor a bit. Just give it a try,” he shared.

“Give some value to the person who isemploying you and at the same time getsome value that yes, you can again restartand reshape my journey. I think it’s goingto be about that disrupting self,” he added.

Nikhil said, “This is a great moment inour lives when for the first time when youtalk about true democracy, it’s happeningacross the world to every human being.”

He continued, “It’s a time that will giveus a chance to understand why we are here.A lot of times we spend a lifetime trying tofigure that out or we can never do that andwe pass away but this gives us an opportu-nity to really dig deep inside and understandwhy we are here.”

“I find this year or this moment to bea blessing so that it can help us to under-stand we are humans, we have emotions andit’s not just the greed that we need to go afterbut really ourselves. I hope this gives us allan opportunity to be humans again,” sharedthe designer in an episode of LakshmiManchu’s show Coming Back To Life WithLakshmi Manchu, which is available onSouthBay channel.

A)!��

�:2�K <� �;� 2�K

�%�)(,-�

�:7,52�� +��'C�� !��.�� +)+ ��,�� 6�(�� 1�� 6�*��

>"$��!�$� ��$�1��"�!�� $�"��"��$��"�!��"$��"� ��"�#��"'��'�� !�$��0�"�!�%�"�#�$$

�� !"� # # %%�� $��%��&�A)

5:0%�)+@,1��:�,%-��:��7,�7%��,�$� @:�,-��0,-$%1��+�,-)�%:�%1��5+$,-��(0��:��+)%��%1��++1��5:4�(��1%:�7��,�$

��$�"��$��"0��3��#"��!��"��!$�3��$��B�� "��$"��#��#(��"��$�� $��#�$$��'"��2��$��!(.��'#�$��!��4��"#��!!��0��"0��$.

$"($��" ��'�($�3��0"��!�3��"#��$��$�"$�#��#(��$�"��$�� "$��'�($�3��$��#"��$��%�#�$�"�!��"��3��$�"$�#��#(��(�$��#�$$��'"��2

C>��"��!�"#$��!(.�%��"��#($��%��$��0�.�3�A!� �0��0��('�!(�"��B�� "��.%�##�3��%��"�%�3�(�"�$�"�!�$��%��(�$�"��$�� .��3��!��#��"�!�!��A�� 0��"��B�� "��.N�$"�!$��!(�"��(��##��B�"��#��%��1�"��0��$��(��12

C��3�A!��"�!��#(�"$$� ��!$��0"��0"��2��"�A��!��%��$�� $.��'0��$#(.N��##��B�"��#��"!!�!2

�"��"#�0"��"��$��#��"0��#��"!�"��6�97��%#��$��"!��%�8�9�B5H.�'��%#��$��!�$�

��"��!��0��0��"$��$�$��"$��($��"#!�$�"�� .��"$�B3�"�� .�"�!�J�"�"��.�$"(��$�"��$2

C��!��$�"�!�� "#$�"$��"#��(��%�8�0�!B5H��"�$��$$��#!��#��%��$��$��"�!�� $.N$"�!�$��!(�"��,��"��"��%��"�0"�!��0��$��(��12

��$��%��!�� $.��'#�$��!��4��"#��!�� $��%��"��"#��"!��(��%1��$.�$� �$��"��!��%�8�9�B5H��"(�"0��"�$�"$��"#��"��.�$��"!�� %"$��3��3��$�!"��"��$��2

�� !��"� #�$�%&!'#$�(��)*�*� &�(&�!"�

��$��"#�$�!��"#��8�9��"��$��"0��"�+*�� "��$��%�!(�� "��!��3��%��$"��

" ��"�!��"#��$�"��$.��0�"#�!�"��3�$��!(��"��!��%��!$�0��"#��$��%"��$�%��"#��(�%��!�$�"$�2

��$��"#�$�!�"��$�3��3��'�$�.��"!�(��$��#(��"�" �!!�"'��$�"#$��"!"�� $��%!(�� "��!��$��3��!�!��"0��$��!��$.�$"�!��$��!(��'#�$��!��4��"#�8#��"#�%��$��$�"$�$2

��$��" �!�)*��+H�3��$��!��$��"!��'� �$��!�%%��$��%�!(�� "��!��"#��$2

>��$��!(.��$�"��$��0"#�"��!��"�#(�<O.***��$��"#�$�!�8�9�B5H��"��$��<5+��$��"#$�"��$$��1��!��#��'��3��"��"��"�"��$��$�"�!��$��%�!(�� %��8�9�B5H2

"()$+�"),,#"("�*& )"�#!(# "�� &!

8��$�� "�� "��%��#��"B

��$$�!�%��!$��"(��"$��$��%�!�"��%��"�(��"�$��'(�)<��.�"�!�;I��$��%��"##(�%��"�!��0"$��#"��!�$�"$�$.$"(��$�"��$2

1��"��$��#0�$"��"$�� #(�%#��!�!�3��%��!$��!��!�'(��&��$�0��!�$��"#��$$�� .� ��"##(�#�3��$$��"#��$.�� $� "�.��#�"�!�$"#��"�!�#�"'#��'��0��$��!2

��3�"�$��!(�%��881�� F �!��"��"��#� ��"#��$��"#(.��%��$��"��$��%��!$�"��"��%�#��"#��2

��'#�$��!��"��,��"#��%�8#��"#��.��$��!(�3"$��!��!��0��)).***��#��"��"�� #�B$"��4��2

�(�"�"#($�� "�� "'��$�"�!�%�##�3�� "#��!��$�%��0��I�(�"�$.��$�"��$�3��"'#��'$��0��"��$��$�� "�� "��%��#��"B��$$�!�%��!$��"!�"��"$�!��$��%�!�"��2

�� -�'�� .�� CJ��

Since ages, philosophers across the worldhave argued that the concept of happiness

can be defined or analysed simply in termsof ‘individual contentment’ or by being sat-isfied with one’s life. So in simple words, onecan say that in order to be happy, one needsto be content. But is it really possible in today’stime and age? Well, in the present world, onewould hardly find a man who is not discon-tented. There may be many reasons behindthat, of which one of the major ones is hisfinancial challenges. Other than this, it maybe related to the personal, social, economic,political and moral issues. As a result of this,man is weighed down with despair, indiffer-ence, tension, animosity, even fury and men-tal agony. Hence, his plans and acts gowrong and this leads to fights. Some peoplealso have a habit of building castles in the air.As a result, they fail to understand that it isonly by hard work that a man can make bothends meet. Hence, we should remember thatjust like foodsustains thebody, in thesame wayyour mindfind suste-nance in hap-piness. So, thesaying goes:there is nofood as goodas happiness.And, to behappy, youhave to becontented. AsAlfred Nobelhas r ightlysaid that ‘Contentment is the only realwealth,’ we should therefore not run aftersecuring another kind of wealth to lose thewealth of contentment.

Contentment is as good as a means ofhappiness as wealth is considered to be. Is itproper, therefore, to lose the wealth of con-tentment in order to secure another kind ofwealth? The right course of conduct is thatman should be calm in the present crisis andat the same time, find a systematic methodof mending or ending it. Considering the pre-sent to be the consequence of our own actions,we should thus be careful about the future. Wemust remember that the world is subject tochange and every human being reaps as hesows. Hence, man should play his part and dogood deeds so that he doesn’t faces any unde-sirable situations later in life.

Contentment, purity and peace are thetrios which make one’s life worth living. Theyappear on in life after one has been pursuingspiritual studies and practising meditation.Without Yoga, one cannot attain and sustaininner peace and tranquility. However, peoplegenerally think that spiritual studies areuninteresting, boring, tedious and are main-ly based on faith, accompanied by rituals andrepetition of mantras. But this is not the truth.Spiritual studies are as interesting as any othersubject and meditation is neither a ritual nordoes it involve the repetition of a sacredSanskrit formula. It is as simple as reflecting,remembering and feeling, with a bit of guid-ance in the beginning. Meditating should beconsidered as an investment for gaininghigh dividends in the form of contentmentand peace, which are the most valuableprizes that life offers. Today, if we look around,how many people would we find who arespending their time, money and energy forpeace and harmony in society? Unfortunatelythere aren’t many. It is high time we make aresolve to put our time, money and energy forpeace and harmony because if we wish to havea peaceful and harmonious world around us,then it should begin with each one of us.

��=��0�

��$�"��$��"0��3��#"��!��"��"�!��0�!��$�� "��#��3��8�9�B5H�"��

$�%%�� %�� 0��%%��$.�$��"$�'�"��%� �"�!%"�� 2

��$��!(.��'#�$��!��4��"#��"��$��.%��!��"��"��$��.�%��!��!�"$��!�"��$��%��0��$.��"��$$��'#��!B'�"��'"��2

��$�$�� #(�$� �$�$��"��1��1B8�9B).��"�$��%8�9�B5H.��"��'�"��2

C��$��.��%��"##�!��15��.!��"��$�3��##$��0��$��"��2��$�"##(.��0��$!��$��$"�� "$��$�'��!�� .N�$"�!�#�"!"��##�"��"��$�%��0��$��(��%��"$�� 12

��$��#!��"��"��$�#��0�$��.��(�"�!�� (%��"��"�!��"��(.�$"($��,?�/

�� , ,

According to reports published indifferent national newspapers,Finance Minister Nirmala

Sitharaman is likely to announce a threetrillion electricity distribution reformprogramme in the Union budget. As perthe report, the objective is to helpreduce losses and improve the efficien-cy of power distribution utilities. Thereliability and quality of power supplywill also be improved as part of thereform. This step certainly brings hopefor the people residing in rural andremote areas of the country awaiting toreceive power supply for decades now.

“We have just one question —when will the power crisis end in theDhara Panchayat? When will the gridwires come down from the trees? Since1950, we have seen control shifting fromone government to another, but theconcerns of people like us who areresiding in rural and remote areas gounheard,” shared Abdul Hafeez, a 39-year-old resident of Dhara Panchayatlocated in Mandi tehsil in Poonch dis-trict in the recently announced UnionTerritory of Jammu and Kashmir.

Poonch is often in news for the inci-dences of ceasefire violations that tran-spire at the Line of Control. The regionis recognised as a conflict zone whosetough geography and extreme weatherconditions make life of its inhabitantseven tougher. Of many developmentissues, the area suffers extreme powercrisis. Here, the demand for power ismet with erratic supply and frequentpower cuts.

For many years, the residents ofThapla Mohalla of Dhara Panchayathave been worried about the inconsis-tent power supply. With few exceptions,many households get electricity eitherthrough single, crate or other inappro-priate wires which are unsafe and havefull potential of causing electric fireaccidents. In past, Mandi tehsil has suf-fered accidents due to power outage, butno concrete steps have been taken bythe concerned department till date.

In 2018, under Deen DayalUpadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana whichaims at providing continuous powersupply to rural India, the power depart-ment had surveyed the mohalla. As apart of this scheme, a new power linewas to be installed along with a trans-former in this village. Till date, howev-er, the work of installing the wires andthe poles lies incomplete.

When people in other parts of thecountry enjoy benefits of power supply,people here are still living in the darkage. As sun sets, the life here comes toa full stop. Students cannot read or writehere. “I am almost 85. Before indepen-dence, we would bring water from dis-tant places. Today, our younger gener-ations are doing the same. Similar is thecase of power supply. Earlier, we usedhandmade lamps at night. The onlychange I see today is that now we usebattery operated torch light. I have been

hearing since 1965 that our region willget the power supply, but we are stillfighting for poles, wires and transform-ers to reach our village,” shared AfsanaRashid (name changed), an elderlywoman from the mohalla.

In Morban, the situation is a littlebetter as a transformer and poles havebeen installed here under the DinDayal Yojana. However, the village is yetto be blessed with power supply. As perthe Junior Assistant working at thepower department, lockdown due to theongoing pandemic had interrupted theinstallation work. “Now, we are waitingfor the harvesting season. As soon as thecrops are harvested and the land isvacant, we will install the power lines,”he shared.

The contract for the work under the

said scheme has been given to a thirdparty who shared that at present, workis divided into four phases. “Of fourphases, Hari Badha and Morban areabout to be completed. As soon as weinstall 39 power poles in Morban and 29in Thapla Mohalla, the work will be com-pleted in these two areas. Work inFatehpur region has not started yet butwe are working on the action plan,” heinformed.

In the past few years, the govern-ment has taken several concrete stepstowards ensuring electrification ofremotest of villages. This new electric-ity distribution reform programme willnot only trim electricity losses but withimproved reliability and efficiency, it mayfinally bring light to these distant villages.

A��1��*��

The COVID-19 pandemic haseffectively rendered most

forms of education obsolete. Ithas brought a relatively newform of education — online.The common forms of partingthis education, Zoom andGoogle classrooms arechampioning the battlefields,but it has been a harrowing timefor many students and teachersto adapt to the new system,especially with the suddennessof cut-offs. Over 1.2 billionstudents in over 180 countriesare now out of school and areaffected by the school closures.All schoolgoers are turning towhat was once just another toolin a vast repertoire but nowturns up as the only toolavailable; the online education.As per the latest UNICEFreport, one in three childrenworldwide do not have access tothe internet, summing up to agrand total of over two billionchildren without the means toaccess their education.

However, despite thesedepressing statistics, thepandemic has had some positiveimpact as well. EdTech seems tobe rising steadily, and theindustry is gearing up to hit 350billion USD worth in the nextfive years. With Open SourceEducation like Khan Academyand YouTube, millions of lives

are transforming for free.During the pandemic, we arefinding ourself with more time

on our hands, and variouspeople are turning to courses onsites like EdX, Udemy and

Coursera to earn certifications. The practise of reading

frequently has increased, under

the fiercely watchful eyes of at-home parents and buffeted bythe fact that many children arecut off from most activities, likeextended television sprees, orany outdoor activity. It hasproven a solace and manybecame accidental readers.From Mahatma Gandhi toNelson Mandela, Obama toNehru, Bill Gates to Elon Musk,Anne Frank to Greta Thunberg,there is one thing they have allin common: reading. Gates hasreported devoting much of hisday to reading, even opening asection in his websiteGatesNotes, devoted entirely tohis musings on books. Schoolchildren could start withstorybooks before they get intofurther reading. Through thiscolumn, I intend to introduce abook every fortnight for kids toencourage them to read. Thisweek, I would recommend abook I had read and reviewedrecently — Unfair by RasilAhuja. Set in the swelteringsuburbs of Delhi, the bookexplores discrimination in ourschooling system. It is a perfectpick for beginners.

Issues such as safety, highfees and peer pressure havemade the educated parents optfor more reliable homeschooling. From one million intwo decades to the two million

children currently registered inthe NIOS evidence it. Theavailability of informationonline and technology make thisform of education a betteroption. The government shouldformulate new educationpolicies, to evolve itself, todevelop and integrate ed-techand life-skills into itscurriculum. Ranjitsingh Disalerecently won the million-dollarGlobal Teacher’s Prize. ThisMaharashtrian teacher learnedKannada and converted theschool textbooks into a moredigestible structure for hisstudents. Utilising QR codes,interactive, lively teaching, andtechnology like tablets, mobilephones and computers, he hastransformed the lives of hisstudents. If an individualteacher can embrace such noveleducation methods, why can’tthe governments do the same?Well, secure internet access anddevices to empower the childrenin remote and rural areas wouldbe a good start, but only a start.As Queen Rania of Jordan says,“In education, technology canbe a life-changer, a game-changer, for kids who are bothin school and out of school.”(The writer is founder of Voice ofKids and Gold medal winner atthe International EnglishOlympiad.)

� 7�K :! ;:�� 8��)�� !��!�� %+*� )�� !�� )�� )�� )>�? �-�@�� 7�A6

��"0"�#"'�#��(��%��%��"��"�!��#� (��"��$��#��!��"��"'��2��3��!��3��#��$��!�0�#��"�!�� "��!B��"�!#�%��$��##$��#��.�$"($�� ?

8��)��

�#�� A*�� !"� # #

��

Veteran wicketkeeper-bats-man Wriddhiman Sahaand young opener Prithvi

Shaw are unlikely to be pickedfor the remaining Tests inAustralia as India look to ring inwholesale changes after the bat-ting debacle in Adelaide.

It is understood that youngShubman Gill, after a couple ofimpressive knocks in the warm-up games, is seen as a replace-ment of Shaw as senior star RohitSharma will not be available untilthe third Test match in Sydney.

With Saha’s batting not giv-ing any confidence to the dress-ing room, the team managementwill certainly look at Pant, whohad scored a hundred DownUnder during his previous tour,as keeping might not be a factoron pitches with firm and evenbounce.

KL Rahul and MohammedSiraj are the two others in fray toenter the playing XI and thosewould be forced changes due tothe absence of skipper ViratKohli and senior pacer,Mohammed Shami, who is outwith a fractured wrist.

The 36-year-old Saha couldwell be running the last lap of hisinternational career as youngand feisty Pant is set to be pre-ferred by the team managementover the next three Test match-es and if he does well, againstEngland, too.

As far as Saha is concerned,his inept batting in SENA coun-tries hasn’t gone unnoticed (hedoesn’t have a half-centurythere), but former chairman ofselectors MSK Prasad said thatduring his regime, certain planswere chalked out on the Saha-Pant conundrum.

“Look, our committee wasclear that Rishabh Pant will beour first choice keeper in placeslike England and Australia. Onlywhen we are looking at match-es in India where you don't needbatting after number six mosttimes, you can have a specialistkeeper,” Prasad told PTI onSunday.

“I believe Rishabh has

worked on his fitness issuesduring the past month andlooked in good touch during thepink ball practice game. So Iwould agree with the team man-agement if they give Rishabh ago for the next three Tests,”Prasad said.

As far as Shaw is concerned,everything that can go wrong hasgone for the 21-year-oldMumbaikar, whose technique,temperament and overall atti-tude towards the game has raisedsome serious question marks inthe corridors of Indian cricket.

If sources in the know ofthings are to be believed, despitehis slump in form, Shaw was pre-ferred over an in-form Gillbecause he had played in the lastseries in New Zealand and need-ed to be given at least one moregame.

Since he has wasted his

chances, it's time for him to coolhis heels before going back to thedrawing board.

Not only has teams sortedhis faulty technique, his field-ing has been below par from thetime of IPL as he has eitherbeen slow on the outfield ormissed sitters like the oneoffered by MarnusLabuschagne, which cost histeam 30 extra runs.

The Indian team manage-ment could mull bringingHanuma Vihari up the order inthe absence of Virat Kohli andPrasad, who has seen Viharifrom close quarters, feels itwon't be a bad idea to play himat No. 5.

“Vihari has a very soundtechnique and temperamentand he can serve this Test teamfor a long time. In absence ofVirat, it would be a great oppor-

tunity for him and KL (Rahul)to stand up and be counted,”Prasad said.

“I would prefer Vihari bat-ting at No. 4 or 5 in the next fewTests and face the challenge. Heis a gutsy boy and I have con-fidence that he will do well ifgiven the challenge. KL can bea good No. 6 in this series,” theformer chairman of selectorssaid.

He has endured a tragedyduring the ongoing tour, havinglost his father but youngMohammed Siraj's six five-wicket hauls for India is finallygoing to be rewarded as he getsready to make his Test debut atMCG in place of Shami.

The choice was betweenhim and Navdeep Saini, butSiraj's better show during thetwo practice games has tilted thescales in his favour.

��

One of the architects of India’s humiliating loss in thepink-ball series opener, Australian pacer Pat

Cummins acknowledged the help offered by the livelytrack here and wants a similar “sporting” pitch for theBoxing Day Test in Melbourne.

Cummins (4/21) and Josh Hazlewood (5/8) pro-duced a sensational performance as India collapsed totheir lowest-ever Test score of 36, paving the way foran eight-wicket win and a 1-0 lead in the series for thehome team.

“I thought the Ashes Test (2017-18) and the IndianTest at the MCG a couple of years ago were pretty flatwickets,” Cummins was quoted as saying by‘cricket.Com.Au’.

“As a bowler, last year against New Zealand, it wasa really good wicket, a bit of sideways movement anda bit of pace and bounce, so, hopefully, much the same(this year).

“Not only as a player but as a fan, they are the bestwickets - when it is good battle between bat and ball.You feel like if you do your skill well, you can have abig impact on the game.”

Cummins had taken the prized scalp of Virat Kohliand Chetestwar Pujara, who will be expected to take alot of responsibility in the remainder of the series as theIndia skipper returns home for the birth of his child.

Talking about Pujara’s wicket, Cummins said:“One of the biggest helpers was the wicket, it felt likethere was a bit of sideways movement.

“We could just challenge his defence over and overagain and having a bit of bounce in the wicket certain-ly helped,” Cummins said.

The Australia vice-captain also praised off-spinnerNathan Lyon for bowling well to Pujara in the firstinnings.

“I thought Lyno (Nathan Lyon) bowled beautiful-ly to him in the first innings. But, for sure, we are real-ly clear what we want to do to him. We saw we proba-bly brought an extra man to the leg side as well to tryand really attack his stumps,” he said.

“I thought he batted really well in the first innings.We bowled well enough for the scoreboard to not goanywhere. If he hasn’t gone on to that big score, you areright in the game.”

��

The humiliation inAdelaide has opened up“serious wounds” forIndia and Australia nowhave a “good chance” ofinflicting on the visitorsa whitewash in the four-Test series, reckons for-mer captain RickyPonting.

India were bundled

out for their lowest-everTest score of 36 in theirsecond innings asAustralia claimed aneight-wicket win in thepink-ball Test to take a1-0 lead in the Border-Gavaskar trophy.

“Now there’s someserious wounds openedup. There could be agood chance (of asweep),” Ponting told

cricket.Com.Au.“Let’s hope we do

get a result inMelbourne and if wedo, I think India’s goingto find it really hard tobounce back and win agame.”

India will miss skip-per Virat Kohli in theremaining three Testsas he returns home forthe birth of his child and

Ponting said it will be areal test for the visitorsas they look to pick upthe pieces under thecaptaincy of AjinkyaRahane.

“We’ll learn a lotabout them, won't we?With Kohli not beingthere as well there’salmost no one to pickthem back up after a losslike that,” Ponting said.

��

Cricket Australia on Sunday said the SCGremains its preferred venue for the

third Test against India after reports emergedthat the governing body is contemplatingswapping the last two games of the four-Testseries due to growing COVID-19 cases inSydney.

Australian cricket officials were put onhigh alert last week after an outbreak of thevirus in the northern beaches in Sydney,which will host the third Test from January7.

There were reports that the CA wasmulling options and “swapping the third andfourth Tests between Sydney and Brisbanewas the top alternative”.

However, CA's interim chief executiveofficer Nick Hockley said he is hopeful ofstaging the third Test between Australia andIndia at the SCG.

“We have made no changes to our sched-ule and our preference remains to play thematch at the Sydney Cricket Ground,"Hockley was quoted as saying by ‘SydneyMorning Herald’ in a statement.

“Cricket Australia has developed a solidtrack record of delivery throughout this mostchallenging of summers and will continueto make appropriate and proportionatedecisions in consultation with our biosecu-rity team, governments, state and territoryassociations, the Australian Cricketers’Association, our partners and venues.”

With cases growing, star Australiaopener David Warner and pacer SeanAbbott — both recovering from injuries -- were on Saturday flown from Sydney toMelbourne, which will host the Boxing dayTest from December 26.

The governing body's coronavirus work-ing group was also due to meet on Sundayto take stock of the impact of Sydney’snorthern beaches virus cluster on the thirdTest.

With the number of cases shooting to71, Victoria and South Australia havealready announced tighter border con-trols, while the New South Wales state gov-ernment have also imposed fresh restric-tions.

Under the current circumstances, thereare concerns that Queensland state mayclose its border with New South Wales,which will mean players and broadcastingcrews will not be able to travel from Sydneyto Brisbane between the third and fourthTests.

Hockley said the governing body is pre-pared for such contingencies.

“CA has prepared for the possibility ofCOVID-19 hotspots and state border closuresover the course of the summer and the pro-tocols that we have put in place have been effec-tive in ensuring the safety and success of themen’s and women's domestic and internation-al programs to date,” he said.

According to the report, “Hosting the nexttwo Tests in Melbourne, where the series willresume on Boxing Day after Australia took a1-0 lead in Adelaide, is another option...”

��

Opener Tim Seifert carried hisbat for 84 in an unbroken

129-run partnership with KaneWilliamson to steer New Zealandto a nine-wicket win over Pakistanin the second Twenty20 interna-tional Sunday and an unassailable2-0 lead in the three-match series.

Williamson finished 57 notout in his return to the short for-mat as New Zealand overtookPakistan’s total of 163-6 with fourballs to spare.

Seifert took his runs fromonly 63 balls with eight fours andthree sixes, unleashing a wide vari-ety of shots on a flat wicketagainst a Pakistan attack thatstruggled to find consistentlychallenging lengths.

Williamson was scratchy atfirst, then became unstoppable,reaching his 12th T20 internation-

al half century from 37 balls on thesame ground where he scored atest-best 251 in his last innings.

“It was a good surface, goodfor the bowlers but obviously ifyou could build partnerships youcould get there,” Williamson said.

Hafeez came to the last over82 not out, hit three singles, a sixand a four and was 93 not out withonly one ball left in the innings.He did the best he could, hittingthe final delivery for six to finishjust short of a maiden century.

Tim Southee, Trent Boult andKyle Jamieson also returned, giv-ing New Zealand an all-new paceattack. Southee made his presencefelt, taking 4-21 from his fourovers to weaken the Pakistaninnings.

Boult took 0-33 and Jamieson0-43 but New Zealand generallybowled well after losing the toss.

�� 8�

Pacer Mohammad Amir hasheld the Pakistan team man-

agement responsible for his deci-sion to quit international cricket at28 and slammed coach Misbah-ul-Haq and bowling coach WaqarYounis for “spoiling” his image.

Speaking on his officialYoutube channel, left-arm pacerAmir made it clear that his prob-lem was with Misbah and Younis.

“These people have been try-ing to slowly poison people’s mindsby saying that I didn’t want to playTest cricket and only wanted toplay in T20 leagues to earn money.They built a narrative that I had letdown the team despite all theinvestment in me,” Amir said.

“They have tried to spoil myimage and it takes a lot of hardwork to build your image.”

“It was a very hard decision forme but I think the time has come

when one shouldn’t keep quiet. Itook this decision to raise this issueand let people know what is hap-pening.”

“Obviously I was very hurtwhen they didn't select me even in35 players for New Zealand. If Ionly cared about playing in leaguesthen I would not feel bad at beingdropped for the New Zealandtour nor would I have reacted,” hestated.

��

India may have suffered anembarrassing defeat in the

series-opener againstAustralia but its skipper ViratKohli fractionally closed thegap with top-ranked Testbatsman Steve Smith, follow-ing his 74-run knock in thefirst innings in Adelaide.

Kohli gained two pointsfor his half-century to get to888 while Smith (911) lost 10points in the table after scor-ing 1 and 1 in his twoinnings.

Marnus Labuschagne'sinnings of 47 and 6 in thelow-scoring match pushedhim to a career-best 839points in the latest ICC rank-ings for Test batsmen.

Australia skipper TimPaine's player-of-the-matchinnings of 73 not out has lift-ed him to a career-best 33rdwith 592 points.

His previous best was45th in December of 2018.

Further down, Joe Burns'unbeaten 51 saw him moveinto 48th place, the first timehe has been in the top 50since 2016.

Spinner R Ashwin hasnow become India's top-ranked bowler after takingfour wickets in Australia'sfirst innings. Ashwin, nowranked ninth, overtook pacerpacer Jasprit Bumrah.

Ravindra Jadeja, who didnot play the Adelaide Test,was unchanged at numberthree in the all-rounders' list.

Australian fast bowlerPat Cummins gained sixpoints for his seven-wickethaul as he moved from 904to 910 for a comfortable leadover Stuart Broad in secondplace.

Cummins' pace col-league, Josh Hazelwood's fig-ures of 5/8 in India's secondinnings helped him gain fourspots and move back into thetop five with 805 points, thefirst time since March 2018.

1��)��-��

�� 8��1��

��0$��%�)�!��$��

Hit on the elbow during the pink-ball seriesopener, Australia's Joe Burns was on Sunday

cleared to play the second Test against India, butyoung Will Pucovski was ruled out as he contin-ues to recover from concussion.

Burns suffered a nasty blow on his elbow offa Jasprit Bumrah delivery during the first Test atAdelaide which Australia won by eight wickets totake a 1-0 lead in the four-match series.

“Joe Burns has been cleared of serious dam-age to his arm, while concussed young gun WillPucovski has been ruled out of a Boxing Day Testdebut,” a report in ‘The West Australian’ said.

�� 8��?��<��

?��$��)��8"#�� 8��

Recovering from a thumbinjury, Pakistan captain

Babar Azam could miss theopening Test against NewZealand at Mount Maunganuibeginning December 26.

Babar, who has beenPakistan's top run-scorer acrossall three formats since last year,suffered a fracture in his thumbduring a throw-down session inQueenstown on December 12which ruled him out of the

three-match T20 series.“Babar is under rehab and

has done some light training butwhether he will be 100 percentmatch fit in time for the first testis a long shot,” a source aware ofthe developments in NewZealand said.

Babar has also been given a12-day rehab and rest period tobe fit again but the source saidthe Pakistan captain’s injurywas taking time to heal and hewas still unable to hold a batproperly.

)�/��$�� '��(��

��!��

Jamie Vardy’s penalty andToby Alderweireld’s own-

goal propelled Leicester to a 2-0 victory over Tottenham andup to second in the PremierLeague, moving ahead of thenorth London club on Sunday.

Tottenham’s once-blos-soming title challenge has fal-tered over the last eight days,with only one point collectedby Jose Mourinho’s side fromthree games.

But Leicester, the surprise2016 title winner, is now onlyfour points behind currentdefending champion Liverpoolafter 14 games.

A first half lacking clear-cut chances ended with Vardyputting Leicester ahead withthe final kick from the penal-ty spot in stoppage time afterTottenham defender SergeAurier barged Wesley Fofanaover.

Tottenham had an escapeearly in the second half whenJames Justin’s long ball over thetop was artfully brought downby James Maddison beforenetting - only for VAR to spota tight offside.

But Leicester was gifted asecond on the hour whenVardy's header across goal wasdeflected into his own net byAlderweireld, who was underno pressure.

It enabled Leicester man-ager Brendan Rodgers -

appointed academy coach atChelsea in 2004 whenMourinho was first-team man-ager - to claim a first victoryover his mentor in their eighthencounter.

Two weeks afterTottenham beat Arsenal infront of 2,000 fans, the northLondon stadium’s stands wereclosed again - after only beingopen for two games - due totighter coronavirus restric-tions being re-imposed in thecapital.

��

Indian women boxers Simranjeet Kaur(60kg) and Manish (57kg) notched up

Gold medals with contrasting final wins inthe Cologne World Cup in Germany.

Manish defeated compatriot Saskhi 3-2, while Simranjeet got the better of GermanMaya Klienhans 4-1 to finish on top in theirrespective categories.

India finished the competition at the sec-ond spot overall after claiming three gold,two silver and four Bronze medals.

On Saturday, Asian Games championAmit Panghal (52kg) had claimed the soleGold among men. He got a walkover in thefinals.

Veteran Satish Kumar (+91kg) had tosettle for a silver after an injury forced himto withdraw from the finals.

Sonia Lather (57kg), Pooja Rani (75kg)Gaurav Solanki (57kg) and MohamedHussamudin (57kg) had claimed the bronzemedal in their respective categories.

The event featured boxers from the hostcountry, Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, France,Moldova, Netherlands, Poland and Ukraine.

1��"�4��.� "��$��3��/�#!��8�#� ��8

� ��

€¦ · second phase, the rashtrapati bhawan said. the 275-member house of representatives, which...

Documents