the pioneer...2020/12/06  · bhubaneswar on saturday reg-istered 34 new covid-19 cases, taking its...

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T he fifth round of talks between farmer unions and three Central Ministers failed to break the impasse after around five hours marathon meeting at Vigyan Bhawan on Saturday over the farm laws. The Government has sought time from unions to present a concrete proposal and suggested another meeting on December 9, a day after “Bharat Bandh” called by the farmers’ unions. Farmer unions’ leaders were adamant that the Government should repeal the farm laws. They also rejected the Government’s offer to amend contentious provisions of the new farm laws. During the meeting farmer leaders sought the Government to reply in “black and white” that whether it will repeal the laws or not. The farmer unions went on a silent protest (maun vrat), holding up placards and sought a reply in “yes” or “no” on their key demand of repealing the three new farm laws. They also threatened to walk out if the Government is not willing to scrap the laws. According to farmers, the Government could not put up a satisfactory solution to the farmers demands and the del- egation clearly communicated that the protest will continue if the Government doesn’t repeal the three laws. The Government has made it clear that it won’t repeal the farm laws but is ready to amend the clauses as per their demands, while the farmers’ leaders said they need a solu- tion or commitment. After that the Ministers informed the farmers that they will come back with a concrete proposal after internal consultations. December 9 is the next meeting date proposed at 11 am. Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, how- ever, said the Government wanted some firm suggestions from the 40 farmer leaders pre- sent in the meeting on their key concerns and hoped that a resolution would be reached with their cooperation. “We discussed all aspects (of the Acts) in detail and we were eager to find a solution which that did not happen. We wanted some firm suggestions from farmer leaders, but could- n’t get those. We will meet again on December 9. It would have been easier if they had given those suggestions today itself. We will wait for their sugges- tions. Agitating farmers should leave path of protest and engage in dialogue. The Government is ready to listen to all their concerns,” Tomar said after the meeting. The Agriculture Minister reiterated that the Government has assured the farmers that procurement at minimum sup- port price will continue and mandis will be strengthened. “We have said that the MSP will continue, there is no threat to it. It is baseless to doubt this. Still, if someone is suspicious then the Government is ready to resolve it,” he said. Tomar also appealed to the union leaders to send back the elderly, women and children to their homes from the protest sites. Sources said that the Government has agreed to give major concessions to farmers, including written assurance of continuation of minimum sup- port price, registration of traders outside agriculture pro- duce marketing committee (APMCs), and nod to legal recourse in higher courts. H ours after Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij tested positive for the Covid-19 despite taking a shot of Bharat Biotech’s vaccine candidate around two weeks ago during its ongoing Phase-III trial, the Union Health Ministry clari- fied on Saturday that the effi- cacy of the vaccine can only be determined 14 days after the second dose.It said that the Minister has so far received the first dose only. The Hyderabad- based pharma company too echoed similar justifica- tion.“Covaxin is a two-dose anti-coronavirus vaccine and Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij, who had volunteered for its phase-three trial, was given only the first dose,” said the Ministry. T wo coronavirus vaccine candidates — Serum Institute’s Covishield and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin that are in the phase 3 trials — could be eligible for emer- gency use in India by January 2021, Dr Randeep Guleria, Director, All India Institute Of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi, has said. Sources said that emer- gency approvals for inoculation of vaccine can be given to overcome the pandemic. Guleria’s statement comes against the backdrop of the United Kingdom (UK) approval of the Pfizer Inc’s coronavirus vaccine. P eople have a right to demonstrate peacefully and authorities should let them do so, spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said on the farm- ers’ protests in India. “As to the question of India, what I would say to you is what I’ve said to others when raising these issues is that people have a right to demon- strate peacefully, and authori- ties need to let them do so,” Stephane Dujarric, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, said on Friday. Dujarric was responding to a question on the farmers’ protest in India. I gnoring India’s strong protest against his remarks about the ongoing farmers’ stir here, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau again backed the agitators and said his coun- try will continue to “stand up for peaceful protests and human rights.” His reiteration came hours after his envoy to New Delhi Nadir Patel was summoned on Friday and served a demarche. India said earlier remarks by the Canadian Prime Minister and some of his Ministers could impact the ties between the two countries. Seen as a rebuff to him in the current backdrop, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has pulled out of a Canadian- led global meeting on corona pandemic next week, sources said here on Saturday. India informed Canada that Jaishankar will not attend the Canada headed Covid-19 foreign Ministers grouping meeting. He had taken part in the 11th Ministerial Coordination Group on Covid-19 in November which was the first time India officially took part in the meet. A release from Canadian Foreign Ministry that time said, “Minister Champagne (Canadian Foreign Minister) welcomed Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar of India to the group, noting the recent developments in India and emphasising the critical role India plays in addressing global Covid-19 vaccine and pharmaceutical needs.” Other members of the grouping include Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Singapore and the UK. The grouping will meet to formu- late strategies to fight Covid. A group of 36 cross-party parliamentarians has writ- ten to UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab asking him to make representations with his Indian counterpart, S Jaishankar, about the impact on British Punjabis affected by the demonstrations by farmers against new agricultural reforms in India. India has called the remarks by foreign leaders and politicians on protests by farm- ers as “ill-informed” and “unwarranted” as the matter pertained to the internal affairs of a sovereign democratic country. O n the tenth day of their protest, thousands of farmers stayed put at various borders across the national Capital on Saturday. The block- ade at Tikri, Singhu, Jharoda, Jhatikara, Auchandi, Lampur, Piao, Maniyari, Mangesh, Ghazipur and Chilla borders threw traffic out of gear. The diversion of traffic from these border points led to long jams on alternative routes in the national Capital. The Delhi Traffic Police once again took it to twitter on Saturday and informed com- muters regarding the closure of Singhu, Lampur, Auchandi, Safiabad, Piao Maniyari, and Saboli borders. Meanwhile, the Delhi- Noida Link Road via Chilla border had one carriageway (Delhi to Noida) open until Saturday morning, however, the protesters blocked it at around 11 am. The Noida traf- fic police had earlier advised commuters to opt for the Delhi-Noida Direct expressway or Kalindi Kunj routes instead of the Chilla border to travel to and fro Delhi. T he investigation into the abduction and murder of five-year-old Nayagarh girl Pari was intensified with the Special Investigation Team (SIT) grilling prime suspect Babuli Nayak for the second time on Saturday. Babuli’s driver Bijay Behera has also now been brought into the purview of investigations and was interrogated too. The SIT led by IG of Police Arun Bothra also conducted a search at Babuli’s residence in Nayagarh. According to sources, the SIT is trying to trace the where- abouts of Babuli and his driver from the day Pari went missing from near her residence on July 14 before her skeletal remains were found in the backyard of her house on July 23. Earlier, Babuli had claimed that on the fateful day when Pari went missing, he was in Bhubaneswar. A couple of days back, the SIT had questioned him for more than two hours. The SIT had also held discussions with officials of the Nayagarh police, who were earlier investigating the case. Meanwhile, Bothra speaking to media on the day said, “Give us 14 days’ time. We are working hard on the case. I am aware of the onerous responsibility on me given by the Government and the DGP,” “Besides, I know the high expectations of the people,” he added. T he Covid-19 positive cases continued to decline in the State with less than 500 daily cases reported for the last six days. The deaths have also come down significantly since last week. The State on Saturday recorded 409 new positive cases in 27 districts and the State pool. With this, the total positives’ tally climbed to 3,20,803. Sundargarh district regis- tered the day’s highest 53 cases followed by Khordha 44, Angul 35, Cuttack 34, Balangir 32, Mayurbhanj 25, Bargarh 22, Jagatsinghpur and Kalahandi 17 each, Kendrapada 16, Puri 14, Sambalpur, Jharsuguda and Nuapada 11 each, Keonjhar 10, Baleswar nine, Jajpur seven, Nabarangpur five, Koraput three, Nayagarh and Deogarh two each and Dhenkanal, Malkangiri and Boudh one each, Besides, 10 cases were reported from the State pool. Meanwhile, five more patients succumbed to the virus, with which the total death toll increased to 1,765 in the State. Two deaths were reported from Khordha district and one each in Jagatsinghpur, Nayagarh and Puri. BHUBANESWAR: Capital city Bhubaneswar on Saturday reg- istered 34 new Covid-19 cases, taking its total positives’ tally to 30,868, including 383 active cases. Out of the new cases, 28 were local contacts and eight quarantine cases. However, 43 persons recovered on the day, taking the total recoveries to 30,241. Meanwhile, Cuttack city registered seven new positives, increasing its total tally to 15,915. Of the new cases, four were local contacts and three quarantine cases. PNS

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Page 1: The Pioneer...2020/12/06  · Bhubaneswar on Saturday reg-istered 34 new Covid-19 cases, taking its total positives’ tally to 30,868, including 383 active cases. Out of the new cases,

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The fifth round of talksbetween farmer unions and

three Central Ministers failedto break the impasse afteraround five hours marathonmeeting at Vigyan Bhawan onSaturday over the farm laws.

The Government hassought time from unions topresent a concrete proposaland suggested another meetingon December 9, a day after“Bharat Bandh” called by thefarmers’ unions.

Farmer unions’ leaderswere adamant that theGovernment should repeal thefarm laws. They also rejectedthe Government’s offer toamend contentious provisionsof the new farm laws.

During the meeting farmerleaders sought the Governmentto reply in “black and white”that whether it will repeal thelaws or not. The farmer unionswent on a silent protest (maunvrat), holding up placards andsought a reply in “yes” or “no” on their key demand ofrepealing the three new farmlaws. They also threatened towalk out if the Government isnot willing to scrap the laws.

According to farmers, theGovernment could not put upa satisfactory solution to thefarmers demands and the del-egation clearly communicatedthat the protest will continue ifthe Government doesn’t repealthe three laws.

The Government has madeit clear that it won’t repeal thefarm laws but is ready to amendthe clauses as per theirdemands, while the farmers’leaders said they need a solu-tion or commitment. Afterthat the Ministers informed thefarmers that they will comeback with a concrete proposalafter internal consultations.

December 9 is the nextmeeting date proposed at 11am. Agriculture MinisterNarendra Singh Tomar, how-ever, said the Governmentwanted some firm suggestionsfrom the 40 farmer leaders pre-sent in the meeting on their keyconcerns and hoped that a

resolution would be reachedwith their cooperation.

“We discussed all aspects(of the Acts) in detail and wewere eager to find a solutionwhich that did not happen. Wewanted some firm suggestionsfrom farmer leaders, but could-n’t get those.

We will meet again onDecember 9. It would havebeen easier if they had giventhose suggestions today itself.We will wait for their sugges-tions. Agitating farmers shouldleave path of protest and engagein dialogue. The Governmentis ready to listen to all theirconcerns,” Tomar said afterthe meeting.

The Agriculture Ministerreiterated that the Governmenthas assured the farmers thatprocurement at minimum sup-port price will continue andmandis will be strengthened.

“We have said that theMSP will continue, there is nothreat to it. It is baseless todoubt this. Still, if someone issuspicious then theGovernment is ready to resolveit,” he said. Tomar also appealedto the union leaders to sendback the elderly, women andchildren to their homes from

the protest sites.Sources said that the

Government has agreed to givemajor concessions to farmers,including written assurance ofcontinuation of minimum sup-

port price, registration oftraders outside agriculture pro-duce marketing committee(APMCs), and nod to legalrecourse in higher courts.

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Hours after Haryana HomeMinister Anil Vij tested

positive for the Covid-19despite taking a shot of BharatBiotech’s vaccine candidatearound two weeks ago duringits ongoing Phase-III trial, theUnion Health Ministry clari-fied on Saturday that the effi-cacy of the vaccine can only bedetermined 14 days after thesecond dose.It said that theMinister has so far received thefirst dose only. The Hyderabad-

based pharma company tooechoed similar justifica-tion.“Covaxin is a two-doseanti-coronavirus vaccine andHaryana Health Minister AnilVij, who had volunteered for itsphase-three trial, was givenonly the first dose,” said theMinistry.

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Two coronavirus vaccinecandidates — Serum

Institute’s Covishield andBharat Biotech’s Covaxin thatare in the phase 3 trials —could be eligible for emer-gency use in India by January2021, Dr Randeep Guleria,Director, All India Institute OfMedical Sciences (AIIMS),Delhi, has said.

Sources said that emer-gency approvals for inoculationof vaccine can be given toovercome the pandemic.

Guleria’s statement comesagainst the backdrop of theUnited Kingdom (UK)approval of the Pfizer Inc’scoronavirus vaccine.

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People have a right todemonstrate peacefully and

authorities should let them doso, spokesperson for UNSecretary-General AntonioGuterres has said on the farm-ers’ protests in India.

“As to the question ofIndia, what I would say to youis what I’ve said to otherswhen raising these issues is thatpeople have a right to demon-strate peacefully, and authori-ties need to let them do so,”Stephane Dujarric, Spokesmanfor the Secretary-General, saidon Friday.

Dujarric was responding toa question on the farmers’protest in India.

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Ignoring India’s strong protestagainst his remarks about the

ongoing farmers’ stir here,Canadian Prime MinisterJustin Trudeau again backedthe agitators and said his coun-try will continue to “stand upfor peaceful protests andhuman rights.”

His reiteration came hoursafter his envoy to New DelhiNadir Patel was summoned onFriday and served a demarche.India said earlier remarks bythe Canadian Prime Ministerand some of his Ministerscould impact the ties betweenthe two countries.

Seen as a rebuff to him inthe current backdrop, ExternalAffairs Minister S Jaishankarhas pulled out of a Canadian-led global meeting on coronapandemic next week, sourcessaid here on Saturday.

India informed Canada

that Jaishankar will not attendthe Canada headed Covid-19foreign Ministers groupingmeeting.

He had taken part in the11th Ministerial CoordinationGroup on Covid-19 inNovember which was the firsttime India officially took partin the meet.

A release from CanadianForeign Ministry that timesaid, “Minister Champagne(Canadian Foreign Minister)welcomed MinisterSubrahmanyam Jaishankar ofIndia to the group, noting therecent developments in Indiaand emphasising the criticalrole India plays in addressingglobal Covid-19 vaccine andpharmaceutical needs.”

Other members of thegrouping include Brazil,France, Germany, Italy,Singapore and the UK. Thegrouping will meet to formu-late strategies to fight Covid.

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Agroup of 36 cross-partyparliamentarians has writ-

ten to UK Foreign SecretaryDominic Raab asking him tomake representations with hisIndian counterpart, SJaishankar, about the impact onBritish Punjabis affected bythe demonstrations by farmersagainst new agriculturalreforms in India.

India has called theremarks by foreign leaders andpoliticians on protests by farm-ers as “ill-informed” and“unwarranted” as the matterpertained to the internal affairsof a sovereign democraticcountry.

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On the tenth day of theirprotest, thousands of

farmers stayed put at variousborders across the nationalCapital on Saturday. The block-ade at Tikri, Singhu, Jharoda,Jhatikara, Auchandi, Lampur,Piao, Maniyari, Mangesh,Ghazipur and Chilla bordersthrew traffic out of gear. Thediversion of traffic from theseborder points led to long jamson alternative routes in thenational Capital.

The Delhi Traffic Policeonce again took it to twitter on

Saturday and informed com-muters regarding the closure ofSinghu, Lampur, Auchandi,Safiabad, Piao Maniyari, andSaboli borders.

Meanwhile, the Delhi-Noida Link Road via Chillaborder had one carriageway(Delhi to Noida) open untilSaturday morning, however,the protesters blocked it ataround 11 am. The Noida traf-fic police had earlier advisedcommuters to opt for theDelhi-Noida Direct expresswayor Kalindi Kunj routes insteadof the Chilla border to travel toand fro Delhi.

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The investigation into theabduction and murder of

five-year-old Nayagarh girl Pariwas intensified with the SpecialInvestigation Team (SIT)grilling prime suspect BabuliNayak for the second time onSaturday.

Babuli’s driver Bijay Behera

has also now been brought intothe purview of investigationsand was interrogated too.

The SIT led by IG of PoliceArun Bothra also conducted asearch at Babuli’s residence inNayagarh.

According to sources, theSIT is trying to trace the where-abouts of Babuli and his driverfrom the day Pari went missingfrom near her residence on July14 before her skeletal remainswere found in the backyard ofher house on July 23.

Earlier, Babuli had claimed

that on the fateful day whenPari went missing, he was inBhubaneswar.

A couple of days back, theSIT had questioned him formore than two hours. The SIThad also held discussions withofficials of the Nayagarh police,who were earlier investigatingthe case. Meanwhile, Bothraspeaking to media on the daysaid, “Give us 14 days’ time. Weare working hard on the case.I am aware of the onerousresponsibility on me given bythe Government and the DGP,”

“Besides, I know the highexpectations of the people,” headded.

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The Covid-19 positive casescontinued to decline in the

State with less than 500 dailycases reported for the last sixdays. The deaths have alsocome down significantly sincelast week.

The State on Saturdayrecorded 409 new positivecases in 27 districts and theState pool. With this, the totalpositives’ tally climbed to3,20,803.

Sundargarh district regis-tered the day’s highest 53 casesfollowed by Khordha 44,Angul 35, Cuttack 34, Balangir32, Mayurbhanj 25, Bargarh 22,Jagatsinghpur and Kalahandi

17 each, Kendrapada 16, Puri14, Sambalpur, Jharsuguda andNuapada 11 each, Keonjhar 10,Baleswar nine, Jajpur seven,Nabarangpur five, Koraputthree, Nayagarh and Deogarhtwo each and Dhenkanal,Malkangiri and Boudh oneeach,

Besides, 10 cases were

reported from the State pool.Meanwhile, five more

patients succumbed to thevirus, with which the totaldeath toll increased to 1,765 inthe State.

Two deaths were reportedfrom Khordha district and oneeach in Jagatsinghpur,Nayagarh and Puri.

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� 8�9 +����2�� ����� ���:4;<8BHUBANESWAR: Capital cityBhubaneswar on Saturday reg-istered 34 new Covid-19 cases,taking its total positives’ tally to30,868, including 383 activecases.

Out of the new cases, 28were local contacts and eightquarantine cases.

However, 43 personsrecovered on the day, taking thetotal recoveries to 30,241.

Meanwhile, Cuttack city

registered seven new positives,increasing its total tally to15,915. Of the new cases, fourwere local contacts and threequarantine cases. PNS

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Page 2: The Pioneer...2020/12/06  · Bhubaneswar on Saturday reg-istered 34 new Covid-19 cases, taking its total positives’ tally to 30,868, including 383 active cases. Out of the new cases,

�How did you come on boardfor the show?

The casting directors workall the time and are constantlyin touch with productionhouses and actors. I hadpreviously worked with theteam for Beyhadh 2. As actors,we do come to know of newprojects to go on the floormuch in advance. They hadcalled me for an audition. I hadauditioned for a positive rolebut I ended up getting anegative character to play. �Were you disappointed yougot this role?

Not at all. Most of us havea positive outlook to look andlive that life. But in acting, onecan experiment and the wholeidea is that since I am in real-life a positive person, I wantedto try play a negative role foronce. �What made you say yes tothis role?

Definitely it is about thecharacter that I am playinghere. Also, I have old ties withthe production house. It makesit easy to work with knownfaces. One knows what toexpect and this makes workingso much more comfortable.� You have done shows likeKundali Bhagya, Kavach,Jamai 2.0 and Beyhadh 2.Which one is your favourite?

I would say it has to beBeyhadh 2. This is because inthe other shows I had donecameos where I was there for afew days like playing a cousinof the lead character or wasthere where I ended upharassing the heroine. InBeyhadh 2, I got to showcase mytalent. I said yes to this projectbecause after I landed inMumbai, I got my first break inKundali Bhagya after a year-and-a-half. At that time, thingswould happen but get cancelledat the last minute. Things camemy way and I said yes.� From model to actor. Howhas the journey been thusfar?

I had always wanted to bean actor. I thought modellingwas like acting since there wasno one to guide me. In Delhi,there was not much scope foracting. I thought I would startwith modelling and make some

contacts and then shift toMumbai. But modelling is sodifferent and I realised thissoon enough and came toMumbai.� Viewers have a mindsetwhen it comes to actorsplaying negative roles. Is thesame for an actor?

An actor wants to just act.The aim is to do as manydifferent roles as possible. I justact, there is no whether I amplaying a positive or a negativecharacter. As long as I get to doout-of-the-box roles I willcontinue to say yes irrespectiveof what and how the characteris. Each character has layers toit and one has to follow thescript. There is more scope toexperiment and bring in yourown element when you play a

negative role.� Does this mean there ismore creativity while playinga negative role?

Like I said, I am a positiveperson in real-life. When I amplaying a negative role, thescript is always running at theback of my mind. I am thinkingof how I can work better on thischaracter. But the good part isonce the shot is over, thecharacter is no more and I amback being Manish Verma. Wehardly get time to really get intothe shoes of the character, theshots are for only five-10minutes.�How difficult is it to not beparanoid and shoot with allthe precautions that one hasto take?

Right now, we have not

started shooting but I am sureonce we do, the usual thingswill be in place — wear amask, use sanitiser andmaintain social distancing. Theonly time when we won’t bewearing a mask would be whilegiving a shot. It is all abouttaking precautions and worksafety.� How did you get intoacting?

I have not taken any actingcourse. In Delhi, I had joineda theatre workshop but neverunderstood what washappening. I went for three-four days and then dropped theclasses. Even in Mumbai, Ilearnt everything I know bygiving auditions. One can’t betaught how to be an actor. It isinborn. The only thing one canlearn is the technical aspect —how to give a shot, where topause and diction.�What about Bollywood?

It is on the cards. But fornow, I am not looking at it andconcentrating on TV. There area few other projects on TV butthe dates for Teri Meri… havenot been finalised. Once that isdone, I will look at the time Ihave on my hands and take upother projects.

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The problem with this live-action dramais that it had to compete with itsanimated counterpart that was released

back in 1998. And that makes this one, forthose who have seen the animated version,tough to take in since there is little that thisMulan can offer. Who can not love the wholeanimals talking and the whole magic thatsurrounded the original?

Sadly, from the word go, this was slated tonot work even though it was the mostanticipated movie from Disney; they made theanimation as well. Given that they were theones who made the animation, for them to notrecreate some of the magic from that film is abit of a letdown. The movie wants to send amessage — about patriarchy and the whole idea

about what place women have in the society.Strangely, even though Mulan does rebelagainst the whole set-up, she ends up doingexactly what others want her to do. The wholeidea for woman empowerment somewhatfalls flat.

Then there are the actors themselves. Onewondered what make Jet Li take up this project.It is strange for the viewer to see him in three-four scenes and then also no action that he isknown for unless one considers catching anarrow meant to kill. Yifei Liu as Mulan doesher bit as a warrior who finally brings honourto her family.

But those who have not seen the animatedversion, this one is a treat to watch given theexotic and beautiful locales. In fact, one canwatch the entire movie just to see thesebeautiful places that have also been shot sobrilliantly that one can enjoy them. Unfortunatethat one has to watch it on the smaller screeninstead of the 70 mm where the effect wouldhave been awesome.

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Usually sports documentaries show the journey of a playeror a team that has been successful all through andmostly centred around the game of cricket. It is good

to see a real take on a sport that is not cricket and instead talksabout a game that finds its origins from the Vedic period ofancient India.

This four-part 35-minute series follows the team and isnarrated by junior Bachchan. It is rather insightful to knowhow passionate he is about the game, the team and the playersthat he bought back in 2014 and that once a player is a Pantherhe remains a panther. But he also says that this is about businessand he may have to take some tough decisions regarding theteam that one the first Pro Kabaddi League only to have gonedown since then.

It is interesting to see the lives of the players and theirhumble background and the struggles they had to face to reachwhere they are today. It is also interesting to note that all theplayers in PKL are from Haryana — it is the land of doodh andghee and the youth spend their time bodybuilding and playingthe game is taken seriously. Little insight into the lives of theplayers’ families gives you the whole picture and next time wewatch the team play it would definitely be with a differentperspective.

The team definitely needs to regroup and work hard inorder to even reach the play-off for the next season. We mayeven see some new faces given that some of the players havenot done well or should one say not been team players.

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Page 3: The Pioneer...2020/12/06  · Bhubaneswar on Saturday reg-istered 34 new Covid-19 cases, taking its total positives’ tally to 30,868, including 383 active cases. Out of the new cases,

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Jajpur-Jajpur DistrictDharamsala Block Kamagarh

Panchayat has become quitefamous for Goldengrass crafts-manship. Demand for this spe-cialty has grown significantly asa result of recent corporatescandals. Nowadays, there is ashortage of raw materials dueto the lack of raw materials.The craftsman, on the otherhand, has been found to beskeptical of any plans by thegovernment for the bettermentof the cottage industry. Artisansare turning their backs on theprofession due to lack of gov-ernment incentives. If the gov-ernment does not encourage

them, they will be forced to losetheir jobs.

The slowdown in thistechnology, which has beengoing on for decades, is nowslowing down. First of all, thework of the late PranakrushnaMohanty was started here in1956, and the work of thesawmill gradually increased.

It employed hundreds oflocal women artisans.Currently, there are no trips,festivals or festivals for Karona,which prevents the sale of scis-sors.

As a result, artisans arebeing deprived of remunera-tion because their productsare stored at home.

Many artisans are shying

away from this work as suchproblems often appear.Thereare 45 groups working in theShubhshree Village Women'sSelf-Help Federation ofKamagad village. More than500 women artisans workthere. These include womenfrom Kamagadh, Antia,Bharatpur, Gangutia, Kharilo,Srichandanpur, Baunshanta,Kushtira, Purunabaulmal,Jenapur, Berhampur, Ghasibar,Khajuribati, Chargoth, Ichapur,Dakshinpashi and Satman.They finish their homework inthe morning and make a vari-ety of items from Kaich(Golden Grass).

Among them are diningmats, file covers, bags, bou-

quets, hats, jugs, nuts, swans,pedestals, bins, toys, pedi,flower pots, photo covers, elec-tric ball stands and more. All ofthose items are sold in differ-ent parts of our state as well asat home and abroad. There areeven stalls set up by regionalindustrial centers to sell stallsat various fairs and festivals. Forthese artisans, the Governmentof India has an insurancescheme and a six-month train-ing program.

The raw materials neededfor the manufacture of sawnmaterials come from the neigh-boring districts of Kendrapada,Puri and Sambalpur, as well asSLB Chiplima, Satkabad andPanchupandab. These artisans

are now making materials fromlocal raw materials. New itemscannot be made because theitems made by artisans are notsold at home. As a result, arti-sans can now be seen sitting athome.

"It simply came to ournotice then. In view of this, theShubhshree Rural Women'sSelf-Help Federation hasdemanded that the state gov-ernment provide financialassistance to the registeredartisans engaged in the work.

Kaich artisans need gov-ernment assistance.

Due to the closure of fairsand festivals for Karona, theproducts made from kaicharcannot be sold.

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Arrested IFS officer AbhayKant Pathak had planned

for a lavish wedding of his sonAkash Kumar Pathak, who hasalso been arrested in fraudcases, with the daughter ofexpelled Gopalpur MLAPradeep Panigrahi.

After grilling both fatherand son, Vigilance officialssaid the IFS officer said he hadspent Rs 60 lakh in the pre-marriage events and kept a

budget of Rs 10 crore for thewedding, which was sched-uled to be held on December15.

Besides, he has spent Rs 20lakh each for higher studies ofhis two children. Before beingarrested, the father-son duodeposited Rs 85 lakh in HDFCand ICICI banks inBhubaneswar. In 2014, Rs 38lakh was transferred to Akash’sbank account from his father’saccount, said the Vigilance.

On Saturday, both of themwere again sent to the Jharpadajail here after their three-dayremand period ended.

Before being taken to thejail, the IFS officer toldreporters, “I have been trappedon false charges. There is a con-spiracy against me. My son wasand still is working with the

Tata Motors.”While Akash had on Friday

said he has no job in the TataMotors, he changed his state-ment on Saturday and said, “Iworked with Tata Motors, butthe company is not supportingme now.”

Vigilance Investigating

Officer Harishankar Pati said,“There is no need to take thetwo on remand anymore. Wehave enough evidence. There isno conspiracy against them andthey must show the evidence ifthey have. Akash has no job inTata Motors. Raids are alsounderway in Patna of Bihar and

at his relatives’ houses.”In last three years, Rs 600

crore has been spent forafforestation and a probe isunderway to find out whetherAbhay Pathak was involved inany corruption during theperiod, the Vigilance sourceadded.

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Amidst the political heatover the kidnap and mur-

der of five-year-old girl Pari inNayagarh, Opposition partiesCongress and BJP on Saturdayvisited the district to meetfamily members of the girl.

A high-level delegation ofState Congress comprisingparty in-charge Dr A ChellaKumar, PCC presidentNiranjan Patnaik, workingpresident Pradeep Majhi, for-mer PCC chief Jayadev Jena,CLP Leader Narasingha Mishraand senior MLA Tara PrasadBahinipati met Pari’s parents attheir Jadupur village.

Chella Kumar demandedthat the murder accused bebrought to book at the earliestand action taken leading to hisdeath sentence.

Pari’s father Ashok Sahualleged about police inaction inthe case.

In the backdrop of theOrissa High Court recentlyexpressing displeasure over theprobe by the Nayagarh policeinto the case, the Congressdemanded resignation of ChiefMinister Naveen Patnaik onmoral ground as he is the headof the Home Department.

Besides, the partyexpressed dissatisfaction overthe process of inquiry by theSpecial Investigation Team(SIT) into the case.

A team of BJP membersled by party’s nationalspokesperson Sambit Patra alsomet Pari’s parents Ashok Sahuand Saudamini and discussedthe matter with them.

The party reiterated itsdemand for a CBI probe intothe case and resignation ofMinister Arun Kumar Sahooalleging his involvement in themurder case as he is allegedlyshielding the accused BabuliNayak, who is close aide of his.

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The Congress on Saturdayextended its support to the

December 8 Bharat Bandh callgiven by the agitating farmersagainst new farm laws.

Backing the farmers protestagainst the Centre’s agriculturelegislations, the PradeshCongress Committee (OPCC)appealed to people to supportthe bandh call for its success.

“Farmers are our‘Annadata’ (food providers).They are the backbone of oureconomy. The protest againstthe new farm laws is, therefore,justified,” said PCC presidentNiranjan Patnaik.

PURI:In a shocking revelationin the Puri custodial deathcase, the postmortem report ofthe deceased K Ramesh hasrevealed that he died due tobrain hemorrhage and multipleinjuries.

The report stated thatRamesh was brutally hit with aheavy weapon at the Baselisahipolice station. The body haddeep injury marks on 15 dif-ferent parts starting from hisfoot. The blood had formeda clot caused by a direct blowto his head.

His lungs, liver, kidneys andspleen were found congested.The doctors in the postmortemreport described the death as‘fatal in nature’ and stated thatthe reason of death was brainhemorrhage.

For further confirmation,the doctors have sent the sam-ples to the State ForensicScience Laboratory,Bhubaneswar.“The cause ofdeath is reserved pendingchemical analysis of routineviscera,” the doctors mentionedin their opinion.

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Taking action against illegalsex determination and

abortion, the NimapadaJudicial Magistrate First ClassCourt (JMFC) on Friday sen-tenced obstetrician and gynae-cologist Dr Bachaspati Dash totwo years of imprisonment.

The court convicted thedoctor in the case and award-ed two years of imprisonmentto him and also slapped a fineof Rs 7,000 on him.

As per information, DrDash had obtained licencefrom the Health Departmentfor conducting ultrasound athis clinic ‘Family Health

Research Centre’ at JayashreeChhak here. However, therehad been allegations againsthim for conducting sex deter-mination and abortion ofexpectant mothers at the clin-ic. In 2004, the then Puri Sub-Collector Udhav Charan Majhiand the CDMO had conduct-ed a raid and seized all medicalequipments from the clinic. Acase was also lodged in con-nection with the case.

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The Indian Navy Day wascelebrated by the Veterans

Club Odisha here on Friday.Club secretary BibhuprasadSwain in his inaugural addressspoke about the importance ofthe day.

The club members thankedChief Minister Naveen Patnaikfor providing two acres of landto the organisation to constructa world-class war memorial inthe honour of the brave soldiersof the State.Defenceexpert Anil Dhir saidmore than 1,500 sol-diers from Odishahad joined the IndianNational Army (INA)of Subhas ChandraBose and sacrificedtheir lives. If factsabout this can be fea-tured in the proposedwar memorial thiswould become a mat-ter of pride for theresidents of the State

and Non- Resident Odias whoare residing outside.FormerAir Force officer SurendraPrasad Mishra, former AirForce Group CaptainJagadananda Brhama , formerWing Commander PrabhasPatnaik, veterans RabindraPatnaik, Ajay Kumar Nayak,Hara Prasad Dora,SamarendraParija, Kulamandi ParidaSeshadeb Mishra, DinabandhuSarangi, Rabindra Kumar SahuGopinath Mishra ,Dilip KumarSahu Kali Prasad Mishra were,among others, present,informed club presidentBidyadhar Nayak.

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The ‘black’ farm laws of theCentral Government would

ruin the agriculture sector.Empowered by these legisla-tions, the corporate houseswould have monopoly overthe sector, said NavanirmanKrushak Sangathan (NKS)State coordinator SeshadebNanda here on Saturday.

Addressing agitatorsopposing the farm laws atPMG Square here, Nanda saidin future the farmers would notbe able to compete with thecorporates and would be forced

to toil as labourers in theirfarmlands.

Prime Minister Modi hasconspired to hand over thefarm sector to his friendsAmbani and Adani. So, thisfight is between the Chaiwalaand farmers. In the end, thefarmers would win and Modiand Amit Shah would be forcedto flee from Delhi, he stated.

Till the laws are with-drawn, the fight would con-tinue indefinitely, said otherspeakers.NKS State committeemembers SurendranathMaharana, Banabihar Seth,Dronacharya, ChittaranjanNanda, Jayakrushna Bastia,Sadananda Mohanty andBiswajit Swain, among others,were present.

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Hundreds of farmers stageda road blockade on NH 6

at Attabira, 20 km fromBargarh, on Saturday. Thefarmers were demanding elim-ination of the Central proce-dure of paddy procurement,tokan system and increasedhigh quantity of paddy pur-chased from the farmers at irri-gated and non irrigated areas.

The road blockade was led

by farmer leaders Lingaraj,Anita Putty and RameshMohapatra.

Several farmers organiza-

tions and sangathan membersparticipated. Bus and truckservices were completely par-alyzed owing to the bandh.

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Rice bran, once considerednot of much use beyond

cattle feed and fuel in Odisha,is emerging as a boon forfarmers because of theGovernment’s agri technologypopularisation initiatives.

This was known from areview meeting held under thechairmanship of ChiefSecretary Asit Tripathy recent-ly wherein MSME PrincipalSecretary Satyabrata Sahu out-lined the issues for discussion.

Considering the State’spotential for production ofrice bran oil, Tripathy wanted

to make a demand assessmentof the rice bran oil and theavailability of the raw materi-al for promotion of small andmedium enterprises in thissector.

Tripathy said, “Since ricebran oil contains immune sup-porting nutrients and unsatu-rated fat, it can be developed toan attractive enterprise foryoung entrepreneurs.” Headded, “Proper assessment ofthe market demand and econ-omy involved in the trade willbe a reliable guide for theyoung entrepreneurs.”

Sahu said, “Incentives likeinterest subsidy @ 5% per

annum for 5 years on term loanfrom the date of commercialproduction, 75% net SGSTreimbursement for 5 years upto the limit of 100% investmenton plant and machinery,exemption of electricity dutyup to contract demand of 500KVA for 5 years, assistance forquality certification, employ-ment cost subsidy and techni-cal knowhow now availablefor the sector.”

Director of IndustriesReghu G appraised that as ofnow, 12 rice bran units areoperating in the State, out ofwhich seven are in Bargarh dis-trict, two in Koraput, one each

in Jajpur, Khordha andBaleswar. A total amount of Rs1,115.34 lakh incentive/sub-sidy has been provided to theeligible units.

Assistant Director ofIndustriea Madan Mohan Patrasaid that around 800 milligramof healthy edible oil can be

extracted from the bran gen-erated from one quintal ofpaddy.

This oil is sold at a higherprice in market than that of thenormal refine oil. There ispotential for more such unitsthrough local entrepreneursin paddy-rich districts.

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BHUBANESWAR:Beaware two-wheeler rid-ers! The driving licence(DL) of a rider wouldbe suspended if the pil-lion rider is found with-out a helmet.Strictlyenforcing the new MVAct, the State TransportAuthority (STA)informed it in a tweeton Saturday.Notably,the authorities have madewearing of helmets compulso-ry for pillion riders from March1.Earlier, the STA had stated

that strong action would betaken against the violators fornot wearing helmets on two-wheelers.

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The mercury continued toplummet in the State with

as many as many as 15 stationsrecording Friday’s night tem-peratures below 15 degreeCelsius.

Sonepur turned out to bethe coldest place in the as mer-cury dipped to 8 degree, fol-

lowed by Phulbani with 9degree, Daringbadi 9.5 degree,Bhawanipatna 10.5 degree,Angul 10.6 degree, Talcher11.7 degree, Jharsuguda 12.1degree, Sundargarh 12.5degree, Keonjhar 12.6 degree,Balangir 12.8 degree, Boudh13.5, and Koraput, Hirakud andSambalpur 13.6 degree.

The twin cities of Cuttackand Bhubaneswar recordedminimum temperature of 14.8degree and 16.9 degree Celsius,respectively.

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In a bid to streamline theCovid-19 vaccination pro-

gramme, the State Governmenton Saturday reconstituted theAdverse Events FollowingImmunisation (AEFI)Committees at the State aswell as district levels.

A 21-member State-levelAEFI committee would beheaded by the Family WelfareDirector and the StateImmunisation Officer would

be.its Member Secretary.The Chief District Medical

and Public Health Officerwould head the 14-memberdistrict-level committee andAdditional District PublicHealth Officer (FW) would be

the: Member Secretary.“Preparations are under-

way for conducting Covid-19vaccinations in States and dis-tricts, starting with certain pri-ority groups. In connectionwith this, steps need to be tak-ers to strengthen AdverseEvents FollowingImmunisation (AEFI) surveil-lance following Covid-19 vac-cinations to maintain confi-dence in safety of vaccines,” aHealth and Family WelfareDepartment notification stated.

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Aperson was crushed todeath when a truck collid-

ed with the cycle he was ridingnear the Kaliaghai bridge onNiali-Phulnakhara road onSaturday morning. Besides, thedriver and helper of the trucksustained critical injuries.

The deceased was identi-fied as Sarat Chandar Dalai(52). As per his wife Pramila,when he was going to theKalighai market to sell vegeta-bles, the truck hit him from thebehind.

Irate locals blocked theroad for three hours disruptingvehicular movements. They

demanded compensation toSarat’s family members. Theblockade was called off afterSDPO Subash Panda and NialiPS IIC Bijay Mallick reachedthe spot and assured the agita-tors of Rs 10,000 compensationfrom the Red Cross fund forthe deceased’s family and Rs2,000 under HarishchandraYojana for his last rites.

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BHADRAK:The Delhi policeon Saturday arrested a manfrom his in-laws’ house atNaraharipur village under theDhusuri police limits inBhadrak district for allegedlycommitting cyber fraudsamounting to Rs 1 crore.

The accused RajendraMallick is a resident of Bari inJajpur district.

He had a travel agency,through which he used tomake train and flight tickets ofpeople using fake IDs. He alsoused to dupe people of thou-sands of rupees on the pretextof getting them a job at theDelhi airport by hacking thesoftware.

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BRAHMAPUR: FormerAssembly Deputy Speaker andAdvisor of Odisha StateAgriculture Marketing BoardRama Chandra Panda, whileexpressing his concern overfarmers’ problems, urged theCentral Government not todelay further and settle theissues raised by farmers whoare on dharna in Delhi underthe biting cold. The farmers are launching themovement by their own organ-isation independent of anypolitical party.

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Page 4: The Pioneer...2020/12/06  · Bhubaneswar on Saturday reg-istered 34 new Covid-19 cases, taking its total positives’ tally to 30,868, including 383 active cases. Out of the new cases,

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While launching a websiteof the SCB Medical

College Hospital here andanother one for the institution’salumni association, ChiefMinister Naveen Patnaik onSaturday said he hopes manypass-outs from the collegewould return to build a greater

future for this institution.He said, “These great doc-

tors are an inspiration to all ofus to serve humanity withtheir knowledge and skills.You will all have a major roleto play in transformation ofSCB into a world-class institu-tion.”Patnaik said the state-of-the-art website would signifi-cantly enhance the stature andthe service delivery capability

of the “Bada Medical”.“My Government has ini-

tiated the process of transfor-mation under 5T initiative tomake it a world-class instituteand an ecosystem that willattract everyone to comebackand work in SCB,” he said.

During the current Covid-19 crisis, the SCB has helpedbuild institutional capacity forthe entire State,” he added.

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After nine years of paymentto get two flats near Puri

sea beach, an officer of theIndian Oil CorporationLimited (IOCL), has ultimate-ly been harassed by the builder.The victim said he was cheat-ed as the builder had alreadysold the flats to other people.The builder has not yet refund-ed the money, after severalreminders, he added.

K Kiran Kumar Patra,Chief Manager of IOCL,brought this complaint to theEconomic Offense Wing ofCrime Branch on November 9.As per his complaint, Patra hadbooked two flats of 1560 sq fteach on the second floor ofAsiyana Lagoon apartment at

Sipasarubali near beach of Puriin August 2011, from one AjayAgarawal of PGS Construction.

He had paid a total of Rs45.22 lakh in two instalmentsto Agarwal. Through a tri-partyagreement between seller-banker-purchaser, he had bor-rowed Rs 38 lakh from IDBIand paid. In second instal-ment, he had paid the rest Rs7.22 lakh through cheque andcleared the dues.

But after nine years, Patrawas not handed over the flatsby Agarwal after severalreminders. Even the flats havenot yet been registered in hisname.

When he inquired at theland registration office, hefound the flats he had bookedin the apartment paying Rs

45.22 lakh had already beensoldsince 2009 to other twopersons.

Bringing allegation ofnexus of bank staff withAgarwal in the fraud, Patra saidthat he had already written tothe REDA but got no responsetill today.

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The concluding evening ofthe Konark Festival 2020

on Saturday witnessed amazingdance renditions in Odishi andKathak being enchanted byrhythmic portrayals of love.

Senior artists from theGKCM Odissi Research Centrecame up on the stage withMangalacharan dedicated toLord Surya, the presiding deityin the temple at Konark.

It was followed byShankaravarana Pallavi on thecompositions of GuruKelucharan Mohapatra andGuru Bhubaneswar Mishra.The enactment of KrushnaGatha on the popular lyrics ofOdia medieval poets exhibitedlove between Krishna andRadha and Gopis.

The Kathak classical recital

commenced with Ganesh Stutidepicting love as devotion.Artists from the Drishtikonrepertory presented Utsav loveas celebration depicting purityin movement and rhythm. InKathak, Triveni exhibiting

musical composition based onthe three rivers enthralled oneand all.

The concluding item inKathak was “Changing land-scape: Love as passion”. Love asa life force got rhythmically

recited on the stage.The International Sand Art

Festival at the nearbyChandrabhaga beach also con-cluded on an artistic note withsketch of bravura piece of arton sand carrying a message.

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Doctors at the SUM Hospitalhere have been successful

in turning around a Covid-19patient whose lungs had suf-fered 90% damage by using theExtracorporeal MembraneOxygenation, known as ECMOin medical parlance.

Sujit Kumar Singh (49)was admitted into the hospitalon September 15 and treatedinitially before being shifted tothe hospital’s Critical CareUnit. His condition had turnedserious.

“He was put on ventilatorand subjected to high-flownasal oxygen therapy, but themeasures did not yield thedesired result. Then we decid-ed to try ECMO,” Dr Shakti

Bedanta Mishra, Head of theCritical Care Unit, said, addingthat it functioned as the lungsof the patient while the medicalteam could concentrate onrepairing the lungs. ECMO isan extracorporeal techniqueof providing prolonged cardiacand respiratory support to per-sons whose heart and lungswere unable to provide an ade-

quate amount of gas exchangeor perfusion to sustain life.

The patient began torecover slowly and he was putthrough physiotherapy as well,Dr Debasish Sahu, Head of theDepartment of Cardiothoracicand Vascular Surgery, said,adding that the recoveryprocess took about twomonths.

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Achild-friendly ‘ModelAnganwadi Centre’, con-

structed by the JSPLFoundation, the CSR arm ofthe Jindal Steel and PowerLimited (JSPL), was inaugu-rated at Tensa in Sundargarhdistrict on Thursday.

Project Director, DRDA,Sundargarh, Bhairab SinghPatel; Tehsildar, Koira, PallaviRani Raj and Sarpanch, Tensa,Anita Putty were present on theoccasion among other compa-ny officials.

As many as 35 pre-schoolkids of tribals-dominatedTantra and Phuljhar villages

under Tensa GP of Koira Blockwill be immensely benefittedfrom the centre.

The Model Centre is a safeand attractive place for childrenwith facilities like early stimu-lation, infant games, modelfeatures, waste management

and nutri-garden. It is alsohaving adequate space to con-duct multi-purpose activitiesincluding student learning pro-grammes, student co-curricu-lar activities, health and socialawareness programme andSHG meet, etc.

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New Delhi: “Unsafe injectionexposure during treatment-seeking” and “receipt” of intra-muscular injection in the pastfive years were reasons behindsurge of HIV infections inUttar Pradesh's Unnao districtin 2017-18, the Indian Councilof Medical Research (ICMR)said on Saturday.

The ICMR released its find-ings from a case-control studyconducted on the suddenincrease in the detection of HIVamong attendees of anIntegratedCounselling andTesting Centre (ICTC) locatedin a district hospital in Unnaoin 2017.

“Through the study andevidence generated, it was

established that 'unsafe injec-tion exposure during treat-ment-seeking' and receipt ofintramuscular injection in thelast five years were indepen-dently associated with HIVsero-reactive (presence of anti-bodies) status,” the ICMR saidin a statement. The findingshave helped establish that theinfection arising from bloodtransfusion, undergoing inva-sive surgical procedures, tat-tooing, tonsuring of head orskin piercing was not related tothe surge in the cases.TheICMR said the study was doneon individuals detected HIVseroreactive during November2017-April 2018 from threelocations -- Premganj,

Karimuddinpur andChakmeerapur in Bangarmaublock of Unnao. The studyparticipants were interviewedbased on various risk practicesand invasive treatment proce-dures, it said.“They were alsotested for HIV and other bio-markers reflecting unsafe inject-ing and sexual exposures. Alongwith this, secondary data analy-sis on three time points wasperformed which revealed a ris-ing trend of HIV among atten-dees of specific ICTCs in thedistrict,” it said. Speaking aboutthe study, the correspondingauthor, Samiran Panda, direc-tor of ICMR National AIDSResearch Institute, Pune, said,

PTI

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Lucknow: Prime MinisterNarendra Modi will inauguratethe construction of the firstphase of the Agra Metro RailProject (AMRP) virtually onDecember 7, a statement issuedby the Uttar Pradesh govern-ment said on Saturday.

UP Chief Minister YogiAdityanath will also be presenton the occasion, it said.According to officials, the totalcost of the AMRP is Rs 8,379.62crore and in the first phase, theSikandra -- Taj East Gate corri-dor will be constructed. Thechief minister is himself mon-itoring the project and the traf-fic on this corridor is expectedto start in December 2022, offi-cials said.The Sikandra – TajEast Gate corridor will have six

stations -- Taj East Gate, Basaiand Fatehabad Road (all threeelevated stations) and the TajMahal, Agra Fort and JamaMasjid being underground sta-tions.Besides benefiting 26 lakhpeople of the city, the metro willalso prove to be a better optionfor movement by providing astate-of-the-art Mass RapidTransit System (MRTS) to over60 lakh tourists who visit Agraevery year, the statement said.

“The Agra metro will pro-vide an environment friendly,comfortable and hassle-freemeans of public transport andwill also make it easy to travelto world famous tourist desti-nations like Taj Mahal andAgra fort,” Kumar Keshav, man-aging director, UPMRC, said.

Ahmedabad: A sitting judge ofthe Gujarat High Court diedfollowing a cardiac arrest onSaturday while undergoingtreatment for coronavirus at aprivate hospital here, a doctorsaid.

Justice G R Udhwani (59),who had tested COVID-19positive on November 19, diedat SAL Hospital due to com-plications arising out of theinfection, the doctor said. Hedied in the morning, days afterhe was admitted to the hospi-tal on November 22 in a criti-cal condition, Dr DivyangDalwadi, a critical care expert

of the hospital, said.“He had tested COVID-19

positive on November 19, andwas admitted to the hospitalwith severe lung infection. Hewas also suffering fromhypothyroidism,” the doctorsaid.“He suffered a cardiacarrest at 7 am on Saturday andwas declared dead at 7.40 am,”Dalwadi said.

He had been on a ventila-tor support since December3after his oxygen requirementincreased, and was adminis-tered Remdesivir andTocilizumab injections andplasma therapy during the

course of treatment, the doctorsaid.

Justice Udhwani, whohailed from Ahmedabad, waselevated as the AdditionalJudge of Gujarat High Court onNovember 12, 2012, after beingappointed as the RegistrarGeneral between June 2011and November 2012. He wasconfirmed as Permanent Judgeon July 10, 2014.

Justice Udhwani had joinedthe legal profession in 1987 andpractised in the high courtbefore being appointed as ajudge in city civil court inFebruary 1997.

He had also served asGujarat High Court registraron two occasions, first as reg-istrar (legal) and then as regis-trar (infrastructure and IT).Before that, he had served asin-charge Registrar General ofGujarat High Court betweenFebruary and June 2011. Hewas then elevated to the post ofadditional judge of the highcourt.In his career spanningover three decades, JusticeUdhwani had also served as anadditional judge of specialPOTA (Prevention ofTerrorism Act) court in 2003.

PTI

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Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh ChiefMinister Shivraj SinghChouhan has said that schoolsfor Classes 1 to 8 in the statewill remain shut till March 31next year in view of the coro-navirus pandemic.

He also said that no testwould be conducted for thestudents of these classes thisacademic year and they wouldbe evaluated on the basis oftheir project work.

The chief minister saidthis during a review meeting ofSchool Education Departmentheld on Friday.

“There will be no regularclasses for the students ofClasses 1 to 8 in the state tillMarch 31, 2021. No test wouldbe conducted for students ofClasses 1 to 8 and they will be

evaluated on the basis of theproject work,” Chouhan wasquoted as saying in a pressrelease.

“Schools for Classes10 and12 would resume shortly for theBoard exams. But social dis-tancing and other norms willbe fully observed in the class-rooms to prevent the spread ofCOVID-19,” he said.

Students of Classes 9 and11 will be called to schools onceor twice a week, Chouhanadded.Earlier, state SchoolEducation Minister Inder SinghParmar had told PTI that thestate has partially reopenedschools from September 21for Class 9 to 12 with limitedstudents amid strict adherence to COVID-19 pro-tocols. PTI

Ahmedabad: About 100 police personnel have tested positivefor coronavirus in a special drive in Ahmedabad in the last fourdays, a senior officer said on Saturday.

Among the infected police personnel, two constables havebeen hospitalised while others are in home isolation, JointCommissioner of Police (Admin) Ajay Chaudhary told PTI.

“We started a drive from Tuesday (December 1) to test all14,000 police personnel in Ahmedabad. Nearly, 1,000 police per-sonnel are being tested everyday. About 100 personnel have test-ed positive for the virus so far,” Chaudhary said, adding that thisis the second drive to test the police personnel in the city.

Ahmedabad district's COVID-19 caseload stood at 51,392on December 4, while the death toll went up to 2,100, the healthdepartment said.

In a drive conducted around two months ago, 200 police per-sonnel had tested positive for coronavirus, he said.

Kondagaon: A 45-year-oldfarmer allegedly committedsuicide by hanging himselffrom a tree in a village inChhattisgarh's Kondagaon dis-trict, officials said on Saturday.

Family members of thedeceased Dhaniram Markamsaid he was worried over howhe would sell paddy crops cul-tivated on his more than sixacres of land after learning thatthe maximum portion of thefarm acreage under paddy pro-duction was written off in the

government record for the pro-curement.

Officials said Markam wasfound hanging from a treenear his farm in Marangpurivillage under Baderajpur devel-opment block on December2.”As per preliminary informa-tion, Markam had sown paddyon his 2.731 hectare (6.70 acre)of land and was eligible to sellaround 100 quintal of paddy atthe minimum support price(MSP) in the cooperative soci-ety,” PTI

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Four persons have beenarrested For allegedly gan-

graping a minor girl inKolkata's adjoining New Townarea, a police officer said onSaturday.

The girl, along with afriend, was taking a stroll onFriday night, when the fouraccused allegedly attackedthe duo, took the girl to anisolated place by force, andraped her, he said. Her friendfled the scene, the officersaid.

“A police patrol team thatwas passing by heard the girlscreaming for help andrushed to her rescue. One of

the four accused was arrestedon spot,” he said.

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Thiruvananthapuram: Keralareported 5,848 Fresh COVID-19 cases on Saturday, taking thetotal caseload to over 6.31lakh, while the toll mounted to2,390 with32 more fatalities.While 5,820 people have beencured, the total recoveries so farhas touched 5,67,694.

Presently, 61,393 areundergoing treatment for thedisease, Health minister K KShailaja said in a press release.

The total number of pos-itive cases in the state is nowabout 6,31,615.In the last 24hours, 60,503 samples havebeen tested, and the test posi-tivity rate has touched 9.67 percent.So far, 65,56,713 sampleshave been sent for testing, theminister said.

Malappuram continued to

account for the highest numberof cases with 920 infections, fol-lowed by Kozhikode 688,Ernakulam 655, Kottayam 567and Thrissur 536.Thirty twopeople, who died recently, test-ed positive for the infection,taking the toll to 2,390. Of thepositive cases, 53 had comefrom outside the state and5,137 have been infectedthrough contact, Shailaja said.As many as 3,15,024 people areunder observation in variousdistricts and 15,062 are in hos-pitals. Police registered cases against 863 peo-ple for violating covid restric-tions, 341 people were arrest-ed and 43 vehicles were seized.Cases were registered against3,540 people for not wearingmasks. PTI

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Page 5: The Pioneer...2020/12/06  · Bhubaneswar on Saturday reg-istered 34 new Covid-19 cases, taking its total positives’ tally to 30,868, including 383 active cases. Out of the new cases,

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Prime Minister NarendraModi will perform the

‘bhumi pujan’ (foundationstone laying) ceremony of thenew Parliament building onDecember 10 at 1pm.

Briefing the media onSaturday, Lok Sabha SpeakerOm Birla said, “The existingtemple of democracy is com-pleting 100 years. It is a matterof pride for our countrymenthat the new one will be builtby our own people as a primeexample of AatmanirbharBharat. The new building willshowcase the cultural diversi-ty of the country. Hopefully, inthe 75th year of independence,Parliament session will be heldin the new building.”

“There will be approxi-mately 888 seats for Lok Sabhamembers and more than 326seats for Rajya Sabha membersin the new building. The LokSabha hall will be able toaccommodate 1,224 memberssimultaneously,” Birla saidadding that there will be noCentral Hall in the new build-ing.

The increase in the num-ber of seats has been donekeeping in mind the future

increase in the number ofmembers for the two houses.At present, Lok Sabha has asanctioned strength of 543members and Rajya Sabha of245.

The design of the newbuilding was exhibited in themedia briefing. The newParliament building will bebuilt in an area of 64,500 sqmetre at an expense of �971crore. The Tata ProjectsLimited has been given thecontract for the project afterLarsen and Toubro, which hadsubmitted a bid of �865 crore,had lost the bid. The design hasbeen prepared by HCP Design,Planning and ManagementPrivate Limited.

The Lok Sabha Speakeralso said that the new buildingwill be ver 17,000 sq metre big-ger than the old Parliamentbuilding. The new triangularParliament building will haveseparate offices for all MPs andwill be equipped with the lat-est digital interfaces as a steptowards creating ‘paperlessoffices’ as per the plan.

It will also be earthquakeresistant and 2,000 people willbe directly involved in con-struction while 9,000 personsindirectly, said Birla, adding

that the current Parliamentbuilding will be refurbishedand will be part of theParliament complex.

The new building will alsohave a grand Constitution Hallto showcase India’s democra-tic heritage, a lounge for mem-bers of Parliament, a library,multiple committee rooms,dining areas and ample park-ing space, said Birla.

He said invitation will beextended to all political parties.While some would attendphysically, others would attendvirtually, Birla said, addingthat the ceremony would fol-low Covid-related guidelines.He has extended a formal invi-tation to Modi also.

The existing ParliamentHouse building will be suitablyretro-fitted to provide morefunctional spaces for parlia-mentary events, to ensure itsusage along with the newbuilding. The existing buildingis a massive circular edifice of560 feet in diameter. TheParliament House Estate isenclosed by an ornamentalred sandstone wall or irongrills with iron gates that canbe closed when occasionsdemand. The building has 12gates.

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As countries prepare the listof people to be given pri-

ority in Covid-19 immunisa-tion, researchers have soughtthe mandatory inclusion ofdiabetic patients saying thatthose infected are three timesmore likely to have a severe ill-ness or require hospitalisationcompared with people withoutdiabetes.

While studies have sug-gested that those with type 2diabetes are at higher risk formore serious complicationsand being hospitalised if theyget Covid-19, little is knownabout the risk for individualswith type 1 diabetes.

Vanderbilt UniversityMedical Center researchersidentified electronic healthrecords (EHRs) of more than6,000 patients across 137Vanderbilt Health clinical siteswho had a Covid-19 diagno-sis during the period frommid-March until the firstweek of August.

The team then closelyreviewed the patients’ medicalrecords and contacted manyindividuals by telephone toidentify additional risk factorsand gather more information on how Covid-19had impacted their health.

They compared the over-all impact of Covid-19 for

three populations: individualswith type 1 diabetes, individ-uals with type 2 diabetes andthose who did not have dia-betes.

However, it was discov-ered that individuals, bothwith type 1 and type 2 dia-betes infected with COVID-19are severely affected.

“I think these data sup-port prioritizing individualswith type 1 or individualswith type 2 diabetes forimmunisation alongside other high-risk medical conditionsthat increase the risk of gettingvery sick with Covid-19, suchas heart or lung disease,” saidJustin Gregory, MD, MSCI,lead investigator for the study published in DiabetesCare, the journal of theAmerican DiabetesAssociation.

The study was a prospec-tive cohort study, meaningr e s e a r c h e r sidentified the study subjectssoon after their infection withCovid-19 and followed theseindividuals as they progressedthrough the illness.

“People with type 1 dia-betes don’t need to live in fearand have undue anxiety, butthey need to be real ly diligent in doing the things weall should be doing,” Gregorysaid.

“All of us should be wash-

ing our hands and staying 6feet apart. We should be con-scientious about limiting thetime spent with people outside

our household. I’m not askingpeople with type 1 diabetes todo anything that all of usshouldn’t already be doing. I

just think they need to be themost diligent about doing itday in and day out,” he added.

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In the absence of medical rep-resentatives during the

Covid-19 lockdown, majorpharma companies managedto reach out to doctors throughdigital tools to ensure medi-cines reached their patients,according to a survey byDoceree, a global network ofPhysician-only platforms forprogrammatic marketing.

In fact, pharma marketerswere able to get close to 2/3rdof the reach they were gettingin the pre-Covid era, saidDoceree.

It also noted that special-ists and super-specialistsengaged more with pharma-ceutical brand messaging thangeneral physicians or con-sulting physicians.

The network had analysedover 20 million impressionsserved through its platformfrom July 2020 – Oct 2020

and found that real-timedevelopments in the Physiciandigital marketing space thatcould reflect broader trends.

Of all the ads served tophysicians, 68 per cent clickswere recorded from special-ists/super-specialists, while32 per cent came from gen-eralists.

“Though generalistsoutscore specialists in terms ofpure logins and impressions being served, spe-cialists and super-specialistsfare much better in engagingwith the Pharma brand mes-sage by clicking on it or bycompleting that desiredaction, for instance fixing aremote detailing call, orderinga sample, or registering for a webinar, specialists and super-specialists fare much better,”said Dr. Harshit Jain, CEO ofDoceree.

The data was gatheredfrom the digital marketing

campaigns that pharmaceu-tical and healthcare brandsrun through the platform.

Nearly 1/3rd of all theclicks among specialists wererecorded for pediatricians,while pulmonologists, cardi-ologists and endocrinolo-gists/diabetologists made upfor another 1/3rd.

Among super-specialists,nearly 30 per cent clickscame from nephrologists andgastroenterologists.

In terms of engagementof doctors, metros and minimetros scored better. At least,six top cities out of 10 werefrom North India with near-ly 20 per cent of all theclicks coming from two cities— Gurgaon and Chandigarh. However, noneof the cities from the East(except for Kolkata) andS outh (except forHyderabad) featured in thetop 10.

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The NIA on Saturdaychargesheeted six persons

under various Sections of theNarcotic Drugs and PsychotropicSubstances and relevant provi-sions of IPC besides UnlawfulActivities (Prevention) Act in anarco terror case.

The case relates to seizure of21 Kg Narcotics (Heroin) and Rs1,35,89,850 cash amount fromthe accused persons inHandwara district of Jammuand Kashmir.

The chargesheeted accused

are Abdul Momin Peer aliasPeerzada Momen, 27, ofHandwara, working as AssistantLineman, Handwara, SyedIftikhar Andrabi, 50 ofHandwara, working as villagelevel worker at BlockDevelopment office, Kupwara,Islam-ul-Haq Peer, 20, runninga Sanitary shop, Afaq AhmadWani, 40, working as BranchManager in Baramulla CentralCooperative Bank, Handwara,Saleem Andrabi, 31, working atBal Ashram in Handwara underSocial Welfare Department(Absconding) and

Muneer Ahmad Banday @Ishfaq, r/o Banday, 30, runninga cement shop in Handwara(Absconding).

The case arose out ofHandwara Police Station casenumber183/2020 of June 11wherein during checking ofvehicles at Kairo Bridge,Handwara, accused AbdulMomin Peer’s Hyundai Cretavehicle was intercepted by thePolice Naka Party.

The vehicle was searchedand cash amount of �20,01,000and 2 Kg Heroin were seized.Abdul Momin Peer was arrest-

ed and following his disclosure,accused Syed Iftikar Andrabi andIslam-Ul-Haq Peer were arrest-ed.

The case was re-registeredby NIA as RC-03/2020/NIA/DLIon June 23 and investigation wastaken up.

Accused Afaq Ahmad Wani,who was on the run, was arrest-ed by NIA on July 16 on the basisof technical analysis.

“Investigation revealed thataccused persons including AbdulMomin Peer and SaleemAndrabi were involved in cross-border smuggling and supply ofNarcotic drug Heroin in J&Kand other parts of the countryafter procuring the same fromtheir associates based abroadincluding Pakistan,” the NIAsaid in a statement.

Accused Iftikhar Andrabiand Abdul Momin Peer visitedPakistan several times during2016-17 to meet the operativesof terrorist organisationsLashkar-E-Taiba (LeT) andHizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM), theagency said.

The amount generatedfrom the sale of Heroin waspumped by the accused to fur-ther the terrorist activities ofLashkar-E-Taiba (LeT), it fur-ther said adding, further inves-tigation in the case iscontinuing.

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Ajoint platform of 10 cen-tral trade unions has

extended its support to a callof ‘Bharat Bandh’ by farmerorganisations on December8. The unions had called anationwide strike onNovember 26 to protestagainst recently passed labourcodes as well as farm laws,among other issues.

The joint forum is of tencentral trade unions — IndianNational Trade UnionCongress (INTUC), All IndiaTrade Union Congress(AITUC), Hind MazdoorSabha (HMS), Centre ofIndian Trade Unions (CITU),All India United Trade UnionCentre (AIUTUC), TradeUnion Co-ordination Centre(TUCC), Self-EmployedWomen’s Association (SEWA),All India Central Council ofTrade Unions (AICCTU),Labour Progressive Federation(LPF) and United Trade UnionCongress (UTUC).

The Joint Platform of

Central Trade Unions andIndependent SectoralFederations/Associations reit-erate their “wholehearted sup-port to the ongoing unitedstruggles of the farmersdemanding scrapping of dra-conian agri laws”, a jointstatement said.

The joint platform takesnote with satisfaction thatfrom November 27, 2020onwards, workers and employ-ees and their unions havebeen fully active in holdingnumerous agitations in soli-darity with the ongoing farm-ers’ struggles, in all the Statesthroughout the country brav-ing arrests and intimidation

from many of the state admin-istration/police.

The joint platform wel-comes the firm resolve anddetermination of the unitedplatform of farmer organisa-tions to intensify the strugglescountrywide and extends allsupport to their call for ‘BharatBandh’ on December 8, 2020,it added.

The Joint Platform andS e c t o r a lFederations/Associations callupon the workers, employeesand their unions, irrespectiveof affiliations, to organiseactive solidarity to the farmerorganisations’ call for ‘BharatBandh’.

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Aplea was filed on Saturdayin the Supreme Court

seeking a direction to theCentre to ensure refund of“exorbitant” amounts chargedby private labs and hospitals forconducting RT-PCR tests todetect COVID-19.

The interim applicationhas been filed by lawyer andBJP leader Ajay Agrawal in hispending PIL in which he hadsought fixing of uniform rate ofRs 400 across India, as done byOdisha, for the ReverseTranscription PolymeraseChain Reaction (RT-PCR) test.

A bench of Chief Justice SA Bobde and Justices A SBopanna and VRamasubramanian, onNovember 24, had issued noticeto the Union Health Ministry onAgrawal’’s PIL and had soughtits response within two weeks.

The fresh plea said thatwhen hospitals and laboratorieswere charging �4,500 for thetest, the actual cost, includingthat of the testing kit, wasbetween �800 to �1,200, andeven now, “exorbitant rates” arebeing charged in various stateswhen the total cost incurred isabout �200 only.

“This exorbitant over andabove amount charged frompoor and innocent people of thiscountry needs to be refundedimmediately as it is not onlyunrealistic and unreasonablebut shocking.

“In a country like Indiawhere crores of people are liv-ing Below Poverty Line and thecountry’’s GDP has gone downto minus 23.9 per cent (-23.09per cent) during the lockdownperiod, and therefore, this overcharged amount be refunded tothe affected people forthwith,”it said.

The exorbitant moneytaken from the people is noth-ing but extortion and theresponsible persons be punishedand the excess amount berefunded at the earliest, it said.

The plea said that Odishahas fixed Rs 400 as the maxi-mum rate for RT-PCR test afterexamining and analysing allaspects.

“For the last several monthsthese private labs and hospitalswere looting the poor people ofthis country. Like in Delhi thenotification was issued on18.6.2020 fixing the maximumrate Rs 2400 and the cost of thekit and other things used in thetest has gone down in themonth of April-May itself, at therate which is available at pre-sent,” it said.

Agrawal, in his PIL inwhich the interim plea hasbeen filed, had sought directionfor fixing the maximum rate asRs 400 for RT-PCR test forCOVID-19 uniformly all overIndia.

While issuing the notice,the top court had said that thePIL would be heard with anoth-er pending plea of Sachin Jainpertaining to the cost of treat-ment for COVID-19.

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People suffering from men-tal illness deserve special

care and love and are not to beexploited, the Supreme Courthas said while upholding theconviction and sentenceawarded to a man for rapinga mentally disabled woman.

Observing that the convicthad exploited the victim bytaking undue advantage ofher mental illness, the apexcourt dismissed his appealagainst the September 2016judgment of the HimachalPradesh High Court whichhad convicted him in the casewhile setting aside the trialcourt order acquitting him.

A bench headed by JusticeAshok Bhushan noted in itsverdict that as per the DNAreport, the convict was thebiological father of the childdelivered by the 19-year-oldvictim who was found to be31-week pregnant when thematter came to light.

“A person suffering frommental disorder or mental

sickness deserves special care,love and affection. They arenot to be exploited. In the pre-sent case, the accused hasexploited the victim by takingdisadvantage of her mentalsickness/illness. Therefore, nointerference of this courtagainst the impugned judg-ment and order passed by thehigh court convicting theaccused is called for,” said thebench, also comprisingJustices R S Reddy and M RShah.

“On evidence, it has beenestablished and proved thatthe victim was mentallyretarded and her IQ was 62and she was not in a positionto understand the good andbad aspect of sexual assault,”the bench said in its 24-pagejudgement delivered onDecember 3.

The top court said thehigh court was justified in re--appreciating the entire evi-dence on record and reversethe order of acquittal passedby the trial court.

The high court, while set-

ting aside the trial court orderacquitting the man, had con-victed him for the offences ofrape and criminal intimida-tion and sentenced him toseven years in jail.

According to the police,the FIR was lodged by the vic-tim’s father in 2008 allegingthat his daughter was found tobe pregnant and she told hermother that the accused hadraped her when she had goneto graze cattle.

The prosecution said thatdue to fear and mental weak-ness, the victim had not dis-closed about the incident toanyone and when she wasmedically examined, she wasfound to be 31-week pregnant.

She gave birth to a child inJune 2008 in Shimla and aftera DNA test it was found thatthe accused was the biologicalfather of the infant, the policehad said, adding that he wasarrested in the case.

During the trial, theaccused had claimed inno-cence and denied the allega-tions.

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External Affairs Minister SJaishankar on Friday said

negotiations for a free tradeagreement between India andthe European Union werestuck for the last six years dueto reluctance of the grouping.

The talks for the FTA havebeen stalled since May 2013when both sides failed tobridge substantial gaps oncrucial issues, including ondata security status for the ITsector.

Asked during an onlineinteractive session whetherthe talks were stalled due toIndia’s reservations againstFTAs, Jaishankar vehementlydispelled it and said: “It is nota question of principle. Indiahas nothing in principleagainst free trade agreementsor preferential trade agree-ments.”

Launched in June 2007,negotiations for the proposedagreement have witnessedmany hurdles as both sideshave major differences on cru-cial issues.

Giving a run down of thedevelopments relating to theproposed FTA, Jaishankar saidat the 6th Edition of MED dia-logue that India was negotiat-ing on it with the European

Union till 2013 but the dealcould not be closed.

“There was a change ofGovernment in 2014. TheGovernment of PrimeMinister Narendra Modioffered to the EU that theywould like to reopen and con-tinue those negotiations. Infact, it was the EU which tookthe stance from 2014 thatlook, right now we have otherpriorities, we do not knowwhether we are ready.

“So for the last six years,and I say this as someone whosat in the room, heard my ownleaders say this, heard theresponses from the EU lead-ership...The reluctance toengage from 2014, this I cantestify personally, is not fromthe Indian side. It is from theEU side, even today,” he added.

The external affairs min-ister said he had visitedBrussels twice in the last oneyear and brought up the issuewith the concerned commis-sioner.

“In the last one year, I havebeen to Brussels twice, andbrought up the subject withthe commissioner mandatedto deal with us. And that waspretty much the answer I got

which was that we need tothink this through, we arenot sure we want to do this atthis time,” he added.

Asked about India pullingout of the RegionalComprehensive Economic

Partnership (RCEP) lastyear, he said it had to take thedecision as its concerns werenot addressed.

“The idea that there wouldhave been great benefits wait-ing for us at the end of therainbow, sorry I do not buythat,” said Jaishankar aboutobservations that India wouldlose out for pulling out of theRCEP.

The RCEP deal sealed lastmonth comprised 10 membercountries of the Association ofSoutheast Asian Nations(ASEAN) and five of the bloc’sdialogue partners — China,Japan, South Korea, Australiaand New Zealand.

Asked about India’s rela-tions with the US, Jaishankarsaid it is on an upswingbecause there is a structuralconvergence between the twocountries.

“I am very confident thatIndia-US relations will con-tinue to do well,” he said.

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The Forest department of theRajasthan Government on

Saturday sounded a ‘Red Alert’at all reserves, sanctuaries andparks in the State as incidentsof hunting, poaching and ani-mal traps have come to the fore.

The order comes againstthe backdrop of a camera trapfootage showing aRanthambore tiger, T-108, witha wire snare around its neck.

Under the ‘Red Alert’, allforest officials have been direct-ed to intensify search opera-tions and seek local policeassistance to nab hunters andcriminals.

The department has can-celled leaves of all field officers,and directions have been issuedfor effective patrolling againstillegal activities in protectedareas.

The order said reports hadearlier been received fromRanthambore Tiger Reserveabout animals such as cows andbuffaloes getting caught intraps laid by hunters.

“Recently, five hunters werearrested in Mount Abu forhunting a sambar deer, lookingto which red alert is announcedtill February 2021,” it stated.

The sub-adultRanthambore tiger T-108 wasspotted twice on camera traps– 12.50 am on Thursday and 6am on Saturday – with a wirearound his neck which lookslike a trap.

The department sought apermission to tranquillise thebig cat from the NTCA onFriday.

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London: British PrimeMinister Boris Johnson and theEuropean Union’s top officialare set to discuss the state ofplay of post-Brexit trade dis-cussions later Saturday afternegotiators paused talks inlight of their inability to bridgean array of differences.

With the discussions stuckover the same issues formonths, Johnson and Ursulavon der Leyen, the president ofthe EU’s executive EuropeanCommission, will see if there isa route to a deal.

With the U.K.’s post-Brexittransition period due to con-clude at the end of the year, thediscussions are clearly facing acrunch point, not least becauseof the necessary approvalsrequired from both sides.Without an agreement in place,tariffs will end up beingimposed on traded goods at thestart of 2021.

Months of negotiations

have produced agreement on aswath of issues, but serious dif-ferences remain over the “level playing field” — thestandards the U.K. Must meetto export into the bloc — andhow future disputes areresolved. That’s key for the EU,which fears Britain will slashsocial and environmental stan-

dards and pump state moneyinto U.K. Industries, becominga low-regulation economic rivalon the bloc’s doorstep.

EU chief negotiator MichelBarnier and his British coun-terpart, David Frost, agreedFriday to “ pause” negotiationswhile they brief political lead-ers.

“ We will keep calm asalways and if there is a way, stilla way, we will see,” Barnier saidSaturday morning outside ahotel in London before head-ing off to Brussels.

Though the U.K. Left theEU on January 31, it remainswithin the bloc’s tariff-free sin-gle market and customs unionuntil the end of this year. Atrade deal by then wouldensure there are no tariffs andquotas on trade in goodsbetween the two sides, butthere would still be technicalcosts, partly associated withcustoms checks and non-tariffbarriers on services.

Though both sides wouldsuffer economically from afailure to secure a trade deal,most economists think theBritish economy would take agreater hit, at least in the near-term, as it is relatively morereliant on trade with the EUthan vice versa. AP

Washington: US President-elect Joe Biden has said that hisadministration would be themost diverse than it has everbeen both in the Cabinet andinside the White House.

Biden, 78, is due to takeover as the 46th US Presidenton January 20.

African-American groupshave been asking Biden, aDemocrat, to nominate one ofthem among the big four:Secretary of State, TreasurySecretary, Defence Secretaryand Attorney General.

“ It will be the most diverseCabinet and the main spots inboth White House as well as incabinet positions,” Biden toldreporters on Friday when askedabout various groups askinghim to give representations totheir sections of the society.

“ Look, it’s each one ofthese groups’ job to push, pushtheir leaders to make surethere’s greater diversity. WhatI can promise you is when thisis all said and done, you’ll seeeveryone that I’ve announcedand there’s going to be in thenext several weeks,” he said.

“ We’ll have it all out there.You’re going to see significantdiversity. I’m not going to tell

you now exactly what I’m goingto do in any department, but Ipromise you it will be the sin-gle most diverse cabinet basedon race, colour, based on gen-der that ever existed in theUnited States of America,”Biden said.

Congressman GregoryMeeks, who backs a strong US-India relationship, was onThursday elected as the nextchairman of the powerfulHouse Foreign AffairsCommittee, becoming the firstAfrican-American to head theCongressional panel that playsan influential role in shapingthe country’s foreign policy.

Biden’s economic team

includes Janet Yellen as theTreasury Secretary, Indian-American Neera Tanden asthe Director of Office ofManagement and Budget,Wally Adeyemo the as DeputySecretary of the Treasury,Cecilia Rouse as the Chair ofthe Council of EconomicAdvisers, and Jared Bernsteinand Heather Boushey as mem-bers of the Council ofEconomic Advisers.

Biden has nominatedAntony Blinken as theSecretary of State.

He is yet to finalise candi-dates for the posts of DefenceSecretary and AttorneyGeneral. PTI

Kuwait City: Kuwait beganvoting on Saturday for itsNational Assembly, the firstelection since the death of itslongtime ruling emir at a timethe oil-rich nation struggleswith serious economic prob-lems during the coronaviruspandemic.

This tiny country’s hun-dreds of thousands of voters willselect lawmakers for 50 seats inthe parliament, the freest andmost-rambunctious of all of theGulf Arab countries. However,Kuwait’s parliament has tampeddown opposition to its ruling AlSabah family since the 2011Arab Spring protests that sawdemonstrators storm the cham-ber.

Parliaments typically don’t serve out their full termsin the stalwart US Ally, but thisone did.

Kuwaitis are voting across

102 schools in the nation the size of the US State of New Jersey. Authorities said

masks and social distancingwill be required due to the pan-demic. AP

Ramallah: Clashes betweenIsraeli security forces andPalestinians erupted onSaturday, at the funeral of a 13-year-old killed by Israeli gun-fire in the occupied West Bank.

Hundreds of Palestinianshad gathered to mourn thedeath of Ali Abu Alia in theAlmugayer village, where thePalestinian youth was hit in thestomach and died later at a hos-pital Friday.

Dozens of people threwstones toward Israeli forcesand set tires aflame during thegathering. Israeli soldiersresponded with intermittentbarrages of tear gas.

Late Friday, the top U.N.Political envoy in the regionsaid he was “ appalled” by thekilling of the teen. Israel should“ swiftly” and independently “investigate this shocking andunacceptable incident,” NikolayMladenov wrote on Twitter.

Commenting on the death,

the Israeli military said “dozens of rioters” hurled rocksat Israeli soldiers and borderpolice, who responded with “riot dispersal means.” It deniedthat its forces used live ammu-nition.

Clashes betweenPalestinian youths and Israeliforces entering Palestinian-controlled areas of the occupied

West Bank are common.The military often raids

Palestinian towns to arrestpeople suspected of planning ortaking part in attacks.

Tensions are also higharound the Israeli settlements.Over 400,000 settlers live inthe West Bank, which Israeloccupied in the 1967 Mideastwar. AP

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Moscow began distribut-ing the Sputnik V

COVID-19 shot via 70 clinicson Saturday, marking Russia’sfirst mass vaccination againstthe disease, the city’s coron-avirus task force said.

The task force said theRussian-made vaccine wouldfirst be made available to doc-tors and other medical workers,teachers and social workersbecause they ran the highestrisk of exposure to the disease.

“ You are working at aneducational institution andhave top-priority for theCOVID-19 vaccine, free ofcharge,” read a phone text mes-sage received by one Muscovite,an elementary school teacher,early on Saturday and seen byReuters.

Moscow, the epicentre ofRussia’s coronavirus outbreak,registered 7,993 new casesovernight, up from 6,868 a daybefore and well above the dailytallies of around 700 seen inearly September.

“ Over the first five hours,5,000 people signed up for thejab - teachers, doctors, socialworkers, those who are todayrisking their health and livesthe most,” Mayor SergeiSobyanin wrote on his personalwebsite on Friday.

The age for those receivingshots is capped at 60.

People with certain under-lying health conditions, preg-nant women and those whohave had a respiratory illnessfor the past two weeks arebarred from vaccination.

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Washington: Reversing thedecision of the outgoing Trumpadministration, a federal courthas ordered full reinstatement ofan Obama-era programme thatprotects undocumented immi-grants brought to the US asminors from deportation, a rul-ing that will help a large num-ber of Indian migrants.

The Trump administrationtried ending the Deferred Actionfor Childhood Arrivals (DACA)in 2017, but the US SupremeCourt blocked its attempt inJune. On Friday, US DistrictJudge Nicholas Garaufis in theEastern District of New Yorkdirected the Department ofHomeland Security to extendthe two-year renewals to DACArecipients and start acceptingapplications from first-timeapplicants beginning Monday.

This means that the firsttime since September 2017, newapplicants who were not previ-

ously eligible may now apply forthe programme which shieldundocumented immigrants whocame to the US as children fromdeportation.

“ The court believes thatthese additional remedies arereasonable. Indeed, the govern-ment has assured the court thata public notice along the linesdescribed is forthcoming,” JudgeGaraufis said in his order.

The DACA is an immigra-tion policy that allows someindividuals with unlawful pres-ence in the US after beingbrought to the country as chil-dren to receive a renewabletwo-year period of deferredaction from deportation andbecome eligible for a work per-mit in the US. DACA recipientsare often referred to asDreamers. To be eligible for theprogramme, recipients cannothave felonies or serious misde-meanours on their records. PTI

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President Donald Trump’sniece says her uncle is “

criminal, cruel and traitorous”and belongs in prison after heleaves the White House.

Mary Trump, a psycholo-gist, author and outspokencritic of her estranged relative,rejects the notion that puttinga former president on trialwould deepen the nation’spolitical divisions.

“It’s quite frankly insultingto be told time after time thatthe American people can han-dle it and that we just need tomove on,” Mary Trump toldThe Associated Press in aninterview this week. “ If any-body deserves to be prosecut-ed and tried, it’s Donald,” sheadded. “(Otherwise) we justleave ourselves open to some-body who, believe it or not, iseven worse than he is.”

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Washington: The Pentagonsaid Friday it is pulling most UStroops out of Somalia onPresident Donald Trump’sorders, continuing a post-elec-tion push by Trump to shrinkUS involvement in counterter-rorism missions abroad.

Without providing details,the Pentagon said in a shortstatement that “ a majority” ofUS troops and assets in Somaliawill be withdrawn in early 2021.There are currently about 700troops in that Horn of Africanation, training and advisinglocal forces in an extended fightagainst the extremist group al-Shabab, an affiliate of al-Qaida.

Trump recently ordered

troop drawdowns inAfghanistan and Iraq, and hewas expected to withdraw someor all troops from Somalia. ThePentagon said the drawdown inSomalia does not mark the endof U.S. Counterterrorism effortsthere.

“ As a result of this decision,some forces may be reassignedoutside of East Africa,” it said.

“ However, the remainingforces will be repositioned fromSomalia into neighboring coun-tries in order to allow cross-bor-der operations by both US andpartner forces to maintain pres-sure against violent extremistorganizations operating inSomalia.” AP

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Slamming China for itsalleged repressive regime in

Tibet, a top American diplomathas urged other countries topass their own versions of a USlaw that calls for denying accessto the US for Chinese officialsknown to be involved inrestricting visits to the remoteHimalayan region.

Robert A Destro, SpecialCoordinator for TibetanIssues, on Friday said thattogether with partners aroundthe world, the US has and willcontinue to call on China toprovide unhindered access toforeigners travelling in Tibetanareas, including for diplo-mats? and? journalists, just asother countries give Chinesediplomats, journalists and cit-izens access to their respectivecountries.

“ The US adopted theReciprocal Access to Tibet Actto press for greater access andtransparency.?Today, I call onour like minded friends? andpartners? to pass their own ver-sions of the Act,” he said in hisremarks at a virtual event: “Religious Freedom in Tibet:

The Appointment of BuddhistLeaders and the Succession ofthe Dalai Lama.”

The Act, signed into law byPresident Donald Trump inDecember 2018 calls for deny-ing access to the US forChinese officials known to beinvolved in restricting visits toTibet.

The Dalai Lama, Tibet’sexiled spiritual leader has beendemanding meaningful auton-omy for Tibetans.

The 85-year-old DalaiLama fled to India in 1959 fol-lowing a crackdown on anuprising by the local populationin Tibet. India granted himpolitical asylum and theTibetan government-in-exileis based on Dharamsala inHimachal Pradesh since then.

China views the 14th DalaiLama as a “ separatist” work-ing to split Tibet from China.

Destro said it is no acci-dent that the ChineseCommunist Party claims theright to direct the? selection?ofthe next Dalai Lama, andthrough that process to remakeor in its words to?” Sinicize”Tibetan Buddhism in its ownCommunist image.

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Beijing: Eighteen people havebeen killed due to an excessivelevel of the poisonous carbonmonoxide gas in a coal mine inChina, officials said onSaturday, the latest mining dis-aster in the world’s largest coalproducing country.

One person was rescuedfrom the closed Diaoshuidongcolliery situated in Yongchuandistrict in ChongqingMunicipality, state-run Xinhuanews agency reported.

The accident took place onFriday evening when workerswere dismantling equipment inthe pit, trapping 24 workersunderground, it said.

Eighteen miners were con-firmed dead due to the exces-sive level of carbon monoxide,the report said.

The mine was suspended

and shut down two monthsago.

The cause of the accidentwas not immediately known. Arescue operation was under-way.

The Diaoshuidong coalmine, which was established in1975 and became privately-owned in 1998, has an annualproduction capacity of 120,000tonnes of coal, according to thelocal emergency managementdepartment.

In March 2013, hydrogensulfide poisoning in the mineleft three dead and twoinjured.

Though safety improve-ments have reduced deaths atcoal mines in recent years,mining accidents are commonin China, which is the world’slargest coal producer. PTI

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Rome: Italian police onSaturday arrested 19 suspects,dismantling what authoritiessay was a criminal organisationthat moved migrants fromAfghanistan, Iran, Iraq andPakistan to Italy and then intonorthern Europe.

The investigation, led byprosecutors in Catania, Sicily,unveiled a network thatinvolved hired or stolen sail-boats transporting migrantsvia Turkey and Greece to Italy.

Some then traveled northto the French border and weresmuggled by vehicle intoFrance, thanks to human smug-glers based in border towns,police said in a statement.

The arrested suspectsincluded Iraqi Kurds, Afghansand Italians, police said.

One of the alleged ring’sbases was in Bari, southern Italy,where false documents wereissued indicating the migrantshad housing, a requirementfor residency permits. Other

bases were in Milan and Turinin northern Italy as well as inthe town of Ventimiglia, nearthe French border.

Others allegedly involved inthe scheme falsified work con-tracts so the migrants couldsuccessfully apply for permis-sion to reside in Italy, authori-ties said.

The investigation began in2018, triggered by the arrival of10 boats near the easternSicilian city of Syracuse. Theboats had sailed from Turkeyand Greece in the EasternMediterranean, and not fromLibya, from where for years themajority of the hundreds ofthousands of migrants had setout for Italy in traffickers’unseaworthy vessels.

The investigation ascer-tained the activities of a net-work of Italians and foreigners,most of the latter holding resi-dency permits issued ongrounds of international pro-tection, the police said. AP

Tokyo: Japan’s space agencysaid the Hayabusa2 spacecraftsuccessfully separated a cap-sule and sent it toward Earthto deliver samples from a dis-tant asteroid that could pro-vide clues to the origin of thesolar system and life on ourplanet.

The Japan AerospaceExploration Agency said thecapsule successfully detachedSaturday afternoon from220,000 kilometers (136,700miles) away in a challengingoperation that required preci-sion control. The capsule isnow descending to land in aremote, sparsely populatedarea of Woomera, Australia,on Sunday.

Hayabusa2 left the asteroidRyugu, about 300 million kilo-meters (180 million miles)away, a year ago. After the cap-sule release, it is now movingaway from Earth to captureimages of the capsule descend-ing to the planet.

Yuichi Tsuda, projectmanager at the space agencyJAXA, stood up and raised hisfists as everyone applauded themoment command centerofficials confirmed the suc-cessful separation of the cap-sule. Hayabusa2’s return withthe world’s first asteroid sub-surface samples comes weeksafter NASA’s OSIRIS-RExspacecraft made a successfultouch-and-go grab of surfacesamples from asteroid Bennu.

China, meanwhile,announced this week its lunarlander collected undergroundsamples and sealed them with-in the spacecraft for return toEarth, as space developingnations compete in their mis-sions.

Many Hayabusa2 fansgathered to observe themoment of the capsule sepa-ration at public viewing eventsacross the country, includingone at the Tokyo Dome stadi-um. AP

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Page 7: The Pioneer...2020/12/06  · Bhubaneswar on Saturday reg-istered 34 new Covid-19 cases, taking its total positives’ tally to 30,868, including 383 active cases. Out of the new cases,

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Jharkhand has accepted theCentre’s borrowing proposal

and will get Rs 1,689 crorethrough the special window tomeet the GST revenue shortfall,the finance ministry said onSaturday.

With this, 3 union terri-tories and all 28 states haveaccepted the Centre’s borrow-ing plan to meet the shortfall intax collection.

“ All the 28 states and 3Union Territories with legisla-ture have decided to go forOption-1 to meet the revenueshortfall arising out of the GSTimplementation. Jharkhand,the only remaining state, hasnow communicated its accep-tance of Option-1,” the min-istry said in a statement.

Union Territories of Delhi,Jammu & Kashmir andPuducherry have acceptedOption 1.

The states & UTs whochoose Option-1 are getting theamount of shortfall arising outof GST implementationthrough a special borrowingwindow put in place by theCentre.

The Centre has already

borrowed Rs 30,000 crore onbehalf of the states in fiveinstallments and has passed iton to 26 states and 3 UTs onOctober 23, November 2,November 9, November 23and December 1.

From the next round ofborrowings, Jharkhand andChhattisgarh too would receivefunds raised through this win-dow. Earlier this week,Chhattisgarh communicatedits acceptance for the borrow-ing plan.

The next installment of Rs6,000 crore will be released tothe states/UTs on December 7,2020, the ministry added.

Under the terms ofOption-1, besides getting thefacility of a special window forborrowings to meet the revenueshortfall, states are also entitledto get unconditional permis-sion to borrow the final install-ment of 0.50 per cent of Gross

State Domestic Product(GSDP) out of the 2 per centadditional borrowings permit-ted by the Centre.

This is over and above thespecial window of Rs 1.1 lakhcrore. On receipt of the choiceof Option-1 from Jharkhand,the Centre has granted addi-tional borrowing permission ofRs 1,765 crore to Jharkhandgovernment (0.5 per cent ofChhattisgarh’s GSDP), it added.

Separately, Jharkhand willget Rs 1,689 crore throughspecial borrowing window tomeet the GST revenue shortfall.

Under the borrowing plan(Option-1), the Centre wouldborrow from market Rs 1.10lakh crore which is the revenueshortfall on account of GSTimplementation. The remain-ing Rs 73,000 crore shortfall isestimated to be the revenueimpact of the COVID-19 pan-demic. The second optiongiven by the Centre was thatthe states borrow the entire Rs1.83 lakh crore collection short-fall.Opposition-ruled stateswere initially against the bor-rowing plan saying that theCentre should borrow theentire GST revenue shortfalland compensate the states.

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The year 2020 will go downfor the Indian non-life

insurance sector as a year ofcoronavirus that resulted inlarge scale digital embrace-ment and increased healthinsurance spread, reducedoverall business, industry con-solidation, large losses, saidsenior industry officials.

At a time when the privatesector is witnessing mergersand acquisitions, the centralgovernment scrapped its earli-er plan to merge NationalInsurance Company Ltd,Oriental Insurance CompanyLtd and United India InsuranceCompany Ltd into one.

“Some things that werebuilding up at the start of theyear have been blunted by thepandemic: the growth in the5th largest economy in theworld; the ‘$5 Trillion GDP(gross domestic product) by

2025’ forecast; a 14-15 percent growth forecast for thegeneral insurance sector as aconsequence and as a subset ofthe economy; an importantposition for India in the Asia-Pacific as the main,” SharadMathur, Managing Director &CEO, Universal SompoGeneral Insurance CompanyLtd told IANS.

The company is a jointventure of Indian Bank, IndianOverseas Bank, KarnatakaBank, Dabur InvestmentsCorporation and Sompo JapanInsurance Inc.“Some trendshave been accentuated andfast-tracked were technologyand digitalisation,” Mathuradded.Giving a different takeon that Asthana said: “Muchhas been spoken about theaccelerated adoption of digitaland the continued use of digi-tal means for transacting finan-cial services including insur-ance in the future as well.”

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Centre’s decision to form adedicated Export

Promotion Council (EPC) for‘Technical Textiles’ will boostexports and strengthen thedomestic manufacturing capac-ity, industry players said.

In terms of parlance, thiscategory comprise of utilitybased textile products such asPersonal Protective Equipment(PPE).

In February 2020, CabinetCommittee on EconomicAffairs (CCEA) had approvedthe setting up of a NationalTechnical Textiles Mission(NTM) with a total outlay of Rs1,480 crore which will beimplemented during 2020-21to 2023-24.

Setting up of a dedicatedExport Promotion Council isone of the four components ofthe NTM which is aimed main-ly to achieve a 10 per centgrowth rate every year untilNTM ends.

Currently, India’s export is$93 mn whereas global marketis estimated to be $11 bn for 12apparel products under tech-nical textiles.

The Apparel ExportPromotion Council (AEPC)Chairman A. Sakthivel said:“Of the 207 items notified astechnical textiles in January2019, there are 12 products ofapparel. The global market forthese 12 products is estimatedto be $11 billion, though India’sexports is only $93 million.”

“This indicates a hugepotential in these products ifdedicated export promotionactivities are undertaken forthese products.”

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Mid-caps stocks have out-performed large-caps by

4 per cent in November, saidMotilal Oswal FinancialServices in a report.

According to the report,over the last 12 months, mid-caps are up 14 per cent versusthe Nifty’s rise of 8 per cent.

“Over the last five years,mid-caps have underper-formed by 14 per cent,” thereport said.

“In terms of P/E ratio, theNifty Mid-cap 100 now tradesat a 13 per cent premium tolarge-caps at 23.6x.”

As per the report, Niftysurpassed the 13,000 mark inNov’20 to hit a record highafter a 3.5 per cent rise inOct’20.It ended 11.4 per centhigher MoM in Nov’20 to closeat 12,969.

“The rally was propelled bystrong FII inflows, good cor-porate earnings season, andtrends from the festive season,which suggests that thedemand recovery continues.”

“FII and DII inflowsshowed record inflows andoutflows, respectively. WhileFIIs continued their buyingstreak in Nov’20, DII inflowsremained negative.”The FIIsinflows increased to $9.6 billionin Nov’20 from $2.5.Besides,the report cited that in recent-ly concluded 2QFY21 results,one of the key and defining fea-tures of this performance wasthe better-than-expected focuson cost mitigation measures,apart from demand recoveryand a healthy tailwind fromgross marginexpansion.”2QFY21 was anoptimum combination of grossmargin expansion and operat-ing cost reduction.”

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The Centre’s recent reformsto increase participation

of mid-sized engineering, pro-curement and constructionplayers in the tendering processare likely to intensify competi-tion in roads, bridges, highwaysand tunnelling projects, ratingsagency India Ratings andResearch (Ind-Ra) said.

Accordingly, the series ofreforms are expected toincrease the participation ofmid-sized engineering, pro-curement and construction(EPC) players in the tenderingprocess for construction con-tracts.

“These relaxations how-ever will also provide themuch-needed relief to thoseconstruction contractors whoseeligibility to bid for new pro-jects has been hampered onaccount of Covid-led business

disruptions,” the agency said ina report.

“These changes relate,among others, to relaxations inthe eligibility criteria andnorms for construction projectsin the segment, which are bidboth on the EPC and hybridannuity model (HAM) orbuild-operate transfer (BOT)modes.”

Last month, theDepartment of Expenditure,Ministry of Finance, reducedthe amount of performanceguarantee for all constructioncontracts to 3 per cent of thevalue of the respective contractsfrom the existing levels of 5-10per cent.“This reduction is theresult of a continued demandfrom infrastructure developerssince the onset of Covid-19,which has impacted the over-all systemic as well as entity-specific liquidity,” the reportexplained.

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The contraction in India’sreal GDP can narrow down

to just 1-2 per cent, said areport by Motilal OswalFinancial Services.

Accordingly, the in-houseEconomic Activity Index (EAI)for India’s real GVA (EAI-GVA) grew by 4.8 per cent YoYin October 2020, marking thesecond consecutive month ofgrowth.

“This is the first month ina year when non-farm activities(both industrial and services)grew faster than the farm sec-tor,” Motilal Oswal FinancialServices said in a report.

The GVA includes taxes,but excludes subsidies.

Last month, the NSO datashowed that on a YoY basis, Q2GVA for 2020-21 from theagriculture, forestry and fishingsector inched lower to 3.4 percent growth, against 3.5 percent in the same quarter of2019-20.

However, the EAI-GDP,continued to contract for theeighth consecutive month inOctober 2020 and that toofaster than the previous month.

“While personal con-sumption expenditure (PCE)continued to contract in dou-ble-digits for the seventh con-secutive month, total investments declined 5 percent the slowest fall in eightmonths.”

“Excluding governmentspending, EAI-GDP contract-ed 7.6 per cent YoY in Oct’20versus a fall of 5.1 per cent YoYin Sep’20.”

According to the report,overall EAI-GVA continues toshow an improvement in eco-nomic activity, while demandmeasures continue to lag.

“Based on a few indicatorsavailable for Nov’20 - powergeneration, manufacturingPMI, e-way registrations, etc.,growth seems to have cooledoff last month.”

“If so, it suggests that the

growth peaked out in Oct’20(as per our expectations) andis likely to moderate in comingmonths.

Real GDP could contractagain in 3QFY21 before post-ing a growth in 4QFY21. Thesecond wave of the Covid-19pandemic, however, remains avalid risk.”

Recent data showed thateven though India’s economicrecovery accelerated inQ2FY21 from the lows of thepandemic-induced lockdown,the country, for the very firsttime since Independence,entered into a technical reces-sion.

The recent data furnished

by National Statistical Office(NSO) showed that theQ2FY21 GDP, on a year-on-year basis, contracted by (-) 7.5per cent from (-) 23.9 per centin the preceding quarter.

Though not comparable,the GDP had grown by 4.4 percent in the corresponding quar-ter of FY2019-20.

Dankuni/ Chittaranjan:Satish Kr Kashyup, GM, visit-ed ELAAU Ancillary unit ofCLW at Dankuni on December05. Rajib Ray, PCEE/ Dankuni,and other officers accompaniedthe General Manager duringinspection of Dankuni Unit.

He inspected the loco pro-duction activities of Dankuniunit minutely. He praised theefforts of staff & officers ofCLW Dankuni Unit for keep-ing the uptrend in loco pro-duction of the current FY ,months after months, even

during the Lockdown & Un-lockdown due to COVID-19pandemic situation. He lis-tened to the day-to-day work-ing experience of staff & super-visors and also enquired aboutthe medical facilities availableat Dankuni Unit of CLW dur-ing the prevailing COVID-19situation. He also held impor-tant production review meet-ing with officers of DankuniUnit & advised for improvingin quality and further scaling ofloco production in the presentFY 2020-21.

DDA has developed 15sports complexes, 03 mini

sports complexes, 15 swim-ming pools, 26 multi gyms ingreen areas and several playfields and fitness trails acrossthe city. DDA developed thefirst public golf course in India,Qutab Golf Course (QGC),which was inaugurated on02nd-January, 2000. The QutabGolf Course (QGC) hasbecome a popular destinationfor the golfing community ofDelhi and NCR and has pop-ularized the game in the city.

Redevelopment of QutabGolf Course (QGC) started in2016 and after completion ofthe redevelopment of Phase-Iof the course, the front 09 holesof the course were inaugurat-ed by Shri Anil Baijal, Hon’bleLt. Governor, Delhi on 7th-October, 2018. The new Club

House at the golf course wasalso inaugurated by Hon’ble Lt.Governor on 24th-February,2019. Club house has beendesigned in- house by DDA’sArchitecture Department.

After completion of theredevelopment of Phase-II ofthe Qutab Golf Course (QGC),the back 09 holes of the coursewere inaugurated by AnilBaijal, Lt Governor, Delhi onSaturday, 5 December, 2020 inthe presence of Shri AnuragJain, Vice Chairman, DDA. A

state of the art Driving Rangewhich has been newly con-structed was also inauguratedby Shri Anil Baijal, Hon’ble Lt.Governor, Delhi on 5th-December, 2020.

The double level DrivingRange has 28 bays along witha number of other facilities like,simulator room, teachingroom, fitting room, pro shop,coffee shop, etc.

The range is floodlit andalso has an artificial turf puttingarena.

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The overall trade deficit islikely to widen as rising

coronavirus cases and subse-quent lockdowns in keyexport markets dent India’smerchandise exports, expertssaid.

The recently released pro-visional data showed thatIndia’s merchandise exportsdropped by 9.07 per cent inNovember to $23.43 billionfrom $25.77 billion inNovember 2019.

“The slippage in exportsgrowth signifies the near termimpact of fresh restrictions intrading partners. The averagemerchandise trade deficit islikely to reach substantiallyhigher levels in H2FY21 ascompared to Q2FY21,” saidAditi Nayar, PrincipalEconomist, ICRA.

Among commodities andproducts, iron ore, rice andpharmaceuticals continuedto display healthy uptick inYoY shipments, whereasleather, textiles and engi-neering goods continued toshow contraction.EEPC IndiaChairman Mahesh Desai saidthat exporters continue tobattle the Covid-19 impact onglobal trade, pinning hopeson start of the vaccination andabating of the pandemic.

He said several criticalexport sectors, including engi-neering, are reeling under ahost of issues, including dis-ruptions in production, trans-portation and increasingcountry-specific restrictions.

Under these circum-stances, Desai pointed outthat some of the doable mea-sures like easy refund of GSTand ensuring availability of

raw materials at reasonableprices could provide relief tothe exporters.

According to the data,India’s merchandise importsdeclined by 13.33 per cent inNovember to $33.39 billionfrom $38.52 billion in the cor-responding month of the pre-vious year.

Segment wise, oil importswere down 43.36 per cent to$6.27 billion from $11.07 bil-lion in November 2019.

“The primary factor inthe export performance con-tinues to be the sharp declinein petro product shipments,but non-petro exports havealso declined by 3 per centpresumably due to the impactof a resurgence of the Covid-19 pandemic in Europe,” saidSuman Chowdhury, ChiefAnalytical Officer, AcuiteRatings & Research.

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The chatter around the con-cussion substitute willremain as a resurgent

India, unlikely to be alarmed byall-rounder Ravindra Jadeja’sabsence, seek a series win in thesecond T20 International againstAustralia here at Sydney CricketGround on Sunday.

A series win will be anideal confidence booster forIndia before the visitors hitTest match mode.

Some of the Indian teamplayers are treating the white-ball leg as a six-match com-posite series instead of twoseparate formats.

Having won two white-ballgames in Canberra, the Indiansunder Virat Kohli will hope thatthe next two matches at theSydney pan out better for them.

Following their victory onthe back of India’s first concus-sion substitute YuzvendraChahal’s terrific bowling display,India will enter the second gamewith a lot more confidence eventhough Jadeja’s batting lowerdown the order will be missed.

It can’t be denied that hisunbeaten 44 off 23 balls madethe difference between a win-ning score and a sub-par one.

However for Kohli, hewould expect that he would-n’t need contributions fromlower-middle order and thetop five batsmen would begood enough to put up agood total on board or may bechase down a tricky target.

It will only help India thatrival captain Aaron Finch, whohas been in fantastic form, maynot be fully fit. And with DavidWarner already absent due to agroin tear, the momentum thatAustralia had during the ODIseries may not be there.

D’Arcy Short looked out ofplace during the first T20I andChahal rightly exposed hischinks, bowling wide of off-stump because he had a limitedrange of strokes on the off-side.

Steve Smith, for all hisgreatness, isn’t exactly thebest T20 player around and ismore at ease playing the sec-ond fiddle to an enforcer.

Glenn Maxwell has limita-

tions which both Jasprit Bumrahand Thangarasu Natarajan hadexposed in the last ODI and firstT20 respectively.

What India would aspire isa better effort from the top-order, especially senior openerShikhar Dhawan, who has goneoff the boil after the half centu-ry in the first ODI.

Skipper Kohli has beendecent without being extraordi-nary and that has affected theteam. A solid knock from Kohlican go a long way in solving half

of India’s worries.It will be interesting to see

if Manish Pandey gets a secondgame. Ideally, he should getone more game but his discom-fort against Adam Zampa wasquite visible and the Indianinnings lost the moment when

he started wasting deliveries.Between Pandey and

Shreyas Iyer, there isn’t much ofa difference as they are sametype of players, who need sometime before they counter-attack.

For Sanju Samson and thein-form Hardik Pandya, the job

will be to utilise the last six overseven though Samson’s tempera-ment in the few internationalmatches that he has played has-n’t been impressive.

For Australia, one inter-esting aspect is veteran Testspecialist Nathan Lyon beingdrafted into the T20 squadand it remains to be seen if hereplaces Mitchell Swepson inthe playing XI.

Although he got luckywith Kohli’s wicket, Swepsonmostly bowled short in histwo overs and on a flat Sydneydeck, he could increaseAustralia’s worries.

Lyon, on the other hand,could be used in Powerplayjust like India successfully usedyoung off-spinner WashingtonSundar in the first six overs.

SQUADSIndia: Virat Kohli (C), ShikharDhawan, Mayank Agarwal, KLRahul (wk), Shreyas Iyer,Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya,Sanju Samson (wk),Washington Sundar, YuzvendraChahal, Jasprit Bumrah, MohdShami, Navdeep Saini, DeepakChahar, T Natarajan, ShardulThakur.Australia: Aaron Finch (C),Sean Abbott, Mitchell Swepson,Alex Carey (wk), Nathan Lyon,Josh Hazlewood, MoisesHenriques, Labuschagne, GlennMaxwell, Daniel Sams, StevenSmith, Mitchell Starc, MarcusStoinis, Matthew Wade (wk),D’Arcy Short, Adam Zampa.

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India will look to figure outtheir playing XI as the Test

squad gets into the groove bytaking on Australia ‘A’ in athree-day warm-up game atDrummoyne Oval from Sunday.

With India and Australiaplaying the second T20I on thesame day, the visiting Test squadhas been named India ‘A’ for thefirst of the two practice gamesscheduled ahead of the much-anticipated four-Test series.

The tour games will be achance to sort out India’scombinations both in the bat-ting and bowling departmentsahead of opening Day-NightTest scheduled at Adelaidefrom December 17.

In batting, Mayank Agarwalis set to open the innings butthere is a question mark over hispartner with the choice beingbetween Prithvi Shaw andShubman Gill.

While Shaw was preferredin the New Zealand series, hestruggled for consistency in theIPL. Gill, on the other hand, havescored 440 runs for KolkataKnight Riders and also lookedin good touch in the third ODI.

The other option is KLRahul, who has been in rampag-ing form and also formed a for-midable pair with Mayank forthe Kings XI Punjab, but the lasttime he had played a Test was inSeptember 2019.

In the wicketkeeper’s slot, it

will be Wriddhiman Saha versusRishabh Pant.

For Saha, who had injuredboth his hamstrings duringthe IPL, it will be a test toshow his fitness after gettingback at the nets recently.

Pant has been India’snumber one choice in over-seas Tests but he was droppedfrom the limited over seriesand will have to deliver thegoods to seal the keeper’s slot.

With skipper Virat Kohligoing on paternity leave after theopening Test and the injuredRohit Sharma too uncertain, theonus will be on Ajinkya Rahane,Cheteshwar Pujara and HanumaVihari to show the way.

Rahane, the man likely tolead India in the absence ofKohli, will look for a goodouting. Pujara and Vihari toowill be itching to go out in themiddle having last played acompetitive game in the pre-Covid-19 days.

In the bowling department,Jasprit Bumrah, who was restedfor the opening T20I, is expect-ed to play the practice match ashe looks to get into Test mode.

While Bumrah andMohammed Shami will sharethe new ball in the Tests, thethird pacer’s spot will be up forgrabs and Mohammed Siraj,

who looked good in the IPL, willbe keen to seal it.

Umesh Yadav, with anexperience of 46 Tests, is alsoan option but he was erratic inthe two games that he hadplayed in the IPL.

Ravindra Jadeja has beenruled out of the next two T20Imatches after suffering concus-sion and it remains to be seen ifhe is fit for the Tests.

Ravichandran Ashwin’sform will be key if Jadeja isunavailable and it will also openthe door for Kuldeep Yadav, whowas once proclaimed as India’snumber one overseas spinner bycoach Ravi Shashri, following hisexploits in Sydney last year.

For Australia, the spot-light will be on young WilliamPucovski as he looks to grabthe opener’s slot following aninjury to David Warner, whohas been ruled of at least theopening Test.

Pucovski’s form in SheffieldShield triggered a debate withmany preferring him over JoeBurns but with Warner’s injury,coach Justin Langer has made itclear the slot will go to one whoperforms well in the tour games.

While the first three-daygame will be a red-ball affair, thesecond tour match, scheduled tobegin from December 11, willbe played with a pink ball.

And in an important devel-opment, both games will carryofficial first-class status, accord-ing to cricket.com.au.

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Arelentless swing attackspearheaded by Tim

Southee left the West Indiesstruggling for survival with onlyfour wickets left and a 185-rundeficit after the third day of thefirst Test against New Zealand inHamilton on Saturday.

Only a stubborn centurypartnership by JermaineBlackwood and Alzarri Josephstalled New Zealand’s hopes ofdismissing the West Indies twicein one day.

Grey clouds and occasion-al showers over Seddon Parkcreated the perfect platform forNew Zealand’s swing attack asthe West Indies started the dayat 49 without loss and lost 15wickets for 285 runs.

They were crushed in theirfirst innings for 138 for nine,with Shane Dowrich — who suf-fered a hand injury on the firstday — not batting.

At stumps, they were 196 forsix in their second innings inreply to New Zealand’s formida-ble 519 for seven.

Blackwood was 80 not out,his 13th Test half century, withJoseph on 59, his highest scoreand their partnership worth107 runs.

Southee relished the condi-tions with five wickets in the day,four in the first innings wherethe West Indies managed 138,and one in the second.

When the West Indiesresumed the day at 49 withoutloss, Southee removed JohnCampbell in the opening over toset the bowling blueprint.

He troubled Campbell withthree inswingers before tempt-ing the batsman with a widerdelivery that was spooned toWilliamson at mid-off.

A Southee ball that swunglate nicked Brooks’s bat and he

was caught at first slip for one.A Trent Boult delivery that

pitched on leg stump and jaggedback accounted for KraiggBrathwaite for 21 while classyinswingers from Jamieson andWagner removed Darren Bravo(nine) and Roston Chase (11).

Southee was back in actionwith the wickets of JermaineBlackwood (23) and AlzarriJoseph (nought) immediatelyafter lunch, leaving Jamiesonand Wagner to clean up theremaining wickets of Roach(two) and Gabriel (one). Jasonholder was unbeaten on 25.

The West Indies secondinnings followed the same recipeas the New Zealand bowlers setup the batsmen with a consistentline of delivery for a few balls,then adjusted the angle andwickets followed.

Campbell, who faced fiveballs in the morning, lastedonly three in the secondinnings when he nicked aBoult delivery that Lathamjust managed to get his fingersunder at ground level.

Bravo attempted to domi-nate the bowling with threeboundaries before short-ballspecialist Neil Wagner pitchedone on a length that was edgedto Southee in the slips.

Wagner ended that overwith the wicket of Brooks (two)and the carnage continued at thestart of the next over whenSouthee had Brathwaite (10)caught behind.

Holder, who had multiplelives including being dropped onsuccessive balls, saw his luck runout on eight to give all-rounderDaryl Mitchell his first Testwicket.

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Australia batsman TravisHead said they will look to

test their skills against India’s“unbelievable” bowling attackand put the visitors under pres-sure during the first warm-upgame starting Sunday.

The 26-year-old, who waspart of the 2018 Test series, willlead the Australia ‘A’ side in thefirst three-day warm-up game.

“Nice to have some mem-ories and stuff from that series,but (they are) an unbelievablebowling attack and been wellsupported throughout the wholeattack,” Head said on Saturday.

“... You get through thenew ball and someone likeShami comes on and he’s just sorelentless on his length. Therewas just no rest that, you had tobe on for every bowler.

“That is expected of Testcricket but that was my first reallook at a quality attack likethat. Those next spells are asstrong as their first so you haveto be on 100% of the time.Looking forward to that testagain.”

While the first warm-up willbe a red-ball affair, the secondpractice match scheduled tobegin from December 11, will beplayed with a pink ball.

“... It is a great opportunitywith the red ball, the way westart that campaign in the samemanner and we have threestrong days and, I know the boysare really keen to start thatthree days and get leading intothat Test series,” he said.

“(These are) really impor-tant couple of games for us, notjust as Australian A squad but asAustralian squad and we want toplay our best foot forward andstart putting the Indian guysunder pressure.”

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Australia Test pacer James Pattinsonsays he has picked Jasprit Bumrah’s

brain during his unexpected stint at theMumbai Indians in the recent IPL andwanted to know the secret of Indianspeedster’s lethal yorkers.

Pattinson went unsold in the IPLauction but was included in the MI squadas a last-minute replacement for LasithMalinga. He played 10 games for the IPLchampions picking 11 wickets.

“I lucked out a bit going to Mumbai,the most successful franchise in IPL his-tory. It all happened so quickly. It wassuch a great experience and surprise,”Pattinson told Australian Associated

Press.“Boom is one of the best, if not the

best, T20 bowler in the world. I pickedhis brain. I was asking about his yorkersand how he gets them so good; he likesto bowl from a higher position and a fewother things.

“You watch him bowl and just think‘how does he do that!?’,” Pattinson said.

The 30-year-old is a member of theAustralia Test squad and he will warmup for the four-match series by playingfor Australia A in a tour game.

He said playing in the IPL “igniteda spark to play more white-ball cricket... To try and get back into Australia’swhite-ball teams.”

Pattinson, who has not been pickedin Australia’s T20 or ODI side since 2015,said meeting Bumrah was a good lessonin not tinkering with bowling actions forthe sake of the textbook. “It’s fantastic.He’s got an unusual action, been allowedto keep doing that and it’s what makeshim successful.” Pattinson said Bumrah“was happy to share a lot of informationaround his bowling mindset”. “He’s a fan-tastic guy. He bowls a lot more than Ithought he would at training. He justbowls and bowls and bowls ... You seehow switched on he is.”

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Indian batting great SunilGavaskar finds nothing

wrong in Yuzvendra Chahalcoming on as a “concussionsubstitute” for Ravindra Jadejabut doesn’t like the concept ofteams being provided cushionfor a batsman’s inability to facebouncers.

Chahal replaced Jadeja,who got hit on the head, in thefirst T20I and did a star turnwith figures of 3 for 25 in theteam’s 11-run victory.

“First and foremost letme say that match referee is aformer Australian cricketerDavid Boon. He was okaywith Chahal substituting forJadeja. They normally saylike-for-like and Chahal isnot an all-rounder but if hegoes out with the bat whetherit’s one run or 100 run, he isan all-rounder,” Gavaskar toldIndia Today.

“An Australian match ref-eree had no objection to that.So I don’t see why there is somuch of noise about it.”

One of the greatest bats-men to have played the game,

Gavaskar however doesn’tendorse the concept as hefeels it is a leverage given tobatters for a technical defi-ciency.

“On the business of con-cussion substitute itself, I don’t

agree with it. May be I am oldfashioned and I have alwaysbelieved that if you are notgood enough to play thebouncer and get hit on thehelmet, then you don’t deservea substitute. I am sorry,”Gavaskar said, forthright in

his observation.“But at the moment, it is

being allowed as part of therules of the game and accord-ing to the rules of the game,there was no problem withChahal playing instead of RaviJadeja.”

(�����(��(�A Plagued by injuries, NewZealand all-rounder Corey Anderson, whoonce held the record for fastest ODI hundred,called time on his international career andsigned a three-year deal with USA’s MajorLeague Cricket (MLC).

The 29-year-old, who has played 13 Tests,49 ODIs and 31 T20Is for New Zealand, did-n’t feature in any of Black Caps’ assignment forthe past two years.

In the 93 international games across for-mats, he scored 2277 runs with two hundredsand 10 half-centuries. He also picked up 90wickets.

“It’s been a huge honour and (I am)extremely proud to represent New Zealand,”Anderson, who holds the record for the fastestODI century for his 36-ball innings against WestIndies in 2013, was quoted as saying byCricbuzz.

His 35-ball hundred against West Indies onthe New Year’s Day in 2014, was the fastest ODIhundred for a year before AB de Villiers’ brokethe record with a 31-ball feat against the sameopposition.

Anderson lamented that he couldn’t playmore internationals for his country.

“I would have loved to have achieved andplayed more but just is what it is sometimes,and different opportunities arise and send youin a direction you never thought would be apossibility. Very appreciative for everything thatNZC has done for me.” PTI

India favourites to wrap up T20 series

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�%� ��/��A The Australiannational selectors have broughtin off-spinner Nathan Lyon totheir T20I squad for the lasttwo matches against India asthey released pace bowlingall-rounder Cameron Greenfor Australia A’s warm-upagainst India A that begins onSunday.

Lyon’s inclusion has been asurprise as he is not considereda T20 specialist and has playedonly two international match-es in the format, the last ofwhich came in 2018. PNS

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Former Australia captain MarkTaylor has cautioned against

abusing the concussion substi-tute rule, saying it is for the pro-tection of players and needs to beused fairly and responsibly.

“The concussion rules arethere to protect players,” Taylor,a former member of the ICCCricket Committee, was quotedas saying by Sydney MorningHerald.

“If they are abused there’s achance it will go like the runner’srule. The reason the runnerswere outlawed was because itstarted to be abused. It’s up to theplayers to make sure they use the

concussion sub fairly andresponsibly.

“I’m not suggesting thatdidn’t happen last night.”

The fact that Jadeja did notseek medical attention immedi-ately and scored two moreboundaries in his quick-fire 44off 23 balls, fuelled further sus-picions about the concussionfinding.

“I’ve said for years I’d like tosee players and coaches takemore responsibility in runningthe game. The laws are there toprotect them and make thegame better for the player. Justmake sure they’re used correct-ly, that’s all I would say,” Taylorsaid.

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Page 9: The Pioneer...2020/12/06  · Bhubaneswar on Saturday reg-istered 34 new Covid-19 cases, taking its total positives’ tally to 30,868, including 383 active cases. Out of the new cases,

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Each season has its own attrib-utes or Gunas that effect thehuman body differently. Ourstrength as well as our metab-olism changes with seasons,

which in turn changes our internal cir-cadian rhythms (or biological clocks) asthey shift intelligently to each passingseason.

Sadly, we may have lost our internallink with these changing rhythms,although we may be adapting uncon-sciously to them with an innate culturalwisdom passed down via our elders andby observing through our personal rela-tion with each season.

We, therefore, each may have ourfavourite season or not so favourite,based on our individual proportion ofdoshas, prakriti or constitution and howwell we are able to sync with that sea-son.

��������������������������The phrese means “to protect or

preserve the health of an individual aspreventative to disease”.

According to Charaka, the father ofAyurveda, one of the principle objec-tives of Ayurveda is prevention andpreservation of our natural Prakriti thebest we can, inspite of being constantlybombarded with reasons (within ourcontrol or not in our control), that canthrow our balance off.

Ayurveda and Yoga focus on earlydetection and prevention and there liestheir strength. Both these great sciencesof health and longevity prescribe someroutines, rituals, diets and exerciserecommendations to align with univer-sal intelligence and reduce their nega-tive effects so we live our lives withminimum resistance and in a lessantagonistic manner, and preserve ourstate of well being and health.

These sister sciences of Ayurvedaand Yoga know that how we spend ourdays alter the course of our lives andemphasised the practice of Dinacharyaand Ritucharya.

To maintain an internal balance toever shifting qualities externally innature, our Dinacharya or daily rou-tines, eating habits, exercise regimen,lifestyles and rhythms should also ide-ally adapt to the six changing seasonsor the Ritus.

Ayurveda divides a year or 12months into six seasons of approxi-mately two months each.1. Early Winter or Hemanta Ritu2. Late Winter or Shishir Ritu3. Spring or Vasanta Ritu,4. Summer or Greeshma Ritu5. Rainy Season or Varsha Ritu, and6. Autumn or Sharad Ritu

The seasonal variations can effectthe human body and have to be takeninto consideration for designing ourdaily prescribed routines to negate mis-takes in intelligence in adapting tochanges in nature within and aroundus. As humans, we are part of the ecol-ogy of life around us, the cycles of earthinteract with the cycles of our bodies.Adaptation to changes outside is one ofthe three pillars of our anchors forhealth and is a crucial to health andwell being. As the saying goes: “As inthe Universe, so within us...”

Hemant and Shishir Ritus, consist-ing of four months starting November(broadly after Sharad Purnima) areconsidered winter cold season in mostparts of India. According to Ayurveda,like increases like, so the winter season— which shares a number of character-istics with Kapha dosha — will tend toincrease Kapha, predisposing us toKapha seasonal aggravations, especiallyif it is a key player in your constitution.These will be mostly felt in the seat or‘home’ of Kapha eg head, throat, nose,mouth, tongue (hence the emphasis onoil pulling, tongue cleaning, Jal neti,Nasyam, and Kriyas such as Bhastrikaand Kapalbhati), chest, stomach andjoints — unctuous in its attributes andcannot take dryness, hence foods richin good natural fats.

When out of balance, Kapha canlead to accumulation and stagnation,dullness of the mind, lack of motiva-tion, depression or attachments.

To avoid this accumulation, one ofthe most important things you can doto balance kapha is to get plenty ofexercise, maintain metabolism andmove cellular waste or Kleda from thebody to bring lightness by encouragingSveda or Sweat. As the healing capacityof the body tissues increase, Goodnourishment for proper structuralrepair is recommended in the winters.

Our Metabolism, digestive fire oragni according to Ayurvedic cycles isat its best capacity during winter sea-son; also the reason why we have arich appetite at this time of the year.Nourishment is therefore maximised

through what we eat, as nutritionreaches the tissues with efficientmetabolism at this time of the season-al year.

This Kapha tendency when in bal-ance, gives internal bala or strength tothe human body at the time of winterbringing endurance to the body.

On the flip side, if we don’t nourishourselves well in the winter with goodfats, nutrition dense foods, it can leadto imbalance in vata, leaving us anxiousand ungrounded, nagging seasonal illhealth, compromising our immune sys-tem. Neglecting a wholesome diet inthe winters, rich in fats and nutrientscan lead to auto digestion or catabolis-ing of our own tissues (Autolysis) dueto our naturally heightened metabolismat this time of the year.

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Applying regularity and routinebrings structure to our days and paci-fies aggravations. The body requiresmore fuel to stay warm and healthy inthe winter months — igniting thedigestive capacity. Our digestive fire oragni is high at this time, so our dietshould naturally be nourishing andsubstantial as our system will deliver itefficiently for repair and building of tis-sues.

Foods that have the potential to bebuilding blocks should be on our dietplan. Proteins via vegetarian and nonvegetarian sources. Fats, Vitamin C richAmla, Sea Food, Nuts, coconut, pump-kin, Red carrots, Apples, Heavy lentilslike Black dal with Ghee, Avocados etc.We can eat oilier and richer foods bestin this season to keep the body warmand nourished. Eat a spoon of Sesameor Flax seeds (toasted in small batches

and grounded cursedly) everyday orsprinkle on your dals.

Lukewarm water or warm spicedherbal tea and tisanes, soups to save thebody from needing to equalise theouter with inner temperatures. A tea-spoon or two of Chyavanprash beforenight time along with some warmturmeric milk will increase energy,immunity, and inner strength throughthe winter

����������������������Kapha tends to stagnate easily. One

of the best ways to get it moving againis to engage in physical activity,increase circulation, warm the tissuesand break a sweat. Balam or ourstrength is maximum at this time of theyear.

Start your day with a short butinvigourating morning routine. You willfeel more motivated if you are up byabout 7 am as sleeping in or rising inkapha hours leave us feeling heavierand sluggish.

If you are feeling overextended and

overwhelmed, exercise like walking, taichi, or gentle yoga will help bring somegrounding.

If you are feeling sluggish andheavy, a more vigorous workout willhelp move the Kapha energy frombuilding up. Include invigorating back-bends like Ustrasana, Dharunasana toremove heaviness and sluggishness.

Surya namaskars and Vinyasa prac-tices with deep slow breaths, a sequencePranayma, brisk walking and dancingare recommended during winters. Theyhelp in maintaining the body heat.Surya Namaskars are best enjoyed nowwith mind on strength, grace in transi-tion and unhurried breaths. One canbuild on range of movement andendurance by increasing the number ofSurya namaskars in Winter months.

We must also try to increase oursunlight exposure in this time of theyear. Sunlight in this phase ofDakshinayana or Southern Solsticegives out energy unlike in the Northernsolstice when the Sun absorbs energy toall beings leaving us weaker and low onenergy.

Abhyangam or Oil Massage for yourbody regularly with warm oils is highrecommended according to Ayurveda.

A great night time routine, If shorton time, is to give yourself a foot mas-sage at least as often as you can. Mypersonal favourite is Apricot orAlmond oil with Lavender essential oiladded.

A little care and a lot of mindful-ness goes a long way in keeping ourbody healthy and happy. Bring in joy bystaying happy and calm and watch yourlife transform.

The writer is a Yoga practitioner,teacher and founder of Om Yoga Shala

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The ancient sages of Ayurvedaknew that how we spend our

days alters the course of ourlives, and emphasised thepractice of dinacharya. Whiletimes and experiences maychange over millennia, the needfor a daily routine may be moreimportant today than ever. Evenone or two practices, everydayhealthy rituals will help keepyour body and mind energised.

We can use early morning asa window of opportunity to goback in time to change, heal andre-pattern early negativepatterns. Each new day ushersin a cascade of new possibilitiesand a shower of second chances.We can focus on encouragingthe smooth flow of prana inthese early morning hours.

Here is a summary of yoursuggested morning routine.● Wake up with the Sun,

ideally at Pre-dawn● Rinse mouth and splash eyes

with cool water● Massage gums or gargle with

sesame seed oil, ending witha warm water rinse

● Drink a glass of warm water● Eliminate● Brush and scrape the tongue● Jal Neti (time permitting)● Administer Nasya (nasal) oil● Meditate ● Exercise appropriately for

your constitution ● Abhyanga (Self massage with

warm oil) before a shower

Page 10: The Pioneer...2020/12/06  · Bhubaneswar on Saturday reg-istered 34 new Covid-19 cases, taking its total positives’ tally to 30,868, including 383 active cases. Out of the new cases,

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The US Presidential election reiterated the obvious thatthe dividing line between a Dictatorship and aDemocracy is thin. The drama was a reminded of

events that took place hundred years ago in Germany andItaly, that saw rise of Hitler and Mussolini from nationalistdemocrats to exploitative autocrats. We must remember thata democracy’s success or failure is determined by the val-ues of the people at helm. A Democracy is not exactly a sys-tem of governance in which there are rulers and subjects. Itis an arrangement in which the representatives of the peo-ple are given the responsibility to run the State on the prin-ciples of summum bonum. Leadership in an ideal Democracyhas to be values driven, not power driven. Naturally, it is thecharacter of the leadership that will ensure the sanctity ofthe system. There are no subjects in a Democracy. There areonly citizens who have inalienable rights. They have oblig-ations, too. To uphold the values enshrined in the constitu-tion. Governments derive their powers from the consent ofthe governed. Whenever a government becomes destructiveof these ends, people have a right to change the government.The underlying assumptions are that the leadership that runsthe government will accept the people’s verdict. The catchis what if it doesn’t ? Democracy becomes dictatorship. Thisthreat is always there. And everywhere. It is the leadershipcharacter that is critical. One man and his cohorts can makea Democracy degenerate into totalitarian regime. This pos-sibility is always there. It is for this reason that maintainingthe sanctity of democratic institutions is a crucial require-ment. The checks and balances need to be continuouslystrengthened to ensure survival of a Democracy. The citi-zens have a holy duty towards this. Above petty interests, theyneed to rise. After all, who lives if the Democracy dies. Wesaw how Hitler killed Democracy in Germany. And all inthe name of racial superiority which is a direct anti-thesisof Democracy that rests on the foundation of the golden rulethat all men and women are created equal. Democracies thrivewhen they are responsive and welcome dissent. It is ratherin the interest of Democracy to encourage dissent. Liberalismis the soul of dissent. Criticism is the feedback that helps aDemocracy evolve. In corona times, we find that Heads ofState have developed a propensity to consolidate power. Evenin proclaimed and seasoned democracies. According toEconomist Intelligence Unit, the present times have been theworst for democracies. The threat to Democracy was not frommilitary coup but by elected governments. Why this has hap-pened needs to be deliberated. The biggest stakeholder is thecitizenry. It must rise to the occasion. Particularly when insti-tutions that were to be neutral become partisan. Fear andhalf-truths are driving the corona times and chaos has becomethe order. Clues can be picked up from an interesting dia-logue between Lord Ram and Sugriva when the latter refus-es to rule Kishkindha stating that he wants to renounce andopt for sanyas. Lord Ram then delivers the golden rule thatsanyasi is the ideal person to rule. This is what Plato saidmuch later that philosophers should be kings. Abdicracy isthe essence of Democracy.

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We all have many wishes.However, the nature of wish-es may undergo a big change

with age. For example, a child mightwish to play games, eat fast food, go toa fun park, etc., whereas an old personmay wish to sit in a park peacefully, eatsimple foods, watch some spiritual pro-gramme, etc.

I have chosen ten wishes, which arecommon in old age or should be. Butbefore I get into the details of thesewishes, it is important that we under-stand that they have to be managed.

Let me begin with my favouritewish, that is enjoy the company of God.This I try to ensure through severalways. I try to recite “Rama” as muchas possible in the twenty four hours thatI have. Even during sleeping hours, I tryto chant whenever there is break insleep. Then, I love to see Lord Krishna’sphoto; He is so beautiful. I do namaskarto Him many times during the day. Thelist goes on. What do I expect in return?I need guidance from the Omniscient.Who else? Similarly, I need His help,which is several times during the day.Shaktis of all kinds are always required.Who else than the Omnipotent to pro-vide. Same is applicable for resources;the Master of the universe is the one toapproach. The list is long; I needpeace, sukha, protection, support, etc.

The next big wish is to qualify fora great next birth. I am genuinelydesirous of being born in a family ofpure and prosperous. (Bhagwad Gita6.41) I apply myself very seriously todeserve this privilege. I disseminateGod’s instructions in order to becomedearest to Him. (18.68-69) I try to fol-low God’s instructions as much as mynature permits. I wish to becomeexceedingly dear to God. (12.20) The

third wish is to finish all my responsi-bilities/duties up to date, that is whenI leave my body. There are always some,but my wish is to keep fulfilling themas they arise. The fourth and a veryimportant wish is to be able to live anormal life till the very last day, if myLord will be so kind. I make multiplesacrifices in order to gain this boon. Ieat in a very controlled way, my habitsare on the good side, my enjoymentsare healthy, etc. Surely, I hate to bedependent physically on anyone. So farso good; I am able to manage almostall my personal works except cookingand cleaning my room.

Then, comes financial security. Ihave worked all my life to ensure this,and I continue to earn my living evennow. It is tough to be materially activeas well as please the Lord by my spir-itual acts, but the kind Lord helps mein achieving this difficult balance. Theidea is also to leave my descendents ina comfortable financial position. Thisis part of my legacy. There are otheraspects of my legacy as well. Mydescendents are excellent to say to least.

We, human beings, have the responsi-bility to leave the world better thanwhen we came in. Regular consulta-tions go on with them in order to leavethem with the best sanskars that I canmanage. In order to do that I have topractice them, otherwise my wisecounsel will not be effective. Surely, Iwish to have the satisfaction of havinga life well lived. So far so good in thisregard with my hundreds of spiritualarticles published in various newspa-pers and tens of books, which are pur-chased in good numbers in books-fairs.And I wish to leave with my nameunblemished; no one should questionmy character.

It is a tall order for anyone, but lotcan be managed in the remaining time.To begin with, we must have clarityabout what is desirable, what is possi-ble, etc. Then, we must get serious toachieve all those wishes. If you have agood connection with God; He willhelp generously as He is helping me. Ithank God for His mercies. ��� ���������������!�����������������������

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When we come intothis physical life, weare gifted a certainnumber of breaths.These breaths corre-

late to a measure of time counted byseconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks,months, and years. This is our realcapital. We may think that the mostimportant pursuit of life is the finan-cial exchange of making money andspending it. But when we look at thebig picture, the most important pur-suit of life is making the best use ofthe time we have been given. We arehere to accumulate spiritual wealth.Instead, we have been caught up bythe attractive and colourful sights ofthis world that we think will bringmonetary gain. At the end of this life,we will find that we have worked for

the wrong goal, and that we will leavethis world with nothing.

The fact is clear that no matterwhat we do with our life, our life willend one day. If we choose to play thegame of life by investing all our timein the acquisition of wealth and prop-erty, we will be forced to leave it allbehind in the end. When our lastbreath is taken, we must hand over ourbank account and properties to thosewe have left behind. It stays in thisworld, while our soul departs thisworld.

It is true, no doubt, that the worldis based on an economic system inwhich we have to work to make a liv-ing to exchange it for the goods andservices we need to take care of our-selves and our family. Spirituality doesnot require us to negate life and to live

off others, but rather to earn our ownhonest livelihood. But we shouldseek a healthy balance. We need totake stock of our money and our land,but also we need to take stock of howwe spend our time.

Real happiness is finding joy andcontentment in life. Most people,when faced with a terminal disease,no longer care about money. Thethings that matter to them are theirfamily, what they have accomplishedin life, and their faith in God. Theseare intangible gifts. Love becomesmore important. Love for their fam-ily, love for God, and what they didto express their love for humanity arethe gifts they take with them into thebeyond.

So how best can we use ourtime? If we know that this life is but

a small part of our existence, and thatas soul we have an existence thatextended before this life and willextend beyond this life, then what isvalued in the rest of our eternal exis-tence?

���������������������The commodity that is most val-

ued in the realms beyond this world,to which we all will go, is spiritual love.The soul is measured not by our finan-cial records, but by the amount of lovewe have radiated to others. Did welove God? Did we love our fellowbeings? Did we love all creation? Loveis translated into thoughts, words, anddeeds that are expressed in kindnessto others. It is expressed in how muchwe care about others. It is demonstrat-ed by how much we give of ourselvesto help or serve others.

�������������� �����������As children, a popular game has

been “Monopoly,” in which one circlesa game board through the throw of thedice. In this game, one lands on spaceswith the names of properties. Playersare given cash to spend, and they canbuy the property with that cash.Then, they are able to build homesand hotels on that property, andcharge rent each time another playerlands on that spot. This game is quitelong and children can spend hoursengaged in it. It is so engaging theyoften forget about their homework ortheir other sports activities. Thisgame of high finances or “Monopoly”is very similar to the game of theworld, which has little to do with thetrue game of God.

God has another game going on.It is a game based on the law of love.It is a game in which God loves us andwants us to love God back. This loveis not only between God and each cre-ated being. It is also having love forthe entire family of God. God wantsus to play the game of godly love.

����������������������������It is the game wherein we expe-

rience God’s love for ourselves, andradiate that love to all around us. Godis an ocean of bliss and love. When weconnect with God, we are bathed inthat ecstasy. It is more enjoyable thanany game of this world. It is a happi-ness far beyond any possible in thisworld. We can play God’s game of lovethrough meditation, the process oftaking our attention away from theworld outside and focusing it within.It is through God’s Game of Love thatwe experience the riches that lay latentwithin us, which will bring us unfath-omable joy, Light and bliss.

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We all experience mood swings.But what exactly is a moodswing? This can be explained as

to a prompt change in mood from happi-ness to anger, irritability, and even depres-sion. Some of us often describe moodswings as a “roller coaster” of feelings.When these feelings are very strong theycan cause disruption. Some times wecome across terms like anxiety anddepression. Please understand that thesetwo are different from each other. There’sa marginal difference between anxietyand depression. When someone startspanicking about something it’s called anx-iety, whereas, in depression, usually anindividual doesn’t talk and becomes quite.Have you ever thought why we havemood swings? It’s due to Hormonalchanges. The neurotransmitters likeDopamine and Serotonin and hormoneslike Oxytocin plays a crucial role in ourbehaviour.

Neurotransmitters are chemical mes-sengers that control countless functionsand processes in your body, from sleep tometabolism. One of the neurotransmitters— Dopamine plays a huge role in terms ofmotivation and reward. When you putsome efforts in achieving your goals and asense of satisfaction on getting success ispartly due to a rush of dopamine.Therefore, times when you feel a littledemotivated, helpless and tired of certaintasks, this is often to dysfunction withinyour dopamine system. For Serotonin,experts believe that low serotonin levelsresult in depression. In terms of Oxytocin,it is said that if this high then the personis happy and sees good in everything

Every single problem has its solution.To regulate your mood swings, exercisethe following methods:● Include protein in your diet: Byadding protein to your meals can help

slow the absorption of carbohydrates inyour blood and increase the discharge ofdopamine, which can improve your moodand energy.● Exercise: It is important to keep ourphysical and mental health in good shape.Exercise stimulates chemicals within thebrain that improve your mood and makeyou feel more relaxed. The brain releasesfeel-good chemicals throughout the body.Physical activities enhance self-esteemand reduce depression.● Say no to unhealthy food: It’s said thatprocessing those carbohydrate-heavyfoods can cause you to feel an unpleasantfeeling. Researches have proved that eat-ing healthy can drastically change yourmood and improve your way of life.● Meditation: When you meditate at thatpoint of time you channelise your mind

and energy to one thing with yourSubconscious, unconscious and consciousmind. ● Get proper and adequate sleep: Peoplethat are sleep deprived experiences nega-tive moods like anger, frustration, sadnessetc. Therefore, it’s important to have anequal amount of oxygen supply and CO2

release.● Music Therapy: Music can lift yourmood, boost happiness and reduces anxi-ety. It also helps in improving our focus.Therefore, choose the genre of music youlike and let the sound heal you frominside. Your body is your temple. Stayhealthy, worship your mind, body andsoul.����!������������� !����)��������� ����&�% ����H

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�����"�����$�$�'���"������������������������(���Discrimination at places of

worship is not new toIndia. Irrespective of any beliefsystems, social prejudices,inequity and favouritism exist,though the forms and degreevary from religion to religion.However, it surprises us thatsuch practices still exist andoften gets patronised in theState of Kerala, which tops inalmost all kinds of social para-meters, including the HumanDevelopment Index (HDI).The issue becomes more seri-ous, especially when practicesof discrimination are observedin temples owned by theDevaswom Board, rather thanby any individual or family orcommunity.

The recent news about sep-arate toilets being made avail-able only for Brahmins byKuttumukku Mahadeva templemanaged by Devaswom Boardat Thrissur in Kerala, surfacedin social media and was criti-cised by all. The temple author-ity had to withdraw its decisionunder pressure. True, we seethe practice of separate toiletsin most educational institutionsfor staff and non-staff (studentsor other visitors). But they aretwo forms of arrangementsnot based on any superiority ofone type of people over others.The basis has never been caste,religion and race for such com-mon facilities. Had the templeauthority earmarked separatetoilet for the priest or templestaff, the move could havebeen justifiable.

It is worth mentioning herethat Devaswom Boards inKerala were established with anoble purpose to undertake themanagement of the temples ofPrincely States of Travancore,Cochin and Malabar, to regu-late their finances, mainte-nance and removal of pre-existing discriminatory prac-tices (if any).

They were created by theTravancore-Cochin ReligiousInstitutions Act (1950), regu-lated, empowered and expand-ed by subsequent laws passedin the State LegislativeAssembly of Kerala. Thoughthe establishment ofDevaswom Board was consid-ered to be an important refor-mative step, in reality, the tem-

ples owned by the Board havebecome one of the most dis-criminatory places for worship,persisting even in the 21st cen-tury. Several forms of social andeconomic differentiation suchas separate queues based onpayment, ban on the entry ofnon-Hindu devotees or visitors,priority to Brahmin for the postof priests, ban on entry on thebasis of gender, removal ofshirt, etc, continue to be prac-tised in these religious institu-tions.

The price discriminationfor Darshan (auspicious sight ofa deity/idol) is found in Keralaonly among the temples man-aged by Devaswom Board. Themost visited Devaswom tem-ples have provisioned sepa-rate queues based on payment,which simply means higher feefor entry into shorter and eas-ier queues to save time, whileordinary people, who cannot

afford to pay or do not want topay at all, face longer queues totake the Darshan of the deities.Moreover, all the devotees donot get similar kind of Darshanin the temple, some form ofproduct differentiation is alsoapplied to justify differentialprice, where devotees can getDarshan of deities at a closerange if they pay higher.

This practice is found inthe Sree Krishna Swamy tem-ple in Guruvayoor, one of themost popular religious centresin Kerala, where a VIP queuesystem exists with a payment ofRs 1,000 for “Special Darshan”.

In another surreal practice,most of Devaswom Board tem-ples do not allow non-Hindusto enter temple. A controversyhad erupted in the State in 2007when purification rituals wereperformed by the templeauthority after some religiousceremony of former Union

Minister Vayalar Ravi’s grand-son took place at the previouslymentioned Guruvayur temple,since the Minister’s wife was aChristian. Similarly, legendarysinger KJ Yesudas, a recipientof prestigious national awardssuch as Padma Shri, PadmaBhushan and the PadmaVibhushan, who had sungsome of the most populardevotional songs in praise ofvarious Hindu deities, was notallowed to enter the Guruvayurand Kadampuzha Devi templein Malappuram for being anon-Hindu. Later, he wasallowed to enter the famous SriPadmanabhaswami Temple inThiruvananthapuram, whichis not under any board, afteryears of waiting (Outlook WebBureau 2017).

Similarly, SabarimalaTemple, another DevaswomBoard owned institution, donot allow the entry of women

aged between 10 and 50. Onemay call it diversity, but itcould have been better if therestrictions were made whollyon a voluntary basis, by mak-ing people aware of the oldbeliefs and practices of thisancient temple, and allowingthe devotees themselves todecide whether to visit thetemple or not.

It can also be found thatDevaswom temples have notbeen considering peoplebelonging to Scheduled Casteand Scheduled Tribes for thepost of temple priest. Their firstScheduled Caste (SC) priestwas appointed only in 2017, bythe Travancore DevaswomBoard (Balan 2017). It is note-worthy that Kerala had uniqueculture prior to the formationof Devaswom Board, wheremost of the temples wereowned by a caste or communityitself, who uses to appoint

their own caste people as tem-ple priest. This practice can stillbe noticed in many parts of theState where rituals related tomarriage and birth are per-formed by own caste people,expert in mantra vidya (chant-ing hymns) rather than byBrahmins.

Hovever, there exists scoresof private/trust run temples inKerala which have beenappointing persons fromScheduled Caste & ScheduledTribal communities as theirpriests for many decades.Popular temples inThiruvananthapuram such asKollampuzha Devi temple inAttingal, Elambrakode Devitemple in Pallikkal,Mullanalloor Devi temple inNavayikulam have priestsbelonging to Paravar andKuravar caste of SCs whilepriests of Venkamala Devi tem-ple belong to Kaani communi-

ty of Tribals.Similarly, the medieval

practice of verifying “janau”(sacred thread) of people byremoving the upper wear(shirt) is still practised in thetemples owned by DevaswomBoard, especially in Travancoreregion. For example, SharkkaraDevi temple, Sreekandeswaramtemple, Pallippuram Devi tem-ple, all in Thiruvananthapuramfollow this custom.Interestingly, this practice isabandoned or discontinued bynon-Devaswom Board tem-ples.

The pertinent question iswhether Hindu temples aregetting more rigid or more lib-eral over the time. The answeris both yes and no. We cannotice wave of liberalism intemples all over the country,and the temples in Kerala areno exception of it. But we canstill notice such discriminato-ry practices in most of the tem-ples owned by DevaswomBoard i.e. Pattambi Guruvayurtemple and MulayankavuBagavathy temple (both inPalakkad), Vadakumnathatemple and Kadampuzha tem-ple (both in Thrissur), KalariBagavathi temple (Maruthur,Pattambi, also in Palakkad),Angadippuram temple,Thirumittakodu temple,Thirunavaya temple,Thiruvilwamala temple, andSabarimala temple. Such dis-criminatory practices are notonly bringing bad name to thereligion but to the State as well.

It is very surprising thatdespite the fact thatCommunist Party of India(Marxist) and their allies,which claim to be religion-neu-tral and frequently proclaimthemselves as a perennial sup-porter of social progress, didnot initiate any reforms in thetemples owned by State. It rais-es doubt on the intention ofpolitical dispensation if theywant to continue these prac-tices to vilify Hindu religionespecially when these prac-tices have been opposed bymost of Hindus.

(Anish Gupta is anAssistant Professor of econom-ics, Delhi University. The co-writer is a student of politics)

For the past few months,Governments, scientists,

policymakers, foundations,businesses, and civil societymembers have been grapplingwith mitigating the Covid-19pandemic.

The whole world is nowlooking towards a potentialvaccine, with a couple of can-didates displaying outstand-ing results in various phases ofclinical trials. But it is criticalto understand that a vaccinealone cannot be a magic bulletthat can “end” the pandemic —we need social and behaviour-al changes that can help tack-le the disease till an efficaciousvaccine or a drug is discovered,and even after that. How do weensure that people continue tofollow simple measures likewearing masks, hand washingand physical distancing? Theanswer lies in effective publichealth communication.

The Covid-19 global pan-demic has exposed the faultlines in how we communicateabout public health. The pan-demic has made it evident thatpublic health communication isnot only an important butindispensable part of ourresponse to mitigate the ongo-ing global challenge.

According to the WorldHealth Organization, in timesof public health emergencieslike the one we are currently in,people need to know whathealth risks they face and whatactions they can take to protecttheir health and lives. Accurateinformation provided early,often, and in languages thatpeople understand, trust, anduse, enables individuals to stayinformed and make choices toprotect themselves, their fam-

ilies and communities fromforeseeable health hazards.

Another factor that effec-tive public health communica-tions can help address is mis-information. The WHO hasidentified an “infodemic” sur-

rounding the coronavirus —that is, “an overabundance ofinformation and the rapidspread of misleading or fabri-cated news”. Coupled with thenature of the pandemic itself,where new evidence around the

disease is constantly coming tolight — this has led to a delugeof information which has madeit difficult for the general pub-lic to sift fact from fiction, espe-cially on the Internet. Over thepast months, we have seen the

circulation of several harmful“fake news” about the pan-demic that has the potential tohamper response efforts andaffect public behaviour.

This is where a clear androbust public health commu-

nication strategy can go a longway in dispelling myths and“fact-checking” misinforma-tion. This is why, throughoutthe pandemic, the IndianCouncil of Medical Researchhas taken proactive steps tocommunicate regularly andeffectively through press releas-es, website updates and viasocial media to help ensure thataccurate information reachesthe public.

Specific portals for infor-mation around Covid-19 andon vaccine development havebeen created, as well as a clin-ical registry for Covid-19. TheMinistry of Health and FamilyWelfare has also facilitated reg-ular media interactions.

In this context, it is alsonecessary to ensure that anykind of public health messag-ing echoes through every rungof society and comes fromsources that are trusted by thetarget audiences of those mes-sages. We all remember the DoBoond Zindagi Ki campaign,carried out as part of the polioelimination campaign in India.

This iconic slogan becamethe cornerstone of this massivecampaign and, delivered byAmitabh Bachchan, createdmuch-needed awareness, evenamong hard-to-reach popula-tions. The media also played akey role in the campaign, infact, no public health commu-nication strategy can hope to besuccessful without the supportof the media. During the cur-rent pandemic, slogans such asDo Gaj Doori Hai Zaroori andJab Tak Dawai Nahi Tab TakDhilai Nahi have helped com-municate the importance oftaking precautionary measures.

This is not the first pan-

demic we have seen, nor willthis be the last. But today, wehave a real opportunity toinvest in building a conduciveenvironment for public healthcommunications in the coun-try. And for that to happen, weneed to encourage collabora-tion between technical experts— doctors, scientists, publichealth researchers — andcommunication experts —social and behavioural scien-tists, communicators and themedia.

For technical experts, nowis the time to arm ourselveswith an arsenal of communi-cation tools, so that we caneffectively communicatenuances of a complex diseaseand its effects to the larger pub-lic in a way that is under-standable and engaging. Forcommunicators, this is a timeto leverage increasing publicinterest in health and engagemore and more technicalexperts to champion publichealth issues in the communi-ty. Only if we come togethercan we create an environmentwhere everyone has access totimely, accurate and trustedinformation that can directlyimpact their health and savethousands of lives in the longrun.

(Rajnikant Srivastava isDirector of Regional MedicalResearch Institute (ICMR-RMRC) in Gorakhpur, andScientist G & Head, ResearchManagement, Policy, Planningand Communication, ICMRHeadquarters and currentlyheads the communications unitat ICMR. Kaushik Bose is vicepresident, Global HealthStrategies, New Delhi)

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Perception drives a being, which setsthe terms of how you set yourdream destination, steer through

the course of life, react and respond to asituation. That is subject to how one’smind is inherently framed, coming as itmay as Karmic carryover from the past,and which naturally differs from person-to-person, making every being unique.Each of us, thus reflect varying mind-traits and thereby thought process. It isoften found that a talented personbecomes subject to failures and frustra-tions of one’s own making. Remember,talent alone would not suffice. You needto have an organised mind to make themost of your indwelling potential.

The other day, I had an interestingdialogue with a very talented person,who came seeking guidance: “Sir, thoughI was not keen, but on my parents insis-tence, I twice attempted IndianAdministrative Services examination, butnarrowly missed. I am quite good atstudies and yet, could not get through.Why? What lies in store of my destiny?What discipline should I prefer?” Well,the basic reason for failure is your disori-ented thought process that makes youmisdirect your energies towards unpro-

ductive ends so much that you fail to putin your qualitative best towards prioritypreferences. In so far as your indwellingpotential is concerned, you may do welleither in philosophy or law. “If I have totake up law, why not become a lawmaker? I am keen to do good for thesociety. So, what better than joining poli-tics?” He countered.

Remember, the world doesn’t moveto your asking. Better, look for theindwelling potential, and follow it. Thereis a lot of difference in becoming alawyer or a law maker. Let us now havelook at your astrological pointers to thedisciplines suited to you. The 4th cuspsub-lord identified with study option isSaturn posited in a Jupiter owned signPisces and conjunct Ketu. That, in thefirst place, points to the possibility of try-ing to unearth subtle realities of life,which remains the prerogative of philos-ophy. Second, Jupiter and Saturn combi-nation fits in well with law faculty. Eventhe 10th sub-lord identified with careerprospects is again Saturn, implying simi-lar indications as offered by 4th housemarkers. Both the Sun and Mercury, aretrine to Uranus and Neptune. It speaks ofyour extraordinary talent and organising

ability, having a fertile imaginationbacked by intuition, both vital to successin either Law of Philosophy.

Now coming to your desire tobecome law maker, you need to under-stand your fault lines that may stand inway of success in this field. Your lagnamarked with your identity, happens to beSagittarius. Incidentally the 12th cuspidentified with failure and frustration toofalls in Sagittarius sign itself. The lagnalord Jupiter too is tenanted in 12thhouse. That makes you vulnerable tobecome a victim of your own making,because you seem to be tactless andundiplomatic. That makes it difficult foryou to be in accord with a variegatedmass of people, each having varyingmind-traits.

Now, look at the mind-signifyingMoon posited in Virgo sign. It is placedadverse to Uranus and Neptune. Thatmakes you subject to self-delusionaryperceptions and beliefs, often distancedfrom ground realities. And not open tolook beyond for either a reality check orexplore other options suited to yourindwelling potential. You may notacknowledge truth in its first appearance,and would rather passionately continueto pursue your own dream perception on

hope against hope, till pushed to thewall. This, read together with Saturnconjunct Ketu, makes you a habitualescapist, who may not take challenges intime. It also brings in self-defined perfec-tionist streak, not able to digest contrari-an view, if any. You wish from others toremain true to your line of thinking, fail-ing which you become overcritical, whenyou will not hesitate belittling othersthrough your sarcastic remarks.Intelligence signifying Mercury oppositeSaturn brings in a fixated one trackmind. If that would not be enough, Marsopposite Uranus makes you tempera-mental. Mars is also opposite mischie-vous Neptune, which makes you vulner-able to suffer from inferiority complex inthe event of disappointment, at timeswarranting even medical intervention.Sun placed adverse to Venus makes youtoo much touchy and sensitive, whichmakes you get overexercised even ontrivial matters, which you stretch beyonddue. What comes out is that you are notaccommodating enough that may qualifyyou to successfully pursue politics.

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