the pioneer...2021/01/12  · news portal run by the military, last week said the soldier strayed...

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T he Supreme Court on Monday asked the Centre to put on hold the three con- troversial farm laws or the court itself will do so on the recommendation of a court- appointed committee which is to be constituted. Now all eyes will be on the court’s Tuesday order in the matter. Criticising the Government’s handling of the farmers’ protest, the court ques- tioned the Centre’s opposition to its suggestion that the implementation of three new farm laws be held back for the time being so as to help find an amicable solution to the ongo- ing farmers’ protest at Delhi borders. The Bench said that till date the Centre has not told it anything on its proposal to keep the implementation of these laws in abeyance for some time. “We are still thinking it is equally important that we stay the implementation of law without staying the laws,” the Bench said. On December 17, the SC had asked the Centre to con- sider putting on hold the implementation of the three laws. Disagreeing with the Centre’s contention that court cannot put on hold laws passed by Parliament, the court referred to its last year order staying the implementation of 2018 Maharashtra law granti- ng reservation to Marathas in education and jobs. “We don’t see why there is an insistence on implementa- tion of the law,” a Bench head- ed by Chief Justice SA Bobde said, adding, “We are not experts on economy and you (Centre) tell us whether you are going to hold on these laws or we will do this”. Attorney General KK Venugopal told the Bench, also comprising Justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian, that a law cannot be stayed unless the court finds it violates funda- mental rights or constitution- al schemes. “A law cannot be stayed by the Supreme Court unless the Lordships find that it violates the fundamental rights or con- stitutional schemes. Law has to be without the power to legis- late, only then it can be stayed. No petitioners have raised any such issues,” Venugopal said. The Bench refuted his con- tention and said, “We are doing this because you have failed to solve the problem. The Union of India has to take the respon- sibility. The laws have resulted into a strike and now you have to solve the strike”. The top court said it may stay the implementation of these laws as talks between the Government and farmers are “breaking down” because the Centre wants to discuss these legislations point by point, while the farmers want them to be repealed. The SC said it will consti- tute a committee headed by a former Chief Justice of India to resolve the impasse. It sug- gested that stay on implemen- tation of these laws will help the committee in finding solution. Continued on Page 2 F armer leaders sitting along the national Capital’s border mounting pressure on the Centre to repeal new farm laws on Monday said they would continue their agitation even if the Government or the Supreme Court stays the implementation of the new agriculture laws. The reaction came after the SC indicated that it may stay the implementation of the con- tentious farm laws and refused to grant more time to the Centre to explore the possibil- ity of an amicable solution saying it has already granted the Government a “long rope”. While sharing this online on Facebook, Gurnam Singh Chaduni, Bharatiya Kisan Union (Haryana) leader, said they welcome the Supreme Court observation, but ending the protest is not an option. “Any stay is only for a fixed period of time... Till the issue is taken up by the court again,” he said. “The farmers want the laws to be repealed completely. The protest will continue even if the Government or the Supreme Court stays their implementa- tion,” he said. Bhog Singh Mansa, presi- dent of Indian Farmers Union (Mansa), said a stay on the laws is “no big deal”. “A stay is not a solution. We are here to get these laws scrapped completely...the Government has in a way already agreed to scrap the laws when it said it is willing to incorporate as many amend- ments as farmers want,” he said. “We appeal to the Supreme Court to terminate these laws as these are not valid constitu- tionally,” Mansa said, adding the protest will continue till the “the laws are repealed”. Continued on Page 2 P rime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said the Central Government will bear the expenses of vaccinating nearly three crore healthcare and frontline workers in the first round and asked political representatives and VIPs not to jump the queue for getting the first dose of vaccine. Interacting with Chief Ministers, Modi announced that over 30 crore citizens will get the jabs in the next few months in India against only 2.5 crore people who have received them in over 50 coun- tries in around a month so far. The countrywide vaccination drive will start from January 16. In the second phase, those above 50 years and those under 50 years with co-morbidity will be vaccinated, said Modi. The Prime Minister did not specify who will bear the vac- cination cost for subsequent rounds. The Prime Minister informed Chief Ministers that plans were afoot to vaccinate “30 crore people in next few months.” “We should be proud that both the vaccines are made in India ...four more vaccines are in progress so that we can plan for the future,” he told Chief Ministers through video-con- ferencing. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee sought in the meeting that the States should have greater role and involve- ment in the first phase of the vaccine rollout when the Centre would send vaccines to the States. The Jammu & Kashmir Government requested for offline registration of the ben- eficiaries in the State. States across the country have designated thousands of collection, storage and distrib- ution centres for the January 16 vaccination exercise, the largest in the world. Two dry runs have already been conducted. During the virtual meet, Modi told Chief Ministers, “I’m satisfied that we worked together by standing united in Covid crisis, quick decisions were taken with full sensitivi- ty. As a result, Covid has not spread in India on the scale, on which it spread anywhere else in the world.” Continued on Page 2 W ith the presence of avian influenza in Delhi, Maharashtra and Uttarakhand, the Ministry of Animal Husbandry and Dairying on Monday said bird flu has been confirmed in 10 States and stressed on increased surveil- lance around water bodies, live bird markets, zoos and poultry farms. Meanwhile, fresh avian deaths continue to be reported in other States too. The Centre has urged States not to close mandis or restrict sale of poultry products as there are no scientific reports of transmission of bird flu to human beings. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked all State Governments to remain alert and ensure local admin- istration keeps a constant vigil near places like water Zbodies, zoos and poultry farms. “Till January 11, 2021, avian influenza has been con- firmed in 10 States of the country,” the Ministry said. Continued on Page 2 T he Indian Army on Monday handed back to the Chinese army one of their soldiers who was apprehended on Friday for transgressing LAC. He was returned to the Chinese army at 10.10 am the Chushul-Moldo meeting point. This was the second such incident since October last year when a Chinese soldier was nabbed after straying into India in Ladakh. In the latest incident, the Chinese soldier crossed the LAC in the south of Pangong Tso (lake) near Gurung Hill in Chushul sector. The two armies are in a stand- off in this region for the past nine months. Announcing the safe return, the Indian Army said here on Monday, "The People's Liberation Army (PLA) soldier, who had been apprehended on January 8, has been handed over to China at Chushul- Moldo at 10.10 am today." He was in Indian custody for more than two days. China Military Online, a news portal run by the military, last week said the soldier strayed across due to “darkness” and “complicated geography”. A s all eight samples sent to Bhopal lab tested positive, bird flu has been confirmed in Delhi, claimed officials on Monday. Following the devel- opment, the Delhi Government on Monday imposed a ban on sale of processed and packaged chicken brought from outside the city. Only samples of ducks from Sanjay Lake have tested positive for bird flu so far, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said on Monday, asking people not to panic as there is no cause for concern. All eight samples — four from a park in Mayur Vihar Phase 3, three from Sanjay Lake and one from Dwarka — have been found positive for avian influenza, said Dr Rakesh Singh of Delhi’s Animal Husbandry Unit. Continued on Page 2 A fter announcing January 16 as the day for launching countrywide Covid-19 vacci- nation drive, the Government on Monday placed a purchase order with Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII) for 11 million doses of Covishield — anti-Covid vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University — each costing 210, including GST of 10. The HLL Lifecare Limited, a public sector undertaking issued the supply order on behalf of the Union Health Ministry in the name of Prakash Kumar Singh, Additional Director, Government and Regulatory Affairs at Pune-based pharma company. The Covishield vaccine doses would be initially shipped to 60 consignment points from where they would be distributed further. The Ministry is also likely to soon sign a purchase order for another anti-coronavirus vaccine, Covaxin, which has been indigenously developed by Bharat Biotech. India top drug regulator DCGI had recently granted emergency use authorisation (EUA) to two vaccines, Oxford’s Covishield, and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin. Both vac- cines, according to a state- ment from the Health Ministry, have established safety and immunogenicity. Coronavirus vaccine devel- oped by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford will be priced around 1,000 in private market once such sales open up, said Adar Poonawala, CEO of its Indian manufacturer on Monday. Continued on Page 2

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Page 1: The Pioneer...2021/01/12  · news portal run by the military, last week said the soldier strayed across due to “darkness” and “complicated geography”. ˝ ˘40 45&/ As …

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The Supreme Court onMonday asked the Centre

to put on hold the three con-troversial farm laws or thecourt itself will do so on therecommendation of a court-appointed committee which isto be constituted. Now all eyeswill be on the court’s Tuesdayorder in the matter.

Criticising theGovernment’s handling of thefarmers’ protest, the court ques-tioned the Centre’s oppositionto its suggestion that theimplementation of three newfarm laws be held back for thetime being so as to help find anamicable solution to the ongo-ing farmers’ protest at Delhiborders.

The Bench said that tilldate the Centre has not told itanything on its proposal tokeep the implementation of

these laws in abeyance forsome time.

“We are still thinking it isequally important that we staythe implementation of lawwithout staying the laws,” theBench said.

On December 17, the SChad asked the Centre to con-sider putting on hold theimplementation of the threelaws.

Disagreeing with theCentre’s contention that courtcannot put on hold laws passedby Parliament, the courtreferred to its last year orderstaying the implementation of2018 Maharashtra law granti-ng reservation to Marathas ineducation and jobs.

“We don’t see why there isan insistence on implementa-tion of the law,” a Bench head-ed by Chief Justice SA Bobdesaid, adding, “We are notexperts on economy and you

(Centre) tell us whether you aregoing to hold on these laws orwe will do this”.

Attorney General KKVenugopal told the Bench, alsocomprising Justices ASBopanna and VRamasubramanian, that a lawcannot be stayed unless thecourt finds it violates funda-mental rights or constitution-al schemes.

“A law cannot be stayed bythe Supreme Court unless theLordships find that it violatesthe fundamental rights or con-stitutional schemes. Law has tobe without the power to legis-late, only then it can be stayed.No petitioners have raised anysuch issues,” Venugopal said.

The Bench refuted his con-tention and said, “We are doingthis because you have failed tosolve the problem. The Unionof India has to take the respon-sibility. The laws have resultedinto a strike and now you haveto solve the strike”.

The top court said it maystay the implementation ofthese laws as talks between theGovernment and farmers are“breaking down” because the

Centre wants to discuss theselegislations point by point,while the farmers want them tobe repealed.

The SC said it will consti-tute a committee headed by aformer Chief Justice of India toresolve the impasse. It sug-gested that stay on implemen-tation of these laws will help thecommittee in finding solution.

Continued on Page 2

�������������� �40�45&/

Farmer leaders sitting alongthe national Capital’s border

mounting pressure on theCentre to repeal new farmlaws on Monday said theywould continue their agitationeven if the Government or theSupreme Court stays theimplementation of the newagriculture laws.

The reaction came after theSC indicated that it may staythe implementation of the con-tentious farm laws and refusedto grant more time to theCentre to explore the possibil-ity of an amicable solution

saying it has already grantedthe Government a “long rope”.

While sharing this onlineon Facebook, Gurnam SinghChaduni, Bharatiya KisanUnion (Haryana) leader, saidthey welcome the SupremeCourt observation, but endingthe protest is not an option.

“Any stay is only for afixed period of time... Till theissue is taken up by the courtagain,” he said.

“The farmers want the lawsto be repealed completely. Theprotest will continue even if theGovernment or the SupremeCourt stays their implementa-tion,” he said.

Bhog Singh Mansa, presi-dent of Indian Farmers Union(Mansa), said a stay on the lawsis “no big deal”.

“A stay is not a solution. Weare here to get these lawsscrapped completely...theGovernment has in a wayalready agreed to scrap the lawswhen it said it is willing toincorporate as many amend-ments as farmers want,” he said.

“We appeal to the SupremeCourt to terminate these lawsas these are not valid constitu-tionally,” Mansa said, addingthe protest will continue till the“the laws are repealed”.

Continued on Page 2

���� �40�45&/

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Monday said the

Central Government will bearthe expenses of vaccinatingnearly three crore healthcareand frontline workers in thefirst round and asked politicalrepresentatives and VIPs not tojump the queue for getting thefirst dose of vaccine.

Interacting with ChiefMinisters, Modi announcedthat over 30 crore citizens willget the jabs in the next fewmonths in India against only2.5 crore people who havereceived them in over 50 coun-tries in around a month so far.The countrywide vaccinationdrive will start from January 16.

In the second phase, thoseabove 50 years and those under50 years with co-morbiditywill be vaccinated, said Modi.

The Prime Minister did notspecify who will bear the vac-cination cost for subsequentrounds.

The Prime Ministerinformed Chief Ministers thatplans were afoot to vaccinate“30 crore people in next fewmonths.”

“We should be proud thatboth the vaccines are made inIndia ...four more vaccines arein progress so that we can plan

for the future,” he told ChiefMinisters through video-con-ferencing.

West Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee sought in themeeting that the States shouldhave greater role and involve-ment in the first phase of thevaccine rollout when theCentre would send vaccines tothe States.

The Jammu & KashmirGovernment requested foroffline registration of the ben-eficiaries in the State.

States across the countryhave designated thousands ofcollection, storage and distrib-ution centres for the January 16vaccination exercise, the largestin the world. Two dry runshave already been conducted.

During the virtual meet,Modi told Chief Ministers,“I’m satisfied that we workedtogether by standing united inCovid crisis, quick decisionswere taken with full sensitivi-ty. As a result, Covid has notspread in India on the scale, onwhich it spread anywhere elsein the world.”

Continued on Page 2

��*���$����� �40�45&/

With the presence of avianinfluenza in Delhi,

Maharashtra and Uttarakhand,the Ministry of AnimalHusbandry and Dairying onMonday said bird flu has beenconfirmed in 10 States andstressed on increased surveil-lance around water bodies, livebird markets, zoos and poultryfarms. Meanwhile, fresh aviandeaths continue to be reportedin other States too.

The Centre has urgedStates not to close mandis orrestrict sale of poultry productsas there are no scientific reportsof transmission of bird flu tohuman beings. Prime MinisterNarendra Modi has asked allState Governments to remainalert and ensure local admin-istration keeps a constant vigilnear places like water Zbodies,zoos and poultry farms.

“Till January 11, 2021,avian influenza has been con-firmed in 10 States of thecountry,” the Ministry said.

Continued on Page 2

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The Indian Army onMonday handed back to

the Chinese army one of theirsoldiers who was apprehendedon Friday for transgressingLAC. He was returned to theChinese army at 10.10 am theChushul-Moldo meeting point.

This was the second suchincident since October lastyear when a Chinese soldierwas nabbed after straying intoIndia in Ladakh. In the latestincident, the Chinese soldiercrossed the LAC in the southof Pangong Tso (lake) nearGurung Hill in Chushul sector.The two armies are in a stand-off in this region for the pastnine months.

Announcing the safereturn, the Indian Army saidhere on Monday, "The People'sLiberation Army (PLA) soldier,who had been apprehended onJanuary 8, has been handedover to China at Chushul-Moldo at 10.10 am today." Hewas in Indian custody for morethan two days.

China Military Online, anews portal run by the military,last week said the soldierstrayed across due to “darkness”and “complicated geography”.

�������������� �40�45&/

As all eight samples sent toBhopal lab tested positive,

bird flu has been confirmed inDelhi, claimed officials onMonday. Following the devel-opment, the Delhi Governmenton Monday imposed a ban onsale of processed and packagedchicken brought from outsidethe city.

Only samples of ducksfrom Sanjay Lake have tested

positive for bird flu so far,Deputy Chief Minister ManishSisodia said on Monday, askingpeople not to panic as there isno cause for concern.

All eight samples — fourfrom a park in Mayur ViharPhase 3, three from SanjayLake and one from Dwarka —have been found positive foravian influenza, said Dr RakeshSingh of Delhi’s AnimalHusbandry Unit.

Continued on Page 2

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After announcing January 16as the day for launching

countrywide Covid-19 vacci-nation drive, the Governmenton Monday placed a purchaseorder with Pune-based SerumInstitute of India (SII) for 11million doses of Covishield —anti-Covid vaccine developedby AstraZeneca and OxfordUniversity — each costing�210, including GST of �10.

The HLL Lifecare Limited,a public sector undertakingissued the supply order onbehalf of the Union HealthMinistry in the name ofPrakash Kumar Singh,Additional Director,Government and RegulatoryAffairs at Pune-based pharmacompany.

The Covishield vaccinedoses would be initiallyshipped to 60 consignment

points from where they wouldbe distributed further.

The Ministry is also likelyto soon sign a purchase orderfor another anti-coronavirusvaccine, Covaxin, which hasbeen indigenously developedby Bharat Biotech. India topdrug regulator DCGI hadrecently granted emergencyuse authorisation (EUA) totwo vaccines, Oxford’sCovishield, and BharatBiotech’s Covaxin. Both vac-cines, according to a state-ment from the Health Ministry,have established safety andimmunogenicity.

Coronavirus vaccine devel-oped by AstraZeneca and theUniversity of Oxford will bepriced around �1,000 in privatemarket once such sales openup, said Adar Poonawala, CEOof its Indian manufacturer onMonday.

Continued on Page 2

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Page 2: The Pioneer...2021/01/12  · news portal run by the military, last week said the soldier strayed across due to “darkness” and “complicated geography”. ˝ ˘40 45&/ As …

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South Delhi MunicipalCorporation (SDMC) has

granted factory licence onindustrial plots on all floors inplotted development in"Conforming Industrial Areas"under its jurisdiction.

Standing CommitteeChairman Rajdutt Gahlot saidthat the move will help to cre-ate employment opportunitiesin the Industrial Sector and alsoto enhance the productivity ofavailable resources to opti-mum level. "This will also pro-vide relief to legitimate indus-trial trades and help in creatinga stress free environment forindustrialists to a great extent,"he said.

New Delhi: Cold weather con-ditions prevailed in north Indiaon Monday as the MeTDepartment issued a yellowalert for cold wave in severalareas of Rajasthan, while theminimum temperature rose atmost places in Kashmir bring-ing some respite to people.

Rains along with thunder-showers were observed in partsof Lakshadweep, Andamanand Nicobar Islands, TamilNadu, Puducherry, Kerala,Arunachal Pradesh, Assam,Meghalaya, West Bengal andSikkim.

Delhi recorded a mini-mum temperature of 7 degreesCelsius, which likely drop fur-ther, and Punjab and Haryanareeled under cold weather con-ditions. Uttar Pradesh wit-nessed dry weather and a fewplaces in Himachal Pradeshwitnessed sub-zero tempera-tures.

In Rajasthan, cold waveconditions prevailed in parts ofthe state as the minimum tem-perature dropped by up tofour degrees Celsius in the last24 hours.

The Meteorological (MeT)

Department also issued a yel-low alert for cold wave in sev-eral areas for the next 24 hours.

Churu recorded 1.9degrees Celsius on Sundaynight while Ganganagar regis-tered a low of 3.9 degreesCelsius, showing a drop ofthree and four notches, respec-tively against the previousnight. Similarly, the mini-mum temperature last nightwas 3.9 degrees Celsius inPilani, 4 degrees Celsius inSikar, 5 degrees Celsius inBarmer and Eran Road, 5.4degrees Celsius in Bikaner, 6.8

degrees Celsius in Phalodi and7.1 degrees Celsius in Jodhpur.

In Delhi, the mercury islikely to drop to five to sixdegrees Celsius by January 14.

The SafdarjungObservatory, which providesrepresentative data for the city,recorded a min temperature of7 degrees Celsius. The maxi-mum temperature on Sundaywas 16.2 degrees Celsius, fournotches below normal. Delhihas registered above-normalminimum temperatures sinceJanuary 3 as a cloud cover per-sisted over the city under the

influence of successive westerndisturbances.

In Kashmir, Srinagarrecorded a low of minus 0.2degrees Celsius, up from minus2.6 degrees Celsius the previousnight.

There was some respitefor residents of Srinagar fromintense cold as the minimumtemperatures rose at mostplaces in Kashmir. The mini-mum temperature in Gulmargtourist resort settled at minus9.6 degrees Celsius, down fromminus 7.2 degrees Celsius thenight earlier.

Gulmarg was the coldestrecorded place in the valley.Pahalgam tourist resort, whichalso serves as a base camp forthe annual Amarnath yatra insouth Kashmir, recorded a lowof minus 4.6 degrees Celsius,up from minus 5.9 degreesCelsius a night earlier.

Qazigund recorded a min-imum of 0.2 degrees Celsius,Kupwara, in the north, minus1.0 degrees Celsius andKokernag minus 2.0 degreesCelsius.

Cold weather conditionspersisted in most parts of

Punjab and Haryana, whereNarnaul was the coldest placerecording a minimum tem-perature of four degreesCelsius, a notch below normal.

Chandigarh, the joint cap-ital of both states, registered itslow at 9.5 degrees Celsius, fournotches above normal, an IndiaMeteorological Department(IMD) official said. A m o n gother places in Punjab,Amritsar, Ludhiana and Patialarecorded minimum tempera-tures of 7.2, 7.9 and eightdegrees Celsius, respectively, upto four notches above normal.

The minimum tempera-tures of Pathankot, Adampur,Halwara, Bathinda, Faridkotand Gurdaspur settled at 9.4,8.3, 6.3, 6.8, 7 and 8.5 degreesCelsius, respectively.

In Himachal Pradesh,Keylong and Kalpa reeledunder sub-zero temperature. Keylong, the administrativecentre of tribal Lahaul andSpiti district, continued to bethe coldest place in the state atminus 10.3 degrees Celsius. Kalpa in Kinnaur districtrecorded a low of minus 3.3degrees Celsius. PTI

New Delhi: The CentralBureau of Investigation (CBI)has shifted an arrested UttarPradesh Irrigation DepartmentJunior Engineer arrested in acase of sexual exploitation ofchildren to Delhi for certain

medical tests at AIIMS, sourcessaid on Monday.

The CBI had arrested RamBhawan in November 2020 oncharge of sexually exploiting 50minors in 10 years and sellingvideo clips and photographs of

his sexual acts on the dark netto paedophiles across the globe.

A CBI source related to theprobe told IANS: "The accusedwas taken to the All IndiaInstitute of Medical Sciencesfor tests on Saturday after the

CBI got seven days for gettingmedical tests conducted onhim. A team of AIIMS doctorsare conducting tests, includinghis mental balance and HIV."

Bhawan, a resident ofChitrakoot, was sexually

exploiting minors and wasarrested from Banda district.The CBI had seized eightmobile phones, around Rs 8lakh, sex toys, laptop, and otherdigital evidence regarding hisabuse of children. PTI

New Delhi: Air Chief MarshalRKS Bhadauria on Monday vis-ited the strategically locatedDaulat Beg Oldie, Thoise andNyoma advanced landing stripsin Ladakh and undertook acomprehensive review of theIAF's preparedness in theregion in view of the eight-month-long border standoffbetween India and China, offi-cials said.

The Chief of Air Staffinteracted with field comman-ders and was briefed on theoperational readiness as well asthe status of deployment offorces at the high-altitude air-bases, they said.

The Daulat Beg OldiAdvanced Landing Ground(ALG) is located close to theLine of Actual Control (LAC)at an altitude of 16,700 ft andis known as the highest airfieldin the world. The Nyoma air-field is located at a height ofaround 13,000 feet.

Air Chief MarshalBhadauria also interacted withIndian Army personneldeployed at these locations,they added.

"During his visit to

Thoise, he reviewed the ongo-ing logistic operations for sup-port and sustenance of troopsin the winter season," the IAFsaid in a statement It said healso visited Daulat Beg Oldieand Nyoma ALGs where hewas given a security overview.

At Daulat Beg Oldie, AirChief Marshal Bhadauria laida wreath in honour of the fall-en heroes.

Prior to his departure, theChief of Air Staff joined Chiefof Defence Staff Gen BipinRawat for a comprehensivediscussion on operational mat-ters with senior IAF and IndianArmy Commanders at Leh airforce station, the IAF said.

"The Chief of Air Staffconveyed his deep appreciationfor the exceptionally high lev-els of morale and dedicationwith which all personnel con-tinue to maintain operationalpreparedness despite the harshweather and an inhospitableterrain," it said.

The Army and the IndianAir Force (IAF) have beenmaintaining a high state ofoperational readiness alongthe nearly 3,500-km LAC with

China in view of the easternLadakh row. Nearly50,000 troops of the IndianArmy are deployed in variouslocations in eastern Ladakh asmultiple rounds of talksbetween the two sides have notyielded concrete outcome toresolve the faceoff that began inearly May.

China has also deployedan equal number of troops,according to officials.

The eighth and lastround of military talks hadtaken place on November 6,during which both sides broad-ly discussed the disengage-ment of troops from specificfriction points. Lastmonth, Chief of Army StaffGen MM Naravane too hadvisited eastern Ladakh toreview the ground situation inthe region that has been expe-riencing harsh winter.

The faceoff beganon May 5 last year followingviolent clashes between thetwo armies in the Pangong lakearea. The incident in PangongTso was followed by a similarincident in north Sikkim onMay 9. PTI

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���������������������������"����Patna: On December 28, a locopilot of Indian Railways wasgunned down and his son wasinjured after five unidentifiedmen opened fire inside theirhouse in Patna. On December26, a property dealer namedMohamad Ziya (30) wasgunned down by unidentifiedassailants in Sultanganj inPatna. On December 13, a 16-year-old boy was stabbed todeath in New Azimabadcolony.

These incidents show whatthe law and order situation isin Bihar's capital. The policeofficers are feeling the heat dueto the spike in the crime graphin Patna.

As per the data of Biharpolice, Patna registered thehighest number of cognizablecrime in the state with a stag-gering 23,595 cases of murder,kidnapping, dacoity, rape, theftand burglary between January

2020 and October 2020.Motihari in East

Champaran district had regis-tered the second highest num-ber of cognizable crime casesduring the said period, but thenumbers are almost half com-pared to Patna. Motihari reg-istered 11,261 cases, followedby Saran with 10,685 cases. Intotal, 2,14,968 cognizable crimecases were registered in Biharduring that period.

Patna police had registered175 murder cases in the first 10months of 2020, the highest inthe state, followed Mujaffarpur(149), Gaya (148) and Motihari(128). Overall, 2,649 murderstook place during that periodin Bihar's 43 police districts.

The residents of Patna alsofeel unsafe due to frequentriots. Though there is no signof communal clashes in Patna,but the police say that peoplewent on arson post incidents

like murder, kidnapping, rapeor any other henious crime.Patna police registered 763cases of riots followed by 461in Darbhanga and 445 in Gayadistrict.

Patna also reported 809kidnapping cases, which is thehighest in state, followed byMujaffarpur (442) and Saran(319).

Feeling the heat over thespike in the crime graph, SeniorSuperintendent of Police (SSP)Upendra Sharma transferredeight SHOs within the districton Monday.

Phool Dev, the SHO ofBeur police station, has beentransferred to Dumra policestation and relievesManoranjan Bharti. Bharti hasbeen transferred to PatrakaarNagar police station. RaviShankar Singh, the SHO ofBudha Colony, has been trans-ferred to Kankarbagh police

station, while Nishikant Nishi,the SHO of Kadam Kuan, is thenew SHO of Budha Colony.Vimlendu, the SHO of ShastriNagar, has been appointed asthe SHO of Kadam Kuan.

A meeting in this regardwas held in the SSP officewherein senior officers werepresent. Sharma has directed allthe SHOs of the district toorganise weekly meetings intheir respective areas and inviteRWAs of residential complex-es, owners of fuel stations,hotels, lodges, restaurants, pri-vate hospitals etc. and preparefull-proof crime preventionplans.

Sharma also directed theofficers to keep tab on liquortransportation, especially homedelivery, in the district.

"We are making all possi-ble efforts to prevent criminalacts in the district," he said.

IANS

From Page 1Talking about the vaccina-

tion drive, the Prime Ministersaid that health workers —Government as well as private— will be vaccinated first of all.Sanitation workers, other front-line workers, defence forces,police and other paramilitaryforces will also be vaccinated inthe first phase.

“If you look at the numberof health and frontline workersacross all States, it stands ataround three crore. It has beendecided that State Governmentswill not have to bear theexpenses of vaccination of these3 crore people in the first phase.The Government of India willbear these expenses,” said thePrime Minister.

Modi also asked States toensure that rumours do not getspread about the vaccinationexercise and suggested involv-ing social and religious groupsin helping check any rumour-

mongering. On Saturday lastweek, Modi had reviewed thestatus of Covid-19 and vaccinepreparedness across States andUnion Territories at a high-level meeting.

He said many States havegiven good suggestions in fight-ing the pandemic and the dia-logue and cooperation betweenthe Centre and States havebeen a “great example” of fed-eralism. After healthcare andfrontline workers totallingabout three crores, prioritywill be given to those above 50years of age and the under-50population groups with co-morbidities, together number-ing around 27 crore, in the nextphase.

According to the HealthMinistry guidelines on Covid-19 vaccination, the latest elec-toral roll for Lok Sabha andLegislative Assembly electionswill be used to identify the pop-ulation aged 50 years or more.

From Page 1After vaccinating around

three crore healthcare andfrontline workers, priority willbe given to those above 50 yearsof age and the under-50 pop-ulation groups with co-mor-bidities, together numberingaround 27 crore. The institute

has entered into a collaborationwith the University of Oxfordand AstraZeneca to manufac-ture the Covishield vaccine. SII,the world’s largest vaccine man-ufacturer, has a license to pro-duce the shot and has alreadymanufactured close to 50 mil-lion dose.

From Page 1Seven other States — Uttar

Pradesh, Kerala, Rajasthan,Madhya Pradesh, HimachalPradesh, Haryana and Gujarat— had earlier confirmed avianinfluenza as the cause of therecent bird deaths. After Delhi,the Himachal Pradesh has alsobanned the supply of all poul-try products from other Statesfor a week.

Meanwhile, ParliamentaryStanding Committee onAgriculture summoned seniorofficials of the Ministry ofAnimal Husbandry on Mondayto examine the availability ofanimal vaccines in the country.

Amid the bird flu out-break, Union AnimalHusbandry Minister GiriajSingh on Monday urged peo-ple to not pay attention to anykind of rumours about thevirus and said there was no riskto human beings if animalproducts were cooked proper-ly before consuming.

He also urged States not toclose mandis or restrict sales ofpoultry products as there areno scientific reports of trans-mission of bird flu to humanbeings.

The Minister said therehave been no scientific reportson transmission of bird flu tohumans and consumers shouldnot be scared. Singh’s com-ments came in the wake of theaffected State Governmentshave imposed ban to sale ofprocessed and packaged chick-en within the 10 kms radius asa precautionary measure.

“Bird flu spreads amongwild birds through migratorybirds. Ministry had issued advi-sory for all States on Oct 22,2019. Had the advice beenpaid heed to, there would’ve

been no need to close GhazipurMandi in Delhi,’ he added.

“ICAR- NIHSAD has con-firmed the death of crows andmigratory/wild birds in Tonk,Karauli, Bhilwara districts ofRajasthan and Valsad,Vadodara and Surat districts ofGujarat. Further, the death ofcrows was confirmed inKotdwar and Dehradun dis-tricts of Uttarakhand. Crowsand ducks, respectively, werereported dead in New Delhi,”the Ministry said.

The outbreak of avianinfluenza has been amongpoultry in Parbhani districtwhile it is confirmed fromMumbai, Thane, Dapoli, Beedin crows in Maharashtra. Thereare reports of number of birddeaths over the past few days inKendrewadi in Latur. Sampleshave been sent to check for thepresence of bird flu virus andthe reports are awaited.

In Haryana, culling ofinfected birds is underway forthe control and containment ofthe spread of the disease.

Also, for the fourth day ina row, a large number of deadpoultry birds were founddumped by the side of theChandigarh-Shimla highwayin Solan district. The remainsof the birds were buriedaccording to safety protocoland their samples sent to a dis-ease diagnostic laboratory inJalandhar.

Bird flu cases have beenconfirmed in Gujarat’s Suratand Vadodara districts as somesamples of dead crows fromthere have tested positive forthe avian influenza.

Nearly 200 birds, mostlycrows, have been found dead inUttarakhand’s Dehradun andRishikesh.

From Page 1Pulling up the Centre for

its handling of the farmers’protest, the apex court onMonday said it is “extremelydisappointed” with the waynegotiations between themwere going and will constitutea committee headed by a for-mer Chief Justice of India toresolve the impasse.

“We are not experts oneconomy. You tell us whetherthe Government is going to puton hold farm laws or we will dothis,” the Bench said.“We are sorry to say that theCentre has not been able tosolve the problem and thefarmers’ agitation,” it said.

The 8th round of talksbetween the Centre and thefarmer unions on January 7headed nowhere as the Centreruled out repealing the con-tentious laws while the farmerleaders said they are ready tofight till death and their “gharwaapsi will happen only after lawwaapsi”. The apex court had ear-lier sought the Centre’s responseon a batch of pleas against thethree contentious farm laws --the Farmers’ (Empowermentand Agreement on PriceAssurance and Farm ServicesAct, the Farmers’ Produce Tradeand Commerce (Promotion andFacilitation) Act, and theEssential Commodities(Amendment) Act. PunjabKisan Union president RulduSingh Mansa said the agitationstarted with the demand ofscrapping the agriculture lawsand “it will end only when wewin this fight”.

Darshan Pal, president ofKrantikari Kisan Union, saidthe farmer leaders are consult-ing their lawyers and a formalresponse will be given after theSC pronounces its verdict.

The farmers have beencamping at several Delhi bor-der points for over 40 days,demanding repeal of the farmlaws, a legal guarantee on min-imum support price for theircrops and other two issues.Meanwhile, the Delhi TrafficPolice on Monday advisedcommuters to take alternativeroutes for coming to Delhi viaAnand Vihar, DND, Bhopraand Loni borders.

In a series of tweet the traf-fic police said that availableOpen Borders to Haryana arefollowing- Jharoda (OnlySingle Carriageway/Road),Daurala, Kapashera, Badusarai,Rajokri NH-8,Bijwasan/Bajghera, PalamVihar and Dundahera Borders.

“The Chilla & GhazipurBorders are closed for trafficcoming from Noida &Ghaziabad to Delhi because offarmer protests. Please takealternate route for coming toDelhi via Anand Vihar, DND,Bhopra & Loni Borders,” traf-fic police tweeted. “Singhu,Auchandi ,Piau Maniyari,Saboli & Mangesh bordersclosed. Please take alternateroute via Lampur Safiabad,Palla & Singhu school toll taxborders. Traffic has beendiverted from Mukarba & GTKroad. Please avoid Outer RingRoad, GTK Road & NH-44,”traffic police further tweeted.

From Page 1In a Press briefing, Sisodia

said results of 100 samplesthat have been sent to aJalandhar lab are awaited.“Only samples of ducks fromSanjay Lake have tested positivefor bird flu. There is no causefor concern. Reports of othersamples are awaited,” he said.

Sisodia said Sanjay Lakearea was sanitised after thesamples of ducks from theretested positive for bird flu.

The Delhi Governmenthas also decided to ban sale ofprocessed and packaged chick-en brought from outside thecity as a precautionary mea-sure, he said.

“Also, there is a ban on sell-ing packaged chicken orprocessed chicken from outsideto Delhi to prevent infectionfrom one State to another. Butthere is no need to panic aboutbird flu. It is a commoninfluenza,” he said.

People who eat chickenand eggs should also not panicas there is no risk of infectionfrom fully cooked chicken orboiled and cooked eggs, thedeputy CM said.

The Delhi Government ismaking all efforts to check thespread of bird flu and moni-toring the situation, he said.

Officers of the AnimalHusbandry Unit, DevelopmentDepartment, have been direct-ed to carry out intensive cam-paigns across the nationalCapital. The DelhiGovernment had issued analert to all the doctors and peo-ple concerned on October 28,2020 and issued a directive tomonitor bird flu.

Following this, a guidelinewas issued to all doctors forcontinuous sample collectionand strict monitoring onJanuary 4.

“Doctors of all 48 veteri-nary hospitals of the AnimalHusbandry Unit are continu-ously monitoring bird fluacross Delhi. Also, 11 rapidresponse teams have been setup which are continuously col-lecting samples,” theGovernment said in a state-ment. After the positive reportsarrived, a drive to cull duckshas begun at the famous SanjayLake, where several ducks werefound dead in the last few days,

Singh added. Seventeen moreducks were found dead atSanjay Lake on Sunday,prompting authorities todeclare it an “alert zone”, theDDA officials had said.

Besides, the officials said,91 crows have been founddead in 14 DDA parks in thelast couple of days. A few daysago, around 50 crows werefound dead in Central Park,

Mayur Vihar Phase 3, offi-cials had said. Some sampleswere also sent to a lab inJalandhar. Their results areawaited, Singh said.

Three other recreationalparks in Delhi -- Hauz KhasPark, Dwarka Sector 9 Park,Hastsal Park -- were closed onSaturday. Barring Hastsal Parkand Sanjay Lake, other parkswere reopened after disinfec-tion on Sunday, the officialssaid. Hauz Khas Park in southDelhi has a huge water bodyand attracts a large crowd everyday. However, no death ofbirds has been reported there.The poultry market inGhazipur has also been shutdown temporarily.

After samples taken from

two crows found dead recent-ly at a DDA park in Dwarkahere have tested positive foravian influenza, the park hasbeen closed for public, officialssaid.

The park is located inDwarka Sector 9. Sanjay Lakeand Hastsal Park are alreadyclosed since Saturday.

“Samples taken from twocrows found dead recently atPark no 3 in Dwarka Sector 9have tested positive for bird fluinfection. The park has beenclosed,” a senior DDA officialsaid. Also, a total of 91 crowshave been found dead at 14DDA parks in last few days,they had said.

The Delhi DevelopmentAuthority owns about 800parks, other big parks being theCoronation Park in Burari,Japanese Park in Rohini andvarious biodiversity parks.

The 14 parks where deathof crows have been reported,include, Golden Jubilee Park,District Park, Vijay Mandal atBegumpur and Central Nursery, Sector 5 atDwarka, the official had said onSunday.

From Page 1“After the implementation

of farm laws are stayed, you cancarry on protest and we don’twant anyone to say that we sti-fled the protest,” the Bench toldthe advocates appearing forseveral farmer organisations.

The apex court, which saidit will pass orders on the issueconcerning farm laws andfarmers’ protest in part in thematter, asked the parties to sug-gest two-three names of formerCJIs including former CJI RM

Lodha who can head the apexcourt-appointed panel. Thecourt was hearing a clutch ofpleas challenging the new farmlaws as well as the ones raisingissues related to the ongoingagitation at Delhi borders.

Meanwhile, several legalexperts said Parliamentary leg-islations cannot be stayed bythe Supreme Court unless it issatisfied prima facie that theyare unconstitutional and illegal.

Senior advocate and con-stitutional law expert Rakesh

Dwivedi said Parliamentarylegislations cannot be stayedunless there is a very strongground for holding at the veryinception that prima facie it isunconstitutional.

“This is very tall order,without hearing theGovernment you jump thegun. Large number of farmersare agitating cannot be aground for the court to stay thelaws. It is only in the wisdomof the lawmakers and is beyondthe domain of the court,”

Dwivedi told PTI.“Courts cannot say people

are agitating so we will stay thelaw. I agree with the AttorneyGeneral that the farm lawscannot be stayed unless it isconstitutionally invalid,” hesaid. Senior advocate MohanKatarki said however that thetop court is vested with thejurisdiction to stay the opera-tion of the Act of Parliament ifit is satisfied that prima facieParliament lacks legislativecompetence.

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���� ����� �&���������� +�� ������! ��"�� Chandigarh: The Punjab Cabinet on Monday approved the acqui-sition and conservation of Mubarik Manzil Palace in Malerkotlain Sangrur district.

The state will give Rs 3 crore to present property ownerBegum Munawwar-ul-Nisa for transferring the heritage prop-erty to it.

Thr virtual meeting of the Cabinet was chaired by ChiefMinister Amarinder Singh, who said that the decision would helppreserve the rich legacy of Punjab and to reconnect the new gen-erations to their glorious past.

Notably, Begum Munawwar-ul-Nisa had written to Punjabauthorities to point out that the palace -- of which she is the soleowner -- is an invaluable heritage property that was more than150 years old. IANS

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A22-year-old man has been arrested by the Delhi Policefor allegedly killing another person by hitting him

multiple times on his head with a hammer in south Delhi'sTigri area.

Police said that the accused, identified as Govind, hada fallout with the deceased Rahul (32) following a quar-rel over a petty issue. The accused killed the victim to takerevenge from him.

The incident took place on Sunday afternoon whenRahul was sitting in a park along with his friends. Govindcame to the park and attacked Rahul with a hammer, hit-ting him on his head several times, a senior police offi-cer said. The victim was then rushed to the Batra Hospitalwhere he was declared brought, he said.

During enquiry, it was revealed that Rahul was pre-viously involved in five-six cases different cases, includ-ing murder, robbery and theft. His three brothers havealso been declared "Bad Characters" of the area, the offi-cer said.

About a month back, Rahul and Govind had an alter-cation over a petty issue. Due to the enmity, Govind killedRahul, he said. A case of murder was registered based onthe statement of a witness named Sanjay, who was wellknown to both the deceased and accused, said he added.

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With sustained efforts toprovide clean and green

transportation to all its stake-holders and commuters hasresulted in Indian Railwaybagged 13 awards in threeprestigious categories ofNational Energy ConservationAwards (NECA) for the year2020, organized by the Bureauof Energy Efficiency (BEE),Ministry of Power.

The railways ministry in astatement said that westernrailway has been awarded thefirst prize, eastern railway hasbeen awarded the second prize,North Eastern Railway andSouth Central Railway has been

awarded certificate of merit inthe transport category.

In building category,Divisional Railway Manager’soffices at Bhavnagar and Rajkothave won the first and secondprize respectively.

Electrical Department ofDRM Office, North EasternRailway has been awardedCertificate of Merit. In Railway

workshops subcategory, dieselloco shed, South CentralRailway, Vijayawada has alsobagged the first prize, it said.

These awards have beengiven to Indian Railways’ zonesand workshops for significantimprovements in energy con-servation by adopting variousmeasures to promote energyefficiency.

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The Delhi High CourtMonday asked the Delhi

Government to consider a rep-resentation by a lawyer thatadmission of children to nurs-ery class be postponed in theupcoming academic session of2021-22 in view of the prevail-ing COVID-19 pandemic.

Justice Prateek Jalanrecorded the statement madeby the counsel for Delhi gov-ernment that the informationor opinion provided by thepetitioner in his representationwill be taken into accountwhile framing guidelines ortaking any decision with regardto nursery admissions.

The high court, which saidit has not expressed any view

on merits of the plea, disposedof the petition after petitionercum lawyer Rajat Vats conveyssatisfaction with this order.

The plea sought directionto the Delhi government tomake some guidelines or passresolution for postponement ofnursery admission for 2021-22academic session for the pro-tection of children in the agegroup of 3-4 years in view ofthe pandemic.

Vats said he has made arepresentation before theauthorities on December 12,2020 but no response has beenreceived yet, after which heapproached the court.

During the hearing, Delhigovernment standing counselRamesh Singh submitted thatno guidelines have yet

been issued by the Governmentfor nursery or entry level forthe upcoming academic ses-sion.

He also contended that thepetition was premature as therecan be no nursery admissions

till the guidelines are issued.The petitioner told the

court that some private schoolshave already started the nurs-ery admission process withoutguidelines.

“Certain directions are

required to be issued to protectthe fundamental rights of chil-dren in the age group of 3 to 4years regarding the nurseryclass admission which the gov-ernment of NCT of Delhi islikely to grant permission forphysical or online courses justto give financial benefits toschool managements withoutconsidering interest of chil-dren,” it said.

It added that the purposeof nursery education is playschool and making children familiar with schooland their sitting environmentas also the physical/ emotion-al activity of the children andit cannot be done by onlinecourses or by physical openingof schools because of COVID-19 virus.

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Deputy Chief MinisterManish Sisodia on

Monday said that there is noreason to worry about the birdflu in Delhi as samples ofducks from the Sanjay Lakearea are the only ones in thecity that have tested positive forbird flu so far.

Addressing the media,Sisodia said that positivereports of duck samples have

come in from the Sanjay Lakeand the area is being thor-oughly sanitised.

Listing the precautionarymeasures taken by the DelhiGovernment to contain thespread of the Avian bird fluinfection, Sisodia said thatprocessed chicken and livestockfrom other States has beenbanned as a precautionarymeasure. “Delhi Murga Mandiwill also be closed for a fewdays. Delhi Chief Minister

Arvind Kejriwal is closely mon-itoring the situation and talk-ing to the concerned officials,”he said.

Delhi on Monday con-firmed bird flu cases after eightsamples sent to a Bhopal-basedlaboratory tested positive foravian influenza. All eight sam-ples -- four from a park inMayur Vihar Phase 3, threefrom Sanjay Lake and onefrom Dwarka -- have beenfound positive for avian

influenza, Dr Rakesh Singhfrom the animal husbandryunit of the DevelopmentDepartment said.

The deputy chief ministersaid that the results of 100 sam-ples that had been sent toJalandhar recently and resultsare awaited.

As part of precautionarymeasures, a ban of ten days hasbeen imposed on bringing live-stock in from outside Delhi.“Also, there is a ban on selling

packaged chicken or processedchicken from outside to Delhito prevent infection from onestate to another. But there is noneed to panic about bird flu. Itis a common influenza. Thenews of its spread from bird tohuman has not been reportedso far,” he added.

It is noteworthy that DelhiGovernment had issued analert to all the doctors and con-cerned people on October 28,2020 and issued a directive to

monitor Avian bird flu. Afterthis, on January 4, 2021, aguideline was issued to all doc-tors for continuous sample col-lection and strict monitoring.

Doctors of all 48 veteri-nary hospitals of the depart-ment of development, animalhusbandry unit of DelhiGovernment are monitoringbird flu, he said, adding that 11rapid response teams have beenset up which are continuouslycollecting samples.

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Apolitical blame gameerupted between the ruling

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) andthe Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)after AAP MLA SomnathBharti on Monday was alleged-ly attacked with ink hurled athim in Rae Bareli.

The AAP leader was arrest-ed later for allegedly makingobjectionable remarks.

"Yogi, our MLA SomnathBharti was going to see yourgovernment school. You got inkthrown at him? And then hewas arrested? Are your schools

that bad? If someone goes tosee your school, then why doyou get so scared? Fix theschools. If you do not knowhow to do it, then ask ManishSisodia," AAP national con-vener and Delhi Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal said in a tweetin Hindi.

"Ink was thrown on theAAP MLA, and the matter isbeing probed," Superintendentof Police (of Rae Bareli) ShlokKumar told PTI.

According to a purportedvideo clip, the AAP MLA saidin Hindi, "Children are beingborn in hospitals, but they are

of dogs." Shortly after ink wasflung at him, Bharti alsoretweeted a video clip in whichhe is heard using a derogatoryterm for Adityanath, whiletalking about "atrocities onwomen" in the State.

Reacting to Bharti ' 'sremarks, Shalabh ManiTripathi, information advisor tothe Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister, said, "Everybody hasa right to contest polls and dopolitics in a democracy, andlevel allegations against eachother, it is welcome."

"But using indecent lan-guage for a Chief Minister, you

are using abusive language,you are saying to a policemanwho is discharging his duty thathis uniform will be removed.This is the language of thegoons,” he said.

A case was registeredagainst Bharti under section507 (criminal intimidation byan anonymous communica-tion) and section 153-A (pro-moting enmity between dif-ferent groups on grounds ofreligion, race etc., and doingacts prejudicial to maintenanceof harmony) of the IndianPenal Code, AdditionalSuperintendent of Police Daya

Ram told PTI.Delhi BJP spokesperson

Praveen Shankar Kapoor con-demned the AAP MLASomnath Bharti for his “undig-nified” conduct by usingunparliamentary words.

Kapoor has written a letterto Delhi CM and AAPPresident Arvind Kejriwal con-demning his MLA SomnathBharti's conduct and

Demanding disciplinaryaction against the AAP leader,Kapoor wrote to the chief min-ister saying that a disciplinaryaction must be taken by theAAP against Bharti.

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The Delhi Police has arrest-ed a 36-year-old civil

defence volunteer and his asso-ciate for allegedly stealing valu-ables from a car after breakingits windshield in south Delhi'sSaket area.

The accused identified asRajesh Kumar and his associ-ate Yogender Sharma (37) wereheld near PVR market in Saketon the night of January 8.

At 9.25 pm, police noticed

two men searching a parked carafter breaking the window-pane of the vehicle, a seniorpolice official said.

Both of them were arrest-ed and stolen items were recov-ered from their possession, hesaid.

During interrogation,

Kumar disclosed that he worksas a Delhi civil defence volun-teer.

Kumar told police said heand his associate used to com-mit theft for buying alcohol.

Police also recovered aknife, toy revolver, rubberstamp of a Government officialand multiple credit and debitcards from them.

The credit and debit cardsrecovered from their posses-sion are being verified, theofficial added.

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The Delhi education confer-ence organised by the Delhi

Government kicked off onMonday. The seven-day con-ference will be running until 17January, 2021.

Delhi Deputy ChiefMinister and EducationMinister Manish Sisodia said"In the last five years, we haveachieved a lot of success in cre-ating excellent infrastructure ofschools, teachers training andan improved children's resultbut the real success will bewhen every child leaves theschool with a passion to dosomething for their countryand commit to driving achange.

Sisodia said, “The ultimategoal is to transform the society.To have citizens who are truecommitted patriots with anentrepreneurial mindset andwill contribute to the country.”

The conference kicked offat SKV, Nehru Enclave, Kalkaji.At the launch, an independentstudy report on Delhi's educa-tion reforms in the last fiveyears was also released by theBoston Consulting Group.Titled 'School EducationReforms in Delhi 2015-2020',this report detailed the majorreforms undertaken by theDelhi government. It was pre-

sented by Shoikat Roy, ProjectLeader, Social Impact- BCG.

The report pointed outthat at least 95 percent plus par-ents and teachers believed thatthe quality of education hasimproved in the Delhi govern-ment schools. It also high-lighted that the educationdepartment was able to bridgethe gap between local com-munities and schools by engag-ing all the stakeholders. Thisled to an increase in parentengagement by reinforcingtheir faith in the public educa-tion system.

Moreover, the report high-lighted Delhi government’sseven key initiatives likeChunauti and MissionBuniyaad that empowered thestudents on a grassroots levelby involving teachers and par-ents alike.

The report also referred tothe substantial increase in thebudget for education from INR7,500 crore in 2014-15 to INR15,100 crore in 2019-20, with-out reduction in budget inother departments. It also laud-ed the introduction of happi-ness and entrepreneurship cur-riculums – which enhanced thestudents’ critical thinking,encouraged mindfulness andemotional learning and focused on developing anentrepreneurial mindsetamong them.

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Indu Verma, two-time coun-cillor from Congress, joined

the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)on Monday along with otherleaders and her supporters.

Senior AAP leader andMLA Atishi on Monday saidthat in the last several years theAAP has done remarkablework in the field of education,health, woman empowermentand other sectors.

“Influenced by the amazingwork done by the KejriwalGovernment various peoplehave joined the AAP in the lastfew years. Many leaders andpeople have come to politics tobring changes and now they arejoining the AAP after lookinginto the work of the Kejriwalgovernment in education,health, electricity, water etc,”she said.

Indu Verma was the coun-cillor from 2002 to 2007 fromSrinivas Puri ward of Delhi.During this period she was alsothe President of the centralzone of Lajpat Nagar munici-pal area. She has also held thepost of vice-chairman of thehealth committee. From 2012to 20 17 she again won as acouncillor.

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Suspended Kherki DaulaSHO Inspector Vishal, an

accused in a graft case, onMonday afternoon surrenderedbefore the court of Neha Goyal,Duty Magistrate in Gurugram.The court sent him to a three-day police remand.

Suspended Inspector Vihal,along with an alleged head con-stable, Amit, was booked by theHaryana State VigilanceBureau; Faridabad unit afterthey had caught head consta-ble Amit Kumar red-handedfor taking a bribe of Rs five lakhon behalf of the SHO Vishal ofthe Kherki Daula police station

on December 28.Soon after the incident the

Gurugram police commis-sioner K K Rao had suspend-ed the SHO and head consta-ble over an alleged graft case.The SHO was since thenabsconding after the registra-tion of the FIR against him.

“We had applied for antic-ipatory bail of inspector Vishalon Friday which was listed forMonday was dismissed by theduty magistrate and sent himthree days' police remand asasked by the investigationagency,” said S S Chauhan,senior counsel for the sus-pended cop.

Meanwhile, the investiga-tion agency urged before the

court that they needed time astheir reply against the bailapplication was not ready.

Advocate Chauhan alsoinformed that the investigationagency had thoroughly inter-rogate his client (suspendedSHO) for around 2.30 hoursafter his surrender but theinvestigation agency urgedbefore the court the formerSHO didn’t reply their questionso they required police remandfor further questioning whichcourt further accepted andsent him three days remandperiod.

“The complainant in this

case itself said that he had paidRs 57 lakh to head constableAmit Kumar on December 28,till then he didn't even knowthe name of my client,”Chauhan said.

Chauhan further said theargument on the matter willagain take place before thecourt of Additional SessionJudge (ASJ) Amit Sehrawatcourt on Tuesday.

The counsel for the copsubmitted that his client hadbeen falsely implicated in thecase.

Head constable Amit wasnabbed by the Vigilance offi-

cials from Shikohpur More onthe Delhi-Jaipur expresswayalong with the huge amount onDecember 28.

It was also alleged that thesuspended SHO had demand-ed Rs 3 crore from a manNaveen Bhutani, who is a com-plainant in this case for hisrelease who was illegallydetained by the SHO and hadalso threatened him to impli-cate in a fake case and will senthim jail if he failed to pay theamount.

However, later their dealwas fixed at Rs 1 crore in thematter but before the deal wasexecuted the state vigilancebureau faridabad unit arrestedthe head constable.

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The Gurugram Police onMonday arrested 8 people,

including a spa manager and 7women for allegedly operatinga sex racket from a spa andmassage centre in Gurugram.

The arrested have beenbooked under different sec-tions of the ImmoralTrafficking Act and an FIR hasbeen registered against them atthe Sushant Lok police station.

Following a tip-off, a manacting as a decoy customer vis-ited the spa on Monday andfound that the women workingat the spa were involved in sextrade and he informed thepolice about the sex trade.

Soon after information ajoint team of the crime branchDLF Phase-4 and Sushant Lokpolice station then raided theA-One Spa and MassageCentre located at C-block inSushant Lok and nabbed 8people in total.

“The police team reachedthe spot and arrested the cul-prits red-handed who wassoliciting sex. Police havearrested a male manager iden-tified as Satyaveer of Alwar dis-trict in Rajastan and 7 women,who were also included in thesex trade,” said Subhash Boken,spokesperson of the Gurugrampolice.

During the investigation,he reveals he works as a man-ager in the spa.

“At the time of the raid, a

room in the message centre wasoccupied where a woman andman were found in objectionable positions,” thepolice said.

Police said for the pastseveral days, the police hadbeen receiving complaintsabout the illegal activity beingcarried out in the spa.

“Further investigation inthe matter is underway and weare collecting more informa-tion about the involvement ofany other person,” Boken said.

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Keeping in mind the upcom-ing MCD election of 2022

the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)on Monday appointed newoffice bearers of the women’swing from state to district level.

“This was done to increasewomen’s participation in theupcoming election. The AAPhas already started restructur-ing various frontal organisa-tions. The party is appointingnew office bearers in all thesefrontal organisations whichinclude women’s wing, youthwing, student wing, traders’wing, auto-rickshaw wing,street vendor wing, tenant wingand others,” the party said in astatement.

According to party, captainShalini was appointed as statejoint secretary, Dr Farin asstate treasurer, Sanjay Bala asstate social media coordinator,Neha Tyagi - vice president ofNorth West Delhi, UmaBhogle, vice-president of SouthDelhi, Monica Miglani, vice-president of West Delhi, SanjuJain, vice-president of NewDelhi, Vanita Luthra – vice-president of East Delhi, SeemaArya, vice-president ofChandni Chowk and YashBhatia appointed as vice-pres-ident of North East Delhi.

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The Delhi Police has arrested a45-year-old man for allegedly

raping a woman on the pretext ofmarriage in South Delhi's AyaNagar area.

The accused, resident ofGhitorni village, is a peon at aGovernment organisation in Delhi.

According to Atul KumarThakur, the Deputy Commissionerof Police (DCP), South district, thematter was reported to police bythe 35-year-old woman on January 9.

"In a written complaint, shestated that after her husband diedin 2015, she came in contact withthe accused. He allegedly told herthat he is a divorcee and establishedphysical relation with her on the

promise of marrying her," said theDCP. "She confronted the manafter getting to know that he isalready married and lived with hiswife and children. The manallegedly threatened her of direconsequences," he said.

"A case was registered underIndian Penal Code (IPC) sections376 (rape) and 506 (criminal intim-idation) at Fatehpur Beri police sta-tion. The accused was arrested dur-ing the course of investigation, saidthe DCP.

According to police, theaccused confessed to establishingphysical relation with her on thepretext of marriage, while describ-ing himself as a divorcee, he said.The accused has been sent to judi-cial custody and further investiga-tion is under way, he added.

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Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)campaign to "expose the

corruption of the BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP) is turningout to be a huge success asmore than 25,000 people par-ticipated in the Sabhas held atabout 245 locations in 65assembly constituencies onMonday.

The campaign will contin-ue till January 15 and theparty's effort will be to makeevery person and every house-hold in Delhi aware of the cor-ruption done by the BJP in the

MCD and to show the real faceof the BJP to the people ofDelhi and the country.

"Around 45,000 peopleparticipated in 450 MohallaSabhas held in 65 assemblies onSunday and around 25,000people participated in 245Mohalla Sabhas held in 65assemblies today," the partysaid in a statement.

In these meetings localpeople are invited to visit theMohalla Sabhas and discuss thecorruption in the BJP-ruledMCD with others.

The AAP had launched aseries of Mohalla Sabhas in

Delhi under its campaign toexpose the corruption of theBJP-ruled MCD.

It may be noted that theAAP has started a series of dis-cussions on the corruption ofthe BJP-ruled MCD throughMohalla Sabhas in differentareas of Delhi from 7 Jan 2021.

"A very interesting obser-vation has come out in all theMohalla Sabhas. All the peoplewho are participating in theMohalla Sabhas fully believethat the Municipal Corporationof Delhi, ruled by the BJP hasbeen completely corrupted,"the party said in a statement.

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Republic Day parade in 2022 will be at the new

Central Vista Avenue,” UnionHousing and Urban AffairsMinister Hardeep Singh Purion Monday said as he outlinedthat the development /rede-velopment of Central Vista isbeing undertaken with theobjective of upgradingParliament’s space, facilitiesand equipping it better.

Work on redevelopmentof Rajpath will start soon afterthis year’s Republic Day parade.The work is expected to becompleted in the next 10months.

As things stand, days afterthe Supreme Court’s go ahead,the Heritage ConservationCommittee (HCC) under theMinistry of Housing and UrbanAffairs, has cleared the pro-posal for the new Parliamentbuilding under the CentralVista Redevelopment Project.

Responding to a queryduring a press conference,Ministry of Housing and UrbanAffairs’ Secretary DurgaShankar Mishra on Mondaysaid the committee discussedthe proposal of new parliamentbuilding and gave its approvaltoday (Monday). “The pro-

posal was sent a few days ago,discussed and cleared after adetailed discussion,” he said.

Additional secretary of theUnion Housing and UrbanAffairs Ministry is the chair-man of the 14-memberHeritage ConservationCommittee. The panel has ninegovernment officials and fouracademics from School ofPlanning and Architecture andDelhi University. “The com-mittee’s members are the oneswho look into what is provid-ed under unified buildingbylaws for preserving the her-itage based on which theyaccept, reject or suggest certainmodifications,” Mishra added.Notably, the HCC does nothold a public hearing. Askedwhether public hearing wasmandatory before granting

approval, he answered, “No”.Last month, Prime

Minister Narendra Modi hadlaid the foundation stone of thenew Parliament building wherethe Lok Sabha chamber willhave a seating capacity for 888members, while the RajyaSabha will have 384 seats formembers. The NationalEmblem will crown the newParliament building.

The Central Vista revamp,announced in September, 2019envisages a new triangularParliament building, with aseating capacity for 900 to1,200 MPs, that is to be con-structed by August, 2022 whenthe country will be celebratingits 75th Independence Day.The common CentralSecretariat is likely to be builtby 2024 under the project.

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Adeclining number of freshCovid-19 cases and a high

rate of recovery have resultedin a continuous fall in thecountry’s active caseload, whichaccounts for only 2.13 per centof the total infections, theUnion Health Ministry said onMonday.

The number of daily newfatalities has also declined sub-stantially in the country. OnMonday, less than 170 suchdeaths were recorded after 229days, the Ministry said. In fact,in the last 24 hours, Indiareported 16,311 new cases.

India’s total active case-load has fallen to 2.25 lakh(2,22,526) on Monday with16,959 infected people recov-ered and discharged. This hasled to a net decline of 809 fromthe total active caseload.

The total recovered casesstand at 10,092,909. The gapbetween recovered cases andactive cases, that is steadilyincreasing, is nearing 99 lakhsand presently stands at98,70,383.

The recovery rate has alsoimproved to 96.43 per cent on

Monday. This is amongst thehighest the world over. TheMinistry said that 78.56 percent of the new recovered casesare observed to be concentrat-ed in 10 States/UTs.

Kerala has reported themaximum number of singleday recoveries with 4,659 newlyrecovered cases. 2,302 peoplerecovered in Maharashtra fol-lowed by 962 in Chhattisgarh.Similarly, 80.25 per cent of thenew cases are concentrated in9 States and UTs.

Kerala has also reportedthe highest daily new cases at4,545 followed by Maharashtrawith 3,558new cases.

Six States/UTs account for69.57 per cent of the dailydeaths with Maharashtra wit-nessing the maximum casual-ties (34). Kerala and WestBengal followed with 23 and 19daily deaths, respectively.

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Researchers from IITMadras have found that

holding one’s breath canincrease the chances of aCovid-19 infection. They saidthat the process of virus-ladendroplets being transportedinto deep lung increases withdecreasing breathing fre-quency.

The research team led byProf. Mahesh Panchagnula,Department of AppliedMechanics, IIT Madras, withhis research scholars ArnabKumar Mallik and SoumalyaMukherjee, IIT Madras mod-elled the breathing frequencyin a laboratory and foundthat low breathing frequencyincreases the time of resi-dence of the virus and there-fore it increases chances ofdeposition and consequentlythe infection.

Also, the multiscale lungstructure has a significanteffect on a person’s suscepti-bility to Covid-19, said thestudy which is published inthe journal Physics of Fluids.

Elaborating on the needfor such research, Prof.Panchagnula, said, “Covid-19(the disease caused byCoronavirus) has opened agap in our understanding of

deep pulmonological systemicdiseases.”

“Our study unravels themystery behind how particlesare transported and deposit-ed in the deep lung. The studydemonstrates the physicalprocess by which aerosol par-ticles are transported into thedeep generations of the lung,”he added.

Prof. Panchagnula’s teamworked to gain a deeperunderstanding of how the rateof flow of droplet laden withvirus determines the deposi-tion of the virus in the lungs.

In their research, the teamreported that holding thebreath and having low breath-ing rate can increase chancesof virus deposition in thelungs.

The study was conductedto pave the way for develop-ing better therapies and drugsfor respiratory infections.

Previous work from thegroup has also highlightedthe significant variability inaerosol uptake from individ-ual to individual, suggesting areason why some people aremore susceptible to airbornediseases than others.

The IIT Madras researchteam imitated the dropletdynamics in the lung bystudying the movement of

droplets in the small capillar-ies which were of a diametersimilar to bronchioles.

They took water mixedwith fluorescent particles andgenerated aerosols from thisliquid using a nebulizer.

These fluorescent aerosolswere used to track the move-ment and deposition of parti-cles in the capillaries.

The researchers studiedthe movement of the fluores-cent aerosol particles in cap-illaries of size ranging from0.3 to 2 millimetres whichcovers the range of bronchiolediameters.

They found that the depo-sition is inversely propor-tional to the aspect ratio ofcapillaries, which suggeststhat the droplets are likely todeposit in longer bronchi-oles.

The scientists also studiedhow the ‘Reynolds Number,’ aparameter that quantifies thenature of flow - steady or tur-bulent, determines the depo-sition in the capillaries.

They found that when theflow of aerosol movement issteady then the particlesdeposit via the process of dif-fusion, however, if the flow isturbulent then the particlesdeposit via the process ofimpaction

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With the impasse continu-ing at the Line of Actual

Control (LAC) for the last ninemonths, Chief of Defence StaffGeneral Bipin Rawat reviewedthe operational readiness of thearmed forces on Monday inLadakh. He is also likely to visitsome forward areas along theborder.

Incidentally, the CDS hadan extensive tour of ArunachalPradesh some days back tocheck readiness. He interactedwith the Army and Indo-Tibetan BorderPolice(ITBP)troops on some ofthe posts maintained by air. Healso reviewed some air forcebases and advanced landinggrounds in the State facingChina in the east. The top brassbriefed him about the situationin the eastern sector.

As regards the ongoing

Ladakh tour, officials said hereon Monday he was apprised ofthe current situation on the1,700 km LAC in Ladakh by thecommanders of the Leh based‘Fire and Fury Corps’.

He was also updated aboutthe army’s preparedness toremain fighting fit during theharsh winter months. The brief-ing included logistical situationof winter clothing and prefab-ricated heated huts to enable thetroops to withstand temperaturedipping to minus 30 degrees.

As multiple rounds of talksat the military and diplomaticlevels have so far failed to breakthe logjam, the Indian army was

all geared up for a long haul dur-ing the ongoing winter season.At present, more than one lakhtroops of India and China arefacing each other in Ladakhthereby heightening tension.

During his tour of Ladakh,Rawat was also likely to inter-act with troops at some bases inan effort to boost their morale,officials said. He was also like-ly to review the readiness ofsome of the fighting formations.

His visit came at a timewith all the three Services haveramped up their war fightingmachinery. The Army hasdeployed crack mountaintroops in Ladakh besides gear-ing up its formations all alongthe 4,000 km long LAC stretch-ing from Ladakh in the west toArunachal Pradesh in the east.The IAF has also increased itsalert on all the forwards basesfacing China and deployedmost of its frontline fighter jetsthere.

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The NIA on Monday filedfirst supplementary charge-

sheet before a Special Court,Ranchi under various IPCSections relating to criminalconspiracy and provisions ofUnlawful Activities(Prevention) Act against fouraccused persons in the CPI(Maoist) case of Jharkhand.

The four are Manoj Kumaralias Manoj Kumar Yadav(arrested), Krishna Da aliasKrishna Hansda (Absconding),Sunil Manjhi alias SunilMurmu (Arrested) and ManojKumar Choudhary (Arrested),all residents of district Giridih,Jharkhand.

On January 22, 2018, aftercollection of levy amount,accused Manoj Kumar, whilehe was en-route to deliver theextorted funds to the cadres ofCPI (Maoist), was arrested byState Police and levy amount of

�6 Lakh along with otherincriminating documents wereseized from his possession.

The NIA took over theinvestigation of the case on July21, 2018 and re-registered it toprobe the case.

“Investigation has estab-lished that arrested accusedManoj Kumar Yadav, wasworking as an associate/ OverGround Worker (OGW) ofthe CPI (Maoist), a proscribedterrorist organization, and wasthe conduit between the con-tractors and the banned orga-nization.

With no clue available ini-tially, break-through in theinvestigation was achieved sub-sequently after extensive andmeticulous examination of sev-

eral witnesses and rigoroustechnical analysis,” the NIAsaid in a statement here.

Investigation has alsorevealed that arrested accusedSunil Manjhi, RegionalCommittee Member of CPI(Maoist), and abscondingaccused Krishna Da, RegionalCommittee Member andSecretary, North ChotanagpurZone of CPI (Maoist) wereinvolved in raising funds bycollecting levy through extor-tion for commission of terror-ist activities by way of attack-ing security forces, damagingpublic and private property,disrupting public peace andkilling innocent people.

It was further establishedduring investigation that ManojKumar Choudhary was alsoCPI (Maoist) cadre who usedto collect the levy amounts andhand over the same to the othersenior members of the pro-scribed organisation, it added.

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The Centre on Monday jus-tified in the Supreme Court

the 2017 rules under thePrevention of Cruelty toAnimals (PCA) Act, 1960, andsaid that there is differencebetween “seizure” and “confis-cation” of animals and a pleacan be filed in the concernedcourt seeking release of seizedanimals.

The top court said thatconfiscation of animals canonly happen after the convic-tion of a person under thePCA Act and it cannot bedone during the pendency oftrial.

A bench of Chief JusticeSA Bobde and Justices ASBopanna and VRamasubramanian said that itis talking about the situationwhere the animals are takenaway from the protective cus-

tody of the owners even dur-ing the proceedings.

“There is a differencebetween sale and seizure.When sale is there, thenincome is generated. We areonly concerned with confis-cation of animals from therightful owner and thus keptlocked up and injured,” thebench said.

During the hearing,Solicitor General TusharMehta, appearing for Centresaid that they have filed adetailed reply to the petitionand so far as seizure is con-cerned a plea can be filed inconcerned court for release ofseized animals.

He said that the petition-er NGO has confusedbetween “seizure” and “con-fiscation” and an animal sub-jected to cruelty cannot beallowed to be maintained bythat person.

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Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birlaon Monday urged youth to

work for strengthening democ-racy and keeping the motto ofnation first.

Addressing the participantsat National Youth Parliament2021, organised by the Ministryof Youth Affairs and Sports,and the Lok Sabha Secretariatin the Central Hall of theParliament House, the Speakersaid before Independence,Indian youth was at the fore-front of the struggle for free-dom. “In a similar way theyouth today must work cease-lessly towards taking India tothe path of prosperity andprogress,” he said.

Birla also said that in ademocracy we share ourthoughts and experiences,

debate and discuss and thenreach a conclusion after exten-sive discussion. This is thestrength of the democratic sys-tem that gives everyone theright to express their views. Hehoped that the YouthParliament would go a long

way in strengthening the spir-it of democracy in keeping withthe motto of Nation First, hesaid. Sports Minister KirenRijiju and Secretary-General,Lok Sabha Utpal Kumar Singhwere also present on the occa-sion.

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From this year onwards, tenbest national parks, 5

coastal and marine parks andtop five zoos in the country willbe ranked and awarded annu-

ally. This was announced byUnion Environment MinisterPrakash Javadekar on Mondayat an event here after releasingManagement EffectivenessEvaluation (MEE) of 146national parks and WildlifeSanctuaries in the Country.

At present, India has a net-work of 903 protected areasacross the States covering about5 per cent of the total geo-graphic area of the country. Inorder to assess the efficacy ofprotected areas, evaluation ofmanagement effectiveness isrequired, said the Minister.

He said that what othercountries could not achieve,India has achieved and todayhas a thriving biodiversity. “70%of the global tiger population,70% of asiatic lions and morethan 60% of leopards popula-tion in India is a certificate of

India’s thriving biodiversity ,asthese big cats sit at the top offood chain and their growingnumbers shows the well beingof the whole ecosystem.”

Management EffectivenessEvaluation (MEE) of ProtectedAreas (PAs) has emerged as akey tool for PA managers and isincreasingly being used by gov-ernments and internationalbodies to understand thestrengths and weaknesses of theprotected area managementsystems.

The results of the presentassessment are encouragingwith an overall mean MEEscore of 62.01 per cent which ishigher than the global mean of56 per cent. On the occasion,the Management EffectivenessEvaluation of Indian Zoos(MEE-ZOO) framework wasalso released.

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The second edition of thebiennial pan-India coastal

defence exercise ‘Sea Vigil-21’will be conducted for twodays starting Tuesday. Theexercise will be undertakenalong the entire 7,516 kmcoastline and ExclusiveEconomic Zone(EEZ) ofIndia. The first such exercisewas held in 2019.

Giving details here onMonday, the Navy said thedrill will involve all the 13coastal States and UnionTerritories along with othermaritime stakeholders,including the fishing andcoastal communities.

The exercise is being coor-dinated by the Indian Navy.The entire coastal security set up was reorgan-ised after the 26/11 Terrorattack at Mumbai which waslaunched via the sea route.

The scale and conceptualexpanse of the exercise isunprecedented in terms ofthe geographical extent, thenumber of stakeholdersinvolved, the number of unitsparticipating and in terms ofthe objectives to be met.

The exercise is a build uptowards the major Theatrelevel exercise TROPEX

[Theatre-level ReadinessOperational Exercise] whichIndian Navy conducts everytwo years. SEA VIGIL andTROPEX together will coverthe entire spectrum of mar-itime security challenges,including transition frompeace to conflict.

Assets of the Indian Navy,Coast Guard, Customs andother maritime agencies willparticipate in the exercise,the conduct of which is alsobeing faci l itated by theMinistries of Defence, HomeAffairs, Shipping, Petroleumand Natural Gas, Fisheries,Customs, State Governments and other agen-cies of Centre and State.

While smaller scale exercises are conducted incoastal states regularly, includ-ing combined exercises amongst adjoining states, theconduct of a security exerciseat national-level is aimed toserve a larger purpose.

It provides opportunity, atthe apex level, to assess ourpreparedness in the domain ofmaritime security and coastaldefence.

Exercise ‘Sea Vigil 21’ willprovide a realistic assessmentof our strengths and weak-nesses and thus will help infurther strengthening mar-itime and national security.

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As the Supreme Courtrapped the Centre on the

three farm laws while hearinga bunch of petitions onMonday, the Congress onMonday demanded thatPrime Minister NarendraModi should apologise andimmediately repeal the con-tentious farm laws which areagainst the interest of farmersof the country.

The Congress’ sharp reac-tion came soon after theSupreme Court said it hasmade up its mind to stay theimplementation of the threefarm laws which have led toprotests by thousands offarmers at various Delhi bor-ders.

Congress chief spokesper-son Randeep Surjewala alsourged the Supreme court toregister cases against Modi,Home Minister Amit Shahand chief ministers ManoharLal Khattar and YogiAdityanath after taking noteof their actions that causeddamage to public property. Hesaid the central and state gov-ernments have dug up roadsand caused blockades on thenational highways around thenational Capital.

“Prime MinisterNarendra Modi should apol-ogise not only to the familiesof 65 farmers who have sac-rificed themselves, but also tothe 62 crore farmers of the country. The prime ministershould thereafter talk to theagitating farmers himself andnothing short of it is accept-able to the ‘annadatas’,”Surjewala said at the AICCPress conference.

Surjewala said the PMshould come forward andwipe the tears of farmers, heshould shed his support forcrony capital ists andannounce the repeal of thethree farm laws immediately.

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Stopping short of calling theBJP a fascist force, Bengal

Chief Minister MamataBanerjee on Monday said thatthere is no difference betweenthe saffron outfit and outgoingUS President Donald Trumpadding Bengal will witness asecond famine if they come topower in the State.

“There is no differencebetween BJP and Trump asthey represent two sides of thesame coin,” Banerjee said refer-ring to how one party like theother refuses to concede defeateven after getting trounced inthe elections. “Trump has lostthe elections but wants to con-tinue in power refusing to con-cede defeat. The BJP is no dif-ferent from him and they too cling on to power afterdefeat.”

Hitting out at the saffronGovernment for forcingthrough the anti-farmer lawsagainst which the entire farm-ing community of the countryhad united in the outskirts ofDelhi Banerjee said if the BJPis allowed to come to power inBengal the State will be hit bya second Great Famine.

Bengal had lost lakhs ofpeople in the Great Famine of‘76. “The Great Famine will hitBengal again if the BJP comesto power in the State” askingthe farmers and the poor toreject the party in the comingAssembly elections.

The Chief Minister wasspeaking in an electoral rally atHabibpur in Nadia.

Earlier she demanded thewithdrawal of the “oppressivefarm laws” while paying tributeto former Prime Minister LalBahadur Shastri on his 55thdeath anniversary.

Invoking Shashtri’s slogan,“Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan’’ (hail theyouth hail the farmers),Banerjee said that the interests

of the farmers who are theheroes of the nation should bepreserved at any lost.

“Tribute to Lal BahadurShastri, former prime minister,on his death anniversary. Hegave us the inspirational slogan‘’Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan’’. We areproud of our farmer brothersand sisters. Farmers are theheroes of our nation. TheCentre MUST repeal the anti-farmer Acts NOW!” she wroteon the Twitter.

In the rally she said herparty Trinamool Congress willalways stand by the agitatingfarmers saying “the farmers ofPunjab and Haryana are beingoppressed and tortured by theBJP Government … in theinterest of the corporate houses.”

Attacking the BJP leadersfor giving false promises to theNamo Shudras (Matuas andSCs who have come fromBangladesh) of giving them cit-izenship Banerjee said “every-one who have been living inBengal since 1972 are the citi-zens of this country. They donot need any other recognition

… but some swindlers arepromising them false citizen-ship which is not required,”adding her government willprovide about 1.5 lakh ‘pattas’to the people which in turn willstrand as a record to prove cit-izenship.

“We will not allow anyoneto implement to force NRC orNPR in Bengal in the name ofgiving citizenship to people,”Banerjee said adding “thosewho will try to implementNRC or NPR will be shoedaway from the area by thelocal people.”

Attacking the “turncoats”including senior TMC leadersand former Ministers who haveleft the ruling party to join theBJP Banerjee said that the “BJPtoday stands for Bharatiya JunkParty which accommodates allthe junks from the TMC…”adding “the BJP has come outwith a formula according towhich all the Kalo (black)becomes ‘Bhalo’ (good) afterjoining the BJP.”

Pooh-pooing the BJP forholding out a false dream of“Sonar Bangla” or GoldenBengal, Banerjee said “theyare feeding you a false dreamof Sonar Bangla. But there is noneed of that as we alreadyhave made a Sonar Bangla…now we are proceeding toaccomplish the dream of BiswaBangla (Global Bengal).

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The MaharashtraGovernment on Monday

sounded a “high alert” acrossthe State, as the health author-ities confirmed that the bird fluwas the cause of the death ofbirds in Parbhani district where“800 to 900” birds died due toavian influenza later last weekand also in places like Beed,Mumbai, Thane and Dapoli.

Three days ago “800 to900” chickens died inMurumba village in Parbhanidistrict in Marathwada. Thedistrict authorities had sent theblood samples of a fewdeceased birds to Bhopal-based ICAR-National Instituteof High Security Animal

Diseases (NIHSAD) for achemical analysis, reports ofwhich had confirmed that “800to 900” birds had died due toAvian influenza.

On its part, the NIHSADhad confirmed that two crowsfrom Mumbai died due to birdflu. On Sunday, 11 crows werefound dead at Chembur innorth-central Mumbai, fol-lowing which a team of doctorsfrom the BMC health depart-ment rushed to the spot toexamine the cause of the deathof crows.

Three pond egrets and aparrot from Thane were infect-ed by the H5N1 avian influen-za virus, while a chicken andtwo herons from Parbhani toodied of H5N1 avian influenza

virus. Crows from Beed andDapoli in Ratnagiri districtwere infected by H5N8 avianinfluenza virus. Similarly, 180birds, including 128 hens, werefound dead during the lastfew days in Latur district ofMarathwada region.

Talking to media persons atJalna where he had gone to cel-ebrate his birthday, State HealthMinister Rajesh Tope said thatthere was a need to sound“high alert” in the state.

“There has been an out-break of bird flu in many states.Maharashtra has also joinedthese states. Hundreds of crowshave been found dead inParbhani district The death rateamong those affected by birdflu is 10 to 12 per cent To stop

the spread of bird flu, the stateanimal husbandry departmenthas to sound high alert in thestate,” Tope said.

Confirming the outbreakof bird flu in some parts ofMaharashtra, State AnimalHusbandry Department secre-tary Anoop Kumar said thatthe state government wouldintensify bio-safety measures inpoultry farms so that there wasno interface with wild birds.

Kumar said that as part ofthe action plan being imple-mented to fight bird flu in thestate, the culling of birds wouldbegin from Tuesday.

Kumar said that 8,000 to10,000 birds within one-kmradius of the infected zone inParbhani would be culled on

Tuesday.Kumar, meanwhile, said

that it was “safe” to consumeeggs or chicken as the viruscannot withstand cooking tem-peratures. He said that peopleneed not worry as infection tohumans due to bird flu was“rarest of rare”

In a related development,the Thane MunicipalCorporation has set up a con-trol room to monitor the situ-ation and appealed to people topromptly report any cases ofbird deaths in the city. “TheTMC will undertake a cam-paign to remove fear from theminds of citizens and givethem appropriate informationfrom time to time,” a TMCspokesperson said.

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Lucknow: The Lucknow Zoohas suspended its birdexchange programme andclosed its aviary for visitorsafter Uttar Pradesh confirmedoutbreak of the avian influen-za when samples of a couple ofbird carcasses in Kanpur zoowere found positive for the dis-ease. The Kanpur ZoologicalPark has already been closedfor visitors till further orders.

The outbreak was con-firmed in seven states —Kerala, Rajasthan, MadhyaPradesh, Himachal Pradesh,Haryana, Gujarat and UttarPradesh — as on January 10.On Monday, bird flu has alsobeen confirmed in Delhi,Uttarakhand and Maharashtra.

The bird section of theLucknow Zoo was closed onSunday and the bird exchangeprogramme has been tem-porarily suspended. PTI

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More than 31 years after ter-rorists belonging to the

Jammu & Kashmir LiberationFront (JKLF) had abductedRubaiya Sayeed, youngerdaughter of former HomeMinister Mufti Mohd Sayeed,a special TADA court inJammu on Monday orderedthat charges be framed againstterrorist-turned-separatistleader Yasin Malik and nineothers. The trial in the case isexpected to begin soon.

Rubaiya Sayeed was kid-napped by the Jammu KashmirLiberation Front on December8, 1989 barely six days afterMufti Mohd Sayeed was swornin as Union Home Minister.She was dragged out of a mata-dor, popular mode of publictransport and whisked away ina car from Nowgam area ofSrinagar,by the JKLF terror-

ists.Rubaiya was returninghome from the local hospital atthe time of her abduction atgunpoint.

As pressure mounted onthe union government, fiveJKLF terrorists were released byDr Farooq Abdullah govern-ment on December 13,1989.Hours later RubaiyaSayeed too was set free by theJKLF terrorists.

During a special hearing inthe case, Special Judge TADACourt Sunit Gupta Mondayordered that charges be framedagainst Yasin Malik, AliMohamad Mir, MohammadZaman Mir, Iqbal AhmadGandroo , Javed Ahmad Mir ,Mohammad Rafiq Pahloo aliasNana Ji alias Saleem , ManzoorAhmed Sofi, Wajahat Bashir ,Mehraj-ud-Din Sheikh andShowkat Ahmad Bakshi.

The court after hearingpublic prosecutor of the CBI

Vijay Kumar Dogra and advo-cate MA Goni besides goinginto confessional statementsof other accused observed thatsufficient grounds existed topresume that all the accusedhad committed offences.

According to the CBI, theaccused had kidnapped RubaiyaSayeed to force the govern-ment to release five terrorists.

Yasin Malik has beenaccused of playing a key role inthe kidnapping that he and hisassociates executed.

“Hence, charges arerequired to be framed againsteach of the accused persons,separately,” the court stated.

In March last year, a TADAcourt had also framed chargesagainst Yasin Malik and six oth-ers allegedly involved in thekilling of four unarmed IndianAir Force (IAF) officials in 1990in Kashmir. Malik is currentlyin Delhi’s Tihar jail.

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An earthquake of magnitude5.1 on the Richter scale hit

several districts of Jammu &Kashmir at 7.32 pm onMonday, the National Centerfor Seismology said.

The earthquake occured ata shallow depth of 10 km nearDoda and the epicentre is saidto be Kishtwar. Shallow earth-quakes are felt more stronglythan deeper ones as they arecloser to the surface.

According to groundreports, strong tremors werefelt across Doda, Kishtwar,Reasi and Udhampur districts.Large number of people cameout of their homes during theearthquake. It created panicamong the people. Severaltremors have occured in thestate over the past four months.

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As we celebrate 158th birthanniversary of SwamiVivekananda, it’s time to

revisit the teachings of the wan-dering monk in the context of thecurrent mood of the nation.Swamiji worked on three premis-es - social discipline, patriotismand belongingness.

At the epochal Parliament of theWorld’s Religions, which had openedon 11 September 1893 at the ArtInstitute of Chicago as part of theWorld’s Columbian Exposition,Swami Vivekananda gave a briefspeech representing India andHinduism. He began his dialoguewith those famous lines, “Sisters andBrothers of America!” At thesewords, Swamiji received a two-minute standing ovation from thecrowd of 7000 delegates. Whensilence was restored he began hisaddress, greeting the youngest of thenations on behalf of “the mostancient order of monks in theworld, the Vedic order of san-nyasins, a religion which has taughtthe world both tolerance and univer-sal acceptance.”

The short discourse by SwamiVivekananda voiced the spirit of theParliament.

On hearing Swamiji, ParliamentPresident John Henry Barrows said,“India, the Mother of religions is rep-resented by Swami Vivekananda, theOrange-monk who exercised themost wonderful influence over hisauditors.” Vivekananda attractedwidespread attention in the press,which called him the “cyclonicmonk from India.”

Vivekananda’s speeches at theParliament had the common themeof universality, emphasising religioustolerance. He soon became knownas a “handsome oriental” and madea huge impact as an orator.

After the Parliament ofReligions, he toured many parts ofthe US delivering lectures on the “lifeand religion to thousands.”Vivekananda spent nearly two yearslecturing in the eastern and centralUnited States, primarily in Chicago,Detroit, Boston and New York.

He founded the Vedanta Societyof New York in 1894. During onesuch session at Brooklyn EthicalSociety, he remarked, “I have a mes-sage to the West as Buddha had amessage to the East.” During anoth-er such session he said, “I do notcome to convert you to a newbelief. I want you to keep your ownbelief; I want to make the Methodista better Methodist; the Presbyteriana better Presbyterian; the Unitariana better Unitarian. I want to teachyou to live the truth, to reveal thelight within your own soul.”

Many decades later, looking forthat within my own soul, in the lapof the Himalayas I came face-to-facewith Swami Jitatmananda. It was inthe year 1997 that I met SwamiJitatmanandaji, an eminent educa-tionist, management expert, authorof books, Modern Physics & Vedantaand Indian Ethos in Management, anactive social worker and the editorof Prabudh Bharat (AwakenedIndia), a journal started by SwamiVivekananda.

This was not my first interfacewith Swami Vivekananda’s legacy. Iwas initiated as a disciple by SwamiBhuteshananda, then president ofthe Rama Krishna Mission order,way back in 1977. Since then dis-courses by knowledgeable monkslike Swami Ranganathananda,Swami Swami Budhananda, SwamiVandanananda and SwamiGokulananda at ShyamalatalAshram, Almora Ashram and

Mayavati Ashram kept me greatlyengaged with Swamiji’s intellectualand spiritual inheritance. I drewimmense satisfaction serving at theRK Mission Ashram in Delhi as partof the managing committee.

As the destiny ordained undera silver oak tree at “Advait Ashram”in Mayawati in Pithoragrah districtof Uttarakhand, vibrating thoughtsflowed from Swami Jitatmananda’slips in the balmyaroma of the densepine and fir forest and he almost gavea diktat to me to set up an Institute,for higher learning in the capital cityof India, in the name of SwamiVivekananda, to me and several oth-ers, a prophet and a path finder.

It was a gigantic task that fellupon my shoulders. But resolved asI was, I returned to Delhi and in acouple of months’ time sold myancestral house and from the salesproceed of that house seed capitalwas created, which was so veryimportant for establishing a newInstitute with high ideals.

In order to give shape toSwamiji’s dreams, I rolled out a roadmap. As a first step, I held brainstorming session with eminentscholars and people from academiaalong with some legal luminariesand retired civil servants. The brainchild of which was a society for TotalRevival of Nation, thus called theSociety for Total Revival andNational Glory and True Heritage(STRENGTH), which was later reg-istered in 1998, as a charitable soci-

ety under the Registration ofSocieties Act of 1860, with a missionof making Vivekananda Institute ofProfessional Studies (VIPS) an idealeducational Institution with theclear objective of “Man Making,Character Building, Nation Building”as envisaged by Swami Vivekananda.

Many years after SwamiVivekananda had passed away,Noble laureate Rabindranath Tagoretold his French counterpart RomainRolland, “If you want to knowIndia, study Vivekananda. In himeverything is positive and nothingnegative.”

Swamiji’s writings impressedseveral other western intellectuals.He communicated with orientalistMax Müller, and scientist NikolaTesla, who were influenced by hisVedic teachings. American industri-alist John D Rockefeller is said tohave made his first large donationfor public welfare and later becamea notable philanthropist after a

meeting with Vivekananda. Swamijilaconically explained to Rockefellerthat his philanthropy could be achannel to help the poor and dis-tressed people.

He inspired India’s first moderncorporate honcho, Jamsetji Tata toset-up Indian Institute of Science. In1893, during the journey fromYokohama to Canada on the shipEmpress, Vivekananda met JamsetjiTata who was also going to Chicago.During the conversationVivekananda told Tata about thenecessity of establishing a world classscientific Institution in India and thisencouraged Tata to establish theIndian Institute of Science, whichgradually has become India’s best-known research university.

My endeavour is a small step inthat direction; to take VIPS to thelevel of eminence which IIS hasachieved but not in just one field ofresearch but with an interdiscipli-nary approach towards education.That’s what had Swamiji ordained -- Eastern Wisdom Must MeetWestern Science.

Swami Vivekananda’s writingsinspired a generation of leaders offreedom struggle includingJawaharlal Nehru, Subhas ChandraBose, Aurobindo Ghose, BalGangadhar Tilak and Bagha Jatin.Kamala Nehru was an initiated dis-ciple of the order, so is our PrimeMinister Narendra Modi.

On 6 February 1921, MahatmaGandhi came to Belur Math and

paid homage to Swami Vivekananda.On this occasion he said: “I havecome here to pay my homage andrespect to the revered memory ofSwami Vivekananda. I have gonethrough his works very thoroughly,and after having gone through them,the love that I had for my countrybecame a thousand-fold. I ask you,young men, not to go away empty-handed without imbibing somethingof the spirit of the place where SwamiVivekananda lived and died.”

With Indian Nationalism still inits nascent state when Vivekanandalived and worked, Swamiji’s influ-ence in West gave it the great con-fidence. Nation’s second PresidentSarvepalli Radhakrishnan, a wide-ly acclaimed philosopher, has saidthat Vivekananda was born in a“critical period” when the nation andher people were collapsing in“despair, frustration and hopeless-ness” and in such circumstancesVivekananda’s teachings gave themnew hope and taught them to relyon spiritual resources.

According to social reformerCharles Freer Andrews, “TheSwami’s intrepid patriotism gave anew colour to the national move-ment throughout India.” Nationalismis a prominent theme inVivekananda’s thought. He believedthat a country’s future depends onits people, and his teachings focusedon human development. He want-ed “to set in motion a machinerywhich will bring noblest ideas to thedoorstep of even the poorest and themeanest.”

These thought later got inter-preted variously in the ideas andphilosophies of later Indian socialand political leaders. Be it MahatmaGandh’s Sarvodaya or Pandit DeenDayal Upadhyay’s Antodaya,Swamiji remained the source of

these great social philosophical trea-tises. Gandhian reformer andBhoodan Movement’s driving forceAcharya Vinoba Bhave praisedVivekananda’s contribution in mak-ing the Indians conscious of theirstrength and said that Swamijishowed them their shortcomingsand defects and also taught them toovercome these.

Inspired by these ideals, we atthe VIPS have adopted Swamiji’sideas and ideals in the field of edu-cation. Vivekananda believed edu-cation is the manifestation of perfec-tion already in human beings. Hethought it a pity that the existing sys-tem of education did not enable aperson to stand on her/his own feet,nor did it teach her/him self-confi-dence and self-respect.

To Vivekananda, education wasnot only collection of information,but something more meaningful; hefelt education should be man-mak-ing, life giving and character-build-ing. To him education was an assim-ilation of noble ideas.

Swami Vivekananda prescribed‘positive’ education. He said, ifyoung boys and girls are encouragedand are not unnecessarily criti-cized, they were bound to improve.

He also told the youth: “Setyourselves to the task of spreadingeducation among the masses. Tellthem and make them understand,you are our brothers-a part and par-cel of our bodies, and we love youand never hate you.” These are theideas we try to inculcate atVivekananda Institute ofProfessional Studies through inno-vative teaching-learning processand imbibing ideals of social respon-sibility.

To us at Vivekananda Instituteof Professional Studies (VIPS), workis like journey towards discoveringour inner self; man-making, life giv-ing and character-building the des-tination.

(The writer is Founder &Chairman, Vivekananda Institute

of Professional Studies [VIPS],Guru Govind Singh Indraprastha

University, New Delhi)

“INDIA, THE MOTHER OFRELIGIONS IS

REPRESENTED BYSWAMI VIVEKANANDA,THE ORANGE-MONKWHO EXERCISED THEMOST WONDERFUL

INFLUENCE OVER HISAUDITORS”

Epistle of Handsome OrientalOn the 158th Birth Anniversary of Swami Vivekananda, Dr SC Vats

revisits the teachings of the great monk

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In 2003, the trio of JK Bajaj,Professor MD Srinivas andAP Joshi came out with apath-breaking work,

‘Religious Demography of India’. Itrevealed the changing share of dif-ferent religious communities inIndia, based on the Census figuresbetween 1881 and 1991. ThePartition was a watershed momentin India’s inter-communal rela-tions. The study, however, suggeststhat it was far from the culmina-tion. Muslims are still the fastestgrowing community in India,particularly in certain pocketsclose to the frontiers or coastline.Numerous districts of India, oftencontiguous, betrayed a significant-ly higher growth rate of theMuslim population. A belt ofMuslim concentration districtsspans Jammu & Kashmir (J&K),western Uttar Pradesh (UP),north-eastern Bihar, West Bengaland Assam, running almost intoBangladesh.

Way back in 1912, ColonelUN Mukherji (based on his studyof Censuses 1881 to 1911) hadstated that the Hindus were a“dying” race. Bajaj’s team —through a more exhaustive analy-sis of the Census figures — con-cluded that the changes on theground were far too serious inindependent India than those inthe colonial era. These develop-ments could not be without severeconsequences for India.

It was a book about India’sfuture, or rather challenges to it,which those in power shouldhave taken note of. However, theAtal Bihari Vajpayee Governmentsoon lost power in May 2004. TheUPA-1 Government attuned itspolicies to the growing Muslimclout. It set up the SacharCommittee to study Muslimunderdevelopment, created anindependent Ministry of MinorityAffairs permanently headed by aMuslim Minister and announcedlakhs of scholarships for theminorities, where the lion’s sharewent to Muslims. It was in a senseBajaj’s predictions coming true;Muslim demographic heft wasmoulding State policies.

However, those with whomhe shared his ideological affinityalso did not seem to realise theimportance of his work. Theywould hardly read or quote fromhis laborious work. Though Bajaj’sCentre for Policy Studies contin-ued to function and even securedits own building in Central Delhi(which apparently meant that itwas able to monetise its projects,or obtain funding), his path-

breaking work was not suffi-ciently appreciated by those onwhom he had pinned his hopesthe most.

Since 2014, India seems tohave come under a divinely-ordained Prime Minister. TheHindu nationalists have rea-sons to be upbeat. However, thepro-minority (read Muslim)policies of the Governmenthave only got bigger and bet-ter. New schemes like NaiManzil, USTTAD and GharibNawaz have been started by theModi Government. Almost�2,082 crore were disbursedtowards pre-matric, post-matric and merit-cum-means-based scholarships duringfinancial year (FY) 2019-20,marking a definite improve-ment over the �1,739 croreworth of scholarships duringFY 2013-14. The ambit ofPradhan Mantri Jan VikasKaryakram (previously calledmulti-sectoral developmentprogramme for the minorities)has been expanded to 308 dis-tricts from mere 90 under theUPA Government. What waspreviously alleged as “appease-ment” is now being re-inter-preted as “empowerment”. Allthe Congress-era institutionscatering to religious minoritiesare functioning well. However,this Government neverappointed a Commissioner forLinguistic Minorities, though itis a constitutional post.

Bajaj and Prof Srinivasrecently sprang a surprise witha 1,000-page tome on Gandhi.

The book, titled ‘Making of aHindu Patriot: Background ofGandhi’s Hind Swaraj’, is basedmostly on Gandhi’s own corre-spondences and conversations.As evident, it deals with theperiod prior to 1908, when theHind Swaraj was published.Gandhi spent 24 years in SouthAfrica before returning to Indiain January 1915. This colum-nist, though he is yet to see thebook, is in no doubt that theauthors would have done athorough job. However, was thesubject really worth the massivelabour the two authors put up?Further, does this really con-tribute something to India’sfuture as their previous workon religious demography did?

The crux of the authors’argument is that Gandhi’s political outlook was shaped by profound Hindu convictions.Those having read the speechesand correspondences of Gandhiwould know that this is correct.Expressions like “I speak as aHindu” and “our Hindu scrip-tures say that…” frequentlyappear in his literature. He main-streamed the concepts like satya-graha, ashram, brahmacharya,Ram rajya, upvaas (fast), maun(silence), Daridra Narayan,Harijan and suchlike in a bid tode-colonise the Indian mind.However, why would such a per-son, with deep formative influ-ence of Hinduism, zealouslytake up the Khilafat Movementto restore the deposed Sultan ofTurkey on his throne? Gandhimade Hindu-Muslim unity a

precondition for any politicalaction. He went to the extent of distorting the bhajan“Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram” toinclude words like Allah, Rahimand Karim. Gandhi describedthe marauding Moplahs inMalabar as “God-fearing people”and (at the Guwahati Congress,1926) refused to censure AbdulRashid, the assassin of SwamiShraddhanand, but rather called him a “brother” who haddone no wrong.

BR Ambedkar — in hislandmark book Pakistan, or thePartition of India — wonderedwhether any sane man could goto the extent that Gandhi wentfor the sake of Hindu-Muslimunity. However, while Gandhiharmed the Hindu interests, hefailed to impress the Muslimseither. They dissociated them-selves from the leadership ofGandhi soon as the KhilafatNon-Cooperation Movementended in a fiasco. Rather, theMuslims turned upon theHindus as though they wereresponsible for Mustafa KemalPasha’s abolition of the Caliphate.Gandhi had to acknowledgethat every Muslim was a bully,and every Hindu a coward.

Gandhi fraternised withHusyen Shaheed Suhrawardy(1884-1963), the evil genius ofGreat Calcutta Killings (August1946) to the extent that the lat-ter could attend Gandhi’sprayers at Birla House in NewDelhi (September 1947) asSubimal Dutt (later India’sForeign Secretary) found him

(With Nehru in Foreign Office,P18). Is this how a “Hindupatriot” should act?

One wonders what purposewill be served by identifying a“Hindu patriot” in Gandhi inSouth Africa. In South Africa,the Hindu-Muslim questionwas either non-existent or sub-servient to the question ofcolonial policy. The immigrantIndians were a small minorityamong the huge native blackpopulation and tiny Whiterulers. Gandhi’s test ofHinduism was in the Indiabetween the years of KhilafatMovement to the MuslimLeague’s campaign for Pakistan.He failed the test miserably.

Rashtriya SwayamsevakSangh (RSS) chief Mohan RaoBhagwat launching the book isperhaps an indication of“Gandhi-tisation of the RSS”even though the Hindus mightcontinue to put its faith in theorganisation as their saviour. IfGandhi were really a “Hindupatriot”, KB Hedgewar need nothave founded the RSS in 1925.Moreover, the Gandhi that onecomes across in the HindSwaraj or Indian Home Rule(1908) is a person who wantsto disengage with all forms ofmodernism and industrialism,viz; railways, machinery, lawcourts, Parliament and so on.Is it the way forward for themuch-touted “New India”?

(The writer is an authorand independent researcherbased in New Delhi. The opinions expressed are personal.)

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������������� �������Sir — The recent change in theprivacy policy of WhatsApp islike holding people to ransom.Even though the service providerhas clarified that the change isonly to facilitate business, thereis no assurance that personalchats will not be tracked.

The credibility of WhatsAppis now lost and people shouldavoid using it for messagesrelated to business transactions.The banks should withdraw allthe services provided throughWhatsApp and courts may alsoreview the earlier decision ofallowing WhatsApp for officialcommunication.

In the age of technology, pri-vacy is of utmost importance andthe Government should framerules to ensure that no companyis allowed to compromise on theprivacy and safety of end users.

It is also an opportunity forthe Government to promote‘Make In India’ by encouragingyoung entrepreneurs to developindigenous social media plat-forms similar to WhatsApp. Thatwill not only safeguard the priva-cy of common people but also ofbusinesses and the Government.

M RaghuramanMumbai

�����������������Sir — We as a society have failedto take care of our elderly. Theproblems faced by the older peo-ple are mainly due to the disin-tegration of the traditional jointfamily system. In the nucleatedfamilies, the elderly are mostly leftto take care of themselves or at themercy of a caretaker who often

ill-treats them. Moreover, geri-atrics is still a neglected area inmodern medicine. The privateold-age homes are very expensiveand mostly out of reach for a largesection of society.

The expenditure of elderlycare is ballooning in the absenceof concrete models of supportfrom the Government. We arestill ill-prepared to deal with the

problems confronting the elder-ly population like chronic illness,mental health problems, ill-treatment by caregivers and soon. Our economic growth willnot be sustainable in the truesense if we fail to empower ourolder people and create a safeenvironment for them.

Bhagwan Thadani Mumbai

��������������Sir — It is very saddening thata few days ago, a Muslim shop-keeper was detained by policefor selling shoes embossed withthe word ‘Thakur’ on the solesin Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahr.

The incident raises uncom-fortable questions about oursociety and politics. It also showswhere we are headed as a nationand society. Why a caste nameon the shoe becomes incendiarywhen a Muslim sells it and notwhen others do? Shopkeepershave sold ‘Thakur’ footwear inUP and elsewhere for decadeswithout it kicking up any dust.Are we reaching a situationwhere to use a certain title is toinvite trouble and legal action?

Such incidents show that weare sitting on top of a volcanowhich can erupt anytime lead-ing to caste and class conflicts inthe society. It is the responsibil-ity of the State Government toensure that no injustice is doneto the poor shopkeeper and hislivelihood is not affected.

Shovanlal Chakraborty Kolkata

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The Department of Investment and PublicAsset Management (DIPAM) is in a war ofwords with the Ministry of Finance (MoF)

over the proceeds of disinvestment of theGovernment’s shareholding in Central PublicSector Undertakings (CPSUs) during 2020-21.The point raised by the DIPAM is that out of the�2,10,000 crore target fixed in the Union Budget,a big slice of �90,000 crore, was thrust upon itby the MoF as being the projected proceeds fromthe sale of 10 per cent shares in the LifeInsurance Corporation (LIC) and its residualstake in IDBI bank (during 2018-19, LICacquired 51 per cent stake in IDBI Bank even asthe balance 49 per cent remained with theCentre).

Leave aside �90,000 crore, even the balance�1,20,000 crore is nowhere within reach as theproceeds so far are a meagre �14,000 crore. TheNarendra Modi Government’s strategy of disin-vestment pursued during the last seven years hasnot worked. This is because barring two years i.e.2017-18 and 2018-19 — when the actual proceedsfrom divestment exceeded the goal — in theremaining five years the target fell short. Evenduring those two exceptional years, the good per-formance was made possible primarily due to twobig ticket sales of the Union Government’s sharesin one CPSU to another. This was the sale of its51.11 per cent shareholding in HindustanPetroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) to theOil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) dur-ing 2017-18 yielding �37,000 crore and the saleof its 52.63 per cent stake in the RuralElectrification Corporation (REC) to the PowerFinance Corporation (PFC) 2018-19 that broughtin �13,000 crore. But, for these, even during 2017-18 and 2018-19, actual proceeds would have fall-en short.

These trends point towards bad handling ofthe disinvestment process. At the root of this isthe faulty approach of the Union Government totreat CPSUs as an appendage to the administra-tive Ministry under which the PSU concernedfalls and by extension, treating proceeds fromdivestment of its shareholding in them as a sourceof revenue (albeit non-tax) while preparing itsBudget.

Unlike tax revenue which can be projectedwith a degree of certainty (the crucial determi-nants being the prevailing tax rate as per the lawof the land and the value of economic activity),the same can’t be said about the proceeds fromdisinvestment. In this case, a lot depends on themarket scenario and, in particular, the percep-tion of investors about the PSU in which sharesale is contemplated. It is even more relevant incases where strategic disinvestment is mooted.Under such a sale, the shareholding of the UnionGovernment is brought down to below 50 percent or even zero. For instance, the sale of itsentire shareholding of 51.11 per cent in HPCLor sale of its entire 53.29 per cent shareholdingin Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited(BPCL) that was initiated in 2019-20 and has notyet happened. In such cases, if you don’t get abuyer, the sale won’t materialise. The proof of thepudding is in the eating.

As per the original plan, the 51.11 per centshares of the Union Government in HPCL wereto be sold to a private investor. But things did notpan out as planned and towards the fag end ofthat year i.e. January 2018, the Government had

to ask ONGC to pick up the entirestake, as it desperately needed moneyto meet the fiscal deficit target (in theprocess, ONGC suffered a collateraldamage as it had to borrow �35,000crore to fund the purchase). The sec-ond f law has to do with theGovernment’s reluctance to transferrights proportionate to shares sold toprivate parties.

Even in cases where strategic dis-investment is proposed, it wants toremain in the driver’s seat. To get anidea, look at what Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman said in her Budgetspeech for 2019-20. She had stated thatthe intent was to change the extant pol-icy of the Government "directly" hold-ing 51 per cent or above in a CPSU toone whereby its total holding, "direct"plus "indirect", is maintained at 51 percent.

Such a stingy approach and theunwillingness of the political establish-ment to relinquish control even afterdivestment of majority ownership is farfrom conducive to eliciting interestfrom potential investors.

Third, the Government spendstoo much time on policy formulation— a process that goes on ad infinitum.In early 2016, the NITI Aayog had rec-ommended a strategic sale of over twodozen CPSUs. But, the powers that bedidn’t act on those recommendations.

Meanwhile, early this year,Sitharaman announced broad con-tours of the Government’s plans on pri-vatisation, delineating differentapproaches to “strategic” (16 such sec-tors have been identified) and “non-strategic” sectors. Reportedly, a meet-ing of the Cabinet Committee onEconomic Affairs (CCEA) will be heldshortly to approve the policy.

Allowing for about a year for theNITI Aayog to come up with its recom-mendations, it has been more than fiveyears and the policy on strategic disin-vestment has not been finalised yet. Tillthat happens, the Ministries concerned

won’t gain the necessary momentum topush the sale process. Even after adivestment plan for a PSU is finalised,the Government remains in a flip-flopmode. For instance, in the case of AirIndia (AI), in its initial sale plan (2018-19), it had insisted on retaining 26 percent stake, three years’ lock-in periodon disposition of shares by the acquir-er, leaving a big slice of debt on the bal-ance sheet, retention of employees andso on. Since then several changes havebeen made. The offer plan currentlyunder execution includes divestment ofall of the Government’s shareholding,requiring the suitor to bid for the “enter-prise value” (put simply, it means, hewill be free from any debt burden),relaxation in other riders such as lock-in period, retention of employees andso on.

These flip-flops result in avoidabledelays and erosion in the sale proceeds.If, only the Government had gone forsale of its 100 per cent stake in its 2018-19 offer and not insisted on the suitorto pick up a big slice of the debt on theAI’s books, further erosion in the real-isable value from sales could have beenavoided. Fourth, notwithstanding muchtrumpeting about governance reforms,bureaucratic red tape rules the roost.Almost all processes starting fromconception, getting approvals, appoint-ment of transaction advisor, inviting anExpression of Interest, financial bids,selection of bidder and so on, crucialto successful completion of disinvest-ment are hamstrung by it. Add to this,the reluctance of bureaucrats to taketimely decisions fearing they might bequestioned after retirement.

This leads to delay in processes andby the time, all approvals are in place,the market scenario has undergone adrastic change. For instance, the sale ofBPCL was planned during 2019-20.Then, the projected realisation fromsale was over �60,000 crore. But, theofficials were not ready. Even as theyexuded confidence that the sale would

go through during the current year, thepandemic has spoilt the party. Thechances of the sale getting completedby March 31 this year are dim.Meanwhile, there has been significantvalue erosion, even as the proceeds oncurrent valuation may not exceed�45,000 crore.

To conclude, the present approachof the Government to link divestmentof its shareholding in CPSUs to usingreceipts (non-tax) therefrom to meetthe fiscal deficit target is flawed. Itshould be abandoned. Instead, theGovernment should pursue share saleincluding strategic disinvestment (orprivatisation) as an objective by itself.

In this regard, formulation of anappropriate strategy and preparation ofa PSU-specific plan should come fromthe management (it is best equipped todo the job) instead of being thrust onit by the concerned administrativeMinistry under a typical top-downapproach.

However, the Government mayconstitute a panel of eminent profes-sionals (sans bureaucrats) for provid-ing guidance on macro-economic issuesthat have a bearing on the disinvest-ment process and can be helpful inmaximising realisation from the sale.

In the current scenario, wherein theGovernment is encouraging privatecompanies to invest even in sensitiveareas such as defence, space and so on,there is no point in getting boggeddown in drawing a line between strate-gic and non-strategic sectors. Anydecision to privatise a PSU should betaken on the merit of each case.

This will give the much-neededflexibility to the management to decidethe contours and timing of the divest-ment, taking into account market con-ditions. This will help in maximisingproceeds from sales and improve theCentre’s budgetary position, too.

(The writer is a New Delhi-based policy analyst. The viewsexpressed are personal.)

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As the world battles theCoronavirus pandemic andother zoonotic diseases that are

plaguing humanity, it is vital to keephealthy and boost immunity. Apartfrom the use of various allopathicdrugs and ayurvedic tonics, people aretrying out alternative therapies toimprove their overall health andimmunity.

One such therapy is Sujok, whichwas invented by late Park Jae Woo, aKorean professor, a few decades ago.It is a drugless method of treatmentand is a mixture of acupuncture andother healing methods. Su meanshand while jok means palm. Sujok isthus a method of treatment based on

the principle that all parts of the bodyhave a positional link in our palms andfeet and it thus focuses only on treat-ing through points in the hands andfeet.

After successfully treating manychronic diseases in his country, ProfPark chose India to propagate thistherapy and established the SujokAssociation of India in Nagpur. Hegroomed and trained a few physio-therapists and other interested peopleand kept on visiting India to popu-larise this drugless treatment.

Sujok in recent years has becomevery popular in some parts of Indiaamong people suffering from chron-ic diseases liked axonal neuropathy,cerebral palsy and so on, especiallyamong the poor people who cannotafford costly treatment in big hospi-tals. It is becoming popular because itis a very safe and effective natural ther-apy that works without medicines.

Sujok treatment is carried out byusing various instruments, like tinyneedles and magnets specially definedand made with precision to carry out

specialised, specific treatment on thehands and feet. Sujok needles are madeof medical grade steel, have spring-likehandles on one side and are perfect-ly shaped for painless insertion byexperts. The therapy also uses theenergy of various seeds and colours fortreatment. One of the most effectiveways to massage the points of the bodypart where the treatment is needed isdone by a diagnostic and therapeuticstick after identifying the exact pointsand then treating those points by mas-saging.

Magnets are the most importanttools in the armoury of a Sujok heal-er. They are used to channelise the flowof energy in the identified body part.Yet another way is the application ofelastic ring massagers to provide con-tinuous pressure on the identifiedpoint.

As for the efficacy of the treat-ment, Sujok practitioners give a longlist of diseases which can be cured bythem like arthritis, bronchitis, asthma,cervical spondylosis, backache, pain inthe joint, migraine, hypertension,

sinusitis, partial deafness, paralysis,constipation, acidity, obesity, dia-betes, blood pressure, menstrual prob-lems and many more diseases relatedto different body organs. However,practitioners say they find it to be suc-cessful in all muscle and nerve-relat-ed diseases, too.

For instance, a senior retired vet-erinary surgeon who was admitted toa medical college hospital inDehradun, was later treated by the AllIndia Institute of Medical Sciences(AIIMS), Delhi, for almost eightmonths for axonal neuropathy. He wasput through 84 tests but to no avail.Ultimately, out of frustration he con-tacted a Sujok expert in Dehradun andwas cured in 90 days. Today he is fineand his nerve conduction value hasreached 56 per cent in medical termsfrom 14 per cent. Similarly two chil-dren suffering from cerebral palsy chil-dren have returned home after fullyrecovering, thanks to Sujok therapy.

In a huge, overpopulated and poorcountry like India, providing afford-able healthcare to all is still a very big

challenge for the Government and theprivate sector alike. Even though thehealthcare infrastructure has beenramped up to a very large extent dueto the COVID-19 pandemic, it is farfrom adequate. At a time like this,when a lot of emphasis is on preven-tion of the infection, ayurvedic andtraditional systems of medicine haveproved their efficacy in bolstering theimmune system. In the treatment ofchronic diseases, where Sujok thera-py has achieved excellent results, itneeds to be subsumed in the holisticand alternative healthcare system sothat it can be evolved to provide cheap-er and assured healthcare to our citi-zens. Health Minister Harsh Vardhan,who is a celebrated doctor himself,needs to evolve an integrated health-care policy for certain identified dis-eases where a combination of allforms of medical therapies can beapplied.

Sujok therapy offers the IndianGovernment an excellent way to treatsome untreatable diseases at an afford-able cost. However, it should not be

included without testing its efficacyand solid scientific proof. To judge itspotential and effectiveness, theGovernment must ask AIIMS, Delhi,and other prestigious medical institu-tions in the country to conduct stud-ies and standardise the protocols foridentified diseases before Sujok ther-apy is officially recognised.

Even as Sujok therapy continuesto grow in popularity globally and helpcountless people suffering from chron-ic diseases, Sujok leaders in Korea,particularly Minchul Park, son of pro-fessor Park who heads the SujokInternational Foundation, have theirtask cut out. Park, must rid the SujokIndia Association of vested interestswho are not allowing new practition-ers to flourish and are putting up road-blocks in the spread of the therapy fortheir own selfish interests.

One can only hope that in the end,Sujok will spread widely across thecountry and become a boon for thepoor and rich alike.

(The writer is a retired civil servant.The views expressed are personal)

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Berlin: German ChancellorAngela Merkel considers USPresident Donald Trump’s evic-tion from Twitter by the com-pany “problematic,” herspokesman said Monday.

Twitter permanently sus-pended Trump from themicroblogging platform onFriday, citing a “risk of furtherincitement of violence” in thewake of the storming of the USCapitol by supporters of the out-going president. Asked aboutTwitter’s decision, Merkel’sspokesman, Steffen Seibert, saidthe operators of social mediaplatforms “bear great responsi-bility for political communica-tion not being poisoned byhatred, by lies and by incitementto violence.” He said it’s right notto “stand back” when such con-tent is posted, for example byflagging it. AP

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Russian President VladimirPutin on Monday hosted

his counterparts from Armeniaand Azerbaijan, their first meet-ing since a Russia-brokeredtruce ended six weeks of fight-ing over Nagorno-Karabakh.

As he sat down for talks inthe Kremlin with Azerbaijan’sPresident Ilham Aliyev andArmenian Prime MinisterNikol Pashinyan, Putin saidthat the peace agreement hasbeen successfully implemented,laying the foundation for a fairsettlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

He noted that senior offi-cials from Armenia, Azerbaijanand Russia will now discuss fur-ther moves to restore trafficlinks in the region after thedecades-long conflict.

The November 10 peacedeal ended 44 days of hostilitiesin which the Azerbaijani armyrouted Armenian forces andreclaimed control over largeparts of Nagorno-Karabakhand surrounding areas.

Nagorno-Karabakh lieswithin Azerbaijan but wasunder the control of ethnicArmenian forces backed byArmenia since a separatist warthere ended in 1994.

Cairo: Egypt on Monday host-ed the Foreign Ministers ofGermany, France and Jordan todiscuss ways to revive peace talksbetween Israel and thePalestinians, a week beforePresident-elect Joe Biden takesoffice.

In Cairo, the ForeignMinistry said the aim of themeeting was to urge thePalestinians and Israelis to nego-tiate a “just and comprehensivepolitical settlement” on the basisof achieving a Palestinian statewith east Jerusalem as its capi-tal on territory Israel captured inthe 1967 Mideast war.

The Palestinians sufferednumerous setbacks under theoutgoing administration ofPresident Donald Trump andcomplained about what they saywere pro-Israeli steps fromWashington. Trump has side-lined the Palestinian Authority,recognised Jerusalem as Israelscapital and moved the USEmbassy there from Tel Aviv,slashed financial assistance forthe Palestinians and reversedcourse on the illegitimacy ofIsraeli settlements on landclaimed by the Palestinians.

Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi said last month

that Cairo has been workingtoward a two-state solution tothe Israeli-Palestinian conflict,“taking into account the region-al and international changes.” Hewas apparently referring toBiden’s election and the estab-lishment of ties with Israel byfour Arab countries — theUnited Arab Emirates, Bahrain,Sudan and Morocco.

Frances Foreign Ministrysaid the meeting would discussways to have Israelis andPalestinians embark on talks,building on “the positive region-al context” related to the recentnormalisation deals. AP

Beijing: China said on Monday that a group ofexperts from the WHO is due to arrive in thecountry on Thursday to probe the origins of thecoronavirus pandemic, ending the uncertaintyand delay which drew sharp criticism from theworld health body.

Experts from the WHO will conduct a fieldvisit to China on January 14, the state-runCGTN quoted China’s National HealthCommission as saying in a report.

The team’s visit to China, especially toWuhan where the virus first emerged inDecember last year, has become a bone of con-tention as Beijing, which questions the widely-held view about the virus’ origins in Wuhan, haddelayed granting permission the 10-memberteam of experts.

On January 9, Zeng Yixin, the deputy headof the National Health Commission (NHC) toldthe media here that the exact time of the team’sarrival in Wuhan was still under negotiations.

China and the World Health Organization(WHO) have reached a consensus on specificarrangements of the investigation with fourvideo conferences, Zeng said.

Once the WHO experts complete their pro-cedures and finalise the schedule, Chineseexperts will go to Wuhan with them to conductthe investigation, Zeng said.

Monday’s confirmation came after WHOchief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who isoften accused of being pro-China, in a rareinstance of criticism had expressed disap-pointment over Beijing not finalising the nec-essary permissions for the experts’ team’sarrival. PTI

Washington: Democrats in theHouse of Representatives havestepped up their bid to impeachDonald Trump in the waningdays of his presidency, con-tending that he should be heldaccountable for the unprece-dented mayhem by thousands ofhis supporters at the US Capitol.

The move to impeachTrump gained momentum onSunday with the HouseDemocrats announcing tointroduce the article ofimpeachment against the out-going Republican president onMonday.

This comes hours after theHouse of RepresentativesSpeaker Nancy Pelosi in a DearColleague letter to theDemocratic members laid theground rules for the move andgave an ultimatum to VicePresident Mike Pence to invokethe 25th Amendment of theConstitution.

The 25th Amendmentallows for the president to beremoved from office by the vicepresident and a majority of theCabinet.

“On Monday, I intend tohelp introduce a resolution

impeaching President Trumpfor high crimes and misde-meanours,” Congressman BradSchneider said on Sunday.

Describing the groundrules, Pelosi said, first thingMonday morning, HouseMajority Leader Steny Hoyerwill request UnanimousConsent to bring up the Raskinresolution which calls on theVice President to convene andmobilise the Cabinet to activatethe 25th Amendment to declarethe President incapable of exe-cuting the duties of his office,after which the Vice Presidentwould immediately exercise

powers as acting President.“If we do not receive

Unanimous Consent, this leg-islation is planned to bebrought up on the Floor the fol-lowing day. We are calling onthe Vice President to respondwithin 24 hours. Next, we willproceed with bringingimpeachment legislation to theFloor,” Pelosi said.

“In protecting ourConstitution and ourDemocracy, we will act withurgency, because this Presidentrepresents an imminent threatto both. As the days go by, thehorror of the ongoing assault

on our democracy perpetratedby this President is intensifiedand so is the immediate needfor action,” she wrote.

The calls for Trump’simpeachment intensified afterthousands of pro-Trump riot-ers on Wednesday stormed

the US Capitol, interrupting ajoint session of Congress wherelawmakers were set to certifyPresident-elect Joe Biden andVice President-elect KamalaHarris’ win in the November 3election. Five people died in theincident. PTI

*���������������������� ���3����Hong Kong: Hong Kong’s newtop judge warned on Mondaythat the semiautonomousChinese territory’s courts needto show they are impartialamid a flurry of politicallycharged cases or risk losingpublic trust.

Hong Kong has been in astate of political crisis aftermonths of anti-governmentprotests in 2019 led to Beijingimposing a national securitylaw on the city to quash dissent.Pro-democracy supportershave decried the security leg-islation as authorities sup-pressing the freedoms HongKong was promised when itwas handed over from Britishcontrol in 1997.

Last week, 55 pro-democ-racy activists were arrested ina sweeping police operation,and prominent pro-democra-cy activists such as JoshuaWong, Agnes Chow and out-spoken media tycoon JimmyLai are currently in jail for theiractivism. Hong Kong ChiefJustice Andrew Cheung, whowas sworn in on Monday, said

that judges in the city’s courtsmust be careful with theappearance of impartiality interms of what they say in courtor what they write in theirjudgments, especially in caseswith a political nature.

“Any lapses in this regard,given the potentially polarisingnature of these cases, could leadto suspicion of partiality, whichis not conducive to maintain-

ing public confidence in ourjudicial system,” Cheung said inhis first speech delivered aschief justice.

He said that it is equallycrucial to the public and busi-ness community that there isconfidence in the judicial sys-tem. Cheung also said that it isimportant to the internationalreputation of Hong Kong thatthe city is governed by the ruleof law under the so-called “onecountry, two systems” frame-work that allows Hong Kongfreedoms not found in main-land China.

Cheung also condemnedthreats of violence and doxxingattacks on judges, describingthem as futile and reprehensi-ble.

“Comments and criticisms,sometimes extreme and harshones, are unavoidable. Whilstthe freedom of speech ofeveryone in society must befully respected, there must notbe any attempt to exert improp-er pressure on the judges in thedischarge of their judicial func-tions,” he said. AP

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Washington: Secretary of StateMike Pompeo has announcedthat he will designate YemensIran-backed Houthi rebels as a“foreign terrorist organisation”as time runs down on theTrump administration. Thedesignation will take effect onJanuary 19, one day beforepresident-elect Joe Biden takesoffice.

The announcement Sundaycomes as Pompeo and his topaides rush to complete actionsthey believe will cement theirlegacy and the presidents. Inaddition to the Houthi desig-nation, Pompeo in coming daysis also expected to likely re-des-

ignate Cuba as a “state sponsorof terrorism,” according to sev-eral admininstration officials.

Both moves will impose orre-impose sanctions on thetargets and may complicatethe incoming Biden adminis-trations diplomacy. OnSaturday Pompeo angeredChina when he declaredrestrictions on U.S. Diplomaticcontacts with Taiwanese offi-cials to be null and void. Inaddition, Pompeo plans beforeleaving office on Jan. 20 to drawexplicit links between Iran andal-Qaida and hit more Iranianentities with sanctions, theofficials said. AP

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Yemen’s Iran-backed rebelson Monday dismissed the

US Move to designate them aterrorist organisation in thefinal days of the Trump admin-istration while a leading aidagency warned such a designa-tion would deal another “dev-astating blow” to the impover-ished and war-torn nation.

The planned designation,announced by U.S. Secretary ofState Mike Pompeo lateSunday, would take effect a daybefore President-elect JoeBiden is inaugurated January

20. It was not clear whetherBiden would overturn the deci-sion.

Yemen is mired in a disas-trous humanitarian crisis, withmillions of people in wideswaths of the country on thebrink of famine as a result of sixyears of civil war.

Pompeo said he was pro-ceeding with the designation ofthe rebels, known as Houthis,along with separate terroristdesignations for the three toprebel leaders. At the same time,he pledged the U.S. Wouldhelp absorb the impact on aidgroups and allow humanitari-

an assistance to continue toflow into Yemen.

Hours later, several seniorrebel figures slammedPompeo’s announcement.

“We are not fearful,” tweet-ed Mohammed Ali al-Houthi.“America is the source of ter-rorism. It’s directly involved inkilling and starving the Yemenipeople.”

Others said the designationwas an attempt to deflect atten-tion from the U.S. Political cri-sis in the wake of the deadlyCapitol rioting and efforts toimpeach President DonaldTrump. AP

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AChinese official onMonday denied Beijing

has imposed coercive birthcontrol measures amongMuslim minority women, fol-lowing an outcry over a tweetby the Chinese Embassy inWashington claiming that gov-ernment polices had freedwomen of the Uighur ethnicgroup from being “baby-mak-ing machines.”

Xu Guixiang, a deputyspokesperson for the Xinjiangregional government, toldreporters Monday that birthcontrol decisions were made ofthe person’s own free will andthat “no organisation or indi-vidual can interfere.”

“The growth rate of theUighur population is not only

higher than that of the wholeXinjiang population, but alsohigher than that of the minor-ity population, and more sig-nificantly higher than that ofthe (Chinese majority) Hanpopulation,” Xu said.

“As for the so-called forc-ing ethnic minority women inXinjiang to wear IUDs, orundergo tubal ligations orabortions, it is even moremalign.”

An Associated Press inves-tigation in June found that theChinese government was forc-ing draconian birth controlmeasures on Uighurs, Kazakhs,and other ethnic minorities inXinjiang, including IUD fit-tings, contraceptives, and evenabortions and sterilisations.

The measures are backedby the threat of detention,

with parents with three ormore children swept intocamps and prisons if they’reunable to pay massive fines.

As a result, the birth rate inXinjiang’s minority regionsplummeted by over 60 per centin just three years, even asBeijing eases birth restrictionson the Han population aheadof a looming demographic cri-sis.

Twitter took down theChinese Embassy’s January 7tweet following protests bygroups that accuse Beijing ofseeking to eradicate Uighurculture.

Users complained thetweet was a violation of rulesset by Twitter, which is blockedin China along with Facebookand other American socialmedia platforms.

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Dubai (United ArabEmirates): A Qatar Airwaysjetliner landed in Saudi Arabiaon Monday, completing thefirst direct flight from Doha toRiyadh since the kingdom’sboycott of the tiny, energy-richstate in 2017.

The resumption of directflights came after regionalheavyweight Saudi Arabiareopened its borders and air-

space with Qatar last week,paving the way for a broaderrapprochement.

At an annual Gulf summitmeeting in Al Ula, SaudiArabia, representatives of thefour boycotting countriessigned a pledge to resolve thebitter dispute that has frag-mented the typically clubbyGulf Cooperation Counciland troubled America’s for-

eign policy in the region,including its efforts to isolateIran.

Qatar Airwaysannounced it would restartdaily service to the capital ofRiyadh, four weekly flights tothe Red Sea city of Jeddahand daily flights to the east-ern city of Damman usingwide-body aircraft.

Saudi Airlines was alsoset to fly to Doha laterMonday. AP

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Mumbai:India’s domestic traf-fic declined around 45 percent to about 71 lakh passen-gers in December last yearover December 2019 even aspassenger traffic was up 12 percent sequentially overNovember 2020, ratingsagency Icra said in a release.

The capacity deploymentin December 2020 at around 67per cent (vis-a-vis December2019) is a significant increaseover the 52 per cent capacitydeployed in October 2020 and59 per cent in November, Icrasaid in a release.

The Indian aviation indus-try has witnessed a continuedrecovery in domestic passengertraffic in December 2020, witha sequential growth (overNovember 2020) of around 12per cent to about 71 lakh pas-sengers, the ratings agencysaid. The number of flightsdeparting has also graduallyincreased from 416 from theresumption of domestic oper-ations on May 25, 2020 to2,230 on Day 219 (December28, 2020), Kinjal Shah, VicePresident, Icra said.

PTI

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Banks’ gross non-performingassets may rise to 13.5 per

cent by September 2021, from7.5 per cent in September 2020under the baseline scenario,according to Financial StabilityReport (FSR) released by theReserve Bank of India.

If the macroeconomicenvironment worsens into asevere stress scenario, theGNPA ratio may escalate to14.8 per cent, the report said.

“The stress tests indicatethat the GNPA ratio of allscheduled commercial banks(SCBs) may increase from 7.5per cent in September 2020 to13.5 per cent by September2021 under the baseline sce-nario,” the FSR report added.

Among the bank groups,

public sector banks’ (PSBs)GNPA ratio of 9.7 per cent inSeptember 2020 may rise to16.2 per cent by September2021 under the baseline sce-nario, it noted.The gross non-performing asset (GNPA) ratioof private sector banks (PVBs)and foreign banks (FBs) mayincrease from 4.6 per cent and2.5 per cent to 7.9 per cent and5.4 per cent, respectively, overthe same period.In the severestress scenario, the GNPAratios of PSBs, PVBs and FBsmay rise to 17.6 per cent, 8.8per cent and 6.5 per cent,respectively, by September2021, the report said.”TheseGNPA projections are indica-tive of the possible economicimpairment latent in banks’portfolios, with implications forcapital planning,” it added.

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The Finance Ministry onMonday released the 11th

instalment of �6,000 crore tostates and UTs to meet the GSTcompensation shortfall, tak-ing the total amount providedso far under this window to�66,000 crore.The Centre hadset up a special borrowingwindow in October 2020 tomeet the estimated shortfall of� 1.10 lakh crore in revenuearising on account of imple-mentation of GST.

The Ministry of Finance ina statement said it has releasedthe 11th weekly instalment ofRs 6,000 crore to states/UnionTerritories to meet the GSTcompensation shortfall.

Out of this, �5,516.60 crorehas been released to 23 statesand �483.40 crore to the threeUnion Territories (UTs) withLegislative Assembly (Delhi,Jammu & Kashmir andPuducherry), who are mem-

bers of the GST Council.The remaining five states,

Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur,Mizoram, Nagaland andSikkim do not have a gap inrevenue on account of GSTimplementation, it said.

“The amount has beenborrowed this week at an inter-est rate of 5.10 per cent.

So far, an amount of�66,000 crore has been bor-rowed by the central govern-ment through the special bor-rowing window at an averageinterest rate of 4.72 per cent,”the statement said.

The borrowingsunder the special window havebeen done in 11 rounds

and the amount borrowedso far was released to the stateson October 23, November 2,November 9, November 23,December 1, December 7,December 14, December 21,December 28, 2020, andJanuary 4 and January 11 thisyear.

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The voluminous Budget doc-uments will not be printed

this year following the Covid-19 protocol and will instead bedistributed electronically tothe Members of Parliament(MPs).

This will be the first timesince the presentation of inde-pendent India’s first budget on

November 26, 1947, that thedocuments containing incomeand expenditure statement ofthe Union government alongwith finance bill, detailing newtax and other measures for thenew financial year, will not bephysically printed.

Due to COVID-19, it hasbeen decided not to print doc-uments related to the UnionBudget for the fiscal beginning

April (FY 2021-22), sourcessaid.

All MPs will get soft copiesof the budget and EconomicSurvey that contains an accountof the state of the economy.

The printing of documentsrequires staff to be locked up inthe basement printing press ofthe finance ministry couple ofweeks ahead of the presentationof the Budget.

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Domestic rating agency IcraRatings on Monday said it

expects the country’s real grossdomestic product (GDP) togrow by 10.1 per cent inFY2022.

It, however, said the valueof GDP in the next financialyear will only mildly surpassthe level that had been record-ed in FY2020.

“After a 7.8 per cent pan-demic-driven shrinkage in theongoing fiscal (FY2021), India’sreal GDP is projected to recorda growth of 10.1 per cent inFY2022.

The seemingly-sharpexpansion will be led by thecontinued normalisation ineconomic activities as the roll-out of Covid-19 vaccines gath-ers traction, as well as the lowbase,” the agency principaleconomist Aditi Nayar said ina report.

The agency’s principaleconomist expects a multi-

speed recovery in FY2022, withthe contact-intensive sectors,discretionary consumption andinvestment by the private sec-tor trailing the rest of the econ-omy, in the arduous marchback to attaining, and sustain-ing, pre-Covid levels.

“On a sobering note, weproject the aggregate value ofthe Indian GDP in real termsin FY2022, to be only mildlyhigher than the level recordedin FY2020,” Nayar added.

The agency expects theheadline CPI inflation todecline to 4.6 per cent inFY2022 from 6.4 per cent inFY2021, while exceeding themid-point of the MonetaryPolicy Committee’s (MPC’s)medium target of 4 per cent, forthe third consecutive year.

A favourable base wouldmoderate the retail food infla-tion to an average of 4.7 percent in FY2022 from 8 per centin FY2021, despite the pres-sures from edible oils, andprotein items such as pulses, it

said.With the CPI inflation

expected to remain above theMPC’s 4 per cent target duringFY2022, the agency expects anextended pause for the reporate.

It expects the “stance ofmonetary policy to be changedto neutral from accommoda-tive in the August 2021 policyreview or later, only after thereis greater certainty on the dura-bility of the awaited economicrevival.”

The report said RBI mayinitiate steps, in a calibratedmanner, to reduce the magni-tude of the systemic liquiditysurplus.

Nayar said the governmentsecurity yields will take a cuefrom the size of the borrowingprogramme of the central andthe state governments forFY2022, as well as the outlookfor inflation.

The agency expects thetwin deficits to display a diver-gent trend in FY2022.

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The market capitalisation ofall BSE-listed companies

jumped to an all-time high ofover �196.56 lakh crore onMonday as markets reachedlifetime high for the secondstraight session.At close oftrading session, market capi-talisation of BSE-listed com-panies was at � 1,96,56,811.32crore (USD 2.6 trillion).The 30-share BSE Sensex ended 486.81points or 1 per cent higher at49,269.32, closing above the49,000-level for the first time.During the day, it touched itsrecord intra-day high of49,303.79.”The Indian equitybegan today’s session trading atall-time highs, taking a cuefrom the Asian markets andannouncement of vaccinationdrive,” said Sumeet Bagadia,Executive Director, ChoiceBroking. HCL Tech was the topgainer in the Sensex pack,gaining 6.09 per cent, followedby Infosys, HDFC, Maruti,Tech Mahindra, Bajaj Autoand M&M.Sector-wise, BSE

IT, tech, auto, FMCG, realty,telecom and healthcare indicesgained up to 3.63 per cent.

“Markets started the weekon a robust note led by positiveglobal cues and strong earningsfrom IT behemoth TCS,”according to Ajit Mishra, VP -Research, Religare Broking Ltd.

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NITI Aayog and Flipkart onMonday launched a

revamped WomenEntrepreneurship Platform(WEP), in a bid to uplift andempower women-led busi-nesses in the country.

The revamped version willinclude an additional feature tooffer mentorship to womenwith specific knowledge con-cerning a problem area througha dedicated online mechanismfacilitated under FICCI-FLO’s‘Empowering the Greater 50%’mission.

“The WEP will become adigital place for entrepreneursto not only seek informationand support, but also helpeach other out,” said AmitabhKant, CEO, NITI Aayog, who

first mooted the idea of WEPin 2017.The community onthe WEP platform aims toconnect knowledge-seekingwomen entrepreneurs whohave questions or seek clarifi-cations on multiple aspects ofsetting up new businesses, orprogressing already establishedbusinesses. “The WomenEntrepreneurship Platformplays a critical role in upliftingand empowering women-ledbusinesses in their growthambition and we are privi-leged to partner with NITIAayog in enabling their journeyto success,” said KalyanKrishnamurthy, CEO, FlipkartGroup.

The revamped portal willencourage entrepreneurs toshare their journeys, stories andexperiences to nurture mutu-

al learning. In this process,FICCI will support NITI Aayogand WEP to lay special empha-sis on enhancing entrepre-neurial and decision-makingskills of women - based onmentorship programs andmentor-mentee matchmaking.

“We will make every effortto give more power to thewomen of India to be the bestform of themselves and con-tribute to a women-led devel-opment of the country as awhole,” said Dr Sangita ReddyImmediate Past PresidentFICCI.

New Delhi:Domestic institu-tional investors (DIIs) record-ed their first outflows in 2020after five years of inflows.

This is at odds with bulgebracket FIIs powering theindices to fresh highs virtual-ly daily, as on Monday the BSE

Sensex powered to a new peakcrossing 49,000. According toa report by Motilal OswalInstitutional Equities, in cal-endar year 2020, while FIIsinflows were at a record highs,outflows by DIIs were at freshhighs too.

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Now that the Government isclose to initiating a vacci-

nation plan for Covid-19, freshhope is riding among inboundtour operators about resump-tion of their business which isthe hardest hit during the pan-demic.

The Indian Association ofTour Operators, has urged theMinistry of Tourism andMinistry of Home Affairs toannounce the dates for restora-tion of e-visas and tourist visasand for normalisation of inter-national flights or prepare aroad map with some tentativedates.

Such a move, the associa-tion has said, will not just

send a positive signal to inter-national tourists about Indiabeing ready and prepared toreceive them but will also allowinbound tour operators to planahead for 2021.

This will also give someencouragement to the pan-demic-hit industry, whereearnings had almost hit zerolevels with limited supportcoming from the governmentunder Aatmanirbhar Bharatprogramme.

“To save the tourism jobsand the industry, it is impera-tive that the plan for inboundtourism should start as early aspossible for which the Ministryof Tourism and the stakehold-ers should start internationalmarketing.

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Mumbai:The rupee depreci-ated by 16 paise to close at73.40 against the US dollaron Monday, tracking arebound in the Americancurrency overseas. At theinterbank forex market, thedomestic unit opened at73.47 against the greenbackand witnessed an intra-dayhigh of 73.37 and a low of73.50.The local unit finallysettled at 73.40, registering afall of 16 paise over its pre-vious close.

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Global shares and U.S.Futures were mostly

lower Monday as hopes formore U.S. Economic aid werecountered by fears overspreading damage from thepandemic.

France’s CAC 40 slipped0.5 per cent in early tradingto 5,677.99, while Germany’sDAX slipped 0.8 per cent to13,943.02.

Britain’s FTSE 100 shed0.4 per cent to 6,843.12. U.S.Shares were poised for aweak start with Dow futuresdown nearly 0.7 per cent at30,793.00. S&amp;P 500futures fell 0.6 per cent to3,794.00.

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Mumbai: As part of the UnionBudget 2021-22 expectations,jewellery industry has urgedthe Government that tax rate,including import duty on goldand GST, should be reduced to7 per cent to curb gold smug-gling in the country, boostgold trade and strengthen con-

sumer confidence and demandfor gold jewellery.

“High import duty is theroot cause of smuggling and taxevasion... Reduced import dutywill destroy the illegal goldtrade spread across the coun-try,” said Malabar Group chair-man MP Ahammed.

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�����% ������ Springonions, also known asgreen onions, are knownfor its antibacterialand antiviralproperties. Theyare an excellentmedicine to fightagainst viral andflu.

Spring onions alsohelp in reducing excessmucus and fightagainst the wintercold which often ends upmaking you feel miserable.

They have carotenoidswhich help to keep thevision healthy and intact. Itis also rich in vitamin Awhich prevents loss of eye-sight. Club these withsome carrots and cucum-bers as it tastes great when

savoured in the formof salads.

Spring onions arealways preferred asappetisers. They arerich in fiber and helpsin better digestion. Youcan pair it with othervegetables for dinner orlunch as well but doremember to add it inyour daily diet routine,either cooked or raw.

Sulphur present inthe spring onion plays amajor role in loweringblood sugar levels as well.Due to the Sulphur com-pounds, the body’s abili-ty to produce insulin

tends to increase. Thishelps to preventDiabetes to a greatextent.

Not only cough, cold andviral infections, wintersare driving condition forbone related issues as well.

Many people are seen reportingabout joint pain or with increasedseverity of conditions like arthritisosteoporosis etc. during this season.Also it may be a tough time for thosewho recently had a fracture or anyother bone injury. A person’s over-all wellbeing depends upon skeletalhealth as well. So how does winteraffect bone health and how preven-tion can be ensured?

Winters lead to increased mus-cular spasm. Hence if you are fac-ing some extra fatigue or acute pain,it may be associated with increasedmuscular spasm. In our experiencepeople in winters report more withjoint pain, back pain, neck pain etc.issues. Also health of people suffer-ing from arthritis, osteoporosis etcis more at risk in this weather.

In winters you may feel moretempted to unnecessarily rest underthe cosy cover of blankets but it isnot advisable. Avoid binge eatingand keep the nutrition value high.As unprecedented lockdown hasinduced some unhealthy habits inmany households due to more stayat home, many of them have con-fined themselves to gadgets andunnecessary munching, and lazywinters are there just add more stiff-ness to the bones. Apart from lead-ing to obesity it is equally threaten-ing for your bones as well. This hasto be avoided.

Always keep your posture rightwhile sitting, watching screen, evenreading or writing. These daysworking on laptops and other gad-gets is important, still avoid takingthem to your bed. Fix a place foroffice work at your home withtable and chair which can ensureright posture and comfort.

Especially women reaching orreached menopause should be extracautious about their calcium andother nutrients intake. Inmenopause sudden hormonalchange can cause calcium decay andthe pain may get worse in winters.Hence take extra care.

Children are also more vulner-able to fall sick in winters, and their

physical activities are also restrict-ed. This is also a major concern thatproblems like arthritis, obesity aregetting common in children aswell. Many children are also takingonline education; inspire them alsofor same healthy habits instead ofjust scolding them, because they arealso dealing with pandemic gener-ated stress.

Be regular with your medi-cines and doctor’s suggestion ifalready suffering from any disease.Always consult them for pain.

Keep the nutrition value high;add milk, green vegetables, nuts, sea-sonal fruits to your diet.

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In India there is a high incidence of childhood and adult blind-ness, but the problem of strabismus or squint is often over-

looked, either because of ignorance or lack of access to adequateeye care. Squint is a condition in which the eyes are not alignedwith each other in the same direction therefore they are not capa-ble of focusing on the same spot at the same time. Strabismusoccurs because of the absence of coordination between theextraocular muscles. As a result, while one eye may be lookingstraight, the other may be directed inward (esotropia), outward(exotropia), upward (hypertropia) or downward (hypotropia) withthe individual appearing cross-eyed.

Misalignment of eyes in the first few months is normal. Ittakes upto three months for the coordination to develop. Squintcan be congenital and associated with genetic disorders oracquired after birth. Some conditions may run in families. Squintcan also be a consequence of some common refractive errors suchas short-sightedness (myopia), long-sightedness (hyperopia) orastigmatism. Of these, long-sightedness is particularly respon-sible for squint in young children between six months and two

years. The inturning of eyes inthese children can be correct-ed by simply prescribing thecorrect spectacle power.Trauma during delivery orinfectious viral diseases con-tracted during childhood canalso lead to squint. In adults,trauma, tumor or other infec-tions of the brain or eye canlead to sudden onset squint.However, in many patients thereason for squint remainsunidentified.

If medical intervention isnot made at the opportune timein the early stages, squint canfurther degenerate into what is

called amblyopia, commonly known as lazy eye. This occursbecause the brain tends to ignore signals or inputs from one eyeto avoid double vision. If discovered late, amblyopia is nearlyimpossible to cure completely. In fact, even after surgical treat-ment of squint during childhood, the squinting eye might remainamblyopic for life. Some patients experience blurred vision, strain,headache and inability to concentrate. On a psychosocial scale,squint makes patients conscious of their appearance andreduces their ability to make eye contact with people.

When should squint be treated?Squint should be treated as early as possible in children in

order to prevent the development of lazy eye. If left untreated,the child will be unable to develop 3-D vision and thus lose depthperception. Cosmetic appearance of a patient can be improvedat any age. However, adults who develop sudden onset doublevision require urgent treatment.

Treatment: While medical intervention during early yearsis recommended, strabismus can be treated at any stage in life.Depending on the cause of squint, several types of treatmentsare available. For instance, if refractive errors are a cause, glass-es with the right power can remedy the condition. Or, if one eyeseems stronger than the other, an eye patch can be used to forcethe weaker eye to function better. Then for some, eye exercisessuch as Home-Based Pencil Pushups (HBPP) are recommend-ed to strengthen the eye muscles. Eye drops and botox have arole in a few cases. For those that remain uncured, surgery hasto be performed. The surgical intervention requires readjustmentof the extraocular muscles and must be made timely.

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Dry skin and crackedheels are a part andparcel of winters.

As much as they arepainful, they look unpleas-ing too.

Here are a few tipsthat can help.

First, soakyour feet inl u k e w a r m ,soapy waterfor about 15m i n u t e s .One can alsoadd a pinchof salt to it.Remove anduse a loofah or afoot scrubber toremove the hard skin. Patdry. Once done, applymoisturiser to lock in themoisture.

Second, use honey.Honey has antimicrobialand antibacterial proper-

ties. One can use honey asa foot scrub after a soak, orapply it as a foot maskovernight.

Third, coconut oil. Itcan help your skin retain

moisture. Using coconutoil after a foot soak

could be a goodoption, too.

Coconut oil’santi-inflam-matory andantimicrobialp r o p e r t i e smay help heal

your crackedheels if they’re

prone to bleedingor infections.Fourth, oil your feet.

Make a mixture of two tspcastor oil, two tsp olive oiland two tsp almond oil andmassage it onto your heelsevery night before sleeping.This will help in healing.

Cracked heels can be bothpainful and annoying. Notto mention, unpleasing too.ROSHANI DEVI tells you

how with the help of simplekitchen ingredients one can

treat it

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Skin pigmentation refers to the colourof the skin. Skin pigmentation or darkpatches are a common issue amongst

both males & females wherein the skinbecomes darker often in patches. Hence,one gets uneven skin tone. The main causefor skin pigmentation is overproduction ofthe brown pigment called melanin. Melaninis the pigment responsible for the colourof the skin and is made by melanocyte cellsin the skin.

Skin rashes like rosacea, psoriasis,eczema, contact dermatitis; skin infectionssuch as acne, ringworm, tinea versicolor,candidiasis, medical conditions, and hor-monal changes due to pregnancy cancause the formation of skin pigmentationand dark patches.

Certain external factors and medicationcan also cause dark patches or skin pigmen-tation. UV rays are the biggest cause thattrigger the overproduction of melanin.However, the damage caused by UV raysis not visible immediately, it will be visibleover a period of time.

Hyperpigmentation is generally harm-less but can sometimes be caused by anunderlying medical condition. Therefore,it is advised to consult a qualified derma-tologist if someone is facing skin pigmen-tation problems.

There are several types of skin pigmen-tation such as age spots or solar lentiginosis(Liver Spots), melasma or chloasma, freck-les (Ephelides) and post-inflammatoryhyperpigmentation.

The following are some tips and homeremedies one can follow to get rid of skinpigmentation and dark patches:� Apply sunscreen every day at least 15-20minutes before heading out in the sun as itneed some time to get absorbed in the skin.Reapply sunscreen after every 4 hours or usephysical sunscreen as it provides protectionfor long duration. This is the most impor-tant step towards preventing and treatingskin pigmentation.� Apple cider vinegar contains polypheno-lic compounds that are beneficial in man-aging pigmentation. One can apply it daily. � Take oral supplements like Vitamin C orglutathione. These can boost the skin’sresilience to the UV rays of sun.� Potatoes are known for their anti-pig-mentation properties. It can work quite wellon pigmented areas and blemishes. For this,cut a potato into half and dip the sliced partinto water. Rub the potato slice on the affect-ed areas in a circular motion for about 10minutes. Wash off the face with lukewarmwater. Repeat this procedure twice orthrice in a week to get rid of dark patchesof the skin.� Apply black tea water on the skin. Forthis soak a cotton ball in black tea water andapply it on the pigmented skin at least twicea day. � Coconut oil helps to remove the deadskin cells and also protects it from theharmful UV rays of the sun. Take a fewdrops of coconut oil and massage it well sothat it penetrates deep down the skin’s lay-ers. Leave the oil on the skin for about 20-25 minutes so that it gets absorbed. Washthe face and repeat this method thrice ina week.����������������������� ���)�������D�%����������

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In next three decades, the number of elder-ly people in the 60 plus age group in India

will be over 319 million, threefold the num-ber identified by the Census in 2011, as perthe recently released Longitudinal AgeingStudy of India (LASI) by the Government.

It presents disturbing scenario for not onlythose in the sunset of their life but their care-takers too.

“About 45 million have cardiovasculardiseases and hypertension, 20 million sufferfrom Diabetes, and 24 per cent of the elder-ly have difficulty in performing daily func-tions such as walking, eating, toileting,” saysKS James, director of The InternationalInstitute of Population Sciences (IIPS),Mumbai, the nodal institution for implement-ing the survey.

“But what is more worrying is we are notyet geared to cater to the needs of the elder-ly. Despite such a huge chunk of population,trained elderly care physicians do not existeven in the triple digit,” adds Dr PrasunChatterjee, Associate Professor, Departmentof Geriatric Medicine, AIIMS, Delhi.

The ageing population surely has multi-faceted problems concerning their health,family and society.

“These problems are usually interrelatedto their medical illiteracy, perception towardsrandom events of life, incomplete wishes andthe attitude of the next two generations of soci-

ety towards them,” he says.Here are some of the major diseases that

take a toll on the elderly people if they do notadopt healthy lifestyle.

Heart disease: The number of cases ofheart disease in senior citizens across Indiain 2050 is forecasted to be about 19.1 million.As people age, they’re increasingly living withrisk factors, such as high blood pressure andhigh cholesterol, that increase the chances ofhaving a stroke or developing heart disease.

Arthritis: The most common arthritisseen in India is age-related degenerative arthri-tis which involves degeneration (wear andtear) of cartilage and can affect any joint suchas the knee. The reasons for early onset infemales include obesity and poor nutritionwith as many as 90 per cent Vitamin D defi-cient.

Cancer: Cancer is the second leadingcause of death among people over age 65. InIndia, the number of cases of cancer in seniorcitizens across India in 2050 is forecasted tobe about 1.3 million. If caught early throughscreenings, such as mammograms, colono-scopies, and skin checks, many types of can-cer are treatable.

Fall: Common among the older adultseither with or without falls and considered asimportant risk factors for falls, especially asone advance in aging.

Respiratory diseases: Chronic lower

respiratory diseases, such as chronic obstruc-tive pulmonary disease (COPD), are the thirdmost common cause of death among people65 and older.

Alzheimer’s and Dementia: TheAlzheimer’s Association reports that one innine people age 65 and older, which is about11 per cent, have Alzheimer’s disease.Similarly, the proportion of people withdementia in age groups of 60-75 years isexpected to increase steadily over time.

Osteoporosis: Osteoporosis is a majorclinical problem in older women and men.Almost any bone can fracture as a result ofthe increased bone fragility of osteoporosis.These fractures are associated with higherhealth care costs, physical disability, impairedquality of life, and increased mortality.

Diabetes: Diabetes can be identified andaddressed early with simple blood tests forblood sugar levels. The sooner you know thatyou have or are at risk for Diabetes, the soon-er you can start making changes to controlthe disease.

Dr AB Dey, former Head of Departmentof Geriatric Medicine, AIIMS advices incul-cating healthy lifestyle choices, like quittingsmoking and losing weight, intake of rich pro-tein diet and keeping one self physically andmentally engaged can help elderly avoid healthrisks. They should also go for routine check-up for timely medical treatment, if required.

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Winters make your body stiff fordiverse reasons. In winters

blood vessels shrink because of fallin temperature and as a resultblood supply is affected aroundjoints and musculature. This con-dition may aggravate your old jointpain.� First of all avoid washing

painful joints with the mixtureof warm water and salt whichis often seen in many house-

holds in the name of homeremedy. Secondly, never takepain killers without propersuggestion. Such temporaryreliefs will not serve the pur-pose. The acute pain may needbigger attention and treat-ment. Rely only on only doc-tor’s suggestion and prescribedmedicines, therapies.

�Wear required layers of wool-lens as temperature goes down.

Especially in case of joint painor bone injury keep yourselfsafe from winters.

� In winters lack of physicalactivities also aggravates morestiffness and results in bonehealth issues. Make daily rou-tine of exercise of at least 20 to30 minutes. Do regular stretch-ing, maintain good postureand avoid sitting for too long.

� Adequate intake of water isseen reduced in winters. Hencekeep yourself hydrated, drinkadequate water.

� Keeping calcium intake highsolely doesn’t serve the purposeif one is deprived of othernutrients like protein andVitamin D. In urban areas it isquite apparent that lesser expo-sure of sunshine has made avast majority Vitamin D defi-cient which plays a major rolein absorption of calcium. Dosome physical activities orexercise daily for at least 20minutes under sun exposure.

� Take extra care of children andelderly in this regard.

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Actor Pankaj Tripathi says he under-stands why women stay mum

about issues related to their marriedlives, from domestic abuse to sexualabuse, after working on web seriesCriminal Justice: Behind Closed Doors.

The show, through the story of AnuChandra, portrayed by actor KirtiKulhari, spotlights marital sexual abuseand the trauma the victim goes throughbehind closed doors. In the show,Pankaj is seen as a lawyer fighting Anu’scase.

“It was unknown to me why womenkept quiet when they went throughsome trauma in their personal life, theywere tight-lipped when asked to sharetheir problems. I, as a man, didn’t real-ly know how to decode it,” Pankaj said.

“This issue exists in our society,whether we stay in liberal urban citiesor places outside the city, so why notspeak up. But after playing the charac-ter of Madhav Mishra and decodingwhy Anuradha Chandra killed herhusband I finally understood why mostwomen like her are not vocal about theirproblems,” he added.

Pankaj continued, “Especially withissues related to their married livesbecause clearly the society demandsthem to be locked in the closed doorsof their homes. Through this show, wehope that more and more women areinvoked to share their problems and

take the right step for themselves.”Now, the actor along with stars

including Pratik Gandhi, Vijay Varma,Pavail Gulati, Nakuul Mehta and KaranTacker, has featured in a video whichtalks about the importance of consentbefore getting intimate.

“Sex without consent is sexualabuse, before marriage and after mar-riage,” Pankaj says in the video.

He has had a phenomenal run ofsuccess so far, but he is aware that theremight come a time when his workdraws criticism. Every actor goesthrough such a phase, he says, and heknows how to deal with it.

“I know that a day will come whenI may face criticism because I am ahuman being and we all have someflaws. No one is perfect. But I am not,and will never be, that arrogant manwho would say ‘audience ko kya pataperformance kya hota hai (what doesthe audience know of performance)?’ Ithink that is a very wrong approach. Ihave a way and that has come from thefact that I have got late success,” he said.

“If there is constructive criticism, Iwill surely introspect, because that is theway to grow as an individual. I cannotsay I know it all. No. As an actor, I amconstantly working on the nuances inmy performance, and the possibility isendless,” he added.

“I am the same actor who startedfrom zero, I started with one scene, onedialogue... a small part. My aim is tomake that single opportunity magnify.I will make you remember that one dia-logue. Since I did not get successovernight, I do not have the arrogance.I could have, if I would have got suc-cess at the age of 30! I have crossed 45now, and every achievement makes mehumble and not arrogant,” explained theactor.

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Artificial Intelligence (AI) andMachine Learning (ML) havebeen the hottest buzzwords in the

decade that has gone by. According toa study, 77 per cent of the devices thatwe use in our day-to-day lives are nowpowered by AI and ML. From platformslike Netflix and Facebook to productslike Amazon’s Alexa and Google Home,AI has become the core of nearly everyproduct and service that we comeacross.

In 2020, the enterprise world hasalso added to the capabilities of AI assis-tants as they help build strong customerrelationships and smooth business oper-ations. No wonder Conversational AIhas become a fascination of globalbusiness leaders and SMEs alike.

AI-ML industry is growing rapidlyand unlocking new avenues for enter-prises aiming to bring vital changes inthe ecosystem. According to a Gartnerstudy, around 37 per cent of all compa-nies reviewed were found utilisingsome type of ML in their business. It isanticipated that around 80 per cent ofmodern advances will be based aroundAI and ML by 2022. The GlobalArtificial Intelligence Hardware Marketwas valued at approximately USD 9.8billion in 2019 and is pegged to growwith a healthy CAGR of more than 37.5per cent over the forecast period 2020-2027.

So as we begin a promising decadein the new normal, it becomes impor-tant to know about the trends of AI-MLthat might follow.

ROBOTIC PROCESS AUTOMATION+ AI = HYPER-AUTOMATION

Hyper-automation was identified byGartner as one of the best technologytrends to be used in an organisation forautomation. The pandemic has steppedup the adoption of the concept inwhich all the company’s operationsshould be automated including legacybusiness processes. AI and ML are thesignificant drivers of hyper-automation.If Robotic Process Automation (RPA),Machine Learning (ML), and ArtificialIntelligence (AI) work in harmony toautomate complex business processes,then hyperautomation is a means forreal digital transformation.

POWER OF MACHINE LEARNING(ML) + INTERNET OF THINGS(IOT)

Kevin Ashton is considered as thefather of IOT, which comprises a smartinfrastructure connected via the inter-net to the cloud. The Internet of Thingsbecame a rapidly emerging segment inthe last decade. Economic analystTransforma Insights has forecasted thatthe worldwide IoT market will comprise24.1 billion devices by 2030, producing$1.5 trillion in income. Arthur Samuel

is the inventor of Machine Learningwho defined this term in 1959. The util-isation of Machine Learning is progres-sively interlaced with IoT. MachineLearning, Artificial Intelligence andDeep Learning, for instance, are nowbeing used to make IoT devices and ser-vices smarter and more secure.

AUGMENTED REALIT Y INCHATBOTS

Artificial Intelligence together withAugmented Reality (AR) is consideredone of the main enablers of the Internetof Senses (IoS), a megatrend from 2021toward 2030. AR is quite a unique tech-nology which actually takes customerengagement to virtual reality.Innovation in this regard is the app forthe users where chatbot leverages aug-mented reality to facilitate the purchasedecision, prompting customers with rel-evant recommendations. For example,

if you want to see how a particular shoewould fit you, you can use AR technol-ogy or use AR to determine the correctsize for your shoes by clicking anduploading a picture of your feet.

REINFORCEMENT LEARNINGReinforcement Learning is the area

of ML that can be used by companiesin the future for deep learning, therebyimproving the effectiveness of gathereddata. An ideal illustration of reinforce-ment learning is a chatbot that address-es simple user queries like greetings,order booking and consultation calls andthrough reinforcement learning buildsand improves on these interactions giv-ing it the ability to address more com-plex user queries such as product demosetc.

BUSINESS FORECASTING ANDANALYSIS

This technology is strategised byexperts to screen a set of data over a peri-od of time which then is examined andutilised for making smart decisions.With the changing strategies, the ML net-works can give conjectures with accura-cy as high as 95 per cent. Companies willsoon start fusing recurrent neural net-works for high fidelity forecasting.

INCREASED ADOPTION OF HYPERPERSONALISED ANDCONTEXTUAL COMMUNICATION

We have all heard of the saying that“content is king.” But 2021 will bring ina change where we hear “context is king.”

With the adoption of AI and MLtools and methods, we will see brandsand organisations increasingly adopt amore personalised and context drivenapproach to communication.

(The writer, Maaz Ansari, is the co-founder and CEO of ORI.)

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India’s injury woes in the Testseries against Australia com-

pounded on Monday after thehero of their drawn game inSydney, Hanuma Vihari, wasruled out of the fourth andfinal match with a hamstringtear that could keep him out ofaction for a considerable time.

It has been learnt thatVihari was taken for scansafter the match got over andthe reports are expected by lateevening or Tuesday morning.

However, a BCCI sourceconfirmed that Vihari isunlikely to be fit in time for thenext Test match starting inanother three days’ time.

“The extent of Vihari’stear can only be ascertainedafter the scan reports come

through. But even if it’s agrade 1 tear, he is out for atleast four weeks and then willneed some rehabilitation time.So it’s not only Brisbane Testbut also, he won’t be a part ofEngland Tests at home,” asenior source revealed onMonday.

As far as Vihari’s replace-ment is concerned, the teamonly has two options — eitherto play Wriddhiman Saha as awicketkeeper and Rishabh Pantpurely as a batsman or bring inMayank Agarwal as a middle-order batsman who can takeon the second new ball.

In another importantdevelopment, Shardul Thakur,with way more first-class expe-rience and better batting abil-ities compared to rookieThangarsu Natarajan, is like-ly to replace an injuredRavindra Jadeja in Brisbane ona track that is supposed to bethe bounciest of the series.

PUCOVSKI INJUREDDebutant Australian bats-

man Will Pucovski onMonday injured his shoulderand has been taken for scansto a hospital here.

The 22-year-old hurt hisright shoulder after diving forthe ball at mid-wicket in the86th over of India’s innings onthe fifth day.

After the dive, Pucovskistayed down for a few secondsclutching his shoulder as histeammates came to help him.

The youngster then left thefield at the end of the over,leaving his participation in thefinal Test in doubt.

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Ravichandran Ashwin andHanuma Vihari battled painand a hostile Australian bowl-

ing attack while resolutely displayingthe largely extinct art of Test-savingbatsmanship to snatch a remarkabledraw for India after Rishabh Pantraised visions of an improbable winhere on Monday.

Chasing a herculean target of 407,Pant (97 off 118 balls) and the ever-steady Cheteshwar Pujara (77 off 205balls) produced an amazing 148-runstand before India were forced todown the shutters finishing on 334 for5 in 131 overs when players shookhands.

The series stands at 1-1 going intothe fourth Test in Brisbane but anIndian team which has turned into a‘mini-hospital’ would be walkingaway with a lot of pride. They put upa proper fight in adverse circum-stances already soured by racistchants and abuses from the crowdhere during the course of the game.

Pant’s innings will be remem-bered for a long time but none canforget that Ashwin (39 no, 128 balls)and Vihari (23 off 161 balls), battlinga hamstring injury, put their bodieson line to save a game which couldhave been lost in a jiffy after their twobest batsmen were gone on the day.

“Our talk coming this morningwas to show character and fight tillthe end. Not to think about the result.Really happy with the way we foughtespecially today but also throughoutthe game,” skipper Ajinkya Rahanesaid at the post-match presentation.

Pat Cummins (26-6-72-1), JoshHazlewood (26-12-39-2), MitchellStarc (22-6-66-0) and Nathan Lyon(46-17-114-2) threw everything theyhad, peppering them with shortballs, hitting the patches with a fewjumping from the spot.

“...This one’s a tough one toswallow. Our bowlers were superb,Lyon bowled well. Just that we (espe-cially me) didn’t hold onto our catch-es,” said Australian skipper TimPaine after the match.

The duo, in 42.4 overs, scrapedtheir way for a 62-run stand, whichcertainly would have made RahulDravid proud on his 48th birthday.

Vihari hobbled with a torn ham-string but defended dourly, Ashwingot hit on the ribs but carried on man-fully while also engaging in somechatter with Tim Paine and close-infielders.

Catches landed in no man’s landand that was the slice of luck theyneeded. When Marnus Labuschagnewas brought in the 112th over, oneknew that they had done their job.

The great Neville Cardus hadonce said “Scoreboard is an ass” andmany years down the line, it proba-bly won’t highlight what Vihari andAshwin endured and what they didfor the team.

The dressing room will howev-er always know that and respect themfor the bruised ribs and torn ham-string.

Perhaps, it was the was the bestway to honour the brilliance of Pant

and the assuredness of Pujara. Somuch so that Ravindra Jadeja, withhis broken thumb, was all gloved upand ready to go in if need be.

There was method to madness inPant’s exhilarating innings duringwhich he hit 12 fours and three sixesoff 118 balls. His ‘cat and mouse’ gamewith the world’s best off-spinnerNathan Lyon was one for the ages.

But it was Lyon, who had the lastlaugh when Pant’s desperation to getto the three-figure mark before thesecond new ball saw him try to hit thespinner against the turn.

The result would have horrifiedhis partner Pujara, who looked far

more purposeful during his 205-ballknock.

He got a beauty from JoshHazlewood and was bowled in themanner he has often been — playinginside the line to a delivery that movesa shade after pitching.

Pant was promoted above Vihari

as playing the surviving game would-n’t have helped on this track at leastin the first session and also the left-right combination needed to be inplace.

Pant defended for the first 35 oddballs but then, suddenly in a couple

of overs from Lyon, hit him over longon for a six and three fours using hisfeet to perfection.

Tim Paine then decided tochange Lyon’s end from Randwick toPaddington but the result was twomore sixes — one over long-off andother over long-on.

This sudden attack did forcePaine to again change his end backto Randwick. Pujara also seemed togain in confidence and played thatwhip off mid-wicket to further tor-ment the off-spinner.

The left-hander, who hit eightfours and three sixes, was also severeon Mitchell Starc, creaming himthrough covers on a number ofoccasions and jabbing a short ballthrough point.

He was a bit lucky on two occa-sions with Paine dropping sharpchances off Lyon.

But what will stay on for a long

time was the assured footwork andstrategy against the off-spinner toreach the pitch of the deliveries.

On most occasions, he just camedown the track to smother the spinand disturb Lyon’s natural length.

There was a point in time justbefore lunch when Lyon had asmany as five fielders posted at vari-ous boundary points for a lofted shot,a departure from his usual attackingfield.

Knowing that the second newball will be due in the second session,Pant smashed four boundaries in notime which also gave Pujara confi-dence to play his strokes and he toobrought out the pull-shot out of hisrepertoire.

Once he was gone, Vihari, witha pulled hamstring and Ashwin, hadno option but to go for a draw andthey did it with a commendableeffort.

Sydney: The Indian cricketteam is all set to leave forBrisbane on Tuesday afterBCCI secretary Jay Shah’sassurance to Cricket Australiaended the uncertainty over thefourth and final Test at thevenue, which has reduced itscrowd capacity to 50 per centfor the game.

The BCCI had written toCA about relaxation of hardquarantine rules in Brisbaneas complying with themwould have confined theIndian players to their hotelrooms after the day’s play,something they had strong

reservations about. The matchstarts January 15.

“I want to thank theQueensland Government fortheir cooperation and willing-ness to working closely withCA and the BCCI so we candeliver the fourth Test asplanned,” Cricket Australiainterim CEO Nick Hockleysaid in a statement.

The players are nowexpected to be in an IPL likebio-bubble where they canmingle among themselves inthe hotel. Australia have notlost a Test at the Gabba since1988. PTI

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Ravichandran Ashwin onMonday equated Hanuma

Vihari’s unbeaten 23 off 161 ballsin a match-saving stand of 62runs with him in the third Testto scoring a hundred.

Vihari pulled his hamstringat the start of his innings and wasstruggling to run between thewickets but pulled off a remark-able draw for India on day fiveof the third Test.

“After Pujara and Pant’swicket and with Vihari injured,it was going to be difficult to gofor a win. Touring Australia isnever easy so Vihari can beproud of himself. It was a knockequal to scoring a hundred,”Ashwin told Channel 7.

Ashwin said the confidencegained from productive net ses-sions helped him finally comegood against Australia as he andVihari saved the third Test.

“I have been batting well in

the nets, so it was great tospend some time in the middle.Chasing 400 in Sydney wasnever going to be easy, as the ballwas going up and down. Thatknock by Pant set us up,” he said.

In a tweet after the game,Ashwin's wife Prithi revealedthat he was struggling withacute back pain last night.

“The man went to bed lastnight with a terrible back tweakand in unbelievable pain. Hecould not stand up straightwhen he woke up this morning.Could not bend down to tie hisshoe laces. I am amazed at what@ashwinravi99 pulled off today,”she wrote.

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A“bitterly disappointed”Australia captain Tim

Paine conceded he “hasn’thad too many worse days”than Monday after his threedropped catches “let the teamdown” and played their partin India pulling off a draw inthe third Test here.

Paine said he was belowpar behind the stumps afterIndia held on for a draw inpursuit of 407.

Paine dropped twocatches of Rishabh Pant,who made a fluent 97 andraised hopes of an Indianwin, and then droppedone of Hanuma Vihari,who remained unbeat-en on 23 and ensuredthat the game ended in adraw along withRavichandran Ashwin (39not out).

“Obviously thedropped catches haveplayed a part in the result.

Probably going both waysto be far. But I am bitterlydisappointed, I pride myself

on my wicketkeeping.Haven’t had too many

worse days than thattoday,” Paine said at

the virtual post-match press con-ference.

“It’s a horriblefeeling knowing

our fast bowlers andour spinner (NathanLyon) bowled theirhearts out and gave

everything to the team.I certainly feel I let them

down.“I have to wear that, but

I’ll get another crack at itnext week so move on,” said the

wicket-keeper referring tothe fourth and final Test in

Brisbane.According to the

Australia skipper,India deserved theresult as they

fought hard.

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The aches and pains they carriedto the field had numbed to

such an extent by the end of it allthat Ravichandran Ashwin andHanuma Vihari had no idea whatthey had pulled off by steeringIndia to an unforgettable drawagainst Australia with their three-hour vigil.

Ashwin came in with a soreback, Vihari had a hamstring tearthat severely restricted his abilityto run between the wickets. Whatthe two did not lack was theresolve to hang in there and fight.

“With his hamstring and my(sore) back, we did not want tolose concentration and play a(bad) shot. In the last four-fiveovers we knew we were close andwe started to slip a bit. So we want-ed to rotate the strike and playeach other’s end,” Ashwin said ina bcci.Tv interview which alsofeatured Vihari with him.

“We did not even celebratetowards the end because we didnot know what to make out of it.Because we were so channelised intaking on a certain particularbowler and keep blocking.”

Vihari added a touch of extraoptimism to the conversation,saying that he could have takenIndia to a win had he not beeninjured and Cheteshwar Pujara(77) stayed a bit longer.

“Getting a draw was a fabulousresult. I feel if I was not injured andPujara stayed some more time itcould have been a different result,maybe it would have been a fab-ulous win,” he said.

Ashwin made 39 not out off128 balls and Vihari 23 not out off161 balls on day five for a resolute62-run sixth-wicket partnership.

“If you talk about premoni-tions, from when I went to bed lastnight with a sore back I wastelling myself that if I keep deadbatting everything, how (Faf) duPlessis did at Adelaide, I can givemyself a good chance,” Ashwinsaid.

In the Adelaide Test in 2012,du Plessis batted for more than oneday for his 110 not out off 376 balls

to save the match against Australiawhile chasing 430 in the fourthinnings.

On communicating withVihari all through their partner-ship, Ashwin said, “Runs were notimportant in that situation. It wasmore about batting time.Whenever we are comfortablewith a particular bowler or ceratinspell we wanted to hang on.

Vihari said the enormity ofwhat he and Ashwin achieved issinking in very slowly for him.

“It was something you canonly dream of, batting on day fiveof a Test match. The satisfaction ofdoing that is slowly sinking in andrealise how big that was.”

He said like an elder brother,Ashwin was communicating withhim throughout in the middle.

“Whenever he felt I was a bitloose (while playing shots), he toldme let us focus and take as deepas possible.”

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India captain Ajinkya Rahane onMonday said the heroic draw

that his side pulled off in the thirdTest against Australia was as goodas a victory and especially com-mended Hanuma Vihari, who bat-tled the excruciating pain of a ham-string injury to stay at the crease.

“...Today we all saw that specialknock. I think this knock was morespecial than his hundred (in 2019 inthe West Indies) especially the wayhe batted after getting injured,”Rahane said during the virtualpost-match press conference.

“To show that kind of motiva-tion, hunger and hang in there foryour team, that’s what shows thecharacter of an individual. It’s allabout what the team wants andcredit to him. There was pressureand the way he batted was special,”said Rahane, lauding the young manfrom Andhra Pradesh.

For Rahane, the credit of thedraw goes to all those, who per-formed in pressure situationsresponding to the team’s require-ments.

“This is as good as winning aTest match. When you come abroadand play a match like this, it was real-ly special as I said. It’s as good as vic-tory. “Credit to Vihari, Ashwin,(Rishabh) Pant, (Cheteshwar)Pujara, the way they batted. Rohit

(Sharma) at the start. Everyonechipped in but credit to those twoguys in the end.”

Pant, who has copped so muchflak in the past few months, camegood on Monday with his exhilarat-ing 97-run knock and the skippercouldn’t have been happier for him.

“The way he played the knockwas really good and unfortunatelyhe was out on 97. Yes, he can dropcatches but as long as he is learning,that is very important. I am reallyhappy for Rishabh for the way hebatted today. It was a really specialknock.”

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(������������D *���Sydney: Cheteshwar Pujara onMonday became only the 11thIndian to cross the 6000-run markin Test cricket.

Pujara, playing his 80th game,reached the milestone on day fiveof the third Test.

The other Indians who have6000 plus runs are SachinTendulkar (15921) runs, RahulDravid (13265), Sunil Gavaskar(10122), VVS Laxman (8781),Virender Sehwag (8503), ViratKohli (7318), Sourav Ganguly(7212), Dilip Vengsarkar (6868),Mohammad Azharuddin (6215),Gundappa Viswanath (6080). PTI

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