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ADelhi court on Mondayawarded death sentence to

Ariz Khan, convicted for themurder of Delhi PoliceInspector Mohan ChandSharma and other offences inconnection with the 2008 BatlaHouse encounter.

Additional Sessions JudgeSandeep Yadav said Ariz behanged by neck till death.

Inspector Sharma of thepolice’s Special Cell was killedduring the Batla Houseencounter between the policeand terrorists in Jamia Nagar inSouth Delhi following serial

bomb blasts in the nationalCapital in which 39 people diedand 159 were injured.

The court also imposed atotal fine of �11 lakh on Arizin the case. It said �10 lakhshould be immediately releasedto the family of Sharma.

“I feel the fine of �10 lakhis insufficient. Hence, I amreferring the matter to DelhiLegal Services Authority foraward of additional compen-sation,” the judge further said.

Additional PublicProsecutor AT Ansari, appear-ing for the police, sought deathpenalty for Ariz, allegedly asso-ciated with the terror outfitIndian Mujahideen, saying itwas not just any killing but a

Continued on Page 11

�� 783�98:;�

Registering an upward trendin Covid-19 cases for the

fifth day in a row, India record-ed 26,291 new infections onMonday in the last 24 hours, itshighest single-day spike in 85days, taking the total tally to1,13,85,339. Union HealthMinister Dr Harsh Vardhanblamed the rise in cases to peo-ple’s disregard for social dis-tancing and other guidelines.

Vardhan also said thatCovid-19 cases are on the risein a few States only. “Around85% of cases are in five to sixStates. The main reason behindthe increase in cases is peoplenot taking Covid appropriatebehaviour,” the Minister said.

Five States — Maharashtra,which alone accounts for morethan 58 per cent of the total

active cases in the country,Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat andTamil Nadu — continue toreport a surge in Covid-19cases, accounting for 78.41 percent of the new infections, theUnion Health Ministry said ina statement here.

The death toll due to thedisease increased to 1,58,725with 118 more fatalities beingrecorded in a day, the Ministryadded. The total active caseloadhas gone up to 2,19,262 whichis 1.93 per cent of the totalinfections in the country, whilethe recovery rate has droppedto 96.68 per cent, the data said.


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Prime electoral issues tend-ed to give way to the ankle

politics as rival TrinamoolCongress and the BJP contin-ued to cross swords on the plas-tered heel of Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee.

Mamata on Monday start-ed the second leg of her elec-tion campaign in wheelchaireven as Home Minister AmitShah tore apart her “conspira-cy” theory saying only Godknows what happened to her atNandigram in the evening ofMarch 10 when she hurt her legduring election campaign.

“I was fortunate to surviveon March 10 … otherwisepeople (read BJP) had thoughtthat they would be able to keepme indoors with a broken leg,”Mamata told a rally atBalrampur in Bankura districtcircuitously rebuilding the“conspiracy” theory that shealleged after hurting her ankleduring a campaign atNadigram last week — butcuriously skipped its mention

in her subsequent bites.“I have plaster in my leg. I

have pain all over my body andI cannot walk... They thoughtthat I will remain indoors afterthis… But then I thought thatthe pain of the people is greaterthan my pain and so I am here,”she said.


�� 783�98:;�

The CBI has registered a caseagainst 23 persons, includ-

ing 17 Army officers in arecruitment scam.It conductedsearches at 30 locations across13 cities in the country.

The CBI registered a caseon a complaint from office ofAdditional DG, Discipline &Vigilance, Adjutant General’sBranch, IntegratedHeadquarters of MinistryOffice Defence (Army), NewDelhi against 17 Army officials,including Lt Colonel, Major,Naib Subedar, Sepoy, besidessix private persons on thecharge of bribery in recruit-ment through Service SelectionBoard (SSB).


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With Indian and Chinesetroops still in a stand-off

mode at some friction points atthe Line of Actual Control, theBorder Roads Organisation(BRO) worked overtimedespite inclement weather toopen the strategically impor-tant road linking Lahaul inHimachal Pradesh to Ladakhahead of schedule. The roadwill ensure steady logisticalsupport to the troops.

The BRO team braved dif-ficult terrain, avalanches, sub-zero temperatures, lack of oxy-gen and shelter to open thecrucial pass Baralachala.

The BRO on Mondaypraised the team for the “sheergrit and dogged determination”it showed in the line of dutywithout concern for personalsafety.


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The traffic movement onthe carriageway of Delhi-

Meerut Expressway leading toGhaziabad from Delhi, whichwas closed since January 26,was reopened for commuterson Monday, police said.

“The carriageway goingtowards Ghaziabad from Delhihas been opened in due con-sultation with police officials,”a senior official said.

The side of the road fromGhaziabad towards Delhi, how-ever, remains closed, they said.

The stretch has been closedwhen violence broke out induring a tractor rally. The car-riageway was briefly opened onMarch 2. The Tikri and theSinghu borders continue to beclosed due to farmers’ agitation.

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Kolkata: A complaint regard-ing suppression of facts lodgedby BJP’s Nandigram candidateSuvendu Adhikari againstMamata Banerjee is threaten-ing to boomerang on him.Adhikari had lodged a com-plaint with the EC sayingMamata had suppressed facts— while filing her nomination— that she had six cases pend-ing against her name.


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The Allahabad High CourtMonday quashed anUttar Pradesh govern-

ment order on the reservationof seats for various categoriesof candidates, including SC, ST,OBC and women, for theupcoming three-tier panchay-at elections in the state, issuedon the basis of the 1995 popu-lation.

After quashing theFebruary 11 order, a Lucknowbench of the high court askedthe government to issue a freshorder providing for the reser-vation on the basis of the 2015population.

The bench of justicesRituraj Awasthi and ManishMathur passed the order afterthe state Advocate GeneralReghvendra Singh concededthe government’s mistake inproviding for the reservation ofseats, taking 1995 as the baseyear.

Terming the government’sorder as a mistake, Singh toldthe court that the governmentitself was interested in reserv-ing seats on the 2015 popula-tion.

While asking the govern-ment to issue a fresh order forthe reservation for various cat-egory of candidates, includingthose belonging to the sched-uled castes and tribes and

other backward classes, thebench also extended the dead-line for completing the pan-chayat election by May 25.

The bench passed its orderon a public interest lawsuit bya Lucknow resident, AjaiKumar, who had challenged thelegality of the government’sFebruary 11 order, which hadprovided for the reservation ofseats for the panchayat elec-tions on the basis of the 1995population.

As per the petitioner, thegovernment had issued UPPanchayat Raj (Reservationand Allotment of Seats andOffices) Rules in 1994, where-in it was provided that the baseyear for applying reservation onseats by rotation would be

1995. On September 16, 2015,the government issued anoth-er notification, providing thatthe base year would now beconsidered as 2015. The peti-tioner contended that the gov-ernment applied reservation inzila and kshetra panchayatpolls on this basis in the 2015elections.

“The said notification wasissued considering the changein demographic conditions ofthe state and it is still in exis-tence,” the petitioner’s lawyerhad said on Friday.

“However, the state gov-ernment is applying 1995 as thebase year for rotation in thereservation for seats in pan-chayat elections in the entirestate in contravention of theSeptember 16, 2015 notifica-tion,” the petitioner’s counseladded.

“Even otherwise, in view ofchanged demographic condi-tions, as noticed by the stategovernment in 2015, it does notstand to reason that the baseyear for the purpose of reserv-ing seats be taken as 1995,” thepetitioner had further said.

The High Court benchhad on last Friday restrainedthe Uttar Pradesh governmentas well as the State ElectionCommission from finalisingreservation of seats for thethree-tier panchayat bodies forthe elections in 2021.

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Holding out an olive branchto the agitating farmers,

Defence Minister and formerChief Minister of UttarPradesh, Rajnath Singh, saidthat all the issues could beresolved through dialogues andappealed to the farmers to endtheir agitation.

“I appeal to the farmers toend their agitation. All thecontentious issues can beresolved through dialogue. Thegovernment has clarified anumber of times that MSP(minimum support price) willnot be scrapped. They (farm-ers) should come and discusstheir problems with the gov-

ernment and we are open totheir suggestions,” Singh saidwhile inaugurating the one-dayBJP state working committeemeeting here on Monday.

He said the BharatiyaJanata Party government wascommitted to doubling theincome of farmers and thisassurance had come from noneother than Prime MinisterNarendra Modi.

“No one can question thecommitment of the prime min-ister towards betterment of thefarmers. He had promised �6,000 to farmers and the samehas been fulfilled,” Singh said.

The farmers are stagingprotests for the over 100 days,demanding repeal of three

farm laws namely the Farmers’Produce Trade and Commerce(Promotion and Facilitation)Act, the Essential Commodities(Amendment) Act and theFarmers (Empowerment and

Protection) Agreement onPrice Assurance and FarmServices Act.

These three farm laws havebeen projected by the govern-ment as major reforms in theagriculture sector to removemiddlemen and allow farmersto sell their produce anywherein the country. The govern-ment has projected the laws asan antidote to loweringdemands caused by theCOVID-19 pandemic.

The farmers’ leaders arenow touring West Bengal, ask-ing people not to vote for theBJP in the assembly election.

Singh said that the oppo-sition was spreading a canardabout a proposal to end the

MSP. He said farmers wereeven today paid as per MSPand in Uttar Pradesh, the farm-ers were paid ��66,000 crore fortheir produce which govern-ment outlets purchased at MSP.

He also talked about therecent Indo-China stand-off,saying that not an inch of landwas conceded in the agreementwith China.

“Our army is full of valourand also it knows the virtue ofpatience. What happened at theIndo-China border reflects theinner strength of the Indianarmed forces. We showed ourmight after Uri and Pulwama.No country can now dare totake ‘panga’ with us,” thedefence minister said.

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*�3��/�� ,�4��New Delhi (PTI): The NationalCommission for Minorities onMonday slammed former UttarPradesh Shia Central Waqf Boardchairman Wasim Rizvi for hisstatement calling for the removalof certain verses from the Quran,asking him to withdraw hiscomments and tender an uncon-ditional apology. The NationalCommission for Minorities(NCM) issued a notice to Rizvion the directions of NCM ViceChairman Atif Rasheed and saidhis remarks were “highlyprovocative, objectionable andmalicious, prejudicial to mainte-nance of peace and harmony,with intent to outrage the reli-

gious feelings of a particularcommunity and to insult the par-ticular religion”. The NCM’snotice came over complaintsreceived from Abdul MajidNizami, Ali Raza Zaidi, MohdFaizan Chaudhary and MaulanaSyed Nazar Abbas.

Members of the Muslim com-munity have also protested inLucknow against Rizvi, who hasmoved the Supreme Court seek-ing the removal of 26 verses fromthe Quran. “The NCM, being astatutory body created to protectand safeguard the interests of theminorities, strongly condemnsthe statement given by you,” thenotice to Rizvi said.

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Stressing on the importanceof credibility in political

life, Defence Minister RajnathSingh said that every word aleader spoke carried a weightand it was his responsibility tofulfill that promise becausethis gave credibility to the per-son and the party to which hebelonged.

“Bharatiya Janata Party hasemerged as a people's partybecause it has credibility. In ourearlier election manifestos weused to talk about abolition ofArticle 370. People used tochide us when the BJP govern-ment will abolish this Article.When we got an opportunitywe repealed Article 370 andbrought Jammu and Kashmirat par with other states of thecountry,” Singh said while inau-gurating the one-day BJP stateworking committee meetinghere on Monday.

Singh said, “The BJP hadalways talked about the ills of

the triple talaq system and weabolished it. Similarly, wepromised construction of Ramtemple at Ayodhya and PrimeMinister Narendra Modi laidthe foundation of the templelast year. It is a coincidence thatwhen the (Babri) Mosque wasdemolished BJP was in powerand when construction of thetemple started, BJP again wasin power in Uttar Pradesh,” hesaid.

“People now know thatwhat the BJP says, it fulfills itspromise. This is the credibili-ty which the party has earnedin the last many decades ofhard work and now responsi-bility is on the young partyleaders to carry that mantle for-ward,” he said.

In his over an hour longspeech, Rajnath Singh talkedabout the importance of beinga BJP worker.

“The BJP is different fromother parties as in BJP hardwork is always appreciated. Itis the only party in which the

stature of a leader is notbecause of the post he/she isholding but because of thehard work he/she has put in.The BJP increased its basethrough Ram Janmabhoomiagitation and since then it is

growing in stature and vol-ume,” said Singh, who is alsothe former chief minister ofUttar Pradesh.

He said the BJP was theonly party which had an ide-ology. He said this ideology

had prevented divisions in theparty while other political par-ties had seen divisions one afteranother.

Elaborating on this ideol-ogy, Singh said that servinghumanity formed the core ofBJP's ideology and its manifes-tation was witnessed duringCOVID-19 pandemic whenboth the Central and the stategovernments joined hands toprovide relief to the poor. “Freefood grains were distributed sothat no one had to sleep emptystomach,” he pointed out.

“Our scientists did wonderwhen they manufactured vac-cines to fight the novel coron-avirus. Now, we are supplyingvaccines to 70 countries. Indiahas been globally appreciatedfor its role in providing Covidvaccines to the world. Even USPresident Joe Biden appreciat-ed India in a recent Quadmeeting,” he said and addedthat when India was givingvaccines to other countries ata price, the countrymen weregetting it free.

Singh said the BJP govern-

ment had worked hard to erad-icate corruption and had intro-duced cleanliness in publiclife.

“The Swachhata Abhiyanhas even been lauded by theWHO (World HealthOrganisation) by saying thatthe health scenario haschanged in India because of thecleanliness drive undertaken byPrime Minister NarendraModi,” Singh said.

Singh also hailed the YogiAdityanath government, sayingthere was tremendousimprovement in the law andorder situation while theunemployment figures hadcome down from 17.5 per centto 4.5 per cent.

BJP State PresidentSwatantra Dev Singh alsospoke on this occasion.

Earlier, the one-day BJPstate working committee meet-ing was inaugurated by RajnathSingh along with ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath bylighting the traditional lamp.

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Asking the Bharatiya Janata Partyworkers to be vocal, Chief Minister

Yogi Adityanath said that they shouldgo to the people and tell them aboutthe schemes that both the state andCentral governments had introducedfor the welfare of the poor and thedowntrodden.

“Do not be tongue-tied. Store allthe facts and figures of governmentschemes in your mobile phones and goto the people and tell them about theschemes which are meant for them.This is time to be vocal. We have intro-duced good schemes for the people andthey should know that,” Yogi said whilespeaking in the concluding session ofthe BJP state working committee meet-ing here on Monday.

He specifically talked about threeinsurance schemes the government hadlaunched. They include Suraksha Bimafor resident or migrant person fromUP, Rs 5 lakh medical insurance coverunder Ayushman Bharat and Rs 2 lakh

insurance cover for sharecropper orbataidar.”From March 19 to 26, specialcampaigns would be held across UP inwhich party leaders will tell peopleabout government schemes. Emphasiseon these three insurance schemes. Tellpeople that the government will ensurethat every poor resident of the state willget an Ayushman card and even ensuresafety of bataidar if something goeswrong with him during sharecropping,”the chief minister said.

He said in the last four years, theBJP government had achieved what noother party could ever dream of. “Wehave given over 40 lakh houses to thepoor, toilets have been given to the vil-lagers and during COVID-19 pandem-ic, the government has provided freeration and Rs 2,000 to the poor peo-ple across the state,” he said.

“We are also working for the wel-fare of the farmers as we are commit-ted to doubling their incomes. Welfareof farmers was never in the agenda ofthe previous governments. They areonly spreading lies about the new farm

laws whereas the fact is that not a sin-gle mandi has been closed in UP.Farmers are being paid as per MSP,” hesaid. Yogi also talked at length aboutthe law and order situation in the state.“When BJP came to power the crimi-nals were calling the shots. Now, theyare either in jail or have migrated toother states. We are working on thepolicy of zero tolerance under whichwe will not accept any nonsense,” hesaid. During the working committeemeeting, a political resolution waspassed in which party workers wereasked to expose the lies of the oppo-sition party leaders. Construction ofRam temple hogged the limelight in themeeting. Speakers after speakers talkedabout Ram Mandir and time andagain the hall reverberated with the slo-gans of Jai Sri Ram.

“This is our war cry. Give a goodshout so that your voice reachesBengal,” BJP State President SwatantraDev Singh said after his address.

The hall reverberated with a loud-er shout of Jai Sri Ram.

��In protest against the FIR regis-

tered against party president AkhileshYadav in Moradabad, the SamajwadiParty on Monday put up posters andhoarding in Gomti Nagar carrying thepictures of Chief Minister YogiAdityanath and the SP chief.

The hoarding also listed the detailsof the FIR registered against AkhileshYadav in Moradabad and the caseswithdrawn by the state governmentagainst Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

The police, however, removed theposters. Recently, an FIR was lodgedagainst Samajwadi Party PresidentAkhilesh Yadav and 21 other personsin Moradabad following a scuffle of theparty cadre with the journalists.

Akhilesh Yadav on March 11 hadvisited Moradabad to preside over atraining programme for the partycadre. Later he addressed a press con-ference in a hotel in Moradabad,where he had heated exchange with alocal journalist over questions asked bythe local reporters.

Lucknow (PNS): The Uttar Pradeshgovernment has ordered the demolitionof over 9,800 dilapidated schools in thestate. The Basic Education Departmenthas identified over 12,000 such schoolswhere renovation or demolition isrequired. Director General EducationVijay Karan Anand said, “As many as12,177 schools have been identified inUttar Pradesh that are either dilapidatedor need renovation. Out of these, 2,013schools have to be renovated and theremaining 9,826 schools have to be

demolished.” While 2,195 schools havealready been demolished, action is stillpending on other schools. However, thedemolition of these schools would createproblems for students studying thereunless these schools are provided alterna-tive accommodation. According to Anand,in most of these cases, separate buildingshave already been constructed on the samepremises. However, in other cases, schoolsin vicinity of the dilapidated buildings havebeen identified and the students will bemoved there accordingly.

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Close on the heels of the death of fourpersons in a hooch tragedy in

Fatehpur, four more people, includinga female, died after consuming spuriousliquor in Pratapgarh.

Taking a serious note of the hoochdeaths, the station house officer ofNawabganj police station, a beat sub-inspector and two constables were sus-pended by Inspector General of Police(Prayagraj) Kavindra Pratap Singh onMonday. The cops have been suspend-ed on charges of dereliction of duty.

Singh reached Pratapgarh onMonday and initiated a probe into thematter.

All the deceased, identified asSunita Saroj (55), her husbandJawaharlal Saroj (56), Vijay Kumar (35)and Ram Prasad (40) hailed fromManoharpur Rampur Davi underSangramgarh police station inPratapgarh. They had bought liquorfrom an individual identified as BabulalPatel, who resides in the NayapurwaGopalpur hamlet in the Nawabganjpolice station area, on Saturday evening.

Soon after consuming the liquor,they along with some other villagerscomplained of stomach pain and start-ed vomiting so their families rushedthem to the community health centrefrom where they were referred to thedistrict hospital where four died onSunday night.

Reports said that the police con-ducted raids on the house of Babulal butafter they found him missing, they heldhis brother and wife along with two oth-ers and detained them for interrogation.

A case has been registered in thisregard by the police.

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Announcing that her party will con-test assembly elections in West

Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala andPuducherry alone, Bahujan Samaj PartyPresident Mayawati on Monday reiter-ated that after her "bitter experiences"of forming alliance with other politicaloutfits, she was firm to go solo in thenext assembly elections in UttarPradesh in 2022.

“The experience of our party forg-ing an alliance with others has not beengood,” the BSP chief said while address-ing a press conference soon after pay-ing rich tributes to her mentor and theparty's founder Kanshi Ram on his birthanniversary here on Monday morning.

Mayawati was addressing the mediaafter a gap of over 14 months due toCOVID-19 pandemic.

“Our party leaders, workers andvoters are highly disciplined. This is notthe case with other parties of thecountry. In an alliance, our votes aretransferred to the other party but thevotes of the other party are not trans-ferred to us,” she clarified, claiming thatthe BSP would fight the UP electionson its own.

“The BSP will contest on all the 403assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh, andwill perform well,” she said, adding thatthe party was also geared up to fight thecoming panchayat elections in UP.

“The performance of the party willbe good in the panchayat elections inUttar Pradesh,” she asserted whilerefusing to reveal her party's poll strat-egy.

Mayawati also declared her party’splan to fight assembly elections in WestBengal, Kerala, Puducherry and TamilNadu on its own. Besides West Bengal,all other states will go to polls in a sin-

gle phase on April 6 while the WestBengal elections will be held in eightphases. The results will be announcedon May 2.

Mayawati added that her party hadtaken forward the work done by itsfounder Kanshi Ram to ensure that reli-gious minorities and backward classesled a life of dignity.

“The BSP is working hard to pre-pare them," Mayawati said and added,"In every meeting and public rally, theyare told about Kanshi Ram and BabaSaheb Ambedkar, that as long as thereare casteist and capitalist governmentsat the Centre and in state, there won'tbe proper changes in the economic andsocial status of these people.”

Reacting to the allegations madeagainst her party government during2007-12 over sale of sugar mills, the BSPpresident defended the sale of thesesugar mills.

“‘I was not the minister of thedepartment but the decision was takenin the state cabinet and all norms werefollowed. Every government has sold

several public units and it was nothingnew,” she said.

It may be mentioned that therecently the Enforcement Directorateattached some sold sugar mills, charg-ing the matter as of ‘money laundering’.

When asked about Congress leaderPriyanka Gandhi Vadra’s projection aschief minister of UP, Mayawati said, “Ina democracy every political party hasthe right to project its leaders and thereis no such new thing.”

The BSP president, expressing herfull support to the farmers' agitation,appealed to the Bharatiya Janata Partygovernment at the Centre to withdrawthe three new farm bills.

On the occasion, she paid floraltributes to her mentor Kanshi Ram onhis birth anniversary, claiming that thegreat leader had sacrificed his life forthe people and the BSP was followinghis ideology.

“Kanshi Ramjee faced several hard-ships during his movement but he nevercompromised on the ideologies of DrBR Ambedkar,” she said.

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OFFICE OF THEEXECUTIVE ENGI-NEER, ELECTY.400 KV SUB-STA-

TION DIVISION, U.P. POWERTRANS. CORPORATIONLIMITED, HAFIZPUR, AZAM-GARH. Following E-Tenderare invited from theE x p e r i e n c e d / R e p u t e dContractors/Suppliers for exe-cution of following works. Formore details login on websitewww.etender.up.nic.in. ShortTerm e-Tender No. 03 of2020-2021. For Centrifusing ofTransformer Oil of 63MVA T/Finstalled at 220KV S/SAzamgarh. Earnest Money ofRs. 1500.00. Tender Cost:Rs. 118.00 (Including G.S.T.).TERMS & CONDITIONS:-Tender Cost and Earnestmoney shall be deposited inour Departmental CurrentAccount Number:0504002100003953 (IFSC-PUNB0050400) throughRTGS/NEFT in favour ofExecutive Engineer, Electy.400 KV S/S Division,Azamgarh. Documents ofShort term e-Tender No.03/2020-2021 shall beuploaded upto 17.00 Hrs. on30.03.2021 and the samewill be opened on dt.31.3.2021 at 15:00. Pleasevisit www.etender.up.nic.in fordetails/download and for anyother corrections/amend-ments/modification extensiontill the date of submission oftender. In case, the tenderopening date is holiday, thedate of submission and open-ing of tender will be extendedto next working day.Undersigned has right toreject/divide any tender withoutassigning any reasons there-of. Conditional tenders shall notbe accepted. EXECUTIVEENGINEER, ELECTY. 400 KVS/S DIVISION, AZAMGARH.R.O. No. 247 Date 15.3.2021.SAVE ELECTRICITY IN THEINTEREST OF NATION

No. Camp/2021/484 Dated 09/03/2021Appointment for the vacant posts of Senior/Junior Resident willbe done in various department through Walk in Interview on26.03.2021 (Friday) from 10.00 AM to 3.00 PM. All interested can-didates should come with Biodata, original documents, ResearchPaper, valid caste certificate alongwith a set of self attested copies,as per NMC norms. Details about vacancies and terms and con-dition may be seen on website-mramc.in. T.A. and D.A. will notbe paid by institution.

(Sandeep Kaushik)Principal

M.R.A. Medical College,Ambedkar Nagar

U.P.-162356 Date 13/03/2021�� www.up.gov.in ��

No. Camp/2021/483 Dated 9/03/2021Appointment for the vacant posts of Professor, Asso. Prof. andAsstt. Prof. on contract basis will be done in various departmentthrough Walk in Interview on 12.04.2021 (Monday) from 10.00AM to 3.00 PM. All interested candidates should come withBiodata, original documents, Research Paper, valid caste cer-tificate alongwith a set of self attested copies, as per NMC norms.Details about vacancies and terms and condition may be seenon website-mramc.in. T.A. and D.A. will not be paid by institu-tion.

(Sandeep Kaushik)Principal

M.R.A. Medical College,Ambedkar Nagar

U.P.-162348 Date 13/03/2021�� www.up.gov.in ��

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We Mr Neeraj Kumar Verma,S/o Kamlesh Chandra & MrsRampati Devi, W/o KamleshChandra, Both R/o Plot No.64A, Vrindavan Vihar, VikasNagar, Lucknow, declare thatour Original Agreement to saleexecuted by Kamlesh Chandrain favour of Santosh KumarMaheshwari registered on29.11.2016 book no. 1 volume12177 pages 93/106 at serialno. 6790 has been lost on12.03.2021

NOTICE

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I have changed my name fromSuresh Kumar Chaberia toSuresh Kumar Chhabaria infuture I shall be known asSuresh Kumar Chhabaria S/oVerho mal Chabarai R/o7/143B, Plot No-6 SwaroopNagar Kanpur

NOTICE

I Indra Devi daughter of LateSankatha Prasad Shukla res-ident of 124/24 E Block GovindNagar Kanpur nagar havechanged my name from IndraDevi to Indra Awasthi for futurereference.

‘‘In My Army of Artlary Record- My name & My Son’s nameis incorrect respectively BABUYADAV & ARIPT KUMAR,actully My right name is BABLUYADAV & My Son’s name isARIPT YADAV, will be keep inrecord. Ex. Army No. -14421210/X Hawaldar BabluYadav, S/o Rati Ram Yadav,R/o Gram Sardeypur,Gatampur Kanpur Nagar”

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I, Army No.- 15125769 K HavRajeev Kumar Rai, R/O Vill+Post Harpur Bhindi, Tajpur-Samastipur, Bihar-848122,hereby declare that my wife’sname and DOB wrongly regis-tered as Kanchan and05.09.1981 while her correctname & DOB is KanchanKumari & 15.01.1984 for allfuture purpose.

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��'��' �� 1��"��!��)23�"��"��Lucknow (PNS): The Central government isspending approximately Rs 147 per personunder the Covid vaccination programme,according to a senior official of NationalHealth Mission. He pointed out that it is inclu-sive of transport, storage and all other costs.Even as senior citizens and those above 45 yearswith co-morbidities are being vaccinated, thefocus is on community participation andmobilisation, he said.

“This is because so many senior citizenswho are sick and disabled are unable to join thedrive on their own. Support of their familymembers and, at times, that of society is alsorequired. For this, a mass campaign is requiredin which village pradhans and others can be ofgreat help,” the official said. He added that toexpedite the vaccination drive, they are alsoseeking the help of public representatives.

“Across the state, vaccination sessions arebeing conducted on all days up to the block anddistrict levels and on Mondays, Thursdays andFridays up to PHC level, which covers over30,000 population,” he pointed out.

He said that amongst all the districtswhere vaccinations are underway, Balrampuris doing the best. “The district has ensured goodmobilisation. Already 95 per cent of the healthworkers there have been given the first vaccinedose against the state average of 80 per cent.Besides, 88 per cent of the frontline workershave also been vaccinated there,” he pointed out.

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With Covid challenges far fromover, railways is all geared up to

keep ensuring safe and secure journeyto passengers. The Lucknow division ofNorth Eastern Railway (NER) is set tocarry out a special safety drive at dif-ferent stations and in different trains inthe run-up to Holi.

NER spokesman Mahesh Guptasaid the drive will be carried outbetween March 23 and March 29 on theinstructions of DRM Monica Agnihotri.“The drive is aimed at ensuring safe andsecure journey to passengers and safetrain operations. The DRM has alsoasked the officials to ensure timely andregular announcement of arrival anddeparture of trains, public announce-ment of awareness message during thetravel, display of information on displayboards at different platforms and rail-way stations,” Gupta said. The DRM hasalso asked the passengers not to carryinflammable substances as it could leadto penalties.

Passengers have been requested notto travel while clinging to footboards oratop trains. They have also been askedto cross the railway tracks only whereit is allowed and use foot overbridgesto go from one platform to another. Theofficials have been asked not to allowovercrowding around railway tracks or

foot overbridges.“The DRM has also appealed to

people not to throw mud or stones onmoving trains as it may hurt passengersor railway employees. Officials havebeen asked to ensure adherence toCovid protocols in no uncertain terms,”the spokesman said. A huge number ofpassengers travel to different destina-tions in eastern UP, Bihar and otherstates by trains passing via railway sta-tions under Lucknow division of NERduring Holi. According to officials, NERand NR witness huge rush during Holiand trains are packed to capacity. “Therailways has made ample arrangementsto cater to the needs of passengers whiledealing with the challenges of Covid.Lockdown had come into play after Holilast year but this time, the challenge isto prevent the spread of coronavirusinfection,” a railway official said.

%�*)�*��Lucknow (PNS): Upset overhis chronic disease, a 68-year-old man ended his life at hishouse in Alambagh onMonday. He was identified asRoop Narayan Saxena of OmNagar. He was unmarried andstaying with his brother and lat-ter’s family. His nephewDheeraj Saxena told police thatRoop used to stay in a room inthe outer portion of the house.

“I found the doors of thatroom ajar. As I went inside, Ifound him hanging from theceiling with a rope tied aroundhis neck,” he said.

Investigating officer, sub-inspector Gulab Singh saidRoop Narayan left a suicidenote before taking the extremestep. “Roop Narayan did notheld anyone responsible. Hehad written that he was takingthe extreme step on his own.He also requested the policenot to harass anyone in thename of investigation. He fur-ther stated that his brother andnephew were very caring,” theinvestigating officer said.

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The Covid cases appeared tosurge again with detec-

tion of 35 new patients inLucknow on Monday, forcingthe district administration toswing into action. Besides, sixpatients defected Covid-19.There are 264 active cases inthe district.

A senior health officialsaid among those who testedpositive included eight fromIndiranagar, f ive fromGomtinagar, three each fromRae Bareli road & SushantGolf City, and two each fromSaatdatganj, Ashiyana &Aliganj.

Across the state, 151 peo-ple tested Covid positive,including 12 in Varanasi,seven in Ghaziabad, six eachin Kanpur & Meerut, and twoin Gautam Buddh Nagar,pushing the UP case tally to6,05,441. Two deaths werereported from the state (oneeach from Moradabad andShahjahanpur), taking thestate toll to 8,748. Besides, 162patients recovered, taking therecovery figures to 5,94,855even as there are 1,838 activecases in the state.

Meanwhile, in a meetingwith senior health officials onMonday, District MagistrateAbhishek Prakash issuedinstructions for effective con-tainment of coronavirus.

He said the situationshould be reviewed on a dailybasis by the municipal com-missioner and chief develop-ment officer. He said all pos-itive cases should be reviewedone by one and surveillance oftravellers be intensified inview of the increase in thenumber of cases inMaharashtra, Chhattisgarh,Madhya Pradesh, Punjab andJammu & Kashmir. He saidpolice vigil should be intensi-fied in the old containmentzones and testing, tracking

and surveillance be carried outon a war-footing.

Meanwhile, district immu-nisation officer Dr MK Singhsaid that 12,259 people werevaccinated in Lucknow onMonday and they included5,492 senior citizens and 1,108those above 45 years with co-morbidities. Besides, 624frontline workers were giventheir first dose while 1,250their second dose. As many as

933 health workers got theirfirst dose while 2,852 their sec-ond dose. The vaccine jabswere given to 9,702 at govern-ment hospitals and to 2,557 atprivate facilities.

Director of RMLIMS DrAK Singh said the vaccinationdrive was smooth on Monday.“On Sunday, we faced a prob-lem as some people reachedthe hospital as they had beengiven the date the CoWIN

portal though there was nodrive scheduled. However, wemanaged to get the vaccina-tions done after making nec-essary arrangements instead ofsending the people back,” hesaid. He added there are fivevaccination booths at the hos-pital but it gets difficultbecause it a medical institutionand classes are required for thestudents as they can’t be keptoccupied for weeks together.

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Awoman who was allegedlyditched by her lover

attempted ti immolate herselfnear BJP office in Hazratganjon Monday morning. Shealleged that she took theextreme step due to apathy byAshiyana police. The incidentgave cold feet to cops deployedoutside the BJP office.

The woman, who is a res-ident of Ashiyana, was appre-hended and taken into custodyby women police personneland the case was later referredto senior officers.

As per reports, the policehad got inputs that a womanwas going to attempt self-immolation near VidhanBhawan, and a team wasdeployed on the road stretchbetween GPO and LokBhawan. A woman was seenloitering near the BJP office andthe cops apprehended her.

When her polythene bag waschecked, the cops found a bot-tle filled with petrol. She couldnot answer the queries andrather started shouting atpolicemen. In a video, she washeard saying that cops weremaking her do the rounds ofpolice station. In detailed inter-rogation, she said she was anorchestra worker and came incontact with one Furqan, whoworked as a driver in theorchestra party. In due courseof time, both came close toeach other and were also in alive-in relationship for sometime. Furqan allegedlypromised to marry her but laterreneged from his word.

“Furqan left for Dubaibefore the lockdown wasannounced and returned onlya few months back. On thepromise of marriage, he sexu-ally exploited me. When Iinsisted on marriage, herefused,” the woman alleged.

She also alleged that shekept doing the rounds ofAshiyana police station buther application was not accept-ed. “The police held meresponsible for the episodeand ridiculed me. They did notaccept my application despiterepeated rounds I made to thethe police station,” she addedalleging.

However, she had noanswer when asked if Furqanasked her to change her religionor tried to hide his identity atthe time of first meeting. Thepolice also avoided such ques-tions. A police spokesman saidfurther probe was underway.

The police said the womanwas in a live-in relationshipwith Furqan who later refusedto marry her. “Earlier, thewoman lived in Thakurganjand Talkatora but later shiftedto Ashiyana when she got sep-arated with Furqan,” the policesaid.

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The Uttar Pradesh govern-ment has made a recom-

mendation to the Centre forcommencement of Covid vac-cination of general 50-pluspopulation in the state withoutthe condition of co-morbidi-ties. A senior health officialsaid it was suggested at avideo-conferencing with seniorofficials of the Central govern-ment which will take the finaldecision in this regard.

The health official saidwith the inoculation at all4,500 vaccination centresacross the state on Monday,they hope for faster pace of thedrive. “We had already set arecord last Friday with overthree lakh vaccinations and onMonday, we went full throttle.On March 13 and 14, therewere only a few governmenthospitals where vaccine jabs

were given while on Sundays,mostly private hospitals werecarrying out the vaccinationdrive,” he pointed out. Askedif they would increase thenumber of the vaccinationcentres further, he said the fig-ures may rise up to 5,000 oreven more.

Meanwhile, AdditionalChief Secretary Amit MohanPrasad said that gram nigranisamitis and mohalla nigranisamitis should make efforts totake senior citizens to nearbyvaccination centres. He point-ed out that 3,28,48,018 sampleshave been tested in the state tillnow.

Former CEO, Biotech ParkPK Seth said he is making arequest to the government tobuild more and more infra-structure for research, especial-ly on viruses. “The governmenthas announced more researchin public health, so it should be

implemented without anydelay. We should have moreand more infrastructure sothat efforts are directed atresearch in case of any virusoutbreak. There should bemore expenditure on research.I will raise these issues when-ever there are meetings withthe government officials,” hesaid.

Meanwhile, drug inspectorBrijesh Kumar said that in viewof the surge in Covid cases inthe country, they have direct-ed all the shops in the drugmarkets to ensure social dis-tancing and regular & propersanitisation with sodiumhypochlorite solution. “Wehave also issued instructionsthat only the customers whowear masks should be enter-tained,” he said. He added thatthey have sufficient quota ofmedicines to deal with anyemergency situation.

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Giving a new twist to thedrama which has been

going on in BJP MP KaushalKishore’s family for the past twoweeks, his daughter-in-lawAnkita Singh attempted suicideon Monday by slitting herwrist outside his residence.Before that, she had released avideo alleging ill-treatment byher husband Ayush Kishoreand his family.

On Monday morning,Ankita reached the house ofBJP MP Kaushal Kishore whereshe was allegedly denied anaudience by the family. She cre-ated a scene there and lateruploaded two videos andannounced that she would endher life. As the news reachedthe police, a team reached thehouse of the BJP MP andAnkita was taken to Mahilapolice station. She was let off asshe promised not to create ascene in future.

However, Ankita reachedthe house of the BJP MP againand slit her wrist. A profuselybleeding Ankita was admittedto Civil hospital by the police.

“It was Ayush’s brotherwho dropped me to Bareillysome time back. Now, he refus-es to even recognise me. I wasleft with no option but to endmy life,” she said.

In the video, Ankita Singhsaid she listed atrocities alleged-ly committed on her by Ayushand his family before announc-ing that she was going to com-mit suicide. “I cannot fight any-one because your father is an

MP and mother an MLA.Nobody will listen to me. I havenever let anyone touch you, sohow can I do that? You arelying. You and your family didnot let me live,” she was heardsaying in the video.

Ankita said she was goingto commit suicide becauseAyush had ruined her life.“You and your family haveruined my life. I have got sucha punishment for loving you. Iam leaving this world. I willnever come into your life, yoube happy,” she said in the video.

“You used to say that yourfamily does not love you andtoday you have left me forthem...haven’t paid the rent ofthe house, no gas cylinder, notonce did you think what will Ieat...I am going. I am going,

and you will remember me,”she added.

About two weeks ago, BJPMP Kaushal Kishore’s son wasshot at in Lucknow in theearly hours of Wednesday butthe police later claimed that hestaged the attack on himself byhis brother-in-law to falselyimplicate some people in thecase.

An FIR was lodged againstAyush and his brother-in-lawAdarsh, and the latter wasarrested. Ayush’s brother-in-lawconfessed to having shot at theMohanlalganj MP’s son.Adarsh told the police thatAyush wanted to frame some-one with the attack to settlescores.

Meanwhile, the BJP MPclaimed Ankita was trying o

defame him and his family.“Please do not call her mydaughter-in-law, I don’t consid-er her so. She and Ayush tiedthe knot and I was never infavour of the marriage. Ankitais trying to defame me and myfamily,” he said.

“There is somebodybehind Ankita who is provok-ing her, guiding her to dothings to defame us. However,I won’t blame any politicalparty for the same as nobodyhas commented on this matterso far. I request the police to actsternly. This is all drama stagedby her,” he said.

On Sunday, Ayush hadrecorded his statement atMadiaon police station in con-nection with the alleged attackon him on March 2.

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Transactions to the tune ofover Rs 2,500 crore were

affected due to the strike bymore than 10,000 employees of905 branches of different gov-ernment banks on Monday.The 2-day strike has beencalled against the decision toprivatise public sector banks.

Spokesperson of UnitedForum of Bank Union AnilTewari said the transactionscame to a halt because of thestrike in which all the banksparticipated. “In UP, two lakhemployees participated in thestrike, affecting transactions

to the tune of over Rs 30,000crore,” he said. He added thatdespite digital modes of pay-ments which have picked up inthe pandemic, people wereimpacted by no movement ofcheques.

He said many banks camein support of the strike whichwas held across the country.“One lakh employees of ruralbanks across the country lenttheir support to the strike,” hesaid. He added that cash flowstopped at over 990 ATMs inLucknow and 12,000 ATMsacross the state after sometime. “The strike will continueon Tuesday,” he said.

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Lucknow (PNS): DistrictMagistrate Abhishek Prakashon Monday called for a meet-ing of officials for maintenanceof law and order on the occa-sion of Holi. He directed theADMs and the ACMs to visittheir respective areas andreview the points of ‘Holikadahan’ in the district. He saidif there is any dispute relatedto ‘Holika dahan’, it should beresolved forthwith.

“The ‘Holika dahan’ areasshould be cleaned and thereshould be proper lightingarrangements. Water tanksshould be stationed in areaswhich are faced with watershortage,” he said. He alsoissued directive for uninter-rupted electricity supply atthe time of ‘Holika dahan’

and arrangements should bemade for mobile transformers.wherever required,” he added.

He told the fire officials toremain alert and prepared forany emergency situation. Healso issued directions for prop-er sampling of food items andproper monitoring of liquorand other intoxicants. TheDM also issued necessarydirections regarding the monitoring of Holi processions.

The DM told CMO DrSanjay Bhatnagar to direct thehospitals to make make nec-essary arrangements and keepthe ambulances ready foremergency. He told the drugcontrol authorities to ensureavailability of sanitisers, masksetc at all the medical stores.

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Vice-Chancellor ofLucknow University Prof AKRai on Monday launched adocumentary film of thedepartment of Chemistry. The13-minute documentary incul-cates the salient features ofinfrastructural facilities andaccomplishments of the depart-ment of Chemistry. At thelaunch of the documentary, allthe faculty members of thedepartment were present. Allpraise for the efforts of head of

the department Prof ArunSethi, Prof Rai said such effortsreflect his dedication.

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of City Montessori School,Gomti NagarCampus I, hasbeen selectedfor admissionby three univer-sities of USA —Purdue University, Universityof Minnesota and University ofWisconsin-Madison.

��Lucknow (PNS): On the occa-sion of World Consumer RightsDay on Monday, chairman ofConsumer Guild (UP) and for-mer national chairman ofConsumer CoordinationCouncil Abhishek Srivastavapointed out that on July 20 lastyear, the Central governmenthad notified the ‘ConsumerProtection Act 2019’ andreplaced the 34-year-old Act.

He said the state govern-ment should take steps to createawareness about various provi-sions incorporated in the newAct to ensure protection of con-sumer rights. “The Act alone willnot help protect the interest ofconsumers as effective imple-mentation will be more benefi-cial for consumers. The state gov-ernment, with joint efforts of vol-untary consumer organisationsand departments concerned,should work towards raisingawareness on consumer issues,”he added. Under the new Act,district commissions are empow-ered to handle consumer caseswith claims of up to Rs 1 crorewhile state commissions arerequired to handle cases withclaims of between Rs 1 crore andRs 10 crore. The NationalConsumer Dispute RedressalCommission (NCDRC) hasbeen empowered to handle allthe cases above Rs 10 crore. TheAct also provides for simplifyingthe adjudication process of con-sumer disputes along with pro-visions for mediation of disputesby alternate dispute redressalcommission.

Srivastava said that estab-lishment of Central ConsumerProtection Authority (CCPA) isan important step towardsaddressing issues related to con-sumer rights, unfair trade prac-tices, misleading advertisementsand penalties for selling fakeproducts. Recently, the CentralConsumer Protection Authority(CCPA) had suo motu issuedshow-cause notices to variouscompanies for misleading adver-tisements during the pandemic.

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Lucknow (PNS): In theVibhuti Khand shootout case inwhich former block pramukhof Mau Ajit Singh was pep-pered with bullets on January6, another shooter, who hadsuffered bullet injuries in returnfire by Ajit’s aide Mohar Singh,was arrested by Delhi Police onMonday. He was being huntedby UP police.

The accused, identified asRajesh Tomar aka Jai, wasarrested from Swaroop Nagarlocality in Delhi. Earlier, hismentor Girdhari Singh wasarrested by Delhi police in adramatic way and was laterkilled in an encounter inVibhuti Khand.

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Filled with remorse and fearof getting punished for slap-

ping her 5-year-old brother, a10-year-old girl ended her lifeby hanging herself in PratapPura village under Fatehabadpolice station of Agra district.

The girl fought with heryounger brother and thenslapped him on Saturdayevening. She loved her broth-er very much so the followingday, on Sunday, the girl hangedherself inside the house, Agrapolice claimed.

The girl lived with herelder sister and two youngersiblings in Pratap Pura villageof the Fatehabad tehsil of Agra.

They had lost their moth-er recently, while their fatherdisappeared several years back.The elder sister, who worked ina garments shop in the village,was not at home at that time.

"Fatehabad police wasinformed about the suicide.They went to the house andcompleted all the legal formal-ities. Locals told the policethat the girl had a dispute withher 5-year-old brother," said

Senior Superintendent of Policeof Agra, Babloo Kumar.

"Police have been asked toinvestigate the matter in depthas it was shocking to hearabout such a young girl com-

mitting suicide," the SSP said.Police said the incident

took place on Saturday eveningafter both brother and sisterhad a dispute. The eldest sisterreturned home and wasshocked to find her sister hang-ing from the window of thehouse. She broke down afterwhich the local residents wentto enquire the matter and sub-sequently informed the police.

Meanwhile, talking to acorrespondent of a newsagency, renowned psychiatristDr KC Gurnani said that thiswas a case of suicide due to fear

of being beaten by an elder forsome mistake.

"In this particular case, thegirl was probably afraid that shewill be beaten by her elder sis-ter if she learns about the fightshe had with her youngerbrother," he said, adding thatsometimes parents or eldersiblings tell the kids in angerthat it is better that they died.

"This could result in thechild going under a sub-clini-cal depressive state which maymanifest itself in times ofextensive stress and result insuch cases," he said.

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All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM)

leader Asaduddin Owaisi hasalleged that Muslims are beingunfairly targeted in UttarPradesh in the Yogi Adityanathrule. Owaisi, who was inBalrampur district on Sunday,tried to cast the BJP govern-ment as anti-Muslim as heaccused the chief minister ofhaving a selective approach ofconducting encounters of crim-inals in the state.

Owaisi alleged thatMuslims were being killed inencounters by the police inUttar Pradesh. He said that outof 6,475 encounters of thecriminals that took place in UPbetween 2017 and 2020, 37 percent were Muslims.

UP Law Minister BrajeshPathak, however, contradictedthe remarks of Owaisi onMonday. "A criminal is acriminal and the state govern-

ment has made no discrimi-nation on the ground of caste,creed and religion. Rule of lawprevails in UP and the law willtake its own course in all mat-ters of crime," the law ministersaid. While addressing a rallyin Balrampur on Sunday,Owaisi said, "As many as 6,475encounters took place between2017 and 2020. Of those whowere killed in the encounters,37 per cent were Muslims.Why this oppression? Is thegovernment working as per theConstitution? This will bedecided by the people of UttarPradesh."

He also reacted strongly tothe comments of YogiAdityanath on secularism, say-ing that the chief minister'scomment was an "insult to theConstitution".

“If secularism is preventingIndia from achieving its posi-tion in the whole world, thenI want to ask Yogi and(Narendra) Modi how petroland diesel prices are close to Rs100. Is it because of secular-ism?" Owaisi asked.

He also accused the SanghParivar of having a “doubleface”, saying when it suited theysay the “country is secular

because the majority is secular.”Buoyed by his party’s per-

formance in the Bihar assem-bly elections, Owaisi hasannounced to contest electionsin West Bengal and UttarPradesh. While Bengal will goto polls from March 27 pollingin UP, the most populous stateof the country, will be held in2022. Owaisi has announcedan alliance with SuheldevBhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP) ofOm Prakash Rajbhar for theUP elections. Owaisi's AIMIMis a constituent of the BhagidariSankalp Morcha a coalition ofsmall parties including theSBSP and AIMIM.

Owaisi was in UttarPradesh for attending meetingsscheduled as a part of SankalpMorcha's campaigning for theupcoming assembly electionsin the state. The AIMIM hasforged an alliance with theSuheldev Bharatiya SamajParty under the banner ofSankalp Morcha to contest the2022 UP assembly polls.Through his campaigning,Owaisi is seeking to rally thesupport of Muslims and weanthem away from theSamajwadi Party and theBahujan Samaj Party.

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Lucknow (PNS): Unidentifiedmiscreants duped the wife of aBSNL officer of her ornamentsin Gudamba on the pretext ofpolice checking. As per reports,Ashwini Kumar Pandey ofBajrang Vihar told police saidhis wife was going to a relative’shouse around 10:30 am whena man came running to her andasked her why she ignored thecall given to her by his boss, apolice officer. “The other manshowed his ID card and askedmy wife why she was movingaround without wearing a maskand why was she wearingornaments,” Pandey told police.

He said the miscreantsasked his wife to put off theornaments and then wrappedthem around a peace of paperbefore handing a sachet to her.“She returned home and sharedthe incident with me. When wechecked the sachet, it was filledwith stones,” he said.

Meanwhile, thievesdecamped with a donation boxfrom a Lord Shiv temple inGudamba some time of

Saturday night. However, ascops failed to work out the case,villagers nabbed a suspect andhanded him over to police.

As per reports, a bhandarawas organised inside the tem-ple premises by villagers onFriday. On Saturday night, thedonation box was stolen.

A villager, identified asChhote Lal, said they found asuspect who resembled theman spotted in a CCTVfootage. “We nabbed him andhanded him over to the police,”he said.

Meanwhile, a youth, iden-tified as Lavlesh Kumar akaChhotu of Garhi Kanauralocality, ended his life at hishouse in Alambagh around1:30 am on Monday. He wasfound hanging from an irongrill with a saree tied aroundhis neck. Police said Lavleshwas staying in the house of hisbrother-in-law Monu and heworked as a labourer. No sui-cide note was recovered fromthe place and further probe intothe case was underway.

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The teachers associated withUttar Pradesh Madhyamik

Shikshak Sangh on Mondaystaged a dharna at the office ofDIOS, here in favour of theirdemands pending for a longtime.

We had staged protest onMarch 4 in favour of ourdemands and given a deadlockof 10 days to meet out thedemands but mo initiative wasso far taken regarding this bythe competent authority andthus, they have to stage a dhar-na on Monday at DIOS officeto raise their protest against thenon-cooperative attitude of thegovernment.

The agitated teachers askedthe DIOS to tell about the num-ber of teachers/ employees,appointed after April 1, 2005,who are availing salary, tomake available the detail of thecurrent status of documents

related to GPF pension andgroup insurance of those teach-ers/ employees who are toretire on March 31 , etc.

They said that the senior-ity list of schools of 2020-2021has so far not made available to

DIOS office and so, the depart-mental action should be ascer-tained in this regard. Theyalso demanded that the list ofthe recruitment/appointmentagainst the retirement of prin-cipals and readers should be

made available to DIOS officeand if the list was so far notmade available, the depart-mental action should be ascer-tained against the erring per-son.

They blamed that theteachers and employees of var-ious schools are facing a num-ber of problems but the govern-ment and competent authori-ty have paid deaf ear towardsthese and demanded that theproblems should be sorted outat the earliest.

They threatened to inten-sify the agitation if theirdemands are not met at the ear-liest.

They also submitted amemorandum to the DIOSregarding the demands. Manyjoined the dharna includingChetnarayan Singh, JwalaPrasad Rai, VIrendra PratapSingh, Kamlesh Kumar Singh,Dinesh Kumar Singh andAshok Kumar Srivastava.

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The banking transactionsworth several hundreds of

crores were affected on the firstday of two-day nationwide callgiven by the United Forum ofBank Union (UFBU), anumbrella body of nine bankunions, in protest against theprivatisation of public sectorbanks and some otherdemands. On the occasion,the bank employees includingof State Bank of India (SBI)staged protests at their zonaland regional offices here onMonday. However, the privatebanks remained open as usual.

The nine bank unionswhich took part in the protestare All India Bank Officers’Confederation (AIBOC), All

India Bank EmployeesAssociation (AIBEA),National Confederation ofBank Employees (NCBE), AllIndia Bank Off icers’Confederation (AIBOC),Bank Employees Federation ofIndia (BEFI), Indian NationalBank Employees’ Federation(INBEF), Indian NationalBank Officers’ Congress(INBOC), NationalOrganisation of Bank Officers(NOBO) and the NationalOrganisation of Bank Workers(NOBW).

Due to strike, the cus-tomers faced a lot of problemsas after two days of holidaysdue to second Saturday andSunday, the banks remainedclosed on Sunday and willreopen on Wednesday after

four days of closing. The strikeaffected banking transactionsof several hundreds of croresas a huge number of chequescould not be cleared. Besides,other services like depositsand withdrawal were alsoaffected along with loanapprovals. Due to strike, atmany ATMs, shortage of cashwas seen.

The employees under thebanner of UFBU staged astrong demonstration atNadesar in protest againstgovernment’s anti-people andeconomic policies. The speak-ers said that the public sectorbanks provided services to alarger section of the societyincluding the poor living inremote and backward areas.They also raised voices against

the closer of rural branchesand opening of urban centricbranches. They also expressedconcern over the declining ininterest rates on low savingsand in farm loaning whileincreasing the loans to corpo-rate houses.

In response to the call, SBIemployees also staged a strongprotest at their Main Branchat Kutchery.

At a meeting they strong-ly criticised the governmentfor its faulty economic policiesand the meeting wasaddressed by Manoj Singh,Raghuvar Tiwari, Amrendra,Pankaj Kumar, Pankaj KumarRai, BK Singh, Shilpi Agrawalof SBISA and Prakash Ranjan,Ram Narayan and RN Prasadof SBIOA.

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Arally ‘Jago Grahak Jago’was taken out on the occa-

sion of World Consumer Dayon Monday following theCOVID-19 guidelines and rais-ing the voices against alterca-tion, less measurement andweighing and other issues ofconsumers.Under the bannerof Purvanchal UpbhoktaKalyan Samiti, in the proces-sion, the members of theorganisations and many otherswere taking part.

Led by president of theorganisation Udai KumarSrivastava, they also raisedvoices against prevailing price-rise, corruption and otherproblems. In the rally, severalsenior citizens, women andothers were also taking part.They also expressed their con-cern over the soaring prices ofpetroleum products.

Speaking on the occasion,Srivastava said that in medicinemarkets, several fake drugs arebeing sold. Besides, he addedthat the medicines of expirydates are also being sold bymisleading the customers. Theparticipants were carrying sev-eral placards raising variousother issues of consumers.They said that a large sectionof society is not getting the ben-efits of Ayushmaan BharatYojana and the government is

trying to abolish subsidy onLPG cylinders.

CYCLING EXPEDI-TION FLAGGED OFF : Aspart of the year long commem-oration ceremony of the 50years victory in 1971 Indo-PakWar, 39 Gorkha TrainingCentre (GTC) under the aegisof HQ PUP and MP Sub Areaand Central Command carriedout a seven days cycling expe-dition on Monday coveringthe districts of eastern Uttar

Pradesh till March 22.During the event, the

cycling expedition team ofnine members led by an officerwill conduct motivational lec-tures in schools and colleges enroute to highlight the courageand professionalism of theIndian Army during the Indo-Pak War of 1971. The team willalso meet the veterans of the1971 War in the villagesenrooted. The team will coverfour districts and during the

seven days will project theadventure spirit and also high-light the important contribu-tion of the Indian ArmedForces in the Indo-Pak War of1971.

The cycling expedition wasflagged off by Brig HS Bainsla,SM, Commandant 39 GTCpaving way for a week-longcycling adventure with the aimto commemorate the goldenjubilee of the Indo-Pak War of1971.

ALLAHABAD (PNS): The UPBoard has commenced theirpreparations for holding theexams for High School andIntermediate-2021. The examsare set to begin on April 24. Tostart the process of holding theexams, the board has startedthe process of dispatching theanswer-sheets to all 75 districts.A total of 56,03,813 studentsincluding 29,94,312 for HighSchool and 26,09,501 forIntermediate have registeredfor this year’s board exams.Instructions for the appoint-ment of centre managers andinvigilators for conducting theexams are also being sent to alldistricts. UP Board SecretaryDivya Kant Shukla has direct-ed all District Inspector ofSchools (DIOSs) to send theirrecommendations regardingthe appointment of Centre

managers and additionalCentre managers to DivisionalJoint Directors (Education)concerned and UP Board head-quarters besides the respectiveRegional Offices of UP Boardby March 30. Likewise, theDistrict Inspectors of Schools(DIoS) have been asked toprovide information regard-ing the count of exam centresin their districts, the number ofcentre managers and addition-al centre managers, class invig-ilators and the number of otherstaff members needed alongwith the count of CCTV cam-eras at each centre among oth-ers. UP Board Secretary DivyaKant Shukla said that the DIoS’shave also been asked to keep afull record of teachers beingdeputed as class invigilators forthe exams. For performingthese duties, the officials have

been asked to ensure that incase of shortage of regularteachers for being deputed,priority is given to retired sec-ondary schools first followed bythose from upper primaryschools and then primaryschools. Teachers whose wardsor kin are appearing in theexams at a centre are to be keptaway from all such duties, theofficials explained. Officialssaid that likewise, womeninvigilators are to be deputed atcentres having all-girl exami-nees or in the majority. As fordeputing centre managers, atcentres being set up in govern-ment and government-aidedand recognised unaidedschools, the principals of thosevery institutions are to bemandatorily be made the cen-tre managers barring thoseprincipals who have been

barred from performing allduties by Principals’ Council.Covid report to be sent onmobiile number: If the teamhas come and taken a samplefor corona testing, then onedoes not have to go anywherefor the report nor does he/sheneed to ask anyone. It isbecause now, the report will bedirectly sent to their mobilenumber and that is possible inonly two steps. After checkingCOVID-19, the common peo-ple have been given the facili-ty to view and download thecorona test report by feedingtheir registered mobile numberand through OTP. For this, thelink has to be clicked on kareports.upcovid19tracks.in ordgmhup.gov.in. For customers’convenience, the control roomis operated 24 hours, just dialthis number.

ALLAHABAD ((PNS): This isan attempt to connect the peo-ple with the mystery of the nec-tar Kumbh and the religious,mythological, scientific andcultural secrets of the KumbhMela, which came out of thesea churning between the godsand the demons. Yes, for thesame purpose, 'KumbhSandesh Yatra', which came outof Kanyakumari in Tamil Naduon 27 February, came toPrayagraj on Monday. Therewas a grand welcome of theplace. Saints, lawyers, practi-tioners and leaders embracedthe message of Kumbh byoffering flowers and welcomingthose involved in the yatra. Thepeople involved in the yatracompleted the journey of aboutfive thousand kilometres andreached the KumbhanagriTirtha Raja Prayag.

A meeting of saints basedon Kumbh was held at KaivalyaDham Ashram Jhansi.Tikaramafi AshramPeethadheeshwara SwamiHarichaitanya Brahmacharisaid that the Kumbh SandeshYatra is a powerful medium toconnect people with SanatanaDharma. This meaningful ini-tiative needs to continue unin-terrupted. Dr. RamnareshTripathi threw light on thescientific significance ofKumbh. TakshakPeethadhishwar Ravi ShankarJi Maharaj emphasised onbringing the religious and sci-entific significance of Kumbhto the common people. SrinivasReddy, who is leading the yatra,gave information about themeaningful result of the jour-ney so far.

The national spokesper-

son of the yatra, JyotirvidAcharya Avinash Rai, said thatthe world is afraid of the coro-na epidemic. In such a situa-tion, Kumbh Sandesh Yatrahas been taken out to free peo-ple from fear and bring newconsciousness to life. A dozenpeople including Dilli Vasant,Balakrishna Reddy,Madhusudan Arge, MastanReddy are involved in the yatra.

The Kumbh Sandesh Yatrawas welcomed by the HighCourt lawyers at Eklavya inter-section. At the same time, thepeople involved in the yatrawere led to the Prayag SangeetSamiti led by Dr. Bibi Agarwal.Bhardwaj Ashram was wel-comed under the leadership ofMLA Harshvardhan Bajpai.Harshvardhan said that thisyatra is spreading new awaken-ing in the despotic atmosphere

of Corona in the society. Dr.Ranjana Bajjpai presentedGangajali to the peopleinvolved in the yatra. TheShankaraviman Mandapamwas welcomed under the lead-ership of Brijendra Mishra.

The Kumbh Sandesh Yatraleft for Varanasi on Tuesday.Acharya Avinash Rai said thaton March 24, the yatra willreach Delhi. Leaving the vehi-cle from there, he will reachHaridwar on March 31.Worshiping the Ganges inHaridwar will share the expe-rience and results of the jour-ney with saints and akharas.Then they will be discussedabout Kumbh. After discussingall the issues, a proposal will bemade and given to the UnionMinistry of Culture, so thatthey can work in accordancewith it to promote Kumbh.

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Two-day strike call given bythe United Forum of Bank

Unions to oppose the propos-al of the Government of pri-vatising two nationalisedbanks, affected the functioningadversely here on Monday.The strike will continue onTuesday also.

`This two-day strike cast itseffect more because the bankswere already closed on secondSaturday and Sunday.

Employees reached theirrespective branches and placedlocks on the main gate besidesputting banners on display.They sat on a dharna andraised slogans in support oftheir demands.

However, private banksfunctioned as usual, but theclearing work could not takeplace.

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General Manager NorthCentral and North Eastern

Railway Vinay Kumar Tripathiwhile talking to the press rep-resentatives at different placessaid that the RailwayAdministration is firmly com-mitted to the developmentworks and passenger amenitiesare being continuouslyenhanced. He also informedabout the future plans andvarious projects going on in thearea. Vinay Kumar Tripathi,inspected the Prayagraj-Kanpur Section of PrayagrajDivision during annual inspec-tion programme thoroughly.

This inspection started inthe morning and continued tilllate evening. During theinspection, the track of the sec-tion was inspected from therear window of the inspectioncar. Starting from Prayagraj inthe morning, Tripathi with histeam of Principal Head ofDepartments inspected MajorCurves, Level Crossings, Gang,stations (Prayagraj, Bharwariand Fatehpur) Yards, Pointsalong with conducting SpeedTrial during the programme.

After starting inspection atPrayagraj Jn. in the morning,General Manager inspected

the crew lobby at the stationand saw various efforts madeby the lobby for safe and effi-cient operations and gave direc-tions to further improve uponit. During inspection Tripathiinaugurated Oscillation mon-itoring system (OMS) car. Thiswill facilitate recording of trackparameters at 130 Kmph, thuswill enable enhanced safetyand passenger comfort.

Moving further, GMinspected Level crossing no-five between Bamhrauli andManauri stations. Whileinspecting the Bharwari stationhe saw the booking-cum-reser-vation office, station area, andadjoining railway colony. Heinaugurated the rolling out ofe-connectivity, charger failureAlarm System and also inaugu-rated the power supply substa-tion at Bharwari.

The DFCCIL connectivityat Shujatpur was also discussedwith divisional and DFCCILofficers on run. A major Bridgeno-109 between Sirathu andAthsarai and Limited heightsubway at level crossing loca-tion- 46 on Faizullahpur-Ramwa section were alsoinspected by the team of offi-cers.

The detailed inspection ofFatehpur station, railway

colony, reservation office,goods office and shed, Parceloffice, Health unit, OHE depot,level crossing no-49, pointsetc. was done. He also inspect-ed remote monitoring ofCCTV camera and saw VOIPcontrol phone and tool kitapart from inauguratingPreventive maintenance usingonline monitoring of signallinggears. Tripathi also inspectedCurve no-38 in Fatehpur-Kurasti Kalan section, A gangand minor bridge no-177 wereinspected in Kurasti Kalan-Malwan section. GM also inau-gurated online monitoring ofrolling stock system in Sarsaul-Rooma section.

The General Manager andhis team of Principal Heads ofDepartments fromHeadquarters had a thoroughoverview of various aspectsrelated to passenger amenities,operational arrangements, stafffacilities, various aspects relat-ed to safety, various units oftrack maintenance and award-ed the staff for good work dur-ing their inspection.Instructions were given to theDivisional Railway Managerand other concerned officers bythe General Manager as per therequirements at various places.Apart from this, the General

Manager also interacted withpublic representatives, railwayemployees, union representa-tives and journalists at variousstations. During this inspec-tion, the General Manager alsoexamined the cleanliness con-ditions of the passenger facili-ties, waiting room, platforms,toilets, booking offices andstations.

General Manager instruct-ed the concerned to upkeep thevisibility of level crossing gatesfor road users. The mainte-nance practices and overallcondition of the assets in thesection was found satisfactory.General Manager personallyfelicitated and gave away indi-vidual and group awards to therailway personnel for theirwork, knowledge and perfor-mance.

During the inspection, theGeneral Manager also interact-ed with the railway personneland he checked the knowledgeof the railway personnel abouttheir work and responsibilities.

Mohit Chandra, DivisionalRailway Manager, PrayagrajDivision along with thePrincipal Heads of depart-ments and all the BranchOfficers of Prayagraj Divisionwere present during the inspec-tion.

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The annual flower showtitled ‘First Flower Show’

was organised in the premisesof Classic College of Law(CCL), Mahespur Thakuran,

here on Sunday in memory oflate Ramesh K Mehrotra‘Ramji’. IG Police, BareillyZone, Rajesh Kumar Pandey,who was the chief guest, inau-gurated the function by light-

ing the lamp which was fol-lowed by Saraswati Vandana bythe students of CCL. A largenumber of people visited theflower show. Around 32 vari-eties of flowers, includingCarnation, Dahlia, Petonia,

Cineraria and Indian roses etcwere exhibited on the occasion.The judges were Head ofDepartment (HOD),Department of Botany, BareillyCollege, Alok Khare, senior sci-

entist, Indian VeterinaryResearch Institute (IVRI),Ranjeet Singh and socialactivist Divi Khanna. The run-ner-up trophy was awarded toDr SR Sharma of SRInternational while the awardfor maximum number ofentries to Vinay Khandelwalof Khandelwal College. BesidesBonsai King Award was givento Haris Bhalla and BonsaiQueen Award to Vibha Vaidhwhile Dr Arshad Ali of AlaHazrat Hospital was awardedthe trophy for best seasonalplants. The programme con-cluded with the vote of thanksbeing proposed by secretaryCCL Shirish Malhotra, wholauded the efforts of the man-agement and staff for organis-ing the flower show. He gaveaway prizes to all gardeners whohad participated in the flowershow. Prominent among thosepresent on the occasion wereDr Ravi Khanna, Dr SomeshMalhotra, Dr Mamta Agarwal,Dr Nupur Goel, Tarun, Arunand Amit Tandon.

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The body of a missing 63-year-old man was found in

a well in Mathana village underJamalpur police station onSaturday. As per the reports,Bihari Patel had gone missingon Friday noon. When he didnot reach his house till night,his family members becameanxious and launched a searchfor him and found his clothesand stick near a well and his

body floating in it. JamalpurStation Officer (SO) VijayKumar Saroj the old man prob-ably slipped into the well andlost his life. The police wasinvestigating the matter.Meanwhile another report saidthat an unidentified agedwoman found murdered in agarden in Sabari locality underKatra Kotwali police station onSaturday. As per the reports, thelocals saw the body in a gardenon Saturday and informed the

police following which theyreached the spot The body wasfound in a semi-naked condi-tion in the bush. According tothe locals, the deceased, agedabout 50 years, was mentallyretarded and had been roamingaround in the area for the pastfew months. Police said post-mortem examination reportwould ascertain the cause of herdeath . The police took her bodyinto possession for completingthe necessary legal formalities.

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An Inter-departmentalCricket Tournament was

organised in collaboration withSports Council, Vindhyanagar,at NH3 Ground located in thetownship premises of NTPCVindhyachal. A total of 13teams participated and everymatch was of 10 overs each.The top two teams of theleague, Team ET and TeamOperation G-4, clashed in thefinal. Team ET captain YashDagar won the toss and decid-ed to bowl first. TeamOperation G-4 scored 78 runsin 10 overs while Team ETcruised through the home injust 6.1 overs without losingany wicket. For Team ET,Shubham Negi scored highestunbeaten 37 runs. RahulSharma was adjudged the Manof the Match. He was alsonamed as the Best Bowler ofthe tournament, while

Shubham Negi as the BestBatsman. Nikhil Gupta wasdeclared the Player of theTournament. At the closingceremony of the match, all theteams were presented memen-tos and the winning Team ETwas honoured by being award-ed the trophy. ExecutiveDirector (Vindhyachal)Munish Johri, GeneralManager (Operations) RajeevSubedar, General Manager(Technical Services) SK Mishra

and Additional GeneralManager (Human Resources)Snehashish Bhattacharya werepresent on the occasion alongwith chairperson SuhasiniSangh, Mridula Johri, adviser,Asha Kiran School, VinitaSubedar and other office-bear-ers and members of SuhasiniSangh. Sports Council generalsecretary Abhishek Singh andcricket coordinator MukeshAmb and its team were alsopresent.

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Northern Coalfields Limited(NCL), a Miniratna com-

pany of the Government ofIndia, surpassing the total coalproduction of the last financialyear on Saturday has set a newrecord of annual coal produc-

tion. NCL in the current finan-cial year till Saturday by pro-ducing 108.37 million tonnes(MT) of coal has set a newrecord. NCL in the last finan-cial year 2019-20 had pro-duced a total of 108.05 MT ofcoal This performance of NCLduring the pandemic is a greatachievement. On this notableachievement of the company,CMD NCL Prabhat KumarSinha, Director (Personnel)Bimlendu Kumar, Director(Technical / Operations) DrAnindya Sinha, Director(Finance) Ram Narayan Dubey,Director (Technical/Project &Planning) SS Sinha, ChiefVigilance Officer (CVO)AmitKumar Srivastava congratulat-ed the entire NCL family andall the beneficiaries andexpressed confidence that thecompany by achieving its annu-al target ahead of time will playa vital role in the energy self-reliance of the nation.

In the current financialyear NCL pursuing its pro-duction and despatch target of113.25 MT has despatched102.71 MT of coal. Out of

which more than 80 MT havebeen supplied to power hous-es. While performing brilliantlyNCL compared to last yearalong with an increase of 18 percent removed around 360 mil-lion cubic metres of overbur-den (OB). Significantly, NCL isa leading coal company of

Coal India, which is meetingthe energy needs of the coun-try with 10 highly-mechanisedopencast coal mines.

‘BHARAT KA AMRUTMAHOTSAV:’ In NorthernCoalfields Limited ‘Bharat kaAmrut Mahotsav’ startedrecently. On August 15, 2022,India will complete 75 years ofindependence and on thisoccasion the Government ofIndia has made preparations tocelebrate this festival 75 weeksin advance. In this sequenceunder the direction of theMinistry of Coal, Governmentof India, NCL has prepared adetailed action plan for variousactivities on the theme of ‘GoGreen-Drink Clean’ for then e x t 7 5 w e e k s . N C LChairman-Cum-Managing-Director (CMD) PrabhatKumar Sinha, who was pre-sent as the chief guest at theinauguration of ‘Bharat KaAmrut Mahotsav’ at NCLheadquarters, said that theNCL family is proud to be apartner of this big campaign ofthe Government of India. Sinhasaid that the date of March 12

has a special significance in thehistory of India becauseMahatma Gandhi started theDandi March on this day in theyear 1930. Sinha expressedconfidence that in the next 75weeks the activities and exten-sive awareness campaign to beorganised will ensure the par-ticipation of the local peoplein building a self-reliantnation. During the pro-gramme NCL Director(Personnel) Bimlendu Kumar,Director (Finance) RamNarayan Dubey, Director(Technical/ Project &Planning) SS Sinha were pre-sent as distinguished guests.Also the head of the depart-ment of the headquarters,other officers and employeeswere present. All the NCLprojects and units were con-nected through video confer-encing during the pro-gramme. Under the ‘Bharat KaAmrut Mahotsav’ many otherimportant activities will beorganised like in schools andnearby villages discussion onhistory and heroes of India’sfreedom struggle, essay writ-ing, painting exhibition,‘nukkad natak’ (street play),rally, awareness campaign inlocal villages, a discussion onenvironmental topics, planta-tion, organic farming, soilconservation, cleanliness rally,market ‘haat’ and at publicplaces cleanliness campaignon the theme, ‘Go Green-Drink Green,’ extensive cam-paign against malnutritionamong children and pregnantwomen of the local commu-nity, awareness campaign onwater conservation and cleandrinking water. It may bepointed out here that this fes-tival will connect the nearbybeneficiaries with the goal of aprosperous and self-reliantnation and will strengthenNCL’s efforts in making thecountry self-reliant in the fieldof coal and energy.

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Apart from putting a breakon illegal plotting, Kanpur

Development Authority hasgot its land worth around Rs350 crore freed from unautho-rised possession during thepast six months. This includesthe land earmarked for devel-oping the Modern City. At thesame time, the survey for devel-oping a New Kanpur City hasalso been started.

Efforts are also on to settlethe dispute of compensation tobe paid to Mati (Kanpur Dehat)farmers against acquisition oftheir land for developing agrand housing project there.

Not only this, the KDA alsosucceeded in resolving adecade-old dispute with 450allottees by allotting them alter-native plots in four housingschemes (Jawaharpuram,Alaknanda, Highway andHighway Extension). The KDAalso started organising reg-istry camp, suspended for thepast several months after a

clash between the staff of theregistry office and KDA.During the past two months,hundreds of allottees have beenable to get the registry of theirproperties executed.

KDA Vice ChairmanRakesh Kumar Singh saidpreparations were in full swingto launch the ambitious Mati(Kanpur Dehat) housingscheme soon. He also directedthe officials to work out acomprehensive action plan forthe vacant land and submitstudy reports relating to OBlock, Sabzi Mandi, KidwaiNagar and New Kanpur City.

The land freed by KDAfrom unauthorised possessionincluded land worth Rs 237crore in Shankerpur Sarai, Rs100 crore in Shatabdi Nagar, Rs12.50 crore in Panki, Rs 2.10crore in Jajmau besides demo-lition of an illegal townshipdeveloped on 60 bigha land inGanga Barrage.

It may be recalled that in abid to increase the earning ofthe KDA during the COVID-

19 pandemic period, theRakesh Kumar Singh, afterassuming the charge of KDAVice Chairman about sixmonths ago, had directed theofficials to tighten the noosearound illegal constructionsand plotting without anyapproved layout on land fromGanga Barrage to Singhpur,Mainawati Marg to Singhpurand Kalyanpur to Bithoor. Inthe action taken subsequently,land worth Rs 237 crore wasfreed from the illegal posses-sion of a land mafioso in KatriShankarpur Sarai village.

After the availability ofsufficient land, the KDA isnow planning to launch manyambitious projects there. On1,100 hectare land, a moderncity would be developed whilesurvey for setting up a NewKanpur City on 200 hectareland is being carried out.Notices have been issued tobuilders for carrying out illegalconstruction without anyapproved layout.

In Mati (Kanpur Dehat),

the dispute about payment ofcompensation to farmersagainst acquisition of theirland has been resolved. Thefarmers have been paid Rs 15crore as compensation. Now amega housing project on 563plots will soon be launchedthere.

Singh said a two-membercommittee had been set up tofree land worth crores of rupeesfrom illegal possession in OBlock, Sabzi Mandi, KidwaiNagar.

Many buildings found car-rying out illegal constructionwere also sealed by the KDAteams while all-out efforts wereon to sell over 5,000 flats lyingready under its different hous-ing projects.

KDA also organises griev-ance redressal camps for three-days every month to settle dis-putes.

The file tracking systemand letter management applaunched by KDA has alsohelped in making the KDAfunctioning transparent.

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Kanpur DivisionalCommissioner Raj

Shekhar carried out a surpriseinspectionin the office of theexecutive engineer of NalkoopKhand-I of the IrrigationDepartment.

The divisional commis-sioner found only 23 out of 25staff in the office and the exec-utive engineer also absent whenhe reached the office at 10:30am. He said the surpriseinspections and follow-upactions were meant to improvedelivery of services to the peo-ple.

Shekhar the surpriseinspections were being madeon the directives of the gov-ernment to ensure that officialsattended their offices timely,carried out their duties prompt-ly and attended the public onpriority and resolved theirproblems in a qualitative man-ner.

He said the careless attitudeand the working style of the

executive engineer could begauged from the fact that theattendance register was neitherbeing seen nor signed by himon a daily basis. He said it wasthe duty of the executive engi-neer to sign the attendance reg-ister timely and ensure that the

staff and rest of the officialssigned it.

The divisional commis-sioner said it was a matter ofshame that the cleanliness andgeneral upkeep of the office wasvery bad, reflecting the shabbyapproach and slipshod working

of the official.He then issued show cause

notice to Executive EngineerAK Singh and recommendedadverse entry in his confiden-tial file and also a departmen-tal inquiry against him for hiscareless attitude and poorsupervision.

Shekhar also directed thatthe salaries of all the absentofficials and staff be stoppedand directed theSuperintending Engineer,Irrigation, to issue show causenotices to the absent staff andsubmit their replies to thecommissionerate in a week. Healso directed that the commis-sionerate also be informedwhat action had been takenagainst these officials andemployees latest by March 25.

He directed the SEIrritation, Nalkoop Khand, toensure improvement in theoffice cleanliness andupkeep of records and submita report in 30 days along withpictures and video of theassigned task.

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Hundreds of Indian Bank(Allahabad Bank) officials

and staff staged an impressivedemonstration at the bank’sBara Chauraha office gate onMonday to protest the govern-ment decision to privatisebanks.

On the call given by theUnited Forum of Bank Union,the Indian Bank officials andstaff raised slogans and threat-ened to intensify the agitationif the government did not rollback the privatisation move.

The first day of the two-daystrike was a big success asevery bank remained closedand bank working remainedparalysed for the whole day.

UFBU State PresidentKuldip Singh, addressing thegathering, said they were com-pelled to go on strike after thethird round of tripartite talks

failed.He said the budget pre-

sented by Union FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharamanhad categorically mentionedprivatisation of three banks,including IDBI. He said theentire bank staff strongly con-demned this move. He said itwas true that all the banksserved the common man and

in implementation of all theschemes of the government, beit Mudra Yojana, Jan DhanYojana, PM Stree Vendor’sYojana, the public sector bankshad a major role. He said itcould not be denied that thecountry and its people needednationalised banks only.

Addressing the gathering,UFBU secretary Ankur Mishra

said the Bharatiya Janata Partyhad openly come out with thedecision to privatise banks andsaid that this move would cer-tainly not be taken lying down.

He said all the bank offi-cials, staff and even customerswere strongly against the pri-vatisation move. He said theirfight would continue until thedecision was rolled back.

Similarly, all the otherbanks in the city remainedclosed and the staff remainedvigilant to ensure that the banklocks were not opened at anycost.

Those who took part in thedemonstration were PN Singh,HN Agarwal, Arun Bajpai,Ishan Dwivedi, Abhishek Patel,KL Mathur and several others.

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A28-year-old woman miss-ing from her parents’ house

in Panki has been found dead.Her body was recovered onKoela Nagar highway underChakeri police station onMonday morning with marksof injury on the throat.

The parents of the womanhad filed a complaint about thedisappearance of their daugh-ter, Mamta Singh, at Pankipolice station late Sunday nightand had expressed suspicionthat their son-in-law,Dharmendra, may haveabducted and killed her.

Mamta Singh, daughter ofNanhe Singh of Panki, wasmarried to Dharmendra ofMeerpur Cantonment. Due todifferences between the couple,Mamta was living with her par-ents for the past two years. OnSunday morning, Dharmendrahad visited his in-laws’ houseand had taken Mamta with himon his motorcycle for a ride.When Mamta did not returntill late night and her phone didnot respond, Nanhe Singh fileda complaint with the Pankipolice.

Panki Station Officer AtulSingh said prima facie itappeared to be a case of mur-der. He said raids were beingconducted to nab Dharmendra.

Meanwhile, an elderly manwas killed when an uncon-trolled bulldozer rammed intoa fast food shop in Sachendipolice station area earlyMonday morning.

The 63-year-old man,identified as Sajjan LalChauhan of Udaipur village,was fast asleep in his shop onKisan Nagar-Vidhnu roadwhen the bulldozer rammedinto it. The driver escapedleaving the bulldozer on thespot.

Sajjan Lal Chauhan is sur-vived by wife Kamla Devi andtwo children.

Station House OfficerSatish Rathaur said efforts wereon to ascertain identities of thebulldozer driver and owner.

/�� !��KANPUR (PNS): Former dis-trict governor of Rotary Club,Dr DN Raizadey, while chair-ing a function to felicitate out-standing women organised byRotary Club of Kanpur Metroon Monday said irrespective ofthe gender those who con-tribute majorly towards nation’suplift need to be felicitated butwomen deserve a better wordof appreciation.

He said the 21 womenwho were being felicitated werein fact jewels not only in thecrown of Kanpur but even thestate and thus they needed all-round appreciation.

He said women’s empow-erment referred to the ability ofwomen to enjoy their right tocontrol and benefit from theresources, assets, income andtheir own time, as well as theability to manage risk andimprove their economic statusand well-being.

Prominent women whowere honoured were Dr KiranSinha, Seema Agarwal, DrSangeeta Saraswar, MamtaPathak, Dr Mridula Paliwaland several others.

Prominent club memberspresent on the occasion werepresident Manjul Gopal, DrVK Gupta, DN Jauhari,Lokendra Chaturvedi andKamal Trivedi.

0��%��,�� &��KANPUR (PNS): Noted edu-cationist and director ofrenowned pre-school LittleFolks, Radhika Bhushan, wonthe lifetime achievement awardfor early childhood educationand care (ECCE) in the cate-gory of innovative preschoolenterprise.

The school also won mul-tiple awards at the prestigious18th World Education Summit2021.

Little Folks School, an elitepre-school which has carved aniche for itself in the field ofquality teaching and child han-dling, has for over 40 yearsbeen focusing on cultivatingchildren’s (aged 2-6 years) long-term social, emotional, andacademic potential throughleading learning philosophies.

The forte of the school is its10:1 student-teacher ratio

which helps in working close-ly with each child to guide andhelp him/her in developingtheir skills.

Radhika Bhushan had ear-lier received the best educa-tionist award from FeminaMagazine. Besides she has beenawarded entrepreneur of theyear award by TiE (The IndusEntrepreneurs) and FICCI Flo.

As an extension of herwork and as part of her passionfor the cause, Radhika Bhushanhas enabled not just students,but also parents by counsellingthem and engaging with themwith regard to the many issuesthey faced with children in thatage group.

Speaking on the occasion,Radhika Bhushan said, “I amecstatic to have been awardedthe lifetime achievementaward.”

She said the journey ofLittle Folks started 40 years agowith the passion to work for thecause of early childhood edu-cation. She added that every lit-tle step of progress her childrentook, filled her heart with joy.

The 18th edition of TheWorld Education Summit(WES) Awards by ELETSaimed to acknowledge thoseindividuals, educational insti-tutions, and Ed-tech firms thathave transformed teaching,learning, and employabilityoutcomes.

TRADERS WARNED:District Admitted Officer VPSingh while holding a meetingwith Uttar Pradesh KhadyaVyapar Mandal on Saturday,warned the oil manufacturersand sellers that in view ofmassive misbranding of mus-tard oil, the UP government

had decided to impose a fine ofRs 3 lakh and another Rs 10lakh for forgery against theguilty. He said the rule wouldcome into effect from June 8,2021 and all those selling mus-tard oil would have to clearlymention multi-source edible oilon the container if it had a mix-ture of other edible oils.

He said till date the mus-tard oil was being sold in theratio of 25:75 in which themustard oil was mere 25 percent and the people were forcedto pay a high price. He saidpalm oil and palmolein whichwere cheaper oils were beingmixed with mustard and soldas pure mustard oil to get hugeprofits. He warned that manu-facturers and sellers that theywould be equally held respon-sible if they sold misbrandedmustard oil.

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New Delhi (PNS): The NIA along with local policeunits on Monday conducted simultaneous search-es at 11 locations including eight in Kerala spreadover districts of Kannur, Mallapuram, Kollam andKasargod, two locations in Bengaluru and onelocation in Delhi in connection with a case per-taining to terrorist activities of a group led by oneMohammed Ameen of Kerala who along with twoof his associates were arrested preliminary ques-tioning. “The NIA also arrested three accused per-sons Mohammad Ameen alias Abu Yahaya,Mushab Anuvar and Dr Rahees Rashid after pre-liminary examination. Mohammad Ameen wasleading the module and the other two arrestedaccused were his close associates,” the NIA said in

a statement. This group has been running vari-ous ISIS propaganda channels on different socialmedia platforms such as Telegram, Hoop andInstagram for propagating the violent Jihadi ide-ology of ISIS and radicalizing and recruiting newmembers to this ISIS module, the NIA said.

The NIA had registered the Kerala ISISModule Case against seven known and otherunknown accused persons under sections IndianPenal Code Sections relating to criminal con-spiracy, waging or attempting to wage waragainst the Government of India and conspira-cy for waging war against the nation and relevantprovisions of Unlawful Activities (Prevention)Act on March 5.

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The CBI on Monday ques-tioned relatives of

Trinamool Congress MPAbhishek Banerjee in connec-tion with its ongoing probe intothe multi-crore coal pilferagescam.

The agency had on Fridayissued a notice to AnkushArora, husband of MenakaGambhir who is the sister-in-law of Banerjee, for question-ing in the illegal coal miningcase. The agency had alsoasked Gambhir's father-in-lawPawan Arora to join the inves-tigation. "Both have appearedbefore the anti-corruptionbranch (ACB) of CBI at theagency’s Nizam Palace office inKolkata," source in the agencysaid.

Earlier, a CBI team had onFebruary 23 visited the resi-dence of Banerjee and exam-ined his wife Rujira in con-nection with the case.

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With a rising consumerbase, e-commerce firms

have drawn maximum com-plaints on Governmenthelplines. As per data, on anaverage 70,000 complaints areregistered at NationalConsumer Helpline everymonth. Out of this e-Commerce Sector related griev-ance comprise of 22 percent oftotal grievances. Besides, 172Notices have been issued byCentral Consumer ProtectionAuthority since October 2020for misleading advertisementand unfair trade practice andViolation of Declarations underPackaged Commodity Rulesincluding country of origin.

According to theDepartment of ConsumerAffairs, between April 2020and February 2021, 188262dockets registered against E-Commerce companies.

Between April 2017 and March2018, the number of docketsregistered was 78089 whichrose to 154122 in 2019-2020.Other Sectors which have sig-nificant number of grievancesare Banking (8.6%) and telecom(7.7%) of total grievances. Thenumber of convergence com-panies on the NCH Platformhas increased from 403 in 2017-18 to 647 and with 98.5% ofgrievance redressal during April– December 2020.

Registration of consumercomplaints has been on anincreasing trend every yearespecially from the States ofTripura, Meghalaya, AndamanNicobar, Arunachal Pradesh,Puducherry and Nagaland.

Nandan further said that172 notices have been issuedsince October 2020, 37 formisleading advertisement andunfair trade practice and 135for Violation of Declarationsunder Packaged Commodity

Rules (including Country ofOrigin).

Informing about theeDaakhil portal of the depart-ment , the Secretary saidGovernment of India throughNIC has launched the E-daakhilportal. The portal simplifies fil-ing of complaints by con-sumers. A consumer can filecomplaint online from any-where for the redressal of theircomplaints. So far 17 States andNCDRC have adopted the e-daakhil portal and it is availableat 449 locations. 13,944 usershave registered on eDaakhilportal. 933 fresh consumercomplaints have been filedusing e Daakhil and 5,486existing cases have migrated eDaakhil. She also said that dur-ing Covid-19 times manyinstances of misleading adver-tisements like boosting immu-nity , protecting from Covid-19,virus killing and killing 99.9%virus were noticed.

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The Centre on Monday saidit is trying to "consult and

convince" the JharkhandGovernment about benefits ofcommercial coal mining poli-cy which is designed to boostdomestic production andreduce imports. Union CoalMinister Pralhad Joshi duringthe Question Hour in the RajyaSabha said that it is a "big sin"that India despite having thelargest coal reserves is depen-dent on import of thermalcoal used in power generation.

The dependence onimports was due to restrictionon allocation of coal blocks,which has been eased out afterdeep consultation with thestate governments, he said.After consultations with states,the central government hasbrought a commercial coalmining policy under whichcoal blocks are opened to pri-vate investors through auctionfor commercial purpose, headded.

"We have consulted thestate governments. Even wehave consulted the Jharkhand

government. Initially, theyappreciated it and later theyhave opposed it. But we are inregular consultation with thestate government," Joshi said inthe Upper House.

The central government istrying to "consult and con-vince" the Jharkhand govern-ment because ultimately thepolicy is in the interest of thestate as the revenue earned goesto the state, not to the centre,he said.

"We are trying to convincethem. I hope they will be con-vinced. Already auction is

done, since cooperation of thestate is needed, we are in reg-ular touch with the state gov-ernment," he added. The min-ister was responding to a queryby BJP leader from JharkhandSameer Oroan that if any hur-dle has been faced in importsdue to opposition to the gov-ernment policy by Jharkhand.

Replying to another ques-tion asked by BJD leader AmarPatnaik on non-operation ofcoal blocks that were alreadyauctioned, the minister saidsome of the mines have notstarted the production.

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Given the sustained drive toachieve self-reliance and

indigenization in weapon man-ufacturing, India’s imports inthe last nine to ten years havedropped by more than 33 percent. In the process, Russia, themain supplier of arms to India,suffered. And so did the USwhich had emerged as a bigsupplier of arms to India in thelast one decade.

Noting these points in itsreport on Monday, the reput-ed international organizationStockholm International PeaceResearch Institute (SIPRI) alsosaid the decline took placedue to an attempt by to reduceits dependence on Russianarms and complex procure-ment processes.

Its arms imports reducedby 33 % between 2011-15 and2016-20, the report said. Atpresent, more than 70 per centof inventory in the Indianarmed forces is of erstwhileUSSR and Russian origin. For

its part, the US in the last onedecade has supplied arms andammunition worth over 15billion dollars.

Attributing this reductionin imports to an attempt toreduce its dependence onRussian arms and complexprocurement processes, theSIPRI report said, “Russia wasthe most affected supplier,although India’s imports of USarms also fell by 46%.” India isplanning large-scale armsimports in the coming yearsfrom several suppliers, it added.

Arms exports by Russia,which accounted for 20% of allexports of major arms in2016–20, dropped by 22%, thereport said. “The bulk --around 90% -- of this decreasewas attributable to a 53% fall in

its arms exports to India,”SIPRI said.

It also said exports byChina, the world’s fifth largestarms exporter in 2016-20, fell7.8% between 2011-15 and2016-20. However, the UnitedStates, the world’s largest armsexporter, saw its exports rise. Itsglobal share of exports went upfrom 32% to 37% between2011-15 and 2016-20.

Over the years, India hastaken several steps to reducedependence on imported mil-itary hardware. The defenceindustry was thrown open tothe private sector in a big waywith special focus on giving animpetus to MSMEs.

Last year, the governmentbanned the import of morethan 100 items in a determinedattempt to goad the armedforces to procure such systemsfrom the local industry. Moreitems are likely to be added tothe list in the coming days.

Also, the budget for nextfiscal has set aside more thanRs 71,000 crores, 63 percent of

the capital budget of defence,for purchasing weapons sys-tems from the Indian industry.The government spent nearlyRs 50,000 crore, 58% of thecapital budget, on indigenousequipment procurement.

In a one of the big ticketupcoming purchases, the IAFwill buy 83 Tejas light combataircraft(LCA)worth over Rs48,000 crores from the aero-space company HindustanAeronautics Limited(HAL).

The Army will also buyupgraded 118 Arjun main bat-tle tanks(MBT) worth over Rs9,000 crores from the tank man-ufacturing unit in Avadi,Chennai. Prime MinisterNarendra Modi last monthhanded over to the Army theindigenously designed and man-ufactured Arjun Main BattleTank(MBT) MK-1A in Chennai.

Presiding over the cere-mony, Modi said the tank rep-resented the united Indianspirit as the weapon systemmanufactured in the south willguard the frontiers in the north.

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Taking note of an incident ofalleged racism in Britain

against an Indian, theGovernment on Monday saidit will take up the issue with theUK when required and assert-ed it will never turn our eyesaway from racism wherever itis”.

Giving this assurance in theRajya Sabha, External AffairsMinister S Jaishankar describedIndia as the land of MahatmaGandhi and said, “It can neverturn its eyes away fromracism..particularly so, when itis in a country where we havesuch a large diaspora,"

This reiteration came whenBJP MP Ashwini Vaishnavdrew the attention of the houseto the incident of racism andcyber bullying that forced theIndian-origin Rashmi Samantto resign as president of theOxford University StudentsUnion. The minister said NewDelhi has strong ties with theUK and will take up such mat-ters with “great candour” whenrequired.

Samant, the first Indianwoman to be elected as presi-dent of the Oxford UniversityStudents Union, was forced toresign within five days of herappointment over several of hersocial media posts that werelabelled anti-Semitic and racist.

Vaishnav said she was cyberbullied and her parent's Hindureligious beliefs were publiclyattacked by a faculty member.

"As a friend of the UK, wealso have concerns about itsreputational impact.We willmonitor these developmentsvery, very closely. We will raiseit when required and we willalways champion the fightagainst racism and other formsof intolerance," Jaishankarstressed.

Raising the issue through azero hour mention, Vaishnavsaid there appears to a contin-uation of attitudes and preju-dices from the colonial era inthe United Kingdom. Samant,a bright student from Udupi,Karnataka, overcame all chal-lenges to become the firstIndian women president ofthe union, he said.

But "what was the treat-ment meted out to her?" heasked. "Shouldn't this diversi-ty been celebrated?" Instead ofthat, she was cyber bullied tothe point that she had to resign.Even the Hindu religious belief

of her parents was publiclyattacked by a faculty member,which went unpunished. If thishappens at an institute likeOxford what is the messagethat goes out to the world," hesaid.

While she did issue a pub-lic apology for 'unintentional-ly' hurting anyone's emotions,Samant believes she was unfair-ly targeted as a 'consciousattempt'.

Vaishnav also referred toPrince Harry's wife MeghanMarkle's accusations of racismby UK royals. "A behaviour ofa society is actually a reflectionof its beliefs and value system.If such practices of racial dis-crimination are followed atthe highest level in societywhat would be the following atthe lower levels," he asked.

Stating that the twoinstances were not isolated, hesaid the treatment of migrantsand their segregation in the UKon a racial basis is very wellknown all over the world.

Quoting a recent reportwhich said the death rateamong people of Asian originbecause of COVID-19 is high-er than the death rate in othercommunities in the UK, theMP said "Doesn't it raise amajor question about equi-table access to health andindeed the entire basic humanrights issue?"

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The Congress on Mondayattacked the Government

over reports that it plans to sellits residual stake in the alreadyprivatised Delhi, Mumbai,Bengaluru and Hyderabad air-ports, alleging that such pri-vatisation hurts the public andbenefits only a handful ofcronies.

Former Congress chiefRahul Gandhi questioned theCentre’s plans to sell the stakesof the Delhi, Mumbai,Bengaluru and Hyderabad air-ports. "Does not know how tobuild, knows only how to sell.India Against Privatisationwhich hurts the public andbenefits only a handful ofcronies," Rahul tweeted

The attacks comes follow-ing reports about ambitious Rs2.5 lakh crore asset monetisa-tion pipeline identified to raiseadditional resources from theDelhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru andHyderabad airports.

In a statement, Congresschief spokesman RandeepSingh Surjewala said the gov-ernment is running away fromits responsibility of ensuringbetter governance in publicsector units including thebanks by recklessly selling thesepublic sector establishments.

The party recalled as tohow this government forcedONGC to acquire HPCL, amove with no benefits for theoil explorer. But in the bar-

gain, ONGC‘s cash reserveswere eroded by 91% andtoday the company is forcedto spend less than half of whatit did on oil exploration in2014, consequently domesticoil production has dippedunder the Modi regime. Thegovernment needs to get outof the mindset of running a‘Hum do Humare Do’ gov-ernment and instead focus onthe welfare of every Indian -including the poor and mar-ginalized, the statement read.

The Congress also attackedthe government on the two-daybank strike. “We stand in sol-idarity with 10 lakh bank offi-cials and staff participating inthe strike against reckless pri-vatisation of public sectorbanks. The strike called by theUnited Forum of Bank Unionis against the ill placed priori-ties of the Modi government.

The Modi Government isresponsible for the inconve-nience being faced by the peo-ple. There is no rationale forselling state owned lenders toprivate lenders - foreign ordomestic. This is yet again adesperate attempt to meet thedisinvestment target of Rs 1.75lakh crore,” Surjewala stated.

The party recalled the ideaof bank nationalization whichwas a bold step taken by formerPrime Minister Indira Gandhito bring banking closer toevery Indian.

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Reacting to the verdict and conviction in theBatla House encounter, the Information and

Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar onMonday attacked the Opposition leaders say-ing "Delhi court's verdict on Batla HouseEncounter today thoroughly exposes the "ter-rorist sympathisers" and doubters lobby in thecountry."

Javadekar said Congress president SoniaGandhi, Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee and DelhiCM Arvind Kejriwal should apologise to thenation for raising questions on the integrity ofour police forces.

He said all terrorist sympathisers havebeen thoroughly exposed by the verdict

Union Minister Giriraj Singh also hailed theverdict. In a tweet, he reacted to the verdict saying "Jai Ho".

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In the ongoing operation inthe South Kashmir district

of Shopian, Jaish-e-Mohammad dreaded com-mander Sajjad Afghani wasgunned down by the jointteam of security forces onMonday. So far two terror-ists including LeT cadreJahangir Ahmad Wani havebeen eliminated while freshfiring resumed late Mondayevening after the securityforces established contactwith the third terrorist at theencounter site. Till the timeof filing the report intermit-tent firing was going on inthe area.

At least three houses alsocaught fire on Sunday duringthe heavy exchange of firing.Some of the local residentsalso tried to assemble nearthe scene of action to disruptthe operations but were dis-persed by the paramilitaryforces after they resorted toheavy stone pelting in thearea. Meanwhile, InspectorGeneral of Police ,Kanshmirrange Vijay Kumar Monday

congratulated Shopian police& security forces for elimi-nat ing JeM commanderSajjad Afghani in a Shopianencounter. He a longwithGoC Victor Force con-ducted aerial monitoring ofthe operation and law andorder s ituat ions at theencounter site.

Sajad Afghani along withhis associates was trapped bysecurity forces in Rawalporavillage of Shopian districton Saturday.To avoid anycollateral damage the securi-ty forces waited patientlywhile maintaining a tightcordon in the area.

Afghani , res ident ofRawalpora area of Shopian,remained active since 2018and was chiefly responsible

for recruiting local youth inthe terrorist ranks.

According to a policespokesman, “Several terrorcrime cases were registeredagainst him and was wantedby law for his complicity inseveral terror crime casesincluding Case FIR No.304/2018 PS Shopian per-taining to terrorising thepeople so as to keep themaway from Panchayat pollsincluding blazing aPanchayat Ghar at Kanji-ullar. Case FIR No. 307/2018PS Shopian pertaining tobarging into the houses ofpolice personnel, abductingand killing of SgCt NisarAhmad, Foll. Firdous Ahmadand SPO Kulwant Singh.

Case FIR No. 343/2018

PS Shopian regarding attackon 34RR camp at Matribugh.Case FIR No. 362/2018 PSShopian regarding abduc-tion and killing of civilianSuhail Ahmad Ganai. CaseFIR No. 35/2019 PS Shopianregarding killing of SPOKhusboo Jan and Case FIRNo. 45/2019 PS Shopianregarding abduction andkilling of civilian TanveerAhmad Dar”.

As per police records,another terrorist JahangirAhmad Wani was activesince 01/09/2020 and wasinvolved in several terrorcrime cases including attackson security forces and civil-ian atrocit ies . Arms &ammunition including USAmade M4 Carbine rifle andother incriminating materi-als were recovered from thesite of encounter so far.

On the other hand,Director General of Police,Dilbag Singh accompaniedby IGP Kashmir Vijay Kumarvisited Anantnag where hechaired a security reviewmeeting with Police, Army &CRPF officers.

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through productivity-linkedschemes as they have done forbatteries, as also spur con-sumer demand throughaccess to cheaper finance.

India’s weightage is todayseven per cent of the world’sGDP, based on purchasingpower parity. As we begin theroad to recovery and target toreflate to healthy pre-crisisgrowth averages of six-eightper cent, increased econom-ic activity will mean highermobility levels and highermanufacturing intensity,therefore, higher emissions.

Even though India main-tains that we are on target toachieve the goal of producing450 gigawatts of renewableenergy by 2030, we require$600 billion of funding toleapfrog to that goal. Apartfrom multilateral funding formega renewable projects andfor FDI for electric vehicles,there is need for easier financ-ing through developmentfinance institutions for longgestation projects. While theGovernment supports newerfinancial instruments likegreen bonds to raise capital atcompetitive rates to financeclimate-friendly projects,public sector banks need toextend lower interest rates tocompanies at the forefront ofsustainable ESG investing.

So, what kind of financial

allocations and prospects arewe looking at?

Being the most populouscountry with a high-livingdensity, being a large manufac-turing hub and having a largeconsuming population, ouraverage carbon footprint isestimated at 0.19 tonne percapita among the poor, and1.32 tonne among the rich. Asthe target is to cut emissionintensity of the GDP by 33-35per cent by 2030, this in itselfholds great business potential.

Second, there is heightenedawareness by corporates toprovision for ESG investing intotheir business planning. So,with 24 of the largest conglom-erates in India (that contributeto emitting 530 million tonnesof CO2 annually) having signeda declaration on climate change,this is an important beginning,as the private sector plays a vitalrole in bringing technical exper-tise and enhanced spending onresearch and development.

According to the WorldEconomic Forum estimates, a“nature-positive economy”could globally deliver $10 tril-lion of annual business andcreate 395 million jobs by2030. It is projected that forevery $1 spent to advance theglobal energy transition, itoffers returns of around $3-8as renewable and clean ener-gy infrastructure construction

generates twice as many jobsper $1 million spent as com-pared to fossil fuel projects.

The vast potential for thetransition to green technologyis embedded in Budget 2021itself, as also the 15th FinanceCommission report pushingfor priority outlays with �7 lakhcrore allocated for urbanisationover the next five years; �5 lakhcrore allocated for water, san-itation and waste manage-ment; �15,000 crore for cleanair; and �2.87 lakh crore for theJal Jeevan Mission.

With the Governmenthaving set an aspirational tar-get of becoming a $10 trillioneconomy by 2030, much ofIndia’s growth will unfold inthe next decade. This makesintegrating the principles ofgreen recovery a win-winbusiness proposition that canaddress the concerns of jobs,growth and sustainability.This is an opportunity thatmust be tapped into by forg-ing stronger public-privatepartnerships with the Centreand State Governments, asalso by accessing global exper-tise for technology inputs ifwe are to make the green tran-sition in conformity with theParis Agreement.

(The writer is an author,columnist and Chairperson,NCFIL, at NITI Aayog. Theviews expressed are personal).

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At the Quad summitlast week, as also at thelast G20 summit,Prime Minister

Narendra Modi reiterated India’scommitment to combat climatechange, as we move towards thetarget of “net-zero emissions by2050”. This calls for far-sightedpolicy initiatives and a collabo-rative response with multilater-al institutions to achieve a tran-sition to clean energy.

The sunrise sectors thatemerged as post-pandemicgrowth catalysts have been health-care, ed-tech, digitisation, fin-techand e-commerce. While there isa greater urgency to transition tosmart infrastructure and greentechnologies, this space is yet tosee traction, as renewable energy,electric vehicles (EVs), sustainableinfrastructure, smart urbanisationand smart ruralisation, water har-vesting, recycling of post-usagewastage and so on, are still innascent stages of adoption by cor-porates and consumers.

Currently, there is a resis-tance to invest in the vast arrayof utilities and products thatcome under the sustainabilitysector, like solar and wind ener-gy, or EVs, as most products haveshorter technology life cycles.Also, these products need aproven track record of usage andneed to achieve economies ofscale to lower costs before con-sumers actually buy into them.

Just to illustrate this point,electric mobility is a sunrise sec-tor in the sustainability field, withthe potential to create 15 millionjobs globally. Considering thatIndia has high dependency on oilimports and rising levels of pol-lution remain a challenge,autonomous vehicles and EVs area solution to both the problems.Yet, EVs account for less than oneper cent of the total vehicles soldin India. Similarly, though solarpower prices have declined glob-ally and India produces thecheapest solar power as projectcosts have declined, the transitionto solar energy is just two per centof the global energy generated.

To accelerate the transitiontowards deep-decarbonisationand facilitate adoption, theGovernment needs to furtherincentivise the supply side

�� Sir — This refers to the editorial ‘Docilethreat’ (March 15). The first summitmeeting of the Quad countries — India,Japan, the US and Australia — is a leaptowards realising a free and open Indo-Pacific. The Trump dispensation, in deal-ing with an aggressive China, went by itsgut instincts and lacked a larger strategicvision. While it largely sought to push theQuad in a military direction, US PresidentJoe Biden is seeking to expand its scopeand adopt a holistic approach to push backan aggressive Beijing. This is smart strat-egy as military coordination without aneconomic and technological anchor isinsufficient to meet the challenges posedby China.

The emphasis is on resilient supplychains, emerging and critical technologies,maritime security and climate change.Hence, the idea is to insulate other coun-tries from becoming dependent onBeijing’s economic and technologicalpatronage. This will offer members mar-ket access and technology transfers as analternative to Chinese products.

India should fully capitalise on thesecoalitions to obtain cutting-edge technol-ogy, boost domestic research and devel-opment and kickstart its own industrialreforms. Also, India is on the right trackin seeking to firewall critical sectors fromChinese equipment and cyber attacks —such as the recent intrusions into India’spower infrastructure. With telecom form-ing the backbone of a digital economy, thissector must be protected from Chineseintrusions. We must be ready to meet allthe challenges posed by our northernneighbour.

N Sadhasiva Reddy | Bengaluru

��Sir — It is not the Government or theFinance Minister who suffers from abank strike. Common people are the vic-tims and poor, uneducated people in vil-lages who have no access to e-banking areat the receiving end of it. The debit cardtransaction has a limit and in case more

money is required to be withdrawn ortransferred, those who are without inter-net banking account are left in the lurch.

Bank employees and unions don’t givea second thought before taking a breakfrom work in the name of strike. Bankemployees should go to strike only on pub-lic holidays and on weekends. Further, theyshould voluntarily give up their salaries forthe number of days they are on strike andask the Government to donate it to thepoor.

Further, banks should not be privatisedbut salary should be given in accordancewith the work done by an employee andthe system of fixed salary should be doneaway with. In the tussle between theGovernment and bank employees, cus-tomers should not be made to suffer.

N Nagarajan| Secunderabad

�� Sir —Elections in India, whether it is pan-

chayat or parliamentary polls, have under-gone many changes. Money plays a vitalrole in elections these days. Our leadersindulge in large-scale corruption and dowhatever they can to lure voters. The cul-ture of sops and freebies has become com-mon. Voters also don’t hesitate in takingfavours.

The criminalisation of politics is alsoa big problem amd many notorious crim-inals have entered politics and also wonelections. People often vote for such anti-social elements out of fear or intimidation.

We must keep in mind that our voteis the deciding factor and we must exer-cise our franchise judiciously. Remember,it is these politicians who make laws inParliament and State Assemblies.

Sravana Ramachandran | Chennai

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Faced with skyrocketing prices of petrol anddiesel, (with petrol crossing the �100-markin Sri Ganganagar), Prime Minister

Narendra Modi has blamed the erstwhile UPAregime for not doing enough to increase domes-tic production, thus making India vulnerable torising international prices, while Minister forPetroleum and Natural Gas DharmendraPradhan has urged oil exporting countries toexercise restraint while fixing the price ofcrude. However, their arguments don’t enthuse.

With the pricing of oil products being linkedto international prices (even domestic refiner-ies are paid for their supplies on this basis), evenif the share of indigenous production were toincrease from the current 15 per cent to, say, 50per cent, Indian consumers would still be pay-ing what they pay today.

Even if the extant system of “linkage withinternational price” were to be abandoned andoil companies allowed to price products basedon market forces, then also, considering thatdomestic supply is far short of demand, it isunlikely that they would charge any less. Asregards Pradhan’s point, exporters don’t pay heedto what leaders of importing countries say whilefixing the price. They go fundamentally by theglobal demand-supply balance and don’t evenlook at their cost of production. When, the bal-ance is tight, they increase the price. Forinstance, in 2008, when the demand zoomed(courtesy, pump-priming by developed countriesin the wake of the Lehman financial crisis besidesmajor booster doses from China and India),crude price touched a record high of $150 perbarrel. In 2014, under similar circumstances, ittouched $117 per barrel.

At another extreme, in 1997 when there wasmassive destruction of demand (due to the Asianfinancial crisis), the price plummeted to $10 perbarrel. In recent times, due to excess supplybuilding all through 2015, it reached $26 per bar-rel in January, 2016. In April 2020, the priceplunged to another low of $20 per barrel, cour-tesy the Coronavirus-induced disaster and theresultant demand annihilation. The price hassince been rising in sync with revival of demandand is currently hovering around $70 per bar-rel. From these trends, it is clear that theexporters won’t reduce the price merely becausewe want them to. The only way India can getsome leeway is by taking measures whichimpact the demand-supply dynamics.

We need to intensify our efforts on multi-ple fronts. These include among others increas-ing the percentage of ethanol in fuel mix; reduc-ing consumption of diesel by farmers acceler-ating the pace of solar-based power supply forrunning pumps; electrification of railways (it hasplans to power trains with electricity drawn fromsolar plants to be set up along the tracks); pur-suit of conservation efforts across all sectors likeindustries, services, infrastructure and makingthe policy and regulatory environment conducivefor increasing domestic production of crude andgas.

However, it would be naïve to expect theabove measures to deliver results immediately.It can happen only in the medium to long-termand therein also the scope for substantial relief

to consumers is limited. The realculprit is the disproportionatelyhigh component of taxes. To get asense, let us look at some numbers.

The pump price is the sumtotal of the ex-refinery price (ERP),freight charges, dealer commissionand taxes. The ERP in turn islinked to the import parity price(IMPP) and export parity price(EPP) of respective fuels in theratio of 80:20. In Delhi, the priceof �89.29 per litre (as on February16, 2021) includes ERP plus freight�32.1; central excise duty (CED)�32.9; dealer commission �3.68;Value Added Tax (VAT) �20.61.

With the tax component alonebeing �53.51 per litre, even if theERP goes down to �22 per litre —the level that existed in June 2020when international crude price was$40 per barrel (given the pasttrend, this level won’t sustainbeyond a few months) as againstthe current $70 per barrel — theprice at the pump would still be ahigh of �79.29 per litre.

With respect to taxes, even asthe Centre and State Governmentsblame each other, the fact remainsthat both are equally responsible.Let us look at the precise bifurca-tion. Out of the CED i.e. about �33per litre collected by the Centre,�18 per litre comes from the Roadand Infrastructure Cess (RaIC)which is entirely retained by it. Ofthe balance �15 per litre, it retains59 per cent or �9 per litre (aftergiving 41 per cent to States underthe 15th Finance Commission’s

devolution formula). On a netbasis, thus, the Centre gets �27 perlitre while almost an equivalentamount �26.6 per litre goes to theState.

Finance Minister (FM),Nirmala Sitharaman has opinedthat bringing petrol and diesel —besides crude, natural gas andAviation Turbine Fuel — under theGoods and Services Tax (GST) canhelp in reducing the tax burden.But it is easier said than done. TheConstitutional Amendment Act onGST provided for inclusion ofthese products but the purpose wasdefeated by branding them as“zero-rated” — a glamorousnomenclature for continuing themunder the pre-GST regime.

This was prompted by thefear of revenue loss. But the GSTCompensation Act, 2017 — alongwith an amendment to this Act togarner resources by levying cess ongoods falling in the highest 28 percent slab to fund compensation tothe States for the loss of revenue —was meant precisely to address thisconcern. Yet, the decision to keepthese products outside GST in thefirst place defies logic.

Replying to a question on a TVchannel on July 1, 2017, the thenFM and chairman, GST Council,Arun Jaitley had said that he was“personally not in favour of exclud-ing” the aforementioned prod-ucts. Yet, the Central Governmentand States decided to excludethem and the position continues todate.

Following a spike in oil prices,both the Centre and States feel thatnow is the time to bring themunder GST. They don’t realisewhat they are up to. Even if theCouncil decides to put them in thehighest tax slab (by any stretch ofimagination, oil and gas productscan’t be termed as demerit or singoods; so placing them in 18 percent/12 per cent slab would bemore realistic), the tax rate onpetrol will be 28 per cent (or evenless at 18 per cent/12 per cent ifthey are put in any of these slabs).Against this, the current tax rate isa whopping 167 per cent(53.51/32.1x100)!

At present, the Centre collectsover 20 per cent of its indirect taxrevenue (ITR) from CED on petroland diesel. States, too, get about 20per cent of their ITR from VATand other taxes on these fuels. Puttogether, their collection comesclose to �4,50,000 crore annually.In this backdrop, they will shud-der at the very thought of reduc-ing tax to a mere1/6th/1/9th/1/14th of what theyare collecting today.

The message is loud and clear.For lowering the burden of fueltaxes, the Centre and States needto put their heads to see how taxrevenue from other sources can beboosted (there is huge untappedpotential, including taxes evaded).If they don’t do that, there is noescape for consumers from havingto pay high fuel prices perennial-ly.

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Delhi Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal hasannounced that some

Government schools will be dis-affiliated from the Central Boardof Secondary Education (CBSE)and affiliated to the new DelhiBoard of School Education(DBSE) in the 2021-2022 acad-emic year. While presentingDelhi’s annual budget for 2020,Deputy Chief Minister ManishSisodia had announced that theGovernment was setting aside�62 crore to set up a separateState Board of Education.Currently, there are over 1,000schools run by the DelhiGovernment which are all affil-iated to the CBSE.

What is the rationale orwhat benefits will accrue by set-ting up a DBSE and by disaffil-iating schools from the CBSE,is a speculative question shroud-ed in mystery as no rationale hasbeen given for the move. TheDelhi Board of Higher

Secondary Education was set upby a resolution on November26, 1942, and dissolved witheffect from July 1, 1962, whenschools were affiliated to theCBSE, reads a notification of theDelhi Administration datedJune 30, 1962. The CBSE, set upalmost a century ago in 1929,has grown into a prestigious,autonomous Board of educationin India for public and privateschools, including for manyIndian schools across the world.From 309 schools in 1962,today the CBSE has 25,185schools including 228 institu-tions in 25 foreign countriesaffiliated to it. All these schoolsfollow the National Council ofEducational Research andTraining (NCERT) curriculum.

The British set up the firstschool Board in 1921. TheSadler Commission’s report of1917-19 led to the formation ofvarious Boards of secondaryeducation in India. The Uttar

Pradesh Board of High Schooland Intermediate Educationwas the first such Board with avast jurisdiction. In 1929, theGovernment of India set up ajoint Board namely, the Boardof High School andIntermediate Education,Rajputana. This includedAjmer-Merwara, Central Indiaand Gwalior. Later it was con-fined to Ajmer, Bhopal andVindhya Pradesh. In 1952, itbecame the CBSE. It was a boldand futuristic experimenttowards inter-State integrationand cooperation in the sphereof secondary education.

Besides facilitating rapidgrowth and expansion, theCBSE did a commendable jobin improving the standard ofsecondary education in theinstitutions recognised by itthrough transformative initia-tives and periodic inspections.All Sainik Schools, KendriyaVidyalayas (KVs), all Jawahar

Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNVs),Eklavya Model ResidentialSchools, most private schoolsand those approved by theCentre are affiliated to theCBSE. There are 1,245 KVs —including one each atKathmandu, Tehran andMoscow, 647 JNVs, 3,011Government Schools, 20,265private schools, and 14 CentralTibetan Schools affiliated tothe Indian Board. Such is itscredibility and internationalrepute, the Board has schoolsaffiliated to it in Africa, the Gulf,

Nepal, Bangladesh, Japan,Singapore and Malaysia. Overthe years, responding to theneeds and aspirations of the stu-dents, the CBSE has taken stepsto transform the educationecosystem, especially in peda-gogy, the examination processand assessment of papers.

The CBSE grants affiliation,following a transparent andrigorous procedure, to theschools under two broad cate-gories —regular (Government)and general (independent).Schools seeking affiliation mustfulfil essential requirements andprocure from the StateEducation Departmentsmandatory certificates, that is‘No Objection Certificate’,‘Recognition Certificate’ andland area documents as perextant rules and provisions ofthe Right to Education Act,2009 (RTE Act). The CBSEstrictly monitors the obser-vance of affiliation granting

conditions by the schools. Incase a school is found violatingthe provisions of the affiliationby-laws or examination by-laws, or does not abide by itsdirections, the CBSE imposespenalties, including withdraw-al of affiliation. All schoolsfunded by the Centre andmajority of the schools affiliat-ed to the CBSE are private.Delhi, Sikkim, ArunachalPradesh, Chandigarh andAndaman and Nicobar Islandsdo not have their own sec-ondary school Board as they areaffiliated to CBSE. Over theyears, there has been spectacu-lar growth in the number ofCBSE-affiliated schools andstudents studying in them.During the period 2011-2019,the number of candidatesappearing for the Board exam-ination from these schoolsincreased from 18,32,364 to31,14,832, registering anincrease of almost 70 per cent.

This is so because the Boardstrives to achieve academicexcellence by conceptualisingpolicies and operational plan-ning to ensure balanced acad-emic and physical activities inthe affiliated schools. It followsthe scheme of studies, curricu-lum, academic guidelines andcapacity-building programmesas per the objectives set by theNational Curricular Frameworkand in consonance with thepolicies approved and the lawsenacted by Parliament.

Before the setting up of theNational Testing Agency, theCBSE was also entrusted withthe task of holding NEET examsand continues to conduct suc-cessfully many other tests. Thedecision of the DelhiGovernment remains shroudedin mystery. Given the multiplebenefits of an internationally-reputed Board like the CBSE,disaffiliation and creation of anew Board is hard to justify.

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Script Open High Low LTPICICIBANK 611.10 612.60 590.65 603.25VSTIND 3420.00 3519.00 3366.30 3478.45BPCL 465.00 465.00 451.50 460.60SBIN 382.00 385.90 369.30 383.70RELIANCE 2138.65 2148.80 2080.90 2108.75TATAPOWER 114.95 114.95 108.00 111.55TATAMOTORS 320.40 320.65 310.10 318.45ZEEL 220.60 220.60 209.40 213.25TATASTEEL 723.50 738.80 715.10 736.05BAJFINANCE 5584.95 5584.95 5350.00 5438.70ITC 206.00 206.00 201.60 205.45HCLTECH 951.15 994.00 951.15 992.15DLF 315.00 315.00 296.90 304.30INDUSINDBK 1020.00 1042.95 988.00 1038.55BHEL 56.05 56.25 54.05 55.25RBLBANK 244.00 244.00 230.95 238.25BANKBARODA 78.00 79.70 76.00 78.90MEGH 108.90 124.70 107.60 123.70AXISBANK 753.00 753.60 717.05 744.65TECHM 1007.00 1029.20 1001.55 1026.20IDEA 10.23 10.23 9.91 10.07MOTHERSUMI 215.00 219.75 212.30 218.75MARUTI 7125.00 7157.00 7009.50 7087.05SAIL 73.20 77.30 71.60 76.65UPL 620.50 623.15 604.40 621.20IDFCFIRSTB 67.05 67.35 63.70 65.25BAJAJ-AUTO 3783.30 3783.30 3622.00 3664.50SRTRANSFIN 1330.05 1341.50 1238.10 1276.55HDFC 2558.15 2568.05 2495.55 2535.15JSWSTEEL 421.50 431.55 414.90 429.65ADANIPORTS 729.95 729.95 706.50 719.00TATACHEM 790.00 794.45 765.60 782.20LT 1515.00 1527.30 1464.00 1484.15

ADANIENT 899.50 904.00 874.15 895.50HINDUNILVR 2200.00 2217.25 2183.70 2211.15INFY 1370.00 1379.85 1358.10 1373.10DRREDDY 4445.00 4460.00 4284.05 4342.70ASHOKLEY 123.00 123.55 117.00 121.45BAJAJFINSV 10193.00 10193.00 9544.30 9683.15ASIANPAINT 2405.00 2425.90 2343.85 2355.95KOTAKBANK 1937.65 1942.20 1894.00 1918.70IDBI 42.65 42.70 39.70 40.35HDFCBANK 1548.05 1548.05 1515.65 1529.15IBREALEST 105.50 108.35 96.75 100.00HINDALCO 330.60 335.95 325.10 333.60IRCTC 2002.00 2007.70 1916.95 1946.50DIXON 20900.00 21500.00 20522.60 20877.80IEX 332.00 360.50 331.25 344.05ONGC 116.25 116.75 112.80 114.30HINDPETRO* 242.55 244.65 239.35 241.95ADANIPOWER 77.60 79.25 74.10 79.25EICHERMOT 2654.95 2682.00 2585.10 2670.65DIVISLAB 3515.00 3516.15 3371.00 3410.35PNB 41.00 41.15 39.75 40.80RITES 262.15 264.00 257.10 257.20PEL 1908.20 1921.75 1821.10 1864.65DELTACORP 190.10 199.00 187.85 195.85QUESS 715.30 718.45 693.75 696.25MANAPPURAM 164.60 165.30 158.85 160.50TCS 3054.00 3098.90 3043.00 3062.75IBULHSGFIN 225.60 225.90 212.70 218.05HAL 1060.05 1064.50 1012.00 1016.20CANBK 157.90 159.00 151.75 158.30FEDERALBNK 85.35 85.60 81.30 83.75BHARTIARTL 526.20 527.75 516.70 522.75COALINDIA 146.40 147.60 144.70 146.85PFC 140.00 140.00 134.55 136.80ICICIPRULI 462.05 464.00 440.00 449.85VEDL 222.75 227.00 218.35 225.95NTPC 109.70 111.00 107.75 110.45SBICARD 1023.00 1037.90 1010.20 1016.30TATAMETALI 789.00 789.00 748.00 779.50M&M 861.20 862.05 824.10 844.45MINDTREE 1880.00 1940.00 1854.05 1930.80NMDC 135.70 136.40 132.05 135.85L&TFH 105.60 105.85 99.80 102.75GAIL 147.60 147.85 141.50 143.55AUROPHARMA 848.00 848.10 817.00 834.70JUSTDIAL 968.00 971.05 915.05 926.90POWERGRID 220.00 226.50 220.00 224.10HDFCLIFE 711.20 715.00 695.35 704.05SBILIFE 920.00 926.45 902.30 919.65BANDHANBNK 351.10 351.10 330.00 339.30MRF 88968.70 89477.75 87020.75 87501.00APOLLOHOSP 2995.00 3024.95 2918.90 3003.00BIOCON 400.00 401.00 386.85 395.65JINDALSTEL 320.00 327.15 316.00 326.05LUPIN 1044.00 1066.75 1025.85 1060.05RAIN 149.25 158.00 143.75 155.90GRSE 209.40 209.40 203.45 204.60

NATIONALUM 59.25 60.05 57.60 59.80SCI 121.40 125.70 116.90 123.50LICHSGFIN 432.00 433.55 411.80 419.60ULTRACEMCO 6689.50 6689.50 6490.60 6559.20IOC 102.00 102.70 100.00 101.05GRANULES 346.50 346.90 331.10 335.05PTC 81.90 81.95 78.30 79.55ATGL 745.00 759.00 740.90 749.20PVR 1415.35 1420.00 1371.00 1394.55HAVELLS 1105.40 1118.95 1087.00 1099.95WIPRO 425.00 428.65 418.00 426.40BEML 1447.00 1447.00 1335.00 1351.85CHOLAFIN 537.00 537.95 513.80 535.05AUBANK 1243.35 1255.50 1179.00 1187.25SWSOLAR 255.00 282.75 247.15 277.25VOLTAS 1064.00 1079.90 1053.05 1058.20DEEPAKFERT 220.45 234.90 216.50 232.85SUNPHARMA 614.00 614.45 596.55 605.35TATAELXSI 2748.95 2765.40 2692.35 2711.20TRIDENT 15.40 15.66 14.81 15.37WELSPUNIND 81.50 87.60 79.45 83.75SPICEJET 82.95 83.30 79.70 80.80DEEPAKNI 1595.00 1595.00 1525.00 1552.35HEROMOTOCO 3350.55 3361.50 3243.00 3265.95SANOFI 8394.00 8394.00 8171.00 8271.20GRASIM 1381.00 1390.75 1347.80 1383.30COFORGE 2748.50 2840.00 2728.05 2826.55INDIGO 1689.00 1689.00 1630.20 1656.90GRAPHITE 520.00 522.55 501.30 514.50NBCC 49.50 49.70 46.85 47.95NESTLEIND 16767.00 16860.00 16596.00 16831.25IFCI 15.80 15.95 14.83 14.98PAGEIND 28230.00 28316.45 27610.05 27911.00BEL 141.10 141.30 133.45 137.15CIPLA 800.00 808.00 790.25 805.30CONCOR 569.95 570.45 553.65 561.00AMBUJACEM 289.65 290.50 279.00 283.90HDFCAMC 3079.75 3079.75 2931.80 3007.70ASHOKA 112.00 112.00 106.20 107.25BRITANNIA 3430.00 3454.30 3399.90 3449.90UCOBANK 14.40 14.77 13.78 14.08M&MFIN 210.55 210.55 200.35 206.40INDIACEM 172.65 172.65 166.55 169.10VAIBHAVGBL 4250.00 4513.95 4090.00 4404.00BSOFT 245.00 256.50 238.80 246.65TITAN 1490.00 1495.65 1471.25 1491.75DABUR 523.00 530.00 521.20 527.05MGL 1195.05 1226.80 1182.80 1222.90ESCORTS 1388.80 1388.80 1332.00 1354.60EXIDEIND 202.35 202.90 197.05 199.75TATACONSUM 618.90 618.90 602.60 607.70HEG 1643.90 1643.90 1562.70 1628.40DMART 3121.00 3166.00 3095.20 3119.60GNFC 312.55 312.55 302.40 307.40SUNTV 486.50 487.70 473.65 482.85ABCAPITAL 131.35 132.10 124.85 127.90CYIENT 688.90 703.30 655.00 662.65LTI 4048.00 4119.95 3969.55 4081.70APOLLOTYRE 240.20 241.10 231.75 235.00CUMMINSIND 877.00 889.00 856.40 862.00GLENMARK 477.10 478.85 463.55 473.45GODREJPROP 1469.95 1469.95 1413.15 1432.10ITDC 405.00 438.85 380.90 423.25FRETAIL 68.50 69.65 66.05 66.95CENTURYTEX 495.90 500.55 483.25 493.95JKTYRE 122.90 124.00 120.35 121.55CHAMBLFERT 233.75 241.45 227.00 239.50INFIBEAM 100.10 101.20 95.00 97.60FSL 104.00 107.65 102.30 105.30FORTIS 178.20 188.80 177.60 186.60MMTC 44.70 46.90 42.25 45.90CADILAHC 436.00 442.95 430.75 439.80APLAPOLLO 1245.00 1245.00 1122.60 1146.10JKPAPER 153.10 159.10 149.50 157.80NOCIL 184.65 184.65 175.80 178.40SIEMENS 1931.80 1931.80 1845.00 1867.05NAUKRI 4821.05 4828.00 4646.00 4785.00CGCL 345.95 354.75 345.20 350.95HSCL 46.20 46.20 44.45 45.20COROMANDEL 755.75 773.70 755.75 768.10BERGEPAINT 724.00 724.00 706.05 716.80BANKINDIA 72.10 76.45 72.10 73.60GODREJAGRO 483.00 487.90 469.70 480.20ADANITRANS 780.00 791.90 760.60 778.00ASTRAL 2540.00 2650.00 2493.00 2543.40ADANIGREEN 1188.00 1205.00 1137.25 1197.35BLISSGVS 163.80 166.80 130.35 130.35SRF 5601.00 5619.75 5482.00 5543.60TVSMOTOR 586.20 593.50 580.80 592.55SYNGENE 551.25 551.25 539.20 540.15RADICO 579.85 579.85 538.80 553.25UFLEX 419.50 446.05 419.50 438.65RAYMOND 374.80 378.05 362.30 367.25GMRINFRA 27.55 27.75 26.40 27.00BALKRISIND 1635.00 1638.00 1591.00 1635.00KPITTECH 155.50 158.65 151.20 152.50SUZLON 5.58 5.68 5.55 5.59IOB 17.80 17.80 17.00 17.20SOUTHBANK 9.46 9.50 9.16 9.33LAURUSLABS 366.00 366.00 351.50 355.75GODREJIND 490.00 507.95 482.55 501.70INOXLEISUR 318.05 331.55 313.00 328.40ORIENTELEC 303.00 312.00 297.00 299.20RAMCOCEM 1000.00 1016.30 985.30 1010.45NBVENTURES* 70.75 70.75 68.35 69.10MUTHOOTFIN 1240.00 1283.65 1240.00 1263.90AMARAJABAT 910.00 910.00 872.00 894.75SHREECEM 27839.95 27850.00 27004.15 27695.75

IGL 510.00 511.10 497.20 504.70PETRONET 242.55 243.50 237.25 239.50BHARATFORG 617.00 620.00 602.55 615.50PCJEWELLER 31.80 31.80 30.40 30.95PHILIPCARB 208.30 209.45 201.20 205.30TV18BRDCST 35.20 35.45 33.50 34.20JUBLFOOD 2990.95 2996.05 2942.05 2976.90TATAMTRDVR 137.40 137.40 131.10 135.80INDIANB 131.65 131.65 125.40 126.95STAR 848.00 848.00 819.35 844.65RECLTD 152.50 153.25 149.45 152.45ABFRL 218.65 220.20 214.15 218.10GUJGAS 527.00 527.00 502.00 510.55IRCON 87.15 87.50 84.25 85.15CENTRALBK 19.80 19.80 18.95 19.15GMM 4349.00 4390.00 4235.00 4249.05BATAINDIA 1510.00 1510.00 1485.00 1499.40INDIAMART 8548.00 8548.00 8200.10 8325.00MCX 1534.95 1548.00 1516.65 1538.80JUBLPHARMA 768.60 769.25 751.85 758.00BOSCHLTD 14900.00 15024.15 14618.05 14942.40DCBBANK 115.70 115.70 111.45 114.80WABAG 263.15 263.15 248.00 252.70HINDCOPPER 135.85 137.80 129.40 134.35ACC 1797.15 1797.25 1741.65 1767.80TATACOMM 1290.10 1328.40 1266.00 1297.30GREAVESCOT 144.00 144.50 137.65 138.20OBEROIRLTY 565.00 609.50 557.75 596.60PIDILITIND 1730.00 1731.00 1697.05 1713.40GSFC 96.25 96.30 91.55 92.35UNIONBANK 37.95 37.95 36.55 36.95ALKYLAMINE 5164.95 5275.00 5150.10 5241.00AMBER 3417.50 3495.00 3344.00 3444.85BOMDYEING 80.10 81.05 77.90 79.10MAHABANK 23.00 23.30 21.90 22.20LTTS 2762.00 2790.00 2685.05 2733.90INTELLECT 504.50 527.05 501.55 521.85HINDZINC 305.70 305.75 298.20 300.80MARICO 396.90 396.90 389.65 393.00BALMLAWRIE 152.40 153.65 144.05 146.30MRPL 41.60 42.10 39.65 40.15RVNL 31.50 31.50 30.50 30.75POLYCAB 1359.00 1376.05 1336.50 1355.00INDHOTEL 124.05 125.10 120.00 123.15NAVINFLUOR 2680.05 2680.05 2610.05 2620.40LINDEINDIA 1802.35 1933.20 1801.00 1841.15VGUARD 230.00 234.90 228.85 234.10EDELWEISS 83.60 88.50 79.50 85.80TRENT 893.40 893.40 841.20 845.50NATCOPHARM 827.05 832.00 808.05 823.35SUMICHEM 283.80 288.50 270.00 273.35SPARC 163.35 166.05 161.80 162.95GSPL 279.00 281.80 269.05 276.80CASTROLIND 130.00 130.35 126.15 127.00JSWENERGY 85.45 86.55 82.50 85.85CANFINHOME 598.00 600.30 571.40 576.10BLUEDART 5565.00 5740.00 5405.05 5451.40RCF 85.75 86.25 83.00 84.00IFBIND 1082.00 1199.30 1047.60 1136.10EMAMILTD 485.00 495.00 482.05 485.00SWANENERGY 142.00 145.00 140.20 141.50LAXMIMACH 7544.90 7745.00 7184.60 7537.00COLPAL 1622.40 1622.40 1586.90 1598.10DALBHARAT 1500.00 1502.65 1445.00 1474.65RALLIS 265.85 271.50 258.70 269.50JAICORPLTD 99.95 99.95 93.80 95.35TORNTPOWER 412.25 416.70 404.00 412.95AARTIIND 1280.00 1284.15 1251.00 1271.953MINDIA 27799.00 28400.00 27300.00 27384.05INDUSTOWER 252.00 255.95 248.20 254.90LALPATHLAB 2325.00 2423.65 2315.85 2408.60IDFC 56.00 56.00 52.60 54.35STLTECH 222.15 222.15 209.00 216.90AVANTI 481.00 482.00 471.60 474.40ICICIGI 1494.70 1494.70 1460.00 1469.20IIFL 315.00 322.00 306.10 317.80TORNTPHARM 2461.20 2464.85 2419.20 2446.40INDOSTAR 340.00 380.00 333.65 365.90SUNTECK 333.00 340.50 325.95 340.00DBL 652.00 656.35 632.50 636.30PIIND 2240.15 2249.00 2192.15 2231.55MFSL 894.00 897.45 874.20 890.00ADVENZYMES 353.00 369.85 344.80 365.50BAJAJCON 270.25 270.25 256.30 262.05PFIZER 4698.00 4698.00 4550.00 4591.85CROMPTON 410.00 410.05 397.30 401.25HUDCO 49.25 50.55 48.40 50.00SHANKARA 460.00 460.00 425.25 437.25WOCKPHARMA 487.30 487.30 470.30 477.40RAJESHEXPO 525.00 530.00 513.00 519.05SONATSOFTW 504.00 511.80 490.05 503.50MPHASIS 1629.00 1645.00 1615.90 1625.00NCC 87.90 87.90 84.35 85.95PRESTIGE 289.00 295.75 282.50 288.50PNCINFRA 260.00 262.25 254.50 256.95ISEC 404.80 412.85 400.55 410.95HONAUT 49306.10 49805.00 48388.00 48649.00TATACOFFEE 131.60 132.40 126.75 128.30SUPREMEIND 2037.30 2044.10 1981.05 1998.55VIPIND 390.50 391.85 379.05 385.00ASTRAZEN 3350.00 3409.75 3300.05 3311.45VENKYS 1641.00 1656.05 1599.65 1615.00AFFLE 5835.00 5896.80 5674.10 5874.05AEGISLOG 307.85 307.85 284.45 288.60IRB 122.75 122.75 115.15 116.75GODREJCP 696.80 696.80 674.60 681.00UBL 1230.00 1230.00 1191.80 1203.35BALRAMCHIN 220.00 220.00 208.10 210.90

NHPC 24.85 24.85 24.05 24.30ABB 1475.00 1475.00 1440.20 1447.50EPL 228.00 232.50 224.80 228.00ITI 129.50 130.85 126.00 128.25ENGINERSIN 83.00 83.40 80.50 82.15BIRLACORPN 865.55 865.55 838.55 853.00MIDHANI 194.15 196.15 191.55 192.65HFCL 28.30 28.50 27.50 27.90CARBORUNIV 501.10 523.15 494.15 515.00J&KBANK 29.00 29.20 28.10 28.50AJANTPHARM 1831.45 1850.70 1762.80 1828.15CESC 623.75 631.50 615.30 618.45JBCHEPHARM 1223.00 1226.00 1170.65 1205.95LEMONTREE 41.10 41.10 39.60 40.00JKCEMENT 2925.00 2987.75 2835.15 2962.70TAKE 57.05 57.20 54.80 55.90NIACL 165.00 165.00 158.45 162.95BLUESTARCO 955.00 955.00 915.20 920.10JMFINANCIL 95.70 97.80 92.90 96.75GMDCLTD 60.50 60.95 58.50 59.60WELCORP 133.30 133.30 127.75 131.10SUPRAJIT 294.90 294.95 284.85 290.20NLCINDIA 52.90 53.00 51.75 52.30HIMATSEIDE 160.00 163.90 157.10 161.65GICRE 211.00 214.75 202.05 209.30ALKEM 2800.00 2800.00 2676.20 2714.65RELAXO 845.30 853.85 831.45 835.30NAM-INDIA 348.50 348.50 332.65 338.20APLLTD 938.00 938.90 901.55 916.75MINDAIND 535.00 550.00 520.05 549.95JINDALSAW 82.45 82.45 77.70 79.50KAJARIACER 1020.00 1020.00 961.15 972.60UJJIVAN 240.00 242.00 234.30 234.55ERIS 577.00 628.20 571.85 616.35ARVINDFASN 159.50 162.40 156.90 157.75BASF 2260.00 2263.00 2208.00 2238.00DISHTV 11.14 11.20 10.73 10.97SCHNEIDER 101.50 103.45 98.75 100.00SYMPHONY 1331.35 1350.90 1308.60 1324.50MOIL 159.80 159.80 150.25 153.10CSBBANK 269.30 269.80 256.20 259.20BDL 361.00 367.35 357.05 359.60FINOLEXIND 636.60 645.75 628.00 635.50AIAENG 1925.00 1947.00 1890.80 1917.15KNRCON 218.00 218.00 205.00 208.90CAPPL 455.30 459.00 451.00 453.00MINDACORP 100.45 100.50 96.80 99.20PERSISTENT 1780.00 1793.90 1735.40 1755.50FINEORG 2397.55 2410.80 2307.90 2327.45IPCALAB 1952.20 1954.20 1908.05 1915.00SJVN 26.35 26.50 25.25 26.15SUDARSCHEM 560.00 560.00 546.30 549.90EQUITAS 94.40 94.40 88.40 91.50SHOPERSTOP 238.00 238.25 229.15 231.85MAHINDCIE 178.25 179.10 166.70 174.90JTEKTINDIA 90.90 91.95 89.00 91.65SOMANYCERA 436.15 436.15 406.00 418.00CUB 174.40 174.40 167.85 171.80KTKBANK 68.50 68.50 65.70 66.10KANSAINER 575.00 577.30 560.45 563.60REPCOHOME 352.35 353.80 340.30 347.20ABBOTINDIA 14617.00 14617.00 14445.00 14545.00GLAXO 1460.00 1460.00 1417.20 1431.00CENTURYPLY 314.85 326.75 310.10 316.25GESHIP 321.00 326.00 311.35 323.80PARAGMILK 105.60 105.60 101.80 104.90COCHINSHIP 383.00 383.00 373.95 374.10BAJAJHLDNG 3590.00 3590.00 3475.00 3511.00JAMNAAUTO 71.25 72.85 69.85 72.00JAGRAN* 56.20 58.35 55.55 58.15KPRMILL 1129.75 1135.40 1064.70 1110.85MAHLOG 570.70 601.50 565.50 579.30EIHOTEL 107.95 107.95 101.35 102.60BAYERCROP 5185.00 5185.70 5060.00 5096.00EIDPARRY 356.70 356.70 341.30 344.25DCAL 126.60 128.55 121.60 124.75SHK 121.80 122.75 119.55 121.20KALPATPOWR 399.00 403.00 390.00 394.00PNBHOUSING 422.00 425.15 406.00 408.00TIMETECHNO 56.15 57.60 55.10 56.80WHIRLPOOL 2449.95 2449.95 2394.10 2407.55FCONSUMER 7.79 7.86 7.64 7.70LUXIND 1760.20 1761.00 1686.95 1750.00CARERATING 457.10 458.00 450.00 455.00ORIENTCEM 103.00 103.00 98.50 100.35JKLAKSHMI 429.10 439.00 422.00 423.65

ENDURANCE 1419.00 1423.45 1378.80 1411.55VBL 986.00 991.30 958.40 966.75VTL 1210.00 1249.00 1174.85 1228.95JSL 72.05 73.00 69.45 69.95CHENNPETRO 112.90 112.90 106.70 107.65SKFINDIA 2225.25 2235.50 2182.00 2235.50CEATLTD 1625.30 1625.30 1585.00 1590.90KEC 456.00 464.95 447.60 457.75PGHL 6799.95 6799.95 6479.60 6519.00ATUL 6806.00 6850.00 6744.90 6787.00ALLCARGO 135.00 135.00 131.00 135.00GODFRYPHLP 901.00 905.10 890.00 893.00OFSS 3205.00 3205.00 3121.00 3145.25ZENSARTECH 287.35 292.00 279.00 291.05BAJAJELEC 1033.00 1033.00 991.00 1005.00MAHLIFE 554.00 568.50 546.50 554.75SIS 417.40 426.00 417.40 420.15PRSMJOHNSN 113.80 115.35 110.40 114.65SUNDRMFAST 750.00 769.20 749.70 760.50JCHAC 2709.55 2732.40 2659.95 2675.00JSLHISAR 123.60 123.60 118.30 119.55UJJIVANSFB 34.95 35.00 33.50 34.00HATHWAY 31.70 32.15 30.85 31.35HAWKINCOOK 5735.00 5739.95 5600.00 5600.00NESCO 575.00 575.50 564.00 573.00TIINDIA 1211.00 1230.00 1162.30 1170.50BBTC 1192.50 1192.50 1158.15 1162.00CREDITACC 709.70 716.80 695.65 708.05GPPL 100.15 102.00 98.40 98.95OIL 131.75 132.30 130.20 131.35TASTYBIT 14553.65 14593.10 13980.00 14266.95GHCL 243.90 243.90 228.50 238.10GALAXYSURF 2448.95 2448.95 2340.00 2355.00GUJALKALI 349.70 352.85 336.25 349.25KRBL 192.75 192.75 187.30 189.00JYOTHYLAB 147.15 149.85 146.25 147.00ZYDUSWELL 1870.00 1888.10 1865.00 1870.00GEPIL 286.00 291.55 281.60 285.20PHOENIXLTD 815.50 815.50 782.00 799.90SPANDANA 621.05 624.00 605.20 613.90DCMSHRIRAM 541.40 542.80 526.00 530.20AKZOINDIA 2305.00 2341.85 2288.10 2315.25FDC 307.50 307.50 287.10 287.65FLUOROCHEM 618.00 628.00 600.75 604.00POWERINDIA 1361.40 1361.40 1299.00 1313.55MASFIN 874.10 895.15 858.80 872.90HEIDELBERG 227.00 227.00 221.05 224.95FORCEMOT 1303.40 1303.40 1278.70 1284.55STARCEMENT 100.70 100.90 98.00 100.05PGHH 13100.00 13100.00 12900.00 12965.00TTKPRESTIG 7606.00 7632.15 7500.00 7549.15METROPOLIS 1927.05 1930.00 1883.70 1930.00KEI 498.00 498.00 480.65 491.00GRINDWELL 920.00 934.00 890.05 903.15GILLETTE 5749.95 5749.95 5582.05 5615.10GET&D 131.60 134.00 127.00 128.30VINATIORGA 1460.00 1460.00 1415.10 1417.70SCHAEFFLER 5499.95 5499.95 5233.70 5235.00REDINGTON 179.35 179.35 172.60 174.50WESTLIFE 517.60 526.45 511.50 522.00THYROCARE 900.00 900.00 863.70 867.70HERITGFOOD 340.95 341.70 330.40 335.00AAVAS 2260.00 2260.40 2187.40 2202.05GARFIBRES 2530.00 2537.95 2451.45 2481.55ASTERDM 142.00 143.20 138.35 140.00SOLARINDS 1349.45 1350.00 1298.95 1320.05INDOCO 295.00 301.75 282.00 297.00TIMKEN 1292.55 1300.00 1251.80 1266.00MOTILALOFS 646.00 668.45 641.25 663.50NILKAMAL 1865.20 1880.00 1839.90 1873.60FINCABLES 401.20 407.05 394.10 398.00CRISIL 1964.80 1964.80 1900.05 1904.80TATAINVEST 1125.00 1125.00 1096.00 1109.00SFL 2154.00 2158.00 2040.45 2109.30ECLERX 977.45 986.55 962.15 966.75ESABINDIA 1948.95 1948.95 1850.00 1867.20RATNAMANI 1969.50 1986.15 1957.00 1979.95NH 417.25 425.40 417.25 421.95LAOPALA 223.25 223.45 216.65 221.40TNPL 139.80 144.80 137.85 143.50VMART 2831.10 2831.10 2721.75 2747.50GDL 184.00 186.75 180.00 182.70SOBHA 458.85 458.85 439.05 444.00TCNSBRANDS 520.35 534.45 516.30 529.45ORIENTREF 228.25 233.35 225.25 233.35VARROC 409.85 409.85 387.15 396.90DHANUKA 722.85 722.85 712.20 717.00TCIEXP 890.45 907.90 866.95 907.90TVSSRICHAK 1860.00 1860.00 1792.85 1840.00CERA 4119.00 4119.00 3965.00 3987.95DBCORP 96.20 96.20 92.80 94.25THERMAX 1406.20 1406.20 1370.00 1385.00VRLLOG* 250.00 250.00 233.00 245.85NAVNETEDUL 88.45 88.95 84.55 85.05GULFOILLUB 740.45 747.55 725.20 734.45BRIGADE 285.70 289.50 281.35 283.50KSB 788.00 806.00 784.05 800.85CCL 247.90 250.20 241.30 249.70CHOLAHLDNG 603.60 606.50 598.00 605.00MAHSEAMLES 282.35 284.55 281.25 282.00IIFLWAM 1180.00 1185.05 1164.05 1181.20MAHSCOOTER 3681.55 3681.55 3621.00 3621.00TVTODAY 270.10 272.60 262.40 265.10MHRIL 230.00 232.75 225.60 225.60SHRIRAMCIT 1508.40 1518.45 1495.00 1503.85WABCOINDIA 6264.05 6264.05 6158.50 6220.00TEAMLEASE 3584.15 3597.05 3535.00 3592.35OMAXE 74.70 74.70 72.00 72.60

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY 50 15048.40 15048.40 14745.85 14929.50 -101.45JSWSTEEL 422.90 431.75 414.90 428.95 10.20TECHM 1005.00 1029.95 1002.00 1027.00 23.75TATASTEEL 722.00 739.00 715.05 736.20 16.25HINDALCO 331.90 335.90 325.00 335.65 5.45INDUSINDBK 1027.80 1043.60 988.20 1038.90 16.25POWERGRID 221.00 226.50 219.75 223.45 3.40EICHERMOT 2640.60 2683.50 2585.35 2675.00 37.50HCLTECH 977.50 994.35 967.35 992.85 13.60SBIN 382.50 386.00 369.35 385.60 4.50NTPC 109.95 111.00 107.70 110.25 1.15COALINDIA 146.45 147.60 144.75 146.80 1.30TITAN 1496.90 1496.90 1471.00 1492.05 9.55BPCL 464.45 465.00 451.30 460.00 2.45BRITANNIA 3443.60 3456.55 3399.00 3451.95 17.70NESTLEIND 16879.85 16879.85 16630.00 16805.00 82.55SBILIFE 921.00 926.75 902.00 918.60 4.40TATAMOTORS 320.00 320.40 310.05 318.20 0.65WIPRO 424.80 428.60 417.80 426.00 0.80HINDUNILVR 2206.10 2217.45 2183.30 2208.70 3.95ITC 205.85 206.00 201.60 205.50 0.30TCS 3041.00 3099.00 3041.00 3062.05 4.10SHREECEM 27811.50 27850.00 27005.10 27713.00 11.50GRASIM 1389.00 1391.90 1347.00 1379.90 0.40UPL 623.30 625.45 604.45 619.45 -0.85INFY 1370.00 1379.90 1358.50 1371.95 -2.90MARUTI 7145.00 7162.95 7011.00 7076.00 -20.20IOC 101.65 102.70 100.00 101.00 -0.30CIPLA 807.90 808.90 790.00 803.35 -2.60BHARTIARTL 527.80 527.80 516.40 522.50 -1.70AXISBANK 754.00 754.00 716.65 745.60 -5.00ONGC 116.00 116.85 112.80 114.20 -0.85KOTAKBANK 1944.00 1944.00 1893.10 1917.00 -18.15HDFCLIFE 712.00 715.00 695.50 703.45 -7.35ULTRACEMCO 6665.00 6678.85 6490.05 6560.00 -78.15M&M 862.00 862.00 824.00 845.50 -10.30SUNPHARMA 614.00 614.00 596.50 605.50 -8.10HDFC 2565.00 2568.00 2496.05 2532.90 -35.10HDFCBANK 1548.40 1548.40 1515.30 1530.35 -21.60ICICIBANK 611.90 612.85 590.60 603.65 -9.20RELIANCE 2140.05 2148.90 2080.50 2105.00 -32.60ASIANPAINT 2402.55 2427.55 2343.05 2357.90 -43.45ADANIPORTS 727.80 727.80 706.05 714.90 -13.25DRREDDY 4460.00 4462.20 4285.00 4344.00 -82.50LT 1520.00 1528.10 1463.30 1485.00 -29.00BAJAJ-AUTO 3775.00 3775.00 3621.05 3673.15 -73.25HEROMOTOCO 3360.00 3369.40 3243.00 3269.00 -81.55BAJFINANCE 5571.05 5585.65 5350.55 5420.15 -137.70GAIL 147.80 147.80 141.55 143.10 -3.75BAJAJFINSV 9969.00 9969.00 9544.00 9664.95 -269.15DIVISLAB 3526.00 3526.00 3371.00 3410.00 -102.05

SE 500B

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY NEXT 50 34946.45 34958.60 34201.10 34624.10 -184.85ADANIGREEN 1179.00 1205.00 1135.25 1205.00 44.40MOTHERSUMI 215.45 219.75 212.25 218.20 4.60BANKBARODA 77.95 79.70 76.00 78.90 1.55LTI 4048.00 4120.00 3967.00 4086.00 69.95NMDC 135.20 136.45 132.00 135.85 1.75INDUSTOWER 251.60 255.80 248.20 255.75 3.10LUPIN 1043.50 1067.65 1026.00 1061.00 11.50GICRE 209.90 214.85 202.05 209.70 1.90BOSCHLTD 14889.90 15027.00 14625.85 15000.00 106.80DABUR 523.10 530.00 521.30 527.00 3.55HINDPETRO 243.00 244.60 239.30 242.90 1.55PGHH 12992.95 12999.95 12889.50 12990.00 42.95ADANITRANS 780.90 791.60 761.15 774.75 1.05SBICARD 1030.00 1037.85 1010.00 1016.00 0.90BERGEPAINT 720.00 723.00 706.30 717.40 0.15ICICIGI 1480.00 1483.90 1458.00 1470.00 -1.20MARICO 394.00 396.90 389.35 393.20 -0.70NAUKRI 4850.95 4850.95 4645.00 4793.00 -10.60ABBOTINDIA 14625.00 14650.00 14435.00 14580.00 -36.25HINDZINC 304.25 306.20 298.50 301.00 -0.95UBL 1220.30 1220.30 1190.00 1209.75 -4.25CADILAHC 442.00 442.50 430.60 440.95 -1.55HAVELLS 1112.05 1119.15 1086.55 1099.15 -3.95DMART 3136.00 3171.10 3096.00 3114.95 -14.40PNB 41.05 41.10 39.75 40.85 -0.20PFC 139.70 140.10 134.50 136.90 -0.80TORNTPHARM 2470.00 2473.50 2417.50 2444.95 -16.25PIDILITIND 1726.00 1732.05 1695.95 1711.00 -12.10PETRONET 243.90 243.90 237.20 240.30 -1.75INDIGO 1668.00 1686.00 1630.10 1650.05 -13.90IGL 511.50 511.50 497.00 504.50 -4.45GODREJCP 692.00 692.00 674.15 680.00 -6.40TATACONSUM 617.10 618.80 602.40 608.85 -6.40COLPAL 1625.00 1625.05 1585.90 1603.00 -18.95ACC 1792.00 1798.75 1741.10 1766.50 -21.15MUTHOOTFIN 1271.30 1285.00 1251.50 1263.00 -15.25BIOCON 401.05 401.10 387.00 395.00 -5.20OFSS 3200.10 3216.40 3115.50 3150.00 -44.05DLF 310.70 310.70 296.70 304.00 -4.50AUROPHARMA 847.95 848.00 817.00 835.80 -12.45HDFCAMC 3063.20 3087.00 2935.00 3005.00 -58.20AMBUJACEM 290.90 290.90 279.00 283.35 -6.15MCDOWELL-N 547.45 547.45 527.65 532.00 -11.80PEL 1915.00 1922.30 1821.00 1862.00 -44.30BANDHANBNK 348.95 350.00 330.00 340.50 -8.70ICICIPRULI 462.00 463.90 440.00 449.00 -12.80SIEMENS 1924.50 1924.50 1844.50 1866.00 -53.20CONCOR 562.55 572.50 553.00 561.00 -16.15BAJAJHLDNG 3620.00 3620.00 3473.80 3514.60 -103.90ALKEM 2798.00 2798.00 2673.95 2683.45 -90.05

�� 783�98:;�

Growing for the third con-secutive month, the coun-

try’s exports rose marginally by0.67 per cent year-on-year toUSD 27.93 billion in Februaryeven as trade deficit widened toUSD 12.62 billion, according toofficial data released onMonday.

Imports rose by 6.96 percent to USD 40.54 billion in themonth, the data showed. Thetrade deficit in February 2020was at USD 10.16 billion.

�� B�C=�

States may face a GST com-pensation shortfall of �3

lakh crore in the next financialyear, a situation that will forcethem to borrow more from themarkets, says a report.

The states may face ashortfall of �2.7-3 lakh crore asGoods and Services Tax (GST)compensation from the Centrenext fiscal. Out of that amount,the shortfall from cess collec-tions will be at �1.6-2 lakhcrore, according to an Icrareport released on Monday.

In FY21, the States werefacing a shortfall of �1.1 lakhcrore in GST compensationfrom the Centre but over 90 percent of that amount has beencleared now.

According to the ratingagency, the shortfall will forcestates to borrow at least �2.2lakh crore more from the mar-ket, which means that they willhave to utilise as much as 90per cent of their enhancedborrowing limits in FY22.

“Based on the Centre’sGDP estimate for FY22, weproject the enhanced bor-rowing of 1 per cent of GrossState Domestic Product(GSDP) or �2.2 lakh crore bythe states as we estimate ashortfall in GST compensa-tion from the Centre to thetune �1.6-2 lakh crore, takingthe overall GST compensationshortfall to �2.7-3 lakh crorein FY22,” Jayanta Roy, grouphead of corporate sector rat-ing at Icra, said.

The 15th FinanceCommission has recommend-ed that the normal limit for netborrowings of states be fixed at4 per cent of GSDP in FY22,higher than the base borrowinglimit of 3 per cent.

The commission has alsorecommended an additionalborrowing of 0.5 per cent forthe states during FY22-25, ifthey completed some condi-tions linked to power sectorreforms.

The Centre has estimatedthe maximum power sector-related additional borrowingsat �1.1 lakh crore in FY22. Thisalong with any carried-for-ward borrowing of FY21,which we estimate at another�1.1 lakh crore, will provideconsiderable space to the states

to spend more on capitalexpenditure in FY22, he said.

The agency has estimatedthe states’ projected revenues at�8.7 lakh crore next fiscal,which is 14 per cent higherthan �7.7 lakh crore in FY21.

The numbers are based onan estimate by the agency forall the 31 states and the UnionTerritories on a base case sce-nario of 23 per cent growth inGST collection by the states,which is in line with theCentral estimate as well.

Based on this, the agencyexpects the SGST collections byall the 31 states and UTs at Rs5.7 lakh crore in FY22. The gapbetween the estimated pro-jected revenue and SGST col-lections is pegged at Rs 3 lakhcrore.

So far, the Centre has notproposed a mechanism to fundthe possible shortfall in GSTcompensation to the states.

Based on the StateDevelopment Loans issuancetill March 9 and borrowingsnotified/ indicated for theremaining three weeks, theagency expects the net issuanceof SDLs in FY21 at Rs 6.7 lakhcrore or 71 per cent of theiraggregate net borrowing limitof Rs 9.5 lakh crore for this fis-cal.

This means the states canborrow an additional Rs 2.8lakh crore during the reminderof the outgoing fiscal but itseems that some state maychoose to carry forward a por-tion of the unutilised borrow-ings to FY22.

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Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman on Monday intro-

duced a Bill in Rajya Sabha thatseeks to amend the Insurance Actto pave the way for 74% FDI inthe sector. The Union Cabinet onWednesday had given its nod foramendments in the InsuranceAmendment Bill 2021. FinanceMinister Sitharaman introducedthe Bill for amendments in theInsurance Act, 1938.

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The Finance Ministry onMonday said it has

released the full �1.10 lakhcrore estimated GST com-pensation shortfall to thestates with the release offinal weekly installment ofRs 4,104 crore.

With the release of the20th installment, 100 percent of the total estimatedGST compensation shortfallof �1.10 lakh crore for the

year 2020-21 has now beenreleased to the states andUTs with Legis lat iveAssembly. Out of this, anamount of Rs 1,01,329 crorehas been released to thestates and an amount of Rs8,879 crore has beenreleased to the three UTswith Legislative Assembly,the ministry said in a state-ment.

The Government ofIndia had set up a specialborrowing window in

October last year to meetthe estimated shortfall of Rs1.10 lakh

crore in revenue arisingon account of implementa-tion of GST.

The borrowings arebeing done through thiswindow by the central gov-ernment on behalf of thestates and UTs. Startingfrom October 23, 2020, the borrowings were com-pleted in 20 weekly install-ments.

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The wholesale price-basedinflation rose for the sec-

ond consecutive month to a27-month high of 4.17 percent in February, as food, fueland power prices spiked.

The WPI inflation was2.03 per cent in January and2.26 per cent in February lastyear.

After witnessing monthsof softening of prices, thefood articles in February saw1.36 per cent inflation. InJanuary it was (-) 2.80 per

cent.In vegetables the rate of

price rise was (-) 2.90 per centin February, against (-) 20.82per cent in the precedingmonth.

Inflation in pulses was10.25 per cent in February,while in fruits it was 9.48 percent.

Inflation in the fuel andpower basket was 0.58 percent in February, against (-)4.78 per cent in January onrising prices of petrol anddiesel.

Petroleum product prices

have reached historic highs asinternational crude prices have surged in recent monthsand due to high indirect taxesboth at the centre and statelevel.

ICRA Ltd PrincipalEconomist Aditi Nayar saidthe doubling in the WPI infla-tion in February reflects therise in commodity pricesbrought on by the global risk-on sentiment, hardening ofcrude oil and fuel prices, aswell as a fading of thefavourable base effect for fooditems.

New Delhi:Union Minister of Information andBroadcasting Shri Prakash Javadekar todayinaugurated a photo-exhibition at NationalMedia Center in New Delhi. The exhibition, setup by Bureau of Outreach &Communication ispart of a massive awareness campaign byMinistry of I&B to celebrate Azadi Ka AmritMahotsav.

Addressing media on the occasion theMinister said this was an important moment forthe country to reflect on how far we have comesince independence as well as envision what wewant to achieve in next twenty five years.

This is the core belief that informs theseexhibitions. The Minister added that freedom

for the country came at a great cost, and thisexhibition seeks to narrate the story behind thosesacrifices. Shri Javadekar congratulated BOC forsetting up the exhibitions.

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Myanmar’s ruling junta hasdeclared martial law in six

townships in the country’slargest city, as security forceskilled dozens of protesters overthe weekend in an increasinglylethal crackdown on resistanceto last month’s military coup.

State broadcaster MRTVsaid Monday that the Yangontownships of North Dagon,South Dagon, Dagon Seikkanand North Okkalapa have beenput under martial law. An ini-tial announcement was madelate Sunday saying two othertownships — Hlaing Thar Yarand neighbouring Shwepyitha— were being placed undermartial law.

At least 38 people werekilled Sunday and dozens wereinjured in one of the deadliestdays of the crackdown on anti-coup protesters, according tothe Assistance Association for

Political Prisoners, or AAPP, anindependent group trackingthe toll of the violence. Severalestimates from other sourcesgave higher figures.

Complicating efforts toorganise new protests as well asmedia coverage of the crisis,mobile internet service hasbeen cut, though access is still

available through fixed broad-band connections.

Mobile data service hasbeen used to stream live videocoverage of protests, often

showing security forces attack-ing demonstrators. It had beenturned off only from 1 am to 9am for several weeks, with noofficial explanation.

The blockage of internetservice forced postponement ofa court hearing in the capital,Natpyitaw, for Myanmar’sdetained leader, Aung San SuuKyi, who was supposed to takepart via a video conference, saidher lawyer Khin Maung Zaw.

Suu Kyi and President WinMyint were detained during theFebruary 1 military takeover,and have been charged withseveral criminal offences thattheir supporters believe arepolitically motivated to keepthem locked up.

Since the takeover sixweeks ago, Myanmar has beenunder a nationwide state ofemergency, with its civilianleaders ousted and detained,and military leaders in chargeof all Government.

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Attacks on Chinese-run fac-tories in Myanmar’s biggest

city drew demands on Mondayfrom Beijing for protection fortheir property and employees,while many in Myanmarexpressed outrage over China’sapparent lack of concern for

those killed in protests againstlast month’s military coup.

A Chinese ForeignMinistry spokesperson saidthe Chinese Embassy had con-tacted authorities in Myanmarand urged that police bedeployed to protect theChinese companies and per-sonnel.

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Acourt in Myanmar haspostponed deposed leader

Aung San Suu Kyi’s virtualhearing because of internetissues, a lawyer said, as securi-ty forces again opened fire onprotesters rallying against the military’s February1 coup.

The court’s decision onMonday to adjourn Aung SanSuu Kyi’s hearing comes amida mobile internet shutdown inthe country, a day after securi-ty forces killed at least 44 peo-ple in the deadliest crackdownon anti-coup protests yet.

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Chief of Nepal’s CPN-MaoistCentre (MC) Pushpa

Kamal Dahal “Prachanda” hasproposed to drop “MaoistCentre” from the party’s nameto make it acceptable for com-munist forces in the country,who do not like Maoism, tojoin it, according to a mediareport on Monday.

CPN-MC member ShivKumar Mandal said that formerprime minister Prachanda wasalways in favour of unity amongall communist forces of thecountry and suggested that ifdropping “Maoist Centre” fromthe party’s name could helpunite these forces, then theparty should be ready for that,The Himalayan Times reported.

The proposal to changethe name of the party came asCPN-MC faces the heat to

bolster the party after theSupreme Court recently nulli-fied its merger with CPN-UML led by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, it said.

This has created a situationwhere Prime Minister Oli sud-denly sees his positionstrengthened in the party, as hehas a clear majority in theCentral Committee andParliamentary Party.

Other prominent leaders ofthe CPN-UML’s Nepal faction- Madhav Kumar Nepal andJhalanath Khanal, who hadjoined hands with Prachandain seeking Oli’s resignation asPrime Minister- find them-selves in disadvantageous posi-tion, the report said.

The CPN (UML) and CPN(MC) merged in May 2018 toform a unified NepalCommunist Party followingthe victory of their alliance in

the 2017 general elections.The ruling NCP split over

Oli’s move to dissolve the 275-member House ofRepresentatives in December.In a landmark ruling, the apexcourt last month reinstatedthe lower house of Parliament.

Nepal’s ElectionCommission on Tuesday askedthe CPN (UML) and the CPN(MC) to come up with a newname and election symbol of theparty if they decide to merge theirparties again after the SupremeCourt quashed the 2018 unifi-cation of the two parties.

However, the political tus-sle between the two partiesintensified after Prachanda onSunday for the second timeasked its ministers in PrimeMinister Oli’s government toresign en masse for breachingparty discipline, amid theirreluctance to quit the Cabinet.

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The European Union said onMonday it is starting legal

action against the UnitedKingdom, arguing it does notrespect the conditions of theBrexit withdrawal agreementand is violating internationallaw.

The 27-nation EU isobjecting to Britain unilateral-ly extending a grace periodbeyond April 1 that applies totrade on the island of Ireland,where the EU and the UnitedKingdom share a land borderand where a special trade sys-tem was set up as part of theBrexit divorce deal.

It marks yet another wors-ening of relations between thetwo sides since a divorce tran-

sition period ended on January1. Disputes have ranged fromfights over vaccines, to the fulldiplomatic recognition of theEU in Britain and now againthe terms of the divorce agree-ment.

Britain announced lastweek that it is delaying theimposition of checks on somegoods from the EU to givebusinesses more time to pre-pare for new post-Brexit rules.

On March 3, the UK decid-ed to unilaterally extend agrace period until October onchecks for goods movingbetween Britain and NorthernIreland, a key part of the dealmeant to avoid a hard borderon the island of Ireland whenthe post-Brexit transition peri-od ended on December 31.

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China on Monday criticisedthe Quad, saying no “small

cliques” should be formed, asit accused some countries oftrying to “sow discord” amongregional nations by “hyping”the ‘China threat’ and asserted that they will not suc-ceed. Quad countries involvingthe US, India, Australia andJapan held their first virtualsummit on Friday duringwhich President Joe Biden toldleaders of the coalition that a“free and open” Indo-Pacific isessential to their countries andvowed that his country wascommitted to working with itspartners and allies in the regionto achieve stability.

Prime Minister NarendraModi attended the virtual sum-mit alongside Australian PrimeMinister Scott Morrison andJapanese Prime MinisterYoshihide Suga.

“Certain countries shouldshake off their Cold-War men-tality and ideological prejudice,refrain from forming closedand exclusive small circles, anddo more things that are con-ducive to solidarity and coop-eration among regional coun-tries and regional peace andstability,”

Chinese Foreign Ministryspokesman Zhao Lijian told amedia briefing here.

He was answering a ques-tion about the first Leaders’Summit of the Quad countriesand the reported remarks byUS National Secretary AdvisorJake Sullivan that the fourleaders discussed the challengeposed by China and said allfour believed the democraciescould help compete with autoc-racy.

“For quite some time, cer-tain countries have been sokeen to exaggerate and hype upthe so-called ‘China threat’ to

sow discord among regionalcountries, especially to disrupttheir relations with China,”Zhao said.

“However, their actions,running counter to the trend ofthe times of peace, develop-ment and cooperation and thecommon aspirations of thecountries and peoples in theregion, will not be welcomed orsucceed,” he said.

“Exchanges and coopera-tion between countries shouldhelp expand mutual under-standing and trust, instead oftargeting or harming the inter-ests of third parties,” he added.

Zhao also reacted angrilyto reported remarks by USDefence Secretary Lloyd J.Austin that the goal of the USand its key allies is to ensurethat they have the capabilities,operational plans and con-cepts to offer credible deter-rence to China or anybody elsewho wants to take on America.

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Shared concerns aboutChina’s growing influence in

the Indo-Pacific region willtake center stage whenPresident Joe Biden’s defencechief and secretary of statevisit Japan for their first in-per-son talks with their Japanesecounterparts.

Defence Secretary LloydAustin and Secretary of StateAntony Blinken arrived inTokyo on Monday for meetingsmeant to reaffirm America’scommitment to the region andto the two nations’ alliance fol-lowing former PresidentDonald Trump’s more con-

frontational approach.The two secretaries will

hold so-called “two plus two”diplomatic and security talkson Tuesday with their Japanesecounterparts, Foreign MinisterToshimitsu Motegi and Defense Minister NobuoKishi. “The United States isnow making a big push to revi-talise our ties with friends andpartners — both in one-to-onerelationships and in multilateralinstitutions — and to recommitto our shared goals, values, andresponsibilities,” Blinken andAustin said in a piece publishedMonday in The WashingtonPost.

The US And others share

the values and principles ofkeeping an open Indo-Pacificregion, but China is “all toowilling to use coercion to get itsway,” the two ministers said.

“Here again, we see howworking with our allies is crit-ical.” The U.S. Will lead withdiplomacy, maintain America’smilitary might “and renew ouralliances and ensure they’re fitfor purpose to address thethreats and opportunities ofour time,” Blinken and Austinwrote. Together they can holdChina accountable for itshuman rights abuses and otherproblems in Xinjiang andTibet, as well as Hong Kongand Taiwan, they said.

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Arms imports to the MiddleEast rose by a quarter in

the decade to 2020 even thougharms sales globally remainedstable over the same period, aSwedish watchdog said onMonday.

The StockholmInternational Peace ResearchInstitute, or SIPRI, said theMiddle East figures were drivenchiefly by the world’s largestarms importer, Saudi Arabia,which increased its purchasesby 61%. Egypt’s imports rose136% and Qatar’s 361%.

SIPRI said the interna-tional sale of major arms stayedat the same level during theperiod from 2011-2020.

Rome: The Vatican decreedMonday that the Catholic Churchwon’t bless same-sex unions sinceGod “cannot bless sin”,

The Vatican’s orthodoxyoffice, the Congregation for theDoctrine of the Faith, issued aformal response Monday to aquestion about whetherCatholic clergy have theauthority to bless gay unions.The answer, contained in atwo-page explanation pub-lished in seven languages andapproved by Pope Francis, was“negative”.

The note distinguishedbetween the church’s welcom-ing and blessing of gay people,which it upheld, but not theirunions. AP

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Beijing on Monday wasenveloped in yellow dust as

the most powerful sandstormin a decade swept through thecapital and most parts ofnorthern China, leading to thecancellation of several flightsdue to poor visibility.

Citizens of Beijing woke upto a bleak yellow sky, with vis-ibility reduced to less than a fewhundred metres. The concen-tration of hazardous airborneparticles of PM10 in mostareas exceeded 2,000 micro-grams per cubic meter, theNational Meteorological Center(NMC), which issued a yellowalert, said.

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?4"2��&��+=)�P�'8��98=�;�0<),�::�7'��<4��7�C=�:=;<B�8�87�<B7�8)murder of a law enforcement officer whowas a defender of justice.

Ansari said the case attracts exemplarypunishment, which is capital punish-ment.

He further said a police officer waskilled while discharging his public duty.

“Ariz along with others was carryingdeadly weapons which clearly suggests thatthey were ready to kill anybody in anyeventuality. They were the first to start firewithout any provocation,” the public pros-ecutor said.

He added that widespread concernswere raised after the incident regarding thesafety of police officers and it instilled fearin the minds of the common people.

Advocate MS Khan, appearing forAriz, opposed the death penalty and saidthe incident was not premeditated.

The court had said on March 8 that itwas “duly proved that Khan and his asso-ciates caused murder of police official andfired gunshot on the police official”.

A trial court had sentenced IndianMujahideen terrorist Shahzad Ahmed inJuly 2013 to life imprisonment in con-nection with the case. His appeal againstthe verdict has been pending in the HighCourt.

Khan had fled from the spot and wasdeclared proclaimed offender. He wasarrested on February 14, 2018, and facedthe trial.

On March 8, the Additional SessionsJudge Sandeep Yadav had convicted Khanstating that the evidence produced by theprosecution duly proved the case beyondreasonable doubt. The judge had said it was

“duly proved that Khan and his associatescaused murder of police official and firedgunshot on the police official.”

During the encounter in Batla Houseat Jamia Nagar in south Delhi onSeptember 19, 2008, two suspected ter-rorists, identified as Atif Amin andMohammed Sajid, were killed whileInspector Sharma of Special Cell receivedgun shot during the encounter and died.Three other terrorists identified as Khanand Shahzad escaped while MohammadSaif surrendered to the police.

The encounter had taken place with-in a week of 2008 Delhi serial blasts thathad killed 30 people.

Khan, a native of Azamgarh in UttarPradesh, was arrested by the Delhi police’sSpecial Cell in February 2018. The mul-tiple bombings that rocked cities like Jaipurand Ahmedabad, apart from the nation-al capital itself, in 2008 saw 165 people los-ing their lives and over 500 injured in all.

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“I can break but cannot bend … I willnever surrender before the outsiders … Iwill never mortgage my spines … I willcontinue to fight till I am alive.”

Addressing a rally in neighbouringBankura district, Shah hit back wishing hera speedy recovery but wondering “whatreally had happened to Mamata Didi whois telling that she was a victim of conspir-acy… whereas the Election Commissionis telling that what happened to her wasonly an accident … God only knows whathappened.”

Taking a dig at the Chief Minister hesaid, “Didi, you’re roaming around in a

wheelchair, we are concerned about yourleg, but are concerned about the pain ofmothers of my 130 workers who werekilled by the TMC goons.”

He said if BJP came to power in Bengalit would end the “syndicate and cutmoney raj unleashed by the TrinamoolGovernment where you have to pay Rs 100even for a government certificate.”

Attacking the Mamata BanerjeeGovernment for perpetrating “corruption,hooliganism, infiltration and appease-ment politics”, Shah said, “After May 2 allthat will be a thing of the past. Bengal willbe restored to its glorious past when it usedto contribute 25 percent of the nationalGDP.

Shah was scheduled to address a rallyat Jhargram but failed to do so as his chop-per developed a snag. “I was going to comehere for campaigning. Unfortunately, myhelicopter developed snag and I couldn’tcome to see you … but I won’t call it a con-spiracy,” he said.

Attacking the TMC Government forblocking the Centre’s Jal Shakti projectaimed at reaching drinking water to everyhousehold, Shah said “the Centre had dis-bursed Rs 900 crore for the project but theState could spend on Rs 130 crore.”

Promising the three-year arrears ofKisan Sanman Nidhi project amounting toRs 18,000 Shah said how the central pro-jects to benefit the farmers were beingblocked by the State Government. “Eventhe Ayushman Bharat Project for free med-ical insurance up to Rs 5 lakh has beenblocked by this Government,” he alleged.

Banerjee hit back saying that theCentre was not releasing the funds thatlegitimately belonged to the State where-as it took away thousands of crores fromthe State in the form of Central taxes.

“Remember, people cannot be pur-

chased with money. On one side, we aredoing development activities and on theother side BJP is

increasing fuel and gas prices. How theBJP became rich all of a sudden,” she askedsaying, “They earned huge money fromnotebandi (demonetisation and now theyare making money by selling public sec-tor banks.”

Banerjee offered a basket of promis-es saying should her Government returnto power it would continue to provide freeration to the people of Bengal. “The peo-ple will continue to get free ration at theirdoorsteps. You don’t have to come to theshop after May,” Banerjee promised, count-ing the welfare schemes during her tenureas the Chief Minister.

“My government has taken the deci-sion in the Budget to give Rs 1,000 to allthe widows … a pension of Rs 2,000 wasalso provided in the

Budget for tribals aged above 60years,” the Chief Minister said remindingBengal was the only State that had “notsnatched the land rights of tribals.”

Shah on the other hand alleged that theChief Minister was not allowing the prop-er implementation of the Forest Right Act.“Let the BJP come to power you will getthe benefit of Forest (tribal) Rights

Act sitting right at your home,” he saidadding BJP would end the syndicate andcut money raj unleashed by the TMC.

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Adhikari’s election agent MeghnadPaul named ‘Mamata Banerjee’ in a dis-proportionate Assets case. However, theCBI sources said that the name was

indeed the same but it was a differentMamata Banerjee — the wife of a GroupD staff of the central Government work-ing in Asansol area.

The fate of other five cases allegedlyfiled against the same name by the Assampolice is not known as yet, sources said.

Adhikari had on Monday furnished alist of six cases and demanded the can-cellation of the nomination of the ChiefMinister who is contestingagainst himfrom Nandigram in East Midnapore dis-trict.

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As many as 26,624 infections wererecorded in a span of 24 hours onDecember 20.

The number of people who haverecuperated from the disease surged to1,10,07,352, while the case fatality ratestood at 1.39 per cent, according to thedata.

India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the20-lakh mark on August 7, 30 lakh onAugust 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50lakh on September 16. It went past 60 lakhon September 28, 70 lakh on October 11,80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh onNovember 20 and surpassed the one-croremark on December 19.

According to Indian Council ofMedical Research, 22,74,07,413 sampleshave been tested for COVID-19 up toMarch 14, including 7,03,772 on Sunday.

A total of 26,291 new cases were reg-istered in a day. Maharashtra has report-ed the highest daily new cases at 16,620(accounting for 63.21 per cent of the dailynew cases). It is followed by Kerala with

1,792 while Punjab reported 1,492 newcases.

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“Searches were conducted today at 30places, including Base Hospital,Cantonment, other Army establishments,civilian areas covering 13 cities likeKapurthala, Bhathinda, Delhi, Kaithal,Palwal, Lucknow, Bareili, Gorakhpur,Vishakhapatnam, Jaipur, Guwahati, Jorhatand Chirangon which led to recovery ofseveral incriminating documents,” theCBI said.

The documents so far recovered dur-ing searches are being scrutinised andinvestigation is continuing, it added.

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Baralachala — a mountain pass thatlinks Himachal Pradesh’s Lahaul district toLadakh’s Leh district — had to be openedmuch ahead of schedule to gain strategicadvantage over “the adversaries”. It was thefirst time the armed forces had decided toopen the pass ahead of time, the BRO saidin a statement.

According to the initial plan, snowclearance team were to be air-inducted attwo points — Patsio and Sarchu — so thatthe pass could be cleared in an early timeframe. Since air induction could not takeplace because of bad weather, it wasdecided that the team would walk 20 kilo-metres in deep snow towards SatchuDett, where equipment was stocked in“mothballed” state.

As our nation prepares forCOVID-19 vaccines, we

know that issues of equitabledistribution and access for all— particularly for the at-riskpopulation — are critical indetermining the pace and suc-cess of the nation’s recovery.Allocation, distribution, accessand utilisation of the COVID-19 vaccine will likely be thegreatest public health effort ofour generation.

And while this effort willpresent significant challenges,it also brings a new opportuni-ty to expand the strength ofexisting immunisation infra-structure in India. This hasbecome more important nowthan ever before.

Setting aside the currentpandemic, vaccine confidenceand hesitancy issues remain achallenge across all sectors ofthe healthcare system. Despitethe well-known benefits ofimmunisations, more than 1.5

million people worldwide diefrom vaccine-preventable dis-eases each year.

Adult coverage lags behindcurrent Healthy People targetsfor most commonly recom-mended vaccines: influenza,pneumococcal, tetanus, hepati-tis B, herpes zoster, and HPV.The World HealthOrganisation (WHO) hasdeclared vaccines to be one ofthe most important publichealth interventions of thetwentieth century.

Because vaccines have beenso successful at controllingdiseases like smallpox andpolio, we often take our rela-tively epidemic-free world forgranted. But less than a lifetimeago, these diseases and otherswere still real threats to health.Despite vaccines’ successes,many people do not know howvaccines work, or that they arenot just important for children,but adults too.

Aren’t vaccines for chil-dren?

Vaccines are for everyone,not just children. In fact, thereare some vaccines that arespecifically recommended foradults.

These adult vaccines pro-tect against diseases that aremore common in adults thanchildren. Some vaccines protectagainst diseases that can bemore serious when contractedby adults. Other adult vac-cines may actually be boostersof vaccines that you received asa child. Boosters refresh theimmune system’s memory ofhow to make the tools to fighta pathogen, so that it can con-tinue to provide protectionagainst the disease.

Getting vaccinated reducesyour risk of getting diseases likeshingles, measles, whoopingcough, or influenza. Even if avaccine is not 100% effective atprotecting you from contracting

the disease, it is likely to lessenthe severity of the symptomsassociated with the disease.

Reasons to get vaccinated:� Vaccine-preventable dis-

eases have not gone away.� Vaccines will help keep you

healthy.� Vaccines are as important to

your overall health as dietand exercise.

� Vaccination can mean thedifference between life anddeath.

� Vaccines are safe.� Vaccines won’t give you the

disease they are designed toprevent.

� Young and healthy peoplecan get very sick, too.

� Vaccine-preventable dis-eases are expensive to treat.

� When you get sick, yourfamily is at risk, too.

� Your family and coworkersneed you.

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��"�Rich in fiber andMCTs, coconuts may offer anumber of benefits, includingimproved heart health,weight loss and digestion.Fresh coconuts can beeither young or mature.Young coconuts eitherhave a green shell or awhite husk. Youngcoconuts are the mosthealth enhancing of thetwo.

The water in the youngcoconut is one of the highestsources of electrolytes.Electrolytes are responsible forkeeping the body properlyhydrated so the muscles andnerves can function appropri-ately. Therefore, it is morebeneficial to drink the waterfrom a young coconut after anintense workout rather than the

commercial sports drinks.Coconuts are highly nutri-

tious and packed with essentialvitamins and minerals. Thecoconut milk is also good forhealth.

Coconuts also contain alipid called lauric acid, andmany researchers believe thatlauric acid can support theimmune system.

Achalasia is a disease wherethe function of the esoph-agus stops working over-time. It is thought to be

neural degeneration of the selectivenerve fibers in the body of theesophagus and the valve at the topof the stomach. It is a rare diseasewith an estimated prevalence of10.82 and incidence of 0.3–1.63 per100,000 adults per year.

In this disease esophagus mus-cles do not squeeze and the sphinc-ter muscle does not open, so foodcannot pass through valve top onstomach. Patients begin to experi-ence trouble swallowing. They can-not swallow regular food; theyhave trouble swallowing liquidsand they get a sensation that stuffjust sits in their esophagus. Somemay need to drink a lot of fluids toget food into the stomach and oth-ers may feel pain and/or discomfortafter eating. Some patients suffer-ing from achalasia may have undi-gested food come up after eating orwhen lying down.

Symptoms of achalasia mayinclude:� Regurgitation of food� Chest pain or pain felt in the

back, neck, and arms.� Difficulty swallowing liquids

and solids.� Heartburn� Unintentional weight loss� Cough

How it can be diagnosed:Esophageal manometry:

During esophageal manometry, athin, flexible tube (catheter) thatcontains pressure sensors is passedthrough nose, down into esophagus

and then into stomach. Esophagealmanometry provides informationabout the movement of foodthrough the esophagus into thestomach. The test measures theforce and coordination ofesophageal muscles as they propelfood into stomach. This test alsodiagnoses other swallowing disor-ders and classify Achalasia to cus-tomise treatment accordingly.

Upper Endoscopy: In this testflexible tube equipped with a lightand camera inserted into food pipethrough throat to examine theinside of food pipe and stomach.Endoscopy can be normal or mayshow retained saliva, undigestedfood, or liquid in the food pipe awithout any blockage of theesophagus by tumour and narrow-ing with subjective evidence ofresistant at valve at top of stomachwhile negotiating tube.

X-Ray of upper digestiveSystem: X-rays are taken after thepatient swallows chalky liquid thatcoats and fills the inside lining of thefood pipe and visualisation of adilated proximal food pipe with anarrowed junction just above thestomach giving the characteristic“bird beak” appearance is highlysuggestive of achalasia.

Both Endoscopy and bariumesophagram are only complemen-tary to esophageal manometry andlack sensitivity for accurately diag-nosing achalasia.

TREATMENT:�Pneumatic dilation: A bal-

loon is inserted by endoscopy intothe centre of the esophageal sphinc-

ter and inflated to enlarge theopening. This outpatient proceduremay need to be repeated if theesophageal sphincter does not stayopen. Nearly one-third of peopletreated with balloon dilation needrepeat treatment within five years.It is uncontrolled and forceful dila-tion sometimes can result intooesophageal perforation althoughresponse is good among early orevolving Achalasia.

�Botox: Botox is generally rec-ommended only for people who arenot good candidates for Balloondilation, endoscopic and laparo-scopic myotomy because of age oroverall health and presence of sig-nificant comorbidities. Botox injec-tions typically do not last more thansix months.

�Surgery (Heller Myotomy): During this procedure, five or

six small incisions are made in theabdominal wall and laparoscopicinstruments are inserted. Thenmuscle cut along the esophagus,starting above the lower esophagealsphincter and extending down ontothe stomach a little way

Per Oral EndoscopicMyotomy (POEM): This new lessinvasive and effective procedureeliminates the need for abdominalincisions. It is a major advance intreatment of achalasia and is lessinvasive and less traumatic to thebody.

How is the POEM proceduredone?

�A flexible tube called anendoscope is passed through themouth into oesophagus and make

a small cut in the inner most layerof the esophagus and then reachbetween the layers of the esophagusto selective cut that stiff muscle andthen close the hole in the esopha-gus with clips. This whole proce-dure is being done with an endo-scope without having any inci-sions on your abdomen. Carbondioxide gas ( Co2) is used for insuf-flation during this proceduresbecause Co2 absorbed very rapid-ly hence air insufflation relatedcomplications can be a avoided inthis procedure .

�It can be done in advancecases of Achalasia like sigmoidOesophagus and in presence ofdiverticula. POEM usually notrequire an additional anti refluxprocedure.

�POEM is also effective forother swallowing disorders likediffuse oesophageal spasm , inef-fective oesophageal motility andJackhammer Oesophagus.

�Procedure time is usually onehours and some time can be pro-longed due to difficult procedure inview of long standing disease , hugedilation and unexpected bleederduring myotomy.

�However, POEM is not with-out risks. As with other operations,there are risks of bleeding and rarelyleak which may resulting in chestinfection. It has been shown toincrease the risk of long-termreflux, although rarely troublesomeand most of times controlled withanti acid tablets.

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Now that the season is changing, there is a steady rise in num-ber of patients coming with allergic symptoms. Allergies are

common when the temperature starts increasing. Your immunesystem overreacts to an outdoor allergen, such as pollen. An aller-gen is something that triggers an allergic response. The real cul-prits of summertime seasonal allergies are grasses, such as rye-grass and timothy grass, as well as certain weeds. Grasses are themost common trigger for people with hay fever.

The most common allergens are pollens from wind-pollenat-ed plants, such as trees, grasses, and weeds. The pollens frominsect-pollinated plants are too heavy to remain airborne for long,and they’re less likely to trigger an allergic reaction.Many peo-ple with hay fever also have asthma. If you have both hay feverand asthma, your seasonal allergens may trigger an asthma attack.

Allergies in children are caused by a complicated interplayof genetic and environmental factors. Children are more likelyto develop allergies if one or both parents have allergies. It is not

a static disease and as the childmatures the pattern of the dis-ease changes.

The dry, itchy throat canlast for weeks to months at atime and varies in intensityfrom one day to the next,depending on the level of expo-sure to the pollutant. Othersigns of seasonal allergies arerunny nose, sudden bouts ofsneezing, and watery and itchyeyes. Some may also developdark circles under the eyesknown as allergic shiners.These dark circles are caused bythe pooling of blood under theeyes because of swollen tissuein the nasal cavities.

Viral infections can beaccompanied with headache, body ache, fever and tiredness. Thecough sometimes can be mucous-filled as the infection progress-es. Most of these infections are self-limiting and the symptomsimprove on their own after peaking for two to three days.Infections, both viral and bacterial, can lead to complications inpeople with other health conditions such as lung or kidney dis-ease, heart failure, chronic obstructive lung disease or asthma,making their visit to a doctor a must if high fever lasts for morethan two days. Cough with phlegm or pus accompanied withhigh fever, chills and difficulty breathing can also be a sign ofpneumonia, which must be ruled out.

Three of the most common allergens — house dust mites,animal dander and cockroach droppings — are worse when thereis less ventilation. Choosing a wrong skincare product, forget-ting to drink enough water, indulging in spicy and fried foods,frequent use of peel-off masks and forgetting to apply sunscreendaily adds to all these. Exposure to pollution leads to early age-ing of skin, pigmentation, skin irritation and other skin relatedproblems.

Precautions:�Wear a good quality mask.�Visit a doctor if your fever is 103 degrees F or more and

lasts for more than two to three days, or you develop troublebreathing.

�Drink a lot of water.�Wear loose cotton clothes.�Keep the humidity level inside the house below 50% and

regularly clean the air conditioners and carpets.

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With the weatherdepartment pre-dicting an increase

in temperature over thenext few days, there arechances that you mightfeel dehydrated.

Here are afew homeremedies thatcan help.

S t a r twith sippings m a l lamount ofwater. Thiswill help yourbody to getrehydrated.

Drink elec-trolyte containing drinks.This is comparitively a fasterand easier way of gettinghydrated. You can choosecoconut water as it is rich insodium and potassium.Drink it four-five times a

day.Saltwater is the easiest

way to cure dehydrationand consuming three litresof saltwater daily will yield

better results. Onemust add sugar

and salt to aglass of water

and drink it.Suck on

p op s i c l e smade fromjuices. Thiswill helpbring down

your bodytemperature

and cool youdown.

And last, but not theleast yoghurt. Yoghurt is oneof the best home remediesfor dehydration and con-suming it once a day canprove to be beneficial for thebody.

With temperature settlingabove normal, there are high

chances that one might get dehydrated.

ROSHANI DEVI shares easyhome remedies that can

help treat it

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Ever wondered how maintaining anoptimum weight can solve many ofour health problems? Weight balance

and a healthy digestive system are the twomajor aspects of our good health. A healthylifestyle includes good food, nutrition andadequate physical activity. in recent times,a lot of importance have been given in goingback to the traditional way of living formaintaining optimum health. Our ances-tors not only followed a healthy diet, but alsobelieved in good physical activity for bal-ancing weight. Several factors contribute toone's weight. Thus, choosing what is rightfor you personally is what we need to focuson.

As we know, maintaining good andhealthy lifestyle is essential for overallweight, which will help in preventingmany health complications that may arisefrom obesity. Just like overweight, beingunderweight also can be harmful especial-ly when you are starving from the key nutri-ents that are essential to your day to day life.Hence, it is important to focus on keepingthe weight in balance that helps to lower therisk of various metabolic issues and makeus feel good inside out.

How weight balance affects digestion:Since majority of us work from home,

our lifestyle has changed totally with morestress; binge eating, unhealthy diet and asedentary lifestyle, which has lead to a wholelot of digestive distress and cause constipa-tion, bloating and other problems relatedto our digestive tract and such poor diges-tion can also lead to unnecessary weightgain. Thus, balancing our weight anddoing moderate exercise every day can stim-ulate our intestinal activities and can pre-vent us from facing digestive problems ata later period.

Three effective ways to balance yourweight:

Yoga: Yoga is one of the most trustedand effective forms of exercise, yoga notonly helps in improving your digestive sys-tem but will also help improve your men-tal wellbeing.

Food and nutrition: Having a balancedand nutrient-rich diet is important formaintaining optimum weight. It is neces-sary to look into what we eat every day.Improper diet is one of the major reasonswhy we face digestive problems and weightgain. A well-balanced diet is the need of thehour especially during the seasonal changes.During summer, with the rising tempera-ture and humidity outside, we may face dif-ficulty in digesting the foods that we usu-ally consume. Adding more fibre rich foodsto our diet will help us in improving ourdigestive tract and eventually lead to weightbalance.

Get moving: The best way to do thisis by including your favourite activities inyour daily routine. Try to move around tomake the most of it. Try to include activi-ties like dance, walking, spinning in yourdaily routine, which gives you a lot of move-ment and will always increase the scope ofyour fitness in various ways and it helps topromote the healthy functioning of yourdigestive system.

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Doja Cat went for neonfeathers and a moto-inspired look zipped

all the way down and CynthiaErivo stunned in a sparklingsilver gown with gold accentsby Louis Vuitton at theGrammys as music’s big nightoffered a luxe fashion momentfor the stars.

Dressed in Roberto Cavalli,Doja’s revealing look includedcat-claw zips on each arm and afeathered skirt. “I want to be thecat lady, so let me be that,” shesaid.

Erivo’s gown included alow cutout at the front with a

gold bib effect at the top and agold belt, while DaBaby brightenedup a drastically pared-down redcarpet in a bright mustard andgreen floral suit from Dolce &Gabbana. Erivo didn’t hit the car-pet, but she made a statement nev-ertheless. Her gown was adornedwith more than 60,000 glassbeads, crystals and sequins. Shetopped off the look with jewelsfrom Tiffany & Co.

Dua Lipa also sparkled in apink sequin Versace gown witha butterfly motif. The body-skimming gown includedcutouts at the hips and a sexyhigh slit. “It was really cool tocollaborate,” she said of thelook.

Billie Eilish matched herlong nails to a loose pink andblack trouser look by Gucci,

her hat and face mask also a match.DaBaby, his mom, Linda, by his

side in red, topped off his suit with awide-brim green hat with red under-neath. He was on hand in person butearlier created an Instagram red car-pet moment with his daughter sinceno kids were allowed at the LosAngeles show.

Joanie Leeds, winner of the bestchildren’s music album, did some-thing similar at a distance fromhome in New York.

“I actually created a step andrepeat and a red carpet,” she toldreporters during a virtual news con-ference before the show. “We allwalked the red carpet and we had aphotographer here and took some

really good pictures.”Leeds wore a multicolour

sequined gown by Nicole Miller, andshe slid off her silver heels to show oncamera. “Just because we’re virtualthis year, I wasn’t going to wear myhoodie sweatshirt,” said Leeds, afirst-time Grammy winner.

Due to pandemic precautions, the“red carpet” was not the usual massof cameras and TV crews. A selectfew outlets were permitted on site toconduct live interviews — a safe dis-tance apart.

The night’s host, Trevor Noah,showed up for the pared-down car-pet in a classic black tuxedo byGucci, while nominee Debi Novawent big — and pink — in a mini

dress that had a huge train and trop-ical details by Georges Chakra.Phoebe Bridgers wore a black gownadorned with a beaded human skele-ton from Thom Browne, and MeganThee Stallion wore a strapless brightorange princess look with a high sideslit and a huge back bow and train byDolce & Gabbana. Her Chopardchoker finished off the look.

“I wanted to pop. I wanted to looklike a Grammy,” Megan said.

Nandi Howard, associate fashioneditor at Essence, lauded the stylemoments provided by Megan andDaBaby.

“I’m eager to see D&G work morewith hip-hop artists. Megan looked soregal in her orange gown, and tonight

she wore her outfit effortlessly. I hopeto see her in couture more often. Shewears it very well,” she said.

Howard also offered kudos toLizzo, who shimmered in a pink mer-maid look to present an award andearlier wore a short ruched sea foamstrapless dress by Balmain. Shedripped in Bulgari jewels.

“We normally see avant-gardegowns at the Grammys, but leave itup to Lizzo to switch it up in the bestway,” Howard said.

Jacob Collier said he went forcomfort in a floral Stella McCartneyturtleneck and red suit.

“I’ve never been asked aboutclothes before,” he said. “I feel like arock star.”

In Dundas, H.E.R. rocked a bur-gundy, mid-calf robe with matchingwide-leg trousers.

Jonathan Evans, style director forEsquire, saw a healthy dose of 1970sflare running through menswear, inno small part to Gucci. Bruno Marsand Anderson .Paak slid into leisuresuits for Silk Sonic’s debut.

“Big lapels and flared trousersmight, I’ll admit, sound a little intim-idating, or like a return to the bad olddays, but when you see the way guyslike Anderson .Paak, Finneas andHarry Styles are wearing it, it feelsfresh,” he said.

All three wore Gucci. Evans saidof Styles’ look: “A jacket with a pat-tern that looks like it could be one ofyour grandmother’s favourite teacozies is one thing, but a croppedjacket with a gigantic lapel that chan-nels Nana? That’s the kind of thingthat Styles seems to make wearable.”

Styles later performed in a blackleather suit — who needs a shirt —with a green boa around his neck. Hewore a purple boa with his croppedjacket.

Noah Cyrus spoke to reporters ina cream gown with a huge cape-likeeffect that encircled her face. It wasa Schiaparelli, a somber Cyrus andfirst-time Grammy nominee said. Shesaid she was honored to be the firstto wear it. Cyrus is mourning therecent death of her grandmother.

“I just wish my grandma couldhave seen this,” she said of her nom-ination.

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Just a few days before galleristand art curator Ashna Singh

could announce the opening ofher new gallery in March lastyear, the entire country wentinto lockdown.

Singh, also a musician witha spiritual bent of mind, usedthis opportunity to turn hergaze inwards and curate ashow that reflects the sense ofquietude and self-examinationthat all of us have experiencedin some measure over the lastyear. Dealing with mixed emo-tions of isolation and introspec-tion during this time, artistshave used various mediums toexpress themselves. Featuringnew works by Baiju Parthan,Khalil Chishtee, Megha Joshi,Pooja Iranna, Ranbir Kaleka,Remen Chopra W. Van DerVaart, Shivani Aggarwal,Sharmi Chowdhury, TVSantosh and Veer Munshi, thegroup show titled This & Thatincludes paintings, videos,sculptures and photographs.

Says Singh, Director,Studio Art, “The pre-COVIDworld was of immense expo-sure and collaboration, yet theemphasis on success, competi-tion and the desire to be visi-ble may have depleted the selfemotionally. This was ‘That’time. Then there was socialmedia that percolated livesand didn’t make it easier. Onewas visible but not present inthe moment. Constant com-parisons and possibly an assess-ment of one’s worth in the eyesof the world may have impact-ed inner peace and personalspaces. This was ‘That’ time.Last year forced correctionsupon the world, compellingmany to face their inadequa-cies. This time was all factualwhere peace was beingrestored, not through com-promises, adjustments or fill-ing voids but by simplifying theunnecessary and understand-ing the essentials. This timebrought about strength, a senseof freedom and a reintroduc-tion to oneself. That is ‘This’time. Our inaugural show This& That is an amalgamation ofchoices that humanity has beengifted with. A choice to choosehow to proceed forward. Achoice to repeal what doesn’tserve a purpose anymore.”

Aptly then, Megha Joshi’sink and watercolour titledWavering Faith is about theneed to prioritise our choices.The mental act of making achoice to believe and to convertthose into action has neverbeen more important. In afractured society, where one’sbelief (in socio-religious andeco-political terms) is shat-tered daily and seldomrestored, believing in anythingfirmly becomes even more dif-ficult. “I have explored thisconcept through the abstract-ed metaphor of the rudrakshabead. The bead is the dividedself, oscillating, rotating, trying

to find order in chaos... in aperpetual motion of findingand losing faith.”

Veer Munshi’s How GreenIs My Valley is a grid of 14 pho-tographs and a video that cap-tures moments from one lock-down (post the scrapping ofArticle 370) to another (post-COVID). It is Munshi’s expe-rience of being in Kashmir onAugust 5, 2019, when Article370 was scrapped and the com-munication blockade wasimposed. “This led to massmigration to other states andreminded me of my youthwhen I had left the valley threedecades ago,” says Munshi.

Pooja Iranna’s installationin staple pins titled TheMeltdown represents man-made structures, but there is atwist to all the tales she express-es. Everything is not to be seenat the surface level. The not sostraight partitions and the vis-ible curvatures all denote a con-cealed part of life. This couldbe beautiful for some or evencomplex for others but allthese structures are about con-flicting emotions and stories.“During the lockdown, I sawthe cities become like ghosttowns, leading me to the ques-tion — is all the constructionin the name of development

really necessary?”Ranbir Kaleka’s video

installation with digital collageon canvas titled Turbulence,Veiled, Un-veiled is about therelentless cycle of losing andreclaiming calm in our com-plex lives.

Khalil Chishtee uses trashbags in sculptural works titledUnbearable Lightness of Being &Bedtime Ritual to speak aboutthe transience of life. “Oursmartphones are so efficientthat information is just a clickaway. And yet most of thetruths are hidden. For instance,we failed to see obvious signsof an impending pandemic. We

live in the age of plastic andtrash bags are the lowest formof it. My trash bags have theability to hold the content ofmy work with so much loveand care that it bends them-selves for me like clay or anyother traditional modellingmaterial. My work is an attemptto connect two worlds togeth-er; the world of reality and fic-tion, the world that we live inand the world that lives with-in ourselves.”

TV Santhosh’s sculpturein bronze is titled ObsoleteObjects. Society is undergoingan enormous structural changeforced by technological

advancement and even thoughit has made hardships of man-ual jobs much easier to execute,on the flip side it has madepeople more and more depen-dent on it. Industrialisation andurbanisation have brought in asense of alienation, makingsociety more fragmented.Technology is fast progressingin a way, upgrading the exist-ing systems, and in some cases

even replacing the old onewith a completely new system.In the process, the world isbecoming more and more likea wasteland of obsolete elec-tronic items.

Says Santosh, “Today, welive in a world of use and throwculture. My generation haslived through a period of tran-sition, from the era of theradio to the iPod, revolution-ising our approach to listeningto music. These two sculpturesare a kind of re-imagined doc-umentation of obsolete objectsthat have become part of nos-talgia today.”

Shivani Aggarwal sculptur-al work titled Hangers is anextension of the series of dys-functional objects she has beencreating for a long now. Thework questions how our stateof being is compromised by sit-uations and circumstances. Asimple wooden hanger ispushed beyond its limits so thatit changes its shape and pur-pose to become dysfunctional.The fragility of the object fur-

ther adds to its loss of purpose.These hangers echo the ethosof the times we are living inwhere anything and every-thing loses its defined purposedue to situational interven-tion, whether economic orecological or man-made.

Sharmi Choudhury’ssculptural work titled InnerConversation (Korean Hanjipaper & painted wood) is a

manifestation of intimate dia-logue and confrontation withthe self. A self, which is anassemblage of numerous iden-tities and complex, interlinkedpersonal histories. “Materialalways gives me support tobuild the images. My work isa metaphor for our life expe-riences.”

The painting (acrylic oncanvas) t i t l ed Logos &Mythos (Soul’s Sacrifice) byBaiju Parthan depicts a col-lision between two mutual-ly exclusive world views pre-sented as patterns that over-lap e ach ot her. Us ingCharles Darwin and AlanTuring as the main protag-onists, the work is a com-ment about the old and thenew, about the world ofpoiesis and mythos versusthe world that is arrangedand perceived through rea-soning and logic.

(The show is on till May15 from 11 am to 7 pm atStudio Art, W-16, OkhlaPhase 2, New Delhi.)

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Darren Bravo hit 102 whileShai Hope and skipper

Kieron Pollard made half cen-turies as West Indies defeatedSri Lanka by five wickets in thethird and final One-DayInternational on Sunday.

West Indies chased downtheir target of 275 with nineballs to spare, swept the series3-0 to follow their 2-1 win inthe T20 matches.

Evin Lewis was the firstman out, bowled for 13 bySuranga Lakmal (2/56) in thefifth over. The early wobblecontinued as JasonMohammed was bowled for 8by Wanindu Hasaranga (1/49).

Unfortunately for the SriLankans, a 109-run standbetween Shai Hope and DarrenBravo put the hosts back oncourse from there.

At 148/2 the WestIndies were cruising butthe fall of Hope for 64 toPerera opened the door forSri Lanka.

Nicholas Pooranblasted a quickfire15 off 8, includ-ing two sixes,before perishingto Gunathilakain the 35th.

With theWest Indies need-ing 106 runs offthe final 15 overs,the match was inthe balance.

Pollard (53*)

and Bravo took it away from SriLanka from there. Pollardhelped himself to three consec-utive fours off Lakmal in the37th over to relieve the score-board pressure and Bravo start-ed to up his run-rate.

He slammed LakshanSandakan over long-off for sixin the 38th before ticklingHasaranga down the legside forfour in the 43rd to move intothe 90s. In the 45th he raisedhis fourth ODI century withanother clip past fine leg. Heperished in the 47th over toLakmal, caught brilliantly by aleaping Karunaratne at extracover for 102.

An unbeaten 53 fromPollard in the company ofJason Holder (14*) saw theWest Indies home from there.

Earlier, asked to bat first,Sri Lanka posted a total of

274/6 thanks largely tohalf-centuries fromAshen Bandara (55*)

and Hasaranga(80*).

Both sideswill now playtwo Tests, start-ing nextSunday.

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Their confidence soaring highafter a resounding series-lev-elling win, India would look

to build on their new approach ofbatting freely and fearlessly whenthey take on England in the thirdT20, here on Tuesday.

The Men in Blue were off to ahorrible start in the T20 series, suf-fering a eight-wicket loss in theopening match but turned thetables on England with a seven-wicket win in the second game.

In stark contrast from the firstmatch, Virat Kohli and his menexcelled in all departments.

The inclusion of Ishan Kishan,who made a sparkling debut witha 32-ball 56, allowed India to goahead with their new approach thatencourages batsmen to expressthemselves.

Despite losing KL Rahul infirst over with no runs on theboard, the 22-year attacked fromthe word go, smashing Jofra Archerfor a boundary in the very first ballhe faced.

The hosts will also gain con-

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Young batsman IshanKishan says having faced

the best pacers from across theworld during the IPL had givenhim the confidence to play fear-lessly against England on hisIndia debut.

Kishan’s blistering 56-runknock at the top laid the plat-form for India’s comfortableand successful chase in the sec-ond T20 on Sunday night.

The 22-year-old left-han-der acknowledged the contri-bution, the IPL stint has madein his growth as a batsman.

“It obviously helped (toface the likes of Mumbai

Indians teammates Trent Boultand Jasprit Bumrah) in the nets.They are very pacy bowlers and

to hit shots against them givesconfidence,” Kishan said at thepost-match conference.

“In IPL you get to facequality bowlers from across theworld and you start gettingused to these bowlers. And Ithink that really helped me.”

Kishan also said that theteam management had backedhim to play his natural gamewithout feeling the pressure.

“Before the match I wastold to go and open the inningsand play freely the way I playin IPL. I was told not to takeextra pressure. But it being myfirst game I was little nervouswhile going at the ground.”

“But when you wear thejersey of your country thatpressure simply goes away andyou try to give your best.”

The debutant was in awe ofVirat Kohli during their 94-runstand and hopes to pick thebrain of India skipper duringthe five-match series.

“It was proud feeling forme because I had just seen him(Kohli) on TV, his attitude onthe ground, but to see it fromthe other end is totally differ-ent. I think it is somethingwhich I can change in myself,his energy, his appearance onthe ground, there is a lot tolearn from him.

“The way he talks in theground it takes pressure fromyou. I just want to make surethat I learn a lot from him inthis series,” Kishan said.

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India have exposed England’s“weakness” in handling slow

conditions but competing herewill only prepare them well for theT20 World Cup, feels skipper EoinMorgan.

Morgan admitted they strug-gled to get used to the slow surfaceused for the second match onSunday which India won by sevenwickets.

“I suppose the difference wasin the wicket we played and howwe adapted. It was different wick-et from the one we batted in thefirst game. The pitch was slow andlow and one thing that does isexpose our weakness on thesesurfaces a little bit,” said Morgan.

“We don’t play a lot on slow,low wickets and the more that wecan do that, the better. You onlybecome better in these conditionsby playing in them and makingmistakes.”

The English skipper, however,said playing in such tough condi-

tions ahead of the ICC World T20later this year in India, will onlyhelp them.

“I thought the other night (1stT20), the pitch really suited usbecause it had more pace in it —similar to a wicket at home.

“But this (2nd T20 wicket)took us out of our comfort zoneand really was a typical Indianwicket that we would play on in anIPL game. Again, your accuracyhas to be on,” Morgan said.

“You tend to learn quicker ifyou’re winning and confident andeverything goes reasonablysmoothly — you can integrate thelearning quite quickly — but equal-ly, if we have to learn the hard way,we’re still going through thatprocess of trying to learn game-on-game so when it comes to theWorld Cup in seven months’ time,we can be as best prepared.”

KISHAN HELPED KOHLIFormer England captain

Michael Atherton says debutantIshan Kishan’s aggressive batting at

the top helped ‘under-pressure’Virat Kohli settle down and playhis natural game in the secondT20I.

Atherton said Kishan’s fluentbatting (32-ball 56) helped in tak-ing some pressure off Kohli, whohad registered three ducks in hisprevious five innings.

“I think Virat felt under a lit-tle bit of pressure in that first gamebecause of what he’d said in thepress conference about India play-ing a slightly more aggressivegame,” the former England skippertold Sky Sports.

“The problem in that firstgame, with the line-up that Indiahad was that they had quite a lotof similar players in the top-orderand I think Kohli felt pressured.

“He’s (Kohli) an elite playerand scores very quickly but not likea (Rishabh) Pant or, indeed, anIshan Kishan. So when that youngman came in and played the waythat he did, I think that justallowed Kohli to come in and playhis natural game,” he observed.

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Cristiano Ronaldo hit back athis critics with a quick-fire

hat-trick as Juventus brushedaside Cagliari 3-1 on Sunday, fivedays after their ChampionsLeague elimination.

Portuguese star Ronaldobore the brunt of the criticism

for Juve’s latest European flopafter failing to score in either legof the last-16 defeat by Porto,while also being partly at faultfor what proved to be the goalwhich knockedthem out.

B u tthe 36-year-old

scored a header inthe 10th minute at the

Sardegna Arena, added a secondfrom the penalty spot 15 min-utes later, and completed a ‘per-fect’ treble on 31 minutes witha fine left-footed strike.

Defending championsJuventus are 10 points behindleaders Inter Milan, who beatTorino 2-1 earlier Sunday, butwith a game in hand.

Andrea Pirlo’s side pulledjust one point behind second-placed AC Milan, whose titlehopes took a big hit following a1-0 home defeat to Napoli.

“Our approach was spot onand it was important to get offon the right foot after beingknocked out the other night,”said Pirlo.

“Ronaldo was angry like therest of the team. He reacted likea true champion.”

He could also have beensent off after a quarter of an

hour, receiving only a yellowcard for dangerous play as hisboot struck Cagliari goalkeeper

Alessio Cragno in the facewhile attempting to meet aFederico Chiesa cross.

Ronaldo is the leadingscorer in Serie A with 23

goals this season, ahead ofInter’s Romelu Lukaku, whohas 19.

His career tally is now 770goals, overtaking Brazil legendPele’s 767 scored in officialmatches which he matched ear-lier this month.

Later at San Siro, AC Milan’s

hopes of a first title since 2011diminished as they failed to winfor their third consecutive gameat home, days before they hostManchester United in their last16 Europa League decider.

Matteo Politano scored theonly goal just after the breakwith Milan finishing the gamea man down after Ante Rebicwas sent off in injury time forarguing with officials.

Napoli’s Champions Leaguehopes have been revived as theymove above Roma into fifthbefore the two sides play nextweekend.

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Having seen Ishan Kishan’s exploits in theIPL, England opener Jason Roy was not

surprised at all when he saw the young left-hander taking the game away from his teamin the second T20I.

“He’s obviously a star player, he’s donethat for Mumbai Indians, numerous amountsof time so I wasn’t surprised when I saw himkind of teeing off a bit because everyoneknows he’s a star player so good on him,” Roysaid in a virtual media interaction with theUK media.

“A couple of times he might have got alittle bit wrong with the ball but he capitalisedby hitting it for six. It’s just a case of just mak-ing sure you kind of execute your skillsextremely well.”

India have come into the series with theintention of playing more fearless cricket,which was on display in the second T20.England, on the other hand, are already usedto that brand of cricket.

“It has worked for us in 50 overs crick-et, it worked for us in kind of 10 to 20 gameswe’ve played. Our policy is to play aggressivecricket, but the problem is, when you’re play-ing on pitches like this you have to be a lit-tle bit more calculated. You have to assess ita bit quicker,” said Roy.

“If you’re wanting to play that way, yougot to accept that some days it’s not going togo that way. You are going to be three-fourdown in a powerplay. But with the depth ofour batting lineup, that’s the opportunity itgives to the top order batsmen,” Roy said.

Roy has been consistent with scores of 49and 46 but has not converted into a big knockand that is something he wants to do in theremaining games.

He termed India a class team but saidthey are confident to bounce back onTuesday.

“The boys have bounced back, we’re a fastlearning side. I don’t think there’s been a hugeamount of wind out of our sails to be hon-est,” he concluded.

6��0��Manchester: ManchesterUnited tightened their grip ona return to the ChampionsLeague next season as CraigDawson’s own goal earned OleGunnar Solskjaer’s men a 1-0win over West Ham on Sunday.

Victory moved United backabove Leicester into second inthe Premier League and closedthe gap to runaway leadersManchester City to 14 points.

Despite also having a gamein hand on their local rivals, theRed Devils are unlikely to haulin Pep Guardiola’s men but donow enjoy a nine-point cushion

over the fifth-placed Hammersin the battle for ChampionsLeague places.

Former United boss DavidMoyes has failed to win in 15attempts as the visiting manag-er at Old Trafford and the Scotwas left to rue an overly cau-tious approach before fallingbehind early in the secondhalf.

Whille the hosts held outfor a fourth consecutivePremier League clean sheet toclose in on the much-neededresources of Champions Leaguefootball next season. AFP

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fidence from Kohli unbeateninnings in the second game as hetook the side past the finish line,breaking a sequence of low scores.

The skipper did not have thebest of times in the preceding Testseries and also got out cheaply in thefirst T20. Both Kohli and ShreyasIyer will target big scores.

The bowling department, whichdidn’t have runs to defend in theopener, did a fabulous job to restrictEngland to 164. The biggest positivewould be Hardik Pandya bowlingfour overs which allowed the hoststo go with an extra batsman.

The bowlers will look to repli-cate their good show from the lastmatch where they found theirrhythm.

What India would aspire is abetter effort from Rishabh Pant, whohas been promoted to number fourahead of Iyer. The big-hitting wick-etkeeper has looked lethal in bothoutings but failed to capitalise on hisstarts.

India are unlikely to tinkerwith the winning combination savethe return of star white-ball open-er Rohit Sharma who is expected to

be back in the side after being rest-ed for a couple of games.

With Kishan faring well, KLRahul, who looked out of sorts inboth the outings, is expected tomake way for Rohit.

The primary objective for Indiaremains the same — to get an ideaof the core group of players goinginto the ICC T20 World Cup inOctober.

England attack looked lessthreatening in the absence of MarkWood, who missed the second T20due to a bruised heel. However, skip-per Eoin Morgan confirmed that thepacer will return in the next game.

Opener Jason Roy has looked ingood nick but missed out on half-centuries in both games, He will beeager to go the distance comeTuesday.

With the series locked at 1-1, thethird T20 promises to be a crackerof a contest with both teams be vyingfor the bragging rights at the theNarendra Modi stadium.

With the game set to unfold ona surface that red soil beneath, thespinners are expected to test thebatsmen.

��-��3��Milan Yadav’s fine bowling and Vipraj Nigam’s all-round show

helped Cricket Association, Lucknow beat Barabanki DistrictCricket Association by five wickets in a league match of the 14thChaudhary Asif Ali Memorial U-19 Cricket League at KD Singh‘Babu’ Stadium, Barabanki on Monday.

Electing to bat, BDCA piled up 172 runs in 39.4 overs withShivam Jaiswal (41) being the top run-getter. Other major con-tributions came from the bat of Rachit Shukla (27) and AnkurSrivastava (24) and Vinayak (20). In reply, CAL achieved the tar-get for the loss of five wickets in 37.5 overs.BRIEF SCORES:BDCA: 172 (Shivam 41, Rachit 27, Ankur 24; Milan 37/3, Rohit21/2) CAL: 173 (Shubhankar 41, Shaurya 33, Vipraj 24, Ansh 22,Prabhnoor 21; Rahul 30/2)

,��!��Kooh Sports Club defeated ASCA by 29 runs in a league

match of the 16th Timber Trophy at CSD Sahara on Monday.Asked to bat first, Kooh Club put 190 runs on board with thehelp of a well-paced 53 runs from Arvind Rajpoot. Ritesh Shuklaclaimed three scalps. Ritesh (43) also contributed with the batfor ASCA but other batsmen didn’t contribute much as they fellshort by 29 runs. Surendra picked five wickets.BRIEF SCORES:Kooh: 190 (Arvind 53, Surendra 29, Rana 23; Ritesh 44/3, Vikas24/2, Dheeraj 34/2)ASCA: 161 (Ritesh 43, Prajawal 26, Sandeep 23; Surendra 32/5,Dhurv 14/2)

��Annapurna Club register an easy seven-wicket win over

Kriative Eleven in a league match of the 1st Mumtaz Begum KhanMemorial at KD Singh ‘Babu’ Stadium on Monday.BRIEF SCORES:KE: 94 (Ashutosh 30, Abhay 30; Vivek 14/5, Hritik 12/2, Abhinesh23/2) AC: 98 (Sushil Singh 46, Vishal 17, Rahul 15; Shubham15/1).

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