12
A s situation remains tense after repeated intrusion attempts by China at the Line of Actual Control in Eastern Ladakh, New Delhi on Thursday blamed Beijing for violation of bilateral agree- ments and called for speedy disengagement from the flash- points at the LAC. Given the surcharged atmosphere, Army and IAF chiefs on Thursday visited border areas of Ladakh to review operational readiness. Making India’s stand clear, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said, “It is clear that the situation we witness over the past four months is a direct result of the actions taken by the Chinese side that sought to effect unilateral change of sta- tus quo. These actions result- ed in violation of the bilateral agreements and protocol which ensured peace and tranquility in the border areas for close to three decades.” The fourth round of Brigadier-level talks between the two countries remained inconclusive. They will meet again on Friday to resolve the latest issue. Reacting to the develop- ments in the last four days when the Chinese troops tried to provoke India, Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat said, “Of late we have been seeing some aggres- sive actions by China but we are capable of handling these. Our tri-services are capable of dealing with threats along our frontiers.” He, however, underlined that India wants peace and tranquility across our borders. His comments come days after the CDS said military option could be exercised if talks at all levels fail to resolve the more than four-month long stand-offs at the LAC in eastern Ladakh. Army chief General MM Naravane’s two-day visit begin- ning Thursday comes four days after the Indian Army foiled a major bid by 300 Chinese troops to intrude into the southern bank of the Pangong Tso (lake). The Indian action on the intervening night of August 29 and 30 resulted after timely intelligence tip-off about the movement of the Chinese troops and tanks at night. In a swift move, the Indian troops, including commandos of the covert Special Frontier Force (SFF), thwarted the attempt and occupied strategic heights like the “Black Top” and “Helmet Top”. Naravane visited some key sensitive positions in forward areas of Ladakh to gain first- hand knowledge of the ground situation. He was also briefed about all the aspects of the cur- rent issues by local comman- ders, sources said. Further review meetings are scheduled for Friday regarding status of operational readiness. Since the Indian armed forces are alert on the entire 4,000 km LAC from Ladakh in the west to Arunachal Pradesh in the east, IAF chief RKS Bhadauria discussed the entire gamut of preparations during his one-day visit to the Eastern Command in Shillong. He also visited some forward airbases where the frontline fighter jets are now deployed for the last three months since the stand- offs started. In June, Bhadauria made a quiet visit to Ladakh and Srinagar airbases to review the IAF’s overall preparedness. Meanwhile, highlighting that New Delhi wants to resolve the issue through dialogue, the MEA Spokesperson said, “The ground commanders are still holding discussions to resolve the situation. We reit- erate the consensus reached between the two Foreign Ministers and Special Representatives that the situa- tion in the border should be handled in a responsible man- ner and either side should not take any provocative action or escalate matters.” As regards the develop- ments post the attempt by the Chinese troops to unilaterally change the status quo in the South Bank of Pangong Lake on the night of August 29 and early morning on August 30, Srivastava said the Government’s stand was clear- ly articulated in the statement made on September 1. “I am not going to go over the Chinese actions that caused the recent escalation,” he added. On Tuesday, the Spokesperson had said the Chinese side engaged in “provocative” military maneu- vers in the late night of August 29 and 30 in an attempt to change the status quo in the South Bank area of Pangong Lake. The Indian side respond- ed to these provocative actions and took appropriate defensive steps along the LAC in order to safeguard our interests and defend the territorial integrity. On Thursday, he said now the way ahead is negotiations, both through the diplomatic and military channels. The Indian side is firmly commit- ted to resolving all outstanding issues through peaceful talks. “We, therefore, strongly urge the Chinese side to sin- cerely engage the Indian side with the objective of expedi- tiously restoring the peace and tranquility in the border areas through complete disengage- ment and de-escalation in accordance with the bilateral agreements and protocols,” he said. These assertions came as China has in the last four days blamed the Indian forces for breaching the LAC and occu- pying several hill tops. India has maintained the actions on August 29-30 were carried out to defend its interests within its own side of the LAC. D elhi is seeing a major resurgence of coronavirus cases after more than two months of a relatively sub- dued trend. On Thursday, the national Capital recorded 2,737 cases, the highest single-day tally after 66 days. Delhi alone is not seeing this renewed surge. Several other States are also recording a rising number of cases on a daily basis. This has pushed India’ tally to nearly four mil- lion cases. On June 28, Delhi record- ed the highest 2,883 new cases and after that the situation remained under control even though the number of testing went up in a big way. When Delhi recorded just 652 cases on August 16, it was assumed that the worst may be finally behind for the national Capital. However the hope has been quickly dashed. But the cases have been on the rise during the last fort- night. For example, Delhi recorded nearly 11,000 cases in the week between August 21 and 28. In the last one week again, the national capital recorded 10,000 new cases. With 19 fatalities on Thursday, the total death toll in Delhi stands at 45,000 and the total number of cases at 1.82 lakh. Meanwhile on Thursday, the Union Health Ministry said the Covid-19 positivity rate among healthcare workers is on the higher side in the States and Union territories of Telangana, Maharashtra, Delhi, Karnataka, Puducherry and Punjab. “In Telangana, healthcare workers’ positivity rate is 18 per cent, in Maharashtra it is 16 per cent, in Delhi 14 per cent, Karnataka 13 per cent, Puducherry 12 per cent and in Punjab it is 11 per cent. These are the States where the posi- tivity rate among healthcare workers is on a higher side,” the Ministry said. T he Supreme Court has directed the removal of 48,000 slum dwellings along the 140 km length of railway tracks in Delhi within three months and said there shall not be any kind of political inter- ference in execution of the plan. The jhuggi jhopris will be removed in a phased manner. The top court also restrained any court from granting any kind of stay with respect to removal of encroachments in the area and said in case any interim order is granted with respect to encroachments along railway tracks that shall not be effective. A bench of justices Arun Mishra, BR Gavai and Krishna Murari, which took note of the report filed by the Environment Pollution (Prevention & Control) Authority (EPCA) directed action be taken be reported to the court within one month on removal of waste and encroach- ments in the area. “We also direct all stake- holders that a comprehensive plan for removal of jhuggies be made and executed in a phased manner. The encroachments which are there in safety zones should be removed within a period of three months and no interference, political or oth- erwise, should be there and no court shall grant any stay with respect to removal of the encroachments in the area in question,” it said. The bench said, in case any interim order is granted with respect to encroachments, which have been made along with railway tracks that shall not be effective. The EPCA, in its report, has sought direction to Railways to present a time- bound plan for solid waste management in the northern region, starting with Delhi and its vicinity. “We direct that let the plan be executed with respect to removal of plastic bags, garbage etc. Within a period of three months and a meeting of all stakeholders, i.e. Railways, Govt of NCT of Delhi and con- cerned Municipal Corporations as well as Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUISB) will be called next week and work will be started forthwith,” it said. B ars in the national Capital will reopen from September 9 and hotels, restau- rants and clubs have been per- mitted to serve liquor. The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) has issued a standard operating srocedure (SOP) for operationalisation of bars in hotels, restaurants and clubs as part of measures to contain the spread of Covid-19. According to order, bars in containment zones shall remain closed and only those outside containment zones will be allowed to open. “Entry shall only be allowed to persons with face masks. Only asymptomatic staff, customers and guests shall be allowed. Mandatory provisions for hand hygiene (sanitiser dispenser) and ther- mal screening at the entrance to be made without fail. “Not more than 50 per cent of the approved seating capac- ity shall be allowed inside the hotel, restaurant and clubs so that social distancing norms may be maintained,” it said. The order further stated that adequate manpower shall be deployed by the hotels, restaurants and clubs for ensur- ing social distancing norms and all the staff shall wear gloves, face-masks and maintain com- plete health hygiene such as fre- quent washing of hands, use of sanitiser, etc. Also, the establishments will have to follow Ministry of Home Affairs’ (MHA’s) guide- lines. “With the approval of Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal, authorities have allowed hotels, restaurants and clubs to serve liquor from September 9,” a Delhi Government source said. Earlier, on June 12, the Delhi Government had allowed restaurants bars, hotels to sell their stock expiring imme- diately. T he Bombay High Court on Thursday advised the media in clear-cut terms to exercise “restraint” while reporting on the Sushant Singh Rajput death case and not to file stories in manner that will hamper the probe in the case. The CBI questioned Rhea’s father Indajit Chakraborty for the third consecutive day on Thursday for five hours. During the questioning, the CBI once against asked Indrajit about his daughter’s relations with Rajput and the actor’s family, the reason for Rhea leaving Rajput’s home and blocking the latter’s mobile number and Rhea’s role in managing the late actor’s finan- cial matters. Hearing a public interest litigation filed by eight retired police officers who held top positions in the Maharashtra police to stop a section of the electronic media from “influ- encing the course of investiga- tions” in Sushant’s death case through “biased and false” reporting, the high court took serious cognisance of the ques- tionable “media coverage” of the actor’s death case and asked the media “not to hamper the investigations” in any manner. “We urge and expect the media to exercise restraint in reporting of the investigation with respect to the (Rajput) death, which should not ham- per the investigation in any manner,” the Bombay High Court said. T wo days after it temporar- ily stopped routine OPD (Outpatient Department) for two weeks, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) clarified on Thursday that the OPD services would continue as usual. “Reference circular on ‘Temporary suspension of rou- tine OPD admission’ dated September 1, this is to clarify that OPD services at AIIMS, New Delhi, will continue as usual,” the statement said. It did not mention the reason for withdrawing the order. It has has come as a great relief to many patients and their relatives like Rashmi Juneja whose younger brother is admitted at the hospital for serious liver ailment. “Doctors have recom- mended his discharge and home care. But I am worried that what will happen if my brother’s situation worsens again. Good that they dropped the idea of suspend- ing the OPD services,” she said. A fter severe criticism from Opposition parties, includ- ing the Congress for its alleged bias to ruling BJP’s content, Facebook on Thursday banned Telangana MLA T Raja Singh from its platform and Instagram for violating its pol- icy on content promoting vio- lence and hate. “We have banned Raja Singh from Facebook for vio- lating our policy,” a Facebook spokesperson said in an emailed statement. The BJP leader, however, claimed he has no FB account for over a year. The social media giant also responded to the Congress saying the organisation has taken seriously the concerns and recommendations raised by the grand old party and that it takes allegations of bias seriously and said it always denounces hate and bigotry in all forms. The action came against the backdrop of both the Congress and Union IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad writing to Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg, accusing the social media platform’s employees of “political bias.” T witter confirmed on Thursday that an account of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s personal website was hacked with a series of tweets asking its followers to donate to a relief fund through cryp- tocurrency. The group known as John Wick has claimed the respon- sibility for the hacking the website. Twitter said it was aware of the activity with Modi’s website account and has taken steps to secure it. The tweets, which have since been taken down, asked the followers to donate to the PM National Relief Fund through cryptocurrency. “We’re aware of this activ- ity and have taken steps to secure the compromised account. We are actively inves- tigating the situation. At this time, we are not aware of addi- tional accounts being impact- ed. Advice on keeping your account secure can be found,” according to a Twitter official. In series of tweets after the takeover of the verified handle, the hacker put out messages seeking donations to the Prime Minister’s relief fund for Covid- 19 using bitcoins. “This account is hacked by John Wick (hckindia@tutano- ta.com), We have not hacked Paytm Mall,” the message said. The incident comes after several Twitter accounts of prominent personalities were hacked in July. A new sero-survey conduct- ed by the Gujarat’s Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) has revealed that 40 per cent of patients who recovered from Covid-19 did not have the antibodies three months after they were infected. This raises concerns of re-infection among the Covid- survivors with the municipal corporation officials not ruling out second wave of the disease. The survey showed that just 23.24 per cent of samples had antibodies against coron- avirus, indicating that the city has not developed a herd immunity, an official said even as he warned that the city might witness a possible sec- ond and even a third wave of Covid-19 infections, if basic rules of Covid hygiene are not followed. “At this rate, a second or a third wave of Covid may fol- low, if precautions are not taken now,” the official warned. However, much better picture will emerge from the results of the second sero-survey con- ducted by the Centre in 18 dis- tricts across the country.

,- 1 ,13 4,56!˛ ’-,57// 3$˙# ˘ ˛ ˝ 6’6796 79 ?’69’ 5 ’63=3 =56 ......2020/09/04  · September 9 and hotels, restau-rants and clubs have been per-mitted to serve liquor

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Page 1: ,- 1 ,13 4,56!˛ ’-,57// 3$˙# ˘ ˛ ˝ 6’6796 79 ?’69’ 5 ’63=3 =56 ......2020/09/04  · September 9 and hotels, restau-rants and clubs have been per-mitted to serve liquor

����� ��������

As situation remains tenseafter repeated intrusion

attempts by China at the Lineof Actual Control in EasternLadakh, New Delhi onThursday blamed Beijing forviolation of bilateral agree-ments and called for speedydisengagement from the flash-points at the LAC. Given thesurcharged atmosphere, Armyand IAF chiefs on Thursdayvisited border areas of Ladakhto review operational readiness.

Making India’s stand clear,External Affairs MinistrySpokesperson AnuragSrivastava said, “It is clear thatthe situation we witness overthe past four months is a directresult of the actions taken bythe Chinese side that sought toeffect unilateral change of sta-tus quo. These actions result-ed in violation of the bilateralagreements and protocol whichensured peace and tranquilityin the border areas for close tothree decades.”

The fourth round ofBrigadier-level talks betweenthe two countries remainedinconclusive. They will meetagain on Friday to resolve thelatest issue.

Reacting to the develop-ments in the last four dayswhen the Chinese troops triedto provoke India, Chief ofDefence Staff (CDS) GeneralBipin Rawat said, “Of late wehave been seeing some aggres-sive actions by China but weare capable of handling these.Our tri-services are capable ofdealing with threats along ourfrontiers.”

He, however, underlinedthat India wants peace andtranquility across our borders.

His comments come daysafter the CDS said militaryoption could be exercised if

talks at all levels fail to resolvethe more than four-monthlong stand-offs at the LAC ineastern Ladakh.

Army chief General MMNaravane’s two-day visit begin-ning Thursday comes four daysafter the Indian Army foiled amajor bid by 300 Chinesetroops to intrude into thesouthern bank of the PangongTso (lake). The Indian actionon the intervening night ofAugust 29 and 30 resulted aftertimely intelligence tip-off aboutthe movement of the Chinesetroops and tanks at night.

In a swift move, the Indiantroops, including commandosof the covert Special FrontierForce (SFF), thwarted theattempt and occupied strategicheights like the “Black Top” and“Helmet Top”.

Naravane visited some keysensitive positions in forwardareas of Ladakh to gain first-hand knowledge of the groundsituation. He was also briefedabout all the aspects of the cur-rent issues by local comman-ders, sources said. Further

review meetings are scheduledfor Friday regarding status ofoperational readiness.

Since the Indian armedforces are alert on the entire4,000 km LAC from Ladakh inthe west to Arunachal Pradeshin the east, IAF chief RKSBhadauria discussed the entiregamut of preparations duringhis one-day visit to the EasternCommand in Shillong. He alsovisited some forward airbaseswhere the frontline fighter jetsare now deployed for the lastthree months since the stand-offs started. In June, Bhadauriamade a quiet visit to Ladakh

and Srinagar airbases to reviewthe IAF’s overall preparedness.

Meanwhile, highlightingthat New Delhi wants to resolvethe issue through dialogue,the MEA Spokesperson said,“The ground commanders arestill holding discussions toresolve the situation. We reit-erate the consensus reachedbetween the two ForeignMinisters and SpecialRepresentatives that the situa-tion in the border should behandled in a responsible man-ner and either side should nottake any provocative action orescalate matters.”

As regards the develop-ments post the attempt by theChinese troops to unilaterallychange the status quo in theSouth Bank of Pangong Lakeon the night of August 29 andearly morning on August 30,Srivastava said theGovernment’s stand was clear-ly articulated in the statementmade on September 1.

“I am not going to go overthe Chinese actions that causedthe recent escalation,” he added.

On Tuesday, theSpokesperson had said theChinese side engaged in“provocative” military maneu-vers in the late night of August29 and 30 in an attempt tochange the status quo in theSouth Bank area of PangongLake. The Indian side respond-ed to these provocative actionsand took appropriate defensivesteps along the LAC in order tosafeguard our interests anddefend the territorial integrity.

On Thursday, he said nowthe way ahead is negotiations,both through the diplomaticand military channels. TheIndian side is firmly commit-ted to resolving all outstandingissues through peaceful talks.

“We, therefore, stronglyurge the Chinese side to sin-cerely engage the Indian sidewith the objective of expedi-tiously restoring the peace andtranquility in the border areasthrough complete disengage-ment and de-escalation inaccordance with the bilateralagreements and protocols,” hesaid.

These assertions came asChina has in the last four daysblamed the Indian forces forbreaching the LAC and occu-pying several hill tops. Indiahas maintained the actions onAugust 29-30 were carried outto defend its interests within itsown side of the LAC.

����� ��������

Delhi is seeing a majorresurgence of coronavirus

cases after more than twomonths of a relatively sub-dued trend. On Thursday, thenational Capital recorded 2,737cases, the highest single-daytally after 66 days.

Delhi alone is not seeingthis renewed surge. Severalother States are also recordinga rising number of cases on adaily basis. This has pushedIndia’ tally to nearly four mil-lion cases.

On June 28, Delhi record-ed the highest 2,883 new casesand after that the situationremained under control eventhough the number of testingwent up in a big way. WhenDelhi recorded just 652 caseson August 16, it was assumedthat the worst may be finallybehind for the national Capital.However the hope has beenquickly dashed.

But the cases have been onthe rise during the last fort-night. For example, Delhirecorded nearly 11,000 cases inthe week between August 21and 28. In the last one weekagain, the national capitalrecorded 10,000 new cases.

With 19 fatalities onThursday, the total death toll inDelhi stands at 45,000 and thetotal number of cases at 1.82lakh.

Meanwhile on Thursday,the Union Health Ministrysaid the Covid-19 positivityrate among healthcare workersis on the higher side in theStates and Union territories ofTelangana, Maharashtra, Delhi,Karnataka, Puducherry andPunjab.

“In Telangana, healthcare

workers’ positivity rate is 18 percent, in Maharashtra it is 16per cent, in Delhi 14 per cent,Karnataka 13 per cent,Puducherry 12 per cent and inPunjab it is 11 per cent. Theseare the States where the posi-tivity rate among healthcareworkers is on a higher side,” theMinistry said.

����� ��������

The Supreme Court hasdirected the removal of

48,000 slum dwellings alongthe 140 km length of railwaytracks in Delhi within threemonths and said there shall notbe any kind of political inter-ference in execution of theplan. The jhuggi jhopris will beremoved in a phased manner.

The top court alsorestrained any court fromgranting any kind of stay withrespect to removal ofencroachments in the area andsaid in case any interim orderis granted with respect toencroachments along railwaytracks that shall not be effective.

A bench of justices ArunMishra, BR Gavai and KrishnaMurari, which took note of thereport filed by theEnvironment Pollution(Prevention & Control)Authority (EPCA) directedaction be taken be reported tothe court within one month on

removal of waste and encroach-ments in the area.

“We also direct all stake-holders that a comprehensiveplan for removal of jhuggies bemade and executed in a phasedmanner. The encroachmentswhich are there in safety zonesshould be removed within aperiod of three months and nointerference, political or oth-erwise, should be there and nocourt shall grant any stay withrespect to removal of theencroachments in the area inquestion,” it said.

The bench said, in case anyinterim order is granted withrespect to encroachments,which have been made alongwith railway tracks that shall

not be effective.The EPCA, in its report,

has sought direction toRailways to present a time-bound plan for solid wastemanagement in the northernregion, starting with Delhi andits vicinity.

“We direct that let the planbe executed with respect toremoval of plastic bags, garbageetc. Within a period of threemonths and a meeting of allstakeholders, i.e. Railways,Govt of NCT of Delhi and con-cerned MunicipalCorporations as well as DelhiUrban Shelter ImprovementBoard (DUISB) will be callednext week and work will bestarted forthwith,” it said.

����������� ��������

Bars in the national Capitalwill reopen from

September 9 and hotels, restau-rants and clubs have been per-mitted to serve liquor.

The Delhi DisasterManagement Authority(DDMA) has issued a standardoperating srocedure (SOP) foroperationalisation of bars inhotels, restaurants and clubs aspart of measures to contain thespread of Covid-19.

According to order, bars incontainment zones shallremain closed and only thoseoutside containment zones willbe allowed to open.

“Entry shall only beallowed to persons with facemasks. Only asymptomaticstaff, customers and guestsshall be allowed. Mandatoryprovisions for hand hygiene(sanitiser dispenser) and ther-mal screening at the entranceto be made without fail.

“Not more than 50 per centof the approved seating capac-ity shall be allowed inside thehotel, restaurant and clubs sothat social distancing normsmay be maintained,” it said.

The order further statedthat adequate manpower shallbe deployed by the hotels,

restaurants and clubs for ensur-ing social distancing norms andall the staff shall wear gloves,face-masks and maintain com-plete health hygiene such as fre-quent washing of hands, use ofsanitiser, etc.

Also, the establishmentswill have to follow Ministry ofHome Affairs’ (MHA’s) guide-lines. “With the approval ofLieutenant Governor AnilBaijal, authorities have allowedhotels, restaurants and clubs toserve liquor from September 9,”a Delhi Government sourcesaid.

Earlier, on June 12, theDelhi Government had allowedrestaurants bars, hotels to sell their stock expiring imme-diately.

����� ���� ��� ��

The Bombay High Court onThursday advised the

media in clear-cut terms toexercise “restraint” whilereporting on the Sushant SinghRajput death case and not tofile stories in manner that willhamper the probe in the case.

The CBI questioned Rhea’sfather Indajit Chakraborty forthe third consecutive day onThursday for five hours.During the questioning, theCBI once against asked Indrajitabout his daughter’s relationswith Rajput and the actor’sfamily, the reason for Rhealeaving Rajput’s home andblocking the latter’s mobile

number and Rhea’s role inmanaging the late actor’s finan-cial matters.

Hearing a public interestlitigation filed by eight retiredpolice officers who held toppositions in the Maharashtrapolice to stop a section of theelectronic media from “influ-encing the course of investiga-tions” in Sushant’s death casethrough “biased and false”reporting, the high court tookserious cognisance of the ques-tionable “media coverage” ofthe actor’s death case and askedthe media “not to hamper theinvestigations” in any manner.

“We urge and expect themedia to exercise restraint inreporting of the investigationwith respect to the (Rajput)death, which should not ham-per the investigation in anymanner,” the Bombay HighCourt said.

����� ��������

Two days after it temporar-ily stopped routine OPD

(Outpatient Department) fortwo weeks, the All IndiaInstitute of Medical Sciences(AIIMS) clarified on Thursdaythat the OPD services wouldcontinue as usual.

“Reference circular on‘Temporary suspension of rou-tine OPD admission’ datedSeptember 1, this is to clarifythat OPD services at AIIMS,New Delhi, will continue asusual,” the statement said. It did

not mention the reason forwithdrawing the order.

It has has come as a greatrelief to many patients and theirrelatives like Rashmi Junejawhose younger brother isadmitted at the hospital forserious liver ailment.

“Doctors have recom-mended his discharge andhome care. But I am worriedthat what will happen if mybrother’s situationworsens again. Good that theydropped the idea of suspend-ing the OPD services,” shesaid.

����� ��������

After severe criticism fromOpposition parties, includ-

ing the Congress for its allegedbias to ruling BJP’s content,Facebook on Thursday bannedTelangana MLA T Raja Singhfrom its platform andInstagram for violating its pol-icy on content promoting vio-lence and hate.

“We have banned Raja

Singh from Facebook for vio-lating our policy,” a Facebookspokesperson said in anemailed statement.

The BJP leader, however,claimed he has no FB accountfor over a year.

The social media giant alsoresponded to the Congresssaying the organisation hastaken seriously the concernsand recommendations raised by the grand old party

and that it takes allegations of bias seriouslyand said it always denounceshate and bigotry in all forms.

The action came againstthe backdrop of both theCongress and Union ITMinister Ravi Shankar Prasadwriting to Facebook chief MarkZuckerberg, accusing the socialmedia platform’s employees of“political bias.”

����� ��������

Twitter confirmed onThursday that an account

of Prime Minister NarendraModi’s personal website washacked with a series of tweetsasking its followers to donate toa relief fund through cryp-tocurrency.

The group known as JohnWick has claimed the respon-sibility for the hacking thewebsite. Twitter said it wasaware of the activity with Modi’s website account

and has taken steps tosecure it.

The tweets, which havesince been taken down, askedthe followers to donate to thePM National Relief Fundthrough cryptocurrency.

“We’re aware of this activ-ity and have taken steps tosecure the compromisedaccount. We are actively inves-tigating the situation. At thistime, we are not aware of addi-tional accounts being impact-ed. Advice on keeping youraccount secure can be found,”

according to a Twitterofficial.

In series of tweets after thetakeover of the verified handle,the hacker put out messagesseeking donations to the PrimeMinister’s relief fund for Covid-19 using bitcoins. “Thisaccount is hacked by John Wick ([email protected]), We have not hackedPaytm Mall,” the message said.

The incident comes afterseveral Twitter accounts ofprominent personalities werehacked in July.

����� ��������

Anew sero-survey conduct-ed by the Gujarat’s

Ahmedabad MunicipalCorporation (AMC) hasrevealed that 40 per cent ofpatients who recovered fromCovid-19 did not have theantibodies three months afterthey were infected.

This raises concerns ofre-infection among the Covid-survivors with the municipalcorporation officials not rulingout second wave of the disease.

The survey showed thatjust 23.24 per cent of samples

had antibodies against coron-avirus, indicating that the cityhas not developed a herdimmunity, an official said evenas he warned that the citymight witness a possible sec-ond and even a third wave ofCovid-19 infections, if basicrules of Covid hygiene are notfollowed.

“At this rate, a second ora third wave of Covid may fol-low, if precautions are nottaken now,” the official warned.However, much better picturewill emerge from the results ofthe second sero-survey con-ducted by the Centre in 18 dis-tricts across the country.

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Chandigarh: Four more leg-islators in Punjab tested coro-navirus positive, taking theirtotal number to 33 of 117.

"Four of our MLAs,Randeep Nabha, Angad Singh,Aman Arora and ParminderDhindsa, have tested Covid-19positive," Chief MinisterAmarinder Singh informed ina tweet on Thursday.

"Wish them all a speedyrecovery. Fight against Covid-19 is real and the onus is on allof us to observe full precau-tions, to test, and if foundpositive, to start treatmentquickly," he added.

The legislators who havecontracted the disease com-prised five ministers in the gov-ernment. At 2.8 per cent, thestate's death is the third worst

in the country, bypassing thenational capital. The nationalrate is 1.8 per cent.

Rajesh Bhaskar, Punjab'snodal officer for Covid-19,told IANS that the reason forthe spike in deaths is that peo-ple are not coming forward fortesting and they are onlyreporting when their conditiondeteriorates.

"That is why we have beenasking the people to opt homeisolation if they don't want hos-pitalization," Bhaskar said.

In the highest single-dayrise in deaths, 106 people suc-cumbed to the virus onWednesday. Besides, 1,514 newcases were reported. The statetoll has reached 1,618, while thenumber of cases climbed to56,989. IANS

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Four policemen, including asenior officer, and several

villagers were injured in a clashover an alleged case of custo-dial torture in Ballia district onThursday.

According to reports,Panna Rajbhar, 24, was calledto the Rasra police station onWednesday for questioning

over a dispute with his extend-ed family.

As per a written complaintsubmitted by Rajbhar's family,he was beaten so viciouslyinside the police post that hehad to be rushed to a govern-ment hospital.

The complaint named asub-inspector and a head con-stable in the case.

Soon, a large number ofvillagers gathered on a road and

started protesting. They refusedto disperse, threw stones at thepolice, allegedly set a policepost on fire and vandalisedsome motorcycles.

The police resorted tolathi-charge, but the villagersoutnumbered the policemen.

Visuals shot by localsshowed hundreds of men andwomen charging at the police.Some showed the police hittingthe villagers with lathis.

Kanpur: A Kanpur man and hiswife were found hanging onThursday in their room whileapparently their children wereasleep with the grandmother,police said. Rakesh Kumar, 39,who was working in a mobileaccessories shop had lost his jobduring the Covid lockdown. Heand his 36-year-old wife,Archana, were found hanging inJagaipurwa area using the samebedsheet.

This was after the coupleapparently had an argument onWednesday evening over theirfinances and Rakesh had walkedout of the house. SHO Chakeri,Ravi Shrivastava, said thataccording to Rakesh's mother,Shakuntala Devi, she was sleep-ing with her two grandchildrenin another room. IANS

Bhubaneswar: OdishaHandloom and Textile MinisterPadmini Dian has tested pos-itive for Covid-19.

The Minister on Thursdayconfirmed that she has testedpositive for the virus and wasundergoing home isolation.

She also requested all whohave recently come in contactwith her to get themselves test-ed for Covid-19.

Dian is the third Ministerin the state to have contractedthe disease. Earlier, LabourMinister Susant Singh andHigher Education MinisterArun Kumar Sahoo wereinfected with the virus.

Notably, more than a dozenlawmakers in the state havetested Covid-19 positive.

The positive tally hasincreased to 1,13,411 in thestate as 3,631 more personstested positive for Covid-19 inthe last 24 hours, informed thehealth department onThursday. The Covid-19 deathtoll rose to 522 as eight morepeople from the state havesuccumbed to the deadly virus. IANS

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The State’s Irrigation andTourism minister Satpal

Maharaj has directed that thedilapidated buildings amongthe irrigation department’squarters in Yamuna Colony berepaired.

The Minister said thiswhile inspecting the residentialcampus along with officials ofthe irrigation department hereon Thursday.

The Minister along withlocal MLA Harbans Kapoorinspected the dilapidated build-ings at the irrigation depart-ment’s residential complex inYamuna Colony.

Stating that the presentcondition of buildings, park,drains and sewerage systemwas a matter of concern,Maharaj directed the depart-mental officials to ensure thatthese are repaired properly.

The Minister said thatthere are total of 960 residen-tial units in the colony ofwhich 609 homes are under thecontrol of the irrigation depart-ment. Of these 48 units are inthe purposeless (DT type) cat-egory while the remaining 561homes are currently in use.

Till now, a total of 352homes have been repairedwhile the repairing work inremaining 209 homes is to be

carried out. This work is esti-mated to cost about Rs 400lakh.

The Minister furtherinformed that two new tube-wells are also proposed to beconstructed in the residentialcompound for which a sum ofRs 200 lakh is estimated to bespent.

The minister directed theirrigation department officialsto ensure that the dilapidatedbuildings in Yamuna Colonyare immediately repaired,adding that the park, drainsand sewerage system are alsorepaired. During the inspec-tion, the local MLA HarbanshKapoor informed the ministerthat it is important to repair thedrainage system here so thatwater does not enter the homesof locals during the rainy sea-son. Taking cognisance of this,the minister directed thedepartmental officials to do theneedful.

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Heavy rainfall with intensespells is likely to occur

today at isolated places inDehradun, Pauri, Nainital andPithoragarh districts.According to the state meteo-rological centre, Dehradun cityis also likely to heavy rainfallbetween Thursday night andFriday night.

According to the forecastissued by the meteorologicalcentre, light to moderaterain/thundershowers are like-ly to occur at many places inDehradun, Tehri, Pauri,Nainital, Pithoragarh andChampawat districts, and afew places in the remaining dis-tricts of Uttarakhand.

However, heavy rainfallwith intense spells is likely tooccur at isolated places inDehradun, Pauri, Nainital andPithoragarh districts onFriday.

In Dehradun, the weatheris forecast to be partly to gen-erally cloudy with the likeli-hood of a few spells ofrain/thundershowers.

However, heavyrainfall/thundershowers withintense spells are likely to occurin Dehradun city fromThursday evening/night toFriday evening/night.

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The Covid-19 pandemic hasaffected the food and hos-

pitality industry very badly.Particularly in Gurugram,

the industry has been com-pletely paralysed.

Several outlets have beenshut across the city due toCovid-19 fears and restaurants

have reported up to 60% fall inrevenues.

As of now, more than 35pubs, bars and restaurants inthe city have closed down dueto high rent and massivelydecreased footfall.

Most restaurants haveasked their staff to leave, citinglack of funds. Movement ofmigrant laborers back home isanother problem for the sector.

The district’s excise officialssaid a few months ago that theestablishment owners hadapproached them, offering tosurrender their licences, as

they are finding it difficult topay monthly rents and staffsalaries. The eatery ownersclaim that in the current situ-ation they have no otheroption, but to vacate theirpremises.

"If the lockdown continuesfor some more time and rentskeep on accumulating, therewill be no option but to exitthose properties where land-lords fail to give any leeway inrental payments. Also, there isno point in booking furtherlosses for outlets that do not getdecent footfalls.

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Railways Minister PiyushGoyal held a meeting with

top courier service agencies todiscuss and explore the possi-bilities of expanding the busi-ness of private parcel servicesthrough Indian Railways.

During the meeting it wasinformed that Railways wasset to offer reliable, fast, afford-able and easy to handle parcelservices for logistics or courieragencies.

“In order to quickly workout the best guidelines andease of doing business, a jointworking group is going to beformed consisting of railwayofficials and representatives oflogistics or courier providers.The aim of the meeting was tofacilitate robust partnershipwith railways freight and par-cel service,” the minister said in

a statement.Speaking on the occasion

the minister said that the solu-tions needed to be there toensure a sustainable businessdevelopment for all.

It may also be noted thattotal 5,292 parcel trains run byIndian Railways from March 22till September 2 out of which5,139 have been time-tabledtrains. Total 3,18,453 tonnes of

consignments have been loadedin these trains and the earningshave been Rs 116.19 crores.

It is worth mentioning thatIndian Railways freight loadingfor the month of August 2020with total 94.33 million tonnesof freight loading surpasseslast year’s loading for the samemonth. Total 1,41,049 rakeswith 451.38 million tonnes offreight loaded by Indian

Railways from March 25 toSeptember 1.

A number of concessionsare also being given in IndianRailways to make Railwaysfreight movement very attrac-tive, it said, adding thatimprovements in freight move-ments will be institutionalizedand incorporated in theupcoming zero based timetable. Meanwhile, RajivChaudhry General Manager ofnorthern railways informedthat the refund office has nowbeen conferred with ISO 9001-2015 certification for providingquality management services.

“Refund office is the firstoffice in the commercial orga-nization of Indian Railways towin this prestigious certificationwhich demonstrates the com-mitment of northern railwaystowards its customer centricapproach,” he said.

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The Delhi Police has arrested a second yearBachelor of Arts (BA) student in Delhi

University for allegedly harassing a girl by mak-ing fake social media accounts by her name andposting obscene pictures. Police said the boy alsoused to harass the girl by calling her from dif-ferent phone numbers.

The accused has been identified as UmeshKumar, a resident of Sangam Vihar area.

According to Atul Kumar Thakur, theDeputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Southdistrict, a complaint was received from Geeta(name changed) in which she stated that some-one had created her multiple profiles onInstagram and Facebook using her photo andmobile no with dirty and obscene comments onit.

“She also told police that she was also being

continuously harassed by anonymous phonecalls from different numbers. The unknown per-sons were talking in filthy language and askingfor favours,” said the DCP.

“Due to such acts of the alleged person onSocial media platforms, the victim was suffer-ing from mental trauma and harassment. A FirstInformation Report (FIR) was filed under sec-tion 354D, 509, 506 of Indian Penal Code (IPC)at Neb Sarai police station and investigation wastaken up,” said the DCP.

“During investigation, emails were sent toFacebook and Instagram and after thoroughanalysis of the suspected numbers, one suspectidentified as Umesh Kumar was apprehendedwho later confessed to his crime,” said the DCP.

During interrogation, the accused dis-closed that he was in friendship with the victim'selder sister. In March 2020, his friendship ended,for which he suspected the victim.

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Lucknow: The YogiAdityanath government inUttar Pradesh is all set to cre-ate a new body, dedicated to thefarmers.

The new body will assistenterprising farmer producerorganisations (FPOs) in investing in projects forpost-harvest infrastructuremanagement and communityfarming assets with the help of the AgricultureInfrastructure Fund (AIF) thatthe Centre had announced inAugust. IANS

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Page 3: ,- 1 ,13 4,56!˛ ’-,57// 3$˙# ˘ ˛ ˝ 6’6796 79 ?’69’ 5 ’63=3 =56 ......2020/09/04  · September 9 and hotels, restau-rants and clubs have been per-mitted to serve liquor

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The highest number ofCovid-19 positive cases

recorded so far in Uttarakhandon Wednesday was surpassedon Thursday with a total of 946positive cases being reported.The deaths of nine patientswere also reported in the state.

On the same day, 508Covid patients were also treat-ed/cured in the State.According to information fromthe health department, thetotal number of Covid cases inthe state is now 22,180 out ofwhich 14,945 have recoveredleaving the total number ofactive cases at 6,871.

With the nine deathsreported on Thursday, the totalnumber of deaths reported sofar in the state has reached 300.

Meanwhile, the doubling ratein the state during the lastseven days has shortened from23.47 days on Wednesday to21.85 days on Thursday.

The recovery rate forCovid patients in the statestands at 67.38 per cent while5.54 per cent of the total sam-ples tested have come out pos-itive.

Of the positive casesreported on Thursday,Dehradun district recordedthe highest number at 272.Similarly, the positive casesreported from the other dis-tricts were 194 in Udham SinghNagar, 135 in Haridwar, 105 inNainital, 50 in Uttarkashi and48 in Almora.

Among the remaining dis-tricts, 37 cases were reportedfrom Tehri, 31 in Pauri, 28 in

Pithoragarh, 24 inRudraprayag, 20 in Champawatand one each in Chamoli and

Bageshwar. As on Thursday, Dehradun

had the highest number of

active cases of Covid-19 at1,575 followed by Udham singhNagar with 1,512 cases andHaridwar with 1,218 cases.

Among the other districts,there are 791 active cases inNainital, 258 in Almora, 87 inBageshwar, 119 in Chamoli,

143 in Champawat, 187 inPauri, 180 in Pithoragarh, 432

in Tehri, 103 in Rudraprayagand 266 in Uttarkashi.

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The Bharatiya Janata Party stateunit has categorically stated

that there is no rebellion amongits MLAs and that the MLAs arenot miffed at the state govern-ment. This statement comes at atime when its former State presi-dent and current Didihat MLABishan Singh Chufal recently metthe party’s national president JPNadda to discuss issues related tothe state.

It is pertinent to mentionhere that some media outlets hadreported recently that a number ofBJP MLAs led by Chufal weremiffed at the chief minister andthe state government. It was pur-ported that the disgruntled MLAshad gone to the national capital tocomplain to Nadda about theCM. However, Chufal has himselfrejected the reports, stating that he

had talked about the issues per-taining to his constituency withNadda. He was disappointed withthe attitude of the officials and notthat of the chief minister, he said.

Meanwhile, the BJP state gen-eral secretary Rajendra Bhandarialso rejected such reports, addingthat talk of the MLAs being

miffed or rebelling is nothingmore than rumour mongering.

All is well in the party organ-isation and the state government,he averred. Bhandari further saidthat it is the democratic right ofthe MLAs to meet the party’s cen-tral leadership. However, the spec-ulations being spread regarding

this in some sections of the mediais plain nonsense, he stressed. Allthe people are working as a teamfor the progress of Uttarakhandand none of the party’s MLAs ismiffed at the state government, heaverred.

It is pertinent to mentionhere that Chufal and some other

MLAs of the BJP have stated thatthe attitude of government offi-cials is questionable.

Such an attitude is hamper-ing the execution of develop-mental works and will affect thechances of the party in the 2022Vidhan Sabha elections, the MLAshad opined.

����� ���9 ���

The State Blood TransfusionCouncil (SBTC) director

Dr Arjun Singh Sengar hasinformed that theGovernment of India and Stategovernment have requestedpersons cured of Covid-19 todonate plasma.

He said that at a timewhen the entire nation and theworld are in the grips of novelcoronavirus, plasma donated

by cured patients can helpCovid patients who are in aserious condition. Plasmatherapy can prove to be a lifesaver for serious patients ofCovid-19.

The cured patients want-ing to donate plasma can con-tact the Government DoonMedical College (GDMC)hospital on 7906913739 orthe Sushila Tiwar governmenthospital at Haldwani on9997244005, he added.

����� ���9 ���

The State government has made additions to the provisionsfor allowing home isolation for asymptomatic patients of

Covid-19. According to the direction issued by Health secre-tary Amit Singh Negi to all district magistrates and chief med-ical officers, children aged below 10 years and senior citizensaged above 60 years, who are not suffering from any other ill-ness can be permitted to remain in home isolation.

However, such patients/guardians should mandatorily havea private vehicle so that the patient can be taken to the near-est Covid hospital in case the condition of the patient deteri-orates.

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The Uttarakhand State Commissionfor Women (USCW) has sent a

summon to the woman who had recent-ly accused BJP MLA from Dwarahatconstituency of Almora district, MaheshNegi, of sexual exploitation to appearbefore the commission or else, her com-plaint will be dismissed.

As informed by the chairperson ofUSCW, Vijay Barthwal, the woman hadwritten a letter to the commission stat-ing that she wanted the assistance of theUSCW but when the commission calledher twice to hear on the matter from boththe parties as per her complaint letter, shedid not appear even once.

"When we called her the first time,she stated she could not come due to herchild's health, so we called her again forthe second meeting but she failed toappear again while the accused Negiarrived both the times. We cannot takeproceedings further because we needboth parties to be present to hear boththe sides. Therefore, we have issued asummon to the woman and have men-tioned a specific date in October to

appear before the USCW," said Barthwal.

According to her, the commissionhas given the said woman enough timeto manage her schedule to appear on thegiven date and time and if she fails toappear the third time too without anyvalid reason, the commission will dismissher complaint considering that theaccuser no longer wishes to proceed fur-ther with the women commission.

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Due to the adverse effects ofCovid-19 pandemic on the

lives and businesses of the locals inDehradun city, the property tax col-lection of the MunicipalCorporation of Dehradun (MCD)is likely to suffer this year. In the lastone month, four Covid-19 positivecases have been found in the cor-poration and to curb the contagion,MCD had to restrict the entry ofpublic in the premises for at leasttwo days every time a positive casewas found.

Besides, several commercialactivities were prohibited during thelockdown months as part of themeasures to restrict Covid-19 con-tagion and those which haveresumed recently including malls,restaurants and hotels are not doingas well as before.

According to the municipalcommissioner Vinay ShankarPandey, the property tax collectionis obviously getting affected due toCovid-19 this year. He said that dueto recurring Covid cases in the cor-

poration, the corporation regular-ly restricted the public's entry forvarious works including property

tax payment which is taking a tollon the collection because most ofthe property tax payers prefer to

deposit tax in thecampus.

The online submission of

property tax is also not satisfacto-ry as many people still avoiddepositing tax through onlinemode, stated Pandey.

Meanwhile, several propertytax payers of the last financial yearhave still not submitted the prop-erty tax.

The MCD had set the target ofRs 50 crore for the property tax col-lection of the last financial year butdue to the lockdown imposed tocurb Covid-19 contagion in March,the corporation was able to collectonly about Rs 44 crore from resi-dential and non-residential tax-payers.

In the current financial year, theMCD has collected about Rs fourcrore so far.

On the question of the set tar-get of the property tax collection forthe financial year 2020-21, Pandeysaid that this year is quite uncertainand therefore, the corporation didnot set any target for the currentfinancial year. It is pertinent tomention here that property tax is amajor source of revenue for theMCD.

����� ���9 ���

The Municipal Corporation ofDehradun (MCD) will com-

mence to mark the spots in the 40new wards for the construction of thebus shelters this month.

Apart from this, the corporationis also planning to sign aMemorandum of Understanding(MoU) for the installation of the LEDstreet lights in the new wards too.

According to the officials, theMCD will begin a survey to mark theplaces for setting up the bus sheltersin the new wards soon.

The old wards already have sev-eral bus shelters which generate overRs 20 lakh of revenue every year forthe corporation and the new bus shel-ters will also be useful for the peopleof the new wards besides helpingMCD to generate more revenue, asper the officials.

According to the municipal com-missioner, Vinay Shankar Pandey,around 25 to 30 bus shelters will beconstructed in the new wards.

Though, it has not been decidedyet whether the corporation willbuild the shelters on its own or theconstruction will be done underpublic private partnership (PPP), thepossibility is that these will be con-structed under PPP mode, informedPandey.

Talking about the installation ofLED street lights in the new wards,Pandey said that the corporation wasplanning to sign an MoU with a pri-vate company for the installation of65,000 street lights on Thursday butit was cancelled after an MCDemployee was found Covid-19 posi-tive on Wednesday.

Therefore, the MoU will besigned on Saturday or the next week,added Pandey.

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The chief secretary Om Prakashhas directed that gates with sen-

sors should be incorporated in tun-nels especially those passing throughforest areas as part of the Rishikesh-Karnprayag rail line. This will behelpful in preventing mishaps result-ing from wild animals entering therail tunnel.

He also directed all the districtmagistrates concerned to maintaincoordination with the Rail VikasNigam Limited (RVNL) and provideall type of administrative assistancein the execution of the Rishikesh-Karnprayag rail project. He saidthis while chairing a video confer-ence with the district magistrates toreview the progress of work beingundertaken in the project here onThursday.

He also directed the depart-mental officials concerned to ensurethat the remaining work is completedas soon as possible with special focuson quality, transparency and pace ofthe work. The chief secretary assuredthe officials of the RVNL that thestate government will provide fullcooperation for resolving any prob-lem faced in the execution of the pro-

ject.Prakash directed officials of the

Jal Sansthan to finish the task of shift-ing pipelines. The administrationshould be informed from time totime about the problems being facedin this work so that the same can beresolved on time.

The task of paying compensationfor land should be undertaken on apriority basis after the task of landacquisition for the tasks related to the

rail line. Proper system should beensured for disposal of the debrisresulting from the tunnelling andother construction works in theproject.

The chief secretary also direct-ed officials of the Public WorksDepartment to expedite execution ofthe remaining works. Cases relatedto three points on national highway58- Byasi diversion, Narkota diver-sion and Sumerpur diversion were

also discussed in the meeting.Principal secretary Anand

Bardhan, principal chief conservatorof forests Jai Raj, secretaries RKSudhanshu, Nitesh Kumar Jha,Shailesh Bagauli, Sushil Kumar, addi-tional secretary Meharban SinghBisht, PTCUL director Sanjay Mittal,RVNL additional general managerVijay Dangwal and project directorSurendra Kumar were also amongthose present in the meeting.

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Health workers engaged infighting Covid-19 in the

country are continuously get-ting infected with the deadlyvirus.

The Union HealthMinistry on Thursday sharedthe alarming situation ofhealthcare in a few States blam-ing lax infection control in hos-pitals. “There is a need forstringent containment mea-

sures in areas where health pro-fessionals reside to safeguardthem,” said Union HealthSecretary Rajesh Bhushan hereon Thursday.

He said that in Telangana,the healthcare workers’ posi-tivity is 18 per cent, 16 per centin Maharashtra, 14 per cent inDelhi, 13 per cent inKarnataka, 12 per cent inPuducherry and 11 per cent inPunjab.

These are the States where

the positivity rate amonghealthcare workers are on ahigher side, Bhushan toldreporters at a press briefingwhen asked on the health sta-tus of the doctors amid Covid-19 pandemic.

However, the Governmentmaintained silence on the

health situation of the doctorsin States like Uttar Pradesh andGujarat which are reporting aspike in cases.

According to the dataavailable from the Ministry,while Maharashtra reported292 deaths among healthcareworkers, Karnataka and Tamil

Nadu had 46 and 49 deaths,respectively.

Concerned at the plight ofthe health workers, the IndianMedical Association (IMA)too wrote to Prime MinisterNarendra Modi recently draw-ing his attention to over 87,000healthcare workers who have

got infected with Covid-19and another 573 who have losttheir lives and called for morecare for their welfare.

“Healthcare manpower isprecious. Uniform practiceshave to be put in placethroughout the country.Substantial differences are

noticed from district to districtin how doctors and healthcareworkers are deployed. Theirservice situations differ andmostly reflect the logistics ofthe district,” the IMA letter tothe PM said.

The IMA further said,“Districts are not sensitive to

the safety and the concerns ofstress and fatigue of medicalmanpower. Deploying doctors24x7 without intermittentquarantine periods or longworking hours in PPE forCovid care is not the same as24x7 Covid control from safeoffices.”

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On a day Covid-19 casesare set to cross way

beyond the 4-lakh mark, thatcould make India the world’ssecond worst-hit nationreplacing Brazi l , theGovernment on Thursdaysought to project the positiveside by stating that the permillion Covid-19 cases in thecountry is much lesser whencompared to other countriesin the world.

It also cited that deathsper million (population) in

India is among the lowest inthe world — 49 deaths permillion population.

Talking to reporters here,Union Health Secretar yRajesh Bhsuhan said that fiveStates —Tamil Nadu, UttarPradesh, Karnataka, AndhraPradesh and Maharashtra —account for 62 per cent of thetotal active coronavirus casesin the country while AndhraPradesh, Delhi, Karnataka,Tamil Nadu and Maharashtraaccount for 70 per cent of thetotal coronavirus deaths inIndia.

“There has been 13.7 per-cent weekly decrease in thenumber of active cases inAndhra Pradesh, 16.1 percentdecrease in Karnataka, 6.8percent decrease inMaharashtra and 23.9 percentdecrease in Tamil Nadu, 17.1percent decrease in UttarPradesh,” he said.

Bhsuhan also appealedto the people to adopt Covid-19 appropriate behaviour asUnlock 4.0 is already afootand more people are out onthe streets. “The Governmenthas adopted a graded

approach to unlock the coun-try and open up various eco-nomic activities as while livesare important, so is liveli-hood.”

During a press briefinghere on Thursday, the min-istry observed that people aresidelining the use of masksand following of social dis-tancing protocols.

It urged people to followthe mandatory practice ofadopting Covid-19 appro-priate behaviour in view ofthe upcoming festival seasonand the ongoing examina-

tions being conducted acrossthe country.

“In a few days, we will beinto the festival season andcurrently various examina-tions in colleges and univer-sities are being held coun-trywide. In such times, Covidappropriate behaviour shouldbe followed at the commu-nity and social levels,” saidBhushan.

He also said that until avaccine for Covid-19 arrives,social distancing is the onlyvaccine. “Social distancing isthe social vaccine till any vac-

cine for coronavirus arrives,”he said.

“Use alcohol-based sani-tisers, wear reusable face cov-ers or masks at all times inpublic places, wash yourhands frequently and thor-oughly with soap and water,avoid touching eyes, noseand mouth and cover themwith tissue/handkerchiefwhile sneezing or coughing.This way, we can preventthe spread of the infectionand safeguard ourselves fromits contraction,” Bhushansaid.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi’s donations to a num-

ber of public causes coupledwith the proceeds of auctionsof the gifts he received so far,including that during his tenureas the Chief Minister ofGujarat, total more than �103crore,

One of Modi’s latest dona-tions was the initial corpus ofRs 2.25 lakh to the PM CARESFund, which was set up in thewake of the COVID-19 out-break to support relief of anykind relating to a public healthemergency or any other kind ofemergency, calamity or distress,sources said.

The Fund, set up inMarch, received �3,076.62crore in just five days of its for-mation, as per an accountstatement made public onWednesday

Highlighting Modi’s dona-

tions to public causes, rang-ing from girl child educationto the cleaning of Ganga,sources noted that he gave �21lakh in 2019 from his person-al savings to the corpus fundset up for the welfare of sani-tation workers of Kumbh Mela

After receiving the SeoulPeace Prize in South Korea in2019, the Prime Minister hadannounced that the entireprize money of �1.30 crorewould be given to the Namami

Gange project, aimed at clean-ing Ganga river, they added.

During a recent auction ofmementoes received by Modias the PM, �3.40 crore was col-lected and donated to thecause of Namami Gange.

Modi had donated �21lakh from his personal savingstowards the education ofGujarat Government staff ’sdaughter after he quit as theState Chief Minister in 2014 totake over as the country’sPrime Minister.

He had also raised � 89.96crore by auctioning all gifts hereceived as Chief Ministerand donated this to the KanyaKelavani Fund, a scheme foreducation of the girl child.

The PM had also initiatedthe auctioning of gifts hereceived till then in 2015, and�8.35 crore were raised, withthe amount channelled to theNamami Gange Mission,sources said.

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What is common in Kargilin Ladakh, Gautam Budh

Nagar in Uttar Pradesh, Chandelin Manipur and Central Delhi inNew Delhi? All the four districtsare among the most rain-defi-cient districts in the country.

According to the IndiaMeteorological Department(IMD), Kargil recorded a raindeficiency of 92 percent, fol-lowed by Chandel with 91 per-cent, Gautam Budh Nagar with85 percent and Central Delhiwith 62 percent.

Overall, interestingly,

though India has 9 percent sur-plus rainfall this year,150 dis-tricts in the country have record-ed less rainfall this season evenas the monsoon season hasentered in its last month. Indiahas recorded 795 mm rainfallagainst the normal of 730.8percent.

As per the IMD, Kargil dis-trict has recorded only 2.5 mmrainfall as against the normal of28.9 mm — a shortfall of 92 per-cent. Chandel is the second inthe most rain deficient districtwhich recorded 148.8 mm rain-fall as against the normal of1681.6 mm – a shortfall of 91

percent. Gautam Budh Nagar,which is the third most rain defi-cient district has recorded only66.3 mm rainfall against the nor-mal of 452 mm – a shortfall of85 percent. It is the secondmost rain deficient district in thecountry after Chandel.

Central Delhi district hasrecorded 62 percent less rainfallthis monsoon season so farand is the second-most raindeficient district in northwestIndia. The district has gauged222.9 mm rainfall against thenormal of 582.3 mm since June1, when the monsoon seasonstarted. Northeast and

Northwest Delhi have alsorecorded 33 percent less pre-cipitation so far. WhileNortheast Delhi has gauged401.5 mm rain against the nor-mal of 582.3 mm, NorthwestDelhi reported 276.5 mmagainst 399.7 mm recordedusually.

Two districts of Assam-Darrang and Morigaon haverecorded 65 percent less pre-cipitation so far. Districts whichhave recorded over 50 percentrainfall deficiency includePanchkula (-61 percent),Mathura (-60 percent),Ghaziabad (-60 percent),

Kausambi (-57 percent),Bulandshahr (-60 percent),Kanpur Dehat ( -60 percent),Rohtak ( - 57 percent), Rampur(-55 percent), Hoshiarpur (-53percent), Rohtak (-52 percent), Deoghar ( -51 percent), Lehand Ladakh ( - 51 percent),Hardoi ( - 50 percent), Gumla( - 50 percent), Mansa (-50 per-cent), Bhiwani (-48 percent),Pauri Garhwal (-46 percent),Champawat (-48 percent),Uttarkashi (-43 percent),Mahoba (-48 percent), Yavatmaland Akola (-30 percent each)Trishur , Dahod, Dangs, andSurguja (-27 percent each).

According to the IMD,India received 27 per cent morerainfall than normal in August,the fourth highest amount in thelast 120 years. This is due to for-mation of five low pressureareas in Bay of Bengal in Augustwhich led to heavy to moderaterainfall across India. The Augustof 1926 saw 33 per cent morerainfall than normal, the high-est precipitation recorded so farin the month; 1976 recorded28.4 per cent more rainfall thannormal, while the August of1973 recorded 27.8 per centthan normal. This year saw 27per cent rainfall.

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Aiming to plug leakage ofclassified information and

personnel falling prey to coun-terintelligence operations ofhostile countries and non-stateinimical groups, the CRPF hasbarred its personnel, civilianemployees, contractors andvisitors from using smart-phones in office spaces han-dling classified informationlike Operations Room andConference Halls.

The 14-page document forsmartphone usage on Fridayalso provided guidelines forusing social media in order tosecure classified data and infor-mation.

The high sensitivity officesencapsulate places designatedor accredited for the process-ing, handling or discussion ofclassified information in realtime like conference hall andOperations rooms and smart-phones that store and recorddata are now prohibited forsmartphone usage. If broughtto the office, such devicesshould be kept at specified

counters.Likewise, medium sensi-

tivity offices include opera-tional active duty and specificareas of facility having directhandling of confidential docu-ments like specific branches ofadministrative block, field duty,operations and hospitals. Insuch offices, smartphones willbe allowed subject to approvalof the Head of Office butmobile camera or recorder willbe strictly prohibited.

Low sensitivity offices thatdo not engage in active duty orhandle classified documentslike Lines will be open tosmartphones usage withoutany restriction.

“The fundamental princi-ples of information security areconfidentiality, integrity, andavailability. Every element of aninformation security program

and every security control putin place by an entity should bedesigned to achieve one ormore of these principles.Therefore, it is important toconsider the acceptable and notacceptable use of smartphonesin an organisation,” reads thecopy of the order issued by theAdministrative Directorate ofthe Central Reserve PoliceForce.

Excessive unrestrictedusage can lead to breach ofsecurity and can compromisenational security, it said.

The order clearly definedthe smartphone as devices thatperform many of the functionsof a computer, typically havinga touch screen, interface, cam-era, Internet access and anoperating system capable ofrunning downloaded applica-tions.

“This policy prescribes the

guidance and procedures forsmartphone restriction withinCRPF,” the order said, addingsignage depicting the categoryof office will be put up.

Likewise, the guidelinesfor social media usage seeks tosensitise the personnel againstunintentionally putting classi-fied information in the publicdomain.

“Government officialsusing various social platformsare also vulnerable to beingcounterintelligence (CI) targetsof State agencies as well as rad-ical non-state inimical groups.Social media platforms arebeing used to ferret informa-tion from unsuspecting usersand recruit gullible officials tolater exploit them for subver-sion,” it added in justificationfor social media guidelines.

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The Congress on Thursdayaccused the Modi

Government of pushing thecountry towards an economiccollapse and a financial emer-gency, saying the note ban, GSTand lockdown were “disasterstrokes” not “master strokes”.

AICC chief spokespersonRandeep Singh Surjewala saidthe GDP slump in the first quar-ter will have an adverse impacton the average income of everyIndian, which is likely to declineby almost �15,000 per person ifthe GDP fell by 11 per cent inthe full year.

He said the Governmentand Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman should not stay inoffice for any longer as theyhave “inflicted a big blow anddamage” to the country’’s econ-omy, seen never before in thecountry’’s history since inde-pendence.

“There are dark clouds ofeconomic decay all around us.Lives, livelihoods and jobs havebeen ravaged. Businesses andsmall and medium industries liedilapidated. The economystands destroyed as GDP hasbeen razed. India is beingpushed towards an economiccollapse and a financial emer-gency,” Surjewala said a virtu-al press conference.

The Congress leaderalleged that demonetisation,GST and lockdown were not“master strokes” but “disasterstrokes”.

Surjewala alleged the Modigovernment has “plundered”the economy in the last six yearsand is now “describing its ownineptitude and incompetence asan act of God”.

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To provide access to millionsof persons with disability

(PwD) in rural areas seekingassistive devices and appliances,the Common Services Centers(CSC) has partnered with theArtificial Limbs ManufacturingCorporation of India (ALIM-CO) to register Persons withDisability and senior citizens inremote and inaccessible areas.

ALIMCO, a PSU under theMinistry of Social Justice &Empowerment, and CSC SPV,a Special Purpose Vehicle underthe Ministry of Electronics & IT,signed a MOU to utilize around4 lakh CSCs across the countryto register Divyangs and SeniorCitizens for distribution of freeof cost assistive aids and appli-ances under various schemes ofGovernment of India such asADIP , RVY and CSR schemes.

CSC will also help createawareness about ALIMCO andits initiatives and further mobi-lize and support divyangs andsenior citizens to avail assistiveaids and appliances under theschemes.

Under the partnership,Divyangjans and SeniorCitizens can visit their nearestCSC to get registered for freeAssistive Aids and Appliancesfrom ALIMCO.

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The Supreme CourtThursday issued a notice

on Andhra PradeshGovernment’s plea seeking tomake English the medium ofeducation from class one tosix in its schools.

A bench comprisingJustices D Y Chandrachud,Indu Malhotra and K MJoseph sought response ofSrinivas Guntipalli on whoseplea the Andhra Pradesh

High Court had stopped the implementationof the plan in Government-run Telugu medium schools.

In April this year, thehigh court had set aside theorder for government schoolsto convert the medium ofinstruction from Telugu toEnglish.

Senior advocate K VVishwanathan, appearing forthe State Government,assailed the order during thehearing conducted via videoconference.

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Jaipur: A Khap panchayat, an unelect-ed council of village elders, recentlypenalised a man and woman from theSansi Community in Rajasthan's Sikardistrict by making them bathe publiclyto wash their alleged 'sins'.

The nephew and aunt who wereallgedly involved in an 'illicit' relationship,were asked to deposit �31,000 and�22,000 respectively by the Khap pan-chayat as penalty before they wereallowed to return to the social fold. OnTuesday, Sansi Samaj members submit-ted a memorandum to theSuperintendent of Police, demandingstringent action against the khap pan-chayat.

They said that the guilty should beput behind bars, the amount collected bythe woman given back to her and thosewho gathered at the site booked for flout-ing social distancing norms.

Sikar SP Gagandeep Singla, mean-while, said that a probe is underway andthe team is recording villagers' statements. “Also, we are trying to getvideos or pictures of the incident,” headded. IANS

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Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Thursday thatthe BJP was yet to learn the trick of the trade as far

as administration and governance were considered. Hewas replying to an allegation raised by the BJP spokesmanSandeep Warrier that a Government order issued in hisname on September 9, 2018 had the fake signature of theChief Minister.

Warrier had made the allegation in a specially con-vened press meet at Thiruvananthapuramon Thursday. ‘A Government order issued on September9, 2018 in the name of the Chief Minister had

been signed by an impostor and this is a gravesituation.

The Chief Minister was on a US tour from September1 to 23 and chances are that the government order couldhave been signed by another person. Vijayan’s signaturehas been faked by somebody in the Chief Minister’sOffice,” alleged Warrier.

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Though there has been asmall fall in the number of

new persons diagnosed withCovid-19 on Thursday, ChiefMinister Pinarayi Vijayanwarned the people of Keralathat the State would see a majorhike in the number of personsby the month of October.

Briefing the media aboutCovid-19 update in the State,Chief Minister said that onThursday 1,553 persons testedpositive for the pandemic. “Outof this, 1,391 persons contract-ed the disease through socialcontacts. There were 156patients on Thursday whocould not pinpoint how andwhere they contracted the dis-ease. The day also saw 1,950patients getting cured of thepandemic,” said Vijayan.

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Most elderly people in the countrylive with their children. Their risk

of contracting the infection from fam-ily members remains high, said Prof SyedZiaur Rahman, Department ofPharmacology, J N Medical College(JNMC), Aligarh Muslim University(AMU).

He was delivering the keynoteaddress in an International online webi-nar on 'Protecting Elderly from thePandemic' organised by the Center forExcellence in Science and Technology forHigher Education on Drugs andCosmetics from the Moist TropicalForest and Its Environment,Mulawarman University, Samarinda,Indonesia. �����'!�����$������������$��$�

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Dr. Kafeel, who was releasedfrom jail in Aligarh for his

address against the CitizenshipAmendment Act in December2019, said that he has sufferednot only mental but also phys-ical harassment in the jail. Dr.Kafeel was acted upon by theAligarh administration underthe National Security Actwhich the High Court declaredillegal and ordered his imme-diate release.

Dr. Kafeel told media thatthe barrack had a capacity of 40prisoners but 150 prisonerswere kept. At the time of thepandemic, where the PrimeMinister of the country talksabout social distancing, theserules are being broken insidethe jail. In such a situation, thehealth of the detainees in jail isin serious danger.

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The ruling CPI(M) in Kerala, already reeling underthe gold smuggling scam, has been further embar-

rassed by the disclosures made by Mohammed Anoop,an accused held by the Narcotics Control Bureau inBangalore, that he was having business dealings withBineesh Kodiyeri, son of Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, theparty Secretary.

The link between Bineesh and Anoop could opennew chapters in the gold smuggling scam as it has cometo light that the former had called the latter many timeson the day Swapna Suresh and Sandeep Nair, the kingpins in the case were held by NationalInvestigation Agency at Bangalore in the month of July.

P K Firoz, general secretary, Youth League (theyouth wing of Muslim League) told reporters atKozhikode that Anoop, who is a Bangalore based drugdealer had told investigating agencies about his ties withBineesh. Balakrishnan’s son also had friemndship withRijesh Raveendran who was nabbed along withAnoop and serial artist Anikha for possessing high-end drugs MDMA and LSD.

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The sleuths of the NationalInvestigation Agency (NIA)

probing the gold smugglingscam inspected the KeralaGovernment Secretariat onThursday and examined theClosed Circuit TV camera visu-als available with the GeneralAdministration Department.

The NIA is probing the roleof the Chief Minister’s Office inthe gold smuggling scam andwanted to examine the linksbetween Swapna Suresh, Sarithand Sandeep Nair, the kingpins, have with M Sivsankar, thesuspended principal secretaryto Chief Minister PinarayiVijayan and any other officials.

Sivsankar had been ques-tioned by the NIA, Customsand Enforecement Directorateover the last two months.Meanwhile, the SecretariatOfficials had informed the NIA

that visuals of certain dayscould not be recorded as theCCTV system went bustbecause of lightning.

Sources in the Secretariatsaid the NIA asked for visualsof last one year from 70 cam-eras installed in the complex. KSurendran, president of theKerala BJP demanded theimmediate resignation of ChiefMinister Vijayan as the NIAentering the SecretariatComplex was rarest of rareincident. “This is the ideal timefor Vijayan to quit on his own.Kerala has never seen any cen-tral agencies entering theSecretariat till date to probe acriminal case,” Surendran toldreporters at Kozhikode.

There are reports that theSecretariat officials handed overto the NIA recordings of visu-als of last three months.

But R Ramachandran Nair,former chief secretary of Kerala

who is also the longest servingbureaucrat in the State, saidthere was nothing unusual inthe NIA team’s inspection of theSecretariat. “They had takenprior permission from theSecretariat. We also saw reportsabout a fire that broke out in thesecretariat destroying certainfiles. The NIA is probing therole of certain persons in thegold smuggling scam. Hencethere is nothing unusual in thewhole episode,” said Nair.

P Rajan, former editor ofMathrubhumi, said it was goodthat the NIA had discussionswith the secretariat officialswith respect to the controver-sial visuals.

“The gold smuggling scamhas taken much sheen off thePinarayi Vijayan government.But as on today, it is too earlyto write off the prospects of theCPI(M) losing the 2021 elec-tion,” said Rajan.

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Several mainstream politiciansholding their party flags are

roaming freely and organisingmeetings in different parts ofJammu & Kashmir.

Ironically, on Thursdayleaders belonging to the PeoplesDemocratic Party (PDP) wereprevented by the policemenfrom stepping out of their hous-es to reach party headquarters toattend a maiden meeting afterthe abrogation of Article 370 and35-A.

PDP leaders claimed, “whenwe were ready to step out of ourhouses we were prevented by thepolicemen stationed there fromstepping out”. “None of the lead-ers, including former Cabinetministers were handed over anyofficial order or were verballyinformed by any senior officerwhy they were being preventedfrom stepping out of their homesto attend a meeting convened atthe party headquarters by PDPgeneral secretary Ghulam NabiLone Hanjura”, a junior PDPleader told local reporters at theparty office in Srinagar.

To expose the local author-ities, several PDP leaders post-ed images/ videos showing howpolicemen disallowed themfrom stepping out on differentsocial media platforms. “Despitebeing free on paper and in gov-ernment submissions in theHigh Court and Supreme Court,PDP leadership continues to beunder illegal detention, withoutany official orders. Video fromtoday - I wasn't allowed toattend the PDP meeting norwere any of my colleagues”,tweeted former minister NaeemAkhtar along with a video clip.

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Even as the BJP attacked theMamata Banerjee

Government for failing to walkits talk the State Governmenthas announced a two-dayAssembly session that will be held on September 9and 10.

Sources in the Governmentsaid the State Assembly wouldopen and function for only twodays in strict compliance withthe social distancing norms.

“It is just a formality andwe are opening it just becausewe had to open it,” a seniorState minister said adding theGovernment is only following the norm fixed by theCentre.

He referred to the rulesaccording to which theAssembly must be convenedonce in every six months.

The Assembly wasadjourned on March 17 fol-lowing the advent of coronapandemic.

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With a large number can-didates having failed to

appear for the JEE-Main exam-inations on September 1, theBengal Government hasrequested the Kolkata MetroRailways ensure that the trainsservices remained functionalon September 13 when the cen-trally held entrance examswould take place.

“As there is little chance ofthe Metro services gettingresumed before that date con-sidering the fact that they willhave to put in place all the corona protocols,” the StateGovernment has requested toat least run the trains on theexam dates,” a senior Government officialsaid.

A meeting involving theState Government officials andt heir Metro Railways coun-terparts was held on Thursdayat the State secretariatNabanna.

Jammu: The Union territory ofJammu & Kashmir onThursday recorded the highestever jump by detecting 1,079fresh cases of coronavirus while11 Covid-19 patients died tak-ing the death toll to 743 and thetotal active positive cases to8441.

For the first time, Jammuregion recorded 622 cases inone single day while Kashmirdivision recorded 457 cases.On the other hand, 680 patientswere discharged from varioushospitals taking the total tallyof recovered patients to over30,000.

According to the mediabulletin, “the total coronaviruscases in Jammu and Kashmirstood at 39943 while 743deaths have been reported inthe region”. Out of these 39943cases the total active positivecases stood at 8441 in J&K.

Compared to Srinagar,Jammu district has more num-ber of active positive cases.

According to the mediabulletin, Jammu districtThursday recorded 484 freshcases alone while Srinagarrecorded 139 cases. PNS

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The neo-Keynesian pressure on theUnion Government to spend moreand more and generate purchasing

power among the largest segment of theIndian populace has been counteracted bya strong monetarist lending policy. Theeconomic gap between the people whoneed cash and wage support and those whotake loan to run their businesses is so wideacross India that a monetarist policy canhardly overturn the situation of fallingdemand.

A perceptual illusion about a rise indemand for small cars, pharmaceuticaldrugs and online sale of several consumerproducts no doubt raised consumptionindices with the unlock phases of the econ-omy but it could not offset the fall ofdemand in food, milk and cereal markets.The rise in consumption spurred by lend-ing activity is limited to specific sectors,while larger demand still remains depen-dent on a rise in income and employment.

This brings us to two parallel streamsof lending activity by banks and otherfinancial institutions and generation ofincome and wages by larger sectors of pro-duction and distribution. The seeming dis-junction between the two reflects a certainkind of weakness in the overall framing ofeconomic stimulus package and otherpolicies to revive the economy. Market-directed moves of expanding the creditmarket by the RBI and the Government,irrespective of the fiscal deficit of allkinds like revenue deficit, GST shortfall,non-availability of revised estimate offunds for critical healthcare and education,are a kind of provisioning that RBI earnsthrough various financial instruments.

The expenditure policy is gettingdetermined by instant availability of funds,for which the RBI is taken to be the mostresourceful institution, re-fuelling theGovernment over the last few years. Thispresents a paradoxical situation of fundcrunch, austerity and internal borrowingson the one hand and credit and lendingactivity to generate a large part of fiscalexpenses on the other. The tax exemptionsgranted to the rich and the corporates bythe Modi government capture the grossreduction in tax revenue, which lead tohigher public debt in relation to the grossdomestic product (GDP). In effect, creditexpansion in the financial sector is riskedagainst shortfall in revenue generation,which as a policy measure, further con-tracts targetted Government expendituresupposed to counter the falling demand.

This perpetual imbalance betweenmonetary and the fiscal sides leaves theGovernment with very little policy optionsexcept the so-called God’s hand. IfAtmanirbhar Bharat is taken into account,the Government’s spending as assistancetowards MSME and agriculture cannotgenerate sustainable trade and employmentas the most important product market

remains sluggish. The localchain of markets for agri andMSME products is still todevelop into a continuous sup-ply chain, for which the localgovernments need to have size-able interventions. This bringsone to the role of StateGovernments in generatingdemand activity, which again isdependent on MNREGA,developmental work and build-ing up a vibrant human capi-tal. Homeward migration dur-ing COVID lockdown placedan added responsibility of find-ing productive work for atleast four crore returnees, whoare still struggling.

The bleak picture does notdeter economists from produc-ing their own variety of greenshoots of economic theory. Ina recent piece, Kaushik Basuargued for revival of the Indianeconomy through IT, outsourc-ing of digital economy, highereducation, all of which ironical-ly lack any labour-linking tech-nological innovation.Seemingly the demand side istaken to be a suo moto avail-able thing by Basu. In contrast,economists Anu Abraham andMohd Imran Khan in theirpaper—Covid-19: How longcan consumption be sustained inlockdown?—had shown thatnearly 33 crore poor peoplecannot sustain consumption-to-income ratio at a satisfacto-ry level and can at most sustain

themselves for six to sevenweeks. Combining Basu andAbraham and Khan, one gets arather contrarian picture ofgrowth in the service industryversus a total deceleration inbasic income-generating sec-tors, which monetarist inter-ventions cannot alter. Thisdoes not address the disequilib-rium between cash flow, capi-tal formation and demand gen-eration at the levels of macro-economics or meta theory.One interesting way of lookingat this knowledge gap is whatEconomics Nobel prize winnerRobert J. Schiller considered ascreation of a mainframe narra-tive to drive growth in aneconomy. In the case of theAmerican economy, borrowingfrom medical sciences, Schillerconsidered a trending curve asan “art of narrative” by whichan economy develops certaindemands and succeeds in gen-erating money. He furthershowed the role of a variety ofnarratives in sustaining macro-economy and most notably anepidemiological narrative thatgoes viral, in which income isthe most contagious elementthat resembles the hump-shaped epidemiological mod-els. For example, the distresssale of foreign securities in theIndian stock market due to thepandemic, resulting in out-flow of capital, when com-bined with fiscal deficit due to

the stimulus package, looksjust like a COVID-synchro-nised model of economic loss-es that Schiller had predicted asan “epidemic of fear.”

India’s highly priced UStreasury holdings of $ 162.7 bil-lion at two per cent with equal-ly huge foreign currency-basedloans worth $105 billion fromthe World Bank at 9.5 per centresult in a massive loss of�50,000 crore per annum fromIndia’s coffers. Combined withshort selling of bonds andsecurities, India’s attempt tohold foreign government secu-rities has resulted in a costworth a million crore in thecapital account, leading to achallenging trend of capitalaccount deficits and currentaccount surpluses. Capitalaccount deficits worth �139crore in 2020 show a trend ofexcessive financial outflowwhile current account surplusto the tune of 0.1 per cent of theGDP shows sharp fall in importas well as export due to reces-sionary conditions. The mon-etary management by adjust-ment of rates and control onmoney market by the RBI is notable to bring sustainability inthe balance of payment. This ishow India’s balance of paymentlooks more like a rising epi-demiological curve that showsno sign of receding.

The demand managementthrough Atmanirbhar Bharat

or the “Made in India” narra-tive cannot match the pandem-ic-induced fall in demand.

The other narrative of self-reliance in key sectors likespace and defence productionhas nothing much to do withcapital outflow or demand con-traction. A futurist narrative ofcompanies off-shoring them toIndia in digital technologieswith a positive impact on jobcreation gets blunted by privati-sation of the ordnance indus-try involving substantial joblosses. One-time revenue gen-eration through selling publicsector giants in contrast withpast nationalisation of keyindustries is an impact of thepandemic hump. The risingdeath rates in India combinedwith restrictive lockdownsspawn new gaps between over-burdened health infrastruc-ture and overall fund crunch.

In the absence of a plausi-ble narrative, one could look atsustainability economics.Advocated by environmentaleconomists like Giorgos Kallisand institutional economistslike Kate Raworth, this showshow economies can sustainthemselves through an equi-table contraction of demand. Ina Corona-hit economy, such acontraction certainly reducespressure on natural and mate-rial resources. At the sametime, it does not create a steadystate economy of equilibriumbetween income and employ-ment; rather it increases thebullish behaviour in stocksand securities.

Sustaining degrowth bydecoupling employment andgrowth could be a fiscal alter-native in which a contractionin demand could release anextra or reserve fund for givingcash to poor and middle class-es as a “political right.” On theother side, a contraction ofdemand has resulted in unem-ployment and job loss to thetune of five million salariedemployees in July alone.Altogether 1.8 crore salariedpeople have lost jobs sinceApril, as stated by CMIE data.

This certainly requireswhat degrowth theorists pro-posed, a universal basic incomeand job guarantee decoupledfrom economic growth. Thepolicy framework of govern-ment spending right nowfocusses more on increasingconsumption and demandinstead of reducing the impactof a fall in demand. This can bemade possible by way of distri-bution of resources in a social-ly co-operative manner. This ishow we can grow the greenshoots.

(The author is a politicaleconomy analyst based inShillong)

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���������� ����Sir — In an unprecedented move,the Prime Minister NarendraModi-led NDA Government hasopted to do away with QuestionHour using the curtailed mon-soon session of Parliament as anexcuse. If the Opposition jointlyfails to thwart this unparliamen-tary move, it can be used as aprecedent by the present dispen-sation, which goes all out todestroy all institutions that safe-guard democracy and the rightsof the people.

The Question Hour is meantfor the members of both rulingand Opposition party leaders toraise issues affecting the peoplewho have sent them to Parliamentto represent them. Participating ina TV debate over this move, theBJP’s national spokesperson andRajya Sabha MP GVL NarasimhaRao went on to claim that theWest Bengal Assembly will con-vene for just three days as com-pared to the 17 days of theParliament without caring torealise that as the Parliament rep-resents the Union of India, con-sisting of 28 States and eightUnion Territories, it requiresmore than 30 days, if not more, tofunction properly.

In view of the current pan-demic, a short session may be theright decision but it should havebeen planned better. TheGovernment should have accom-

modated the Question Hour afterclearing important financial Billsand so on, instead of just avoid-ing grilling by the Opposition oncontentious issues like the pan-

demic management and the econ-omy. A Parliament session with-out debate is “life without oxygen.”

N NagarajanSecunderabad

������� ���Sir — This is with reference to the“Global Innovation Index.” Goneare the days when India used tobe known as a nation of snakecharmers. We have been progress-ing in all spheres and disciplinespost-Independence. Under theable leadership of various PrimeMinisters over the decades, wehave come a long way from beinga nation that once was consideredpoor and under-developed.

Today we are reaching for themoon and India is making rapidinroads in several significantdomains and meeting worldbenchmarks. Our improved posi-tion in the top 50 nations of theGlobal Innovation Index bearstestimony to the fact that we aremaking progress in this direction.India ranked first among centraland south-east Asian countriesand as compared to 2019, weclimbed four spots to reach the48th position, up from 52. As perthe index, India is now the third-most innovative lower middle-income economy in the world.

Rahul ChouhanUjjain

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Can this really be happening? The Britishare famously — and proudly — the mostdifficult people in the world to terrorise

or bully. The population that stood with tire-less phlegm and humour against relentless bom-bardment, that made its historical mark with anunflinching rationality which never permits hys-teria to sweep the public discourse — must nowbe chivied into leaving the confines of their ownhomes or the safe harbours of their immediateneighbourhoods.

And the most perplexing thing of all is thatthis is the response of most of the Westernworld. They, who have always stood up for theirpersonal liberties, are now willingly covering athome at the thought of an invisible virus get-ting them. It is like the Bogeyman of the MiddleAges has been let loose upon the planet and ifwe don’t hide from it, that will be the end of us.If we look back at history, it seems that overtime, society goes from “terror to terror.”Whether the “Red Scare” of communism in the50s, or the Al Qaeda, immigration, and the Bearmarket, the Swine Flu and now the Coronavirus.

Where did this come from? Well, on the onehand, it is perfectly clear: With an officialGovernment campaign deliberately designednot only to inculcate fear but to suggest that pro-tection against the great threat of the contagionwas simple and clear-cut. And furthermore,obeying the “stay safe, stay home” edict wouldnot just protect you and your immediate fam-ily but the rest of society as well. So lockingyourself away was a moral obligation as well asan insurance against the personal danger ofcatching the dreaded Coronavirus. The combi-nation of anxiety and appeal to the conscienceof the common man was unbeatable — evenwhen it involved deprivations of liberty whichwould once have been unconscionable.

So where are we now? Trapped in a state ofwhat appears to be a spiral of fear so profoundthat it has become a permanent condition. Ofcourse, as everybody has said, the Government’sincoherent messages have something to do withthis: One day there is solemn talk of aninevitable “second wave” of the Coronavirus andthe next day... well you know the rest.

But the big question on everybody’s mindsis how much of this epidemic of national trep-idation is pretext? We gather that a great manyprofessionals — particularly those in the ser-vice industries on whom the British economydepends — are really quite smugly pleased withtheir new home-based work arrangements.

They are so relaxed, it seems, that whenGovernment Ministers try to tell them that,actually, they might be putting their jobs at riskby becoming permanent ghost-like unpersonsin the workplace, they rise up indignantly — asif refusing to venture into the office was now aright.

In fact, of course, the new Governmentadvice is simply common sense. If an employ-ee can do his job from home indefinitely, socould a floating free-lancer who will be owed

no security, no sick leave, no healthinsurance, pension benefits or parentalleave.

All the protections and rightswhich employees have fought hard towin over the generations will count fornothing once managements discoverthat most of the functions now carriedout by those in formal employmentcan be done anywhere by people pre-pared to carry out the same functionson their own premises (and providingthe necessary equipment at their ownexpense).

But surely those clever profession-als in their home offices could havecome to this conclusion themselves.Anybody who has ever worked in anorganisation knows that there is moreto a successful career than simplydoing the tasks that are required. Sowhy has such a large cohort of the edu-cated population suddenly become soperversely obtuse about what wasonce a commonplace of adult life?

There has to be something biggerinvolved in this startling social devel-opment which nobody, so far as Irecall, foresaw. Nursing my own per-sonal grief over the loss of the cultur-al landmarks of the year — the con-certs and the theatre, the opera and theart exhibitions — it suddenly struckme that virtually all of these events hadbeen hit recently by their own traumat-ic identity crises.

I found myself thinking aloud:“Western culture has been consider-ing a means of suicide for a while.

Maybe it’s finally found it.” In momentsof despair it had occurred to me thatthere was something of a medievalDark Age about the current mood:Extinction Rebellion with its childsaints and the self-flagellating Wokeculture.

Being given an apparently soundreason to disable the most notablemanifestations of that historical tradi-tion which we are now being encour-aged to denounce: What could be bet-ter suited to the weird, vaguely hyster-ical, fashion of the times? Fear may bethe most dangerous contagion but I amcoming around to the view that this isnot simple fear. It is a mass neurosisof which irrational and prolonged anx-iety is a symptom. A corrosive loss ofconfidence and understanding of one’srole and identity which will, if it pre-vails, ultimately undermine the qual-ity of modern life more irrevocablythan any virus.

It is not only our official culturalinstitutions that are at risk here. Oneof the most fundamental principles ofpost-war liberal democracy is on trialor, at least, coming up for examination.

The pandemic has been a moralpredicament at least as much as ahealth crisis. When this whole bizarrechapter is finally over, the questionsthat needed to be put, but for whichthere was no time, will be luminous-ly clear. How much should we haveasked the general populace to sacrificein order to protect what we knew,almost from the start, would be a quite

small, vulnerable minority? Is personal liberty — normally of

unquestionable value in a democracyduring peacetime — expendable whenhealthcare systems are under sufficientstrain? Where exactly do we draw theline on the right of governments to dic-tate the terms of personal relations?

Perhaps we have learned morethan we wished to know about theassumptions that underpin theGovernment in the modern era. If, forexample, we accept that the Stateshould provide healthcare in somemore or less comprehensive form, doesthat mean that it has the right (or eventhe duty) to ensure that its medicalinfrastructure is not threatened?

And does that provision oblige theState to put the protection of everyindividual life above, say, the qualityof life of the unaffected majority? Isthat the essence of the modern polit-ical conscience, and if it is, hadn’t webetter discuss it openly? After all, theseare our personal liberties at stake.

So there was an odd mix here: Onthe one hand, the very modern ideathat it is the duty of governments toprevent a single life being lost — anotion which the medieval mind withits fatalistic acceptance of mortalitywould have found absurd — combinedwith a darkly superstitious dread ofsome unfathomable threat. Everybodyis saying that we have lived through astrange time. It may have been strangerthan we knew.

(Courtesy: The Daily Telegraph)

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At times, I lecture at mass commu-nication institutes and a few univer-sities. Often, I am struck by the near

sartorial uniformity among the students— the ubiquitous denim jeans. My esti-mate is that 80 per cent of college girls inDelhi wear trousers or a variant of it, 18per cent an assortment of garments andthe remaining two per cent salwar suits.Of the 80 per cent who wear trousers, Ireckon, 85 per cent would swear by jeans.Garima, like many of her tribe, finds themto be comfortable and requiring “littlemaintenance.” On the other hand,Anusuya, a second year student in a promi-nent women’s college, feels that the jeans-tee ensemble brings out her best features.

Starting from the 70s, more andmore women in India have been riding onthis craze whereas the adoption of this“male” garment in the West had its moor-ings in the exigencies of the period and inideology. According to FashionEncyclopedia, the term “jeans” has exist-ed since the 1600s, where it was a compre-

hensive term to describe the “roughclothing worn by working men.” Since thefabric for making this apparel often camefrom Genoa in Italy, it was labelled as“jean”. With weavers in the Nimes, Francereplicating this fabric, it acquired a newname: Denim, a corruption of the words“de Nimes.” The indigo dye used tocolour the fabric blue came from India.Hence, denim meant blue jeans.

During World War I (WW-I), women,having joined the workforce, started wear-ing uniforms that were akin to men’s in fab-ric and style. This meant the transforma-tion in the appearance of women from thefeminine to masculine. Hence, taking totrousers was the next logical sartorial step.But then these tacky tracks didn’t go toofar. The end of the war brought fundamen-tal changes in British society as womenoutnumbered men. They felt compelled toappear more attractive. Hollywood hero-ines inspired them to wear make-up. Thenew German cult of sun-bathing becamepopular and sun-tanned bodies a statussymbol of rich and fashionable women.With significant changes in sexual moral-ity, availability of contraception and thefounding of the abortion clinic of MarieStopes, women were spurred to revealmore of their bodies: legs, arms, chest,back. But the great depression of the 30s,coupled with the Wall Street crash, highunemployment and higher taxation in theUS led to a social churning. Marriedwomen were compelled to give up theirjobs and return to “sweet domesticity.” Yet,

in 1934, Levi Strauss & Co. took a risk, for-ever altering the course of women’s fash-ion. It introduced the world’s first jeansmade exclusively for women: Lady Levi’sjeans for women working on farms andranches. However, Europe was slow inwarming up to this concept. Thus, for adecade or so, almost all sartorial symbolsof masculinity remained mothballed.

WW-II put women back into theworkforce and pants this time on bothsides of the Atlantic. Popular posters ofwomen workers encouraged others to wearpractical overalls, dungarees and jeans. Butpost-war, women again succumbed to thenatural instincts of femininity, prodded bymyriad fashion pundits. Christian Diorlaunched the “New Look” in Paris, return-ing women to an overtly feminine silhou-ette which gave them an hour-glass figureand an extravagance so long denied tothem. Some other Parisian fashion hous-es like Givenchy, Yves Saint Laurent andPierre Cardin, too, captivated the imagi-nation of the fashion conscious, stimulat-ed, as they were, by Hollywood divas likeMarilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn andElizabeth Taylor.

But it was the rapid economic inde-pendence of women and their growinginterest in sports and leisure activities, therelaxing of parental control over teenagersand the latter’s craving to dress like theiranti-establishment idols Elvis Presley,James Dean and Beatles that led to a revivalof interest in trousers. Another set ofcounter-culturists were the beatniks who

rejected notions of glamour. The hippy rev-olution of the 70s, which held sway overthe imagination of people globally, broughta new dimension. For the first time,women wore everything from “bedazzledand studded to bootcut jeans in public.”

Almost concurrently, and as a reactionto the entire package of fashion that sculpt-ed the female body into a sexual object, theWomen’s Liberation Movement began inthe late 1960s. Femininity, the feministsargued, was a male ploy for manipulationand control over women. The crusadersadvocated wearing dungarees and jeansand no adornment. In the gambit ofachieving gender equality through sarto-rial parity, some women found trousers socomfortable that they abandoned wearingdresses and coined a new word, “powerdressing.” In India, too, there is no short-age of power dressers. Thus, shorn of anyexistential exigencies, Indians have suc-cumbed to be swaddled in trousers andblue jeans to conform to the global pull.While for the upper classes, foreign labelsare a way of identification with theirWestern peers, for the not so privilegedwearing jeans is a practical way of life anda means to be at par with their aspirationalmodels. Notwithstanding the advent ofnew fabrics and silhouettes, trousers andjean have maintained a firm footing. It hasbecome a universal cultural languagethat inscribes the body.

(The writer is former ADG,Doordarshan and founder ExecutiveDirector, Lok Sabha TV)

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New Delhi: Facebook founderMark Zuckerberg on Thursdaysaid the social network wouldstop accepting new political adsin the week before the US pres-idential election in Novemberamid concerns that its looserules could once again beexploited to interfere with thevote like in 2016. The announce-ment comes amid heightenedscrutiny of Facebook’s influ-ence on politics including incountries like India where thesocial media giant has beenaccused of ignoring hate speechby BJP leaders to placate the rul-ing party.

In a Facebook postannouncing the changes, MrZuckerberg, chief executive ofthe world’s biggest social net-work, wrote that he was con-cerned about the unique chal-lenges voters would face due tothe coronavirus pandemic,which has prompted a surge invoting by mail. “I’m also worriedthat with our nation so dividedand election results potentiallytaking days or even weeks to befinalized, there could be anincreased risk of civil unrestacross the country,” he said. MrZuckerberg has previouslydefended his decision to allowfor a freewheeling political con-versation on Facebook. AFP

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APakistani court onThursday directed the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs toexecute a non-bailable arrestwarrant against former primeminister Nawaz Sharif in a 34-year land allotment case,according to media reports.

During the plot allotmenthearing, Model Town PoliceInspector Bashir Ahmed toldLahore Accountability Court’sJudge Asad Ali that Sharif wasnot at his residence.

Last month, the account-ability court had issued a bail-able arrest warrant and servedsummons at all known address-es of the three-time prime min-ister, who is currency in Londonfor medical treatment.

London: A prominent Britishhuman rights lawyer is conven-ing an independent tribunal inLondon to investigate whetherthe Chinese government’salleged rights abuses againstUighur Muslims in the far west-ern Xinjiang region constitutegenocide or crimes againsthumanity.

The tribunal is expected toreveal new evidence and testi-mony over several days’ hearingsnext year. While the tribunaldoes not have government back-ing, it is the latest attempt to hold

China accountable for its treat-ment of the Uighurs and ethnicTurkic minorities, who havebeen subject to an unprece-dented crackdown since 2017.

Barrister Geoffrey Nice,who previously led the prose-cution of ex-Serbian President?Slobodan Milosevic over theBalkans war and worked withthe International CriminalCourt, was asked by the WorldUighur Congress to investigate“ongoing atrocities and possiblegenocide” against the Uighurpeople. AP

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For the first time, Hinduwidows in Bangladesh will

have the rights to both agri-cultural and non-agriculturallands of their deceased hus-bands after a top court ruled intheir favour, according to amedia report.

The Bangladesh HighCourt on Wednesday ruledthat no separation has been made between the agri-cultural and non-agriculturallands. So Hindu widows havethe rights to the lands of theirhusbands, The Daily Starreported.

Under the current norm,Hindu widows in the countryare only entitled to their spouses' homesteads and not

any other assets like agricul-tural land.

"Hindu widows will havethe rights to both agricultur-al and non-agricultural landsthat belonged to their hus-bands. They will also get theright to sell the lands for legalnecessities during their life-time," the report said, citingthe court order.

The verdict by the HighCourt came following a civilrevision petition filed by civil-ian Jyotindranath Mondal fromKhulna district challenging alower court verdict.

On March 7, 2004,Khulna's joint district judgedelivered judgement in a casefiled by Jyotindranath, sayingthat Gouri Dasi, widow ofJyotindranath's elder brotherAvimannu Mondal, will getright to the agricultural land ofher late husband.

The land had been record-ed in the name of Gouri afterAvimannu died in 1996.

Jyotindranath had filed thecase with the court of an assis-tant judge in Khulna challeng-ing the record of the land in thename of Gouri Dasi in 1996.

Berlin: German ChancellorAngela Merkel faced growingpressure on Thursday to recon-sider the Nord Stream 2 pipeline,which will take gas from Russiato Germany, after she saidKremlin critic Alexei Navalnywas poisoned with a Soviet-stylenerve agent.

Merkel said on Wednesdaythat Navalny, who is being treat-ed in a Berlin hospital, was thevictim of a murder attemptusing the nerve agent Novichok,and demanded an explanationby Russia.

Moscow has denied involve-ment in the incident and theRussian foreign ministry saidGermany’s assertion was notbacked by evidence.

Western countries have con-demned the attack on Navalnyand many German politicianswant a tough response.

“We must pursue hard pol-itics, we must respond with theonly language (RussianPresident Vladimir) Putinunderstands - that is gas sales,”Norbert Roettgen, head ofGermany’s parliamentary for-eign affairs committee, toldGerman radio. “If the Nord

Stream 2 pipeline is completednow, it would be the maximumconfirmation and encourage-ment for Putin to continue thiskind of politics,” Roettgen, amember of conservatives, toldGerman television earlier.

Nord Stream 2 is set to dou-ble the capacity of the existingNord Stream 1 pipeline in car-rying gas directly from Russia toGermany. Led by Russian com-

pany Gazprom with Westernpartners, the project is morethan 90% finished and due tooperate from early 2021. Thismay complicate efforts to stop it.

The project has divided theEuropean Union, with somecountries warning it willundermine the traditional gastransit state, Ukraine, andincrease the bloc’s reliance onRussia for energy supplies. AFP

Taipei: China’s “vulgar threats”over a visit by the CzechRepublic’s senate speaker toTaiwan are like a cold, unwel-come winter wind and contrastwith the courteous words thespeaker offered while inTaiwan, a senior Taiwanesepolitician said on Thursday.

China, which claimsTaiwan as its sovereign terri-tory, has condemned CzechSenate speaker Milos Vystrcilfor going. The Chinese gov-ernment’s top diplomat WangYi said this week he would pay

a “heavy price” for visiting thedemocratic island.

Vystrcil declared himself tobe Taiwanese in a speech atTaiwan’s parliament onTuesday, channelling the lateU.S. President John F.Kennedy’s defiance of com-munism in Berlin in 1963,further angering Beijing butwinning plaudits in Taipei.

Speaking with Vystrcil byhis side Taipei, Taiwan parlia-ment Speaker You Si-kunpraised his “stirring” speech atthe legislature. AP

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Moscow: Russian PresidentVladimir Putin’s spokesmanbrushed off allegationsThursday that the Kremlin wasinvolved in poisoning Putin’smost determined critic, accus-ing Germany of not providingMoscow with any evidenceabout the condition of Russiandissident Alexei Navalny.

Navalny, a politician andcorruption investigator, fell illon a flight to Moscow on Aug.20 and was taken to a hospitalin the Siberian city of Omsk. Hehas been in an induced coma

for more than a week in a Berlinhospital after being flown fromSiberia to Germany for treat-ment more than a week ago.

German authorities saidWednesday that tests showed“proof without doubt” that hehad been poisoned with achemical nerve agent from theNovichok group. But Kremlinspokesman Dmitry Peskovinsisted Thursday that Russianauthorities still had notreceived any evidence fromGermany to back up their alle-gation. AP

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Wilmington (US): Joe Biden iscalling the struggle to reopenUS schools amid the coron-avirus a “national emergency”and accusing President DonaldTrump of turning his back tostoke passions instead aboutunrest in America’s cities.

The Democratic presiden-tial nominee’s broadsides camea day ahead of his own trip toKenosha, Wisconsin, whereBiden said he wants to help“heal” a city reeling fromanother police shooting of aBlack man.

The wounding of JacobBlake and subsequent demon-strations have made the polit-ical battleground state a focalpoint for debate over police andprotest violence, as well as theactions of vigilante militias.

Biden assailed Trump forhis vilifying of protesters as wellas his handling of the pandemicthat has killed nearly 190,000Americans and crippled thenational economy, leaving mil-lions out of work, schoolsstraining to deal with studentsin classrooms or at home andparents struggling to keep up.

An American president,Trump’s challenger declared,should be able to lead through

multiple crises at the sametime.

“Where is the president?Why isn’t he working on this?,”Biden asked.

“We need emergency sup-port funding for our schools —and we need it now. Mr.President, that is your job.That’s what you should befocused on — getting our kidsback to school. Not whippingup fear and division — notinciting violence in our streets.”

Trump answered almostimmediately with his ownevent in North Carolina, wherehe continued casting theprotests generally as “violentmobs here at home” that mustbe met with a strong show offorce.

“These people know onething: strength,” he said.

If local leaders would askfor federal muscle, Trump said,“We’ll have it done in onehour.”

Trump later tweeted, “MyAdministration will do every-thing in its power to preventweak mayors and lawless citiesfrom taking Federal dollarswhile they let anarchists harmpeople, burn buildings, andruin lives and businesses.” AP

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Six young Portuguese activistslaunched on Thursday a

European human rights caseagainst 33 countries in the lat-est legal effort to force govern-ments to step up their fightagainst climate change.

The six filed a claimThursday asking the EuropeanCourt of Human Rights tohold the countries accountablefor their allegedly inadequateefforts to cut greenhouse gasemissions.

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New Delhi: Team NTPC over-came a stiff challenge to emergeas winner at the recently con-cluded All India ManagementAssociation (AIMA) -Chanakya (Business SimulationGame) National ManagementGames (NMG) 2020. The vic-tory was also significant sinceNTPC won the prestigiousNational Management Gamesfor the first time in five years.The team from NTPC Vallur,Tamil Nadu achieved the feat ofbeing crowned the national

champion after competingagainst teams from 112 organ-isations from different parts ofthe country.

The team comprised ShriChinnathambi G, Manager,C&I Maintenance; ShriSenkguttuvan P J, Manager,Operations (Main Plant); ShriYoginderkumar J, Manager,Operation from NTPC Vallur.Team NTPC Vallur qualifiedfor the regional rounds, whichwas held online and subse-quently qualified for the Finals.

New Delhi: Strongly welcoming thereview of ASEAN-India FTA agreedupon by ASEAN countries on India’srequest, Indian Paper ManufacturersAssociation (IPMA) has requested theUnion Ministry of Commerce &Industry to put paper & paperboardin the negative list so as to provide alevel-playing field for Indian papermanufacturers who have been bearingthe brunt of indiscriminate import ofcheap paper, especially writing, print-

ing paper, from ASEAN countries.“Domestic paper mills have been

severely impacted due to importsflooding into the country from ASEANcountries at nil basic customs duty.Several smaller paper mills, and evena few large ones, have been forced toshutdown their operations due tocommercial unviability. There is ade-quate production capacity in the coun-try which is currently under-utilised,”said IPMA president AS Mehta.

Greater Noida: Greater NoidaCity is developing very fast asa modern city. Over here alltypes of modern facilities,international level basic facili-ties, broad-gauge roads, allmodern facilities like multiplex,golf, greenery, parks and recre-ation facilities. Due to coron-avirus epidemic, swimmingpool gym clubs etc. are closedin the State. Also, people arenot able to take advantage ofthese facilities due to the said

epidemic and social distancing.The Greater Noida

Authority is considering to pre-pare an alternative system keep-ing in view the current eventsand circumstances. So that thecommon people/residents herestart their morning in a healthyand natural environment of theabove activities by going out ofthe buildings / houses to starttheir morning in a better way,such as morning walk, yoga,exercise and recreation etc.

New Delhi: Airports Authorityof India, in collaboration withthe Defense Research andDevelopment Organisation(DRDO) and StateGovernment is developing theDeoghar Airport in Jharkhand.The development of airportwith project cost of �401.34Croreis underway and will becompleted very soon

The airport will spreadacross 653.75 acres of land andits Terminal Building is beingbuilt in an area of 4000sqmeter. With a 2,500-meter-long runway, the airport will besuitable for operation of Air Bus320 type of aircraft.The termi-nal building will have six check-in counters and two arrival beltswith peak hour handling capac-ity of 200 passengers.

With environment-friendlyarchitectural design and state-of-the-art passenger facilities, theterminal building will be a com-posite structure inspired by the

Shikharsof the BaidyanathTemple. The interiors will depictlocal tribal arts, handicrafts,and pictures of local touristdestinations highlighting theculture of the region.

Deoghar Airport, the sec-ond airport in Jharkhand afterRanchi, a six-hour drive away,is situated on the North Easternside of the state and will have awide catchment area includingNorthern West Bengal andSouth-Eastern Bihar.Development of this airportwillgive an impetus to local tourismand will generate employmentas large part of the local popu-lation depends on tourism forits livelihood.

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Diesel price on Thursdaywas cut for the first time in

close to six months after state-owned fuel retailers reducedretail selling rate by 16 paise perlitre. Diesel now costs �73.40per litre in the national Capital,as against �73.56 a litre previously, according to a pricenotification of state-owned fuel retailers.

Petrol, which witnessedthe second rally in rates begin-ning mid-August, wasunchanged at �82.08 a litre.

This is the first reductionin diesel price since mid-Marchwhen Indian Oil Corp (IOC),Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd(BPCL) and HindustanPetroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL)froze rates for 82 days to adjusta record hike in excise duty onauto fuels against falling bench-mark cost.

Diesel rates had gone up by�12.55 a litre between June 7,when oil firms resumed revis-ing prices in line with cost, andJuly 25. Diesel price has

remained unchanged in thecountry since July 25, except inDelhi where a reduction inVAT lowered the rate by �8.38 per litre.

Petrol price went up by�9.17 per litre between June 7and June 29 before hitting a pause.

The revision cycle againstarted on August 16 and rateshave gone up by �1.51 sincethen. In all, the petrol price hasrisen by �10.68 since June 7.

In Mumbai, petrol comesfor �88.73 per litre while dieselis priced at �79.94, as against�80.11 previously, according tothe price notification.

In Kolkata, petrol is pricedat �83.57, while diesel nowcosts �76.90 a litre, down from�77.06 previously.

In Chennai, petrol comesfor �85.04 a litre and diesel for �78.71, as against �78.86previously.

State-owned fuel retailersrevise rates of petrol and dieseldaily based on average price ofbenchmark fuel in the preced-ing 15 days.

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Benchmark equity indicesclosed lower in a volatile

trade on Thursday, dragged bylosses mainly in banking coun-ters as overall weak macroeco-nomic scenario weighed oninvestor sentiment.

The BSE Sensex ended95.09 points or 0.24 per centlower at 38,990.94; and the NSE Nifty closed 7.55 points or 0.07 per cent down at 11,527.45.

On the Sensex chart, ICICIBank was the top loser, shed-ding around 2 per cent, fol-lowed by Bharti Airtel, AxisBank, Kotak Bank andPowerGrid.

On the other hand, Titan,Tech Mahindra, Nestle, Maruti,Sun Pharma and Asian Paintswere among the gainers.

Sectorally, BSE bankex,finance, metal, energy, realtyand utilities indices fell up to1.51 per cent.

While consumer durables,IT, teck, capital goods, indus-

trials and auto indices rose upto 3.37 per cent.

Broader midcap and small-cap indices outperformed theBSE benchmark, ending up to0.74 per cent higher.

“Markets exhibited volatil-ity and ended flat for the day,switching between gains andlosses. However, global mar-kets, especially Europe, weregenerally positive for the day,anticipating better economicdata,” Vinod Nair, Head ofResearch at Geojit FinancialServices, said.

Domestically, dataemerged that the services sec-tor had contracted for the 6thconsecutive month, in spite ofphased reopening of the economy in the last twomonths, he said, adding thatthis has led to worries that thecomeback, foreseen for theeconomy, could be long drawn out.

The market turned nega-tive after the latest IHS Markit Services PurchasingManagers’ Index (PMI) con-

tracted for the sixth successivemonth in August.

The seasonally adjustedIndia Services Business ActivityIndex rose sharply from 34.2 inJuly to 41.8 in August, the high-est since March, before theescalation of the pandemic.

The downturn in India’sservices sector activity eased inAugust but remained in thecontraction zone as Covid-19pandemic-induced restrictionscontinued to adversely impactclient demand and businessoperations.

Bourses in Shanghai andHong Kong ended in the red,while Tokyo and Seoul closedwith gains.

Stock exchanges on inEurope were trading on a pos-itive note in early deals.

Global oil benchmarkBrent crude was trading 1.40per cent lower at USD 43.81 perbarrel.

In the forex market, therupee depreciated 44 paise and closed at 73.47 against theUS dollar.

Chennai: Auto component manufacturers are expected tosuffer about 15-18 per cent decline in their revenues inFY21 and an average of 100 basis points (bps) in their EBIT-DA due to sharp contraction in demand over what theindustry experienced during FY20, said Brickwork Ratingsin a report released on Thursday.

According to Brickwork Ratings, during FY20, the rev-enues of auto ancillaries declined about 8-10 per cent aftera year-on-year (yoy) increase until FY19. The reductionin revenue is owing to the shrinking order book fromOriginal Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) due to lowerautomobile sales in the country last fiscal, it said.

According to the rating agency, the auto componentmakers’ revenue is expected to slip by about 15-18 per centin FY21 on account of lower income levels and continued

weak sentiments.“BWR (Brickwork Ratings) expects export revenues

to decline as well in FY21 as more than 50 per cent of ourexports are to markets in Europe, the UK and the US, anddemand from these markets is expected to decline amidthe Covid-19 outbreak and postponement of model launch-es or deferment/cancellation of orders,” the report said.

According to the report, auto components players willbe affected adversely in the first quarter of the current fis-cal and, to some extent, during the second quarter as well.

The rating agency expects a gradual recovery in vehi-cle sales from the second half of the current fiscal owingto pent-up demand, an improvement in OEMs produc-tion activities and the easy availability of credit fromfinanciers. IANS

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The NHAI has debarred theconcessionaire of the under

construction elevated corridoron 6-laning of NH-248-A fromRajiv chowk to Sohna fromparticipating in any NHAI bids(directly or in association/ JV)involving major structuralworks after its explanation for the collapse of a span of the stretch was found unsatisfactory.

Following the collapse lastmonth, the concessionaire, M/sRajiv Chowk-Sohna HighwayPvt. Ltd. and its promoters i.e.M/s Oriental StructuralEngineers Pvt. Ltd, was issueda show cause notice to explainthe violation of the obliga-tions under the ConcessionAgreement.

The explanation furnishedby the concessionaire wasfound to be unsatisfactory,NHAI officials said, addingmoreover, lapses were alsofound in implementation of thesafety measures/workman-ship/adherence to construc-tion methodologies/ proce-dures, which were highlightedtime and again to the contrac-tor before the incident.

Therefore, it was establishedthat the concessionaire failed todischarge its obligation to con-struct a safe structure and toensure safety of the user and pedestrians on the previ-ous occasions and during theaccident as well, the officialsmaintained.

Accordingly, with imme-diate effect, the concessionairehas been debarred from par-ticipating in any NHAI bids(directly or in association/ JV)involving major structuralworks until they demonstratereliable construction method-ologies/ designs and adequatesafety measures at sight; anddemonstrate that such type ofaccident does not occur inother part of their works.

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Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman on Thursday

directed banks to roll out res-olution schemes for Covid-related stress by September 15.

During her interactionwith the heads of scheduledcommercial banks and NBFCsthrough a video conference,Sitharaman focused on lendersimmediately putting in placeboard-approved policy for res-olution, identifying eligibleborrowers and reaching out tothem, said an official statement.

She also called for quickimplementation of a sustainedresolution plan by lenders forrevival of every viable business.

Sitharaman told the lendersthat as and when moratoriumon loan repayments is lifted,borrowers must be given sup-port and Covid-19 related dis-

tress must not impact thelenders’ assessment of theircredit-worthiness.

Further, she also called for asustained media campaign tocreate awareness among the bor-rowers for the resolution scheme.She advised lenders to ensurethat regularly updated FAQs onthe resolution framework areuploaded on their websites inHindi, English and regional lan-guages, and also circulated totheir offices and branches.

“The lenders assured thatthey are ready with their reso-lution policies, and have start-ed the process of identifyingand reaching out to eligibleborrowers, and that they willcomply with the timelines stip-ulated by the Reserve Bank ofIndia (RBI),” said the FinanceMinistry statement. The min-istry said that it has also beenengaging with the RBI to

ensure that the lenders areassisted by the central bank inthe resolution process.

As the pandemic has led tosevere economic stress acrosssectors, the RBI in Augustannounced to provide a reso-lution framework to enablethe lenders to implement a res-olution plan, in respect of eli-gible corporate borrowers with-out change in ownership whilecontinuing the account statusas standard, subject to specifiedconditions.

During the virtual meet onThursday, the Finance Ministeralso reviewed the progress madeby various lenders under ECLGS,PCGS 2.0 and subordinate debtschemes announced as part ofthe ‘Aatmanirbhar BharatAbhiyaan’, and advised lenders totry and extend the maximumpossible relief to borrowersbefore the festive season.

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Everyone loves to go out and eatbut amid the COVID-19 pan-

demic and health and governmentofficials urging people to stayhome as much as possible, we havebeen forced to eat home-cookedfood every day. And during thistime, while many waited impa-tiently for the unlock, many choseto bring out their inner chef andtaste the joy of home-cooking.Social media videos and YouTubechannels became the learning tool,teaching people how to prepare allkinds of quick and easy restaurant-styled recipes in their own kitchen.Well, social media is a testament toall those delicacies.

However, how many tried toadopt or cook meals the tradition-al way? For instance, a thali mealsystem is something that we shouldintroduce into our daily lives. Thistime is also a good opportunity. Athali (plate) is a big round base thatholds small bowls (also calleddunas), carrying specified quanti-ties of various food items. The firstmention of dunas can traced backin the texts from the Vedic period,but the portions we see in today’sthalis have changed drastically.Well, most of it would find its rootsin the establishment of new socialstructures and modern lifestyles.

The significance of this thali isthat it offers the right amount ofnutrients required to maintain ahealthy body and lifestyle. It helpsus ensure that we are consumingbalanced meals. This situation ofstaying home has presented us withan opportunity to prepare and con-sume these balanced meals. Ahealthy diet can protect the humanbody against several diseases, espe-cially non-communicable onessuch as obesity, diabetes, cardiovas-cular diseases, some types of can-cer and skeletal conditions. It alsohelps us maintain a healthyimmune system, important to

fight the fast-spreading viruses likeCOVID-19.

For decades, it has been ourculture to eat together as a family.This was another advantage of thelockdown with all family membersstaying at home. Indian cultureencourages consumption of whole-some meals and have also passedon several combo recipes to us. Itlays great emphasis on portioncontrol to avoid problems like obe-sity, experiencing the variety offlavour and textures and sharing offood with everyone. Indian thalishave hence been a rich diet mealthat does not only take care of the

tastebuds but also provides all thenecessary nutrients. We shouldcontinue to carry our tasty andhealthy food culture with us anduse it in our daily lives.

Here are some of the tips toprepare a healthy and balancedIndian thali at home:

- Striking a balance in the pro-portions of carbohydrates, fats,proteins, vitamins, minerals, andwater they consume, is important. � Including these items in yourdaily meals is crucial to follow abalanced diet — fruits, vegetables,grains, proteins, dairy and oils.Fruits and vegetables are rich in

several nutrients, especially vita-mins and minerals. Dark, leafygreens such as spinach, cabbage,broccoli, and green beans are alsohighly-nutritious ingredients thatshould not be skipped.� Consuming whole grainsinstead of refined grains since thelatter lack the hull containingmost of the grain’s nutrition.Adding proteins to your meals inthe form of meats and beans willaid in muscle and brain growth.� The breakfast should contain acombination of complex carbs,proteins, and fibre. Experimentwith different kinds of omelettes,

vegetable rich poha, upma orsandwich, stuffed parathas,idli/dosa/uttapam with chutney orsambar.� For lunch, remember to fillyour plate half with vegetables andfruits, one fourth with proteinsand the remaining one-fourthwith carbs. Simple meals can betasty too, if cooked the right way.Mix vegetable khichdi or pulao orRajma rice with buttermilk orcurd, paneer wrap with boiledchana and lassi or pasta withpaneer salad and curd are allgreat meals for a soul-fillinghealthy lunch. Non-vegetarians

can opt for items like fish currywith rice and curd.� The dinner should always bethe lightest meal. Bisibele ricewith curd, dal rice and vegetableor soup with pulao are the bestchoices to end your day with.

- Between these meals, onecan have another round of fruits,a chana chaat or sprouts as asnack instead of caffeine-filledtea/coffee.� Adding nutrient-rich ingredi-ents like pepper, ginger, garlic,cumin, cloves, fenugreek seeds,turmeric to your everyday foodregulates the healthy factor in thebody. These spices carry chemi-cal compounds which have anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, anti-micro-bial and anti-viral propertieswhich help fight several kinds ofinfections.� Hydrating beverages shouldnot be missed out. Apart fromdrinking at least two litres ofwater every day, one can alsoconsume healthy and tasty drinkslike fruit juices, milk shakes,buttermilk, coconut water tobeat dehydration.� Other items which can beincluded are roasted chana,peanuts, makhana, chikkis,puffed rice, bajra, jowar, maize,ragi flour, wholegrain breads,wheat pizza bases and wheat pas-tas, tender coconut, green tea,olive oil, groundnut, soyabeanand mustard oil in your kitchenpantry. These are some of thehealthiest ingredients available inthe local Indian markets.

Following a healthy Indianthali system can play an instru-mental role in not only enhanc-ing the quality of your health butcan also uplift your mental well-being.

(The writer is the goodwillambassador of MyThali pro-gramme.)

Afew years ago,Maruti had

invited automotivejournalists to theUmaid BhawanPalace in Jodhpurto experience something com-pletely new in the small carspace. Well, ostensibly, the carwas the new Maruti-SuzukiCelerio. The new was the factthat the car featured an‘Automated ManualTransmission’ or AMT gear-box. While AMT was not a newtechnology, by bringing it intocompact hatchbacks, Marutihad once again transformed themarket and made automatics, ina manner of speaking, afford-able. AMTs are not really ‘auto-matic’ gearboxes. After its clutchpedal has been removed, theheadache of always moving yourleft foot in urban traffic condi-tions still remains.

As a few years went by,AMTs really began to feel a bitsluggish, particularly as enginepower outputs went up. Moreoften than not, you found your-self in a power band that felttotally inappropriate for theconditions on some cars. Not all,to be fair, but the fact was thatsomewhere down there as anautomotive writer, you knewthat AMT gearboxes were acost compromise. They certain-ly didn’t allow for any enthusi-astic driving. Although theycould be deadly efficient onceyou mastered the throttle pedal.This was an old technology andwhile it had its purpose in pop-ularising automatic gearboxesamong Indians, carmakers coulddo a bit better. Truth be told, sev-eral of them have done a lot bet-ter. There have been consider-able efforts in making CVTgearboxes and regular torqueconverter gearboxes much moreaffordable. Lately, dual-clutchgearboxes are also coming downthe value chain with Hyundai-Kia making it an option on theirtop-end Venue and on the forth-coming Sonet.

However, both these carswill have something totally fas-cinating as an option, the‘Intelligent ManualTransmission’ — a gearbox thatthe manufacturers claim will

give you the thrill of changinggears while removing the clutch.Hyundai was first off the markand celebrated the first anniver-sary of last year’s ICOTY win-ning Venue by launching theIMT version of that car.

There are a lot of sensorsconnected to a lot of softwarecode that allow the driver to dothis, but my first impressions ofthe car were very weird. Asaccustomed as I have become todriving automatic cars over thepast few years, this felt likesomething had gone wrong tomy poor brain. No clutch, sodon’t change gears it went andthen you hear an alarm goingoff instructing you to changegears, wait, what? As the sayinggoes, you can’t teach an old dognew tricks. Well, this was a newtrick on the car, and it took mesome time to get adjusted. I’msaying this after years of quiteeasily jumping from one car tothe next without any prob-lems, going from a 50 horse-power hatchback to a 500+horsepower supercar, from alimousine longer than someboats to the Tata Nano. Beenthere, done that, but neverdone this.

It took me a bit of time, butpossibly this dog isn’t ready forthe pasture yet. Once I got thehang of it, the IMT was actual-ly quite a bit of fun. Sure, it isn’tquite as exhilarating as a man-ual is on the Venue turbo-petrol. The gear changes do feela bit notchy at times, but onlya couple of hours with the carand one can get used to thisnew feeling. If you do buy thiscar, I’m pretty sure you will alsogo through a learning curvethat will require a few days.That said, what did concern mewas — once used to such a car,how would a driver get back toa regular manual? I don’t havean answer! But the way themarket is evolving, manuals areincreasingly a thing of the past.This is just a step to makingthem extinct.

Were you confusedabout the kind oftattoo you wanted

some time back? Did youscroll through hundreds ofpictures to decide what tofinally get inked and where?Well, you perhaps got a lit-tle late in deciding things asthe pandemic has turnedeverything upside down.

The nature of this pro-fession is highly personal asgetting inked cannot be acontactless activity.Considering safety andsocial distancing as theneed of the hour, most ofthe people are now hesitat-ing to get tattooed. Also,now that people only stepout for the essentials, theybelieve tattooing can waitfor a while! However, thishas landed the industry insome major troubles.

The impact has beensuch that it seems to havepierced a hole in the indus-try. Several tattoo artistsand studios are strugglingto meet even their basicexpenses. Unlike other pro-fessions, these artistes can-not join another companyafter a job loss as their jobis not based on qualifica-tion but skills. And workfrom home definitely can’tbe an option here.

Veteran and celebrity

tattoo artist Vikas Malani,founder, BodyCanvasTattoos, says, “We areartists and need clients torun our businesses andshowcase our skills. Sincetattooing is a person-to-person job, the loss is highin this industry. Earlier,around 20 customers usedto visit our studio every dayon an average but now thefootfalls have reduced totwo or three. Even theones who visit are our reg-ular customers, there areno new ones. With suchless clients, the inflow ofmoney seems to be scary.”

He further adds thatthey require at least one ortwo hours to ink, unlikeother places where people

go into a store, purchaseand leave within a fewminutes. So the chances ofcontracting the virus ishigh as people are in con-stant contact with the stu-dio artists who meet a lotof other customersthroughout the day.

Now, after a series oflockdowns and relaxations,the industry is slowlyrestarting and people havebeen constantly thinkingabout newer and safe waysto run their tattoo studios.They are following fre-quent sanitisation, use faceshields, gloves and masks.It is also advised to providea safety kit to the artists andpeople visiting the studio.

“Even before this pan-

demic, we used to wearsafety gloves and masks.However, now it hasbecome more significant asit can be one of the mostcommon or easy ways forthe transmission of virus,”says Vikas.

Though it becomeschallenging to run the busi-ness with limited resources,necessary precautions areessential for safety. Vikaslists some of the safetymeasures to considerbefore getting a tattoo.

Safety measures for studiocrew�Sanitise your hands andwear a fresh pair of protec-tive gloves for each client.�Check the body temper-ature of all the staff mem-bers, including the artists,every day before they enterthe studio.�It is advisable to allowonly one client at a timeinside the studio.�Ensure that the studio,including furniture andworkstation, is properlysterilised.�Sterilise non-disposableequipment, instrumentsand supplies.�Don’t miss sanitising fre-quently used areas such asdrawers, handles, sinks andtables.

Safety measures for clients�Make sure that youapproach a standard andreputed tattoo parlour thatoperates with experiencedprofessionals and followsthe correct safety guide-lines.�Do all the consultationthrough phone calls andbook an appointmentbefore entering the studio.�Discuss the details,design and positioningover a call to reduce phys-ical contact. Ask your artistif they can digitally repre-sent the tattoo design to geta clear idea.�Try to visit the studiodirectly from your home toavoid transmission from athird party.�Only the person to beinked should enter the stu-dio to maintain social dis-tancing.�Be cautious about thecommon spots like door-knobs, chairs, tabletopsthat are touched frequent-ly by several people. Washyour hands after touchingany common area and usehand sanitiser.�Avoid carrying severalthings inside the studio.Some studios also providelockers for clients to keeptheir belongings to avoidpossible risks.

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The season is changing rapidly. Though as much as

this weather comes as a relieffrom the scorching heat, itadditionally brings infectionstoo. One’s immune system alsogets affected and extra care isrequired with mindful eating,physical exercise and constanthydration.

As we go further into theunlock phase, building yourbody’s natural defense system iscrucial at this time and premi-um health drinks and beveragescan play a key role in maintain-ing immune health. Immunityboosting is the top-most prior-ity now and staying hydrated isthe easiest way to boost theimmune system.

Premium immunity drinksare there to do the trick for you.Electrolyte and nutrient watersare also bigtime immunityboosters trusted by variouscelebrit ies. These drinksinclude vitamins and mineralsalong with ingredients likeherbs, vitamins, minerals,nootropics, amino acids, oradditional raw fruit or vegeta-bles.

Here are some drinks tohelp you boost your immunehealth.

$����� & Enriched with 70+ miner-

als, this is the new-age blackalkaline water by AV Organics.Its description reads as 100 percent natural. It helps with sus-tained hydration, better detox-ification, reduced acidity,improved metabolism, height-ened alertness, and balancedpH levels in the body. It getssourced from the earth’s richcrust and derives its bold blackcolour from the goodness ofnature’s rare minerals. Evocusis also soon going to belaunched in Goa at variousHORECA outlets.

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Ginger tends to boost yourmetabolism and mood. It is bestwhen you meet it with itsentourage. We are talking aboutthe tangy tangerine and thecharming carrot, the threetogether conquer the healthquotient of your body and keepthe unwanted colds at bay. Thisblend shields your body with itsVitamin E goodness. The cold-pressed juice acts as the perfectstress-busting and anti-agingbodyguard we all need. It’s lowin calories and high in fiber. TheVitamin C filled health juicehelps fight allergies and thecommon cold.

�����0��������The drink is pressed with

the integrity of AyurvedicSuperherbs. It constructsresilience and strengthensimmunity. It permits certainty,power, and enthusiasm. Thebrand also has a wide range ofblends for specific functions.

Rich in ingredients likeHaldi, moringa, amla, ashwa-gandha, this product is onestop for your wellness. These are100 per cent natural drinkswith the goodness of Ayurvedato look after your mind, body,skin, hair, and weight.

� ����������Shunya is a herbal-infused

drink with zero calories, zerosugar, zero preservatives. It isenriched with 50 per cent rec-ommended daily allowance ofvitamins like vitamin B3, vita-min B5, vitamin B6, vitamin B7,vitamin B12, and vitamin C.The drink rejuvenates mentalperformance with Brahmi,reduces tiredness with khusand monitors weight withkokum. With a variety of flavorslike orange, apple, and mixedfruit its a healthy treat for yourtaste buds.

The food consumed impactsthe human body’s ability tofight diseases and recover from

infections. Eating a healthy, nutritiousand balanced diet is important amidglobal pandemic, nutritionists said onthe occasion of national nutritionweek, being celebrated fromSeptember 1 to 7. Though no foodwill cure COVID-19 infections, ahealthy diet along with good physi-cal activity will help build a strongerimmune system to tackle the adverseimpact of the deadly Coronavirus,they said.

Doctors say that it is importantto know that good nutrition helpsreduce the risks of ailments like dia-betes, hypertension, obesity, heartdiseases, which are common reasonsfor falling prey to Coronavirus. Manytypes of cancers too can be prevent-ed by consuming healthy and nutri-tious food.

According to common under-standing, a healthy diet for a newbornbaby means exclusive breastfeedingin the first six months, with the intro-duction of nutritious and safe foods

to complement breast milk from sixmonths to two years and beyond. Foryoung children, a healthy and bal-anced diet is essential for growth anddevelopment, while for aged, it canhelp to ensure healthier and moreactive life.

“Food makes a world of differ-ence to our system which is linked tothe solar clock. Eating at regularhours means the energy levels remainsteady and do not sway from highsto lows. This will help body rhythmsettle down and it will balance out thehormones to keep the body ener-gized. Any food that is closest to itsnatural form, least processed and sea-sonal is the best for health,” saidSrilatha, Chief Clinical Nutritionist,Medicover Hospitals.

“Nutrient-rich food adds health,while processed and refined foodsadd empty calories, leaving youwithout energy and feeling low andcan lead to many diseases. Fermentedfoods add good bacteria that keep thegut healthy and the absorption ofnutrients efficient,” she said.

One must include adequate

amounts of whole grains, pulses, sea-sonal vegetables, green leafy vegeta-bles, whole fruits, milk and milkproducts, and to add moderateamounts of non-veg foods focusingon fish and skinless chicken. Wholegrains and pulses provide macronutrients like carbohydrate and pro-teins. Fruits and vegetables are excel-lent sources of vitamins, minerals,fibre and antioxidants.

Adding nuts to daily food is agreat habit, and it helps strengthenimmunity. Nuts and oil seeds addhealthy fats, dietary fibre, protein andmost importantly, antioxidants,which are known to clean up the freeradicals from the system. It is most

important to take adequate fluids likewater, lemon water, coconut water,buttermilk, homemade soups, pudi-na pani, zeera pani, and any othernon-sugary liquids to stay hydrated.Even a mild dehydration leaves thehuman body exhausted.

“Like any army fighting anenemy, the immune system needsgood, regular nourishment. It isobserved that people who do not eathealthy and do not care for immu-nity are more vulnerable to infec-tious diseases like COVID-19. Eatright to stay tight, must be the phi-losophy when it comes to consum-ing sufficient vitamins, minerals,and other nutrients,” said Zeenat

Fatima, Nutritionist, ContinentalHospitals.

Good nutrition and exercise iscrucial for health, particularly intimes when the immune systemmight need to fight back. Limitedaccess to fresh foods may compro-mise opportunities to continue eat-ing a healthy and varied diet. It canalso potentially lead to an increasedconsumption of highly processedfoods, which tend to be high inunhealthy trans fats, cholesterol,sugars, and salt. Nonetheless, evenwith a few and limited ingredients,one can continue eating a diet thatsupports good health.

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Under normal circumstances,Karolina Pliskova wouldnot have been seeded No 1

at the US Open and so, while a sec-ond-round loss certainly wouldhave been disappointing to her, andnoticed by others, it wouldn’t havebeen as newsworthy.

But what’s normal in 2020?With the women who are 1-2 inthe rankings choosing to skip thetrip to Flushing Meadows becauseof the pandemic, No 3 Pliskovaascended to the top spot in thedraw — and by Day 3, she wasgone.

Pliskova, the 2016 runner-up at the US Open, made hermood clear during a 6-1, 7-6 (2) loss to 50th-rankedCaroline Garcia onWednesday by throwinga racket, then againafterward with a seriesof clipped responses ather news conference.

Pliskova fidgetedwith the microphone.Sighed. Shruggedher shoulders.Rolled her eyes.

When areporter offeredpossible explana-tions for the defeat —a new, faster surface onthe courts, a lack of atmos-phere because there are no spec-tators, the pressure of her highseeding — Pliskova replied:“Nothing from what you said.”

Her reasoning for the result?“I didn’t play good,” Pliksova said,“so that’s it.”

When another member ofthe media said this back-and-forth must be boring toPliskova, she said, “Yeah, a lit-tle bit. Did you see the matchor no?” and soon afterremarked, “I don’t know if youunderstand tennis well enough.”

After a first round thatwent more to form than ever —29 of 32 seeded women wontheir opening matches, a USOpen record since the num-ber of seeds was doubled from16 in 2001 — the surprisesstarted in the second round.

Three Americans turned inupsets of seeded women. ShelbyRogers, ranked 93rd, beat 11th-seeded Elena Rybakina 7-5, 6-1;

Ann Li, who is ranked 128th,topped 13th-seeded Alison Riske 6-0, 6-3 in a matchup between twoplayers from Pennsylvania; andMadison Brengle, ranked 84th,took out 19th-seeded DayanaYastremska 6-2, 6-3.

Other seeded women whowere eliminated: No 12 MarketaVondrousova, No 30 KristinaMladenovic, No 31 AnastasijaSevastova.

Mladenovic’s loss was thewildest of them all. She led 6-1, 5-1, then later held four matchpoints, but never was able to fin-ish things off and ended up on thewrong end of a 1-6, 7-6 (2), 6-0result against 102nd-rankedVarvara Gracheva.

Two seeded men exited, too:No 13 Cristian Garin and No 24Hubert Hurkacz.

Unlike Pliskova, the No 1-seeded man, Novak Djokovic, onlyhad a brief blip on his way to thethird round and a 25-0 record in2020. Going back to late last sea-son, his winning streak is 28matches overall.

“I’m actually glad I did drop aset and got tested the way I didtoday against Kyle. I expected itto be a tough, tough task,” saidDjokovic, who has won five of thepast seven Grand Slam tourna-ments to raise his major trophytotal to 17, three behind RogerFederer and two behind RafaelNadal. “I’m really glad having anearly kind of tough match in thetournament,” Djokovic said,because it kind of serves me bet-ter, I think, for the rest of the tour-

nament.”Next up for him is No 28 Jan-

Lennard Struff, someone Djokovicdismissed 6-3, 6-1 last week at theWestern & Southern Open.

Other winners on Wednesdayincluded No 4 Stefanos Tsitsipas,No 5 Alexander Zverev and No 7Davis Goffin.

Tsitsipas made it to the USOpen’s third round for the first timeby withstanding the so-rare-these-days serve-and-volley style of his168th-ranked American oppo-nent, Maxime Cressy 7-6 (2), 6-3,6-4 after two-time Grand Slamchampion Naomi Osaka’s 6-1, 6-2win against Camila Giorgi.

Cressy’s loss was part of arough day for men from the US,who went 1-7.

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Jorge Messi, father and agent of Lionel Messi,appeared to concede his son could remain at

Barcelona this season, according to footagebroadcast by Spanish media on Thursday.

Messi senior seemingly replied “yes” whenasked by a reporter if they had considered thepossibility of staying at the club for another sea-son and then leaving for free next year, in a videorecorded by Spanish TV station Cuatro.

The images were captured as Jorge Messipulled into a parking garage reportedly foranother day of meetings with the family’slawyers.

He had arrived in Barcelona on Wednesday,landing at the private terminal in El Prat air-port on a flight from the Argentine city ofRosario.

Six-time Ballon d’Or winner Messi boy-cotted Barcelona’s first pre-season trainingsession on Monday, as he tries to force his wayout of the club he joined as a 13-year-old.

He also failed to attend a coronavirus testat Barcelona’s training ground on Sunday.

Messi’s father was followed throughout thecity by reporters and TV crews on Wednesday,and told reporters it would be “difficult” for hisson to stay at Barcelona.

According to local reports, club directorsmet with Messi and his advisers for more thantwo hours on Wednesday, but neither party waswilling to alter their stance.

Further negotiations are expected to be heldin due course between Barcelona and Messi’sentourage, which also includes his brotherRodrigo.

Barcelona insist their cap-tain remains under contractuntil June 2021 and will onlydepart if his �700 million releaseclause is activated, a stance thathas been backed by LaLiga, which says thatrelease clause stillapplies.

But Messi andhis lawyers arguehe should beallowed to go forfree this summeraccording to anotherclause in his contract,which they claim was trig-gered on Aug 25 when aburofax stating Messi’sintention to leave arrivedat Camp Nou.

BUNDESLIGA TO KEEP 5 SUBSTITUTIONSFrankfurt: '��� �$ ���#�%�� � �� )-� �$ ���#�%�� !�##�� �� $�� ��� �##�!� ����� �$�����$��� �� "��� ������ "��������� �),),;)2-�(#$���������� �����$����������$#����������������#��� �'�$�����-�'������ %�������������$��� !��� � ����$���� #���� ����� � ��� ���� #��%$����$� ��� ����� ���� ������ � ������� ��� ���� ���� ����$�"� �����-�����������!�##��� �� $���������##�!���$"��������� ���""�%��� D�>�#$�� %� ��#�&����E� ��� ����� �����$���"��������-

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Sergio Ramos onWednesdaysaid that Lionel Messi

should be allowed to decideon his future as the Argentinesuperstar attempts to force hisway out of Barcelona after twodecades at the club.

“He has earned the rightto decide his future. I don’tknow if he is doing it in thebest way,” Ramos said ahead ofSpain’s opening UEFA NationsLeague clash with Germany inStuttgart.

“For Spanish football, forBarca and for us who like tobeat the best, we would likehim to stay.”

Ramos has been one ofMessi’s fiercest rivals as Barcahave battled it out for domes-tic and European dominancewith the Spain captain’s clubside Real Madrid.

The 34-year-old centre-back said that the departure ofone of the greatest ever play-ers would be a big blow forSpanish football.

“Leo makes the SpanishLeague and his team better, he

makes the Clasicos morebeautiful because you like towin while being against thebest and he is one of the bestin the world.

“He has earned the rightto decide for himself.”

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Australia’s Marnus Labuschagne may have towait to make his T20I debut despite a dazzling

start to the tour of England, according to captainAaron Finch.

Labuschagne, a breakout star of last year’sdrawn Ashes campaign in England, scored 100 off51 balls when opening in a T20 practice game onTuesday.

But with Finch and David Warner establishedas an opening pair and star batsman Steve Smitha powerful presence in the top order, the 26-year-old may be unable to force his way intoAustralia’s side to play England.

The first game in a three-match T20 seriesbetween the two top-ranked teams in the for-mat takes place in Southampton on Friday.

“We’re pretty settled with how we struc-ture our T20 side at the moment,” Finch tolda conference call on Thursday. “He(Labuschagne) played nicely the other day,but I think he might have to wait a little bitlonger in T20 cricket.”

Wicketkeeper Alex Carey struck 107 inthe same innings as Labuschagne, while all-

��0����The Chennai Super Kingssquad, barring the two players whotested positive for coronavirus lastweek, is likely to train from Fridaysubject to clearance after a secondround of testing was conducted onThursday.

“Tests were done today. Resultswill come late night or tomorrowmorning,” a CSK official told PTI.

Earlier, CSK CEO KasiViswanathan had said that the teamwill start training from Friday afterthe second round of testing.

The coronavirus-free playerswere made to undergo two addi-tional tests after 13 cases were con-firmed last week, delaying theteam’s training.

��� � �9�

Gareth Bale will consider areturn to the Premier

League if his current club RealMadrid allow him to end hisstint in Spain, the Wales inter-national has said.

The 31-year-old was on theverge of leaving for Chinese clubJiangsu Suning last year beforethe deal fell through, and hebarely featured for Real in theirrun to the La Liga title when thecampaign resumed after theCovid-19 stoppage.

Despite winning fourChampions League titles withReal, Bale has divided opinionin Spain because of a perceivedlack of commitment and poorinjury record.

“If those options (interestfrom Premier League clubs)arise, it’s something I’d look at forsure,” Bale, who made 146Premier League appearancesfor Tottenham Hotspur between2007 and 2014 before moving toMadrid, told Sky Sports.

“We’ll see what hap-pens. We have plenty oftime in this transfer win-dow and a couple of othersas well. Time will tellbut mainly I think thereason is that the deci-sion is in Real Madrid’shands.”

Bale, who hasjoined up with theWales squad aheadof their upcomingNations League

games against Finland andBulgaria, said he was happy tobe back in an environmentwhere he felt “a little bit moreappreciated”.

“I tried to leave last year, but(Real) blocked everything atthe last second,” he added.

“There have been otherinstances where we have triedto go but the club won’t allowit or they’ve done something.

It’s down to the club.“I am only 31 still,

but I feel I am in greatshape still and feel likeI have a lot to give. Wewill see what hap-pens. It’s in the club’shands, but they make

things very difficult tobe honest.”

rounder Glenn Maxwell hit108 in a 50-over warm-upmatch.

Top-ranked T20 sideAustralia also face England,the world champions in 50-overcricket, in three one-day inter-nationals later this month.

“It’s been a really good hitout the last few days,” saidFinch. “Obviously with Maxwellgetting a hundred, Marnus,

Alex Carey all getting hundredsin two different formats is real-ly pleasing.”

DESPERATE TO BEATEngland pacer Mark Wood

has said the team is desperateto beat their Ashes rivals in theupcoming limited overs series.

“It’s always good when youplay for England — don’t get mewrong — but there’s an extraincentive when you playAustralia — your biggest rivals,”Sky Sports quoted Wood astelling reporters.

“They’re desperate to beatyou; you’re desperate to beatthem. It doesn’t matter if it’sAshes, white-ball, T20; we’ll bedesperate to beat them.”

������ ��������

As India skipper, SouravGanguly was very keen to

have Mahendra Singh Dhoniin the national team for thehistoric tour of Pakistan in2004, but the dashing wicket-keeper-batsman missed thebus by the skin of his teeth,John Wright, who was Indiacoach at the time, has dis-closed to IANS.

Parthiv Patel was chosenfor the three-Test series, thefirst to be played against Indiain Pakistan after 15 years,and Rahul Dravid kept thewickets in the five One-dayInternationals.

"Dhoni nearly toured withus to Pakistan [in 2004].Sourav was very keen to havehim in the squad. He was onthe borderline, and it was oneof those decisions that couldhave gone either way. As itturned out, we selected a suc-cessful Test team, and he did-n't make it," Wright told IANSin an interview, paying richtribute to Dhoni. India wonthe three-Test series 2-1 andthe five-ODI series 3-2.

"That was obviously whenDhoni had started to comeinto discussions at the nation-al level. Sourav had very goodthings to say about him andalways encouraged youngsterswho came into the set-up. Butyou never know how thingswould have worked out [forDhoni had he been picked forthe Pakistan tour].

That's when I first startedto hear about him," recalledWright, who had a five-yearstint (2000-2005) as the firstforeign coach of India.

Dhoni eventually madehis One-day Internationaldebut in December 2004,against Bangladesh inChittagong, aged 23 years and169 days.

And he made his Testdebut in December 2005,against Sri Lanka in Chennai,when he was 24 years and 148days old. The man fromRanchi went on to become

one of the most successfulIndia captains in the twoshorter formats of the game —ODI and T20. Besides, hewas a reliable hard-hittingbatsman and specialised inchasing down winning targetswith ridiculous ease in the twoformats.

"And Dhoni seemed to bereading the game an overahead. That's always a sign ofa good, strategic captaincy,"former New Zealand captainWright said from his homecity Christchurch. "He's obvi-ously one of India's greatestcaptains along with one or twoin the Modern Era. He hascertainly been fantastic forIndia. His record speaks foritself."

Dhoni led India in 200 ofthe 350 ODIs he played, for 55percent success. In T20Internationals, he captainedthe country in 72 of the 98matches for 58.33 per centsuccess. And, he was captainin 60 of the 90 Tests andended up with 45 per cent suc-cess.

Also, Dhoni won all threeICC trophies as India captain— World T20 in 2007, 50-overWorld Cup in 2011, and 50-over Champions Trophy in2013. The dashing cricketerretired from internationalcricket last month after ahighly successful 14-yearinternational career, but con-tinues to captain ChennaiSuper Kings in the IndianPremier League.

While recalling his associ-ation with Dhoni, Wrightpointed out that he was withthe dasher for a short time,but said he was highlyimpressed by many aspects ofthe youngster's cricket intelli-gence and personality.

"It was obvious that Dhoniwas not only a very giftedcricketer but also an extreme-ly intelligent one. He was avery good listener who didn'tsay much in his first series[under me], but was observ-ing and learning all the time.

I thought at the time that

he had a big future in front ofhim," said the articulate for-mer left-handed opening bats-man.

Was Dhoni a born leaderor worked himself up for cap-taincy? "I can't make thatjudgement because I wasn'tthere [for long to see him cap-tain]. He just played just oneseries [under me as coach].What I heard from afar wasthat he didn't have any diffi-culty in taking the reins overwhen there were more expe-rienced players in the side andthey seemed to respect hisleadership which is always asign of leadership ability,"Wright said.

The former New Zealandcaptain seems most impressedby Dhoni's ability to changegears while batting and adaptto different situations of agame — something that hewitnessed in India's homeODI series against Pakistan in2005.

"He got a hundred in hiscareer 's f i f th One-dayInternational [ inVisakhapatnam] whileVirender Sehwag looked quiteslow. That was a brilliantinnings. It was one of thosehundreds for which youwould stand and say: "Thisguy is very special'," he saidreferring to Dhoni's brisk 123-ball 148.

"And in the fourth ODI,came in after openers SachinTendulkar and Sehwag hadput on a good stand and hecame in at No.3. The mostinteresting thing was that hewas quite happy just to rotatethe strike and give the bats-man who was in, and Ithought that it was reallyintelligent and smart cricket.

And that was one of hischaracteristics — not only asa cricketer but as a leader, par-ticularly in one-day cricket,throughout his career.Technically he was verysound," emphasised Wright.Dhoni scored 64-ball 47 inAhmedabad, though Pakistanwon the game.

����� ��������

Three senior male wrestlers,including world champi-

onship Silver-medallistDeepak Punia, have testedpositive for Covid-19, theSports Authority of India (SAI)said on Thursday.

Besides the Olympic-bound Punia (86kg), the othertwo wrestlers who have testedpositive for the virus are Navin(65kg) and Krishan (125kg).All three are part of a nation-al camp at the SAI Centre inSonipat ahead of which thewrestlers are in quarantine.

“Three senior men’swrestlers, who had reported to

the National Wrestling Campat SAI Centre in Sonepat,have tested positive forCovid -19 virus,” the nodalsports body said in a state-ment.

They have beenmoved to a SAIempanelled hospi-tal as a precaution-ary measure forfurther monitor-ing.

Punia said heis asymptomatic.

“I don’t haveany symptomsand I don’t feelanything unusualin my body. I am

perfectly alright, I don’t knowhow I tested positive. I amjust now waiting for anoth-er test after two days. I amnot worried,” Punia said.

All wrestlers were test-ed, upon arrival, as

per the SAI SOPfor resumption ofsports activities.

As per pro-tocol, allwrestlers alongwith the coach-es and supportstaff under-went themandatory RT-PCR test todetect Covid-19

on arrival.When contacted, the

Wrestling Federation of India(WFI) Assistant SecretaryVinod Tomar said the campwill go ahead as planned.

“They (the three) will betested again after two days andif they return negative tests,they will be brought back,” hesaid

“There is no threat to thenational camp. It will contin-ue. The wrestlers will begintraining only after they com-plete their quarantine periodof 14 days,” Tomar added.

All the wrestlers assem-bled for the camp onSeptember 1.

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India’s Divij Sharan and hisSerbian partner Nikola Cacic

fought hard before going down inthree sets to eighth seeds NikolaMektic and Wesley Koolhof in thefirst round of the US Open men’sdoubles event.

Sharan and Cacic lost 4-6, 6-3, 3-6 against Croatia’s Mektic andKoolhof of the Netherlands in atough contest that lasted onehour and 46 minutes onWednesday.

Inconsistency in servesplayed a big role in Sharan and

Cacic not being able to cash in ontheir comeback in the second seton Wednesday. The pair made apoor start to the match but madeup for it by forcing the game intoa decider with a dominant 6-3win in the second set.

The winners will next playItaly’s Simone Bolelli and MaximoGonzalez of Argentina.

The other Indian in the men’sdoubles draw — Rohan Bopanna— and his Canadian partnerDenis Shapovalov will take onErnesto Escobedo and NoahRubin of the United States in thefirst round.

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