2020/11/02 · (NIV) using inactivated Sars-Cov-2, the virus that causes Covid-19. The virus was iso-lated in an ICMR lab. The firm said its immedi-ate focus is to conduct the

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Describing Rashtriya JanataDal (RJD)-Congress

“Mahagathbandhan” combineas an “alliance of dynasts”,Prime Minister Narendra Modion Sunday hit out at theOpposition saying they wereonly concerned about theirown families. He urged peopleof Bihar not to allow the Statego “sick again” and see the “dif-ference” between the “JungleRaj and Sushasan”.

Kicking off the second-phase of his election campaignin Bihar, the PM claimed thatthe first round of the poll“indicates NDA victory”.

“Voter turnout in phase oneelections on Wednesday provesthat the NDA Governmentunder Chief Minister NitishKumar is returning to power,”said Modi in his first rally inChapra, the political bastion ofLalu Prasad, the RJD leaderserving a prison sentence incorruption cases.

The turnout was around 54per cent on first-phase votingon October 28. In the secondphase, voting for 94 seats willbe held on November 3. In thethird phase, 78 seats will go topolls on November 7. Countingwill take place on November10. In a stinging jibe at RJDleader Tejashwi Yadav as

“yuvraj of Jungle Raj” and for-mer Congress president RahulGandhi, another Yuvraj whom“people have already tested”,Modi said the contest isbetween “double Yuvraj versusdouble engine” in Bihar.

The PM addressed fourrallies in Bihar that is the firstState voting amidst the coron-avirus pandemic.

“Bihar will re-elect the“double engine” Governmentof Janata Dal United and theBharatiya Janata Party,” saidModi alleging the Oppositionwill bring back “Jungle Raj”. Hesaid the public response dur-ing the Bihar Assembly elec-tions clearly indicated that the

new Government in the Statewill again be formed underChief Minister Nitish Kumar’sleadership.

In Samastipur, his secondrally of the day, the PM againclaimed every assessment waspredicting NDA victory inBihar. He urged people to votefor the NDA alliance.

Tejashawi’s public ralliesare, however, witnessing hugepublic attendance making poll

observers hold their horsesuntil the last phase of the pollin the State. “What have thesefamily-oriented parties workingonly for themselves given you?If big bungalows are beingbuilt, whom are they built for?If palaces are built, whom arethey for? If a large number ofvehicles worth crores of rupeeshave arrived, who gets them,”the PM asked people at the rally.

“Today, if every assess-

ment, every survey is claimingNDA victory, there is a strongreason for it. Our mothers andsisters are again helping toform another NDAGovernment in Bihar,” he said.

Modi stressed on the dif-ference between what he called‘Jungle Raj’ and ‘development’. He cautionedthe people of Bihar againstgoing back to the days of being‘bimar’.

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Hizbul Mujahideen’s ChiefOperational Commander

Saifullah alias Ghazi Haider(code name) was gunned downby the joint team of securityforces in Rangreth of Srinagarlate Sunday afternoon withoutsuffering any collateral damage.

Resident of Malangpora, hewas one of the most wanted ter-rorists in Kashmir Valley andas directly involved in severalattacks on the security forces,according to the police records.

He was active since 2014 inValley and became operationalcommander of the pro-Pakistan terrorist outfit inKashmir in May 2020 after theelimination of Reyaz Naikoo,former HM commander.

Official sources said, “LateSaturday evening the intelli-gence network of the Jammu &Kashmir police had sharedinformation about the presenceof one of the top commandersin the Rangreth area. The oper-ation was launched late Sundayafternoon after rushing sepa-rate teams in the area.”

Inspector General ofPolice, Kashmir range VijayKumar said, “This is a hugesuccess for the police and secu-rity forces.”

Kumar said, “During thesearch operation, the terroristwas given the opportunity tosurrender, however, he fired indiscriminately uponthe joint search party, whichwas retaliated leading to anencounter.

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Army Chief General M MNaravane’s three-day visit

to Nepal starting on Tuesdayand his meeting with PrimeMinister KP Sharma Oli islikely to paper over the con-troversy over road constructionin Uttrakhand. The road inLipulekh in Uttarakhand wasinaugurated in May leading tomass protests in Nepal and cooling down of relationsbetween two traditionalfriends.

Defence Minister RajnathSingh had inaugurated theroad in May. It reduces the trav-el time to Kailash Mansarovarpilgrimage by several km.

Nepal said the road wasconstructed in its territorybut New Delhi all along main-tained it was well within itsboundary and some kilome-ters away from the Line ofActual Control (LAC) withChina there.

Besides mass protest,Nepal also issued a new mapthat showed Kalapani,Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura,all controlled by India, as partof Nepalese territory therebyheightening tension betweenthe two countries.

In a seminar then,Naravane said the protests werebeing held at the behest of“someone else” in obvious ref-erence to China.

Taking exception to thesecomments by the Army Chief,Nepalese Defence MinisterIshwar Pokhrel had said they“hurt the sentiments of theNepali Gurkha army personnelwho lay down their lives to pro-tect India.”

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Hyderabad-based BharatBiotech in all likelihood

will launch its vaccine,“Covaxin” for Covid-19 in thesecond quarter next year, thepharma manufacturer said onSunday.

The company’s vaccine hasbeen developed in collabora-tion with the Indian Council ofMedical Research (ICMR)-National Institute of Virology(NIV) using inactivated Sars-Cov-2, the virus that causesCovid-19. The virus was iso-lated in an ICMR lab.

The firm said its immedi-ate focus is to conduct thephase 3 trials successfullyacross sites in the country. “Ifwe get all the approvals afterestablishing strong experi-mental evidence and data, andefficacy and safety data in ourlast stage of trials, we aim tolaunch the vaccine in Q2 of2021,” said the company in astatement.

After the company received

approval from the DrugsController General of India(DCGI) to conduct phase 3clinical trial to establish the effi-cacy of the vaccine candidate,it has begun site preparatoryexercises for phase 3, recruit-ment and dosage will begin inNovember.

“The trial to be conductedin 25 to 30 sites across 13-14States, will provide two doseseach for the vaccine and place-bo recipients. About 2,000 sub-jects could be enrolled perhospital,” it said.

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Chhattisgarh is setting amodel for the country by

protecting farmers, labourers,women, youth and children,and Team Chhattisgarh isworking with a new vision, for-mer Congress President RahulGandhi said on Sunday.

He was virtually addressingthe launch of three schemes tomark the state’s FoundationDay when the third installmentof ‘Rajiv Gandhi Kisan NyayYojana’ was disbursed and theSwami Atmanand EnglishMedium School Scheme andthe Mobile Hospital-cum-Laboratory scheme werelaunched.

Gandhi said the Covid-19pandemic had unleashed toughtimes across the country direct-ly impacting the farmers,labourers, small and retailtraders, women and youth.

“Farmers’ suicide hasbecome a regular feature... Weshould not accept it. Theirinterests are needed to be pro-tected by standing with them asthey are the foundation of the

country. If they are weakened,it will bring down the wholesystem of the country,” he said.

Gandhi appreciated thesteps taken for health care inthe state by learning from thebest models across the world.

On English mediumschools, Gandhi said: “Englisheducation will open avenues tochildren around the world.Hindi and local languages areimportant but English pro-vides global opportunity.”

The Prime Minister wasurged to re-think on the threelaws to plug in the shortcom-ings of the Agriculture Produce

Markets (Mandi) andMinimum Support Price(MSP), the Congress leadersaid.

He said Chhattisgarh haswater, land and forests in plen-ty. It is not a poor state but thepeople are poor.

So, the government shouldfocus on putting resources inthe hands of the weakest sec-tions of the society includingfarmers and workers. It shouldnot go into the hands of one ortwo persons. The resourcesshould be utilized to buildschools, colleges and employ-ment sources for youth.

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Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh StateAssembly Secretariat soughtsecurity for Protem SpeakerRameshwar Sharma after heallegedly received threats onsocial media for opposing arecent protest held in the cityagainst the French President.

State Assembly's SecurityOfficer wrote a letter in thisregard to the Director Generalof Police (DGP) on Sunday, anofficial said.

The letter said that theprotem speaker's personal sec-retary reported about thethreats received for his recentstatement against the protest.

On Thursday, the membersof the Muslim community had

held a protest at Bhopal's IqbalMaidan against FrenchPresident Emmanuel Macronover the controversy about thedepiction of ProphetMuhammad in cartoons.

After the protest, Sharmahad said in a statement that theprotesters created an atmos-phere of fear in India by show-ing Islamic fundamentalismand it would have been betterif the protest was held in Franceas the issue is related to thatcountry.

Following this statement,Sharma received threats onFacebook from different users,the letter said.

He was threatened that he

would meet the same fate asthat of Hindu Samaj Partypresident Kamlesh Tiwari, itsaid, adding that those threat-ened also used abusive lan-guage against him.

Tiwari was killed inLucknow in October last year.

In the letter, the DGP wasurged to ensure security of theprotem speaker in the wake ofthe threats.

The officer also urged thepolice to take action againstthose who threatened the pro-tem speaker.

Meanwhile, commentingon the threats, Sharma said, "Iam a devotee of Shri Ram. I donot mind such threats." PTI

Chandigarh: A day after UttarPradesh Chief Minister YogiAdityanath announced his gov-ernment would bring a lawagainst "love jehad", his Haryanacounterpart M L Khattar said hisgovernment is also consideringlegal provisions against it toensure "the guilty cannot escape".

Citing the recent murder of astudent in Faridabad'sBallabhgarh, Khattar said theincident is being linked to "lovejehad", a derogatory coinage usedby right-wing activists to refer tothe alleged campaign of Muslimsforcing Hindu girls to convert inthe guise of love.Earlier in the day,Haryana Home Minister Anil Vijtweeted the state government "iscontemplating a law against lovejehad".

Speaking to reporters in

Karnal, Khattar said, "This(Ballabhgarh) incident needs to bestrongly condemned. This inci-dent is being seen linked with thelove jehad issue... Both the Centreand the state government aretaking the love jihad issue veryseriously."

"The Centre and the state gov-ernment are looking into thisissue and legal advice is beingtaken so that such incidents arenot repeated. Legal provisions arebeing contemplated so that theguilty cannot escape and no inno-cent person is punished," he said.

Last week, a 21-year-old col-lege student, Nikita, was shot deadin Ballabhgarh by a man. The vic-tim's family has alleged that theman was pressuring her to con-vert to Islam in order to marryhim. PTI

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Kohima: Nagaland for thefifth consecutive Day onSunday reported more recov-eries than fresh COVID-19cases as 79 people were curedof the disease while 28 newinfections pushed the tally to9,075, a health departmentofficial said. T h estate's COVID-19 recoveryrate has risen to 82.12 percent, the official said.

The new COVID-19cases were reported fromDimapur Kohima, Mon andLongleng districts.

"28 positive cases ofCOVID-19 detected todayDimapur 22, Kohima 4, Monand Longleng districts oneeach, Also, 79 positive patientshave recovered Dimapur 71,Mon 5, Peren 3," Health and

Family Welfare minister SPangnyu Phom tweeted.

Of the total 9,075COVID-19 cases, 1,499 areactive cases while7,454 peoplehave recovered from the dis-ease, said Additional Directorof Health Department, DrDenis Hangsing in the dailyCOVID-19 bulletin.

The state has so farreported death of 41 COVID-19 infected patients of which33 are due to contagion, sixare not related to COVID-19and two are under investiga-tion, he said.Altogether 81 COVID-19patients have migrated toother states, he said.

Dimapur district has thehighest number of COVID-19cases at 5,070 followed by

Kohima (2,694), Mon (496),Peren (306), Tuensang (152),Zunheboto (138),Mokokchung (113), Phek(36), Wokha (29), Kiphire(23) and Longleng (18).

Of the total COVID-19cases in the state, 3,950 arearmed forces or security per-sonnel, 3,025 are traced con-tacts, 1,658 returnees fromother states and 442 frontlineworkers, he said.

A total of 98,575 sampleshave been tested for COVID-19 in the state so far, hesaid.

A total of 60,941 sampleshave been tested through RT-PCR, while 33,690 samples onTruNat and 3,944 on RapidAntigen Test in the state, saidDr Hangsing. PTI

Amaravati:Another 2,618 cases wereadded to Andhra Pradeshs COVID-19tally on Sunday, taking the gross to8,25,966. A total of 3,509 patientsrecovered from the disease while 16more succumbed in 24 hours ending 9am on Sunday.

The latest bulletin said the state nowhas 23,668 active cases after a total of7,95,592 recoveries and 6,706 deaths.

Chittoor district reported the high-est number of cases with 423, followedby Guntur 387, Krishna 328, WestGodavari 296, East Godavari 291 andPrakasam 255 in 24 hours.

Kadapa and Anantapuramu dis-tricts added 125 and 123 respectively,while five others reported less than 100each, with 40 in Kurnool being the low-est. Krishna saw four fresh COVID-19fatalities and Chittoor and Guntur threeeach, the bulletin added. PTI

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Chandigarh: Punjab BJP president AshwaniSharma on Sunday accused Chief MinisterAmarinder Singh of misleading farmers andinstigating them to agitation over theCentre's new farm laws.

In a statement here, the BJP presidentsaid Punjab farmers were being calculatedlymisinformed and misled by the chief min-ister only to gain a political mileage and tocover up his incompetence.

Sharma said goods and passenger trainsare not coming to Punjab because the chiefminister has miserably failed to maintain lawand order.

"On the one hand, he is instigating farm-ers to intensify their agitation, on theother, he is blaming the Centre for not allow-ing trains in the state. It reflects the chiefminister's blatant hypocrisy and petty polit-ical gameplan,” said the state BJP president.

If any losses are happening to the statedue to inoperative goods trains, it is the chief

minister who is solely responsible for it, hesaid.

Lashing out at the Punjab governmentfor allegedly failing to remove the railwayblockades, he said it is preposterous the wayPunjab chief minister is shifting the blameto the Centre.

Sharma said the BJP had never equat-ed farmers with Naxals.

"Farmers are the lifeline of the coun-try and the legislations brought out by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi are meant toempower farmers to an extent that theirincome is doubled," he said.

The BJP, he said, had been solicitingcooperation from the chief minister to edu-cate farmers in the right perspective and tokeep the law and order situation under con-trol.

"But the chief minister is eyeing pettypolitical gains and is indulging in mislead-ing hyperbole,” said the BJP president. PTI

Bhopal: On the last day of cam-paigning for Madhya Pradesh assem-bly bypolls, state Congress chiefKamal Nath on Sunday accused theBJP dispensation in the state of reduc-ing the retirement age of Class-IV gov-ernment employees, which ChiefMinister Shivraj Singh Chouhandubbed as a "rumour".

In a tweet, Nath said the rulingBJP has brought down the age ofretirement of Class-IV employeesfrom 62 years to 60 years, promptingthe BJP government to issue a clari-fication about it.

"The decision by the Shivraj SinghChouhan government to reduce theretirement age of Class IV employeesfrom 62 years to 60 years again. Thisis deception with Class IV employees.This decision will create a crisis forthem," Nath said in on the micro-blogging site.

Chouhan replied to the Congressleader's tweet saying, "You are spread-ing rumours seeing the imminentdefeat of Congress (in the by-elec-tions). This disgusting work can onlybe done by you and your party."

Chouhan said that the state gov-

ernments order was only meant forthe temporary class-fourthemployees appointed in the ministersstaff.

"On the contrary, the state gov-ernment has increased the age limitfor such employees (appointed in min-ister's staff during their tenure) to 60-years, which was so far 40- years," hesaid.

Later in the day, the state gov-ernment's General AdministrationDepartment issued a clarification inthis regard.

It said that there is no change inthe age limit for Class IV employees,except for those appointed tem-porarily in the minister's staff duringtheir tenure.

Nath later thanked the govern-ment for the clarification and said thatthe Congress would continue to fightfor the rights of the employees. PTI

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Agartala:Tripura's COVID-19tally rose to 30,794 on Sundayas 77 more people tested pos-itive for the infection, a healthdepartment official said.

Tripura at present has 1,403active COVID-19 cases, while29,025 people have recoveredfrom the disease and 23patients have migrated to otherstates, he said.

The state has so far report-ed 343 COVID-19 deaths, theofficial said.

As many as 4,59,894 sam-ples have been tested forCOVID-19 in the state so far,he said, adding that 2,72,711samples were tested by

Rapid Antigen Test (RAT)and 1,87,183 by RTPCRmethod. PTI

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Ahmedabad: Campaigning for theNovember 3 Bypolls to eight Assemblyseats in Gujarat ended on Sunday evening,with both the major political parties- theruling BJP as well as the oppositionCongress- claiming to make a cleansweep.

Bypolls to Abdasa, Limbdi, Morbi,Dhari, Gadhada, Karjan, Dang andKaprada were necessitated after sittingMLAs quit the Congress and the Assembly,five of them joining the BJP later.

For the BJP, Chief Minister VijayRupani, state unit chief C R Paatil, Unionministers Smriti Irani, MansukhMandaviya and Purshottam Rupala cam-paigned.

Paatil addressed rallies in four seats,while Irani campaigned for MorbiAssembly candidate Brijesh Merja whohad quit Congress to join the BJP.

For the Congress, the campaign work-load was shared by state working presidentHardik Patel, who toured all eight seatsextensively, and Amit Chavda, PareshDhanani, Arjun Modhwadiya, SiddharthPatel, Tushar Chaudhry and ManishDoshi.

Its Gujarat in-charge Rajeev Satavaddressed rallies in four seats.

The BJP has fielded PradyumnsinhJadeja from Abdasa, Kiritsinh Rana from

Limbdi, Brijesh Merja from Morbi, J VKakadiya from Dhari, Atmaram Parmarfrom Gadhada, Akshay Patel from Karjan,Vijay Patel from Dang and JitubhaiChaudhary for Kaprada.

They are up against the Congress'Shantilal Sendhani (Abdasa), ChetanKhachar (Limbdi), Jayantilal Patel (Morbi),Suresh Kotadiya (Dhari), Mohan Solanki(Gadhada), Kiritsinh Jadeja (Karjan),Suryakant Gavit (Dang) and BabubhaiPatel (Kaprada).

A total of 81 candidates are inthe fray for the eight seats, including 51independents, with Limbdi leading with14 candidates and Kaprada, a ScheduledTribe-reserved seat, at the other end withjust four. Twelve candidates each are in thefray from Morbi and Gadhada, 11 fromDhari, 10 in Abdasa, and nine each inKarjan and Dang.

The Bharatiya Tribal Party has field-ed two candidates on Dang, an ST-reserved seat, and Karjan.

Parties like Bahujan Maha Party,Bahujan Mukti Party, Bharatiya JanaParishad, Akhil Bharatiya Rajarya Sabha,All India Majlish-e-Inqulab-e-Millat,Rashtravadi Jana Chetna, Yuva Jan Jagruti,Vyavastha Parivartan Party, and RashtriyaJankranti Party have also fielded a few can-didates. PTI

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Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa onSunday assured the people of creating more

jobs for Kannadigas (natives) and promotingKannada with its culture on the state's formationday.

"The state government will soon announce aspecial package to create more jobs for Kannadigasand promote their language (Kannada) and cul-ture," said Yediyurappa after inaugurating'Rajyotsava' to celebrate the southern state's 65thFormation Day.

Inaugurating the day-long celebrations atKanteerava stadium in the city marking the occa-sion, the Chief Minister said the state wouldobserve 'Kannada Kayaka Varsha' till October 2021to promote the native language Kannada and itsrich cultural heritage.

"We will hold smart programmes on the usageof Kannada to protect and develop it in this dig-ital age across the state," asserted Yediyurappa. Thestate government will promote the use of Kannadaas the official and administrative language for theservice of people.

Referring to the implementation of theNational Education Policy (NEP) across the coun-try, the Chief Minister said its implementation inthe state would also strengthen Kannada as themedium of instruction in mother tongue.

"Let us pledge to protect our Kannada lan-guage and culture for a prosperous, healthy, co-existent and developing Karnataka," reiteratedYediyurappa.

During the reorganisation of states across thecountry, Karnataka was formed on November 1,1956 by joining Kannada-speaking areas in theDeccan plateau spanning the erstwhile princelyMysuru region in the Madras Presidency, north-

west region in the Bombay province, northernregion in the Hyderabad state and Malnadregion in the state's central parts.

Kannada litterateurs like K. Shivaram Karanth,Kuvempu, Masti Venkatesha Iyengar, A.N. KrishnaRao and B.M. Srikantaiah are credited for unify-ing the regions into a state. Though the state wasoriginally christened as 'Mysore', it was renamedas Karnataka on November 1, 1973 giving it a dis-tinctive identity.

"The Chief Minister hoisted the state flag atthe Kanteerava stadium following the Centre's guidelines to contain the Covid-19 pan-demic," an official told IANS. Owing to restric-tions on large gathering in public places, only 100people were allowed to participate in the mainfunction.

Karnataka Education Minister S. SureshKumar was also present on the occasion.

Yediyurappa made floral offerings to Hindugoddess Bhuveneshwari, considered as the moth-er of the southern state, at his official residence'Kaveri' in the city centre.

The state flag was also hoisted at rooftops ofoffices, houses and public buildings in cities andtowns across the state.

The state's anthem (nada geeta) -- "JayaBharata Jananiya Tanujate", penned by notedKannada poet and Jnanpith awardee Kuvempu,was also rendered on the occasion.

Ruling Bharatiya Janata Party state unitPresident Nalin Kumar Kateel, state Cabinet min-isters, leaders of the Opposition, Congress and theJanata Dal-Secular, including former PrimeMinister H.D. Deve Gowda, participated in thecelebration.

The state government also selected 60 per-sonalities in 35 diverse fields across the state hon-ouring them with the 'Rajyotsava civilian' awards,

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The national capital record-ed a minimum temperature

of 11.4 degrees Celsius onSunday morning, the lowestthis season so far, according tothe India MeteorologicalDepartment. Normally,the Safdarjung Observatory,which provides representativedata for the city, records a min-imum of 15 to 16 degreesCelsius in the first week ofNovember. The mercury dipsto 11-12 degrees Celsius by thelast week of November, it said.

Kuldeep Srivastava,the head of the regional fore-casting centre of IMD, said theabsence of cloud cover was themajor reason for the low min-

imum temperature. Clouds trap some of the out-going infrared radiation andradiate it back downward,warming the ground. Anotherreason is calm winds, whichallow formation of mist andfog, Srivastava said.There hasn't been much snow-fall in the hills, so cold windsfrom that region are yet to startaffecting Delhi's weather, headded. The month ofOctober was the coolest in 58years in the national capital,according to IMD.The mean minimum temper-ature in October this year was17.2 degrees Celsius, the low-est since 1962, when it was 16.9degrees Celsius, it said. Normally, Delhi records a

mean minimum temperatureof 19.1 degrees Celsius inOctober. The city recorded amean minimum temperatureof 17.5 degrees Celsius inOctober 2007, according toIMD. On Thursday, Delhirecorded a minimum temper-ature of 12.5 degrees Celsius -- the lowest in October in 26years. The last time Delhirecorded such a low tempera-ture in October was in 1994.The national capital hadrecorded a minimum of 12.3degrees Celsius on October31, 1994, according to IMDdata. The city recordedthe all-time lowest temperature(9.4 degrees Celsius) onOctober 31, 1937, Srivastavasaid.

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With itching in eyes andsour throats, residents

of the national Capital facedtough time as rising values ofnoxious pollutants createdbreathing problems.Meanwhile, pollution moni-toring agencies have issuedalert and advised people to stayindoors and avoid outdoorphysical activities.

Saturday saw 3,216 stubbleburning cases - season’s high-est; Sunday was the worst dayof this winter season whenthere was no fog and value ofParticulate Matters (PM) 2.5escalated with addition of halfburned agriculture residue.

The Air Quality Index(AQI) also recorded 381 micro-grams per cubic of pollutants inthe air on the National AmbientAir Quality Index(NAAQI).The values ofParticulate Matter 10 and 2.5was also recorded 366 and 225.

As per System of AirQuality and WeatherForecasting Research (SAFAR)a unit of Ministry of EarthSciences (MoES), in spite ofwhat improved wind condi-tions, air quality has not pro-gressed as expected due tohigh stubble-related intrusionand trapping of pollutants dur-

ing night time due to low wintertime boundary layerheight.

Citing MeT factors, it said,it has not deteriorated furtherin spite of continued favorableNorth-North-Westerly bound-ary level wind direction.”

“The highly favorable con-ditions for fire-related intrusionin Delhi expected to continue.”

The SAFAR synergizedstubble fire counts over Punjab,Haryana, UP, Uttarakhand, andneighboring areas impactingDelhi air, stood at 3216, Stubble

burning share in PM2.5 hasincreased and is estimated as 40per cent, the highest of the sea-son,” SAFAR monitored.

In its bulletin on air qual-ity, SAFAR said,” A better ven-tilation condition is forecastedfor the next two days. However,the SAFAR model predicts thatAQI is likely to improve onlymarginally (within Very poor)for today and tomorrow whichis now becoming dependent onstubble fire episodes.”

“It is set to marginallydeteriorate on November 3rd.

In summary, increased localsurface wind speed with fasterdispersion conditions is coun-teracting on 2 counts, namely,increased fire-related emissionand accumulated intrusionmass load. Increased fire-relat-ed emission than existing con-ditions may lead to deteriora-tion of AQI.”

Meanwhile, AQI in differ-ent region was fluctuatedbetween 523 and 805. In RKPuram, AQI was recorded 472,Mandir Marg 523, AnandVihar 856.

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The air quality remained‘very poor’ in Noida,

Greater Noida, Ghaziabad,Gurugram and Faridabad inthe National Capital Region(NCR) on Sunday, according toa Government agency.

Concentration of major airpollutants PM 2.5 and PM 10also remained high in the fiveimmediate neighbours ofDelhi, according to the airquality index (AQI) main-tained by the Central PollutionControl Board (CPCB).

According to the index, anAQI between 0 and 50 is con-sidered ‘good’, 51 and 100 ‘sat-isfactory’, 101 and 200 ‘mod-erate’, 201 and 300 ‘poor’, 301and 400 ‘very poor’ and 401and 500 ‘severe’.

The average 24-hour AQIwas 388 in Greater Noida, 384in both Noida and Ghaziabad,354 in Faridabad and 306 inGurugram, according to theCPCB’s Sameer app at 4 pm onSunday.

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RAIPUR | MONDAY | NOVEMBER 2, 2020chhattisgarh 03

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel dedicates the beautification work of Vivekananda Sarovar (Budhatalab) on Sunday evening to mark the State ‘Foundation Day’. Minister of Urban Development andAdministration Dr Shiv Dahariya is also seen. Pioneer Photo

STAFF REPORTER nRAIGARH

Chhattisgarh Police onSunday arrested three per-

sons for operating an IPL bet-ting racket from a house inKharsia town in Raigarh dis-trict.

Raigarh Superintendentof Police Santosh Singh toldThe Pioneer that the arrest-ed men were Alok Agrawal,Satish Goyal and AjayKumar Agrawal, all resi-dents of Kharsia in the dis-trict.

Police seized threemobile phones, a laptop, Rs95,250 in cash and bettingrecords detailing transac-

tions of Rs 45 lakh fromthem, Singh said.

They had bet on the IPLmatch played between DelhiCapitals and Mumbai

Indians on Saturday night.Police have arrested 20

persons so far for operatingIPL betting rackets inRaigarh district.

Three arrested for operating

IPL betting racket in Raigarh

STAFF REPORTER nRAIPUR

After the formation of theCongress government,

the performance of eachdepartment in Chhattisgarhhas scaled up to win awards atnational level and accoladesfrom NITI Aayog, said ChiefMinister Bhupesh Baghel onSunday.

He was addressing the‘Rajyotosav 2020’ function athis official residence premisesto mark the state's FoundationDay after the State Awardfelicitation ceremony.

Baghel admitted thatthere were at present certainshortcomings but insistedthese would be plugged withenhanced performance in thecoming years.

Even amid Covid-19,Chhattisgarh has bettered in

GST collection in Septemberby 24 percent and in Octoberit was 14 percent higher thanthe national average.

Bihar has 12 percent

unemployment butChhattisgarh recorded only 2percent unemployment. Allthese performances are due tothe robust policy followed by

the state government, he said.The target is to put

money in the pockets of poorpeople, said the ChiefMinister. He added that the

recession across the countryafter lockdown did not affectChhattisgarh.

Referring to the procure-ment of cow dung, he said thesituation now is that even alandless gets Rs 1,000 permonth. It has set a tradition ofbetter care of cows as people arenow feeding them. Soon, thecattle will be out of the roads.

Chhattisgarh GovernorAnusuiya Uikey, virtuallyaddressing the event, recalledthe progress made by the stateafter its formation. Under theCongress government thestate is making a mark at thenational and internationallevels.

Assembly Speaker DrCharandas Mahant andLeader of Opposition in theAssembly Dharamlal Kaushikalso addressed the gathering.


On Chhattisgarh'sFoundation Day, Chief

Minister Bhupesh Baghel onSunday felicitated toppers ofClass 10 and 12 in the Boardexam at his official residencein Raipur.

He encouraged them byproviding tablets, laptops andfinancial aid for their highereducation. The laptops andtablets were provided by RajyaSabha MP Vivek Tankha, anofficial press release said.

At the event, 12th Boardtopper Tikesh Vaishnav ofMungeli was given a laptopand Rs 5 lakh for highereducation. Class 10 topperPragyan Thakur fromMungeli and 5th rank holderVirendra Tarak of Sivani-

Abhanpur were providedtablets.

This year, due to Covid,the Foundation Day wascelebrated in a simplemanner at the official resi-

dence of the ChiefMinister. No cultural pro-gramme with pomp andshow was held nor wereexhibitions and fairsorganized.


The State ElectionCommission on Sunday

banned exit polls for theMarwahi (ST) Assemblyby-election from November3 to 7.

In its order, theCommission said there will berestrictions on conduct of anyexit poll and publication anddissemination of the result ofsuch exit polls during theperiod, an official pressrelease said.

Displaying any electionmatter, including results ofany opinion poll or anyother poll survey, in anyelectronic media will also

be prohibited during theperiod of 48 hours endingwith the hours fixed forconclusion of polling, therelease said.

Campaigning in Marwahiended on Sunday evening.Polling is due on Tuesday.

Marwahi will see a by-election on November 3 from8.00 am to 6.00 pm and thevotes will be counted onNovember 10.

As many as 190,907 vot-ers are eligible to exercisetheir franchise.

The seat became vacantfollowing the death of the firstChief Minister ofChhattisgarh Ajit Jogi in May.A total of eight candidates arein the fray.

STAFF REPORTER nDANTEWADA

Twenty-seven Naxalites,five carrying cash rewards

on their heads, surrenderedin Chattisgarh's Dantewadadistrict on Sunday, sayingthey were impressed by thepolice rehabilitation driveand dejected with theMaoists, an official said.

"The 27, including sixwomen, turned themselves inbefore senior police andCRPF officials at Barsoorpolice station," DantewadaSuperintendent of PoliceAbhishek Pallav said.

Of them, 11 cadres arefrom Gufa village, seven from

Bedma, five from Mangnar,three from Hitawada and onefrom Handawada in the dis-trict, he said, without disclos-ing their identity citing secu-rity reasons.

They were active asmembers of theDandakaranya Adivasi KisanMazdoor Sangthan(DAKMS) and KrantikariMahila Adivasi Sangthan(KAMS), frontal wings of theMaoists, Chetna NatyaMandli (a cultural body ofthe Maoists) and Jan-militiagroups, Pallav said.

"All of them wereinvolved in attacks on policeteams, triggering IED blastsand putting up Maoist

posters and banners. Five ofthem carried rewards of Rs 1lakh each on their heads," hesaid.

In a joint statement, theysaid they were disappointedwith the "hollow" Maoist ide-ology. They also said that the

recent surrender by their col-leagues as a part of 'LonVarratu campaign of thepolice encouraged them toquit violence, he said.

Each of them was givenimmediate assistance of Rs10,000 and will be providedfacilities further as per thegovernment's surrender andrehabilitation policy, Pallavadded.

Under the 'Lon Varratu'(a term in Gondi dialect) ini-tiative, Dantewada policehave put up posters and ban-ners in the villages of at least1,600 Naxals, mostly carryingcash rewards on their heads,and appealed them to returnto the mainstream.


Chhattisgarh Chief MinisterBhupesh Baghel on

Sunday felicitated seven per-sonnel of the ChhattisgarhPolice with ‘Shaurya Padak’ onthe state’s foundation day.

He greeted the police per-sonnel honoured with theprestigious police award at theRajya Alankaran Samarohheld at his official residencehere, an official press releasesaid.

Getting an award formaintaining law and orderand doing public service is a

matter of pride, he said,adding that the honour will

inspire others.Those felicitated were

Inspector Mohsin Khan(Jashpur), Sub-InspectorJitendera Esaiya (Sukma),Assistant Sub-InspectorGanesh Karmarka (Bijapur),Head Constable RamlalKashyap (Dantewada), SeniorConstable Kutumath Rao(Dantewada) and ConstablesDeva Anbam Rao (Bijapur)and Gopi Istam (Dantewada).

The function was attend-ed by Chhattisgarh AssemblySpeaker Charan Das Mahant,Leader of OppositionDharamlal Kaushik, HomeMinister Tamradhwaj Sahuand others.

Robust policies brought betterresults in state: Baghel

27 Naxalites surrender onstate foundation day

All of them wereinvolved in attackson police teams,triggering IEDblasts and puttingup Maoist postersand banners

CM honour seven policemenwith ‘Shaurya Padak’

Board exam toppers felicitated Exit polls banned forMarwahi by-election


Chhattisgarh leads India indistributing most num-

bers of land titles under theForest Rights Act, Panchayatand Rural DevelopmentMinister T.S. Singh Deo saidon Sunday, adding locals mustbe the first to get the benefitof forest produce.

The Minister spoke in AllIndia Radio programmeHamar Gramsabha on theoccasion of the stateFoundation Day.

According to governmentrecords, around 4.50 lakhland titles have been distrib-uted so far in the state.

“FRA ensures participa-tion of forest dwellers in man-agement of forest, land andwater resources,” Singh Deosaid.

He said forest dwellersdepend on forest for theirlivelihood. This Act has been

made to make forest dwellersan important stakeholder inthe management of forests.

Local residents must beprovided benefits of the forestproduce in the first place, heemphasized.

He said that along withthe Forest Department, theGram Sabha should jointlytake care of forests and forest

resources including the man-agement, monitoring andconservation of the forests.

The government isreviewing the claims of thosepeople whose forest rightsclaims were rejected, he said.In distribution of VanAdhikar Patta, Chhattisgarh isa pioneering state in thenation, he added.

Locals must get benefit offorest produce first: Minister

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The Central Reserve PoliceForce (CRPF) has issued an

advisory to its jawans warningthem against cloning of theirsocial media handles by agen-cies of hostile countries toextract confidential informa-tion related to the paramilitary’slocations, deployment, strengthand movement.

Cloning of Facebookaccounts and profiles is onesuch technique adopted by thehackers to retrieve informationfrom unsuspecting jawans,CRPF Deputy InspectorGeneral (Intelligence) MosesDhinakaran said. He said inmany such cases, even moneyhas been demanded from thejawans’ family and friends.

The CRPF has circulatedthe advisory across variousformations underscoring thethreat from cloning ofFacebook profiles of its per-sonnel.

“It has been observed thatanti-social elements and peo-ple with malicious intent areusing Facebook profile cloningto target vulnerable users. Thisscam is also being used to tar-get security forces and extractconfidential information,” theCRPF said in the recent advi-sory to the formations inJammu and Kashmir andNaxalism-hit States.

Following the emergenceof the latest cyber threat, theInformation Technology wingof the CRPF issued a “Manual

on Social Media Cloning” andprepared a video to educate thejawans about how Facebookprofile cloning is used to tar-get the security force person-nel and preventive means toavoid being trapped in thedesigns of the inimical forces,the DIG said.

In the last few months, theparamilitary headquarters herehas received a number of com-plaints from jawans highlight-ing that their friends and fam-ily members have received avariety of requests from theircloned Facebook profiles. Inone such case, friends of ajawan, deployed in a sensitivelocation, were asked to senddetails of his location, claiming“he was untraceable”, officialsadded.

In September, the CRPFbarred its personnel, civilianemployees, contractors andvisitors from using smart-phones in office spaces han-dling classified informationlike Operations Room andConference Halls in order toplug leakage of classified infor-mation and personnel fallingprey to counterintelligenceoperations of hostile coun-tries and non-state inimicalgroups.

The 14-page document forsmartphone usage also pro-vided guidelines for usingsocial media in order to secureclassified data and informa-tion.

The high sensitivity officesencapsulate places designated

or 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 specifiedcounters.

“The fundamental princi-ples of information security areconfidentiality, integrity, andavailability. Every element ofan information security pro-gram and every security con-trol put in place by an entityshould be designed to achieveone or more of these principles.Therefore, it is important toconsider the acceptable andnot acceptable use of smart-phones in an organisation,”read the order issued by theCRPF in September.

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

Likewise, the guidelinesfor social media usage soughtto sensitise the personnelagainst unintentionally puttingclassified information in thepublic domain.

“Government officialsusing various social platformsare also vulnerable to beingcounterintelligence (CI) tar-gets of State agencies as wellas radical non-state inimicalgroups. Social media plat-forms are being used to ferretinformation from unsuspect-ing users and recruit gullibleofficials to later exploit themfor subversion,” it added injustification for social mediaguidelines.

Earlier, following a gov-ernment directive, the defenceforces issued directories todelete over a 100 suspiciousChinese mobile phone appli-cations so as to avoid their per-sonnel getting compromisedand inadvertently leaking clas-sified information from hack-ers of hostile countries.

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Healthcare workers, alsoknown as healthcare war-

riors, will be given priority asfar as immunisation is con-cerned whenever Covid-19vaccines are ready for launch.

“In all likelihood, theCovid-19 vaccine introductionwill span over a year withmultiple groups being includ-ed sequentially, starting fromhealthcare workers (HCWs).

Therefore, it is importantto create strong advisory andcoordination mechanism atState and district-level to guidethe process of Covid-19 vaccineintroduction while ensuringminimal disruption of otherroutine healthcare services,including immunisation,”Union Health Secretary RajeshBhushan said in a letter writtento the chief secretaries of Statesand UTs.

The States and UTs havealready been asked to formthree-tier committees whichwould oversee the rollout of thevaccine and address any hic-cups, including rumors. Oncethe distribution of the vaccinestarts, the district task forcewould work on developing“robust communication plan-ning at all levels to addressrumour-mongering as well asvaccine eagerness”, said an offi-cial from the Union HealthMinistry.

The three-tier committeeswould comprise the state steer-ing committee, state task force,and district task force in eachstate and UT.

The state steering com-mittee would be headed by the

chief secretary, the state taskforce would be headed by theprincipal secretary (health),while the district task forcewould be led by the districtmagistrate, according to theofficial.

The committees shouldmeet at a minimum frequencyof once a month, once a fort-night, and once a week, respec-tively, he said.

The Centre has also laiddown a list of activities for thecommittees for both thepreparatory phase and thephase that follows vaccine roll-out. For example, during thepreparatory phase, state steer-ing committees will have toreview issues such as cold-chain preparedness (to ensureproper transfer of vaccines),operational planning, and com-munication planning.

They will also have todevise strategies for state-spe-cific challenges that may arise,in terms of geographical ter-rain, network connectivity,access to hard-to-reach areasetc, besides exploring the avail-ability of corporate socialresponsibility (CSR) funds forvaccine-related activities.

Once the vaccine is avail-able, the committee’s dutieswill include tracking socialmedia for misinformation,ensuring active involvementof stakeholders, and undertak-ing regular reviews of vaccinecoverage.

The preparatory-phaseresponsibilities of the state taskforce include identifying “vac-cinators across governmentand private sectors so as tominimise disruption of routine

immunisation services whileintroducing Covid-19 vaccine”.They will also have to plan andmap sessions for the vaccina-tion of healthcare workers.

Besides, they will have to

identify and deploy a workforce across departments toverify beneficiaries, managecrowd and for an overall coor-dination at session sites, saidthe official.

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There seems to be no respitefor the coronavirus infect-

ed patients even after theyhave been declared Covid-negative. The virulent viruswhich is known for causingrespiratory distress and adverseimpacts on organs besidesmental health can also leave thepatients with skin-related dis-eases as has been found by thescientists.

They said that they havefound that some patients withCovid-19 have persistent skin-related symptoms long aftertheir initial infection hascleared.

The findings were pre-sented at the 29th Congress ofthe European Academy ofDermatology and Venereologywhich was conducted onlinefrom 29th to 31st October2020.

The investigators atMassachusetts GeneralHospital (MGH) pointed toanother burden experiencedby so-called “long haulers”who get better but don’t seemto fully recover from Covid-19.

The skin is potentially avisible window into inflamma-tion that could be going on inthe body. For the analysis,researchers established aninternational registry forCovid-19 skin manifestationsin April 2020, in collaborationwith the International Leagueof Dermatological Societiesand the American Academy ofDermatology.

Clinicians were contactedin June and August to updateCOVID-19 laboratory testresults and the duration ofpatients’ COVID-19 skin symp-toms. The team defined longhaulers as anyone with skinsymptoms of Covid-19 thatpersisted for at least 60 days.

The team evaluated almost1,000 cases of patients with skinmanifestations of the disease.

According to the study,rash-like morbilliform andurticaria eruptions lasted amedian of seven days and fourdays, respectively, for patientswith lab-confirmed COVID-19, with a maximum durationof 28 days.

Papulosquamous erup-tions, which are scaly papulesand plaques, lasted a median of20 days in lab-confirmed cases,with one confirmed long haulereruption lasting 70 days.

The findings also revealedPernio/chilblains, or rednessand swelling of the feet andhands, commonly known as“COVID toes,” lasted a medi-an of 15 days in patients withsuspected COVID-19 and 10days in lab-confirmed cases.

In view of these findings,researchers have suggested thatclinicians taking care of patientswith Covid-19 must evaluateany skin symptoms.

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Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla,who is leading an Indian

Parliamentary Delegation tothe 206th Session of theGoverning Council of theInter-Parliamentary Union(IPU) from 1 to 4 November2020, participated in a virtualSession on Sunday. PoonambenHematbhai Maadam, Memberof Parliament, Lok Sabha andSwapan Dasgupta, Member ofParliament, Rajya Sabha alsoparticipated in the VirtualSession.

A total of 144 ofParliaments are participating inthe Session. The main Agendaitem of the Virtual Sessionpertains to the election of thenew President of IPU for theterm 2020-23. The process ofelection to the post of IPUPresident commenced.

The Governing Council isthe main policy-making bodyof the IPU which is inter-aliamandated to elect the newPresident of IPU.

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The ties between India andChina have come under

“severe stress” and the agree-ments inked by both sides overthe last few years must berespected “scrupulously” intheir “entirety” to restore nor-malcy in relations, ExternalAffairs Minister S Jaishankarsaid on Saturday in the midstof the eastern Ladakh borderrow.

The external affairs minis-ter, delivering the Sardar PatelMemorial lecture, also made itclear that any attempt to uni-laterally change the status quoof the Line of Actual Control(LAC) is “unacceptable” toIndia.

During the lecture aired onAll India Radio, Jaishankaralso referred to cross-borderterrorism and said India has tobe uncompromising in com-bating it.

“As far as China is con-cerned, ties were stable forthree decades as the twonations addressed inheritedchallenges and new circum-stances

“Peace and tranquillity inthe border areas provided thebasis for expanded cooperationin other domains. But as thepandemic unfolded, the rela-tionship has come under severestress,” the minister said.

“To restore normalcy,agreements between the twocountries must be respectedscrupulously in their entirety.Where the Line of ActualControl is concerned, anyattempt to unilaterally changethe status quo is unaccept-able,” he added.

“The relationship cannotbe immune to changes in theassumptions that underpinnedit,” he said.

India has been maintain-ing that the agreements inkedbetween the two countriessince 1993 for management ofthe frontier must be respect-ed and effectively implement-ed, saying peace and tranquil-ity along the LAC is the basisfor the overall development ofthe ties.

“Large civilisational statesre-emerging in close proxim-ity will not have naturallyeasy ties.

“Their interests are bestserved by a sustained engage-ment based on mutual respectand mutual sensitivity,” hesaid.

India and China arelocked in an over five-month-long bitter border standoff ineastern Ladakh that has sig-nificantly strained their ties.Both sides held a series ofdiplomatic and military talksto resolve the row. However,no breakthrough has beenachieved to end the standoff.

Talking about the strategyon national security,Jaishankar said advocatingsweeping solutions withoutlaying the groundwork may bedramatic politics, and men-tioned about creation of bor-der infrastructure along thenorthern border.

Breaking down silos andensuring a more integratedgovernance process is just asimportant to performance. Ithas been a major priority inthe last six years, especially innational security, he said.

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While the fierce battle isgoing between NDA and

RJD-led Mahagathbandhan inBihar Assembly polls andbypolls in other States, theElection Commission (EC)notices have largely landed atthe doors of politicians inMadhya Pradesh.

In a latest development, thepoll body has issued notice toCongress leader AcharyaPramod Krishnam for makingobjectionable remarks againstMadhya Pradesh ChiefMinister Shivraj SinghChouhan during a rally atJaura, Morena on October 27.He has been asked to replywithin 48 hours of receiving thenotice. Besides, EC barredMadhya Pradesh ministerImarti Devi from campaigninganywhere in Madhya Pradeshfor one day on November 1.

Earlier, the EC hasremoved former MP ChiefMinister Kamal Nath from thelist of Congress’s star cam-paigners for “completely disre-garding” and advised him tonot use inappropriate words inpublic utterances for repeatedviolation of model code ofconduct. Nath has moved the

Supreme Court against thepoll body order.

Nath had called ShivrajChouhan “nautanki ke kalakar”and stated that “Your God ismafia through which youestablished identity of MadhyaPradesh...your God is a‘milawat-khor’ (adulterator)”.The EC also issued notice toBJP candidate from Dandotiyaassembly seat in MadhyaPradesh for making objection-able and threatening remarksagainst Nath on Friday.

In another case of violationof model code of conduct, theCommission ordered seniorBJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiyafor his remarks against formerMP CMs Digvijay Singh andKamal Nath — in which he hadcalled then ‘Chunnu-Munnu ‘

and ‘gaddar’ — in violation ofmodel code and advised himnot to use such words in hispublic utterances during MCCperiod.

The poll body also warnedBJP candidate Vishahulal Singhfor making comments onCongress candidate’s wife dur-ing poll campaigning inAnupur constituency.Similarly, the poll body hasbarred MP minister MohanYadav from campaigning ,including holding public rallies,giving media interviews, takingout roadshows for one day onOctober 31. Notice also issuedto state minister Usha Thakurfor making controversialremarks about madrasas at apress conference on October 27in Indore for violation of MCC.

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Banks, financial and non-banking financial institu-

tions have been asked to take“necessary actions” to creditinto the accounts of eligibleborrowers by November 5 thedifference between compoundand simple interest collected onloans of up to Rs 2 crore dur-ing the moratorium scheme,RBI has told the SupremeCourt.

The Reserve Bank of India(RBI), in an affidavit filedthrough Assistant GeneralManager Prasanta Kumar Das,referred to the October 23additional response of theMinistry of Finance and saidthe federal bank has also actedin pursuance of that by issuinga notification to banks and FIsrecently on refund of extramoney to the borrowers.

The central governmenthad earlier told the apex courtthat the lenders have beenasked to credit into theaccounts of eligible borrowersthe difference between com-pound and simple interest col-lected on loans of up to Rs 2crore during the RBI’s loanmoratorium scheme byNovember 5.

“All Primary (Urban)Cooperative Banks/StateCooperative Banks/District

Central Cooperative Banks, AllAll India Financial Institutionsand All Non-Banking FinancialCompanies (including HousingFinance Companies) to be guid-ed by the provisions of thescheme and take necessaryactions within the stipulatedtimeline therein,” the RBI said inits recent affidavit.

The top court is scheduledto hear a batch of PILs includingthe one filed by GajendraSharma on October 3 relating tocharging of interest on interest bybanks on EMIs which have notbeen paid by borrowers afteravailing the loan moratoriumscheme of RBI during March 1to August 31.

“I say... Ministry of Finance,Department of Financial Services

in view of the unprecedented andextreme COVID-19 situationvide its letter ... Has approved a‘scheme for grant of ex-gratiapayment of difference betweencompound interest and simpleinterest for six months to bor-rowers in specified loan accounts(01.03.2020 to 31.08.2020)’ alongwith operational guidelines andmechanism for such grant,” theRBI official said.

The affidavit, which alsocontained the decision of theGovernment and the subse-quent RBI’s circular as annex-ures, said that all banks, FIs, andhousing finance firms have beenasked to pass on the benefits ofthe Centre’s decision to eligibleborrowers.

Earlier, the Centre has said

that the eligible borrowers willbe benefitted by November 5 bythe lenders after the apex courthad come down heavily on it,saying that nothing has beendone on ground to pass on thebenefits.

The Ministry of Finance hassaid that after crediting thisamount, the lending institu-tions would claim reimburse-ment from the central govern-ment.The Government had saidthat the ministry has issued ascheme as per which lendinginstitutions would credit thisamount in the accounts of bor-rowers for the 6-month loanmoratorium period which wasannounced following theCOVID-19 pandemic situation.

On October 14, the apexcourt had observed that theCentre should implement “assoon as possible” the interestwaiver on loans of up to Rs 2crore under the RBI’s moratori-um scheme and had said that thecommon man’s Diwali is in thegovernment’s hands.

The Centre had earlier toldthe court that going any furtherthan the fiscal policy decisionsalready taken, such as waiver ofcompound interest charged onloans of up to �2 crore for mora-torium period, may be “detri-mental” to the overall econom-ic scenario, the national econo-my and banks may not take“inevitable financial constraints”.

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Vice President M VenkaiahNaidu and Prime Minister

Narendra Modi greeted thepeople of states such as MadhyaPradesh, Karnataka, Haryana,Chhattisgarh, Kerala andAndhra Pradesh on theirrespective statehood or foun-dation days on Sunday.

Taking to Twitter, the VicePresident extended greetingsand warm wishes to the peopleof Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka,Haryana, Chhattisgarh,Madhya Pradesh, Punjab andKerala, and Union Territories

of Andaman and Nicobar,Lakshadweep and Puducherryon their formation days.

“These states and theUnion territories representIndia’s rich cultural and geo-graphical diversity,” Naidu said.

“They have enriched thenation through their naturaland human resources. I wishthe people of these states & UTsa happy, healthy and prosper-ous future,” he said.

Prime Minister Modi alsomade a series of tweets wishingthe people of various states thatare marking their statehood orformation days on Sunday.

“Karnataka Rajyotsavagreetings to my sisters and

brothers of Karnataka. Poweredby the strength and skills of thepeople of the state, Karnatakais scaling new heights ofprogress,” Modi said.

“I pray for the happiness

and good health of the peopleof Karnataka,” he said.

Wishing the people ofAndhra Pradesh, he said thestate is synonymous with hard-work and compassion.

“People belonging to APhave gone on to excel in sever-al fields. On AP’s FormationDay, my greetings to the peopleof the state and best wishes fortheir developmental aspira-tions,” he said.

The prime minister alsoextended Kerala Piravi daywishes to the people of Kerala,saying they have always madeindelible contributions to India’sgrowth.

“Kerala’s natural beauty hasmade it among the most popu-lar destinations, drawing peoplefrom all over the world. Prayingfor Kerala’s continuousprogress,” he said.

The prime minister also

extended greetings to the peo-ple of Madhya Pradesh on theirstatehood day.

“The state is makingremarkable progress in key sec-tors and is making a long-last-ing contribution in realising ourdream of an AatmanirbharBharat,” he said.

While conveying his greet-ings to the people ofChhattisgarh on their state-hood day, Modi said he wishesthat this region, which has beenthe centre of diverse culturessince ancient times, continues tomove forward on the path ofprogress and prosperity.

Wishing the people ofHaryana, the prime ministersaid Haryana holds an impor-tant place in Indian history.

“May this symbol of pros-perity and progress continue tomake new records of progress,”he said.

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Aplea has been filed in theSupreme Court challeng-

ing validity of some provi-sions of a 1991 law which pro-hibited filing of a lawsuit toreclaim a place of worship orseek a change in its characterfrom what prevailed on August15, 1947.

The plea seeks setting asideof sections 2, 3, 4 of the Placesof Worship (SpecialProvisions) Act 1991 ongrounds including that theytake away the right of judicialremedy to reclaim a place ofworship by any person or areligious group.

The law had made only

one exception which was thedispute pertaining to the RamJanmbhoomi-Babri masjid atAyodhya.

The fresh plea, filed by BJPleader and lawyer AshwiniUpadhyay, through advocateAshwani Dubey assumes sig-nificance as there has beenongoing demand by someHindu groups to reclaim reli-gious places at Mathura andKashi, which are prohibitedunder the 1991 law.

The provisions not onlyoffend the right of equality andlife but also violate the princi-ples of secularism, which is anintegral part of the Preambleand the basic structure of theConstitution, it said.

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Three covid patients molest-ed and abused on-duty

nurse in Deen Dayal CovidHospital's ward number 5. Onobjection, they created a ruckusin the ward. When the doctorsarrived to calm them, theyalso started abusing doctorsand ran to beat them.Somehow doctors and patientssaved their lives by escapingfrom the ward. Hospital man-agement has accused the policeof negligence. Police have reg-istered a case and started aninvestigation against accusedinfected patients.

CMS Dr. AB Singh, of thehospital, said that 3 Covidpatients of Gonda and Iglas areadmitted in Ward 5 since 1week. They were frequentlydemanding tea but not drink-ing. When the nurse objectedthis, they hold her hand. Whenthe hospital management cameto know about the incident, Dr.Ankit went to the ward to talk

to them, on which thosepatients started abusing thedoctor and attacked him, butthe doctor ran away and savedhis life.

The information of theincident was given to thepolice, but despite repeatedcalls, the police did not come.Later, police helpline 112 wascalled and asked for help.Kwarsi police reached the hos-pital on the information. Acomplaint has been givenagainst the three in Kwarsipolice station to register a case.

CMS Dr. AB Singh toldthat earlier police weredeployed in the security of thehospital but now the police isnot seen anywhere.

After informing the policeregarding the incident, hospi-tal management has asked toshift these patients to the sec-ond ward, but the policeignored it. Hospital manage-ment kept calling the police,but the police continued tomake the excuse of VIP duty.

KOCHI: While the Kerala unitof the BJP was waging a “war”against the CPI(M)-ledGovernment demanding theimmediate resignation of ChiefMinister Pinarayi Vijayan forhis alleged role in gold smuggling scam, a popularwoman leader of the Hindutvaparty has written to the Centralleadership accusing the State-leadership of harassingand victimising her.

“I was the lone womanmember of the core committeeof the party and was the generalsecretary of the party till KSurendran was appointed as theparty’s State president. He threwme out of the core committeethough I had brought laurels tothe BJP by mobilising more

votes in all the elections I hadcontested as the party candi-date. This is an attempt topolitically annihilate me,”Shobha Surendran, who used tobe a regular feature in channeldebates and in the forefront ofall agitations, said in a letter tonational president J P Naddhaand union Home MinisterAmit Shah.

Shobha Surendran hasbeen keeping a low profilesince the re-organisation of theparty by the national leadership.K Surendran, a camp followerof V Muraleedharan, ministerof state for external affairs, isapprehensive of the possibilityof Shobha Surendran eclipsinghim in the race for top job inKerala. Though the BJP is no

force to reckon with in the State,groupism is in the party isgalore and even worse than thatof the Congress, according topolitical commentators.

Muraleedharan leads theEezhava lobby while nationalsecretary P K Krishna das headsthe Nair lobby. Muraleedharanwas nominated to Rajya Sabhafrom Maharashtra because theBJP cannot win a single seat onits own anywhere in the State.

“The party may be stagingdemonstrations across the Stateagainst Pinarayi Vijayan. Thereal test would be during theassembly elections when thegroup war will see to it that theparty does not win even a sin-gle seat,” said a veteran BJPleader in Kerala. PNS

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Hathras: On the order of theSupreme Court, CRPF willnow protect the family of thedaughter. More than 100 CRPFpersonnel will be deployed toprotect the family. ManmohanSingh, Commandant of CRPF's239th Battalion Rampur, firstcame to the police stationChandpa and then went to thevillage of the victim. There heinspected the entire situationand drew up the securityarrangements. It is believedthat the CRPF will take theresponsibility of this securityfrom the local police.

The Supreme Court hadordered the government to

provide protection to the vic-tim family from the CRPF.The government has now start-ed implementing the order ofthe Supreme Court. In thisorder, Manmohan Singh,Commandant of CRPF's 239thBattalion Rampur, went toHathras. He first went toChandpa police station. Hetook information from Kotwaliinspector Chandpa LaxmanSingh about how much policeforce is still deployed at thedaughter's house. Thereafter hehimself reached the village ofgirl. There he questioned therelatives of the daughter andsaw the situation there. PNS

KOCHI: Bineesh Kodiyeri, who was arrested byEnforcement Directorate in connection with hisrole in drug trafficking and financing narcoticsdealer Anoop Mohammed, is a tip of the ice bergand further investigation into his activities is like-ly to reach many popular film stars and celebri-ties in South India, according to an official privyto the probe.

Bineesh, son of CPI(M) strongman KodiyeriBalakrishnan who was being projected as the chiefminister of Kerala once the tenure of incumbentPinarayi Vijayan is over, had been a problematicson to his parents since his student days. He hasactive interests in films, sports (especially crick-et) and resort business. Reports from ED sourcessay that Bineesh is proving to be a tough nut andhe is not cooperating with the officials. Bineesh’scustody with the ED comes to an end onMonday. The health of Kodiyeri Balakrishnan,suffering from many ailments, has been aggra-vated because of issues created by his two sons,

according to party insiders. His elder son Binoywas in the news for his liaison with a Bihari girlwith whom he has a five-year old son. ThoughBinoy feigned ignorance about the relation, thegirl, who was working as a club dancer in Dubaiapproached a Mumbai court which ordered DNAtesting of the child.

The test results proved that Binoy was thefather of the child and this made his wife walkedout of the marriage.

Names of movie makers and artistes who werein the forefront of anti-CAA agitation in the Stateare being heard for their association with Bineesh,complicity in drug trafficking and may figure inthe list of persons who may be picked up for inter-rogation. There were instances of psychotropicsubstances being seized from parties hosted bysome popular film stars in Kochi though the caseswere hushed up following interventions from ‘highplaces’, according to officials in KeralaPolice. PNS

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RDoraikkannu, Tamil Nadu’sMinister for Agriculture,

passed away late Saturday nightdue to Covid-19. He was 72and the end came at 11.15 pmaccording to a release issued bythe corporate hospital inChennai where he had beenadmitted in a critical conditionon October 13.

Doraikkannu, hailing fromRajagiri in Thanjavur districtwas a three time MLA in theTamil Nadu assembly havingbeen elected in 2006, 2011and 2016 from Papanasamassembly constituency.

The then ChiefMinister J Jayalalithaa includ-ed him in her cabinetafter the 2016 election and hecontinued in the ministries headed byOPannerselvam and Edappadi Palaniswamy.

More than that of politi-cian, Doraikkannu alwayslooked and behaved like afarmer and villager and thishad endeared him to all peopleirrespective of party affilia-tions.

Doraikkannu is the fifthlaw maker in Tamil Naduassembly to die causing fivevacancies in a House witheffective strength of 234.

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While the Central Bureauof Investigation (CBI) is

yet to initiate a thorough probein the 25,000 crore Roshniland scam, the Jammu &Kashmir Government has nowdecided to implement the HighCourt order which had earli-er declared the Jammu &Kashmir State Land (Vesting ofOwnership to the Occupants)Act, 2001, as amended fromtime to time as unconstitu-tional, contrary to law andunsustainable.

Acting on the directions ofthe High Court the J&KGovernment has also directedthe Principal SecretaryRevenue Department to ensurethat all the mutations done in

furtherance of the Act areannulled, encroachers are evict-ed and large tracts of land areretrieved within a period of sixmonths.

On 9 October, a divisionbench of Chief Justice GitaMittal and Justice Rajesh Bindalordered the CBI probe intoirregularities in the schemeand directed the agency to filea status report every eightweeks.

On Saturday an orderissued by the Jammu andKashmir Department of Law,Justice and ParliamentaryAffairs, with the approval of theLt Governor, stated that thegovernment has been foundnecessary in the order to imple-ment the judgment passed bythe court on a PIL and otherconnected matters.

“Now, therefore, it is here-by ordered that the principalsecretary to the government,revenue department, shall passan order declaring all actionstaken under the Jammu andKashmir State Land (Vesting ofOwnership to the Occupants)Act, 2001, as amended fromtime to time, and rules madethereunder as void ab-initio,”the spokesman of J&K gov-ernment said quoting the order.He said it would be ensuredthat all the mutations done infurtherance of the act areannulled.

The principal secretary willalso work out a plan to retrievethe large tracts of state landvested under the act in a time-bound manner, the spokesmansaid.

He said the secretary will

also work out the modalitiesand a plan to evict encroachersfrom such state Land andretrieve it within six months.

The officer would alsowork out modalities for han-dling the money received forthese lands after the annulment,the spokesman said.

The secretary will alsoensure that information regard-ing district-wise state land, as of1 January, is complied andposted on official websites withdetails of land that has beenencroached, he said.

“The details of the applica-tions received under the act, thevaluation of land, amounts paidby the beneficiary, the orderspassed under the act, and thepersons in whose favour thevesting was done and also... fur-ther transfers, if any, recognised

and accepted by the authorities”should be posted on the web-sites, the spokesman said.

The details should alsoinclude, “complete identities ofall influential persons (includ-ing ministers, legislators,bureaucrats, government offi-cials, police officers, business-men) their relatives or personsholding benami for them, whohave derived benefit under theact or occupy state lands”, hesaid.

The action would be com-pleted within a period of onemonth, the spokesman said.

Divisional commissionersof Jammu as well as of theKashmir region will place onthe record before the highcourt the details of encroachedstate land not covered by theact, he said.

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Ahead of the MaharashtraGovernment formalising

modalities for restoring thesuburban train services for thecommuters in MumbaiMetropolitan Region (MMR),the Central and WesternRailways announced onSunday that they wouldincrease the number of servicesby another 753 and togetheroperate 2,773 suburban trainservices from Monday.

Making an announcementabout augmenting the subur-ban services from Monday,the Central and WesternRailways indirectly put theonus of restoring the normalsuburban train services in theMMR on the Maharashtra gov-ernment. The two Railwayssaid that they had given nec-essary inputs sought by theUddhav Thackeray dispensa-tion on Wednesday last foropening up “the local train ser-vices to the general publicwhile ensuring adherence tofollowing all COVID 19 pro-

tocols”.“Railways are hoping that

the State Government willrevert soon deciding themodalities for providing ser-vices to the commuters inMMR,” the two railways statedin a joint media update issuedhere on Sunday evening.

As part of its effort toincrease suburban serviceskeeping in view the social dis-tance norms and safety of thepublic at large, the twoRailways said that they wouldoperate 2773 suburban ser-vices from Monday.

While the CR and WRincreased suburban trains from1,410 to 2,020 on Sunday, thetwo Railways will start anoth-er 753 suburban services fromMonday to take the total num-ber of suburban train servicesto 2773.

Currently, 1020 suburbanservices are run on the CentralRailway, while the WesternRailway is operating 1000 sub-urban services.

With an addition of 552suburban services, the total

number of services on theCentral Railway will go up to1572 from Monday. Similarly,another additional 201 subur-ban services will be run on theWestern Railway to take thetotal number of services to1201.

Meanwhile, both the CRand WR said in an appeal thatthey expected the commutersshould follow medical andsocial Covid-19 protocols asmandated from time to time.

“In order to observe allnorms mandated for Covid-19,Passengers are requested not torush inside the train and at sta-tion at a time. The public isrequested not to believe in anyrumours,” the two Railwaysstated in their joint mediaupdate.It may be recalled that onOctober 28, the Maharashtragovernment said that it “islooking to open up the localtrain services to the general pub-lic while ensuring adherence tofollowing all COVID 19 proto-cols”.

In an effort to ensure thatthis is done in a staggered man-

ner, Maharashtra’s secretary forDisaster Management, Reliefand Rehabilitation Kishor RajeNimbalkar recommended thefollowing time slots—from theday’s first local to 7.30 am forany person with valid ticket orpass, from 8 am to 10.30 am foressential services with valid QRCode, I card along with validticket or pass, from 11 am to4.30 pm for any person withvalid ticket or pass, from 5pmto 7.30 pm for essential serviceswith valid QR Code, I cardalong with valid ticket or passand from 8 pm till local for anyperson with ticket or pass.

In his letter, Nimbalkar alsorecommended the operation ofladies special trains – one localeach in every hour.

In all, a staggering 80 lakhcommuters travel daily in sub-urban trains on the Main andHarbour lines of the CentralRailway and the WesternRailway to and fro from the dis-tant suburbs to their offices, amajority of which are located insouth Mumbai.

In his letter, Nimbalkar

stated the schedule suggested bythe state government requiredan increased number of localtrains to meet the demand of thecategories of commuters spec-ified by it.

Nimbalkar asked theCentral and Western Railwaysto give their inputs on the sug-gestions made by the state gov-ernment.

Quoting the StandardOperating Procedure (SOP),both the Railways in theirresponse to the State govern-ment’s letter of October 28, amaximum of 700 passengerscan be seated in a 12 car EMUrake as per social distancingnorms against 1200 passengerswho can be seated

As a part of the unani-mously decided SOP, maxi-mum of 700 passengers can beseated in a 12 car EMU rake asper social distancing normsagainst 1200 passengers whocan be seated. Therefore,1410services are run in MumbaiSuburban section, having thetotal carrying capacity ofapprox. 9,80,000.

In this regard, it is clarifiedthat Railways has always beenready to augment/enhanceSuburban services keepingsocial distancing norms. We areworking closely withMaharashtra Govt. to providethese additional services afterconsultation with them aboutnecessary modalities accord-ingly.

It is worth mentioning thatcurrently, Railways are running1410 special suburban ser-vices. As a part of the unani-mously decided SOP, maxi-mum of 700 passengers can beseated in a 12 car EMU rake asper social distancing normsagainst 1200 passengers whocan be seated.

In effect, the CR and WRwill be able to carry 19.41 lakhcommuters in the 2773 subur-ban services to be run by themfrom Monday. The commutercarrying capacity of the twoRailways will be nearly one-fourth of 80 lakh commuterswho used to travel by the sub-urban lockdown more thanseven months ago.

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In a clear indication of some-what flattened Covid-19

curve in Maharashtra, thenumber of daily infectionsdropped to 5,369 on Sunday,while as many as 113 peoplesuccumbed to the pandemic invarious parts of the state.

A day after the Covid-19daily death tally plummeted to74 and infections dropped to5,548 in Maharashtra, the statewitnessed minor fluctuationson Sunday, as the infectedcases went down to 5,369 andthe deaths increased a relativelylow figure of 113.

With 113 fresh deaths, thetotal number of deaths in thestate rose from 43,911 to44,024. Similarly with 5369 fresh infections, the total infected cases jumped from

16,78,406 to 16,83,775.As 3726 more people were

discharged from various hos-pitals in the state, the numberof people discharged from var-ious hospitals after full recov-ery since the second week ofMarch this year went up to15,14,079. The recovery rate inthe state dropped marginallyfrom 89.99 per cent to 89.92per cent.

With 25 deaths, the Covid-19 toll in Mumbai rose from10,293 to 10,318 while theinfected cases shot up by 1008to trigger a jump in the infec-tions from 2,57,497 to 2,58,405.

Meanwhile, the mortalityrate in the state stood at 2.61per cent. The number of “activecases” in the state increasedfrom 1,23,585 to 1,25,109.

Pune district, which con-tinued to be the worst-affectedcity-district in Maharashtra,saw the total number of casesincrease from 3,33,962 to3,34,719 while the total num-ber of deaths in Pune increasedfrom 6678 to 6703.

Thane district remainedin the third spot --after Puneand Mumbai – after the totalnumber of infections rose from2,23,197 to 2,23,802 while thepandemic toll climbed from5,337 to 5345.

Out of 90,24,871 samplessent to laboratories, 16,83,775have tested positive (18.66 percent) for COVID-19 untilSunday. Currently, 25,44,799people are in home quarantinewhile 12,230 people are ininstitutional quarantine.

Pratapgarh (Uttar Pradesh):Parents of a 20-year-old woman inUttar Pradesh axed her to deathafter they found her pregnant outof wedlock. Both have been arrest-ed.

The body of the unidentifiedyoung woman was found on therailway tracks near Alapur inPratapgarh district on October25, said Nawabganj Station HouseOfficer (SHO) Akhilesh PratapSingh.

The body was identified by thefather of the deceased Kamlesh

Kumar Yadav, a resident ofKishundaspur village. He allegedthat his daughter had been mur-dered and submitted a complaintto the police against an unidenti-fied killer.

An FIR was registered at theNawabganj police station.Investigations, however, revealedthat the woman was pregnant atthe time of her death.

The SHO said that KamleshKumar Yadav and his wife AnitaDevi were called in for question-ing on Friday. During interroga-

tion, the two said that on October24, they had taken their daughter,who was unwell, for an ultrasoundtest on the advice of a doctor.Thetest revealed that the daughter wassix-month pregnant. They tried tofind a doctor for getting an abor-tion done but could not succeed.

They repeatedly asked thedaughter about the man withwhom she was in relationship butshe refused to divulge his name.

The parents then took her tothe railway tracks in the night nearAlapur and murdered her. IANS

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Lucknow: Uttar PradeshChief Minister YogiAdityanath on Sundaylaunched a special 10-daycampaign to identify peoplesuffering from tuberculosis(TB) in the state.

Prime Minister NarendraModi has pledged to makeIndia TB-free by 2025 andUttar Pradesh will contributeits best towards this objective,the chief minister said at thelaunch of the campaign thatwill cover 29 districts of thestate.

Besides social participa-tion, to achieve this, avail-ability of proper health ser-

vices and coordinationbetween departments will beensured, he said.

Under the door-to-doorcampaign, which will end onNovember 11, health workerswill reach out to 81 lakh peo-ple, identify those sufferingfrom TB, screen them andhelp them avail treatment atno cost.

Chief MinisterAdityanath called upon pub-lic representatives to active-ly participate in the cam-paign. He also released afact-sheet during the launch.

Stressing that “childhealth protection” should be

made a mass movement, hesaid the dream of a “golden”Uttar Pradesh cannot berealised until childhood ishealthy and safe.

“The infant mortalityrate of the state has comedown but it is still a big chal-lenge for us to bring it belowthe national average,”Adityanath said.

The chief minister alsoinaugurated a special vacci-nation campaign for chil-dren and pregnant womenleft out due to the COVID-19 situation.

He also distributed “gold-en cards” to beneficiaries of

the Ayushman Bharatscheme. T h estate government is commit-ted to protect women andchildren in every way andnecessary vaccination forchildren and pregnantwomen will be completedthrough this campaign thatwill continue till January2021, the chief minister said.

He also inaugurated theCulture and Drug andSusceptibility Testing (DST)lab of the Baba Raghav DasMedical College, Gorakhpur,the Uttar Pradesh govern-ment said in a statementissued here. PTI

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Panaji: Goa's coronavirus pos-itive Caseload went up by 142to reach 43,768 on Sunday,while the death toll mounted to609 as five people succumbed tothe infection, an official said.

The number of people whohave recovered reached 40,915after 237 were discharged dur-ing the day, he added.The statenow has 2,244 active cases, theofficial said.”A total of 892 sam-ples were tested during the day,”he added. PTI

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India has taken a small step forfarmers but a big leap for freemarket through the threefarm laws. Wooing the US“agri-dollar”, we have liber-

alised by opening the farm-gate forbusiness, yet shackled farmers andtheir families under archaic landceiling laws. Can an agrarian freemarket be pillared on limited land,plagued by soil degradation andshrinking water resources?

In a socialist mood, India imple-mented land ceiling laws to dera-cinate the zamindars and the land-ed elite. An entire class of peoplewas destroyed overnight and fromits ashes grew a new rural elite. Asland ceiling laws differed from Stateto State, we saw a diversity of com-binations and also unique systemsof parity between irrigated multi-ple crop land owners versus groveland or un-irrigated land owners.For example, land holdings inBarmer, Rajasthan and Patna arevery different in size. Policy-mak-ers relied on production-basedvalue to set these ceiling limits. Formost States, the ceiling ratio of dryland to irrigated land is 3:1. Apartfrom the individual limits, there arefamily ceiling limits to curtail landownership collectively. In 2020, westill follow the same system.

Of course, there have beenminor tweaks in each State, butoverall these laws hamper thegrowth of agriculture in rural Indiaand confine farm families in a neg-ative ownership trap. As with eachgeneration, the average land hold-ing of individuals reduces. Addingto their woes, the farm incomeshave dropped significantly, too, dueto higher inputs costs and low saleprice, making agriculture less viableeach year. The only alternative leftfor a progressive farmer is either toget out of farming or wait for thenext generation, as contract farm-ing has not been successful for mostof his kind.

The result is that the Indian farmsize is very small (86 per cent ownunder two hectares), and is decreas-ing further as the average size ofoperational holding has declined to1.08 hectares in 2015-16 as com-pared to 1.15 hectares in 2010-11as per the Agricultural Census2015-16. The Economic Survey ofIndia understood this problemand twice recommended theGovernment to increase land ceil-ing limits. But little has happened.Recently, the KarnatakaGovernment tried to increase the

land ceiling limits but amidprotests rescinded this step.

Nevertheless, even if the landceiling stays, can there be a con-sensus between States and farm-ers for the benefit of the latter,soil and water conservation andthe free market? India is alreadyproducing enough grains, veg-etables and so on but losingmore critical resources — waterand top soil.

Due to the push for industri-alising agriculture, from Punjabto Tamil Nadu, we have wit-nessed soil degradation leadingto desertification, salination andtop soil erosion. With 30 percent of India’s land degraded, theNarendra Modi Governmentstressed on soil health cards. Thedeleterious effects paddy has hadon water is alarming. NoamChomsky recently predictedthat India and Pakistan may beon the brink of war over waterresources. We are already wit-nessing water wars in southernStates and the “Laturisation”(Latur in Maharashtra was theepicentre of a water crisis causedby bad agricultural practices)will only increase unless we stopexploitative practices. Soon, oureco-system and free market willcollapse. So, States must studythe soil conservation pro-gramme of the US, which wasimplemented to reverse soildegradation in the mid-west orthe Dust Bowl. The Governmentpaid farmers subsidies for soilconservation or allowing theland to be fallow.

Under extreme fiscal pressure,one doesn’t expect the Modi

Government to give more sub-sidies but to declare soil degra-dation and water depletion asthe nation’s top nemesis. But thequestion is how can theGovernment implement a soilconservation programme andalso keep farmers happy?

The answer: Incentivise farm-ers for agro-ecological planta-tions and agro-forestry by relax-ing land ceiling limits for them.Most of the State Acts alreadyhave a separate provision forgrove land or orchards. Byadding a sub-clause,Governments can ensure thatplantations increase rapidly,without the use of chemicals andfertilisers. Each State can choosenative varieties and non-water-guzzling trees for plantation oragro-forestry.

This policy change will havemany benefits. Both soil andwater will be conserved andfarmers’ incomes will be boost-ed while adding new productsfor the free market. The returnof organic matter and biodiver-sity will guarantee farmlandproductivity for the future too.Organic fruits get the top dollar.The Agricultural and ProcessedFood Products ExportDevelopment Authority(APEDA) predicts that by 2030,India will be exporting $50 bil-lion worth of organic produce,but the cherry would be addi-tional carbon credits that farm-ers can earn. If 10 per cent ofarable land converts to organicgrove land or mixed orchards,we will meet our climate targetssooner and also improve the air

and water of our villages andcities. Each hectare of organicland can store 80,000 litres ofwater. We need a Central poli-cy to bolster this drive.

By making an exception forthe agro-ecological plantations,legislators can boost the organ-ic market and also help heal thesoil. Additionally, farmers maytake over wasteland or degrad-ed lands, beyond the ceiling lim-its, and restore them intoorchards or groves. These zonesor farms will be carbon sinksand produce more nutritionper acre, and as the farmers willcare for these lands, theGovernment’s financial burdento restore wastelands will alsolessen.

As per the policy in the US,bigger farms are better for busi-ness. Farmers of Mexico, Braziland Argentina, all thought theycould resist, but have failed. Thefallout of the World TradeOrganisation and the recentfarm-gate liberalisation will be“bigger farms and lesser farm-ers” in India, too. But we, as anation, still have a choice to steerthe bigger farms towards agro-ecology or allow industrial farmsto take over rural India. If weswerve towards healing theEarth, India may set a precedentin the world where nature andthe agrarian economy growtogether. The Modi Governmentneeds to bring out a fourthOrdinance to free the land forhealing the Earth.

(The writer is Director forpolicy and outreach, NationalSeed Association of India)

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�� Sir — The National Centre forDisease Control has warned thatDelhi is likely to report around15,000 COVID cases daily thiswinter due to the prevalence ofrespiratory illnesses that worsenthe symptoms of the disease. So,while people are busy debatingif it was right for the US PresidentDonald Trump to call India’s air“filthy”, we have a more seriousmatter to deal with. Last month,as hundreds of Ravana effigiesand firecrackers were burnt inthe Capital on the occasion ofDussehra, the concentration ofpollutants (PM2.5, PM10) dou-bled at five monitoring stations— Patparganj, India Gate,Dwarka, Najafgarh and Mundka.Hence, the Government needs tostart with putting a blanket banon firecrackers this Diwali as itwill certainly play a major role indeteriorating the air quality inDelhi.

We must also transition toclean fuel for combustion inindustries across the Delhi-National Capital Region andrestrict the use of coal as it is akey contributor to pollution inthe region.

Avani JainUjjain

�� Sir — As per our FinanceMinistry, COVID is a chapter ofthe past and all is set for econom-ic growth. And according to theUnion Health Minister, Dr HarshVardhan, the Coronavirus vac-cine is expected to be available inIndia by early next year frommore than one source. However,given all the tall promises the BJP

has been making, especially ofdistributing free vaccines inBihar during its election cam-paign, announcements from thetwo Ministries are rather ques-tionable. For the ground situationis still worrisome. TheMaharashtra Government hasextended the existing lockdownrestrictions to November 30amid the spike in cases. This willnot affect the current relaxations

and the activities allowed till nowwill continue. But places of wor-ship, cinema halls and theatresare yet to be opened in the State.Given the contrasting claims bythe Centre and the State scenar-ios, people end up getting con-fused. Besides, we don’t know ifthe vaccine works for peopleacross age and genetic groups.

Krishnan RamaniamMumbai

�� Sir — The Annual State ofEducation Report (ASER) 2020survey findings have furtherstrengthened our belief that thereis a huge disparity in educationand the pandemic has made it allthe more visible. It is not surpris-ing that digital education is lim-ited mainly to urban childrenonly. According to ASER, onlyabout one-third of rural studentshave access to online learning;only 11 per cent have access tolive online classes. Broadbandconnectivity in rural areas is ahuge problem and until andunless that gap is bridged, we willnot see any improvement inrural education. Till the time aviable vaccine is found, resump-tion of classes is still a far way off.However, in the interim, allstakeholders need to cometogether to minimise both theloss of learning and the emotion-al turmoil that comes from beingleft behind. These young studentsare our future and we cannotafford to neglect them duringsuch trying times.

Bal GovindNoida

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COVID-19 has caused unprecedented disrup-tions globally and inflicted the greatest painon those who had already been rendered

most vulnerable, spurring unknown hardshipand growing unease among low-income familiesand micro-businesses. It has uncovered existinginequities and created new ones. A Universal BasicIncome (UBI) has been strongly advocated by econ-omists, industry captains and policy-makers acrossall dialogical hues. It is perhaps the only way to staveoff large-scale hunger, destitution and social unrestin troubled times. Human development theoristDenis Goulet argues that the concept of develop-ment is best expressed in the phrase, “the humanascent” and in the ascent of all men in their quin-tessence of humanity, including the economic, bio-logical, psychological, social, cultural spiritualand transcendental dimension.

The idea of a UBI has made recurrent appear-ances in history — starting with Thomas Paine inthe 18 century. It is premised on the idea that theGovernment would pay a flat fee to every adult cit-izen, regardless of his/her engagement in skill-build-ing activities or the paid labour market, as a par-tial or complete substitute for existing social secu-rity and welfare programmes. UBI is gaining trac-tion as governments look to revamp their socialsafety nets. India is the most serious new aspirant.

In a UBI system, the Government gives citi-zens a regular infusion of free cash with no stringsattached. These efforts intend to provide a lifeboatto help low-income families and micro-business-es survive any crisis, like the current pandemic andimportantly, to continue to cope with daily emer-gencies as normal economic life stutters throughthe slowdown. India makes a compelling case forUBI as it already invests heavily in social protec-tion programmes but the outcomes leave much tobe desired. It spends about two per cent of its GDPon core social protection and welfare schemes. Thistranslates into an investment of �� lakh crore inmore than 10,000 schemes. The annual budgetsfor some of India’s key flagship welfare schemesamount to �3,79,100 crore per year. These includeMGNREGS, PM Kisan, the National SocialAssistance Programme, and so on. Despite thehumongous scale and noble intent of these welfareschemes, accessing them remains a challenge forbeneficiaries as their coverage varies widely in enrol-ment and delivery.

A survey conducted by Dalberg in April, cov-ering Below Poverty Line (BPL) families across 10States, revealed that coverage is not universal. Thegaps varied according to the scheme: PublicDistribution System (PDS) was 15 per cent, JanDhan 43 per cent, Social Pension 56 per cent andPM Kisan was 66 per cent. The delivery of bene-fits is low and the percentage of eligible householdsthat received their PDS entitlements was 55 per cent,Social Pension 34 per cent, PM Kisan 30 per centand Jan Dhan was 28 per cent. These gaps are large-ly on account of eligibility challenges, lack of aware-ness among beneficiaries and onerous administra-tive procedures.

A basic income, coupled with some imagina-tive implementation, can help surmount these chal-lenges. It can have a deeper impact on the vari-ous development programmes. Non-eligibility forthe Atma Nirbhar package on account of absenceof Jan Dhan accounts spurred people to actively

increase enrolment in the scheme and3.05 crore new accounts were added inthe period following the imposition of thelockdown, increasing the base by rough-ly 10 per cent.

Securing food, health and basicincome can strengthen initiatives direct-ed at water and food security, healthcare,nutrition and sanitation. UBI can helpconnect beneficiaries to a wider portfo-lio of entitlements and catalyse a deep-er and more sustained impact on theirlives. In addition to complementingexisting programmes, social protection,too, makes a compelling case for returnson philanthropic capital.

UBI is a broad, non-targetted peri-odic cash payment, unconditionallydelivered to all, rich or poor, on an indi-vidual basis. The idea is to ensure thatevery person in society has the means tolive with a modicum of freedom and dig-nity, independent of one’s capacity to earnor the availability of employment. Cashtransfers are not tied to the recipients’behaviour, and they are free to spend themoney as they wish. In contrast, an exam-ple of a conditional, in-kind transfer inIndia would be the Mid-Day MealScheme (MDMS), where the meal, an in-kind transfer, is conditional upon attend-ing school.

A UBI guarantees that people will notbe impoverished, will not go hungry, andwill be protected from job loss due toautomation while cutting the need formany other forms of social security. Abasic monthly income can also replace astring of welfare subsidies for the poorthat India currently has in place. Gettinga guaranteed, regular infusion of cash cancertainly make people happier and less

stressed (even if that cash isn’t enough tocover all their needs). Yet most countriesaren’t doing it.

The philosopher, Michel Foucault,exploring the ideological foundations ofneo-liberalism in lectures at the Collègede France in 1978-79, argued that neo-liberal logic regards the economy as agame in which the State makes the rulesand guarantees their application. A guar-anteed income “should make it impos-sible for one of the participants in the eco-nomic game to lose all he has and so beunable to continue playing.” Nobodyshould have anything to lose; the Stateestablishes a safety net for everyone. TheUBI system is based on the need to helpthose who are poor, without enquiringwhose fault it is that they are poor anddiffers from traditional social policies inthat it makes no distinction between the“deserving” and “undeserving” poor.

The basic objective of UBI is toreduce inequalities on account of distri-bution of wealth and other assets.Disparity of income arises from inequal-ities in human capital (levels of literacy,skills health and so on), inequalities inopportunities (in education, jobs and soon), and disparity in living conditions.

The four main goals of UBI are secu-rity and social protection (for the young,old, disabled and women); developmentand economic growth to give poor peo-ple the security they need to invest inhigher risk/return options (like newcrops, or upgrading their livelihoods);breaking inter-generational poverty(though better nourishment and educa-tion for children) and rights and equity(narrowing income inequality and pro-moting the status of girls and women).

Unconditional cash transfers to citizensare considered one of the fairest, mostcost-effective and impactful ways toalleviate poverty and stimulate econom-ic growth.

Instead of relying on an expensiveand complex aid industry and by bypass-ing NGOs and governments, cash trans-fers given directly to poor families willenable them to decide on the most effec-tive ways for them to escape poverty.

UBI can significantly reduce lossesto corrupt intermediaries and the digi-tal payment mode leaves no scope formiddlemen to sponge funds. But it maynot simply overhaul the sometimes cor-rupt decision-making process that deter-mines who is eligible for benefits in thefirst place.

The late French philosopher, CharlesPguy, in his classic essay on poverty, says,“The duty of tearing the destitute fromtheir destitution and the duty of distrib-uting goods equitably are not of the sameorder. The first is an urgent duty; the sec-ond is a duty of convenience. When allmen are provided with the necessities,what do we care about the distributionof luxury?” Envy should not be themotive for equalisation of wealth. Weneed to have a more nuanced under-standing of the issue.

The great American President,Franklin Roosevelt, gave us a wonderfulmantra way back in 1937. It is more rel-evant today than ever before: “The testof our progress is not whether we addmore to the abundance of those who havetoo much; it is whether we provideenough for those who have too little.’’

(The writer is a well-known develop-ment professional)

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As protest rallies of the recently-formed Pakistan DemocraticMovement (PDM) gain

momentum, many observers are quickto point out that even though the PDMis only the latest in a long line ofOpposition movements hoping forregime change through street agitation,it has a unique distinction of beingfounded on an anti-establishment nar-rative underlined by a prominentPunjabi politician. That politician is for-mer Prime Minister (PM) NawazSharif, whose party’s stronghold iscentral and northern Punjab.

Nawaz was controversiallyremoved as PM by the courts in 2017,and his party, the PML-N, has been atthe receiving end of an unabashedcrackdown against political opponentsunleashed by the current PTI

Government of PM Imran Khan. Stateand Government institutions havebeen used to browbeat the Oppositionand the media into submission, some-times in the name of “eradicating cor-ruption”, sometimes to “curb immoral-ity” and sometimes for the purpose of“flushing out traitors.” But all this hasbeen happening during a time when thecountry’s economy is under severeduress, threatening the livelihoods andsurvival of millions of people.

The Government’s demeanourconstantly shifts from being boastful toapathetic to disoriented to being boast-ful again. This, in fact, denotes aregime that is in flux even two yearsafter coming to power. And herebegins Sharif ’s and, subsequently,PDM’s narrative. The 11-party allianceinsists that Khan was brought in by themilitary establishment through a bla-tantly rigged election as a “puppet” whocould be easily controlled, compared tothe “stubborn” Nawaz or anyone fromthe PPP, a party with a long history ofantagonistic relations with the militaryestablishment.

During a fiery speech at the PDM’sfirst rally in Gujranwala, Nawaz did nothold back in directly attacking certaintop-ranked personnel within the mil-

itary establishment for continuing theinstitution’s chequered history of polit-ical interference, manipulation, loadingand off-loading elected Governmentsand making a mockery of those whovoted for these regimes. He also accusedthe institution of instigating non-Punjabi leaders to revolt after demon-ising them as traitors. During thePDM’s second rally in Karachi, Sharif ’sdaughter mocked Khan by insisting thatthe alliance’s battle was with “largerforces” instead of little fish like him.

These sentiments were being artic-ulated by a mainstream Punjabi politi-cian and not by Baloch, Pashtun orSindhi nationalist entities, who, histor-ically, have held similar views. What’smore, Nawaz was packaged by theestablishment to counter the erstwhilepopularity of the Sindhi Bhuttos in thePunjab before he began to tear himselfaway from the orbit of his benefactors,especially after his second Governmentwas toppled in a 1999 military coup.Indeed, the narrative being put forwardby Nawaz and PML-N is uniquebecause it is coming from a party whosemain votebank lies in the Punjab. It hasnow begun to find traction in main-stream Punjabi segments. Yet, thisnarrative, in the context of it coming

from a popular Punjabi politician, is notsudden or new. One of its most inter-esting aspects is rooted in an obscureand oft-ignored intellectual pursuitwhich is often defined as Punjabinationalism. This is not the populistPunjabi nationalism of the 1990s, or ofthe jingoistic “jaag Punjabi jaag” (wakeup Punjabi) variety which, ironically,was first used in mainstream politics bythe PML to portray Benazir Bhutto andher PPP as a Sindhi — and thus anti-Punjabi — party. Nawaz now seems tohave gone the other way and/or towardsthe other side of Punjabi nationalism,which was first constructed by intellec-tuals from the Left. According to cul-tural historian Alyssa Ayres, Punjabinationalism largely emerged in the1980s. Part of it was a reaction to theemergence of the Seraiki languagemovement, that looked to separate theSeraiki-speaking areas of the Punjabfrom the rest of the province. Till thelate 1960s, Seraiki was considered to bea dialect of Punjabi, but Seraiki nation-alists disagree. Punjabi intellectualslamented that to become the dominantethnic group in the country, thePunjabis had to let go of their cultureand adopt “alien languages” (Englishand Urdu) to escape economic margin-

alisation. Just as the purveyors ofSindhi, Baloch and Pakhtun national-ism of yore had, ideologues and advo-cates of this strand of Punjabi nation-alism, too, emerged from progressivebackgrounds.

They did not attack the non-Punjabi ethnicities for denouncingPunjabis. Instead, they turned theiranger towards the Punjabi elite andaccused them of neglecting the Punjabilanguage and forgetting their culture tomaintain their influence and power, tofirst appease the British, and then theState-backed promoters of Urdu.

Hanif Ramay, one of the foundingmembers of the PPP and Chief Ministerof Punjab during the ZA Bhutto regimein the 1970s, says that the Punjabisturned against the Bengalis to safeguardthe interests of those who had imposedUrdu upon them. Ramay also claimsthat had the Punjabis continued torespect and love their own language,they would’ve better understood thesentiments of East Pakistan’s Bengalis.

Author Syed Farani describes Urduas “a man-eating language” that madePunjabis kill fellow Punjabis and thenpeople of other non-Urdu ethnicgroups. There is every likelihood thatNawaz is well aware of this brand of

“Punjabiyat”, which is unafraid to cas-tigate the hegemonic follies of Pakistan’sPunjabi-centric establishment to provethat Punjabi, as a culture, was margin-alised to fit a political and cultural par-adigm that was outside of “realPunjabiyat” — which is closer to thecultures of the country’s other ethnicgroups.

Poet Fakhar Zaman bemoans thatPunjabis have become aliens on theirown soil. He, too, saw Punjabi cultureas being closer to non-Punjabi ethnicgroups than to the one he believed wasimposed upon them by a mixture ofhegemonic majoritarian arrogance andthe fear of losing this hegemony, andwhich made them demonise andrepress other ethnic communities.

This nationalism’s scholars con-stantly evoke tales associated with var-ious Punjabi Sufi saints and anti-colo-nial heroes to emphasise the point thatPunjabi culture is spiritual (instead oforthodox) and chivalrous (instead ofhegemonic or exploitative). This iswhere Nawaz is now coming from inhis bid to not only offer his large Punjabivotebank a new existential narrative, butto also add a more universal, and multi-ethnic dimension to the PML-N.

(Courtesy: Dawn)

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Butler (US): President DonaldTrump is mounting one finaltest of whether the massivecrowds that often show up athis signature rallies will trans-late into votes as he finishes thefinal 48 hours of his re-electioncampaign with a dizzyingonslaught of events in the bat-tleground states that coulddecide the race.

The president will holdfive rallies in five states onSunday alone. He’ll hold sevenmore on Monday to close outthe final full day of the cam-paign.

Down in the polls and at acash disadvantage to hisDemocratic rival, Joe Biden,Trump is turning to rallies tohelp keep his message in frontof voters. But it’s unclearwhether they will broaden hisappeal beyond those alreadylikely to vote for him. And thepacked — often unmasked —crowds risk deepening the pan-demic at a time when coron-avirus cases are surging acrossthe U.S.

But Trump, still relishinghis late-stage upset in the 2016campaign, sees his showman-ship as a central element of hisoutsider appeal that he hopeswill resonate again this year.

“Let me ask you, is there abetter place to be anytime,anywhere than a Trump rally?”Trump asked a massive crowdSaturday in Butler,Pennsylvania, that respondedin roaring approval.

With more than 91 millionvotes already cast, Trump andBiden are out of time to reshape

the race. Instead, they’re focus-ing on their base and makingsure that any potential sup-porters have either alreadyvoted or plan to do so in per-son on Tuesday.

For Biden, that means pay-ing close attention to Black vot-ers who are a critical part of thecoalition he needs to build to

win. His team is confident inBiden’s standing with women,college-educated voters andthose who live in the suburbs.

But some Democratsworry that voters of color maynot be excited about Biden andwon’t show up in force to sup-port him, which could be dev-astating in fiercely contested

battleground states likePennsylvania and Michigan.

The challenge is exacer-bated by the Democratic pushthis year to encourage voting bymail to prevent people waitingin long lines during a pan-demic. But that runs counter tothe tradition of some Black vot-ers who prefer to vote in per-son on Election Day.

“Most Black voters inPhilly have been skeptical ofmail-in voting,” said Joe Hill, aveteran Democratic operative-turned-lobbyist from the city.“A lot of us have gotten our bal-lots already,” Hill said, butadded, “Election Day hasalways been everything inPhiladelphia.” Biden will spendmuch of Sunday inPhiladelphia encouraging vot-ers to turn out. He’ll participatein a “souls to the polls” eventthat’s aimed at encouragingBlack church congregations toorganize and vote.

He held his first in-personcampaign events with formerPresident Barack Obama onSaturday in the predominant-ly Black cities of Detroit andFlint, Michigan. Obama willalso campaign for Biden onMonday in Georgia and inSouth Florida, another area of

potential concern if Latinovoters sit out the election.

As the largest city in a statethat could decide the presi-dency, Philadelphia has alwaysheld special significance forBiden. Just 30 miles from hislongtime home in Wilmington,Delaware, Biden planted hiscampaign headquarters inPhiladelphia before the pan-demic forced most of his staffto work remotely.

The city gets intense focusbecause it’s such a deep trove ofDemocratic votes, especiallynon-white voters.

Democrat Hillary Clintonlost Pennsylvania by almost45,000 votes four years agoeven as she fell just 4,800 votesshy of Obama’s PhiladelphiaCounty total in 2012. Clinton’sbigger problem was that shelost ground to Trump in otherparts of the state beyondPhiladelphia and its suburbs.

According to an analysis byUniversity of Florida professorMichael McDonald, a nonpar-tisan political data expert,almost 2.3 million Pennsylvaniavoters had returned absenteeballots as of Friday out ofalmost 3.1 million requested.That’s a statewide return rate of74.2 per cent. AP

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Washington: SenateRepublicans are fighting tosave their majority, a finalelection push against theonslaught of challengers instates once off limits toDemocrats but now hotbedsof a potential backlash toPresident Donald Trump andhis allies on Capitol Hill.

Fuelling the campaignsare the Trump administra-tion’s handling of the COVID-19 crisis, shifting regionaldemographics and, in someareas, simply the chance toturn the page on the divisivepolitical climate.

Control of the Senate canmake or break a presidency.With it, a reelected Trumpcould confirm his nomineesand ensure a backstop againstlegislation from HouseSpeaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

Without it, Joe Bidenwould face a potential wall of

opposition to his agenda if theDemocratic nominee won theWhite House.

In North Carolina, forexample, the match-upbetween GOP Sen. ThomTillis and Democratic chal-lenger Cal Cunningham,among the most expensive inthe nation, is close.

“At some point, you put itin the hands of voters,” saidDallas Woodhouse, a formerexecutive director of the state’sRepublican Party.

Republican incumbentsare straining for survival fromNew England to the DeepSouth, in the heartland andthe West and even Alaska.

Overpowered in fundrais-ing and stuck in Washingtonuntil just last week to confirmTrump’s Supreme Court nom-inee, they are fanning outsome alongside Trump forlast-ditch, home-state tours toshore up votes. AP

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New York: About 18 electionrallies by Donald Trump areestimated to have led to morethan 30,000 confirmed cases ofcoronavirus and likely claimedover 700 lives, a new study byStanford University researcherssaid, stressing that the com-munities where the USPresident’s rallies took place“paid a high price in terms ofdisease and death.”

In the study titled ‘TheEffects of Large GroupMeetings on the Spread ofCOVID-19: The Case ofTrump Rallies’, researchers con-cluded 18 rallies by Trump held

between June 20 andSeptember 22 “ultimatelyresulted in more than 30,000incremental confirmed cases ofCOVID-19” and “likely led tomore than 700 deaths”, whichmay not necessarily have beenamong attendees.

“Our analysis stronglysupports the warnings andrecommendations of publichealth officials concerning therisk of COVID-19 transmis-sion at large group gatherings,particularly when the degreeof compliance with guidelinesconcerning the use of masksand social distancing is low.

The communities in whichTrump rallies took place paida high price in terms of diseaseand death,” the researcherssaid.

Reacting to a Twitter poston the study, DemocraticPresidential nominee Joe Bidensaid “President Trump doesn’tcare about you. He doesn’teven care about his own sup-porters.”

The study, released onFriday, noted that more than8.7 million Americans havecontracted COVID-19, result-ing in more than 225,000deaths. PTI

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Washington: The US mustmake an abrupt change in pub-lic health practices as it couldsurpass 100,000 new coron-avirus cases a day and risingdeaths in the coming weeks, thecountry’s top infectious diseaseexpert has warned Americansjust days ahead of the presi-dential election.

The warning from DrAnthony Fauci came asPresident Donald Trump, him-self a COVID-19 survivor, hasbeen downplaying the risingcases in a number of states and

dangerously holding huge rallieswith few of his supporters wear-ing masks and no social dis-tancing. Fauci told TheWashington Post that the nationis “in for a whole lot of hurt.”

He spoke as the US set anew daily record on Friday withmore than new 98,000 cases. Ashospitalisations increase, deathsare also ticking up, with morethan 1,000 reported onWednesday and Thursday,bringing the total to over230,000 since the start of thepandemic, the report said. PTI

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Donald Trump is focused onfeeding his ego and has notshown any interest in helpinganyone except himself, where-as his Democratic rival JoeBiden cares about the coron-avirus pandemic and keeping“your family safe”, BarackObama has said.

Making a last pitch onSaturday to get his formervice-president and Democraticpresidential candidate Bidenelected as the next occupant ofthe White House, Obama, dur-ing rallies in Michigan, blast-ed Trump for his policies and

rhetoric.He said Trump in the last

four years had not shown anyinterest in helping any of hiscountrymen except himself.

“President Trump isfocused on feeding his ego,while the Democratic presi-dential candidate Bidenfocused on decency and empa-thy,” said Obama, who was the44th US president.

“He hasn’t shown any inter-est in doing the work or help-ing anybody but himself or hisfriends or treating the presi-dency as anything more than areality show to give him the

attention that he craves. Butunfortunately, the rest of ushave to live with the conse-quences,” he said.

Obama was joined byBiden at both the Flint andDetroit rallies in Michigan, abattleground State.

“I can tell you that the pres-idency doesn’t change whoyou are. It shows who are you.It reveals who you are. And foreight years, Joe was the last onein the room when I made a bigdecision,” he said.

Obama praised the 77-year-old Biden and said, “Bidenis my brother. PTI

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Lyon (France): French policeinterrogated one suspect andsearched for others on Sundayafter a Greek Orthodox priestwas shot and critically wound-ed while closing the door to hischurch in the French city ofLyon.

Investigators are trying todetermine whether a manarrested Saturday night was thegunman behind the attack, orhas information about it,according to a police official.

The priest remains in crit-ical condition after being shotwith a hunting rifle, said theofficial, who was not autho-rized to be publicly namedaccording to police policy.

The motive for Saturday’sshooting remains unclear. Anti-terrorism prosecutors are notinvestigating the case, and theLyon prosecutor opened anattempted murder investiga-tion.

The attack came as Franceis under high security alert afterthe killing of three people at aNice church on Thursday, amidglobal tensions over cartoons ofthe Muslim ProphetMuhammad published in a

French newspaper. The Frenchprime minister has promisedmore protection for religioussites.

It also came amid tensionswithin the Greek Orthodoxcommunity in Lyon. The priest,a Greek citizen, had had a long-running legal dispute with aformer monk who was con-victed of defamation, accordingto French media reports.

The Greek Orthodox HolyDiocese of France identified thevictim as Father NikolaosKakavelakis, and said he was

scheduled to return soon toGreece after his time workingat the Lyon church. “We prayfor a speedy recovery andunequivocally condemn allforms of violence,” it said.

Antoine Callot, the pastorat another Greek Orthodoxchurch in Lyon, told TheAssociated Press that theGreek Orthodox communityin Lyon has not received anythreats, but said he immedi-ately asked police for securityprotection at his church afterthe shooting. AP

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Paris: The pressure rises witheach gruesome attack. Afterthree in five weeks, France’sMuslims are feeling squeezed.

A spotlight of suspicionwas trained on them againeven before the latest acts ofextremist violence, includingtwo beheadings.

President EmmanuelMacron has forged ahead withhis effort to rid Islam in Franceof extremists, part of a projecthe labels “separatism,” a term

that makes Muslims wince.Amid intensifying rhetoric

and fresh attacks by outsiders,including the killings of threepeople Thursday at a Catholicchurch in Nice, Muslims inFrance have kept their headsdown and chins up. But deepdown, some are squirming,feeling they are being heldresponsible. “It’s worrisome forMuslims,” said HichamBenaissa, a sociologist whospecialises in Islam in the work-

place. Within his network, hesaid, some “talk about leavingFrance. The situation is tense.There is fear.”

Islam is the second religionin France, which has the largestMuslim population in WesternEurope. But the country’s esti-mated 5 million Muslims havewalked a delicate line in searchof full acceptance in what formany is their nation of birth.

Discrimination casts ashadow over some and is an

outright barrier to mainstreamlife for others.

France’s cherished value ofsecularism, which is meant toensure religious freedom, has inrecent years been used by thestate to reign in customs prac-ticed by some Muslims.

The president’s proposedlaw may mean further tinker-ing with the 1905 secularismlaw born out of a conflict withthe powerful Roman Catholicclergy. AP

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Yerevan (Armenia): Fightingover the separatist territory ofNagorno-Karabakh enteredsixth week on Sunday, withArmenian and Azerbaijaniforces blaming each other fornew attacks.

Nagorno-Karabakh offi-cials accused Azerabaijan oftargeting the town of Martuniwith military aviation andseveral other areas with mis-si le strikes overnight.Azerbaijani forces continuedshelling the region’s civiliansettlements in the morning,the Nagorno-Karabakh mili-tary said.

Azerbaijan’s DefenseMinistry, in turn, accusedArmenian forces of firing at thepositions of the Azerbaijaniarmy on the Armenia-Azerbaijan state border. Theministry also said Armenianforces were shelling settlementsin the regions of Terter andAghjabedi.

Nagorno-Karabakh lieswithin Azerbaijan but has beenunder the control of ethnicArmenian forces backed byArmenia since a war thereended in 1994.

The latest outburst of hos-tilities began Sept 27 and lefthundreds — if not thousands— dead, marking the worstescalation of the decades-oldconflict between the two ex-Soviet nations in over quartercentury.

According to Nagorno-Karabakh officials, 1,166 oftheir troops and 45 civilianshave been killed. Azerbaijaniauthorities haven’t disclosedtheir military losses, but say thefighting has killed at least 91civilians and wounded 400.Russian President VladimirPutin has said, according toMoscow’s information, theactual death toll was signifi-cantly higher and nearing5,000. AP

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China on Sunday startedthe world’s biggest exercise

of population count, conduct-ed once in a decade, to docu-ment demographic changes inthe most populous country.

About seven million censustakers began door-to-door sur-vey for the seventh census inthe country to account forChina’s population stated to be1.37 billion in the last censusexercise ten years ago.

Carrying out the census iscritical to understand the pop-ulation size, structure and dis-tribution, Ning Jizhe, deputyhead of the NationalDevelopment and ReformCommission, said during avideo conference to promotethe national census.

The census collects data, including name, ID number, gender, marital status, education, and profes-sion of Chinese citizens, state-run Xinhua news agencyreported. PTI

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Izmir (Turkey): Rescue work-ers extricated a 70-year-oldman from a collapsed buildingin western Turkey on Sunday,some 34 hours after a strongearthquake in the Aegean Seastruck Turkey and Greece,killing at least 53 people andinjuring more than 900.

It was the latest series ofremarkable rescues after theFriday afternoon earthquake,which was centered in theAegean northeast of the Greekisland of Samos. Search-and-rescue teams were working innine buildings Sunday in theTurkish city of Izmir as daybroke.

Turkish Vice PresidentFuat Oktay raised the death tollin Izmir, the country’s third-largest city, to 51 as rescuerspulled more bodies out of top-pled buildings.

Two teenagers were killedFriday on Samos and at least 19others were injured.

There was some debateover the magnitude of theearthquake.

The US Geological Surveyrated it 7.0, while the Istanbul’sKandilli Institute put it at 6.9and Turkey’s Disaster andEmergency ManagementPresidency (AFAD) said itmeasured 6.6.

The quake triggered asmall tsunami in the Seferihisardistrict of Izmir, drowning oneelderly woman, and on Samos.The tremors were felt acrosswestern Turkey, including inIstanbul, as well as in the Greekcapital of Athens. Hundreds of

aftershocks followed.Turkey’s disaster agency said

nearly 900 people were injuredin Turkey alone. Ahmet Citim,70, was pulled out from the rub-ble shortly after midnightSunday and was hospitalized.Health Minister Fahrettin Kocatweeted that he said: “I never lostmy hope.” Turkey has a mix ofolder buildings and lightly reg-ulated cheap new construction,which can lead to serious dam-age and deaths when earth-quakes hit. AP

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Lahore: The Pakistan govern-ment is mulling over register-ing a treason case against asenior Opposition leader for hiscontroversial statement thatthe country handed over cap-tured Indian Air Force pilotAbhinandan Varthaman toIndia under pressure, a topminister has said.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader SardarAyaz Sadiq on Wednesday saidthat “legs were shaking andforehead perspiring” at a meet-ing of Pakistan’s top leaders,including Army chief GeneralQamar Javed Bajwa, whereinForeign Minister ShahMahmood Qureshi pleaded torelease Wing CommanderAbhinandan, saying if he wasnot released, India would attackPakistan.

“Legs were shaking andforehead perspiring, and theforeign minister (Qureshi) toldus, ‘For God’s sake, let him(Varthaman) go back nowbecause India is attacking

Pakistan at 9 PM in the night’,”Sadiq said, recalling the meet-ing which was also attended byparliamentary leaders, includ-ing those from Pakistan People’sParty (PPP) and PML-N, andadded that “India was not plan-ning to attack...They just want-ed to kneel before India andsend back Abhinandan.”

Responding to Sadiq’sremarks, Pakistan InteriorMinister Ejaz Shah toldreporters that the governmentwas pondering over registeringa treason case against Sadiq aspolice have received a numberof complaints against him.

He said those toeing theline of India should better go toAmritsar.

Posters of Sadiq have alsoappeared in Lahore, dubbinghim a “traitor”.

A number of posters andbanners with pictures of WingCommander Abhinandan andSadiq were displayed in the con-stituency of the former NationalAssembly Speaker. PTI

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The goods and services tax(GST) collected in October

rose to �1.05 lakh crore, cross-ing the �1 lakh crore mark forthe first time since Februarythis year, reflecting a pick-up ineconomic activity and demand.

The finance ministry in astatement said on Sunday thatthe total number of GSTR-3Breturns filed till October 31,2020 is 80 lakh.

The gross GST revenuecollected in October 2020 is�1,05,155 crore, of whichCGST is �19,193 crore, SGSTis �5,411 crore, IGST is �52,540 crore (including �23,375 crore collected onimport of goods) and cess is�8,011 crore (including �932crore collected on import ofgoods), the ministry said. Therevenues for the month are 10per cent higher than �95,379crore collected in the samemonth last year.

The GST collections fellfrom the psychologicallyimportant �1 lakh crore markas the lockdown imposed to

contain the COVID-19 spreaddented economic activity.

“The (tax collection) trendshows that it did decline for thepast few months but it is notonly on the path of recoverybut is also picking up.

In the month ofSeptember, GST collection was4 per cent higher than what wasthere in the correspondingperiod last year.

In the month of October, ithas risen by 10 per cent year onyear with a collection of aboveRs 1.05 lakh crore,” FinanceSecretary Ajay Bhushan Pandeytold PTI.

GST revenue in Februarywas �1.05 lakh crore, March�97,597 crore, April �32,172crore, May �62,151 crore,June � 90,917 crore, July�87,422 crore, August �86,449crore and September �95,480crore.

GST revenue had topped�1 lakh crore in 8 out of 12months of 2019-20 fiscal.

Deloitte Senior Director MS Mani said the numbers indi-cate the definitive revival ofconsumption and festival

spends across the economy. “Continuance of this

trend will help in narrowingthe fiscal deficit for FY21and will go a long way inreviving business confidenceacross sectors as the impact ofthe unlockdown processacross states gets translatedinto GST collection figures,”Mani said.

PwC India Partner andLeader Pratik Jain said giventhe surge in number of returnsfiled and the fact that there isclear uptake in demand due torevival of economy as well asupcoming festive season, it’snot surprising that collection inOctober has exceeded Rs 1 lakhcrore.

“Given the festivities, col-lections in November couldalso be robust. We would needto see if this trend continuesafter November as well,” Jainadded.

EY Tax Partner AbhishekJain said that some potentialreasons for this surge could bethe splurged demand onaccount of the festivities andinput tax credit/other similarreconciliations which weredue for businesses inSeptember.

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Ficci president Sangita Reddyon Sunday said India’s strat-

egy of dealing with the Covid-19 crisis has paid off and thecountry’s economy is set tobounce back and emergestronger.

She said it was time totake bold actions and push thegrowth agenda vigorously.

“The dilemma for govern-ments across the world was cre-ating a balance between pro-tecting lives and livelihoods.India took the path of a strictlockdown to ramp up healthinfrastructure and focused onhuman lives. This strategy haspaid off,” Reddy said.

She observed that scienceevolved to give better cures,medical infrastructure was cre-ated, supplies like PPEs rampedup and our death rate hasbeen contained.

“It’s clearly time for boldactions on the livelihood front.The recent monetary policy

assures that the governmentand the regulator will do every-thing it takes to keep the econ-omy afloat. Let us start push-ing our growth agenda vigor-ously,” said Reddy.

“As we can see the initialgreen shoots of recovery havebegun,” she added.

Reddy noted that the PMIfor manufacturing and ser-vices has recovered to 56.8and 49.8, respectively inSeptember 2020.

Besides, there has been apick-up in e-way bill volumes,improvement in revenue earn-ing freight traffic of majorcommodities, positive growthin exports and most signifi-cantly increase in theSeptember GST collections toalmost pre-COVID-19 level.

“These incremental trendsare heartening and need to besustained, and further initia-tives like the consumptionvouchers must continue toremain focused on demandgeneration,” Reddy said.

The Ficci president assert-ed that India’s inherent eco-nomic strengths and resilienceremain intact. “Given the pro-gressive policies introduced by

government, major infrastruc-ture development plans inplace, large consumer market,all point towards significantheadroom for growth,” Reddysaid.

She highlighted thevibrancy of Indian entrepre-neurs who are always able tospot an opportunity and moveproactively, the capabilities anddiligence of its working class,the commitment of its farmersand energy of its youthful pop-ulation that seeks a betterfuture, expressing confidencethat the country is capable tobounce back and emergestronger from this crisis.

“The number ofnew reported cases has fallenbelow 50,000. This indicatesthat the rate of spread of infec-tion is being contained.

Our recovery rate and casefatality ratio are much bettercompared to similar ratios formany other countries,” theFicci president stated.

She said although ourhealth data points to a health-ier destiny, yet we must con-tinue to educate on preventionand stay vigilant while gearingup for the vaccine.

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Foreign portfolio investors(FPIs) turned net buyers in

October in Indian markets byputting in �22,033 crore as par-ticipant sentiment was drivenby resumption of economicactivities and robust quarterlycorporate results among others.

In Sept, FPIs were netsellers at �3,419 crore. As perdepositories data, overseasinvestors invested a net �19,541crore into equities and �2,492crore into debt during Oct 1-30. Total investment on a netbasis stood at �22,033 crore inOct. “Availability of surplusliquidity in the global marketshas been ensuring the flow offoreign money in Indian equi-ties,” said Himanshu Srivastava,Associate Director - ManagerResearch, Morningstar India.

Besides, opening of theeconomy, resumption of busi-ness activities and better-than-expected quarterly resultshelped in keeping investorinterest intact, he added.Globally, the scenario continuesto evolve and there are multi-ple factors which would dictatethe direction of foreign flowsgoing ahead, Srivastava said.

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The Reserve Bank will eval-uate the impact of multi-

media public awareness cam-paign ‘RBI Kehta Hai’, whichwas launched in 14 languagesto educate the public about safebanking and financial practices.

‘RBI Kehta Hai’ was thefirst even 360 degree cam-paign initiated by the centralbank using all mass media,including media such as tele-vision, radio, newspapers,hoardings, web banners, gifs,

social media and SMS.In order to evaluate the

impact of the public awarenesscampaign, the RBI has invitedExpression of Interest (EoI)from eligible companies andother entities which have suc-cessfully completed at leastfive similar projects.

The RBI had launched themulti-media campaign with aview to create awarenessamong common man aboutgood practices, regulations andinitiatives in banking andfinancial sector.

As part of the campaign,messages have been launchedon basic savings bank depositaccounts, customer liability inunauthorised electronic bank-ing transactions, safe digitalbanking practices, bankingfacilities for senior citizens,banking ombudsman scheme,and cyber security, among oth-ers.

As per the EoI document,the selected firm will have topropose a methodology forconducting comprehensive sci-entific outcome analysis of the

impact of public awarenesscampaigns, and conduct anin-depth analysis of the effec-tiveness of the media plat-forms used, besides otherobjectives.

The document furthersaid companies, NGOs, volun-tary agencies or public trustsparticipating in the EoI shouldhave a turnover of at least Rs 2crore from “ImpactEvaluation/Surveys Business”in each of the last three finan-cial years -- 2017-18, 2018-19and 2019-20.

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Investors pulled out over�7,200 crore from equity-ori-

ented mutual funds during theJuly-September quarter thisyear as expensive valuationdiverted them towards profit-booking. In comparison, suchschemes had witnessed a heftyinflow of �23,874 crore in thesame quarter last fiscal, datafrom the Association of MutualFunds in India showed.Although, the asset base ofequity mutual funds (MFs)slightly increased to �7.64 lakh

crore by the end of Sept 2020from �7.24 lakh crore as of Sept2019. As per the data, outflowsfrom equity and equity-linkedschemes were at Rs 7,214 crorein the three months endedSeptember, while such schemessaw inflows to the tune of Rs11,710 crore in the June quar-ter and Rs 30,703 crore in theMarch quarter. Of Rs 7,214crore outflows, the schemeswitnessed a pull out of Rs2,480 crore in July, which wasthe first withdrawal in fouryears, Rs 4,000 crore in Augustand Rs 734 crore in September.

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Aweek after a Singaporearbitration court directed a

temporary stay on FutureRetail’s buyout by RIL-ledReliance Retail Ventures Ltd(RRVL), Future urged theIndian exchanges, the BSE andthe NSE, to process its appli-cation for the deal withReliance Retail, as the arbitra-tor’s order does not restrictmarket regulator SEBI or theexchanges from consideringthe scheme and approving thescheme.

In a regulatory filing,Future Retail Ltd (FRL) saidthat arbitrator’s order acceptedAmazon’s contention that twoseparate shareholder agree-ments, one between Amazonand FRL’s promoters (to whichFRL is not a party) and anoth-er between FRL and its pro-moter (to which Amazon is nota party) constitute one singleintegrated transaction and thatby such a composite transac-tion, Amazon has an interest inand rights against FRL.

“This contention raised byAmazon is entirely miscon-ceived,” it said.

Future said that, at best,Amazon’s claims are a con-

tractual dispute betweenAmazon and the promoters ofFRL, and Amazon has alreadyinitiated arbitration for thesame.

Future said that SEBI andthe stock exchanges shouldconsider the scheme indepen-dently on its merits, and as perSEBI regulations.

According to the company,a contractual dispute betweenthe promoters of FRL andAmazon cannot restrict orinterfere with the authority ofthe SEBI and the stockexchanges to approve thescheme involving the listedentity. The emergency arbitra-tor’s order cannot and does notin any manner restrict theSEBI or the stock exchangesfrom considering and approv-ing the scheme.

“FRL therefore respectful-ly prays that BSE and NSEshould continue to process ourapplication for issuance ofobservation letter/no-objec-tion letter permitting the cap-tioned Scheme to be filedbefore the NCLT,” it said.

On Amazon’s contention ofintegrated agreement, FutureRetail said that if the two sep-arate agreements were treatedas a single integrated transac-

tion by which Amazonobtained an interest in andrights against FRL, then in2019, when the agreementswere executed, there wouldhave been a change in controlof FRL in favour of Amazon,requiring it to make an openoffer to FRL’s public share-holders in terms of the SEBI(Substantial Acquisition ofShares and Takeovers)Regulations, 2011.

“No such open offer wasmade, thereby suggesting thatthere was no intent of Amazonto consider the two agree-ments as a single integratedtransaction at that point oftime,” it said. It noted that giventhat the order is premised onviolation of SEBI Regulations itcannot and ought not to beaccorded any sanctity by theSEBI, the NSE and the BSE.

It further asked theexchanges not the to take cog-nizance of Amazon’s recentletter, along with the emer-gency arbitrator’s order, as theFRL has complied with all therequirements of obtaining therequisite approval from FutureCoupons Private Ltd, as wasrequired in the ShareholdersAgreement executed by FRLwith its Promoters.

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Hit by pandemic-relatedcuts in ad spend, Googles

digital media revenues fell by 7per cent in Q2 2020 to $38.3billion, causing its market shareto fall from 29 per cent in Q12020 to 26.3 per cent in Q2 --its lowest share of the globaldigital media market in the pastsix years.

According to a report bymarket research firm StrategyAnalytics, the major factor wasthe decline in travel and leisureadvertising, in which Google isparticularly strong, as a resultof behavioral changes broughtabout by the Covid-19 pan-demic.

Facebook remained theworld’s number two player,with a 12.8 per cent share inQ2, while Apple remained inthird place, in spite of a declinein market share to 9 per cent.

Alibaba, the world’s fourthlargest digital media company,was helped by a resurgentChinese economy and saw itsshare rise to 8.4 per cent in Q2.

The overall global digitalmedia revenues saw modestquarterly growth of 2.8 per centin Q2 2020, as the global econ-omy slowly began to recoverfrom the initial impact of theCovid-19 pandemic, and Q2revenues of $145.7 billion werealso nearly 12 per cent higherthan a year earlier.

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Maintaining the highmomentum, Indian

Railways’ freight loading andearnings in October 2020crossed last year’s figures for thesame month despite Covid-19pandemic.

In October, Railwaysrecorded a total load of 108.16million tonnes, which is 15 percent higher compared withlast year’s figure of 93.75 mil-lion tonnes, the Ministry ofRailways said in a statement onSunday. During this period, thestatement said, Railways earnedRs 10,405.12 crore from freightloading, which is Rs 868.90crore (9 per cent) higher com-pared with last year’s earningsof Rs 9,536.22 crore.

The 108.16 million tonnesof ferried load included 46.97million tonnes of coal, 14.68million tonnes of iron ore,5.03 million tonnes of food-grain, 5.93 million tonnes offertilisers, and 6.62 milliontonnes of cement (excludingclinker). A number of conces-sions and discounts are offeredby Railways to make freightmovement on rails very attrac-tive. Improvement in freightmovement will be institution-alised and incorporated in theupcoming zero-based timetable, the Ministry said.

To attract new businessand incentivise existing clients,Railways Ministry has heldmeetings with top leaders iniron and steel, cement, power,coal, automobiles sectors andlogistics service providers.

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Traders body, CAIT hascompared Amazon with

East India Company in thecolonial era which acquiredIndian states one by one andmonopolized Indian business.

“The recent statementmade by Indian origin FutureRetail group to go for liquida-tion as a consequence of aacquisition battle of Amazonreminds us the colonial erawhen East India Company ini-tiated the process of killingIndian business ecosystem inthe same manner by acquiringIndian States one by one andcontrolled & monopolisedIndian business,” said PraveenKhandelwal, Secretary Generalof the Confederation of AllIndia Traders (CAIT) todaywhile commenting upon thestatement of Future Retail.

It is an alarming bell for theIndian government and con-glomerates of Corporate Indiaand has exposed sinisterdesigns of Foreign fundedMNCs to control Indian retailtrade-added, said Khandelwal.

He further said thatAmazon itself is facing probe inIndia on various charges of

gross violation of FDI policy ofthe Government and is tryinghard not to face the legal sys-tem of the Country but isinvoking jurisdiction of a for-eign panel for its own issues.

CAIT National PresidentB.C. Bhartia said that at a timewhen existence of an IndianCompany is at stake, CAITstands in solidarity with FutureRetail since its an IndianCompany and we will spare noefforts in lending assistance of7 crore traders to any IndianCompany in its battle againstany Foreign Company.

However, Bhartia ques-tioned the silence of Industrybodies like FICCI and CII whoalways claim to be the advo-cates for industry and com-merce in India.

Both said CAIT may haveseveral differences with Indianorigin companies like FutureRetail and to resolve such issues,the CAIT will always seek inter-vention of the Govt and courtof law being an internal matterof the country. “However, if anyForeign Company will try toinvade the Indian business sys-tem through any means, theCAIT will stoutly oppose andfoil any such move,” they added.

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Wall Street’s major averagespulled back considerably

in the week as investors wor-ried that soaring COVID-19infections could slow downeconomic recovery.

For the week endingFriday, the Dow fell 6.5 percent, the S&P 500 5.6 per centand the Nasdaq 5.5 per cent.The major averages had theirworst one-week performancesince March, Xinhua newsagency reported on Saturday.

The S&P US Listed China50 index, which is designed totrack the performance of the 50largest Chinese companies list-ed on US exchanges by totalmarket cap, logged a weeklyrise of 0.06 per cent.

The moves came as thepandemic rages on and someEuropean countries began toimplement new restrictions.

“COVID-19 cases and hos-

pitalizations are surging acrossthe United States and Europe.The stock market appears to betaking note,” analysts at ZacksInvestment Management, saidin a note Saturday.

The daily new cases haveregularly surpassed 80,000recently in the United States.The country has reported morethan 9.1 million in total infec-tions with the death toll sur-passing 230,000 as of Saturdayafternoon, showed a tally byJohns Hopkins University.

“The threat of anothereconomic lockdown is low, butcities with spiralling hospital-ization rates may need to pur-sue more targeted restrictionsand closures. The stock marketis likely to respond adversely toany planned economic restric-tions,” Zacks analysts added.

In addition to surgingCOVID-19 cases, investorswere keeping a watchful eye onthe upcoming election and

what the results could mean forthe markets.

“Elections have conse-quences, but the defeat of thepandemic and subsequent eco-nomic recovery will continue tobe one of the main market dri-vers in any election outcome,”said analysts at UBS.

On the data front, US eco-nomic activity in the thirdquarter grew at an annual rateof 33.1 per cent after a sharpcontraction in the previousquarter, the US CommerceDepartment reportedThursday. The reading exceed-ed the 32 per cent estimatefrom economists surveyed byDow Jones.The rebound cameafter the economy plunged at arevised annual rate of 31.4 percent in the second quarteramid mounting COVID-19fallout, which has been thelargest decline since the USgovernment began keepingrecords in 1947.

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Prices of petrol and dieselcontinued to remain

unchanged on Sunday on theback of weak crude oil prices.In the national capital, petrolwas sold for �81.06 per litre.

Prices in the other keycities of Mumbai, Chennai andKolkata were �87.74, �84.14,�82.59 per litre, respectively.

Prices of both petrol anddiesel have been unchanged forover a month now. Dieselprices in Delhi, Mumbai,Chennai and Kolkata onSunday were at �70.46, �76.86,�75.95 and �73.99 per litre,respectively. Oil marketingcompanies (OMC) have keptthe prices of both the keytransport fuel unchanged large-ly due to the subdued crude oilprice globally.The Brent crudeis currently just below the $38per barrel mark.

However, consumers cancheer as OMCs may actuallybring down the retail prices ofpetrol and diesel in the comingweek and provide relief tothem ahead of Diwali.

Oil sector experts said thatwith global oil prices underpressure from slowing demandin the second wave of theCovid-19 pandemic sweepingthrough several countries in theWest, crude prices have fallenin recent days and could fallfurther.

If the trend holds, therecould be positive gains forauto fuel consumers in India byway of a fall in the retail pricesof petrol and diesel.

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Charges on deposits andwithdrawals of funds by

some banks will not be applic-able to the Jan Dhan accountsand basic savings bankaccounts.

Banking sources said ICICIBank is not levying charges onthe basic savings bank depositaccount (BSBA) and Jan Dhanaccounts.

Several major banks (SBI,BOB, PNB) have also not leviedcharges on Jan Dhan accountsand sources say some mediareports to this effect are false.

Bank of Baroda is also notlevying charges on debit in theJan Dhan Accounts. The bankhas, as on date, not levied anycharges for any debit to suchaccounts.

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�� A by-the-book political aide falls for a big-hearted Air Force pilot while

looking to shut down his tropical base and its airborne Christmas tradition.Starring Kat Graham, Alexander Ludwig and Virginia Madsen, the film releaseson November 5 on Netflix.

��A couple facing fertility issues finds their marriage

tested on a vacation to a Sardinian resort — and the familynext door only adds to the tension. Starring LaviniaWilson, Elyas M’Barek and Anna Unterberger, the filmreleases on November 11 on Netflix.

�� Over the course of a world tour, this unguarded doc-

umentary follows Shawn Mendes as he opens up about hisstardom, relationships and musical future. The filmreleases on November 23 on Netflix.

Dust Storm 1983: Rajasthan in India.Anyone who reads and loves pho-tography knows this iconic image

has stood on its own terms against a vastuniverse of work across the globe. SteveMcCurry of Magnum and NationalGeographic fame needs no introductionwhatsoever. But all of us who love thepower of a single frame to tell a story willremember that McCurry had once stat-ed: “A picture can express a universalhumanism or simply reveal a delicate andpoignant truth by exposing a slice of lifethat might otherwise pass unnoticed.” Hedoes this and more in his new book —In Search of Elsewhere: Unseen Images —which will be launched at SundaramTagore Gallery Madison Avenue, NYC.

Interestingly, it brings together someof the award-winning photographer’smost iconic works alongside a selectionof never-seen-before images that provide

new perspectives on many of the locationsMcCurry is best known for, includingCambodia, Croatia, Pakistan andEthiopia.

McCurry has travelled the globe for

his photographic projects, covering areasof international and civil conflict and doc-umenting ancient traditions, vanishingcultures and contemporary culture. Hisexquisite use of colour and unwavering

commitment to retain the human elementhas made his images timelessly captivat-ing. McCurry’s work has been the subjectof numerous museum shows and books,including his latest book, which is a col-lection of previously unpublished printsspanning his thirty-year career.

From Dust Storm in Rajasthan, BlueSeries in Jaipur to stunning images inKabul and China et al, each image is astory within a story. The people belongto all walks of life. They are commonplace workers or labourers who jostle forspace on his frames. This legendary imagehas its own story. Taken at the hottest timeof the year in Rajasthan, India, Steve wasbeing driven in a taxi when suddenly awall of dust just blew in from nowherewith an incredible roar.

Object of hope “It was quite frightening,” he remem-

bers. “These women were off on the sideof the road huddled together protectingthemselves. I saw them out the car win-dow and thought this is going to be anincredible situation. I ran across the field,thinking my cameras were going to beruined and made maybe a dozen pictures.It was very exciting. In a situation like thissometimes you’re not really thinking,you’re just reacting. Your brain is on auto-matic pilot and you just shoot away,” sayshe.

The book combines stunning pho-tographs of India and other countries, itspeople, monuments, landscapes, sea-sons, and cities. Talking about his rela-tionship with his camera, McCurry says,“For those who were desperate, my cam-era became an object of hope...Throughout my year-long coverage of themonsoon world, my strongest conviction

was that I was involved in the fundamen-tals of life.”

For him, the photograph is an unde-niably powerful medium. Free from theconstraints of language and harnessingthe unique qualities of a single momentfrozen in time. In this suite, we see a com-bination of portraits that express hiscuriosity and commitment to capturingunexpected moments across many lands.

In chaotic times of our contemporarysociety, so over-inundated with imagery,it is easy to overlook the power of a sin-gle frame to change the way we look at theworld. McCurry’s lone flower seller inKashmir is as evocative as the stilt fisher-men in Sri Lanka or the silhouette ofcamels against the rising smoke of oil wells.His works capture enchanting terrain inlandscapes, historical sites and the life ofordinary people in major cities and ruralareas, representative of diverse regions ofIndia and other places. In a strange andquixotic way the book illustrates the con-nections between ancient and contempo-rary India.

McCurry has been coming to Indiafor more than 30 years, knows it intimate-ly, understands its charms and has seenit change over three decades. Thesemagnificent photographs, some justlyfamous, many new and revelatory, revealthe beauty of the country and highlightits extraordinary contradictions.

Ultimately it is the two Rajasthaniwomen walking up the staircase of theChand Baori step well that speaks aboutthe past and the present. And McCurry’swords swing into view: “If you wait, peo-ple will forget your camera and the soulwill drift up into view.” And so be it.

(The iconic images will also be part ofan exhibition running till December 18.)

What is life without humour?In the midst of the pan-

demic, the comedy pill wouldseem like an essential element inour survival kit. With comedyclubs, theatres and studios shutduring the lockdown, there wasa vacuum of live shows, openmics and gigs. Many comediansstarted performing online but thatdoes not work for all. Withunlock happening, the stand-upcomedy industry is slowly tryingto set up a revival of sorts. Thenew normal will, of course, callfor new ground rules. Comediansare, of course, willing to adhereto every protocol.

“I am ready to perform any-where. It’s not like I haven’t per-formed outdoors. Many corporateshows happen outdoors onlywhere the family gathers. Evenprivate shows, weddings, partiesand festival performances happenoutdoors,” popular comedianAnubhav Singh Bassi says. Ofcourse, things are different at anopen air gig. “The sound systemand other equipment need to besorted, lest it’ll be equally fun. Yes,since the audience will be seatedat a distance, the laughter willhave a lesser impact being onstage,” Bassi notes.

The new normal may enable

the restarting of shows, but Bassiknows getting back normalcrowds will take time. “It will takea lot of time to draw the crowds.Families with kids would recon-sider attending gatherings at themoment but youngsters who livealone or with their parents mightbe willing to attend. It will be dif-

ficult but we are not aiming at keycrowded shows. I hope the showssell out and we are able to do liveshows again,” he says.

Comedian Jaspreet Singh,who is scheduled to perform inDelhi and Chandigarh soon, alsoagrees it will take a while for theaudience to come out in large

numbers to live gigs as stand-upcomedy shows. “I look forward toperforming live in small roomswith proper social distancingguidelines in place because I amconcerned for myself as well asmy audience. I feel it will taketime for the audience to startcoming out in the kind of num-bers as they used to but we haveto make a start somewhere,”Singh contends.

“For now I feel it is morebecause no one knows the entire-ty of COVID-19. It is still like amystery and hence, (there is a)fear of the unknown. Things willget better, but for now even if I geta double digit audience at my liveshows, it is a great start,” he adds.

Open mics, Singh says,should take time to re-establish.“Headliner gigs might start off butopen mics will struggle more Iguess. The reason being it isalready tough to get the audienceto an open mic as there is no pop-ular face on the poster. So, if peo-

ple are choosy about going outthen they would prefer a showover a mic any day,” he shares.

Delhi-based improv artistand comedy producer BaneetChhabra fears that the audiencemight become selective. “Peoplewill now become selective. Theywon’t go to random places andattend random shows. They willchoose which shows are worthattending. As a brand, we supporta lot of local artistes. We do a lotof shows with artistes who are notso popular. We used to have adecent crowd. But now I thinkthings won’t be the same. Peoplewill not experiment much now.They would most probably like toattend shows of the big namesonly,” Baneet says.

He also highlights how pro-duction cost would go up due toCOVID-19 fear. “We already ranon a limited setup with a limit-ed staff, and now taking precau-tions is not mandatory but aresponsibility. It’s a fearful situ-ation where costs could go high-er with all the sanitisation andprecautionary facilities needed.There is the fear of getting infect-ed with the virus and how tomake things work without lettingother things being affected,” headds.

City-based comedian MilindKapoor has already started per-forming outdoors post lock-down, and he says it is a totallydifferent experience. “Everythingis changed, but it’s good to beback. It’s a different experience towork amid the pandemic. Irecently performed at a cafe inNoida where we made sure to fol-low proper precautions. Therewere temperature checks, onecouldn’t enter without a mask.Also, we were changing foams onmic for every performer. We arenow planning to start more gigs,including poetry and musicalsessions,” Milind adds.

He tried performing onlineduring the lockdown but theoutcome wasn’t satisfactory. “Ihad performed online during thelockdown but I stopped when Isaw a drastic fall in the audience.People do not want to watch anon-popular comedian on a dig-ital platform after a point oftime. Like others, comedians alsosuffered a lot during the lock-down. Corporate shows offered ameagre amount, but we could notdo anything about it. One hopethings become better and we getto tickle the funny bones of a liveaudience once again,” Milindends on an optimistic note.

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We live in a contradictory world where onone hand a group of people show a lotof interest in building a value-based soci-

ety as they feel that the present malaise is due todeterioration in the societal moral standards. Whileon the other, there’s a section that talks of scien-tific, technological, economic or rural development.The paradigm that these people have is more orless often in serious contradiction to the norms ofmoral development. Not only that, these four areasof development are often in clash with other para-meters of devel-opment. Forexample, theindustrial devel-opment aims atproducing andmarketing moreand more cars,scooters, jeeps,trucks, etc.without caringabout its effecton the environ-ment, people’shealth and theirhabits andlifestyles. Theydo not realisethat a largeaddition of motor vehicles every year would alsolead to more pollution, thereby adversely affect-ing people’s health. So, this kind of developmentis inimical to the interest of the people. We shouldhence think of other alternatives of this develop-ment model.

Similarly, those people who are concerned withsocial welfare, open more charitable hospitals andadd more beds without caring as to why more andmore diseases are spreading and the number ofpatients visiting hospitals, is increasing. Again, thecities are now expanding and the villages are beingmodernised. As a result, the agricultural fields arebeing converted into residential, commercial orindustrial buildings. Of course this is a part ofdevelopment but people do not realise that this hasits own share of disadvantages. People migrate tomega cities for jobs and travel on a daily basis. Thisresults in a loss of lot of energy, time and money.Even the government has to spend money on pro-viding the required means of transport. All this alsocauses grave noise pollution. Instead of this, self-sufficient cities of moderate size, would have beenbetter but nowadays people feel proud of high-risebuildings and great cities, for these are consideredas signs of development.

Not many realise this fact that majority of ourproblems come from high growth-rate of popu-lation as well. As population goes on increasingenormously, more and more vehicles for transport,houses for residential accommodation, hospitalsfor treatment, etc. are required. This nullifies alldevelopment. People think that a country whichhas many hospitals, doctors, courts, judges, etc. isa developed country but do not realise that a devel-oped country in real terms, is one where peoplecommit very little or no crime and where a verylarge number of people are healthy. So, there is needfor a proper paradigm in which the constitutingelements are not in conflict with one another.Presently, the society is based on a paradigm whichreeks with inner contradiction. Hence, humankindnow needs a model that is simple, inspiring, uplift-ing and without any inner conflicts or contradic-tion. It is the model of a value-based society inwhich all kind of development is at its peak andis in harmony with development of other aspects.

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Himachal Pradesh, the scenicHimalayan state in NorthernIndia, is known across the world

for its natural beauty, adventurous treksand fascinating cultures and traditions.The state also flaunts a rich heritage thatincludes a wide variety of arts and craftsthat dates back to second century B.C.Over the years, while some of these art andcraft forms have flourished, there are somealmost on the verge of extinction. Forinstance, while folk dances like ‘Nati’ haveearned international fame, crafts likePahari miniature paintings, ChambaRumaal and even some ancient scriptshave been struggling hard to stay alive.

It is in this backdrop that an idea wasmooted some years ago to revive the dyingart and craft forms through the ancientGuru-Shishya Parampara (tradition). Thescheme that was launched by Ministry ofCulture, Government of India is being exe-cuted by the Himachal Academy of Arts,Culture and Languages in this hilly state.The academy identifies the mastercraftsperson or artists who have beentaught these antique art forms by theirancestors.

These identified experts (Gurus) arethen presented to a committee thatprocesses, evaluates and recommendstheir candidature. Each expert is expect-ed to train five to eight shishyas. A smallscholarship is also provided to the pupiland an honorarium to the Guru as per thenorms fixed by the Ministry.

Ghimber Ram is one of the craftsmenwho donned the cap of a Guru in 2018 andnurtured five shishyas. He taught them theart of making traditional musical instru-ments and masks of gods in brass andAshtadhatu (eight metals). His ancestorsused to make traditional ornaments forwomen. Ghimber diversified this art andstarted making masks. His two sons — Vir

Singh and Tek Singh, have chosen to takeforward this art. In tune with the present-day requirements, they are also sculptingmodern pieces besides the traditional artpieces. “I have trained more than 20 youngmen from my village apart from the fivepupils I took under this scheme,” sharedGhimber.

Dinesh Kumari, a retired craftsteacher, was also selected as a Guru by theacademy to teach the students the art ofembroidery of the famous ChambaRumaal. It was from her grandmother,Tulsi Devi that she had absorbed thisunique style of needle work called dorukha(two way). The patterns and designs lookthe same from the front and back of theembroidered cloth. “Earlier, during mygrandmother’s time, the cloth or fabric onwhich the embroidery was done werewoven by the artists themselves. This artform does not only have unique embroi-dery style but has distinctive patterns aswell.

The designs for embroidery are takenfrom folklore and mythologies.Ramayana, Mahabharata, SamundraManthan, the game of Chausar and sev-eral such episodes from different mytholo-gies serve as inspiration to artists,” sharedDinesh who sketches these designs her-self.

Her commitment to the art form is

commendable. Before her retirement,she would often avail special leaves fromschool to take her work to exhibitionsacross the country. It was at one such exhi-bitions that she was approached by theacademy to be a part of the initiative afterher retirement to which she had happilyagreed.

Another craft that is finding it hardto survive is the wood carving for mak-ing idols used in wooden temple architec-ture. Inder Singh had learnt it from hiselders, he says. Apart from creating theidols for temples, he has also beeninvolved in wooden carvings for Madharsor the Kothis where the deities stay.From tiny creations to idols as big as fourfeet, Inder excels in creating marvels fromwood. One of his sons is also following thefamily tradition. Inder says that whileunder the scheme, he has trained fiveyoung men, he has also been teaching thispainstaking craft to many young peoplein his village Jehra in Balichowki tehsil ofMandi district.

Similarly, Dhaniram ‘Khushdil’ hastrained several youths in the miniaturepaintings, a few of them are part of uni-versity faculties and have also beenassigned the role of a Guru under thescheme. “The Pahari miniature Chitrakalahas the impressions of Mughal Shaili orstyle,” says Dhaniram who is also chosen

as a Guru. “The artists of miniature paint-ing were out of work during the rule ofAurangzeb who detested arts and music.These artists went to the mountains inHimachal and Garhwal (nowUttarakhand) where they sustained theseartforms. Over the time, their art wasinfluenced by the culture of these regionsand gained popularity as Pahari miniaturepaintings. They received the patronage ofthe kings of these regions some of whomperhaps were Krishan Bhakts. This is thereason that the Kangra paintings aremarked by episodes of Radha-Krishan’sRas Leela and other life events,” heexplained.

Another form of Pahari miniaturepainting facing survival issues is MandiKalam. These miniature paintings hadflourished till they received royal supportbut became vulnerable in the eighteenthcentury. This art has also been includedfor revival under the Guru-ShishyaParampara.

After shifting from the genre of oilpainting to miniature painting, RajeshKumar was selected as a Guru last year.Other than training the assigned five stu-dents under this scheme, he has gone astep ahead and taken the responsibility ofteaching 5 more — only women candi-dates. “These women students are takinga lot of interest but the pandemic has put

some constraints. Nevertheless, I am try-ing to train the students in this artthrough online platforms. The miniaturepaintings are drawn with tiny handmadebrushes that have to be brought fromRajasthan. Also, the colours used are quitecostly,” shared Rajesh while explaining thechallenges of the assigned task.

Like Rajesh, other Gurus, especial-ly those involved in miniature paintingsfeel that one year is too small a timeperiod for teaching these time-consum-ing art and craft forms. They believethat extending the time frame will helpstudents learn the nuances of theseforms effectively. The Director of theacademy, Dr Karan Singh says thatwhile this demand can be looked into,there are many other art and craftforms that need to be included in thescheme.

Yet another point all these Gurusmade was the need for the state to takemeasures for marketing these tradition-al arts and craft products. Consideringthe annual footfall of tourists in thestate, there were suggestions thatexhibiting and selling these products attourist resorts spread across HimachalPradesh could be a practical solution.After all, an art can only survive if theartists are able to sustain themselves.

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India’s rural communitiesremain underserved when it

comes to information and edu-cation about sexual health, birthcontrol, issues pertaining toadolescence, teen pregnancies,menstrual needs and more.However, an informative andentertaining show, Main KuchBhi Kar Sakti Hoon (MKBKSH)has played a significant role innormalising taboo conversa-tions in Bairia village in theKanpur Dehat district of UttarPradesh.

This change is remarkablebecause even in educated, urbanfamilies, talking about subjectslike reproduction and sex isquite unheard of. Parents inBairia are however taking thelead to initiate such difficult con-versations. The series has alsoinspired young girls in Bihar’sNawada district to create a san-itary pad bank andBundelkhand’s 23-year-oldLadkunwar Kushwaha to breaksocial stereotypes to pursue hercollege education.

Poonam Muttreja, ExecutiveDirector of PopulationFoundation of India, that pro-

duced this entertainment educa-tion show is happy that theorganisation’s attempt to bringpotentially life changing contentto India’s rural communities issuccessfully working. She says,“Adolescence is a time of changeand very often young peopleturn to either their peers or theinternet for information. Due tolack of resources, many youngpeople are unable to access cor-

rect and non-judgmental infor-mation about their health andwellbeing. Instead, they are fedon an unhealthy diet of whatev-er is served online. I am happyabout the initiative as a healthydiscussion related to sexualactivities within the family cango a long way in encouraging thenext generation to make impor-tant decisions about their repro-ductive and sexual health,

including contraception andplanning their families.”

A 16-year-old, Priya Singhfrom Bairia village says, “Afterwatching the serial, my motherhas started talking very openlyabout these things.” Her moth-er, 34-year-old Suman Singh,who exemplifies the attitudinalchange, explains why this wasnecessary. Says she, “My hus-band and I had hidden a con-dom packet at home and ourdaughter found it. I realisedthat if I don’t tell her, she will asksomebody else about the ques-tions that were on her mind. Ineeded to be honest and frank.So I told her that this was a con-

traceptive that prevents pregnan-cy as well as sexually transmit-ted diseases.”

It wasn’t always like this intheir home though, “Earlier, Iwould hide such things fromthem. After watching the show,there was a complete shift in myattitude. Earlier my husband toowanted our girls to study only tillclass five or eight but now hestops me from discussing theirearly marriage,” says she. Herhusband, Pradeep Singh (38)adds, “I know now that a smallfamily is a happy family. Thelarger the family, the more prob-lems it has to deal with.”

Influenced by Dr Sneha

Mathur, the protagonist of theseries, a Sneha Group has alsobeen formed where women aswell as girls discuss issues likefamily planning, hygiene andsanitation. The women in thegroup say in unison, “Yes, we talkopenly about family planning,menstruation, hygiene and sani-tation. We don’t hide anythingfrom our children. Now our girlsare learning a great deal aboutmenstruation. Earlier they would-n’t share anything. We learnt somuch about sanitation from theserial. We now know that a toiletat home is important for conve-nience as well as for preventingdiseases. We are taking forwardthe message of the series, ‘Builda toilet and close the door to dis-eases.”’

The creator of the show,film and theatre director FerozAbbas Khan says, “Content canjust be entertaining or it candrive home an important mes-sage without sounding conde-scending. It is important torespect our audiences, to appealto their intelligence and to satis-fy their thirst for informationthey otherwise have no access to.Through the series, we havetried to normalise conversationsthat are usually not discussedopenly. And I am very encour-aged that we have managed tobreak the taboos to the extentthat parents in far-flung ruralareas are now discussing familyplanning with their kids.”

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Delhi Capitals and Royal ChallengersBangalore are both expected to go all out

against each other on Monday to arrest theirrapid slide in the IPL and, more importantly,secure a top-two finish in the points table.

DC and RCB go into the virtual quarter-final, having lost four and three games on thetrot respectively, showing that things canchange rather quickly in the highly-competi-tive IPL.

At stake is a top-two finish which providesa couple of attempts to make it to the final. Theloser of Monday’s game could still end up mak-ing the play-offs but itwill be then at themercy of other teams.

DC, who werebossing most teamsin the first half of thetournament, has had adramatic fall fromgrace with their lastwin coming twoweeks ago. Their bats-men have come acropper since thenand the bowling does-n’t look as potent as itwas in the first half.

Problems startedwith DC unable tofind a stable combina-tion at the openers’slot. Both PrithviShaw and AjikyaRahane have beenpaired up withShikhar Dhawan buteither of them has notprovided the much needed consistency.

In fact, Dhawan, who was flying high withback-to-back hundreds, has managed 0, 0, 6 inthe last three games. The Delhi-based teamrelies heavily on the big-hitting from RishabhPant in the middle-order but with 274 runs ata strike-rate of 112.29, he is yet to find his mojo.mAfter a nine-wicket hammering againstMumbai Indians on Saturday, skipper ShreyasIyer spoke on the need for a fearless approach.

“We’ll have to think about it (changes tothe line-up) and be fearless in our approach.We’ll keep things simple and will not try tothink much,” he said.

RCB too are smarting from a string of loss-es, most recently against Sunrisers Hyderabadon Saturday. The three losses on the trot hasreignited the debate on the team’s dependen-cy on its star players — Virat Kohli and AB deVilliers.

Both Kohli and De Villiers didnt fire in thelast two games, resulting in heavy defeats. JoshPhillipe has shown promise at the top of theorder after replacing Aaron Finch but needs toconvert starts into a substantial outings.

As the weather gets cooler in the UAE, dewis proving to be a major factor in the game.Considering the prevailing conditions, teamsare opting to field with dew making battingmuch easier in the second half of the game.

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Chennai Super Kings crushedKings XI Punjab by nine

wickets to end their worst-everIPL season here Sunday on apositive note, with RuturajGaikwad’s third successive half-century providing hope for abright future.

The result also cut shortKXIP’s campaign in the 13thseason of the lucrative event.

KXIP needed a win in theirfinal league game to remain incontention for the play-offsbesides depending on otherresults. But CSK had otherideas.

Bringing his big-hittingprowess to the fore, DeepakHooda lifted a flounderingKXIP to 153 for six with a coun-terattacking 30-ball 62 afterbeing invited to bat.

In reply, the returning Fafdu Plessis (48) provided CSKthe impetus at the top withyoung Gaikwad playing secondfiddle.

The seasoned South Africanhit four boundaries and twosixes in a first-wicket stand of 82with Gaikwad in just under 10overs.

As he looked to put thematch beyond KXIP’s grasp, duPlessis got out after going for apremeditated scoop off ChrisJordan, who, smartly took thepace off the ball.

The needless shot, notwith-standing, CSK never looked introuble with the duo of Gaikwadand Ambati Rayudu taking

them home with seven balls tospare.

Gaikwad remained not outon 62 off 49 balls after strikingsix boundaries and a six, whileRayudu made a run-a-ball 30.

Earlier, Hooda smashedfour sixes and three fours dur-ing his entertaining stay in themiddle.

Thanks to Hooda, KXIPmanaged 40 runs in the last

three overs after CSK, opting tofield, choked their middle-orderfor runs.

Hooda picked his spotscleverly and also ran wellbetween the wickets on a daywhen his more accomplishedbatting colleagues failed to cap-italise on their starts.

Pacer Lungi Ngidi picked upthree for 39 for CSK.

Returning to the side after

an injury-forced break, MayankAgarwal got KXIP off to abreezy start, collecting twoboundaries off Deepak Chahar’s

first over.In-form skipper K L Rahul

got into the act with the day’sfirst six, over the third man

region before scoring twoboundaries off Shardul Thakur.

In the next over, Agarwalwelcomed Ngidi by driving himto the long-off boundary, but theSouth African had his revengein the next delivery as the open-er edged the ball into the mid-dle stump.

Three tight overs followedduring which Ngidi bowledRahul with a well-disguised fullslower ball at off stump.

After a brisk start by KXIP,the CSK bowling attack didextremely well to strangle thestrong opposition batting thatcomprised the likes of ChrisGayle and Nicholas Pooran inthe middle-order.

From 44 for no loss in fiveovers, KXIP were struggling at65 for two at the end of the 10thover.

Shardul made life more dif-ficult for Punjab as Pooran’s thininside edge was taken byMahendra Singh Dhoni.

In the penultimate ball ofthe 12th over, leg-spinner ImranTahir dealt a body blow toKXIP as he had Gayle trappedin front of the wicket. The big-hitting Jamaican went for areview but the ball pitched inline and was clearly going to hitthe stumps.

KXIP, in between, enjoyed acouple of good overs but CSKmaintained their stranglehold.

Hooda then scored someuseful runs down the order,including smashing Ngidi fortwo sixes, as KXIP ended theinnings on a blazing note.

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Neto’s goalkeepinggaffe condemned

Barcelona to a 1-1draw at 10-manAlavés on Saturday asRonald Koeman'steam dropped points

for a fourth straightround in the Spanishleague.

Neto gifted Alavésits goal in the 31stminute when he letLuis Rioja poke theball from his feet androll it home.

Antoine Griezmann got hisfirst goal of the season asBarcelona equalized in the 63rdafter the hosts lost Jota Peleteiroto a second booking.

Barcelona surged forwardlooking for a winner, but Alaves‘keeper Fernando Pacheco keptout shots from Lionel Messi,Ansu Fati and Miralem Pjanic tosalvage the point.

After winning the first twogames of the league season,Barcelona has drawn two and losttwo. That left Barcelona eightpoints behind leader Real Madridwith a game in hand.

Koeman admitted to con-

cerns about the team he isrebuilding. He took over afterBarcelona ended last season with-out a title under Quique Setién.

Ansu Fati and Griezmannhad already wasted opportunitieswhen Neto’s feet let him down

Neto was painfully slow ingetting rid of a pass from GerardPique that the Barcelona goal-keeper had failed to control.Instead of clearing the ball out ofhis area, Neto turned to try anddribble the onrushing Rioja, whostripped it from his feet andscored in the open goal.

With the hosts clogging upthe area and aggressively mark-

ing Messi, Barcelona failed tothreaten Pacheco before half-time.

Barcelona immediatelyincreased the pace of its passingcombinations and made thedefense scramble to resist itsattacks inside the box.

That defense finally crackedwhen Jota was sent off after pick-ing up a second yellow card fora high kick that almost hit Piquein the face.

Griezmann scored on thenext attack when Fati pressuredTomas Piña into an errant passthat the France forward chippedover Pacheco.

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Zlatan Ibrahimovic setup one and scored the

winner to help Serie Aleader AC Milan win 2-1 atlowly Udinese on Sunday.

Ibrahimovic contin-ued to roll back the yearswith an overhead kickseven minutes from timeafter a Rodrigo De Paulpenalty canceled outFranck Kessié’s opener.

Milan is now unbeat-en in 23 matches in allcompetitions and movedfour points clear of second-place Atalanta. Napoli orSassuolo can close the gapto two points if either winin their head-to-headmeeting later.

Juventus will move towithin four points of Milanif the nine-time defendingchampion wins at newlypromoted Spezia later.Cristiano Ronaldo shouldfeature after recoveringfrom the coronavirus.

In Udine, Milan tookthe lead in the 18th minutewith a fantastic team move.Ismaël Bennacer sent along ball over the top thatIbrahimovic chested downand held up before layingit off to Kessié, who blast-ed it into the top right cor-ner.

Udinese leveled earlyin the second half whenAlessio Romagnoli fouledIgnacio Pussetto and DePaul converted the result-ing penalty.

Just as the matchappeared to be headingfor a draw, Ibrahimovicreacted quickest in thearea to acrobatically hookthe ball into the back of thenet.

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Skipper Eoin Morgan smashed ascintillating 68 off 35 balls as Kolkata

Knight Riders produced a superlativebatting display to post a challenging 191for seven against Rajasthan Royals ina must-win IPL game here on Sunday.

Morgan top-notch knock wasstudded with six maximums and fivefours as KKR amassed 59 in last fiveovers.

Earlier, Shubman Gill (36) andRahul Tripathi (39) shared a 72-runstand for the second wicket, whileAndre Russell had a 11-ball-25 to hiscredit.

For Royals, leg-spinner RahulTewatia (3/25) and Kartik Tyagi (2/36)were the most successful bowlers.

Sent in to bat, Nitish Rana fell fora first-ball duck after he edged a JofraArcher delivery and was caught behind.But the opener went for a review onlyto waste it early.

Shubman Gill (36), however,looked in good touch as he blastedthree boundaries off Varun Aaron andthen sent spinner Shreyas Gopal soar-ing over the ropes twice.

Rahul Tripathi (39), who lookeduncomfortable against pace early on,also got into the act, smashing Gopalfor a couple of fours as KKR scored 17runs in the fourth over.

Ben Stokes then went for 11 runswith Tripathi pulling him for a six inthe last ball.

The two batsman hit one four eachoff Aaron as KKR scored 55 for one inthe powerplay.

Rahul Tewatia then struck twice,dismissing Gill and Sunil Narine (0) toreduce KKR to 74 for 3 in 9 overs.While Gill holed out to Jos Buttler atdeep mid-wicket, Narine's miscued

shot landed safely in the hands of Stokesat long-on.

In the 13th over, Gopal returnedto remove Tripathi, who was caught byRobin Uthappa at deep square leg.

Dinesh Karthik (0) then becamethe third victim of Tewatia after hisinside edge was caught by Steve Smithat short mid-wicket as KKR slumpedto 99 for 5.

Morgan then exploded, smashingGopal for two fours and as many assixes as KKR piled up 21 in the 14thover and their innings regainedmomentum. Russell blasted successivesixes before being sent back by KartikTyagi. In the 19th over, KKR racked up24 runs off Stokes with Morgan pick-ing up two sixes and a four.

Morgan then ended the inningswith another six off the last ball.

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Lewis Hamilton overcame a sluggish start to winthe Emilia Romagna Grand Prix on Sunday for a

record-extending 93rd Formula One victory.Hamilton beat Mercedes teammate Valtteri

Bottas by 5.7 seconds and rushed over to celebratewith the team’s engineers and mechanics after theteam clinched another constructors’ title.

Renault driver Daniel Ricciardo placed third fora second podium of an impressive season.

Hamilton started from second on the grid and wasovertaken by Max Verstappen, who span off track 11laps from the end after his rear right tire blew, bring-ing out the safety car and prompting drivers to changeto quicker tires.

Hamilton had missed the first pit window andcame in after the other drivers, but his lead was suf-ficient enough and he came back outabout two secondsahead of Bottas.

The safety carremained on thetrack followinganother crash asGeorge Russelllost controland slammedinto thetrack barri-ers. He wasunharmed but upset at hisown error while behind asafety car.

�� @7��7,"!��

Southampton weathered a latefightback from Aston Villa to

take a 4-3 win in the EnglishPremier League as Villa sufferedits second loss after a winning startto the season.

Southampton led 4-0 thanksto three goals from set pieces anda powerful long-range strike fromDanny Ings. Villa seemed out ofthe game, even after TyroneMings made it 4-1 with a header,but scored twice more in stoppagetime before running out of timeto earn a draw.

Southampton has won four ofits last five Premier League gamesafter starting the 2020-21 cam-paign with three losses. Villa wasthe surprise early-season leaderafter winning its first four, but thatrun was ended in a 3-0 loss to fel-low promoted team Leeds last

week.Southampton had a third-

minute goal ruled out by VAR foroffside but Jannik Vestergaardmade up for it with a toweringheader from a free kick in the 20thminute to score the opening goal.

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Mahendra Singh Dhoni onSunday said that Chennai

Super Kings’ “core group” ofplayers is set for overhaul afterthe franchise finished out of theIPL play-off bracket for the firsttime in 11 appearances.

A league-stage exit is a firstfor the three-time championsand one IPL’s most successfulfranchises.

“We need to slightlychange our core group andlook for the next 10 years,”Dhoni said after the team’s finalleague game.

“At the start of the IPL, wemade a team and it served well.There comes a time where youhave to shift a bit, hand it overto the next generation.”

Dhoni, 39, vowed that histeam will come back stronglyin the next season.

“We’ll come back stronger,that’s what we are known for.”

The World Cup-winningcaptain fuelled IPL retirementrumours by handing over hissigned jerseys to KolkataKnight Riders players after his

team's victory on Thursday.But, at the toss for Sunday’s

game, Dhoni himself con-firmed that he will be therenext season. “Most definitely”said Dhoni when asked by for-mer New Zealand pacer DannyMorrison if the game againstKings XI Punjab was his last forCSK.

“(The jerseys) maybe theythought I'm retiring," he said atthe presentation ceremony.

Coming back to the cam-paign, he acknowledged that itwas a very difficult one with theteam losing eight of their 14matches.

“It was a difficult cam-paign. We committed a lot oferrors. The last four gameswere a template of where wewould like to be. Dhoni accept-ed that team didn’t play to itsfull potential.

“I don’t think we played tothe full potential. If you are lag-ging too much, it becomes verydifficult to push yourself andcome up with performances.Very proud the way they playedtheir cricket. It would havebeen very tough 6-7 games.

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Documents

2020/11/02 · (NIV) using inactivated Sars-Cov-2, the virus that causes Covid-19. The virus was iso-lated in an ICMR lab. The firm said its immedi-ate focus is to conduct the