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P akistan has decided to convert Gwadar port city into an open jail by fencing the areas around it. The decision came following a recent visit by the Chinese Defence Minister. In doing so, Islamabad has adopted an age-old Chinese tactic of securing a region through fencing as even the Great Wall of China was built with a similar intention. The proposed fencing is modeled on the lines of similar measures by the Chinese government in villages in Tibet and Xinxiang and is aimed at securing the Chinese investments in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor that faces threat from Baloch insurgents. The Chinese Government has fenced many of the villages in Tibet and converted them into open jails as prior permission is required to get in or out of these villages by the authorities there. The fenced areas in Gawadar city will be put under curfew when it faces a heightened security threat and the security agencies there will be able to easily clamp curfew and enforce a crackdown against the Balochs. The move to fence the Gwadar will ensure segregation of the port city from other adjoining areas inhabited by the Balochs who often enter the city for various activities, expert tracking the development in the region said. The Gwadar port city is con- nected to China via a six-lane high- way and a gas pipeline which Beijing apprehends will be hit by the Baloch insurgents. The Chinese Defence Minister Wei Fenghe has signed an agreement with his Pak to deploy 20,000 per- sonnel of Pakistan’s Frontier Corps to secure the highway and the pipeline between the two countries. Continued on Page 11 P rime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday lit the “Swarnim Vijay Mashaal” from the eternal flame of the National War Memorial here, marking the beginning of the 50th anniversary year celebra- tions of India’s victory over Pakistan in 1971. In a tweet, Modi said, “On Vijay Diwas we recall the unwavering courage of our armed forces that resulted in a decisive victory for our nation in the 1971 war. On this special Vijay Diwas, had the honour of lighting the ‘Swarnim Vijay Mashaal’ at the National War Memorial.” The Prime Minister was joined by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, the chief of defence staff and tri-service chiefs as he laid wreath and paid homage to the soldiers who made the supreme sacri- fice for the country. Four victory mashaals (flaming torches) will be car- ried to various parts of India, including to the villages of Param Vir Chakra and Maha Vir Chakra awardees of the 1971 war, the Defence Ministry has said. “Soil from the villages of these awardees and from areas where major battles were fought in 1971 are being brought to the National War Memorial (NWM),” it said. India celebrates December 16 as Vijay Diwas to com- memorate its victory over Pakistan during the 1971 war that led to the creation of Bangladesh. As December 16 marks the anniversary of the military victory, the nation will celebrate “Swarnim Vijay Varsh” (gold- en victory year) through several events across the country, and it will continue for a year. Various commemorative events will be conducted pan- India wherein war veterans will be felicitated, the statement said, adding that band displays, seminars, exhibitions, equip- ment displays, film festivals, conclaves and adventure activ- ities will also be held. F earing Covid-19 infection, more Indians, prefer front- line tools — smartphones — to consult their doctors, instead of meeting them in person. At least 46 per cent Indians have favoured telemedicine option, as per a survey con- ducted by online doctor con- sultation platform — Mount Virtual Hospital — done across metros covering Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Telemedicine entails deliv- ery of health services from a distance using internet and it not only extends the reach of health services but also improves quality of health services besides saving time and money, according to experts. The survey comes days after the Union Health Ministry said that its eSanjeevani telemedicine ser- vice has recorded 1 million consultations. In the wake of Covid-19 crisis, the Ministry approved the guidelines on telemedicine allowing any reg- istered medical practitioner to treat Covid-19 patients remotely or by using telemed- icine tools. The data was collected from an age-group of 20 to 85 years. The total respondents in the survey were 2,406 which included 1,455 males and around 951 females. Continued on Page 11 F acebook’s India head Ajit Mohan on Wednesday deposed before the Information Technology Parliamentary Committee where he was ques- tioned about a recent report that the social media giant is reluctant to ban the Bajrang Dal due to concerns over the security of its staff. Mohan deposed before the panel chaired by Congress leader Shashi Tharoor. The panel had called him on the issue of the citizens’ data safety. Mohan was accompanied by Shivnath Thukral, the pub- lic policy director of Facebook. Congress MP Karti Chidambaram, along with Tharoor, questioned Mohan about a recent Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report on ban- ning the Bajrang Dal on Facebook, sources said. The WSJ report suggested that despite an internal assess- ment calling for a ban on the Bajrang Dal, Facebook has not cracked down on the Hindu nationalist group due to finan- cial considerations and con- cerns over the safety of its employees. Replying to queries, Mohan suggested to the panel members that the Facebook fact team consultant has so far not found any such element in the content posted by the Bajrang Dal that is violative of its social media policies. Further quizzing him, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey asked if the Bajrang Dal content was not found to be violative of its social media policies, then why the Facebook did not deny the WSJ report and termed it fake. Last month, a former Facebook employee made star- tling revelations before the Delhi Assembly’s Committee on Peace and Harmony about the functioning of the platform and its biases towards politi- cally-connected people. Ex- employee Mark Luckie claimed top managerial posts at Facebook are given to those who have good political affiliations. Facebook Inc is also facing the legal ire in the United States and it could be forced to sell WhatsApp and Instagram after the US Federal Trade Commission and almost all US States have filed lawsuits against the social media plat- form, claiming it used a “buy or bury” strategy to kill rivals and keep smaller com- petitors at bay. New Delhi: Pashtun insurgents on Friday killed a member of a team of the Counter-Terrorism Department of Pakistan and disrobed other members of the unit and released them with the warning not to visit the area again. The incident occurred at Kachai village in Kohat district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. T he union of the farmers protesting at the borders of the national Capital against new farm laws, wrote a letter to the Centre on Wednesday, ask- ing it to stop holding parallel talks with other farmer bodies over the deadlock. With the Government say- ing that it is waiting for the reply of the farmers’ leaders, the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha said there is no question of respond- ing as the farmers’ unions had made their stand clear in the last round of meeting with Union Ministers that they want the laws to be repealed. In the letter to Union Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Joint Secretary Vivek Aggarwal, the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha, which represents farmers’ bodies mostly from Punjab, said the Centre should stop defaming the ongoing protests being held at several Delhi border points against the three farm laws. The letter comes against the backdrop of the Government holding talks with several farmers’ organisations from different States who the Centre claimed have extended their support to the new agri- culture laws. Earlier in the day, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said that the ongoing farmers’ protest at Delhi borders is an “exception” and “limited to one State” and hoped for an early solution as the Government is in talks with farmer unions. In the letter, Darshan Pal, farmers’ leader has recorded in writing the farmer unions’ decision to reject a recent Government proposal of amendments in the new laws. “In reference to the pro- posal (dated December 9) and your (Agarwal) letter, we want to inform the Government that farmer organisations held a joint meeting to discuss the proposal on the same day and rejected it,” he stated in his let- ter written in Hindi. “We had already made our stand clear in previous talks that’s why we did not send a written reply earlier,” he fur- ther stated. Representatives of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Kisan) from Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday met Tomar and submitted a memorandum with sugges- tions on the laws and mini- mum support price (MSP). The Bharatiya Kisan Union (Kisan) has also decided to end for now its protest, which it was holding at district levels in Uttar Pradesh. Meanwhile, barricades were set up on the Chilla bor- der road, prohibiting vehicular movement from Noida to Delhi, while Delhi to Noida road was open. Also, traffic was diverted from the Dalit Prerna Sthal, another site of the farmers’ protests, to the Delhi-Noida- Direct (DND) flyway in the wake of the situation at the Chilla border. Continued on Page 11 A 65-year-old preacher, described as a “sant”, com- mitted suicide by shooting himself dead at Singhu Border on Wednesday evening. The deceased has been identified as Baba Ram Singh of Singhra village in Nissing area of Karnal district. He was admitted to a pri- vate hospital where the doctors declared him brought dead. His followers said he was a sant and was on the seat of Gurdwara Sahib Nanaksar Singhra village. His followers had distributed blankets among protesters. The body of Baba Ram Singh arrived at KCGMC, but the followers (sangat) refused to get his post-mortem con- ducted. His body is being taken to Nanaksar Gurdwara Singhra, where thousands of followers gathered. Tense situations pre- vailed on the gurdwara premis- es. One of the followers said, “Maharaj ji sacrificed for farm- ers, Modi ji, now listen to the farmers. He left behind a sui- cide note in Punjabi language.” Baba Ram Singh came to Nanaksar Gurdwara Singhra in 1990 from Nanaksar Gurdwara Jagraon in Punjab. Continued on Page 11 New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday expressed displeasure over repeated requests that senior lawyer Harish Salve be unmuted and allowed to raise some “legal issue” during the hearing of pleas seeking removal of protesting farmers camping at borders of the national Capital. A bench headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, repre- senting the Centre, that Salve can join the proceedings on Thursday when the pleas would be heard again. New Delhi: It is a day of “spe- cial joy” for crore of farmers, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday soon after the government approved a subsidy of 3,500 crore to sugar mills for clearing the dues of farmers and asserted that it will also help lakhs of workers associated with these mills. The Government approved the subsidy for the export of 60 lakh tonnes of sugar during the ongoing marketing year 2020- 21 as part of its efforts to help them clear outstanding dues to sugarcane farmers. T he Supreme Court on Wednesday issued a notice to the Centre and others on a batch of petitions seeking removal of farmers camping at several roads near Delhi bor- ders in protest against the three new agri laws. A bench comprising Chief Justice SA Bobde, and Justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian also indi- cated that the court may form a committee having represen- tatives of the Government and the farmer unions across the country to resolve the deadlock over the legislations. In a hearing conducted via video conferencing, the bench directed the petitioners to make protesting farmer unions par- ties to the pleas and posted the matter for hearing on Thursday. “Your negotiations with protest- ing farmers have not worked apparently till now,” the bench told the Centre. Meanwhile, protesting farmer unions on Wednesday said constituting a new panel to break the stalemate on the three new agri laws, as indi- cated by the Supreme Court, is not a solution as they want a complete withdrawal of the legislations. They also said the Government should have formed a committee of farmers and others before the laws were enacted by Parliament. T wo doses of the Covid-19 vaccine will be administered within a gap of 28 days under the immunisation programme, DG, Medical Health, Dr DS Negi said. The vaccination of healthcare and frontline workers will be carried out, followed by that of people aged 55 years or above. Negi said the Health department would monitor the entire process in the state from Lucknow. The vacci- nation and supply of vaccines will be monitored from Lucknow. He said the vaccination will be carried out as per schedule because routine immunisation also has to be done. “The Covid-19 vaccination will take place on two specified days in a week and the routine immuni- sation will also continue as it cannot be stopped,” he added. The training of vaccinators will begin on Thursday. On Wednesday, Health Minister JP Singh inspected the District Immunisation Centre in Aishbagh to take stock of the preparedness. “He was the shown the ice-lined refrig- erators which will store the vaccine and the minister was satisfied with the arrangements,” a senior health official said. Meanwhile, director of Central Drug Research Institute (CDRI) Dr Tapas Kundu said that the trial of drug umifenovir for prevention and cure of Covid was going on at three medical colleges in the city. It is a double blind placebo controlled trial, he said. He said there was some delay because of changed guidelines as mild symptomatic persons and asymptomatic persons were given the option of home isolation and did not need to be hospitalised. He said that a drug would bring hope to the country in the times of pandemic. “One of our drugs is under clinical trial and two more are enter- ing the clinical trials and the insti- tute is fully behind the trials,” he said The process technology for umifenovir was done in record time by the institute and it was licensed to a pharma company. The director said that the sequencing of the coronavirus has been completed. “We have carried out the sequenc- ing of 200 samples and will be shortly submitting the same for Continued on Page 11

2020/12/16  · nected to China via a six-lane high-way and a gas pipeline which Beijing apprehends will be hit by the Baloch insurgents. The Chinese Defence Minister …

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Page 1: 2020/12/16  · nected to China via a six-lane high-way and a gas pipeline which Beijing apprehends will be hit by the Baloch insurgents. The Chinese Defence Minister …

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Pakistan has decided to convertGwadar port city into an open jail

by fencing the areas around it. Thedecision came following a recent visitby the Chinese Defence Minister.

In doing so, Islamabad hasadopted an age-old Chinese tactic ofsecuring a region through fencing aseven the Great Wall of China wasbuilt with a similar intention.

The proposed fencing is modeledon the lines of similar measures bythe Chinese government in villagesin Tibet and Xinxiang and is aimedat securing the Chinese investmentsin the China-Pakistan EconomicCorridor that faces threat fromBaloch insurgents.

The Chinese Government hasfenced many of the villages in Tibet

and converted them into open jailsas prior permission is required to getin or out of these villages by theauthorities there.

The fenced areas in Gawadar citywill be put under curfew when itfaces a heightened security threat andthe security agencies there will beable to easily clamp curfew andenforce a crackdown against theBalochs. The move to fence theGwadar will ensure segregation of theport city from other adjoining areasinhabited by the Balochs who oftenenter the city for various activities,expert tracking the development inthe region said.

The Gwadar port city is con-nected to China via a six-lane high-way and a gas pipeline which Beijingapprehends will be hit by the Balochinsurgents.

The Chinese Defence MinisterWei Fenghe has signed an agreementwith his Pak to deploy 20,000 per-sonnel of Pakistan’s Frontier Corpsto secure the highway and thepipeline between the two countries.

Continued on Page 11

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Wednesday lit the

“Swarnim Vijay Mashaal” fromthe eternal f lame of theNational War Memorial here,marking the beginning of the50th anniversary year celebra-tions of India’s victory overPakistan in 1971.

In a tweet, Modi said, “OnVijay Diwas we recall theunwavering courage of ourarmed forces that resulted in adecisive victory for our nationin the 1971 war. On this specialVijay Diwas, had the honour oflighting the ‘Swarnim VijayMashaal’ at the National WarMemorial.”

The Prime Minister wasjoined by Defence MinisterRajnath Singh, the chief ofdefence staff and tri-servicechiefs as he laid wreath andpaid homage to the soldierswho made the supreme sacri-fice for the country.

Four victory mashaals(flaming torches) will be car-ried to various parts of India,including to the villages of

Param Vir Chakra and MahaVir Chakra awardees of the1971 war, the Defence Ministryhas said.

“Soil from the villages ofthese awardees and from areaswhere major battles werefought in 1971 are beingbrought to the National WarMemorial (NWM),” it said.

India celebrates December16 as Vijay Diwas to com-memorate its victory overPakistan during the 1971 warthat led to the creation ofBangladesh.

As December 16 marksthe anniversary of the militaryvictory, the nation will celebrate“Swarnim Vijay Varsh” (gold-en victory year) through severalevents across the country, andit will continue for a year.

Various commemorativeevents will be conducted pan-India wherein war veteranswill be felicitated, the statementsaid, adding that band displays,seminars, exhibitions, equip-ment displays, film festivals,conclaves and adventure activ-ities will also be held.

����� -���.�/&0

Fearing Covid-19 infection,more Indians, prefer front-

line tools — smartphones — toconsult their doctors, instead ofmeeting them in person.

At least 46 per cent Indianshave favoured telemedicineoption, as per a survey con-ducted by online doctor con-

sultation platform — MountVirtual Hospital — done acrossmetros covering Delhi-NCR,Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai,Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

Telemedicine entails deliv-ery of health services from adistance using internet and itnot only extends the reach of health services but alsoimproves quality of health services besides saving time and money,according to experts.

The survey comes daysafter the Union HealthMinistry said that its

eSanjeevani telemedicine ser-vice has recorded 1 millionconsultations. In the wake ofCovid-19 crisis, the Ministryapproved the guidelines ontelemedicine allowing any reg-istered medical practitioner totreat Covid-19 patients remotely or by using telemed-icine tools.

The data was collectedfrom an age-group of 20 to 85years. The total respondents inthe survey were 2,406 whichincluded 1,455 males andaround 951 females.

Continued on Page 11

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Facebook’s India head AjitMohan on Wednesday

deposed before the InformationTechnology ParliamentaryCommittee where he was ques-tioned about a recent reportthat the social media giant isreluctant to ban the BajrangDal due to concerns over thesecurity of its staff.

Mohan deposed before thepanel chaired by Congressleader Shashi Tharoor. The panel had called him on the issue of the citizens’ data safety.

Mohan was accompaniedby Shivnath Thukral, the pub-lic policy director of Facebook.Congress MP KartiChidambaram, along withTharoor, questioned Mohanabout a recent Wall StreetJournal (WSJ) report on ban-ning the Bajrang Dal onFacebook, sources said.

The WSJ report suggestedthat despite an internal assess-ment calling for a ban on theBajrang Dal, Facebook has notcracked down on the Hindunationalist group due to finan-cial considerations and con-cerns over the safety of its

employees.Replying to queries,

Mohan suggested to the panelmembers that the Facebookfact team consultant has so farnot found any such element inthe content posted by theBajrang Dal that is violative ofits social media policies.Further quizzing him, BJP MPNishikant Dubey asked if theBajrang Dal content was notfound to be violative of itssocial media policies, then whythe Facebook did not deny theWSJ report and termed it fake.

Last month, a formerFacebook employee made star-tling revelations before theDelhi Assembly’s Committeeon Peace and Harmony aboutthe functioning of the platformand its biases towards politi-cally-connected people. Ex-employee Mark Luckie claimedtop managerial posts atFacebook are given to those who have good politicalaffiliations.

Facebook Inc is also facingthe legal ire in the UnitedStates and it could be forced tosell WhatsApp and Instagramafter the US Federal TradeCommission and almost all USStates have filed lawsuitsagainst the social media plat-form, claiming it used a “buy or bury” strategy to killrivals and keep smaller com-petitors at bay.

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��.��/0�10�2232�4�45$�6������2�.����6New Delhi: Pashtun insurgents onFriday killed a member of a team ofthe Counter-Terrorism Departmentof Pakistan and disrobed othermembers of the unit and releasedthem with the warning not to visitthe area again. The incident occurredat Kachai village in Kohat district ofKhyber Pakhtunkhwa.

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The union of the farmersprotesting at the borders of

the national Capital againstnew farm laws, wrote a letter tothe Centre on Wednesday, ask-ing it to stop holding paralleltalks with other farmer bodiesover the deadlock.

With the Government say-ing that it is waiting for thereply of the farmers’ leaders, theSanyukt Kisan Morcha saidthere is no question of respond-ing as the farmers’ unions hadmade their stand clear in thelast round of meeting withUnion Ministers that they wantthe laws to be repealed.

In the letter to UnionAgriculture and Farmers’Welfare Joint Secretary VivekAggarwal, the Sanyukt KisanMorcha, which representsfarmers’ bodies mostly fromPunjab, said the Centre shouldstop defaming the ongoingprotests being held at severalDelhi border points againstthe three farm laws.

The letter comes againstthe backdrop of theGovernment holding talks withseveral farmers’ organisationsfrom different States who theCentre claimed have extendedtheir support to the new agri-culture laws.

Earlier in the day, UnionAgriculture Minister NarendraSingh Tomar said that theongoing farmers’ protest atDelhi borders is an “exception”and “limited to one State” andhoped for an early solution asthe Government is in talks

with farmer unions.In the letter, Darshan Pal,

farmers’ leader has recorded inwriting the farmer unions’decision to reject a recentGovernment proposal ofamendments in the new laws.

“In reference to the pro-posal (dated December 9) andyour (Agarwal) letter, we wantto inform the Governmentthat farmer organisations helda joint meeting to discuss theproposal on the same day andrejected it,” he stated in his let-ter written in Hindi.

“We had already made ourstand clear in previous talks that’s why we did not senda written reply earlier,” he fur-ther stated.

Representatives of theBharatiya Kisan Union (Kisan)from Uttar Pradesh on Tuesdaymet Tomar and submitted amemorandum with sugges-tions on the laws and mini-mum support price (MSP).The Bharatiya Kisan Union(Kisan) has also decided to endfor now its protest, which it washolding at district levels inUttar Pradesh.

Meanwhile, barricadeswere set up on the Chilla bor-der road, prohibiting vehicularmovement from Noida toDelhi, while Delhi to Noidaroad was open.

Also, traffic was divertedfrom the Dalit Prerna Sthal,another site of the farmers’protests, to the Delhi-Noida-Direct (DND) flyway in thewake of the situation at theChilla border.

Continued on Page 11

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A65-year-old preacher,described as a “sant”, com-

mitted suicide by shootinghimself dead at Singhu Borderon Wednesday evening. Thedeceased has been identified asBaba Ram Singh of Singhra village in Nissing area of Karnal district.

He was admitted to a pri-vate hospital where the doctorsdeclared him brought dead. Hisfollowers said he was a sant andwas on the seat of GurdwaraSahib Nanaksar Singhra village.His followers had distributedblankets among protesters.

The body of Baba RamSingh arrived at KCGMC, butthe followers (sangat) refusedto get his post-mortem con-ducted. His body is being takento Nanaksar Gurdwara Singhra,where thousands of followersgathered. Tense situations pre-vailed on the gurdwara premis-es. One of the followers said,“Maharaj ji sacrificed for farm-ers, Modi ji, now listen to thefarmers. He left behind a sui-cide note in Punjabi language.”

Baba Ram Singh came toNanaksar Gurdwara Singhra in1990 from Nanaksar GurdwaraJagraon in Punjab.

Continued on Page 11

New Delhi: The SupremeCourt on Wednesday expresseddispleasure over repeatedrequests that senior lawyerHarish Salve be unmuted andallowed to raise some “legalissue” during the hearing ofpleas seeking removal ofprotesting farmers camping atborders of the national Capital.

A bench headed by ChiefJustice SA Bobde told SolicitorGeneral Tushar Mehta, repre-senting the Centre, that Salvecan join the proceedings onThursday when the pleaswould be heard again.

New Delhi: It is a day of “spe-cial joy” for crore of farmers,Prime Minister Narendra Modisaid on Wednesday soon afterthe government approved asubsidy of �3,500 crore tosugar mills for clearing the duesof farmers and asserted that itwill also help lakhs of workersassociated with these mills.The Government approved thesubsidy for the export of 60lakh tonnes of sugar during theongoing marketing year 2020-21 as part of its efforts to helpthem clear outstanding dues tosugarcane farmers.

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The Supreme Court onWednesday issued a notice

to the Centre and others on a

batch of petitions seekingremoval of farmers camping atseveral roads near Delhi bor-ders in protest against the threenew agri laws.

A bench comprising ChiefJustice SA Bobde, and JusticesAS Bopanna and VRamasubramanian also indi-cated that the court may forma committee having represen-tatives of the Government andthe farmer unions across the

country to resolve the deadlockover the legislations.

In a hearing conducted viavideo conferencing, the benchdirected the petitioners to makeprotesting farmer unions par-ties to the pleas and posted thematter for hearing on Thursday.“Your negotiations with protest-ing farmers have not workedapparently till now,” the benchtold the Centre.

Meanwhile, protesting

farmer unions on Wednesdaysaid constituting a new panel tobreak the stalemate on thethree new agri laws, as indi-cated by the Supreme Court, isnot a solution as they want acomplete withdrawal of thelegislations.

They also said theGovernment should haveformed a committee of farmersand others before the lawswere enacted by Parliament.

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Two doses of the Covid-19 vaccinewill be administered within a gap

of 28 days under the immunisationprogramme, DG, Medical Health, DrDS Negi said. The vaccination ofhealthcare and frontline workerswill be carried out, followed by thatof people aged 55 years or above.Negi said the Health departmentwould monitor the entire process inthe state from Lucknow. The vacci-nation and supply of vaccines will bemonitored from Lucknow.

He said the vaccination will be

carried out as per schedule becauseroutine immunisation also has to bedone. “The Covid-19 vaccinationwill take place on two specified daysin a week and the routine immuni-sation will also continue as it cannotbe stopped,” he added. The trainingof vaccinators will begin onThursday.

On Wednesday, Health MinisterJP Singh inspected the DistrictImmunisation Centre in Aishbagh totake stock of the preparedness. “Hewas the shown the ice-lined refrig-erators which will store the vaccineand the minister was satisfied withthe arrangements,” a senior healthofficial said.

Meanwhile, director of CentralDrug Research Institute (CDRI) DrTapas Kundu said that the trial ofdrug umifenovir for prevention andcure of Covid was going on at threemedical colleges in the city. It is a

double blind placebo controlledtrial, he said.

He said there was some delaybecause of changed guidelines asmild symptomatic persons andasymptomatic persons were giventhe option of home isolation and didnot need to be hospitalised. He saidthat a drug would bring hope to thecountry in the times of pandemic.

“One of our drugs is underclinical trial and two more are enter-ing the clinical trials and the insti-tute is fully behind the trials,” he said

The process technology forumifenovir was done in record timeby the institute and it was licensedto a pharma company. The directorsaid that the sequencing of thecoronavirus has been completed.“We have carried out the sequenc-ing of 200 samples and will beshortly submitting the same for

Continued on Page 11

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Lucknow (PNS): In a shock-ing disclosure, the Hathras policeclaimed to have unearthed a unitmanufacturing spurious and coun-terfeit spices of local brands usingdonkey dung and acid.

Surprisingly, the factory, locat-ed in Navipur area, was being runby a Hindu outfit leader.

The cops raided the unit afterthe local residents tipped them offabout the unit and also exertedpressure for quick action in thematter.

The unit’s owner, AnoopVarshney, who is the mandal sah-prabhari of Hindu Yuva Vahini,has been arrested.

Joint magistrate Prem PrakashMeena, under whose supervisionthe raid was conducted, later said,“We have seized over 300 kg of fakespices being packed in names ofsome local brands.” He added thatduring the raid, several spuriousingredients used to prepare thefake spices were found, includingdonkey dung, hay (bhusa), inedi-

ble colours and drums full ofacids. The recovered adulteratedspices included coriander powder,red chilli powder, turmeric andspice mix (garam masala).

More than 27 samples havebeen sent for tests and an FIR willbe registered under the FoodSafety and Standards Act, 2006once the lab report comes, Meenasaid.

Varshney has been remandedto judicial custody under Section151 of the Criminal ProcedureCode (arrest to prevent the com-mission of cognisable offences).

Meena told reporters thatVarshney was unable to provide alicence for operating the spicefactory at the location where it wasbeing run. He also could not pro-duce the licence of the brandswhich were being packed.

It is also being checked if theingredients, prepared in the unitfor making spurious spices, weresupplied to other units in the citytoo.

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Uttar Pradesh’s traditional art andhandiwork are set to get a major

boost with famous designers joininghands with the state government tolaunch a major promotional drive underthe One District One Product (ODOP)scheme.

Professional fashion designers suchas Rina Dhaka, Ritu Berry, ManishMalhotra and JJ Balaya will not only giveart-based knowledge to the artisans ofUttar Pradesh but also provide them withattractive packaging, branding and mar-keting of their products. The ODOPscheme encourages Uttar Pradesh’sindigenous and specialised products andcrafts. Rina Dhaka, renowned as ‘TheGaultier of the East’, met Additional ChiefSecretary (MSME and Export Promotion)Navneet Sehgal and made a similar pro-posal on her behalf.

“The tie-up with the fashion design-ers will not only fortify the ‘backward

linkage’ with the traditional industries butalso strengthen the ‘forward linkage’value chain as well as going forward,”Sehgal said.

The traditional industries and craftsof UP lined up for promotion in the firstphase include ethnic fabrics and textilessuch as chikan and khadi, home décor,perfumes, carpets, leather products, andhandicrafts. Rina, an awardee of the pres-tigious Rajiv Gandhi Excellence Awardand the Dadasaheb Phalke ExcellenceAward, said, “Fashion is an aspiration.From creating products related to lifestyle,comfort and craft to the fact that it is allindigenously produced, there is a genuineneed to help the artisan and we are look-ing for buyers.”

Under the ODOP scheme, tradition-al products include textile products ofAmbedkar Nagar, Mau, Etawah andBarabanki, textile printing of Budaun,Kasganj, Shahjahanpur, Chandauli andBareilly, zari zardozi of Unnao, carpets ofBhadohi, Sonbhadra and Mirzapur, and

ready-made garments of Gautam BuddhaNagar.“There are many garments andhandloom products of Hardoi, woollencarpets of Jaunpur, banana fibre ofKushinagar, zari silk sarees of Lalitpur,chikankari and zari zardozi of Lucknowand silk sarees of Varanasi which, with lit-tle effort, can dominate the global fash-ion world,” Rina said. She said the ODOPscheme would not only augment theincome of the artisans but also improvetheir socio-economic and living standards

Rina met the craftsmen of zari-zardozi in Unnao on Tuesday to get infor-mation about their working style,machines, technology and market.

Sehgal said that work was going onat different levels to provide craftsmenwith necessary training in terms ofmodernity.

“They will also get guidance fromrenowned designers of the fashion indus-try, who will not only give a new identi-ty to the art of UP but will also help thecraftsmen get a new market,” he said.

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All India Majlis e-IttehadulMuslimeen chief Asaduddin

Owaisi hit out at West Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee for herallegation that the Bharatiya JanataParty was spending crores of rupees tobring AIMIM to the state to sharpen thecommunal polarisation and divide theHindu-Muslim votes among them-selves.

Owaisi dismissed the charge as“baseless”.

“Never was a man born who canbuy Asaduddin Owaisi with money.Her allegation is baseless and she is rest-less. She should worry about her ownhome as so many of her people aregoing to the BJP. She has insulted thevoters of Bihar and the people whovoted for us.” Owaisi said here onWednesday.

Mamata Banerjee made the allega-tion against Owaisi while addressing apolitical rally in the poll-bound state onWednesday.

“We have not started preparationsfor the West Bengal polls yet the TMC(Trinamool Congress) is trying todefame us after the Bihar polls. We havenever compromised with the BJP. Butthe TMC leader was with the NDA(National Democratic Alliance) duringAtal Bihari Vajpayee’s government andshe was a union minister. Besides, theTMC has never criticised the BJP on itsrole in the Gujarat riots,” Owaisi said,adding that this showed how much softcorner Mamata Banerjee had for theBJP.

Talking to media persons hereduring his day-long visit to Lucknow onWednesday to meet leaders of somesmaller parties, including Om PrakashRajbhar of Suheldeo Bhartiya SamajParty (SBSP), Owaisi said the TMC wastrying to give space to the BJP in WestBengal and this was witnessed duringthe last Lok Sabha polls in 2019 whenthe BJP won 18 seats in West Bengal.

“When two political leaders meet,you can guess what the topic of talkswill be. I am meeting Om PrakashRajbhar and will also meet ShivpalSingh Yadav who heads the PragatisheelSamajwadi Party (Lohia),” Owasi said.

Asked about the AIMIM victory inBihar, Owaisi said that leaders like OmPrakash Rajbhar and others helped him

win seats in Bihar. About Uttar Pradesh, Owaisi said

that he would make more visits to thestate in January and things wouldbegin to formalise later. “We have juststarted on this journey,” he said.

Reacting to Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath’s suggestionto change the name of Hyderabad toBhagyanagar, Owaisi said, “I will notchange any name in Uttar Pradesh.”

“So far you have only dealt withobedient Mir Jaffers and Sadiqs. Youdon’t like Muslims who think andspeak for themselves. You’ve insultedour voters in Bihar. Remember whathappened to parties in Bihar that keptblaming their failures on ‘vote cutters.Muslim voters aren’t your jagir,” Owaisi

said.Reacting sharply to the charges

made against him by the opposition ofbeing a B team of the BJP, Owaisi said,“AIMIM has always stopped the BJP’sinroad everywhere, whether it is Biharor Hyderabad.”

“In Bihar we won five seats aftercontesting on 20 seats but in theremaining 15 seats where we lost, wedid not get a chunk of votes that theopposition can blame us for theirdefeat against the NDA. Similarly, in theHyderabad municipal polls, the BJP lostthe seats where Yogi Adityanath andAmit Shah campaigned, which showshow we played our cards against theseforces,” he added.

The AIMIM won five seats inMuslim-dominated Seemanchal regionof Bihar bordering West Bengal.

�� ��!������������������� �������� �A Christmas tree and candle light service was organised at the Assembly of Believers’ Church on Wednesday.

The ceremony started with the Christmas carol ‘Andhero mein roshni hai’, followed by a choir entering the churchholding candles and singing ‘Light of the world you came down.’

A depiction of Jesus Christ’s birth was presented by tiny-tots of the church under the direction of VartikaKumar. Bishop Shailendra Das was the chief guest on the occasion. Pastor Rajendra Masih shared the Christmasmessage with the congregation that Jesus Christ’s birth was a positive paigam (message) in the midst of thispandemic. A special dance presented by tiny-tots depicted the theme of this Christmas season. A Christmassong was released by the church band ‘Ehsaas’ and it was released on YouTube channel.

������!�,&,&��!������������The 4-day International Sports, Arts and

Music Competition (The SAM 2020), organ-ised online by City Montessori School,Jopling Road Campus, came to a close onWednesday. Winners from Iran, Russia, USA,Greece, Turkey, Sri Lanka, Nepal and vari-ous states of India were awarded prizesamidst educational-cultural events at theprize distribution-cum-closing ceremonyheld online. Students of Bal Bharti PublicSchool (New Delhi) were awarded the firstprize in sound symphony competition whilethose of Little Angels School (Gwalior)Madhya Pradesh stood first in collage com-petition. Little Angels School (Gwalior)Madhya Pradesh won the first prize in e-expedition while the winners of fireless cooking competition were students of Sunbeam Suncity School, Varanasi.

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Eight persons were killed while abouttwo dozen others received serious

injuries when a Uttar Pradesh Roadwaysbus collided with a gas tanker inSambhal district on Wednesday due toreduced visibility because of fog.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister YogiAdityanath condoled the deaths in theaccident and directed the local author-ities to provide the best possible treat-ment to the injured.

“A Roadways bus of Aligarh depotcollided head-on with a gas tanker onthe Agra-Moradabad road onWednesday. Eight persons, includingboth the drivers werekilled on the spot while 22 oth-ers were injured. The number ofdeaths could go up,” Superintendent ofPolice Chakresh Mishra said onWednesday.

There were about 42 passengers onthe bus when the mishap took place onAgra-Moradabad National Highway

when the bus collided with the gastanker near Madhaya in villageManakpur in Sambhal police stationarea. The impact of the collision was sointense that half of the bus was complete-ly damaged while the front of the gastanker was mangled. Low visibility dueto dense fog on the highway is believedto be behind the accident.

The gas-filled tanker was going toMoradabad from Aligarh while the buswas going from Moradabad to Aligarh.

The tanker was trying to overtake asugarcane laden tractor-trolley when itcollided with the bus.

The deceased were identified asJitendra Kumar (30) of Bijnor, RohitRana (25) of Chandausi posted asconstable in Dial-112 in Naraura,Bulandshahr, Chhote Singh (45) ofBulandshahr, Anil Kumari (45) ofBahjoi, Saleem (32), driver of the bushailing from Qwarsi in Aligarh, tankerdriver Aslam (35) and Suresh Rajput(45), both from Moradabad, and OmPrakash (55) of Rampur.

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Lucknow (PNS): For maintaining more effec-tive law and order, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanathhas given his nod for setting up two new police sta-tions in Deoria district. This information was sharedby the CM Office here on Wednesday through itstwitter handle. According to the information, thenew police stations are Bariyarpur under Kotwalipolice station and Madhudih under RampurKarkhana police station.

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I,ex service man no4190383K, RANKL/NK Name Ram Shankar yadav son ofRamdas unit11 Kumaon regiment, ama resident of Munnukheda, post ManakNagar under Para police station andtehsil and district Lucknow. In KumaonRegiment Centre’s record office by mis-take my father’s name has been regis-tered as Ramdas Yadav and his dateof birth as 01.07.1948 and my motherRampati’s date of birth as 01.07.1951.Whereas in the Aadhaar card and otherdocuments my father’s correct nameRamdas and his correct date of birth30.03.1947 and mother Rampati’s cor-rect date of birth 11.05.1949 has beenregistered. Therefore, the correct nameand date of birth cited in the recordshould be registered.

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I Ved Prakash Sachan R/oJalalpur Pukhrayan (DehatPukhrayan Kanpur Dehat havechanged my name from VedPrakash to Ved PrakashSachan vide affidavit dated15.12.2020 at Kanpur CourtUttar Pradesh

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Son of an advocate shot him-self at his house in

Thakurganj police station areaon Wednesday. The 18-year-oldboy, identified as Ravi PratapSingh of Sardar Nagar localityin Thakurganj, was a first-yearstudent of BCom. His fatherRamesh Kumar Singh is a prac-ticing lawyer.

Around noon, Ravi was allalone in a room when he pickedthe licensed revolver of hisfather and shot himself in thehead. Family members rushedto the scene hearing the gunshotand took a profusely bleedingRavi to KGMU Trauma Centrewhere he was declared broughtdead. A team of police reachedthe scene and collected detailsrelated to the incident. Thepolice could not find any sub-stantial reason due to which theteen ended his life. Sources inpolice said he was mentallyupset over some issue for the lastfew days. The body was sent forautopsy and further probe wasunderway.

Meanwhile, a 16-year-old

boy ended his life at the houseof his maternal uncle inGudamba on Wednesday. Theteen, identified as Karan ofMasauli in Barabanki, was stay-ing in the house of his maternaluncle Ashish Kumar of Behtalocality in Gudamba for the lastsix months. The police saidKaran was suffering from some

stomach ailment and was underdepression due to the samereason.

Karan, who was in a habitof being busy with his mobilephone late in the night, wouldwake up late. Around 11 am onWednesday, Ashish gave Karanseveral calls but did not get anyresponse. Following this, he

peeped inside the room andfound Karan hanging from theceiling. The police said Karanwas hanging from the ceilingwith a bedsheet tied around hisneck. Karan’s parents wereinformed about the incident andthe body was sent for autopsy.Karan was a student of class XIIand his father is a farmer.

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Two youths attacked a manwith a knife after barging

into his office in Hussainganjon Tuesday. They alsoattacked his son also on beingchallenged. The police initial-ly tried to hide facts related tothe incident but discloseddetails to mediapersons afterone of the accused was arrest-ed on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Gopal andVinod, both of Purana Qilalocality in the area, bargedinto the office of LavkushMishra of the same locality.

“Without any provocation,the duo attacked Lavkushwith an intention to kill him.My son Harsh rushed to hisrescue and he was alsoattacked. The duo also threat-ened to my husband and sonbefore fleeing the scene,”Lavkush’s wife Geeta Mishraalleged. She later lodged acomplaint following which acase was registered under dif-ferent sections of IPC, includ-ing attempt to murder. Thepolice tried to cover up factsrelated to the incident to savethemselves the ire of seniorofficers but launched a man-

hunt for the accused.On Wednesday, the police

arrested Gopal from nearPrerna Kendra in the locali-ty. Later, the police madepublic details related to theincident and arrest of theaccused.

Meanwhile, an undertri-al undergoing treatment atBalrampur Hospital died onWednesday. Reports said theman, identified as Heeral Lal(85) of Barabanki, was sent tojail in 2001 after he wasnamed in a murder case. Hetook ill around 20 days backand died on Wednesday.

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Lucknow (PNS): Two hench-men of a close aide of MukhtarAnsari were nabbed onWednesday in connection witha case registered against them.The accused were identified asRitik Singh aka Tiger of Siwanin Bihar and Shivam Pandeyaka DJ of Madiaon. Both theaccused had thrashed a tenthouse owner, Vivek Singh ofFaizullahganj asking the victimto give them Rs 10,000 for bailsurety bond of their mentorAbhishek Singh aka Babu, whois cooling heels in jail thesedays. Abhishek is said to be aclose aide of Mukhtar Ansari.The attackers had made Vivekspit and lick at the house ofAbhishek Singh two days back.

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Lucknow (PNS): As many as206 persons tested positive forcoronavirus in Lucknow onWednesday while 232 patientsrecovered. There are 2,816active cases in the district. Asenior official at the CMOoffice said those who testedpositive included 18 fromGomtinagar, 17 each fromIndiranagar & Rae Bareli road,15 from Mahanagar, 12 eachfrom Cantt & Jankipuram, 11from Ashiyana, and 10 eachfrom Mahanagar & Vikasnagar.

Across the state, 1,277 per-sons tested positive, including52 in Kanpur, 73 in Ghaziabad,39 in Gautam Buddhnagar, 69in Varanasi and 67 in Meerut,taking the UP case tally to5,69,263. There were 16 deathsin the state, including four inLucknow, three in Meerut, twoeach in Kanpur & Prayagraj,and one each in Varanasi,Aligarh, Amroha, Baghpat &Shrawasti, taking the toll to8,118. Besides, 1,765 patientsrecovered, taking the numberof recoveries to 5,43,344.

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The Uttar Pradesh govern-ment, under the

Atmanirbhar campaign, hasdirected seven technical insti-tutes to establish incubators.

Dr APJ Abdul KalamTechnical University (AKTU)and the other institutions havealready established KalamInnovation and Start-up Centrewhich invites innovative ideasfrom the students and in the lastthree years, the centre hasreceived over 2,700 ideas. Outof these, 62 ideas have beenselected and the AKTU pro-vides an incentive of Rs 1,200 tostudents for making prototypesof their innovative products.

In July this year, the YogiAdityanath government hadannounced the Uttar PradeshStart-up Policy 2020. The pol-icy aims at setting up 100 incu-bators in UP, at least one inevery district, and developing anecosystem to set up at least10,000 start-ups. The state gov-ernment said the policy wouldhelp in turning the youth fromjob seekers to job providers.

The aim of the policy is tomake Uttar Pradesh among thetop three states in the start-upsector in the country and set up

India’s biggest start-up incuba-tor in Lucknow. According tothe government statement, thestart-up policy is expected tocreate direct employmentopportunities for 50,000 peopleand indirect employment forone lakh people in the state.

As a result of the policy, stu-dents of several technical insti-tutions have developed innov-ative products and some com-panies are now going to launchmany of the innovative productsdeveloped by the students of theAKTU and other institutions inthe market. The students willalso be given a share in the prof-it. The AKTU is also proving tobe an important link in theAtmanirbhar campaign of theUP government as it is alsoorganising competitions amongthe students to encourage themto come up with innovative

ideas and products.In these competitions, the

students share their sugges-tions and also present theirprototypes and till now, over adozen such prototypes businessmodels have been created by thestudents. Shubham Kumar, astudent of Veera College ofEngineering and Management,Bijnor, has developed a wheelspray pump machine whichwill be helpful to the farmers.Based on the principle of kinet-ic energy, farmers can spray fer-tilisers and water on their cropswith the help of this machine,saving both time and effort. Acompany has taken up the inno-vative idea of this student andwill soon launch this idea in themarket in the form of amachine. Similarly, ShivamYadav, a student of DronacharyaGroup of Institutions, GreaterNoida, has built a smart helmetwith the help of artificial intel-ligence (AI). The GPS basedhelmet has an in-built sensorand in case of an accident, thehelmet will immediately send amessage to the nearest policestation, hospital and familymembers. This product hasalso been picked up by a com-pany which will soon start theproduction of this helmet.

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New Delhi: The SupremeCourt on Wednesday refusedto entertain a plea seeking tochallenge Allahabad HighCourt order by which it hadheld that conversion just for thepurpose of marriage is unac-ceptable. The top court saidthat the division bench of theHigh Court has subsequentlydisapproved and set aside theimpugned order.

A bench of Chief Justice SABobde and Justices ASBopanna and VRamasubramanian said that itsees no reason to interfere as ithas been accepted by the peti-tioner that the division benchof the Allahabad High Courthas subsequently set aside theorder dated September 23.

At the outset, the benchasked petitioner advocateAldanish Rein that why cannotapproach the High Court onthe issue as his petition underArticle 32 of the Constitutionis not the appropriate remedyto set aside the order of HighCourt. Rein submitted that thetop court can say that the dec-laration made by the HighCourt is not correct.

The bench told Rein thatthere is no need to labour onsomething like this and for any

substantial relief, the HighCourt could be approached.

If the High Court doesn'tgive you relief, then you cancome here, the bench said,adding that Article 32 petitiondoes not lie in this case. Reinsubmitted that the High Courtorder triggered the UttarPradesh government to pass anordinance and hundreds ofinterfaith couples are beingharassed everyday due to this.

The bench said, You arespoiling your own case bypressing on a point which is nottenable. You are unnecessarilypressing this. On asked aboutthe order of the division bench,the lawyer said Yes, the divisionbench of the High Court hassaid that this declaration is notcorrect.

The bench said, Once thedivision bench has held thisdeclaration to be bad, then whydo you want the SupremeCourt to declare the same .

In his plea, Rein said, Beingconcerned for the freedom topractice any religion and thefreedom to choose a life part-ner and further being con-cerned with the wrong prece-dent set by the High Court ofJudicature at Allahabad in , thepresent petitioner is approach-

ing this Court in the capacityof an Officer of this Courtthrough the instant PublicInterest Litigation .

The lawyer said that orderof the High Court has not onlyleft the poor couple at themercy of the offending familymembers, the police, the vigi-lantes and the hate monger reli-gious associations but has alsolaid a wrong precedent that theinter-religious marriages can-not be solemnized at theinstance of conversion of reli-gion by either of the partner.

That undoubtedly the cou-ples of inter faith should adoptThe Special Marriage Act, 1954to get married but the cumber-some process and the unrea-sonable provisions of theSpecial Marriage Act, 1954makes it very difficult for a run-away couple to abide by thesaid provisions resulting inreligious marriages after con-version to the faith of either ofthe partner, the plea said.

Rein submitted in his pleathat the petitioner has seeninter religion Special MarriageAct Marriages in his family andtherefore is aware of the hard-ships that an inter-religioncouple has to face in order toget married. PTI

������ �� �!�������� ��.���4������������� ��������������� Aligarh: Prime Minister

Narendra Modi will be thechief guest at the centenarycelebrations of the AligarhMuslim University via videolink on December 22, an offi-cial statement said. Modi willattend the online functionalong with Union EducationMinister Ramesh PokhriyalNishank, it said.

Extending his gratitude tothe PM, AMU Vice-Chancellor Professor TariqMansoor said the AligarhMuslim University (AMU)community is thankful for hisacceptance to participate in thecelebrations marking 100 yearsof the university. “The out-reach of the university duringthis historical year will alsoimmensely help in its growthand development, and in theplacement of our students inprivate and public sectors,” hesaid. Prof Mansoor appealedthe university community toput in all efforts for the successof the forthcoming events,and the staff members, stu-dents, alumni and AMU well-wishers for active participa-tion. He also appealed to allconcerned to keep the cente-nary programme above poli-tics like the Republic Day,Independence Day andGandhi Jayanti. PTI

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Lucknow (PNS): Two minor boys escaped fromthe house of their relative in Sushant Golf City asthey had to go to Mumbai to become rich. Thepolice worked on the case and recovered the duofrom Shahjahanpur railway station on the inter-vening night of Tuesday and Wednesday. They toldthe police that they stealthily picked up Rs 2,000,belts and wallets which their relatives used to sell.On Tuesday night, the mother of one of the boys,who belongs to Assam, lodged a missing report.She told the police that she, along with her son(10) and brother (11), visited her relative Prashant’shouse in SGC police station area. Both the boyswere playing outside the house in the afternoonand went missing in the evening. The family triedto search for them and later sought police help.On the instructions of Commissioner of Police DKThakur, six teams were formed to locate the boys.Shopping malls, railway and bus stations, tempostands and other crowded places were searched,but in vain. In the meantime, a police team wastipped off that both the boys had boarded a tempofor Charbagh. The Lucknow police alerted theGRP and RPF. Around 2 am, the police got a mes-sage from Shahjahanpur GRP/RPF and the boyswere later brought back to the city.

One of the boys told the police that he plannedto visit Mumbai via Delhi. He said he stole themoney and other stuff from the house. The duosaid they were planning to sell the purses and beltsin New Delhi to earn money and then visitMumbai for job and become rich.

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#������(���� ���������������������Lucknow (PNS): The Centralgovernment has given thegreen signal for the MegaLeather Cluster project to beestablished in Kanpur.

The project, spread in 235acres, will come up inRamaipur village of KanpurNagar. The project entailsinvestment of Rs 5,850 croreand it is likely to create 50,000jobs. Chief Minister YogiAdityanath is likely to lay thefoundation stone of the projectsoon. The land for the MegaLeather Cluster project inKanpur Nagar has already been

acquired and the detailed pro-ject report was sent to theUnion Commerce Ministry forapproval. With the MegaLeather Cluster at Kanpur; UPwill become the first state in thecountry to establish a leatherpark. The work on the projectis likely to commence soon.

The leather park is likely togenerate indirect employmentfor 1.5 lakh people. More than150 tanneries will be locatedthere. Leather-made shoes,purses, jackets and other world-class products will be manufac-tured in this cluster.

To keep a check on pollu-tion, the leather park will beequipped with an effluent treat-ment plant. For setting upunits in the park, industrialplots ranging from 4,000 squaremetres to 10,000 square metreswill be provided to theinvestors. A world-class systemfor exporting leather productswill also be established in thepark. Official sources said theleather park would give a newidentity to the industrial city ofKanpur Nagar that had a pre-dominant position in theleather industry.

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Chairman of Agriculturaland Processed Food

Products Export DevelopmentAuthority (APEDA), UnionMinistry of Commerce andIndustry, Dr M Angamuthu,along with DivisionalCommissioner (DC) DeepakAgrawal, flagged off threetrucks carrying Black Rice andother variety of rice to Doha(Qatar) from here onWednesday. A big consign-ment of 532 metric tonneswould be exported to Doha. Heflagged off the rice fromHarahua Ring Road crossingnear Sindhora Road underpass.With this, yet another chapterof exports of farm productsfrom the region especially thiscity has been added in the fieldof growth of agriculture.

Speaking on the occasion,Dr M Angamuthu said thatcontinuous efforts are beingmade to export farm productsfrom Varanasi and otheradjoining districts and thisinitiative would not only

improve cultivation in theregion but also help the farm-ers increase their income. Heinformed that the rice will firstgo to Gujarat from here andthen from the port the samewould be shipped to Qatar. Hesaid that along with the farmand horticultural products,flowers would also be export-ed abroad.

Deepak Agrawal informedthat farmers are also beingtrained by the APEDA andHorticulture department sothat the farmer can producetheir agro products as per thestandards of export. He saidthat through the initiative notonly the exports of our farmproducts are being increasedbut it is also helping the farm-ers to get fair and high pricesof their crops in the interna-tional markets. He assuredthat in the coming days, moreeffective efforts would bemade towards the achieve-ment of the Prime Minister’sgoal of doubling the income offarmers.

‘This Varanasi region

would be emerged as a majorhub for agricultural exportsand food processing in thecoming years,’ he said, inform-ing that during the last two-three years new varieties ofBlack Rice are being pro-duced by the farmers inChandauli district. ‘To providegood value to farmers, theirproduce is being exportedabroad through APEDA,’ hesaid, expressing hope that inthe coming years huge quan-tities of vegetables and man-goes will be exported abroad.‘Kashi will be made a very bighub of export in the comingtime so that the produce of thefarmers of Purvanchal (east-ern UP), including the sur-rounding districts, can be sentabroad. By this, the farmerswould get fair price of theirproduce which would help indoubling their income.

Agrawal also informedthat soon the standard levelpack house will be ready inVaranasi with the cooperationof Central and state govern-ments and then the farmers

will not have to send theiritems to Lucknow for standardgrading and packaging.According to him, a smallentire store has also started atthe airport and negotiationsare going on with the AirportAuthority so that a small packhouse can be built at LalBahadur Shastri InternationalAirport, Babatpur here soon.He said that not only BlackRice and other rice varietiesbut also mango and greenchillies are being exportedfrom the region continuously.Even before this, the BanarasiLangda mangoes were export-ed and certainly according tothe intention of the PM, a lotof efforts are being made todouble the income of farmersby 2022.

Meanwhile, RegionalIncharge Dr CB Singh hasinformed that APEDA officeis also going to be opened inVaranasi and it will be inau-gurated by APEDA Chairmanon Thursday at Horticulturedepartment compound infront of Circuit House.

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Institute Day was celebratedby Institute of Science,

Banaras Hindu University (IS-BHU) here on Wednesday.The Institute Day lecture wasdelivered by Prof AshutoshSharma, Secretary, Departmentof Science and Technology(DST), Government of India.The function was presidedover by Prof Rakesh Bhatnagar,Vice-chancellor, BHU. ProfAshutosh Sharma talked aboutthe future challenges inresearch and development. Healso emphasised on the impor-tance of self- dependence(Atamnirbharta), self confi-dence, and introspection tocarry out better work in respec-tive fields.

Prof M Joshi, Dean, IS-BHU welcomed the guests onbehalf of the institute and ProfAK Tripathi, Director, high-lighted the achievements of theinstitute during the last oneyear. He also announced thename of faculty members fromIS-BHU and felicitated them,whose work has been cited inworld’s top 2 %. Faculty mem-bers who got fellowships andteacher’s awards from variousacademies were also felicitat-ed by the Institute of Science.

Prof Rakesh Bhatnagarannounced the name of twoprestigious rotating professorawards. The first Prof CNRRao rotating Professor Awardwas given to Prof MS Singhfrom Chemistry department,while the other Shri SantSanganeria Award was given toProf Anchal Srivastava fromPhysics department. The

donors of these two awards,Prof CNR Rao and SantSanganeria also expressed theirviews on the Foundation Day.The ceremony was concludedby the presidential remarks ofProf Rakesh Bhatnagar andvote of thanks was proposed byProf JK Roy, Head,Department of Zoology.

NAND GHAR PROJECTLAUNCHED IN UP: Aimingat improving health and nutri-tional outcomes for womenand children, the Nand GharProject has been launched inUP under which the NandGhars are to be established inVaranasi under the first phase.The implementing agency AnilAgarwal Foundation (AAF)will set up Nand Ghars overthe next 12 months and it hasjoined hands with Bill &

Melinda Gates Foundation forthe purpose.

Studies have shown thatmore than 90 per cent of thechildren enrolled with NandGhars are found in the healthycategory, with zero slippageinto malnutrition. And with anaim to improve health andnutritional outcomes forwomen and children the NandGhar Project has beenlaunched in UP which is to beimplemented in Varanasi andAmethi under the first phase.The Nand Ghar is a joint col-laboration with the Ministry ofWomen & Child Development,where we hope to transformthe entire landscape of the aan-ganwadi ecosystem with focuson nutrition.

‘We would be jointly devel-oping 500 Nand Ghars in UP

with focus on improving healthand nutritional outcomes forwomen and children. NandGhar is a joint collaborationwith Ministry of Women &Child Development, where wehope to transform the entirelandscape of the anganwadiecosystem with focus on nutri-tion’, Vedanta Chairman AnilAgarwal informed adding, theNand Ghar aims to change thelives of 8 crore women and 2crore children at the grassrootlevel, he added.

The collaboration betweenthe two organisations willinvolve the implementation ofbest practices of NandGhar infrastructureand amenities along withBMGF’s system strength toimprove the health and nutri-tion outcomes.

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General Manager, NorthCentral Railway Rajiv

Chaudhry flagged off first LHBcoach no. 163441 (GeneralClass) after PeriodicOverhauling (POH) at CoachMidlife Rehabilitation (CMLR)workshop Jhansi. Besides tripattention on washing lines,LHB coaches require majormaintenance inputs at every 18,36 and 72 months of operationwhich are termed as ShopSchedule-I(SS-I), ShopSchedule-II(SS-II) and ShopSchedule-III(SS-III) or POH.

These major maintenanceinputs are extremely essentialfor optimum performance ofLHB coaches w.r.t safety andcomfort of passengers. Hithertoonly SS-I schedule of LHBcoaches was being done bycoaching depots of NorthCentral Railway and for SS-IIand POH/SS-III attention LHBcoaches had to be sent toAjmer, Gorakhpur and otherworkshops.

Attention in foreign rail-way workshop used to take

extra transit time in sendingand receipt of coaches adverse-ly affecting availability of fitcoaches required for importantoriginating passenger trains ofNorth Central Railway.Successful POH/SS-III atten-tion of LHB coach at NCR’sworkshop at Jhansi is an impor-tant milestone which will go along way in efficient passengertrain operation on this Railway.

PCME NCR KundanKumar welcomed GeneralManager, PHODs and DRMsin this virtual flagging off func-tion organised through videoconferencing. On this occasiona brief presentation was madeby CWM CMLR DeepakNigam covering initiativestaken by Jhansi workshop forPOH/SS-III schedule of LHBcoaches and supply of over-hauled bogies to coachingdepots. Substantial reduction ofapproximately 30 days in tran-sit time shall be achieved byundertaking POH of LHBcoaches at CMLR Jhansi ascompared to foreign railwayworkshops. Moreover, coachturned out from Jhansi work-

shop shall also be equippedwith superior passenger ameni-ties for pleasant journey expe-rience. Apart from prescribedmaintenance activities for LHBcoaches, improved passengeramenities like superior PUpainting of coaches; fitment ofRO based water purifier onboth ends of coach; completerenewal of seats and berths;provision of improved stain-less-steel fittings; provision ofLED lights, energy efficientfans and extra mobile chargingpoints inside coach; improve-ment in bio toilets etc. are alsobeing done during POH atten-tion by Jhansi workshop.

General Manager congrat-ulated officials from Jhansiworkshop and HQ for achiev-ing this important milestoneand announced a group cashaward for this commendablework by Jhansi workshop.Speaking on this occasionChaudhry said that workshopshould provide brass or nano-particle coating on frequenttouch points of coach to makethese surfaces more resistant tovirus and other infections. He

also instructed that ergonom-ically designed workstationsshould be provided forimproved productivity and lessfatigue to workshop employees.

Later safety in train oper-ation, loading performanceand works required for 160Kmph speed raising on trunkroutes of North CentralRailway were reviewed. GMinstructed that all laid downrules and guidelines for shunt-ing, unloading of wagons, clos-ing and securing of wagondoors etc. be followed withoutany exception. On the front ofloading GM emphasised onearly finalisation of station tostation (STS) concessional ratesproposal which have extreme-ly useful in increasing originat-ing freight loading on NorthCentral Railway. Worksrequired for 160 kmph speedraising on the two trunk routesof NCR were also reviewed.General Manager advised con-cerned departments to moni-tor work progress closely andinstructed divisions to expediteprovision of thick web switch-es.

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Over 20,000 Kalpwasis arelikely to camp on the

Magh Mela ground next year.Apart from making themundergo a COVID-19 testevery week during their stay,Health department officialshave also mooted a plan toadminister prophylactic activedose of Ivermectin to Kalpwasiscoming to Magh Mela nextyear.

Additional Chief MedicalOfficer and nodal officer RishiSahai said, ‘The Health depart-ment has mooted a plan toadminister a prophylacticactive dose of Ivermectin to allKalpwasis. A prophylactic dosewould also be administered to

frontline workers assignedduties on the Mela campus. Thedoses will be administered toKalpwasis on the first, seventhand 30th day of the month.’

‘Apart from bringing a neg-ative RT-PCR test report alongwith them to get an entry to theMela ground, they will alsoundergo a COVID-19 testevery week during theirmonth-long stay. Officialswould be preparing a healthcard of each kalpwasi to tracktheir health.’ Meanwhile, ChiefMedical Officer (Prayagraj) DrPrabhakar Rai said that at least10 to 15 health surveillanceteams would be deployed ineach sector of the Mela groundto track the health of Kalpwasisand other seers staying on theMela ground. ‘Medical teams

equipped with a thermal scan-ner and sanitisers would be sta-tioned at all entry points of thevenue,’ he added.

‘Kalpwasis would also besubmitting an undertaking thatthey agree to be sent to a quar-antine or isolation centre in thecity, if they test positive forCovid-19,’ the officials added.The Health department willalso set up five booths for col-lection of swab samples in thefive sectors of the Magh Melaground. The mela will startfrom January 14 next year.The state government hadrecently assured seers andsaints associated with AkhilBharatiya Akhara Parishad(ABAP) that the Magh Melawould be organised despitethe pandemic but under strict

implementation of COVID-19safety guidelines.

INAUGURATED: MajGen Ravindra Singh, SMGeneral Officer Commanding,Red Eagle Division inaugurat-ed a Vijayanta Tank in thepremises of Army PublicSchool, Old Cantt, Prayagraj tocommemorate the occasion ofvictory in 1971 India - PakistanWar. The tank was dedicated tothe memory of the martyrs ofthe Red Eagle Division whohad participated in the 1971War & earned laurels for thenation.

The General is himself aparticipant of the Kargil War,having been awarded a SenaMedal for Gallantry foractions during the Battle ofTiger Hill.

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As many as 63 more newpatients have been detect-

ed in the district onWednesday, increasing the totalnumber to 20,437. The day alsosaw one more death, increasingthe toll to 338. During the day,the follow-up negative reportsincluded 109 and out of them,105 have been recovered fromhome isolation while four dis-charged from the hospitals,increasing the number to16,632 and 2,890 respectively.The total number of patients

who have been recovered so faris 19,522, leaving 577 activecases. The recovery rate is95.52 per cent, while the mor-tality rate is 1.65 per cent.

Chief Medical Officer(CMO) Dr VB Singh hasinformed that in the firstreport of the day, 36 positivepatients were found out of2,619 reports received. Tillthen, the total test reportsreceived were 4,74,943 and theresults of 2,871 are awaited.Out of them, 4,54,533 werenegative while 20,410 positive.The total number of samples

collected was 4,96,160. Earlier,a female aged 75 from Sikraulsuccumbed to COVID-19 atSir Sundarlal Hospital, BanarasHindu University (SSH BHU).With the addition of three newred zones, the total number ofhotspots has increased to 2,583including 215 red zones. Onegreen zone has been convert-ed into a red zone again.There are 2,368 green zoneswith eight new ones.

On the instructions of theDistrict Magistrate (DM)Kaushal Raj Sharma, mass/group antigen tests continued

to be conducted at VaranasiJunction (Cantt.) andManduadih railway but all 87and 42 tests conducted thererespectively have been foundnegative.

Besides, all the 155 testshave been found negative atShree Shiv Prasad Gupta(SSPG) Hospital, Kabirchauraapart from 125 at LBS HospitalRamnagar, 130 at GovernmentWomen’s Hospital, 39 at CHCShivpur, 72 at SwamiVivekanand Hospital,Bhelupur and 111 at SSHBHU.

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Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath

was on a hectic tour toPrayagraj where he attended agood number of programmesincluding the advocates func-tion ‘Pradesh AdhivaktaSamagam-2020’ organisedjointly by the Bar Council ofUttar Pradesh and the HighCourt Bar Association at KPCollege ground, Magh Melameeting, Smart City equip-ment handing over at PoliceLines, and meeting with BJPleaders and workers.

During advocates func-tion the Chief Ministerannounced that land releasedfrom the clutches of mafiadons, will be utilised to pro-vide houses to the lawyers,journalists, teachers, and pooron `no profit-no loss’ basis.The programme was attendedbesides others by the formerGovernor of West Bengal andsenior advocate Keshri NathTripathi, Deputy ChiefMinister Keshav PrasadMaurya, ministers BrijeshPathak, Nand Gopal GuptaNandi, Siddarth Nath Singh,and party leaders.

While addressing thelawyers the Chief Minister

said that the proposedNational Law University willsoon be established inPrayagraj, and the law studentsand the whole legal fraternitywill be benefitted when theuniversity starts functioning.

He assured that the stategovernment is totally commit-ted to look into the problemsof the lawyers, who serve thenation.

Uttar Pradesh has set an

example in Covid control,Yogi said, and his statementwas backed by data andreports.

For making Uttar Pradeshself dependent the ChiefMinister said that `one dis-trict-one product’ project willconvert the dreams into real-ity. He informed that theGovernment has releasedfunds for different judiciaryrelated works, and � 600 crore

has especially been released forbuildings, parking and cham-bers in Prayagraj.

The Chief Minister mon-itored the progress of MaghMela preparations and turnedtough on the lethargic attitudeof the officials.

Later Yogi Aditynath madeavailable different modernequipment to the police at thePolice Lines, for the Smart Citydevelopment project.

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Prayagraj city reported atotal of 86 cases of coron-

avirus late on Tuesday night.The number of new coronainfected exceeded over 80 aftera long gap. With this, one per-son died. However, 42 peoplehave become infection free. Dr.Rishi Sahai, the Nodal Officerof Corona confirmed this.

CMO Dr Prabhakar Raisaid that the total number ofcorona patients in the districthas reached 27,351 after find-ings of 86 new infected onTuesday. Out of them 26,453people have become infection-free. Nine people have beendischarged from SRN and Beli

Hospital of the 86 people, while33 people have completedhome isolation. On Tuesday,corona test of 6,277 people havebeen conducted. Among thoseinfected, 98 patients are admit-ted to SRN, Beli and privatehospitals whereas, 418 peopleare in home isolation. Thetotal number of people whodied due to corona hasincreased to 363.

Meanwhile, four peoplehave turned out to be coronapositive in Doaba within thelast 24 hours of the Kuashambidistrict. With this, the numberof active patients sufferingfrom Covid has increased to 23in the district. Teams of theHealth department have start-

ed arranging for the treatmentof all the infected as well asmarking the people exposed tothem.

Surveillance officer DrYash Agarwal said that likeeveryday, on Tuesday, a campwas conducted on the campacross the district and 969 sus-pects were tested. During thisperiod, four people have comepositive in the report fromvarious media. Three of thoseinfected include those from theNevada region. In this way,2,230 people have been positivein the district so far. Although,2,180 patients of the total havealso been cured.

Meanwhile, a middle-agedman died in suspicious condi-

tion on Monday night in themunicipality Bharwari underthe Kokhraj police station.After information arrived, thepolice took the dead body intoits custody and sent it for post-mortem.

Municipal Bharwari resi-dent Shivnaresh alias BoltuKanaujia used to take care ofthe family after truck driving.Son Akhilesh told that onMonday evening, fatherShivnareesh, after cominghome, told about a chest painproblem.

He was immediatelyrushed to the hospital for treat-ment. He died during treat-ment at the hospital in thenight.

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District Magistrate Sushil Kumar Patel hasdirected the officials to dispose of the appli-

cations as per the spirit of the government todeliver justice through shortest process and with-in the stipulated timeframe. Such direction wasgiven by the officer during the SampoornaSamadhan Divas organised at Sadar tehsil on

Tuesday. On the day out of 94 applications onlyfour could be disposed of on the spot but for therest the DM directed the authorities concernedto dispose them of without inordinate delay andinform him without fail. He directed theRevenue department as well as the police to visitall the spots for disposing of the applications sub-mitted in Sampoorna Samadhan Divas. Hedirected the officials to dispose of the mattersto the satisfaction of the parties under the law.The DM instructed the officials to take the appli-cations under IGRS seriously and dispose themof with quality. He said that to ensure the sat-isfaction of the aggrieved, they should make callstoo and be sure that the disposal was done as itwas reported. Prominent among those who tookthe part in it were SP Ajay Kumar, CDO Avinash

Singh, SDM Gaurav Srivastava, probation offi-cer Gireesh Dubey, DSO Umesh Chand and POICDS PK Singh.

ARRESTED: Padari police have arrested anaccused under the Gangster Act on Tuesday. Asper the reports, during routine patrolling alongwith his team SHO Padari Venkatesh Tiwariintercepted a suspect at Aghawaar Chaurahawho was trying to hide after seeing them. Thepolice arrested the suspect who was identifiedas Vijay Harijan, a resident of Semara Baisukiavillage under Dehat Kotwali police station. Itmay be pointed out here that the suspect wasalready an accused under Gangster Act at Padaripolice station.

GIRL RECOVERED: City Kotwali policerecovered a missing girl on Tuesday. As per thereports, a seven-year-old girl belonging toTarkapur under City Kotwali police station, hadleft her house without informing her family. OnDecember 9 the mother of the missing girllodged an FIR at City Kotwali. Police was search-ing for the girl when it was informed by theSonbhadra police that the girl was with them.On Tuesday ASP Sanjay Kumar handed her overto her father in his office.

HELP EXTENDED: SHO Katra Kotwalicame forward to help a poor woman in the mar-riage of her daughter. Savita Devi whose hus-band had died some years ago but and sold ‘laayichana’ for earning her living. Through it she notonly earned her bread but married her twodaughters too. Her third daughter’s marriage wasscheduled to be held on December 15. WhenSHO Ramesh Yadav came to know about thestruggle of Savita, who resides in the localitybehind the police station, he decided to extenda helping hand to her. The SHO handed oversarees, �2,000 in cash and edible items as ‘sha-gun’ for her daughter’s marriage. This gestureof his is being appreciated by the people here.

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General Manager, NorthEastern Railway (NER),

Vinay Kumar Tripathi onTuesday inspected the‘Dikshant Parade’ of the 49thbatch of women constablerecruits organised at theRailway Protection Force (RPF)Training Centre/NER and tooksalute of the march past.

On the occasionAdditional General Manager(AGM) Amit Kumar Agarwal,Inspector General-cumPrincipal Chief SecurityCommissioner (PCSC), RPF,Atul Kumar Srivastava, alongwith principal heads ofdepartments, members ofNorth Eastern RailwayWomen’s Welfare Organisation(NERWWO), senior railwayofficers besides officials fromAir Force, Army, local policeand others were present. In hisaddress on the occasion, GMVinay Kumar Tripathi whileappreciating the parade andmarch past presented by theconstable recruits said duringthe eight months of hard train-ing 350 women constablerecruits were provided high-level training. Under it theybecome adept in subjects likerailway law, psychology, disas-ter management, computer etcbesides training of variousweapons, unarmed combat,crowd control and bomb dis-posal. Along with it they havealso been trained in the field ofpassenger assistance, customercare and stress managementwith the aim of making themefficient in the area of theirwork,which will be helpful inenhancing the safety and imageof the railway in future, he said.

The GM said that a large

number of postgraduates,PGDCA and MTech degreeholders are among these traineerecruits. Along with it many ofthem had contributed to sports,scouts and NCC at the nation-al and state levels. They willalso be given one month com-mando training to counter anyadverse situation during rail-way safety. Tripathi expressedconfidence that the womenconstable recruits while servingin the largest organisation ofIndia will give their significantcontribution to the service ofthe nation and the faith of thepeople in Indian Railways willincrease further. Moreover acollective award of �51,000was announced on behalf of theGM. He encouraged thewomen recruits who hadexcelled in various fields bypresenting medals and citationsto them. The best recruitaward was given to PrernaKumari of South EasternRailway (SER) for achievingthe top position in outdoor andindoor subjects. Aditi of SERwas awarded for best perfor-mance in indoor subjects.Priyanka of Northern Railwayreceived the award for best per-formance in outdoor subjects.The North Eastern Railway

(NER)’s second parade com-mander Bhoomika Chaudharyand parade commander ofDikshant Parade KomalKumari of South EasternRailway were also honoured onthe occasion.

In his welcome addressIG-cum-Principal ChiefSecurity Commissioner, RPFAtul Kumar Srivastava saidthat in this recruitment whichstarted in the year 2018 out ofa total 17 lakh candidates 4,500women constables were select-ed. Srivastava said that 350women recruits from differentzones of the entire country havebeen trained in this training. Inthe changing environmentthese trainees have been giveneffective training to meet thenew challenges, he added. Hesaid that there are 74,000Railway Protection Forcemembers working on theIndian Railways. The RPF is amulti-skilled and effectiveforce, he added. The principalof the Railway Protection ForceTraining Centre, NarendraMohan Vashisht, in his reportelaborated on the activities ofthe centre. Chief SafetyCommissioner, RPF/NER, DrSK Saini, proposed the vote ofthanks on the occasion.

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The railway administrationfor the convenience of peo-

ple is extending the 03019/03020 Howrah-Kathgodam-Howrah puja special train asfollows, CPRO PK Singh said.The 03019 Howrah-Kathgodam puja special trainis being extended from January1 to 31, 2021. The 03020Kathgodam-Howrah puja spe-cial train is being extendedfrom January 3 to February 2,2021.

CANCELLATION/REDUCTION IN FREQUENCY:The complete cancellation andreduction in frequency of thefollowing special trains will bedone by the railway adminis-tration from December 16 toJanuary 31, 2021, due to oper-ational difficulties caused bydense fog and bad weather. Inaddition the partial cancellationof the 05004/05003G o r a k h p u r - K a n p u rAnwarganj-Gorakhpur specialbetween Prayagraj Rambagh-Kanpur Anwarganj-PrayagrajRambagh will be done only twodays in a week. It may bepointed out here that as per theinformation released earlierthe partial cancellation of thistrain was done daily betweenPrayagraj Rambagh-KanpurAnwarganj. CPRO PK Singhsaid the 04674 Amritsar-Jaynagar special train will on

December 18, 20, 22, 24, 25, 27,29 and 31 and January 1, 3, 5,7, 8, 10, 12, 14, 15, 17, 19, 21,22, 24, 26, 28, 29 and 31, 2021,remain fully cancelled(Tuesday, Thursday, Friday andSunday). The 04673 Jaynagar-Amritsar special will onDecember 19, 21, 23, 24, 26, 28,30 and 31 and January 2, 4, 6,7, 9, 11, 13, 14, 16, 18, 20, 21,23, 25, 27, 28 and 30 andFebruary 1, 2021, will remainfully cancelled (Monday,Wednesday, Thursday andSaturday).

On the other hand, the02226 Delhi-Azamgarh spe-cial will remain cancelled onDecember 16, 19, 23, 26, 30 andJanuary, 2, 6, 9, 13, 16, 20, 23, 27and 30, 2021 (Wednesday andSaturday). The 02225 Azamgarh-Delhi special train will remaincancelled on December 17, 20,24, 27, 31 and January 3, 7, 10,14, 17, 21, 24, 28 and 31, 2021,(Thursday and Sunday).

PARTIAL CANCELLA-TION: The 05004 Gorakhpur-Kanpur Anwarganj special willon December 18, 19, 25, 26and January 1, 2, 8, 9, 15, 16,22, 23, 29 and 30, 2021, everyFriday and Saturday willremain partially canceledbetween Prayagraj Rambagh-Kanpur Anwarganj. On theother hand, the 05003 KanpurAnwarganj-Gorakhpur specialwill on December,19, 20, 26, 27and January 2, 3, 09, 10, 16, 17,

23, 24, 30 and 31 everySaturday and Sunday willremain partially cancelledbetween Kanpur Anwarganj-Prayagraj Rambagh.

TWO COACHES TO BEATTACHED: The railwayadministration will for theconvenience of the passengersattach two additional generalsecond class coaches withimmediate effect in the spe-cial train 05269/05270Muzaffarpur-Ahmedabad-Muzaffarpur Jan SadharanExpress special train. As aresult according to the modi-fied composition of this train,a total of 22 coaches, includingtwo of generator-cum-luggagevan and 20 coaches of generalsecond class will be attached.

BOY FOUND: TheRailway Protection Force(RPF)/NER makes constantefforts to protect passengersand provide them better travelfacilities. In the same sequence, amember of the RPF post,Gorakhpur during patrollingfound a nine-year-old boy whohad ran away from his home as hewas angry in an unclaimed con-dition from platform No 2. Afterquestioning the boy was handedover to Child Line, Gorakhpur.Likewise a member of RPF post,Gorakhpur, found a 10-year-oldgirl in unclaimed condition dur-ing the patrolling at Gorakhpurstation. After questioning shewas handed over to Child Line,

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Kanpur Nagar reported 47more coronavirus positive

cases on Wednesday evening.Chief Medical Officer Dr AnilK Mishra said that 47 morepeople had tested positive forcoronavirus infection betweenTuesday evening andWednesday evening takingthe tally of confirmed cases to31,638 cases. He said thattwo patients were dischargedfrom hospital. He said noCOVID-19 death in the citywas reported till Wednesdayevening keeping the deathtoll to 803. The CMO said atpresent 706 active cases wereundergoing treatment. DrMishra said 4222 sampleswere sent for testing in thecity.

KANPUR (PNS): A brick kilnlabourer battered his three-year-old son to death before hiswife and daughters in Hatheruavillage under GhatampurKotwali police area on Tuesday.Police arrested the accusedand recovered the body onWednesday. Santraj of ChhaniKhurd village under Bimvarpolice station in Hamirpurdistrict and his wife Anitawere labourers in a brick kiln.They live there in a hut withdaughters Anjana (10),Khushbu (7) and son Ravindra(3). On Tuesday morning, onhearing rumours that Santrajhad killed his wife and set thebody ablaze, police reachedthe spot but failed to get anyclue of the incident. However,Santraj’s wife could not betraced till late night, the policetook him into custody. Afterquizzing him, the police recov-ered Anita and the two daugh-ters while the son remainedmissing. Police took them all topolice station and on beinggrilled, they disclosed about theshocking incident. They saidon Tuesday morning, whenRavindra (3) was insisting forsomething, an enraged Santrajstarted beating him. WhenAnita tried to rescue her son,she was also thrashed. Later,Santraj battered Ravindra todeath and after hiding thebody threatened his wife anddaughters to keep their mouthshut. SHO said on basis of theinformation given by Santraj,the body of Ravindra had beenrecovered.Sources said asSantraj suspected that Ravindrawas his illegitimate child, hehad killed him.

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The nephew of a BJP leaderlost his left arm when he

was thrown before a speedinggoods train by some goons inGopalpur village underGhatampur Kotwali police sta-tion late Tuesday night.

During a Ramlila event, thevictim, Lalit (28) son ofKarunesh Dwivedi and nephewof BJP leader Umesh Dwivediof Gopalpur in Ghatampur,had a dispute with some localgoons who, after dragging himinto their van, threw himbefore the goods train. The vic-tim’s left arm was severed fromthe shoulder.

Lalit was rushed to the LLRHospital from where he wasreferred to the Trauma Centreof King George’s MedicalUniversity in Lucknow in viewof his serious condition.

During the Ramlila eventin Gopalpur, Lalit had a disputewith some local goons. Hearingabout the incident, UmeshDwivedi had visited the spotand pacified both the sides anddropped Lalit at his house.

But in the wee hours, whenLalit again reached the Ramlilavenue, he was brutally beatenup by the goons and thrownbefore the goods train passingon the Banda railway track.

His kin reached the spotaround 6 am on Wednesdayand informed the police.Meanwhile, many BJP leaders,including Devendra SinghBhole, MP, and UpendraPaswan, MLA, reached theLLR Hospital and took stock ofthe situation. Circle OfficerRavi Kumar Singh said theassailants named in the com-plaint were taken into custodyand were being quizzed.

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Kanpur DivisionalCommissioner Raj

Shekhar on Wednesday direct-ed the PWD executive engineerto immediately prepare a fea-sibility report for the wideningof Mandhana-Shuklaganj roadto four lanes.

He also directed BridgeCorporation General ManagerRakesh Singh to ensure that anoverbridge was constructed atthe Saraiyya crossing as it hadbecome essential for thesmooth traffic movement. Hesaid any hurdle that came in theconstruction of the overbridgemust be removed at the earli-est.

The divisional commis-sioner was addressing a meet-ing at Uttar Pradesh StateIndustrial DevelopmentAuthority on Wednesday.

He said the major hurdlesretarding the pace of industri-al development in the districthad to be removed at all costs.

Shekhar said the proposedleather mega cluster and ItraPark that were to be set up inSenpuram Para village andKannauj had to be inter-changed at the earliest. Heasked UPSIDA Chief ExecutiveOfficer Mayur Maheshwari toput up the proposal in thisregard without any furtherdelay.

Maheshwari informed the

divisional commissioner thatthe Rooma Industrial Areaand the Panki Industrial AreaSite 5 had to be transferred tothe Kanpur Nagar Nigam.

Shekhar asked the officialsof UPSIDA and KNN to workout an amicable solution andend all hurdles that retarded thepace of development in the dis-trict.

The Kanpur municipalcommissioner informed thedivisional commissioner that toprevent sewer overflowing andwaterlogging in Panki andRooma, water drinage systemhad to be set up on a war foot-ing.

The divisional commis-sioner also sought a proposal

for transferring the land ofgram samaj to UPSIDA for theItra Park.

He then directed that pos-session of the allotted land tothe allottees should be donepeacefully at Dibiyapur,Auraiya.

He said the work had to bedone on a war footing anddirected all the officials con-cerned to apprise the commis-sionerate of the progress intheir respective missions.

Officials who took part inthe meeting includedAdditional CEO Rajesh Rai,Regional Manager, Rakesh Jha,PWD EE Jai Singh, Irrigationdepartment EE Ravi Mishraand several other officials.

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Kanpur DivisionalCommissioner Raj

Shekhar carried out an inspec-tion of the LLR Hospital’sCOVID-19 vaccine storagecentre on Wednesday to getfirst hand report of the facili-ties arranged to maintain thecold chain.

He said the storage ofCOVID-19 vaccine was a bigchallenge and a big responsi-bility and hoped that theGSVM Medical College wouldprove its worth on the taskassigned to it.

The divisional commis-sioner appealed to the people

that more people need to vol-unteer themselves for the vac-cine’s trial. He praised the roleof GSVM Medical College incontribution towards theresearch work.

Verifying the documentsrequired for the clinical trialprotocol, he asked the doctorsto make every effort to ensurethat the vaccine trial wascarried out carefully and bystrictly maintaining the coldchain.

He then visited the deepfreeze section and took stock ofthe backup and expressed sat-isfaction over the arrange-ments made by the medicalcollege authorities.

GSVM Medical CollegePrincipal Prof RB Kamal saidthe medical college was the firststate medical college to havedone outstanding work notonly in treating but controllingdeath of COVID-19 patients aswell.

He said this was possibleon account of the dedicatedwork of the doctors, para-medics and other staff con-cerned.

He said as the medical col-lege wanted more and morepeople to volunteer for theCOVID-19 vaccine trial, thosekeen to volunteer could call onthe mobile numbers8090609630 and 8707574418 at

the earliest.Meanwhile, Additional

Chief Secretary (MedicalEducation) Dr Rajneesh Dube,while holding a virtual meetingwith the GSVM MedicalCollege officials on Wednesdaysaid as there was a gradualdecline in COVID-19 cases, ithad been decided to take up allthe pending complicated surg-eries at the earliest.

He said now the LLRHospital should take up electivesurgeries and other major surg-eries.

Dube said the OPD ser-vices should be extended ingovernment and private hos-pitals as well.

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The Uttar Pradesh RailMetro Corporation

(UPMRC) accomplished amajor experiment by placingthe first ‘cross arm’ at the IITKanpur metro station in the IITKanpur-Motijheel priority cor-ridor.

This ‘cross arm’ techniquewill be used in future to extendthe length of metro stations.

The UPMRC is continu-ously giving preference tonumerous experiments whichare constructive and are inline with the requirements offuture. At present, the length ofthe metro stations has beendetermined up to 80 metreswhich will be amplified inview of future ridership.

Metro engineers hadalready made arrangements toincrease the length of metrostations to about 60 metres sothat they could be extend from80 metres to 140 metres inaccordance with the require-ment.

At present, as per thelength of the metro stationsthat was 80 metres, four-coachmetro trains can be run.However, in the initial stagemetro train will be run withthree coaches on the 9-kmpriority corridor. The coacheswill later be added to a metrotrain as per the increase in rid-ership or number of passen-

gers. In future, the length of

metro stations can be amplifiedup to 140 metres as per therequirement and with theextended length, six-coachmetro trains can be operated.

The ‘cross arm’ will beused in place of pier cap. It alsolooks like a pier cap and at bothsides of metro station, crossarm are to be placed.

Seven cross arms will beused at Motijheel metro station,

while the other eight stations inthe priority section will havefour cross arms at each station.Thus, a total of 39 cross armsare to be placed in the priori-ty section.

Apart from Motijheel andSPM Hospital stations, thearrangement of the cross armat all other metro stations willbe the same.

Except these two stations,2-2 cross arms will be placed onboth sides of the stations at the

other seven metro stations,While five cross arms will beplaced on Motijheel metro sta-tion on one side and two on theother, due to overhead electricline at SPM Hospital, UP Metrohas ensured the arrangement ofthree cross arms on one sideand one on the other side.

These cross arms are alsobeing prepared at theLakhanpur casting yard andwill be taken to the designatedplace with the help of cranes.

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Page 6: 2020/12/16  · nected to China via a six-lane high-way and a gas pipeline which Beijing apprehends will be hit by the Baloch insurgents. The Chinese Defence Minister …

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The fear of multiple defec-tions ran high in the rul-

ing Trinamool Congress withrebel party leader SuvenduAdhikari on Wednesday sub-mitting his resignation fromthe Legislative Assemblybefore joining other rebelleaders in a closed-door meet-ing at the house of TMC MPSunil Mandal some 80 milesfrom Kolkata.

Adhikari was likely toresign from the primarymembership of his party onFriday, before joining the BJPin Delhi, sources close to himsaid adding there werechances that he could also join

the saffron party in the pres-ence of BJP president AmitShah who is scheduled tovisit Bengal from Saturday.

The Wednesday’s quickturn of events saw Adhikaridepositing his resignation let-ter --- which curiously boreno date --- at the Assemblysecretariat before drivingstraight to Mandal’s house offBurdwan.

There other rebel TMCsatraps like Asansol MLA andMayor Jitendra Tiwari, andKalna party MLA and SouthBengal Surface TransportCorporation ChairmanColonel DiptangshuMukherjee joined him in aclosed door meeting.

Tiwari met Adhikarihours after receiving a phonecall from Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee fromCoochybehar who assuredhim of an audience onDecember 18 after her returnfrom North Bengal.

“Though anyone canmeet anyone in a democracybut it is strange that Jitendrajoined the Wednesday’s meet-ing despite being assured bythe Chief Minister that hisgrievances would be heardand redressed,” BengalMinister Firhad Hakim said.

Referring to the technicalaspects of Adhikari’s resigna-tion, Bengal AssemblySpeaker Biman Banerjee said

that the papers were not pre-sented to him personallyadding, “I will look into itwhen I go to the Assembly.Things will be done accordingto the rule book.”Constitutional experts likeUdayan Banerjee howeverquoted Article 206 sayingsuch resignations required tobe presented to the Speakerpersonally with dates of resig-nation being mentioned in it.

Reacting to theWednesday’s developmentssenior TMC leader SaugatoRoysaid “this is all the falloutof Suvendu’s earlier dealingswith the BJP… I think he hasstruck a deal with the BJP forbetter posts other than what

he was enjoying here as theTransport Minister with twoadditional portfolios.”

Calling Adhikari and likesof him as “traitors,” party MPand senior advocate KalyanBanerjee said, “let him go toBJP … he has higher ambi-tions of being a Chief Ministeror Deputy Chief Minister …let us see what he gets there.”

In what could bring moreanxiety to the TMC leadershipthe Diamond Harbour MLADipak Haldar on Wednesdaytoo started playing the rebel-lious tune even as his postersjointly with those of Adhikariappeared all around his con-stituency.

When asked to comment

on the developments he saidhe had personally not giventhose posters but said “thosewho might have given themmight be my good friends asI am an admirer of SuvenduAdhikari.”

Elsewhere Congress LokSabha Leader AdhirChowdhur y said that“Mamata Banerjee is gettingthe taste of the same medicinethat she prescribed for theother opposition parties,”while CPI(M)’s Rabin Debsaid “it was inevitable that theleaders would quit one byone … now the questionremains to be seen as towhether the BJP will retain itsoriginal colour or whether it

will be submerged by theTMC defectors.” Senior BJPleaders Kaliash Vijaybargiyaand Dilip Ghosh however saidthat they would welcome the“clean and able leaders” likeAdhikari and would ensurethat they got adequate respectin the party.

Meanwhile, Adhikarireportedly wrote to GovernorJagdeep Dhankhar about“threats” on his person and tohis followers in the wake ofpresent circumstances.

Adhikari alleged that theState Government was prepar-ing false charges against himand his followers and soughtthe Governor’s intervention.

Incidentally Dhankar who

visited Diamond Harbour tooalleged how the Governmentwas using the officials to false-ly frame the defecting politi-cians asking the bureaucrats towatch out their steps as “note”was being taken of their activ-ities and would be referred toin future.

Sources in the BJP saidthat Centre was proposing toprovide special security coverfor at least 25 TMC leadersand MLAs who might switchside in the coming days.Among them 10 would beprovided Y-Plus security while10 would be given Y catego-ry security. The remainingfive are likely to get X catego-ry security.

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In a circuitous admission thatthere was huge deficiency of

trust quotient within theTrinamool Congress — whichsaw stronger leaders rebellingfrequently — Bengal ChiefMinister on Wednesday accusedthe BJP of luring and coercingthe TMC leaders to join theirranks.

She sought to rely on herpersonal charisma than on any-thing else to win the next year’sAssembly elections.

Banerjee who was speaking

at a rally in Coochbehar inNorth Bengal said how “myparty leaders are being called upby the BJP and being told to jointhem. Our trusted leaders likeSubrata Bakshi and AnubrataMandal received calls fromDelhi and were told to join theBJP… think how dangerousthey are.”

While Bakshi a former MPand is one of Banerjee’s mosttrusted lieutenants, Mandal aparty strongman is the TMC’sBirbhum district presidentknown for his foul mouth.

In an apparent indication

that instead of banking on theloyalty factor she would onceagain rely on her own charismaBanerjee said that only the cor-rupt TMC leaders fearing arrestand the ones who would not getticket were joining the BJP.

“I will never join their rankscome what may … they maysend me to jail but I will contin-ue to work for the people ofBengal as I have been doing …Those who are scared of not get-ting a ticket are leaving, thosewho have taken money (and areapprehending arrest) are leav-ing,” she said challenging the BJP

to send her to jail.Sending across the mes-

sage of “solidarity” directly to thepeople and the grassrootsBanerjee said, “I want loyaltyfrom the grassroots level work-ers of our party, do not botherabout what your leaders aredoing… act to your consciencebecause remember that you canchange your dresses by the daybut you cannot change your ide-ology… A time has come whenyou have to stand by the partyand turn the things around sothat you can help Bengal and itsculture survive.”

Kolkata: The All India Majlis-e-IttehadulMuslimeen's (AIMIM) on Wednesday hitback at Bengal Chief Minister MamataBanerjee refuting her chargesthat it was the“B team” of the BJP saying that all partieshad the right to work according to theirgoal.

Referring to Banerjee’s attack onAIMIM and its leader Asaduddin Owaisi,Bengal AIMIM spokesperson ImranSolanki said that his party had beenworking in the region for the past sever-al years and had gain considerable groundwhich was why it had decided to contestelections to further its political goals.“There is nothing that others should be

jealous of,” he said.Banerjee had earlier said that “there are

some parties funded by the BJP which arecoming from Hyderabad to cut votes inthis State so as to enable them to win theelections … it is time you understand theirnefarious designs and reject them.”

Banerjee said “the BJP is trying to iso-late the Hindu votes and the AIMIM isplaying the Muslim card to win Muslimvotes … then what will I do will I eat,” say-ing how the AIMIM played the catalyst inthe loss of secular parties like the RJD inBihar. Reacting to her statements theAIMIM leader wondered why BJP couldwin so many seats parliamentary in 2019

when the Hyderabad-based party was notin the fray. “The BJP won 18 seats whenwe were not there in 2019. How could theywin those seats… now she is blaming us…we have come to contest elections and ifwe are asked we will use our organizationto fight elections.”

The Muslims who have a good 30 per-cent vote in Bengal can impact electionresults in more than 125 seats in the State.The TMC leadership however said that asAIMIM only had impact on the Urdu-speaking Muslims and they were cultur-ally different from the Bengali-speakingMuslims it was the TMC that will get theirvotes. PNS

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In a pin pointed retaliatory strike, atleast two Pakistani soldiers were

killed by the Indian Army oppositeSunderbani sector of Rajouri districtlate Tuesday night.

Ground reports indicated, soonafter the Pakistani army attempted totarget the Indian troops deployed atone of the forward posts in theSunderbani sector late Tuesdayevening Indian army hit back effective-ly. Official sources on ground con-firmed, “in a pinpointed response thePak army suffered fatal injuries. Therewas no further exchange of firing inthe forward area. The firing stoppedimmediately”. Ground reports suggest-ed , at least two soldiers of the Pakistanarmy were killed in the retaliatory fir-ing.

Official sources also revealed thearea South of Pir Panjal is witnessinghectic activity along the line of controlfollowing fresh spells of snowfall in thehigher reaches.

Pakistan based handlers of terror-ist groups are attempting to push smallbatches of terrorists to infiltrate insidethe Indian territory taking advantageof thick foliage and inclement weath-er conditions. On the other hand,Indian troops are standing tall, brav-ing intense cold weather conditions tofoil the nefarious designs of thePakistan army. Intelligence reportsindicated, desperate Pakistan armymay target the Indian troops andlaunch BAT strikes in the region.

Meanwhile, fresh ceasefire viola-tion was reported along the line of con-trol in Nowshera sector of Rajouri onWednesday.

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Jammu: The seventh round ofpolling in the DistrictDevelopment Council polls inJammu and KashmirWednesday recorded margin-ally higher voter turnout of57.22 percent across 31 con-stituencies.

Addressing a press confer-ence in Jammu, the StateElection Commissioner KKSharma said, “polling was byand large peaceful across 31constituencies”. He said theJammu division recorded anaverage voter turnout of71.93% while the KashmirDivision recorded 39.52% aver-age voter turnout.

He further said that 393200(210479 male and 182721female votes) people exercisedtheir right to franchise for theseventh phase across theJammu and Kashmir UnionTerritory.

As per reports pouring infrom different areas, longqueues of voters were seen atpolling booths where women,elderly and first time voters

were seen waiting for theirturn. Enthusiastic voters of allage groups flocked the pollingbooths to cast their votes.

SEC further informed thatJammu division recorded anaverage voter turnout of71.93% with Poonch districtrecording the highest percent-age of 80.12% followed byReasi district with 76.75% and75.63% voting recorded inUdhampur district. The lowestturnout in Jammu division wasin Doda district which record-ed 58.82%.

The Kashmir Divisionrecorded 39.52% average voterturnout with Bandipora district

recording the high-est polling at70.47% followed byBaramulla with59.53% andKupwara districtrecorded 59.23%polling, he added.

Giving districtwise details, theSEC informed thatin Kashmir

Division the polling percentagerecorded in Budgam was45.11%, Ganderbal 53.69%,Anantnag 22.46, Kulgam17.98%, Pulwama 11.06% and6.55% polling was registered inShopian.

Similarly, in Jammu divi-sion poll percentage of 74.38%was recorded in Samba, 72.85in Kathua, 67.75% in Ramban,73.10 in Rajouri, 69.89 percent in Kishtwar and 68.66% inJammu district. The SECinformed that polling was heldin 1852 polling stations includ-ing 1068 from Kashmir divi-sion and 784 from Jammudivision. PNS

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As it achieved its 35th breakthrough nearDadar Metro Railway station, the Mumbai

Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC) Ltdannounced on Wednesday that it had complet-ed 91 per cent of the tunnelling work in the33.50 km-long fully underground Colaba-SEEPZ Mumbai Metro Line 3.

With its latest breakthrough, the MMRC hasso far completed tunnelling work in four outseven packages of the underground Colaba-SEEPZ Mumbai Metro Line 3. “We have com-pleted 91 per cent of tunnelling work and 61 percent of civil work,” a MMRC spokespersonsaid. With the 1.12 km-long tunnel fromSiddhivinayak to Dadar, the MMRC has com-pleted package number four -- involving tun-neling of 10.96 km length. In all, the MMRCdeployed three Tunnel Boring Machines(TBMs) during the work on package number4. “We are happy to announce 100% comple-

tion of tunneling work in 4 out of 7 packages.Tunneling in package-4 was particularly a chal-lenging task as all the stations are located in closeproximity to developments, active road trafficand popular religious places. Dadar, consideredthe heart of the city, will provide connectivitythat will ease commuting woes of Mumbaikars”,MMRC Managing Director Ranjit Singh Deolsaid.

“The Herrenknecht made TBM Krishna-1,equipped with Earth Pressure Balance technol-ogy, had started its main drive on July 7, 2020and has completed the downline stretch using805 rings. The overall progress of Dadar MetroStation is around 42 per cent,” MMRC’sDirector (Projects) S K Gupta said.

The Package-4, which comprisesSiddhivinayak, Dadar and Shitladevi stations,witnessed 8 breakthroughs (Nayanagar toDharavi (Upline – 589m and downline –589m), (Nayanagar to Dadar (Upline – 2491mand downline – 2472m), (Siddhivinayak to

Dadar (Upline –1106m and downline – 1126m),(Siddhivinayak to Worli (Upline – 1305m anddownline – 1284m).

It may be recalled that on November 6, theMMRC had achieved 34th breakthrough of the648-m long tunnel from Churchgate to HutatmaChowk station. Robbins-made Dual modehard rock Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM)Surya-1 completed the upline stretch in 292 daysusing 506 rings.

Hutatma Chowk is one of the most signif-icant stations on the Colaba-Bandra-SEEPZMetro-3 corridor as it provides proximity toChurchgate station, Bombay High Court,head offices of various banks and financialinstitutions, Consulates of a few countries,Bombay Stock Exchange, Ballard Estate, manyhospitals, Colleges, Wankhede and BrabourneStadiums, Jehangir Art Gallery, NationalGallery of Modern Art (NGMA), AsiaticLibrary, Gateway of India and a number of deli-cious cuisines etc.

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As the total number of positive Covid-19cases came down by 10,218 because of

reconciliation of figures, Maharashtra onWednesday recorded 95 Coronavirus deathsand 4,304 infections.

A day after as 3442 people tested posi-tive for Covid-19 and 70 more people diedof the pandemic in various parts of the state,there was an increase in both the infectionsand deaths. With 95 fresh deaths, theCovid-19 toll in Maharashtra climbed from48,339 to 48,434.

Taking into account 4304 fresh infec-tions and reconciled infection figures, thetotal infections in the state went up to18,80.893. “Today owing to the reconcilia-tion process of positive cases till November12 – arising out of de-duplication of casesand shifting of out of state positive cases toconcerned States, total positive cases of thestate reduced by 10218. Similarly because ofreconciliation, there is a reduction of 791 intotal recovered cases of the state,” a statementput out by the state public health departmentsaid. As 4678 patients were dischargedfrom the hospitals across the state after fullrecovery, the total number of people dis-charged from the hospitals since the second week of March this year rose to17,69,897.

Page 7: 2020/12/16  · nected to China via a six-lane high-way and a gas pipeline which Beijing apprehends will be hit by the Baloch insurgents. The Chinese Defence Minister …

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Ascuba diver’s delight, thesunflower sea starfish, a

key species of ocean has beenlisted as Critically Endangeredby the International Union forConser vation of Nature(IUCN), which maintains a“Red List of ThreatenedSpecies”.

Citing a 90 per centdecline in the species’ globalpopulation, the IUCN onDecember 10 officially placedthe sunf lower sea star(Pycnopodia helianthoides)on the group’s Red List ofThreatened Species, meaningthat it is critically endan-gered. The next step is extinc-tion. A partnership of morethan 60 institutions had madethe official request to theIUCN to put it under theCrticically Endangered list..

“The sunflower star wasthe most susceptible of the 20sea star species affected by amulti-host pathogen and hasrapidly gone from being themost common subtidal seastar on the U.S. West Coast tocritically endangered,” saidDrew Harvell, professor ofecology and evolutionary biol-ogy in the College ofAgriculture and Life Sciences,

who helped to place the ani-mal on the Red List. “Thishighlights the impacts diseasecan have on the stability of ournearshore ecosystems.”

Among the largest of thesea stars, the sunflower seastar is close in size to a citystreet sewer cover, with avoracious appetite to match. Itscoots along the ocean floorlike a robotic vacuum clean-er, gorging on everything in itspath. Populations of manysea star species dropped pre-cipitously starting in 2013,with the sunflower star thehardest hit, due to warmingoceans and sea star wastingsyndrome, Har vel l said,according to reports.

Scientists from TheNature Conservancy andOregon State University, wholed the listing effort, estimatethat 90.6 per cent of the sun-flower sea star population isnow lost from the outbreak,with as many as 5.75 billiondead from the disease.

The Nature Conservancyand University of Washingtonare partnering to establish acaptive breeding programwith the option for re-intro-ducing individuals to the wild,said the reports.

This many-legged star ofthe sea could be seen incoastal waters in NorthernAmerica. But during El Niñoand the Warm Blob, amicroorganism that triggerssea star wasting disease tookroot, and several types of seastars died as ocean tempera-tures rose along the westerncoast from 2014-2016.

The sunflower star wasbadly damaged - this aquaticbehemoth is now scarce,although some organismshave since recovered.Scientists predict that a whop-ping more than 5 billion sun-flower stars declined fromthis epidemic, representingover 90 percent of their totalpopulation worldwide.

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The Union Cabinet onWednesday approved the

proposal for the auction of2,251.25 megahertz of spec-trum worth �3.92 lakh crore atthe base price. TheGovernment, however, hasdecided not to auction fre-quencies in 3,300-3,600 Mhzbands that were identified for5G services.

Addressing media,Telecom Minister Ravi ShankarPrasad said the Ministry plansto issue a notice to invite bidsin December and hold thespectrum auction by March. Ina bid to tighten security ofcommunications network, theCabinet Committee onSecurity decided to create theNational Security Directive onTelecommunication Sector,which will mandate serviceproviders to purchase equip-ment from trusted sources.

The move is widelybelieved to be aimed at ban-ning the use of Chinese equip-ment in the telecom sector.

“The auction will be forspectrum in 700 MHz, 800MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz,2100 MHz, 2300 MHz and2500 MHz frequency bands.Spectrum will be offered forassignment for a validity peri-od of 20 years. A total of2,251.25 MHz is being offeredwith a total valuation of Rs3,92,332.70 crore (at reserveprice),” an official statementsaid.

The DigitalCommunications Commission,the apex decision making body

of the Department of Telecom,in May had approved the spec-trum auction plan worth Rs5.22 lakh crore which includ-ed radio waves for 5G servicesas well. However, a part of the300 Mhz of spectrum identifiedby the DoT for 5G services isbeing used by the Navy, and theDepartment of Space has alsomade claims on a significantportion of these radio waves.

The telecom operatorshas also been demanding theGovernment to lower the baseprice of 5G spectrum as eachoperator will need to shell outaround Rs 50,000 crore for therequired quantum of radiowaves for the next generationservices. Prasad did not replyto questions on the status of 5Gspectrum. He said that theGovernment has retained rulesof 2016 for payments in theupcoming auction as well.Besides the bid price, the tele-com operator will also need topay a 3 per cent revenue shareto the Government every year.

“In addition to the bidamount, successful bidderswill also have to pay 3 per centof the adjusted Gross Revenue(AGR) excluding wireline ser-vices as spectrum usagecharges for the spectrum wonthrough thisauction,” the state-ment said.

“Successful bidders maypay entire bid amount in onego (upfront) or may exercisean option to pay a certainamount (25 per cent for spec-trum won in 700 MHz, 800MHz, 900 MHz bands or 50per cent for spectrum won in1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300

MHz, 2500 MHz bands)upfront and remainingamount in a maximum up to16 equated annual install-ments, after a moratorium oftwo years,” the statement said.

Detailing about NationalSecurity Directive, Prasad saidthe directive has been framedfrom the perspective of nation-al security. “Considering theneed to ensure India’s nation-al security, the Cabinet hasaccorded approval for theNational Security Directiveon TelecommunicationSector,” Prasad said. Under theprovisions of this directive, theGovernment will declare a listof trusted sources and trustedproducts for installation inthe country’s telecom net-work.

“The methodology to des-ignate trusted products will bedevised by the designatedauthority, the National CyberSecurity Coordinator. Telecomservice providers are requiredto connect new devices thatare designated trusted prod-ucts,” Prasad said.

“The list of the trustedsource and product will bedecided based on approval ofa committee headed by thedeputy national security advi-sor. The committee will con-sist of members from relevantdepartments, Ministries andwill also have two membersfrom the industry and inde-pendent experts. The com-mittee will be called thenational security committeeon telecom,” Prasad said,adding that policy will beformed in 180 days.

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Amid ongoing protests byfarmers, the Cabinet

Committee on EconomicAffairs (CCEA) has approvedassistance of about �3,500 crorefor sugarcane farmers (GannaKisan). The fund would bedirectly credited into theaccounts of the farmers. Thedecision would benefit fivecrore sugarcane farmers, theirdependents, as well as fivelakh workers employed in thesugar mills and related ancillaryactivities. The Centre has alsodecided to export 60 lakh tonsof sugar during the ongoingmarketing year 2020-21 as partof its efforts to help them clearoutstanding dues to sugarcanefarmers.

Briefing media after themeeting, Information andBroadcasting Minister PrakashJavadekar said the CabinetCommittee on EconomicAffairs (CCEA) has approveda subsidy of Rs 3,500 crore onexports of 60 lakh tonnes of

sweetener and the subsidyamount will directly be given tofarmers.The minister said both“sugar industry as well as sug-arcane farmers are in crisis”because of high domestic pro-duction at 310 lakh tonnes asagainst the annual demand of260 lakh tonnes. The decisionwill benefit 5 crore farmers,said Javadekar, who is alsoUnion Environment Minister.

The CCEC observed thatsugarcane farmers sell theirproduce to sugar mills butthey do not get their duesfrom the mill owners as theyhave surplus sugar stock. Thegovernment would also facili-tate the evacuation of this sur-plus sugar stock that will enablepayment of dues of the sugar-cane farmers.

The subsidy would coverthe expenses on marketingcosts including handling,upgrading and other process-ing costs and costs of interna-tional and internal transport aswell as freight charges onexport of up to 60 lakh metric

tonne of sugar.India, the world’s second-

largest sugar-producing coun-try, had to offer export subsi-dies during the past two yearsto reduce surplus stocks andhelp cash-starved sugar millsclear cane payment to growers.

“Thailand’s production is

expected to be down this year,while Brazil’s crushing willonly start in April 2021. Fromnow till April, there is goodexport opportunity for India,”officials said.

In the previous marketingyear 2019-20 (October-September), the government

provided a lump sum exportsubsidy of Rs 10,448 per tonne,costing the exchequer Rs 6,268crore. Mills exported 5.7 mil-lion tonnes of sugar against themandatory quota of 6 milliontonnes set for the 2019-20 sea-son (October-September),according to official data.

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The ongoing farmers’ protestat Delhi borders is an

“exception” and “limited toone State”, Union AgricultureMinister Narendra SinghTomar said on Wednesday andhoped for an early solution asthe Government is in talks withfarmer unions.

“There is an atmosphere ofenthusiasm in the countrybecause of the recent reformsin the farm sector,” he saidwhile referring to the enact-ment of three new legisla-tions.”The ongoing protest is anexception and the agitation islimited to one State. We areholding discussions and talks.I believe there will be an earlysolution,” Tomar said at a vir-tual conference organised byindustry body Assocham.

The minister noted thatwhile there is an agitationgoing on on one side, there arealso lakhs of farmers coming insupport of these laws. Tomarhighlighted the measures takenby the central government inthe last six years to boostfarmers’ income and makeagriculture sector profitable.

Thousands of farmers, par-ticularly from Punjab and

Haryana, are protesting formore than two weeks againstthe three farm laws, saying thenew legislation will lead to thedismantling of the MSP(Minimum Support Price) andmandi systems and leave themat the mercy of corporates.

Tomar, who is leading thenegotiation with about 40farmer unions along withFood Minister Piyush Goyaland Minister of State forCommerce Som Parkash, saidthe government has takenvarious initiatives during theCOVID-19 pandemic for thegrowth of farm sector, includ-ing a �1,00,000 crore fund forcreating farm-level infra-structure and setting up of10,000 FPOs. (FarmerProducer Organisations).

These budgetary provi-sions in agriculture and alliedsector will strengthen therural economy and makefarming activities profitable,he said.

As the standoff continuesbetween the Government andgroups of protesting farmersover the three farm laws,Tomar had on Tuesday saidthe Acts have been welcomedin various states and that theCentre was willing to contin-ue its talks with “genuinefarm unions” to find a solu-tion with an open mind.

The MSP at which thegovernment commits to pro-cure the produce from farm-ers is an administrative deci-sion and it “will continue as itis”, the minister had said.

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The three controversial farmlaws announced by the

Modi Government have agi-tated a section of farmers,especially from Punjab who areopposing the ‘contract farmlegislations’ even though therich agricultural State hadenacted the same in 2013.

As per a report submittedto the Ministry of Agricultureto convince the protestingfarmers to call off their strike,the Punjab Government’s con-tract farming has givenemployment to thousands andbenefitted them after a worldpopular cola drink maker,PepsiCo was one of the firstcompanies to make the softdrinks after reaping under con-tract farming and is stillengaged in contract farming inthe state.

The cola manufacturer is

not the only company engagedin contract farming, but thereare many companies such as LTFood, EBRO Food, and SunStar Overseas that have beendoing contract farming inPunjab.

The government hasrepeatedly claimed that thecontract farming law is goingto change the fortunes of thefarmers, but opposition partiesand farmer organizations claimthat this farm law will make thecorporates dominate the farm-ing and farmers will end upbecoming just laborers.

“If the contract farmingwas so bad, why would tele-com giant Bharti Airtel’s‘Fieldfresh’ and other compa-nies like ITC, Patanjali, Dabur,Godrej Agrovet includinghave grown in the agriculturesector. Contrary to farmers’fears and beliefs, in reality, nota single company of MukeshAmbani’s Reliance Group isdirectly or indirectly has gotin contract farming,”explained a senior AgricultureMinistry official about thereport.

Contract farming hasbeen in India for the past 30years and is being cultivated inmillions of hectares includingin Gujarat, Maharashtra, andmany southern Indian states.And factually, not a singlefarmer in the country haslost his land to any corporateor private company, instead,the income of farmers whowent for contract farming hasaugmented.

One of the greatest ben-efits of contract farming is thecorporates or private compa-nies cover the losses overrisks like poor rain or anyother issues which are likely tobenefit small farmers more.

“The government hasagreed to include suggestionsof farmers in the new farmlaws and if possible, will alsoamend the laws if at all need-ed to benefit the country’sfarmers. Now, the govern-ment is working on a mecha-nism to connect small farm-ers to contract farming so thattheir risks are absorbed bycorporates under contractfarming,” said the report.

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After the Central Board ofDirect Taxes (CBDT)

report’s findings of extensiveuse of unaccounted cash dur-ing the Lok Sabha polls 2019 inMadhya Pradesh by a certainpolitical party, the ElectionCommission has asked theChief Electoral Officer ofMadhya Pradesh to lodge acriminal case against three IPSofficers and others whosealleged role in the use of blackmoney during the 2019 gener-al elections as per extant elec-toral and other relevant laws.

The EC has also asked theUnion Home Secretary to ini-tiate “appropriate departmen-tal action” against the IPS offi-cers and also asked the MadhyaPradesh chief secretary toundertake a “similar action”against a state police serviceofficer.

EC sources identified thethree Indian Police Service(IPS) officers as SushovanBanerjee, Sanjay Mane, VMadhu Kumar and the statepolice service officer as ArunMishra. The report specifical-ly mentions instances of primafacie involvement and nexus of

public/government servants inunauthorized/unaccountedcash transactions.

The EC said it was recom-mending action after it “delib-erated” upon a report sent to itby the CBDT (Central Board ofDirect Taxes) intimating it aboutthe Income-Tax Department’’s“search operations in MadhyaPradesh and its findings ofextensive use of unaccountedcash during the GeneralElections 2019.” While the ECdid not name the party, it hasbeen widely reported that theCBDT report referred to theCongress party.

“After deliberations,Commission directed to forwardcopy of the report of CBDT, theChief Electoral Officer, Madhya

Pradesh to lodge criminal actionbefore designated authority, e.g.Economic Offence Wing,Madhya Pradesh against con-cerned for violation as per extantelectoral and other relevantlaws. Commission has alsodirected Union Home Secretaryto initiate appropriate depart-mental action against All IndiaService officers and also toChief Secretary, MadhyaPradesh for similar actionagainst State officer,” the EC said.

The EC further stated thatit was reported that these enti-ties/individuals engaged inunauthorized and unaccountedcash contributions to individ-uals on behalf of certain polit-ical party, which is reported tobe corroborated during search-

es against persons by IncomeTax department under Section132 of the Income Tax Act,1961. The report specificallymentions instances of primafacie involvement/nexus of pub-lic/Govt. servants in unautho-rized/unaccounted cash trans-actions.

The CBDT in April 2019,said in a statement that part ofRs 281 crore of unaccountedcash, “was transferred to theheadquarters of a major polit-ical party in Delhi”. Withoutnaming the political party atthat time, CBDT said thataround “Rs 20 crore of this cashwas moved through hawala(channels) to the party’s head-quarters from the residence ofa senior functionary at TughlakRoad”.

The department’s statementlast year came after raids at 52locations linked to several indi-viduals and entities, includingNath. His officer on special duty(OSD) Pravin Kakkar, his for-mer advisor Rajendra Miglani,and executives linked to hisbrother-in-law’s firm MoserBaer and his nephew RatulPuri’s company HindustanPowerprojects Pvt Ltd were allraided.

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Operational challenges ofthe global Covid-19 vac-

cination programme will be asdifficult as the scientific chal-lenges associated with theirdevelopment, researchers saidin the journal BMJ and asserted that nearly a quarter of the world’s population maynot have access to a Covid-19 vaccine until at least2022.

This is a first-of-its kindstudy by the researchers fromthe Johns Hopkins Universityin the US who analysed pre-orders for Covid-19 vaccinesahead of their regulatoryapproval that had been publiclyannounced by countriesaround the world.

By 15 November 2020, sev-eral countries had reserved atotal of 7.48 billion doses, or3.76 billion courses from 13manufacturers, out of 48Covid-19 vaccine candidates inclinical trials.

“Just over half (51 percent)of these doses will go to high-income countries, which rep-resent 14 percent of the world’spopulation,” while low andmiddle income countries will

potentially have the remainder,despite these countries com-prising more than 85 percent ofthe world’s population.

Up to 40 percent of the vac-cine courses from these vaccinemanufacturers might poten-tially remain for low- and mid-dle-income countries. However,this will depend, in part, on howhigh-income countries sharewhat they procure and whetherthe US and Russia participate inglobally coordinated efforts.

But the authors point outthat even if all of these vaccinemanufacturers were to succeedin reaching their maximumproduction capacity, at least afifth of the world’s populationwould not have access to vac-cines until 2022.

“This study provides anoverview of how high-incomecountries have secured futuresupplies of covid-19 vaccines,but that access for the rest ofthe world is uncertain,” theywrote.

“Governments and manu-facturers might provide muchneeded assurances for equitableallocation of covid-19 vaccinesthrough greater transparencyand accountability over thesearrangements.”

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India’s Covid-19 caseload is allset to touch one crore any-

time soon as infection tallymounted to 99,32,547 onWednesday when 26,382 peo-ple fell ill to virus in a day, whilethe deaths rose to 1,44,096with 387 new fatalities.

The Union HealthMinistry data showed that theactive Covid-19 caseload of thecountry stands at 3,32,002,which is 3.34 per cent of thetotal coronavirus cases in India.

“The ongoing trend ofcontraction of India’s totalactive cases continues. Theactive caseload of the countrystands at 3,32,002. The share ofactive cases in the total positivecases has further shrunk to3.34 per cent,” the Ministrysaid in a statement here.

“India has recorded lessthan 40,000 daily new casessince the last 17 days. In thelast 24 hours, only 26,382 per-sons were found to be infect-ed with Covid in India. A totalof 75.84 per cent of the newcases are from 10 States andUTs.

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Amid the ongoing farmers’agitation demanding the

scrapping of the three contro-versial farm laws, SwabhimaniShetkari Sanghatana (SSS)leader Raju Shetti onWednesday announced that hewould take out a farmers’ mor-cha to the Ambani group’soffice at Bandra-Kurla Complexin north-central MumbaiDecember 22 to register theirprotest against the Centre’sefforts to impose pro-Ambani-Adani agricultural policies onfarmers.

Talking to media persons inPune, Shetti said that the farm-ers owing affiliation to fourorganisations – SSS, Peasantsand Workers’ Party (PWP),Prahar and Lok Sangarsh Samiti(LSS) – would march from theMumbai Suburban collector’soffice to the Ambani group’soffice at BKC on Tuesday next.

“If the Modi governmentgoes ahead and crushes thefarmers’ agitation in a mannerit is doing, then it will have topay a heavy price for it. TheBJP-led Government hashatched a conspiracy to handover its food grain godowns to

Ambanis and Adanis. TheGovernment should realise thatit is not just Ambani and Adani,the farmers also live in thiscountry,” Shetti said.

“No wonder that the Modigovernment is not taking seri-ous cognisance of the ongoingfarmers’ agitation. We are tak-ing out a morcha from theMumbai Suburban Collector’soffice to Ambani Estate at BKCon December 22 to register ourprotests against the manner inwhich the Modi governmenthas bulldozed the farm bill tofavour Ambanis and Adanis,”Shetti said. Giving details of thefarmers’ protests in the run-upto the morcha to the Ambanigroup’s office in Mumbai, Shettisaid: “The farmers’ ongoingagitation has evoked tremen-dous response across the coun-try. As many as 30 farmers havedied as part of the ongoing agi-tation. It is in this backdrop thaton the evening of December 20,farmers will light candles ineach village of the state to payhomage to the farmers whohave so far died during the agi-tation. On that evening, thefarmers will take an oath tomake the ongoing farmers’ agi-tation a success”.

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New Delhi: Union EducationMinister Ramesh PokhriyalNishank on Wednesdayannounced that the JEE-Mainsexam for admission to engi-neering colleges will be held fourtimes a year starting 2021 tooffer flexibility to students anda chance to improve their scores.The first edition of the exam willbe held from February 23 to 26,followed by rounds in March,April and May. “We have exam-ined the suggestions receivedfrom students and various quar-ters and it has been decided thatJEE-Mains will be held in foursessions in February, March,April and May,” Nishank said.

“The first session will beheld from February 23-26 andthe results will be declared with-in five days from the last date ofexams. The move will ensurethat students don't miss out onopportunities due to clash ofexams or due to the COVID-19situation at present,” the MOEsaid in a statement. Nishank alsosaid students will be given achoice to answer 75 questions(25 each in Physics, Chemistryand Mathematics) out of 90 (30each in Physics, Chemistry andMathematics). PNS

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Page 8: 2020/12/16  · nected to China via a six-lane high-way and a gas pipeline which Beijing apprehends will be hit by the Baloch insurgents. The Chinese Defence Minister …

The undermining of allmajor institutions ofdemocracy in theUnited States was afootin all earnest by

President Donald Trump in hisfour-year tenure — from theJudiciary and Military to even hisown Justice Department, all werepar for course as long as the weak-ening of the institutions solidifiedTrump’s own chances for a secondterm. His patent hiring-and-firingspree, refusing to cooperate withthe Congress on critical investiga-tions, attacking independent Pressto filling up key appointments withsupposed loyalists raised seriousquestions about the free and fairfunctioning of democracy. Notsurprisingly, the US had by 2017slipped from the status of “fulldemocracy” to “flawed democra-cy” as per the Democracy Index,as published by the EconomistIntelligence Unit (EIU). The reporthad noted: “Trust in political insti-tutions is an essential componentof well-functioning democracies.Yet surveys by Pew, Gallup andother polling agencies have confirmed that public confidencein the Government has slumped tohistoric lows in the US. This hashad a corrosive effect on the qual-ity of democracy.”

While the systemic changes,interferences and appointmentswere being made towards Trump’selectoral advantage, somewherethe popularity polls were stillgiving him nightmares — heknew that when push comes toshove, he would need these insti-tutions to be spineless, acquiesceand fall in line with Trump, irre-spective of the election results. Thetelltale signs of Trump’s nervous-ness were written all over when formonths he refused to commithonouring the poll results andensuring a peaceful transition ofpower — the seeds of “rigged”,“stolen” and “fraudulent” electionswere planted well in advance.

Two specific institutions weregetting primed for any eventual-ity i.e. Judiciary and the ArmedForces. Trump’s initial comfortwith a 5-4 conservative majorityin the Supreme Court had givenhim reasons to believe that hecould persist with controversialsteps like the travel ban from sev-eral Muslim-majority nations, aswas upheld by the courts then. Butsoon and awkwardly so forTrump, the Supreme Court start-ed asserting its independent viewsthat militated against Trump’spreferences — even Trump’s per-sonal appointees like Justice Brett

Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuchvoted against his interests incertain cases. White HousePress Secretary KayleighMcEnany shockingly admittedthat the key takeaway from theunfavourable rulings was that‘we need more conservativejustices on the courts’. Trumpdid exactly that, with the hur-ried appointment of JusticeAmy Barett eight days beforeelections, creating a powerful 6-3 conservative tilt. Tellingly,Trump had desired that thenewly appointed Justice AmyBarett participate in the forth-coming election-related casesthat went to the courts.

Even in the Military realm,when the appointment to thetop post of Chairman of theJoint Chiefs of Staff to succeedthe previous Obama-appointeeGen Joseph F Dundford Jr wasgetting considered, PresidentTrump had called the shots. Asper protocol and professionaldecorum, the Defense Secretaryhas a say in suggesting a name.Given that the DefenseSecretary at that time was thedistinguished former combat-ant James Mattis, his profession-al assessment carried weight —Mattis had preferred Air ForceChief of Staff Gen DavidGoldfein; however it wasTrump who overruled thechoice and appointed GeneralMark Milley instead. Later,General Milley had to so oftennavigate through the minefieldof Trump’s fickle, whimsical andovertly political theatrics that

the top military advisor manya time saw himself at odds withthe President’s instincts. It wasleft to him and the subsequentDefense Secretary, Mark Esper,to control wild ideas like usingmilitary personnel to controlcivil unrest on the streets of theUS. Expectedly, Mark Esper toowas fired and yet another ‘loy-alist’ ushered in.

But to the credit of both the

institutions, much before theelectoral process had started —neither gave any statement ordid any act to suggest that theyindeed had succumbed or for-saken their institutional inde-pendence, at the altar of DonaldTrump. At one stage, GeneralMilley had publicly expressedregret at having mistakenly gotcaught in an overtly politicalmoment, whilst in uniform —he rightfully acknowledged thatthe optics had diminished theapolitical stance of the ArmedForces. At yet another eventlater, when the chaos of the elec-toral results was dangerouslypoised, he tellingly clarified:“We do not take an oath to aking or a queen, a tyrant or adictator. We do not take an oathto an individual...We take anoath to the Constitution” —unequivocally indicating thatthe US Military was not behold-en to anyone.

Similarly, the SupremeCourt with an ostensiblyfavourable 6-3 Trump/conser-vative tilt, rejected a bid by theTexas’s Attorney General, whichwas supported by the President,in the strongest ever indicationthat Trump cannot count on thetop courts to overturn electionresults under flimsy or make-believe grounds. Not only didthe courts reject Texas’s pleachallenging the results towardsthe four battleground States butit effectively did so on groundsthat willy-nilly checkmate sim-ilar misadventures in otherStates too. The conspiracy the-

ories are simply unlikely to beentertained by the courts, irre-spective of the ideological com-position of the majority there-in. The sore loser in Trump wasleft fuming: “The SupremeCourt really let us down. Nowisdom, no courage!” On thecontrary, it was the actualdemonstration of wisdom andcourage by the hallowed insti-tutions of the US Governmentthat would save it from the sureruin of its revered democracy,as was envisaged and enshrinedby its founding fathers.

From falsely (and prema-turely) claiming electoral victo-ry, calling to halt vote countingto refusing to accept the results— Trump has done everythingpossible to degenerate andabuse power and respect in thedemocratic processes.Thankfully, the institutionshave shown integrity, steel andresilience despite the umpteentimes these were subjected totinkering, though Trump hasalmost guaranteed a polarised,fractured and deeply dividedsociety with his continuingvanity and petulance, which willfar outlive his stay at the WhiteHouse. The ongoing Trumpsaga is a timely reminder for theleaderships and institutions inother democracies where ten-dencies to take liberties withinstitutions are apparent.

(The writer, a military vet-eran, is a former Lt Governor

of Andaman & NicobarIslands and Puducherry. The

views expressed are personal.)*,#���'������.����/�����������������0�1��������������������������1� �������/����� �-���������������������������(���!

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1!������ ����!���&�

��������������� Sir — The local body electionresults in Kerala are a good gaugeof the public mood in favour ofthe ruling Left Democratic Front(LDF) just a few months beforethe Assembly election.

Keralites are known for theirpolitical consciousness; they arefully aware that whom they voteto power matters and they exercisegreat discernment in electing theirrepresentatives. The biggest take-away from the results is that thenarrow strip of scenic beautycalled God’s Own Country contin-ues to be a Left bastion immuneto a Right-ward shift in politics.

The landslide victory is a clearendorsement of the PinarayiVijayan Government’s laudablesocial welfare programmes andbest possible handling of theCOVID-19 pandemic as well asan unequivocal rejection of theattempts by the Congress and theBJP to implicate the office of theChief Minister in the much hypedgold smuggling case.

The CPI(M)-led LDFGovernment can now feel a hugesense of relief that the orchestrat-ed campaign against it has metwith failure.

G David MiltonMaruthancode

����������������������Sir — When the 9/11 terror attackoccurred, a Parliament sessionwas called at one day’s notice innational interest. The same prin-ciple should have been applied inIndia where a farmer agitation iscontinuing for 20 days and bothsides are sticking to their guns.

With no solution in sight, the

Winter Session was a good hopefor discussion and making someprogress. But now this hope hasvanished. The session was can-celled apparently due to theCOVID scare but today’s farmers’rally in Narela was organised by theruling party itself, which contra-dicts the Government’s statement.

Yash Pal RalhanJalandhar

����������������������Sir — This has reference to thereport ‘Pranab’s son and daughterlock horns over his memoir’(December 16). They have eachissued statements either in favourof suppressing certain portions of,or fully publishing PranabMukherjee’s book, ThePresidential Years.

They may be entitled to theirviews but one should think thatwhat is most relevant to the citi-zens of this country is not what‘they’ think but whether the for-mer President left a will in whichhe mentioned about this book andhow its publication should be han-dled by the executor of that will.It is very reasonable to assume thathe did. This alone should be thecriterion for settling the issue.

NS RajanBangalore

�����������������������Sir — US President-elect JosephBiden will have to heal the woundsof a nation that seems to be at warwith itself. Biden and VicePresident-elect Kamala Harris willtake their oaths of office outside theUS Capitol building as inaugurationplanners make the arrangements.

The hidden mechanics ofelecting a US President have drawnnew scrutiny this year as PresidentDonald Trump continues to denythat he has been beaten fair andsquare even though Biden has offi-cially secured enough electors tobecome the next US President.

CK SubramaniamNavi Mumbai

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Page 9: 2020/12/16  · nected to China via a six-lane high-way and a gas pipeline which Beijing apprehends will be hit by the Baloch insurgents. The Chinese Defence Minister …

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On November 27, through a gazette notifica-tion, the Union Ministry of Environment,Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC)

announced the constitution of an Apex Committeefor Implementation of the Paris Agreement (AIPA).This panel has been constituted for the purpose ofensuring a coordinated response on climate changematters that protects the country’s interests andensures that India is on track towards meeting itsclimate change obligations under the ParisAgreement, including its submitted NationallyDetermined Contributions (NDCs). One of the func-tions of this committee is to “commission and rec-ommend independent research and analytical stud-ies and plan capacity-building and training activi-ties” on the above issues.

Indigenous research and development (R&D)in India requires greater attention of the Governmentin the critical areas of climate change mitigation andadaptation. It calls for coordinated actions in mis-sion mode with concomitant allocation of publicresources — an area that leaves a lot to be desiredat present. Even if we were to keep real innovationsaside, in a scenario where a substantial share of ourclimate action is based on imported technologies andproducts, adaptive R&D is critical to ensure theiroptimal performance levels under local conditions,throughout their lifespan. Moreover, business-research, too, is an important part of taking a prod-uct to its ultimate consumer in a timely fashion.

Although as per the Global Innovation Index2020, featuring 131 economies, India has moved upto 48th place, it may be noted that globally about72 per cent of spending is in sectors like Informationand Communications Technology (ICT) hardwareand electronic equipment, pharmaceuticals andbiotechnology, automobiles, software and ICT ser-vices, with a minimal share of sectors dealing withclimate actions. It is imperative, therefore, for theAIPA to earnestly take up research and innovationin areas around climate action. It must draw a planfor outcome-oriented collaborative research in pri-ority areas that are either potentially impacted byclimate change or contribute to it. Climate actioncan be broadly categorised into climate change mit-igation and adaptation.

On the mitigation front are those technologiesthat help in the reduction of greenhouse gas(GHG) emissions, such as renewable energy andtechnologies for decarbonising in hard-to-abate sec-tors like steel, cement and heavy transport. At theother end of the spectrum are technologies and prac-tices to empower society to adapt to the adverseimpacts of climate change. Several scientific stud-ies had already cautioned that India should be readyfor more extreme weather events — like cyclones,flooding and droughts — on account of the accel-erated pace of climate change.

In such a scenario, research focus areas wouldinclude climate-resilient crops, early warning sys-tems, disaster risk management, resilient coastalinfrastructure, water management technologiesand public health. For instance, as per the recentlyreleased Lancet Countdown report on health and cli-mate change, India recorded the highest loss in pro-ductivity because of extreme heat in 2019. To addresssuch challenges, the country needs solutions that suitits specific demands while taking into account itsclimatic conditions, energy consequences, as well asaffordability.

The United Nations’ Sustainable DevelopmentGoal (SDG) 9 aims to “build resilient infrastructure,promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisationand foster innovation.” Target 9.5 of SDG 9 reads“enhance scientific research, upgrade the technolog-ical capabilities of industrial sectors in all countries,in particular developing ones, including, by 2030,

encouraging innovation and substantial-ly increasing the number of research anddevelopment workers per one million peo-ple and public and private research anddevelopment spending.”

So the big question is, where are wein this respect? The United NationsEducational, Scientific and CulturalOrganisation Institute for Statistics tracksthese indicators. In 2018, the top countriesin terms of gross expenditure on R&D(public as well as private spend) as a shareof their Gross Domestic Product (GDP),were Israel (4.95 per cent), the Republicof Korea (4.8 per cent), Sweden (3.33 percent), Japan (3.26 per cent) and Austria(3.17 per cent). While China stands at 12thposition with 2.18 per cent of the GDPbeing its R&D spending, India was at 38thplace with research spending of 0.65 percent of the GDP. It ranks as one of the low-est spenders among the BRICS countries.Not only this, our ranking in another indi-cator, namely, the number of researchersper million inhabitants (in full timeemployment) is off the mark, too. With252 researchers per million inhabitants, weare near the bottom rung as compared toChina (1,307), Denmark (8,065) andKorea (7,980). This is not a demograph-ic dividend one would have envisaged.

Indeed, a report on ‘India’s R&DExpenditure Ecosystem’ compiled by theEconomic Advisory Council to the PrimeMinister (EAC-PM) in mid-2019 lamentsthat while in absolute terms our R&Dexpenditure has increased, as a fraction ofthe GDP, public expenditure on R&D hasbeen stagnant. It has remained between0.6-0.7 per cent of the GDP over the lasttwo decades. Now, India has set a goal toup its R&D spending to two per cent ofthe GDP by 2022. However, this was in thepre-Coronavirus era. Now, the implica-tions of large-scale reallocation of publicresources for battling the virus have to beseen on such “non-priority” goals. Thereis enough evidence from across the globethat governments often tend to reducepublic research funding when faced with

resource stress, prioritising short-termimpactful areas over the long-term onesthat R&D initiatives tend to be.

Incidentally, the erstwhile PlanningCommission, too, had set a goal of two percent of the GDP in the 12th Five-Year Plan,i.e., by 2017. However, the worrisome partis that investment in R&D by two criticalsectors — private and higher education,is even lower. Generally speaking, it is pub-lic funding that supports R&D of newtechnologies, given the higher risksinvolved and negligible assurance of theircommercial success. Private sector fund-ing may come at a later stage, leveragingpromising outcomes of publicly-fundedearly-stage efforts. When Prime MinisterNarendra Modi declared in the just-con-cluded Climate Ambition Summit that,“India is not only on track to achieve itsParis Agreement targets but to exceedthem beyond expectations” or the UNSecretary-General exhorts countries todeclare a climate emergency until theworld has reached net zero CO2 emis-sions; obviously this cannot happen on theback of imported technologies alone.

As the numerous problems to beaddressed are local in a country of the sizeof India the solutions, too, will have to bedeveloped indigenously, tailored to ourunique but varied requirements, more sofrom the perspective of equity and inclu-siveness. The fact that the AIPA is slatedto provide inputs to the Prime Minister’sCouncil on Climate Change, must accordit the required heft to overcome usualbureaucratic indifference.

Viewed from a broader nationalinterest perspective, the need for signifi-cant and continued public spending on cli-mate-related research cannot be overem-phasised. And this should certainly not belimited to supporting public-funded insti-tutions only. Given that in today’s worldtechnology is a core part of diplomacy asargued by our External Affairs MinisterS Jaishankar, the central role of climatetechnologies in geopolitics must be recog-nised fully.

This, in turn, leads to the relativenegotiating powers of different countries,ones that are knowledge generators vis-à-vis those who receive them. Investmentsin R&D then go beyond self-reliance andget linked to larger national interests. Afterall, Aatmanirbhar Bharat can only be builton the solid foundation of R&D-ledinnovations across value chains. As elab-orated by Jaishankar, a self-reliant Indiais essentially all about building its domes-tic strengths and enhancing its capabili-ties. For that to happen, India will have toenhance its investment in research andtechnology development in frontier areas,including those that are of relevance tointensive climate action.

However, indigenous research shouldnot be confused with isolated research tobe carried out by Indian entities alone.Rather it is all about research and inno-vations led by India through leveragingcollaborative competencies of a range ofglobal players. And it depends on incul-cating research temperament among theIndian youth and creating state-of-the-artinnovation ecosystems across the coun-try. Above all, we must aspire to be amongthe top nations as per globally recognisedR&D and innovation criteria.

If we can reach seemingly audaciousrenewable energy goals in less than adecade, there is no reason as to why wecannot set our ambitions high in terms ofexcellence in research and innovations,too. Considering that public spending onresearch is only one part of the pie, busi-nesses and higher educational sectors, too,will have to play their part. Appropriateincentive frameworks could nudge the pri-vate sector to scale up its research fund-ing in climate technologies, among otherareas of national importance on onehand and help steer higher education insti-tutions towards research on the other. Thewar against climate change requires in-country arsenal, urgently.

(The writer is Senior Director, SocialTransformation, TERI. The views expressedare personal.)

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Voters decided the fate of 298candidates, including 72women, contesting the sev-

enth phase of the District DevelopmentCouncil (DDC) elections in Jammuand Kashmir (J&K) on Wednesday. Atotal of 31 DDC constituencies wentto the polls, including 13 in Kashmirdivision and 18 in Jammu division. Theresponse of the people across bothregions to the elections is a curt mes-sage to the status quo lobby.

The vast majority standing inlong queues outside the polling booths

in bone-chilling cold while respond-ing to news reporters does not mincewords. It is clear that they are votingfor development and employment. Itis their sole agenda since they havebeen deprived of it for long.Connectivity, education, health andbasic amenities still elude the peopledespite huge amounts of funds receivedfrom successive Central governments.

Where did all these funds vanish?Reports are surfacing of projectsshown as completed in files but notactually existing on the ground. Votersare openly accusing their leaders ofhaving cheated them time and againand becoming unreachable and inap-proachable after the elections are over,leaving them to their plight which hasnot changed during the last 70 years.People have also realised that they wereemotionally exploited with slogans likeself-rule, greater autonomy and so on.Had these leaders been serious andcommitted to the welfare of the peo-ple, they could have easily provided

them the basic facilities of road, waterand electricity but instead they choseto mislead them with false slogans anddreams of greener pastures while lin-ing their own pockets with the gener-ous assistance received from successiveCentral governments.

Kashmir’s identity the world overwas recognised as a multilingual,multi-faith, multi-cultural plural soci-ety famous for peaceful co-existence.But the political leaders are responsi-ble for the murder of the famousKashmiri identity. They promotedsecessionism, separatism and radical-isation, leading to the onslaught on theKashmiri Pandit community, theindigenous community of the Valley,forcing them to flee in the face of large-scale ethnic cleansing.

Corrupt leaders delayed the devo-lution of powers to the grassroots bynot holding elections to thePanachayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) andUrban Local Bodies (ULBs). Theywere loathe to allow the centre of

power to shift to the towns and villages.However, now the process to undo theills and woes of 70 years of misrule hasbeen set in motion with all sincerity.This includes elections to the secondand third tiers of PRI by holding elec-tions for Block Development Councils(BDCs) and District DevelopmentCouncils (DDCs). ULBs’ electionswere held, too.

The ongoing DDC elections are

unique in the sense that certaindeprived sections (West PakistanRefugees, Valmikis and Gorkhas) arevoting for the first time. (Earlier theycould vote only for parliamentary elec-tions). There are reserved seats for thewomen and Scheduled Tribes (STs) forthe first time. A new crop of grassrootsleadership is emerging which augerswell for the future.

The Union Territory (UT) of J&Know has 100 per cent reservation forlocals in all jobs, including gazetted andnon-gazetted ones. No other State/UTin the country enjoys this unique priv-ilege. The amended land laws were alsoused by the status quoists to create fearamong the people claiming that theirlands would be snatched and forciblypurchased by outsiders. People arebeing confused by quoting the protec-tion enjoyed by a few States underArticle 371. Often people are misledby drawing comparison with neigh-bouring Himachal Pradesh stating thatthe State has a special provision pro-

tecting their land rights. The fact is to the contrary. Section

118 in Himachal is restrictive and doesnot put an absolute ban on the sale andpurchase of land and property inHimachal. It has provisions throughwhich, with the approval of theGovernment, anyone can buy land andproperty in the State. However, the newland law of J&K totally bans the saleof agricultural land to other than theexisting agriculturists.

However, at long last, the commonman has understood how unscruplousleaders misled them and deprive themof basic amenities while filling theirown coffers. They are happy with themuch-awaited change they were yearn-ing for and are hopeful that the rep-resentatives they choose for the DDCwill meet their much-wanted basicneeds.

(The author is a Jammu-based vet-eran political commentator, columnist,security and strategic analyst. Theviews expressed are personal.)

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Script Open High Low LTPDLF 215.45 240.3 214.95 235.35HDFC 2374 2443.4 2366.1 2424.05BAJFINANCE 5195 5225.2 5120 5143.5IBULHSGFIN 194 213.15 194 206.5TATAMOTORS 181 183.8 180.3 182.5IDEA 9.92 10.13 9.83 9.98BHARTIARTL 504.4 518.35 502 516.1MFSL 642 655 634.7 641.3RELIANCE 1988 1995 1965.75 1976.05MARUTI 7800 7899 7766.9 7800.8HDFCBANK 1400 1416.6 1394.9 1410.75LT 1256 1277.6 1247.05 1267.6ASHOKLEY 95.9 100.4 95.5 100.1BAJAJFINSV 9370 9453.05 9211.7 9257.55KOTAKBANK 1961.25 1964.1 1937 1952.5PNB 40 40 37.25 37.9APOLLOTYRE 191 200 191 196.95ZEEL 233 236.8 228.85 231.95HCLTECH 885.2 891.55 878.7 885.15INFY 1162.05 1168.9 1154.3 1165.75M&M 735 745.55 726.75 731.85INDUSINDBK 930.35 937.6 915.75 924.5CANBK 123.75 125.8 118.75 119.9ICICIBANK 520.8 521.35 511.1 512.25POWERGRID 194.2 196.75 192.7 196.2TATASTEEL 640.25 649.4 638.25 643.35SBIN 272.2 273.55 268.55 269.45

VEDL 147 153.4 146.6 147.8HINDUNILVR 2322.9 2354 2303.1 2344.5M&MFIN 179.4 183.95 178.1 182.15JINDALSTEL 275 287.2 273.4 285.5BRITANNIA 3765 3787.05 3746.65 3752.7RBLBANK 237.9 243.9 237.7 241.75MUTHOOTFIN 1215 1230 1209 1216.65TITAN 1469.5 1509.8 1469.5 1503.4BANKBARODA 67.85 68 65.7 66.45SAIL 58.85 60.9 58.85 60.15LICHSGFIN 376 391 373.25 379.85TCS 2775 2819.75 2761.2 2813.25IRCTC 1457 1457 1420.5 1424ONGC 101.05 103.6 100.95 103.1COALINDIA 143.7 145.75 143.55 145.45MOTHERSUMI 156.85 159 155.5 156.75NESTLEIND 18480 18725 18255.15 18321.6ITC 213.8 215.65 213.5 214.35SRTRANSFIN 1108.9 1108.9 1064.45 1071.6JSWSTEEL 368.5 372.35 364.6 370.55AXISBANK 614.7 615 604.85 605.9DEEPAKNI 884.8 932 874.3 909TATAPOWER 75.45 76.5 74.65 76.15ESCORTS 1347.1 1364 1332.95 1340.2BPCL 403 406 398.25 399.5PEL 1465 1465.75 1429.25 1457.25HAVELLS 863 904.8 858.1 901.65ADANIENT 463 467.65 457.7 463.15NMDC 116 120.7 114.05 114.65DIVISLAB 3665 3726.9 3638.7 3719.45ASIANPAINT 2549 2587.75 2542.05 2581.9HINDALCO 246.35 252.15 246 251.5HINDCOPPER 52 60.3 51.85 58.2L&TFH 95 95.95 92.75 93.05JUBLFOOD 2585.05 2690.35 2578.15 2675.2BHARATFORG 567.9 567.9 551 558.3IDFC 39.75 41.45 39.7 40.25AFFLE 4050 4068.45 3958 4007.4UPL 454 461.35 452.4 459.7WIPRO 354.05 358.85 353.25 358.3IOC 96.5 97.4 95.8 96.35DRREDDY 5035 5050 5006.1 5039PIDILITIND 1630 1642.65 1620.2 1625.75SPICEJET 103.45 107.3 102 105.4CIPLA 787 789.6 782.5 786.65ABB 1159.95 1206.75 1159.95 1194.25FEDERALBNK 68.1 68.45 67.5 67.7AMBUJACEM 249.75 249.75 245.1 247.25BHEL 36.45 36.95 36.1 36.3IBREALEST 69.55 80.1 68.8 76.25GODREJPROP 1301 1403.9 1299 1348.8SUNPHARMA 572.9 578.5 571.25 576.4CROMPTON 339 367.7 335 363.45BOMDYEING 73.25 80.7 73.25 78.5

HEROMOTOCO 3112.55 3145 3105 3117.85BAJAJ-AUTO 3314.9 3314.9 3252.7 3303.05NTPC 106.65 107.25 104.55 104.85HDFCAMC 2802 2874 2802 2861.4LAURUSLABS 331.5 344.85 328.9 339TATACONSUM 572.5 585 572.5 583.4EICHERMOT 2490 2504 2446.5 2470.05ICICIGI 1464.8 1489 1459.7 1479.55JMFINANCIL 87.9 93.85 86.35 91.4LUPIN 950.25 963.8 942.2 960.55ULTRACEMCO 5150 5224.2 5100 5114.15ADANIPOWER 48.4 48.75 45.7 46.9DABUR 514 519.5 512.55 513.65APOLLOHOSP 2380 2411 2362.3 2388.55TATACHEM 506.5 506.5 494.55 498.35PFC 121.95 123.4 119.5 120.15BIOCON 459.85 462.4 456.2 460.1SUNTV 502.8 509.25 496.75 506.1GAIL 126.9 126.9 123.9 124.4MANAPPURAM 175.45 177.15 173.2 173.75NATIONALUM 43.1 44.55 43.05 44.35HINDPETRO* 228.95 234.45 228.6 230.6NBCC 31.3 32.45 31.2 31.65SUZLON 4.53 4.54 4.45 4.54MRF 77544.5 79100 77419.378510.05IGL 486 493.8 485 487.5PVR 1461.65 1465.15 1417 1426.1WESTLIFE 416.8 492 416.8 469.5BOSCHLTD 13275 13552.65 13254.4 13318.6GMRINFRA 28.8 29.3 27.75 27.9TV18BRDCST 30.1 33.25 30.1 33.05SOBHA 322.9 340.65 322.1 336.8VAKRANGEE 53.05 54.9 53.05 54.35PAGEIND 24800 26024.35 24552.85 25939RECLTD 142.1 143.5 140.75 141.4TECHM 938 938 916.65 922.05CHOLAFIN 381 386.05 375.25 377.55MINDTREE 1475 1483.65 1454.8 1458.5ADANIPORTS 478 480.25 473.3 475.55BEL 119 120.65 117.35 118.05DIXON 13100 13698.9 12954.55 13330.9DELTACORP 174 174.25 170.9 171.7NOCIL 140.5 153 140.5 151EPL 260.1 261.85 258.6 259.7CENTURYTEX 382 398.7 380.1 396.6CSBBANK 218.9 218.9 214.55 215.8PETRONET 267.3 269.6 263.25 264.15ACC 1640 1650.85 1625 1632.6VOLTAS 834 844.5 822.35 838.35STAR 789.45 812.4 776.95 783.45DMART 2665 2679.9 2605.8 2628.75BATAINDIA 1595 1623.25 1593.35 1610.5BEML 782 811 772.5 799.7INDIGO 1679 1681.9 1637.8 1656.65ADANIGAS 356.65 361.1 355.2 358.95BALKRISIND 1610 1652.9 1610 1634.1SBICARD 825 832.6 821.2 827.2CEATLTD 1166 1191.55 1108 1131.6AUROPHARMA 880.5 884.1 870.55 875.75AARTIDRUGS 776 782 765.5 767.35BANDHANBNK 414.05 418 408.65 410.1SBILIFE 858 860.5 850.45 857.1RAYMOND 335.15 348.6 334.2 345.4UBL 1162 1192.4 1151 1157.15LTI 3253 3310.95 3253 3287.75EXIDEIND 194.7 197.5 192.45 192.9CGCL 295.55 296 293.7 294.45MGL 1056 1072.55 1052.4 1061.95MIDHANI 201.9 211.75 201.9 208.35GRSE 196.75 218.2 196.75 216.05HDFCLIFE 655 655 647.3 648.7ENGINERSIN 79.5 79.5 78.25 78.3SYNGENE 620 634.2 610 614.65TORNTPHARM 2752 2801.35 2726.25 2788.75NHPC 22.75 23.65 22.65 23.2PFIZER 5250 5263 5218.3 5255.95ALOKTEXT 23.05 23.25 22.7 22.85WOCKPHARMA 517.95 519 507 508.3POLYCAB 1032 1059.45 1011.2 1044SRF 5239.7 5356.2 5221.25 5341.85HSCL 43.95 45.55 43.95 44.9IDFCFIRSTB 38 38.1 37.55 37.75BAJAJCON 213.3 221.8 210.2 219.8CADILAHC 470.2 472.8 466.15 469.15ABFRL 162 167.3 160.1 163.45NAVINFLUOR 2537.95 2538 2495.65 2498.45GREAVESCOT 89 90.4 87.95 88.8GRASIM 915 925 910.7 914.35GLENMARK 517 529.15 517 524.5CONCOR 415.6 417.75 406.45 407.65WELCORP 140 141.45 136.35 136.95SCI 86 87.45 84.5 85.5MPHASIS 1336 1368 1320.85 1357.05TATAELXSI 1640.05 1657.5 1640.05 1648.6INDIANB 92.8 93.9 91.85 92.35INFRATEL 248 248.65 243.85 245.4NAUKRI 4685 4707.65 4592.5 4598.65CENTRALBK 14.95 14.95 14.42 14.51CHAMBLFERT 239.5 239.85 227.55 229.05RELAXO 739.8 762 735.75 760.1NCC 57.65 59 57.1 58.75FRETAIL 80.5 81.8 79.15 79.4GALAXYSURF 1994 2065 1970.2 2027.9OFSS 3138.05 3144.5 3107.1 3116.7PIIND 2355.9 2375 2281.65 2293.5JSWENERGY 66.8 71.2 66 69.05PCJEWELLER 23.65 24.8 23.65 23.85CANFINHOME 490.5 491 472 477.05COCHINSHIP 361 384 360 376.25

TATAMTRDVR 76.8 77.1 75.8 75.95COLPAL 1608 1626.35 1603.15 1611.9GRAPHITE 289 295.75 287 288.4JINDALSAW 80.15 81.9 78.95 79.35MCX 1717 1729 1698 1703.8GNFC 247.95 253.1 245 246.8AMARAJABAT 943 962.9 943 958.15UNIONBANK 33.2 33.8 32.55 32.75APLLTD 1077.1 1116 1066.4 1103.4JKTYRE 79.7 80.8 76.8 77.75HONAUT 32031 32900 31848.4532752.25RVNL 23.4 24.35 23.1 23.85BLISSGVS 181 187 175.5 177.4KEI 448.85 465.8 448.85 460.9BALRAMCHIN 184.9 185.65 175.2 177.2VBL 909.3 983 909.3 974.35UJJIVAN 285 296 285 290.8INDHOTEL 130 132.4 128.6 129.95ABBOTINDIA 16420.95 16498.35 1622016259.05OBEROIRLTY 522 542.4 513.3 534.05ICICIPRULI 480.45 487.9 480.45 485.8WABAG 218.85 223.9 209.5 218.25GODFRYPHLP 1005 1019.6 996 998.9IDBI 42.8 43.8 42.1 42.25COFORGE 2569 2569 2504 2532.35JAMNAAUTO 58 59.4 57.9 58.65GODREJCP 730 730 716 720.1HEG 881.75 920 865.95 868.3HFCL 24.25 24.55 23.65 23.9SUVENPHAR 430 439.4 425 430.6JAICORPLTD 93.7 98.5 93.65 96.7RCF 57.8 58.25 57.1 57.5CUB 188.05 189.9 186.7 188.75ADANIGREEN 1016.2 1030 1011 1018.4JUSTDIAL 615.4 623 609 612.2HIMATSEIDE 146.35 159.55 145.25 159.55CUMMINSIND 612 612 591.75 594.8SJVN 26 26.9 26 26.35SIEMENS 1536.45 1549 1534 1541.25TVSMOTOR 493 495.3 485.45 494.4TCNSBRANDS 440 488.6 420.6 472.6HAL 876.5 884.5 869.1 880.15EMAMILTD 427 428.75 417.05 418.4RITES 273.2 280.2 272 278.4ADVENZYMES 352.85 352.85 340 342.85JKCEMENT 1950 1963.45 1921.5 1940.9MARICO 411 416.8 411 413.15CAPPL 512.8 520 506.5 513.8JBCHEPHARM 1080 1092.6 1056.2 1085.55SUNTECK 323 331.05 318.25 320NETWORK18 40 40 36.25 39.25DCBBANK 122.1 124.95 120.4 121.4TRIDENT 9.86 9.95 9.74 9.77IPCALAB 2259 2270.45 2215 2249.35KALPATPOWR 322.2 328 316.5 319.3JTEKTINDIA 85.9 94.5 85.9 91.2VINATIORGA 1139 1164 1134.5 1154.7ERIS 541.55 560.75 536 550.25MMTC 24.6 25.8 24.35 24.7CYIENT 533.35 548.65 527.7 545.4DISHTV 14.82 15.22 14.15 14.23ABCAPITAL 91.7 92.4 90.9 91.25GODREJIND 459 483 451.5 473.2BANKINDIA 52.5 52.8 51 51.4THYROCARE 1015 1023 983 989.6INDIAMART 5423 5550.05 5423 5497.2FORCEMOT 1388 1430 1382.25 1391.85AVANTI 536.6 550 536.6 544.9LTTS 1831.6 1850 1829.15 1840.75BERGEPAINT 687 692 684.95 689.8IFCI 9.8 10.05 9.53 9.75SHREECEM 24484.15 24485 24178 24244CASTROLIND 126.05 127.8 126 126.4NAM-INDIA 307.9 313.75 303 311.6GRANULES 385.25 387.25 379.5 380.2OIL 116 117 114.5 115.7KTKBANK 58 61.35 57.9 59.95ISEC 456 459 450.25 452.05AUBANK 930.95 930.95 911.1 916GMDCLTD 54.95 55.6 54.55 54.75HINDZINC 244.8 244.9 239.5 242.1LALPATHLAB 2177 2204 2136 2177.65PNBHOUSING 376 385 376 377.2DALBHARAT 1080 1106.8 1063.25 1089.4SWANENERGY 131.9 136 130.65 135.55VGUARD 197.6 199.6 195.65 196.9ALKYLAMINE 3824.95 3887.75 3798 3813.85AMBER 2353.95 2410 2339.2 2354.75IEX 221 222 217.3 220RAIN 134.8 136.6 132 132.6DBL 405.6 412.6 396.05 400.7UJJIVANSFB 38.9 39.8 38.8 39.2ASHOKA 95 95.95 92.8 92.95GODREJAGRO 531 532 527.75 529.55SWSOLAR 263.95 279.15 256.3 270.9EIDPARRY 342 344 339 341.95RAMCOCEM 838.15 857.45 838.15 855.5ECLERX 823.15 830 810.65 818ASTRAZEN 4415.05 4466.95 4408.05 4420.65SHK 117.2 120.8 113 113.9CESC 616.9 619.2 613 614.85PHILIPCARB 165.4 168.1 163.2 163.85KPRMILL 894.9 934 884.65 913.4STLTECH 163 165 161 163.95BAJAJELEC 594.8 611.5 594.8 608.3EQUITAS 69.2 70.45 69.2 69.55VTL 1017 1029.95 1001.2 1008.3TRENT 719.45 722.75 707.4 716.2FSL 78.7 80.35 78.7 79.95

RALLIS 293.5 294.9 288.45 289.45ITI 132 133.9 130.55 131.15LEMONTREE 44 44 43.2 43.3HUDCO 40.3 40.4 39.85 40KNRCON 315.5 318 313 315.55TORNTPOWER 330 335.1 329.8 330.55SUPREMEIND 1719.1 1750 1687.5 1723.6BAJAJHLDNG 3160 3170.95 3106.55 3149.7DEEPAKFERT 167.25 169.5 164.5 165.5EDELWEISS 76 76.9 74.4 74.95BSOFT 199.55 206 198.8 203CENTURYPLY 220.95 230 218.05 227.5KRBL 250 252.2 246 247.85IRB 111.1 116.85 111.1 114.55INDOSTAR 317.3 362.1 313.05 352.5FCONSUMER 8.8 8.91 8.7 8.76FORTIS 159.5 161.65 156.7 158COROMANDEL 803.95 803.95 778.2 799.3AARTIIND 1248 1248 1206.9 1216.7CARERATING 537.3 548.25 527 533.05BALMLAWRIE 116.2 120.2 115.95 118.75NBVENTURES 60.3 61.45 57.8 58.85HAWKINCOOK 5187 5244.95 5145 5155.35FLUOROCHEM 584 613.15 584 599.9J&KBANK 24.55 24.55 24 24.08APLAPOLLO 794.95 795 783.3 790.75ALLCARGO 138.95 138.95 134.7 136.1MRPL 36.75 36.9 36.25 36.3BAYERCROP 5225.05 5360 5166 5344.8INDIACEM 152 153 150.5 150.75SYMPHONY 925.95 938 923 929.7ARVINDFASN 154 164.6 153.35 162.25MAHLOG 410.85 415 408.85 410.1SPARC 186.95 189.55 185 187.35SHILPAMED 474 479.15 465.35 467.55NATCOPHARM 966.95 966.95 945 949.65LAXMIMACH 4698.8 4824 4658.6 4748.9IIFL 118 118.3 115.7 116.95RADICO 469 469 459 461.15ADANITRANS 430.9 435 425.65 431.5JKLAKSHMI 341.4 345 337.5 338.25MOTILALOFS 662.8 662.8 617.6 636.15WHIRLPOOL 2174 2205.15 2138.95 2180.15IFBIND 1171.9 1198 1123 1135.25MOIL 147 147.25 144.05 144.7VENKYS 1708.6 1730 1675 1703JKPAPER 103.75 104.6 103.1 103.6NLCINDIA 57 57.45 56.35 57.15VARROC 406.9 406.9 397.2 399.95SUDARSCHEM 487 490.25 481 482.8HATHWAY 33.85 35.15 33.6 34.45KAJARIACER 672 682.3 670.45 674.2MEGH 81 81.35 80.35 80.5CCL 259 268.2 259 267KPITTECH 111 115.6 110 113.9POWERINDIA 1363.5 1380 1320 1350CHENNPETRO 109.4 112.2 108.7 110.75BLUESTARCO 790 790 765.6 782.25EIHOTEL 102.3 102.4 99.75 100.3TATAMETALI 617.9 617.9 596.25 599.55METROPOLIS 1950.9 1967.15 1928.95 1939.45GSFC 77.6 78.4 76.45 76.65DCAL 164 166.3 157.7 158.9GUJGAS 360 363.55 358.95 360.6GESHIP 290 293.95 284 286.35SOUTHBANK 9.27 9.39 9.16 9.21TATACOFFEE 108.75 109.4 108.45 108.65REPCOHOME 249.65 252.85 246.55 248.05MAHABANK 14.05 14.5 14.05 14.27TVSSRICHAK 1988.65 2046 1981.5 2025.3SHOPERSTOP 210 212.5 207.05 210.2BIRLACORPN 725.1 738.75 723 728.1INOXLEISUR 286 286.9 281.2 281.95PHOENIXLTD 768.4 779.95 765 771.65GEPIL 302 306 300.55 302.95ESABINDIA 1695.25 1808 1659.25 1747.1

SANOFI 7990 8003.25 7894 7930.5RAJESHEXPO 475 480.95 474 475.6PGHL 6610 6845 6610 6816.2GSPL 236.55 238.4 229.15 230.05PRESTIGE 274.9 281 274 279.4BLUEDART 3912 3950 3805 3891.35PTC 63.8 63.8 62.75 62.95JUBILANT 818 822.4 802 803.6GULFOILLUB 762.65 778 750 751.35SIS 465.35 477.2 464.45 471.1SUMICHEM 298.35 307 298.35 300.25GILLETTE 5825.05 5923.4 5825.05 5899.55BBTC 1340.95 1359.9 1333 1336.15RATNAMANI 1585.85 1648.15 1554.85 1570.5NIACL 131.8 132.9 129.7 130.35JSL 67.1 68.75 67.1 67.65

UCOBANK 13.22 13.35 13.08 13.1INDOCO 274.2 276 270.55 273.4ZENSARTECH 240 244.2 238 238.6FINCABLES 370 370 360 363.25HEIDELBERG 210.4 213 210.4 211.55CREDITACC 790 790 768.2 781.8GHCL 193 201.5 193 198.05CERA 3440.3 3446.95 3332.35 3359.55FDC 353 353 343.25 344.05TATACOMM 1035.2 1057.05 1032.3 1049.25ALKEM 2880 2907.6 2880 2897.75ORIENTCEM 78 79.05 76.6 76.75UFLEX 382.25 397.8 381.2 390.9CHALET 205 205 198.5 199.6VRLLOG 209.45 211 208 209.1MINDACORP 94.9 95.9 92.7 93.2FINOLEXIND 629.95 640 629.95 634.4GARFIBRES 2243 2250 2196.15 2230.95JAGRAN 46.85 46.85 45.45 45.65ASTERDM 170.4 171.9 167.4 169.75ATUL 5996 6046 5956 6028.65ORIENTREF 222 232.8 221.8 230.3KEC 377 378 371.8 376.55BRIGADE 237 243.95 236.5 241.15JSLHISAR 135.75 138.1 133.4 135.8SOMANYCERA 325.6 328.9 317.45 319.7AJANTPHARM 1695 1703.45 1683.95 1690.8BASF 1637 1671 1626.05 1664.2NH 411 414 400 412.65IRCON 89.6 91.35 89.6 90.3VIPIND 363 369 362.05 363.35AEGISLOG 245.95 247.85 240.7 241.95WELSPUNIND 76.05 76.4 73.1 73.55MAHSCOOTER 3792.05 3844.35 3792.05 3833.2SCHNEIDER 93 93.5 89.7 89.9GMM 3730 3741.35 3700.4 3707.2IOB 11.25 11.35 11.14 11.22ITDC 279.4 286 278.9 280.25NESCO 545 554.65 540 542.05HERITGFOOD 323.95 324 314.9 315.55PRSMJOHNSN 90.2 92.5 89.55 91.4LINDEINDIA 932 940.95 922.2 929.2ASTRAL 1483.8 1499.25 1468 1495.3VMART 2327.65 2383.7 2304.25 2320.9THERMAX 889 899.4 885 893.3BDL 343 343 338.1 341.25NILKAMAL 1420 1435.75 1405 1421.8FINEORG 2518.95 2518.95 2488 2495.9PERSISTENT 1305.4 1325 1291.25 1306.3ENDURANCE 1163 1175 1152.75 1168.15TIMETECHNO 47.25 48.65 47.25 48.25PGHH 11355.2 11395 11177.9511201.95JYOTHYLAB 144 144 142.2 142.53MINDIA 22938.1 23100.9 22760 22883.3MAHSEAMLES 306.6 328.7 305.5 324.55AKZOINDIA 2250 2309.6 2225 2284.95GICRE 142 142.5 140.8 141.25GUJALKALI 350.65 357 350.65 353.7ZYDUSWELL 1894.9 1894.9 1854 1865.6SONATSOFTW 356 358 352.2 353.6SKFINDIA 1685 1685 1670.4 1675.45GPPL 90.8 91.4 89.6 91TEAMLEASE 2606.1 2640.8 2605 2614.3KANSAINER 552.05 554.45 546 549.85DCMSHRIRAM 386.65 391 383.9 384.15AIAENG 1952.05 2002.8 1940.7 1980.1TIMKEN 1086 1103.95 1084.85 1095.3MINDAIND 383.8 391.6 381.85 390.6GDL 115.9 122.35 115.9 119.75PARAGMILK 117.25 117.4 114.8 115.05DBCORP 85.5 89.2 85.5 86.65QUESS 480.2 498.3 480.2 485.95SUNDRMFAST 555.05 570 553.4 566.7SCHAEFFLER 4160 4333 4160 4303.2TIINDIA 821 837.2 815.6 825.95STARCEMENT 93.75 94.6 93.55 93.75ORIENTELEC 225.55 229.3 224.4 227.65REDINGTON 136.5 136.6 132.7 134.25SOLARINDS 1085 1096.55 1071.35 1085.25TCIEXP 915 915 887.55 901.1TATAINVEST 1049.95 1049.95 1017.95 1022.75TASTYBIT 11221.75 11418.9 11221.7511284.75WABCOINDIA 5565 5713.75 5565 5694.4MASFIN 997.3 1017 989.6 1014.25DHANUKA 738 744.5 731.4 742.05CARBORUNIV 385.1 387 377 378.45SUPRAJIT 203.7 205.1 200 203TNPL 116 118.2 115.9 116.15CHOLAHLDNG 531 536.95 525 529.3CRISIL 1903.2 1905.5 1891.4 1900.2VSTIND 3873.35 3873.35 3810 3818.4GRINDWELL 648.7 672.95 638.45 666.7LUXIND 1584.75 1617.05 1575 1582.95MHRIL 211.8 211.8 205.5 207.3PNCINFRA 176 178.4 175.9 176.9GLAXO 1549.3 1554 1547.2 1551.55AAVAS 1672 1685 1653.25 1658.45TVTODAY 219 219.5 215.8 217.45OMAXE 86.05 87.65 86 86.55MAHLIFE 328 339.1 328 336.05SHRIRAMCIT 1072.75 1082 1040.15 1058.8SPANDANA 758.95 758.95 726.95 735.55NAVNETEDUL 89 89 86.1 86.75VAIBHAVGBL 2116.85 2170 2116.85 2167.85LAOPALA 227 227.45 223.6 224.3JCHAC 2189 2243 2189 2233KSB 635 643.6 632.75 634.9SFL 1637 1661.2 1620.3 1650.65TTKPRESTIG 5768.75 5782.05 5737.25 5772.55

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY 50 13,663.10 13,692.35 13,606.45 13,682.70 114.85HINDALCO 248 252.15 245.9 251.5 6.95BHARTIARTL 504.2 518.8 502.1 518.3 14.1HDFC 2,377.95 2,443.40 2,365.50 2,415.00 64.65ONGC 101.9 103.6 100.65 103.05 2.6DIVISLAB 3,652.20 3,727.00 3,636.00 3,722.45 94.05UPL 453.85 461.5 451.5 459.1 10.3ASIANPAINT 2,540.00 2,587.90 2,537.60 2,583.95 56.5TITAN 1,477.00 1,510.00 1,469.20 1,499.00 30.25M&M 737.1 746.25 726.2 731.45 13.5TATAMOTORS 181 183.8 180.1 182.25 3.35POWERGRID 194.7 196.85 192.55 196.3 3.5LT 1,256.25 1,278.00 1,247.05 1,268.95 22.7TCS 2,779.00 2,819.80 2,760.45 2,810.00 48.45WIPRO 353.9 358.95 353.2 358.6 5.9COALINDIA 144.35 146 143.5 145.3 2.2JSWSTEEL 370 372.5 364.5 370.6 4.7HDFCBANK 1,404.00 1,416.80 1,394.50 1,407.85 16.55TATASTEEL 641.2 649.45 638.2 642.2 6.85BAJAJ-AUTO 3,289.00 3,308.45 3,252.00 3,307.00 35.35HINDUNILVR 2,317.10 2,354.90 2,303.00 2,343.85 23.8SUNPHARMA 571 578.5 571 576.9 5.25IOC 96.5 97.5 95.8 96.25 0.8NESTLEIND 18,398.00 18,734.95 18,250.15 18,340.00 150.1INFY 1,160.00 1,168.90 1,153.60 1,164.00 9.4CIPLA 790.35 790.35 782.3 787.7 6.05ITC 213.75 215.55 213.5 214.6 1.05GRASIM 920.4 925.3 911 915.45 3.45DRREDDY 5,050.00 5,051.75 5,006.00 5,045.00 13.65SHREECEM 24,389.00 24,488.90 24,145.70 24,310.00 50.35RELIANCE 1,988.00 1,994.95 1,965.70 1,977.55 3.2SBILIFE 861.2 861.5 850.5 857.5 1.3HEROMOTOCO 3,130.10 3,145.00 3,105.00 3,116.00 3.65MARUTI 7,820.00 7,899.00 7,770.00 7,773.00 7.75BPCL 402.8 405.95 398.3 399 0.4BAJFINANCE 5,199.00 5,225.00 5,120.00 5,127.05 4.55ADANIPORTS 480 480.45 473.15 476 0.25KOTAKBANK 1,965.00 1,965.00 1,936.55 1,951.00 -0.15EICHERMOT 2,500.00 2,506.45 2,446.00 2,471.70 -3.5AXISBANK 613.55 614.9 604.8 605.75 -1.35BRITANNIA 3,766.20 3,786.00 3,745.00 3,754.00 -11.55HDFCLIFE 655.4 655.75 647.25 649.2 -2.25HCLTECH 886.25 892 878.45 882 -4SBIN 272.8 273.65 268.5 269.35 -1.3BAJAJFINSV 9,369.60 9,450.00 9,212.00 9,250.00 -46.95TECHM 935 935 917 921.45 -5.6NTPC 106.95 107.25 104.55 105.15 -0.7GAIL 126.5 126.85 123.85 124.4 -0.85ULTRACEMCO 5,160.00 5,225.00 5,094.25 5,114.00 -42.85INDUSINDBK 932 937.75 915 917.9 -8.85ICICIBANK 520.05 521.7 511.1 512.5 -5.55

SE 500B

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY NEXT 50 32,166.10 32,243.40 32,040.40 32,143.85 171.15DLF 215.65 240.4 214.5 235.4 20.85HAVELLS 862 905 860.35 901.95 37.15HDFCAMC 2,822.95 2,875.75 2,805.00 2,856.00 65.2TATACONSUM 574.9 585.2 573.7 584 12.7ICICIGI 1,462.70 1,490.00 1,459.35 1,486.00 30.3LUPIN 953.25 963.9 942.3 962 17.6HINDPETRO 228.9 234.4 228.55 230.3 3.85TORNTPHARM 2,751.00 2,802.00 2,725.50 2,788.00 38.8ICICIPRULI 481.8 488 481.2 486.4 6.25MUTHOOTFIN 1,215.60 1,230.00 1,209.00 1,215.90 13.8IGL 490 494.35 485.3 488.1 4.95BIOCON 459 462.5 455.4 459.9 4.6LTI 3,265.50 3,315.00 3,265.05 3,294.00 30.85MARICO 412 416.85 411.5 412.25 3.75BERGEPAINT 684.75 692.1 682.25 688.5 4.25BOSCHLTD 13,290.00 13,560.05 13,255.00 13,310.00 73.05SBICARD 825 832.5 821.1 825.2 4.35COLPAL 1,609.70 1,627.45 1,598.10 1,613.00 8.05CADILAHC 471 472.85 465.9 469.05 2.2PIDILITIND 1,626.00 1,640.90 1,620.00 1,625.00 4.55BAJAJHLDNG 3,145.00 3,170.90 3,105.00 3,127.00 8.15AUROPHARMA 878 884.5 870.2 876.5 2.05GICRE 142.25 142.65 140.2 141.15 0.3AMBUJACEM 249.1 249.7 245.1 248.1 0.5PEL 1,463.00 1,466.75 1,430.00 1,451.00 2.35SIEMENS 1,548.00 1,549.65 1,533.00 1,537.90 1.45ADANITRANS 434.9 435.15 425.3 431.25 0.15DABUR 515.4 519.55 512.3 513.9 0.05ACC 1,644.95 1,649.80 1,624.25 1,633.00 -1.45GODREJCP 729.9 730 715.65 722 -0.8NMDC 117.4 120.8 113.9 114.8 -0.15MCDOWELL-N 598 600 591.3 593.15 -1.15ALKEM 2,905.00 2,910.00 2,881.00 2,893.10 -5.4ADANIGREEN 1,019.75 1,029.90 1,011.10 1,011.50 -2.15INDIGO 1,678.40 1,683.75 1,637.05 1,655.45 -4.35MOTHERSUMI 158 159 155.5 156.8 -0.5HINDZINC 244 245 239.5 242.4 -0.85UBL 1,168.55 1,193.40 1,151.00 1,153.95 -4.6ABBOTINDIA 16,451.00 16,599.00 16,202.00 16,290.00 -89.2BANDHANBNK 415.9 418.45 408.85 409.9 -2.25OFSS 3,149.10 3,149.10 3,105.00 3,112.00 -21.6INFRATEL 248 248.8 243.65 245 -1.9DMART 2,650.05 2,678.45 2,605.00 2,619.00 -21.05PFC 121.85 123.4 119.5 119.75 -1.15NAUKRI 4,675.00 4,710.00 4,590.00 4,590.00 -49.05BANKBARODA 67.7 67.9 65.65 66.4 -0.75CONCOR 416 417.65 406.25 408 -4.9PETRONET 269 269.7 263.05 263.5 -3.35PGHH 11,302.00 11,449.90 11,160.30 11,198.00 -177.5PNB 39.6 39.6 37.25 38.15 -2.45

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Issues concerning cyber secu-rity and data protection must

be addressed to gain confi-dence of the excluded sectionin use of technology, which isnecessary for promoting finan-cial inclusion, Reserve BankGovernor Shaktikanta Das saidon Wednesday.

“Technology, thoughbeing a great enabler, can alsolead to exclusion of certain seg-ments of society,” Das said inhis keynote address at a webi-nar on ‘Investing in InvestorEducation in India: Prioritiesfor Action’, organised by theNCAER.

The RBI Governor addedthat it was imperative to buildtrust in formal financial ser-vices among the hithertoexcluded population.

“Adequate safeguards needto be reinforced to addressissues of cyber security, dataconfidentiality, mis-selling, cus-tomer protection and grievanceredress through appropriatefinancial education and aware-

ness. These cast great respon-sibility on financial educationproviders,” he emphasised.

Financial inclusion in thecountry, he said, is poised togrow exponentially with digi-tal savvy millennials joining theworkforce, social media blur-ring the urban-rural divideand technology shaping thepolicy interventions.

For harnessing the nearuniversal reach of bankaccounts across the length andbreadth of the country, thereneeds to be greater focus onpenetration of sustainable cred-it, investment, insurance andpension products by addressingdemand side constraints withenhanced customer protection,Das said. The interventions infinancial education would haveto be customised in local lan-guage and local settings keep-ing the different target audiencein mind, he pointed out.

The scaling up of Centrefor Financial Literacy (CFL)projects across the country atthe block level would be thecornerstone of community-led

participatory approaches inthe journey towards greaterfinancial literacy, he added.

The Governor also stressedthat in a large country likeIndia with an aspiring popula-tion, financial education can-not remain just the responsi-bility of financial sector regu-lators.

This aspect has been high-lighted in the National Strategyfor Financial Education (NSFE2020-2025) document whichrecommends a multi-stake-holder led approach to achievefinancial wellbeing of all.

“Going forward, increas-ingly, educational institutions,industry bodies and otherstakeholders like think tanks,research institutions shouldcome forward to shoulder theresponsibility of increasingfinancial literacy throughappropriate awareness cam-paigns,” Das said. Financialinclusion initiatives in Indiastarted in the aftermath of firstAll India Rural Credit Surveyin 1954 with promotion ofcooperatives.

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Equity benchmarks raced tonew peaks for the fourth

straight session on Wednesdayas participants took note ofcontinuously improvingmacroeconomic indicators andpositive trends in global mar-kets.

The BSE Sensex settled403.29 points or 0.87 per centhigher at 46,666.46, while theNSE Nifty climbed 114.85points or 0.85 per cent to13,682.70 -- record closing forboth the benchmarks.

Both the indices alsomarked their all-time intra-dayhighs of 46,704.97 and13,692.35, respectively.

In the Sensex pack, HDFC,ONGC, Bharti Airtel, AsianPaints, Titan, TCS andMahindra and Mahindra were

the prominent gainers, advanc-ing up to 3.11 per cent.

On the other hand, ICICIBank, IndusInd Bank, NTPC,UltraTech Cement, TechMahindra and HCL Tech wereamong the major laggards,skidding up to 1.09 per cent.

Asian bourses closedbroadly higher amid hopesthat COVID-19 vaccines andeconomic stimulus by govern-ments around the world willrevive economic growth.

European equities surgedto 10-month highs onprospects of a Brexit trade dealand expectations of swift roll-out of coronavirus vaccina-tion.

“Domestic equitiesremained in the grip of bulls,recording fresh highs fairlysupported by firm global mar-kets. Emerging prospects ofadditional fiscal stimulus in theUS and satisfactory progress oncoronavirus vaccination bol-stered investors’ sentiments.Barring PSU banks, all key sec-toral indices recorded gains.

“Encouraging data for keyeconomic indicators and pos-

itive news flows continued toattract investors’ interest indomestic equities. Further,improving prospects of corpo-rate earnings recovery, weakdollar index, consistentimprovement in coronavirusrecovery rates, government’s

strong commitment to revivethe economy and dismal realinterest rate scenario globallycontinued to act as key tail-winds to attract FPIs flowsinto Indian equities,” saidBinod Modi, Head- Strategy atReliance Securities.

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Global technology servicescompany NTT Ltd. on

Wednesday said Abhijit Dubeywill succeed Jason Goodall asits Global Chief ExecutiveOfficer.Dubey takes the rolefollowing over 20 years withglobal advisory firm McKinsey& Company.Dubey will joinNTT in early February and for-mally step into his new role onApril 1, 2021. He will be basedat the company’s headquartersin London.”We are lookingforward to welcoming Abhijitto the NTT family in 2021 tolead the next generation of ourbusiness,” Goodall who is thecurrent Global CEO for NTTLtd. said in astatement.Following a threemonth handover period,Goodall will retire from hisexecutive role on June 30, 2021and will remain as a BoardDirector for NTT Ltd, andDimension Data, as well as actas a strategic advisor for theNTT Venture Capital busi-ness.

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Gold price gained �215 totouch �49,059 per 10

gram in the national capitalon Wednesday supported bystrong global precious metalprices, according to HDFCSecurities.

In the previous trade,gold had closed at �48,844per 10 gram.Silver pricejumped �1,185 to �64,822per kilogram. It was at�63,637 per kilogram in theprevious trade.

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The rupee appreciated 5paise to close at 73.58

against the US dollar onWednesday, propped up bysustained foreign fundinflows and a weak greenbackoverseas. Strong domesticequities also strengthenedinvestor sentiment, traderssaid. At the interbank forexmarket, the rupee opened at73.49 against the US dollarand witnessed an intra-dayhigh of 73.48 and a low of73.60.

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Amid ongoing protests bythousands of farmers

against three new Farm Actsand assertions by some states

that they would not notifythese legislations, governmentofficials and constitutionalexperts said these are alreadynational laws and thereforestates are not required to noti-

fy them separately.The Farmers

(Empowerment andProtection) Agreement of PriceAssurance and Farm ServicesAct, the Farmers Produce

Trade and Commerce(Promotion and Facilitation)Act, and the EssentialCommodities (Amendment)Act 2020 -- are three farm lawswhich the central government

notified in the ‘Gazette of India’on September 27 after receiv-ing the President’s assent.

A senior AgricultureMinistry official told PTI: “Thethree farm laws enacted by the

central government are nation-al laws.

They have come into forceacross the country from thedate of notification. So, a sep-arate notification by each state

is not required.”In some states, farmers

are already taking advantageof various provisions of theselegislations, the of f icialadded.

Asked if there was a spe-cial provision for the Delhi gov-ernment which notified one ofthe three farm laws early thismonth, the official said, “It wasnot required.”

Page 11: 2020/12/16  · nected to China via a six-lane high-way and a gas pipeline which Beijing apprehends will be hit by the Baloch insurgents. The Chinese Defence Minister …

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Washington: The US Congresshas officially passed the USD740 billion defence policy bill,which among other thingsinclude calling out Chineseaggression against India alongthe Line of Actual Control(LAC).

The US House ofRepresentatives and the Senateon Tuesday passed the NationalDefense Authorization Act(NDAA), which included keycomponents of Indian-American Congressman RajaKrishnamoorthi's resolution

language urging the Chinesegovernment to end its militaryaggression against India alongthe LAC.

China and India have beenlocked in a military standoffalong the Line of Actual Control(LAC) in eastern Ladakh sinceMay this year. Several rounds oftalks between the two countriesto resolve the standoff have notyielded any concrete outcome.

The House and Senate ver-sions of the bill were reconciledby a bipartisan Congressionalconference committee earlier

this month.The inclusion of this provi-

sion, which Krishnamoorthiled as an amendment when thebill passed the House, reflectsthe US government's strongsupport for its allies and part-ners like India in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond.

Krishnamoorthi's measure,which passed each chamberwith overwhelming bipartisansupport, will become law ifPresident Donald Trump signsit.

Trump has threatened to

veto the bill as it lacks a repealof legal protections for socialmedia companies. However,the NDAA has been passed byCongress for the last 59 years.

“Violent aggression is sel-dom the answer, and this isespecially true for the Line ofActual Control, which is the dis-puted border region that sepa-rates the People's Republic ofChina from India,”Krishnamoorthi said.

“By including my resolutionlanguage in the NDAA andsigning that legislation into law,

the United States governmentwill send a clear message thatChina's military provocations ofIndia will not be tolerated,” hesaid.

“The United States is com-mitted to standing with ourallies and partners like India inresolving the border standoffusing diplomatic means,'Krishnamoorthi said.

As approved by the confer-ence report, the powerfulNDAA says that it is the senseof the Congress on the aggres-sion of China along the border

with India and its growing ter-ritorial claims.

The Senate agreed toinclude the provisions of the billthat was passed by the House inits version of the bill.

The House bill containedprovisions that would expressthe sense of Congress on cross-border violence between Chinaand India and the growing ter-ritorial claims of Beijing.

Expressing “significant con-cern” over the continued mili-tary aggression by China alongthe border with India, the

NDAA says that China “shouldwork with” India toward de-escalating the situation along theLine of Actual Control throughexisting diplomatic mechanismsand refrain from attempting tosettle disputes through coercionor force.

Attempts by China toadvance baseless territorialclaims, including those in theSouth China Sea, the East ChinaSea, and with respect to Bhutan,are destabilising and inconsis-tent with international law, saysthe bill.

China is also engaged inhotly contested territorial dis-putes in both the South ChinaSea and the East China Sea.China claims sovereignty overall of the South China Sea.Vietnam, Malaysia, thePhilippines, Brunei and Taiwanhave counter claims.

Beijing has built up andmilitarised many of the islandsand reefs it controls in theregion. Both areas are stated tobe rich in minerals, oil and othernatural resources and are alsovital to global trade. PTI

Washington: Three blocks fromthe White House, office spacefor more than 500 Biden tran-sition staffers sits mostly idle.The government is shippingout laptops so staffers can workfrom home. President-elect JoeBiden, surrounded by just ahandful of aides in Delaware, isusing Zoom to oversee his plansto assume power.

But Biden soon will beentering a no-Zoom zone at theWhite House — just one sign ofthe challenges his new admin-istration will face when it movesto Washington in the midst ofa pandemic.

After months of making avirtue of the cautious approachhis campaign and transitionteam have taken towardCOVID-19, Biden's prudencewill be tested by technology andtradition when he arrives onJanuary 20.

White House computersdon't allow the popular videoconference software Zoom orrival systems like Google Meetand Slack. Government-issue

cellphones only gained textingcapabilities a few years ago.And many employees will needto be present at the WhiteHouse to access classified infor-mation.

Biden's team has limitedexperience with staffing a phys-ical office during the pandem-ic. His campaign went all-virtualin mid-March, clearing out itsPhiladelphia headquarters andsending staff back to their fam-ilies in Washington, New Yorkand beyond. His transition teamplotted out his path to powerentirely online.

The closest Biden's teamhas come to experimentingwith in-person work was elec-tion night, when a small selec-tion of masked and socially dis-tanced aides in Wilmington,Delaware, monitored returns inhotel conference rooms, a farcry from running a WhiteHouse 24/7.

Even now, the most promi-nent use of the 100,000-plussquare feet (9,290 squaremeters) of office space reserved

for the transition is for VicePresident-elect Kamala Harristo receive the highly classifiedPresident's Daily Brief.

Telework is possible forsome White House staff, andimprovements in both secureand unclassified videoconfer-encing have been made over thelast two decades. But the lack ofin-person coordination couldpose an additional challenge tothe new government facing amultitude of crises.

Further complicating mat-ters, the Biden team must devisehealth and safety protocols fromscratch. The Trump adminis-tration was, at best, a caution-ary tale in how not to run aworkplace during a pandemic.

Despite relying on anaggressive testing regimen thatis not available in other work-places, the West Wing underPresident Donald Trump hasbeen the locus of at least two sig-nificant outbreaks of COVID-19 since Trump himself camedown with the virus five weeksbefore Election Day. AP

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EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen saidon Wednesday she saw clear progress in the trade

talks with the U.K., turning a post-Brexit deal from afleeting possibility into an ever more realistic possibil-ity.

Von der Leyen confirmed that the major problemshad been reduced to just two — fair competition in theEU market and fishing rights for EU vessels in U.K.Waters. Even though she still spoke only of a “very nar-row” path to a deal, she added that nontheless “I cantell you that there is a path to an agreement.”

It was still far more optimistic than previous com-ments coming from British Prime Minister BorisJohnson, and even any assessment of success over thepast months.

“This is now a case of being so close and yet beingso far,” von der Leyen told the EU parliament, whichwill have to approve any deal brokered with the U.K.

Britain left the 27-nation bloc in January but forthe rest of this year is still in a transition period thatkept all trade ties the same with the EU.

These talks deal with trading relations between thetwo sides starting on Jan. 1, which makes a tough time-line for the negotiations.

“The clock puts us in a very difficult position,” saidvon der Leyen.

Washington: Robert Reed says hewill always believe the 2020 elec-tion was stolen from PresidentDonald Trump. The retired policeofficer-turned-construction work-er believes fraud marred the vote,no matter how many courts reject-ed that claim.

Still, a day after the ElectoralCollege made Joe Biden's win offi-cial, the ardent Trump supporterfrom the suburbs of Lancaster,Pennsylvania, was ready to moveon.

“I think it's pretty much over,”Reed said of Trump's ongoingquest to overturn the results of theelection. “I trust the ElectoralCollege.” For weeks, Trump hasbeen on a mission to convince hisloyal base that his victory wasstolen and the contest rigged.

With help from conservativemedia, polls show he's had con-siderable success. But now that theElectoral College has formalizedBiden's win and Republican offi-cials, including Senate LeaderMitch McConnell, are finally

acknowledging him as president-elect, many Trump voters acrossthe country seem to be doing thesame.

Interviews with voters, alongwith fresh surveys of Republicans,suggest their unfounded doubtsabout the integrity of the voteremain. But there is far less con-sensus on what should be doneabout it and whether to carry thatresentment forward.

For some, like Reed, theElectoral College vote was theclear end of a process. Others havevowed to continue to protest withdemonstrations like the one thatturned violent in Washington,D.C., over the weekend. Andsome said they hoped GOP lead-ers would press for more investi-gations to put the doubts Trumpsowed to rest.

They are people like ScottAdams, a retiree and Trump voterliving in Rehoboth Beach,Delaware, who said he acceptsBiden's victory — but “with reser-vations.” Adams said he's heardtoo much discussion about irreg-

ularities in the vote count on FoxNews and conservative talk radioto trust the election's outcome anddoesn't feel he'll ever knows thetrue margin of victory.

(Biden won the ElectionCollege by a vote of 306 to 232.)But Adams doesn't think the elec-tion was rigged enough to changethe outcome, even if hebelieves it was “rigged enough

that it should be questioned more.”He'd like to see more investiga-tions.

Republicans across the coun-try — from local officials to gov-ernors to Attorney GeneralWilliam Barr — have said repeat-edly there is no evidence massvoter fraud affected the outcome.Trump and his allies brought aflurry of lawsuits, but nearly allhave been dismissed by judges.

The Supreme Court, whichincludes three Trump-nominatedjustices, denied requests to hear apair of cases aimed at invalidatingthe outcome of the election in keybattleground states. AP

Washington: US President DonaldTrump is still involved in ongoing liti-gation related to the November 3 presi-dential election, according to a topWhite House official.

The statement from White HousePress Secretary Kayleigh McEnany camea day after members of the ElectoralCollege met in various states and formallyelected Joe Biden, a Democrat, as the 46thPresident of the United States. Biden isscheduled to be sworn-in on January 20.

“The president is still involved inongoing litigation related to the election.Yesterday's vote was one step in the con-stitutional process. So, I will leave that tohim,” McEnany told reporters on Tuesdayat a news conference.

McEnany was responding to aquestion if Trump, a Republican, has anyplans to invite Biden to the White Housenow that the Electoral College has voted.“Does the president acknowledge that JoeBiden is the president-elect,” she wasasked.

“The president is pursuing ongoing

litigation,” McEnany said. “Yesterdaywas one step in the constitutional processleading up to the January 20th date in theConstitution,” she said.

McEnany defended Trump's litiga-tion against elections.

President Trump still refuses to con-cede, making unsubstantiated claims ofwidespread fraud during the presidentialelection won by Biden.

“I think pursuing legitimate litiga-tion through the judicial system is in noway assaulting democracy. In fact, it'susing democrat institutions in the man-ner they are to be used: to pursue legit-imate claims with sworn affidavits andadditional evidence,” she said.

Trump, she said, believes he certainlywas under assault when it comes to theinvestigations into his administration.“The Mueller probe, the unfortunate waythat our FBI was mishandled by folks likeAndy McCabe, by folks like Jim Comey,and weaponised in a political way againsthis candidacy and then against his pres-idency,” she added. PTI

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Ahigh-level Afghan-Talibandelegation arrived here on

Wednesday to hold talks withthe top Pakistani leadership aspart of efforts to push forwardthe reconciliation process, amidgrowing incidents of violence inAfghanistan

The Taliban PoliticalCommission (TPC), headed byMullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, ison a December 16-18 visit toPakistan, according to theForeign Office (FO).

“During the visit, the dele-gation will meet with the ForeignMinister and call on the PrimeMinister,” the FO said.

The visit comes after a del-egation led by US special repre-sentative for Afghanistan rec-onciliation, Zalmay Khalilzad,on Monday met Pakistan'sArmy chief General Qamar

Javed Bajwa and discussed withhim the ongoing Afghan peaceprocess. AP reported thatBaradar and his delegation weresummoned to Islamabad fromQatar, where they have beennegotiating since Septemberwith Afghan government rep-resentatives, officials close to thetalks said.

According to a report in TheExpress Tribune, the delega-tion will discuss issues of mutu-al interest, in particular, prob-lems of refugees, relaxation andfacilitation of Afghan's move-ment to Pakistan, as well asissues faced by Afghan traders.

The visit of the TPC dele-gation is part of Pakistan's pol-icy to reach out to key Afghanparties in the peace processwith a view to facilitating theIntra-Afghan Negotiations thatcommenced in Doha onSeptember 12, 2020.

Berlin: Germany hit a newrecord level of coronavirusdeaths as it entered a harderlockdown on Wednesday, clos-ing shops and schools to try tobring down stubbornly highnew cases.

The country recorded179.8 deaths of new infectionsper 100,000 residents over thelast seven days, a new high andsignificantly more than the149 per 100,000 reported aweek ago by the Robert KochInstitute, the country's diseasecontrol center.

It also blew past its previ-ous daily total, with Germany's16 states reporting 952 peoplehad died of the virus, theagency said. That was fargreater than the previous dailyrecord set Friday of 598 deaths,although included two days offigures from the hard-hit east-ern state of Saxony, which didnot report Tuesday. AP

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Washington: Indian-American US AirForce Colonel Raja Chari has beenselected as the Commander of theSpaceX Crew-3 mission to theInternational Space Station (ISS) byNASA and the European Space Agency.

Chari, 43, will serve as the com-mander while NASA's Tom Marshburnwill be pilot and ESA's Matthias Maurerwill serve as a mission specialist for theSpaceX Crew-3 mission to the ISS,which is expected to launched next year.

A fourth crew member will beadded at a later date, following a reviewby NASA and its international partners,NASA said in a statement on Monday.

“Excited and honored to be train-ing with @astro_matthias and@AstroMarshburn in prep for a trip tothe @Space_Station,” Chari said in atweet on Monday.

“Proud to be working and trainingwith Matthias Maurer and ThomasHenry Marshburn in preparation for amission to the International SpaceStation aboard the SpaceX Crew

Dragon,” he posted on his Facebookpage. This will be the first spaceflight forChari, who became a NASA astronautin 2017. He was born in Milwaukee, butconsiders Cedar Falls, Iowa, his home-town, NASA said.

He is a colonel in the US Air Forceand joins the mission with extensiveexperience as a test pilot. He has accu-mulated more than 2,500 hours offlight time in his career. Chari was select-ed earlier this month as a member of theArtemis Team and is now eligible forassignment to a future lunar mission, itsaid in a statement.

Chari's father Srinivas Chari cameto the US at a young age fromHyderabad for an engineering degree.

“It's official... Next stop:International @Space_Station! In late2021, I'll fly to humankind's orbital out-post for the first time, continuing ourquest to discover more in space for#Earth. Get ready for #cosmickiss – adeclaration of love for space,” Maurertweeted. PTI

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“The route was closed around 11 am. TheDND and the Kalindi Kunj routes are oper-ational and commuters are advised to takethese routes for travelling to and fro Delhi,”said Noida Traffic Police official.

The Chilla route had remained obstruct-ed since December 1 when the protest start-ed here. One side of the road (Noida to Delhi)had remained closed during a large part of theperiod until December 12, when protestersagreed to open it for the sake of commutersbut stayed put at the border.

Meanwhile, Delhi Police also took on toTwitter and informed commuters regardingborder closed and its alternative routes.“Tikri, Dhansa Borders are closed for anyTraffic Movement. Jhatikara Borders is openonly for two wheelers and pedestrian move-ment,” Delhi Traffic Police tweeted.

“Available Open Borders to Haryana arefollowing Borders. Jharoda (Only SingleCarriageway/Road), Daurala, Kapashera,Badusarai, Rajokri NH 8, Bijwasan/Bajghera,Palam Vihar and Dundahera Borders,” it fur-ther tweeted.

According to an Agriculture Ministrystatement on Tuesday, Tomar thanked theBKU (Kisan) leaders for coming out in sup-port of the laws and said these legislations havebeen welcomed in various States across thecountry.

Earlier this week, a delegation of over 100farmers from Uttarakhand had also metTomar.

On Tuesday, the leaders of agitatingfarmers asserted they will “make” the Centrerepeal the three new agri laws in a hardeningof their stand.

Meanwhile, protesting farmer unions onWednesday said constituting a new panel to

break the stalemate on the three new agri laws,as indicated by the Supreme Court, is not asolution as they want a complete withdrawalof the legislations.

They also said the Government shouldhave formed a committee of farmers and oth-ers before the laws were enacted by Parliament.

Their assertions came after the SupremeCourt indicated earlier in the day that it mayform a panel having representatives of theGovernment and farmer unions to resolve thedeadlock.

Enacted in September, the three farm lawshave been projected by the Government asmajor reforms in the agriculture sector thatwill remove the middlemen and allow farm-ers to sell anywhere in the country.

However, the protesting farmers haveexpressed apprehension that the new lawswould pave the way for eliminating the safe-ty cushion of MSP and do away with the man-dis, leaving them at the mercy of big corpo-rates.

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He had on Tuesday asked the CentralGovernment to resolve farmers’ concerns. Hehad also extended support of Rs 5 lakh to thefarmers’ agitation this week at Singhu border.He had also distributed 500 blankets onTuesday to farmers at Singhu border, said oneof his followers.

Meanwhile, a shockwave swept acrossPunjab and Haryana, especially among theSikh community. Leaders, cutting acrossparty lines from both States, expressed shockand grief over the incident, asking the BJP-ledCentral Government to “wake-up” before itwas too late.

Former Union Minister and SAD MPfrom Bathinda Harsimrat Kaur Badal, taking

to Twitter, said, “Even as GOI remains stub-born & refuses to be moved by suffering of#farmers, Baba Ram Singh ji Singhra wale hascommitted suicide after being unable to seethe suffering around him at Kundli border.Hope GOI wakes up to the tragedy & repealsthe 3 agri laws before it’s too late.”

Senior Congress leader and Haryana’s for-mer Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala, pay-ing tributes to the deceased, asked the PrimeMinister Narendra Modi to “immediately stopplaying with the feelings of farmers amidst theintense cold wave…This royal obstinacy orstubbornness is suicidal because it has becomean enemy of the country’s soul and foodprovider”.

Congress’ senior leader and former partyaffairs in-charge in Punjab Shakeel Ahmedquestioned the Modi Government over a“farmer leader’s suicide”. “May his soul rest inpeace. But the Modi Government is saying thatthese three laws are not made for the serviceof Adani-Ambani sahiban, but for the bene-fit of the farmers. Then why did the farmerleader commit suicide?” tweeted Ahmed.

Lok Insaaf Party president and MLA fromLudhiana Simarjeet Singh Bains too took toTwitter to “salute the salute the martyrdom ofSant Baba Ram Singh” while hoping for the“restoration of strong democracy by over-throwing the dominant dictatorial system inIndia”.

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Regarding the testing at the institute, hesaid they have tested over one lakh samples.

Meanwhile, SGPGI spokesperson said thatunder the MoU which has been signedbetween UP Power Grid Corporation ofIndia Ltd and SGPGI, the corporation under

its corporate social responsibility (CSR) ini-tiative will provide financial assistance ofapproximately Rs 7 crore to SGPGI for estab-lishing tele-ICU service. “This futuristic tele-ICU initiative will help improve the deliveryof ICU care in six old medical colleges inGorakhpur, Kanpur, Meerut, Prayagraj, Jhansiand Agra. The central command centre of thistele-ICU will be set up in SGPGI, from whereICU services at these medical colleges will besupported for sustained quality assurance. Theon-site ICU teams will be provided teachingand training by offsite ICU expert teams fromSGPGI.

“Knowledge sharing and ICU patientmonitoring over an extended period of timewill definitely improve the quality of the ICUservices in the state medical colleges,” she said.She added that it will ensure availability oftrained ICU manpower and improve the qual-ity of ICU service at these medical colleges atpar with SGPGI.

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The survey conducted by online doctorconsultation platform Mount Virtual Hospitalshowed that about 70 per cent of the respon-dents who had diabetes, heart problems, bloodpressure issues, cancer or kidney diseases, whoare at increased risk of severe illness from theCovid-19, still want to get the consultationdone with their doctors over call — be it forfollow-up consultation or new consultation.

“With people using digital mediums toconnect to doctors, we are observing behav-ioural change, and it will impact the healthcare sector positively in times to come,” SanjaySingh, Founder of Mount Virtual Hospital,said in a statement.

According to the report, 60 per cent of thewomen surveyed in the age group of 18-45

years, wanted to connect digitally with theirdoctors for consultation related to dermatol-ogy, nutrition and diet and mental healthissues, while 80 per cent of the men (45-85years of age) still prefer to have online con-sultation due to fear of Covid-19 infectionkeeping their age in mind.

“We have observed almost 200 per centjump in demand for online consultation. Manycancer patients who want to avoid risk ofCovid-19 infection are connecting to us overvideo calls to discuss their problems,” said DrRahul Bhargava, Director, Department ofClinical Hematology & Bone MarrowTransplant, Fortis Hospital.

“With a large educated and technology-friendly population, India is now ready to taketele-consultations to the next level and utiliseit for complex super specialities as well,”Bhargava added.

No wonder, telemedicine is becoming ahugely popular offering in healthcare. Arecent Global Market Insights report foundthat the sector was worth about USD38.3 bil-lion in 2018, and that figure is projected toswell to USD$130.5 billion by 2025.

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The Frontier Corps which largely oper-ated with archaic means like batons (lathis)and obsolete weapons is likely to beweaponized in a modern manner with totalfunding from Beijing, they said.

Assessments suggest the Balochs are like-ly to target more Chinese convoys as they willbe free from factoring in negotiations with thePak authorities to free captured Chinese engi-neers and technicians in a bargain for moneywhich was the practice till now.

-���������?�����$���55+��������� �� Kankara (Nigeria):Anger, fear and exhaus-tion. Anxiety has over-whelmed many parentsin Nigeria's northern vil-lage of Kankara whoawait word on their sonswho are among the morethan 330 kidnapped byextremists from a gov-ernment boys' school lateFriday.

Nigeria's BokoHaram jihadist rebelshave claimed responsi-bility for the abduction ofthe students from theGovernment ScienceSecondary School inKankara. Hundreds ofother students managedto escape by jumping thefence during the extrem-ists' attack or by fleeing asthey were taken into thenearby forest.

Boko Haram kid-napped the boys from theschool because it believesWestern education is un-Islamic, the rebels' leader AbubakarShekau said in a videoclaiming responsibilityfor the attack, accordingto SITE IntelligenceGroup. AP

Page 12: 2020/12/16  · nected to China via a six-lane high-way and a gas pipeline which Beijing apprehends will be hit by the Baloch insurgents. The Chinese Defence Minister …

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Apodcast titled Mafialand. Whatwould be your instant reaction assoon as you hear about the show?

Well, most or almost all of us wouldimmediately interpret it to be the storyof underworlds, dons, drugs andweapons. However, only when one goesinto the details of it, s/he realises howit has an entirely different take.Mafialand is a glimpse into India’smost flourishing industry, i.e. that of themafia. After all, in every corner of thecountry there’s a mafia, who’s probably— at first glance clearing your garbage,parking your car, or selling you gro-ceries, but we tend to ignore them. Theshow focusses on issues that operate inbroad daylight, under our very eyes.

The Spotify Original is made in col-laboration with Sikhya Entertainment.Its founder and film producer, GuneetMonga, delves into the making of thepodcast, and more. Excerpts:

�How did you conceptualise it?The initial idea was to explore the

world of mini-mafias in India thatcontrol our daily lives. The focus wasalways on looking at how there is amafia hidden in every corner of ourexistence, and we don’t even know aboutit. We drew a parallel with the under-world, because that is the immediateresponse we get from people when wesay the name Mafialand — they thinkwe are looking at the pulpy world of theMumbai mafias. But no! Our showwould actually be about somethinglike the garbage disposal mafia inMumbai. That was how we pitched it toSpotify.

�What research went into it?Our co-producer, Confluence

Media, is led by a team of established,senior investigative journalists includ-ing Josy Joseph. It has a network ofstringers across the country, who wouldbring us the access, the voices, and thestory on the ground. The team of

researchers would then prepare exten-sive and detailed research dockets,from which a writer would craft a com-pelling and tight narrative. We wouldgive this one brief to all writers: ‘Don’tuse Google!’ Our ambition was to cre-ate original work that went straight tothe source, instead of relying on whatwas already out there. The purpose wasto demonstrate that podcasts can be aform of journalism too, but with a twist.It was also important to identify theright audio streaming platform to workwith — one that would give you creativefreedom and is open to exploring newpodcast concepts.

�”Mafia sirf underworld mein nahihai, Mafia humari galiyon mein hai,humare gharon mein hai.” The podcastsays that right from nursery admis-sions in Delhi to getting admission insports to parking a car, there’s involve-ment of mafia all around... What doyou intend to say?

I think every Indian knows thatthere is something wrong in the waythings are going. Every young parent inDelhi knows this. Every driver who hasto park their car in an Indian city knowsthis. Every person in Bangalore dealingwith dry water taps knows this. So peo-ple are aware. What we are telling themis the scale of the problem, the mafiamodus operandi, and what combatingthis mafia nexus means. We are empow-ering them with insight about their ownlives.

�How did you come across people whohave been at the receiving end and wereready to open up as these things areusually done secretly?

One of our most harrowing episodesis Episode 6 — Amreeka ke Jawai,where we explore the immigrationmafia in Punjab. We had Nirmal Singh,whose teenage son lost his life on his wayto the United States, because of the cruelconditions this mafia subjected him to.

Nirmal spoke to us over the phone whilehe was working on board a ship inGermany. His story opens the episode.This is a testament to the kind of trustthe research team built with our variousguests, including former or currentmembers of the mafia themselves.

�How challenging was it to explorethis subject?

One of the main challenges was get-ting larger character camps in place. Notonly did the researchers have to buildrelationships of trust with everyone, fromvictims to the accused, but we also hada lot of last-minute dropouts. Especiallywith the accused, who fear that theauthorities will gun for them on the basisof their interviews with us. We have hadto navigate through these challenges notjust for one story but for all 12. The scopeof research is so vast because we areincorporating so many different geogra-phies. All the researchers were workingunder COVID restrictions, which madeaccess and mobility even more difficult.But through all of that, we persevered.We are grateful to the team of researcherswho worked with us and to the stream-ing platform for being patient given theseexternal challenges.

�In today’s world of enhanced visualeffects and works, why did you thinka podcast would turn out to be betterthan a visual series for this show?

Podcasts are a great way to experi-ment with non-fiction storytelling. It’s amore stripped down version of story-telling compared to visual series, whichcan often hide behind big-name actors,lush production design, and enhancedvisual effects. We’ve seen the growth ofpodcast consumption across the worldand believe that India is heading in thesame direction. What’s fascinating abouta podcast is that it just does not work ifthe basics of storytelling aren’t in place,so it’s easier to spot mistakes, but also agreat way to hone your skills if you arean emerging writer or filmmaker.

�You have directed and producedanother crime podcast, The Big Shots- Dosa King. How was the experienceof exploring this genre with podcasts?

The vision for Dosa King was alwayscinematic. We wanted it to be a char-acter study of a great man — PRajagopal, the man behind SaravanaBhavan. It’s a story everyone thinks theyknow, but we found a whole rich worldbehind the headlines. So we were excit-ed to jump on the opportunity to tell itthrough an immersive podcast, wherewe could marry narration, dramatisedscenes, and interviews. And given thatSpotify recently produced a true crimepodcast in India, it seemed like the per-fect fit.

�What would you say about the sta-tus of this genre in India? Why do youthink podcasts are dominating themedia landscape here?

We are very excited that podcastsare gaining ground in India. It showsthat people are hungry for exciting sto-ries, and they want them in differentforms, and for different purposes. Wehope that our two original podcaststurn out to be gripping, informative,and help further the podcast format inthe country.

Self-taught filmmaker Ajitpal Singh’sdebut feature as a writer-director,

Fire In The Mountains, will have itsWorld Premiere at the prestigiousSundance Film Festival 2021 in the‘World Cinema DramaticCompetition.’

Produced by Jar Pictures, this isthe only Indian film selected among10 films in the category, which pre-sents the emerging filmmaking talentsaround the world who offer fresh per-spectives and inventive styles.

The film festival will be held fromJanuary 28 to February 3. Normallyheld in Park City, Utah, the festival hasopted for virtual edition this year dueto COVID-19, combined with thedrive-in and socially distanced screen-ings around the country.

The 82-minute intense familydrama is about a mother who toils tosave money to build a road in aremote Himalayan village to take herwheelchair-bound son for physiother-apy but her husband believes that ashamanic ritual (Jagar) is the reme-dy.

The film stars Vinamrata Rai inthe central role of the mother alongwith Chandan Bisht and Sonal Jha,introducing first time young actorsfrom Uttarakhand, Harshita Tewariand Mayank Singh Jaira. It is pro-duced by Ajay Rai and Alan McAlexand co-produced by Amit Mehtaand Mauli Singh.

Ajitpal Singh whose short filmRammat-Gammat won ‘SpecialMention’ at International Short FilmFestival of Oberhausen 2018, is excit-ed about Sundance premiere of hisdebut feature.

The self-taught filmmaker and thewriter-director of the film says, “It’sbeen a difficult year for all of us. I amglad that it’s ending on a positive notewith hopes of vaccine for everyone.On a personal note, I am superthrilled that my first feature is mak-ing its World Premiere. Sundance hasbeen a dream since 2012 when myfirst script was selected for SundanceMumbai Mantra Script lab and I expe-rienced their love and warmth forindependent artists. This dreamwould have remained a dream if myproducer Ajay had not shown faith inme.”

Talking about the inspirationbehind the film, Ajitpal says, The ideaof the film came from a personal

tragedy, when my cousin sisterAmarjeet Kaur died because her hus-band didn’t take her to the hospitalthinking she was possessed by aghost. The film is about the clash oftwo world views — traditional andmodern, with a strong woman at theheart of it. I hope my film will makepeople ask some relevant questionsabout their blind faiths.”

The producer and co-founder ofJar Pictures who has produced award-winning films such as Berlinale win-ner Killa and Oscar entry from India,Liar’s Dice and commercial hits likeGangs Of Wasseypur 1 and 2, NilBattey Sannata and Qarib QaribSingle, Ajay Rai says, “We are thrilledto start our film journey here. This isour second film after to be selected atSundance, after a gap of seven years.It feels truly special.”

The Jar Pictures producer AlanMcAlex who did individual projectsDangal and Amazon series Made inHeaven as an Executive Producer andco-produced A Suitable Boy, says, “We

are delighted to end this difficult yearon an exciting note. It’s a great joy tobe among 10 films from across theworld.”

Having promoted indie gems,Mauli Singh produced her award-win-ning first short film Rammat-Gammatwith Drishyam Films. Excited aboutthe premiere of her debut feature, thefilm publicist turned producer says,“Over the past seven years as a pub-licist, I have passionately promotedsome of the best independent filmspremiering at the top film festivals, allthe while harbouring a dream of pro-ducing films which will connect withthe audience across the world. Icouldn’t have asked for a better startthan this. The film is our labour oflove and I am excited to see how theworld audience will connect with it.”

On her collaboration with JarPictures, Mauli says, “I worked withAjay and Alan as their publicist. It’sa joy to collaborate with them as a co-producer on my first feature and learnfrom the best in the business.”

Artists from several countrieshave collaborated on the film whichincludes the veteran French DOPDominique Colin (who collaboratedwith many auteur filmmakers includ-ing Gaspar Noë and Cédric Klapisch)who shot the film, Simon Price fromNew Zealand edited the film alongwith Parikshhit Jha, and the music iscomposed by Arnaud van Vliet ofSouth Africa. The Indian crewincludes the production designerMausam Aggarwal, sound recordistKanishk Bhoklay, sound designerMohandas VP, costume designerKarishma Vyas and casting directorTaran Bajaj. Additional dialogues arewritten by Uttarakhand based actor-writer Sudarshan Juyal.

Earlier titled Swizerland, the filmwon two awards, ‘Prasad Lab DI’ and‘Moviebuff Appreciation’ for the bestWIP project at 2019 Film Bazaar’sWork-In-Progress Lab. It was also partof NFDC Screenwriters Lab 2018-19and Marche Du Film 2020’s, Goes toCannes Section.

Actor Chandan Roy Sanyal’s passion for cin-ema has resulted in a filmography spanning

over 14 years. Way before that he established hisbanner, Proscenium Film Company, underwhich he created a live film titled, In Between(2020). The film was presented overBookMyShow; it opened to appreciation andattracted 500 viewers.

A commentary on the vibrant lives of actors,the film deals with a few actors auditioning forroles amid the emotional turmoil that takes atoll on their profession. Chandan’s film borrowsheavily from his two decades of theatre expe-rience and one and half decade of experiencein cinema.

The actor-producer roped in his team of oldactors for the one-take film & theatre phenom-enon. He reveals that the project is inspired byhis personal experiences and he remarks thathe pieced together the script to depict the real-ity of an actor’s life.

Chandan says, “I am grateful to viewers forembracing the film despite it being a relativelyalien form of entertainment. Everyone associ-ated with the film is truly excited to bring it backto the audiences and we all realise we’re fortu-nate to enjoy this kind of support. What’s inter-esting is that because the film is about the hard-ships of an actor’s life it is relatable to those act-ing and it is a revelation for those who think act-ing is just a glamorous job that pays well.”

(The live film will have two shows at 7 pmand 9 pm each on December 19 and 20 onBookMyShow.)

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VIT-AP University, Amaravati, conductedthree days virtual international conference

in the area of applications of fluid dynamics.The conference, ICAFD-2020, is the fifthinternational conference in the series. It wasaimed at establishing a premier internation-al forum that brought together scientists, engi-neers and industrial experts to present the lat-est achievements and innovations in the areasof Applied Mathematics and Mechanics.

ICAFD-2020 invited resource personsfrom abroad (USA, Australia, UAE, Singapore,South Africa) and reputed universities (IIT,NIT, VIT, Central University) from India forthe talk. The conference was the result of along collaborative effort between the Schoolof Mechanical Engineering, VIT-APUniversity and the Department of MechanicalEngineering Science, University ofJohannesburg, South Africa.

In the welcome address, VC Dr SV KotaReddy welcomed the founder and chancellorDr G Viswanathan, VIT University. Dr Reddyhighlighted the role of conference for intel-lectual growth of an individual, followed bythe importance of applications aspects of fluiddynamics influencing our daily life.

Dr Pankaj Tambe, chairperson of the con-ference said that 175 participants registeredfor the conference. Hundred participants pre-sented their papers. Out of this, 25 participantswere from USA, Canada, South Africa,Kenya, Nigeria, Malaysia, UAE, Singapore,West Indies, Australia. The rest of the paperswere from different states of India.

The inaugural address was given by Dr R

Paneer Selvam, University of Arkansas, USA.He highlighted the important challenges afluid dynamics researcher has to work in thenear future for the advancement of this area.Dr Viswanathan praised the School ofMechanical Engineering, VIT-AP Universityfor organising the conference during the pan-demic.

Dr S Srinivas, co-chair and convener ofthe conference highlighted the objectives. DrCLV Sivakumar, registrar, VIT-AP University,presented the vote of thanks. He praised theefforts taken by Dr S Srinivas, Dr PankajTambe, Dr Mohanty, Dr Satyanarayana Badeti,Dr Amit, Dr VR Reddy, S Karthikeyan and DrJ Prakash for successfully arranging the con-ference.

Advocating natural gas as acleaner and convenient

fuel option towards a gas-based economy, as envisionedby the Government of India,GAIL has established aNatural Gas pipeline networkof over 12,500 kms. GAIL hasbeen spreading the cleanenergy to various nooks andcorners of the country byspreading the length of itspipeline network and con-necting more and more num-ber of cities.

To facilitate energyempowerment and fuel thenation, the company haslaunched three testimonialvideos under it’s online initia-t i v e#SpreadingEnergyofHappines.It is to motivate the masses andenhance the usage of naturalgas. These testimonial videosshowcase an autorikshaw dri-ver from Bhubaneshwar, ahomemaker from Patna andan industrial unit in Bengaluruusing natural gas as fuel.

The initiative advocatesthe use of uninterrupted, con-venient supply of piped natur-al gas (PNG) at homes. It pro-

motes affordable environment-friendly fuel for transportationthrough compressed naturalgas (CNG) and encouragesconvenient, soot-free andworkers’ health-friendly ener-gy for better work environmentin manufacturing and indus-tries. It also advocates theusage of cleaner natural gas forcaptive power generation forindustries and SMEs. Theusage of the cleanest fossilfuel will help in reducing emis-sions of GHG, thereby, facili-tating in reduction of air pol-lution, climate change, globalwarming and rising sea levels.

An engagement activityhas been initiated along witht h e#SpreadingEnergyOfHappiness initiative, asking netizens toshare their stories, picturesand quotes on how cleanerenergy has brought conve-nience and happiness in theirlives. GAIL has tied up with anNGO to plant a tree for everycomment on social media plat-forms. The trees will be geo-tagged and the live locationwill be shared with the socialmedia users.

The fifth and the last vessel ofthe indigenous project for 05

Offshore Patrol Vessels for IndianCoast Guard was launched at thehands of Jayanthi Natarajan,President, Coast Guard WivesWelfare Association, in the pres-ence of DG K Natarajan, DGICG,who was the chief guest for theevent at Goa Shipyard Limited.The vessel was named as ICGSSaksham. Considering the ongo-ing restrictions due to COVID-19,the function was held in a scaleddown manner at GSL in distin-guished presence of Flag OfficerGoa Area Rear Admiral PhiliposeG Pynumootil, NM, chairmanand MD of Goa Shipyard Limited— Commodore BB Nagpal andvarious other dignitaries.

The indigenous project waslaunched by the Prime Minister onNovember 13 2016. Since then,two vessels have been commis-sioned and all five have beenlaunched. In spite of the ongoingCOVID situation and disruptionsin supply chains, it is creditable forthe shipyard to complete the 100per cent hull construction and

launch the vessel within 18months from keel laying, whichwas in June 2019. The vessel is inadvanced stage of outfitting andwill be ready for delivery byOctober 2021 as per the contrac-tual schedule.

Entirely designed in-house bythe professionals of GSL, theseOPVs will form a formidable partof the Coast Guard Fleet and usedfor protection of ExclusiveEconomic Zone of territorial water

of the nation. These vessels will befitted with modern and technolog-ically advanced machinery andcomputerised controls systems,making them the advanced patrolvessels in service with the IndianCoast Guard on delivery. These2,400 tonnes vessels will beequipped with features like quickresponse boats for rescue andanti piracy, gunnery simulatorsand many more features. The hullwould be the most efficient form

designed by GSL and would pro-vide for fuel efficiency, crew com-fort and excellent sea keepingqualities.

While complementing GSLfor achieving yet another mile-stone in execution of f iveCGOPVs Project, DGICG KNatarajan said, “The launching ofthis majestic ship, which is anexample of fine workmanship andequipped with most advancedmachineries, will help IndianCoast Guard in performing mul-tifarious roles chartered to IndianCoast Guard more effectively.”

On this occasion Cmde BBNagpal, CMD GSL, said, “Thelaunch of the fifth OPV despite theserious supply chain constrainsimposed by COVID-19 is a majorfeat for GSL. In line with the ship-yard’s tradition of delivering ontime, we are confident to deliverthis last vessel of the project. Ourendeavour has been to maximisethe indigenous content on theseships. I am happy to state thatmore than 70 per cent indigenisa-tion has been achieved for theseships.”

The Steel Authority of IndiaLimited (SAIL) has been

awarded with the prestigiousGolden Peacock EnvironmentManagement Award for the year2020 by the Institute of Directors.

Anil Kumar Chaudhary,chairman of SAIL, lauded theefforts and said, “SAIL has beenthe winner of this awardfor successive twoyears and thisbears testimo-ny to thee f f o r t smade bythe com-pany forsustain-able andenviron-m e n t a l l yresponsiblesteel mak-ing. Thisaward is oneof the mostc o v e t e dawards in

the category. Considering variousenvironmental issues leading toglobal warming and climatechange, the award encouragescorporates to enhance their envi-ronmental performance and tocompete with peers to set bench-marks.”

SAIL, as its corporate respon-sibility for environment protec-

tion, continuously focuss-es on adopting various

e n v i r o n m e n t a lmeasures includ-

ing upgrading ofpollution con-trol facilities,treatment andrecirculation ofwastewater fromindividual units

and outfalls, effi-cient handling ofdifferent solidwastes, carbon

sequestration throughafforestation, amongothers. Also, theimpact of

LIC is devising better methods toprovide services to its esteemed

policyholders in the times of thepandemic. The policyholders cannow avail its improved customer-centric initiatives. Online facility forswitching of funds under ULIP

policies has been introducedthrough LIC’s Customer Portal,registered for premier services.

This facility is available for NewEndowment Plus (Plan 935),Nivesh Plus (Plan 849) and SIIP(Plan 852), the three plans current-

ly being sold. The facility of onlineswitching of funds is free of cost.One switch is allowed per day perpolicy through an OTP basedauthentication system. All rulesapplicable for offline requests areapplicable for the online system as

well.LIC has also extended the bi-

lingual customer care support.The services are now additionallyavailable in Marathi, Tamil andBengali.

The company also has a

Conversational ArtificialIntelligence/Machine Learningenabled bi-lingual chatbot, whichis a one stop platform for provid-ing information regarding premi-um due date, various products,including the newly launched plans

and customer queries. The chatbothas answered 1,20,75,440 queries sofar since its launch in January 2020.

LIC is well advanced with dig-ital transformation and hasresponded to the pandemic withgreat speed and agility.

Chhattisgarh celebrated the completionof two years of Bhupesh Baghel-led

state government by participating in thevirtual marathon campaign. More thanone lakh people hailing from 28 districtstook part in the virtual race. The ChiefMinister Baghel also took part in theevent.

The allocated time for the marathonwas set from 6 am till 11 am, but theenthusiasm filled statesman continuedthe marathon even after the deadline hadpassed. It was organised by the Sports andYouth Welfare and Public RelationsDepartment of the state. Unlike thecommonly held marathon, participantsin this virtual marathon had to uploadtheir running photos or videos on socialmedia.

The theme of the event was — BaatHai Abhiman Kee, Chhattisgarh KeSwabhimaan Kee.

Approximately 71,000 people regis-tered to participate in the event but by 11am more than one lakh people joined thecampaign. Baghel uploaded his photos onsocial media while sporting a special t-shirt. He said that the entire state and itszeal is running with me. He motivatedothers to run as well.

The Food Minister Amarjeet Bhagat,School Education Minister Dr PremsaiSingh Tekam, Forest MinisterMohammad Akbar, Women and ChildDevelopment Minister Anila Bhedia,Excise Minister Kavasi Lakhma, RajyaSabha MP Chhaya Verma, Raipur (Rural)MLA Satyanarayana Sharma, RaipurMayor Ejaz Dhebar and many other pub-lic representatives attended the event andparticipated with enthusiasm.

Several bureaucrats including ChiefSecretary Amitabh Jain and DirectorGeneral of Police DM Avasthi, AdditionalChief Secretary Subrat Sahu, PrincipalChief Conservator of Forests RakeshChaturvedi and Secretary to ChiefMinister Siddharth Komal Singh Pardeshialso took part in the campaign. Peoplefrom all age groups, gender and diversesections of society participated in thecampaign and made it a huge success.Women, children, old-aged and elderlypeople uploaded their pictures on socialmedia with the #RunwithChhattisgarhhashtag.

The National Hydrology Project wasstarted in the year 2016 as a CentralSector Scheme with 100 per cent

grant to implementing agencies with abudget outlay of �3,680 crore to be spentover a period of eight years. The projectaims at improving the extent, reliabilityand accessibility of information related towater resources and to strengthen thecapacity of water resource managementinstitutions in India. The efficient and reli-able information paves the way for aneffective water resource development andmanagement.

The project, in its mid term, has madesignificant progress in the fields of waterresource monitoring system, waterresource information system (WRIS),water resource operation and planning sys-tems, institutional capacity enhancementand trainings.

The Minister of State, Jal Shakti,Rattan Lal Kataria, informed that underthe NHP, a nation wide repository of waterresources data — NWIC has been estab-lished. Approximately 1,900 real time dataacquisition stations (RTDAs) have been setup and contract for 6,500 RTDAs havealready been awarded. He informed thatnear real time data acquisition systems(NRTDAs) as well as manual data acqui-sition stations are being set up. IndiaWRIS, water information and manage-ment system WIMS have been revamped.The major success has been bringing allstates on board for data sharing on waterresources, a task hitherto left unaccom-plished by previous governments.

Kataria also directed authorities toshare the valuable research work carriedout under NHP in public domain andencourage universities/research institutesglobally to benefit as well as contributetowards it. He termed NHP as a projectof national importance. He stated that col-lecting data from scattered agencies poseda major bottleneck in effective water

resource management and also a stum-bling block in important policy leveldecision making.

Acknowledging progress made indata collection, he informed that 12,273surface water stations have been set up by2020 as compared to mere 878 in the year2016. Around 70,525 ground water sta-tions have been set up in a span of fouryears.

Kataria stated that data is a valuableresource and lack of interest shown by pre-vious governments has resulted intounavailability of reliable historic data. Heemphasised that the NDA government,under the dynamic leadership of NarendraModi, is trying to amend all historicalwrongs committed by the previous gov-ernments and correct the myopic perspec-tive with which water resource manage-

ment was being handled. He also hailedthe very first step in this direction of set-ting up of Ministry of Jal Shakti for adopt-ing an integrated approach towards effec-tive water management.

He further informed that throughNHP, the management of water resourcesshall witness a sea change since it willadopt an integrated approach and makeuse of latest cutting edge technology. For

example, opening of gates for dams has sofar been a manual operation but throughNHP, these operations shall be changedinto automatic mode on pilot basis for afew dams.

He lauded the efforts of Haryana gov-ernment in implementing NHP andinformed that Haryana is among the topten performing states in terms of percent-age of funds utilised.

Santosh Kumar Gangwar,Minister for Labour and

Employment (IndependentCharge), and G Kishan Reddy,Minister of State for HomeAffairs, jointly dedicated newservices and equipment at ESICMedical College, Hyderabad.The services and equipmentdedicated are:

(i) Innovative portablepoint of care (RTPCR), a userfriendly, quick sample process-ing device for COVID patients.

(ii) Remote health mon-itoring system — COVID BEEPservices to COVID and Non-COVID patients. It’s a compre-hensive indigenously developedphysiological parameter moni-toring system to measureremotely heart rate, blood pres-sure, body temperature, respira-tory rate and oxygen saturation.It is the first of its kind wearabledevice that gives all parameterssimultaneously. The device canbe controlled by the doctorsremotely for measuring bloodpressure.

(iii) COVID-safe incuba-tors for new born babies, indige-

nously developed by modifyingexisting incubators.

(iv) Round the clock in-house dialysis services with 50beds: There are about 600 dial-ysis patients in the hospitalwho were being referred to theprivate hospitals. During the

pandemic, referral and trans-port increased the risk of infec-tion of SARS-CoV-2.Therefore, with starting of thedialysis services, all ESICinsured persons and beneficia-ries at Hyderabad will get in-house dialysis services.

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Page 14: 2020/12/16  · nected to China via a six-lane high-way and a gas pipeline which Beijing apprehends will be hit by the Baloch insurgents. The Chinese Defence Minister …

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Apeerless Virat Kohli andhis “fearless” India wouldlook to unleash their

might on an Australian teamwhich is ready for revenge butnot exactly in ‘pink of health’ahead of the first Day/NightTest starting here at AdelaideOval on Thursday.

Media mogul Kerry Packer,while promoting his path-break-ing ‘World Series Day/NightTest matches’ on Channel 9 backin late 1970s, had an unforget-table caption “Big Boys Play AtNight”.

Even in 2020, there couldn’thave been a more appropriatecatch-line for a series whereKohli’s magnificence meets itsmatch in Steve Smith’s manicconsistency, Cheteshwar Pujara’sdoggedness challenged by amuch younger MarnusLabuschagne, ready to show theworld that he isn’t a one-seasonwonder. All this would be underlights at the Adelaide Oval.

And then there are thosemean fast men on both sidesaiming to instill the fear of pinkball in twilight zone, creating allsorts of doubts in the batsmen’sminds.

A Josh Hazlewood versusMohammed Shami will be asenticing a sub-plot as JaspritBumrah bowling those yorkersin reply to Pat Cummins’ barrageof bouncers.

With a workhorse like IshantSharma missing from Indianranks and the enforcer DavidWarner absent in the Australianline-up, the teams are evenlyplaced in terms of strength.

However, there will certain-ly be some distinct home advan-tage for Australia along with theexperience of playing moreDay/Night Tests.

A Day/Night Test match hasits own little grammar wherebatsmen are expected to attack inthe first session while bowlers are

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India captain Virat Kohli onWednesday backed his

deputy Ajinkya Rahane to “doa tremendous job” in leading theside once he goes on paternityleave after the first Test againstAustralia and described theirrelationship as the one built on“trust and mutual respect”.

“Well, firstly we had a lot ofmutual understanding andrespect over the years, we havehad some great partnershipsbatting together which is basedon trust and understanding onwhat needs to be done for theteam,” Kohli said when askedhow he sees Rahane faring in hisabsence.

He believes that both havebeen on the same page andknow how this team functions.

“Jinks has done a tremendousjob in the two tour games andhe seems to be very composedand he knows the strengths ofour team and how we need togo about things,” he said.

Kohli made it clear that

Rahane will certainly follow thetemplate set by him and thereis no ambiguity as far as both ofthem are concerned.

“...We already know thetemplate that we play with andhow we want to go about things,so we are absolutely on the samepage and I am sure he will do atremendous job in my absenceas well,” the skipper seemed veryconfident.

As of now, Kohli is keen onsetting up the base for Rahaneto consolidate once he leaves.

“...The focus remains tillthe time I am here is to beable to provide, you know,captaincy and leadership andperformances as a player tothe best of my abilities andfrom then on, I am prettyconfident that Jinks will do atremendous job.”

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Australian battingmainstay Steve

Smith, whose fitnessbecame a cause ofconcern after hemissed a trainingsession, was merelydown with a stiffback and will play inthe opening Testagainst India here,skipper Tim Painesaid on Wednesday.

After doing a few stretching exercises andrunning drills at the Adelaide Oval onTuesday, Smith had skipped the routine foot-ball session and headed straight to thedressing room in some discomfort.

Paine said it was not a serious niggle anda day’s rest came as a “blessing in disguise”for the star.

"We expect Steve to be there. He has hada stiff back a number of times before and youcan have that if you bat as much as he doesat the nets,” Paine said at the pre-match mediainteraction.

“He has a stiff back before and yesterday(Tuesday) was more precautionar y.Obviously, come tomorrow (Thursday), hegets through stiff back and finds a way toscore runs like he always does,” he added.

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Two losses in four days hasstalled Chelsea’s serene

progress in the Premier League,turning the spotlight onto itsexpensively assembled attackthat remains a work inprogress.

Two drab draws forManchester City in the sameperiod is raising even morequestions — notably, what hashappened to what was once themost entertaining team inEngland?

It was an evening to forgetfor two of the league’s sup-posed title contenders onTuesday, with Chelsea’s 2-1loss at Wolverhampton —sealed by a winning goal instoppage time — followed byCity’s 1-1 draw at home toWest Bromwich Albion, one ofthe favorites for relegation thisseason.

Chelsea missed the chanceto climb into first place, at leastfor one night, while City

squandered an opportunity tomove within sight of the toptwo in the division, Tottenhamand Liverpool.

Chelsea’s setback atMolineux followed a 1-0 loss atEverton on Saturday and bothdefeats have highlighted theimportance of playmakerHakim Ziyech, who missedthem through injury.

Olivier Giroud, who beganthe season as Chelsea’s third-choice striker but is now start-ing regularly, opened the scor-ing in the 49th minute.

Wolves roared back andequalized through DanielPodence in the 66th before hisfellow Portugal international,Pedro Neto, broke forward onthe counterattack and drove

home the winner in the fifthminute of stoppage time.

Chelsea manager FrankLampard remodeled his attackas part of an offseasonspending spree, but TimoWerner is now without agoal in eight games, KaiHavertz has under-whelmed, and another ofthe new signings, Ziyech,has had spells out injured.

Meanwhile, US wingerChristian Pulisic is feeling hisway back to match sharpnessafter a run of injuries.

As does Pep Guardiola,with City languishing in sixthplace after a tepid displayagainst West Brom, whichgrabbed a point thanks to anunfortunate own-goal by Citydefender Ruben Dias in the43rd.

City had gone aheadthrough Ilkay Gundogan in the30th but struggled for imagina-tion in attempting to breakdown a deep-lying visitingdefense.

Guardiola’s team had sim-ilar problems in attack in a 0-0draw at Manchester United onSaturday.

With 18 goals, Cityis the lowest scorer ofthe league’s top nineteams.

Guardiola has beenplaying two defensivemidfielders since theoffseason departure of

long-time playmaker DavidSilva in an effort to give moreprotection to his defense, but itis robbing the team of creativ-ity.

West Brom battled to ahard-fought point but it was notenough to save its manager,Slaven Bilic, from getting fired.

Bilic lose his job onWednesday, with West Brom innext-to-last place.

Bilic had been at the clubfor only 18 months but hadearned the admiration of thefans after leading West Brom toautomatic promotion from theChampionship last season.

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Karim Benzemaspared Real Madrid’s

the blushes on Tuesdaywith a winning bracewhich shot the reigningchampions to a 3-1 win overAthletic Bilbao that draws themlevel on points with La Ligaleaders Real Sociedad.

Frenchman Benzema head-ed home a cross from DaniCarvajal with 16 minutesremaining to put Real aheadagainst battling Bilbao, whohad fought back to levelearlier having lost RaulGarcia to two quickfirebookings in openingminutes.

Toni Krooshad giventhe hosts thelead inMadrid with athumping strikeon the stroke ofhalf-time, butAnder Capa rockedthe capital club six min-utes after the breakwhen he shot pastThibaut Courtois at thesecond time of asking.

The 32-year-old

Benzema had otherideas however, puttinghis team in front beforemaking sure of thepoints in stoppage timewith a clinical finishafter collecting Luka

Modric’s pass.Third-placed Madrid

gained their fourth straightwin in all competitions and areequal on 26 points withSociedad, who face troubledBarcelona at the Camp Nou on

Wednesday, and local rivalsAtletico Madrid.

Tuesday’s match wasthe game in hand which

Real had on Sociedad,while Atletico have

played two gamesfewer than their

two title rivals.Barca are

nine pointsback butplay one oftheir twogames in

hand in thehope of giving

some momen-tum to what has

been a miserableseason so far.

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All India Football FederationPresident Praful Patel on

Wednesday acknowledged thatthe country’s bid to host the2027 AFC Asian Cup will facetough challenge from othercompetitors but termed it a“natural consequence” of its ris-ing status in the continent.

Unveiling the Bid Book tohost the continental showpiecein 2027 along with SportsMinister Kiren Rijiju, Patel saidthe AIFF is hopeful of winningthe hosting right of the tourna-ment which will be competedamong 24 teams.

“Competition will be toughbut unless you try you will notget anything. Just like any otherbidding country, we are alsoconfident of winning the rightto host the event. There will bediplomatic support also. It is thecountry’s bid and AIFF is onlya representative,” Patel said.

“India has arrived in theworld scene in football. Wehave hosted men’s FIFA U-17World Cup and is going to hostthe women’s U-17 World Cup in2022. Then, we are hosting the2022 AFC Women’s Asian Cup.

“The bidding of both the

FIFA U-20 World Cup for bothmen and women is also on thecards. So, it is a natural conse-quence of having all these toplevel tournaments that we willbid for the AFC Asian Cup in2027.”

Asian football heavyweightsSaudi Arabia and Iran as well as2022 FIFA World Cup hostQatar are also bidding for the2027 AFC Asian Cup. SaudiArabia and Qatar submittedtheir Bid Books to the AFC onMonday.

India is expected to submitthe Bid Book on Thursday orFriday — the deadline for sub-mission. Uzbekistan has pulledout of the race.

In April this year, the AIFFhad submitted its official expres-

sion of interest to host the tour-nament. The host country willbe decided in June next year.

Rijiju, on his part, said theGovernment will extend all pos-sible support to the AIFF to winthe bid.

“Indian football need to getback (to earlier glory) and weneed to host big events. This isone of the most prestigiousfootball tournaments and fromthe Government side, we willextend all the support,” said theminister. “It will be a definingmoment (if India win the bid).I am confident by 2027 the men’sand women’s team ranking willgo up and we will be apt to hostthe tournament. So, the wholenation is supporting the bid,” hesaid.

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Zimbabwe will host the qual-ifiers of the 2023 ODI World

Cup between June 18 and July9, according to a revised sched-uled announced by the ICC dueto the postponements caused bythe Covid-19 pandemic.

India, the hosts of therescheduled 2023 ODI WorldCup, along with seven other topSuper League teams will quali-fy directly for the tournament tobe held in October-November.

The bottom five teams fromthe Super League will competein the 2023 World Cup qualifi-er, joining the best three teamsfrom League 2.

“When we rescheduled theICC Men’s Cricket World Cup2023 to October and November2023 it enabled us to extend thewindow for qualification eventsto take place and thereby ensurewe maximise the opportunityfor qualification to be decidedon the field of play,” ICC Headof Events, Chris Tetley said in astatement. The ICC alsoannounced the schedule of theWorld League 2 and theChallenge League.

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Virat Kohli’s captaincy isstill work in progress

despite him being a perfect rolemodel for his teammates, feelsformer India batsman VVSLaxman, who wants the star tochop and change the squad alittle less for greater stability.

Laxman said Kohli leads byexample as far as work ethic isconcerned but tends to be abit defensive in field set-tings besides the issue ofchanging the squad toooften.

“I mentioned somany times, theintensity and thebody language heshows when he’son the field,whether he’sbatting orfielding, Ithink he leadsby example andthat is so infec-tious,” Laxmanshared his opinionon Star Sports showCricket Connected.

“It rubs off on allof his team-matesand that’s why he’s a

perfect role model of how acaptain should be. There’s stillwork-in-progress as far as cap-taincy is concerned. Couple ofthings I think Virat Kohli canimprove.”

Laxman touched uponconstant experiments with theline-up since Kohli took chargeand said this can lead to inse-curity among players. Kohlitook charge as Test captain in2014 and was handed the lim-

ited-overs’ leadership in 2017.“...There were certain

times when I felt that hebecomes little defensive, espe-cially with his field changes.

“The second thing ischopping and changingthe playing 11. Withexperience, I can saythat any player,whether experiencedor a newcomer,wants that stability,

security, so that hecan focus on per-

forming to thebest of his abili-ties for the team.That’s something

which Virat Kohlican definitely improveon,” he pointed out.

!��� Doha will host the2030 Asian Games, the OlympicCouncil of Asia announced onWednesday, while Riyadh wasnamed as host of the 2034 edi-tion under a compromiseagreed between the rivals.

An executive board meet-ing of the Olympic Council ofAsia (OCA) unanimouslyapproved the proposal to namethe runner-up in the two-horserace for the 2030 games as2034 hosts.

“I can now announce... thatthe city who had the highest voteand will host 2030 in Doha,” saidOCA president Sheikh AhmadAl-Fahad Al-Sabah.

“The second hosting city, for2034, is Riyadh.”

Doha beat Riyadh, SaudiArabia, in a vote of 45 NationalOlympic Committees at the39th OCA General Assemblyheld in Muscat, Oman.

Doha hosted the AsianGames in 2006 while SaudiArabia has never organised anOCA multi-sport event. AFP

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Fast bowler Migael Pretoriushas received his maiden call

up in the South Africa squad forthe upcoming two-match Testseries against Sri Lanka.

The 25-year-old has had anexceptional season so far in the4-Day Domestic Series underthe coaching of former Proteaspaceman Allan Donald. He iscurrently third on the tourna-ment’s leading wicket takerstable with 19 scalps from fivematches and best bowling fig-ures of 7/102 against theHollywoodbets Dolphins intheir season opener last month.

“We’re pleased to includeMigael in the Proteas Test squadfor the Sri Lanka series. We’re bigon rewarding consistently goodwork and the player has done alot to make a case for himself,”said Cricket South AfricaConvenor of Selectors Victor

Mpitsang in a statement.“We hope that this experi-

ence will be a great learning onefor him and that this can serveas encouragement for playersacross the country, showingthem that their chances may notbe as far off as they think,” headded.

Meanwhile, Kagiso Rabadaand Dwain Pretorius have notyet been medically cleared toparticipate in the series.

The Proteas will gather inPretoria on Saturday for the Testseries which begins onDecember 26.Test squad: Quinton de Kock(captain), Temba Bavuma,Aiden Markram, Faf du Plessis,Beuran Hendricks, Dean Elgar,Keshav Maharaj, Lungi Ngidi,Rassie van der Dussen, SarelErwee, Anrich Nortje, GlentonStuurman, Wiaan Mulder,Keegan Petersen, KyleVerreynne, Migael Pretorius.

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at their peak once the sun sets,allowing the pink kookaburra topick its pace up.

Never has an Indian teambeen so spoilt for choices withmultiple options in place for var-ious positions.

But Indian skipper ViratKohli made it clear that ShubmanGill and KL Rahul will have towait for their chances with themanagement deciding to stick toan out-of-form Prithvi Shaw inthe opening slot.

“Shubman hasn’t got oppor-tunities at this level yet in Testcricket, so as and when he gets anopportunity it will be great to seehow he goes about things, becausehe is a very, very confident youngman,” Kohli said on the eve of thegame.

“Prithvi has performed at theTest level, but he will be playingin Australia for the first time. So,I think it is very exciting to see hisprogress as well.”

Can Rahul be fitted in theteam at some stage?

“KL is obviously a qualityplayer and hence he has beenincluded back into the Test squadand you know we have to seewhat combinations suits the bal-ance of the team best,” skipper’sstatement stressed that HanumaVihari, with his part-time off-

breaks, is the choice for now.For the much-speculated

wicketkeeper’s slot, WriddhimanSaha was preferred over theexplosive but erratic RishabhPant.

In the build-up to the series,Saha’s fifty in the red-ball first-class match was achieved in atougher setting than Pant’s 73-ball100 under lights against a secondstring Australia A attack.

Also, Umesh Yadav pre-dictably, after his good show inthe practice game, got his place inthe side as the third pacer.

On Tuesday, India’s top bat-ters were being troubled byThangarasu Natarajan’s incomingdeliveries with pink kookaburraat the Adelaide nets.

If Natarajan, at 130-plus, cantrouble them so much, thenMitchell Starc, the world’s topwicket-taker in pink ball Tests,can be menacing.

At times, less options make iteasier to choose and Kohli wouldhope that he has made the rightchoices so that Ajinkya Rahanecan help India do an encore oncehe takes a break.

������India (playing XI): Virat Kohli(captain), Mayank Agarwal,Prithvi Shaw, Cheteshwar Pujara,Ajinkya Rahane (vc), HanumaVihari, Wriddhiman Saha (wk),Ravichandra Ashwin,Mohammed Shami, JaspritBumrah, Umesh Yadav.Australia: Tim Paine (captain &wicketkeeper), Joe Burns, PatCummins, Cameron Green,Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood,Travis Head, Moises Henriques,Marnus Labuschagne, NathanLyon, Michael Neser, JamesPattinson, Steven Smith, MitchellStarc, Mitchell Swepson, MatthewWade.���� 0�!!���#�����-����� �� ��������� � �� J��#0����K%������

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��#����#�����+"�' +������������%� ������0��;�������0��� ������������� �� Rookie all-rounder Cameron Green ismade for Test cricket and will make his debut inthe pink ball match against India, Australia cap-tain Tim Paine announced on Wednesday.

The giant seam-bowling all-rounder made animpressive hundred in the first warm-up gameagainst India A and was drafted into the Test team.While he got concussed in the second game dueto a straight drive from Jasprit Bumrah, Paine indi-cated that the baggy green is waiting for him.

“He trained well. If all things go well, CamGreen will be making his Test debut tomorrow(Thursday). Great news for him. Great news forus and great news for all Australian cricket fans,”Paine said ahead of the series-opener.

Paine, who batted alongsideGreen in the warm-up game andhas also seen him score a lot ofruns in Sheffield Shield, is con-fident that he has a bright

future ahead of him. “He is really impressive for a

guy of his age and understandshis game pretty well. He has

smart cricket brain and iscalm under pressure. He

is made for Test cricket,”Paine complimented

the 21-year-oldWest Australian’sskills. PTI


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