12
I ndia’s tally of coronavirus cases crossed half-a-million mark on Friday with Maharashtra reporting more than 5,000 cases and 175 deaths in 24 hours. Maharashtra registered 5,024 new coronavirus cases, taking the tally of cases in the State to 1,52,765, while the number of fatalities reached 7,106 with 175 new deaths. Maharashtra is India’s worst affected State accounts for nearly one-third of India’s total positive cases. Delhi reported 63 deaths and 3,460 positive cases on Thursday, taking the total number of cases to 77,240 including 47091 recovered/dis- charged/migrated, 27,657 active cases and 2,492 deaths. T he Southwest monsoon covered the entire country on Friday, 12 days earlier than the expected scheduled date, bringing in cheers to the farmers. The monsoon usual- ly covers the whole country by July 8. The monsoon further advanced into the remaining parts of Rajasthan, Haryana, and Punjab on Friday morning. Gusty winds and rain lashed isolated places in Delhi and some districts in Rajasthan. According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the southwest monsoon during the same period was 155.2 millimetres against the normal rainfall of 128 mm which is 21 per cent more than normal. So far, in the first 26 days of the four-month mon- soon season that started in June, out of 683 districts in the country, 520 have received 77 per cent rainfall. Only 163 dis- tricts have received deficient rains so far. Dr Kuldeep Shrivastava, head of the regional weather forecasting centre, said mon- soon has covered entire India on June 26, 2020. The remain- ing parts of Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan were covered by monsoon on Friday. The monsoon advanced ahead of time due to a low- pressure area over the Bay of Bengal, which moved west- northwestwards and another cyclonic circulation over cen- tral India. The two events cre- ated favourable conditions for the monsoon. Due to the shift- ing of the monsoon trough northwards and convergence of strong southerly and south- westerly winds from Bay of Bengal over northeast and adjoining east India, wide- spread and heavy to very heavy rainfall will continue over the northeast and east India during the next three days. A fter the Supreme Court approved the Centre’s deci- sion to cancel the remaining CBSE board X, XII exams, the HRD Ministry and other stake- holders like engineering, med- ical, and other professional institutions are in a fix about the conduct of the entrance tests for admissions into IITs, AIIMS and other institutions. HRD Ministry sources said a decision will be taken early next week in this regard after a meeting of the HRD Ministry, the Home Affairs Ministry and the Health Ministry. The JEE Main 2020 exam are scheduled from July 18 to 23 while the NEET 2020 exam date is July 26. The HRD Ministry is now flooded with requests by students and par- ents demanding postponement of Joint Entrance Examination Main (JEE) and National Eligibility cum Entrance Test- Undergraduate (NEET) 2020. Ministry sources said early this week, HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank held two review meetings with engineering and medical insti- tute officials and the director- general of the National Testing Agency, or NTA, to discuss “various issues” related to edu- cation during COVID-19. National Testing Agency (NTA) conducts NEET and JEE (Main) for lakhs of engi- neering and medical aspirants from across the country. Sources said if the Ministry decides for postponement then NTA will work on the options of conducting NEET in both online and offline modes in a staggered manner. The development of last couple of days related to CBSE and ICSE board examinations have made the HRD Ministry to call for an urgent meeting of all the stakeholders to deliber- ate on the fate of entrance tests. “After the recent decision on CBSE Board exams, stu- dents have sought clarifica- tion on JEE and NEET exams too,” said a Ministry official. I ndia’s mortality rate has gone past the USA, the worst- affected, country with nearly 125,000 deaths. In overall count since the beginning of the outbreak, the US is still way ahead of India with more than 5 per cent mor- tality rate in comparison to India’s 3.12 per cent, but there has been a trend reversal from the last four weeks. On June 25, the USA clocked 34,191 new cases and 748 deaths for a mortality rate of 2.18 per cent. During the same 24-hour period, India added 16,922 new cases and 418 deaths, which trans- lated into a mortality rate of 2.47 per cent. This was not a one-off aberration. Three different sets of comparisons — one- week, two-week, and four- week — will firmly establish that India has been logging a greater mortality rate than the US for quite some time. On processing the World Health Organization (WHO) data, the average mortality rate of the US between June 18 and June 25 comes to 2.09 per cent. This is based on the addi- tion of 2,03,406 new cases and 4,253 deaths by the USA dur- ing this period. On the other hand, India added 1,10,087 new cases and 3,629 deaths during this peri- od, which translated into a mortality rate of 3.21 per cent. The same holds true for a fortnight period when between June 10 and June 25 when the USA added 3,78,367 new cases and 1,0225 deaths for a mor- tality rate of 2.73 per cent. During the same period, India added 2,04,025 new cases and 7,202 deaths, which accounted for a mortality rate of 3.52 per cent. The same trend is seen on n June 1 also when India has a mortality rate of around 3.3 per cent and the USA 3.1 per cent. How the picture has changed during a longer dura- tion is reflected in the outcome of a two-month backward com- parison. On April 25, the US clocked a mortality rate of 5.67 per cent, registering 30,719 new cases and 1,742 deaths. New Delhi: Schools in Delhi will remain closed till July 31 in view of the Covid-19 situation, while online classes and activi- ties shall continue, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia announced on Friday. Sisodia, who is also the city’s Education Minister, made the announcement after a meeting with officials of the Directorate of Education (DoE) on how to reopen schools. Among issues deliberated upon during the meeting were a 30 to 50 per cent reduction in syllabus to ease students’ stress, and class-specific plans for online activities as well. A mid the ongoing tension on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh, Army Chief General MM Naravane here on Friday briefed Defence Minister Rajnath Singh of the prevailing ground situation and the Chinese Army’s increased build-up at several places along the LAC. The Army Chief returned after a two-day visit to forward areas there. The important briefing came at a time when the Chinese have not pulled back their troops and the Indian Armed forces are now prepared for a long haul. After a massive Chinese military build-up in the Depsang valley in Eastern Ladakh in the last few days even as the two Armies were holding parleys to restore peace at the LAC, the Indian forces have also ramped up their troop strength. On Naravane’s briefing to the Defence Minister, sources said the Army chief on his first visit met the injured jawans in the hospital in Leh. He also took stock of the preparedness with the senior brass of the Northern Command. Naravane also visited some forward areas in his visit on Wednesday and Thursday. The Army Chief updated Rajnath Singh, who also returned to New Delhi after a three-day visit to Moscow on Thursday, about the level of preparedness of the forces to deal with any exigencies on the ground in view of the Chinese Army’s refusal to disengage in any meaningful manner. Besides giving the latest position on the LAC and oper- ational readiness to meet any challenge, the Army chief also apprised the Minister of the deliberations at the Army Commanders Conference (ACC) held early this week. Sources said the Army chief briefed the Defence Minister about the growing Chinese deployment in Pangong Tso area of eastern Ladakh, which is seen as a seri- ous cause of concern by the Indian Armed forces. The two sides are face to face at Finger Four of the Pangong lake area, where the Chinese have stayed put and are refus- ing to go back. The Chinese Army is reported to be occupying the crucial ridgelines on top of Finger Four, overlooking the forward Indian positions. Reports say that the Chinese side has brought in vehicles, tents, and boats covering the eastern part of the Finger Four and Finger Eight. The Chinese are not allow- ing the Indian Army to patrol now up to Finger 8 and block- ing them near Finger 4 itself. Beijing: India on Friday warned China that trying to alter the status quo on the ground by resorting to force will not just dam- age the peace that existed on the border areas but can also have “ripples and repercussions” in the broader bilateral relation- ship, and demanded that Beijing stop its activities in eastern Ladakh. The only way to resolve the current military standoff along the LAC in eastern Ladakh was for Beijing to realise that trying to “change the status quo by resorting to force is not the right way forward,” India’s ambassador to China Vikram Misri said in a hard-hitting interview to PTI. Details on P2 Washington: The US is reviewing its global deployment of forces to ensure that it is “postured appropriately” to counter the growing Chinese military threat to countries like India, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said. The top US diplomat said this in response to a question during the virtual Brussels Forum 2020 of the German Marshall Fund on Thursday. C hief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday reviewed the preparations for the ensu- ing Bahuda Yatra in Puri and asked the concerned officials to put their best efforts in this regard. “The world is watching Puri. We must put our best efforts to ensure all precautions are taken,” he said during a videoconference with senior officials. Patnaik thanked servitors of the Jagannath Temple, the Puri district administration and all those involved in organ- ising the Rath Yatra. On Bahuda Yatra, he said, “Please complete all rituals on time. Strictly ensure (that) all those tested negative (for Covid-19) will participate in the rituals and chariot pulling.” The Information & Public Relations Department must ensure live telecast of Bahuda Yatra, Suna Besha, Adharapana and Niladri Bije events, he said. P radesh Congress Committee (PCC) presi- dent Niranjan Patnaik and six other leaders were fined for violating the social distancing norm here on Friday. The city police collected the fine while Patnaik was leading a joint protest by the Congress and 13 other politi- cal parties against ‘Covid mis- management’ by the Odisha and Union Governments. Members of these political parties led by Congress staged a demonstration and later sub- mitted a memorandum alleg- ing that due to the short-sight- edness of the Central and State Governments the coronavirus pandemic is spreading in the country. Instead of ramping up testing facilities stress was laid on lockdowns and shutdowns. The rate of Covid testing is very low in the country. The Modi Government without any preparedness announced a lockdown in the country. Due to which crores of people were pushed into an uncertain future. For the lock- down the manufac- turing sector was shut down affecting the livelihood of mil- lions of people, they stated. Though the Odisha Government announced to con- duct 15,000 tests per day, not even 3,000 tests are being carried out daily. Besides, there has a scam in purchase of personal protection equipment (PPE), masks and other equip- ments. They demanded an inquiry into the alleged scam and stringent action against the accused. C oronavirus infection cases crossed the 6,000-mark in the State with 218 new cases on Friday. The total confirmed cases now stand at 6,180. Of the new cases, 198 were reported from various quaran- tine centres where returnees from other States are lodged. The remaining 20 cases were local contacts. The day’s highest 49 cases were reported from Ganjam district, followed by Jagatsinghpur with 29, Gajapati 27, Bhadrak 25, Khordha 17, Sundargarh 11, Puri 10, Mayurbhanj nine, Baleswar seven, Kendrapada six, Cuttack five and Jharsuguda four, Two cases each were reported from Nuapada, Keonjhar and Sambalpur dis- tricts while one each was reported from Nabarangpur, Angul, Kandhamal, Jajpur, Boudh and Koraput. Besides, seven NDRF per- sonnel, who returned from West Bengal after cyclone Amphan duty, were among the positive cases. However, as many as 131 more patients recovered from the disease on the day. Out of them, 43 were from Ganjam district, 28 from Puri, 21 from Khordha, 12 from Kandhamal, seven from Jagatsinghpur, six from Nabarangpur, five from Kendrapada, two each from Baleswar and Cuttack and one each from Bargarh, Balangir, Jharsuguda, Keonjhar and Sundargarh. With this, the number of recovered cases rose to 4,422. BHUBANESWAR: Hyderabad-based Hetero Healthcare Ltd’s Covifor, a generic version of Covid-19 drug Remdesivir, would be available in Bhubaneswar soon for Rs 5,400 per 100-mg vial. The company would sup- ply the second lot of the drug to Kolkata, Indore, Bhopal, Lucknow, Patna, Bhubaneswar, Ranchi, Vijayawada, Cochin, Trivandrum and Goa within a week, it said. It has fixed a max- imum retail price of Rs 5,400 per vial for the drug. The drug is available in 100 mg vials (injectable). It needs to be administered intravenously in a hospital, critical care setting, under the supervision of a registered medical practition- er, the company said in a state- ment. PNS

ˇˆ ˙ ˇ˝ ˛˚˜ ˇ˙ · 21 hours ago  · 5,024 new coronavirus cases, ... 7,106 with 175 new deaths. Maharashtra is India’s worst affected State accounts for nearly one-third

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Page 1: ˇˆ ˙ ˇ˝ ˛˚˜ ˇ˙ · 21 hours ago  · 5,024 new coronavirus cases, ... 7,106 with 175 new deaths. Maharashtra is India’s worst affected State accounts for nearly one-third

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India’s tally of coronaviruscases crossed half-a-million

mark on Friday withMaharashtra reporting morethan 5,000 cases and 175 deathsin 24 hours.

Maharashtra registered5,024 new coronavirus cases,taking the tally of cases in theState to 1,52,765, while thenumber of fatalities reached7,106 with 175 new deaths.

Maharashtra is India’sworst affected State accountsfor nearly one-third of India’stotal positive cases.

Delhi reported 63 deathsand 3,460 positive cases onThursday, taking the totalnumber of cases to 77,240including 47091 recovered/dis-charged/migrated, 27,657active cases and 2,492 deaths.

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The Southwest monsooncovered the entire country

on Friday, 12 days earlier thanthe expected scheduled date,bringing in cheers to the farmers. The monsoon usual-ly covers the whole country byJuly 8.

The monsoon furtheradvanced into the remainingparts of Rajasthan, Haryana,and Punjab on Friday morning.Gusty winds and rain lashedisolated places in Delhi andsome districts in Rajasthan.

According to the IndiaMeteorological Department(IMD), the southwest monsoonduring the same period was155.2 millimetres against thenormal rainfall of 128 mmwhich is 21 per cent more thannormal. So far, in the first 26days of the four-month mon-soon season that started inJune, out of 683 districts in thecountry, 520 have received 77per cent rainfall. Only 163 dis-tricts have received deficientrains so far.

Dr Kuldeep Shrivastava,head of the regional weatherforecasting centre, said mon-soon has covered entire Indiaon June 26, 2020. The remain-ing parts of Punjab, Haryana,and Rajasthan were covered bymonsoon on Friday.

The monsoon advancedahead of time due to a low-

pressure area over the Bay ofBengal, which moved west-northwestwards and anothercyclonic circulation over cen-tral India. The two events cre-ated favourable conditions forthe monsoon. Due to the shift-ing of the monsoon troughnorthwards and convergence of

strong southerly and south-westerly winds from Bay ofBengal over northeast andadjoining east India, wide-spread and heavy to very heavyrainfall will continue over thenortheast and east India duringthe next three days.

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After the Supreme Courtapproved the Centre’s deci-

sion to cancel the remainingCBSE board X, XII exams, theHRD Ministry and other stake-holders like engineering, med-ical, and other professionalinstitutions are in a fix aboutthe conduct of the entrancetests for admissions into IITs,AIIMS and other institutions.

HRD Ministry sources saida decision will be taken earlynext week in this regard aftera meeting of the HRD Ministry,the Home Affairs Ministry andthe Health Ministry.

The JEE Main 2020 examare scheduled from July 18 to23 while the NEET 2020 exam

date is July 26. The HRDMinistry is now flooded withrequests by students and par-ents demanding postponementof Joint Entrance ExaminationMain (JEE) and NationalEligibility cum Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET) 2020.

Ministry sources said earlythis week, HRD MinisterRamesh Pokhriyal Nishankheld two review meetings withengineering and medical insti-tute officials and the director-general of the National TestingAgency, or NTA, to discuss“various issues” related to edu-cation during COVID-19.

National Testing Agency(NTA) conducts NEET andJEE (Main) for lakhs of engi-neering and medical aspirants

from across the country.Sources said if the Ministrydecides for postponement thenNTA will work on the optionsof conducting NEET in bothonline and offline modes in astaggered manner.

The development of lastcouple of days related to CBSEand ICSE board examinations

have made the HRD Ministryto call for an urgent meeting ofall the stakeholders to deliber-ate on the fate of entrance tests.

“After the recent decisionon CBSE Board exams, stu-dents have sought clarifica-tion on JEE and NEET examstoo,” said a Ministry official.

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India’s mortality rate has gonepast the USA, the worst-

affected, country with nearly125,000 deaths.

In overall count since thebeginning of the outbreak, theUS is still way ahead of Indiawith more than 5 per cent mor-tality rate in comparison toIndia’s 3.12 per cent, but therehas been a trend reversal fromthe last four weeks.

On June 25, the USAclocked 34,191 new cases and748 deaths for a mortality rateof 2.18 per cent. During thesame 24-hour period, India added 16,922 new casesand 418 deaths, which trans-lated into a mortality rate of2.47 per cent.

This was not a one-offaberration. Three differentsets of comparisons — one-week, two-week, and four-week — will firmly establishthat India has been logging agreater mortality rate than theUS for quite some time.

On processing the WorldHealth Organization (WHO)data, the average mortality rateof the US between June 18 andJune 25 comes to 2.09 percent. This is based on the addi-tion of 2,03,406 new cases and4,253 deaths by the USA dur-ing this period.

On the other hand, Indiaadded 1,10,087 new cases and3,629 deaths during this peri-od, which translated into amortality rate of 3.21 per cent.

The same holds true for a

fortnight period when betweenJune 10 and June 25 when theUSA added 3,78,367 new casesand 1,0225 deaths for a mor-tality rate of 2.73 per cent.During the same period, Indiaadded 2,04,025 new cases and7,202 deaths, which accountedfor a mortality rate of 3.52 percent. The same trend is seen onn June 1 also when India has a

mortality rate of around 3.3 percent and the USA 3.1 per cent.

How the picture haschanged during a longer dura-tion is reflected in the outcomeof a two-month backward com-parison. On April 25, the USclocked a mortality rate of5.67 per cent, registering 30,719new cases and 1,742 deaths.

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New Delhi: Schools in Delhi will remain closed till July 31 inview of the Covid-19 situation, while online classes and activi-ties shall continue, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodiaannounced on Friday.

Sisodia, who is also the city’s Education Minister, made theannouncement after a meeting with officials of the Directorateof Education (DoE) on how to reopen schools. Among issuesdeliberated upon during the meeting were a 30 to 50 per centreduction in syllabus to ease students’ stress, and class-specificplans for online activities as well.

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Amid the ongoing tensionon the Line of Actual

Control (LAC) in Ladakh,Army Chief General MMNaravane here on Fridaybriefed Defence MinisterRajnath Singh of the prevailingground situation and theChinese Army’s increasedbuild-up at several places alongthe LAC.

The Army Chief returnedafter a two-day visit to forwardareas there. The importantbriefing came at a time whenthe Chinese have not pulledback their troops and theIndian Armed forces are nowprepared for a long haul.

After a massive Chinese

military build-up in theDepsang valley in EasternLadakh in the last few dayseven as the two Armies wereholding parleys to restore peaceat the LAC, the Indian forces

have also ramped up theirtroop strength.

On Naravane’s briefing tothe Defence Minister, sourcessaid the Army chief on his firstvisit met the injured jawans in

the hospital in Leh. He alsotook stock of the preparednesswith the senior brass of theNorthern Command.Naravane also visited someforward areas in his visit onWednesday and Thursday.

The Army Chief updatedRajnath Singh, who alsoreturned to New Delhi after athree-day visit to Moscow onThursday, about the level ofpreparedness of the forces todeal with any exigencies on theground in view of the ChineseArmy’s refusal to disengage inany meaningful manner.

Besides giving the latestposition on the LAC and oper-ational readiness to meet anychallenge, the Army chief alsoapprised the Minister of the

deliberations at the ArmyCommanders Conference(ACC) held early this week.

Sources said the Armychief briefed the DefenceMinister about the growingChinese deployment inPangong Tso area of easternLadakh, which is seen as a seri-ous cause of concern by theIndian Armed forces. Thetwo sides are face to face atFinger Four of the Pangonglake area, where the Chinesehave stayed put and are refus-ing to go back.

The Chinese Army isreported to be occupying thecrucial ridgelines on top ofFinger Four, overlooking theforward Indian positions.Reports say that the Chineseside has brought in vehicles,tents, and boats covering theeastern part of the Finger Fourand Finger Eight.

The Chinese are not allow-ing the Indian Army to patrolnow up to Finger 8 and block-ing them near Finger 4 itself.

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Beijing: India on Friday warned China that trying to alter thestatus quo on the ground by resorting to force will not just dam-age the peace that existed on the border areas but can also have“ripples and repercussions” in the broader bilateral relation-ship, and demanded that Beijing stop its activities in easternLadakh. The only way to resolve the current military standoffalong the LAC in eastern Ladakh was for Beijing to realise thattrying to “change the status quo by resorting to force is not theright way forward,” India’s ambassador to China Vikram Misrisaid in a hard-hitting interview to PTI. Details on P2

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Washington: The US is reviewing its global deployment offorces to ensure that it is “postured appropriately” to counterthe growing Chinese military threat to countries like India,Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines, Secretary of State MikePompeo has said. The top US diplomat said this in responseto a question during the virtual Brussels Forum 2020 of theGerman Marshall Fund on Thursday.

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Chief Minister NaveenPatnaik on Friday reviewed

the preparations for the ensu-ing Bahuda Yatra in Puri andasked the concerned officials toput their best efforts in thisregard.

“The world is watchingPuri. We must put our bestefforts to ensure all precautionsare taken,” he said during avideoconference with seniorofficials.

Patnaik thanked servitorsof the Jagannath Temple, thePuri district administrationand all those involved in organ-ising the Rath Yatra.

On Bahuda Yatra, he said,“Please complete all rituals ontime. Strictly ensure (that) allthose tested negative (forCovid-19) will participate inthe rituals and chariot pulling.”

The Information & PublicRelations Department mustensure live telecast of BahudaYatra, Suna Besha, Adharapanaand Niladri Bije events, hesaid.

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Pradesh CongressCommittee (PCC) presi-

dent Niranjan Patnaik and sixother leaders were fined forviolating the social distancingnorm here on Friday.

The city police collectedthe fine while Patnaik wasleading a joint protest by theCongress and 13 other politi-cal parties against ‘Covid mis-management’ by the Odishaand Union Governments.

Members of these politicalparties led by Congress staged

a demonstration and later sub-mitted a memorandum alleg-ing that due to the short-sight-edness of the Central and StateGovernments the coronaviruspandemic is spreading in thecountry. Instead of ramping up

testing facilities stress was laidon lockdowns and shutdowns.

The rate of Covid testing isvery low in the country. TheModi Government without anypreparedness announced alockdown in the country. Due

to which crores ofpeople were pushedinto an uncertainfuture. For the lock-down the manufac-turing sector wasshut down affectingthe livelihood of mil-lions of people, theystated.

Though theOdisha Governmentannounced to con-duct 15,000 tests perday, not even 3,000tests are being carriedout daily. Besides,

there has a scam in purchase ofpersonal protection equipment(PPE), masks and other equip-ments. They demanded aninquiry into the alleged scamand stringent action against theaccused.

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Coronavirus infection casescrossed the 6,000-mark in

the State with 218 new cases onFriday. The total confirmedcases now stand at 6,180.

Of the new cases, 198 werereported from various quaran-

tine centres where returneesfrom other States are lodged.The remaining 20 cases werelocal contacts.

The day’s highest 49 caseswere reported from Ganjamdistrict, followed byJagatsinghpur with 29, Gajapati27, Bhadrak 25, Khordha 17,Sundargarh 11, Puri 10,Mayurbhanj nine, Baleswarseven, Kendrapada six, Cuttackfive and Jharsuguda four,

Two cases each werereported from Nuapada,Keonjhar and Sambalpur dis-tricts while one each wasreported from Nabarangpur,Angul, Kandhamal, Jajpur,Boudh and Koraput.

Besides, seven NDRF per-sonnel, who returned fromWest Bengal after cycloneAmphan duty, were amongthe positive cases.

However, as many as 131more patients recovered fromthe disease on the day. Out ofthem, 43 were from Ganjamdistrict, 28 from Puri, 21 fromKhordha, 12 from Kandhamal,seven from Jagatsinghpur, sixfrom Nabarangpur, five fromKendrapada, two each fromBaleswar and Cuttack and oneeach from Bargarh, Balangir,Jharsuguda, Keonjhar andSundargarh.

With this, the number ofrecovered cases rose to 4,422.

B H U B A N E S W A R :Hyderabad-based HeteroHealthcare Ltd’s Covifor, ageneric version of Covid-19drug Remdesivir, would beavailable in Bhubaneswar soonfor Rs 5,400 per 100-mg vial.

The company would sup-ply the second lot of the drugto Kolkata, Indore, Bhopal,Lucknow, Patna, Bhubaneswar,Ranchi, Vijayawada, Cochin,Trivandrum and Goa within aweek, it said. It has fixed a max-imum retail price of Rs 5,400per vial for the drug. The drugis available in 100 mg vials(injectable). It needs to beadministered intravenously ina hospital, critical care setting,under the supervision of aregistered medical practition-er, the company said in a state-ment. PNS

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Out of the 17 Covid-19cases reported from

Khordha district on Friday, 16were detected in theBhubaneswar MunicipalCorporation (BMC) area.

Of the new cases, 14 arelocal contacts and remainingtwo from home quarantine.

Following reporting thefresh cases, further contacttracing was underway. Theprimary contacts and nearbyhouses are being quarantined,sanitised and would be underactive surveillance, the BMCsaid.

The two home quarantineinclude an 36-year-old man odJadupur, with travel history toWest Bengal and a 21-year-old-woman of Unit-8, Delta Colonywith travel history toVijaywada.

The 14 local contact casesinclude nine employees of aprivate hospital here, a 22-year-old man and a 24-year-oldman of Baramunda BDAColony linked with an earlierpositive case, a 47-year -oldman of Jarapada, near the jailand a 50-year-old woman ofSundarpada Abhiram Basti.

With the news case thetotal tally in the capital citysurged to 274 with 132 activecases.

Meanwhile, 11 patientsunder treatment at variousCovid Hospitals recoveredfrom the disease on the day, theBMC said.

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The State Governmentwould ramp up the

Covid-19 testing system fromnext month. For this, newtesting labs would be set up inJharsuguda, Keonjhar, Angul,Puri and Kalahandi,informed Institute of LifeSciences (ILS) Director AjayParida.

Parida told reporters thata target has been set to con-duct at least 5,000 tests everyday. While the number oftests would be increased at theSCB Medical College Hospitalin Cuttack, the RegionalMedical Research Center

(RMRC) and the ILS, around150 to 200 samples would betested at the seven medicalcol lege hospitals in the State.

Parida said that antizenand antibody tests would beconducted in the State soon,for which 50,000 kits havebeen ordered for procure-ment. Testing through thekits would begin next week.Besides, serological surveywould be conducted in placeslike Puri, Ganjam, Gajapati,Bhubaneswar and Badamba-Narasinghpur, he informed.

He further said, “There isno community transmissionof the virus as of now, but wehave to be very careful incoming days.”

As regards further exten-sion of lockdown, Parida saidthe State Government wouldtake a decision in this direc-tion.

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In view of the increasingnumber of human-elephant

conflict incidents in the State,the Government has issuednew guidelines to monitormovement of elephants.

The Principal ChiefConservator of Forest(Wildlife) and Chief Wildlife

Warden have directed theDFOs to follow the revisedguidelines scrupulously andcurb man-elephant conflicts.

As per the guidelines, theforest officials would keep trackof movement of elephants,including lone tuskers, in theirareas. They would alert the vil-lagers when necessary. Ifrequired, they would undertake

anti-depredation activities byjumbos by mobilising locals andresources available with them.

Any deviation of the guide-lines shall be viewed seriously.A control room at the headoffice level is being set up andits operation starting datewould be intimated soon, saida notification by the StateWildlife Headquarters.

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In view of the Covid-19 hit-ting all, financial support to

people thorough digital modeis need of the hour. And theState Bank of India (SBI) has itsdigital platform, namely,YONO (You Only Need One)to serve the purpose.

This was stated by RumaDey, who took the charge ofCGM, SBI Bhubaneswar Circlerecently, told The Pioneer onFriday.

“One can do all types ofbanking transactions, invest-ment, shopping, booking oftickets and applying or availingof loans through the YONOmobile app or web portal. TheSBI digital platform has gotvery good response in Odishawith around 1,00,000 concur-

rent logins and reg-istered uses baseincreasing by morethan 50,000 perday,” claimed Dey.

T h r o u g hYONO Cash, a cus-tomer can withdrawmoney from ATM/POS/CSP withoutusing Debit Care.YONO Cash is safeas it uses dynamicPIN and it prevents possibili-ties of shoulder surfing, cardskimming, card trapping andCard/PIN loss.

“It is a cardless digital cashwithdrawal channel andreduces the risk of using debitcard in ATM is avoided. Itreduces the contact with ATMterminal from 8 touches tothree touches and the risk ofexposure. It also reduces timefrom 45 seconds to 15 secondsfor withdrawal of cash,” said theCGM.

An Insta Account, whichworks as a savings account, canbe opened through the app injust 10 minutes and will be

operated purely on digitalchannels.

A customer can apply forhome loan, car loan, educationloan, agriculture gold loan andpersonal loan and get instantin-principal approval. A cus-tomer can avail pre-approvedpersonal loan) upto Rs 8 lakh,pre-approved pension loanupto Rs 2.50 lakh, home top-uploan upto Rs 5 lakh and anoverdraft against a fixed depositwith a few clicks without anydocumentation or branch visitand the loan amounts will becredited to his/her account infew seconds.

YONO Krishi platform is

meant to farmers in a big way.It is now available Hindi andEnglish. The USP of this plat-form will be location basedagriculture advisory relatedservices such as mandi prices,crop advisory and weatherinformation.

The CGM said over 20,000pre-approved persons loanshave been approved and Rs 220crore disbursed since April2020 in the State.

When asked about herfocus area, Dey said she wouldgive priority in credit lendingto farmers, SHGs and MSMEunits in the State.

“Besides Agriculture KCC,I will be stressing on loan sup-port to SGHs in order to makeeach of them as a micro enter-prise. This apart, I will givefocus on providing support toMSMEs under the CenralGovernment Rs 3 lakh crorepackage,” she said.

In Odisha about 19,888MSME customers have beencovered though Webinars andover Rs 900 crore disbursed,she said.

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Patanjali’s Ayurveda recent-ly made a tall claim that two

of its newly-launchedAyurvedic medicines ‘Coronil'and 'Swasari’ can cure Covid-19. In a statement it furtherclaimed that it has medical evi-dence spanning across the citiesof Delhi, Meerut andAhmedabad wherein sympto-matic Covid-19 patientsbecame asymptomatic within3-15 days of drug administra-tion. However, unwittingly itmessed up with the Ministry ofAYUSH’s April 21 conditionalnod for research in Covid-19cure through traditional systemof medicine, which has explic-itly asked to, “apprise theMinistry of AYUSH,Government of India about theresearch development” and asper reports the Ministry waskept in dark about the claimsmade by Patanjali. This result-ed in the AYUSH Ministryissuing a whip on the compa-ny to refrain from advertisingor publicizing this product tillproper verification is made bythe Ministry.

Patanjali Ayurveda or othercompanies/ Ayurveda practi-tioners who indulge in similaractivities like this may be heldfor the violation of other laws

in force. As per reports, theDrug Licensing Authority ofUttarakhand had issued licenceto Patanjali for manufacturingthe drug but the licence wasstipulated only for developingimmunity booster againstCovid-19, which, if true, shallattract the offence of mis-branding of drugs underSection 33E of the Drugs andCosmetics Act 1940. Besides,Rule 170 inserted to the Drugsand Cosmetic Rules, 1945 byway of Drugs and Cosmetics(Eleventh Amendment) Rules2018 has specifically prohibit-ed the advertisement of anyAYUSH drugs for ‘diagnosis,cure, mitigation, treatment orprevention of any disease, dis-order, syndrome or condition.’

Additionally, the claimsmade by the company aboutthe hundred percent curethrough the Ayurvedic medi-cines it launched is violative ofDrugs and Magic Remedies( O b j e c t i o n a b l eAdvertisements) Act, 1954.This piece of legislation seeksto prohibit “misleading adver-tisements” regarding remediesalleged to possess magic qual-ities or claim to cause ‘miscar-riage in women’ or ‘preventconception of pregnancy’ orimprove ‘capacity of humanbeings for sexual pleasure’,‘claim to diagnose or cure anyof the 54 diseases mentioned inthe schedule of the Act, includ-ing sexual impotency, plague,cancer, epilepsy. Section 4 ofthe Act prohibits “misleadingadvertisements”, those give“false impression regarding thetrue character of the drug”.

Subsequently, the AYUSHministry has asked Patanjali toprovide details of the “nameand composition of the medi-

cines being claimed for Covidtreatment; site(s)/hospital(s),where the research study wasconducted for Covid-19; pro-tocol, sample size, InstitutionalEthics Committee clearance,CTRI registration and resultsdata of the study (ies). This wasdone according to the Drugsand Magic Remedies( O b j e c t i o n a b l eAdvertisements) Rules 1955,framed under the Act, whichmandates that, anybody autho-rised by the State Governmentcan question the manufactur-er, packer, distributor or sellerof the drug, that is advertisedin violation of the law. Andaccording to Section 7 of theAct, anybody who violates thelaw for the first time shall bepunished with a maximum of6 months imprisonment alongwith fine and in the subsequentconviction, he may be jailed upto 1 year along with a fine.When a company violates theprovisions of the Act, everyperson who was in-charge ofthe company when the offencewas committed shall bedeemed to be guilty, as undersection 9 of the Act. However,if he shows that the offence wascommitted without his knowl-edge or he exercised due dili-gence to prevent the offencefrom being committed, he maybe out of the penal loop.

There has been a long-standing demand and propos-al to amend the law, which hasoften been criticised for notkeeping up with the demandsof the time. Consequently, theMinistry of Health and FamilyWelfare has released a draft ofDrugs and Magic Remedies( O b j e c t i o n a b l eA d v e r t i s e m e n t s )(Amendment) Bill, 2020, by

catering to the demands, whichhas added 24 new diseasesand disorders to the schedule,which earlier had 54 diseases,including drugs or treatmentfor enhancing sexual perfor-mance, fairness of skin, pre-mature ageing, and improve-ment in height of kids andadults. It has also been pro-posed in the amendments toincrease the penalty for firstconviction up to 2 years andfine up to Rs 10 lakh and sec-ond conviction to an impris-onment of up to 5 years andfine up to Rs 50 lakh.

Ayurveda still enjoys thetrust of many of us as a depend-able Indian system of medicinebut it feels bad when sometimeseither in a hurry or in a com-petition spree or to make somequick money without account-ability, tall and unverified claimsare made by companies andAyurveda practitioners. It is justnot about endangering publichealth and safety but hammer-ing the public trust on thiseffective Indian system of med-icine, which is nothing lessthan a disservice to our culture,and this ancient science ofmedicine (Ayurveda). Thisbecomes more worrying, astraditional systems of medicineare already in the verge ofextinction in view of inadequateresearch and absence of suffi-cient empirical data on its util-ity and effectiveness, eventhough it was the spine ofmedical treatment and health-care system that has touched,healed and cured our ancestorsfor thousands of years.

(The writer is a lawyer andpublic policy expert. He can bereached [email protected])

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As part of the 5T initiative,the Labour and ESI

Department has now launchedan online platform.

The ‘Labour CaseManagement System’ is meantfor online filing and tracking ofcases by workers themselves incourts of labour officials underkey labour laws such asMinimum Wages Act,Employees Compensation Act,and Payment of Gratuity Act.

With this, the aggrievedworkers can now easily filetheir cases, track the progressof the cases and even get SMS

alerts at each stage of a case.The officers too would be ableto monitor the cases better, anofficial release here said.

The portal would facilitateonline filing of case applica-tions under the aforesaid Actsat the doorsteps by logging tohttp://lcms.labdirodisha.gov.in.

Earlier, workers were in thedark to know about the statusof their cases and were beingdeprived of getting their claimsin time.

Now with utilisation oftechnology, the workers wouldbe enabled to file their casesonline and would also obtainlatest positions through SMSalerts. The system wouldensure transparency and effec-tive monitoring with fasterdisposal of these crucial cases.

The cases can be moni-tored and assessed by theSecretary of the department aswell as the LabourCommissioner.

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BHUBANESWAR: TheCommissionerate police onFriday arrested the primeaccused in the murder of a five-year-old boy in the Kolathiaarea of the city three weeks afterthe crime.

The accused TanushreeParmani was arrested forallegedly strangulating herneighbour’s son Sairam Patra todeath on June 3.

After being dischargedfrom AIIMS Bhubaneswarwhere Tanushree was under-going treatment for schizo-phrenia since June 3, the policearrested her and produced incourt.

Earlier police had regis-tered a case against her underSection 302 of IPC followingthe incident.

Meanwhile, family mem-bers of the deceased saidTanushree got her admitted tothe hospital to evade arrest.They want exemplary punish-ment to the accused.

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The KalingaInstitute of

Social Sciences(KISS) provideda second-phasedried food itemsand study mate-rials to its 30,000students onFriday.

Earlier, thestudents weresent back to theirhomes due to thecoronavirus pan-demic. Lastmonth, they wereprovided flat-tened rice, sugar, dal, biscuit,soap, textbooks and allied studymaterials at their doorsteps.

KIIT and KISS founderDr Achyuta Samanta arrangedfor the study materials anddried food items to be provid-

ed at the students' doorsteps.The students would be pro-vided dried food items andstudy materials every month tilltheir comeback to the KISS,said Dr Samanta.

The KISS management has

been continuing its best possi-ble measures to provide teach-ing to all its students by meansof digital technologies likeonline, smart phones andthrough Kalinga TV.

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In a significant decision amidthe rising Covid-19 cases in

the State capital, home quar-antine option would not beprovided to those returningfrom the hotspot districts of theState to the city, informedBhubaneswar MunicipalCorporation (BMC)Commissioner Prem ChandraChoudhary on Friday.

People coming toBhubaneswar from the Covid-19

hotspot districts would undergoa mandatory institutional quar-antine, especially in slums, hesaid, adding that home quaran-tine would not be allowed.

Earlier, those having homequarantine facilities at theirhouses (separate rooms andbathrooms) had been allowedto undergo home quarantine.

The city has so far regis-tered 274 Covid-19 cases. Asmany as three persons havedied of the disease in the cityso far.

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Services of all regular Mailand Express trains, includ-

ing Premium trains, Inter Citytrains and Local Passenger andMEMU trains, which were ear-lier cancelled up to midnight ofJune 30, 2020, have now been

further cancelled up to August12, 2020.

All the tickets booked forthe above regular time-tabledtrains till August 12 would becancelled and the fare would berefunded fully.

But special trains whichhave been introduced fromMay 12, 2020 and from June 1,2020 on specific routes andtimings would continue pro-viding services till furtheradvice, informed an ECoRrelease.

BHUBANESWAR: A reviewmeeting was held here onFriday on establishment of acardiac care hospital atJharsuguda. Health MinisterNaba Kishore Das and high-level officials, including ChiefSecretary Asit Tripathy, werepresent.

The Minister wanted con-struction of residential quartersfor doctors and paramedics inthe hospital premises itself.

The Chief Secretary direct-ed the PPP cell functioningunder the Finance Departmentto work out definite proceduresfor these requirements as perthe conditions of PPP agree-ment.

The MCL is providingfinancial support for con-struction and equipment pur-poses. The Care Hospitals hasbeen selected as the PPP part-ner through a bidding processfor operation and manage-ment of the hospital. PNS

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Chief Minister NaveenPatnaik on Friday asked

the administration to remainprepared with standard oper-ating procedure (SOP) to tack-le natural disasters likely tooccur during the ongoing rainyseason.

Presiding over a State-levelNatural Disaster Committeemeeting through vediocon,Patnaik emphasised onadvance planning, quick rescueand restoration efforts to deal

with natural calamities.He said preparedness for

disasters should be regularlyreviewed till October as floods,cyclones, droughts can takeplace during this period. TheGovernment has opened con-trol rooms from June 1 tillNovember 30 to monitorfloods and natural disasters, headded.

Patnaik said theGovernment’s experience incommunity-based manage-ment has also been very help-ful for coronavirus manage-ment.

Revenue and DisasterManagement Minister SudamMarndi said that out of the 879cyclone relief centres, 796 havebeen repaired.

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Ganjam district, which hasrecorded the highest num-

ber of coronavirus cases in theState, registered 50 new caseson Friday.

With this, the district’stotal tally climbed to 1,138,including 312 active cases.While 768 patients have recov-ered so far, eight succumbed to

the disease.Of the 50 cases, 13 are

Covid Warriors from differentfields. Of them, eight belong tothe Aska area, three from theBrahamapur MunicipalCorporation (BeMC) area andone each from Kodala andKabisuryanagar.

Besides, 33 cases are localcontacts (two from Aska, threefrom BeMC area, 15 fromKabisuryanagar, two fromKhallikote, four from Kodala,two each from Purusottampurand Sanakhemundi and oneeach from Kukudakhandi andChhatrapur).

Remaining four cases havetravel history of other States(Surat one, Mumbai two andPune one.

Meanwhile, due to thespike in infections, the district

administration has declared afour-day shutdown in theBeMC area from Saturday.

Ganjam Collector Vijay AKulange said after the return ofmigrants, the number of posi-tive cases has increased inBeMC area in recent past, heinformed.

To carry out active contacttracing, symptom checking,isolation and check the homequarantine status the districtadministration has to takestrict action.

For this purpose, a total of70 health teams have beenformed. They will undertakedoor to door survey and exam-ine health conditions of resi-dents, Kulange said.

However, essential serviceshave been exempted from theshutdown.

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Keeping in view the risingCovid-19 positive cases,

the Gajapati district admin-istrat ion on Fridayannounced shutdown in twoblocks, one gram panchayatand also in the headquarterstown here for three days start-ing from June 28.

“Gosani and Gummablocks, Ranipentho GP underKashinagar block andParalakhemundi town willremain under shutdown for 3days (from June 28 to June30). However, medical emer-gency and other essential ser-vices will be allowed duringthe shutdown,” informed dis-trict Collector Anupam Saha.

This apart, 40 medicalteams would be formed for adoor-to-door survey, addedthe Collector, who soughtpublic cooperation for con-tainment of coronavirus.

Notably, the district hasbeen witnessing a steady risein Covid-19 positive casesfor the last couple of days.Currently, the district’s tallystands at 411, including 290active cases.

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Taking disciplinary action,DGP Abhay on Friday sus-

pended the Birmitrapur policestation IIC in connection witha rape and abortion of a minorgirl in Sundargarh district.

IIC Ananda Majhi wasplaced under suspension fordereliction of duty and hisalleged involvement in theimmoral activities, informedDIG (Western Range) KavitaJalan.

An official in the DSP rankis probing into the rape andabortion incident. Legal actionwould be taken against the per-sons involved in the case, shesaid.

It is to be mentioned thatIIC Majhi is among six personsbooked for the heinous crime.Along with Majhi, anotherpolice official, who is the minorgirl’s relative, his two friendsand a doctor, who had per-formed abortion on the victim,are involved in the case.

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Vigilance officials onThursday arrested a

Sub-Inspector of Policefor allegedly taking abribe of Rs 3,000.

The accused wasSidharta Kumar Gouda,Cadet Sub-Inspector ofthe Jagannath Prasadpolice station inGanjam district.

As per reports, hehad demanded theamount from one PRaja Senapati to settle a disputecomplaint. Senapati lodged acomplaint in this regard withthe Vigilance authorities, fol-lowing which a trap was laid bythe sleuths.

The Vigilance officialscaught the cop red-handed

while he was accepting themoney from the complainant.The bribe money was recov-ered and seized from his pos-session.

A case was registered inthis connection and furtherprobe was underway.

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PURI: Two persons weredetained for entering into theGundicha Temple here in guiseof servitors of the deities onFriday.

The duo was identified asresidents of the Kumbharpadaand Markandeswar Sahi local-ities of Puri town.

Source said that the twopersons posing as servitorshad entered into the temple inthe morning. They also haddarshan of the deities at theAdap Mandap during theMangala Alati ritual.

Following opposition ofservitors, the accused weredetained by police and taken tothe Kumbharpada police sta-tion for interrogation.

Notably, devotees’ entryinto the Gundicha Temple isstrictly prohibited due to pos-sible spread of Covid-19.

The security lapses raisedquestion as to how theunknown persons in guise ofservitors entered into the shrinedespite restrictions enforcedby the district administrationduring Rath Yatra. PNS

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No police personnel otherthan those posted in Puri

district and deputed for law andorder duty would be permittedto visit the pilgrim town onofficial duty till July 4.

The decision has been takenin view of a recent incident inwhich an officer of the Jajpurpolice visited Puri and tried toenter the temple despite theCovid-19 lockdown restrictions.

“Possibility of some officersalone or with family visitingPuri on pretext of official workor otherwise for darshan of

deities cannot be totally ruledout. Hence, it is hereby laiddown that other than officersposted in Puri district andthose deputed for law and oderduty, no officer will be per-mitted to go on official duty toPuri till July 4,” said a commu-nique issued by the State PoliceHeadquarters, Cuttack withapproval from DGP Abhay.

In case of urgency and ifthe duty cannot be postponed,permission would be takenfrom Police Headquartersthrough the ADG (Law andOrder) for visit to Puri, thecommunique added.

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In connection with a rapeand murder of a 50-year-

old widow, a 35-year-oldman was arrested on June 23here.

The accused identified asBhagia Singh, a resident ofAlasua Patpur village underKhantapada police limits inthe district, committed thecrime the same day. Singh isa tractor driver at Julingiavillage under Soro police sta-tion limits.

According to reports, thebody of the victim withinjury marks was found in anagr icultura l f ie ld nearJu l ingia v i l lage onWednesday while she wasmiss ing s ince Tuesdayevening.

The deceased was resid-

ing with her brother BijayBarik at Julingia village forlast 8 years following herhusband’s death and was suf-fer ing f rom paralysis.

On that night, she wentto watch TV with her neigh-bour but didn’t return.

Her brother Bijaylodged a missing complaintwith police stating her sisterwas missing and was lastseen talking with the accusedSingh.

The police began aninvestigation and launched amanhunt to nab the culprit.He was apprehended fromBhangachatu village underthe Khunta police limits inMayurbhanj district.

The accused confessedto the crime before policeduring interrogation.

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Voluntary organisationSAKAR with the support

of the Zomato and theActionAid has distributed 156dry ration kits each containing10 kg of rice and 2 kg of puls-es at Radha Krushna Tala Bastiand Jharana Basti on Friday, asa part of Zomato Feeding India.

Daily wage earners whohave no ration card and havenot received any support fromthe Government were given thekits. They have lost earningsources since March 2020 dueto Covid lockdown.

ActionAid RegionalManager Debabrat Patro,SAKAR vice-president EKPatro, secretary Swarupa Rani,CCWD secretary SadashivSwain and social activists SPAdinarayan, DV Gopal

Krishna, Dr CVL Srinivas, DrSomburu Sovara participated in distributionworks. All involved were wear-ing masks and maintainingsocial distancing. MaaJhadeswari Club secretary LVKumar of Jharana Basti andJaisitaram of Radha KrushnaBasti thanked the three organ-

isations.Rani conveyed grateful-

ness to the ActionAid,Bhubaneswar, the facilitator ofZomato relief for urbanmigrants and all the membersof Maa Jhadeswari Club,Jharana Basti and Omkar andhis team for their active par-ticipation.

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The National AluminiumCompany Limited (Nalco)

has posted a net profit ofRs138.23 crore for the 2019-20FY.

During the year, the com-pany has achieved net turnoverof Rs 8,426 crore, which hasbeen adversely impacted byabout Rs 2,900 crore due to fallin global metal prices.The

export turnover of the compa-ny for the fiscal was Rs3,511crore.

The Central PSU declaredits financial results for 2019-20fiscal on Friday.

However, weathering thesluggishness in the interna-tional metal market and fallingLondon Metal Exchange prices,the Nalco has continued toremain profitable by success-fully handling the marketdownturn.

Bauxite production of73.02 lakh MTin mines and21.61 lakh MT of AluminaHydrate in alumina refineryhave been the highest-eversince company’s inception.

Both mines and refinery of theNalco has been performingbeyond its installed capacities.

The company also pro-duced 4.18 lakh MT of alu-minium metal in FY19-20.

CMD Sridhar Patra attrib-uted the success to the team-work and dedication of theemployees. “We are optimisticthat in the long run with ourfocus on increasing the pro-duction in mining and refiningsegments, opening up of thenew coal blocks, backwardintegration in supply of key rawmaterials like caustic soda, weshall be able to tide over pre-sent economic crisis,” saidPatra.

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Kishore Kumar Senpatijoined as new Director of

the Veer Surendra Sai Airport,Jharsuguda on Wednesday.

Earlier, Senapati was work-ing as AGM (Finance), BijuPatnaik International Airport,Bhubaneswar. On retirement ofDirector of VSS Airport SudhesKumar Chouhan in January,DGM of Communication,Navigation and Surveilance MKarunakar was working asDirector-in-Charge .

Senapati had started hiscareer as a CharteredAccountant while he joinedKolkata Airport as JuniorExecutive Manager during2001.

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In a big success for theNabarangpur district police,

cops rounded up 12 membersof a dacoit gang who wereinvolved in many dacoities inNabarangpur and neighbour-ing Koraput district.

Police were in search of thedacoits since 20 days, saidNabarangpur SP Nitin Kusalkarin a media meet. The master-mind Khirosindhu was plan-ning a blueprint for dacoity.

Police seized cash of Rs1.12 lakhs, 15 grams of gold,600 grams of silver, five mobilephones, three bikes, a pistol andweapons from the possession ofthe dacoits, said the SP. Allaccused were forwarded tocourt.

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Rourkela Forest Divisionofficials on Thursday

arrested a poacher for alleged-ly killing an elephant calf 13days back.

They are now trying tonab other persons involved inthe killing.

Earlier, a Forest Guard ofBalanda Beat had been sus-pended and a show-causenotice issued to KuanrmundaRange Officer and Kalunga

section Forester for allegedlysuppressing the incident.

On June 12, someSandolakudar villages hadfound the elephant calf lyingdead in a pond nearRutukupedi Reserve Forest.Rourkela forest officials foundthat the elephant calf had cutmarks on its neck. The primafacie suggested that someanti-socials had laid a trap onthe night of June 11 in whichthe elephant calf got trappedand died.

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Former Odisha ChhatraCongress president Itish

Pradhan, who has beenexpelled from the party for anti-party activities, was attackedand injured allegedly by partymembers for misbehaving withthem here on Friday.

The State Youth Congresswas protesting against the fuelprice hike at Master Canteen.Pradhan turned up at the spotand started misbehaving withother party leaders.

Following an altercation,the party leaders who hadcome from Cuttack to join theprotest attacked him.

Earlier this month,Congress MLA Suresh Routrayat a Press conference had madean announcement regardingPradhan’s expulsion from theparty.

BHUBANESWAR: The 16thBoard of Directors meeting ofthe Bhubaneswar Smart CityLimited (BSCL) was held onThursday under the chair-manship of BSCL Chairmanand DevelopmentCommissioner Suresh ChandraMahapatra.

The board approved theBSCL budget for 2010-’21,draft accounts for 2019-’20and, most importantly, the HRand accounts policies for thespecial purpose vehicle (SPV)for better and efficient corpo-rate governance.

It also approved extensionof nine months to the IBIGroup as project managementconsultant (PgMC) with theSmart City for smooth execu-tion of technology-based pro-jects.

The BSCL Chairmandirected the Capital RegionUrban Transport (CRUT)authorities to deploy morecycles across all the cycle dock-ing stations so that people canuse them as means of transport,physical exercise and last-mileconnectivity. PNS

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Page 4: ˇˆ ˙ ˇ˝ ˛˚˜ ˇ˙ · 21 hours ago  · 5,024 new coronavirus cases, ... 7,106 with 175 new deaths. Maharashtra is India’s worst affected State accounts for nearly one-third

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For the second day on Friday,the BJP went hammer and

tongs against the Congressleadership bringing anotherset of charges against the“Gandhi family-held” RajivGandhi Foundation (RGF) intowhich, it alleged, funds fromthe Prime Minister's ReliefFund (PMRF) were divertedduring the Congress-led UPAregime. The BJP demanded aninvestigation into it.

The BJP said whileCongress president Sonia wason the board of PMRF, theauditor for the fund was seniorCongress leader, former rev-enue Minister and ex-GovernorRameshwar Thakur whoremained its auditor ‘since itsinception’ and was neverchanged even though the ruleis that the auditor be changedevery three years.

BJP president J P Naddaand BJP National SpokesmanSambit Patra made the accu-sations, claiming it was a“brazen fraud” and a bigbetrayal of the people of India.

Nadda, who a day beforetargeted the Congress and theGandhi family for allegedly

accepting �90 lakh donations tothe RGF from the Chineseembassy, also posted a photo-graph of documents as a ‘proof ’for his fresh charges.

“PMNRF, meant to helppeople in distress, was donat-ing money to Rajiv GandhiFoundation in UPA years. Whosat on the PMNRF board?Smt. Sonia Gandhi. Who chairsRGF? Smt. Sonia Gandhi.Totally reprehensible, disre-garding ethics, processes andnot bothering about trans-parency,” Nadda said onTwitter.

Sonia is the Chairperson ofthe RGF and former PrimeMinister Manmohan Singh,former Congress leader RahulGandhi, former financeMinister P Chidambaram andPriyanaka Vadra are its mem-bers.

Diverting the hard-earnedmoney of the people of India toa family-run foundation is notonly a “brazen fraud” but alsoa “big betrayal” of the people,he said.

“One family's hunger forwealth has cost the nationimmensely. If only they haddevoted their energies towardsa more constructive agenda.

The Congress’ ImperialDynasty needs to apologise tothe unchecked loot for self-gains!” the BJP chief said.

BJP spokesperson SambitPatra demanded a responsefrom Congress president SoniaGandhi, saying she is “noqueen” and should explain thecharge.

In a swipe, Patra said shekeeps asking questions onIndia-China border issue day inand day out and should beanswering to serious chargesagainst her and her party. Hesaid it has become habit withCongress spokesperson tocome out and say “ this is avendetta politics”.

The Congress has becomesynonymous with corruptionand conspiracy and allegedthat the ‘Gandhi family’ float-ed “shell companies” like theRGF to become “rich”.

Patra said Thakur, a seniorCongressman, who was a RajyaSabha member, Union Ministerand governor of four states,held the post of auditor ofPMRF continuously and wasnever changed until the lastCongress regime. “it was anarrangement to mint money forthe family”, Patra said.

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Continuing with their unre-lenting attack on alleged

Chinese incursions even asthe BJP has charged them withmisuse of Prime Minister’sRelief Fund, Congress presi-dent Sonia Gandhi and formerparty chief Rahul Gandhi onFriday asked Prime MinisterNarendra Modi to speak upand tell the truth to the coun-try on whether China hasoccupied any Indian territory.The party said by denyingChinese incursions in easternLadakh, the Government haslowered the morale of thearmed forces.

Rahul said if the PrimeMinister says no Indian terri-tory has been occupied byChina, while satellite imagesshow otherwise, then Chinastands to benefit from hisstatement.

Other Congress leadersincluding former MoS DefenceMM Pallam Raju said that the

intelligence and diplomacy ofthe Modi Government hasfailed to stop Chinese incur-sions in Ladakh and askedwhether the PM was lying tothe nation by saying no one hasoccupied Indian territory.

The Congress presidentsaid that the CentralGovernment cannot shirk itsresponsibility from securingour borders with China andasked Modi to take the nationinto confidence on the situa-tion in Ladakh.

“If you (the PM) say Indianland has not been taken byChina and it has actually beentaken, then China will stand tobenefit,” Rahul said in a videomessage as part of the Congressparty’s ‘SpeakUpForOurJawans’campaign in honour of mar-tyred Indian soldiers.

Rahul said the PrimeMinister had stated that noteven an inch of Indian territo-ry has been taken away by any-one and there has been nointrusion, but satellite imagesand experts say China has

occupied Indian territory atthree points in eastern Ladakh.

Noting that the entirecountry is standing togetherbehind the Prime Minister,the former Congress chief said,“We have to together fightChina and throw them out”.

“Prime Minister ji, speakup and do not be scared. Youwill have to tell the truth to thecountry. Don’t be scared to saythat yes, China has taken ourland and we are going to actagainst them. The wholecountry is with you,” he said.

Referring to the 20 Indiansoldiers who died following aclash with the Chinese armypersonnel at Galwan valley in

eastern Ladakhearlier thismonth, theGandhi scionasked the gov-ernment toexplain whohad sent theIndian soldiersw i t h o u tweapons to the

border.Sonia asked why the coun-

try’s soldiers were martyredwhen China has not capturedany Indian territory, asclaimed by the Prime Minister.

“Today when there is acrisis-like situation at theIndia-China border, the cen-tral government cannot shirkits responsibility (of securingthem),” she too said in a videomessage.

“The country wants toknow if China has not cap-tured our land in Ladakh, asclaimed by the Prime Minister,then why were our 20 soldiersmartyred,” she asked.

She said while the Prime

Minister says there is no intru-sion into Indian territory,experts after seeing satelliteimages talk of the presence ofChinese troops in our territo-ry confirming the intrusions.

“When and how will theModi government take backfrom China our land inLadakh? Is our territorialintegrity being violated byChina in Ladakh? Will thePrime Minister take the nationin confidence on the situationat the border?” Sonia asked.

She said the governmentshould give full support andstrength to the Army, saying“this will be true patriotism”.

For their part, addressinga joint press conference,Congress leaders MM PallamRaju, Jitendra Singh andPawan Khera said accordingto reports China has occupiedIndian territory up to 18 kminside the LAC in Depsangplains, posing an alarmingthreat to India’s national secu-rity and territorial integrity.

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Amid a surge inCoronavirus cases, the

Director General of CivilAviation (DGCA) on Fridayextended the ban on sched-uled international commer-cial passenger flight servicesto/from India till July 15.However, this shall not applyto international all-cargooperations and thoseapproved by the DGCA. Thescheduled international pas-senger flights were suspend-ed in India on March 23 dueto the coronavirus pandemic.

Releasing a circular, theDGCA said, “The competentauthority has decided thatscheduled international com-mercial passenger servicesto/from India shall remainsuspended till 2359 hrs IST ofJuly 15, 2020.” However, theDGCA clarified that the banwill not be applicable forinternational cargo flightsand those flights that havebeen approved by the DGCA.

Earlier this week, UnionCivil Aviation MinisterHardeep Singh Puri had saidIndia was considering travelrequests from several coun-tries. He said India was also

looking at the possibility ofestablishing individual “bilat-eral bubbles” like betweenIndia-US, India-France,India-Germany, India-UK.

The Government is cur-rently running the third phaseof Vande Bharat Mission toevacuate people stranded indifferent countries after sus-pension of internationalcommercial airline operationsdue to coronavirus pandem-ic outbreak since May 25.

India resumed scheduleddomestic passenger flights onMay 25, after a gap of twomonths.

Earlier, DGCA has issuednew rules for airlines andtheir cabin crew members

for handling unruly passen-gers on board, stating thatincreased stress on flyers dueto new procedures in placeamid the COVID-19 pan-demic may lead to a rise indisputes between them andcabin crew members.

“Cabin crew membersmust be made aware of thenew issues that may arise likepassengers refusing to wearface masks or coverings inf l ights , f ighting among passengers due to their eth-nicity or country of residenceor due to the presence ofsymptoms similar to thoseassociated with COVID-19,the DGCA noted in its circu-lar.

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Amid coronavirus pandem-ic, the age limit for voters

to opt for postal ballot in LokSabha and Assembly electionshas been reduced to ensuresocial distancing and safetynorms. According to theElection Commission of India,the age limit was reduced as"people who are 65 and aboveare vulnerable" to the coron-avirus.

The other measures beingundertaken by the ECI toensure a safeF election duringthe pandemic are putting inplace appropriate arrangementsregarding social distancing,sanitisation, disinfection, andmasks/gloves etc., planning ofnecessary training and capac-ity-building of electoralmachinery, sensitisation of allofficials on election duty aboutCOVID 19-related precautions.

After the coronavirus out-break in India, Bihar will be thefirst State to have Assemblypolls due in October-November. And voters of Biharwill be the first to benefit fromthe amended rules. On June 19,

the Ministry of Law has noti-fied a fresh change in the rules,allowing those aged 65 yearsand above to opt for postal bal-lot.

While amending the ruleson the suggestions of theElection Commission, the min-istry also allowed COVID 19suspect or affected persons touse the postal ballot facility. InOctober 2019, the LawMinistry amended theConduct of Election Rules toallow people with disabilitiesand those who are 80 years ofage or above to opt for postalballot during Lok Sabha andAssembly elections.

The EC had approachedthe Government to tweak therule as pandemic could con-tinue till the end of the year. Asof now, people who comeunder the category of thoseallowed to use postal ballothave to fill form 12D to availthe facility. The election rulesare amended after the LawMinister approves changes. Toensure social distancing the EChas decided to limit the num-ber of voters at each pollingbooth to 1,000, instead of 1,600under normal circumstances.

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The CBI on Friday carriedout searches at seven loca-

tions, including official and res-idential premises of business-man Ratul Puri, his father andother accused persons andentities in connection with a�787-crore bank fraud caseinvolving their private firmMoser Baer Solar Ltd.

The searches that began inthe morning continued till latein the evening. Official and res-idential premises of Ratul Puri'sfather Deepak Puri were alsosearched during the daylongoperation, officials said, addingthey are named accused in thecase being the directors of theaccused company.

Ratul Puri is the nephew offormer Madhya Pradesh ChiefMinister and senior Congressleader Kamal Nath.

The agency registered thecase on Thursday. The caserelates to to � 787 crore allegedloss incurred by the PunjabNational Bank (PNB) in thecredit facilities granted to theaccused firm.

Amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the search teamsof the agency wore personalprotection equipment (PPE)kits for conducting the opera-

tion as a precautionary mea-sure, they said.

“It was alleged that the saidaccused had cheated thePunjab National Bank led con-sortium comprising PNB (leadbank), SBI, Exim Bank, IndianOverseas Bank, Central Bankof India and Union Bank ofIndia, and Bank of Baroda tothe tune of �787.25 crore(approx) by way of diversionof bank funds, sham transactions and inflated secu-rity deposits etc.,” the agencysaid in a statement.

Searches were conducted atseven locations in Delhi, Noida,Ghaziabad and Annupur(Madhya Pradesh) at the

premises of accused personsincluding Directors and theprivate company which led torecovery of several incrimi-nating documents and digitalevidence, the agency said.

The case was registeredfollowing a complaint fromthe PNB against MBSL (bor-rower company) and othersincluding its directors andother unknown persons/bankofficials.

The accused have beenbooked under various IndianPenal Code (IPC) sectionsrelating to criminal conspiracyand cheating besides relevantprovisions of the Prevention ofCorruption Act.

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As individuals havingVitiligo or 'white patches'

on the skin continue to facediscrimination in the societydue to various misconcep-tions, dermatologists haveurged the Government toinclude the disease under non-communicable category stat-ing that it occurs due tolifestyle problems like stress.

Dr. Rohit Batra, consultantdermatologist, Sir Ganga RamHospital, said that Vitiligo is atreatable condition but thereare plenty of stigma and mythsattached to it.

“Those suffering fromVitiligo, go through tremen-dous psychological pressurethat creates insecurity andloss of confidence. We want tocreate awareness about theproblem and its treatment. Itis not a communicable dis-ease.”

Dr. Iltefat Hamzavi,Vitiligo Specialist at a webinarheld on the subject on theInternational Vitiligo Day,marked on Thursday, talkedabout various medical thera-pies in the sector. Althoughrecurrences may occur and thecourse is unpredictable,Vitiligo can be treated effec-tively with topical or oralmedications, phototherapy,surgery, or lasers.

Ayurveda expert Dr NikitaKohli talked about an array of

rare herbs like Ammi majus(Vishnag) and Bal Jadi foundat the high-altitudes ofHimalayas which have provedboon to the people sufferingwith the skin condition alsoknown as leucoderma.

Based on the formulationof these rare selected herbs likeskin photo sensitizer Babachi,Aloe Vera, Madar and Centellaasiatica besides Ammi majus(Vishnag), a poly herbal drugLukoskin developed byDefense ResearchDevelopment Organisation(DRDO) has come handy forthe patients to manage thewhite patches, she said.

Sanchit Sharma, execu-tive director with AIMILPharma engaged in manufac-turing the herbal drug added,that Lukoskin is available as anointment and oral liquid. Theherbal ingredients in the oint-ment has properties such asanti-blister, anti-irritation,anti-septic and wound healing,while the oral formulation isdesigned to check the emer-gence of new spots.

Indian Association ofD e r m a t o l o g i s t s ,Venereologists andLeprologists (IADVL) saidthat they have been pushingfor inclusion of the diseaseunder NCD category as wellseeking awareness campaignin various regional languagesamong others.

Worldwide incidence ofleucoderma is reported to be1 to 2 per cent. In India, it’saround 4 to 5 per cent, whilein some parts of Rajasthan andGujarat it is as high as 5 to 8per cent.

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Th eNorth-

e a s t e r nStates haverecordedl o w e rnumber ofCovid-19a c t i v ecases at3,731 with 5,715 patientsalready going home after treat-ment as compared to the rest ofthe country. The death rate toocontinues to be low in theregion with no fatality report-ed so far in Manipur, Mizoram,Nagaland, and Sikkim.

However, the testing ratehas been dismally low in theregion when compared to therest of the country.

"The North-eastern stateshave a lower number ofCovid-19 cases compared tothe country- active cases are3731, recoveries are 5715. Thedeath rate continues to be low,with no deaths in Manipur,Mizoram, Nagaland andSikkim," said the UnionHealth Ministry in a statementhere.

With the highest single-day spike of 17,296 Covid-19cases reported in the last 24hours, India's COVID-19count reached 4,90,401 onFriday.

The country also saw 407deaths in the last 24 hours,which pushed the death toll to15,301. The total number of

cases includes 1,89,463 activecases, 2,85,637cured/dis-charged/migrated cases, asper the Ministry.

“The fight against thepandemic across the countryhas been a concerted and col-lective endeavour. The Centrehas pro-actively and stronglysupported the strengtheningof the medical care infra-structure in the NE States tofight Covid-19,” the Ministrysaid.

A critical pillar whichhampered the efforts of theNorth Eastern States in com-bating was the Covid-19 out-break was complete lack oftesting facilities. But becauseof the focussed attention ofthe Ministry, the region has 39testing labs in the public sec-tor and three in the privatesector, totalling to 42 labs.

The Ministry said thatthe healthcare infrastructureacross all the NE states hasbeen substantially supple-mented with the increasednumber of ICU beds, Isolationbeds, Oxygen supported bedsand ventilators .

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Some hospitalised Covid-19patients have been found to

be showing signs of confusion,changes in behaviour and otherbrain complications, includ-ing stroke, psychosis anddementia-like syndrome,according to a study publishedin the journal The LancetPsychiatry.

The most common braincomplication observed wasstroke, which was reported in77 of 125 patients. Of these, 57patients had a stroke caused bya blood clot in the brain,known as an ischaemic stroke,nine patients had a strokecaused by a brain haemor-rhage, and one patient had astroke caused by inflammationin the blood vessels of thebrain.

Age data was available for74 of the patients who experi-enced a stroke and the major-ity were over 60 years of age.

"This data represents animportant snapshot of thebrain-related complications ofCovid-19 in hospitalisedpatients. It is critically impor-tant that we continue to collectthis information to reallyunderstand this virus fully,"said co-author of the study,Professor Sarah Pett, fromUniversity College London.

A total of 39 patientsshowed signs of confusion orchanges in behaviour reflectingan altered mental state whilenine patients had unspecifiedbrain dysfunction, known asencephalopathy, and sevenpatients had inflammation ofthe brain, medically termedencephalitis.

About 23 patients with analtered mental state were diag-nosed with psychiatric condi-tions, of which the vast major-ity were determined as newdiagnoses by the notifying psy-chiatrist.

Although most psychiatric

diagnoses were determined asnew by the notifying psychia-trist or neuropsychiatrist, theresearchers said they cannotexclude the possibility thatthese were undiagnosed beforethe patient developed Covid-19.

The 23 patients with psy-chiatric diagnoses included 10patients with a new-onset psy-chosis and six patients with adementia-like syndrome.

Seven patients had signs ofa mood disorder, includingdepression and anxiety.

Age information was avail-able for 37 of the 39 patientswith an altered mental state andof those, around half wereaged under 60 years of age.

Detailed long-term studiesare needed in order to confirmif there is any link betweenCovid-19 infection and theonset of psychiatric or neu-ropsychiatric complications inyounger patients, said theresearchers.

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Aletter, purportedly writtenby senior IPS officer Basant

Rath expressing apprehensionabout his safety due to "certainactivities" of the Jammu andKashmir Police chief, has goneviral on the social media, trig-gering a controversy.

The June 25 letter,addressed to the Gandhinagarpolice station SHO, does notseek registration of an FIR, butwants it to be made "a part ofdaily diary".

Gandhinagar police sta-tion SHO Gurnam Choudhary,however, denied havingreceived any such letter.

"I'm writing you to takenote of my genuine apprehen-sions about my safety and rep-utation. I am doing it as a pri-vate citizen of the country. Inmy personal capacity. Not as acivil servant. Not as a police-man," states the letter, pur-portedly written by InspectorGeneral of Police (IGP) Rath.

"I am not asking you tolodge an FIR against the personmentioned above. I am just ask-ing you to make this letter apart of the daily diary in yourpolice station.... In case some-thing bad happens to me, youshould know whose numberyou should dial. With duerespect," adds the letter, inwhose subject line the name ofthe Jammu and Kashmir Policechief is handwritten.

The letter, which has goneviral on the social media, hastriggered a controversy in theUnion Territory.

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Page 5: ˇˆ ˙ ˇ˝ ˛˚˜ ˇ˙ · 21 hours ago  · 5,024 new coronavirus cases, ... 7,106 with 175 new deaths. Maharashtra is India’s worst affected State accounts for nearly one-third

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Chief Minister MamataBanerjee has dashed off a let-

ter to Prime Minister NarendraModi questioning the efficacy ofa hundred per cent ForeignDirect Investment of the coal sec-tor saying the decision wouldchip away at the essence of“Atmanirbhar Bharat” as pro-pogated by the CentralGovernment.

Besides she has alsoexpressed her doubts whetherthe decision would actually bringFDI as according to the currentglobal investors have been show-ing more interests in renewable

energy projects.“I express my serious reser-

vation on this policy announce-ment on cogent grounds. Thepolicy can neither bring foreigndirect investment nor can itbring technologies or know-how which we are unable toassess today. The recent trendand empirical evidence showcasethe interest of global investors inrenewable energy projects ascompared to coal mining pro-jects,” the CM has written.

The letter was sent daysafter the Centre decided to auc-tion 41 coal mines with a targetof drawing Es 33,000 crore to theexchequer.

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With 46 deaths and 3,645persons getting diag-

nosed with Covid-19 on a sin-gle day, it turned out to be aBlack Friday in Tamil Nadu.Friday’s 46 fatalities took thedeath toll in the state till dateto 957 out of which Chennaialone accounted for 730,

according to the medical bul-letin released by theGovernment of Tamil Nadu.

As on Friday evening, therewere 32,305 active Covid-19patients in the State, said thebulletin. The number ofpatients diagnosed with thepandemic till date rose to74,622, said the bulletin. Tilldate 41, 357 patients have comeout of the hospitals fully

recovered.The day also saw 32, 317

persons getting tested in 89 lab-oratories spread across theState. Till date, a total of 9.93lakh persons have been testedin the State for corona virus. Ithas to be mentioned that theTamil Nadu Government isgoing on setting up more lab-oratories as part of aggressivetesting to bring out any hidden

cases of the pandemic.Chennai (1,956),

Chengalpet (232), Madurai(190), Thiruvallur (177),Vellore (148) are the problem-atic districts in the State. Outof the 46 patients who died onFriday, 44 had co-morbidities.

Chief Minister EdappadiPalaniswami had convened ameeting of the team of medicalprofessionals as well as top

bureaucrats on Monday todecide the future course ofaction as the lock down of thefour districts of Chennai,Kancheepuram, Chengalpet,Thiruvallur and Madurai arecoming to an end on June 30.

“The situation seemsstrange in Tamil Nadu as wellas the remaining parts of thecountry. The characteristics ofthe virus that has caused this

pandemic appears quite dif-ferent from usual viruses. Thereare enough reasons to believethat the Covid-19 causing virusis manipulated by humanbeings in laboratories withulterior motives,” said a med-ical scientist based in Chennaion condition of anonymity.

Meanwhile in Kerala, 150persons were diagnosed withCovid-19 on Friday. This is theeighth day in succession theState tested 100 Plus cases ofthe pandemic. Six comman-does of the CISF based inKannur and three employees ofthe Army camp in the districttested positive on Friday. Thereare 1,846 patients in hospitalsacross the State undergoingtreatment for Covid-19. Thenumber of hotspots in theState increased to 114 withmore cases of coronavirus get-ting diagnosed from the dis-tricts. The last 24 hours saw thetesting of 5859 samples in the State.

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Alow cost therapy whichwas in vogue prior to the

Second World War could bringdown the number of personssuccumbing to Covid-19,according to a widely respect-ed former scientist of India’sAtomic Energy Commission.

P C Kesavan, former direc-tor, Biosciences Group, BhabhaAtomic Research Centre,Trombay, the elite research hubof Atomic Energy Commissionand former head of School ofLife Sciences, Jawaharlal NehruUniversity has pointed out thatfatality rate due to Covid-19 ishigh compared to previous

pandemics like H1N1 and thiscalls for studying the words ofChinese philosopher Confucius: “Study the past if you woulddefine the future”.

While the H1N1 pandem-ic registered a fatality rate of amere .02 per cent, the currentCovid-19 caused by the SARS-CoV-2 has registered a deathrate of 6 per cent in the UnitedStates, says Kesavan in the edi-torial authored by him for theJune 25 issue of CurrentScience, a publication ofCurrent Science Associationin collaboration with IndianAcademy of Sciences.

“The death rate is 3.2 percent in India, 14 per cent inItaly, 11.9 per cent in Spain. The

average global death rate forCovid-19 is 6.7 per cent. It isthis high death rate that makesCovid-19 pandemic dreadful.Increased incidence of deathrate has to do with severity ofinfection. The spectrum ofclinical symptoms of thepatients with SARS-CoV-2 isbroad and encompasses asymp-tomatic infection , mild andmoderate to severe illnesses ofthe upper respiratory tract ,severe pneumonia, AcuteRespiratory Distress Syndromeand respiratory failure leadingto death,” Kesavan writes in theeditorial.

He reminds the modernmedicine physicians of the LowDose Radiation Therapy

administered for severe cases ofpneumonia. “Treatment ofpneumonia with small doses ofX-rays has been known since1905. During the first half of the20th century, approximately700 cases of bacterial sul-phanilamide -resistant inter-stitial and atypical pneumoniawere effectively treated by X-rays,” Kesavan writes, quotingfacts, figures and peer reviewedresearch papers.

He points out that LDRTdied a natural death followingthe invention of antibiotics andthe “radiation phobia” propa-gated by the Atomic BombCasualty Commission set upafter the atomic-bomb detona-tions over Hiroshima and

Nagasaki in August 1945. According to Kesavan,

LDRT can effectively removethe inflammation of the lungs.“In Germany, patients are beingtreated with LDRT for severalnon-malignant ailments includ-ing arthritis. As of today, dozensof hospitals across the USA andGermany are using LDRT totreat and save the lives of seri-ously ill Covid-19 patients,” hehas written in the editorial. Asuggestion to return to the lowcost, effective therapy withoutany side effects comes at a timewhen one of the private drugmanufacturers has announcedabout the new vaccine forCovid-19 costing Rs 37,800for a course.

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The Bengal Government hasdecided to cap expendi-

ture of treatment in coronacases directing the private hos-pitals to charge not more than�2,250 for testing the patients.

Announcing a slew of mea-sures to counter the surge inChinese virus infection ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee onFriday said that “while theGovernment facilities are treat-ing the patients for free, the pri-vate hospitals will not beallowed to charge �4,000 fortesting the patients. We are writ-ing to them to cap the charge at�2,250… besides we will alsodirect them to charge not morethan �1,000 per PPE (person-al protective equipment) andkeep the doctors’ fees within�1,000.”

The private hospitals werecharging in the vicinity of Rs5,000 as doctors’ consultationfee, she complained.

Expressing displeasure overthe rising oil prices the Chief

Minister said continuous hikein petroleum prices is puttingpressure on the private busoperators who are unwilling toply their vehicles on the streetscausing great hardship to theoffice goers.

“They are shamelessly hik-ing the prices and blaming theState Governments for thathike. It is unjustified. Alreadywe are under huge pressure tofight the current corona crisisas the Centre is giving us nohelp,” Banerjee said.

“In some places diesel ispriced more than petrol… Butwe cannot do that… so we willhave to provide subsidy… Foreach bus we will provide�15,000 for three months sothat the bus operators do nothave to increase fare. In fact myGovernment will not allow afare hike because the people arenot in a position to pay,” shesaid adding her Governmentwould provide a subsidy of Rs27 crore for the private buses toenable them to run their vehi-cles.

Wondering whether theMetro Railways too could chipin by starting their operationsby maintaining social distanc-ing she said “we are writing tothe Metro authorities allowingthem to run the metro servicesby maintaining social distanc-ing and proper sanitisationprotocol,” expressing displea-sure at the way the IndianRailways was still sending inspecial trains from the coronahotspot zones.

“My Chief Secretary willwrite to the Centre about dis-continuing trains and evendomestic flights from coronahotspot states because that iscausing more people to getinfected in our state” Banerjeesaid reminding Bengal had sofar managed to control its tallywith active 5039 cases and a 65percent recovery rate as againstthe national rate of 58 percent.

Incidentally the Bengal sawits oldest patient getting dis-charged from a city hospitalwith 94-year-old LM Sethrecovering and getting released

from the Calcutta MedicalCollege and Hospital onThursday.

Apparently attacking theBJP for holding rallies throwingall cautions to the wind at atime when the state needed tomaintain utmost care on socialdistancing Banerjee said “weshall not allow the parties whoare breaking social distancingprotocol to put others at risk,”adding FIRs would be filed andtheir leaders would be taken totask for breaking law.

The Government hadlodged FIRs against some BJPleaders for holding public ral-lies and inciting people to dam-age public properties like BDOoffices and police stations.

“The people are watchingyou damage properties madeout of their money. This is notthe time to reap political harvestby holding rallies and breakingcorona protocols,” Banerjeesaid wondering “why shouldthe people go to your rallieswhen they are refraining toorganize weddings even.”

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After a lull of many monthsthe Left and the Congress

on Friday staged joint ralliesin protest against petro-pricehike even as Congress LokSabha Leader AdhirChowdhury slammed PrimeMinister Narendra Modi forturning a blind eye on the“loot” going on in the oilmarket.

“When the Congress leftpower, international price ofcrude was $ 116 per barrel…But after that it came down to$ 20 per barrel. Even PrimeMinister Modi called himself'fortunate' to find the petro-prices so low. However thepeople of India were not sofortunate like Modi ji as theyhave continuously languishedunder the rising oil prices thathas hurt every sector fromfarming to transportationcausing steep inf lation,”Chowdhury said advocatingan immediate cap on thepetroleum prices.

“The farmers are sufferingthe most with rising dieselprices. This Government isdoing nothing about that,” hesaid.

CPI(M) central commit-tee member and StateLegislature Party Leader SujanChakrabarty who led a hugecycle rally in South Kolkatasaid, “the common man isalready jobless and upon thatthey have been hit by inflationdue to rising oil prices. Andthe Centre is taking no note ofthis. So we had been forced totake this route.”

The Congress and the Leftstaged a joint blockade atBarasat in the northern fringesof Kolkata protesting oil pricehike. DYFI the youth arm ofthe CPI(M) too staged aunique motorbike ral lywhence the walked with theirmotorcycles before blockingsome city thoroughfares.

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Aminor boy was killed alongwith a CRPF constable in a

terrorist attack in Bijbehara areaof Anantnag while the jointteams of security forces gunneddown three more terrorists dur-ing an ongoing operation inChewa Ullar area of Awantiporaon Friday.

Killing of a minor boy at thehands of terrorists was widelycondemned by the leaders ofmainstream political parties andothers.

Brigadier Vijay Mahadevan,Commander 1 sector RR, dur-ing a media briefing toldreporters, "due to successfuloperations in the South Kashmirdistricts, the terrorists are frus-trated and resorting to targetingunarmed civilians and securityforces standing guard at publicplaces".

He said, "we will continue totarget the terrorist leadership sothat they are not able to pollutethe innocent mind of a Kashmiriyouth". Late evening, Jammuand Kashmir police identifiedthe killer of a minor boy andCRPF personnel and registeredan FIR against him.

According to a policespokesman, the killer has beenidentified as Zahid Daas , a ter-rorist of JKIS outfit.

So far, 124 terrorists havebeen eliminated by the securi-ty forces in a series of anti ter-rorist operations since January1, 2020. According to a policespokesman, "Around 12.15 p.mlocal police in Anantnagreceived information that ter-rorists had fired on a CRPFparty in Bijbehara area".

During the preliminaryinvestigation, it was revealed thatterrorists fired upon the CRPFparty, resulting in injuries to aCRPF personnel and a minorboy.

According to police, "Boththe injured were shifted to near-by hospital for treatment wherethey succumbed to theirinjuries". The killed boy has beenidentified as Nehan Yawar sonof Mohd Yaseen Bhat resident ofMachwa Yaripora, Kulgamwhile the CRPF trooper wasidentified as Shyamal Kumar.

Meanwhile, during anongoing operation in ChewaUllar area of Awantipora, thejoint teams of Police, 42RR and180Bn CRPF maintained a tightvigil during the night to preventhiding terrorists from escaping.To avoid any civilian casualties,the security forces shifted themsafely to a safer location beforemaking an appeal to these ter-rorists to lay down their armsand surrender. According topolice, when these terroristswere given an opportunity tosurrender, they fired indiscrim-inately upon the joint searchparty, which was retaliated lead-ing to an encounter.

In the ensuing encounter, 03terrorists were killed and theirbodies were retrieved from thesite of encounter. The identifi-cation and affiliation of thekilled terrorists is being ascer-tained.

Arms and ammunitionincluding 02 AK rifle, 06 AKMagazine, 05 AK rounds, 01Pistol, 01 Pistol Magazine, 04Pistol Rds and other incrimi-nating materials were recoveredfrom the site of encounter.

Police spokesman said, "thedead bodies of the killed ter-rorists have been sent toHandwara for their last rites.

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Today is June 27. On May 27,a pregnant elephant col-lapsed in Velliyar river inKerala’s Palakkad districtand drowned. She had bit-

ten a coconut filled with explosives onMay 12, suffering terrible wounds inher oral cavity. Unable to eat and drinkand in continuous, excruciating agony,she had, on May 25, come and stoodin the river. Efforts to treat her failed.Finally, weak and exhausted, shecould not stand any more.

The incident had set off a globalwave of outrage, compelling the KeralaGovernment, not known for its over-flowing concern for animals under anydispensation, to order an investigation.One person was reportedly arrestedand two were absconding. A monthhas passed. The print and electronicmedia no longer report on the matter.One does not know whether the twoabsconders are still at large. Nor arepeople asking. Here is yet anotherexample of collective amnesia, whichoften allows outrages and their perpe-trators to go unpunished.

It is important that the killers ofthe pregnant elephant are given deter-rent punishment and the flourishingtrade in illegal explosives, whichenabled her killing and which is reg-ularly used to kill wild boars, issquelched. The Kerala Government,which, much to the chagrin of animallovers, allowed the killing of wild boarsin May, laid down certain conditions.These, such as certification by the localauthorities that the area concerned wassuffering crop loss on account of sus-tained depredations by wild boars, andthat the killing had to be by shootingand by someone from an empanelledgroup of firearm owners, are merrilyignored. They are killed by puttingexplosives in the food used as bait.While they do devour crops, illegal saleof their meat is a thriving business insome parts of Kerala. Not just that,nothing can justify such a horriblycruel way of killing. Besides, theexplosives involved are also used to killhumans in inter-gang and inter-partypolitical clashes. Yet, as their free useindicates, nothing effective has beendone to control their circulation.

No one talks about all this anymore. This, however, is not the onlyinstance of its kind. Relegation fromthe foreground of public consciousnessover time happens with most inci-dents, however convulsive their initialimpact. Of course, an event affectspeople in varying degrees, dependingon their ideology, social and religiousvalues, intellect and/or whether theyhave personal reasons to be happy orsad. Thus, some remember the event

for a long time and with greatintensity. It remains as back-ground memory in others andsome forget it altogether. Eventhose belonging to the first cat-egory are generally not movedenough to demand follow-up orpunitive action where necessary.

This also goes for groups. Itis imperative to examine whythis happens because it hasobvious implications in terms offollow-up/corrective actionimportant to society. Time hasalmost always caused woundsto heal and memories to fade.The phenomenon has nowacquired an unprecedentedforce because of the volume,speed and the global nature ofinformation flow and the cul-tural process that mediates ourinternalisation of it. When newsflows in succession, one item ispushed out of consciousness bythe next, unless, as indicatedabove, there is a special reasonto remember it.

The process underwent aqualitative leap with the adventof the telegraph in the 19th cen-tury, which made for instanta-neous transmission of informa-tion over vast distances. Muchof this massive flow was irrel-evant to the lives of the recip-ients, who could neither doanything about them norunderstand their significance.Newspapers, which took tothe telegraph with alacrity,played a critical role in initiat-ing and perpetuating such flow.

Locked in intense competi-tion among themselves, theycarried news that were sensa-tional, titillating and exoticeven if they were from afar anddid not connect with the livesof the readers. Such news itemswere read for lascivious enter-tainment and forgotten there-after. Amusement became animportant component of news-paper reading.

Neil Postman underlined animportant result of this when hewrote in Amusing Ourselves toDeath: Public Discourse in theAge of Show Business, “most ofour daily news is inert, consist-ing of information that gives ussomething to talk about but can-not lead to any meaningfulaction. This fact is the principallegacy of the telegraph. By gen-erating an abundance of irrele-vant information, it has dramat-ically altered what may be calledthe ‘information-action ratio.’”

The process has beenaggravated by what has beencalled de-contextualisation inwhich newspapers presentevents in isolation from theircontexts and without any expla-nation or reference to theirbackgrounds to distant readersor viewers unfamiliar withtheir context or significance.They are read mainly foramusement and curiosity with-out serious engagement, lead-ing to action in respect oftheir consequences. Despitebeing most disturbing in its

implications, the trend did notassume proportions threaten-ing serious discourse and totalephemerality in response tonews items. This was becausethe latter was dominated by theprint media and the writtenculture based on language,which expresses and compre-hends ideas symbolically andencourages reflection andthinking. Postman observes,“Even the simplest act of nam-ing a thing is an act of think-ing — of comparing one thingwith others, selecting somefeatures in common, ignoringwhat is different, (del comma)and making an imaginary cat-egory.”

The advent of photographyfurther aggravated the process ofde-contextualisation and madea change in the cognition of real-ity. A photograph is recognised;a word is interpreted. Except tothose in the know, a photographsays nothing about a place whereit has been taken or a chain ofevents of which it represents avisual fragment. Thus, the imageof the cardboard model of ahouse on fire can be seen as anactual house burning.

Then came television andwith it a revolution in the cul-ture of responding to informa-tion. The combination of mov-ing images, sounds, music andthe vicarious experience of theexciting reality it provides isrivetting. If all this lends to tele-vision programmes with an

ambience that is entertaining,so does the fact that they arepreceded, followed and punc-tuated by advertisements withattractive visuals of productsand models. It is not surprisingthat Postman considers enter-tainment to be “the supra-ide-ology of all discourse on tele-vision. No matter what isdepicted and from which pointof view, the over-arching pre-sumption is that it is there forour entertainment and plea-sure.”

There are doubtless televi-sion programmes that aremeant to provoke thought. Butthese remain within the enter-tainment genre. The commen-tary is overshadowed by mov-ing figures on the screen;besides, these have to be withthe mandatory advertisementswhich cover costs and yieldprofit.

Finally, television breedspassivity as most people aretrapped in the flow of imagesand sounds and are unable todisengage or reflect, which alonecan lead to action. This attitudetoward virtual reality also comesto affect their approach to real-ity itself, a process that is aggra-vated by hopelessness abouttheir ability to change reality,however harsh. Passivitybecomes a way of life, the impli-cations of which are obvious.

(The writer is ConsultantEditor, The Pioneer, and an author)

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Sir — May be it’s because I amnot a twit that I don’t understandthe way Twitter allows sometweets and blocks/warns others,including those from USPresident Donald Trump. Likemany, I have concerns about(un)social media and its ability tospread views too easily, includingthose that are offensive. Racism,for example, or the plain stupid-ity shown by some who think BillGates is responsible for thespread of COVID-19.

Twitter Inc’s warning noticeto Trump for his tweet threaten-ing “serious force” against pro-testers in the US capital has con-fused many. Although there is awarning that this tweet refers to“abusive behaviour,” one canstill proceed to the tweet andread it in full. Twitter said it hidTrump’s tweet behind its “pub-lic interest” notice because itincluded a threat of harm againstan identifiable group. Surely, ifTwitter finds his tweet inappro-priate, it should remove it ratherthan issue a meek response withjust a warning.

The problem is that peoplehave the apparent right to makeincorrect or offensive statements

but there is little clarity as towhat can actually be banned.Twitter is working on this issuebut there is a long way to go andthe basic problem is what isoffensive to some may be a viewsupported by others.

Dennis FitzgeraldAustralia

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Hurting China or ourselves?”(June 26). Indeed, China needsto be paid back but not necessar-ily with offensive measures.Opting for the trade route is the

best way to deal with our hostileneighbour. But this is easier saidthan done and may be a long-term strategy. India has a hugetrade deficit with China. Hence,calls to boycott Chinese goodsmay not hurt it much. Rather,back home, supply chains will bedisrupted. In fact, trade associ-

ations themselves have soughttime to reduce dependence onChina. India will have to notonly strengthen its entire busi-ness ecosystem but also startproducing world class goods atcompetitive prices. Any knee-jerk reaction may sound good atthe moment but will harmIndian companies and industriesin the long-run. At a time whenwe are battling the worst eco-nomic slowdown in decades, weshould not act emotionally.

Bal GovindNoida

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Ayurveda vs Ramdev” (June 26).When scientists are working over-time to find a cure forCoronavirus and have not beensuccessful so far, the claim byRamdev to have found a “cure” isabsurd. The yoga guru is misguid-ing the public. The Broadcastingand Health Ministries must act tocheck this.

KshitijVia email

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Page 7: ˇˆ ˙ ˇ˝ ˛˚˜ ˇ˙ · 21 hours ago  · 5,024 new coronavirus cases, ... 7,106 with 175 new deaths. Maharashtra is India’s worst affected State accounts for nearly one-third

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COVID-19 has changed the world as weknow it. We all have to get used to the newnormal, both in our personal and profes-

sional lives. Businesses have to reinvent and re-engineer themselves to face the challengesthrown up by the Novel Coronavirus. This isespecially true of entrepreneurs who are the foun-tainheads of innovation and creativity. Now morethan ever, entrepreneurs need to think out-of-thebox to survive these unprecedented times. Andthe first step towards this is to take advantage ofthe technological advancements mankind hasmade and go online. Gone are the days whenthere was a raging debate on the pros and consof online business versus an offline one. The ques-tion now is how to convert an offline brick-and-mortar business into a click-and-mortar one.

Setting up an online business is by no meansan easy task as cyberspace is a different spherealtogether. It requires careful planning, which isthe same for any regular offline business. It needsvision, access to funds, hard work and plain oldgrit and determination. However, unlike a brick-and-mortar business, the beauty of an online busi-ness is its instant reach to a huge target audience,not only locally but across borders. But to set upa successful online business, you need to carveout a niche. For example, Amazon created a nichefor itself by offering the largest collection of booktitles (over one million), which was more than10 times the range of books in the largest phys-ical bookstores around the world. So, the first stepis to develop a clear understanding of the nicheyou want to address as a business.

Next, try and identify your unique sellingproposition (USP). Your business idea may notbe totally unique but a support environment canmake it exclusive. A great website, a good salespitch, innovative marketing strategies, smoothsupply chains and a responsive customer care cando wonders for a business and help a start-upcarve a niche to take on well-established, deep-pocketed competitors. However, don’t becomedisheartened if you are unable to put a finger onyour USPs, they will become obvious at the plan-ning stage. Entrepreneurs have the habit of try-ing to do all things on their own. Don’t succumbto this habit. Delegation is as important as care-ful planning. Take the help of experts whereverrequired in planning, development and deploy-ment of your online business. A successful busi-ness person can make a distinction on where andwhen to use external or expert resources andwhen to do things on their own. Developing awebsite, systems administration, database devel-opment among others can be such areas whereexternal expertise is required. Employing athird party to manage and maintain your web-site is a good business decision, which will allowtime for focussing on your other USPs. You cansurely run a successful online business even if youhave no inkling of technology. Outsourcing yourtechnical requirements will cost you but havinga good website is like having a great start for youronline business.

Just like any business, careful planning andadequate funds can make an online business suc-cessful. There are two reasons why a meticulousbusiness plan is necessary. One is to make yourproposal attract funding and the second is to cre-ate an internal blueprint to plan, launch and exe-cute your venture. Basically, you should devel-op a business plan for yourself. There are no rightsand wrongs in developing a business plan and

there are several online templates avail-able to guide you. However, a well-writ-ten business plan should answer the fol-lowing five questions: What are yourbusiness’ aims and goals? Why wouldyour business satisfy or fulfil customerneeds? Where will you be present? Whoare your potential customers and yourtarget audience? And how are you goingto launch and continue the daily oper-ations of your business? These five ques-tions will cover all aspects of the ven-ture.

Any business plan is not completewithout market intelligence.Competition is a part of life and some-where, someone would be having a sim-ilar product or service that you are plan-ning to offer. So a competitor analysisis an absolute necessity, in terms of theproducts/services offered, USPs, web-site layout, quality of information to cus-tomers, delivery times, packaging, cus-tomer care, complaint handling and soon. Addressing any drawbacks yourcompetitor has will make you popularand increase your consumer base.

Start-up funding and investmentsare an important requirement for anybusiness. It would be prudent to com-bine some of the financing options avail-able like your personal savings, loanfrom family and friends, bank loans,Government grants, angel investingand venture capital. Projecting yourincome and expense is not one of theeasiest tasks. We project our income andexpenses based on assumptions whichtend to change. Be ready to adapt tochanging income and expense figures.Once you have developed a careful plan,you are ready to execute it by establish-ing the online avatar.

To create a successful website, youshould be clear about what you want.Make a list of all your requirements.How many pages do you need? How

many products or services do youwant to list? Do you want a website thatchanges frequently? What is the type ofuser interface needed? Discuss theseaspects with your carefully-chosenwebsite developer, who is your partnerin one of the most important aspects ofonline business. You could consider pre-vious experience, technical knowledge,client portfolio, references from clients,commitment and workload as some ofthe attributes of choosing a good webdevelopment partner. If you are plan-ning to capture customer data or receivepayments online, you should takeresponsibility and accountability toprotect the information of your cus-tomers by pursuing necessary and vitalchecks and balances.

Once this is done, shop around tohave the best payment gateway for yourbusiness. Managing content is one of thecrucial aspects of online business.Writing quality content takes longerthan it sounds and would make the firstimpression on your customers. Theordering process and experience for thecustomers has to be hassle-free, so makesure that the order pipeline is easy tonavigate and customers do not leaveyour website without spending. Whatuse is creating a wonderful website,planning and launching the products orservices, if it is not monetised?

Apart from the primary source ofrevenue, secondary sources like adver-tising become important as you can takeadvantage of the traffic you receive onyour website. Running a successfulonline venture requires strong backendoperations and a robust supply chainmechanism. A reliable supplier networkis one of the most important areas thatany business should develop. Choosinga good supplier and managing goodrelations with them are the key to a suc-cessful online business.

The next step is to make cus-tomers aware of your online business.Search Engine Optimisation is one ofthe ways with which you can achievethis. The key is to make your websitevisible to any Search Engine by addingunique content that would be picked upby the bots. For example, Google usesa software called Googlebot to examinethe internet for useful content on web-sites and accordingly ranks them basedon that. Good quality content is veryattractive to any Search Engine whichcan hope to satisfy the query of cus-tomers. Connecting with your cus-tomers through various ways likeforums, social media platforms, emails,surveys or through telephone will helpbuild your reputation. Also, be sure todeliver on the claims and promises youmake on the website to gain their con-fidence. Try and go over and above cus-tomer expectation and aim for customerdelight. Remember under-promise andover-deliver.

So the big question is whether thisis the right time to launch your onlineventure? Marred with the uncertaintiesunleashed upon the world by the pan-demic, setting up a business, particular-ly an online venture, can be very dis-heartening.

However, one should know that set-ting up a business in a depressed econ-omy has its benefits. You can negotiategood terms with your vendors; hireknowledgeable staff of other companieswho have been laid off, buy some com-panies at lower valuations and get yourbusiness off the ground. Identify the sil-ver lining in the dark cloud, set up astrong online presence, back it up witha robust operational plan, deliver whatyou promised, listen to your customersand run a successful online business.

(The writer is Associate Professor,Amity)

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All sorts of things are being saidabout the happenings inLadakh. Prime Minister

Narendra Modi initially said there wasno incursion into Indian territory butlater modified his statement when con-fronted with undeniable facts about theGalwan Valley. So what is the truth?The truth is that satellite images haveshown that undoubtedly Chinesetroops have intruded into GalwanValley, Pangong Tso, Hot Springs,Demchok and Fingers four to eight,which were not earlier in their control.

As Lieutenant-General Panag,former General Officer Commanding-

in-Chief, Northern Command andnoted defence analyst pointed out, theChinese have captured at least 40square kilometre of Indian territory.Why? To understand this, one must goa little deeper and understand that pol-itics is concentrated economics. So tounderstand politics one must see theeconomics behind it.

China may have been socialist atone time but today it is undoubtedlycapitalist and imperialist. In fact, it isexpanding imperialism and, therefore,more dangerous and aggressive thandefensive imperialism (just as in the1930s, Hitler’s expanding imperialismwas more dangerous than British orFrench defensive imperialism).

China has built up a massiveindustrial base and with its huge $3.2trillion foreign exchange reserve, it ishungrily looking for markets and rawmaterials and avenues for profitableinvestment, like an imperialist power.Mountainous areas like Tibet andLadakh, appear barren, like Siberia, but

like Siberia they are full of valuableminerals and other natural wealth.This is the reason China has capturedTibet and also parts of Ladakh. Usingsalami tactics, it has recently occupiedGalwan Valley, Pangong Tso, HotSprings, Demchok and other parts ofLadakh (having already occupiedAksai Chin in the 1960s). These areashave valuable minerals, needed byChina’s growing industry and this is thereal explanation behind the recentevents. As stated above, politics is con-centrated economics. There are certainiron laws of economics, which oper-ate independent of any individual’s will.For example, why did the Britishconquer India? It was not for a picnicor for enjoyment. In fact, the Britishwere miserable in the hot weather here.They conquered India because, aftertheir industries had grown to a certainlevel, they needed overseas markets,raw materials and cheap labour.Similarly, what was the cause of theWorld War-I? It was for redivision of

the world’s colonies. Since Britainand France had done their industrial-isation earlier, they had grabbed mostof the backward countries and madethem their colonies, i.e. markets andsources of cheap raw materials andcheap labour. German industrialisationbegan later but soon caught up withthe British and French, and then they,too, demanded more colonies. But theBritish and the French were unwillingto part with theirs and this resulted inthe war. Why did Japan invade Chinaand other countries ? To get raw mate-rials and markets for its growingindustry. Similarly, after the Chinesebuilt up a massive industrial base, theyneeded markets and raw materials andthis has made them imperialist. Theyhave entered Asia, Africa, SouthAmerica and even the developedcountries.

But at present the Chinese arelargely proceeding cautiously. They uselargely economic measures, not mili-tary. However, they do sometimes use

military measures, too, for coercionand they have built up a massive mil-itary. At present, they use salami tac-tics, advancing step by step.

This explains what happenedrecently in Ladakh in the GalwanValley and other places they have occu-pied. In future, too, they will keep nib-bling away parts of Ladakh and otherIndian territory, obviously with an eyeon the raw materials there (as they havedone in the South China Sea).

It is reported that on June 22 talkstook place between a Lieutenant-General of the Indian Army and aMajor-General of the Chinese army, inwhich the former demanded a time-line for withdrawal of troops to twokms from the Line of Actual Control(LAC ) as it existed before the Chineseintrusion. The problem is where is theLAC? Whenever in the past theChinese were asked by the Indian sideto delineate the LAC on a map, theyrefused to do so, obviously because ifthey did so, their designs for future

intrusion into Indian territory wouldbe hampered. In view of what has beensaid above, it is highly unlikely that theChinese will comply with the requestof our Lieutenant-General. It is hightime now that our leaders realise thisand join hands with other countrieslike the US and form a united frontagainst Chinese expansionist imperi-alism, just like the united front formedby Russia, the US, Britain and othercountries against Hitler. That is theonly way to prevent Chinese domina-tion over us and other parts of theworld.

It should be understood thatChina is much more economicallydeveloped than India (some people sayit is five times so) and military strengthcomes from economic strength.China’s military is, therefore, undoubt-edly superior to ours (we can’t evenmake our heavy weapons like artillery,tanks, aircraft and so on while theChinese have developed the technol-ogy for it). So we will not be able to

face the Chinese alone and need to joinhands with the other major powers ofthe world. The US is already movingits forces away from Europe and intoSouth Asia in an attempt to counterChinese aggression. We should takeadvantage of this. Some say that theproblem can be solved by diplomacy.This was the view of the then BritishPrime Minister Neville Chamberlain,who thought that negotiating withHitler at the Munich Conference in1938 would avert war, not realising thatappeasement only whets the appetiteof the aggressor. So diplomacy will beuseless.

Our Government should do twothings immediately. It must expel allChinese companies operating in Indiaand ban sale of Chinese products in thecountry. It must form a united frontwith world powers and boldly confrontChinese imperialism. This alone canthwart Chinese aggression.

(The writer is a former judge of theSupreme Court of India.)

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Stockholm: Sweden’s chief epi-demiologist Anders Tegnell haslashed out at the World HealthOrganization, calling it “a totalmistake” to put his nation on alist of countries where “accel-erated transmission” couldoverwhelm health systems.

Tegnell told Swedish radioon Friday: “This is unfortu-nately a total misjudgment ofthe Swedish data.” A report bythe WHO’s Europe office onThursday named 11 countries,including Sweden, Armenia,Albania, Kazakhstan andUkraine.

Sweden has seen a steeprise in the number of COVID19cases but this has been attrib-uted to an increase in testing.

Tegnell said: “We can pointat all other parameters we mea-sure, i.E. How many seriouscases we have, they are decreas-ing. The number of admissionsinto intensive care is at a verylow level and even deaths arestarting to decline.” AP

Washington: President DonaldTrump is preparing to directthe federal government to over-haul its hiring to prioritise a jobapplicant’s skills over a collegedegree, administration andindustry officials say.

Trump is set to sign anexecutive order Friday outlin-ing a new direction for thenation’s largest employer dur-ing a meeting of the board thatadvises the administration onworker policy.

Ivanka Trump, the presi-dent’s daughter and adviser, isco-chair of the AmericanWorkforce Policy AdvisoryBoard and has worked onimproving job training to meetemployers’ changing needs.

The federal government isthe nation’s largest employerwith 2.1 million civilian work-ers, excluding postal serviceemployees. AP

London: The United Nations’former human rights chief andeight former UN specialenvoys urged the body’s sec-retary-general Thursday toappoint a special envoy onHong Kong, saying they aredeeply concerned about apotential “humanitariantragedy” as Beijing prepares toimpose draconian nationalsecurity laws on the city.

Zeid Raad Al-Hussein,who was the UN HighCommissioner for HumanRights during 2014-2018, andthe eight former special rap-porteurs called for the unusu-

al procedure because of the“severity of the deterioration,the impending grave threatsunder the new security law,(and) the symbolism that ahuman rights crisis in whathad been one of Asia’s freestcities entails.”

A law that could be enact-ed as soon as next week wouldcriminalise secession, subver-sion of state power, terroristactivities and colluding withforeign forces to endangernational security.

The central government inBeijing also would set up anational security office in

Hong Kong to collect andanalyse intelligence and dealwith criminal cases related tonational security.

The plans have not beenofficially published, and detailswere only gleaned from a statemedia report.

The measures have beenwidely seen as the most sig-nificant erosion to date ofHong Kong’s British-style ruleof law and high degree ofautonomy promised under the“one country, two systems”principle since Britain returnedthe former colony to China in1997. AP

Colombo: The UN HumanRights Council has called for aninvestigation on former LTTEdeputy leader Karuna Ammanover the “wholesale recruit-ment” of child soldiers for theTamil separatist group.

The UN body’s demandcame as Karuna was beingprobed over his recent claimsglorifying the killing of SriLankan soldiers during the bru-tal civil war.

Karuna aliasVinatagamurthi Muralitharanwas on Thursday questioned forover seven hours by theCriminal InvestigationsDepartment (CID) over hisremarks that he killed over2,000 Sri Lankan soldiers in theisland’s north during the LTTE’sseparatist war which lasted forover three decades. PTI

Cairo: Millions of childrencould be pushed to the brink ofstarvation as the coronaviruspandemic sweeps across war-torn Yemen amid a “huge”drop in humanitarian aid fund-ing, the UN children’s agencywarned Friday.

The stark prediction comesin a new UNICEF report,“Yemen five years on: Children,conflict and COVID-19.” Itsaid the number of malnour-ished Yemeni children couldreach 2.4 million by the end ofthe year, a 20 per cent increasein the current figure.

“As Yemen’s devastatedhealth system and infrastruc-ture struggle to cope with coro-navirus, the already dire situ-ation for children is likely todeteriorate considerably,”warned UNICEF.

Yemen’s poor health careinfrastructure is unpreparedto battle the coronavirus pan-

demic after five years of warbetween a Saudi-led militarycoalition and the Iran-backedHouthi rebels. The war, whichhas mostly stalemated, has alsotriggered the world’s worsthumanitarian crisis.

The conflict erupted in2015, when the Saudi-led coali-tion stepped in on behalf of theinternationally recognised gov-ernment, which the Houthishad forced into exile whenthey overran the capital, Sanaa,and much of the north the pre-vious year. The situation inYemen is only expected to getworse as donor countriesrecently cut back on aid.

Yemen has officially record-ed more than 1,000 cases ofCOVID-19, the illness causedby the coronavirus, including275 deaths. However, the actu-al tally is believed to be muchhigher as testing capabilities areseverely limited. AP

Washington: The number ofconfirmed new coronaviruscases per day in the US hit anall-time high of 40,000 Friday —eclipsing the mark set duringone of the deadliest stretches inlate April — in a resurgence thathas led some governors to back-track or at least pause thereopening of their states.

While the increase isbelieved to reflect, in part,greatly expanded testing,experts say there is ample evi-dence the virus is making acomeback, including risingdeaths and hospitalisations inparts of the country, especiallyin the South and West. Arizona,Texas and Florida are among thestates that have been hit hard.

The number of confirmedinfections soared past the pre-vious high set on April 24 of36,400, according to the countkept by Johns HopkinsUniversity.

Deaths from the coron-avirus in the US are down toaround 600 per day, compared

with about 2,200 in mid-April.Some experts have

expressed doubt that deathswill return to that level, in partbecause of advances in treat-ment and prevention but alsobecause a large share of the newinfections are in younger adults,who are more likely than olderones to survive.

The virus is blamed for124,000 deaths in the U.S. And2.4 million confirmed infectionsnationwide, by Johns Hopkins’count.

But US health officials said

the true number of Americansinfected is about 20 million, oralmost 10 times higher.Worldwide, the virus hasclaimed close to a half-millionlives, according to JohnsHopkins.

Elsewhere around theworld, China moved closer tocontaining a fresh outbreak inBeijing.

Another record dailyincrease in India pushed thecaseload in the world’s secondmost populous nation towardhalf a million. AP

Seoul: South Korea police onFriday raided the office of anactivist whose anti-Pyongyangleafleting campaign has inten-sified tensions with NorthKorea.

Police said officers visitedthe Seoul office of Park Sang-hak to confiscate leaflets,account books and other related materials. The Seoul Metropolitan PoliceAgency said that Park will besummoned soon for an inves-tigation.

Park, a North Koreanrefugee who has launched bal-loons carrying propaganda

leaflets toward North Korea foryears, has been at the center ofinternational media spotlightafter North Korea abruptlyused his campaign as a justifi-cation for a series of provoca-tive steps against South Korea.Among them was blowing upan empty liaison office built bySouth Korea on the North’s ter-ritory.

South Korean officials laterdemanded police investigatePark for allegedly raising ani-mosities on the KoreanPeninsula and potentiallyendangering residents livingnear the border. AP

Minneapolis: TheMinneapolis City Councilvotes on Friday on a proposalto change the city charter toallow elimination of the city’spolice department, a radicalmove supported by a majori-ty of the council after GeorgeFloyd’s death but far fromassured.

The vote is one step in aprocess that faces significantbureaucratic obstacles to makethe November ballot, wherethe city’s voters would have thefinal say.

And it comes amid a spateof recent shootings inMinnesota’s largest city thathave heightened many citi-zens’ concerns about talk ofdismantling the department.

The Minneapolis force hascome under heavy pressuresince Floyd, a Black man inhandcuffs, died May 25 after apolice officer pressed his kneeon Floyd’s neck for nearlyeight minutes.

Activists had long accusedthe department of being unableto change a racist and brutalculture, and earlier this month,a majority of the council pro-claimed support for disman-tling the department.

Doing so would firstrequire amending the citycharter. Draft language of theamendment posted onlinewould replace the departmentwith a Department ofCommunity Safety and

Violence Prevention, “whichwill have responsibility forpublic safety services priori-tizing a holistic, public health-oriented approach.”

The amendment goes onto say the director of the newagency would have “non-law-enforcement experience incommunity safety services,including but not limited topublic health and/or restorativejustice approaches.”

It also provides for a divi-sion of licensed peace officers,who would answer to thedepartment’s director.

Council members whosupport the change are lookingto seize on a groundswell ofsupport for significant policingchanges following Floyd’sdeath. If they don’t get thecharter change on theNovember ballot, their nextchance won’t come untilNovember 2021, they say.

“It is time to make struc-tural change,” Council MemberSteve Fletcher said. “It is timeto start from scratch and rein-vent what public safety lookslike.”

The proposed amendmentis expected to be approvedFriday, but that’s just a firststep. It goes then to a policycommittee and to the city’sCharter Commission for for-mal review.

The commission’s recom-mendation doesn’t bind thecouncil, but it takes time. AP

Washington: As coronaviruscases rise in more than half ofthe states, the Trump adminis-tration is urging the SupremeCourt to overturn theAffordable Care Act.

The administration’s highcourt filing at 10:30 pmThursday came the same daythe government reported thatclose to half a million peoplewho lost their health insuranceamid the economic shutdownto slow the spread of COVID-19 have gotten coveragethrough HealthCare.Gov.

The administration’s legalbrief makes no mention of thevirus.

More than 20 millionAmericans could lose theirhealth coverage and protectionsfor people with preexistinghealth conditions also would be

put at risk if the court agreeswith the administration.Nothing will happen immedi-ately. The case won’t be heardbefore the fall.

House Speaker NancyPelosi blasted the administra-tion’s latest move in a partisanbattle over “Obamacare” thathas stretched on for a fulldecade since the law’s passagein 2010.

Pelosi is planning a floorvote early next week on herown bill to expand the ACA,sweetening its health insurancesubsidies so more people willbe covered.

“There is no legal justifi-cation and no moral excuse forthe Trump administration’sdisastrous efforts to take awayAmericans’ health care,” shesaid in a statement. AP

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London: Three people arefeared dead in a stabbing inci-dent in a hotel in the Scottishcity of Glasgow on Friday anda male suspect has been shot byarmed police.

According to an early state-ment from Police Scotland, apolice officer injured in theincident has been rushed tohospital and the situation hasnow been brought under con-trol as no further suspects aresought.

“I would like to reassurethe public that this is a con-tained incident and that thewider public is not at risk.Armed police officers attend-ed the incident and I can con-firm that a male suspect wasshot by an armed officer,” saidAssistant Chief Constable Steve

Johnson of Police Scotland.“I would like to reassure

the public that at this time weare not looking for anyoneelse in relation to this incident.I can also confirm that a policeofficer was injured while deal-ing with the incident and thatofficer is receiving treatment inhospital,” he said.

According to yet to beconfirmed reports, three peo-ple died following a stabbing ona stairwell inside the Park Innhotel in what is usually a busyshopping district in the heart ofGlasgow.

However, due to the coro-navirus lockdown, the hotel isnot believed to be functioningin its usual capacity and waspossibly being used as somesort of a shelter. PTI

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Alexandria (US): A LebaneseAmerican businessman whowas a key witness in specialcounsel Robert Mueller’s reportand who helped broker therelease of American hostages isslated to receive at least a 10-year prison sentence on childsex charges.

George Nader was chargedlast June and pleaded guilty inJanuary to bringing a 14-year-old boy from the Czech

Republic to the US 20 years agoto engage in sexual activity. Healso acknowledged possessingchild pornography.

Nader’s name appears morethan 100 times in the Muellerreport. It details Nader’s effortsto serve as liaison between aRussian banker with ties toRussian President VladimirPutin and members of PresidentDonald Trump’s transition team.The convictions carry a 10-yearmandatory minimum.Prosecutors in federal court inAlexandria are not seeking alonger sentence than that atFriday’s sentencing hearing, but

the judge could still impose one.In the 1990s, Nader served

as a broker to facilitate therelease of American hostagesheld in the Middle East.

Nader also served as anadviser to the United ArabEmirates, a close Saudi ally, andin 2017 wired $2.5 million to atop Trump fundraiser, ElliottBroidy, through a company inCanada, The Associated Pressreported in 2018.

The goal was to persuadethe US to take a hard lineagainst Qatar, a longtimeAmerican ally but now anadversary of the UAE. AP

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�%������������%����7�����$)�"��������������8299��������Yangon: More than $839 millionworth of seized illegal drugswere destroyed in Myanmar onFriday to mark the annualInternational Day Against DrugAbuse and Illicit Trafficking,officials said.

The country has long beena major source of illegal drugsfor East and Southeast Asia,despite repeated efforts to crackdown. In Myanmar’s biggestcity, Yangon. A massive pile ofdrugs worth an estimated $144million went up in a spectacu-lar blaze. It included opium,heroin, methamphetamine,marijuana, ketamine and thestimulant known as ice, or crys-tal meth. The blaze burned sofiercely it threatened to set fireto an awning set up for the occa-sion that firefighters hurriedlydoused with water hoses. AP

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Page 9: ˇˆ ˙ ˇ˝ ˛˚˜ ˇ˙ · 21 hours ago  · 5,024 new coronavirus cases, ... 7,106 with 175 new deaths. Maharashtra is India’s worst affected State accounts for nearly one-third

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The US has identified andlisted 20 Chinese compa-

nies, including HuaweiTechnologies, which are con-trolled by the military regimein Beijing.The listed companiesare now prone to potentialsanctions as part of the DonaldTrump administration’s effortsto prevent China from secur-ing US investment and accessto certain technologies.

Media reports said thatthe Pentagon issued a list of“Communist Chinese militarycompanies operating in theUS” and it includes “entitiesowned by, controlled by, oraffiliated with China’s govern-ment, military, or defenceindustry.”The companies onthe list include AviationIndustry Corporation of China,China Aerospace Science andTechnology Corporation,China Aerospace Science andIndustry Corporation, ChinaElectronics Technology GroupCorporation, China SouthIndustries Group Corporation,China Shipbuilding IndustryCorporation, China StateShipbuilding Corporation,China North Industries Group

Corporation, HangzhouHivision Digital TechnologyCo, Huawei, Inspur Group,Aero Engine Corporation ofChina, China RailwayConstruction Corporation,CRRC Corp, Panda ElectronicsGroup, Dawning InformationIndustry Co, China MobileCommunications Group,China General Nuclear PowerCorp, China National NuclearCorp and ChinaTelecommunications Corp.

Quoting Pentagonspokesman Jonathan Hoffman,reports said, “As the People’sRepublic of China attempts toblur the lines between civiland military sectors, ‘knowingyour supplier’ is critical. Weenvision this list will be a use-ful tool for the US Govt, com-panies, investors, academicinstitutions, and like-mindedpartners to conduct due dili-gence with regard to partner-ships with these entities, par-ticularly as the list grows.”TheFinancial Times said that theCongress required the Pentagonto produce the list in 1999, butofficials never followed throughon the request. The effortgained momentum as lawmak-ers responded to rising tensionswith Beijing, the FT reported.

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Equity market benchmarksregained footing on Friday

after two sessions of declines asIT, bank and energy stocksdarted up amid firm globalcues.

After a positive opening,the BSE Sensex overcame boutsof volatility to close 329.17points, or 0.94 per cent, high-er at 35,171.27.

Similarly, the broader NSENifty surged 94.10 points, or0.90 per cent, to finish at10,383.

During the week, theSensex advanced 439.54 pointsor 1.26 per cent, while Niftygained 138.60 points or 1.35per cent.

IT and bank stocksemerged on top in Friday’s ses-sion. Infosys was the biggestgainer in the Sensex pack, ral-lying 6.94 per cent, followed byTCS, IndusInd Bank, ONGC,HDFC Bank and HCL Tech.

On the other hand, ITC,Bajaj Finance, Kotak Bank andSun Pharma shed up to 3.54per cent.

According to traders,broad-based buying on thefirst day of the new monthlyderivatives series and positivecues from global equity mar-kets lifted the benchmarks.After an unbroken rise in thelast two weeks, the marketsturned a bit volatile this week,said Joseph Thomas, Head ofResearch - Emkay WealthManagement.

“This was mainly influ-enced by factors like the phe-nomenal rise in the coronaviruscases in the US and India, themilitary stand-off betweenIndia and China at the border,

and also with the ongoing spatbetween China and the US onmany issues including tradeand the source of the pan-demic,” he said.

The domestic bourses, forthe most part of the week,reflected the broad trends inother global markets, headded.

Sector-wise, BSE IT, teck,oil and gas, energy, utilities andcapital goods indices rallied upto 5.06 per cent on Friday,while FMCG, realty andhealthcare ended in the red.

Broader BSE mid-cap andsmall-cap indices rose up to0.27 per cent.

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S&P Global Ratings on Fridaysaid Indian economy is in

deep trouble with growthexpected to contract by 5 percent this fiscal.

“India’s economy is indeep trouble. Difficulties incontaining the virus, an anemicpolicy response, and underly-ing vulnerabilities, especiallyacross the financial sector, areleading us to expect growth tofall by 5 per cent this fiscal yearbefore rebounding in 2021,”S&P said in a report.

In its report titled ‘Asia-Pacific losses near $ 3 trillionas balance sheet recessionlooms’, S&P projected theregion’s economy to shrink by1.3 per cent in 2020, but growby 6.9 per cent in 2021.

This implies a loss nearingUSD 3 trillion output overthese two years.

“Asia-Pacific has shownsome success in containingCOVID-19 and, by and large,responded with effectivemacroeconomic policies,” saidShaun Roache, chief economistfor Asia-Pacific at S&P Global

Ratings.“This can help cushion the

blow and provide a bridge tothe recovery. The recoverylooks set to be weighed downby indebted balance sheets,however.”

One risk now loominglarger is yet another “balancesheet recession” in which atleast one important sector ofthe economy - theGovernment, firms, or house-holds - tries to bolster its weakfinancial position by savingmore, paying down debt, andspending less, S&P said.

Bengaluru: YES Bankannounced on Friday Thelaunch of a full service digitalsavings account eliminatingthe need for a branch visit,physical documentation or anyin-person interaction.Theaccount comes with a virtualdebit card, unlocking over 100features on mobile throughYES Mobile and web includingtransactions, transfers andonline shopping, it said in astatement. PTI

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India Cellular and ElectronicsAssociation (ICEA) has

asked its members to report topolice any “unlawful protests”or acts of vandalism takingplace at their factories, retailstores and offices amid anti-China sentiments.

The industry body’s com-munication comes against thebackdrop of incidents ofunlawful protests and vandal-ism at facilities of some of itsmembers.

Manufacturers, brandowners, technology providers,VAS application and solutionproviders, distributors andretail chains of mobile handsetsand electronics devices arepart of ICEA. Some of theprominent names includeApple, Foxconn, Lava, andChinese entities such asXiaomi, Vivo, Oppo andHuawei.

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India’s foreign exchangereserves retreated from a life-

time high to touch $505.566 bil-lion in the week ended June 19,down by $2.078 billion from theprevious week, according tothe RBI data.

The forex reserves declinedfor the first time since April 24when the assets dropped by$113 million to $479.455 billion.Between April 24 and June 12,forex reserves had grown by$28.189 billion. In the weekended June 12, the reserveshad increased by USD 5.942 bil-lion to touch a record high of$507.644 billion. The reserveshad crossed the half-a-trillionmark for the first time in theweek ended June 5 after surgingby a massive $8.223 billion andreached $501.703 billion.

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New Delhi: Amid the ongoingborder tensions with China,industry chamber Ficci onFriday asked its members tolook for alternate sources ofsupplies and not remaindependent on a single nation.

“We have been standingshoulder to shoulder with theGovernment in dealing withthe situation and have beensharing with you our inputsand responses to theGovernment.

“Ficci and its membershave been supporting all thesteps taken by the Governmentin handling the standoff atGalwan valley, and will con-tinue to support,” FicciPresident Sangita Reddy said ina letter to members on theIndia-China standoff and theindustry’s action plan.

Reddy said “while mea-sures have been taken at thegovernment level, it is equallyimportant that industry alsotakes some actions to strength-en the government’s hand inputting ‘India first’.”

She added the industryneeds to focus on the five-point‘PEACE’ action plan —Productivity, Efficiency,Alternates, Competitivenessand Exports. PTI

Page 10: ˇˆ ˙ ˇ˝ ˛˚˜ ˇ˙ · 21 hours ago  · 5,024 new coronavirus cases, ... 7,106 with 175 new deaths. Maharashtra is India’s worst affected State accounts for nearly one-third

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Actor Anushka Sharma was a rank out-sider when she debuted in Aditya

Chopra’s Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi with ShahRukh Khan. Now a superstar and athought leader, she is considered a trail-blazer who has carved her destiny withher talent, passion and hard work. Theactress-turned-producer at a young ageof 25 and her production decisions speakloudly of her inclination to give brilliantfellow outsiders a chance to shine inBollywood.

Anushka says, “I have had a veryinteresting journey in Bollywood and Ihave tried to apply these importantlearnings from my experiences for myproduction company with Karnesh. Rightfrom my debut film, I worked really hardso that I could get a chance to collabo-rate with some of the best filmmakers ofour country. My desire was to always tryand work with the best writers anddirectors.”

She adds, “So when I became a pro-ducer, I was clear that I will back genuine-ly talented people who give their every-thing to make a mark with their pure, rawtalent and are looking for a foot into thebusiness of films. Clean Slate Filmz hassince then always been home to somereally brilliant talents and we have pas-sionately tried to show their raw, unfil-tered voice to the world.”

Her brother, Karnesh Sharma says,“When we started our production com-

pany, we consciously wanted to work witha lot of fresh talent and we have contin-uously done so with actors, directors andtechnicians. The energy and fresh ideas

that new talent bring to the project isinvigorating and we intend to keep doingthe same. We are also very passionateabout chasing stories that are off the beat-

en track and keep searching for such ideasthat push the envelope.”

Anushka’s first production NH10saw her collaborate with outsiders like

director Navdeep Singh, actors NeilBhoopalam, Darshan Kumaar and writer(screenplay) Sudip Sharma, who went onto create this year’s one of the best Indiandigital shows Paatal Lok for her. InPhillauri, Anushka backed directorAnshai Lal, launched actor MehreenPirzada and also helmed the debut of tal-ented music composer Shashwat Sachdev,who has won a national award now.

In Pari, her third venture, Anushkabacked director Prosit Roy. In Paatal Lok,she backed director Avinash Arun and

cast powerful actors like Jaideep Ahlawat,Neeraj Kabi, Abhishek Banerjee, NiharikaLyra Dutt, etc. In Bulbbul, she launcheddirector Anvita Dutt, the writer ofPhillauri, backed actors like Tripti Dimri,Avinash Tiwary and cinematographerSiddharth Diwan.

“We always wanted to show strong,independent women to audiencesthrough cinema and Bulbbul is our newoffering in this regard. Portrayal ofwomen in our cinema has always beenskewed and lopsided. I felt that as anactress and I decided that I will correctthis as much as I can through my produc-tions,” says she.

The actor is thrilled that Bulbbul isgetting great reviews! She says, “We arereally proud that it is being loved by audi-ence. The fact that people have called eachand every attempt of ours as daring andadventurous is validation enough for usbecause we have really tried to give some-thing new to people with each attempt.”

She adds, “Along with all the success-es that our projects have witnessed whichwe are very proud of, for us what mattersmost is that we have tried to discover freshtalent from across the country. We willcontinue with this endeavour because wefeel the more we have varied voices in theindustry, the more fresher it will becomein ideas and attitude. We will producemore clutter breaking content and artistswhich is definitely necessary.”

While the nation is grap-pling with the pandemic,it is difficult to imagine

what new parents might be goingthrough. The thought of bringing achild into the world is now not onlyfilled with happiness but phases offear, anxiety and protective angst.Particularly when the threat percep-tion of other diseases over thenewborn looms large, likeCongenital Heart Disease (CHD).It’s common among infants and iscaused by a structural defect in theheart.

Keeping in mind the urgentneed to treat children sufferingfrom CHD, Heart To HeartFoundation (H2H), a non-profitorganisation, is providing free pedi-atric cardiac surgeries across theworld even in the middle of thepandemic. In India, it has partneredwith the Sri Sathya Sai SanjeevaniCentre for Child Heart Care andResearch. One of the recent cases isabout Ayush Kumar, son of PawanKumar Giri, who is a labourerfrom Bihar. He and wife Punita hadtheir first and only child, Ayush, in2015. While they were still celebrat-ing the happiness of a newbornchild in their lives, they got to knowthat their little one was sufferingfrom Congenital Heart Disease.Given that the information on thesubject is so less, Pawan and Punitawere thrown out of their familyhome due to the child’s severe con-dition and had to struggle findingan affordable treatment solution. InMarch, they were informed aboutthe treatment. After formal check-up, the child was admitted forimmediate surgery. However,uncertainty struck again as thelockdown was announced. Theypatiently waited for over six weeksand as soon as the hospital resumedsurgical services, Ayush was takenup for surgery on the first day. Hewent through an Intra CardiacRepair for Tetralogy of Fallot.While Ayush was still in the post-operative ward, Pawan and Punitareceived a call from their parentsapologising profusely for what theydid and asking them to come backhome. Certainly, life has a way oftesting a person’s will. We talk to DrSubramanian Chellappan, the manwho gave hope to little Ayush.

Excerpts:�How did you manage to fightagainst all odds?

The COVID-19 pandemic andthe lockdown have impacted all sec-tions of society, particularly peoplewith other morbidities. Childrenwith Congenital Heart Disease(CHD) are one such vulnerable cat-egory. In India over 2.4 lakh chil-dren are born with CHD, which isone of the largest causes of infantmortality in the country, largelybecause this specialised treatmentis inaccessible and unaffordablefor most of the population. Themagnitude of this problem, both interms of affordability and shortageof hospitals addressing CHD,inspired me to conduct surgeries atminimal cost. Over the last sevenyears, we have established a scalableand sustainable unique model of

providing world class pediatric car-diac care transcending economicbarriers. To address this problemholistically, we introduced childhealth screening and ante natal carefor pregnant women in rural areas.We also established a dedicatedresearch centre for CHD with avision to reduce incidence and bet-ter treatment outcomes.

�We read the story of AyushKumar. Do such kids have thecapacity to endure such diseases?How was your experience of heal-ing him?

Congenital Heart Diseases aremajorly life-threatening and inca-pacitating. Fortunately, most ofthem are amenable to cure. To beginwith, these children limit theiractivities and exertional limits to agreat extent but with time they gath-er strength. Interventions in theform of surgical treatments early intheir life not only cure them but alsoput them at par with their peers interms of a healthy livelihood infuture. Majority of these childrenafter surgical intervention have anormal or near normal lifeexpectancy free of disability.

Children are priceless for their

parents, families and society, nomatter how old or moribund theyare. Unlike other specialities, suc-cessful congenital heart surgeriesare an outcome of good team workinvolving a lot of specialists — rightfrom the operating surgeon to anintensive care nurse, who play a vitalrole in sending a child back homehale and hearty. Sometimes, thesesurgeries can be complex but theresult is a corrected pathology,which enables an infant or a new-born to go through a normalhealthy life. The speciality demandsa great deal of patience, expertise,commitment and passion towardschildren.

Just as we clinicians strive toenable these kids to recover follow-ing surgery, they respond to treat-ment in a more predictable mannerunlike adults whose reserves may beimpaired to begin with. Childrenjust spring back to life. The com-plexity of a heart disease, the sickstate of the child and the sight of aparent carrying the kid to the oper-ating theatres with a fear of uncer-tainty may put tremendous pressureon us but what is more gratifyingis a sense of fulfillment and satis-faction when the child gets dis-

charged. The fact that we could playa small role in giving a new lease oflife and healthy livelihood to a childserves as the impetus for us to keepgoing.

�Treating a heart disease amid thecurrent chaotic situation, when allthe other major illnesses havebeen out of focus, comes with itsown roadblocks and concerns...

COVID-19 has severelystretched and strained India’shealthcare system as well as health-care workers. According toCovidSurg Collaborative, a researchnetwork of surgeons and anaes-thetists in 120 countries, includingIndia, it is estimated that over fivelakh non-emergency surgeriescould have been delayed across thecountry during the lockdown peri-od. We have a waiting list of over5,000 children out of which most ofthem need urgent intervention.Doctors and management heretook this bold step of resuming out-patient and surgical interventionsgiven the need of addressing thesechildren to avoid mortality.

�You had to mobilise your pedi-atric cardiac surgical services.

How challenging was it to do so?The biggest challenge we con-

tinue to face is the uncertainty interms of rising COVID cases andchanging government protocols.The operational challenges, whichwe have to face every day, are:� Despite various travel risks, sev-eral parents from all over the coun-try arrive for treatment. Given 90per cent of the COVID cases areasymptomatic, the challenge is tohave protocols in place to protectboth the staff and patient familiesfrom the virus and yet ensureseamless patient care.� Testing children for COVIDbefore surgery has become essen-tial. With increasing cases of theCoronavirus, testing in itself hasbecome a challenge.� The lockdown has affected sup-ply of consumables, medicines andservicing of equipment which ham-pers our work.� Another important challenge isstaff being exposed to COVIDinfection within and outside hospi-tal premises, which can put thewhole system at risk and hamperoperations.

Against heavy odds, we stillchose to embark on this journey.

�What kept you going during theprocess?

The crisis led us to think inno-vatively in terms of developing newstrategies in addressing patient care.During the lockdown period, weintroduced pediatric cardiac tele-consultation and also proactivelyreached out to the patients throughvideo calls by our cardiologists. Ourteams developed in-house PPEs,masks and other protective gear asthe supply was short. New infectioncontrol protocols were developed,right from outpatient department topost-operative care, in line with thenational guidelines.

�What is the extent of CHD casesin our country?

Despite these many childrenbeing treated, we still have addressedonly the tip of the iceberg. For us,each child operated upon is special.It is a moment of truth when amother hands over the child to thesurgical team for an open heartsurgery. It is here that the miracle oflife happens. A new life and a newpurposeful beginning is made. Life-threatening problems have trans-formed into life-making opportuni-ties.

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�What attracted you to the showLincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the BoneCollector, and to the role of Amelia?

I’m a huge fan of The Bone Collectorand I was aware of the book series byJeffery Deaver. So when I got the script,I couldn’t believe they’re making this. Itwas a page-turner and I just felt so con-nected to Amelia. It felt like I got her vul-nerability, brokenness, fierce survivalskills, just how complex her everyday lifewas, and her everyday struggles. I lovedher and wanted to bring her to life.

�Do you share any of her detectiveskills?

I really don’t know. I love the psycho-logical challenge, I like figuring things outand feeling like I’m outsmarting some-body else. But as far as investigating crimescenes, with actual dead bodies beingmurdered in grotesque ways is con-cerned, that’s not for me. I’ve worked withvarious cops and detectives while train-ing for this show, and I have so muchrespect for them. Seeing how they spendtheir time, watch the crime scene footageevery day, day in and day out, and thengo home to their families and act like it’snot happening. It’s a brave thing that theydo as they have to hold a lot inside. There’sa lot of things they can’t share with theirloved ones and how do you navigate thatworld? That’s a lot to handle.

�What was the most useful aspect ofspending time with them?

Seeing the female sergeants boss themale detectives around, just kidding. I waspretty proud of them. These people arereally each other’s families. Sometimestheir partners are closer to them thantheir spouses or family members becausein this sort of job, your partner has liter-ally just saved your life, so that’s who youshare those things with. If you’re work-ing a nine to five job, your colleague maybe someone you really adore, but they’renot necessarily saving your life. So I thinkthere’s an intimacy in this job that maybepeople don’t think about. You have to trustyour partner with your life. And I’d askthem, ‘How do you decompress? How doyou let go of the things you’ve seen?’ andthey would tell me their really horrificjokes, because they have to find ways tolaugh about it to stay sane. And then theygo drinking together.

�Tell us about the scene in the firstepisode, where you hold up the train.

It’s such a powerful scene, I loved it.It’s in the book and the film so I was

thrilled that I got to do it for our show.We actually shut down a real subway sta-tion in New York. It was a weekend andwe filmed through the night and it hap-pened to be St Patrick’s Day, so I saw thewildest stuff. Literally there were girlsyanking on each other’s hair and throw-ing up and we’re trying to film a show. Iwas like, ‘Oh my gosh, what’s happening?’But we were on the real subway tracks andit’s scary down there. I was freaked out— the third rail was right there. But it wasreally cool the way that they shot it. Theybuilt this whole contraption so there wasthis moving cargo with these guys oneither side pushing it. It looked like some-thing out of the 1940s. And then they putall these lights on it to look like trains. Sowhat people don’t know is that I’m actu-ally reacting to these men dancing alongon a little cargo train.

�Lincoln is plucking Amelia almost outof nowhere for this job — what do youthink it is that he sees in her and con-nects?

I think the initial thing is that shehappens to be the person thatfinds this crime and protects theevidence. She puts her life onthe line to protect the evidence.I think right then and there hegoes, ‘Okay, she can do this,’because he knows what ittakes to go against the BoneCollector, and he also knowsthat she has no idea what she’sin for. He even has this linewhen he tells her, ‘Youdon’t need tounlearn any badhabits, you’re ablank slate withgreat instincts’,which basicallymeans heknows she’sstarting fresh,so he canalmost self-ishly teachher his way.

I thinkit’s a combi-n a t i o n ,that hesees herwit ands t r e n g t hand bor-d e r l i n eadrenalinejunkie-like

death wish, and then also as time goes on,sees where it comes from. Amelia’s hada tragic past, as Lincoln has as well, so Ithink they do connect on the fact that,as they say, the broken take better care

of the broken. I think they really con-nect with each other on a deep

level without ever saying that outloud because they’re very differ-ent in their ways. She’s a profil-er, he’s all about evidence.They’re constantly in conflictwith each other about what’sthe best way to solve this crimeis, and yet, I think, they have a

deep understanding of oneanother that will continue to

develop as the seasongoes on.

�Why do you thinkwe are all so fasci-nated with serialkillers and crimeshows?

I don’t know.We’re so weird.Why aren’t we fas-cinated with rain-bows? Why dowe like serialkillers? I thinkthat there’s def-initely a fasci-nation behindit and it’s thequestion ofw h e t h e ryou canget insideof their

minds. How does someone justify doingthis? What were they thinking at thesemoments? Was it an accident? Was it onpurpose? Was it about anger? Was itabout payback? Was it about love? AndI think that it’s all about stretching thelimits, right? There’s life and there’sdeath and then there’s all the stuff thathappens in between. I think people arejust fascinated with the question ofwhere do you play in this world? Do youplay by the rules or do you break therules? And if you break the rules, how fardo you go?

�What makes Lincoln Rhyme differentfrom other crime shows?

Well, you have our partnership,which I think is very unique. Lincoln isimmobile and so we’re using his brain,wisdom, genius, combined with mybody and intuition. We’re linked togeth-er through an earpiece and ‘Lincoln cam’,which is like a camera where he can seea 360 vision of the crime scene and what’shappening, and together we solve thesecrimes and go after the Bone Collector.I haven’t seen a partnership like that ontelevision, especially because we are twobroken characters who seem strong inthese given moments, but also have a lotof inner fear, conflict and trauma to workthrough along the way.

�But the show is going to evolve andyour character is going to becomemore empowered and a leader. Wheredo we see her going?

When we first meet Amelia, she’snever done this sort of work before, soshe’s kind of a fish out of water in this

world, even though she’s been training tobe an FBI profiler. Sometimes she fitsright in and sometimes it’s like, ‘Toomuch too soon, I don’t know what I’mdoing.’ And that’s where Lincoln is guid-ing her and grooming her. And then, atwhat point do I feel comfortable enoughto do it on my own? Or does he feel con-fident enough to send me on my own?All those things we’ll explore as the sea-son goes on and then hopefully in sea-son two.

�Did you read the books?I did after I got the job. My dad was

a fan of books before, so I knew aboutthem, but once I got this show and I wasdoing research, I read the whole book.

�Do you think it was important for youto read them?

Absolutely. The first book was writ-ten a long time ago, so there were somethings that were almost nostalgic and funto read because it was so long ago. Andother things I was really happy I read,because they were these minor little char-acter traits that I wanted to make sure Ibrought to this Amelia. Even though I’mmaking my own version of Amelia,there were things that I wanted to hon-our and continue, so people watching willgo, ‘Yeah, that’s the Amelia I saw too,’ aswell as, ‘Oh, she did this differently.’

�How do you think and hope yourcharacter will resonate with the audi-ence?

I hope well. I’ve played differentstrong characters before — like Lexi fromVampire Diaries, she’s 300 years old, so

she’s badass to the bone; there’s nothingshe can’t handle. With Amelia, as I saidbefore, I feel like it’s really important toshow how vulnerable she is and how thatactually makes her strong. So she’s a dif-ferent kind of strong. I think she almostsurprises herself when she saves some-one, because she doesn’t even know shecan. I hope people can find their owninner strength in themselves as they’rewatching Amelia navigate her own.

�Has the show made you nervousabout serial killers out in the world?When you leave the set, do you lookaround yourself suspiciously?

There are some things in the book thatreally were weird things that had happenedto me recently in New York. I don’t evenwant to talk about it. But I do a lot of ener-gy work and I’m very sensitive, I always doa five-minute meditation when I leavework, just to kind of disconnect with mycharacter, to leave her in my dressing room,disconnecting to any energy. I just find it’sreally important to come back to beingmyself at the end of every day and I feellike that kind of takes care of that.

�Do you have any other rituals?I do meditation in the morning and,

depending on how I’m feeling, will visu-alise different things along the way. Andthen I just find that, as I’m in hair andmake-up, I kind of call in Amelia. I findthat it really does allow her to just kind oftake over when I’m on set. There are somethings I don’t plan to happen in a scene,they just happen, and I’m like, ‘Oh, thereshe is.’

(The show is streaming on SonyLIV.)

� What is your take on the role ofBatman? How did you feel playing it?

Christian Bale: We did the screentest and I thought that I don’t want tomake this like other Batman films I’veseen before as that won’t be an interest-ing way to play. I wanted to think aboutthe unhealthy state of mind that hefound himself in, in terms of his needfor vengeance and at the same time thebattle within himself. He’s got an incred-ible amount of rage but at the same timehe’s influenced by his father, who was agreat philanthropist.

Batman is the only superhero with-out any special superpowers. He is justa man and Chris came up with nice wayson how Batman comes across the var-ious gadgets and all the cool stuff he has.He came up with really cool and believ-able way on how Bruce Wayne can gethis hands on all these things.

Additionally, playing Batmanrequires a lot of agility and another levelof fitness.

�How did you create a contrastbetween Batman and Bruce Wayne?

Christian: Batman has to be some-one who is intimidating to the crimi-nals and tough guys. He also has to dis-guise himself because I didn’t want thevoice to be like Bruce Wayne’s. He real-ly kind of channels the other characterwhich he uses to vent his anger and alsoto get that energy for maintaining thatanger since he goes night by night forthis.

�What went inside making theBatman as interesting as the villains?

Christian: Batman to me, was by farthe most interesting character. There areof course great villains around him buthe was the real interesting one. I hadnever seen him play interesting given theopportunity. It always seemed that theopportunity was given to the villains ofbeing the fascinating and dangerous ones.And I had never seen Bruce and Batmanbeing given that before this film.

�Tell us more about the Batmobile?Christian: The Batmobile is in

line with what Chris wants to do withthe whole film, that is make it morepractical and utilitarian. This was a carwhich really could be used militarily. Itlooked to me as a hybrid of Hummerand a Lamborghini. It is a monstrouslooking vehicle with all kinds of stealthtechnology for disguise. The design ismuch more gritty and practical and issomething that you can actually seecould have a good use.

Katie Holmes: This car is so cool.I finally understood men’s fascinationwith cars when I saw this thing move.I do have the privilege of riding it in thefilm and it’s even better on the inside.

�Tell us about Rachel.Katie: Rachel is a girl who is on top

of things. She has a ‘Go get it’ approach.She knows what she wants, and keepson doing it. She has weird relations withher friends, but they still share thatchildhood bond.

�How was it working withChristopher Nolan?

Katie: Chris is phenomenal. Everyday he was so focused and profession-al. He is kind and knows what he wants.We started at the same time every dayand finished at the same time. It issmooth but you have to bring in yourgame to do your best. I really enjoyedworking with him. He is very inspiringand talented.

(The film airs on June 29 at 9 pm onSony PIX.)

The crime-thriller, Law follows the journey ofNandini, played by debutant Ragini Chandran, to

fight for justice against a gruesome crime. Taking on the legal system with the aid of her men-

tor, the film raises voice against the injustice and crimecommitted against women. It is produced by AshwiniPuneeth Rajkumar, M Govinda and directed by RaghuSamarth. The legal Kannada drama is led by RaginiPrajwal who makes her debut as a lead actor andMukhyamantri Chandru, Achyuth Kumar, Sudharaniamong others.

The film also features Siri Prahlad and veteranactor Mukyamanthri Chandru in prominent roles. Lawis the first film from Sandalwood industry to have adigital release. Created by Puneeth Rajkumar’s PRKProductions.

The film, which is Amazon Prime Video firstKannada direct-to-service release, will launch on July17 on Amazon Prime Video.

The two mainstream Tamil films, Jyotika’sPonmagal Vandhal and Keerthy Suresh’s Penguin whichreleased directly on OTT recently had grabbeddecent reviews from people.

Another Kannada film, French Biryani, is also saidto have its digital premiere in July.

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