12
D elhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain, who is bat- tling the coronavirus infection for a couple of days, was moved to the ICU of the private Max Hospital from a Government- run facility after his condition deteriorated on Friday, sources said. The sources indicated that the 55-year-old Minister is likely to undergo plasma ther- apy though there was no offi- cial confirmation. Doctors at the Government hospital said he has been diagnosed with pneu- monia and his oxygen satura- tion level has also dipped, prompting the hospital author- ities to shift him to an intensive care unit. Beijing: Even as it has come under fire from across the world for the unprovoked fatal attacks on Indian soldiers in Ladakh’s Galwan valley on Monday, China continued to blame India for the crisis. On Friday, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian said “responsibil- ity entirely lies entirely with the Indian side” for the face-off. Speaking to the media, he said, “Regarding the serious sit- uation in Galwan Valley, right and wrong are very clear and the responsibility entirely lies with the Indian side. India and China are in talks to ease the situation.” A top US diplomat on Friday said China is opening multiple fronts like the one on “LAC with India” because of Beijings assessment that the world is “distracted” due to the Covid-19 and it could take advantage of it. Agencies D ays after 20 Indian jawans were killed by the Chinese soldiers in an ambush at Galwan valley in eastern Ladakh on the intervening night of June 15-16, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday told an all-party meet- ing that Chinese army neither entered the Indian territory nor any of “our posts has been taken over by them on the Indian side.” The meeting was called to discuss India-China stand-off on the line of Actual Control (LAC), “Neither have they intrud- ed into our border, nor has any post been taken over by them (China). Twenty of our jawans were martyred, but those who dared Bharat Mata, they were taught a lesson,” said the PM in the virtual meet with around 20 political parties. Modi said no one can take even an “inch of the land”. “Today, we possess the capability that no one can eye even one inch of our land. India’s Armed forces have the capability to move into multi- ple sectors at one go,” announced the Prime Minister. The important interaction was an attempt by the PM to evolve a national consensus on political, economic and mili- tary response by India after the violent incident at Galwan val- ley in eastern Ladakh. Modi said Indian Armed forces are doing what they have to do to protect the coun- try, whether it is deployment, action or counter-action. Incidentally, while the PM said no intrusion took place inside the India territory, External Affair Minister S Jaishankar said on June 17 that, “Ground commanders were meeting regularly to implement this consensus throughout the last week. While there was some progress, the Chinese side sought to erect a structure in Galwan Valley on our side of the LAC. While this became a source of dispute, the Chinese side took pre-meditated and planned action that was directly respon- sible for the resulting violence and casualties. It reflected an intent to change the facts on the ground in violation of all our agreements to not change the status quo.” It was obvious that Chinese jawans had entered the Indian side of the LAC and tried to raise a structure. It’s also not clear if there was no intrusion by the Chinese why the two armies were face-to-face for nearly two months. After the PM spoke, several military experts have asked if “everything was so smooth and no incursion took place, then why did we lose 20 of our jawans.” Modi was chairing an all- party meet to discuss the volatile India-China border situation as the Defence Minister Rajnath Singh earlier denied intelligence failure in the border face-off as Opposition raised the question while extending full-support to the Modi Government in its response to the Chinse intru- sions on the border. The virtual meeting began with participants standing in two-minute silence to pay trib- utes to the Indian soldiers who fell in the border face-off. All party leaders said they were one with the Government and should speak in one voice. D espite the chorus to shun Chinese goods grows across India, Chinese smart- phones — OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro — went out-of- stock within minutes after its sale began via Amazon India on June 18. At the same time, #BoycottChineseProducts was among the top Twitter trends in India for the past two days, after 20 Army personnel, including an officer, were blud- geoned to death by Chinese in Galwan Valley, Ladakh. Another Chinese firm Xiaomi, the number one smartphone brand in the coun- try, recently sold its first laptop series in India on 17 June. Meanwhile, China’s Oppo can- celled the live online launch of its flagship smartphone in India due to growing anti-China sentiments. The popular electronics brand recently hosted the sale of its flagship smartphone, the OnePlus 8 Pro in India, the sale ran out within minutes after it went on sale. The pace of sales shows that how Indians are crazy on cheap priced Chinese products. The first consign- ment of OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro was sold out within minutes on June 15. The second sale which took place on June 18 also sold out with- in minutes. The phone was unveiled in April, but sales in India have only begun from this month onwards due to the ongoing Covid-19 crisis. OnePlus 8 is priced in India at 41,999 for the exclusive Amazon base model while the OnePlus 8 Pro is priced in India between 54,999 and 59,999. Noida: Strict action would be taken against people who do not use masks or face coverings in public and disobey social dis- tancing rules, the Gautam Buddh Nagar Police said on Friday, amid the coronavirus pandemic. PTI T hree days after they were detained following the bloody brawl in the Galwan valley, ten Indian Army per- sonnel, including two officers, were released by the Chinese on Thursday. The breakthrough came following several rounds of Major General level meetings between the two Armies at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) since Monday when 20 Indian jawans, including commanding officer Colonel B Santosh Babu, attained martyrdom in clashes. The released personnel including a Lt Colonel and three Majors were back on the Indian side of the LAC late Thursday, sources said here on Friday. They also clarified that the soldiers were unharmed. Immediately after their return, the personnel went through a medical check-up followed by debriefing session, sources said. However, the Army on Thursday had denied reports about their captivity and said no Indian soldier was missing in action. Interestingly, the Chinese on Friday also denied that there was any Indian soldier in their custody. Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian made the claim at a daily press briefing in response to questions about the border sit- uation after the release of the ten Indian soldiers. Though the Army on Friday did not confirm the release of its personnel, sources said negotiations at the diplo- matic and military level were kept a closely guarded secret to prevent any harm coming to those in captivity. The release of the 10 sol- diers figured in three rounds of talks between Indian and Chinese delegations of Major General level near Patrol Point 14 in Galway Valley between Tuesday and Thursday. Major General Abhijit Bapat, com- mander of Karu-based head- quarters 3 Infantry Division, and his Chinese counterpart, met for the third time on Thursday. These regular parleys were focused on the early and safe release of the Indian personnel and early de-escalation of the situation and to disengage on the disputed border. The two senior military officers have met seven times since the stand-off began in early May. The last time Indian sol- diers were captured by the Chinese was during the 1962 war. Incidentally, the Galwan valley also saw battles then between the Indian and Chinese armies. W ith tension unabated at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh and China moving its troops for- ward, India has also strength- ened its overall military strength. IAF Chief RKS Bhadauria visited the region on Wednesday and Thursday to review operational prepared- ness. His visit came after 20 Indian Army personnel, including the commanding officer, were killed in a fracas with the Chinese. Bhadauria visited the Leh airbase on Wednesday and the Srinagar airbase on Thursday. He took stock of the overall operational preparedness to meet any challenge all along the LAC, sources said here on Friday. Incidentally, Army Chief General MM Naravane had vis- ited Leh last month to review the situation in the wake of the ongoing stand-off in eastern Ladakh. Over the last month, China has increased its troop strength to nearly 10,000 in the eastern Ladakh region where the stand-off is continue. They also moved up their heavy weapons besides increasing helicopter flying along the LAC on their side. India also took immedi- ate steps and enhanced its strength all along the 4,000 km long LAC from Ladakh to Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh. Besides increasing troops, India’s other steps comprised moving up the fighter jets to operational bases close to the LAC and preparing the war- ships to conduct deep-sea sur- veillance. They were also cleared to take necessary action in the Malacca Straits near Andaman and Nicobar Islands as this sea lane sees more than 90 per cent of oil going to China. India has a distinct advantage there as it can choke the lane. The IAF operates several airbases in J&K, with Srinagar, Awantipora, and Leh operating either fighter squadrons or fighter detachments. On Friday, fighter jets and attack heli- copters carried out sorties in the Leh region. A high-powered committee set up Union Home Minister Amit Shah has rec- ommended fixing the rate of a Covid-19 isolation beds in any hospital in Delhi in the range of 8,000 to 10,000 and an ICU bed with a ventilator at 15,000 to 18,000 per day, the Home Ministry said on Friday. The committee, that was set up by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, under the chairmanship of VK Paul, Member NITI Aayog, was con- stituted on Sunday to ensure the availability of 60 per cent beds by private hospitals at lower rates and fix the rate of corona testing and treatment. T he number of novel coron- avirus (Covid-19) patients in Haryana jumped to 9743 with the State health depart- ment reporting 525 new patients of the disease on Friday. On a positive note, 333 patients were discharged from different hospitals of the State on the day after their complete recovery from the disease. Meanwhile, a total of 10 persons died as the Covid-19 death toll climbed to 144 in Haryana on Friday. The spike in the number of novel corona virus (Covid19) infected patients in four dis- tricts of the State are showing no sign of slowing down. On Friday, 145 new patients were reported from Gurugram dis- trict, taking the total in the dis- trict to 4136 while 161 cases surfaced in Faridabad, taking the total in the district to 2003. In Sonepat, 36 new patients were found, taking count to 755 while seven cases reported in Jhajjar, taking total to 174. As many as 44 Covid-19 positive patients are critically ill and have been put on oxygen support while 19 patients on ventilator, said the Haryana Health officials. A total of 10 patients of the disease died over the last 24 hours on Friday which increased the death toll in the State to 144. Out of 10 Covid- 19 deaths on the day, three reported from Gurugram while five from Faridabad and one each from Bhiwani and Sonepat. With 4889 people cured and discharged from the hos- pitals, there are 4710 active Covid-19 cases in Haryana now. Health official said that out of 2, 07, 675 samples, 1, 92, 082 were found negative for the disease on Friday. He added that reports of 5850 samples are still awaited by the depart- ment. The State has a recovery rate of 50.18 per cent, fatality rate at 1.48 per cent while tests per million being con- ducted are 8192. The doubling rate in the State is nine days.

 · 13 hours ago · Chandigarh residence of liquor baron Arvind Singla on May 31. Amritsar resident Nitin Nahar was apprehended from near Colour Resorts, Attari Road, Amritsar, along

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Page 1:  · 13 hours ago · Chandigarh residence of liquor baron Arvind Singla on May 31. Amritsar resident Nitin Nahar was apprehended from near Colour Resorts, Attari Road, Amritsar, along

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Delhi Health MinisterSatyendar Jain, who is bat-

tling the coronavirus infectionfor a couple of days, was movedto the ICU of the private MaxHospital from a Government-run facility after his conditiondeteriorated on Friday, sourcessaid.

The sources indicated thatthe 55-year-old Minister islikely to undergo plasma ther-apy though there was no offi-cial confirmation.

Doctors at theGovernment hospital said hehas been diagnosed with pneu-monia and his oxygen satura-tion level has also dipped,prompting the hospital author-ities to shift him to an intensivecare unit.

Beijing: Even as it has comeunder fire from across theworld for the unprovoked fatalattacks on Indian soldiers inLadakh’s Galwan valley onMonday, China continued toblame India for the crisis.

On Friday, ChineseForeign Ministry SpokespersonZhao Lijian said “responsibil-ity entirely lies entirely with theIndian side” for the face-off.

Speaking to the media, hesaid, “Regarding the serious sit-

uation in Galwan Valley, rightand wrong are very clear andthe responsibility entirely lieswith the Indian side. Indiaand China are in talks to easethe situation.”

A top US diplomat onFriday said China is openingmultiple fronts like the one on“LAC with India” because ofBeijings assessment that theworld is “distracted” due to theCovid-19 and it could takeadvantage of it. Agencies

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Days after 20 Indian jawanswere killed by the Chinese

soldiers in an ambush atGalwan valley in easternLadakh on the interveningnight of June 15-16, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi onFriday told an all-party meet-ing that Chinese army neitherentered the Indian territorynor any of “our posts has beentaken over by them on theIndian side.” The meeting wascalled to discuss India-Chinastand-off on the line of ActualControl (LAC),

“Neither have they intrud-ed into our border, nor has anypost been taken over by them(China). Twenty of our jawanswere martyred, but those whodared Bharat Mata, they weretaught a lesson,” said the PM inthe virtual meet with around 20political parties.

Modi said no one can takeeven an “inch of the land”.

“Today, we possess thecapability that no one can eyeeven one inch of our land.India’s Armed forces have thecapability to move into multi-ple sectors at one go,”announced the Prime Minister.

The important interactionwas an attempt by the PM toevolve a national consensus onpolitical, economic and mili-tary response by India after theviolent incident at Galwan val-ley in eastern Ladakh.

Modi said Indian Armedforces are doing what theyhave to do to protect the coun-try, whether it is deployment,action or counter-action.

Incidentally, while the PMsaid no intrusion took placeinside the India territory,External Affair Minister SJaishankar said on June 17that, “Ground commanderswere meeting regularly toimplement this consensusthroughout the last week.While there was some progress,the Chinese side sought toerect a structure in GalwanValley on our side of the LAC.While this became a source ofdispute, the Chinese side tookpre-meditated and plannedaction that was directly respon-sible for the resulting violenceand casualties. It reflected anintent to change the facts on theground in violation of all ouragreements to not change thestatus quo.”

It was obvious that Chinesejawans had entered the Indianside of the LAC and tried toraise a structure.

It’s also not clear if therewas no intrusion by theChinese why the two armieswere face-to-face for nearlytwo months. After the PMspoke, several military expertshave asked if “everything wasso smooth and no incursiontook place, then why did welose 20 of our jawans.”

Modi was chairing an all-party meet to discuss thevolatile India-China bordersituation as the DefenceMinister Rajnath Singh earlierdenied intelligence failure inthe border face-off asOpposition raised the questionwhile extending full-support tothe Modi Government in itsresponse to the Chinse intru-

sions on the border.The virtual meeting began

with participants standing intwo-minute silence to pay trib-utes to the Indian soldiers who

fell in the border face-off. All party leaders said they

were one with the Governmentand should speak in one voice.

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Despite the chorus to shunChinese goods grows

across India, Chinese smart-phones — OnePlus 8 andOnePlus 8 Pro — went out-of-stock within minutes after itssale began via Amazon Indiaon June 18.

At the same time,#BoycottChineseProducts wasamong the top Twitter trendsin India for the past two days,after 20 Army personnel,including an officer, were blud-geoned to death by Chinese inGalwan Valley, Ladakh.

Another Chinese firmXiaomi, the number onesmartphone brand in the coun-try, recently sold its first laptopseries in India on 17 June.Meanwhile, China’s Oppo can-celled the live online launch ofits flagship smartphone in India

due to growing anti-Chinasentiments.

The popular electronicsbrand recently hosted the saleof its flagship smartphone, theOnePlus 8 Pro in India, the saleran out within minutes after itwent on sale. The pace of salesshows that how Indians arecrazy on cheap priced Chineseproducts. The first consign-ment of OnePlus 8 andOnePlus 8 Pro was sold outwithin minutes on June 15. Thesecond sale which took placeon June 18 also sold out with-in minutes.

The phone was unveiled inApril, but sales in India haveonly begun from this monthonwards due to the ongoingCovid-19 crisis. OnePlus 8 ispriced in India at �41,999 forthe exclusive Amazon basemodel while the OnePlus 8 Prois priced in India between�54,999 and �59,999.

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Noida: Strict action would be taken against people who do notuse masks or face coverings in public and disobey social dis-tancing rules, the Gautam Buddh Nagar Police said on Friday,amid the coronavirus pandemic. PTI

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Three days after they weredetained following the

bloody brawl in the Galwanvalley, ten Indian Army per-sonnel, including two officers,were released by the Chineseon Thursday.

The breakthrough camefollowing several rounds ofMajor General level meetingsbetween the two Armies at theLine of Actual Control (LAC)since Monday when 20 Indianjawans, including commandingofficer Colonel B Santosh Babu,attained martyrdom in clashes.

The released personnelincluding a Lt Colonel andthree Majors were back on theIndian side of the LAC lateThursday, sources said here onFriday. They also clarifiedthat the soldiers wereunharmed.

Immediately after theirreturn, the personnel wentthrough a medical check-upfollowed by debriefing session,sources said. However, theArmy on Thursday had deniedreports about their captivityand said no Indian soldier wasmissing in action.

Interestingly, the Chineseon Friday also denied thatthere was any Indian soldier intheir custody. Chinese ForeignMinistry Spokesperson ZhaoLijian made the claim at a dailypress briefing in response toquestions about the border sit-uation after the release of theten Indian soldiers.

Though the Army onFriday did not confirm therelease of its personnel, sources

said negotiations at the diplo-matic and military level werekept a closely guarded secret toprevent any harm coming tothose in captivity.

The release of the 10 sol-diers figured in three rounds oftalks between Indian andChinese delegations of MajorGeneral level near Patrol Point14 in Galway Valley betweenTuesday and Thursday. MajorGeneral Abhijit Bapat, com-mander of Karu-based head-quarters 3 Infantry Division,and his Chinese counterpart,met for the third time onThursday.

These regular parleys werefocused on the early and saferelease of the Indian personneland early de-escalation of thesituation and to disengage onthe disputed border.

The two senior militaryofficers have met seven timessince the stand-off began inearly May.

The last time Indian sol-diers were captured by theChinese was during the 1962war. Incidentally, the Galwanvalley also saw battles thenbetween the Indian andChinese armies.

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With tension unabated atthe Line of Actual

Control (LAC) in Ladakh andChina moving its troops for-ward, India has also strength-ened its overall militarystrength. IAF Chief RKSBhadauria visited the region onWednesday and Thursday toreview operational prepared-ness. His visit came after 20Indian Army personnel,including the commandingofficer, were killed in a fracaswith the Chinese.

Bhadauria visited the Lehairbase on Wednesday and theSrinagar airbase on Thursday.He took stock of the overalloperational preparedness tomeet any challenge all along theLAC, sources said here onFriday.

Incidentally, Army ChiefGeneral MM Naravane had vis-ited Leh last month to reviewthe situation in the wake of theongoing stand-off in easternLadakh.

Over the last month, Chinahas increased its troop strengthto nearly 10,000 in the easternLadakh region where thestand-off is continue. They alsomoved up their heavy weaponsbesides increasing helicopterflying along the LAC on theirside. India also took immedi-ate steps and enhanced its

strength all along the 4,000 kmlong LAC from Ladakh toUttarakhand, HimachalPradesh, Sikkim, andArunachal Pradesh.

Besides increasing troops,India’s other steps comprisedmoving up the fighter jets tooperational bases close to theLAC and preparing the war-ships to conduct deep-sea sur-veillance. They were also

cleared to take necessary actionin the Malacca Straits nearAndaman and Nicobar Islandsas this sea lane sees more than90 per cent of oil going toChina. India has a distinctadvantage there as it can chokethe lane.

The IAF operates severalairbases in J&K, with Srinagar,Awantipora, and Leh operatingeither fighter squadrons orfighter detachments. On Friday,fighter jets and attack heli-copters carried out sorties inthe Leh region.

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Ahigh-powered committeeset up Union Home

Minister Amit Shah has rec-ommended fixing the rate of aCovid-19 isolation beds in anyhospital in Delhi in the rangeof �8,000 to �10,000 and anICU bed with a ventilator at�15,000 to �18,000 per day, theHome Ministry said on Friday.

The committee, that wasset up by Union HomeMinister Amit Shah, under thechairmanship of VK Paul,Member NITI Aayog, was con-stituted on Sunday to ensurethe availability of 60 per centbeds by private hospitals atlower rates and fix the rate of corona testing andtreatment.

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The number of novel coron-avirus (Covid-19) patients

in Haryana jumped to 9743with the State health depart-ment reporting 525 newpatients of the disease onFriday. On a positive note, 333patients were discharged fromdifferent hospitals of the Stateon the day after their completerecovery from the disease.

Meanwhile, a total of 10persons died as the Covid-19death toll climbed to 144 inHaryana on Friday.

The spike in the number ofnovel corona virus (Covid19)infected patients in four dis-tricts of the State are showingno sign of slowing down. OnFriday, 145 new patients werereported from Gurugram dis-trict, taking the total in the dis-

trict to 4136 while 161 casessurfaced in Faridabad, takingthe total in the district to 2003.In Sonepat, 36 new patientswere found, taking count to 755while seven cases reported inJhajjar, taking total to 174.

As many as 44 Covid-19positive patients are critically illand have been put on oxygensupport while 19 patients onventilator, said the HaryanaHealth officials.

A total of 10 patients of thedisease died over the last 24

hours on Friday whichincreased the death toll in theState to 144. Out of 10 Covid-19 deaths on the day, threereported from Gurugram whilefive from Faridabad and oneeach from Bhiwani andSonepat.

With 4889 people curedand discharged from the hos-pitals, there are 4710 activeCovid-19 cases in Haryananow.

Health official said thatout of 2, 07, 675 samples, 1, 92,082 were found negative for thedisease on Friday. He addedthat reports of 5850 samples arestill awaited by the depart-ment. The State has a recoveryrate of 50.18 per cent, fatalityrate at 1.48 per cent whiletests per million being con-ducted are 8192. The doublingrate in the State is nine days.

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Page 2:  · 13 hours ago · Chandigarh residence of liquor baron Arvind Singla on May 31. Amritsar resident Nitin Nahar was apprehended from near Colour Resorts, Attari Road, Amritsar, along

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Several Congress leadersfrom Haryana and Punjab

wished good health and a longlife to former party presidentRahul Gandhi on his 50thbirthday on Friday.

"Dear @Rahul Gandhi,warm wishes to you on yourbirthday. Take care of yourselfand keep working for India,"Punjab Chief Minister CaptAmarinder Singh tweeted. OnGandhi's 49th birthday, CaptAmarinder had said he was“proud of who you havebecome over the years; I see mydear friend (late) Rajiv(Gandhi) in you”.

Former Haryana ChiefMinister Bhupinder SinghHooda and state Congresspresident Kumari Selja in theirseparate tweets prayed forGandhi's long life and goodhealth. Congress party chiefspokesperson and formerHaryana minister RandeepSingh Surjewala also wishedGandhi. “Birthday wishes toShri@ Rahulgandhi,” he tweet-ed.

Former Union ministerand sitting Congress MP fromAnandpur Sahib in Punjab,Manish Tewari also wishedGandhi on his birthday.“Happy birthday@RahulGandhi. God Bless,”he tweeted.

Gandhi has decided to notcelebrate his birthday this yearbecause of the COVID-19 pan-demic and the death of 20Army personnel in a stand-offwith China in Galwan Valley ofLadakh.

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Haryana Chief MinisterManohar Lal Khattar on

Friday commissioned theHaryana Governance ReformsAuthority (HGRA) to preparea short term and medium-term prospective plan to refo-cus the role of government inthe post corona times to correctthe disruptions in productionand supply chains to prioritisepolicies to meet the essentialneeds of the people.

It also aims to redefine therole of the State in relation to

the market in education, health,food security, public healthand housing sectors.

An official spokesman saidthat Chairperson, HGRA Prof.Pramod Kumar will coordinatethe work of the task groupsconstituted for this purpose. Hesaid a number of Task Forceshave been constituted to pre-pare a short and medium-term prospective plan. TCGupta, IAS would represent theState Government and hewould be assisted by a team ofsenior civil servants attached tothe each task group as a mem-

ber-secretary. He said that while the Task

Group on Food, Agricultureand Allied Services would bechaired by Prof. RameshChand, Member NITI Aayog,Government of India, the TaskGroup on Industries andCommerce would be chairedby Mr R.C Bhargava,Chairperson Maruti Suzuki.

The spokesman said thatthe Health, Public Health andMunicipal Service task groupwould be chaired by Dr K.SReddy, Chairperson, PublicHealth Foundation alongwithDr. V.M. Katoch, former D.G.,Indian Council of MedicalResearch as Co-chairperson.

He said that the Task Group onHousing for All to be chairedby Mr Ashok Jain, PrincipalConsultant, NITI Aayog,Government of India, onSkilling and Education to bechaired by Prof. Yogesh Singh,Vice-Chancellor of DelhiTechnologies University, NewDelhi; on Revenue Generation,Tourism, Hospitality, Exciseand GST by Prof. Mukul Asherof National University ofSingapore.

He said that the task groupon Governance Policy forEssentials (including I.T. appli-cation) headed by Prof.Pramod Kumar, Director,Institute for Development andCommunication (IDC), andChairperson, HaryanaGovernance Reforms Authority(HGRA), Chandigarh.

The prospective planwould cover the basic needs ofthe people like food, health,education, public health, trans-port, shelter and well being ofits citizens and suggest a shortand medium term plan. Theprospective plan may suggeststrategies for re-adaptation ofthe policies, programs,schemes, initiated by the stategovernment to meet the chal-lenge of the pandemic Covid-19.

This will include re-exam-ination of the disruptionsoccurred in production andsupply chains and suggestamendments. It has been man-dated that the short-termprospective plan to be submit-ted within three months andthe medium term plan within6 months of the constitution ofthe task group.

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The Haryana Police onFriday arrested a former

Delhi policeman turned crim-inal, allegedly involved in sev-eral criminal cases, includinglooting ATMs, from Nuh dis-trict.

“The accused identified asAslup is a former Delhipoliceman and wanted by thepolice in Haryana, Kerala,Maharashtra, Hyderabad,Kolkata, Gujarat, Udaipur(Rajasthan) and Odisha inmany criminal cases,” aspokesperson of HaryanaPolice said. He said the accused,a resident of Shikarpur villagein Nuh, had been dismissedfrom service by the DelhiPolice.

“The accused has beeninvolved in about two dozencriminal cases pertaining toorganized ATM loot, attempt tomurder and hurt. He wasabsconding for a long time.Nuh police had announced areward of Rs 50,000 to anyonegiving information leading tohis arrest,” he said. Thespokesperson said CrimeInvestigation Agency got a tip-off about the presence of awanted criminal near KMProad on the Delhi-AlwarHighway. The police partyswung into action and man-aged to arrest Aslup followinga raid, he said.

“The accused was sackedby the Delhi Police and hadbeen absconding for a longtime. A case under relevant sec-tions of IPC has been registeredagainst Aslup. The matter isbeing investigated thoroughly,”the spokesperson added.

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Page 3:  · 13 hours ago · Chandigarh residence of liquor baron Arvind Singla on May 31. Amritsar resident Nitin Nahar was apprehended from near Colour Resorts, Attari Road, Amritsar, along

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Ramping up the efforts for the treatment andequip medical fraternity with latest tech-

niques in the direction to cure Covid-19patients, Punjab Medical Education andResearch Department has coordinated withPGIMER-Chandigarh and initiated multi-cen-tric studies on the role of steroids and plasmatherapy in patients.

Department’s spokesperson said that afterthe efforts of the Department, one patient inPatiala was motivated and he has donated plas-ma for Covid-19 patients. “Various MedicalColleges of Punjab have coordinated efficient-ly for the first time to this scale and are work-ing as a single cohesive force in tackling this newdisease with full vigour,” said the spokesperson.

Spokesperson said that the team-basedapproach is one of its kind and has gone a longway in saving the lives of Covid-19 patients.

“An expert group was formed in Punjabwherein the experts in managing Covid-19patients have been regularly discussing the caseson phones and on video conference.

The expert group has doctors fromPGIMER, AIIMS, USA, UK, Canada, DMCLudhiana, and all the three state MedicalColleges in Punjab,” said the spokespersonadding that the deliberations by this group havegone a long way in improving the managementof the patients and decreasing the mortality ofthe patients.

Informing about the initiative, thespokesperson said that two expert sessions arebeing regularly conducted by Department ofMedical Education and Research.

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Advocating aggressive stepsto take back the Galwan

Valley territory seized by theChinese, Punjab Chief MinisterCapt Amarinder Singh onFriday urged the Governmentof India to issue an ultimatumto Beijing to vacate the occu-pied land immediately, with aclear warning that failure to doso would lead to serious con-sequences for them.

While India would alsohave to suffer some conse-quences of such an act, it couldno longer afford to allow suchintrusions and attacks on itsterritorial integrity to continue,said Capt Amarinder, talking tomedia persons at theChandigarh air base where hehad gone to pay tributes to thethree sepoys whose mortalremains were flown in fromGalwan Valley. Laying a wreathon the mortal remains ofSepoys Gurbinder Singh fromSangrur, Gurtej Singh fromMansa and Ankush fromHamirpur (HP), CaptainAmarinder saluted theirsupreme sacrifice and said thenation was forever indebted tothem.

Declaring himself to betotally against following anappeasement policy viz-a-vizChina, Capt Amarinder saidpast experience showed thatwhen faced with aggression, theChinese had always backedoff. It was time to call theirbluff, he asserted, reiteratingthat every Indian wants a befit-ting response to be given to theChinese.

The Chinese, with theirSalami tactics, had been nib-bling into Indian territory pieceby piece since 1962, said theChief Minister, demanding anend to these intrusions, which60 years of diplomacy hadfailed to stop.

Questioning the so-calledagreement which preventedthe Indian troops from firing(even if they had the weapons),Capt Amarinder demanded toknow who had come up withsuch an agreement. “How canone have an agreement of thisnature with a hostile neigh-bour?” he asked.

In any case, it was clear thatthe attack on Indian soldierswas a premeditated one by theChinese, who had come pre-pared with their crude butdeadly weapons, he said,

adding that by carrying thenail studded lathis and barbed-wire clubs and by attacking ourtroops they had abrogatedwhatever agreement was inplace. In the circumstances, theIndian soldiers had full right toretaliate by using their ownweapons, he remarked, adding

that India alone could beresponsible for adherence tothe terms of the agreement.

Unrelenting in his demandto know why the soldiers post-ed in Galwan Valley failed toopen fire, if they were indeedcarrying weapons, after theirCommanding Officer fell, Capt

Amarinder said the Colonel’sdeath at the hands of theChinese was an insult to theentire Indian Army. Assertingthat he could not believe thatthe men at the LAC failed toopen fire even after witnessingsuch a horrendous sight, hesaid the Indian Army is welltrained and equipped with thebest of weapons, which it hasevery right to use when facedwith such a brutal and treach-erous attack.

The Chief Minister recalledthat during his term with theArmy, armed soldiers werealways strategically deployedwhenever their senior officerswent for meetings with theother side, and were ready tojump in for a rescue operationif needed. “Why were soldiersnot so deployed in this case?And if they were, why did theynot use their weapons to rescuethe officers and men underattack?” he asked.

If the situation is allowed toescalate further, then China, incollusion with Pakistan, wouldget further emboldened toencroach into more Indian ter-ritories, which had to bestopped at all costs, said theChief Minister.

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Amid touching scenes, mor-tal remains of soldiers

Gurbinder Singh and GurtejSingh who died fightingChinese troops in Ladakh’sGalwan Valley were consignedto flames at their native villagesin Punjab with full militaryhonours on Friday.

Sepoys Gurbinder Singh(22) and Gurtej Singh (23)were cremated in their nativeTolawal village at Sunam inSangrur district and Bire WalaDogra in Budhladha tehsil ofMansa district in the State.

Heart-wrenching sceneswere witnessed as family mem-bers of the soldiers were incon-solable. The families said thatthey were proud of the soldiers’supreme sacrifice made for thesake of their motherland. Thevillagers also hailed the soldiersas many demanded that Chinashould be given a befittingreply.

Slogans like “ShaheedAmar Rahe” rent the air whenthe soldiers’ bodies reached thevillages.

Gurbinder’s brother lit thefuneral pyre, while Gurtej’sfather and elder brother lit thepyre in the presence of officialsfrom the Army, police, civiladministration and politicalparties. Scores of villagers gath-ered to bid a tearful adieu to thefallen soldiers, who were givena gun salute by the Army.

Gurbinder’s family hadplanned to solemnise his mar-riage this year. His house in thevillage was being renovatedand perhaps it was being read-ied for his wedding, but destinyhad other plans. He came backhome wrapped in the tricolour.

In Sangrur village, CabinetMinister Vijay Inder Singla, BJPleader Avinash Rai Khanna andAAP MLA Aman Arora werepresent during the cremation,while SAD chief Sukhbir SinghBadal met Gurbinder’s family to

express his condolence. UnionMinister and Bathinda MPHarsimrat Kaur Badal was pre-sent in Gurtej’s native village inMansa when the soldier’s lastrites were held.

As the bodies of sepoysGurbinder Singh and GurtejSingh reached their villages,several youngsters, braving thehot weather, were waiting withtricolours in their hands to paytributes to the brave soldiers.They showered petals on thebedecked military vehicles asthese entered the respective vil-lages carrying the mortalremains of the soldiers.

A day before, two soldiers— Naib Subedar MandeepSingh and Naib SubedarSatnam Singh — who alsodied fighting the Chinese inGalwan Valley were crematedat their native villages in Patialaand Gurdaspur districts. Fourof the 20 soldiers who died inthe clash in Ladakh were fromPunjab.

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Punjab Police on Thursdaynight busted another terror

module with the arrest of twoalleged Khalistani operatives,who were preparing to carryout a series of terror attacks andtargeted killings at the behest oftheir Pakistani mentors andhandlers.

A German-made MP5sub-machine gun, a 9 mm pis-tol with four magazines, andtwo mobile phones with a hostof incriminatory conversations,messages, photographs etc wereseized from the duo.

The mobile phonesrevealed suspicious transac-tions with Pakistan-based ele-ments, including photographs,voice messages, as well as thecoordinates of a particular geo-location, said the state DGPDinkar Gupta on Friday, brief-ing media persons about thebreakthrough.

In addition, a large varietyof posts and web-links, con-nected with the formation ofKhalistan, were also found onthe mobile phone of Gurmeet

Singh, who has been in regu-lar touch with the ISI andanti-India elements sponsoredby the Pakistan establishment.

A case has been registeredunder sections 120-B, 121 ofthe Indian Penal Code (IPC),25, 54, 59 Arms Act read with13, 17, 18, 18B, 20 UnlawfulActivities (Prevention) Act, onJune 19, 2020.

Giving details, Gupta saidthat acting on a tip-off from thegeneral public late on Thursdaynight, an Amritsar Rural policeteam raided a spot nearGurdaspuria Dhaba on the GTRoad, Jandiala police station,and apprehended GurmeetSingh and Vikram Singh.

DGP said that 44-year-oldGurmeet Singh of Amritsardivulged during questioningthat the photographs and voicemessages had been shared withthem by Pakistan-based han-dlers to locate and pick upsophisticated weapons kept atthat location by their associates.

“He revealed that theirPakistan based handlers hadbeen instructing them to carry

out terror attacks in Punjab,especially targeting of personsbelonging to a particular com-munity, to further the cause ofKhalistan,” said the DGPadding that Gurmeet Singhalso disclosed that he had vis-ited Pakistan about three yearsago to meet his handlers.

Gurmeet Singh was earli-er involved in a case of fraudwith his brother, and a case wasregistered against him inAmritsar B-Division police sta-tion.

Efforts were being made tofix the identities of Pakistan-based mentors and handlers ofthe terrorist module, saidGupta, adding that furtherinvestigations to unearth thefull linkages and ramificationsof the terror module, includingthose based across the border,were in progress.

Gupta said that PunjabPolice was working 24x7 tothwart the nefarious designs ofanti-India elements trying todisturb the state’s communalharmony and law and order, infurtherance of their separatistand divisive agenda.

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The Indian Council ofMedical Research (ICMR)

has given approval to theGovernment Medical College,Amritsar, to treat the patientsof Covid-19 with plasma ther-apy.

Disclosing, Punjab MedicalEducation and ResearchMinister OP Soni on Fridaysaid that the patients infectedwith coronavirus would besoon treated with the plasmatherapy in the GovernmentMedical College (GMC).

“All the requisite pre-paredness has already beencompleted so as to start thistherapy within next few days,”he said.

The Minister pointed outthat the GMC Amritsar is fullyequipped to provide best treat-ment through plasma therapyas the institute had adequateinfrastructure and sufficientplasma donors for the treat-ment of Covid-19 patients.

“ICMR has already grant-

ed approval to Guru GobindSingh Medical College,Faridkot, for plasma therapyunder National Clinical Trialand it has become one of thepioneer institutes in the coun-try to initiate this unique ther-apy. The initial results of plas-ma therapy at Faridkot havebeen extremely encouraging,”he said.

Under this therapy, theplasma of the patients, whohave recovered from coron-avirus is preserved for trans-fusing the same to the critical-ly corona infected patients,who are showing signs markedimprovement.

“Any patient recoveredfrom Covid, whose report (RT-PCR) is found negative, he orshe could donate plasma after14 days as his or her blood con-tains antibodies, which arehelpful to cure the disease,” saidSoni while placing appreciationon record for the entire team ofdoctors to overcome the healthcrisis in these trying circum-stance of corona pandemic.

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More than 5.44lakh patients

have been regis-tered on the centralonline portal sys-tem under drug de-addiction programin Punjab. Duringthe lockdown or curfew peri-od, a substantial increase hasbeen witnessed in the numberof patients in OOAT Clinicsand centres. Since March 23,around 1.29 lakh new patientshave come for treatment acrossthe State.

“In a major relief for thevictims of drug abuse duringthese challenging times of novelcoronavirus, the Governmenthas been constantly providingdrug de-addiction treatmentservices to the patients throughOOAT clinics and centres.During the period of lock-down and curfew, theGovernment has taken specialinitiatives to provide treatment

and care, under which medi-cines had been issued for oneto three weeks so that patientscould not suffer to get treat-ment due to lockdown,” saidthe state Health and FamilyWelfare Minister Balbir SinghSidhu.

The Minister added thatafter relaxation given in lock-down, medicines were beingissued for maximum sevendays with the counseling so asto build the confidence toavoid the previous addictionhabits of patients. “These stepsare taken to minimize thepatients’ visits to the centresand to prevent the transmissionof Covid-19,” he said.

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Haryana Home MinisterAnil Vij was on Friday dis-

charged from a private hospi-tal in Mohali where he under-went a surgery for a fracturedthigh bone last week. Vij, whois also the health minister, hasbeen advised complete rest forsome days.

A number of BJP workerswere present at his AmbalaCantonment residence to wel-come the 67-year-old leader.On Monday, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi telephoned Vijand enquired about his well-being. Chief Minister ManoharLal Khattar had twice visitedthe hospital to enquire abouthis health. The minister frac-tured his left thigh bone onJune 9 when he slipped in thebathroom of his home whiletaking a bath.

A day later, he underwenta surgery at the hospital. Thiswas the second such incidentinvolving Vij in the recentpast. A few months ago, theminister had slipped in thebathroom and sustained minorinjuries on the chest.

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With the migrant workerschoosing to stay back

after the opening of businessestablishments in the city, theChandigarh Administration onFriday concluded the process ofsending them back home withthe last special shramik trainleaving from the city with 554vacant seats.

The shramik train that leftChandigarh Railway Stationon Friday for Uttar Pradeshand Bihar accommodated 1046and left with 554 empty seats.

Following poor response,the train which was scheduled onJune 22 with similar stoppagesand route has been canceled andUT Administration has con-cluded the process of sendingmigrant labourers to their homestates. A total of 39795 migrantworkers have returned to theirhome states through shramiktrains from Chandigarh.

The last shramik trainfrom Chandigarh to Patna withstoppage at many railway sta-tions of Uttar Pradesh andBihar left at 1 PM.

These stoppages includedSaharanpur, Moradabad,Bareilly, Hardoi, Lucknow,Raibareilly, Amethi,Pratapgarh, Varanasi, PanditDeen Dayal UpadhayayaJunction (Mugal Sarai), Buxarand Ara stations.

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Seven more positive case ofCovid-19 were reported in

Chandigarh on Friday takingthe total number to 381. Thefresh cases were reported fromSector 24, Sector 38 and MauliJagran here.

“A 61 years old male resi-dent of Sector-24 here and ex-employee of GMSH-16, whodeveloped symptoms of pneu-monia a few days back andtook treatment at a privateinstitute, has been reportedpositive for Covid-19,” statedthe Chandigarh HealthDepartment’s evening bulletin.

The patient is currentlyadmitted in GMSH-16. He isdiabetic and hypertensive. Hehas seven family contacts whohave been sampled, the bulletinstated.

“Five family membersbelonging to Ambala(Haryana) staying on rent inSector-38 have been reportedto be positive. Two family

members are working inAmbala. The positive residentsinclude three males aged 30, 32and 59 years and two femalesaged 56 and 59 years. They are

contacts of a relative fromAmbala who has tested posi-tive. Two more family contactsof the same family have beenshifted to isolation in PGIMERand will be sampled. One ofthem is working in Panchkula,the bulletin said.

Another patient tested pos-itive is 65 years old female fromMauli Jagran. She has five fam-ily contacts. All of them havebeen shifted to GMCH-32 andwill be sampled, it stated

Meanwhile, nine patientshave been cured and dis-charged from hospital onFriday. They belong to Daria,Manimajra, Bapudham andKhudda Jassu village.

According to the bulletin,the total number of cases tillFriday evening was 381. Theactive cases in the city stood at60 while 315 patients haverecovered, the bulletin stated.

Chandigarh has till nowreported six Coronavirus relat-ed deaths. So far, 6438 sampleshave been tested in the city.

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Punjab Police on Fridayarrested the key shooter

involved in the firing at theChandigarh residence of liquorbaron Arvind Singla on May31.

Amritsar resident NitinNahar was apprehended fromnear Colour Resorts, AttariRoad, Amritsar, along with hisassociate Bikramjit Singh, whohad provided him with a safehideout. The arrests came dur-ing an Intelligence led opera-tion by a joint team of Amritsar(Rural) Police and OrganizedCrime Control Unit (OCCU).

Initial investigations hadrevealed that Nitin to be a closeassociate of Bobby Malhotra, agangster currently lodged inFerozepur Jail, and further

associated with the LawranceBishnoi group, who hadordered the attack at Sector 33house of Arvind Singla.

The arrested accused has

disclosed that they had beentasked to carry out such inci-dents in Punjab, Chandigarh,and Rajasthan also byLawrance Bishnoi. One .32caliber Pistol, along with 40 livecartridges, one .315 caliberPistol along with 10 live car-tridges, used in the crime, havebeen recovered from Nitin’spossession.

Nitin was already wantedin three other firing incidentsof Amritsar, including at hisrival group members, VipinKumar (in January 2020) andLove Kumar (in February2020), and on the complainantof his old case at Jhabal road,Amritsar in April this year.

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Punjab is witnessing two tothree deaths every day, on

an average, in June with themonth accounting for 51 per-cent of the total deaths record-ed in the State since March 18— when it reported its firstcasualty.

In all, the State has record-ed as many as 47 deaths in just19 days. That was not all! Thestate has also recorded 41 per-cent (40.94) of the total cases,with 1,569 cases reported injust 19 days of the June.

The state’s Covid-19 deathtoll was 45 on May 31, whichon Friday rose up to 92.Likewise, the coronavirus tallyrose up from 2263 on May 31to 3832 on June 19.

Punjab on Friday reportednine deaths — highest in a sin-gle day, besides 217 fresh cases.The deaths were reported fromtwo each from Amritsar andJalandhar, and one each fromMoga, Barnala, Sangrur, Patialaand Tarn Taran.

The increasing number ofdeaths, coupled with the “newcases” with no travel or contact

history has left the state healthauthorities worrying.

“The increasing number ofcases with unknown source ofinfection indicates at the com-munity spread which is some-thing to be worried about,” asenior government official toldThe Pioneer, requestinganonymity.

However, the official nei-ther admitted nor refused toaccept that the state has enteredthe ‘community transmissionstage’. “We were expecting spikedue to people coming inPunjab from other states, butthe majority of cases reportedthese days are either the con-tacts of positive patients or theone with unknown source ofinfection…This is alarming,”added the official.

As the relaxations are beinggiven, and inter-state move-ment also allowed, the healthauthorities are expectingincrease in the cases.

As many as 114 out of 217cases, reported on Friday, were“new” cases with no travel orcontact history known. Amongthese, 19 are the patients withInfluenza-like Illness (ILI), 10

are reported by the patients bythemselves, along with fourPolice officials, a shopkeeper, ateacher, a prisoner, and a den-tal surgeon.

JALANDHAR REPORTED79 CASES, SOURCE OF 57UNKNOWN

Jalandhar district on Fridayrecorded the biggest single dayspike with 79 fresh casesrecorded in the past 24 hours,of which the source of 57 isunknown. Remaining 22 casesare the contacts of the alreadydiagnosed positive cases.

The district is second in thestate’s Covid tally withLudhiana at 489 cases, next toAmritsar at 733 cases. As perthe figures available, 165 pos-itive cases were reported in thedistrict since June 14 afterthree major spikes of 79 onJune 19, 31 each on June 16 and17.

Amritsar’s 35 fresh casesinclude 25 “new” cases with 15suffering from ILI, and 10reporting by themselves, whileremaining 10 are the contactsof positive cases.

Ludhiana are reported 19

new cases of which 13 are thecontacts of positive, while sixare new cases including threewith ILI.

Among 18 cases reportedfrom Sangrur, one have thetravel history to Uttar Pradesh,while five are the contacts ofpositive cases. Remaining 12are the new cases including ashopkeeper, a teacher, threecops, a prisoner, and a DentalSurgeon.

Out of 217 fresh cases, 22have the source of infection outof Punjab. One of the 11 casesin Mohali has the travel histo-ry to Uttar Pradesh, two ofeight in Patiala have travel his-tory to Delhi, one of the threecases in Ferozepur also havetravel history to Delhi, three ofthe five cases from Hoshiarpurhave travel history of otherstates, two of the three cases inBarnala have travel history toBihar and Delhi, two out ofeight cases in Pathankot havetravel history to Delhi, all sixcases from Muktsar have trav-el history of Delhi and UP), andall three cases from Bathindahave travel history to UP andHaryana).

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Page 4:  · 13 hours ago · Chandigarh residence of liquor baron Arvind Singla on May 31. Amritsar resident Nitin Nahar was apprehended from near Colour Resorts, Attari Road, Amritsar, along

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At a time when a majority ofthe bigger States is grap-

pling with increasing Covid-19cases, Karnataka, with a pop-ulation of 6.5 crore, has man-aged to contain the virus spreadand keep the numbers downthrough comprehensive contacttracing of positive cases andphysical/phone-based house-hold surveys covering over 1.5crore households.

Against this backdrop,the Centre has now askedother States to adopt the bestpractice from the BSYediyurappa led-KarnatakaGovernment for Covid-19management which includesinvolvement of multi-sectoralagencies supported by tech-nology-based solutions andinterventions. The State hasreported over 8,000 positivecases of which around 5,000have been recovered.

“Karnataka has widenedthe definition of ‘contact’ toinclude both the high risk aswell as low risk contacts asdefined by the Centre. Theprimary and secondary con-tacts in Karnataka weremeticulously traced and putunder strict quarantine,” saida senior official from theUnion Health Ministry.

“Contact tracing is a crit-ical component to containthe epidemic and ensure thatthe health infrastructure doesnot get overwhelmed,” hesaid.

Joint Secretary, HealthMinistry, Lav Agarwal toohad recently openly appreci-ated Karnataka’s corona warrooms and technology used toprovide information and sta-tistics to citizens, the mediaand experts.

The southern State hasappointed more than 10,000well-trained field staff whichcarries out specific responsi-bilities for contact tracing asper the detailed SOP designedby the State, prescribing step-by-step actions to be per-formed by each designatedperson.

Also, the Contact TracingMobile App and WebApplication are being used toovercome the huge quantumof work, genuine forgetfulnessof the positive persons andattempts to hide facts due tovarious reasons.

The State has been able tocurtail the spread of infectionin the slums in the municipalareas through compulsory institutionalquarantine of the contactsresiding in slums or similar

areas. It has also been made

mandatory for all travelersarriving in Karnataka to reg-ister on “Seva Sindhu” portal,which enables it to followthem for the next few dayswhen they are in home/ insti-tutional quarantine.

The State has also formedmobile squads for enforce-ment of the home quarantinethrough community partici-pation. In case a person isfound violating home quar-antine, he/she is moved toinstitutional quarantine.

With a view to identify,protect and treat high riskpopulation like the elderly,persons with co-morbidities,pregnant women and thosewith Influenza like Illness /Severe Acute RespiratoryIl lness (SARI) on priority, the StatesGovernment has already con-ducted a physical/phonebased survey of 153 lakhhouseholds.

The households reportinganyone with Covid-19 likesymptoms are triaged by atelemedicine doctor and fur-ther advised. Field level healthworker (ASHAs) also visitthose households to ensurethat the required healthcareservice is provided.

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With reports about somecompanies, agencies and

individuals fraudulently askingpeople to deposit money intheir account as tax under theTelecom Act for leasing theirpremises for installation ofmobile towers, the Centre hasdecided to act tough against themobile tower mafia. Fromestablishing a NationalConsumer Helpline to reachingout to the people by usingmobile phone messages andsocial media, the stakeholdersare set to go all out against thescamsters.

The action also comeswith reports suggesting thatthe lure of extra money asrent from installation of tele-com towers on their premis-es during the challengingCOVID-19 period has goneup massively. A spurt in caseshas been reported in stateslike Uttar Pradesh, WestBengal, Tamil Nadu andMaharashtra among otherswhich has jolted the telecomoperators, tower companies,the government and the reg-ulators to put up a concertedeffort to stop this menace,said a Telecom Ministrysource.

The Telecom RegulatoryAuthority of India (TRAI)through public outreach pro-gram has already initiatedwarnings to people to be safe

from the fraudsters. TRAI has advised vic-

tims to take up the matterwith the law enforcing agen-cies.

“It is time to reach out tothe people using mobilephone messages and socialmedia with a powerful alertmessage against the towerfraud at least once a week. Allstakeholders need to go on amission mode, to educateconsumers,” said Prof NKGoyal, Adviser GujaratTechnological University.Goyal is also Vice Chairmanat International TelecomUnion, Asia Pacif icTelecommunity (ITU-APT).

Fraudsters are collectingmoney in the name of TRAIfor installation of mobile tow-ers. In a notice issued recent-

ly, TRAI said it has beenbrought to its notice thatsome companies, agenciesand individuals are fraudu-lently asking people to depositmoney in their account as taxunder the Telecom Act forleasing their premises forinstallation of mobile towers.

“The Telecom industrywill continue its fight tocounter this fraud. Our commitment to end thetower fraud is as determined asour resolve to offer the bestquality of service to our con-sumers. Just as the industry isworking to fight COVID-19from spreading any further, sowe strive to ensure there is cor-rect information available tothe public. Telecom Operatorsare executing a slew of mea-sures as per the guidance of the

sector regulator in this regard. In our efforts to provide

better quality of services tocustomers and maintain thereliability of our networks at99.99% of the time, installationof new towers is a criticalingredient. Tower frauds ham-per these efforts and ultimate-ly hurt both customers andOperators. We must all worktogether to ensure this maliceis eradicated," said Rajan SMathews, Director GeneralCOAI (Cellular OperatorsAssociation of India).

There are around 5,90,000tower which provides seamlessconnectivity to 1,200 millionsubscribers.

“ The telecomInfrastructure providers willcontinue its fight against thefraudsters. A concerted efforthas been taken to caution thegeneral public. We will takemore specific initiatives inconsultation with our mem-bers,” said T R Dua, DirectorGeneral TAIPA (Tower andInfrastructure ProvidersAssociation).

To report fraud cases orguidance agains t suchattempts , the Nat iona lC onsumer Helpl ine i s available for the public tocall from anywhere in Indiaat 14404 or 1800-11-4000.Pe ople can a l s o register the complaint atwww.consumerhelpline.gov.in.

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The Ministry of Housingand Urban Affairs

(MoHUA) and SmallIndustries Development Bankof India (SIDBI), on Friday,signed an MoU to engageSIDBI as the implementationagency for the PM StreetVendor’s AatmaNirbhar Nidhi(PM SVANidhi), a specialmicro-credit facility for streetvendors.

“As per the MoU terms,SIDBI will implement the PMSVANidhi Scheme under theguidance of the MoHUA. Itwill also manage the creditguarantee to the lending insti-tutions through CreditGuarantee Fund Trust forMicro and Small Enterprises(CGTMSE),” said an officialrelease. The MoU was signedby Sanjay Kumar, JointSecretar y on behalf ofMinistry of Housing andUrban Affairs (MoHUA) andV Satya Venkata Rao, DeputyManaging Director, SIDBI,in the presence of HardeepPuri , Minister of State(Independent Charge)MoHUA

SIDBI will also developand maintain a customisedand integrated IT platformthat provides end-to-endsolutions, including docu-mentation of the processesand workflows, through a

portal and a mobile app, toensure engagement and infor-mation flow between urbanlocal bodies, lending institu-tions, digital payment aggre-gators and other stakeholders,it added.

PM SVANidhi waslaunched by the MoHUA onJune 1 to provide affordableworking capital loan to streetvendors who have beenadversely affected by theCovid-19 lockdown. Thisscheme targets to benefit over50 lakh street vendors.

Under the scheme, ven-dors can avail a working cap-ital loan of up to �10,000,which is repayable in month-ly instalments in the tenure ofone year.

The MoU was signed bySanjay Kumar, Joint Secretary,on behalf of MoHUA, andVSatya Venkata Rao, DeputyManaging Director, SIDBI,in the presence of HardeepSPuri, Minister of State (inde-pendent charge), MoHUA.

SIDBI will also provide aproject management unit toensure effective implementa-tion of the scheme compris-ing domain experts from thetraining/capacity building,project and platform man-agement, InformationEducation andCommunication (IEC), bank-ing, NBFC and MFI sectors,up to March 2022.

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The MMR( m e a s l e s ,

mumps, rubella)vaccine couldserve as a preven-tive measure todampen septici n f l a m m a t i o nassociated withCovid-19 infec-tion, according to a study,published in the journal mBio.It said that vaccination withMMR in immunocompetentindividuals has no con-traindications and may beespecially effective for healthcare workers who can easily beexposed to the virus.

Researchers, includingthose from the Louisiana StateUniversity in the US, said liveattenuated vaccines, which aremade using weakened strainsof a disease causing pathogen,provide nonspecific protec-tion against lethal infections.

They said these vaccinescan induce "trained" innateimmune cells for improvedhost responses against subse-quent infections.

The researchers speculat-ed that adults who hadreceived the MMR vaccine inchildhood likely still possessantibodies against the target-ed viruses which at the very

least would provide addedprotection against MMR forolder adults.

With the added inductionof the immune system'strained innate cells, theybelieve MMR vaccinationcould also provide protectionagainst the "worst sequelae ofCOVID-19."

"In direct support of thisconcept, it was recently report-ed that the milder symptomsseen in the 955 sailors on theUSS Roosevelt who testedpositive for COVID-19 mayhave been a consequence ofthe fact that MMR vaccina-tions are given to all US Navyrecruits," the scientists said.

The researchers havecalled for a clinical trial withMMR in high-risk popula-tions, suggesting it may pro-vide a "low-risk high-reward”preventive measure in savinglives during the pandemic.

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Covid-19 patients, whoreceived transfusions of

blood plasma from recov-ered persons, have shown noside-effects, thus indicatingits safety, according to a studyof 20,000 hospitalised patientsfrom diverse groups withCovid-19. The study has beenpublished in the Mayo ClinicProceedings.

The safety report assessedthe seven days followingtransfusion for hospitalizedpatients between April 3 andJune 11 who were deemed atrisk of progressing to a severeor life-threatening condition.

Nearly 40 per cent of thepatients were women; 20 percent African Americans;nearly 35 per cent Hispanicand 5 per cent Asian. Seven-day mortality rates declinedto 8.6 per cent compared to12 per cent in a previous safe-ty study of the first 5,000transfused patients.

Serious adverse eventscontinued to be less than onepercent.

“Our efforts to under-

stand convalescent plasmacontinue," says MichaelJoyner, principal investigatorof the study at Mayo Clinicand lead author of the article."We're optimistic but mustremain objective as we assessincreasing amounts of data."

This expanded safetyreport reveals a decline inmortality which appears con-temporary with the morerapid availability of plasmafor use, but the authors caution that this alone doesnot provide any evidence on effectiveness ofconvalescent plasma for treat-ing Covid-19.

At this time, convalescentplasma therapy is the onlyantibody-based therapy forthe virus.

The researchers say thatwhile the mortality rate hasdecreased, the patients in thelatter part of this study wereless critically ill.

They also say the decreasemay be in part due toimproved medical care basedon increased knowledge dur-ing the pandemic.

They note that there was

no system in place for deliv-ering convalescent plasma inMarch and now there is suf-ficient donation to meet mostof the demand.

Also, as donors cameforward more rapidly, it wasmore likely their plasma contained neutral is ing antibodies.

In India, the ICMR isconducting a multicentricphase-2 tr ial using convalescent plasma onCovid-19 patients with mod-erate illness. Its three feasi-b i l i t ystudies in about 20 severely illpatients found the therapy tobe safe and able to resolve ill-ness or improve the clinicalsymptoms.

Convalescent plasmatherapy, about a century old,has shown some benefit intreating measles, chickenpoxand rabies.

Small studies have shownfaster clearance of virus in thecase of MERS and SARS ifgiven early in the course ofthe disease but no ran-domised controlled studieshave been carried out.

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Healthcare workers (HCWs)exposed to high-risk zones

or confirmed Covid-19 caseshave to undergo a one-weekquarantine period instead ofthe earlier recommended 14days, as per the latest advisoryby the Union Health Ministry.

The advisory pertains tothe management of healthcareworkers working in Covid-19and non-Covid-19 areas of thehospitals.

The advisory aims to pro-vide guidance to the medicalprofessionals on preventivemeasures, isolation and quar-antine of health care func-tionaries as they are at increasedrisk of acquiring the virus ifthere is a breach in the personalprotection while managingpatients.

The nodal officer or head ofthe department has been direct-ed to form a sub-committee toassess the level of exposure andthe risk as per assessment.

“Thereafter taking the pro-file of such doctors, nursingofficers and other health work-ers, a decision shall be taken bythe nodal officer/head of thedepartment (or his appointedsub-committee) for furtherperiod of one week," the guide-lines said.

“If they test positive but

remain asymptomatic they willfollow protocol for very mild,mild and presymptomatic cases.If they test negative and remainasymptomatic, complete 14-day quarantine and return towork. Should symptoms devel-op, mild cases can opt forhome isolation while moderatecases that require oxygen ther-apy will be managed at aDedicated COVID HealthCenter while severe cases willbe managed in a DedicatedCOVID Hospital," as per thedocument.

In earlier advisory theGovernment had advised high-risk contacts to be quaran-tined for 14 days, tested as perICMR testing protocol, active-ly monitored for developmentof symptoms and managed asper laid down protocol.

“The nodal officer has tojot down the profile of thehealthcare worker for extendinghis/her quarantine period. Itincludes: age, health condi-tions, any co-morbidities, levelof exposure," said the official atthe health ministry.

“This updation in the advi-sory has been done due toevolving situation as we arelearning more about the virus,"said the official adding thatthese high-risk contacts shall betested as per ICMR testingprotocol after a week.

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The Supreme Court Fridaytook note of the differ-

ences in COVID-19 testingcharges in various States andasked the Centre to decide onthe issue, and said all statesshould set up panel of expertsto inspect hospitals to ensureproper care the patients.

A bench comprisingJustices Ashok Bhushan, S KKaul and M R Shah, whichwould pass the order later,observed during the hearingthat there should be unifor-mity in COVID-19 testingcharge in all States.

It indicated however thatthe court will not ventureinto the fixation of the chargeswhich will be taken care of bythe Centre.

It said the court may alsoconsider passing an order forinstallation of CCTVs in hospitals to ensure monitor-ing of patient care.

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APIL has been filed in theSupreme Court

seeking uniform education,having common syllabus and curriculum for all the chil-dren aged between 6-14 years,across the country.

The plea filed by BJPleader and advocate AshwiniKumar Upadhyay has soughdirections to look into the fea-sibility of establishing

“One Nation OneEducation Board” by mergingthe Indian Certificate ofSecondary Education Boardand the Central Board ofSecondary Education.

The plea, f i led through advocate AshwaniKumar Dubey, said the Centreand States have not taken appropriate steps to introduce uniform educationsystem having common syl labus and common curriculum in spirit of Article 21A (freeand compulsory education).

Children may not be ableto exercise their fundamental right under

Article 21A unless theCentre and the states providevalue based uniform education, the plea said.

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The Supreme Court onFriday asked the Centre

and all the States to ensure thatall stranded migrant workerswilling to return must be sentto their native places withoutany fare being charged fromthem.

The top court, on June 9,had passed a slew of directionsto the states and had askedthem to send the migrantworkers to their homes, regis-ter, counsel and help them infinding employment.

Reiterating its order, abench comprising JusticesAshok Bhushan, S K Kaul andM R Shah, in the hearing con-ducted through video-confer-encing, once again made clearthat all migrant workers haveto sent to their homes within 15days from June 9 without beingasked to pay the fare.

“Our order of June 9 is veryclear that all migrants mustreach home within 15 days,” thebench said.

The bench was told bylawyer Prashant Bhushan thatMaharashtra has been seekinginformation from migrantworkers, who are desirous toreturn, as to since when theyhave been living in the state.

The bench said that it willpass necessary directions thatas per the earlier order, allmigrant workers, willing toreturn have to be sent.

The top court did not con-sider the plea of Kerala gov-ernment that it does not havethe funds to ensure free returnof migrant workers stranded inthe state and the Centre shouldtake care of it.

It has now posted the mat-ter for hearing in July.

The apex court, on May 28,had taken suo motu (on itsown) note of the “problems andmiseries” of labourers duringCOVID-19-induced country-wide lockdown and passedslew of directions to mitigatetheir woes.

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AGovernment school super-intendent allegedly hanged

himself in Shimla district onThursday, the police said.

Youdhi Ram Sharmahanged himself from a ceilingfan in his office in the premis-es of government senior sec-ondary school (GSSS) inGumma in Dhalli area, ShimlaSP Omapati Jamwal said.

The spot is being closelyexamined by the police, he said.

None of the school staff,locals and family memberssuspected any foul play behindhis death, he added.

Reason behind the suicideis being ascertained, he said,adding the body was shifted toSunni community health cen-tre (CHC) for conducting post-mortem.

Proceedings under Section174 (unnatural death) of theCriminal Procedure Code(CrPC) have been initiated inthis regard, he added.

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The body of a 38-year-oldman, who had tested

COVID-19 positive a coupleof days back, was found insidehis car in west Delhi's MotiNagar area on Thursday,police said.

The deceased has beenidentified as Deepak, a resi-dent of Moti Nagar. He owneda motor mechanic shop inJwalaheri area, they said.

Police received informa-tion at 3.25 pm about the bodyinside the car which wasparked near Jhulelal Mandirfoot over bridge in MotiNagar, a senior police officersaid.

Police found that the carwas locked and the AC wason, the officer said.

It is suspected that theman died due to a a cardiacarrest, police said.

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The Supreme Court Fridaysaid it “cannot pass interim

orders" without seeing thereplies of all the five States ona plea by JNU student and anti-CAA activist Sharjeel Imamwho has sought clubbing ofmultiple FIRs levelling seditioncharges against him for alleged-ly making inflammatoryspeeches.

The apex court wasinformed that governments ofDelhi and Uttar Pradesh havefiled their counter affidavits onImam’s plea but no responseshave been filed by Assam,Manipur and ArunachalPradesh.

“We cannot pass interimorders without seeing thereplies of other States,” abench of Justices AshokBhushan and VRamasubramanian said.

The counsel representingAssam sought time to filereply on the plea.

“We will give time," saidthe bench, which heard thematter through video-confer-encing.

The apex court grantedtwo weeks time to Assam,Manipur and Arunachal to filetheir replies and said thatrejoinder be filed within aweek thereafter.

The bench has posted thematter for hearing after threeweeks.

Senior advocate SiddharthDave, appearing for the peti-tioner, told the court that allthese cases lodged againstImam should be consolidated.

The apex court had onMay 26 sought responses fromUttar Pradesh, Assam,Arunachal Pradesh andManipur on the plea and hadgiven another opportunity tothe Delhi Government to fileits reply in the matter.

On May 1, the top courthad sought Delhi govern-ment's reply on the plea.

In his plea, Imam has alsosought transfer of all criminalcases against him to thenational capital and probe bya single agency.

Imam’s counsel had earli-er told the top court that fiveFIRs have been registeredagainst him in different States.

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Page 5:  · 13 hours ago · Chandigarh residence of liquor baron Arvind Singla on May 31. Amritsar resident Nitin Nahar was apprehended from near Colour Resorts, Attari Road, Amritsar, along

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The unique life story of Goa'sillustrious son former

Union Defence Minister lateManohar Parrikar is beingrecounted by two senior jour-nalists who had a special rela-tion with the former and it hasresulted in the first ever bookon the life and times of India’spolitician with a difference.

An Extraordinary Life-ABiography of Manohar Parrikar

authored by Sadguru Patil andMayabhushan Nagvenkar, isbeing published by PenguinRandom House and would hitbook shelves across the coun-try in July. Pegged as a ‘Zero-to Hero’ story, this is the storyof the man who changed theway mainstream India lookedat Goa and the political goings-on in India’s smallest state, saythe authors.

Manohar Parrikar camefrom a humble background

and rose to become one of themost sought after leaders ofGoa, where he undertook therole of chief minister fourtimes and was the defenceminister of India for two yearsbefore the call of his home Statemade him return to Panaji.

Nobody did expectParrikar leaving this world at arather young age of 63. Had helived longer, Indian politicswould not have been the sameas his face brought in a refresh-

ing change to the way people inthe country viewed politics.Parrikar was the embodimentof simplicity, honesty andintegrity.

He brought in stability topolitics in Goa, a State famousfor horse trading and shadowboxing. But what adds to hischarisma is his success inattracting the minority com-munity members to hisHindutwa brand of politicsand this itself serves as a model

case study for political scientistsas well as leaders.

“Manohar Parrikar was atowering personality, whodefined an era in Goa’s politics,after the turbulent 1990s whichproduced 13 chief ministers ina decade” says co-authorSadguru Patil.

He adds, ‘A four-time ChiefMinister and Defence Minister,he had the talent, intellect andthe drive to achieve, perhapseven more’. Patil had inter-

viewed Parrikar at least 20times at different occasionswhen the latter was leader ofthe opposition, chief ministerand union minister.

“The biography is in part,a lively scrapbook of his TomSawyer-like childhood andyouth, as well as a no-holds-barred report card of his sub-sequent political journey,through the voices of peoplewho knew him, many of themintimately,” said Nagvenkar.

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Coronavirus battering Indiaand Russia has not deterred

the determination of both thecountries in completing theworks of units 3 and 4 ofKudankulam Nuclear PowerPlant near Tirunelveli in TamilNadu. Though there is an emer-gency situation prevailing inboth the countries because ofCovid-19, a shipload of com-ponents to be installed in theseunits were shipped by RosatomState Corporation EngineeringDivision on Thursday fromSaint-Petersburg , said a releaseby the company.

Rosatom is the companyhelping the public sector NuclearPower Corporation of India Ltd(NPCIL) in setting up thenuclear energy power plants atKudankulam. Units 1 and 2(each of 1000 MW) are fullyoperational while the works ofUnits 3 and 4 (each of 1000

MW) are in full swing.“In the context of the restric-

tions imposed in Russia andIndia, Rosatom StateCorporation EngineeringDivision, the Indian customer,Russian manufacturers, the portof Saint-Petersburg have kept onworking, meeting all the mea-sures prescribed, on the con-struction of the second phase ofKudankulam NPP”, - theDirector for projects in India,Vladimir Angelov, informed.

“It is necessary to make aspecific mention on the well-coordinated work of the employ-ees responsible for the cargohandling and execution. Thedeadline for shipment wasreduced by 37%”, he added.

According to Rosatom, thisis the 17th shipload during theproject implementation and thefirst one after the restrictive mea-sures related to prevent furtherspread of Covid-19. The ship isexpected to reach the Indianshores in the third week of July.

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More than fifty per cent ofthe newly recruited cadre

of different terrorist outfitsthis year has been neutralisedby the joint teams of securityforces during Operation 'Allout' in the Union territory ofJammu & Kashmir.

Meanwhile, on Friday thesecurity forces neutralised sixmore terrorists, two inside themosque in Meez area ofPampore and four others inShopian district without suf-fering any collateral damageduring the ongoing operations.Two terrorists were killed intwo separate encounters whichwere launched on the basis ofspecific intelligence inputsabout the presence of terroristsin the area on Thursday.

So far, a total number of109 terrorists have been elim-inated since January 2020 thisyear. Out of these, more than50 plus belong to HizbulMujahideen, 20 each fromLashkar-e- Toiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad and others fromAl Badr and Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind outfits.

Addressing a joint pressconference with DGP, Jammuand Kashmir police, Lt-Gen BSRaju ,GOC 15 Corps inSrinagar said, "out of 49 localrecruits who had joined ranksof different terror outfits thisyear, 27 of them have been neu-tralised in different opera-tions". He appealed to the par-ents to convince their childrento shun the path of violenceand surrender before the secu-rity forces.

Referring to the anti ter-rorist operations conducted inthe Meez area of Pampore, Lt-Gen BS Raju said, "the securi-ty forces exercised maximumrestraint while neutralisinghiding terrorists to ensure safe-ty of a local mosque".

Complimenting the jointteams of security forces Lt GenBS Raju told media persons inSrinagar, "one terrorist wasneutralised in the area onThursday while two others

took refuge inside a localmosque in Meez area ofPampore". Lt-Gen Raju said,"the forces exercised maxi-mum restraint and neutralisedboth the terrorists withoutcausing any damage to thereligious structure". He saidwith every successful operationwe are moving on the path ofpeace. "I can feel it on theground, there is a palpabledifference". He also compli-mented the local residents forensuring success of the anti ter-rorist operations in the recentweeks.

Significantly, the conductof the forces was also appreci-ated by the local people andclerics in the area.

Jammu and Kashmir policealso released a video of a localImam of Jamia Mosque FayazAhmad where he was seenspeaking on behalf of locals ofMeej,Pampore thanking andappreciating the police & secu-rity forces for their patientrole in ensuring zero damage tothe mosque where theencounter took place.

Director General of Jammuand Kashmir police, DilbaghSingh who also attended thepress briefing along with IG,Kashmir Vijay Kumar and IGCRPF, Rajesh Kumar, toldreporters, "more than 100 plusterrorists have been neutralisedthis year during anti terroristoperations".

He also complimented thejoint teams of security forcesfor exercising maximumrestraint during the operationsand prevented collateral dam-age inside the mosque.Heexpressed satisfaction that thenew recruitment has comedown drastically compared toprevious years.

Singh said, "several districtsof Jammu division, such asDoda and Kishtwar are on theverge of getting militancy free"."Only four terrorists, one inDoda and three in Kishtwardistrict are active at present andthe security forces are trackingtheir movements in order toneutralise them at the earliest.

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The BJP is breathing downMamata Banerjee’s neck.

So much so that the Bengal rul-ing outfit may just scrapethrough in a photo finish ofsorts if Assembly elections areheld today, a quick survey by aleading Bengali channel says.

According to the televisionchannel a study done factoringin the corona crisis shows thatthe TMC may win anywherebetween 155 and 163 seats ---which is about 60 seats lessthan what it got in 2016 ---clearing the half-way mark bya wafer-thin margin of about 8-15 seats.

Out of a total of 294 seatsa party or a coalition needs atleast 148 to cross the half-waymarks.

While the TMC is likely toget about 38 per cent votes,down about 4.8 per cent fromwhat it got in 2019 general elec-tions the BJP is likely to poll32.74 per cent votes which isagain far below than what itpolled in a thoroughly polar-ized atmosphere last year. Inthe Parliamentary elections thesaffron outfit polled just about40 percent votes. The sameopinion polls provide about 97-105 seats to the BJP which isagain far below than its May2019 tally when it won 19 MPseats --- equivalent 121Assembly constituencies.

The Left-Congress alliancethough trains far behind man-ages to inch up its position withabout 22-30 seats polling justabout 13.8 percent votes whichis one percent more than whatit got in 2019, the survey says.

Translated to MLA seats thealliance could manage only 7Assembly wins in 2019.

The survey also finds amild “homecoming” of theminority voters towards the LF-Congress which in 2019 hadshed a large percent of it in acommunalized atmosphere.

About 10 percent voters arestill undecided and could playan important role in the nextyear’s Assembly elections,experts associated with thesurvey said.

Against the backdrop ofthe present reading and takinginto account the massiveadvantage of a thoroughly builtpropaganda machinery andoverwhelming money power asalso the charisma of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi thesaffron outfit could create foritself a winning situation bypulling the 10 percent unde-cided voters, experts say.

Apart from the other para-meters the pollsters took intoaccount the performance ofhow the central and State gov-ernments handled the coronaand Amphan crises. In this

regard both the sides pollalmost equal number of voteswith about 49.28 percent say-ing that Mamata Banerjeecould have managed the situ-ation better and 51 percent feel-ing that the Centre could havehandled the situation in a moreplanned manner. About 45percent of people disapprovedof imposing a lockdown in fourhours’ notice.

Besides, about 61 percentof the voters felt that themigrant workers deserved abetter treatment.

Speaking about the situa-tion State BJP Sayantan Basusaid elections were still quitesome time away adding thingswill start changing quickly as itwould approach relying on thecharisma of Modi and sacrificesmade by his party men. “Wewill win by a very, very com-fortable margin,” he said.

TMC’s Firhad Hakim toosaid things would change whenthe elections drew neareradding “people of Bengal knowthe difference between Modiand Mamata Banerjee” andthey will choose the latter.

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Tamil Nadu’s woes due tocoronavirus pandemic con-

tinued unabated on Fridayeven as the four problematicdistricts including the capitalcity of Chennai went into atotal lock-down mode for 12days since midnight. As allarterial roads in Chennairemained out of bounds for allvehicles and most part of thecity wearing a deserted look,the Tamil Nadu Governmentannounced that 2,115 personstested positive in the State onFriday. Out of the 2,115 posi-tive cases, 1,322 were fromChennai.

The day also saw 41 per-sons losing their lives in theState taking the death toll tilldate to 666. Out of the 666deaths recorded in the State tilldate, Chennai accounted for529 deaths, Chengalpet (41)

and Thiruvallur (33) comingsecond and third respectively.

Meanwhile, K PAnbazhagan, Higher EducationMinister has been tested posi-tive for covid-19 and wasadmitted to a corporate hospi-tal in Chennai. K Palani, anAIADMK MLA too has beenhospitalised after testing posi-tive for the pandemic.

The Government is notleaving any stones unturned asit has made aggressive testinga moto. With two more privatelaboratories designated asequipped to test coronavirus,there are 83 laboratories func-tioning 24X7 in Tamil Nadu.Till date7.89 lakh persons have

been tested and on Friday atotal of 25,902 persons weretested.

The districts Chengalpet(95), Kancheepuram(39) andThiruvallur (85) wore the lookof well guarded fortresses aspolicemen stood guard andmade these districts out ofbound for all from other places.Vellore where 103 districtstested positive on Friday isbecoming a matter of concernfor health officials.

“We will be able to tellwhether the lock-down wouldbe of any help after June 30.Last lock-down ordered by theTamil Nadu Government(April 26-30) turned every-thing upside down as the Statesaw the number of cases shoot-ing up,” said Dr C VKrishnaswamy, eminent physi-cian.

The Tamil NaduGovernment has complainedthat persons coming back tothe State from Kerala havebecome a threat as most ofthem have been tested to bepositive.

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Adapting to change andcracking the conundrum

of new work culture in theGovernment, the BiharGovernment Department ofCooperative (DoC) has becomethe first department in theState to digitise amidst theCovid-19 pandemic.

“To turn our Departmentinto digital was indispensableas the spread of Covid 19 isincreasing at a faster rate.Recent news from the office ofPrincipal Seceratry, MP aboutvirus spread among 22 officialsthrough suspecting the trans-fer of same file they were act-ing upon created a fear amongthe employees and staff sincefiles are inevitable in anyGovernment office. TheDepartment took cognizance oftheir employees safety first andthought of de-shackling it withinfusion of technology to it,"said Bandana Preyashi,Secretary, DoC, Bihar.

The Department ofCooperative, successfullyturned into an e-office sinceJune 16, 2020. The officialsconducted a need gap assess-ment programme to identify allthe hard and soft infrastructurerequired for making thedepartment paperless. Therewere around more than 9,000files having around 10 lakhdocuments to be scanned.

“We see this step of thedepartment aligning to the Jal-Jeevan-Hariyali Mission bymaking it a paperless system for

conserving the forest and nat-ural resources. The e-filingmanagement system is sup-posed to bring in speedy, accu-racy and accountability by cut-ting down the unwanted delayscaused due to physical move-ment of file from one table tothe other. Now the officers willhave flexibility to work fromhome with ease and withoutany worry of physical transferof documents," said AnandSharma, Joint Secretary, DoC,Bihar Government.

In the long run the depart-ment will reduce the cost ofoperation due to minimizationof papers, printers and multi-ple volume and copies of thedocument.

To speedup transforma-tion process, the departmentcalled for a tender for migrat-ing all the files to electronicmode. The work order wasgiven to a competent agencyand the electronic conversionwas completed in a recordtime amidst lockdown withlimited infrastructure.

The Department alsoorganised hands on training attheir computer laboratory to allthe officers of the Department.A series of training programmewas conducted for electronicdocument management as aprobable solution to managethe procedure of importing,storing, and managing docu-ments and images as comput-er files. The officers adapted tothe change with great enthusi-asm and embraced technologyfor brining efficiency and effec-tiveness in the system.

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Aday after Chief MinisterPinarayi Vijayan cautioned

the people of the State againstviolation of guidelines andnorms prescribed by theGovernment for checking thespread of coronavirus pan-demic, 118 persons tested pos-itive for Covid-19 on Friday.

This is the highest evernumber of patients tested pos-itive for the pandemic on a sin-gle day since the State regis-tered the first case in January2020.

On Thursday, Vijayan hadlisted violations of laws andguidelines by the people whichhe said would lead to a situa-tion where the pandemicwould rear its ugly head againin the State which had flattenedthe corona early May itself.

While the maximum num-ber of covid-19 patients werefrom Malappuram district (18),Kollam district came a close

second with 17 patients. Thenumber of hotspots in theState stood at 112 with sevenplaces from Kannur, the homedistrict of Chief MinisterVijayan getting designated asthe new hotspots.

Out of the 118 cases test-ed positive on Friday, 67 wereexpatriates who returned to theState while 45 were from otherparts of the country.

There were six cases of thepersons getting infectedthrough community transmis-sion. Vijayan had blamed WestAsian countries on Thursdayfor their lackadaisical approachin testing the persons leavingtheir shores to their nativeplaces. He had even offered thatKerala would make availablefacilities in these countries totest those returning home.

A release issued by theKerala Government said therewere 1.32 lakh persons underobservation in the State.Samples collected from 1.73

lakh persons have been sent fortesting till date. As on date,1,380 persons were under treat-ment in various hospitals inKerala. On Friday, 197 personswho were tested positive havebeen admitted to hospitals.

Meanwhile, the KeralaGovernment made a relax-ation in the requirement that allthose returning to the Stateshould bring with them “no-covid certificate” issued by theauthorities where they stay.This requirement would comeinto practice only after June 26,said the release.

There was widespreadopposition to the move byKerala Government making“No-Covid Certificate” manda-tory for all those returning tothe State.

The only factor whichbrough relief to the State onFriday was the news that 96persons were cured of thecoronavirus pandemic andwere discharged from hospitals.

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Lucknow: With an eye onfarmer votes, Uttar PradeshChief Minister Yogi Adityanathis especially focusing on theRamala sugar mill that is justconcluding its first crushingseason after its capacity expan-sion -- a promise that BJP hadmade to the farmers in 2018.

This would be the firstcrushing season of the Ramalamill whose expansion was inau-gurated by Adityanath inNovember last year.

Ramala is a large village inBadaut tehsil of Baghpat inwestern UP. It is known for itssugar factory. Ramala has beenthe focus of late ChaudharyCharan Singh's farmer politics.

BJP spokesmanChandramohan, who belongs towestern UP, said, "The crushingcapacity of the Ramala sugarmill has been increased from27,500 quintals of sugarcane to50,000 quintals per day. A 27-megawatt power plant has alsobeen set up in the mill premis-es."

He said that the sugar millcaters to nearly 35,000 sugarcanefarmers and after the expansion,nearly 2,500 people have gotdirect or indirect employment.

"We will obviously tell thefarmers that while parties likeRashtriya Lok Dal and theirleaders like Ajit Singh, who owetheir political importance tothe region, as well as SamajwadiParty chief Akhilesh Yadav,merely paid lip service to thefarmers, it was PM Modi alongwith CM Yogi Adityanath whoalone thought of addressing theplight of sugarcane farmers," theBJP leader added. IANS

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Ahead of Bihar Assemblypolls to boost employment

and infrastructure in rural sec-tor, the Narendra ModiGovernment will launch a mas-sive rural public works scheme—Garib Kalyan RojgarAbhiyaan — on Saturday to pro-vide livelihood to migrant work-ers amid nationwide lockdowndue to coronavirus pandemic.The scheme will be launched viavideo conference in the presenceof Bihar Chief Minister NitishKumar in Telihar village inKhagaria district. The cam-paign also aims to create infra-structure worth Rs 50,000 crorein the rural regions across 116districts in six states. Lastmonth, the Modi governmenthad announced an additional Rs

40,000 crore for the rural jobsprogramme. This is in additionto the Rs 61,500 croreannounced in the budget onFebruary 1.

“PM @narendramodi tolaunch Garib Kalyan RojgarAbhiyaan on 20th June to boostlivelihood opportunities inRural India," a Twitter postfrom the Prime Minister’s officehandle said. The programmewill be launched via video con-ference in the presence of Biharchief minister Nitish Kumar, theTwitter post added. As per thestatement, the campaigninvolves 125 days of work andwill have “intensified andfocused implementation of 25different types of works to pro-vide employment to the migrantworkers on one hand and cre-ate infrastructure in the rural

regions of the country on theother hand, with a resourceenvelope of Rs 50,000 crore.

Political experts opined thatthe scheme will certainly helpthe Nitish Kumar governmentin Bihar to woo more 30-35 lakhmigrants workers who returnedto the state since May 3. Nearly32 districts in Bihar, which wit-nessed the highest number ofmigrant returnees from acrossthe country during the nation-wide ockdown, have beenincluded in the scheme. Kumarhas been facing flak on the issueof migrants as the oppositiontarnished his image as antimigrant workers. Kumar hadinitially opposed the migrantsmovement and banned theirentry in the state but agreedafter alround criticism.

The highest number of

1,53,022 migrants have offi-cially returned to EastChamparan followed by1,41,944 in Katihar, 1,24,572 inMadhubani, 1,17,294 in Gaya,1,17,200 in West Champaran,1,03,007 in Darbhanga,1,00,973in Araria,1,00,672 inMuzaffarpur,96,948 in Purniaand other districts. The stategovernment has conducted theskill mapping of more than 17lakhs of migrant-labourers andmore than 6 to 7 lakhs of themhave already been engaged indifferent schemes employmentschemes including MNREGA.As per information, 25 typeworks can be allotted under thescheme including constructionof gram panchayat bhawan,construction of national high-way works, water conservationand harvesting works, planata-

tion, horticulture, rural con-nectivity works, rural housingworks, construction of com-munity toilets and railway works

The finance ministry state-ment on the scheme did notmake it clear but the newscheme may run in tandem withthe Mahatma Gandhi NationalRural Employment GuaranteeScheme that allows for 100days of work for members ofrural households. The rural jobguarantee scheme has seenrecord enrolments in rural areasfollowing the large scale migra-tion of lakhs of workers fromtheir places of employment incities and towns to the ruralareas after the lockdown wasimposed from 25 March.

The villages across 116 dis-tricts in the six states will jointhe campaign through the com-

mon service centres and krishivigyan kendras. As per thestatement, these 116 districtscomprise more than 25,000returnee migrant workers acrosssix states, which are Bihar, UttarPradesh, Madhya Pradesh,Rajasthan, Jharkhand andOdisha, and are estimated tocover about two-thirds ofmigrant workers.

The government added thatthe scheme will be carried outin a mission mode and will bea coordinated effort between 12different ministries and depart-ments. These include ruraldevelopment, panchayati raj,road transport & highways,mines, drinking water & sani-tation, environment, railways,petroleum & natural gas, new &renewable energy, border roads,telecom, and agriculture.

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Srinagar: Lieutenant GeneralBS Raju, corps commander ofthe Indian Army's Srinagar-based 15 Corps, said on Fridaythat the security forces willensure complete normalcy inKashmir within the next fewmonths.

Addressing a joint pressconference with J&K Policechief Dilbag Singh and othersenior officers of police andparamilitary forces at theBadami Bagh headquartersof 15 Corps, Lt General Rajusaid, "Over 100 militants havebeen killed so far this year. 50belonged to Hizbul and 20each from JeM and LeT andothers belonged to Ansar-Ghazwatul Hind and othersmall groups like Al-Badr".

Lt General Raju said that

over the past 24 hours, secu-rity forces on the ground dida great job by killing eight mil-itants in two separate encoun-ters in south Kashmir'sPulwama and Shopian dis-tricts.

"In one of the encounters,where militants had goneinside a mosque, the forces onground exercised extreme restraint and nodamage was caused to the reli-gious place. With every oper-ation we are moving on thepath of peace. I can feel it onground that there is a palpa-ble difference in the situation",he said.

He said that this year, sofar, 102 militants have beenkilled in various operations.

IANS

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One of the most serious concernscaused by the spread ofCoronavirus, one that is beingdebated all across the globe, iswhen and how should schools

reopen after the pandemic? Talk to any par-ent, their first reaction would be: We shall waitand watch. Some are not willing to send theirchildren to schools even if they reopen inAugust/September. Mothers are more clear-er. It is acceptable to them if their childrenlose an academic year. They don’t want to takethe dreaded risk. In an article, published onMay 13 by Stefania Giannini, AssistantDirector-General of UNESCO, the magni-tude of the problem has been estimated.

“It has been around two months sinceschools closed in more than 190 countries,affecting 1.57 billion children and youth —90 per cent of the world’s student population.Closures happened in quick succession as ameasure to contain the COVID-19 virus. Justas speedily, governments deployed measuresfor learning to continue through platforms,television and radio in what has been the mostfar-reaching experiment in the history of edu-cation. But when it comes to reopeningschools, the tempo is far more uncertain.According to UNESCO data, 100 countrieshave not yet announced a date for schools toreopen, 65 have plans for partial or fullreopening, while 32 will end the academicyear online. For 890 million students, how-ever, the school calendar has never been soundefined.”

There are around 250 million school-going students in India. It is but natural forthem and their parents to be worried, espe-cially when Coronavirus cases are risingevery day. The level of anxiety and uncer-tainty was evident in a recent study, conduct-ed in 224 districts. According to the survey,nearly 37 per cent of the 18,000 parents cov-ered in the survey felt that schools shouldreopen only if there are no new cases in thedistrict and within its 20 km radius for 21days. However, more than 20 per cent par-ents said schools should reopen only afterthe country has no new cases for three weeks,while 13 per cent felt that schools shouldremain shut till a vaccine is developed.

The Human Resource DevelopmentMinistry has made it clear that StateGovernments must decide upon the date ofreopening schools and has asked them totake their own decisions. The UnionMinistry will issue guidelines on sanitation,quarantine and physical distancing and othersuch relevant aspects. To sum this up,uncertainty looms large over the educationsector. Yet, creative minds are working to findpossible solutions to help combat disruptionsin teaching-learning scenario.

The way digital learning has beenadopted in a large number of schools indi-cates how swiftly the system has realised thecomplex nature of the problem at hand andis, hence, testing alternatives. However,making the switch to digital learning is not

an easy task. There are manyschools that are well-equippedon all counts. But there are alsoothers that are perpetually defi-cient — even deprived — bothin terms of infrastructure andprofessional support. In the lastthree decades, teacher vacancieshave been a cause of consider-able concern and have directlyimpacted the quality of learning.Owing to this, the credibility ofthe school, too, is impacted.

There’s yet another phe-nomenon that has been affect-ing schools, both in metro citiesand small towns. The migrationof labourers from the cities totheir home States has posed sev-eral questions both to the work-ers and the system. This promi-nently includes children’s educa-tion. That school educationwould be affected was verymuch anticipated. It has beenconfirmed from various sourcesin different parts of the countrythat Government schools arebeing approached by parents ofthose children presently enrolledin high-fee-charging privateschools, the English mediumones. With the Corona pandem-ic triggering an economic crisis,the lower and lower-middlerungs of the society have beenbadly affected. Even highly-educated people, who hadadmitted their children in pri-vate schools, have found them-selves at the crossroads. Parents,who have been forced to meettheir regular monetary demandsby cutting on genuine familyexpenses, are in two minds.Many of them are no more in a

position to pay the school feeseven though it will not be hikedthis year.

As a result, there would bea considerable exodus fromthese high-end schools to eitherprivate ones that target econom-ically weaker sections or toGovernment ones. At present,there seems to be no way out toprevent this exodus. All of thisis bound to create considerableripples in the education indus-try, which is mostly run by pri-vate entrepreneurs. Schools inour country are broadly divid-ed into two categories: First,those that are run on publicfunds — the sarkari schools.Second, those that are run byprivate entrepreneurs.

It is indeed intriguing thatmost parents are not happywith the way school educationsystem functions. Those sendingtheir wards to privately managed“public” schools are unhappy asthey are persistently under pres-sure from the management toloosen their purse strings underone pretext or the other. Parentsof children in sarkari schoolslament their inability to put theirwards in English medium “pub-lic” schools.

Managements in privateschools, too, are a worried lot.They fear they may not get per-mission to implement theirannual quota of fee raise. Theirapprehensions, restlessness andanxiety are understandable.Recently, I was informed that aninnovative entrepreneur decid-ed to charge extra fee for “inter-net teaching and learning.” This

tussle shall take varied dimen-sions in the months to come.

Instead of concentrating onhow to deal with the tough sit-uation thrust upon the educa-tion system, the focus must beon evolving a new pedagogy andteacher training strategies.

Private schools are moreworried about the economics ofhow to sustain their incomes.Everyone knows the real situa-tion but formally, India stillinsists that education enterpriseis not for profit-making. Severalschool managements haveinformed me that they wouldlike to earn an honest income ontheir investment, keep therecords clean and pay taxes.They have a very strong case. Aserious attitudinal transforma-tion in policy formulation is nec-essary at this juncture.

The emerging school sce-nario and reference to the plightof workers returning to their vil-lages remind me of what SwamiVivekananda had said in his let-ter to the Maharaja of Mysore onJune 23, 1894: “The one thingthat is at the root of all evils inIndia is the condition of thepoor... The only service to bedone for our lower classes is togive them education, developtheir lost individuality.”

Whatever plans and pro-grammes the Governments,Union and State, unfold hence-forth, they must ensure goodquality education to childrenfrom the weaker sections of soci-ety. Give them an opportunityand they will wade throughevery impediment and rediscov-

er their individuality. The ideol-ogy of progress, growth anddevelopment must be wovenaround these two sectors.

India has realised just howimportant it is to not ignore itsfarmers, artisans and workerswho make village life worth liv-ing. Now, we have to reach thestage that Gandhiji dreamt of inhis autobiography after he readJohn Ruskin’s book, Unto ThisLast: “That the good of the indi-vidual is contained in the goodof all. That a lawyer work has thesame value as the barber’s, inas-much as all have the same rightof earning their livelihood fromtheir work. That a life of labour,ie, the life of the tiller of the soiland the handicraftsman, is thelife worth living.”

These lines were precededby the reaffirmation of the age-old dictum, “The good of indi-vidual is contained in the goodof all!” Gandhiji transformed hisown life and wanted the last manin the line to be omnipresent inevery new initiative by the stat-ues and also by every individual.

Swami Vivekananda hadsaid: “Material civilisation, nay,even luxury, is necessary to cre-ate work for the poor. Bread!Bread! I do not believe in a God,who cannot give me bread here,giving me eternal bliss in heav-en!” The path of progress is cutout and well lit before us. It hasto be comprehended in thecontext envisioned for the daysahead and put to practice withcompetence and commitment.

(The writer works in the edu-cation and social cohesion sector)

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Sir — Researchers in England saythey have the first evidence of adrug that can improve thechances of surviving COVID-19.A cheap, widely available steroidcalled dexamethasone reduceddeaths by up to a third in severe-ly ill patients. This is good newsfor India. One saved life forevery eight to 25 people treatedmay not seem like much but thereare thousands of people hospi-talised around the world rightnow who could benefit from thismedicine. Thousands more arelikely to join them if currenttrends continue. This drug has abetter chance than most to reachpatients worldwide and couldlead to many better outcomes inthe months to come.

Dexamethasone reduced the28-day mortality rate by 17 percent with a highly significanttrend showing the greatest ben-efit among those patients whorequire ventilation. Even thoughthe drug helps in severe cases,countless lives will be saved. It ishighly affordable, easy to make,can be scaled up quickly and oneonly needs a small dose. There arecurrently no approved treatment

or vaccine. If a decades-oldsteroid can prevent deaths, thereare more benefits to reap fromother anti-inflammatory drugs orcombination therapies.

Ravi Teja Kathuripall Hyderabad

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Sir — While it is appreciable thatthe Supreme Court has stayed theannual Rath Yatra and associat-ed activities at the Jagannath

Temple in Odisha’s Puri in thewake of the Coronavirus pan-demic, its observation is overar-ching to say the least. The apexcourt is supposed to issue judg-ments in accordance with the pre-scribed law, scientific truths and

overall interest of the nation andits populace. Lord Jagannath isnot just the presiding deity of theState but signifies the collectiveconsciousness of the people. Theyatra is a symbol of resilience andunity of the people. Agreed, in thewake of the pandemic, socialdistancing needs to be main-tained. That can be done withnecessary restrictions in place.People can watch it live on TV,too.

TT SakariaDelhi

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “China provokes, again” (June17). Beijing is in a race to estab-lish itself as the undisputed leaderof Asia through a display ofbrute power. In this situation,New Delhi must take stock of thisnew reality and frame a responseaccordingly. Nations across theworld would be watching India.It must not lose sight of the long-term consequences.

ShashankVia email

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Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s allegedsuicide has once again sparked off a country-wide debate on nepotism, favouritism and

dynasticism. Since time immemorial, nepotism andits offshoot, political dynasticism, have posedgrave threats to the rise of an egalitarian society. Theact of prioritising birth over worth and family con-nections over merit has wiped out several talentedindividuals, thriving empires, civilisations, dynas-ties and nations off the face of the Earth. In the sec-ond century AD, the Roman emperor and stoicphilosopher, Marcus Aurelius, committed theaforementioned mistake, which gradually broughtthe mighty Roman Empire to its knees. Blinded bypaternal love, he went against the tradition ofappointing a capable and efficient man as his suc-cessor and chose instead his incompetent sonCommodus as the next emperor. Prior to this, noRoman emperor had chosen his son as the heir. Therest, as they say is history and ironically Rome itselfbecame history.

Unfortunately, the story of our civilisation is nodifferent. Everyone is familiar with the epic tale ofthe moral blindness of King Dhritarashtra thatcaused the great Mahabharata. In The Great IndianNovel (1989), which is an allegorical retelling of Vyas’epic, Shashi Tharoor satirises India’s first PrimeMinister Jawaharlal Nehru as the Dhritarashtra ofmodern India. His daughter and late PrimeMinister Indira Gandhi, on the other hand, is recastas Priya Duryodhani, a fictional representation ofthe eldest son of King Dhritarashtra, the antagonistDuryodhana. While writing this magnificent polit-ical satire, Shashi Tharoor would never havethought in his wildest dreams that one day he wouldjoin the Congress Party. But then, writers do enjoypoetic licence. The heart of the matter, neverthe-less, is that the names of Dhritarashtra, Aurelius andNehru will continue to be taken in the same breath.

In fact, one of Nehru’s Ministers seems to havequipped that the late Prime Minister was like abanyan tree in whose shade nothing else could grow.However, it is well-known that another banyan treecan grow and thrive under an older banyan tree.Disenchanted with the nepotism and dynasticismof the Gandhi family, the celebrated socialist poetNagarjun had foregrounded this decadent aspect ofpost-Independent India. The Hindi poet explodedin rage against Indira and wrote: “Induji, Induji, kyahua aapko? Bete ko taar diya, bor diya baap ko”,which can be roughly translated as “Indu, what hap-pened to you? You gave your sons, name and fameand brought a bad name to your father.”

If the father-daughter duo were accused of pro-moting their scions at the expense of others, in thepost-Nehruvian era, the situation exacerbated at thelevel of regional politics as well. Many of RamManohar Lohia’s acolytes in States such as Bihar andUttar Pradesh started a rat race to send family mem-bers to the Parliament and State assemblies, oftenat the expense of capable party workers. “Serviceto the family is service to the nation,” became theirmotto. Therefore, while accusing Bollywood ofnepotism, it becomes imperative to ask: Is there anysector which is or has ever remained untouched byit? Its all-pervasive influence can be felt in the fieldof arts, industry and business, the judiciary, religiouscircles, education, writing, film, politics and numer-ous other areas.

It would be apt here to adduce one instance offavouritism in the field of higher education fromcolonial times. Unlikely as it might sound, acclaimedauthors such as Munshi Premchand and Iqbal, too,became its victims. In 1918, Premchand and Iqbal

applied for lecturership at the newly-estab-lished Osmania University in Hyderabad.Iqbal had just returned with a degree fromCambridge University and was a man tobe reckoned with, while Premchand hadbecome quite famous as a short storywriter. But they had no godfather. So,despite their best efforts, neitherPremchand was appointed as a lecturer ofUrdu nor did Iqbal manage to become aphilosophy teacher. The job was eventu-ally given to one Akbar Haidari, who wasclose to British officials.

Unfortunately, the situation eitherremained the same or aggravated furtherafter India acquired Independence. Severalstalwarts would have similar stories toshare, for in academics and elsewhere, too,favouritism continued to be practisedunabated.

The Hindi satirist Harishankar Parsaihas put it succinctly in one of his satiresentitled Rani Naagfani ki Kahani (Storyof Queen Naagfani) in which the narra-tor quips that what matters most in aninterview is the column — “Kiska aadmi(whose man are you?)” While Parsai hadexcoriated the ways in which interviewswere being conducted by some StateService Commissions, such malpracticesare still extensively practised in theappointments of faculty members andadministrators across universities and col-leges in the country. In recent times, sev-eral scrupulous stakeholders have high-lighted the need to abolish interviews insuch appointments and conduct an all-India level examination to depoliticise thenation’s higher education system andcure it of the plague of nepotism. Thiscould be a watershed moment in our edu-cation sector but to persuade the high andmighty to accept such changes could beas difficult as cajoling a cat to give up abowl of cream.

The battle against favouritism, nepo-tism and dynasticism, which are the

residues of pre-modern societies, has tobe fought at several fronts. But where doesone start? A natural choice would be tolook up to the temple of Indian democ-racy — our Parliament. But what a greatdisillusionment awaits us there. As per asurvey conducted by historian and polit-ical commentator Patrick French, two-thirds of the MPs in the last Lok Sabha hada close relative in politics. Standardaccounts suggest there are very few par-liamentarians who have not inherited pol-itics as a vocation and enjoyed ancestralprivileges in politics. The words of theancient Roman satirist Juvenal — “Whowill guard the guards?” — seem to be quiteappropriate here. Who will legislateagainst the legislators? Any expectation ofa law against this malady, then, will turnout to be a wild goose chase.

However, the absence of a legal pro-vision against nepotism in public lifeshould not be so disappointing after all,for two main reasons. One, despite itsprevalence in all walks of life, there arenumerous individuals, who have a rags-to-riches story to share and who made itbig on account of perseverance, dedica-tion and integrity.

We may find such scintillating talesof success not only all around us but alsoin our epic, the Mahabharata. In the greatIndian epic, characters such as Sanjaya,Ekalavya and Karna transcended their ori-gins and went down as heroes afterbravely facing the hardships of a steep hier-archical society. And two, the biggest para-dox of the human mind is that humanconscience cannot be governed by law. Butthere are moments in history when one’sconscience is definitely shaken and socialawareness is created against certain iniq-uities.

Sushant Singh Rajput’s death is onesuch turning point, which must trigger amovement against favouritism, not onlyin Bollywood but also in all spheres of our

public life. In a modern, democraticnation, one’s identity should not be deter-mined by one’s birth, family connections,social and community ties but by actionsand virtues. In pre-modern and to someextent in early modern societies across theworld, such practices were quite commonbefore the emergence of democracy andthe rise of the middle class. Those whobelonged to a non-aristocratic class hadfew avenues to achieve socially-upwardmobility and were always in the pursuitof a patron or a godfather. Intellectuals andsensitive souls felt decentred and disori-ented in this world order. Alexander Pope,the eminent 18 century British poet, hadsummed it up in a humorous and satiri-cal couplet: “I am his highness’s dog atKew. Pray tell me, sir, whose dog are you?”Although Pope had written this for theprince’s pug, the aphorism, “Whose dogare you?” was often earnestly used todenounce the system of patronage. Thereis an uncanny resemblance betweenHarishankar Parsai’s aforementionedobservation — “Whose Man are you” andPope’s biting statement. But what is fate-ful and worrisome is that even in the post-enlightenment world, this system has per-sisted.

The continuation of the culture ofpatronage in contemporary times posesa serious threat to our claims of beingcalled civilised and enlightened. If we don’tprotest against this rampant nepotism,which violates the constitutional princi-ple of equality of opportunity, our societymay end up producing malcontents andwe may lose many more precocious tal-ent like Sushant Singh Rajput. We all knowthat it will be detrimental to the rise of anew India in the post-COVID world,threatened by the expansionist policies ofa hostile China.

(The writer teaches English at DeenDayal Upadhyaya College, DelhiUniversity)

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%�������������������������������������������������������������������� ��������������� �������������� �������(������������������������ ����������������������������(���������������������������� ����������������������������������*�����������������������������

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As you sow, so you reap.” Over thecenturies, human beings haveplundered mother Earth and are

now paying the price of rampant envi-ronmental degradation and its impact onour lives and health. While the origin ofthe pandemic and its transmission path-way are yet to be ascertained, we knowthat zoonotic diseases are on the risebecause of this abuse of nature. In a jointletter signed by 241 leading animal wel-fare and conservation organisations, anappeal was made to the World HealthOrganisation (WHO) on the occasion ofWorld Health Day to state the provenlink between wildlife markets and thethreat they pose to human health. It out-lined concrete measures that the WHOand member States should take to avertanother Coronavirus outbreak.

The organisations also urged theWHO to recommend that governmentsworldwide permanently ban live wildlifemarkets and the use of wildlife in tradi-tional medicine as an impactful first stepin adopting a highly-precautionaryapproach to wildlife trade that poses arisk to human health. The COVID-19

outbreak is believed to have originatedat wildlife markets in China and trans-mitted to humans as a result of closeproximity between wildlife and people.Further research suggests that bats andpangolins may have been involved in thetransmission chain of the virus tohumans. But let us not forget that it wasthe action of people that created the envi-ronment in which this transmission waspossible.

This is not the first time that infec-tious diseases have been linked to wildanimals in recent years. Between 2002and 2003, the Severe Acute RespiratorySyndrome (SARS), inflicted by aCoronavirus which is also believed tohave emerged from wildlife markets inChina, resulted in 8,000 human casesacross 29 countries and 774 deaths. Thefailure to enforce a permanent ban on allwildlife markets then allowed for a sim-ilar, but more severe, disease to emerge.Other significant zoonotic diseases, thetransmission of which has been associ-ated with wildlife, include Ebola, MERS,bovine TB, rabies and leptospirosis.

Zoonotic diseases are responsible for

over two million human deaths eachyear. How many of these cases directlyor indirectly originate from wildlife arehard to calculate, due to overlappingreservoirs in livestock and wild animalpopulations. However, considering thesignificance of wildlife as a reservoir ofemerging infectious diseases, wildlife ori-gins of zoonoses must be of primary con-cern. Over 60 per cent of emerging infec-tious diseases are zoonotic and 70 percent of these are thought to originatefrom wildlife.

The risk of zoonotic disease trans-mission is heightened by the unregulat-ed and unhygienic conditions associat-ed with wildlife markets, where closeproximity between humans and animalsprovides the perfect opportunity forpathogens to spread. This risk is furtherexacerbated by the conditions in whichanimals are typically farmed or collect-ed from the wild, transported to and heldat such markets, which inevitably resultin large numbers of animals of differentspecies being held in crowded conditionsin close proximity, causing immensestress and weakening of their immune

systems. Such conditions, coupled withclose proximity to people, provide theideal situation for pathogens to replicate,spread and potentially infect people.

Pangolins, which are consideredlikely by some researchers to be involvedin the transmission chain of COVID-19,are commonly used as ingredients fortraditional medicine, as are many otherwildlife species such as turtles, leopards,tigers, lions and bears, with bear bileinjections being officially recommend-ed as a treatment for COVID-19.

These animals are either farmed orpoached from the wild to supply thedemand — a practice that is entirelyunnecessary given the viable plant ornon-wildlife based alternatives recog-nised by traditional medicine. Risk of dis-ease transmission is prevalent across allaspects of wildlife trade, which suppliesproducts to the traditional medicineindustry. For example, bovine TB hasbeen documented among wild and cap-tive-bred lions, posing a substantial riskof zoonosis to consumers and peopleinvolved in the lion bone trade, partic-ularly those who work in breeding

farms, slaughter and processing facilitiesin South Africa. Reptiles such as snakesand geckos are a frequent sources of sal-monellosis infections in people. Whiletraditional medicine is a recognised med-icinal system in many countries and cul-tures, the vast majority of ingredients areplant or mineral- based, with hundredsof recognised alternatives to ingredientsderived from wildlife. The trade inwildlife is unnecessary and indefensibleas over 80 per cent consumers wouldconsider herbal or synthetic alternativesto wild animal products.

In China, academics recognisedthat a ban on wildlife consumption is notenough to protect public health fromwildlife-associated diseases. They calledon the Government to support transi-tioning the wildlife farming industryaway from the production of tradition-al medicine. Any practices that sustainthe wildlife trade carry a huge publichealth risk that could lead to future out-breaks of zoonotic diseases amonghumans. This must stop.

(The writer is Technical Associate,FSI, Dehradun)

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London: The UK’s coronavirusalert level has been downgrad-ed from four to three on Friday,a move hailed by the govern-ment as a “big moment” in itspandemic fight.

Under level three of a five-level alert system, the virus isnow considered to be “in gen-eral circulation” and thereforeallow for a “gradual relaxationof restrictions” to ease the lock-down further.

Previously, at level four,transmission of the deadly viruswas considered “high or rising

exponentially”.“The UK moving to a lower

alert level is a big moment forthe country, and a real testamentto the British people’s determi-nation to beat this virus,” saidUK Health Secretary MattHancock.

“The government’s plan isworking. Infection rates arerapidly falling, we have pro-tected the NHS and, thanks tothe hard work of millions in ourhealth and social care services,we are getting the country backon her feet,” he said. PTI

Washington: A large study of20,000 hospitalised COVID-19patients who received trans-fusions of blood plasma fromrecovered people found thetreatment was safe.

The report, published in

the journal Mayo ClinicProceedings on Thursday,assessed the seven days fol-lowing transfusion for hospi-talised patients between April3 and June 11 who weredeemed at risk of progressingto a severe or life-threateningcondition.

Nearly 40 per cent of thepatients were women; 20 percent African Americans; 35per cent Hispanic and 5 percent Asian, the researcherssaid.

Seven-day mortality ratesdeclined to 8.6 per cent com-pared to 12 per cent in a pre-vious safety study of the first5,000 transfused patients, theresearchers said.

Serious adverse eventscontinued to be less than oneper cent, they said.

“Our efforts to under-stand convalescent plasmacontinue,” said Michael Joyner,principal investigator at MayoClinic in the US, and leadauthor of the research article.

“We’re optimistic but mustremain objective as we assessincreasing amounts of data,”Joyner said. PTI

Washington: Amidst a war ofwords between the Trumpadministration and John Bolton,US Secretary of State MikePompeo has accused him ofbeing a traitor, saying he dam-aged America by violating hissacred trust with the people.

On the other hand, Boltonfired back and said that a seriesof tweets by President DonaldTrump against him were unbe-coming of the office of thepresident.

Pompeo, in a statement inresponse to the excerpts from abook of Bolton who has madesome stunning allegationsagainst Trump, said that he hasnot read the book, but “from theexcerpts I’ve seen published,John Bolton is spreading anumber of lies, fully-spun, half-truths and outright falsehoods”.

“It is both sad and dan-gerous that John Bolton’s finalpublic role is that of a traitorwho damaged America byviolating his sacred trust withits people,” the Secretary ofState said.

Excerpts from the book,

‘The Room Where It Happened:A White House Memoir’, werecarried by The New York Times,The Washington Post and TheWall Street Journal onWednesday.

Published by Simon &Schuster, the book is slated to hitthe stores on June 23.

Trump had fired Boltonlast year as the National SecurityAdviser, saying he had donesome “big mistakes” and hisactions were not in line with theadministration.

In the book, Bolton claimsthat Trump virtually pleadedwith his Chinese counterpart XiJinping at a G-20 summit forhelp in his reelection.

Earlier in a series of tweets,Trump said that Bolton’s book,“which is getting terriblereviews, is a compilation of lies

and made up stories, all intend-ed to make me look bad.

“Many of the ridiculousstatements he attributes to mewere never made, pure fiction.Just trying to get even for firinghim like the sick puppy he is!”Trump said.

“When Wacko John Boltonwent on Deface the Nation andso stupidly said that he lookedat the “Libyan Model” for NorthKorea, all hell broke out. KimJong-un, who we were gettingalong with very well, went “bal-listic”, just like his missiles - andrightfully so…,” Trump said,adding that he did not wantBolton anywhere near him.

The president said thatBolton’s dumbest of all state-ments set the US back verybadly with North Korea, evennow. PTI

Washington: John Bolton’sclaim in an explosive new bookthat President Donald Trumpurged China’s Xi Jinping tohelp him win reelection couldundermine his campaign’s effortto portray Democratic rival JoeBiden as soft on Beijing.

Biden’s top aides movedquickly on Thursday to arguethat it’s Trump who has taken aweak approach to the risingsuperpower. They seized onaccusations from Bolton,Trump’s former national secu-rity adviser, that the presidentcontinually kowtowed to Xiand ignored human rights abus-es while trying to get his foreigncounterpart’s assistance withdomestic politics.

“The Bolton allegations arejust the most noxious and hate-ful cherry on top of a sundaethat already existed here,” RonKlain, a longtime Biden advis-er, said in an interview. “Wehave seen for three years thatDonald Trump has curriedfavor with authoritarian regimesthat are willing to help him per-

sonally and politically.”China already loomed large

in the contest as Trump andBiden have traded accusationsover corruption, geopoliticalpandering and the president’sshifts in tone toward the coun-try during the coronavirus pan-demic, which ignited in the cen-tral Chinese city of Wuhan. ButBolton’s accusations intensifiedthe debate with less than fivemonths remaining until theelection.

Biden’s team hopes thebook will help reinforce theirargument that the administra-tion was slow to react to thepandemic, in part because of thetone set by Trump.

Klain, who served asPresident Barack Obama’s Ebolacoordinator and Biden’s chief ofstaff when he was vice president,said he began briefing Biden onthe situation in China as earlyas Jan. 10. Biden wrote an op-ed warning about the virus onJan. 27 and began speakingabout the issue on the campaigntrail around that time. AP

Berlin: The board of theUnited Nations’ atomic watch-dog agency on Friday adopteda resolution calling for Iran toprovide inspectors access tosites where the country isthought to have stored or usedundeclared nuclear material,the Russian representative said.

Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia’sambassador to internationalorganisations in Vienna, saidon Twitter that his country andChina had voted against theresolution that Germany,France and Britain proposed ata meeting of the InternationalAtomic Energy Agency board“We believe that the resolutioncan be counterproductive,”Ulyanov said, while also “stress-ing the need for Tehran andIAEA to settle this problemwithout delay.”

Earlier this week, agency

Director General MarianoGrossi reiterated concerns thatfor more than four monthsIran had denied his inspectorsaccess to two locations “ toclarify our questions related topossible undeclared nuclearmaterial and nuclear-relatedactivities.”

Activities at the sites arethought to have been from theearly 2000s, before Iran signedthe 2015 nuclear deal withworld powers. Iran maintainsthe International AtomicEnergy Agency has no legalbasis to inspect them.

The agency has said thatIran continues to provideaccess to sites covered by thenuclear deal, known as theJoint Comprehensive Plan ofAction, or JCPOA.

Iran’s representative to theIAEA, Kazem Gharibabadi,

said his country rejected theresolution.

“We do not consider thisresolution acceptable at all,” hesaid. “This resolution cannotcreate any legal obligation forthe Islamic Republic of Iran incooperation with theInternational Atomic EnergyAgency to grant the twoaccesses.”

Since the United Stateswithdrew unilaterally from thedeal in 2018, the other signa-tories — Germany, France,Britain, Russia and China —have been struggling to save it.

Meanwhile, Iran has beenviolating its restrictions, includ-ing the amount of uranium itcan enrich and the purity ofenrichment, to try to pressurethose countries to provideadditional economic relief tooffset American sanctions. AP

Rome: A study by Italy’s National Institute ofHealth has found that the new coronavirus wasin circulation in wastewater in the northerncities of Milan and Turin in December 2019,at least two months before the virus was con-firmed to have spread locally in the population.

The study, released Thursday, was based on40 water samples collected as part of regularchecks from sewage treatment plants in north-ern Italy from October 2019 to February2020. It showed the virus that causes Covid-19in Dec. 18 samples from Milan and Turin, whileearlier samples were negative.

“This research can contribute to under-standing the beginning of the circulation of thevirus in Italy,” the institute said in a statement.

The research has so far not linked any con-firmed cases to the virus’ earlier presence, butresearchers have proposed using the system tomonitor the presence of the new coronavirusin water systems in a bid to help identify anypossible new outbreaks. A pilot monitoring sys-tem will launch next month in tourist desti-nations, in preparation for wider monitoringahead of a possible new spike in contagion nextfall, the institute said. AP

London: Twitter has slappedanother label on a tweet byPresident Donald Trump, thistime warning that a video heshared was doctored and esca-lating the social media compa-ny’s crackdown on one of itsmost widely followed users.

After Trump tweeted thevideo late Thursday, Twittertook the rare step of adding awarning that it was “manipu-lated media” and linked to a pagethat said multiple journalistsconfirmed the clip was edited tomake it look like a CNN broad-cast. The video remains visiblein Trump’s timeline.

The doctored clip usedfootage from a video that wentviral last year of two toddlers,one black, one white, whichCNN used for a story it did onthe boys’ friendship. The videoTrump shared begins withfootage of the boys running setto ominous music, with a fakemisspelled CNN caption read-ing, “Terrified todler runs fromracist baby.” Then it cuts to otherfootage from the original videoof the boys excitedly running toeach other and hugging, whichformed the basis of the originalCNN story, before showing themessage, “America is not theproblem. Fake news is.” AP

Washington: The SupremeCourt on Thursday rejectedPresident Donald Trump’seffort to end legal protectionsfor 650,000 young immigrants,the second stunning election-season rebuke from the courtin a week after its ruling that it’sillegal to fire people becausethey’re gay or transgender.

Immigrants who are part ofthe 8-year-old Deferred Actionfor Childhood ArrivalsProgram will retain their pro-tection from deportation andtheir authorization to work inthe United States — safe almostcertainly at least through theNovember election, immigra-tion experts said.

The 5-4 outcome, in whichChief Justice John Roberts andthe four liberal justices were inthe majority, seems certain toelevate the issue in Trump’scampaign, given the anti-immigrant rhetoric of his firstpresidential run in 2016 andimmigration restrictions hisadministration has imposedsince then.

The justices said theadministration did not take theproper steps to end DACA,rejecting arguments that theprogram is illegal and thatcourts have no role to play in

reviewing the decision to endit. The program covers peoplewho have been in the UnitedStates since they were childrenand are in the country illegal-ly. In some cases, they have nomemory of any home otherthan the U.S.

“These horrible & politi-cally charged decisions comingout of the Supreme Court areshotgun blasts into the face ofpeople that are proud to callthemselves Republicans orConservatives. We need moreJustices or we will lose our 2ndAmendment & everything else.Vote Trump 2020!” he wrote onTwitter, apparently includingthe LGBT ruling as well.

In a second tweet, he wrote,“Do you get the impression thatthe Supreme Court doesn’t likeme?”

Later, he said the decisionshowed the need for addition-al conservative justices to jointhe two he has appointed, NeilGorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh,and pledged to release a newlist from which he wouldchoose a nominee if anotheropening occurs on his watch.Both of his appointees dis-sented on Thursday, thoughGorsuch wrote the LGBT rightsruling. AP

Karachi: Two Pakistani para-military soldiers were amongfour persons killed in separateincidents of a roadside bombexplosion targeting a securityvehicle and a hand grenadeattack on a government officein Sindh province on Friday,police said.

Two Pakistan Rangers per-sonnel and a civilian were killedwhen a roadside bomb target-ing the vehicle of the securitytroops exploded near a railwaystation in Ghotki town in Sindhprovince.

Three other persons,including a paramilitary official,were also injured in the blast.

The remote-controlledblast took place near the vehi-cle of the paramilitary PakistanRangers which was parked atthe main railway station inGhotki, police said. PTI

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New York: The MMR(measles, mumps, rubella) vac-cine could serve as a preventivemeasure to dampen septicinflammation associated withCovid-19 infection, sayresearchers.

According to the study,published in the journal mBio,vaccination with MMR inimmunocompetent individualshas no contraindications andmay be especially effective forhealth care workers who caneasily be exposed to Covid-19.

“Live attenuated vaccinesseemingly have some nonspe-cific benefits as well as immu-nity to the target pathogen. Aclinical trial with MMR inhigh-risk populations may pro-vide a low-risk-high-rewardpreventive measure in savinglives during the COVID-19pandemic,” said studyresearcher Paul Fidel from the

Louisiana State University inthe US.

“While we are conductingthe clinical trials, I don’’t thinkit’’s going to hurt anybody tohave an MMR vaccine thatwould protect against themeasles, mumps, and rubellawith this potential added ben-efit of helping against Covid-19,” Fidel added.

The researchers said thatmounting evidence demon-strates that live attenuated vac-cines provide nonspecific pro-tection against lethal infec-tions unrelated to the targetpathogen of the vaccine byinducing trained nonspecificinnate immune cells forimproved host responsesagainst subsequent infections.

Live attenuated vaccinesinduce nonspecific effects rep-resenting “trained innateimmunity” by training leuko-

cyte (immune system cells)precursors in the bone marrowto function more effectivelyagainst broader infectiousinsults.

In Mairi Noverr’’s labora-tory -- from Tulane University,in collaboration with Fidel,vaccination with a live attenu-ated fungal strain-inducedtrained innate protectionagainst lethal polymicrobialsepsis.

The protection was medi-ated by long-lived myeloid-derived suppressor cells(MDSCs) previously reportedinhibiting septic inflammationand mortality in several exper-imental models.

The researchers say that anMMR vaccine should be able toinduce MDSCs that can inhib-it or reduce the severe lunginflammation/sepsis associatedwith Covid-19. IANS

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Beijing: China has reported 37 newcoronavirus cases including 25 in Beijingwhere 183 patients are undergoingtreatment while the Chinese virologistssaid the strain of the new cluster of casesin the capital may have come fromEurope.

An initial epidemiological surveyshows the coronavirus strain detected atthe Xinfadi wholesale market in Beijingcame from Europe, a report in state-runGlobal Times said.

It said the strain had existed longerthan the current coronavirus straincirculating in Europe, Chinese virolo-gists inferred.

They say it is possible that the virusdid not mutate during transport as it wassealed in frozen food, stored in cold anddamp conditions, it said.

Wu Zunyou, chief epidemiologist atthe Chinese Centre for Disease Controland Prevention, told the media onThursday that the “findings at Beijing

reminded us of the first outbreak ofCovid-19 in Wuhan last year, which hap-pened at the Huanan Seafood WholesaleMarket”.

The focus of the Huanan investiga-tion was the wild animal stalls, eventhough the seafood sellers were rightnext to them, Wu said.

The World Health Organization(WHO) has already questioned theChinese officials’ claims that the viruswas traced to the imported salmon inXinfadi and purported origins to Europesaying that there is no evidence to backit.

It is not yet clear whether Chinashared the genome sequence with theWHO which had asked for it.

Ever since US President DonaldTrump blamed China for not contain-ing COVID-19 when it first showed upin Wuhan in December last year, thedebate over the origin of the virus hasintensified. AP

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Madrid: Spain is adding morethan 1,000 more fatalities to itscoronavirus death toll in the firstupdate in nearly two weeksafter officials revised a backlogof inconsistent data.

At least 28,313 people havedied through Friday with aCOVID-19 diagnosis, healthofficials. Authorities hadstopped updating the tally at27,136 on June 7.

The country has also con-firmed more than 244,000 infec-tions since the beginning of theoutbreak, although an officialimmunization survey estimatesthat 5 per cent of its 47 millioninhabitants are presumed ashaving contracted the virus.

Spain’s health minister saysthat 34 clusters have beendetected in the past six weeks,since Spain began to relax itsconfinement rules. AP

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Page 9:  · 13 hours ago · Chandigarh residence of liquor baron Arvind Singla on May 31. Amritsar resident Nitin Nahar was apprehended from near Colour Resorts, Attari Road, Amritsar, along

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New Delhi: Chairman RailwayBoard, VK Yadav visited AnandVihar T where 267 coachesconverted to Isolation wards forCovid-19 patients have beenplaced. Yadav went around thepremises and inspected therakes. He also took stock of thefacilities provided in the coach-es for housing very mild tomild Covid 19 patients.

He was taken around andapprised about the work beingdone by Divisional Railwaymanager SC Jain and his teamof officers. He expressed satis-faction on the efforts made byNorthern Railway to serve thesociety and the Nation in thesedifficult times. He added as thecases in the national capital areon a rise innovative use of

Railway assets will help theState Government to deal withthe cases.

He later interacted with theMedia persons present there

and briefed them that IR hasmore than 5200 coaches readyas Isolation wards. The coach-es will be given to the StateGovts. on demand.

Kolkata: Metro RailwayAuthorities have been utilisingthe lockdown period toimprove Kolkata Metro’s infra-structure for providing betterservices and amenities to itscommuters, once Metro ser-vices resume.

During this lockdown, 514numbers of 10-micron air fil-ters at all 15 underground sta-tions of North-South Metrohave been replaced.

These improved stainlesssteel filters are easily washablewith soap water, thus prevent-ing any possibility of spreadingof Corona virus.

These newly installed airfilters will not corrode due towashing. They will provide

clean air to all the commutersinside the stations and alsoimprove its air quality.

Noida: Gautam Buddh Nagarnodal officer NarendraBhooshan and Dr Jiledar Rawat,a neonatal surgeon at KingGeorge’s Medical University(KGMU), Lucknow, along withteam of police and medicaldepartment officials on Fridaytook stock of the containmentzones in Noida. They acceler-ated and monitored efforts bythe health department in break-ing the chain of infection as wellas combating the coronavirusspread in the district. Booshanasked officials to ensure thatproper Covid-19 beds wereavailable in hospitals, besidescleanliness and food for patients.

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The key Indian equityindices traded in the green

amid a largely volatile trade sofar with the BSE Sensex trad-ing over 100 points higher.

High volatility was wit-nessed in the market so far.

However, shares ofReliance Industries hit a recordhigh of Rs 1,689 on Fridaymorning after the companyannounced that the recent

investments into Jio Platformsand the ‘Rights Issue’ has madeRIL a net debt-free company.

Around 10.40, a.m., RILshares on the BSE were tradingat Rs 1,685.00, higher by Rs28.75 or 1.74 per cent from theprevious close. Its market cap-italisation is currently over Rs10.67 lakh crore. The BSESensex was trading at34,320.39, higher by 112.34points or 0.33 per cent from theprevious close of 34,208.05.

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The planned merger ofBharti Infratel and Indus

Towers and additional pay-ment from Vodafone Plc mayhelp crisis-hit Vodafone Ideamake part upfront deposit forsecuring staggered payment ofbalance AGR dues, if the apexcourt permits, analysts said.

Hearing the AGR case onThursday, the Supreme Courthad said private telecom com-panies including Bharti Airteland Vodafone Idea must comeout with a “reasonable paymentplan” and make some pay-ment to “show their bonafide”.

“Bharti Airtel and TataTele have deposited 41 percent and 25 per cent of DoTdemand, and Vodafone Idea(VIL) has done only 12 percent,” ICICI Securities said ina note on Friday.

VIL can source fundsfrom Vodafone Plc’s unpaidindemnity of �67 billion (or �6,700 crore) and can receive �

36 billion (�3,600 crore) for itsIndus stake on merger betweenBharti Infratel and IndusTowers, it said.

ICICI-Sec said it expectsVodafone Idea to deposit �1,000-2,000 crore, which itbelieved given the company’sbalance sheet position couldjustify as ‘reasonable’ payment.VIL has consistently depositedits AGR dues in the past, whichshould also lend credibility.

“Bharti has already madea large payment of �180 billion(41 per cent of TelecomDepartment demand) and TataTele �42 billion (25 per cent ofDOT demand) versus �69 bil-lion (11.8 per cent) by VIL. Wedon’t foresee additional pay-ment by Bharti or Tata Tele,” itsaid. Axis Capital, in a note,said Vodafone Idea may man-age to survive if upfront pay-ments are negligible and AGRoutgo is spread over 20 years.A large upfront payment forstatutory dues spread only over10 years will be a stretch.

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Bharti Airtel is better placedto make upfront payment

for AGR dues as due to cashavailability and assets availablefor monetisation, it is betterplaced to raise funds from themarket.According to a researchby Axis Capital, Bharti Airtel isbetter placed to make pay-ments and gain marketshare.Bharti has a balance AGRdues of �260 billion. If thecourt accepts a 20-year stag-gered plan for balance AGRdues, maintaining the sameNPV with 7.5 per cent inter-est rate will result in cashoutgo of � 25.5 billion peryear.Bharti looks in a positionto make this payment fromexisting cash f low withincreased tariff in December2019. Axis Capital said Bhartiis better placed to make upfrontpayment in case of court orderfor AGR dues as it had �136 bil-lion in cash at end of Q4FY20and it has assets available formonetisation and is betterplaced to raise funds from themarket.

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ICICI Bank on Friday sold 3.6per cent stake in ICICI

Lombard General InsuranceCompany for around �2,250crore.

The development comesafter the bank, while announc-ing its January-March quarter-ly results in May, had said thatit would look at furtherstrengthening the balance sheetas opportunities arise.

Post the divestment, ICICIBank’s stake in its generalinsurance stands at around51.9 per cent.

“In line with this intent andpursuant to approval grantedby the board, the bank hasto-day divested 18,000,000 equi-ty shares of face value of �10each of ICICI LombardGeneral Insurance CompanyLimited, representing 3.96 percent of its equity share capitalat March 31, 2020, on thestock exchange for an approx-imate total consideration of Rs22.50 billion,” the bank said ina regulatory filing.

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Petrol price on Friday washiked by 56 paise per litre

and diesel by 63 paise a litre,taking the cumulative increasein rates to �7.11 and �7.67 perlitre respectively in less thantwo weeks.

Petrol price in Delhi washiked to �78.37 per litre from�77.81, while diesel rates wereincreased to �77.06 a litre from�76.43, according to a pricenotification of State oil mar-keting companies. Rates havebeen increased across the coun-try and vary from state to statedepending on the incidence oflocal sales tax or VAT.

This is the 13th dailyincrease in rates in a row sinceoil companies on June 7restarted revising prices in linewith costs, after ending an 82-day hiatus in rate revision.

In 13 hikes, petrol pricehas gone up by �7.11 per litre

and diesel by �7.67 a litre.The freeze in rates was

imposed in mid-March soonafter the Government hikedexcise duty on petrol and dieselto shore up additional finances.

Oil PSUs Indian Oil Corp(IOC), Bharat Petroleum CorpLtd (BPCL) and HindustanPetroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL)instead of passing on the exciseduty hikes to customers adjust-ed them against the fall in theretail rates that was warrantedbecause of fall in internation-al oil prices to two decade low.

International oil priceshave since rebounded and oilfirms are now adjusting retailrates in line with them.

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Billionaire Mukesh Ambanion Friday announced that

his oil-to-telecom conglomer-ate Reliance Industries is nownet-debt free months ahead ofits March 2021 target afterraising a record �1.69 lakhcrore from stake sales andrights issue in less than twomonths time.

Reliance secured over �1.15 lakh crore from global techinvestors including Facebookby selling a little less than aquarter of its digital businessand raised �53,124 crore sell-ing shares to existing investorsin the past 58 days. Taken

together with last year’s sale of49 per cent stake in fuel retail-ing venture to BP Plc of UK for�7,000 crore, the total fundraised is in excess of � 1.75 lakhcrore, the company said in astatement. Reliance had a netdebt of �1,61,035 crore as onMarch 31, 2020.

“With these investments,RIL has become net-debt free,”it said. “I have fulfilled mypromise to the shareholders bymaking Reliance net debt-freemuch before our originalschedule of March 31, 2021,”said Ambani, 63, who raisedrecord funds amid coronaviruspandemic.

After a planned USD 15

billion stake sale in his oil-to-chemical business to SaudiArabian Oil Co got delayed, heset out to prove skeptics wrongby luring partners to JioPlatforms Ltd, which housesIndia’s biggest telecoms firm bysubscribers, Reliance Jio.With more than 388 millionusers, Jio has forced out sever-al rivals and driven consolida-tion in the sector since enter-ing the market in 2016 withfree voice services and cut-pricedata. Sale of stake in JioPlatforms raised �1,15,693.95crore from leading globalinvestors including Facebook,Silver Lake, Vista EquityPartners, General Atlantic,

KKR, Mubadala, ADIA, TPG,L Catterton and PIF since April22, 2020.

Saudi Arabian sovereignwealth fund PIF buying 2.32per cent stake in the unit for Rs11,367 crore on June 18 “marksthe end of Jio Platforms’ cur-rent phase of induction offinancial partners,” the state-ment said. Alongside, Reliancehad launched India’s biggestright issue, which was sub-scribed 1.59 times.

Though the rights issuesize was �53,124 crore, thecompany has got only 25 percent of the money as theremaining is to be paid onlynext fiscal.

While only a quarter of therights issue has accrued to thecompany, banks treat residualamounts of a partially paidrights issue to release corre-sponding short-term debt, ifneeded. Also, cash profits of thelast two quarters has not beenfactored in the calculations.

Ambani had at the com-pany’s annual general meetingon August 12, 2019 announceda roadmap for Reliance tobecome a net-debt free com-pany before March 31, 2021.

“We have a very clearroadmap to becoming a zeronet debt company within thenext 18 months that is byMarch 31, 202,” he had said last

year highlighting strong inter-est from strategic and financialinvestors in consumer busi-nesses, Jio and Reliance Retail.

In the statement on Friday,he said he was both delightedand humbled to announce thefulfillment of the promise.

“Exceeding the expecta-tions of our shareholders andall other stakeholders, againand yet again, is in the veryDNA of Reliance,” he said.

“Therefore, on the proudoccasion of becoming a netdebt-free company, I wish toassure them that Reliance in itsGolden Decade will set evenmore ambitious growth goals,and achieve them,” he said.

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Singer Sona Mohapatra has concep-tualised a music video Portraits of

Quarantine as an idea to timestampthis tough period of isolation with a‘moving photo album’ of her band,crew, team members and the peoplethey have shared this lockdown with.There is also a message for many whoare battling depression and mentalhealth issues to reach out and seek sup-port. And in turn for people who knowthem to rally around and lean in.Everybody needs somebody who canremind them of their own value, beau-ty and strength.

The songstress and producer per-forms a soulful song Tori Surat -Unplugged with a chill lounge sound-scape and Ameer Khusraus poetry withher band. The video features the facesor surats that made this period an eas-ier one to navigate. A moving extend-ed family ‘photo album’ to watch backin better times and remember the quar-

antine and it’s lessons.Sona believes that despite the tough

situation of the last few months, theseare the people around her who kept hergoing and motivated as an artist andhuman being. On her worst days, shederived strength from her belovedteam and band whom she misses themost in this lockdown after travellingwith them across the world on an aver-age of 16 days in a month.

Sona says, “We don’t have to havemental illness to experience psycholog-ical issues during COVID-19’s stress-ful impact on humanity. To cope,everyone needs connection and com-passion. We are lucky if we haveshared this quarantine period withsomeone who provides that support, beit by being physically around or evenavailable virtually. This music video isan ode to that. World Music Day isaround the corner and is a wonderfuloccasion that lets my whole teamcome together virtually to do what wedo best — perform music that not onlyentertains people but also uplifts theirsoul.”

Crehyl Periera is a talented youngmusic arranger and he produced a jazz-lounge track for Ram Sampath’s com-position that she knows will be loved.“The music video has been shot indi-vidually by each team member butedited in the Himachal Pradesh byNitesh Bisht. The piano, melodica,flutes, electric and acoustic guitars, thepercussion including cajon, theHindustani and Konnakol bols per-formed in this track make Tori Surat -Unplugged a truly world music gem. Aperfect blend of the music of the Westand the East too. The last few monthshaven’t been easy on any of us. Todaywhen I look back, I feel it is importantfor us to cherish and celebrate our sup-port systems — the ones we share ourlife with. Portraits of Quarantine cele-brates that thought. Tori Surat is time-less poetry by a Sufi master and I hopemy relationship with my band andteam also endures similarly,” adds she.

In response to the contin-uing civil unrest in

America following the trag-ic murder of George Floyd,OWN: Oprah WinfreyNetwork announced a twohour special — OwnSpotlight: Where Do We GoFrom Here? It featuresWinfrey as she speaks direct-ly with a range of Blackthought leaders, activists andartists about systematicracism and the current stateof America.

The in-depth conversa-tions offer insight and tangi-ble plans to answer the ques-tions ‘What matters now?’‘What matters next?’ and‘Where do we go from here?’.Featured guests includepolitician Stacey Abrams;journalist Charles M Blow;Atlanta Mayor Keisha LanceBottoms, Academy award-nominated filmmaker Ava

DuVernay (When They SeeUs, 13th, Queen Sugar);author of Biased and profes-sor Jennifer Eberhardt; jour-nalist and Pulitzer prize-winning founder of the 1619Project Nikole Hannah-Jones; historian and authorIbram Kendi (How to be anAnti-Racist); award-winningactor David Oyelowo(Selma); Color of ChangePresident Rashad Robinson;and National Association forthe Advancement of ColoredPeople (NAACP) nationalboard member Rev DrWilliam J Barber II.

Winfrey said, “I’ve beenhaving private conversationswith friends and thoughtleaders about what’s nextand where we go from here.I thought it would be both ofinterest and service to bringtheir ideas, concerns andcomments into a national

spotlight.”“As a network dedicated

to supporting and upliftingBlack lives, OWN is commit-ted to providing our commu-nity with important dialogueand helpful resources in thischallenging time as wemourn the murder of GeorgeFloyd and ask ourselves howcan we come together tocreate meaningful change. Iam proud that our Discoveryfamily has joined us toamplify this message in sol-idarity,” said Tina Perry,President, OWN.

“There is no one likeOprah to bring us all togeth-er at this critical moment inour history to offer insights,perspective and action,” saidDavid Zaslav, President andCEO of Discovery, Inc.

(The two hour specialwill broadcast today onDiscovery Plus.)

When we called up actor NamitDas, he shared that he wasenjoying the rain and trying to

absorb nature’s rhythms — pure andpeaceful. Trying to spot patterns andshapes in the clouds and watch themshift, he said, “What else do I need?How does it get better?” Certainly, likemany of us trying to make sense ofunprecedented times, he is a man whohas learnt to find joy in the little things

of life. But then hometown does thatto you. Takes you back to where

you began. And for Namit, ithas got him to write poemsagain.

But he got back to cam-era mode the moment wementioned his latest offering,Aarya, a dark crime thriller.He plays Jawahar, who hedescribed as a “fearless,unpredictable and dark”character, unlike any otherrole he has essayed before.It’s hard to imagine some-one who loves the rainand is the loveable boy-next-door in a negativerole. That, too, one whois into guns and the nar-cotics business.“Jawahar is just theopposite of what I haveplayed so far. His val-ues and politics arecompletely differentfrom how I am inreal life and how Ibehave. He is an

outsider whowants to beinside the game

and eventu-ally rule

it. Hewants

t ogainthat

power and in pursuit of that, he endsup being in situations where he createsan arc for himself. And that is proba-bly the biggest arc in the show. That’svery interesting. It’s a multi-layered andunpredictable character. Till the end youwon’t understand his motive behinddoing things. That is what keeps onehooked till the end,” said the actor.

The web series is an adaptation ofDutch drama Penoza, which revolvesaround Aarya Sareen (played bySushmita Sen), who takes it upon her-self to get to the bottom of the truth andbring the culprit to justice after her hus-band Tej Sareen (played byChandrachur Singh) is murdered by amasked man. But, everyone in theseries has secrets of their own. Theseries explores a few questions — Whohas murdered her husband and why?How far will Aarya go to survive and

protect her family?It was a challenge disguised as an

opportunity for Namit as he wanted toplay something different and lookunusual. “When director Ram(Madhvani) showed me how Jawaharwould look and his character board, Iwas thoroughly excited because I havebeen waiting to break out for a longtime,” said Namit. “The audience does-n’t want to see you in usual or similarroles. Therefore, it’s very important tobreak our moulds constantly andbecome other people (characters)because that’s what actors are supposedto do. Versatility is the game changer,”he added.

Though Jawahar is a cocaine-sniff-ing business partner, the actor doesn’twant to label the character as a nega-tive one. He said, “I wouldn’t call thisa negative character because defining

roles with a term dilutes its essence.These are judgemental statements. Heis that grey character whom you would-n’t understand and that’s what makeshim interesting as you watch the storyunfold through his eyes.”

Namit doesn’t believe in defining acharacter as he feels every actor buildsa role and plays it in his own uniqueway. And in every role you can see aglimpse of the person the actor is.“Which is why it’s important to haverich life experiences so that you can usethem while playing someone,” he toldus.

His biggest takeaway from his rolewas the amount of responsibility he cantake for his actions in life. In the show,his character only wants to be entitledto the profits and not losses. So thatmoral debate has got him thinking.

Since it is an adaptation, the mak-ers of the show have kept in mindIndian sensibilities. Namit said that thenuances had been changed according tothe context and scenario. “If you aretalking about a semi-metropolitan cityin Rajasthan, how would it be? Thekind of business they do, their style,way of talking, personality, and theirability to handle people and situationsare all situational. All these things wereexplored and various new elementswere added to cater to the Indian audi-ence.”

Namit credited his director fordeveloping a new facet. “On his sets,there is no action or cut, there’s only ‘go’.We don’t discuss the kind of shot wehave to give. You live that scene andthat is the closest you can get to reali-ty by doing things your way. It was alsoeasy because you live closest to thecharacter when you are constantly liv-ing his/her life,” said he. However,Namit didn’t watch the original seriesas he didn’t want to get influenced andplay the character as he understood it.He said, “You decide what your graphis going to be. You create that. The showhas multiple layers but you have to findhow you fit into them.”

So where does Jawahar fit? “One ofmy co-actors said Jawahar is Aarya’shost,” he quickly responded. And postthis, he would like to explore espionage(spy thriller) and horror genres.

Since he has now performed on allmedia — TV, web and films — whichis his favourite? We heard a laugh as hesaid, “This is like asking a mother whois the favourite of her two kids! Everymedia has its own charm, challengesand level of satisfaction that comes withit. At the end of the day, you expressyourself as an artiste, that’s it!” For now,he is enjoying the dark alleys as his nextventure is called Mafia.

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Karim Benzema’s volley couldwell be La Liga’s goal of the sea-son and Marco Asensio’s was his

first touch in over a year as RealMadrid stormed past Valencia 3-0 onThursday.

Two brilliant strikes helped Madridto a convincing win at the emptyAlfredo di Stefano Stadium, whereBenzema continued his excellent formwith a brace after putting his team infront thanks to another combinationwith Eden Hazard.

Valencia had been the better sidein the first half when Rodrigo Morenohit the post and then had agoal controversially ruledout after referee Jose Sanchezconsulted VAR.

Yet Madrid found a dif-ferent gear after the break tocarve out an impressive vic-tory that reduces their deficitto two points behindBarcelona, who play away at Sevilla onFriday.

Benzema’s stunning second goalthat saw him take the ball out of theair with one foot and then volley homewith the other was a breathtakingmoment that came shortly after a dra-matic one for Asensio too.

“We know all these matches arefinals so this was very important for usand for me personally as well,” saidBenzema.

“It was a beautiful goal, I think Ican say it was beautiful, it went in andthat was great. Sometimes I do that inpractice and today I did it in thematch.”

Asensio has not played since June

10 last year after suffering ananterior cruciate ligamentinjury but the 24-year-oldannounced his return in style,volleying in with his first touch,31 seconds after coming on.

“It’s been many monthsof hard work and I’mvery happy to playagain and to score,”he said afterwards.

“I feel a lot ofemotion, satis-faction. A lot ofwork has goneinto this.”

“It means alot to him,”said coachZ i n e d i n eZidane. “We’rejust happy tosee him onthe pitchagain.”

But withnine games to go in thetitle race, Benzemaappears key, particular-ly as his partnership withthe resurgent Hazard con-tinues to flourish.

‘TRULY AMAZING’This was his 243rd

goal for Real Madrid in allcompetitions, putting himabove Ferenc Puskas intofifth in the club’s all-time list.

“His performance wasmagnificent, like the wholeteam, but his goal was extra-ordinary,” said Zidane.

“We know that he is comfort-

able with his left foot but wow, to liftthe ball in that way and to swing likethat with his left foot, without the balltouching the ground, truly it’s a verycomplicated piece of skill.

“It’s beautiful to see it and I’mhappy for him.

“Often we see Karimas the number nine of

Madrid and he mustscore goals, buthe doesn’t onlydo that. So whenhe does score,I’m happy

because he shuts people up a bit,and the work, he always does that

no matter what."

REAL SOCIEDAD STALLSEarlier, Real Sociedad failed

to regain fourth place after a 2-0loss at Alavés in which it could-n’t get a single shot on target.

Borja Sainz opened the scor-ing with a goal awarded followingvideo review in the 56th, andMartín Aguirregabiria sealed the

victory deep in stoppage time atthe Mendizorroza Stadium.

A victory would have sentSociedad past fourth-place AtléticoMadrid, which won 5-0 at Osasunaon Wednesday. It stayed in sixthinstead, two points from the finalChampions League spot.

“We didn’t play our best today,and we hadn’t played our best in theprevious match either,” Sociedad mid-fielder Igor Zubeldia said.

“We need to improve for our nextmatch.” Sociedad will next host RealMadrid, while Alavés visits Celta Vigo.

Alavés, which hadn’t won in threestraight league matches, moved to11th place.

��������� Confined to the SAICentre in Bengaluru for nearabout three months because ofthe Covid-19 lockdown, “home-sick” Indian hockey players wereon Friday allowed to leave thefacility after being granted amonth’s break.

Both the men’s and women’snational teams were stuck at theSports Authority of India SouthCentre in Bengaluru sinceMarch 25 when theGovernment announced thenationwide lockdown.

On Friday, barring a few,most of the team membersreturned to their native placesafter being granted the break.

“Having consulted with theChief Coaches of both the teams,Hockey India decided that it wasimportant to give the players amuch-needed break,” MohdMushtaque Ahmad, President,Hockey India said in a state-ment.

“The players have beenspecifically briefed that theyneed to adhere to Governmentguidelines during this breakand continue to follow social dis-tancing.

“We are very proud of howour players have handled this sit-uation over the last 3-4 monthsand have stayed strong as a unit.It is important they continue to

act responsibly during thisbreak,” he added.

Barring men’s team goal-

keeper Suraj Karkera, whobelongs to Mumbai, and thewomen’s team trio of VandanaKatariya, Sushila Chanu andLalremsiami, all other playersleft the SAI Centre for theirrespective homes on Fridaymorning.

“Suraj didn’t go because ofthe grave situation in Mumbaiwhile Sushila, Vandana andLalremsiami stayed backbecause of the Covid-19 proto-cols in their respective states,” asource said.

While Sushila is fromManipur, Vandana andLalremsiami hails fromUttarakhand and Mizoram

respectively.The support staff of the

men’s team, including chiefcoach Graham Reid had to stayput in Bengaluru because of therestrictions on Internationaltravel.

However, women’s teamchief coach Sjoerd Marijne andanalytical coach JannekeSchopman, both from theNetherlands, are currently ontheir way back home viaMumbai.

Both the teams will nowreassemble at the SAI SouthCentre in Bengaluru on July 19as part of their preparations forthe Tokyo Olympics. PNS

"���� 7�8�9�*:'

Mohammed Shami has anuncanny ability to up the

ante late in the game wheneveryone else is tired and theIndian pacer feels this is whatmakes him more successful inthe second innings when itcomes to Test cricket.

Shami has enjoyed stu-pendous success in the secondinnings of five-day games. Outof his 180 Test wickets, 92 havecome in the first innings at32.50 but there are 88 in thesecond innings that have comeat an impressive average of21.98.

“I use the game very smart-ly in the second innings. Likein the recent match we playedin Vizag (against South Africa)where I got a five-for, the pitchwas pretty dead and wasn’toffering any bounce,” the 29-year-old told former India play-er Deep Dasgupta onESPNCricinfo talk showCricketbaazi.

During the 2017-18 tour of

South Africa, 12 of his 15wickets came in the secondinnings.

“...You need to use theavailable conditions smartly. Iam usually pumped up in thesecond innings when everyoneelse is tired.

“Everyone has spent threedays on the field. Diesel enginestake time to pick up comparedto petrol ones. I wait patientlyfor everyone to tire out. Youhave five days in a Test match.Once everyone is tired, I stepup,” he said.

�"��� Thousands of Napolifans who poured into the streetsto celebrate their team’s ItalianCup title without social distanc-ing amid the coronavirus pan-demic were criticized by healthofficials as being “reckless.”

WHO assistant directorgeneral Ranieri Guerra said thescenes reminded him ofAtalanta’s Champions Leaguegame with Valencia in February.

That match, which has beenlabeled Game Zero by localmedia, is believed to have beena key factor in why the virus has

been so deadly in the northerncity of Bergamo.

“Reckless,” Guerra said.“Right now we can’t permitthese things.” Deputy HealthMinister Sandra Zampa addedthat it amounted to “dangerousbehavior.”

Shortly after Napoli beatJuventus in final, supporters inNaples flooded into centralpiazzas and set off fireworks asthey celebrated into the earlyhours of Thursday morning.Hardly any of them were seenwearing masks. AFP

" �� 7�8�9�*:'�

The Badminton Associationof India (BAI) on Friday rec-

ommended Kidambi Srikanthfor the Khel Ratna award afterthe top Indian shuttler apolo-gised for pulling out of a tour-nament midway and show-caused his teammate H SPrannoy for slamming the fed-eration after not being nominat-ed for the Arjuna honour.

Both Srikanth and Prannoyhad not played the semifinal ofthe Asian Team Championshipat Manila in February. Instead,they left for Barcelona to play inanother event. India ended uplosing the semifinal but finishedthird in the competition.

On disciplinary grounds,the BAI did not nominate worldnumber 14 Srikanth and 28thranked Prannoy for the RajivGandhi Khel Ratna and Arjuna

Award respectively.Though Srikanth’s applica-

tion has been forwarded to theSports Ministry, Prannoy hasbeen ignored and instead beenasked to respond for his outburst

against BAI within 15 days.“.....Srikanth and Prannoy

had left the squad at the AsianBadminton Championship inManila in February, despiteadvice not to leave, which putIndia’s chances of winning thehistoric medal at the champi-onship in lurch,” read a BAIstatement.

“We have received an e-mailfrom Srikanth in which he hasaccepted the mistake and he hasalso promised to not indulge insuch activities in the future,” itadded.

“Considering the talent ofSrikanth and the accomplish-ments, we have decided to rec-ommend his name for RajivGandhi Khel Ratna Award,”BAI General Secretary AjaySinghania said.

Prannoy had launched ascathing attack on BAI afterbeing overlooked for the Arjuna

nomination for the second suc-cessive year.

“Same old story. Guy whohas Medals in Cwg and AsianChampionships not even rec-ommended by Association. Andguy who was not there on anyof these major events recom-mended, #waah #thiscountry-isajoke, “ Prannoy had writtenon Twitter.

On Prannoy, Singhaniaadded: “There are severalinstances of disciplinary issueswith Prannoy. The Federationhad been very tolerant all thiswhile but in the recent past hisattitude has forced BAI to takeaction and also relook at the dis-ciplinary policies.

“A show-cause letter hasbeen issued for the remarksmade. If the player fails torespond in the allotted time, BAIwill be taking stern action,”Singhania said.

��1��"���� Liverpool bossJurgen Klopp is delighted hisside have the chance to win afirst Premier League title in 30years on the field after theuncertainty of a three-monthhalt to the season due to coro-navirus.

The Reds hold a com-manding 22-point lead at thetop of the table and will seal themuch-awaited title with victo-ries over Everton on Sundayand when Crystal Palace visitAnfield on Wednesday.

Had the Premier Leaguenot been able to resume, var-ious proposals were discussed

as to how the campaign wouldbe decided. The idea of declar-ing the season null and voidgained little support and Kloppwas relieved when that wastaken off the table withLiverpool on course to smasha series of records after 29games.

“I became worried in themoment when people startedtalking about null and void theseason because I was like like‘wow’, I felt it physically becausethat would have been really,really, really hard,” Klopp saidin a pre-match conferenceahead of Liverpool’s return to

action.Had the Premier League

followed the example of someother leagues around Europe byending the season on a points-per-game basis, Liverpoolwould already be champions.But Klopp is glad to have theopportunity to win it on thepitch, even if no fans will be inthe stadium to witness the his-toric moment.

“We don’t expect to get it asa present so we did not want itto happen on points-per-game(PPG). We were really happywhen it was decided we couldplay again,” he added. AFP

��� ������� Country’s topsporting stars like cricketersRohit Sharma and BajrangPunia along with OlympiansSakshi Malik and DipaKarmakar are supporting#PlayforIndia initiative, whichaims to help distressed peopleassociated with sports whoselivelihoods have been affectedby the Covid-19 pandemic.

Besides Rohit and Yuvraj,other cricketers involved withthe initiative are women’s teamopener Smriti Mandhana andMayank Aggarwal.

According to a statement,#PlayforIndia initiative aimsto bring together India’s sport-ing community, fans and ath-letes and channel their effortsinto giving back to peoplebelonging to the often invisiblesupport system without whomsports activities would not bepossible. PNS

�������� Sri Lanka’s sportsministry on Friday ordered aninvestigation into former sports ministerMahindananda Aluthgamage’sallegation that the nationalcricket team’s loss to India inthe 2011 World Cup final wasfixed by “certain parties”.

The sports ministerDullas Alahapperuma hasordered the investigation andasked for a report on itsprogress every two weeks.

The sports secretary, KADSRuwanchandra, onAlahapperuma’s directive, hadcomplained to the ministry’sinvestigation unit on Friday.

Aluthgamage has allegedthat his country “sold” the gameto India, a claim that wasridiculed by former captainsKumar Sangakkara and MahelaJayawardene who demandedevidence from him.

He said that in his opinionno players were involved infixing the result, “but certainparties were.” PTI

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