12
T he seventh round of talks between protesting farmers’ unions and the Government failed to end the impasse on Monday as the Government ruled out rollback of the three agricultural laws and the farmer leaders refused to call off their agitation till that hap- pens. The next round of talks will be held on January 8. According to farmers’ leader Sarwan Singh Pandher of the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee, the Union Ministers have clearly said that the laws will not be repealed. “The Ministers even told us to approach the Supreme Court for repeal of the laws,” he said. The farmer lead- ers said they will continue with their agitation till the laws are repealed. The Government, repre- sented by Union Ministers Narendra Singh Tomar, Piyush Goyal and Som Prakash, told the delegation of 41 partici- pating union leaders that it would review any clause the protesters have a problem with. The Ministers also asked the farmer leaders to point out what they considered objec- tionable in the legislations. The Government has main- tained that these apprehen- sions are misplaced and has ruled out repealing the laws. Sources said the Government has offered a joint committee on minimum sup- port price for crops to discuss the farmers’ demand for legal- ising it, but the union leaders remained adamant on dis- cussing the repeal of the farm laws. During the meeting, the Government listed various benefits from the three laws, enacted a few months ago, but farmers kept insisting that the legislation must be withdrawn to address their apprehensions that the new Acts would weak- en the MSP and mandi system and leave them at the mercy of big corporates. After the meeting, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said the Government is sensitive about farmers’ issues and offered clause-wise discussion on the three Acts but they could not reach a conclusion. “We are hopeful that we can find a solution in the next meeting on January 8,” Tomar said but asserted that efforts need to be made from both sides for a solution to be reached (taali dono haathon se bajti hai). “The meeting was held in good atmosphere but farmers were adamant on their demands and we could not arrive at any conclusion. The Government wanted a clause- wise discussion on the legisla- tions to take forward the talks,” he said. “Several rounds of talks are held during such important issues. The Government has to decide keeping in mind farm- ers of the entire country. Both sides want to resolve the issue. The laws have been made keep- ing in mind the best interest of farmers,” Tomar added. The first two hours of talks focussed only on the three laws and the other key demand of farmers for a legal guaran- tee to the MSP procurement system did not come up for dis- cussions. Sources said before the meeting at Vigyan Bhavan began, both parties observed a two-minute silence as a mark of tribute to the 50 protesting farmers who died during the agitation. Farmer leaders, however, alleged that it was the Government’s “ego problem” that was coming in the way of resolving the issues and they insisted they would not relent on their key demands for the repeal of the three laws and a legal guarantee for the MSP (minimum support price) sys- tem for procurement of their crops. The Government is not interested in resolving the issue, claimed farmer leaders. From the very beginning of the meeting, union leaders kept on insisting on the repeal of the three contentious farm laws and the two sides took a long break after just about one hour of discussions. Farmer leaders said the Government informed them that it needs to consult internally and there- after it would come back to the unions. During the meeting, farmers categorically told the Ministers that they don’t want clause by clause discussions on three farm laws. “We have already rejected any alternative to repeal. We want quick withdrawal of these laws and it can be done through Ordinance when Parliament is not in session,” the union leaders said. Farmers’ leader of Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), Rakesh Tikait said that ‘Kanun wapsi nahi, to ghar wapsi nahi’ (We will not go home until the laws are withdrawn). The union leaders will also have their own meeting on Tuesday to decide their next course of action. Continued on Page 2 A total of 38 people have test- ed positive for the new UK variant of SARS-CoV-2 in India so far, the Union Health Ministry said on Monday. These include the 29 cases which were announced till Friday. All these people have been kept in single-room iso- lation in designated health- care facilities by respective State Governments and their close contacts have also been put under quarantine, the Ministry said. Of the 38, the mutated UK strain was detected in eight samples at the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), New Delhi, 11 in the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB), Delhi, one in the National Institute of Biomedical Genomics, Kalyani (near Kolkata). The other five samples were detected in the National Institute of Virology in Pune, three in Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) in Hyderabad and 10 were sequenced at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences Hospital (NIMHANS), Bengaluru. The NCBS, InSTEM in Bengaluru, CDFD in Hyderabad, ILS in Bhubaneswar and NCCS in Pune have so far found no UK mutant virus, the Ministry said. “A total of 38 samples have been found to be positive with the new UK variant genome,” the Ministry said. It said comprehensive con- tact tracing has been initiated for co-travellers, family con- tacts and others. Genome sequencing on other speci- mens is going on, it added. “The situation is under careful watch and regular advice is being provided to the States for enhanced surveil- lance, containment, testing and dispatch of samples to INSACOG labs,” the Ministry stated. The presence of the new UK variant has already been reported by Denmark, Netherlands, Australia, Italy, Sweden, France, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Canada, Japan, Lebanon and Singapore. L auding scientists and tech- nicians for coming out with India’ indigenously developed Covid-19 vaccine, Prime Minister Modi on Monday said world’s biggest vaccination drive against coronavirus is set to begin in the country. “World’s biggest Covid-19 vaccination programme set to begin in India. For this, the country is proud of the contri- butions of its scientists and technicians,” Modi said. He was addressing scientists at the National Metrology Conclave. Asserting that “Made in India” products should not only have a global demand but also global acceptance, the PM said, adding, “Quality is as much important as quantity, our standards should rise with our scale in our quest for Aatmanirbhar Bharat.” Modi said in any progres- sive society, research is key and effective and its effects are commercial and social. They also help widen approach and thinking. “We do not want to fill the world with Indian products, but we must win the hearts of every customer of Indian prod- ucts in every corner of the world,” he said. Quality of services in our country and products, both public or private sector will determine India’s strength in the world, he reiterated. The Prime Minister point- ed out that historically any country has progressed in direct correlation to its effort to promote science. He termed this “value creation cycle” of science, technology and indus- try. He said scientific invention creates technology and this leads to industry development. Industry, in turn, invests fur- ther in science for new research. “This value creation cycle of science to mass creation has become all the more important in today’s world when the country is moving forward with the goal of ‘Aatmanirbhar’ India. CSIR will have to play its role in this,” he said. Modi also dedicated the National Atomic Timescale and Bhartiya Nirdeshak Dravya Pranali to the nation and laid the foundation stone of the National Environmental Standards Laboratory through video conference. The con- clave was organised by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-National Physical Laboratory (CSIR- NPL), New Delhi, on its 75th year of inception. The NPL is one of the oldest laboratories in the country. Modi said metrology also sets the foundation for any sci- entific achievement and no research can proceed without measurements. “Even our achievement has to be measured on some scale. The credibility of the country in the world will be dependent on the reliability of its metrol- ogy. Metrology is like a mirror showing us our standing in the world, the scope for improve- ment,” said the PM. T he Government will have to shell out between 219 to 292 per shot of Covishield vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford and sold and man- ufactured by Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII) in the country. The SII has a licence to produce the shot and has already manufactured close to 50 million doses. The Government has plans to roll out the vaccination drive at the earliest with at least 3 crore health workers and corona warriors to be given the jab in the first phase. However, the Covishield vaccine is likely to cost 1,000 per dose when it is available in the open market and for private use. As of now, the SII cannot export or sell in the open mar- ket its Covid-19 vaccine. Adar Poonawalla, chief executive officer of the SII, has said that the vaccine manufac- turer is likely to charge a spe- cial price of 200 per dose for the first 100 million jabs, which it will supply to the Government. Indian drug regulator on Sunday approved Covishield and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin for restricted emergency use in the country. “We want the vac- cine to be affordable and acces- sible to all. The Government of India will receive it at a far more affordable price of $3-4, since they will be buying in a larger volume,” he said. Poonawalla, said the pri- ority supplies will go to India and the GAVI (Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization) nations. Only after meeting their requirements, “the private mar- ket will open up where the pric- ing would be $6-8 per dose,” he said. Serum will have 100 mil- lion doses in a month, and will possibly double it by April. The Government has indi- cated that it may need 300 mil- lion doses before July 2021, with frontline health workers and the elderly given priority. Continued on Page 2 A day after the DCGI’s deci- sion to approve Covaxin kicked up a major row with a string of experts pointing to the lack of its efficacy data, its developer Bharat Biotech hit out on Monday at critics assert- ing that the company was in “no way” inferior to Pfizer, a US pharma MNC, in terms of coronavirus vaccine. Bharat Biotech managing director Dr Krishna Ella clar- ified the phase 3 trial in India will be over in the next two- three days and the data should be available by February or March. While claiming that Bharat Biotech is the only firm to have published five articles on the Covid-19 vaccine process, Dr Ella at a virtual Press confer- ence also questioned Serum Institute of India’s Covishield authorisation in the absence of phase 3 data from Indian trials. “They don’t have any immunogenicity data — why were they given the licence? They have been given licences based on the UK data. Where is their Indian data?” Dr Ella asked without naming SII. Dr Ella also took an oppor- tunity to slam AIIMS director Dr Randeep Guleria for his comment regarding the use of Covaxin as a “backup”. “I don’t understand what is ‘backup’. On TV, everyone can sling mud at each other. We are all now cleaning our coats. There is no backup for humans. No backup for virus,” Dr Ella said. “I have not got any Gates Foundation money. Still, we have taken the risk and man- ufactured 20 million doses. We are an Indian company struggling alone,” he said. On Sunday the DCGI granted “restricted use in an emergency situation in public interest” to Covaxin and AstraZeneca-Oxford University’s Covishield, which will be produced by Pune- based SII. The drug regulator and the Hyderabad firm has been drawing flak for getting approval for the Covaxin with experts flagging the lack of phase III trial data and others questioning the drug’s efficacy, branding it “... safe, like water”. Continued on Page 2 T he Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a chargesheet against former Chhattisgarh cadre IAS officer Babulal Agrawal in a money laundering case involving attachment of properties worth about 64 crore. Besides Agrawal, his broth- ers Ashok Kumar Agrawal and Pawan Kumar Agrawal, who are also Directors of Prime Ispat Ltd, Raipur, Sunil Agrawal (Chartered Accountant) and others were charged by the ED under Prevention of Money Laundering Act in a case relat- ing to corruption, cheating and forgery. Continued on Page 2 T ech billionaire and Alibaba founder Jack Ma has “dis- appeared” from public life and has not been spotted for at least two months amid the conflict with the Chinese regulators. The Financial Times reported that Ma was recently replaced as a judge in the final of TV show “Africa’s Business Heroes”. “His photograph was removed from the judging webpage,” the report claimed. The final took place in November, shortly after Ma “made a candid speech criti- cising China’s regulators and its state-owned banks”. Continued on Page 2 H imachal Pradesh on Monday became the fourth state to report cases of bird flu after Rajasthan, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh, with officials confirming that migra- tory birds found dead at Pong Dam Lake in Kangra district have tested positive for the dreaded avian influenza. In Rajasthan, deaths of more than 170 new birds were reported from some districts on Monday, taking the total fatal- ities in recent days to over 425. Bird flu has been confirmed only in Jhalawar (district). Continued on Page 2 T hree civic officials were arrested on Monday over the collapse of a crematorium roof that claimed 24 lives here as tension spiralled in the area with the families of the victims blocking the Delhi-Meerut highway by placing two bodies on the road to press for their demand for higher compensa- tion. They lifted the blockade and agreed to cremate the bod- ies after hours of protest as offi- cials agreed for 10 lakh com- pensation and a government job for each victim’s family, Superintendent of Police (Rural) Iraj Raja said. Continued on Page 2 I ndia’s multi-billion dollar deal to purchase the Russian- made S-400 air defence system may trigger US sanctions on New Delhi, a US Congressional report has warned. The Congressional Research Service (CRS) — an independent and bipartisan research wing of US Congress — in its latest report to Congress, said India is “eager for more technology-sharing and co-production initiatives, while the United States urges more reforms in India’s defence offsets policy and higher Foreign Direct Investment caps in its defence sector.” Continued on Page 2 U S President Donald Trump, in an extraordi- nary one-hour phone call, told Georgia’s election chief to reverse President-elect Joe Biden’s win and urged him to “find” enough votes to overturn his defeat in the swing state in the November 3 election, according to a secretly-record- ed audio of the conversation posted by a major American media outlet. The Washington Post reported that during the phone call on Saturday Trump urged fellow Republican Brad Raffensperger, the Georgia sec- retary of state, to “find” enough votes to overturn his defeat, a development that legal scholars described as a flagrant abuse of power and a potential criminal act. “The people of Georgia are angry, the people in the country are angry. And there’s nothing wrong with saying, you know, that you’ve recalculated,” Trump told Raffensperger. “All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. Because we won the state,” he said. Trump lost the election in Georgia by 11,779 votes. Continued on Page 2

2 ˜ ! D+ , ˜ - % ˙) 7 ˜ ! 0234˜!0 ˛ %ˇ,- - %˜ ˛ +561C56 ...€¦ · Neuro Sciences Hospital (NIMHANS), Bengaluru. The NCBS, ... commercial and social. They also help widen

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Page 1: 2 ˜ ! D+ , ˜ - % ˙) 7 ˜ ! 0234˜!0 ˛ %ˇ,- - %˜ ˛ +561C56 ...€¦ · Neuro Sciences Hospital (NIMHANS), Bengaluru. The NCBS, ... commercial and social. They also help widen

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�����"����� 4*��,*�56

The seventh round of talksbetween protesting farmers’

unions and the Governmentfailed to end the impasse onMonday as the Governmentruled out rollback of the threeagricultural laws and thefarmer leaders refused to calloff their agitation till that hap-pens. The next round of talkswill be held on January 8.

According to farmers’leader Sarwan Singh Pandherof the Kisan MazdoorSangharsh Committee, theUnion Ministers have clearlysaid that the laws will not berepealed. “The Ministers eventold us to approach theSupreme Court for repeal of thelaws,” he said. The farmer lead-ers said they will continuewith their agitation till thelaws are repealed.

The Government, repre-sented by Union MinistersNarendra Singh Tomar, PiyushGoyal and Som Prakash, toldthe delegation of 41 partici-pating union leaders that itwould review any clause theprotesters have a problem with.The Ministers also asked thefarmer leaders to point outwhat they considered objec-tionable in the legislations.The Government has main-tained that these apprehen-

sions are misplaced and hasruled out repealing the laws.

Sources said theGovernment has offered a jointcommittee on minimum sup-port price for crops to discussthe farmers’ demand for legal-ising it, but the union leadersremained adamant on dis-cussing the repeal of the farmlaws. During the meeting, theGovernment listed various

benefits from the three laws,enacted a few months ago, butfarmers kept insisting that thelegislation must be withdrawnto address their apprehensionsthat the new Acts would weak-en the MSP and mandi systemand leave them at the mercy ofbig corporates.

After the meeting, UnionAgriculture Minister NarendraSingh Tomar said the

Government is sensitive aboutfarmers’ issues and offeredclause-wise discussion on thethree Acts but they could notreach a conclusion.

“We are hopeful that wecan find a solution in the nextmeeting on January 8,” Tomarsaid but asserted that effortsneed to be made from bothsides for a solution to bereached (taali dono haathon se

bajti hai). “The meeting washeld in good atmosphere butfarmers were adamant on theirdemands and we could notarrive at any conclusion. TheGovernment wanted a clause-wise discussion on the legisla-tions to take forward the talks,”he said.

“Several rounds of talks areheld during such importantissues. The Government has todecide keeping in mind farm-ers of the entire country. Bothsides want to resolve the issue.The laws have been made keep-ing in mind the best interest offarmers,” Tomar added.

The first two hours of talksfocussed only on the threelaws and the other key demandof farmers for a legal guaran-tee to the MSP procurementsystem did not come up for dis-cussions.

Sources said before themeeting at Vigyan Bhavanbegan, both parties observed atwo-minute silence as a markof tribute to the 50 protestingfarmers who died during theagitation.

Farmer leaders, however,alleged that it was theGovernment’s “ego problem”that was coming in the way ofresolving the issues and theyinsisted they would not relenton their key demands for therepeal of the three laws and a

legal guarantee for the MSP(minimum support price) sys-tem for procurement of theircrops. The Government is notinterested in resolving the issue,claimed farmer leaders.

From the very beginning ofthe meeting, union leaderskept on insisting on the repealof the three contentious farmlaws and the two sides took along break after just about onehour of discussions. Farmerleaders said the Governmentinformed them that it needs toconsult internally and there-after it would come back to theunions. During the meeting,farmers categorically told theMinisters that they don’t wantclause by clause discussions onthree farm laws.

“We have already rejectedany alternative to repeal. Wewant quick withdrawal of theselaws and it can be donethrough Ordinance whenParliament is not in session,”the union leaders said.

Farmers’ leader ofBharatiya Kisan Union (BKU),Rakesh Tikait said that ‘Kanunwapsi nahi, to ghar wapsi nahi’(We will not go home until thelaws are withdrawn). Theunion leaders will also havetheir own meeting on Tuesdayto decide their next course ofaction.

Continued on Page 2

���� 4*��,*�56

Atotal of 38 people have test-ed positive for the new UK

variant of SARS-CoV-2 inIndia so far, the Union HealthMinistry said on Monday.

These include the 29 caseswhich were announced tillFriday. All these people havebeen kept in single-room iso-lation in designated health-care facilities by respectiveState Governments and theirclose contacts have also beenput under quarantine, theMinistry said.

Of the 38, the mutatedUK strain was detected in eight

samples at the National Centrefor Disease Control (NCDC),New Delhi, 11 in the Instituteof Genomics and IntegrativeBiology (IGIB), Delhi, one inthe National Institute ofBiomedical Genomics, Kalyani(near Kolkata).

The other five sampleswere detected in the NationalInstitute of Virology in Pune,three in Centre for Cellular andMolecular Biology (CCMB) inHyderabad and 10 weresequenced at the NationalInstitute of Mental Health andNeuro Sciences Hospital(NIMHANS), Bengaluru.

The NCBS, InSTEM inBengaluru, CDFD inHyderabad, ILS inBhubaneswar and NCCS inPune have so far found no UKmutant virus, the Ministrysaid.

“A total of 38 samples havebeen found to be positive withthe new UK variant genome,”the Ministry said.

It said comprehensive con-tact tracing has been initiatedfor co-travellers, family con-tacts and others. Genomesequencing on other speci-mens is going on, it added.

“The situation is undercareful watch and regularadvice is being provided to theStates for enhanced surveil-lance, containment, testing anddispatch of samples toINSACOG labs,” the Ministrystated.

The presence of the newUK variant has already beenreported by Denmark,Netherlands, Australia, Italy,Sweden, France, Spain,Switzerland, Germany, Canada,Japan, Lebanon and Singapore.

���� 4*��,*�56�

Lauding scientists and tech-nicians for coming out with

India’ indigenously developedCovid-19 vaccine, PrimeMinister Modi on Mondaysaid world’s biggest vaccinationdrive against coronavirus isset to begin in the country.

“World’s biggest Covid-19vaccination programme set tobegin in India. For this, thecountry is proud of the contri-butions of its scientists andtechnicians,” Modi said. Hewas addressing scientists atthe National MetrologyConclave.

Asserting that “Made inIndia” products should notonly have a global demand butalso global acceptance, the PMsaid, adding, “Quality is asmuch important as quantity,our standards should rise withour scale in our quest forAatmanirbhar Bharat.”

Modi said in any progres-sive society, research is key andeffective and its effects arecommercial and social. Theyalso help widen approach andthinking.

“We do not want to fill theworld with Indian products,but we must win the hearts ofevery customer of Indian prod-

ucts in every corner of theworld,” he said.

Quality of services in ourcountry and products, bothpublic or private sector willdetermine India’s strength inthe world, he reiterated.

The Prime Minister point-ed out that historically anycountry has progressed indirect correlation to its effort topromote science. He termedthis “value creation cycle” ofscience, technology and indus-try. He said scientific inventioncreates technology and thisleads to industry development.Industry, in turn, invests fur-ther in science for newresearch.

“This value creation cycleof science to mass creation hasbecome all the more importantin today’s world when thecountry is moving forwardwith the goal of ‘Aatmanirbhar’India. CSIR will have to play itsrole in this,” he said.

Modi also dedicated the

National Atomic Timescaleand Bhartiya Nirdeshak DravyaPranali to the nation and laidthe foundation stone of theNational EnvironmentalStandards Laboratory throughvideo conference. The con-clave was organised by theCouncil of Scientific andIndustrial Research-NationalPhysical Laboratory (CSIR-NPL), New Delhi, on its 75thyear of inception. The NPL isone of the oldest laboratories inthe country.

Modi said metrology alsosets the foundation for any sci-entific achievement and noresearch can proceed withoutmeasurements.

“Even our achievement hasto be measured on some scale.The credibility of the countryin the world will be dependenton the reliability of its metrol-ogy. Metrology is like a mirrorshowing us our standing in theworld, the scope for improve-ment,” said the PM.

���� 4*��,*�56

The Government will have toshell out between �219 to

�292 per shot of Covishieldvaccine developed byAstraZeneca and the Universityof Oxford and sold and man-ufactured by Pune-basedSerum Institute of India (SII) inthe country. The SII has alicence to produce the shot andhas already manufactured closeto 50 million doses.

The Government has plansto roll out the vaccinationdrive at the earliest with at least3 crore health workers andcorona warriors to be given thejab in the first phase.

However, the Covishieldvaccine is likely to cost �1,000per dose when it is available inthe open market and for privateuse. As of now, the SII cannotexport or sell in the open mar-ket its Covid-19 vaccine.

Adar Poonawalla, chief

executive officer of the SII, hassaid that the vaccine manufac-turer is likely to charge a spe-cial price of �200 per dose forthe first 100 million jabs, whichit will supply to theGovernment.

Indian drug regulator onSunday approved Covishieldand Bharat Biotech’s Covaxinfor restricted emergency use inthe country. “We want the vac-cine to be affordable and acces-sible to all. The Government ofIndia will receive it at a farmore affordable price of $3-4,since they will be buying in alarger volume,” he said.

Poonawalla, said the pri-ority supplies will go to Indiaand the GAVI (Global Alliancefor Vaccines andImmunization) nations.

Only after meeting theirrequirements, “the private mar-ket will open up where the pric-ing would be $6-8 per dose,” hesaid. Serum will have 100 mil-lion doses in a month, and willpossibly double it by April.

The Government has indi-cated that it may need 300 mil-lion doses before July 2021,with frontline health workersand the elderly given priority.

Continued on Page 2

������#����� 4*��,*�56

Aday after the DCGI’s deci-sion to approve Covaxin

kicked up a major row with astring of experts pointing to thelack of its efficacy data, itsdeveloper Bharat Biotech hitout on Monday at critics assert-ing that the company was in“no way” inferior to Pfizer, a USpharma MNC, in terms ofcoronavirus vaccine.

Bharat Biotech managingdirector Dr Krishna Ella clar-ified the phase 3 trial in Indiawill be over in the next two-three days and the data shouldbe available by February orMarch.

While claiming that BharatBiotech is the only firm to havepublished five articles on theCovid-19 vaccine process, DrElla at a virtual Press confer-ence also questioned SerumInstitute of India’s Covishieldauthorisation in the absence ofphase 3 data from Indian trials.

“They don’t have anyimmunogenicity data — whywere they given the licence?They have been given licencesbased on the UK data. Whereis their Indian data?” Dr Ellaasked without naming SII.

Dr Ella also took an oppor-tunity to slam AIIMS director

Dr Randeep Guleria for hiscomment regarding the use ofCovaxin as a “backup”.

“I don’t understand what is‘backup’. On TV, everyone cansling mud at each other. We areall now cleaning our coats.There is no backup for humans.No backup for virus,” Dr Ellasaid.

“I have not got any GatesFoundation money. Still, wehave taken the risk and man-ufactured 20 million doses.We are an Indian companystruggling alone,” he said.

On Sunday the DCGIgranted “restricted use in anemergency situation in publicinterest” to Covaxin andA s t r a Z e n e c a - O x f o r dUniversity’s Covishield, whichwill be produced by Pune-based SII.

The drug regulator andthe Hyderabad firm has beendrawing f lak for gettingapproval for the Covaxin withexperts flagging the lack ofphase III trial data and othersquestioning the drug’s efficacy,branding it “... safe, like water”.

Continued on Page 2

���� 4*��,*�56

The EnforcementDirectorate (ED) has filed

a chargesheet against formerChhattisgarh cadre IAS officerBabulal Agrawal in a moneylaundering case involvingattachment of properties worthabout �64 crore.

Besides Agrawal, his broth-ers Ashok Kumar Agrawal andPawan Kumar Agrawal, whoare also Directors of PrimeIspat Ltd, Raipur, Sunil Agrawal(Chartered Accountant) andothers were charged by the EDunder Prevention of MoneyLaundering Act in a case relat-ing to corruption, cheatingand forgery.

Continued on Page 2

���� �*6�64374*��,*�56

Tech billionaire and Alibabafounder Jack Ma has “dis-

appeared” from public life andhas not been spotted for at leasttwo months amid the conflictwith the Chinese regulators.

The Financial Timesreported that Ma was recentlyreplaced as a judge in the finalof TV show “Africa’s BusinessHeroes”. “His photograph wasremoved from the judgingwebpage,” the report claimed.

The final took place inNovember, shortly after Ma“made a candid speech criti-cising China’s regulators and itsstate-owned banks”.

Continued on Page 2

����� �56���7+562�8�4�4+5-�2��

Himachal Pradesh onMonday became the

fourth state to report cases ofbird flu after Rajasthan, Keralaand Madhya Pradesh, withofficials confirming that migra-tory birds found dead at PongDam Lake in Kangra districthave tested positive for thedreaded avian influenza.

In Rajasthan, deaths ofmore than 170 new birds werereported from some districts onMonday, taking the total fatal-ities in recent days to over 425.Bird flu has been confirmedonly in Jhalawar (district).

Continued on Page 2

�������������� 35�96���,

Three civic officials werearrested on Monday over

the collapse of a crematoriumroof that claimed 24 lives hereas tension spiralled in the areawith the families of the victimsblocking the Delhi-Meeruthighway by placing two bodieson the road to press for theirdemand for higher compensa-tion.

They lifted the blockadeand agreed to cremate the bod-ies after hours of protest as offi-cials agreed for �10 lakh com-pensation and a governmentjob for each victim’s family,Superintendent of Police(Rural) Iraj Raja said.

Continued on Page 2

����� ���5643+:4

India’s multi-billion dollardeal to purchase the Russian-

made S-400 air defence systemmay trigger US sanctions onNew Delhi, a US Congressionalreport has warned.

The CongressionalResearch Service (CRS) — anindependent and bipartisanresearch wing of US Congress— in its latest report toCongress, said India is “eagerfor more technology-sharingand co-production initiatives,while the United States urgesmore reforms in India’s defenceoffsets policy and higherForeign Direct Investment capsin its defence sector.”

Continued on Page 2

����� ���5643+:4

US President DonaldTrump, in an extraordi-

nary one-hour phone call, toldGeorgia’s election chief toreverse President-elect JoeBiden’s win and urged him to“find” enough votes to overturnhis defeat in the swing state inthe November 3 election,according to a secretly-record-ed audio of the conversationposted by a major Americanmedia outlet.

The Washington Postreported that during the phonecall on Saturday Trump urgedfellow Republican BradRaffensperger, the Georgia sec-

retary of state, to “find” enoughvotes to overturn his defeat, adevelopment that legal scholarsdescribed as a flagrant abuse ofpower and a potential criminalact.

“The people of Georgiaare angry, the people in thecountry are angry. And there’snothing wrong with saying, youknow, that you’ve recalculated,”Trump told Raffensperger.

“All I want to do is this. Ijust want to find 11,780 votes,which is one more than wehave. Because we won thestate,” he said.

Trump lost the election inGeorgia by 11,779 votes.

Continued on Page 2

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New Delhi: The Delhi High Court onMonday granted permission to a womanfor medical termination of her 25-weekpregnancy as survival of the foetus, suf-fering from serious abnormalities, isunlikely.

The high court allowed the petitionby the 25-year-old pregnant womanwho was seeking permission to abort thefoetus on the ground that it was suffer-ing from Bilateral Agenesis andAnlyaramni, considering the report ofAIIMS that the condition is poor and“survival of foetus is unlikely”. “I see no reason to deny per-mission for medical termination of preg-nancy. The petition is therefore allowed,”Justice Navin Chawla said.

The court's permission was requiredas Section 3 of the Medical Terminationof Pregnancy Act does not permit ter-mination of pregnancy in case the peri-od of gestation is more than 20 weeks.

The high court had earlier directed

the Medical Superintendent (MS) ofAIIMS to forthwith constitute a board toexamine the condition of the womanwhose foetus was suffering from seriousabnormalities. It had asked the MS of AllIndia Institute of Medical Sciences(AIIMS) to submit the report regardingthe medical condition of the foetus andthe possibility of the foetus not survivingthe term of the pregnancy. AdvocateSneha Mukherjee, representing thewoman, submitted that the foetus wouldnot survive till child birth as both the kid-neys have not developed as yet and addedthat in the circumstances it would be futileto compel the petitioner to undergo thefull terms of pregnancy.

The plea said during an ultra-sonog-raphy, conducted on the woman at thegestational age of 25 weeks, it was dis-covered that the fetus suffered fromBilateral Renal Agenesis (both kidneysabsent) thereby making it incompatiblewith life. PTI

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The Delhi Police has arrestedthree men, after a video of

a mother-daughter duo alleged-ly being sexually assaulted bytwo unidentified men in north-west Delhi's Wazirpur area wasbeing circulated on socialmedia.

The accused, Sonu (22),Amit (24) and Ritik (18), werearrested in connection with theincident. Police said that Ritikhad filmed the act. According toVijayanta Arya, the DeputyCommissioner of Police (DCP),Northwest, the act came to lighton Sunday after a video startedcirculating on social media.

“The incident was reportedfrom an area of JJ colony inWazirpur. In view of the gravi-ty of the case, multiple teamswere constituted to trace the vic-tims and the accused,” said theDCP.

“Police teams examinedCCTV footage, besides localintelligence was collected andlocal enquiry initiated at near-by bus stops, metro stations andshelter homes,” said the DCP.

“Both the victims weretraced and statements of the 35-year-old woman, a rag picker,and her 18-year-old daughterwere recorded. Their medicalexamination has been conduct-ed,” said the DCP.

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Mathura (UP): A Mathuracourt has fixed January 15 forhearing a plea filed by HinduArmy, an organisation seekingthe removal of Shahi Idgahmosque located near KrishnaJanmabhoomi temple here.

This is the third suit filedin the case.

The earlier suits were filedby advocate Hari Shankar Jainand others; and by advocateMahendra Pratap Singh forfive plaintiffs, in the court ofCivil Judge (Senior Division)

Neha Bhadhauria.“January 15 has been fixed

as the next date of hearing inthe case by Judge NehaBhadauria,” advocateShailendra Singh said.

The plea was earlier listedfor hearing on December 22. It,however, could not be taken upfor hearing due to the death ofMathura Bar Association mem-ber.

The judge then slatedJanuary 4 for hearing in thecase. PTI

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Srinagar: Families of three alleged militants, killedin an encounter with security forces at Parimporaon the outskirts of the city last week, on Mondaydemanded the return of their bodies and a fair inves-tigation into the incident.

According to security forces, Ajaz MaqboolGanai, Zubair Ahmad Lone and Athar MushtaqWani were killed in an encounter on December 31.Police said while they were not listed as terroristsin their records, two of them had “radical” thoughts.

Holding placards that read “we want justice”and “stop killing innocents”, the relatives of the slainyouths held a protest demonstration on ResidencyRoad here, demanding that their bodies be hand-ed over to them so that they can perform their lastrites.

The families also demanded a fair investiga-tion into the incident, which they allege was a fakeencounter.

PDP president Mehbooba Mufti and NationalConference leader Omar Abdullah were among sev-eral mainstream politicians who called for return-ing the bodies to their families. PTI

Panaji: After a gap of a year due toCovid-19 pandemic, India's annualexpedition to the Arctic will resumethis year in the month of June, asenior Union government officialsaid on Monday.

Talking to reporters in Vascotown, about 30 kms away from here,M Ravichandran, Director, NationalCentre for Polar and Ocean Research(NCPOR), said the annual expeditionto the Arctic region will be held fromJune to October.

“Last year, the expedition wascancelled because of COVID-19 out-break. This year, we are resuming theexpedition. It will be held from Juneto October,” he said.

He said about 150-200 crew fromIndia would be participating in theexpedition in the batches of 10 at atime.

India embarked upon the Arcticresearch by launching first scientificexpedition to Arctic in the first weekof August, 2007, using the interna-

tional research facility in theSpitsbergen Island of Norway.

Subsequently, India has beensending scientific teams every sum-mer and winter for carrying outstudies in the Arctic, primarily in thefields of glaciology, hydrochemistry,microbiology, and atmospheric sci-ences.

Ravichandran said the crew willembark on the mission by flight.

“There's a science village in theArctic where representatives of sevencountries would stay together,”Ravichandran said.

He said the crew for the expedi-tion will go in batches as the capaci-ty of the Indian station in the Arcticis ten.

“Once ten people return, anoth-er batch of ten members will go,” headded. Ravichandran and othersenior officials of the NCPOR were inVasco on Monday to give a send-offto India's scientific expedition toAntarctica. PTI

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Guwahati: In a first of its kindinitiative to promote educationof the girl child, AssamEducation Minister HimantaBiswa Sarma has said everyschool- going girl student willget �100 per day for attendingclasses.

The state government iscurrently distributing 22,000two-wheelers to Class 12 girlstudents who passed in the firstdivision from the state boardunder the Pragyan BhartiScheme, he said at Sivasagar onSunday.

The state government willincur an expenditure of�144.30 crore for the purpose.

The minister said the �100-a-day scheme will belaunched by the end of the cur-rent month, but did not speak

anything about the details likethe financial implications forthe government for its imple-mentation.

The state government willprovide scooters to all girl stu-dents who passed in the firstdivision from the state boardeven if the number crosses alakh, he said.

Scooters will also be pro-vided to all girl students whopassed Class 12 examination inthe first division in 2018 and2019. The minister said anamount of �1,500 and �2,000 will be deposited to thebank accounts of undergradu-ate and postgraduate studentsrespectively by the end ofJanuary to help them buybooks and other study material. PTI

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From Page 1“The Government is under

tremendous pressure. We don’twant a discussion on any othertopic except for repeal of the laws.Protests will not be withdrawn untilthe laws are repealed,” All IndiaKisan Sabha general secretaryHannan Mollah said.

The two sides took a long breakafter just about one hour of dis-cussions. The representatives ofprotesting farmers had their ownfood, arranged from langar (com-munity kitchen), as they have beendoing for the last few times.However, unlike in the last roundof talks on December 30, theMinisters did not join the unionleaders for the langar food and wereseen having their own discussionseparately during the break, whichlasted for more than one and halfhours. The two sides got togetheragain to resume their discussionsat around 5.15 pm, but no headwaycould be made as the talksremained focussed on the farmers’demand for the repeal of the Acts.

From Page 1On Sunday, Serum Institute

CEO Adar Poonawalla too had saidto a news channel that “... only threevaccines are with proven efficacy -Pfizer, Moderna and Oxford-AstraZeneca. Everything else... safe,just like water.”

Taking exception to the criti-cism, a visibly upset Bharat BiotechMD said, “We don’t deserve thisbacklash,” and asserted that hiscompany had carried out “200 per-cent honest clinical trials”, had anestablished track record in produc-ing 16 safe and efficacious vaccines,

and was transparent with all data.“Don’t accuse us of inexperi-

ence. We are a global company...have manufactured 16 vaccines. It isnot correct to say we are not trans-parent with data. We conduct clin-ical trials in many countries, includ-ing the UK. The point is we are notan Indian company... but a globalone,” he stressed.

“We have published in a lot ofjournals. We were the first to iden-tify the Zika virus and the first to filea global patent for the Zika vaccineand the Chikungunya vaccine. It isnot correct to say that we are nottransparent with data... we don’tdeserve the backlash,” Dr Ella added.

He also said the company had

“the only BSL-3 (bio-safety level 3)production facility in the world”.While hailing DCGI decision to givenod for Covaxin”.

“We are not just conductingclinical trials in India. We have doneclinical trials in more than 12 coun-tries including the UK. We aredoing clinical trials in Pakistan,Nepal, Bangladesh & other coun-tries. We are not just an Indian com-pany, we are truly a global compa-ny,” Ella also said.

On the query about the likelycost of the vaccine, Dr Ella said inthe beginning, the cost of the vac-cine may be a little higher. As thescale of production increases, theprice will be controlled by the mar-

ket, he said.“Currently, we have 20 million

doses. We are aiming to achieve 700million doses capacity in four facil-ities -- three in Hyderabad and onein Bengaluru. We are encounteringso many problems including relat-ed to logistics,” he said.

On being asked about whetherthe vaccine will be effective on a newstrain of the virus, Ella said, “Giveme one week’s time, I will give youconfirm data.”

Covishield, meanwhile, hascompleted all three phases, with tri-als taking place in India and aroundthe world, and submitted data to theDCGI, which said the drug was70.42 per cent effect.

From Page 1Report of other deaths is yet to

come, according to the state animalhusbandry department.

As some parts of Kerala tooreported the influenza outbreak,authorities have ordered culling ofducks, hens and other domestic birdswithin one km radius of the affectedareas in Kottayam and Alappuzha dis-tricts. Officials said some 40,000 birdswill have to be culled to check thespread of the H5N8 virus.

A farm in Kerala’s Kottayam hasrecently seen deaths of around 1,500ducks due to bird flu recently.

Bird flu is a highly infectious andsevere respiratory disease in birdscaused by the H5N1 influenza virus,which can occasionally infect humansas well.

In Himachal Pradesh, around1,800 migratory birds, most of thembar-headed geese, have been founddead in the Pong Dam Lake sanctu-ary.

Principal Chief Conservator ofForests (Wildlife) Archana Sharmasaid the laboratory at the IndianVeterinary Research Institute inBareilly detected avian influenza in thesamples of dead birds, while citing theinformation conveyed by the Centre.

At the same time, she said that herdepartment was awaiting confirmationby the National Institute of HighSecurity Animal Diseases (NIHSAD),Bhopal, as it was the nodal body fortesting this disease.

Northern Regional DiseaseDiagnostic Laboratory in Jalandhar hasalso suspected avian influenza in thebird samples, she added.Kangra District Magistrate RakeshPrajapati has prohibited slaughtering,sale, purchase and export of any poul-try, birds, fish of any breed and theirrelated products, including eggs, meat,chicken, etc, in Fatehpur, Dehra,Jawali and Indora subdivisions of thedistrict.

Exercising his powers underSections 34 of the DisasterManagement Act, 2005, the officialsaid that shops selling these productswould also remain closed in these foursubdivisions. Prajapati also banned themovement of locals and tourists with-in a kilometre radius of Pong Dam.

In Himachal’s Pong Dam Lakewildlife sanctuary, wildlife staff firstreported the sudden death of four bar-headed geese and one common teal inthe Fatehpur area last Monday.

The next day, over four hundredmigratory waterfowl were found deadin Majhar, Bathari, Sihal, Jagnoli,Chatta, Dhameta and Kuthera areas inthe wildlife ranges of Dhameta andNagrota. Subsequently, hundreds ofmore birds were found dead each day,totalling 1,773 till Sunday, she said.She said that more than 90 per cent ofthe dead birds were bar-headed geese,the most common migratory speciesat the lake who arrive here fromCentral Asia, Russia, Mongolia andother regions in winters after crossingthe Himalayan ranges. There areeight-nine other bird species whosemembers have been found dead.

Last year, more than one lakhmigratory birds had camped at the lakeby late January and this year, over50,000 have arrived so far.

The dead birds are being disposedoff as per bird-flu protocol, officialssaid, adding that no such deaths havebeen reported so far from other waterbodies in the state.

Wildlife, veterinary and animalhusbandry staff across the state havebeen put on alert and asked to imme-diately report the death of any bird oranimal. The Gopalpur zoo in Kangrawhich is situated near the Pong Lakehas been put on high alert.

Recently, a bird flu alert has beensounded in Rajasthan after crowswere found dead in half a dozen dis-tricts. Bird flu cases were also con-firmed in dead crows in Indore inMadhya Pradesh.

Bird flu virus was detected inaround 50 crows whose carcasseswere found in Indore in MadhyaPradesh last week, prompting author-ities to issue an alert. InRajasthan, 80 bird deaths were report-ed in Bikaner on Sunday, 42 in SawaiMadhopur, 12 in Kota, 12 in Baran,eight each in Pali and Jaipur, six inDausa, five in Jodhpur and two inJhalawar, according to the state animalhusbandry department. The deathshave been reported in 15 districts ofthe state. Kerala, which saw the lastmajor case of bird flu in 2016, hassounded high alert in the affected dis-tricts considering the potential of thevirus to infect humans, even thoughofficials said that the situation wasunder contgrol. PTI

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From Page 1The ED initiated investi-

gations under PMLA on thebasis of FIR registered by ACB,Chhattisgarh under provisionsof Prevention of CorruptionAct, 1988 which discloses thedisproportionate assetsamassed by Babulal Agrawaland his family members, pur-suant to search action con-ducted by the Income TaxDepartment in February 2010at their premises as also that ofthe CA.

Besides the action by theACB, Chhattisgarh, three moreFIRs were registered and fol-lowed up with chargesheets bythe CBI against BabulalAgrawal and others. TheseFIRs were registered underIndian Penal Code Sectionsrelating to criminal conspiracy,cheating, impersonation,forgery and using forged doc-uments as genuine also viola-tions under the Prevention ofCorruption Act.

From Page 1He said that Muradnagar Nagar Palika

Executive Officer Niharika Singh, JuniorEngineer Chandra Pal and SupervisorAshish were arrested this morning as theywere involved in the tendering process forbuilding the structure that collapsed Sunday,killing 24 people and injuring 17 others.Police teams are also conducting raids atpossible hideouts of contractor Ajay Tyagito arrest him, Raja said.

Officials said construction work for theshelter at the crematorium, estimated to costaround Rs 55 crore, was started two monthsago and it was opened for public nearly 15days ago.

The road blockade near theMuradnagar Police Station had led to a mas-sive traffic jam with hundreds of vehiclesgetting piled up during the morning rushhour. The protesters were insisting DistrictMagistrate Ajay Shankar Pandey be calledfor a talk with them so that they can regis-ter their demands including Rs 20 lakh com-pensation for each of the grieving familiesand a government job for one of their mem-bers. Th DM, Senior Superintendent ofPolice Kalanidhi Naithani and other seniorofficials later reached the protest site andspoke to them over their demands, officialssaid.

From Page 1“Ma was dressed down by offi-

cials in Beijing and the $37 billioninitial public offering of his compa-ny Ant Group was suspended. Hehas not been seen in public since,”the report further said.

A spokesperson for Alibabawas quoted as saying that “due to aschedule conflict Mr Ma could nolonger be part of the finale judgepanel of Africa’s Business Heroesearlier this year (2020)”. Last month,as China’s top market watchdogbegan investigation into allegedanti-competition practices by the e-commerce giant Alibaba, the coun-try also laid out “rectification plan”for Ma’s fintech venture Ant Group.According to a report inTechCrunch, the People’s Bank ofChina, the country’s central bank,“summoned Ant Group for regula-tory talks on December 26th,announcing a sweeping plan for thefintech firm to ‘rectify’ its regulato-ry violations”. The banking author-ity laid out a five-point complianceagenda for Ant Group. The agendais that Ant Group should return toits roots in payments and bring more

transparency to transactions.Ant Group said it has estab-

lished an internal “rectificationworkforce” to work on all the regu-latory requirements.

Xinhua news agency had firstreported that The People’s Bank ofChina, China Banking andInsurance Regulatory Commission,China Securities RegulatoryCommission, and StateAdministration of Foreign Exchangewill “interview Ant Group in thenear future”. The StateAdministration for MarketRegulation started investigation intoalleged anti-competition practices byecommerce giant Alibaba, as Beijingtightened control of an expandingInternet.

In a brief note, the StateAdministration for MarketRegulation said that it is investigat-ing Alibaba over its “choosing onefrom two” policy. As part of this pol-icy, merchants are forced to sellexclusively on Alibaba e-commerceplatforms and skip rivals likeJD.com. Alibaba Group said in astatement that they have receivednotification from the StateAdministration for MarketRegulation.

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From Page 1Poonawalla said Serum was in touch with the

Government for the vaccine’s procurement. “Initially,we will supply 50 million doses and we will get moreconfirmations over the course of the next few days,”he added.

After the regulator’s nod, Serum expects for-malities to be completed in the next 7 to 10 days forthe rollout to begin. When asked if the SII has beenbarred by the Drugs Controller General of India(DCGI) not to export the vaccine till vulnerable pop-ulations in India are protected, Poonawalla said: “Wewill start exporting the vaccine post the Government’sapproval and talks are going on”.

“Our priority list will see us cater to the Indianmarket first, then the COVAX countries.Optimistically, by March-April we should have per-missions in place,” he added. When asked if the com-pany was negotiating bilateral agreements withother countries too for the vaccine, Poonawalla said:“We have bilateral partnerships with nations likeBangladesh, Myanmar, Morocco, etc”.

On the efficacy of Covishield, he noted that thecompany has proven in its trials that it has a 100 percent efficacy on hospitalisation, implying that therewere zero hospitalisations found in the people whotook the vaccine globally.

From Page 1“Flipping the state is a great testament to our coun-

try. It’s a testament that they can admit to a mistake. Alot of people think it wasn’t a mistake, it was much morecriminal than that. But it’s a big problem in Georgia,and it’s not a problem that’s going away,” he said.

“The people of Georgia know that this was a scam,and because of what you’ve done to the president, a lotof people aren’t going out to vote [in the runoffs]. A lotof Republicans are going to vote negative because theyhate what you did to the president,” said the outgoingpresident.

According to The Washington Post report,throughout the call, Raffensperger and his office’s gen-eral counsel rejected Trump’s assertions, explaining thatthe president is relying on debunked conspiracy theo-ries and that President-elect Joe Biden’s 11,779-vote vic-tory in Georgia was fair and accurate.

“Well, Mr. President, the challenge that you haveis, the data you have is wrong,” Raffensperger said.Trump reiterated that there is no way he lost Georgia.

Trump has refused to concede to Biden, aDemocrat. He has falsely asserted he won the race whilepublicly pressuring Republican lawmakers to “step upand fight for the Presidency.

From Page 1Prepared for the members of the

Congress for them to take informeddecisions, the report went on to warnthat “India’s multi-billion dollar deal topurchase the Russian-made S-400 airdefence system may trigger US sanc-tions on India under the CounteringAmerica’s Adversaries ThroughSanctions Act.”

The CRS’ reports are neither anofficial report of the US Congress norreflect the view of Congressmen. Theyare prepared by independent expertsfor the lawmakers to take informeddecisions.

In October 2018, India had signeda USD 5 billion deal with Russia to buyfive units of the S-400 air defence mis-sile systems, despite a warning from theTrump administration that goingahead with the contract may invite USsanctions.

In 2019, India made the firsttranche of payment of around USD 800million to Russia for the missile sys-tems. The S-400 is known as Russia’smost advanced long-range surface-to-air missile defence system. Last month,Russia had said that implementationof its ongoing defence deals with

India including the supply of a batchof S-400 missile systems is advancingwell notwithstanding the threat of USsanctions.

At a press conference in New Delhilast month, Russian ambassador toIndia Nikolay Kudashev appeared tocriticise the US sanctions on Turkey forprocuring the S-400 missile systemsunder a USD 2.5 billion deal, sayingMoscow does not recognise such uni-lateral actions.

“We do not recognise or welcomeunilateral sanctions as a language ortool or instrument of interstate or inter-national relations, other than thoseapplied by the UN Security Council,this is also the case of Turkey,” he said.

“As far as India is concerned, weshare the same platform. India’s posi-tion is also crystal clear. No sanctionsare acknowledged other than thoseimposed by the UN Security Council.Whatever the future is, we believe thatour ties could withstand the comingchallenges,” he said.

Kudashev was asked to commenton the US sanctions on Turkey underthe provisions of the CounteringAmerica’s Adversaries ThroughSanctions Act (CAATSA). PTI

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Senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP ) leader and MCD in-

charge Durgesh Pathak onMonday said that the BJP-ruled MCD first broke theancient Hanuman temple ofChandni Chowk and nowaccusing the AAP to avoid thepublic anger over this heinouscrime.

“To hide this reality fromthe people of Delhi with thehelp of Delhi Police the BJP

demolished this temple wheneverybody was asleep,” Pathaksaid, “Delhi BJP chief AdeshGupta and other top leaders ofthe BJP are directly responsiblefor demolishing this ancientHanuman Temple; AAPdemands that stringent actionsmust be taken against theseleaders for committing such aheinous crime.”

“It was BJP ruled MCDwho demolished the hundred-year-old ancient HanumanTemple located in the Chandni

Chowk area,” “Now to divertthe attention of people fromthis heinous crime committedby the BJP they are falselyaccusing the AAP,”

“ it is very clear that thisancient Hanuman temple wasdemolished by the BJP ruledNorth MCD. It is also verymuch known that this comesunder the jurisdiction of theBJP ruled North MCD. TheBJP has demolished thisancient Hanuman Temple with the help of policeduring midnight,” the AAPleader said.

He said, “On behalf of theAam Aadmi Party I am sayingthis on the basis of concreteproof. The BJP ruled MCD hasrecently submitted an affidavitin the court where they haveclearly noted that thisHanuman temple was built inan encroached area.

Pathak said, “Adesh Guptais a very senior leader and alsoa councillor of the BJP ruledNorth MCD. He is well awareof the fact that this demolitionis being done by the BJP ruledNorth MCD with the help ofDelhi Police which comesunder the BJP ruled centralgovernment. Now the BJP istrying to divert the attention ofthe people and in a very fabri-cated manner, they are accus-ing the Aam Aadmi Party ofthis heinous crime,” Pathakadded.

�������������� 4*��,*�56

Bharatiya Janata Party onMonday alleged there was

a conspiracy the way ArvindKejriwal’s Government demol-ished the ancient HanumanMandir in Chandni Chowk.

Attacking Kejriwal, DelhiBJP President Adesh Guptaand Leader of Opposition inDelhi Assembly Ramvir SinghBidhuri demanded re-design-ing of the temple.

The BJP leaders will meetLieutenant Governor AnilBaijal for the reconstruction ofthe temple at Chandni Chowkand to intervene in this mat-ter.

Gupta said that the DelhiReligious Committee is head-ed by a Minister of KejriwalGovernment, Satyendar Jainand if he wanted he couldhave resolved the matter but hedid not do so at the behest ofCM Kejriwal.

“Religious organizationsand priests of the temple alsorequested to save the PrachinHanuman Mandir, but the CMdid not accept their request.When the work of modificationin Chandni Chowk was start-ed, the local RWAs,Stakeholders, MarketAssociations and TradersAssociations opposed it but theKejriwal government did notstop the work,” he added.

The temple committee andthe local people also requestedthe PWD officials that eventhough the temple is small butit is ancient and shouldn't betouched. Earlier, inNovember,2020 the local peo-ple of Chandni Chowk moved

to the High Court to save thetemple, but the High Courtclearly said that on mattersrelated to religions or religiousplaces, the religious committeeunder the state governmentresolves it.

Condemning the templedemolition, LoP Bidhuri saidthat religious committee underthe state government has theright to take a stand in thecourt that the demolishing ofthe temple will hurt the faith ofthe people and that the law andorder may be disturbed, so thetemple should not be demol-ished, but religious committeeof the Kejriwal governmentdid not present its stand incourt to save the ancientHanuman temple.

�������������� 4*��,*�56

The Delhi Police has arrest-ed its constable and his son

after the latter used a proxycandidate during the force’srecruitment exam inMuzaffarpur district in Bihar.

The accused has been iden-tified as head constable Vineetand his 21 year-old sonKashish. Police said that Vineetwas posted at the New DelhiRailways Station and suspect-ed to have arranged the proxycandidate.

According to a seniorpolice official, Kashish, whowas pursuing graduation fromdistance learning, applied forthe post of constable in theforce.

"Kashish filed Muzaffarpuras his exam centre. The examwas conducted on November27, 2020. However, anotherperson appeared in the exam-ination centre and took theexam on behalf of Kashish," hesaid.

"The staff selection com-mission (SSC) found some-thing wrong and had filed acomplaint regarding the matterwith Delhi Police. When theDelhi Police was investigatingthe case, the matter came intolight. Thereafter, a case was reg-istered under relevant sectionsand Vineet and his son Kashishwere arrested from the nation-al capital on Sunday," said thesenior police official.

Police said that the furtherinvestigation is underway.

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Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) spokesperson

Praveen Shankar Kapoor hassaid like all political partiesAam Aadmi Party ( AAP ) toois free to carry on its politicalagenda but it is really shockingthat AAP's entire politicsrevolves around making base-less allegations against BJPruled civic bodies.

“AAP is running Delhi

Government and if its leadersfeel that MCDs are as corrupt asthey regularly allege then whydon’t they order a inquiry againstMCDs through local govern-ment or through any indepen-dent agency like CBI,” he said

AAP has organised 1500Mohalla Sabha to reach everycitizen aiming to inform aboutalleged MCD scam. “OnDecember11 2020 AAP min-ister Satyendra Jain hadannounced that he has asked

Addl. Chief Secretary of UrbanDevelopment Department tohold a inquiry into Rs. 2500crores scam in MCDs related torent dispute between Northand South civic bodies and givereport in 2 days,” Over 3 weekshave lapsed however Delhi isyet to see any inquiry report,this is so because no scam tookplace,” he said,”Its all a dirtypolitical campaign by AAP totarnish image of BJP ruledcivic bodies.”

�������������� 4*��,*�56

The senior Aam AadmiParty (AAP) leader and

Municipal Corporation ofDelhi (MCD) in-chargeDurgesh Pathak said that theyare going to hold 2,500‘Mohalla Sabha’ across Delhifrom January 7-15.

Pathak said that in the last15 years the BJP has trans-formed MCD to a den of cor-ruption. “If you open any fileof the MCD you will findsome corruption or other. TheMCD has become a factory ofcorruption and from the lastfew days, the AAP is continu-ously unmasking and exposingthe corruptions of the BJPruled MCD,” he said.

“The AAP wants to takethese issues of corruption of theBJP to every single citizen of

Delhi. The AAP will go door todoor and apprise the people ofDelhi regarding these scamsdone by the BJP. The AAP willhold around 2500 MohallaSabhas across the capital,” saidPathak.

“During these meetings,we will ask for the suggestionsfrom the citizens of Delhi onthe matters of corruption by theBJP. These meetings or MohallaSabhas will start on 7th Januaryof this month. Till 15th Januarythis Mohalla Sabhas will becontinued,” said Pathak.

“The AAP has identifiedaround 600 speakers to addressthese Mohalla Sabhas. Party’sMLAs, councillors, district in-charges, Lok Sabha in-charges,sangathan mantris and wardin-charges etc. will communi-cate with people during theseMohalla Sabhas,” said Pathak.

�������������� 4*��,*�56

The Special Cell of DelhiPolice in a joint operation

with its Bihar counterpartarrested a 24-year-old wantedcriminal and extortionist hail-ing from the eastern State in thenational Capital. Police saidthat he was on run for last oneyear and was carrying a rewardof Rs 50,000 on informationleading to his arrest.

The accused, who wasnabbed from a spot near theRajokri flyover, has been iden-tified as Aditya Tiwari, a resi-dent of Bihar's Gopalganj dis-trict. Police said that Tiwari wasarrested from the service roadparallel to the Rajokri flyoveron Friday. A semi-automaticpistol and five live cartridgeswere seized from his posses-sion, the police said.

According to PramodSingh Kushwaha, the DeputyCommissioner of Police(DCP), Special Cell, policereceived specific inputs thattwo gangsters from Bihar --Tiwari and Manish -- wantedin a number of criminal caseswere hiding in Delhi-NCR.

“On Friday, informationwas received that Tiwari wouldcome near the Rajokri flyover,Gurgaon-Kapashera link road,to meet one of his contacts.Thereafter, a joint team of theDelhi Police and the BiharPolice was deployed near theflyover. At 7:45 pm, he wasnabbed after a brief scuffle,”said the DCP.

“Along with his associatesManish and others, Tiwari wasrunning an extortion racket inBihar. Tiwari and Manish cameto Delhi around four monthsago and since then, were hid-ing at various places here,”said the DCP.

“Around 10 days ago, theythreatened a complainant in acase of extortion in Bihar

through a voice message on hisphone. They also asked thecomplainant to warn Sub-Inspector Dinesh, the StationHouse Officer (SHO) of theVishambharpur police stationin Gopalganj, of dire conse-quences if he continued chas-ing them,” said the DCP.

“Tiwari is found involvedin 26 cases in Bihar, includingthose related to murder,attempt to murder, assault onpolice, robbery, dacoity andkidnapping. Presently, he waswanted in more than 16 cases,the DCP said.

“In July 2020, Tiwari andhis gang members had openedfire at a doctor, who is also theowner of a hospital inGopalganj, to terrorise him ashe was reluctant to pay theextortion amount as demand-ed by the gang,” said the DCP.

“The gang members hadalso hurled four hand grenadesat the hospital. When the hos-pital owner did not yield undertheir pressure, they fired at thehospital from AK-47 rifles andcarbine machine guns,” said theDCP adding that efforts arebeing made to arrest Manish.

�������������� 4*��,*�56

Delhi Pradesh CongressCommittee president Anil

Kumar on Monday alleged thatthe Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP)-ruled MunicipalCorporations of Delhi (MCD)and the Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) Government in Delhiwere indulging in cheap pub-licity stunts regarding theremoval of a temple on themain Chandni Chowk road.

Kumar said that both BJPand AAP governments haveadmitted in the Court thatthis temple was an encroach-ment on the pedestrian path-way of Chandni Chowk and itwas demolished when DelhiPolice, Delhi Government andthe BJP together got a directionfrom the Delhi High Court.

“The normal procedure isthat if a temple or other reli-gious structures are removedfor the specific purpose ofdevelopment, then they are

allotted alternate places forrelocating such shrines,” hesaid.

Kumar recalled that whenthe Sant Guru Ravi Das Templeat the Tughlakabad forest areawas demolished by the DDA,the Modi Government at theCentre had filed an affidavit inthe Supreme Court that it waswilling “to give place in thesame site for reconstruction ofthe Guru Ravidas Temple'”.

He said that the same jus-tice formula could have beenadopted in this case too, butinstead, BJP and ArvindGovernment have indulged ina shadow boxing to stoke reli-gious sentiments.

Kumar said that political“up man ship” should be avoid-ed on such sensitive issues,while adhering to court orders,in the larger public interest, asit is clearly evident that the BJPand AAP Governments wereplaying a “fixed match” in thiscase.

�������������� 4*��,*�56

Delhi Chief Minister andAam Aadmi Party (AAP)

convener Arvind Kejriwal onMonday appealed to the Centreto accept all the demands of theprotesting farmers and repealthe three farm laws.Meanwhile, the seventh roundsof talks between the farmersunion and the CentreGovernment remained incon-clusive and next meeting isexpected on January 8.

In a tweet ahead of theprotesting farmer unions' meet-ing with the Centre, Kejriwallauded their resolve in contin-uing their agitation despiterains and cold weather.

“Salute to the resolve of thefarmers staying firm on theroads despite rains and cold. Iappeal to the Centre to acceptall the demands of the farmersand repeal the three black farmlaws in today's meeting,”Kejriwal tweeted in Hindi.

Farmers from Punjab,Haryana, Uttar Pradesh andsome other states are campingat several entry points of the

national capital blocking thehighways, demanding that theCentre repeal the farm lawsand give legal guarantee ofminimum support price (MSP)for crops.

Protesting farmers whohave been camping at Delhiborders for the last 40 daysbraving bone-chilling cold andnow rains have threatened tointensify their protest if theirtwo major demands -- repeal ofthe three new farm laws andlegal backing for the mini-

mum support price (MSP) --are not accepted by the gov-ernment in the January 4 meet-ing.

Enacted in September2020, the government has pre-sented these laws as majorfarm reforms and aimed atincreasing farmers' income,but protesting farmers haveraised concerns that these leg-islations would weaken theMSP and mandi systems andleave them at the mercy of bigcorporates.

�������������� 4*��,*�56

Due to the ongoing farmers'protest against the Centre

new farm laws, the routes con-necting Delhi to Ghaziabadand Noida via Ghazipur andChilla borders remained par-tially closed on Monday.

The traffic movement wasalso diverted from the Singhuand Tikri borders as farmersstayed put there for the last 40days.

The Delhi Traffic Police onMonday advised commuters totake alternative routes for com-ing to Delhi via Anand Vihar,DND, Bhopra and Loni bor-ders.

In a series of tweets onMonday, the traffic police saidSinghu, Auchandi, PiauManiyari, Saboli and Mangeshborders are closed for trafficmovement.

"Please take alternate route

via Lampur Safiabad, Palla &Singhu school toll tax bor-ders. Traffic has been divertedfrom Mukarba & GTK road.Please avoid Outer Ring Road,GTK Road & NH-44," it said.

"The Chilla and Ghazipurborders are closed for trafficcoming from Noida &Ghaziabad to Delhi because offarmer protests. Please takealternate route for coming toDelhi via Anand Vihar, DND,Bhopra & Loni Borders," it said.

The traffic police said Tikriand Dhansa borders are alsoclosed for traffic movement.“Jhatikara Border is open onlyfor LMV (Cars/Light MotorVehicles), two wheelers andpedestrian movement," it saidin another tweet.

According to the trafficpolice, people travelling toHaryana can take the routes viaJharoda (only single carriage-way), Daurala, Kapashera,

Badusarai, Rajokri NH-8,Bijwasan/Bajghera, PalamVihar and Dundahera borders.

Farmers from differentstates have been camping atvarious border points of Delhifor 40 days now to demand therepeal of the three farm lawsenacted in September and alegal backing for the mini-mum support price (MSP)

The farmers had a difficultmorning on Sunday asovernight rains left their tentswaterlogged, firewood andblankets soaked, and intensi-fied the cold. However, thefarmers have said the weatherwill not dampen their spirit andthey will continue the protesttill their demands are met.

Since the farmers arrived atthe national capital's borders inlate November, the DelhiTraffic Police has been postingalerts on its official Twitter han-dle to inform commuters about

road closures across the city.The seventh round of talks

between the government and

farmer unions remained incon-clusive and they are expected tomeet again on January 8.

��������������3�2�32��

The crime branch unitSector-39 of the Gurugram

police arrested two dreadedcriminals after an exchange offire in the early hours onMonday from Rithoj village inGurugram.

However, three other crim-inals managed to escape thespot due to darkness. Thearrested two criminals sus-tained gunshot wounds in theirlegs while two policemen alsosuffered bullet injuries duringthe shootout, officials said onMonday. All the injured areundergoing treatment at theCivil Hospital Sector-10A inGurugram. The police haverecovered a Mahindra Scorpioand two pistols from their pos-session.

The arrested accused havebeen identified as Sunil Kumaralias Sonu of Charkhi Dadriand Sandeep of Hanuman dis-trict in Rajasthan while theabsconding culprits were iden-tified as Shri Bhagwan ofRohtak, Amit of Bikaner andRahul Barar of Bathinda inPunjab. According to thepolice, all the criminals wereinvolved in heinous crimescommitted in Rajasthan andPunjab.

The gunfight broke out ataround 4.00 am on Mondaymorning near the Rithoj villagein Gurugram.

"All the five criminals in aScorpio were intercepted by thepolice team headed by Sub-Inspector Rajkumar near theBadshahpur governmentschool on the Sohna Roadafter a tip-off. After seeing thepolice party the accused hadtried to flee the spot while fir-ing on the police party. In retal-iation the police also fired sev-eral rounds on the culprits inwhich two accused receivedbullet injuries and later thepolice overpowered them,"ACP (crime), Preet PalSangwan said.

“Both criminals Sunil andSandeep were hit on their legsduring the subsequent gunfightand the remaining culpritsmanaged to escape the spot dueto darkness. The injured duowere taken into custody andwere treated at a Gurugramcivil hospital," ACP (crime),Preet Pal Sangwan said.

Policeman Kapil receivedbullet injury on his shoulderand his colleague Sandeepreceived gunshot wounds inhis leg during the exchange offire and were admitted at thesame hospital. Dozens of firestook place during the gunfight,a senior police official said.

"The arrested accused areundergoing treatment in a gov-ernment hospital. The policewill take their custody oncethey are discharged from thehospital. Further probe isunderway," Sangwan added.

��������������3�2�32��

Two truck drivers werearrested here on Sunday

night allegedly after the recov-ery of over 2,223 kilograms ofmarijuana from a truck, offi-cials said on Monday.

The accused were identi-fied as Bhupender (34) andOmji (34) both are residents ofKannauj district in UttarPradesh. They were smugglingmarijuana valued at crore ofrupees from Orissa to Uklanain Hisar, police said.

The accused were hidingthe contraband inside bags ofcottonseed. The duo had also

struck a deal with their accom-plice of Rs 4 lakh to supply thecontraband to uklana.

1 truck, 380 bags of cot-tonseed, 70 bags of marijuana(2,233.20 kg) recovered fromtheir possession.

"After getting a tip-off, acrime unit Sector-10 of theGurugram conducted a raidnear the Panchgaon Chowk on

the Kundli-Manesar-PalwalExpressway and arrested theduo on Sunday at around 11.30pm," ACP (crime), Preet PalSangwan said.

During the search, 70gunny bags containing2,223.200 kilogram of mari-juana were found concealed ina middle cavity of the vehicle,the ACP said.

“Duringquestioning theculprit disclosed that he hadhidden the contraband in thetruck among cottonseed bagsso that the police could be mis-led during checking and theycould easily supply the con-signment at the designatedplace. They used to sell mari-juana after dividing it intosmall packets,” Sangwan said.

Both the arrested culpritswere booked under theNarcotic Drugs andPsychotropic Substances(NDPS) Act at the Bilaspurpolice station in Gurugram, thepolice said.

The accused were pro-duced before a local court onMonday for further investiga-tions.

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ABangladesh tri-service con-tingent will participate in

the forthcoming Republic Dayparade this year, coincidingwith the 50th anniversary ofthe India-Pakistan war andliberation of Bangladesh.

Britain’s Prime MinisterBoris Johnson is the chief guestfor the Republic Day celebra-tions at the Rajpath.

Given the raging coronapandemic, this year’s paradewill commence from its tradi-tional spot Vijay Chowk andend at the National Stadiuminstead of Red Fort. It meansthe parade will cover a distanceof about three kms instead ofnine kms in earlier years.

Moreover, not more than25,000 spectators will beallowed to witness the paradeas against one lakh earlier.Also, children will not beallowed to see the parade at thevenue as a safety measureagainst pandemic, sources saidhere on Monday.

The fly past will take place,they said adding the numberof soldiers in the marchingcontingents have also beenreduced as a precaution. Asagainst the 115 marchers inthe previous years, only 96 willmarch down the Rajpath thistime.

As regards the Bangladeshcontingent, they said it willarrive in Delhi on January 12and will depart on January 30.Upon arrival, the contingentwill be quarantined till January

19. The contingent includes amarching contingent and amilitary band.

Indian Air Force (IAF)planes will ferry the contingentto and from Bangladesh. Thecontingent will be carryingtheir own ceremonial riflesand the personnel will be intheir combat dress during themarch past. It will also visitplaces of historical signifi-cance in Agra and Ajmer onJanuary 28 and 29 before theirdeparture.

Sources said the Ministryof External Affairs (MEA) hasrequested the Bangladesh sideto include personnel from theArmy Units which took part inthe Liberation War in the vis-iting contingent. India andBangladesh have planned aseries of events through theyear to mark the 50th anniver-sary. In 2018, French Armybecame the first foreign con-tingent to take part in the

Republic Day parade onRajpath.

Incidentally, more than150 Army jawans tested pos-itive last month. They werepart of the marching contin-gents for the Republic Day andthe Army Day on January 15.Adequate steps were taken toquarantine them.

Giving details of the coro-na test, sources said, “Thesoldiers who came in fromoutside to participate in vari-ous parades were tested beforeputting them into a safe bub-ble. Some of them tested pos-itive. Almost all except sevenare asymptomatic.”

These were among thefew thousand soldiers whohave been tested, the sourcestated. Officials said the sol-diers who tested positive werequarantined at the DelhiCantonment where Covid-19facilities have been set upsince April.

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The Congress on Mondayconstituted a four-mem-

ber committee under the chair-manship of West BengalCongress chief Adhir RanjanChowdhury to hold talks withthe Left parties regarding seat-sharing and joint programmesfor the upcoming West BengalAssembly elections. The mem-bers are Abdul Mannan, PradipBhattacharya and NepalMahato.

Both the parties haveengaged in talks for long to takeon the ruling TrinamoolCongress and an aggressiveBJP, which made inroads inBengal during the 2019 LokSabha elections. The commit-tee has been chosen to metic-ulously work on the data andanalysis and decide on theseats based on the groundreports from the workers of thealliances team.

West Bengal Congress in-charge Jitin Prasada said talkson seat sharing will begin soonand the party will fight with fullforce to restore the pride ofBengal which is being“destroyed by the BJP andTMC”.

Chowdhur y hadannounced last month that theCongress high command hadgiven its approval to tie upwith the Left in West Bengal.The Congress had also con-tested the last assembly elec-tion in alliance with the Left.In the last election, the CPI-

M had contested 148 seats andwon 26. Congress had con-tested 92 but won 44, regis-tering a better strike rate thanits partner in the State. TheTMC had swept the electionby winning 211 of 295 seats.

The West Bengal assemblyelections is expected to be adifficult terrain for the rulingTMC this year as the BJP hasmade massive inroads inBengal with high pitched cam-paigns led by its top leadersincluding Home MinisterAmit Shah. In the Lok Sabhaelections 2019 BJP won 18Lok Sabha seats with close to41 per cent vote share whichis just two per cent less thanwhat TMC got.

BJP has sharpened itsattack on Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee in the recentpast.

In one of the recent publicrallies, Home Minister AmitShah said that his party willform the next government bywinning over 200 seats. AIMIMchief Asaduddin Owaisi hasalso announced that his partywill contest the next Assemblypolls in Bengal.

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The CBI has registered acase on a complaint from

Punjab National Bank againsta Delhi-based private com-pany Sonear Industries Ltdand others including its direc-tors/guarantors and unknownpublic ser vants/private persons for causing a loss of�168.73 crore to the publicsector lender.

The CBI on Monday conducted searches at five locations in Delhi at the officeand residential premises ofthe accused firm and indi-viduals in the case.

“It was alleged that thesaid accused had cheated thePunjab National Bank by wayof diversion of bank funds,fraudulent transactions, crim-inal misappropriation etc.,”the CBI said in a statement.

Besides the firm, its pro-moter Jitendra Kejriwal,directors Roop Kishore Tuliand Mohan Kumar Jha havealso been named as accusedin the case.

Earl ier, the SonearIndustries Ltd. Was incorpo-rated as Donear Décor PvtLtd. In May, 2004.

The company is engagedin the business of manufacturing decorative ply-wood, veneers and laminatessold under the brand namesDonear/Sonear.

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The CBI has booked aDefence Avionics Research

Establishment (DARE) scientistand a US-based firm for allegedirregularities in the import ofradar components worth aboutUSD one million in 2009, offi-cials said.

The agency registered thecase after getting clearance tolodge FIR against Priya Suresh,a scientist then posted atDARE, Bengaluru, they said.

Besides her, the CBI hasnamed AKON Inc based inCalifornia in the US in its FIRfor allegedly sending incom-plete equipment even afterreceiving payments for 35VCO-based RF Generator usedin radar-based electronic war-fare for USD one million (Rs7.3 crore as per presentexchange rates), they said.

It is alleged that the com-pany was selected for supplyingthe equipment through a glob-al tender and 90 per cent of thepayment was made in threetranches in February, 2009,they said.

The CBI has alleged thatshe had accepted these 35 unitseven after having knowledgefrom AKON representativesthrough emails that these unitswere in developmental stage,they said.

The agency, which did apreliminary enquiry into thematter before filing the FIR,found that 24 units were sentback for “upgrade” withoutstating the nature of upgrade,11 remained in DARE store till

2011 unused and untested,they alleged.

She allegedly allowed bal-ance payment to be made toAKON certifying that unitswere working satisfactorilyknowing that 24 units are stillwith the USA-based vendor,they said.

In 2011, after ensuringpayment to the vendor, the sci-entist recommended that 11units held in store are notworking at all and should besent back to the vendor forrepair, they said.

The CBI has alleged thateven now only 13 units are heldby DARE and the remainingare with AKON, it said.

The units supplied by thevendor did not meet the spec-ifications of the order and theirweight were approximatelythree times more than thedummy provided by it, theysaid.

Testing of VCO-basedradar threat simulator couldnot be completed by aBengaluru-based vendor evenafter full payment of �9.5 lakhbecause of non-supply of thecomponent by AKON, it said.

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The Income Tax departmenton Monday visited the

premises of Robert Vadra, son-in-law of Congress presidentSonia Gandhi, to record hisstatement in connection withits probe against him under thebenami assets law, officialsources said

They said Vadra was askedto join the investigation at the taxauthority’s office but as he citedCovid-19 restrictions, a team ofofficials visited his premises inDelhi’s Sukhdev Vihar area.

A department team hasgone to record Vadra’s statementunder the provisions of theProhibition of Benami PropertyTransactions Act, they said.

The department has beenprobing Vadra, the husband ofCongress leader PriyankaGandhi Vadra, on charges ofalleged possession of someundisclosed assets in the UK.

The EnforcementDirectorate too is investigatingthese charges, under the anti-money laundering law, againstthe businessman.

Vadra had denied anywrongdoing in the past even asthe Congress party had calledthe action political vendetta.

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The India MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD) on

Monday said that the averagemean land surface temperaturewas 0.29 degree Celsius abovenormal over the country in2020 and it was the eighthwarmest year on record sincenation-wide records com-menced in 1901.

According to the IMD,extreme weather events likeextremely heavy rainfall, floods,landslides, thunderstorm, light-ning and cold waves hadclaimed over 1900 lives in2020.

The IMD said that theaveraged seasonal mean tem-peratures were also above theaverage during all the seasonsexcept pre-monsoon seasonwhile averaged mean monthlytemperatures were warmerthan the normal during all themonths of the year exceptMarch and June in the country.

“The monsoon and post-monsoon seasons with meantemperature anomalies (Actualtemperature-Normal tempera-ture) of +0.43 degree Celsiusand +0.53 degree Celsiusrespectively mainly contributedto this warming. Mean tem-perature during the winter wasalso above normal with anom-aly of +0.14 degree Celsius.However, during the pre-mon-soon season temperature was

below normal (-0.03 degreeCelsius),” the IMD said in astatement on Climate of Indiaduring 2020.

The five warmest years onrecord in order were: 2016(+0.71 degree Celsius), 2009(+0.55 degree Celsius), 2017(+0.541 degree Celsius), 2010(+0.539 degree C), and 2015(+0.42 degree Celsius). It maybe mentioned that 12 out of 15warmest years were during therecent 15 years (2006-2020).Past decade (2001-2010/2011-2020) was also thewarmest decade on record withanomalies of 0.23 degreeCelsius /0.34 degree Celsius.

The country averagedannual mean temperature dur-ing 1901-2020 showed anincreasing trend of 0.62 degreeCelsius /100 years with signif-icant increasing trend in max-imum temperature (0.99 degree

Celsius/100 years) and rela-tively lower increasing trend(0.24 degree Celsius/100 years)in minimum temperature.

The Global mean surfacetemperature anomaly during2020 (January to October asper WMO state of the globalclimate) is +1.2 degree Celsius.

The IMD said that thecountry also experienced otherhigh impact weather eventslike, extremely heavy rainfall,floods, landslide, thunder-storm, lightning and coldwaves. Bihar and Uttar Pradeshwere the most adversely affect-ed states during the year whichreportedly claimed more than350 deaths from each statemainly due to thunderstorm,lightning & cold wave events.

Heavy rainfall and floodrelated incidents reportedlyclaimed over 600 lives from dif-ferent parts of the country

during pre-monsoon, mon-soon & post-monsoon sea-sons. Of these, 129 lives werereportedly claimed fromAssam, 72 from Kerala[Specifically, 65 persons report-edly claimed dead in a singleday from Pettimudi in Munnar,Idukki district of Kerala on 7thAugust due to landslide.], 61from Telangana (while, 59 livesreportedly claimed only duringthe period 1st to 20th October),54 lives from Bihar, 50 fromMaharashtra, 48 Uttar Pradesh,& 38 from Himachal Pradesh.

Thunderstorms and light-ning reportedly have claimed815 lives from different parts ofthe country. Among these, 280from Bihar, 220 from UttarPradesh, 122 from Jharkhand,72 from Madhya Pradesh, 23from Maharashtra and 20 fromAndhra Pradesh were signifi-cant.

“Cold wave conditionsmainly prevailed over centralparts the country especially inthe month of January. It causeddeaths of about 150 people. Ofthese deaths, 88 deaths werereported from Uttar Pradeshalone, 45 from Bihar only onsingle day on 1st January & 16from Jharkhand,” the IMDsaid.

“The annual rainfall overthe country was 109 % of longperiod average (LPA) of 117.7cms. During 2020, 5 cyclonesformed over the North IndianOcean,” it added.

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Bharat Biotech, whichreceived emergency

approval for its Covid-19 vac-cine only in “clinical trialmode”, has been allowed toconduct its trials on childrenwho are above the age of 12years. The vaccine has alreadybeen used for children above 12in the last round and has beenfound safe.

The Hyderabad-basedfirm is conducting Phase 3 tri-als.

Oxford-AstraZeneca coro-navirus vaccine ‘Covishield’,manufactured by Pune-basedSerum Institute of India (SII)has been approved for thoseabove the age of 18. The DCGIhad on Sunday approvedBharat Biotech’s ‘Covaxin’ andSerum’s ‘Covishield’ for emer-gency use in the country,paving the way for a massiveinoculation drive.

So far, the Government hassaid the vaccination drive isintended only for adults but

this provides hope that if thereis sufficient data, then it can beextended fully to children inthe future. The drug regulatorclarified the age requisites foractive immunisation in a doc-ument while giving permissionto manufacture Covaxin.

Union Health Minister DrHarsh Vardhan had clarifiedon Sunday that emergencyapproval for Covaxin is differ-ent from the one given forSerum Institute’s Covishieldbecause Covaxin’s use will be

in clinical trial mode. All itsrecipients will be tracked andmonitored as if they are par-ticipating in a trial.

Bharat Biotech’s Covaxinwas “safe and provides a robustimmune response”, saidDCGI’s VG Somani.

The DCGI has also askedthe drug firm to submit updat-ed safety, efficacy andimmunogenicity data from theongoing Phase I, II and Ill clin-ical trials till the completion oftrials.

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Aday after the DrugsController General of India

(DCGI) gave its nod for theemergency use approval fortwo indigenous vaccinesagainst Covid-19 on Sunday,Vice President M VenkaiahNaidu on Monday termed it asIndia’s leap of science andmanifestation of the spirit ofAtmanirbhar Bharat.

Naidu stressed that thisdevelopment can benefit notonly Indians but the largerhumanity. He also appealed tothe people to express the samespirit in taking the vaccine asthey did while perseveringthrough the coronavirus pan-demic in 2020.

“India is in the forefront of

shielding humanity from thedeadly disease by demonstrat-ing its ability to mass producethe much-needed vaccine andoffer its own version as well.India’s indigenous vaccine(Covaxin) has certain uniquefeatures based on the wholevirus approach. This is a com-mendable achievement and allconcerned deserve kudos forthe foresight and perseveranceand fruition of spirited efforts,”Naidu was quoted in a Pressrelease from Vice President’s

Secretariat.Referring to the devastat-

ing effects of Covid-19 last year, Naidu hailed the spirited sci-entific efforts to come out withvaccines. He further said,“While the celebrations canwait till every needy person getsthe vaccine shot, it’s not out ofcontext to say cheers to thisoptimistic moment.”

He noted that India’s spir-ited efforts towards makingvaccines available offers hopeto people across the globe con-ferring on India the leadershiprole in the collective fightagainst the most dreaded healthchallenge of the last 100 yearssince the outbreak of SpanishFlu.

Noting that developmentand administration of vaccineare guided by a stringentregime of protocols and strictmonitoring of attendant datawithout any compromise, theVice President referred to theregulator’s assurance to thenation of due diligence beforegiving nod to the two vaccines,Covishield and Covaxin onSunday.

“India’s leap of science withthe vaccine announcement is aclear manifestation of the spir-it of Atmanirbhar Bharat,”Naidu stated.

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Madhya Pradesh ChiefMinister Shivraj Singh

Chouhan on Monday said hewill not get the vaccineadministered, saying thosewho fall under the prioritygroups should get the preference. It is, however, notclear whether the top rungGovernment leaders, including the Prime Minister,will be administered the anti-Coronavirus vaccine in thefirst phase or not.

Heads of many countrieshave been the first to takeCoronavirus vaccines to instilconfidence in the public oftheir respective countries. “Ihave decided that I will not getvaccinated for now. First itshould be administered toothers. My turn should comeafterwards. We have to workto ensure that priority groupsare administered with the vaccine,” Chouhan said.

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The Supreme Court Mondayasked the Centre to either

withdraw or amend rules noti-fied in 2017 for confiscatinganimals of traders and trans-porters during the pendency oftrial in cases under thePrevention of Cruelty toAnimals Act, saying they arecontrary to the law.

The top court said therules will be stayed if not with-drawn or amended by theCentre as the law providesthat animals can be confiscat-

ed only if a person is convict-ed under the Act.

The Supreme CourtMonday asked the Centre toeither withdraw or amend rulesnotified in 2017 for confiscat-ing animals of traders andtransporters during the pen-dency of trial in cases under thePrevention of Cruelty toAnimals Act, saying they arecontrary to the law.confiscatedonly if a person is convictedunder the Act.

A bench of Chief Justice SA Bobde and Justices A SBopanna and V

Ramasubramanian said thatanimals are a source of liveli-hood for the people concerned.

The bench told AdditionalSolicitor General Jayant K Sud,appearing for the Centre, thatthe government cannot con-fiscate the cattle and keep itbefore a person is convicted.

At the outset, Sudinformed the bench that the2017 rules have been notified.

The bench said that ani-mals are a source of livelihood.We are not talking about petdogs and cats. People live onthe basis of their animals.

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Thirty-five students ofPanjab University have

written to Chief Justice of India(CJI) SA Bobde and otherjudges of the Supreme Courtseeking an enquiry into allegedpolice atrocities on the farmersprotesting at Delhi bordersagainst the three farm laws.

Aanchal Sawa, one of thesignatories of the letter, toldPTI that the apex court reg-istry has provided the diarynumber to the letter whichmay be registered and heard asa PIL.

In the open letter, the stu-dents of the Centre for HumanRights and Duties of the uni-versity have alleged that therehas been “illegitimate use ofwater cannons, tear gasesshells and lathis on peacefulprotesting farmers” by policeauthorities which needs to beprobed.

Seeking inquiry into policeexcesses and illegal detentionof some protesters, the letterhas also sought a direction toauthorities “to withdraw all thecases against innocent farmerswhich were registered underpolitical vendetta”.

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Thiruvvananthapuram: At atime when Women's safety isa huge concern, a state-runagency is offering a platformfor them to get training in mar-tial arts for free of cost inKerala.

The State YouthCommission, aimed at empow-ering youth and protectingtheir rights, is getting ready togive free self-defence trainingfor young women.

The objective of the pro-gramme was to prepare everywoman in the southern statefor self-defence against physi-cal assault, Commission offi-cials here said.

Those women, agedbetween18 and 40 years whohave registered with theCommunity Volunteer Force ofthe state government, can applyfor the free martial arts train-ing, the officials said.

Chintha Jerome,Chairperson of the YouthCommission, said the trainingprogramme would begin inThiruvananthapuram districtin the initial phase. PTI

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Thiruvananthapuram: Afterschools, Colleges and univer-sity campuses opened partiallyin Kerala on Monday, afterremaining closed for over 290days due to restrictions andlockdown imposed in the wakeof COVID-19 pandemic.

Over 1,350 higher educa-tion institutions including artsand science and engineeringcolleges, state universities andthe lone central university in thestate located in Kasaragod wel-comed a limited number of stu-dents in compliance with strictCOVID protocols.

Classes restarted for thefinal year undergraduate andpostgraduate students.

Thermal screening, manda-tory usage of face masks, socialdistancing and frequent saniti-sation of campuses greeted stu-dents in each institution.

As per the governmentinstructions, only 50 per cent of

students were allowed in eachclass and shift system was intro-duced in many institutionsbased on the strength of stu-dents.

The respective institutionscan arrange the classes in theircampus in two shifts between8.30 AM to 5 PM on all daysexcept Sundays, it said.The decision to increase theworking hours and to conductclasses on Saturday has irked asection of the academic frater-nity especially those belongingto teachers' unions affiliated toopposition parties.

Schools in the southernstate, remained closed sincethe coronavirus-induced lock-down in March, had openedpartially on January 1 in adher-ence to COVID guidelines.Classes began for 10th and12th standard students in theschools in government and pri-vate sectors. PTI

Puducherry: All schools here and inKaraikal re-opened on Monday with adher-ence to Covid-19 safety norms. Theschools remained shut for nine months dueto the pandemic-induced lockdown.

Today, the institutions re-opened forhalf-a-day from 10 AM to 1 PM. Studentswere subjected to thermal scanning toassess their body temperature, a source said.

The premises of schools were disinfectedas per the standard operating proceduresbefore being re-opened.

Attendance was not insisted upon andletters of consent from parents were madenecessary.

Already, students in standards X, XI andXII have been attending classes fromDecember 17in view of the public exams inthe next few months. Full-day classeswould be held from January 18.Attendance ranged between 80 to cent percent, the source said. PTI

Patna: All educational institutions inBihar, including schools, colleges andcoaching centres, reopened onMonday after a gap of over ninemonths.

Physical classes were held for stu-dents of standards 9-12 in schools andfinal year students in colleges. Theinstitutions were closed since March14 due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Wearing of masks, use of handsanitiser and maintenance of physi-cal distancing have been mademandatory at the educational insti-tutions. Schools have been asked tooperate at half the strength to ensuresocial distancing in classes.

Attendance, however, remainedthin as many parents were appre-hensive of sending their wards to theeducational institutions till they werevaccinated. Many students, on theother hand, were enthusiastic aboutthe development. “I am happy thatschools have reopened as studentswere getting badly affected. Most of

the children studying in governmentschools do not have laptops to carryout online studies. Our syllabus is lag-ging and we will work hard to coverit,” a class 9 student of Patna's MillerHigh School said.

Another class 11 student said thatthough COVID-19 fears loom large,studies are equally important and can-not be missed, while assuring thatsafety protocols will be maintained.

Teachers too seemed happy to beable to take physical classes again.

“It is good that we are getting anopportunity to teach students inphysical classrooms. All these monthswe used to come to schools but didnot have teaching work,” an educatorof Miller High School said.

The attendance of class 11 and 12students is lesser than that of class 9and 10 pupils, he said.

Students have to bring consentletters from their guardians to be ableto attend the classes, another teachersaid. PTI

Jaipur: Rajasthan Health MinisterRaghu Sharma on Monday said thestate government, after bringing downthe daily case count of COVID-19, isnow focusing on reducing the post-COVID-19 effect.

Post-COVID-19 care treatment isnow the top priority of the state gov-ernment, he said.

Sharma requested the people, whohave recovered from COVID-19 buthave post-COVID effects, to consultand take treatment at 'post-COVIDcare clinics' and 'day care centres' runby the medical and health department.

He said the people who haverecovered from COVID-19 should bein constant touch with the doctors ifthey have any kind of post-COVIDsymptoms such as physical weakness,weakness in lungs, pain in hands andlegs so that it can be cured.

The health minister said manysymptoms are appearing as post-COVID effects and in the view of it,post-COVID centres have been set upat the government medical institutionsin the state. PTI

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Controversial farm laws and cel-ebration of Netaji Subhas

Chandra Bose’s birth anniversaryhave suddenly become the two cen-tral topics ahead of Bengal Assemblyelections.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjeeon Monday renewed her demandsfor declaring January 23 the birthanniversary of Netaji as a nationalholiday.

“I personally feel we haven'tdone anything important for NetajiSubhas Chandra Bose after inde-pendence. I've written a letter toCenter to declare 23rd January, birthanniversary of Netaji SubhasChandra Bose, as a national holiday.It is my demand,” the Chief Ministersaid unraveling grand programmesincluding an apolitical rally to cele-brate the national icon’s birth daywhich would be observed as “Desh

Nayak Diwas.”In what experts called a ploy to

evaluate her support base, Banerjeesaid, “the people of the State wouldbe encouraged to blow conch shellsand give azaans at the time ofNetaji’s birth.”

The Chief Minister said she hadearlier written to Prime MinisterNarendra Modi requesting him toconsider declaring Netaji’s anniver-sary as a national holiday. TheGovernment schools would be askedto prepare Jai Hind and Azad Hindbrigades to promote nationalism,Banerjee who held video conferenceswith civil society members said.

Banerjee also said that she wasagainst playing politics with farmersadding her Government would bringa motion in the State Assemblydenouncing the farm laws.

“There should not be any poli-tics over the farmers … they are ourfood providers … We are thinking

to bring a motion in the StateAssembly against the farm law forwhich the House will be opened fora couple of days,” Banerjee said.

Threatening a nationwide stirshe had earlier said that the “the cen-tral government must withdraw thisanti-people law.”

With an apparent eye on theelections the Chief Minister alsoannounced a slew of welfare projectsparticularly free eye care.

The Government would freeeye treatment to the people of theState and would “provide free spec-tacles to 8.25 lakh people,” Banerjeesaid adding 20 lakh cataract opera-tions would also be conducted freeof cost.

The students would be given freeeye care in the Government schools,she said adding the eye treatmentwould be provided in about 1,200gram panchayats and primary healthcare centres.

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Defending the anti-conversionlaw enacted by the Yogi

Adityanath government in UttarPradesh, a group of former judges,civil servants and veterans onMonday hit out at its critics, sayingthey seem to have “usurped” theconstitutional power of judicialreview to put every law of the landto the “test of their own whims”.

In a statement signed by 224persons, including those from acad-emia, they claimed that the UttarPradesh Prohibition of UnlawfulConversion of Religion Ordinance,referred as 'love jihad' law byHindutva groups, applies to every-one and safeguards the dignity ofwomen.

Slamming the law's critics forterming it illegal and anti-Muslim,the statement alleged that it is a“shocking obsession of this biasedgroup to stoke communal fire byinstigating the religious minori-ties”. Former UP chief secretary

Yogendra Narain, former Punjabchief secretary Sarvesh Kaushal,former Haryana chief secretaryDharam Vir, former Delhi HighCourt chief justice Rajendra Menon,former ambassador Lakshmi Puriand former Maharashtra DGPPraveen Dixit are among the signa-tories to the statement.

Their support to the law camedays after 104 retired civil servantsalleged that Uttar Pradesh hasbecome the “epicentre of politics ofhate, division and bigotry” and theinstitutions of governance are“steeped in communal poison”. Theyhad sought repeal of the law, sayingit is being used to particularly vic-timise Muslim men.

Countering them, the state-ment said 'Ganga-Jamuni' culture, acolloquial term for peaceful inter-faith existence, does not stand forunlawful conversions with criminalintent, leading to murders, mutila-tion, torture and betrayal of womenin particular. “We strongly believe ina secular India with harmoniouscoexistence of people of all faiths,

and consider unlawful conversionswith wrongful intent and question-able means a threat to communalharmony.... We urge all state gov-ernments to discharge their func-tions in the best public interest inmaintaining law and order, socialharmony and dignity of womenwithout succumbing to any pres-sures,” it said.

The signatories said the formercivil servants, who had issued a state-ment slamming the law, shouldhave kept in mind that even prior toIndia's independence, princely states,including Kota, Patna, Surguja,Udaipur, and Kalahandi, had passedlaws regarding religious conver-sions.

After independence, Orissa,Madhya Pradesh, ArunachalPradesh, Himachal Pradesh andUttarakhand among others had leg-islated on matters relating to unlaw-ful conversions, they noted, addingthat new laws reflect the evolvingneeds of a dynamic society.

They said it is a hasty general-isation based on a solitary incident

of alleged lapse in Moradabad thatthe law itself has been dubbed as ille-gal and, in particular, anti-Muslim.The critics lost sight of a large num-ber of incidents where hapless vic-tim women have been “brutallymurdered” in a ghastly manner inthe course of inter-faith marriagesand conversions, they said, citingseveral cases.

The group of 104 former civilservants is “visibly biased”, theyalleged, accusing them of workingwith an anti-establishment attitudeand availing of every opportunity to“put the Indian democracy, its insti-tutions, and persons legitimatelyholding high offices in poor lightbefore the whole world by makingill-considered public statements”.

Those defending the law saidthis “politically motivated pressure-group” does not represent thousandsof former civil servants, judges,veterans and other “nationalist intel-lectuals” who believe in India emerg-ing as the greatest democracy of theworld, and “a global icon” bringingpride to every Indian.

Lucknow: Two days after Akhilesh Yadav saidhe will not get himself injected with a “BJP vac-cine” against coronavirus, the Samajwadi Partychief asserted Monday that he had never insult-ed the scientists who developed it.

Yadav's comment on Saturday that hecould not trust a vaccine which would be usedby a BJP government had triggered sharp reac-tions from the ruling party as well as leaders likeOmar Abdullah of the National Conference.

The SP chief had tried to make amends onTwitter the same day, saying he was not refer-ring to the scientists.

Questioned again by reporters on hisremarks, the SP asked the Centre to tell whenthe poor people in the state will get the anti-COVID shot and if it will be available free.

“I have never raised any questions on anyscientist developing the vaccine or any personhelping in making the vaccine. I only raised ques-tions on the BJP as people do not have faith inthe party because of the decisions taken by it,”he said. But he appeared to raise doubts againagainst the vaccines set to be rolled out in thecountry in the coming days, asking what hap-

pened with the Haryana minister who had gothimself vaccinated.

“The government hospital could not treathim, so he went to a private hospital to save hislife,” Yadav said.

The apparent reference was to Haryana'sAnil Vij who had tested positive for coronavirusdays after taking part in a trial for BharatBiotech's Covaxin. It was however clarified thenthat not all participants in the trial were inject-ed with the vaccine – a proportion of them wereadministered placebos. In any case, it needed twoshots days apart for the immunity to kick in.

Akhilesh Yadav said after the “debate” on thevaccines, the government should come forwardand remove all doubts. “We want to know fromthe government when the poor people in thestate will get vaccinated, and whether it will befree of cost or not,” he said.

“The government should tell its plan. Firstof all the people of the press should get vacci-nated. I am saying this with full seriousness thatyou people risked your lives during the COVID-19 coverage, and some of your people lost theirlives,” Yadav added. PTI

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Gujarat Chief Minister VijayRupani on Monday said

the state is fully equipped forthe COVID-19 vaccinationdrive and will begin the processas soon as the central govern-ment announces the plan.

Preparations related to coldchain infrastructure, surveyand training of vaccinatorshave been completed, Rupanisaid addressing an event atAhwa in Dang district.

India's drugs regulator onSunday approved OxfordCOVID-19 vaccine Covishield,manufactured by the SerumInstitute, and indigenouslydeveloped Covaxin of BharatBiotech for restricted emer-gency use in the country,paving the way for a massiveinoculation drive.

“Gujarat is fully equippedfor vaccination againstCOVID-19. Soon, the Made inIndia vaccine will be availableand the vaccination processwill start,” Rupani said.

The state government hasmade necessary arrangementsfor the vaccination, he said.

“Cold chains have been setup, survey work has been com-pleted, and training for vacci-nation has also been given tothe personnel (concerned),”Rupani said.

The state government willstart the process in accordancewith the Centre's plan, headded.

The Serum Institute ofIndia, the world's largest vac-cine manufacturer, has tiedup with AstraZeneca to man-ufacture Covishield, whileCovaxin has been indigenous-ly developed by Bharat Biotechin collaboration with theIndian Council of MedicalResearch (ICMR).

On Sunday, Gujarat's tallyof coronavirus cases rose to2,47,228 with the addition of715 fresh infections.

The state has so far report-ed 4,318 deaths due toCOVID-19, according to offi-cial figures.

Puducherry: Chief Minister of Puducherry V Narayanasamysaid on Monday that the territorial administration has read-ied infrastructure to vaccinate 14,000 health and field work-ers against COVID-19.

Addressing a virtual press conference, he said the vac-cines were expected to be made available by the Centre in10 days.

“We have, in the meanwhile, got ready the infrastruc-ture to first inoculate 14,000 personnel of Health Departmentand field staff,” he said.

Right now, 13,000 personnel and workers had registeredthemselves for coverage and no time will be lost to inocu-late the workers and health staff, he said.

The territorial government would meet the expendi-ture to purchase the vaccines for free inoculation, the ChiefMinister said. He said 41 centres were readied for the inoc-ulation. While Puducherry would have 29 centres, Karaikalwould have eight, Mahe three and Yanam one.

Each of the centres would vaccinate around 200 peo-ple a day, he said.

Those above 50 and those with diabetes and blood pres-sure would be covered in the next phase.

Cold chain facilities were also in place to preserve thevaccine. While Puducherry would have 36 cold chain units,Karaikal would have 15 followed by Mahe three and Yanamone. He said Puducherry had recorded the largest numberof sample tests. The recovery rate was high and fatality ratelow. The test positivity was 0.8 per cent now.

He mentioned the dedicated work by health staff, offi-cials of the Revenue Department, police personnel and otherdepartments to ensure that the pandemic was kept at bay. PTI

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Till Sunday morning AnnaArivalayam, the headquar-

ters of the DMK in Chennai’sMount Road looked like a bee-hive of activities. But by eveningthe ambience in the party officehas given way to a sense ofuncertainty. What shocked theparty leadership and cadre wasthe announcement fromMadurai.

M K Alagiri, the Maduraibased son of late MKarunanidhi, the former ChiefMinister who was also the partychief for nearly five decadesdelivered a powerful blow to thechief ministerial dreams of M KStalin, the reigning president ofthe party who is also theyounger brother of the former.

“Stalin can never becomethe chief minister of Tamil Naduwithout my support. My sup-porters will never let Stalinbecome the chief minister,”Alagiri declared while address-ing his followers in a publicmeeting. The DMK leadershiphas not responded to Alagiri'ssalvo till Monday evening.

Alagiri, who was the organ-ising secretary of the DMK for

the southern districts of the Statewas expelled from the primarymembership of the partyallegedly for anti-party activities.“Till this day I have not been toldthe reason for my expulsionfrom the party. It was a con-spiracy hatched by certain lead-ers in the party in order toappease Stalin,” said Alagiri.

Alagiri, who was the unionminister for fertilisers and chem-icals during 2009 to 2013 in thesecond UPA Government, hasbeen lying low since 2013 afterhis expulsion from the party. Hedid not campaign actively for theparty in the 2014 Lok Sabhapolls and the DMK was obliter-ated in the hustings. The DMKcould not win against theAIADMK in the 2016 assemblyelection despite the anti-incum-bency factor. This is being seenas the fall out of Alagiri’s non-cooperation with the party lead-ership.

Political commentatorspoint out that whenever Alagirihad been antagonised by theparty leadership, the DMK wasmauled in the polls. “He is aforce to reckon with in southernTamil Nadu and the DMK cannever afford to ignore him,” saida political commentator in

Chennai.Bhanumathi Swaminathan,

a former banker with a leadingcorporate bank said Alagiri iscapable of spoiling the prospectsof the DMK.

“He has been portrayed asa rough and arrogant personwhich is a blatant lie. Alagiri isa nice and jovial person. Sincehe worships in temples, theDravidian media had created anotion that he is power hungryand incapable. Having knownhim for years, I can say that heis respected and loved by thou-sands,” said Bhnumathy.

She pointed out how Alagirisinglehandedly ensured thedefeat of many DMK bigwigs inthe 2001 election despite afavourable situation. “AllKarunanidhi had to do was toaccommodate five or six personsrecommended by Alagiri ascandidates. Stalin vetoedAlagiri’s request for which theDMK had to pay heavy price,”she said.

There are reports thatAlagiri may launch a separateparty and form a front with likeminded parties. “He has friendsin all parties in the State who arealways willing to help him,”said a long time associate.

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Aligarh: Due to the intermit-tent rains since Sunday morn-ing, a farm owner and thelaborer standing near theground, died of lightning in thefarm of Aurangabad village ofHarduaganj. At the same time,teenager died after being hit byfalling walls due to heavy rainin Lodha. And a farmer dieddue to excessive cold inGangiri.

According to theHarduaganj representative,Chandraveer (46) son of RamSingh, a resident of villageShahpur, has a farm in theneighbouring village ofAurangabad. Chandraveerwent to the farm to break thepea pod. At the same time,Vinod Manjhi's son, GandhiManjhi, a Gaya resident ofBihar, who works on a brickkiln located in the neighbor-hood, also reached out to talkto Chandraveer in some con-nection. Both were talking andsuddenly a heavy rain camewith hail, which they ran toavoid. PNS

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The only shooter and inter-national shooting referee

Vedprakash Sharma, who rep-resented India from Aligarh atthe International ShootingChampionships, has earnedkudos for the country. TheScanner League being orga-nized by England started onJanuary 3. The first leagueround was played on 3 January.In this, Vedprakash performedseventh in the top-8, perform-ing brilliantly. He is the onlyparticipant from India to par-ticipate in this competition.

Vedprakash said that, inthe age group above 40 years,veteran shooters from 60 coun-tries are participating.

It is important to be in thetop-8 in shooting sports fromNational to Olympic. Becauseonly the shooters in the top-8list go to the next round or thefinal. He took aim in thisonline competition throughSwitzerland's state-of-the-artmachine.

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In a significant development,as many as 10,362 patients

were discharged from varioushospitals in Maharashtra afterfull recovery from Covid-19 onMonday, even as the deathsdipped further to 29 and theinfections came down to 2765in the state.

Mumbai’s downward trendcontinued, with the daily deathtally plummeting to three forthe second consecutive day.

As a result, the Covid-19toll rose from 11,135 to 11,138,while the total infections in themetropolis climbed to 2,94,986.

As 10,362 patients weredischarged from the hospitalsacross the state after full recov-ery, the total number of peopledischarged from the hospitalssince the second week of Marchthis year went up to 18,47,361.The recovery rate in the staterose from 94.59 per cent to94.88 per cent.

A day after the deaths inMaharashtra dropped to 35and the state logged 3282 infec-tions, the Covid-19 deaths slidfurther to 29, while the infec-tions went down further by 517to touch a daily tally of 2765.

With 29 fresh deaths in the

state, the total number ofdeaths in the state went upfrom 49,666 to 49695. With2765 fresh infections and a fur-ther increase of 2110 positivecases because of the reconcili-ation process, the total numberof infected cases climbed from19,42,136 to 19,47,011.

Meanwhile, the number of“active cases” total cases in thestate dropped from 54,317 Thefatality rate in the state stood at2.56 per cent to 2.55 per cent.

Pune district, which con-tinued to be the worst-affectedcity-district in Maharashtra,saw the total number of casesincrease from 3,74,272 to3,74,748 while the total num-ber of deaths in Pune went upfrom 7,770 to 7772.

Thane district remainedin the third spot --after Puneand Mumbai – after the totalnumber of infections rose from2,55,678 to 2,59,123 while thetotal deaths climbed from 5593to 5599.

Of the 1,30,04,876 samplessent to laboratories, 19,47,011have tested positive (14.97 percent) for COVID-19 untilMonday.

Currently, 2,41,728 peo-ple are in home quarantinewhile 3078 people are in insti-tutional quarantine.

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The recent judgment of theAllahabad High Courtupholding the freedom ofexpression guaranteed

under Article 19(1)(a) and chidingthe State of Uttar Pradesh (UP) formalicious prosecution of a personwho had criticised the ChiefMinister for “poor handling of lawand order in his State”, shouldhopefully have a salutary effect onthe State Governments which havebeen recklessly using penal provi-sions in our laws against those whoexpress dissent.

The case pertained to a FirstInformation Report (FIR) lodged inAugust 2020 against YashwantSingh, who put out a tweet criticis-ing the Chief Minister for trans-forming the State “into a jungle rajin which no law and order prevails”.The tweet also made reference tovarious incidents of abduction,demand of ransom and murders.He was accused of violating twoprovisions in the law — Section 500of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) per-taining to defamation and Section66D of the Information Technology(IT) Act, 2008, which pertains topersonation, or what is commonlyunderstood as impersonation.Yashwant Singh petitioned theHigh Court and sought the quash-ing of the FIR.

The petitioner’s counsel con-tended that the right to commenton the affairs of the State was wellwithin Yashwant Singh’s constitu-tional right envisaged under Article19 of the Constitution of India andthat “mere dissent does not amountto criminality”. Hence, the FIR reg-istered against him was mala fide“and was meant only to coerce himto stop expressing his dissent againstthe State Government”. He also con-tended that no offence had beenmade out and that the FIR shouldbe quashed.

A Division Bench, comprisingJustices Pankaj Naqvi and VivekAgarwal of the Allahabad HighCourt, has made a succinct but sig-nificant observation while quashingthe FIR and other proceedingsagainst the petitioner. Referring tothe charge of “defamation” underSection 500 of the IPC, the judgessaid that no case had been made out“as the alleged tweet cannot be saidto fall within the mischief ofdefamation”. The judges struck ablow for democracy when they saidthat “expressing dissent on the lawand order situation in the State is ahallmark of a constitutional liberaldemocracy like ours, constitution-ally protected under Article 19 of theConstitution”.

The second charge against the

petitioner pertained to violationof Section 66D of the IT Act,2008, which states: “Whoever, bymeans of any communicationdevice or computer resource,cheats by personation, shall bepunished with imprisonment ofeither description for a termwhich may extend to three yearsand shall also be liable to a finewhich may extend to �1 lakh.”The judges analysed these provi-sions vis-à-vis the allegationmade in the FIR and said thatthey did not find “even remote-ly” a commission of offenceunder Section 66D, as the saidprovision relates to cheating bypersonation and it is not the caseof prosecution that while com-mitting the overt act, the petition-er tweeted using somebody else’stwitter handle nor was there anyallegation of cheating. Hence, thecourt concluded that no offencehad been made out under thisSection as well.

As far as the State is con-cerned, this is indeed a damningindictment of the Governmentand the police. To prosecute a cit-izen for criminal defamation —which can entail a fine or a jailterm which can extend up to twoyears — because he is disappoint-ed with the Chief Minister’s han-dling of the law and order situa-tion is something unheard of inthis country, and the judges haverightly ticked off the State fordoing so.

But this scenario is not con-fined to UP only. Several otherChief Ministers and StateGovernments have begun chal-lenging the basic freedoms givento all citizens by the Constitution.The State of West Bengal would

head this list, not only for thesheer number of such cases butalso for starting this trend of jail-ing its critics. It all started with theMamata Banerjee Governmentarresting Prof AmbikeshMahapatra of JadavpurUniversity and his friend in 2012and charging them with offencesunder the IT Act for circulatingcartoons lampooning the ChiefMinister. Following his arrest,

Prof Mahapatra moved the StateHuman Rights Commission,which criticised their arrest anddirected the State Government topay each of them a compensationof �50,000. The State did notcomply with the directions of thecommission, compelling theProfessor to move the CalcuttaHigh Court. The court upheldthe rights commission’s order andenhanced the amount of com-pensation payable to ProfMahapatra and his friend to�75,000 each.

Even more absurd was thesedition charge slapped on a folksinger in Tamil Nadu in 2015 forcriticising the then Chief MinisterJ Jayalalithaa’s policy on the issueof prohibition.

The Communist Party ofIndia (Marxist)-led KeralaGovernment was unhappy withthe State Lalithakala Akademi’sdecision to select a cartoon,which mocked a Bishop accusedof rape, for its annual awards.Several Christian outfits and theState Government wanted theautonomous body to re-consid-er its decision. The Akademi,however, did not relent.

Those of us who are seniorcitizens, have lived and thrived ina healthy democratic environ-ment in this country in which wehave said much harsher thingsagainst the persons in power. Atthe height of the controversy overthe kickbacks paid by Bofors, theSwedish arms manufacturer, toIndian politicians and others, theIndian Express ran RamJethmalani’s famous 10 ques-tions to Prime Minister RajivGandhi every day. Reading thosequestions, Rajiv must have

squirmed every morning but hehad to grin and bear it!

In fact, many of these ChiefMinisters must look at howPrime Minister Narendra Modideals with those who abuse himon the social media. The Modi-baiters constantly upload car-toons and memes seeking toridicule him on Twitter andFacebook. They often generatehashtags like “#WorstPrime-Minister” or some such andbegin a trend along with theircamp followers. On his last birth-day, they created a hashtag,“#NationalUnemploymentDay”,and kept it going the whole day.He is probably the most trolledIndian. Often, his political ene-mies cross the limits of decency.As Modi himself said at a publicmeeting during the last LokSabha elections, a Congressleader called him “gandi naali kakeeda” (a gutter insect) whileanother said that he was a “maddog”. Can there be anythingmore defamatory and abusivethan this? If the Prime Minister’sOffice were to prosecute all thesepeople, Modi would need to cre-ate a full-fledged department tohandle these prosecutions.

In fact, this is one of the pro-fessional hazards of being inpublic life in a democracy and,over the years, and especially inthe age of social media, thepoliticians across democraticcountries — including India —have learnt to develop a thickhide. Some of our Chief Ministersmust follow suit.

(The writer is an author spe-cialising in democracy studies. The views expressed arepersonal.)

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������������� �����Sir — The roof of a shelter at acrematorium in UP'sMuradnagar collapsed onSunday, claiming at least 24 livesand injuring many others. Theroof collapsed at a time whenseveral people had taken shelterunder the structure during aheavy downpour.

It is a serious case of negli-gence on the part of the admin-istration which failed to improvethe condition of the dilapidatedstructure. Those injured areundergoing treatment at differ-ent hospitals. Chief MinisterYogi Adityanath had on Sundayannounced �2 lakh as financialrelief for the families of each ofthe deceased. The victims’ kinblocked the Delhi-MeerutHighway demanding highercompensastion.

On Monday three municipalofficials were arrested by theGhaziabad police over the roofcollapse incident.

The State Governmentshould ensure better manage-ment at such places and takesteps to make sure that over-crowding is avoided at thefunerals during the COVID-19.

MR JayanthiGhaziabad

������ ����� ��Sir — BCCI president and for-mer India captain SouravGanguly, who has undergoneangioplasty after a mild heartattack, is now stable and hishealth parameters are beingclosely monitored.

The 48-year-old sufferedchest discomfort on Saturdaywhile exercising at his home gym

and was admitted to a hospital inKolkata.

We, the cricket fans, pray forhis speedy recovery. Since evenactive cricketers suffer such mildattacks, it is time to routinelyundergo medical tests annuallyto avoid a major setback.

The incident should also betaken as a warning by the gen-eral public. We should learn

from it and the health authori-ties should strive to take aware-ness, education and training tothe citizens to increase thechances of saving more lives asthe immediate minutes followinga heart attack are critical and atrained person can mean the dif-ference between life and death.

CKR NathanKolkata

������������������Sir — After the expert commit-tee’s approval for both SerumInstitute of India’s Covishield andBharat Biotech’s Covaxin, the ballis in the Government’s court toensure seamless administrationof these vaccines to the citizens.

The supply chain infrastruc-ture and management would betested to the core during thisexercise. Union Health MinisterHarsh Vardhan has alreadyannounced that the vaccinationwill be free across the nation and,in the first phase of COVID-19inoculation, it shall be providedto one crore healthcare and twocrore frontline workers.

The Government cannot belax in its approach towards com-bating the deadly virus.Comprehensive supply chainmechanisms need to be preparedand shared with people so thattotal transparency is maintainedto gain people's trust. All COVIDprotocols, like social distancingand wearing masks, must be seri-ously followed till all the citizensget vaccinated.

Bal GovindNoida

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The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) tri-bunal in The Hague has rejected the back taxdemands of Indian tax authorities in both, the

Cairn and Vodafone cases. These back taxes relateto capital gains made on transactions in 2006-2007.According to the PCA, the demands have beenrejected on two counts. First, they violate India’sobligations under Bilateral Investment Treaties.Second, they are based on a retrospective amend-ment to a tax law passed in 2012. Both the argumentsare untenable. As regards the first, tax is levied onthe earnings of the companies from their operationsin India. The Government has done nothing to puttheir investment at risk. As for the second, the 2012amendment was only in the nature of a “clarifica-tion” to remove ambiguity and bring out the realintent of the law i.e. levy tax on income generatedfrom an underlying asset in India. This is irrespec-tive of how the transaction was given effect. Evenwhen it involves indirect transfer of shares, it can’tbe construed as a change in the law itself. TheNarendra Modi Government has challenged, right-ly so, the tribunal’s order in the Vodafone case andis expected to follow suit in the Cairn case, too.

The capital gains made by the firms on sale oftheir ownership in Indian companies run into tensof thousands of crores. But on September 25, 2020,the PCA rejected the I-T Department’s demand for�22,100 crore in back taxes (�7,990 crore plus inter-est and penalty) relating to Vodafone Group Plc (theBritish telecom giant) $11 billion acquisition of 67per cent stake in the Hutchison Essar Ltd (HEL) —an Indian company running a mobile phone busi-ness — owned by Hutchison Whampoa (HW) inFebruary 2007.

The tribunal held that the Indian Government’sdemand from Vodafone using retrospective legis-lation was in “breach of the guarantee of fair andequitable treatment” assured under the bilateralinvestment protection pact between India and theNetherlands. It also asked the Centre to reimburseVodafone 60 per cent of its legal costs (about �85crore) and half of the Euro 6,000 cost borne byVodafone for appointing an arbitrator on the panel.

Second, on December 23, 2020, a three-mem-ber tribunal at the PCA invalidated India’s March2015 tax claim of around �24,000 crore (�10,247crore in tax plus interest and penalty) on the Britishbehemoth Cairn Energy on capital gains made byit on the “internal reorganisation of its India busi-ness” run by Cairn India in 2006-07 (then, CairnUK transferred shares of its subsidiary Cairn IndiaHoldings to Cairn India).

It also ordered the Indian I-T Department toreturn up to $1.2 billion to Cairn Energy in fundswithheld by the former including the (i) value of thelatter’s 10 per cent shares in Cairn India attached andsold (during 2011, even as Cairn Energy had soldmajority of its holding in Cairn India to Vedanta,the department did not allow it to sell 10 per cent);(ii) seizure of dividends that the company paid toits parent and (iii) tax refunds withheld to recoverthe tax demand. Add $200 million of interest on theseamounts and $20 million of arbitration cost, the totalcomes to $1.4 billion. Cairn can use the arbitrationaward to approach courts in countries such as theUK to seize any property owned by India overseasto recover the money, if the award is not honoured.

There is widespread consternation over the deci-sion of the Indian Government to raise the demandsin the very first place and thereafter pursue thesein the court. Critics argue that raising the demandusing a retrospective amendment in tax laws (this

was enacted in 2012 to negate a judgmentof the Supreme Court in the Vodafone casethat had declared untenable a tax demandearlier raised on the February 2007 trans-action; armed with this amendment, it res-urrected that demand in 2013 besides rais-ing demand on Cairn Energy using thesame law) affects long-term stability of thefiscal environment and underminesinvestor confidence.

Prima facie, retrospective amendmentin tax laws may look bad. Investors canargue that they take decisions on the basisof prevailing laws of the land and if lawsare changed midstream, this is unfair asit undermines the very basis of the busi-ness decision. The million-dollar questionis: Did the then Government fundamen-tally alter the law? To get to the bottomof the truth, we need to closely look at thegenesis behind the 2012 amendment.

The cardinal principle of taxation isthat tax is levied on income generatedfrom an asset. In the Vodafone case, theunderlying asset was the mobile phonebusiness then run by HEL. HW having67 per cent shareholding in HEL throughits fully owned Cayman Island-based sub-sidiary, viz; CGP Investments sold theentire 67 per cent to Vodafone’sNetherland-based subsidiary VodafoneInternational Holding. From the sale ofthese shares, HW made major capitalgains. This was made possible due toincrease in valuation of the Indian asset,viz; HEL — rechristened Vodafone IndiaLimited (VIL) after acquisition of major-ity shares by Vodafone. Hence, the IndianGovernment is fully entitled to collect taxon this income. Yet, the firms exploited anambiguity in the extant law by citing thatthe transaction took place between twoforeign entities CGP Investments andVodafone International Holding Ltd (thebuyer), thus, camouflaging it as an “indi-rect transfer” of Indian assets.

To stop abuse and plug the loopholeof such indirect transfer of Indian assets,in 2012, the Government amended the lawto make such transfers (albeit indirect) tax-able in India. As per an amendment toSection 9 of the Income-Tax Act in 2012,if any share or interest in a foreign entityderives its value substantially from theassets located in India, then such share orinterest is deemed to be situated in Indiaand any income arising from transfer ofsuch a share or interest is deemed to arisein India.

The amendment was merely in thenature of a “clarification” to the subsist-ing law aimed at making the intention ofthe law explicit. Quite clearly, the realintent was to ensure that the income gen-erated from an “underlying asset” in Indiairrespective of how this transaction wasgiven effect — even when it involves indi-rect transfer of shares — is taxed by theIndian Government.

Enacted after the aforementionedtransactions had happened, while this maygive it the colour of being retrospective,the fact remains that the amendment wasonly in the nature of a “clarification.” It can’tbe construed as a change in the law itself.Assuming for the sake of argument thatthe Centre can’t collect tax then, are we toinfer that the capital gains made from saleof Indian assets will go untaxed? Does itnot violate the basic tenet of taxation?

The demand raised by the I-TDepartment is pursuant to a law passedby a sovereign Parliament. There isabsolutely nothing illegal about it. Had itbeen so, the top court would have declaredit invalid. The ruling of the internation-al arbitration tribunal in the two cases citesthe tax demand as being violation of India’sobligation under Bilateral InvestmentTreaty with the countries concerned. Theargument does not hold water as theIndian Government has only levied tax on

the earnings of the companies. There isnothing to suggest that it has put at riskthe latter’s investment in India. Even so,taxation is not covered under investmentprotection treaties and the law on taxationis a sovereign right of the country.

In the Cairns Energy case, the tribunalhas referred to a statement by the thenFinance Minister, Arun Jaitley, onNovember 7, 2014, that his Governmenthad taken a “policy decision that as far asthis Government is concerned, eventhough there is a sovereign power of ret-rospective taxation, we are not going toexercise that power.” The demand raisedby the I-T Department is in no way incon-gruous with Jaitley’s assertion as it is mere-ly the result of removing an ambiguity inthe extant law and certainly does not fallin the category of retrospective tax.

To conclude, India’s sovereign taxationrights can’t be held hostage to its bilater-al investment treaties with other countries.Keeping this overarching consideration inmind and opinion of the Solicitor Generalthat an “arbitral tribunal can’t render a lawpassed by a sovereign Parliament ineffec-tive,” the Government has decided to chal-lenge the tribunal’s order. In the Vodafonecase, on December 24, 2020, it filed a peti-tion in the Singapore court well within thethree-month deadline from the date oforder. In the Cairn Energy case too, itshould challenge the tribunal’s order.

Undoubtedly, India needs foreigninvestment in its march towards acceler-ated growth. But this can’t be taken tomean that the Government will forgo itslegitimate tax dues on the gains made byforeign investors from their operationshere. It should pursue all available legaloptions to make Vodafone and Cairn payup.

(The writer is a New Delhi-based policy analyst. The views expressed

are personal.)

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Even as the new decade begins,the world continues to reelunder the impact of the

Coronavirus pandemic. To date, thereare over 85,554,736 confirmed casesof COVID-19 while 1,851,952 peoplehave succumbed to the deadly infec-tion globally. In the midst of a glob-al race to inoculate people against thevirus, the pandemic continues tomutate and resurge in several parts ofthe world.

If we take into account frontlineworkers, including healthcare profes-sionals, their families and friends, bil-lions would have direct exposure tothe infection and would experience

severe fear, anxiety due to the lock-down and isolation necessitated by thepandemic. A major part of the world’spopulation will carry emotional scarsleft by the outbreak.

The need of the hour is to bementally resilient and focus on heal-ing our emotional scars so that we canregain physical and psychologicalfitness. Emotional resilience is theability of people to bounce backfrom adversities and difficulties. Life,as we all know, is full of ups anddowns. A resilient person not onlybounces back from a setback butachieves a higher threshold of emo-tional well-being. Emotional resilienceis a skill that can be learnt by anyoneby following these simple steps.

Acceptance: The first steptowards gaining emotional resilienceis the acceptance of reality. Many ofus tend to avoid adverse situations butthis doesn’t help solve the problem.Avoidance only makes the situationworse. We have to learn to perceivereality in an honest and pragmaticmanner. We should neither be toopessimistic nor should we be over-

optimistic about life. We also have toassess the causes of our difficulties ina clear and rational way. It is only afterthorough introspection that we canbegin the journey to overcome adver-sities and bounce back.

Adaptation and innovation: Thesecond step is to adapt to the new sit-uation. Remaining firmly wedded tothe past does not really help the causebecause what had worked beforewill rarely work in a changed scenario.Continuously pondering over pastsuccesses and regretting mistakesstops us from moving forward. Weshould not only adapt ourselves to thenew realities of life but must findinnovative ways to thrive in them. Inthe current scenario, humanity needsto change its behaviour, attitude,thoughts, emotions and learn newskills to overcome adverse circum-stances. For our progress and growth,we must adapt continuously, else wewill become extinct.

Manage negative emotions:When faced with adversities, weoften experience negative emotionslike anger, frustration, hopelessness

and despair. Many people ask, “Whyme?” None of these negative emotionshelp. Such thoughts not only act asbarriers to our revival but also tendto make us physically and emotion-ally weak. The key is to remain opti-mistic and focus on the future insteadof the past.

Opportunity in adversity:Napolean Hill, the self-help guru,famously said: “In every adversity liesan opportunity.” The trick is to focusour energies and abilities not only tospot the opportunity but to exploit itfor our growth. As we navigatethrough the darkness, we need to con-tinuously strive to find the light. OurVedic mantra “Tamaso maa jyotirga-maya (lead me from darkness to thelight)” has never been as relevant asit is these days.

Control what you can: StevenCovey, the famous management guru,developed a simple but highly effec-tive model of commanding the con-trollable. Many people worry a lotabout situations, factors and circum-stances that are beyond their jurisdic-tion. Emotionally resilient people

focus on what they can control whileignoring everything they can neitherinfluence nor control. Worryingabout the uncontrollable is a futileexercise leading to frustration, stressand anxiety.

Resetting: We have to reset ourgoals and dreams in the backdrop ofthe new situation. Many of our futureplans like buying a new house, gettingmarried, going for a holiday, studyingabroad, promotions and so on mayhave to be deferred or even cancelled.We must not regret that our originaltargets can no longer be fulfilled. Butwe must define a new set of goals anddreams that are achievable in thechanged circumstances.

Rebalance: We have alreadystarted to rebalance our lives and theconcept of Work From Home (WFH)has been the biggest driver of this. Inthe new normal, we have to restorefocus on work, self, families, friendsand society.

Renewal and regrowth: Timeand again nature has proved that afterevery cataclysmic disaster, life comesback to normal as the natural regen-

eration process begins. Our rejuvena-tion should begin with a positivedesire to grow and with the optimisticview that the future is bright. Historyhas taught us that we have alwaysmoved towards a brighter future andhave emerged stronger after every dis-aster. People can cope with stress andanxiety by taking care of themselves.On every flight, we are told to put onthe oxygen mask before helping oth-ers. Taking care of oneself is not self-ishness but is indeed the best way tohelp others. “Me time” and hobbiesare absolutely essential now. Sleep,rest, breaks from screen time andexercise are essential.

Organise yourself: In the begin-ning, we all thought that WFH wastemporary. Now it seems that WFHor a hybrid variant of remote work-ing will be the norm of the future.People have to organise themselves,their homes, time and energy, giventhat the working environment andmethods have changed forever.

Set clear boundaries: Thechanged work situation has led to dif-ferent types of expectations from boss-

es, colleagues, family and friends.Now, everybody feels that they caninterrupt any time but these intrusionsand expectations cause frustration andrelationship rifts. People have to setclear boundaries and agree on a newset of behavioural rules even with theirchildren.

Stay positive: Bad or negativetimes require an extra dose of posi-tivity and optimism. Don’t brood,don’t think of the worst, don’t beobsessed about the vaccine. Instead,laugh, play, look at the sky, hear a birdsing, tell your children a story, enjoythe warmth of your partner’s embrace.The world has a lot more light thandarkness in it. Further, don’t be shy orafraid of seeking professional advicefrom a counsellor or a psychologist.They are trained to heal people emo-tionally and to guide them on theirjourney of resilience, renewal andregrowth. And these three positivesare what the world needs the mostright now.

(The writer is chief psychologistat Emotionally.in. The views

expressed are personal.)

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Athens: The center-rightGovernment in Greece namedthe country’s first openly gayminister in a cabinet reshuffleon Monday.

Nicholas Yatromanolakis,44, was named as the newdeputy minister of culture afterbeing promoted from the posi-tion of general secretary at theministry.

The government retainedits ministers of health andfinance and most other keypositions in the reshuffle.

Greece is reeling from theimpact of the pandemic thatcaused a spike in deaths in thefall and is expected to havecaused a 10.5 per cent con-traction of its gross domesticproduct in 2020.

Despite the difficulties,Prime Minister KyriakosMitsotakis left most key cabi-net positions unchanged,retaining Christos Staikouras asfinance minister and VasilisKilikias as health minister.Vaccinations were expandedfrom nine to 50 hospitalsnationwide Monday. AP

Tehran: Iran said on Monday ithas begun enriching uraniumup to 20 per cent at an under-ground nuclear facility, a short,technical step to weapons-gradelevels of 90 per cent amid esca-lating tensions with the US.

Iranian state televisionquoted spokesman Ali Rabiei assaying that President HassanRouhani has given the order forthe move at the Fordo facility.

Iran’s decision to beginenriching to 20 per cent adecade ago nearly brought anIsraeli strike targeting itsnuclear facilities, tensions thatonly abated with the 2015atomic deal. A resumption of 20per cent enrichment could seethat brinksmanship return.

The move comes afterPresident Donald Trump with-drew the US unilaterally fromIran’s nuclear deal with worldpowers in 2018. In the timesince, there have been a seriesof escalating incidents betweenthe two countries.

Iran’s decision comes afterits parliament passed a bill, laterapproved by a constitutionalwatchdog, aimed at hikingenrichment to pressure Europeinto providing sanctions relief.

It also serves as pressure aheadof the inauguration ofPresident-elect Joe Biden, whohas said he is willing to re-enterthe nuclear deal.

Iran informed theInternational Atomic EnergyAgency last week that itplanned to take the step.

Shielded by the mountains,Fordo is ringed by anti-aircraftguns and other fortifications. Itis about the size of a footballfield, large enough to house3,000 centrifuges, but smalland hardened enough to leadUS officials to suspect it had amilitary purpose when theyexposed the site publicly in2009.

The 2015 deal saw Iranagree to limit its enrichment inexchange for sanctions relief.The accord also called for Fordoto be turned into a research-and-development facility.

Under Irans former hard-line President MahmoudAhmadinejad, Tehran beganenrichment at the 20 per centlevel. Israel, which has itsown undeclared nuclearweapons program, fearedTehran was building an atom-ic bomb. AP

Dubai: Iranian state televisionhas acknowledged that Tehranseized a South Korean-flaggedoil tanker in the Strait ofHormuz.

The report on Mondayalleged that the MT HankukChemi had been stopped byIranian authorities over alleged“oil pollution” in the PersianGulf and the strait.

The semiofficial Fars newsagency said Irans RevolutionaryGuards naval forces seized theship. Satellite data fromMarineTraffic.Com showed theMT Hankuk Chemi off the portof Bandar Abbas on Mondayafternoon without explanation.It had been traveling from SaudiArabia to Fujairah in the UAE.The ships owners could not beimmediately reached for com-ment. AP

Washington: In an extraordi-nary rebuke of PresidentDonald Trump, all 10 livingformer secretaries of defensehave cautioned against anymove to involve the military inpursuing claims of electionfraud, arguing that it wouldtake the country into “danger-ous, unlawful and unconstitu-tional territory.”

The 10 men, bothDemocrats and Republicans,signed on to an opinion articlepublished in The WashingtonPost on Sunday that implicitlyquestioned Trump’s willing-ness to follow hisConstitutional duty to peace-fully relinquish power onJanuary 20.

Following the November 3election and subsequentrecounts in some states, aswell as unsuccessful court chal-lenges, the outcome is clear,they wrote, while not specify-ing Trump in the article.

“The time for questioning

the results has passed; the timefor the formal counting of theelectoral college votes, as pre-scribed in the Constitutionand statute, has arrived,” theywrote.

The former Pentagonchiefs warned against use of themilitary in any effort to changethe outcome.

“Efforts to involve the U.S.Armed forces in resolving elec-tion disputes would take us intodangerous, unlawful andunconstitutional territory,” theywrote. “Civilian and militaryofficials who direct or carry outsuch measures would beaccountable, including poten-tially facing criminal penalties,for the grave consequences oftheir actions on our republic.”

A number of senior mili-tary officers, including Gen.Mark Milley, chairman of theJoint Chiefs of Staff, have saidpublicly in recent weeks thatthe military has no role indetermining the outcome of

U.S. Elections and that theirloyalty is to the Constitution,not to an individual leader ora political party.

The 10 former Pentagonleaders also warned in theirPost article of the dangers ofimpeding a full and smoothtransition at DefenseDepartment prior toInauguration Day as part of atransfer to power to President-elect Joe Biden. Biden hascomplained of efforts byTrump-appointed Pentagonofficials to obstruct he transi-tion.

Without mentioning a spe-cific example, the formerdefense secretaries wrote thattransfers of power “often occurat times of international uncer-tainty about U.S. National secu-rity policy and posture,”adding, “They can be amoment when the nation isvulnerable to actions by adver-saries seeking to take advantageof the situation.” AP

Beijing: China on Mondayvehemently refuted the UScharge that the novel coron-avirus was leaked from a bio labin the country and asserted thatthe pandemic was likely tohave been caused by separateoutbreaks in multiple places inthe world.

Chinese Foreign Ministryspokesperson Hua Chunying’sremarks came amidst reportsthat a ten-member team of theWorld Health Organisation(WHO) scientists would visitChina this month to probe theorigin of the coronavirus,which emerged in Wuhan inDecember 2019.

Beijing is yet to confirm thevisit by the WHO team andremained silent about granting

permission for it to visit Wuhancity in central China.

“I have no detailed infor-mation for you,” Hua told amedia briefing here whenasked about the visit of theWHO team and whether itsschedule included a visit toWuhan.

“China attaches highimportance to cooperation withthe WHO. We have been pro-viding support and conveniencefor WHO’s work,” Hua said.

China has been proactive-ly questioning the widely-heldview that the deadly outbreakbroke out in a wet market inWuhan where the live animalsare sold. The market remainedclosed and sealed since earlylast year. PTI

London: Scotland on Mondayannounced a tougher stay-at-home lockdown for the monthof January to try and control therapid spread of a new variant ofcoronavirus, as UK PrimeMinister Boris Johnson saidthat there was “no questionwe’re going to have to taketougher measures” in England.

The devolved administra-tions of the United Kingdom settheir individual levels of restric-tions but most of the countrywas already under the toughTier 4 lockdown measures,requiring all non-essential retailto shut down and also a ban ondifferent households mixing.

However, Scotland FirstMinister Nicola Sturgeon recon-vened the Scottish Parliamenton Monday to declare that frommidnight, new laws will requireeveryone in Scotland to stay athome and work from homewhere possible.

Outdoor gatherings are alsoto be cut back, with people only

allowed to meet one personfrom one other household.

“We can already see – bylooking at infection rates in thesouth of England – some ofwhat could happen here inScotland. To prevent that, weneed to act immediately andfirmly,” said Sturgeon.

“For government, thatmeans introducing tough mea-sures – as we have done today.And for all of us, it means stick-ing to the rules,” she said.

The announcement came asJohnson indicated that he willbe setting out tougher lockdownrules for England as well, amidpressure from the OppositionLabour Party to impose a com-plete nationwide lockdown.

“No question we’re going tohave to take tougher measures,”said Johnson, during a hospitalvisit in north London onMonday, the day the NationalHealth Service (NHS) beganadministering the first set ofOxford University jabs. PTI

Karachi: Pakistan’s Shia Hazaracommunity members blockedseveral roads in Balochistan’scapital city Quetta as they heldprotests against the massacre of11 coal miners from the minor-ity community by the IslamicState terrorists in the restiveprovince, according to mediareports on Monday.

The Hazara communitymembers were joined by somepolitical parties as they blockedseveral roads in the provincialcapital, demanding theBalochistan government eitherarrest the terrorists responsiblefor the killing or resign, the GeoNews reported.

Terrorists on Sundayabducted and shot dead the 11coal miners after separatingthem from others, in the latesttargeted attack on the minoritycommunities in the country.

The miners were shot deadfrom a close range shortly afterbeing abducted by the armedterrorists in the province’smountainous Machh area. The

Islamic State has taken respon-sibility for the attack.

Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM) leader SyedMuhammad Agha Raza saidPrime Minister Imran Khanshould come to Quetta to meetthem and reassure the familiesof the victims. A traffic jam wasreported at the thoroughfarefrom the Baleli checkpost to theintersection at Quetta’s AirportRoad due to the protest, with

dozens of vehicles stranded andpassengers and transporters fac-ing difficulties in travelling.

Various Hazara politicalparties and organisations held ameeting to discuss the Machhmassacre and strategies goingforward. The government ofBalochistan ruled out any secu-rity lapses and its spokesperson,Liaquat Shahwani, told the dailythat the incident was an act ofterrorism. PTI

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London: A British judge onMonday rejected the UnitedStates’ request to extraditeWikiLeaks Founder JulianAssange to face espionagecharges on mental healthgrounds, saying his extraditionwould be “oppressive”.

District Judge VanessaBaraitser, presiding over thecase at the Old Bailey court inLondon, ruled that Assangewas likely to commit suicide ifextradited to the US, where heis wanted on 17 espionagecharges and one charge of com-puter misuse over WikiLeakspublication of leaked militaryand diplomatic documents adecade ago.

The charges carry a maxi-mum sentence of 175 years inprison.

“The overall impression isof a depressed and sometimesdespairing man fearful for hisfuture,” the judge said.

The US government said itwould appeal the decision andhave 14 days to lodge the paper-work. This means Assange is notlikely to be freed from London’sBelmarsh Prison, where he isbeing held, right away.

Lawyers for the 49-year-old

Australian activist, who wasre-arrested in September lastyear over the espionage charges,argued that he was acting as ajournalist and is entitled toFirst Amendment protections offreedom of speech for publish-ing leaked documents thatexposed US military wrongdo-ing in Iraq and Afghanistan.

However, the US indict-ment claims Assange conspiredwith army intelligence analystChelsea Manning to crack ascrambled password, known as“hash”, to a classified US defencedepartment computer.

Assange denies plotting withManning to crack an encryptedpassword on US Department of

Defence computers and claimsthere is no evidence anyone’ssafety was put at risk.

He appeared at the OldBailey as Judge Baraitser deliv-ered her judgment. The judgerejected defence claims on thecharges, saying Assange’s con-duct would amount to “offencesin this jurisdiction that would

not be protected by his right tofreedom of speech”.

However, she noted that hesuffered from clinical depressionthat would be exacerbated bythe isolation he would likely facein US prison, adding he had the“intellect and determination” tocircumvent any suicide pre-vention measures.

“Faced with the conditionsof near total isolation withoutthe protective factors whichlimited his risk at HMPBelmarsh, I am satisfied the pro-cedures described by the US willnot prevent Mr Assange fromfinding a way to commit suicideand for this reason I have decid-ed extradition would be oppres-sive by reason of mental harmand I order his discharge,” shesaid.

Assange, who wore a suitand face mask as he appeared inthe dock, closed his eyes in reliefas the judge read out her ruling.His fiancee, Stella Moris, withwhom he has two young sons,was also at the Old Bailey for thehearing. WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Kristinn Hrafnssondescribed the case as “an his-toric, large-scale attack on free-dom of speech”. PTI

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Washington: VeteranDemocratic CongresswomanNancy Pelosi has been nar-rowly re-elected as the Speakerof the US House ofRepresentatives for a fourthtime, as a new Congress tookoffice amidst raging coron-avirus crisis and politicaluncertainty.

Pelosi, 80, secured 216votes in a tight contest againstRepublican Kevin McCarthy,who got support from 209Congressmen, after Democratslost 11 seats in the Novemberelections to command a nar-rower 222-212 majority.

According to the HouseClerk, a total of 427 votes werecast. One vote went to SenatorTammy Duckworth and one toCongressman Hakeem Jeffries.

“I am honored to be nom-inated by my colleagues toserve as the Speaker of theHouse for the 117th Congress,”Pelosi said in a tweet on

Sunday.Notably, six Democratic

lawmakers did not vote forPelosi, while all the 209Republicans stood byMcCarthy, who is now theHouse Minority Leader. TheDemocratic Party has 222 seatsin the House.

Following the election ofthe House Speaker, Pelosiadministered the oath to the restof the members of the Housestarting with the first-timemembers elect. The US Houseof Representatives has a strengthof 435 voting members and sixnon-voting members. PTI

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Bulgaria: Four Bulgariansvaccinated against Covid-19with the Pfizer/BioNTech vac-cine developed mild to mod-erate side effects, BulgarianDrug Agency executive direc-tor Bogdan Kirilov said onMonday.

Bulgaria’s vaccinationcampaign began onDecember 27 among the pri-ority group including medicalworkers. By Monday, nearly

5,000 people had been inocu-lated.

“Side effects ranged frommild to moderate. The personswho experienced them havealready recovered,” Mr Kirilovsaid, as quoted by the Bulgarian

National Radio.According to the official,

the side effects included twocases of pain, one case of dizzi-ness and one case of insignifi-cant temperature rise.

Earlier in the day, Bulgariareceived the second shipmentof the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine,consisting of 25,000 doses.According to Health MinisterKostadin Angelov, the massvaccination in Bulgaria wouldlikely begin sometime in theFebruary-March period. AFP

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Billionaire Mukesh Ambani’sReliance Industries Ltd on

Monday said it is not in thebusiness of corporate or con-tract farming and blamed“vested interests” behind van-dalisation of the firm’s telecomtowers in Punjab.The compa-ny also filed a petition in thePunjab and Haryana HighCourt seeking the help ofauthorities to stop attacks on itstelecom towers by farmersprotesting against the threenew farm laws on the belief thatthey favour big corporates.

First in a statement and

later in a petition before theHigh Court, the company saidit has “nothing whatsoever todo with the three farm lawscurrently debated in the coun-try, and in no way benefits fromthem”.None of the group com-panies has done any corporateor contract farming in the pastand has “absolutely no plans toenter this business”, the firmsaid, adding it has not pur-chased any agricultural land,directly or indirectly, in Punjaband Haryana or anywhere elsein the country.

While its retail units sellingdaily essentials to electronicproducts, “it does not purchase

any food grains directly fromfarmers,” the statement said.”

It has never entered intolong-term procurement con-tracts to gain an unfair advan-tage over farmers or sought thatits suppliers buy from farmersat less than remunerativeprices, nor will it ever do so,” itadded. The company blamed“vested interests” and “businessrivals” behind vandalisation ofnearly a fifth of its 9,000 tele-com towers in Punjab.”Themiscreants indulging in van-dalism have been instigatedand aided by vested interestsand our business rivals,”Reliance said.

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The rupee appreciated by 9paise to close at a four-

month high of 73.02 against theUS dollar on Monday, sup-ported by sustained foreignfund inflows and weakness ofthe American currency over-seas. Traders said approval totwo Covid-19 vaccines in thecountry also improved senti-ments.

India’s drugs regulator onSunday approved Oxford-AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vac-cine Covishield, manufacturedby the Serum Institute, andindigenously developedCovaxin of Bharat Biotech forrestricted emergency use in thecountry, paving the way for amassive inoculation drive.

At the interbank forexmarket, the domestic unitopened at 72.93 against the USdollar and witnessed an intra-day high of 72.90 and a low of73.03.The local unit finallysettled at 73.02, registering arise of 9 paise over its previousclose. This is the rupee’s high-est level since September 1,2020, when it had closed at72.87. Meanwhile, the dollarindex, which gauges the green-back’s strength against a basketof six currencies, fell 0.51 percent to 89.47.

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Rising for the ninth straightsession, the BSE Sensex

closed above the 48,000-markfor the first time on Monday asinvestor sentiment got a boostafter India approved two coro-navirus vaccines over the week-end.

A strengthening rupee,positive global cues andencouraging macroeconomicdata gave further impetus torisk appetite, traders said.

The 30-share BSE Sensexended 307.82 points or 0.64 percent higher at 48,176.80. Ittouched a record intra-daypeak of 48,220.47.

Similarly, the broader NSENifty jumped 114.40 points or0.82 per cent to its fresh lifetimehigh of 14,132.90. It scaled anall-time high of 14,147.95 dur-ing the session.

ONGC was the top gainerin the Sensex pack, spurting4.02 per cent, followed by TCS,HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra,Infosys, M&M, HUL, SunPharma and L&T.

On the other hand, KotakBank, Bajaj Finance, AsianPaints, HDFC

Bank, PowerGrid andTitan were among the lag-

gards, shedding up to 1.43 percent.

India’s drugs regulator onSunday approved Oxford-AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vac-cine Covishield and indige-nously-developed Covaxin ofBharat Biotech for restrictedemergency use in the country.

Experts said the approvalsand likely commencement ofinoculation process soon bodewell for the markets and econ-omy.

“Emboldened by the like-ly rollout of the vaccines thismonth, bulls went berserk,bolstered by IT and metalstocks with able support frompharma stocks. PMI data andrenewed buying in select finan-cials provided buoyancy acrossthe broader markets,” said SRanganathan, Head ofResearch at LKP Securities.

India’s manufacturing sec-tor activity strengthened inDecember, with manufacturersstepping up production andinput buying amid efforts torebuild their inventories fol-lowing business closures earli-er in the year, PMI datashowed.

The seasonally adjustedIHS Markit IndiaManufacturing Purchasing

Managers’ Index (PMI)was at 56.4 in December, a tickhigher than November’s 56.3and above the critical 50threshold for the fifth straightmonth.

Sector-wise, BSE metal, IT,teck, oil and gas, auto, indus-trials and telecom indices ral-lied up to 5.34 per cent, whilebankex and consumer durablesslipped.

Broader BSE midcap andsmallcap indices rose up to 1.42per cent.

Global equities surged asvaccine rollout in multiplecountries enthused investors.

Elsewhere in Asia, bours-es in Shanghai, Seoul and HongKong ended on a positive note,while and Tokyo was in the red.

Stock exchanges in Europeopened with significant gains.

Meanwhile, the global oilbenchmark Brent crude futuresrose 1.31 per cent to USD52.48 per barrel. The rupeeappreciated by 9 paise to closeat 73.02 against the US dollaron Monday, supported by sus-tained foreign fund inflows.Foreign institutional investorspurchased shares worth Rs506.21 crore on a net basis onFriday, according to provi-sional exchange data.

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India’s sugar productionincreased 42 per cent year-

on-year during October-December period at 110.22lakh tonne on higher caneoutput and an early start ofmills in Maharashtra, accord-ing to trade data.

Sugar marketing year runsfrom October to September.

Indian Sugar MillsAssociation (ISMA) said in astatement that mills produced110.22 lakh tonne of sugarduring October-Decemberperiod of 2020-21 sugar mar-keting year as against 77.63lakh tonne in the correspond-

ing period of the previous year.In Maharashtra, sugar pro-

duction stood at 39.86 lakhtonne during the period underreview as against 16.50 lakhtonne in the year-ago period.Sugar output in Uttar Pradeshrose marginally at 33.66 lakhtonne from 33.16 lakh tonne.

Around 10 lakh tonne ofsugar export contracts are saidto have been entered into bynow and sugar has alreadystarted moving for exports.

The government has set atarget of 60 lakh tonne of sugarexports during the 2020-21marketing year, endingSeptember, to liquidate surplusstock.

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After Guwahati and Imphal,Agartala’s Maharaja Bir

Bikram (MBB) Airport is set tobecome the third internation-al airport in the north-easternregion, after a �438 crore pro-ject under construction is com-pleted in March 2021, AirportAuthority of India (AAI) offi-cials said on Monday.

Construction work on thenew integrated terminal build-ing of MBB Airport has beencompleted and now the interi-or work is going on. By March

31, all the work would be com-pleted, an AAI official added.

“Through the MBBAirport, the state governmentis keen to begin air connectiv-ity with Bangladesh and otherneighbouring countries,” asenior AAI official told IANSpreferring anonymity. He saidthe new terminal has beendesigned to handle 1,000domestic and 200 internation-al passengers during peakhours, making it an annualhandling capacity of three mil-lion passengers.

“The new airport apron

has the capacity to park six air-craft at a time. With a built-uparea of 30,000 square metre, thenew terminal building would beequipped with 20 check-incounters, four passenger board-ing bridges, conveyor belts andpassenger-friendly modernfacilities and amenities.“Advanced intelligent buildingmanagement systems have beenused to optimise the consump-tion of energy,” the officialadded. He said locally availablebamboo is used widely in thestate for construction whereastribal art work and crafts are

included to promote culturaltourism.The art and craft workis displayed all over the termi-nal in the form of sculptures,‘jaali’ work, furniture andmurals. The bamboo architec-ture is represented in the facadeof the terminal building by wayof a floral ‘jaali’ pattern depict-ing the forests and greenery ofthe region, placed equidistantfrom each other.”Depiction oflocal motifs in metal claddingwould create vibrancy whiledisplaying glimpses of the localart to the passengers,” the AAIofficial said.

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Call it a double whammy.First, reports surfaced in

August last year that China’sAlibaba Group has put on holdplans to invest in Indian com-panies amid geopolitical ten-sions between the two nations.Now, the “disappearing” act byAlibaba founder and owner offintech venture Ant Group,Jack Ma, may have left top-notch Indian digital firmsflummoxed.

According to US-basedPitchBook that delivers data onprivate capital markets, Alibabaand its affiliates Alibaba CapitalPartners and Ant Group (ear-lier known as Ant Financial)invested more than $2 billionin Indian companies since2015.

Overall, in the last fiveyears, Chinese investors(including Tencent) havepoured in over $5.7 billion intothe Indian start-up ecosystem,according to data from VentureIntelligence.

The companies whereAlibaba Group via its fintechventures have invested ininclude digital payments plat-

form Paytm, online food deliv-ery platform Zomato andBigBasket.

Zomato in January lastyear raised $150 million fromAnt Financial. Ant Financialhas been an investor in Zomatosince 2018. Meanwhile, Paytmin December refuted a reportthat claimed that Ant Group isconsidering the sale of its 30per cent stake in the home-grown digital payments major.Ant Group also said that thereport is based on “false infor-mation”.

Jack Ma’s fallout with theChinese government startedwhen the Shanghai StockExchange (SSE) in Novemberpostponed Ant Group’s listing

at $37 billion, which wouldhave been the biggest IPOever.

The Shanghai StockExchange cited regulatorychanges as the reason behindthis sudden suspension.

Alibaba shares plunged byalmost 10 per cent in HongKong after the news, as Ma lostmore than $3 billion in his networth. Since then, Ma hasbeen nearly untraceable.

On December 26, thePeople’s Bank of China, thecountry’s central bank, “sum-moned Ant Group for regula-tory talks, announcing a sweep-ing plan for the fintech firm to‘rectify’ its regulatory viola-tions”.

New Delhi:India’s manufac-turing sector growth inched upin December, as improvingbusiness environment pushedorder flow.The headline sea-sonally adjusted IHS MarkitIndia ManufacturingPurchasing Managers’ Index(PMI) inched up to 56.4 (indexreading) in December up from56.3 in November. The PMIvaried between 0 and 100,with a reading above 50 indi-cating an overall increase com-pared to the previous month.

IANS

KMoses Chalai, Secretary,North Eastern Council

(NEC) hails fromChowainamai Khunou villageunder Mao-Maram sub-divi-sion in Senapati District. Fromthe Manipur cadre of 1990IAS batch, he was posted ondeputation as AdditionalSecretary in Ministry ofWomen and ChildDevelopment before being sentto NEC.

Before his deputation toDelhi, he had served as thePrincipal Secretary andCommissioner in differentdepartments like SocialWelfare, Higher Education andHealth.

What are the future plans ofNorth Eastern Council?

NEC will carry on with itsmandates. We are a regionalplanning body and we willcontinue to do that forNortheast and also providecertain inputs on whatever theStates come up with. We willcontinue to do a number ofstudies, some of which areongoing, for this. These stud-ies are linked to some practicalusage as well.

Second, as per the adviceand mandate provided by thePrime Minister at the NECPlenary, the Council is alsogoing to become a state-of-the-art resource centre which willprovide consultancy, skills,resources and cutting-edgeideas. It will carry on projectsand schemes. It is a fundingagency and will continue to dothat.

So, will this be a separate,independent unit or will it bea subsidiary of the NEC?

This will be a part of theNEC. It will have a distinctentity and will not have the typ-ical official and governmentalstructure which exists at themoment. It will be involvingand partnering with differentinstitutes, experts and agencieswho can bring in the best.There will be a lot of out-sourcing. We are doing sever-al studies with North EasternDevelopment FinanceCorporation (NEDFI) whichwill be one of our partners.

How would you evaluate theNEC? Would you say it is asuccess story?

To put briefly, the NEC hascompleted 48 years. It has doneits bit. It has set up iconic insti-tutions like the RegionalInstitute of Medical Sciences(RIMS), North East PoliceAcademy (NEPA), NorthEastern Institute of Scienceand Technology (Itanagar) andNorth Eastern RegionalInstitute of Water and LandManagement (Neriwalm)among others. It has beeninvolved in setting up of NorthEastern Space ApplicationCentre (NESAC). There havebeen some iconic instituteswhich have filled the criticalgap in the region. It is anotherstory that now the States aremore resourceful, mature andbigger. They have expertiseand can move forward once theNEC has done all of this. It hasmade 11,000 km of roadswhich can take you acrosscontinents if it is stretched outin one line. It was part of thesetting up of North EasternElectric Power CorporationLimited (NEEPCO). Power,bridges, infrastructure, liveli-

hood projects are the coreareas that NEC has taken up.Everything that it did was notperfect as the Council was stillevolving. A third-party evalu-ation said that NEC has doneits job though it could havebeen better.

One positive aspect is thatNEC has a very strong goodwillof the States. The affection ofthe region towards it is alsoimmense.

How has its role evolved?It continues to do many

things. NEC needs to see howit can continue to be relevantand useful while spearheadinginitiatives that were done in thepast. There are a few initiativeswhich are trend-setters. Anyorganisation in the world in ademocratic system, like a polit-ical party, has to go back to thepeople to say that it is still goodand relevant after every four-five years. NEC has been given50 years and it is very impor-tant that it is also subjected tothis yardstick. As a part of theorganisation, we are quite will-ing to step up and meet thatchallenge. Relatively, theresources of the Council havenot gone up while those avail-able to the States have increaseddramatically. Definitely theresources need to commensu-rate the efforts of the NEC.However, it needs to be kept inmind that resource utilisationisn’t easy. When the moneycomes in, it can’t be just put inanywhere. There has to beproper planning and parame-ters have to be followed. But wedo need to step up.

We should continue towork on power and basic infra-structure because there is stilla need for these.

There is another role whichwas outlined by our Chairman,Home Minister, Amit Shah. Hehas said that 30 per cent of theNEC budget should be appor-tioned and provided to back-ward areas and deprived sec-tions which have been left out.This has kicked in from thisfinancial year. We are workingand struggling as this is a new

area. Looking back, I agree thatsome portion of the resourcesneed to go forward in blockswhich have not seen NEC pro-jects. The Council does not lagbehind anyone in terms ofoutput and outcome vis-a-visresources in comparison withany government organisation.It is perhaps among the betterones as compared to otherorganisations under Centraland State governments.

Any new areas that NECshould be focussing on?

Technology is definitelyone area that needs to pick up.NEC should step into that areaand do better. For instance, inbamboo, the Prime Ministerand the Ministry ofDevelopment of North EasternRegion (DoNER) are sayingthat, NEC needs to go all outand make it impactful. But forthat resources are needed. Theauthorities in Delhi havepromised that resources wouldbe found to undertake projectsin the area. The government inDelhi is impatient and wants togo big. The NEC is also con-ducting studies with theMinistry of DoNER, IIMs,NEDFI under the lead given bythe PM. So, plans are being pre-pared for different subjects.

Do you see NEC’s roleexpanding then?

Yes, and it should...

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Krishna Karunesh, the newlyappointed vice-chairman

of the Ghaziabad DevelopmentAuthority, took charge today.Krishna is an IAS officer of2011 batch.

Prior to this he has alsolived here in the post ofModinagar SDM, SDMGhaziabad City and ChiefDevelopment Officer. GDAvice-president Kanchan Verma,posted at the same post, hasbeen transferred to the post ofManaging Director of UttarPradesh Medical SupplyCorporation.

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The domestic telecom gear-makers have welcomed the

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited(BSNL)’s move to give prefer-ence to Indian companies in itsnetwork upgradation andexpansion project.

Terming the move as theright direction in fulfillingPrime Minister NarendraModi’s initiative of making‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’, the PHDChamber of Commerce andIndustry (PHDCCI) on Sundaysaid that it would ensure level-playing field for all indige-nous technologies and alsostrengthen India’s cyber secu-rity preparedness.

In his letter to TelecomSecretary Anshu Prakash,PHDCCI Telecom Committee’sMentor and Co-Chairman ofTelecom Export PromotionCouncil, Sandeep Aggarwalhas said it was a bold “Vocal forLocal” decision to make“Atmanirbhar Bharat”.

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Gurugram: National PageantDiadem Miss India and MrsIndia Legacy 2020 took thecenter stage at Kingdom ofDreams in Gurugram. NikitaJagdev was crowned DiademMiss India 2020, while RajveerKaur Punni and Rituja Ravanwere the first and second run-ners-up. Priyanka Juneja wonthe title of Mrs India Legacy2020, and Agarti Changda andShrishti Singh were the firstand second runners-ups. DrArchana Chaudhary won theMrs India Legacy Classic 2020,while Madhuri Saha andVishakha Ranjan were firstand second runners-up.

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2020 was quite a turbulentyear for all of us as it threwus to many unprecedentedchallenges, which we were

not ready to accept. But, no doubtthe year had been quite a life-changer in both big and smallways.

With the news of new strain ofmutated coronavirus, it shows thatthe challenging times are not yetdone. We still have to learn manynew things and adapt with it.However, all these challenges havemade us realise that nothing ismore important than one’s health.We have been pushed to make ahealthier society, by having anaccess to whole, fresh and nutri-tious food.

Here are some of the emerginghealth and wellness trends that theyear gone by has paved the way for:

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No one knows how long theuncertainty is going to last, and thathas had significant impacts on themental health of all of us. The factthat many people across the globehave succumbed to the disease hasonly increased their worries.According to a survey by theWHO, the coronavirus pandemicdisrupted critical mental health ser-vices in 93 per cent of the countriesworldwide. Isolation, the loss ofloved ones, economic uncertainty

and fear of the disease have causedan alarming spike in cases of stressand anxiety. As such, the Uniongovernment spends less than 0.05percent of the total health budgeton mental health. With just onemental health professional per13000 people, most mental healthspecialists shoulder an unreason-ably excess case load withoutrecourse to any form of institution-al support. The situation has onlygotten worse due to the pandem-ic. We need to increase investmentin mental health programs and des-tigmatise the conversation sur-rounding it in both professional andpersonal spaces

������������5#����5��During the unprecedented

health crisis of coronavirus pan-demic, sources of safety, comfort,social interaction and mental stim-ulation found in the familiar rou-tine of millions of kids by the schoolhave been abruptly taken away. Thishas put the pressure on parents tojuggle multiple roles of friends, sib-lings, teachers besides donningtheir role as father and mother. Thishas also put an end to the compet-itive parenting. Now, the parentinghas become more sensitive, patientand adaptable. Parents have beengetting enough time to bond withtheir kids. They have also under-stood the need of staying physical-ly active for them as well as for their

kids. More outdoor yoga and play-dates at the park are the ways forparents-kids bonding.

������������#�As the coronavirus pandemic

is still in our environment, peoplewould like to have those food-items which would strengthentheir immunity to fight with anyinfection. Consuming Vitamin Crich foods like lemon, orange,gooseberry, guava and pineapplewill be always on priority. Besides,zinc rich foods like cashew nuts,pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds,legumes, lentils, chickpeas andbeans that help the immune sys-tem function optimally will also bethe need. People are replacingregular tea with ginger tea, tulsi teaor green tea. For a simple detoxdrink, grind up onions, ginger, gar-lic, turmeric, black pepper, lemonjuice and jaggery, with a littlehoney for sweetness. Honey alsohas antioxidant and antibacterialproperties that improve digestionand boost immunity.

�������������5��������Though it has not been a new

concept, it has been in maximumuse this year. While this approachhas the potential to be a game-changer, especially in a countrylike India with uneven healthinfrastructure, a low doctor patientratio, and a high prevalence ofnon-communicable diseases, scal-ing up the implementation willrequire closely-coordinated actionbetween tech firms, governments,and healthcare providers to ensurethat we overcome the existingbarriers.

Even our Government recog-nised the role telemedicine isplaying to alleviate the burden ofour fragile healthcare systems,and issued a gazette notificationthat lay down the practice guide-lines detailing the standards,norms and procedures that doctorshave to follow while practicingtelemedicine through nay mode ofdigital communication.

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The onset of winter can evoke mixed reactions in common peo-ple, some people welcome the cold weather while others are

afraid of catching flu, respiratory diseases, frostbite in winterweather. But there’s another cause of concern which many peo-ple might not even be aware of. Cold weather can cause bloodvessels constriction, increase in heart beats which can raise bloodpressure due increased sympathetic tone and also increased clotformation tendency of body, thus increasing the risk of heartattack and stroke.

As a matter of fact, chances of heart attacks goes up by near-ly 33 per cent during winter. Needless to say, it is imperative thatpeople should take adequate care to stay warm during the win-ter. Elders specifically tend to be vulnerable during these coldmonths as the cold can cause a dramatic drop in their body tem-perature thus leading to hypothermia. If the body temperaturedips under 95 degrees, the resulting hypothermia can cause severedamage to the heart muscle. Further, patients afflicted withAngina need to be particularly careful as the cold weather cancause coronary arteries spasm leading to heart attack.

Symptoms: Knowing that the risk for a heart attack is greaterin the winter, it’s wise to stayalert and look out for symp-toms that might point to heartattack

�Acute chest pain or dis-comfort usually diffuse ret-rosternal but may on left orright side of chest , shoulder,neck or lower jaw stomach,radiating to upper limb, asso-ciated with

�Nausea ,vomiting ordizziness,

�Shortness of breath;�Women, in particular,

have to stay vigilant as thesymptoms can present a littledifferently leading them to dis-regard the warning signs.

Hence, it’s vital that they always stay alert to any possible symp-toms even if they experience atypical symptoms.

Prevention�Eating Healthy: One should take low fat, low sugar, low

salt, high protein balance food, which should contain fruits andvegetables, fiber-rich whole grains, fatty-fish (salmon, sardine)nuts, legumes, and seeds . Also reduce alcohol consumption, stopsmoking.

�Staying active: Avoid outdoor activity and exercise inextreme cold, indoor exercise, indoor games and yoga would helpkeep you fit and healthy.

�Getting enough sleep: Getting 7 to 8 hours of good sleepis crucial for good health.

�Dressing for the weather: People should avoid headingout the door half-dressed at all costs. It’s vital that people coverup themselves by wearing layers of clothing especially a coat, hats,gloves and heavy socks to avoid hypothermia (low body tem-perature). Since a lot of heat gets lost from the head, it’s also rec-ommended to wear a scarf and/or a hat before stepping outside.

�Washing hands frequently: It has been long known thatrespiratory infections can increase the chances of getting a heartattack. One should avoid such scenarios by washing hands reg-ularly with soap and water. Additionally, if any flu symptoms arenoticeable such as a fever, a viral cough, or body aches, imme-diate steps should be taken to consult a doctor for a flu shot.

�Consult your doctor if you have any of heart attack symp-toms without delay.

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����"��� ����� Pumpkinseeds are packed full ofvaluable nutrients. Eatingonly a small amount canprovide you with a substantialquantity of healthy fats,magnesium and zinc.

It includesseveral healthbenefits likei m p r o v e dheart health,prostate healthand protectionagainst certaincancers.

They alsocontain a lot ofantioxidants likecarotenoids and Vitamin Eand a decent amount ofpolyunsaturated fatty acids,potassium, Vitamin B2(riboflavin) and folate.

Diets rich in pumpkinseeds have been associatedwith a reduced risk of stomach,breast, lung, prostate and colon

cancers. Pumpkin, pump-kin seeds, pump-

kin seed powderand pumpkin

juice canr e d u c e

b l o o ds u g a rand is

e s p e c i a l l yi m p o r t a n tfor people

with Diabetes. If you have trou-

ble sleeping, you maywant to eat some pumpkinseeds before bed. They’re a nat-ural source of tryptophan, anamino acid that can help pro-mote sleep.

No one likes to scratchhis head all the time.However, an itchy

scalp will leave you withouta second option. Here are afew tips that can help.

First, take help fromapple cider vine-gar. It hasantibacterial,anti-inflam-matory, andantifungalproperties.It can helpreduce itch-ing causedby dry skin.Try dilutingapple cider vine-gar in warm waterand using it as a rinse aftershampooing to alleviatedandruff and an itchy scalp.

Second, use organiccoconut oil. It can helpsoothe dry and itchy scalp.

Third, peppermint oilcan help. It may be effectiveat reducing dandruff andsoothing the scalp, calmingdown itch. Try diluting itwith another oil, such as

olive oil, and massagingit into the scalp

before sham-pooing. You

can also usepepperminttea as arinse aftershampoo-ing.

Fourth,m e d i t at i on

can work won-ders. As surprising

it may sound, butmeditation has the answerfor several problems. Trymeditating for about 15-20minutes daily and it canhelp relieve itchy scalpcaused by anxiety.

Itchy scalp is common andcan happen during any season. It goes without

saying that it can beextremely annoying.

ROSHANI DEVI shares easyhome remedies that can help

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Often called the ‘king of spices’, Blackpepper is one of the most popularspices in the world. Black pepper is

a hot, pungent, healing spice extensively usedin Ayurvedic formulations. A pinch per mealis all that is needed to make it work like acharm. Not only is it used as a spice but alsohas medicinal values besides the many blackpepper benefits, making it an importantingredient in Ayurveda.

Black pepper, which comes from theSanskrit word Maricha, was once knownas black gold. It has one of the longest his-tories as a sought-after spice, due to its abil-ity to flavour foods, act as a preservativeand add heat to a dish. Black pepper offersa range of health benefits in addition to itsflavour-enhancing properties.

It is rich in vitamins and minerals suchas copper, magnesium, calcium, iron,phosphorus, Vitamin C, B2, and B6. It alsohas substantial quantities of fibre, whichis essential for good digestion.

Following are some amazing benefitsof Black Pepper:

Enhances digestion: Black peppermay help to stimulate essential digestivejuices. It has carminative properties too,which can help to reduce discomfort andgas buildup in your intestines.

Treat cold & cough: Black pepper maybenefit both internally and externally toreduce inflammation and cold. It alsopotentially provides relief from sinusitisand nasal congestion. These propertiesmake it an important ingredient inAyurvedic cough and cold tonics.

Immune support: A strong immunesystem is important for helping you avoidillness and black pepper may help here aswell. Its active compounds have a role inboosting white blood cells, which yourbody uses to fight off invading bacteria andviruses.

Treats ulcers: Black pepper has antiox-idant and anti-inflammatory propertiesthat may help stomach ulcers. It may alsofight problems arising due to stomachmucosal damage.

Skin care: It’s believed that blackpepper may help fight with the pigmen-tation problem.

Absorption of nutrients: When con-sumed with other nutrient-rich fruits andvegetables, black pepper may benefit thebody's ability to absorb maximum nutri-tion. It potentially increases the bio-availability and accessibility of nutrientsby sharing their benefits with differentparts of the body.

Other black pepper benefits on healthmay include prevention of cardiovasculardisease, cancer and liver problems.

Cooking with Black PepperHere are some ways to add freshly

ground black pepper to your daily diet:� Use a dash or powdered black pepperto add flavour and spice to your meats, fish,vegetables, salad dressings, soups, stir-fries,pasta, fruits juices, curries and more.� Black pepper tea may help promoteweight loss. Just add 1/2-1 tsp freshlyground black pepper to your tea anddrink.� Crush black peppercorns and add to ateaspoon of honey. It helps treat cold andcough.

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PEPPER IT UP

Labo, a Switzerland-basedglobal innovative cosmeticproducts leader, has recent-

ly entered the Indian market incollaboration with ZeeLaboratories Ltd. The companyhas debuted in the country withits celebrated skin and hair careproduct range — CresinaEnhanced HFSC, Cresinaenhanced anti-hair loss completetherapy and Fillerina 12 HADensifying fillers and creams.

Based on eight Swiss &European Patents, providingessential proteins, peptides andcyclodextrins to the hair, theCresina range of products aredesigned for both men andwomen and are the first clinical-ly developed dermo-cosmetic PRP& Minoxidil replacement treat-ments.

Speaking about the partner-ship and the launch of the prod-ucts, Rohan Mukul, Director, ZeeLaboratories Ltd, said: “The strate-gic collaboration marks Zee Labs’entry into the aesthetic dermatol-ogy segment in India, which iscurrently booming in the country.Zee Labs is a well-known name inpharmaceutical and affordablemedicine, and through this strate-gic partnership with Labo, we con-tinue our striding effort to bringthe best quality wellness productsin the country.”

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Suicide is a worldwide issue.Talking about suicide is

important, typically becausesuicide has emerged into aglobal challenge that needs to begiven close attention. Suicide isone of the prominent reasonsfor death in the people agedbetween 15 and 24. It has beennoticed across the world thatmen die due to suicide morethan women. In 25 countriesaffiliated with the World HealthOrganisation, suicide is a crime.In India with the decriminali-sation of suicide, we have takena potent step towards mitigat-ing the ostracism and socialrejection of individuals afflict-ed by suicide.

However, we still have along way to go, the stigma andlabelling surrounding seekinghelp, prevents many peoplefrom accessing a trained clini-cian. Cultural and social reali-ties are major influences indetermining the experience,expression of psychological dis-tress and the likelihood of seek-ing professional help. Hence

unless we normalise the idea ofspeaking up about psychologi-cal pain, individuals will contin-ue to remain subdued and willnot open up with their strug-gles. It is important that we ini-tiate and encourage discoursesaround suicide.

��"������� The risk of suicide is seldomlimited to one factor it is oftena complex amalgamation ofbiological, psychological, socialand cultural factors. Sometimesa recent activating event like aprofessional letdown, loss of aloved one, personal injury/dis-ease, relationship failure, acad-emic disappointment, job lossor legal trouble can increase therisk for suicide. � Increased risk of suicide isnoticed in individuals sufferingfrom a mental health disorder.It is not uncommon to see indi-viduals suffering from bipolarillness (particularly in a depres-sive or mixed episode), majordepressive disorder, schizo-phrenia (command hallucina-

tions to hurt yourself) andother metal health disorders likesevere anxiety, eating disor-ders demonstrating suicidalbehavior. � Psychological factors likehopelessness, helplessness,impulsivity, agitation, aggressivebehaviors, polarised thinking,closed mindedness increase therisk for suicidal behavior. � Occasionally chronic phys-ical pain or other acute medicalproblem (AIDS, COPD, cancer,etc.) can also be instrumental inincreasing the risk for suicide. � Easy access to lethal meth-ods of harming oneself like easyavailability of guns, pills alsoincreases the likelihood of self-harm.

It is possible to prevent sui-cides. Be vigilant of a potentialconflict that the person is goingthrough; help can be extendedby being with the person andencouraging him/her to speak.Seek help from a mental healthprofessional.

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For the film industry, a year starts likeany other. There would be about 150

new releases and there would be a fewmajor star films to look forward to.Stars and filmmakers, on their part,plan and book the cinema chains for thefestive period.

Earlier, it was not easy to announcea release date of a film, for a film facedmany hurdles before it reached the sil-ver screen — star dates, raw stock sup-ply, finance and so on. Even when a filmwas complete, no producer daredannounce the release date. That offend-ed the Censor Board! Yes, thingsworked that way in those days. Even thetrade papers that ran a column for theforthcoming release programme offilms, had to put a disclaimer: Subjectto Censor!!

So, even if you managed well withstar dates, raw stock and finances, cen-sor certification would often delay afilm’s release. Indefinitely in somecases.

The only film producer who daredannounce the release date of his film,Bezubaan, directed by renowned Telugudirector Bapu, was Pranlal Mehta, whowas known to be meticulous. Heannounced the release date on the dayof its launch through an ad in theScreen Weekly and that surprised thewhole trade. That was 1982 and hedelivered as promised. Not that thingschanged thereafter that every produc-er could followed the trend.

Things have changed much since.Filmmaking has become a disciplinedprocess. Artistes work on one film at a

time and, as a result, even the releasedate of a film, which is in the concep-tion stage, can be announced! Howthings have changed! At least, the pre-ferred slots of the Republic Day,Independence Day, Diwali, Eid and theChristmas weekends, the most sought-after, are booked for big films. For therest, the release slots are always avail-able looking at how multiplex screenshave spread themselves so thin.

Come 2021, we are faced with a sit-uation worse than those older days ofuncertainties when the one making afilm could not even assume his releaseplan! Quite a few major films are readyfor release and still not certain aboutwhen they will see them hit the screen.And, this is not about Censor hurdle.

It is the Corona pandemic that hasruined industries, trades, life as we livedit and other aspects along with the filmbusiness. While other industries aregradually turning the page, for the filmindustry things are still uncertain.

The entertainment industry thatcame to a halt in March 2020, is beingresurrected in parts — that is to say theTV entertainment has become as goodas normal, as has the OTT contentmaking. The film shootings are alsounderway but to a very limited extent,with a lot of restrictions. No maker willroll a new film project till the pictureis clear as to when can a film reach thecinemas.

So, what does the industry look for-ward to in 2021? The answer is, noth-ing yet, not so soon. As far as the exhi-bition trade is concerned, there is no

certainty. Just when things looked likegetting back to normal, here comes athreat of a mutated COVID-19 virus!Now, that adds to the scepticism andthe scary situation just when thereseemed to be a light at the end of thetunnel. Add to that, the periodic nightcurfews imposed in various states.That, coupled with the limited seatoccupancy rule, it is not viable for eitherthe cinemas or the filmmakers to go fora theatrical release.

A few films are ready for release in2021 and there are quite a few in var-ious stages of production. Theseinclude: Aamir Khan’s Laal SinghChaddha, Shah Rukh Khan’s Pathan,Salman Khan’s Radhe: Your MostWanted Bhai and Antim, HrithikRoshan’s Krrish 4 and the remake ofVikram Vedha, Ajay Devgn’s Bhuj,MayDay and one more, RanbirKapoor’s Brahmastra, Animal and arom com; Ranveer Singh’s Cirkus,besides a line-up of six Akshay Kumarfilms: Bell Bottom, Atrangi Re, BachchanPandey, Prithviraj, Ram Setu, RakshaBandhan and a sci-fi film with JaganShakti! There are also Rohit Shetty’sSooryavanshi starring Akshay andKabir Khan’s 83 starring Ranveer Singh.

If I were to lay my bets on the grandopening, it would be on Sooryavanshi.The reason being it is directed by thebest entertainer of the present era, RohitShetty, and it also stars two of the bestaction heroes of our time, AkshayKumar and Ajay Devgn along withRanveer Singh. What is more, Shetty isknown to add an element of comic

relief in his films.As for Laal Singh Chaddha, I would

not count on a great opening response,but looking at Aamir Khan’s pastrecord with a film like Dangal, he canspring a surprise. Nobody knows aboutLaal Singh Chaddha but few knewabout the wrestler Phogat family whenDangal released, either. With this film,the only problem is that it is inspiredfrom the Hollywood film, ForrestGump. Needs to be seen how AamirKhan carries it off. Earlier, Shah RukhKhan in My Name Is Khan, and SalmanKhan in Tubelight, have tried to playodd characters without success.

Then there is Radhe: Your MostWanted Bhai, a Salman Khan film. Thistime, a remake of a South Korean actioncomedy, Veteran.

83 is a Kapil Dev story and justbecause of him, the film may bring inthe footfalls like Neerja did because ofwho Neerja Bhanot was. Here again, thepairing may prove to be a drawback forobvious reasons.

Finally, Thalaiva. It seems to havebetter prospects in the South consid-ering it is based on the life of the lateTamil actor-turned-politician, JJayalalithaa. An OTT streaming contenton her life, Queen, is already available.

So, when it comes to drawingaudience to the cinema halls on dayone, first show, so far the only film like-ly to make it happen is Sooryavanshi.

But, these seven films can’t feed thecinemas all round 2021. The reason tomention this is, for the time being, notmany films are in the making which cansustain the cinemas for a weekend, ifnot for a week. The smaller projectscan’t feed a cinema for more than a fewdays as was proved by the recentrelease, Suraj Pe Mangal Bhari.

The good news for the cinemas isthat the COVID-19 pandemic vaccinesare about to reach the markets, follow-ing which the audience may resume itscinema-going routine and even theseating capacity limits may be with-drawn gradually.

Hopefully, things should start get-ting back to normal before summer2021.

(The writer, Vinod Mirani, is a vet-eran film writer and box office analyst.The views expressed are personal.)

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��������������As we welcome a new year

with optimism and strength, letthe same spirit get reflected inyour dressing space. After all, thatis where you start and end yourday. We can’t deny that too manyshades, textures, and prints cansometimes look complex andunpleasing, this is where a calmcolour paired with a bright

undertone can help you create asoothing space. An urbane clos-et with subtle shades and a hintof light truly rejuvenates yourmood.

Laminate your wall panelswith the soothing essence oflight grey shade that can also helpyou keep health and hygieneintact. For instance, go for greycolour laminate decors from

Greenlam Laminates which offersa safeguard plus technology withhealth & hygiene features –antivirus, antibacterial, antifun-gal that retard and kill up to 99per cent of viruses and bacteriawhich come in contact with thesurface. These laminates areproven effective against COVID-19 virus with 99 per cent effica-cy in 30 minutes of exposure to

the laminate surface, so that youand your family can stay stressfree and healthy. As you will goabout showcasing your clothesand other precious collections,make some room for a seatingarrangement in one corner. Here,you can use a bright yellow throwalong with some flowers by theside to make it look effortlesslyflamboyant.

Bollywood star Ayushmann Khurranais back in Mumbai after six months

and rumour has it that he is in town tosign and start a big project that rollssoon. Ayushmann, who was in hishometown Chandigarh since June end,has maintained that he has discoveredsome projects during the pandemic andthat he can’t wait to announce them.Looks like, a big announcement iscoming our way.

A trade source reveals, “It is a pro-ject that will stand out because of its sto-rytelling. It will see him collaboratingwith one of the best film-makers. Thingsare being kept under wraps but weexpect an announcement soon.”

The actor says, “I will have threereleases in 2021 and my intent with thesereleases is to bring people back to thetheatres.” As of now we know that hisnext two films are Chandigarh KareAashiqui and Doctor G. So, the revela-tion that there will be a third film releas-ing this year, means there will be anannouncement soon.

He earlier said, “I’m hoping toentertain the people thoroughly throughmy brand of cinema. I would want tooffer audiences some of the best contentthat they could hopefully cherish andengage with.”

He added, “I have an ambition to dothe best films that my industry is pro-ducing and I strive hard to discoverthem. It’s almost like a personal journeyto reinvent myself on screen with everyfilm.”

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''6�<#"���'(�B�

������5��"����While offices usually

remind of boring tiny cubicles,working from home has givenan opportunity to state yourstyle using all your creativity.Also, the coming year will seework from home to continue tobe a part of our lives for fewmore months. How about wegive a quick makeover to yourstudy desk? Some like to keeptheir desk spick and span whilesome prefer to keep all theoffice essentials or non-essen-tials together. Whatever yourcalling is, go for a study tableand chair in the refreshing yel-low shade ‘Illuminating.’ Nowpair a book stand or case in theearthy shade of ‘Ultimate Gray.’This marriage of Pantone 2021

colours will instantly infuse zealand cheer.

To make this natural look insync with other interior ele-ments, go for light brown wood-en f looring options. Forinstance, this Oak Topaz fromMikasa Floors seamlessly blendswith your colour scheme.Moreover, these floors are com-posed of three stability provid-ing layers real hard wood, a sta-bilising core and a balancinglayer, you don’t have to worryabout the climate change. As fin-ishing touches, just place awhite lamp and a pen holder tocomplete the look. This vibrantand simple decor set-up willhelp you boost your thoughtprocess and give your best per-formance.

������������������Now that kids are bound to stay

at home for a longer time, make theirspace more fun, cheerful, and lively.They should have a space where theycan have their play dates, study, oreven just scribble. This space shouldbe designed like a blank canvaswhere your child can explore them-selves freely and feel upbeat to matchtheir energy levels. For the walls, onecan opt for natural veneer fromDecowood Veneers whose neutrallight shades are perfect for distin-guishing other vibrant colours in yourspace. Since, these veneers are easy to

maintain and durable, you don’t haveto worry about the wear and tear ofyour walls.

Adding 2021’s Pantone shade willadd a positive element in the room. So,you can add this shade in smaller ele-ments like cushions and lamps tooomph the look. Place a soft andwarm rug in the Pantone shade‘Ultimate Gray’ so that your child toofeels the encouragement and steadi-ness of this shade. Go for wood pat-tern laminates in natural light brownshade for keeping all the toys andother hobby stuff arranged at oneplace. Trust us, this fun and frolicspace will make your child go superhappy.

This new year, Pantone 2021colours are here to spread hope andgood vibes that are essential to thehuman spirit. Since, we truly need tofeel positive inside out, these distincthome decor ideas will take care ofyour indoor safety and elevate yourmood at the same time.

(The author Parul Mittal is thedirector of Greenlam Industries Ltd.)

2020 has been revolutionaryin many ways, our lifestylechanged, everyone has

cocooned into their homes andspending more time indoors.We all somehow learned to main-tain a balance between stayingcalm and aspirational. Inspired bythis phase, Pantone announced

‘Illuminating’ which is a brightyellow colour and ‘Ultimate Gray’which assures feelings of compo-sure and resilience. Today, withmaximum time being spent athome, it’s important to brightenour nests to be able to rise andshine. As we constantly craveencouragement and upliftment,

how about we bid farewell togloominess and splash merri-ment of Pantone 2021 colours toour homes?

Read on to explore newerways of designing your abodethat speaks the language of pos-itivity, hopefulness, vibrancy andsafety.

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Cristiano Ronaldo scoredtwice as champions

Juventus bounced back fromtheir first Serie A defeat of theseason by beatingUdinese 4-1 on Sundayto move up to fifthplace.

The Milan clubsare top of the Italianleague with Juventus 10points adrift of thesummit having playeda game less.

Leaders AC Milan stayedone point ahead of Inter witha 2-0 win over midtableBenevento despite playing anhour a man down.

City rivals Inter extendedtheir winning streak to eightleague games with a dominant6-2 victory over lowly Crotone

with Lautaro Martinezbagging a hat-trick.

But Milan restoredtheir advantage thanks toa Franck Kessie penaltyon 15 minutes and RafaelLeao’s terrific curling strikefrom a tight angle shortly afterhalf-time.

Sandro Tonali’s sending offafter 33 minutes for a hightackle on Artur Ionita did nothold back Stefano Pioli’s side.

G i a n l u i g iDonnarumma wassolid in the Milangoal whileGianluca Capraridragged a penaltywide on the hour.

“We don’t letourselves be put

under pressure by the resultsof the opponents,” said Pioliwhose side are unbeaten in27 league games goingback to March.

“We’re ambitious,we’re not hiding it and weaim to win the nextmatch as well againstJuventus (on

Wednesday).”Ronaldo once again proved

decisive for Juventus scoring agoal in each half to bring hisleague-leading tally to 14 this

campaign and teeing upFederico Chiesa after the

break.Paulo Dybala added

the fourth deep intoinjury time as AndreaPirlo’s side moved onfrom their first defeat ofthe season to Fiorentinalast time out.

“It wasn’t the bestJuventus because wewere coming off abad defeat, we werea bit fearful at thebeginning,” saidPirlo.

“Slowly wegrew and in the

second half wedid better. It’sa delicatem o m e n t

but we haveto have confidence in whatwe can achieve and the deter-mination to get there.”

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Aclassic century by Kane Williamsonin an unbroken 215-run stand with

Henry Nicholls hauled New Zealand intoa strong position at 286/3 at stumps onday two of the second Test againstPakistan on Monday.

New Zealand, having recovered from71/3 in Christchurch, ended the day trail-ing Pakistan’s first innings 297 by just 11runs with seven wickets inhand.

Williamson, newlyinstalled as the world’s No 1Test batsman, was unbeaten on112, his 24th century, withNicholls on 89.

Even when New Zealandwere in trouble there was a sensein the side that Williamson wouldsave them.

It was Williamson's third centu-ry in as many Tests in the pastmonth, although fortune was on hisside.

Late in the day, he was droppedtwice and survived a run outwhen the bail had only partiallydislodged in the split second ittook to get his bat across thecrease.

Pakistan, without a win in 10away Tests since 2018, would

have felt their luck was changing whenNew Zealand slumped from 52 withoutloss to 71/3 when Ross Taylor departedin the fifth over after lunch.

It could have been 74/4when Nicholls was given outearly, caught behind forthree, only for the dismissalto be reversed by the TVumpire who detected

Shaheen Afridi's deliverywas a no ball.

With New Zealand introuble, Williamson was allpatience as he took 70deliveries to reach 20, but

he then put his foot down.The next 30 runs came off 35

balls to reach 50 and he took just35 balls to race from 50 to 100.

“It’s very difficult to get hiswicket,” said Pakistan quick bowlerMohammad Abbas. “We had someplans against him but he’s a world-class player. He took his time andwhen he settled at the crease he gotsome runs. We bowled well early butafter tea some catches were droppedand that’s why we’re struggling.”

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Sri Lanka captain DimuthKarunaratne ensured his

team would avoid an inningsdefeat but the tourists were ina precarious position at theend of the second day of thesecond and final Test againstSouth Africa at theWanderers Stadium onMonday.

The tourists were 150/4 atthe close in Johannesburg, alead of five runs with sixwickets remaining.

Karunaratne, one of fiveleft-handers in the Sri Lankantop six, made 91 not out off116 balls with 17 fours.

But there was only onepartnership of note, 85 for thesecond wicket with LahiruThirimanne, who scored 31.They came together afterKusal Perera had been bowledwith only one run scored.

Fast bowler Lungi Ngiditook the first three wickets tofinish the day with 3/26, hav-ing Thirimanne and KusalMendis caught down the legside by wicketkeeper Quinton

de Kock off successive deliv-eries. It was the third succes-sive nought by Mendis.

Karunaratne's inningscontinued a fightback whichstarted with the team'sbowlers, who restricted SouthAfrica's first innings lead to145. Vishwa Fernando took5/101, his first five-wickethaul in Tests, as South Africawere bowled out for 302, los-

ing their last nine wickets for84 runs.

South Africa's collapseseemed unlikely when DeanElgar (127) and Rassie vander Dussen (67) scored 68runs off 14 overs in the firsthour of the day. Their second-wicket stand was worth 184before the mid-morningdrinks break brought achange in fortunes, with both

batsmen dismissed in thefirst two overs after drinks.

Elgar, who made 95 inSouth Africa's innings win inthe first Test at Centurion,completed his 13th Test cen-tury after starting the day on92. He hit 22 fours in a 163-ball innings.

Perera, who made 64 and60 in his previous twoinnings, was bowled for oneby a ball from Ngidi whichswung in from around thewicket. But Karunatne andThirimanne both batted withassurance before Ngidi struckagain.

Debutant MinodBhanuka played a rash pullagainst the pace of AnrichNortje and was out for one,with Keshav Maharaj takinga superb catch at midwicket,running several metres beforediving full length. NiroshanDickwella made 18 not out tosurvive with Karunaratneuntil the close.

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The impasse in the Indianchess finally came to an end

on Monday as incumbentSecretary Bharat Singh Chauhanand his team scored a huge vic-tory over the camp headed bysitting President P R V Raja inan online election conducted asper the directives of the TamilNadu High Court.

Chauhan, who got re-elect-ed to the Secretary post, is seenas a player friendly administra-tor.

The outcome comes as ahuge blow to the Raja, one of thebiggest industrialists of TamilNadu, who lost by a marginal33-31 votes to Dr Sanjay Kapoorof Uttar Pradesh.

Chauhan won 35-29 againsthis rival M Dongre ofMaharashtra.

In the other key post NareshSharma from Haryana toppledincumbent Kishor Bandekar by34-30 votes.

Team Bharat Singh won 11

of the total 15 posts comprisingPresident, Secretary, Treasurer,five Vice Presidents, and threeJoint Secretaries.

The rival camp won oneVice President and three JointSecretaries posts.

“We are going to work as ateam, I have been fighting thisfor almost 1.5 years now, just forjustice and the good sense hasfinally prevailed. The justice isdelivered and the Indian Chessis in good hands is all I canpromise for now. All our electionpromises will be delivered”, saidBharat Singh Chauhan.

The AICF has split into twofactions, one led by Raja and theother by Chauhan. The twohave been at loggerheads forsome time over various issues,including the conduct of theelections.

Several legal battles werefought in the past one and a halfyear and there were instanceswhen the president and the sec-retary suspended each other atdifferent times.

After a long-drawn battle, acourt-appointed observerJustice (retired) K Kannanpresided over the electionprocess held online because ofthe Covid-19 pandemic.

It was the first time since2005 that the AICF electionssaw a contest as the candidateswere chosen unanimously in thelast 15 years.

Apart from the president,secretary and treasurer, six vice-presidents and six joint secre-taries were also elected.

TEAM AICFPresident(1): Dr Sanjay KapoorVice Presidents (6) : AnanthaDP, Bhavesh Patel, VipneshBhardwaj, Ajay Ajmera, PCLallianthanga & Er NiapungKonia.Secretary: Bharat SinghChauhan.Joint Secretaries: Rajesh R,Mahendra Dhakal, Atul Kumar,Mughaho Awomi, DiljeetKhanna & Atanu Lahiri.Treasurer: Naresh Sharma.

GANGULY MAY UNDERGO ANOTHER ANGIOPLASTYKolkata: 1������� ������ !��������� ���� ��"��� 6������!����� �����'� 3�� ���� $���� �'�� ��� ����� �� �������� ��!�����������& �$���������$����(�%������� �����$�%������� ��� ��"���!������������������������&���%��(#���1*:� � � ��� "������� �������� ����� ��� ������)� �� ����0"�"%��� %����� � � ������� �������� ���������� 3�� ���G����������� ���� ������� �� ���������� ���� ��� ���������#��� ��!����������%���� ��������������������������������%��#�����������5��!������,�����1*:�,��2�!������������)�&+���� ��!������$���������!����� ������������ �$���������$����)�5��$����%�������� ���"����!��%�%���������� ������"����$#(��������)

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BARCA BEAT HUESCA 1-0 IN LA LIGAHuesca: ����������$���;0>����%����"������5�������������������������������%���"����� ��������0�!���������"����@>>��!!�������������������� �)��������������� ���������� ����"����� ���� ����� �"��� �.>.>�$����������������������$�� ������������ ����������������� �����'�����"�� ����������� �������.=�"������)������ 2������ C��"��G�� ����� %� ��� �� !����������� ������0�� ���� � ����� � ���� ���������'�� �$���"������$��� ���" ����%���$��#�������"��������������;>�!������%���������������� � ���'�� �!�������� �"��"���)�

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Australia will have planschalked out for thereturning Rohit Sharma,

seasoned off-spinner NathanLyon said on Monday, describ-ing the swashbuckling Indiaopener as one of the best play-ers in world cricket.

Having missed the limitedovers leg of the tour and theTests in Adelaide andMelbourne due to an injury,Rohit has joined an upbeatIndian team for the last twomatches and Lyon is aware ofthe threat the batsman can posewith his wide range of strokes.

“Obviously, Rohit Sharmais one of the best players in theworld going around, so it isgoing to be a big challenge forus bowlers, but we are going toshow our way from it, we lovechallenging ourself,” Lyon saidat a virtual press conference.

“He (Rohit) is a big inputfor Indian side, so it is going tobe interesting to see who theyleave out.

“But we will have our plansready for Rohit, and hopeful-ly, we can get on top of himnice and early, but respectinghow good a cricketer Rohit is,”added Lyon, who is on theverge of playing his 100th Test.

Rohit has been namedIndia’s vice-captain for theremaining two Tests after hemissed the first two as he wasrecovering from an injury sus-tained during the IPL.

Lyon said one of Indiaskipper Ajinkya Rahane’sstrengths is that he does notindulge in sledging or conver-sations with the oppositionbowlers while he is in the mid-dle.

“He (Rahane) is obviouslya world-class batter, whichobviously helps with every-thing. I think the patience thathe shows at the crease, hedoesn’t seem to get (frustrated)much.

“He (Rahane) doesn’t buyinto any sledging or any con-servation out there in the mid-dle, he is pretty calm and col-lective batter (of the) opposi-tion, so it is few differentthings that he offers.

“... But he is obviouslyleader of India at the momentas Virat (Kohli) is not here, sohe is standing up at themoment and I know we willhave our plans ready to hope-fully combat him come theSCG Test,” he said.

Lyon also had words ofpraise for his Indian counter-part Ravichandran Ashwin andsaid the Tamil Nadu off-spin-ner has bowled quite straighterto the Australian batsman andthey had no answer to that.

“Yeah, Ashwin is bowlingvery well. He is a world-classspinner and I have said thatthroughout my whole career.He has bowled quite a straightline to our batters, which theyhaven’t had come up with aplan as yet.

“I think they will come upwith one of them and counterAshwin’s plan in Sydney,” saidLyon, who has 394 wicketsfrom 94 Tests.

“But he (Ashwin) is aworld-class bowler and whatyou expect, he has got a decentrecord around the world, sohats off to him,” the Australianadded.

Lyon also stated that he hasdevised “a couple of differentplans” for Rahane, who hit adogged match-winning 112 inthe Melbourne Test.

“I think (Ajinkya) Rahaneplayed me extremely well inMelbourne, so I know I amgoing to come up with a cou-ple of different plans for himand a few different guys, so Iam looking forward to putting

them in place.“But, to be honest with you,

we have been pretty accuratewith our bowling, as a squad totake 20 wickets quite quickly inAdelaide but then challengedlittle bit in Melbourne.

“But to stay there and keepcreating chances, that was apositive. So, we are very confi-dent as a bowling group and Iknow personally I have got afew different plans to put inplace.”

According to the 33-year-old Lyon, Indian batters havealways tried to be attackingagainst him.

“I think they (Indian bats-men) have played me prettysimilar. Every series I come upagainst India, they try to bequite attacking,” he said.

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PATTINSON OUTAustralian pacer James Pattinson was on

Monday ruled out of the third Test againstIndia due to bruised ribs, the home team’scricket board said in a statement.

“Fast bowler James Pattinson has beenruled out of our Australian squad for the third

#AUSvIND Vodafone Test with bruised ribs,”said Cricket Australia (CA).

A replacement has not been named forPattinson, who got injured after a fall at home.

“He will not be replaced in the squad andwill be assessed further ahead of the BrisbaneTest match,” CA added.

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The crowd limit for the third Testbetween India and Australia,

beginning here from Thursday, hasbeen reduced to 25 per cent of theSCG’s seating capacity on advice ofthe New South Wales Governmentafter fresh Covid-19 cases wererecorded in the city.

Approximately 9500 peoplewould be allowed to watch thegame with the series currentlylocked at 1-1. The SCG has a seat-ing capacity of about 38,000.

“Reducing the capacity of thevenue is crucial in achieving socialdistancing requirements, and wesincerely thank ticket-holders fortheir patience, as we processrefunds today, reconfigure theSCG seating plan to deliver thesesocial distancing measures and goback on sale,” Cricket AustraliaCEO Nick Hockley said in a state-ment.

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Cricket Australia chief executiveNick Hockley on Monday dis-

missed reports that the Indian teamis reluctant to play the fourth Test inBrisbane because of stricter quaran-tine rules there.

Hockley said the Indian cricketboard is “fully across (and) support-ive” of quarantine requirements inQueensland.

“We speak to our counterparts atthe BCCI daily,” he told reporters here.

“We’ve had nothing formal fromthe BCCI to suggest anything otherthan they’re supportive. Both teamshave wanted to play the schedule aswe’ve set out,” he asserted.

The fourth game is due fromJanuary 15 at the Gabba.

The Australian media has claimedthat the Brisbane Test is in jeopardybecause of the tourists’ reluctance totravel there in view of harder quaran-tine rules, having already served oneupon entering Australia in November.

The reports, citing unnamedsources, claimed that the Indian team

wanted the fourth Test to be also heldin Sydney.

Queensland has closed its bordersfor people travelling from New SouthWales, of which Sydney is the capital,due to the rising cases of Covid-19 inthe city and surrounding areas.

Earlier in the day, Australia’s lead-ing spinner Nathan Lyon had calledon players from both teams to “get outthere and play the game” instead ofworrying over things that are beyondtheir control.

“I am not really worried aboutwhat’s being reported, it is for us toworry about what we can control andthe information that we are receivingfrom the people at Cricket Australiaand the medical people,” Lyon hadsaid.

“It is just about us making surethat we are very well prepared for theSydney Test, everyone keeps talkingabout the Gabba Test.

“But there is a massive Test matchin just couple of days at the SCG andthat is where our focus is 100 per centat the moment,” the veteran off-spin-ner added.

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The Indian cricket team and its support staffhave returned negative in the latest Covid-19

tests conducted here ahead of the third Test againstAustralia in Sydney, the BCCI said on Monday.

The game is due to start on January 7 and TheIndian team landed in Sydney on Monday asscheduled.

“Playing members of the Indian Cricket Teamand support staff underwent an RT-PCR Test forCovid-19 on January 3, 2021. All tests havereturned negative results,” the BCCI said in a shortstatement.

The statement came a couple of days after fiveIndian players — vice-captain Rohit Sharma, open-er Shubman Gill, stumper Rishabh Pant, pacerNavdeep Saini and batsman Prithvi Shaw — wereplaced in isolation when a video of them at anindoor restaurant was posted by a fan on Twitter.

The five were, however, allowed to train andtravel with the team for the match in Sydney.According to sources in the Indian contingent, theyhave been cleared to play in the third Test at theSydney Cricket Ground.

All the players and support staff returning neg-ative for Covid-19 is welcome news for the Indianteam amid the controversy around the allegedbreach of bio-security protocols.

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