12
I n a major step to reduce ten- sion at the Line of Control (LoC), India and Pakistan on Thursday decided to strictly adhere to a ceasefire for “mutu- ally beneficial and sustainable peace.” The agreement arrived at between the Director Generals of Military Operations (DGMOs) on Thursday was aimed at avoid- ing civilian casualties on either side during firing. However, the ceasefire, which came into force from midnight of February 24-25, will not restrict the Indian security forces from carrying out anti-terrorist and anti- infiltration operations in Jammu & Kashmir, it was clar- ified here. Agreeing to adhere to the ceasefire announced by then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2003, a joint state- ment issued by both the coun- tries said the two armies will observe all agreements on ceasefire along the 750-km long LoC and other sectors, according to a joint statement issued on Thursday. The decision was taken during talks between India DGMO Lt General PS Sangha and his Pakistani counterpart Major General Nauman Zakaria on the hotline. The two DGMOs held dis- cussions and reviewed the sit- uation along the LoC in a “free, frank and cordial atmos- phere”, the statement said. It added that in the inter- est of achieving mutually ben- eficial and sustainable peace along the borders, the two DGMOs agreed to address each other’s core issues and concerns which have propen- sity to disturb peace and lead to violence. Both sides agreed for strict observance of all agreements, understandings and ceasefire along the LoC and all other sec- tors with effect from midnight 24/25 February 2021. Both sides reiterated that existing mechanisms of hotline contact and border flag meet- ings will be utilised to resolve any unforeseen situation or misunderstanding. Incidentally, the two armies in 2018 had also agreed to follow the 2003 guidelines. However, situation remained volatile at the LoC. Sources said the latest pact came about after rounds of back channel talks between the two countries over the last few months, adding National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval held talks in this regard with Prime Minister Imran Khan’s special assistant Moed W Yusuf. Pakistan Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, the most powerful figure there to shape the national policies, earlier this month also favoured talks and said it is time to extend a hand of peace in all directions.” In Pakistan, Army spokesperson Major General Babar Iftikhar said regarding the joint statement that “there have been contacts between India and Pakistan on a hotline level since 1987. Frequently, the DGMOs of both countries stay in contact through this estab- lished mechanism.” According to media report from there, he also said from 2014 there was a spike in cease- fire violations along the LoC. “Both the DGMOs have agreed that the existing 2003 under- standing should be imple- mented in letter and spirit,” he added. Dawn newspaper said the latest development is seen as a thaw after years of tension between the two nuclear-armed neighbours. Both Prime Minister Imran Khan and Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa recently offered India to resolve all issues through dialogue. Ties between India and Pakistan nosedived after a ter- ror attack on the Pathankot Air Force base in 2016 by terror groups based in the neigh- bouring country. Subsequent attacks, including one on the Indian Army camp in Uri, deteriorated the relationship. The relationship dipped further after IAF carried out air strikes against a Jaish-e- Mohammed (JeM) terrorist training camp in Balakot on February 26, 2019 in response to the Pulwama terror attack in which 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawans were killed on February 15 the same year. The ties between the two countries worsened after India in 2019 announced abrogation of Article 370 giving special sta- tus to Jammu & Kashmir and divided the State into two Union Territories. There were 5,133 ceasefire violations last year in which 22 civilians were killed and 71 injured on the Indian side. Moreover, 24 security person- nel were also killed in the fir- ing while 126 were wounded. Moreover, nearly 300 incidents of ceasefire violation were recorded till January end this year. In a written response to a question in the Lok Sabha ear- lier this month, Union Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy said a total of 10,752 cases of ceasefire violations have taken place along India’s border with Pakistan in the last three years, in which 72 secu- rity personnel and 70 civilians were killed. He said 364 security per- sonnel and 341 civilians were injured in cross-border firings along the International Border and the LoC in Jammu & Kashmir in 2018, 2019 and 2020. T ightening its grip on unreg- ulated media, the Government on Thursday announced a set of stringent regulations for social media firm like Facebook and Twitter as well as OTT players such as Netflix, requiring them to remove any content flagged by authorities within 36 hours and setting up a complaint redressal mechanism with an officer being based in the coun- try. The guidelines will also apply to popular mobile apps like WhatsApp and Telegram. The Government also announced guidelines for news portals operating from India, asking them to keep the rules and norms applicable to print and TV channel codes. This is the first time such rules have been framed for dig- ital and online media operating within the country’s jurisdic- tion. IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad addressing media with I&B Minister Prakash Javadekar said concerns have been raised over rampant abuse of social media platforms and spread of fake news. To fix the fake ID users, the guidelines also insisted that social media platforms must verify the users through mobile phone firms. “Social media companies are welcome to do business in India, and empower Indians...We welcome criti- cism and dissent... But it is important that users of social media are given a proper forum for the resolution of their griev- ances in a time-bound man- ner,” Prasad said. Prasad said intermediaries will fall into two categories — social media intermediary and significant social media inter- mediary. This distinction is based on the number of users on the social media platform, and the Government will soon notify the threshold of the user base that will distinguish the two. The rules require the “significant” social media intermediaries to follow addi- tional due diligence including the appointment of chief com- pliance officer, a nodal contact person and a resident grievance officer. All the three officials will have to be resident-citizens of India. The guidelines also make it mandatory for platforms such as Twitter and WhatsApp to identify the originator of a message that authorities con- sider to be anti-national and against the security and sover- eignty of the country. The rules about digital media and OTT focus more on in-house and self-regulation mechanism whereby a robust grievance redressal mechanism has been provided while upholding jour- nalistic and creative freedom. As per the guidelines, all social media, OTT platforms and news portals must have a resident Indian citizen griev- ance officer to handle the com- plaints. He must make a decision in 15 days and must maintain monthly data of such com- plaints. Social media and OTT firms also must have resident Indian citizen compliance offi- cer and nodal officer, who will be responsible in responding to the Government agencies. T he UK’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Thursday ruled that diamond merchant and prime accused in the PNB credit fraud case Nirav Modi has a case to answer before Indian courts. With the UK court now clear- ing the legal pathway for Modi’s extradition, the judg- ment will now need ratification of British Home Secretary Priti Patel for sending the fugitive back to India. Reacting to the Westminster Magistrates’ Court ruling, the CBI said the British court has accepted the contention of the Centre to extradite him. “The UK Court delivered the verdict wherein it held that the evidence against Nirav Modi is prima facie sufficient to order his extradition to India to face the charges. The (UK) court also upheld the assurances of the Government of India and rejected the sub- missions of defence regarding human rights violations, fair trial and prison conditions. Rejecting the arguments of defence, the UK court decid- ed to send his case to the Secretary of the State, the UK for final decision,” the CBI said in a statement. India is a designated Part 2 country under the Extradition Act 2003 and the UK’s Cabinet Minister has the authority to order the request- ed person’s extradition after considering a number of fur- ther issues. Under the Act, the Secretary of State must con- sider the possibility of impo- sition of the death penalty, in which case extradition cannot be ordered; the rule of spe- cialty, which prohibits a person being dealt with in the request- ing state for matters other than those referenced in the extradition request; and whether or not the person was in the UK following extra- dition from another state, in which case that state’s permis- sion must be obtained before extraditing to a third state. If these factors do not apply, the Minister must order extradition within two months of the day on which the District Judge referred his decision to the office of Secretary of State, in this case by the end of April. The Home Secretary’s order rarely goes against the court’s conclusions, as she has to consider only these provi- sions under the Act which cannot apply as the court has already junked those claims of the defendant. However, the Westminster’s court has grant- ed Modi a window of appeal in the High Court and has up to 14 days to make that applica- tion after the Home Secretary makes her decision known. Any appeal, if granted, will be heard at the Administrative Division of the High Court in London. T he Delhi Government has directed all its departments and autonomous bodies to switch their entire fleet of hired cars for electric vehicles with- in six months. The Government, which has over 2,000 cars in its fleet, said it hopes its decision will inspire other cities in the coun- try and the world to tackle the issues of pollution and climate change with the urgency they deserve. The announcement came a day after the Aam Aadmi Party-led Government launched campaign “Switch Delhi” to encourage private vehicle owners to take a pledge to shift to electric vehicles and install a charging point within their premises in the next three years. “It’s history! Driven by the vision of CM @ArvindKejriwal to make Delhi the ‘Electric Vehicle capital’, Delhi govt today became the 1st in the world, not just India, to man- date its entire hired car fleet to switch to electric WITHIN a deadline- 6 mths. @SwitchDelhi begins at home,” Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia tweeted. “Over 2,000 cars will be impacted by this decision and will transition to EVs in next 6 months. We hope this decision inspires cities and govts around India and the world to tackle the pollution and climate change problem with the seri- ousness and urgency it deserves,” he said. The Delhi Government had in August last year launched an Electric Vehicle Policy to tackle the problem of air pollution. Under the policy, it promised to waive registra- tion fee, road tax, and provide an incentive of up to Rs 1.5 lakh for new cars in the national Capital. Under Delhi’s EV policy, 12 four-wheeler models are avail- able and eligible for purchase and scrapping incentives. The Transport Department of Delhi will be the nodal department to monitor the progress of the transition from existing diesel/petrol vehicle fleet to EVs. “It will also be necessary for all departments to produce monthly action reports on the transition to EVs by the 5th of every month to the nodal department,” the Kejriwal Government said in a state- ment. S putnik V, the Russian vac- cine against the Covid-19, will have to wait longer to get approval for emergency use authorisation (EUA) in India. The country’s top drug regulator’s subject expert com- mittee (SEC) has asked Hyderabad-based Dr Reddy’s Laboratories to submit more data before a final decision could be taken about its fate. Dr Reddy’s Lab is locally conducting clinical trials on Sputnik V. The DCGI decision seek- ing more data from Dr Reddy’s has been slammed by a section of health experts. They con- tended when the Covishield by Serum Institute of India and Covaxin by Bharat Biotech can get EUA without complete data, then why the nod for the Russian vaccine was being held up despite it showing good pre- liminary results. Dr Reddy’s Lab had applied to the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation on February 19 for EUA as the human adenoviral vector-based vaccine candidate. I n all likelihood, the water flow in the Mahanadi may further dip this year also dur- ing non-monsoon period. It would further decrease in com- ing years because of the con- struction of barrages in the upper stream in Chhattisgarh. This was stated by Water Resources Minister Rahunandan Das in the State Assembly on Thursday to a question of Congress MLA Tara Prasad Bahinipati. Das further said that despite plen- ty of water in the Mahanadi in Chhattisgarh, they are not allowing water to flow down to Odisha. In this background, the Odish Government had lodged a complaint with the Central Government, following which the Latter set up a Mahanadi Water Dispute Tribunal. In 2018, Odisha also filed an interim affidavit to ensure flow of water to the State in non- monsoon period. W ith detection of 89 new Covid-19 positive cases in 19 districts of the State and the State pool, the total tally surged to 3,36,924 on Thursday.Of the new cases, 53 were from quarantine and 36 local contacts. Sambalpur dis- trict recorded the day’s highest 14 cases. Currently, the number of total active cases in the State stood at 623 and the cumula- tive samples tested were 82,55,08 .Meanwhile, one more patient succumbed to the dis- ease on the day, taking the State’s total toll to 1.919.However, another 67 per- son recovered, increasing the total recoveries to 3,34,400 in the State. E ven as the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has set up a Covid-19 test centre for screening of passengers, two symptomatic travelers, who arrived at the Biju Patnaik International Airport here on Wednesday, have tested positive for the virus. While one of them, who came from Mumbai, has been kept under home isolation, the other has been admitted to the Sum Covid Hospital. “Two persons tested positive while reports of others are awaited. We are conducting screening of travellers at the airport. If anyone is found with Covid-19 symptoms, he or she will undergo a test,” an offi- cial said. Though the test is not mandatory, those are arriving from the worst-affected States like Kerala and Maharashtra would be subjected to screen- ing, the official added. T he State Assembly on Thursday witnessed pande- monium when Opposition members raised the Kotia issue and irregularities in paddy pro- curement.During Zero Hour, the Congress MLAs went into the Well of the House and raised slogans over the “failure” of the State Government on paddy procurement and han- dling the Kotia issue. The House was adjourned several times while Deputy Speaker Rajanikant Singh called an all-party meeting to resolve the deadlock but in vain. Leader of Opposition Pradipta Kumar Naik (BJP) said, “The State Government should assure that the paddy of all farmers will be procured. Besides, the concerned Minister should apologise for calling farmers ‘Dalal’.” BJP MLA Jayanarayan Mishra said non- purchase of paddy from farmers has resulted in massive unrest among farmers. Congress Legislature Party Leader Narasingha Mishra alleged that the steps taken by the Government to resolve the border issues is just eyewash. “The Chief Minister should convene an all-party meeting to discuss the matter. We have dispute with all the neighbour- ing States. Leaders cutting across the party lines should visit the border areas and discuss with residents regarding their prob- lems,” said Mishra. On the paddy mandi issue, he said, “We discussed farmers’ issues, but result is zero. Farmers want to sell their paddy, but Government is refusing to buy. So, farmers’ issues have remained unresolved.” I n pursuit of the 5T mantra propounded by the State Government, a slew of initia- tives of the Women and Child Development Department (WCD) were launched by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday. The initiatives are 'Mo- Chhatua App' for streamlining supply chain management of take-home ration (Chhatua); e-Kalika, an application for monitoring creches for chil- dren under three; ‘Mo Sishu portal', a comprehensive web based information manage- ment and monitoring system exclusively for child protection services; ‘MAMATA App & MIS', making the flagship con- ditional cash transfer benefit scheme for pregnant women hassle-free, paperless and cit- izen-centric. Also launched on the occasion was ‘e-manadeya’ portal for seamless, paperless transfer of honorarium to 1,34,758 Anganwadi Workers, Mini Anganwadi Workers and Helpers. I n a bid to discuss modalities in resolving disputes arising out of several bordering villages near Jaleswar and Bhograi in Baleswar district, a meeting of top officials of Odisha and West Bengal Governments was held at West Medinipur in West Bengal on Thursday. It’s an identity crisis of sorts for thousands of residents of as many as 82 villages, who are affected by the continuing terri- torial dispute. Notably, the Subarnarekha river is the natural border between both States. However, there is no physical demarcation; and the virtual lining often cre- ates confusion. West Bengal extracts sand from the riverbed. However, it is said that the sand mining zones fall within Odisha’s jurisdiction which is the root cause of tension between locals of both the sides. According to reports, in order to maintain peace and tranquility in the adjoining areas and resolve the issue, higher authorities from the two States deliberated to find ways and means. The results of the talks were awaited.

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Page 1:  · 2021. 2. 25. · Pakistan Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, ... Modi’s extradition, the judg-ment will now need ratification of British Home Secretary Priti Patel for sending

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In a major step to reduce ten-sion at the Line of Control

(LoC), India and Pakistan onThursday decided to strictlyadhere to a ceasefire for “mutu-ally beneficial and sustainablepeace.” The agreement arrivedat between the DirectorGenerals of MilitaryOperations (DGMOs) onThursday was aimed at avoid-ing civilian casualties on eitherside during firing.

However, the ceasefire,which came into force frommidnight of February 24-25,will not restrict the Indiansecurity forces from carryingout anti-terrorist and anti-infiltration operations inJammu & Kashmir, it was clar-ified here.

Agreeing to adhere to theceasefire announced by thenPrime Minister Atal BihariVajpayee in 2003, a joint state-ment issued by both the coun-tries said the two armies willobserve all agreements onceasefire along the 750-kmlong LoC and other sectors,according to a joint statementissued on Thursday.

The decision was takenduring talks between IndiaDGMO Lt General PS Sanghaand his Pakistani counterpartMajor General NaumanZakaria on the hotline.

The two DGMOs held dis-

cussions and reviewed the sit-uation along the LoC in a“free, frank and cordial atmos-phere”, the statement said.

It added that in the inter-est of achieving mutually ben-eficial and sustainable peacealong the borders, the twoDGMOs agreed to addresseach other’s core issues andconcerns which have propen-sity to disturb peace and leadto violence.

Both sides agreed for strictobservance of all agreements,understandings and ceasefirealong the LoC and all other sec-tors with effect from midnight24/25 February 2021.

Both sides reiterated thatexisting mechanisms of hotlinecontact and border flag meet-ings will be utilised to resolveany unforeseen situation or

misunderstanding. Incidentally,the two armies in 2018 had alsoagreed to follow the 2003guidelines. However, situationremained volatile at the LoC.

Sources said the latest pactcame about after rounds ofback channel talks betweenthe two countries over the lastfew months, adding NationalSecurity Adviser (NSA) AjitDoval held talks in this regardwith Prime Minister ImranKhan’s special assistant MoedW Yusuf.

Pakistan Army ChiefGeneral Qamar Javed Bajwa,the most powerful figure thereto shape the national policies,earlier this month also favouredtalks and said it is time toextend a hand of peace in alldirections.”

In Pakistan, Army

spokesperson Major GeneralBabar Iftikhar said regardingthe joint statement that “therehave been contacts betweenIndia and Pakistan on a hotlinelevel since 1987. Frequently, theDGMOs of both countries stayin contact through this estab-lished mechanism.”

According to media reportfrom there, he also said from2014 there was a spike in cease-fire violations along the LoC.“Both the DGMOs have agreedthat the existing 2003 under-standing should be imple-mented in letter and spirit,” headded.

Dawn newspaper said thelatest development is seen as athaw after years of tensionbetween the two nuclear-armedneighbours. Both PrimeMinister Imran Khan andArmy Chief General QamarJaved Bajwa recently offeredIndia to resolve all issuesthrough dialogue.

Ties between India andPakistan nosedived after a ter-ror attack on the Pathankot AirForce base in 2016 by terrorgroups based in the neigh-bouring country. Subsequentattacks, including one on theIndian Army camp in Uri,deteriorated the relationship.

The relationship dippedfurther after IAF carried out airstrikes against a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terroristtraining camp in Balakot on

February 26, 2019 in responseto the Pulwama terror attack inwhich 40 Central ReservePolice Force (CRPF) jawanswere killed on February 15 thesame year.

The ties between the twocountries worsened after Indiain 2019 announced abrogationof Article 370 giving special sta-tus to Jammu & Kashmir anddivided the State into twoUnion Territories.

There were 5,133 ceasefireviolations last year in which 22civilians were killed and 71injured on the Indian side.Moreover, 24 security person-nel were also killed in the fir-ing while 126 were wounded.Moreover, nearly 300 incidentsof ceasefire violation wererecorded till January end thisyear.

In a written response to aquestion in the Lok Sabha ear-lier this month, Union Ministerof State for Home G KishanReddy said a total of 10,752cases of ceasefire violationshave taken place along India’sborder with Pakistan in the lastthree years, in which 72 secu-rity personnel and 70 civilianswere killed.

He said 364 security per-sonnel and 341 civilians wereinjured in cross-border firingsalong the International Borderand the LoC in Jammu &Kashmir in 2018, 2019 and2020.

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Tightening its grip on unreg-ulated media, the

Government on Thursdayannounced a set of stringentregulations for social mediafirm like Facebook and Twitteras well as OTT players such asNetflix, requiring them toremove any content flagged byauthorities within 36 hoursand setting up a complaintredressal mechanism with anofficer being based in the coun-try.

The guidelines will alsoapply to popular mobile appslike WhatsApp and Telegram.The Government alsoannounced guidelines for newsportals operating from India,asking them to keep the rulesand norms applicable to printand TV channel codes.

This is the first time suchrules have been framed for dig-ital and online media operatingwithin the country’s jurisdic-tion. IT Minister Ravi ShankarPrasad addressing media withI&B Minister PrakashJavadekar said concerns havebeen raised over rampant abuseof social media platforms andspread of fake news. To fix thefake ID users, the guidelinesalso insisted that social mediaplatforms must verify the usersthrough mobile phone firms.

“Social media companiesare welcome to do business inIndia, and empowerIndians...We welcome criti-

cism and dissent... But it isimportant that users of socialmedia are given a proper forumfor the resolution of their griev-ances in a time-bound man-ner,” Prasad said.

Prasad said intermediarieswill fall into two categories —social media intermediary andsignificant social media inter-mediary. This distinction isbased on the number of userson the social media platform,and the Government will soonnotify the threshold of theuser base that will distinguishthe two. The rules require the“significant” social mediaintermediaries to follow addi-tional due diligence includingthe appointment of chief com-pliance officer, a nodal contactperson and a resident grievanceofficer. All the three officialswill have to be resident-citizensof India.

The guidelines also make itmandatory for platforms such

as Twitter and WhatsApp toidentify the originator of amessage that authorities con-sider to be anti-national andagainst the security and sover-eignty of the country. Therules about digital media andOTT focus more on in-houseand self-regulation mechanismwhereby a robust grievanceredressal mechanism has beenprovided while upholding jour-nalistic and creative freedom.

As per the guidelines, allsocial media, OTT platformsand news portals must have aresident Indian citizen griev-ance officer to handle the com-plaints.

He must make a decisionin 15 days and must maintainmonthly data of such com-plaints. Social media and OTTfirms also must have residentIndian citizen compliance offi-cer and nodal officer, who willbe responsible in responding tothe Government agencies.

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The UK’s WestminsterMagistrates’ Court on

Thursday ruled that diamondmerchant and prime accusedin the PNB credit fraud caseNirav Modi has a case toanswer before Indian courts.With the UK court now clear-ing the legal pathway forModi’s extradition, the judg-ment will now need ratificationof British Home Secretary PritiPatel for sending the fugitiveback to India.

Reacting to theWestminster Magistrates’Court ruling, the CBI said theBritish court has accepted thecontention of the Centre toextradite him.

“The UK Court deliveredthe verdict wherein it held thatthe evidence against NiravModi is prima facie sufficientto order his extradition toIndia to face the charges. The(UK) court also upheld theassurances of the Governmentof India and rejected the sub-missions of defence regardinghuman rights violations, fairtrial and prison conditions.

Rejecting the arguments ofdefence, the UK court decid-

ed to send his case to theSecretary of the State, the UKfor final decision,” the CBI saidin a statement.

India is a designated Part2 country under theExtradition Act 2003 and theUK’s Cabinet Minister has theauthority to order the request-ed person’s extradition afterconsidering a number of fur-ther issues.

Under the Act, theSecretary of State must con-sider the possibility of impo-sition of the death penalty, inwhich case extradition cannotbe ordered; the rule of spe-cialty, which prohibits a personbeing dealt with in the request-

ing state for matters otherthan those referenced in theextradition request; andwhether or not the personwas in the UK following extra-dition from another state, inwhich case that state’s permis-sion must be obtained beforeextraditing to a third state.

If these factors do notapply, the Minister must orderextradition within two monthsof the day on which theDistrict Judge referred hisdecision to the office ofSecretary of State, in this caseby the end of April.

The Home Secretary’sorder rarely goes against thecourt’s conclusions, as she hasto consider only these provi-sions under the Act whichcannot apply as the court hasalready junked those claims ofthe defendant.

However, theWestminster’s court has grant-ed Modi a window of appeal inthe High Court and has up to14 days to make that applica-tion after the Home Secretarymakes her decision known.Any appeal, if granted, will beheard at the AdministrativeDivision of the High Court inLondon.

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The Delhi Government hasdirected all its departments

and autonomous bodies toswitch their entire fleet of hiredcars for electric vehicles with-in six months.

The Government, whichhas over 2,000 cars in its fleet,said it hopes its decision willinspire other cities in the coun-try and the world to tackle theissues of pollution and climatechange with the urgency theydeserve.

The announcement came aday after the Aam AadmiParty-led Governmentlaunched campaign “SwitchDelhi” to encourage privatevehicle owners to take a pledgeto shift to electric vehicles andinstall a charging point withintheir premises in the next threeyears.

“It’s history! Driven by thevision of CM @ArvindKejriwalto make Delhi the ‘ElectricVehicle capital’, Delhi govttoday became the 1st in theworld, not just India, to man-date its entire hired car fleet toswitch to electric WITHIN adeadline- 6 mths.@SwitchDelhi begins at home,”

Deputy Chief Minister ManishSisodia tweeted.

“Over 2,000 cars will beimpacted by this decision andwill transition to EVs in next 6months. We hope this decisioninspires cities and govts aroundIndia and the world to tacklethe pollution and climatechange problem with the seri-ousness and urgency itdeserves,” he said.

The Delhi Governmenthad in August last yearlaunched an Electric VehiclePolicy to tackle the problem ofair pollution. Under the policy,it promised to waive registra-tion fee, road tax, and providean incentive of up to Rs 1.5 lakh

for new cars in the nationalCapital.

Under Delhi’s EV policy, 12four-wheeler models are avail-able and eligible for purchaseand scrapping incentives.

The Transport Departmentof Delhi will be the nodaldepartment to monitor theprogress of the transition fromexisting diesel/petrol vehiclefleet to EVs.

“It will also be necessary forall departments to producemonthly action reports on thetransition to EVs by the 5th ofevery month to the nodaldepartment,” the KejriwalGovernment said in a state-ment.

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Sputnik V, the Russian vac-cine against the Covid-19,

will have to wait longer to getapproval for emergency useauthorisation (EUA) in India.

The country’s top drugregulator’s subject expert com-mittee (SEC) has askedHyderabad-based Dr Reddy’sLaboratories to submit moredata before a final decisioncould be taken about its fate.

Dr Reddy’s Lab is locallyconducting clinical trials onSputnik V.

The DCGI decision seek-ing more data from Dr Reddy’shas been slammed by a sectionof health experts. They con-tended when the Covishield bySerum Institute of India andCovaxin by Bharat Biotech canget EUA without completedata, then why the nod for theRussian vaccine was being heldup despite it showing good pre-liminary results.

Dr Reddy’s Lab had appliedto the Central Drugs StandardControl Organisation onFebruary 19 for EUA as thehuman adenoviral vector-basedvaccine candidate.

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In all likelihood, the waterflow in the Mahanadi may

further dip this year also dur-ing non-monsoon period. Itwould further decrease in com-ing years because of the con-struction of barrages in theupper stream in Chhattisgarh.

This was stated by WaterResources MinisterRahunandan Das in the StateAssembly on Thursday to aquestion of Congress MLATara Prasad Bahinipati. Dasfurther said that despite plen-ty of water in the Mahanadi inChhattisgarh, they are notallowing water to flow down to

Odisha. In this background, theOdish Government had lodgeda complaint with the CentralGovernment, following whichthe Latter set up a MahanadiWater Dispute Tribunal. In2018, Odisha also filed aninterim affidavit to ensure flowof water to the State in non-monsoon period.

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With detection of 89 newCovid-19 positive cases

in 19 districts of the State andthe State pool, the total tallysurged to 3,36,924 onThursday.Of the new cases, 53were from quarantine and 36local contacts. Sambalpur dis-trict recorded the day’s highest14 cases.

Currently, the number oftotal active cases in the Statestood at 623 and the cumula-tive samples tested were82,55,08 .Meanwhile, one morepatient succumbed to the dis-ease on the day, taking theState’s total toll to1.919.However, another 67 per-son recovered, increasing thetotal recoveries to 3,34,400 inthe State.

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Even as the BhubaneswarMunicipal Corporation

(BMC) has set up a Covid-19test centre for screening ofpassengers, two symptomatictravelers, who arrived at theBiju Patnaik InternationalAirport here on Wednesday,

have tested positive for thevirus. While one of them, whocame from Mumbai, has beenkept under home isolation, theother has been admitted to theSum Covid Hospital.

“Two persons tested positivewhile reports of others are

awaited. We are conductingscreening of travellers at the

airport. If anyone is foundwith Covid-19 symptoms, he orshe will undergo a test,” an offi-cial said.

Though the test is notmandatory, those are arrivingfrom the worst-affected Stateslike Kerala and Maharashtrawould be subjected to screen-ing, the official added.

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The State Assembly onThursday witnessed pande-

monium when Oppositionmembers raised the Kotia issueand irregularities in paddy pro-curement.During Zero Hour,the Congress MLAs went intothe Well of the House andraised slogans over the “failure”of the State Government onpaddy procurement and han-dling the Kotia issue.

The House was adjournedseveral times while DeputySpeaker Rajanikant Singh calledan all-party meeting to resolvethe deadlock but in vain.

Leader of OppositionPradipta Kumar Naik (BJP)said, “The State Governmentshould assure that the paddy ofall farmers will be procured.

Besides, the concerned Ministershould apologise for callingfarmers ‘Dalal’.” BJP MLAJayanarayan Mishra said non-purchase of paddy from farmershas resulted in massive unrestamong farmers.

Congress Legislature PartyLeader Narasingha Mishraalleged that the steps taken bythe Government to resolve theborder issues is just eyewash.“The Chief Minister shouldconvene an all-party meeting todiscuss the matter. We havedispute with all the neighbour-ing States. Leaders cutting acrossthe party lines should visit theborder areas and discuss withresidents regarding their prob-lems,” said Mishra.

On the paddy mandi issue,he said, “We discussed farmers’issues, but result is zero. Farmerswant to sell their paddy, butGovernment is refusing to buy.So, farmers’ issues haveremained unresolved.”

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In pursuit of the 5T mantrapropounded by the State

Government, a slew of initia-tives of the Women and ChildDevelopment Department(WCD) were launched byChief Minister Naveen Patnaikon Thursday.

The initiatives are 'Mo-Chhatua App' for streamliningsupply chain management oftake-home ration (Chhatua);e-Kalika, an application formonitoring creches for chil-dren under three; ‘Mo Sishu

portal', a comprehensive webbased information manage-ment and monitoring systemexclusively for child protectionservices; ‘MAMATA App &MIS', making the flagship con-ditional cash transfer benefitscheme for pregnant womenhassle-free, paperless and cit-izen-centric.

Also launched on theoccasion was ‘e-manadeya’portal for seamless, paperlesstransfer of honorarium to1,34,758 Anganwadi Workers,Mini Anganwadi Workers andHelpers.

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In a bid to discuss modalities inresolving disputes arising out

of several bordering villagesnear Jaleswar and Bhograi inBaleswar district, a meeting oftop officials of Odisha and WestBengal Governments was held atWest Medinipur in West Bengalon Thursday.

It’s an identity crisis of sortsfor thousands of residents of asmany as 82 villages, who areaffected by the continuing terri-torial dispute.

Notably, the Subarnarekhariver is the natural borderbetween both States. However,there is no physical demarcation;and the virtual lining often cre-ates confusion.

West Bengal extracts sandfrom the riverbed. However, it issaid that the sand mining zonesfall within Odisha’s jurisdictionwhich is the root cause of tensionbetween locals of both the sides.According to reports, in order tomaintain peace and tranquility inthe adjoining areas and resolvethe issue, higher authorities fromthe two States deliberated to findways and means. The results ofthe talks were awaited.

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Inclusive democracy believesin inclusion of all social

groups in every sphere of sociallife, including business. In asociety like ours with full ofdiversities and many forms ofdiscrimination, the State needs

to ensure that there is enoughscope of equal inclusion.Business is one of the largestsectors of employment andincome generation of oureconomy, but for many histor-ical reasons and continueddiscriminatory socio-religioussystems, a number of socialgroups such as STs and SCs getinsignificantly represented insuch sector.

They were historicallydenied fair access to land, edu-cation, and business. The busi-ness sector is therefore monop-olised by a few castes andcommunities.

In other words, there is nosocial diversity in businesssector and many groupsremain underrepresentedwhich affects our collectiveparticipation in nation build-ing and also sharing of

resources of the nation inequal measures. It perpetuatesinequality and weakensdemocracy and economicgrowth. The makers of modernIndia had thought of to addressthe many forms of inequalitythrough affirmative State inter-vention in support of the left-out and underrepresentedsocial groups but the experi-ence of last seventy years ofconstitutional governanceshows a continued picture ofunderrepresentation of manysocial groups who form amajority of the population. Itis largely because of the polit-ical apathy of the ruling classand non-implementation ofpolicy decisions.

When there is a majorshift in approach of theGovernment towards business,it is time that the Government

must come up with a policy forbusiness. The market forces arenot going to address inequal-ity or discrimination in societyor market. It is always the Statewhich has to intervene in theissues of inequality and dis-crimination as part of its con-stitutional mandate.

Privatisation and the State’swithdrawing from businessdoes not mean withdrawingfrom the responsibility of mak-ing business inclusive and dis-crimination free.

The rights over equalopportunity in matter of pub-lic employment also attractsthe role of Government ineradication of caste basedemployment and ensuringemployment /self-employmentfor all sections of people /socialgroups.

While the employment

opportunity in agriculture andother traditional sector is dras-tically getting limited, so thereis an urgent need for transferof the manpower to other sec-tors such as business forincome and employmentopenings. Take for example thenumber of national financialcorporations set up by theGovernment of India withcapital fund for promotion ofbusiness and self-employmentamong SCs, STs, OBCs,minorities and SafaiKarmacharies.

In spite of decades -longexistence of these institutions,the outcome has been dis-couraging. The declared ven-ture capital remains unspentand the banks are not respond-ing to the eligible beneficiariesdue to lack of monitoring tomeet the target. These schemesremain high sounding public-ities of the ruling parties. It is

being observed that these insti-tutions often suffer due to lackof adequate capital fundrequired for the purpose anddedicated experienced staff tocarry forward the executionprocess and above all there islack of political will by leadersof governing parties to imple-ment the action plan andensure involvement of the peo-ple for whom these plans havebeen targeted.

The accountability, func-tion and impacts of these insti-tutions have never been dis-cussed in public domain andthe existing available infra-structure and experiences arealso not being linked to newinitiatives.

The elected representa-tives of the marginalised sec-tions very seldom take up theissues of business and the par-ticipation of their constituen-cies in such endeavour.

Though recently there havebeen a number of private ini-tiatives such as Dalit IndianChamber of Commerce andIndustry that help in growingbusiness among the margin-alised sections, but they havevery limited presence to bringa desirable impact which onlythe Government initiatives cando in creating a wider impact.

Leaving aside dedicatedinstitutions and schemes, thereare general provisions made inthe Reserve Bank on credit pol-icy for SCs, STs and otherdeprived sections but theseprovisions are never properlyplanned, implemented ormonitored at appropriate level.

The financial inclusionpolicy talks about priority sec-tor lending and credit provi-sion for weaker sections alongwith opening of braches inrural, backward and tribalareas to build access but the

reality is something else inStates such as Odisha. TheState Level Bankers Committeenever takes up issues con-cerning the interest of the SCsand STs and other margin-alised sections.

Mostly the private andpublic financial institutionsare largely managed andowned by the traditional dom-inant caste people in the coun-try who have hegemonic con-trol over decision making.

The branches in rural areaseven discriminate against thewomen and marginalised sec-tions while they are visitingbanks. As such doing businessin rural areas still has manycaste based social taboos. Inspite of policy and guidelines,the financial inclusion has notbeen up to the mark.

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Traders and transportersacross the country will

observe a Bharat Bandh onFriday (February 26). TheOdisha ByabasayeeMahasangha has extended itssupport to the bandh call.

As many as 20 lakh busi-ness establishments in theState are likely to remainclosed due to the strike. Theassociation has urged busi-nessmen to close shops andmarkets during the bandh.Here’re the key points aboutthe nationwide strike:

Demanding a review ofthe provisions of the Goodsand Services Tax (GST)regime, the Confederation of

All India Traders (CAIT) hascalled for the Bharat Bandh.

The All IndiaTransporters’ WelfareAssociation (AITWA) alsosupports the bandh call. Thetransporters’ association hasbeen demanding abolition ofthe new E-Way Bill.

The transporters alsowant removal of the norms totrack vehicles by usingFASTag connectivity to E-Invoice. Nearly 40,000 tradeassociations, representingeight crore traders of thecountry, have extended sup-port to the Bharat Bandhcall. Moreover, the traders’and transporters’ associationswant uniformity of dieselprices across the country.

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The rif t in the StateCongress unit worsened

when the party witnessed aserious clash between twogroups at its State headquar-ters in the presence ofPradesh Congress Committee(OPCC) president NiranjanPatnaik on Thursday.

The rival groups of theJagatsinghpur distr ict

Congress had faceoff duringan Odisha Backward Classes(OBC) Cell meeting of theparty chaired by the cell’spresident Bishnu CharanBarik at the Congress Bhawanhere.The party workers phys-

ically assaulted each other,tore down the posters ofCongress leaders, includingSonia Gandhi and RahulGandhi and ransacked thefurniture at the building.

Bishnu Barik had con-

vened the meeting, duringwhich the infighting in theparty intensified as the rivalgroups scuffled with eachother in the presence of thePCC president.

Reports said Barik alsoassaulted a section of theprotesting party workers atthe meeting. Barik’s oppo-nents alleged that he hasdeveloped link with BJD lead-ers in his Jagatsinghpur dis-trict.

However, Barik said, “Iam with the Congress since1978. I hit the protestors backwhen they attacked me dur-ing the meeting,” he said. It isalleged that Barik had worked

against party leader ChiranjibBiswal in Jagatsinghpur andsupported Biswal’s BJD rivalcandidate Prasanta Muduliin the 2019 elections. Muduliwon the Assembly poll. PCCchief Patnaik said the incidentat the Congress Bhawanwould be probed and actionwould be taken against thosefound guilty.

The workers who areaccusing Barik of antipartyactivity could have brough thematter to the notice of thePCC and the AICC, he said,adding that such unpleasantincidents are further damag-ing the party’s already-bat-tered image.

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Incidents of helmet theft haveincreased significantly in the

State capital after a strict imple-mentation of the new MotorVehicles Act, under whichwearing of helmet by the dri-ver and the pillion rider ismandatory.

Violation of the ruleattracts a fine of Rs 1,000 andsuspension of the drivinglicence (DL) for three months.Around 15 to 20 helmets arereportedly being stolen fromvarious places in the city daily

while 900 such instances havetaken place during the last 45days. The victims are not lodg-ing complaint with police dueto the pettiness of the matter,which has led to an increase ofthe thefts.

The robbers are targetingthe two-wheeler users whooften leave their helmets on thevehicles after parking. Thestolen helmets are being sold tobuyers at cheaper prices. Mostof such robberies are takingplace at the parking areas ofhospitals, courts and banks inthe city, reports said.

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The Mother’s Public Schoolin Unit-1 here celebrated in

annual felicitation ceremony“Glory 2021” amidst muchfanfare recently.

The toppers of the CBSE ofX and XII, CLAT, NEET andJEE qualifiers were awarded byschool Principal Poly Pattnaik.Atishma Aishwarya of Sciencestream, Priyanshi Agarwal ofCommerce and AbhijeetPandav and Aashra Patel ofHumanities were crowned asthe toppers.

The event which wasdelayed for months due to theCovid -19 pandemic wasattended by eager students,who had been waiting for their

trophies since long. Chiefspeaker Subhankar RoyChoudhury joined the cele-bration virtually fromSingapore.

The Principal congratulat-ed the students and teachers forthe exemplary performance ofthe school and promised toleave no stone unturned to takethe institution to greaterheights.

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The State Government hasspent a whopping around Rs

400 crore on advertisementsduring the last seven years,informed Minister ofInformation and Public Relations(I & PR) Raghunandan Das inthe State Legislative Assembly onThirsday.

In a written reply to an un-starred question by BJP MLANauri Nayak, the Minister saidthat from 2013 till February 18,2021, an amount of Rs399,64,14,781 has been spent onGovernment advertisements.The highest of Rs 121, 14, 63,434was spent during 2018-19, theMinister added.

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Even though a child marriagehas allegedly taken place

near Kapileswarpur villageunder Brahmagiri block ofPuri district, neither the policenor the Childline officials haveany inkling of the incident.

Meanwhile the minor boyand girl who are in 14-15 yearsage have fled home. While theboy was identified as son ofPraful Parida, the girl is daugh-ter of Kalia Tripathy ofKapileshwarpur. Tripathy diedtwo months ago and his widowis living in a miserable condi-

tion without any help fromanybody. Meanwhile, the ChildLine and Sadar Thana policeare silent on incident despitehaving earlier informationfrom the people.

While the police said theyhad got no written complaintyet from the parents, the ChildLine officials denied having anyinformation on the incident.

But the locals informedthat the duo had married inMuktiswar temple inBalinuagaon village, 5

km far from Kapileswarpurlast week. It is also said thatsome relatives of the boy werepresent in the temple and therewas nobody from the girl’sside. They were lovebirds,sources confirmed.

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Ever since its establishmentin 1991, the Choudwar

Circle Jail here for the first timeturned into a marriage mandapon Thursday when a rapeaccused inmate tied the nuptialknot with his victim followingcourt orders.

“Under-trial prisonerRajesh Singh (23) ofGurudijhatia of Cuttack districtmarried the rape victimexchanging garlands follow-

ing orders from the districtPOCSO court and DG(Prisons),” informed JailSuperintendent KulamaniBehera. The girl, who turned amajor last month and hadbecome a mother of a baby boythree months ago, came to thejail premises with her parentsand well-wishers.

After the marriage, shewent to her husband’s housewith her parents-in-law. But thebridegroom stayed back in thejail as his bail application is

scheduled to be heard againnext month. Hearing the bailapplication of Rajesh, thePOCSO court earlier had set acondition that his applicationwould be considered only if hemarried the victim.

Since the victim was aminor and she was impregnat-ed by him last year, Rajesh hadexpressed his wish to marryher.The jail authorities alsohosted a wedding reception,which was attended by otherinmates.

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The Archaeological Surveyof India (ASI) would carry

out repair work of theMahalakshmi shrine located inthe Jagannath Temple premis-es here from Marchr.

This was decided at a meet-ing held at the Shree JagannathTemple Administration (SJTA)office on Wednesday. SJTADevelopment AdministratorAjay Kumar Jena said, “We hadwritten to the ASI regarding

leakages in the Mahalakshmiand Bimala temples’ roofs. TheASI is going to start repairsfrom March first week.However, a decision is yet to betaken on repairing other tem-ples of ancillary deities at theJagannath Temple.

Necessary repair work willbe carried out after budgetaryallocation. If any issue arises,the temple administration willprovide financial assistance tothe ASI in carrying out repairs.”The CCTVs installed for secu-

rity of the temple are lyingdefunct since 2019 CycloneFani. New CCTVs would bereinstalled. The temple admin-istration has already paid Rs 80lakh to the State Police HousingCorporation for this, he added.

Besides, the ongoing repairwork of the Meghanada Prachiris expected to be completed byJune or July. There is a plan toinstal an LED display boardeither at Satapahacha (seven-stair) or Singhadwar urging thedevotees for donation.

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Participating in the debate onState Budget 2021-22,

which was presented in theAssembly on February 22,Leader of Opposition PradiptaKumar Naik (BJP) on Thursdayslammed the State Governmentfor all-round failures andmounting loan burden of theState.

“We are not against devel-opment projects but you aretaking loan from market to dis-tribute among people in yourpopular schemes like KALIA,renovation of temples andparks to create vote bank.These will not help in incomegeneration and job creation,whereas people need money forlivelihoods,” Naik stated.

He also took potshots atthe State Government forspending Rs 500 crore in thename of Biju Yuva Bahini forpolitical purpose just beforeelections. He said the energy ofthe youths could have been uti-lized for the State’s developmentinstead.

Naik further asserted thatwhen the State Governmenthad distributed money to 53lakh farmers under the KALIAscheme, it submitted a list of

only nine lakh farmers to theUnion Government to be cov-ered under the PM-KISSAN.He demanded an answer fromGovernment for fudging thefact.

It’s unfortunate that theGovernment has decided totake Rs 44,000 crore loan thisyear to meet its budgetaryexpenses, while the State had aloan burden of only Rs 18,000crore years back, he said andadded that the StateGovernment was losing Rs17,000 to Rs 18,000 crore rev-enue from minor minerals likesand, stone and murrom due tolack of proper planning andaction to focus the sector.

On industrial develop-ment, the LoP stated that it isthe duty of the Government toensure Odia youths get jobs inprominent industrials likeNalco, Vedanat, Tata, etc.Besides, the land losers mustget share of the profits made bythe industries, he opined.

Congress member SantoshSingh Saluja described theBudget as poor and a failedattempt to hoodwink people.He pointed out that theGovernment had reduced theAgriculture Budget by Rs 1,904crore compared to last yeareven as the farming sector wasin doldrums and farmers werein the worst of time.He accusedthe Government of raising theloan burden of the State..

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The Odisha Board ofSecondary Education (BSE)

has released practice questionpapers for Class-X students to aidthem in preparing for the 2021High School Certificate (HSC)Examinations.The HSCExaminations are scheduled tobe held from May 3 to May 15.The examinations would be heldfrom 8 am to 10 am for all sub-jects except Mathmatics, whichwould conclude at 10:15 am.

The examination for firstlanguage would be held on May3 and second language on May5. Students would appear forthird language on May 7. Thosewho have opted for third lan-

guage Sanskrit would appear forthe examination on May 8.Practical examination for stu-dents who have opted for VisualArt as third language subjectwould be conducted on May 9.

The examinations forMathematics subject would beon May 10, Science on May 12and Social Science on May 15.Questions for Part-I (objective)and Part-II (subjective) would bedistributed at 7:45 am. The Part-I examination would be heldfrom 8 am to 9 am and Part-IIexamination from 9 am to 10am. Students pursuing voca-tional course would appear forpractical examinations at theirrespective schools from April 27to May 2.

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The winter migratory birds,which thronged the

Bhitarkanika national park inmid-October, have started theirhomeward journey with tem-perature getting warm.

While duck species havebegun flying back, the waderspecies will go back within afew days, said RajnagarMangroves (forest) andWildlife Division DFO BikashRanjan Dash.Migratory birds

fly thousands of miles toBhitarakanika to escape theharsh winter in Siberia,Afghanistan, Iraq, northernAsia and some centralEuropean countries. They gen-erally stay in Bhitarakanikafor about three- four months.

As per the mid winterwaterfall bird status surveyreport of Bhitarkanika Nationalpark, this year the Bhitarkanikapark received more birds thanlast year.

More varieties of birdspecies too visited to the parkarea this winter. According toDash, as many as 121 types ofbird species with a populationof 1, 36,092 throngedBhitarkanika National park

this year.An estimated 33,697brown headed gull came to thepark which is reportedly thehighest of bird population thatvisited this winter.

The geese and ducks camemore than other bird species.A total of 59,185 in 20 types ofgeese and ducks were spotted.Similarly, 35,255 gulls, ternsand skimmer of 5 types visit-ed the park area.

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The Paradip Port, the secondlargest Major Port in terms

of cargo handling, has execut-ed as many as 27 memoran-dums of understanding(MoUs) with various stake-holders to enhance the eco-nomic growth of Odisha andthe country as a whole underthe Maritime India Summit(MIS) 2021 to be held fromMarch 2 to 4. The MoUs weresigned by respective HoDs

and senior officials of theParadip Port Trust (PPT) andsenior officials of the repre-senting organisations in thepresence of PPT Chairman

Vinit Kumar and DeputyChairman AK Bose. The PPTChairman appealed to every-one to make the MaritimeIndia Summit a grand success.

He shared with the media thedetails about the upcomingsessions and process of regis-tration to participate in themega event.

Moreover, there would bea special session on“Investment Opportunities inOdisha” on March 3, whichwould be chaired by StateCommerce & TransportMinister Padmanabha Beheraand also attended by seniorState Government officials andheads of leading industries ona virtual mode.

Out of the 27 MoUs, 15 areworth Rs 3,878.81 crore underthe category of projects fordevelopment of a world-classport; two are for coastal ship-ping hinterland connectivity

and a multimodal logisticspark, both worth Rs 355 crore;two are for port infrastructuresfocusing on liquid cargo worthRs 5,382.64 crore; four forport-led industrialisationworth Rs 16,218 crore; andfour under the category ofpromoting cargo and passen-ger movement and seaplanetourism worth Rs 1,616 crore.

The Union Ministry ofPorts, Shipping & Waterwayswill conduct the MaritimeIndia Summit, which intendsto be a powerful platform forinternational collaborationwith partner countries formutual exchanges of knowl-edge and opportunities andalso leading towards anAtmanirbhar Bharat.

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Despite these abundantbauxite reserves, there has

been not a single successfulauction of any metallurgicalgrade bauxite mine in the lastfive years by the StateGovernments, since inceptionof auction regime.

This has led to a surge inimport of bauxite, one of India’smost abundant ores, to feed therapidly increasing domesticconsumption and has caused aloss of USD $400 million to theIndian exchequer.

The primary reason forvarious State Governments notbeing able to auction the baux-ite mineral blocks is due to the

present pricing structure whichlinks the selling price of the endproduct to the back calculatedmethod of determination of theAverage Sale Price (ASP) ofmetallurgical grade bauxitewithout factoring transporta-tion cost, thus eroding costadvantage of Indian bauxiteand rendering alluminium pro-duction unviable in the coun-try.This has also led to a pausein additional investment ofover Rs 50,000 crore in the alu-minium sector due to the futil-ity of the current bauxite ASPdetermination methodology.

The need of the hour isincreasing the productioncapacity of existing mines by atleast 50 per cent, rationalisingASP of metallurgical gradebauxite in line with other bulkminerals and bringing bauxitemines into auction to meet therapidly increasing domesticdemand.

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Use of Catridge-basedNuclei Acid Amplification

Test (CBNAAT) machines hasgreatly strengthened the battleagainst tuberculosis (TB) inIndia as the country aims toeradicate the killer diseasecompletely by 2025. “CBNAAThas come as a boon for treat-ment of tuberculosis; and allthe districts of Odisha have atleast one such machine inplace which can diagnose drugresistant TB within a few

hours,” Dr Paresh Mohanty,Senior ConsultantMicrobiologist, IntegratedReference Laboratory (IRL) atthe SCB Medical CollegeHospital, Cuttack, said onTuesday.

While the World HealthOrganisation (WHO) had fixeda target to eradicate TB fromthe face of the earth by 2030,the Central Government wastaking steps to wipe out the dis-ease from India five years ear-lier, Dr Mohanty said whilespeaking at a ContinuingMedical Education (CME) pro-gramme organised at theInstitute of Medical Sciencesand SUM Hospital here. TheCentral Government wasimplementing the National

Tuberculosis EliminationProgramme (NTEP) consoli-dating a series of rapid and pro-gressive advancements takenup under the earlier RevisedNational Tuberculosis ControlProgramme (RNTCP) sinceJanuary 1, 2020, he said.

Dr Mohanty said that 2.7million of the world’s 10 mil-lion patients live in India ofwhom 64 per cent receivedtreatment in hospitals and well-ness centres in the private sec-tor which significantly con-tributed to the healthcare ser-vice delivery system in thecountry.“But very little infor-mation about TB patients fromthe private sector facilities arepercolating down to the NTEPand the Government is unable

to notify those patients. Itmakes detection of cases at thenational level difficult,” DrMohanty said.

He said that private sectorhealthcare institutions canmake use of CBNAAT facilitiesavailable in public sector hos-pitals and healthcare centresfree of cost which would great-ly assist in the ongoing battleagainst the disease.Medicalpractitioners are battling dis-ease as delay in diagnosis ofdrug resistant tuberculosiscould result in death. Variousforms of drug-resistant TBhave emerged over yearsthough several newer drugs likeBedaquiline and Delamanidhave been introduced tocounter same, he said.

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The birth anniversary ofKabisurya Baladev Rath

was celebrated here on Tuesday.The function was presidedover by South Odisha SeniorArtists’ Federation presidentTirupati Sahu.

Former BDA President andState BJD secretary SubashMaharana, Ganjam ZillaKalakar Mancha president KBalaram Das, music directorPrashant Kumar Nayak,Natyashree Foundation chair-man Bhavani Shankar Mishra,Akashwani and Doordarshanrepresentative Jyoti Ranjan

Das, Kalinga TV south Odishachief Prakash Patnaik, OTVBureau chief Ashok Brahma,senior playwright RamaramanPadhy attended as guests.

Subhas Chandra SahuRoshan delivered the welcomeaddress while Durga PrasadAcharya introduced the guests.

Gram Natya directorBhagwan Sahu, play organiserManoj Kumar Pradhan, seniorartiste Sridhar Pradhan, GNagaraja Rao, BabulaMohapatra, journalist SuryaNarayan Behera and LalatenduChoudhury were felicitated onthe occasion. A play ‘Shakuni’sKuto Chakranta’ was staged.

Swargaurabh Krishna PrasadSabat offered a vote of thanks.Many artists, including PrafullaBehera, Prafulla Nayak,Devendra Prasad Sharma,Mahendra Sahu and BaldevSahu, coordinated the event.

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Police have cracked themurder of a 45-year-old

widow at Bheda in theMahanaga area of Cuttackdistr ict on Februar y 17evening.

During investigation,police ascertained that thewoman’s brother-in-law hadmurdered her following Analtercation between the twoover repayment of a loan.

According to reports, thedeceased AnnapurnaMahapatra had borrowed Rs4 lakh from her younger sis-ter’s husband Daitari Swainfor construction of a house.She later refused to repay theamount.

On the fateful day, a heat-ed exchange of words tookplace between Annapurnaand Daitari over the issuenear Pata Nali canal.

However Daitari lost histemper and killed Annapurnaby pressing her face into mudin the canal. The accused hasreportedly confessed to hiscrime during interrogationby police.

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Amajor fire broke out at afarmhouse near a petrol

pump at Phulnakhara underthe Sadar police station ofCuttack district on Thursday,triggering panic in the area.

Locals said that they ini-tially tried to douse the flamesby sprinkling sand and water.However, it was of little help.

The Fire Brigade wasinformed following which twofire tenders rushed to the spotfrom Cuttack andBhubaneswar. Though theexact reason behind the mishap

is still unclear, it is suspectedthat the fire initially was report-ed at the bushy area at the farm

house. Later, the situation wasbrought to control by the firefighters in an hour.

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The contractual staff mem-bers of the District Child

Protection Unit (DCPU),Sundargarh, on Wednesdaysubmitted a 12-point memo-randum for the Chief Ministerseeking regularisation of theirservice.

Led by District ChildProtection Officer, SundargarhS Jema, the staff members metthe Sundargarh AdditionalDistrict Magistrate.They men-tioned that though they hadbeen engaged in the OdishaState Child Protection Society(OSCPS), Women and Child

Development Department,Government of Odisha in dueprocess of appointment since2013 but despite having workedfor nearly a decade their servicewas not regularised.

They said “The DCPUsare focal points in the districtswhich facilitate proper imple-mentation of various laws andpolicies like Juvenile Justice(Care and Protection ofChildren) Act-2015, Protectionof Children from SexualOffences Act-2012, Prohibitionof Child Marriage Act-2006,the Child Labour (Prohibitionand Regulation) Act in coor-dination with different linedepartments like Judiciary,Health and Family Welfare,Labor, Education, District

Welfare Officer, DSWO,Panchayatiraj, Social Security,etc. of the district. The DCPUemployees work against allodds to secure rights and inter-est of the vulnerable children.But unfortunately the staffmembers of the DCPUs andOSCPS on contractual appoint-ment have been ignored for

long. They are not even receiv-ing benefits like Providentfund, ESI etc, they said. Theyfurther mentioned that theirsalary and perks were even lessthan that of the staff engagedin other schemes such asMission Shakti, OLM, NHMand Mamata scheme etc.

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Unidentified miscreantsallegedly broke into the

Bajpayee motorbike show-room near Saradhabali mainroad in Gopalpur junctionunder the BN Pur police sta-tion on Tuesday anddecamped with lakhs ofrupees. The burglars firstbroke the shutter, entered theshowroom and looted cash ofRs 8.74 lakh, said SundarBajpayee. Getting informa-

tion, BN Pur IIC SaradaPrasanna Dash and other per-sonnel reached the spot andinvestigated the matter withthe help of CCTV footageand sniffer dogs.

In the CCTV footage twoman, one wearing a handker-chief on his face, and anotherwearing a towel, entered-showroom at about 1.30 andlooted the money. On morn-ing, when staffs arrived, theysaw broken shutter andinformed police.

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The Vaidika Sangham organ-ised the “Satyanarayana

Swamy Vratams” here onTuesday at the SriJathadhareswara SwamyTemple Kalyana Mandap,Khaspa Street, on the BhismaEkadasi (Magha Ekadasi) with175 couples performing the rit-uals. A total of 350 membersparticipated in the programme.Sangham president Bh.Narayana Murty welcomed allthe participants. Veda Pundits

of the Sangham V VasudevaSastry, Bh. Balakrishna Sarma,J Kameswara Sarma and TSatyanarayana Sastry chantedthe veda mantras and per-formed the vrat as a part of thesacred rituals.

Among others, D Suresh,A Malleswara Rao and DRavindra coordinated. Thetrustee members, K KasiViswanadha Subudhi, KSambhu Prasad and Dr TPrakasa Rao cooperated. At theend of the programme, Prasadwas distributed among all.

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Aseminar on Jagannath cul-ture was recently held in

Puri which saw participation ofexperts on religion and culture.

Inaugurating the functionorganised by the Sri GundichaReligious Trust, JagannathSanskrit University VC ProfHarihar Hota and NISERRegistrar Dr Abhaya KumarNaik spoke about various sym-metries found between theJagannath Darshan and theIndian culture.

Historian Anil Dhir point-ed out how culture of Puri tem-ple was able to expand to other

parts through the ancientJagannath Sadak which was avital milestone of history.Economist Pradip KumarSatapathy, retired justice ManasRanjan Mishra, DrRabinarayan Samant, BJPleader Pandit Muralimanohar

Sharma, Chandra SekharDash, Madan MohanMohapatra, Dr AbhimanyuBhuyian, Braja Kishore Parida,Dr Kartik Das, Dr HariharKanoongo, satiristDharmachada Mohapatra,Binod Panda, Dr BalaramDash, Rajguru AshokMohapatra described howJagannath culture transformedover a long past and gainedprominence afterward. A sou-venir regarding traditions ofShreemandira edited by Prof

Harprasad Mishra wasunveiled by the dignitaries.Trust chairman Dr BhagirathyBehera presided.

Singer Badri Mishra, Trustsecretary Laxminarayan

Patnaik, social activist JayantiMohapatra coordinated thefunction. Among others, thefounder of Bharat MasalaSunrendranath Panda was hon-oured.

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ASessions Court inBaleswar on Thursday

convicted five people, includ-ing the husband, accused ofkilling a newly-wed womanfor dowry in 2014.

The court awarded lifesentence to all of them andpay a penalty of Rs 1 lakheach or undergo two moreyears imprisonment indefault.

The convicts were identi-fied as are Chittaranjan Jena( victim’s husband), DebendraJena, Subash Jena, SoumiyaJena and Sandhyarani Jena ofvillage Pathadurga under theSingla police station .

According to a reports,Mandakini Jena, daughter ofRatnakarKulari died onNovember 13, 2014 whileundergoing treatment in aprivate hospital inBhubaneswar for burninjuries .

Ratnakar had lodged anFIR on Nov 17 , 2014 alleg-ing that his daughter was setablaze by her husband andthe others after failing to getthe dowry demand, a Glamorbike .

Police began investiga-tion after registering a caseagainst Mandakini’s husband, father-in-law, mother-in-law and two brother-in-lawsunder section of murder andDowry Prohibition Act.

The court during trialcross-examined 22 witness-es and nine documents werepresented by prosecution.

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Hundreds of farmers inPallahara have not been

able to sell paddy at the man-dis as the procurement hasbeen stopped since February 6.The aggrieved farmers underthe leadership of PanchananSahu on Wednesday metDhenkanal MP MaheshChandra Sahu and sought hisintervention to resume paddyprocurement soon.

Very soon the paddy pro-curement will start in Pallahara,assured MP Sahu to the farm-ers and discussed with themtheir various problems con-cerning selling their paddy.Earlier, the farmers had alreadyintimated problem to the localand district administration,but did not get any relief. Theythreatened to launch strike ifprocurement was not startedwithin seven days.

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The Gajapati police onWednesday foiled two

attempts of ganja smuggling toBihar from the district andarrested seven person, includ-ing a woman, in this connec-tion. In the first incident, theMohana police intercepted acar at Kamalapur junctionwhile patrolling.

During checking, 130.700kg of the contraband wasseized. Two persons PrabinKumar and Shakar Roy of

Patna in Bihar were arrestedand forwarded to court. Inanother incident, the Adabapolice seized 30 kg ganja andarrested five persons includinga woman.

The accused were identi-fied as Azad Kumar, RamdalilRay, Jalewswar Ray, Bhim Rayand a woman Rubi Devi. Allare natives of Bihar. Besides,two cars were also seized. Acase was registered in theAdaba PS under the NDPS Actand the accused forwarded tocourt.

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Page 4:  · 2021. 2. 25. · Pakistan Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, ... Modi’s extradition, the judg-ment will now need ratification of British Home Secretary Priti Patel for sending

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The City InnovationExchange (CiX) platform

was launched by DurgaShanker Mishra, Secretary,Ministry of Housing andUrban Affairs, at an onlineevent on Thursday. The plat-form will be a significant addi-tion to the growing innovationecosystem of India and focus-es on fostering innovativepractices in cities. CiX,through an ‘open innovation’process, engages with innova-tors to design-test-deliver onsolutions to pressing urbanchallenges.

According to the HUAministry, this initiative isamong the ongoing efforts ofthe Government to realisePrime Minister’s vision of Newand AtmaNirbhar Bharat, bymaking cities more self-reliantand enabled to meet the needs

of and provide services totheir citizens.

Anil Agrawal, JointSecretary, Department forPromotion of Industry andInternal Trade (DPIIT),Ministry of Commerce andIndustry, Kunal Kumar, JointSecretary and MissionDirector, Smart Cities Mission,CEOs of Smart Cities andother officers of the Centraland State Governments werealso present at the event.

The City InnovationExchange (CiX) will connectcities to innovators across thenational ecosystem to designinnovative solutions for theirpressing challenges. The plat-form will ease the discovery,design& validation of solu-tions through a robust, trans-parent and user centric processthat will reduce barriers forinnovators and cities to dis-cover fitting solutions.

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There is no let up in therenewed rise in daily new

cases in States likeMaharashtra, Kerala, Punjab,West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh,Tamil Nadu, Gujarat andChhattisgarh.

A total of 16,738 new dailyCovid-19 cases have beenrecorded in a span of 24 hourstaking the total tally of activeinfection to 1,51,708.

The Union HealthMinistry said 89.57 per cent ofthe new cases are from theseven states with Maharashtracontinuing to top the chart atthe highest daily new cases at8,807. It is followed by Keralawith 4,106 cases while Punjabreported 558 new cases. Infact, Maharashtra reported 80deaths, highest in two months(since December 24, when 89deaths were reported). Withthis, the total cases in the Statejumped to 21,21,119 and thetoll touched 51,937. TheCentre has already deputedhigh-level multi-disciplinaryteams there to ascertain reasonsfor the surge and coordinatewith the state health depart-ments in Covid-19 control andcontainment measures.

The Centre has also writ-ten to states and UTs to focuson undertaking aggressive

measures to break the chain oftransmission.

States and UTs have beenadvised to increase testing in afocussed manner in the affect-ed districts with the appropri-ate split of RT-PCR and rapidantigen tests and to also ensurethat all symptomatic negativesof antigen tests are compulso-rily tested via RT-PCR tests.

The positive persons are tobe isolated/hospitalised, alltheir close contacts be tracedand also tested without delay.They have been advised tocritically review the emergingsituation on a regular basis withdistrict officials concerned toensure that gains made so farin Covid-19 management arenot lost.

India has administeredover 1.30 Crore vaccine dosesso far. A total of 1,30,67,047vaccine doses have been giventhrough 2,77,303 Sessions, asper the provisional report till 6

pm on Thursday. These include65,82,007 HCWs (75.5%) whohave taken the 1st dose and18,60,859 HCWs (63.6%) whohave taken the 2nd dose, alongwith 46,24,181 frontline work-ers (FLWs) (1st dose) (45.1%).While the countrywide vacci-nation drive was rolled out on16th Jan 2021

Vaccination of the FLWsstarted on 2nd Feb 2021. Justeight states account for morethan 56 per cent of the totalvaccine doses.

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Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birlaon Thursday said it is

important for all constitution-al institutions to complementand cooperate with each otherfor a strong democracy.“Democracy can be strength-ened only when all constitu-tional institutions work in tan-dem and cooperate with eachother within their respectiveconstitutional jurisdictions. Allthe institutions should com-plement each other,” Birla said,addressing the members of theMeghalaya LegislativeAssembly.

“There can be dissent dur-ing discussions but we shouldnot reach an impasse. Our dis-cussions should lead to the wel-fare of the people of the coun-try,” the Speaker added.

Birla, who is currently ona two-day visit to Meghalaya,said one of his foremost prior-ities in Parliament was to makewomen, young and newly-elected MPs aware of variousparliamentary conventions andpractices. “I always promoteand welcome their active par-ticipation in debates and dis-

cussions that take place in theHouse. It is very important toensure the capacity-building ofthe members to pave way forconstructive debates inParliament,” he said.

The Speaker also talkedabout some of the new initia-tives being taken in Lok Sabhato enhance the practical knowl-edge of the members, includ-ing briefing sessions on the billsbeing introduced in the lowerhouse.

He advised that similarprogrammes should be organ-ised in the legislative assem-blies as well. Birla also talkedabout PRISM, a new servicethat was introduced inParliament during the BudgetSession, to provide MPs withparliamentary research andinformation support.

“I would like you to set upa similar modern researchwing in the legislative assem-bly to provide round-the-clocksupport to the members. Wewill be happy to provide allpossible support for setting upsuch a research wing,” he toldthe MLAs.

Among facilities that wereunderway, he said, was theNeVA (National E VidhanApplication) that would makeproceedings and debates ofParliament and State legisla-ture available on a single plat-form.

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In a first step towards settingup of the Farmers Produce

Organisations (FPOs) and FishFarmer Producer Organisations(FFPOs) in the Union TerritoryLakshadweep, the islandadministration and NationalCo-operative DevelopmentCorporation (NCDC), haveinked a pact to scale up farm-ing operations of the agricul-tural and coastal communitiesfor better access to qualityinput, technology, credit andmarket through economies ofscale.

The MoU was signedrecently by Sundeep KumarNayak, Managing Director ofNCDC on behalf of the apexfinance entity under the UnionAgriculture Ministry with AAnbarasu, Advisor toLakshadweep Administratorin the presence of UT

Administrator Praful Patel.As part of the collabora-

tion, among various activities,the NCDC would also appointCommunity based BusinessOrganisation (CBBO) to pro-

mote FPOs and FPPOs by col-laborating with them in a holis-tic manner, said Nayak.

The NCDC will providehandholding to these organi-zations for next five years to

help them realise a betterprice of their farm produceand make them self-reliant inthe long term, he added.

On his part, Anbarasuwelcomed the initiative sayingthat the collaboration willbring innumerable benefitsin the region. “This willensure employment andentrepreneurship skills amongfarmers and fishermen in theisland. One out of seven per-sons is a fisherman hereengaged in coastal activitieslike fisheries, seaweed busi-ness and coconut tradebesides farming. This is agood beginning and we arelooking forward to formingentities of the farmers andfishermen for their benefitsbesides all round develop-ment of the community.”

Setting up the FPOs andFFPOs is the part of theNarendra Modi Government’s

scheme of bringing more andmore small and marginalfarmers on a big platform asa joint entity for which bud-getary support of �4,496 croreby 2024 has been allocated.Aim is to form and promoteat least 10,000 new FPOs bythat period across the States.

Currently, there are over3,000 FPOs in the country,considered to be quite lowgiven the fact that the totalmarginal and small farmers,having landholding size ofup to five acres, account forover 85 per cent of total farm-ers in the country.

Besides, as per the pact,the NCDC and Lakshadweepadministration will also worktogether on areas such as ani-mal husbandry, dairy, agri-culture, food processing, ruralfinance and women issuesthrough cooperative princi-ples in the island.

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Former Congress presidentRahul Gandhi on Thursday

said fisherfolk need an inde-pendent fisheries ministry andnot just a department within aMinistry, responding to PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’sswipe at him.

At a public meeting inPuducherry, the Prime Ministerexpressed shock over RahulGandhi’s statement last weekthat there was no “dedicated”fisheries ministry. At the time,BJP leaders, including Unionministers, had also taken aswipe at Gandhi.

Responding to the PM’sswipe, Rahul tweeted, “DearPM, Fisherfolk need an inde-pendent and dedicated ministryof fisheries, not just a depart-ment within a ministry.” “PS-

‘Hum do Humare do’ obvious-ly hurt bad,” he said referring tothe jibe he had used against theGovernment recently to allegethat it is being run by Modi andhis “corporate friends”.

Modi, in his remarks inPuducherry, said, “Congressleaders say we will make a fish-eries ministry. I was shocked.The truth is, it is the currentNDA government that hadmade a ministry for fisheries in2019.” In 2019, the ModiGovernment had formed aMinistry of Fisheries, AnimalHusbandry and Dairying.

In a separate tweet, RahulGandhi also attacked the gov-ernment over a media reportclaiming that the governmenthas started clearing foreigndirect investment proposalsfrom China on a case-by-casebasis.

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At a time when farmerunions have decided to

support the Bharat Bandhcalled by transport and tradeunions on February 26 andappealed farmers to make itsuccess, Union AgricultureMinister Narendra SinghTomar on Thursday said theGovernment cannot imple-ment the farm laws as thematter is with the SupremeCourt and the SC-constitutedcommittee is yet to submit itsfeedback. The Minister alsoadded that the farmer unions,which have been protestingagainst the farm laws for near-ly three months, have not giventheir feedback on the centre’sproposal of putting the farmlaws on hold for 1.5 years.

The Minister said that theGovernment is fully sensitivetowards farmers. “The gov-ernment has held 12 rounds oftalks with the farmers andthey are ready to talk to farm-ers anytime. We have held sev-eral rounds of talks (withunions). We proposed manyamendments as well as keepingthe farm reform Acts on holdfor 1.5 years and setting up ajoint panel to find solutions.But, they have not respondedto our proposals,” Tomar saidon the sidelines of an event onThursday.

“We can’t implement thefarm laws as the matter is withSupreme Court. The SupremeCourt constituted committee isyet to submit its feedback.They did not respond to theproposal. We are ready fortalks whenever farmers bringtheir views on the govern-ment’s proposal,” Tomar added.

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After nearly a decade ofresearch, scientists from

the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre forAdvanced Scientific Research(JNCASR), Bengaluru, havedeveloped a molecule that couldbe a potential drug candidate tohalt or cure the leading cause ofdementia (70-80 per cent)worldwide. The research hasbeen published in the journalAdvanced Therapeutics.

About 5-6 per cent of indi-viduals between the ages of 65-70 years in India suffer fromAlzheimer’s disease, a neurodegenerative condition which isincurable. However, a recenttrend has been observed wherepeople in their 30s or 40s are

also developing signs ofAlzheimer’s disease, which is acause of worry.

In such a dismal scenario,the study by the JNCASR, anautonomous institute under theDepartment of Science &Technology (DST) is a ray ofhope for many.

As per the study, Dr TGovindaraju, Professor,JNCASR, and his team designedand synthesised moleculeswhich can reduce the toxicity of-amyloid peptide—that accu-mulates in the central nervoussystem. “The molecule, calledTGR63, can rescue neuronalcells from amyloid toxicity. Wesaw that the molecule helped inreducing the clumping andslowly reversing the cognitivedecline,” claimed Dr

Govindaraju.He pointed out that the

experiment was carried out onmice with and withoutAlzheimer’s disease. “Mice brainaffected with Alzheimer’sshowed a significant reductionof amyloid deposits when treat-ed with TGR63. The mice alsoshowed reduction in learningdeficiency, memory impair-ment and cognitive decline asrevealed by distinct behaviour-al tests.

These key attributes havevalidated the potential ofTGR63 as a promising drugcandidate, he said. “We arelooking for pharmaceuticalcompanies to fund our projectto start clinical trials,” DrGovindaraju said.

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The NIA on Thursday filed achargesheet against the self-

styled Zonal Commander ofTritiya Prastuti Committee(TPC), a Jharkhand based ter-rorist group of Naxal hue.

The second supplementarychargesheet was filed beforethe NIA special court, Ranchiagainst Vikas Ganjhu, who isknown with aliases like Avinash,Dashrath Ganjhu and Varun Ji,is a Zonal Commander of TPC.The agency chargesheeted himunder Indian Penal CodeSections relating to criminalconspiracy and extortionbesides provisions of theUnlawful Activities (Prevention)Act and Criminal LawAmendment Act.

The case was initially reg-istered as FIR No. 157/2017 atPolice Station Panki, Palamu,Jharkhand on November 23,2017 after recovery of �5 lakhscash along with arms andammunition from ShyamBhokta alias DC, a TPC opera-tive.

The Tritiya PrastutiCommittee (TPC), a break-away terrorist group of CPI(Maoist) is also an unlawfulorganisation proscribed byJharkhand government underCLA Act, 1908.

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Allegations of massive cor-ruption and illegal sale of

deep sea fishing rights to adubious firm from the UnitedStates have taken whateversheen remained on theCPI(M)-led Pinarayi VijayanGovernment in Kerala, saysOommen Chandi, formerChief Minister of Kerala.

Though Chief MinisterPinarayi Vijayan and FisheriesMinister J Mercykutty claimedthat the MoU with the US com-pany for deep sea fishing offKerala Coast was signed withoutthe concurrence of the KeralaGovernment, neither the fish-ermen nor the general public arewilling to believe the argument.

"The deal was signed by theState-owned Kerala StateIndustrial developmentCorporation and Kerala InlandNavigation Corporation withthe US company which itself hasdubious track records. It is cer-tain that this is not a clean andtransparent deal," said Hari SKartha, widely respected polit-ical commentator in the State.

According to Kartha, theCPI(M) is fighting a losing bat-tle against the UDF. "ThePinarayi Vijayan governmenthad squandered all the goodwill it had among the peoplewhen it assumed office in 2016.Tuesday's UDF rally atThiruvananthapuram shouldbe seen in this context," he said.

Oommen Chandi whopresided over the meeting

which also saw the participa-tion of Congress leader RahulGandhi, turned out to be a run-away success, he said. "Chandiwas the unquestioned star ofthe show and this is a warningsignal to the LDF," said Kartha.

The LDF Government is ina fire-fighting mode and isissuing advertisements in allnewspapers and TV channelsclaiming that 'Kerala witnessedtremendous growth in numberof industries in the past fourand a half years'. "Kerala hasbecome a role model ofprogress. One of the depart-ments that has added feather inits growth cap is the industriesdepartment," claims E PJayarajan, minister of industries.

The industries departmentclaims that NITI Aayog's IndiaInnovation Index has rankedKerala as one of the mostinvestment friendly States inIndia. Vijayan and the CPI(M)had lambasted the Centre fordisbanding the PlanningCommission of India andintroducing the NITI Aayog.

The NITI Aayog's IndiaInnovation Index says the Easeof Doing Business (EDB) inKerala is 3.57 while that ofneighbouring Tamil Nadu andKarnataka are 53.57 and 42.86respectively. Andhra Pradeshtops the Index with a score of100. The EDB is the yardstickwhich entrepreneurs andinvestors use to measure theinvestment and industrial cli-mate of a State or a country.

The last four years saw four

entrepreneurs committing sui-cide in the State, citing harass-ment and tormenting by localpolitical chieftains. Kochi, onceknown as the industrial hub ofthe State is now known as anindustrial graveyard as manyindustrialists downed their shut-ters and left for other States.

"Though the Governmentclaims that 1.5 lakh personswere employed by it during thelast four years, aa the appoint-ments were based on recom-mendations of CPI(M) leaders.Only the relations and associ-ates of party bigwigs have beenappointed," said M S Giri,Thiruvananthapuram basedentrepreneur.

Oommen Chandi, whorestrained himself from usingharsh comments said the Statedeserves a much better gov-ernment and administration. "Ihave seen youth agitating forjobs in the past but the kind ofagitation which we see in frontof the secretariat is unseen inthe past. This is proof of sheerirresponsibility," said Chandi.

The CPI(M) leaders andministers are busy making theKerala Yatra by the party's act-ing secretary A Vijayaraghavana success. The secretary hinslefhas courted controversy for get-ting his spouse employed asvice-principal of a governmentcollege though she does notpossess the specified qualifica-tion. But a recent survey by asatellite news channel claimedthat the CPI(M) would retainpower in Kerala.

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The dawn-to-dusk hartalcalled by Sangh Parivar in

Kerala's Alappuzha district onThursday turned out to betotal with most of the shopsand business establishmentsremaining shut down and vehi-cles staying off the roads. Thehartal call was to condemn themurder of 22-year-old NandhuR Krishna, a district level RSSleader late Wednesday night.Two RSS activists who wereinjured seriously in the attackhave been admitted to hospital.

Activists of SDPI, an Islamicextremist outfit, hacked to deathin a gruesome manner Nandhuaround 9 pm by Wednesdaynight. The murder of Nandhu isbelieved to be the continuationof the tension prevailing in theregion between Sangh Parivarand SDPI following the visit ofYogi Adityanath, chief ministerof Uttar Pradesh to Kasaragodlast week.

Leaders of the SDPI,known as Sudapis, had report-edly delivered provocativespeeches during a public meet-ing and this set off a chain reac-tion which culminated in thehacking of Nandu.

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The Bihar Government is onthe backfoot after an

encounter with the liquor mafiain Sitamarhi district onWednesday claimed the life ofa sub-inspector while a guardsustained grievous injuries.

Leader of Opposition andRJD leader Tejashwi Yadavraised this incident in the

Vidhan Sabha on Thursday. Hesaid that the law and order sit-uation in Bihar is in a badshape. This is the reason whypolice officers are getting killedin broad daylight.

"Transfers and postingswould be done for only thosepolice officers who used to give"RCP tax" (Bribe) to top boss-es in the Nitish Kumar gov-ernment," Tejashwi said.

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Tamil Nadu Chief MinisterK. Palaniswami on

Thursday announced that stu-dents of Classes 9, 10 and 11will be declared passed withoutwriting their annual/boardexams for the academic year2020-21.

Announcing this in theAssembly, Palaniswami saidconsidering the extraordinaryCovid-19 pandemic situationand going by the views of theeducation experts and appeals

of the parents, students of 9, 10and 11 classes will be declaredas all pass without them writ-ing the annual school or boardexams.

He also said the govern-ment will announce thedetailed norms for calculatingthe marks for the students forthe academic year 2020-21.

Palaniswami said theschools were closed due to thepandemic and the studentslearnt through the Kalvi TVchannel and online. Their studyportions were also reduced.

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Union Home Minister AmitShah on Thursday said

Prime Minister Narendra Modihas identified the Northeastregion as India's "Growth Hub".

Addressing a gathering inNagaon district's BatadravaThan, Shah said the Modi gov-ernment has already startedwork to make the region as thegrowth engine of India.

"To take the Northeastdevelopment in a missionmode, the Prime Minister hadvisited the region 35 times inthe past five years. TheCongress leaders and ministersvisited Assam only during theelection time," the senior BJPleader said.

"Under Prime MinisterNarendra Modi's stewardship,a new era of development hasstarted in Assam and theNortheast region. EntireNortheast region is transform-ing. Northeast India willemerge as the highest contrib-utor in the GDP of India," saidShah.

Urging the people to rein-stall the BJP government forthe second time, Shahpromised that his party's visionis to make Assam an infiltrationfree, flood free, corruptionfree, violence free, agitation freeand number one state in India.

"A satellite based surveyhas been conducted and plansare afoot to permanently

resolve the flood problem andto undertake many projects todevelop tourism and otherinfrastructures," he said.

The Batadrava Than incentral Assam's Nagaon districtis the birthplace of socialreformer MahapurushSrimanta Sankardeva, who wasa 15th-16th century Assamesesaint, scholar, poet, playwright,social-religious reformer and afigure of importance in Assam'scultural and religious history.

Shah on Thursdaylaunched the work of a state-funded Rs 188-crore project forthe beautification of BatadravaThan.

Saying that the Centre andstate double engine govern-ments of the BJP have under-taken a large number of stepsfor the all round developmentof Assam and protection ofAssamese culture and tradi-tions. He said the NDA gov-ernment has awarded latefamous singer and composerBhupen Hazarika with BharatRatna; and the Padma Bhushanaward posthumously to formerAssam Chief Minister andCongress leader Tarun Gogoi.

"Former Prime MinisterManmohan Singh representedAssam, the Congress ruledAssam for 15 years (2001-2016) but did nothing for thebetterment of Assam and itspeople.

"The BJP-led NDA gov-

ernment has constructed over20,000 km road, bridges, air-ports, railway projects,approved a lot of gas and oilbased projects, mega healthinstitutions including AIIMSand many educational institu-tions," he pointed out.

The Home Minister saidthat the BJP government inAssam, to protect and promotethe traditions and culture ofAssam had provided Rs 2.5lakh each to 8,000 "Namghars"(traditional Vaishnavite monas-teries of Assam) under theAssam 'Darshan' programme.

"Namghars", literallymeaning Prayer House, intro-duced by Srimanta Sankardeva,are places for congregationalworship associated with theentire Assamese communityand the Ekasarana sect ofHinduism, in particular, whichis native to Assam.

Assam Chief MinisterSarbananda Sonowal, state'sFinance, Education and HealthMinister Himanta Biswa Sarmaalso addressed the gatherings.

Later in the day, Shah willvisit the hill district of KarbiAnglong where he will addressanother public meeting atDengaon and is expected tomeet surrendered extremists.

Earlier, Shah visited Assamon February 11 and January 23,and addressed several publicrallies.

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Virtually launching BJP'scampaign for upcoming

Assembly elections inPuducherry, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Thursdayurged people to vote for NDA’sgood governance agenda andreject anti-development forces.

Addressing a party rally inthe union territory, a day afterCentre recommending impo-sition of President's Rule fol-lowing collapse of the CongressGovernment, the PrimeMinister appealed to the peo-ple to bring to power a gov-ernment that will restorePuducherry's glory.

He said NDA wants tomake Puducherry BEST -- Bfor business hub, E for educa-tion, S for spiritual hub and Tfor tourism hub. While theCongress "are gold, silver andbronze medal winners in tellinglies" and neither work norallow others to work.

Launching a scathingattack on the Congress partyfor failing to live up to people'sexpectations, he said: "In 2016Puducherry did not get a peo-ple's government. They got agovernment that was busy serv-ing Congress high command in

Delhi. Their priorities weredifferent."

Attacking former ChiefMinister V. Narayanasamy,Modi said: "Your former chiefminister was an expert at lift-ing slippers of his top partyleaders but he did not haveinterest to lift people out ofpoverty."

The Prime Minister saidPuducherry deserve a govern-ment whose high command arepeople of Puducherry and nota small group of Congressleaders sitting in Delhi. "NDAassures the people ofPuducherry that the next gov-ernment will be people-pow-ered government."

Modi claimed that theenthusiasm and energy he wasseeing at the rally was a har-binger of the change in politi-cal direction of the state.

"I am seeing great happi-ness -- this joy for two reasons.One there are many develop-ments works which were inau-gurated today and second peo-ple of Puducherry are cele-brating freedom from misgov-ernance of Congress," he said.

He alleged that Congressgovernment damaged everysector of economy. "Congressdoes not believe in working for

people I can understand thatbut what I can't understand iswhy Congress does not wantothers to work for people," hesaid alleging that the therewas non-cooperation fromCongress government.

Modi also mentionedabout Congress leader RahulGandhi's recent visit toPuducherry during which thenChief Minister Narayansamygave wrong translation of awoman who was complainingabout the government.

"Instead of telling truth tothe nation, the chief ministergave wrong translation. Helied to people and his ownleader. Can a party whose cul-ture based on lies ever serve thepeople," he asked.

He also slammed Congressfor not holding panchayat elec-tions in Puducherry. He saidwhile Congress leave no oppor-tunity to call others anti-demo-cratic but they need to look atthemselves in mirrors. He saidpeople will punish anti-demo-cratic mindset of Congress.

He said while colonialrulers had the policy of divideand rule, Congress divide, lieand rule. "They are gold, silverand bronze medal winners intelling lies," the PM said.

������ 1 �����

Union Home Minister AmitShah on Thursday said

that without peace in northeastno development is possibleand without arms and violence,the Prime Minister NarendraModi-led Government hasbeen fulfilling all demands andrequirements.

Addressing an impressivegathering in the hill district ofcentral Assam's Karbi Anglong,Shah said that the Union andAssam government had alreadysuccessfully convinced hun-dreds of extremists belongingto nine outlawed outfits toshun violence and just onTuesday 1,040 more terroristsof five outfits led by wanted ter-rorist leader Ingti KatharSongbijit surrendered to theAssam Chief MinisterSarbananda Sonowal.

"The tribal guerillas havedeposited 338 sophisticatedarms including AK series rifles,LMGs, rocket launchers andover 11,000 various types ofammunition," the home min-ister said, ensuring the surren-dered militants to fulfil thepromises given to them by the

Assam government within oneyear.

"If you want education,health and other sectors todevelop then peace is the fore-most condition. Developmentcannot happen at the cost ofweapons. AWe have success-fully signed agreements withBodoland based militants,resolving decades old Reangethnic community problems inTripura. Bring BJP once againto power in Assam, KarbiAnglong would become themost developed region," Shahsaid.

While praising the surren-dered extremists for their deci-sion to lay down arms, whoassembled in the gatherings,the home minister and seniorBharatiya Janata Party leadersaid : "You have the same rightsin India as I am enjoying.Assam would be most devel-oped state if you voted BJP forthe second time."

Hitting out at Congress, hesaid the party (Congress) ruledAssam for so many years butthere was no development andwhen the BJP came to power inAssam in 2017, it has pro-gressed.

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Five people were killed andsix injured in an explosion

at a fireworks factory nearSivakasi in the district onThursday, police said.

More than ten sheds wherechemicals had been storedwere razed to the ground in themishap, the second such inci-dent this month in a crackermanufacturing unit in thisregion, the country's fireworkshub.

Fire and rescue serviceteams battled the blaze in theunit at Kalayar Kurichi, policesaid, adding the injured wererushed to hospitals.

The cause of the explo-sion was not known immedi-ately.

More than 20 people haddied and around 30 injured ina major explosion in a fire-works unit at Acchankulam vil-lage near Sattur in this districton February 2.

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Despite facing the brunt ofheavy shelling along the

Line of Control in Poonch andRajouri sectors large number ofborder residents living in thedirect line of firing onThursday reacted cautiouslyto the joint statement by theIndia and Pakistan army tostrictly observe all agreements,understandings and ceasefirealong the Line of Control andall other sectors with effectfrom midnight 24/25 Feb 2021.

"We have been repeatedlytargeted by the roaring Pakguns in the forward areas. Wewant to live in peace and cul-tivate our fields. But due toheightened tension in theregion we were not able to doso for a long time. Students inthe region suffered the mostdue to prolonged suspension ofclasses due to repeated inci-dents of cross LoC firing, MohdImitiyaz of village Shahpur inPoonch said.

A local panch in the areaclaimed, we cannot trustPakistan so easily. It's in thehabit of pushing infiltrators viathis route. Our parents suf-fered due to regular shelling.Now our generation is also fac-ing the same. We regularly prayand want peace to prevail. The

reaction of border residents inthe Nowshera area of Rajouriwas no different. Most of the vil-lagers engaged in the farmingactivity said, we always wantpeace to prevail and lead peace-ful lives without facing thebrunt of border firing. We haveseen armies standing eyeball toeyeball and now we want to seeour next generation to live inpeace and focus on their careers.

Meanwhile, political par-ties in Jammu and Kashmirwelcomed the agreementbetween armies of India andPakistan on ceasefire alongthe Line of Control (LoC) andother sectors.

“We welcome it and hope

that the statement will be fol-lowed in letter & spirit. JKNChas always been a strong sup-porter of the ceasefire along theLoC,” the party said in a state-ment.“This will allow peopleliving along the LoC & IB(International Border) to goabout their normal lives withminimal disruption & risk,” theparty said.

Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) President MehboobaMufti in a tweet welcomed theceasefire announcement andsaid dialogue was the only wayforward.

“A big & welcome devel-opment that India & Pakistanhave agreed to a ceasefire along

the LoC. Dialogue is the onlyway forward if both countrieswant to stop the unendingcycle of violence & bloodshedacross the borders and J&K,”Mehbooba said.

In a statement, Congressparty said that it alwaysfavoured any intiatives aimed atrestoration of peace on the bor-ders and LOC and ensuringsafety of our residents andjawans in Jammu and Kashmirbut questioned whether theinfiltration and cross borderterrorism has been stopped byPakistan.Reacting to the latestdevelopments, JKPCC Chief GA Mir Thursday questioned theModi government for it's flipflop policy as it had been stat-ing that the talks and terrorism/ cross border firing can't gotogether.

BJP had been always say-ing that the no talks are possi-ble with Pakistan till it stopscross border terrorism andinfiltration. It had been target-ting the previous UPA govern-ment for track two diplomacyand dialogue on the groundthat no talks should be held tillPakistan stops cross borderTerrorism and firing . It alwaysadvocated tough posturingwith Pakistan by claiming thatyou need a 56" chest to dealwith Pakistan.

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With no let up in the con-tinued increase in the

number of Covid-19 infec-tions, Maharashtra shot past8700 cases for the second con-secutive day to register 8,702fresh cases on Thursday, while56 people succumbed to thepandemic in various parts ofthe state.

A day after the state reg-istered 8807 cases which wasincidentally the second highestnumber of cases recorded in129 days – after 9060 cases wit-nessed on October 18 last year,Thursday’s infection tally of8702 came close to the one reg-istered on Wednesday.

However, the daily Covid-19 toll came down from 80 onWednesday to 56 on Thursday.

With 8702 new cases, thetotal number of infectionsjumped from 21,21,119 to21,29,821. Similarly, with 56new deaths, the total number ofdeaths rose from 51,937 to51,993.

As 3,744 patients were dis-charged from the hospitalsacross the state after full recov-ery, the total number of peopledischarged from the hospitalssince the second week of Marchlast year went up to 20,12,367.The recovery rate in the state

dropped marginally from 94.70per cent to 94.49 per cent..

With five fresh deaths, theCovid-19 toll in Mumbai rosefrom 11,458 to 11,463, whilethe infected cases went up by1145 to trigger a jump in theinfections from 3,21,699 to3,22,844.

Meanwhile, the number of“active cases” total cases in thestate went up from 59,358 to64,260. The fatality rate in thestate dropped from 2.45 percent at 2.44 per cent.

Pune district, which con-tinued to be the worst-affectedcity-district in Maharashtra,saw the total number of casesincrease from 4,03,782 to4,05,307, while the total num-ber of deaths in Pune went upfrom 8,044 to 8,048.

Thane district remainedin the third spot --after Puneand Mumbai – after the totalnumber of infections rose from2,77,580 to 2,78,288 while thetotal deaths climbed from 5,795to 5,803.

Of the 1,59,41,773 samplessent to laboratories, 21,21,119have tested positive (13.31 percent) for COVID-19 untilThursday.

Currently, 2,95,578 peo-ple are in home quarantinewhile 2,446 people are in insti-tutional quarantine.

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The poll-bound politics ofBengal rode the e-wheels

with Chief Minister MamataBanerjee on Thursday ridingtoo-and-fro to StateSecretariat Nabanna on anelectronic scooty to drivehome the point on scortchingfuel prices.

A day after hurling“Dangabaj” (rioter) and“Doitya” (Demon) abuses onPrime Minister Narendra Modithe Chief Minister on Thursdayrode a battery-driven scootyinstead of the usual Santro carthat she uses to travel 8 kmfrom her house at Kalighat toNabanna.

While State MinisterFirhad Hakim rode her to thesecretariat in the morning, inthe evening the Chief Ministerrode back on her own with thesecurity network in pursuit.

In her trademark whitecotton sari, Banerjee put on ahelmet and mask during theride which was trailed by agroup of other people from theruling Trinamool Congress.

The entire ride was telecastthrough Facebook Live. Latereven as the Chief Ministeraddressed the media, seated onthe battery-operated scootershe attacked the Prime Ministersaying, “this was a ride taken toremind Modi of his dutiestowards the common manwhose lives he has made mis-erable by effecting massive rise

in petro prices.”Ridiculing the Prime

Minister for giving free LPGgas connection and then charg-ing Rs 800 per cylinder,Banerjee said “think about afamily that needs two gases permonth spending Rs 1,600 onthat account … then how willthat family buy foods andspend on education andhealth.”

At a time “when the priceof crude has come down tohalf this Government haseffected a 100 percent rise inthe price of cooking gas… Itsold for Rs 400 with subsidythen and it is selling for Rs 800now after Modi removed thatsubsidy that was a dire neces-sity for the people … even yes-terday it was increased by Rs25,” Banerjee said, addinghow “even the subsidy onkerosene has been takenaway.”

She asked, “what the 2crore people of my State whouse kerosene oil will do? About20 crore people of India surviveon kerosene oil. They cannotbuy gas for Rs 800, they cannotget subsidy on kerosene …then what will they eat,”demanding an immediate roll-back on fuel prices.

“I want Modi ji either totack back the prices or go backfrom power,” Banerjee saidadding she would continueher agitation in Bengal andwould appeal to the oppositionruled states to do the same. “Iwill request Uddhav Thackery,

MK Stalin, Kerala, Punjab,Rajasthan and all otherGovernments to take up thematter in a coordinated man-ner,” Banerjee said.

“Modi is selling the coun-try. This government is anti-people, anti-women, anti-farmer, and anti-young gener-ation. We want this govern-ment to go,” the Chief Ministersaid.

Attacking the PrimeMinister for allowing a crick-et stadium in Gujarat to benamed after him, Banerjeesaid “this is height of dictator-ship where the President ofIndia is made to inaugurate astadium named after the PrimeMinister.”

In an apparent reference tohow the two ends of the sta-dium was named after two topindustrialists of the countryBanerjee, said “it is like acomplete circle of eventswhere there will be only “Humdo … humare do” apparentlyindicating at the PrimeMinister, Home Minister AmitShah and the two industrial-ists.

However, lampooningBanerjee for making the peo-ple’s cause an election issue,Congress Lok Sabha leadersaid “she is making it an elec-tion publicity stunt instead ofcutting taxes on her own end… Why does she not lift herown taxes … the ChhattisgarhGovernment has done it byreducing Rs 12 on fuel prices.”

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Page 6:  · 2021. 2. 25. · Pakistan Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, ... Modi’s extradition, the judg-ment will now need ratification of British Home Secretary Priti Patel for sending

With the annulment of thepartition of Bengal by EmperorGeorge V in 1911 at the DelhiDurbar, the Hindu punch soft-ened with the idea of havingHindu-Muslim cordiality. Thatwas the inauguration of so-called secularism in Bengal.The Bengali elite began regret-ting their conduct towardsMuslims. Say, inviting a Muslimco-villager to a wedding dinner,making him sit separately to eatand then expecting him tocarry his thali to clean. This isjust one example.

With the rise of NetajiSubhas, the Hindu-Muslimcordiality tended towardsfriendship. A moderate leader,Fazlur Rahman of the KrishakParty, became the Premier ofBengal; this secular trend con-tinued. By early 1947, Netaji’selder brother Sarat Bose, FazlurRahman and Sir Abdul Rahimwere discussing the prospectsof a third dominion, namely,undivided Bengal in additionto Hindustan and Pakistan.

After Independence, theNehruvian ethos and theappeasement of Muslims fortheir votes inflated this trend.The Partition, which displacedmany Hindus, did not lead toany real antagonism againstMuslims in Bengal in its imme-diate aftermath as well as later.So much so that being associ-

ated with the RSS, the HinduMahasabha or the Jana Sanghbecame infra dig. The Hindupolitical movement could notthrow up a popular leaderafter Syama Prasad Mookerjeedied mysteriously in Kashmir.Jana Sangh leader HaripadaBharati was respected but with-out mass appeal. The secularshow persisted and infiltratorsfrom Bangladesh were encour-aged for their votes.

Yet, the Islamist pennydropped at last in the BengaliHindu’s mind. Clearly a revo-lutionary change is takingplace that may well have a reac-tion across the border inBangladesh. There has been acataclysmic change in thethinking of people in WestBengal with the approachingAssembly elections. It is trulya metamorphosis because, fordecades, West Bengal has bothresisted the domination ofwhat the bhadralok would calla “Hindi heartland party” andhas prided itself on its avowed-ly secular outlook; the Bengaliidentity has been preponder-ant over the religious one.

However, the incessantmollycoddling of the religiousminority and even the mostradical jihadist elements hasslowly but surely brought on anabout-turn in the Bengali mind.To the extent that even the most

secular among them havebegun to fear that their Statemight become anotherBangladesh. The first majorsign of West Bengal’s changingpolitical mood was the 2019Lok Sabha election in which theBJP won 18 out of 42 parlia-mentary seats. The rapidly shift-ing scenario with the approachof the 2021 Assembly electionis the beginning of a new chap-ter in West Bengal’s politicaljourney, one that will haveimplications beyond the State.

West Bengal is very much inthe news, especially because ofthe impending Assembly elec-tions. The country is witnessingan acrimonious tussle where theruling Trinamool Congress’incumbent Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee is fighting tosave her Government in the faceof a determined assault by theBJP. The remarkable drama ofthe West Bengal elections is theby-now-discernible wave of dis-content against Mamata — sit-ting Ministers and politicalheavyweights do not otherwisequit on poll eve to join theOpposition. But more signifi-cant is the change taking placein the Bengali psyche. There isgrowing willingness to be moreintegrally an arm of Bharat.

(The writer is a well-knowncolumnist and an author. Theviews expressed are personal.)

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D����3��#������3��#������As lucidly brought out by

Timur Kuran, a TurkishAmerican economistwho teaches at the Duke

University, the practice of Islaminhibits business growth and,therefore, does not enable econom-ic progress or development. Theprohibition of usury is an example.This explains why Islamic societieshave not been economically pro-ductive. Therefore, they had tobecome adept at the conquest ofother lands in search of resources.

Bangladesh has an addedhandicap. For centuries, theBengali elite was more land-owning than business-running.The Bangladeshi culture took itscue from the Bengali elite. Islamis a comprehensive prescriptionfor living, including politics,with the Quran as the ultimatereference point. No Muslimruler could deviate from thatpath. Ideally, jamhuriyat (con-sensus) was the solution.Monarchy, autocracy and oli-garchy were the only alternatives,which left democracy no space.

Sheikh Hasina Wazed some-how fights elections. She haswon four terms in all, is relative-ly secular and grateful to Indiafor the freedom of Bangladesh.Her predecessor, BegumKhaleda Zia, was not. Khaleda’shusband Ziaur Rahman wasalmost pro-Pakistani, being aMuslim ashraf (a descendant ofProphet Muhammad). But whatafter Hasina Wazed retires orrelinquishes power? Would notthere be a change in the coun-try’s foreign policy, especially vis-à-vis India?

It is uncanny that theBengali Hindu elite founded aHindu political ideology. RajNarain Bose is reputed to havecoined the term “Hindutva”, orat least used it for the first timein 1863. He was the grandfatherof Yogi Aurobindo Ghosh. TheHindu Anushilan Samiti wasfounded and functioned only inBengal, with even the greatpoet Rabindranath Tagore beingits leading light. The movementagainst the partition of Bengalin 1905 was largely led by YogiAurobindo and actively supported by Tagore. TheBengal Renaissance was aHindu phenomenon.

SOUNDBITE��������������� �������������Sir — It is indeed great that theGovernment has decided to involve pri-vate hospitals in the vaccination drive. Thestep was much needed as it is almostimpossible to vaccinate such a large pop-ulation as ours through the Governmentmachinery only.

The Government cares for the elder-ly population, that’s why it took the deci-sion that everyone above 60 years of ageand those over 45 years with comorbidi-ties will be able to get COVID-19 vaccinesfrom March 1 for free in 10,000Government medical facilities and for acharge at over 20,000 private hospitals.However, how much this charge will be isyet to be seen. The Government mustensures that private hospitals do notcharge “too much” for the jabs.

It is often seen that corrupt employ-ees of Government hospitals, often in col-lusion with private entities, create such ascenario that medicines are not availablein hospital pharmacies or run out of stockwhile these are sold at exorbitant prices byprivate ones. If the COVID vaccine meetsthe same fate, it will be unfortunate andthe ambitious programme will fall flat.Meanwhile, we must not be ready to doleout whatever cost the private hospitalsquote for the jab. The private hospitalsoften take undue advantage as we want toavoid long queues in Government hospi-tals just to save time. We must rememberthat they charge extra only because we areready to pay it.

M Pradyu | Kannur

������������������� ����� �� ��Sir — It refers to the editorial ‘Continuingtravails’ (February 25). With several Statesreporting a surge in COVID-19 cases, itis high time that the RT-PCR test shouldbe made mandatory for entry into allStates. There should also be reasonablerestrictions over interstate movementwhile unnecessary movement should notbe allowed at all.

The increase in Coronavirus cases isbecause many people have stopped follow-

ing the precautions and are lackadaisicalin their approach. People are seen wear-ing masks improperly and are not sanitis-ing their hands. Further, the Governmentalso relaxed the norms as we have seen inMaharashtra, where all categories of com-muters were allowed to travel in the localtrains. This added to the problem whichis now assuming gigantic proportions.

The situation is worse in villages andsmall towns where people don’t even careto wear a mask. They have developed aself-conceived notion that “Corona hasgone” and vaccines have been developed,hence there is no need to worry. Its timethat the Government spread more aware-ness and told people that there is no sub-stitute to the precautions.The situation is do-or-die but we are notready to accept it.

Bal Govind | Noida

����������������� ������Sir —Why do we have casinos and whydo Governments want them? What ben-

efit are they? Is it because of the greatamount of money the Governmentreceives from them? The casinos areinvolved in crimes like money launder-ing.

I would like to make just a shortcomment on casinos. Several Australiancasinos have been accused of moneylaundering and generally poor control.The new one in Sydney cannot yet get alicence to operate until it changes itsprocesses.

I must admit that I personally don’tlike casinos and the fact that most peo-ple will lose money, as is obvious by thefact they are profitable. I don’t mind theoccasional bet on horses and a lotteryticket even though I don’t expect to winevery week. But casinos are a lucrativebusiness for the Government and theprofits are high.

Dennis Fitzgerald| Melbourne

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The previous decade saw the fastest increase indebt in emerging economies in the last 50years. The IMF estimated that global public

debt at the end of 2020 would touch 98 per cent ofthe GDP, and India’s gross Government debt wouldbe at 90 per cent of the GDP. According to the IMF’sFiscal Monitor, the debt-to-GDP ratio exceeds 100per cent in most OECD countries and close to 100per cent in emerging ones. Among the majoreconomies, only China (66.5 per cent), Australia (70per cent) and Germany (72 per cent) have fared bet-ter. The problem economies of Italy and Greece haveseen debt levels rising to 158 per cent and 200 percent of the GDP, respectively, while Japan’s debt is264 per cent. From 2021 onwards, global debt willrise higher than in the pre-COVID times. A cred-ible medium-term fiscal framework is essential tocombat rising debt, but with the pandemic still outof control, additional revenue mobilisation neces-sary for public spending on health and infrastruc-ture is now more difficult than ever before in mostdeveloping countries. The saving grace is that bor-rowing is now cheap, thanks to the interest ratesfalling to exceptionally low levels and is expected toremain lower than the growth rates in most coun-tries. According to S&P Global, in 2023, growth willoutpace interest rates not only in all rich countries,but also in 53 out of 60 emerging economies. The“growth-corrected interest rate”, the differentialbetween interest and nominal growth rates, will be-3.6 per cent in India, -6.5 per cent in China and -33.8 per cent in Argentina.

This legitimately raises the question, shouldemerging economies also rethink their fiscal limits?The Economist quoted India’s budgeted fiscal deficitof 9.5 per cent of the GDP this fiscal year with noroad map to bring it below the three per cent limitprescribed by the Fiscal Responsibility and BudgetManagement Act, while it noted that the latestEconomic Survey had also highlighted that India’sinterest rate has been below its growth rate “by norm,not by exception”, and its assertion that higher debtand fiscal spending during an economic crisis shouldnot cause unnecessary worries. But Fitch Ratings,noted that in the last decade, the average interest ratehad fallen from four per cent to two per cent in devel-oped economies, while across emerging markets, ithad increased from 4.3-5.1 per cent. Thus the ben-efits of lower rates are mostly available to rich nations.

The classical Domar Model lays down two con-ditions for sustainability of Government debt: First,the nominal growth rate should exceed the interestrate on public debt and, second, the primary accountof the Government, which means taking out theinterest payment, should not have any deficit. If bothconditions are satisfied, the debt stock in GDP willdecrease fast, and even if the primary account hasa deficit, it will ultimately converge to a sustainablelevel. But if the growth rate lags behind the interestrate, then public debt will increase indefinitely to beunsustainable. Thus public debt can stabilise at ahigher level but this would render a country vulner-able to economic shocks. However, since thismodel does not consider the interdependenciesexisting between the interest rate, the structure ofpublic spending, the degree of public indebted-ness and the growth rate which influence eachother, economists Hamilton and Flavin suggestedanother model. According to it, the inter-temporalBudget constraint must be satisfied to make the debt

stock sustainable, which requires thepresent value of future primary sur-pluses to cover the size of the currentpublic debt. The uncertainty of futurevalues of projections, interest rates andinflation remains the weakness of thismodel, but whatever model is used,increasing public debt does not nec-essarily imply its unsustainability,especially when a country needsadditional finance to carry out struc-tural forms or for making capitalinvestments on infrastructure.

As long as primary Budgetdeficits are not too large, the mainproblem is to stabilise public debt,independent of the size of the econ-omy so that it may not go beyondcontrol. This is simple budgetaryarithmetic: If the debt was stable at 60per cent of the GDP with a primarydeficit of three per cent, to stabiliseit at 80 per cent would require the pri-mary deficit to be limited to four percent. The Economic Survey points outthat GDP growth in India has alwaysexceeded interest rates in the last 25years, though the primary accounthas often been in deficit, but less thanthe maximum limit defined by thedebt sustainability equations. The sur-vey concludes that even in the worstcase scenario, with real growth beingonly four per cent for the next 10 yearsand high primary deficits 6.8 per centof the GDP (Centre plus States), fiveper cent inflation and a nominal inter-est rate of six per cent, public debt willstill be sustainable. This scenario isnot peculiar to India. The IMF saysthat emerging economies have expe-rienced growth rates exceeding inter-est rates 75 per cent of the time. Ofcourse, there is an element of risk in

case of high prevalence of externaldebt in the overall debt portfoliobecause if the exchange rate weakens,the debt-to-GDP ratio will risesharply even if the interest rateremains modest. But for India, thisrisk is minimal as external debt con-stitutes only about six per cent of ourtotal liabilities (�5.85 lakh crore in2019-20).

Government debt amounted to73.8 per cent of the GDP in 2019-20,before the pandemic pushed it muchhigher. As per the road map pre-scribed by the 15th FinanceCommission, India’s debt shoulddecline marginally from 89.8 per centto 85.7 per cent of the GDP over2020-26, but the decline will practi-cally take place in the last three years.Thus we need to stabilise our debtaround that level provided theseprojections hold. This may not be thecase as additional spending will berequired on health and infrastructure.

But the moot question is whetherthe high debt level is desirable evenif it is sustainable, as public borrow-ing generally crowds out privateinvestment and hurts the economy.Perhaps the answer lies in how theborrowed funds are used. If theGovernment spends on investment,like the 26 per cent increase in capi-tal spending budgeted for the next fis-cal, this risk would be less, especial-ly when the economy is operatingbelow capacity as is the case now;public spending can then bring inadditional private investment byimproving incomes and profitability.

However, this is not the first timea debt pandemic has hit the world andthere were three earlier waves of debt

accumulation during 1970-89, 1990-2001 and 2002-09, all of which beganduring periods of low real interestrates and easy access to borrowingfrom the financial markets. Eachcaused global recessions in 1982, 1991and 2009 and economic downturnsin 1998 and 2001, and were followedby structural reforms designed tolower vulnerabilities, with greaterreserve accumulation and strength-ening of policy frameworks. Controlslike inflation targeting, fiscal rules andmore robust financial sector supervi-sion became the norm.

We are now riding the crest of thefourth wave that began in 2010 butpeaked during the pandemic with theslowing of economic growth in mostcountries. The conditions wereremarkably similar to those after the2008 meltdown, when interest rateswere low and access to financial mar-kets for capital was easy due to thebanks having extended their outreachremarkably. As the pandemic nowtests the resilience of economies, aglobal recession which was alreadyraging, is now pushing the world intoa deep debt crisis, which marked theend of each previous wave. Like in thecase of previous waves, now alsodeeper structural reforms are calledfor. In the Indian context, this willmean many more reforms of the fac-tor markets, along with reform ofagriculture and financial sectorswhile strengthening the overall reg-ulatory mechanisms. Appropriatepolicy choices are crucial becauseonce recovery gets underway, onlyreforms and the accompanying insti-tutional mechanisms can help restoreour fiscal and debt sustainability.

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Actions on the climatechange front are againin the news in the US

after President Joe Bidentook charge. One of his firstexecutive orders pertained toreassembling a federal, cross-Government team to figureout the “social cost of car-bon.”

So, what is the socialcost of carbon (SCC) or ofGreen House Gases (GHG)?SCC is the present value offuture harm caused by anincremental ton of carbondioxide emissions.

It is difficult to estimateSCC because carbon emis-sions, climate change, andeconomic harm are relatedthrough complex processesthat are not fully under-stood. Additionally, the rateat which to discount futureharm is contentious and crit-ical to the magnitude of thepresent value.

As per the InteragencyWorking Group on SocialCost of Carbon, the USGovernment’s technical sup-port document 2010: “TheSCC is an estimate of themonetised damages associat-ed with an incrementalincrease in carbon emissionsin a given year. It is intend-ed to include (but is notlimited to) changes in netagricultural productivity,human health, propertydamages from increasedflood risk and the value ofecosystem services due to cli-mate change.”

It is a well-establishedfact that consequent to cli-mate change, countries facea slew of adverse impacts;damages that are not ade-quately quantified whileassessing these impacts.Developing economies likeIndia are going to bear anunduly larger share of such

impacts.An analysis of the

Climate Risk Index (CRI),2021, shows India to beamong the top 10 mostaffected countries in 2019 onaccount of climate change-induced extreme weatherevents.

India’s annual monsoonseason continued for amonth longer than usual.From June to the end ofSeptember 2019, 110 percent of the normal rainfalloccurred, a record since1994.

According to the CRI, thefloods caused by the heavyrains were responsible for1,800 deaths across 14 Statesand led to the displacementof 1.8 million people. Overall,11.8 million people wereaffected by the intense mon-soon season with the eco-nomic damage estimated tobe $10 billion.

Furthermore, with a totalof eight tropical cyclones,2019 was one of the mostactive Northern IndianOcean cyclone seasons onrecord. Six of the eightcyclones intensified tobecome “very severe.”

The worst was CycloneFani that occurred in May2019 and impacted a total of28 million people, killingnearly 90 people in India and

Bangladesh and causing eco-nomic losses of $8.1 billion.Then, there are other conse-quences in terms of impactson human health and onfood security, to name a few.

The relation between fos-sil fuels and climate change,too, is now accepted beyondany doubt. However, whilecarrying out the cost-benefitanalysis of different optionsto replace fossil fuels, thesedamages — also known as“externalities” — are eithernot taken into account orremain fuzzy. And that iswhere a tool like the SCCmay help.

As per the Institute forPolicy Integrity, the SCC is “ametric designed to quantifyand monetise climate dam-ages, representing the neteconomic cost of carbondioxide emissions.”

In a country like oursthat is trying to transition to

clean energy through itsambitious NationallyDetermined Contributions(NDCs) in terms of emis-sion-intensity reductions andquantum increase in non-fos-sil electricity; it is imperativethat policymaking and regu-latory frameworks areinformed by scientific evi-dence.

This, in turn, demands amethodology to quantify theimpacts that are based onverifiable numbers and arestandardised across sectors.

But even more impor-tantly, it is developed in anacademically rigorous, trans-parent and peer-reviewedprocess so as to have univer-sal acceptability.

And that is where aninter-agency or an inter-min-isterial approach helps inforging a joint ownership.Given that this is not a one-time exercise, a formal mech-

anism needs to be put inplace.

The Apex Committee forImplementation of ParisAgreement (AIPA) constitut-ed by the Union Ministry ofEnvironment, Forest, andClimate Change (MoEFCC)may very well provide such aunified platform. The mech-anism must also provide forengaging with the public andother stakeholders in anongoing fashion.

Going forward, weshould aim at not only devel-oping a metric for quantify-ing the social cost of GHGbut also of other componentsso that the impact of local airpollution, too, can be holis-tically monetised from a pol-icy formulation perspective.

It is time that such com-plex matters attract a morescience-based approach,thereby obviating any kind ofbiases.

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Acrisis over the supply ofmedical oxygen for coron-

avirus patients has strucknations in Africa and LatinAmerica, where warnings wentunheeded at the start of thepandemic and doctors say theshortage has led to unnecessarydeaths.

It takes about 12 weeks toinstall a hospital oxygen plantand even less time to convertindustrial oxygen manufactur-ing systems into a medical-grade network. But in Braziland Nigeria, as well as in less-populous nations, decisions tofully address inadequate sup-plies only started being madelast month, after hospitals wereoverwhelmed and patientsstarted to die.

The gap in medical oxygenavailability “is one of the defin-ing health equity issues, I think,of our age,” said Peter Piot,director of the London Schoolof Hygiene &amp; TropicalMedicine, who said he surviveda severe coronavirus infectionthanks to the oxygen hereceived.

Doctors in Nigeria anx-iously monitor traffic as oxygendeliveries move through thegridlocked streets of Lagos.Desperate families of patients

around the world sometimesturn to the black market.Governments take action onlyafter hospitals are over-whelmed and the infected dieby the dozens.

In Brazil’s Amazonas state, a pair of swindlers werecaught reselling fire extin-guishers painted to look like medical oxygen tanks. InPeru, people camped out in linesto get cylinders for sick relatives.

Only after the lack of oxy-gen was blamed for the deathsof four people at an Egyptianhospital in January and sixpeople at one in Pakistan inDecember did governmentsaddress the problems.

John Nkengasong, directorof the Africa Centers forDisease Control andPrevention, said medical oxy-gen is a “huge critical need”across the continent of 1.3 bil-lion people and is a main rea-son that Covid-19 patients aremore likely to die there duringsurges.

Yangon: Supporters ofMyanmar’s junta attacked pro-testers demanding the end tothe military government thattook power in a coup, usingslingshots, iron rods and knivesThursday to injure several ofthe demonstrators.

The violence complicatesan already intractable standoffbetween the military and aprotest movement that hasbeen staging large rallies dailyto demand that Aung San SuuKyi’s elected government berestored to power. She andother politicians were oustedand arrested on February 1 ina takeover that shocked theinternational community andreversed years of slow progresstoward democracy.

Facebook, meanwhile,announced that it would ban allaccounts linked to the country’smilitary as well as ads frommilitary-controlled companies— a reflection of internation-al outrage over the takeover.

On Thursday, tensionsescalated on the streets betweenanti-coup protesters and sup-porters of the military. Photosand videos posted on socialmedia showed groups attacking

people in downtown Yangon aspolice stood by without inter-vening. The number of injuredpeople and their condition wasnot immediately clear.

According to accounts andphotos posted on social media,hundreds of people marchedThursday in support of thecoup. They carried banners inEnglish with the slogans “WeStand With Our DefenseServices” and “We Stand WithState Administration Council,”which is the official name of thenew junta.

When the marchers were

jeered by bystanders near thecity’s Central Railway station,they responded by firing sling-shots, throwing stones andthen chasing down thebystanders. One band thatbroke away stabbed and kickeda man they had chased. Videoshows there had been both pro-and anti-coup crowds near thestation Thursday.

Supporters of the militaryhave gathered in the streetsbefore, especially in the daysimmediately before and afterthe coup, but had not used vio-lence so openly. AP

Yerevan: Armenia’s primeminister accused top militaryofficers on Thursday ofattempting a coup after theydemanded he step down,adding fuel to months longprotests calling for his resig-nation following the nation’sdefeat in a conflict withAzerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

The demonstrations beganimmediately after PrimeMinister Nikol Pashinyansigned a November 10 peacedeal that saw Azerbaijanreclaim control over large partsof Nagorno-Karabakh and sur-rounding areas that had beenheld by Armenian forces formore than a quarter-century.

Those protests have gath-ered pace this week, and thefeud with his top militarycommanders has weakenedPashinyan’s position. Theimmediate trigger for thestandoff was Pashinyan’s deci-

sion to oust the first deputychief of the military’s GeneralStaff, a group of the armedforces’ top commanders.

In response, the GeneralStaff called for Pashinyan’s res-ignation — but the prime min-ister doubled down and dis-missed the chief of the GeneralStaff.

He described the military’sstatement as a “military coupattempt” and urged troops toonly listen to his orders.

He also called on his back-ers to come to the streets andthen later walked among them,using a loudspeaker to rallysupport. “We need a conver-sation, not a confrontation,” hesaid.

Pashinyan denied rumorsthat he was preparing to fleethe country.

Supporters of Pashinyanand the opposition engaged insporadic scuffles on the streetsof Yerevan on Thursday. AP

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China on Thursday deniedsubjecting US diplomats to

COVID-19 anal tests followingreports from Washington thatsome of its personnel werebeing made to undergo theprocedure.

Chinese Foreign Ministryspokesperson Zhao Lijian toldreporters at a daily briefing that“China has never asked USdiplomats in China to gothrough anal swab tests.”

A US State Departmentspokesperson said Washingtonwas “committed to guarantee-ing the safety and security ofAmerican diplomats and theirfamilies while preserving theirdignity, consistent with the

Vienna Convention onDiplomatic Relations as well asother relevant diplomatic lawprovisions.” The WashingtonPost reported last week thatsome US personnel had toldthe department they had beensubjected to the anal tests.

The procedure has beenapplied in China because it isreportedly more accurate thannasal or mouth swabs.

China has not reported anew local case of Covid-19 inmore than a week, but hasmaintained strict testing, espe-cially for people arriving fromabroad. Diplomats and otherforeigners with special statusare exempted from a ban onmost foreigners entering thecountry.

Washington: Republican lead-ers in the House and Senate saya proposed plan for an inde-pendent commission to studythe Capitol insurrection isoverly ti lted towardDemocrats, arguing that thepanel should have an evenparty split like the one formedto study the September 11 ter-rorist attacks.

House Republican leaderKevin McCarthy and SenateRepublican leader MitchMcConnell said Wednesdaythat a legitimate commissionwould be comprised of anequal number of Republicansand Democrats. A draft pro-posed by House SpeakerNancy Pelosi would create an11-member commission withfour Republicans and sevenDemocrats, three of whomwould be chosen by PresidentJoe Biden, according to one ofmultiple aides who spoke oncondition of anonymity to dis-cuss the details under negoti-ation.

Pelosi has not commentedon the draft or said why thereshould be more Democraticmembers. AP

Yangon: Social media giantFacebook announced onThursday it was banning allaccounts linked to Myanmar’smilitary as well as ads frommilitary-con-trolled compa-nies in thewake of thearmy’s seizureof power onFebruary 1.

It said in astatement that it was treatingthe post-coup situation inMyanmar as an “emergency,”explaining that the ban wasprecipitated by events sincethe coup, including “deadlyviolence.”

Facebook already hasbanned several military-linkedaccounts since the coup,including army-controlledMyawaddy TV and state tele-vision broadcaster MRTV.

The bans are also beingapplied on Instagram, which isowned by Facebook. Facebookand other social media plat-forms came under enormouscriticism in 2017 when rightgroups said they failed to actenough to stop hate speechagainst Myanmar’s MuslimRohingya minority. AP

Washington: A legislation hasbeen introduced in the USCongress for countering theChinese propaganda by creatinga new sanctions authorityagainst state-backed disinfor-mation networks.

Republican StudyCommittee ChairmanCongressman Jim Banks andSenator Tom Cotton onWednesday introduced theCountering ChinesePropaganda Act.

The bill requires theSecretary of State to examinewhether or not the United FrontWork Department meets the cri-teria to be sanctioned under thisnew authority.

The legislation is based onrecommendations from theRepublican Study Committee’sNational Security Strategy andauthorises sanctions against theUnited Front Work Department

(UFWD), which is an overseasinfluence arm of the rulingCommunist Party of China(CPC). The United Front par-ticipated directly in the Uyghurgenocide and the oppression ofChristians in China, but its ulti-mate goal is to spread those per-secutory tactics around theglobe, Banks said.

“The leadership inWashington may have changed,but China’s political warfarehasn’t. It’s fallen to Congress toexpose and counter CommunistParty disinformation. We can’tback down now,” he said.

“The Chinese CommunistParty expands its disinformationcampaign each day – concealinginformation on the origin ofCovid-19, lying about its oppres-sion of Uighurs and other reli-gious minorities, and infiltratingAmerican universities and busi-nesses,” Cotton said. PTI

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Hundreds of German policeofficers conducted coor-

dinated raids early on Thursdayin Berlin and the surroundingstate of Brandenburg in theinvestigation of an organisationbanned over allegations ofIslamic extremism.

Some 850 police, includingSWAT teams, were involved inthe raids of apartments linkedto members of the organisationknown as Jama’atu Berlin, thestate Interior Ministry said.

The organisation, whosename translates literally as the“Berlin Group,” was banned byBerlin’s state Interior MinisterAndreas Geisel ahead of theraids on the grounds it was a“very radical” group that fol-lowed the Islamic State group’sideology.

“The ban is another clearsignal to all religious extrem-ists,” Geisel said. “We will fightthe roots of terror. We will tol-erate no place where terror ispreached and the so-calledIslamic State is glorified.”

Beijing: President Xi Jinping onThursday declared that Chinahas scored a “complete victory”in its fight against poverty bylifting over 770 million peopleout of it in the last four decades,calling it another “miracle” cre-ated by the country that will godown in history.

Absolute poverty has beeneradicated in the world’s mostpopulous country, Xiannounced while addressing agathering held here to mark thecountry’s accomplishments inpoverty alleviation and honourits model poverty fighters.

China has a population ofaround 1.4 billion.

“No country has been ableto lift hundreds of millions of

people out of poverty in such ashort time,” Xi said.

Xi said that all poor peoplein rural areas have been liftedout of poverty.

With this, China hasachieved the UN goal of pover-ty eradication 10 years ahead ofthe 2030 deadline, he said.

Over the past eight years,the final 98.99 million impov-erished rural residents livingunder the current poverty linehave all been lifted out ofpoverty. All the 832 impover-ished counties and 1,28,000impoverished villages have beenremoved from the poverty list,he said.

Since the launch of thereform and opening up in the

late 1970s, 770 million impov-erished rural residents haveshaken off poverty when cal-culated according to China’scurrent poverty line, he said.

China has contributed tomore than 70 per cent of glob-al poverty reduction over thesame period, Xi, also GeneralSecretary of the rulingCommunist Party of China(CPC), said.

With such achievements,China has created another“miracle” that will “go down inhistory,” he said.

Xi said since he assumedpower, China has invested accu-mulative fiscal funds of nearly1.6 trillion yuan (about $246billion) into poverty alleviation

over the past eight years.He said according to the

World Bank’s internationalpoverty line, the number ofChinese people lifted out ofpoverty over the past 40 yearsaccounts for more than 70 percent of the global total.

China considers extremerural poor are those with annu-al per capita income of less than$620, or about $1.69 a day atcurrent exchange rates, whichcompared closely with theWorld Bank’s minimum stan-dard of $1.90 a day.

Complete eradication ofpoverty in China was the maingoal announced by Xi when hecame to power towards the endof 2012. PTI

Washington: Republicans ral-lied solidly against Democrats’proposed $1.9 trillion Covid-19relief bill as lawmakers await-ed a decision by the Senate’sparliamentarian that could bol-ster or potentially kill a pivotalprovision hiking the federalminimum wage.

Despite their paper-thincongressional majorities,Democratic leaders were poisedto push the sweeping packagethrough the House on Friday.They were hoping the Senate,where changes seem likely,would follow quickly enough tohave legislation on President JoeBiden’s desk by mid-March.

By late Wednesday, not oneRepublican in either chamberhad publicly said he or shewould back the legislation. GOPleaders were honing attacks onthe package as a job killer thatdoes too little to reopen schoolsor businesses shuttered for thecoronavirus pandemic and thatwas not only wasteful but alsoeven unscrupulous.

“I haven’t seen aRepublican yet that’s foundsomething in there that theyagree with,” said HouseMinority Leader KevinMcCarthy, R-Calif. “I think all

Republicans believe in threesimple things: They want a billthat puts us back to work,back to school and back tohealth. This bill is too costly,too corrupt and too liberal.”

The hardening oppositionsuggested that Biden’s firstmajor legislative initiative couldencounter unanimous GOPopposition. That was a coun-terpoint to the new president’srefrain during his campaignabout bringing the countrytogether and a replay of theRepublican wall that newPresident Barack Obamaencountered in 2009 and mostof his administration.

Democrats showed nosigns of backing down, citing

the assistance the measurewould spread to people, busi-nesses and state and local gov-ernments.

“If congressionalRepublicans want to oppose allthat, my response is: Goodluck,” Senate Majority LeaderChuck Schumer, D-N.Y., saidon the Senate floor.

By Wednesday evening,the most suspense was over adecision anticipated fromElizabeth MacDonough, theSenate’s nonpartisan arbiter ofits rules, that promised enor-mous political and legislativeconsequences.

The relief bill includes aprovision that over five yearswould hike the federal mini-mum wage to $15 an hour. Theparliamentarian is involvedbecause Democrats are pushingthe overall $1.9 trillion measurethrough Congress under specialrules that will let them avoid aSenate filibuster by Republicans.

Those same rules prohibitprovisions with only an “inci-dental” impact on the federalbudget because they are chieflydriven by other policy pur-poses. The parliamentariandecides if a provision passesthat test. AP

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In order to reduce pendencyof cheque bounce cases

which have reached 35 lakhacross courts, the SupremeCourt on Thursday asked theCentre whether it can createadditional courts for expedi-tious disposal of such matters.

A bench of Chief Justice SA Bobde and Justices LNageswara Rao and S RavindraBhat asked Additional SolicitorGeneral Vikramjit Banerjee toinform it by next week whetherthe central government waswilling to create additionalcourts under Article 247 forspeedy disposal of cases underNegotiable Instrument Act (NI

ACT).Banerjee said he would

seek instruction and inform thecourt by next date of hearing.

Article 247 of theConstitution gives power toParliament to establish certainadditional courts for the betteradministration of laws made byit or of any existing laws withrespect to a matter enumerat-ed in the Union List.

The top court was hearinga suo motu case to work out amechanism for expeditiousand just adjudication of casesrelating to dishonour ofcheques, fulfilling the mandateof law and reduce high pen-dency.

The bench told Banerjee

and senior advocate SiddharthLuthra, appointed as amicuscuriae in the matter, that thereare certain judgements whichsay the legislature is duty boundto conduct an impact assess-ment before creating of a newoffence under the law.

It sought to know whetherthe government was underobligation for

establishing additionalcurts to deal with cases underthe NI Act, which is a centrallaw. Luthra gave certainsuggestions to the court forevolving a mechanism forspeedy disposal of such casesincluding sending of summonselectronically through e-mail orsocial media.

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India’s Budget is tilted towardssupporting growth and the

fiscal deficit target of 6.8 percent for 2021-22 is realistic,Moody’s Investors Service saidon Thursday.

With regard to India’sfinances, Moody’s said weakfiscal position will remain a keycredit challenge in 2021.

It said the government’sfiscal deficit for 2020-21 and2021-22 should be lower thanprojected, supported bystronger revenue generationin ongoing March quarter andhigher nominal GDP growth inthe next fiscal year.

“India Budget tends to tilta little bit in favour of supportfor growth. The deficit inBudget for FY’22 was abovewhat we expected, but never-theless we think that the deficit

target is a realistic one.“The government has

incorporated a conservativeassumption of nominal

GDP growth and we thinkmost revenue assumptions con-servative, with the possibleexception of monetisationexpectations pegged in Budget,”Moody’s Associate ManagingDirector (Sovereign Risk) GeneFang said.

Wide fiscal deficits com-bined with lower real and nom-

inal GDP growth over themedium term will constrainthe government’s ability toreduce its debt burden, Fangsaid in an online conferenceorganised by Moody’s and itsaffiliate ICRA on ‘India CreditOutlook 2021’.

Moody’s said the prospectsfor fiscal consolidation remainweak particularly given thegovernment’s mixed trackrecord of implementing rev-enue-raising measures.

Mumbai:Reserve BankGovernor Shaktikanta Das onThursday said the centralbank’s asset purchases, aimed atmitigating Covid-19-relatedliquidity stress in the system,did not dilute its balance sheetor compromise on core prin-ciples of central banking.

In the wake of the pan-demic, the RBI undertook sev-eral conventional and uncon-ventional measures.

“Unlike many centralbanks, the RBI’s asset purchas-es did not dilute its balancesheet and hence, did not com-promise on core principles ofcentral banking,” Das saidwhile addressing an eventorganised by the BombayChamber of Commerce.

These purchases were con-fined to risk-free sovereign(government) bonds includingstate government securitiesonly, he said. Other thanconventional measures, RBIintroduced long term repooperations (LTROs) and tar-geted long term repo opera-tions (TLTROs) to augment thesystem as well as sector-specificliquidity to meet sectoral cred-it needs and alleviate stress, hesaid. Special refinance facil-ities were provided to select AllIndia Financial Institutions(AIFIs), while a special liquid-ity facility for mutual funds(SLF-MF) was introduced toease redemption pressures, headded.

PTI

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The Sensex surged past51,000 points while the

Nifty reclaimed the 15,000-mark on Thursday as indicesdarted up for the third straightsession amid expiry of month-ly derivative contracts and bull-ish global equities. A whoppingincrease in FPI inflows alsoboosted risk appetite, traderssaid. Foreign institutionalinvestors purchased sharesworth a net �28,739.17 crore onWednesday, according toexchange data. Global marketsfollowed Wall Street higherafter US Federal Reserve ChairJerome Powell said policy ratescould remain low for years,calming inflation concerns.

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The Government accordstop priority to startups and

wants to create a congenialatmosphere for them to growthrough various incentives andschemes, Union Minister SomParkash said on Thursday.

Addressing the ‘AssochamStartup Finale’ event virtually,the Minister of State forCommerce and Industry high-lighted that a number of incen-tives are being provided by thegovernment for startups, rang-ing from how to form a busi-

ness to income-tax exemptionand relaxation in labour laws.

He also observed that thecredit guarantee scheme and aFund of Funds with SIDBIhave also been initiated.

“So, the government is giv-ing top priority to theseschemes. I assure from thegovernment side whatever helpis required, we all should worktogether to make India strong,to make India Aatmanirbhar,”

Parkash said, adding thathe sees the future of India inthese startups.

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Cooking gas LPG price onThursday was hiked by

�25 per cylinder across all cat-egories, including subsidisedfuel and those availed byUjjwala scheme beneficiaries.

This is the third increasein rates this month on the backof spiralling international ratesas demand recovered.

A 14.2-kg cylinder inDelhi now costs �794 as against�769 at which they were sup-plied on Wednesday, accordingto a price notification fromstate-owned fuel retailers.Theincrease is applicable across allcategories including subsidisedand non-subsidised users. LPGis available only at one rate,market price, across the coun-try. The government, however,gives a small subsidy to selectcustomers. However, this sub-sidy has been eliminated inmetros and major citiesthrough successive priceincreases over the past coupleof years.

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Union Petroleum MinisterDharmendra Pradhan on

Thursday said petroleum products inthe country are getting costlier due torising prices of crude by oil-producingnations.

“In order to earn more profit in theinterest of their countries, crude-sup-plying countries are increasing theprices of crude,” said Pradhan whilespeaking to reporters here on the risein the prices of petroleum products likepetrol and diesel in India.

He said crude-supplying countrieshave been requested to desist from thehike in crude prices as it directly affectsconsumers.

They have created an artificialincrease in the interest oftheir own country, he added.

“Arbitrarily, you cannothike the prices as it affectsconsuming countries,”Pradhan said in reference tooil-producing countries.

Owing to bad weather, the

production in the US has slowed in thepast two-three weeks, Pradhan said.

The minister said he expects animprovement in the situation in sometime.Now, the basic problem before thegovernment is to provide relief,employment, save the jobs of theemployed, make efforts so that peopleget money as well as improve healthservices, the minister said.

He added that the government hasplanned to provide freevaccine to poor seniorcitizens by investing�35,000 crore.

Pradhan saidfinances are required todevelop rail, roads andports, among others.

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New Delhi:Moody’s Investors Service on Thursday said loansto retail customers, especially those to low-income borrow-ers, will remain most affected due to the shock caused by thecoronavirus pandemic.

Despite the pandemic challenges, asset quality at Indianbanks has performed better than expected at the start of theoutbreak, Moody’s said.”Corporate loans, in particular, haveperformed well because banks prior to the pandemic had large-ly provisioned for legacy problem loans and tightenedunderwriting standards,” Moody’s Vice President and SeniorCredit Officer Srikanth Vadlamani said. PTI

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Experiential travel has gainedmomentum over the years.People want to spend on expe-

riences and creating memories morethan ever, and this has become afavourable trend for the adventuresports industry. Comprising of vari-ous diverse activities services andexperiences, it has created a niche foritself in all holiday packages and itin-eraries, be it budget trips or luxuryvacations.

The term ‘extreme sports’ is asso-ciated with high- adrenaline activitieslike bungee jumping, skydiving, scubadiving, surfing, rock climbing, etc.They are different from our usualsporting activities, in the sense thatthey are more mentally challengingand about overcoming fears. Theyconsciously establish equanimityamidst ‘perceived chaos’ or usuallyfearful situations, rather than a test ofskill and stamina. This is why stand-ing at the edge of the bungee bridge,you can have an athlete back off, whilesomeone at 110 kgs could not onlyattempt it but accomplish as well. It’san entirely different ball game and welove seeing people face their fears andrise above them.

�Why indulge in adventure sports?They offer thrill, excitement and

adrenaline rush of accomplishing amilestone by overcoming fears. Byindulging in these action-packedactivities, people get to have theironce-in-a-lifetime experiences andmemories to be cherished forever.Needless to say, it’s a great de-stressortoo.

�Discover yourselfAdventure sports are also a way

towards self-discovery. Extreme sportssuch as mountain biking, scuba div-ing; kayaking, rafting, and bungeejumping are life-changing experi-ences that demand extreme courage

and mental strength. Those who stepout of their comfort zone for leisureare considered to be extremely auda-cious.

Research published in the Journalof Humanistic Psychology revealsthat adventure sports lead to a posi-tive transformation in courage andhumility. Bane, one of the researchparticipants discussed his experienceof windsurfing in storm conditionsand admitted that it triggered anabsolute life transformation, makinghim better and stronger.

�Test your limits People participating in adventure

sports go beyond their limits to over-come the anxiety and negativity intheir lives. Moreover, they acquire self-reliance, improved self-esteem, andconfidence to face challenges and sit-uations more optimistically. Suchexperiences often result in betterwell-being and improved lifeexpectancy, reveals the researches.

�Joy of living It is a common misconception

that adventure sports are forfitness/adventure enthusiasts or‘experts’. Just like any other activity inlife, while better fitness levels improvethe experience, it is definitely not aprerequisite. In fact, one must expe-rience these activities to generallyimprove their joy of living.

�Find your calmWhen the pandemic struck us,

tourism was the worst hit. However,once everything started gettingunlocked, people found solace intraveling and adventure sports tosatiate their wanderlust.

Pushing your mental confines,adventure sports often put you inextreme situations which naturallymake you handle it maturely andcalmly. Flying in the open air afterjumping out of the plane is not a cake-walk. Being in such a situation triggerschemical reactions in your mind butkeeping your cool is what it demands.Such epiphanies develop you into amore matured and composed person-ality.

�Broaden your horizonsMeeting new people and visiting

new places introduce you to a newworld every time. It expands therange of your knowledge and percep-tion. New culture, habits and lifestylehelp you become adaptive to theenvironment. You get the opportuni-ty to indulge in unexplored terrains oflife and perpetually gain better per-spective. Involving in adventurousactivities is an ideal getaway from theanxious life. This is a self-realisationjourney that welcomes you to anentirely different world of thrill andpositivity.

(The writer is Director-BusinessDevelopment of an adventure sportscompany, Jumpin Heights.)

Later today, the Indian CarOf The Year (ICOTY) jury

will announce the ICOTY for2021. There are some verystrong contenders this yearand with the diverse jury, ofwhich I am a member, will takea measured decision aboutwhich car will win. It will be aclose contest I am sure. But Irecently drove a car which isalready a strong contender fornext year’s award, the RenaultKiger.

Despite recent events inJapan, the arrest and subse-quent epic escape of CarlosGhosn — which have shakenthe Renault-Nissan alliance toits core, the two companiescontinue to work together inIndia. They share a large man-ufacturing facility South ofChennai and also share sever-al vehicle platforms. The latestshared platform is the CMF-Amodular platform, that allowfor vehicles of different purpos-es to be built sharing commonmechanicals. The first car fromthis was 2019’s Renault Triber,which was quite a good car.Now the Nissan Magnite andthe Renault Kiger go head-to-head in the rather unique toIndia, ‘subcompact’ SportsUtility Vehicle (SUV) or whatsome describe as the ‘beefedup’ hatchback segment.

I’ ll get to the battlebetween the Magnite and theKiger soon, but first a bitabout Renault. The Frenchcarmaker has been moderate-ly successful in India. Theycame into the market with

their eyes open, realised thatIndia was a price-sensitivemarket and entered with theDuster, a built-to-a-price vehi-cle from Renault’s Dacia stablein Romania. As we all know,the Duster was a hit. Yes,Renault’s alliance withMahindra was an ill-fated onewhich likely hit the success ofthe Logan sedan, but so didIndia’s bizarre four-metre rulefor cars. The Fluence and theKaptur were commercial fail-ures, possibly because RenaultIndia did not have the pricingpower that managementthought they did, but converse-ly that is why the Kwid was ahit. Renault is clearly viewed asa value-for-money carmakerthat doesn’t make bad cars.

Honestly, the Kiger is agood car for the money thatyou are paying for it. Prices

start at �5.45 lakh for the basemodel with the 72PS natural-ly-aspirated engine. The RXZvariant powered by the 100PSturbocharged engine that Iwas driving had an ex-show-room price of �8.55 lakh andhad been specified with fea-tures like a wireless charger anda two-tone colour schemewhich would have brought upthe price a bit, but even at eightand a half lakh, you are flab-bergasted at just how good thevalue on the car is.

Let me get one thingstraight up front, is this the bestcar in its class? No, it is not asnice inside and to drive as theKorean twins, the Sonet andVenue. The handling is not assharp and while this turbo-engine responds faster andsounds smoother than whatyou experience on its rivals, the

overall ride comfort, handlingand interiors, particularly thequality of the seats and plasticsare better on the Korean cars.That said, you will be payingalmost two lakh more for aproperly specified variant com-pared to this manual turboKiger. And it isn’t as if youdon’t get some nice features,you can specify wirelesscharging as an accessorywhich allows for wirelesssmartphone integration. TheRenault infotainment operat-ing system feels simpler thanthose on its rivals, but its sim-plicity means it is easier tonavigate. The seven-inch dig-ital display for the instrumentcluster is well laid out and canbe changed depending onwhich of the three drivemodes (Eco, Urban or Sport)you select. Sport mode does

really does sharpen the engineand on the narrow windingroads of Goa’s interiors, if youare willing to deal with someslight floatiness when youcorner hand. My biggest gripeabout the Kiger was actuallythe stitching on the steeringwheel that isn’t flush andwhen your hands need tomove about a bit can be irri-tating.

Between the Magnite andthe Kiger then, which oneshould you choose? Keep inmind that these two cars havefar more in common than theSonet and Venue, not leastbecause unlike Kia andHyundai they have their ownseparate factories. While theSonet and Venue as well as theCreta and Seltos are built onthe same platform, the vehi-cles don’t only look very dif-

ferent, they have noticeabledifferences in the way thatthey drive and handle. TheKiger and Magnite are builton the same production lineby the same assembly work-ers and honestly, I wouldprobably be nitpicking if Ireally wanted to find rideand handling differences.

The main differences arein the looks and interiors.Now, I heard a comment thatcalled the Kiger ‘a Kwid onsteroids’ but, that said, I actu-ally like the Kwid’s looks par-ticularly after the refresh.Personally, I think the Renaultlooks smarter because whilethe Magnite is not bad-look-ing, I really do not like thegrille. But aesthetics are a per-sonal choice. But, I do preferthe interiors of the Kiger,things feel a bit better laid out,and while the interiors aresimilar to the Triber, theTriber does have a nice pas-senger cabin. So, for me, itwould be the Kiger, but thingsare marginal here as well,you are more than welcome todisagree with me on this.

But the biggest differenceis between the two brands, asI wrote earlier, Renault iswell-established. The Duster,Kwid and Triber have all donerelatively well in the Indianmarket, there is a trust aboutthe brand, you know that theproduct will be good andsales and service should notbe worries. Nissan has nothad that success over theyears, and while the newmanagement of the companyis trying to make a difference,in the short run, I’m prettysure the Kiger will outsell theMagnite even though bothcars pretty much cost thesame.

Actor Vaani Kapoor is gear-ing up for three back-to-

back releases in three months.With Bell-Bottom locking May28 as its release date, Shamsherareleasing on June 25 andChandigarh Kare Aashiqui onJuly 9, Vaani will be in anintensely hectic promotionalschedule starting April. She isthrilled that all her films are slat-ed to be big screen entertainers.

Vaani says, “It is remarkablethat I have three back-to-backreleases in three months. So, I’mmentally preparing myself for anintensely hectic work schedule.I don’t think I will have a singleminute for myself for the nextfive months and I’m not com-plaining about that.”

The actor is excited to pre-sent herself in three differentand diverse avatars in a span ofthree months. “It is exciting that

the audience will see me in threeextremely diverse ways throughthese projects. I’m only hopingthat all these three films areaccepted by audiences and playan instrumental role in makingpeople come back to the the-atres,” she says.

Vaani expects the audienceto come back to the theatres towatch good cinema that givesthem an unforgettable experi-ence. She says, “I have shot forthese films during the pan-demic. The industry has shownits intent to only entertain audi-ences when COVID-19 sub-sides. So, I’m really lookingforward to how the audiencewill support our films and theindustry. We will offer themsome of the best films and I’mhoping people will appreciatethe content and head to the-atres.”

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While a number of socio-economicissues hound us today, our right to

basic nutrition and health is one thatshould be demanded across the globe,especially in India. It is, therefore, not sur-prising that the second goal in the 17Sustainable Development Goals is ‘ZeroHunger’, which aims to reduce malnutri-tion in infants and address the nutrition-al needs of adolescent girls, pregnant andlactating women and older people.

While India continues towards itscommitment to becoming a malnutrition-free country, a number of hurdles, furtherexacerbated by the pandemic, continue tohinder and slowdown the progress. It isestimated that the pandemic will lead toa rise in hunger, with approximately 270million people facing food insecurity asopposed to the 149 million during pre-COVID times. These findings are not onlygrave but a serious cause for alarm —India ranks 94 out of 107 countries on theGlobal Hunger Index 2020; in addition tograppling with an advanced protein defi-ciency issue with more than 70 per centof our population at a risk of protein defi-ciency across age groups. A recent surveyindicated that every second household inIndia has experienced a reduction in theirintake of cereals, pulses and vegetables,even months after lockdown restrictionswere lifted in most parts of the country.

It is, therefore, important — nay crit-ical — to tackle the pressing issue of mal-nutrition and protein deficiency in spe-cific head-on by not only creating aware-ness of protein-rich food sources but alsodispelling misconceptions around acces-sibility, affordability, cultural nuances, andinherent hyperlocal habits. And thisProtein Day, celebrated on February 27,with its theme of Powering With PlantProtein, let’s delve into everything protein.

�WHY PLANT PROTEIN?We are perhaps the country with the

single largest vegetarian population in theworld with also a sizable population offlexitarians i.e. those who prefer a vege-tarian diet while still enjoying meat (ani-mal protein) in moderation. One of thekey myths affecting the protein deficien-cy debate in India is the perception thatnot only are protein-rich foods expensivebut that there is limited variety for thosewho don’t eat meat — over 76 per centrecently surveyed shared this sentiment.Moreover, when presented with a num-ber of protein-rich sources, a large seg-ment of Indian mothers could only iden-tify three out of 11 protein-rich foods cor-rectly; thereby eliminating several key pro-tein-rich sources completely.

This lack of knowledge coupled withthe misconceptions that plant-protein isnutritionally inferior is myth to dispel aswe continue in our quest to educateIndians about the role of proteins, espe-cially plant-based protein rich diets thatwill help bridge the protein based nutri-tion and affordability gap.

�IS IT FOR EVERYONE?The quantity, quality and timing of

protein consumed throughout the dayacross one’s life span together play a role

in determining the health benefits ofdietary protein. While one needs differ-ent levels of protein across differentphases of life, the underlying key factremains — protein is a key micronutrientthat is essential for one’s growth and devel-opment throughout life.

It begins with pregnant women andlactating mothers. A woman’s diet duringand immediately after pregnancy is piv-otal for both, mother, and child, with pro-teins playing a key role in overall healthand the baby’s development. Diversity ofdiet and adequate quantity and quality ofprotein through variety of sources likepulses, dals, millets, whole grain cereals,milk and milk products, variety of beansand nuts and oilseeds are pertinent to beincluded in daily diet. For babies, theimmunoglobulin of the breast milkderived from the colostrums adds to thebenefits accrued from exclusive breastfeeding of a baby for a minimum of sixmonths which needs to be emphasised toall lactating mothers. The good qualityprotein based weaning foods with plantprotein diversity should be an integral partof an infant’s weaning foods.

For growing children, the need forprotein intake is even more augmented asit not only helps in muscle and bonegrowth but also adds significantly tostrengthening their immunity. Be it theusual routine at school, extra-curricularactivities and cognitive development,protein plays an important role. The vari-ety can be obtained from pulses andlegumes, nuts and oilseeds, millets, oats,soybeans, almond or soy milk and peanutbutter.

For healthy adults, who go about theirday-to-day life, it is much required to con-tinue to build immunity, maintain ahealthy gut and repair of muscle wear andtear. In fact, it is believed that we maybegin to naturally lose as much as eightper cent of overall muscle mass everydecade after we turn 40, making it moreimportant than ever to consume moreprotein as we age. Be it increased amountsof nuts, seeds, tofu, soy chunks, plant-based milk, beans such as edamame, greenvegetables, jackfruit and pulses andlegumes, adequate protein consumptionbased on one’s requirements and lifestyleis crucial.

And while one may believe that pro-tein’s role with age might diminish, it isquite the contrary: With reports suggest-ing that one in three adults over the ageof 50 experiences advanced muscle andstrength loss, and thus, adequate proteinintake is recommended for aging adultsto support muscle and strength require-ments.

Even as we recognise and act thisProtein Day, it is important to make notethat this cannot be a one-time or one-daydiscourse. Protein-related issues are verymuch an ongoing concern that needconstant discussion, dialogue and educa-tion to continue on India’s journey inbecoming a healthy nation with sustain-able well-being at its core.

(The writer is the National Presidentof Indian Dietetic Association and support-er of the Right To Protein initiative.)

How would you definegood times? Rather, howwould you describe that

I am really “into” the food? Forme, it’s when a dish lands at mytable and ‘just one bite’ turns intofive... The next thing I know isI am overeating just to hit thatsingle moment of satisfactionover and over again. Doesn’t ithappen with you too? Well,tucked away in Gurugram’supmarket 32nd Milestone, THC— The House of Celeste is anIndian restaurant that triggeredthis feeling of contentment.

You know what they say,“The best chefs don’t merely pre-pare food, but they serve mem-ories.” And it makes so muchsense because once your belly isfull, your sense of taste has beenstimulated and your cravingmitigated, what lives on are thememories. You may not remem-ber all that you ate for a partic-ular dinner but you will consis-tently recall the fulfillment youfelt toward its end, perhaps,because of the freshness of theingredients or the aroma of aspecific dish. And that’s why Ithink my visit to The House ofCeleste was worth it!

Walking past the exteriors,through a hallway, I made myway into the cafe, which was seg-regated into different parts. Theinteriors were done up withround mirrors. The ambience —replete with solid colours, pep-pered with floral upholstery —seemed to be tailor-made forexperimentation. As I ran myeyes over the menu, I realisedthat the cafe’s USP was to offera sense of familiarity and nostal-gia. For instance, the very firstdish corporate chef ValiceFrancis brought to the table wasPuchka Pebbles. He asked me tohave it in one go, which I did,and later to my surprise, I foundout that they were a modern takeon pani puris aka gol gappas. The‘pebbles’ were made of whitechocolate and had a chilly shellwith a filling of tamarind chut-ney, mint and coriander water,and saffron tart. This sweet-salty,not so spicy treat was a great way

to start the meal. “This idea actu-ally came from a molten chocolava cake,” chef Francis shared.

The cafe presents ‘borderlesscuisine with Indian elements’.The main endeavour was toprovide rich and flavourful foodmade with local ingredients andvegetables, which have beensourced with highest safety stan-dards in mind. It presented aninnovative and contemporarymenu offering small plates, largeplates, sides and desserts with theseason’s finest ingredients. Eachdish was centered around onecore ingredient and was createdto perfection with contrastingtextures, colours and flavours.

Next in line was the THCPapadi Chaat. It was preparedusing crisp fried dough wafersknown as papadi, along withboiled chickpeas, boiled pota-toes, dahi (yogurt), tamarindchutney, and topped with chatmasala and sev. The dish hadsweet, sour, tangy and spicyflavours blended in one. I canstill feel its creamy and crunchytexture in my mouth.

The next dish that caughtmy fancy was Calcutta Beat

Balls. Yes, it very much resem-bles the non-vegetarian meatballs. It was an unique entirelyvegetarian creation that imi-tates non-vegetarian flavours.The tiny red balls were made ofbeetroot with a filling of smokedgoat cheese cream to give an illu-sion of the meat balls — bothvisually and in taste. The flavourswere impeccable, but the way itwas presented was what stole theshow. The chef rightly said as hechuckled, “It’s an ideal option fora vegetarian who wishes to knowwhat meat tastes like.”

Typically, people, especiallythe more gastronomically expe-rienced ones, concur that beinga vegetarian is “out of place” withbeing a foodie. However, I canproudly say that I am both — avegetarian and a foodie. And themenu bore witness to it too as ithad a delectable list of vegetar-ian dishes.

Just like the food, the spe-cially-curated cocktails werenothing short of indulgent. Thecocktail menu aimed to elevatepleasure to a celestial level,where the familiar takes on anew sparkle, where the comfort-

ing becomes playful, and whereclassics find a contemporaryform. Mixologist Dhawan SinghJeena shared that they had anabsolute-zero-waste bar. “Forinstance, fruit peels, dry flowers,coffee powder, leftover mintstems, squeezed limes, orangeshells or other freeze-dried itemsare usually used in syrups andconcoctions,” said he. He believesthat small steps can result in bigchanges.

To accompany the delec-table food, the mixologist madea few cocktails like CoffeeColada, Bittle Blush, Celest Muleand more. Mixologist Dhawanshared that they haven’t finalisedtheir cocktail menu yet as theyare still testing and pokingaround in the bar to createsomething refreshing and new.They would continue to adddrinks to the menu, whichseemed like a bonus for me toreturn.

The cafe had an inviting,comforting and laidback atmos-phere. As I was still samplingfood, Paneer Khurchan made itsway to my plate. Apparently, theidea of the dish was derived from

the Hindi word ‘khurachna’which means ‘to scrape’. So it wasbasically scraped paneer in asemi-dry gravy with some acharcream in it. The filling wasstuffed in a steamed bun, whichlooked similar to a mini kulcha.I can bet one could eat this notso spicy and creamy delicacyeven on a full stomach.

As I neared a saturation, themain course was in line, whichincluded Paneer Pasanda, SoyaKeema Chettinad, DalMoradabadi along with Gobi-Matar Kulcha and traditionalJodhpuri Chur Chur Naan. Thesous chef Ishan Ahluwalia’sapproach towards PaneerPasanda was a little Europeanand hence, he engineered thedish in the form of Ravioli. Thecherry on top was that thepaneer was baked instead offried. The chef explained, “Theauthentic one is usually shallowfried. The stuffing has a lot ofvariations, but people preferadding khoya and chopped nutsto it.” It was served with parme-san crisp as garnish. Its gravy wasa modification of Makhani gravywith the addition of onion paste.Well, full marks to the presenta-tion as well as for setting mytongue on fire.

I am sure you would agreethat Keema recipes are a popu-lar element among all the meatlovers. THC’s Soya Keema, pre-pared in a very Chettinad way,is a bonus for vegetarians likeme. It had South-inspiredflavours. They garnished it withMalgapudi, a South Indian spicemix, traditionally served withidlis. When you have travelledapproximately 45 kms on traffic-stifled streets that too on aweeknight with very little expec-tations from the food, but arewelcomed with something mar-velous, it is bound to win hearts.

With all this and more, whatmade my visit to THC pricelesswas the care and attention thatchef Francis, sous chef Ishan andmixologist Dhawan put intoevery element, from the flavours,texture, presentation to the smelland the taste.

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India captain Virat Kohli on Thursdaysaid poor batting and not the pitch wasresponsible for the day-night third Test

against England winding up inside two daysand described the performance of batsmenon both sides as “bizarre”.

Kohli insisted there were no demons inthe pitch, which has been called “not ideal”by several former players like MichaelVaughan and Harbhajan Singh. Kohli saidthe track was absolutely fine at least in thefirst innings and only the odd ball was turn-ing in the game which India won by 10 wick-ets on Thursday.

“To be honest, I don’t think the quali-ty of batting was up to standards. We were100 for 3 and bowled out for less than 150.It was just that the odd ball turning and itwas a good wicket to bat in the firstinnings,” the India skipper said in hisdefence of the pitch.

Kohli said batsmen of both the sides didnot apply themselves enough. Only RohitSharma (66 and 25 not out) and fromEngland Zak Crawley (53 in first innings)managed to bat with ease.

“It was bizarre that 21 of the 30 wick-ets fell to straight balls. Test cricket is abouttrusting your defence. Lack of applicationensured it was a quick finish,” Kohli said.

Left-arm spinner Axar Patel stole thelimelight in only his second Test along sideveteran Ravichandran Ashwin by returningwith match figures of 11 for 70 to earn theplayer-of-the-match award as India decimat-ed England by 10 wickets to take an unas-sailable 2-1 lead in the four-match series.

Off-spinner Ashwin (15-3-48-4) alsobecame the fourth Indian bowler and sec-ond fastest in the world to complete a com-mendable milestone of 400 Test wickets onThursday.

Kohli showered praise on his two spin-ners for their match-winning efforts.

“A bizzare game which got over in 2days. A lot of people were relieved whenJaddu (Ravindra Jadeja) got injured. But thenthis guy (Axar) comes in. Bowls it quickerand from a bigger height as well. If the wick-

et has something in it, Axar is very lethal.“I think we need to stand up and take

notice of what Ashwin has done. In Tests,he is a modern day legend. As a captain, Iam so pleased he is in my team,” he said.

England skipper Joe Root was in nomood to give excuses for the heavy defeat,saying the tourists failed to capitalise on adecent start in the first innings after optingto bat.

“We were 70 for 2. But we didn’t reallycapitalise on it. 250 on that wicket wouldhave made it different. We will come backusing this hurt and come back as a betterteam,” he said.

Instead of blaming the pitch, Root saidit was India’s “high quality bowling” thatmade the difference.

“The plastic coating on the ball gathered

pace of the wicket. It was high quality bowl-ing as well. Both sides struggled on thatwicket. We don’t define ourselves on a per-formance like this,” he said.

“We shouldn’t have any baggage fromthe previous games going into the last game.We have seen with the ball in hand, we canpick up wickets. I think it sums up the wick-et, if I am getting a fifer.”

He also congratulated Ishant Sharma forplaying his landmark 100 Tests and Ashwinfor his 400 Test wickets.

Man-of-the-match Axar said his focuswould remain on bowling wicket-to-wick-et, a plan which has reaped him rich divi-dends so far in his nascent Test career.

“When it happens, it feels so easy, notso much when it doesn't,” he joked.

“I am not thinking much. I want to con-

tinue this form. I am happy that if I am notcontributing with the bat, I am doing it withthe ball.

“My strength is to bowl wicket-to-wick-et and not give any room...I just want to bowlas many dot balls as possible and make lifedifficult for batsmen,” he said.

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BOORA IN STRANDJA MEDAL ROUNDSNew Delhi: ��=����������GD? 'H��%%-��#���"%��������&���%&� �� ����I�� ��� �#=�����'� &�� &��� %�"������%� :����<��>��&����'��GT?* 'H���&���#�&���F-��&��%����������A:��� #��� ���� �#���� ��.��%� �&� &��� +6�#� �&���#>�<�"������ ��-���"��&� ��� �����;� �-�'����!� �����#����&�#����I��O%����=����#%��������%�F-��&����������-&;$��=�����'� ,A7� ��� &��� ���&�%&!� <��>��&;� ��� &��� �&������#;�'�&�&�����&&�����������#O%�1�&�%���%��% �%������%��%&A*D�%&�'����-&!

INDIA SKEET SHOOTERS IN LINE FOR MEDALSCairo: �#����% ��&�%���&��%;�����-#��'���"$���F-�&����#��%� <����>� ��"�#� 0���� ��#� ��'�#� 3��� ���'���>:�;�:����������������"�#��%����&���&��"��=��&%��&�&�����&'-������#� )-$!� ����#��%#��;� ��&�� &���"��O%��#�:�"��O%�&����A"�"����&��"%���#�#�&������%&�&����F-�������&���� ��-�#%� ���"�#���:�����'� $�%�&���%;�:�&�&:��"����F-�������&������-�#%�&��'���������&��������%!

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Mumbai captain Prithvi Shaw onThursday became the highest indi-

vidual scorer in Vijay Hazare Trophynational 50-over championships as hesmashed an unbeaten 227 off just 152balls to help Mumbai beat Puducherryby 233 runs in their Elite Group D gamehere.

The 21-year-old Shaw, who hasplayed in five Tests and five ODIs, brokethe earlier record of the highest individ-ual score held by Sanju Samson (212 notout against Goa in 2019).

This was the maiden List-A double

hundred for Shaw, which he got in 142balls. Shaw hammered 31 fours and fivesixes during his onslaught. He alsobecame the eighth Indian to score a ListA double hundred.

This was the fourth double hundredin the history of the Vijay HazareTrophy.

Also, this was Prithvi’s second cen-tury of the tournament after his unbeat-en 105 in the lung-opener againstDelhi.

This was also the highest score bya captain in List A cricket in the worldafter the youngster surpassed theunbeaten 222 by Graeme Pollock ver-

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Veteran batsman MartinGuptill returned to form

with a blistering 97 as NewZealand held on for a nail-bit-ing win over Australia in the sec-ond T20I in Dunedin onThursday.

Guptill’s Black Caps setAustralia a challenging target of220 after losing the toss but weremade to sweat as Australia camewithin four runs of victory.

Both sides took advantage ofUniversity Oval’s short bound-aries in a thrilling match that fea-tured 30 sixes and 434 runs at anaverage of 10.9 an over.

Marcus Stoinis starred forthe Australians with 78 from 37balls but Guptill’s 97 from 50 laidthe foundation for NewZealand’s win.

Black Caps spinner MitchellSantner also shone amid the bat-ting fireworks, taking four for 31,while Australian paceman KaneRichardson managed three for43.

New Zealand allrounderJimmy Neesham was anotherexceptional performer, takingtwo wickets in the final overwhen a rampant Australia need-ed 15 runs for victory. Neeshamalso scored an undefeated 45,including six sixes.

The result puts NewZealand 2-0 up in the five-matchseries, on the brink of a win overthe world’s second-rankedT20 team.

Guptill’s innings gavehim the record for themost sixes in T20Internationals with132, taking him pastIndia’s Rohit Sharmaon 127.

The 34-year-old clubbed theball over theboundary eighttimes, blud-geoning allcomers in theAustralian attack. He fell justshort of his third Twenty20 cen-tury after being caught trying

to hit a Daniel Sams delivery outof the ground.

Guptill averaged only 17 inthe recent series against theWest Indies and Pakistan, thenmanaged just 11.5 in the domes-tic competition before pickingup a hamstring injury.

Pressure on the openerintensified when he made aduck in the first match againstAustralia on Monday, with callsfor uncapped Finn Allen to join

the squad. But heanswered his criticswith a return to hisbig-hitting best,

bringing up 50 off27 balls, with

eight bound-aries, includ-ing foursixes. Guptillinsisted hehad notchanged hisa p p r o a c hduring thegame-turn-ing innings.

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Barcelona: Lionel Messi soared past LuisSuarez to become La Liga’s top scorer onWednesday by adding his 17th and 18th goalsof the season in a much-needed 3-0 victory forBarcelona over Elche.

Barca had followed up last week’s crushingChampions League loss to PSG by drawing athome to Cadiz on Sunday but eased the strainwith a comfortable win at the Camp Nou.

Messi’s double owed much to a pair ofsuperb assists, with a supreme dribble byFrenkie de Jong coming after a sublime flickfrom Martin Braithwaite, who also set up JordiAlba to score a third. AFP

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England skipper Joe Root on Thursdaysaid it is up to the ICC, and not the play-

ers, to decide whether the “difficult”Motera pitch is suitable for Test cricket afterhis side was crushed inside two days byIndia in a low-scoring day-nighter here.

Root refused to blame the surface forEngland’s batting woes after the team fold-ed for 112 and 81 in its two innings. Buthe said it is the ICC that should considerthe suitability of the pitch for Test cricket.

“I think that this surface, it’s a verychallenging one, is a very difficult one toplay on. It is not for players to decidewhether it is fit for purpose or not and thatis upto the ICC,” said Root, who took acareer-best five-wicket haul during India’sfirst innings.

“As players we are going to try andcounter what is in front of us as best as wecan,” he added.

Root said his team missed the oppor-tunity to get a big first innings total, whichseemed possible when it was 70 odd for justtwo wickets.

“We are disappointed, I feel we havemissed an opportunity, more so in the firstinnings than anything. The position wefound ourselves in at 71/2, we had a realchance to (score big).

“In hindsight, if we would have got 200,that would have been a very good score onthat wicket and the game would havelooked completely different,” Root said atthe virtual post-match press conference.

Indian left-arm spinner Axar Patel(6/38 and 5/32) and Ravichandran Ashwin(3/26 and 4/48) wreaked havoc on the sur-face. “We have got to get better and we aregoing to keep looking to find a way to scor-ing runs on surfaces like this,” Root said.

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&�� �������@"1��� �������Ahmedabad: India knocked England outof contention from the ICC World TestChampionship (WTC) final in June withtheir 10-wicket triumph which propelledthe hosts to the top of the standings.

India now have to either win or drawthe final game here starting March 4 toclaim the right to take on New Zealand atthe Lord’s. The Black Caps have alreadyqualified and are placed second in the lat-est list.

“England have dropped to 64.1 per-centage points on the points table, whichis now led by India with 71 percentage

points,” the ICC stated.“England are out of the race for a place

in the final of the ICC World TestChampionship after losing the third Testagainst India in Ahmedabad,” it added.

England, who are now 2-1 down in thefour-match series, needed to win the four-match series 3-1 to play the June 18-22 final.

New Zealand are assured of a place inthe final with 70 percentage points.

If India lose the final Test thenAustralia, who are in third place with 69.2percentage points, will sneak in to make thefinal. PTI

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Virat Kohli on Thursday surpassedMahendra Singh Dhoni's record of

winning maximum number of Testmatches as captain on home soil afterleading the side to a 10-wicket victoryover England in the day-night thirdTest.

Kohli now has 22 victories at homein 29 Tests as captain which is one bet-ter than Dhoni, who had 21 wins in 30Tests. Kohli already is India’s most suc-cessful Test captain with 35 wins.

Sourav Ganguly and MohammedAzharuddin have 21 and 14 victories totheir credit as captains.

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sus Border in East London.For the record, the existing highest

individual List A score is 268 by AliBrown.

Puducherry’s decision to put

Mumbai in to bat backfired badly asShaw and Suryakumar Yadav (133 off 58balls) toyed with their bowling attack atthe Sawai Mansingh Stadium and posta mammoth 457/4.