English News Paper | Breaking News | Latest Today News in ......2020/09/09 · as La in the Tibetan language. The latest attempt to remove the Indian soldiers was in the area between

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The tense situation on theLine of Actual Control

(LAC) has further aggravatedwith India thwarting yet anoth-er aggressive move by theChinese in Eastern Ladakh.

The Chinese troops alsofired warning shots in the airbut the Indian Army main-tained calm. China, however,claimed it was the Indians whoused firearms after breachingthe border. This is the first timein more than 45 years that shotswere fired on the LAC.

This provocative act bythe Chinese on Monday tookplace in the southern region ofthe Pangong Tso (lake) inEastern Ladakh. The PLA sol-diers tried to dislodge theIndian Army troops now posi-tioned on the strategically-important hill tops in the area.When they were warned, theChinese fired a few shots in theair. However, there were nophysical clashes or skirmishes,sources said here on Tuesday.

Given the gravity of theissue, Cabinet Committee onSecurity (CCS) chaired byPrime Minister Narendra Modion Tuesday reviewed theground situation. The meetingcame as External AffairsMinister S Jaishankar left forMoscow to hold talks with hisChinese counterpart Wang Yion the LAC stand-off. Thetwo leaders will meet on thesidelines of the ForeignMinisters’ conclave of the

Shanghai CooperationOrganisation(SCO). Themuch-awaited bilateral meetbetween the two Ministers islikely to take place onWednesday, it was learnt.

The latest episode ofprovocation by the Chinesetroops came just four days

after Defence Minister RajnathSingh and his Chinese WeiFenghe held a marathon bilat-eral meeting in Moscow duringthe SCO meet.

As regards the events onthe LAC on Monday evening,sources said the latest Chineseforay came in the area now

dominated by the Indian Armysince August 29-30 when itfoiled an attempt by the oppos-ing force to unilaterally changethe LAC.

Since then, the IndianArmy is now deployed on keyhills, including Black Topbesides Rezang La and Rechin

La. Mountain passes are knownas La in the Tibetan language.The latest attempt to removethe Indian soldiers was in thearea between these two moun-tain passes at Mukhpari,sources said.

When more than 100Chinese soldiers armed with

spears, long knives and auto-matic weapons tried to comeclose to the Indian position ata height of more than 15,000feet about 6.30 pm in aprovocative action, they werewarned. In turn, they fired,sources said. Nearly 5,000Indian troopers are now posi-tioned there along with tanksand heavy guns to foil anycounter-move by the Chinese.

In an official statement onTuesday, the Army said, “In theinstant case September 7, 2020,it was the PLA troops who wereattempting to close-in with

one of our forward positionsalong the LAC and when dis-suaded by own troops, PLAtroops fired a few rounds in theair in an attempt to intimidateown troops. However, despitethe grave provocation, owntroops exercised great restraintand behaved in a mature andresponsible manner.”

The Indian Army is com-mitted to maintaining peaceand tranquility, however, isalso determined to protectnational integrity and sover-eignty at all costs.

Continued on Page 10

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Congress chief Sonia Gandhi onTuesday called for reaching out to

other like-minded Opposition parties toput up a joint candidate for the post ofRajya Sabha Deputy Chairman for theelections scheduled for September 14.

The post fell vacant after the tenureof JD (U) MP Harivansh expired in Aprilthis year. He has been re-elected to theHouse from Bihar and is expected to bethe NDA’s candidate for the post, whilethe name of DMK MP Tiruchi Siva hasbeen doing rounds as the Oppositioncandidate. The election will be held onthe first day of the Monsoon Sessionstarting September 14. The BudgetSession was called off in March due toCovid-19.

Harivansh was elected as the RajyaSabha Deputy Chairperson afterCongress MP PJ Kurien’s tenure endedin August 2018. Harivansh had defeat-ed senior Congress leader BKHariprasad, who was the jointOpposition candidate, by bagging 125votes against 105 by latter.

The Congress discussed the issue ofelection at a meeting of the party’sParliament Strategy Group chaired bySonia. She has asked Leader ofOpposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam NabiAzad to reach out to other Opposition

parties for fielding a joint Oppositioncandidate. The last date for filing nom-ination for the post is September 11.

The name of the joint candidate willbe decided after consultations with theOpposition parties, and a meeting is alsoscheduled mid-week.

The meeting was attended by RahulGandhi, Azad, Anand Sharma, AKAntony, Ahmed Patel, KC Venugopal,Jairam Ramesh, Mallikarjun Kharge,party leader in Lok Sabha Adhir RanjanChowdhury, party’s chief whip in upperhouse K Suresh, Manish Tewari, GauravGogoi, Manickam Tagore, and RavneetSingh Bittu.

The post of Deputy Speaker in LokSabha too has been lying vacant sinceMay last year when the Lok Sabha wasreconstituted post-elections.


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Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut Regional RapidTransit System (RRTS) corridor project has

received a big boost after the AsianDevelopment Bank (ADB) decided to provideUSD 500 million as loan for the constructionof the high-speed 82 kilometre RRTS corridor.

Sameer Kumar Khare, additional secretary(fund bank and ADB), Department ofEconomic Affairs, Ministry of Finance andKenichi Yokoyama, Country Director of ADB’sIndia Resident Mission, have signed a loanagreement to this effect.

The RRTS corridor, consisting total 22railway stations (including 6 stations of MeerutMetro Rail Project) to connect Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut through a rapid rail net-work, is a first of its kind project in the coun-try. It is being implemented by NationalCapital Region Transport Corporation(NCRTC).

This will be the first tranche of total $1 bil-lion facility that the ADB had agreed to fundthe RRTS. Of the total project cost of USD 3.94billion, the Centre will provide USD 1.89 bil-lion and co-financiers are expected to provideUSD 1 billion dollars.

Financing for the project will be imple-mented in four tranches between August 2020and May 2025.


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ASri Lankan lawmaker fromthe ruling party, who was

elected to Parliament whileserving a death sentence in amurder case, was on Tuesdaysworn in as an MP by theSpeaker.

Sri Lanka People’s Party(SLPP) lawmaker PremalalJayasekera was convicted in amurder case on July 31, justdays ahead of the August 5 par-liamentary elections which hecontested from the south west-ern Ratnapura region.

He was sworn in as aMember of Parliament bySpeaker Mahinda YapaAbeywardena.

His oath taking followedthe court of appeal issuing aninterim order directing theCommissioner-General ofPrisons to make arrangementsfor Jayasekara to attendParliament.


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At the end of 19-long hoursof grilling carried out dur-

ing a span of three days, theNarcotics Control Bureau(NCB) on Tuesday arrestedactress Rhea Chakraborty inconnection with the SushantSingh Rajput death case, evenas the Mumbai Police convert-ed a complaint filed by heragainst the late actor’s sistersPriyanka, Meetu Singh andNew Delhi-based Dr TarunKumar into an FIR and trans-ferred the case to the CBI.

Rhea’s arrest appeared to bea fait accompli, coming as it did

in the wake of what appearedto be orchestrated leaks fromthe investigating agency thatshe had reportedly admittedthat she had procured drugs for

Sushant through her currentlyarrested brother ShowikChakraborty, that she hadacknowledged that she knewabout Samuel purchasing drugsfor the actor from drug peddlerZaid Vilatra and that she hadaccepted that she had accept-ed drug-related WhatsAppchats between her and others.

Rhea, who had been ques-tioned for six hours on Sundayand grilled for eight hours on

Monday, arrived at the NCB’soffice at Ballard Pier in southMumbai at 10.30 am for thethird day of questioning in a T-shirt that read “Roses are red,violets are blue, let’s smash thepatriarchy, me and you”. The28-year-old actress was placedby the NCB under arrest at 3.30pm, exactly five hours later.

Confirming the arrest,NCB deputy director KPSMalhotra said, “RheaChakraborty has been arrestedand due process of informingthe family has been completed”.

Rhea is the tenth accusedto have been arrested in con-nection with a drug case linkedto the death of actor SushantSingh Rajput, who was founddead in his closed room of hissixth floor duplex flat at MontBlanc building at Bandra’sCarter Road in north-westMumbai, on June 14.

Besides Rhea’s brotherShowik, eight other arrestedaccused in the case are: AbbasLakhani, Karan Arora, ZaidVilatra, Abdel Basit Parihar,Anuj Keswani, Kaizan Ibrahim,Samuel Miranda and DipeshSawant.


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As part of its ongoingUnlock-4 process, “par-

tial resumption” of academ-ic activities has beenallowed in schools only onvoluntar y basis f romSeptember 21 for students ofClasses 9-12.

A detailed guideline theGovernment issued onTuesday said it encouragesonline classes, but older stu-dents “will be permitted tovisit schools on voluntarybasis”.

The final decision hasbeen left to the parents, whowill have to provide a writtenpermission for wards going toschool.

Similar go-ahead has alsobeen given to skill or entre-preneurship training insti-tutions, higher educationalinstitutions conducting doc-toral courses and postgradu-

ate studies in technical andprofessional programs requir-ing laboratory /experimentalwork.

The Union HealthMinistry has issued separateguidelines for operations ofthese institutions amid theCovid-19 pandemic.

The SoPs dwell on detailabout the safety measures.

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Five youths who had report-edly been abducted by

China’s PLA from ArunachalPradesh last week have beenlocated on the Chinese side.

The PLA has confirmedthe presence of the missingyouths and modalities arebeing worked out betweenthe two sides for their han-dover to the Indian Army.

“China’s PLA has respond-ed to the hotline message sentby Indian Army. They haveconfirmed that the missingyouths from ArunachalPradesh have been found bytheir side. Further modalitiesto hand over the persons toour authority are beingworked out,” Minister of Statefor Youth Affairs and SportsKiren Rijiju tweeted.

The Arunachal PradeshPolice had on Monday said thewhereabouts of the missingyouth could not be knownafter a search team returnedfrom the LAC. The five vil-lagers from Upper Subansiridistrict were said to beengaged as porters and guidesby the Indian Army.


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As the stage is set for actressKangana Ranaut’s return

to Mumbai on Wednesday,the Shiv Sena-run BMC onTuesday slapped a noticeagainst her for illegal con-structions undertaken at herBandra office, the MaharashtraGovernment ordered a probeinto alleged consumption ofdrugs by her and a Sena cor-porator lodged a complaintwith the Thane police againsther for her controversial state-ment comparing Mumbai withPak-Occupied Kashmir(POK).

Kangana challenged, “Iam more than happy to oblige@MumbaiPolice@AnilDeshmukhNCP please do my drugtests, investigate my callrecords if you find any links to

drug peddlers ever I will acceptmy mistake and leave Mumbaiforever, looking forward tomeet you.”

Kangana — who has comeunder fire from various quar-ters for controversial state-ments comparing Mumbai to“Pak-Occupied Kashmir” andsaying “it seems Mumbai isaddicted to blood” and dub-bing Bollywood as an “Islam-dominated” film industry —will have her plate when shearrives in Mumbai onWednesday from HimachalPradesh where she was awayduring the lockdown.


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The Uttar Pradesh govern-ment decided to do away

with the mandatory Sundayclosure across the state andinstead ordered restoration ofthe old system of staggeredmarket closure. The decisionwas announced by ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath at aTeam 11 meeting held inLucknow on Tuesday.

“Restore the original sys-tem of weekly closure of dif-ferent markets instead ofSunday closure. All hotels andrestaurants, except those incontainment zones, shouldrestart normal activities but byfollowing coronavirus protec-

tion protocol,” the chief minis-ter said.

Last week, the state gov-ernment had announced thatshops would remain closedacross the state only onSundays, rescinding its previ-ous order of two-day weekendrestrictions.

In that order, the govern-ment had said that all marketsand business establishmentswould open for 12 hours (9 amto 9 pm) and Sunday would bethe weekly closure.

With the new order restor-ing the old system of weeklyclosure of markets, the gov-ernment also ended the Sundaylockdown with immediateeffect.

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Taking a serious note of sev-eral complaints of corrup-

tion and laxity in controllingcrime, Chief Minister YogiAdityanath suspended SeniorSuperintendent of Police ofPrayagraj, Abhishek Dikshit, onTuesday and attached him tothe DGP headquarters inLucknow.

Besides, five other IPS offi-cers were given new postings.

Serious allegations hadbeen pouring in against Dikshitfrom various quarters and eventhe Allahabad High Court hadexpressed its displeasure at theSSP’s conduct.

Originally a Tamil Naducadre officer, Dikshit was post-ed at an important place likePrayagraj despite charges of hisinvolvement in corruption dur-ing his posting as SP ofKrishnagiri (Tamil Nadu). TheDirectorate of Vigilance and


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NOTICE

In my service records mydaughter name is wronglyrecords as Arpana Yadav. Hercorrect name is Aparna Yadav.In future she would be knownas Aparna Yadav Service No.1S1318474M Rank BHM(RST) Anil Kumar 637 SATABTY C/o 56 APO PIN CODE -926637.

NOTICE

I, Saurabh Gupta, S/o LateRajendra Gupta, R/o 117/H-1/298, Prabhu Kripa appart-ment, model town, kanpurhave changed my minordaughter name from MansiGupta To Maansi Gupta, andbe known by this name for allfuture purposes.

NOTICE

I, Rohit Singer, R/o T-2 Flat No404 Parsvnath Planet, VibhutiKhand, Gomti Nagar, Lucknow-226010, have changed myname to Rohit Sengar.

NOTICE

I, Army No. 15422649-Y, Rank-NK/DMT. Rajaneekar KasuriUnit 1 TT Wg AMC, C & C, C/o56 APO Cantt., Lucknow. In myservice reocord my wife KasuriLohitha date of birth men-tioned as 26-04-1993 as perAdhar Card her correct D.O.B.is 26-04-1995, her date ofbirth should be corrected in ser-vice records.

NOTICE

I change my name ChaudharyRam Awatar from old nameRam Awatar Ram, So I new mynew name CHAUDHARY RAMAWATAR, Address-Vil l-Surawat, P.O. -Pali, District-Ghazipur (UP).

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Asserting that Aligarh wouldplay an important role in

realisation of the AtmanirbharBharat dream, Uttar PradeshChief Minister Yogi Adityanathsaid the Aligarh Smart Cityproject be fast tracked.

“The state’s share for theproject should be released soonwhile a letter should be sent tothe Centre for release of funds,”the chief minister said.

Yogi was reviewing projectsworth over Rs 10 crore andother developmental projects ofAligarh division comprisingAligarh, Kasganj, Etah andHathras districts through videoconferencing from his officialresidence here.

In the whole division, thereare 25 projects worth over Rs50 crore — ten in Kasganj, ninein Aligarh and six in Etah.

The chief minister reiterat-ed that all the developmentalworks should be done in atime-bound manner whilemaintaining quality.

“Every project should havea timeline and it should beadhered to by all means,” hesaid.The chief minister saidthat Aligarh, already one of thesix nodes of the ambitiousDefence ManufacturingCorridor project, was a hub ofhardware, including the lockindustry, and held immensepotential for employment.

The chief minister askedfor a departmental review ofthe construction of no frills air-

port at Aligarh. “If there is anylaxity, the responsibility mustbe fixed,” he said.

He directed the additionalchief secretary (home) to fix thetimeline for the regional foren-sic lab project in Aligarh andtake action if it was not fol-lowed. The chief ministerpraised the people’s represen-tatives for taking interest in thedevelopment projects. Hesought to remind the officials,in general, to take People’srepresentatives into confidencewhile preparing the develop-ment projects.

While stressing on com-pleting the development pro-jects in time, the chief minis-ter said that the utilisationcertificate should be furnishedafter completion of 80 per centof the work for timely releaseof funds.He said matters relat-ed to land be disposed of at the

earliest and efforts for landacquisition be speeded up.“Land plays an important rolein the development hence landrelated issues should be accordpriority,” he said.

Stressing on prompt deci-sions on development projects,the chief minister said mattersrelated to roads, drinking waterand other public amenities bedecided on priority.

Yogi said that the healthservices for Hepatitis andCOVID-19 should always beavailable at the district level. Hesaid the non-functional venti-lators be fixed immediately byseeking help of experts andtechnicians.

The chief minister askedofficials to prepare an actionplan to take the One DistrictOne Project (ODOP) workforward. “Like the lock indus-try of Aligarh, every district has

some possibility or another tobe explored under this scheme,”he added.

All the people’s representa-tives, including parliamentar-ians and legislators thanked thechief minister for setting up astate university in the name ofRaja Mahendra Pratap inAligarh. They said that RajaMahendra Pratap was the onewho gave land for AligarhMuslim University but hisname was never mentionedand not a single stone waserected in his name. They saidit was because of Chief MinisterYogi Adityanath that a univer-sity was now being set up afterhis name.

The chief minister said thegovernment medical collegeof Etah should start function-ing at the earliest. He wasapprised by the divisional com-missioner that studies would

start at the medical collegefrom the next academic ses-sion. He also directed officialsto ensure early commissioningof a 100-bed maternity wing inEtah and to release money forconstruction of AliganjWomen’s Degree College afterobtaining utilisation certifi-cate.The chief minister alsospoke to the local legislator ofEtah, Satya Pal Singh Rathaur,and directed the district mag-istrate to take action after prob-ing the matter related to PMMandhan Yojana brought to hisnotice by the MLA. Whiletalking to the MLAs of Hathras,Yogi asked them to send pro-posals for the staff in traumacentre. He told MP RajvirSingh Diler to send a propos-al about Har Ghar Nal Yojana.He also asked the district mag-istrate to dispose of the issuesraised by the MP.

Lucknow (PNS): Concerned overthe brutal lynching of a Dalit youth inMainpuri, Bahujan Samaj Party chiefMayawati said that the rising incidentsof murders in UP were exposing YogiAdityanath government’s tall claims onimproved law and order.

In a tweet on Tuesday, Mayawatisaid, “The murder of a Dalit, SarveshKumar, after being beaten up inMainpuri on Monday and similar inci-dents with Govind Chauhan in

Maharajganj, Rajvir Maurya inShahjahanpur, Wasid in Bareilly, SudhirSingh in Kushinagar and Vinod Garg inBanda (Brahmin) who was shot dead,are extremely sad.” She added, “Apartfrom this, the murder of a cab driver inNoida only on Monday reveals the truthabout government claims as far as lawand order is concerned.”

Further, the BSP supremo hadposted, “The government should takestringent legal action against those

who take law in their own hands andprovide justice to the victims while giv-ing them financial assistance also.”

Meanwhile on Tuesday, UPCongress chief Ajay Kumar Lallu tweet-ed, “The dreaded picture of jungle rajis being witnessed in UP. Four personsgot murdered in Greater Noida, two inAjnara Society, two killed in Bisarkharea. Youth shot dead in Agra. Whatkind of Ram rajya is this chief minis-ter?”

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Six persons died due to snakebite in separate localities of

Chitrakoot and Banda in thelast 24 hours.

Medical Officer of DistrictHospital (Banda) Dr VineetSachan said that amongpatients admitted for snakebite on Monday, Vinod (27) ofGirwa and his wife Mithlesh(25) died within a few hours ofadmission in the hospital. Thecouple were sleeping outsidetheir house when a poisonoussnake bit them in the night.

Similarly, Rajaram (27) ofSamgara hamlet of Marka andShanti Devi (45) of Singhpurarea were also admitted to thehospital after being bitten by

snake while working in thefield on Monday evening. Theytoo succumbed in the night.

Elsewhere in Chitrakoot,Ramchander (42) of Sabhapurhamlet of Pahadi was bitten bya poisonous snake while work-ing in the field on Monday. Hewas rushed to a local hospitalwhere he died early Tuesdaymorning.

Muniya Devi (45) ofBhairupagga area of Karvi, wasbitten by a snake on Mondayevening and she too later diedin the hospital.

Meanwhile in anothertragedy in Gonda, five persons,including four youths of a fam-ily, died while attempting tosave a calf which had slippedinto a well in Kotwali area on

Tuesday.As per reports,

Ravishankar (36) and hisbrother Dinesh (30) and theirtwo cousins, Vishnu (35) andVaibhav (18), slithered intothe well to save a bovine fromdrowning in Maharajganj area.However, due to poisonousgas emanating in the well, allfour were suffocated and start-ed drowning. In an attempt tosave them, their neighbourMannu (35) also jumped intothe well but met with the samefate.

Upon being informed, afire brigade team and policejawans rushed to the spot and extricated the bodies after which they were sent forautopsy.

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The Uttar Pradesh CongressCommittee, while attacking

the Uttar Pradesh governmentfor just recommending depart-mental proceedings againstthen district magistrate ofUnnao and two superinten-dents of police found guilty inthe CBI investigation oncharges of negligence in theKuldeep Singh Sengar rapecase, said that the name ofthose ministers should comeout who indirectly helpedSengar.

UPCC chief Ajay KumarLallu said the Congress wascommitted to ensuring justiceto Unnao’s daughter.

“We have been saying fromthe very beginning that thereare very big officials involved inthis whole matter. The CBI hasrecommended action againstthree officers, then DM AditiSingh, SP Neha Pandey,

Pushpanjali and ASPAshtabhuja Singh. This is justthe beginning. Those who gavepatronage to Kuldeep SinghSengar should be exposed sothat the world can know thetruth about how those behindthe slogans of Beti Bachao, BetiPadhao were engaged in savinga rapist.

Lallu said that the names ofministers and legislators of theBJP government should nowcome to the fore.

“After all, the then DM andthe SP of Unnao were assistingrapist Kuldeep Singh Sengar atthe behest of the BJP leaders,”he charged.

The UPCC chief allegedthat at that time, many minis-ters and MLAs of the BJP gov-ernment were openly defend-ing rapist Kuldeep Sengar. “WillChief Minister Yogi Adityanathtake any action against theseMLAs and ministers too?” heasked.

Lucknow (PNS): Chief Minister YogiAdityanath said that his government wascommitted to ensuring financial empow-erment of women in the rural sector to notonly help in improving their status in thefamily but also in society.

Speaking at a function held here onTuesday in which a memorandum ofunderstanding (MoU) was signed digital-ly between the Uttar Pradesh State RuralLivelihood Mission and the UnitedNational World Food Programme (UM-WFP), Yogi said that one woman fromeach family would be involved in self-help

groups and the group would be provid-ed financial help by the government.

“The Livelihood Mission is doing acommendable job. The ICDS in collabo-ration with Livelihood Mission has distrib-uted food grains in 204 blocks in 18 dis-tricts. In future, we have plans to link allthe blocks with this system,” the chief min-ister said.

The 18 districts which have beenlinked with Livelihood Mission areAligarh, Ambedkarnagar, Auraiya,Baghpat, Banda, Chandauli, Etawah,Bijnor, Fatehpur, Gorakhpur, Kannauj,

Lakhimpur Kheri, Lucknow, Mainpuri,Prayagraj, Sultanpur and Unnao.

“The Livelihood Mission will helpover 3,000 self-help group women tobecome entrepreneurs. Every womanwill get employment of more than 240days in a year. They would be able to earnbetween Rs 5,000 and Rs 7,000 permonth. One year’s turnover of this pro-ject is expected to be over Rs 1200 crore,”the chief minister said. He also interact-ed with the beneficiaries of many districts.

Rural Development Minister RajendraPratap Singh also spoke on this occasion.

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Unnao district has achieved thetop ranking in Ease of Doing

Business (EODB) in Uttar Pradesh. With a total score of 178.12,

Unnao has retained the top rank inCategory-A of districts (receivingover 2,000 applications) throughsingle window portal, Nivesh Mitra,while with 185.74 score, Kaushambiretained its position in theCategory-B of districts (receivingless than 2,000 applications) for themonth of August 2020 district-level Ease of Doing Business rank-ing. From May this year, state gov-ernment has started evaluatingmonthly district-level EODB rank-ings for all 75 districts. Unnao andKaushambi have been the leadingdistricts in categories A and B,respectively, continuously sincethen. On monthly basis, the dis-tricts are being assessed on keyEODB parameters such as month-ly disposal of licences/NOCs, griev-ances resolution and user satisfac-tion feedback.

In the preceding month ofAugust, 64 out of 75 districts of thestate improved their district-levelEase of Doing Business scores.

More than 15 districts such asKanpur Nagar, Gorakhpur,Varanasi, Meerut, Lalitpur, andSitapur have improved their ranksby more than four places.

Due to the district-level EODBranking, Uttar Pradesh saw its user

satisfaction rate increase up to 73per cent, while grievances disposalrate increased from 72 per cent inJuly, 2020 to 75 per cent in August2020. Additional Chief Secretary(Infrastructure & IndustrialDevelopment) Alok Kumar said,

“Increasing monthly user satisfac-tion and higher grievances dispos-al are clear indicator of the groundlevel change in the state and themonthly district-level EODB ranking exercise shall be a gamechanger.”

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Chief Minister YogiAdityanath said that at

least 1,000 ICU beds should bearranged in super specialityhospitals of Lucknow and tehsiland thana diwas should beresumed to resolve people’sproblems.

“Tehsil and thana diwasshould commence followingCovid guidelines to solve theproblems of the people. SDM,police circle officer and tehsil-dar should attend to the prob-lems of their areas,” Yogi said,adding that qualitative dispos-al of people’s problems was thekey to the success of tehsil andthana diwas.

Presiding over an Unlockreview meeting at the LokBhawan here on Tuesday, thechief minister said that medicalemployees should be protectedfrom infection and asked offi-cials to add 1,000 ICU beds inSGPGI Lucknow, RMLInstitute of Medical Sciencesand KGMU.

He also asked officials toconduct Covid tests of all peo-ple in containment zones.

Yogi was particularly happyover UP jumping to secondrank in Ease of Doing Business,and said that an action plan beprepared for ‘Ease of Living’ tomake living standard of thepeople better.

Asking officials to makeextra efforts to augment goodsand services tax (GST) collec-tion in the state, the chief min-ister said that an action plan

was required for this. He saidthat more and more traders beregistered for GST.

The chief minister direct-ed officials to offer all help toinvestors and entrepreneursand take up their problems forsolution in a time-bound man-ner. Yogi said he himself wouldinteract with them in the meet-ing of Udyog Bandhu.

Yogi asked officials toorganise training programmesfor zero-budget agriculture andsaid that families of malnutri-tioned children be providedcows from shelters under spe-cial scheme. He asked the offi-cials to strengthen milk sami-tis to expand the dairy sector.

The chief minister saidthat under the Smart City pro-ject of the Centre, 10 cities werebeing developed while sevencities were being developed atthe state level. He asked officialsto expedite the progress ofSmart City projects as well asAMRUT (Atal Mission forRejuvenation and UrbanTransformation) scheme and

directed the Public WorksDepartment (PWD) to makeroads free of potholes.

He said that Covid testsshould be done on all people incontainment zones and peoplebe asked to strictly follow pro-tection guidelines of the pan-demic.

Meanwhile, AdditionalChief Secretary (Health) AmitMohan Prasad said on Tuesdaythat 1.43 lakh samples weretested on Monday, taking thenumber of total Covid testsdone so far to 67.73 lakh.

He said that there were33,386 positive asymptomaticpatients in home isolation.

“Till date, a total of 1.31lakh patients preferred homeisolation and out of them98,591 recovered. Besides, thereare 3,105 people in privatehospitals, 234 in semi-paidhotels and rest in government-run Covid hospitals,” he said.

Prasad said that under sur-veillance and contact tracing ,over 3.29 lakh health depart-ment teams reached 93,663areas and visited 2.20 crorehouses and checked and con-tacted over 11.03 crore people.

The additional chief secre-tary further said that the statehad decided to go for a month-long drive against water andvector-borne diseases likedengue, swine flu, encephalitis,chikungunya and others occur-ring during October.

Earlier in August, the gov-ernment had gone for a driveagainst water and vector-bornediseases.

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Aman was battered to death by three brothersfor asking for a payment in Hardoi, while in

Mainpuri, a Dalit man was lynched by a mob onthe suspicion that he was trying to sell his daugh-ter.

As per reports, Asharam of Lalpur area usedto run a general merchant’s shop. During lockdown,Mewaram and his brothers Nekram and Roshan,purchased goods worth Rs 1,150 from him,promising to make payments later.

On Monday morning, Ashram asked thebrothers to pay the arrears which irked them andthey started beating him. Later locals intervenedand the brothers assured to make the payment laterthis week.

But late on Monday night, the trio accostedAsharam and battered him to death. Ashram’s sonand neighbours learnt about the murder only onTuesday morning.

A case was registered and efforts were under-way to nab the accused.

In Mainpuri, Sarvesh Diwakar sold sweets ona cart and lived with his daughter, who worked asdomestic help and also studied at a local school.Some days back, Diwakar sent his daughter to livewith some kin as both had little work due to thecoronavirus pandemic. But rumours did roundsthat Diwakar had sold his daughter after which fivemen dragged him to the terrace and beat him upmercilessly. A video clip of the assault also wentviral on Monday.

On being informed, the police reached the spotand took Diwakar to a hospital where he suc-cumbed to his injuries.

The police later registered a case and arrest-ed four of the five assailants.

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Lucknow (PNS): Taking a dig atUttar Pradesh leaping ten posi-tions in the recently released list ofEase of Doing Business ranking ofstates, Congress general secretaryPriyanka Gandhi Vadra tweeted thatthe Yogi Adityanath governmentwas patting its back for this in thesame way as it claimed of invest-ments on missing MoUs.

In a tweet, Priyanka Vadra said,“UP government patting its back onEase of Doing Business ranking isthe same way as making claims ofinvesting on missing MoUs.Industries are getting closed in thestate. There are locks on factories,weavers are selling looms.”

She further took to satire andposted, “In reality, there is only easeof doing crime and ease of doingscams in UP.” The Department forPromotion of Industry and InternalTrade (DPIIT) had issued the Easeof Doing Business Ranking on thebasis of feedback from entrepreneursand investors on September 5. Inthis, UP got the second position afterscaling 10 positions leaving behind

Gujarat, Telangana, Rajasthan,Maharashtra.

Meanwhile, Congress appoint-ed 32 new office-bearers, includingtwo vice-presidents and six gener-al secretaries, to strengthen the UPunit of the party. The list was vet-ted by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.The shake-up was apparently madekeeping the 2022 UP Assemblypolls in mind as caste equationsweighed heavily in the jig. A total of40 per cent office-bearers are frombackward castes, 30 per cent fromupper caste while minorities areaccommodated on 17 per centposts. Among upper castes,Brahmins are especially obligedwith 19 per cent posts and Muslimleader Suhail Ansari has beenappointed keeping the weavers beltin mind. While Suhail AkhtarAnsari and Yogesh Dixit are the newvice presidents of UP CongressCommittee, Vivekananda Pathak,Maqsood Khan, Ankit Parihar,Vidit Chaudhary, BrahmaswaroopSagar and Prakash Pradhan Lodhiare the state general secretaries.

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In a tragic incident, a 15-year-old boy was elec-trocuted after he inadvertently came in con-

tact with a wire over the boundary wall of a parkunder Gomtinagar Extension police stationarea on Tuesday morning. The incident came tolight after a morning walker, Santram Chaudharyof Gomtinagar Extension locality, spotted thebody lying in a corner around 6 am.

A police team reached the scene afterSantram called them. A huge number of residentsassembled at the scene. The deceased was iden-tified as Karan Kumar Bharti of Peeli Colony inGomti Nagar Extension. Inspector AK Pandeysaid the identity of the deceased was ascertainedby his father Ramesh Kumar Bharti, who is amechanic. He said Karan had gone for a morn-ing walk and might have inadvertently touchedthe electric wire. He was a student of class X.

Meanwhile, 2-day-old body of an uniden-tified man, aged around 35 years, was recoveredfrom Sharda canal in Para police station area onTuesday. Police said he died of drowning andthey were making efforts to ascertain the identity of the deceased.

��1�Ornaments of worth lakhs of rupees were

stolen from a house in Chinhat. Reports saidRahul Khare of Satrikh road in the area said thathe, along with his family, had gone to his nativehome in Bhadohi for some work on September1. “I returned home on September 6 and foundmy house burgled. The lock at the main gate wasbroken and the thieves had decamped with allthe ornaments kept in the almirah,” he said.

�� Lucknow (PNS): Four staffers of a petrol pumpat Purania (Aliganj) thrashed a customer afterthe latter made the payment in coins onMonday night. As the video went viral in socialmedia groups, police swung into action andarrested the accused. They were identified asDeepak Singh, Amrish Pal, Shubham Singh andMadhav Tiwari.

The police said a youth, Akash Rastogi ofDS Colony on Sitapur road, purchased petrolgave coins to a staffer. The staffer lost his cooland asked him for notes. Akash said as someof the staffers taunted him, he confronted them.It snowballed into a verbal spat during whichhe was thrashed.

Meanwhile, a 55-year-old unidentifiedman was found dead on railway tracks betweenRehmat Nagar and Chandauli stations inGosainganj police station area on Tuesdaymorning. The mutilated body was spotted bya railway staffer and a memo was sent to theGosainganj police. The police suspected that theman was mowed down by a train while cross-ing the tracks. Locals could not ascertain theidentity of the deceased.

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The Vice-Chancellor inaugurated amask bank at Lucknow University

on Tuesday. It is an initiative of NSS andLU. He said masks would be distributedfrom the NSS office at LU on workingdays. With the help of the members ofsociety, 5,000 masks have been collect-ed at the NSS office.

Meanwhile, LU spokesperson saidthere have been several requests fromUG applicants that they have beenunable to upload documents on thecounselling portal for various reasons.

“The university has thus decided toextend the last date for uploading doc-uments on the counselling portal tillSeptember 13 midnight. This is the finalextension and no more time will begiven after that. The applicants who donot upload their marks by September 13

midnight will not be considered in themerit list,” he said. Besides, the entrancetest for BElEd will be held on September26. Admit cards will be availablethrough logins from September 11. Incase the candidates have forgotten thepassword, they can reset it through ‘for-got password’ link. The entrance test willcomprise 100 objective-type questionsto be answered in 90 minutes. “Eachquestion will be of four marks and onemark will be deducted for every wronganswer. The questions will be fromLanguage Ability (Hindi & English),General Awareness, Logical Reasoningand Mental Ability sections,” he added.

The PG admission process is alsoin progress. Since the results of gradu-ation final year, semester examinationsof any state university have not beenannounced as yet, the admission processgot delayed.

Lucknow (PNS): A new cre-matorium was inaugurated atGulala Ghat on Tuesday byUrban Development MinisterAshutosh Tandon in the pres-ence of mayor Sanyukta Bhatiaand Municipal CommissionerAjay Dwivedi.

Additional municipal com-missioner (AMC) Amit Kumarsaid it would be of great helpamidst the coronavirus pan-demic. “Mortal remains of 15-17 Covid victims are being cre-mated everyday in the currenttimes and most of them arriveat the same time in morninghours. The new crematoriumwill give us some relief because

there were times when theBhaisakund crematorium had tobe kept open till 2:30 am,” hesaid. On whether people wouldopt for Gulala Ghat consideringthat it was more convenient toreach Bhaisakund, he said theycould not force anyone but atleast there would be someoption in case of heavy load inthe one at Gomtinagar. He saidLMC teams carry out sanitisa-tion each time after cremationat Bhaisakund. The AMC saidthat the electric crematorium isenvironment-friendly andquicker as compared to tradi-tional and conventionalmethod.

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On the directions of ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath,

the process has begun for set-ting up 1,000 ICU and HDUbeds at the Level-3 Covid facil-ities of SGPGI, RML Hospitaland KGMU. CMO inchargeMK Singh said meetings hadalready been held for the sameand extra ICU and HDU bedswould be available for Covidpatients shortly.

“At SGPGI, there is sepa-rate building in which 300more beds will be increasedwhile at RML Hospital, thebeds will be increased in theexisting facility. There will bea need to hire additional man-power and we will rope in doc-tors from private hospitalsbesides staff nurses, paramedicsand class IV employees,” headded. About the rise in posi-tive cases in Lucknow, Singhsaid their prime focus was onreducing the mortality ratewith early detection. FromWednesday onwards, 220 rapidresponse teams will start work-ing in the 110 city wards.

He said though their Covidhospital was inaugurated by thechief minister, actual func-tioning would still take sometime to start.

On Tuesday, DK Shuklafrom UP Secretariat donated 30

stretchers, 10 geysers, fivewheelchairs and 50 repairedstretchers to KGMU on the15th death anniversary of hiswife.

Meanwhile, DistrictMagistrate Abhishek Prakashcarried took stock of treatmentfacilities at SGPGI and ApolloHospital. He said a 20-bedICU unit would soon be start-ed at Apollo hospital.

At SGPGI, the DM said100 beds would be increasedphase-wise and the medicalinstitute would be provided 300additional oxygen cylinders.He directed the hospitalauthorities to have two hears-es and five mini-vans. He inter-acted with Covid-19 patientsand reviewed the arrangementsof control room at the hospital.

He also launched‘Sanitisation on One Call’ ser-vices at Collectorate. The DMpasted a poster outsideCollectorate announcing thenumber (0522-2307770).

The DM said anyone cancall on this number for saniti-sation services within 12 hours.

Meanwhile, director of LokBandhu Hospital Dr MadhuSaxena said that with five oftheir doctors testing positive forcoronavirus, they were facedwith shortage and it was affect-ing the functioning. She saidshe had informed the CMO

and Health department andboth assured assistance.

“Two of our female doctorshave tested positive for coron-avirus and three out fivegyanaecologists are workingin three shifts in a day, whichis why we need more doctors,”

she said. However, she pointedout that there were somegynaecologists who came for-ward to help them in this hourof crisis. “A 62-year-old gynae-cologist said she was ready tohelp us and that she would offerher services in C-section surg-

eries, whenever required,” shesaid.

Meanwhile, in a webinaron ‘Hindi Pakhwara’ held onTuesday, scientist CM Nautiyalstressed on the importance ofaccurate communication ofscience in the times of coron-

avirus pandemic. Citing theexample of Covid-19, he saidinitially there was a lot of con-fusion about the nature, symp-toms and treatment of patients.

“It was partly because sci-entists themselves were notsure as it was a new virus.Frequently changing state-ments from some internation-al organisations also added tothe confusion. However, therewere also problems of com-munication,” he said.

He pointed out that thepandemic led to an increase inthe number of people gettinginterested in science. “It hasbeen felt strongly all over theworld that we need good sci-ence communicators withoutwhom it will be difficult to han-dle situations like this,” headded.

Nautiyal also mentionedthe efforts of various organisa-tions in making information onCovid-19 available to peoplethrough their websites andinvolving international agree-ments on handling recoveries.He appreciated the effortsmade in covering the pan-demic and in keeping peopleinformed on preventive andother strategies. He said thenew digital media has assumeda major role but given the easeof communicating on web,people still trust the print.

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Senior Samajwadi Partyleader SRS Yadav died of

Covid-19 at SGPGI as thegraph continued to rise with887 more testing positive in thecity on Tuesday, taking the totalnumber of cases in the statecapital to 34,333. SGPGIspokesperson said Yadav diedin the morning.

Besides, 853 recovered inthe district, taking the numberof recoveries to 25,211. Witheight deaths, city’s death tollreached 461 with 8,661 activecases. Six of the patients whodied were from Lucknow whiletwo others from Rae Bareli andHardoi.

A senior official at theCMO office said those whotested positive included 49from Indiranagar, 48 fromGomtinagar, 42 fromAlambagh, 32 each fromAshiyana, Jankipuram,Thakurganj & Chinhat, 31 eachfrom Talkatora & Naka, 29 eachfrom Mahanagar & Madiaon,28 from Hazratganj, 25 eachfrom Cantt & Chowk, 21 eachfrom Hasanganj & Vikasnagar,19 each from Para &Saadatganj, 12 fromGomtinagar Extension, 15

from Krishnanagar and 13from Hussainganj. As many as5,745 samples were collected onTuesday under contact sur-veillance.

Meanwhile, in the state,6,743 more tested positive forcoronavirus, including 431 inKanpur, 306 in Prayagraj, 287in Gorakhpur and 200 inVaranasi, taking the total num-ber of cases in Uttar Pradesh to2,78,473.

There were 73 deaths in thestate, including six in Prayagraj,four in Kanpur, three each inGorakhpur, Varanasi,Moradabad, Maharajganj &Rae Bareli, two each in Meerut,Jhansi, Shahjahanpur, Basti,Sultanpur, Chandauli &Fatehpur, and one each inSaharanpur, Barabanki,Ayodhya, Rampur, Agra,Azamgarh, Ghazipur, Gonda,Pilibhit, Unnao, SantKabirnagar, Amroha, Mirzapur,Sambhal, Amethi,Farrukhabad, Auraiyya,Balrampur and Chitrakoot,taking the toll to 4,047.

Meanwhile, as many as5,439 Covid-19 patients recov-ered in the state, taking thenumber of recoveries to2,11,170 with 63,256 activecases.

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Lucknow (PNS): A man accused his erstwhilefriend of ‘abducting’ his pet pooch from his housein Thakurganj on Tuesday. According toThakurganj SHO, Rahul of Thakurganj hadgiven a puppy to his friend Prashant, who is anadvocate by profession. However, in due courseof time, their friendship fell apart. Rahul askedPrashant to return his puppy but the latter refused.

“Rahul reached Prashant’s house and took thepuppy with him. He made one mistake that thathe did it without informing police about the dis-pute. He showed us the receipt of purchase,” theSHO said. He added that the police were yet toregister a case in this connection. In another case,wife of a farmer went missing under mysteriouscircumstances after she left her house to bringback her son from her parents’ house in Maalpolice station area on Monday. Reports said thewoman, identified as Anjali (30) of Maal, left forher parents’ house in Unnao on August 31 to takeback her son Vansh, who was staying there. Herhusband Putan said Anjali was wearing ornamentsworth about Rs 4 lakh and also carrying Rs 1.65lakh in cash. “I called my in-laws and was toldthat she never reached there,” he said.

Lucknow (PNS): The respon-sibility of professional institutesin not only to provide educa-tion but also provide employ-ment opportunities and inorder to create an ‘AtmanirbharBharat’, youths have to beencouraged to take up self-employment.

These views were expressedby Deputy CM Dinesh Sharmaat the 25th Foundation Day ofJaipuria Institute ofManagement celebrated onlineon Tuesday. About the NewEducation Policy, he said: “It isperhaps the biggest step takenafter independence to bringabout a social change and to doaway with the Macaulay effect.We have to ensure that the ben-efit of same reaches even to thecommon man living in villages.”

He urged the institute topromote and take maximumadvantage of the NewEducation Policy. Founder-Director of the institute NKDhoopar said he was immense-ly happy and satisfied to wit-ness success of the institute in

Lucknow and the seed sown in1995 became a fully-growntree. He said he wasapproached by Dr Raja RamJaipuria in the year 1994 for set-ting up a B-School in Lucknow.

In his keynote address,chairman of Manipal GlobalEducation Mohandas Pai saidthe next 30 years would bemarked by immense growthfor countries like India. Whilethe US and China would tryto prove their domination,India would also grow andbecome a bigger economy, headded. “This pandemic hasexposed the dependence ofvarious countries on Chinaand this probably is the besttime to become self-reliant.The next decade will be thatof technology and only theinstitutions making the bestuse of technology will excel,”he said.

The programme startedwith the address of JaipuriaInstitute of Managementdirector Kavita Pathak andchairman Sharad Jaipuria.

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There was 92 per cent atten-dance in the second

semester PG examinations ofMTech, MPharm and MArchconducted by AKTU.Spokesperson Asheesh Mishrasaid the exams were conduct-ed at 20 centres across the city.Across the state too, the atten-dance was 92 per cent withapproximately 37,000 studentsappearing for the exams. Hesaid there were no cases ofstudents using unfair means.

The students reported atleast an hour prior to the startof the exams, as mentioned intheir admit cards. “The stu-dents stood in queues adher-ing to social distancing norms.Body temperature of the stu-dent was checked and none ofthe isolation rooms were used.“The exam centres provideddisposable masks to thosewho were not wearing the

proper ones,” Mishra said.The centres were sani-

tised daily before start ofexams. All desks and chairswere and those on exam dutywere wearing masks andgloves. All washrooms werethoroughly disinfected andall door handles, staircaserailings, lift buttons etc weredisinfected. Markings weremade on the floor to ensuresocial distancing.

Meanwhile, the onlinesemester exams ofInformation and LibraryScience department ofBabasaheb BhimraoAmbedkar University (BBAU)commenced on Tuesday.

BBAU spokesperson saidthe question papers were sentto the students via email andWhatsApp. “A unique emailID has been created by thedepartment for all the papersso that correct record ofanswersheets can be main-

tained. The students sentscanned answersheets in PDFformat. The students weregiven two hours to completethe exam and 45 minutes toscan and email their answer-sheets. In case of any diffi-culty, the students have alsobeen provided the facility tosend their answersheets toteachers concerned throughWhatsApp. MLIS secondsemester InformationTechnology Application andBLIS second semesterInformation Sources andServices exams were held onTuesday,” she added.

The next online exam forboth MLIS and BLIS studentswill be held on September 10.“Practical exams and disser-tation viva-voce will also beconducted online. The stu-dents who are unable to offeronline viva due to low bandwidth will have tele-phonic viva.

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Omansh Sharma, a class V stu-dent of City Montessori School,Anand Nagar Campus, won thegold medal in an abacus competition,organised online at zonal level. The contest wasorganised under the aegis of ‘Brainobrain’.

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With World Bank assistance,the Uttar Pradesh gov-

ernment is in the process ofwidening and reinforcing about500-km of roads at a cost of Rs3,269 crore and is expected tospend Rs 630 crore on road safe-ty works. A meeting of theGoverning Board of World Bankreviewed the UP Core RoadNetwork Development Projectin Lucknow on Tuesday. Themeeting was chaired by ChiefSecretary Rajendra KumarTiwari.

Sources said that amongissues discussed were four roadwidening and reinforcementworks of 258.355 km with anestimated cost of Rs 1,415.02crore. All these projects are invarious stages of implementa-tion. Almost 99 per cent workon 49.145 km Garoutha-Chirgaon Road (Jhansi) hasbeen completed. The estimatedcost of the project is Rs 227.17

crore and it is expected to becompleted by September 30,2020. Besides, about 70 percent of work on 72.785 kmHamirpur-Rath road(Hamirpur) would be complet-ed by November 15, 2020, whilethe project will be completed byJuly 2021. The total cost of theproject is around Rs. 349.46crore. Work on 57.30 km Gola-Shahjahanpur road,(Shahjahanpur and Lakhimpur),costing Rs. 418.48 crore, wouldbe completed by November,2021. Apart from this, work on79.125 km Budaun-Bilsi-Amroha-Sambhal road is likelyto be completed by November2021 at a project cost of Rs419.91 crore. Besides, six newworks of road widening andreinforcement totalling 260.10km have also been identified andthey are expected to cost aroundRs 1952.90 crore.

The detailed project reports(DPRs) of these works are beingprepared. About 35 km of

Hamirpur-Rath-Gursarai-Jhansiroad will be completed at a costRs 250 crore; 36 km Moradabad-Haridwar-Dehradun road willbe completed at a cost of Rs356.40 crore; 49.50 km Garh-Sayana-Bulandshahr road willbe completed at a cost of Rs499.20 crore, 60.10 kmBahraich-Gonda-Ayodhya roadwill be completed at a cost of Rs365 crore; 47.50 km Hamirpur-Khuchsar road will be complet-ed at a cost of Rs 289.20 croreand 32 km Bansi-Mehandaval-Khalilabad road will be com-pleted at a cost of Rs 193.10crore. The chief secretary direct-ed the officials to complete allworks within the timeline byintensive supervision and qual-ity testing of all works. He saidthat the DPRs of the six newworks should also be submittedin time. Senior officers fromdepartments of Finance, PublicWorks Department, Home,Transport etc. were present inthe meeting.

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The Centre on Tuesdayannounced a public pri-

vate partnership (PPP) modelfor an intelligent traffic sys-tem to reduce road accidents.Union road transport andhighways minister NitinGadkari on Tuesday saidthere is a need for a policyand a reputed private con-sultant will be appointed tocome out with the model.Gadkari asserted that postimplementation of the MotorVehicles (Amendment) Act,2019, road accidents andrelated deaths have comedown.

On an average, India wit-nesses about 5 lakh roadaccidents per annum inwhich about 1.5 lakh peopledie and about 3 lakh arecrippled.

“This is the time weshould go for PPP (publicprivate partnership) model intransportat ion. . .We wil lappoint a private consultant,a good reputed company tostudy how we can make PPPmodel in transport systemparticularly in IntelligentTransport System (ITS) atstate level, municipal corpo-ration level and the NationalHighways level,” the ministersaid while addressing a webi-nar on road safety. Heannounced a tender will bereleased soon in this regard.

An ITS comprises cen-tralised control centres,closed tolling systems whichalso include components likeCCTV, weather monitoring,

variable message signs,advanced communicationsystem, traffic management,simulation, digital servicesdriven by AI among others tostreamline traffic.

The minister a lsoexpressed confidence thatroad accidents and related 1.5lakh deaths per annum wouldbe reduced by 50% by 2025against the target of 2030.

“We are working on fasttrack mode to achieve thegoal with the cooperation ofall stakeholders especiallythe state governments,” hesaid.

The minister said he hastaken lot of initiatives toreduce road accidents includ-ing correcting black spots orspots witnessing a high num-ber of accidents due to badroad designing or other roadengineering or related flaws.

He said the World Bankand the ADB are providing�7,000 crore each for remov-ing black spots from nation-al highways. “We havealready identified black spotson national highways. Indiahas already spent ?20,000crore on removing the blackspots,” Gadkari further said.

He lauded the TamilNadu government’s effortsto brought down road fatal-ities by 25 percent by imple-menting a project with theWorld Bank’s assistance.

Gadkari also called uponMembers of Parliament whoare chairing District RoadCommittees to identify blackspots and pursue their redressal.

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Taking a cue from the Modi Government'srecent policy to replace imported toys, includ-

ing those largely from China, with the ones local-ly produced, Union Minority Affairs Ministry willresume 'Hunar Haat' from Wednesday to encour-age indigenous toy industry.

After a gap of about 6 months due to the out-break of the Corona pandemic, “Hunar Haat” willrestart from October 9 at Prayagraj (Allahabad)

with the theme of “Local to Global” and focus on indigenous exquisite Indian toys.

Announcing this, Union Minister for MinorityAffairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Tuesday said here that every corner of the country has a traditional and ancestral legacy of indigenous toys.

“This legacy, which was on the verge of extinc-tion, has got a boon after Prime Minister NarendraModi pitched for Swadeshi Toys,” he said.

Naqvi said that every corner of the country isendowed with diversity of indigenous toys

made with wood, brass, bamboo, glass, cloth, paper,clay etc. “Hunar Haat” will be an enormous platform providing market and opportunities tomaster artisans who prepare these indigenousexquisite toys.

More than 30 per cent stalls will be for artisanswho prepare indigenous toys, they will also beextended help through various institutions forattractive packaging of “Swadeshi Toys”.

In the coming days, “Hunar Haat” will be orga-nized at Jaipur (23 Oct -1 November) , Chandigarh(7- 15 November ), Indore (21 to 29 November),Mumbai (22 to 31 December ), Hyderabad (8 to 17January 2021), Lucknow (23 to 31 January 2021),India Gate, New Delhi (13 to 21 February 2021),Ranchi (20 to 28 February 2021), Kota (5 to 14March 2021), Surat/Ahmedabad (20 to 27 March2021) etc.

Naqvi said that this time, people will also be ableto buy “Hunar Haat” products digital and onlinealso. Union Minority Affairs Ministry is register-ing these artisans and their indigenous products on“GeM” (Government e Marketplace).

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The Centre on Tuesday orderedattachment of immovable proper-

ties in Punjab of designated terroristsGurpatwant Singh Pannu and HardeepSingh Nijjar under the UnlawfulActivities (Prevention) Act.

The duo is being probed by theNIA in connection with a case relatingto a concerted campaign launched bysecessionist organisation ‘Sikhs forJustice’ under the banner of ‘SikhReferendum 2020’ for creation of socalled ‘Khalistan’.

“Government of India in exerciseof powers conferred under Section 51Aof Unlawful Activities (Prevention)Act 1967, has ordered for attachmentof the immovable properties of desig-nated terrorists - Gurpatwant SinghPannun in District Amritsar, Punjaband Hardeep Singh Nijjar in District

Jalandhar, Punjab, the NIA said in astatement.

During the course of investigation,the NIA had identified immovableproperties belonging to Pannun inAmritsar, and those of Nijjar inJalandhar, and moved the Governmentfor attachment of these assets proper-ties under the provisions of theUA(P)Act, 1967.

The attached properties Pannuinclude 46 Kanal at village Khankot,Amritsar,Punjab and 11 Kanal 13.5Marlas Sultanwind SuburbanBhainiwal, Amritsar, Punjab.

Nijjar’s attached asset is 11 Kanal 13Marlas in area at village Bhar,Singhpura, Pillaur, Jalandhar (Punjab).

Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), headed byUSA-based terrorist Gurpatwant SinghPannun, is presently making efforts topropagate ‘Sikh Referendum-2020’onsocial media.

��#��/�&��;��&%��$��6�;��%��Bhadohi (PTI): A court here on Tuesday rejected the bail plea of Bhadohi'sGyanpur MLA Vijay Mishra in connection with a case of criminal intimida-tion and wrongful confinement.

The Nishad Party MLA is currently lodged in a Chitrakoot jail. Government counsel Dinesh Pandey said District and Sessions Judge Anil

Kumar rejected his bail plea. Mishra was arrested from Madhya Pradesh after a relative of his lodged a

case of criminal intimidation and wrongful confinement against him, his wifeRamlali, a member of the state legislative council, and son Vishnu.

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Hectic efforts are going onat some main ghats of

river Ganga in this holy city toremove the huge quantity ofsoil deposited there due torecent rise in water level. Forthe last couple of days, thewater level is falling sharplymaking the ghat stairs slipperyand posing a lot of inconve-niences to many reaching thereto offer pind-daan to theirforefathers during ongoingPitrapaksh. After reaching68.63 metres against the warn-ing level of 70.26 metres, theriver had started receding butprior to this, it had forced theriver Varuna to flow reverse tosome extent upto Sailputri area.

However, it was a greatrelief to thousands of residentsliving in several localities sit-uated on both the banks ofVaruna. Meanwhile, the clean-ing the slippery ghat stairsdrive received a disruption asrain hit the city in afternoon.

Though its duration was shortit has caused water-logging inmany areas.

The river was recorded at66.72 metres at 8 am onTuesday as per the report oflocal office of Central WaterCommission (CWC) whichindicates that during the lasttwo days the water level was

fallen sharply by 1.91 metresand it continued recedingright from upstreamPhaphamau to Bal l iaincluding Allahabad,Mirzapur, Varanasi andGhazipur.

As the river Gomti alsostarted receding, the residentsof several villages in Daab

area, surrounded by riversGanga and Gomti near theirconfluence about 25 kms fromhere, heaved a sigh of relief. Indownstream Ballia where theriver caused flood flowingabove the red mark for a cou-ple of days has come down to57.27 metres against a dangerlevel of 57.61 metres but it isstill flowing above the warn-ing level of 56.61 metres. It isexpected that by Wednesdaymorning level would fall fur-ther to 56.90 metres and if thetrend continues by evening itwould come down below thewarning level.

Due to this sharp fallingin flood water, it has startedcausing soil erosion at manyplaces in Ballia and low-lyingareas of other districts.

Recently, r iver Sarjucaused flood havoc in Ballia,surrounded by three majorrivers while river Ghagara inMau and Azamgarh districtsin this belt of Purvanchal(eastern UP).

��*�� 6�3��.

Under the phasewise agita-tion, the junior engineers

and promoted engineers ofElectricity department onTuesday went on 48-hours‘cooperative satyagrah’ whiledischarging their duties inprotest against the decisiontaken by the state governmentto privatise the PurvanchalVidyut Vitaran Nigam Limited(PVVNL). At the same time,they threatened to intensify theagitation in the next phase ifthe government and manage-ment of UP Power CorporationLimited fail in paying seriousconsideration to their demandto withdraw the decision.

The Rajya Vidyut ParishadJunior Engineer Sanghtan, UPhas announced to go on 48-hours ‘cooperative satyagrah’under its second phase of agi-tation to draw the attention ofthe government towards itsdecision to hand over thePVVNL into private handdespite it is making profit andproviding the better service toconsumers.

They decided to raise theprotest against the decision ofgovernment to make privatisa-tion of PVVNL while dis-charging their duty and willremain available at powerhouses, power sub-stations andoffices continuously for 48

hours during the ‘cooperativesatyagrah’, the district presidentof organisation Sanjay Bhartisaid adding, the aim behind the‘cooperative satyagrah’ is toput up their protest while mak-ing cooperation with the gov-ernment and PowerCorporation’s management.

The engineers, junior engi-neers and employees of thedepartment are dischargingtheir duty even in the presentcrisis of COVID-19 pandemicwithout caring for their livesand contrary to this, the privateinstitutions engage with elec-tricity service did nothing, thedistrict secretary of organisa-tion Neeraj Bind said blaming,despite this the government ismaking efforts to hand over itinto private hand which isvery unfortunate.

The privatisation ofPVVNL will affect the servicecondition of power engineersand employees and at sametime, it will also increase elec-tricity tariff manifolds, he saidadding, the decision willimpose additional financialburden on consumers besidesto face the exploitation of pri-vate companies. The privatisa-tion system has virtuallyproved fiasco in states wherethe Electricity department washanded over into private com-panies, he said further.

The organisation had given

some suggestions to reduceline loss but the managementpaid no attention and the gov-ernment seems rigid on its pri-vatisation instead of takinginitiatives to provide betterservice to consumers by mate-rialising the suggestions,Indrapal Singh blamed. Theorganisation has also somedemands such as the promo-tion period from junior engi-neer to assistant engineershould be made for sevenyears, the authority letter ofpayment of promoted assistantengineers should be released atthe earliest, the order for twoincrement of promoted engi-neers on their basic pay scaleshould be issued at the earliest,etc, he added.

The agitation will be inten-sified in the next phase if thegovernment and managementof power corporations fail inpaying serious attentiontowards the demands of organ-isation and reconsidering itsdecision of the privatisation ofPVVNL and the managementwill be responsible for theinconvenience of consumers,they threatened.

NO JEEVAPUTRIKAPUJA AT SURYA SAROVAR:In the wake of restrictionsimposed by district administra-tion on the organisation of anysocial or religious programmedue to global COVID-19 pan-

demic, no Maa JeevaputrikaVrat Puja will be organised atfamous Surya Sarovar Kund inDiesel Locomotive Works(DLW) premises this time. Thefestival will be celebrated onSeptember 10 and it is verypopular in this belt when mar-ried women observe fast for thewelfare of their sons. In view ofdistrict administration orders,Maa Jeeviputrika Vrat PujaCommittee of DLW has decid-ed that no programme wouldbe organised at Surya Sarovarthis year and seeks cooperationof all the residents to preventthe spread of pandemic.

Earlier, a technical seminaron 'Windows 10 and e-Office'was organised through theMicrosoft team during theongoing Rajbhasha (officiallanguage) fortnight under theaegis of DLW Rajbhashadepartment.

Highlighting the fortnight-ly events, Senior RajbhashaOfficer Dr Sanjay KumarSingh, in his address, apprisedthe officers, supervisors andemployees of the importance of'Windows 10 and e-Office' inofficial work. In the organisa-tion of the technical confer-ence, there was a large discus-sion with the participants onthe difficulties faced in com-puter-generated work and mea-sures were also suggested tosolve it.

��*�� 6�3��.�

Women workers ofBharatiya Janata Party

(BJP) from the parliamentaryconstituency of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi filed a com-plaint against Shiv Sena MPfrom Rajya Sabha Sanjay Rautat Sigra police station here onTuesday. They demanded thatan FIR should be lodgedagainst the Maharashtra leaderfor his insulting and threaten-ing statement againstBollywood actress KanganaRanaut. However, accordingto the Sigra police, they hadreceived the complaint butonly after going through thesame they would decidewhether an FIR would be

lodged or not.State convener of BJP (Beti

Bachao Beti Padhao Cell) DrRachna Agrawal said that

Maharashtra Shiv Sena leaderSanjay Raut had used deroga-tory and insulting remarksagainst Kangana apart from

threatening her life. ‘The insultof a person, especially awoman, by someone holding aconstitutional post is againstthe Constitution. It is alsoagainst the Indian culture anddignity of great Maratha per-sonality Chatrapati Shivaji,’ shesaid.

In this direction, BJP’s cellworkers reached Sigra policestation and filed their com-plaint, demanding to lodge anFIR against Raut. They alsodemanded strict action againstShiv Sena MP.

Among those who werealso present on the occasionwere Lata Agrawal, PritiPurohit, Ratna Verma,Priti Jaiswal and ReshmaSathwani.

��*��

General Manager NorthCentral Railway Rajiv

Chaudhry reviewed position ofsafety in train operations,freight loading, works for long-term infrastructure improve-ment in goods sheds and otherimportant items through videoconferencing with PHODs ofNorth Central Railway andDivisional Railway ManagersPrayagraj, Jhansi and Agra onTuesday.

For safe passage of trains;distance of fixed objects fromtrack like OHE masts, signals,structure on platforms, FOBsare stipulated under scheduleof dimensions (SOD) which isminimum prescribeddistance for each item andfollowed on Railways for var-ious installations along thetrack.

While reviewing safety intrain operations; GMChaudhry directed divisionsto launch a safety drive tocheck actual distance of crit-ical installation w.r.t. stipulat-ed SOD. Railways follow avery stringent process of pro-curement and testing ofsafety critical items requiredfor operation and mainte-nance.

General Manager stressedthat it is utmost importantthat procuring as well as userdepartments keep properrecord on performance ofthese materials and advisedthat any pre-mature failure,warranty failure cases etc.need to reported regularlyand taken to logical conclu-sion to ensure that only

proven quality materials areused in operation and main-tenance activities.

Loading performance ofNorth Central Railway wasalso reviewed in video confer-ence. Chaudhry complement-ed all departments and divi-sions for improved loadingand said that we will have tocontinue our effort to keepthis momentum going.Despite COVID-19 position,North Central Railway hasregistered improved loadingconsecutively in last threemonths i.e. June, July andAugust-2020 as compared tosame period of 2019. Duringthis financial year NCR hasloaded 5.88 million tonnesfreight till August-20 and hasset target to load 11.06 milliontonnes more in September-20to March-21 period to achievethe overall target of 16.94million tonnes for 2020-21.Till August-20, NCR hasearned freight revenue of�639.62 crore which hasincreased by �42.76 croreover freight revenue of�596.86 crore in April toAugust 2019.

For increasing freightloading, NCR has taken seriesof steps which includes forma-tion of BDUs, increase ingoods train average speed,short-term inputs in goodssheds etc.

After completing immedi-ate improvement works ingoods sheds, North CentralRailway is now working onlong-term loading infrastruc-ture improvements and hassanctioned importantworks in current financial

year 2020-21 for goods shedsover NCR —

Agra Extension ofPlatform, provision of highmast light and merchant roomfacilities for loading/ unload-ing at Ramgarh station � 247.4lakh.

Prayagraj Provision ofGoods siding platform atKurastikalan for loading &unloading of misc. materials.�244.7 lakh

Prayagraj Improvement ofloading and unloading area ofgoods shed at Panki Dham. �236.0 lakh

Prayagraj Converting lineno 14 into additional DD lineand Improvement of PF sur-face of goods shed area byreleased PSC sleeper � 248.5lakh.

Prayagraj Raising andImprovement to AligarhGoods shed. � 236.2 lakh

Prayagraj Raising andImprovement of Shikohabadgoods shed. �249.2 lakh

Prayagraj Raising andImprovement of CPC goodsshed by using unserviceablesleepers and other works. �220.0 lakh Prayagraj Raisingand Improvement of goodsshed surface etc. at PrayagrajChheoki goods shed. � 248.5lakh

Prayagraj Improvement ofPF Surface of Mainpuri goodsshed area by released PSCsleepers � 85.0 lakh

Jhansi Ancillary work atTikamgarh to facilitate goodsloading/unloading � 38.0 lakh.

Total Goods sheds infra-structure work sanctioned in2020-21 of � 2053.5 lakh

North Central Railway is

working in mission mode tocomplete these works withinnext one year time.

RLYS REGISTER 10 PCJUMP IN FREIGHT LOAD-ING : Railways registers morethan 10 per cent jump infreight loading compared tolast year for same correspond-ing period.

Freight loading for themonth of September 2020 tillSeptember 6, 2020 over tooklast year’s figure for the sameperiod in both Financial andLoading terms.

Loading crosses lastyear’s loading for the sameperiod by more than 10 percent while earning fromfreight is also �. 129.68 crorehigher as compared to lastyear’s earnings for the sameperiod

In the month ofSeptember 2020 till September6, 2020 Indian Railways load-ing was 19.19 million tonneswhich is 10.41per cent (1.81million tonnes) higher com-pared to last year’s loading forthe same period

Number of concessions/discounts are also being givenin Indian Railways to makeRailways Freight movementvery attractive

It may be noted thatimprovements in freightmovements will be institution-alised and incorporated inthe upcoming zero based timetable.

COVID-19 has been usedby Indian Railways anopportunity to improve allround efficiencies and perfor-mances.

��*��

Senior Superintendent ofPolice, Prayagraj, Abhishek

Dixit has been placed undersuspension on serious chargesof corruption and dereliction ofduty. He has been attached tothe office of the DGO duringthe suspension period.

According to reports theChief Minister had receivedseveral complaints against thePrayagraj SSP, this action hasbeen taken on his instructions.

The official communiquereads that the Prayagraj SSPadopted corrupt means intransfer-posting besides turn-ing a blind eye towards theinstructions from the PoliceHead Quartets. He has alsobeen found guilty of derelictionof duty, failure in crime control,and not maintaining law andorder properly, especially dur-ing corona period. The SSP wasalso reluctant towards pendinginvestigations.

People in Prayagraj werewaiting eagerly for the name ofthe IPS officer who will replaceAbhishek Dixit. As per the

press communiqueSarvashreshtha Tripathi willbe the new SSP of Prayagraj.

Sarvashreshtha Tripathihails from Gorakhpur and is anIPS of 2006 batch from Andhra

Pradesh cadre. He is in Uttar Pradesh on

deputation since November2019, and was DCP North,Lucknow till date.

LAWYER SHOT AT,INJURED: An advocate byprofession and former studentleader of Allahabad UniversityAkram Faisal was shot at andinjured in Beli area of the cityon Tuesday. He has beenrushed to hospital in policepresence. Police Circle Officerreached the spot.

It is learnt that some per-sons, known to Faisal, gave hima call and fixed a meeting forthe payment of some dues.

The miscreants reachedthe spot in a car. On the issueof payment some altercationtook place and the criminalsfired aiming Faisal who injuredhis leg.

The criminals escapedfrom the scene immediately,and in haste they left the pis-tol there only.

As the criminals wereknown to Faisal, the policehopes that they will be nabbedsoon.

��*��

The figure of corona infect-ed has surged to 12,000

mark on Monday night. Thetotal number increased to12,069 with 353 new patientsbeing detected within 24 hours.Although 334 people were alsodischarged on the same day. Atotal of 8,562 patients havebeen cured so far. This wasconfirmed by CMO Dr GSBajpai. He said that four peo-ple have also died from coro-na.

According to the CMO, 48patients were discharged onMonday. With this, the totalnumber of those dischargedfrom hospitals has increased to3428. On Monday, 10 peoplewere discharged fromKalindipuram, seven fromRailway Hospital, four fromUnani, 10 from Beli, two fromprivate hospital, 10 fromSwaroop Rani Nehru Hospital.Apart from this, 45 are admit-ted in Railway Hospital, 67from Kalindipuram, 12 inUnani, 70 in two private hos-pitals, 36 in Beli and 130 inSRN Hospital in Prayagrajand 15 from other districts.

Apart from this, homeisolation was completed on286 people on Monday, takingthe total number of people dis-charged from home isolationto 5134. At present, the num-ber of active cases has reached3,327. The recovery rate hascome down to 71 per centfrom earlier. It is down bythree per cent. On Monday, aswab sample of 2,790 sus-

pects was taken, while thereport of 2,074 people hascome negative.

Till last month, the situa-tion was that active cases weremore and the number ofhealthy people was less but thetrend changed from the lastweek of August. Now thenumber of patients recoveringis more while the activepatients are less. There are cur-rently 3,327 active patientsadmitted to Covid hospitals inhome isolation. SRN is the L3Covid Hospital, so most of theserious patients are being

brought here, in which someserious patients are put on aventilator and some patientsare given oxygen as necessary.

Four corona-infectedpatients died during treat-ment in the last 24 hours. Italso includes an 80-year-oldelderly who lived near MaryLucas School. He was admit-ted to SRN on August 4 and hebreathed his last on August 7.Apart from this, an infectedpatient hailing fromHanumanganj lost his life. Hewas brought to Covid Hospitalin critical condition but could

not escape. Similarly, a 62-year-old patient of Ghurpuralso died in SRN Hospital. Hewas on dialysis.

Dr. Rishi Sahai, the nodalofficer for COVID-19, saidthat these days the testing ofcorona has been expeditedacross the district. This is why2,500 to 3,000 patients aresampled every day.On Monday, the testing reportof 2,074 samples camenegative. He said that 2,790suspect patients have beensampled from different testingcentres.

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The number of patients whohave been recovered from

home isolation has crossed5K-mark in the district here onTuesday, giving a major boostto the fight against coron-avirus pandemic. As many as173 new COVID-19 cases havebeen detected during the day.With this, the total number ofcases has reached 9,359.Besides, the district also sawtwo more deaths, increasing thetoll to 162. During the day, thefollow-up negative reportsincluded 115 patients. Out ofthem, 114 patients recoveredfrom home isolation and thetotal number of patients curedat home has increased to 5,096.Besides, one recovered fromthe hospital and the number ofpatients who have been dis-charged from the hospitals hasreached 2,402. The total num-ber of cured patients is now7,498, leaving 1,699 active

patients. The recovery rate hasimproved to 80.11 per cent butmortality rate to 1.73 per cent.

Chief Medical Officer(CMO) Dr VB Singh hasinformed that by the first of theday at 11 am, 131 positivepatients were detected out of1,566 reports received. Till

then, the total test reportsreceived were 1,30,741 and theresults of 3,979 are awaited. Outof these 1,21,424 were negative,while 9,317 positive. The totalnumber of samples collectedwas 1,44,740. Earlier, a female(67) from Ram Janaki Towerdied at Apex Hospital, while a

female (55) from Chitrasenpur,Kachhwa Road succumbed toCOVID-19 at SSH BHU.

Besides, with the additionof 23 new red zones, the totalnumber of hotspots hasincreased to 1,659 including369 red zones. Three greenzones have been convertedinto red zones again. There are1,290 green zones including 12new ones.

In this belt of Purvanchalcomprising 10 districts of threedivisions, 466 new cases werefound on Monday, increasingthe total number to 33,813 withmaximum 123 cases inVaranasi, followed by 77 inBallia, 64 in Sonbhadra, 43 inChandauli. 36 in Jaunpur, 35 inAzamgarh, 35 in Ghazipur, 22in Mau, 19 in Mirzapur and 12in Bhadohi. Apart from this,the day saw eight deathsincluding two each in Varanasi,Azamgarh and Chandauli andone each in Jaunpur andGhazipur.

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The Northern CoalfieldsLimited (NCL), a

Miniratna company, is pro-viding financial assistance of �5crore to Uttar Pradesh govern-ment under its CSR pro-gramme for purchasing 50ambulances. In this directionits General Manager (GM-CSR) Atmeshwar Pathak andadditional chief executive offi-cer (ACEO) of UP StateDisaster ManagementAuthority Mahendra Singhsigned a memorandum ofunderstanding (MoU) recent-ly. This contribution of NCLwill play an important role instrengthening the emergency

medical facility in the state andprovide better health facilitiesto the needy people. During thepandemic period, NCL hadalso provided 25,000 sanitisers,10 infrared thermometers,1,000 PPE kits, 5,000 masks,1,000 sanitiser bottles contain-ing 500 ml alcohol, 200 litres ofhypo chloride and 500 kgsbleaching powder toSonbhadra district adminis-tration.

Meanwhile in the Jayantproject area of NCL a sanitisa-tion drive was conducted atCentral Hospital, Singrauli,with the support of CentralIndustrial Security Force(CISF) personnel to prevent thespread of coronavirus. During

this pandemic period, CISFfirefighters are continuouslyengaged in such works. It maybe pointed out here that theJayant area is constantly gettingsanitsation work done in itswork and public places besidesresidential premises and near-by rural areas.

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The head post office, Sagarbranch, MP, has issued a

postage stamp with the pictureof social worker and presidentJDC Bank, Uday Singh Pindari,under ‘My Stamp’ scheme. Abrief programme of ‘MyStamp’ illustration coverwas held at the DistrictCooperative Bank(DCB) located onKaramer Road onMonday. On the occa-sion for the commend-able national, social andpolitical works done by UdaySingh Pindari a memento of‘My Stamp’ (own postagestamp) was presented to himby Malkhan Singh Rai of headpost office, Sagar, MP, and by

Gaurishankar, editor of themonthly ‘Jan Arshiwad’ pub-lished from Bhopal. The pro-gramme was presided over byRamendra Singh, district pres-ident, BJP. On the occasionBharatiya Janata Party (BJP) dis-trict spokesperson Shakti Ghoi,

Rajkumar Rai, retiredpost master,Ramnarayan Rai,Ravindra Parihar,Murat Singh Rai,Rakesh Kumar Rai,Kashiram Rai, SubhashPindari, RampyareTiwari, Brij Bhushan

Singh Munnu, Shyam PrakashDinesh Chandra, DevendraKumar Singh, SaurabhAginhotri, Abhimanyu Singh,Dimple and other dignitarieswere present.

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DM Sushil Kumar Patel haswarned the working agen-

cies to complete the work with-in the deadline otherwiseremain prepared to face themusic during the review of pro-jects worth �10 crore to �50crores at his collectorate officeon Monday. Reviewing theprojects he made it clear thatthe projects in which the fundhad been released timelyrevised estimate with increasedcost would not be allowed at all.He said that in such cases theresponsibility would be fixedfor delay as well as the exces-sive increase in cost. Reviewingeach point under the priority ofthe government he said thatworks should be carried out asper the norms along with qual-ity. During the review theDM was apprised by the offi-cers concerned about theprogress under Pradhan MantriAvas Yojna rural as well asurban, strengthening of roads,community toilet, MPLADfunds, Vidhayak nidhi,Anganbadi centres, personaltoilets etc. The meeting wasattended by CDO AvinashSingh, DPRO, PO DUDAalong with working agencies.

Meanwhile DistrictMagistrate Sushil Kumar Patelat a ‘god bharaai’ function

organised under the aegis ofICDS at Anganbaadi centre inNauhaan village under cityblock opined that the breastfeeding was the best way tokeep the baby healthy.Emphasising over breast feed-ing he was of the view that itwas a fit diet for the babies andfor that fit health of pregnantwomen was equally necessary.He said under that very spiritthe government made the planto ensure that pregnant womenremained healthy for the birthof a healthy baby. He directedto officers concerned to takecare of pregnant women as wellas new born babies regardingthe availability of nutritionalfood items and use fund inproper way. Under the ‘GodBharai’ and ‘Annaprashan’ pro-gramme the DM provided thehealth kits to some pregnantwomen and nutritional food tothe babies. Addressing thefunction, CDO Avinash Singhsaid that a healthy baby was anasset for the nation so we

should take care of pregnantwomen and adopt all the pos-sible ways to keep the new bornbaby healthy. On the occasionhe gave tips about nutritionaldiet and urged the people totake care of family for theirbright future. Project OfficerICDS PK Singh proposed thevote of thanks and thanked thegathering for maintaining socialdistancing on the occasion.

MRF CENTRE: ChairmanNagar Palika Parishad (NPP)Manoj Jaiswal during his visitto the site of material recoveryfacility (MRF) centre atBarkachha eight kilometresaway from the city said that itwas the way through which thepalika could earn along withmaking the city cleaner. He saidthat work would be completedwithout inordinate delay and asper the facility of the projectthings like manure material,plastic and others would beseparated from garbage.During his visit a team of theexperts also accompanied him.

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The Shahpur police arrestedthree accused along with

ganja and charas from an areaunder the Mohddipur over-bridge. The arrested accusedwere later identified as AmarSingh, a resident of Tevar underthe Cholapur police station inVaranasi, Praveen Pandey, aresident of Chhapra, Bihar,and Rajkumar Chauhan, a res-ident of Mohripur under theChiluatal police station.

Shahpur Station HouseOfficer (SHO) Sudhir Singhsaid that one kilogram of cha-ras and ganja each have beenrecovered from the possessionof the arrested accused. Allthree of them were produced incourt. from where they weresent to jail, he added.

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The previously notifiedG o r a k h p u r - D e l h i

Humsafar special train fromSeptember 12 on everySaturday, Sunday, Wednesdayand Friday till further noticeafter departing fromGorakhpur and stopping atAnandnagar, Naugarh(Siddharthnagar), Badhni,Balrampur, Gonda, Lucknow(NR) and Kanpur Central sta-tions will go to Anand ViharTerminus in place of Delhi,CPRO PK Singh said. During thereturn journey the 02572 Delhi-Gorakhpur Humsafar specialfrom September 13 everyMonday, Thursday, Saturday andSunday will leave from AnandVihar Terminus instead of Delhiand reach Gorakhpur after stop-ping at Kanpur Central, Lucknow,Gonda, Balrampur, Barhni,Naugarh and Anandnagar sta-tions. The 02571/02572Gorakhpur-Anand ViharTerminus-Gorakhpur Humsafarspecial train will 20 coaches.Meanwhile as per the instructionsissued by the Railway Board themovement of following specialtrains will be done from NERfromSeptember 12. The 02669 MGRChennai Central-Chhapra bi-weekly superfast special fromSeptember 12 will depart fromMGR Chennai Central at 17.40hours on every Monday andSaturday, and after stopping atOngole, the next day at VijayawadaJn, Khammam Warangal, SirpurKagaznagar, Balharshah,Chandrapur, Sevagram,Nagpur, Betul, Itarsi Pipariya,Jabalpur, Katni, Satna, the third dayat Prayagraj Jn, Bhadohi, Varanasi

Jn, Ghazipur City and Ballia willarrive at Chhapra at 11:45 hours.During return journey 02670Chhapra-MGR Chennai Centralbi-weekly special train will fromSeptember 14 depart fromChhapra at 21.00 hours on everyMonday and Wednesday andafter stopping at Ballia, GhazipurCity, the second day at VaranasiJn, Bhadohi, Prayagraj Jn, Satna,Katni, Jabalpur, Pipariya, Itarsi,Betul, Nagpur, Sevagram,Chandrapur, Balharshah, SirpurKagajnagar, the third day atWarangal, Khammam,Vijayawada Jn, Ongole and reachMGR Chennai Central at 14.25hours. The 09051 Valsad-Muzaffarpur weekly special willdepart from Valsad fromSeptember 12 (Saturday) and afterstopping atUdhna Jn, Nandurbar,Jalgaon, Bhusawal Jn, Itarsi,Jabalpur, Katni, Satna, PrayagrajChheoki, Varanasi Jn., Ballia,Chapra, Sonpur and HajipurJunction will reach Muzaffarpur.The 09052 Muzaffarpur-Valsadweekly special on return journeyafter departing from Muzaffarpurfrom on September 14 (Monday)and after stopping at Hajipur Jn,Sonpur, Chhapra, Ballia, VaranasiJn, Prayagraj Chheoki, Satna,Katni, Jabalpur, Itarsi, BhusavalJn, Jalgaon, Nandurbar andUdhna Jn will reach Valsad. The01107 Gwalior-Manduadih dailyspecial from September 12 willdepart from Gwalior at 20.55hours and after stopping atDabra, Datia, Jhansi, Newari,Mau, Ranipur, Harpalpur,Belatal, Kulpahar, Mahoba,Banda, Atrara, ChitrakootDham, Manikpur, ShankargarhNaini, Prayagraj, Prayag,Phulpur, Janghai, Suriyawan

and Bhadohi and reachManduadih at 11.05 hours.During the return journey,01108 Manduadih-Gwalior dailyspecial will leave Manduwadihat 16.30 hours from September13 and after stopping atChakhandi, Bhadohi,Suriyawan, Janghai, Phulpur,Prayag, Prayagraj Naini,Shankargarh, Manikpur,Chitrakoot Dham, Atrara,Banda, Mahoba, Kulpahar,Belatal, Harpalpur, MauRanipur, Niwari, Jhansi, DatiaDabra and reach Gwalior at08.40 hours. The 02004 NewDelhi-Lucknow Jn dailyShatabdi special train fromSeptember 12 will depart fromNew Delhi at 6.10 hours andafter stopping at Ghaziabad,Aligarh Jn, Tundla, Etawah andKanpur Central will arrive atLucknow Jn at 12.45 hours. The02003 Lucknow Jn-New DelhiJn daily Shatabdi special fromSeptember 12 will depart fromLucknow at 15.35 hours andafter stopping at Kanpur Central,Etawah, Tundla, Aligarh Jn andGhaziabad reach New Delhi at22.15 hrs. The 04724 Bhiwani Jn- Kanpur Central daily specialtrain from September 12 till fur-ther notice leave Bhiwani Jn at18.35 hours and after stopping atKharak, Kalanaur Kalan, Lahli,Rohtak Jn, Sampla, Bahadurgarh,Shakurbasti, Delhi Kishanganj,Delhi Jn, Delhi Shahadra,Ghaziabad, Aligarh, Tundla Jn,Firozabad, Shikohabad Jn,Mainpuri, Bhongaon, Farrukhabad,Fatehgarh, Kamalganj,Gursahaiganj, Kannauj, Bilhaur,Barrajpur, Kalyanpur, KanpurAnwarganj and reach KanpurCentral at 11.35 hours.

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District Magistrate AlokTiwari said it was manda-

tory for all private hospitalswhich were treating COVID-19patients had to carry out Covidtests even of non-Covidpatients before admitting themto the hospital.

He said during a raid car-ried out on Tuesday at one pri-vate hospital, ParamountHospital, it was found thatbefore admitting the patientsthe hospital did not carry outCovid test although in theadmission records symptomsof COVID-19 were clearlymentioned.

He said an FIR had beenlodged against the hospitalfor violating the laws relatingto pandemic.

The district magistratesaid that any patient coming toa hospital for treatment of anydisease would be admittedonly after Covid test and vio-lation of this requirementwould lead to legal action.

He said admitting patientswithout test was a big threat tothe other patients and doctorsand paramedical team of thatparticular hospital and thus itwas punishable.

He said with the UP gov-ernment concerned over thefailure of Kanpur Nagar med-ical and district officials inbringing down the COVID-19death rate and even controllingthe spread of novel coron-avirus, it had been decided totake stern action against thoseviolating the pandemic proto-col.

The district magistratelater made a surprise visit tothe Zeus Hospital and tookfeedback of the treatment,facilities and if the normswere being followed in theright earnest. He even inter-acted with the patients in theICU through video confer-encing and enquired if thedoctors visited them or not.

Tiwari said failure of doc-tors to visit the patients in theICU would be a seriousoffence and would not be tol-erated.

Meanwhile, holding a latenight meeting at the collec-torate on Monday, the districtmagistrate directed the policeto take stern action against any

violation of Covid norms inthe containment areas.

He said people seen onroads even on foot withoutmasks should be fined ortaken to task and this respon-sibility had been assigned tothe police officials concerned.

The district magistratesaid people had to under-stand that it was a must towear mask outside their hous-es. He said the police had alsobeen asked to stop car driversand motorcycle riders andslap heavy fine if they werefound not to be wearing facemask.

He said all shopkeepersand salesperson had to wearface mask, preferably a double-layered one.

Tiwari said Kanpur NagarNigam should immediately

provide a list of contractors forcontainment areas to all policestations so that the momentthe list of positive persons wasprovided to them they couldswing into action and ensurethat the house or the area wasimmediately sealed.

He said if there were con-stant cases of COVID-19 fromthe same area, then the con-tainment period be increasedaccordingly.

He said the list shouldhave the name of affected per-son, his or her family membersand their close contacts andsamples be taken on priority.

The district magistratesaid in areas which were con-tainment zones, a special com-mittee of residents should beconstituted to maintain a vigilso that there was no violation

of norms. He said such com-mittees be supported by homeguards and police personnel sothat there was no violation.

Tiwari said the officialsshould also ensure that in allthe containment areas, theassigned stores made door todoor delivery of essential com-modities and other provisions.

He said in containmentareas the people should not befound loitering. He said in caseof multistoried building, thewhole area should not be con-tained and instead only thatparticular building should becontained.

The district magistratesaid there were large numberof complaints that since March2020-end till date, the KNNhad not carried out sanitisa-tion in many localities. Hedirected the KNN to ensuresanitisation was carried out ina transparent manner. Hedirected the city magistrates tocarry out surprise visits innon-Covid hospitals to find ifthere was Flu OPD and hold-ing areas. He said they wouldalso have to get all the peoplewith cold and flu symptomstested and information of suchpeople should be immediate-ly sent to the Control Room.

DIG Praminder Singh,COs, ACMs, SPs and addi-tional municipal commis-sioner and zonal officials tookpart in the meeting.

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The civil construction of theKanpur Metro Project is

progressing at a remarkablepace. First of all, the 9-km-longpriority corridor is being con-structed between IIT, Kanpurand Motijheel. The construc-tion work for the base of theconcourse level of the IITMetro Station has been com-pleted. A total of 50 double T-girders have been used for cre-ating the base of the concourselevel of the IIT station.

Significantly, the KanpurMetro is the first metro projectin the country where double T-girders are being used to pre-pare the concourse of the metrostations to speed up civil con-struction work. Due to thisinnovation of UP Metro RailCorporation, the concourse ofIIT Metro station could becompleted in such a short time.

The erection of the doubleT-girders was commenced onJuly 25, 2020 and so far 50 dou-ble T-girders have been erect-ed. These double T-girders are

pre-cast — they are construct-ed in the Casting Yard and thenplaced at the designated loca-tion in the corridor.Implementation of such aprocess for constructionenhances the aesthetic beautyof the Metro structure and

helps in providing pace to civilconstruction.

Besides these double T-girders, 36 U-girders have alsobeen erected. The casting ofboth the girders is been doneat quite a pace at the CastingYard located in Lakhanpur.

In addition to this, all the22 piers of the Kalyanpur metrostation have also been con-structed and now, double T-girders will be erected on thesepillars for constructing theconcourse level of theKalyanpur metro station.

Praising the dedication ofthe Metro engineers, UPMRCManaging Director KumarKeshav said the hard workand devotion of the wholeteam had helped in achievinga milestones even in the diffi-cult times of pandemic.

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��4� ��5(��KANPUR (PNS): Kanpur Nagar reported 459 more coronaviruspositive cases on Tuesday evening. Chief Medical Officer Dr AnilK Mishra said with 459 more people testing positive betweenMonday evening and Tuesday evening, the tally of the confirmedcoronavirus cases in the city had surged to 18,042.

He said with 66 COVID-19 patients being discharged in thelast 24 hours, 5,146 infected people had been cured in the city.

The CMO said five COVID-19 deaths were reported tillTuesday evening, taking the death toll to 494. He informed atpresent 4,208 active cases were undergoing treatment in the city.The CMO said 5,010 samples were collected in the district fortesting.

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Under the aegis of theGovernment of India’s

Atmanirbhar package, theregional office of KanpurUnion Bank of India organiseda camp for sanction of loansunder the PM SVANidhi,MUDRA, PMEGP and otherMSME related schemes onTuesday.

On this occasion, Memberof Parliament Devendra SinghBhole, Mayor Pramila Pandey,MLC Arun Pathak, KNNDeputy Commissioner AKRoy, AK Varma, lead districtmanager, Rajiv Mishra, fieldgeneral manager, Union Bankof India, Lucknow, addressedthe gathering.

The programme was

organised by the Union Bankof India through AKSChauhan, DGM, RegionalHead, UBI, Kanpur and histeam.

The function was attended

by over 90 beneficiaries of var-ious schemes of Union Bank ofIndia along with Vazir Sultan,Deputy Regional Head, ROKanpur, Randheer Kumar,AGM, SARAL and Pyarelal

AGM-Mid Corporate Branch,Kanpur.

The total sanctioned A/cwas 404 and total sanctionedamount 6,304.80 in ten para-meters.

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The Panki police and theSWAT (Special Weapons

and Tactics) team have busteda gang duping people on thepretext of given them loanthrough fake finance compa-nies, late Monday night. Thepolice arrested six members ofthe gang and sent them to jail.

For the past around twoweeks, the police were gettinginformation about the opera-tion of two finance companyagents (Fino Finance & ROOne Finance) in the city who,after duping people of Rs 500to Rs 2,000 on the pretext ofgiving them loan, would dis-appear and switch off theirmobile phones.

During investigations, theSWAT team

came to know that theseself-styled agents were not affil-iated to any finance companyand that no office of anyfinance company in Rawatpur.

Meanwhile, when the vic-tims of these agents lodgedreports with Babupurwa, RailBazaar, Bajaria and Anwarganjpolice stations, SSP PritinderSingh set up a joint team ofSOG (Special OperationGroup) and Panki police.

On a tip-off, the policeteam raided a spot on Bhauntihighway late Monday nightand arrested six persons whenthey were planning to leave thecity. The police recovered Rs42,000 in cash, fake ID cards,fake forms of Fino FinanceCompany, SIM, mobile phonesand ATM cards from them.

On being quizzed, theydisclosed that Satyam Pandeyand Alok Mishra wereemployed in RO One FinanceCompany and after beingsacked by the employer, theyhad formed a separate teamand started duping gulliblepeople. Those arrested wereidentified as Satyam Pandey ofAmhat Golabari, Sultanpur;Alok Mishra of Gangarampur,Mallawan (North), Hardoi;Sachin Dubey of KudwarBhandara, Sultanpur; RajvirSingh of Mangalpur (KanpurDehat); Nitesh of Tulsi Nagar,Rasoolabad (Kanpur Dehat)and Karan Singh of Khanpur,Phaphund (Auraiya).

Panki Station Officer AtulKumar Singh said raids were onto nab other members of thegang.

.��,��A youth and his sister were

killed while their elder sistersustained serious injuries whentheir motorcycle collided witha Roadways bus on nationalhighway between Bhewan andNayapurwa villages lateMonday evening. According toreports, Ricky (22) andAnuradha (19), both daughtersof a farmer, Sonelal of Rudapurvillage in Sheoli (KanpurDehat), were sick for a longtime and were under the treat-ment of a doctor of Dibiyapur(Auraiya).

On Monday, Ricky andAnuradha went to Dibiyapurwith their cousin Vijay Pratap(25) on a bike.

While returning late in theevening, a Roadways bus goingto Vidhuna from Kanpurknocked down the motorcycle,killing Vijay Pratap andAnuradha on the spot.

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Alarmed at the spike inCovid-19 cases each pass-

ing day, the Union HealthMinistry on Tuesday exhortedthe citizens to come forward toget themselves tested for theinfection and warned that theirirresponsible behaviour likefailure to follow distancingnorms and not using maskscould lead to a damaging sit-uation as far as the pandemicis concerned in India.

After breaching single-dayrecords of highest Covid casesin the world going past 90,000,India on Tuesday registered75,809 fresh cases in 24 hours,while marking the largest spikein deaths in a day with 1,133new fatalities.

Fearing that States toowere not serious about thepandemic, the Governmentalso took exception that someof them were not conductinggold-standard reverse tran-scription-polymerase chain

reaction (RT-PCR) tests onsymptomatic people who test-ed negative for the rapid-anti-gen test (RAT).

Addressing a press brief-ing, NITI Aayog member V KPaul, who also heads Covid-19 national task force, stressedon the importance of testing incontaining the pandemic.

Highlighting repeatedcomplaints from states thatpeople are becoming lax intaking precautions againstCovid-19, he said followingpublic health measures likesocial distancing and wearingmasks remains key to slowingthe pandemic.

“People should not beafraid of getting tested. Theyshould come forward to getthemselves tested for COVID-19 if they have symptoms,” he

said.At a time when coron-

avirus cases are on the rise,Paul said there have beenrepeated complaints fromstates about people becominglax in taking safety precau-tions.

Union Health SecretaryRajesh Bhushan took note ofthe States failing to conductthe RTPCR tests. “There aremany states where people test-ing negative for rapid-antigentest (RAT) are not subjected toRT-PCR. You need to catchthat missing person. The peo-ple who are not caught arespreading the infection.”

“You can chase the virusonly if you catch the missingperson. This is both Ministryand ICMR guidelines that aperson who is symptomaticnegative in a rapid-antigentest should be compelled toRT-PCR. If 100 such peopleare left, they can spread it toa lot of people, and this is wor-risome,” he added.

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If five States—Maharashtra,Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka,

Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradeshare contributing almost 70 percent of the Covid caseload in thecountry, then there are at least14 States/UTs which seems to becomparatively safe places hav-ing less than 5,000 activeCoronavirus cases whileLakshadweep has no activecases.

There are also 20 States andUTs where the number of activecases are between 2,000-5,000,said Union Health SecretaryRajesh Bhushan at a press brief-ing here.

“Maharashtra's share isaround 27 per cent of the total

active cases, which in terms ofabsolute numbers is 2.37 lakhs.This apart, nearly 70 per cet of theCOVID-19 related deaths arealso being reported from fiveStates—Maharashtra, TamilNadu, Karnataka, AndhraPradesh and Uttar Pradesh. TheStates where active cases aremostly concentrated are also,more or less, accounting formost of the deaths”, he said.

Hence, from the perspectiveof public health, it is importantto take targeted actions in theseStates, both by the State andCentral Governments. This apart,28 States & UTs have a CaseFatality Rate which is lower thanthe national average, Bhushansaid.

Dr. V.K Paul, Member

(Health), NITI Aayog tried toallay fears that cases are spiralingat a faster pace and said that ourCovid-19 case numbers are look-ing big since we are testing in avery liberal manner, which has inturn helped us to reduce mor-tality rate.

In the last 24 hours, AndhraPradesh recorded the highestCOVID-recoveries with 11,915recovered cases. Karnataka andMaharashtra followed with9,575 and 7,826 recoveriesrespectively while Tamil Naduand Uttar Pradesh registered5,820 and 4,779 recoveries, arelease from the Union HealthMinistry said. These 5 Statestogether contributed 57 percent of the recoveries in the last24 hours.

The officer also said thatmore than 5 crore tests havebeen conducted so far, whichtake India to the second high-est position in terms of testingwith more than 10 lakh testsconducted daily in this week.At the same time, the numberof recovered patients is morethan 33 lakhs now, and, thehighest single day recovery of73,642 patients has also beenrecorded in the last 24 hours.

Although the cases areon the rise in terms of absolutenumbers, India still has 3,102cases per million, which is oneof the lowest in the world.Also, India's death per millionis 53, which falls amongst thelowest in the world, the offi-cial pointed out.

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In a move to increase theexport of bamboo products

and improve farmers’ income,the Ministry of Agriculture onTuesday launched 22 bambooclusters in nine States. Thebamboo clusters will be set upin Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat,Maharashtra, Odisha, Assam,Nagaland, Tripura,Uttarakhand and Karnataka.These will be engaged in rais-ing nurseries and plantationsand/or product developmentlike furniture, agarbatti, venet-ian blinds, chopsticks, tooth-brush, lifestyle products, jew-ellery, bottles, yoga mat andcharcoal.

India is the world’s secondlargest cultivator of bambooafter China, with 136 speciesand 23 genera spread over13.96 million hectares.According to the Ministry ofAgriculture, India’s annualbamboo production is esti-mated at 3.23 million tonnes.However, despite all this, thecountry’s share in the globalbamboo trade and commerceis only 4 per cent.

Union AgricultureMinister Narendra SinghTomar on Tuesday launchedthese bamboo clusters. In a vir-tual event, Tomar also releasedthe logo for National BambooMission (NBM), the ministryof agriculture added.

“Bamboo cultivation canenhance farm income to agood extent and achieve thedesired objective of the UnionGovernment of transformingthe rural economy by doublingfarmers’ income. This will helpincrease income of farmersand at the same reduce depen-dency on imports of some rawmaterial. With the wealth ofbamboo in India and growingindustry, India should aim toestablish herself in global mar-kets for both engineered andhandcrafted products,” he said.

According to the ministry,bamboo can be used in 1,500different ways including as

food, a substitute for wood,building and constructionmaterial, for handicrafts andpaper. “The Government’s goalin the bamboo sector is beingachieved with the concertedefforts of all stakeholders ofthe Bamboo Mission.

Keeping in considerationthe importance of bamboo, theIndian Forest Act 1927 wasamended in the year 2017 toremove bamboo for the cate-gory of trees, as a result nowanyone can undertake culti-vation and business in bambooand its products,” Tomaradded. According to the min-istry, the bamboo ecosystem

has been energized with 23states being assisted, includingall eight North Eastern states.

In October 2006, theGovernment had launched theNational Bamboo Mission(NBM) on the basis of theNational Mission on BambooTechnology and TradeDevelopment Report, 2003.The NBM’s key objective wasto address issues relating to thedevelopment of the bambooindustry in the country, pro-vide a new impetus and direc-tion and enable the realisationof India’s considerable poten-tial in bamboo production.

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Khadi and Village IndustryCommission’s (KVIC) ven-

ture into the online marketingsegment has quickly estab-lished a pan-India reachenabling the artisans sell theirproducts to the remotest partsof India through the KVIC E-Portal -www.kviconline.gov.in/khadi-mask/.

The online sale that waslaunched with just Khadi facemasks on July 7 this year has

evolved into a full-fledged E-market platform with 180products as on today and manymore in the pipeline.

The product rangeincludes hand-spun andhand-woven fine fabric likeMuslin, Silk, Denim andCotton, Unisex Vichar Vastraby Ritu B eri , Khadi’sSignature Wrist Watch, a vari-ety of honey, Herbal andGreen Tea, Herbal Medicinesand Soaps, Papad, KacchiGhani Mustard Oil and arange of herbal cosmetics

among many others. KVIC isadding at least 10 new prod-ucts to its online inventory ona daily basis and it has set atarget of adding at least 1,000products by October 2 thisyear. In less than two months’time, KVIC has served near-ly 4000 customers.

KVIC Chairman, VKSaxena said the online sale ofKhadi products is a big pushto “Swadeshi” and aims atempowering the local arti-sans. “Khadi’s E-market por-tal is providing our artisans

an additional platform to selltheir goods. This is a concretestep towards building ofAatmanirbhar Bharat ,”Saxena said, adding the prod-uct range is priced from Rs 50to Rs 5000, keeping in viewthe choice and affordability ofall sections of buyers,” hesaid. KVIC has fixed theminimum order value at �599for free delivery of goods. Ithas entered into an agree-ment with the Posta lDepartment for delivery ofconsignments via Speed Post.

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The Government onTuesday said that Russia

has sought India’s help in themanufacturing of its Covidvaccine by Indian compa-nies and conduct of Phase-IIIstudies here.

“Also, India attaches highimportance to the requestfrom a special friend and onboth fronts, there has beenconsiderable progress.

“We are working withthis vaccine candidate formanufacture as well as trialand regulatory facilitation,in the spirit of partnershipand science for humanity.The outreach has beenextended to the vaccine man-ufacturers in India,” said V.KPaul, Member (Health), NITIAayog at a press briefinghere.

“About four of them havealready come forward, theothers are in talks with theRussian counterparts and theGovernment is facilitatingthat process of creating aconnect. There may be spe-cific outcomes very soon inthat regard. India can manu-facture that vaccine in largeand significant quantities.On the regulatory front,Indian scientists have lookedat the data. There would be aneed for Phase III trials innormal course of things,” hesaid.

Sputnik V, an adenovirusvector-based vaccine, wasdeveloped by the GamaleyaScientific Research Instituteof Epidemiolog y and

Microbiology, along with theRussian Direct InvestmentFund and was registered onAugust 11.

On its part, in India,three vaccines are in

advanced stages. There aretwo indigenous vaccinesbeing developed by ZydusCadila and Bharat Biotech incollaboration with the IndianCouncil of Medical Research.

The Serum Institute of Indiahas also partnered withAstraZeneca for manufac-turing the COVID-19 vaccinecandidate developed by theUniversity of Oxford.

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Even as China accused Indiantroops of intimidatory firingon Monday, ForeignMinister S Jaishankar will

meet his Chinese counterpart WangYi face to face in Moscow for the firsttime after the standoff. The meet-ing will take place on the sidelinesof the Shanghai CooperationOrganisation (SCO) foreign minis-ters’ conclave, hot on the heels ofDefence Minister Rajnath Singh’sconversation with his counterpart,Gen Wei Fenghe, at the same plat-form. Pessimism surrounds theoutcome of the Wang-Jaishankarmeeting though Jaishankar hasbeen signalling to Chinese leadersthe big picture of India-China rela-tions and India’s terms for a reset. Hisemphasis on the need for India tobe more proactive and take risks arereflected in some recent Indian mil-itary, diplomatic and economicactivities that connote capabilitiesand confidence. Diplomacy is thepath India has chosen to secure itsobjective of restoration of status quoante. Jaishankar, who says he knowsWang for a long time, acknowledgesthe situation on the LAC is very seri-ous and requires “deep conversa-tions” at the political level.

India launched a blitzkrieg ofevents along the LAC prior toSingh meeting his counterpart.CDS Gen Rawat was exceptionallyvocal over the military option,including a two-front war if diplo-macy failed and the utility of Quad.COAS Gen Naravane, on his thirdvisit to Ladakh, was in Chushul atthe scene of recent action. Chief ofAir Staff, Air Chief MarshalBhaduria, inspected air bases in theeast and Foreign Secretary HarshShringla, in his first public address,highlighted the Galwan clash result-ing in casualties for the first time in42 years of peace and tranquility onthe border. Indian forces carried outtheir first proactive military opera-tion on their own side of LAC on thesouth bank of Pangong Lake byoccupying heights that gave themdomination in the Chushul area. Abattalion of Vikas regiment, com-prising exiled Tibetans, wasemployed in the pre-emptive oper-ation, messaging to China the dor-mant Tibet issue. A company com-mander of this special force waskilled due to an old mine and hisfuneral was attended by RamMadhav, general secretary of the BJP.About the proactive operation, thereis confusion over location and con-trol of contested heights at Helmet

and Black Top. The Army justsaid it occupied ground toimprove its defences.

After the meeting of DefenceMinisters on expected lines,China accused India of crossingLAC at Chushul and demandedIndian troops be withdrawn.India blamed China for multipleintrusions and urged the restora-tion of status quo ante. But bothsides stressed the determinationto continue talks. Central toChina’s complaint is Indian vio-lation of Chinese LAC at Galwanand Chushul without admittingit is the original sinner of multi-ple intrusions by violating borderprotocols and unilaterally alter-ing status quo. Stung by the ban-ning of 117 more apps (nowaggregate of 224 banned apps),for the first time China accusedIndia of colluding with the USagainst Chinese companies. Itformally charged US with med-dling in the border dispute.

While US officials have beenaccusing China of bullying India,President Donald Trump himselfhas been non-committal by call-ing the standoff “very nasty” andwanting to do something to helpboth countries. He did not thinkthat China was bullying Indiathough he noted that China wascertainly “going for it.” After thepartisanship Prime MinisterNarendra Modi displayed inendorsing Trump at Houston(and Ahmedabad) for the nextPresident, a video of which is theTrump vote-catcher amongIndian Americans, Trump’s cleanchit to China is problematic.

The use of Tibetan troops inoperations, when high altitudeLadakh Scouts regiments areavailable, is by design India’sbelated psy war. It has the poten-

tial to reignite India’s Tibet pol-icy, which in 1950 ignoredChina’s illegal occupation ofTibet. India’s much-touted aban-donment of the One China pol-icy has nothing to do with Tibetbut more with Taiwan and HongKong. Chinese Foreign Ministryspokeswoman Hua Chunyingsaid: “We firmly oppose anycountry providing conveniencefor the Tibetan secessionist forces’separatist activities.” The GlobalTimes accused India of playingthe Tibet card and noted thatChina’s national strength, includ-ing its military strength, is muchstronger than India’s and thatwhen it comes to ultimate com-bat capability, the Indian side willlose. Eighteen weeks after the ini-tial intrusions, the Indian Armycarried out its maiden proactiveoperation at Chushul heightsand unnerved the PLA.Dominating ground in othersectors should have been takenup much earlier. Many officersare demanding that the militaryoption be utilised to imposecosts on China now that the forcebuild-up is being completed.Three additional divisions, tanksand artillery are amassed alongLAC with reserves in depth.China has made matchingdeployment, including locatingits J20 frontline fighter, at Hotan.IAF is ideally suited for deter-rence by punishment in case mil-itary force is used to evict intru-sions.

The one intrusion that PLAcovets most is Depsang whichwas not covered by the failed “dis-engagement” dialogue. InSeptember 2013, it had occupiedthe same area and withdrewafter talks and India’s counter-intrusion at Chumar. The PLA at

Depsang poses a direct challengeto the strategic Daulat Beg Oldiemilitary garrison and air base,which it views as a threat to G219, the Aksai Chin highway toLhasa. While a counter-intrusionalong the 1,590 km LAC inLadakh will be feasible and notbe escalatory like military actionto push back at Depsang or anyother intrusion, neither is advis-able as long as the door to diplo-macy is open. The militaryoption must remain the lastresort notwithstanding the lastpublic pronouncement of the for-mer acting US Undersecretary ofState for South Asia and CentralAsia, Alice Wells : “India’s broad-ening strategic horizons overthe past two decades have result-ed in a shift away from a passiveforeign policy to one thatadvances its interests more vig-orously.”

Jaishankar had a long stint atBeijing and then as ForeignSecretary. He enjoys the fullconfidence of his Prime Minister.His understanding of Chinaunder President Xi Jinping andthe Chinese Communist Party issharp and realistic. He is con-vinced that since diplomacyworked to get China to withdrawfrom Depsang, Chumar andDoklam, it can work again. Giventhe escalatory firing by PLA andoccupation of positions close toIndia’s —creating a new frictionpoint —coupled with rash state-ments by Global Times, theChinese have raised the stakes forJaishankar.

(The writer, a retired MajorGeneral, was Commander IPKFSouth, Sri Lanka and foundermember of the Defence PlanningStaff, currently the IntegratedDefence Staff.)

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Sir — This is with reference to thearticle, “The GST quagmire,” pub-lished on September 8. In a rarecovenant of faith, the Centre andStates arduously evolved a consen-sus over the Goods and ServicesTax (GST) spread over a decadeand more. The then chairpersonof the GST Council and UnionFinance Minister had assured theStates that in case of a gap in theGST compensation fund, theCouncil shall decide the mode ofraising additional resources,including borrowing from themarket. The GST compensationto States was already rearing up asan issue because of an ailingeconomy and the pandemicensured that revenues from theimposition of cess started dwin-dling from August 2019. TheCentre had to dive into the excesscess collected during 2017-18and 2018-19.

It is sad that at the very firstsign of distress, the Centre hasresorted to “babuspeak” andreneged on its guarantee. It wouldrather let the States fend for them-selves. The GST, being more thanmere maths, is a quintessence offederal architecture. Any negationthereof weakens the radial ties in

the wheel of governance. A throw-back to the post-Raj days, whenpayment of privy purses wasopposed by many members,Sardar Patel in the Constituent

Assembly on October 12, 1949,reminded them that this was asmall price to pay for the integra-tion of India. When GST is beingtouted by the Government as a

crowning achievement, the Centreought to walk the extra mile touphold the federal spirit.

R NarayananNavi Mumbai

�� Sir — Let us salute the Ministryof Defence and the DefenceResearch and DevelopmentOrganisation (DRDO) for suc-cessfully test-firing the firstHypersonic TechnologyDemonstrator Vehicle (HSTDV),making India the fourth countryin the world after the US, Chinaand Russia to develop and test thetechnology that will pave the wayfor missiles that will have thecapacity to travel at six times thespeed of sound. The DRDO hasdemonstrated its capabilities foruse of the highly-complex tech-nology that will serve as thebuilding block for the next-gen-eration hypersonic vehicles inpartnership with the industry.The HSTDV is an unmannedscramjet demonstration aircraftfor hypersonic speed flight. Themost significant part of this dreammission is that apart from beingused as a vehicle for hypersonicand long-range cruise missiles, theHSTDV can also be used for civil-ian applications, including thelaunch of satellites at a low cost.

M PradyuKannur

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From being called an Ulta Pradesh (upsidedown State), Uttar Pradesh is making aquantum leap towards becoming an Uttam

Pradesh (good State). And in this endeavour, itis being helped by the fact that UP ranked num-ber two in the State Business Reform Action Plan2019: Ease of Doing Business (EODB). This is upfrom the 12th rank UP got in 2019, testifying thatit has emerged as the second-best State in Indiawhere investors are happy to contribute.

This was made possible because the BJPGovernment was able to do away with red tapism.It also signifies the fact that the UP Governmentis making great strides towards fulfilling PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’s dream of an AatmaNirbhar Bharat and Chief Minister YogiAdityanath is implementing all schemes meantto achieve this goal efficiently.

This 10-place jump in one year in the EODBrankings released by the Union Government isa big achievement indeed as UP has left severalleading States like Gujarat, Telangana, Rajasthan,Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra behind. UP hasimplemented 186 out of the 187 reforms in theState Business Reform Action Plan that were sug-gested by the Department for Promotion ofIndustry and Internal Trade (DPIIT). Whatmakes this achievement even more special is thefact that this year’s exercise was completely basedon user feedback. The jump in ranking indicatesthat entrepreneurs have been receiving the truebenefits of the reforms introduced by the UPGovernment. These reforms were spread acrossseveral areas such as labour regulation, online,single window, access to information and trans-parency, land administration, construction per-mit, commercial disputes, inspection enablersand so on.

More than 20 departments such as Invest UP(Udyog Bandhu), the Labour Department, thePollution Control Board, Commercial Tax,Power, Stamp and Registration, Excise, FoodSafety and Drug and many others were part ofthis journey. Successful implementation of the“Nivesh Mitra” in UP, too, has been instrumen-tal in UP achieving this EODB. In a period oftwo years, “Nivesh Mitra” received around2,29,936 No-Objection Certificate (NoC) appli-cations, out of which it disposed of over 94 percent of them. The Nivesh Mitra Portal received18,120 grievances from entrepreneurs, of which17,752 have been successfully resolved at an out-standing resolution rate of 98 per cent.

The success in the UP Government’s work-ing lies in its efforts to impart transparency andthe use of technology for Business-to-Government (B2G) interactive procedures. TheYogi Government has been successful in improv-ing the EODB by introducing variousInformation Technology-driven modules andNivesh Mitra is one such. Its success lies in thefact that it has now become an integral and effi-cient part in bridging the gap between industri-al demands and expectations and Governmentmachinery.

Maximum approval of the State BusinessReform Action Plan and higher user feedback sat-isfaction record on the Nivesh Mitra portalplayed a critical role in achieving the EODB. Inorder to make Government working more effi-cient and competitive, the EODB system has beenimplemented at the district level. Initiatives likethe monthly ranking of all 75 districts on theEODB parameters shall further result in creat-ing a conducive business environment.

Where UP stands today was not achieved in

one day and efforts in this direction areon since Yogi Adityanath took chargeas the Chief Minister of the State. Thebig push came in February 2018 whenthe UP Government organised anInvestors’ Summit in which memoran-da of understanding (MoUs) worth�4.68 lakh crore were signed. Thecontours of the simplified norms ofinvestment took shape then, which werereflected in two ground-breaking cer-emonies through which 371 projectswith an investment of about �2 lakhcrore were made. These projects arelikely to generate over five lakh jobs.

The foundation of the DefenceIndustrial Manufacturing Corridor inBundelkhand is another aspect ofincreased industrial development in theState. This corridor will be built withan investment of �50,000 crore and willcreate employment for five lakh people.The project got a fillip when the UPGovernment, in collaboration with theDefence Ministry, organised the coun-try’s largest Defence Expo 2020 inLucknow. More than 100 agreementswere inked, which included 71 MoUs,13 product launches, 18 technologytransfer agreements and six importantannouncements. Besides, over 100pacts were made.

UP’s own Uttar PradeshExpressway Industrial DevelopmentAuthority (UPEIDA) signed 23 MoUswith various enterprises, inviting invest-ment for the UP Defence IndustrialCorridor. In all, over 200 MoUs weresigned during the Defence Expo 2020.

That the Government wants to giveimpetus to industrial development isreflected in the Government’s OneDistrict One Product (ODOP) scheme,under which the Government dis-bursed loans of more than �8,875

crore. Apart from this, training and freetool kits were distributed to 6,000 arti-sans/handicrafts men. This indirectlyhas given employment to more thanfive lakh people.

The ODOP scheme was launchedin 2018 by Adityanath to promote thelocal artisans and local products. Thescheme has now been adopted by theUnion Government and Prime MinisterNarendra Modi calls it the “Vocal forLocal” scheme. The primary objectiveof this is to focus on a particular prod-uct and raise its quality to compete inthe international market.

Investment in any State depends onthree parameters — power supply,communication and transport. UP hasmade a quantum jump in all three. Thepower supply across the State hasimproved considerably while a networkof roads has been laid connecting thewestern part of the State with the east-ern region. The construction of thePurvanchal Expressway is a testimonyof the Government’s resolve to improveconnectivity. Construction of this six-lane, 341 km-long PurvanchalExpressway is in progress and will beopened for public use by early next year.

The expressway would havebecome functional by November butbecause of the COVID-19 pandemic,the launch has been rescheduled. Therewould be 11 interchanges for entry/exiton the expressway and in order to con-nect it to Gorakhpur, the constructionof the around 92 km-long GorakhpurLink Expressway is in progress.

Even the rugged Bundelkhand isgetting its share of highways. The con-struction of the 297 km-longBundelkhand Expressway at a cost of�14,849 crore is under way, which willconnect the Bundelkhand region with

Delhi via the Agra-LucknowExpressway. This is not all. TheGovernment has even started a projectto construct a Ganga Expressway thatwill connect Meerut with Prayagraj.

If there is a network of roadsacross UP, can air connectivity be farbehind? Till 2017, only two cities of UPwere connected by air but now thisnumber has gone up to 12. Besides,construction of Asia’s largest JewarInternational Green Field Airport inNoida is going at a fast pace in collab-oration with Zurich AirportInternational AG.

Any industrial exercise alwaysleads to job creation. This is evident inUP as with an investment of about �3lakh crore through the first and secondground-breaking ceremonies and othermeans, more than 33 lakh people havegot direct and indirect employment.Besides this, the BJP Government hasgiven Government jobs to three lakhyouths in three years. Of this 1.5 lakhpersonnel were recruited in the policeforce. After the registration of over10lakh youth for skill development train-ing, more than 8.48 lakh youth havebeen trained and more than three lakhyouth have been employed so far. Infact, UP was awarded a gold medal byASSOCHAM for being the best State inskill development.

The efforts put in by Adityanathunder the guidance of Modi havestarted showing results. It is just a mat-ter of time before this State will becomeone of the best States of India not onlyon the issue of governance but also onimparting education, health servicesand providing jobs to the people.

(The writer is Member, LegislativeCouncil, and vice-president, UP unit ofthe BJP).

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India went into lockdown mode inMarch and people in almost all sec-tions of society have been facing

socio-economic difficulties since then.The almost insurmountable challengein front of policymakers has been tobalance lives and livelihoods. Theuncertainties of the lockdown entwinedwith health and safety concerns disrupt-ed the market that faced a supply anddemand shock. These issues resulted ina historically low Gross DomesticProduct (GDP) growth rate of -23.9 percent in the first quarter of the currentfinancial year, with industrial growthshrinking by 40 per cent. However, itis expected to pick up in the subsequentquarters as stated by the Reserve Bank

of India (RBI) and the World Bank. Theeconomic consequences of the pan-demic and local lockdowns have beenwell-discussed and are surfacing in theGDP and industrial production num-bers.

However, there is another side ofthe issue which is quietly creeping upand that is the social consequences aris-ing out of the lack of skill training.Certainly, this social and educationalconsequence will translate into eco-nomic adversity over a period.According to the All India Survey onHigher Education (AISHE), India’sgross enrolment ratio was 27.4 per centfor 2017-18. This is not a great figureas compared to the other developingcountries. This is further battered by thepossible decline in enrolment this yearowing to constrained access to educa-tional institutions and infrastructure formany unprivileged students, particular-ly in rural India. Given the contagion,the Indian education regime had to shiftgear to the online mode. Thanks to theinternet that, at least, served an option

for continuing education. But the ques-tion is: Is this viable on the ground? Willour students contribute to the humancapital and participate in the her-culean task of reviving the Indianeconomy? The presence of internet anddigital infrastructure along with theirsignificant (about 50 per cent) penetra-tion in the country have come today asa boon for education and for impart-ing training to aspirants. In this back-drop, the Pradhan Mantri e-VidyaProgramme was launched, which uni-fies all efforts related to digital, onlineand on-air education. Furthermore, top100 universities were permitted tostart online courses from May 30without any fresh approval from edu-cation regulators. States, such asKarnataka, too, announced policies foronline education.

However, there exist certainunprecedented challenges for movingtowards online education, which is theneed of the hour. It has not onlychanged the way students from KG topost-graduation learn, but also has sig-

nificantly altered the methods andmaterials of teaching for educators andparents. The fundamental constituentto enable online education is digitalinfrastructure, including high-speedinternet and supporting devices (desk-top, laptop, tablet or mobile phone).These prerequisites of online educationhave further expanded the gap betweenthe upper and middle class and urbanand rural populations of the country interms of access to education even afterpromulgation of the Right to Education.

Education and skill training havealways been a two-way communicationand feedback process that may not bedone in the online mode as effectivelyas it can be done in classrooms and lab-oratories. It is difficult to imagine stu-dents learning biology, physics andchemistry without actually experi-menting in laboratories. It is quiteimportant to differentiate knowledgeand skill in this context. Knowledge canbe delivered and learned from literature.However, skill-imparting needs exper-iment and experience that may not be

feasible in the online mode of learning.India, as an industrialising nation,

cannot afford to have an engineer withbookish knowledge of a combustionengine without having the skill todesign and operate it. Historically, theindustry-academia gap has alwaysexisted in India. A McKinsey report hadflagged the issue, a decade ago, that justa quarter of engineers in India wereactually employable. Now, the onlineeducation model producing graduateswith lack of skills may aggravate theemployability issue further. This maylead to a deteriorated human capital andunderemployment in the economydue to the fact that a large pool of thepresent unskilled human capital com-ing out of the online pedagogy will jointhe workforce in the future, faceemployability challenges and take alonger period to be skillful and join theproductive workforce of the nation.

Given the necessity of the onlineeducation system, at present, we mustacknowledge and address these issues,challenges and the consequences asso-

ciated with it. The lack of digital infra-structure in rural and unprivileged sec-tions has posed implementation chal-lenges on the ground, leading to socialinequalities. However, the major worrylies in the outcome of this new regimeof online education system in terms ofskill and lack of employability of thehuman capital that will have the greatresponsibility of putting the Indianeconomy back on its growth trajecto-ry with equitable development.

It is high time we think aboutbridging the gap between rural andurban digital infrastructure for onlineeducation and imparting employableskills. The National Education Policy(NEP) aims to reform the educationsystem by 2030 in a push towards anAtmanirbhar Bharat. One hopes thatthe NEP bridges the gap between theindustry and the academia in terms ofemployable skills and gives an equallearning and growth opportunity to all.

(The writer is a Senior ResearchScholar, Department of ManagementStudies, IIS, Bengaluru)

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With the Bengal Assemblyelections little less than a

year away the Central Bureauof Investigation has once dust-ed up its chit fund files in themulti-crore Sharada and RoseValley cases.

Acting on expected linesthe Central investigatingagency is planning to submitthe final chargesheet in theponzi fund cases, sources saidadding the charge-sheet wouldcontain the names of a numberof Trinamool Congress leadersand police officers.

The list would contain thename of at least one senior IPSofficer for trying to hush up thecase, insiders said. Besides thename of some lesser officerswould also be there in the list.The names of a senior BJPleader and a retired IPS officerhave been included as wit-nesses, sources said.

When asked to commentan official said that the charge-

sheet was likely to be submit-ted sometime in Novemberthough “no final decision hasbeen taken about this.”Incidentally investigating offi-cers involved in the probe werechanged in last month with anequal number of Additional SPrank officers from the neigh-bouring State Bihar joiningthe investigation.

When asked to commenton the preparations to file thefinal charge sheet the TMCleaders said they were pre-pared for the “BJPGovernment’s pre-electiononslaught which will gradual-ly diminish after the electionsand after Mamata Banerjeeroars back to power for thethird time in the State.”

The 2,000 crore Sharadachit fund case was busted in2013 leading to the arrests of itsCEO Sudipto Sen and othersenior functionaries.Subsequently following alle-gations of senior TrinamoolCongress leaders’ involvement

in the case a petition was filedby Congress leader AbdulMannan in the Supreme Courtseeking CBI investigationwhich was granted in 2014amid allegations that in theintervening time the Statepolice had tampered with theallegations.

As the investigation peakedsenior TMC MPs and Ministerslike Sudip Bandopadhyay, lateTapas Paul, Kunal Ghosh andMadan Mitra were jailed.While a retired ADG Policewas taken into custody, formerKolkata Police CommissionerRajiv Kumar was grilled forseveral hours and on repeatedoccasions for his alleged com-plicity in hushing up thecase.

This even as Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee cried vic-timisation by the BJP. In themeantime TMC’s number twoman Mukul Roy left his partyand joined the BJP monthsafter he too was grilled in theSharada case.

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If the data provided by Dakshina Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabhais any indication, the AIADMK, the DMK and other Dravidian

outfits in Tamil Nadu may have to re-work their policy towardsHindi.

The Dravidian parties are known for their strong Oppositionto Hindi and Sanskrit. Schools and Colleges in Tamil Nadu whichfollow State syllabus do not allow Hindi in the curriculum as bothAIADMK and DMK are united in their Opposition towards Hindi.

Both the political parties have made it public that Hindi wasnot welcome in -Tamil Nadu and the State would follow only thetwo-language policy. But people belonging to economically for-ward segments send their children to private schools that followCBSE and ICSE curriculum where Hindi is compulsory.

Dakshin Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha was launched in 1918by none other than Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of the Nation,with the aim of propagating Hindi in South India. The impor-tance given by Mahatma to the mission could be understood fromthe fact that he himself was the President of the organisation tillhe breathed his last.

“The passion among the students and youth in Tamil Naducould be understood from the fact that 4,58,000 studentsappeared for the various Hindi examinations held by the Sabhain 2019. Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, it is certain to see morestudents taking up the examinations of the Sabha in 2020,” S RJeyaraj, secretary, DBHPS told The Pioneer. There are no unem-ployed Hindi scholars in the State.

He said in 2018, the State saw 4,35,000 students appearing forthe examinations held by the Sabha. “Of all the South Indian States,Tamil Nadu has the highest number of Hindi learners registeredwith the Sabha,” said Jayaraj. He said despite Hindi being deniedits rightful place in government-run schools and colleges in theState, students are firm in their decision to learn the language.

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Amaravati: The Andhra Pradesh health depart-ment will personally contact and persuade peo-ple who recovered from Covid-19 to donate plas-ma to save lives.

“The health department call centre will callthe recovered patients and tell them about the plas-ma donation programme and convince them todonate plasma to save other people's lives,” saidHealth Commissioner Katamneni Bhaskar.

The department has readied a list of 37,000people who beat the disease, making them eligi-ble to donate plasma for critical Covid patients.

“The database of eligible donors has been pre-pared and is currently being shared with the bloodbanks which have the facility to collect and storeplasma,” said Bhaskar.

The move is aimed at treating Covid patientsmore effectively and the Y.S. Jagan MohanReddy-led government will launch a plasma dona-tion campaign soon.

As part of the campaign, the state governmentwill reward each donor with a token amount ofRs 5,000.

According to the Health Commissioner, thesouthern state is spending an amount of Rs 15crore per day in overall coronavirus arrangements,including treatment, patients' food, accommo-dation, tests and medicines, among others.

On an average, Andhra Pradesh is testing65,000 to 70,000 samples per day.

The state on Monday reported 8,368 newcoronavirus cases, taking the Andhra Pradesh'stally to 5.06 lakh. IANS

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Former Governor of Mizoram,Kummanam Rajasekharan, who is

also a former president of the KeralaBJP observed a day’s fast on Tuesdayat Pathanamthitta in protest againstrapes, gold smuggling scams, cor-ruption charges and breakdown oflaw and order in the State.

“Kerala hangs its head in shame.Covid-19 patients are raped by ambu-lance drivers and health workerswho are supposed to save them.There is no guarantee for the lives ofsincere officials who wage war againstcorruption and nepotism. The Stateis no more the God’s Own Land as ithas been described earlier,” saidRajasekharan while launching hisfast in company of hundreds of partyworkers.

Even as Rajasekharan wasaddressing the party cadre atPathanamthitta, a heavy posse ofpolicemen charged into the resi-dence of Muslim League MLA M CKamarudin in Kasaragod district innorthern Kerala in connection witha series of cheating cases filed against

the law maker.The case is that Fashion Jewellery

of which Kamarudin is the chairmancheated investors to the tune of Rs 136crore. The managing director of theshowroom is absconding.

Adding to the woes of the Stateadministration, the Directorate ofRevenue Intelligence has found thatgold smuggling syndicate operatingfrom Kozhikode Airport has suc-ceeded in getting their own hench-men employed as contract workersinside the airport.

This is being done to make it easyfor them to bring out the smuggledgold reaching the airport via inter-national flights, said the DRI report.

On Sunday, two staff members ofthe DRI had come under attack fromgold couriers when the former triedto take into custody a group of peo-ple engaged in smuggling.

Meanwhile investigation agenciesincluding the Narcotics ControlBureau are on their way to Kerala tonab politically influential people intocustody in connection with the recentdrug seizure at Bangalore.

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Kerala diagnosed 3,026 new persons withCovid-19 on Tuesday while 13 persons

died during the last 24 hours, according to arelease issued by the State Health Department.With Tuesday’s 13 death, the fatalities in theState reached 372.

By Tuesday evening, the number ofCovid-19 patients undergoing treatment in theState rose to 23,217. Nearly two lakh personsacross the State are under observation acrossKerala. Out of the 3,026 persons diagnosedwith the pandemic on Tuesday, 2,723 devel-oped the infection through local contact.

While 237 persons who were tested pos-itive could not furnish how, why and whenthey were infected, the State saw 89 healthworkers contracting the pandemic across theState. On Tuesday, a total of 2,076 personswere hospitalised.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had saison Friday that the testing to diagnose the pan-demic was way ahead of others. On Tuesday37, 264 samples were sent for testing .

Barring the High Range districts ofIdukki (63) and Wayanadu (21) the remain-ing 12 districts tested high numbers onTuesday. Vijayan had told on last Friday thatthe two weeks would be critical and crucialfor the State and there was every possibilityof the number of cases shooting to 10,000 andmore per day.

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The Covid-19 pandemic is subsiding in TamilNadu, though not in a big way. According to a

bulletin issued on Tuesday evening by theDepartment of Health, barring the districts ofChengalpet, Chennai, Coimbatore and Cuddalore(the 4C districts), the coronavirus induced pandemicis showing signs of stabilizing and subsiding.

While the entire State diagnosed 5, 684 newpatients on Tuesday after testing 81,066 persons,6,599 patients were discharged on a single day afterit was confirmed that they were cured of the disease.

The day also saw 87 persons succumbing to thepandemic taking the death toll to 8,012.

Chennai registered 988 new patients whileChengalpet (364), Coimbatore (446) and Cuddalore(407) had considerably low number of new cases.Thiruvallur (277) and Thiruvannamalai (242) werethe other districts with high number of cases.

The bulletin said as on Tuesday, there were 50,213 active patients in the State. Tamil Nadu is return-ing to normalcy with intra district buses and metroresuming services, though with reduced numbers.

Migrant laborers who had left for their home-towns following the lockdown are returning toChennai and other commercial hubs in smallbatches.

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Fourteen patients of Covid-19 died in Jammu & Kashmirwhile 1,355 fresh cases of coronavirus were detected tak-

ing the total tally of cases close to 46,000 on Tuesday. Out of these the active positive cases stood at 11,859 while

a total number of 815 patients have died so far.Out of all the districts, Jammu district continues to report

more than 450 cases on a daily basis. Several employees work-ing in different government offices, bank employees, traf-fic cops, Jammu university employees and other serviceproviders were found infected during Rapid Antigen Testing going on across the district since August 26.

Out of 11859 active positive cases, Jammu district aloneaccounted for 3844 cases while active positive cases inSrinagar stood at 1435.According to the media bulletin, outof 1355 new positive cases, 785 were reported from Jammudivision and 570 from Kashmir division.

In addition, 14 COVID-19 deaths have been reported;08 from Jammu division and 06 from Kashmir Division.

On a recovery front, 491 more COVID-19 patients werefully recovered and discharged from various hospitals, 74from Jammu Division and 417 from Kashmir Division.

According to the media bulletin, out of 45925 positivecases, 11859 are Active Positive, 33251 have recovered and815 have died; 113 in Jammu division and 702 in Kashmirdivision.

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The NIA has arrested threemore accused persons in the

Bhima Koregaon Elgar ParishadCase.

The arrested accused areSagar Gorkhe, Ramesh Gaichorand Jyoti Jagtap, all from Pune.Gorkhe and Gaichor were arrest-ed on Monday while Jagtap wasnabbed on Tuesday.

These three arrested personsare FIR-named accused persons.

The accused persons aremembers of Kabir Kala Manch afrontal organization of bannedterrorist organization CPI(Maoist), the NIA said.

The case arose out ofVishram Baug police station,Pune regarding inciting peopleand giving provocative speechesduring Elgar Parishad organizedat Shaniwarwada, Pune by theactivists of Kabir Kala Manch onDecember 31, 2017, which pro-moted enmity between various

caste groups and led to violence resulting in loss of lifeand property and state-wide agi-tation in Maharashtra, the NIAsaid.

During investigation, it wasrevealed that senior leaders ofCPI (Maoist), an organisationbanned under the UnlawfulActivities (Prevention) Act, werein contact with the organizers ofElgar Parishad as well as theaccused arrested in the case so as to spread the ideologyof Maoism/Naxalism and encour-age unlawful activities, it said.

The Pune Police filed charge-sheet and a supplementarycharge-sheet in this case onNovember 15, 2018 and February21, 2019 respectively.

NIA took up the investigationof the case on January 24 this yearand arrested accused AnandTeltumbde and Gautam Navlakhaon April 14. Further, accusedHanybabu Musaliyavirtil Tarayilwas arrested on July 28.

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The statement by the Western TheatreCommand is an attempt to mislead theirdomestic and international audience, thestatement said.

The Army issued the statement afterthe Chinese Government late on Mondaynight claimed that India violated the LACand fired shots.

The Army statement also said whileIndia is committed to disengagement andde-escalating the situation on the LAC,China continues to undertake provocativeactivities to escalate. At no stage has theIndian Army transgressed across the LACor resorted to use of any aggressive means,including firing. It is the PLA that has beenblatantly violating agreements and carry-ing out aggressive manoeuvres, whileengagement at military, diplomatic andpolitical level is in progress, the statementsaid.

This categorical rebuttal came after thePLA alleged that the Indian troops crossedthe LAC and “outrageously fired” warningshots near the Pangong lake in easternLadakh.

Senior Colonel Zhang Shuili, aspokesperson of PLA’s Western TheaterCommand, in a statement claimed theIndian troops again illegally crossed theLAC and “outrageously fired” warningshots on Chinese border patrol soldierswho were about to negotiate.

Chinese troops were forced to takecountermeasures to stabilise the situation,he said without elaborating. The Indiantroops crossed the LAC at the west sectionof the China-India border into the Shenpaomountain region near the south bank ofPangong lake, he alleged.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry saidIndia’s behaviour violated agreements. “Itis a serious military provocation. We’vemade representations through diplomat-ic and military channels asking them toimmediately stop dangerous moves, with-draw people who crossed the line and dis-cipline frontline troops,” it said.

Separately, the Ministry of ExternalAffairs here termed as false reports inChinese media attributing some commentsto National Security Adviser Ajit Doval.“We have seen reports in Chinese statemedia, including in China Daily andHuanqiu Shibao (Global Times), whichhad attributed some comments to NSA AjitDoval. These reports are completely falseand are not based on facts. We urge themedia to refrain from such speculativereporting,” it said in a release.

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They were part of a seven-membergroup which went hunting in a jungle andwere reported missing by their familiesthrough social media last Friday.

On Monday, China had brushed offconcerns over the whereabouts of the fivemissing youths and claimed it has neverrecognised the Northeastern State whichit claims to be part of south Tibet, a claimconsistently denied by India.

“China’s position on the east sector ofthe China-India boundary, or Zangnan(the southern part of China’s Xizang(Tibet)), is consistent and clear,” ChineseForeign Ministry spokesperson ZhaoLijian told a media briefing in Beijing onMonday.

“I’m not aware of the situation youmentioned,” the spokesperson said whenasked about any updates about the miss-ing Indian nationals.

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Rhea is said to be arrested for pur-chase, possession and use of drugs, underSection 8(c), 20(b), 27(a), 28 and 29 ofNDPS Act.

Rhea is understood to have beenbooked under Section 8(c), 20(b), 27(a),28 and 29 of Narcotic Drugs andPsychotropic Substances Act, 1985 oncharges of purchase, possession and use ofdrugs.

In a related development, the BandraPolice converted Rhea’s complaint regis-tered on Monday against the later actor’ssisters Priyanka Singh, Meetu Singh anda New Delhi-based doctor Dr TarunKumar of Ram Manohar Lohia Hospitalfor alleged forgery and violation ofNarcotic Drugs and PsychotropicSubstances Act, 1985 and Tele MedicinePractice Guidelines, 2020, into an FIR onTuesday. The Bandra police immediatelytransferred the case to the CBI for inves-tigations along with the probe into the FIRfiled by Sushant’s father with the Patnapolice.

“In line with the complaint of RheaChakraborty, a case has been registered atBandra Police Station, Mumbai Cr. No.576/2020 under sections 420, 464, 465, 466,468, 474, 306, 120B, 34 IPC and read withsections 8(c), 21, 22(A), 29 of NDPS Act.

In line with orders of the Supreme Courtof India, the case is duly transferred to CBIfor further investigation,” a senior officerattached to the Bandra police said.

Dubbing client Rhea’s arrest as a“travesty of justice”, her lawyer SatishManeshinde expressed his outrage sayingthat the Central investigating agencies were“hounding a single woman just because shewas in love with a drug addict who was suf-fering from mental health issues”.

“Travesty of Justice! Three Centralagencies are hounding a single Woman,just because she was in love with a drugaddict and was suffering from mentalhealth issues for several years under thecare of five leading psychiatrists inMumbai, who ended up committing sui-cide due to consumption of illegallyadministered medicines and used drugs,”Maneshinde said.

The NCB’s case is based on 59 gramsof curated marijuana seized from allegeddrug peddlers Abbas Lakhani and KaranArora who were arrested earlier, and havenow been granted bail.

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In the Monsoon Session strategymeeting, the grand old party has firmedup its opinion to oppose on a number ofordinances issued after Prime MinisterNarendra Modi announced corona pan-demic lockdown.

The ordinances the Congress willoppose include the one on PM Cares fund,but the party will support the overall tax-ation ordinance, sources said. Pay cuts forMPs will be supported, but the executivedecision of stopping the MPLAD funds fortwo years will be opposed since it stops theongoing works.

Sources said the party will also opposethe “one nation one market for farmers”as it feels that the farmers will be short-changed when they sell their produce. Theclosure of mandis will leave many jobless,especially the poor who work as porters,weigh men and others. Such a law will alsoinfringe on the States’ rights, the party con-tends.

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Jayasekara had filed a writ petitionbefore the Court of Appeal asking for arelief. Theappeal court order had come

after the Attorney-General Dappula deLivera’s ruling last week that Jayasekara is“unsuitable to either sit in parliament orvote in the house”.

The Attorney General had said that asper section 91 (1) (a) of the Constitutionof Sri Lanka, no person shall be qualifiedto be elected as a Member of Parliamentor to sit and vote in Parliament if he is orbecomes subject to any of the disqualifi-cations specified in Article 89.

Jayasekera and two others were sen-tenced to death by the Ratnapura HighCourt for the 2015 murder of a politicalactivist in the run up to the January 2015presidential election.

Jayasekera was not able to attend theparliament’s inaugural session on August20 after the SLPP’s landslide win.

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Ahead of the actress’ arrival in the city,Maharashtra’s State capital and neigh-bouring Thane witnessed several Kangana-specific developments.

First, the Brihanmumbai MunicipalCorporation (BMC) served a notice on theactress for carrying out alleged illegalextensions to her office premises at Bandrain north-west Mumbai.

Confirming that a notice had beenissued to Kangana, BMC’s H-WestAssistant Municipal CommissionerVinayak Vispute said: “We have issued anotice to Kangana Ranaut. We have askedher to file a reply within 24 hours. Oncethe deadline is over, we will take appro-priate action after going through herreply in the matter”.

Tuesday’s is the second notice that hasbeen issued to her by the BMC. Two yearsago, the BMC had issued her a notice relat-ing to a different structure belonging toher.

A combative Kangana responded tothe BMC’s notice through a tweet that read:“Because of the criticism that received frommy friends on social media, they didn’tcome with a bulldozer today insteadstuck a notice to stop leakage work that isgoing on in the office, friends I may haverisked a lot but I find immense love andsupport from you all.”

On its part, the BMC has filed its replyin Dindoshi Sessions Court to vacate a stayorder on its demolition notice issued in2018 in a previous matter, to Kanganaunder the MRTP Act for carrying out ille-gal constructions in her Khar home.

In a related development,

Maharashtra’s Home Minister AnilDeshmukh said on Wednesday that he hadasked police to look into Kangana’s allegedstatements that she consumed drugs.

Talking to mediapersons at the VidhanBhavan complex, Deshmukh said: “In aninterview, Adhyayan Suman, the son ofShekhar Suman, who had a relationshipwith her, had made certain statements thatKangana Ranaut used to take drugs. TheMumbai Police will investigate this mat-ter”.

Earlier, Deshmukh had made a simi-lar statement in the Maharashtra Assemblyresponding to questions by two Shiv SenaMLAs Pratap Sarnaik and Sunil Prabhu.

“In the Assembly I have replied thatshe had relations with Adhyayan Suman,who said in an interview that she(Kangana) took drugs and also forced himto do so… Mumbai Police will look intoall this in detail,” Deshmukh said.

On her part, Kangana respondedswiftly. “I am more than happy to oblige@MumbaiPolice@AnilDeshmukhNCPplease do my drug tests, investigate my callrecords if you find any links to drug ped-dlers ever I will accept my mistake andleave Mumbai forever, looking forward tomeet you,” she tweeted.

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Anti-Corruption (DVAC) of TamilNadu had raided his official residencealong with that of Sub-Inspector PRamchandran in July 2012 and seized twokilograms of gold ornaments, 15 kg of sil-ver articles while land-related documentswere found in the sub-inspector’s home.

On Tuesday, a Home departmentofficial said that the suspended officer wasfound involved in several corruptioncases and was found to be engaged in mal-practices in posting of officers. “The SSPhad little interest in regular patrols and didnothing for security of banks. Besides,cases pending for the past three monthsin the district had also piled up,” the offi-cial said.

Besides, Dikshit also did not proper-ly function in containing the coronaviruspandemic in the district due to which theAllahabad High Court had expressed itsdispleasure.

Meanwhile, the state government alsoshifted six IPS officers. DCP (West) inLucknow, Sarvshresta Tripathi was madethe new SSP of Prayagraj. SP (Railways) atGorakhpur, Pushpanjali, was promotedand shifted as DIG (Railways) in Lucknow.

Interestingly, the Central Bureau of

Investigation (CBI) probing the Unnaorape case in which former BharatiyaJanata Party MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengaris an accused, had written to the chief sec-retary, seeking action against her for herdubious role in the case.

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The project, being implemented by theNCR Transport Corporation under theMinistry of Housing and Urban Affairs,will finance the construction of railwaytracks, station buildings, maintenancefacilities, and traction and power supply.

“The project will provide better con-nectivity to allow other towns in the NCRto develop as urban economic centers sur-rounded by residential areas while easingthe concentration pressure on Delhi,”said Khare after signing the loan agree-ment.

While Yokoyama said the project isexpected to have a transformational impacton the development trajectory of thenational capital region by introducinghigh-level technologies for RRTS, signal-ing, and station designs.

With a design speed of 180 km perhour and high-frequency operations ofevery five to ten minutes, the corridor con-necting Sarai Kale Khan in Delhi toModipuram at Meerut in Uttar Pradesh isexpected to reduce the journey time toabout one hour from the present three tofour hours. The first tranche of the loanwill support construction of the first ofthree priority rail corridors planned underthe NCR Regional Plan 2021 to connectDelhi to other cities in adjoining states.

The transit system project aims to helpdecongest the city and improve regionalconnectivity by establishing transit optionsthrough the densely populated sections ofthe NCR connecting Delhi to Meerut inthe state of Uttar Pradesh. The RRTS willhave multimodal hubs to ensure smoothinterchange with other transport modes.The first tranche financing will be used forconstructing electrified tracks, signallingsystems, multimodal hubs and stationswith design features that are friendly toelderly, women, children and the disabled.

It will also support the NationalCapital Region Transport Corporation(NCRTC) in drafting action plans on TOD,VCF instruments and public-private part-nership (PPP) initiatives, setting up asmart-technology based platform, andformulating a gender-friendly workplacepolicy.

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Washington: US PresidentDonald Trump on Monday saidthat his Democratic Counterpartsupported China’s entry into theWorld Trade Organisation(WTO) along with the NorthAmerican Free TradeAgreement (NAFTA), termingthe two as the “most disastroustrade deals” in history.

“Biden supported NAFTAand he supported China’s entryinto the World TradeOrganisation--the two mostdisastrous deals in history. Weare looking at the World TradeOrganisation, they have beenvery nice to us and they aretalking to us differently thanthey do because if they don’tshape up, we will ship out,”Trump told reporters.

He further went on to slamChina for “not playing by therules” in the WTO.

“The reason why theWorld Trade Organisation is sobad is that China didn’t play bythe rules. We did but their ruleswere easier considering that

they were a developing nation.They had such a lower stan-dard,” he added.

He further slammed Bidensaying, “If Biden wins, China willown this country.” He alsoclaimed that under his admin-istration, the US would becomea manufacturing superpower“ending the reliance” with China.

“If Biden wins, China willown this country. Under myadministration, we will makeAmerica a manufacturing super-power of the world and will endour reliance on China. Whetherit is decoupling or putting inmassive tariffs, we are going toend our reliance on China,”Trump said further. AGENCY

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Hong Kong: Twelve peoplefrom Hong Kong arrested asthey reportedly sailed toTaiwan for political asylumwill “have to be dealt with” bymainland China, but the cityGovernment would try to pro-vide assistance, Chief ExecutiveCarrie Lam said on Tuesday.

Chinese authorities arrest-ed the 12 people on Aug. 23after intercepting a boat off thecoast of the southern mainlandprovince of Guangdong. Localmedia have reported they wereheaded to Taiwan to apply forpolitical asylum.

“The question is not aquestion of simply getting(them) back,” Lam told a reg-ular weekly press conference.

“If these Hong Kong resi-dents were arrested for breach-ing mainland offences thenthey have to be dealt withaccording to the mainland lawsand in accordance to the juris-diction before any other thingscould happen.”

Lam added that her gov-ernment had “a duty to renderassistance” to Hong Kong res-idents “caught in all sorts of sit-uations” abroad and the gov-ernment’s representative officein Guangzhou, Guangdong’scapital, will look into ways to

provide that assistance andliaise with mainland authori-ties.

News agency AFP report-ed on Monday lawyers repre-senting some of those capturedhave been denied access totheir clients. Lam did notaddress that particular aspectwhen asked.

Neither mainland norHong Kong authorities havepublicly confirmed who hasbeen arrested, but local mediahave identified some of them asfacing prosecution for involve-ment in pro-democracyprotests last year.

One man, Andy Li, wasrecently arrested under asweeping national security lawimposed by Beijing on thesemiautonomous Asian finan-

cial hub on June 30. Another isa dual national with HongKong and Portuguese citizen-ship.

The Guangdong CoastGuard, which announced thearrests on its social media plat-form late on Aug. 26, said twoof the detained were surnamedLi and Tang, without providingfurther details.

It is not clear what chargesthey face, beyond potentiallyillegal border crossing.

Lam also reiterated aremark made last week whichstoked further worries thatHong Kong had taken a moreauthoritarian turn, saying thecity had no separation of pow-ers, and that its executive, leg-islative and judicial powers werederived from Beijing. AGENCY

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Beijing: The United States onTuesday accused China of“threatening” and “harassing”foreign journalists after itrefused to renew press creden-tials for several employees ofAmerican media organisations.

The two superpower rivalshave restricted reporter visas —with China expelling journal-ists — as brinkmanship overtrade and tech, Hong Kong andthe coronavirus, spills overinto the media.

China’s record of “threat-ening, harassing, and expellingUS and other foreign journal-ists goes back decades”, US StateDepartment spokeswomanMorgan Ortagus said in a state-ment provided by the USEmbassy in Beijing.

The Chinese ForeignMinistry recently informed theUS embassy in Beijing of newcurbs on foreign reporters “bydenying them press cardrenewals and refusing to processpending visa applications forjournalists who were expelledearlier this year,” she said. TheForeign Correspondents’ Clubof China (FCCC) on Mondayconfirmed the action, saying atleast five journalists at fourmedia groups — including theWall Street Journal, CNN andBloomberg — had been deniednew press cards.

More are expected to receivesimilar treatment in comingweeks, placing further pressureon the already diminished for-eign press corps. AFP

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One of Belarus’s leadingopposition figures Maria

Kolesnikova has been detainedwhile trying to cross intoUkraine, border officials saidTuesday.

Kolesnikova was detainedwhile attempting to crossovernight with two othermembers of the opposition’sCoordination Council whowere able to pass through toUkraine, Anton Bychkovsky, aspokesman for the State BorderCommittee, told AFP.

She and the two othercouncil members, press secre-tary Anton Rodnenkov andexecutive secretary IvanKravtsov, had disappeared onMonday.

Bychkovsky saidRodnenkov and Kravtsov wereable to cross into Ukraine, andthe Ukrainian embassy inMinsk confirmed to AFP theywere in the country.

Kolesnikova was beingheld and “an investigation isunder way to legally assess thesituation,” Bychkovsky said.

State news agency Beltaquoted border officials as say-

ing the three had tried to crossthe border in a BMW cararound 4:00 am Tuesday.

The Coordination Councilwas set up to ensure a peace-ful transfer of power afterPresident AlexanderLukashenko’s main rivalSvetlana Tikhanovskaya reject-ed his claim to have won anAugust 9 presidential electionwith 80 per cent of the vote.

The disputed election hassparked widespread protestsand a harsh police crackdownthat has seen several thousandpeople arrested.

Germany and Britain hadon Monday demanded answersafter Kolesnikova went missingand allies said she had beensnatched off the streets byunidentified men in black.

Kolesnikova, 38, is theonly one of the trio of womenwho fronted Tikhanovskaya’scampaign to remain inBelarus.

Tikhanovskaya left thecountry under pressure fromthe authorities and was grant-ed refuge in EU member stateLithuania, while her other cam-paign partner, VeronikaTsepkalo, is now in Ukraine.

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The UN rights chief calledTuesday on Moscow to

conduct or cooperate with a“thorough, transparent, inde-pendent and impartial investi-gation” into the alleged nerveagent attack on Russian oppo-sition leader Alexei Navalny.

Michelle Bachelet stressedthe need to get to the bottomof the poisoning, after Germanspecialists said they had“unequivocal proof ” that theweapons-grade nerve agentNovichok was used in theattack.

“It is incumbent on theRussian authorities to fullyinvestigate who was responsi-ble for this crime, a very seri-ous crime that was committedon Russian soil,” she said in astatement.

The 44-year-old anti-cor-ruption campaigner and oneof President Vladimir Putin’sfiercest critics, fell ill on adomestic flight last monthand was treated in a Siberianhospital before being evacuat-ed to Berlin. The attackmarked the latest in a long lineof assassination attemptsagainst Putin’s critics.

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Geneva: The Saudi trial intothe killing of critic JamalKhashoggi has lacked trans-parency and fallen short onassigning accountability forthe crime, the UN humanrights office said on Tuesday.

A Saudi Arabian court onMonday jailed eight peoplefor between seven and 20years for the 2018 murder ofSaudi journal ist JamalKhashoggi , s tate mediareported, four months afterhis family forgave his killersand enabled death sentencesto be set aside.

UN spokesman RupertColville, noting that theUnited Nations opposes thedeath penalty, told a Genevabriefing: “This is case wherethere has not been propertransparency in the justice

process, those responsibleshould be prosecuted andgiven sentences commensu-rate with the crime.”

“There is a whole issue oftransparency and account-abilty in the case,” he said. AGENCY

7��");�.� ��>�� Tehran: Iran’s supreme leader,

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, saidTuesday that cartoons of theprophet Mohammed that wererepublished by a French satir-ical magazine last week were“unforgivable”.

“The grave and unforgiv-able sin committed by a Frenchweekly in insulting the lumi-nous and holy personality of(the) Prophet revealed, oncemore, the hostility and mali-cious grudge harboured bypolitical and cultural organi-sations in the West againstIslam and the Muslim com-munity,” Khamenei said in anEnglish-language statement.

“The excuse of ‘freedom ofexpression’ made by someFrench politicians in order notto condemn this grave crime ofinsulting the Holy Prophet iscompletely unacceptable,wrong and demagogic.” AFP

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London: A British judge toldWikiLeaks founder JulianAssange on Tuesday that hisextradition hearing will proceedwithout him if he continues tospeak from the dock and inter-rupt witnesses.

Vanessa Baraitser brieflyadjourned the hearing atLondon’s Central CriminalCourt after Assange interrupt-ed defense witness Clive StaffordSmith, who was giving evi-dence. Assange’s outburst could-n’t be heard by journalists fol-lowing proceedings by videolink.

Assange is fighting anattempt by American prosecu-tors to extradite him to the USto stand trial on spying charges.US prosecutors have indicted the49-year-old Australian on 18espionage and computer misusecharges over WikiLeaks’ publi-cation of secret US military

documents a decade ago. Thecharges carry a maximum sen-tence of 175 years in prison.

Assange’s lawyers say theprosecution is a politically moti-vated abuse of power that willstifle media freedom and putjournalists at risk around theworld.

Addressing Assange, thejudge said: “You will hear things,no doubt many things, you dis-agree with during these pro-ceedings.”

“If you interrupt proceed-ings it is open to me to proceedin your absence,” she added.

On Monday, when the hear-ing opened, Baraitser rejectedrequests by Assange’s lawyers todelay his extradition hearinguntil next year so they can havemore time to respond to U.S.Allegations that he conspiredwith hackers to obtain classifiedinformation. AP

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Police in China’s InnerMongolia region have

detained at least 23 people fol-lowing protests last weekagainst a new policy thatreplaces Mongolian-languagetextbooks with Chinese ones inclassrooms.

The push to use the newtextbooks, which started inother ethnic minority regionssuch as Xinjiang and Tibet in2017, has prompted demon-strations and school boycotts byethnic Mongolians in at least fivecities and counties in InnerMongolia. The 23 detentionswere across eight banners, theregional word for counties,according to an Associated Presstally of nine local police reportsover the past several days.

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Bangkok: Two soldiers whodeserted from Myanmar’s armyhave testified on video that theywere instructed by command-ing officers to “shoot all thatyou see and that you hear” invillages where minorityRohingya lived, a human rightsgroup said Tuesday.

The comments appear tobe the first public confession bysoldiers of involvement in

army-directed massacres, rapeand other crimes againstRohingya Muslims in theBuddhist-majority country.

More than 700,000Rohingya have fled Myanmarto neighboring Bangladeshsince August 2017 to escapewhat Myanmar’s military calleda clearance campaign followingan attack by a Rohingya insur-gent group in Rakhine state.

Myanmar’s governmenthas denied accusations thatsecurity forces committed massrapes and killings and burnedthousands of homes. The groupsaid the two army privates fledthe country last month and arebelieved to be in the custody ofthe International CriminalCourt in the Netherlands,which is examining the vio-lence against the Rohingya.

Asked about the two sol-diers, an ICC spokesman saidTuesday that “We have no newpersons under arrest.” The twomen “separately claimed to beacting on orders from seniorcommanders to ‘exterminate all(Rohingya),’ to ‘shoot all thatyou see and that you hear,’ andto ‘kill all’ Rohingya in specif-ic areas,” Fortify Rights said ina statement. AP

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.��/��'�$��&��;��&%��/!$��!!��&Johannesburg (AP): The reportthat US President Donald Trumpmade crude, disparaging remarksabout Nelson Mandela, SouthAfrica’s Nobel Peace Prize-win-ning former leader, has drawn anangry response from SouthAfrica’s ruling party and others.

According to a book writtenby Michael Cohen, Trump’s for-mer personal lawyer, Trumpsaid that Mandela, who guidedSouth Africa in its politicallyfraught transition from a racistapartheid government to ademocracy, was a terrible leader.

Mandela, who won the PeacePrize in 1993 along withapartheid leader Frederik Willem

de Klerk, is widely revered by allracial groups in South Africa.Internationally, he generally hasa glowing reputation as a skilledstatesman who avoided a nation-wide bloodbath as the countryabandoned apartheid.

The report about Trump’scomments could also impactthe US presidential election inNovember in which Trump isseeking a second term in office,angering not only BlackAmericans but white voters whosee Mandela as a peace icon.

South Africa’s ruling AfricanNational Congress party saidTuesday that Trump is not fit tocomment on Mandela’s accom-

plishments.All freedom-loving people of

the world are appalled by theseinsults, which come from a per-son who himself is not a modelof competent leadership, said theANC statement, adding thatTrump is the most divisive,misogynistic and disrespectfulperson ever to be president of theUnited States.

Mandela’s dedication topeace and a just society stands instark contrast to Trump’s policies,said the ANC.

The mark of a true leader isnot how many enemies you cre-ate but how many friendshipsyou cultivate, even where strong

differences of opinion exist, saidthe ANC, adding that if Mandelawere alive today, he would reachout to Trump to discuss inter-national issues.

The Nelson MandelaFoundation also criticized Trumpfor the insulting remarks aboutMandela attributed to him byCohen, who has been convictedof fraud and perjury.

We do not believe that lead-ers who conduct themselves inthe way Mr Trump does are in aposition to offer authoritativecommentary on the life andwork of Madiba (Mandela’s clanname), the foundation said in astatement.

�$�� %��&��6�Geneva (AP): A Swiss federalcommissioner announcedTuesday that a US-Swiss pro-gramme aimed to protect per-sonal information exchangedbetween the two countriesdoesn't go far enough, and hasdowngraded the United Statesto rank it as a country deemedto have inadequate data pro-tection.

Federal Data Protectionand InformationCommissioner AdrianLobsiger, in a new policy paper,recommends that Swiss com-panies or government shoulddisclose personal data to the USonly if safeguards are put inplace to protect people fromprying US authorities.

Lobsiger’s paper follows aregular review of the three-year-old US-Swiss programmeknown as Privacy Shield, andhis recommendations followsimilar concerns expressed byEU authorities about an allegedlack of privacy protections inthe United States.

Switzerland is not an EUmember, but often mirrors orlines up with the positions of

the 27-member bloc that all butsurrounds the wealthy Alpinecountry.

In July, the EU’s top courtruled that the bloc’s ownPrivacy Shield program withthe US was invalid because theAmerican government cansnoop on people’s data.

The ruling complicatedbusiness decisions for some5,000 companies including techgiants and financial firms.

The EU court ruling fol-lowed a case brought byAustrian activist Max Schrems,who complained about thehandling of his Facebook data.

In his paper, Lobsigerdetermined the United Statesshould be categorised as pro-viding inadequate data protec-tion, a downgrade from itsearlier classification of the USas adequate in certain condi-tions." The US is now placedalongside countries like Russia,China, Cuba, Japan and mostAfrican and Latin Americanstates. Most European coun-tries are deemed to have ade-quate protections.

The recommendations do

not have the force of law, butcould factor into decisions bycorporate chiefs or govern-ment officials about whether toshare private information aboutSwiss residents and citizens.Only a court would have finalsay. Lobsiger said Swiss resi-dents and citizens do not havesufficient enforceable legalrights in the US and pointed toa lack of transparency in the USombudsman system — raisingquestions about the ombuds-man’s power and indepen-dence.

He said safeguards werelacking in the United States,and said hoped-for improve-ments in the US didn’t comeabout.

The Privacy Shield pro-gram focuses on data exchangebetween businesses and guar-antees provided by US author-ities on protecting personaldata transferred between thecountries, notably involvingthe mass collection of non-UScitizens’ data for the purposesof anti-terrorism measures andnational security, the papersaid.

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Tehran (AP): Iran’s statetelevision, citing an unnamedofficial, announced Tuesdaythat a British-Iranian dualnational is facing a new charge,raising fears she could be forcedto return to prison followingher temporary release.

The report did not elabo-rate beyond saying thatNazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffeappeared Tuesday morningbefore a branch of the country’sRevolutionary Court in Tehran,where she was first sentencedto prison on murky espionagecharges in 2017.

Calls to Zaghari-Ratcliffe’sattorney and the court were notimmediately returned.

The new indictment comesas Britain and Iran negotiatethe release of some 400 millionpounds (USD 530 million)held by London, a payment thelate Iranian Shah MohammadReza Pahlavi made forChieftain tanks that were neverdelivered. The shah abandonedthe throne in 1979 and theIslamic Revolution sooninstalled the clerically overseensystem that endures today.

��"��:�� $��%��%��London (PTI): Crunch Brexittalks to thrash out a tradeagreement between the UKand European Union (EU) gotunderway on Tuesday amid abrewing row over the so-calleddivorce deal struck earlier thisyear, ahead of Britain’s formalexit from the economic bloc onJanuary 31.

The current transitionperiod after that exit ends at theend of December before whichboth sides must agree the termsof their future relationship orend up with a no-deal Brexit.

The EU’s Chief Brexitnegotiator, Michel Barnier,arrived here to kick-start whatis expected to be a crucialround of talks to strike an

agreement with Britain’s nego-tiator, David Frost.

Prime Minister BorisJohnson has set an October 15timeframe to reach a mutual-ly agreed plan for the future ofUK-EU relations. However,the talks have been overshad-owed by a brewing row overJohnson’s plan to override partsof the Withdrawal Agreement,or divorce bill, signed onJanuary 24.

The government plans totable proposals in Parliamenton Wednesday to give UKministers unilateral legal pow-ers to oversee elements of theNorthern Ireland Protocol, theUK territory which shares aborder with the EU member-

state of Ireland. Amid anger from Brussels

and Dublin, Downing Streetinsists that the measures arelimited and reasonable andwould remain compliant withthe Northern Ireland Protocol.

However, Northern IrelandSecretary Brandon Lewisadmitted to MPs in the Houseof Commons on Tuesday thatit would have an impact oninternational law but insistedthe legal breach would be in a“very specific and limited way”.

The minister explained itwas because the governmentwas trying to “disapply” EU lawand added there are “clearprecedents for the UK andother countries needing to

consider their internationalobligations as circumstanceschange”.

His statement came as it

emerged that Jonathan Jonesresigned as one of most seniorlegal advisers and civil servantsamid concerns that the plans

would undermine parts of theWithdrawal Agreement. Jones’resignation means Johnson’ssix top civil servants have nowstood down this year, includingthe heads of several depart-ments.

“This resignation indicatesthat senior government lawyersthink that the government areabout to break the law, saidLord Charlie Falconer,Opposition Labour’s ShadowAttorney General.

“The government is trash-ing the best of the UK; we area law abiding country and thegovernment have some seriousquestions to answer,” he said.

On the Brussels side,Barnier said honouring the

existing agreement was a “pre-condition" for progress to bemade in trade deal negotiationsthis week.

But Downing Street hasindicated that Johnson did notbelieve the WithdrawalAgreement originally negoti-ated by his predecessor,Theresa May made sense, as theUK internal market and thepeace process would be “com-promised by unintended con-sequences” if it was not amend-ed.

Johnson had renegotiatedthe terms of the NorthernIreland Protocol, removing theso-called Irish “backstop”,before signing off on the termsof Britain’s exit from the 27-

nation bloc in October last year.The current legal default

position, without a new tradedeal, is that after December31 all goods passing frommainland Britain to NorthernIreland would be subject tocustoms checks and tariffs,that businesses in NorthernIreland would have to fill incustoms declarations forgoods being sold to the main-land, and that EU rules onstate aid could be applied tomainland companies sellinggoods in Northern Ireland.But it is feared that parts ofthe protocol may be contra-dictory in favour of the EUsingle market, which the UKwants to exit completely.

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Before selecting the real estatesector as a career option, it is amust to understand that a career

in this sector would be exciting,demanding, and monetarily rewarding.On the other hand, it must be clear inthe mind that the career in the realestate sector is not only about being realestate agents. There are many oppor-tunities for a person who is willing tochallenge himself to have a career in thedynamic sector like real estate. Themain thing is the hard work which isrequired for the profession.

While being a residential realtyconsultant/associate is one of theknown career options in this sector,it is by no means the only one. Thereis no denying that most of the high-profile career options in this sectorcomprise buying and selling residen-tial projects, but the sector has depth,and there are various jobs availablehere.

Being a real estate investor is oneof the opportunities in the Indian real-ty sector. Investor in real estate is onewho buys and modernises a proper-ty either for selling or renting pur-

poses. Active and passive are the twoways to be a realty investor. One candecide to be an active investor as yourclassic “house flipper.” A passiveinvestor is one who invests in a realestate project without interfering inthe daily management of a project.Even if one doesn't have much moneyto invest, then he/she can still becomean investor in crowdfunded real estateinvesting.

The second opportunity is a prop-erty manager. A major role is to main-tain property rentals by advertising &filling vacancies, settling, and impos-ing leases, and securing the premis-es. Besides, a project manager has cer-tain other roles including rent respon-sibilities, attracting tenants, screeningtenants, good knowledge of landlord-tenant Laws, maintenance & repair ofthe property, and managing the bud-get & maintaining financial records.Some brands outsource the projectmanagers depending on the size of theproperty and their requirements.

Another opportunity in the realestate sector is leasing consultantswhose responsibility is to present

residential property including flats,apartments, villas, etc to the potentialclients in an effective manner. Anotherrole is to assist residential landlords infinding out suitable and reliable ten-ants. Encouraging unoccupied prop-erties through different tools includ-ing media and advertising is also a keyrole of a leasing consultant.

Commercial leasing managers areoften assigned to office space orstorefronts and are also considered asone of the career options in the realestate sector. He is responsible to keepan eye and study changes in the mar-ketplace that can have an impact onthe budgets that a particular businesshas for various property needs.

A foreclosure professional can beappointed either by a bank or privatelender for handling the required doc-umentation and processes. The fore-closure professional is responsible toreview the client’s financial state-ments and process foreclosure casesso the property can be resold as quick-ly as possible. Such consultants mustbe organised and capable to finish thework in a fixed time frame.

A Real estate attorney is also anopportunity in this sector. An expe-rienced real estate attorney preparesand carefully checks the documentsincluding purchase agreements, mort-gage documents, and transfer docu-ments.

Many organisations appoint cor-porate real estate managers for han-dling and executing daily operationalactivities of commercial properties.Their major role is to respond to cus-tomer service queries, process cus-tomer work orders, needs, andrequirements.

Maximum companies hire cor-porate communication professionalsto handle operational activities relat-ed to public relations, advertising,social media, content development,and crisis management.

The Indian real estate sector is somuch more than residential realestate. It is surrounded with greatcareer opportunities that require dif-ferent strengths.

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��)�7�&7� �!�-��In yet another landmark, KIIT

School of Management has beenranked second in the Times BBAEducation Ranking Survey 2020.The Times Survey report was pub-lished today. The survey was con-ducted on the top BBA collegesoffering full time BBA courses inIndia.

The research had three majormodules including Desk Research,Factual survey & Perceptual Ratingsurvey. Post collection of data amethodical analysis was done to ratethe various BBA colleges that par-ticipated in the study and rank themaccordingly. The survey was execut-ed during the first week of July tothird week of August 2020.

The ranking process in the cur-rent year, imbibed a holistic researchmodule involving an objective studyand a perceptual study. While theobjective study is done to capture atrue reflection of what exists, the per-ceptual study on the other hand isdeemed important to comprehendhow the different actors and thestakeholders perceive the institutes.Thus, these two modules in tandemhelp to make the ranking processmore robust.

KSOM is one of the oldest pri-vate B-schools of the country with aglorious past, with 80 per cent facultyfrom corporate and half of them fromIIMs, IITs, XLRI, MDI and other topB Schools of the country.

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In a boost to thequest for sustainable

development in thecountry, AmritaVishwa Vidyapeetham(Amrita) has beenawarded a UNESCOChair for “ExperientialLearning forSustainable Innovation& Development.”

Through thisChair, the universitywill develop a com-prehensive frameworkfor academic engage-ment to build sustain-

able communities bydesigning a curricu-lum based on experi-ential learning. Thiscurriculum will enablethe academic commu-nity to acquire theknowledge, skills, atti-tudes and values nec-essary to implementsustainable solutionsamong vulnerable andrural communities.

The Chair will beheld by the universityfor the next four yearsunder the leadershipof Dr ManeeshaSudheer.

COVID-19 has completely trans-formed the market dynamics.

On the brighter side, it has givenbirth to new business opportunitiesand revenue models. Organisationswill now be looking to hire candi-dates who can bring distinct skillsas well as fresh ideas and innova-tion onboard. Hence, the demandfor job candidates with niche spe-cialisations will soar. Colleges anduniversities can meet post-pan-demic demand of industries andgroom their students in this direc-tion by integrating niche speciali-sations into their regular pro-grams.

Some of the niche specialisa-tions that are touted to gainmomentum in the new normal sce-nario are:

Banking and Microfinance The penetration of technology

and awareness about digital trans-actions have increased in ruralpockets. Tapping into this devel-opment, the government, NGOsand even corporates will tie-up with

microfinance institutions for last-mile reach to villages and remotelocations to transfer monetarybenefits of social/CSR schemes. Theoperations of the microfinancesector differ significantly from tra-ditional banking. A niche special-isation in this field can easilybridge the skill and knowledge gapbetween students and the microfi-nance industry.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)and Machine Learning (ML)

Almost every industry is incor-porating AI and ML technologiesin their business processes to gaina competitive advantage. AI andML will continue to break groundand find new applications in thefuture. Currently, there are barelya few higher education instituteswhich offer MBA or PGP in AI andML as a blended specialisation. Ahuge surge in demand of peoplewith AI and ML skills is expected,and hence, there is a dire need forniche specialisation courses in thisdomain.

Healthcare and HospitalManagement

The pandemic has put a majorburden on healthcare and hospitalsystem. Even the countries with thebest healthcare facilities are strug-gling to manage their capacityoptimally, run their operationssmoothly and maintain the quali-ty of their services. As key learningfrom COVID-19, hospitals andhealthcare institutes will now focuson addressing all these concernsand improving their processes.The number of hospitals and med-ical facilities will also rise to meetthe shortfall in capacity. Studentswho have niche specialisation inhealthcare and hospital manage-ment can pursue rewarding careersin operations, administration, cus-tomer service, public relations,audits, invoicing and other man-agerial roles.

Construction and Real EstateManagement

Currently, the Indian con-struction and real estate industry

primarily operates as an unorgan-ised sector. The construction andreal estate companies/brokers byand large have an upper hand overcustomers. There is also a lack ofprofessionalism, transparency andethics. As a result, most projects getdelayed, resulting in customergrievances. However, highly-skilledand suave professionals can bringmuch-needed reforms in thisindustry. A niche specialisation inconstruction and real estate indus-try can empower students toexplore careers in project manage-ment, estimation and costs andcontracts and vendor manage-ment. Sustainable construction,sales and marketing and customerservices are other areas whereniche specialisation in this indus-try can fast-track career growth.

Digital MarketingDigital marketing has estab-

lished its firm foothold in the pastfive years, but it emerged as a life-line during the pandemic.Organisations have realised thatdigital marketing can ensure busi-ness continuity even in the tough-est times. While the number ofonline and offline digital market-ing courses have witnessed a sharprise in the past few years, the cur-rent supply is less than demand.There is an urgent need to offermore digital marketing specialisa-tions. At the same time, thesecourses should be customised tosuit the business requirements sothat students can apply their learn-ing in the real-world scenariowithout hiccups.

Niche specialisations are gain-ing momentum and here to stay. It’shigh time that higher educationinstitutes incorporate them intotheir curriculum to expand theirofferings, benefit the students andmeet industry expectations.��,�� A��-�'��'��>"B

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The current outbreak has createda state of uncertainty across theglobe and has been seen impact-

ing various sectors as well as careerpaths. The future of careers is unde-termined, as even the top-notch analystsfail to predict it right. Buzz words suchas Genome Technology, Neurobiology,Drones, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics,Big data, Internet of Things,Astrophysics and similar areas ofresearch are revolutionising the worldof career.

In this scenario, the children in theirteenage would not be able to analyse thechanges around the world or under-stand the trends in education, take rightdecisions related to career and navigateto the most appropriate future all bythemselves. They need external helpwhich should ideally be learned supportfrom parents.

The popular notion of “their career,their life; let them decide, do not inter-fere” does not work well with a lot ofstudents and might even be tagged asa redundant thought in the 21st centu-ry. Instead, the modern times demandevery parent to incarnate as newagecareer gurus, who get self-ready to makechildren ready for the future. This is thetime to upgrade themselves and trans-form into career gurus from ordinaryparents.

Here is how the guardians canupgrade themselves smoothly andguide their children to select the rightfuture.

Learn about various careeroptions, courses and universities

Parents should learn about thechanges happening around the world ofcareer. They should focus on beingaware of the diverse opportunities that

lie ahead of students, including profes-sions such as blockchain experts, digi-tal marketing professionals and micro-biologists. The point is to achieve clar-ity about the different courses; rightfrom being an oceanographer to find-ing the best universities to study pub-lic health management. This would helpparents holding a meaningful conver-sation with children about their edu-cation and career. Once they start edu-cating themselves about differentstreams and careers, their child will startlistening to them mindfully.

Use scientific tools to discover thetrue potential of children and mapthem to suitable careers

Every career path is teeming withnew opportunities and sectors areswarming with cut-throat competi-tion, so it is imperative to understandthe obstacles that lie for the students inthe near future and address them.Although people are competing withhuman-colleagues at the moment, how-ever, in the next 10 years, they mighteven have to organise rallies to ensurereservations for human beings in jobs.The next-generation children may haveto compete with robots and machinesto get employed. Only if the right peo-ple reach the right place, children canperform well in this competitive world.Accidental success or ‘any person doing

any job’ scenario would not be the bestsolution or continue for long. Instead,the need of the hour demands parentsto use scientific tools to understand thestrengths, competencies and aptitude ofchildren and guide them with thecareers accordingly.

Interact with senior experts in var-ious industries

In the past, people often used totake children to meet veterans from var-ious walks of life and make them listento the experiences of their elders.Today, it is important to get back to sim-ilar roots but with a fresher perspectiveand productive approach. It’s not abouttaking the child to the seniors, butinstead, the parents should connect withacclaimed mentors to understand thepulse of the changes scenarios world-wide so that they can guide their chil-dren aptly. This will help them becomeaware of the diversity of professions andthus enable them to mentor kids bet-ter.

The new world is no more aboutpassive parenting, but active involve-ment in the education and career deci-sions of children. This is fundamental-ly different from parents imposingtheir dreams on children. Instead ofbeing a parent that imposes theirthoughts on the child, this approachhelps them in becoming the mosttrusted advisors of their children. Thiswill further make students look up totheir guardians and seek their guidance.

It is time for parents to questionthemselves and ask if they’re capable ofproviding the right kind of support totheir children. This will further helpthem evolve into super parents andmentor their children rightly.

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Under the Unnat BharatAbhiyan (UBA), the flagship

programme of the Ministry ofHuman Resource Development(MHRD), SRM Institute ofScience and Technology(SRMIST), Kattankulathur hasadopted eight villages.

The aim of this programmeis to transform rural India. Basedon the guidelines layout byMHRD, SRMIST has adopted thevillages of Anjur, Pattaravakkam,Thenmelpakkam, Orathur,N a t t a r a s a m p a t t u ,Chettipunniyam, Kalivandapattu,

and Kolathur.Out of 59 project proposals

submitted by SRMIST for theupliftment of rural people inthese adopted villages, threeprojects were funded by UBAduring the academic year 2018-19. They are — End-To-EndIntegrated Rationing System forDistribution of Provisions havebeen completed at Anjur village,Reverse osmosis plant, and ROwater plant installed atGovernment School of Orathurvillage and Versatile Anaerobicreactor for Households to YieldBiogas by Utilising waste (KisanVahyu) at Orathur village.

Apart from these, variousdevelopment projects such asSwachh Bharat SummerInternship, Student SolarAmbassador Initiative, Ban onSingle-use Plastic AwarenessPrograms, RO Water PlantProject, School Improvement byproviding furniture and electri-cal appliances, Smart Classroom,Medical Camp and Distributionof Educational Learning Kitsfor Science Lab and SwachhataHi Seva Campaign.

Apart from this SRMISThas also donated furniture worth�2 lakhs to a Govt. MiddleSchool, Thenmelpakkam vil-

lage, Kattankulathur Panchayatunion.

For all these commendableefforts, SRMIST was awardedRank 1 for Swachh CampusRanking 2019 by MHRD, Rank1 for “One Student One Tree”project and Rank 3 for “Cleanand Smart Campus” by AICTE.

The institution has under-taken umpteen projects in theform of its Corporate Socialresponsibility schemes, SwachhBharat Summer Internship,awareness campaigns to makethe villages ODF, and to ban sin-gle-use plastics and tree plantation.

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The University of Sheffield,UK is inviting applications

for Medical Microbiology BSccourse starting in September2021.

This course will give abroad understanding of micro-biology with an emphasis ontopics of medical relevance,allowing students to under-stand how microbes live, as wellas ways to disrupt diseaseprocesses, before putting theirskills and knowledge into prac-tice in the lab. Students willstudy the importance of bacte-ria, viruses and other microbesin the environment and aspathogens. Students will alsolearn about how we can manip-ulate their genetic makeup to

put microbes to good use inbiotechnology, allowing us tobetter understand and tacklethe global threat of antimicro-bial-resistant infections.

Eligibility: Applicants witha minimum aggregate of 75 percent and 75-80 per cent in keysubjects (including two sci-ence subjects) at Standard XIIwill typically be consideredfor direct admission to thiscourse. IELTS grade of 6.5with a minimum of 6.0 ineach component; or an alter-native acceptable English lan-guage qualification.

How to apply: Log on tohttps://www.sheffield.ac.uk/prospectus/courseDetails.do?id=C5212021.

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India’s premier cultural insti-tution, the National Centre

for the Performing Arts(NCPA) in collaboration withHSBC will be hosting a work-shop on ‘The Convergence ofDigitisation and the Arts’ onSeptember 12, 2020 from 3:30pm as part of their initiative onancillary skill development forthe artiste community.

Considering the COVID-19 has impacted this commu-nity largely with no live per-formances, the workshop willintroduce artistes to platforms,processes and means to beable to enhance their engage-ment online.

Supported by HSBC,renowned Kathak dancerKeerthi Kumar will be taking a

live audience through touch-points that enable performersto conduct virtual classrooms,online performances, confer-ences & seminars using a mixof household equipment,handy tools and subscription-based software.

This live dialogue willcover variety of subjects thatmake it imperative for an artistto re-look at monetisation inthe new normal. From homeacoustics & lighting systemsettings to re-modelling teach-ing methodologies for the dig-ital medium, the workshopwill cover a number of signif-icant aspects. All of these areaimed at elevating the digitalmedium to thereby helpingcontent creators’ brand & pro-mote themselves to audiencesacross the globe.

In India, about 3.6 lakh MBAcandidates graduate every year.But due to the Coronavirus sit-

uation, the business schools (B-schools) have had to make changesto their traditional manner ofteaching, and these changes willhave an impact on the students.

Most MBA programmes haveannounced that they are planningto go digital by providing onlineclasses to their students. A lot ofinstitutions have pushed theirMBA application deadlines. Theyhave also announced that they willreopen the campuses when it issafe for students to start attendingclasses in colleges. It means thatthe MBA candidates will have toattend classes online and probablyeven in classrooms.

Classrooms provide a spacefor the students to attend classeswith their peers, to discuss topicsand to clear their doubts imme-diately. When they take up onlinesessions, they will miss out on thecampus experience and also theface-to-face interaction with otherstudents and faculty members.

But they will learn a lot whenit comes to situation manage-ment, and they will also be able toattend webinars and other online

sessions provided by the institu-tions.

Given how the MBA pro-grammes are changing, the cours-es will test more than just the aca-demic potential of a candidate.They will now be a test of the can-didate’s ability to manage crises.

If a candidate attends theMBA programme on campus,they will have to work on projectsand case studies in teams. Whenthey are with the teams in college,it is easy to have discussions,share ideas and complete projectswhen they are with the team. Butthe current situation does not per-mit that.

In this situation, it comesdown to who takes up the leader-ship role, who brings the teamtogether and who manages thework. The impact of theCoronavirus on the job market hasmade MBA aspirants think twicebefore they choose their MBA pro-gramme. When an aspirantdecides to do an MBA, they canchoose to specialise in the field oftheir choice.

The trend of choosing theright specialisation had begun afew years ago. But the candidateshave now realised the importance

of acquiring the specific skills toget their dream job roles.

MBA in GeneralManagement, which gives a broadsense of management and busi-ness, was an MBA programmewhich was in demand. But now,MBA aspirants choose specificMBA courses. They are now keento explore the options available tothem that include STEM (Science,Technology, Engineering andMathematics) programmes as well.

For someone interested inunderstanding the challenges andimportance of sustainable devel-opment, B-schools offer an MBAin Sustainable Development.Students learn the techniques andmethods to bring about sustain-able development, be it within acorporate environment or in otherbusinesses.

Candidates can choose to pur-sue an MBA in Logistics andSupply Chain Management,Blockchain Management andInnovation Management, to statea few. B-schools across the world,including Harvard BusinessSchool, Indian Institute ofManagement, EU Business Schooland Wharton Business Schooloffer different MBA specialisations

options to its candidates. Due tothis, there is an increased chancefor students to get admitted intothe course of their choice.

Every MBA programme willhave a unique offering, and everyB-school has their way of teachingtheir students. It is up to the can-didate to go through the detailsprovided by the B-schools, do theirresearch and find out which pro-gramme and which B-school suitsthem the most.

To make this decision, thecandidate has to know themselvesfirst. They have to know theirstrengths and weaknesses tochoose the MBA programme thatsuits their personality and aspira-tions. But it is also necessary tounderstand the scope of the pro-gramme the B-school offers.

Understanding the scope ofthe programme will help themunderstand the job roles and paypackages that they will receiveafter they graduate. A point thatall graduates have to remember isthat an MBA is an investment,both in terms of money and time.It is important to make the rightdecision and give it the best dur-ing a crisis time like this.��,��;#��;� %5��7��

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The banking sector has emerged asthe sunrise sector in the Indianeconomy. It provides many

avenues for employment. The IBPS POexam is conducted in two stages —Preliminary exam and the Mains exam.There are sectional cut-offs and over-all cut-offs. You should aim for a highscore to make it to the final merit list.The difficulty level of the exam has beenincreasing, so a strong understandingof the fundamentals along with asound strategy is required .

Mastering the ABC of the Englishlanguage section

This section has seen the intro-duction of new types of questions aswell as variants of standard questions.Practice all types of questions that havecome in the Prelims and Mains in thelast five years. Make grammar andvocabulary your forte. Questions basedon these can be answered with goodaccuracy in less time.

A good strategy in the exam is tostart with the questions that require lesstime to attempt — Cloze test, Fill in theblanks, Synonyms/Antonyms, Spottingerrors, vocabulary based questions.Para-based questions and reading com-prehension (except the vocabularyquestions if any) should be attemptedin the end — if time permits. Complexvariants of parajumbles which aretime-consuming have appeared in theMains in the last few years .

Making the numbers count in theQuantitative Ability section

Score high in this section by judi-ciously choosing the questions toattempt. Learn the multiplication tablestill 20, reciprocals till 12, and squaresand cubes of numbers 1 to 30. Makesure that you grasp the basic conceptswell.

A good strategy in the exam is notto attempt the questions in the ordergiven, but to pick the easy questions inthe first round. Pick the doable ques-tions which require more time to solvein the second round.

It will be better if one started withSimplification/Approximation, miss-ing series, Quadratic equations. Followup with Data Interpretation (Ratio &Average based questions ) — important

for the Mains. The data from a set maylook complicated but the questions canbe simple. Look for easy questions evenin the difficult sets. Revise chapters onArithmetic, Probability (basic level),P&C. Use approximations whereverpossible.

Tackling the Reasoning Abilitysection

Solve the questions in the follow-ing order: Inequality, Syllogisms,Coding-Decoding, Blood-relations andsome other miscellaneous questions.After these, you can solve puzzles/ seat-ing arrangement questions. Pay atten-tion to the weightage of questions.Attempt Critical Reasoning questionslater.

Keeping yourself up-to-dateRegular reading of newspapers

along with any monthly magazine oncurrent affairs is a must. Keep yourselfabreast with the last six months of news.Focus on economy, budget, politics, andbanking awareness. Learn capitals ofcountries, books and authors, latestcomputer terminology.

Avoid guesswork in all sections asit can fetch negative marks. Timemanagement, full dedication and prop-er guidance will lead to success in theexams.

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The Lane CommunityCollege invites appli-cations for the New

International StudentScholarships in the US. Thestipend is intended to com-pensate residents of anynationality who exhibit themost elevated academicgreatness and potential.

Eligibility: Requirerecipients to be a full-time F-1 international student onLane’s I-20; Are awardedthrough a competitiveprocess. Require recipientsto volunteer 25 hours of ser-vice. Are applied to therecipients’ tuition after stu-dents are fully enrolled atLane. Recipients are advisedto upload a copy of themost recent transcript and acopy of a student’s perma-nent academic record.

Admission require-ment: Candidates are need-ed to hold a high school cer-tificate. Language require-ments: Aspirants whose firstlanguage is not English areusually required to provideevidence of proficiency inEnglish at the higher levelrequired by the University.

How to apply :Applicants are required to beenrolled in the universityundergraduate course. Aftertaking the affirmation, stu-dents are allowed to submit

their application for thisgrant.Application deadline: It

is October 30, 2020.

The Brigham YoungUniversity invites applica-tions for its academic pro-grams for internationalstudents. Prospective newfreshmen are eligible toapply for undergraduatescholarships in the USA.

Eligibility: All nation-alities can apply. Entrancerequirements: Prospectivenew freshmen are eligible toapply for undergraduatefinancial aid beginning withthe term/semester they areadmitted. Freshmen mustsubmit all admissions mate-rials to the AdmissionsOffice by the programmedeadline in order to be con-sidered for programmes .

All international appli-cants for whom English isnot the native tongue mustprovide proof of compe-tence in the English lan-guage. The BYU anticipatesawarding approximatelyone-fourth of the newincoming freshmen stu-dents.

How to apply :Applicants should completethe BYU Scholarship onlineapplication form. TheUniversity encourages allstudents to complete theonline application, regard-less of their circumstances.

Application deadline: Itis December 15, 2020.

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Don’t tell Dominic Thiemthe US Open is diminishedin any way just because it’s

the first Grand Slam tournamentsince the 2004 French Open with-out at least one of Roger Federer,Rafael Nadal or Novak Djokovicin the quarterfinals.

“It doesn’t matter at all if theBig Three are here or not,” the No2-seeded Thiem said on Mondayafter beating No 15 Felix Auger-Aliassime 7-6 (4), 6-1, 6-1 in thefourth round at FlushingMeadows.

“Everybody wants their handson the trophy,” said Thiem, whowon almost half of Auger-Aliassime’s service points, 46 of 88.

“It doesn’t really matter whothey’re going to beat.”

Djokovic — seeded No 1,unbeaten this season and theoverwhelming favorite — wasdisqualified on Sunday after unin-tentionally hitting a line judge inthe throat with a ball after drop-

ping a game in the first set againstPablo Carreño Busta.

Nadal (pandemic concerns)and Federer (two knee operations)did not enter the tournament at all.

This ends a run of 13 con-secutive major championshipswon by a member of the BigThree.

“It’s been getting pretty bor-ing,” said Denis Shapovalov, thefirst Canadian man to reach theUS Open quarterfinals, “withthese three guys winning everytournament.”

None of the men left hasever earned so much as one Slamtrophy yet.

The quarterfinals on thebottom half of the draw will beThiem against No 21 Alex deMinaur; and No 10 AndreyRublev against No 3 DaniilMedvedev. On the top half,where Djokovic used to loom:No 12 Shapovalov vs No 20Carreño Busta; No 5 AlexanderZverev vs No 27 Borna Coric.

Medvedev was runner-up

to Nadal last year, losing in fivesets. He hasn’t dropped a setwhile advancing to the quarter-finals and he’s dropped serveonly three times.

“I’m playing better everymatch,” Medvedev said. “I hopethis can continue. I’mpleased, actually, with thefact I’ve won all the sets.”

Thiem is the onlyremaining man who hascontested multiple majorfinals. He is 0-3, losing twice toNadal at the French Open and toDjokovic at the Australian Openthis February.

“I am probably one of theoldest players left in the field,”said the 27-year-old Thiem,“which is surreal to me.”

Second oldest, actually :Carreño Busta is 29.

It’s the first US Open since2010 without at least one malequarterfinalist who is 30 orolder.

Next up for Thiem is the 21-year-old de Minaur, who reachedhis first major quarterfinal bysaving four set points in theopening tiebreaker and going onto a 7-6 (6), 6-3, 6-2 victory overVasek Pospisil.

Pospisil led 6-2 in thetiebreaker when it all fell apart.

“The momentum definitely

changed after that,” de Minaursaid. Pospisil, who is 30, praisedhis younger opponent’s courtcoverage, saying he thinks deMinaur might be the second-fastest player on tour.

“What’s most impressive ishe never breathes. He runs sideto side and he's never out ofbreath,” Pospisil said. “He defiesthe laws of biology, I guess.He's a freak of nature.”

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Melbourne: Former Indian all-rounder Yuvraj Singh is eyeinga stint in the Big Bash Leagueand Cricket Australia is tryingto help him find a team.

No Indian player has everfeatured in the BBL as BCCIdoesn’t allow active players totake part in overseas league.

The 38-year-old Yuvraj hadretired from international anddomestic cricket last year, clear-ing the decks to ply his trade inforeign leagues across the globe.

According to a report inSydney Morning Herald, Yuvraj’smanager Jason Warne of WSports & Media has confirmedthat Cricket Australia is tryingto find a franchise that wouldbe interested in the formerIndian all-rounder.

“We’re working with CA totry to find him a home,” Warnesaid on Monday.

However, as per the report,“interest in Yuvraj from BBLclubs had been modest todate.” PTI

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The Indian challenge came toan end at the US Open with

the quarterfinal loss of RohanBopanna and his Canadian part-ner Denis Shapovalov in the men’sdoubles event.

Bopanna and Shapovalov lost5-7. 5-7 to Dutch Jean-JulienRojer and Romania’s Horea Tecauin the last-eight match whichlasted one hour and 26 minutes onMonday.

Bopanna and Shapovalov losttheir serve once in each set andcould not convert the only breakchance that came their way in thesecond set.

It was Bopanna’s best perfor-mance at a Slam since he made thequarterfinals at both the US Openand the French Open in 2018.

Divij Sharan and Sumit Nagalhave already exited from the tour-nament following defeats in theirrespective events.

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Nicolo Barella extended Italy’stwo-year unbeaten run as

he scored the winner inMonday’s 1-0 victory away to theNetherlands in the UEFANations League while ErlingHaaland netted twice forNorway in a 5-1 thrashing ofNorthern Ireland.

Italy’s win was slightlyspoiled by news of rising starNicolo Zaniolo injury, who willundergo another serious kneeoperation on Wednesday after

tearing an anterior cruciate lig-ament for the second time ineight months.

Barella’s bullet header infirst half stoppage time wasenough for Roberto Mancini’sside to take all three points inAmsterdam and top spot inLeague A, Group 1.

The Azzurri’s are a pointahead of the Dutch, who areplaying under interim coachDwight Lodeweges followingRonald Koeman’s appointmentat Barcelona, and third-placedPoland following their 2-1 away

win over Bosnia andHerzegovina.

��In other matches, Romania

came out on top against Austriain Klagenfurt, with Denis Alibec,Dragos Grigore and AlexandruMaxim on target in a 3-2 victo-ry.

Norway shook off theiropening loss to Austria asBorussia Dortmund strikerHaaland helped tear apartNorthern Ireland in Belfast.

Paddy McNair cancelledout Mohamed Elyounoussi’sfine finish but Haaland, whostruck his first internationalgoal in Friday’s defeat, thumpedin from the edge of the area torestore Norway’s lead.

Alexander Sorloth scoredtwice, the second via an assistfrom Haaland who completedthe scoring on the hour withanother superb finish.

Scotland scraped past aninexperienced Czech Republic2-1 in Olomouc to go top ofLeague B, Group 2.

Melbourne: Spin legend ShaneWarne has urged CricketAustralia to keep the iconicMelbourne Cricket Ground asthe venue for the Boxing DayTest against India later this yeardespite growing Covid-19 casesin Victoria.

The governing body is set toannounce the schedule forIndia’s tour of Australia thisweek which will include fourTests and there are fears thatMCG may lose the Boxing DayTest.

“Cricket is the 2nd biggestsport in the world behind soc-cer(fact) & the biggest day onthe Aust sporting calendar is theBoxing Day test. We must try &do everything possible to keepit at the MCG this year. FYI-The Melb Cup & the AFL GFare the next biggest events inAust !,” Warne wrote on hisTwitter handle.

India’s tour is likely to startwith limited-overs matches (T20series) before the action shifts tothe four-Test series. PTI

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James Rodríguez joinedEnglish Premier League club

Everton in an attempt to revivea career that faltered at RealMadrid.

Signed by the Spanish giantafter rising to prominence witha stunning goal for Colombia atthe 2014 World Cup, the attack-ing midfielder couldn’t matchthose highs in Madrid.

“I’ve come here to tryto improve, to get better,”the 29-year-old Jamessaid.

“I’ve also come hereto help the team to win,to play good football —entertaining football.”

At Everton, he isbeing reunitedwith managerCarlo Ancelottiwho not onlysigned him forMadrid but also atBayern Munich

on loan in 2017.Everton said James joined

on a two-year deal with anoption for an additional season.The reported fee was 20 millionpounds ($26 million).

“James, as everyone knows,is a fantastic player with a lot ofquality and a lot of ability tomake assists for the strikers,” saidAncelotti, who left Bayern laterin 2017 and was hired byEverton last year.

“He’s really excited aboutthe project of the club and thefact we want to improve. Hewas really excited to sign andI didn’t spend time to con-vince him — he was already

convinced.”James won the league

title twice at Madrid andBayern but Everton has

not won the Englishc h a m p i o n s h i psince 1987.

“I’m a winner,I’m a real win-ner,” James said.

��

Former New Zealand all-rounder Scott Styris feels

foreign players won’t bemuch affected, but the Indiancricketers will definitely missthe energy while playing infront of empty stands in theupcoming IPL.

“I don’t think there willbe too much of an adjust-ment for the overseas players.A lot of the overseas playersplay in front of small crowdsor even empty grounds on a

regular basis, so they will beused to that,” Styris said inStar Sport’s show CricketConnected.

“But you are right, Indianplayers, I can’t remember. Imean (Virat) Kohli, 10 yearsago, most of those playershave been around longenough now. They won’tstruggle, but they will justwonder where they are andlook for that energy in otherways,” he added.

Former India pacer AjitAgarkar said it will be oddinitially to play in empty sta-diums as in India the crowdcan act as a 12th man for thehome team.

“It might be little odd atthe start, but like Scotty (ScotStyris) said, that energysometimes you get fromcrowds, particularly in India,the IPL has moved to theUAE, but in India, it cansometimes act like a 12thman for the home team,” hesaid.

��

Ascore of 150 to160 will be a

competitive one inDubai or Abu Dhabitrack, reckons RCBcoach MikeHesson, who ishappy to haveidentified histeam’s designated deathbowlers, an area that has letthem down during earlierIPL seasons.

The length of sideboundaries are bigger ingrounds like Abu Dhabiand that will bring downthe average team total.

“Here 150-160 willbe good scores insome grounds and itwill be different.Chinnaswamy (inBengaluru) is a greatbatting wicket,

smaller boundaries and scores(team totals) are (on)

higher (side),”Hesson told RCB’sYouTube channel.

He said that oncertain grounds,

spinners willcome in handy,especially whenthe surface is abit skiddy.

“On certaingrounds yes. Itdepends, likeAbu Dhabi,seamers hadplayed a big rolethere and proba-bly (the pitch)doesn’t (offer)spin as much as

the other twogrounds (Dubai and

Sharjah). It does skid.We need the ability to

adjust to conditions on

the day as well,” Hesson said.Bowling at the death in

grounds like Abu Dhabi will becompletely different fromChinnaswamy.

“Bowling at the death inAbu Dhabi will be quite differ-ent from bowling atChinnaswamy. The lengthsyou bowl and we have identi-fied our death bowlers,”Hesson said.

Although he didn’t nameChris Morris but Hesson hint-ed that the South African’sinclusion certainly providedRCB with a potent death oversbowling option.

“I think there’s been a lotof talk about finishing theinnings with the ball in the pastand we have got some experi-enced players in that space.Also we can improve on play-ers we already have.... Makethem a year wise.. A yearsmarter,” Hesson added.

��

Delhi Capitals’ pacer KagisoRanada feels that the team

has the wherewithal to challengeall comers for the IndianPremier League title this season.

Always seen as an under-performing side for much oftheir 12-year history, Delhientered the playoffs last year forthe first time in seven years andbeat SunRisers Hyderabadbefore losing to ChennaiSuper Kings.

“We had a really goodseason, so I know that wecan challenge and winthis competitionbecause we camereally close last sea-son. So, mentally Iguess that helps,”Rabada said. “But,also, it is a newtournament so wehave to start againand we’ve got a nicegroup put together,nice team.”

A good start as usual will bekey, the bowler reckoned.

“We have to start again andstart the whole process, so hope-fully we can get off to a goodstart but win at the end of theseason – we want to be the mostconsistent team and win attimes when we really, reallyneed to win,” he added.

Rabada, who has 31 wicketsin his IPL career, trained for thefirst time with the rest of the

team on Monday after com-pleting his quarantine.

“It feels good to be run-ning in, and to be with some

teammates as well,” he said.“This (situation) is quiteunique, not a lot of peo-ple get to do this. We’rein the middle of a desert,

playing cricket — it’ssomething that I did-n’t think I would everbe able to do. So it’s a

lot of fun also.”Rabada said that the

break he has got due to theCovid-enforced freeze on

the cricket calendar has helpedhim recharge his batteries.

“It’s been a high volume ofcricket in the past five years forme, but I really enjoyed thebreak at home,” he said. “I feel

quite strong. I think I just needto bowl more, and make sure Ihaven’t forgotten how to bowl.I need to keep up with the bowl-ing practice, but otherwise I feelhealthy.”

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Serena Williams had to sum-mon up every last ounce of

strength to depose 15th seedMaria Sakkari in three hard-fought sets on Monday.

The 38-year-old Americanneeded almost two and a halfhours to dislodge her 25-year-oldGreek opponent 6-3, 6-7 (6/8), 6-3 inside an empty Arthur AsheStadium in New York.

“She’s such a good competi-tor. It was a really intense match,”

said Williams, who hadbeen dumped out of aUS Open tuneup tour-nament by the sameopponent last month.

“I felt like she almostplayed better today. I was a littlefatigued last time and had somecramps. Just felt like I was able tocompete longer,” Williams added.

Williams rallied from twogames down in the deciding set,pumping herself up with loudscreams that echoed around thespectator-free arena as she brokeSakkari twice to clinch the last-eight spot.

“I’m super passionate. This ismy job. This is what I wake up todo. This is what I train to do 365days of the year,” Williams saidafterwards.

The American will playTsvetana Pironkova for a place inthe semi-finals after the Bulgarianousted Alize Cornet in anotherdraining three-setter.

� �� Pironkova, who is playing her

first tournament in three yearsafter a lengthy break duringwhich she gave birth to her son,prevailed 6-4, 6-7 (5/7), 6-3 at theLouis Armstrong Stadium.

“It’s absolutely unreal, I real-ly can’t believe it,” said Pironkova,whose last tournament appear-ance before this year’s US Openwas the 2017 Wimbledon cham-pionships when she exited in the

second round.Also, unseeded Victoria

Azarenka came from a set downto oust 20th seed KarolinaMuchova 5-7, 6-1, 6-4 in 2hr30min.

However, second seed SofiaKenin was sent crashing out of thetournament, beaten in straightsets by Elise Mertens.

Kenin, the highest seededplayer left in the fray and winnerof the 2020 Australian Open, wasbundled out of the last 16 6-3, 6-3, in 1hr 14 mins by Mertens.

Mertens, the 16th seed, willnow play Victoria Azarenka in thequarter-finals.

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Top-ranked Ash Barty will notdefend her French Open title

because of concerns over travel-ing during the Covid-19 pandem-ic.

After skipping the USOpen, Barty has alsodecided against travelingto Europe for an event inRome starting Sept 14 andthe Sept 27-Oct 10 FrenchOpen.

“Last year’s FrenchOpen was the most specialtournament of my careerso this is not a decision Ihave made lightly,” Barty,who won her first majortitle on the clay courts of Roland

Garros, said in a statement onTuesday.

“I wish the players and theFrench Federation all the best fora successful tournament.”

Barty announced her with-drawal hours after French Openorganizers said spectators wouldbe allowed at the tournamentdespite a growing number ofcoronavirus cases in the country.

The 24-year-old Australiancited the health risks associat-

ed with Covid-19 and herinterrupted preparation asthe main reasons for pullingout of the tournaments. Shehasn’t been able to workwith her coach recentlybecause of domestic state

border closures in Australia.

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��$�&��%��'��K�:��>(L9�3��#�8��,��#�� >� 3"��Kolkata: Keeping in mindthe hot and humid conditionsin the United Arab Emirates,it will be vital for fast bowlersto manage their workloadproperly as the task at handwouldn’t be easy when the IPLgets underway on September19, feels Kings XI Punjabpacer Mohammad Shami.

The cities of Dubai, AbuDhabi and Sharjah — whichwill host the league this time—are expected to experiencetemperatures of around 35-40degree celsius during the tour-nament.

“Temperature is muchhigher compared to India.There are chances of gettingdehydrated. There will bechances of cramps. So we willhave to keep those things inmind,” Shami said.

“It will be difficult as thewickets here are also different.So workload management isimportant. But it is not thatdifficult that it can’t be man-aged. It depends on us how wemanage our workload,” addedthe 30-year-old, rated as oneof the best pacers in the worldat the moment. IANS

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