...2020/11/23  · 5,24,223 with 2,326 new infec-tions. The number of active cases in the State...

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A s Covid-19 pandemic con- tinues unabated across the country, the Centre has rushed high-level teams to three States — Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab — to help them manage high infection loads and curb fatalities. Earlier the Union Government had sent the high level teams to Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Manipur and Chhattisgarh. The Union Health Ministry official said the high-level teams to UP, Punjab and HP aims to support them in Covid-19 response and management. These States have been either reporting a rise in the number of active cases —those who are hospitalised or are in home iso- lation under medical supervi- sion, or demonstrating a rise in the daily new cases of coron- avirus infections. These three-member teams will visit the districts reporting a high number of Covid cases and support the State efforts towards strengthening con- tainment, surveillance, testing, infection prevention and con- trol measures and efficient clinical management of the positive cases. The Central teams shall also guide in effec- tively managing the challenges related to timely diagnosis and follow up, the official said. Acting tough in a bid to break the chain of infection, the UP Government, which initially restricted 100 people at mar- riage function instead of 200 in Noida and Ghaziabad districts brought the entire States under the marriage guest capping. The violators will face tough action, the authorities said, adding that the decision has been taken due to a spike in the number of coronavirus cases. Night curfews and Section 144 have returned in States like Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and others. The Ashok Gehlot Government in Rajasthan has imposed night curfew in Jaipur, Jodhpur, Kota, Bikaner, Udaipur, Ajmer, Alwar and Bhilwara. According to news agencies, nobody except those providing essential and emergency services will be allowed to come out from 8 pm to 6 am in few cities in Rajasthan. The fine for not wearing a face mask has been increased from Rs 200 to Rs 500. In Delhi, the fine for not wearing face masks has been increased from Rs 500 to Rs 2,000. Besides, consumption of tobacco, spitting in public places, violation of quarantine rules, and not maintaining social distancing will also attract a fine of the same amount. The Delhi Disaster Management Authority had reverted to the earlier cap on the number of guests in the wake of a spurt in coronavirus cases in the city. India’s coronavirus vac- cine candidate, Covaxin, will be at least 60 per cent effec- tive, said vaccine manufac- turer Bharat Biotech on Sunday based on the trial data of the vaccine candi- date. The company said while it aimed to achieve at least 60 per cent efficacy, it could actually be more. “Chances of the vaccine being less than 50 per cent effective are remote, as suggested by our trial results so far,” it said. According to the World Health Organization, clear demonstration of efficacy (on a population basis) ideally with 50 per cent point estimate should be a minimum criteri- on for any coronavirus vaccine candidate. It had also said that the efficacy can be assessed against disease, severe disease, and/or shedding. The company, which is conducting the trails in collab- oration with the Indian Council of Medical Research, said on Tuesday that it had begun the third phase trials of the vaccine with 26,000 participants from across 22 sites in the country. Meanwhile, the Government may grant Pune’s Serum Institute of India (SII) with the emergency use authorisation of Oxford and AstraZeneca’s coro- navirus vaccine if the British-Swedish pharmaceuti- cal company got such approval from the UK Government. P rime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday urged the world leaders to keep the focus on climate change and assert- ed that India is exceeding the target of the Paris agreement. He also said the entire world can progress faster if there is greater support of technology and finance to developing nations. Addressing the G20 side event on “Safeguarding the Planet”, Modi said India is not only meeting its Paris Agreement targets but also exceeding them. Saudi Arabia, which assumed the G20 presidency this year, is the host of the vir- tual summit that is bringing together leaders from the world’s richest and most devel- oped economies, such as the US, China, India, Turkey, France, the UK and Brazil, among others. Modi said India’s focus is on saving citizens and the economy from pandemic while keeping the pace of fighting cli- mate change. He informed the G20 leaders that India’s aim is to restore 26 million hectares of degraded land by the year 2030 and encourage a circular economy. “Today, we are focused on saving our citizens and economies from the effects of the global pandemic. Equally important is to keep our focus on fighting climate change. Climate change must be fought not in silos but in an integrat- ed, comprehensive, and holis- tic way. Inspired by our tradi- tional ethos of living in har- mony with the environment, and the commitment of my Government, India has adopt- ed low-carbon and climate- resilient development practices,” Modi said. E xposing Pakistan’s com- plicity in aiding and abet- ting terrorism, a joint team of Border Security Force (BSF) and Jammu & Kashmir police on Sunday detected a 20-25 feet deep and 160-metre-long cross border tunnel, along the International border in Regal area of Samba sector. The tunnel was used by the four member fidayeen squad (members of a suicide squad) of Jaish-e- Mohammad (JeM) to infiltrate inside the Indian territory before they were neu- tralised at Ban Toll Plaza near Nagotra on November 19. Inspector General of BSF, Jammu Frontier, NS Jamwal who visited the tunnel site told reporters, “In a coordinated operation a joint team of BSF and Jammu & Kashmir police managed to timely detect this cross border tunnel used by the JeM group to crawl inside the Indian territory”. He said the tunnel was approximately 160- metre-long and 20-25 feet deep. “The exit of the tunnel was in thick bushes, carefully con- cealed and meticulously cov- ered with soil and wild growth. The mouth of the tunnel is strengthened and reinforced by the sand bags with markings of Karachi, Pakistan,” he added. Referring to the detection of tunnel IG, BSF said it appears it is a freshly dug tun- nel and appears to be used for the first time. He said it appears that proper engineering effort has gone in making the tunnel which shows the hand of the establishment. The nearest Pakistan BOPs are — Chak Bhura, Rajab Sahid and Asif Sahid. Director General of Police, Dilbagh Singh, who was also present on the spot, told reporters the items used by the tunnel diggers to cover it up all carry the markings of items made in Pakistan. “Earlier, the seizures made from the encounter site at Ban Toll Plaza also clearly indicated Pak hand in pushing these groups to execute their sinister design of disrupting DDC polls in Jammu & Kashmir,” he said. A s Delhi fight to contain a month-long surge in coro- navirus, its neighbouring State Uttar Pradesh has decided to conduct mandatory Covid tests on people coming from Delhi. “We will be testing people coming from Delhi via flight, bus or train, in the wake of surge in Covid-19 cases in the national Capital,” UP Chief Secretary RK Tiwari was quot- ed as saying by news agency ANI today. “We are discussing on the number of people allowed to attend weddings or other events,” he added. The authorities in Gautam Budh Nagar, the district in Uttar Pradesh adjoining Delhi, have been conducting random checks on incoming people for a while. So did Haryana in Delhi’s adjoining districts of Gurugram and Faridabad. The numbers in Delhi -- on an upward movement since the end of October — had breached the 8000-mark earli- er this month. Even on Saturday, it topped the list of daily surge with 5,876 cases, even though the number of tests was far below the 60,000- plus cases conducted on a weekday. Only 45,568 tests were conducted over the 24 hours before that, showed data from the Health Ministry. Uttar Pradesh, too, has been witnessing a sudden surge in coronavirus cases, which prompted the Centre to rush a three-member expert team to the state. With 24 fatalities in Uttar Pradesh over the last 24 hours, the total rose to 7,524. The number of cases surged to 5,24,223 with 2,326 new infec- tions. The number of active cases in the State stands at 23,471, the positivity rate of November is 1.6 per cent. Over the last 24 hours, the number of coronavirus cases in the country rose by 45,209, tak- ing the total number of infec- tions to 90.95 lakh, Government data showed. New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to hold virtual meetings with Chief Ministers and other representa- tives of States and Union Territories on Tuesday to review the Covid-19 situation and dis- cuss vaccine distribution strate- gy. Modi is expected to hold two back to back meetings, one with eight States with high caseloads and another with States and UTs to discuss vaccine distribution strategy, sources said. The PM, till now, has held several virtual meetings with States over the coronavirus sit- uation. While the national daily Covid-19 case count has remained below 50,000 for some time, several urban cen- tres have witnessed a surge, resulting in enforcement of several measures, including curfews in some cities. Berlin: Governments seeking to purchase Moderna’s poten- tial Covid-19 vaccine may have to shell out $25 and $37 per dose, depending on the size of the order, the compa- ny’s CEO Stephane Bancel told German weekly ‘Welt am Sonntag’ (WamS). M aking stricter laws and imposing them on the cit- izens with an iron fist may not lead to positive changes in the society, Chief Minister Hemant Soren said while addressing a ceremony on the 20th anniver- sary of Jharkhand Vidhan Sabha in Ranchi on Sunday. “Imposing stricter laws on the people cannot lead to a better society. We have to create a society, wherein peo- ple respect each other irre- spective of caste, community, gender and reli- gion,” Soren said. Unity in diversity, he said, was the beauty of India, and the people of the country should stay united in order to see progress and development. Stating the example of the Vidhan Sabha as the largest “Panchayat” in the State, the Chief Minister said that all members of the Assembly were equal. Soren also thanked his fel- low legislators for fighting the Covid-19 crisis as a team and helping Jharkhand check the spread of the deadly virus. The CM said the Covid-19 sit- uation in Jharkhand was better in comparison to many other States in India, but the fight was not over yet. “Our fight against this pan- demic is not over yet. I would urge all the residents of our state to abide by the rules and take necessary precautions, as that is the only way we can deal with the situation,” he added. For the first time since the formation of Jharkhand, the anniversary celebration of Vidhan Sabha was held in absence of a Leader of Opposition on Sunday, trig- gering indirect jibes against the government from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders. The chief whip of the BJP, Biranchi Narayan, used the platform of the 20th anniver- sary ceremony of Vidhan Sabha to lament over the absence of BJP-backed Leader of Opposition Babulal Marandi, the first Chief Minister of Jharkhand. “It would have been nice had Leader of Opposition, Babulal Marandi, attended this event. Leader of Opposition is one of the pillars of the Assembly and Babulalji’s absence gives a sense of incom- pleteness as we celebrate 20 years of our State Assembly,” Narayan said. Former Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (JVM) chief Babulal Marandi and two of his fellow party leaders — Pradeep Yadav and Bandhu Tirkey — are yet to get the assembly speaker Rabindra Nath Mahato’s nod as MLAs of parties they joined after winning the 2019 elec- tions as JVM-P candidates. While Marandi joined BJP, Yadav and Tirkey moved to the Congress party. However, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has accepted them as MLAs of the parties they joined after win- ning the elections. T he Covid-19 toll in Jharkhand jumped above 950 on Sunday as the State reported at least five more casualties in the past 24 hours, taking the count of Covid-19 fatalities in the past 48 hours to almost a dozen, figures com- piled by the health depart- ment highlighted. At least two Covid patients died during treatment in Ranchi, while Bokaro, Dhanbad and Hazaribag reported one casualty each on the day, stated a bulletin released by the National Health Mission (NHM) on Sunday evening. As many as six Covid- 19 patients died in Jharkhand on Saturday. So far, East Singhbhum has reported 350 of the 951 Covid fatalities, the highest in the state. Ranchi, on the other hand has lost 191 people to Covid-19 virus. The Government on Sunday tested the swab samples of only 10,492 people and 137 of them were found Covid-pos- itive, stated the NHM bulletin. However, as many as 272 patients overcame the infection on Sunday, taking the Covid recovery rate in Jharkhand up at 96.98 per cent. The number of active cases of Covid-19 infection have dropped significantly in the past one week. On Saturday, there were 2,289 active cases of infection in Jharkhand and at least 850 of them were in Ranchi. Government figures indi- cate that Ranchi and East Singhbhum account for more than 50 per cent of active cases in Jharkhand. At least 305 peo- ple were battling the virus in Ranchi on Sunday. The intensity of sample collection for Covid-19 test has also reduced in Jharkhand lately. On Sunday, health work- ers collected swab samples of only 8.014 people, which is lower than the average number of tests conducted daily in the past one month. As per government data, at least eight districts in the state did not report even a single case of Covid-19 infection on Sunday, while 13 districts reported a single-digit-spike in Covid cases. Ranchi, which reported 77 fresh cases, was the highest contributor to the Covid caseload in Jharkhand on Sunday. However, Ranchi also reported 129 recoveries, the highest among all the 24 dis- tricts in Jharkhand. East Singhbhum reported only five fresh cases against 36 recover- ies, while Dhanbad reported zero fresh cases and zero recov- eries on the day. At least seven cases sur- faced in Bokaro and 10 patients recovered there. The Government has so far collected swab samples of 39.24 lakh people and tested around 39.08 lakh of them. As many as 1,07,469 peo- ple have been found infected by the virus so far and 1,04,229 of them have recovered, high- lights Government data.

Transcript of ...2020/11/23  · 5,24,223 with 2,326 new infec-tions. The number of active cases in the State...

Page 1: ...2020/11/23  · 5,24,223 with 2,326 new infec-tions. The number of active cases in the State stands at 23,471, the positivity rate of November is 1.6 per cent. Over the last 24

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As Covid-19 pandemic con-tinues unabated across the

country, the Centre has rushedhigh-level teams to three States— Himachal Pradesh, UttarPradesh and Punjab — to helpthem manage high infectionloads and curb fatalities.

Earlier the UnionGovernment had sent the highlevel teams to Haryana,Rajasthan, Gujarat andManipur and Chhattisgarh.

The Union Health Ministryofficial said the high-level teamsto UP, Punjab and HP aims tosupport them in Covid-19response and management.These States have been eitherreporting a rise in the numberof active cases —those who arehospitalised or are in home iso-lation under medical supervi-sion, or demonstrating a rise inthe daily new cases of coron-avirus infections.

These three-member teamswill visit the districts reportinga high number of Covid casesand support the State effortstowards strengthening con-tainment, surveillance, testing,infection prevention and con-trol measures and efficientclinical management of thepositive cases. The Centralteams shall also guide in effec-tively managing the challengesrelated to timely diagnosis andfollow up, the official said.

Acting tough in a bid tobreak the chain of infection, theUP Government, which initiallyrestricted 100 people at mar-riage function instead of 200 inNoida and Ghaziabad districtsbrought the entire States underthe marriage guest capping.The violators will face tough

action, the authorities said,adding that the decision hasbeen taken due to a spike in thenumber of coronavirus cases.

Night curfews and Section144 have returned in States likeRajasthan, Madhya Pradesh,and others. The Ashok GehlotGovernment in Rajasthan hasimposed night curfew in Jaipur,Jodhpur, Kota, Bikaner, Udaipur,Ajmer, Alwar and Bhilwara.According to news agencies,nobody except those providingessential and emergency serviceswill be allowed to come out from8 pm to 6 am in few cities inRajasthan. The fine for notwearing a face mask has beenincreased from Rs 200 to Rs 500.

In Delhi, the fine for notwearing face masks has beenincreased from Rs 500 to Rs2,000. Besides, consumption oftobacco, spitting in publicplaces, violation of quarantinerules, and not maintainingsocial distancing will alsoattract a fine of the sameamount. The Delhi DisasterManagement Authority hadreverted to the earlier cap onthe number of guests in thewake of a spurt in coronaviruscases in the city.

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India’s coronavirus vac-cine candidate, Covaxin, willbe at least 60 per cent effec-tive, said vaccine manufac-turer Bharat Biotech onSunday based on the trialdata of the vaccine candi-date.

The company said while itaimed to achieve at least 60per cent efficacy, it couldactually be more. “Chances ofthe vaccine being less than 50per cent effective are remote,as suggested by our trialresults so far,” it said.

According to the WorldHealth Organization, clear

demonstration of efficacy (ona population basis) ideally with50 per cent point estimateshould be a minimum criteri-on for any coronavirus vaccinecandidate. It had also said thatthe efficacy can be assessedagainst disease, severe disease,and/or shedding.

The company, which isconducting the trails in collab-oration with the Indian Councilof Medical Research, said onTuesday that it had begun thethird phase trials of the vaccinewith 26,000 participants fromacross 22 sites in the country.Meanwhile, the Governmentmay grant Pune’s SerumInstitute of India (SII) with the

emergency use authorisation ofOxford and AstraZeneca’s coro-navirus vaccine if theBritish-Swedish pharmaceuti-cal company got such approvalfrom the UK Government.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Sunday urged the

world leaders to keep the focuson climate change and assert-ed that India is exceeding thetarget of the Paris agreement.He also said the entire worldcan progress faster if there isgreater support of technologyand finance to developingnations.

Addressing the G20 sideevent on “Safeguarding thePlanet”, Modi said India is notonly meeting its ParisAgreement targets but also

exceeding them.Saudi Arabia, which

assumed the G20 presidencythis year, is the host of the vir-tual summit that is bringingtogether leaders from theworld’s richest and most devel-oped economies, such as theUS, China, India, Turkey,France, the UK and Brazil,among others.

Modi said India’s focus ison saving citizens and theeconomy from pandemic while

keeping the pace of fighting cli-mate change. He informed theG20 leaders that India’s aim isto restore 26 million hectaresof degraded land by the year2030 and encourage a circulareconomy.

“Today, we are focused onsaving our citizens andeconomies from the effects ofthe global pandemic. Equallyimportant is to keep our focuson fighting climate change.Climate change must be foughtnot in silos but in an integrat-ed, comprehensive, and holis-tic way. Inspired by our tradi-tional ethos of living in har-mony with the environment,and the commitment of myGovernment, India has adopt-ed low-carbon and climate-resilient development practices,” Modi said.

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Exposing Pakistan’s com-plicity in aiding and abet-

ting terrorism, a joint team ofBorder Security Force (BSF)and Jammu & Kashmir policeon Sunday detected a 20-25 feetdeep and 160-metre-long crossborder tunnel, along theInternational border in Regalarea of Samba sector.

The tunnel was used by thefour member fidayeen squad(members of a suicide squad)of Jaish-e- Mohammad (JeM)to infiltrate inside the Indianterritory before they were neu-tralised at Ban Toll Plaza nearNagotra on November 19.

Inspector General of BSF,Jammu Frontier, NS Jamwalwho visited the tunnel site toldreporters, “In a coordinated

operation a joint team of BSFand Jammu & Kashmir policemanaged to timely detect thiscross border tunnel used by theJeM group to crawl inside theIndian territory”. He said thetunnel was approximately 160-metre-long and 20-25 feet deep.

“The exit of the tunnel was

in thick bushes, carefully con-cealed and meticulously cov-ered with soil and wild growth.The mouth of the tunnel isstrengthened and reinforcedby the sand bags with markingsof Karachi, Pakistan,” he added.

Referring to the detectionof tunnel IG, BSF said it

appears it is a freshly dug tun-nel and appears to be used forthe first time. He said it appearsthat proper engineering efforthas gone in making the tunnelwhich shows the hand of theestablishment.

The nearest Pakistan BOPsare — Chak Bhura, Rajab Sahidand Asif Sahid.

Director General of Police,Dilbagh Singh, who was alsopresent on the spot, toldreporters the items used by thetunnel diggers to cover it up allcarry the markings of itemsmade in Pakistan. “Earlier, theseizures made from theencounter site at Ban Toll Plazaalso clearly indicated Pak handin pushing these groups toexecute their sinister design ofdisrupting DDC polls inJammu & Kashmir,” he said.

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As Delhi fight to contain amonth-long surge in coro-

navirus, its neighbouring StateUttar Pradesh has decided toconduct mandatory Covid testson people coming from Delhi.

“We will be testing peoplecoming from Delhi via flight,bus or train, in the wake ofsurge in Covid-19 cases in thenational Capital,” UP ChiefSecretary RK Tiwari was quot-ed as saying by news agencyANI today. “We are discussingon the number of peopleallowed to attend weddings orother events,” he added.

The authorities in GautamBudh Nagar, the district inUttar Pradesh adjoining Delhi,have been conducting randomchecks on incoming peoplefor a while. So did Haryana inDelhi’s adjoining districts ofGurugram and Faridabad.

The numbers in Delhi --on an upward movement sincethe end of October — hadbreached the 8000-mark earli-er this month. Even onSaturday, it topped the list ofdaily surge with 5,876 cases,even though the number oftests was far below the 60,000-

plus cases conducted on aweekday. Only 45,568 testswere conducted over the 24hours before that, showed datafrom the Health Ministry.

Uttar Pradesh, too, hasbeen witnessing a sudden surgein coronavirus cases, whichprompted the Centre to rush athree-member expert team tothe state.

With 24 fatalities in UttarPradesh over the last 24 hours,the total rose to 7,524. Thenumber of cases surged to5,24,223 with 2,326 new infec-tions. The number of activecases in the State stands at23,471, the positivity rate ofNovember is 1.6 per cent.

Over the last 24 hours, thenumber of coronavirus cases inthe country rose by 45,209, tak-ing the total number of infec-tions to 90.95 lakh,Government data showed.

New Delhi: Prime MinisterNarendra Modi is likely to holdvirtual meetings with ChiefMinisters and other representa-tives of States and UnionTerritories on Tuesday to reviewthe Covid-19 situation and dis-cuss vaccine distribution strate-gy. Modi is expected to hold twoback to back meetings, one witheight States with high caseloadsand another with States and UTsto discuss vaccine distributionstrategy, sources said.

The PM, till now, has heldseveral virtual meetings withStates over the coronavirus sit-uation. While the nationaldaily Covid-19 case count hasremained below 50,000 forsome time, several urban cen-tres have witnessed a surge,resulting in enforcement ofseveral measures, includingcurfews in some cities.

Berlin: Governments seekingto purchase Moderna’s poten-tial Covid-19 vaccine mayhave to shell out $25 and $37per dose, depending on thesize of the order, the compa-ny’s CEO Stephane Banceltold German weekly ‘Weltam Sonntag’ (WamS).

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Making stricter laws andimposing them on the cit-

izens with an iron fist may notlead to positive changes in thesociety, Chief Minister HemantSoren said while addressing aceremony on the 20th anniver-sary of Jharkhand Vidhan Sabha in Ranchi on Sunday.

“Imposing stricter laws onthe people cannot lead to a better society. We have tocreate a society, wherein peo-ple respect each other irre-spective of caste, community, gender and reli-gion,” Soren said.

Unity in diversity, he said,was the beauty of India, and thepeople of the country shouldstay united in order to seeprogress and development.Stating the example of theVidhan Sabha as the largest“Panchayat” in the State, theChief Minister said that allmembers of the Assembly were equal.

Soren also thanked his fel-low legislators for fighting theCovid-19 crisis as a team andhelping Jharkhand check thespread of the deadly virus.The CM said the Covid-19 sit-uation in Jharkhand was betterin comparison to many otherStates in India, but the fight wasnot over yet.

“Our fight against this pan-demic is not over yet. I wouldurge all the residents of ourstate to abide by the rules andtake necessary precautions, asthat is the only way we can deal

with the situation,” he added.For the first time since the

formation of Jharkhand, theanniversary celebration ofVidhan Sabha was held inabsence of a Leader ofOpposition on Sunday, trig-gering indirect jibes against thegovernment from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)leaders.

The chief whip of the BJP,Biranchi Narayan, used theplatform of the 20th anniver-sary ceremony of Vidhan Sabhato lament over the absence of

BJP-backed Leader ofOpposition Babulal Marandi,the first Chief Minister ofJharkhand.

“It would have been nicehad Leader of Opposition,Babulal Marandi, attended thisevent. Leader of Opposition isone of the pillars of theAssembly and Babulalji’sabsence gives a sense of incom-pleteness as we celebrate 20years of our State Assembly,”Narayan said.

Former Jharkhand VikasMorcha (JVM) chief Babulal

Marandi and two of his fellowparty leaders — Pradeep Yadavand Bandhu Tirkey — are yetto get the assembly speakerRabindra Nath Mahato’s nod asMLAs of parties they joinedafter winning the 2019 elec-tions as JVM-P candidates.While Marandi joined BJP,Yadav and Tirkey moved to theCongress party.

However, the ElectionCommission of India (ECI) hasaccepted them as MLAs of theparties they joined after win-ning the elections.

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The Covid-19 toll inJharkhand jumped above

950 on Sunday as the Statereported at least five morecasualties in the past 24 hours,taking the count of Covid-19fatalities in the past 48 hours toalmost a dozen, figures com-piled by the health depart-ment highlighted.

At least two Covid patientsdied during treatment inRanchi, while Bokaro,Dhanbad and Hazaribagreported one casualty each onthe day, stated a bulletinreleased by the National HealthMission (NHM) on Sundayevening. As many as six Covid-19 patients died in Jharkhandon Saturday. So far, EastSinghbhum has reported 350 ofthe 951 Covid fatalities, thehighest in the state. Ranchi, onthe other hand has lost 191people to Covid-19 virus.

The Government onSunday tested the swab samplesof only 10,492 people and 137of them were found Covid-pos-itive, stated the NHM bulletin.However, as many as 272patients overcame the infection

on Sunday, taking the Covidrecovery rate in Jharkhand upat 96.98 per cent.

The number of active casesof Covid-19 infection havedropped significantly in thepast one week. On Saturday,there were 2,289 active cases ofinfection in Jharkhand and at least 850 of them werein Ranchi.

Government figures indi-cate that Ranchi and EastSinghbhum account for morethan 50 per cent of active casesin Jharkhand. At least 305 peo-ple were battling the virus inRanchi on Sunday.

The intensity of samplecollection for Covid-19 testhas also reduced in Jharkhandlately. On Sunday, health work-

ers collected swab samples ofonly 8.014 people, which islower than the average numberof tests conducted daily in thepast one month.

As per government data, atleast eight districts in the statedid not report even a singlecase of Covid-19 infection onSunday, while 13 districtsreported a single-digit-spike inCovid cases. Ranchi, whichreported 77 fresh cases, was thehighest contributor to theCovid caseload in Jharkhandon Sunday.

However, Ranchi alsoreported 129 recoveries, thehighest among all the 24 dis-tricts in Jharkhand. EastSinghbhum reported only fivefresh cases against 36 recover-ies, while Dhanbad reportedzero fresh cases and zero recov-eries on the day.

At least seven cases sur-faced in Bokaro and 10 patientsrecovered there.

The Government has so farcollected swab samples of 39.24lakh people and tested around39.08 lakh of them.

As many as 1,07,469 peo-ple have been found infected bythe virus so far and 1,04,229 ofthem have recovered, high-lights Government data.

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Page 2: ...2020/11/23  · 5,24,223 with 2,326 new infec-tions. The number of active cases in the State stands at 23,471, the positivity rate of November is 1.6 per cent. Over the last 24

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Forest patrol in Betla rangehas been stepped up with

the advent of the winter.Sources said the poachers andthe bird killers get activated inthe winter because of adverseclimatic situations in whichlevel guard gets down.

The Betla range is theshortest in the square kilome-ter of all the 8 ranges of thePalamu tiger reserve. Butdespite it being the shortestone, this Betla range has enor-mous challenges, said sources.

As per official record of the

PTR, Betla range is spreadover 48.49 sq km while thelargest range is Bareysarnwhich has 219.30 sq km.Mahuadarn range has 170.91sq km, Kutku range 161.93 sqkm, Garu range west 164.77,Garu range east 175.91 sq kim,Chhipadohar range east 171.49sq km and Chhipadoharwest194 sq km.

Deputy director North divi-sion of PTR, Kumar Ashish saidless than half of the range ofBetla is open and accessible tothe tourists and our forest patrolon road number 6 is far morechallenging here in the BetlaNational Park.

About road number 6patrol, Ashish said this end ofthe park meets with two dense-ly populated villages, Muru andKuchila, and incidentally thisend is on the edge of the park

and hence officials need tointensify patrol here.

Ashish said, “Entry of buf-faloes owned by farmers hasbeen considerably contained.Due to intense patrol the farm-ers are finding it hard to pushin their buffaloes in the parknow which leaves enough space,food and water for our bisonand other herbivores.”

Sources said many touristsin the past here had begun tocall Betla National park asBuffalo National Park becauseof the abundance of buffaloesloitering inside the park but nowthis image has been shed off.

D S Srivastava, an environ-mentalist, said the park’s herbi-vores detest buffaloes as whenbuffaloes enter in any water

body or water trough, theyleave a stink of their body in itwhich is irksome to wild life.

Srivastava has also a note ofcaution when he said outsideanimals if let in the park aredangerous from the point ofview of diseases that they maybe carrying and exposing thepark’s wildlife to it as well.

Ashish said “We are all themore cautious in the park ashere our park is blessed withfive new born bison. Fourcalves of bison were born veryrecently while one born earli-er is growing fast.”

Ashish said “This is thefirst calendar year when thereis this addition value in thepopulation of the bison so far.We all wish them to be lucki-er as in April May this year welost three adult bison in quicksuccession.”

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Lack of technical experts hashit several medical and life-

saving support services at SadarHospital Bokaro. Several ven-tilators and other lifesavingmedical support equipmentare not being used in absenceof technicians.

The construction of ICUand alternate Gas supply sys-tems are yet to be completed atSadar Hospital.

In September, this yeararound 20 new ventilators andother equipment were rushedto the hospital during the coro-navirus pandemic period totackle the situation.

These equipment are stilllying unused, a sourcesaid.

Among the new ventila-tors, five were shifted at BokaroGeneral Hospital while 10 to beused in ICU and 5 to beinstalled in Corona ward, hesaid.

Admitting shortage oftechnical experts at hospitalCivil Surgeon AK Pathak said,“A number of medical andlife-saving support facilities atthe hospital have been affect-ed by a shortage of technicalexperts.”

Presently, there is a dearthof technical experts in-com-parison to the number ofequipment available at the hos-pital. Though, the hospital hasenough numbers of anestheticsand medical staffs, but there is an urgent need ofexpert doctors forEmergency and Trauma caseswho needs immediate life-sav-ing support, saidPathak

“We are yet to arrangetechnical experts who could beable to operate the ventilators,”added Pathak.

Civil Surgeon said, theconstruction work of ICU isgoing on, it would be com-pleted very shortly.

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Jamshedpur Yodhayein Round TableIndia 338 (JYRT 338) as part of the

Round Table Week celebration has linedup several activities in the city. The chap-ter will distribute masks and carry sever-al philanthropic activities. The chapter hasdecided to lend financial help to the can-cer patients.

Tanay Jhanwar, chairman said that theweek is celebrated across the country byall the chapters with an aim to spreadawareness on education and social serviceactivities for all who can be reached. Thisyear it is scheduled between 22-28November 2020.

The Jamshedpur chapter has cometogether to plan various activities in thisweek, which include, COVID Relief,financial aid for cancer patients amongstmany other.

Round Table India, is an organisationof non-political and non-sectarian youngmen between the age group of 18 and 40,promoting service, fellowship and good-will in national and international affairs.

Working towards the education of under-privileged children, till date, 7141 class-rooms have been built across India in 3041schools, impacting over 78 lakhs children.

Jamshedpur Yodhayein Round TableIndia 338 (JYRT 338) had also donated 300liters of sanitiser and 5000 masks to thesenior superintendent of police. This wasthe first CSR carried out by the youths forthe year 20-21.

Taranpreet Singh, vice chairman, saidthat they are doing this to raise awarenessas a part of the social duty. He said thatduring the week they will distribute masksas it is a foremost measure to safeguardagainst the infection and hence they havedistributed masks.

City youths launched JamshedpurYodhayein Round Table 338, Round Tableof India’s newest chapter in 2019. WhileRound Table of India focuses on cultivat-ing the highest ideals in business, profes-sional and civic traditions, the Tablers pro-mote education of the underprivileged anddevelop projects that uplift society atlarge.

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The Dhanbad unit of IndianMedical Association (IMA)

has demanded compensation,as promised by the union gov-ernment, for the family of agovernment hospital doctorwho died of Covid-19.

With death of Dr SSLal(52) who was doctor In-charge of GovindpurCommunity health center tillnow three have died inDhanbad since the pandemicbroke.

Dr Lal who had alsoserved at dedicated coronahospital for three terms in lastfive months was found dead athis residence on Saturday.

He was living alone at his

residence and had complainedof weakness and chest conges-tion to his colleagues and staff.

The corona test conductedafter his death confirmed thatDr Lal was suffering fromcorona.

His wife resides in Patnawhere she is working at BharatSanchar Nigam Limited(BSNL).

The body was handed overto the family on Sunday.

Meanwhile, IMA Dhanbadbranch secretary Dr SushiKumar in a statementexpressed concern over thedeath and has demanded com-pensation of Rs 50lakh for thefamily of the deceased doctorwho happens to be a regular

doctor of Jharkhand healthservices.

Dr Sushi said, Both atKenduadih where he was post-ed two months ago and atGovindpur where he was post-ed now has worked for pre-vention of Covid .

Jharkhand government toomust pursue from union gov-ernment for paying the com-pensation that was announcedfor the health workers anddoctors.

He said it's third death ofa doctor in Dhanbad and allthree happen to be governmentdoctors.

The other two were DrBenu Choudhary of PMCHand ESI dispensary doctor DKJha.

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XLRI (Xavier School ofManagement) has

announced acceptance of GREscores apart from GMAT andXAT scores for admission to itsflagship program - ExecutivePGDM [General] this yearonwards. Also, the GMATscores acceptance period hasbeen extended to five years(GMAT score validity fromDecember 1, 2015 to December31, 2020).

The admissions open forthe fifteen-month full-timeresidential GeneralManagement ProgrammeExecutive PGDM (General).The last date for registration is30th November 2020. The pro-gram has received various pres-tigious accreditations, includ-ing AMBA, AICTE.

Candidates must hold arecognized bachelor's degree of

minimum three years durationin any discipline with at least 5years of managerial/supervi-sory experience by March 31,2021. PGDM (GMP) candi-dates may choose to applythrough XAT 2021 orGMAT.

Executive PGDM (GEN-ERAL} aims to augment theskill-sets and competencies ofpracticing managers and accel-erate their career paths.Exposing them to recenttrends, tools, and techniques inmanagement.

The program consists ofCore and Optional/Electivecourses specially designed forfast track executives with workexperience. They provide theessentials of management edu-cation with the flexibility ofindividual exploration in theirchosen area of interest. It alsoincludes a 3-month field-basedtraining in a functional

area.Father P. Christie, director,

XLRI - Xavier School ofManagement said, “Knowledgeand continuous learning is themainstay amongst progressiveorganizations of today. To sat-isfy this thirst for knowledgeand to become a learning orga-nization, XLRI has evolved afifteen-month consolidatedprogram in general manage-ment with the objectives of pro-viding the practising managers a substantial expo-sure to theoretical foundationsin management as well as toprovide them a holistic per-spective of business in such away that they are not onlyequipped with tools and tech-niques to perform their task effectively but also toshoulder greater responsibilitiesin the future as they move upthe organizational hierarchy.”

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The statement of HenryKissinger, the former US

Secretary of State, that theBiden administration shouldrestore the line of communi-cation with China is quite nat-ural given the happier times ofhis era when China playedsecond fiddle to America. Healso said that the US shouldhave a number of Allies and theUS interest should be of fore-most interest. So far so good,but Allies for what and forwhom? There are severalAlliance systems led by the USthat have been working sincethe end of the Second WorldWar.

Then, why the US shouldhave a lot of Allies. It clearlymeans that the present systemof alliances is not fully catering

to the American interests. TheUS interest is largely dependenton the containment of China asit is eating into the geo-politi-cal and economic influenceareas of the US. It is also cut-ting into the strategic signifi-cance of America in the dif-ferent parts of the world.Therefore, America has to con-tain China in the coming yearsto maintain its position in theglobal political order.

The Chinese expansionistagenda can not and should notbe allowed to be continued.Conflict with China may comeor may not come in the processdepending upon the deftness ofdiplomatic skill of engagingChina and buying time to putnew Alliances in place andrejuvenating NATO.

The constitution ofAmerica came into operationin 1789. The French Revolutiontook place the same year. Thethree cardinal principles ofmodern times, liberty, equali-ty and fraternity were born andbecame the cherished dream ofhumanity. China has no placefor these three pillars of democ-racy. Human rights atrocities ofChina in Hong Kong, Tibet and

in Xin Jiang province againstthe Uighur muslims is heartranting and America can notrun away from the responsi-bility of fixing these problemsor at least trying to fix them.America and China are neithernatural nor logical allies. Goingby the track record of China, itwould not be wise to rely uponher.

So, China should beengaged in diplomatic talks, butat the same time Americashould be prepared with herallies to take on China as andwhen the situation arises. Peacefor war and war for peace is thetwo sides of the same coin.America and the whole worldneed to understand this fun-damental and time-tested prin-ciple of history. World leaders,whether nation or person, haveno choice but to take on thechallenges of the time.

China has been rampagingits neighbourhood like aSpanish matador and the wholeworld is looking like a mutespectator. This has emboldenedChina like anything and itsconfidence is very high. Therecent trade pact of China,Japan, Australia, New Zealand

and others with ASEANnations is a case in point.

It is true that America andIndia opted out, but it is a factthat it was a trade pact whoseterms and conditions were dic-tated by China to suit her eco-nomic interests. India threw aspanner into the advancingwheels of Chinese economicimperialism by opting out ofthis trade pact which saved theday for America. The USshould think what would hap-pen if some day China is suc-cessful in browbeating India tosubmission in such an eco-nomic or political pact infuture. America would be lefthigh and dry.

The time is fast runningout for America, either take onChina or be prepared to play asupporting role to China in theyears to come.

The cornerstone ofAmerican foreign policy shouldbe to isolate China and to cre-ate a political, economic andmilitary system to encircleChina in such a way that its fur-ther growth as a political, mil-itary and above all economicpower is stunted.

Downslide will automati-

cally follow. It is difficult to carry out

this plan and it will take a longtime to carry out this ambitiousplan. America is already almosta decade late in truly compre-hending the Chinese threatand reacting accordingly. Anyfurther delay would be suicidaland history does not give a sec-ond chance.

What is applicable toAmerica is also applicable toIndia. It is a critical time in thehistory of modern India. Wecannot allow a powerful neigh-bour like China to become anunbeatable regional hegemonor global hegemon. We havealready been on the receivingend of history for centuries andwe cannot allow this to happenagain. We should stand byAmerica which should stand byus to take on China. The wholeof Europe and all those who arebeing persecuted at the handsof China will rally behind us.The Chinese problem is big andalarming. Plugging the holeswould not do, the whole wallhas to be rebuilt. Dragon mustbe contained.

The writer is Registrar,Vinoba Bhave University,Hazaribag and a passionatewriter. The views expressed inthe article are his own.

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When we talk of treating can-cer, we have either surgery,

Radiation or chemo (drug ther-apy) and at times hormones too.We generally combine the abovefour in differing combinationsdepending on the cancer type andits stage.

Now we have an entirelynew way to attack and cure eventhe most dangerous amongstthese Cancers and that too evenin the terminal stages of the ill-ness called metastasis by unleash-

ing one’s own immune system tokill these cells, a real break-through that has given us anentirely new option by a set ofdrugs and interventions. Thisnew tool is known as CANCERIMMUNOTHERAPY. Thisbranch of cancer treatmentappears to have immense scopeand the credit to establish thisbranch goes to these two brilliantscientists who were awardedNOBEL PRIZE in PHYSIOLO-GY or MEDICINE only twoyears back in the year 2018. Theyare James P Allison (USA) andTasuko Honjo (JAPAN).

Respect for this newestbranch of cancer treatment wentvery high when 39th president ofUSA, Jimmy Carter at the age of92 in the year 2015, was success-fully treated with immunothera-py drug PEMBROLIZIMAB formalignant melanoma ,the dread-ed cancer form he was sufferingfrom had metastasised into hisBrain . This drug could entirelyclear the metastasis from his

brain which astonished the entireworld. Very soon he could resumehis routine teaching schedule ofschool students which he hasbeen doing ever since he laiddown his office responsibilities.

These sets of immunothera-py drugs are popularly known asCHECKPOINT INHIBITORS.They are now in clinical use infailed cancers of lung, kidney,bladder, head and neck tumoursbesides malignant melanomawhere it’s currently the first lineof therapy.

WHAT ARE CHECKPOINTINHIBITORS?

Our blood carries certainlymphocytes known as T lym-phocytes that fight infections orcancer cells which are new to us. These cells carry molecules ontheir surface known as CHECK-POINT MOLECULES that ourbody uses to shut them downwhen it needs to stop them.Cancer cells can lock into thosecheckpoint molecules crippling

the T cells and therefore doesn’tallow them to attack and thwartthe cancer cells.

Professor Allison could locatea checkpoint molecule calledCTLA 4 and Dr Honjo discoveredyet another molecule known asPD1 separately. They coulddevelop monoclonal antibodieswhich could block those check-point molecules thus opening theT cells to act against these unwel-come cells .These discoveriesmade it possible to locate manysuch checkpoint molecules andsubsequently developed respec-tive blocking antibodies too .They alone or in combinationcould stop the checkpoints tofunction so that our own T cellsshall be free to fight the cancer-ous and even infecting cells bytaking the breaking paddles awayfrom immune system defence.

Excitement surrounding thisnew field of cancer immunother-apy is so overwhelming that nocancer treatment is final untilthese drugs are given a try and in

some of the cancers it is even thefirst modality of treatment as inthe case of just mentioned malig-nant melanoma.

However ,the flip side is thatit can at times turn against one’sown immune cells and causeuncontrollable damage. Therefore,it has to be cautiously used to getthe desired maximum benefit . Asprofessor Alison said, use it asaccelerer and put the break asand when required to regulate theimmune system through thesemolecules and not just let it go.

The fact remains that ashuman beings are living longer,the incidence of cancer is increas-ing many fold . As high as one inthree of us in our own lifetimeare likely to suffer from differenttypes of cancer and therefore suchbreakthroughs are of great valuefor the health of the entiremankind.

(Author is Professor andHead of Department ofMedicine, RIMS, Ranchi)

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Congress on Sundayattacked Bharatiya Janata

Party (BJP) over Barkagaondisplacement settlement issue and said that the partywas doing trivial politics on thematter.

Badkagaon MLA AmbaPrasad accused HazaribaghMP, Jayant Sinha of trivialisingand doing politics for his ownpolitical mileage on Badkagaondisplacement settlement issue.

"With the encouragementof the people of Barkagaon, Iget motivated to work for pub-lic interest. But local MP JayantSinha is working against thepeople here to bake his breadas a spokesman for companies.NTPC comes under the Centerand the MP has been a Ministerin the Center. The peoplewould not have to struggle somuch if they forced theGovernment to pressuriseNTPC for the rehabilitationcompensation. No initiativehas been taken by the MPregarding compensation andemployment," said the

Legislator.Prasad had on Wednesday

sat on a Dharna in support of

the demands of the displacedpeople of Barkagaon, afterwhich a high-level meetingwas organised at theSecretariat.

Prasad said after the meet-ing that some crucial decisionswere taken in the meeting,which included increase ofcompensation to the tune of Rs5 lakh per acre, annuity beincreased from Rs 3000 to Rs10,000 and increase in thecompensation for acquiredhouses.

The Congress legislatorsaid that soon a mining collegewill be opened at Badkagaon,where locals will be trained andwill be made skilful to gainemployment at the companiesoperating in the area.

Later, in the evening, ChiefMinister Hemant Soren drovehis official car to reach Medicahospital to meet FinanceMinister Rameshwar Oraon,who is getting treated forCovid-19 in the hospital. TheCM met doctors at the hospi-tal and took information on thehealth of his Cabinet colleague.

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Page 3: ...2020/11/23  · 5,24,223 with 2,326 new infec-tions. The number of active cases in the State stands at 23,471, the positivity rate of November is 1.6 per cent. Over the last 24

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As a part of an animalexchange programme by

Central Zoo Authority (CZA),Ranchi’s Bhagwan BirsaZoological Park welcomed twonew members- a pair of wolvesfrom the Kamla Nehru PraniSangrahalaya, Indore onThursday. In return a pair ofostriches has been gifted to thefacility.

In the pair of wolvesreceived, the male is three-years old while the female isabout two- and- a- half- yearsold. This is the first time wolveswill be seen in the Ranchi zooand the facility now houses atotal of 84 species of animalsincluding birds, mammals andreptiles and currently thereare about 1465 animals.

“A pair of wolves has beenbrought in from Indore zoowith the approval of CZA and

in turn a pair of ostriches wasgiven to them. Following thenorms currently the wolveshave been kept in isolation for28 days. These kinds ofexchanges bring in not onlynew species but also help in

controlling in- breeding andpreventing diseases from beingpassed on to the next genera-tion,” informed the Director ofBirsa Zoological Park, DVentakeshwarlu.

As per the CZA protocol,

the animals have been isolatedfor a period of 28 days follow-ing which they will be shiftedto an enclosure in the zoolog-ical park. The isolation helpsthe animals better adapt to theclimatic conditions of a new

place. It also enables the zoomanagement to understandtheir eating habits and treat anydiseases.

Indore zoo Director DrUttam Kumar Yadav and rangeofficer Santosh Singh Pawarbrought the animals to Ranchi.

In the past Asiatic lionsfrom Gujarat, black panthersfrom Guwahati Zoo Assam,white tiger and royal Bengaltiger from Kanan Pindari Zoo,Chhattisgarh have also broughtin to the Ranchi zoo.

Due to the coronavirusoutbreak, the zoo has beenclosed for visitors since Marchthis year. Special precautionarymeasures like application oflime disinfectant on the groundis being done. Cages and bar-riers have also been sprayedwith antiviral sprays. The zoostaff has also been briefedabout the necessary sanitationmethods which need to be .

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Jharkhand Mukti Morcha’s(JMM) Shikaripara MLA

Nalin Soren on Sundayreceived citation of Best MLAAward from JharkhandGovernor Droupadi Murmuduring 20th foundation day ofJharkhand assembly.

Expressing his gratitude,Soren who also served as min-ister in a previous governmentsaid that such kind of award isa lifetime achievement for apublic representative.

Speaking on the occasion,the Governor said that parlia-

mentary democracy needed tobe strengthened in Jharkhandto fulfil the aspirations of peo-ple so that the dream of “RamRajya” comes true.

She also emphasised MLAsshould raise questions relatedto public welfare. She said thatat a time the nation is passingthrough a tough period due tothe outbreak of Covid-19 shesaid that MLAs should encour-age people of their constituen-cy to use face masks.

She remembered the bravetribal heroes of Jharkhand,Birsa Munda and NilamberPitamber. She said thatJharkhand should not onlycount its success, but also payattention to the shortcomings.

“In this time of globalisa-

tion, we must continuouslystrive to stay at par with theworld. The people elect theirrepresentatives with a lot ofhope and aspirations. All theMLAs must remember thattheir primary task is to servethe people and address theirproblems,” said Murmu.

Assembly speaker in hisaddress said that this is the timeof self-assessment to makeassembly more effective.

A book was also releasedby Governor, assembly speak-er Ravindra Nath Mahto andchief minister Hemant Sorenwhich contains legislative his-tory of Jharkhand.

On this occasion theAssembly Speaker facilitated aselected number of people for

their exemplary performanceand service rendered to society.

Assembly speaker facili-tated Manish Kumar Katiarwho is the state topper ofmatriculation examination.Amit Kumar who topped inIntermediate (Science) washonoured along with othertoppers namely SubhamKumar Thakur and RupaKumari (IntermediateCommerce) and NanditaHalpal who is the state topperof intermediate (Arts).

Family members of mar-tyrs were also felicitated onoccasion of assembly founda-tion day. They include familymembers of ASI GobardhanPaswan, yudhisthira Malwa,Manohar Hansda, Dhaneshwar

Mahto, Akhilesh Ram andKhanjan Kumar Mahto (allconstable).

Family members of mar-tyrs of Lukaiya encounter alsoreceived felicitation namelyASI Sukra Oraon, YamunaPrasad, Sakendra Singh,Sambhu Prasad Sahu andLakindar Munda (all home-guard jawan).

Besides, family members oflieutenant Anurag Shukla, NaikSubedar Praveer Kumar, con-stable Santosh Gope, KundanKumar Ojha, Ganesh Hansda,Abhishek Kumar and VijaySoren.

Ranchi civil surgeon VijayBihari Prasad along withAkhilesh Kumar Sinha werefelicitated as Corona warriors.

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Jharkhand School Education andLiteracy Minister Jagarnath

Mahto, who underwent a lungtransplant surgery in Chennai aftergetting infected by Covid-19 virus,is likely to get discharged andreturn home either by the end ofthis year or in early January if hecontinues to recover at the samepace, doctors from the MahatmaGandhi Memorial (MGM)Healthcare in the Tamil Nadu cap-ital said on Sunday.

“All his organs are functioningfine. He is conscious and breathingnaturally with the transplantedlungs,” said the Co-director ofInstitute of Heart and LungTransplantation & MechanicalCirculatory Assist Device at MGM,Dr. Suresh Rao. “If he continues torecover at the same pace, then weshould be able to send him homeby the end of this year or early nextyear,” Rao added.

The 53-year-old Minister, doc-tors said, has been recovering fastsince the surgery and breathing nat-urally with the surgically-trans-planted lungs. He has been con-scious since the next day of thesurgery and has not needed the helpof Extracorporeal MembraneOxygenation (ECMO), a life sup-

port system he was put on earlier.Mahto underwent a lung trans-

plant surgery on November 10 atthe healthcare facility in Chennaiafter being kept on a life supportsystem for 22 days. Doctors onTuesday said that he was still put onventilation only to assist in natur-al breathing.

Doctors from the hospital saidthat Mahto’s lung transplant surgeryhas cost the Jharkhand governmentaround Rs.30 lakh and his treat-ment altogether will cost roughlyRs.80 lakh. However, there was noofficial confirmation on the amountquoted by the hospital for theminister’s.

Dr. Rao said that Mahto could

have been discharged in two weekshad he not been infected by theCovid-19 virus. Covid patients,who undergo lung transplant, wereat a higher risk of developing infec-tion in the lungs and therefore theyneeded to be kept under observation for a longer period, Raoadded.

“We have to ensure that thetransplanted organ doesn’t getinfected, so we have to keep him (Mahto) under observation,”said Rao.

The minister, Rao said, hasbecome weak due to the prolongedillness and was made to undergophysiotherapy regularly in a bid tostrengthen his muscles. He was alsopracticing basic breathing exercis-es, Rao added.

Mahto, a JMM legislator fromDumri Assembly constituency, test-ed positive for Covid-19 onSeptember 28 and was admitted tostate-run Rajendra Institute ofMedical Sciences (RIMS) in Ranchi.He was shifted to the ICU ofBhagwan Mahavir MedicaSuperspecialty Hospital in the statecapital on October 1 and put onnon-invasive ventilation. The min-ister was flown to Chennai onOctober 19 after his lungs showedno signs of improvement and wasput on life support.

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Taking a step further to bring girlsin Sainik Schools, the Ministry of

Defence (MoD) allowed some SainikSchools including Sainik School Tilaiyato admit girls from the next batch. Thisstep comes after a pilot project of theDefence Ministry in Sainik SchoolChhingchhip, Mizoram succeededwhen six girl cadets were admitted inclass 6th in June 2018 in a movetowards gender equality.

The enrollment process for girlstudents in class VI has started. Theschool's Principal Group CaptainRahul Saklani on Tuesday met ChiefMinister Hemant Soren. The Principalinformed the Chief Minister aboutcommencement of girls’ educationfrom the new academic session. Theprincipal also urged the Chief Ministerthat the state government shouldcome forward in developing infra-structure for the new system (girls’education) to be started for the daugh-ters in the school.

The school principal urged theJharkhand government to bear schol-arship meant for students studying atSainik School, Tilaiya and pension tothe employees. The school's adminis-trative officer, Lieutenant Commander

Kumar Himanshu Shekhar and othermilitary officers were present on theoccasion.

Sainik School, Tilaiya, OfficeSuperintendent, AK Trivedi said,“From next academic session theschool will start admission for girl stu-dents. The admission process hasstarted. The last date for submittingapplication forms is December 3.” “Theadmission will be done in class VI andthe school has reserved ten per centseats for girl students,” added Trivedi.The age limit for admission of studentsis 10-12 years.

It was on 16Sept of 1963, thatthe foundationstone of the 12Sainik Schools inthe chain of 33Sainik Schoolssprawling across thelength and breadthof the country waslaid down. Thisfledgling nascentschool was a sequelto the concertedendeavour of thelegendary culturalambassador andthe then Union

Defence Minister, Late V K KrishnaMenon and the visionary ChiefMinister from Bihar Late K B Sahay.

In November last year, DefenceMinister Rajnath Singh approved fiveSainik Schools for admission of girls.Sainik Schools Bijapur, Chandrapur,Ghorakhal, Kalikiri and Kodagu wereincluded in the list, later many moreSainik Schools were covered under theambit.

Students of Sainik Schools arecalled cadets like the trainees of thepre-commission military academies.

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In an attempt to draw the attentionof the Centre towards the prob-

lems faced by labourers and voicetheir discontentment with the newlabour and farm laws, a joint com-mittee of ten central trade unionshave announced nationwide gener-al strike on November 26.

In addition to the ten majortrade unions, employees' organisa-tions in Railways, Insurance and aswell as State and CentralGovernment Institutions would takepart in the strike. Workers from theunorganised sector, except thoseinvolved in essential services wouldtake part in the nationalstrike.

State Secretary of CommunistParty of India (CPI), Prakash Viplavsaid that the union requested own-ers of private vehicles to keep off theroad. except in cases of emergency.“To ensure success of thestrike we held several meetings withworkers organisations to participatein the strike and we hope that we willget massive support,” he added.

The major demands raised bythe unions include withdrawal offarmer and labour bills, depositingof Rs 7,500 in the accounts of allnon-tax paying families and 10kilograms of food grains to families,and expansion of MGNREGA toprovide 200 work days per year withincreased wages and implementa-tion of the scheme in urban areas

also. Besides, they have demandedan end to privatisation in defence,railways, ports, aviation, power,mining and finance sectors, end toforced lay-offs of employees in PSUsand provision of pension for every-one.

Bank Employees Federation,Jharkhand General Secretary, MLSingh informed that almost all bankemployees except employees of SBIwill participate in the daylong strikeon November 26.

Viplav said that they expectedthe members of the RSS-affiliated

Bharatiya Majdoor Sangh (BMS) toparticipate in the strike. “Conspiracyto sell public sector industries, dis-banding national banks and hand-ing them over to their favourites,ending the life insurance corpora-tion will not be tolerated. The work-ing class of the Country will not tol-erate the anti-national action ofhanding over all the strategic indus-tries, institutions including thenational highway, telecom airport,port, at a throwaway price to the for-eign capitalists,” he added.

The Unions who are participat-

ing in the strike include Central ofIndian Trade Unions (CITU), AllIndia Trade Unions Congress(AITUC), Indian National TradeUnion Congress (INTUC), HindMajdoor Sabha (HMS), All IndiaUnited Trade Union Centre (AIU-TUC), Trade Union CoordinationCenter (TUCC), Self-EmployedWomen's Association (SEWA), AllIndia Central Council of TradeUnions (AICCTU), LabourProgressive Federation (LPF) andUnited Trade Union Congress(UIUC).

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Adreaded rebel of CPI (Maoist)Santosh Yadav alias Alok,

carrying Rs 10 lakh cash prize onhis head was gunned down dur-ing a joint anti-naxal operation ofCPRF, Jharkhand Police and BiharPolice on Saturday night atMahuari village under Barachattipolice station of Gaya district ofBihar.

Mahuari is a bordering villageof Chatra district of Jharkhandand Gaya district of Bihar. Duringthe encounter two civilians,Birendra and Jairam, also died asthey were allegedly shot dead byrebels. Four jawans of the CoBRAbattalion of the CRPF were alsoinjured. Security forces recoveredInsas and AK 47 rifle, one eachfrom the possession of rebels.

“Encounter took place late atnight on Saturday. 205 battalion ofCoBRA of CRPF and Bihar policehad executed the encounterwhereas Chatra police had pro-vided necessary intelligence inputsabout this extremist and move-ment of his armed squad.Jharkhand police had announcedRs 10 lakh cash prize on him. InChatra he was wanted in over adozen criminal cases. He was

active in CPI (Maoist) from thepast 18 years,” said Chatra SPRishav Kumar Jha.

A native of Sikid Sindwari vil-lage under Chatra district, Alokwas operating as zonal comman-der of CPI (Maoist) in Kauleswarizone comprising parts of Gaya andChatra.

Informing about the incident,a senior official of Chatra police

said Alok along with his armedsquad was looking out forBirendra who had gone toMahuari village to inaugurate anorchestra programme.

Rebels opened fire at thecrowd and abducted Birendrawho was identified as brother-in-law of Sharda Devi, mukhiya ofNadarpur panchayat. His elderbrother Shambhu Yadav was also

murdered by rebels in 2009.People quickly informed local

police about the incident.Coincidently, security personnelof 205 CoBRA battalion werecarrying out a search operation inthe same locality to verify inputsof movement of Alok Yadav andhis armed squad. CRPF assisted bythe local police quickly reachedthe spot. Encounter continued for40 minutes with over 200 roundsof firing.

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Expressing apprehension thatviruses like novel coron-

avirus which has currentlyemerged as pandemic, infect-ing a large population acrossthe globe, can be used as bio-logical weapons against enemynations, a Parliamentary panelhas called upon theGovernment to formulateeffective laws to counter suchbio-terrorism in partnershipswith different nations.

The ParliamentaryStanding Committee onHealth, in its report “TheOutbreak of PandemicCOVID-19 And itsManagement”, underlined theneed of bio-safety to preventthe world community fromany activity signalling bio-terrorism.

The chairperson of theparliamentary standing com-mittee, Ram Gopal Yadav, sub-mitted the report to RajyaSabha Chairman M VenkaiahNaidu on Saturday.

The committee’s attentionhas been drawn to the fact that

novel coronavirus like virus-es infecting large populationsacross the globe and emergingas pandemics, can be used asbiological weapons againstenemy nations.

Bio-security, therefore, isa critical area of concern, thereport said.

In its reply, theDepartment of Health andFamily submitted that a holis-tic approach is needed forensuring bio-security againstbiological weapons, that inter-alia include approach fordeterrence, prevention, pro-tection and response againstbiological weapons, engage-ment with agencies and activeparticipation in ongoing inter-national treaties and strength-ening bio-safety and bio-secu-rity platforms in India.

The panel also pitchedfor instituting robust bio-repositories for high-riskemerging/ reemerging infec-tious pathogens, strengthen-ing disease sur vei l lanceincluding at animal-humaninterface, training and capac-ity building for management

of public health emergenciesarising from use of bio-weapons and strengtheningresearch and surveillanceactivities related to develop-ment of diagnostics vaccinesand drugs.

“The adverse effects ofCOVID-19 pandemic havetaught the lesson on theimportance of controlling bio-logical agents and the need ofstrategic partnerships amongdifferent nations.

“The committee, there-fore, feels that the present time

is the most appropriate for thegovernment to formulateeffective laws to counter bio-terrorism,” said the report.

The panel stated it alsobelieves that with the expand-ing network of VRDLs, ICMRwould serve as an importantplatform for diagnosis andsurveillance of existing as wellas emerging viral infectionsand thus make the countrybio-secured against life-threatening viruses and themenace of bio-terrorism.

The committee agreed

with the Department ofHealth Research that a holis-tic approach is needed forensuring bio-security againstbiological weapons. The min-istry should also engage withagencies and actively partici-pate in ongoing internationaltreaties, said the panel whilesuggesting to conduct moreresearch and work towardstraining and capacity buildingfor management of publichealth emergencies arisingfrom use of bio-weapons.

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India may grant Pune’s SerumInstitute of India (SII) with

the emergency use authorisa-tion of Oxford andAstraZeneca’s coronavirus vac-cine if the British-Swedishpharmaceutical company getssuch an approval from the UKGovernment, a top officialfrom the Centre’s vaccineexpert group has indicated.

“We expect emergencyauthorisation for the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine to besought in the UK. If so, it willgive an opportunity for theIndian regulator also,” DrVinod Paul who is also mem-ber (Health) of the Niti Aayogsaid to a news agency here.

The Oxford vaccine isalready in its third and finalphase of clinical trials in India,and if all things go as planned,the COVID-19 vaccine may beready for distribution by

January or February 2021.An emergency authorisa-

tion of the coronavirus vaccinewould ensure its proper admin-istration based on the prioritylist, starting with frontlineworkers, senior citizens, peoplewith comorbidities and so on,he explained.

Earlier this week, theOxford-AstraZeneca vaccineproduced a strong immuneresponse in older adults, rais-ing hopes that it can protect theage groups most at risk fromthe virus.

The most likely candidateto get licensure in India wouldbe the Oxford-Serum Institutevaccine, with Phase 3 datalikely to be available by lateJanuary or early February 2021.The first batch of COVID-19vaccine doses would be avail-able by March-April, 2021, hesaid.

Being the largest manu-facturer of vaccines in the

world, India was in a goodplace with respect to access tovaccines, he said.

Vaccine maker SII’s CEOAdar Poonawalla on Thursdayhad said the Oxford Covid-19vaccine should be availablefor healthcare workers andelderly people by aroundFebruary 2021 and by April forthe general public.

On Friday, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi had chaired areview meeting on Covid-19vaccination. Countries suchas Bangladesh, Myanmar,Qatar, Bhutan, Switzerland,Bahrain, Austria and SouthKorea have shown keen inter-est in partnering for vaccinedevelopment of Indian vac-cines and use thereof, accord-ing to the PMO.

Modi also reviewed theaspects of emergency useauthorisation and for manu-facture and procurement of thevaccine.

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Out of a total of 1,197 can-didates with criminal

antecedents who contested therecently-held Bihar Assemblyelections, 467 were fielded byrecognised national and Stateparties while remaining 730were either fielded by registeredbut unrecognised parties orhad contested the polls as inde-pendents.

According to the ElectionCommission, a total of 3733candidates including 371women were in the fray in thethree-phase elections. Duringthe polls, 156 cases were reg-istered against “organisers”of rallies and meetings ofvarious leaders and candi-dates for violating COVID-19norms. In 2015 out of 3,450candidates 1,038(30%) haddeclared criminalantecedents. There has alsobeen a rise in the number ofcandidates with serious crim-inal cases, with 915(25%)declaring such cases this year,

as compared to 796 (23%)candidates in 2015.

The Rashtriya Janata Dal(RJD) has the maximum can-didates with criminal casesregistered against them fol-lowed by the BJP. It said,“Out of 56 RJD candidates,36, which is 64 per cent, can-didates have criminal casesagainst them, followed by theBJP with 29 out of 46 candi-dates which is 63 per cent.

Cases were registeredagainst organisers as they hadsought permission to holdrallies or meetings in whichfollowing health guidelineswas mandatory, explained anofficial. Ahead of the threephase elections, the poll panelhad made it clear that viola-tion of COVID-19 guidelinesduring election period wouldbe deemed as a violation ofsection 144 of the CrPC.

The sect ion of theCriminal Procedure Codeallows local authorities toissue orders to prevent andaddress urgent cases of appre-

hended danger or nuisance.Certain sect ions of theNational DisasterManagement Act and theEpidemic Act were also used.

The local authorities alsorelied on section 188 of theIndian Penal Code to dealwith cases of violation ofhealth guidelines.It deals withdisobedience to follow ordersissued by an authorised pub-lic servant. Bihar assemblyelections were the first full-fledged polls to be held amidcoronavirus. Over 4 crore ofthe total over 7 crore votersexercised their franchise.

Following a SupremeCourt direction in Februarythis year, the Elect ionCommission had in Marchasked political parties to jus-tify why they chose candi-dates with criminal history tocontest elections.

Assembly elections inBihar were the first full-fledged polls where suchdetails of their candidateswere made public by parties.

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Leader of Opposition, RajyaSabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad,

on Sunday, said that “Congressis on its lowest in the last 72years”. During an interviewwith ANI, Azad said that“There is no rebellion inCongres party.”

Ghulam Nabi Azad saidthat “Congress is on its lowestin the last 72 years. Congressdoes not have even the post ofLeader of Opposition in LokSabha during the last twoterms. But Congress won 9seats in Ladakh hill councilelections even as we were notexpecting such a positiveresult.”

Office bearers shouldunderstand their responsibili-ty. Till the time, office bearersare appointed, they won’t go.But if all office bearers are elect-

ed, then they will understandtheir responsibility. Right now,anyone gets any post in theparty,” he added.

He further said that “Pollsaren’t won by 5-star culture.The problem with leaders todayis if they get a party ticket, theyfirst book a 5-star hotel. Theywon’t go if there’s a roughroad. Till the time 5-star cultureis given up, one can’t win elec-tions.”

On being asked aboutrecent losses, Congress leaderGhulam Nabi Azad said “We allwere worried about losses,especially about Bihar and by-polls results. I don’t blame theleadership for the loss. Ourpeople have lost the connectionon the ground. One should bein love with their party.”

“Till the time, we changeour way of functioning at everylevel, things won’t change.Leadership needs to give aprogram to party workers andhold elections for posts. Oneshould be so much indispens-able that leadership asks for youin your absence,” Ghulam Nabi

Azad said during the interview.I’m giving a clean chit to

Gandhis due to COVID-19pandemic as they can’t domuch right now. There’s nochange in our demands.They’ve agreed to most of ourdemands. Our leadershipshould hold elections if theywant to become a nationalalternative and revive theparty,” said Azad.

Our party’s structure hascollapsed,” he said, adding that“We need to rebuild our struc-ture, and then if any leader iselected in that structure, it willwork. But saying that just bychanging the leader, we’ll winBihar, UP, MP, etc. is wrong.That will happen once wechange the system,” he added.

“Be it our party or anyother, the culture of syco-phancy has become the mainreason for the party’s death aswell as the downfall of leaders.We should stay away from thisculture at all levels. Politics isa penance. Shame on thosewho join politics for enjoymentand money,” he said.

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As it gears up to meet its tar-get of providing function-

al household tap connection toevery rural home by 2024 inthe country, the Union JalShakti Ministry has recom-mended five innovative tech-nologies to help States/UTs todeliver drinking water servicesof adequate quantity and pre-scribed quality to rural com-munities.

These are GrundfosAQpure, a solar energy basedwater treatment plant based onultra filtration, Janajal Water onWheel, an IoT based electricvehicle based on GPS location

to enable delivery of safe waterto the doorstep of households,Presto Online Chlorinator, anon-electricity dependentonline chlorinator for disin-fection of water for removal ofbacterial contamination.

The two others areJohkasou technology – aninbuilt packaged black (sewage)and grey water (Kitchen andbath water) treatment systemhaving advanced anaerobic-aerobic configuration that can

be installed underground andFBTec, a site assembled decen-tralised sewage treatment sys-tem using fixed filter media,said an official from theMinistry.

He said these technologieswould now be listed in theinnovation portal of theDepartment of Drinking Waterand Sanitation under theMinistry. “These technologieshave been appraised at differ-ent levels before considerationand recommendation by ahigh-scientific level technicalpanel of the Ministry,” said theofficial. He added that moretechnologies will be included incase they pass certain criteriasspecified by the panel.

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Coronavirus Pandemic:Making Safer Emergency

Hospitals, a film by UK-basedCineTecture Ltd on how toconvert large air-conditionedspaces into emergency hospi-tals has won this year’s tveGlobal Sustainability FilmAwards in the nominated cat-egory along with My OctopusTeacherDirected by PippaEhrlich and James Reed.

The tve GlobalSustainability Film Awards2020(tve GSFA), in partnershipwith Difficult Dialogues, hasannounced the winners of itseight competitive and twonominated award categories.The online awards presentationwas complemented by fourthought-provoking DifficultDialogues panel discussionson crucial themes related toglobal sustainability as well asthe finale of the DaringDebates,a debate competitionaimed at engaging the youthfrom across the world in sus-tainability-related ideation.

The tve GSFA which is inits ninth year and rewardsfilms both on their creativity aswell as on the sustainabilityimpact, had received over ahundred film submissions from17 countries. A diverse andeminent international jurypanel drawn from the fields ofsustainability and filmmakingadjudicated on the entries tofirst come up with three or fourshortlisted films for each cate-gory and then announced thefinal winners.

The winners in the com-petitive Award Categories are:Documentary Impact: (JointWinners): Once YouKnow(Pulp Films)and OurPlanet: Our Business(WWF-UK); Doing BusinessDifferently: Helping PeoplePut the Planet First(BBCStoryWorks); TransformingSociety: BREEF and RolexPreser ve & ProtectNature(The Bahamas ReefEnvironment EducationalFoundation); Campaigning:10 Myths about Deforestationand Food(WWF-UK); Healthand the Environment: AFailure of theImagination(The ProgressFilm Company)

Innovations: Turning theTide(Stramash Films);Solutions News Story: TheMan who grew his ownAmazon Rainforest(BBC,People Fixing the World);Young Filmmaker :Traces(Sébastien Pins)

Nick Nuttall, Chair of thejury for the tve GSFA 2020and StrategicCommunications Director,Earthday.org said,” Selectingthe winners is always tough,

but this year was even tougherwith the quality, range ofissues and creativity evenhigher in 2020. I hope asmany people as possible willwatch and share these amaz-ing, winning works far andwide, while being motivated tostep up action towards a bet-ter world and fired-up to sub-mit their own extraordinaryfilms in 2021”.

The inspiring five-daylong online event presented byDifficult Dialogues in part-nership with the tve GSFAwasfocused on GlobalSustainability, a key themethat crucially affects the entireplanet. It was well attended bysustainability experts, film-makers, businesses, not-for-profit organizations, youthleaders and individuals con-cerned about sustainability.

The agenda was to high-light the current environ-mental crisis and suggest solu-tions and actions we need totake today to ensure a betterand more sustainable future.This was done through dia-logues, debates and films,with abouttwo hours of envi-ronment and sustainabilitycontent each day.

Commenting at the con-clusion of the Awards Week,Surina Narula, MBE, Founderof Difficult Dialogues and thetve GSFA said, “The last weekhas been a roller coaster rideshowcasing the collection ofshortlisted and winning filmsand incisive discussions ondeveloping a more sustainableworld including difficult dia-logues with businessesbecause of the dilemma ofprofit over sustainability. Thisyear going virtual over fivedays gave us more time to pro-vide a better experience forfilmmakers and the visibilityto showcase our youth ambas-sadors and their work.”

The five-day event con-cluded with the announce-ment of the winners of DaringDebates which featured thecollege finalists from India,Nepal, Myanmar, Bangladesh,Africa, the USA and Sri Lankawho debated the topic – IsGlobal SustainabilityProfitable for Business? Atthe end of a keenly contestedfinale, Gloria Oziohu Alongefrom University of Lagos,Nigeria, Africa was declared asthe winner for the motionwhile Aditya Dhar fromHarvard University, USA wonagainst the motion.

The Award category spon-sors this year were UnitedLiving, Global Healthcare,Azad Ayub Ltd andFoundation BNP Paribas(who sponsored the YouthDay), and the Eco Partner wasEcoRight Bags.

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In the last one-and-half yearsafter the start of the

Government’s Jal JeevanMission, more than 2.6 crorefamilies have been providedpiped drinking water in theirhomes, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi said onSunday.

He said that under thescheme, “the life of our moth-ers and sisters has become eas-ier due to easy water access atthe comfort of their homes andadded that it has led to areduction of many diseaseslike cholera, typhoid,encephalitis caused by dirtywater”.

“During the last one andhalf years from the start of JalJeevan Mission more than 2

crore 60 lakh families havebeen provided piped drinkingwater connection to theirhomes including lakhs of fam-ilies in Uttar Pradesh as well,”PM Modi said after laying thefoundation stone of ruraldrinking water supply projectsin Mirzapur and Sonbhadradistricts of Vindhyachal regionof Uttar Pradesh via videoconference.

The projects will providehousehold tap water connec-tions in all rural households of2,995 villages and will benefitabout 42 lakh population ofthese districts.

During the event, the

Prime Minister also interactedwith Village Water andSanitation Committee. UnionMinister Gajendra SinghShekhawat, Uttar PradeshGovernor Anandiben Patel andChief Minister Yogi Adityanathwere present on the occasion.

“In spite of having severalrivers, these regions wereknown as the most thirsty anddrought-affected and forcedmany people to migrate. Now,water scarcity and irrigationissues will be resolved by theseprojects and it signifies rapiddevelopment,” Modi said.

The Prime Minister alsocomplimented the UttarPradesh government for pro-viding responsive governanceduring the time of pandemicand keeping the pace ofreforms going.

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The Cabinet Secretariat hasdirected all the ministries to

scrupulously follow instruc-tions for non printing of diariesand calendars and insteaddevelop electronic format ofthese items.

Any lapse in compliance ofthe instructions will be viewedseriously.

The decision relating tonon printing of diary and cal-endars was reviewed recentlyby the Secretary(Coordination) in the CabinetSecretariat through videocon-ferencing with various min-istries.

The Secretary(Coordination) also reviewedthe progress of development of

electronic applications of cal-endars and diaries.

In the meeting, it wasdecided that allminis t r ies /depar tments ,attached offices and subordi-nate offices under their controlare supposed to ensure that cal-endars/diaries and similarmaterials are not printed.

The meeting was alsoattended by Joint Secretary

(Administration) in the UnionHome Ministry. Subsequently,the Home Ministry has direct-ed all the heads of divisions andits attached offices/subordi-nate organisations to complywith the instructions strictly.

The Home Ministry hasalso directed the Divisionalheads to ensure that all theorganisations under theiradministrative control confirmcompliance of the instructionsrelated to the non printing ofdiaries and calendars.

The move to do away withthe practice of printing ofdiaries and calendars has beentaken in view of the tight fiscalposition in view of the Covid-19 pandemic that has hit econ-omy hard and concurrent lossin government revenues.

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India will soon launch anambitious ‘Deep Ocean

Mission’ that envisages explo-ration of minerals, energy andmarine diversity of the under-water world, a vast part ofwhich still remains unexplored,a top official of the Ministry ofEarth Sciences said.

The ministry’s secretary, MRajeevan, said requiredapprovals are being obtainedfor the “futuristic and game-changing” mission, and it islikely to be launched in the next3-4 months.

The mission, which isexpected to cost over �4,000crore, will give a boost toefforts to explore India’s vastExclusive Economic Zone andContinental Shelf, anothersenior official of the MoES said.

Rajeevan said the mission

will also involve developingtechnologies for different deepocean initiatives.

The multi-disciplinarywork will be piloted by theMoES and other governmentdepartments like the DefenceResearch and DevelopmentOrganisation, Department ofBiotechnology, Indian SpaceResearch Organisation (ISRO),Council for Scientific andIndustrial Research (CSIR) willbe stakeholders in this mission,Rajeevan added.

Some of the technologiesinvolved will be developed byorganisations such as the ISROand DRDO.

“One of the main aspects ofthe mission will be design,development and demonstra-tion of human submersibles,”the MoES official said.

Another aspect is exploringthe possibility of deep sea min-

ing and developing necessarytechnologies, the official added.

The official said the movestrategically significant as it willenhance India’s presence inthe Indian Ocean where otherplayers like China, Korea andGermany are active.

Last week, China live-streamed footage of its newmanned submersible parked atthe bottom of the MarianaTrench.

This was part of its missioninto the deepest underwatervalley on the planet.

India has been ear-markednearly 1.5 lakh square kilome-tres of area in the centralIndian Ocean for exploration.

In September 2016, Indiasigned a 15-year contract withthe International SeabedAuthority (ISA) for explorationof Poly-Metallic Sulphides(PMS) in the Indian Ocean.

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Soon the name of the“Bhaipo” (nephew) would

become public when the news-papers would carry his namefollowing CBI investigations.This was what Bengal BJPpresident Dilip Ghosh onSunday said following a dia-tribe by Trinamool leaderKunal Ghosh who attackedthe BJP leadership for malign-ing TMC leaders by usinginnuendo.

With the BJP mounting abroadside on TrinamoolCongress’ “nephew” (readChief Minister MamataBanerjee’s nephew AbhishekBanerjee) for usurping theparty affairs forcing all the“self-respecting” leaders to quitthe outfit, the TMC on Sundaylaunched a counterattack ask-ing the saffron leadership to“nephew and stop makinginnuendo.”

In a scathing attack on theBJP leadership for “acting likecowards” TMC leader Kunal

Ghosh on Sunday said “if theBJP leaders have the couragethey should directly take thename of the said nephew andstop making innuendos …they are behaving like cow-ards…. Take the name be spe-cific and then see the conse-quences.” The immediate ref-erence of Ghosh’s remark wasa previous statement by BJP’sobserver for Bengal KailashVijaybargiya who referred tothe “nephew” saying how theTrinamool Congress hadbeen usurped by the said per-son.

Vijaybargiya told an audi-ence at Ramnagar in EastMidnapore how “TMC doesnot belong to MamataBanerjee, neither it belongs toMukul Roy or SuvenduAdhikary who made the partybut it has gone into the handsof the “nephew” who calls theshots and who takes all thedecisions today compelling allthe self-respecting leaders toquit the party … a number ofthese leaders are preparing to

leave the party and soon theTrinamool will be half-empty.”

Subhendu Adhikary apowerful State Minister and theChief Minister’s Nandigramspearhead with massive massfollowing had recently been inthe news for his rebelliousways letting the critics to saythat he was on the verge ofjoining the BJP.

Adhikary and ChiefMinister’s nephew AbhishekBanerjee had not been ongood terms ever since juniorBanerjee, --- an MP fromDiamond Harbour --- replacedthe former as the party’s youthwing chief.

Referring to Vijaybargiya’sstatement Ghosh said “it hasbecome a habit of the BJP lead-ership sully the image of oppo-sition leaders but that trick willnot work in Bengal as they willbe rejected by the people.”

Dilip Ghosh howeverdefended Vijabargiya sayingeveryone knew who the‘Bhaipo’ (nephew) was.“Everyone knows who the

Bhaipo is … there is no needto take his name as such,”Ghosh said adding “in any casethe name of the Bhaipo wouldsoon be published by the news-papers after the CBI will takeactions against him.”

He further said that therewere some people who arerecognized by their pseudonames “like everyone knows asto who Didi is … similarlyeveryone knows who theBhaipo is … hence the peoplewill easily understand whoVijabargiya ji was referring toand we are only interested inmaking the people understandabout things.”

Meanwhile, in a relateddevelopment PradeshCongress leadership is likely tosubmit reports to RahulGandhi with whom the PCCwill hold a virtual meeting onNovember 27. “In the meetingthe PCC is likely to submit itsreports on organizationalaffairs including the prospect-sof its alliance with the LeftFront, sources said.

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Even as speculation went highabout future course of action

of a number of TrinamoolCongress leaders who had beenspeaking on rebellious note, seniorTrinamool MP Saugato Roy onSunday made his stand clear say-ing he would never join the saf-fron outfit.

Referring to a comment madeby Barrackpore BJP MP ArjunSingh also a former TMC leaderwho joined the saffron party justbefore the 2019 general elections,Roy said he discounted “state-ments made by ‘third class’ andbahubali politicians.”

Singh had earlier said that“even Saugato Roy would join theBJP in days to come.” He said thatRoy along with five other MPs wasgoing to join BJP. He said that itwas “nothing but a part of BJP's

campaign. It is BJP IT Cell HeadAmit Malviya’s technique tospread a lot of fake news.”

The TMC is already goingthrough an internal crisis withsenior mass leader and powerfulminister Suvendu Adhikary mak-ing statements challenging theleadership. Meanwhile, TMCleader and state minister SuvenduAdhikari's leaving his party is anopen question as on various occa-sions like in Nandigram andMidnapore he has been identifiedholding public meetings withoutthe party's symbol, flag or banner.

There were words doing therounds in the State politics that allthe TMC leaders who were beinginvestigated in some scam or theother were likely to join the saf-fron party out of compulsion.Both Adhikary and Roy werebeing investigated in Narada pay-off scam.

Aligarh:The HealthDepartment team will bedeployed on all the borders ofthe district from today due tothe rising Corona cases inother States including Delhi.People will have to go coronatest before entering Aligarhand will be sent to the hospi-tal if found infected.Instructions have been given tokeep an eye especially on thosecoming from Delhi-Haryana.For this, teams of HealthDepartment have beendeployed at Gabbhana andTappal Border. Arrangementsare being made for corona testfor the people coming to thedistrict through trains at stationitself.

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Agartala: With firefighter BiswajitDebbarma succumbing to his injuries onSunday, the death toll in the Tripura vio-lence rose to two, and the number ofinjured reached35.

The agitation and indefinite shutdowncontinued for the seventh day in northernTripura's Kanchanpur subdivision wherepeople are opposing the Bharatiya JanataParty (BJP)-led Tripura government'sdecision to rehabilitate thousands ofReang or “Bru” tribal refugees.

The Reang tribal refugees sheltered inseven relief camps in two northern Tripurasub-divisions had fled to adjoiningMizoram 23 years ago, following ethnicstrife in the state.

Northern Tripura Deputy InspectorGeneral of police, Lalhminga Darlong, toldIANS on Sunday that one firefighter haddied on late Saturday night at the GovindBallabh Pant Medical college and hospi-tal (GBPMCH) in Agartala.

Earlier, the police said 45-year-oldSrikanta Das from Tripura was shot dead

and 35 others injured, including securityand fire service personnel, besides, agita-tors were also critically injured on Saturdaywhen police opened fired at the violentmob which had attacked the security forcesat Panisagar in North Tripuradistrict.

North Tripura District Magistrate andCollector Nagesh Kumar said the violentmob damaged three government andpolice vehicles, including a motorbike. Hetold the media that a huge contingent ofsecurity forces, including Central ReservePolice Force (CRPF) and Tripura state Rifletroopers, led by senior police officials weremobilised at Panisagar and Kanchanpursub-divisions in the North Tripura districtto deal with the situation.

The injured persons were admitted tovarious government hospitals, includingGBPMCH.

Tripura government spokesman andLaw and Education Minister, Ratan LalNath, said the state government would pro-vide Rs five lakh compensation to the fam-ily of the deceased Srikanta Das.

“A magisterial inquiry has beenordered into the police firing. If the agi-tators want talks with Chief MinisterBiplab Kumar Deb they are free to do so.The Tripura government's doors for dia-logue are always open,” Nath told IANS onSunday.

The minister said the state governmentwith the help of the Central governmenthad earlier announced that 35,000 Reangtribal or “Bru” refugees, who fled fromMizoram would be rehabilitated in thestate's eight districts and not only in NorthTripura district.

Tripura police tweeted, saying, “Theunfortunate incident at North Tripura wasa law and order issue, but several videosare being circulated on social media giv-ing it a communal violence spin, which isa punishable legal offence.”

“Even after facing violent attacks, thepolice personnel maintained restraint andsensitivity in controlling law and order andused proportionate forces for self- defencein the Panisagar incident on Saturday.” IANS

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Lucknow: In view of the surgein Covid cases, the YogiAdityanath Government hasdecided to re-impose therestrict 100 guests at weddingsand other social functions.

The state government, onOctober 15, had allowed 200guests at weddings with prop-er safety protocols. But withCovid cases rising again afterthe recent festive season, thestate government keen to checkthe resurgence of cases.

According to the govern-ment spokesman, the ChiefMinister, on Saturday night,asked all district magistrates toensure restriction of 100 guestsat weddings. The state homedepartment will be issuing aformal order in this regard onSunday.

The district magistrates ofGautam Buddha Nagar havealready issued orders in thisregard.

The state government hasalready started doing randomtests on the UP-Delhi borderafter Delhi reported a mass risein the Covid curve. IANS

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Jaipur: A colorful Rajasthanicultural evening was organisedalong with the Global PravasiDeepotsav programme onSaturday at Chandni BaghComplex in Bikaner House,New Delhi. The culturalevening and Global Deepotsavprogram was broadcast live onZoom Online, and on YouTubeplatform, where expatriateRajasthanis from all over theworld simultaneously lit a lampand demonstrated their emo-tional engagement with theland of Rajasthan.

The Global Deepotsav pro-gram started with Chief MinisterAshok Gehlot's message to themigrant Rajasthanis. In hismessage to the migrantRajasthanis, Mr. Gehlot saidthat such programs will inspirefuture generations of migrantRajasthanis to rejoin their soil ofRajasthan. He said that this com-mendable step of RajasthanFoundation will inspire themigrant Rajasthanis living in

every corner of the world to con-tribute in all aspects of develop-ment in Rajasthan in the com-ing days. Chief Minister ShriGehlot said that the efforts of theGovernment of Rajasthan inthe management of the Coronaglobal epidemic have been great-ly appreciated in the country andworld, the cooperation of thecountry and institutions of dias-pora Rajasthanis in this step ofthe government is appreciated.In his message, Mr. Gehlot whilewishing the Diaspora all over theworld for the Global Deepotsav,said that we hope that the sup-

port of the Diaspora Rajasthaniswill continue to get rich in all theprograms run by the RajasthanGovernment in the public inter-est.

Commissioner of RajasthanFoundation, Mr. DhirajShrivastava said that programslike Global Pravasi Deepotsavare a meaningful step towardsconnecting the expatriateRajasthanis settled in the worldto their motherland and par-ticipating in various social con-cerns programs run by the gov-ernment. He said that thecooperation of migrant

Rajasthani doctors settledaround the world has been veryimportant in dealing with thecorona epidemic and othermigrant Rajasthani institutionshave heavily collaborated indealing with this epidemic. Hesaid that right now, organiza-tions of 18 diaspora Rajasthanisfrom around 52 countries arecontinuously collaborating withthe Foundation. On this occa-sion, Shri Dheeraj thankedChief Minister Ashok Gehlot aswell as Industries Minister ShriParsadi Lal Meena and Ministerof State for Tourism ShriGovind Singh Dotasara for theirsupport in the campaign toreconnect the migrants toRajasthan and said that throughsuch programs All the migrantRajasthanis will feel the cultur-al sensations of their soil to thedepths.

A colorful cultural pro-gram has been organized on thisoccasion at Bikaner House,New Delhi.

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ASpecial Court here on Sundayremanded television comedian Bharti

Singh and her husband Harsh Limbachiyain Judicial custody till December 4 in con-nection with the drugs seizure and con-sumption case filed against them by theNarcotics Control Bureau (NCB).

While Bharti was arrested on Saturdayevening, Harsh was placed under arrest bythe NCB in the early hours of Sunday.

Their arrests came after the NCBseized 86.5 grams of Cannabis during theraids conducted on their residences atAndheri’s Lokhandwala Complex andVersova in north-west Mumbai.

Bharati and Harsh, both of whom havebeen booked by the NCB for variousoffences under the provisions of NDPS Act1986, were on Sunday produced before aspecial court, which sent them to judicialcustody for 13 days.

During their questioning by the NCB,Bharti and her husband reportedly con-fessed to having consumed cannabis(ganja). The drug consumption is in addi-tion to the charge of possessing banneddrugs that they face.

The raid on the homes of Bharti andher husband Harsh and their subsequentarrest came after their names figured in thecustodial interrogation of a 21-year-old

drug trafficker whom the NCB officialshad arrested earlier the day on Saturday.During the raid conducted at a location inKhar Danda area, the investigators seizedvarious drugs including 15 blots of LSD(commercial quantity), ganja (40 gm) andNitrazepam (psychotropic medicines).

Bharti and Harsh are being investi-gated in connection with the Bollywood-drug mafia case registered by the NCB inthe wake of the alleged suicide ofBollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput.

Sushant, it may be recalled, was foundhanging from a ceiling fan in his closedroom of his duplex flat at Mont Blancbuilding at Bandra’s Carter Road in north-west Mumbai on June 14.

Earlier, on November 9, the NCB hadraided the residence of Bollywood actorArjun Rampal on November 9, his and hislive-in friend Gabriella Demetriades’ ques-tioning and the subsequent arrest of hisAustralian friend Australian friend PaulBartel was on Friday arrested by the NCBin the much-discussed Bollywood-drugmafia nexus case.

Rampal and Gabriella were ques-tioned later. The NCB had earlier lastmonth arrested a South African nationalAgisilaos Demetriades – the brother ofRampal’s live-in partner GabriellaDemetriades from Lonavla near Pune.

Agisilaos is alleged to be a part of a larg-er drug syndicate operating in Bollywood,which is being investigated after the deathof actor Sushant Singh Rajput.

Earlier on November 8, the NCB offi-cials had carried out searches at film pro-ducer Firoz A. Nadiadwala’s residencealong Gulmohar Cross Road at Juhu Vile ParleDevelopment (JVPD) Scheme in north-west Mumbai and seized a total of 717.1gm of various drugs and arrested five per-sons, including Firoz A. Nadiadwala’swife Shabana Saeed.

Nearly twenty persons –includingSushant’s girlfriend Rhea Chakrabortyand her brother Showik --- have so far beenarrested in connection with a case regis-tered by the NCB on August 28, two daysafter it registered a case suo moto.

The CB had registered a second caseafter it told the Mumbai court that it wantsto “to uproot the drug citadel in Mumbaiespecially in Bollywood”. Subsequently,Rhea was granted conditional bail by theBombay High Court in the Sushant death-related drug case on October 7, 2020.

As part of the investigations, the NCBhad earlier questioned Bollywood’s promi-nent actresses Deepika Padukone, Sara AliKhan, Shraddha Kapoor and Rakul PreetSingh.

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Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh tourism department has decid-ed to develop Mirzapur, Sonbhadra, Chandauli and adjoin-ing areas as eco-tourism destinations.

A tourist bungalow will be constructed in an area of fiveacres in Sonbhadra and activities like water sports, rockclimbing, trekking, etc., have also been started there to pro-mote eco-tourism and provide adventure sports options tothe tourists.

Kirtimaan Srivastava, tourism officer of the Mirzapurdivision, said, “We hope to initiate the construction of thetourist bungalow in the next six months and the district mag-istrate of Sonbhadra already held a discussion on the detailedaction plan with the members of the Tourism WelfareAssociation. Bio toilets will also be constructed at varioustourist spots.”

Besides this, Rs 281.37 lakh have also been sanctionedfor the Way Finding Traffic Solution (WFTS).

Under this, signboards having details of the tourist spotare being set at up at various tourist spots and destinationsand till date, works of Rs 25 lakh has also been completed.Tour operators have also been engaged to promote filmtourism, he added.

“Beautification work is being carried out at the touristspots like Kaimur Wildlife Sanctuary, Salkhan Fossil Park,Vijaygarh Fort, Agori Fort and Mukha Waterfall so that theycan register a prominent presence on the tourist map of thecountry”, Srivastava said. In September, Chief Minister YogiAdityanath had announced to convert the airstrip inSonbhadra into an airport. IANS

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Cows were worshipped andfed various types of deli-

cacies to celebrate Gopashtamiin Uttar Pradesh's Agra andMathura districts in a series ofprogrammes held by voluntaryorganisations.

Recognising the valuablecontribution of cow-wealth,the Yogi Adityanath-led UttarPradesh government haslaunched a number of schemesto support the rural economy.Cow-dung manure was beingproduced at more than 1,000centres in the state and morethan five lakh cows have beenprovided shelter at the stategovernment-run centres. Thedistrict administrations havetagged nearly a crore cows foridentification in the state,according to an AnimalHusbandry Department offi-cial.

In Agra, the Girraj SewaMandal organised a specialprogramme to feed and wor-ship scores of cows at theBalkeshwar Gaushala. Thedevotees prayed to the cows(Gaumata) to free India fromthe scourge of Covid-19 pan-demic.

'Friends of Vrindavan'Convener, Jagan Nath Poddar,said Mathura district wasdeclared “Gau Kshetra” by theformer DivisionalCommissioner PradipBhatnagar but no follow-upaction was taken.

The 'Cow-Economics' isnow being recognised as apragmatic model of rural devel-opment and a number ofschemes are being implement-ed in the district having morethan 100 Gaushalas. Barsana'sGaushala run by patron saintRamesh Baba is the biggestcowshed with more than

50,000 cows.In Radha Kund, 60-year-

old German woman PadamshriSudevi, runs a Gaushala withmore than 1,600 injured andsick cows.

Sudevi wants farmers toaugment their incomes bykeeping a few cows.

“The government shouldbuy back the cow dung tomake it attractive for farmers tokeep cows,” she said.

The pastoral culture of theBraj Mandal is closely relatedto cow-keeping. “OnGopashtmi, a festival beingcelebrated today, Sri Krishnawas initiated into cattle grazingas a Gwala.

“All over the Braj area,cows are worshipped andoffered food today acknowl-edging their contribution to theagrarian economy,” said RiverActivist Dr. PanchsheelSharma.

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Dharwad (Karnataka):Degreecolleges, which reopened afterDiwali on November 17 acrossKarnataka, would be closed ifCovid cases rise again, saidstate Health Minister K.Sudhakar on Sunday.

“Though degree, engi-neering and polytechnic col-leges reopened for final yearstudents after remaining shutfor over eight months, we mayclose them again if Covid casesincrease in the state, as safetyof students and teachers ismore important than offlineclasses,” Sudhakar toldreporters here in the state'snorthwest region.

The response of students tothe reopening of colleges hasalso been tepid last week, asbesides negative Covid testreport from RT-PCR method,consent letter from parentswas mandatory for attendingclasses with face mask.

“As students were not get-ting test reports in time andmany parents have been waryof sending their wards foroffline classes, the attendancewas 15-20 per cent in most ofthe colleges in five days lastweek,” Sudhakar recalled.

Though Covid cases havebeen declining across thesouthern state over the lastthree weeks and recoverieshave been outnumbering pos-itive cases, the state's tally at8,71,342 till Friday is the sec-ond largest after Maharashtraacross the country, with 24,714active cases and 11,641 deathstill date.

“As we have to protect thestudents and shape their acad-emic future, colleges have beenconducting online classes sinceAugust to ensure continuity intheir studies,” said Sudhakar.

According to the statehealth department, tests acrosscities and towns showed thatonly 130 students were infect-ed while majority of them werevirus free.

“If more students test pos-itive, we may have to shut col-leges and continue with onlineclasses. We will asses the situ-ation and decide in a week,”said the minister, who is med-ical doctor by profession.

The state governmentdecided to reopen pre-univer-sity course (PUC) and medicalcolleges from December 1 ifCovid cases further decline in

the state.“One reason for most stu-

dents testing negative is due tomore natural immunity theyhave at their age though someof them can be vulnerable,”asserted Sudhakar.

On the reopening ofschools, which have alsoremained shut since mid-March due to the Covid-induced lockdown and itsextension, the minister said theissue would be discussed withChief Minister B.S.Yediyurappa at a meeting inBengaluru on Monday.

“State education minister S.Suresh Kumar, health expertsand officials will discuss whenschools could be reopened, astheir safety was paramount. Asconsent of parents was moreimportant, they will also beconsulted through schoolswhere their wards study,” saidSudhakar.

Wearing of mask, thermalscreening and maintainingphysical distancing will bemandatory to contain the virusspread, all the schools have togear up to the new normal toensure the safety of studentsand teachers. IANS

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There was only one possiblereflection on that extraor-dinary broadcast from theTrump bunker. How did

this ludicrous, dangerously ignorantman ever become president of theUnited States? That is not a rhetor-ical question. We need to knowhow and why this was possible, notonly for the sake of America’spolitical future but for ours, too.

Before the whole hideous chap-ter is written off as a historical aber-ration, it is important to understandthe sense in which it was not sur-prising at all. There was, in fact, akind of inevitability about it: avacancy that was waiting to be filledby some demagogic figure whowould offer what mainstream pol-itics was refusing to provide. Andmake no mistake, the policies – andeven the attitudes – that he embod-ied addressed directly the frustra-tions of a huge proportion of thepopulation, as evidenced by the firstelection victory and the remarkablynarrow result of the second.

Yes, somebody was needed tocarry out this task but why did ithave to be a man like this? Anobnoxious ignoramus whoappeared to know nothing aboutthe Constitution – even thoughevery American school child learnsto recite its basic provisions like acatechism?

The answer is quite simple. Ifyou make certain views unspeak-able, then only the unspeakable willbe prepared to express them. A cluelies in that infamously damagingremark made by Hillary Clintonduring the 2016 campaign in whichshe described Trump supporters asa “basket of deplorables.”

The essence of democraticfreedom is argument and opendebate. You enter the game on theassumption that this is a principledcontest, not a mud fight. So you donot just castigate and condemnyour opponents, treating theirposition as beneath contempt.Which is not to say that you mustbe gentle or even courteous: Ifully understand the view thatsome political opinions are somaligned that they must be metwith anger and hostility. But howmuch more effective to attack the“deplorable” programme with dev-astating accuracy, to rip the posi-tion to shreds with rigorous criti-cism, to disprove its claims andundermine belief in its effective-ness?

Of course, there is one obvious

reason why Mrs Clinton in2016, or the Biden campaign in2020, or the liberal media bothtimes, could not easily do this.Because many of the policieswhich Trump advocated – andthe complaints that he made onbehalf of the “forgotten man”,ironically a phrase associatedwith the presidency of the great-est Left-liberal of them all,Franklin Roosevelt – were soundand convincing. Particularlyconvincing to a vast army of dis-possessed victims of the post-industrial apocalypse which haddecimated blue collar America.

These are the people whobelieved themselves to be notjust “forgotten” but despised. Tofail to see this was the unforgiv-able error not only of theDemocrats and their camp fol-lowers in the media but of mostof the Republican Party too.

It may be difficult for theBritish, with their ingrainedclass guilt, to understand howthis could have happened soeasily: how such blithe indiffer-ence to the concerns of com-munities that were built on oldindustries like mining and steelproduction could be written offby Democrat politicians whowould once have seen suchplaces as their natural base.Hillary Clinton did not evenbother to campaign in the rustbelt – presumably because sheknew that her feminist messageabout glass ceilings was unlike-ly to beguile women who weremore worried about puttingfood on the table. Joe Biden didcampaign frenetically in those

places but without many sub-stantive policy proposals tocounter the protectionist solu-tion that Trump had offered.

We are seeing a remarkablysimilar tendency here but theIslingtonisation of the Labourparty with its new metropolitanobsessions is, at least, an ongo-ing ideological battle. The aban-donment of working class vot-ers became a point of hugeinterest once again with thebreaching of the northern RedWall by the Tories in the lastgeneral election. Class disad-vantage is still very much a liveelectoral issue in Britain. Tobecome a part of the educatedmiddle class is to enter imme-diately – with one jump – intothe privileged elite whichaccepts noblesse oblige as a his-toric duty.

But American political cul-ture is very different. There isalmost no sense of inheritedresponsibility to those who arepoor or victimised by eco-nomic change – especially ifthey are White. The Americancredo is that you should striveto succeed in whatever circum-stances you find yourself: thatis why you (or your forebears)came to the country.

Almost everybody startedpoor. If you do not succeed, byequipping yourself with what-ever skills or personal charac-teristics are necessary or bymoving across the country tosomewhere with better oppor-tunities, then that is largelyyour own fault. Self-determina-tion is not optional: it is a moral

obligation. What follows fromthis? That poverty or failure arenot to be passively acceptedand treated with patronisingcompassion – which is whymost Americans will voteagainst democratic socialism.

It is important to realisethat even most of the Americanpoor feel this way. What theywant is what Trump promisedthem – “jobs, jobs, jobs”, notwelfare dependency. So dis-missing their anger and failingto offer solutions which restoretheir dignity and self-worth isan inexcusable betrayal, not justof them but of the Americandream – the national spirit, thewhole point of the country’sexistence as a refuge for thosewho want to make somethingof themselves.

That is what Trump stoodfor. To the surprise of the lib-eral establishment, huge num-bers of Black and Latino voterswere attracted to this messagebecause, like most Americans,they did not want to see them-selves as permanent victims orlosers. What they wanted wasa chance to succeed.

Over the coming months,senior Republicans andDemocrats are going to have tofind a way to talk to the Trumpconstituency without insult-ing them. If they don’t, then itwill just be a matter of timebefore another ranting populistlures them away. And the nextone might be less obviouslyabsurd.

(Courtesy: The DailyTelegraph)

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���������� �Sir — The Nagrota encounterpossibly helped us avert a majordisaster in Jammu and Kashmirand justified the renewed diplo-matic offensive against Pakistan.The encounter comes days afterthe Pakistan Government and itsmilitary said that they had pre-pared a dossier on India-spon-sored terror activities on theirsoil. The document was seen asa feeble attempt at throwingback at India some of the chargeslike terror financing that Pakistanfaces in the international arena.Intelligence officials say thatPakistan has stepped up its anti--Kashmir narrative followingthe election of Joe Biden asfuture US President, hoping toplay on his past stance of restor-ing civil liberties in the UnionTerritory. Our neighbour hassimultaneously increased infiltra-tion attempts.

Senior Government officialssaid communication equipmentfound on the terrorists showedthat they had been in touch withhandlers in Pakistan before theencounter in Nagrota and carrieda large cache of weapons andammunition. This attempt atinternationalising the Kashmirissue won’t hold water. Besides,

Pakistan needs to set its ownhouse in order as dissent againstits Government grows in theform of a people’s movement andits economy is in shambles.

CK SubramaniamMumbai

������������Sir — The arrest of the 83-year-old priest Stan Swamy, who issuffering from Parkinson’s dis-ease, has caused a stir amongmany people in India. The vet-

eran tribal rights activist hasworked for over 50 years inJharkhand, fighting for theAdivasis on land, forest andlabour rights. The charges againstthis ailing social worker aim todiscredit intellectuals, legal pro-

fessionals and social activistswho raise their voices for therights of the poorest of the poor.He should be released at the ear-liest, come what may.

The National Platform forthe Rights of the Disabled hasrecently written to the NationalHuman Rights Commissionseeking its intervention to pro-vide “reasonable accommoda-tion” to Swamy, who has been indetention in Nagpur CentralJail. It is shameful that an ailingelderly man, who needs a strawto drink because of his debilitat-ing condition, is being deniedbasic help and forced to seek helpfrom the court just to be able tonourish himself. In the mean-time, he is suffering from severedehydration physically and theworst kind of humiliation men-tally. This is inhuman, cruel andstinks of political vendetta. TheState and its law and order agen-cies never liked him because hehas been consistent in ques-tioning the non-implementa-tion of the Fifth Schedule of theConstitution. He must be freedbefore he loses his life in jail.

Jubel D’CruzMumbai

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In spite of the pressing needs of a huge popula-tion, healthcare in India has never been an elec-toral mobiliser unlike in older democracies, such

as the UK and the US. Only three National HealthPolicies (1983, 2002 and 2017) have been promul-gated by respective Governments in the last 70 years.Though national policies and promises are often pre-ceded by commitments of political parties in theirmanifestos, it is for the first time in the history ofindependent India that healthcare infrastructure hasnow become a top election agenda. This is all dueto the Coronavirus pandemic.

Our country should be moving towards ahealthcare system that places a high priority on keep-ing people healthy and out of hospitals. And the pri-mary care doctor should be playing the leading rolein this transformation. This, in turn, will lead to areduced financial burden, diminishing the high costsof emergency rooms and tertiary care centres. Goodprimary care improves patient outcomes too, yet wehave ignored these fundamentals to our detriment.This blind spot is the biggest flaw in our currenthealthcare system.

Democracy is a system of governance for thepeople, by the people and of the people. Primaryhealthcare, similarly defined, is healthcare provid-ed to all, especially the most marginalised, with theirparticipation and for their needs. If the primaryhealthcare system of a country is not functioningwell, it is symptomatic of problems in its democra-cy itself. Primary healthcare is a public good and ina democracy, public good is publicly funded. Theright to health is subsumed under the right to lifein the Constitution. Yet, India figures at the very bot-tom of the global health systems’ rankings. We havethe dubious distinction of having the maximumnumber of tuberculosis and leprosy patients and thehighest maternal and infant mortality rates.

With a focus on primary care, our health sys-tem should move away from procedures/hospital-based care, in which primary care physicians(PCPs) have been devalued. Such systems depict thePCPs as paper-pushers in a world of specialists.

The Bhore Committee set up in 1946 publisheda landmark report highlighting the need for a “socialphysician”, who would be a key player in India’shealthcare system. The report also emphasised theneed to recognise the field of Family Medicine as aseparate speciality with a post-graduate residencyprogramme in post-graduate medical institutes. Ourmedical education system, too, needs to encouragemedical students to view primary care as a route tocreating a more effective healthcare system.

The Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation, an organisa-tion working to improve healthcare in the US, saysthat in order to produce more primary care doctors,who are willing to practise in disadvantaged andunderserved areas, medical schools need to changethe way they select students. It is seen in India, too,that students, who have strong ties to their commu-nity, want to form long-term relationships and com-mitment to public service, and hence are more like-ly to choose primary care (if such training is madeavailable in the country) as a profession, than otherstudents. One of the reasons our country or eventhe US is facing a shortage of PCPs is because thebrightest medical students are often told or madeto believe that they’re too smart not to specialise,and that attitude is reinforced throughout their med-ical training. What is special about Japan in the con-text of successful healthcare services is that it man-

aged to contain the clout of specialists inits healthcare system and accorded aprominent voice to PCPs in its decision-making process.

In the early days of Japan’s modernmedicine history, hospitals catered to onlyan affluent few and the Government lim-ited their funding, restricting them tofunctions like training of medical studentsand isolation of infectious cases.Reciprocal connections between doctorsin private clinics and hospitals were for-bidden, thwarting possibilities of a nexusbetween the two groups. However, a stur-dy lobby of clinic-based PCPs evolved,which tipped the balance in favour of pri-mary healthcare. The Japanese socialhealth insurance was implemented in 1927and the medical association, that wasdominated by PCPs, played the main rolein negotiating the fee schedule.

Primary healthcare renewal demandsmajor investments in system transforma-tion and infrastructure (appropriatepremises and staffing, information man-agement systems and tools and facilitationto support the coordination of care andthe improvement of quality).

Sadly, in India until 2018, only one percent of the Gross Domestic Product(GDP) was spent on healthcare and since2019 this has increased to 3.6 per cent.This is much lower than many non-demo-cratic/poorer nations and is ahead of onlyfive countries, namely Burundi, Myanmar,Pakistan, Sudan and Cambodia. Such lowspending, as we know, leads to a pervert-ed pattern of healthcare as our health sys-tem is meant to cater to a population ofover a billion human beings.

Poor investment in the primaryhealthcare system naturally under-equipsit. Hence, we lack supplies and drugs for

comprehensive primary care. For exam-ple, of the 709 public health centres(PHCs) surveyed in 2009 by theInternational Institute for PopulationSciences, Mumbai, about 24 per cent didnot have electricity and 63 per cent did nothave piped water supply. At the same time,PHCs are expected to deliver centrally-designed, targetted, vertical programmes,alienating them further from communi-ties. As a result, even those families thatcan access PHCs continue to look else-where for their critical healthcare needs.

There is empirical evidence that pub-lic spending on primary healthcare is themost effective, efficient and equitableapproach to improve the health of popu-lations. Higher public spending has alwaysshown decreased mortality and morbid-ity of the poor. An analysis by the Centrefor Economic and International Studiesexamined the relative efficiency of pub-lic and private healthcare spending in 163countries and reported that the formerconsistently leads to lower infant mortal-ity rates and the latter, to higher.

India has a large network of PHCs andeach is meant to serve a population of25,000. In poorer States, such as MadhyaPradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand, one PHCcovers 45,000, 49,000 and 76,000 peoplerespectively. In Rajasthan, the populationis often so dispersed (especially in hillyareas in the south and in the desert in thewest) that a family may need to travel 10-20 km to reach the nearest PHC. Thismeans that when a person is sick, s/he mayhave to wait for many hours or days toreach a healthcare facility.

A few countries in South Americawith limited resources have managed todesign and scale up people-friendly healthsystems to cover large populations for

delivering primary care. Family clinics inBrazil and polyclinics and nurses officesin Cuba are examples of systems withnationwide coverage. Cuba has one of themost effective primary healthcare systemsin the world, whose centerpiece is thecommunity-based polyclinic, each ofwhich serves a catchment area, hostingbetween 30,000 and 60,000 people. Theneighbourhood-based family doctor-and-nurse offices further extend care closer tothe communities. One such office is for1,000-2,000 people. Prevention is thecornerstone of these services, comple-mented by community analysis and treat-ment. An important requirement of pri-mary healthcare is the active participationof the masses — akin to citizen participa-tion in a democracy. Such systems are like-ly to be more responsive to public needs.In the States of West Bengal and Kerala,in which primary healthcare is co-man-aged by panchayats, health outcomes arebetter than in most other States at simi-lar levels of economic development.

Government healthcare centres evenin cities are yet to be able to provide treat-ment to the sick with dignity. Patientsstruggling for life sharing beds, childrenalong with parents lying on the floor inhospital wards and women deliveringbabies in hospital corridors are an every-day sight in Government hospitals in cities.A democratic healthcare system shouldhave facilities located within communitiesthat are equipped to deal with theirneeds and provide preventive and cura-tive care. They should be staffed by askilled team of providers, who are empa-thetic to the people and their culture andtreat them with dignity.

(The writer is an author and a doctorby profession)

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Afriend, settled in the US, recent-ly quipped that never has heheard so many Pakistanis (in

the US) use the word “Deep State” asmuch as they have been doing sincethe recently-concluded US presiden-tial elections. The polls were won bythe Democratic Party nominee JohnBiden. My friend clarified that thementioned term was being usedmostly by those Pakistani-Americanswho actually voted for PresidentDonald Trump.

Even though exit polls publishedby The New York Times show that amajority of Asians had cast their votefor Biden (63 per cent), up to 31 percent of them voted for Trump.According to my friend, a majority ofthese included Pakistanis whobelieved Trump was good for the cur-

rent coalition Government in Pakistanbeing led by Prime Minister ImranKhan’s Centre-Right PTI.

The Opposition parties inPakistan have increasingly insistedthat certain State institutions installedKhan “through an engineered elec-tion” in 2018 and were using him asa “puppet.” Pakistan has had a histo-ry of State institutions influencingpolitical outcomes, sometimesthrough direct interventions andsometimes by influencing the resultsof elections.

This is why my friend was sound-ing sarcastic, because he added thatnot once did he hear the term “DeepState” from American-Pakistanis (whovoted for Trump) during discussionson the current political arrangementin Pakistan. The term “Deep State”,now being aired so frequently byTrump supporters, was proliferated bythe defeated President himself, who isaccusing the “American Deep State”of engineering his electoral defeat.

So far Trump has provided noevidence whatsoever of this and islargely sounding like an archetypalconspiracy theorist. The differencebetween the US and Pakistan in thiscontext is the fact that there is now

enough evidence in the latter coun-try to build a substantiated history ofthe State’s overt involvement in influ-encing political matters outside of itsconstitutional obligations. So whatreally is a “Deep State”?

The scholar Matthew Wills saysthat the term is a translation of theTurkish phrase, derin devlet. Authorand academic Ryan Gingeras writesthat “Deep State” generally refers to akind of a parallel system ofGovernment in which unofficial orunacknowledged individuals playimportant roles in implementingState policy. According to Gingeras,the idea of a “Deep State” can be tracedto the twilight years of the OttomanEmpire.

Gingeras writes that clandestineforces were recruited from paramili-tary and criminal elements by theCommittee of Union and Progress(CUP), the party that ousted theOttomans in 1923. Across much of the20th century, opponents of the CUPclaimed that the party had establisheda clandestine network of military offi-cers and their civilian allies who, fordecades, suppressed anyone thoughtto pose a threat to the secular orderestablished in Turkey by Mustafa

Kemal Atatürk. Dexter Filkins, in aMarch 2012 article for The NewYorker, writes that the former PrimeMinister of Turkey (now President),Recep Erdogan, was extremely ner-vous when he was first elected asPrime Minister in 2003 because hebelieved that since he was a candidateof an (albeit “moderate”) Islamicparty, Turkey’s “Deep State” wouldnever allow him to rule.

But no such thing happened. Hisparty has continued to win electionssince the early 2000s and the onlycoup attempt that his Governmentfaced in 2016, according to Erdogan’sown admission, was mounted by afaction of the military influenced bya clandestine Islamic group.

There is nothing secretive abouthow, after 1923, the Turkish militarycontinued to directly and indirectlyinterfere in Turkish politics, and thecountry’s judiciary and bureaucracywere committed to secure Kemal’s sec-ular Turkish republic. For this militaryrule, military-backed candidates andconstitutional courts were used. Butthere were no hidden agenda, as such,even though men such as Erdoganbelieved that shadowy forces were atwork and would topple him.

Interestingly, all talk of “Deep State”vanished from his rhetoric once heconsolidated his power.

So what does this imply? Inmany countries, certain powerfulState institutions do interfere in polit-ical processes, but increasingly, it’sbeing done rather unabashedly. It wasalways justified as a “necessary steptaken to curtail political chaos”, butnow the interfering State institutionsuse social and electronic media to gen-erate support for their actions in thisregard. Again, there is nothing clan-destine about all this. There hasalways been “a State within a State” inmost modern nation-States.

Recently, the PakistaniOpposition leader Nawaz Sharif usedthe phrase “State above the State.” Thisis probably because he knows that theknowledge of Pakistan having a Statewithin a State is now common, and hewould be saying nothing new. So hewanted to point towards a much deep-er malaise. According to his narrative,the State within the State, which is notquite hidden anymore, is now facinga challenge from within.

But what about the US? Does ithave a “Deep State” that, as Trumpbelieves, helped Biden hijack the

election? In the January 27 edition ofthe Business Insider, the American aca-demic Rebecca Gordon writes that theidea of a sinister “Deep State” in theUS, popularised by Trump across hispresidency, is somewhat differentthan how it is understood in mostother countries. According to Gordon,“rather than referring to a parallel sys-tem of Government operating outsideofficial channels, for Trump the ‘DeepState’ is the Government.”

For Trump, any State orGovernment institution, which stallsany of his orders, is working for a“Deep State”. To him, elements with-in America’s domestic and interna-tional Intelligence agencies, such as theFBI and the CIA, were also workingfor the “Deep State”. In November2019, the former Deputy Director ofthe CIA, John McLaughlin, wasamused about Trump’s constant usageof the phrase. In a radio interviewMcLaughlin said, “There is no ‘DeepState.’ What people think of as the‘Deep State’ is just the American civilservice, social security, the people whofix the roads, health and human ser-vices.”

In his 2016 book, The Deep State,the American author and a former

Republican US Congressional aide,Mike Lofgren, wrote that the “DeepState” was not some secret, conspir-atorial cabal. It is a “State within aState” that is hiding in plain sight, andits operators mainly act in the light ofday.

As I argued earlier, there is real-ly nothing clandestine about what isunderstood as “Deep State”. Its actionsare in the open because it wants toimpose the fact that it will secure itsinterests in a political arrangement.Governments negotiate a space forthemselves with the State as long asthat space is not overtly violated byState institutions in an unconstitution-al manner.

If and when it is, the Governmenthas constitutional tools to push theState back as much as it can, or justgive in and get on the same page justto survive. This is common in mostcountries. But what if the Governmentstarts to see its own elements in leaguewith the so-called “Deep State”, asTrump saw it? I’m afraid this is thennothing more than either a delusion,or simply a cynical ploy to blamesomething sinister, intangible andlargely imaginary, for one’s own fail-ures. (Courtesy: Dawn)

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Baku: As Azerbaijan regainscontrol of land it lost toArmenian forces a quarter-century ago, civilians who fledthe fighting decades ago won-der if they can go back homenow — and if there’s still ahome to go back to.

An estimated 600,000Azerbaijanis were displaced inthe 1990s war that left theNagorno-Karabakh regionunder the control of ethnicArmenian separatists and largeadjacent territories inArmenia’s hands.

During six weeks ofrenewed fighting this fall thatended Nov. 10, Azerbaijan tookback parts of Nagorno-Karabakh itself and sizeableswaths of the outlying areas.

More territory is beingreturned as part of the cease-fire agreement that stopped thelatest fighting. But asAzerbaijani forces discoveredwhen the first area, Aghdam,was turned over on Friday,much of the recovered land isuninhabitable. The city ofAghdam, where 50,000 people

once lived, is now a shatteredruin.

Adil Sharifov, 62, who lefthis hometown in 1992 duringthe first war and lives inAzerbaijan’s capital, Baku,knows he will find similar dev-astation if he returns to the cityof Jabrayil, which he longs todo.

Jabrayil is one of the out-lying areas regained byAzerbaijani troops before therecent fighting ended. Soonafter it was taken, one ofSharifov’s cousins went thereand told him the city wasdestroyed, including the largehouse with an orchard whereSharifov’s family once lived.

Nonetheless, “the day whenI return there will be the great-est happiness for me,” he said.

For years, he said, his fam-ily had followed reports aboutJabrayil on the internet. Theyknew the destruction was ter-rible, but Sharifov’s late moth-er retained a desperate hopethat their house had beenspared and held on to thekeys.

“I will build an even betterhouse,” he vowed.

Ulviya Jumayeva, 50, cango back to better, though notideal circumstances in hernative Shusha, a city thatAzerbaijani forces took in thekey offensive of the six-weekwar.

Her younger brother,Nasimi, took part in the battleand phoned to tell her theapartment their family fled in1992 was intact, though most-ly stripped of the family’s pos-sessions.

“According to him, it isclear that Armenians lived thereafter us, and then they tookeverything away. But our largemirror in the hallway, which weloved to look at as children,remains,” Jumayeva said,adding: “Maybe my grandchil-dren will look in this mirror.”

“We all have houses inBaku, but everyone consideredthem to be not permanent,because all these years welived in the hope that wewould return to Shusha,” shesaid. AP

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Authorities are conductingmass testing and shutting

down schools after Chinareported three new domesti-cally transmitted cases in thepast 24 hours — two in north-ern Inner Mongolia provinceand one in Shanghai.

The city of Manzhouli, inInner Mongolia, will starttesting all its residents forCovid-19 on Sunday, a dayafter the two cases were dis-covered.

The city has suspendedclasses and shut public venues,telling residents to not gatherfor dinner banquets.

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Pakistan's newly-formedalliance of 11 Opposition

parties on Sunday held itsmassive anti-government rallyin Peshawar despite a banimposed by the city adminis-tration owing to a spike inCOVID-19 cases and securitythreats, with top coalition lead-ers predicting that the ImranKhan Government will "haveto go home by January".

The fourth power show bythe Pakistan DemocraticMovement (PDM) was helddespite the KhyberPakhtunkhwa Government'swarning that it may lodgecases against the PDM leaders

if a spike in Covid-19 cases waswitnessed in the province afterthe rally. The alliance earlierheld three massive back-to-back gatherings in Gujranwala,Karachi and Quetta.

Addressing the gathering,Pakistan People's Party leaderBilawal Bhutto Zardari vowedthat January will be the incum-bent Government's "last monthin power" and the people willdecide how Pakistan will begoverned.

"They will go home inJanuary," he said. "Time isnear when you, the people,would hold this selectedGovernment and its selectorsresponsible for currentcrises...," he said.

Washington: The TrumpCampaign has filed a petitionfor recount of votes in Georgia,days after US President-elect JoeBiden wrested the Republicanstronghold by a little over 12,000votes.

Democrat Biden becamethe first Democrat to have wonthe key battleground state since1992 after a hand recount ofnearly five million votes, thatlasted for several days.

Georgia hadn’t voted for aDemocratic presidential candi-date since Bill Clinton in 1992.

In case of a recount, electionofficials in Georgia will have tore-scan the five million hand-recounted and audited legalballots.

“We are focused on ensur-ing that every aspect of GeorgiaState Law and the USConstitution are followed sothat every legal vote is counted.President Trump and his cam-

paign continue to insist on anhonest recount in Georgia,which has to include signaturematching and other vital safe-guards,” the Trump campaignsaid in a late-night statement onSaturday.

“Without signature match-ing, this recount would be asham and again allow for illegalvotes to be counted. If there isno signature matching, thiswould be as phony as the initialvote count and recount,” said thestatement issued by the legalteam of the campaign.

“Let’s stop giving the peoplefalse results. There must be atime when we stop countingillegal ballots. Hopefully it iscoming soon,” said the cam-paign, a day after GeorgiaSecretary of State, who is alsofrom the same Republican Party,officially certified the electionresults which was narrowly wonby Biden. PTI

Beijing: Chinese President XiJinping said on Sunday that theG-20 countries should takethe lead in tackling climatechange, follow the guidance ofthe UN FrameworkConvention on ClimateChange and push for the fulland effective implementation ofthe Paris Agreement.

With US President-electJoe Biden’s promise to rejointhe Paris Agreement after hetakes over power early nextyear, its implementation isexpected to get a big boost toefforts to tackle climate changeand other environmental chal-lenges to protect the planet.

The US and China are thetop two polluters of the world.

Addressing the Leaders’Side Event on Safeguardingthe Planet of the G-20 RiyadhSummit via video link, Xi said,“G-20 should continue to take

the lead in tackling climatechange”.

“We need to follow theguidance of the United NationsFramework Convention onClimate Change, and push forthe full and effective imple-mentation of the ParisAgreement,” he said.

He reaffirmed China’scommitment to striving topeak carbon dioxide emissionsby 2030 and achieve carbonneutrality by 2060.

Xi said China supports theshift to low-carbon energy inthe post-Covid era to achievethe goal of Sustainable Energyfor All. China has put in placethe world’s biggest clean ener-gy system, and has led theworld in the output and sales ofnew energy vehicles for fiveyears running, he said.

China will pursue clean,low-carbon, safe and efficient

use of energy and accelerate thegrowth of new energy andgreen industries to promotegreener economic and socialdevelopment in all respects, hesaid. He called on the G-20countries to protect the ecosys-tem with a respect for Nature,and said China supports deep-ening G20 cooperation inreducing land degradation,conserving coral reefs, andcleaning up plastic from theocean.

Xi welcomed participationto the 15th meeting of theConference of the Parties to theConvention on BiologicalDiversity to be held in theChinese city of Kunming inMay 2021.

He hoped that the meetingwill set goals and take actionsto ensure the protection ofglobal biodiversity in the yearsahead. PTI

Philadelphia: As they franti-cally searched for ways to sal-vage President Donald Trump’sfailed reelection bid, his cam-paign pursued a dizzying gameof legal hopscotch across sixstates that centered on thebiggest prize of all:Pennsylvania.

The strategy may haveplayed well in front of televisioncameras and on talk radio.

But it has proved a disasterin court, where judges uni-formly rejected their claims ofvote fraud and found the cam-paign’s legal work amateurish.

In a ruling late Saturday,US District Judge MatthewBrann — a Republican andFederalist Society member incentral Pennsylvania — com-pared the campaign’s legalarguments to “Frankenstein’sMonster,” concluding thatTrump’s team offered only“speculative accusations,” notproof of rampant corruption.

Now, as the legal doorsclose on Trump’s attempts tohave courts do what voterswould not do on Election Dayand deliver him a second term,his efforts in Pennsylvania

show how far he is willing topush baseless theories of wide-spread voter fraud.

It was led by Rudy Giuliani,Trump’s personal lawyer, whodescended on the state theSaturday after the November 3election as the count draggedon and the president playedgolf.

Summoning reporters to ascruffy, far-flung corner ofPhiladelphia on November 7,he held forth at a site thatwould soon become legendary:Four Seasons TotalLandscaping.

The 11:30 am. News con-ference was doomed from thestart.

At 11:26 am, news outletshad started calling the presi-dential contest for DemocratJoe Biden.

The race was over.Just heating up was

Trump’s plan to subvert theelection through litigation andhowls of fraud — the same tac-tic he had used to stave off loss-es in the business world. Andit would soon spread farbeyond Pennsylvania.

“Some of the ballots lookedsuspicious,” Giuliani, 76, said ofthe vote count in Philadelphiaas he stood behind a chain linkfence, next to a sex shop.

He maligned the city asbeing run by a “decrepitDemocratic machine.”

“Those mail-in ballotscould have been written the daybefore, by the Democratic Partyhacks that were all over theconvention center,” Giulianisaid. He promised to file a newround of lawsuits. He rambled.

“This is a very, very strongcase,” he asserted.

Justin Levitt, a Loyola LawSchool professor who special-izes in election law, called theTrump lawsuits dangerous.

“It is a sideshow, but it’s aharmful sideshow,” Levitt said.

“It’s a toxic sideshow. Thecontinuing baseless, evidence-free claims of alternative factsare actually having an effect ona substantial number ofAmericans. They are creatingthe conditions for electionsnot to work in the future.”

Not a single court hasagreed with the strength of thecase, but that did not stopTrump’s team from firing offnearly two dozen legal chal-lenges to Biden’s victory inPennsylvania, including anearly morning suit on ElectionDay filed by a once-imprisonedlawyer. AP

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Dubai: US Secretary of StateMike Pompeo on Sundaydefended his tour of Gulf Arabstates and the Trump adminis-tration’s continued efforts tosqueeze Iran, even as a new USadministration led by Joe Bidenprepares to enter the WhiteHouse in January.

Although Pompeo has nottaken questions from US-basedreporters traveling with himover the past 10 days, he satdown with the Saudi-ownedbroadcaster Al-Arabiya in Dubaifor brief televised remarksSunday. “Our policies don’tchange. Our duty doesn’tchange. My responsibilities don’tchange,” he said. “I still have anobligation — every hour, everyminute — to defend theAmerican people and to keepthem foremost in our efforts,and we’ll do that. We’ll do thatto the very last minute.” AP

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F�����������*#$��������!���!���'��!!�������������������!��������������� Guatemala City: Hundreds of

protesters broke intoGuatemala’s Congress andburned part of the buildingSaturday amid growingdemonstrations againstPresident AlejandroGiammattei and the legislaturefor approving a budget that cuteducational and health spend-ing.

The protest came as about7,000 people were demon-strating in front of the NationalPalace in Guatemala Cityagainst the budget, which pro-testers say was negotiated andpassed by legislators in secretwhile the Central Americancountry was distracted by thefallout of back-to-back hurri-canes and the COVID-19 pan-demic.

Video on social mediashowed flames shooting out awindow in the legislative build-ing. According to mediareports, security agents firedtear gas at protestors and there

were people injured.Giammattei condemned

the fires in his Twitter account

Saturday.“Anyone who is proven to

have participated in the crim-

inal acts will be punished withthe full force of the law.” Hewrote that he defended people’s

right to protest, “but neithercan we allow people to van-dalize public or private prop-erty.” The president said he hadbeen meeting with variousgroups to present changes tothe controversial budget.

Discontent had been build-ing over the 2021 budget onsocial media and clashes erupt-ed during demonstrations onFriday. Guatemalans wereangered because lawmakersapproved $65,000 to pay formeals for themselves, but cutfunding for coronaviruspatients and human rightsagencies.

Vice President GuillermoCastillo has offered to resign,telling Giammattei that bothmen should resign their posi-tions “for the good of thecountry.” He also suggestedvetoing the approved budget,firing government officials andattempting more outreach tovarious sectors around thecountry. AP

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Ouagadougou: Voters went tothe polls in Burkina Faso onSunday for presidential andlegislative elections that havebeen marred by ongoingextremist violence in this land-locked West African nation.

President Roch MarcChristian Kabore haspromised to secure the coun-try and is vying for anotherfive years against 12 othercandidates. Kabore is expect-ed to win, but the oppositionhopes to split the vote, depriv-ing the president of the 51%support needed for an outrightvictory in the first round, andthen form a coalition behindthe strongest candidate forround two.

On Saturday, oppositioncandidates accused the ruling

party of fraud, including brib-ing people. The parties alsoaccused The NationalIndependent ElectoralCommission of making

changes to the electoral map,Zephirin Diabre, a leadingcandidate from the Progressand Change Party, told a pressconference. AP

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Washington: President-electJoe Biden’s Chief of StaffRonald Klain on Sundaylaunched a scathing attack onPresident Donald Trump, say-ing American voters haverejected his leadership andeverything the Republicanleader is doing now is bad forthe democracy of the US.

“I think he has definitelyset back the democratic normhere in the United States. He’sbeen doing that for four years,and that’s ramped up since the

election,” Klain told ABC Newsin an interview.

“The voters rejected hisleadership. A record number ofAmericans rejected the Trumppresidency. And, since then,Donald Trump’s been rejectingdemocracy. He has beenlaunching baseless claims ofvoter fraud, baseless litigation.He’s been rejected by 34 courts,and now these efforts to try toget election officials to overturnthe will of the voters,” healleged. PTI

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Ankara: Turkish PresidentRecep Tayyip Erdogan saidSunday that Turkey sees itself asa part of Europe, but he calledon the European Union to “keepyour promises” on issues such asthe country’’s membership bidand refugees.

He spoke before an EUsummit due to be held nextmonth.

In recent weeks, EU mem-bers have raised the prospect ofsanctions against Turkey over itsgas exploration missions in theeastern Mediterranean.

“We always see ourselves aspart of Europe,” Erdogan said ina virtual speech to ruling partymembers. “We chose to favourEurope as long as they don’’tforce us to look elsewhere.”

He added: “Keep yourpromises to our country, fromfull membership to the issue ofrefugees. Let’’s establish a clos-er and more efficient coopera-tion together.”

Turkey applied for mem-bership in the bloc in 1987 andfour years ago signed a deal withthe EU to manage the flow ofmigrants to Europe.

However, claims of democ-ratic backsliding have seen itsapplication effectively suspend-ed while both sides have accusedthe other of not properly imple-menting the refugee agreement.Ankara has dispatched researchand drill ships to waters claimedby EU members Greece andCyprus, sparking a militaryescalation over the summer. AP

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Jerusalem: Israeli aircraft onSunday struck multiple sites inthe Gaza Strip in response to arocket fired earlier from thePalestinian territory, Israel’smilitary said.

There were no immediatereports of injuries.

While several militantgroups operate out of thePalestinian enclave, Israel holdsGaza’s Hamas rulers responsi-ble for all rocket fire out of theterritory and usually strikesHamas targets in response.

The Israeli military said ina statement that fighter jets andattack helicopters hit two rock-et ammunition manufactur-ing sites, underground infra-structure and a Hamas navalforces training compound.

Late Saturday, Palestinianmilitants in Gaza fired a rock-et toward Israel, setting off air-raid sirens in the southernIsraeli city of Ashkelon, theIsraeli military said.

Israeli police said the rock-et caused damage to a structure

in the Ashkelon area, roughly10 kilometers (6 miles) northof Gaza, but there were noinjuries. Israeli media said therocket struck a factory, causingdamage.

Israel and Hamas, anIslamic militant group thatseeks Israel’s destruction, arebitter enemies who have foughtthree wars and numerous skir-mishes since Hamas seizedpower in Gaza in 2007. AP

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Sydney: A man died Sundayafter being attacked by a sharkin Western Australia, the eighthfatality in the county this year.

Police were called to CableBeach, a popular tourist spoton Australia’s Indian Oceancoast, at about 8:40 a.M. The55-year-old was pulled fromthe water with serious injuriesand treated by police beforeparamedics arrived. He died atthe scene, police said.

Park rangers immediatelyclosed the beach.

The man was the eighth todie in a shark attack inAustralia this year, the highesttoll since 1929 when nine died.The introduction of shark netsat popular beaches in the 1930sled to a significant fall in fatalattacks. AP

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Page 9: ...2020/11/23  · 5,24,223 with 2,326 new infec-tions. The number of active cases in the State stands at 23,471, the positivity rate of November is 1.6 per cent. Over the last 24

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The Law Committee of theGST Council has suggest-

ed a two-pronged strategy totackle the issue of fake invoic-es, sources said.

According to people in theknow, the panel has recom-mended that new or fresh reg-istrations in GST may adopt anAadhaar-like registrationprocess under which new reg-istration can be done onlinewith live photo and use of bio-metrics with due verification ofdocuments.

Such facilities can be pro-vided at banks, post offices,and GST Seva Kendras (GSK),just like the Passport SevaKendras or the Aadhaar SevaKendras. The GSKs can workon the pattern of the PassportSeva Kendras to provide newregistration facilities withrequired checks on fake regis-tration.

According to sources, theLaw Committee has suggested

that a fresh registrant must gofor compulsory physical veri-fication and personal identifi-cation in case he or she opts fornon-Aadhaar authentication-based registration process anddoes not have income taxreturn supported adequatefinancial capability.

In such a case, he or shemay have to submit a recom-mendation letter by two tax-payers of adequate reliability.

Further, also, if on thebasis of document supported

credentials, a registrant or deal-er falls in “trustworthy” cate-gory, then he or she can begiven registration within sevenworking days.

If he or she is not in the“trustworthy” category, thenconditional registration shall begiven within 60 working daysonly after physical verificationof the place of business where-in in such cases input tax cred-it to their buyers shall beallowed only after filing oftheir return and the dealers

would be required to pay cer-tain portion of their liability incash instead of paying 100 percent tax through ITC.

According to sources in theDepartment of Revenue, toweed out existing fake dealersfrom the GST system, the panelproposed full application of theBusiness Intelligence and FraudAnalytics (BIFA) tool for pre-cise identification of riskierdealers based on the riskierinput supply chain and outwardsupply chain, abnormal tax-payer behaviour in terms ofITC availment, tax payment forcatching fake dealer and takingappropriate action, includingenforcement.

It has suggested suspensionof first lot of riskier traders andidentification of such taxpayerson the basis of significant cri-terion including non-filing ofreturn for six months, saidsources, adding that the com-mittee underlined that factthat there are about 6 lakh dor-mant registrants in GST.

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The Reserve Bank of India’s(RBI) Twitter handle

achieved 1 million followers onSunday, turning it the firstcentral bank in the world toachieve the feat.

Taking to Twitter, RBIGovernor, Shaktikanta Daswrote: “RBI Twitter accountreaches one million followerstoday. A new milestone.Congratulations to all my col-leagues in RBI.”

It is followed by the Bancode Mexico (Bank of Mexico) asa distant second with 774,000followers.

The US Federal Reservehas 677,000 followers and theEuropean Central Bank has591,000 followers.

The Federal Reserve joinedTwitter in March 2009, whilethe ECB has been active on thesocial media platform sinceOctober 2009.

India’s central bank, onthe other hand joined themicro-blogging site in 2012.

Apart from its primaryTwitter handle, RBI has anoth-er Twitter account called ‘RBISays’ which largely spreadsawareness among consumersand bank account holders.

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India’s manufacturing sectoris poised to witness recovery

in the July-September quarter,even as hiring outlook for thesegment remains bleak, accord-ing to a survey.

Industry body FICCI’s lat-est quarterly survey on manu-facturing points towards recov-ery of the manufacturing sec-tor in the second quarter endedSeptember as compared to theprevious quarter, with a rise inpercentage of respondentsreporting higher production.

The proportion ofrespondents reporting higheroutput during July-Septemberrose to 24 per cent, as com-

pared to 10 per cent in the pre-vious quarter.

Besides, the percentage ofrespondents expecting low orsame production is 74 per centin the second quarter whichwas 90 per cent in the firstquarter of 2020-21.

However, hiring outlookfor the sector, though improv-ing slightly, shows a bleak pic-ture as 80 per cent of therespondents mentioned thatthey are not likely to hire addi-tional workforce in the nextthree months.

“This presents slightlyimproved situation in the hir-ing scenario as compared to theprevious quarter Q-1 of 2020-21, where 85 per cent of the

respondents were not in favourof hiring additional workforce,”FICCI said.

Moreover, the averageinterest rate paid by manufac-turers has reduced slightly to9.2 per cent per annum asagainst 9.4 per cent per annumduring the last quarter and thehighest rate is reported to be12.5 per cent. The recent cutsin repo rate by the RBI has notled to a consequential reduc-tion in the lending rate asreported by 55 per cent of therespondents, found the survey.

Based on expectations indifferent sectors, all the sectorsexcept medical devices are like-ly to register low growth in Q-2 2020-21. The primary reason

for such depressed expectationsseems to be the imposition oflockdown, subdued demand,restricted exports and otherguidelines in place as a

response towards COVID-19outbreak.

The survey covered wideareas of relevance for manu-facturing like exports, capaci-

ty utilisation, ongoing restric-tions, availability oflabour/workforce and others.In many of these areas there are

signs of operations inchingtowards normal and in comingmonths could see better per-formance.

The survey assessed thesentiments of manufacturersfor July-September 2020-21for 12 major sectors namelyautomotive, capital goods,cement and ceramics, chemi-cals, fertilizers and pharma-ceuticals, electronics & electri-cals, leather and footwear, med-ical devices, metal & metalproducts, paper products, tex-tiles, textile machinery, andmiscellaneous.

Responses were drawnfrom over 300 manufacturingunits from both large and SMEsegments with a combinedannual turnover of around Rs3 lakh crore.

The survey showed thatoverall capacity utilisation inmanufacturing has risen to 65per cent as compared to 61.5per cent in Q4 2019-20.

The future investment out-look, however, is subdued asonly 18 per cent respondentsreported plans for capacityadditions for the next sixmonths as compared to 22 percent in the previous quarter, thesurvey revealed.

High raw material prices,high cost of finance, shortage

of skilled labour and workingcapital, high logistics cost, lowdomestic and global demanddue to imposition of lockdownacross several countries, lack offinancial assistance, are some ofthe major constraints affectingexpansion plans of the respon-dents.Significantly, the per-centage of respondents expect-ing increase in exports in July-September has increased sub-stantially to 24 per cent whencompared to the previous quar-ter, wherein merely 8 per centrespondents were expecting arise in exports. Also, 19 percent are expecting exports tocontinue to be on same path asthat of same quarter last year,the survey noted.

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As international trade getsback to normalcy with

gradual lifting of lockdownsacross countries, difficulties incargo movement and clear-ance processes are likely to con-tinue, said an AsianDevelopment Bank blog post.

Emphasising the need forautomations, the blog post saidthat although the South AsiaSubregional EconomicCooperation (SASEC) coun-tries have made progress inautomation, there is still aneed for physical interfacingand paper filings, which is dif-ficult during the pandemic.

“Inadequate digitisation inmany of the cross-border reg-ulatory agencies, and lack ofdigital connectivity amongthese agencies, ports and ter-minal operators, and shippinglines further hindered the flowof cargo,” it said.

“Automation of clearanceprocesses, which should haveplayed a greater role in helpingcargo move seamlessly acrossborders, with limited need forhuman contact, affords anexample of the gaps in tradefacilitation progress,” said theblog authored by AileenPangilinan and Satish Reddy.

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The Confederation of AllIndia Traders (CAIT) has

written to the Department forPromotion of Industry andInternal Trade (DPIIT) to takeaction against e-commercemajor Amazon and Flipkart foralleged violation of FDI andFEMA norms.

In a letter to the DPIITSecretary, GuruprasadMohapatra, the traders’ bodysaid: “Our association has beenrequesting your good office totake appropriate steps andinvestigate, punish and penal-ize the multinational compa-nies like Amazon and Flipkart(owned by foreign multina-tional company ‘Walmart’,interchangeably used here-inafter) for the blatant violationand/or by exploitation of theloopholes of the FDI policy andForeign ExchangeManagement Act.”

It said the traders’ body hasbeen examining various publicstatements and documents per-taining to the investmentsmade by both Amazon andWalmart and it has come to

light that both these companieshave been conducting theiractivities in blatant violation ofForeign ExchangeManagement (Non-debtInstruments) Rules, 2019(FEMA Rules).

It said that the the latestrevelation by Amazon duringthe arbitration proceedings atan arbitration court inSingapore clearly shows itscontrol over Future Retail.

“Amazon has equivocallyclaimed that it has absolutecontrol over FRL through theshareholder agreementbetween Amazon and FutureCoupons Private Limited,” itsaid.

“While FCL has only 9.2per cent equity participation inFRL, but by the way of share-holder agreement betweenAmazon and FCL, it has fullcontrol over FRL,” it alleged.

CAIT also told DPIIT thatAmazon indirectly investedaround Rs 4,200 crore andtook over control of MoreRetail Limited.

It also made allegationsagainst Flipkart and said thatit has on numerous occasions,brought to the notice of theauthorities about the operationof inventory-based model of e-commerce, that is prohibitedto foreign companies, byFlipkart.

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The Confederation of IndianIndustry (CII) Goa chapter

has emphasised the need forprompt resumption of miningactivities in the coastal state toovercome disruption in econ-omy and unemploymentcaused by the Covid-19 pan-demic.

Alterations to the NationalMineral Policy, phasing out ofmining activities from eco-sensitive areas, setting up of acomprehensive regulatorymechanism to deter illegalmining, and effective manage-ment of iron ore deposits aresome of the key recommenda-tions made by the industrybody in a White Paper titled‘Accelerating the GoanEconomy - A White Paper’.

“Since the halt on miningin Goa during 2012 and lateragain in 2018, after only a briefresumption, tourism has beenone of the key employmentgenerating sectors. However,with the sudden and highly dis-

ruptive emergence of theCovid-19 pandemic, most ofGoa’s traditional economicengines and employment gen-erators are facing significantchallenges,” it said.

“Resumption of miningcan play a huge role in gener-ating employment and restart-ing traditional economicengine,” it added.

The CII document pointsout that the National MineralPolicy which has prioritisedimport substitution, value addi-tion and discourages exportsleans in favour of bigger ore-producing states likeKarnataka, Jharkhand, andOdisha and is against the inter-ests of Goa which mines low-grade iron ore.

“This is on account of sig-nificantly lower ore qualitycompared with the rest ofIndia, and therefore not suit-able for domestic steel pro-duction. The export of Goanore does not burden the nation-al assets, thanks to the excellentinland waterways. The Goa

government should thereforepress for the removal or reduc-tion of export duty from low-grade Goan iron ore,” theWhite Paper said.

The document has calledfor regulation of the miningsector, especially near greenzones.

“Well-regulated and autho-rised mining in Goa should beallowed outside the sensitivezones. If it pose any significantthreat or danger to a sensitivezone, mining activities shouldbe phased out,” the documentsaid, adding, that mines whoseore deposits were exhaustedshould be rehabilitated as perthe Mines and MineralsRegulation and DevelopmentAct.

Mining activities in Goawas banned by the apex courtin 2012 following theunearthing of a Rs 35,000 crorescam by a judicial commissionappointed by the central gov-ernment. But it was resumed in2015 with restrictions before itwas halted again after the apex

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There is a need for newinvestors to take informed

investment decisions withoutgetting lured by false promis-es and unsolicited advice, Sebichairman Ajay Tyagi has said asthe regulator spearheads WorldInvestors Week celebrations inIndia beginning Monday.

Every year, the WorldInvestor Week (WIW) is cele-brated the world over, underthe aegis of IOSCO, the glob-al body of securities regulators,in order to give further impe-tus to the various investor edu-cation and awareness initia-tives.

The WIW is celebrated inmore than 100 jurisdictionsacross the world.

Sebi has been participatingin the celebrations along with

exchanges, depositories,investor associations, com-modity derivative trainers andresource persons since 2017.

Sebi is the national coor-dinator for the WIW in India,which will be celebrated thistime from November 23-29.

“There is a need for thenew investors to makeinformed investment decisions.Thus, investor awareness andeducation play an importantrole in educating the ivestor.One should not get lured byfalse promises and by unso-licited advice,” Tyagi said in aspecial message on this occa-sion. Economic function of thesecurities market is to ensurethat savings get channelisedinto productive investmentproposals, which lead to capi-tal formation and economicgrowth, he said.

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Prices of petrol and dieselrose across the four metro

cities on Sunday for the fourthconsecutive day after a nearlytwo-month hiatus.

In the national capital,petrol was priced at �81.46 perlitre on Sunday, eight paisehigher than the previous level.

In the other key cities ofMumbai, Chennai and Kolkata,the fuel was sold at �88.16, �84.53 and �83.03 per litre,higher than the Saturday’s lev-els of �88.09, �84.46 and �82.95, respectively.

The prices of diesel inDelhi, Mumbai, Chennai andKolkata were �71.07, �77.54,�76.55 and �74.64 per litre,respectively, compared to �70.88, �77.34, �76.37 and �74.45

The increase in petrol anddiesel prices was expected asthe global oil market has shownsigns of firming up after posi-

tive news on the successfulintroduction of a coronavirusvaccine soon.

Moreover, the demand foroil and falling inventory levelsin major consuming marketshas also firmed up the crudeprice.

The benchmark Brentcrude price is hovering close to$45 a barrel for some time nowwhile the US WTI crude is alsoover $42 a barrel.

The two have remainedfirm since the beginning of themonth after remaining soft inmost parts of October at closeto $40 a barrel or less.

OMC sources said that theauto fuel hike may not end just

yet and the price of the twopetroleum products mayincrease gradually over thenext week as well.

This is required to keepOMCs from incurring losseson the sale of petrol anddiesel.

While India has broughtboth petrol and diesel out froman earlier administrative priceregime and their retail pricesare revised daily based on theglobal movement productprices, holding the retail pricerevision for almost two monthswas surprising.

At a time when globallyprices change by the hour, inIndia it could be kept static forsuch a long period.

The increase of every dol-lar in the price of crude resultsin a retail price of petrol anddiesel to be increased by up to40 paisa per litre.

This would mean that thefuel prices should be up by atleast �1.20 per litre by now.

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As housing demand hasimproved over the past

couple of months, the senti-ments of real estate brokershave also risen regarding theoutlook for the sector, showeda report by 360 EDGE.

Ankit Kansal, Founder &MD, 360 Realtors and 360EDGE said: “Incrementalgrowth across various macro-economic and socio-econom-ic parameters has also resultedin a rise in broker confidence,painting an overall positivepicture. 63 per cent of brokershave indicated that they areconfident about the future oftheir business.”

Improved economic con-ditions, lower rates of homeloans, depreciated value ofIndian rupee, plenty of attrac-tive payment plans along witha reduction in stamp duty instates like Maharashtra are giv-ing a positive boost to theindustry, said Sahil Kapoor,National Head, 360 EDGE.

“As financial markets arestaggering, many investors arelooking for real estate as a safehaven,” he said.

360 EDGE is the franchisenetworking arm of 360Realtors.

The respondents are spreadacross numerous cities in India,including NCR, MMR, Pune,Bangalore, Hyderabad,Lucknow, Patna among others.Around 41.6 per cent of therespondents are independentbrokers, while 27.6 per cent areemployed in a brokerage house.Other respondents includechannel partners, brokeragehouse owners, franchise own-ers among others.

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The Government is planningto sell up to 10 per cent

stake in defence PSU MishraDhatu Nigam Ltd (MIDHANI)in the current fiscal endingMarch, an official said.

The company got listedon stock exchanges in April2018 and the government hadraised Rs 438 crore by selling26 per cent stake through IPO.

The official said that withthe opening of space sector tofoinvestment and bringingdefence sector under automat-ic route for 74 per cent foreigndirect investment (FDI), MID-HANI shares are expected toattract investors.

MIDHANI manufacturesspecial steel and super alloys foruse in defence, nuclear andspace sectors. “We are lookingat up to 10 per cent stake dilu-tion via offer for sale,” the offi-cial said. Shares of MID-HANI closed at Rs 193.50apiece on the BSE on Friday.

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���������������������Facing disapproving parents, a knotty love life and her own

inner critic, an aspiring comic ditches her cushy but unsatisfyinglife to pursue stand-up. Starring Swara Bhasker, Dolly Singh andRavi Patel, season 1 releases on December 4 on Netflix.

����� At an Afghanistan refugee camp, an ex-Army doctor seeks to

bring children joy through cricket — and soon realises that thestakes go beyond the sport. Starring Sanjay Dutt, Nargis Fakhri andRahul Dev, the film releases on December 11 on Netflix.

�����������������Tessa fell hard and fast for Hardin but after a betrayal tears

them apart, she must decide whether to move on — or trusthim with a second chance. The film releases on December 1on Netflix.

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While the year has trolled each oneof us in style, saving the best forthe last, the animated musical

comedy Trolls World Tour takes over thetheatres. The film features singer NeetiMohan lending her voice to the lead char-acter — Poppy. With Anna Kendrickregaling the audience in the English ver-sion of the film, Neeti blows us all awaywith three songs in the Hindi version ofit: Koi Geet Gao, Iss Pal Ko Jio and TrollsToh Karenge Fun. Excerpts:

� What fascinated you to say yes to thefilm?

Singing for animated films, for char-acters which are trying to tell a story andspread positivity fascinates me the most,especially when it’s musical character. Thatwas the main reason why I said yes to theproject.

� How was your dubbing experience?Was it challenging to translate songs anddialogues to another language?

Of course, yes! It was definitely chal-lenging. When you are trying to translatesomething from English to Hindi or anyother language for that matter, you don’twant to lose out on the poetry or the realessence of it. That’s why we wanted tomake sure that it sounds amazing and the

meaning stays the same. We did our bestto not lose the meaning of the lyrics intranslation. Translation is more than justthe words, it’s about context, tone and aim.It’s the process of adapting a particular text

from one language to another, whilemaintaining its intent, style, tone and con-text. A good translation will evoke thesame emotions in the target language asit does in the source language. We have tomake sure that our tone is suiting the char-acter, the energy level is jumpy, so we haveto match that as well. And if the charac-ter is in a romantic state, then we have tomatch that kind of vibe too. These aresome of the challenges we usually face.However, I feel the challenges were funbecause I love to deliver the vocals as perthe visual requirements.

� You sang three songs for the film, eachquite different from each other. How didyou strike a balance between them andthe genres?

Yes, I sang three different songs, oneof which was the title track, all the themquite different from each other. But I havealways loved singing in various genres.This wasn’t the first time that I did it. Ihave done it before, so it comes natural-ly to me. I believe that if you feel the lyricsand the melody, you can easily mould inany genre.

� You said that your character Poppysends across the message that every girlis a queen and a ‘go-getter.’ Could yougive us a deep insight into the charac-ter?

Yes, Poppy sends across the messagethat every girl is a queen. Poppy is a free-spirited soul who is a ‘go-getter. Thecharacter inspires its audience to a greatextent, which is why getting the chanceto be ‘Poppy Mohan’ was one of the bestthings of all time if you ask me. Withmusic being such an integral part of thenarrative, a film like this ranks among mymost-favorite. I feel that poppy is some-one who wants to change the world andis very positive about it. She is an iconof music. She wants to tell every childand every girl that you can make it hap-pen. She conveys a message that you arenot alone. I feel like I am myself so muchsimilar to Poppy.

� How do you think music tours willsee a change now that the pandemic andsocial distancing norms are here tostay...

Yes, pandemic has changed the faceof live concerts, weddings and parties orany gatherings. It is going to be here fora while unless and until we find the cure.That’s going to take a lot of time, so yes,we have resorted to virtual concerts as ofnow. I haven’t performed a live gig infront of the audience as of now but I havebeen doing Insta Lives and some virtu-al gigs... I think because of social media,it’s quite helpful to stay in touch with fans,connect to a larger audience who canwatch your work online. Social media isa great way for individuals and commu-nities to stay connected even while phys-ically separated. For now, it’s safe thatway.

Ever since cinemas reopenedin parts of India as part of the

unlock process, a few new releas-es — including Hollywood films— have hit the big screen. Tradeexperts say regular Hollywoodpopcorn flicks will not helpbring the crowds back to theatres,nor will small Bollywood releas-es. A star-studded pan-Indiafilm would do the trick, withgood marketing.

The Diwali weekend sawthe release of Suraj Pe MangalBhari, starring Manoj Bajpayee,Diljit Dosanjh and Fatima SanaShaikh. The film was the firstnew Bollywood release followingthe opening of cinemas after theCOVID-19 lockdown. Althoughthe film received a lot of supportfrom the film fraternity, it couldnot excite the audience much.According to a trade source, thecomedy film could not evenrake in a crore at the box officesince its release on November 15.

Among other new releaseswas the Maisie Williams-starrer,The New Mutants. The horror-thriller superhero film releasedin India on October 30. It wasfollowed by the Robert De Niro-starrer comedy drama, The War

With Grandpa, which had a the-atrical release on November 13.

Hollywood film Trolls WorldTour, with voices of stars likeAnna Kendrick, JustinTimberlake, Rachel Bloom, OzzyOsbourne, Kunal Nayyar, JamesCorden, Ron Funches, KellyClarkson, Anderson Paak, andSam Rockwell, hit the screens onNovember 19.

Trade analyst Girish Joharsaid all these films performed“below the mark”. “The audiencehave not come to the theatreseither due to the scare factor ormaybe they didn’t find the con-tent lucrative enough to take therisk. Hollywood films too haven’tdone well,” Johar said.

Talking about Trolls WorldTour and The War With Grandpa,Johar said, “I doubt people willgo for these films. They are typ-ical Hollywood popcorn flicks.Maybe people in metro cities

would have gone over the week-end, but the COVID cases arerising in Mumbai and Delhi, andthe audience are aware of that.They are being cautious. I doubtthey would take a risk for thesefilms.”

Kunal Sawhney, Senior VicePresident, Operations, Carnival

Cinemas, shared that Suraj PeMangal Bhari has done betterthan the Hollywood films. “Wehave seen a small growth in foot-falls. It started with youngsters,now families are coming in. Thenumber is still low, but we areseeing a gradual increase. Oncethe content is there, people will

come back,” he said.While Bollywood films are

yet to be announced, more newHollywood movies will be play-ing at theatres in the country. TheKatie Holmes-starrer romanticdrama, The Secret: Dare ToDream, has been scheduled for arelease on November 27. StevenSpielberg’s Amblin Partners andReliance Entertainment’s ComePlay is set to hit theatres onNovember 27 as well. Hollywoodstar Gerard Butler will be seen inGreenland, which is set for aDecember 4 release.

Sawhney added, “There hasto be good content with goodmarketing where people areaware that this movie is releasingon this date. Only then will thecrowds be back.” He is hoping astar-studded Bollywood film like83 and Sooryavanshi can proba-bly make people get out of thecomfort of their homes and

watch the films on the big screen.Not just Bollywood, even the

more hyped Hollywood releaseshave stayed away. ChristopherNolan’s Tenet might have openedinternationally, but the film is yetto confirm an India release date.On the other hand, the othermajor film that has been lined up— Daniel Craig’s final JamesBond act in No Time To Die —has been pushed worldwide to2021.

“Other than Bollywood,once Tenet opens, we should getmore crowd. We have queries forthe film,” said Sawhney. Nolan’sTenet is also special forHollywood buffs here becausethe spy thriller has an India con-nect. The film, starring RobertPattinson and John DavidWashington, also featuresDimple Kapadia. Not just that,it was shot in India apart fromthe US, the UK, Denmark,Estonia, Italy and Norway.

“I think mentally everyone iswaiting for January only. I hopewe have an upsurge in activitiesby then,” said Johar, who feelsthat though the footfalls havebeen low, “one pan-India filmwould change everything.”

Actor Iqbal Khan says OTTplatforms create space for

stories and experimentation.While content creators shouldbe responsible, self-censorshipshould not limit storytelling.Iqbal, who was last seen in theweb series Crackdown, is cur-rently shooting an forthcomingseries in the scenic hill town.

“OTT has taken stories tomobiles and laptops, and can beenjoyed anytime and anywhere.

I believe that over a period oftime synergies will work outbetween these platforms.Content can be customised forthe platforms. As the authoritiesare mulling self-censorship onOTT platforms, cognisance willbe taken of the nature of contentbeing released by responsiblecontent creators. I believe thatsuch censorship would notcome at the cost of creative free-dom.”

“The initial success of OTTprompted me to go for more. Ibelieve that in a short period oftime OTT platforms have beenable to blur the boundaries oflanguage and geography. Now,good content in any languagecan be viewed and enjoyed inany part of the world. There areso many stories being toldonline that good actors canexplore much more comparedto television or films. However,I always choose a project basedon content, irrespective of theexhibition platform or the lan-guage,” Iqbal mentioned.

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Looking at the recent series of events, we canobserve how the environment is increasingly

witnessing a global change. There is now a greaterrealisation of the serious danger that the depletionof the ozone layer has been posing. The greenhouseeffect is now resulting in an increase in the ultra-violet radiation and eventually, graver consequenceslike global warming, rise in the level of oceans andvanishing islands and coastal countries from theworld map.

Hence, in the con-text of preservation ofenvironment andplanning for develop-ment, ‘sustainable’ hasbecome a catchword.And that is why it isnow being emphasisedthat our efforts toimprove the livingstandards of people inthe under-developedcountries, as also ourmeans of productionand transport shouldnot result in depletionof natural resources and degradation of environ-ment. Greater emphasis is thus being put on theterm ‘sustainable’ whenever one talks of develop-ment. Many steps in that direction are, therefore,being suggested. However, in this whole planning,not much has been thought and done to reduce thepopulation growth rate, especially in some Asiancountries. It is not being realised that if the pop-ulation continues to grow in these countries, theefforts of development, however slow and small,would certainly cause more and more damage tothe natural environment. Even if there were notmuch industrial expansion in these and other devel-oping Asian countries, the huge population and itscontinuous growth would itself result in the riseof the greenhouse effect because of the productionof methane from human and cattle resources. Onthe other hand, even if the developed countries con-tinue to practice control over growth in humanpopulation, the per capita consumption of ener-gy and non-renewable, natural resources in thesecountries is already so high that it will certainlyresult in a serious depletion of natural resources.

The excessive use of automobiles and other fac-tors would gravely affect the environment. Thus,the threat posed by the lifestyles in these countriesis real. But almost nothing is being done to bringthe desired change in people’s outlook on theireveryday habits which majorly contribute to anenvironmental imbalance.

World over, it is still not being properly realisedthat if the population continues to grow, to meetthe over all demands of that population, develop-mental efforts also go on. Which will lead to a dete-rioration of the environment. Similarly, if thelifestyle of the people in the developed countriescontinues to be what it is today, then there wouldcertainly be a depletion of natural resources.Combining the two factors together, one can saythat ‘sustainable development’ has become adream rather than a reality.

If, therefore, we wish to avert a major cata-strophe because of these two grave threats, wemust inspire people to have self-control and livea simple life and for that purpose, adopt a spiri-tual outlook on life. And for that we need to realiseour spiritual identity and values. Such awarenesswill make us naturally eco-friendly and send outa positive energy that will bring the elements ofnature into harmony with us again. If a criticalmass of humans begin to live with this spiritualawareness, nature will by itself become ourfriend, and humanity will look at a goldeninstead of doubtful future.

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Until a few years ago, she was anunusually shy girl. Rather timidand even hesitant to strike a con-

versation with visiting guests and rela-tives. All she would do was to quicklygreet them and slip away at the earliestopportunity. Today, she is a youth icon,one of the most vocal forces in her vil-lage. Sixteen-year-old VasundharaPrajapat, who was nominated for theInternational Children’s Peace Prize2020, has all the reasons to smile. A res-ident of Dardaturki village of Tonk dis-trict in Rajasthan, Vasundhara was nom-inated for her active efforts in advocat-ing gender equality at grassroots level.

Excited about her journey so far,Vasundhara recalled how she was initial-ly reluctant to join the meetings organ-ised by Save the Children and ShivShiksha Samiti, a local NGO working inTonk district for the past three decades.Her parents were not very enthusiasticeither. But when she finally felt persuad-ed by her friends, she developed inter-est instantly. “It was an eye opener, anintroduction to a new perspective. Themost motivating fact that now keeps ring-ing in my mind is — how to be capableof handling your own affairs,” she said.

Born and brought up in a regionwhere child marriages have social accept-ability despite legal provisions in place,Vasundhara hadn’t thought about wed-dings beyond an occasion to eat, danceand enjoy. Thanks to an awareness drivefor reproductive rights, she becameaware about the impacts of early marriageon adolescent health, menstrual hygiene,girls’ right to education and much more.She realised that all these aspects were sosignificant to a youngster’s life but hard-ly discussed or mentioned in homes orschools. This orientation triggered manyquestions in her mind.

Her active association with ShivShiksha Samiti, however, started whenshe came into contact with Dholi, thethen project coordinator for the cam-paign, Shaadi Bachhon Ka Khel Nahin(marriage is no child’s play). She soonbecame a member of the children’sgroup and acquired life skills training.Sensing her aptitude for social work,Dholi urged Vasundhara’s parents toencourage and motivate her. This was thebeginning of her journey as she becamea member of the adolescent discussiongroup in 2017.

Sitaram, the present project coordi-nator, said, “The drive focuses on ‘peereducator concept’, where groups areformed for life skill training on differentmodules ranging from identifying your-self to gaining confidence and commu-

nication skills to empathy. They are pre-pared to address the challenges of gen-der norms, how to bring out changes in‘society, me and my body’ that includeshealth issues as well as awareness aboutphysical violence.”

With time, Vasundhara becamemore observant and sensitive towardsadolescent issues. She started noticingthat girls would just end up working infields if there were no girls’ schools in vil-lages. She also started identifying thetaboos — how important was menstru-al hygiene, how a girl can prevent her ownchild marriage, what are the governmentschemes for women education andempowerment, how to avail facilities pro-vided by government at health centres,etc.

This carved her journey of becom-ing a changemaker. As part of the pro-ject, a Federation was constituted atPanchayat level in February 2019 named‘Kalpana’. Around 20 girls were selectedfor the Gram Panchayat and Block LevelFederation and assigned different roles.Vasundhara was assigned the responsi-bility of ‘media’, given her good commu-nication skills. “By asserting the rightpublic narrative on issues of importance,one can make the people in power listento our cause,” she believes.

But striking a conversation withgirls or even their mothers was not as easyas she had thought. Most difficult taskwas to talk about menstrual hygiene andchild marriage. But persistent efforts

helped break the ice. She motivated othergroups of girls too to discuss menstrualhygiene more openly. She now felt con-fident in discussing all issues with herfamily members as well and was able toconvince them to support her. She in fact,also taught her mother how to use a san-itary pad.

Vasundhara’s village has schools upto Class 12 for both boys and girls butmany other villages of the Panchayat onlyhave primary schools for girls. Since par-ents do not wish to send their girls tostudy outside their village, most of thegirls drop out of active schooling afterClass 5. Vasundhara persuaded thedropout girls to join the two-month ses-sion organised by the Samiti and helpthem become well-versed in basic Englishand Hindi.

She confidently led all the campaignsat Gram Panchayat, block and district lev-els, be it upgrading an all-girls school inneighbouring Khedula village up toeighth standard or providing sanitarynapkins in private schools and demandto include Tonk district in the NationalAdolescent Health Programme. She wasvociferous in raising the issues on allforums and submitted memorandums toSarpanch, District Collector, local MPand of course, the media.

Vasundhara said, “During the recentlockdown, the entire attention of the gov-ernment and other organisations was onmaintaining food supplies which was, ofcourse, the need of the hour. But where

do girls and women get sanitary padssince the supply was halted at the healthcentre? When schools are open, girls doget pads there, but it was essential to keepthe supply chain in order during lock-down too.” Her concerns were alsoraised on social media with the supportof the Shiv Shikha Samiti. The demandwas conveyed to the administration aswell. She had been requesting installationof an incinerator too for disposal of san-itary pads. Moved by her well-intentionedefforts, the Sarpanch has now promisedto install one in the village girls’ school.

The secretary of the Shiv ShikshaSamiti, Shivji Ram Yadav told us abouthow Vasundhara trained nearly 180girls through life skill sessions. “Her rolehas been commendable in the “ChuppiTodo” (Break the Silence) programme,focussing on menstrual hygiene. She hasdone really well in creating awarenessabout child marriage and adolescenthealth and rights,” he said.

Vasundhara is the eldest among herthree siblings, and hence, her grandpar-ents were keen on getting her marriedtoo. They loved her immensely but werestuck in an old mindset so Vasundharamustered up the courage to speak to herparents and convinced them to let herstudy. She was instrumental in stoppingthree child marriages using the helplinenumber. The marriages eventually werecalled off but she invited a lot of displea-sure of villagers for her alleged “audaci-ty.” Some of them even dissociated withher family. “Look at her. Now she willteach us what is right,” became a com-mon refrain. But for Vasundhara, herfamily’s support helped her continue thepath. “If your family is with you, you cando anything,” she says. Her recent nom-ination for the award, however, haseased out the somewhat hostile environ-ment towards her. Well, now, she hasbegun to receive praises!

When asked about her dreams, shereplied, “I wish to be in politics to be ableto better the life of people and girls.” Sheis particularly fascinated by the leader-ship qualities of former Prime MinisterIndira Gandhi and her own namesake,former Chief Minister of Rajasthan,Vasundhara Raje. She feels the key toaddress public grievances comes from thegovernment. She said, “Samasya ka halsarkaar se hi aata hai. If you are in a posi-tion, you can be instrumental in bring-ing about a change for people, especial-ly a better life for girls.” She wants to helpevery girl who dares to dream like theprotagonist of her favourite film, TheSecret Superstar.

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VA lot of efforts to slow the spread of theCoronavirus comes down to a seemingly

simple concept — Wearing a mask. But the issuehas proven a thorny one. Health authorities havechanged their guidance on who should wearmasks and when. This has led to some confusionand even suspicion.

But since the Coronavirus first appeared,authorities have gained a better understandingof how it spreads and how masks can help stopthat spread. Here’s a look at how, what we knowabout, masks has changed, and how governmentofficials are increasingly getting behind the ideaof mandating the use of masks.

What the experts say?The US Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention has long advised people to wear masksbecause they help prevent people who areinfected — whether they know it or not — fromspreading the Coronavirus. But last week, theCDC added a new reason — masks can also pro-tect wearers who are not infected, though to alesser degree.

The agency referred to a study led byJapanese researchers that found masks blockabout 60 per cent of the amount of virus thatcomes out of an infected person. When an unin-fected person wearing a mask is near an infect-ed person who isn’t wearing one, the amount ofvirus the uninfected person inhaled fell by up to50 per cent. But when both people are wearingmasks, that produced the best result. The declinein virus particles reaching the second person wasclose to 70 per cent.

So, if everyone wears a mask when social dis-tancing is not feasible, the infection rate will becut, experts say.

A study done in Denmark, published inAnnals of Internal Medicine, seemed to questionwhether and to what extent masks protect thewearer. The study had a number of flaws, how-ever, as the researchers acknowledged. Forexample, study participants who were supposedto wear masks sometimes didn’t. And the workwas done at a time when not much Coronaviruswas spreading in Denmark — there wasn’t a lotof data to conclude from.

Either way, experts say masks, while helpful,are not perfect. Keeping a distance, being in well-ventilated areas, and washing hands are alsoimportant ways to reduce risk.

How is this different from what has beensaid?

Surgeon General, US, Jerome Adams hadtweeted on February 29, “Seriously people — Stopbuying masks! They are not effective in prevent-ing general public from catching #Coronavirus.”

But today, Adams has a different messagepinned to the top of his Twitter account. “Whenwe can’t stay six feet away from others, please,I’m begging you, wear a face covering,” Adamssays in the videotaped July 2 tweet. And in July,the CDC stressed that cloth face coverings are acritical tool in the fight against COVID-19, par-ticularly when everyone wears them.

Similarly, the WHO early on had recom-mended against mask-wearing for the generalpublic, saying they might lead to a false sense ofsecurity and that people who didn’t know howto use them properly could infect themselves. TheWorld Health Organisation changed its advice inJune. It now suggests that people should wearmasks when they are outdoors at a crowded areaor when they can’t be socially distant.

Even though not everywhere around theworld, there is a mask rule, especially in somestates of the US, but some countries, includingAsian, have mandated mask use, from requiringthem everywhere in public to using them on pub-lic transportation and in stores.

—AP

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Tottenham powered to the topof the Premier League with an

impressive 2-0 win againstManchester City at home onSaturday.

Manchester United remainwell off the pace in ninth, but didmanage a first home win in thePremier League for seven games asBruno Fernandes’s twice-takenpenalty saw off lowly West Brom1-0.

Spurs ended the day on top ofthe table for the first time in sixyears as goals from Son Heung-min and Giovani Lo Celso saw offa toothless City at the TottenhamHotspur stadium.

Tottenham took the lead afterfive minutes as Son ran ontoTanguy Ndombele’s lofted pass,beat the City offside trap and slot-ted a cool finish under Ederson foralready his 11th goal of the season.

City dominated possessionbut struggled to create chances andwere cut open again for Spurs’ sec-ond with just their second shot ontarget.

Lo Celso came off the benchto score just 35 seconds after hisintroduction as he raced ontoHarry Kane’s sublime pass to slotpast Ederson.

On the one-year anniversaryof Jose Mourinho’s appointment,Tottenham are unbeaten in theirlast eight league games since los-ing to Everton on the opening

weekend, sparking hopes of agenuine title challenge.

“The players gave everythingand followed a strategy. Theywere amazing,” Mourinhosaid.

“We found a way to playand it was magnificent to seethem play how they did.”

Tottenham, who last wonthe top-flight title in 1961, leadChelsea by two points with the twoset to face each other next week-end.

City are languishing in 11thplace, eight points behind theleaders, albeit with a game in hand.

Pep Guardiola extended hiscontract at the Etihad to 2023this week, but his side look ashadow of the swaggeringoutfit that won successiveleague titles in 2018 and2019.

Twelve points from eightgames is City’s lowest total at thisstage of a Premier League cam-paign since 2008-09.

“We had more chances thanthem but we lost. Mourinho’steams are like this, you make a mis-take and they punish you on thecounter attack,” Guardiola said.

BRUNO SCORESUnited still have a long way to

go to claw themselves back intotitle contention as they again flat-tered to deceive at Old Trafforddespite picking up a long-awaitedwin.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s mengot two slices of penalty fortune asWest Brom were awarded a spot-kick first early in the second-halfwhen Fernandes challengedConnor Gallagher.

However, on review, refereeDavid Coote overturned his orig-inal decision.

Moments later, the Red Devilsgot a penalty for Darnell Furlong’shandball.

Fernandes’s first effort wassaved, but he got a second chanceas Sam Johnstone had jumped offhis line prior to the Portugueseinternational’s kick.

Fernandes slammed home thereprieve, but was still not happy atmissing from the spot for the thirdtime this season.

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He has enjoyed and rev-elled in his new role asa Test opener but Rohit

Sharma is ready to be flexibleabout his batting position in theeagerly-anticipated Test series

against Australia as per thedemands of the team manage-ment.

The senior batsman isexpected to play a big rolealongside Test vice-captainAjinkya Rahane andCheteshwar Pujara when skip-

per Virat Kohli returns to Indiaafter the opening Test for thebirth of his first child.

“I will tell you the samething that I have told everyoneall this while. I will be happy tobat wherever the team wantsme to but I don’t know if theywould change my role as anopener,” Rohit told PTI.

He believes that the teammanagement will have figuredout his role in the batting orderby the time he would reachAustralia after completing thestrength and conditioning workat an National Cricket Academyin Bengaluru.

“I am sure the guys alreadyin Australia must have figuredout what are options whenVirat leaves and who are theguys who will open theinnings,” Rohit said.

“Once I reach there, I willprobably have a clearer idea ofwhat’s going to happen. I will beokay to bat wherever theywant,” added the dashing bats-man, who has a 46-plus averagein 32 Tests.

One of the finest players ofthe hook and pull shots, theMumbaikar believes that thebounce on Australian tracks issometimes, not as big a factoras it is made out to be.

“We talk about bouncebut except for Perth, over thepast few years, the othergrounds (Adelaide, MCG,SCG), I don’t think have thatmuch bounce.

“Nowadays, especiallywhile opening the batting, I willhave to think about not play-

ing the cut or pull shots andfocus on playing in the ‘V’ andas straight as possible,” he said.

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Anguished beyond wordsafter being overlooked for

the tour of Australia,Suryakumar Yadav found com-fort in a pep talk with RohitSharma.

Soon after his conversationwith Mumbai Indians’ inspira-tional captain, Suryakumar’smind was suddenly wired fordistraction, and his bat ready todo some more talking.

“That time in the gym Rohitwas sitting besides me and hejust looked at me, and I said,‘obviously, I am a bit disappoint-ed’, because he could see that Iwas expecting some good news,”Suryakumar told PTI.

“Later on he was like ‘I justbelieved you have been doing agreat job for the team right now,and instead of thinking aboutthat (non-selection), you justdo the same things whatyou have been since dayone in this IPL.

“...‘and when the timeis right, your opportuni-ty will come, may betoday or tomorrow but itwill come, you just got tobelieve in yourself ’,” Suryarecalled.

The non-selection,despite his prolific run indomestic cricket and the IPL,extended Suryakumar’s wait foran India cap.

He said that “those words”from Rohit helped him comeout of the disappointment.

“I really felt good because Iknew how I was feeling at thattime and even he could see it inmy eyes clearly. I think to comeout of that was a big boost forme,” he said.

The 30-year-old Mumbaibatsman conceded that the teamselection for the Australian tourwas at theback ofhis minde v e nthoughhe didtry af e w

things to distract himself fromthe thought.

“During this tournamentactually I was a bit disappoint-ed. I knew the team was goingto come out, and the same dayI tried myself to keep busy, justtry and avoid getting thatthought — there is a squad selec-tion tonight.

“So I thought I’ll just focuson my process and my thingsproperly and instead of thinkingabout the call up, I will try andkeep myself busy, I can go to thegym or maybe spend time withmy teammates.

“But yes, at the back of themind, there was a thought thatthe team is coming out tonight,”he admitted.

And when he saw that hisname did not feature in the list,Suryakumar was hurt.

“I sat in a room and startedthinking, why my name is notthere, but after looking at thesquad there were lot of playerswho got lot of runs as well andeven they have been playingconsistently, doing well forIndia, doing well in IPL.

“Then I thought insteadof thinking about that, I’ll justtry and keep scoring runs, domy job, what’s in my hand,what’s in my control, and

then wait for the opportu-nity, whenever it comes,grab with both hands,” hesaid.

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The Indian team management will think over theideal opening combination for the upcoming

three-match ODI series against Australia, with atoss-up between Mayank Agarwal and ShubmanGill for the second opener’s slot on the cards.

The visiting Indian team has been training forover a week now and while the primary aim is toretain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, winning thewhite ball games will certainly increase their con-fidence.

For skipper Virat Kohli, the key will be to getthe combination right in the 50-over games, whichare currently low priority going into the next oneyear with a World Test Championship final spotand the T20 World Cup on their minds.

The last ODI series that India played in NewZealand was a nightmare for the Men In Blue wholost 0-3.

Agarwal played all three games in NewZealand with not much success but that wouldcount for little as it happened eight months back.

With Shubman also in the mix, it will be a callthat coach Ravi Shastri and Kohli will have to takeconsidering the SCG pitch and the Australianattack.

There was not much difference in terms ofform between Gill and Agarwal in the recently-heldIPL. The KKR opener scored 440 runs while KXIP’sAgarwal had 418 runs in his kitty.

At least, nine players select themselves in thefirst XI for the ODIs.

The in-form Shikhar Dhawan, skipperKohli, Shreyas Iyer, wicketkeeper-bats-man KL Rahul (another openingoption), Hardik Pandya,Ravindra Jadeja, YuzvendraChahal, Jasprit Bumrah areautomatic picks.

While Mohammed Shamimay start in the first ODI withIndia’s current fastest bowlerNavdeep Saini for company,there is a chance that ShardulThakur may get a look-in if theIndian team managementdecides to rest one amongShami and Jasprit Bumrahlooking at their workload.

�����The legendary Ian Chappellbelieves that Virat Kohli’s departureafter the first India-Aus Test nextmonth will leave a “big hole” in thevisiting line-up, creating a selectiondilemma which could ultimatelydecide which way the series goes.

Kohli will return home after thefirst Test in Adelaide from December17 to 21, to welcome his first child.The 77-year-old Chappell feels thesituation provides a perfect oppor-tunity for young Indian batters toshow their skills.

“This creates both a big hole inthe Indian batting order and anopportunity for one of their talent-ed young players to make a name forhimself,” Chappell wrote in a column

for ESPNcricinfo.com.“What was already shaping up

as an exciting tussle now has theadded stimulus of crucial selectiondecisions. The result could wellcome down to who is the bravest setof selectors.”

Stressing on the importance ofmaking correct selection choices,Chappell voted in favour of WillPucovski over an off-colour JoeBurns to be David Warner’s partnerat Australia’s opening slot.

He differed with Australia coachJustin Langer, who has backedBurns. Chappell said selectionshould always be made on the basisof current form.

“...I was flummoxed by the

Australian coach’s summation of thechoice between incumbent Joe Burnsand rising star Will Pucovski for thejob of David Warner’s opening part-ner.

“...You shouldn’t overestimate thevalue of the partnership. Burns’contributions last summer equatedto an aggregate of 256 runs at anaverage of 32 with two half-centuries.That is the performance of a below-average Test player,” the formerAustralia skipper said.

“Pucovski has taken a sledge-hammer to the entryway by makingsix centuries at Shield level, three ofthem doubles; two of those double-hundreds came this season,” headded. PTI

���� �F!�0F�

Attempting to replicate NeilWagner and rattle Steve

Smith with a barrage of bounc-ers may not be a good idea forthe visiting Indians in theupcoming series, according toAustralia’s assistant coachAndrew McDonald.

Against New Zealand inthe 2019-2020 season, Smithwas dismissed by left-armpacer Wagner four times, as theKiwi consistently attacked thebatsman with short-pitcheddeliveries aimed at his body.

But despite Smith’s recentissues with the short balls,McDonald doesn’t think theAustralian run-machine hasany weaknesses in his batting.

“I know within a Testmatch he had that momentwith Archer where he got him,”McDonald said on Sunday.

“But in terms of comingback off that, he was still ableto score runs. Even in one-daycricket and T20 cricket, he’sbeen able to score runs withthat plan being adopted byopponents.

“So, I don’t necessarily seeit as a weakness … they cankeep approaching it that way ifthey want.”

In recent times, quite a fewbowlers tried to rattle Smithwith short-pitched stuffs andthe Australian had also sufferedconcussion on two occasionsafter being hit on the neck andhead respectively.

The Indians also tried toemploy the short-ball strategyagainst him during the three-match ODI series in January,but the 31-year-old Australian

maestro responded with scoresof 98 and 131.

“They had a leg gully, adeep square and a deep manjust in front of square and theyhad everyone up on the off-sideduring the Powerplay.

“So that’s a tactic they’veused before, and it’s probably tonegate the runs that he scoresand to try and give themselvesthe best opportunity to poten-tially get him out in that area.

“But he was able to combatthat in India last time … so he’shad that before and he’s workedhis way through it. I see thisseries being no different in theway he approaches it.”

McDonald added,“They’ve used it before and he’sdone well with it before so I’msuggesting that plan hasn’t nec-essarily worked to its full effect.”

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Cristiano Ronaldo scored his third brace in fivegames as champions Juventus

moved up to second place in Serie Aon Saturday with a 2-0 win overCagliari in Turin.

Andrea Pirlo’s side are one pointbehind leaders AC Milan, who travelto fourth-placed Napoli on Sunday.

Juventus had been held 1-1 at Laziolast time out — one of four stalemates thisseason for the nine-time reigning champi-ons — but quickly took charge against the

Sardinians.“We needed a match like this,” said

Pirlo. “There were excellent perfor-mances, even from those returning from

national teams.“A lot of them arrived two days

ago and did their first training yester-day and were also tired from the trip.

“Tonight they also had fun, per-formances like this allow the playersto gain confidence.”

Federico Bernardeschi had an

early goal ruled out for offside before Ronaldostruck twice in a four-minute spell before thebreak.

The Portuguese striker blasted in an AlvaroMorata cross on 38 minutes, before latching ontoa Merih Demiral header from a corner for the sec-ond from close range minutes later.

Ronaldo, 35, has come back strong after hiscoronavirus layoff, scoring eight goals in five

games to join Milan’s Zlatan Ibrahimovicat the top of the Serie A scorers’

chart.Ragnar Klavan had a

goal disallowed forCagliari midwaythrough the secondhalf.

But it was Juventus whothreatened a third withDemiral, Morata,

Bernardeschi and PauloDybala having shots atgoal.

Dutch defenderMatthijs de Ligt played

the entire game in his first match

since shoulder surgery in August, a boost for Pirlo’sside without injured duo Leonardo Bonucci andGiorgio Chiellini before Tuesday’s ChampionsLeague game against Hungarian side Ferencvaros.

LUKAKU LIGHTS UPRomelu Lukaku inspired a remarkable sec-

ond-half comeback as Inter recovered from 2-0down to defeat Torino 4-2 and claim their firstwin for almost a month.

Marco Giampaolo’s Torino came intothe match with a solitary Serie A win totheir name this season but belied thatmeagre return as the effervescent SimoneZaza crowned an enterprising first-halfdisplay with the opening goal.

A penalty from former Inter manCristian Ansaldi made it 2-0 in the 62nd minute,although Alexis Sanchez swiftly reduced thearrears.

Sanchez turned provider for Lukaku to levelin the 67th minute and the Belgium star kept hiscool from the spot six minutes from the end ofnormal time, before Lautaro Martinez came offthe bench to make it four shots on target and fourgoals for Inter in a crazy second half.

������ Erling Braut Haalandnetted four goals and YoussoufaMoukoko became the youngestplayer in Bundesliga history onSaturday as BorussiaDortmund routed HerthaBerlin 5-2 to trim BayernMunich’s lead at the top ofthe table to just a point.

It was the first time the20-year-old Haaland had scoredfour goals in a game forDortmund since his Januarydebut, with all of them comingin the second half.

“I drank a Red Bull at halftime, I got some wings andeverything was good,” saidHaaland.

The Norwegian now has 10

goals in seven Bundesligamatches this season to give hima total of 31 goals in 30 gamesin all competitions forDortmund.

After Matheus Cunha gaveHertha a first-half lead at Berlin’sOlympic Stadium, Dortmundroared back.

Haaland equalised when hetapped home an Emre Can passon 47 minutes.

He grabbed his second twominutes later with perfect tim-ing to slip his marker and fire ina Julian Brandt pass.

Haaland wrapped up hishat-trick on 62 minutes, justbefore Raphael Guerreirostabbed the ball home from close

range to make it 4-1.Cunha converted a

late penalty, but the nightbelonged to Haaland whofinished a move he start-ed with 10 minutes to

play.There was still time for his-

tory to be made as Moukokomade a late cameo off theDortmund bench to replaceHaaland.

One day after his 16thbirthday, Moukoko is theyoungest player in Bundesligahistory. AFP

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Atletico Madrid delivered a major boost totheir hopes of winning La Liga on

Saturday by beating Barcelona 1-0 and con-signing their opponents to their worst start to a league sea-son in 29 years.

Yannick Carrasco finished brilliantly from range aftermistakes from Gerard Pique and Marc-Andre ter Stegenleft the goal gaping but Barca, and a below-par Lionel Messi,failed to respond at the Wanda Metropolitano.

Instead, Atletico recorded their first league victoryover Barcelona in 10 years, which puts them three pointsahead of Real Madrid, with a game in hand, and second

in the table, level on points with early leadersReal Sociedad.

It also leaves their opponents languish-ing in 10th, with Barcelona’s 11 pointsfrom their first eight games their worsttally at this stage since the 1991-92 sea-

son.“Like any coach, I am responsible,”said coach Ronald Koeman. “Weknow we have to improve theresults. I continue to trust the play-ers I have.”Beating Barcelona in La Liga for the

first time since 2010 — before Simeonearrived as coach — will do wonders forthe Madrid side’s belief and extends whatis now a considerable advantage in the

table. It also extends Atletico’s unbeat-

en run in the league to 24 matches.

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'�� ��(���� ������ �����*�����������8)"�����I����� ������ India head coach RaviShastri has expressed his appre-hensions about senior playersRohit Sharma and IshantSharma’s participation in theupcoming Test series if theydon’t reach Australia in the nextfew days.

Both Rohit (left hamstring)and Ishant (side strain) are at theNCA undergoing rehabilitation,but the BCCI is yet to announcewhen the duo would reachAustralia.

Considering the mandato-ry 14-day quarantine require-ment, it is clear that they wouldmiss the first warm-up gameagainst Australia A, atDrummoyne Oval fromDecember 6-8, if they don’tdepart by Monday.

“He (Rohit) was never goingto play the white-ball series, theywere just looking to see howlong he needed the rest, becauseyou can’t afford to be resting fortoo long,” Shastri told ABCSport. “If you need to play in theTest series or any red-ball crick-et, you’ve got to be on the flightin the next three or four days. Ifyou aren’t, then it’s going to be

tough.”Shastri said that NCA’s med-

ical team is currently assessinghow long would be Rohit’s breakfrom the game.

“But things could get diffi-cult if he’s asked to wait for toolong, (because) then you’re talk-ing of the quarantine again,which might make it reallytough for even him to come justin time for the Test series,” thehead coach added.

Shastri said that evenIshant’s case is similar and hewould also need to play at leastone practice game before he canbe considered for Test.

The second and final warm-up game, at the SCG fromDecember 11-13, will be a day-nighter before the first Testcommences in Adelaide fromDecember 17.

“It’s (Ishant’s) a similar caseto Rohit,” Shastri said.

“You don’t really know howquickly he’ll be available to flyout. Like I said, if anyone has toplay in the Test series, he has tobe on the flight in the next fouror five days. Otherwise, it’s verydifficult.” PTI

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