€¦ · 2 days ago · Pilot’s counsel Harish Salve 02-$23456+.5*)7 The hearing on a plea filed...
14
R ebel Congress leader Sachin Pilot on Monday was sub- jected to a fierce personal attack by Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot while a Congress MLA leveled the sen- sational charge that Pilot tried to lure him to join the BJP for 35 crore. The mud-slinging gave clear indication that the Congress had finally decided to shut its door on Pilot. For the first time since he went “traceless’ more than a week ago after plotting a coup against his own Government in Rajasthan, Sachin Pilot also had something to say on record on Monday. The rebel leader issued a statement denying charges of attempt to pay off a Congress MLA 35 crore to join the BJP and also fended off a “nikamma” barb hurled at him by his bête noire Ashok Gehlot. “I’m saddened but not sur- prised to be at the receiving end of such baseless and vexatious allegations being levelled against me,” Pilot said. Continuing to target Pilot on daily basis, Gehlot alleged that he (Pilot) played a dirty game and conspired to topple his own Government. Amid allegations that Pilot tried to lure MLAs to join the BJP, the CM said there will be few instances where the State unit president of any political party tried to topple his own party Government. “He played a very dirty game and conspired to please the BJP,” Gehlot said. This sharp attack came even though top leadership of the Congress, including chief Sonia Gandhi, had advised Gehlot not to foul-mouth Pilot in public. This may be the end of the road for Pilot in the Congress despite the fact that he has kept a channel of com- munication open with Priyanka Gandhi. Sources in the AICC said now after so much mudsling- ing and accusation leveled by a Congress MLA that Pilot offered him huge money to join the BJP, the writing on the wall is clear that Pilot will be even- tually sacked from the party. Meanwhile, the BJP Central leadership has swung into action and is exploring the possibility of the formation of Government in the State. BJP national vice presi- dent Om Mathur met party president JP Nadda at the party headquarters in Delhi on Monday. Sources said among other issues, they also dis- cussed the political situation in Rajasthan. Sources said the party is deliberating on how to bring on board former Rajasthan CM and the tallest leader of the State, Vasundhara Raje Scindia. Addressing the media in Jaipur, Gehlot said he knew that his former deputy Sachin Pilot was “good for nothing”. “I knew that he was useless, good for nothing, and was only there to instigate people to fight. I am not here to sell vegetables, I am the CM,” Gehlot said. Gehlot described his for- mer Cabinet colleague and State PCC chief as a ‘nikamma’ (worthless) person, ‘nakara’ (doing nothing), but said he raised no question over it in the party’s interest. Continued on Page 6 T he hearing on a plea filed by Congress rebel Sachin Pilot and 18 of his loyalist MLAs against Speaker’s dis- qualification notice before the Rajasthan High Court will resume on Tuesday. A Bench of Chief Justice Indrajit Mahanty and Justice Prakash Gupta said the hear- ing will conclude on July 21 and thereafter the court will pronounce the judgment. The marathon hearing remained inconclusive on Monday as both sides argued for a decision in favour of their respective clients. Abhishek Manu Singhvi, senior lawyer and the counsel for the Rajasthan Assembly Speaker, said that the petition filed by Pilot and 18 of his loyalist MLAs was premature given the fact that a decision on their dis- qualification was still pending. Singhvi said the High Court can’t have interference over the showcause notices issued by the Speaker to the members of the House. The counsel for Sachin Pilot and the team, however, argued that party whip applies only when the Assembly is in session. Pilot’s counsel Harish Salve told the court the party mem- ber is free to defy whip direc- tion outside the House. Singhvi said the court has no jurisdiction in the case just yet. “The Speaker may or may not pass a correct decision. But there cannot be any interfer- ence at the pre-order stage pre- empting that the Speaker will take a wrong decision,” Singhvi said. He termed the rebels’ case “much worse” as there were no new grounds of challenge. “The petitioners, in an ‘over- clever’ way, have raised the same grounds of challenge that were considered and rejected by the Supreme Court,” he argued. To the rebels saying they cannot be construed to have abandoned the party for mak- ing statements and not attend- ing meetings, Singhvi said the “voluntary giving up of party membership” needed to be read widely. “There is no need for for- mal resignation; giving up of membership can be inferred from conduct. There is no straight-jacket approach for the Speaker to decide (under the Constitution),” he said. Continued on Page 6 T he Rajasthan Government on Monday withdrew its “general consent” to the CBI to conduct raids and investiga- tions soon after the CBI ques- tioned Congress MLA Krishna Poonia in Jaipur in connection with the alleged suicide by Station House Officer (SHO) of Rajgarh, Vishnudutt Vishnoi, in Churu district of the State. After the Rajasthan Government’s decision the agency will now need prior permission from the State, a development which comes amid a political crisis in Rajasthan. The State Government issued a notification requiring the CBI to take prior consent of the State Government for investigation of an offence under Section 3 of the Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act, 1946. According to the officials, the “general consent” of the State Government will no longer be valid in the offences under this law. Consent will have to be taken on a case-by-case basis. Additional Chief Secretary Home Rohit Kumar Singh said, “Its administrative pro- visions were already there, it was notified yesterday.” Officials said that in June 1990 too the Rajasthan Government had refused to give such ‘’gen- eral consent’’ to the Centre. Earlier, a CBI team led by a Superintendent of Police of the Special Crimes Unit from the agency headquarters here reached the residence of the Olympian and the Congress legislator in Jaipur. SHO Vishnudutt Vishnoi’s body was found hanging from the ceiling of his residence on May 23. Continued on Page 6 T he All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi initiated phase I/II of human clinical trials of the indigenously developed Covid- 19 vaccine Covaxin on Monday, AIIMS-Delhi Director Dr Randeep Guleria said, adding that it would take at least three months for researchers to arrive at the first set of data about its effi- cacy. AIIMS Delhi is among the 12 sites where human tri- als for Covaxin will be con- ducted. “It (starting trials) is heart- ening because it’s an indigenous vaccine; making a new vaccine is an achievement. Even if a vaccine is first developed some- where else in the world, India will be mass producing it. We are good at it,” he said. “We have already regis- tered a few volunteers and more are in the process of join- ing for the trial,” said Dr Sanjay Rai, Professor at the Centre for Community Medicine at AIIMS. These volunteers will be undergoing health screening on Monday before they are admin- istered Covaxin, developed by the Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) and the National Institute of Virology (NIV). Overall, total 375 volun- teers were listed for human clinical trials out of which AIIMS (Delhi) will be choos- ing only 100 participants for the first and second phase of the trials. Rest of the volunteers will undergo trials at a differ- ent site. Continued on Page 6 New Delhi: Delhi recorded only 954 fresh coronavirus cases on Monday for the first time, taking the tally in the city to over 1.23 lakh, but with only about 15,000 active cases. For the last nine days, fresh cases were being reported in the range of 1,000-2,000 con- secutively. Thirty-five fatalities have been recorded in the last 24 hours, according to the Delhi health bulletin. London: A coronavirus vaccine created by the University of Oxford appears safe and induces a strong immune response within the body, sci- entists announced on Monday after the successful first phase of human trials. Doses of the vaccine were given to 1,077 healthy adults aged between 18 and 55 in five UK hospitals in April and May as part of the phase one clini- cal trial and results, published in the “Lancet” medical journal. Detailed report on P11 A mid on-going border ten- sion with China, India and the US Navies on Monday car- ried out joint maritime exer- cises off the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The Indian warships have stepped up patrolling in the Indian Ocean region in the last few weeks since the beginning of the stand-offs at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh. The Straits of Malacca close to the Andaman region is critical for China as more than 80 per cent of its oil imports pass through this lane where India has a dis- tinct advantage. The Indian warships can easily “turn off the tap” by blocking the sea lane. In an obvious signal to China, the Indian Navy went for long range deployments of ships. This measure came about after China ramped up its military strength at the face-off sites and all along the 4,000 km long LAC. Indian also deployed additional troops, heavy weapons, and fighter jets close to the border in the last eight weeks to face any threat. Against this backdrop, the US aircraft carrier USS Nimitz, along with other warships and submarines, conducted Passage Exercise (Passex) off the Andamans on Monday with the Indian Navy ships. It is a very basic drill where ships of the two navies sail past each other in the ocean as a good- will gesture and professional courtesy. Officials said the drill took place as the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group was transiting through the Indian Ocean region. They also said the Indian Navy had conducted similar Passexs with Japan and France in the recent past. Continued on Page 6 I t is a “failure of the institu- tion” that a person like Vikas Dubey got bail despite several cases lodged against him, the Supreme Court said on Monday, while asking the Uttar Pradesh Government to con- sider having a former apex court judge and a retired police officer in the enquiry commit- tee probing the encounter of the gangster. “This is the failure of the institution and the person, who should have been behind the bars, got bail,” a bench headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde said, adding, “We are appalled to the fact that a per- son like Vikas Dubey got the bail despite so many cases.” The bench, also compris- ing Justices A S Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian, told the Uttar Pradesh Government that they have to “uphold rule of law”. The top court asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who was appearing for Uttar Pradesh, to look into the aspect if the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister of the State have made certain state- ments and then something has followed. “You as a state have to uphold the rule of law. It is your duty to do so,” the SC said while hearing a batch of pleas seek- ing court-monitored probe into the encounters of Dubey and his alleged associates. The bench also sought a report on the court orders which were passed in cases related to Dubey. The SC said it cannot spare a sitting top court judge to become a part of the enquiry committee. The bench sug- gested changes in the inquiry panel and sought a draft reso- lution from the State Government by July 22. The Uttar Pradesh Government, in an affidavit filed in the SC in the matter, has said that it has appointed a judicial panel of Justice (retd) Shashi Kant Agarwal, a former high court judge, as a single member commission of enquiry to probe into the encounters of Dubey and his alleged associates. Continued on Page 6 T he new rules for electron- ic retailers, including mandatory display of “country of origin” on their products, will come into force by the end of this week, Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan said on Monday and emphasised the entities will face penal action for any non-compliance. The “Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020” will be applicable to all elec- tronic retailers registered in India or abroad but offering goods and services in India. “Most rules under the Consumer Protection Act 2019 have come into force on Monday. However, e-com- merce rules will get notified by the end of this week, while rules on direct selling will take some more time,” he added. Detailed report on P10 F ollowing the spurt in the asymptomatic coronavirus positive cases, the Uttar Pradesh government has now allowed home isolation of such patients under laid down norms, making it mandatory for the patients and their fam- ilies to follow the home isola- tion protocol. “A large number of asymp- tomatic COVID-19 patients are hiding their illness which may give further rise to infec- tion. In view of this, the state government will allow home isolation under certain provi- sions of laid out in norms. The patients and their families will have to follow the home isola- tion protocol,” Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said after the regular meeting with the state officials here on Monday. He said that though the government was not ready for home isolation as there were adequate number of beds in the Covid hospitals, but as the asymptomatic patients were hiding their symptoms, hence home isolation with strict pro- tocol had been allowed. “If the patients and their family members agree to follow the guidelines of home isola- tion then only it will be allowed,” he said. The chief minister said besides implementing this arrangement, the people should be made aware about preven- tion from coronavirus infec- tion. For this, an extensive publicity campaign should be run in which the print, elec- tronic media, social media, banner, posters, hoardings and public address system should be used, he said. The chief minister direct- ed officials to make sure that people used masks and main- tained social distancing. He said good immunity was extremely essential for prevention from COVID-19. Directing officials to launch a mass awareness about protec- tion from COVID-19, he said that people should be motivat- ed to download Aarogya Setu and Ayush Kavach-Covid apps. “People can increase their body immunity through sim- ple methods suggested in the apps. The apps will also help them to get alert on coron- avirus. The chief minister said that door-to-door survey was a necessary process and it is found to be very useful in identifying the COVID-19 patients through medical screening. Asking officials to carry on with door-to-door survey, he said the suspected people should be tested by rapid anti- gen test. He also directed officials to convene a meeting of the office-bearers of Indian Medical Association (IMA) and Nursing Association at the district level in order to bring about improvement in the health services. The chief minister direct- ed the Health and Medical Education departments to ensure effective action to bring down the COVID-19 mortal- ity rate to the minimum. He said contact tracings should be done at any cost to contain the infection.
Transcript of €¦ · 2 days ago · Pilot’s counsel Harish Salve 02-$23456+.5*)7 The hearing on a plea filed...
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Rebel Congress leader SachinPilot on Monday was sub-
jected to a fierce personalattack by Rajasthan ChiefMinister Ashok Gehlot while aCongress MLA leveled the sen-sational charge that Pilot triedto lure him to join the BJP for�35 crore. The mud-slinginggave clear indication that theCongress had finally decided toshut its door on Pilot.
For the first time since hewent “traceless’ more than aweek ago after plotting a coupagainst his own Government inRajasthan, Sachin Pilot also hadsomething to say on record onMonday. The rebel leaderissued a statement denyingcharges of attempt to pay off aCongress MLA �35 crore tojoin the BJP and also fended offa “nikamma” barb hurled athim by his bête noire AshokGehlot.
“I’m saddened but not sur-prised to be at the receiving endof such baseless and vexatiousallegations being levelledagainst me,” Pilot said.
Continuing to target Piloton daily basis, Gehlot allegedthat he (Pilot) played a dirtygame and conspired to topplehis own Government. Amidallegations that Pilot tried tolure MLAs to join the BJP, theCM said there will be fewinstances where the State unitpresident of any political partytried to topple his own partyGovernment.
“He played a very dirtygame and conspired to pleasethe BJP,” Gehlot said.
This sharp attack cameeven though top leadership ofthe Congress, including chiefSonia Gandhi, had advisedGehlot not to foul-mouth Pilotin public. This may be the endof the road for Pilot in theCongress despite the fact thathe has kept a channel of com-munication open withPriyanka Gandhi.
Sources in the AICC saidnow after so much mudsling-ing and accusation leveled bya Congress MLA that Pilotoffered him huge money to join
the BJP, the writing on the wallis clear that Pilot will be even-tually sacked from the party.
Meanwhile, the BJPCentral leadership has swunginto action and is exploring thepossibility of the formation ofGovernment in the State.
BJP national vice presi-dent Om Mathur met partypresident JP Nadda at the partyheadquarters in Delhi onMonday. Sources said amongother issues, they also dis-cussed the political situation inRajasthan.
Sources said the party isdeliberating on how to bring onboard former Rajasthan CM
and the tallest leader of theState, Vasundhara Raje Scindia.
Addressing the media inJaipur, Gehlot said he knew thathis former deputy Sachin Pilotwas “good for nothing”. “Iknew that he was useless, goodfor nothing, and was only thereto instigate people to fight. I amnot here to sell vegetables, I amthe CM,” Gehlot said.
Gehlot described his for-mer Cabinet colleague andState PCC chief as a ‘nikamma’(worthless) person, ‘nakara’(doing nothing), but said heraised no question over it in theparty’s interest.
Continued on Page 6
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The hearing on a plea filedby Congress rebel Sachin
Pilot and 18 of his loyalistMLAs against Speaker’s dis-qualification notice before theRajasthan High Court willresume on Tuesday.
A Bench of Chief JusticeIndrajit Mahanty and JusticePrakash Gupta said the hear-ing will conclude on July 21and thereafter the court willpronounce the judgment.
The marathon hearingremained inconclusive onMonday as both sides arguedfor a decision in favour of theirrespective clients. AbhishekManu Singhvi, senior lawyerand the counsel for theRajasthan Assembly Speaker,said that the petition filed byPilot and 18 of his loyalistMLAs was premature given thefact that a decision on their dis-qualification was still pending.
Singhvi said the HighCourt can’t have interferenceover the showcause noticesissued by the Speaker to themembers of the House. Thecounsel for Sachin Pilot andthe team, however, argued thatparty whip applies only whenthe Assembly is in session.
Pilot’s counsel Harish Salvetold the court the party mem-ber is free to defy whip direc-tion outside the House.
Singhvi said the court hasno jurisdiction in the case justyet. “The Speaker may or maynot pass a correct decision. Butthere cannot be any interfer-ence at the pre-order stage pre-empting that the Speaker willtake a wrong decision,” Singhvisaid.
He termed the rebels’ case“much worse” as there were nonew grounds of challenge.“The petitioners, in an ‘over-clever’ way, have raised thesame grounds of challengethat were considered andrejected by the SupremeCourt,” he argued.
To the rebels saying theycannot be construed to haveabandoned the party for mak-ing statements and not attend-ing meetings, Singhvi said the“voluntary giving up of partymembership” needed to beread widely.
“There is no need for for-mal resignation; giving up ofmembership can be inferredfrom conduct. There is nostraight-jacket approach forthe Speaker to decide (underthe Constitution),” he said.
Continued on Page 6
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The Rajasthan Governmenton Monday withdrew its
“general consent” to the CBI toconduct raids and investiga-tions soon after the CBI ques-tioned Congress MLA KrishnaPoonia in Jaipur in connectionwith the alleged suicide byStation House Officer (SHO)of Rajgarh, VishnuduttVishnoi, in Churu district ofthe State.
After the RajasthanGovernment’s decision theagency will now need priorpermission from the State, adevelopment which comesamid a political crisis inRajasthan.
The State Governmentissued a notification requiringthe CBI to take prior consentof the State Government forinvestigation of an offenceunder Section 3 of the DelhiSpecial Police Establishment(DSPE) Act, 1946. Accordingto the officials, the “generalconsent” of the StateGovernment will no longer bevalid in the offences under thislaw. Consent will have to be
taken on a case-by-case basis.Additional Chief Secretary
Home Rohit Kumar Singhsaid, “Its administrative pro-visions were already there, itwas notified yesterday.”Officials said that in June 1990too the Rajasthan Governmenthad refused to give such ‘’gen-eral consent’’ to the Centre.
Earlier, a CBI team led bya Superintendent of Police ofthe Special Crimes Unit fromthe agency headquarters herereached the residence of theOlympian and the Congresslegislator in Jaipur.
SHO Vishnudutt Vishnoi’sbody was found hanging fromthe ceiling of his residence onMay 23.
Continued on Page 6
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The All India Institute ofMedical Sciences (AIIMS)
in Delhi initiated phase I/II ofhuman clinical trials of theindigenously developed Covid-19 vaccine Covaxin onMonday, AIIMS-DelhiDirector Dr Randeep Guleriasaid, adding that it would takeat least three months forresearchers to arrive at thefirst set of data about its effi-cacy. AIIMS Delhi is amongthe 12 sites where human tri-als for Covaxin will be con-ducted.
“It (starting trials) is heart-ening because it’s an indigenousvaccine; making a new vaccineis an achievement. Even if avaccine is first developed some-where else in the world, Indiawill be mass producing it. Weare good at it,” he said.
“We have already regis-tered a few volunteers andmore are in the process of join-ing for the trial,” said Dr Sanjay
Rai, Professor at the Centre forCommunity Medicine atAIIMS.
These volunteers will beundergoing health screening onMonday before they are admin-istered Covaxin, developed bythe Hyderabad-based BharatBiotech in collaboration withthe Indian Council for MedicalResearch (ICMR) and theNational Institute of Virology(NIV).
Overall, total 375 volun-teers were listed for humanclinical trials out of whichAIIMS (Delhi) will be choos-ing only 100 participants forthe first and second phase ofthe trials. Rest of the volunteerswill undergo trials at a differ-ent site.
Continued on Page 6
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New Delhi: Delhi recordedonly 954 fresh coronaviruscases on Monday for the firsttime, taking the tally in the cityto over 1.23 lakh, but with onlyabout 15,000 active cases.
For the last nine days, fresh
cases were being reported inthe range of 1,000-2,000 con-secutively.
Thirty-five fatalities havebeen recorded in the last 24hours, according to the Delhihealth bulletin.
��������������� ������������������!�"���!�#�$$$London: A coronavirus vaccine
created by the University ofOxford appears safe andinduces a strong immuneresponse within the body, sci-entists announced on Mondayafter the successful first phaseof human trials.
Doses of the vaccine weregiven to 1,077 healthy adultsaged between 18 and 55 in fiveUK hospitals in April and Mayas part of the phase one clini-cal trial and results, publishedin the “Lancet” medical journal.
Detailed report on P11
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Amid on-going border ten-sion with China, India and
the US Navies on Monday car-ried out joint maritime exer-cises off the Andaman andNicobar Islands. The Indianwarships have stepped uppatrolling in the Indian Oceanregion in the last few weekssince the beginning of thestand-offs at the Line of ActualControl (LAC) in Ladakh. TheStraits of Malacca close to theAndaman region is critical forChina as more than 80 per cent
of its oil imports pass throughthis lane where India has a dis-tinct advantage.
The Indian warships caneasily “turn off the tap” byblocking the sea lane. In anobvious signal to China, theIndian Navy went for longrange deployments of ships.This measure came about afterChina ramped up its militarystrength at the face-off sites andall along the 4,000 km longLAC. Indian also deployed
additional troops, heavyweapons, and fighter jets closeto the border in the last eightweeks to face any threat.
Against this backdrop, theUS aircraft carrier USS Nimitz,along with other warships andsubmarines, conducted PassageExercise (Passex) off theAndamans on Monday withthe Indian Navy ships. It is avery basic drill where ships ofthe two navies sail past eachother in the ocean as a good-will gesture and professionalcourtesy.
Officials said the drill tookplace as the Nimitz CarrierStrike Group was transitingthrough the Indian Oceanregion. They also said theIndian Navy had conductedsimilar Passexs with Japan andFrance in the recent past.
Continued on Page 6
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It is a “failure of the institu-tion” that a person like Vikas
Dubey got bail despite severalcases lodged against him, theSupreme Court said onMonday, while asking the UttarPradesh Government to con-sider having a former apexcourt judge and a retired policeofficer in the enquiry commit-tee probing the encounter ofthe gangster.
“This is the failure of theinstitution and the person,who should have been behind
the bars, got bail,” a benchheaded by Chief Justice SABobde said, adding, “We areappalled to the fact that a per-son like Vikas Dubey got thebail despite so many cases.”
The bench, also compris-ing Justices A S Bopanna andV Ramasubramanian, told theUttar Pradesh Governmentthat they have to “uphold ruleof law”.
The top court askedSolicitor General TusharMehta, who was appearing forUttar Pradesh, to look into theaspect if the Chief Minister andDeputy Chief Minister of theState have made certain state-ments and then something hasfollowed.
“You as a state have touphold the rule of law. It is yourduty to do so,” the SC said whilehearing a batch of pleas seek-ing court-monitored probe into
the encounters of Dubey andhis alleged associates.
The bench also sought areport on the court orderswhich were passed in casesrelated to Dubey.
The SC said it cannot sparea sitting top court judge tobecome a part of the enquirycommittee. The bench sug-gested changes in the inquirypanel and sought a draft reso-lution from the StateGovernment by July 22.
The Uttar PradeshGovernment, in an affidavitfiled in the SC in the matter, hassaid that it has appointed ajudicial panel of Justice (retd)Shashi Kant Agarwal, a formerhigh court judge, as a singlemember commission ofenquiry to probe into theencounters of Dubey and hisalleged associates.
Continued on Page 6
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The new rules for electron-ic retailers, including
mandatory display of “countryof origin” on their products,will come into force by the endof this week, Union ministerRam Vilas Paswan said onMonday and emphasised theentities will face penal actionfor any non-compliance.
The “Consumer Protection(E-Commerce) Rules, 2020”will be applicable to all elec-tronic retailers registered inIndia or abroad but offeringgoods and services in India.
“Most rules under theConsumer Protection Act 2019have come into force onMonday. However, e-com-merce rules will get notified bythe end of this week, whilerules on direct selling will takesome more time,” he added.
Detailed report on P10
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Following the spurt in theasymptomatic coronavirus
positive cases, the UttarPradesh government has nowallowed home isolation of suchpatients under laid downnorms, making it mandatoryfor the patients and their fam-ilies to follow the home isola-tion protocol.
“A large number of asymp-tomatic COVID-19 patientsare hiding their illness whichmay give further rise to infec-tion. In view of this, the stategovernment will allow homeisolation under certain provi-sions of laid out in norms. Thepatients and their families willhave to follow the home isola-tion protocol,” Chief MinisterYogi Adityanath said after theregular meeting with the stateofficials here on Monday.
He said that though thegovernment was not ready forhome isolation as there wereadequate number of beds in theCovid hospitals, but as theasymptomatic patients werehiding their symptoms, hence
home isolation with strict pro-tocol had been allowed.
“If the patients and theirfamily members agree to followthe guidelines of home isola-tion then only it will beallowed,” he said.
The chief minister saidbesides implementing thisarrangement, the people shouldbe made aware about preven-tion from coronavirus infec-tion. For this, an extensivepublicity campaign should berun in which the print, elec-tronic media, social media,banner, posters, hoardings andpublic address system shouldbe used, he said.
The chief minister direct-ed officials to make sure thatpeople used masks and main-tained social distancing.
He said good immunitywas extremely essential forprevention from COVID-19.Directing officials to launch amass awareness about protec-tion from COVID-19, he saidthat people should be motivat-ed to download Aarogya Setuand Ayush Kavach-Covid apps.
“People can increase their
body immunity through sim-ple methods suggested in theapps. The apps will also helpthem to get alert on coron-avirus. The chief minister saidthat door-to-door survey was anecessary process and it isfound to be very useful inidentifying the COVID-19patients through medicalscreening.
Asking officials to carry onwith door-to-door survey, hesaid the suspected peopleshould be tested by rapid anti-gen test.
He also directed officials toconvene a meeting of theoffice-bearers of IndianMedical Association (IMA)and Nursing Association atthe district level in order tobring about improvement inthe health services.
The chief minister direct-ed the Health and MedicalEducation departments toensure effective action to bringdown the COVID-19 mortal-ity rate to the minimum. Hesaid contact tracings should bedone at any cost to contain theinfection.
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The day India Medical Association(IMA) claimed community transmis-
sion of COVID-19 across the country,Uttar Pradesh Health Minister Jai PratapSingh ruled it out, saying that in UP everycase was being traced and the adminis-tration had full details of the contacts ofthe infected person.
“There is a spike in the number ofcoronavirus cases across the country andthis might have prompted the IMA topostulate about the community spread.But in UP, the number has gone upbecause the number of tests too haveincreased. In March we were carrying outaround 200 tests per day but now over56,000 tests are being carried out on adaily basis,” Singh told ‘The Pioneer’ hereon Monday.
He said under the Government ofIndia’s guidelines, UP had increasedtesting in the containment areas acrossthe state.
“In he National Capital Region andother big cities like Gorakhpur, Prayagraj,Jhansi and Varanasi, we are carrying outantigen tests. Besides, we are also doinghouse-to-house survey. We have segre-gated patients according to their comor-bid conditions like high blood pressure,diabetes, cardiac, kidney and cancerproblems. We have also prepared a data-base of people having cough and cold,”he said.
“All symptomatic cases have beenpicked up and tested and therefore thereis an increase in the number. It is wide
across the state, particularly in big cities.It is negligible in the rural areas. With theincrease in testing it is obvious that thenumber of infected persons will go up.It does not mean that there is commu-nity spread of this disease,” he said.
The minister ruled out the possibil-ity of restricting the testing, saying thatthe government would further increasetesting.
“We do testing of different levels likeantigen test, testing through TrueNat andRT-PCR and even pool testing. Around85 per cent of these cases are asympto-matic. The recovery of these patients isfast and they are released within a week’stime,” the minister said.
Singh said that the government hadalso roped in AYUSH doctors to attendto the COVID-19 patients. “The coron-avirus positive numbers have gone upacross the state but the situation is wellunder control,” the minister said.
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With the objective of push-ing administrative
reforms and ease of doingbusiness (EODB), the UP gov-ernment has decided to ensuretransparency in land manage-ment and time-bound allot-ment system by the industrialdevelopment authorities.
The government has fixedstrict timelines for allotment ofland plots to different cate-gories of investors under UPIndustrial Investment andEmployment Promotion Policyof 2017.
The government has issuedorders for the implementationof the new measures for landallotment for mega, mega plusand super mega industrialunits. The allotments will befast-tracked to a maximum of15 days after the receipt ofapplication from the investors.
Moreover, a monthly landallotment cycle will be adopt-ed for land allotments whichare made through e-auction; inthis case. Allotments for appli-
cations received up to a speci-fied date will be done by theend of that month. Directionshave also been issued for batch-wise land allotment within 15days after receipt of applica-tions up to a specified date forscheme linked allotments.
UP’s IndustrialDevelopment Minister SatishMahana said, “Uttar Pradesh isgetting investment proposalsfrom many multi-national andnational investors, especially infocused sectors like defence,aerospace, logistics, warehous-ing and electronics manufac-turing, etc. therefore, assuredavailability and allotment ofland within defined time-lim-its is imperative for not onlyimproving EODB but forattracting big ticket invest-ments into the state”.
“All industrial developmentauthorities are working to cre-ate robust GIS-linked onlineland bank to enable prospectiveinvestors to select the land oftheir choice online in a trans-parent manner,” Mahanaadded.
Elaborating the provisionsof the government order,Additional Chief Secretary(Infrastructure and IndustrialDevelopment) Alok Kumarsaid that all key industrialdevelopment authorities of thestate had been directed toensure land allotment toinvestors as per the procedureand timelines fixed for differ-ent categories of industrialunits.
He said that in case ofmega, mega plus and supermega industrial units, theinvestment would be calculat-ed on the basis of detailed pro-ject report (DPR) at the spec-ified norm of minimum Rs. 2crore per acre to ensure thatinvestor does not obtain landmore than that is required forthe project.
Directions have beenissued to Noida, Greater Noida,Yamuna Expressway IndustrialDevelopment Authority(YEIDA), UP State IndustrialDevelopment Authority (UPSI-DA), Lucknow IndustrialDevelopment Authority
(LIDA), Gorakhpur IndustrialDevelopment Authority(GIDA), Satharia IndustrialDevelopment Authority(SIDA) and Delhi-MumbaiIndustrial Corridor IntegratedIndustrial Township GreaterNoida Ltd. (DMIC IITGNL).
He said that industrialdevelopment authorities hadbeen advised to organise campsfor land allotment throughmutual agreement as well asswapping of land use withindustrial use for the landalready available, which couldbe compensated for the origi-nal use once the new land wasacquired. Similarly, he said,additional land of the reservedindustrial area for a specificindustry could be utilised forother industries.
Further, industrial author-ities have been asked to cancelallotment of unutilised plotsafter the prescribed time peri-od. The UPSIDA has beenasked to expedite the action onthe proposals received for saleof land of various public under-takings.
�� � 3)/?0@-
With the date of bhoomipujan for construction of
Ram temple now final, theShri Ram Janmabhoomi TeerthKshetra trust has startedpreparing the list of inviteeswho would attend the functionon August 5.
One of the trustees, DrAnil Mishra, said that the Trustwanted to organise the bhoo-mi pujan on a big scale butbecause of the COVID-19 pan-demic, they were forced tocurtail the list. “Still the list willhave at least 200 names, includ-ing the people who had foughtfor Ram Mandir,” he told ‘ThePioneer’.
As per the Covid guide-lines, religious functions arebanned across India. Religiousplaces have opened but onlyfive people are allowed at atime.
“The guideline can be abig impediment,” Dr Mishrasaid but added that theycould not ignore people whoscripted the Ram templestruggle by their sweat andblood.
Besides Prime MinisterNarendra Modi who will laythe foundation stone, HomeMinister Amit Shah, DefenceMinister Rajnath Singh andRashtriya SwayamsevakSangh pramukh MohanBhagwat would surely get theinvite.
Others like LK Advani,MM Joshi, Kalyan Singh, Uma
Bharati and Vinay Katiyar mayalso get the invitation.
Besides the chief ministersof Bharatiya Janata Party-ruledstates, Uddhav Thackerayof Maharashtra and NitishKumar of Bihar may get theinvite.
Meanwhile, the puja for thebhoomi pujan will start fromAugust 3 and the mainfunction will be held on August5.
The Trust members saidthat the basic design and archi-tecture was the same as adopt-ed by Vishwa Hindu Parishadduring the days of templemovement.
“The basic design of themain temple will be of Nagarastyle while the garbhagriha(sanctum sanctorum) will beoctagonal,” they said.
However, as compared toearlier model, length, breadthand height of the temple hasbeen increased. The lengthnow will be between 280 feetand 300 feet while earlier it was268 feet and the breadth will bebetween 272 feet and 280 feetagainst the earlier 140 feet. Theheight of the temple has beenincreased to 161 feet. Earlier itwas just 128 feet. The domestoo have been increased from3 to 5 .
Sources said the totalarea of the temple goes upto between 76,000 squarefeet to 84,000 square feetwhen earlier it was estimatedto be around 38,000 squarefeet.
6����������!���&����������+�� � 3)/?0@-
In a tragic incident, threedrowned while taking a holy
dip in river Ganga on theoccasion of Somwati Amavasyain Farrukhabad on Monday.
The bodies of all the threevictims were fished out andsent for post-mortem after reg-istering a case in this regard.
Reports said that Vishal(28), Pradeep (17), Parvinder(18) and Umesh Chandra (26),all hailing from Puwaiya Bilsiyahamlet of Shahjahanpur,went to take a holy dip inthe Ganga on occasion ofSomwati Amavasya onMonday. According to an eye-witness, when they werebathing, one of the youth sud-denly started drowning andraised an alarm followingwhich the other three friendstried to save him but sudden-ly all started drowning due tothe fast current.
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Police have started tighteningthe noose around the aides
of slain gangster Vikas Dubey.On Monday, police sent JaiBajpai, known as the ‘manag-er’ of Vikas Dubey, and hisaccomplice Prashant Shuklato jail.
Earlier, after their arrest, JaiBajpai and Prashant Shuklawere produced in the courtwhich sent them to jail aftermedical examination.
Resident of Brahma Nagar(Nazirabad), Jai Bajpai wasconsidered to be the unofficialmanager of Vikas Dubey who,apart from extending himfinancial help, would providecartridges and vehicle whenev-er the latter remained runningat large. After the Bikru carnagealso, Jai Bajpai and his accom-
plice had helped Vikas Dubeyto escape from Kanpur.
According to reports, theNazirabad police had takenJai Bajpai to his house onSunday evening. Late in thenight, Jai Bajpai was quizzed bythe STF at the Nazirabad policestation in presence of SSPDinesh Kumar P and othersenior officers.
It may be recalled thatafter taking Jai Bajpai into cus-tody for 14 days, he was freedon Sunday morning. But aftera lot of controversy erupted onsocial media, police arrested JaiBajpai and his accomplicePrashant Shukla of Arya Nagarlate in the night.
An FIR was also lodgedwith the Nazirabad police lateSunday night against Bajpai forhanding over Rs 2 lakh in cashand 25 live cartridges to Vikas
Dubey two days before of Bikrucarnage, During interrogation,Jai Bajpai confessed payment ofcash and delivery of 25 live car-tridges to Dubey but failed totell about the use of these car-tridges by the gangster. Policehave, however, confirmed thepurchase of 25 cartridgesagainst the licensed revolver of
Jai Bajpai. According to FIR, when on
July 4, Jai Bajpai along with hisfriend Prashant Shukla aliasDabbu of Arya Nagar was try-ing to send Vikas Dubey andhis gang members out ofKanpur, he failed in his missiondue to the alertness of citypolice. This forced him to leaveall the three cars, after remov-ing their number plates, nearVijay Nagar crossing andescape from there. Hence,police have made them theaccused of Bikru carnage andlodged FIR against them.Meanwhile, police also seizedthe revolver, its licence andpassport of Jai Bajpai onSunday. The file for cancella-tion of the revolver’s licenceand passport was also ready forapproval of District MagistrateBR Tewari.
Lucknow (PTI): A special CBI court onMonday set July 24 for recording the state-ment of former deputy prime minister LK Advani in the 1992 Babri mosquedemolition case.
The 92-year-old BJP leader’s statementunder section 313 of CrPC will be record-ed through video conferencing.
In his order, Special Judge SK Yadavalso fixed July 23 for recording the state-ment of BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshithrough video conferencing.
The court is recording the statementsof the 32 accused under Section 313 ofCrPC to enable them to plead their inno-
cence, if they so want.The court, which is conducting day-
to-day hearings to complete the trial byAugust 31 as directed by the SupremeCourt, set July 22 for former Shiv Sena MPSatish Pradhan to depose before it througha video link.
On Monday, it recorded the statementof accused Sudhir Kakkad who appearedin person, though earlier he wanted todepose through a video link.
Like the other accused, Kakkadclaimed that he was innocent and wasfalsely implicated by the then Congress-led central government for political rea-
sons.The court will record the statement of
accused Ram Chandra Khatri on Tuesday.BJP leader Uma Bharti had earlier this
month appeared in person before thecourt.
She had also accused the thenCongress-led central government of fram-ing her due to political vendetta.
The mosque in Ayodhya was demol-ished on December 6, 1992 by ‘kar sevaks’who claimed that an ancient Ram templehad stood on the same site. Advani andJoshi were leading the Ram temple move-ment at that time.
�� � 3)/?0@-
Awoman was kidnapped,gang-raped and later
thrown in Gangnahar inMeerut district on Monday.
The incident took place inSardhana town of Meerut dis-trict. Luckily, the woman some-how swam across safely butfainted. She was later rescuedafter which she lodged a reportin this regard with the police.The cops launched a hunt for theaccused.
According to the reports, awoman hailing from a village ofMuradnagar in Ghaziabad dis-trict was kidnapped from her in-laws’ house late Sunday night.After kidnapping the woman,the accused gang-raped her in amoving car and later threw herin the Gangnahar near theAterna bridge to conceal thecrime. The woman somehowswam out of the canal but faint-ed. Two youths, who were goingto work on the fields in the for-
est on Monday morning, sawher lying unconscious and raisedan alarm after which other vil-lagers also rushed there andcalled the police.
The woman was rushed tolocal community health centreand after she regained con-sciousness, she revealed hertrauma to the cops of theSardhana Kotwali. The copslater called the family membersover phone and informed themabout the incident. The womanwas married just six monthsback in Gudhana village ofBudhana area.
Meanwhile in Saharanpur, aminor girl was killed inside herhouse in the Officers’ Colony bymotorcycle-borne youth.
According to reports,Jitendra Kumar, an employee ofthe Civil Supplies departmentwas living in the governmentcolony in Sadar area of the dis-trict along with his wife, Neelam,16-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son. His daughter was
a student of high school.According to reports, three daysback some relative expired soJitendra, his wife and son wentthere and left the daughter athome. On Sunday, one of theneighbours saw a bike-borneyouth wearing a helmet stoppingin front of Jitendra’s house andwalking inside after Jitendra’sdaughter opened the door.
The neighbour became sus-picious as he knew that the girlwas alone but a few minutes laterhe saw the same youth comingof out and going away on hismotorcycle. The neighbourwent to enquire and as hepeeped inside, he was shockedto see the girl lying dead on floorwith an electric wire tied aroundher neck suggesting that she wasstrangulated to death. Seniorofficers who rushed to the spotclaimed that the investigationpointed that the girl was havingan affair and probably the killingtook place due to some differ-ences.
@ ����������&������������ ����Lucknow (PNS): With the spurt in coron-avirus cases in the state, Congress, SamajwadiParty and Bahujan Samajwadi Party attackedthe Uttar Pradesh government for its failureto check the spread of the virus.
Attacking the government over its han-dling of the COVID-19 crisis, Congress gen-eral secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra onMonday said the state government’s press con-ferences that “play like a tape recorder” wouldnot work anymore and attention would haveto be paid to the prevailing situation.
BSP supremo Mayawati also taunted thechief minister’s functioning, saying that jugaadwould not yield any fruitful result and someconcrete measures need to be taken to checkthe pandemic.
Expressing her concern over the spurt inthe number of coronavirus cases, Mayawatisaid that it could be controlled only throughproper arrangements. In a tweet on Monday,she said, “The way the coronavirus pandem-ic is taking a serious shape in the country’slargest state is a matter of grave concern. Sheadded, “The state and Union governmentsneed to remain especially cautious about this.It cannot be controlled by jugaad but onlythrough proper planning and necessaryarrangements.”
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadavsaid the UP government was utterly confusedand directionless and so it was unable to con-trol the law and order and the coronavirus pan-demic. He said the administrative machinerywas groping in dark to deal with the COVID-19 crisis.
Yadav said that far from the situation beingcontrolled, coronavirus infection was fastspreading and the rising number of fresh casesand deaths were a matter of grave concern, Headded that the spread of coronavirus inLucknow had reached an alarming level.
*���� ���Atul Pandey, a student of
City Montessori School, GomtiNagar Campus I, has beenawarded a scholarship of Rs4,64,000 under the KishoreVaigyanik Protsahan Yojana(KVPY Fellowship) of theGovernment of India. Atul willbe receiving a scholarship of Rs5,000 per month and Rs 20,000as annual contingency grantduring his graduation period.At MSc level, he will be gettinga monthly stipend of Rs 7,000per month and annual contin-gency grant of Rs 28,000. Thus,he will be getting a scholarshipof Rs 4,64,000 during five yearsof higher education.
*�������� ��A Class 12 student of Doon
School, Smradh Goyal gifteda cheque of Rs 2,05,001 toKGMU Vice-Chancellor DrRK Dhiman on Monday forsenior citizens donwn withCovid-19.
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Lucknow (PNS): A 50-year-oldailing man ended his life due toextremely pressing financialcondition in Madiaon onMonday morning. As perreports, Kedar Prasad ofRamnagar Naubasta localityin the area was found hangingfrom the ceiling with a dupat-ta tied around his neck onMonday morning. He wasspotted first by his wifePoonam.
Poonam told police thatshe went out to purchase milkwhile Kedar and their childrenwere asleep. She said wasshocked to see Kedar hangingfrom the ceiling after shereturned home. On beinginformed, a police teamreached the scene for investi-gation. Kedar worked with aprivate company and the fam-
ily was having financial crisis oflate. Kedar met with a roadaccident some time back butcould not get proper treat-ment due to lack of money. Helater got some disease and hadbeen under extreme mentalpressure for the last fewmonths. The police sent thebody for autopsy and startedfurther investigation.
Meanwhile, a 36-year-oldemployee of the Town andCountry Planning departmentof UP government was killed ina road mishap in Para onMonday afternoon. As perreports, Arun Kumar Singh ofHasanganj locality in Unnaowas going to the new HighCourt building when he metthe mishap at Buddheswarcrossing around 1:30 pm.
Singh, who was riding a
bike, was hit from behind by aspeeding truck, driver of whichfled the scene soon afterwards.Singh died on the spot.
"����*#����Body of an unidentified
man, aged between 40 and 45years, was recovered near theUP Sainik School inSarojininagar police stationarea on Monday. As perreports, Om Prakash of UPSainik School Staff Colony toldthe police he felt a putrid smellwhen he was on duty around2 pm. He is a security guardand was deployed in the school.He said he went inside the for-est cover alongside the southboundary wall of the school toinquire of the same and wasshocked when he spotted abody lying there.
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Aweek after Alambagh’s sen-sational incident in which
unidentified miscreants hadopened a fusillade of fire on theSUV of a railway contractorand zila panchayat memberfrom Hardoi Surendra Kaliya,police have failed to find outthe accused. Kaliya’s privatebodyguard Roopram wasinjured in the incident.
“We are investigating thecase scientifically and that’sthe reason investigation is tak-ing time. We have scannedhundreds of footages of differ-ent CCTVs so far. Four teamsare working on the case fromdifferent angles,” ADCP(Central) CN Sinha said. Hesaid the police were yet to getany clue about the miscreants.
Sources said the police had
initially floated the theory thatthe attack was planned out ofrivalry between two groups ofrailway contractors. “Byevening of the fateful day (July13) itself, Kaliya had lodged acase alleging the role of jailedmaf i a - tur ned-p ol i t i c ianDhananjay Singh to have a rolein the attack. The claim byKaliya made the police take theissue seriously and also madethem apprehensive of a gang-war in the time to come,” thesources said.
They said the police doubt-ed Kaliya’s claim, saying whydidn’t he report the matter tothe police if the jailed don wasthreatening him for the lasttwo-and-a-half years.
“The police are unlikely toquiz Dhananjay, who ispresently lodged in Jaunpur jail,as he had an alibi to prove his
innocence. This made theinvestigation of the case a bitpuzzling for the police as itwould be difficult to corrobo-rate the crime of Dhananjay,”the sources said.
The sources said the policeteams were focusing on theshooters who opened a burst offire on Kaliya. “If the policesucceed in arresting any of the
shooters, they will get a leadabout the man who orchestrat-ed the attack,” they said.
They said the police wereunlikely to get easy success asthey lack a network of inform-ers having clues about theunderworld. “The police teamsare taking the help of surveil-lance and CCTV footages in tocrack the case,” they said.
On the fateful day, 4-5armed miscreants had openedfire on the SUV of Kaliya,injuring his private bodyguard.
Kaliya had later lodged acomplaint against unidentifiedmiscreants accusing jailed donand former MP DhananjaySingh of orchestrating theattack. Kaliya had claimed thatthe accused had used automat-ic weapons in the attack andthat his death was definite buthad a providential escape.
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The 62nd meeting ofAcademic Council was held
under the chairmanship ofVice-Chancellor of AKTU (DrAbdul Kalam TechnicalUniversity) Vinay KumarPathak on Monday. Mediaspokesperson Asheesh Mishrasaid it was decided that therewould be multiple-choice ques-tions and OMR sheets.
“During the meeting, thefinal semester will be evaluat-ed according to the procedureand guidelines issued by theUniversity Grants Commissionon July 6. The process will becompleted before September30,” he said.
He said that in addition tothe main exams, those of carry-over subjects for the students ofall courses of the final yearwould also be conducted alongwith the main exams.
“If a final-year student isdeprived of appearing for thisexamination due to any reason,the university will organisespecial examination for suchstudents on time,” he said. He
added that institutions wouldbe given reasonable time tocomplete their semester andinternal assessment of the pro-ject and practical subjects of thestudents using online mode.
“During this period, theinstitute will have to uploadinternal evaluation marks of thestudents on the university por-tal. For final-year students, theviva examination of the projectand thesis will be conductedonline. This process will bedone before the written exam-inations of these students start.Any student who is not able toparticipate in the final evalua-tion of project viva due to cer-tain technical reasons, the insti-tute will provide such studentsan additional opportunity for
viva informing the university. Ifthe students are still deprived ofviva, the evaluation will bedone immediately after theinstitution opens,” he added.
He said that the results ofsuch students would be with-held until the evaluation wasmade by the institute vivamarks awarded. For the final-year students of MTech,MPharm and MArch, the finaldissertation examination will beconducted according to theacademic programme of theuniversity.
“Even the non-final yearstudents’ semester will be eval-uated according to the proce-dure laid down by AKTU in theguidelines issued by theUniversity Grants Commissionon April 29. Non-final year stu-dents will be promoted to thenext academic year. Studentswho have any carry-over in theprevious semester, their finalresults will be withheld andafter the results of the carry-over paper are declared, theirupdated grades will be calculat-ed and then the results will bedeclared,” he said.
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The occupancy in hotelsacross the district has
increased to 20-30 per centafter lockdown due to thecoronavirus pandemic broughtit down to nil. Regionaltourism officer AnupamSrivastava said that out of the150 hotels in the city, some ofthe bigger ones have startedgetting bookings even thoughsmaller hotels are still out ofbusiness.
“The big hotels are gettingcorporate clients who are com-ing for daily meetings, and thecrew of international flightswhich have started operations,”he said. However, he pointedout that the smaller hotelswith only 20-odd rooms arestill waiting for customers.
“These hotels depend upondaily visitors which is not hap-pening these days, and most ofthese hotels are located inCharbagh,” he said.
Srivastava said that over 29hotels are offering paid quaran-tine services from lower tohigher categories of hotelswhile talks are on with a fewhotels for paid treatment ser-vices. “One of them with 120beds at Anandi water park isalready functional and talks areon for 150 more beds,” he said.He added that they were talk-ing to officials of 2-3 morehotels for paid treatment ser-vices. The officer said that thehotels had been asking forbailout packages but it was forthe government to decide.
“The hoteliers have beenasking for GST relaxations andother demands. The depart-ment has been making plansfor revival of tourism but withthe increasing number of cases,the plans have been held backand they have to be replanned.
He said it was unclearwhen the tourism would pickup. “When the disease had firstentered the country, it wasstated that everything would befine by July 15, which did nothappen and things seem to beturning worse at the moment,”he added.
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There is no communityspread of coronavirus in
Lucknow as the rate of peopletesting positive is low in the dis-trict, Chief Medical OfficerDr Narendra Agarwal insisted.He pointed out that for a totalof 90,000 samples which havebeen tested in the district tillnow, 4,000 have tested positive.He added that the positivityrate was less than two percent.
“In case of communityspread, the positivity rate isusually 10 to 20 per cent. Thecases are increasing in the dis-trict primarily because the test-ing has been increased to over3000 samples per day. Now, wehave started door-to-door sur-veillance in the four large con-tainment zones in the district.Earlier, the activity was carriedout in the entire city,” he said.
He pointed out that theywould also be looking intoother areas where the cases areincreasing and these areaswould also be converted intocontainment zones.
A senior official from theHealth department also insist-ed that there was no commu-nity spread in Lucknow.
“When we talk about com-munity spread, it means a pos-itivity rate of 30-40 per centpositivity rate which is thecase in places like Delhi andMaharashtra, but not in UttarPradesh,” he said.
Talking about the contain-ment strategy which the Healthdepartment is following now,he said they are continuingwith robust contact tracing inorder to separate Covid-19patients and then treat themalong with enforcement in thecontainment zones. Regardingthe door-to-door surveillancewhich was carried out by theHealth department in the entirecity, he said it was aimed atidentifying patients in the dis-trict. About on the increase inthe number of deaths, he saidit would increase if the numberof coronavirus cases increase.“Deaths happen in all epi-demics and Covid-19 is noexception. However, earlydetection and sampling is thekey to preventing the deathsand we are focusing on it rightnow,” he said. On whether thefocus of the state governmentwas only on containment whentreatment is also essential, hesaid: “We are pursuing whatev-er methods of treatment andmodalities available.Simultaneously, we keep testingnewer modalities of treatmentavailable”.
The senior official saidthat currently, they are alsointroducing ‘Ramdesivir’ drugwhich will be made available topatients soon. “It is known tobe an effective and expensivedrug with a single injectioncosting around Rs 4,500, butwe are going ahead with it,” hesaid.
Meanwhile, DistrictMagistrate Abhishek Prakashcarried out an inspection of theCMO office and issuedinstructions to the officials. Healso visited the IntegratedControl and Command Centrefrom where the coordinationof various activities under the
Covid-19 is being done. Headded that the door-to-doorsurveillance being carried outin the containment zones wasbeing monitored from the cen-tre and they had constitutedspecial teams for that.
“The requirement of bedsis also being fulfilled and coor-dinated from this centre, andefforts are being made toensure that patients get admit-ted to Covid hospitals in justtwo hours,” he added.
He also directed all the citymagistrates, LMC and zonalofficials to ensure that all theCovid-19 patients were shift-ed to the hospitals and if therewas any laxity on the part of
the officials, they would faceaction. He also directed all thegovernment and private labsthat all the details of thepatients should be taken suchas Aadhaar card, voter IDcard, driving licence, pass-port, departmental referencebefore testing the patients forCovid-19.
Meanwhile, KGMU mediaspokesperson Dr Sudhir Singhsaid they have got the permis-sion from the government toturn the Artificial Limb Centreinto a Covid-19 hospital, andit would be done shortly. Hesaid that in view of the increas-ing number of cases, theyformed many teams that would
be summoned, wheneverrequired. “Currently, there are146 patients in the Covid wardand we have a maximumcapacity of 200 beds,” he added.
Amita Jain from KGMU’sMicrobiology department, saidthey were testing 5,000 samplesper day in the district and45,000-50,000 samples in thestate. “This is a large numberof testing. It’s not easy and peo-ple are working 24x7. We donot have the time to try uniquetechniques and what we aredoing is putting in extra hoursand deploying additional staff.We have around 27-30 personsin the lab and have increasedfour recently,” she added.
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Anational webinar wasorganised to discuss the
role of ‘Ivermectin’ drug intreating Covid-19 patients withhead of KGMU’s RespiratoryMedicine department as thekeynote speaker. The pro-gramme was organised underthe aegis of Academy ofAdvanced Medical Education.The aim was to formulate aconsensus statement for explor-ing the role of the age-olddrug, ‘Ivermectin’. The meetingwas also attended by Dr DBehera from Chandigarh, DrVK Arora from Delhi, DrAgam Vora from Mumbai andDr T Mohan Kumar fromCoimbatore.
Dr Surya Kant said‘Ivermectin’ is a widely usedFDA-approved anti-helminth-ic and is mainly used for worminfections like river blindness,ascariasis, f ilariasis etc.Recently, there have beenreports of its efficacy againstSARS Cov-2, the causativeagent of Covid-19.
He presented an overviewof the drug and also enlight-ened the participants regardingthe interesting history behind
the discovery of this ‘wonderdrug’. In 1970, microbiologistSatoshi Omura collected a soilsample from woods close to agolf course in Kawana, on thesouth east coast of Honshu,Japan. Omura isolated and cul-tured a bacteria from this soiland together with WilliamCampbell from New Jerseytested for its anti-parasiticeffects. They were awardedNobel Prize in Medicine in2015 for their discovery. Froma fortuitous discovery on aJapanese golf course to a NobelPrize, the impact of ‘Ivermectin’on human health to date hasbeen extraordinary.
He said this is not the firsttime that the antiviral proper-ties of ‘Ivermectin’ has beenexplored. It is shown to beeffective against many virusesas well like dengue, influenzaetc in relation to SARS-Cov-2it has been seen to reduce theviral load by inhibiting theinflux of the virus in the nucle-us, which is the site of viralmultiplication. The in-vitroantiviral activity of ‘Ivermectin’against SARS-CoV-2 has fur-ther extended the antiviralspectrum of this drug.
As ‘Ivermectin’ is an United
States Food and DrugAdministration (USFDA)-approved drug, repurposing itfor anti-SARS-CoV-2 therapywill not be a problem. DrSurya Kant said that the expertgroup has reviewed all theavailable evidence and datafrom clinical trials of‘Ivermectin’ and will soon pre-sent a decisive comment abouthow ivermectin may prove tobe beneficial to the patients ofCovid-19. Nevertheless, com-pared with the other pharma-cotherapeutic options for themanagement of coronavirusinfection currently availablein the market, ‘Ivermectin’ mayprove to have leverage overthem.
“The adverse effects asso-ciated withHydroxychloroquine orLopinavir & Ritonavir combi-nation are not seen in patientswho are on ‘Ivermectin’.Compared to these drugs,‘Ivermectin’ is safe and has less-er side-effect profile. As thisdrug has been there for manyyears, it is well known to be tol-erated well in therapeutic dosesand physicians of all genreshave used it efficaciously inpatients,” he added.
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As many as 282 more per-sons tested positive for
coronavirus in the city whilefive patients succumbed onMonday. A senior officialfrom the CMO office saidthose who tested positiveincluded 13 from IndiraNagar, 11 from Gomti Nagar,nine from Aishbagh, sevenfrom Sitapur road, six fromMohan road, five each fromRajajipuram, Alambagh, LDAColony and Rae Bareli road,four from Aminabad, twoeach from KGMU, Itaunja, LalKuan, Ashiyana, Neelmatha,Jankipuram, OmaxeResidency, Niralanagar,Mahanagar, Daliganj andRajendranagar, and one eachfrom Vrindavan andThakurganj.
Media spokesperson ofRML Hospital Dr SrikeshSingh said a 78-year-oldwoman, who was diagnosedwith Covid-19, died onMonday. “She had beenreferred from a private hospi-tal,” he said.
Nodal officer for SGPGIPraful Tripathi said onepatient died in the last 24hours. KGMU mediaspokesperson Dr Sudhir Singhsaid that a 90-year-old manfrom Lajpat Nagar in Chowk
died on Monday. “He hadbeen admitted to the hospitalon July 19 and he died due toacute respiratory distress,” hesaid. A 55-year-old man, whowas admitted on July 19, alsodied on Monday. “He died ofmultiple organ failure, car-diopulmonary arrest andsevere respiratory distress,”he added.
Meanwhile, in the state,1,924 persons tested positivefor coronavirus, including 68in Ghazipur, 174 in Kanpur,107 in Noida, 122 in Varanasiand 71 in Jaunpur, taking thetotal number of cases to
51,239. There were 48 deathsacross the state, including 10in Kanpur, five in Lucknow,four in Prayagraj, three eachin Moradabad and Jhansi,two each in Bareil ly,Maharajganj, Baghpat andUnnao, and one each inMeerut, Noida, Ferozabad,Saharanpur, Varanasi, Basti,Barabanki, Ghazipur,Fatehpur, Sambhal, Mathura,Deoria, Fatehpur, Mirzapurand Hamirpur, taking the tollto 1,192.
Besides, 986 patientsrecovered across the state,taking the figure to 30,831.
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AChinhat resident alleged that police did notregister a case after his daughter went miss-
ing and shooed him away from the police out-post. In his complaint, the man said that hisdaughter went missing on June 30 and he lodgeda complaint at the Indira Setu police outpost.
“The police accepted my complaint but didnot register a case. A couple of days later, I reachedthe outpost to know if a case was registered. I waskicked out even as policemen jeered at me andsaid my daughter might have eloped with some-one,” he alleged.
He said he petitioned the case to ChinhatKotwali but no help came his way even then. Thecomplainant said he had told policemen about ayouth who used to stalk his daughter and hadthreatened him with abduction.
However, the police said no complaint hadbeen given in this regard and he was asking thecops to work on the case without any complaint.“He was asked to give a complaint a number oftimes but he did not turn up,” the police said.
“The commissionerate system seems to havefailed to address the complainants with police-men working at their whims and fancies. In mostof the cases, the police register cross-FIR and evenchallan complainant for breach of peace. Therehave been instances when someone was beatenup by rivals and the police challaned both the par-ties,” sources in the police department pointed out.
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Seven sanitation employees oftwo villages have been sus-
pended for showing gross neg-ligence in discharging theirduty of cleanliness in view ofeffectively checking COVID-19cases and communicable dis-eases, while the salary of oneday of secretary and gramvikas adhikari of Piyari villagehas been withheld. Besides,the recommendation of disci-plinary action has been madeagainst the Block DevelopmentOfficer and AssistantDevelopment Block Officer ofHarahua Block for the dissat-isfactory report in cleanlinessin the villages adjacent to bor-der of urban areas.
On the directive of theDistrict Magistrate Kaushal
Raj Sharma, a special cleanli-ness drive is being launched atvillage level in all developmentblocks to check COVID-19and communicable diseaseseffectively. In special cleanli-ness drive, the sanitation workhad been done in 80 villagesof Kashi Vidyapith, Harahuaand Chiraigaon developmentblocks which are adjacent tothe border of the rural areas.
And, on the directive ofthe Chief DevelopmentOfficer Madhusudan Hulgi,the Block DevelopmentOfficer (BDO), AssistantBDO, Zila Panchayat RajAdhikari (ZPRA) andAssistant ZPRA of thesedevelopment blocks conduct-ed an inspection of the works.During the inspection, thesanitation work was not found
satisfactory in Piyari village ofHarahua block. The CDOdirected for withholding oneday salary of the secretary andgram vikas adhikari of the vil-lage. He also directed for theputting f ive sanitationemployees of the villageincluding Parashuram, ShyamSunder, Anil, Yogendra andPradeep Kumar under sus-pension. While the CDOdirected for putting two san-itation employees Gulelan andMahangi of Ramgadwa villageunder suspension for beingabsent during the specialdrive.
The negligence in thecleanliness drive was alsofound in Wajidur and Dasepurvillages of Harahua block andtaking a serious note of it, theCDO directed for making
recommendation for the dis-ciplinary action against BDOand Assistant BDO of theblock.
It may be noted here thatthe cases of COVID-19 areincreasing day by day in thedistrict and the number hasreached to near 1400 onMonday. Despite all the effortsmade by the district adminis-tration and Health depart-ment, the situation hasreached an alarming situationas far as the matter of COVID-19 cases are concerned in thedistrict. And, in order tocheck the COVID-19 casesand also the spread of com-municable diseases effective-ly, the district administrationand Health department hadlaunched a special drive in theurban and rural areas.
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Infrastructure works are onfor mobility improvement
over North Central Railwayundeterred by COVID-19 sit-uation. These critical works aretargeted for completion in thefinancial year 2020-21.
Mobility of trains on NorthCentral Railways plays themost critical role in overallpunctuality and average speedof trains from North to East,West and South. NCR carrymore than 10 per cent of totalIndian Railways’ traffic withjust five per cent of its assetsand has been working contin-uously to identify and executecritical works for improvingmobility of trains.
In spite of COVID-19 sit-uation, NCR has completedmany important infrastructureworks like Kanpur yard remod-eling, replacement of four dia-mond crossing at Tundla, lay-out correction in Lalitpur andKhajuraho yard, commission-ing of one each ROB and RUBand closure of one level cross-ing, platform raising atMathura and Baad stations,automatic signalling in Sarsaul-Prempur section and Dankaur-Maripat third line, interlockingof two level crossings and pro-vision of sliding boom on ninelevel crossings, new passengerlifts at Kanpur and Gwalior sta-tions, 132 KV transmission
line shifting work in nationalcapital region for Ghaziabad-Meerut rapid transit system,provision of split ACs in placeof centralised ACs in division-al traffic control and shiftingof section control boards inindividual rooms for preven-tion of COVID-19.
Moving ahead in this direc-tion, North Central Railway isnow working on additionalinfrastructure works forincreasing mobility of trainstargeted for completion in theongoing financial year. Criticaltrack works of third linebetween Naini and PrayagrajChheoki, increasing speed ofChurk-Lusa stretch from exist-ing 60 to 100 kmph of inChunar-Chopan section andprovision of longer loop linesfor handling long-haul trains atDabhaura and Sikroda Kawnaristations are included in this list.For improvement of loadingrelated infrastructure commis-sioning of Ultratech cementsiding at Harduaganj andBevara, Pragati power housesiding improvement at Bevaraand its connectivity withShankargarh station, improve-ment in NTPC siding at Mejaand electrification of ballastsidings in Jhansi division areincluded under critical infra-structure works. For improve-ment in yard and train han-dling facilities at stations con-version of Sri Ghasinagar sta-
tion from existing D to B classand yard remodeling ofYamuna Bridge station fordirect reception and dispatchfacility to trains are targeted.Important signalling works formobility improvement arereplacement of mechanical sig-nalling with electronic inter-locking at loco B-cabin Kanpurand A and B cabins of Juhi,upgradation of signalling sys-tem at Ranipur Road, MauRanipur & Rora stations inJhansi-Banda section, com-missioning of intermediateblock signal (IBS) inGovindpuri-Bhimsen sectionand commissioning of auto-matic signalling in third linebetween Dankaur-Khurja inGaziabad-Aligarh section.
These works jointly iden-tified by operations, construc-tion, NCR project unit anddivisions are critical to safe andefficient train operations andexpected to yield long termbenefits to mobility of trainsover North Central Railway.
WEBINAR ON COVID-19 HELD: Two-day webinar‘COVID-19: Crisis andConsequences’ was organisedon here on Monday by theDepartment of Biochemistryand Biochemical Engineeringof SHUATS University.
Invited speakers highlight-ed the role of scientific andresearch work related toCOVID-19: epidemic crisis
and the conditions arising fromit. Around 2000 participantswere enlightened in the inter-national webinar. Webinar wasstarted with opening prayeroffered by Prof (Dr) AM Lall.Dr Sushma, Associate Professorand Organising Secretary pre-sented the preliminary expla-nation. Professor Jonathan ALal, JIBB Dean, highlighted thetheme and importance of inter-national webinar. ProfessorVeeru Prakash, Head ofDepartment, gave a welcomeaddress. Er. CJ Wesley, JointRegistrar (Administration)briefly described the glorioushistory and courses conductedby the SHUATS. YashodharaVerma, Assistant Professor ofthe department gave a briefintroduction about the depart-ment. Overall programme washeaded by Prof Abbas AliMahdin, Head of DepartmentBiochemistry, KGMU,Lucknow. Dr Anil Arora,Chairman of the Departmentof Gastroenterology andPancreatic Biliary Sciences, SirGangaram Hospital, Delhi,gave lectures on the topics offatty liver: symptoms, causes,treatment etc. and what may bethe risk of fatty liver. DheerajGautam, Director, PathologyDepartment, MedantaMedicity Gurugram, Haryanaalso highlighted various mea-sures to prevent the COVID-19epidemic.
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Central ExecutiveCommittee of All India
Kisan Mazdoor Sabha hascalled upon the CentralGovernment to immediatelyrelease all political prisonersimmediately, especially in thewake of Covid spread. TheSupreme Court too has calledfor decongesting jails. Alreadytwo important leaders,AIKSCC leader, Akhil Gogoi ofAssam and revolutionary poetVarvara Rao from Telanganahave contracted Corona whilebeing in jail.
The UP Government hasunbelievably charged DrKafeel Khan has been a threatto National Security, while hehas been a brave warrior treat-ing Japanese Encephalitispatients and exposing highlevels of corruption in nonpayments to oxygen suppliers.
Akhil has been organisinghuge mass protests againstthe government’s anti-peasantpolicies and forced displace-ment of people.
Varvara Rao, SudhaBhardwaj, Gautam Naulakha,Anand Teltumde, and severalothers charged as ‘terrorists’ inthe fabricated story of ElgaarParishad case are all highlyrated intellectuals who havesupported peoples’ democra-tic rights and have thusbecome uncomfortable for thegoivernment.
In this case, the mainaccused in the BhimaKoregaon violence of January1, 2018 against Dalits, RSS/BJP leaders Bhide and MilindEkbote were the main accused.While they roam free, a storyof involvement of these intel-lectuals has been framedunder investigation from anunrelated event of ElgaarParishad.
RSS/ BJP leaders are thor-oughly committed to servingthe MNCs and to corruption.They are misutilising policemachinery to misappropriateinvestigation for politicalvendetta. All serious chargeslevelled against these leaders,like those of NSA and UAPA,
have no single act also ofthese individuals substanti-ates the police charge. CEC,AIKMS has demanded imme-diate release of all these lead-ers in the interest of justice.
HC CLOSED: TheAllahabad High Court isclosed for two days, July 20and 21 and therefore, therewill be no sitting of court onJuly 20 and 21, 2020 in theHigh Court at Allahabad dueto rapid surge in corona casesin Prayagraj city.
In an administrative orderissued by Chief Justice, GovindMathur it was said that the sit-uation demands no sitting ofcourt for next two days. Theorder further said that physi-cal/ e-filing of cases will alsoremain suspended for July 20and 21 and thereafter only e-filing of cases are permitted.
The cases, which havebeen fixed for July 20 and 21shall be taken up on July 22and 23, 2020 respectively,added the order.
Earlier, the High Courtwas closed down on July 14
and 15 for sanitisation ofpremises and later closure wasextended till Saturday i.e. July18. A separate order has alsobeen issued to the effect thatfrom July 22, there will be nophysical presence of thelawyers in the court. Theadvocates will argue the caseonly through video- confer-encing. Similarly, theGovernment Advocate andthe Chief Standing Counselon Monday issued a letter toall the state law officers, notto come in the advocates gen-eral office, unless they havebeen asked to come to theoffice. A letter by the govern-ment advocate has also beenissued to the President andSecretary of the AllahabadHigh Court Bar Associationand Advocates Association tothe effect that the advocategeneral office will not receiveany manual notice in criminalcases from July 22, 2020 andhas made request from theadvocates to give notice to thecriminal cases through e-fil-ing.
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With three more deathsdue to deadly virus,
Prayagraj reported a total of 83coronavirus cases in a singleday. The continuous spike incoronavirus cases has createdpanic in the district administra-tion as well as the Healthdepartment. At the same time,people have been urged tofully follow the guidelinesissued to prevent infection.
They are being appealed toapply a mask on the face, fol-low physical distancing andventure out only when neces-sary. By doing something likethis, we will all be able to stopthe infection of this epidemic,said a city based doctor at aCOVID centre here.
The number of coronapatients is increasing ratherthan decreasing. All previousrecords were broken onSunday and with a total of 83new positive cases of coronahave aggravated the Healthdepartment’s woes while thereport of 676 samples hascome negative. At the sametime, three corona-infectedpatients admitted to SRNCOVID Hospital were alsosuccumbed. All of them wereurban dwellers.
If we look into the coronameter then today infected: 83,today's death: 3, total infectedso far: 962 and of them a totalof 557 have recovered and dis-charged from hospital besides,the city has currently 369active cases and has witnesseda total 36 deaths so far.
After the arrival of 83 newcorona infected patients, thetotal number of corona
patients in the district hasreached 962. The increasingnumber of patients hasincreased the problem of notonly the Health departmentbut also the general public.Every section of the city hasnow come under the coron-avirus. Police, doctors, medi-apersons leaders, business-men, teachers, all have beenaffected with the coronavirusin the city.
On Sunday evening, 26corona patients recovered andall of them have been dis-charged from the hospital. Sofar, a total of 557 positivepatients of corona have beencured while there are 369active cases. They are beingtreated in different COVIDhospitals. 60 patients havebeen admitted in L1 KotwaCOVID Hospital, 62 infectedin Railway Hospital, 99 inBelly L2 COVID Hospital and110 corona patients have beenadmitted in L3 SRN COVID
Hospital. A total of 807prospective patients have beensampled from different testingcentres in the city. So far, 36corona-infected patients havedied during treatment in thedistrict. Of them three patientswere such who were also fromnon-district like Jaunpur,Kaushambi and Pratapgarh.Details of these three patientshave been updated on theportal of Prayagraj.
Dr SP Singh, the Principalof the Motilal Nehru MedicalCollege asked the denizens notto be panicked seeing theincreasing number of coronapositive patients, but be cau-tious about their health. Thenumber of infected patientshas also increased as the scopeof testing was enhanced. Thetesting number of samples inthe MicroBiology Lab ofMotilal Nehru Medical Collegehas been doubled. Whereasearlier 500 samples were test-ed daily, now this number
has increased to 1000, addedDr Singh. So far, more than50,000 samples have been test-ed in the lab of medical college
Apart from this, about300 samples are also testedthrough antigen kit andtruenot machine. So far, morethan 50,000 samples have beentested in the medical collegelab. In this, the number of pos-itive cases of corona hascrossed 900 marks. Around650 corona patients have alsorecovered, while there aremore than 300 active cases inthe city now. Principal ofMotilal Nehru MedicalCollege, Dr SP Singh said that1000 to 1200 samples are test-ed daily.
Dr Rishi Sahai, the NodalOfficer of COVID-19, saidthat the testing procedure hasbeen accelerated. When thetesting is made maximumthen it will help stop the infec-tion. In such a situation, every-one's cooperation is needed. Ifsomeone has symptoms ofcorona, then get it checkedimmediately, added Dr Sahai.
Meanwhile, employees ofseveral banks were sampled atUrban Primary Health Centre,Daryaganj for corona exami-nation. Madanji Upadhyay,president of Uttar PradeshBank Employees Union,Suman Upadhyay, his wifeworking in Central Bank,UBSA President NeerajVerma, secretary SaurabhSingh, Provincial vice-presi-dent Dinesh Kumar, OfficerDurgesh Rai, Neha, AIBOCJoint secretary Krishna Jha andothers employees were sam-pled for COVID test onMonday.
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For the first time, the districthas seen the number of
corona patients in the three-fig-ure mark. It was the biggestspike of the day when as manyas 115 COVID-19 patientswere found here on Monday,breaking the previous highestnumber of 88 cases recorded onJuly 18. Besides, the district alsosaw one more death increasingthe toll to 33. With this, thetotal number of patients hasincreased to 1,386. The onlyrelief is that during the day, thefollow-up reports of 48 patientswere found negative and lateron, they have been dischargedfrom the hospitals. With this,the total number of patientswho have been recovered hasincreased to 585, leaving 768active patients.
Chief Medical Officer(CMO) Dr VB Singh said thata retired government personaged 62 and a resident ofPandeypur area succumbed tocorona during his treatment atSir Sundarlal Hospital (SSH) inBanaras Hindu University(BHU) Hospital. This COVID-19 patient was admitted toBHU Hospital in a seriouscondition and he was on ven-tilator. The death of this pop-ular former Income Tax officerhas shocked the city. Earlier, ahousewife aged 80 and a resi-dent of Bhojubir area also diedduring her treatment. In thefirst report received by 11 amduring the day as many as 90new corona patients werefound out of 500 reportsreceived from Microbiologydepartment of (BHU). Tillthen, the total test resultsreceived were 22,626 and await-ed 2,348 excluding 555 RTPCRsamples collected a day ago.Out of these, 21,265 were neg-ative reports while 1,361 pos-itive. The total number of sam-ples collected was 25,529. Therewere 564 hotspots in the dis-trict by Sunday with the addi-tion of 16 new ones. The num-
ber of red zones has increasedto 297. There were 383 activehotspots which included 86orange and 297 red zones. Asmany as 181 zones have alreadybecome green. During thisperiod, 10 red zones have con-verted into orange zones whileseven orange to green zones.
The total number ofCOVID-19 patients in this beltof Purvanchal (eastern UP)comprising 10 districts of threedivisions has increased to 5,492with the detection of 254 casesin the region. However, as 205patients have been dischargedfrom the hospitals during theperiod, the recovery rate hasimproved from 55.63 to 56.29per cent with the discharge of3,119 patients. Though duringthe period the region saw fourdeaths, the mortality rate hasremained at 1.69 per cent with93 deaths.
As a day ago 32 police per-sonnel were found corona pos-itive and majority of themfrom Kotwali police station, ithas created an uneasy calm
among the department. Earlier,over a dozen cops from Sigrapolice stations and its NagarNigam outpost were also suf-fering from COVID-19 apartfrom several residing in thePolice Lines barracks. Besides,a couple of days ago, about adozen PAC personnel, major-ity of them from BhullanpurBattalion, were also detectedcorona positive apart from sev-eral BHU security guards andother private security person-nel.
In wake of such increasingthreats to these corona war-riors, the police department hasprinted a pocket card and itscopies were distributed amongthe cops apart from pasting ofposters at all the police stationsand outposts giving guidelinesto the police personnel andmaking them aware of themeasures to prevent coronainfection while going to theirduty points. Besides, by vehi-cles of the Police Lines, preven-tive materials like masks, faceshields, gloves, sanitisers, soaps,
polycarbonate shields are beingdistributed among the copson duty at different places.Through pre-recorded mes-sages, the cops are also beingmade aware. Apart from thesemeasures, steps have beentaken to check movement ofoutsiders in the Police Linespremises, keeping 108Ambulance at Police Linesgate.
Besides, a call register hasbeen made to record all thedetails of talks with the copswho are in quarantine centres.
Earlier, as many as 45 per-sons have been arrested underSection 151 CrPC on Sundaywhile action was taken against1,494 under Section 188 andSection 51 of DisasterManagement Act. Duringchecking at 14 border pointsand 49 police barriers, 1,116vehicles were challaned andnine seized. � 38,500 wererealised from 51 vehicles and �3,28,750 from 4,039 moving onthe roads without wearingmasks.
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Braving showers at briefintervals, good rush of
devotees was seen to offerprayer at one of the DwadasJyotilingas, Kashi Vishwanathtemple here on the auspiciousoccasion of Third Monday inthe month of Shravan amidsttight security arrangementsand COVID-19 restrictions.After two days of statewide sec-ond weekend lockdown whenthe places of worship werereopened, thousands throngedGyanvapi premises and therush was bigger than the firsttwo Mondays. Besides, devo-tees also rushed to variousLord Shiva temples includingTill Bhandeshwar, JageshwarMahadev, Sarang Mahadev andmany others and at most of thetemples, the devotees were notallowed to enter Garbgrih(sanctum sanctorum) andtouch the Shivlingas.
Inspector General (Range)Vijay Singh Meena and othersenior district and police offi-cers visited Godowlia,Dashaswamedh and adjoiningareas to see the arrangementsas it was a big task for theadministration to maintainsocial distancing. On the occa-sion, a number of saffron-cladkanwarias and even Dak Bamsarrived here after covering
over 120 kilometres betweenSangam (Prayagraj) and Kashi,despite all appeals of theadministration to do the sameat their nearby shrines.However, there was no rush ofsuch kanwarias like previousyears.
Meanwhile, the tradersunder the banner ofVishwanath Gali VyaparSangh maintained their longtradition when as per the per-mission, five members of theassociation reached KashiVishwanath temple to offerprayer. They assembled atChitranjan Park and then theytook out their Kalash Yatra.Comprising patron Swami
Jaikrishna Puriji Maharaj,president Munna Rastogi, gen-eral secretary Ramesh Tiwari,vice-president Pawan Shuklaand secretary Raju Bajoria,they entered the templepremises from Gate No.1 viaAnnapurna and DundhirajGanesh temples. They alsovisited Sakshi Vinayak GaneshMandir to culminate theiryatra.
Right from the morninghours, there were continuouslines of devotees on both sidesof the temple includingMaidagin and Godowlia butrush was not the same as gen-erally seen on the auspiciousoccasions as the devotees were
asked by the security person-nel to maintain physical dis-tance. No devotees wereallowed to enter the templepremises without wearingmasks and sanitising theirhands as automatic sanitisingmachines were installed atmany places. To check therush, the devotees wereallowed to enter the premisesthrough three routes. Due torestrictions, it took more timefor the devotees to reach thesanctum sanctorum(Garbgrih) to offer jalab-hishek. At a time only five per-sons were allowed to reachthere. However, no one wasallowed to touch the Shivlinga.
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The North Eastern Railway(NER) administration in
today’s information revolutionera keeping pace with thechanges in technology is con-stantly using it for qualitativeimprovement in its function-ing. On this railway work hasalready started through e-office, online working has alsobeen extended to offices in far-flung areas so that they too cantake advantage of this technol-ogy. For the use of employeesin these remote offices e-kioskhas been set up so that all thedigitally connected depart-ments can exchange filesthrough e-office in a very shorttime, said CPRO Pankaj KumarSingh. In NER taking files fromone place to another hasbecome a thing of the past.
Besides protection fromcoronavirus it is saving man-
power and time too.Lucknow division has
installed e-kiosk at Gorakhpurstation, including Gonda,Aishbagh Badshahnagar,Burhwal, Colonelganj, JarwalRoad, Basti, Manakapur,
Anandnagar, Barhni,Balrampur, Biswa, Lakhimpur,Mailani, Sitapur and Bahraich.
The Izzatnagar divisionhas installed e-kiosk at nineplaces for supervisors, staffand dealers. It may be pointedout here that this arrangementhas been made by the division
from its available resourceswithout any additional expen-diture. This facility has beenprovided by the Department ofSignal and Telecom ofIzzatnagar Division using high-speed free Railnet and com-puter. For it with the use ofspare PC and UPS, diggingwork for putting PIJF cable,from installing modem to theextension of Railnet kiosk fromOFC room all works were doneat the departmental level whichis an achievement in itself. Thedivision has installed e-kiosk atthe Divisional Railway Manager(DRM) office, includingLalkuan, Kashipur, Kathgodam,Pilibhit, Kasganj, Mathura andFarrukhabad stations. Work isalso going on to provide thisfacility at the stations ofVaranasi division. Even underthese adverse circumstancesRailways are committed tocontinuous improvement.
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An elderly woman was killedin her house in Bhusasi vil-
lage under the Badausa policestation. On getting informationASP Banda Mahendra PratapChauhan, CO Attara Siyaramand SO Badausa Arvind SinghGaur visited the spot. SOBadausa Gaur said that somemiscreants had entered thehouse of the deceased with theintention of committing theftthere. SO said that the deceasedmight have recognised themand was consequently mur-dered. SO said that an FIRunder Section 302 of the IPChad been lodged against someunidentified persons in thisconnection. He said that Gulabi(85) was murdered while shewas sleeping in her house. Hesaid that the miscreants hadstolen cash, gold ornamentsand other valuables from there.SO said that the Ajay, son of thedeceased, had lodged FIR inthis connection against someunidentified persons. The sonof the deceased Ajay told thepolice that his mother hadwithdrawn �8,000 from KisanSamman Nidhi and kept it inthe house and had sold wheatfor �3,000. Some silver andgold ornaments which werealso in the house too had beentaken away by the miscreants.CO Attara Siyaram said that thecase would be worked outsoon and the culprits would bearrested. In another incidentAwadesh (25), a resident of
Barsana Khurd village underthe Girwan police station diedunder mysterious circum-stances. The family memberstold the police that he was bit-ten by a snake three days agoand was taken to an occultist.They could not take him to ahospital for treatment. Thepolice had recovered the bodyof the deceased and sent it forthe post-mortem examination.
FARMER COMMITSSUICIDE: A 40-year-oldfarmer committed suicide inBadahanpurwa village underBadausa police station. Thepolice had sent his body for thepost-mortem examination. Thepolice said that the cause of sui-cide was dispute between thefarmer and his wife.
BOY SUCCUMBS:Jayshree (19), son of Jaykaran,who was hit by a loader whilehe was returning to Berrav vil-lage under Baberu police sta-tion succumbed to his injuries.The police had sent his bodyfor post-mortem examination.Earlier he was brought to CHCsituated in Baberu from wherehe was sent to district hospitalBanda.
The doctors on duty therereferred him to Kanpur inview of his serious condition.However he succumbed to hisinjuries on way to Kanpur.(CO) Baberu Rajeev PratapSingh said that his body hadbeen sent for the postmortemexamination. The police hadarrested the driver of the loaderand sent him to jail.
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Special secretary for infor-mation and nodal officer of
the district, Surendra PrasadSingh, inspected the district
hospital at district headquarterson Sunday. During the inspec-tion he visited delivery point,operation theatre, medico-legalcell, ambulance point etc. Hefound found ambulances inready position. At isolationward only one patient wasadmitted and at L-2 ward 13patients were admitted but no
one them was on ventilator.At women’s hospital the officerinspected the 100-bed hospitalwhich was under a privateoperator where entire staff,including the incharge, waspresent. Giving necessarydirections to the staff the offi-cer asked them to maintain thecleanliness on priority.
MURDER ACCUSEDHELD: Police arrested theaccused in connection withthe incident in which a womanwas killed in an attack inMujehra village under Chilhpolice station on July 14.
Interacting with media-persons SP Dr DharmveerSingh said that the accused,Sandeep, son of the deceased,Sheela Srivastava, had shownhimself as a victim that day byinjuring himself but after inter-rogation he confessed hiscrime. The SP said that sincethe day of the incident the con-tradictory statements of theaccused along with the cir-cumstantial evidence had indi-cated his involvement. Policesaid that the father of theaccused was to retire fromNagar Palika next year.Sandeep hatched a conspiracyto eliminate his father during
service period to get the job oncompassionate grounds. Onthe day of incident he attackedhis father, Bhagawati PrasadSrivastava, while he was asleep.But as his mother was awakeshe tried to save her husbandand recognised him whichcaused her death. After killinghis mother the accused againstabbed his father and his aunt,Urmila, who were still in thehospital. In order to mislead thepolice the accused inflictedsome injuries on his body andreported to the police that twounidentified persons hadattacked his family. A cashreward of �10,000 was given tothe police team for working outthe case.
FIR LODGED: An FIRhas been lodged at Jigna policestation in connection with therape of a minor girl.
As per the reports, a per-son has lodged an FIR onSunday stating that two youthshad raped their 13-year-oldcousin sister dragging her intothe bushes on July 16. Afterlodging the FIR under relevantsections the police took theaccused in custody and start-ed the investigation in thematter.
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Nigasan police arrested twomembers of a gang of
motorcycle thieves along witha motorcycle. However, theirtwo accomplices managed toflee from the spot. On cluesprovided by them police alsorecovered nine motorcycleswhich had been hidden at sep-arate places. Total 10 motor-cycles were recovered. Givingdetails in this this connectionSuperintendent of Police, KheriPoonam, told mediapersons atthe Police Lines auditoriumhere that on being tipped off byan informer Nighasan inspec-tor incharge, DK Singh, alongwith Padua outpost inchargeDharmdas Siddharth, andDhakerwa outpost inchargeLal Bahadur Mishra cordonedoff Pachpedi Mod and sawfour youths on a motorcycle.On seeing men in khaki theytried to flee but were arrested.The accused identified as Arif,a resident of the town underDhaurahara police station andMohsin, a resident ofPathananpurwa under theNighasan police station alongwith a motorcycle. Their twoaccomplices who had fled fromthere were identified asWaseem of Ludhauri and RamGopal of Durgapurwa underthe Nighasan police station.The SP said that all the accusedwere hardened criminalsagainst whom about 10 crimi-nal cases were pending in dif-ferent police stations.
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The Pipraich police arrested a miscreant, Pawan KumarRajbhar, who carried a reward of �10,000 on his head
on Sunday evening.Circle Officer (CO) Chauri Chaura Archana Mishra
said that Station House Officer (SHO) Pipraich PramodKumar Tripathi had been engaged for the arresting thecriminals. He was patrolling on Sunday along with S-I VivekRanjan and constables Vinay Yadav and Siddharth KumarPankaj and when he was tipped off by an informer that themiscreant, Pawan, was going towards his house inHarkapur via Kushinagar. The police cordoned off the areaand arrested him near the Jadavpur barrier. Meanwhileanother report said that during vehicle-checking drive ayouth was caught near Ami bridge in the Bansgaon areawhile he was going on foot. On frisking him mobile phonesof three different companies besides a 315 bore pistol anda live cartridge were recovered from his posession. Duringinterrogation the youth disclosed his name as MohammadArif, son of Mohammad Shabir, a resident of Bistoli vil-lage under the Belipar police station. The Bansgaon policetook the youth into custody and sent him to jail.
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Two labourers were run over by atrain in Deekshitur village under
Chunar police station on Mondaymorning. Chunar police took theirbody into custody for completinglegal formalities. The deceased wereidentified as Ram lakhan (30) andRamchandra (25), residents ofGodvan village under RampurBarkonia police station in Sonbhadra.
Meanwhile a man died in amishap in Shivgarh village onMirzapur-Chunar road under Padaripolice station on Sunday. Reportsreceived here said that Satyadev, aresident of Patharaha, was going ona cycle when it collided with a earthmoving machine which was engagedin road construction. The victim wastaken to a private hospital but couldnot be saved.
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Kanpur Nagar reported itshighest single-spike in
coronavirus cases as 201 morepeople tested positive for thedeadly infection.
Chief Medical Officer DrAnil Mishra said 201 newcoronavirus cases were detect-ed between Sunday eveningand Monday evening, takingthe tally to 2,701.
The CMO said with thedischarge of 47 COVID-19patients from hospitals, 1,356coronavirus infected peoplehad been cured and at presentthere were 1,210 active cases inthe city.
Dr Mishra said with sevenmore COVID-19 patientsdying in hospital, the death tollstood at 135 on Mondayevening.
He said 1,143 sampleswere taken on Monday, thehighest 610 from surveillanceareas.
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Kanpur DivisionalCommissioner Sudhir MBobde has stressed on givingmomentum to testing and
admission of coronavirus pos-itive persons in hospitals tocheck COVID-19 deaths andthe spread of the dreaded virus.
Addressing a meeting at hiscamp office here, Dr Bobdeexpressed concern over thefailure of the health authoritiesto check the death rate of coro-navirus positive cases.
He said in view of thesteep rise in the number ofcoronavirus positive cases inthe district, if the need aroseprivate hospitals could beacquired for treatment of theCOVID-19 patients. He said
Kanpur DevelopmentAuthority’s Green City shouldbe set up as Covid Level-1hospital without any furtherdelay.
The divisional commis-sioner gave a dressing down tothe health officials for the delayin results of over 4,000 swabssent for testing.
He directed the officials toincrease ambulance servicesand make all efforts to containthe spread of coronavirus andrise in deaths of the infectedpersons.
He said those who do not
wear mask should be finedstrictly.
Dr Bobde said the trackingand surveillance teams shouldbe made more active.
Prominent among thosewho took part in the meetingincluded District MagistrateBR Tiwari, nodal officer AnilGarg, MunicipalCommissioner AkshayTripathi, GSVM MedicalCollege Principal RB Kamal,CMS Richa Giri, CMO AnilKumar Mishra and KanpurNursing Homes Associationpresident Dr MK Saraogi.
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Aclass VIII student drowned in the river Ganga while his twofriends were rescued by boatmen at the Bithoor ghat here
on Monday morning. According to reports, Piyush (14) and Ajay Singh (15) of CTS
Colony in Kalyanpur, along with their friends Shivam (16) andYusuf (16) of Sahab Nagar also in Kalyanpur, went to Bithooron a cab for a bath in the Ganga on the occasion of third Mondayof the Hindu month of Shravan.
On reaching Bithoor, the four friends, all students ofJawaharlal Nehru Inter College, Kalyanpur, went to the Sita Ghat.
While Piyush, Yusuf and Ajay, studying in class VIII, wentfor a bath in the Ganga, Shivam, studying in class IX, sat on thebank of the river to take care of their clothes and other belong-ings. While bathing, when Piyush tried to move towards deepwater, Ajay and Yusuf warned him but he continued to moveahead and suddenly began to drown. Seeing him drowning, Yusufand Ajay made a futile attempt to rescue him.
Meanwhile, when Shivam saw his friends drowning, he raisedan alarm and some boatmen jumped into the water and rescuedAjay and Yusuf. But they failed to rescue Piyush, who was car-ried away by the current. The Bithoor police pressed divers torecover the body of Piyush and also informed his kin about thetragedy.
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Hundreds of Congress mensat on a ‘silent protest’
against the Yogi Adityanathgovernment’s alleged failure tomaintain law and order and thepolice-criminals nexus.
Wearing masks and main-taining social distancing, theCongress protesters said therecent incidents had brought tofore the unholy nexus betweencriminals, police and politiciansand how criminals were flour-ishing under the patronage of
police and politicians.The Congress protesters,
who held placards, alsodemanded impartial probe intothe role of police in the Rs 30lakh ransom case.
Speaking at the protestvenue, Congress city presidentHar Prakash Agnihotri saidwith law and order deteriorat-ing day by day due to the gov-ernment’s patronage to crimi-nals, the people were no moresafe in the state and everywhereone could hear reports of rape,molestation, theft murder, kid-
napping. Agnihotri said even after
one month of his disappear-ance, Sanjeet Yadav’s where-abouts were not known evenafter his parents paid the ran-som demanded by the abduc-tors as per police advice. Healleged that this was so becausethe police were hand in glovewith the criminals.
The Congress leader saidthe police, instead of saving thefamily, forced them to arrangethe ransom money and didnothing further aster the ran-
som was paid.He demanded a probe by a
judge of Supreme Court intothe case so that truth came tothe fore.
Agnihotri later handedover a memorandum addressedto the district magistrate to thecity magistrate.
Prominent among thosewho took part in the protestincluded Iqbal Ahmed, AshokDhanvik, Ikhlaq Ahmed,Samuel Lucky Singh, SanjayShah, Sandeep Chaudhary,Aijaz Rasheed and Rafat Jamal.
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The Self-financed CollegesAssociation (DElEd
Training Institutes) met BasicEducation Director SavendraVikram Bahadur Singh andexpressed concern over theinordinate delay in holdingexaminations and promotingthe students of first and thirdbatches to the next semester.
It also demanded that thediploma in elementary educa-tion (DElEd) online admissionprocess for the 2020 batch bestarted as the delay on accountof coronavirus pandemic wasdoing irreparable damage tothe students and their futureprospects.
Association president DrVinay Trivedi said the exami-nation for the first batch 2018-19 and the third semester for
the 2019-20 session was due tobe conducted in March 2020and the schedule had beenannounced but due to lock-down declared by the govern-ment it had been postponedindefinitely.
Trivedi said more thanfour months of the DElEd stu-dents had been wasted andappealed to the director tosave time and regularise ses-sion.
He said the promotionshould be based on the inter-nal assessment and on thesame pattern the DElEd stu-dents should be promoted.
He said today the new ses-sion had been stuck up andthus demanded online admis-sion process should be allowedsoon.
SCHOOLS IRKED OVERDM’S DIRECTIVE: The pri-
vate schools’ management haveexpressed concern over therecent directive of DistrictMagistrate BR Tiwari warningthe institution managers andprincipals to refrain from forc-ing parents to deposit fees. Thedirective had also warned theschool managements againstdisplaying the names ofparents who had not deposit-ed fees.
The district magistrate saidthat the move paste the namesof parents on the notice boardsfor fee default was humiliationand thus it was not allowed.
Patron of Private SchoolAssociation, Dr NagendraSwarup, had directed parentsand guardians to deposit schoolfees.
It may be mentioned thatsince March 2020, the parentshave not paid fees of their
wards on the ground that astheir children were not going toschool, there was no questionof paying fees.
Hardly 20-30 per cent par-ents paid one month’s fees inApril and since then the par-ents are not paying fees.
Most of the parents haveformed parents’ association toexert pressure on schools to notpay the fees. They claimed asclasses were not held sinceMarch end, there was noquestion of paying fees.
The management, on theother hand, told teachers thatunless the parents paid fees itwas not possible for them topay salary.
In majority of school themanagement have not paidsalaries for the past threemonths on the ground that par-ents were not paying fees.
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The city’s leather industry isall set to assert its domi-
nance in international market.In the two-day Indo-RussiaFootwear and Leather ProductsBuyers-Sellers Meet-2020 wasinaugurated on Monday, giantleather exporters of the city,including Super House, Naaz,Rehman Group and Jaaz Sonswill be exhibiting their latestdesign products online at theevent. Thereafter, these prod-ucts will be launched in inter-national markets.
Footwear manufacturerJafar Iqbal said he had devel-oped 50 new designs of fash-ion and safety shoes withinone month after the lock-down and they would beexhibited in the meet.
He said the designs being
launched by him were in greatdemand in European coun-tries.
Regional Chairman ofCouncil for Leather Exportsand Founder of Naaz Exports,Javed Iqbal, said many shoemanufacturers of the city weretaking part in this meet.
He said most of thedesigns that were likely toattract attention of buyers,were being launched for thefirst time.
Javed Iqbal said due toCOVID-19 pandemic, thecity’s leather industry hadalready suffered a lot. He saidwas after the lockdown itwould be the first time thatthe local entrepreneurs wouldget an opportunity to displaytheir products before inter-national buyers.
He said earlier, they used
to personally participate insuch exhibits but it was for thefirst time that their productswould be exhibited online.
City leather industrialistsare hopeful of fetching goodbusiness at the meet.
Javed Iqbal said by takingpart in this meet, the localentrepreneurs would getnewer opportunities to exporttheir products to Russiawhich, in turn, would alsobenefit their counterparts inthe city.
Apart from Kanpur, 35 bigexporters from all over thecountry would take part inthis meet, he added.
It may be recalled that 800leather exports units regis-tered with CLE are operatingin the city. Their annualexport is of around Rs 8,000crore.
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Groundwater is the majorsource of drinking water in
both urban and rural India andalso an important source foragricultural and industrial sec-tor. Water utilisation projec-tions for 2000 put the ground-water usage at about 50 percent. The groundwater level inIndia has declined by 61 percent between 2007 and 2017(last Census) and of the extract-ed water, 89 per cent was usedfor irrigation. The total esti-mated groundwater depletionin India was in the range of122–199 billion metre cube.This engenders the need topromote ground water conser-vation in a big way.
This was state byExecutive Engineer AwadheshKumar after flagging off afloat meant to create aware-ness towards groundwater aspart of the seven-day cam-paign which will end on July22. He said groundwater inIndia was a critical resource.He said India was the largestuser of groundwater in theworld which as per estimateswas 230 cubic kilometres ofgroundwater per year. He saidit was also true that over 60per cent of irrigated agricul-ture and 85 per cent of drink-ing water supplies weredependent on groundwater.
He said groundwateracted as a critical bufferagainst the variability of mon-soon rains. He added thatfarms irrigated with ground-water had twice the produc-tivity against those that reliedon surface water alone.
He said this was largelybecause the resource allowedfarmers greater control overwhen to irrigate their fieldsand how much water to useeach time.
He said around 30 percent of groundwater blockswere semi-critical, critical, oroverexploited, and the situa-tion was deteriorating rapid-ly.
He said the aquifers weredepleting in the most popu-lated and economically pro-ductive areas and the climatechange further strainedgroundwater resources.
Kumar said India hadboth hard-rock and alluvialaquifers which differed con-siderably in their physical andsocio-economic profiles andrequired very different sets ofsolutions at both the macroand micro levels.
He said the recent WorldBank report provided a menuof practical and non-contro-versial interventions whichcould be implemented in thecurrent environment.
He said the report calledfor community managementof ground water wherein theuser community was the pri-mar y custodian of theresource and was chargedwith implementing manage-ment measures.
He said an exceptionalprogramme of farmer educa-tion had created `barefoothydrogeologists’ that hadmade this change in water usepossible.
He said the approach wasimmediately replicable inother hard-rock areas whichaccounted for two-third ofgroundwater settings in India.He said other similar mea-sures can be taken up imme-diately.
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Conceding that there wasindeed community trans-
mission taking place in parts ofBengal the State Governmenton Monday decided to returnto the lockdown mode.
“Consequent to the situa-tion of community transmis-sion in certain areas and in abid to break the chain theState Government has decidedto go for a complete lockdownfor two days in a week, HomeSecretary AlapanBandopadhyay said adding the“two-day lockdown will be inaddition to the broad-basedlockdown in containmentzones.”
For the current week thelockdown will be enforced onThursday and Saturday, hesaid. The Government willperiodically assess the situationand decide on the future courseof action he said.
“As of now next meetingwill be held on July 29 when thesituation will be reassessed.After that such periodicalassessment will continue totake place throughout themonth of August,” he main-tained hinting at a policy of“intermittent lockdown”being taken by the StateGovernment.
TheGovernment issued anintegrated helpline numbers--1800313444222, 033 23412600;
for telemedicine--03323576001; and 033 40902929for ambulance.
“For this the lockdownwill be on Thursday andSaturday but for the comingweeks the days of lockdownmay change … though lock-down in Wednesdays could bea permanent affair,” he said.
The decision comes a dayafter State Chief SecretaryRajiva Sinha assured that theGovernment was in full controlof the situation “moving at ahigher speed than the coronavirus,” and about a months afterChief Minister MamataBanerjee asked the people tolearn to live with coronainstead of fearing it. “We have
to learn to live with corona likethe side pillow,” she said.
Reacting rather sharply tothe Government’s “lax handlingof the situation that brought usto this situation,” Congressleader in Lok Sabha AdhirChwodhury said “it had alwaysseemed that this Governmentis going nowhere with its pol-icy decisions on corona. Herethe Chief Minister wants thepeople to take corona as a sidepillow there the Chief Secretarysays everything theGovernment is running at ahigher speed than corona…
“But the next day theHome Secretary talks of com-munity transmission and lim-ited lockdown… One won-
ders what is happening. Whatis this adhocism about? …Today we are in this situationbecause of the unplanned andwayward attitude of this gov-ernment.”
CPI(M) central committeemember and MLA SujanChakrabarty said “this theresult of government hiding thereal situation from the people.
Where is the ChiefMinister? Why a HomeSecretary has to announce suchmajor decisions? Why theGovernment is so soft on peo-ple breaking corona protocols?Why no action is being takenon people not maintainingsocial distancing and not wear-ing masks?”
Kolkata: With the phenome-nal “social distancing” betweenthe Trinamool CongressGovernment and Raj Bhavanreaching embarrassing levelsBengal Governor JagdeepDhankhar has told the Centrethat all is not well in Bengal.
Meeting Home MinisterAmit Shah in Delhi theGovernor has said that the sit-uation in the State is “worri-some.” Earlier before meetingShah, Governor tweeted that he“would be discussing withUnion Home Minister at noontoday West Bengal worrisomesituation.”
He further wrote “state ofaffairs and affairs of State …Welfare of people of WestBengal is ever uppermost in mymind. All my actions are
inspired to mitigate woes ofWB people.” He also said thathe would discuss his constitu-tional duties as the Governorprovided under Article 159 ofthe Constitution.
The Governor who saidthat he would “devote myself tothe service and well-being ofthe people,” had earlier beencalled by the Centre for dis-cussions on the affairs of theState.
Chief Minister MamataBanerjee and the Governorhad been at loggerheads eversince he took charge last year.Things repeatedly came toflash point often the two con-stitutional heads bumping intoeach other in public functionsand refusing to take note of theopposite side. PNS
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As more coastal areas insouthern Kerala get-
ting afflicted with coron-avirus, a Minister inPinarayi Vijayan’s council of Ministers came outin the open and declared that the situation inthe State is terrifying.
With the release issued by the State HealthDepartment saying Kerala tested 794 new pos-itive cases, Minister for cooperation A K Balansaid the situation has become terrifying in theState.
The Minister was upset over the everincreasing number of persons getting infectedwith the disease through contact; on Monday,519 persons got infected through contacts. Thiruvananthapuram continued to bethe ‘hotspot’ as 182 new persons were addedto the list of Covid-19 patients on Monday.
The Thiruvananthapuram CorporationCouncil cancelled the licenses of two majorshopping malls in the city-Ramachandra HyperMarket and Pothy’s- both owned by personsfrom Tamil Nadu.
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Tamil Nadu witnessed 70persons succumbing to
Covid-19 and 4,985 personsgetting diagnosed with coron-avirus pandemic during the last24 hours according to a pressrelease issued by the Directorateof Health Services andPreventive Medicine onMonday.
The day ended with a totalof 51, 348 persons diagnosedwith active Covid-19 cases allover the State while the totalnumber of persons tested posi-tive till date crossing 1.75 lakhmark.
This means that the situa-tion in Tamil Nadu remains crit-ical despite the efforts of the Stateadministration to bring the pan-demic under control by openingmore laboratories and arrangingadditional hospital beds acrossthe State.
As on Monday, 1.9 millionpersons across the State havebeen subjected to tests in the 112laboratories across the State,the highest number of personstested anywhere in India,according to Chief MinisterEdappadi Palaniswami.
On Monday, 3,861 personswere discharged from hospitalsacross Tamil Nadu, fully curedof the pandemic. Since there isno identified drug/vaccine in themodern medicine, hospitalsacross the State continue withparacetamol and other genericdrugs to counter coronavirus.
Out of the nearly 5,000 per-sons tested positive on Monday,Chennai had 1,298 whileChengalpet (354), Thiruvallur(454) and Kancheepuram (329)followed closely.
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Politics took the driver’s seateven as the Intelligence Wing
of the Kerala Police alerted theGovernment of anti-nationalactivities including gold smug-gling which was taking placewith impunity. This was statedby former chief of Kerala PoliceTP Senkumar who was uncer-emoniously removed by thePinarayi Vijayan Governmentfrom the post.
In his weekly programme ina news channel ‘SenkumarSpeaking’, the former State PoliceChief said gold smuggling,hawala operations and love jihadwere happening across the Statewith Government patronage.“Though the intelligence winghad alerted the Government, it
fell on deaf ears and the officialswho prepared the reports wereshunted out to innocuous posts,”said Senkumar.
The statement by the for-mer top cop of the State comesamidst reports that FassalFareeth, the Dubai based busi-nessman who was arrested bythe Dubai Police had financedmany Malayalam movies and hehad close relations withErnakulam based producers,directors and artists.
Rajasenan, a movie makerwith 37 hit movies to his cred-it, said the infusion of moneygenerated through gold smug-gling resulted in persons likehim getting elbowed out of theindustry.
“We could make out themovies produced with the
money generated through goldsmuggling and hawala. Suchmovies had a distinct themewhich were in synchronizationwith the thinking and ideologyof certain religious and politi-cal groups,” said Rajasenan.
He said the �80 crore worthproject to churn out a movieportraying VarikkunnathuAhmed was a mission financedby such forces. “All of us knowthat Ahmed was a terrorist andproselytized with swords. Whatis the motive behind making amovie portraying him as asaint?” asked Rajasenan.Meanwhile the NIA andCustoms officials interrogatedJayaghosh, the gunman of theUAE Consul General who triedto commit suicide slitting hiswrist.
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Ahead of the crucialmeeting of the Shri
Amarnath Shrine Boardon Tuesday, a major por-tion of the 'ice stalagmite'formed inside theAmarnath cave shrine hasmelted away, two weeksahead of Shravan Purnima, falling onRaksha Bandhan on August 3.
According to official sources sta-tioned at the Amarnath Cave Shrine,“major portion of the Shiv lingam (icestalagmite) has already melted away, onlyone feet remains visible” .
Interestingly, Shri Amarnath Shrineboard authorities are yet to give its finalnod to holding this year's annual pil-grimage via only Baltal route in the wakeof Covid-19 pandemic.
Chairman of the Shrine Board, Lt-Governor GC Murmu is scheduled toattend the meeting of the board on
Tuesday to takestock of the pre-vailing situationbefore taking thefinal decision onthe yatra.
On severaloccasions, Shivlingam had meltedaway in the past
also ahead of the culmination of yatra.Earlier, a large rush of pilgrims inside thecave shrine was attributed as one of themajor reasons behind rise in temperaturenear the cave shrine. But this year, evenin the absence of a rush of devotees theice stalagmite had melted away.
A senior officer present in the caveshrine told The Pioneer, “the surround-ing hill features remained covered withsnow for a longer duration but this timethe snow had melted away little earlier.Due to clear sunny days, the day tem-perature triggered fast melting away ofshiv lingam”, he added.
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Gehlot said he “used to talk about conspiracy totopple his Government but nobody believed that he(Pilot), having an innocent face, good command overEnglish and Hindi and influence over the media acrossthe country, can do this”.
“Rajasthan is the only State where no demand wasraised to change the PCC president in seven years.We knew that nothing is happening here. We knewhe is ‘nikamma’ (worthless) and ‘nakara’ (idle), stillwe did not question this in the interest of the party,”Gehlot told reporters.
“Never in the history of India would I ever hearthat the head of a party conspired to topple its ownGovernment. I have never heard of this till date,”Gehlot said.
But what came as a big surprise on a day whenthe Rajasthan political battle was being taken up inthe High Court was the Congress MLA Giriraj Singhalleging that he was offered Rs 35 crores by formerthe Deputy Chief Minister.
Giriraj said Sachin Pilot offered him Rs 35 croreto switch from the Congress to the BJP but he refused.The incident took place in December and again beforethe Rajasthan Rajya Sabha elections, the party legis-lator stated.
Reacting to Giriraj’s allegations, Pilot said he willbe taking appropriate and strictest possible legal actionagainst the MLA who was made to make these accu-sations.
“I am sure more such concocted allegations willbe thrown at me to cause aspersions on my publicimage. But I shall be unfettered and remain firm inmy beliefs and convictions,” Sachin Pilot said.
“I am saddened but not surprised to be at thereceiving end of such baseless and vexatious allega-tions being leveled against me. This is done solely tomalign me and to stifle the legitimate concerns thatI had raised against the party leadership of the State,as a member and MLA of INC. This attempt furtheraims at defaming me and attack my credibility. Thenarrative is being redirected to avoid addressing themain issue,” Pilot said.
Gehlot also stated that some corporates are help-ing rebel Pilot. “The BJP is playing the game every-one knows. When the Congress refused to budge thenPilot said that he will create a third front. This is abig conspiracy to topple the Rajasthan Government.When I received the information, raids were con-ducted for specific people,” said Gehlot.
Talking on the present situation of legislators,Gehlot said while Congress MLAs are staying with-out any restrictions but the BJP has held its MLAs cap-tive, who are now calling us and crying over the phonewhile explaining their ordeal. Their personal mobilephones have also been snatched. Some of them wantto join us, Gehlot said.
On the other hand Union Minister GajendraSingh Shekhawat questioned the authenticity of theaudio clips, cited by the Congress to allege hisinvolvement in a purported bid to topple theRajasthan Government, and sought to know its sourceand how the State police got it. The Rajasthan PoliceSOG, which is probing the case, had earlier sent anotice to Shekhawat, asking him to give his voice sam-ple and record his statement while the Congress hasdemanded the resignation of the Union Minister.
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There is no fixed formula. So how to take a deci-sion is within the Speaker’s domain, he said.
Not being present at a legislature party meetingcan be construed as giving up membership of theparty, but the Speaker has to decide, Singhvi argued.
The senior lawyer who is also a Rajya Sabha mem-ber said, referring to team Pilot, “Unprincipled defec-tion is a political sin and against constitutional moral-ity.”
Salve on his part said intra-party dissent, how-ever shrill it may be, until the moment it goes to the
extent of supporting another party, cannot be a groundto even start disqualification proceedings under the10th schedule.
“If a group of MLAs says that the party presidentis incompetent, and the party president complains tothe Speaker that they have defected, and the Speakerissues notice for disqualification, can they notapproach the court against it?” Salve further stated.
“Even if the complainant’s allegations are assumedto be true, they will only constitute a case of inner-party dissent. No case under the 10th schedule. Issuingdisqualification notice for inner-party dissent is a vio-lation of freedom of speech of the legislator,” Salveadded.
“A party member is free to defy the party whipdirection outside the House. Kihoto nowhere says thatdefying party whip outside the House amounts todefection. Intra-party dissent, however shrill it maybe, until the moment it goes to the extent of supportinganother party, cannot be a ground to even start dis-qualification proceedings under 10th schedule,”Salve told Rajasthan High Court in defence of Pilotand dissidents MLAs.
The Speaker had issued disqualification noticesto 19 rebel Congress MLAs, including Pilot after acomplaint by the ruling Congress party for defyinga whip to attend the Legislative Party meeting andsought action under paragraph 2(1) (a) of the TenthSchedule of the Constitution. This disqualifies MLAsif they “voluntarily give up” the membership of theparty that they represent in the House.
Pilot was sacked as the Rajasthan Deputy ChiefMinister and the president of the State Congress unitafter he rebelled against Chief Minister AshokGehlot. Speaker CP Joshi has given the rebel MLAsup to 5.30 pm to reply to disqualification notices,which the dissident camp wants the court to quash.
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Two suicide notes were recovered by the localpolice probing the case from Vishnoi, one addressedto his parents and the other to the Superintendent ofPolice (SP) of Churu district. In the note addressedto his parents, he had sought forgiveness.
In the suicide note to the police, Vishnoi had saidhe was not able to bear the pressure put on him. Innote, he had also asserted that he tried to give his bestto the Rajasthan Police.
A screenshot of a purported WhatsApp chat thatVishnudutt Vishnoi had with one of his activist friends,in which the police officer talked about beingtrapped in dirty politics, had also gone viral.
Poonia represents the Sadulpur constituency inChuru district of Rajasthan and was recently grant-ed Z Category security cover by the State Governmentfollowing threat to her life on a recommendation ofthe CID.
Discus thrower Krishna Poonia representedIndia at 2004, 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games. Pooniais an international gold-medalist discus thrower andrecipient of Padma Shri and Arjuna awards. She hadwon a Gold Medal in the 2010 Delhi CommonwealthGames and holds the National Record for the longestdiscus throw of 64.76 meters.
The Rajasthan Government had handed over theprobe to the CBI in the case on June 5. The case wasearlier being probed by the Crime InvestigationDepartment of the Crime Branch of the State police.
Earlier the BJP and BSP leaders had alleged thatthe deceased police official, known for his honesty andhard work, was being pressured by local CongressMLA Krishna Poonia, a charge denied by the legis-lator.
This besides, a delegation of Vishnoi communi-ty members had also met Rajasthan Chief MinisterAshok Gehlot demanding a CBI probe into the mat-ter. These calls led to the transfer of the case to theCBI for an independent probe.
The Vishnoi community delegation that metGehlot on June 1 included State Forest MinisterSukhram Vishnoi, Higher Education MinisterBhanwar Singh Bhati, Haryana Congress MLAKuldeep Bishnoi, Rajasthan BJP MLAs Pabba Ram
and Biharilal besides former MP Jaswant SinghBishnoi and others.
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The ICMR has notified 12 sites where the trial forCovaxin will be taking place. On July 17, human tri-als of Covaxin began at Post-Graduate Institute (PGI)of Medical Sciences in Rohtak where three volunteerswere administered Covaxin. Also, trials have startedat AIIMS, Patna and few other places as well.
Another facility which will be starting theprocess of human trials for Covaxin is RedkarHospital in North Goa’s Pernem taluka. The NorthGoa-based private hospital is also amongst the 12 list-ed facilities.
Redkar Hospital will be selecting ten volunteersfrom Goa and instead of randomizing, the facility willselect volunteers on basis of eligibility. The reports forprospective volunteers have been sent to Delhi toascertain their eligibility following which those whoclear the selection criterion will be administeredCovaxin.
Healthy volunteers having no comorbid condi-tions and without a history of COVID-19, aged morethan 18 years and less than 55 years, would be eligi-ble to participate in the randomised, double-blind,placebo-controlled clinical trial.
Anybody willing to participate in the trial can sendan email to [email protected] or an SMSto or call on 7428847499, said a senior doctor fromthe hospital.
Approximately 1,000 human volunteers would beparticipating in the exercise for each of the two indige-nously developed vaccine candidates.
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During the hearing on Monday, Mehta told theapex court that he will produce a draft notificationwith regard to the changes suggested in the enquirypanel by July 22.
Mehta said law has been set in motion in the mat-ter and the enquiry has started. Referring to therecords, he said Dubey was on parole and he was fac-ing cases in 65 FIRs.
Eight policemen, including DSP DevendraMishra, were ambushed in Bikru village inChaubeypur area of Kanpur when they were going toarrest Dubey and fell to bullets fired from rooftopsshortly after midnight on July 3.
Dubey was killed in an encounter in the morn-ing of July 10 when a police vehicle carrying him fromUjjain to Kanpur met with an accident and he triedto escape from the spot in Bhauti area, the police hadsaid. Prior to Dubey’s encounter, five of his allegedassociated were killed in separate encounters.
During the arguments, Mehta said that eightpolicemen were killed and their body mutilated whenthey had gone to raid Dubey’s place. “I am not justi-fying as to what happened later,” he added.
The bench observed that there was big differencebetween the last year’s Telangana case, in which fouraccused in gang rape and murder case of a veterinarydoctor were killed in an encounter, and the incidentinvolving Dubey.
“You have to be very careful and you have to fol-low the law,” the bench said, and asked Uttar Pradeshto add a former apex court judge and a retired policeofficer to the enquiry committee.
“We don’t want people to go to Allahabad andconduct an enquiry there in pandemic times,” thebench said, while observing that locally available for-mer judge could be a part of the inquiry panel.
One of the petitioners in the matter request-ed the bench not to allow Uttar PradeshGovernment to choose the members of the inquirycommittee.
“Are you saying a former Supreme Court judgeand former High Court judge are state sponsored?,”the Bench said, adding, “This attitude of mud sling-ing at all must stop some time”.
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From Page 1The US Carrier strike
group was en route for deploy-ment in the Middle East fromthe South China Sea when itcarried a joint exercise with theIndian Navy ships, sourcessaid.
This exercise came at atime when India and China aremaking efforts to end thestand-offs and defuse tension atthe LAC. Moreover, China’sgrowing assertiveness in theSouth China Sea has led to ten-sion with the nations located onits rim and the US Navy recent-ly carried out a major exerciseinvolving USS Nimitz and USSRonald Reagan.
Incidentally, the EasternFleet of the Indian Navy is atpresent carrying a major oper-ational exercise off theAndaman and Nicobar Islandsfor the past few days.
The ongoing exerciseincludes frontline warships,submarines, frigates, maritimereconnaissance aircraft andhelicopters. In order toenhance the scope and dimen-sion of the exercise, warshipsnow patrolling the Strait ofMalacca also joined for somedrills, sources said.
The US-India Passex alsocame months ahead of theMalabar series of maritimeexercises. Besides India and US,Japan is the third country toparticipate in this prestigiousexercise. This year Australiamay also join it as an observ-er. China has all along protest-ed against any move to includeAustralia in this exercise as itmay signal militarizationQuadrilateral (Quad) coali-tion.
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Hindus in Kerala observedMonday as the day for
ancestors. The Amavasya dayin the month of Karkidaka (thelast month of the year as perKerala’s almanac) is dedicatedto the departed souls of thefamily.
Those who are alive per-form ‘Bali Tharpanam’ (offer-ing to the souls) under theguidance of priests. The Bali orShraddham is usually per-
formed on the banks of themajor rivers in the State oron some selected spotsalong the sea shore. Butthis year the lock down andrelated prohibitory ordersresulted in Shraddhambeing performed in thefront yard of the housesitself.
Those of fer ing theShraddham should observeabstinence from non-vege-tarian foods, drinks, smok-ing at least 24 hours beforethe ritual. The Tharppanamwas done by 7 am under thewatchful eyes of the priest.Rice is boiled ant it is madeinto balls with coconut,ghee, curd, milk and offeredon plantain leaves to thesouls with prayers for theprosperity of the progenies.The ritual is also known astilahomam or pitru bali.
The significance of theage old tradition whichfinds mention in Ramayanaand Maha Bharat is thebelief that a day of thedeparted soul is equivalent
to 365 earthly days. “TheTharppanam is like offeringfood to the dear departedsouls and this brings us bless-ings and prosperity,” saidnoted physicist Dr M GGireeshan, an Indologist.
The highlight of thisyear’s Bali Tharppanam wasmovie maker and writer AliAkbar releasing the pho-tographs of rituals performedby him for his ancestors.Akbar was guided by a priestand the Tharpanam was doneat his house in Malabar. “It isa way of saying thanks to ourancestors . And pleaseremember that they had noreligion or caste. Today was aday to reminiscence about mygreat grandfathers and greatgrandmothers about whomwe do not have any idea. Ibelieve in the tradition ofVande Guru Parampara,”Akbar told The Pioneer.
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In one of his sharpest directattacks on the Prime
Minister, former Congresspresident Rahul Gandhi onMonday said Narendra Modihad come to power with thehelp of a ‘fabricated strongmanimage’ but now that image of aleader with a 56-inch chest wasunder attack from China.
Rahul, in his second videoput on social media in a week,claimed that China may bethinking on a larger scale of“doing something withPakistan in Kashmir” andwanted to improve its tacticalposition in areas such asDemchok, Galwan andPangong lake.
In the first video, the
Gandhi scion had said thePrime Minister’s blunders, frag-ile economy, troubled neigh-bourhood and a weak foreignpolicy had prompted China toact.
“PM fabricated a fakestrongman image to come topower. It was his biggeststrength. It is now India’sbiggest weakness,” Rahul tweet-ed his new video this being thesecond in a week.
Commenting on the recentIndia-China border face-off inthe Ladakh region, theCongress leader claimed it wasnot just a border issue butdesigned to put pressure onModi.
“And what they are doing,is that they are attacking hisimage. They understand that itin order for Narendra Modi tobe an effective politician; inorder for Narendra Modi tosurvive as a politician, he hasto protect the idea of ‘chhappaninch’ (56-inch chest). And thisis the real idea the Chinese areattacking,” the Congress leadersaid.
“They are basically tellingMr. Narendra Modi that if youdo not do what we say, we willdestroy the idea of Mr.Narendra Modi as a strongleader. Now the question is,how will Mr. Narendra Modireact. Will he take them on?Will he take on the challengeand say absolutely not, I’m thePrime Minister of India. I donot care about my image I’mgoing to take you on. Or will hesuccumb to them? The worryI have so far is that the PrimeMinister has succumbed,” headded.
“Chinese don’t do any-thing without thinking about itstrategically. In their mind,they have mapped out theworld and they are trying toshape the world. That’s the scaleof what they are doing. That’swhat Gwadar is, that is whatBelt and Road is. It is a restruc-turing of the planet. So whenyou’re thinking about theChinese you have to under-stand that that is the level atwhich they are thinking,”Rahulsaid.
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Nearly 10 years after theGangetic Dolphin was
declared a national aquaticanimal, the Modi Governmenthas, on the lines of the TigerProject and Elephant Project,cleared a dedicated conserva-tion programme to save therare freshwater species fromdisappearing from the coun-try’s aqua map.
A senior official from theUnion Environment Ministry,
which will oversee the project,said that the approval in thisregard was given in the firstmeeting of the National GangaCouncil held during December2019 in Kanpur, Uttar Pradeshunder the chairmanship ofPrime Minister NarendraModi.
“It was agreed for initiationof a Project River Dolphin onthe lines of Project Tiger andProject Elephant in consulta-tion with the Wildlife Instituteof India and experts in the sec-
tor. After discussion, theStanding Committee of theNational Board of Wildlife(NBWL) recommended thededicated project for conser-vation of Gangetic dolphins,”said the official.
With the Government’sapproval for the project, planswill soon be drawn for the ini-tiation of a dedicated projectfor conservation of the aquat-ic animal.
The Ganges River Dolphinis an endemic species of the
Ganges, Brahmaputra, andMeghna river systems, extend-ing from the foot of theHimalayas to the tidal zone inIndia, Bangladesh, Nepal andBhutan.
“Like we have tiger as anational animal and peacockas a national bird, dolphins asa national aquatic animal rep-resents the health of the rivers,particularly Ganga in thecountry,” said the official.
He felt that by declaringdolphins as a national aquat-
ic animal, the government isnot only ensuring the survivalof the species which areendemic to river Ganga butalso seeking cleansing of theriver.
In 2009, the Gangetic dol-phins were declared India’sNational Aquatic animal dur-ing the first meeting of theerstwhile National GangaRiver Basin Authority(NGRBA) and it is placedunder the “endangered” cate-gory by the International
Union for Conservation ofNature (IUCN) .It faces gravethreats due to excessive pol-lution in Ganga and poaching.There are less than 2,000 dol-phins left in the country
Since the river dolphin isat the apex of the aquaticfood chain, its presence in ade-quate numbers symbolisesgreater biodiversity in theriver system.
It has been included in theSchedule-I of the IndianWildlife Protection Act, 1972.
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Targeting Congress leaderRahul Gandhi, BJP presi-
dent JP Nadda said on Mondaythat his allegations against theUnion Government on theIndia-China stand-off in east-ern Ladakh were “weak onfacts and strong on mudsling-ing” and accused him of pre-ferring to believe the Chinesearmy than his ownGovernment.
Describing the latest videoof Rahul attacking PrimeMinister Narendra Modi onthe border escalation on theLine of Actual Control inLadakh as yet another “failedattempt” to relaunch himself,Nadda said that “one dynasty’sdesperation” to wash away their“sins of 1962” have beenexposed.
“We saw yet another
(failed) edition of ‘Project RGRelaunch’ today. Rahul GandhiJi was, as usual, weak on factsand strong on mudslinging.Attempts to politicise defenceand foreign policy mattersshows one dynasty’s despera-tion to wash their past sins of1962 and weaken India,” tweet-ed BJP president.
Nadda said for years, onedynasty has been trying todestroy the image of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi. “Foryears, one dynasty has been try-ing to destroy PM NarendraModi. Sadly for them, PMModi’s connection with 130crore Indians is deep-rooted.He lives and works for them.
Those who want to destroy himwill end up only furtherdestroying their own party,” theBJP president tweeted.
He said that Rahul tries topoliticise foreign policy issuesby making statements that areweak on facts and strong onmudslinging. Rahul has beenreleasing a series of videos toreach out to the people with histhoughts on matters of impor-tance. Rahul also positionedthese videos as a counter to thealleged “hate filled narrative”being spread through televisionchannels.
BJP chief said that in recentyears, be it Doklam or the pre-sent, Rahul Gandhi prefersbriefings from the Chineseinstead of believing India’sarmed forces. “Why does onedynasty want a weak India anda strong China? Many leadersin the Congress also disapprove
of one dynasty’s shenanigans!”he tweeted.
He said the Congress leaderprefers to believe Chinese armymore than his own governr-rment.
Nadda said since the 1950s,China has made “strategicinvestments in one dynastythat has given them rich divi-dends”. As a result of that, hesaid, China captured land dur-ing the Congress-led UPAtenure.
Nadda’s stinging attackfollowed after Rahul released avideo wherein he attackedModi saying the LAC standoffin Ladakh is not simply a bor-der dispute but a design byChina to attack his image as a“56-inch strongman”. Rahulalleged that Chinese leadershipunderstood the image con-scious Indian Prime Ministerand sought to weaken his “false
image” of a strong at the helm.As against the Prime
Minister’s assertion that nonehas encroached in the Indianterritory, the former CongressPresident has been assertingthat China has been sitting inthe Indian territory and thatModi was “telling lies”.
BJP National spokespersonand Rajya Sabha memberSudhanshu Trivedi also madetirade against Rahul saying heshould be aware that the India-China border problem a “lega-cy issue” that was inherited byt h eModi-Government from thepast regimes headed by his fam-ily elders including JawaharlalNehru, the first Prime Ministerof the county. eom
He alleged that Rahul wasshort on facts and has poorunderstanding of the sensitiveborder issues.
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Prime Minister NarendraModi’s old trusted aide from
Surat and Member ofParliament from Navsari LokSabha constituency,Chandrakant Raghunath Patil,has been appointed the GujaratBJP’s new president replacingJitu Vaghani, whose term cameto an end.
Another BJP MP who hadhogged limelight with his ener-
getic speech in the Lok Sabhain support of Ladakh as a sep-arate Union Territory, JamyangTsering Namgyal, was appoint-ed as the party president ofLadakh.
This is the first time thatsomeone with non-Gujaratiorigin and a migrant has beenappointed as the Gujarat BJPpresident. The surprise appoint-
ment announcement was madehere by BJP president J P Naddawho had on Sunday alsoappointed O P Dhankar, a jatand state Minister, as HaryanaState president.
Patil, a former constable-turned politician, has a recordof winning with the highestmargins and is one of the rich-est MPs too. For the last twoterms, Patil won from his seatby more than five lakh votes.
Patil has also been Modi’schoice to coordinate develop-ment works in his Lok Sabhaconstituency Varanasi in UttarPradesh.
Namgyal, 35, is a first-term MP from Ladakh. Thepost of BJP president in theUnion Territory was vacantafter Namgyal’s predecessorresigned.
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Consumers can file caseswhere they reside and
courts can now hear cases withvalue higher than �10 croreunder the new ConsumerProtection Act 2019 whichcame into force from Mondayreplacing the more than three-decade-old ConsumerProtection Act 1986. Under thenew Act, the District Forumhas been renamed the DistrictCommission and can now hearcases with a value of up to�1crore while the StateCommission can now hearcases up to �10 crore. Underthe new Act, the NationalConsumer Disputes RedressalCommission (NCDRC) canhear cases with value higherthan �10 crore, keeping withthe inflation in the country.
The new Act aims toenforce and protect the rights
of consumers, and provide aneffective mechanism to addressconsumer grievances. The Actprovides for a simplified dis-pute resolution mechanism,with a provision for mediationand e-filing of cases.
Another important featureof the new Act is that a con-sumer can file a case wherev-er he resides, instead of filinga case at the location of theopposite party. Section 49(2)and 59(2) of the new Act givespower to the State Commissionand the NCDRC, respectively,to declare the allegedly unfairterms of contract to be null andvoid.
Additionally, a profession-al mediator can now beappointed and consent termsentered between the partiesbefore him will be treated as anorder of the court. The oppo-site party will now need todeposit 50 per cent of the
amount ordered by DistrictCommission before filing anappeal before the StateCommission. The earlier ceil-ing of �25,000 has beenremoved.
Under the aegis of the newAct, a product manufacturerand seller will be liable to pro-vide compensation for injury ordamage caused by a defectiveproduct or service. The errantbusinesses will be penalizedwith up to 6 months in jail or afine of up to �1 lakh if the con-sumers do not suffer anyinjuries. In cases where theconsumer is injured, the fine tothe manufacturer, seller or dis-tributor could go up to � 5 lakhand up to seven years in jail. Incase of death of the consumer,the culprit will have to pay aminimum fine of �10 lakh andspend seven years in jail, whichcan be extended to life impris-onment.
The new consumer Actallows mediation, hearing ofcases of a much higher valueand a provision to challengeunfair conditions of serviceproviders. However, an entirechapter of the Act dealing witha separate Consumer ProtectionAuthority for advertisements, e-commerce rules for websites,making celebrity endorsersliable is yet to be notified. The
Act, was introduced in theUpper House of Parliament bythe Minister of ConsumerAffairs, Food and PublicDistribution, Ram Vilas Paswan,on July 8, 2019. It was passed bythe Lok Sabha on July 30, 2019and Rajya Sabha on August 6,2019.
The Bill was then signedinto law by President Ram NathKovind on August 9 last year.
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The Indian CommercialPilots’ Association (ICPA),
comprising several senior AirIndia pilots, have written to AirIndia Chairman and ManagingDirector Rajiv Bansal com-plaining that the leave withoutpay scheme, which Air Indiacalls a ‘win-win’ for both’, wasfinalised without consultingthe pilots. While ICPA said itsupports temporary austeritymeasures in the wake of eco-nomic distress triggered bythe pandemic, it has slammedthe Air India management forits proposal with regards torestructuring of wages.
In a letter to Air IndiaCMD, the ICPA said “Any uni-lateral change by Air India fromagreed-upon wage settlementwould be illegal and will not bein the interest of our NationalCarrier at this crucial juncture.Such a situation has the poten-tial to flair to unprecedentedmagnitude.”
“In the press conference byHardeep Singh Puri dated July16, you had stated “we are innegotiation with the pilots”which is far from reality. It wasnot a negotiation, but the diktatof MoCA which was conveyedto us. We would also like to placeon record that the so callednegotiation was ‘not harmo-nious’ in any aspect,” the letteralleged.
“In the interest of the com-pany and due to the COVID sce-nario, ICPA supports temporaryausterity measures at all fronts.Only if such a restructuring is
done in the true spirit of Article14 of the Indian Constitution.Flying allowance and flyingrelated allowances constitute 70per cent of our wages. Theseallowances remain unpaid sinceApril 2020,” the statement said.“Furthermore, all the wages arebeing paid with constant delays.”The ICPA said the proposal is“not acceptable” as it is against‘Right to Equality’ guaranteedunder the Indian Constitution.
Air India issued an internalorder on July 14 asking itsdepartmental heads and region-al directors to identify employ-ees, based on various factors likeefficiency, health and redun-dancy, who will be sent oncompulsory leave without pay(LWP) for up to five years.Moreover, it said employees canvoluntarily opt for the LWPscheme too.
Air India has proposed a 60per cent salary cut for pilotsamid the coronavirus pandem-ic, which has infected 55 of itscockpit crew members, the ICPAand the Indian Pilots’ Guild(IPG) had said in their joint let-
ter to Bansal last week. Defending the arrangement,
Air India had said it will give theemployees freedom to engagethemselves with anotheremployer for the said period, theairline too will be able to save itscash flow on the other hand.
In an earlier statement, theairline said that in a challengingfinancial situation, it is takingrecourse to several initiativeswith a view to ensure that itsflight operations continue.
The cost-cutting drive dove-tails with a government plan tosell its entire stake in Air Indiaamid increasing debt andmounting losses.
The Centre, in January,started the process by releasingan information document forinvestors and offering access tofinancial and other data of AirIndia and its subsidiaries.
The Government’s entirestake in Air India, its 100% stakein low-cost subsidiary Air IndiaExpress Ltd. and 50% stake inground handling unit Air IndiaSATS Airport Services PrivateLimited. are on offer
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ASupreme Court-mandat-ed committee on content
regulation in Governmentadvertising has issued a noticeto the Arvind KejriwalGovernment in Delhi over anadvertisement issued by it lastweek, taking cognisance ofconcerns raised on socialmedia that its purpose was only“political messaging”.
“Historic! DelhiGovernment schools class 12results - 98 per cent,” said theDelhi Government advertise-ment, which was published inseveral newspapers on July 16.
It came in for criticism onsocial media with many claiming that it was just polit-ical messaging and there wasno point in spending hugesums of money to publish thead in other States.
The Supreme Court-man-dated Committee on ContentRegulation in GovernmentAdvertising (CCRGA) issuedthe notice to the DelhiGovernment and demanded areply to various issues, like costto the exchequer, within 60days upon receiving the notice.
“The committee had takensuo-motu cognizance of thepoints raised in the socialmedia on the Delhi govern-ment advertisement— ques-tions had been raised on thenecessity of the Delhi govern-ment to issue advertisements in
Mumbai newspapers and hadpointed that the purpose of thead was only for political mes-saging,” a statement issued bythe Union Ministry ofInformation and Broadcastingsaid.
“The one-page advertise-ment was published by theDepartment of Education andDirectorate of Informationand Publicity, government ofNCT of Delhi,” the statementsaid.
The Delhi Governmenthas been given 60 days timefrom the receipt of the noticeto submit its comments to thecommittee on issues of cost tothe exchequer on the adver-tisement and the purpose ofthe advertisement publishedand specifically publishing it inother editions than Delhi, itsaid.
The committee has soughta reply as to how this adver-tisement does not violate theSupreme Court’’s guidelines ofavoiding glorification of polit-ical personalities.
It has also sought themedia plan of the advertise-ment with names of publica-tions and their editions.
Under the Supreme Courtguidelines dated May 13,2015,”content of Governmentadvertisements should be rel-evant to the Governments’constitutional and legal oblig-ations as well as the citizens’rights and entitlements”.
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It’s not just thecontact tracing,
but speedy test-ing of the cases isalso important tocurb the spreadof the infectiousdisease.
Researchersexplained thateven the bestcontact tracingstrategy — whereall contacts of aninfected person are identifiedand alerted — won’t reducethe spread of the virus ifthere is a delay of three ormore days between when aperson shows symptoms andwhen they are tested for thevirus (and get test results).
Contact tracing is con-sidered especially importantas Covid-19 restrictions areeased and people resumemore activities.
The findings, which arebased on a mathematicalmodel and published in thejournal The Lancet PublicHealth, underscore theimportance of speedy testing.
“In our model, minimis-ing testing delays had thelargest impact on reducingtransmission of the virus; andtesting infrastructure is there-fore the most critical factorfor the success of a contact-tracing system,” Dr MarcBonten, senior author of thestudy and professor of epi-demiology at the University ofUtrecht in the Netherlands,said in a statement. “Thismeans that as many infectious
people as possible need to betested, and policymakersmight consider lowering theeligibility threshold for accessto testing.”
Contact tracing has beenused for decades by publichealth officials to control thespread of infectious diseases.It involves interviewing peo-ple with confirmed infections— in this case, people whotest positive for Covid-19 —and tracking down their con-tacts who may have beenexposed to the disease.
These contacts are thenquarantined to prevent fur-ther spread of the disease.
But for contact tracing tobe successful, it needs tolower the “basic reproductionnumber,” also known as R0, orthe average number of peoplewho catch the virus from asingle infected person, below1. At that rate, each personwill infect less than one otherperson and the virus willeventually die out.
The researchers alsolooked at how mobile apptechnologies could improvecontact tracing, given thatsuch apps allow people to benotified instantly if they havebeen in contact with a personwho tests positive for theinfection. The researchersassumed that traditional con-tact tracing takes at leastthree days, while contact trac-ing with mobile app tech-nologies was instantaneous.
The study found thatphysical distancing alonecould reduce R0 from 2.5 to1.2, but that contact tracingcould further reduce R0 tobelow 1, provided that testingand tracing of contacts was aspeedy process.
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India’s boycott of China’s Belt andRoad Initiative (BRI) on grounds thatthe China-Pakistan EconomicCorridor (CPEC) goes through Gilgit-Baltistan that was part of the kingdom
of Jammu & Kashmir and, hence, belongsto India, has been viewed by Beijing as threat-ening the security of the CPEC. Pakistan isthe only country that links Beijing’s mega-connectivity project by both land and sea andis critical to Chinese ambitions in West Asia.It links Xinjiang province with Gwadar port,close to the Strait of Hormuz, through whicha bulk of the world’s crude oil moves.
Gwadar’s importance has increased inrecent weeks due to its proximity to Iranwhere Beijing is cementing a long-term rela-tionship based on mutual hostility toWashington. India is a collateral loser dueto bureaucratic inertia that has failed to exe-cute agreements crafted by the political lead-ership. It will take great skill (and manage-ment of US President Donald Trump) torejuvenate ties with Tehran.
China is unhappy at public protests inGilgit-Baltistan against Islamabad’s mis-treatment and more recently against theCPEC. According to an intelligence reportaccessed by Paul D Shinkman, national secu-rity analyst, US News and World Report mag-azine, New Delhi views the current imbroglioin Ladakh as evidence of “Beijing’s sweep-ing imperialist designs.” China covets (largeportions of) Ladakh for easy access toPakistan and enhanced stability for theCPEC; resentful local populations would bedealt with sternly.
New Delhi believes that Beijing wantsto expel Indian troops from areas it wantsto occupy and eventually link ThangChhenmo (wild, big desert) that China callsAksai Chin (white stone desert pass) afterintruding into the region in mid-1950s. Theaim is to link Thang Chhenmo (India muststart calling the area by its original Ladakhiname) with the Shaksgam Valley region, gift-ed illegally by Pakistan in 1963, and even-tually join Pakistan. Every move has beenmethodically planned.
In April 2013, a Chinese platoon enteredthe Daulat Beg Oldi area with the sameobjective in mind, though it withdrew amonth later. Occupation of Daulat Beg Oldiwould enable China to link Thang Chhenmowith Siachen glacier (currently held by India)and Karakorum Pass, where it has built anall-weather road. A cursory look at the mapshows that Pangong-Tso and Galwan Valley,where the current stand-off is taking place,could enable China to seal the border of theUnion Territory of Ladakh from ThangChhenmo side and fully absorb this large ter-ritory that belongs to India.
This would make it difficult to defendLadakh in the event of more serious hostili-ties. India cannot allow China to entrenchitself along the Thang Chhenmo border. Asthis deadly terrain can be visited only in sum-mer months, China had to build infrastruc-
ture and grab the region beforethe arrival of winter in November.It was a serious lapse on the partof our foreign policy and nation-al security mandarins not toanticipate these moves.
The June 15 killing of 20Indian Army personnel in hand-to-hand combat at PatrollingPoint 14 of Galwan, WesternSector of Ladakh border, was abold move by China to entrenchits military in this strategic loca-tion. But the valiant responsefrom Col B Santosh Babu andhis men, who took down 35 to53 Chinese soldiers (casualtiesnot acknowledged to this day)before making the supreme sac-rifice, has strengthened thenational resolve to defend theborders at any cost, a messagereinforced by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and DefenceMinister Rajnath Singh duringrecent visits to Ladakh. However,as the stakes are much higherthis time, Beijing’s retreat isgrudging and slow.
The modus operandi atDoklam in 2017 bears examina-tion. The People’s LiberationArmy (PLA) was engaged in ajoint military exercise on theTibetan plateau to test its com-bat efficiency when it suddenlycrossed into Indian territory. TheDoklam intrusion was resolveddiplomatically but showed thatBeijing has built all-weatherroads along its borders for swiftmilitary mobilisation.
In hindsight, it appears thatChina’s quest for a direct land
route to Pakistan was conceivedand partially executed byChairman Mao; President XiJinping is trying to complete thisagenda. The salami-slicing tech-nique is not ad hoc needling ofIndia but a grand design ofstrategists of the CommunistParty of China. The increasedterrorist infiltration on the west-ern front clearly enjoys Beijing’ssupport. Henceforth, India’s mil-itary planning should view thenorthern frontier as a single enti-ty. The loss of Tehran must beacknowledged as a diplomaticblunder.
In January 2020, China con-ducted military exercises inTibet, showcasing the PLA’sability to fight a mountain war,with the Type 15 light battletank, the new 155-MM vehicle-mounted howitzer, helicopters,heavy artillery and anti-aircraftmissiles. The increasing numberof military exercises in Tibetover the past three years hasacclimatised the PLA to high-altitude conditions and Indiacannot afford to be complacent.
Interestingly, the exerciseswere held from Lhasa up to theborder — a message to Tibetansin Tibet and India. One wonderswhy does India host a TibetanGovernment-in-exile if it seesTibet as part of China? We mustfix our foreign policy goals andengage Sikyong, LobsangSangay, who desire an indepen-dent Tibet.
India’s move to augment itsborder infrastructure is com-
mendable. However, even afterMaj Gen KS Thimayya modifiedand led tanks up the Zoji-la in1947, India never invested inlight tanks for mountain warfare.Worse, former Defence MinisterManohar Parrikar’s suggestionfor a Mountain Strike Corps wassimply struck down.
New Delhi and Washingtonbelieve that Beijing exploited theCoronavirus pandemic to assertterritorial claims along its bor-ders, in the South China Sea,and Hong Kong. The Trumpadministration issued retaliato-ry sanctions against Beijing afterit imposed sanctions on USlawmakers for passing a legisla-tion against China for repressionin Hong Kong. US Secretary ofState Mike Pompeo promisedincreased support to allies in theSouth China Sea.
Observers, however,expressed surprise at the deter-mination with which Beijingmoved on so many fronts simul-taneously, from denting HongKong’s autonomy and trying toimpose its authority on thearchipelago; to upping the anteagainst India in Ladakh andwooing Tehran against India; tochallenging Washington andreiterating its claims in theSouth China Sea vis-à-vis itsSouth East Asian neighboursand Taiwan. This could prove aclassic overreach butWashington should help byturning neutral on Iran.
(The author is a senior jour-nalist. Views are personal)
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Sir — By putting greater faith onthe virtues of martinet gover-nance, we expected the pandem-ic travails to end by mid-May andopened up advance bookings ontrains. Within months, however,we have touched over a millioncases even as a cavalier US sur-passes 36 million. Both nationsnow wonder what went wrong.Neither the nonchalance of USPresident Donald Trump nor ourown hesitant approach has con-tributed to this serious predica-ment as much as our ceding theonus of national medical care toprivate set-ups and the near-absent centralised health system.In a pandemic, this seminal skewin the public health architectureis proving to be an exponentialdisaster. The US, for all its $3 tril-lion (17 per cent of GDP) spendon healthcare, has several thou-sand deaths. With just 1.3 per centof the GDP on healthcare, thepoor state of Government hospi-tals and misplaced accountabili-ty between States and the Centre,we can but hope that COVID-19does not cause excessive damage.
R NarayananNavi Mumbai
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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Flood fury in Assam” (July20). It is astonishing and beyondcomprehension that India stillrelies on the use of embankmentsto control floods which have
now become outdated.Embanking rivers has been a con-troversial technology and hasnot been successful as such.While they suffice during normalconditions, they do not provideprotection during the largestevents. In Assam itself, floods area recurrent feature. And their
severity has only increased withthe increase in the number ofdams and embankments. TheState Government has not learntits lessons due to which bothhumans and animals are put atthe mercy of god every year.India’s flood control policy mustgo beyond embankments.
Improving water laws will goa long way in addressing thisissue. The need of the hour is forthe State Government to show thewillingness to handle the floodswith an open mind.
Bal GovindNoida
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Sir — Government-run hospitalshave been providing free treatmentto COVID-19 patients.Infrastructure and other facilitiesremain poor in our country.Further, the cost of the medicineand devices as mentioned, variesfrom 10 to 90 per cent. StateGovernments have put a cap onthe cost of treatment. It is clear thatprivate hospitals and laboratorieshave been charging unreasonablebills. Governments should takestrict measures to save citizensfrom unethical business-mindedmedical experts. We must focus onproviding the most effective treat-ment to the largest number of peo-ple at an affordable cost.
Richa GargVia email
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Before COVID-19 struck the world, “emperor”Xi Jinping decided that 2020 was the year toestablish the Chinese century. American
think-tanks had predicted in 2019 that the ChineseGDP was more than the US’ and by 2030 it couldbe up to 70 per cent larger. China’s share of globaloutput would grow to 32 per cent from 20 per centcurrently, as opposed to the US’ share declining from16 per cent to 10 per cent. In terms of global mar-ket capitalisation, the Chinese would grow to 25 percent from five per cent in 2019, while the US wouldfall from 40 per cent to 18 per cent. China’s shareof global exports would rise to 18 per cent from 12per cent while the US would be static at eight percent. The above forecasts were supported by mas-sive Chinese investments in education in the fieldsof mathematics, science, technology and medicine.
Starting with the 1980s, the Chinese had suc-cessfully got the world’s manufacturing supply chainto relocate to their nation and became the “facto-ry of the world.” From a pure labour arbitrage offer-ing, they created world-class infrastructure (cities,roads, ports and airports) to support it. The top 2,500global corporates had a business presence inChina. This aggressive export-led growth modelallowed the Chinese to radically improve per capi-ta income and in the process create a massive domes-tic consumption engine. A 40 per cent domestic sav-ings rate supported the huge developments that hap-pened on their eastern seaboard. Till 2012, theChinese Government was sitting on foreignexchange reserves of close to $5 trillion. China nowimported/consumed 45-50 per cent of every com-modity in the world.
Chinese leaders till 2012 kept a low profile, hid-ing their strengths while they relentlessly gainedmarket share from the world. The Chinese acquiredthe world’s Intellectual Property Rights by anymeans. The Communist Party of China’s (CPC’s)command and control structure had also silentlyexpanded its Foreign Ministry with requisiteresources to create a public relations repository inevery major country and to manage the national dis-course on any prickly subject in its favour. Thisthree-decade old policy profile started changing withXi’s ascension in 2012.
Chinese strategists now started believing thatthe Middle Kingdom deserved to rule the world andpost-2008, global financial institutions were weak-ened, substantially dysfunctional and lacking lead-ership. They unleashed a project of achieving com-plete Chinese dominance in the manpower of everymultilateral agency and United Nations (UN)body in the world. Chinese students were encour-aged to study overseas and many persuaded to jointhese organisations, and as so many Federal Bureauof Investigation investigations are now showing,made instruments of Government policy.
The collapse of the USSR in the 1990s and theprofligacy of the US financial sector in 2008 had lefta leadership vacuum in many areas. Xi moved rapid-ly to occupy the vacancies. China needed to secureits supply chain as it neither produced adequate foodfor its population, nor was it endowed with man-ufacturing or energy raw materials. The Chineseleaders wanted to avoid supply side shocks and cre-ated strategies to acquire assets surreptitiously. Theymoved rapidly to fund every country and projectthat the World Bank or the rest of the world wouldnot find viable. The Chinese wanted to eventuallyacquire the underlying asset and default was hencea preferred option for them. This juggernaut cov-ered 150 countries and nearly $5 trillion inloans/investments. Xi had successfully over-invest-ed the Chinese US Dollar reserves and left his coun-trymen very vulnerable. They desperately needed
their Dollar engine (Foreign Direct Investment,Foreign Portfolio Investment and ForeignCurrency Loans) to keep firing quickly torecoup their position, or fast-track their long-term vision to get global trade out of the Dollarand into the RMB.
Unluckily for the Chinese, two thingschanged the landscape in 2017. Donald Trumpwon the US presidential election and was a wildcard that they read wrongly. Second, the worldeconomy started topping out and growthbegan stalling. The Chinese engine was notdesigned to handle economic contraction.Faultlines in the domestic economy were led byhuge non-performing loans in State-ownedenterprises. Ghost cities started appearing asdemand stalled while real estate started goingbelly-up. The country was overbuilt and nomore infrastructure spending was needed.
Trump started the trade war and insistedthat the Chinese reduce trade surpluses. Xi erredmassively in not giving Trump a cheap victo-ry and riling up the Americans. US strategistshad clearly war-gamed that the days of the USDhegemony were numbered and if their politi-cal dominance was to be extended, a war withChina was not an option, the only question wastiming. By a strange coincidence, the two tech-nology hardware giants, the US and China, weretangibly dependent on Taiwan for their semi-conductor underbelly. The US had formed ajoint venture (JV) with the Taiwanese that wouldgo operational in Arizona in 2023. Till then anymilitary threat to Taiwan would be an attack onthe US’ technology dominance, an intolerablethought for them. Democrat Presidents hadsoft-pedalled the “One China” policy and theChinese had got their way. The Americans hadcelebrated access to a large consumption mar-ket but landed up creating a rival.
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army(PLA) in manpower terms is the largest stand-ing armed force on the globe. The PLA andCPC moved fast to upgrade weapon systems,stealing blueprints and buying where they couldnot. However, the Navy is their Achilles’ heeland they lack in class aircraft carriers and sub-
marines. This limits China’s ability to protectits interests spanning 150 countries. A whop-ping 75 per cent of Chinese oil still moves intankers through the Malacca Strait. To reach theArabian Sea by land, China invested in a bank-rupt Pakistan by constructing the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) whichlinks Xinjiang to Gwadar Port. It also engagedeast European and European countries to con-struct the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) for cre-ating dedicated freight corridors to 50 cities.In the process, it has protected trade supplyroutes but the oil buy routes lie exposed. Thenightmare for China achieving dominance isthat Indian land illegally occupied by Pakistanis being used by the CPEC and India re-acquir-ing Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) couldrender its $66 billion investment useless,blocking oil supply. The Chinese realised thateconomic sanctions against Iran had crippledthe proud country with 15 per cent of the world’soil. It needed investments and so China decid-ed to bust sanctions on Iran imposed by the UN(which Beijing was a party to imposing, too).China and Iran signed a 25-year trade and mil-itary alliance in June 2020. China has bet on theUS exiting Afghanistan in 2020 and by usingthe Pakistanis to install a puppet regime inAfghanistan, it could take a pipeline from Iranto Xinjiang. In return, the Chinese have to pumpin the equivalent of $400 billion into Iran’s devel-opment, which they can crank their RMB economy to deliver. What will happen toPakistan?
In the interim, Xi got the CPC to appointhim as leader for life and emerged as an emper-or. The CPC decided that by its 100th anniver-sary in 2021, it would stamp itself as numerouno in the world. A few pinpricks remained:Taiwan and Hong Kong as independent democ-racies were an eyesore. They had to be acquiredby coercion at the earliest. The South China Sea(SCS) had a $5 trillion supply chain transitingthe route. China laid claims to territories/islandsof all its neighbours and started constructingartificial islands as missile bases. Beijing start-ed bullying and humiliating Australia since 70
per cent of its mining exports were bought byit. Singularly, none of the Asian countries couldtake on China but many could exact a heavytoll if it came to conflict. The Chinese flirtedwith conflict among all their neighbours using“wearing down” tactics. The success of this gam-bit hinged on the continuity of their trade withthe US, heavily skewed in their favour. Trumpnot getting an early trade war win upped theante, imposing a $250 billion annual hit onChina. It perhaps felt that US corporationswould not listen to their Government and con-tinue business as usual. It floated a trial balloonby abrogating the agreement with Hong Kongwhich would have lapsed in 2047 and suppress-ing protests with force. Then it ostensiblymanipulated the World Health Organisation(WHO) and the COVID-19 pandemic wasunleashed upon the world. This hit worldeconomies and created a very strong anti-Chinasentiment.
It resulted in fast-tracking the opera-tionalistion of the Quad (US, Japan, Australiaand India alliance) to take on the Chinese. UK,France and Israel are openly in support of theQuad while Vietnam, Myanmar, the Philippines,Indonesia, Taiwan and South Korea have puttheir armed forces on alert. In the Chinese campare North Korea, Pakistan, Iran and Turkeywhile anti-India squeaks may emerge fromNepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
With China designated as “world enemyNumber 1”, even Joe Biden has ratcheted up theanti-China rhetoric, lest Trump steal the thun-der and a potentially-lost presidential electionthrough a war with China. The Indian andChinese armies are facing off across the 3,400km border and uneasy peace prevails for now.The Middle East has stayed quiet but will haveto choose sides as a Shia Iran and a SunniPakistan and Turkey side with the Chinese. Itis an uneasy time for the Saudis and the UAE.
The Koreans, however, have been quick toact and Samsung moved a $18 billion annualcapacity out of China to Vietnam. Japan hasincentivised its corporations to exit China. TheUS and UK have banned Huawei telecom and
India, too, has banned Chinese telecom equip-ment and apps. The US is shutting off accessto its capital markets to the Chinese. The can-cellation of the Hong Kong treaty will kill theUSD supply route to China. The Chinese bal-ance of payments is negative for the last fewmonths and they still need to buy food, oil andcommodities. Scams like fake gold collateralhave shaken China’s $5 trillion shadow bank-ing industry and put a question mark on howmuch of its national reserve is gold-plated cop-per. This has damaged China’s plans of havinga partial gold-backed alternate currency toreplace the dollar.
The world now sits on a powder keg in themidst of the pandemic. President Trump andEmperor Xi now have gone too far for eitherof them to back down without losing theircrowns. For Trump it’s just an election, but theworld knows what happens to deposed Chinesedictators. The South Asian countries all wantTibet to regain its independence after beingannexed by the Chinese in 1950 so that theycan get their freshwater security back.
Meanwhile, the domestic market collapsewill force Xi to take a few more hasty decisions.China’s banking regulator has advised itsbanks to be prepared for sharp rises in bad loansonce the Corona moratorium period is over.Three Chinese banks have collapsed in the lastthree years and 15 per cent of the financial sec-tor is supposedly past a high risk stage. Tax rev-enues have grown under five per cent and bud-get deficits exceed 11 per cent. The season ofdiscontent for 1.4 billion Chinese has arrived.China created the BRI to use the surplus capac-ity in its construction materials and equipmentsector and keep Chinese labour occupied.Experts estimate that this project needs anoth-er $5 trillion over the next five years. The moneygiven to 150 countries cannot be recalled.China’s $10 trillion foreign debt is realisticallysupported by $2 trillion of reserves. With thebalance of trade going negative, Chinese sup-porters are nervous. If China’s trading partnersdo not agree to settlements denominated in theRMB, a run on the currency is highly possible.
Meanwhile, Xi is attacking China’s neigh-bours to distract the world’s attention from thepandemic. Now India must return the favour.The Coronavirus offers a tremendous long-termstrategic advantage for policy makers to dealwith the Chinese threat of dominance perma-nently.
New Delhi must immediately recogniseTibet and Taiwan as sovereign countries andallow them to run official embassies in Indiaand vice versa. Many countries will follow suitand shake up Chinese hegemony globally.Second, India must supply subsidised arms andmilitary technology to Vietnam and thePhilippines to create multiple fronts for Chinaand the PLA, just like Beijing is armingPakistan. Third, India should take a lead in theIndo-Pacific command with the US, Japan andAustralia to choke the Chinese trade route. Itwill hurt China and its ambition to be a glob-al economic leader. Lastly, we must restrictimport of non-essential Chinese goods byimposing tariffs and focus our attention onbuilding a formidable self-reliant economy witha target of $10 trillion by 2030 to face a hostileBeijing.
China should be treated as a permanentadversary even when the times are good. Indiaand the world must escalate the informationwarfare to expose the draconian CPC and itsoppressive regime working against the interestof native Chinese. Xi’s dilemma is what to tellthe domestic audience. In the age of the inter-net, you can censor but not hide news. Do theChinese need to beat the war drums in orderto transfer the blame for their miscalculations?The world scenario is evolving every week and2020 threatens to be a very long year indeed.
(Tewari is Editor-in-Chief, Opinion Expressand Singh is Managing Partner, S&S Associates)
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The banking sector, a bulwarkagainst the breakdown of otherindustries, is left to nibble away
the remnants in the wake of the virus-induced global economic slowdown.Banks wrote off over �80,000 crore ofloans in the first half of the financial year2020. But major Indian banks havedemonstrated resilience through unin-terrupted services, offering EMI mora-toriums or fee waivers to borrowers.Unfortunately, historic trends allude toa grim scenario where financial insti-tutions (FIs) were resigned to overlookdefaults, thereby leading to grave prof-itability concerns and credit risks asso-ciated with them in the wake of the pan-
demic. As the sector is left scramblingfor money, more financial institutionsare embracing technology to achievetheir objective of survival, growth,expansion or otherwise.
Personalised banking: Tech giantslike Amazon, Facebook and Googlehave spurred a desire for more cus-tomised interactions and fostered a will-ingness to trade data for a better expe-rience. As a result, the concept of “per-sonalised banking” becomes moreimportant now. Targeting customermicro-segments and tailoring offers forthem will enable banks to differentiatethemselves, build customer engagementand gain competitive advantage.
The first step would be to identifywhat personalisation is. Thereafter,banks and FIs can leverage on the largerepository of customer data, customertouch-points and digital platforms todeliver meaningful and powerful per-sonalised experiences. To be sure, per-sonalised banking is not primarilyabout selling. It’s about providing ser-vice, information and advice, often on
a daily basis or even several times a day.Such interactions, as opposed to infre-quent sales communications, form thecrux of the customer’s banking experi-ence. Yet many banks still tend to focustheir personalisation efforts on thesales arena.
Today, machine learning and dataanalytics can be harnessed to deliver anomni-channel digital experience tocustomers. For banks and FIs with awealth of data available, hyper-person-alisation represents a window of oppor-tunity to stay ahead of the curve witha value proposition that makes cus-tomers feel understood. It also promis-es significant gains, with BostonConsulting Group estimating that suc-cessful personalisation at scale couldrepresent an increase of 10 per cent ina bank’s annual revenue.
The biggest takeaway for a bank isstaying ahead of the curve as you get toknow your customer better and lever-age those insights and trends to createtailored digital experiences that boostrevenues. On the other hand, as cus-
tomers expect a basic level of customi-sation, hyper-personalised experiencesin personal finance can lead to ampli-fied satisfaction and engagement, fraud-prevention, better decision-makingcoupled with a sense of humanisedunderstanding from their bank. Thishumanised understanding by banks canbe demonstrated in many ways.
Behavioural personalisation: Thisattempts to determine the visitors’interest based on their actions, whichinclude visit count, search phrase, con-tent viewed, functions performed andreferrers’ websites.
IP-based personalisation: Thiscan gain information about the anony-mous visitor from the IP address andDNS record. This type of personalisa-tion makes use of geo-location trackingand company attributes to customise theexperience.
Online banking, CRM and loan ordeposit applications: These use datafrom other banking platforms to drivepersonalisation. While it may seemcomplex, implementation is often eas-
ier than perceived. However, customi-sation leads us to a larger question ofwhether technological advancementand privacy can be allies?
At present, the InformationTechnology Act, 2000 and InformationTechnology Rules, 2011 govern India’sdata protection regime. However, theyfail to protect individual interest. Geo-location tracking, biometric data andfacial recognition apps could invariablyviolate the right to privacy, but there isno legal framework that regulates orenables the use of such technologieswithout violating the FundamentalRight to Privacy. Even the Personal DataProtection Bill, 2019, likely to beapproved soon, fails to take into accountall stakeholders involved in data breach-es. For instance, the Bill imposes heavyfines for violations but exempts the “con-sent” requirement in certain circum-stances, where data is required by theState, for legal proceedings, or torespond to a medical emergency. Theseregulatory changes are necessary con-sidering India’s growing digital footprint
in the world. Personalisation is withouta doubt a promising area that might beable to answer some of the questionsthat internet banking must deal withtoday and in future. The possibilities ofpersonalisation are not yet fully utilised,nor is there sufficient hands-on expe-rience or research-based knowledgeabout the most advanced ideas of howto personalise internet banking services.The importance of hitting the right tar-get in both selecting the things to be per-sonalised and the way of presentingthem visually are delicate matters. If notdone right, they might compromise themost important customer values: Speed,efficiency and trust. Thus as the impactof the contagion relies upon the grav-ity, degree and dissemination of the cat-aclysm, which remains uncertain eventoday, the banks must leverage person-alised online banking to boost revenuesin a cash-strapped economy and pos-sibly help the banking sector rise fromthe ashes.
(The writer is Managing Partner, KSLegal and Associates)
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Script Open High Low LTPM&MFIN 228 233.65 205.75 229.6HDFCBANK 1142 1152.65 1124.65 1132.8BAJFINANCE 3332 3452.8 3316.35 3441.35RELIANCE 1920.05 1931.25 1899.6 1919.3IDEA 9.48 9.69 8.28 9.04INDUSINDBK 525 541.4 521.9 528.5ICICIBANK 358.1 366.15 355.5 362.85INFY 904 945 904 933.55AXISBANK 441 442.7 429.65 433.8SBIN 190 193.1 188.7 190.65WIPRO 261.5 273.45 259 270.85BHARTIARTL 569 582.55 567.55 575.75BAJAJFINSV 6410 6639.9 6385 6618.55IBULHSGFIN 224 225.65 220.3 221.8RBLBANK 171.1 177.2 169.7 174.8BRITANNIA 3874 3993 3810.05 3983.25BPCL 442.9 448.05 435.05 437.1BANDHANBNK 356 358.95 348 350.6SBICARD 755 768.6 730.7 751.8HCLTECH 633.45 652 627 648.45AUROPHARMA 837 841.9 818.2 823.65SUNPHARMA* 504.5 504.5 482 483.85TATAMOTORS 106.45 106.45 103.8 105KOTAKBANK 1328.4 1334 1308.8 1318.6MUTHOOTFIN 1156 1234.9 1148.95 1229.55HDFC 1849 1849 1801.2 1804.7TCS 2200 2226 2191.2 2209.75DMART 1900 2037 1900 2018.95TATASTEEL 353.9 354.7 346.7 352.4CHOLAFIN 208.35 218.35 207.5 215.1HEROMOTOCO 2757 2871.6 2742 2857.8INFRATEL 203 208.8 193.5 201.75HINDUNILVR 2340 2343.6 2300 2330.35PIDILITIND 1404.2 1443.7 1396 1439.85GLENMARK 409.25 421.35 408 418.8MARUTI 5960 5960 5815 5867.3M&M 585.05 597 582.5 593.55CIPLA 691.4 691.4 672.85 674.3TECHM 605 625.8 598.05 623.4UPL 444.75 456 439.3 453.75ZEEL 158.7 159 154.25 154.75FEDERALBNK 52.95 54.25 52.3 53.65CONCOR 472 475 443.6 445.75ASIANPAINT 1725 1756.85 1722 1751.95DLF 141 143.8 139.65 140.9HDFCLIFE 620.1 628 612.3 617.15JINDALSTEL 176.5 179.2 174 177.5FCONSUMER 10 10.5 9.65 10.45GRANULES 266 273.85 263 265IDFCFIRSTB 27 27.7 27 27.3PEL 1377.35 1428.35 1377.35 1406.2BHARATFORG 380.5 386.9 377 382.5RAIN 101 103.3 98.75 101.45EICHERMOT 19000 19270 18763 19180.95ASHOKLEY 52.05 52.8 51.25 51.55LUPIN 919 919 863 864.8DIVISLAB 2270 2313.25 2243 2300.35BANKBARODA 49.55 50.35 48.4 48.65IOC 87 88.5 86.15 88.3LT 932.9 932.9 915.6 919.35APOLLOHOSP 1500 1515 1466.05 1485.65BHEL 38.8 39.05 37.8 38HINDPETRO 225 229.45 222.9 227.05UNIONBANK 31.3 31.75 30.85 31ITC 195.95 195.95 192.4 192.75HEG 830 865 810 819.2CADILAHC 381.9 384.7 372.5 374ONGC 81 81.25 79.25 80.3TITAN 1003.8 1011.75 986.8 1001.65HINDALCO 162.3 162.95 159.8 160.95INDIGO 1000 1000 960.9 971.35BATAINDIA 1309 1324.75 1295.9 1316.2NESTLEIND 17400 17400 17072.25 17242.2COALINDIA 133 134.5 131.8 133L&TFH 62.45 62.9 61.75 62.5JSWSTEEL 207.05 208.85 204.05 206.65MANAPPURAM 160.1 166.6 160.1 165.5EQUITAS 55.15 58.55 55.15 58.3DRREDDY 4145 4153.05 4074.05 4092.45SRTRANSFIN 690.25 706.55 681.15 690.75PVR 1035 1063.8 1031.45 1034.35EMAMILTD 246 253.5 241.85 243.5VOLTAS 581 601.9 580.9 597.55BAJAJ-AUTO 3000 3016.85 2974 3001.95PNB 33.75 34.7 33.55 34.5ADANIENT 152 161.85 152 160.6AMARAJABAT 704 713 700.3 703.75EXIDEIND 162 162 157.8 158.2TATAELXSI 917 926.35 911.85 920.85APLLTD 980 1038.4 980 1014.05JSWENERGY 46.9 47.6 46.4 47.15APOLLOTYRE 109.4 113.1 109.15 109.65UJJIVAN 254.45 256.4 247.3 254.3NBCC 25.7 26.4 24.9 25.8JUBILANT 690 744.8 666.4 721.5CANBK 103.2 104 102.3 103NAUKRI 3117.5 3310 3113 3253.85HAVELLS 591.5 604.8 590.6 599.3TATACHEM 302.55 306.9 300.5 306.2FRETAIL 113.9 115.5 105 110.75ESCORTS 1105 1125.3 1104.4 1119.85BDL 398.4 403.3 383.25 387.55BEL 98.5 99.85 96.35 96.75TATAPOWER 49.6 49.95 48.75 49.05VENKYS 1037.05 1155.5 1030 1138.35HDFCAMC 2475.05 2490.75 2442 2462.3ICICIPRULI 446.9 446.9 434.3 436.2NTPC 89 89 87 87.15
ACC 1319.8 1334.65 1314.9 1330.05DABUR 494.35 502.8 487.65 501.1MINDTREE 1022 1039.35 1011.75 1027.9MOTHERSUMI 94 94.55 93.15 94.3MCX 1350 1458.05 1350 1441.3STRTECH* 155.7 160.6 150 158.75HAL 941 954.45 902.8 923.85BIOCON 435 435 424.55 428.25DIXON 6505 7036 6421.65 6833.25ICICIGI 1292 1327.7 1292 1321.4INDIACEM 119 121.45 117.35 118.85ADANIPORTS 314.25 318.5 310.5 317.4GAIL 101.75 101.85 99.85 100.2JUBLFOOD 1743 1782 1742.5 1751.35LICHSGFIN 267.9 272.4 267.25 267.7SHK 70.55 78.3 69.45 75.3JAICORPLTD 91.65 99.5 90.75 95.1TV18BRDCST 36.1 37.5 35.9 37.3ULTRACEMCO 3841 3888.95 3830 3865.75COLPAL 1421.5 1447.5 1408.75 1438.75IGL 415 419.05 410.6 417.65SAIL 35.55 35.75 34.85 35.6GRASIM 596 611.2 594.6 603.15SRF 3843.25 3913.55 3817.65 3849.05SIEMENS 1173 1187.05 1162.4 1179.6IDBI 38.45 40 37.45 40STAR 434 434 422 427.5IRCTC 1387.95 1389.05 1371.7 1376.15VEDL 109 110.4 107.7 108.15UBL 1011 1011 981.55 984.9CANFINHOME 361.8 374.55 356.45 371.2SBILIFE 880 888.5 851.1 854.45BERGEPAINT 521.45 525.85 517 523.55NCC 32.2 33.1 31.7 32.35HATHWAY 46.4 47.95 44.1 47.95DEEPAKNI 534.7 534.7 515 523.45BAJAJCON 176 179.7 173.85 176.25MEGH 60.4 63.2 59.85 61.5BAJAJELEC 412 429.2 404.75 424.4RITES 251 254 247 252.5BEML 653.05 660 628 642.05MRF 66247.7 66247.7 64708.85 64961.6ASTRAZEN 3400 3422.15 3361 3366.7TATACONSUM 425 425.75 417.75 423.05LTI 2200 2255 2198.8 2252.4NOCIL 106 107.7 104.2 104.8BBTC 1225.15 1284 1225.15 1264.05PFC 82.55 83.6 82.35 82.7RAMCOCEM 656.55 676 650.05 674.45GICRE 145.2 161.85 145.1 161.85DHANUKA 830 935 811.3 823.75INDHOTEL 79.2 83.5 78.55 81.65SUNTV 387.9 387.9 381 382.6RALLIS 288.05 300.5 288.05 291.5ABCAPITAL 59.7 63.35 59.3 61.7SCI 62.1 64.2 61.5 63.65LAURUSLABS 650 657.7 641.45 651.85BOSCHLTD 13580 13580 13129 13246.3FORTIS 125.55 133.8 125.55 132.95CENTURYTEX 305.5 310.2 302.4 307.65OIL 95.15 97.2 95.15 95.85POWERGRID 164 164.1 162.5 163.55VIPIND 270.5 273.6 266 268.3NIACL 112.95 121.75 111.35 120.95ADANIGREEN 349.9 362.9 348.3 349.65GODREJCP 700.5 709.75 692.8 698.2OMAXE 71.1 71.1 68.6 71.1BALKRISIND 1250.7 1263.5 1241.9 1253.4OFSS 3113 3214.5 3060.3 3192.25TORNTPHARM 2438.75 2438.75 2360 2372.5BANKINDIA 47.1 47.85 46.8 47.05BAYERCROP 5733 5896.8 5591.75 5833.55RECLTD 104.6 107.55 104.6 105.8RADICO 394.8 408.95 392 406.7IPCALAB 1809.45 1829.8 1779.7 1789.9NIITTECH 1689.6 1713.65 1665.8 1692.25SUZLON 4.68 4.75 4.55 4.75MFSL 573.1 580.2 562.7 569.1NMDC 87.2 87.3 85.2 85.6WOCKPHARMA 254 261.8 241.2 254.85NATIONALUM 34.95 34.95 33.55 33.7ARVINDFASN 121.65 133.2 121.65 122POLYCAB 822.05 849.8 822.05 842.35RVNL 20.3 20.4 19.9 20DALBHARAT* 708.1 749.65 701.75 716.5HEXAWARE 367 367 351.5 354DCAL* 174.95 184.5 173.5 175.25APLAPOLLO 1732 1866.5 1720.1 1849.7GODFRYPHLP 939.75 943.75 931 935.4PETRONET 266.5 267.15 263.3 266.2GMRINFRA 20.05 20.6 19.85 19.95IEX 185.1 185.65 175.3 175.8
MGL 996 1014.4 996 1006.1MARICO 352.1 354 348.3 352.5GNFC 162.9 165.3 161.65 163.25ENGINERSIN 71.95 72 69.85 69.95IRCON 93.5 95.25 92.25 94.45ADANIGAS 149.45 154.7 148 153.65SOUTHBANK 7.61 7.71 7.53 7.54JUSTDIAL 379.9 379.9 372.05 373.85AVANTI 452.25 459 448.9 450.8INDIAMART 2041 2124.6 2041 2089.95CUMMINSIND 388.9 395 385 393.05FDC 271.9 280 270.8 277.35AARTIIND 908.1 915 901 905.2DEEPAKFERT 116 121.9 115.15 121.1IRB 119.45 121.7 117.75 118.55AUBANK 659 685.8 659 685.8BOMDYEING 71.75 73.3 70.8 71.4ABB 916 933.1 893.3 898.3NAM-INDIA 291 294.7 286.2 287.45CEATLTD 884.75 889.6 880.05 882.35HSCL 50.15 52.5 50.15 51.2ITI 127.05 127.4 123.95 124.3JMFINANCIL 76.5 82.6 76.5 82.05PIIND 1690 1723 1686.3 1700.9JYOTHYLAB 119.25 127.3 119.25 125.6ISEC 527.3 543.95 527.25 530.4KALPATPOWR* 259 259 248 252.05EIDPARRY 292.55 300.65 288.75 294.5CYIENT 294.9 300.8 293.6 296.85QUESS 324.55 345.55 324.55 345.55PRESTIGE 170 179.9 170 175.95J&KBANK 16.75 17.55 16.5 17.15SPARC 167.9 168.4 162.1 162.4TRIDENT 6.2 6.3 5.9 6.18SHREECEM 22358.85 22358.85 22003.25 22252.75MAHSCOOTER 3080 3296.1 3073.7 3234.25KTKBANK 45.3 45.7 45.2 45.4BALRAMCHIN 125.9 126.5 125.2 125.85TVSMOTOR 391.45 399.55 390 398.75PHILIPCARB 106.5 107.6 104.95 105.05GODREJPROP 885 893.35 875 878.55ABFRL 115 117.3 112.75 113.45BLISSGVS 107.9 108.9 105.15 106.6CAPPL 392.9 394.75 375.85 387.7HAWKINCOOK 4125 4190 4086.05 4101.15LTTS 1342 1414.5 1342 1409.95COROMANDEL 788.9 802.8 777.35 797.75MIDHANI 209.5 210 205.65 206.15AMBUJACEM 194 197 194 195.85VBL 691 710 691 706.8PAGEIND 19300 19556.95 19050 19146.4CASTROLIND 118.85 119.1 117.15 117.35GRAPHITE 181 181 175.9 181PTC 50.5 50.65 48.3 49.85AEGISLOG 185.8 191.5 182 189.253MINDIA 20883.9 21631.85 20876.05 21530.3RAYMOND 257 257 252.2 253.15CREDITACC 556.9 575.6 540 564.55HINDCOPPER 39.8 39.8 37.45 37.8LALPATHLAB 1855.2 1928.15 1855.2 1920.95DCBBANK 81 82.85 80.85 81.55DCMSHRIRAM 332 346 324.65 339.85ALKYLAMINE 2266 2320.45 2260 2287.15CROMPTON 239.2 253.55 238.45 250.45TIMKEN 1049.95 1058.15 1032.8 1050.65TATAMTRDVR 42.2 42.2 39.95 40.25INOXLEISUR 228.5 231.55 225.1 227.5IDFC 19.3 19.45 18.85 19.25CHAMBLFERT 153.35 155.35 152.15 154.25BSOFT 108.45 109.6 106.05 107.1SHRIRAMCIT 670 708.45 662.55 702.45ORIENTCEM 71.35 72.9 69.45 70.8GUJGAS 296.1 296.5 291.35 293.1JINDALSAW 58.9 59.3 57.65 57.9UFLEX 262.05 275 261.35 269.3SUNTECK 167.35 170 166.1 167.2INDIANB 61.45 62.9 61.3 61.55BAJAJHLDNG 2645 2742.95 2645 2719.8ADANIPOWER 35.05 35.95 35.05 35.35HUDCO 35.9 36.9 35.5 36.1COCHINSHIP 334.55 339.75 333.65 334.55PFIZER 4150 4180 4129.65 4161.8AJANTPHARM 1461.2 1463.7 1441.1 1451JKPAPER* 100.9 101.5 99 99.3NATCOPHARM 673.05 687.8 670.5 677.55PNBHOUSING 198.25 205 194 203.8ASTRAL 988 988 955.75 966.85FSL 43.4 43.4 42.15 42.35KEI 367.35 368.9 363.5 365.6WESTLIFE 354.95 362.15 327 339.7UCOBANK 13.39 13.89 13.25 13.6DELTACORP* 93.85 93.85 89.5 89.75INTELLECT 130 134.3 127.8 134.3FORCEMOT 934.4 940.75 928.8 934NAVINFLUOR 1704.5 1722.5 1697 1714.4AFFLE 1700 1720 1680 1697.1CHENNPETRO 81.05 83.85 81.05 82.15GRSE 206.55 208.4 202.35 203.65BASF 1292.05 1347 1292.05 1341.65MPHASIS 1011 1023.85 998 1005.1SANOFI 7775 7846.45 7754.5 7813.45INFIBEAM 72.5 73.5 71.05 72.45RCF 47.5 48.2 47.15 47.5TORNTPOWER 318.85 324 318.65 322.85GLAXO 1520 1540.45 1495.1 1507.5IOB 10.74 10.8 10.43 10.5DISHTV 7.6 7.69 7.5 7.57HONAUT 28070.05 28299.05 27700 27745.15FLUOROCHEM 428.8 458 418.5 446.9
SYNGENE 423.55 433.5 420.6 422.3IBREALEST 61.75 62.5 59.45 59.6HINDZINC 188.25 190.4 187.2 187.8SPICEJET 49.5 49.5 48.6 48.75TATACOMM 678.85 701.55 672.45 701.55PARAGMILK 92.3 92.3 87.1 87.5RELAXO 631.95 635 620.2 622.35NILKAMAL 1183 1297.45 1181.3 1203ATUL 4600.05 4728.45 4600.05 4718.45LEMONTREE 25.05 25.05 23.7 24.05EIHOTEL 62.8 62.9 59.9 60.2ORIENTELEC 182.6 186.55 180.7 182.85JKCEMENT 1402.6 1463.8 1400 1430SOBHA 234.95 238 227.95 235.45AIAENG 1690 1731.5 1684.95 1699.1VSTIND 3331 3379.95 3331 3348.45SWSOLAR 245 249.95 239 241.5ADANITRANS 242.9 247 238.8 240.65ALKEM 2499 2513.8 2482.8 2506.35CESC 613.35 614.7 601.1 602.45ABBOTINDIA 15550.8 15550.8 15220 15246.95VARROC 202.9 206.75 198.5 199.95CGCL 171.05 188.4 167.35 179.65LUXIND 1154.1 1169.85 1122.9 1127.5GESHIP 215.8 225 212 224.45CUB 125 125.85 122.6 123.95SUMICHEM 271.9 271.9 264.3 268.35ZENSARTECH 138.2 142 138.2 138.5METROPOLIS 1521 1528.7 1421.35 1456.05LINDEINDIA 672.6 683.85 663.15 668.05BLUEDART 1956 2055 1956 2029.15SONATSOFTW 247 247 242.3 242.85RAJESHEXPO 469 472.8 465.05 465.75HFCL 13 13 12.6 12.65GHCL 154 159.65 153.75 154.6KPITTECH 66.6 68 65.1 66.05MINDACORP 72.25 72.25 69.05 70.3MAHLIFE 212 213.95 206.85 208GARFIBRES 1500 1600 1500 1590.7IIFL 75.2 75.2 71.95 72.25GSFC 58 59.4 57.35 58.75SWANENERGY 142.9 144.5 140 141.05GODREJAGRO 449.1 458 448 448.45MMTC 19.2 19.7 19.15 19.25JKLAKSHMI 285.75 287.9 280 282.3TRENT 615.1 632.4 611.7 614.1ADVENZYMES 165 169.3 164.2 164.7AMBER 1474.95 1510 1442 1487.15WELCORP 82 83.7 82 82.6SYMPHONY 851 863.2 818.35 847.2EDELWEISS 64.3 67.5 64.3 67.5GMM 3970 4049.7 3938.05 3996.05KEC 270.6 273.4 264.2 268.05WHIRLPOOL 2270 2283.7 2249.65 2253.6ZYDUSWELL 1424.75 1438 1407.75 1431.3SHOPERSTOP 157.55 160 151 157.35ASTERDM 125 129.5 125 126.95UJJIVANSFB 36.45 36.75 36 36.1BIRLACORPN 568.05 581.65 564 565.3JSLHISAR 75 76.5 72.15 72.8ENDURANCE 885 900 869 881.25GILLETTE 5025 5083.9 4981.2 5048.45TNPL 114.25 114.7 113 113.45KRBL 250.1 262.05 250 254.75PGHH 10533 10849 10293 10666.1GMDCLTD 43.75 43.75 42.8 42.95ECLERX* 518.4 520 510.8 518SOLARINDS 1030 1103 1019.45 1030.35THYROCARE 605.3 605.75 599.35 603.35LAXMIMACH 2792 2817.8 2779.3 2789.9MRPL 35 35.3 34.7 35MOIL 151.75 152.3 147 147.55SPANDANA 639.2 647.9 610.9 619.75REPCOHOME 123.6 126.15 121.2 123.15BALMLAWRIE 108.95 108.95 106.05 106.4PGHL 4147.3 4181.95 4121.1 4137.45CENTRALBK 16.7 17.15 16.7 16.85NLCINDIA 46.9 47.15 46 46.6AKZOINDIA 1870 1870 1815 1847.45NHPC 20.05 20.15 20.05 20.1SUDARSCHEM 394.2 395 388.2 389.2SCHNEIDER 80.2 81.5 79.65 79.65ASHOKA 59 59 57.3 58.4THERMAX 745 750 737 746.95JBCHEPHARM 718 718.7 711.3 712.7GSPL 208.7 212.7 208.3 210.9IFCI 6.8 6.98 6.8 6.84HEIDELBERG 176.2 177.45 174.15 176.5CENTURYPLY 134.9 134.9 129.15 129.75WABAG 109 113.5 108.05 113.5FINCABLES 295 295 275.95 279.8SJVN 22.1 22.65 22.1 22.6SFL 1448 1535 1441.25 1519.9VINATIORGA 982.25 987.95 975.35 981.5GODREJIND 362 365 348.65 350.95FINEORG 2130.85 2158.85 2083.4 2089.5TEAMLEASE 1836.05 1962.95 1827.7 1909.3TATACOFFEE 81 81 79.8 80DBL 285 285 282 282.8SKFINDIA 1581.4 1595.3 1565 1585.1KANSAINER 450.1 460.55 445.9 455.85PERSISTENT 762.7 764.35 749.05 754.4JCHAC 2195.25 2204.8 2109 2129.85ERIS 448.2 448.2 434 436.8FINOLEXIND 473.95 473.95 452 458.9GDL 90 91.35 87.95 90.25TIMETECHNO 36.05 38.5 36.05 37.3MOTILALOFS* 674 683 652.85 664.45ESSELPRO 185.05 193 184.8 185.7
KNRCON 213.5 218.1 209.4 212.45GREAVESCOT 86.4 87.35 85.25 85.7REDINGTON 95.6 95.6 94.3 95HIMATSEIDE 61.15 61.55 59 59.45VMART 1823.55 1835.55 1748 1794NH 274.9 288.1 274 280.35CARBORUNIV 245.7 245.7 239.35 240.55VGUARD 171 172 169.4 169.75DBCORP 78.25 78.95 77.65 78.05OBEROIRLTY 366.5 369.15 360.5 367.1WELSPUNIND 32.3 32.3 31.35 31.55MAHABANK 11.06 11.06 10.7 10.74MINDAIND 314 314 303 305.05NESCO 425.1 432 423.8 428.15VAIBHAVGBL 1349.9 1351 1320 1327.6SCHAEFFLER 3697.95 3700 3646.2 3657.05GUJALKALI 331.15 337.25 328 328.9GALAXYSURF 1560 1577 1544 1565.25TATAMETALI 509 511 487.1 498.85JAGRAN 39.3 40.95 38.8 39.1PCJEWELLER 15.1 15.4 15.1 15.4SUPRAJIT 162 162 155.3 155.7MAHINDCIE 117.5 118.05 115.6 118.05BLUESTARCO 481 498.1 481 492.85GET&D 84 87.2 83.95 86.15NBVENTURES 48.15 49.8 47.55 48.25TAKE 43.3 43.3 41 41.4IFBIND 387 390 379.9 383.8KSB 537.5 537.5 522.3 528.35BRIGADE 135 136.45 133.85 134.55JAMNAAUTO 29.05 30.25 29 29.15JKTYRE 63.6 66.25 63.6 64.8SOMANYCERA 115.95 121.75 115.95 120.2TIINDIA 515 515 492.65 505.5ITDC 228.45 234.5 227.05 228.8MAHSEAMLES 224.3 228 224.3 226.25PHOENIXLTD 570 591.9 570 584.9TATAINVEST 739.85 744.5 737 738.9VTL 646.5 663.75 640 641SUPREMEIND 1176 1176 1150.65 1155.7HERITGFOOD 251.45 266.95 250.35 263.7CCL 250.8 252.95 248 250.9KAJARIACER 390 392.3 389.5 391.2POWERINDIA 860 864.9 855.55 862.7CSBBANK 181.3 184.3 180.7 182.25CRISIL 1724.45 1746.95 1711.75 1731.4SHANKARA 345.3 345.3 335.7 336.6GEPIL 504.3 517.55 504.25 512.2ALLCARGO 92.7 95.6 92.1 93AAVAS 1300.85 1306.2 1300.25 1302.55NAVNETEDUL 76 76.85 74.75 76.1GRINDWELL 498 498 486.7 489.5PNCINFRA 138 142 138 139.4JSL 38.9 38.9 37.85 38.25CHOLAHLDNG 332.85 339.5 330.95 334.25TTKPRESTIG 5615 5631.9 5560.1 5589ORIENTREF 169.3 176.95 168.25 169.85
VRLLOG 163.95 163.95 151 156.05GULFOILLUB 594.5 599 581.65 587.45ESABINDIA 1350.3 1358.4 1335 1343.45MHRIL 165 170 161.75 164.3JTEKTINDIA 68.4 68.45 66.8 67SUNDRMFAST 392.8 396.4 390.65 395.3TCNSBRANDS 340.6 344.15 335.75 337.1GPPL 81.9 82.05 81 81.1MAHLOG 320.2 324.15 317.75 321.75WABCOINDIA 6911.05 6918.05 6911.05 6916.7INDOCO 196.25 203 196.25 202.05PRSMJOHNSN 48.5 49.5 48.15 48.45STARCEMENT 88.15 88.3 86.55 86.95INDOSTAR 273.05 275.4 270.25 273.9LAOPALA 197.35 199 194.95 195.5MASFIN 675.8 709 675.15 678.55RATNAMANI 1061.6 1064.4 1028.6 1037.7TASTYBIT 12350 12458.95 12036 12084TVSSRICHAK 1420 1423 1405 1408.6CARERATING 439.95 439.95 422 424.25TVTODAY 204.1 204.7 200.65 201.65SIS 367 370.5 362 362.15KPRMILL 442.3 443 439 440.8TCIEXP 672.4 679.3 672 672.35IIFLWAM 935 950 935 950CERA 2219.65 2235.45 2199.5 2207
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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY 50 10,999.45 11,037.90 10,953.00 11,022.20 120.5BRITANNIA 3,859.00 3,993.00 3,807.20 3,978.80 193.8WIPRO 261.35 273.55 259 272.95 11.6INFY 908.5 945 906.75 942.95 39.8TECHM 603.85 625.95 598.5 625.5 25.8HCLTECH 633 652 626.85 649.4 26.25BAJFINANCE 3,344.95 3,453.95 3,316.50 3,436.00 134.7UPL 440 456 439.3 454.2 17.75BAJAJFINSV 6,400.00 6,635.00 6,380.00 6,616.25 254.65HEROMOTOCO 2,764.05 2,873.45 2,742.20 2,858.00 93.95HDFCBANK 1,135.00 1,152.90 1,124.15 1,130.00 31.55INFRATEL 202 209 193.45 202.85 4.75ICICIBANK 358 366.35 355.25 362.1 8.3EICHERMOT 18,950.00 19,280.00 18,767.00 19,205.00 394.2BHARTIARTL 571 582.5 567.6 578.25 11.5ASIANPAINT 1,727.00 1,757.35 1,720.25 1,752.00 34.1COALINDIA 133.5 134.6 131.7 133.1 2.5IOC 86.95 88.5 86.15 88.4 1.5ADANIPORTS 316 318.7 310.35 317.95 4.95GRASIM 598 611.4 593.35 600.5 8.4SBIN 190 193.25 188.75 190.55 2.35TCS 2,201.00 2,226.90 2,190.80 2,214.00 13.25RELIANCE 1,917.80 1,932.00 1,899.65 1,921.95 10.25BAJAJ-AUTO 3,001.00 3,020.00 2,974.00 3,010.00 15INDUSINDBK 524.95 541.65 521.65 523.2 2.4NESTLEIND 17,324.00 17,370.00 17,070.60 17,300.00 70.05TATASTEEL 351.1 354.7 346.6 352.4 1.45TITAN 1,000.00 1,012.50 986 1,001.45 3.6POWERGRID 163.3 164.25 162.35 163.85 0.55AXISBANK 437.7 442.8 429.3 434.55 1.45ULTRACEMCO 3,863.10 3,890.00 3,826.95 3,864.40 1.55ONGC 81 81.25 79.2 80.35 0M&M 588.9 597.6 582.15 588.55 -0.25HDFC 1,844.00 1,844.00 1,801.00 1,804.05 -1.8SHREECEM 22,325.05 22,399.90 22,007.30 22,236.05 -33.9HINDUNILVR 2,334.55 2,343.30 2,300.60 2,330.00 -4.55JSWSTEEL 207.5 208.85 204 205.85 -0.9GAIL 101.7 101.7 99.8 100.4 -0.45VEDL 109.35 110.4 107.65 108.5 -0.65DRREDDY 4,139.35 4,154.00 4,072.40 4,094.00 -24.75KOTAKBANK 1,330.00 1,336.70 1,309.00 1,317.90 -9.55HINDALCO 162.2 162.95 159.65 160.95 -1.2LT 929 931.9 915 918.65 -6.9MARUTI 5,935.00 5,936.00 5,812.00 5,875.00 -44.5ITC 195 195.35 192.35 192.6 -1.45NTPC 88.9 88.9 87 87.2 -1.1TATAMOTORS 106.35 106.35 103.85 104.95 -1.45BPCL 441 448 435.1 436.35 -7.45ZEEL 159 159 154.2 154.7 -2.7CIPLA 689 690.85 672.35 674.3 -14.8SUNPHARMA 501.9 501.9 481.6 483.95 -19.65
SE 500B
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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY NEXT 50 26,505.15 26,598.75 26,409.70 26,525.75 149.95GICRE 147.2 161.75 147.2 161.75 14.7NAUKRI 3,110.00 3,317.80 3,109.95 3,306.30 196BAJAJHLDNG 2,660.00 2,745.00 2,642.90 2,730.05 91.25PIDILITIND 1,397.45 1,444.00 1,395.60 1,438.00 45.4PNB 33.9 34.75 33.6 34.45 0.85ICICIGI 1,305.00 1,328.00 1,293.00 1,318.35 30.05MUTHOOTFIN 1,140.00 1,235.00 1,140.00 1,229.75 26.8PEL 1,385.00 1,428.75 1,384.10 1,408.10 30.15DABUR 494 503 487.3 500.6 9.85PGHH 10,511.95 10,899.00 10,281.70 10,675.00 188.3OFSS 3,102.00 3,215.00 3,060.00 3,150.00 53.95SIEMENS 1,164.40 1,187.75 1,160.20 1,178.50 19.55AMBUJACEM 195 197 194.5 196.5 3.05ACC 1,315.85 1,334.80 1,314.50 1,334.80 18.95HAVELLS 596.15 604.85 590.55 597.95 7.9DMART 1,979.90 2,039.00 1,968.00 2,015.00 25.25DIVISLAB 2,280.00 2,314.00 2,241.55 2,292.00 28.6PETRONET 264.95 267.5 262.8 266.45 3.25MOTHERSUMI 94.2 94.55 93.15 94.35 1IGL 415 419.1 410 416.5 4.2HINDPETRO 224 229.5 223.05 226.25 2.25BERGEPAINT 520 526 517 523.7 5.2PFC 82.8 83.65 82.4 82.7 0.7HDFCLIFE 619.7 628.2 612.3 619.5 5COLPAL 1,429.00 1,448.00 1,408.55 1,436.00 10BOSCHLTD 13,450.00 13,450.00 13,135.00 13,260.00 72.15DLF 142 143.75 139.6 141.3 0.55SRTRANSFIN 695.35 707 681.25 690.45 2.2UBL 994.45 1,000.30 981.15 986.95 2.65ADANITRANS 242.1 247.2 239.1 241.75 0.05ABBOTINDIA 15,398.80 15,398.80 15,201.25 15,235.00 -27.75NHPC 20.1 20.2 20.05 20.05 -0.05GODREJCP 703 710 692.05 698 -2.55HINDZINC 188.8 190.95 186.95 187 -0.95HDFCAMC 2,484.40 2,485.75 2,442.00 2,459.80 -13.3BIOCON 433 434.9 424.35 429 -2.6PAGEIND 19,529.00 19,529.00 19,044.55 19,240.00 -138.85MARICO 355 355 348.25 352.5 -2.6CONCOR 472 473.9 443.3 445.2 -3.45TORNTPHARM 2,416.80 2,416.80 2,358.25 2,375.00 -18.7MCDOWELL-N 604.55 611.05 596.45 600 -4.75BANDHANBNK 356 358.8 347.7 349.9 -2.9ICICIPRULI 444.4 450 434.15 436.75 -3.6NMDC 87.05 87.05 85.15 85.25 -1CADILAHC 381 384.5 372.55 372.9 -4.5BANKBARODA 49.45 50.3 48.4 48.75 -0.65AUROPHARMA 835 841.95 817.6 824.4 -12.15INDIGO 997 1,000.00 960.55 972.85 -18.4SBILIFE 879.05 888.1 851 856 -19.2LUPIN 897.4 900.7 862.25 867 -30.4
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The new rules for electron-ic retailers, including
mandatory display of ‘countryof origin’ on their products, willcome into force by the end ofthis week, Union Minister RamVilas Paswan said on Mondayand emphasised that the enti-ties will face penal action forany non-compliance.
The ‘Consumer Protection(E-Commerce) Rules, 2020’will be applicable to all elec-tronic retailers (e-tailers) reg-istered in India or abroad butoffering goods and services toIndian consumers, he said.
“Most rules framed underthe Consumer Protection Act2019 have come into forcefrom today (Monday).However, e-commerce ruleswill get notified by the end ofthis week, while rules on directselling will take some moretime,” the Consumer AffairsMinister told reporters in a vir-
tual press conference.The e-commerce rules are
“mandatory in nature” andviolation of these will attractpenalties as decided by the con-sumer protection authority andconsumer courts as providedunder the Act, he said.
Consumer AffairsSecretary Leena Nandan saidthe rules have been finalisedafter taking inputs from theDepartment for Promotion ofIndustry and Internal Trade(DPIIT), under the aegis of theCommerce Ministry, so thatthey do not contravene with theoverall e-commerce policy.
As per the rules, the e-commerce players will have todisplay the total ‘price’ of goodsand services offered for salealong with break-up of othercharges.
They are also required tomention the ‘expiry date’ ofgoods offered for sale and the‘country of origin’ of goods andservices that are necessary for
enabling the consumer to makean informed decision at thepre-purchase stage.
E-tailers have to displaydetails about return, refund,exchange, warranty and guar-antee, delivery and shipment,modes of payment, and griev-ance redressal mechanism, andany other similar informationthat may be required by con-sumers to make informed deci-sions. Sellers offering goodsand services through a mar-ketplace e-commerce entity
will have to provide the abovedetails to the e-commerce enti-ty to be displayed on its plat-form or website.
Under the rules, e-tailersshould not impose “cancella-tion charges” on consumerscancelling after confirmingpurchase, unless similarcharges are also borne by the e-commerce entity if it cancelsthe purchase order unilateral-ly for any reason.
They are also not allowedto “manipulate the price” of thegoods and services offered ontheir platforms to gain unrea-sonable profit and discriminatebetween consumers of thesame class or make any arbi-trary classification of con-sumers affecting their rightsunder the Act.
Further, e-tailers will haveto provide information onavailable payment methods,the security of those paymentmethods, any fees or chargespayable by users, the procedure
to cancel regular paymentsunder those methods, charge-back options, if any, and thecontact information of the rel-evant payment service provider.
That apart, e-tailers arerequired to display promi-nently to its users details aboutthe ‘sellers’ offering goods andservices, including the name oftheir business, whether regis-tered or not, their geographicaddress, customer care number,any rating or other aggregatedfeedback about such seller, andany other information neces-sary for enabling consumers tomake informed decisions at thepre-purchase stage.
They are also required toprovide a ticket number foreach complaint lodged,through which the consumercan track the status of thecomplaint.
However, the rules will notpermit any inventory e-com-merce entity, including single-brand retailers and multi-chan-
nel single-brand retailers, to“falsely represent itself as a con-sumer and post reviews aboutgoods and services or misrep-resent the quality or the fea-tures of any goods and ser-vices”. The inventory e-com-merce entities will also have toensure that the advertisementsfor marketing of goods and ser-vices are consistent with theactual characteristics, accessand usage conditions of suchgoods or services.
Under the rules, no inven-tory e-commerce entity will beallowed to refuse to take backgoods, or withdraw or discon-tinue services purchased oragreed to be purchased, orrefuse to refund considera-tion, if paid, if such goods orservices are defective, deficientspurious, or if the goods or ser-vices are not of the features asadvertised or as agreed to, or ifsuch goods or services aredelivered late from the stateddelivery schedule.
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Markets regulator Sebi onMonday released frame-
work to enable verification ofupfront collection of marginsfrom clients in cash and deriv-atives segments.
The new framework willcome into effect fromDecember 1, 2020, theSecurities and Exchange Boardof India (Sebi) said in a circu-lar.
The regulator has reiterat-ed that the applicable upfrontmargins will be collected fromthe clients in advance of thetrade.
Sebi said clearing corpo-rations will send minimumfour snapshots of client wisemargin requirement to tradingmember (TM) or clearingmember (CM) for them toknow the intra-day marginrequirement per client in eachsegment.
It further said number oftimes snapshots need to be sentin a day may be decided by therespective clearing corpora-tion depending on market tim-ings subject to a minimum offour snapshots in a day.
The snapshots would berandomly taken in pre-definedtime windows.
For commodity derivativessegment, Sebi said last snapshot
for commodity derivatives willbe generated at 5 PM.
The client wise margin fileprovided by the clearing cor-porations to trading or clearingmember will contain the end ofthe day margin requirementsof the client as well as the peakmargin requirement of theclient, across each of the intra-day snapshots.
The member will have toreport the margin collectedfrom each client, as at EODand peak margin collected dur-ing the day, in a manner pre-scribed by the regulator.
EOD margin obligation ofthe client will be comparedwith the respective client mar-gin available with the TM/CMat EOD and peak margin oblig-ation of the client, across thesnapshots, will be comparedwith respective client peakmargin available with theTM/CM during the day.
With regard to penalty,Sebi said higher of the shortfallin collection of the marginobligations at the two pre-scribed manner will be con-sidered for levying of fine.
The verification of avail-ability of margins with TM/CM will be done by exchangesor clearing corporations on aweekly basis by verification ofthe balances in the books or ofthe TM/ CM in respect of theclient.
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The Indian equity indicessurged on Monday with the
Nifty50 on the National StockExchange reclaiming the11,000-mark.
The BSE Sensex settlednearly 400 points higher.Healthy buying was witnessedin finance, banking and con-sumer durables stocks.
The indices were support-ed by an inflow of foreignportfolio investments. Net FPIinflow on Monday stood at Rs1,709.97 crore. Domestic insti-tutional investors however tookto selling during the sessionand stocks worth net value ofRs 1,521.99 crore were sold.
Rahul Sharma, MarketStrategist and Research Head,Equity99 Advisors said: “We
believe strong liquidity andrising participation of retailinvestors is driving the market.Of late, retail investors havepreferred to invest directly instocks rather than the mutualfund route.”
He said that ahead of July2020 derivative series expiry,the market may remain volatileas short-sellers will look tocover up open positions.
Deepak Jasani, Head ofRetail Research at HDFCSecurities, said that furtherupsides are likely in Nifty oncethe immediate resistance of11,038 is reached and 10,953would be a crucial support.
On Monday, the Nifty50closed at 11,022.20, higher by120.50 points or 1.11 per centfrom the previous close of10,901.70 points.
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The Covid-19-induced economic turbulence has led airlinemajor IndiGo to decide to lay off 10 per cent of its workforce.According to Ronojoy Dutta, CEO, IndiGo, the company, after
carefully assessing and reviewing all possible scenarios, will requireto bid “a painful adieu” to 10 per cent of its around 27,000-strongworkforce.”It is for the first time in the history of IndiGo thatwe have undertaken such a painful measure. This is indeed a veryunfortunate turn of events from the optimistic growth trajecto-ry we had carved out for ourselves just six months ago; but thispandemic has forced us to re-evaluate our best laid plans.
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Kathmandu: Nepal's rulingcommunist party executivechairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal'Prachanda' on Monday saidefforts were going on to resolvethe intra-party differences andruled out an early general con-vention of the party as proposedby embattled Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli.
The former prime ministermade the remarks during hismeeting with the StandingCommittee members repre-senting the former Maoist party.As many as 15 members fromthe 45-member powerfulStanding Committee of theNepal Communist Party (NCP)attended the meeting, theKathmandu Post reported.
The meeting came on theeve of the conclave of theStanding Committee, whichhas been deferred seven timessince June 24.
On Saturday, 68-year-oldOli proposed to convene anearly general convention of theparty in order to resolve theintra-party rift.
"Going for the general con-vention is not a bad idea butwithout proper preparations, itis not possible as various issuesincluding the party ideologyalso need to be sorted out,"Matrika Yadav, a StandingCommittee member, quotedPrachanda as saying at themeeting. Prachanda's remarkscame amid reports that he hadreached an understanding withPrime Minister Oli on holdingthe general convention byNovember/December and thatOli would back him as theparty chair.
The Prachanda-led faction,backed by senior leadersMadhav Kumar Nepal andJhalanath Khanal, until a few
weeks ago had piled pressure onOli to step down both as partychair and prime minister.
The Madhav Nepal groupon Sunday sought clarificationfrom Prachanda if he hadreached a deal with Oli on anearly general convention and ifhe indeed had, why he did sowithout consulting his allies, thepaper said.
During Monday's meeting,Prachanda briefed his colleaguesabout the talks he had held withhis co-chair, Prime MinisterOli and the secretariat of thechairmen-duo, the leaders of theformer Maoist party said.
Citing sources, the RisingNepal daily said that HomeMinister Ram Bahadur Thapa‘Badal' and Minister forIndustry, Commerce andSupplies Lekh Raj Bhatta werenot present during the meetingheld by Prachanda. PTI
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Pro-democracy activistJoshua Wong filed candi-
dacy papers on Monday forupcoming legislative electionsin Hong Kong, where the newnational security law couldprevent opposition candidatesfrom taking seats.
Wong was one of the topcandidates emerging fromunofficial primaries held by thepro-democracy camp as it aimsto win a majority of seats in the70-seat legislature in theSeptember elections.
“We hope to let the worldto know how we choose not tosurrender, how we choose notto kowtow to China,” Wongtold reporters.
Critics of the national secu-rity law Beijing imposed on the
semi-autonomous territory onJune 30 fear it may be used tothwart pro-democracy candi-dates.
The sweeping law banssecessionist, subversive andterrorist acts, as well as banningcolluding with foreign forces tointervene in the city's affairs. The law also states that anyoneconvicted of endangeringnational security will be dis-qualified from running in cityelections or holding publicoffice.
The 23-year-old Wong hasbeen imprisoned twice for par-ticipating in 2014 pro-democ-racy protests. He also regular-ly speaks out against Beijing'stightening control over the cityand often meets with lawmak-ers and politicians from theU.S. And other countries.
Washington: US PresidentDonald Trump faces an uphilltask in his reelection bid inNovember with his approvalrating hitting a record low andDemocratic nominee Joe Bidentaking a double-digit lead inkey indicators, according to asurvey conducted by theWashington Post and ABCNews.
The opinion poll, con-ducted July 12 to 15, showshow the coronavirus outbreakhas adversely affected Trump'sprospects.
Now, the president's hopesof winning are pinned on hisenthusiastic core base of sup-porters and showing the elec-torate that the pandemic isbeing dealt with effectively,The Washington Post said in itsreport on the ABC News-Postpoll.
Among registered voters,Biden, 77, leads Trump, 74, 55 per cent to 40 per cent.In the same category, Biden led Trump by just two points in March and by 10 points in May.
The survey found that tra-ditional Republican andDemocratic voters are treatingthe November polls as a refer-endum on Trump and not onwhether Biden is a more suit-able candidate, the report said.
Seventy-two per cent ofTrump voters say reelecting thepresident is important, while 62per cent of Biden voters saydefeating Trump is the goal.
The Washington Post-ABCNews poll was conducted byphone among a randomAmerican citizens sample of1,006 adults. Results may haveerror margin of plus/minus3.5 percentage points.
The survey said 54 percent of Americans believeBiden would handle COVID-19 outbreak better than Trump.Only 34 per cent felt Trumpwas doing well tackling thepandemic.
In handling of the econo-my, Biden has made giantstrides and is nearly on par withTrump in the opinion poll, theABC News reported.
Biden edges out Trump by
9 points in crime and safety,which has been a major topicin the US after hundreds ofanti-racism protests in the lasttwo months.
On race relations, Bidenhas a lead of 25 points over hisRepublican rival (58-33 percent). Trump's job approval rat-ing has plummeted in the lasttwo months, standing at 39 percent positive and 57 per centnegative.
Notably, 48 per cent of thesurveyed 'strongly disapprove'Trump's way of doing his job,according to the WashingtonPost's article.
However, the president hasmanaged to hold a positiveview on his handling of theeconomy with 50 per cent ofthe surveyed saying they arehappy with the US economy'sperformance and 47 per centdisapproving.
Biden is perceived to havea better personality and tem-perament to serve as president,holding 26 points advantageover Trump, the WashingtonPost reported. PTI
London: Britain's governmentsuspended its extraditionarrangements with Hong Kongon Monday, after Chinaimposed a tough new nation-al security law.
As tensions grow withBeijing, Foreign SecretaryDominic Raab said he hadconcerns about the new lawand about alleged human rightsabuses in China in particular-ly in regard to the treatment ofthe Uighur minority. An armsembargo on China will beextended to Hong Kong, hesaid.
“We will protect our vitalinterests,'' Raab said. “We willstand up for our values and wewill hold to China to its inter-
national obligations.'' Raab followed the example
of the United States, Australiaand Canada by suspendingextradition arrangements withthe territory.
The review of the extradi-tion measures comes only daysafter Britain backtracked onplans to give Chinese telecom-munications company Huaweia role in the UK's new high-
speed mobile phone networkamid security concerns fueledby rising tensions betweenBeijing and Western powers.
Johnson's government hasalready criticised China's deci-sion to impose a sweepingnew national security law onHong Kong.
The UK has accused theBeijing government of a seriousbreach of the Sino-British JointDeclaration under which theUK returned control of HongKong to China in 1997, andannounced it would open aspecial route to citizenship forup to 3 million eligible resi-dents of the community.
Beijing has objected to themove. China's ambassador to
Britain, Liu Xiaoming, recent-ly described the offer as “grossinterference” in Chinese affairs.
Liu told the BBC's AndrewMarr on Sunday that Britainwas “dancing to the tune” of theU.S. And rejected the allega-tions of human rights abusesagainst the mainly-MuslimUighur people.
He accused Western coun-tries of trying to foment trou-ble with China.
“People say China (is)becoming very aggressive.That's totally wrong," he toldthe BBC “China has notchanged. It's Western countries,headed by United States — theystarted this so-called new ColdWar on China." AP
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Tokyo: Japan has protested toBeijing over a Chinese surveyship that operated for 10 daysinside the exclusive economiczone claimed by Japan aroundOkinotorishima, a tiny islandin the Pacific Ocean, officialssaid Monday.
Japan says Okinotorishima— two uninhabited rocky out-croppings about 1,700 kilome-ters (1,060 miles) southwest ofTokyo — are islands. China
says they are only rocks and donot qualify as a demarcationpoint for Japan's exclusive eco-nomic zone, as Japan claimsunder international law.
Chief Cabinet SecretaryYoshihide Suga told reportersthat coast guard officials spot-ted a Chinese ship using surveyequipment in the waters begin-ning July 9 and ordered it tostop. The Chinese ship stayedin the area until Saturday and
Japan protested to Beijing viadiplomatic channels, Suga said.
“We have not given per-mission to the Chinese side toconduct a maritime scientificsurvey in the waters,” Suga said.
Japan says Okinotorishimaanchors the country's EEZunder the United NationsConvention of the Law of theSea, which requires foreignships to gain prior consent tooperate surveys or fishing. AP
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London: A coronavirus vaccinedeveloped by the University ofOxford appears safe and inducesa strong immune response with-in the body, scientistsannounced on Monday after thefirst phase of "promising" humantrials against the deadly diseasethat has infected over 1.45 crorepeople and claimed more thansix lakh lives across the world.
Doses of the vaccine weregiven to 1,077 healthy adultsaged between 18 and 55 in fiveUK hospitals in April and Mayas part of the phase one clini-cal trial and results, publishedin the ‘Lancet' medical journal.
The results show theyinduced strong antibody andT-cell immune responses for upto 56 days after they weregiven. T-cells are crucial formaintaining protection againstthe virus for years.
The findings are seen aspromising, but experts feel it istoo soon to know if this isenough to offer protection aslarger trials get underway.
"There is still much work tobe done before we can confirmif our vaccine will help managethe Covid-19 pandemic, butthese early results holdpromise,” said Professor SarahGilbert, co-author of the study.
"As well as continuing to
test our vaccine in phase 3 tri-als, we need to learn moreabout the virus – for example,we still do not know how strongan immune response we need toprovoke to effectively protectagainst SARS-CoV-2 infection.If our vaccine is effective, it is apromising option as these typesof vaccine can be manufacturedat large scale," she said.
Scientists behind the trialsfound the response could beeven greater after a second dose.
“The Phase I/II data for ourcoronavirus vaccine shows thatthe vaccine did not lead to anyunexpected reactions and hada similar safety profile to pre-vious vaccines of this type.
"The immune responsesobserved following vaccina-tion are in line with what pre-vious animal studies haveshown are associated with pro-tection against the SARS-CoV-2 virus, although we must con-tinue with our rigorous clinicaltrial programme to confirmthis in humans,” said ProfessorAndrew Pollard, Chief investi-gator of the Oxford VaccineTrial at Oxford University andco-author of the study.
“We saw the strongestimmune response in the 10participants who received twodoses of the vaccine, indicating
that this might be a good strat-egy for vaccination,” he said.
Since emerging in the cen-tral Chinese city of Wuhan lastyear, the virus has has killedover 606,000 people and infect-ed more than 14,538,000 peo-ple worldwide. In India, thevirus has caused 27,497 deathsand infected over 11 lakh peo-ple, according to latest officialfigures. UK Business SecretaryAlok Sharma said: “Today'sresults are extremely encour-aging, taking us one step clos-er to finding a successful vac-cine to protect millions in theUK and across the world.
“Backed by GBP 84 milliongovernment investment for thevaccine's development andmanufacture, the agility andspeed with which the Universityof Oxford have been working isoutstanding. I am very proud ofwhat they have achieved so far,”the Indian-origin minister said.
The University of Oxford isworking with the UK-basedglobal biopharmaceutical com-pany AstraZeneca for the fur-ther development, large-scalemanufacture and potential dis-tribution of the Covid-19 vac-cine, with plans for clinicaldevelopment and production ofthe Oxford vaccine progressingglobally. PTI
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Hong Kong: China launchedits military build-up in themid-1990s with a top priority:keep the United States at bay inany conflict by making thewaters off the Chinese coast adeath trap. Now, China'sPeople's Liberation Army(PLA) is preparing to challengeAmerican power further afield.
China's shipyards havelaunched the PLA Navy's firsttwo Type 075 amphibiousassault ships, which will form thespearhead of an expeditionaryforce to play a role similar to thatof the US Marine Corps. And
like the Marines, the new forcewill be self-contained - able todeploy solo with all its support-ing weapons to fight in distantconflicts or demonstrateChinese military power.
The 40,000-tonne Type 075ships are a kind of small aircraftcarrier with accommodationfor up to 900 troops and spacefor heavy equipment and land-ing craft, according to Westernmilitary experts who have stud-ied satellite images and pho-tographs of the new vessels.
They will carry up to 30helicopters at first; later they
could carry fighter jets, if Chinacan build short take off andvertical landing aircraft like theUS F-35B.
The first Type 075 waslaunched last September andthe second in April, accordingto reports in China's officialmilitary media. A third isunder construction, accord-ing to the May edition of aCongressional Research Servicereport. Eventually, the PLANavy could have seven or moreof these ships, according toreports in China's official mil-itary press. AFP
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Kabul: A suicide truck bomberstruck an army convoy in east-ern Afghanistan on Monday,killing at least eight Afghan sol-diers, the Defense Ministrysaid.
Another nine troops werewounded in the attack inMaidan Wardak province. No
one immediately claimedresponsibility for the attack, butthe Taliban and a local IslamicState affiliate routinely targetAfghan security forces.
The Taliban have steppedup attacks across Afghanistandespite signing a peace dealwith the US in February. That
agreement was intended topave the way for talks betweenthe insurgents and the Afghangovernment leading to an endto decades of war. Those talkswere supposed to begin thismonth, but the process hasstalled over the implementationof a prisoner release.
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9%�����������0;���� �!��� ����'��Washington (AP): TopRepublicans in Congress metMonday with President DonaldTrump at the White House onthe next COVID-19 aid pack-age as the crisis many hopedwould have improved has dra-matically worsened, just asemergency relief is expiring.
New divisions between theSenate GOP majority and theWhite House posed fresh chal-lenges. Senate Majority LeaderMitch McConnell was pre-pared to roll out the USD 1 tril-lion package in a matter ofdays. But the administrationpanned more virus testingmoney and interjected otherpriorities that could complicatequick passage.
“We have to end this virus,”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi,D-Calif., said Monday onMSNBC.
Pelosi said any attempt bythe White House to block test-ing money “goes beyond igno-rance.”
Lawmakers were returningto a Capitol still off-limits totourists, another sign of thenation’s difficulty containingthe coronavirus. Rather thaneasing, the pandemic’s devas-tating cycle was happening allover again, leaving Congress lit-tle choice but to engineeranother costly rescue.Businesses were shutting downagain, schools could not fullyreopen and jobs were disap-pearing, all while federal aidexpired.
Without a successful fed-eral strategy, lawmakers are try-ing to draft one.
Trump insisted againSunday that the virus would“disappear,” but the president’sview did not at all match pro-jections from the leading healthprofessionals straining to haltthe alarming US caseload anddeath toll.
“It’s not going to magical-ly disappear,” said a somberMcConnell, R-Ky., last weekduring a visit to a hospital in hishome state to thank front-lineworkers.
McConnell and HouseGOP leader Kevin McCarthywere set to meet with Trumpand Treasury Secretary StevenMnuchin “to fine-tune” the
legislation, acting chief of staffMark Meadows said on FoxNews.
The political stakes werehigh for all sides before theNovember election, but evenmore so for the nation, whichnow registered more coron-avirus infections and a higherdeath count of 140,500 thanany other country.
The House alreadyapproved Pelosi’s sweepingUSD 3 trillion effort, givingDemocrats momentum head-ing into negotiations.
The package fromMcConnell had been quietlycrafted behind closed doors forweeks and was expected toinclude USD 75 billion to helpschools reopen, reduced unem-
ployment benefits alongside afresh round of direct USD1,200 cash payments toAmericans, and a sweepingfive-year liability shield againstcoronavirus lawsuits.
But as the White Houseweighed in, it has put theadministration at odds withGOP allies in Congress. Theadministration was panningsome $25 billion in proposednew funds for testing and trac-ing, said one Republican famil-iar with the discussions.
Trump was also revivinghis push for a payroll tax break,which was being seriously con-sidered, said anotherRepublican. Both spoke on thecondition of anonymity to dis-cuss the private talks.
Brussels (AP): WearyEuropean Union leadersexpressed cautious optimismMonday that a deal was in sighton their fourth day of wran-gling over an unprecedented1.85 trillion euro (USD 2.1 tril-lion) budget and coronavirusrecovery fund, following aweekend of walkouts, flaringtempers and insults.
It took an emotional din-ner speech by EuropeanCouncil President CharlesMichel about leaders not fail-ing their union, FrenchPresident Emmanuel Macronslamming his fist in anger ona table, and a new set of bud-get numbers to send themarathon summit onward.
“There were extremelytense moments. And there will
be more that no doubt will stillbe difficult. But on content,things have moved forward,”said Macron, stressing his part-nership with GermanChancellor Angela Merkel.
Without Franco-Germanagreement, the EU has nevertaken momentous steps.
“An extraordinary situa-tion demands extraordinaryefforts,” Merkel said as theleaders pushed on with one ofthe bloc’s longest summits ever.What was planned as a two-daysummit scheduled to endSaturday was forced into twoextra days by deep ideologicaldifferences among the 27 lead-ers.
Overall, spirits seemed tohave picked up since the talkshit rock bottom Sunday night.
“It looks more hopefulthan when I thought during thenight: ‘It’s over,’” said DutchPrime Minister Mark Rutte, atarget of criticism for keepinga compromise impossible.
Rutte, defending the causeof a group of five wealthynorthern nations — theNetherlands, Austria, Finland,Sweden and Denmark —sought to limit costs andimpose strict reform guaranteeson any rescue plan for needynations. He came under criti-cism from Macron, Italy andHungary, whose PrimeMinister Viktor Orban askedwhy the Dutchman had such“hate” toward him.
Rutte took it in stride.“We are not here because
we are going to be visitors at
each other’s birthday partylater. We are here because wedo business for our own coun-try. We are all pros,” he said.
On Sunday night, afterthree days of fruitless talks andwith hope dimming, Michelimplored leaders to overcometheir fundamental divisionsand agree on the budget andrecovery fund. Unanimousagreement is required.
“Are the 27 EU leaderscapable of building Europeanunity and trust or, because ofa deep rift, will we present our-selves as a weak Europe, under-mined by distrust?” he askedthe leaders.
“I wish that we succeed ingetting a deal and that theEuropean media can headlinetomorrow that the EU suc-
ceeded in a ‘MissionImpossible,’” Michel said.
As he braced for a newround of talks, Italian PremierGiuseppe Conte said hewas“cautiously optimistic” aftera “tough” confrontations.
“We are offering a responseto Europe. From this point ofview, there can be no morefooling around,” he said.
The coronavirus has sentthe EU into a tailspin, killingaround 135,000 of its citizensand plunging its economy intoan estimated contraction of 8.3per cent this year.
Spanish Prime MinisterPedro Sanchez insisted theadoption of an ambitious planwas required as the health cri-sis continues to threaten thecontinent.
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Dubai: Emiratis brimmedwith joy and pride as theUAE made history on Mondayby successfully launching itsspacecraft "Al Amal" towardsMars from a Japanese launchcentre, marking the Arabworld's first interplanetarymission.
Al Amal, or Hope Probe,weighing 1.3 tonnes waslaunched from the H-2A rock-et from Japan's remoteTanegashima spaceport at 1.58am local time.
The ground control roomin Dubai erupted with joyafter the successful lift off.
Hundreds of scientists,space enthusiasts and the
UAE's leadership cheered asthe upper stage containing theprobe separated from thelaunch rocket, the protectiveshields and its solar panelswere deployed with clock-work precision.
The solar panels willcharge the batteries of thespacecraft for its 495,000,000kms journey to Mars.
Within a couple of hours,it was confirmed that theground segment atMohammed bin Rashid SpaceCentre in Dubai has receivedand communicated the firstsignals with the Hope Probe.
UAE president SheikhKhalifa has praised the tal-
ented team who had master-minded the landmark Marsmission.
"With pleasure and greatpride, we have followed up onthe announcement of the suc-cessful launch of the HopeProbe, the idea of which wasconceived and developedinside our national researchand political institutions," hesaid.
Sheikh Mohamed binZayed, Crown Prince of AbuDhabi and Deputy SupremeCommander of the UAEArmed Forces, said the nationwatched the successful launchof the Hope probe with "prideand joy." PTI
)�� ���7��� �1��/��������������'���� �������� ���Moscow (AP): The United States on Monday slapped the region-al strongman leader of Russia’s republic of Chechnya with sanc-tions over human rights violations.
Ramzan Kadyrov, 43, has run Chechnya like his personal fief-dom, relying on his security forces to quash dissent. Internationalhuman rights groups have accused Kadyrov and his lieutenantsof abductions, torture and killings of their opponents.
Rights defenders also hold the Chechen authorities respon-sible for a sweeping crackdown on gays over the past few yearsthat has seen more than 100 people arrested, subjected to tor-ture, with some of them killed. Chechen authorities have deniedthose accusations, and federal authorities said a probe found noth-ing to support the charges.
In a statement announcing the sanctions, US Secretary of StateMike Pompeo pointed at “extensive credible information thatKadyrov is responsible for numerous gross violations of humanrights dating back more than a decade, including torture andextrajudicial killings.” Pompeo said the restrictions will apply toKadyrov’s wife and two daughters and he encouraged US alliesto take similar measures.
The Urinary tract infection(UTI)is the third most commoninfection in children after res-
piratory and gastrointestinal infec-tions in India. Urinary tract is definedas infection in any part of the urinarysystem from kidneys, ureters, blad-der and urethra. During the first yearof life, the boys are affected threetimes more than girls, but beyond thatgirls are affected almost 10 timesmore. The prevalence of infection isfive-seven per cent in children fromtwo-24 months (AAP).When itaffects the lower urinary tract it is abladder infection (cystitis) and whenit affects the upper urinary tract it isinfection of the kidney (pyelonephri-tis)
Symptoms of a lower tract (ure-thra and bladder) infection includeurgency, increased frequency, painand burning with urination. Childmay complaint of pain below oraround belly button. Urine maysmell foul or has blood in it. If uppertract is involved child generally lookssicker with significant fever and painin the loin area. Urine may have bloodsometimes. In the young infants,symptoms may be non-specific likefeeling low, persistent diarrhea, vom-iting and failure to thrive. Commonterms used in UTI; Bacteriuria indi-cates presence of bacteria in urinewhich may be harmless. Infection isdefined by the presence of harmfulbacteria in urinary tract causingsymptoms. Cystitis denotes infectionof urinary bladder (Commonest).Pyelonephritis occurs when infectiontravels up to kidneys (Concerning)
Human urinary tract has some
unique natural mechanism to prevententry of microorganisms in the tract.UTIs are much more common ingirls because their urethra is shorterand closer to the anus and Bacteriafind easy access in the urethra.Cleaning diapers with direction fromanus to front area adds to increasedchances of infections. Other predis-posing factors can be, chronic con-stipation, poor local hygiene and toi-let training, children with wet diapersfor long duration and holding urinefor too long.
Poor intake of liquids makingurine concentrated adds to the stasisof urine in bladder. Uncircumcisedboys younger than 1 year have beennoticed with higher incidence of UTI.Besides this one must try to find outany malformations and obstructionsof the urinary tract, Indwelling uri-nary catheters (for some otherillness-es) High-grade vesicoureteral reflux(a type of defect where a part of urinetravels in upward direction to involvekidneys)any many more for paedia-tricians to look forNeonates andyoung infants must be worked up forsepsis to avoid complications.
Escherichia coli infections arecommonest (85-90 per cent) followedby klebsiella and proteus spp , staphy-lococcus and some others
Common investigations includea good urine analysis and for that col-lection of urine sample is of utmostimportance. The clean catch methodaims to prevent bacterial contamina-tion from the skin around urinaryorifice.
Preparation before collectingthe sample: Cleansing the area
around the urinary opening requiresa simple wash, no antisepticsrequired. Clean your hands with soapand water. Open the sterile contain-er and hold the cover in hand, do notkeep it on any surface (another per-son can help do this job), hold the girlchild little high with thighs bendtoward abdomen. When child startspeeing let it go and collect second partin the sterile container and put the capimmediately on the container. Aboy can pass urine in standing posi-tion, rest of the precautions aresame.
Never collect urine in a contain-er and then poured in sterile contain-er provided for urine collection.Transport the sample to laboratory-
immediately. Other methods of col-lecting clean sample is by catheteri-zation or suprapubic aspiration whichcan be done by trained personnelonly. Early morning sample pre-ferred but may not always be possi-ble in a toddler.Other investigationslike ultrasound, MCUG and nuclearscans will be decided by the treatingpaediatrician.
The paediatrics academies rec-ommend that a well-appearing infanttwo-24 months of age with a UTI,good follow-up can be managed as anoutpatient with oral antibiotics forseven to 14 days. A cephalosporin,such as first-generation cephalexin,is a reasonable first-line medicine. Asicker child with high fever and otherconstitutional symptoms requiresadmission and more elaborate workup.
How to prevent UTIs?Change baby’s diapers frequent-
ly, keep the toddlers dry especially indamp seasons,start early toilet train-ing, teach her good bathroomhabits,and wipe girls from front toback. Advise children not to holdurine. Avoid bubble baths for girls,use cotton inner wears for good aircirculation.
Advise to drink lots of water, takeappropriate measure to treat consti-pation
Antibiotic prophylaxis shouldnever be self-administered and givenonly when prescribed by treating doc-tor.
UTIs are easy to diagnose andtreat, but it is important to catch themearly if taken lightly and under diag-nosed or left untreated there can beserious kidney damage)"��%������� ���� ����� ����.� ��$� ��#�(�����������"������ !�%��"��� 9�
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�� #�)#!�&���/��!���&���&Brain surgery, brain tumour, stroke (paralysis) and sudden amne-
sia have always been an integral part of Indian cinema and TVserial’s dramatic masala content. It is unfortunate that often major-ity of public doesn’t even try to increase its knowledge in this regard;rather this very subject of brain health is ignored mostly, consid-ering its complexity. According to a study the burden of strokedisease has increased nearly 100 per cent in our country. And inthe time of Covid-19 pandemic, patients who are already suffer-ing from neurological diseases are facing a tough time. Their treat-ment process has been deeply affected due to lack of access to theirDoctors and availability of medications. The stress and depres-sion generated from the lockdowns and the fear psychosis aroundCOVID-19 has also increased the number of such patients.
This is alarming. A major awareness for brain health is theneed of the hour. Our food habits and lifestyle has a major impacton our brain health. At the same time, it is also important to knowabout the initial symptoms of neurological problems so that earlytreatment can be initiated.
Brain health with brain food: There is a famous proverb “youare what you eat”. And it is more so in the case of the brain. Somepeople assume that increasing dry fruits intake is the only thingrequired, but it is not enough. There are other brain foods as wellwhich play key role in brain’s development. Take antioxidants richfood like grapes, blue berries, sweet potatoes, green vegetables, fish.The fact is 60 per cent of brain is made of fat hence add healthy
fats in your daily meals, andomega 3 fatty acid also plays akey role in developing braincells, hence take omega 3 richfoods as well like flaxseed, fish,walnuts etc.
Be regular with exercises:Brain health is not differentfrom physical health in anysense. Regular exercise helps inmaintaining blood pressure andgood circulation which is nec-essary for proper functioning ofthe brain also. Yoga and medi-tation also boost functioning ofbrain.
Physical health and brain:Although every disease or phys-ical ailment affects our brainhealth, but suffering from one ofthe following majorly affectsbrain health: hypertension andDiabetes.
Basically in above diseases blood pressure play a key role, ourblood travels through our blood vessels to the brain, and loweror high BP can result into stroke and brain haemorrhage. Takeproper medication and keep checking your BP.
There are some neurological diseases people need to knowmore about:
Parkinson’s Disease: It is type of a degenerative disorder. Itssymptoms appear gradually and progress over the years:-
�Tremors or/and stiffness�Slurring or speech changes�Stooped posture, small steps and imbalance Parkinson’s patient need continuous treatment and medica-
tion without fail or else it may result to rapid worsening. Neverignore such initial symptoms, immediately see a doctor and starttreatment in order to slower the progression.
Alzheimer’s Disease: Repeatedly forgetting recent events indaily life is an initial symptom. It is one of a type of dementia whichstarts insidiously and progress slowly. Early detection can retardthe pace of the disease.
Brain Tumour: It is basically an abnormal growth of braincells which starts creating pressure on brain with the growth ofits number and size, and presents like: headache with repeatedepisodes of vomiting, neurological deficits, seizures
Like any other Cancer, early identification of brain tumoursis one of the key factors that determine the prognosis.
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��*���� Lychee is sweetsmelling small fruit. It issweet in taste too. Lychee hasanti-cancer properties. Thisfruit has flavonoids in thepulp which helps to fightfatal and lethal diseases likecancer. It contains flavones,quercitin and kaemferolwhich are powerfulcompounds in reducing theproliferation of cancer cells.
Lychees help tonourish the skin oilswhich reduce thegrowth of acne. Italso refines theskin and leadsto less spots onthe skin. It is alsogood for people whowant to lose weightbecause of the absence of
fats and cholesterol.It also keeps the digestion
strong, maintains a clean stom-ach, improves appetite andcures heartburn and burningsensation in the stomach.
Lychees are a very goodrefreshing fruit for the sum-mers as it keeps you hydratedbecause of the high water con-
tent in them.
Believe it or not butthough the pitter-patterbrings the much-needed
relief from the blazing heat, itdoes make people with oilyskin break out in many prob-lems like more acne,dullness andinflammation.However, fol-lowing a reg-ular regimencan restorethe glow tothe face. Hereare a few thingsthat one can do.
There was a rea-son why my mother wouldinsist and we made a face maskusing chandan powder. It helpsin healing acne and other skinbreakouts. It also works as anatural moisturiser. Take abowl, add a teaspoon ofturmeric, rosewater and san-dalwood powder and mix well.
Apply this paste and leave it todry on the face. Wash it offwith water.
Another mask that onecan make is using 200ml rosewater, a teaspoon of camphor
powder and one tea-spoon of dried
mint powder.Mix all theingredientsinto a paste.Pour it in anair tight bottle
and refriger-ate. Use this to
clean your facetwo-three times in a
day.Peaches are in the market
and one can make a great facepack using them. Mash onetomato and peach to make apaste. Apply the mixture onthe face. Leave it for 15-20minutes. Rinse with water.
The rains are here and with it adull looking skin and an array of
other problems especially if one hasoily skin. Therefore, it is importantto follow a proper regimen during
this season to restore the glow, saysROSHNI DEVI
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While the answer to themost frequently asked
question by parents on what isthe maximum screen time fortheir children is “Minimum isthe new Maximum”, in thesense, lesser the time a childspends on digital devices the bet-ter it is for their eyes. As per theideal recommendation of screentime, children below two yearsshould avoid any use of digitaldevices, as the eye is in the for-mative stage.
Children in the age group oftwo-five years, screen time
of one hour or less per dayshould be allowed and childrenabove five years should beallowed a recreational or enjoy-ment related screen time of twohours or less per day.
However, all this recom-mendation today is thrown outof the window as the education-al system world over is opting foronline education due to socialand physical distancing the chil-dren have to maintain in orderto avoid contracting the harm-ful COVID-19 disease. Alsoanother risk the longer screen
time entails is that of an increasein Myopia or Short Sightednessamong children.
The symptoms are difficul-ty in reading the blackboard inthe classroom from the back-bench, squinting of eyes to seeclearly, holding books close toface while reading or writing.The correction of Myopia isdone through spectacles, contactlenses, and refractive surgery.
So how can one handle thisonslaught of online educationthat is going to be the new nor-mal? Well, as a starter one needsto ensure the following tips arepracticed to avoid any type of
eye strain.Use the right power: If
your child has been going tooclose to the screen or squintingthe eyes for reading those smallprints at a distance, then gethis/her eyes tested and get theright power of eyeglasses or con-tact lenses.
Place it right: The viewingdistance from the monitor to theeyes should be in the range of 40- 75 cm and the top of the screenshould be at the eye level so thata comfortable visual zone of 30°(15° above the line of sight and15° below the line of sight) isachieved downward from the
top of the monitor which is lessfatiguing for the eyes as opposedto looking upwards by 30° whenthe monitor is positioned abovethe eye level.
Take frequent breaks:Resting eyes helps keep themmoist. Use the 20-20-20 rule, byasking your child to take a 20-second screen break every 20minutes to look at objects 20 feetaway from you.
Aim bigger: Increase fontsize when reading on-screen, sothat devices don’t need to be tooclose to your eyes.
Blink more frequently:Staring at a screen makes usblink less often, which dries outthe eyes. Blinking moistens theeyes, reducing dryness and irri-tation.
Build strong eye muscles:Teach strengthening exerciseslike keeping your thumb at anarms distance in the line of yournose and focus with both eyeson it. Slowly move the thumbtowards the nose with yourgaze fixated on the thumb.
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Just like your body health, skin health isalso important; your skin is the largest
sense organ and outer protection to yourinner body parts. So, it also has a tenden-cy to get unwell. Also, skin is the mostexposed organ of our body; it suffers fromsun rays, dust and wounds. Many timeswe don’t even give appropriate attentionto it.
Unless we have a major issue, we oftentake our skin and hair for granted.However, healthy skin and hair are asessential as overall health. Visiting the der-matologist helps us in keeping our skin,hair and nail as healthy as it can possiblybe. We all know the consequences of anyskin issue; it causes irritation, itchiness andmany other problems.
You might think of some issue thatlooks like a simple rash but your derma-tologist can tell something different thatyou might even not know.
Therefore, one must visit their derma-tologist once in six months for a preven-tive skincare routine for thorough skinexamination, because our skin changesover time due to change in weather,inner health and other factors. Also,your skin’s needs keep on changing timeto time, and respectively your skincareproducts you apply need to change. Apartfrom that, if you're facing some skin issuesthen it’s necessary to visit a dermatologistthey can give you a correct consultationand solution to problems.
Many people are allergic to some ele-ments or weather conditions, or even candevelop allergies later in their lives; theseconditions can also be avoided if you keepon visiting your dermatologist on regularbases.
Your dermatologist may even callyou more often for visits, depending onyour medical history or skin condition.They may notice any mole, patches and zitthat may grow into severe skin issues oreven cancer.
If you notice severe hair fall, acne,unknown wounds or patches, any changein your skin condition, infection or visi-bility of puss, the safest option is to con-sult your dermatologist.
On the other hand, many peopleassume that because they haven't noticedany significant problems with their skin,they don’t need to make the time to see adermatologist. But the truth is visiting adermatologist can be beneficial for any-one whether or not you currently haveconcerns about your skin. It can preventany kind of future problems, and even helpyour skin keep looking healthy andyoung.
Concluding, skin health is as impor-tant as body health is so we should keepa check on our skin, and must visit anexpert from time to time.
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Actor Vaani Kapoor is absolutely ecstatic that she hashad the opportunity to work with actors Hrithik
Roshan, Ranbir Kapoor and AkshayKumar. With Hrithik, Vaani was paired
in the blockbuster War, she will beseen with Ranbir in Shamshera andshe has been cast opposite AkshayKumar in Bell-Bottom. She is look-ing forward to her forthcomingreleases.
Vaani says, “I feel absolutelyecstatic and I couldn’t feel moreblessed that I get to work withsuch stalwarts in the industry.I have always idolised Hrithik,Ranbir and Akshay Kumar. Ihave loved all their films. So it’slike a dream come true for me.”
Talking about the differentacting styles of these three
actors, Vaani says, “Each of themis incredible and brings a differentstyle to the table. Hrithik is incred-ibly talented and passionate aboutanything he’s involved in and thatpassion inspires people aroundhim. Ranbir is effortless in hisdemeanour and his cool, and com-
posed charisma is so evident onscreen. Akshay, of course, is a leg-
endary idol who’s one of the best in theindustry today. His contributions and
star presence cannot be ignored.”Vaani feels that she has interesting
and different chemistry with each ofthese screen icons. “I have a different
equation with all of them and ourchemistry is also so
different becauseof the kind of
roles, butthey allmake mewant todo betterand be
better totry and
match up withthem,” adds she.
Ajourney of love, differences anddiscovery. The forthcoming
Amazon Original Series, BandishBandits is the story of two youngmusicians, hailing from contrastingbackgrounds.
Set in Jodhpur, the romanticmusical drama follows the story ofRadhe and Tamanna. Radhe is asinging prodigy determined to followin the classical footsteps of hisgrandfather. Tamanna is a rising popsensation desperate to become India’sfirst international popstar. Radhe’sworld is turned upside down when
he falls in love with Tamanna. Tornbetween helping her achieve super-stardom and staying true to his ownmusic and his family’s legacy, will hesucceed in juggling both at the riskof losing everything he has?
The lead actor, Ritwik Bhowmiksays, “The series has been a dreamin the making. Working with stal-warts such as Naseeruddin Shah,Rajesh Tailang, Sheeba Chaddhaand Atul Kulkarni for my debut wasone of the most fulfilling experiencesof my life. Bandish Bandits is a blendof Indian traditions seeped in music
that beautifully describes younglove, ambition, passion and familyvalues in a simple, yet powerful man-ner.”
Shreya Chaudhry, lead actresssays, “Working with Anand Tiwarihas always been something I hadwanted to do, so a being part of thisseries is nothing short of serendipi-tous. I could not have asked for a bet-ter setting to work and learn moreabout acting, that too from some ofthe most talented and respectedactors. I believe the show is a heart-warming journey of music and love
and think it is something the audi-ence would very much enjoy watch-ing.”
Produced and created byAmritpal Singh Bindra and directedby Anand Tiwari, the show also fea-tures an exciting original soundtrack,composed by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy,who are also making their digitaldebut with this show.
Talking about the show Tiwarihad earlier said, “Bandish Bandits isa story about the meeting of two indi-viduals and cultures that are inmany ways different, and yet in otherways incredibly similar. While eachcharacter has a unique and com-pelling story in their own right, it’show these stories come togetherwhich makes this series so powerful,romantic and real. I am beyond excit-ed to bring this incredible tale ofromance, beautifully told through themusical genius of composersShankar-Ehsaan-Loy.”
Now the OTT platform hascome up with a unique idea to raisethe curiosity around the show. It hasbrought together the cast of some ofits noted shows such as Mirzapur,The Family Man, Inside Edge andMade In Heaven, among others.
The video starts with Kunaal RoyKapur (Arghya), who is playingShreya Chaudhary’s (Tamanna)manager in the show, attempting tofind the best marketing idea for thetrailer launch.
In an attempt to scout for thebest marketing idea, Kunaal bringstogether some of the quirkiest peo-ple on the internet together on avideo call along with Shreya andRitwik. Some of the people who jointhem on the video call are familiarfaces like Ali Fazal (Guddu inMirzapur), Divyendu (Munna inMirzapur), Sapna Pabbi (Mantra inInside Edge), Ahsaas Chhana, NikhilVijay & Shubham Gaur (from HostelDaze), Yashaswini Dayama (Made InHeaven), Sharib Hashmi (JK in TheFamily Man) and digital influencerAyush Mehra.
(The series releases on August 4on Amazon Prime Video.)
An incident occurs. It grabs atten-tion. It becomes a mystery. Soon,due to its severity and intensity,
it becomes the talk of the town. Itattracts debates on social media andmakes room for a number of interpre-tations and conspiracy theories about it.However, the conversations around itonly find space for a few days. It grad-ually loses traction. And just silently getslisted in history. Bollywood conversa-tions, too, have been more or less thesame.
However, if we talk about actorSushant Singh Rajput’s sudden demise,it has now been more than a month thatit continues to be in the news and per-haps has stoked the strongest debate yeton the need to rid the industry of nepotism. Actor Kangana Ranaut ismaking sure that this time the dialoguedoesn’t die without being properlyaddressed. Her recent allegations againstmany actors and the so-called “mafia”or “nepotism gangs” of the industry havebeen revealing about the dirty under-belly of an unsaid class-consciousnessin Bollywood. So far, so good. But nowshe is seizing every opportunity toemerge activist. Apart from calling outproducer-director Karan Johar andactor Alia Bhatt, she has also this timetargetted two other female actors (whoare outsiders) by calling them chaaplus(sycophant) and B-grade actresses andtheir existence as a “proof of nepotism”— Taapsee Pannu and Swara Bhasker.She has also called out actor RanveerSingh (outsider) by saying that it’s onlydue to his chamchagiri or flatterytowards directors and producers likeAditya Chopra and Sanjay LeelaBhansali that he gets roles.
Such accusations, firstly, raise an all-important question — if outsidersthemselves won’t challenge the existingnepotism in the industry as a unitedforce and turn against each otherinstead of calling out this system, howare things ever going to change forgood? Second, even though Kangana’sdebate is justified over an issue thatneeds attention, being an artiste, is heruse of words like chaaplus, chamcha,chillar, bakwaas for other artistes andsome critically-acclaimed actors a dig-nified way of calling out injustice?Third, even though she is an outsider,how can she assume that all outsidershave had a raw deal and that not evenan iota of merit has been allowed intoBollywood? Even though Sushant’sdeath did expose the vile and chokingdepths of nepotism but to expect everyoutsider to launch a campaign of her/hisown does not mean s/he has not beenaffected by it or knew him or is notagainst the system.
Well, Taapsee, who has been vocalabout nepotism in the past, but in a verbally decent way, had a reply to this
as well. She told a national daily that shehas never done a film which is producedby any of the gangs that Kangana hasnamed or “keeps targetting.” She addedthat she has never said that she likesKaran Johar or anyone that she allegesbut at the same time, she has never saidthat she hates them either. She laterquestioned, “So the fact that you don’thate someone she hates is equivalent toyou like that person? I don’t even knowhim beyond formal. So how is this evenlogical? Then how is my existencebecause of nepotism? Or underminingsomeone’s genuine achievements bycrediting wrong sources and then mock-ing it is how you prove that you are atrue, successful outsider?”
The Badla actor also said in aninterview that Kangana should ratherwatch films of outsiders than abusingcelebrities on social media. Replying toKangana’s “Why don’t they get work?”,Taapsee said that she has been releas-ing four films per year for the last threeyears and now, already has five filmsannounced. “I decided to keep mycareer graph slow and steady and that’sexactly how it’s been going,” she added.
Taapsee refused to be “bitter” and“take advantage of someone’s death forpersonal vendetta or make a mockeryof the industry that gave me bread andidentity. She has the right to have anopinion and so do I but just because myopinion doesn’t match hers doesn’tmake me inferior.”
After Taapsee’s response, netizenshave been hailing her for her “dignified”reaction towards the row. ActorSonakshi Sinha also took to her socialmedia and posted, “Proud of youTaapsee! The dignity, maturity andintegrity with which you have respond-ed has my respect and I am sure of mostothers too. More power to you.”
On the other hand, Swara’s responseto Kangana’s remark, “These needyoutsiders, B-grade actresses look betterthan Alia Bhatt and Ananya Pandey butthey too exist due to nepotism,” was asarcastic comment. She posted on herTwitter, “Net net I think this was a com-pliment. Thanks Kangana! I think youare gorgeous, generous and a great actor.Shine on!”
Taapsee has revealed in the past howshe has lost roles for not being “so-and-so’s daughter.” However, her and Swara’svoice against nepotism was never aimedat demeaning anyone personally. Theyhave stood up against hate without beinghateful. She tweeted, “Yes, there are dif-ferences between people born with pedigree and the ‘outsiders’ but we aren’tbattling each other, we are battling fora better system to co-exist, but not bymud-slinging or name calling!”
As per Kangana’s words, KaranJohar is the flagbearer of nepotism inBollywood. She first mentioned about
it on his show, Koffee With Karan, andever since, she has left no stoneunturned in taking this up. Whichleads us to one last question — Shouldn’tthe nepotism debate include all such
directors, actors and producers ratherthan just one person being namedincessantly? Is taking names of a fewbiggies and blaming them for years ofnepotism in the industry the way out?
Why a selective outrage? Is this ever-important contest really headed theright way? Perhaps, this is the reasonwhy the wrongs of nepotism could neverbe properly addressed!
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Real Madrid ended itsSpanish league title-win-
ning campaign with a 2-2draw that relegated Leganésafter four straight seasons in thefirst division.
The result also endedMadrid's 10-game winningstreak following the pandem-ic break. ZinedineZidane’s team had sealedits record 34th leaguetitle - and first in threeyears - on Thursday.
Madrid ended fivepoints ahead of second-place Barcelona - 87 to 82.Barcelona closed out its cam-paign with a 5-0 rout of Alavés.Lionel Messi scored twice tofinish with 25 goals andbecome the first player toclinch the league’s scoring titlein seven different seasons.
Leganés, led by Mexicancoach Javier Aguirre, hadentered the match one pointbehind Celta Vigo, the firstteam outside the relegationzone. Celta, winless in thefinal seven rounds, surviveddespite being held 0-0 by last-
place Espanyol. It will play inthe top flight for a ninthstraight year next season.
Espanyol and second-to-last-place Mallorca had alreadybeen relegated.
Sergio Ramos opened thescoring for Madrid with aheader in the ninth minute forhis sixth goal since the leagueresumed. Leganés equalized
with Bryan Gil’s goalin first-half stoppagetime before MarcoAsensio gave Madridthe lead again fromclose range in the52nd.
Roger Assalé equalisedagain with a shot from insidethe area in the 78th but thehosts were not able to get thewinner despite some goodchances near the end. Theywanted a penalty for a handball inside the area in the finalminutes but video review letthe game continue.
Leganés was unbeaten inthe last five rounds, with threewins and two draws. The teamfrom southern Madrid lastplayed in the second divisionin 2015-16.
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Inter Milan’s faint title challengetook another blow with a 2-2
draw at Roma in Serie A.The result on Sunday left sec-
ond-place Inter five points behindJuventus, which can take a hugestep toward a record-extendingninth straight Italian league titlewith a win against Lazio onMonday. That would see theBianconeri move eight points clearwith four matches remaining.
Stefan de Vrij opened the scor-ing but the Inter defender also con-tributed to both Roma goals.Romelu Lukaku converted a penal-ty to level for Inter two minutesfrom time.
Inter needed a win to keeppressure on Juventus and it took thelead in the 15th minute when DeVrij headed in Alexis Sánchez’s cor-
ner at the back post.De Vrij was powerless at the
other end to prevent LeonardoSpinazzola’s effort from going induring first-half stoppage time. DeVrij appeared to get the last touchbut it was credited to the Romamidfielder.
Inter appealed for a foul byAleksandar Kolarov on LautaroMartínez in the buildup but, afteran on-field review, the referee stuckto his original decision.
Martínez thought he hadrestored Inter’s lead nine minutesafter the restart but it was ruled outfor offside.
And it was Roma which tookthe lead three minutes later. EdinDžeko tried to muscle his waybetween two defenders when theball bounced off De Vrij and backinto Džeko’s path. HenrikhMkhitaryan stole it off his team-
mate's foot and fired the ball intothe back of the net.
Inter was given a late lifelinewhen Spinazzola fouled VictorMoses and Lukaku slotted theresulting penalty into the bottomleft corner.
But the point will do little forInter's title dreams.
��#�#������ A bizarre Gabriel own-goal and
a missed penalty may have con-demned Lecce to relegation as it lost2-1 at Genoa in a direct fight forsurvival.
Marco Mancosu had atoned fora penalty miss by scoring a second-half equalizer. However, nine min-utes from time, Filip Jagiello's long-range strike bounced off the postand ricocheted in off Gabriel’sback.
Genoa moved four pointsahead of 18th-place Lecce with fourrounds remaining. Spal was relegat-ed after losing 2-1 against Brescia,which itself is nine points from safe-ty and likely to join Spal in Serie B.
Genoa took an early lead whenAntonio Sanabria made the most ofa fortunate bounce to fire homeGoran Pandev’s through ball in theseventh minute.
Lecce had earlier penaltyappeals waved away but it wasawarded a spot kick on the strokeof halftime. Gianluca Lapadula’seffort was cleared off the line but hewas brought down by Genoa goal-keeper Mattia Perin, preventinghim from attempting to get to therebound.
However, Mancosu blasted thepenalty over the bar.
The Lecce midfielder didequalize in the second half when hiscross evaded everyone to go into thefar bottom corner.
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Bo r u s s i aDortmund
has signedpromising 17-y e a r - o l dEnglish mid-fielder JudeB e l l i ng h amfrom second-division clubBirmingham, the German clubsaid Monday.
Dortmund finally con-firmed the expected deal twodays before Birmingham's finalleague game of the season - apotential relegation decideragainst Derby.
Dortmund said Bellinghamsigned a “long-term deal” andwill wear the No. 22 jersey.
“I’m incredibly excited tohave joined one of Europe’sbiggest clubs,” Bellingham toldBirmingham’s website.
“The direction they areheading in and how much theyhelp to improve young playersmade it an easy decision formyself and my family.”
Bellingham follows in thefootsteps of England forwardJadon Sancho, who was 17when he made the move fromManchester City to Dortmundthree years ago. Sancho hassince become one of theBundesliga's most valuableattacking players with 17 goalsand 17 assists this season.
Bellingham made his debutfor Birmingham last August,aged 16 and 138 days. Thatmade him the youngest playerin the club's history. He went onto score four goals in 40 leagueappearances.
Bellingham has also playedfor England at the under-17level.
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New Zealand left-arm spinnerMitchell Santner feels that IPL has
helped him evolve as a bowler havingplied his trade on different Indiantracks while picking CSK teammatesHarbhajan Singh and Ravindra Jadeja’sbrains.
Santner was picked up by the CSKfor Rs 50 lakh during the IPL auctionsahead of the 2018 edition of the leaguebut was ruled out of the tournament thatyear due to a bone defect in his knees.However, the Hamilton-born cricketerwas back in 2019, playing four match-es.
“The IPL was a cool experience aswell. It was the first time for me play-ing at a ground where it spins more, inChennai, which is nice because you don’thave to do too much.
“You try and fire it into the wicketand let the wicket do the rest. I guess,for me, it’s about trying to adapt to theconditions as early as possible and findwhat will be the most attacking ball on
each Santner told ESPN Cricinfo.Getting to discuss cricket with some
of the biggest names in the game alsohelped. “There are some world-classspinners in Chennai to talk to and playwith - guys like Harbhajan, who I’ve
watched a lot of, Jadeja and Imran Tahiras well,” Santner told ‘ESPNcricinfo’.
Santner missed out on 2018 due toa bone defect in his knee but played fourgames in the 2019 edition.
“When I got injured the first year, Iwas pretty disappointed, but I was giventhe opportunity last time around to goand experience it.
“It’s an unbelievable tournamentand definitely the best cricket goingaround in terms of T20 leagues. It wasnice to bowl on different pitches to NewZealand,” he added.
The 28-year-old said he learnt a lotplaying under the leadership of CSK andfomer Indian skipper Mahendra SinghDhoni.
“I’ve played against MS a lot, so toshare a dressing room with him and talkto him about how he goes about thingswas awesome. Even guys like SureshRaina - you watched him from otherteams you go with,” Santner said.
Over the years Santner has provedhis utility as a limited-overs spin bowl-ing all-rounder for the Black Caps.
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Proud to be part of a gen-eration that witnessed
Indian hockey’s resurgence,former captain Sardar Singhsays his sole regret in anotherwise illustrious careeris not winning an Olympicmedal for his country.
However, he feels thecurrent team underManpreet Singh has thepotential to break the four-decade-old jinx in Tokyonext year.
“My journey in hockeyhas been rather satisfyingbecause I was part of thatera which saw a resurgence.We came a long way fromfinishing last at the LondonOlympics in 2012 to beingranked No.6 in the worldwhen I hung up my boots in2018.
“Now, the current teamis poised at no.4 whichshould definitely bring a lotof confidence to this teamin the lead up to theirTokyo Olympic campaign,”said Sardar.
The Indian team has arich Olympic history, win-ning an unprecedentedeight gold besides a Silverand two Bronze medals.
India's last success atthe quadrennial sportingextravaganza, though, came40 years ago in the 1980Moscow Olympics, wherethey won the last of theireight gold medals.
“Having played 314international matches, I willalways regret not being ableto add an Olympic medalon the wall back home.
But watching this teamgrow from strength tostrength in the past yearand the way they played theFIH Hockey Pro League
earlier this year, I havegreat hope that they canbag that elusive Olympicmedal. "They definitelyhave a realistic chance inTokyo,” said Sardar in aHockey India release.
With the 2020 TokyoSummer Games beingpostponed by a yearbecause of the COVID-19pandemic, Sardar feels theIndian team will get sometime to work on its greyareas and unearth new tal-ent.
“They have the time tobuild on the new talent thatis available. Some of theyoungsters like Rajkumar,Dilpreet, Vivek Sagar,Gursahib have shown greatpromise and trying them inbig-match scenarios likethe Pro League was a gooddecision by chief coachGraham Reid.
“With the Olympicsbeing postponed, we havethe time to work on ourshort-comings. Convertingchances continues to beone of the grey areas but Ifeel we have been finishingmuch better than we weretwo or three years ago.”
Sardar advised theIndian players not to losetheir focus amid the cur-rent global health crisis,which has halted sportingactivities across the world.
“For now, I understandthese are trying times for allsports persons in Indiawith the COVID-19 pan-demic posing several chal-lenges to the Olympicpreparations but my adviceto the Indian hockey coreprobables, men andwomen, is to remainfocused on their goal,” saidthe 34-year-old from Sirsain Haryana.
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Ben Stokes removedJermaine Blackwood off
the final ball before tea toleave the West Indies on137-5 and ignite England'schances of winning the sec-ond test on the final day atOld Trafford on Monday.
Blackwood (55) glovedan attempted shot aroundthe corner and wicketkeep-er Jos Buttler scrambled totake a diving catch, endinga 100-run partnership withShamarh Brooks that wasgiving the West Indies hopeof salvaging a draw.
England has a mini-mum of 41.2 overs to takethe final five wickets for avictory that would tie theseries at 1-1 ahead of thethird and final test startingon Friday, also inManchester.
If the West Indies holdon for a draw, it will retainthe Wisden Trophy havingbeaten England in a homeseries last year.
Brooks is unbeaten on52.
The tourists were rock-ing at 37-4 after Stuart Broadtrapped Roston Chase lbwfor his third wicket of theinnings, for the loss of 25runs. The paceman has sixwickets for the match on hisrecall to the team after beingdropped for the first test.
Yet it is Ben Stokes whohas been England's star,once again. Before takingthat crucial wicket ofBlackwood, the allrounder
had gone into limited-oversmode to plunder 78 not outoff 57 balls to help Englandto 129-3 before captain JoeRoot declared with his teamhaving a lead of 311 runs.
England made 92 runsoff 11 overs after resumingon 37-2, effectively takingthe game away from the
West Indies.England had a total of
85 overs to dismiss the WestIndies and has bowled 42.4of them. The second newball will be available after 80overs for England, which lostthe first test by four wicketson the final day inSouthampton.
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The ICC on Monday post-poned the T20 World Cupin Australia owing to the
COVID-19 pandemic, a long-anticipated decision which pavesthe way for the BCCI to organ-ise the IPL during the October-November window.
The ICC hasn't yet decidedwhether India and Australia willswap the 2021 and 2022 editionsbetween them, both of which willbe held in the October-November window.
"The International CricketCouncil (ICC) today confirmedthe ICC men's T20 World Cup inAustralia 2020 has been post-poned due to the ongoingCOVID-19 pandemic," ICC saidin a statement.
The ICC T20 World Cup wasscheduled Down Under fromOctober 18-November 15 butCricket Australia, in the monthof May itself, had intimated ICCthat it would be near impossibleto stage a closed-door event ofthis magnitude which wouldalso require quarantine arrange-ment for 16 international teams.
The ICC deliberated onunspecified contingency plans forover two months before comingup with Monday's decision.
Chief Executive ManuSawhney said: "The decision topostpone the ICC Men's T20World Cup was taken after care-ful consideration of all of theoptions available to us and gives
us the best possible opportunityof delivering two safe and suc-cessful T20 World Cups for fansaround the world."
As far as hosting of this edi-tion is concerned, ICC's commer-cial wing will be monitoringvarious modalities before comingto a decision on whether Indiawill host the 2021 edition or swapwith Cricket Australia and hosttheirs in 2022.
"The ICC BusinessCorporation(IBC) Board agreedto continue to monitor the rapid-ly changing situation and assessall the information available inorder to make a considered deci-
sion on future hosts to ensure thesport is able to stage safe and suc-cessful global events in 2021 and2022," it stated.
The decision to announcethe schedules of the next threeWorld Cups will help the boardsplan more bilateral engagementsand earn revenue lost during thepandemic.
"Our Members now have theclarity they need around eventwindows to enable them toreschedule lost bilateral anddomestic cricket," Sawhney stat-ed.
There has been no formalannouncement but there is a pos-
sibility that BCCI might shift theIndian Premier League to theUnited Arab Emirates takingIndia's COVID-19 case load intoaccount. India has recorded over11 lakh cases so far with thedeath toll breaching the 27,000mark.
The other option is having atwin-city closed door bio-secureevent, which was the first prefer-ence of at least one of the stake-holders.
The IPL will likely start in thelast week of September and endin the second week of November.
"We were waiting for the for-mal announcement. Now we can
at least submit our plans to thegovernment and wait for theirnecessary clearances. There isscheduling, logistics, operationalaspects that needs to be takencare of," a BCCI official told PTIon conditions of anonymity.
BCCI President SouravGanguly had earlier expressedconfidence that the year would-n't pass without the glitzy eventgoing ahead.
The IBC Board will alsocontinue to evaluate the situationwith regards the 2021 women'sWorld Cup in New Zealand inFebruary. In the meantime, plan-ning for this event continues asscheduled.
����B /�/����*���FThe IBC Board will also
continue to evaluate the situationwith regards the 2021 women'sWorld Cup in New Zealand inFebruary. In the meantime, plan-ning for this event continues asscheduled.
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Left-arm pacer Mohammad Amiris set to replace Harris Rauf in the
Pakistan T20 squad currently in theUK after originally pulling out of thetour because of the birth of his sec-ond child.
According to an ESPNcricinforeport, Amir has now made himselfavailable.
But the pacer will board the UK-bound flight only after he returnsnegative in two successive COVID-19 tests.
As per the report, Amir was test-ed on Monday and his second testwill be conducted in two days' time.
If cleared, Amir could feature inthe three T20 Internationals againstEngland, starting August 28 inManchester.
The report stated that it was chiefselector Misbah-ul-Haq who want-ed Amir as replacement for Rauf afterthe left-arm pacer announced thebirth of his child on July 17.
Rauf returned positive in five outof the six COVID-19 tests he under-went last month.
His fifth test came out negativebut a player needs two consecutivenegative results to fly out of Pakistan.The player, though, tested positive inhis sixth test.
Rauf, who was scheduled to flyto the UK on Wednesday, is asymp-tomatic and will undergo self-quar-antine for 10 days before being test-ed again. The Pakistan Cricket Board(PCB) has decided to send an addi-tional masseur in Mohammad Imranto the UK to manage the workloadof the team's regular masseur, MalangAli, who had earlier tested positivetwice before being cleared to travel.
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