9 B ˝ # ˘ $, *%$ C # RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd ... · questioned Tamil Nadu...

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T error mastermind Maulana Masood Azhar, who is chief of Pakistan-based banned ter- ror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad, has been made prime accused along with 18 others in the “dastardly Pulwama terror attack” case in which 40 jawans of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) attained mar- tyrdom on February 14, 2019. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) filed a volumi- nous 13,800-page chargesheet before the special NIA court in Jammu on Tuesday. The terror attack had vir- tually brought India and Pakistan to the brink of war. The investigation conduct- ed by the NIA over a period of 18 last month has revealed that the Pulwama terror attack was a result of a well-planned crim- inal conspiracy hatched by Pakistan-based leadership of Jaish-e-Mohammad. According to the NIA probe, JeM handlers had short- listed Adil Ahmad Dar, a local resident who rammed an explosive-laden car into a CRPF convoy in Pulwama, as a suicide bomber to project the attack as a result of a home- grown militancy. The investigation has also revealed that the Pakistan- based JeM leadership consist- ing of Masood Azhar, Rouf Asgar and Ammar Alvi, aka Chacha aka Chota Masood, were continuously giving direc- tions and guidance to the Pakistani JeM terrorists (who had infiltrated into India) both before and after the attack. The NIA also revealed that the JeM leadership had planned to carry out another suicide attack which got averted due to Balakot strikes and killing of main conspirator Mohd Umar Farooq by the security forces. To back its claims, NIA has presented digital, forensic, doc- umentary and oral evidence establishing a foolproof case against the accused for the “dastardly, barbaric” attack. Briefing mediapersons out- side the court premises in Jammu, the NIA counsel Vipin Kalra said the NIA on Tuesday filed its chargesheet against the 19 accused persons in the Pulwama terror attack case. A total number of seven accused attended the virtual hearing in the case via video- conferencing. According to him, JeM chief Maulana Masood Azhar has been made prime accused in the case. The next hearing in the case has been fixed on September 1, 2020. According to the NIA statement, “The JeM leaders have been sending their cadre to the terrorist training camps of Al-Qaida-Taliban-JeM and Haqqani-JeM in Afghanistan for receiving training in explo- sives and other terrorist tactics.” The main accused Mohammad Umar Farooq, a Pakistani national, had also visited Afghanistan for explosives training in 2016-17.” NIA investigation revealed Umar Farooq infiltrated into India through the International Border at Jammu-Samba Sector in April, 2018 and took over as Jaish-e-Mohammad Commander of Pulwama. A day after the high-voltage drama at the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting, several signatories to the letter written to party chief Sonia Gandhi for organisation revamp and appointment of a full-time president asserted on Tuesday they were “not dis- senters” but “proponents of revival” of the party. Senior Congress leader Anand Shrama, one of the 23 signatories to the letter, said their intention was to convey “shared concerns” over the present environment in the county and it was done with the best interest of the party. Sharma said the country needs a strong Opposition to challenge the BJP and sugges- tions made for “renewal” of the grand old party was made in sincerity and shouldn’t be treat- ed as dissent. Their party colleague M Veerappa Moily too reiterated on Tuesday it is an “admitted fact” that the organisation is not in a position to take forward “the Congress philosophy and protect the democracy”. Moily is also the signatory to the let- ter to Sonia. On Monday, the signato- ries to the letter came under criticism at the CWC meeting and were projected as rebels. Former party chief Rahul Gandhi had questioned the very intention and timing of the letter when Sonia was admitted in hospital. Responding to a tweet by Congress Rajya Sabha member Vivek Tankha in which he had said the letter was not a chal- lenge to leadership but a parch- ment of action to strengthen the party, Sharma said, “The letter was written with the best interest of the party in our hearts and conveying shared concerns over the present envi- ronment in the country and sustained assault on the foun- dational values of the consti- tution.” Sharma said India needs a strong Opposition to confront the BJP. “Suggestions for the party’s renewal made in sin- cerity is not dissent. Wish all colleagues had read it.” P rotests against the holding of NEET and JEE 2020 during the Covid-19 pandem- ic have continued with celebri- ties and politicians taking to social media to oppose the Centre’s move to conduct the examinations. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking his immediate inter- vention to stop the conduct of examinations amid the pan- demic. LJP leader Chirag Paswan too wrote to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar requesting him to urge the Centre to postpone the entrance tests. Paswan, who is a constituent of the Centre and State Governments in Bihar, had last week written to Modi in this regard. While international envi- ronmental and climate activist Greta Thunberg voiced her concern regarding the con- duction of NEET and JEE 2020 in the middle of a global pan- demic and called for the post- ponement of these exams, renowned author Chetan Bhagat wrote that the Government can wait for the Covid-19 vaccine to be released for the general public and then decide on the date for the national entrance examina- tions that are scheduled to be conducted in September. Bollywood actor Sonu Sood, who has hogged lime- light for reaching out to the needy during the lockdown, expressed his solidarity with the NEET and JEE aspirants who wants postponement of the entrance tests. The NEET 2020 exam is scheduled for September 13 and the JEE Main 2020 entrance from September 1 to 6 across the country. Education Ministry sources said it is in process of releasing the SOP soon and the download of process of admit cards are underway. DMK leader MK Stalin questioned Tamil Nadu Government’s silence on con- duction of entrances. T he Interpol has issued a Red Corner Notice (RCN) or a global arrest warrant against fugitive diamond trader Nirav Modi’s wife Ami Modi in 13,000 crore PNB credit fraud. The RCN has been issued by the global police body fol- lowing a request from the Enforcement Directorate (ED). After such a notice is issued against a fugitive, the Interpol asks its 192 member countries to arrest or detain the person if spotted in their countries after which extradition or deportation proceedings can be initiated against the individual. Ami is stated to have left India soon after the mega banking scam was unearthed in 2018. The ED has charged Ami under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) for conspiring with her husband Nirav and uncle Mehul Choksi in money laundering. Nirav (49), is currently lodged in a UK jail after being arrested in London in March, 2019 and has challenged the proceedings for his extradition to India. T he toll in Monday’s collapse of a five-storey building at Mahad in Raigad district rose to 13, even as a four-year-old child was rescued from under the debris of the caved-in struc- ture. Till Tuesday evening, as many as 13 bodies had been recovered by the rescue and relief teams from under the rubbles of a massive five-storey building crashed like a prover- bial pack of cards. On a day when the rescue and relief teams recovered more than a dozen bodies from under the debris, a mir- acle happened when the rescue workers — who have been working for the past 24 hours — heard the cries of a male child Mohammed Bangi and later spotted his hand. Before long, the rescuers — belonging to NDRF, SDRF and fire brigade — pulled Bangi out safely from under the rubbles. Amid chants of “Ganpati Bappa Morya”, the trapped boy was lifted by the rescuers, put on a stretcher taken to a near- by hospital. Detailed report on P5 D espite ongoing tension at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China and frosty ties with Pakistan, India will exercise with their armies in a multilateral event in Russia next month. This exercise named Kavkaz-2020 will be conducted under the aegis of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). The exercise will see armed forces of more than 20 coun- tries carrying out military movements in Astrakhan province of southern Russia during September 15-26, sources said here on Tuesday. India will send a team of nearly 200 personnel, including 160 from the Army and rest from the IAF and the Navy. The Army contingent will include soldiers and officers from the Special Forces, infantry, artillery and armoured corps for the strategic command- post exercise. Incidentally, India had exercised with Pakistan and China in earlier editions of this exercise last year also as part of the SCO group. While India will send a team of 200 personnel, China is likely to send an army con- tingent and three ships as part of its naval deployment to the exercise. The Pakistani repre- sentation was also likely to be considerable, they added. More than 12,500 troops from the participating coun- tries will take part in the event. Besides the SCO members including India, China, Pakistan, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, 11 other coun- tries will be part of the exercise. The other nations included in the drills are Mongolia, Syria, Iran, Egypt, Belarus, Turkey, Armenia, Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan. Elaborating on the objec- tive of the forthcoming exer- cise, officials said the aim and scope of the exercise is to improve cooperation. The idea is for militaries to prepare for joint action with units of armies of foreign states. All the contingents will have to strictly follow Covid-19 protocols. Moreover, after a Covid test, the participants will spend 14 days in quaran- tine in their respective coun- tries and will be tested again on arrival in Russia. India taking part in the exercise with China comes against the backdrop of the more than three-month long stand-off at the LAC in Eastern Ladakh. The region also saw a bloody clash between the two armies in mid-June leaving 20 Indian Army personnel includ- ing the commanding officer dead. This clash without firearms took place after a gap of more than 40 years between the two armies. Efforts were now on at the military and diplomatic levels to resolve the issue at the ear- liest through sustained dia- logue. At least 10 rounds of talks at both the levels since the stand-offs started in early May have taken place but no break- through so far. Though agreeing to disen- gage from all the friction points at the LAC, China had not pulled back its troops from the Pangong Tso (lake) and Depsang valley. Given this sit- uation, Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat had said military options were open if the ongoing talks fail. I n a reprieve to Prashant Bhushan, the Supreme Court on Tuesday decided to refer to another bench the 2009 con- tempt case against him and journalist Tarun Tejpal to deal with certain larger questions related to freedom of speech and levelling of corruption charges against the judiciary. The apex court in November 2009, had issued contempt notices to Bhushan and Tejpal for allegedly casting aspersions on some sitting and former top court judges in an interview to news magazine ‘Tehelka’. Tejpal was the editor of the magazine. A bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra was told by senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan, appearing for the activist- lawyer, that 10 questions of constitutional importance have been raised by him and they needed to be dealt by a Constitution bench. The bench, which also comprised Justices BR Gavai and Krishna Murari, did not undertake the hearing due to paucity of time as Justice Mishra is demitting office on September 2. “There is paucity of time otherwise we would have heard the senior counsel (Dhavan) with respect to the questions which have been proposed. However, since the matter is pending for the last 10 years, as prayed for, we fix the date for hearing in the month of September, 2020. Let the matter be listed on September 10, before an appro- priate Bench as may deem fit by Hon’ble the Chief Justice of India,” the bench noted in the order. H itherto having largely con- fined themselves ques- tioning Sushant Singh Rajput’s friend Siddharth Pithani, cook Neeraj Singh and domestic help Deepesh Sawant who were present at the crime scene, the CBI sleuths on Tuesday expanded their investigations into the actor’s death by ques- tioning two police officers, Sushant’s Chartered Accountant Sandip Sridhar and an accountant. As part of efforts to fill up the remaining gaps in the col- lection of oral evidence relating to what transpired in the run- up to Sushant’s death, the inves- tigators questioned cook Neeraj for the fifth consecutive day, his flatmate Siddharth and domes- tic help Deepak Sawant and another servant Keshav for the fourth consecutive day. In a development that will prove to be crucial for the investigations, Siddharth has given a detailed statement to the CBI in which he has nar- rated the chain of events lead- ing to Sushant’s death on the intervening night of June 13 and 14. The statement, accessed by a TV channel, throws light on Sushant’s mental condition in the run-up to his death. The CBI, meanwhile, sum- moned two police officers Bhushan Belnekar, the investi- gating officer in the actor’s death case and a sub-inspector attached to Bandra Police Station. Both had been under quarantine till a couple of days ago after they tested positive for Covid-19. Given that the several groups of the visiting CBI team are working on different angles of the probe, one is not getting a full picture of the progress of ongoing investigations. However, sources in the investigating team said that the CBI had made some head- way in the investigations. New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday filed a chargesheet before Delhi court against Pakistan-based Hizb- ul-Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin and 11 others for allegedly laundering money for financing terror activities in Jammu & Kashmir. The agency said the charge sheet is also related to blasts carried out by the terror group in Jammu & Kashmir in 2011 in alleged connivance with the Pakistani Government and its spying arm ISI. The prosecution com- plaint, ED’s equivalent to charge sheet, has urged the court for confiscating attached assets totalling to 1.22 crores in the case, besides other pun- ishment under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Detailed report on P4 U nion Minister for Road Transport, Highways and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Nitin Gadkari besides dedicating several roads of Madhya Pradesh, laid foun- dation of new works. Through virtual programme, inaugura- tion/ foundation stone was laid of 45 road projects of 1361 km in length costing total 11,427 crore. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan participated in the programme from Mantralaya, whereas many Union Ministers and Ministers of Madhya Pradesh, Members of Parliament and Members of Legislative Assembly attended the programme from different places. While congratulating people of the State for construction of new roads and works started for many roads, the Union Minister Gadkari said that Madhya Pradesh will be prosperous in the leadership of Chouhan. The need of construction of roads in Madhya Pradesh will be fulfilled by the Union Government. He gave consent to the proposals of public representatives for works worth 700 crore from the Central Road Infrastructure Fund (CRIF). Necessary amount will also be paid by granting approval to the proposals. Continued on Page 3 RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd. No. L-2/BPLON/41/2006-2008

Transcript of 9 B ˝ # ˘ $, *%$ C # RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd ... · questioned Tamil Nadu...

Page 1: 9 B ˝ # ˘ $, *%$ C # RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd ... · questioned Tamil Nadu Government’s silence on con- ... by the global police body fol- ... interview to news magazine

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Terror mastermind MaulanaMasood Azhar, who is chief

of Pakistan-based banned ter-ror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad,has been made prime accusedalong with 18 others in the“dastardly Pulwama terrorattack” case in which 40 jawansof the Central Reserve PoliceForce (CRPF) attained mar-tyrdom on February 14, 2019.The National InvestigationAgency (NIA) filed a volumi-nous 13,800-page chargesheetbefore the special NIA court inJammu on Tuesday.

The terror attack had vir-tually brought India andPakistan to the brink of war.

The investigation conduct-ed by the NIA over a period of18 last month has revealed thatthe Pulwama terror attack wasa result of a well-planned crim-inal conspiracy hatched byPakistan-based leadership ofJaish-e-Mohammad.

According to the NIAprobe, JeM handlers had short-listed Adil Ahmad Dar, a local

resident who rammed anexplosive-laden car into aCRPF convoy in Pulwama, asa suicide bomber to project theattack as a result of a home-grown militancy.

The investigation has alsorevealed that the Pakistan-based JeM leadership consist-ing of Masood Azhar, RoufAsgar and Ammar Alvi, akaChacha aka Chota Masood,were continuously giving direc-tions and guidance to thePakistani JeM terrorists (whohad infiltrated into India) bothbefore and after the attack.

The NIA also revealed thatthe JeM leadership had plannedto carry out another suicideattack which got averted due toBalakot strikes and killing ofmain conspirator Mohd UmarFarooq by the security forces.

To back its claims, NIA haspresented digital, forensic, doc-umentary and oral evidenceestablishing a foolproof caseagainst the accused for the“dastardly, barbaric” attack.

Briefing mediapersons out-side the court premises in

Jammu, the NIA counsel VipinKalra said the NIA on Tuesdayfiled its chargesheet against the19 accused persons in thePulwama terror attack case.

A total number of sevenaccused attended the virtualhearing in the case via video-conferencing.

According to him, JeM

chief Maulana Masood Azharhas been made prime accusedin the case. The next hearing inthe case has been fixed onSeptember 1, 2020.

According to the NIAstatement, “The JeM leadershave been sending their cadreto the terrorist training campsof Al-Qaida-Taliban-JeM and

Haqqani-JeM in Afghanistanfor receiving training in explo-sives and other terrorist tactics.”The main accused MohammadUmar Farooq, a Pakistaninational, had also visitedAfghanistan for explosivestraining in 2016-17.”

NIA investigation revealedUmar Farooq infiltrated intoIndia through the InternationalBorder at Jammu-Samba Sectorin April, 2018 and took over asJ a i s h - e - M o h a m m a dCommander of Pulwama.

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Aday after the high-voltagedrama at the Congress

Working Committee (CWC)meeting, several signatories tothe letter written to party chiefSonia Gandhi for organisationrevamp and appointment of afull-time president asserted onTuesday they were “not dis-senters” but “proponents ofrevival” of the party.

Senior Congress leaderAnand Shrama, one of the 23signatories to the letter, saidtheir intention was to convey“shared concerns” over thepresent environment in thecounty and it was done with thebest interest of the party.

Sharma said the countryneeds a strong Opposition tochallenge the BJP and sugges-tions made for “renewal” of thegrand old party was made insincerity and shouldn’t be treat-ed as dissent.

Their party colleague MVeerappa Moily too reiteratedon Tuesday it is an “admittedfact” that the organisation is notin a position to take forward

“the Congress philosophy andprotect the democracy”. Moilyis also the signatory to the let-ter to Sonia.

On Monday, the signato-ries to the letter came undercriticism at the CWC meetingand were projected as rebels.Former party chief RahulGandhi had questioned thevery intention and timing ofthe letter when Sonia wasadmitted in hospital.

Responding to a tweet byCongress Rajya Sabha memberVivek Tankha in which he hadsaid the letter was not a chal-lenge to leadership but a parch-ment of action to strengthenthe party, Sharma said, “Theletter was written with the bestinterest of the party in ourhearts and conveying sharedconcerns over the present envi-ronment in the country andsustained assault on the foun-dational values of the consti-tution.”

Sharma said India needs astrong Opposition to confrontthe BJP. “Suggestions for theparty’s renewal made in sin-cerity is not dissent. Wish allcolleagues had read it.”

������9:��97'&

Protests against the holdingof NEET and JEE 2020

during the Covid-19 pandem-ic have continued with celebri-ties and politicians taking tosocial media to oppose theCentre’s move to conduct theexaminations.

West Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee wrote toPrime Minister Narendra Modiseeking his immediate inter-vention to stop the conduct ofexaminations amid the pan-demic. LJP leader ChiragPaswan too wrote to BiharChief Minister Nitish Kumarrequesting him to urge theCentre to postpone theentrance tests. Paswan, who isa constituent of the Centre andState Governments in Bihar,had last week written to Modiin this regard.

While international envi-ronmental and climate activistGreta Thunberg voiced herconcern regarding the con-duction of NEET and JEE 2020in the middle of a global pan-

demic and called for the post-ponement of these exams,renowned author ChetanBhagat wrote that theGovernment can wait for theCovid-19 vaccine to be releasedfor the general public and thendecide on the date for thenational entrance examina-tions that are scheduled to beconducted in September.

Bollywood actor SonuSood, who has hogged lime-light for reaching out to theneedy during the lockdown,expressed his solidarity withthe NEET and JEE aspirantswho wants postponement ofthe entrance tests.

The NEET 2020 exam isscheduled for September 13and the JEE Main 2020entrance from September 1 to6 across the country.

Education Ministrysources said it is in process ofreleasing the SOP soon and thedownload of process of admitcards are underway.

DMK leader MK Stalinquestioned Tamil NaduGovernment’s silence on con-duction of entrances.

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The Interpol has issued a RedCorner Notice (RCN) or a

global arrest warrant againstfugitive diamond trader NiravModi’s wife Ami Modi in�13,000 crore PNB credit fraud.

The RCN has been issuedby the global police body fol-lowing a request from theEnforcement Directorate (ED).

After such a notice is issuedagainst a fugitive, the Interpolasks its 192 member countriesto arrest or detain the personif spotted in their countriesafter which extradition ordeportation proceedings can beinitiated against the individual.

Ami is stated to have leftIndia soon after the megabanking scam was unearthed in2018.

The ED has charged Amiunder Prevention of MoneyLaundering Act (PMLA) forconspiring with her husbandNirav and uncle Mehul Choksiin money laundering.

Nirav (49), is currentlylodged in a UK jail after beingarrested in London in March,2019 and has challenged theproceedings for his extraditionto India.

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The toll in Monday’s collapseof a five-storey building at

Mahad in Raigad district roseto 13, even as a four-year-oldchild was rescued from underthe debris of the caved-in struc-ture.

Till Tuesday evening, asmany as 13 bodies had beenrecovered by the rescue andrelief teams from under therubbles of a massive five-storeybuilding crashed like a prover-bial pack of cards.

On a day when the rescueand relief teams recoveredmore than a dozen bodiesfrom under the debris, a mir-acle happened when the rescueworkers — who have beenworking for the past 24 hours— heard the cries of a malechild Mohammed Bangi andlater spotted his hand. Beforelong, the rescuers — belongingto NDRF, SDRF and firebrigade — pulled Bangi outsafely from under the rubbles.

Amid chants of “GanpatiBappa Morya”, the trapped boywas lifted by the rescuers, puton a stretcher taken to a near-by hospital.

Detailed report on P5

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Despite ongoing tension atthe Line of Actual Control

(LAC) with China and frostyties with Pakistan, India willexercise with their armies in amultilateral event in Russianext month. This exercisenamed Kavkaz-2020 will beconducted under the aegis ofthe Shanghai CooperationOrganisation (SCO).

The exercise will see armedforces of more than 20 coun-tries carrying out militarymovements in Astrakhanprovince of southern Russiaduring September 15-26,sources said here on Tuesday.

India will send a team ofnearly 200 personnel, including160 from the Army and restfrom the IAF and the Navy. TheArmy contingent will includesoldiers and officers from theSpecial Forces, infantry,artillery and armoured corpsfor the strategic command-post exercise. Incidentally,India had exercised with

Pakistan and China in earliereditions of this exercise last yearalso as part of the SCO group.

While India will send ateam of 200 personnel, Chinais likely to send an army con-tingent and three ships as partof its naval deployment to theexercise. The Pakistani repre-sentation was also likely to beconsiderable, they added.

More than 12,500 troopsfrom the participating coun-tries will take part in the event.Besides the SCO membersincluding India, China,Pakistan, Russia, Kazakhstan,Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan andUzbekistan, 11 other coun-tries will be part of the exercise.The other nations included inthe drills are Mongolia, Syria,Iran, Egypt, Belarus, Turkey,Armenia, Abkhazia, SouthOssetia, Azerbaijan andTurkmenistan.

Elaborating on the objec-tive of the forthcoming exer-cise, officials said the aim andscope of the exercise is toimprove cooperation. The ideais for militaries to prepare forjoint action with units of armiesof foreign states.

All the contingents willhave to strictly follow Covid-19protocols. Moreover, after aCovid test, the participants

will spend 14 days in quaran-tine in their respective coun-tries and will be tested again onarrival in Russia.

India taking part in theexercise with China comesagainst the backdrop of themore than three-month longstand-off at the LAC in EasternLadakh. The region also saw abloody clash between the twoarmies in mid-June leaving 20Indian Army personnel includ-ing the commanding officerdead. This clash withoutfirearms took place after a gapof more than 40 years betweenthe two armies.

Efforts were now on at themilitary and diplomatic levelsto resolve the issue at the ear-liest through sustained dia-logue. At least 10 rounds oftalks at both the levels since thestand-offs started in early Mayhave taken place but no break-through so far.

Though agreeing to disen-gage from all the friction pointsat the LAC, China had notpulled back its troops from thePangong Tso (lake) andDepsang valley. Given this sit-uation, Chief of Defence Staff(CDS) General Bipin Rawathad said military options wereopen if the ongoing talks fail.

� � � �9:��97'&

In a reprieve to PrashantBhushan, the Supreme Court

on Tuesday decided to refer toanother bench the 2009 con-tempt case against him andjournalist Tarun Tejpal to dealwith certain larger questionsrelated to freedom of speechand levelling of corruptioncharges against the judiciary.

The apex court inNovember 2009, had issuedcontempt notices to Bhushanand Tejpal for allegedly castingaspersions on some sitting and

former top court judges in aninterview to news magazine‘Tehelka’. Tejpal was the editorof the magazine.

A bench headed by JusticeArun Mishra was told by senioradvocate Rajeev Dhavan,appearing for the activist-lawyer, that 10 questions ofconstitutional importance havebeen raised by him and theyneeded to be dealt by aConstitution bench.

The bench, which alsocomprised Justices BR Gavaiand Krishna Murari, did notundertake the hearing due topaucity of time as Justice

Mishra is demitting office onSeptember 2.

“There is paucity of timeotherwise we would have heardthe senior counsel (Dhavan)with respect to the questionswhich have been proposed.

However, since the matteris pending for the last 10 years,as prayed for, we fix the date forhearing in the month ofSeptember, 2020.

Let the matter be listed onSeptember 10, before an appro-priate Bench as may deem fit byHon’ble the Chief Justice ofIndia,” the bench noted in theorder.

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Hitherto having largely con-fined themselves ques-

tioning Sushant Singh Rajput’sfriend Siddharth Pithani, cookNeeraj Singh and domestichelp Deepesh Sawant who werepresent at the crime scene, theCBI sleuths on Tuesdayexpanded their investigationsinto the actor’s death by ques-tioning two police officers,Sushant’s CharteredAccountant Sandip Sridharand an accountant.

As part of efforts to fill upthe remaining gaps in the col-lection of oral evidence relatingto what transpired in the run-up to Sushant’s death, the inves-tigators questioned cook Neerajfor the fifth consecutive day, hisflatmate Siddharth and domes-tic help Deepak Sawant andanother servant Keshav for thefourth consecutive day.

In a development that will

prove to be crucial for theinvestigations, Siddharth hasgiven a detailed statement tothe CBI in which he has nar-rated the chain of events lead-ing to Sushant’s death on theintervening night of June 13and 14.

The statement, accessed bya TV channel, throws light onSushant’s mental condition inthe run-up to his death.

The CBI, meanwhile, sum-moned two police officersBhushan Belnekar, the investi-gating officer in the actor’sdeath case and a sub-inspectorattached to Bandra PoliceStation. Both had been underquarantine till a couple of daysago after they tested positive forCovid-19.

Given that the severalgroups of the visiting CBI teamare working on different anglesof the probe, one is not gettinga full picture of the progress ofongoing investigations.

However, sources in theinvestigating team said thatthe CBI had made some head-way in the investigations.

New Delhi: The EnforcementDirectorate on Tuesday filed achargesheet before Delhi courtagainst Pakistan-based Hizb-ul-Mujahideen chief SyedSalahuddin and 11 others forallegedly laundering moneyfor financing terror activities inJammu & Kashmir.

The agency said the chargesheet is also related to blastscarried out by the terror groupin Jammu & Kashmir in 2011in alleged connivance with thePakistani Government and itsspying arm ISI.

The prosecution com-plaint, ED’s equivalent tocharge sheet, has urged thecourt for confiscating attachedassets totalling to �1.22 croresin the case, besides other pun-ishment under Prevention ofMoney Laundering Act(PMLA).

Detailed report on P4

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Union Minister for RoadTransport, Highways and

Micro, Small and MediumEnterprises Nitin Gadkaribesides dedicating several roadsof Madhya Pradesh, laid foun-dation of new works. Throughvirtual programme, inaugura-tion/ foundation stone waslaid of 45 road projects of1361 km in length costingtotal �11,427 crore.

Chief Minister ShivrajSingh Chouhan participated inthe programme fromMantralaya, whereas manyUnion Ministers and Ministersof Madhya Pradesh, Membersof Parliament and Members ofLegislative Assembly attendedthe programme from differentplaces.

While congratulating peopleof the State for construction ofnew roads and works started formany roads, the Union Minister

Gadkari said that MadhyaPradesh will be prosperous inthe leadership of Chouhan. Theneed of construction of roads inMadhya Pradesh will be fulfilledby the Union Government. Hegave consent to the proposals ofpublic representatives for worksworth �700 crore from theCentral Road InfrastructureFund (CRIF). Necessary amountwill also be paid by grantingapproval to the proposals.

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Minister of State for SchoolEducation (Independent

Charge) Inder Singh Parmarinaugurated online trainingfor staff of girls’ hostels andKasturba Gandhi Girls School,focusing hostel managementand academic subjects underthe ‘Prajjwala’. Online trainingwill be imparted to teachersand other staff of 323 girls’ hos-tels of 52 districts and 207Kasturba Gandhi Girls Schoolsof the state.

Parmar said that the hos-tels should be developed as‘Centre for Excellence’ for allround development of girlsinstead of just lodging andboarding facility. It is utmostimportant to make girls com-petent to face the challenges of21st century.

Parmar further stated thatcorona crisis besides a chal-lenge is also an opportunity for

all. It is preparing teams towork in a better manner inadverse situations. Many inno-vations have been made by theeducation department to pro-vide quality education to thestudents in this hour of crisis.Under the ‘Prajjwala’, the onlinetraining will help in all rounddevelopment of girl students ofremote villages, residing inhostels. These students willbring name and fame to thestate and country in future. TheMinister said that girls will beconnected with disciplined life,personal hygiene and manyother important things relatedto life like maintaining clean-liness in surrounding environ-ment by creating good atmos-phere in hostels.

Principal Secretary RashmiArun Shami said that girls ofthe most deprived sectionsreside in hostels. Most of themare talented; little cooperationwill help them in performing

with excellence in many fields.With better management, stu-dents residing in hostels, bybeing disciplined also perform

with excellence in studies too.The objective of this training isto develop the skills of the stafffor academic upgradation ofgirl students. Many activitiesare being conducted to link thehostel students with personalhygiene. There is nothing bet-ter than cleanliness.

The importance of sanita-tion has further increased inthe current corona crisis.Cleanliness will have to bemade essential part of the dailyroutine of children. These girlswill have to be connected tothese things with respect andlove not with a sense of pity andhelplessness.

Commissioner, RajyaShiksha Kendra Lokesh KumarJatav informed in detail aboutthe online training of hostelstaff under the ‘Prajjwala’. Hesaid that many activities arebeing conducted by RajyaShiksha Kendra throughBoddh Shiksha Samiti and Jal

Charitable Trust under the‘Prajjawala’ programme from2018-19 for the all round devel-opment of girl students.

Academic activities areconducted by Boddh ShikshaSamiti of Jaipur and healthrelated activities by JalCharitable Trust, Delhi. CSRfund is provided by theNational Stock Exchange in thisregard. Shri Jatav further men-tioned that online training willbe given on hostel manage-ment, skill upgradation to APCGender of all districts, BGCand KGBC of all blocks besideswardens and assistant wardensof girls’ hostels.

In this, training will beimparted on Hindi, Maths andEnglish subjects based on thetext books existing in the state.In this, the basic academiccompetency of girl students willbe improved further. As manyas 1426 participants will takepart in this training.

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Principal secretary tourismSheo Shekhar Shukla on

Tuesday visited the MadhyaPradesh Tourism head office atParyatan Bhawan and inspect-ed various departments likeTransport, Engineering,Finance, Store, Establishment,IT, Water sports,Operation,Marketing andTraining.

He also visited MadhyaPradesh Institute of Hospitalitytravel and tourism studies, inhouse Bakery and the practi-cal class room of housekeeping.Managing director, MadhyaPradesh Tourism DevelopmentCorporation S Vishwanathangave detailed information

about the working of thedepartment to the principalsecretary.

He informed that the pro-tocols of covid-19 are strictlybeing followed by by the staffwhile they are working forbooking of hotels and publici-ty of hotels. Shukla reviewedthe activities of transport, engi-neering, Finance, Store, Watersports, IT, establishment, oper-ation, marketing and trainingdepartment and issued instruc-tions regarding the accelerationof the business of the corpora-tion while fixing targets Shuklainspected the transport fleet ofthe corporation which includesmore than 100 vehicles includ-ing Caravan,Bhopal darshanbus, Innovas and buses.

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The mega eventTooryanaad’20 will be

organized by RajbhashaKaryanvyan Samiti of MaulanaAzad National Institute ofTechnology, Bhopal with theaim of spreading love for Hindiand feeling of nation’s pride andself-respect among the coun-trymen.

In view of the present cir-cumstances, the programmewill be conducted online thisyear. The preparations forTooryanaad’20, which aregoing to be held in this newembodiment, are at the peak.

The event will begin onSeptember 14, 2020, "HindiDiwas", for which registrationwill begin from September 5,2020 and can be done onwww.tooryanaad.in.

The guest lectures andcompetitions such as: Srijan,Pustak samiksha, KaviSammelan, Chakravyuh will beorganized in this event whichruns till the end of September.

From August 27, 2020, the"Abhivyanjana " contest will beorganized from the officialFacebook and Instagram pageaof Tooryanaad, under whichparticipants can write theirprose by completing the linesin the comment section basedon the Hindi composition ofthe post posted from the page.

Along with this, the com-mittee invites applications forinstitute representative fromvarious educational institu-tions across the country withthe aim of connecting theyouth with this Mahakumbh.Interested students can applyfrom the Facebook page ofTooryanaad.

Apirants can get updatesabout Tooryanaad onTooryanaad's Facebook pageand website.

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The Humanities andLanguage Faculty of

Rabindranath Tagore Universitylaunched a seven-day online fac-ulty development programmeon Tuesday. The programme isorganized jointly with IQAC.

The subject of this FDP isResearch Methodology. On theinauguration, Vice Chancellorof the University,Brahmaprakash Pethia said thatat the present time research inthe field of language andhumanities is becoming diffi-cult.

At such a time, this initia-tive of the university is com-mendable. Experts gave impor-tant information in varioustechnical sessions.

Virpal Singh, ProfessorNational Law UniversityBhopal threw light on various

aspects of ResearchMethodology. ProfessorAnimesh Bahadur, ProfessorTaipei Management InstituteManipal Udupi discussed qual-itative and quantitativeresearch. PM Gupta, LibrarianIndian Institute ofManagement Bodhgaya,explained the use of Mandalaysoftware in research.

At the same time, the Deanof the Faculty of Humanities andLanguages ??of the University,Usha Vaidya said that whateverresearch is done, it should bewelfare in the interest of the soci-ety. Problems should be resolvedthrough research.

IQAC coordinatorSangeeta Johri explained theresearch writing in detail. ThisFDP was successfully con-ducted by Ruchi Mishra Tiwari,Professor Language andHumanities Faculty RNTU.

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House of a Special Judge atDistrict court Ratlam was

targeted by miscreants andescaped with valuables worthlakhs of rupees from his houseat Rajat Vihar Colony underBaghsewania police station.

Police said that the victimDeepak Gupta is Magistrate atRatlam District court and hisfamily had gone to Ratlam onAugust 21 and when theyreturned valuables were foundburgled on Monday.

A complaint was lodged bythe victim with theBaghsewania police and in hiscomplaint, that stated that hisfamily had gone to Ratlam onAugust 21 and when theyreturned they found lock of thehouse was broken and onentering found that the valu-

ables were burgled. The victim has yet to pro-

vide the details of the burgledvaluables and would providedetails of valuables after check-ing the belongings.

Based on the complaintafter the preliminary investi-gation the police have regis-tered a case under sections 457and 380 of the IPC and havestarted further investigation.

Police suspects that theburglars were aware regardingthe whereabouts of the familyand committed the burglarywhen the family was away.

The CCTV footage cam-eras would be checked in thefurther investigation. The FSLteam visited the spot in theinvestigation. The habitualoffenders of the area have beennarrowed and would bedetained to quiz regarding theburglary.

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Chief Executive Officer, atARM Worldwide,

Biohacker & Book AuthorHoney Singh has come upwith Volume Book 1 ofBiohacking Secrets: A guide tobiohack mind, sleep, metabo-lism, and body.

Singh has brought hisdecade of dynamic experienceand business knowledge in thebook that talks about the con-cept of biohacking. In recenttimes, biohacking has emergedas a popular concept amongmany people.

Following the tips and sug-

gestions mentioned in the bookhelps people to get positivechanges in their health andoverall well-being.

The book delves furtherinto how one can be constant-ly aware and informed aboutwhat works for the body and

mind and what doesn't.By learning how to Biohack

oneself with the help of Music,Food & Sleep, Mr. Singh helpsthe readers get a larger pictureof understanding the body bet-ter to lead a healthy life.

The book will focus oninteresting biohacks to do bio-hacking, which includes:Listening to brainwaves, stay-ing away from inflammatoryfoods, having a sleep log, fol-lowing a gluten-free diet,understanding more aboutintermittent fasting, movingaround as much as possible,avoiding sugar intake, hot andcold biohacking and others.

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Sensation prevailed inthe area after a 21-

year-old girl and a 23-year-old boy committedsuicide at Shivaji Nagarin the morning onTuesday; they used tolive in the same buildingon consecutive floors.

The two were rushedto Parul hospital afterthey were found hangingand where the two weredeclared dead. Police saidthat the reason behindthe suicide remainedunclear and would beinvestigated.

The boy identified

as Umesh Raikwar andgirl identified as ChitraSharma were foundhanging at around 10 inthe morning and taken tohospital where they weredeclared brought dead.

In the initial investi-gation, police found thatthe two were acquaintedas they were neighboursand lived in consecutivefloors of the building.

During the investi-gation police have notfound any suicide note orany reason behind thesuicide. The family mem-bers failed to provideany reason behind thesuicide and are yet torecord their statements.

The call recorddetails would be checkedof both the deceased andtheir houses would besearched to determinethe reason behind thesuicide.

Police suspects thatthe two were in relation-ship but as the investiga-tion is in preliminarystage and to ascertainfact is not possible.

The bodies were sentfor the post mortem andpolice have registered acase under section 174 ofthe CrPC and have start-ed further investigation.Other reason of deathwould be investigatedsaid police.

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A37-year-old married woman wassexually assaulted and exploited by

threatening at Nishatpura area; a com-plaint was lodged by the victim onMonday. According to the police, the vic-tim was sexually assaulted by the accusedRamesh Kushwaha on August 6 bythreatening her and later he continued tosexually exploit her threatening her.

Based on the complaint, the policehave registered a case under sections 376and 506 of the IPC.

The victim came into contact with theaccused few months ago and used to visitthe house frequently and when she wasalone at her house on August 6 theaccused came and raped her by threat-ening her. The ordeal continued for next

few days and frustrated over the atrocityvictim lodged complaint.

The accused is still absconding andsearch has been intensified, said police.The details of the accused are yet to befound. Meanwhile, a 38-year-old man diedafter he bike was hit from behind whilehe was on his way to Karond fromEithkhedi in the night on Monday.

The injured was rushed to a nearbyhospital where he was declared dead. Thedeceased was identified as Shahid Khanof Bhanpur was on his way to Karond.

After the preliminary investigation,the body was sent for the post-mortemand a case under section 174 of the CrPCwas registered. The vehicle remainedunidentified which hit the bike of thedeceased. The police have started furtherinvestigation into the matter.

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Angered over fight withmother a 33-year-old man

committed suicide by hangingwith the ceiling at his house inAvinash Apartment underKolar police station area late inthe night on Monday.

Police said that thedeceased Rahul Joshi commit-ted suicide at his house after hehad a fight with his mother.

In the initial investigationthe family members told policethat deceased was heavilyaddicted to liquor and used to

fight with the family membersafter having liquor.

On Tuesday, the deceasedcame heavily drunk and had afight with mother. Later he wasfound hanging with the ceiling.Body was sent for the postmortem after the preliminaryinvestigation. The police haveregistered a case under section174 of the CrPC and startedfurther investigation.

The deceased used to workas electrician. Police have start-ed to search for the reasonbehind the suicide. The moth-er of the deceased raised alert

and informed neighbours aftershe found Rahul hanging ataround 11.30 pm.

Meanwhile, a 35-year-olddriver committed suicide byhanging with the ceiling atNaya Basera under Kamla

Nagar police station area onMonday.

The police said that thedeceased Ramesh Thapa wasfound hanging with the ceilingand declared dead whenrushed to a nearby hospital.During the investigation policefound that the deceased used toremain depressed for the pastfew days.

After the preliminaryinvestigation the police haveregistered a case under section174 of the CrPC and startedfurther investigation. The rea-son would be investigated.

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Ujjain: The Chimganj policearrested 4 women and 3 youthinvolved in operating sex rack-et; acting on sex racket inGayatri Nagar situated in AgarRoad of the city for the last fewdays police raided the spot andarrested 4 women and threeyouths from a house.

According to the police, thesaid action was taken aftercomplaints from the locals ofthe area. It is being told thatwomen caught in sex racket arefrom Ujjain, Indore andMandsaur. The police haveregistered a body trade caseagainst the accused.

The police arrested RaviBelia (Dewas), Sooraj Katariaand Ravindra Anjana, bothresidents of Badnagar, duringraid at a house in GayatriNagar.

Police said that for the lastseveral days, a woman namedMona was operating a sexracket by staying in a rentedhouse in Gayatri Nagar. Whenpeople came to know aboutthis, they had informed thepolice about it.

It is worth noting thatthrough WhatsApp, mobileswere sent to customers by pho-tos of women and women andbased on the details the pricewas fixed for having thewomen. PNS

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The Mahi Socio CulturalSociety, a social and cul-

tural organization, has organ-ised digital theatre fest in mem-ory of the late Anjaya Tiwari.On Tuesday, Hindi playDayaan was presented.

Mahashweta Devi’s playDaayan gave shivers to theaudience, as it unveiled the bit-ter truth of the society. Givingan insight of what life is like invillages and till what extendsuperstition can destroy a per-son’s life.

Directed by Nizam Patelthe play was performed by thetheatre artists of Maahi Socio

Cultural theatre troupe, Bhopal.The entire story revolves

around what happens with herwhen she was not supportedeven by her husband. Throughthe play the writer questionsthe society, the superstitionprevailing and the loss ofhumanity. The play also gavethe audience a lot to reflectupon and think logically aboutthe villages today.

Dayaan is a story of a vil-lage girl Chandi. She lives in avillage affected by drought.The poor are suffering with thedrought and the children aredying. Meanwhile, all the evilsof nature are happening in thevillage, there is a married

woman who works in thecemetery. She is looked downupon as she lives near thecemetery; she is believed to bea Daayan by the villagers.

As children started to die inthe village, the villagers put allthe blame on the woman theythink is a Daayan. The villagersstarted to blame her, abuse herand wanted to throw her out of

the village, as they think thatshe is the reason for drought invillage.

Chandi is left alone. Herhusband leaves her and her sonwas forced to live without her.Shattered with life’s tests,Chandi once witness some-thing that left her life upsidedown. Chandi overheard somepeople about their plan to lootthe train.

Chandi warns them not toloot the train but unfortunate-ly saving the people, Chandidies. Railway department hon-ours Chandi for her braveryand the same society whocalled her daayan feels proudand guilty.

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Page 3: 9 B ˝ # ˘ $, *%$ C # RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd ... · questioned Tamil Nadu Government’s silence on con- ... by the global police body fol- ... interview to news magazine

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Three days ahead of thePunjab Vidhan Sabha ses-

sion on August 28, three legis-lators — including a CabinetMinister — are among the1293 fresh cases reported in theState on Tuesday, pushing thestate’s COVID-19 tally at44,577. The state also reporteda whopping 49 deaths in thepast 24 hours, taking the state’scoronavirus death toll to 1,178.

Punjab Industries MinisterSunder Sham Arora, CongressMLA from Rajpura HardyalSingh Kamboj and ShiromaniAkali Dal MLA from SanourHarinder Pal Chandumajrahave been tested positive for thedeadly contagion.

“I have been tested positivefor Covid-19 & have quaran-tined myself at my Chandigarhresidence. I request all thosepersons who came in contactwith me during the last fewdays please get tested forCoronaVirus infection.Otherwise I am at present nothaving any physical problem,”tweeted Arora.

Chief Minister CaptAmarinder Singh also wishedhis fellow MLAs a speedyrecovery. “Wishing my Cabinetcolleague Industry &Commerce Minister SunderSham Arora Ji who has testedpositive for #Covid19 a speedyrecovery. Look forward to himjoining us at work soon,” hetweeted. In another tweet, he

said: “Wishing speedy recoveryto MLA Rajpura@HardialKamboj and MLASanaur HarinderpalChandumajra who have beendiagnosed #Covid19 positive.Best wishes.”

Patiala Civil Surgeon DrHarish Malhotra said that therapid antigen tests of the MLAswere conducted and both hadtested positive. WhileChandumajra had mild symp-toms like body ache, Kambojwas asymptomatic. Notably,the Vidhan Sabha SpeakerRana KP Singh has made thelatest corona-negative report,tested conducted betweenAugust 25 and 27, mandatoryfor all the Ministers and MLAsto attend the Vidhan Sabha’s

one day session on August 28.For the purpose, the legisla-

tors have the option to get theircoronavirus test conducted intheir respective districts or at athree-day camp to be held atMLA Hostel in Chandigarhfrom August 25 to 27. As a partof the same, Punjab FinanceMinister Manpreet Singh Badal,who has been under home iso-lation since August 17, get him-self tested for COVID-19 atBathinda, and was tested nega-tive.

1293 FRESH INFECTIONS,49 DEATHS

As the state reported 1293fresh cases of the novel coron-avirus — including nine policepersonnel (five from Ludhiana

and four from Gurdaspur), and49 casualties in the past 24hours, Ludhiana once againreported the highest number ofinfections and deaths in a singleday. With 175 fresh cases and11 deaths, Ludhiana’s COVID-19 tally is inching closer to the10,000-mark with the districtcurrently having 9322 positivecases of which 2349 are activecases and 335 have succumbedto the deadly contagion.

Besides Ludhiana, ninedeaths were reported fromMohali, five each in Amritsarand Patiala; four in Faridkotand Jalandhar; three inSangrur; two each in FatehgarhSahib and Moga; and one eachin Bathinda, Gurdaspur,Mansa, and Pathankot.

For another day, SAS Nagar(Mohali) also reported a spikewith 154 fresh cases, followed by149 in Gurdaspur, 140 in Patiala,119 in Jalandhar, 82 in Bathinda,75 in Amritsar, 65 in Kapurthala,61 in Hoshiarpur, 41 inFerozepur, 39 each in Faridkotand Moga, 32 in Sangrur, 30 inPathankot, 23 in Mansa, 15each in Fazilka and Tarn Taran,11 from Ropar, six from Barnala,and five each from SBS Nagarand Fatehgarh Sahib.

In all, 788 patients —including 187 from Ludhiana,130 from Jalandhar, 118 fromPatiala, 86 in Mohali, 73 inSangrur, 32 in Fatehgarh Sahib,24 in Hoshiarpur, 23 each inGurdaspur and Barnala, 19from Mansa, 15 from

Kapurthala, 13 from Pathankot,11 from Moga, nine from TarnTaran, six from Amritsar, andfour from Fazilka — were dis-charged in the past 24 hours,taking the total number ofrecoveries to 29,145 at the rateof 65.38 percent.

The state still has 14,254active cases — accounting for31.98 percent of the total cases,of which 499 are on oxygensupport, while 55 are criticaland on ventilator support.

SUKHBIR, HARSIMRAT,DAUGHTER, SON TESTNEGATIVE

With the Badals’ ancestralhouse in Muktsar districtdeclared macro containmentzone after 19 people from the

house tested positive, SAD pres-ident Sukhbir Singh Badal, hisUnion Minister wife HarsimratKaur Badal, their daughterGurleen Kaur and son AnantveerSingh have tested COVID neg-ative for the contagion.

The samples of the fourfamily members were taken,while the Health Departmentis yet to take the sample of for-mer Chief Minister ParkashSingh Badal.

Notably, the senior Badalhas already been in self-isola-tion, and is staying away fromeveryone due to his old age.Sukhbir and Harsimrat havebeen meeting people and partyworkers, even visiting otherplaces, following which theyhave undergone tests.

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As Punjab gears up to fur-ther strengthen its fight

against the worsening COVID-19 crisis, the State Cabinet onTuesday approved filling up of428 regular vacancies ofMedical Officers (Specialists)on urgent basis, besides givingex-post facto approval to 107posts already filled up for sixspecialities.

“The staff is needed to beon board urgently to tackle thecrisis, with the State projectedto be headed for a peak in thepandemic,” said the Chief

Minister Capt AmarinderSingh, while chairing theCabinet meeting via video-conferencing. In fact, the ChiefMinister had, during his lastreview, stressed on the need toidentify vacant specialist postsand hire immediately.

The recruitment, to beundertaken in the HealthDepartment, would be done bya Special Selection Committeeheaded by Dr KK Talwarthrough walk-in-interview, saidan official spokesperson. Theposts for which the post-factoapproval has been okayed formpart of ongoing recruitment

process for 323 MedicalOfficers (Specialists).

The Cabinet also decided

to carry forward reserve cate-gories posts or adjustmentagainst Medical Officer(General) to meet the shortageof doctors.

In view of the high numberof suitable candidates in certainspecialties, it was also decidedto offer jobs to all such success-ful candidates in that particu-lar specialty and to increase thenumber of posts in that slabaccordingly.

Spokesperson said that theHealth Department would befilling these posts as early aspossible besides creating moreposts if the need arises.

Notably, the state HealthDepartment had takenapproval to fill 3954 posts ofMedical and Para-medical stafffrom Cabinet on June 30, 2020,and the recruitment process forthat is already underway.Selection process for 323 postsof Medical Officers (Specialists)of 13 different specialists is alsogoing on and issuance ofappointment certificates to suc-cessful candidates is underway.

For the purpose of recruit-ment, the upper age limit hasbeen relaxed to 45 years in caseof persons already in govern-ment service.

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The Union Territory ofChandigarh witnessed the

highest single-day spike with174 COVID-19 cases and threedeaths on Tuesday. TheCOVID-19 fatalities reached 40while the total tally of positivecases stood at 3209 in the city.There were 1454 active cases tillthe evening, according to theChandigarh HealthDepartment’s evening bulletin.

A day before, the positivecases had crossed 3000-mark inthe union territory with 117new infections. Earlier, theunion territory had seen itsrecord daily spike in numberson August 22 when 145COVID-19 cases were report-ed.

“Three COVID patientssuccumbed to COVID-19 onTuesday. A 51 years old female,resident of Sector 44 expired atGMCH-32 on August 25. Shewas a patient of Atrial

Fibrillation and RestrictiveCardiomyopathy and was test-ed COVID positive,” the bul-letin stated.

“A 70 years old female res-ident of Palsora was a knowncase of conditions of type 2Diabetes Mellitus andCoronary Artery Disease. Shewas a COVID patient andexpired at PGIMER onTuesday. An 80 year old maleresident of Sector 33 sufferingfrom Hypothyroidism, CNSLymphoma, type 2 DiabetesMellitus and Hypertension whowas tested COVID positive, hasexpired in Sohana Hospital,Mohali on Tuesday,” the bul-letin said.

According to the bulletin,among 40 COVID-19 fatalitiesin the city, 37 patients hadcomorbidities while threepatients above the age of 60years were without comorbidi-ties.

The 174 fresh positive caseswere reported from Sectors 2,

5, 7, 8, 11, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20,21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29,30, 31, 32, 33, 35, 37, 39, 40,41,42, 44, 46, 47, 48, 49, 51, 52,63, 38 west, Palsora, Daria,Dhanas, Kajheri, Maloya, RamDarbar, Manimajra,Dadumajra, Raipur Khurd,Behlana, Industrial Area phaseI and Kishangarh, stated thebulletin.

In the past 24 hours, 125cases were detected throughRT-PCR while the rest of thecases were found through rapidantigen testing in Chandigarh.Among the positive cases, threeyears old female child fromSector 27 and four years oldmale child from Sector 42, itadded. 67 patients were alsodeclared cured from the virustaking the total recoveries to1713 in Chandigarh.

Till now, 26348 samples ofcity residents have been testedfor the deadly virus. In the last24 hours, 703 COVID sampleswere tested in the city.

OVER 2000 CASES SO FARIN AUGUST

Chandigarh’s COVID-19cases have been surging at arapid pace in the month ofAugust. Till now, 2161 positivecases have been reported in thecity in August. The dailygrowth rate of COVID-19cases, averaged over a seven-

day period in Chandigarh, isrecorded at 5.3 percent, almostdouble than the nationalgrowth rate. The recoveryrate in the city has declined to53 percent against the nation-al average of nearly 75 percent.The fatality rate stood at 1.24percent till Tuesday evening.

A day before, the case hadcrossed 3000-mark in the city.After the first case was report-ed on March 19, the positivecases had crossed 100-mark onMay 4, 1000-mark on July 30and 2000-mark on August 15in the union territory. Notably,between March 19 and June 30,the city had seen a total of 440positive cases. However, aftereasing of lockdown restric-tions in July, the month wit-nessed 608 positive cases andthe total tally breached 1000-mark on July 30.

DC MANJIT SINGH BRARTESTS POSITIVE

With COVID-19 cases

surging in the city, ManjitSingh Brar is the second seniorofficer in the UTAdministration to have testedpositive. Earlier, the UTFinance Secretary Ajoy KumarSinha was tested positive forCOVID-19 on Sunday. Brarhad reportedly developedsymptoms on Monday afterwhich he got tested. He hadattended the war room reviewmeeting on Monday at the UTSecretariat in which UTAdviser Manoj Parida, UTHome Secretary Arun KumarGupta and MunicipalCorporation (MC)Commissioner KK Yadav werepresent. Punjab Governor andUT Administrator VP SinghBadnore had presided over themeeting through video confer-encing from Raj Bhawan.During the period of absenceof Brar, KK Yadav, MCCCommissioner will look afterthe day-to-day wok allocated tothe DC.

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From Page 1There is a vast scope in

handcraft development andtourism sector in the state.His ministry will render max-imum cooperation in buildingAtmanirbhar Madhya Pradesh.

In order to ensure moreand more employment toyouths and to enable them toparticipate in development ofstate, no delay will cause inapproving projects of MadhyaPradesh. Gadkari further men-tioned that the roads whichhave been dedicated and forwhich the foundation has beenlaid will help in accelerating thepace of economic develop-ment of the state. The projectswill help in reaching ruralareas from main cities easily,boost tourism, generatingemployment and l help farm-ers, businessmen along withgeneral people in saving time,energy and money.

The economy of MadhyaPradesh will gain speed. Inapproved projects, Gadkarialso mentioned today aboutexpectations of public repre-sentatives as regard to longawaited completion of con-struction of bridge in Orchha,Gwalior-Dewas route andworks in Dabra, Jabalpur,Rewa, Bhopal, Sanchi, Sagarand Bina.

Gadkari granted approvalto 5 new routes costing Rs10,000 crore for the year 2020-21. These include Nationalhighway Ujjain-Jhalawad 132k.m., Sagartola-Kabir Chabutra45 k.m., Indore-Sanawad-Baregaon 136 k.m, Borgaon-Burhanpur-Akola 174 k.m. andBudni-Rahti-Nasrullaganj 43k.m.

Gadkari said that D.P.R. ofsome road construction worksin Madhya is being prepared,

which will be approved soon.Ninety seven works costingRs. 5325 crore have been sanc-tioned under the Central RoadInfrastructure Fund (CRIF).Along with this, works worthRs. 30 crore have beenapproved under the Inter-StateConnectivity and EconomicImportance (ISC & EI). Anamount of Rs. 2855 crore hasbeen given to Madhya Pradeshunder the CRIF. Shri Gadkarifurther stated that MadhyaPradesh has NH roads of13,248 k.m. length, which havebeen expanded continuously inthe state. Gadkari hasinformed that necessary proce-dure will be completed soon forChambal Atal Progress-Wayunder Bharatmala Plan. Thisroute is 358 k.m. long. This willbring speed in the progress ofMadhya Pradesh, UttarPradesh and Rajasthan.Referring to Delhi-MumbaiCorridor, Gadkari said thatthis corridor will be built at acost of Rs one lakh crore andbecome useful in saving timeand fuel. This will make pos-sible to reach Mumbai fromDelhi in 12 hours. A target hasbeen set to complete it before2023. This will be the lengthi-est express-way of the World.Under this project, it is expect-ed to save about Rs 15,000thousand crore against landacquisition. This highway willbe 244 k.m. in length inMadhya Pradesh.

The Union Minister fur-ther mentioned that he is com-mitted to ensure decline in roadaccidents. He also gave consentas regard to starting new dri-ver training centres in thestate. Gadkari said that not onlyin Madhya Pradesh but in thecountry, decline has beenrecorded in accidents becauseof improvement works at manyblack spots on roads. Gadkariassured granting sanctions forAtmanirbhar Madhya Pradeshunder the Atmanirbhar Bharatby rendering full support toMadhya Pradesh for road con-struction projects and develop-ment of agriculture based smallindustries.

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The Delhi Government hasproposed to develop a

proper system to revamp theweekly markets of Delhi withan aim to convert them intopopular tourist destinations.

During an interaction withrepresentatives of weekly mar-ket associations, Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal on Tuesdaysaid an atmosphere has beencreated in the country thatthere are problems with theweekly markets and street ven-dors, but his Government willencourage them as other coun-tries do.

“We will develop a systemfor setting up weekly marketsso that tourists from countrieslike the US visit them. Theweekly markets will be present-

ed as one of the most attractivetourist places in Delhi.Everyone, including the peopleof Delhi, market associationsand the Government, will haveto work together to strengthenthe city’s economy,” Kejriwalsaid.

The meeting came afterthe Delhi DisasterManagement Authority(DDMA) decided to allowweekly markets to reopen on atrial basis last week. The rep-resentatives of the weekly mar-ket associations thankedKejriwal and the Delhi govern-ment for reopening of the mar-kets in the city.

Addressing the attendees,Kejriwal said, "The last sixmonths was a tough time, notonly for Delhi but also for theentire world. The economy of

the USA has also declined by30-35 per cent. There was atime when the Corona cases inDelhi began to rise but withcollective efforts of two crorepeople of Delhi, the govern-ment has been successfullyovercome many big challenges”.

"I spoke to the LieutenantGovernor 20-25 days back forreopening of weekly marketswhen the central government

had allowed the reopening ofmarkets. But they took a deci-sion to hold it off for a few days.I was consistent in my effortsto convince them for it, andthey gave permission afterAugust 15," he said.

Kejriwal requested theassociations to maintain socialdistancing in the markets.

"If you fail to do that, gov-ernment officials might pres-

surise you or take actionagainst you, and this will affectyour customer strength. Pleaseappoint your volunteers withthe heads of the weekly marketsfor maintaining a system forsocial distancing in the mar-kets," he said.

The chief minister saidthat public opinion is veryimportant for businesses, andif the public starts complainingabout no social distancing inthe markets, it will pose aproblem in the future.

"This is also important sothat the opening of markets ona trial basis is soon convertedinto a permanent plan by theLG, and I will be able to advo-cate for the permanent open-ing of all weekly markets inDelhi. We also have manyplans for operating weekly

markets in the city," he said.Street-hawkers operate in

many developed nations suchas London and Europe. Thegovernment of Hong Kongencourages the establishmentof weekly markets. In the com-ing days, we will create a prop-er management system so thatmore and more people areattracted to the weekly mar-kets,” he said, adding that thearea of Chandani Chowk hasbeen revamped and more andmore tourists will start visitingthe area.

"In the coming days, wewill create a proper manage-ment system so that more andmore people are attracted to theweekly markets. We will alsodevelop a proper system justlike it is done in Hong Kongand other countries."

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The Delhi legislativeAssembly committee on

peace and harmony chaired byAam Aadmi Party ( AAP )leader Raghav Chadha onTuesday initiated proceedingsagainst Facebook for its allegedinaction to tackle harmful con-tent on its platform duringDelhi election and riots innorth east district.

During the proceedings, itwas recommended summon-ing officials of the social mediaplatform- Facebook to investi-gate allegations against themover their conduct on variousinstances, including the con-duct of free and fair electionsand Bangalore riots and Delhiriots.

In a meeting, lasted for

three hours, the members rec-ommended summoning offi-cials from the social media plat-form following allegationsagainst them over their conducton various instances, includingthe conduct of free and fairelections and the Delhi riots.

The witnesses that camebefore the committee have allsaid that Facebook officialsmust be summoned before thiscommittee so they can presenttheir side and clarify theirstance.

After the assembly pro-ceedings, Chadha, Chairpersonof the committee said, "Thiscommittee which was formedafter the Delhi riots hasreceived many complaintswhich said that Facebook didnot remove hurtful content

from its platform. This com-mittee will call upon peoplefrom Facebook.”

It is important to mentionhere that the committee initi-ated the first round of proceed-ings by summoning witnesses,including eminent journalistand author Paranjoy GuhaThakurta, digital rights activistand journalist Nikhil Pahwa, toassist the committee.

It may be recalled that theDelhi legislative assembly com-mittee on peace and harmonytook cognizance of complaintsagainst Facebook officials. Thesocial media platform has facedcriticism over allegations thatit favours the ruling BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP) led govern-ment in India, to push its ownbusiness goals in Asia’s thirdlargest economy.

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The city’s oldest areaJacobpura has been

declared as a large coronavirusoutbreak region (LOR) as perthe fresh order issued by the dis-trict administration on Tuesday.The area falls under PHC PatelNagar. The city’s biggest marketSadar Bazaar also came underthe region.

Gurugram deputy commis-sioner Amit Khatri stated that,the order in the containmentzone strictly be followed andstrict action will be initiatedagainst the violators under thevarious sections of the IndianPenal Code (IPC) includingDisaster Management Act.

According to the orders, no

movement will be allowed in thecontainment zone and a team ofthe health department will con-duct door-to-door screening,but while doing so, the admin-istration has also taken care thatthe socio-economic activities inthese areas least adverse effects.

The deputy commissionerhas also directed all SDMs andACPs to identify boundaries ofLOR and specify their entry andexit points.

Thermal scanning andscreening will be conducted atexit and entry points of anLOR. Rapid testing for sympto-matic people will be advisablefor people at exit points. Onlyessential shops and commercialestablishments will be allowedto operate in the area.

The list of containment

zones has, meanwhile, beenrevised, and increased from 7 to21.

“The officer concerned inthe area will also ensure thatnecessary governmental oremergency services are deliv-ered to the area and authorizedpersons are allowed to travel,”said Khatri.

An LOR, as defined in theorder, has a localised increase inCovid-19 cases within a definedgeographical area in a village, atown or a city. The cases may ormay not be epidemiologicallylinked.

For operational purposes,an LOR is deemed to be presentwhen there are 15 or more cases,while a containment zone is anarea where at least five Covid-19 cases are reported.

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The Government onTuesday blamed “irre-

sponsible and less cautiouspeople who are not wearingmasks” for driving the pan-demic in India as coronaviruscases in the country surged to32.31 lakh while the deathtoll stood at 59,608.

“I wouldn’t say young orold but irresponsible, less cau-tious people who are not wear-ing masks are driving the pan-demic in India,” said Professor(Dr) Balram Bhargava,Director General of IndianCouncil Of Medical Research(ICMR) at a press briefinghere. ICMR is the premierresearch wing of the UnionHealth Ministry.

His statement came amidstobservation that it is commonto see how people have ignoredthe importance of wearingmasks in various parts of thecountry. With about 80% casesbeing asymptomatic and evi-dence of aerosol-based trans-missions, masking up becomeseven more urgent especially inpoorly ventilated and central-ly air-conditioned spaces, sayexperts.

In fact, in the nationalCapital, between June 15 andAugust 21, the Delhi Policehave fined around 2 lakh peo-ple for reasons including spit-ting in public, violation ofsocial distancing norms andfor not wearing masks.Challans have also been issuedfor consuming tobacco in pub-lic.

When asked about theprogress of the vaccine candi-dates being developed in India,

the ICMR chief said that threevaccine candidates are thefrontrunners in the country.

“Three Covid-19 vaccinesare ahead in the race in India.Serum Institute”s vaccine is inphase 2(B) & phase 3 trials andBharat Biotech and ZydusCadila”s vaccines have com-

pleted phase 1 trial,” said DrBhargava.

His remarks came on a daywhen India saw 60,975 newcases of the coronavirus diseasein the last 24 hours. With this,the nationwide infection tallyrose to 31,67,323.

The death toll climbed to

58,390 with 848 fatalities beingreported in a span of 24 hours.

There are 7,04,348 activecases of coronavirus infectionin the country which com-prises 22.24 per cent of thetotal caseload, as per the data.

However, the country”s

recovery rate has been steadi-ly improving. The number ofrecovered patients surged to24,04,585 on Tuesday, pushingthe recovery rate over 75.92 percent.

The Covid-19 case fatalityrate has declined to 1.84 per

cent. India”s Covid-19 tallyhad crossed the 20-lakh markon August 7. According to theICMR, a cumulative total of3,68,27,520 samples have beentested up to August 24 with9,25,383 samples being testedon Monday.

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Suggesting that Covid-19cases are being underre-

ported, Union HealthSecretary Rajesh Bhushan onTuesday said that some Stateshave found the antigen testsimpler and have reduced theRT-PCR test by 1-3 per cent.“The antigen tests have grown.If you look at the national aver-age, they would be around 30-40 per cent,” he said at a pressbriefing here.

The specificity is nearly

100 per cent for both the tests,but the sensitivity of the rapidantigen test is of moderatenature and is between 60-85per cent, while that of RT-PCRis from 80-95 per cent, addedthe Secretary. Bhushan, how-ever, insisted that the RT-PCRtests are still growing at arapid rate and the govern-ment is setting up new labs toconduct more such tests. Indiahas conducted 9,25,383 tests inthe last 24 hours and over 3.84crore tests since the outbreakof the pandemic.

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Though Covid-19 is affect-ing the younger population

in India, yet its severity is moreon the older ones.

According to theGovernment data released onTuesday, more than half (54per cent) of the people infect-ed in India are between theages of 18 and 44, while half(50 per cent) the people whosuccumbed to the disease areabove 60 years of age.

The mortality in peopleunder 26 years of age was 2 percent, says the analysis of thetotal Covid deaths conductedby the Union Health Ministrybased on age and gender.

India has recorded a total58,390 Covid-19 fatalitiessince the start of the pandemicand further analysis showsthat 87 per cent have beenamong those aged 45 yearsand above.

Middle-aged and elderlypeople are at higher risk, as perthe Ministry”s data.

Besides, the data also

reveals that thedeath rate inmales due tothe Covid-19infection ismore than dou-ble that offemales.

As per theMinistry”s data,69 per cent ofthe dead were males, whilefemales amounted for 31 percent.

In the last 24 hours, 60,975new infections were regis-tered raising the country”stally to 31,67,323, as per thedata. People between the agesof 26 and 44 years are the sin-gle largest group of peoplewho have been infected withCovid-19(40 per cent), fol-lowed by people between 45years and 60 years (26 percent). Meanwhile, with 8 percent infected, the under-17 agegroup has the least proportionof infections.

Most deaths — 50 per cent— are in the age group of 60years and above, followed by37 per cent deaths among

people between 45 years and60 years in age. About 11 percent of people who suc-cumbed to the disease werebetween 26 and 44 years of ageand 1% each belonged to the18 - 25 years and below 17years cohorts.

Break-up of mortalitypercentage age-wise

Under 17 : 1 per cent

18-25 : 1 per cent

26-44 : 11 per cent

45-60 : 37 per cent

60 and above : 50 per cent

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As Covid-19 infected peo-ple are being given a com-

bination of medications toprevent possible secondarybacterial infections, researchershave warned that the use ofantibiotics could result inincreased resistance to thedrugs’ benefits among thewider population.

In fact, research by theUniversity of Plymouth andRoyal Cornwall Hospital Trusthas suggested increased use ofantibiotics during the pan-demic could be placing anadditional burden on wastewater treatment works as well.

Writing in the Journal ofAntimicrobial Chemotherapy,scientists say this could lead toraised levels of antibiotics with-in the UK”s rivers or coastalwaters which may in turnresult in an increase in antimi-crobial resistance (AMR),where bacteria become resis-tant to the action of antibiotics.

This would be particular-ly acute in receiving watersfrom waste water treatmentworks serving large hospitals,or emergency “Nightingale”hospitals, where there is aconcentration of Covid-19patients.

The findings are based onreports that up to 95 per centof Covid-19 inpatients are

being prescribed antibioticsas part of their treatment, andconcerns that such a large-scaledrug administration couldhave wider environmentalimplications.

India is already facingonslaught of antimicrobialresistance in view of rampantusage of antibiotics across thecountry.

Sean Comber, Professorof Environmental Chemistry inPlymouth and the article”s leadauthor, said: “From our previ-ous research, we know that sig-nificant quantities of com-monly prescribed drugs dopass through treatment worksand into our water courses. Bydeveloping a greater understanding of their effects,we can potentially informf u t u r edecisions on prescribing duringpandemics, but also on thelocation of emergency hospitalsand wider drug and wastemanagement.”

The Covid-19 guidanceissued by the National Institutefor Health and Care Excellence(NICE) suggests the infectedpatients should be treated withdoxycycline and either amox-icillin or a combination ofother medications if a bacter-ial infection is suspected, but towithhold or stop antibiotics ifa bacterial infection is unlike-ly.

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Amid rising cases ofCoronavirus in the coun-

try, the Union Health Ministryon Tuesday said that India is intouch with Russia regarding theSputnik-V Covid-19 vaccine,which was launched by RussianPresident Vladimir Putinrecently.

“As far as Sputnik-V vac-cine is concerned, India andRussia are in communication.Some initial information hasbeen shared,” said said RajeshBhushan, Secretary, UnionHealth Ministry.

Russia had recently regis-tered “world”s first Covid-19vaccine” and is now in thephase III trial of the vaccine,which involved more than40,000 people at over 45 med-ical centres around Russia, asper the TASS news agency afew days ago.

According to an earlierreport, Russia is looking for apartnership with India for pro-ducing Covid-19 vaccine, KirillDmitriev, the CEO of theRussian Direct Investment

Fund (RDIF).Dmitriev had said several

nations are interested in theproduction of the vaccine fromcountries in Latin America,Asia and the Middle East.

“The production of thevaccine is a very importantissue. Currently, we are lookingfor a partnership with India.We believe that they are capa-ble of producing the Gamaleyavaccine and it is very importantto say that those partnershipsto produce the vaccine willenable us to cover the demandthat we have,” he had said.

He also said Russia is look-ing forward to international

cooperation.“We are going to do clini-

cal trials not just in Russia butalso in the UAE, Saudi Arabia,probably in Brazil and India.We are planning to produce thevaccine in more than five coun-tries and there is a very highdemand from Asia, LatinAmerica, Italy and other partsof the world regarding thedelivery of the vaccine,” headded.

President Putin had earli-er assured the people that thevaccine is safe, adding that oneof his daughters had taken it asa volunteer and felt good after-wards.

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An Indian army SubedarAjay Anant Sawant from

the 61 Cavalry has been con-ferred the Arjuna award for theequestrian sport, Tent pegging.

He joined the Army in1993 and had no prior back-ground in equestrian sports.His focus is now on the tentpegging world cup in 2023. Heretires the same year from thearmy.

Giving these details here,officials said tent pegging is asport played on horse back inwhich the rider has to pick upa target with a lance or swordand is popular in common-wealth countries.

Subedar Sawant has wonseveral medals over the years.He won his first internationalparticipation in 2002 and wonthe team silver in the 2018World Cup in Abu Dhabi.

His regiment 61 Cavalry is

the Army”s most decoratedregiment in sports and this is its12th Arjuna award. Lt ColonelTK Singh was the first ArjunaAwardee from the regiment in1963 and the last one wasColonel Ravi Rathore in 2018,also the Regiment”s ex-Commanding Officer.

Subedar Sawant comesfrom a family of military per-sonnel.

His father, Naik AnantSawant, served in 2 MarathaLight Infantry and was a warveteran of the 1971 War. Hiselder brother Havaldar GovindSawant was a veteran of 1999Kargil conflict and served as anArmy medical assistant in LehSector during the operations.His cousin is a serving Brigadierfrom Maratha Light Infantry.

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Parts of eastern India are setto witness heavy rainfall

activity for the next 3-4 days,with extremely heavy showersparticularly likely over OdishaGangetic West Bengal, BiharJharkhand till August 28.According to the IndiaMeteorological Department(IMD), Chhattisgarh, MadhyaPradesh and West Rajasthan islikely to get heavy rainfallbetween August 26 and 28while East Rajasthan duringAugust 28 -29. Meanwhile,

heavy rainfall triggered land-slides in Jammu-Srinagarnational highway at RambanTuesday morning while there isa report of cloudburst inChamoli, Uttarakhand.

According to the IMD,Delhi and its surrounding areasis likely to receive moderaterainfall between August 26and 27 and heavy rainfall onAugust 28.

India has received 7 per-cent more rainfall so far. It hasreceived 717.3 mm rainfall asagainst the normal of 667.7mm.

“A low pressure area cur-rently lies over North Bay of

Bengal and neighbourhood,and it is expected to become

more marked over the nextthree days.

The monsoon trough isactive and is very likely toremain active during next twoor three days. In addition,there is a convergence of stronglower level southwesterly windsfrom Arabian Sea over north-west India till August 28,” theIMD said in its bulletin onTuesday.

Under its influence, wide-spread rainfall with isolatedheavy to very heavy falls is verylikely over Odisha, GangeticWest Bengal, Jharkhand, and

Chhattisgarh during the next 3-4 days. Further, isolatedextremely heavy falls are espe-cially possible over Odisha onAugust 25-26. Furthermore,owing to the intense rainfallpredicted over the region, theCentral Water Commission(CWC) expects riversSubarnarekha, Brahmani,Baitarni, and Mahanadi to riserapidly over the next two days,and therefore, a close watch isto be maintained particularly inMayurbhanj and Balasore districts.

Between June 1 and August

24, West Bengal (1085 mm)and Chhattisgarh (940.8 mm)have recorded 7% and 9%higher rainfall as compared totheir respective average figuresin this period, whereas Odisha(833.9 mm) and Jharkhand(691.8 mm) have registered very minor deficitsof 2% and 9% respectively.

Meanwhile heavy rainfallwhich caused floods in dozenof states have damaged paddycrops hundreds of crore so far.

In July, the southwest monsoon was 10 per cent deficient, with the maximum

shortfall in North-West andCentral India estimated at 26per cent and 22 per cent respectively. Meteorologistssaid that rainfall in August sofar alone is at least over 10 percent more than normal.

August usually receivesaround 261 millimeters of rain-fall out of the 889 millimetersof rainfall in the four monthsof June to September.

The sudden surge in rainsin August has, however, raisedfears of some damage to stand-ing crops in those parts wheresowing started early.

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The EnforcementDirectorate (ED) on

Tuesday filed a chargesheetagainst 12 accused persons formoney laundering through ter-ror funding by HizbulMujahideen terrorist group.

The funding was organisedby Jammu and KashmirAffectees Relief Trust of HMthat was operating in con-nivance with Pakistan govern-ment and ISI. The case underPrevention of MoneyLaundering Act (PMLA) wasinitiated by the ED after takingcognisance of a 2011 NIA caseagainst the accused for execu-tion of sensational blasts inJammu and Kashmir and recov-ery of huge quantities of arms,ammunition and explosives.

The ED chargesheet beforeSpecial Judge, Patiala HouseCourts here has named asaccused Mohammad ShafiShah, Talib Lali, MohammadYusuf Shah, Gulam Nabi Khan,Umer Farooq Shera, ManzoorAhmed Dar alias Masroor Dar,Zaffar Hussain Bhat, Nazir

Ahmad Dar, Abdul MajeedSofi alias Majeed Bisati,Mubarak Shah, MuzaffarAhmad Dar and MushtaqAhmad Lone.

“The prosecution com-plaint (charge sheet) has beenfiled with a prayer for awardingpunishment to all of theaccused for the commission ofoffence under PMLA and forconfiscation of the attachedproperties totalling to �1.22crores which have been provi-sionally attached,” the ED saidin a statement.

The ED initiated investiga-tion under PMLA based onNIA FIR dated October 25,2011 and a charge sheet filed byNIA against the 12 individuals.

The NIA case was regis-tered under Indian Penal Code(IPC) relating to criminal con-spiracy and waging war againstthe nation besides provisions ofthe Unlawful Activities(Prevention) Act, 1967.

Mohammad Shafi Shahand his associates wereinvolved in execution of sen-sational blasts in Jammu andKashmir and huge quantities of

arms, ammunition and explo-sives were recovered fromthem.

Investigations underPMLA revealed that Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, the most activeterror outfit in Kashmir, hasbeen responsible for fundingterrorist and secessionist activ-ities in Jammu & Kashmirheaded by Syed Salahuddin, itsself-styled commander basedout of Rawalpindi Pakistan, theED said.

The funding of terrorismactivities on Indian Soil hadbeen organised by a trust calledJKART (Jammu & KashmirAffectees Relief Trust) whichwas operating in connivancewith Government of IslamicRepublic of Pakistan and ISI, itfurther said.

It is also revealed that theterror funds were sent to Indiathrough hawala channel, bartertrader and human carriers.The funds were further dis-tributed through hawala,human carriers and bankingchannels to the next of kin ofactive as well as dead Hizb-ul-Mujahideen terrorists, it said.

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In a move to boost agricultureexports, over a dozen States

have finalised State-specificaction plans.

According to theAgricultural and ProcessedFood Products ExportDevelopment Authority(APEDA), Maharashtra, UttarPradesh, Kerala, Nagaland,Tamil Nadu, Assam, Punjab,Karnataka, Gujarat, Rajasthan,Andhra Pradesh, Telangana,Manipur and Sikkim havefinalised the action plan (foragri export policy) while thoseof states are at different stagesof finalization.

According to APEDA, 26

states and three union territo-ries have nominated nodalagencies, and state level mon-itoring committees under thechairmanship of state chiefsecretary have been formed in21 States for the policy.

The agriculture export pol-icy was framed with a focus onagriculture export orientedproduction, promotion of out-bound shipments, better pricerealisation to farmers and syn-chronisation within policiesand programmes of theCentral Government.

As per the data of Ministryof Corporate Affairs, agricul-tural exports rose 23% to�25,553 crore in March-Junethis year despite the disruption

caused by the pandemic. Indiaholds second position in pro-duction of fruits and vegeta-bles. It exports 8.23 lakh tonnesof fruits worth �5,638 croreand 31.92 lakh tonnes of veg-etables worth �5,679 croresannually.

According to the APEDA,

20 cluster level committeeshave been formed in the clus-ter district(s) of potato inPunjab, Uttar Pradesh; Isabgolin Rajasthan; orange, pome-granate, grapes, banana inMaharashtra; dairy products inGujarat and Uttar Pradesh;and rose onion in Karnataka.“It is in this background thatAPEDA has signed MoUs withinstitutions like AFC IndiaLtd and NCUI,” it added.

AFC, wholly-owned bycommercial banks, NABARDand EXIM Bank, provides con-sulting and policy advisoryand implementation supportfor agriculture, rural develop-ment and other strategic socio-economic sectors.

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Former IPS off icerKuppusamy Annamalai —

who earned the nicknameSingham (Lion in Tamil) forhis uncompromising stancetowards anti-national ele-ments while working in vari-ous districts of Karnataka —joined the BJP on Tuesdaysaying he will work to bringthe “nationalist spirit” toTamil Nadu. He joined theBJP, a day after party presidentJ P Nadda asked the Statefunctionaries to ensure thatmore prominent people jointhe party.

BJP is trying to push its

political graph upwards inTamil Nadu along with Kerala,yet another Southern citadel,which it has been aspiring tomake rapid inroads in.

In its Southern march,BJP made its maiden breach inKarnataka in 2008 when itformed the government on itsown strength in the state. Butsince it has a bare politicalpresence in the Tamil Nadu, itnow aims to enlarge its foot-prints to exploit the vacuumcreated following the demiseof AIADMK chief Dr JJayalalithaa.

Joining the BJP at itsnational headquarters inDelhi, Annamalai profuselypraised Prime Minister

Narendra Modi, saying heembodies a leader”s qualitiesof fearlessness, courage,knowledge and giving spirit.

“I will work to strengthenwhat the BJP stands for and tobring that nationalist spirit tothe state of Tamil Nadu,” the36-year-old former police offi-cer, who has been involved insocial work since quitting theIPS, told reporters.

Tamil Nadu BJP chief LMurugan was also present atthe joining ceremony.Annamalai later met Nadda.

BJP general secretary PMuralidhar Rao, who is hisparty”s in-charge for the state,said the party has been attract-ing people from different seg-

ments into its fold in thestate, which has been tradi-tionally dominated by the twoDravidian parties, AIADMKand DMK.

He said it is very impor-tant to strengthen nationalistmovement in Tamil Nadu,which will go to the assemblypolls in the first half of thenext year.

Kuppusamy is the secondVIP to join the BJP afterDMK lawmaker Selvam madeit known that he would beworking with the Hindutvaparty in future.

Selvam was suspendedfrom the DMK by party chiefMK Stalin for hobnobbingwith BJP leaders.

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Patna: In a bid to reach out topeople across Bihar duringupcoming polls amid Covid-19pandemic, ruling Janata Dal(United) has created a digitalplatform on which ChiefMinister Nitish Kumar willkick off election campaign witha virtual rally on September 6,party sources said on Tuesday.

Kumar, who is JD(U)snational president, will for-mally inaugurate the digitalplatform “jdulive.com” soonso that it could be used for thevirtual rally, its national secre-tary Ravindra Prasad Singhsaid in a statement here.

“Party chief and CM NitishKumar will hold Jan Samvadduring which he will addresspartys first ever virtual rallyusing the digital platform onSeptember 6,” Singh said, claim-ing it would be countrys firstdedicated virtual rally platformwhere lakhs of people could beconnected. Polls in Bihar areexpected in October-November.Considering prevalence of coro-navirus cases in the state, theruling party like its BJP ally isbracing to use technology forconnecting with the peopleduring election. JD(U)s plat-form has the capacity to link 10lakh people, who could watchrally live besides connectingdirectly with it, he said.

Apart from streaming thepublic rally live onjdulive.Com, it will also bebroadcast on other socialmedia platforms like facebook,twitter, Youtube besides livecoverage of the programme bythe news channels, he added.

The Election Commissionhad on August 21 issued guide-lines for holding elections dur-ing Covid-19 pandemic. Theguidelines put several curbs onorganising campaign, voting aswell as counting process. PTI

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The day after the CPI(M)-ledLDF Government defeated

the no-confidence motionmoved by the OppositionCongress in the House, theKerala Secretariat saw a firemishap in the evening whichravaged the Protocol Section ofthe Government.

The Fire Brigade thatrushed to the site succeeded inbringing the fire under controlbut not before the OppositionBJP and the Congress allegedthat it was a sabotage.

“The Protocol Departmentitself was under the scanner asit housed important docu-ments exchanged betweenMinister of Higher EducationKT Jaleel and the UAEConsulate in the capital city.There is no doubt that this is apre-planned act of sabotageperpetrated with the knowl-edge of the Chief Minister,” saidK Surendran, State BJP chiefwho rushed to the mishap spoton hearing the news.

B Sunil Kumar, ProtocolOfficer, said no important fileshave been destroyed in themajor fire. But Kumar also dis-closed that he was not at the siteof the fire as he was underquarantine. “But no impor-tant documents have been lost.The images which you saw inTV screens are those of extracopies of Government notifi-cations that were stored in thesection. But no important documents have been lost,”Kumar said.

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The CPI(M) led KeralaGovernment suffered two

major setbacks in the KeralaHigh Court on Tuesday, a dayafter it defeated the no-confi-dence motion moved by theOpposition in the LegislativeAssembly. A Division Benchconsisting of Chief Justice SManikumar and Judge CTRavikumar dismissed the appealfiled by the Kerala Governmentchallenging a single bench order

handing over the probe of thedouble murder case of two dis-trict level Congress leaders inKasaragod district to the CBI.

Later in the day anothersingle bench of the court dis-missed the petition filed by theKerala Government seeking astay on the Centres orderawarding the operation, devel-opment and management ofthe ThiruvananthapuramAirport to the Adani Group.The court however told thepetitioner that they could sub-

mit before the bench hearingthe case all relevant detailsregarding the bidding process.

Though a judge hearing thepetition moved by the parents ofthe deceased had issued an orderon September 2019 asking theCBI to probe the double mur-der of Kripesh and Sarat Lal, whowere murdered by a group ofCPI(M) leaders on February 17,2019, the Kerala Governmentchallenged the said order in itsappeal. The case caught nation-al attention when the CPI(M)

fielded a former attorney gener-al who was paid more than acrore rupee to argue the case.

Though the hearing wascompleted on November 19,2019 and the judges reservedthe case for order, there was noaction since then. Parents of thevictims approached the KeralaHigh Court on Monday with aplea to transfer the case toanother bench as the benchwhich heard the appeal hadfailed to pronounce the verdicteven after six months.

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Uncertainty continued tobe the hallmark viz-a-viz

coronavirus in Tamil Nadu asthe number of new patients andthe fatalities continued to be onthe higher side on Tuesday.

The day saw 5,951 newpersons getting diagnosed withCovid-19 in the State withChennai alone accounting for1,270 cases. The last 24 hourssaw 107 patients succumbing tothe pandemic and this took thetotal fatalities till date to 6,721.

Death toll during the lastthree days read, 80, 97 and 97and this shot up to 107 onTuesday. As on Tuesday, therewere 52,128 active Covid-19patients in the State.

The three districts whichconstitute the Chennai cluster

tested more number of Covid-19 cases on Tuesday.

Chengalpet (321),Kancheepuram (214) andThiruvallur (305) districtsremained with higher numbersof patients while Coimbatore(322) and Cuddalore (370)showed no sign of any abatement.

There were 13 other dis-tricts which tested more than100 positive cases on the day which belied the expec-tations that overall picture inTamil Nadu is showingimprovement.

According to Departmentof Health officials, Governmentis beefing up security and safe-ty measures in the districts ofSalem, Coimbatore andCuddalore which were regis-tering unusual hike in numberof Covid-19 cases.

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In an apparent bid to hammerhome the urgent implications

of the matter Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee onTuesday wrote a second letter toPrime Minister Narendra Modirequesting him to postpone theJEE and NEET exams scheduledto start in the first week ofSeptember “in the larger inter-est of the student community”during pandemic period.

Saying that herGovernment had received aletter to this effect from theNational Testing Agency tobegin preparations for con-ducting the examinations whichare gateways for aspiring engi-neers and doctors Banerjeewrote “I am aware that theHonble Supreme Court hasgiven a verdict on holdingJEE/NEET examinations andthe Central Government hasbeen issuing instructions to goahead with it accordingly.However, I would like to requestfor your kind intervention andto consider the Central gov-ernment making an appeal tothe Honble Apex Court toreview its decision in the inter-est of the student community,so that they are free from men-tal agony and mental disaster.”

This was the second letterin two consecutive days withthe first one being written onMonday requesting the PrimeMinister to defer the exams.Saying that the students were ingreat agony she wrote, “suchintervention is very muchessential in the larger interest ofthe students to facilitate creat-ing a situation whereby the stu-dents will neither be subjectedto grave health risk nor they willbe facing a career risk.”

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Overburdened by a debt, aman from Gandhi Park

area has decided to sell his kid-ney for Rs 20 lakh. He postedthis on Facebook. He has alsogiven a written complaint to theGandhi Park police station.

Prateek Gupta, resident ofPrabhat Nagar, Gandhi Parkarea, living separately from his

house in achal taal. Prateek said he borrowed

Rs 2 lakh from money lendersout of which he paid Rs 4.5lakh to date but due to a highrate of interest Rs 2.35 lakh stillpending to pay and nowlenders are harassing him.

He alleged that lenders alsosnatched his car. Disturbedwith this, he posted onFacebook that he is selling his

kidney for Rs 20 lakh. OnMonday evening, he made acomplaint at Gandhi Park policestation. His wife also accusedmoney lenders of indecency andmisbehavior. Gandhi parkinspector Manikant Sharmasaid written complaint has beenreceived. Both parties have beencalled on Tuesday at Police sta-tion and suitable action will betaken based on the investigation.

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The number of corona-infected patients is steadi-

ly increasing. On Tuesday, 94new patients, including twocivil judges, of the JuniorDivision, were found. Thirty-seven patients were dischargedfrom hospitals and home iso-lation on recovery.

The number of activepatients has increased to 1,080.A total of 2,364 patients havebecome healthy so far. 29patients have died. A total of3,473 people have been affect-ed so far. The DM and CMOhave appealed to the people tofollow the law of masks andphysical distance. DMChandrabhushan Singh inspect-ed L-2 Covid Hospital atDeendayal Hospital on Tuesdayand reviewed the arrangements.

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Bihar Deputy Chief MinisterSushil Kumar Modi on

Tuesday said the Patna HighCourt has created a record inthe country by disposing ofmore than 26,000 casesthrough virtual mode duringcoronavirus pandemic.

While addressing a virtu-al meeting of BJPs legal cell,Modi expressed hope that thecourts will soon start func-tioning through physicalappearance. With a view toensuring quick disposal ofcases relating to the Protection of Children fromSexual Offences Act, 2012(POCSO), one court has beenconstituted in every districtswhere less than 300 are pend-ing, he said.

Likewise, 74 courts havebeen constituted in differentdistricts in addition to the onealready existing in every districtfor trying cases of BiharProhibition and Excise Act,2016, Modi said.

He added a special courthas also been constituted in allthe districts to try cases lodgedunder the Rights of Personswith Disabilities Act, 2016.

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The toll in Mondays collapseof a five-storey building at

Mahad in Raigad district roseto 13 on Tuesday, even as afour-year-old child was rescuedfrom under the debris of thecaved-in structure.

Till Tuesday evening, asmany as 13 bodies had beenrecovered by the rescue andrelief teams from under therubbles of a massive five-storeybuilding crashed like a prover-bial pack of cards.

On a day when the rescueand relief teams recovered morethan a dozen bodies fromunder the debris, a miracle hap-pened when the rescue workers— who have been working forthe past 24 hours, heard the criesof a male child MohammedBangi and later spotted hishand. Before long, the rescuers— belonging to NDRF, SDRFand local fire brigade personnel— pulled Bangi out safely fromunder the rubbles.

Amid chants of “GanpatiBappa Morya” rent in the air, thetrapped boy was lifted by therescuers, put on a stretchertaken to a nearby hospital. It wasa poignant sight to see the res-cued boy looking around for hisparents and wailing, while hewas being taken to the hospital.

However, the fate of hisfamily members was notknown till the evening, His

aunt Rupasa said the boy hadbeen trapped under the debrisalong with his two sisters andmother. “His three familymembers are still trappedunder the rubble. I pray foreveryones survival,” she said.

“We have rescued the mir-acle child alive. He is Godschild,” NDRF director-generalSatya Narayan Pradhan said.

Meanwhile, MaharashtraChief Minister UddhavThackeray and Deputy ChiefMinister Ajit Pawar have beentaking stock of the situationthrough briefing that they arereceiving from Raigad district collector NidhiChaudhari and superintendentof police Anil Paraskar.

State Urban Development

Minister Eknath Shinde andMinister of State for Industriesand Protocol Aditi Tatkare vis-ited the site to supervise therescue operations.

Meanwhile, officialsources said there were in 97occupants in the building.While the A-Wing had 21 flats,B-Wing had 20 flats.

Of the occupants, 13 persons

have so far died, while 78 othershave been rescued so far. The res-cuers are using special cameraand dogs to locate the people stilltrapped under the debris.

In a related development,the Mahad police have regis-tered an FIR against the builderas well as the contractor, engi-neer, architect and the buildingconsultant.

Meanwhile, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi said he was“saddened” by the builing crashand assured that local author-ities and NDRF teams at thesite are providing all possibleassistance to the victims. “Mythoughts are with the familiesof those who lost their dearones. I pray the injured recov-er soon,” Modi said.

Congress leader RahulGandhi said he was disturbed bythe Raigad building crash andsympathised with the families ofthe victims. “I appeal to theMaharashtra government torush help to the victims andthose trapped… Congress work-ers should also help the rescueworks,” Rahul said on Tuesday.

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Page 6: 9 B ˝ # ˘ $, *%$ C # RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd ... · questioned Tamil Nadu Government’s silence on con- ... by the global police body fol- ... interview to news magazine

The man in the eye of thestorm is Ravindra NarayanRao Ravi, apolice/Intelligence Bureau(IB) officer whose mete-

oric rise after superannuation to theDeputy National Security Advisor(NSA), then as an interlocutor andGovernor of Nagaland, may soon bea legend. While making him theGovernor, retaining his interlocutorpost became an issue of conflict ofinterest; his negotiating overreach hasunravelled the Nagaland frameworkaccord of August 3, 2015. If anyonehad studied his antecedents as a com-pulsive critic of the Nagas, especial-ly the National Socialist Council ofNagaland (NSCN)-IM, and of previ-ous interlocutors, he should neverhave been made one but for NSA AjitDoval’s confidence in a fellow policeofficer.

On the table were three issues:Naga identity, sovereignty and uniquehistory. Union Home Minister AmitShah has reassured the Nagas thatthey will not be equated with Kashmirand that their identity would be pro-tected by Article 371(A) of theConstitution. But lack of trust hascrept in. Sovereignty is the core issueof the Naga Framework Agreement(NFA). The unique history of theNagas was recognised by formerPrime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayeein 2003: “It is true that of all the Statesin India, Nagaland has a unique his-tory. We are sensitive to this histori-cal fact.” The source of this conceptis none other than NSCN-IM supre-mo, Thuingaleng Muivah, who hasbeen negotiating on a settlement ofthe Naga issue since 1997; whereasGovernment interlocutors have hadan average life span of five years.

The NFA was signed betweenMuivah and Ravi with great pompand promise in the presence of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi sporting aNaga Tangkhul (Muivah’s Tangkhultribe from Manipur) shawl, reaf-firming them as the sole representa-tive of the Nagas. The IM faction isthe largest rebel group with its ownflag and Army, which was the baneof the security forces for decades andcame to be known as the mother ofall insurgencies in the North-east.

The contents of the NFA arewrapped in mystery and have noteven been disclosed to Parliament. Tobroadbase the agreement in 2017,Ravi roped in the Naga NationalPeople’s Group (NNPG), a conglom-erate of seven Naga groups, withwhom he succeeded to sign a final set-tlement on the Naga issue on October

31, 2019. If he ever thought thatthis could pass off as the finalsettlement of the Naga issue, hewas mistaken because the NFAwas signed with NSCN-IMand not with NNPG. Thisbecame a potential pressurepoint on the IM. But pressurebuilt up on Ravi when PrimeMinister Modi, after readingdown Article 370 in Kashmir,sought closure on NFA byOctober 31. That is when thewar of words between Ravi andIM picked up. Both sides beganleaking to the media their ver-sion of the outcome of the talks.Muivah refused to sign the finalagreement, depriving PM Modiof yet another political featherin his cap during the HornbillFestival, near Kohima, inJanuary.

Ravi blamed Muivah withreneging on a solution to Naga’sunique history within theIndian Constitution. Whileaddressing the NagalandAssembly in January, Raviclaimed that the Naga issue hadbeen settled (presumably withNNPG), but there was stillwork to be done, he added.

In an interview to NorthEast Live in February 2019,Muivah said: “Old issues arenot resolved — only one gov-ernment, integration of allNaga contiguous areas(Nagalim), our f lag, ourConstitution… this is our stat-

ed stand.” Ravi retorted: “Thiswas not what was offered.”With Modi announcing OneNation, One Constitution, OneFlag after Jammu & Kashmir’sintegration, Muivah’s maxi-malist demand was unaccept-able. The accord had comeunstuck. Ravi’s negotiatingstrategy changed when he com-bined his office as Governorwith that of the interlocutor.According to those who knowRavi and his frustration withIM, he fell back on the tradi-tional concept that the Nagapolitical struggle is a sepa-ratist insurgency, overlookingthat the unique history of theNagas is still the predominantfeature of the peace process.

His letter to Chief MinisterNeiphiu Rio of Nagaland,alluding to the IM as extortion-ists and thugs and demandingcertificates from civil servantsthat they had no linkages tosuch groups, incensed the IM.In his Independence Dayspeech, he was extremely crit-ical of his own State, calling itthe worst performing one,making the Nagas very unhap-py with his outbursts as aGovernor.

Last week, IM was in NewDelhi for a round of talks,where it declared that it wasbeing forced to reveal the termsof the NFA, accusing Ravi ofdeleting a keyword from the

original that apparently stated:“sharing the sovereign powerand providing for an enduring,inclusive relationship of peace-ful co-existence of the twonew entities.” They said theword “new” was removed byRavi. In their interpretation,“new” is politically sensitive asit goes to define the meaning ofpeaceful co-existence of twonew entities (two sovereignpowers) and it strongly indi-cates that the arrangement isoutside the purview of theConstitution.

Ravi rejected this interpre-tation. IM said that Ravi insult-ed the negotiating team byusing unparliamentary lan-guage when he said that thiscan be understood even by aClass VII student that it meansacceptance of the IndianConstitution. The IM is veryangry that the Governorreferred to them in his letter tothe Chief Minister as “armedgangs” and misled theNagaland Assembly about theprogress in talks towards asettlement.

The IM has refused tocontinue dialogue with Raviwith the Government quietlyposting a team of IB officials tocontinue conversations. In theAugust 17 meeting with theseofficials, the IM wanted theGovernment to confirm thatthe NFA is still alive in its orig-

inal form and it will be handledby someone other than Raviwho is sensitive to understandwhat has been achieved in thelast 23 years.

A new interlocutorequipped with patience andunderstanding of conflict res-olution and one who has stud-ied other peace processes isneeded. Two books are recom-mended for the next chiefnegotiator. One, How EnemiesBecome Friends: The Sources ofStable Peace by Charles AKupchan and the other,Transformative ScenarioPlanning: Working Together toChange the Future by AdamKahane.

Muivah is 86-year-old andwould like a settlement of theoldest internal armed conflictin his lifetime, appropriatelyacknowledging the uniqueidentity and history of theNagas. The 5,000-strong NagaArmy confined at MountHebron near Dimapur can besuitably integrated with theNaga Regiment of the Army.The challenge and genius lie inconvincing Muivah to acceptan entity with sky as the limitfor privileges and guarantees.

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

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Cong still at crossroads”(August 25). When 23 seniorleaders, including seniorMinisters, wrote a letter toCongress chief Sonia Gandhi,seeking an overhaul of the partyand the adoption of “collectivedecision-making,” it felt like atlast someone has shown thecourage to speak about the lead-ership crisis within the party thathas been threatening its unity fora long time.

Later, during the CWCmeeting, it turned out to be a fac-tional war between team Rahuland some leaders who hadsigned the letter. Ultimately,Sonia Gandhi agreed to stay onas the party’s top leader for sixmonths but a new president isnow to be chosen within sixmonths. This was a goldenopportunity for Sonia Gandhi tousher in the much-neededdemocracy within the party butshe missed the opportunity.

What was really shockingwas that none of the issues men-tioned in the letter was discussed.Rather, the meeting turned outto be an ego tussle for theGandhis. The CWC may have

resolved to strengthen the handsof Sonia Gandhi but in theprocess, it has weakened theparty further. For a healthydemocracy, we need a strongOpposition and going by the way

the Congress has been function-ing, it will not be surprising thatits space is taken over by someother regional party.

Bal GovindNoida

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Cong still at crossroads”(August 25). The grand old party

is like a sinking ship. Therehave been no efforts to revive orrejuvenate the party even as it hassuffered successive defeats inthe last two general elections.The party lost a few States, too,in the interim. People were of thebelief that some change willtake place in the organisationalset-up of the party but this time,too, it was a lost opportunity. Theparty must soon appoint a full-time president. It is essential forit to regain vitality as a politicalforce not only for the smoothfunctioning of the democracybut also for it to fulfill the role ofa credible Opposition.

Sravana RamachandranChennai

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Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “Cong still at crossroads”(August 25). It is unfortunatethat the CWC meeting flatteredto deceive by treating the call forintrospection and change as anaffront to the Gandhi family.

SudeshnaVia email

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When Indians think of Africa, they tendto relate to the few cricket-playingnations on the continent, South Africa

and Zimbabwe, with Arab North Africa seen asan extension of the Arabian peninsula. Andwhile Indian companies such as Airtel, BajajAuto and Godrej have huge investments andmarket presence across its vast territories, a per-sistent and latent racism has tended to makemost Indians blithely ignore Africa, casting mostof the large African community in several majorIndian cities as “Nigerians.”

This is particularly bizarre given the age-old trading links that India has had withAfrica. Consider our ties in the post-colonial era,where the Indian independence movementwas seen as a template for similar movementsacross the continent, Idi Amin notwithstanding.The successful Indian trading communitiesacross Africa have established our people-to-people bonds as some of the tightest. This is evi-denced by the fact that thousands of African stu-dents travel to India and enrol in a whole vari-ety of courses for their higher education.

Not only do we need to drastically changeour attitude towards people, particularly fromsub-Saharan Africa, but we should look atexploring new commercial and business venturesin Africa, too. This is important for several rea-sons, the first being the market opportunity. Asthe companies mentioned above have proven,Indian products and services honed in the cru-cible of the domestic market can do spectacu-larly well in Africa.

The success of multiple Indian two-wheel-er companies in Africa is ample proof of that,where despite facing intense competition fromcheap Chinese products, Indian brands such asBajaj and TVS dominate the market thanks totheir superior build quality and performance.This, and the experience of Airtel, teach us thatthe African consumer does not want cheap,hand-me-down products and services butstrives for high-quality goods. And on that front,India can deliver.

More importantly, India runs the severe riskof losing Africa to China despite historical tiesand the success of Indian companies. China’svice-like grip on Africa’s resources built by itsbankruptcy-inducing Belt and Road Initiative(BRI) should be worrying for India’s policy-mak-ers. And while New Delhi has for years tried tocounter the deep Chinese inroads into Africa,starting with the India-Africa Summits begununder the Manmohan Singh administration,there are few achievements to be marked.

While Bollywood and Indian television seri-als are still staple entertainment in Africa, evennon-English speaking nations think of India’srelationship with Africa as a Bollywood script.India is the well-meaning albeit not-so-well-offfriend, who wants the best for Africa, whereasChina is the brash, rich boyfriend whose lust,not love, is the reason he covets Africa.

However, if we in India want the script toend the way a Bollywood film with such a sto-ryline usually ends, where the girl chooses thewell-meaning and earnest boy rather than thebrash bully who will not stop at anything to sat-isfy his desire, then India will have to step upto the plate slightly.

Whether we like it or not, India cannot

afford to lose Africa completely to theChinese, particularly in these strainedgeopolitical times. One way to do so isfor the Government to encouragemore investments in Africa and financ-ing that should crucially not be seen bythe citizenry in recipient nations asextractionary.

India has a distinct advantage overChina in this regard, thanks to oldtrade ties. Indians from across thecountry, but particularly trading com-munities such as Gujaratis, have assim-ilated into African society. TheChinese, while they ensure that theygrease the hands of the correct bureau-crat and politician in most Africannations, are seen in a more negativelight by the general population. Anincreased investment focus, whether itis building Information Technologyhubs, or in manufacturing, fromassembly of automobiles and two-wheelers to large-scale textiles andcomponent manufacturing, will makeIndian companies seem extremelyattractive investors. Not just resource-hungry neo-colonialists that theChinese are increasingly becoming.

Not only does investing in Africancountries offer a pathway to address-ing a continent of 54 recognisednations with a population of 1.2 billion,but open up attractive trade pathwaysto Europe as well as Latin and SouthAmerica, which are also attractivemarkets for Indian companies.

Even though the current pandem-ic has put a pause to global connectiv-ity, the aviation and shipping boom hasmeant that transportation links haveimproved and increased tremendous-

ly over the past decade.One part of Africa that usually gets

ignored in the conversation is West-Central Africa. With the massive pop-ulation base of Nigeria and the size ofthe Congo, nations like Benin & CoteD’ivoire, Ghana and Togo get lost. Yetthese small nations, carved into exis-tence by the insane logic of colonialmapmakers, offer huge opportunitiesfor even smaller Indian companies.

Take Togo for example, a tinynation that spans just 115 kilometresat its widest, created when GermanWest Africa was carved up by theBritish and French following WorldWar I and whose size is akin toUttarakhand. It has a population ofslightly over eight million but thanksto the rich soil, the nation is not justself-sufficient in food production butalso an exporter of agricultural pro-duce, particularly cocoa beans.

The soil and weather will allow forhuge opportunities for even smallerIndian agritech firms to invest ingrowing plants like cotton and thenadding to the value chain by creatingtextile plants and more. African nationshave preferential access to severaldeveloped markets across Europe andNorth America. While the nations havenot managed to create the entrepre-neurial growth due to the unfortunatelegacies of colonialism and poverty, thisis an ideal entry point for small andmedium-sized Indian companies aswell as larger ones to branch out. Theywould not just address the Africanmarket but also the global market.

And one crucial lesson that Indianfirms must learn from the success of

Bajaj Auto in particular is that theAfrican consumer is not one that isdesperate for “cheap” goods’ he wantshigh-quality affordable goods. Severalindustries in India have become verygood in doing just that, from ourmotorcycles to our consumer durables.

Our extensive diplomatic and com-mercial networks in Africa might havebeen overtaken in the recent past byChina but India’s presence in Africa isnot small. Our increased participationwill also suit the best interests of theEuropean Union and the US, who arewary of China’s increased meddling inAfrican affairs, and rightly so. TheChinese were, of course, not so recent-ly caught spying on the headquartersof the African Union through thetelecommunications equipment thatthey installed there.

Africa should be seen as the path-way for Indian firms to become glob-al players. We should use our goodgraces with African nations to build upourselves globally. We in India haveproven that we can compete in Africawith our products and we should nowcompete with our companies, creatingjobs and opportunities for Africa’syoung population. The benefits ofthis will also come to India as morejobs and options will thus be createdfor our youth as well, both here and onthe continent. Increased personal tieswill help in quelling some of the neg-ativity in our cities; a few bad applesshould not be allowed to ruin the rela-tionship. Our partnership with Africashould be seen as a win-win for all.

(The writer is Managing Editor, ThePioneer)

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Developing transport connectiv-ity across the country has beenthe endeavour of the

Government since 2014. Indeed, this isessential if programmes likeAtmanirbhar Bharat and Make in Indiaare to succeed and the country is to bea global manufacturing hub and a vitalpart of the supply chain. An increase inthe efficiency of the transportation net-work will invariably lead to lower pro-duction costs due to cheaper trans-portation/logistics dues. This willincrease the competitiveness of theIndian economy and make the coun-try an attractive manufacturing hub.

We tried to understand the state oftransport infrastructure in India by

examining some major domestic routesalong which a majority of cargo ismoved. Expectedly, the routes weexamined include the GoldenQuadrilateral, the north-south, east-west transport corridors and theupcoming dedicated freight corridors.In general, the origin and destinationof each route corresponds to metros orTier-I/II cities, where the transport andwarehouse hubs and manufacturers orproducers are located.

These routes were identified basedon in-depth interaction with trans-porters/Third-Party Logistics (3PL)players. The stakeholders’ perceptionwas sought on road conditions, includ-ing signage, unavailability of intermodalexchange points, limitations in terms ofrail infrastructure and limited infra-structure in terms of parking terminalswith refreshment facilities for drivers.This was on a scale of one to 10.Whereas one implied that the challengewas small, 10 referred to a high-inten-sity problem. The overall rank of a routewas estimated by taking the simple aver-age of the scores of individual indica-

tors. According to the perceptions of thetransporters/3PL players, the top threeefficient routes in respect of transportinfrastructure are the National CapitalRegion (NCR)-Hyderabad passage,NCR-Chennai and NCR-Nagpur. Bycontrast, the three most inefficientroutes are NCR-Guwahati, Mumbai-Kolkata and Bengaluru-Kolkata. Ingeneral, the nodes of the five most effi-cient routes lie in the western/north-ern/southern zones. By contrast, at leastone of the nodes of the five least-effi-cient routes was in the eastern/north-ern zone. Clearly, development of thetransport infrastructure is must in theeastern/northern region if one has toconvert it from a consumption to pro-duction zone. It must be acknowledgedthat the NDA Government has clear-ly made a move in this regard with mul-tiple connectivity projects in terms ofroadways and railways. Coming to thestatus of the routes in respect of indi-vidual indicators, the NCR-Hyderabadpassage faces the least problem withregard to the “unavailability of inter-modal exchange points” and “limita-

tions in terms of rail infrastructure.” Theworst performers for these two indica-tors are NCR-Mumbai and NCR-Guwahati, respectively. In terms of roadconditions, the Mumbai-Hyderabadroute is comparatively the best while theMumbai-Kolkata route entails the max-imum challenges. By and large, thescores in this indicator were below five,revealing that significant progress hasbeen made on this front.

On the other hand, the score inrespect of railway infrastructure was inthe range of six-seven, barring theNCR-Nagpur route, suggesting that therailway infrastructure needs to beimproved so that it does not drag downthe growth of cargo movement in thecountry. As regards the challenges oflimited infrastructure in terms of park-ing terminals with refreshment facili-ties for the driver, all the routes face ahigh degree of problem with scores hov-ering in the range of seven-8.5. Inrespect of this indicator, the NCR-Mumbai route is comparatively the bestwhile the NCR-Hyderabad passage isthe worst performer. In sum, the routes

whose nodes are located in the west-ern/northern/southern parts of Indiaare more efficient than the others. Byand large, all routes for which at leastone node is located in the eastern partof India, score poorly in almost all indi-cators. Hence, the policy measure isclear. There is need to pay greater atten-tion to the development of transportinfrastructure in eastern India.

The key takeaways on hard infra-structure from open-ended interactionswith stakeholders are as following:Lowering logistics costs means there isa need to shift cargo movement fromroadways to railway. However, this ispossible only if freight trains run onschedule and freight railway terminalsare modernised so that loading/unload-ing of cargo takes minimum time.

There is a need for rapid innova-tion in bimodal transportation equip-ment in the country, like the roadrail-er, which runs as a semi-trailer on theroad and moves as a wagon on the rails.This facilitates seamless door-to-doortransportation with minimum handlingof the cargo at the rail terminals.

While the Union Government ispushing for use of inland waterways forfreight movement to lower logistics cost,the picture on the ground is not veryrosy. For instance, even after construc-tion and inauguration of a multi-modal terminal on the Ganga River atVaranasi, the facility is not being useddue to the lack of efficient highway andrail connectivity for inward/outboundcargo from the terminal. Plus, there isneed to pay more attention regardingthe maintenance of the existing trans-port-related infrastructure.

No country, which is seriously con-sidering being in the running for theglobal manufacturing hub tag, canmake the mistake of ignoring the stateof its transport infrastructure. If Indiadoesn’t smooth the kinks and bottle-necks out of the existing one and cre-ate a world-class infrastructure, it canforget giving China any competition inthe global supply chain realm and kissits $5 trillion economy dream goodbye.

(Gupta is Senior Advisor and Pohitis Professor at NCAER. The viewsexpressed are personal.)

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Hong Kong: A staff member ofthe US Consulate General inHong Kong was attacked by aman outside his workplace onTuesday afternoon, police anda US official said.

The financial hub’s policesaid they received a report on anattack in the afternoon which aconsulate employee suffered abloody injury to his head aftera man struck him and fled.

A spokesperson of the con-sulate confirmed a staff mem-ber had been “assaulted by anunknown individual”.

“The employee did notsustain life-threatening injuries.We cannot speculate on theassailant’s motives at this time,”the consulate official added.

Once a beacon of stability,Hong Kong has been left bit-terly divided and polarisedafter last year’s huge and some-times violent pro-democracyprotests. AFP

Beijing: More than 500Chinese, including Asia’s rich-est woman linked to a politicallyinfluential family, have obtainedEuropean Union citizenship inCyprus between 2017 and 2019,leaked documents obtained byAl Jazeera’s Investigative Unithave revealed.

The documents, which aresaid to contain information on2,500 immigrants to the islandnation during that time frame,appear to shed light on thesecretive migration plans ofChina’s elite, Hong Kong-basedSouth China Morning Postreported.

Al Jazeera did not disclosethe full list of immigrants whowere granted citizenship inCyprus under the so-calledgolden passports programme, asthe disclosure focuses on peo-ple with track records thatcould violate rules for obtaining

the European Union citizenship.Among the more than 500

approved Chinese applicants,the Qatari broadcaster provid-ed eight names, led by YangHuiyan, a principal owner ofChinese property developerCountry Garden.

Yang was named by Forbesas the sixth-richest woman inthe world in 2020 with a fortuneof USD 20.3 billion.

It is legal for the Chinese cit-izens to apply for permanent res-idency or citizenship in foreigncountries. However, China doesnot recognise dual nationality.

Among the eight Chineseapplicants named by Al Jazeera,five, including Yang, were dis-closed because they could beviewed as “politically exposedpersons” for their own mem-bership or their family’s mem-bership in the Chinese legisla-ture and political consultative

committees, the Post reportsaid.

Yang’s wealth came mainlyfrom her father, Yeung KwokKeung who is a member of theChinese People’s PoliticalConsultative Conference(CPPCC), the top political con-sultative body to Beijing.

The leaked documentsshowed that Yang was grantedCypriot citizenship on October23, 2018.

The second Chinese “polit-ically exposed person” is LuWenbin, a delegate to theChengdu People’s Congress.

According to the docu-ments provided by Al Jazeera,Lu obtained a Cypriot passportin July 2019.

Lu is the chairman ofSichuan Troy InformationTechnology, a computer-net-working firm based in thecity. PTI

Washington: Top Republicans,including Indian-AmericanNikki Haley, have warnedAmericans that Democraticpresidential candidate Joe Bidenand his running mate KamalaHarris’ victory in the electionswill convert the US into a“socialist utopia” and a “funda-mentally different” country.

Urging the voters to re-elect Donald Trump for anoth-er term, senior party leaders intheir prime-time address onMonday at the RepublicanNational Convention present-ed the President as a statesman,a friend to Black Americansand a shield against an assaulton American values.

They said that the future ofAmerica was in danger if theNovember 3 polls resulted inthe defeat of incumbentPresident Trump.

The four-day mostly-vir-tual RNC the party jamboreewill formally nominate 74-year-old Trump as the party’s

candidate for the US presiden-tial election. Trump and VicePresident Mike Pence will bechallenged by former vice pres-ident Biden and his Indian-American running mateSenator Harris.

Former US ambassador tothe UN, Haley in her addresssaid, “their vision for America issocialism. And we know thatsocialism has failed everywhere.”

“Joe Biden and the social-ist left would be a disaster forour economy. But PresidentTrump is leading a new era ofopportunity,” Haley, the two-time governor of SouthCarolina, said.

Haley also sought todemonstrate President Trump’sleadership around the world,saying he has been tough againstNorth Korea, Iran and China.

She praised Trump forpassing sanctions on NorthKorea and said he “ripped upthe Iran nuclear deal.”

“Joe Biden and the

Democrats are still blamingAmerica first. Donald Trumphas always put America first,”she said.

Haley also criticised theDemocratic Party for “turninga blind eye toward riots andrage.”

“The American peopleknow we can do better, and ofcourse we value and respectevery Black life. The Black copswho have been shot in the lineof duty, they matter. The Blacksmall business owners whohave watched their lives workgo up in flames, they matter.

The Black kids who havebeen gunned down on theplayground, their lives mattertoo. And their lives are beingruined and stolen by the vio-lence on our streets. It doesn’thave to be like this,” Haley said.

She said that with Trumpas president, “we will build onthe progress of our past andunlock the promise of ourfuture.” PTI

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France on Tuesday said thatRussian opposition leader

Alexei Navalny, in hospital inGermany after allegedly beingpoisoned in Siberia, had beenthe victim of a “criminal act”and urged Moscow to carry outa swift investigation.

“France expresses its pro-found concern over this crim-inal act perpetrated against amajor figure in Russian polit-ical life,” the foreign ministrysaid in a statement.

It called on Russia to “carryout a swift and transparentinvestigation which will enablethe circumstances in whichthis act was committed to beestablished. “Those responsiblefor this act must be identified

and brought to justice,” thestatement added.

The 44-year-old Navalny,who is one of the fiercest crit-ics of President Vladimir Putin,is being treated at Berlin’sCharite hospital after falling illon a flight in Siberia lastThursday.

His supporters claimNavalny was poisoned bysomething in his cup of tea ata Siberian airport before takinga flight to Moscow, and pointthe finger at Putin.

The German clinic saidMonday that clinical tests“indicate poisoning with a sub-stance from the group ofcholinesterase inhibitors,” sub-stances that are used in nerveagents as well as some medi-cines and insecticides.

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Kabul: A wave of attacks acrossAfghanistan on Tuesday left atleast 17 people dead and scoresmore wounded, officials said,including a Taliban truck bomb-ing in the country’s north thattargeted a commando base forAfghan forces.

The violence comes asexpectations had been rising thatnegotiations could soon getunderway between the Afghangovernment and the insurgentsas part of a February agreementbetween the US and the Taliban.

The truck suicide bomberstruck in northern Balkhprovince, killing three people,including two Afghan com-mandos and a civilian, accord-ing to Munir Ahmad Farhad, thespokesman for the provincialgovernor.

According to Hanif Rezaie,the spokesman for the Afghanarmy corps in the north, initialmilitary report said at least sixcommandos and around 35civilians were wounded in thatexplosion, which also destroyed

or damaged dozens of nearbycivilians houses. “Most of thewounded civilians are womenand children,” said Rezaie.

Taliban spokesmanZabiullah Mujahid claimedresponsibility for the Balkhattack in a tweet, claiming that“tens” of military personnelwere killed. The Taliban oftenexaggerate their battlefieldclaims. Afghan President AshrafGhani strongly condemned theattack in Balkh and said theTaliban have increased theirattacks on major Afghan citiesdespite the February agreement.“The Taliban’s insistence oncontinuing war and violence ischallenging peace opportuni-ties,” he said in a statement.

Ghani’s statement said theTaliban must stop fighting andkilling Afghans, accept a cease-fire and start direct talks withthe Afghan government. “Bycommitting crimes and vio-lence, they can achieve nothingbut hatred and disgust of thepeople,” he said. AP

-��������������80���(��������(��( �������������������9 Washington: When

Washington, DC’s NFL teamdropped the offensive referenceto Native Americans from itsname last month after decadesof resistance, activist FrancesDanger knew why: the BlackLives Matter movement.

Danger said the changewould never have happenedwithout the massive marches toprotest the death of an AfricanAmerican man under the kneeof a white police officer inMinneapolis.

“Unfortunately, GeorgeFloyd had to lose his life for thisto happen,” Danger said.

“That is too big a price, butI will forever be thankful tohim because my grandkids aregoing to wake up in a worldand maybe never hear theword ‘redskin’ in their life.”

The climate of racial reck-oning that has emerged in theUnited States since Floyd’sdeath has reinvigorated NativeAmericans, Asian Americans,Latinos and other people ofcolor to fight back against theracism and discrimination theyalso have experienced for

decades. On Friday, allies of theBLM movement will have anopportunity to hear directlyfrom organisers of TheMovement for Black Lives, acoalition of more than 150Black-led organizations, during

its virtual Black NationalConvention.

“I feel like the conversationhas been more accepted,” saidJessica Rodriguez, 38, aChicana who lives in SouthernCalifornia. AP

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Kenosha: The father of a Blackman who was shot, apparent-ly in the back, by police inKenosha, Wisconsin, says hisson was left paralysed from thewaist down.

Jacob Blake’s father told theChicago Sun-Times that he wastold his son was shot eighttimes during the Sundayevening confrontation withpolice, which was captured oncellphone video and led totwo nights of unrest in the citybetween Milwaukee andChicago. The father, who is alsonamed Jacob Blake and whowas driving from Charlotte,North Carolina, to Kenosha tobe with his son, told the news-

paper that he learned Sundaynight that officers had shot hisson eight times and that he sawthe video of it online a fewminutes later.

He said his son now has“eight holes” in his body,and isparalysed from the waist down,though doctors don’t know ifthe paralysis will be permanent.

Anger over the shooting ofa Black man by police spilledinto the streets of Kenosha fora second night Monday, withpolice again firing tear gas athundreds of protesters whodefied a curfew, threw bottlesand shot fireworks at lawenforcement guarding thecourthouse. AP

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Hong Kong: A man caught thecoronavirus after recoveringfrom an initial bout in April inwhat scientists said was the firstcase showing that reinfectionmay occur within a fewmonths.

The 33-year-old’s secondSARS-CoV-2 infection wasdetected via airport screeningon his return to Hong Kongfrom Europe this month.Researchers at the University ofHong Kong used genomicsequence analysis to prove thathe was infected by two differ-ent strains. The informationtechnology worker didn’t devel-op any symptoms from his sec-

ond infection, which mightindicate “subsequent infectionsmay be milder,” the researcherssaid.

“Our findings suggest thatSARS-CoV-2 may persist inhumans,” Kwok-Yung Yuenand colleagues said Monday ina paper accepted for publica-tion in the journal ClinicalInfectious Diseases. The find-ings also suggest SARS-CoV-2is reminiscent of the coron-aviruses that cause the com-mon cold, and may continue tocirculate “even if patients haveacquired immunity via natur-al infection or via vaccina-tion,” they said. AGENCY

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Kathmandu: Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and ruling NepalCommunist Party’s executivechairman Pushpakamal Dahal“Prachanda” held talks onTuesday, days after a six-mem-ber panel submitted its reportsuggesting ways to resolve theongoing intra-party rift.

Though the details of themeeting of the top leaders ofthe NCP, were not disclosedyet, the two leaders agreed toconvene the meeting of theparty’s powerful CentralSecretariat on Friday, said theparty’s Standing Committeemember Ganesh Shah.

The nine-member bodywill discuss the report submit-ted by the task force formed by

the two top leaders.The panel in its report on

August 23 suggested that PrimeMinister Oli should completehis five-year tenure, while exec-utive chairman Prachanda beallowed to exercise full execu-tive power over party affairs.

The task force, formed byOli and Prachanda on August15 and later endorsed by theCentral Secretariat on August17, was led by the party’sGeneral Secretary BishnuPoudyal. When Oli becameprime minister two-and-a-halfyears ago in 2018, he andPrachanda had reached a tacitunderstanding to share theprime minister’s position turn-by-turn. PTI

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The Government shouldhave a clear exit strategy

and credible milestones forfiscal consolidation in the com-ing years, the Reserve Banksaid on Tuesday in its annualreport amid meeting the fiscaltargets becoming more chal-lenging due to the coronaviruspandemic. Based on informa-tion from 25 states, the gener-al Government fiscal deficitincreased from 5.4 per cent ofGDP in 2018-19 to 6.5 per centin 2019-20 (revised estimate).Further, outstanding liabilitiesrose to 70.4 per cent of GDP in2019-20 (revised estimate)from 67.5 per cent in 2018-19,according to the annual report.

In 2020-21, fiscal deficitand outstanding liabilities arebudgeted at 5.8 per cent and70.5 per cent of the GDP,respectively.

However, based on provi-sional accounts information,the general Government fiscaldeficit, including all states, isexpected to deteriorate fur-ther to about 7.5 per cent in

2019-20.“Thus, the fiscal gainsachieved in the previous twoyears were reversed in 2019-20,” the report said.

It noted that meeting thefiscal targets budgeted in 2020-21 has become even more chal-lenging due to COVID-19, inview of containment measuresand fiscal interventions forproviding health infrastruc-ture, helping vulnerable sec-tions of the society and sectorspecific relief measures.

“In this scenario, it isdesirable to have a clear exitstrategy with credible consoli-dation milestones and timelinesin reworking the path towardsfiscal rectitude in the comingyears,” the report said.

Observing that most of theestimates for 2020-21 wereworked out before the nation-wide lockdown, the report said,“given the shortfall in revenues– a direct fallout of subduedeconomic activity and increasedexpenditure requirement tofight the pandemic – the gen-eral government fiscal deficitand debt are likely to be mate-rially higher than budgeted”.

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The Government hasamended the corporate

social responsibility rules underthe companies law that is like-ly to help boost funding fordeveloping new vaccines, drugsand medical devices related tothe coronavirus pandemic.

With the latest amend-ments, companies engaged inresearch and development(R&D) activity of new vaccine,drugs and medical devices intheir normal course of businesshave been allowed to undertakeR&D activity of new vaccine,drugs and medical devicesrelated to Covid-19 under theCSR ambit. This would beapplicable for three financialyears - 2020-21, 2021-22 and2022-23 - subject to certainconditions. This means thatmoney spent on such activitieswould be considered asCorporate Social Responsibility(CSR) spending under theCompanies Act, 2013.

Under the Act, certain cat-

egories of profitable companiesare required to shell out at least2 per cent of their three-yearannual average net profittowards CSR activities in a par-ticular financial year. The cor-porate affairs ministry, whichis implementing the Act, issuedtwo notifications related toCSR on August 24.

Changes have been madeto Schedule VII of the Act thatpertains to CSR activities.

Now, contributions toincubators or R&D projects inthe field of science, technolo-gy, engineering and medicine,funded by the central or stategovernments or public sectorundertaking or any agency ofthe central or state governmentwould be considered as CSR.

Contributions topublic funded universities,Indian Institutes of Technology(IITs), national laboratoriesand autonomous bodies estab-lished under the Department ofAtomic Energy (DAE),Department of Biotechnology(DBT), Department of Science

and Technology (DST) andDepartment ofPharmaceuticals would alsocome under the CSR ambit,according to a notification.

Further, the relaxationwould be applicable for nation-al laboratories and autonomousbodies under the Ministry ofAyurveda, Yoga andNaturopathy, Unani, Siddhaand Homoeopathy (AYUSH)and Ministry of Electronicsand Information Technology.

As per the notification,contributions to other bodies,namely Defense Research andDevelopment Organisation(DRDO), Indian Council ofAgricultural Research (ICAR),Indian Council of MedicalResearch (ICMR) and Councilof Scientific and IndustrialResearch (CSIR), engaged inconducting research in sci-ence, technology, engineeringand medicine aimed at pro-moting SustainableDevelopment Goals (SDGs)would also come under theCSR ambit.

New Delhi: Ola ElectricMobility (OEM) plans to hire2,000 people globally, includingengineers and for other roles,over the next six months andwill introduce an electric two-wheeler soon, a note by Ola co-founder Bhavish Aggarwalsaid. In an email to employ-ees on Tuesday, Aggarwal -who is also the Founder andChairman of Ola Electric (theEV arm of Ola) - said the auto-motive industry has evolvedsignificantly over the last fewmonths, and the future belongs

to electric and connectedmobility.”...We will be launch-ing a large hiring initiative tohire over 1,000 engineers glob-ally over the next quarter andanother 1,000 people acrossother functions. We want to getthe best talent to come and joinus across all teams...,” he added.

When contacted, an Olaspokesperson confirmed thatthe company intends to hire2,000 people across variousroles including software, vehi-cle design, and engineeringand battery technology. PTI

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China has said that it isactively considering estab-

lishing a BRICS innovationbase to strengthen practicalcooperation with the five-member bloc, urging it to focusmore on digital transformation,especially in 5G, ArtificialIntelligence and the digitaleconomy in the post-COVID-19 era.

China is vigorously pro-moting the resumption of workacross the entire industry chain,and is keen to see more devel-opment in new industries suchas 5G, AI and the industrial

Internet during the COVID-19pandemic, Minister of Industryand Information TechnologyXiao Yaqing said during avideo meeting of the BRICSindustry ministers on Monday.

The meeting adopted ajoint statement on cooperationin new industries amongBRICS (Brazil, Russia, India,China and South Africa) coun-tries, state-run media reportedon Tuesday.

China is actively consider-ing the establishment of aBRICS innovation base in thecountry in order to strengthenpractical cooperation with theBRICS bloc, Xiao said.

He urged the BRICS coun-tries to strengthen their coop-eration on digital transforma-tion, especially in 5G, AI, thedigital economy and others topromote the digital transfor-mation of enterprises and theirinnovation capabilities, and topromote sustainable econom-ic and social development.

“At present, growth inChina’s industrial economy isgaining momentum, in turnsupporting the steady recoveryof China’s overall economy,and contributing to a newimpetus and stability in theglobal industrial chain andsupply chain,” Xiao said.

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Equity benchmarks Sensexand Nifty closed in the

green for the third straight ses-sion on Tuesday, propped up byfinancial stocks amid firmglobal cues.

Lack of buying triggersand profit-booking in indexheavyweight RelianceIndustries capped the gainsfor the benchmarks, traderssaid. After a choppy session, theBSE index ended 44.80 pointsor 0.12 per cent higher at38,843.88.

The NSE Nifty inched up5.80 points or 0.05 per cent toclose at 11,472.25. Bajaj Financewas the top gainer in the Sensex

pack, rallying 4.39 per cent, fol-lowed by SBI, Tech Mahindra,Asian Paints, Bajaj Finserv,ICICI Bank, IndusInd Bankand Axis Bank. On the otherhand, NTPC, Sun Pharma,Nestle India, Tata Steel, L&T,Infosys and Bajaj Auto wereamong the laggards, sheddingup to 1.61 per cent.

Global markets were large-ly positive after the US andChina affirmed their commit-ment to a phase-1 trade deal.

“Indian markets exhibitedcharacteristic volatility, tradingundecidedly, before ending flatwith a slight positive bias.

This was in spite of posi-tive global cues after the USand China reaffirmed theircommitment to a previoustrade deal and also due toprogress in virus vaccine devel-opment.

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The Commerce Ministry’sarm APEDA is engaged

with State Governments for theimplementation of agri exportpolicy and several states,including Maharashtra, UttarPradesh and Kerala havefinalised the action plan for thesame, an official statement saidon Tuesday.

Agricultural and ProcessedFood Products ExportDevelopment Authority(APEDA) has also signedMoUs with AFC India Ltd, and

National Cooperative Union ofIndia (NCUI), Delhi to utilisetheir expertise in the agri sec-tor.

“The states ofMaharashtra, Uttar Pradesh,Kerala, Nagaland, Tamil Nadu,Assam, Punjab, Karnataka,Gujarat, Rajasthan, AndhraPradesh, Telangana, Manipurand Sikkim have finalised thestate-specific action plan (foragri export policy) while theaction plans of other states areat different stages of finalisa-tion,” the Commerce Ministrysaid.

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The Government hasextended by two months

the deadline for placing bids forAir India till October 30 as theCovid-19 fallout has disruptedeconomic activity globally.

The process of stake sale inthe national carrier was initi-ated on January 27. This is thefourth extension given by thegovernment for putting in bids.

Issuing a corrigendum tothe expression of interest (EoI)for sale of Air India, the depart-ment of investment and publicasset management (DIPAM)said the deadline has been

extended in view of the“request received from the IBs(interested bidders) in view ofthe prevailing situation arisingout of COVID-19”.

While issuing the EoI inJanuary, the last date for bidswas kept at March 17, whichwas later extended to April 30.This was further extended tillJune 30, and again till August31.

Also, the date for intima-tion to qualified interested bid-ders (QIB) has been extendedby over two months tillNovember 20, the DIPAM saidin the corrigendum posted onits website.

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India’’s crude steel output fell24.6 per cent to 7.150 million

tonnes (MT) during July 2020,according to global bodyworldsteel.

The country had produced9.485 MT crude steel duringthe same month in 2019, WorldSteel Association (worldsteel)said in its latest report.Globalsteel production also regis-tered a fall during the monthunder review, the data showed.

“World crude steel pro-duction for the 64 countriesreporting to the worldsteel was152.694 MT in July 2020, a 2.5

per cent decrease compared to156.679 MT in July 2019.

“Due to the ongoing diffi-culties presented by theCOVID-19 pandemic, many ofthis month’’s figures are esti-mates that may be revised withnext month’’s productionupdate,” it said.

According to worldsteeldata, China registered a 9.1 percent year-on-year growth in itssteel output at 93.359 MT dur-ing July 2020.The United Statesproduced 5.241 MT of crudesteel in July 2020, registering afall of 29.4 per cent comparedto 7.419 MT output in July2019.

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The Reserve Bank of India(RBI) on Tuesday said

demand in the economy willtake quite some time tomend, and regaining pre-COVID-19 levels will dependon government consump-tion. In its latest annualreport, RBI said “deep-seatsand wide-ranging” reformsare needed to regain lossesand return to the path of sus-tainable economic growth.

“An assessment ofaggregate demand during theyear so far suggests that theshock to consumption issevere, and it will take quitesome time to mend andregain the pre-COVID-19momentum,” the central bank

said.Private consumption has

lost its discretionary elementsacross the board, it said,adding transport services,hospitality, recreation, andcultural activities were par-ticularly affected in the econ-omy, where consumptionaccounts for some 60 percent of GDP. “Going forward,government consumption isexpected to continue pan-demic-proofing of demand,”it said. “Private consump-tion is expected to lead therecovery when it takes hold,with non-discretionaryspending leading the wayuntil a durable increase indisposable incomes enablesdiscretionary spending tocatch up.”

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Adjustments in banks’deposit and lending rates

in response to changes in therepo rate improved during2019-20, especially in thesecond half of the year, theRBI said on Tuesday. Thiswas catalysed by the man-dated linking of the interestrates on new loans to certainsectors such as personal andmicro, small and mediumenterprises (MSME), effectiveOctober 2019, to an externalbenchmark, the ReserveBank said in its annualreport. The external bench-mark can be the policy reporate, three-month, six-monthT-bill rates or any otherbenchmark published by theFinancial Benchmarks India.

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The rupee pared its earlygains to settle almost flat at

74.33 against the US dollar onTuesday, tracking muteddomestic equities.

Analysts said the rupeeclosed steady due to suspect-ed intervention by the RBIamid forex inflows and posi-tive global cues. At the inter-bank forex market, the domes-tic unit witnessed highlyvolatile trade. It opened on astrong note at 74.17, but lost

ground during the dayand finally ended at 74.33against the greenback, down 1

paisa over its previous close of74.32 against the Americancurrency. The rupee hadsurged to a five-month high onMonday on capital inflows.

During the day, thelocal unit witnessed an intra-day high of 74.17 and a low of74.51 against the US dollar.

“The Indian rupee endedlittle changed against the dol-lar on Tuesday as suspectedcentral bank intervention inthe spot market offset theimpact of positive regionalcues and persistent greenbackinflows,” said Sriram Iyer,Senior Research Analyst,Reliance Securities.

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New Delhi: During Covid-19times when healthcare man-agement has taken a hit,ImpactGuru.com has offered afee fundraising platform forpatients facing medical emer-gencies such as Covid-19, can-cer, organ transplants, or fornonprofits fundraising for ani-mal causes, education. “Withthe extension of our freefundraising options to allfundraisers, we hope to accel-erate our ambition of helpingfinance the critical illnesses ofover 10 lakh patients over thenext decade,” saidImpactGuru.com’s co-foundersPiyush Jain and Khushboo Jain.

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Page 10: 9 B ˝ # ˘ $, *%$ C # RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd ... · questioned Tamil Nadu Government’s silence on con- ... by the global police body fol- ... interview to news magazine

Toiling for months for the mostaspired and prestigious UPSCexam, as day approach the pre-

lims, the last months play instrumentrole in making or breaking yourdream. Just like the tortoise, oneneeds to be consistent in the finalmonths to steadily win the race againstthe talented and bright hare partici-pating in the competition.

Counting back the days in the cal-endar can send chills down yourspine. As exam anxiety is very natur-al among the students, instead of fight-ing against it, one should develop amechanism to cope up with it. Butmake sure to draw a line not to exertyourself too much.

Recognising positive pressurePressure and tension to a point can

bring out the maximum potentialamongst the students but, whenexceeded the limit, it can take a neg-ative turn and wear off the students,seriously affecting their productivity.

Hence, the aspirants need to con-cede their caliber and plan accordingly.With prelims knocking the door, con-structing the approach can work won-ders to achieve the goal. Havinginvested so much time and effort intopreparation, making a wise decision inthe last months are very crucial for thedesired outcome.

Revision is saviourUnderstanding the tendency of

students to cover the maximum num-ber of courses may be inclined to studynew subjects at the last minute toensure good scores. But contrary toour expectation, this method is a flawto eliminate you.

Always keep in mind that onetopic studied numerous time is betterthan covering all the syllabus one time.Whatever studied up till now, makesure to revise it regularly because makeit a point to go through it at least threeto five times. Revisions will make yourbase strong and add on to your capa-bility to correctly answer any kind ofquestion-related to the topic you havestudied. Therefore, instead of jumpingfrom one topic to another, thorough-ly have a firm grip on the thingsalready studied.

Timing while testing yourselfWhen taken care of the studying

part, it is very crucial to access yourperformance. Without taking a test,you will never be able to know whereyou stand in the competition. Hence,answer as many mock tests as possi-ble. It is a practice that makes a manperfect, therefore, create an actualexam scenario while solving the mocktests. Time yourself, pay attention toyour speed, set a limit for yourself and

try to achieve the bar set by you.Transparent analysisFollowing the next step, analyse

the tests. While doing so, keep in mindto not be overly swayed by the correctattempt instead divert your attentionto the mistakes. Clear your conceptsthen and there and ensure not to com-mit the same mistake again because inthe final exam it is not the correctanswers that will decide your fate butthe wrong answers that will be the keyplayers in bringing the score down.

Don’t sail in two boatsGenerally, aspirants prepare for

both Prelims and Mains hand inhand. But with the prelims hoveringover your head, it is highly recom-mended to halt the studies for Mainsand solely focus on the Prelims.Whatever left for the mains can becatered to after the Prelims. Rememberit is the Prelims that will open the doorfor the Mains, without qualifying it,you cannot move on to the next step.Hence, concentrate on overcoming thefirst hurdle.

Prioritising healthTaking care of the preparation

part, do not forget to take care of your-self. Considering the intensity of theexam, it is quite an exhaustive process.Be involved in certain activities to healyour mind and soul that can rejuve-

nate the lost energies. Going for a short stroll in the

neighborhood, listening to music,indulging in your favorite delicacy, etc.these small things can give you breakfrom the otherwise monotonous lifeand give you a refreshed environment.Rewarding yourself on achieving smallgoals is also not a bad idea and cankeep you motivated throughout theprocess.

Make sure to stay healthy as suc-cumbing to diseases can lead you tolose out on the precious time of thepreparation. Take care of the diet, tryand include green vegetables andfruits and nuts that can feed your brainthe required micronutrients and vit-amins necessary for its smooth func-tioning.

Indulging in 20 to 30 minutes ofmediation daily can enhance the con-centration power as well as calm youdown, alienating you from all the neg-ativities surrounding you.

Hence, taking some small stepskeeping in mind your strength andweaknesses can increase your chancesof making it successfully through theexam. Instead of running behindunattainable goals, make feasiblechanges into your plan for an assuredresult.

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The onset of novel coronavirushas led schools and colleges to

make the novel shift to the digitalmedium. Joining the bandwagon,FORE School of Management, NewDelhi, conducted its induction cer-emony online to welcome theincoming batch of managementstudents. The riveting event wasattended by students, faculties, staffand alumni. The unprecedentedevent marked the advent of a newera in the history of the manage-ment institute.

Over 400 students, from dif-ferent batches of the Post GraduateDiploma in Management (FMG-

29th batch), Post Graduate Diplomain — International BusinessManagement (IMG-14th batch),Post Graduate Diploma - FinancialManagement (FM-3rd batch) andPost Graduate Diploma inManagement — Big Data Analytics(BDA- new batch) attended this onAugust 10, 2020.

The ceremony began with areassuring address by Prof (Dr)SanghamitraBuddhapriya, Dean(Academics), who comforted thestudents and commended theirdecision to join the managementprogramme amidst the tough andchallenging conditions due to thecurrent health crisis that has befall-en the world at large.

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The Rubber SkillD e v e l o p m e n t

Council (RSDC), thesector skill councilfor Rubber Industryin the country, inpartnership withBridgestone haslaunched a project— Tyre Carewala toskill and re-skill 1000tyre mechanics in thecountry. The pro-ject’s pilot phase thathas been launchedfrom Kanpur aims attraining 500 person-

nel.Commercial tyre

mechanics play a sig-nificant role in tyrerepair, mounting ordemounting of tyres,and thereby safetyon the roads. Theynot only repair a tyrebut also provideadvice to the trans-porters about thecare of the tyre, pre-cautions needed forimproving the life ofa tyre. The projectaims at bridging thisskill gaps amongstthe tyre fitters.

India’s education-technology sectorhas been divided into three cate-gories: K-12 segment, competitive

exam preparation, and the career guid-ance segment. The sector has been pro-viding interactive and flexible learningtools to children at a young age to helpthem prepare for a better future. Thesetools and applications are giving careerguidance, upgrading skills, and devel-oping their minds professionally as theyare introduced to AI and machinelearning, technologies of tomorrow.

The EdTech market players helpstudents in learning more about theirabilities causing them to understandtheir actual possibilities. They have spe-cially curated courses in AI, machinelearning, Neuro LinguisticProgramming and different calcula-tions alongside information and apti-tude from subject specialists (areaspecialists), vocation guides, andaffirmed teachers.

They permit students to settle oneducated choices with skilled decisionsthrough different tests and evaluations.The tests incorporate psychometricexamination, investigation of theirqualities and abilities. They utilisestraightforward decision inquiries to

break down the abilities, interests,qualities and shortcomings of stu-dents. The evaluations help the studentssettle on much informed professionaldecisions dependent on rationale,interest, thinking and conceptual learn-ing that distinguish their special apti-tudes than the regular ones.

Having this potential, the EdTechbusiness has a great deal of open-dooropportunities for those hoping to workor learn in the sector. Here are some ofthem:

TeacherFor the individuals who love to

educate, their profession is likely turn-ing into a vocation in EdTech as of now.Since instructive technology is extend-ing to almost all specialties of teachingand learning, the whole training indus-try is gradually incorporating EdTechservices.

EdTech empowers teachers toutilise new tools in their teaching meth-ods to encourage a more present-daylearning condition. It makes pro-grammes conceivable like studenttutor, where students can guide andcoach younger students from homeworkstations and learning applica-tions. So, EdTech is making new

adaptable employment setup andextending the opportunities.

Instructional DesignerCourse designers join EdTech to

create learning materials or full cours-es for explicit subjects.

A decent course creator will havethe option to make an engagingvideo/audio and guidelines to makelearning material engaging, compelling,and fun as expected by the students.This career option orchestrates explic-it ideas on how the mind learns the bestwith more extensive information whilemaking a charming and fun excursionthrough that learning procedure.

Teaching TechnologistThink about an instructive tech-

nologist like a combination of a teacherand education system with the correctprojects and devices where there are orbuilding those very devices when theydon't yet exist.

Teaching technologists are oftenemployed by existing educationalorganisations or those that need toincorporate EdTech services into theirhomerooms, workplaces and so on.Work in this field requires wide infor-mation on what frameworks are avail-able or in process, and how those could

best be utilised to accomplish theobjectives of the customer organisation.

Education Software Engineer Programming specialists can earn

substantial sums of money in EdTech.Dependent upon the age level that theproduct or interface is outfitted towards,EdTech programming developersshould have the ability to mix com-plexity with ease. Various subjects willrequire different interfaces such as adigital anatomy course should bemorevisually appealing while a creativewriting course will require an interfaceequipped with spelling and grammardatabases.

Some of the other most recruitedjobs in EdTech industry are productdevelopment, content writers, UI/UXand application designers, sales expertsand brand communication specialists.Organisations search for aptitude in thefield of innovation, product, finance,technology and HR.

EdTech industry’s future per-taining to the COVID-19 situation

There is an immense need andinterest for such upskilling careerchoices. EdTech learning programs arevery well prepared to assist studentswith accomplishing their goals ofacing these aptitudes and prepare forjobs which will become increasingpopular through their growth years.One pattern that we are seeing duringthe COVID situation is the develop-ing relations between traditional edu-cation players and EdTech organisa-tions.

The development of EdTechresembles other industry changes.Innovation in the method of workingat first; followed by a point where itreplaces the current method of work-ing with a more cost-effective way andultimately by enhancing the method ofworking with higher degree of expe-rience, that would have not been oth-erwise possible.������������(:��G����������)��������H���

COVID-19 pandemic hastrembled the world, andeverything has come to a

screeching halt. Usually, preschoolfeels alive with children, singing outloud their morning circle timesongs, has become ominouslyquiet. This pandemic has shutdown preschool for an uncertainperiod.

After the school closureannouncement in March, lock-down has worsened the situationin so many ways. Children are con-sidered as most vulnerable to getthe infection in this COVID-19period. On the other hand, manypreschools are running on therental place, and most preschoolowners manage their day to dayoperations through the studentfees.

The school management hadto force themselves to adjust andadopt ways to use technology inthis unprecedented time. To dothis, the school had to come upwith a plan to respond to the trans-formation of preschool students:

Train the trainer programme:At the beginning of the lockdownwith the help of Tech team of ourpreschool; we have planned andconducted training sessions for theTeachers to access the online class-es for the students. The onlineclasses engage developmentallyappropriate, including physicaldevelopment, as well as we, payattention to mental well-beingactivities of the children.

Use of technology and special

programmes: Preschool childrenare too young to handle laptops ortablets or Parents mobile phones tobe available for the online session.The curriculum activities at ourend are planned in such a way thatsome are student-led, someteacher-led and some are led by theparents. Both parents and teachersare working together to develop lifeskills in the childlike rolling tow-els, helping in-home chaos, story-telling, flameless cooking, Themebased storytelling, and yoga. Forthe first time, even teachers arecoming in front of the camera, orwe can say parents are inside theclassroom. Everyone is workingharder than on regular days.

Engagement with the stu-dents: The School has taken the ini-tiative to engage the students withsome fun activities like birthdayscelebration of the students, sharingthe experiences of online classes ofthe students on social media plat-forms; Facebook, Instagram,Whatsapp, and Google doc. Thestudents created some corona jour-nal to spread awareness about theCOVID-19 in their own way.

Webinar sessions for par-ents: Parents have become com-fortable and adapted the situation,knowing the fact that they are notalone in this fight. The school hasalso conducted some webinars atNational and International toengage the parents for their men-tal peace. All the webinars are ondifferent themes like parenting,emotional intelligence, rhymesand stories, puppetry, mental well-being during the lockdown, andhow to engage children in difficulttimes.

Online summer programme:We have also planned to engage thestudents with summer programwith different themes for six weeksincluding a lot of fun activities likeStorytelling, artwork, dance,drama, theatre, and practical expe-rience and some with celebrities.

At last, virtual learning isgoing to reset the concept of edu-cation entirely, based on preparingfor exams only. Now the schoolshave adopted the new culture andprogrammes in enabling person-alised lesson charts which makeslearning more interactive, fun andengaging. The schools have start-ed focusing on co-curricular activ-ities precisely. It makes the studentsmore self-motivated to finish theirwork and stick to their routines.Undoubtedly, there is a disciplinein children’s work without any peerdistraction.

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On August 6, 2020, a Gazettenotification by the Ministry

of Health and Family Welfareintroduced post-graduate diplo-ma courses in eight medical spe-cialties under the prestigiousNational Board ofExaminations. These are two-year courses that can be under-taken after completing theMBBS degree.

According to the regula-tions, these structured trainingprograms can be run by anywell-equipped public or privatehospital with over 100 beds andstaffed with senior medical spe-cialists. The regulatory changebrought about by this notifica-tion will transform healthcare inIndia, making ours the firstnation in the world to dissoci-ate healthcare from affluence.

Every year, approximately1,70,000 doctors write theNEET post-graduate exam toapply for about 50,000 post-graduate seats under theMedical Council of India andthe National Board ofExaminations. This means that,annually, the remaining 1,20,000doctors who do not get one ofthese seats will not return toclinical work. They may wastetwo to five years attendingcoaching classes in Kerala orKota and in the end, someeven give up on becoming doc-tors. Adding a few thousandseats in post-graduate diplomacourses will immediately bringthese doctors back to patientcare in accredited Governmentor private hospitals. It also givesthem the option to apply for anMD or MS seat after completionof the course.

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The University of Sheffield,UK is inviting applica-

tions for MSc Molecular andCellular Basis of HumanDisease course starting inSeptember 2021.

Whole genome sequencinghas opened up a new era ofstudies into the molecular andcellular basis of human disease.This unique research-led mas-ters course provides training tofuture scientists in the pro-duction and use of animalmodels for basic research intodisease mechanisms and fortherapeutic studies.

This 12-month course hasbeen built around our expertisein molecular and cellular biol-ogy to offer specialist practicaland lecture modules on themechanisms behind human

disease. Possible topics include

developmental genetics, epithe-lial physiology and cancer biol-ogy. Students will also gettraining in the skills every pro-fessional scientist needs, suchas research ethics and literatureanalysis.

Eligibility: Holders of athree year bachelor degree witha minimum of 65% or "firstclass" from a reputable univer-sity in a biomedical-relatedsubject. Medical students whowish to intercalate their stud-ies are also accepted. OverallIELTS grade of 6.5 with a min-imum of 6.0 in each compo-nent, or equivalent.

How to apply: Log on tohttp://www.sheffield.ac.uk/post-g r a d u a t e / t a u g h t / c o u r s -es/2020/molecular-and-cellular-basis-human-disease-msc.

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The founder-chancellor of SRMInstitute of Science and

Technology (SRMIST), Dr T RPaarivendhar, MP, inauguratedthe new campus for the College ofAgricultural Science and thePaarivendhar Telemedicine Centreon the occasion of his birthday,August 24, 2020.

The new campus of theCollege of Agricultural Science willfunction from Vendhar Nagar,Baburayanpettai, Chengalpattudistrict and the PaarivendharTelemedicine Centre is to function

from SRM Medical CollegeHospital and Research Centre(SRM MCHRC) inKattankulathur.

The event was presided overby SRMIST’s Pro Chancellor(Academics) Dr PSathyanarayanan, Vice ChancellorDr Sandeep Sancheti, Pro ViceChancellor (S&H) Dr RBalasubramanian, Pro ViceChancellor Dr CMuthamizhselvan, Registrar Dr NSethuraman, Pro Vice-Chancellor(Medical) of SRM MCHRC Lt ColDr A Ravi Kumar.

Speaking at the event which

was held virtually, Dr TRPaarivendhar said: “The agricul-ture school was started a fewyears back in SRMIST in a smallway, now they have a place of theirown with all facilities.”

On the opening of theTelemedicine centre, Paarivendharsaid: “SMR MCHRC has alwaysbeen providing treatment at anominal rate and is also the cen-tre for COVAXIN clinical trial inTamil Nadu. Now with the open-ing of this telemedicine centre, itwill try and give solutions to all ourmedical problems from the com-fort of our homes.”

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Page 11: 9 B ˝ # ˘ $, *%$ C # RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd ... · questioned Tamil Nadu Government’s silence on con- ... by the global police body fol- ... interview to news magazine

Acareer in management spansacross a broad section ofindustries from finance, to

the public sector, construction,education, and more. Every organ-isation needs a manager, howeverfinding the right candidate can betough. Management has nowbecome a career in itself whichcomprises leaders who can workefficiently and drive a team ororganisation to succeed.

Management roles have alwaysbeen a top preference for aspirants.Many students perceive that attain-ing a management degree is enoughto commence a career in the field.Though the management degreeworks as an added advantage for thecandidates, what attracts employersare the skills and attributes theyhave. Possessing a set of key skillsneeded for the role increases theworking efficiency and value of anaspirant. Below mentioned are a setof skills which can lead to a guar-anteed successful career in man-agement.

Technical skills: Over the pastfew years, technological develop-ments are revolutionising the indus-try. The time is not far when 50%of the occupations or job profilespresent right now, will not exist overthe next decade. Technology hasbecome an imperative aspect of theworkplace. A manager is expectedto possess an understanding of thekey technological developmentstaking place and should stay up todate with the changing trends.

Organisation and delegationskills: In order to succeed in a man-agement career, a candidate musthold strong organisational skills. Amanagement profile comes withtremendous responsibilities where-in, you have to supervise a team ofemployees working in diverse seg-ments and ensure that they arebeing trained effectively. Also, del-egation is another key skill that amanager must possess. A manag-er is responsible for delegatingwork to employees and ensures thatthe workforce remains motivated.

Emotional intelligence: One ofthe most fundamental skills thathave become a mandate in anorganisation is EmotionalIntelligence. An understanding ofemotions lets an individual achieveeven the hardest goals within anorganisation. It is also essential fora candidate to have the patience tolisten to their employee’s concernsand that they must not overreact tosituations. A calm and stableapproach allows a candidate toenhance relationships in the work-place, and handle tough situationseffectively.

Transparency: When lookingfor a commencement of a career inmanagement profile, a candidate

must be transparent. In manage-ment, there is no space for duplic-ity. A manager is responsible forleading a team wherein, employeesexpect their leader to be transpar-ent with them, and on whom theycan lay their trust. Being transpar-ent in your dealings, will ensure theretention of hardworking teammembers, and reduce attrition in anorganisation.

Commercial awareness:Businesses are actively seekingaspirants who possess strong com-mercial awareness. In terms ofkick starting the career in the man-agement domain, an appropriateunderstanding of the marketplaceand how the business operates isessential. Also, knowledge of thesector that the organisation belongsto also vital. In addition to the mar-ket understanding, a candidatemust have an adequate knowledgeof social and economic issues thatmight affect the business.

Rewards and celebratesemployee’s successes: A managershould be a cheerleader for his teamand should recognise and celebrateeach success of his team. Nowadays,jobs are very stressful, and by cel-ebrating each win, you can makeyour team feel good and show that

you care about their achievements.Management roles have always

been coveted by students. Acquiringand following the above mentionedskills and increasing your chance ofgetting a management role, as wellas delivering excellent performanceat the workplace. The skills couldbe attained through different activ-ities like — internships, volunteer-ing, taking considerable profes-sional courses, etc.

The management institutionsacross the country are focusingextensively on the development ofessential management skills.Management roles become one ofthe hottest career choices for theaspirants. The students are active-ly seeking admission in the top 10PGDM institutes in India to learnthe requisite skills and trainingwhich can eventually lead to excel-lent placements in top companies.

Management skills havebecome important for a successfulcareer. By doing a comprehensivecourse from a leading institute, stu-dents will be able to gain skills aswell as practical knowledge tobegin a rewarding career in theirdream company!��������������������������� ��'���������

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In recent years, significant forces likedigital technology and globalisationhave dramatically transformed how

enterprises function. The rapid trans-formation has resulted in an increaseddemand for individuals with advancedskills and abilities. Unlike the past whenthere were limited professions androles, today, the companies requiretrained specialists with multi-disciplineabilities. Yet, our educational curricu-lum lacks these elements. As a result,a significant part of our youth is notwork-ready, lacking education andskills necessary for employmentBridging the need and requirement ofthe industry and students and creatingwork-ready graduates is the need of thehour.

A recent study by the GlobalBusiness Coalition for Education(GBC-Education), EducationCommission and United NationsChildren's Fund (UNICEF) made someinteresting revelations. According to thestudy, more than 50% of Indian youthis not on track to have employable skillsand education by 2030.

As graduates hardly have anyunderstanding of how they can trans-late their academic achievements intoa successful career, there is an urgentneed to address personal and compe-tency skills, attributes and traits that areneeded to make our youth work-ready.

In recent years, corporate hasgrown quite weary about the workreadiness of both high school and col-lege graduates and are also unhappywith entry level talent. As per theMckinsey report, 83% of the educa-tional institutions believe that theirgraduates are work-ready and can getinto the job market, but only 51% ofemployers agree with that.

The difficulty of finding workerswith advanced traits for rapidly evolv-ing jobs continues to remain a challengefor organisations. Today’s organisationsprefer those graduates who can hit theground solving problems with theirskills and expertise rather than spend-ing time getting experience and learn-ings. What is required of students?� Students should be well-informedabout the new technologies and trends

in the market and have the basicknowledge about the same to be ableto compete with others and get into thejob market.� Good communications skills areimportant to express the thoughtsclearly.� Balancing of multiple projects iscommon at workplaces, so studentsshould be able to do multitasking.

? Use of social media is becominga necessity, so students should makesure they have a professional and cred-ible online presence.

A joint effort focused on learningand skill development, right from theacademicians to enterprises and theGovernment, can undoubtedly bridgethe skill gap. � Teachers can help students to makethem understand that change is notnecessarily a bad thing. They can helpstudents embrace change by creating amore dynamic environment withinthe classroom and revamp their teach-ing strategy.� Increased focus on developing tech-nical and digital skills.� Project-based learning and intern-ship should be included as a part of thecourse to give practical exposure to thestudents.

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Applications are invitedfor JackrabbitGuarantee Scholarship

offered by South DakotaState University, US.

The studentship is applic-able for US and internationalapplicants to study the under-graduate degree coursework atthe university for the session2020-2021.

Eligibility: The aspirantmust be a commencingundergraduate and have tofulfill the requirements ofSAT and ACT scores forobtaining the opportunity ofthis application .Candidateshave to attach higher sec-ondary mark sheet, profes-sional academic transcriptevaluation, proof of immuni-ty and financial support doc-uments.

Admission require-ments: Minimum GPA of 3.0and an official US transcriptis needed.

Language requirement:A minimum TOEFL score of527 paper-based, 197 com-puter-based or 71 Internet-based and IELTS score of 5.5is required.

How to apply: Studentshave to enroll in the under-graduate degree coursework atthe university. After takingaffirmation, seekers will beautomatically considered forthis studentship.

Application deadline:The last date to apply is

November 15, 2020.

Applications are invitedfor for the Taught Master’sAward offered by theSwansea University in theUK. The award programmeaims to support internationalapplicants who want to starttheir taught master pro-gramme at the university forthe session 2020-2021.

Eligibility: Applicantsmust be fully self-fundingyour studies. Seekers must beenrolling into the full-timeMBA programme a the uni-versity. It is essential for thescholar to suspend their stud-ies. The candidate will beexpected to pay their person-al contribution on a pro-ratabasis. Create one of the fol-lowing to answer ‘tell us howstudying the MBA would addvalue to you and the commu-nities you are part of ’ and sub-mit: [email protected].

Admission require-ments: Before starting youreducation you must meet uni-versity entrance requirements.

Language requirement:If you are applying for admis-sion at the university, youmandatory to apply any affir-mation of your English lan-guage skills.

How to apply: After tak-ing enrollment, students willautomatically be applied forthe award.

Application deadline: Itis November 29, 2020

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Page 12: 9 B ˝ # ˘ $, *%$ C # RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd ... · questioned Tamil Nadu Government’s silence on con- ... by the global police body fol- ... interview to news magazine

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India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin says hehas spoken to his IPL coach Ricky Ponting on

the contentious issue of running out batsmenwho back up too far at the non-striker’s end butwill reveal the contents of the telephonic con-versation only next week.

The issue became a talking point whenPonting, head coach of Ashwin’s team DelhiCapitals, said he would have a discussion withAshwin on the controversial manner of gettinga batsman out ahead of the IPL startingSeptember 19 in the UAE.

Ashwin ran out England batsman JosButtler at the non-striker's end last season whenhe backed up too far, drawing criticism for hisact as many called it against the ‘spirit of thegame.’ While Ashwin has reached Dubai,Ponting is set to arrive next week and the twowill talk in person before the Indian reveals whattranspired between them.

“Ricky Ponting hasn’t yet reached (Dubai).After he comes, we will sit for a chat with him.He said he wants to have a conversation. We havealready talked over the phone. It was a very inter-esting chat,” Ashwin said on his YouTube chan-nel.

Ashwin said it’s better to have a face-to-faceconversation since the message of the heavily-accented Australians can get lost in translation.

“What happens sometimes is Australians'messages in English get lost in translation andreach us with a different meaning. Even someof their jokes become news. That's what it is andnext week I will reveal a bit more about my con-versation with Ricky.”

Ponting had said he will have a “hard con-versation” with Ashwin and won’t allow him torepeat the act at Delhi Capitals since it was “notwithin the spirit of the game”.

On Monday, Ashwin on Monday suggest-ed the introduction of a “freeball” for bowlers ifnon-strikers back uptoo far, sticking to hisstand that there wasnothing wrong withrunning such batsmenout.

“Make it afree ball for thebowler. If thebatsmen getsout of that ball,the battingteam will bedocked 5 runs.Free hit adds tothe drama for abatter, let’s give achance to thebowlers too,”Ashwin hadtweeted.

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England head coach Chris Silverwoodsays experienced pacer James

Anderson, who is standing on the cuspof a historic 600th wicket, is constantlylending a helping hand to other bowlersin the team and is an "inspiration" foreveryone.

The 38-year-old ended the fourth dayof the final Test between England andPakistan a wicket short of the elusive 600-wicket mark.

If achieved, Anderson will becomethe first pacer to touch the milestone asonly spin legends Muttiah Muralitharan,Shane Warne and Anil Kumble have moreTest scalps.

“We’re all aware of the milestoneJimmy is looking at but he'll get there.Hopefully we’ll see it. It would be brilliantto see Jimmy get over the line. He’s aninspiration, isn't he? 600 Test wickets.Wow," Silverwood was quoted as sayingby ‘Sky Sports’.

“He’s worked so hard to do it and he'sbrilliant around the place. He’s constant-ly helping the other bowlers. It's justsuperb to have one of the best in the worldsat in your dressing room and playing foryour country,” Silverwood added.

England lead the three-match series1-0.

Pakistan, who were asked to followon after scoring 273 in their first inningsin reply to the hosts’ 583-8 declared,trailed by 210 runs at the end of the fourthday. “I want to win the game first and fore-most but to finish strongly and seeJimmy get his 600th would be fantastic,”Silverwood said.

Anderson would have reached the600 wicket milestone on the fourth day

itself had wicketkeeper Jos Buttler not putdown a regulation catch before lunch.

“It is frustrating when things don’t goyour way as a bowler but all you can dois go back on the practice field and workon what you need to work on. That’s whatJimmy did and he got his rewards,”Silverwood said. “I thought Jimmy han-

dled himself very well (with the droppedcatches). He kept his decorum. No onemeans to drop them but obviously it’sfrustrating,” he added.

“It is a massive achievement. To havetwo bowlers above 500 and Jimmy clos-ing in on 600 is an amazing feat,”Silverwood said.

� ��� �86-&

KL Rahul expects head coach AnilKumble to do bulk of the planning,

which he feels will help him immensely inhis debut as captain of Kings XI Punjab inthe IPL, beginning in UAE on September19.

Like the other seven teams, KXIP play-ers are undergoing a six-day mandatoryquarantine in the UAE.

The squad is heavy on players fromKarnataka including the captain himself,Mayank Agarwal and Karun Nair. Thehead coach too is from Karnataka.

“To have someone like Anil Bhaiaround helps me immensely this season.I share a very good relationship with himoff the field, coming from the same state,”Rahul told the IPL website.

“I think he (Kumble) will make my lifeas captain very easy. I know that he wouldbe doing most of the planning and I justhave to go out there and carry out theplans,” said the 28-year-old.

Rahul was in red hot form in the pasttwo seasons while batting alongside ChrisGayle, scoring 659 and 593 and in 2018 and2019 respectively.

Glenn Maxwell’s return has boostedtheir middle-order and the skipper stressedon his importance to the team.

“Maxi has been with Kings XI beforeand has had a successful run with the team.He was one player we were very clear weneeded going into the auctions.

“On a given day, he will take down anybowling attack and we’ve felt that the lastcouple of seasons we have missed thatimpact player in the middle order,” saidRahul.

In Rahul and Gayle, KXIP make oneof the most destructive opening pairingsin IPL. The captain expects the West Indianto keep winning games for the team.

“I have played for several years withhim and share a great friendship with him.He’s a great guy to have in our team. Hewill be part of our core group and with thekind of experience he has, he will definite-ly be somebody that wins a lot of gamesfor us.

“Looking forward to the 2020 season,it’s not like a usual IPL season, it is goingto be very different for all of us. I am excit-ed about that. I hope we can make this sea-son count and win a lot of games for theteam,” he added.

KXIP are yet to win the IPL with theirbest finish coming in 2014, when theyreached the final.

� ��� �9:��97'&

Former CommonwealthGames champion Parupalli

Kashyap on Tuesday questionedhis omission from the ongoingnational badminton camp inHyderabad, saying that restrict-ing it to just eight Olympic hope-fuls is “illogical”.

He, insisted that he too hasan outside chance of qualifyingfor the Tokyo Games but he hasno way to pursue it as he can'ttrain at the camp. “I have a cou-ple of questions regarding thecamp. I find it illogical to allow

only 8 people to train. Also, howare these 8, Olympic hopefulsbecause I think only 3 havealmost confirmed their slot andrest have an outside chanceincluding Srikanth and thewomen’s doubles pair,” Kashyaptold PTI.

“I am ranked 23rd in theworld ranking then why haven’tI been considered,” he asked.

The Sports Authority ofIndia (SAI) had allowedresumption of training at theGopichand Academy fromAugust 7 following theTelangana government’s

approval on August 1.Kashyap, who along with

wife and fellow shuttler SainaNehwal, has been training at aseparate facility near the acad-emy, said he shared his thoughtswith SAI but didn’t get a satis-factory response.

“Gopi bhaiya (PullelaGopichand) advised me to speakto SAI as they made the list. SoI spoke to SAI DG and askedhim what is the logic behind it?Why am I not in the camp? Whodecided that we don’t have achance to qualify when 7-8tournaments are still left,” he

said. “A day later, a SAI assistantdirector called me and said thisis a directive which has comefrom higher officials and theyhave spoken to BAI and SAI,who believe only these peoplehave a chance to qualify whichI found to be strange,” he added.

“I was told that only 8 peo-ple will train till the TokyoGames to keep the Olympichopefuls safe. Now no one isstaying at the centre, all are usinggyms at different centres, theyare meeting people outside, so Idon’t understand their explana-tion of keeping them safe.”

New Delhi : The postponementof the Tokyo Olympics by a yearhas not led to any changes in theIndian men's hockey team’s tar-gets for the marquee event,according to forwardAkashdeep Singh. The Covid-19 pandemic has forced theOlympics to be postponed fromits original start date July 24 thisyear to July 23, 2021.

The pandemic has shownno signs of stemming sinceand experts have expresseddoubts over whether theOlympics can be held next yeartoo if there are no vaccinationsavailable by that time. “For us

there are no changes in the tar-get. We have to improve our-selves as much as possible andwin a medal at the Olympics. Inthe lockdown, we all got toknow each other a lot. Wenever spent so much time witheach other like this. Whether itbe seniors or juniors, we were alltelling ourselves that this oneyear will go and we just need tokeep ourselves focussed on thetask at hand," the 25-year-oldAkashdeep told IANS.

For now, however, the play-ers in the national camp at theSports Authority of India’s (SAI)Bengaluru centre are just happy

to be finally reunited with ahockey stick and a ball.

With the men’'s AsianChampions Trophy postponedto next year, the team is current-ly training with no competitionsto keep as a target for 2020.

“We are looking at theOlympics as our target, there areno tournaments planned for thisyear. The players were eager toget back to training. Now afterso many months we are train-ing properly with the stick andthe ball which is what all theplayers wanted. It’s going well fornow we are concentrating on thebasics,” he said. IANS

���� �9:�E1�)

Bothered by a bad neckthat a trainer massagedtwice, Novak Djokovic

double-faulted seven times andtrailed by a break in each setbefore avoiding the rash ofupsets at the Western &Southern Open by taking thelast four games for a 7-6 (2), 6-4 victory over RicardasBerankis.

The No. 1-ranked Djokovicwas playing his first ATP matchin six months because of thecoronavirus pandemic; hepulled out of the doubles eventSunday because of his neck.

“I’m trying to deal with iton a daily basis,” he said.

“It’s been like that for thepast three or four days.”

Still, Djokovic improved to19-0 in 2020 as he prepares toseek a sixth title from the pasteight Grand Slam tournamentswhen the U.S. Open begins ina week. That major champi-onship’s site in FlushingMeadows is hosting the Ohio-based Western & SouthernOpen, too, as part of an unusu-al doubleheader with no spec-tators.

Djokovic got by, eventhough he was wincing andstretching his neck betweenpoints, then wound up layingon his back - a medical maskand protective glasses on hisface - while having his neckmanipulated after the first set.

While the tours were shutdown, Djokovic tested positive

for COVID-19 in June after aseries of no-social-distancingexhibition matches he orga-nized in Serbia and Croatia.

As tennis ramps up - this isthe first tournament of theresumption for the men; thewomen returned earlier thismonth - there has been a hostof surprises, including defend-ing women’s championMadison Keys’ 6-4, 6-1 depar-ture against Ons Jabeur in anhour Monday night.

Earlier, No. 2 seed DominicThiem, a three-time majorfinalist, wasn’t much more com-petitive in a 6-2, 6-1 loss to FilipKrajinovic, and No. 5 Alexander

Zverev hit 11 double-faults -five over his last two servicegames - while being beaten byAndy Murray 6-3, 3-6, 7-5.

Like Djokovic, SerenaWilliams and Naomi Osakaemerged with difficult wins,while two-time Wimbledonchamp Petra Kvitova, the No. 6seed, lost. Each of the top twowomen’s seeds, KarolinaPliskova and Sofia Kenin, werebeaten Sunday.

Djokovic now meetsAmerican Tennys Sandgren, a6-7 (4), 6-2, 7-6 (5) winner overNo. 15 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime, who accumulated15 double-faults. AnotherAmerican, Reilly Opelka, elim-inated No. 9 seed DiegoSchwartzman 6-3, 7-6 (4).

Her yells of “Come on!” fill-ing a nearly empty stadium,Williams was pushed to thebrink in her longest matchsince 2012 before pulling awaywith a perfect tiebreaker andedging Arantxa Rus 7-6 (6), 3-6, 7-6 (0).

“I had a crowd in my heador something,” Williams saidwith a laugh.

“For me, it was like therewas a crowd there.”

Rus is a Dutch qualifierranked No. 72 whose flat, left-handed strokes from the base-line gave Williams some trou-ble. Williams dropped fourgames in a row in the second set,then did so again in the third,when she fell behind 6-5.

Rus served for the matchthere and, at deuce, was two

points from victory.She wouldn't win another

point.Showing the strokes and

grit that carried her to 23 GrandSlam titles - against an opponentwho has never won so much asone tour-level singles title of anysort - Williams ran away with it,ending the 2-hour, 48-minutematch with a forehand, celebrat-ing most points with a yell anda clenched left fist.

Williams hadn’t spent thatmuch time on a court since the2012 French Open, when shelost in the first round toVirginie Razzano in 3 hours, 3minutes. That was Williams'only career first-round exit ata Grand Slam tournament.

“I did hit a wall today in thesecond set, I was so hot. Thatnever happens,” the 38-year-oldAmerican said.

“So I think physically, I'mfit. Tennis is mental. You know,it's all mental.”

She moved into the thirdround thanks in part to 14 aces,one at 121 mph. Osaka used 12aces to get through 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-2 against KarolinaMuchova.

Next for Williams is No. 13Maria Sakkari, who is Greekand figured it might work toher advantage to have a quietsetting in New York. If therewere the usual crowd of thou-sands when Williams plays,Sakkari calculated, the fans'support would break downalong these lines: “99% withher, 1% with me.”

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It has been months of inactionfor Indian cricket fans who

havent seen their favourite starsslug it out on the field sinceIndias disappointing outing inNew Zealand back inFebruary.

However, with theIndian Premier League (IPL)fast approaching, the sense ofpositivity is back among the

fans. And one could feel that informer Indian cricketerMohammad Kaif as well.

The Delhi Capitals’ assistant

coach found it hard toconceal his excitementdespite staying in a strictbio-bubble in the UAE.“Oh, yes, there is a lot ofexcitement,” Kaif toldIANS over the phonefrom the UAE.

“These are thetough, challenging timesfor the players as thereare a lot of guidelinesthat need to be followed.There would be manytests of the players andsupporting staff for

almost two-three timesa week. But I still amvery happy that the IPLis finally happening andthe fans will get to watchit once again,” he said.

While everybodywould want to see thematches to start as earlyas possible, not manywill understand it betterthan a fitness expert likeKaif that players need tobe handled with carebefore pushing theminto the ring.

Djokovic wins post-hiatus debut

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Pakistan’s chances of holding outfor a draw in the third and final

test against England were boostedwhen rain washed out the morningsession on Day 5 at the Rose Bowl onTuesday.

An inspection was planned for1:40 p.M. Local time (1240 GMT),with lots of standing water on theground after early-morning rain.

Pakistan is 100-2 in its secondinnings, trailing England overall by210 runs. England leads 1-0 and is onthe brink of clinching a first serieswin over Pakistan in 10 years.

The latest delay in this weather-affected test meant England pacemanJimmy Anderson will have to wait toreach 600 career wickets in the for-mat.

He is on 599, with only retiredspinners Muttiah Muralitharan (800),Shane Warne (708) and Anil Kumble(619) above Anderson on the all-timelist of wicket-takers in test cricket.

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IPL franchise Delhi Capitalson Tuesday named former

Australian pacer Ryan Harris astheir bowling coach ahead ofthe upcoming edition startingSeptember 19 in the UAE.

The 40-year-old comes inplace of compatriot JamesHopes, who served as theCapitals’ bowling coach in thelast two seasons but will beunable to travel with the team

this year owing to personalreasons.

“I am delighted to be backin the IPL. This is a hugeopportunity for me to con-tribute to the franchise’s ambi-tions of lifting the coveted IPLtrophy,” Harris was quoted assaying in a media release.

“The Delhi Capitals sidehas an impressive bowling lineup, and I can’t wait to startworking with them all,” headded.

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Jelena Ostapenko, the 2017 French Openchampion, pulled out of the U.S. Open,

citing a change of schedule.She is the latest woman with a Grand

Slam title or high ranking to withdraw fromthe tournament that begins next week amidthe coronavirus pandemic.

Six of the top eight women in the WTArankings already were out, including No.1 Ash Barty, the reigning champion atRoland Garros, and No. 6 BiancaAndreescu, the 2019 winner at FlushingMeadows.

Also pulling out Monday was CarlaSuarez Navarro, who was fined $40,000 ofher $58,000 prize money at the U.S. Openlast year for what was deemed a lack ofeffort after she retired from her first-roundmatch with a lower-back injury.

With the two withdrawals, KurumiNara and Whitney Osuigwe were able toget into the main draw. A wild-card invi-tation awarded to Osuigwe was transferredto 16-year-old Californian Katrina Scott bythe U.S. Tennis Association.