SNOWFALL, RAIN RECORDED IN NORTH INDIA PG6

STATE HANDS OVER 13.49 ACRES OF LAND TO ONGC PG3

‘HIS HEART IS AS STRONG AS IT USED TO BE WHEN HE WAS 20 YEARS OLD’ PG11

‘WE CAN BE HEROES’ TO HAVE A SEQUEL PG12

millenniumpost.in RNI NO.: WBENG/2015/65962

VOL. 7, ISSUE 6 | Wednesday, 6 January 2021 | Kolkata | Pages 12 | Rs 3.00PUBLISHED FROM DELHI & KOLKATA NO HALF TRUTHS

I am a commoner, says CM after collecting Swasthya

Sathi card standing in queue

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday collected her Swasthya Sathi card standing in a queue like all others from a Duare Sarkar camp at Jai Hind Bhavan on Harish Mukherjee Road in South Kolkata.

She left a message while interacting with the people at the camp, that she “is also one of the common citizens out of 10 crore people in the state” and that is why she came to collect her Swasthya Sathi card as all others are doing to derive its benefit.

Health Secretary Narayan Swarup Nigam handed over the Swasthya Sathi card to the Chief Minister, who was accompa-nied by Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay. State Urban Development and Municipal Affairs minister Firhad Hakim was also present.

People present at the camp expressed their gratitude towards Banerjee for collecting her card just like them despite holding the top administrative post in the state.

The Chief Minister had said on Monday while interacting

with the media that she decided to take a Swasthya Sathi card as a mark of solidarity towards the initiative that comes as a saviour to lakhs of people during a med-ical emergency.

The state government has extended the health scheme for the entire resident population of the state from December 1. The major step, especially at the time of the pandemic, ensures a comprehensive and free fam-ily-floater health coverage for cashless secondary and tertiary medical care up to Rs 5 lakh per year. No payment is charged

from the beneficiaries as the state government is paying the premium and the concerned insurance companies are bear-ing the cost of the treatment. The state government is bearing an expense of around Rs 2,000 crore per year for the scheme.

Out of 12 state-run schemes in Duare Sarkar camps, the state government received the high-est number of applications for Swasthya Sathi cards. It was around 53 lakh people, who had applied for the same, till the end of the second phase of Duare Sarkar camps.

Laxmi Ratan Shukla resigns;

CM wishes him luck

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: Minister of State for the Youth Services and Sports department and former cricketer Laxmi Ratan Shukla resigned from the Trinamool Congress but will remain an MLA till the term of the state Assembly expires.

Even though there was speculation that he might be joining some other political party after tendering his resig-nation, it has been clarified by both Shukla and Chief Minis-ter Mamata Banerjee that his move was to “focus on his area of interest which is developing sports in Bengal”.

Shukla, a former Indian cricketer, got a berth in the state Cabinet after becoming MLA from North Howrah Assem-bly constituency in 2016. He was also made the president of Howrah Zilla Trinamool Con-gress (Sadar) in 2020.

While replying to a ques-tion in this regard, Banerjee said: “Laxmi wants to concen-trate on sports activities. So he expressed his wish to get relieved from his posts. But he will continue as an MLA till this term ends. So there is noth-ing to create a controversy out of it and to find anything nega-tive in it.”

She also added: “I urged the Governor to accept his resigna-tion so that he can concentrate more in sports and I wish him all the very best for the same.”

Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar later tweeted that Shukla “ceases to be a member of Council of Ministers with immediate effect” and as per the Chief Minister’s recom-mendation, the charge of the department would be vested on the department’s minister Aroop Biswas.

Shukla had stated in his let-ter to the Chief Minister that “...I am leaving politics for now and... I shall be ever thankful, if you kindly accept this letter as my resignation and release from all my responsibilities...I will however, continue to serve as MLA till the end of this term.”

Meanwhile, Bhaskar Bhat-tacharjee has been appointed as president of Howrah Zilla Trinamool Congress (Sadar) after Shukla resigned.

INDIA RECORDS LOWEST DAILY CASES IN OVER 6 MONTHS

20 more people in India test +ve for UK strain of COVID-19

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: Twenty more people have tested positive for the new UK variant of SARS-CoV-2, taking the total number of such cases in the country to 58.

The new cases have been identified at the National Insti-tute of Virology (NIV) Pune.

“The total number of cases infected with the new strain of the novel Coronavi-rus first reported in the UK now stands at 58,” the Union Health ministry said.

All these persons have been kept in single room iso-lation in designated health-care facilities by respective state governments.

Their close contacts have also been put under quaran-tine. Comprehensive contact

tracing has been initiated for co-travellers, family contacts and others. Genome sequenc-ing on other specimens is going on, the ministry added.

The situation is under careful watch and regular advice is being provided to the states for enhanced sur-veillance, containment, test-ing and dispatch of samples to INSACOG labs.

Of the 58, the mutated UK strain was detected in eight samples at National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), New Delhi, 11 in the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB), Delhi, in one in National Institute of Bio-medical Genomics (NIBMG), Kalyani (near Kolkata), 25 in the National Institute of Virol-ogy in Pune, three in Centre for Cellular and Molecular

Biology (CCMB) in Hyder-abad and ten was sequenced in National Institute of Men-tal Health and Neuro Sci-ences Hospital (NIMHANS) Bengaluru.

Meanwhile, India recorded 16,375 new cases of Corona-virus, the lowest in over six months, taking the coun-try’s COVID-19 caseload to 1,03,56,844, according to the Union Health ministry data updated on Tuesday.

The death toll increased to 1,49,850 with 201 new fatali-ties, the data updated at 8 am showed.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 99,75,958 pushing the national recovery rate to 96.32 per cent, while the COVID-19 case fatality rate stands at 1.45 per cent.

Central Vista Project gets SC nod in 2:1 verdict

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday cleared the decks for the ambitious Cen-tral Vista Project, which cov-ers a three-km stretch from Rashtrapati Bhavan to India Gate in Lutyens’ Delhi, by upholding the environmen-tal clearance and the notifi-cation for change in land use.

The Central Vista revamp, announced in September, 2019 envisages a new trian-gular Parliament building, with a seating capacity for 900 to 1,200 MPs, that is to be constructed by August, 2022 when the country will be celebrating its 75th Inde-pendence Day. The common Central Secretariat is likely to be built by 2024 under the project.

A three-judge bench headed by Justice A M Khan-wilkar, by 2:1 majority, held

that the grant of environmen-tal clearance and the notifica-tion for change in land use for the project was valid.

Justice Khanwilkar, writ-ing the judgment for him-self and Justice Dinesh Maheshwari, also directed that the project proponent set up smog tower and use anti-smog guns at the con-struction site for the Central Vista project. Justice Sanjiv Khanna, the third judge on the bench, also agreed on the issue of award of project.

He, however, disagreed with the judgment on change of land use and on grant of environmental clearance for the project. In the majority verdict, the Apex Court said that prior permission shall be taken from heritage conser-vation committee and other relevant authorities before the start of construction at new sites.

Union Budget likely to be presented on Feb 1: ReportOUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: The Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs (CCPA) has recommended that the Budget session of Parliament commence from January 29 and conclude on April 8.

According to the Committee’s rec-ommendation, while Part 1 of the Bud-get session would be held from January

29 to February 15, Part 2 would be from March 8 to April 8.

President Ram Nath Kovind would address the joint sitting of the two

Houses of Parliament on January 29, a Friday, and the Union Budget would be presented on February 1, sources said citing the CCPA recommendations.

All COVID-related protocols would be followed during the session, the sources said.

The final decision on the com-mencement of the session will be taken by the Union Cabinet of Ministers.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: Protesting farmers seem undeterred in the face of the bone-chilling cold, rains and water-logging, camping for almost over a month now at Delhi’s borders, remaining firm on their demands for repeal of farm laws and legal backing for MSP even as talks with the government remained inconclusive.

On Monday, the seventh round of talks was held to resolve the deadlock. The unions stuck to their demand for a complete repeal of the new farm laws they find pro-corpo-rate, while the government wanted

to discuss only ‘problematic’ clauses or other alternatives. The two sides will meet again on January 8.

Speaking to reporters after the meet, Agriculture minister Naren-dra Singh Tomar said he expected positive talks and a possible res-olution in the next meeting, but asserted that “efforts need to be made from both sides for a solution”.

The protesting farmers, mainly from Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, have been at the bor-der points of the national Capital for almost 40 days now, braving the severe chilly weather in the region.

Sporadic rains have also lashed the city in the last couple of days,

following which the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Commit-tee (DSGMC) arranged makeshift elevated beds in a tent provided by the organisation at the demonstra-tion site near Singhu border.

The tent, located right beyond the main stage at the site, is pitched on the lower end of the highway, making it susceptible to waterlog-ging. Since the farmers arrived at the national Capital’s borders in late November, the Delhi Traffic Police has been posting alerts on its official Twitter handle.

In a series of tweets on Tues-day, the traffic police said Singhu, Auchandi, Piau Maniyari, Saboli

and Mangesh borders are closed for traffic movement.

“Please take alternate route via Lampur Safiabad, Palla & Singhu school toll tax borders. Traffic has been diverted from Mukarba & GTK road. Please avoid Outer Ring Road, GTK Road & NH-44,” it said.

“The Chilla and Ghazipur bor-ders are closed for traffic coming from Noida & Ghaziabad to Delhi because of farmer protests. Please take alternate route for coming to Delhi via Anand Vihar, DND, Bho-pra & Loni Borders,” it added.

The traffic police said Tikri and Dhansa borders are also closed for traffic movement.

Firm on their demands, farmers battle inclement weather and ‘cold’ government

Traffic police says Singhu, Auchandi, Piau Maniyari, Saboli & Mangesh borders are shut

Farmers burn an effigy during their ongoing protest against the new farm laws, at Chilla border in Noida, on Tuesday PTI

Bird flu: J&K, K’taka, TN on alert; culling of chickens &

ducks begins in KeralaOUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: Culling of chickens and ducks began on Tuesday in parts of Kerala to contain the H5N8 strain of bird flu, while Jammu and Kashmir sounded an alert and started collecting samples from migra-tory species after Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Mad-hya Pradesh reported cases of avian influenza.

Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have stepped up surveillance and formed guidelines follow-ing the outbreak of the viral infection in neighbouring Ker-ala, where around 1,700 ducks have died due to the flu.

In Madhya Pradesh, offi-cials said 155 dead crows in Indore have been found with the H5N8 strain since the pathogen was first detected in the city a week back, while in

Rajasthan, after Jhalwar, birds in Kota and Baran were found with the infection.

However, no cases have been reported yet in Maharash-tra, which shares borders with Madhya Pradesh.

Officials in Himachal Pradesh on Tuesday surveyed the area around the Pong Dam Lake sanctuary in Kangra dis-trict to check the spread of the flu to domestic poultry birds, a day after samples of dead migratory birds there tested positive for H5N8. Continued on P4

BHARAT BIOTECH, SERUM INSTITUTE PLEDGE FOR SMOOTH ROLLOUT

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: The Health ministry on Tuesday said it is prepared to roll out COVID-19 vaccine within 10 days from date of emergency use authorisa-tion, which was issued on January 3, but noted that the final decision lies with the government.

Addressing a press briefing, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said healthcare workers and frontline workers need not register themselves as their database has been populated on to the Co-WIN vaccine delivery management system in a bulk manner.

“Based on the feedback of dry-run, the Health ministry is ready to introduce COVID-19 vaccine within 10 days from date of emergency use authorisation,” he said.

However, while responding to a question on rollout, Bhushan said the final decision will be taken by the government.

The country’s drugs regulator on Sunday granted restricted emergency use approval to Oxford-AstraZeneca’s Covishield and also to indigenously developed Covaxin of Bharat Biotech.

Bhushan said the Co-WIN system is made in India and for the world, and whichever country wants to use it, the Indian government will actively help.

NITI Aayog member (Health) Dr V K Paul said an optimistic scenario is emerging with the pandemic situ-ation in India consistently improv-

ing in terms of active cases and new deaths declining.

“Let’s hope this trend will con-tinue. In terms of the new UK mutant issue, this mutation has entered this country and 71 have been isolated which shows our capacity to mount that kind of a scientific investigation. But at the same time we have not seen the emergence of any untoward clus-ter in the country as of now which is reassuring so far,” Paul said.

On the two vaccines that have been granted approval for restricted emergency use by the DCGI, Paul reiterated that in granting this permis-sion and authorisation all scientific and statutory requirements have been met and regulatory norms followed.

While healthcare and frontline workers will not be required to register themselves, Bhushan said when they would come to the population priority

group, there the provision of registra-tion and editing of data would come.

“Then the system electronically allows session allocation... the benefi-ciary has been vaccinated this will also be digitally captured and he would be given this information digitally that when he has to come for the next dose. They will also get an acknowledge-ment, a unique health ID would also be generated,” he said.

Bhushan further said Co-WIN has the facility of automated session allocation, Aadhaar authentication to prevent malpractice, creation of Unique Health ID for willing ben-eficiaries, reporting and tracking of adverse events following immuniza-tion, if any, SMSes in 12 languages to guide beneficiaries and vaccinators, QR code-based vaccination certifi-cate issued after all doses, DigiLocker integrated for data retrieval and stor-

ing QR code-based certificate, 24x7 Helpline including IT professionals.

Meanwhile, a day after Bharat Biotech slammed Serum Institute of India’s CEO Adar Poonawalla for his ‘water’ comment about some COVID-19 vaccines, both the vaccine mak-ers on Tuesday jointly pledged for a smooth rollout of the antidote in the country and the world, saying saving lives and livelihoods was the most important task for them.

In another development, two days after being administered the Pfizer Coronavirus jab, a Portuguese health worker suffered a ‘sudden death’ at home on New Year’s day, according to reports.

Sonia Acevedo, a 41-year old woman who worked in paediatrics at the Portuguese Institute of Oncology in Porto, had posted a picture of her-self after getting the shot on Facebook.

‘Ready to roll out Covid vaccine within 10 days of emergency use authorisation’

Highlights » Union Health Secretary said Co-WIN has the facility of automated session allocation, Aadhaar authentication to prevent malpractice, creation of Unique Health ID for willing beneficia-ries along with several other features.

» SII CEO Adar Poonawalla and Bharat Biotech MD Dr Krishna Ella have said that it was their combined intent to develop, manufacture and supply the COVID-19 vaccines for India and globally.Health workers take part in a dry run as part of preparedness for the administration

of COVID-19 vaccine at a government hospital in Mirzapur on Tuesday PTI

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: UK Prime Minis-ter Boris Johnson, who was invited as the chief guest for the Republic Day Parade, has can-celled his visit to India due to the serious Coronavirus situation in his country. Officials said Johnson called up Prime Minister Narendra Modi and regretted that he would have to cancel his visit to India because of the pandemic situation. The Coronavirus infection has been spreading in the UK for some time owing to a large extent to a new mutant of the virus, which has been found to be more infectious.

UK PM Boris Johnson cancels

India trip

KOLKATA|WEDNESDAY, 6 JANUARY, 2021|millenniumpostmp city2

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: With the coun-try getting ready to launch COVID-19 vaccine, the state health department is making necessary arrangements to deal with the unforeseen situ-ation which may arise if peo-ple develop side effects after receiving the shot.

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has also issued necessary direc-tives to the state government. The health department officials will chalk out plans as to how the treatment will be provided to those who develop any seri-ous side effect. The state health department will follow up the protocols laid done by the Union Health Ministry in this regard.

“It is true that side effects can be found in some cases. We generally have some degree of common side effects like mild fever and body aches. These

are quite common symptoms in case of any vaccination. We will keep all necessary arrange-ments in place to deal with the situation. The state govern-ment is putting in place ade-quate infrastructure to ensure

safe vaccine delivery,” a senior health official said.

Meanwhile, Chief Secre-tary Alapan Bandyopadhyay on Tuesday held a meeting with the district administra-tive officials, police officers and

the senior officials of the civic bodies, in which they had been directed to prepare the list of police personnel, land reve-nue officers, PWD employ-ees, DM office employees and other Covid warriors at the district level.

It was also learnt that the health officials would also hold a meeting to prepare a blue-print for smooth running of the vaccination programme in Bengal. The state govern-ment has already selected pri-ority groups and around 6 lakh health workers have been enlisted for the first phase of vaccination.

Two doses of vaccine will be administered on people in a gap of 28 days. Protective lev-els of antibodies will develop 2 weeks after receiving the sec-ond dose of Covid-19 vaccine, a senior official at Swasthya Bhawan said.

“It has to be ensured that the entire vaccination sched-

ule is completed with 1 type of vaccine as different vaccines are not interchangeable. The beneficiaries will be informed through their registered mobile number as to where they will receive the vaccine and on which date. Informa-tion regarding the vaccination will be shared after the regis-tration is completed. The real time monitoring of the vac-cination programme will be done through the Co-Win app. The beneficiaries have to pro-duce valid ID cards at the vac-cination centres,” the official added.

Meanwhile, the phase III trial of Covid vaccine, ZyCoV-D will soon be conducted at 2 government medical col-leges in the state and at 6 pri-vate establishments. As many as 10,000 volunteers may be involved for the purpose. ZyCoV-D vaccine was found safe and given clearance by the Centre.

Covid vaccine: Health dept gears up to tackle possible side-effects

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OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: Around 812 fresh Covid cases were found across Bengal in the past 24 hours out of 30,712 samples. The percent-age of Covid positive cases out of sample tested stood at 7.66 on Tuesday.

The recovery rate in the state has reached 96.56 percent on Tuesday with 1,166 patients being released from various hospitals in the last 24 hours. Around 5,37,250 patients have so far been discharged from the health establishments while the total number of infected patients so far in the state reached 5,56,384 on Tuesday. Bengal has so far conducted 72,66,038 sample tests.

Around 24 Covid infected patients died in the state in the past 24 hours taking the total toll to 9,841 so far. Kolkata has registered 2,984 deaths so far and North 24-Parganas 2,373. Kolkata has seen 199 fresh cases in the past 24 hours tak-ing the total tally to 1,24,361. The number of total infected patients in North 24-Parganas so far reached 1,17,844 out of which 237 were found posi-tive in the past 24 hours. Eight people died in North 24-Par-ganas in the past 24 hours and 4 in Kolkata.

South 24-Parganas has reg-istered 33 new Covid cases in the past 24 hours. The total number of Covid infected patients in South 24-parganas has gone up 36,238. Hooghly has witnessed 46 Covid cases in the past 24 hours while the total tally from the district reached 28,733.

Howrah has so far reg-istered a total 34,826 Covid cases so far out of which 36 have been affected in the past

24 hours. Darjeeling registered 22 new cases and the total tally has gone up to 17,945. Nadia has witnessed 47 new cases in the past 24 hours whereas the total tally has gone up to 21,918. West Midnapore and East Midnapore have so far registered total infected cases of 19,935 and 20,255 respec-tively. There has been a sub-stantial decrease in the number of fresh infected cases in all the districts.

The percentage occupancy in Covid beds dropped at 9.50

on Tuesday. The Health depart-ment has so far addressed 15,21,602 general queries through its dedicated Covid helpline number till January 4 out of which around 1,205 queries were addressed in the last 24 hours. Around 5,56,678 people have received telemed-icine consultations in the state till January 4 out of which 733 people have been given consul-tation in the past 24 hours. As many as 2,55,433 people have received tele-psychological counselling till date.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

BALURGHAT: A total of 8,011 positive cases were reported in South Dinajpur district till Monday evening, said the Chief Medi-cal Officer of Health.

In Balurghat, Hili, Tapan, Kumarganj, Banshihari, Gangaram-pur, Kushmandi and Harirampur blocks, there were 945, 435, 865, 910, 469, 578, 830 and 579 cases reported respectively.

The number of cases detected in the civic areas of Balurghat, Buniadpur and Gangarampur were 1534, 222 and 311 respectively. Around 85 cases were identified from other districts including Kolkata. In addition to this, a total of 248 cases were also detected from outside the state and at private facilities. A total of 7,922 Corona positive patients, who were admitted in various desig-nated facilities across the district, were cured of the disease and discharged till Monday.

The active cases stand at 17 in the district. Around 57 repeat positive cases were also reported. There is no critical patient undergoing treatment at Balurghat Covid Hospital.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: A man was arrested by the Criminal Inves-tigation Department (CID) for duping people by impersonat-ing as an IAS officer from Dur-gapur on Monday.

On September 23, 2018, a man identified as Amit Konar had lodged a complaint against the accused, Raja Nandi alias Arup Nandi (alias Santo Mitra) for duping him of Rs 4 lakh.

Konar met Nandi at a hotel in Durgapur and presented himself as an IAS officer, posted in the Home department. It has been alleged that the accused lured Konar by promising to arrange a government flat. The accused had also assured Konar of providing licenses for a liquor shop and a fair price medicine shop. Konar claimed Nandi took around Rs 4 lakh for arranging the same. But, he never arranged anything

for Konar. When he asked Nandi to return the money, the accused reassured Konar. Few days later when Konar told Nandi that he would inform the Chief Minister’s office, the accused reportedly stopped all sorts of communication with the complainant.

Later, the investigation of the case was taken up by the CID. During the probe, the cops learnt that Nandi—a resi-dent of Thakurpukur—used to roam around in a car fitted with a blue beacon.

The accused had alleg-edly taken huge amounts of money from several people by cheating them. On Monday, he was nabbed from his house in Thakurpukur. He was pro-duced before the Durgapur court and remanded in 5 days CID custody. There are few other cases registered against him at the Survey Park and Gariahat police stations.

AMITAVA BANERJEE

DARJEELING: State Tourism minister Gautam Deb along with GTA Chairman Anit Thapa vis-ited the families of the Kalimpong stampede vic-tims. The minister handed over cheques of Rs 2 lakh each to the families of the two deceased as ex-gratia from the state government.

At around 7 pm on Sunday while a musical programme was underway at the Mela ground at Kalimpong, a stampede had taken place with a huge crowd gathering at the ticket counter in front of the Gandhi gate. Two persons died in the stampede while four others were injured. The deceased include Anita Chettri (female, 40 years) and Banita Gurung (female, 46) both residents of CHandralok area of Kalimpong.

On Tuesday morning Deb and Thapa along with the District Magistrate and Superintendent of Police, Kalimpong visited the residences of the two deceased and paid respects. He handed over cheques of two lakhs each to the family members.

“The Chief Minister had instructed us to visit Kalimpong and stand with the families of the deceased and hand over the ex gratia. I met the families and extended the Chief Minister’s

condolences. The district administration will extend all kind of help and cooperation to the families,” stated Deb.

The last rites of both the deceased were held on Tuesday.

“I had a telephonic conversation with the Chief Minister regarding this. In future more security measures and precautions should be taken in case of such programmes. The district administration will look into the issue. We know that the sanctioning of the ex gratia takes long but today we handed over the cheques within a day. This becomes possible when we work with shared responsibilities,” added Thapa.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tues-day summoned 3 IPS officers and 3 Inspectors of the state police in connection with the ongoing cattle smuggling and coal scam cases. The officers have been asked to appear before the inves-tigating officers by this week.

According to sources, among the 3 IPS, 2 have been sum-moned in connection with the cattle smuggling case. They were posted at Murshidabad earlier. Enamul Haque, who is the alleged kingpin of the cattle smuggling racket, used to operate from Murshidabad. The other IPS has been sum-moned in connection with the coal scam case. Apart from the senior police officials, 3 Inspec-tors of the state police have also

been summoned in connection with the cases.

Earlier, CBI had interrogated a few police officers in Malda in connection with the cattle smuggling case.

CBI had also conducted raids at the houses of businessman Ganesh Bagaria. The CBI sleuths had seized several documents from Bagaria’s houses and also summoned him. But Bagaria had informed the CBI that he was in Dubai and hence unable to appear. Recently, Bagaria returned and the CBI again issued him a summon.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: An alert RPF staff of Kolkata Metro foiled a suicide bid at Dum Dum metro station on Tuesday afternoon.

“Today at around 12.04 pm, a person aged 29 years suddenly got down on the “Down” track in Dum Dum Metro station with an inten-tion to commit suicide,” said an official.

He reiterated that the on-duty RPF and other station staff and passengers rushed to the spot and tried to rescue him. But he was insistent to com-mit suicide.

Finally, Metro RPF and other Metro officials were com-pelled to lift him by his arms

from the track and take him to the RPF booth.

On interrogation, he con-fessed that he was trying to commit suicide due to family problems.

His family was contacted over phone and local police personnel of Sinthi Police sta-tion were informed about this incident.

Later, he was handed over to his father in the presence of police personnel of Sinthi Police station and Metro offi-cials after observing all official formalities.

“Due to the promptness of the on-duty RPF staff and sta-tion staff, normal Metro ser-vices were not disrupted even after the suicide attempt,” pointed out the official.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday directed the West Bengal Primary Edu-cation Board (WBPEB) to receive applications from the candidates—who had filed writ petitions and attempted the 6 wrong questions—to apply for the recruitment process of Pri-mary Teacher in offline mode. The last date of application should be extended from Jan-uary 6 to January 8.

The West Bengal Teach-ers Eligibility Test (TET) 2014 was held in 2015. Thereafter, in 2016, the selection rule was published by the WBBPE. Sev-eral candidates had filed RTI applications after they learnt

that there were 6 wrong answer keys in TET 2014.

Justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj, while hearing the writ peti-tion filed by Anamika Mandal, directed the WBPEB secretary to allow the petitioner to sub-mit applicat/ion offline pursu-ant to the notification dated December 23, 2020. 90

The court observed that such applications may be duly considered during the recruit-ment process, provided the petitioner submits the applica-tion by January 8.

However, the notification specifies that the application should be submitted by Janu-ary 6.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: State Urban Development and Municipal Affairs minister Firhad Hakim on Tuesday inaugurated two drinking water treatment plants at Padmapukur in How-rah. The twin water treatment plants constructed by Kol-kata Metropolitan Develop-ment Authority (KMDA) with capacity of 10 million gallon (mgd) each will contribute in alleviating the water crisis in the district .

Howrah had a total capac-ity of 70 mgd and Bally had 12 million mgd capacity. Now with the addition of 20 mgd the total water capacity in the dis-trict has gone up to 102 mgd. The two pumping stations have come up with an investment of Rs 227 crore. “Now we are con-centrating on developing the distribution network for which we need to come up with some booster pumping stations in the district. One such pumping

station at Ola Bibi Tala Shibpur is already being constructed," said Hakim. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee since 2011 has been laying equal emphasis for civic amenities in Kolkata as well as Howrah. The drain-age system which was in a mess during the erstwhile Left Front rule has been overhauled. “We are executing a drainage mas-ter plan in Howrah and once it is complete, the problem of water logging will be a thing of the past," Hakim added.

The minister also laid the foundation stone for repair of

15 roads under the Pathashree Abhijan which will be executed by KMDA.

“There are some other roads in Howrah which are also in bad condition. I have asked Howrah Commissioner to send a DPR regarding the same so that we can get the necessary approval of the Finance depart-ment and start work for spruc-ing up the roads," Hakim said.

He also announced allo-cation of Rs 8 crore to How-rah Municipal Corporation for completion of some pending work.

Percentage of Corona positive cases in state stands at 7.66%

As many as 8,011 Covid cases reported in South Dinajpur so far

State gives ex-gratia of Rs 2L each to family members of Kalimpong stampede victims

Cattle smuggling & coal scam: CBI summons 3 IPS officers, 3 Inspectors

TET 2014: HC asks WBPEB to accept offline applications of petitioners

Suicide bid at Dum Dum Metro Station foiled

1 held for duping people by impersonating as IAS officer

Hakim inaugurates two water treatment plants in Howrah

TWO DOSES OF VACCINE WILL BE ADMINISTERED ON PEOPLE IN A GAP OF 28 DAYS

COVID-19 STATS » Number of deaths in past 24 hours 24 » Total death toll so far 9,841 » Tested COVID positive in the past 24 hours 812 » Total COVID positive cases so far 5,56,384 » Discharged from hospitals in past 24 hours 1,166 » Patients recovered so far 5,37,250 » Total sample tested so far 72,66,038

Monks at Belur Math perform the 'Tithi Puja' of Ma Sarada, the celebration was conducted sans devotees due to Covid situation PIC/MPOST

CELEBRATION

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: Police on Tues-day arrested the live-in partner of the bar singer, whose body was recovered from her rented house in Baguiati.

The accused, Sourav Chakraborty—who was absconding—was nabbed from Khardah area.

The deceased was identified as Sarbjeet Kaur alias Sweety.

Chakraborty will be pro-duced before the Barasat CJM court on Wednesday and is being interrogated to find out the motive.

Late on Saturday night police recovered the body of Sarbjeet Kaur alias Sweety (22), from her rented house in Baguiati.

The officers have been asked to appear before by this week

Baguiati:Man held for murder

of bar singer

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday announced giving 3.5 cottah

land to the Kolkata Press Club.It was on July 23 in

2019, Banerjee had made the announcement that the state government will allot

land to the Press club, at the Platinum jubilee celebration of the club, which is the coun-try's oldest club of journalists (reporters).

State gives 3.5 cottah of land to Press Club

REPRESENTATIVE IMAGE

millenniumpost|KOLKATA|WEDNESDAY, 6 JANUARY, 2021mp city 3

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: Slamming the BJP-led Centre government’s move to privatise or ‘sell off ’ public sector units, Trinamool Con-gress Rajya Sabha MP Dola Sen termed Prime Minister Naren-dra Modi’s ‘Make in India’ cam-paign as a ‘Becho India’ (sell India) mission. While address-ing a press conference at Trin-amool Bhavan on Tuesday, Sen highlighted how the Centre government had embarked on a mission to ‘sell off ’ the coun-try’s public assets, from SAIL to Rail and BSNL.

On the contrary, veteran Trinamool Congress leader and state Panchayats and Rural Development minister Sub-rata Mukherjee emphasised on the enormous develop-ment work carried out by the Mamata Banerjee-led govern-ment in Bengal over a period of 10 years. The minister insisted that no erstwhile government in Bengal could boast of simi-lar accomplishments.

“We have done unprec-edented work, construct-ing roads and bridges in the

cities and villages across the state,” Mukherjee said on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Sen cited facts and figures to substantiate her claim. The MP claimed that the Centre was selling 100 per cent of its share in Air India, which had occupied a sig-nificant market position in international and domestic operations.

According to Sen, AI along with its subsidiaries has 50.64 per cent share of the inter-national traffic to and from India among Indian carri-ers. “AI has a rich heritage of over 87 years. It is one of the most extensive flight service providers in India with net-

work coverage of 98 destina-tions (56 domestic destinations with around 2712 departures per week and 42 international destinations with around 450 departures per week as on November 1, 2019. It is India’s prestige and now the stage is ready to sell this organisation,” Sen said.

Drawing parallel, she spoke about the ‘systematic degrada-tion’ of the BSNL in the past 6 years. “The Centre has forced 75,000 employees to take VRS and laid off 25,000 workers. In November 2019, they started forcing the staff to take VRS. The worst part is that those who have opted for VRS will have to wait for next fiscal (FY 21) to

get their dues. The reason for the delay is because the union budget 2020 has not made any provisions for disbursement towards the programme in the current financial year,” she maintained.

She said the Centre had announced that it wanted 150 privatised routes for better delivery of services in Indian Railways. “Privatisation cannot be a straight jacketed formula for improving the productive efficiency of Indian Railways. We all know this government’s relationship with certain busi-ness groups and privatisation is just another way to sell a public asset,” she added.

She also criticised the Cen-

tre’s decision to sell Bengal Chemicals and Pharmaceuti-cals, the oldest pharmaceuti-cals company in India set up in 1901 by Acharya Prafulla Chandra Roy.

Speaking on the same lines as Mukherjee, Sen insisted that Bengal is the best state in the country when it comes to road construction.

Under the ‘Bangla Gramin Sadak Yojana’, the TMC dis-pensation has spent Rs 16,561 crore to build roads spanning 35,611 kilometre. She said under Pathashree Abhijaan around 12,000 km of roads will be repaired. Under the project, 7,000 roads have been identi-fied for repairs.

TMC dubs Modi’s ‘Make In India’ campaign as ‘Becho India’ mission

NO OTHER GOVT WORKED FOR PEOPLE THE WAY TMC HAS: SUBRATA ‘THIS IS A GESTURE OF MY LOVE FOR THE PROJECT...’

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tues-day announced of giving Re 1 as the price of the land which the state government is mak-ing available to the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) at Ashoknagar in North 24-Parganas to set up its production system and allied infrastructure after studies revealed presence of oil reserve in the area.

“This is a gesture of my love for the project and I want to see that it comes up soon in the state,” said Banerjee. While addressing the meeting after the cabinet meeting at Nabanna, Banerjee said: “The decision has been taken to give 13.49 acres of land to ONGC. They wanted to give us Rs 6.5 crore as salami and around Rs 16 lakh per annum. But we are not taking the same consid-ering it as a major project for the state.”

“Since the state government cannot give the land without taking even at least Re 1, I am taking the responsibility of giv-ing it in behalf of Oil and Natu-ral Gas Corporation,” Banerjee said. She added that her govern-ment will continue to extend all

support to the Oil and Natu-ral Gas Corporation authori-ties in undertaking the project

so that they do not face any trouble.

Discovery of oil reserves at Ashoknagar, after a research for the past three to four years, has come as a major develop-ment with the state getting a position in the world’s map of natural gas and it will lead to further economic generation in the state.

The state government just urged the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation authorities to pro-vide rehabilitation to 300 fami-lies residing at the area and jobs to one member from each of the families.

State hands over 13.49 acres of land free-of-cost to ONGC

SOUMITRA NANDI

KOLKATA: The state Self Help Group and Self Employ-ment (SHG& SE) depart-ment has roped in an agency to ensure that the SHGs, who have already been trained by the department, get employment.

According to sources, more than 60,000 people have been trained in the last 3 years. Out of them, 30,000 have been trained under Muktid-hara project which is aimed at empowering the financially backward classes, especially women, and increase monthly earnings of each family by working out more means of earning livelihood.

“Most of these persons, who have been trained under Muktidhara, have already been employed. But, there are a few who are yet to get jobs or may have lost their jobs amid the COVID-19 pan-demic. The agency will iden-tify these unemployed people and co-ordinate with differ-ent departments like Fish-eries, Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Horticulture

etc based on the respective trades they have been trained in and will provide them employment,” a senior offi-cial of SHG&SE department said.

The department will also assist them to derive the ben-efits of Swami Vivekananda Swanirbhar Karmasanasthan Prakalpa and get bank loans at a cheaper rate so that they can earn a livelihood.

The subjects for training are animal husbandry, fishery, garment-making, tailoring, beautician course, food pro-cessing, gardening, auto-rick-shaw and e-rickshaw driving, motor driving and repairing, TV, fridge and AC repairing,

plumbing, electrician training, masonry, carpentry, mobile repairing, carpentry, hospi-tality and tourism, security guards, retail associates, among others.

The department is presently organising the Rajya Sabala Mela at APC Park in Kankurga-chi, which serves as a platform for self-help groups and small-scale entrepreneurs to exhibit and sell their goods.

The Rajya Sabala Mela started on January 3. It will continue till January 10. It has been combined with the Kolkata Sabala Mela with the department having budget constraints amid the pandemic situation.

Only 150 stalls have been set up at the Mela, which is half of the usual number of stalls. In the previous years, the Rajya Sabala Mela was held at Salt Lake Central Park Ground. The Kolkata Sabala Mela was held at APC Park. “We are happy that the Fair, which is being held following COVID-19 protocols, is wit-nessing a good attendance,” Sadhan Pande, SHG & SE min-ister said.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday announced giving recognition to another 226 acres of land for the refugees at Basanti in South 24-Parganas.

This comes when the state government has given recog-nition to all refugee colonies in the state ensuring that no one can push them out of the place where they are residing.

The state cabinet on Mon-day gave its nod in connection with the 226 acres of land to refugees at Basanti.

It may be mentioned that the state government has almost completed distribution of around 25,000 free hold title deeds among the resi-dents of refugee colonies in the state.

There were around 94 refu-gee colonies those were on state government’s land and another 119 were identified that include some those are situated on cen-tral government and private land.

The state government has regularised all the refugee colo-

nies and all its residents will be receiving free hold title deeds in phases.

At the same time the state Land and Land Reforms and Refugee Relief and Rehabili-tation department is also pro-viding them with “letter of assurance” that will act as a document available with them till they get the deed.

The Chief Minister on Tuesday announced setting up of Kranti as a separate block in Jalpaiguri. She had received the demand during her recent visit to north Bengal.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will be inter-acting with entrepreneurs and businessmen on Wednesday to discuss various issues related to the state’s prospect in trade and commerce.

According to the sources, around 100 businessmen were invited to attend the interac-tive session with the Chief Minister.

Representatives of different Chambers of Commerce and business houses will also attend the meet. The meeting is going to be held at Nabanna Sabhaghar from 3 pm onward. West Ben-gal Infrastructure Development Corporation (WBIDC) is the nodal authority that is organising the interactive session. WBIDC invited the entrepreneurs on behalf of the state government. Though a senior official of the state government did not men-tion the names of the invited entrepreneurs, he said that top businessmen from the state will be attending the interactive ses-sion with the Chief Minister. A preparatory meeting in this regard also took place at Nabanna on Tuesday.

Moreover, the series of major projects including ONGC’s pro-

duction system and allied infra-structure after studies revealed presence of oil reserve at Ashoknagar, deep sea port at Tajpur and Deocha Pachami coal block.

The Chief Minister on Tues-day also announced the cabinet’s nod allowing setting up of 28 more units at Bantala Leather complex, which will lead to fur-ther investment and employment generation.

This comes when Bengal has witnessed GSDP growth of 7.26 percent while the coun-try’s GDP growth stands at 4.18 percent and the GVA growth of the state is almost double that of the country.

It is 7.39 per cent in Bengal compared to that 3.89 percent of the country. At the same time industry sector’s growth in Ben-gal is 5.79 percent compared to that of 0.92 per cent in the country.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday announced giving clearance to 200 unorganised schools of people from Rajbangshi com-munity following inspection by the state School Education department.

“I had received requests from the representatives of the people from Rajbangshi com-munity to give clearance to their 200 unorganised schools,” Banerjee said after holding the cabinet meeting at Nabanna.

“Today we have decided to give clearances to the same and inspection will be carried out by the School Education department in this regard in phases,” Banerjee added. She said that the syl-labus for the Rajbangshi lan-guage is ready and they wanted that their language should also be taught along with other languages. In connection with curriculum in Kamtapuri lan-guage, Banerjee said that their syllabus is yet to be prepared and it would take another eight months time.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: Trinamool Con-gress Chairperson Mamata Banerjee will address a politi-cal rally at Nandigram in East Midnapore on January 18.

According to the party sources, the meeting will be held at a ground adjacent to Tekhali Bridge.

Banerjee was earlier sched-uled to hold a political rally at the same place on January 7. But it was postponed as Trinamool Congress district president Akhil Giri got infected to Covid. Giri has now recovered from the disease and the MLA from Ramnagar expected to get released from Beliaghata ID Hospital on Wednesday. He is also expected to attend the rally on January 18.

A district leader of the party stated that it would turn to a historic rally as there will be turnout of lakhs of people. The district leadership has already initiated all necessary preparations of the rally. “We are already holding door to door campaign in every block and visit of Banerjee will come as an encouragement for the party workers in the district,” said a district Trinamool Congress leader. Banerjee held a mammoth rally in West Midnapore on December 7 at College Ground. Many MLAs from East Midnapore had also attended the meeting.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: After 10 years, Central Bureau of Investiga-tion (CBI) arrested the prime accused in the murder case of a software engineer, Junior Mridha, on Monday night. The accused, Priyanka Chow-dhury—who is the daughter-in-law of businessman Balaram Chowdhury—was produced before Barrackpore Court on Tuesday and remanded in CBI custody for 7 days.

Mridha, who used to live at his house in Baranagar, got involved in a relationship with Priyanka through social media. It has been alleged that despite being married, Priyanka—who is also a model— posed as a student and continued the relationship with Mridha. She even went to his house and met Mridha’s parents. When the deceased’s parents learnt about Priyanka’s marital status, they asked Mridha to break ties with the woman. However, Pri-yanka maintained contact with Mridha.

On July 12, 2011, after Mridha returned home from his office, got a call on from Priyanka. He rushed for her house in Salt Lake. Later that night, Mridha’s body was found under the CCR bridge on Bel-gharia Expressway.

The autopsy report cited a bullet injury on his head. Though Baranagar police sta-tion registered a case and started the probe, the Crimi-nal Investigation Department (CID) took over the investiga-tion. In 2013, Mridha’s father moved the High Court seek-

ing a fair investigation. In 2019, the matter was moved before the court and Lawyer Jayanta Narayan Chatterjee, on behalf of Mridha’s father, demanded a CBI probe and it took over the investigation.

During the probe, CBI offi-cials gathered the call details of Priyanaka and Mridha. It was found that on the day of mur-der, Priyanka spoke to a friend in Tollywood around the time when Mridha was killed.

After the CBI interrogated Priyanka, it found several ambiguities in her statement.

Agency roped in to ensure jobs to SHGs, more than 60K people trained in the past 3 yrs

CM announces recognition of another 226 acres of land for

refugees in South 24-Parganas

CM to interact with top entrepreneurs today

CM announces to give clearance to 200 unrecognised

Rajbangshi schools

Mamata to address rally in Nandigram on Jan 18

Narada sting operation case: HC directs CBI to file affidavit

KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday directed CBI to submit an affidavit in connection with the Narada sting operation video within 2 weeks. Advocate Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, counsel for Congress leader Amitabha Chakraborty, said CBI was fil-

ing a chargesheet in connection with the ‘corruption’. “For filing chargesheet against MPs and MLAs (allegedly taking bribe), Lok Sabha speaker and Bidhan Sabha Speaker’s consent must be needed,” he pointed out.

He further claimed that no such approval has been taken. MPOST

CBI arrests Priyanka Chowdhury in software engineer murder case

State government has almost completed distribution of around 25,000 free hold title deeds among the residents of refugee colonies in the state

‘Government will continue to extend all support to the ONGC authorities in undertaking the project so that they do not face any trouble’

FILE PHOTO

The department will also assist them to derive the benefits of Swami Vivekananda Swanirbhar Karmasanasthan Prakalpa

The district leadership has already initiated all necessary preparations of the rally

According to the sources, around 100 businessmen were invited to attend the interactive session

ICA-

27(7

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KOLKATA|WEDNESDAY, 6 JANUARY, 2021|millenniumpostmp nation4

THAROOR BACKS KAMAL HAASAN’S IDEA TO PAY WOMEN FOR HOUSEWORKMUMBAI: Actor-politician Kamal Haasan’s backing for payment to homemakers in his party manifesto sparked a debate between Congress MP Shashi Tharoor and actor Kangana Ranaut on Tuesday with the former all for it and the latter declaring the two leaders should not put a price tag on what women do. Last month, Haasan promised payment to homemak-ers –along with computer with high-speed internet to all households and transformation of farmers to agri-entrepreneurs–if his party MNM is voted to power in the 2021 Tamil Nadu assembly elections. Extending support to the 66-year-old actor’s plan, Tharoor took to Twitter and wrote that this would help give women more autonomy. “I welcome @ikamalhaasan’s idea of recognising housework as a salaried profession, w/the state government paying a monthly wage to homemakers. This will recognise and monetise the ser-vices of women homemakers in society, enhance their power and autonomy and create near-universal basic income,” Tharoor tweeted.

NOBODY IS ABOVE LAW: TOPE ON CELEBS FLOUTING COVID-19 NORMS MUMBAI: A day after Mumbai Police lodged an FIR against Bollywood actors Arbaaz Khan and Sohail Khan for allegedly violating the COVID-19 institu-tional quarantine norms, Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Tuesday said nobody is above law and everyone should follow the protocols. Talking to reporters here, Tope said it is the duty of an “ideal citizen” to strictly follow rules and regulations in the current pandemic situation.

BRIEFSNATION

Govt gears up for mega Covid vaccination drive

Health Ministry presents a robust vaccine delivery mgmt system

PM-CARES Fund allocates over Rs 201 cr to boost medical oxygen availability

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: A sum of Rs 201.58 crore from the PM-CARES Fund is being allocated for installing 162 dedicated PSA medical oxygen gener-ation plants in public health facilities across the country, the PMO said on Tuesday.

It stressed that adequate and uninterrupted supply of oxygen is an essential pre-req-uisite for managing moderate and severe cases of COVID -19, in addition to various other medical conditions where this need arises.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had in March announced the creation of the PM's Citi-zen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund (PM-CARES) where people

can contribute to help in the government's fight against the coronavirus and similar "dis-tressing situations".

The PM CARES Fund is allocating Rs 201.58 crore for the installation of additional 162 dedicated pressure swing adsorption (PSA) medical oxy-gen generation plants in pub-lic health facilities across the country, the Prime Minister's Office said.

The total project cost includes Rs 137.33 crore towards supply and com-missioning of the plants and management fee of central medical supply store (CMSS) and around Rs 64.25 crore towards comprehensive annual maintenance contract, it added.

The central medical sup-ply store, an autonomous body

of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, will undertake the procurement.

The PMO said a total of 162 plants with a total capacity of 154.19 MT will be installed in 32 states and union territo-ries, adding that the govern-ment hospitals for these plants' installation have been identi-fied in consultation with the administration concerned.

The plants have a warranty for the first three years, and for the next seven years, the proj-ect includes a comprehensive annual maintenance contract.

The PMO said this mecha-nism will further strengthen the public health system and enable long-term systematic augmentation of medical oxy-gen availability in a cost-effec-tive manner.

MUMBAI: Union Minister for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Tuesday said some frustrated political play-ers are doubting the efficacy of coronavirus vaccines made in India.

Naqvi's remarks came after some Congress leaders raised doubts on the restricted use approval granted to Bharat Bio-techs vaccine while its third phase trial is still underway.

Speaking after chairing a meeting of Haj Committee of India officials and Haj Group organisers at Haj House in south Mumbai, Naqvi said these "failed and frustrated political players" had earlier questioned the relief measures taken by the Modi govern-ment during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Modi government has tirelessly and effectively worked to provide relief to every needy person during the pandemic, he said. MPOST

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: As India launches the world's most ambitious and big-gest vaccination drive against COVID-19, the country will encounter the formidable chal-lenge of rapidly scaling up dis-tribution of the vaccines to secure immunity for its entire population, two prominent Indian scientists at WHO have said. This daunting challenge is not only for India but also for all the governments across the globe as they start inoculating their populations to tackle the

pandemic, noted Dr Soumya Swaminathan, Chief Scientist of WHO, and Dr Hamsadvani Kuganantham, Consultant, WHO.

On Sunday, the Cen-tral Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO),India's drugs regulator, had approved Oxford vaccine Covishield, manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII), and Covaxin of Bharat Biotech for restricted emergency use for the frontline warriors and senior citizens in the country.

Currently, there are 45 candidate vaccines in clinical evaluation and 156 candidate vaccines in pre-clinical evalu-ation, the WHO scientists said.

COVAX,a ground-breaking global collaboration to accel-erate the development, pro-duction, and equitable access to COVID-19 treatments and vaccines,is jointly led by the Coalition for Epidemic Pre-paredness Innovations (CEPI), Gavi (the Vaccine Alliance set up by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation), and the World

Health Organisation (WHO)."It is the only global initia-

tive that is working with gov-ernments and manufacturers to ensure COVID-19 vaccines are available worldwide to both higher-income and lower-income countries," they wrote in an article for Manorama Yearbook 2021. "The goal of COVAX is to deliver two bil-lion doses of safe, effective vaccines that have passed reg-ulatory approval and/or WHO prequalification, by the end of 2021,” they said. AGENCIES

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: As the govern-ment is getting ready for the roll-out of the Covid-19 vacci-nation, the Union Health Min-istry on Tuesday presented a robust Co-WIN vaccine deliv-ery management system.

According to the Health Ministry’s plan, the authenti-cation of a beneficiary will be done on the basis of Aadhaar and a confirmatory SMS will be sent to beneficiaries in at least 12 languages.

While addressing a Press conference, Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said, “We have developed Co-WIN for the roll-out of the vaccination drive in India. The beneficia-ries would be enrolled through Co-WIN app and there will be automated session allocation.”

“There are four primary vaccine stores called GMSD located in Karnal, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata and there are 37 state vaccine stores in the country. They store vaccines in bulk and distribute further,” Bhushan said.

States are responsible for sending the vaccines to pri-mary health centres and from there, vaccines will be taken to sub-centres through passive equipment like ice boxes.

The Co-WIN Delivery Management plan includes automated session alloca-tion, SMS to be sent in 12 languages, 24x7 helpline, chat-box with pattern recognition

to help navigate portal, digi-tal locker for integrated data retrieval and storing of QR code certificate.

“Healthcare workers and frontline workers would not need to register themselves as a beneficiary as their data is a bulk database that has been populated on the Co-WIN vaccine delivery management system in a bulk manner,” Bhushan said.

“We are prepared to roll out vaccine within 10 days of emergency use authorisation approvals. The final call will be taken by the government,” he said. However, as per sources,

it is expected the vaccination drive would be rolled out on January 14, which is considered as a very auspicious day due to Makar Sakranti.

With the objective to assess planning and preparations of Covid-19 vaccination as per guidelines and end-to-end testing of Co-WIN, the gov-ernment has conducted 286 session sites across 125 districts in all states/UTs prepared and tested as a model session sites.

“Physical verification of all proposed sites has been done for the adequacy of space, logis-tical arrangements, internet connectivity, electricity, safety

etc. Some minor issues were noted in Co-WIN for further enhancement, which has been addressed,” he said, adding that all states expressed confidence in the operational guidelines and IT platform for large scale programme implementation.

“Vaccination teams have been identified and trained in all aspects, while all SoPs and protocols related to the opera-tionalisation of Covid-19 vac-cination have been followed. It has also been arranged enabled environment for infection pre-vention and control for service providers and beneficiaries,” he said.

CHANDIGARH: To ensure successful implementation of the COVID-19 vaccine roll out in Haryana, a 'dry run' will be conducted on January 7, 2021 across the state in all the dis-tricts, on six sites, including three urban and three rural sites, from 11 am to 1 pm.

Haryana Chief Secretary Vijai Vardhan was presid-ing over the meeting of the State Steering Committee and the State Task Force for the COVID-19 vaccine held with all the Deputy Commission-ers through video conferencing here on Tuesday.

The Chief Secretary to ensure that all the guidelines issued by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare are followed at the time of 'dry run'. During the meeting, the Chief Secretary gave direc-tions regarding the new strain of the COVID-19 virus found in people coming from Britain

and said that tracing and test-ing of such people should be done on priority. Also, contact tracing of these people should be done strictly, he added. He directed that it is mandatory to record the details of the healthcare workers who are to be included in the 'dry run' to be conducted on January 7, 2021in the software.

In the meeting, Additional Chief Secretary, Health & Family Welfare Department, Rajeev Arora said that as per the scheme of Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, 'Dry Run' was conducted on January 2, 2021 in Panchkula district. Taking this forward, now on January 7, a 'dry run' will be conducted across the state, which aims to practice the entire process of COVID-19 vaccine rollout from begin-ning to end so that all the challenges in its implementa-tion can be identified. MPOST

A health worker takes part in a dry run as part of preparedness for the administration of COVID-19 vaccine at Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad, on Tuesday

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: Amid con-cerns over the UK-linked strain of coronavirus, Depart-ment of Biotechnology Secre-tary Renu Swarup Tuesday said that efforts are being made to study the impact of vaccines and diagnostics on the new variant.

She said the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomic Consortia (INSACOG), formed to ascer-tain the status of new variants of the virus through genome sequencing, will also focus on samples from clusters where the infection level of corona-virus is high.

"We are also making an effort now to study what is the impact of these vaccines and the diagnostics on this UK variant," Swarup told a press briefing.

The genomic surveillance consortium is already conduct-ing genome sequencing on the samples of those returned from the UK.

The total number of cases

infected with the new strain of the novel coronavirus in India now stands at 71, Swarup said.

The new UK variant has already been reported by several countries including Denmark, the Netherlands, Australia, Italy, Sweden, France, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Canada, Japan, Leb-anon and Singapore.

As much as five percent of the positive cases of COVID-19 from all states and UTs are also being tested for Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) as part of the strategy to detect and contain the mutant vari-ant, she said.

"This is really our prepared-ness to see how we would want to bring in new technologies to help us to be prepared proac-tively if there is any other vari-ant that comes in (or) is either noticed in our sampling strat-egy or if we get to know of any variant coming from any other country.

"We have heard about the UK, there is also news about South Africa. It will help us to

prepare for this," she added.The UK variant is defined

by multiple mutations in the spike region as well as muta-tions in other genomic regions. These mutations are rapidly increasing the number of vari-ants of the virus, she said.

It is also significantly more transmissible than previously circulating variants, with an estimated increased transmis-sibility of up to 70 per cent.

Referring to a recent report, Swarup said the UK strain has been renamed and there are about 23 mutations with addi-tional six synonym mutations.

"There are eight mutations in the RBD (receptor binding domain) spike protein. We are trying to see how the vaccines would impact it. We are see-ing vaccines produce antibod-ies against many regions. So it is unlikely that small changes would impact the effectiveness of the vaccine as it moves for-ward," she said.

As many as 10 institutes are part of the INSACOG consortium.

Frustrated political players doubting Indian vaccines: Naqvi

‘Efforts on to study impact of vaccines, diagnostics on UK variant of virus’

‘Speedy distribution of vaccine a major challenge for govts’

Continued from P1 Till now, 2,700 migratory

birds, mostly bar-headed geese, have been found dead in the lake area and samples have been sent for testing, state ani-mal husbandry officials said.

The operation to cull birds in and around a one-km radius of the affected areas in Alap-puzha and Kottayam in Ker-ala was launched a day after results of samples tested at the National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases in Bhopal confirmed the out-break of the bird flu in the two districts.

Rapid response teams, set up by the administration, began culling ducks, hens and other domestic birds as per guidelines, officials said.

Culling of birds in four Pan-

chayats of Nedumudi, Thaka-zhy, Pallippad and Karuvatta in Kuttanad region, where the outbreak has been reported, is expected to be completed by Wednesday evening, Alappu-zha district authorities said.

In Karuvatta Panchayat alone, around 12,000 birds will be culled, an official said.

In the affected areas of Neendoor Panchayat in Kotta-yam, the rapid response teams have culled some 3,000 birds so far, authorities said. On a farm in Neendoor, around 1,700 ducks had died due to the viral infection.

Officials have said around 40,000 domestic birds, includ-ing 34,000 in the Kuttanad region alone, will be culled to check the spread of the H5N8 virus.

Bird flu: J&K, K’taka, Tamil Nadu on alert

Covid vaccine: ‘Dry run’ to be conducted in Haryana on Jan 7

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Tuesday relieved senior party leader Shaktisinh Gohil from his duties as the AICC's Bihar in-charge and appointed Bhakta Charan Das in his place.

Gohil, who had been the All India Congress Committee (AICC) in charge of Bihar for close to three years, had asked the party high command to relieve him from the post at the earliest.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi has accepted the will-ingness of Shaktisinh Gohil to be relieved from his duties as AICC in-charge of Bihar, a statement issued by general secretary organisation K C Venugopal, said.

Following this, the Con-gress president has appointed Bhakta Charan Das as AICC in-charge of Bihar with imme-diate effect, in addition to the current responsibility as in-charge of Mizoram and Mani-pur, the statement said.

Gohil will continue as in-charge of Delhi, it said.

Gohil, who is also one of the party's national spokespersons and a Rajya Sabha member from Gujarat, had earlier said on Twitter, "Due to personal reasons, I have requested our party high command to allo-cate me lighter work for next few months and to relieve me ASAP as Bihar in charge."

The development comes after the Congress' dismal per-formance in the Bihar assembly polls. The party had contested 70 seats of 243-strong assembly but won only 19 in the Octo-ber-November polls. AGENCIES

Cong relieves Gohil from Bihar in-charge post, appoints Bhakta

Charan Das

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in the know of all developments related to the farmers' protest against the new agri laws and the issue will get resolved soon, BJP leaders from Punjab asserted on Tues-day after meeting the PM.

BJP leaders Surjit Kumar Jyani and Harjit Singh Grewal met Prime Minister Modi at his residence amid protests by farmers at Delhi's borders for nearly six weeks.

Jyani was chairing the BJP's coordination committee for interacting with farmers in Punjab last year on the three

farm bills which at that time had not been passed by Parlia-ment. Grewal was a member of the panel.

The prime minister under-stands Punjab very well and is concerned about farmers, the BJP leaders said after a nearly two-hour meeting with Modi.

"Modi knows a lot... all will be resolved and something good will happen. I cannot disclose what transpired in the meeting but something good will happen... when some-thing is being conceived there are fears that it might get mis-carriage," Grewal said after

the meeting.The prime minister under-

stands Punjab very well, he is looking after the party's work and has travelled across the state, he said, adding that all issues related to Punjab were discussed in the meeting.

Jyani underlined that Prime Minister Modi is concerned about farmers and said the government is always ready to do something in the inter-est of farmers, but "Maoists have entered the (farmers') movement and are not letting this issue (on farm laws) get resolved".

"Prime Minister Modi is a visionary and is concerned about farmers...Maoist ele-ments have entered the farm-ers' movement and are not letting the issue get resolved," he said.

When asked about the farm laws, Jyani said,"Farmer unions should not be adamant about their demand for repealing the laws. The government has always been ready to do every-thing in the interest of farmers."

He also said this movement is leaderless and therefore, it becomes difficult to hold a dia-logue with them. MPOST

Sikh devotees take part in a ‘Nagar Kirtan’ to mark the 355th birth anniversary of the 10th Sikh Guru Gobind Singh, in Amritsar, on Tuesday

RELIGIOUS PROCESSION

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday asked busi-nessman Deepak Puri, booked in a bank fraud case along with his son Ratul Puri, to show medical documents in sup-port of his claim that he has to travel to the US for treatment of his mouth cancer.

The CBI in August 2019 had lodged an FIR against them and others in connection with a Rs 354 crore bank fraud case filed by the Central Bank of India against their company Moser Baer and its directors.

Justice Rajnish Bhatnagar said that Deepak Puri has only been able to show a September 24, 2020, letter from a doctor at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre stating that he had received treatment there and needs further check up.

However, he has not shown any documents or correspon-dence dated after September 24, 2020, which shows that he needed further medication or consultation or that he was having any medical problems, the court said.

The court gave him time till January 11 to place before it the additional documents in support of his claims for travel to the USA and his lawyer said that the same would be done by then.

The court was hearing his application seeking to travel to the USA for medical treatment.

His application was moved in CBI's appeal challenging a trial court order of December 23, 2012 allowing 80-year-old Puri and his wife Nita (also named in the FIR) to travel to the USA for two months.

During the hearing, CBI opposed Puri's plea saying he might not return to India and he might move the money he allegedly got in connection with the bank fraud.

Puri's counsel, however, told the court that he has been travelling to the USA every year since 2016 when he underwent a surgery for his mouth cancer.

He has been travelling to the USA since then for follow up on his treatment and has returned every time.

His lawyer further said that his client was not named as an accused in any of the CBI or money laundering cases against him.

The bank had claimed that Moser Baer and its directors, which included Ratul Puri, allegedly forged and fabri-cated documents to induce the Central Bank of India to release funds.

HC to businessman: Show documents in support of

claim to travel to USA Businessman Deepak Puri and his son Ratul Puri are booked in a bank fraud case

Farmers’ protest: BJP leaders from Punjab meet PM, say issue will get resolved soon

millenniumpost|KOLKATA|WEDNESDAY, 6 JANUARY, 2021mp nation 5

ALEX ELLIS APPOINTED NEW BRITISH HIGH COMMISSIONER TO INDIA LONDON: Alex Ellis, a British strategic expert, will take charge as the new UK High Com-missioner to India, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) announced on Tuesday. The 53-year-old civil servant has been serving as Deputy National Security Adviser in the UK Cabinet Office for the government’s Integrated Review on diplomacy, development and defence. In his New Delhi based role, he will succeed Sir Philip Barton, who moved back to the UK last year to take charge of the newly-expanded FCDO as its Permanent Under-Secretary. “Mr Alex Ellis CMG has been appointed British High Commissioner to the Republic of India in succession to Sir Philip Barton KCMG OBE. Mr Ellis will take up his appointment during January 2021, the FCDO said in a statement.

AP BJP LEADERS ARRESTED FOR TRYING TO TAKE OUT YATRA AMARAVATI: Andhra Pradesh BJP president Somu Veerraju and several party leaders were arrested on Tuesday when they attempted to take out a yatra in Ramatheertham protesting the desecration of Lord Ramas idol in a temple there last week defying ban orders in force, police said. The BJP and Jana Sena announced the Ramateertha Dharma Yatra protest-ing the December 28 incident in which the head of Lord Rama’s idol at the famous Ramateertham hill temple in Vizianagaram district was found defaced. Though initially the police gave permission to Veerraju and other leaders to visit the Lord Rama temple at Ramateertham, they later withdrew it citing prohibi-tory orders under Section 30 of the Police Act in force. Police said they arrested the BJP state president and others for violating the prohibitory orders.

ARRANGEMENTS BEING MADE TO VACCINATE HAJ PILGRIMS: NAQVI MUMBAI: Union Minister for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Tuesday said arrangements are being made to administer coronavirus vaccines to those going from India for the Haj pilgrimage. He was speaking after chairing a meeting of the Haj Commit-tee of India officials and Haj Group organisers at Haj House in south Mumbai. The last date for submission of application forms for Haj 2021 is January 10, he said. Embarkation point-wise estimated cost per Haj pilgrim has been reduced, he added.

BRIEFSNATION

Construction of new Parliament building to start after heritage committee’s approval

CENTRAL VISTA REDEVELOPMENT PROJECT

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: The Income Tax department questioned Rob-ert Vadra, son-in-law of Con-gress President Sonia Gandhi, for the second consecutive day on Tuesday in connection with its probe against him under the benami assets law, official sources said.

A team from the Chan-digarh investigation unit of the department, that is han-dling the probe, was seen going inside Vadra's office in the Sukhdev Vihar area of the national capital around 3 PM.

Vadra is married to Con-gress leader and Sonia Gandhi's daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

After he was questioned on the first day on Monday, the 52-year-old had said the aim of the tax department's action was to "digress" from the "real issues" concerning the country like the farmers' agitation.

On Monday, he was ques-tioned for about eight hours and his statement was recorded as part of the proceedings related to the Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act, sources had said.

Tax department sources had said Vadra was asked to join the investigation at their office but as he cited the pre-vailing COVID-19 restrictions, I-T officials decided to visit his premises.

Officials had said the ques-tioning was linked to the pur-chase of some land parcels by a firm linked to Vadra in Rajas-than's border town of Bikaner in which another central probe agency, the Enforcement Direc-torate, had filed a money laun-dering case in 2015.

The ED has questioned Vadra in this case in the past and had attached assets worth Rs 4.62 crore of his firm Ms Sky Light Hospitality (P) Ltd (now LLP) in 2019.

Sources said the ED shared case documents of this probe along with that of possession of some alleged undisclosed assets abroad with the tax depart-

ment for action under the anti-benami law that is enforced in the country by the latter.

"Everyone knows it is (political vendetta). Whenever Priyanka (his wife Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra) moves out for helping farmers...and other issues then whom will they (probe agencies) come to?" Vadra had said to reporters after the tax department team left. "They will come to Robert Vadra. I don't want to go into political issues but they (gov-ernment) are digressing from real issues...like the farmers issue," he had said.

Vadra had said he had "nothing to hide and worry about" and that the truth will prevail. When reporters asked him if the latest questioning pertains to proceedings under the anti-benami law, he had said "it was general and noth-ing related to that (benami)."

The I-T department has also been probing Vadra on charges of alleged possession of some undisclosed assets in the UK.

The ED too is investigating these charges, under the anti-money laundering law, against the businessman.

The ED has accused Vadra of money laundering in the purchase of a London-based property at 12, Bryanston Square worth 1.9 million GBP (British pounds), which is allegedly owned by him and this transaction involves the role of absconding defence consultant Sanjay Bhandari.

Bhandari has never joined the I-T or ED probe in this case and is stated to be based abroad.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: The Central Public Works Department, which is executing the gov-ernment's ambitious Central Vista redevelopment project, will soon start the construction work of the new Parliament building once it gets permis-sion from the Heritage Con-servation Committee, officials said on Tuesday.

According to the commit-tee's website, a special secre-tary or additional secretary of the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry is the chair-man of the HCC.

It was set up by incorporat-ing a new Clause 23 in Delhi Building Bylaws 1983 for the protection of heritage build-ings, heritage precincts and natural feature areas in the national capital.

The website states that com-mittee has additional director general (CPWD), chief town planner (MCD), DDA com-missioner (Plng), chief archi-tect (NDMC), representative of DG (Archaeological Survey of India) and National Museum of National History's director among others as its members.

"The CPWD will approach the committee and seek per-mission before the start of construction work of new Par-

liament building. Other for-malities will also be followed by concerned agencies," an offi-cial in the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry said.

Another official said that the outlook of the new building will be similar to the existing one that is why there should be no problem in getting permis-sion from the Heritage Conser-vation Committee

In September last year, Tata Projects Limited had won the contract to build the new Par-liament building.

Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court gave a go-ahead to the ambitious project of the Modi government. In the majority verdict, the apex court said that prior permis-sion shall be taken from Heri-tage Conservation Committee and other relevant authorities before the start of construction at new sites.

The court directed that the project proponent set up smog tower and use anti-smog guns at the construction site

Kanchi Kohli, senior researcher, Centre for Policy Research, claimed that the Supreme Court judgment is only about permissions for the new Parliament, selec-tion of the project consultant and change of land use for the some components of the Cen-tral Vista Project.

"The Supreme Court has held no construction even on the new Parliament can take place till the Heritage Conser-vation committee grants per-mission, which mandates a public consultation according to the Unified Building Bye-laws, 2016," Kohli said.

The redevelopment proj-ect of the Central Vista –the nation's power corridor –envis-ages a new triangular Parlia-

ment building, a common central secretariat and revamp-ing of the three-km-long Raj-path, from Rashtrapati Bhavan to India Gate.

Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Tuesday wel-comed the court's judgement and asserted that the govern-ment has always been sensi-tive to environmental concerns.

"Delhi is on course to becoming a World Class capi-tal city and in the first step by the time nation completes 75 years of its Independence in 2022 a new Parliament build-ing will be ready reflecting the aspirations of new India," Puri tweeted.

Last month, PM Narendra Modi had laid the foundation stone of the new Parliament building where the Lok Sabha chamber will have a seating capacity for 888 members, while the Rajya Sabha will have 384 seats for members. The National Emblem will crown the new Parliament building.

The new Parliament will have six committee rooms to conduct business.

The government has identi-fied around four locations –in Gole Market, K G Marg, near Africa Avenue and near Talk-atora Stadium –in central Delhi for the temporary shifting of offices of various ministries.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: Hailing the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) decision to limit trans-fat in oils and fats, experts have said that it’s a first step by FSSAI towards fulfilling its commit-ments made in 2018 to reduce trans-fats in both edible oils and in all foods.

Commenting on the deci-sion, Vandana Shah, who is regional director South Asia Programs at Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said, “India joins the growing number of countries, including Brazil and Turkey, who are taking steps to follow the WHO’s call to elim-inate industrially-produced trans-fat from their food sup-ply by 2023.”

“FSSAI’s leadership and initiative to make India TFA Free could become a model for other countries in the region to better protect their citizens from this toxic ingredient,” Shah said.

Hailing the regulatory move of FSSAI, Ashim San-yal of Consumer VOICE said, “India has achieved a lifesaving milestone with FSSAI regulat-ing trans-fats to 3 per cent now and 2 per cent by 2022 in oils and fats.”

Notably, consumption of trans-fats is linked with increased risk of heart dis-eases. According to 2017 esti-mates, India has one of the highest-burden of heart dis-ease deaths due to high trans-fat intake out of all countries in the world.

Experts hail FSSAI’s cap on trans-fat intake move

OUR CORRESPONDENT

SHIMLA: Himachal Pradesh Cabinet on Tuesday decided to lift the night curfew imposed in four districts of the State viz. Shimla, Kangra, Mandi and Kullu and to restore the usual six-day week schedule in gov-ernment offices in the state.

It also decided to allow coaching classes in the State with 50 percent capacity. The State Education Department would issue SOP in this regard.

The move comes in the wake of notable improvement in the Covid-19 cases in the state and significant reduc-tion in the number of patients coming to hospitals, which has come down almost to 100–mark on a daily basis.

The number of deaths dur-ing the last one week has also come down to two or three against 20 to 21 last month.

Till 5 PM on Tuesday, only 13 new cases were reported while the number of persons cured in the past 24 hours were 188. The number of active cases in the state has also come

down to 1468 against 7000 in November 2020. Chief Min-ister Jai Ram Thakur presided over the cabinet meeting. In view of the panchayat polls, the cabinet relaxed the condition of allowing not more than 50 persons in an indoor meeting, so that the Commission could undertake its election related training programme effectively.

In wake of the Covid-19 scenario in the state, the cabi-net decided that the makeshift hospitals at IGMC Shimla, Nal-agarh and Dr. Rajindra Prasad-Medical College Tanda would be made functional by outsourcing of Ward Sisters, Staff Nurses, DEOs and Class-IV for the time being, whereas Medical Offi-cers would be arranged through fresh/direct walk-in-interviews and the proposal of HLL would be kept in abeyance depending upon the future Covid scenario.

Meanwhile, the cabinet advised the department of Health and department of ani-mal husbandry to ensure ade-quate availability of medicines specific to the avian flu and PPE kits for staff.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: Hours after the Supreme cleared the Central Vista redevelopment plan, the Congress on Tuesday called it a case of ‘misplaced priorities’ of a ‘whimsical autocrat’. The Cen-tral Vista project includes the construction of a new Parlia-ment Building and a common Central Secretariat.

“The Rs 13,450 crore Cen-tral Vista Project is not a legalis-tic issue but a case of ‘misplaced priorities’ of a ‘whimsical auto-crat’ seeking to etch his name in the annals of history with cement and mortar,” the grand old party’s national spokesper-son Randeep Singh Surjewala said on Tuesday.

Surjewala also took a swipe at the Centre over the purchase of “aircraft for the Prime Min-ister” and deduction of allow-ances for soldiers and central government employees.

“Ironical that in times of corona pandemic and eco-nomic recession, Delhi has Rs 14,000 crore for Central Vista and Rs 8,000 crore for buying

aircrafts for PM. But the same BJP government imposes cuts of Rs 37,530 crore in allowances of 113 lakh Armed Forces and Central government employees & pensioners,” he said.

Accusing the government of having no time to provide ‘heated tents and equipment’ to army men braving the cold in Ladakh, Surjewala said, “PM must not forget that he has imposed cuts of Rs 11,000 crore on 15 lakh soldiers and 26 lakh military pensioners. And the same BJP government at the Centre has no time to pro-vide ‘heated tents and equip-ment’ to our soldiers braving brazen Chinese incursions in Ladakh.”

Earlier in the day, the apex court gave a go-ahead to the Central Vista project by a 2:1 majority. The three-judge bench, however, insisted that the clearance of the Heritage Conservation Committee (HCC) will be mandatory and the same should be obtained by the project consultant before proceeding with the develop-ment work.

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami on Tuesday said he has ordered public holiday for 'Thai Poo-sam,' a festival dedicated to worship of Lord Muruga.

Palaniswami said during his tour of several districts, people made representations, urging him to declare Thai Poosam a public holiday and they pointed to the annual spir-itual event being a holiday in Sri Lanka and Mauritius.

"Considering their repre-sentations, I have ordered dec-laration of Thai Poosam festival on January 28 (in 2021) a pub-lic holiday and for including it in the list of public holidays for the years to come," he said in an official release.

BJP Tamil Nadu unit president L Murugan wel-comed the move and thanked Palaniswami for accepting his party's appeal and declaring the annual festival a holiday. It may be noted that devotees had for a long time requested the gov-ernment to declare 'Thai Poo-sam' a public holiday. AGENCIES

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOCHI: The NIA on Tuesday filed a chargesheet against 20 people before a special court here for their alleged involve-ment in smuggling 30 kg of gold worth Rs 14.82 crore in diplomatic baggage into Kerala, an official said.

All the accused, including Sarith P S and main accused Swapna Prabha Suresh, both residents of Thiruvanantha-puram, have been booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), an NIA spokesperson said.

Suresh and Sarith were for-mer employees of the UAE consulate and they allegedly used their past connection to smuggle gold using the diplo-matic channel, the official said.

Ramees K T, Jalal A M, Mohammed Shafi P, Saida-lavi E, Abdu P T, Rabins Hameed, Muhammedali Ebra-him, Muhammedali, Shara-fuddeen K T, Mohammed Shafeeq A, Hamzath Abdul-salam, Samju T M, Hamjad Ali K, Jifsal C V, Aboobacker P, Muhammed Abdu Shameem

K V, Abdul Hameed resident and Shamshudeen have also been named in the chargesheet.

The case was registered by the NIA on July 10, 2020 against Sarith, Swapna, Faisal Fareed, Sandeep Nair and oth-ers under sections of the UA (P) Act after the seizure of around 30 kg of gold worth Rs 14.82 crore on July 5, 2020 at Trivandrum International Air-port by Customs (Preventive) Commissionerate, Kochi, from the import cargo addressed to the Charge D' Affaires at the Consulate General of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in Thiruvananthapuram.

Absconding accused Suresh and Sandeep were arrested by the NIA from Bengaluru on July 11, 2020.

During investigation, 31 more people, who had con-spired and financed gold smuggling besides facilitat-ing the disposal of the contra-band and transfer of proceeds thereof to the UAE through hawala channels, for purchas-ing and smuggling more gold, with the intention of threat-ening the economic secu-

rity of India, were arraigned as accused in the case. So far, 21 accused have been arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in the case, while eight are absconding.

The case pertains to the sei-zure of 30 kg of gold on July 5 last year from a diplomatic baggage at the air cargo of the Trivandrum International Air-port by the Customs (Preven-tive) Commissionerate, Kochi.

The NIA investigation revealed that the accused had knowingly conspired since June 2019, raised funds and smuggled around 167 kg of gold into the country from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) between November 2019 and June 2020 through the import cargo addressed to diplomats at the Consulate General of the UAE in Thiruvananthapuram.

The main accused in the case had planned to smuggle more gold from countries such as Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia.

The probe against the absconding accused and oth-ers who had facilitated them is on, the NIA said.

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court's nod to the govern-ment's grandiose Central Vista Project on Tuesday left environment activists "disap-pointed" and "disheartened".

The apex court, in its major-ity verdict of 2:1, upheld the environmental clearance and notification for change in land use for the Central Vista project.

Environmentalist Bhavreen Kandhari said the project is harmful for the environment

and is an encroachment of pub-lic place by the government.

"It is a very disheartening verdict. This project is very harmful for the environment. Delhi is the most polluted city on earth. Trees are already being cut.

"This project is an encroach-ment of open places, which are meant for the public, by gov-ernment. This is land grabbing in every way," Kandhari said.

Expressing a similar view, Lt Col Anuj Srivastava (Retd),

an architect and an activist from LokPATH who is also one of the petitioners in the case, said more deliberation and public consultation was required in the project before it could be approved.

"It's a 611 page judgement. The court heard us patiently. The judgement is a split one but we are quite disheartened and disappointed. More delib-eration and public consulta-tion in a project of this nature is required. Are we leaving

something for our children that we will be proud of? We are exploring our legal options in consultation with our law-yers. But we are deeply disap-pointed," Srivastava said.

Besides giving a go-ahead to the over Rs 13,450 crore project, the three-judge bench of the apex court also insisted that the clearance of the Heri-tage Conservation Committee (HCC) will be mandatory and the same should be obtained by the project consultant before

proceeding with the develop-ment work.

The HCC is headed by Special/Additional Secretary of Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. It also directed that the project developers will have to install smog tower and use anti-smog guns at all con-struction sites.

Reacting to the verdict, Manju Menon, Senior Fellow, Centre for Policy Research, said the mitigation measures upheld by the court that include smog

towers are well-known public failures already.

"The environment clearance granted to the New Parliament were challenged on several important grounds such as the lack of detailed and cumulative impact assessments, the inte-grated nature of the cv redevel-opment and Parliament being only a component, and the lack of any thinking by government on alternatives that may be less environmentally damaging,” Menon said. AGENCIES

Case of ‘misplaced priorities’: Congress

I-T dept questions Robert Vadra for 2nd day in benami assets case

HP lifts night curfew in four districts

Kerala gold-smuggling case: NIA files chargesheet against 20 accused

Activists ‘disappointed’ by SC’s approval to Central Vista project

NEW DELHI: West Bengal government has denied in the Supreme Court the allegations that death of BJP leader Deben-dra Nath Roy, who was found hanging in July last year, was a political murder and said that prompt and efficacious inves-tigation has been conducted in the matter by the state CID.

In its reply affidavit filed in the apex court, which is hear-ing a plea seeking transfer of investigation in the case to the CBI, the state has said that West Bengal criminal investi-gation department (CID) has investigated all aspects of the complaints as well as possible causes of death and has already filed a charge sheet in the com-petent court.

It claimed that the petition-ers, while raising unfounded

allegations against state police authorities, have relied on the tweets by high-ranking public officials to wrongly assume that the incident was pre-planned or that state machinery was involved.

It is denied that the death of Debendra Nath Roy was a political murder or that the state machinery was used or

was an accomplice or involved in any manner in causing such death and it is denied this was a shame on society and violated the right to life guaranteed to the citizens of this nation under Article 21 of the Constitution, said the reply affidavit filed by Dy.SP CID, Malda zone.

Roy was found hanging near his home in Hemtabad

area of North Dinajpur dis-trict on July 13 last year. He was elected as an MLA in West Bengal from CPI (M) in 2016 and had later joined the BJP in 2019.

The plea came up for hear-ing on Tuesday before a bench comprising Justices Ashok Bhushan, R S Reddy and M R Shah. The petitioners, Sha-shank Shekher Jha and Savio Rodrigues, sought time to respond to the affidavit filed by the state.

The bench posted the mat-ter for hearing after two weeks.

In its reply affidavit, the state has sought dismissal of the plea and said that allega-tions and speculations by the petitioners that Roy was first killed and then hanged is false and without any basis. MPOST

West Bengal denies allegations in SC that BJP leader’s death was political murder

TN govt declares 'Thai Poosam' a public holiday

mp nation6

MAHA: SECURITY UPPED AT AURANG-ABAD STATION AMID RENAMING ROW AURANGABAD: In view of the ongoing row over re-naming of Aurangabad in Maharashtra, the Railway Police Force has stepped up security at the city’s rail-way station to prevent any untoward incident, an of-ficial said on Tuesday. The issue of renaming Aurang-abad to Sambhajinagar has come to the forefront of state politics over the last few days.

HIGH COURT ISSUES NOTICES TO CENTRE, UTTARAKHAND GOVT NAINITAL (UTTARAKHAND): The Uttarakhand High Court has issued notices to the Centre, the state gov-ernment and the state wildlife board over a decision to denotify the Shivalik Elephant Reserve. A division bench comprising acting Chief Justice Ravi Malimath and Justice Alok Kumar Verma issued the notices on Monday and gave the respondents four weeks to reply.

‘67 DIED OF DRUG ABUSE IN MIZORAM’ AIZAWL: At least 67 people, including six women, have died due to substance abuse in Mizoram in 2020 with heroin being the main killer drug, an of-ficial said on Tuesday. The state had reported 55 drug-related fatalities in 2019. “All the 67 people, who died of drug abuse last year, were addicted to heroin. The state government has been taking several measures to curb the menace,” the excise and narcotics department official said. Most of the drugs, especially heroin, have been smuggled from Myan-mar, he said.

BRIEFSNATION

REPERCUSSION

Vehicles wade through a waterlogged road after heavy rain in Chennai on Tuesday PIC/PTI

KOLKATA|WEDNESDAY, 6 JANUARY, 2021|millenniumpost

CREMATORIUM ROOF COLLAPSE

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: In yet another example of shattering of the proverbial glass ceiling, the first batch of over 100 women disaster combatants and res-cuers has been inducted in the country's federal calamity force NDRF.

An all-woman team of freshly trained National Disas-ter Response Force (NDRF) personnel was recently deployed for contingency duties on the banks of the Ganga river in Uttar Pradesh's Garh Mukteshwar town, a senior force officer said.

"The first women rescu-ers' team is already on ground. Recently, the UP government requisitioned an NDRF team and they (women) went there (Garh Mukteshwar). The team handled the rescue boats and related equipments," NDRF director general S N Pradhan said in an interview.

"These personnel have all the skills to be called complete rescuers," he said.

The move to include women personnel in the NDRF combat ranks was in the works for some time. The force, since it was raised over a decade ago, was till now an all-male affair.

More than 100 women per-sonnel have joined the NDRF over the last few months and they are being deputed with its battalions across the country as soon as they finish their pre-

induction course and training, the DG said.

He said the numbers are expected to go over 200 women personnel in the near future.

The female personnel who are joining are in the constab-ulary and sub-officer (Sub Inspector and Inspector) ranks.

As per authorisation, each NDRF battalion of over 1,000 personnel can have 108 woman rescuers.

Pradhan, however, said as there are "pre-existing" vacan-cies in the feeder agencies or the paramilitary forces who send them to the disaster response force on deputation, it will take more time for the full strength of female combat-ants to join.

The DG said the women personnel will add to the strength and skills of the force in rescuing disaster victims and even in calamity mitigation.

"We can deploy both com-ponents of an all-woman NDRF team or a mix squad of male and female personnel for responding to a situation. We prefer the second because if there is complement of women personnel it makes a great dif-

ference on the ground where women, children and old per-sons are being rescued," Prad-han said.

"The skill sets of women are stronger in some aspects... so that can be leveraged especially in situations were women are victims," he said.

He further said the initial feedback to the first women's team in disaster combat has been good.

"They are performing well. From initial feedback, I think they will be a great efficiency multiplier and also a great symbol of pride, inclusion and gender sensitivity which is also part of the Prime Minister's ten-point agenda for disaster response," he said.

The DG added the force is continuously creating women-oriented infrastructure at its existing and futuristic bases across the country.

Every NDRF battalion has been seconded by a Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) like the CRPF or the ITBP and the parent force is responsible for feeding its manpower, who are sent on a time-bound depu-tation to the force.

The NDRF has 12 opera-tional battalions at present located in various states.

It is a specialised unit that was raised in 2006 for specific tasks of relief and rescue dur-ing natural and man-made disasters or life threatening situations.

MUMBAI: A special NIA court here on Tuesday granted exemp-tion from regular appearance to BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur in the Malegaon blast case of 2008.

Thakur, who is one of the seven accused in the case being probed by the National Investi-gation Agency (NIA), appeared before the court on Monday.

On Tuesday, Special Judge P R Sitre granted exemption to Thakur after her lawyer J P Mishra filed a written applica-tion, citing the MP’s difficulty in travelling here regularly due to health and security concerns.

“Thakur has multiple ill-nesses and is undergoing treat-ment at AIIMS. Even while she was in Mumbai (yesterday), she had undergone some tests at Kokilaben Hospital where doc-tors told her she was having multiple complications and needed to be treated by a team of doctors,” the lawyer said in the application. MPOST

NEW DELHI: The outbreak of COVID-19 spelt doom for humans in the year gone by, but 2020 did not prove kind to heritage buildings either in some of the cities across the country, even as sensitive citi-zenry fought hard to save the architectural legacy from the wrecking ball.

From Patna to Ahmedabad, from Dutch-era historic struc-tures to modern marvels, built heritage in these cities did not breathe easy.

The redevelopment of Central Vista in the heart of Lutyens' Delhi also irked her-itage lovers in 2020, who had been demanding from the gov-ernment to tread that heritage architectural and natural spaces cautiously and not "obscure" the past to build future projects.

Foundation stone of the new Parliament House that will come up next to the old one, built in 1920s, was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi

in December.In the same month, some

of the major structures of the iconic Louis Kahn Plaza that visually symbolises the cam-pus of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA), came under the threat of demolition.

The institute had decided to demolish 14 of its dormito-ries designed by the renowned American architect, saying these dormitories have suf-fered damages beyond repairs over the years, due to various reasons including 2001 earth-quake and water seepages.

But the decision met with stiff opposition, from the IIMA alumni, architect com-munity and children of Kahn, following which it decided to withdraw its proposal, bring-ing cheers among history and architecture lovers on the New Year who hope 2021 will be kinder on heritage.

Battle to save the historic

Patna Collectorate kept courts busy in pandemic, and peo-ple on tenterhooks through-out the year.

The legal battle to save the Dutch-era landmark from demolition, which had started in the Patna High Court, came to a halt on September 2020, leaving the heritage buildings in the campus vulnerable again to demolition, as the court dis-posed of the case and allowed the government to take "nec-

essary consequential action".Delhi-based Indian

National Trust for Art and Cul-tural Heritage (INTACH) had taken the Bihar government to court in August 2019 seeking preservation of the Collector-ate, and constitution of Bihar Urban Arts and Heritage Com-mission, which had been pend-ing since 2012.

The matter had gone to the court of Chief Justice Sanjay Karol in early 2020, who had

first heard the matter on Janu-ary 31, and said, "we are not inclined to modify the interim order dated September 25 passed by this court in the connected writ petition," while directing that "the Collectorate building be not demolished till the next date of hearing".

The next hearing came up on March 5 and after a brief hearing, it was listed again for March 17.

However, by this time, the scare of COVID-19 had grown bigger and courts and pub-lic offices were ordered to be closed, with a provision that only urgent matters were to be heard.

In the light of the directions of the high court, the new heri-tage commission was set up.

Historians, preservationists and scholars expressed "deep concern" over the commission, alleging that the panel has "no representation" from conserva-tion architects and other inde-

pendent domain experts.Meanwhile, in view of the

lockdown, sensitive citizenry, concerned over the fate of this historic landmark, came together online and carried out a sustained campaign to build awareness among the people and convince the state govern-ment to rethink its decision.

'Save Historic Patna Collec-torate' movement, which had started in 2016, son after the demolition was proposed to make way for a high-rise com-plex, conducted heritage walks and awareness drive till March 2020 and then took the cam-paign online during the lock-down induced by COVID-19, garnering support globally from over 20 countries.

However, on Septem-ber 1, the case was disposed of, dealing a big blow to the people's movement for heri-tage preservation, following which INTACH too moved the Supreme Court. PTI

RAHUL SINGH

GHAZIABAD: Ghaziabad police have arrested the prime suspect, the accused build-ing contractor, in connection with the death of 24 persons in Muradnagar crematorium. The accused, Ajay Tyagi, along with his accomplice Sanjay Garg was arrested from Satheri bridge in Muzaffarnagar district on late Monday night when he was trying to flee some other place using public transport.

Police said that Tyagi took help from one of his friends to escape after hearing the news of Muradnagar Mishap and his friend left him at Ghaziabad Meerut border from where he took a bus and went to Muzaf-

farnagar. Earlier he switched off his mobile phone but police traced him through surveillance when he restarted his phone for a while, said police officials.

Dr. Iraz Raja, Superinten-dent of police (Rural), Gha-ziabad said that the accused confessed to have formed gang together to gain economic ben-efits out of their greed. “Dur-ing sustained interrogations, the accused told police that the tender for renovation of cre-matorium was allotted in April 2019 for Rs 55 lakhs. However, the layout of the structure was changed and cleared with the help of Junior engineer (JE) Nagar Palika in order to increase the budget amount for which the JE was given profit amount

of Rs 16 lakhs which he shared with other officials. He also con-fessed that the material used in construction was of low qual-ity while the executive officer, JE, supervisor and other con-cerned Nagar Palika officials were involved in the scam” the SP said.

The police is now mulling to slap sections of corruption act on all five accused involved in the Muradnagar roof collapse at crematorium for which, the cops are collecting evidences and a subsequent report is being prepared. Meanwhile, the accused Ajay Tyagi was beaten up with footwear by a woman when police took him to hos-pital for medical examination on Tuesday.

Tyagi, had availed con-tracts in the name of three firms floated by him — Mahi con-struction and builders, Krishna associates and M/s Ajay Tyagi constructions and had regis-tered himself with the Ghazi-abad Municipal Corporation (GMC) around ten years ago. Officials said he had bagged tenders for 12-15 projects of the GMC worth Rs 8 crore. Of these, 6-7 projects are still under construction.

Following the mishap, GMC Mayor Asha Sharma also wrote to the GMC chief engineer, ask-ing him to get a quality check of all big projects awarded in the past five years and get the work done by different contrac-tors verified.

JAIPUR: A central government panel has recommended the withdrawal of elephant rides at the iconic Amber Fort here in a phased manner and to replace them with electric or battery-operated vehicles.

The committee of the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, formed on a Supreme Court order, has made the recom-mendation in its report, given to media persons by PETA India here, a party to a peti-tion on the matter, pending in the apex court.

In its report dated Decem-ber 28, the ministry's panel has advised withdrawal of elephant rides, considering the advanc-ing age of jumbos and declin-ing trend among tourists for rides. "In a phased manner, the elephant rides in Amber

Fort may be withdrawn and switched over to other modes of transportation like electric or battery-operated vehicles," the report said.

"The declining trend of tourists on elephant rides and ageing animals are indicators for changes. The owners of the elephants also may be rehabili-tated suitably in such situations. The new addition of elephants for rides should be completely banned," the report added.

The committee was appointed following a Supreme Court order based on con-cerns over alleged cruelty to elephants and their illegal use for joy rides and other activities at Amber Fort and Elephant Village in Jaipur, said a joint statement by Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre and PETA India. AGENCIES

SHAHJAHANPUR (UP): Police here have been asked to keep a watch on prayer meetings after five people were booked for allegedly trying to unlawfully convert people to Christianity.

The instructions to police stations appear to have been issued after this case in which Vishwa Hindu Parishad workers brought the five men to police.

Shahjahanpur Superinten-dent of Police S Anand, however, did not specify Christian prayer meetings and also referred to two other cases in which the accused are Muslims.

"After the registration of three cases on religious conver-sion in the district, instrctions have been issued to police sta-tions to keep themselves aware of prayer meetings in their juris-dictions, and act strictly when they are completely sure that

conversion is taking place in the garb of prayer, he said on Tuesday. Anand said a watch should be kept on people who indulge in religious conversion and action taken when there is complete evidence.

He said local VHP leader Rajesh Awasthi and his work-ers handed over to police the five people who were part of a prayer meeting organised by a Christian outfit called Swarg ka Shubh Samachar'.

Awasthi alleged that the out-fit was indulging in religious conversion through allurement.

The accused included two Tamil Nadu men David and Jagan. The three others are local residents Ajay Kumar, Rajat Kumar and Shirish Gupta. The five men were let off after fur-nishing personal surety, the SP said. AGENCIES

NEW DELHI: Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla's daugh-ter Anjali has been selected for civil services by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) which has released a list of 89 candidates on its reserve list.

Anjali, who studied political science (honours) from Ramjas College here, qualified the civil services examination 2019 in her first attempt.

"I am very happy to get selected in this exam. I wanted to join the civil ser-vices to do something for the society as I always saw my father's commitment towards the people of the country," she told the news agency on Tuesday.

Anjali said her elder sister Akansha, a chartered accoun-tant, helped her in clearing the examination. MPOST

NEW DELHI: The Enforce-ment Directorate has attached assets worth Rs 452 crore of a Singapore-based "shell" or dubious company in connec-tion with its money laundering probe in the IL&FS alleged pay-ment default crisis, the agency said on Tuesday.

The assets, provisionally attached under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) provisions, are in the form of shares "belonging" to A S Coal Pte Singapore, a shell company owned by British national Jai-min Vyas, the central probe agency said in a statement.

"The attached assets are in the form of 8.86 per cent shares of ILFS Tamil Nadu Power Company Limited (ITPCL) presently worth around Rs 452 crore," it said.

This 2019 money laundering case stems from a Delhi Police economic offences wing FIR filed against IRL, ITNL (group companies of IL&FS), its offi-cials and others.

The ED also took cognisance of a compliant filed by its sis-ter probe agency, the Serious Fraud Investigation Office or SFIO, against IL&FS Financial Services (IFIN) and its officials.

The ED said its probe found that there "was a well planned conspiracy to defraud IL&FS and Indian banks by Jaimin Vyas in connivance with officials on IL&FS and a Chinese EPC

contractor named SEPCO III"."The company's right to

select the EPC (engineering, procurement and construc-tion) contractor was illegally delegated to Jaimin Vyas vio-lating the terms and conditions of share purchase agreement," it alleged.

Vyas, it said, nominated SEPCO as EPC contractor and got "kick backs" in guise of fees for consultancy services.

"The same money was routed as equity investment in ITPCL. Subsequently, ITPCL paid SEPCO III the amount (paid earlier by SEPCO to Vyas) by inflating the value of the con-tract and payments were also made in the guise of early com-pletion of project," it claimed.

"Vyas received illegal gratifi-cation from Noble Coal in lieu of awarding coal supply contract (to ITPCL) at an inflated rate," the agency alleged.

The agency, in the past, had attached movable and immov-able properties of IFIN commit-tee directors worth Rs 126 crore and properties of two defaulter loanees of IFIN-- SIVA Group and ABG Group--worth Rs 1,400 crore.

It had also arrested a former member of IFIN director Arun Kumar Saha and former MD of ITNL Karunakaran Ramchand followed by a charge sheet filed before a special PMLA court in Mumbai. AGENCIES

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: Snowfall was recorded in higher reaches of North India on Tuesday and rain was witnessed in the plains, with Kashmr remai-ing cut-off from the rest of the country for the second consec-utive day as the arterial Jammu-Srinagar national highway and Mughal road remained closed due to accumulation of snow.

There was fresh snowfall in the higher reaches of Uttara-khand, and intermittent light showers and cold winds in the lower areas of the state.

Snowfall began in the higher hills of Uttarkashi, Chamoli, Rudraprayag and Pithoragarh districts late on Monday night and continued at most of the places in these districts on Tuesday.

Gangotri and Yamunotri temples, dozens of villages in Harshil valley, hilly areas of Mori and Badkot in Uttarkashi district got covered in snow. Yamunotri recorded a mini-mum temperature of minus six degrees Celsius, while Gangotri recorded a minimum of one degrees.

Overcast conditions pre-vailed in the plains, including Dehradun, which was swept by cold winds and intermittent drizzling.

Kashmir was cut off from rest of the country for the

second consecutive day as the arterial Jammu-Srinagar national highway and Mughal road remained closed, while air traffic was suspended due to snowfall across the valley.

Nearly 4,500 vehicles, mostly trucks carrying essen-tials to the valley, are stranded along the highway at various places. Mughal Road, which connects the valley to Jammu division through Shopian-Rajouri axis, has been closed for several days due to heavy snowfall in the region.

The officials said south Kashmir’s Kulgam district received highest snowfall with three to four feet of snow accu-mulated at some places.

Anantnag district has also received heavy snowfall, they said. Srinagar city has wit-nessed moderate snowfall for

the past three days but snow clearance operations have ensured that traffic movement was going on.

The flight operations to and from Srinagar remained sus-pended for second consecu-tive day due to poor visibility, the officials said.

The minimum temperature improved in most places in the valley due to the snowfall but still stayed below the freezing point, the officials said.

Srinagar city -- the summer capital of Jammu and Kash-mir -- recorded a low of minus 0.8 degrees Celsius -- up from the previous night’s minus 0.9 degrees Celsius, they said.

The Jammu-Srinagar national highway remained closed for the third consecutive day following heavy snowfall and multiple landslides, even

as over 250 stranded vehicles, mostly carrying passengers, were cleared after the arte-rial road was briefly opened for one-way traffic between Banihal and Qazigund, offi-cials said.

The 270-km highway, the only all-weather road linking Kashmir with the rest of the country, was closed for traffic on Saturday night after Jawahar Tunnel, the gateway to Kash-mir, experienced snowfall that left over 4,500 vehicles, mostly trucks stranded on either side.

With no let up in the snow in and around Jawahar Tun-nel coupled with multiple land-slides, mudslides and shooting of stones from the hillocks overlooking the highway at var-ious places between Samroli and Banihal, the strategic road was closed for vehicular traffic since Sunday, the officials said.

However, they said over 100 Jammu-bound trucks were cleared from Jawahar Tunnel area after the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) managed to clear the road of over three feet of accumulated snow on Monday evening.

The officials said a mud-slide which had struck the highway near Samroli in Udhampur district due to over-night rains was cleared around 2 pm Tuesday, thus paving the way for resumption of traf-fic on Jammu-Kishtwar-Doda

highway.Meanwhile, Jammu and

other plains were lashed by heavy rains, while high altitude areas in the region experienced intermittent snowfall for the third day on Tuesday.

Cold weather conditions continued in Punjab and Haryana even as minimum temperatures stayed above normal levels in most parts of the states. Light to moderate rain accompanied with light-ning and thunderstorm were observed at isolated places over western Uttar Pradesh while very light rain and thunder-showers occurred at isolated places over eastern parts of the state.

Meanwhile, heavy rains lashed Chennai and its sub-urbs on Tuesday, inundating houses in some low lying areas and affecting normal life, while authorities released surplus water from the city reservoirs, including Chembarambakkam.

The incessant rains, which returned to the city after a break of several weeks, led to water logging in many roads and motorists and office-goers faced a tough time reaching their destinations. Chennai and adjacent regions witnessed heavy to very heavy rainfall under the influence of east-erly trough, a senior Regional Meteorological Centre official here said.

Snowfall, rain recorded in North India India gets its first women's team in disaster combat

IL&FS PMLA case: ED attaches Rs 452 crore worth assets of

Singapore shell company

LS Speaker's daughter selected for Civil Services

Union Forest Ministry's panel advises withdrawal of elephant rides at Amber Fort

After Christian 'conversion attempt', cops asked to keep

watch on prayer meetings

Pragya Thakur gets exemption from

appearance in court

Police nab contractor with connections to civic body

2020: From Patna to Ahmedabad, heritage faced demolition; citizens opposed

Nearly 4,500 vehicles, mostly trucks carrying essentials to Kashmir, are stranded

Vehicles covered under snow at a parking area during heavy snowfall in Srinagar on Tuesday PIC/PTI

The biggest learning of COVID-19 for India has been the imper-ative of focusing on

public health. Policymakers, experts, doctors and intellec-tuals need to sit down and urgently apply their mind on responding to this challenge. There is no doubt that public health infrastructure in India needs a lot of improvement and the worse is that there are huge regional variations with the southern states being in a far better position as compared to states like UP and Bihar. This is borne out by the differ-ences in the figures of infant mortality, maternal mortality and total fertility rate where the southern states can compare with the best in the world while the backward ones are in the same quadrant as Sub-Saharan Africa. The nation is indebted to the sagacity of its politi-cal leadership, acumen of the administrative machinery, the brilliance of the scientists and the dedication and courage of the doctors and paramedic staff along with the remark-able patience and fortitude shown by the common citi-zen, which has helped it handle the seemingly insurmountable challenge of Corona reason-ably well. Looking at the huge population that we have, our figures for the total number of people infected, recovery rate and crude fatality rate compare favourably with the best in the world. Of course, a young pop-ulation and a naturally high level of immunity have helped matters but you cannot take away the credit from all those involved in fighting the Corona menace.

At the moment, it appears as if the threat of Corona is slowly declining and with two vaccines having been approved, it is possible that sometime towards the middle of 2021 we should have come out of this crisis. Mercifully, the economy is also rebounding faster than anticipated largely due to the innovative spirit and courage of entrepreneurs and farmers. We can heave a sigh of relief but there is no room for complacency to set in. One does not know when another pandemic might invade our lives and we have to be ready to respond to it keeping in

mind the learnings of the bat-tle against Corona. The Corona crisis has also led to a situation where because of the focus of our limited resources on the pandemic the other health care problems suffered includ-ing immunization of children and battle against diseases like TB. It is now clearly written on the wall that India has to accord the highest priority to public health in the years to come so that we can handle any emergent situation and bring about a vast improve-ment in the quality of life of its people. The first interven-tion can start with the current Union budget likely to come within a month which should focus on the health care sectors and come out with innovative schemes and above all signifi-cantly raise the percentage of expenditure on public health in general and as a percentage of GDP. In the year 2020-21, the budget allocation for health as a percentage of total expendi-ture was 5.4 per cent (65,001 crore) which was only 1.6 per cent of GDP. This figure has been more or less constant for the last five years since 2016-17 though the overall amount has gone up from 37,061 crore in 2016-17 to 65001 cr in 2020-21. India has been targeting an expenditure of 2.5 per cent of GDP on public health by 2025 but this was a vision when things were moving normally.

The Corona pandemic has been a huge shock necessitat-ing a total re-think and recon-sideration of priorities. Even the 15th Finance Commission has highlighted this issue and called for an increased allo-cation on public health. We should now aim to reach this figure of 2.5 per cent at least two years in advance of our original target and this intent has to be brought out in the budget priorities for 2021-22. It is significant to point out that the figures for public health expenditure are 17 per cent of GDP in the USA, 11.7 per cent in Germany, 11.2 per cent in France & 11.1 per cent in Japan and I read somewhere that even Bhutan and Ethiopia spend more as a percentage of GDP than India. The per cap-ita public health expenditure for India in 2020-21 is only Rs 1,944.

The areas for concern are quite clear. We have to sig-nificantly increase the num-ber of beds per 1000 people from the current figure of 0.6 and fully equip and modern-ize as well as operationalise our 1.5 lac primary health centers (PHC) and 29,144 health and wellness centers. For this pur-pose, significant investment is required to upgrade the infra-structure of the PHCs. Above all, we need many more doc-tors as our current ratio is 1 doctor for 1,457 people against

the WHO norm of 1:1000. This means that many more med-ical colleges will have to be opened and in particular, the scheme of converting district hospitals into medical colleges has to be given a major fillip. We need to add many more seats to existing medical col-leges by upgrading their infra-structures. A peculiar feature of India is that the private sec-tor share in health care is far more than the public sector amounting to 78 per cent in urban areas and 71 per cent in rural areas. There is a definite need for increasing the share of public health spending and there is also a huge need for regulating the private sector to enable it to cater to the needs of the weaker sections of the soci-ety. Innovation and regulatory reform hold the key.

The out of pocket expen-diture for citizens in India is 62.4 per cent against the gov-ernments spend of 30 per cent. Compare this with the UK where the correspond-ing figures are 9.7 per cent and 83.1 per cent; for the US the figures are 11 per cent and 48.1 per cent, for Brazil 25.5 per cent, 46 per cent and for China 32 per cent and 55.8 per cent. Almost 52 per cent of this out of this pocket expenditure goes for medicines, 10 per cent for diagnostic labs and 22 per cent on private hospitals. This is quite an anomaly for a devel-

oping nation where almost 15 per cent of people are still liv-ing in absolute poverty. The situation has to be remedied on an emergent basis. Oth-erwise, low-income people would be pushed further into poverty by spending more on health. A strange phenomenon I have noticed is that even peo-ple with low levels of income do not avail of the free facili-ties being provided by govern-ment hospitals as they have no faith in them and spend huge amounts in consulting private doctors or even quacks.

Increasing public expen-diture is only one part of the solution. My experience of more than three decades of governance has clearly shown that the absorption capacity of these funds is an area where huge improvement is required. Significantly, it is the less devel-oped states where the capacity to spend the funds is con-strained by issues relating to governance and poor manage-ment leading to poor quality of public health delivery and huge leakages of funds. One can just analyse the working of the National Health Mis-sion to prove this point where a lot of funds were year marked for the states but the quality of spending and even the amount of money spent varied from state to state. There is, in my opinion, a great need to bring about governance reforms in the health sectors which would require a lot of training and orientation in issues related to public health as well as the qualities of leadership, plan-ning, coordination and exe-cution amongst the officers involved in the process. Robust institutional mechanisms for service delivery have to evolve and be nurtured; and technol-ogy has to be used in a big way to prevent corruption as well as to increase the range of quality health care facilities. Unless we look after our human capital by making them healthy we cannot expect them to partici-pate equitably in the process of democratic governance as well as economic growth. A healthy nation is a happy nation and that is the goal that we must aspire for.

The writer is an ex-Chief Sec-retary, Govt of Uttar Pradesh. Views expressed are personal

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AVIAN TRAGEDYDear

Editor

It is heart-wrenching to see the pictures and videos of hundreds of little birds lying dead on roads and pavements in many localities of the Italian capital Rome. The cause of death of these avians is said to be bursting of fireworks set by many on the eve of New year’s day. People around the world and especially bird lovers and animal rights activists have slammed those responsible for this heartbreaking tragedy. The local administration had declared a city-wide ban on the use of firecrackers and even imposed a curfew at night on New years eve. Unfortunately, this went ignored as many people flaunting rules came out to use fireworks for their celebration. The animal rights groups have called it a ‘massacre ‘ and blamed it on fireworks. The International Organisation for the Protection of Animals, OIPA, has stated that this tragedy occurred as a result of a terrible loud display of fireworks in the localities of the city where the birds roosted. Many believe that the birds could have died from getting knocked against each other or they would have hit the electric lines and windows out of fear when they suddenly panicked and tried to soar into the night sky when the fireworks boomed. Not only in Rome but even here in India we see animals and birds panic and go helter-skelter during display of such fireworks, during festivities, sometimes leading to their death. Sad that such human celebrations cause distress and harm to both animals, birds and other creatures and this happens as we ignore and completely forget about the ill- effects such Jamborees and merrymaking create as we carelessly turn deaf and blind to our surrounding, our environment and the denizens that rely on these habitats. In the case of this ‘Roman tragedy,’ it is truly due to human ignorance and lack of compassion and consideration for fellow creatures and the environment that has caused the death of so many avians which are important members of the ecosystems. Let us not forget that these winged creatures play a vital role in controlling pests, act as good pollinators, and maintain our ecology. Birds are also important to humans in many ways, such as serving as a source of food and providing fertilizer in agricultural settings. As they are integral parts of food chains and food webs mass destruction of these feather creatures knowingly and unknowingly by humans can end up in disruption in the balance of nature. World animal rights organisations and bodies must take urgent measures and come forward to spread awareness globally to see that such disasters do not occur in future.

Hard knocksThough India nears the proverbial ‘light at the end of the tunnel’, the pandemic has,

nevertheless, imparted several lessons on the need to overhaul public health infrastructure

We have to significantly increase the number of beds per 1000 people from the current figure of 0.6 and fully equip and modernize as well as operationalize our 1.5 lac primary health centers (PHC) and 29,144 health and wellness centers. For this purpose, significant investment is required to upgrade the infrastructure of the PHCs

EDITORIAL

Uncovering the truth

Months into the COVID-19 pandemic last year, Australia made a seemingly innocuous push for an international inquiry into the origins of COVID-19. Australia specified that it wished for

an impartial, comprehensive and independent investigation into the origins of the pandemic. This was not an unimagi-nable concern. Many nations and organisations had atleast spoken of the need to investigate the origin, Australia simply vocalised it. For the most part, it received widespread support as the World Health Assembly adopted an EU resolution call-ing for the investigation. As it became apparent later, China was not one of the countries that was keen on such an inves-tigation. Indeed, criticism of Australia’s call for an investiga-tion poured in through various channels. The state-run Global Times described Australia as “chewing gum stuck on the sole of China’s shoes.” China’s ambassador to Australia termed the move as a “great betrayal”.

China it would seem, took offence to the perception that Wuhan was the source of the virus and that China was some-how responsible for the worldwide spread of the virus due to negligence or other similar reasons. China’s pushback against the global perception that it was the source of the pandemic was a manic mix of denials and ‘what-about’ kind of arguments that simply tried to shift the narrative no matter how outlandish the assertion. China’s pushback against Austalia was simply the most direct and confrontational. This, as many experts pointed out, was because Australia has typically been fairly reliant on China economy-wise. China has always shown willingness to use its economic strength to silence criticism from those who wish to do business with it. China did precisely this with Aus-tralia when it hit the country’s barley imports with an over 80 per cent tariff.

As China was spewing fire on Australia, it is important to note that its leadership was still apparently projecting support for an inquiry into the origins of the virus though it wished for such an inquiry to only happen after the virus was under con-trol. This is just an indication of the tight-rope campaign that China has had to carry out in order to recover its image after the outbreak of COVID-19. Several agencies such as the Pew Foundation reported that foreign perception of China and Chi-nese leadership was at its all-time low in the wake of what many took to calling the “Chinese virus”. China’s battle to reclaim its credibility hinged on not only bringing the virus under control and resuming daily life but also on China taking a leading role in helping the world and developing the vaccines. Towards the latter half of last year, there were even several staged demon-strations such as China inviting hundreds of industry leaders to Wuhan after it was declared safe. The largely directed vis-its aimed to push the point that Wuhan and by relation China was the safest place in the world to do business. China earned many accolades for its apparent containment efforts and its economic revival methods meant that it was the only major country to close the year with positive GDP growth. But the spectre of the original investigation remained. Australia once again boldly called for a thorough investigation and China, on the face of it, agreed. The investigation is set for January and China has welcomed a comprehensive WHO-led investigation. Many however question how open and free this investigation would be. For its part, China has pointed to several emerging studies that show that the virus may have been spreading before the first reported case in Wuhan. China has also been the only country to claim that Covid can be spread through cold-chain imports, a theory that WHO does not support. It is increasingly clear thus, that while China is willing to risk a WHO investiga-tion, things are unlikely to go as planned. While vaccines have distracted the world, for now, it is unlikely that the search for the source of the pandemic (though it will likely fail) will not be sidetracked for long.

The biggest learning of COVID-19 for India has been the imperative of focusing on public health

....M PRADYU, KANNUR via email

millenniumpost|KOLKATA|WEDNESDAY, 6 JANUARY, 2021

SATISH SINGH A few months ago, the Government passed three bills in the agriculture sec-

tor, which aims to improve the existing system of marketing, sale and storage of agricultural produce across the country. These bills will increase the availability of buyers for farm-ers’ produce and allow compe-tition to trade freely without licenses or storage limits, thereby increasing competi-tion among traders, forcing them to pay better prices to farmers.

Farmer leaders are talking about the enactment of min-imum support price (MSP), so that private traders are also forced to buy the produce of farmers on MSP. It is nota-ble that every year, the Gov-ernment announces MSP for 23 crops, but all crops are never procured due to limited resources. A few farmers say that the new agricultural bills will eliminate the MSP. They are adamant on withdraw-ing all the three bills. Even though MSP is at the heart of the farmer movement, this sys-tem is not available in all the states.

Till December 11, 2020, Punjab accounted for 55 per cent of the purchase of Kharif crop on MSP, while it was zero in West Bengal and eight per cent in Uttar Pradesh. How-ever, Punjab ranks third among the paddy producing states in the country, while West Bengal is at first and Uttar Pradesh at second place. Andhra Pradesh ranks fourth in the country in paddy production, but farmers of Andhra Pradesh account for one per cent purchase on MSP. Farmers of Punjab and Hary-

ana account for nearly 70 per cent of purchases at MSP. In such a case, the justification for opposing the agricultural bill by West Bengal and Delhi is beyond comprehension.

Analysis of the data also shows that in the last years only 25 to 35 per cent of wheat pro-curement was done on MSP, of which Punjab and Haryana had the largest share. It is note-worthy that most of the gov-ernment procurement centres in Punjab, Haryana and some other states are located within the APMC mandis.

Farmers fear that by encouraging tax-free private trade outside the APMC man-dis, the current notified mar-kets will become unstable, leading to a reduction in gov-ernment procurement. Farm-ers are also demanding that MSPs be universalised within and outside the mandis, so that all buyers, government or private; treat these rates as minimum prices. Obviously, private buyers would avoid entering government mandis in such a system. The analysis of the data also shows that even

though the MSP is visible at the core of the peasant move-ment, the reason is different, as some states are supporting the peasant movement fearing the closure of mandi taxes. Cur-rently, there is a six per cent mandi tax and 2.5 per cent tax is related to the management of the procurement process. Thus, some states may suffer 8.5 per cent revenue loss from the new agricultural bills.

Small and marginal farm-ers are not getting MSP right now. Through new agricultural bills, the Government has tried to remove the existing anom-alies. With the new agricul-tural bills, small and marginal farmers will be able to sell their produce outside APMC man-dis at a reasonable price and can also store their produce when needed, as the new agri-cultural bill restrict contracts farming. The bills also propose to abolish the ‘ECA Act’, which restricts private investment in post-harvest storage.

The practice of contract farming in India is not prev-alent in most states. How-ever, it is popular abroad in

countries such as Malaysia and Thailand. The Federal Land Development Authority (FELDA) has been established to pursue contract farming in Malaysia. This practice may be started in India also. Suicides committed by the farmers is directly related to the self-reli-ance of farmers. According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, farmers and agricultural labourers in Maharashtra and Karnataka are committing 13 times and 6 times more suicides than Pun-jab respectively. The income of farmers in Punjab is also 2.3 times higher than the farmers of Maharashtra and Karnataka.

The ‘Kisan Credit Card’ (KCC) scheme is the most popular among all agricultural loans, as it presents solutions to the economic problems of the farmers. Under this, the Government of India gives four per cent interest subven-tion to farmers who have taken loans up to Rs three lakh and are paying instalments and interest on time. At the end of March 2020, all scheduled commercial banks (ASCBs) had a surplus amount of KCC loan amounting to about Rs 7,095 billion, which was about 40 per cent of the total agri-cultural credit and by March 2020 had 6.7 crore active KCC cardholders. To make uni-versal access to concessional institutional credit accessible, the Government of India has asked banks to provide KCC to all 11.39 crore PM-Kisan beneficiaries. During February to April 2020, banks received 75 lakh KCC applications, out of which 36 lakh KCCs have been issued to farmers. A study by NABARD shows that the

KCC scheme has a signifi-cant contribution in strength-ening the farmers financially. In six states such as Chhat-tisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, only 28 per cent of PM-Kisan beneficiaries have KCC accounts. Therefore, there is a need to give KCC loan to all PM-Kisan beneficia-ries, so that they can become self-reliant.

After production, agricul-tural produce passes through several stages to consumers. In this journey, a large part of the agricultural produce is wasted due to lack of proper handling and storage of the produce, which causes loss to the farm-ers as well as a shortage of food grains in the country. A 2015 report showed that 4.6 to six per cent of grains, 6.4 to 8.4 per cent of pulses, 3.1 to 10 per cent of oilseeds, 6.7 to 15.9 per cent of fruits, and 4.6 to 12.4 per cent of vegetables before reaching consumers after har-vesting are wasted.

It can be said that even the guarantee of MSP is not a solu-tion to the problem of farm-ers in any way. Today, more important than MSP for farm-ers is to save crops from disas-ters like droughts, floods, etc., to provide timely financial assistance to farmers. Also, there is a need to strengthen APMC market infrastructure, promote contract farming and make KCC norms more flex-ible and distribute more KCC loans among farmers.

The writer is the Chief Man-ager in the Department of Economic Research at the Corporate Centre of State

Bank of India, Mumbai. Views expressed are personal

Analysis of the data also shows that in the last years only 25 to 35 % of wheat procurement was done on MSP, of which Punjab and Haryana had the largest share

While it has been one of the primary points of contention in the ongoing farmers’ protest, the guarantee of MSP is not likely to ease the present woes of Indian farmers

Seeking a different answer

Farmers fear that encouraging tax-free private trade outside the APMC mandis will lead to a reduction in government procurement

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CHANGE OF NAME

I, Abdus Salim Mondal S/o Sawkat Ali Mondal R/0 Vill-Choto Jirakpur, P.O.- Basirhat R.s P.S-Basirhat, Dist-North 24 Parganas PIN-743412. Shall henceforth be known as Abdus Salim Mondal S/o Sawkat Ali Mondal and Abduchh Selim Mandal S/o Saokatali and Abdus Salim S/o Md. Sawkat Ali is the same and identical person vide affidavit sworn before the Notary Public Basirhat Court pm 31.12.2020.

KOLKATA|WEDNESDAY, 6 JANUARY, 2021|millenniumpostmp world8

UK in tough lockdown to tackle surging new COVID-19 variant

LONDON: The UK entered a tough new stay-at-home lock-down on Tuesday after Prime Minister Boris Johnson said it has been both frustrating and alarming to see the speed with which the new variant of the Coronavirus is spreading and declared that hospitals in the country are under more pres-sure from the deadly virus than at any time in the pandemic.

While Scotland's new rules, which involve school and busi-ness closures become legal from Tuesday, England's rules -- akin to the stringent measures of the first wave of the pandemic in March 2020 -- become law in the early hours of Wednesday. However, Johnson has urged the public to begin following the strict work from home rules right away.

The new rules are expected to stay in place until mid-Feb-ruary with a review planned based on vaccine rollout data and infection rates. Our scien-tists have confirmed this new variant is between 50 and 70 per cent more transmissible -- that means you are much, much more likely to catch the virus and to pass it on, Johnson said in his televised address to the nation on Monday night.

We must therefore go into a national lockdown which is tough enough to contain this variant. That means the govern-ment is once again instructing you to stay at home. You may only leave home for limited rea-

sons permitted in law, such as to shop for essentials, to work if you absolutely cannot work from home, to exercise, to seek medical assistance such as get-ting a COVID test, or to escape domestic abuse, he said.

The devolved regions of Wales and Northern Ireland were already under strict lock-down measures since the middle of last month. According to the latest data, in England alone, the number of COVID-19 patients in hospitals has increased by nearly a third in the last week, to almost 27,000. That number is 40 per cent higher than the

first peak of the pandemic in April. On December 29, more than 80,000 people tested posi-tive for COVID across the UK a new record and the number of deaths is up by 20 per cent over the last week.

Of course, there is one huge difference compared to last year. We are now rolling out the big-gest vaccination programme in our history. So far, we in the UK have vaccinated more people than the rest of Europe com-bined, noted Johnson, as he said that the rollout of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine from this week means the pace of vacci-

nation is accelerating alongside the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine already being administered.

The closure of schools, which the UK prime minis-ter said could act as vectors for transmission, causing the virus to spread between house-holds , means remote learning at least until the end of Febru-ary and students due to sit for their board level exams would be subject to different methods of assessment for the year.

The weeks ahead will be the hardest yet but I really do believe that we are entering the last phase of the struggle. AGENCIES

Germany set to extend hard

lockdown as daily deaths mount

BERLIN: Germany's disease control center on Tuesday reported 944 more COVID-19 deaths, fuelling expectations that Chancellor Angela Merkel and the country's 16 state gov-ernors will extend the coun-try's lockdown until the end of the month.

Germany's latest lockdown took effect December 16 after a partial shutdown starting in early November failed to reduce the number of daily new Coronavirus infections. It was initially set to expire Janu-ary 10.

Merkel's meeting with the governors on Tuesday will decide how long the lockdown should go on and to what extent schools will reopen. Another topic high on the agenda will be addressing criticism of the country's vaccination program amid frustrations over its grad-ual start.

Vaccinations in Germany and the rest of the 27-nation European Union started over a week ago. In Germany, a nation of 83 million, nearly 265,000 vaccinations had been reported by Monday, the Robert Koch Institute said. AGENCIES

Saudi Arabia to lift Qatar embargo, easing Gulf crisisDUBAI: Saudi Arabia will open its airspace and land border to Qatar in the first step toward ending a years-long diplomatic crisis that deeply divided US defense partners, frayed soci-etal ties and tore apart a tradi-tionally clubby alliance of Gulf states, officials said late Monday.

Qatar's only land border has been mostly closed since mid-2017, when Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emir-ates and Bahrain launched a blockade against the tiny Gulf state, accusing it of supporting Islamist extremist groups and of having warm ties with Iran.

The Saudi border, which Qatar relied on for the import of dairy products, construc-tion materials and other goods, opened briefly during the past three years to allow Qataris into Saudi Arabia to perform the Islamic hajj pilgrimage.

It was unclear what con-cessions Qatar had made or is promising to make regarding a shift in its policies.

Kuwait, which had been mediating throughout the dis-pute, was first to announce the diplomatic breakthrough through its foreign minister. Earlier on Monday, the foreign minister had reportedly traveled to Doha to deliver a message to Qatar's ruling emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

While the Saudi decision marks a major milestone toward resolving the Gulf spat, the path toward full reconciliation is far from guaranteed. The rift between Abu Dhabi and Doha has been deepest, with the UAE and Qatar at sharp ideologi-cal odds.

Following Kuwait's announcement, the UAE's Min-

ister of State for Foreign Affairs, Anwar Gargash, tweeted that his country was keen to restore Gulf unity. However, he cautioned: We have more work to do and we are in the right direction.

The lifting of the embargo by Saudi Arabia paves the way for Qatar's ruler to attend an annual summit of Gulf leaders Tuesday that will be held in the kingdom's ancient desert site of Al-Ula. The summit would tra-ditionally be chaired by Saudi King Salman, though his son and heir, the crown prince, may instead lead the meeting.

Qatar confirmed late Mon-day that Sheikh Tamim would be attending the summit, a move that analysts say would have been domestically sensitive for him had the Saudi blockade still been in place.

This year, Egypt's president has also been invited to attend the summit of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, which comprises Saudi Ara-bia, the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait,

Oman and Qatar.Kuwait's foreign minister

said in a statement carried on state TV that Kuwait's ruler had spoken with Qatar's emir and Saudi Arabia's crown prince. The conversations "empha-sized that everyone was keen on reunification, and would gather in Al-Ula to sign a state-ment that promises to usher in a bright page of brotherly relations.

The summit will be inclu-sive, leading the states toward reunification and solidarity in facing the challenges of our region, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was quoted as saying in remarks carried by the Saudi state-run news agency.

The decision to end the Saudi embargo comes just weeks after President Donald Trump's advisor and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, visited the kingdom and Qatar in a final push by the administration to secure a dip-lomatic breakthrough. AGENCIES

Ex-head of China's top asset management firm

sentenced to death for graftBEIJING: The former chair-man of the state-owned China Huarong Asset Management Co was sentenced to death on Tuesday after he was found guilty of graft and bigamy.

Ordering the sentence of Lai Xiaomin, the Second Municipal Intermediate Peo-ple's Court of Tianjin ruled that his political rights shall be deprived for life and all his per-sonal properties shall be con-fiscated, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

The court ordered Lai, 58, to turn over all his illicit gains, including any interest accrued, to the state treasury.

The court found that between 2008 and 2018, Lai took undue advantage of his various posts in the former China Banking Regulatory Commission and Huarong, among others, to assist certain organisations and individuals with financing, project con-

tracting, business operations and job promotion or transfer.

In return, he accepted money and gifts worth over 1.78 billion yuan (approxi-mately USD 276 million), according to the verdict.

From the end of 2009 to January 2018, Lai took advan-tage of his positions to embez-zle and extort public funds of more than 25.13 million yuan (almost USD 4 million) in col-lusion with others.

He was also found guilty of bigamy, according to the verdict. AGENCIES

France promises to speed up vaccination process

PARIS: Amid public out-cry, France health minister has promised an exponential acceleration of his country's slow Coronavirus vaccination process.

After barely 500 people in France were vaccinated in the first six days, Health Minister Olivier Veran defended the government's strategy of giv-ing the vaccines first to resi-dents of nursing homes. But he vowed Tuesday to simplify a bureaucratic consent process blamed in part for Frances lag-ging vaccinations.

Veran said the government will expand the number of vac-cination centres and categories of people eligible for early vac-cines, and allow people to sign up for vaccinations on an app or by phone.

The growth of vaccina-

tions in the coming days will be exponential, rest assured, he said on RTL radio. But he insisted that the government would not forego safety guide-lines in a country facing broad vaccine scepticism. While neighbouring countries are imposing strict new lockdowns amid surging infections, Veran said France is weighing its options and cannot relax, but announced no new measures.

Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer said on Europe-1 radio that he doesn't want to deprive children of school.

Veran said France has con-firmed 10 or 15 cases of the new, more contagious virus variant identified in Britain, and that overall French infec-tions and hospital rates are cur-rently at a plateau. AGENCIES

UN member states, leaders welcome India, Ireland, Kenya, Mexico and Norway to UNSC

UNITED NATIONS: UN leaders and member states wel-comed India, Ireland, Kenya, Mexico and Norway to the UN Security Council and said they look forward to working with the five new non-permanent members to help advance peace and security globally during their 2021-22 term in the pow-erful world body.

Flags of the five new UNSC members were installed at the Security Council stakeout on Monday during a solemn ceremony organised by the Kazakhstan Mission to the UN.

India's Permanent Repre-sentative to the UN Ambassa-dor T S Tirumurti installed the

Indian tricolor at the ceremony and said that as India assumes the membership of the Secu-rity Council for the eighth time, "it is an honour for me as the Permanent Representative of India to take part in today's flag installation ceremony."

UN member states and top leaders posted congratulatory messages for the five incom-ing members, welcoming them to the Council for the 2021-22 term.

"Welcome to the Security Council," the UN tweeted.

President of the 75th ses-sion of the UN General Assem-bly Volkan Bozkir tweeted, "I congratulate the new members

of the @UN Security Council I wish them success in their important work during the 2 years term, in support of global peace and prosperity".

United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Politi-cal and Peacebuilding Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo said she was looking forward to working with the new Security Coun-cil members "to help advance peace and security globally."

US Ambassador to the UN Kelly Craft tweeted, "A warm welcome to the new members of the @UN Security Coun-cil, @IndiaUNNewYork, @irishmissionun, @UnKenya, @MexOnu and @NorwayUN. I

look forward to working with you in support of global peace and prosperity!"

The US State Department's Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs tweeted, "A new year brings new opportunities to strengthen relationships with old friends and partners. We welcome India to the @UN Security Council and look forward to working with @IndiaUNNewYork to advance our shared interests in a more peaceful, secure Indo-Pacific and world".

The Permanent Mission of United Kingdom said in a tweet, "Welcome India, Ire-land, Kenya, Mexico, Norway

to UNSC for the 2021-2022 term. We can't wait to see half your faces".

"As of January 1st, 2021, the @UN Security Council wel-comes 5 new members! Wel-come to India, Ireland, Kenya, Mexico, Norway, the French Mission to the United Nations tweeted.

The Chinese Mission to the UN expressed "a warm wel-come" to the incoming UNSC members in a tweet and said, "New year brings new hope. Multilateralism matters even more. China is ready to work with you and other members for a peaceful and prosperous world. AGENCIES

Trump says he'll ‘fight like hell’ to hold on to Presidency

DALTON (US): With mount-ing desperation, Donald Trump has declared he would "fight like hell" to hold on to the presi-dency and appealed to Repub-lican lawmakers to reverse his election loss to Joe Biden when they convene this week to con-firm the Electoral College vote.

Electoral voters won by President-elect Biden are "not gonna take this White House! he shouted as supporters cheered at an outdoor rally in Georgia on Monday night.

Trump's announced pur-pose for the trip was to boost Republican Senate candidates in Tuesday's runoff election, but he spent much of his speech complaining bitterly about his election loss which he insists he won by a lot.

Earlier, in Washington, he pressed Republican lawmakers to formally object Wednesday at a joint session of Congress that is to confirm Biden's vic-tory in the Electoral College, itself a confirmation of Biden's nationwide victory November 3.

Though he got nothing but cheers Monday night, Trump's attempt to overturn the presi-dential election i s splitting the Republican Party.

Some GOP lawmakers back-ing him are rushing ahead, despite an outpouring of con-demnation from current and former party officials warning the effort is undermining Amer-icans faith in democracy.

All 10 living former defense secretaries wrote in an op-ed that "the time for questioning the results has passed."

Its unclear the extent to which GOP leaders in Congress

will be able to control Wednes-days joint session, which could drag into the night, though the challenges to the election are all but certain to fail. Trump himself is whipping up crowds for a Wednesday rally near the White House.

Meanwhile, US President-elect Joe Biden has blasted Donald Trump for seeking to overturn the November 3 elec-tion result, saying the outgo-ing president spends most of his time “whining and com-plaining” rather than doing “the work” of his office.

Trump, a Republican, is yet to concede the elections and has filed several lawsuits challeng-ing the presidential poll result that gave Biden, a Democrat the required Electoral College votes to be the 46th US President.

Trump alleges that there was a massive voter fraud.

Election officials and the media have said that there is no evidence to back his claims.

He has also lost dozens of lawsuits. AGENCIES

UN adopts $3.2 billion budget over US and

Israel objectionsUNITED NATIONS: After down-to-the-wire negotia-tions, United Nations mem-bers have adopted a budget for 2021 that was higher than Secretary-General Anto-nio Guterres proposed and was strongly opposed by the Trump administration for including money to commem-orate the outcome of a 2001 conference in South Africa that it called anti-Semitic and anti-Israel.

The UN's regular operat-ing budget is usually approved by consensus before Christ-mas, but this year contentious negotiations kept diplomats sparring until New Years Eve.

While many countries that had compromised on a variety of issues thought consensus had been achieved, the United States called for a vote over funding to commemorate the Durban Declaration and Pro-gram of Action adopted at the World Conference Against Racism.

The USD 3.231 billion budget was then approved by the UN General Assem-bly last Thursday by a vote of 167-2 with the United States and Israel voting no.

US Ambassador Kelly Craft accused the world body of extending a shameful leg-acy of hate, anti-Semitism, and anti-Israel bias by sup-porting an official event dur-ing the next General Assembly session, which starts in Sep-tember, commemorating the Durban outcome. AGENCIES

Chinese President Xi Jinping asks military to step-up training, combat readiness

BEIJING: Chinese Presi-dent Xi Jinping has asked the military to strengthen train-ing to hone its combat skills and remain on high alert as the new revised defence law expanding the powers of the armed forces came into force from this year.

The 67-year-old leader, who also heads the ruling Chi-nese Communist Party (CCP)

besides the Central Military Commission (CMC) -- the overall high command of the two million strong military -- signed the commission's first order for 2021, which listed priorities in the train-ing of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and the People's Armed Police Force (PLAF), official media here reported on Tuesday.

The order instructed the armed forces to stick to Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as their guid-ing principle and uphold Xi Jinping Thought on Strength-ening the Military as well as military strategies in the new era.

It said the CCP will enhance its guidance over

the military's training, urging the armed forces to focus on improving their combat readi-ness and continuing to reform their training system, state-run China Daily reported.

The first such order was issued in January 2018, when Xi addressed a massive train-ing and commencement cer-emony at a shooting range in northern China. AGENCIES

EU says it will redouble efforts

to save Iran nuclear deal

BRUSSELS: The European Union says it will redouble its efforts to save the Iran nuclear agreement despite what it calls Tehran's important breach of commitments made in the 2015 deal by starting to enrich uranium to new levels.

EU spokesman Peter Stano said that Iran's actions will have serious implications when it comes to nuclear nonproliferation.

Stano said it was in every-one's interest to rescue the deal and said the 27-nation bloc will strengthen its attempts to make sure all adhere to the commit-ments made in the landmark deal.

Iran began enriching ura-nium Monday to levels unseen since its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

The decision appeared aimed at increasing Tehran's leverage in the waning days in office for US President Donald Trump, whose unilateral with-drawal from the atomic accord in 2018 began a series of esca-lating incidents.

Increasing enrichment at its underground Fordo facil-ity puts Tehran a technical step away from weapons-grade lev-els of 90%. AGENCIES

Johnson has urged the public to begin following strict work from home rules right away

A man crosses the street backdropped by the Royal Exchange in the City of London financial district in London, on the first morning of England entering a third national lockdown since the Coronavirus outbreak began PTI

Al Ula: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, center right, greets the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, as he arrives at Al Ula airport, where the 41st Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) take place in Saudi Arabia, Tuesday PTI

mp business � 9millenniumpost|KOLKATA|WEDNESDAY, 6 JANUARY, 2021

WASHINGTON DC: India's economy is estimated to con-tract by 9.6 per cent in the fiscal year 2020-21, reflecting a sharp drop in household spending and private investment, and the growth is expected to recover to 5.4 per cent in 2021, the World Bank said on Tuesday.

In its Global Economic Prospects report, the World Bank said that the informal sector, which accounts for four-fifths of employment, has been subject to severe income losses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"In India, the pandemic hit the economy at a time when growth was already deceler-ating. The output is estimated to contract by 9.6 per cent in Fiscal Year 2020/21, reflect-ing a sharp drop in household spending and private invest-ment, it said.

"In India, growth is expected to recover to 5.4 per cent in 2021, as the rebound from a low base is offset by muted pri-vate investment growth given financial sector weaknesses, the bank said.

The informal sector, which accounts for four-fifths of employment, has also been subject to severe income losses during the pandemic. Recent high-frequency data indicate that the services and manu-

facturing recovery are gaining momentum, the report said.

"In the financial sector, non-performing loans were already high before the pandemic," it said.

In Pakistan, the recovery is expected to be subdued, with growth at 0.5 per cent in fiscal 2020/21. Growth is projected to be held back by continued fis-cal consolidation pressures and service sector weakness, it said.

In the rest of South Asia, the economic impact of COVID-19 has been somewhat less severe but still significant. Economies that depend heavily on tourism and travel have been especially hard hit. That includes the Mal-dives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, the report said.

"Regional economic activ-ity is estimated to have con-tracted by 6.7 per cent in 2020, led by a deep recession in India, where the economy was already weakened before the pandemic by stress in non-bank finan-cial corporations," the World Bank said.

In Bangladesh, which had been one of the fastest-growing emerging markets and devel-oping economies prior to the pandemic, growth is estimated to have decelerated to two per cent in FY2019/20.

In Pakistan, growth is esti-mated to have contracted by

1.5 per cent in FY2019/20, reflecting the effects of local-ised COVID-19 containment measures as well as the impact of monetary and fiscal tighten-ing prior to the outbreak, the bank said.

South Asia is projected to grow by 3.3 per cent in 2021.

"Weak growth prospects reflect a protracted recovery in incomes and employment, especially in the services sec-tor, limited credit provisioning constrained by financial sector vulnerabilities, and muted fiscal policy support," it said.

The forecast assumes that a vaccine will be distributed on a large scale in the region starting the second half of 2021 and that there is no widespread resur-gence in infections, it added.

The World Bank also

expects that the global econ-omy will expand four per cent in 2021, but will still remain more than five per cent below its pre-pandemic trend.

“The global economy appears to be emerging from one of its deepest recessions and beginning a subdued recov-ery,” World Bank President David Malpass said in a for-ward to the Global Economic Prospects report, according to which a recovery will likely be subdued, unless policy mak-ers move decisively to tame the pandemic and implement investment-enhancing reforms.

Although the global econ-omy is growing again after a 4.3 per cent contraction in 2020, the pandemic has caused a heavy toll of deaths and illness, plunged millions into poverty,

and may depress economic activity and incomes for a pro-longed period.

Top near-term policy prior-ities are controlling the spread of COVID-19 and ensuring rapid and widespread vaccine deployment. To support eco-nomic recovery, authorities also need to facilitate a re-invest-ment cycle aimed at sustainable growth that is less dependent on government debt, the report said.

“While the global economy appears to have entered a sub-dued recovery, policy makers face formidable challenges - in public health, debt manage-ment, budget policies, central banking and structural reforms - as they try to ensure that this still fragile global recovery gains traction and sets a foun-dation for robust growth,” said Malpass.

“To overcome the impacts of the pandemic and coun-ter the investment headwind, there needs to be a major push to improve business environ-ments, increase labour and product market flexibility, and strengthen transparency and governance,” he said.

The collapse in global eco-nomic activity in 2020 is esti-mated to have been slightly less severe than previously pro-jected, mainly due to shallower

contractions in advanced econ-omies and a more robust recov-ery in China.

In contrast, disruptions to activity in the majority of other emerging markets and develop-ing economies were more acute than expected, the Bank said in its report.

“Financial fragilities in many of these countries, as the growth shock impacts vulnera-ble household and business bal-ance sheets, will also need to be addressed, Vice President and World Bank Group Chief Econ-omist Carmen Reinhart said.

According to the report, global growth is projected to moderate to 3.8 per cent in 2022, weighed down by the pandemic’s lasting damage to potential growth. In particular, the impact of the pandemic on investment and human capi-tal is expected to erode growth prospects in emerging mar-ket and developing economies (EMDEs) and set back key development goals.

The global recovery, which has been dampened in the near term by a resurgence of COVID-19 cases, is expected to strengthen over the fore-cast horizon as confidence, consumption, and trade grad-ually improve, supported by ongoing vaccination, the report said. AGENCIES

Indian economy expected to contract by 9 .6% in 2020-21, says World Bank

The informal sector, which accounts for four-fifths of employment, has been subject to severe income losses

NEW DELHI: Over 5 crore income tax returns (ITRs) for fiscal year 2019-20 have been filed till January 4, the Income Tax Department said on Tues-day. The government has extended the ITR filing dead-line for individuals till Janu-ary 10, and for companies till February 15.

"Over 5.01 crore Income Tax Returns for AY 2020-21 have already been filed till 04th of January, 2021," the Income Tax Department said in a tweet.

The deadline for individu-als to file ITRs for 2018-19 was August 31, 2019 and over 5.63 crore ITRs were filed.

An analysis of the data showed that filing of tax returns by individuals for 2019-20 has slowed in the current year, while

filing by businesses and trusts have increased.

Over 2.7 crore ITR-1 have been filed till January 4, lower than 3.09 crore filed till Septem-ber 4, 2019.

With regard to ITR-4, it said, 1.04 crore returns have been filed till January 4 as compared to 1.28 crore filed till Septem-ber 4, 2019.

Returns in ITR-1 Sahaj are filed by individuals whose total income does not exceed Rs 50 lakh, while form ITR-4 Sugam is meant for individu-als, Hindu Undivided Families (HUFs) and firms (other than Limited Liability Partnership ) having a total income of up to Rs 50 lakh and having presump-tive income from business and profession. PTI

KOLKATA: Private lender Bandhan Bank on Tuesday said that it has signed an agreement with the Indian Army to provide banking services to the person-nel of the force.

The bank got the mandate to maintain zero-balance sal-ary accounts of the Army per-sonnel, the lender said in a statement.

They will be offered other preferential services such as six per cent interest on balance over Rs one lakh, unlimited free ATM transactions across ATMs, waiver of issuance and annual charge on Shaurya Visa Plati-num Debit Card and unlim-ited free NEFT/RTGS/IMPS/DD transactions.

Bandhan Bank Shaurya Sal-ary Account also offers pro-

tection for self and assets. This includes free personal accident insurance of Rs 30 lakh, air acci-dent cover of Rs one crore and free educational benefit of up

to Rs one lakh per year for four years to a dependent child in case of accidental death of the account holder, the statement said. MPOST

Bandhan Bank signs pact to provide banking services to Army personnel

Lt Gen Harsha Gupta (AVSM, YSM, VSM) at the signing of MoU, with Chandra Shekhar Ghosh, MD & CEO, Bandhan Bank

MUMBAI: An increase in credit may not always find its way towards investments as busi-ness entities may use credit lines to finance their current liabili-ties, a Reserve Bank paper said on Tuesday.

The paper further says that banks respond to changes in money market spreads faster and better than changes in pol-icy rates, which are announced by the RBI bi-monthly.

"...in addition to slow or lagged monetary policy trans-mission, an increase in credit may not always find its way towards increasing investments. Firms may use their credit lines to finance their current liabilities rather than undertaking capital formation," said the paper writ-ten by Saurabh Ghosh and Abhi-nav Narayanan, both officials of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

Monetary policy transmis-sion has remained a pivotal topic of interest across all cen-

tral bankers. Empirically, how-ever, it is hard to disentangle the effects of a policy change on firms' investment demand, banks' credit supply and their interactions.

The findings of the paper indicate that monetary policy transmission works with a lag for bank lending. For firms, aggregate demand conditions in the market may drive invest-ment demand which may, in turn, be correlated with the monetary policy easing cycle.

However, final credit flows from banks depend on the liquidity position of banks that the firms are attached to. These findings indicate the importance of banks' liquidity in addition to the balance sheet channel for improving the efficacy of monetary policy transmission.

The central bank said the views expressed in these papers are those of authors and not of the RBI. PTI

Rise in credit may not always find its way towards increasing investments, claims RBI paper

Toll collection through FASTag in Dec rises by over `200 croreNEW DELHI: Toll collection in December 2020 through FASTags reached Rs 2,303.79 crore in December 2020, recording an increase of Rs 201 crore over the preceding month, the NHAI said on Tuesday. Similarly, toll transactions through FASTags recorded significant growth of 1.35 crore in December 2020. PTI

Over 5 cr ITRs for AY20 filed till Jan 4

NEW YORK: Amazon said Tuesday that it bought 11 jets from Delta and West-Jet airlines to boost its grow-ing delivery network and get orders to shoppers faster.

The company said it's the first time it has purchased planes for its delivery net-work. Over the past couple of years, Amazon has been leasing planes to build its fleet.

Having a mix of both leased and owned aircraft in our growing fleet allows us to better manage our operations," said Sarah Rhoads, vice presi-dent of Amazon Global Air, in a blog post.

Seattle-based Amazon has been working to deliver most of its packages itself and rely less on UPS, the U.S. Postal Service and other carriers.

Besides its fleet of planes, Amazon has also built several package-sorting hubs at airports, opened warehouses closer to where shoppers live and launched a program that lets contractors start businesses delivering packages in vans stamped with the Amazon logo.

Amazon said the 11 planes, all of which are Boeing 767-300s, will be converted to hold cargo instead of passengers. The four jets that it is buying from WestJet will join Ama-zon's fleet this year, and the seven from Delta will be ready by next year.

The purchases will bring its total fleet to 85 planes by 2022.

Amazon.com Inc. declined to say how much it is paying for the planes. AGENCIES

Amazon buys 11 jets for 1st

time to ship orders faster

NEW DELHI: The Department of Telecom is expected to issue the notice for upcoming spec-trum auction this week that will have timelines and rules to bid for airwaves.

The Union Cabinet approved a proposal for the auction of 2,251.25 Megahertz (MHz) of spectrum worth Rs 3.92 lakh crore at the base price on December 17, 2020.

The DoT was expected to issue the Notice Inviting Appli-cation (NIA) for the auction in December but due to an emer-gency engagement of a top authority it got delayed.

"The NIA is almost ready. It should be out this week," a DoT official, who did not wish to be named, said. The Digital Communications Commission, the apex decision making body of the DoT, in May last year approved the spectrum auction plan worth Rs 5.22 lakh crore which included radiowaves for 5G services as well. A part of the 300 MHz of spectrum identified by the DoT for 5G services is being used by the Navy, and the Department of Space has also made claims on a significant portion of these radio waves.

The industry has also been demanding the government to lower the base price of 5G spec-trum as each operator will need to shell out around Rs 50,000 crore for the required quantum of radio waves for the next gen-eration services.

In addition to the bid amount, successful bidders will also have to pay three per cent of the Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR), excluding wireline ser-vices, as spectrum usage charges for the spectrum won through this auction.

Successful bidders may pay entire bid amount in one go (upfront). They can also exer-cise an option to pay a certain amount (25 per cent for spec-trum won in 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz bands or 50 per cent for spectrum won in 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz, 2500 MHz bands) upfront and the remaining amount in a maximum of up to 16 equated annual instalments after a mora-torium of two years.

The upcoming spectrum auction to be held in March may not see aggressive response from the industry and bids may be in the range of Rs 30,000 crore to Rs 50,000 crore for the radiowaves valued at around Rs 3.92 lakh crore, according to analysts. Market experts believe that telecom operators are likely to focus on renewal of spec-trum and Vodafone Idea may not participate in the auction for renewal of their spectrum in some circles.

According to Icra, it does

not foresee any major partici-pation in the 700 MHz band and pegged the bids to be in the range of Rs 55,000-60,000 crore.

JM Financials, on the other hand, expects bids to be in the range of Rs 30,000 crore only.

Bharti Airtel has 12.4 MHz of spectrum in 900 MHz band and 47 MHz in 1800 MHz band, and Reliance Commu-nications' 44 MHz of spectrum in 800 MHz band, being used by Reliance Jio, is coming up for renewal. Vodafone Idea needs to renew 6.2 MHz of spectrum in 900 MHz band and 38.2 MHz in 1800 MHz band.

According to Credit Suisse, renewal of these spectrum fre-quencies will cost around Rs 15,000 crore to Bharti Airtel and Rs 11,500 crore to Reliance Jio. PTI

DoT likely to issue notice for spectrum auction this week

The Union Cabinet approved a proposal for the auction of 2,251.25 Megahertz (MHz) of spectrum worth Rs 3.92 lakh crore at the base price on December 17, 2020

GOVERNMENT OF WEST BENGAL

Office of the District Magistrate, Darjeeling

District Planning Section E-NIQ_No. 10/Plan/ELEC/MATR/

WBLA/2020 Dt 04/01/2021

For the above mentioned e-NlQ the last date of submission of bid online is 19/01/2021 upto 18:00 Hrs. For details log in at www.darjeeling.gov.in & www.wbtender.nic.in

Sd/- District Magistrate

Darjeeling

GOVERNMENT OF WEST BENGAL

Tenders are invited from the reputed / bonafide contractors for various Civil construction for different schools under Bankura District Vide NIT No. 02/V/24/PG/Civil/SSM of 2020-21. For more information pls. visit www.bankura.gov.in or in District Office, Bankura.

Sd/-District Education Officer,

SSM, BankuraMemo No: 912/(4)/DICO/BNK

Date: 05/01/2021

GOVERNMENT OF WEST BENGAL

Sealed Tenders are invited for the repair stand renovation work of EFR 1 Battalion,

Salua, Paschim Medinipore at a cost of Rs. 2,22,186/- (Rupees two lakh twenty two thousand one hundred eighty six) only. The Tender should be addressed

stto the Commandant, EFR 1 Bn. Salua, Paschim Medinipur by name with superscription of the above noted name of the articles on the top of the envelope and the name of the Firm / Contractor at the bottom left hand side of the cover. The last date of submission of the Bid is 07 (seven) days from the publication date of the Tender Notice in this newspaper. Other details may also be seen from the office notice board.

TENDER NOTICE

ICA- T0129(5)/2021

ICA- T0152(6)/2021

ICA- T0158(7)/2021

ICA- T0162(6)/2021

ICA- T0167(6)/2021

GOVERNMENT OF WEST BENGAL

S.E.C.H.C., Public Works (Roads) Directorate, invites online e-tender for the work : 1. Miapur ROB at 65.00 kmp of B.B.L.R road, Rehabilitation work under Murshidabad Highway Division No. I in the district of Murshidabad (2nd call) . Estimated Amount : ₹ 86,40,209.00 eNIT

nd no. 33 of 2020-2021 (2 call), Tender ID : 2020_SH_311530_1 Bid Submission start date (online) : 06.01.2021 from 11.00 a.m. Bid Submission of closing date (online) : 19.01.2021 upto 1.00 p.m. Corrigendum if any will be published in website only. Details of NIT and Tender documents may be d o w n l o a d e d f r o m : h t t p s : / / w w w.w b t e n d e r s . g o v. i n Sd/- S.E.C.H.C. GOVT. OF WEST BENGAL.

PW(R)D TENDER NOTICE

ICA- T0170(6)/2021

ICA- T0178(6)/2021 ICA- T0210(6)/2021

ICA- T0182(5)/2021

ICA- T0189(6)/2021

KMDA TENDER NOTICE

e-NIT No : SE(E/M)-II/T-07 of 2020-2021

e-Tender is invited by Superintending Engineer, (E/M)-II, E/M Sector, KMDA, Unnayan Bhavan, 6th Floor, Salt Lake, Kolkata-700091 from reliable, experienced and resourceful Agencies for the work Name of Work : Operation & Maintenance of electro-mechanical equipment of clear water pumping station of 48 MLD water treatment plant, Bally, Howrah, Estimated Amount : Rs.51,14,494/-, Earnest Money: Rs.1,02,290/-, Time of Completion : 36 Months, Last date & time of submission of tender : 29.01.2021 upto 12.00 hrs. For details contact the above office or visit KMDA website.

KMDA-567 www.kmdaonline.org

www.wbtenders.gov.in

ICA- T0192(6)/2021

KMDA TENDER NOTICE

e-NIT No : 07/SE/C-II/R&B/KMDA of 2020-21

Notice inviting e-tender is invited by the Superintending Engineer, Circle-II, R&B Sector, KMDA, Unnayan Bhavan, Block-A (7th Floor) Bidhannagar, Kolkata - 700091 for the work Sl. No., Name of Work, Estimated Amount, Earnest Money, Time of Completion 1) Repair and Retrofitting works of Kalighat Bridge, Kolkata, Rs.1,19,37,550/-, Rs.2,38,751/-, 180 days, 2) Repair and Retrofitting of Ultadanga Bridge for span RR31-RR32 (Single Span) Kolkata, Rs.41,51,045/-, Rs.83,021/-, 90 days, Last date & time of submission of tender : 29.01.2021 upto 12.00 hrs. For details contact the above office or visit KMDA website.

KMDA-570 www.kmdaonline.org

www.wbtenders.gov.in

ICA- T0205(6)/2021

ICA- T0134(6)/2021

ICA- T0138(7)/2021

ICA- T0143(5)/2021

ICA- T0148(5)/2021

mp business10PM'S ENERGY ROADMAP: MORE THAN DOUBLE NATURAL GAS SHARE, DIVERSIFY ENERGY SOURCES

KOLKATA|WEDNESDAY, 6 JANUARY, 2021|millenniumpost

SEBI REVOKES MARKET BAN ON 7 ENTITIES IN FRONT RUNNING CASENEW DELHI: Market regulator Sebi has lifted the market ban imposed on seven entities, which came under the scanner in a front-running case, involving some dealers of Reliance Securities and their con-nected entities. It was alleged that the entities violated the provisions of PFUTP (Prohibition of Fraudulent and Unfair Trade Practices) norms. These seven entities are -- Bharat C Parekh -HUF, Mansi V Shah, Pravin Somani, Bimal N Mehta, Jitendra M Shah-HUF, Sanjay J Shah- HUF and Shimoni S Shah.

RBI IMPOSES `2.5 CRORE PENALTY ON BAJAJ FINANCEMUMBAI: The Reserve Bank on Tuesday said it has imposed a penalty of Rs 2.5 crore on Bajaj Finance Limited, Pune for violation of various directions, including on recovery and collection practices. There was also violation of a specific direction to the company to ensure full compliance with Fair Practices Code (FPC) in "letter and spirit", the central bank said in a release. "This penalty has been imposed...taking into account the failure of the company to ensure that its recovery agents did not resort to harassment or intimidation of customers as part of its debt collection efforts and thereby failing to adhere to the aforesaid directions issued by RBI," it said.

NYSE WITHDRAWS PLANS TO DELIST 3 CHINESE PHONE CARRIERS BEIJING: The New York Stock Exchange has withdrawn plans to delist shares of three Chinese state-owned phone carriers. The shares were to be removed under an order from President Donald Trump, a move Beijing had warned might lead to retaliation. The exchange cited further consultation with regulators but its an-nouncement late Monday gave no other details. The NYSE said Thursday it would remove China Telecom Corp. Ltd., China Mobile Ltd. and China Unicom Hong Kong Ltd.

BRIEFSBUSINESS

NEW DELHI: State-owned EESL on Tuesday said that over 36.69 crore LED bulbs have been distributed under the Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for All (UJALA) scheme, while 1.14 crore LEDs have been installed under the Street Lighting National Programme (SLNP) in the past six years.

Till date, the imple-mentation of these govern-ment schemes have resulted in cumulative energy sav-ings of 55.32 billion kWh per year, Energy Efficiency Ser-vices Limited (EESL) said in a statement.

"Launched by Prime Minis-ter Narendra Modi on January 5, 2015, zero subsidy UJALA and SLNP marks their sixth anniversary today (Tuesday). Both programmes are being implemented by EESL.

"EESL has distributed 36.69 crore LED bulbs and installed 1.14 crore LED streetlights, resulting in cumulative energy savings of 55.32 billion kWh per year," the statement said.

Sharing further details, EESL said that under the UJALA scheme, it distributed over 36.69 crore LED bulbs across India. This has resulted in estimated energy savings of 47.65 billion kWh per year with avoided peak demand of 9,540 MW and an estimated reduc-tion of 38.59 million tonne CO2 (carbon dioxide) emis-sion per year. PTI

MUMBAI: Despite Reliance Group closing a slew of equity divestments in its telecom and retail arms to the tune of $23 bil-lion in 2020, the overall inbound M&As failed to notch up the 2019 tally with the value fall-ing 7 per cent to $73.6 billion last year, according to a report.

Last year, outbound M&As touched $4.4 billion, up 58.4 per cent compared to 2019 and over 80 per cent of the money landed in US assets, according to a tally of Mergers & Acquisi-tions (M&As) by global finan-cial markets data provider Refinitiv.

Overall inbound deals fal-tered due to the pandemic, pull-ing down the deal value by 7 per cent and down 11.5 per cent in volume over 2019.

With $73.6 billion worth inbound deals, M&A value last year was way below the all-time high it scaled in 2018 at $132.2 billion and up from 2017 when it was at a low $58.3 bil-lion, according to Elaine Tan, a senior analyst at Refinitiv.

The numbers would have been much lower had it not been for the litany of deals by Reliance — $16 billion into Jio and over $6.4 billion into Reliance Retail.

However, domestic M&As dropped 12.4 per cent in value to $36.8 billion while the number of announced domestic deals fell 11.5 per cent from 2019.

The biggest deal was by Facebook acquiring 9.9 per cent stake in Jio Platforms for $5.7

billion through its subsidiary Jaadhu Holdings. During the third quarter, Google Interna-tional also acquired 7.73 per cent stake in Jio for $4.5 billion.

Thanks to the big deals by Reliance with Facebook and Google, the US was the most active foreign asset acquiror in terms of value and vol-ume. While value doubled to $19.1 billion from 147 deals, it captured 51.9 per cent of the inbound M&A market share.

In 2020, outbound M&As totalled $4.4 billion, up 58.4 per cent from 2019. And again, the US was the topmost target-nation in terms of value and volume across 43 deals worth $3.5 billion, which is 79.7 per cent of the total deals.

Last year, majority of deal making targeted energy and power sector which totalled $13.1 billion, up 15.7 per cent from 2019 and 15.8 per cent of the deal share, followed by tele-coms and financials with 13.1 per cent and 11.8 per cent mar-ket shares, respectively.

The numbers would have been still lower had it not been for a 3.6 per cent uptick in num-ber of deals in the second half, Tan said.

Meanwhile, equity capital markets set a new record with $37.6 billion in proceeds, sur-passing the annual record set in 2007 at $31.2 billion as follow-on offerings hit all-time high and IPOs picked up in the sec-ond half. PTI

NEW DELHI: Fortune cook-ing oil has temporarily halted television commercials featur-ing former Indian cricket cap-tain Sourav Ganguly following a mild heart attack he suffered.

But the company insisted the BCCI chief is not being dropped as the brand ambassador and the commercials will be back on air soon. Ganguly last week suffered a mild heart attack, fol-lowing which he had to undergo angioplasty. The news of his health had led to a lot of buzz on social media with some seeking to link it with his endorsements.

Ganguly, whose condition is said to be stable with vital health parameters being nor-mal, endorses Fortune Rice Bran cooking oil of the Adani Wil-mar group.

"We shall continue to work with Sourav and he will con-tinue to be our brand ambas-sador. We have only taken a temporary break in our TV commercial till we again sit with Sourav and take things forward. This is a very unfortunate inci-dent and can happen with any-one," Adani Wilmar Deputy CEO Angshu Mallick told PTI.

He said recently a senior IT executive was reported to have collapsed on a treadmill while exercising. "Does that mean treadmill is bad"?

Rice bran oil, he said, is one of the world's most healthy oils and contains natural antioxidants.

"Gamma Oryzonal present in rice bran oil reduces bad cho-lesterol and improves lipid pro-file. Sourav Ganguly became our brand ambassador endorsing our Fortune rice bran oil. The rice bran oil is not a medicine but only cooking oil. There are several factors which affect heart ailments including dietary and hereditary issues," he said. PTI

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: Enunciating his energy roadmap, Prime Min-ister Narendra Modi on Tues-day said the share of natural gas in India's energy basket will be more than doubled, energy sources diversified and the nation will be connected with one gas pipeline grid to help bring affordable fuel to people and industry.

Inaugurating a 450-km natural gas pipeline between Kochi in Kerala to Mangaluru in Karnataka, he said India under his government is see-ing unprecedented work on highways, railway, metro, air, water, digital and gas connec-tivity which will aid economic development.

The government has an "integrated approach to energy planning. Our energy agenda is all-inclusive," he said.

While on the one hand, the natural gas pipeline network is being doubled to about 32,000 km in 5-6 years, on the other, work on the world's biggest hybrid renewable plant com-bining wind and solar power has started in Gujarat.

Also, the emphasis is being laid on manufacturing biofu-els as well as electric mobility, he said.

These measures will help India move away from being highly dependent on polluting coal and liquid fuels for meet-ing its energy needs.

As much as 58 per cent of all energy consumed in the country currently comes from coal while petroleum and other liquids make up for 26 per cent of the energy basket. Share of natural gas is just 6 per cent while that of renewables is less than 2 per cent.

Modi said the share of natu-ral gas, which is cleaner and can be transported through pipe-lines thereby cutting vehicular movements needed for other fuels, is targeted to be raised to 15 per cent by 2030.

By the same time, petrol will be doped with as much as 20 per cent of ethanol extracted from sugarcane and other agro products, he said.

This would help cut reli-ance on imports for meeting oil needs as well as reduce car-bon emissions.

Also, the focus on renew-able energy by using abundant energy from the sun and wind to generate electricity and pro-moting the use of battery-oper-ated electric vehicles will help India meet its COP-21 com-mitments for cutting carbon emissions.

The Prime Minister said the government is working with a vision to connect the entire nation with one-pipeline grid that will help improve clean energy access as well as also aid in the development of city gas projects. The new pipeline inaugurated on Tuesday is part of that plan, he said.

This new line will help take the fuel to industries such as petrochemical plants and fertil-iser units as well as provide fuel for city gas projects for sup-ply of CNG to automobiles and piped cooking gas to house-holds in cities along the route, he said.

It will also help a 5 million tonnes a year liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal at

Kochi to achieve full capacity. The terminal has been operat-ing at less than 10 per cent of the capacity for last few years as there was no pipeline to take the gas to users.

Outlining the work done by his government in the energy sector, Modi said 900 CNG stations were set up till 2014 from the advent of CNG as fuel for automobiles in the coun-try around 1992. In the last six years, the number of CNG sta-tions has gone up to 1,500 and the target is to take them to 10,000, he said.

Also, 25 lakh households had piped natural gas con-nections for using the fuel for cooking purposes till 2014 which has risen to 72 lakh now,

he said adding the new pipe-line would help add 700 CNG stations and provide 21 lakh piped cooking gas connections in Kerala and Karnataka.

He said his government has doubled the LPG user base in six years by issuing 14 crore connections equivalent to the ones that were issued in six decades prior to it.

As many as 8 crore free LPG connections were given to poor women under the Ujj-wala scheme and 12 crore free LPG refills were provided dur-ing lockdown last year, he said.

The abundant availability of LPG has ensured that states are no longer fighting for rais-ing the kerosene quota and are instead declaring themselves kerosene-free.

"We are working to provide clean, affordable and sustain-able energy," he said.

Modi said his government's integrated approach to energy planning has bought various reforms across the oil and gas sector, covering exploration and production and natural gas marketing and distribution.

"We plan to achieve one nation one grid. We also want to shift to the gas-based econ-omy," he said adding crores of rupees will be invested in the oil and gas sector this decade

in raising the share of natural gas in the energy basket.

Prime Minister said the effort is to build future energy needs from today itself.

"While natural gas is the focus on one hand, and on the other, we want to diversify energy sources," he said refer-ring to the renewable energy plant and biofuels.

The 450-km Kochi-Manga-luru natural gas pipeline from Kochi in Kerala to Mangaluru in Karnataka will supply envi-ronment-friendly piped natu-ral gas and CNG to 10 districts along the pipeline. The pipeline has a design capacity of 12 mil-lion standard cubic meters per day and costs Rs 3,000 crore to build.

He said that the pipeline would improve the ease of living in both the states and reduce the expenses of the poor, middle class and entre-preneurs of both the states, adding that it would become the base of the Gas Distribu-tion System in many cities and would form the base of the CNG based transport system in these cities.

He said the pipeline would provide clean energy to Manga-lore Refinery and would play a major role in reducing the pol-lution in both states.

PM inaugurates 450-km natural gas pipeline between Kochi, MangaluruGovernment is working with a vision to connect the entire nation with one-pipeline grid: Prime Minister

Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks during dedication of Kochi - Mangaluru Natural Gas Pipeline to the nation, via video conferencing, in New Delhi, on Tuesday PIC/PTI

Inbound M&As fall 7% to $73.6 bn

in 2020: Report

MUMBAI: Equity benchmark Sensex defied gravity for the 10th straight session to close at a fresh lifetime high on Tuesday as robust buying in financial and IT stocks offset lacklustre global cues.

Persistent foreign fund inflows supported the bench-marks, though a weakening rupee capped the gains, trad-ers said.

Despite opening on a nega-tive note, the 30-share BSE index pared all losses and staged a smart recovery to end 260.98 points or 0.54 per cent higher at 48,437.78. It touched an all-time high of 48,486.24 during the day. The Sensex has closed at record highs for seven ses-sions on the trot.

Total market capitalisation of all listed companies on BSE zoomed to a record high of Rs 192.87 lakh crore on Tuesday helped by continuous rally in the equity market. The market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms

have jumped a whopping Rs 14,08,195.89 crore to a record Rs 1,92,87,518.94 crore ($2.6 trillion) in 10 trading sessions.

Equity investors grew richer by Rs 32.49 lakh crore in 2020 helped by massive returns in the equity market which had a roller coaster ride during the year hit by the coronavirus pandemic.

The broader NSE Nifty rose

66.60 points or 0.47 per cent to settle at a new peak of 14,199.50. It scaled a record intra-day high of 14,215.60.

Axis Bank was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, ral-lying 6.31 per cent, followed by HDFC, IndusInd Bank, TCS, Asian Paints, HCL Tech, Titan and ICICI Bank.

On the other hand, ONGC,

Bajaj Finance, NTPC, M&M and Reliance Industries were among the laggards, tumbling up to 2.06 per cent.

BSE bankex, finance, IT, teck, consumer durables and capital goods indices rose up to 1.90 per cent, while metal, energy, realty, oil and gas, basic materials and auto closed lower.

Global markets were mixed after Britain announced a fresh nationwide coronavirus lock-down, while Wall Street wilted under selling pressure in the overnight session.

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Shanghai, Seoul and Hong Kong ended on a positive note, while Tokyo was in the red.

Stock exchanges in Europe were trading mixed in early deals.

Meanwhile, the global oil benchmark Brent crude futures rose 0.69 per cent to $51.44 per barrel. The rupee depreciated by 15 paise to finish at 73.17 against the US dollar. PTI

Sensex, Nifty scale fresh peaksBSE-listed cos' market valuation zooms to record high of `192.87 lakh cr

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NEW DELHI: Mutual funds' asset base rose by 7.6 per cent to 29.71 lakh crore in the quar-ter ended December, mainly on account of the rally in equity markets.

The average asset under management (AAUM) of the industry, comprising 45 players, was at Rs 27.6 lakh crore in July-September quarter, according to data by Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi).

The AAUM of December quarter is higher compared to the preceding quarter due to surge in equity markets.

The surge in asset base comes on the back of excellent stock market performances over the last 3 months, with Nifty 50 rising by 3.15 per cent in Octo-ber, 12.02 per cent in November and 14.9 per cent in Decem-ber, Gopal Kavalireddi, Head of Research at FYERS said.

"The increase is quarterly asset base is majorly due to mark to market gains in equity-

oriented mutual funds. Mar-kets being at an all-time high has resulted in this, although there have been net outflows in this quarter," said Omkeshwar Singh, Head RankMF at Samco Securities.

Of the 42 operational AMCs, the top four AMCs-- SBI MF, HDFC MF, ICICI Prudential MF, Aditya Birla Sunlife MF — continue to dominate and account for 50 per cent of total assets of the mutual fund indus-try. These top four fund houses witnessed an increase in their respective average AUMs during the September quarter.

With an asset base of Rs 4.56 lakh crore, SBI Mutual Fund continues to be the largest fund house in the country during the December quarter 2020. It had an average AUM of Rs 4.21 lakh crore in the preceding quar-ter. This indicates a growth of 8.3 per cent on a quarter-on-quarter basis.

HDFC MF, which is at the

second position, saw its asset base rising to Rs 3.89 lakh crore during the period under review from Rs 3.75 lakh crore in the September quarter.

This is followed by ICICI Prudential MF at the third posi-tion with an average AUM of Rs 3.8 lakh crore in the three months ended December, com-pared to Rs 3.6 lakh crore in the previous quarter.

Aditya Birla Sunlife MF, the fourth largest fund house, has seen its average AUM growing to Rs 2.55 lakh crore from Rs 2.39 lakh crore.

The asset base of Kotak Mahindra MF soared Rs 13 per cent to Rs 2.16 lakh crore at the end of the December quarter, as against Rs 1.91 lakh crore in the three months ended Sep-tember 30.

Nippon India MF's average AUM rose to Rs 2.13 lakh crore in the December quarter from Rs 2 lakh crore in the preced-ing quarter. PTI

Mutual funds asset base rises 7.6% to ̀ 29.71 lakh crore in Dec quarter

Fortune cooking oil advt featuring Ganguly taken off

air temporarily

37 cr LED bulbs distributed in 6 years; 1.1 cr streetlights

installed: EESL

MUMBAI: The Reserve Bank on Tuesday said Payments Infrastructure Development Fund has been operationalised to create 30 lakh new touch points every year for digital payments in Tier-3 to Tier-6 centres.

In June last year, the RBI had announced the creation of Payments Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF). The fund intended to subsi-dise deployment of payment acceptance infrastructure in Tier-3 to Tier-6 centres, with special focus on the north-east-ern states.

In a statement, the central bank said an Advisory Council (AC), under the Chairmanship of RBI Deputy Governor BP Kanungo, has been constituted

for managing the PIDF. It will be operational for a period of three years from January 01, 2021, and maybe extended for two more years, depending upon the progress.

The PIDF presently has a corpus of Rs 345 crore -- Rs 250 crore contributed by the Reserve Bank of India and Rs 95 crore by the major authorised card networks in the country.

The target for the PIDF is increasing payments acceptance infrastructure by adding 30 lakh touch points every year 10 lakh physical and 20 lakh digital pay-ment acceptance devices.

Multiple payment accep-tance devices/infrastructure supporting underlying card payments, such as physical PoS, mPoS (mobile PoS), GPRS

(General Packet Radio Ser-vice), PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network), and QR code-based payments, will be the types of acceptance devices to be covered under the scheme.

“As the cost structure of acceptance devices vary, sub-sidy amounts shall accordingly differ by the type of payment acceptance device deployed. A subsidy of 30 per cent to 50 per cent of cost of physical PoS and 50 per cent to 75 per cent subsidy for Digital PoS shall be offered,” the RBI said.

However, payment meth-ods that are not inter-operable would not be considered under the PIDF.

“The objective of PIDF is to increase the number of acceptance devices multi-fold

in the country. The Scheme is expected to benefit the acquir-ing banks/non-banks and merchants by lowering overall acceptance infrastructure cost,” the central bank said.

It further said the initial cor-pus of the PIDF has to be sub-stantial to initiate pan-India terminalisation and to cover the pay-outs in the first year.

Contributions to the PIDF will be mandatory for banks and card networks.

“The card-issuing banks shall also contribute to the cor-pus-based on the card issuance volume (covering both debit cards and credit cards) at the rate of Rs 1 and Rs 3 per debit and credit card issued by them, respectively,” the RBI said, add-ing it should be the endeavour

to collect the contributions by January 31, 2021.

Besides the initial corpus, the PIDF will also receive an annual contribution from card networks and card-issuing banks.

The PIDF scheme is on a reimbursement basis and accordingly, the claim has to be submitted only after making payment to the vendor.

The maximum cost of the physical acceptance device eli-gible for subsidy is Rs 10,000 (including one-time operat-ing cost up to a maximum of Rs 500).

The maximum cost of the digital acceptance device eligi-ble for subsidy is Rs 300 (includ-ing onetime operating cost up to a maximum of Rs 200). PTI

RBI operationalises PIDF scheme to boost digital payments

Amazon was fully aware of talks with RIL for sale of retail assets: Future Group CEO

NEW DELHI: Future Group Founder and CEO Kishore Biyani on Tuesday said Amazon was fully aware of his group's talks with Reliance Industries for the sale of retail assets that followed the US giant offering no concrete help to tide over the cash crisis.

Opening up after being locked in an intense legal battle with Amazon over the Rs 24,713 crore deal with Reliance, Biyani in an interview with PTI said the US giant's 2019 investment in Future Coupons Pvt Ltd (FCPL) -- Future Retail's parent -- was for coupon and gifting business only and the same could con-tinue post-retail assets going to

Reliance. He hoped to complete the deal with Reliance within two months of Sebi approval.

While the arbitration would commence later in January over the plea filed by Amazon con-testing the deal with Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), Biyani said both the deal and arbitration process would continue in "par-allel" as the deal with billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led group is not related with the e-commerce major's stake in one of the group firms, Future Coupons.

Biyani said Future Group had approached them several times after its retail business was massively hit after the lockdown and its debt level zoomed.

"The day COVID and lock-down started, since then we were in continuous engagement with Amazon. That's not the case that they (Amazon) were not aware of. We had written to them somewhere in March also about the price deteriora-tion and invocation of shares," Biyani said. There was a clause through which Amazon could replace lenders with some others which can help them (Future) to retain the ownership of the shares if it falls, he added.

"COVID had happened and things did not materialise then. After that, we were in discussion with them (Amazon) through the whole transaction. Even

when Reliance was part of the negotiation, they were always aware of that," he added.

Asked as to how many times Future Group approached Amazon, he said, "we were in continuous dialogue. We had approached them multiple times. We had calls and meet-ings". Biyani said Amazon was also apprised when there were exclusive talks with RIL.

"After the matter has become legal (sub-judice), we have not spoken,"he said. While noting that Amazon's response was always "let's find a solution", Biyani said they never got any solution from Amazon except "lots of paper works". PTI

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mp sports 11millenniumpost|KOLKATA|WEDNESDAY, 6 JANUARY, 2021

‘His heart is as strong as it used to be when he was 20 years old’

KOLKATA: BCCI chief and former Team India captain Sourav Ganguly, who under-went angioplasty following a mild heart attack, is now stable with no complaint of chest pain or breathing issues, noted cardi-ologist Dr Devi Shetty said on Tuesday, after monitoring the cricket icon's health.

The former Indian skipper will be discharged from hospital on Wednesday, he said.

Ganguly was diagnosed with three blocked coronary arteries on Saturday, following which a stent was inserted in one to remove the blockage.

Dr Shetty, who flew down to the city in the morning to check on the BCCI president, said the 48-year-old is an "asset" to the nation, and the mild heart attack that he experienced did not cause any damage to his health.

The cardiac surgeon, follow-ing his meeting with a team of 13 doctors at Woodlands Hospi-tal here, also said that the batting great can return to normal, as "his heart is as strong as it used

to be when he was 20 years old"."This was not a major car-

diac event which would dam-age his heart. This event will certainly not have any impact on his life in the future. He will be leading a normal life. It will not affect his lifespan," Dr Shetty said.

Thanking the doctors at the medical establishment for pro-viding Ganguly with the "best possible treatment right on time", Dr Shetty further said, "He (Sourav) will be able to participate in a marathon, fly a plane or chase any of his dreams

or aspirations without this (mild heart attack) causing any set back. He can get back to cricket if he wants to. He can even exer-cise like a normal person."

Asked if the former left-handed batsman would have to undergo another angioplasty, the cardiologist said he could either treat it medically or go for the procedure.

"He (Sourav) has both the options at his disposal, but it would be wise to go for another angioplasty. We have left it to him to decide. We think it would be good for him to wait for at least two weeks and then take a call.

"He has no chest pain, no breathing problems. He is sta-ble. (He can) go home and come back 15 days later and get the procedure done," Dr Shetty said.

Meanwhile, Dr Rupali Basu, the MD and CEO of Woodlands Hospital, said that Ganguly was "doing well clinically as expected by all of us. He slept well last night and spoke to us this morn-ing. We will be discharging him tomorrow." AGENCIES

Ind-Aus Test series: K L Rahul out with sprained left wrist

SYDNEY: India batsman K L Rahul was on Tuesday ruled out of the remaining two Tests against Australia after sustaining a wrist injury during training in Melbourne, the BCCI said.

Rahul had not played any match of the ongoing series in which the third Test starts on Thursday here.

"KL Rahul sprained his left wrist while batting in the nets at the MCG during Team India's practice session on Saturday," the BCCI said in a statement.

"The wicketkeeper-bats-man will not be available for the remaining two Tests of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy as he will need about three weeks time to recover completely and regain full strength," it added.

It has been learnt that the stylish right-hander suffered a sprain while facing one of the three throwdown specialists at the nets and had to call off his training session.

For the time being, he will not be able to add to his 36 Test matches although Virat Kohli, before the start of the Test series, had stated that they were look-ing at Rahul as a middle-order batsman. Rahul had accompa-nied the squad to Sydney and on Tuesday left for India.

He will head to the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru for rehabilitation.

The injury also puts him in doubt for the four-match home Test series against Eng-land, which begins February 5.

Rahul's departure will effec-tively mean that one among Mayank Agarwal or Hanuma Vihari will save their place in the Indian playing XI depend-ing on where vice-captain Rohit Sharma bats.

Both Vihari and Agarwal have been in poor form with one score of fifty plus in eight innings.

If Rohit bats in his new-found opening slot, then it could be curtains for Agarwal for the time being.

Another option could be Agarwal and Rohit opening with Shubman Gill, despite his 45 and 35 not out, being pushed to mid-dle order in place of Vihari. The third option is Rohit batting in the middle order and Agarwal and Gill getting one more Test as an opening pair.

Meanwhile, the Indian team management is weighing its options for the third pacer’s slot with Shardul Thakur and Navdeep Saini in contention but Rohit Sharma is certain to replace Mayank Agarwal at the top of the order against Austra-lia in the third Test starting here on Thursday.

While Agarwal’s axing was

only a matter of time after seven failures in last eight Test innings, the choice for the third pac-er’s slot has got a bit tricky with divergent opinions emerging on who could fit the role best in absence of an injured Umesh Yadav.

A few days back, Mumbai seamer and useful lower-order batsman Shardul Thakur was considered a favourite but it is learnt that there are some senior players, who feel that Saini, India’s fastest bowler by a distance, could be used to unset-tle the wobbly Australian bat-ting line-up with his raw pace.

The Indian team had a net session at the overcast Sydney Cricket Ground on the day and all eyes were on Rohit Sharma, who looked pretty comfortable against both pace and spin.

The decision on the third pacer has been primarily delayed because on Tuesday, the SCG centre strip was cov-ered due to overcast conditions.

On Wednesday, a look at the strip and the conditions will probably help them make a deci-sive choice.

If the conditions are over-cast and there is bit more mois-ture on the strip, then Thakur is expected to be preferred.

If the track is on the flatter side, Saini, with his pace and ability to reverse the old ball, could prove to be a handful against a batting order that is struggling to put up even 200 runs on the board. AGENCIES

40 positives in latest EPL

testingLONDON: The English Premier League says there were 40 positive cases of the Coronavirus among play-ers and club staff follow-ing two rounds of tests last week.

It is more than double the highest weekly figure of posi-tive cases since testing began ahead of the return of league play last June.

More people were tested than in previous weeks, however.

Three league games were postponed last week following an increased number of posi-tive tests at Manchester City and Fulham.

The postponed games were Everton vs. Manches-ter City, Tottenham vs. Fulham, and Burnley vs. Fulham.

The league says it "contin-ues to have confidence in its COVID-19 protocols, fully backed by the government, to enable fixtures to be played as scheduled." AGENCIES

ISL: East Bengal look to keep revival going, Goa eye third win on trot

Ganguly will be discharged from hospital today

VASCO: Boosted by their first-ever Indian Super League vic-tory, SC East Bengal will look to continue the good form when they take on FC Goa at the Tilak Maidan Stadium here on Wednesday.

The new year brought new fortunes for debutants SC East Bengal as they finally bagged their first win in the ISL, brush-ing aside Odisha FC 3-1 in their last outing.

Both sides find themselves at the opposite ends of the points table. SCEB are placed second from the bottom while Goa have jumped to third after late comeback victories over Jamshedpur and Hyderabad.

The Gaurs, while starting as favourites, will look to make it three wins on the trot but with

the monkey finally off the back for East Bengal, Robbie Fowl-er's side will certainly fancy its chances.

"We want to win games," said Fowler, whose side has been unbeaten in the last three games.

"The lads are in a better space now than what we were a few weeks ago. But like I said to them, we got to go out and play the way we can. If you can play the way you can, you will

win games."We are not a million miles

away. We've won a game but we won't get carried away. Likewise, when we lost a game early in the season, we weren't getting carried away then," he added.

Fowler expects his team not just to nullify Goa's threat but also to cause them problems.

"Goa will have a little bit of possession but it's up to our players to work hard. Hope-

fully, we'll put the ball in the back of the net and give Goa something to worry about.

"It's not all about what we can do to stop Goa but we've got a team to play, we've got games that we will try to win," he added.

Defensively, both sides have struggled. While SCEB are yet to register a clean sheet, Goa have kept just one, despite their attacking flair.

The two sides have also been guilty of conceding in the dying minutes of the game.

Goa coach Juan Ferrando is not taking SCEB lightly.

"The team is more compact and has displayed its qual-ity in the last few games, " he said. AGENCIES

Liverpool lose at Southampton 1-0 to extend blip in English Premier LeagueSOUTHAMPTON: South-ampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl slumped to the ground, pulled down the bill of his cap, and wept after another big win for his team in the English Premier League.

On the receiving end this time was Liverpool, which also appears to be on its knees in what is shaping up to be the most open title races in years.

Danny Ings, a former Liverpool player, scored in the second minute to lead Southampton to a 1-0 win over the champion at an empty St. Mary's Stadium on Monday.

Liverpool has gone three games without a win after back-to-back draws against West Bromwich Albion and Newcastle and leads on only goal difference from great rival Manchester United, which has played one game fewer.

United isn't the only team in striking distance of the lead approaching the half-way point of the league. Four points separate Liverpool from seventh-placed Everton, with

10th-placed West Ham only seven points off the lead in what was always going to be a disjointed season amid the pandemic.

Southampton is in the mix, its latest win lifting Hasenhut-tl's team to sixth place in a sea-son when it has been in first place albeit briefly for the first time since 1988.

It all proved too much for the emotional Hasenhuttl at

the final whistle.Few could have foreseen

this sudden drop-off by Liv-erpool, which has failed to score in successive games for only the second time in Jurgen Klopp's five-year tenure.

Indeed, such has been Liv-erpool's lack of cutting edge of late that Klopp's team has managed just seven shots on target in the past three games.

Southampton was depleted for the game, missing the spine of its team with first-choice goalkeeper Alex McCarthy (Coronavirus), central mid-fielder Oriol Romeu (ham-string) and striker Che Adams (concussion) joining giant center back Jannik Vestergaard on the sidelines.

But the Saints still had Ings, who latched onto a free kick by James Ward-Prowse and lifted a bouncing ball over goalkeeper Alisson Becker and into the far corner.

It was attack vs. defense from then on but South-ampton held firm, with cen-ter backs Jack Stephens and Jan Bednarek, in particular, outstanding.

You know exactly what you are going to get from them," Klopp said of Southampton.

"You cannot be surprised but we looked surprised.

At the beginning how we played, where we lost the balls, it's not rocket science. We should have done much better. We played into their hands with the start. AGENCIES

Djokovic, Nadal set to return for 2nd ATP Cup in AustraliaSYDNEY: ATP Cup champion Novak Djokovic and runner-up Rafael Nadal are set to return for the season-opening men's team tennis event starting Feb. 1, but the United States will be missing because of a change in format that has halved the field.

The inaugural event last year featured 24 teams and was played in three Australian cit-ies, with Djokovic's Serbia team beating Nadal and Spain in the final at Sydney's Ken Rosewall Arena.

The Feb. 1-5 second edi-tion will involve 12 teams

and be played entirely at Mel-bourne Park amid COVID-19

restrictions, along with WTA and ATP tournaments, in the week leading into the Austra-lian Open.

The draw will be held Jan. 20, with teams divided into four groups. The winner of each round-robin group will advance to the semifinals.

Qualification for the ATP Cup was based on the ranking of each country's top player, with Australia included on a wildcard entry. Other com-peting countries include Aus-

tria, Russia, Greece, Germany, Argentina, Italy, Japan, France and Canada.

All players arriving in Mel-bourne for the Australian Open will be required to quarantine for 14 days before the delayed start of the season's first major. The Australian Open is usually staged in the last two weeks of January, but has been pushed back to Feb. 8-21 because of travel and other restrictions in place for the COVID-19 pandemic. AGENCIES

South Africa take series as Sri Lanka's resistance fade

JOHANNESBURG: South Africa beat Sri Lanka by 10 wickets inside three days in the second and final test on Tuesday to clinch the series 2-0 and gain some revenge for a surprise loss to the Sri Lankans the last time they toured.

South Africa bowled Sri Lanka out for 211 in its sec-ond innings at the start of the day at the Wanderers, leaving the Proteas with a simple tar-get of 67 to win.

South Africa got there without losing a wicket. Aiden Markram was 36 not out and Dean Elgar 31 not out. Sri Lan-ka's hopes faded when captain Dimuth Karunaratne was out soon after making a century. Karunaratne led their resistance in the second innings with his 103 but he went less than five

overs into the day, and with his exit Sri Lanka lost its last six wickets for 35 runs. Pace bowler Lungi Ngidi finished with 4-44 for South Africa.

Sri Lanka started the day 150-4, with Karunaratne on 91, and had hopes of setting South Africa a reasonably challenging

target on a difficult Johannes-burg pitch for batsmen.

The tourists weren't able to do that as Karunaratne fell early trying a pull shot off fast bowler Anrich Nortje. He succeeded only in looping a catch to Wiaan Mulder. His overnight partner Niroshan Dickwella was out four balls later and Sri Lanka's resistance faded.

South Africa's run chase was relatively untroubled.

Markram was given out in the over before lunch to a catch in the slips by Kusal Mendis but that decision was overturned when video replays showed the ball touched the ground as Men-dis took it low down.

South Africa completed a first test series win in two years and since beating Pakistan in early 2019. AGENCIES

Mumbai City breeze past Bengaluru with clinical win

MARGAO: Mumbai City FC extended their unbeaten run in the Hero Indian Super League with a comfortable 3-1 win over Bengaluru FC at the Fatorda Stadium on Tuesday.

Goals from Mourtada Fall (9'), Bipin Singh (15') and Bartholomew Ogbeche (84') helped the Islanders remain unbeaten in their last eight games and climb to the top of the table.

Sunil Chhetri (79') scored late but it wasn't enough to rescue BFC, who have now suffered three straight league defeats for the first time ever since they joined the elite tier of Indian football.

Bengaluru made just one change from their previous encounter as Deshorn Brown came in to replace Erik Paartalu while Mumbai coach Sergio Lobera named an unchanged XI from the 2-0 win over Ker-ala Blasters.

BFC squandered an early chance when Brown was set through on goal, but with just the keeper at his mercy, the 30-year-old fired over the crossbar.

Unlike BFC, Mumbai didn't

miss their chance and took the lead in the ninth minute. Bip-in's looped corner was headed across the goal by Hernan San-tana. Fall leapt highest to nod the ball into the net.

This was Fall's tenth goal in the league all of them headed

and he is just one goal away from equalling Chhetri's record of 11 headed goals.

Lobera's men nearly dou-bled the tally soon. Ahmed Jahouh chipped in for Bipin on the right and the latter cut it back for Adam le Fondre in

the box. The Englishman's shot though was deflected off target.

But it didn't take long before the ball found the back of the net again.

The second was a perfect team goal which saw Santana and Le Fondre combine to find

Mandar Rao Dessai on the flank. The full-back whipped in a perfect cross for Bipin, who timed his run to get past his marker and score the team's second goal.

Mumbai were brilliant in attack while their defence was good enough to keep BFC at bay. Keeper Amrinder Singh did well to keep Cleiton Silva's free-kick out of goal with a div-ing save as Mumbai maintained their two-goal lead at the break.

Mumbai City were unlucky to concede a penalty in the 78th minute when Silva was challenged in the box by Fall. Though the Senegalese appeared to have won the ball, the referee pointed towards the spot. Chhetri kept his compo-sure and scored.

In the 84th minute, a howler from BFC keeper Gur-preet Singh Sandhu restored Mumbai's two-goal cushion.

Ogbeche nodded in a Cy Goddard corner, which Gur-preet fumbled and let in. There was late drama as Jahouh received his marching orders for the second time this season, following a second booking in the match. AGENCIES

Mourtada Fall of Mumbai City FC scores a goal during a match against Bengaluru FC team during the Hero Indian Super League at the Fatorda Stadium in Goa, Tuesday PTI

Goals from Mourtada Fall (9'), Bipin Singh (15') and Bartholomew Ogbeche (84') helped Islanders remain unbeaten in their last 8 games and climb to the top of table

The new year brought new fortunes for debutants SC East Bengal as they finally bagged their first win in the ISL, brushing aside Odisha FC 3-1 in their last outing

‘HELMET’ MOVIE

KOLKATA|WEDNESDAY, 6 JANUARY, 2021|millenniumpostmp entertainment12

For actor Priyanshu Painyuli 2020 was a great year, as he got to play the

roles of Amir Asif in ‘Extrac-tion’ and Robin in ‘Amazon Prime Video’ series ‘Mirzapur’ season two. According to him, both the characters helped him in redefining his journey.

The actor said that he knew about the ‘craziness’ around the show, but he got to experience it firsthand only after being a part of it in the second season.

“What ‘Mirzapur’ season two did for me is special. I have not got this much recognition from any other project of mine. Robin and his ‘Yeh Bhi Theek hai’ dialogue have resonated

with the audience. There are so many memes and jokes around it. There was this old uncle I met many years ago who used to say this line often. It kind of stuck to me and I thought of using it here,” commented the actor.

Priyankshu revealed that nobody saw this web boom coming back then.

“The show was experimen-tal and did well. But there is a catch. In a theatre, when some-one buys a ticket, they usually sit through those two hours. But a web show need to keep the interest level high, or else the viewer would switch to some other show,” explained Priyanshu.

He concluded by saying, “You can stick to authentic sto-ries on the web while some demand certain things. I did not find anything wrong in the nudity in ‘Game of Thrones’ or cuss words in ‘Mirzapur’. So, I’m worried that censorship should not affect the purity and authenticity on the web.” AGENCIES

LONDON: Priyanka Chopra Jonas announced the sequel of her recently released superhero film ‘We Can Be Heroes’.

Written and directed by Robert Rodriguez, the film is a spin-off of ‘The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D’ and the ‘Spy Kids’ franchise. It had released on ‘Netflix’ on Christmas 2020 in the US.

The ‘Baywatch’ star said that a follow-up to the movie is in development at ‘Netflix’ with Rodriguez set to return.

“Heroics Headquarters projection: 44 mil-lion families will have suited up for ‘We Can Be Heroes’ in its first four weeks! And the break-ing news: The Heroics are coming back for round two. The sequel is in development with Rodriguez and ‘Netflix’,” she wrote.

According to ‘The Hollywood Reporter’, the OTT platform counts viewership based on just two minutes of viewing time by a subscriber.

The 2020 Christmas week - running from December 25, 2020, to December 31, 2020 - was the service’s biggest on record for the same week and year-over-year, as measured by both total view hours and average view hours per subscriber across each period.

Billed as an action-adventure, ‘We Can Be Heroes’ features Priyanka as a nemesis to a group of children who team up to save the planet and their superhero parents who are kidnapped by the aliens. PTI

MUMBAI: Popular comic and TV show host Kapil Sharma is ready to make his digital debut with streaming giant ‘Netflix’.

However, it is unclear whether the project is a com-edy special, series or film, but it will premiere on the streamer in 2021 across 190 countries.

The comedian said that he was looking forward to his first-ever association with ‘Netflix’.

“2020 has been a

bumpy ride for everyone around the world and my motive is to make people for-get their worries and wel-come this new year with love, laughter and positivity,” said

the 39-year-old comedian.

He added, “I always wanted to be on ‘Netflix’, but I did not have their number.”

Kapil Sharma said that the project is close to his heart.

“I cannot wait to share more details with my fans soon,” commented Sharma. PTI

MUMBAI: As per the state-ment of civic and police officials, actor-brothers Arbaaz Khan and Sohail Khan, along with the latter’s son Nirvaan Khan, were booked by the Mumbai Police recently for allegedly violating the Coronavirus institutional quarantine norms.

“The Khan trio was asked to stay at a hotel in suburban Bandra after they returned to Mumbai from the UAE in the penultimate week of December 2020 as per guidelines, but they went to their homes instead,” said the official.

A Khar police official stated, “The case was registered against them under section 188 (Disobedi-ence to order

duly promulgated by public servant) and 269 (Negligent act likely to spread infection of dis-ease) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and under provisions of the ‘Epidemic Diseases Act’.”

As per the ‘Standard Operating Procedures’ (SOP) of the Brihanmum-bai Municipal Corporation (BMC), passengers return-

ing from counties in Europe and the Middle East must

stay in institutional quarantine for seven days in view of the detection of the new strain of COVID-19 in the UK.

In his statement submitted in Khar police station in Mum-bai, Dr Sanjay Funde, a medi-cal officer of H/West ward said that he received information that Arbaaz, Sohail and Nir-vaan had returned from Dubai but did not go to institutional quarantine. PTI

Kapil is ready to make his digital debut with ‘Netflix’

It is unclear whether the project is a comedy special, series or film, but it will premiere on Netflix in the year 2021 across 190 countries

‘Indian entertainment industry is going through a renaissance’

Saif Ali Khan, who is all set for the release of his upcoming web series

‘Tandav’, said that the enter-tainment industry in India is going through a renaissance. He also added that it is the stories that are leading these new changes.

“The entertainment industry in India is going through a renaissance and stories like ‘Tandav’ are at

the forefront of this change. As an actor, for me a good piece of dramatic writing and a compelling creation featur-ing grey characters is always exciting,” he said.

He added, “As I read about the complexities of my character Samar and dived deeper into the world of ‘Tandav’, I knew that I had to play this character. I look for-ward to the show’s release.”

Created and directed by Ali Abbas Zafar, the political drama is written by Gaurav Solanki and also features an ensemble of cast like Dim-ple Kapadia, Sunil Grover, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Dino Morea, Kumud Mishra, Gau-ahar Khan, Amyra Dastur, Mohammad Zeeshan Ayyub and many others.

The trailer of the show, which had recently released,

took the viewers behind the closed corridors of power and politics. Set in Delhi, the series is a fictional drama that showcases the lengths to which people will go in the pursuit of power.

‘Tandav’ will pre-miere on ‘Amazon Prime Video’ on January 15. AGENCIES

Saif talks about how the dramatic and compelling creations like ‘Tandav’ are bringing on the new

changes in the Hindi cinema industry

Priyanshu speaks on getting recognition from ‘Mirzapur’ S2

‘We Can Be Heroes’ to have a sequelPriyanka Chopra said that a follow-up to the movie is in development at ‘Netflix’ with director Robert Rodriguez set to return

He got to experience the ‘craziness’ first-hand only after being a part of the series

Stree’ star Aparshakti Khurana, who is waiting for the release of his movie

‘Helmet’ as in a lead role revealed the reason for the title of the film.

“Helmet is a word given to condoms actually. The film is about condoms. It is about how even in today’s day and age, it is awkward for people to ask for a

pack of condoms at the medical store, even in big cities like Delhi or

Mumbai,” said Aparshakti.He added: “It is a situational awk-

ward comedy, but it is not like that throughout the film people will keep talking about condoms.”

Directed by Satram Ramani, ‘Hel-met’ is a quirky comedy that depicts

the ground reality in the heart-lands of the country, where talk-ing about protection for sex is awkward. The film also features actors Abhishek Banerjee and Ashish Verma in pivotal roles. AGENCIES

Case registered against Arbaaz, Sohail and son

Aparshakti explains title of his next The actor said that the film is about how in today’s age, it is awkward for people to ask for condoms at the medical store