RATE of positivecases in city rises to 3.08%

OUR STAFF REPORTERIndore

Rate of positive cases ofCOVID-19 increased to 3.08percent on Wednesday with46 patients tested positiveout of 1,493 samples reportsreceived. With this, the to-tal number of patients inIndore reached 4507.Four more deaths were re-

ported on Wednesday withwhich total number ofdeath reached to 211.“A 77-year-male of Nan-

dan Nagar, a 53-year-male ofKishanganj, a 74-year-maleof Malharganj and a 37-year-old male of JuniKasera Bakhal succumbedto the disease during treat-ment,” Chief Medical andHealth Officer said.According to the bulletin

released by the CMHO, re-

ports of total samples re-ceived till Wednesday nightwas 77,462 and total num-ber of samples tested posi-tive are 4507. As many as1440 samples were testednegative on Wednesday.“We have taken as many

as 1211 more samples,” headded.As many as 952 patients

are going under treatmentin various hospitals of thecity. Total 3344 patients havebeen discharged so far.

Ladakh includes AksaiChin: Ram Madhav

drops a bomb on ChinaNEW DELHI

In a signifi-cant state-ment, BJPGeneralSecretaryRam Mad-hav reiter-ated India'sclaim toAksai Chin

as its own, amid rising In-dia-China tensions. He saidon Wednesday that Indiamust show the same as-sertiveness on the LACwith China as it has shownon the LOC with Pakistan,simply to protect its "selfrespect" and defend its land"till the last inch". Madhavsaid the solution to thepresent standoff is activelyengaging with China bothdiplomatically and militar-ily. "Our claim is not justthe LAC. Our claim goesbeyond that. When it comesto J&K, it includes PoK(Pakistan-occupied Kash-mir) and when it comes tothe UT of Ladakh, it in-cludes Gilgit-Baltistan andAksai Chin," asserted RamMadhav, who is often seenas the BJP's face when itcomes to foreign relations.

Patwari’s tweet onwomen irks NCW

OUR STAFF REPORTERBHOPAL

A tweet of former ministerJitu Patwari, known forcourting controversies,kicked up a row on Wednes-day. Patwari twitted: In-stead of giving birth to ason, the Central Govern-ment has delivered fivedaughters like note ban,GST, price rise, unemploy-ment and inflation. But ithas failed to bear a son,called Vikas (development).Taking an exception to

the tweet, the BJP broughtthe issue to the notice ofthe National Women’sCommission.Chairperson of the NWC

Rekha Sharma said thetweet was offensive and itwould be taken into consid-eration.Senior journalist Mayra

Shakeel said the presidentof the Congress Party isalso a woman. Patwarishould not have used suchoffensive words againstthem, she said.When Patwari’s twit be-

came controversial he hadto give a clarification thatas far as daughters are con-cerned, they are like god-desses. He said the compar-ison was made with Vikas(development). BJP MLA Rameshwar

Sharma said the Congress

was so fed up with daugh-ters that they stopped theKanyadaan Scheme. Theremark has been trolledthrough Patwari’s twitterhandle.It is not for the firsttime that Patwari’s state-ments became controver-sial. He has always courtedcontroversy through his re-marks. It is because of hisaggressiveness that theCongress had to cut a sorryfigure several times.

News BriefPROBE SOUGHT INTOCONG-CHINESE PACTA public interest litigationhas been filed in theSupreme Court for a probeinto the agreement signedby the Congress with theCommunist Party of Chinain Beijing in 2007 by theNational InvestigationAgency under the UnlawfulActivities Act or by the CBIunder supervision of theApex Court, for allegedlycompromising India'ssecurity. Sonia Gandhi andRahul Gandhi were holdingthe position of presidentand general secretary of theparty at the time of signingof the agreement.

DELHI TO SCREENEVERY RESIDENCEDelhi, second worst hit byCovid-19 after Mumbai, onWednesday decided toscreen all houses in thenational capital by July 6,starting with the screeningof all residences in 261containment zones by June30. The 12-day screeningstrategy was drawn up aftera series of meetingsbetween Home MinisterAmit Shah and Delhi CMArvind Kejriwal. The health-care system is on the vergeof collapse, with hospitalsnot having enough beds forthe sick, making the infectedwait for3 to 4 days beforeadmission. The state hasbeen pulled up by the SCfor the sorry state of affairs.

LOCKDOWN IN WB TILL JULY 31

West Bengal CM MamataBanerjee on Wednesdayannounced extension oflockdown in the state till July31 to contain COVID-19

WEATHER35.00C.24.30C.Sunrise: 05 : 44Sunset : 07 : 15Thought for the day

Walk on yourown path.Do not walkon othe rs' legs.

Sri Ma

t INDORE t BHOPAL t UJJAIN t MUMBAI t PUNENAT

ION MAHA BJP MLC CALLS PAWAR'CORONAVIRUS', SPARKS ROW EDIT

GLAMPAK LEFT NO OTHER OPTION FOR INDIA

r Regd. No. Indore MP/ICD 216/2018-2020

SURGERY PROMPTED MILEYCYRUS TO BECOME SOBERFREE-PRESS

VOL. XXXVII NO. 11 | INDORE | THURSDAY | JUNE 25, 2020 | PAGES 12 | ` 3 www.freepressjournal.in

r RNI No. 38281/83

JAIPUR

Negative comments in Ra-jasthan Board of Second-ary Education textbooksregarding legendary war-rior Maharana Pratap andhis father Udai Singh IIhave riled not only the erst-while Mewar royals, butalso politicians and com-mon people who havevoiced their strong disap-proval for the “twisting ofhistorical facts.”

While the Maharana hasbeen described as someonewho “lacked control andwas impatient due towhich he lost theHaldighati battle to Ak-bar”, his father and Mewarruler Maharana UdaiSingh has been dubbed a“murderer.”The Class XII textbook

claims on page number 101that Maharana Pratap lostin the Haldighati battle ashe was impatient and

lacked moderation andcontrol. The chapter enti-tled ‘Muslim Invasion,Aim and Impact’ furtherclaims that the army headshould always adopt pa-tience even in adverse situ-ations, something whichMaharana Pratap lacked.Also, facts related to the

Haldighati battle havebeen removed from the so-cial science textbooks.In the Class X textbook

‘Rajasthan ka Itihaas aur

Sanskriti’, Maharana UdaiSingh II has been termedas a man who murderedone Balvir to capture theMewar kingdom. Manyhistory books on the otherhand point out that Balvirhad died somewhere inMaharashtra after he fledMewar.Mahendra Singh Mewar

of the erstwhile Mewarroyal family said that “at-tempts to tarnish the im-age of Rajput warriors Ma-

harana Pratap and UdaiSingh will not be tolerat-ed.”“Who are these people

who want to change thehistory of Haldighati,” hequestioned.The Haldighati battle

was fought betweenMoghul emperor Akbar’sarmy led by Man Singh ofAmber and MaharanaPratap’s Rajput warriorsin June 1576.

CONTD. ON P8

46 test COVID positive in Indore

IS GALWAN FACE-OFF INTENDED TO KEEP US DISTRACTED?FP NEWS SERVICE

NEW DELHI

China is a master of guile anddeceit: In 1962, too, emotionswere charged over the Chineseincursion in Galwan Valley ineastern Ladakh – the venue ofthe recent violent standoff.But curiously, the Chinese, in

1962, having diverted our atten-tion by its action in the GalwanValley, attacked India threemonths later and annexed Ak-sai Chin, an area of far greaterstrategic significance.Interestingly, after the 1962

conflict, the Galwan sector re-mained dormant till the recentface-offs. Is Galwan again a redherring?Because just when China is

playing out the diplomatic cha-rade of disengagement, thereare reports of fresh mobilisa-tion and the PLA trying to opena fresh front in Daulat BegOldie (DBO) and Depsang Sec-tors.India Today’s news portal has

satellite data which confirmsheightened Chinese activityeast of DBO. The magazine alsohas exclusive input which sug-gests that the attempts by thePLA to block Indian contin-gents in Daulat Beg Oldi areabetween patrolling points 10and 13 suggests that they wantto control areas near theKarakoram Pass which is thegateway to the economic corri-dor to Pakistan.The Indian challenge in the

region has become more formi-dable with the construction ofthe 255-km long Darbuk-Shyokh-Daulat Beg Oldie all-weather road. Running almost parallel to

the LAC, this road meandersthrough elevations ranging be-tween 13,000 feet and 16,000 feetand marks the critical Indianpresence on the Aksai Chinplateau which otherwise ismostly controlled by the Chi-nese. Once complete, the roadwill reduce the travel time fromLeh to DBO from two days tojust six hours. No wonder, India has good

reason to be concerned aboutthe Chinese build-up along theGalwan valley as it is a directthreat to the DSDBO road.

There was a tacit acknowledge-ment of this challenge whenDefence Minister RajnathSingh recently said that a“large numbers” of Chinesetroops had massed along theLAC, and had “come a little fur-ther than they used to earlier”,making the situation “differ-ent” this time from earlier inci-dents.Usually, Chinese forays are lo-

calised but this time to confusethe Indians, these incursionswere reported April onwards inmultiple areas -- the Fingers re-gion on the banks of the Pan-gong Lake, the Hot Springsarea (near an Army post), theGalwan Valley, and the Dep-sang Plains further to theNorth.

In the midst of the disengagement charade that Chinais playing out across the negotiation table with Indiancommanders, there is evidence of fresh mobilization ofPLA on both sides of the Line of Actual Control in theGalwan Valley. Satellite data indicates Chinese troopshave taken up new positions since the June 15 faceoff.It gives the China overwhelming control on the ground,even though Indians have a strategic advantage due totheir high altitude presence. These satellite images alsoshow the presence of makeshift structures on both sidesof the Line of Actual Control. Earlier satellite images ofMay 22 showed merely a single tent at the spot, it ispointed out. But now there is a perceptible movementof heavy earth-moving vehicles and JCB machines,which indicates that the Chinese intend to stay put inthe area. The Army and the Ministry of External Affairs were yet to respond to the queries of the TVchannel. "We are looking into it," was the cryptic response. ''These appear to be defensive formations onour side of the Line of Actual Control,'' Major General Ramesh Padhi, one of India's foremostcartographers who retired as Additional Surveyor General of India, told the channel. CONTD. ON P8

FRESH MOBILISATION IN GALWAN, TOO

Galwan Valley: This May 22, 2020, satellite imageprovided by Maxar Technologies shows PLA basein the Galwan Valley in LAC. Chinese and Indianmilitary commanders agreed to disengage theirforces in the disputed area of the Himalayas, bothcountries said on Tuesday, June 23, 2020

NEW DELHI

The Cabinet on Wednesdayapproved participation ofthe private sector in the en-tire range of space activi-ties, including planetaryexploration missions,Union minister JitendraSingh said. The newly-cre-ated Indian National SpacePromotion and Authorisa-tion Centre (IN-SPACe) willprovide a level playing fieldfor private companies touse Indian space infra-structure, Singh, who is the

Minister of State in thePrime Minister's Office,said. The Department ofSpace comes under thePMO. This centre will alsohand-hold, promote andguide the private industriesin space activities throughencouraging policies and afriendly regulatory envi-ronment, Singh added.The 'New Space India

Limited (NSIL), a PSU un-der the Department ofSpace, will endeavour to re-orient space activities froma 'supply driven' model to a

'demand driven' model,thereby ensuring optimumutilisation of our space as-sets, the minister said.The Cabinet decisions

come weeks after FinanceMinister Nirmala Sithara-man announced opening upof the space sector for pri-vate entities.Some of the planetary ex-

ploration missions will alsobe opened up to private sec-tor through an 'announce-ment of opportunity' mech-anism, a government state-ment said. CONTD. ON P8

VICTORY PARADE AMID CORONAVIRUS

Indian tri-service contingent marches in Red Square during the Victory Day military parade markingthe 75th anniversary of the Nazi defeat in WWII in Moscow at Russia on Wednesday. The Victory Dayparade normally is held on May 9, the nations most important secular holiday, but this year it waspostponed due to the coronavirus pandemic

Maharana Pratap lacked control, was impatient, claims RSEB textbook

A POLICY CHANGE ON ANVIL?

Arunachal CM callsLAC Indo-Tibet

borderAmid the tension betweenIndia and China over theviolent face-off in Ladakh,where 20 Indian soldierswere killed 10 days ago,Arunachal Pradesh CMPema Khandu termed theLine of Actual Control (LAC)as the "Indo-Tibet border".Posting the pictures of anarmy event in the state,Khandu tweeted, "Thevalour of Indian Army iswhat we counted ever sinceour Independence. Had anopportunity to interact withthe brave jawans today atBumla post on the Indo-Tibet border. Their josh(excitement) is at thehighest level. We are in safehands when it comes toour borders." The statementassumes significance asChina has been inoccupation of theautonomous region ofTibet, an area of around2.5 million sq km, since1951 and the Tibetangovernment has been inexile in India. New Delhirefers its border with Tibetin Arunachal as the LAC.

CASES4,56,183

DEATH14,476

ACTIVE1,83,022

CURED2,58,684

INDIA

CASES12,485

DEATH534

ACTIVE2,441

CURED9,473

MP

COVID-19

Corona continuesto plague state

OUR STAFF REPORTERBHOPAL

Morena continued to witness spurt in positive cases onWednesday, with nagar nigam commissioner too found tobe infected with coronavirus. On Tuesday, the districthad reported 19 positive cases.State's Covid tally on Wednesday evening stood at 12,485

with 534 deaths. Indore accounts for 4,461 positive casesand 207 deaths, followed by Bhopal with 2,698 cases and 91deaths. Ujjain is at the third spot with 69 deaths and 849 positive

cases. Burhanpur has reported 391 cases, Neemuch 432,Khandwa 292, Khargone 269, Jabalpur 365, Dhar 155,Gwalior 309, Morena 214, Mandsaur 101, Dewas 206,Sagar 302, Raisen 108, Bhind 173, Sheopur 68, Rajgarh 81and Barwani 92. Chhindwara, Rewa and Ashok Nagarhave 43 cases each, while Vidisha has 42, Hoshangabad41, Betul 46 and Ratlam 137 cases. Chhattarpur and Sha-japur have 53 cases each. Panna and Anuppur have 29 cases each while Damoh

and Shivpuri have 31 and Dindori, Narsingpur andTikamgarh have 30 cases each. Satna has 27, Harda 26 and Datia 21 cases while Bal-

aghat and Sidhi have 20 cases and Katni and Jhabuahave 15 cases each. CONTD. ON P8

Cabinet approves pvt sector in space

CM demandsleader’s ouster

Chief Minister Shivraj SinghChouhan urged Congresspresident Sonia Gandhi toexpel Jitu Patwari from theparty for his controversialremark on women. Hewanted to know whethergiving birth to a girl child is asin. Patwari’s tweet offendedall women, he said, addingthat, Naina Sahni had beenthrown into a Tandoor andSarla Mishra and PritiShrivastava murdered. Hewanted how long theCongress leaders wouldcontinue to offend women.

AGENCIESNew Delhi

The global terror financ-ing watchdog, FATF, onWednesday decided to keepPakistan in the "Grey List"as it has failed to check flowof money to terror groupslike the LeT and the JeM, of-ficials said.The decision was taken at

the Financial Action TaskForce's third and final plena-ry held virtually due to theCOVID-19 pandemic. Theplenary was held under theChinese Presidency of Xi-angmin Liu."The FATF plenary decid-

ed continuation of Pakistanin 'Grey List' till its nextmeeting to be held in Octo-ber," an official privy to thedevelopment told PTI. Thedecision has been taken asPakistan has failed to check

flow of money to terrorgroups like LeT and Jaish,the official said. The FATFdecision comes on a day theUS Country Reports on Ter-rorism slammed Pakistan asa safe harbour for "regional-ly focused terrorist groups"and allowing LeT and JeMto operate from its soil.The US State Department

report said Pakistan tookmodest steps in 2019 tocounter terror financingand restrain India-focusedmilitant groups from con-ducting large-scale attacksfollowing the February at-tack on a security convoy inPulwama in Jammu andKashmir linked to Pak-istan-based JeM.

Pak to continue in FATF Grey List forfailing to check funding to LeT, JeM

Pak safe haven for terrorists: US Washington: Pakistan took “modest steps” in 2019 tocounter terror financing and restrain India-focused militantgroups from conducting large-scale attacks following thePulwama attack in February, but it remained a “safeharbour” for regionally focused terrorist groups, the US saidon Wednesday. The suspension of US aid to Pakistan, whichwas announced by President Donald Trump in January 2018,remained in effect throughout 2019, the State Departmentsaid. “Pakistan took modest steps in 2019 to counter terrorfinancing and restrain India-focused militant groups fromconducting large-scale attacks following the February attackon a security convoy in the Indian state of Jammu andKashmir linked to JeM,” it said.

NEW DELHI

As India recorded the high-est single-day jump of near-ly 16,000 COVID-19 cases,Delhi surpassed Mumbaion Wednesday. Delhi, whichalready is the second worsthit state in terms of coron-avirus caseload and fatali-ties, overtook Mumbai afterthe number of cases soaredby 3,788 to touch 70,390.Mumbai has so far record-ed 69,625 cases.

India records highestsingle-day 15,413 cases

2 INDORE CITYFREEPRESSTHURSDAY | JUNE 25, 2020 | INDORE

IMPOSING FINE FOR BREAKING

SOCIAL DISTANCINGIN PUBLIC

OUR STAFF REPORTERIndore

For the past few days, theIndore Municipal Corpo-ration (IMC) had beenimposing fines on peoplefor not maintaining so-cial distancing while inpublic places. These peo-ple were violating theguidelines issued by thedistrict administrationin the wake of spread ofcoronavirus in the city.However, on Tuesday,IMC commissioner Prat-ibha Pal instructed IMCofficials not to imposefines on people for violat-ing social distancingnorms. Was this a rightmove on part in IMC?Free Press talked to asection of people toknow their views.

MOST SAY IMC'S DANDA MUST, SOME DISAGREE

OUR STAFF REPORTERIndore

To register their protestagainst the continuoushike in fuel prices, Con-gress leaders took out a cy-cle rally from Nehru statueat Madhumilan Square toGandhi statue at RegalSquare on Wednesday.

Former higher educationminister Jitu Patwari,MLAs Sanjay Shukla andVishal Patel, city Congresspresident Vinay Bakliwalalong with other leaderspaddled the distance andlater submitted memoran-dum addressing the Presi-dent and Prime Minister atdivisional commissioner'soffice.

"BJP had come to powerwith the claims of pullingdown the inflation rate.

Narendra Modi had saidthat he will bring the valueof rupee at par with that ofthe dollar, but instead, hehas brought the price ofdiesel at par with petrol,"Patwari said.

He said that people are al-ready facing trouble due toloss in business, job loss,economic slowdown, andother problems but the gov-ernment has been puttingextra burden on them by in-creasing petrol and dieselprices by over Rs 10-12 inthe last 20 days.

Vinay Bakliwal said thatcrude oil in international

market is about $45 per bar-rel but the government hasincreased the prices unnec-essarily. "Price of crudeduring the ManmohanSingh led Congress govern-ment in Centre was $ 135per barrel, but even thenprice of petrol and dieseldid not increase more thanRs 70 per litre."

Congress leaders said thatthey will launch a massiveprotest against the govern-ment if prices of fuel werenot decreased immediately.

Rate of petrol is about Rs87.54 per litre and diesel isRs 79.50 per litre.

Cong cycle rally toprotest fuel price hike

Modi came to power with the promise of bringing thevalue of rupee at par with the dollar, instead he hasbrought price of diesel at par with petrol: Patwari

OUR STAFF REPORTERIndore

Three bike-borne miscre-ants robbed a woman ofher gold chain and ear-rings when she was re-turning home after amorning walk in SiliconCity on Wednesday morn-ing.

The accused committedthe crime at gunpoint dueto which the woman could-n't cry for help. A few min-utes after the incident, themiscreants attempted to

snatch a gold chain fromanother woman.

Earlier, the same trio hadtried to burgle a doctor'shouse in the area. The po-lice are examining theCCTVs installed near thecrime scene.

The chain snatching in-cident took place ataround 6.30 am near Sili-

con City. Urmila Pandey(45), a resident of PulakCity, went for her usualmorning walk and was re-turning home when threemen on a bike stopped herand grabbed her goldchain. When she protestedone of the accused tookout a pistol to silence her.They took her chain and

earrings. The bikers fledfrom the scene afterthreatening the woman. Alittle later, they also at-tempted to snatch a goldchain from anotherwoman, who was walkingwith her husband.

Rajendra Nagar policestation in-charge SunilSharma said that the

CCTVs installed aroundthe spot are being exam-ined to trace the accused.The complainant could notsee the bike number.

Police said that somemiscreants also tried toburgle a doctor's house inSilicon City, but the familymembers woke up and themiscreants managed toflee. Police believe that thesame accused were in-volved in the theft attempt.The CCTV footage of thedoctor's house is also be-ing examined.

Bike-borne miscreants rob woman at gunpointINCIDENT TOOK PLACE AT SILICON CITY IN MORNING

ALSO TRIED TO COMMIT THEFT AT DOCTOR'S PLACE IN THE SAME AREA

COVID-19 pandemichad taught us to

become tech savvyOUR STAFF REPORTER

Indore

Harsh Pati Singhania, vicechairman and managingdirector of JK Paper Ltdsaid the COVID-19 pan-demic has changed theway we are working. Workfrom everywhere is a newnormal. Challenges arewhat make life interestingand overcoming themmakes it meaningful. Now,getting the economy backon track is an importanttask.

Renowned industrialistSinghania was addressinga webinar organised by In-dore Management Associ-ation under its webinar

live session series, "Un-folding Secrets: The IMAWay" on Wednesday.

The topic of the webinarwas "Future of Work &Compassionate Leader-ship".

Singhania started thesession by stating that theCOVID-19 pandemic is al-most a shock for all of us.It has made us learn howto become tech savvy. Weneed to be cautious instead

of getting panicky aboutthe virus. Unless we getimmunity, we can't saveourselves from this virus.

Situations will arisewhich will require quickresolution. Work fromhome has its own prob-lems, but it is really goingto be advisable from thehuman point of view. A lotof communication hap-pens through our gestures,but work from home lacksthe emotional interaction.

Singhania said that so farorganisations have beendesigned for efficiency butit is time to design the or-ganisations for resiliency,more flexibility, agility &adaptability. Greater diver-sity in organisation's cul-ture is needed. Belonging-ness for common purposewill bind the organisationsas everyone will not beavailable at the same placeat the same time.

Work from everywhere is new normal: SinghaniaMAJOR TAKEAWAYS

Customers shall be dealtaccording to theirexperiences of product, interms of overall deliveryexperience.There will be definitely acomponent of every businesswhich will go online.Digitally wired organisationswill emerge in future wheretasks can be completedremotely.Partnership betweencompanies will increase toprovide delivery services.Collaborative workingbetween teams will increasefor completion of work.We all have been brought upwith our mindset to work, soto find the way to accomplishour goals, so be a learner.Full time to fixed-termemployment, need not topresent in the organisationsthe whole time.Hybrid in localisation for ourproducts, we have to learn inteams.

OUR STAFF REPORTERIndore

TAVR or TransAortic ValveReplacement, a minimallyinvasive surgical procedure,was successfully carried outon a 93-year old patient atApollo Hospitals, Indore de-spite numerous challengesdue to the lockdown.

The nonagenarian with se-vere breathlessness and in-ability to lie down was air-lifted to Indore, where hewas diagnosed with criticalcondition of severe stenosisof the aortic valve.

The only alternative was avalve replacement that hadto be carried out immediate-ly. Open-heart valve replace-ment surgery was not an op-tion due to age and co-exist-

ing health issues including acardiac history with a by-pass surgery, angioplasty,and renal dysfunction.

Senior Consultant Inter-ventional Cardiologist, Apol-lo Hospitals, Dr K RoshanRao, said, "Patients with cal-cification of the leaflets ofthe heart valve, that openand close with the flow ofblood, often present withsymptoms only after the ageof 70-75 years. At this age, amajority are not suitable foropen-heart surgery.

However, if not treated,survival is difficult. TAVRis a revolutionary tech-nique and a blessing forsuch patients so that theycan have a prolongedhealthy lifestyle with im-proved quality of life."

TAVR surgery on 93-yr-old a success

OUR STAFF REPORTERIndore

As many as 38 patients were dis-charged from Shri Aurobindo In-stitute of Medical Science onWednesday. These patients wereof varying age groups - from 7years to 72 years - and came fromvarious districts including Rat-lam, Mandsaur and Ujjain.

All the discharged patients ex-pressed gratitude towards thehospital and staff for takingtheir care and supporting themto win over the disease.

State Health Minister Narot-tam Mishra will also visitSAIMS on Thursday and will

take a meeting with officialsover the condition of COVID-19in Indore.

38 discharged from SAIMSOut for a walk,woman hit by

SUV, diesOUR STAFF REPORTER

Indore

A 40-year-old woman was killedafter being hit by an SUV drivenby a woman in Lasudia area onTuesday evening. The womanwas walking with her husbandwhen the incident happened. Thepolice are searching for thewoman driver.

Lasudia police station in-chargeIndramani Patel said that RajivAwas Vihar resident Sarita Singhwas taking a walk with her hus-band Chandrapal Singh inScheme Number 78 when a reck-lessly driven SUV hit her andthen rammed into a tree. Saritawas rushed to the hospital butcould not be saved.

Patel said that the car was beingdriven by a woman who fled leav-ing the SUV behind. The policehave seized the SUV and havestarted a search for the errantdriver. Sources claimed that thewoman is a teacher in a privateschool.

DOC AND FAMILY TEST POSITIVE, FATHER SUCCUMBS TO VIRUS

Oncologist in a private hospital and his four family memberswere tested COVID-19 positive on Tuesday. Moreover, the doc-tor's father succumbed to the disease during treatment on

Wednesday morning.Resident of Saket Nagar, the 58-year-old oncologist, his 54-year-old

wife, 85-year-old father, 79-year-old mother and 29-year-old son werefound positive. They all were admitted to a private hospital and gonethrough the corona test in a private laboratory. According to sources,the source of infection to the family is yet to be known.

OUR STAFF REPORTERIndore

An IMC employee allegedlycommitted suicide by con-suming some poisonoussubstance at his residencein Malharganj area onWednesday, just five daysbefore his daughter's mar-

riage. No suicide note wasrecovered.

Malharganj police stationin-charge Sanjay Mishrasaid that the deceased hasbeen identified as ArvindChouhan (39), a resident ofRam Nagar area of the city.He was posted at Rajmohal-la Zone.

He was found uncon-scious late on Tuesday afterwhich his family memberstook him to a hospital buthe could not be saved. Thefamily members told policethat Arvind had consumedtoilet cleaner after whichhis condition deteriorated.

Police said the marriage

of Arvind's daughter wasfixed on June 29, and thefamily members were busyin the preparation. But, thefamily's happiness turnedinto sorrow after the inci-dent. The police are takingthe statement of the familymembers to know the rea-son behind the suicide.

IMC employee ends life 5 days before daughter's marriage

OUR STAFF REPORTERIndore

If you are not maintainingphysical distancing at thecity airport, a machine in-stalled there will beep and amessage will play out toalert you of the violation.

While everyone knowsthat keeping physical dis-tancing is an important as-pect of combating thespread of coronavirus, it isoften difficult to judge theexact distance one shouldkeep. But now the machineis there to help one out.

The machine was inaugu-

rated on Wednesday by MPShankar Lalwani. The cityairport is probably the firstairport where physical dis-tance will be maintained byusing modern technology.The MP said that technolo-gy can be extremely helpfulin preventing corona. Thismachine, which used artifi-cial intelligence will bringawareness to people at theairport.

Airport Director AryamaSanyal said that at presentit is installed at the Depar-ture Gate and can be usedin other parts of the airportas and when required.

Machine to detectphysical distancing

breach at airport

OUR STAFF REPORTERIndore

A web talk on 'Road Map toEntrepreneurship' was or-ganised by Indore Instituteof Management and Re-search on Wednesday. Inthis seminar, industry vet-erans told secrets of suc-cess along with theirunique ideas.

Principal Dr SimranjeetKaur informed that thechief guest of the pro-

gramme was Praveen Bud-haulia who discussed thecurrent market situationafter COVID-19.

More than 120 studentsparticipated in this webtalk. Chief guest was wel-comed by the institute di-rector general Arun Bhat-nagar. The programme wasconducted by BBA studentRicha Singh Gaharwar.Web-talk concluded withvote of thanks proposed byDr Pooja Shrivastav.

Webinar on entrepreneurship DECISION HARMFUL IN THE LONG RUN

"The decision of not imposinga fine can be harmful to the cityin the long run because it wasdue to fear of being fined thatthe people were following socialdistancing. Now, if they won'tfollow it there are chances thatthe virus will spread. Also, peo-ple coming in and going out of

the city can be dangerous for the entire state andentire country." ALIZA KHAN

CHANCES OF VIRUS SPREADING AGAIN THERE"Staying at home for three

months of lockdown is not aneasy task, but it had to be done tocontain the virus. However, if so-cial distancing ends, there arechances that the virus willspread and then we will againhave to face another lockdown. Itis better to an enforced social distancing ratherthan face another lockdown." NANDINI ROMISH

DECISION MAY BACKFIRE"We are all aware that COVID-

19 is still present in the city ascases are being detected daily.The decision not to impose finesand leave people to act on their

own is not a responsible behaviour on part of theofficials. This decision may backfire."

AJAY KUMBHKARAN 'ANTI-SOCIAL' DECISION?"The decision of not imposing fine on people

for violating social distancingcan turn into an anti-social de-cision because in these timesof pandemic strictness is amust. Many people are care-less and not bothered aboutCOVID-19 or do not under-stand its deadliness. It is onlydue to fear of being fined that

they were following the guidelines and main-taining social distancing.

RIMPLE GUPTA

WHO WILL THINK ABOUT RESPONSIBLE CITIZENS?"There are many responsible

citizens who are following so-cial distancing and other normsvoluntarily but there are alsosome people who are carelessand because of such people if the virus againspreads then it will be injustice on the section ofresponsible citizens." MAHIMA SARKE

WHO WILL WATCH CARELESS PEOPLE?"If the IMC sheds its responsibilities, then who

will be responsible for socialdistancing and other things? Ifthere is nobody to watch thenpeople will again face the dan-ger of the virus spreading rap-idly. Various civic authoritiesall over the country are enforc-ing the guidelines and IMCshould continue doing so."

PRARABDH TIWARI

PEOPLE MUST BE RESPONSIBLE ENOUGH"The decision of IMC of not

imposing fine against violatorsis good because it is an individ-ual's responsibility towards thesociety to follow guidelinesproperly for the sake of every-one's welfare. Punitive action isnot the way out, educating peo-ple about it is the right way "

KRATIKA GANGWANIEVERYONE IS AWARE NOW

"There is no need to impose finefor violating social distancing be-cause everyone in the city is nowaware of the dangers of notmaintaining social distancing.So, the people will follow socialdistancing on their own, there isno need for the IMC's stick."

DEEPAK PACHORI

INDORE CITY 3FREEPRESS

THURSDAY | JUNE 25, 2020 | INDORE

OUR STAFF REPORTERIndore

Indian Institute of Tech-nology Indore has taken alead in conducting an on-line meet with the` educa-tional institutes of the cityto discuss the changesbrought in the teachingmethodologies, new re-search collaboration, cam-pus and dining facilities,and academic activities ow-ing to COVID-19. The insti-tutes shared their experi-ences in handling COVID-19, practices that have beenimplemented and method-ologies adopted for con-ducting online exams andthe preparedness for postCOVID-19 scenario.

The meeting held onWednesday provided acommon platform for shar-ing and evolving a new av-enue and common area forgreater synergy to work to-gether in the future for the

city as well.An idea of making an In-

dore Educational Consor-tium was also mooted inthe meet which would worktowards enriching the edu-cation culture of the cityand working in sync oncommon activities. ProfNeelesh Kumar Jain, offici-ating director, IIT Indore,Dr SK Vishvakarma (Deanof Student Affairs), Dr De-vendra Deshmukh (Dean ofAcademic Affairs), Dr IAPalani (Dean of Research &Development), Dr ManishGoyal (Dean of Infrastruc-ture Development) and SP

Hota (Registrar In-charge)joined the meeting.

The dignitaries and insti-tutes which took part inthe meeting were ProfRenu Jain, vice chancellor,DAVV; Dr RK Saxena, di-rector, SGSITS; Col Guru-raj Pamidi, CAO, IIM In-dore; Dr Arup Banerjee,Dean Academics of RajaRamanna Centre for Ad-vanced Technology, SunilK Somani, Vice Chancellorof MediCaps Institute ofTechnology and Manage-ment; Dr Dhruv Ghai, ViceChancellor of Oriental In-stitute of Science & Tech-

nology; Dr Upinder Dhar,Vice Chancellor of ShriVaishnav Vidyapeeth; DrArchana Keerti Chowd-hary, Director of IPS Acad-emy; Dr Durgesh KumarMishra, Director of SriAurobindo Institute ofTechnology; Dr AshishBansal Director of Sym-biosis University of Ap-plied Sciences; Dr AKSingh, Director of Shub-hdeep Ayurved MedicalCollege & Hospital; Dr SCSharma Director of Acrop-olis Institute of Technolo-gy and Research; Dr JoyBanerjee, Director ofChamelidevi School of En-gineering; Dr Manoj Ku-mar Deshpande Directorof Prestige Institute ofEngineering Management& Research; Dr ManishChowdhary from SAGEUniversity and Dr SameerPingle, Associate Dean ofNarsee Monjee Institute ofManagement Studies.

IIT Indore conducts online meet on COVID-19

Four new COVIDcases in Mhow

MHOW:(FPNS)

Four new COVID-19 caseswere detected in Mhow onWednesday. Of them, twohave been found in Rajmo-halla, one in Jafrabad vil-lage while one in Sayda vil-lage. With this, total posi-tive cases in Mhow tehsilhas reached 185 with 25deaths so far.

BMO (urban) Dr HR Ver-ma said that a street of Raj-mohalla was completelysealed where two fresh cas-es were found. All otherpositive cases of this locali-ty were found in the samestreet last month. A thor-ough survey of the wholearea was carried out by theCOVID team.

BMP (rural) Dr SanjayJain said that the personwho was found positive inJafrabad village, belongs tothe same family where awoman was found positivefour days back. In Sayda vil-lage also, one 55-year-oldman has been found posi-tive. All four positive caseshave been shifted to RedZone hospitals in Indorewhile areas around theirhomes have been made con-tainmentzones.

OUR STAFF REPORTERIndore

To promote transparencyand accountability, IMChas installed electrictimers at the ongoing con-struction work at VeerSavarkar Market and BadaSarafa.

IMC commissioner Palsaid that the timer will in-dicate the days, hours,minutes and seconds leftfor the work to get complet-

ed. She said that this willbring transparency in thework and also satisfy thecitizens. It will also makethe construction companyto do work on time.

The superintendent engi-neer of Veer Savarkar Mar-ket project, DR Lodhi saidthe timers are being in-stalled at the constructionsites under Smart Cityproject. A road is beingconstructed from VeerSavarkar Market to Rajwa-

da at an expense of Rs 4crore. Under the projectIMC will construct theroad, repair drainage sys-tem, water supply line, un-derground electricity lineand other civic works. Thetarget date for the projectis July 18, 2020. The reno-vation of Bada Sarafa isalso underway and is tar-geted to be completed byJuly 19, 2020. The timer isinstalled near Vijay ChatHouse.

Timers installed atSmart City project sites

MHOW (FPNS)

Mhow city Congress, ledby their president MaheshJaiswal, handed over amemorandum addressedto the President of India,to Mhow SDM AbhilashMishra to protest againstrising prices of petroleumproducts. Jaiswal said that

petrol price was Rs 77.56while diesel price was68.27 on June 1, whereasthe prices reached Rs 87.16and Rs 79.33 respectivelyon 22 June. The petrolprice has increased by Rs8.30 while diesel price byRs 11.46 in such a shorttime.

The public is facing coro-

na crisis for the last threemonths and the economyof the state is in very badshape.

People have been expect-ing some sops from thecentral government, butinstead, they are having topay more for petrol anddiesel which is causing ad-ditional hardship.

Congress memorandum OUR STAFF REPORTER

Indore

Intermittent rains coupledwith a cool breeze pulleddown the maximum tem-perature by six degreesCelsius below the normaltemperature on Wednes-day. Officials of regionalmeteorological depart-ment said that weatherconditions will remain thesame for the next couple ofdays and the city will wit-ness moderate to heavyrains.

The residents woke up tocloudy weather on Wednes-day morning. Light rainoccurred intermittentlythroughout the day provid-ing relief for the denizensfrom the increasing hu-midity and itchy weather.

"Southwest Monsoon has

further advanced into re-maining parts of Kutchand Gujarat Region andMadhya Pradesh. A cy-

clonic circulation lies overnortheast Madhya Pradeshand neighbourhood at low-er tropospheric levels. It is

very likely to become lessmarked after 24 hours. Asthe monsoon trough hasbeen shifting towards oth-

er parts of the country,monsoon activities willtake a break in the state af-ter a couple of days," a de-partment official said.

City recorded 0.3 mmrainfall on Wednesday tak-ing the seasonal total to100.3 mm.

The maximum tempera-ture on Wednesday wasrecorded at 28.7 degreesCelsius which was six de-grees Celsius below thenormal while the mini-mum temperature wasrecorded at 22.6 degreesCelsius which one degreeCelsius below the normaltemperature.

"Humidity level onWednesday morning wasrecorded at 83 per centwhile the level in theevening was 86 per cent,"the weathermen said.

Moderate to heavy rains likely in next two days

Cold storage facilitywill start at Indoreairport in a month

OUR STAFF REPORTERIndore

There is good news forfarmers willing to exporttheir produce. The airlineshave offered to collect ex-portable farm produce evenfrom the farmer's field. Forthis, a cold storage facilitywould be developed at theair cargo complex of DeviAhilyabai Holkar Airportwithin a month for han-dling perishable cargo.

The offer was made by theairlines during a video-con-ferencing held on Wednes-day, which was organisedby the city office of AAICargo Logistics and AlliedServices Ltd (AAICLAS), asubsidiary venture of Air-port Authority of India(AAI).

In this interactive ses-sion, officers of AAICLAS,representatives from trade,exporters, MSMEs and air-lines took part. The objec-

tive was to inform thestakeholders about the 'Kr-ishi Udan Scheme',launched by the Govern-ment of India in the Budget2020.

The video-conferencingprovided a platform for in-teraction between all thestake holders to facilitatethe movement of goods es-pecially the perishablesfrom Madhya Pradesh.

READY TO CARRY EVEN SMALL VOLUMERajesh Singh from Spice-

Jet Airline and ShekharMohanti from Air Asia in-formed that the airlines areoffering door-to-door serv-ice. The airline is evenready to carry small vol-

ume of cargo to facilitatethe exporter-farmers.

DOUBLING FARMER'S INCOME BY 2022

Highlighting the featuresof the scheme RCS Dabas,senior manager (Cargo)and station head AAICLASInternational Air CargoComplex, DABH airport,said that it is part of a 16-point programme of thecentral government toboost agricultural exportand doubling farmer's in-come by 2022. Girish Shar-ma, regional manager,(Northern and Western Re-gions) of AAICLAS corpo-rate office from New Delhiassured all exporters andimporters for availing the

best services by AAICLASat the city airport.

FIEO SUPPORT ASPIRING EXPORTERS

Rishu Mishra from FIEOIndore Chapter assuredsupport to small scale agro-producers. She suggestedhaving close co-operationfrom AAICLAS for promo-tion of export from theState. Samir Mankad, CEOGSEC Ltd. said that all theservice providers likeAAICLAS, operation andmanagement Operator,Freight forwarders, Air-lines are keen to provideservices and exportersshould utilise these servic-es to promote the tradethrough air.

HOPE TO GET HELP IN BOOSTING

BOOST EXPORTGautam Kothari, presi-

dent of Pithampur Aydoy-gic Sanghatan briefedabout the general cargofrom Pithampur Industri-al area and assured thatgood business for exportfrom here should be ex-pected after this fruitfulinteraction.

Airlines ready to collect exportableproduce from field of farmer

OUR STAFF REPORTERIndore

Under the 'Vande BharatMission', a special driveto evacuate stranded In-dians abroad, as many as7 flights will land at In-dore airport fromKuwait, Ukraine,Moscow, Sharjah andBishkek in the comingdays. The first flight isarriving from Sharjahon Thursday.

So far 5 such flightshave landed at the citycarrying 1000 people ofMadhya Pradesh andother neighbouringstates.

Owing to the COVID-19pandemic the operationof domestic as well as in-ternational flights fromthe country was stoppedfrom March 25, when thenationwide lockdownwas declared.

Aryama Sanyal, air-port director, informedthat we have received theschedule from the air-lines about the arrival oftheir flights underVande Bharat Mission at

the city's Devi AhilyabaiHolkar Airport. She saidthese flights will arriveat different dates.

The first such flight ofAir Arabia will arrivefrom Sharjah on Thurs-day. 2 flight operated byIndiGo will arrive fromKuwait on Sunday. Aflight from Ukraine willarrive on June 30. Aflight from Moscow onJuly 2 and another flightfrom Bishkek will arriveon July 3. Another flightfrom Ukrain will arriveon July 14.

Soni's brotherMahendraarrested

from GujaratOUR STAFF REPORTER

Indore

A team of crime branch ar-rested Mahendra Soni,younger brother of JituSoni, from Gujarat onWednesday. He was on therun after a case was regis-tered against Jitu and oth-ers during the drive againstmafias in the state sixmonths ago.

Acting on a tip-off, Ma-hendra was arrested fromSurat where he was hidingfor some time. During thedrive against the mafia inthe state, Indore police hadbooked businessman JituSoni for his involvement inland fraud and othercrimes. His house and ho-tel's encroached portionswere demolished. Jitualong with his brother, sonand others were booked bythe police. Jitu and othersare still on the run.

DIG HarinarayanachariMishra said that Mahendrawas caught from Gujaratand he is being brought tothe city for further investi-gation.

7 flights under VandeBharat to land in city

2 FLIGHTS EACHFROM KUWAIT ANDUKRAINE AND ONE

EACH FROMMOSCOW, BISHKEK

AND SHARJAHTHE FIRST FLIGHT

ARRIVES FROMSHARJAH TODAY

TAKING CHARGE ABVP members burnXi Jinping’s effigy

FP NEWS SERVICENagda

Members of Akhil Bharatiya Vid-yarthi Parishad burnt the effigy of theChinese president Xi Jinping on Tues-day. They also appealed to the shop-

keepers to not procure and sell chinamade products. The members also paidtribute to the martyrs of Galwan val-ley. ABVP district head Sunil Vyas, dis-trict social media head Zuber Qureshiand other city level members of the or-ganisation also raised their voices.

Congress seeksclarity on

reduction ofelectricity bills

DHAR

Members of Youth Con-gress and district Congresssubmitted a memorandumover the unfortunate deathof four infants in Bhoj Civ-il Hospital on Tuesday. Thememo submitted to addi-tional district magistrateShailednra Singh Solankidemanded for a strict ac-tion against those responsi-ble for the tragic incident.

District Congress execu-tive president Rakesh Dodsaid that the infants losttheir life due to misman-agement of the hospital.All four of them died on thesame day. He said thatstrict action must be takenagainst the people in-volved.

Congress spokespersonDeependra Thakur readthe memorandum. Anothermemorandum was submit-ted in the name of the stategovernor, stating that theemployees and officialsconcerned of MPVVCL donot have received any offi-cial order regarding reduc-tion of the electricity billsfor consumers.

Congress members TonyChhabra, Manish Bhargav,district general secretaryKaran Chauhan and othersmarked their presence.5 more test positive

in Khandwa, tally 292FP NEWS SERVICE

Khandwa

Samples of 100 individuals weresent to laboratory for testing, outof which 56 reports arrived onTuesday. Chief medical officer DrDS Chauhan said that out of thereports arrived after testing fromKhandwa Medical College, 51 sus-pected patients have tested nega-tive while five have tested posi-tive for coronavirus.

He said that out of the five posi-tive, two belong to Khandwa andone from Kundleshwar, Kallan-ganj and Kheganwda each. Tilldate, 5,016 samples have been col-lected from Khandwa, out ofwhich 292 have tested positive.Khandwa has been successful inthe discharge of 263 coronavirusinfected persons after recovery.

The new Indore SP (east) Vijay Khatri took charge on Wednesday. He was welcomed by ASPJaiveer Singh Bhadoriya, ASP Rajesh Raghuwanshi and ASP Shashikant Kankane

Only One case tOday

FP nEWS SERViCE

Ujjain

As per the medical bulletinissued by CMHO at 8.30 pmon Wednesday, only persontested positive which tookthe number of patients to849 in the district. This pa-tient, a 46-year-old woman,from Gangedi village be-longs to Ujjain. As no moreCOVID-19 death reportedon the day, the toll re-mained on 69. According to CMHO, so farsamples of 15,738 personshave been taken for COVID-19 tests in the district. In all573 sample reports were re-ceived on the day and onlytwo examination reports areawaited now. With 14 morepatients discharged fromvarious hospitals, 724 pa-tients have been dischargedtill date from different hos-pitals and quarantine cen-ters. Total 57 active patientsare under treatment in thehospitals, but only 16 ofthem have Corona symp-toms and rest 41 do not havesuch symptoms.

CITY BEHOLDS OLD NORMALAS MARKETS REOPEN

FP nEWS SERViCE

Ujjain

All the markets of the citywitnessed customers onWednesday as district ad-ministration allowed to re-open all shops, scrappingearlier rule of side-wiseopening of the shops. The scrapping earlierrule of opening shopsside-wise, removed confu-sion from the mind of cus-

tomers as from now all theshops will open together. Shopkeepers also wel-comed the administra-tion’s decision and openedshop at 9am. Shops situat-ed in Doulatganj, Kanthal,Naisadak, Kamari Marg,Chhatrichowk, Dewasgateand Freeganj areasopened on routine time.Shopkeepers told FreePress that now citydwellers are following

norms to ward off COVID-19 infection like wearingmasks while shopping.However the administra-tion did not allow restau-rant, pan shops and smalltea stalls in the city. Crisismanagement committeemember and MLA ParasJain told that talks are onwith the district adminis-tration for opening ofrestaurant and othershops in the city.

Cong workers torch pm’s effigy

FP nEWS SERViCE

Ujjain

District Congress onWednesday stagedprotest against hike inpetrol and diesel’s rate.The party members tookout a bullock-cart rallyand burnt effigy of PMModi. The party mem-

bers also handed over amemorandum addressedto President of India.Congress spokespersonVivek Soni told that asper the instruction ofstate Congress headKamalnath in the leader-ship of district Congresshead Mahesh Soni andrural head Kamal Patel

party members onWednesday stagedprotest against the stategovernment and theunion government forhike in petrol and dieselrates. Soni said that duringlast 16 days petrol ratessoared up by Rs 11 anddiesel rate soared up by

Rs 10. Congress partymembers on 11.30am tookour rally from Congressoffice at Kshirsagar. The rally was taken outvia Dewasgate, Malipura,Doulatganj, Naisadakand Kanthal square whileat Chamundamatasquare party membersburnt effigy of PM Modi

and handed over thememorandum to SDMJagdish Mehra. On thisoccasion senior Congressleader Dr BatukshankarJoshi, Azad Yadav,Anantnarayan Meena,Karan Kumariya, ManishGome, Sultanshah Lalaand other party memberswere present.

DYMdemandsreopeningof all

templesUjjain

Dharm-Yatra Ma-hasangh’ national headPt Surendra Chaturve-di demanded that alltemples and shops neartemple premises acrossthe city be allowed to re-open. He said that Uj-jain is a pilgrimagehence its templesshould remain open fordevotees so a memoran-dum has been submit-ted to Collector, divi-sional commissioner,Member of ParliamentAnil Firojia, MLAParas Jain, Mohan Ya-dav, Municipal Corpo-ration president SonuGehlot and mayorMeena Jonwal.Pt Chaturvedi, AkhilBharatiya BrahminSamaj functionaryRamesh ChandraPandya, Tarun Upad-hyay and other officebearers demanded thatover 800 shops situatedin premises of Ma-hakaleshwar temple,Harsiddhi Temple, KalBhairav temple, ShaniNavgrah Temple andother temples acrossthe city should be re-opened.

Ujjain, suburbs record 135mm rainfall

FP nEWS SERViCE

Ujjain

The city and periphery ar-eas received so far 135mmrainfall till Wednesday

while Ujjain division hasso far received an averagerainfall of 151 mm. Thehighest rainfall in the di-vision so far has been 240mm in Dewas district. The

average rainfall in Ujjaindistrict so far is 130.9 mm.Last year, the averagerainfall in Ujjain divisionwas 50.7 mm. The averagerainfall of the division is

recorded at 917.2 mm.So far 130.9mm in Ujjaindistrict, 240mm in Dewas,142.9 in Shajapur,159.3mm in Ratlam,99.5mm in Mandsaur dis-trict, 126.6mm inNeemuch and 158.2 mm inAgar-Malwa district therainfall has been record-ed. During the last 24hours till Wednesdaymorning, 39.3 mm rainfallhas been recorded in Uj-jain district. So far 32 mmin Ujjain Tehsil, 20 inGhatia, 64 in Khachrod, 64in Nagda, 64 in Barnagar,34 in Mehidpur and 17 mmin Tarana Tehsil has beenrecorderd during the lasttwenty four hours tillWednesday morning.

Robinhood Army continues tospread ‘happiness’ with kits

GULREZ GOURi

Ujjain

City’s youth under theaegis of Robinhood Army(RHA) are spreading hap-piness by distributing hap-piness kit which containsconsumables of daily us-able. Even as most of the so-cial organisations havestopped the food distribu-tion or other relief worksto homeless and poor peo-ple but RHA is still distrib-uting the ration kit andwill continue this reliefwork till 15th of August.Every year on Independ-ence Day the food distribu-tion drive is held by RHAmembers and the cookedfood is distributed tohomeless and poor peopleacross the city. This yearsince the atmosphere is to-tally changed and thereare many people who arenot at their work yet. Amidlockdown a lot of social or-ganizations appeared ac-tive, but after the processof unlock most of the re-lief works were stopped.There are a lot of peoplewho are still not able toarrange bread for theirfamily that is why RHAmembers have started

‘happiness kit’ distribu-tion programme in whichpeople are contributing ed-ible items like spices, salt,sugar, pulses, rice, bis-cuits. These kits are beingdistributed by RHA mem-bers among the needy.

Talking to Free Press,Anurag Acharya, a mem-ber of RHA, told that theyare a zero funding organi-sation. “We don’t take cashfrom anybody to do suchrelief works, but if some-one wants to contribute in

this noble deed, he/she cangive readymade happinesskit of edible items,” he in-formed. Anurag furthertold that they have aroundninety active members incity who are randomly do-ing this distribution work.

“We have distributed morethan 90 kits yet and up toAugust 15 the distributionof thousands of kits is ex-pected,” he added.According to Anurag,last year they received5,000 kg grain to distributecooked food but this yeardue to corona pandemicpeople are not able to con-tribute the edible items inbulk but they are con-tributing according to ca-pacity. Notably, RHA is anorganization which isworking for education ofpoor children as well asfood distribution amongneedy and homeless peo-ple in city for last threeyears. Female members oforganization also join themale members actively inall the relief works and ed-ucational activities.

Safety measures RHA members go to dis-tribute edible items tohomeless and needy peo-ple after following all nec-essary precautions. Mem-bers use gloves, masksand again and again sani-tize themselves. Not onlythis, kit contains the pack-ets are also sanitizedproperly.

Doctors advising the ‘discharged’ patients of Police TrainingSchool, Maksi Road to maintain 14-day home quarantine FP PHOTO

Ujjain

Municipal commissioner Kshitij Singhalon Wednesday instructed nodal officersfor making speedy resolution of com-plaints related to sanitation, lighting andothers received at control room of Munic-ipal Corporation. Nodal officers were alsoinstructed to maintain proper sanitationarrangements at public and communitytoilets.Singhal also assessed the constructionwork at Kartik Mela (fair) premises andinstructed concerned officials to get thework completed soon. So that the fair willbe organized in better premises. Commis-sioner also visited Jaisingpura area andtook the feedback from residents about

sanitation and lighting in the area. On thisoccasion additional commissioner ManojPathak, executive engineer Anil Jain, Zon-al officer Sunil Jain other concerned offi-cials were present.

Mayor takes feedback onwaterlogging prone areas

Mayor Meena Jonwal on took the feed-back of possible areas that can be water-logged. The mayor instructed concernedofficials to clear up complaints in speedymanner and to get the drainage cleaned inview of rainy season. During the meetingdeputy commissioner Sanjesh Gupta,health officer Sanjay Kulshreshtha andDheeraj Maina were also present.

PROTEST AGAINST FUEL PRICE HIKE: Take out bullock cart rally UJJAIN WITNESSES a sharp drop in corona patients

RefReshment shops to opeRate foR 3 houRs

Collector and district magistrate Asheesh Singh onWednesday night issued an order to keep the petrol pumpopen in the Ujjain Municipal Corporation boundary areafrom 7 am to 9 pm while relaxing curfew and lockdownrestrictions implemented to prevent the spread of Coronavirus infection. Permission has been granted to open teaand breakfast shops from 7 am to 10 am. Sitting in tea-snack shops will remain prohibited. People will be able totake breakfast home in packets. Similarly, the nighttimecurfew has been set from 9 pm to 7 am. The curfew banwill not apply to medical emergencies, urgent services,media persons and morning walkers.

CURED: 724TOLL: 69

NGTO members demaNd Three mONThs salary, GheraO deO Office

Members of Non governmentteachers organization (NGTO)besieged the office of districteducation officer onWednesday in regard withpayment of their salaries forlast 3 month. The NGTOmembers on assembled atoffice of district educationofficer in leadership of NGTOhead Ritu Shrivastava. Theteachers told that aftersubmitting memorandumabout their problems the DEOdid not take any action in thematter. The teachers warnedthe administration toaggressive agitation acrossthe state.

Bullock cart rally being taken out in Ujjain on Wednesday

Crowd throng market near Chhatri Chowk in Ujjain on Wedenesday

Girls commute on a scooter during rain (L) and waterloggedMadhav College sports ground (R) FP PHOTOS

RHA members reaching out to slum areas to distribute ‘happiness kits’ post-lockdown FP PHOTO

Even as most of the social organisations have stoppedthe food distribution or other relief works to homelessand poor people but RHA is still distributing the ration kitand will continue this relief work till 15th of August.

PM’s effigy being burnt

Queen Durgawati rememberedUjjain

On the 456 th immolationday of brave queen Dur-gawati who troubledMughals for long was re-membered on Wednesday.On this occasion AronyaAdiwasi Seva Sansthan or-ganized a programme. Theprogramme was presidedover by Vijay LakshmiAronya. During the pro-gramme Corona warriorslike doctors, cops, Ashaworkers, teachers andparamedical staffers werefelicitated. The pro-gramme was conducted byManoj Thakur while grati-tude was expressed byRamgopal Gond andKailash Barod jointly.

Cleanliness, ongoing construction work assessed

4 Ujjain CityFREEPRESSthursday | June 25, 2020 | Indore

UJJAIN WEATHERMAXIMUM: 32.4°C, MINIMUM: 21.6° C

HUMIDITYMORNING: 84per cent, EVENING: 76 per cent

SUNRISE: 5.43 am , SUNSET: 7.16 pm

Chouhan to visit Tirupati todayBHOPAL: Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan will be on a two-day visit to Tirupati on Thursday.

After becoming chief minister, Chouhan did not visit anywhere outside the state. From Tirupati,

Chouhan may go to New Delhi to discuss cabinet expansion with the central leadership.

MADHYA PRADESH 5FREEPRESS

thursday | June 25, 2020 | Indore

Holds discussionswith party leadership

OUR STAFF REPORTER

BHOPAL

The proposed ministry ex-pansion is on the cards.Chief minister ShivrajSingh Chouhan gave indica-tions about it on Wednes-day.Chouhan said he had dis-

cussed it with party leaders.Before expansion, there willbe a discussion with thecentral leadership in Delhi,he said.Chouhan has already dis-

cussed the matter with state

party president VD Sharmaand organisational secre-tary Suhash Bhagat. Ac-cording to party sources,the cabinet will be expand-ed in a week. That all com-munities and regions areequally represented in thecabinet has been discussedin the meeting. The party leaders agreed

that there would be threeministers from Sagar dis-trict as an exceptional case.Attention will be paid to

caste equation because ofthe ensuing by-elections,sources said. Two supporters of Rajya

Sabha member JyotiradityaScindia have been made

ministers. Besides, six ofhis supporters will be in-ducted in the cabinet,sources said.There are chances that

four former ministers Prad-

umnya Singh Tomar, Ma-hendra Singh Sisodia, Imar-ti Devi and PrabhuramChoudhary will get cabinetberths. Also, RajyawardhanSingh Dattigaon and Ran-veer Jatav may be includedin the ministry.Former Congress MLAs

Adal Singh Kansana,Bisahulal Singh and Hard-eep Singh Dang, who havecrossed over to the BJP, areset to get cabinet berths. Among BJP MLAs, Gopal

Bhargava, BhupendraSingh, Vijay Shah, Gauris-hanker Bisen, YashodharaRaje Scindia, ArvindBhadauria, Sanjay Pathakand Surendra Patwa will be

inducted in the cabinet.The central leadership

will take a decision on thecabinet berth aspirants -Rajendra Shukla, AjayVishnoi, Rampal Singh,Vishwash Sarang, Haris-hanker Khatig and DevSingh Sayam. The BJP organisation

wants to induct new faces inthe cabinet. They are UshaThakur, Girish Gautam,Mohan Yadav, RamlalluVaish, Ashok Rohani, Vish-nu Khatri and Yashpal Siso-dia. The date for ministry ex-

pansion will be fixed onlyafter the central leadershipapproves names.

OUR STAFF REPORTER

BHOPAL

In a tit-for-tat, the rulingBJP is unlikely to offer thepost of the Deputy Speakerof Vidhan Sabha to theCongress. It may, instead,choose to install a SP orBSP member on the post.The•Deputy Speaker’s

post is traditionally offeredto the main opposition par-ty with the understandingthat it would allow the nom-inee of the ruling party tobe elected as the Speakerunanimously. However, in violation of

this tradition, the BJP hadfielded its candidate in theelection of the Speaker af-ter the last Assembly polls.Subsequently, a miffed Con-gress had refused to allowthe appointment of a BJPmember as Deputy Speakerand Hina Kanware of theruling party was elected tothe post.With the roles reversed,

the BJP has now decidednot to go by the traditionand may choose to oblige ei-ther the sole SP (since ex-pelled from the party) orone of the two BSP mem-bers by appointing them asthe deputy head of theHouse.The State Vidhan Sabha

will be meeting on July 20for a five-day session for thefirst time after the BJPpulling the rug from under

the Congress governmentin March this year. TheHouse will wear a new look,with the BJP contingent oc-cupying the treasurybenches. After an 18-month-long gap, the CongressMLAs would be back in theportion of the House ear-marked for the opposition.The House will elect its

new Speaker and DeputySpeaker. And the Congresslegislature party wouldhave to name its leader, whowill also be the leader of op-position in the Vidhan Sab-ha. BJP heavyweight GopalBhargava’s name is doingthe rounds as the nextSpeaker of the House. How-ever, the former minister issaid to be reluctant to takeup the job. He is believed tobe more interested in join-ing the government as aminister. Sitasharan Shar-ma, a five-time MLA, whowas the Speaker during thelast BJP regime, is said tobe keen on occupying theoffice once again. The BJPleadership will take a finalcall on the issue.As for the post of leader of

opposition in the VidhanSabha, sources say, formerchief minister Kamal Nathwould be the obviouschoice. However, if he de-clines the offer, one of thesenior members of the for-mer Nath cabinet may benamed to lead the Congresscontingent.

Cabinet to be expandedsoon, says Chouhan

BJP unlikely to offer DeputySpeaker post to Congress

Might oblige SP or BSP member by offering coveted seat

Diggy pedals to CM’s house,protests fuel price hike

OUR STAFF REPORTER

BHOPAL

Congress leader DigvijayaSingh rode a bicycle to chiefminister Shivraj SinghChouhan's residence onWednesday to protestagainst the rising fuelprices. Digvijaya Singh,who was joined by a num-ber of party workers, rodethe cycle for about one kilo-metre from Roshanpura in-tersection to chief minis-ter's residence. Sing saidruling BJP in state and thecentre see coronavirus pan-demic as an opportunity toearn money."Pandemic still persists. In-

flation is increasing and peo-ple are dying of hunger. TheCentral government has in-creased excise duty on petroland diesel for 18th consecu-tive day. As Modi ji says lookfor opportunity in disaster,for Centre corona disaster isan opportunity to earn mon-ey," he added. Digvijaya Singh's cycle ride

was a part of state-wideprotests called by Congressparty against the rise inpetrol and diesel price onWednesday. Party's state unitchief Kamal Nath had askedall district and block-levelmembers to participate inthe march. Apart from ex-CM, a number of senior lead-ers including former minis-

ter Jitu Patwari rode bicyclein Indore. Congress has beenattacking the governmentover the hike in petrol anddiesel prices continuouslyfor 18 days after the lock-down restrictions were re-laxed. Earlier in the day, Con-gress leader Rahul Gandhicondemned government forincrease in fuel prices andrise in coronavirus cases.

‘It’s a polItIcal stunt’

Reacting to protests, statehome minister NarrotamMishra termed it as apolitical stunt by Congressleaders. "Digvijaya Singhshould apologise first.Congress said they willreduce petrol price by 5 Rsin their election manifestobut increased it by Rs 2 andspent the money on actorsSalman Khan and JacquelineFernandez. But we used infighting corona," Mishrasaid.

OUR STAFF REPORTER

BHOPAL

The BJP government claimed that they haveincreased Re 1 on per litre petrol and ondiesel. It said that the present price hike onthe petroleum is because of Congress gov-ernment who had increased the VAT andcess on the products, during their regime. It is claimed that when the BJP govern-

ment was in power on October 5, 2018, 28 per-cent was the VAT, Rs 1.50 was the additionaltax and one percent was the cess on the onelitre of the petrol in the state. After assembly elections, the Congress par-

ty formed the government in December 2018.One July 6, 2019, the Congress governmentincrease additional tax of Rs 2.50 on petrol,the tax increased to Rs 3.5 per litre andwhereas 28 percent VAT and the 1 cess re-mained in the cost of the petrol. On September 21, 2019, the Congress gov-

ernment increased the tax again. Now, theVAT is 33 percent, Rs 3.5 is additional tax and1 percent as the cess. When the BJP form thegovernment in March 2020, the governmentincreased the additional tax to Rs 1 on June13, the additional tax increased to Rs 4.5 andthe VAT remained to 33 percent and the cessonly one percent.

‘Fuel price hike is because of Cong govt’

Man kills wifesuspecting infidelity,tries to pass it asaccident; fails

OUR STAFF REPORTER

BHOPAL

A 40-year-old woman wasstabbed to death by her hus-band over an alleged extramarital affair. The man af-ter putting her to death,himself took her to hospitalclaiming that she fell fromterrace.The man wanted to pass

the incident as an accident,however, his plans fell flatas the doctors recognizedwounds of stabbing and in-sisted for a postmortemsuspecting a foul play. Theaccused tried to mislead thedoctors but the latter in-formed police. The accusedRajkumar Namdev hasbeen arrested.The incident occurred at

Prakash Nagar area in Pi-plani on Tuesday evening.After tiff with her husband, the woman Manju Namdevhad left him and moved withher parents, said city super-intendent of police (CSP)Govindpura Ankit Jaiswal.The woman worked as alabourer at a nearby con-struction site and there shehad developed friendshipwith another man. Namdevwas irked over it and hewould often pick up a fightwith her over it. On Tuesdayafternoon, the man cameand again raised the issueleading to heated argumentbetween he two. Thewoman’s parents were awayat the time. The accusedstabbed her in a fit of ragebut on realizing what awaitshim, he hatched a plan topass the murder as an acci-dent. He rushed the womanto hospital and told the doc-tors that she had fallen fromthe second floor.

Arjun awardeeShreyasi addressesjournalism aspirants

OUR STAFF REPORTER

Bhopal

International shooter andArjun award winner,Shreyasi Singh, took a vir-tual lecture at MakhanlalChaturvedi Univeristy onWednesday. The lecturewas a part of an ongoingvirtual series ‘Stree ShaktiSamvad’. Singh said the women

were fighting both socialand mental stigma againstthe society. Boys are hand-ed over a cricket bat sincechildhood while girls areprovided with kitchen setsand dolls, she said. Dis-crimination begins athome, she said emphasiz-ing on the need to changemindset. She appreciatedmedia for helping cut offthe discrimination to anextent.

Letters should be limited to 150 words and must be sent via e-mail. Letters may be edited for clarity or space. E-mail: fpindore@gmail.com

6 EDITFREEPRESS

INDORE | THURSDAY | JUNE 25, 2020

The numbers of COVID-19 infections continueto soar. Two months ago, when this authortalked about why slums could cause much of

the pandemic, this was a surmise. But as the num-bers keep mounting, there is no escaping the cor-relationship between the rise incoronavirus cases and slums (seechart).First, consider some numbersthat are not included in the chart.Across India, as on 20 June 2020,there were 3,95,690 confirmed casesof which recoveries stood at 213,964and deaths at 12,955. We have chosen not to take the netinfection figures (total infectionsless recoveries) because that wouldbe misleading. Each person who is found con-firmed implies treatment costs andfinancial losses as well. Those whohave recovered have already paidthis cost, either directly, or indi-rectly through taxes and foregoneincome. Moreover, there can be noprice tag on deaths — that numbermasks the pain, the incalculableloss, and the final confirmation ofthe tragedies unleashed on familiesand loved ones.

Demographic tinkeringWhat makes these numbers doublypainful is the realisation that manyof these cases were a direct resultof a deliberate attempt to createand encourage slums. This was acontribution of India’s elected rep-resentatives, in collusion with thebureaucracy, and sometimes the judiciary as well. The judiciary is less guilty, because it did, timeand again, ask for a cut-off-date beyond whichslums would not get regularised. True, each timeelected representatives gave the courts a solemnassurance of the cut-off date. And each time, re-peatedly, legislators sought to ignore the cut-off

date, going against their own assurances on oath tothe courts. When the courts frowned at such moves, andtried to block the elected representatives, the latterdared to pass ordinances and thus frustrate themoves of courts. The courts could have challengedthese ordinances. There were enough judgementswhich held as illegal ordinances passed merely tofrustrate earlier orders of the courts. One of themost significant was that passed by JusticesMadan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta of the SupremeCourt on 15 February 2018. It stated that legislatorscould not pass laws with retrospective effect tofrustrate orders passed by courts. But there hasbeen little attempt to penalise such legislators forcontempt of court and holding such ordinancesunconstitutional. The courts have thus buckled under legislative

pressure. The legislators are interested in creating slumsbecause that allows them to trounce a popular rep-resentative of the people by tinkering with the con-stituency’s demographics. Consequently, an exist-ing population is ambushed by thousands of ‘out-siders’ who camp there and outnumber the exist-

ing locals. It is akin to casting bogus ballot papersin electoral boxes. Yet neither the courts nor theelection commission have intervened. Obviously, demographic tinkering in select con-stituencies is patently wrong, squatting on publicland is clearly illegal, and the regularisation ofthese illegal dwellers is nothing but a whitewash-ing of such illegalities. The courts have quietlywatched at all these illegalities taking place andhave done little to stop them. Hence the courts too are guilty. Their silence hasmade the judiciary weaker, and the legislatorseven more powerful than they were earlier. Hith-erto, they could be challenged by both courts andvoters. But now they have learnt to ignore thecourts; and silence existing voters by bringing inmore people from outside to outnumber local pop-ulations. The legislators have bushwhacked

democracy.

The costs show upToday the real costs of such actionsare being felt. Suddenly everyonerealises that it is impossible to lock-down a slum, or practice social dis-tancing there. Lives of commonpeople, and even legislators, are atrisk. And, finally, some of the mostsenseless decision are being castaside by the Supreme Court. It is time the courts now pull uplegislators in slum-infested cities –especially in states where slumd-wellers are more than 5% (the na-tional average) of the total popula-tion. Each of such states has citieswhere slums account for 25-50% oflocal populations. It is time to stop legislators fromfirst rigging vote-count (through il-legally created votebanks), thenstealing entitlements – rememberslums account for ten times morethe entitlements they should get,and eventually endangering bothlives and the economy throughpandemics. The theft of entitle-ments is evident from Census 2011figures. Contrary to the averagesize of 5.3 persons per householdfor the country, slums in cities ac-count for a household size of a

mere 0.5. Effectively, each slum dweller belongs totwo families (on paper) so additional entitlementscould be stolen.The encouragement to slums must stop immedi-ately. The costs are now becoming unbearable.

The writer is consulting editor with FPJ.

PAK LEFT NO OTHER OPTION FOR INDIA

The downturn in the Indo-Pak ties was widely ex-pected. After India expelled two mid-level diplo-mats of the Pakistan High Commission in Del-

hi on spying charges last month, Pakistan in a tit-for-tat response physically assaulted two Indian diplo-mats on wholly trumped up charges before declaringthem persona non grata. The two were picked up bythe Pakistani spy agency and taken to an unknownplace and tortured by the ISI thugs. Only when Indialodged a strong protest against their disappearancedid Pakistan release them. Photographs of the two In-dians returning home through the Wagah bordershowed tell-tale evidence of the inhuman treatmentPakistan accords to diplomats accredited to Islam-abad. This is in breach of the basic tenets of the diplo-matic code to which Pakistan is a signatory under theVienna Convention. In a statement on Tuesday, theMinistry of External Affairs said that the behaviourof Pakistan and its officials was not in conformitywith the widely accepted code for diplomats. “On thecontrary, Pakistan is an intrinsic element of a largerpolicy of supporting cross-border violence and ter-rorism”, the MEA asserted. It is, therefore, welcomethat the government has decided to curtail the staffstrength of its own mission in Islamabad and Pak-istan’s in New Delhi by half. The Indian mission inPakistan will now be reduced to 55. Pakistan will haveto do it likewise. This is the first time since the attackon Parliament in 2001 that such a reduction instrength in the two missions is being enforced. This isto be done in the next two days. Quite clearly, the gov-ernment has decided that Pakistan is unlikely to re-turn to the path of sanity. Aside from continuing itsterrorist activities in Kashmir, Pakistan has tried toexploit the current India-China border standoff towhip up trouble against India. Ten months ago Pak-istan had downgraded ties with India, withdrawingits High Commissioner following the revocation ofJammu and Kashmir’s special status under Article370. India too had followed suit, handing over chargeto its Acting High Commissioner. Outright rejectionof the Indian charges by Pakistan, even denying, inthe face of clear evidence of physical torture of twoIndian diplomats, that it had maltreated them, cameas no surprise. Ties between the two neighbours arelikely to take a turn for the worse, given that Pakistanwill try and create further mischief believing that In-dia is distracted by its on-going standoff with China.However, given the fast diminishing influence of Pak-istan in various global multilateral forums and itsmounting economic and political difficulties, there isnot much else that it can do to trouble India. Pakistandeludes itself it can sidestep its insurmountable do-mestic crises by playing the India card. Even its long-suffering people can no longer be fooled by theRawalpindi GHQ which actually has Pakistan underits jackboot.

Donald Trump’selection-eve banThe latest restrictions on non-immigrant work

visas by Donald Trump might hurt skilled In-dians in the short-run but it would impact the

US economy as well. It is so because the US does notseem to have enough local workers for the skilled jobsholders of the H-1B visas foreign works perform, es-pecially in the high-tech sectors. Trump has obvious-ly taken the unusual step which he had been threat-ening since before taking over as President in 2016with an eye on his re-election in November. But asleading lights of the US industry and trade pointedout, American nationals are not in a position to do thejobs foreign skilled workers can do. Mercifully, the lat-est visa restrictions will not apply to those who are al-ready in the US. Trump has sought to justify the visarestrictions, saying that the coronavirus pandemichad resulted in widespread unemployment and Amer-icans ought to get priority over foreign immigrantworkers in employment. Nothing could be fartherfrom the truth. Trump by all accounts is facing atough challenge from his presumptive Democratic ri-val Joe Biden. Banning such visas helps him to bragabout ‘America First’, even though the actual creatorsof wealth in American industry and commerce havewith one voice condemned the Trump move as harm-ful to its economic interests. But then who can stopTrump from being…well Trump.

Politicians should bear the cost of treatment

Gross neglectRef: Altered Map: Final nailin the coffin of a specialrelationship, Dt. 25/06/20.Nepal, which has beenIndia’s traditional friendfor decades, has not movedaway to China overnight.Signs of Nepal getting araw deal for a long timewere neglected by our Govt.The altered map will serveas a permanent wedge andweaning away of Nepalfrom China will be achallenge for Indiandiplomacy. India seems tohave lost its tacticalstrategy as three of itsneighbours are alignedwith China and the fourthone, Bangladesh, is beingaggressively wooed. Indiamust pull all stops to wooback Nepal, to prevent aHimalayan mistake.

Ashok Goswami

Weighty moveRef: Trump freezes plum H-1B visa, Dt. 25/06/20. Withpresidential elections duein November, DonaldTrump's move ofsuspending new work visasis nothing but a politicallymotivated move to pleasehis voters as he has beenchampioning protectionistpolicies. But in a largercontext, it is not a goodmove and has beencriticised by most of thecorporates across SiliconValley and other countries.It is indeed contrary towhat the US believes in,known for culturaldiversity and freemovement of labour. Alarge portion of the creditfor their economic growthand development goes tomigrant skilled workers.How the USA willcompensate for the gap, atleast in the next 6 months,is anyone's guess.

Bal Govind

Abandon shipWith the Party supremoLalu in jail and his twosons unable to hold theflock together, the RJDseems to be heading for theICU. Seeing no future forthe decadent RJD, and theBihar Assembly pollsapproaching, its MLCs inthe State have starteddeserting the rudderlesssinking ship by crossingover to the JDU in search ofgreener pastures. If theParty indeed suffers amortal blow during theVidhan Sabha Chunao, thenthe UPA will lose one of itsmost trusted & faithfulmembers.

Arun Malankar

China became a member of theWorld Trade Organisation(WTO) in 2001 and a couple of

years thereafter, Indian industry red-flagged massive dumping of Chinesegoods, which was having a deleteriousimpact on small and medium enterpris-es. The signals were ignored and overthe next two decades, Chinese productsand companies became well-en-trenched. It has taken a seismic shift ingeopolitics and the death of 20 Indiansoldiers to prompt the government toact.Long before the COVID-19 pandemicand blatant Chinese aggression on theborder, the Swadeshi Jagran Manch(SJM) – an RSS affiliate noted for chal-lenging government policy – had beenhammering away at the necessity of'China-proofing' the economy. In 2019, ithad raised the issue of Chinese compa-nies participating in government ten-ders. Ashwini Mahajan, SJM convenor,had observed: “Chinese companies area security threat to India especially intelecom...their companies have massivesupport from the state, are allowed tovastly underbid Indian companies andwin tenders for critical infrastructure.”Despite the lack of reciprocal marketaccess, the ability of Chinese compa-nies to submit L-1 (lowest) bids, wonthem numerous contracts for telecomequipment. The absence of a level play-ing field led to repeated demands for aseparate framework for Chinese compa-nies, especially in the backdrop of

many countries expressing reserva-tions about Chinese telecom gear, databreaches and IPR theft.In private forums, pro-Swadeshi ac-tivists pointed out that bureaucratswere increasingly rigging governmenttenders to favour Chinese companies,by introducing technical specificationswhich ruled out participation by do-mestic bidders. This modus operandiapplied across all sectors, not just tele-com. Bureaucrats and opinion makerswere wooed by any and all means, in-cluding junkets to China in the guise ofconferences. Sinophilic behaviour wasapparent at all levels of government.The efforts of the SJM and variousthink-tanks bore some fruit: Indiawalked out of the RCEP (Regional Com-prehensive Economic Partnership) ne-gotiations, scores of tenders were can-celled, non-tariff barriers were erectedagainst finished goods and the tradedeficit began narrowing after 2017. Butoverall, the government's response waslackadaisical and Chinese companieslike Huawei and ZTE continued to takethe project route into India.Only now have barriers been erected:a ban on participation by Chinese-owned companies in government ten-ders in the telecom sector and prioritis-ing Made-in-India products on the Gov-ernment e-Marketplace (GeM), an Ama-zon-style procurement portal. State gov-ernments are looking to cancel tenders.Chinese companies and sovereignfunds can no longer avail of the auto-

matic route for investment. Strongertariff and non-tariff barriers are con-templated. Dependence on China for pharmaceu-tical intermediates and heavy machin-ery will prove hard to cut down andthere is no gainsaying the fact that Chi-nese funds have come to power anddominate e-commerce. Aspiring fash-ionistas are familiar with sites likeShein and Club Factory (one of the top10 shopping apps in India), some ofwhich are affiliated to the mega-plat-form Alibaba. The prices are unbeliev-ably low and even designers would behard-put to tell a knock-off from the realthing.Last year, the SJM alerted the govern-ment to the use of the “gift” route to ex-port Chinese products to India via e-commerce sites without paying cus-toms duty. This led to a notification bythe Directorate General of ForeignTrade (DGFT), to the effect that "Importof goods, including those purchasedfrom e-commerce portals, through postor courier, where Customs clearance issought as gifts, is prohibited except forlife-saving drugs/medicines”.The question of whether the #Boy-cottChineseGoods campaign will gaintraction can be posed as follows: are youprepared to bite the bullet and pay morefor your smart TV, mobile phones, car,air-conditioner and so on? This is notthe first time that such a campaign hasbeen proposed; in 2014, RSSsarsanghchalak Mohan Rao Bhagwatcalled on consumers to stop buying Chi-nese products and in 2016, vendors wereasked to boycott Chinese firecrackersand other Diwali-related goods. Theseefforts were prompted by China'sprovocative behaviour, notably its re-fusal to allow India into the Nuclear

Suppliers Group and support to Pak-istan.The trouble is that supply chains tendto originate in China, the “factory of theworld” which supplies components for avast range of products. Recently, thenew OnePlus 8 Pro sold out within min-utes of its launch in India. And it was toChinese products that India turned inthe fight against COVID-19! When itcomes to free market competition, beat-ing China is virtually impossible at themoment.A knee-jerk response is likely to meetwith failure. After all, China is a signif-icant trade partner, second only to theUS. A long-term strategy of indigenisa-tion, coupled with an awareness cam-paign, is the way forward.

The writer is a senior journalist with 35years of experience in working with major

newspapers and magazines. She is now anindependent writer and author.

The troubleis that supplychains tendto originatein China, the“factory ofthe world”whichsupplies

componentsfor a vastrange ofproducts.

Recently, thenew OnePlus8 Pro soldout withinminutes ofits launch in

India.

‘China-proofing’: Knee-jerkreaction will end in failure

Policy WatchR N Bhaskar

LETTERSTO THEEDITOR

The colossal cost of encouragement of slums has come to the fore in the pandemic

Creation of Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre(IN-SPACe) will provide a level playing field for private sectorparticipation, encourage investments and unlock India’s immense potential in the space sector.

Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas and Minister of Steel, Government of India

This is a great initiative. The possibilities are endless. For ex, if we happen to have a Pvt Entity making Launch Vehicles, they wont have toinvest in making own launchpad. They can simply leverage existing ISRO launch facilities and save a lot of time, money and efforts ofcreating own infrastructure.

Nilesh J Rane

Heading towards market-driven capitalistic economic approach, cabinet today approved far reaching reforms in the Space sector aimed atboosting private sector ptctpn in the entire range of space activities.This will help in transforming India and making the country #Atmanirbhar

Rushikesh Akula

Now, there is a new opportunity to come forward and innovate further, building on the platform provided by ISRO through these reforms.Our entrepreneurs can explore new horizons for space-based products and services.

K. VijayRaghavan, Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India

THURSDAY’S SWIPEONE FLEW OVER THE NEST #IN-SPACe

InsightBhavdeep Kang

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: The impossible could not have happened,therefore the impossible must be possible in spite of appearances.

— Agatha Christie

TAILPIECE

FOUNDATION STONE LAID FORISLAMABAD'S FIRST HINDU TEMPLE

Pakistan has started the construction process of a Rs 10 croreHindu temple — the first in Islamabad. The Krishna temple willcome up in a 20,000 sq ft plot at the capital's H-9 area.

The groundbreaking ceremony for the temple was performed byParliamentary Secretary on Human Rights Lal Chand Malhi onTuesday.Addressing the gathering, Malhi said there were several pre-1947

era temple structures in Islamabad and its adjoining areas, includingone at Saidpur village and at the hill point overlooking the Korangriver near Rawal lake. However, they have been abandoned and notused.The Hindu population in Islamabad has increased significantly in the

last two decades and, therefore, the temple was necessary, the DawnNews quoted Malhi as saying. He also rued the lack of crematoriumin Islamabad for the minority community.Religious Affairs Minister Pir Noorul Haq Qadri said the government

will bear the cost of the construction, currently estimated at Rs 10crore, the report said.Citing a senior official of the ministry, it said the minister has

already taken up the matter of special grant for the temple with PrimeMinister Imran Khan. The Islamabad Hindu Panchayat has named the temple as Shri

Krishna Mandir. The plot for the temple was allotted to the HinduPanchayat by the Capital Development Authority (CDA) in 2017.However, the construction work was delayed due to some formalities,including the approval of the site map and documents from the CDAand other relevant authorities.The temple complex will also have a cremation site, apart from the

space for separate structures for other religious rites.-PTI

FREE PRESSFOR FREE FLOW OF TRUTH

NATION 7Four gelatin sticks seized, seven heldERODE: Four gelatin sticks have been seized and seven people arrested in this connection, police saidon Wednesday. Based on information, a raid was conducted on the banks of river Bhavani inAppakudal area and the seven were found fishing, the police said. The explosive substance the sevenwere using to kill and catch fish were seized, they said. The catch was also seized and the seven weretaken into custody, the police said, adding that the arrested were workers of a factory nearby.

FREEPRESS

thursday | June 25, 2020 | Indore

News from South

ITBP teams including medical and administrationdeployed at Radha Soami Beas COVID-19 care centrewith 10,000 beds, during the ongoing nationwidelockdown, in New Delhi, on Wednesday PTI

Decision on Bengaluru lockdownonly after consulting expertsBENGALURU: Any decision on re-imposinglockdown in the city in view of surging COVID-19cases will be taken only after consulting experts,several Karntaka Ministers said on Wednesday,amid speculations that the government is planningsuch a course. A day after setting off a debatesaying the government may have to considerlockdown, Health Minister B Sriramulu maintainedthat if the cases in the city continued to increasethe matter would be discussed with the expertcommittee, with Chief Minister B S Yediyurappaand a decision taken. "We have an expertcommittee, and if the cases continue to increasewe will discuss with them, with the Chief Ministerand take a decision.

Custodial death of father-sonduo sparks outrage in TNTUTICORIN/CHENNAI: The death of a father-son duo in a hospital after they were allegedlybeaten up by police has caused a furore in TamilNadu, with the Madras High Court seeking areport on the matter. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister KPalaniswami said four police personnel, includingtwo Sub-Inspectors, have been suspended inconnection with the incident while an inspectorhas been put on wait. He also announced a cashrelief of Rs 10 lakh each to the respective familiesof the victims, besides offering a job. The Maduraibench of the Madras High Court directed thepolice to submit a report on June 26 over thedeath of the duo.

T'gana govt issues orders fullpayment of salaries from JuneHYDERABAD: The Telangana government onWednesday issued orders giving effect to itsdecision for payment of full salaries to itsemployees and pension payout from June, nearlythree months after it effected a cut. On March 30,the government had announced a 75 per cent cutin salaries of the Chief Minister, state cabinetmembers, MLAs and others, besides 60 per centin that of IAS, IPS and other such Central serviceofficers due to the COVID-19 pandemic adverselyimpacting the state's economy. A GovernmentOrder said the state has reviewed the situationnow after deferred payment of salaries, pensionsand other remunerations from March to June forvarious categories of employees and personnel,including public representatives and decided torestore normal payment from June.

SNDP leader demands probeinto former close aide's suicideTHIRUVANANTHAPURAM: KK Mahesan,former close aide of SNDP Yogam generalsecretary Vellapally Natesan, committed suicide byhanging himself at the SNDP Kaniechikulengaraoffice near Alappuzha on Wednesday, a day afterthe crime branch of the police questioned him.Mahesan, according to sources, had send adetailed note to his close friends on the way hewas being hounded and made a scapegoat. SNDPis the social movement of the Hindu Ezhavacommunity. The deceased was also secretary ofthe Bharat Dharma Jana Sena, the second biggestally of the BJP-led NDA in the state. The police areprobing the alleged swindling in the micro financeoperations, run by Natesan's SNDP Yogam.

Karnataka all set to hold SSLCexam amid coronavirus scareBENGALURU: Amid coronavirus scare in thestate, the Karnataka Secondary EducationExamination Board is all set to hold the SecondarySchool Leaving Certificate examination or 10thstandard exam from Thursday with allprecautionary measures in place. While a fewneighbouring states have given general promotionto the 10th standard students due to coronavirusscare, the Karnataka government decided to holdthe exam from June 25 to July 3. "We are takingall precautionary measures to ensure the safetyand security of the children in association with thehome department and the health department,"Karnataka Primary and Secondary EducationMinister S Suresh Kumar told reporters onWednesday.

Sexagenarian held for proposing,giving love letter to teenCOIMBATORE: A sexagenarian was arrestednear here on Wednesday for allegedly proposingto a 16-year-old girl and giving her a love letter,police said. The 66-year-old Mohammed BahirBasha handed over the letter to the girl in theneighbourhood two days ago. In the letter to her,he had said: "I like you, is it okay," the police said.Taken by surprise, the girl showed the letter toher mother, who along with her husband, tookthe issue up with Basha's family, they said. Thefamily convinced the girl's parents and apologisedfor the old man's behaviour.

KSRTC to commence operationof AC buses from June 25BENGALURU: The Karnataka State RoadTransport Corporation (KSRTC) on Wednesdaysaid it will commence operation of AC buses in aphased manner to places like Mysuru andMangaluru with effect from June 25. In the phase,services will be operated from Bengaluru toMysuru, Mangaluru, Kundapura, Madikeri,Chikkamagaluru, Davanagere, Shivamogga andVirajpet and to Bengaluru from those places,KSRTC said in a release.

PIL in SC seeks probe into 2008 Congress-China agreementnew Delhi

A plea has been moved inthe Supreme Court seekingdirections to the NIA/CBIto investigate the 2008agreement between the In-dian National Congress(INC) and the CommunistParty of China (CPC) forexchanging high-level in-formation and for coopera-tion between them.The plea has been movedby advocate ShashankShekhar Jha and Editor-in-Chief of Goa Chronicle,

Savio Rodrigues. The peti-tioners argued that despitehaving a hostile relationshipwith China, the INC hadsigned an agreement whenit was heading a coalitiongovernment and had hiddenthe facts and details of theagreement from the country.The plea argued, "The pe-titioners firmly believe thatthe nation's security cannotand shouldn't be compro-mised by any one. There-fore, this petition has beenmoved under Article 32 ofthe Constitution of Bharat,

which seeks to bring trans-parency and clarity regard-ing the agreement signedbetween the RespondentNo. 1 (INC) and the Com-munist Party of Chinawhich is also the de-factogovernment of People's Re-public of China."The petition pertains toan agreement signed dur-ing UPA rule on August 7,2008, between the INC andthe CPC in Beijing for ex-changing high-level infor-mation and co-operation be-tween them.

Maharashtra Minister's flip-flop

sAnjAy jog

Mumbai

In a curious somersault, Maha-rashtra Industry Minister Sub-hash Desai on Wednesday saidthe implementation of MoUswith three Chinese companies,which envisaged an investmentof Rs 5,020 crore, will not be aproblem now with the improve-ment in relations between Indiaand China, following easing oftension at the border.Desai has argued all is wellthat ends well. ''I have receivedinformation with regard to im-provement in relations betweenIndia and China. Therefore, I donot see any major hurdle in theimplementation of MoUs withChinese companies Great WallMotors, Foton with PMI andHengli. The Centre had not toldus to put these MoUs on hold,’’said Desai. He reiterated thatthe state government does notanticipate any problem now andexpects the MoUs to be imple-mented in due course.Desai’s statement comes twodays after the state governmentissued a clarification that statusquo will be maintained on theMoUs for the moment. ‘’TheMoUs have not been rescindedor cancelled. Further develop-ment on the same are awaited,’’the MVA government had said

in its clarification after Desai’sunilateral announcement tokeep on hold MoUs with threeChinese companies.Incidentally, the Chief Minis-ter’s Office, the Industry De-partment and the MaharashtraIndustrial Development Corpo-ration were in the dark andcame to know of Desai’s unilat-eral announcement when anews report appeared in an Eng-lish daily.An Industry Department offi-cer said the government’s moveto issue a clarification was time-ly as the three companies havereconfirmed their commitmentto invest in the state. ''MIDC willappoint a relationship managerfor the three companies fromday one till the commissioningof projects. The governmentwill issue the Master License in48 hours to these companiesthough they will have to seek en-vironment clearance,’’ headded.Meanwhile, the MIDC hassigned an MoU with DBG Estatepart of Welspun Group for in-vestment of Rs 900 crore to setup a Logistic Park at Bhiwandiand another with Japanese com-pany Ideal Chemi Plast (DICCorporation) for Rs 117 crore in-vestment in the chemical sector.A cumulative 2,788 jobs will begenerated.

Didi extends lockdown till July 31,schools, colleges to stay shut

Agencies

Kolkata

Bengal Chief Minister Ma-mata Banerjee has extend-ed the current lockdownwith relaxations in thestate from June 30 to July31. Announcing this at theend of a 3-hour all partymeeting today, Ms Baner-jee said, "The COVID-19problem is spreading. Letis try and extend the lock-down with restrictions tillJuly 31."Bengal recorded 370 newcases of coronavirus yes-terday, which took the totalto 14,728. Of these, thenumber of active cases is4,930. Besides, 11 deathswere recorded whichbrought the total to 580.Another key decision onthe coronavirus crisis tak-en during today's meetingis to improve services tonon- coronavirus patients.

The political partiesagreed that non-COVID-19patients were facing greatdifficulty in getting treat-ment at hospitals. The issue needs to betackled and private hospi-tals taken on board, MsBanerjee said.A cap on cost of treat-ment too is on the anvil."Maharashtra and Delhihave done it. We shouldtoo," she said. The chiefsecretary will oversee anadvisory to private hospi-

tals. "All parties demandedthis cap, Ms Banerjee said,adding, "This is not a timeto do business. There is apandemic and hospitalsmust work in the spirit ofservice."On Cyclone Amphan,which too came up for dis-cussion, Opposition lead-ers of the Left claimed avictory after the ChiefMinister sent out a strongmessage that corruptionand nepotism will not betolerated in distribution ofrelief.On Tuesday, the Tri-namool Congress sacked acouncillor at Mathurapur 2block for allotting relieffunds to family andfriends, including peoplewho had two-storey housesunaffected by the cyclone.The sacking came afterangry protests by villagersat the Block DevelopmentOffice.

Agencies

New Delhi

The Delhi High Court while hear-ing the bail plea filed by Delhi riotsaccused Shahrukh Pathan onWednesday remarked, "If you takelaw in your hands and become ahero, then you have to face the law.""If you take law in your hands andbecome a hero, then you have to facethe law. And your intention was tobecome a hero," said a single judgebench of the High Court presidedby Justice Suresh Kumar Kait.The observation came during thecourse of the hearing of the appli-cation filed by Pathan, the man whohad flashed a gun at the policemenduring Delhi riots in February this

year. The picture had gone viral onthe social media.The prosecution informed thatPathan was leading the mob whichcould be clearly seen in the videowhich is on record. "This video wasprovided to us by a senior journalistfrom a leading newspaper. He hasalso been examined under section161 of the CrPC', the prosecutionsaid.It added that the weapon in ques-tion belongs to the accused and thesame has been recovered from thecar that he used for absconding. "Hehad purchased this from a man inUttar Pradesh, along with 20 livecartridges," the counsel told thecourt.After hearing the submissions

and examining the documents andevidence, the court remarked thatPathan was trying to lead the mobin order to become a hero."You were trying to become a heroand lead the mob. You also pur-chased more than 20 live cartridges.

You became a hero and your inten-tion was to be one, but, if you takelaw in your hands and become ahero, then you have to face the law,"the court said.The Petitioner's counsel AsgharKhan argued before the court thathis client is a victim of circum-stances, adding that the accused hasno criminal antecedents, the chal-lan has already been filed, andthere's no evidence of anyone get-ting injured by the alleged acts ofthe accused. He also argued that theFIR was not registered on the infor-mation by Complainant. Khan alsopointed out that there are discrep-ancies in the statements given bythe concerned police officer DeepakDahiya.

"My client was provoked to partic-ipate in the agitation and he has notparticipated in any other incidentconcerning the riots," Khan said.However, post the arguments, thecourt said that it was not inclined togrant bail to Pathan followingwhich Khan sought permission towithdraw the petition.The court granted him the per-mission to do so and the matter wasdismissed as withdrawn.The Delhi Police in itschargesheet filed before a Delhicourt has stated that Pathan alongwith four others has been found tobe a part of a deep-rooted conspira-cy which triggered the communalriot at Maujpur Chowk in northeast Delhi.

Maha BJP MLC calls Pawar'coronavirus', sparks row

Agencies

Pandharpur

An Opposition BharatiyaJanata Party legislator (MLC)Gopichand Padalkar sparkeda massive row after he said,senior Nationalist CongressParty President SharadPawar is a "Corona infectionof Maharashtra", here onWednesday.Attacking Pawar, the BJPMLC accused him of playingcasteist-cum-divisive politicsand said "he is the Coron-avirus" which has afflicted thestate."He (Pawar) has been thehead (CM) of the state, but hedid only injustice to the Bahu-jan community. He has no ide-ology, but ignites small com-munities to force them to join

him and then do injustice,"Padalkar said.He accused the veteran NCPleader of allegedly denyingreservations to the Dhangarcommunity and instead politi-cizing the issue.Padalkar's comments tookeven the BJP by surprise,coming a day after Leader of

Opposition (Assembly) De-vendra Fadnavis claimed thatthe NCP wanted to join handswith the BJP to form the gov-ernment in the state.However, Fadnavis alongwith Leader of Opposition(Council) Pravin Darekar con-demned the statement ofPadalkar, with the latterwarning that he (Padalkar)would have to face the reper-cussions of his unbridledcomments from his communi-ty. NCP activists stagedprotests and raised slogansagainst Padalkar in Mumbai,Pune, Nashik, and in Beedthey burnt his effigy, while aprotest was announced inPune on Thursday in supportof the 79-year old NCP chief.NCP Housing Minister Ji-tendra Awhad said, "The man

who was begging to join theNCP, and was abusing (PM)Narendra Modi later went andgot a ticket from the BJP", sowhat was his locus-standi toattack Pawar in such deroga-tory terms." Hitting back,NCP spokesperson MaheshTapase labelled Padalkar as "aparty-hopper who is affectedby a mental bug"."He backstabbed the Bahu-jan communities by sidingwith a communal party. In-stead of criticizing SharadPawar, he should first provewhat he has done for the com-munity," Tapase said.Another NCP leaderAnkush Kakade demanded anunconditional apology fromPadalkar and threatened to'gherao' him wherever he trav-els in Maharashtra.

Patanjali didn't mentionCOVID-19 while seekingdrug licence: Official

Agencies

New Delhi

Patanjali Ayurved neverdisclosed that its new med-icine kit was for coron-avirus when it applied for alicence, an official in Ut-tarakhand said today, indi-cating more trouble for thedrugs claimed by yogateacher Ramdev to cure thedeadly virus. A licensingofficer said the herbalproducts company sought alicense for an "immunitybooster and a cough andfever cure".Patanjali on Tuesdaylaunched a Corona kit withthe medicines, "Coroniland Swasari", withRamdev claiming 100 percent favourable results dur-ing trials.But soon after the launch,the government askedPatanjali to stop advertis-ing the medicines untilthey were examined. TheMinistry of Ayush askedPatanjali for details of thecomposition of the medi-cines, the results of its re-search, the hospitalswhere the research wasconducted, whether thecompany had a clearancefrom the InstitutionalEthics Committee andwhether it had registeredfor the clinical trials.The government alsoasked the licensing author-

ity of the Uttarakhand gov-ernment to provide copiesof the licence and productapproval details of themedicines, which were de-veloped at Patanjali's lab inHardwar."As per Patanjali's appli-cation, we issued them li-cense. They didn't mentioncoronavirus, we only ap-proved license for immuni-ty booster, cough and fever.We'll issue them a noticeasking how they got per-mission to make the kit (forCOVID-19)," YS Rawat, Li-cence Officer at the Ut-tarakhand Ayurveda De-partment, was quoted astelling news agency ANI.Ayush Minister ShripadNaik said this morning it isa "good thing" that Ramdevhas given the country anew medicine but it needsproper permission fromhis Ayush Ministry. Patan-jali sent documents relatedto the medicines only yes-terday to the ministry, heconfirmed."Anyone can make medi-cines. Anyone who wantsto make medicines has togo through the Ayush min-istry task force. Everyonehas to send details of theresearch to the Ayushministry for confirma-tion. This is the rule andno can advertise theirproducts without it," theminister said.

Infected withCOVID-19, armed

reserve copcommits suicide

BENGALURU: Coronavirus has rat-tled the Karnataka State Reserve Po-lice (KSRP) Force following a headconstable committing suicide andmore than 50 personnel, including acommandant, testing positive for thevirus. According to the Additional Di-rector General of Police (ADGP) AlokKumar, the 50-year-old head constablewas on the way to a hospital here onMonday night when he strangulatedhimself to death with a rope."On Monday night he committed sui-cide in the vehicle while being takento the hospital. He strangulated him-self in the vehicle which had a parti-tion meant for COVID- 19 patients," po-lice sources told PTI.The commandant, who is an IPS offi-cer, was tested positive on Tuesdayand has been quarantined, he said.As more than 50 personnel have beenfound infected with the virus, theADGP has been speaking to the com-mandants and the personnel deployedat various places.

Army Chief Manoj Mukund Naravane interacts with troops while reviewing operational situations on theground after stand-off in region during his visit, in Eastern Ladakh, on Wednesday PTI

OBC Commission'stenure extended by

six monthsAgencies

New Delhi

The Union Cabinet onWednesday decided to ex-tend the tenure of the OBCCommission by six monthsas its functioning was af-fected due to the coron-avirus lockdown. Constituted in October2017, the Commission, head-ed by Justice G Rohini(retd), has interacted withall the states/UTs whichhave sub-categorised OtherBackward Classes (OBCs),an official statement said. The Commission was ofthe view that it would re-quire some more time to sub-mit its report since repeti-tions, ambiguities, inconsis-tencies and errors of spellingor transcription appearingin the existing Central List ofOBCs need to be cleared. It had, therefore, earliersought extension of its termup to July 31 this year. However, due to the na-tionwide lockdown andtravel restrictions owing tothe COVID-19 pandemic, theCommission was not able tocomplete its task even dur-ing the extended time. "Therefore, the term ofthe Commission is being ex-tended for a period of 6more months i.e. up to 31January 2021," the state-ment said.

If you take law in hand, then face law: HC to Shahrukh

ALL WELL ON BORDER,SO NO HURDLE

Reform trajectory continues:PM on Cabinet decisions

AGENCIESNew Delhi

The "landmark" decisionstaken by the Union Cabineton Wednesday are aimed ataccelerating economicgrowth and the country'sstrides in space, besides as-sisting farmers, villagesand small businesses,Prime Minister NarendraModi has said. In a seriesof tweets after chairing theCabinet meeting, he saidcrores of Indians will gainfrom these decisions. "The reform trajectory

continues," he tweeted, re-ferring to the decision toallow participation of theprivate sector in the entire

range of space activities,including planetary explo-ration missions.The Union Cabinet's ap-

proval to reforms in thespace sector is yet anotherstep towards making the

nation self-reliant andtechnologically advanced,he said. “The reforms willboost private sector partic-ipation as well.” Referring to decisions re-

lated to Micro, Small andMedium Enterprises(MSME), Modi pointed outthat the Cabinet approvedan interest subventionscheme for Shishu loan ac-counts under the PradhanMantri Mudra Yojana."This scheme would pro-vide valuable support andstability to small business-es," he said.Setting up of the Animal

Husbandry InfrastructureDevelopment Fund augurswell for the sector, he said,

adding that it will boost theincome of farmers. "Investment and sectoral

infrastructure, especiallyin dairies, will get an impe-tus," he said. The primeminister said the decisionto upgrade the Kushinagarairport as an internationalairport is a great news forUttar Pradesh, tourismand those inspired by thenoble thoughts of LordBuddha. "Kushinagar Airport will

now be an internationalairport. Connectivity willimprove significantly.More tourists and pilgrimswill also mean better op-portunities for local popu-lation," he said.

Activist Rehana booked for letting minorchildren paint her semi-nude body

AGENCIESThiruvananthapuram

Controversial activist Re-hana Fathima, who madea vain bid to enter theLord Ayyappa temple atSabarimala in 2018, hasbeen booked after sheposed semi-nude in frontof her minor children, allowing them to paint on her bare body and shar-ing the video on social me-dia, police said on Wednes-day.Police in Thiruvalla in

Pathanamthitta districtregistered a case againsther under the InformationTechnology Act and the

Juvenile Justice Act on acomplaint lodged by BJPOBC Morcha leader A VArun Prakash on Tuesday,they said.Fathima had posted the

video titled "Body and Pol-itics" on social media,which has gone viral.Meanwhile, the Kerala

State Commission for Pro-tection of Child Rights onWednesday sought a re-port on the matter fromPathanamthitta districtpolice chief within 10days.Case should be regis-

tered against the womanunder various sections ofthe Protection of Children

from Sexual Offences(POCSO) Act, it said.After the Supreme Court

allowed women in tradi-tionally barred age groupof 10-50 into the Sabari-mala temple in September2018, Fathima made an at-tempt to enter the hillshrine, but had to retreatfollowing protests by Hin-du activists and devotees.She was later arrested.Following an internal in-

quiry, Fathima was sackedfrom employment by theBSNL in May this year forher intentional act of out-raging the religious feel-ings of devotees throughsocial media posts.

Grand Alliance leaders pledge tocontest Bihar polls together

AGENCIESNew Delhi

Even as the BJP and its allies are step-ping up efforts to woo voters ahead of theBihar Assembly elections, the GrandAlliance partners in the state held a vir-tual meeting to discuss their poll prepa-ration and pledged to fight the battleunitedly.Representatives of the Congress,

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), RashtriyaLok Samta Party (RLSP), HindustaniAwam Morcha (HAM), VikashsheelInsan Party (VIP), and Loktantrik JanataDal (LJD) participated. Congress leadersAhmed Patel, KC Venugopal, and stateCongress affairs incharge Shakti SinghGohil attended the meeting. Sources saidit was a preliminary meeting and theissue of leadership was not discussed.After the meeting, Gohil said: "Leaders

of the Grand Alliance have decided tocontest the coming Bihar Assembly elec-tions together. The alliance will form thenext government in Bihar as the peoplethere are suffering while the ruling JD-Uand BJP are overlooking their pain."

The leaders decided to meet again tochalk out the lectoral strategy and decid-ed to set up a committee to ensuresmooth functioning of the alliance.The meeting went on for more than one

hour. On Tuesday, HAM leader Jitan RamManjhi and RLSP leader Upendra Kush-waha had met Patel to red flag the issues.RJD leader Manoj Jha said: "It was a

preliminary meeting. All is well withinthe Grand Alliance. Bihar elections willbe fought together."The main contentionamong alliance part-ners is on seat-sharingas the Congress is eye-ing around 75 seats asagainst 41 seats it con-tested last time and theRJD contested 100seats. Former Bihar Minis-

ter and Congressleader ShakiluzamanAnsari claimed thatthere would be amica-ble seat-sharing and itwas a non-issue.

Kerala health ministerpresents state's modelof tackling COVID-19

AGENCIESThiruvananthapuram

It was a proud moment forthe Left-ruled state and itsHealth Minister K KShailaja when she partici-pated in a panel discussionon the United Nation'sWorld Public Service Dayand presented the "Keralamodel" of fighting the pan-demic COVID-19. Shailaja was the lone

member from India whoparticipated in the paneldiscussion titled "On theFrontline: Public Servantsand the COVID-19 pandem-ic" on Tuesday, which sawthe participation ofUN Sec-retary General AntonioGuterres and other top UNdignitaries. "Social security has been

strengthened by ensuringthat marginalized and vul-nerable sectionsof the soci-etywere not affected by reg-ulatory measures. The idea of One World

One Health, of the UnitedNations was implement-ed," the Minister said dur-ing the webinar, an officialrelease said. She explained that the

experience that thestate health departmentgained while dealingwith the Nipah out-break of 2018 has helpedin tackling the COVID-19 pandemic. "While the COVID-19

pandemic was first re-ported in Wuhanprovince of China, Ker-ala had started prepar-ing to deal with the pan-demic following the di-

rections of the WorldHealth Organization. The entire state machin-

ery and the surveillancenetwork was activated andthe standard operating pro-cedures for screening, di-agnosis and public healthinterventions were imple-mented in accordance withinternational guidelines,"Shailaja said. She said from the experi-

ence of Nipah, the statehas learned that thereshould not be any compro-mise or delay in publichealth interventions dur-ing such epidemics. Tijjani Muhammad-

Bande, President of theGeneral Assembly,H.E.Ms.Sahle-Work Zewde,President of Ethiopia, DrTedros Adhanom Ghe-breyesus, Director Generalof World Health Organiza-tion, Liu Zhenmin, UnitedNations Under Secretary-General for Economic andSocial Affairs, Chin Young,Minister of Interior andSafety, Republic of Korea,were among those who par-ticipated in the webinar.

FRESH MOBILISATION...

The images also show, for the first time, culverts con-structed over the Galwan River, less than a kilometre awayfrom the LAC. The water of the river was initially stoppedand later diverted under the culverts. Also, the road lead-ing up to the LAC has been widened substantially.

Cabinet approves pvt..."This will not only result in an accelerated growth ofthis sector but will enable Indian Industry to be an im-portant player in global space economy. With this, thereis an opportunity for large-scale employment in thetechnology sector and India becoming a global technol-ogy powerhouse," it said.The proposed reforms will enhance the socio-econom-

ic use of space assets and activities, including throughimproved access to space assets, data and facilities.These reforms will allow ISRO to focus more on re-

search and development activities, new technologies, ex-ploration missions and human spaceflight programme,Singh said.

Corona continues to...Shahdol has 17 cases, Sehore 13, Seoni 11, Sidhi 19,Umaria 10 and Guna 12 cases. Agar-Malwa and Sin-grauli have 16 cases each while Alirajpur has three andAnuppur 26 cases, Ashok Nagar 40, Mandla 6, Katni 12and Niwari 8. As per health department, 224 positivecases were reported in state on Tuesday. During the day7,166 samples were tested across the state.

Maharana Pratap lacked...Another Mewar family scion, Vishvaraj Singh, con-demned the changes in historical facts. “History dis-torted to an absurd extent and included in textbooks forschools. Abundant display of ignorance and crass, boor-ish mentality of the decision-making authority(s) inpeddling distortions to suit their own agenda. History it-self will not be kind to them, nor to those who accepttheir ways,” he said.He said that people have come out against the state

government by rejecting these changes to our rich his-tory. “It can’t be changed overnight by a book,” he said.Lakshyaaraj Mewar, also a member of the erstwhile

royal family, was also annoyed and said that both Maha-rana Pratap and Udai Singh II have been known as “realwarriors who kept their nation intact till their lastbreath.”Meanwhile, state Education Minister Govind Singh

Dotasara said, “Our committee will review the factswhich are being argued upon. As per my knowledge, nonew facts have been introduced in the book. I appeal toeveryone to let me know what is wrong in the book andwhere and why it is wrong. Our committee of secondaryeducation board will review them.”The textbook also claims that Haldhighati was not

named so due to the yellow colour of the soil but becausemany newly-wed brides jumped into the battlegrounddressed as warrriors with turmeric-smeared faces. Thisclaim has been taken from Mahendra Bhanawat’s book‘Ajooba Bharat Ka’.It further claims that the Moghul army was led by Ja-

gannath Kachwaha though historians say it was ManSingh. Kachwaha arrived in Mewar eight years after theepic battle in 1576, say historical records.Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat also criti-

cised the “misleading information” on Maharana Prat-ap in school textbooks and said that the history ofMarudhara has been insulted by the Rajasthan Educa-tion Department, which was unacceptable.Rajsamand’s BJP MP Diya Kumari criticised the de-

velopment and claimed that the ‘Congress government’shistorians’ had insulted Maharana Udai Singh II, Ma-harana Pratap, and the Haldighati battle.“By manipulating the personality of an ideal man like

Maharana Udai Singh II, this government is bent on ru-ining the image of its great men. The act of tamperingwith history only takes place under the Congress rule.What kind of a message does the state government wantto give to the younger generations?”“Writing such shameful and false facts is a public in-

sult to the great warriors who sacrificed their lives forthe pride and dignity of the motherland,” the MP said.Congress Minister Pratap Singh Khachriyawas said

these textbooks should never be allowed to reach stu-dents since these had “twisted historical facts”.“Strong action shall be taken against the committee

which changed the facts. I will meet Chief MinisterAshok Gehlot on the issue,” he added.

Continued from page 1

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8 NATION 4 held for threatening actress ShamnaKOCHI: Four people, suspected to be members of an organised gang of cheats, have been arrested forallegedly threatening a South Indian film actress and making a bid to extort money from her family,police said on Tuesday. Police launched a probe based on a complaint filed by actress Shamna Kasim'smother and arrested the four,all hailing from Thrissur, last evening. They have been remanded tojudicial custody.

FREEPRESSTHURSDAY | JUNE 25, 2020 | INDORE

UN WEBINAR

ED issues Rs 206-cr FEMAviolation notice

to Kolkatabizman

AGENCIESNew Delhi

The Enforcement Direc-torate (ED) has issued ashow cause notice amount-ing to Rs 206 crore against aKolkata-based business-man for allegedly holdingan undisclosed foreignbank account in Singaporein violation of RBI rulesand Foreign ExchangeManagement Act. In a statement issued on

Wednesday, the centralprobe agency has chargedbuilder and Mani Grouppromoter Sanjay Jhunjhun-wala with "illegal dealingsand trading in foreign cur-rencies in Singapore, ille-gal external borrowingsand unauthorisedly main-taining foreign bank ac-counts." The Adjudicating Author-

ity of the ED, an agency of-ficer in the rank of specialdirector, issued a showcause notice amounting toRs 206 crore to the busi-nessman for alleged contra-vention of the Foreign Ex-change Management Act(FEMA), it said. "The show cause notice

has been issued after an in-vestigation carried out byEnforcement Directorateon the basis of an overseasinput received from the Fi-nancial Intelligence Unit,"the agency said. The agency said its probe

found that "Jhunjhunwalaunauthorisedly main-tained individual foreignbank account with LGTBank (Singapore) Ltd andmade transactions in for-eign currencies by hugeborrowings in foreign ex-change in contravention ofthe FEMA."

AGENCIESNew Delhi

Amid a stand-off with Chi-nese troops in easternLadakh, the Congress onWednesday sought to cornerthe BJP-led NDA governmentover the claims about Chineseintrusions in ArunachalPradesh made by a BJP MPfrom the state and asked it tocome clean on the issue. Italso asked the government togive a “strong reply” to Chinaas regular dialogues wouldnot work, and India needs touse other means like trade totake it on. Congressspokesperson Manish Tewarisaid BJP MP Tapir Gao had ina recent TV interviewclaimed that China has occu-pied areas on both banks ofthe Subansiri River inArunachal Pradesh’s UpperSubansiri district and on theIndian side of the McMahonLine. Tewari said ever since re-

ports about Chinese aggres-sion into Indian territoryemerged, the NDA govern-ment has been walking the ex-tra mile to downplay these re-ports and was trying to obfus-cate the facts on the ground.“Will the Prime Minister

(Narendra Modi) and his gov-ernment come clean on theclaims made by the BJP MP,”he asked at a virtual pressconference. Tewari sought to know from

the government if what TapirGao, the former BJP chief ofArunachal Pradesh, was say-ing was right or not. “What is the truth behind

what Tapir Gao is saying?There should be an immedi-ate clarification from the gov-ernment,” he said. Another Congress

spokesperson Gaurav Gogoisaid India cannot afford tohave another Doklam-like sit-uation in Ladakh and needs tolook at other forms of lever-age like trade to have success-ful negotiations with China. Troops of India and China

were locked in a 73-day stand-off in Doklam near Sikkim in2017 after the Indian sidestopped the building of a roadin the disputed area by theChinese Army. “We demand that the Gov-

ernment of India does notlook at what’s happening inArunachal Pradesh orLadakh as isolated incidents.These are grand designs andthis needs to be respondedstrongly,” Gogoi said.

Will govt come clean on BJP MP’sclaims of Chinese intrusion

in Arunachal, asks Cong

NEW YORK: Three Indian-origin family members,including an 8-year-old girl, have been found dead in thebackyard pool of their recently purchased home in NewJersey, police said.

Bharat Patel, 62, his 33-year old daughter-in-law NishaPatel and her 8-year-old daughter, drowned accidently inthe above-ground pool in East Brunswick on Monday,police was quoted as saying by the NJ.com.

US: Indian family found dead in backyard pool

DARIA LITVINOVA / SETH BORENSTEINMoscow

The Arctic is feverish and on fire - at least parts of it are.And that's got scientists worried about what it means for therest of the world.The thermometer hit a likely record of 38 degrees Celsius(100.4 degrees Fahrenheit) in the Russian Arctic town ofVerkhoyansk on Saturday, a temperature that would be afever for a person - but this is Siberia, known for beingfrozen.The World Meteorological Organization said Tuesday thatit's looking to verify the temperature reading, which wouldbe unprecedented for the region north of the Arctic Circle."The Arctic is figuratively and literally on fire - it's warm-ing much faster than we thought it would in response to ris-ing levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases inthe atmosphere, and this warming is leading to a rapid melt-down and increase in wildfires," University of Michigan en-vironmental school dean Jonathan Overpeck, a climate sci-

entist, said in an email."The record warming in Siberia is a warningsign of major proportions," Overpeck wrote.Much of Siberia had high temperatures thisyear that were beyond unseasonably warm. FromJanuary through May, the average temperature innorth-central Siberia has been about 8 degrees Cel-sius (14 degrees Fahrenheit) above average, ac-cording to the climate science non-profit Berke-ley Earth."That's much, much warmer than it'sever been over that region in that peri-od of time," Berkeley Earth climatescientist Zeke Hausfather said.Siberia is in the Guinness Book of WorldRecords for its extreme temperatures. It's aplace where the thermometer has swung 106degrees Celsius (190 degrees Fahrenheit), from alow of minus 68 degrees Celsius (minus 90 Fahren-heit) to now 38 degrees Celsius (100.4 Fahrenheit).

For residents of the Sakha Republic in the RussianArctic, a heat wave is not necessarily a bad thing.Vasilisa Ivanova spent every day this week with herfamily swimming and sunbathing.

"We spend the entire day on the shore of theLena River," said Ivanova, who lives in the vil-

lage of Zhigansk, 270 miles(430 kilometers) from wherethe heat record was set."We've been coming everyday since Monday." But forscientists, "alarm bellsshould be ringing," Over-peck wrote.Such prolonged Siberianwarmth hasn't been seen forthousands of years "and it isanother sign that the Arctic amplifies global warm-

ing even more than we thought,"

Overpeck said.Russia's Arctic regions are among the fastest warming ar-eas in the world.The temperature on Earth over the past few decades hasbeen growing, on average, by 0.18 degrees Celsius (nearlyone-third of a degree Fahrenheit) every 10 years.But in Russia it increases by 0.47 degrees Celsius (0.85 de-grees Fahrenheit) - and in the Russian Arctic, by 0.69 de-grees Celsius (1.24 degrees Fahrenheit) every decade, saidAndrei Kiselyov, the lead scientist at the Moscow-basedVoeikov Main Geophysical Observatory."In that respect, we're ahead of the whole planet," Kisely-ov said. The increasing temperatures in Siberia have beenlinked to prolonged wildfires that grow more severe everyyear and the thawing of the permafrost - a huge problem be-cause buildings and pipelines are built on them. Thawingpermafrost also releases more heat-trapping gas and driesout the soil, which increases wildfires, said Vladimir Ro-manovsky, who studies permafrost at the University ofAlaska Fairbanks.

COVID-19 CURE CORNER

Hetero set to supply its generic COVIDdrug at Rs 5,400 per vialHetero Healthcare on Wednesday said is set to deliver 20,000 vials of itsantiviral drug Covifor (remdesivir) across the country for the treatment ofCOVID-19, at a maximum retail price of Rs 5,400 per vial. The company isset to deliver the first set of 20,000 vials in two equal lots of 10,000 each,one of which will be immediately supplied to Hyderabad, Delhi, Gujarat,Tamil Nadu, Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra, Hetero Healthcaresaid in a statement. The other lot will be supplied to Kolkata, Indore,Bhopal, Lucknow, Patna, Bhubaneshwar, Ranchi, Vijayawada, Cochin,Trivandrum and Goa within a week, it added. The company said it hasfixed a maximum retail price of Rs 5,400 per vial for the drug.

Brazil tests coronavirus shotBrazil is testing an experimental coronavirus vaccine, but interim HealthMinister Eduardo Pazuello acknowledged Tuesday that the governmenthas yet to strike a deal to get it if it works. Other nations have alreadysecured hundreds of millions of doses of the shot created by OxfordUniversity. Pazuello, an army general who made his career in logistics,discussed Brazil's efforts to buy a vaccine for the virus or acquire thetechnology to make it. The country's health regulator, Anvisa, approvedhuman clinical trials for the potential vaccine this month.

Next few weeks are very critical: Fauci

AGENCIES / Washington

The next few weeks are critical totamping down a disturbing coron-avirus surge, Dr. Anthony Fauci toldCongress on Tuesday - issuing a pleafor people to avoid crowds and wearmasks just hours before mask-shun-ning President Donald Trump was setto address a crowd of his young sup-porters in one hot spot.

Fauci and other top health officialsalso said they have not been asked toslow down virus testing, in contrast toTrump's claim last weekend that hehad ordered fewer tests be performedbecause they were uncovering toomany infections. Trump said earlierTuesday that he wasn't kidding whenhe made that remark."We will be doing more testing," Fau-ci, infectious disease chief at the Na-

tional Institutes of Health, pledged to aHouse committee conducting over-sight of the Trump administration'sresponse to the pandemic.The leading public health officialsspent more than five hours testifyingbefore the committee at a fraught mo-ment, with coronavirus cases rising inabout half the states and political po-larization competing for attentionwith public health recommendations.

Fauci told lawmakers he under-stands the pent-up desire to get back tonormal as the U.S. begins emergingfrom months of stay-at-home ordersand business shutdowns. But that has"to be a gradual step-by-step processand not throwing caution to the wind,"he said."Plan A, don't go in a crowd. Plan B, ifyou do, make sure you wear a mask,"Fauci said.

Plan A, don't go in a crowd. Plan B, if you do, make sure you wear a mask

Fauci and other tophealth officials alsosaid they have notbeen asked to slowdown virus testing,

in contrast toTrump's claim lastweekend that he

had ordered fewertests be performedbecause they were

uncovering toomany infections

Coronavirusdistraction led to PIA plane crash

AGENCIESIslamabad

The pilots of the Pakistan Interna-tional Airlines (PIA) plane thatcrashed last month were not fo-cussed and they were discussingcoronavirus during the flight, thecountry's aviation minister toldParliament on Wednesday as hepointed out their "overconfidenceand lack of concentration" as someof the reasons for the tragedy thatkilled 97 people on board.The domestic flight from Lahore

to Karachi crashed in a residentialarea near the Jinnah InternationalAirport in Karachi on May 22.The Airbus A320 aircraft of the

national carrier had 91 passengersand a crew of eight when itcrashed into the Jinnah Gardenarea near Model Colony in Maliron Friday, minutes before its land-ing. One girl died on the ground af-ter suffering burn injuries.Two passengers miraculously

survived the crash.

The horror of climate change: Arctic is on fire

WORLD 9FREEPRESS

INDORE | THURSDAY | JUNE 25, 2020

FPJ - SUDOKU - 25 Level: easy

WHAT TO DO: Fill in the grid sothat every row, every columnand every 3x3 box contains thedigits 1 to 9. Every puzzle hasonly one correct solution.

4139 / © 2020 Amrita Bharati, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan

AMAZING LIVINGWORLD

Rarest of the RareThese animals are on the brink of extinction…

Magic RabbitIn 2014, Weidong Li, a Chinese scientist, wassearching for a pika in the Tianshan Mountainsalong with a team of volunteers. As they weresetting up camera traps, a curious pika emergedfrom a gap in the cliff face!

Pikas are small mountain-dwelling mammalsthat are related to rabbits and hares. Li was lookingfor the 20-cm-long Ili pika, which had been sightedonly a few times since its accidental discovery(by Li himself) in 1983. Very little was known aboutits habitat and behaviour, since only 29 individualswere sighted in the intervening 20 years.

Like other species of pika, the Ili pika lives atelevations of between 2,800 and 4,100 metres. Iteats grasses, herbs and other mountain plants.Volunteers labelled the elusive animal a 'magicrabbit'.

The Ili pika population is believed to haveplummeted by nearly 70 per cent. There may beonly 1,000 left. Glaciers have receded due toglobal warming and Ili pikas have been forced to

live higher up themountains wherefood may bescarce. The Ilipika is classifiedas criticallyendangered bythe IUCN.

In the RedThe world's mostendangered memberof the dog family isthe red wolf. Native tothe United States, redwolves are named fortheir tawny coats. In size,they fall somewherein-between the largergrey wolf and thesmaller coyote.

Today, the only place where red wolves arefound in the wild is the Alligator River NationalWildlife Refuge in North Carolina. They numberaround 35.

The animals were relentlessly hunted in the19th and early 20th centuries and the specieswas declared extinct in the wild in 1980. Luckily,a rescue plan had been launched six years beforethat. A group of 14 wolves had been taken toPoint Defiance Zoo and Aquarium in WashingtonState where they were bred in captivity. In 1987,scientists released four pairs in the Alligator RiverRefuge.

By 2006, the red wolf population had increasedto around 130. However, since then, it hasdeclined. It is illegal to kill the animals, but wolfcarcasses have been found in and around theRefuge with gunshot wounds.

ARIES: On the work front, many things mayhappen at one time you. Your family life willbe peaceful. Your life-partner will give youhappiness. Be careful while on wheels.

TAURUS: Those who are in the field of con-struction will see opportunities coming on theirway. Consistency is the key to success for thosewho are associated with the social sector.

GEMINI: Businesses like pharmacy andstationary will do well. Financial gains forboth business and working professionalsare on the cards.

CANCER: Minor problems related to dailylife may hassle you a bit. Your expenses willincrease. Pay attention to domestic issuesand try to solve them as early as possible.

LEO: Those who are single or unmarriedwho are looking ahead to get hitched mayfind their prospective partner. Seek parent’sadvice before making any career choices.

VIRGO: Your confidence level will increase.Your co-workers will prove beneficial to youtoday. You will be successful in all yourendeavours.

Libra: Increased aggression may land you introuble. But aggressive attitude will helpyou in getting the work done by employeesbefore the deadline.

SCORPIO: You will gain momentum and youwill chase the goals at lightning speed. Withthe blessings of Lord Ganesha, you will makethe right choices on both personal fronts.

SAGITTARIUS: Business people may sufferfrom small losses. Avoid arguing with yourspouse/ lover. Don’t worry too much aboutfinancial matters.

CAPRICORN: Love is in the air. Singles may fallin love and those who are married will spendromantic time with their partner. Co-workerswill take a stand for you at the workplace.

AQUARIUS: Monetary gains are on the cars.Business speculation will prove beneficial.Legal matters will take some more time toget solved. Romantic life will be blissful.

PISCES: The problems and confusions whichwere bothering you will finally get cleared off. willbe cleared off. It will be easy to increase cashreserves and assets in the present scenario.

GUIDING LIGHT

The First Wealth is Health"Health is Wealth" is an old maxim that’s relevanteven today in this modern age. Its a fact that one whois healthy can work with proficiency leading to awell-off state.That’s why we always wish happiness & health forour loved ones, because today nobody wants to besick & physically distressed to spend their hard-earned money on doctors & medicines. Neverthelesstoday more and more people are becoming depend-ent on various modern treatments and cures for bet-ter health. But! we tend to forget that cure involves care, moreprecise,self-care. Our health is in our own hands,hence no-one else can achieve that but us. Mother na-ture has provided us with everything that’s essentialfor our health. Remember! A healthy & positivelifestyle would bear us the fruit of wellbeing that wewould cherish all our life. Whereas an unhealthy &self-damaging lifestyle would bring dis-ease wedread. Today pills and capsules have become a partof our regular intake with food. It's unbelievable, buttrue because we always prefer medicare in compari-son to self-care because time constraints and busylifestyle prevent us to think about the causes & cure

of our disease. We are so used to eating wrong or junk foods,overeating, lack of exercise & proper rest, emotion-al instability, smoking, drinking etc ..that we hardlyrealize the hazardous effects of these habits on ourhealth It is only when we hit the hospital bed, the re-alization process starts. So! Why go so far to realise?is it really worth to undergo such a pain? Instead,why not choose a healthy lifestyle. A healthy lifestyle means applying some simplechanges to our life using our instincts & past experi-ences to fulfil our health needs, thereby making thema part of our day to day life. To prevent ourselves fromdiseases and maintain long-lasting fitness, we mustlive in harmony with mother nature following hereternal rules for a healthy & lengthy life. Of course, there are knowledgeable, well-trainedpeople specialised in many different philosophiesand disciplines of medicine and health care to assistus in our self-care quest. But ultimately it is we whohave to be in control of our own health & no one else.So the onus is on us to improve the quality of ourhealth which in turn would improve the well beingof our lives.

(Spiritual organisations keen to be featured in this space contact : features@fpj.co.in)

YOUR DAY By Nilikash P. Pradhan

DENNIS THE MENACE

BLONDIE / Dean Young & Mile Gersher

BRINGING UP FATHER / FRANK JONSON

— Rajyogi Brahmakumar Nikunj ji

idharth Malhotra says

coming to Mumbai to

explore a career in

Bollywood was not

easy, adding that support

from his family

helped him a lot in

his journey. Opening upabout how his

family sup-ported his de-

cision tomove toMumbai, Sid-

harth said, "I

rememberwhen I cameto Mumbai Iwas 21 andstaying hereby myself, Ireally start-ed appreci-ating thejoint familythat I grewup in, (with)

so manypeoplearound." "I remem-ber on thephone speak-

ing to my par-

ents, I would

say why don't

we have thehabit of ending

the call with love

you mom, love you,

dad. We at our Pun-

jabi household nev-

er had a culture like

this because none of

us ever ventured out

and stayed away that far. And

I remember one day sitting

down with my dad, telling

him that whenever we say

goodbye you are supposed to

say goodbye by saying you

love me and dad being the dad

he was like 'ya ya, of course, I

love you'," he added.

The actor continued: "He

took a beat and it was funny,

at the same time, you can

imagine so many fathers, es-

pecially of a grown-up child, a

21-year-old staying in a differ-

ent city and asking their fa-

ther to please tell love me be-

fore ending a call because. I

realised it when I came to

Mumbai to become an actor, it

wasn't easy and I felt the only

thing you fall back on is what

your parents have taught

you." Sidharth began hi

s career as

a model at the age of 18. He

worked as an assistant direc-

tor to filmmaker Karan Johar

in the 2010 film My Name Is

Khan, before getting his break

as an actor in Johar's 2012

teenybopper release, Student

of the Year. Over the years, he

has been

seen in films like Hasee Toh

Phasee, Brothers, Ek Villain

and Kapoor & Sons and Baar

Baar Dekho. The actor said tha

t his par-

ents didn't know he "wanted

to grow up and become an ac-

tor". "I never thought when I

was a teenager that it was pos-

sible to become a Bollywood

actor coming from Delhi with

no connections to the films.

They were not shaping me up

to an actor but to become a

good human being I would say.

And I mean this with utmost

humility and not saying that I

am a perfect example. But just

to say that there are some ba-

sic qualities, I think I have in-

herited from my family and

that's what I keep giving to

people," said Sidharth during

a virtual session with We The

Planet. The actor thinks t

hat a lot of

issues in a society stem from

harsh upbringing. "Whenever

people talk about various is-

sues within the country, start-

ing with women's safety or se-

curity, it is something that the

society has to fix and that

stems from fixing the boys

first. Having to give all the

men in the world especially in

India a good example starting

from their fathers, because

coming from experience I

think subconsciously I have

picked up so much from my

father, even though he was

travelling since he was in the

merchant navy. He worked re-

ally hard to bring us up and

give us a good lifestyle. That's

when I realised that's where

the key is," he said. —IANS

espite few attempts to resume the filming amid COVID pandemic, theproduction of daytime drama The Bold and the Beautiful has once again beenhalted. The drama was among the first productions to hit the studios afterkeeping its doors shut for months over coronavirus concerns. However, the

producers say they have switched medical labs after receiving several false-positiveresults from the first lab, resulting in a pause in the production once again. The first labfor testing was provided by the show's studio facility. "The lab TV City provided The Boldand the Beautiful with last week produced several false positives and many inconclusiveresults," the Hollywood Reporter quoted a representative of the show as saying. —ANI

False COVID-19results delayproduction

DFREEPRESS

Tele TalkHOLLYWOOD TALK

Sidharth gets nostalgic INDORE | THURSDAY | JUNE 25 2020

Malhotra says

he started

appreciating his

family more when

he came to Mumbai

S

e rose to Bollywood fame playing MCSher in Gully Boy and now has a bagfull of great films lined up includingBunty Aur Babli 2 and Shakun Ba-

tra's yet-untitled film where he sharesscreen space with Deepika Padukone. Sid-dhant Chaturvedi is naturally excited withthe way his career is shaping up. How does he feel about his upcoming slateof work? "I am very excited. I am very ex-cited to present "Bunty Aur Babli 2" and Iam excited for people to watch it. I thinkafter this pandemic everything will be allright with this film, which is a family en-tertainer," Siddhant said. He is overjoyed because he gets towork with actors like Rani Mukerji, SaifAli Khan and Pankaj Tripathi in thefilm. "It's a great film. I had great funshooting it, and after such tough anddark times people need somethingvery light and fun. I am really excitedfor this film," he said. Siddhant is also looking forward toworking with DeepikaPadukone andAnanya Pandey inShakun Batra's next. He says the film be-longs to a genrethat has not been triedin Bollywood before."The excitement is thatit is a genre that hasnot been tried in Hin-di cinema yet. The film isnuanced and has a lot ofdetails. Shakun is a greatdirector. It is a very con-temporary, new-age film.It is going to be a lot offun. I get to act withDeepika Padukone!" hegushed. "Forget about actors, it is adream for every boy to just get achance to talk to Deepika. It is aromantic thriller and I can'tcontrol my happiness. It is afun film and cast," he said.

—IANS

Siddhant‘very

excited’about

working with

DeepikaH

opular TV actor VijayendraKumeria recently became avictim of fake casting calls.He took to his Instagram ac-

count to share screenshots of thesame as a warning to both strugglingand experienced actors. Vijeyandra revealed that it was nothis first such experience. "In somecases you can figure out that it's afake one in the first two messagesonly. They don't want to share theiroffice address, and ask for pictureslike bare body shots etc., so you get toknow it's a fake one. But this time,they had a narration, they wereready with a script, name of a pro-duction house, etc., and I made anaudition video for them too, but afterI sent it across they started askingme for such pictures," he said. "A genuine casting director or histeam will never ask you for such pic-tures. That guy even tried to con-vince me that it was a genuine one,but eventually it stopped. So a friend

told me that it has happened withhim and I realised these people aresending it to a lot of actors. That'swhen I decided to post it on socialmedia," he added. If you are a struggling or an aspir-ing actor, it's very easy to fall intotheir trap, so he suggested: "No cast-ing director or his team will ask forpictures in boxers or a bare bodyshot. So if something like that hap-pens, then they should realise it's afake call. They should immediatelyreport that person or block him. Realcasting people will never ask this onWhatsApp. So by posting it on my so-cial media account, I wanted to letmy followers know that this is hap-pening with experienced actors too,so the ones who are struggling or as-piring should be a little alert." The actor, however, mentioned thatone needs to be alert as actors are be-ing asked to send across auditionvideos and look tests from home.

—IANS

Vijayendra falls preyto fake casting call

P

inger Guru Rand-hawa is all set toreturn on thestage post lock-

down on June 30. "It feels great to slowlyand steadily resumework post lockdown andon that note I will be per-forming my first privatelive show on 30th June.By adhering to govern-ment's new guidelines onprivate gatherings and

social distancing meas-ures, this would be ourfirst show post Lock-down," he tweeted onWednesday. The show will be held inDelhi. This comes just afew days after Guru saidhe misses travelling tocities and performing forfans. Guru had tweeted:"Can't wait to land in yourcity and THANKYOU allfor the love and support

you guys have shownfrom day one. Can't waitto hold the mic and per-form for you all." Earlier this month, hehad also released "MueveLa Cintura", which is hisfirst Spanish song withthe international star Pit-bull. The two artistes hadpreviously collaboratedin 2019 for the numberSlowly slowly.

—IANS

Guru Randhawa confirmsfirst live show

S

ollywood veteranMel Gibson has de-nied the claims ofactor Winona Ry-

der who has once againalleged that the actor-film-maker made anti-Semiticand homophobic com-ments during a party manyyears ago.Ryder has levelled the al-legation against Gibsonmany times, including inher 2010 profile interviewwith GQ magazine.She reiteratedthe accusa-tions duringan inter-view withThe Sun-day Times,where shewas askedwhether shehad ever ex-periencedanti-Semi-tism in

the film industry.Ryder, 48, then recalled aHollywood party in the 1990sand said that Gibson calledher an "oven dodger", aderogatory term for a per-son of Jewish heritage,when he learned about herbackground. "We were at acrowded party with one ofmy good friends. And MelGibson was smoking a cigar,and we're all talking and hesaid to my friend, who's gay,'Oh wait, am I gonna getAIDS?' "And then somethingcame up about Jews, and hesaid, 'You're not an ovendodger, are you?'" the actorsaid.Ryder further revealedthat Gibson, 65, tried to apol-ogise to her at a later date.A representative of Gibsonresponded to Ryder's claims,calling them as "100 per centuntrue", according to Vari-ety. "She lied about it over adecade ago, when she talkedto the press, and she's lyingabout it now. Also, she liedabout him trying to apolo-

gise to her back then. He did reach out toher, many years ago, to confront her abouther lies, and she refused to address it withhim," the actor's spokesperson said.Ryder, however, is not backing down andreleased a statement to counter Gibson'sresponse.Gibson's career has been plagued by ac-cusations of both anti-Semitic and homo-phobic behaviour. In 1991, Gibson madederogatory remarks about gay sex duringan interview with Spanish newspaper ElPais. During a 2006 DUI (driving under in-fluence) arrest, Gibson had said that,"Jews are responsible for all the wars inthe world". The actor has also been record-ed on tape making racist remarks againsthis ex-girlfriend, Russian singer-song-writer Oksana Grigorieva.

—PTI

Surgery prompted MileyCyrus to become sober

usician Miley Cyrus recently revealed thatshe has been forced to sobriety after under-going vocal cord surgery in November 2019.The Wrecking Ball singer told Variety that

she hasn't had a drink since she got the surgerydone. "I've been sober...sober for the past six months,"Variety quoted the singer as saying. The singer further said that she made the decisionto remain sober due to a family history of addiction."My mom was adopted, and I inherited some of thefeelings she had, the abandonment feelings andwanting to prove that you're wanted and valuable.My dad's parents divorced when he was 3, so my dadraised himself," Cyrus said."I did a lot of family histo-ry, which has a lot of ad-diction and mentalhealth challenges, It's re-ally hard because espe-cially being young,there's that stigma of 'y-ou're no fun. It's like,'Honey, you can call mea lot of things, but Iknow that I'mfun," she added. She furthercapped the dis-cussion on hersobriety by stat-ing that stayingsober is thebest option forher. "I don'twant to wakeup feelinggroggy. I wantto wake upfeeling ready,"Cyrus said."It's been real-ly importantfor me over thelast year living asober lifestyle, be-cause I reallywanted to polish upmy craft," sheadded.

—ANI

MH

Winona Ryder accuses Mel Gibsonof making anti-Semitic comments

10

ITR filing deadline extended till July31; PAN-Aadhaar linkage till Mar ‘21NEW DELHI: The government on Wednesday extended thedeadline for filing income tax returns (ITR) for the 2018-19fiscal by a month till July 31, 2020. The Centre has alsoextended the time limit for linking biometric Aadhaar withPAN till March 31, 2021. The Central Board of Direct Taxes(CBDT) through a notification also extended the time limit formaking various investments for claiming deductions underthe I-T Act for the 2019-20 fiscal by a month till July 31,2020. The due date for filing ITR for FY2019-20 has alreadybeen extended till November 30, 2020.

Cabinet nod to additional investmentby OVL in Myanmar gas blocksNEW DELHI: The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs(CCEA) on Wednesday approved additional investment ofUSD 121.27 million by ONGC Videsh Ltd for furtherdevelopment of Block A-1 and A-3 blocks in Myanmar. TheCCEA, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approvedthe additional investment for the Shwe oil and gas project inMyanmar blocks, an official statement said.

SEBI extends deadline to declare Jan-Mar, FY20 earnings to Jul 31MUMBAI: The Securities and Exchange Board of India hasextended the timeline for declaration of earnings for thequarter and year-ended Mar 31 to Jul 31 because of thechallenges faced by the companies due to the COVID-19pandemic. SEBI had earlier allowed companies a one-monthextension for declaration of Jan-Mar and 2019-20 (Apr-Mar)earnings till Jun 30 from May 31.

Shareholders elect 4 directors toSBI's central boardMUMBAI: Shareholders of State Bank of India have electedfour directors--Ganesh Natarajan, Ketan Vikamsey, B.Venugopal, and Mrugank Paranjape--to the bank's centralboard during the general meeting on Jun 17. The tenure ofthe four shareholder directors will be till Jun 25, 2023,effective Friday.

Scheme to provide Rs 20,000 cr guarantee cover to MSMEs launchedNEW DELHI: Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Wednesdaylaunched the Credit Guarantee Scheme for Sub-ordinate Debtto provide Rs 20,000 crore of guarantee cover to two lakhmicro, small and medium enterprises.

Bharti Infratel extends deadline forIndus Towers merger to Aug 31BENGALURU: Bharti Infratel Ltd has once again extended thelong-stop date for the merger of Indus Towers Ltd with itself,this time till Aug 31, as a few more conditions are yet to becompleted, the company informed the exchanges today. Thelong-stop date, the last date by which the entities have to bemerged, was earlier set for today.

Doing best to return money toinvestors: Franklin Templeton MFNEW DELHI: Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund has said it isworking towards resolving all the legal issues regarding thewinding up of its six debt schemes at the earliest in order toefficiently monetise assets and return money to investors.Franklin Templeton on April 23 closed six debt schemes citingthe redemption pressure and lack of liquidity in the bondmarket.

HDFC Bank very well placed to tideover COVID-19 crisis: MD Aditya Puri MUMBAI: Admitting that COVID-19 will perhaps change thelife forever, HDFC Bank Managing Director Aditya Puri assuredstakeholders that the private sector lender is very well placedto tide over the difficulties posed by the pandemic. "Let us,however, remember that the darkest hour is always justbefore the dawn, and that dawn is not far away. Be it inriding out the health crisis or recovering from thefinancial losses that many have suffered, faith and hopeare our biggest allies. But let us also accept that life hasperhaps changed forever," Puri wrote in a letter to thestakeholders.

YES Bank says liquidity adequate; Care,Icra cut ratings on upper tier-II bondsNEW DELHI: Following the downgrade of Yes Bank Ltd'supper tier-II bonds' rating to default category by twodomestic rating agencies, the lender today said it hasadequate liquidity to meet all its obligations.Meanwhile, Icraand Care Ratings have cut their ratings on the bonds to "D"possibly because any default in repayment by a companytriggers the action, the lender said.

Floor price removal will lead to inventory loss of Rs 400 cr: IcraMUMBAI: The recent order of the Central ElectricityRegulatory Commission to reduce the forbearance prices andremove the floor price for renewable energy certificate (REC)will result in an inventory loss of nearly Rs 400 crore forexisting REC-based projects, says Icra.

Tata Power gets shareholders' nod toraise authorised share capitalNEW DELHI: Tata Power on Wednesday said it has gotshareholders' approval for raising its authorised share capitalby Rs 200 crore to Rs 779 crore. The company had alsoproposed to amend its Memorandum of Association to giveeffect to the increase in share capital, which has also beenapproved by shareholders

Jio poised to play key role in develop-ment of 5G ecosystem in India: RILNEW DELHI: Reliance Jio would play a key role in thedevelopment of the 5G ecosystem in India based on themarket dynamics, Reliance Industries said in its latest annualreport. On the issue of floor price for mobile services, thecompany noted that market dynamics have improved in therecent past as reflected by December tariff hikes by operators.

Canara Bank reports Rs 3,259 cr lossin Q4 on increased provisioningMUMBAI: State-owned Canara Bank on Wednesday reporteda standalone net loss of Rs 3,259 crore for the quarter endedMarch, due to higher provisioning. The lender had reported anet loss of Rs 552 crore in the corresponding period of theprevious financial year.

Karur Vysya Bk beats view with Rs 837 mn PAT, fall in bad loansMUMBAI: Karur Vysya Bank posted a 39.5% on-year rise inits net profit for Jan-Mar to 837 mln rupees, beating analysts'estimate of 538 mln rupees. In the previous quarter, thebank's profit after tax was 150.7 mln rupees. Overall, thebank made provisions of 4.29 bln rupees during the quarter,21.83% higher on year, and 17.85% higher on quarter.

—Agencies

MCA extends deadline for registration of independent directorsThe Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has extendedthe deadline for registration of independent directorson its online databank till September 30. The previousdeadline was June 30. The ministry had launched thedatabank in December last year, which is meant to be

a "comprehensive repository" of existing as well aseligible independent directors. The ministry hadlaunched the databank in December last year, which ismeant to be a "comprehensive repository" of existingas well as eligible independent directors.

NEWS IN BRIEF

MONEYFREEPRESS

INDORE | THURSDAY | JUNE 25, 2020

11All cooperative banks to nowcome under RBI supervision

MUMBAI: The government onWednesday said that all urban coop-erative banks and multi-state coop-erative banks will come under thesupervision of the Reserve Bank ofIndia, a development aimed at pro-viding comfort to depositors andprevent repeat of PMC Bank likescams.The President of India will prom-

ulgate an ordinance to this effect, In-formation and Broadcasting Minis-ter Prakash Javadekar told re-porters after the meeting of theUnion Cabinet.Terming it a landmark decision,

the minister said 1,540 urban coop-erative banks and multi-state coop-erative banks will be brought underthe RBI supervisory process as is ap-plicable in case of scheduled com-mercial banks."...depositors (of cooperative

banks) will get protection and bene-fit from this decision," Javadekar

said.There are 1,482 urban cooperative

banks and 58 multi-state cooperativebanks having about 8.6 crore depos-itors with total savings deposit ofabout Rs 4.85 lakh crore.The decision assumes significance

in the wake of a scam in the Punjaband Maharashtra Cooperative(PMC) Bank and some other cooper-ative banks affecting lakhs of cus-tomers who are facing difficulty inwithdrawing their money due to re-strictions imposed by the Reserve

Bank of India.The RBI had placed regulatory

curbs on the PMC Bank on Septem-ber 23, 2019, after finding out certainfinancial irregularities and misre-porting of loans given to real estatedeveloper HDIL.Earlier this month, the RBI had

put restrictions withdrawals fromPeople's Co-operative Bank, Kanpur,Uttar Pradesh.Finance Minister Nirmala

Sitharaman had introduced 'TheBanking Regulation (Amendment)Bill, 2020' in Lok Sabha on March 3,2020, which is pending approval. The proposed law sought to en-

force banking regulation guidelinesof the RBI on cooperative banks.In her February 1 Budget Speech,

Sitharaman had proposed amend-ments to the Banking RegulationAct with an aim to increasing pro-fessionalism and improving gover-nance among the cooperative banks

Labour may not returnsoon; housing projectstimelines extended

AGENCIES/ Mumbai

The government has extend-ed the timelines for comple-tion of housing projects bysix months to protect the in-terest of homebuyers and en-sure they get delivery oftheir flats with some delay, asthe construction work hasbeen impacted due toCOVID-19 outbreak, accord-ing to the PMO."Due to COVID-19, the work

of ongoing real estate proj-ects has halted," the PMOsaid in response to a petitionby Samachar Foundation Di-rector B N Kumar.Large scale reverse migra-

tion of labour and huge dis-ruption in supply chain ofmaterial, have adversely im-pacted the construction work,said the letter, which was cir-culated to media by the NGO."Labour is least likely to re-

turn before festivals in Octo-ber -November get over. Insuch circumstances, real es-tate projects will take quitesome time to resume workfully. Surely this will delaycompletion of projects lead-ing to lot of litigations fornon compliance of commit-ments on time and makeprojects fail or get stressed,"the PMO said.In order to safeguard the in-

terest of all stake-holders, es-pecially home buyers and toensure delivery of houses,the Ministry of Housing andUrban Affairs advised Statesand RERA to invoke the forcemajeure clause under thelaw, the letter said.So far, 23 states' RERA have

extended registration ofprojects by six months andone (state) by nine months inview of the situation createdby COVID19, it added.

MUMBAI: Liquor makerDiageo India on Wednes-day announced a Rs 75-crore programme 'Raisingthe Bar' to support bars,pubs and restaurants serv-ing alcohol to help themrecover from the impact ofthe COVID-19 pandemic.'Raising the Bar' is a two-

year programme to sup-port the revival and recov-ery of bars, pubs andrestaurants across citiesincluding Delhi, Mumbai,and Bengaluru, Diageo In-dia said in a statement.Diageo designed this pro-

gramme following a globalsurvey of bar owners toidentify key priorities tosupport reopening.Their top priorities in-

cluded hygiene measures,

digital support and practi-cal equipment and train-ing to transform how theiroutlets will work whenthey reopen, Diageo said.Following resumption of

business operations andthe sale of alcohol in bars,pubs and restaurants, out-lets will be able to registertheir interest for the pro-

gramme, it said.It will provide hygiene

kit, sanitiser and personalprotection equipment andalso help bars, pubs andrestaurants serving alco-hol to establish partner-ships with online reserva-tions and cashless sys-tems. Diageo India Man-aging Director Anand Kri-

palu said: "The revival ofthis sector is vital to theeconomy and to the suc-cess of our business. 'Rais-ing the Bar' is our commit-ment to qualifying pubs,bars and restaurants thatserve alcohol." This sup-port extends to providingenhanced safety measureswhen they resume opera-tions so that their busi-ness and employment canrevive, enabling con-sumers to feel confidentonce again to socialise andlead normal lives, he said.Under Unlock 1.0, the

government has permittedrestaurants to resumedine-in service from June8, with adherence to socialdistancing norms and oth-er safety guidelines.

‘Raising the Bar’ for pubs reelingunder COVID-19 impact: Diageo

E-comm cos’ views on'country of origin' sought

In a first, dieselgets costlier thanpetrol in Delhi

MUMBAI: Diesel pricefor the first time in livingmemory crossing the rateof petrol in the nationalcapital on Wednesdaywas a result of a steephike in VAT by the stategovernment, Indian OilCorp (IOC) ChairmanSanjiv Singh said, point-ing to lower rates acrossother cities.According to a price no-

tification of state oil mar-keting companies, petrolprice was unchanged af-ter 17 consecutive in-creases, while diesel rateswere hiked by 48 paiseper litre, the 18th daily in-crease in a row across thecountry.Diesel now costs Rs

79.88 per litre in Delhi ascompared to petrol priceof Rs 79.76.Rates differ from state

to state depending on theincidence of VAT.However, diesel is cost-

lier than petrol only inthe national capitalwhere the state govern-ment had raised localsales tax or VAT on thefuel sharply last month."The Delhi government

had increased VAT onpetrol from 27 per cent to30 per cent and that ondiesel from 16.75 per centto 30 per cent on May 5,"Singh told reporters here.This massive hike in

VAT resulted in rates go-ing up by Rs 1.67 per litrefor petrol and by a recordRs 7.10 for diesel on a sin-gle day.

In FY21, India's vehicleoutput down 12.7%: FitchMUMBAI: A likely subdued de-mand for vehicles in domesticand global markets due to the out-break of coronavirus is set to re-sult in a decline in production forthe Indian automobile industryfor the second consecutive finan-cial year, FitchSolutions said. The analytics firm sees a 12.7%

decline in vehicle production in2020-21 (Apr-Mar) after a 19% fallin 2019-20. The lockdown restric-tions that prevailed in India dur-ing April and most of Maybrought vehicle production tonearly a standstill, resulting in asharp 95% year-on-year fall inoutput. "We believe that automakers

will continue to face operationaldisruptions, stemming from sup-ply chain bottlenecks and lo-calised COVID-19 outbreaks,which will force factories to sus-pend operations," it said in a re-port.

Noting the subdued demand,the analytics firm expects vehiclesales to contract by 16.6% in thecurrent financial year. It expects a recovery in produc-

tion in 2021-22 in line with de-mand, and has estimated a 14%increase in the country's vehicleoutput and an over 19% growthin sales. FitchSolutions said theexport market was unlikely toprovide any major cushion tocompanies to help offset the weakdomestic sales because the de-mand picture globally too re-mains hazy.

NEW DELHI: The Hinduja familyis locked in a dispute over the futureof the $11.2 billion fortune with on-going litigation in the UK.Three brothers of the Hinduja

Family -- G.P. Hinduja, P.P. Hindujaand A.P. Hinduja -- issued a state-ment on the litigation issue."It will be apparent from the

Judgment of the High Court inEngland, that Mr. S.P. Hinduja'shealth has been deteriorating for anumber of years suffering fromLewy Body disease, which is aform of dementia. Vinoo, hisyounger daughter, acting as hisLitigation Friend, is bringingthese proceedings on his behalf,"they said.The brothers called the litigation

unfortunate. "It is very unfortu-nate that these proceedings are

taking place as they go against ourFounder's and family's values andprinciples that have stood formany decades, especially, 'every-thing belongs to everyone andnothing belongs to anyone'. We in-tend to defend the claim to upholdthese dearly held family values,"they added.The Hindujas have emphasised

that this will not affect the opera-tions of their companies. "We

would also stress that this litiga-tion will not have any impact onour global businesses, which willcontinue to function as they havebeen." they added."We hope you will understand

that these are private family mat-ters which are now the subject oflitigation and we cannot commentany further," the statement read.At the centre of the dispute is a

letter signed by the four Hindujabrothers which has implicationsfor the future of the family's $11.2billion fortune.The 2014 letter says that the as-

sets held by one brother belong toall, and that each man will appointthe others as their executors. How-ever, now Srichand Hinduja or 'SP'(84), as mentioned in the Hindujafamily statement, considered to be

the the patriarch of the family, andhis younger daughter, Vinoo, havemoved for declaring the letterworthless.According to reports, the dispute

between the family was revealed ina ruling delivered on Tuesday by aLondon judge, who said that thethree other brothers, Gopichand,Prakash and Ashok, tried to usethe letter to take control of Hindu-ja Bank -- an asset that was in Sric-hand's sole name.Srichand and Vinoo want the

court to rule that the letter shouldhave "no legal effect" and cannot beused as a will, the judge said. Vi-noo said that Srichand had insist-ed as early as in 2016 that the Julyletter doesn't reflect his wishes andthat the family's assets should beseparated.

Hinduja brothers battle over $11b family fortune

MUMBAI: The DPIIT on Wednesday sought views of e-commerce firms like Amazon and Flipkart on mention-ing the 'country of origin' on each product sold throughtheir platforms, according to sources.The e-commerce companies said displaying the infor-

mation is doable, but they need some time to implementit, the sources added.The issue was discussed in detail at a meeting convened

by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Inter-nal Trade (DPIIT). Representatives of e-commerce com-panies like Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal, Tata Cliq,Paytm, Udaan and Pepperfry participated in the meetingthrough video-conferencing.

IMF sees FY21 growth -4.5%, FY22forecast cut to 6.0% from 7.4%

NEW DELHI: The Inter-national Monetary Fundhas cut its GDP growthforecasts for the currentand next year, warningthat a recovery from theCOVID-19 pandemic wouldbe "more gradual than pre-viously forecast". The multilateral agency

sees the Indian economyshrinking 4.5% in 2020-21(Apr-Mar), in line with mosteconomists' estimates. However, in 2021-22, the

IMF sees India's GDPgrowth rising to 6.0%, wellbelow what has been fore-cast by others.

The Organisation forEconomic Cooperationand Development, for in-stance, expects India'sgrowth to rebound sharplyto 7.9-8.1% in 2021-22 from(-)3.7% this year. In April, the IMF's forecast

for India's GDP growth in

2020-21 was 1.9% and for2021-22, it was 7.4%. The global economy is

now seen shrinking 4.9% in2020 as against contractionof 3.0% forecast in April.For 2021, global growth

has been pegged at 5.4%,down from 5.8% earlier, ac-cording to the IMF's Juneupdate to its World Eco-nomic Outlook report. The US economy is ex-

pected to shrink 8.0% in2020 and expand 4.5% in2021, down from April'sforecast of contraction of5.9% in 2020 and growth of4.7% in 2021.

GDP growth in FY21may be at -5.3%: IndRa

NEW DELHI: India Rat-ings and Research expectsIndia's GDP to contract5.3% year-on-year in thecurrent financial year dueto the speed and scale ofdisruptions caused by theCOVID-19 pandemic and acomplete washout of activ-ities in some sectors. "This will be the lowest

GDP growth in the Indianhistory," the agency said ina report today. Indian GDPdata is available from 1950-51 (Apr-Mar), and this willthe sixth instance of eco-nomic contraction on year-on-year basis, the agencysaid, adding that Indian

GDP had earlier contractedin 1957-58, 1965-66, 1966-67,1972-73 and 1979-80. The previous low in GDP

growth was (-)5.2% in 1979-80, it said. "The disorder caused by

the COVID-19 pandemic un-folded with such a speedand scale that the disrup-tion in production, break-down of supplychains/trade channels andtotal washout of activitiesin aviation, tourism, hotelsand hospitality sectors willnot allow the economic ac-tivity to return to normalcythroughout 2020-21," IndiaRatings said.

INCLUDE 1,482 URBAN COOPERATIVE BANKS, 58 MULTI-STATE COOPERATIVE BANKS

Banks, NBFCs to disclose digital lending agentsMUMBAI: To make digital lending more transparent,the Reserve Bank directed banks, NBFCs and digitallending platforms to disclose full information upfronton their websites to customers.The direction comes against the backdrop of several

complaints relating to exorbitant interest rates andharsh recovery measures, among others, against lend-ing platforms. While the banks and non-banking fi-nance companies (NBFCs) are being directed to dis-close the names of agents engaged by on their web-sites, digital lending platforms have been asked to telltheir customers upfront the names of the bank/ NBFCon whose behalf they are disbursing loans.".outsourcing of any activity by banks/ NBFCs does

not diminish their obligations, as the onus of compli-ance with regulatory instructions rests solely with

them," the RBI said in a communication to the sched-uled commercial banks and NBFCs.The RBI further said that immediately after sanction

of loan, a letter must be issued to the borrower on theletter head of the bank/ NBFC concerned."A copy of the loan agreement along with a copy each

of all enclosures quoted in the loan agreement shall befurnished to all borrowers at the time of sanction/ dis-bursement of loans," the RBI said, and also asked thebanks and NBFCs to create awareness about the griev-ance redressal mechanism.The RBI said that often digital lending platforms tend to

portray themselves as lenders without disclosing the nameof the bank/ NBFC at the backend, as a consequence ofwhich, customers are not able to access grievance redressalavenues available under the regulatory framework.

12SPORTSFREEPRESS

INDORE | THURSDAY | JUNE 25, 2020

SHOOTER SPREADING AWARENESS ABOUT COVID-19 AFTER BEATING IT IN HIS HOUSE-TURNED-HOSPITAL

PRESS TRUST OF INDIANew Delhi

Champion shooter SamareshJung's fairly big house becamehis mini-hospital after he testedpositive for COVID-19 along withfive of his family members.Pistols and all other accessoriesrelated to shooting were tuckedaway in one corner and in camestrips of paracetamol, an oxygenmonitoring machine and concen-trator (a device which is used todeliver oxygen to patients withbreathing related disorders).And now, from sharing shootingtips, Jung has got down to spread-ing awareness about COVID-19,having beaten the dreaded dis-ease with the same positive ap-proach and determination thathad helped him become a pistolace and earned him the nick-

name Goldfinger."Some dos and don'ts, you know,about whatever I know about thedisease, and to whoever I know, Ipass on my message," said Jung.A big house coupled with a goodnumber of rooms and multipletoilets worked well for the cham-pion shooter when he tested posi-tive for COVID-19 along with five

of his family members.They underwent self-isolation athome till the concerned authori-ties gave them the clearance cer-tificate on June 22.The last few weeks have beentough for the 50-year-old pistolace, who won a whopping sevenmedals, including two gold, at the2006 Melbourne Commonwealth

Games, a feat that earned him thebest athlete award of that edition.He is accustomed to facing chal-lenges. But this was very differ-ent," Jung said."I would say don't panic to thosediagnosed with COVID but, at thesame time, we can't take it lightly.The feeling that we will not getthe infection should not be thereat all. You have to be extremelycareful," he added.Jung, now a coach of the nation-al pistol team, said his aim was tostay away from negativity afterhe was told that he tested positivefor COVID-19 on June 5, two daysafter giving his samples."So I decided to stay away fromall these whatsapp messages andtelevision. Though there weresome tough days, I was deter-mined to be positive all along," hesaid.

Employed with the Central In-dustrial Security Force (CISF),the son of a retired army officersaid his initial symptoms werefever and cough, but he was a bitsurprised as he would rarely ven-ture out of his north Delhi resi-dence, which housed 13 membersat the time.While four of the infected fami-ly members isolated themselvesat home, two of them checkedinto a specific COVID facility."We had quite a few rooms andtoilets which we could be used in-dividually, with couple of thembeing used by those members whowere not down with the virus."We were following the standardprotocol and as part of it, therewas also a COVID-19 poster past-ed outside our house. Now thatwe are all clear I am waiting forthe authorities to remove it."

Samresh wins 'jung' against dreaded coronavirusTHIS DAY, THAT YEAR

Kapil's boys pull off greatest upset ever

Amemorable dayfor Indian

cricket, and a nastysurprise for WestIndies. Most peoplethought West Indiesjust had to turn up to win the World Cup final at Lord's, an opinion thatwas reinforced when India struggled to 183 all out. West Indies thenmotored to 50 for 1, with Viv Richards scything seven fours in a 28-ball 33,but the match turned when he hoicked Madan Lal high in the air and wassuperbly caught by Kapil Dev. The drama of 57 for 3 soon turned into acrisis at 76 for 6, as India's medium-pacers wobbled West Indies to death,and the cricket world slowly realised that a monstrous shock was on thecards. The Man of the Match was Mohinder Amarnath, for his 26 and 3 for12. The highest score in the whole match was Kris Srikkanth's 38.

1983

INSPIRATIONAL QUOTEINSPIRATIONAL QUOTE

If I have a reason to dosomething, and I haveenough passion, I generallysucceed”. - Leander Paes

SPORTS CAFEIrish player Kim eyes career in Australia

DUBLIN: Ireland born all-rounder Kim Garth has qualified torepresent Australian women's cricket team in the near future aftersigning a two-year deal with Cricket Victoria as an overseas recruit.Garth has substantial experience playing Down Under, apart fromfeaturing in the Women's Big Bash League, representing SydneySixers and Perth Scorchers, she also played club cricket inMelbourne last season.

Chess Forum urges AICF for online NatlsCHENNAI: The newly formed Chess Players Forum (CPF) hasurged the All India Chess Federation (AICF) to explore thepossibility of holding the National Championships and ratedtournaments online with players at their designated centres. In aletter to AICF President P.R. Venketrama Raja and Secretary BharatSingh Chauhan, the CPF President and International Master (IM)Varugeese Koshy has requested the formation of a task force andchalking out a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for holdingsuch tournaments.

Bangladesh's tour of Lanka postponedDUBAI: The Bangladesh cricket team's tour of Sri Lanka nextmonth was on Wednesday postponed owing to the COVID-19pandemic, which has wreaked havoc on international sportsschedules worldwide. Bangladesh was scheduled to tour Sri Lankanext month for a three-Test series.

Bala Devi joinsto raise funds

NEW DELHI: TrailblazingIndian woman footballer BalaDevi has joined a charityinitiative to raise funds for childlabourers who will be affectedby the COVID-19 pandemic.The 30-year-old striker hasbeen roped in by the non-governmental organisation CRY(Child Rights and You) andproceeds from the initiative willgo to help provide the childrenbasic education and amenities.

Indian karate getWKF's boot

NEW DELHI: The World KarateFederation (WKF) hasprovisionally de-recognised theKarate Association of India withimmediate effect for infighting andviolating the world body's statutesduring its elections last year. WKFsaid the decision was taken afteran inquiry. "...further to theinvestigations and inquiry led bythe commissioned members toreview the status of the KarateAssociation of India (KAI), theWKF Executive Committee hasdecided to provisionally withdrawthe recognition of KAI, of whichyou are the President, as of22nd June with immediate effectin accordance with the WKFStatutes," WKF chief AntonioEspinos wrote in a letter to KAI.

New York CityMarathon cancelledNEW YORK: The New York CityMarathon scheduled forNovember 1 was cancelledWednesday because of thecoronavirus pandemic. New YorkRoad Runners announced thecancellation of the world's largestmarathon after coordinating withthe mayor's office and decidingthe race posed too many healthand safety concerns for runners,volunteers, spectators and others."While the marathon is an iconicand beloved event in our city, Iapplaud New York Road Runnersfor putting the health and safetyof both spectators and runnersfirst," Mayor Bill de Blasio said ina statement.

Odisha FC rope inIsak and Paul

BHUBANESWAR: Odisha FC onWednesday announced thesignings of Indian youngsters IsakVanlalruatfela and PaulRamfangzauva ahead of theseventh edition of the IndianSuper League (ISL). Both Isakand Paul played for I-League sideAizawl FC in the previous season.The 21-year-old midfielder Paulhails from Mizoram and played forAizawl FC under 18 team beforemaking it to the senior team in2018-19 season. He has nowsigned with the Bhubaneshwar-based club for three years.

ASSOCIATED PRESSMadrid

Barcelona earned ahard-fought 1-0 winagainst Athletic Bil-

bao to put the pressure backon Real Madrid in the Span-ish league.Ivan Rakitic's second-halfwinner on Tuesday movedBarcelona back in front ofMadrid ahead of the rival'shome match against relega-tion-threatened Mallorca onWednesday.Rakitic broke the deadlockin the 71st minute to leaveBarcelona three points infront of Madrid, which canretake the lead with a winbecause it has bettertiebreakers."We can't worry about ourrival, just about us,"Barcelona coach QuiqueSetién said."We needed to win, andnow we wait to see what hap-pens in their match."Rakitic scored less than 10minutes after coming off thebench, firing a right-footshot into the corner after anassist by Lionel Messi."It was an important winin a very difficult match,"Rakitic said."It took a while for us to get

into the match. They didwell by not giving us a lot ofspace."It was Rakitic's first goalfor Barcelona since March2019."It took 31 rounds for me tofinally score my first goal ofthe season," he said."I was mad at myself that ittook so long." Messi, whoturns 33 on Wednesday,again wasn't able to scorehis milestone 700th careergoal for club and country. Hecame close twice with shotsthat just missed the targetlate in the second half.Barcelona was coming off

a 0-0 draw at Sevilla, a resultthat allowed Madrid to takeover the lead for the firsttime since the league re-sumed after the pandemicbreak.Athletic, which has wononly one of its four matchesafter the break, dropped to10th place.Atlético Madrid extendedits good run after the pan-

demic break with a 1-0 win atLevante.An own-goal by BrunoGonzález in the 15th minutegave Atlético its third straightwin and moved Diego Sime-one's team back into thirdplace in the standings. Atléti-co is two points ahead of Sevil-la, which had temporarilymoved in front after a 2-2 drawat Villarreal on Monday.Atlético was sixth when theleague was interrupted by thecoronavirus, but its winningrun - coupled with a series ofpoor results by its rivals - al-lowed the team to quickly getback into the ChampionsLeague places."Happy for another victoryand for these very importantthree points that take us closerto our goal of qualifying forthe Champions League,"Atlético midfielder MarcosLlorente said.González found his own netwhile trying to intercept across from Llorente to DiegoCosta inside the area.Atlético is six points clear offifth-place Getafe, which drew1-1 at Valladolid.

BARCA BACKEarn a hard-fought 1-0 win against Athletic,

Messi made to wait as pressure on Real Madrid

Ivan Rakitic

ASSOCIATED PRESS / London

Harry Kane had to watch helplesslywhile recovering from surgery as Tot-tenham's Champions League qualifica-tion hopes slipped away.It looked like Kane's season was over -until the Premier League was suspend-ed for three months.Now, at a time when the striker ex-pected to be playing for England at theEuropean Championship, he is backscoring for Tottenham.On his 200th Premier League appear-ance, Kane scored his first goal of 2020,after Tomas Soucek's own goal, to com-plete a 2-0 victory over West Ham onTuesday, moving Tottenham within apoint of the Champions League places."When you have been out for over sixmonths it's just getting that feeling backon the pitch," said Kane, who moved to137 league goals overall."You can train as much as you wantbut being out here is totally different."So very different, these days.For one, there were no fans in the stadi-um due to the coronavirus pandemic.Group celebrations are also prohibited.So there was only a solo slide across thefield, and Erik Lamela briefly going to

jump on Kane's back before withdrawing.It was Lamela who gained possessioninside his own half to launch the coun-terattack that ended with Son Heung-min releasing the ball and Kane racingthrough the porous defense before strik-ing into the net in the 82nd minute.Only Manchester City striker Sergio

Aguero has scored more goals in hisfirst 200 Premier League games, 138 -than Kane."It goes so quick," the 26-year-old Tot-tenham academy graduate said.Son was denied an opener in the firsthalf after VAR spotted he was offside.But the technology didn't deny Totten-ham in the 64th minute when Soucek in-advertently turned the ball into his ownnet from Giovani Lo Celso's corner.West Ham manager David Moyesthought the ball hit Tottenham defenderDavinson Sanchez's arm from the cor-ner in the buildup but the video assis-tant referee clearly didn't agree.A second successive loss since therestart left West Ham only out of the rel-egation zone on goal difference.But Tottenham is now only a point be-hind Manchester United in fifth place,which will be the final ChampionsLeague berth if second-place Manches-ter City's two-season ban from Europe isconfirmed by the Court of Arbitrationfor Sport next month. Nine points clearof United, third-place Leicester is stillwell placed to return to the ChampionsLeague after four years despite back-to-back draws since the return of the Pre-mier League.

Harry Kane is bang on targetStrikers season was almost over after 3-month suspension, but thanks COVID-19, he is back

AGENCIESMADRID

Soccer clubs around Europe are increasinglyturning to virtual “fan tokens” to raise moneyand enhance fan engagement.And the money can pile up fast.The latest club to enter the world ofblockchain, Spanish champion Barcelona,generated 1.2 million euros ($1.3 million) inless than two hours on Monday.The 600,000 Barcelona cryptocurrency-basedtokens, which sold for 2 euros ($2.20) each,give fans exclusive voting rights in club-

specific polls and can give them a chance towin rewards that could include watchinggames as VIP guests or meeting with players.

Blockchains are “blocks” of information ortransactions that are secure and transparent.They are stored on a network of computersaround the world without the need of acentralized party or authority to control thedata. The information can’t be altered, and theblocks are “chained” together usingcryptography to form a protected and publicdigital ledger. “Thirty years ago people thoughtthat this internet thing was just about sendingemail, but today thanks to the internet you cando a million things,” said Alexandre Dreyfus,the CEO of the Socios.com platform wherefans can buy tokens and vote on club surveys.

Teams turn to virtual ‘fan tokens’ to raise money

PRESS TRUST OF INDIAKarachi

Former Pakistan captain Mo-hammed Hafeez has testednegative for COVID-19, a dayafter the PCB found him posi-tive for the deadly virus aheadof the team's much-anticipat-ed tour of England.Hafeez and Wahab Riazwere among the 10 Pakistanplayers, who tested positivefor COVID-19 on Tuesday. Theteam is due to leave for Eng-land on Sunday for a Test andT20 series in August.On Wednesday, Hafeez tookto twitter and clarified that heand his family members havetested negative and also post-ed the medical report to backhis claim."After Tested positiveCOVID-19 acc to PCB testingReport yesterday,as 2nd opin-ion & for satisfaction I person-

ally went to Test it again alongwith my family and here Ialong with my all familymembers are reported Nege-tive (sic) Alham du Lillah.May Allah keep us all safe,"Hafeez tweeted.Fakhar Zaman, Im-ran Khan, KashifBhatti, MohammadHasnain, Moham-mad Rizwan,Shadab Khan,Haider Ali andHaris Rauf are theother eight playerswho tested positive asper PCB Chief ExecutiveWasim Khan.PCB had earlier said all whohave tested positive did not re-port any symptoms prior totesting."The PCB medical panel isalready in contact with theseplayers and the masseur, whohave been instructed to ob-

serve strict quarantine attheir homes for their andtheir families' wellbeing," thePCB said in a statement onTuesday.Khan had said that playerstesting positive for thevirus is a warning forthe general public.He also revealedthat a support staffmember, masseurMalang Ali, hadalso tested positivefor COVID-19.Khan said that the

players and officialswould now assemble in

Lahore and another round oftests would be carried out onThursday and a revised squadwould be announced the nextday."It is a matter of concern butwe shouldn't panic at thistime as we have time on ourhands," Khan said.

The players and officialswould be retested on reachingEngland.Despite the developmentsover two days, Khan said thetour is on track."The tour to England is verymuch on track and the sidewill depart as per schedule on28 June."Fortunately, all the first-choice red-ball squad, barringMohammad Rizwan, are neg-ative, which means they canstart training and practisingimmediately after they havebeen tested and given the allclear when they arrive in Eng-land."Reacting to Monday night'sdevelopment of three Pak-istan players testing positive,ECB's director of cricket Ash-ley Giles had expressed con-cerns but there was no threatto the tour as it was farenough away.

Pakistan's Hafeez tests negative

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICENew Delhi

With the Pakistan CricketBoard (PCB) Chief ExecutiveWasim Khan saying that theAsia Cup will be held eitherin September or October, theBoard of Control for Cricketin India (BCCI) has made itclear that the window whichsuits the PCB doesnt suit the

Indian board.It is given to understand,that the PCB could also lookat postponing the PakistanSuper League (PSL) next sea-son and host the multi-nationevent in that window. TheBCCI can then look at adjust-ing the calendar accordinglyand playing in the Asia Cup."Asia Cup will be a strugglethis year. Going by the state-

ment of the Chief Executiveof the PCB, the window thatsuits them doesn't suit India.Maybe, they can postponePSL next year if BCCI is ableto open up a window duringthat period. Otherwise con-ducting the Asia Cup doesn'tseem too practical as theseare challenging times," thefunctionary said.The Pakistan Super Leagueis generally played aroundthe February-March windowand even this year the tour-nament was in the knockoutstages when it had to becalled off due to the coron-avirus pandemic. The PCB isin fact looking at the Novem-ber window to complete theknockout games that remain.Speaking to the media onthe Asia Cup, Wasim said,"The Asia Cup will go ahead.The Pakistan team returnsfrom England on 2nd Sep-tember so we can have thetournament in September orOctober. There are somethings which will only getclear in the due course oftime. We are hopeful of hav-ing the Asia Cup because SriLanka or UAE.”

What is relevant forPCB is irrelevantfor Indian Board

PRESS TRUST OF INDIALondon

ECB's director of cricketAshley Giles has warnedthe English squad that re-turn to group training at theAgeas Bowl's bio-secure bub-ble will be no 'holiday camp'with stringent social dis-tancing norms in place amidthe COVID-19 pandemic.

Ahead of their three-Testseries against West Indies,starting July 8, a 30-membergroup has assembled at theSouthampton, where theywill live and train in a bio-se-cure environment."Inside, social distancing,wearing of masks, and prob-ably spending a lot of timeon your own isn't a lot of funand it is a bit of a cultureshock. It will be weird - any-one who thinks this is goingto be a holiday camp is goingto be seriously mistaken,"

Giles was quoted as sayingby 'Sky Sports'."There could be opportuni-ties for guys to play golf onthe course next door butapart from that, there aretwo sessions of cricket a day,so there is going to be a lot ofwork," he added.Giles emphasised on theneed to maintain safety pro-tocols."It is about removing asmuch risk as you can and itis down to all of us to policeit. We have been in constantdialogue with the playersand they are all very awareof the seriousness of the sit-uation," he said."People are going to makemistakes, we all are, but forthe sake of everyone's safetyand the cricket, we need to op-erate within these protocolsas much as we can," he added.The former England spin-ner said the board hopes toallow players to leave and re-enter the team "bubble" dur-ing the series, includingskipper Joe Root, who is ex-pecting the arrival of his sec-ond child in July and couldmiss a match or two to bewith his wife Carrie."We haven't talked aboutbanning players (from pubsand restaurants),” saidGiles.

Ashley Gilessounds warning

on training