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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Sunday stressed

the need for open and democ-ratic societies to work togeth-er to defend the values theyhold dear and to respond to theincreasing global challenges.This message during the three-day G-7 summit endingSunday was in apparent refer-ence to the growing economicmight of China and its humanrights record, which emergedas a topic of concern for the G-7.

India is a natural ally forthe G-7 countries in defendingthe shared values from a host ofthreats stemming from author-itarianism, terrorism and vio-lent extremism, disinforma-

tion and economic coercion,Modi said. He, however, didnot name China during hisspeech.

Participating in the high-profile event virtually at a sessionon 'Open societies and openeconomies' at the G7 summit,the Prime Minister highlightedIndia's civilisational commit-ment to democracy, freedom ofthought and liberty, the Ministryof External Affairs said here afterModi’s address. The PrimeMinister underscored the vul-

nerabilities inherent in opensocieties and called on tech-nology companies and socialmedia platforms to ensure a safecyber environment for theirusers, Additional Secretary(Economic Relations), ExternalAffairs Ministry, P Harish said.

Asked if the Prime Ministerraised the issue of Chineseaggression during the summit,the official said it was notraised and there are other forawhere such issues are dis-cussed.

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In a serious allegationthat raised the polit-

ical temperature inUttar Pradesh, AAPand Samajwadi Partyleaders, in differentpress conferences, lev-eled a sensational charge of financial irregular-ities in land purchase by the Ram JanmabhoomiTrust, which was set up by the Centre for theconstruction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya.

AAP MP Sanjay Singh held a press confer-ence in Lucknow while former SP MLA and for-mer Minister Pawan Pandey addressed reportersin Ayodhya. Ramjanmabhumi Tirth KshetraTrust general secretary Champat Rai said thatthey will study the charges of land purchaseanomalies and will then reply to the allegations,

In a brief statement here on Sunday Rai said:"People had charged us with the killing ofMahatma Gandhi hence we are not afraid ofsuch allegations.

We will reply at the appropriate time afterexamining the entire matter."

Singh said a multi-crore scam was com-mitted by the trust and its associates throughembezzlement of funds with the cost of the landincreasing by �5.5 lakh per second in a gap offive minutes between two different purchasedeeds for the land.

He demanded PM Narendra Modi to set upa high-level inquiry into the alleged land scamby the Ramjanambhoomi Tirth Kshetra Trustmembers for purchasing land in Ayodhya.

Presenting documents, Singh said the scamamounted to �16.50 crore and the illegal actcame as a big onslaught on the faith of the mil-lions of Ram bhakts who had given donation forthe construction of the grand Ram temple atAyodhya.

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When will ma come,”enquires seven-

year-old Montu (namechanged), as he sits in the lapof his dadi (paternal grand-mother). She keeps quiet, butwhen Montu persists with hisquery she replies, almost in awhisper, that his mother willcome soon.

The elderly lady faces sim-ilar queries from Montu almostthe whole day. He along withhis elder brother Rajesh (namechanged) lost their parentswithin a span of five days inMay. Though 13-year-oldRajesh understands what hadhappened, the little boy, Montu,

still yearns for his mother.“From where do I bring his

mother back”, asks JanvedSingh, a resident of a village inAgra and the grandfather of thetwo boys. “How long can weplacate him by telling him thathis mother has gone to schooland will come back soon,” hesays in a voice choked withemotion.

Singh, 71, is a securityguard in a private company inNew Delhi. His 41-year-old sonwas employed in a private con-struction company and his

daughter-in-law was aShiksha Mitra. His lifewas getting along despitehis wife being a cancerpatient and the youngerson, 38, being mentally

challenged.Once in a week he used to

go to his village, Gudi Rampurijust to spend time with hisgrandsons. “Now, the thoughtof going to the village sendsshivers down my spine. I feelscared. What will I tell Montuwhen he asks me about hismother,” Singh tells thisreporter on the phone fromDelhi.

Singh’s life changed sud-denly in May. His daughter-in-law, 37, was deployed on dutyfor the Panchayat election.

Soon she developed fever andcough but the family initiallytreated it as a viral fever.

“On May 12 her conditiondeteriorated and she was takento a private hospital. The doc-tors asked for exorbitant fees.Still we continued with thetreatment in that hospital.

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There is good news for shop-pers and diners in the

national Capital. Delhi's shopswill open all days and restau-rants will operate with 50 percent seating capacity fromMonday. Announcing the thirdphase of the unlocking process,Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwalsaid, "Last week, we hadallowed shops in markets tooperate on an odd-even basis,whereas standalone shopscould operate all day.

From this Monday, allshops will be allowed to oper-ate all day. However, they haveto operate between 10 and 8

pm.""Likewise, weekly markets

will be allowed to operate butwith restriction," he added.This means that only one mar-ket in one municipal zone in aday. Delhi has 12 municipalzones.

Importantly, amid thepotential threat of third wave ofCovid 19, the DelhiGovernment and other lawenforcement agencies will beresponsible for strict regulationof Covid appropriate behav-iour.

The Delhi DisasterManagement Authority(DDMA) later issued an orderto this effect.

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The Congress high com-mand is expected to soon

take a final call on the prevail-ing crisis in its Punjab partyunit.

Before that, the high com-mand may again hold talkswith Chief Minister CaptAmarinder Singh to settledown on an "all-acceptable"resolution.

Days after the party's three-member panel, set up to resolvethe prevailing crisis, submittedits report to the party's inter-im president Sonia Gandhi,former party chief RahulGandhi on Sunday met thecommittee members — theLeader of Opposition in RajyaSabha.

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West Bengal's Governor JagdeepDhankhar, who has been in the

news for his frequent run-ins with ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee, has sixOfficers on Special Duty (OSD) whileRajasthan Governor Kalraj Mishra hasonly one OSD.

According to the websites of the dif-ferent State Governments, there are fourOSD to Bihar Governor and two OSDsto the Uttar Pradesh (UP) Governor.Similarly, Chhattisgarh and OdishaGovernors have two OSDs each.

The OSD is an officer in the Indiancivil service of the status between a sec-retary and an under-secretary in theGovernment of India. Recently, a con-troversy arose after the All IndiaTrinamool Congress (TMC) MP fromKrishnanagar Mahua Moitra shareddetails of six OSDs (Officer on SpecialDuty) to Governor Dhankhar andclaimed that all of them are somehowrelated to him, or from his known cir-cle.

The Governor Office and the BJPhave rubbished the charge.

As per the Bihar Government'swebsite, Governor Phagu Chauhan hasfour OSDs-Vinod Kumar Tiwari,OSD(J), Sanjay Kumar, OSD(Estb.),Mahabir Prasad Sharma, OSD(U) VinayThakur, OSD. The Governor also hastwo ADCs- Major Dhiraj Bisht ADC(M) and Rakesh Kumar Dubey IPSADC (P).

As per the Madhya Pradesh Raj

Bhawan, there is no OSD to GovernorAnandiben Patel. There is only one postof OSD to Governor in Haryana whichis lying vacant.

As per the Maharashtra Raj Bhawanwebsite, Governor Bhagat Singh hasonly one OSD Rakesh Naithani. But theShiv Sena has claimed that there are ahalf of dozen OSDs appointed by theGovernor.

When Devendra Fadnavis wasChief Minister of Maharashtra, he hadappointed eight external aides - as offi-cers on special duty (OSDs) in the ChiefMinister's Office (CMO).

As per the norms, there are twoAides-de-Camp to the Governor, onefrom Armed Forces and other fromIndian Police Force.

Kerala Governo Arif Mohd Khan hastwo OSDs while Odisha GovernorGaneshi Lal has also two OSDs. The web-site of Chhattisgarh Raj Bhawan alsoshows two OSDs deputed with theGovernor Anusuiya Uikey. Jharkhandgovernor has two OSD rank officers.

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The leader ofOpposition in

Uttarakhand Assemblyand Haldwani MLAIndira Hridayesh died ofcardiac arrest at the UttarakhandSadan in Delhi on Sunday. The80-year-old veteran leader wasin Delhi to attend a party meet-ing. As news of her demisespread, condolences beganpouring in from various quar-ters. Prime Minister NarendraModi tweeted, “Dr. IndiraHridayesh Ji was at the forefrontof several community serviceefforts. She made a mark as aneffective legislator and also hadrich administrative experience.Saddened by her demise.

Condolences to herfamily and sup-porters. OmShanti.”

E x p r e s s i n ggrief, chief ministerTirath Singh Rawat

said that she had played a majorrole in Uttarakhand politics forthe past four decades. Referringto her as an able administratorand senior politician with pro-found knowledge of parliamen-tary procedure, Rawat recalledhaving received the affection ofan elder sister from her. She wasalways at the forefront of raisingpublic interest issues in theVidhan Sabha, he added.According to sources, Hridayeshwill be cremated at her home-town in Haldwani on Monday.

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The story of the wonders oflight is unending. On earth,

this story of light begins withphotosynthesis, a phenome-non transforming light into life,and spells out as a fascinatingdiversity of life everywhereand at all levels: on land, insoils, in waters, and at ecosys-tem, species and genetic levels.Evolution of human species isyet another wonder of light –wonder of all wonders! Humanrace is one, but tremendousdiversity exists within the racespread over diverse geograph-ical regions. Humans do notexist just as another distinctspecies, but in spectacularlydiverse cultures. Human race,like nature’s biodiversity, pre-vails in colourful cultures. And,as such, an extraordinary diver-sity among human culturesblossoms on earth. This cul-tural diversity itself is a mani-

festation of nature’s biodiversi-ty. As biodiversity changes itspatterns, its colours, itsrhythms, and its ecstaticimpacts from place to place, sodo human cultures.Biodiversity changes in tunewith the climates of the earth,and so do our cultures.Ecosystem distinctiveness givesrise to cultural distinctiveness.

One of the aspects ofhuman life is language. Thereis no single language of thehumanity. This is one of thedistinctive aspects of humani-ty that, unlike all individuals ofa species amongst animals,humans do not have a monot-onous sound of communica-tion. What evolution has out-standingly conferred uponhumankind is language. It is thelanguage human beings areadorned with that distinguish-es our species from those of allother species on earth.Languages are as diverse as bio-diversity. Ecosystem diversityand linguistic diversity areclosely related.

Biodiversity is a product ofclimatic diversity. But biodi-versity also maintains climaticdiversity. Biodiversity is specificto specific climate. Humanlanguage is also a phenomenonlinked with the specificity ofbiodiversity and climate.Biodiversity is an attribute oflight.

Therefore, languages arealso an attribute of light.Linguistic diversity, in fact, isalso one of the great wondersof light.

All animal species createdifferent sorts of sounds; andonly a species in a populationcan communicate only withother individuals of the samespecies. That is, communica-tion is species-specific. This isone kind of diversity (‘lan-guage’ distinctiveness among allspecies of a population) thatlight has created.

Among human cultures,this diversity is still more fas-cinating. Human languagechanges from one area to theother. In India there is a sayingthat a language changes atevery eight miles’ distance.The greater the degree of het-erogeneity of a region, thegreater the number of spokenlanguages, dialects and accents.The higher the inaccessibility ofa region (that often results inincreased heterogeneity) thegreater the linguistic diversity.In the Hindu Kush-Himalayanregion across Afghanistan,Pakistan, India, China, Nepal,Bhutan, Bangladesh andMyanmar, for example, thereare as many as 30,000 lan-guages spoken by inhabitants ofdiverse cultures nurturingthemselves in diverse environ-ments. In the world, as such,

there are millions of languages,and local accents, which is amiracle of the diversity creat-ed by light in human race.

Another variation light hascreated is at the level of everyindividual human being. Eachindividual human belonging tothe same language group maybe identified by his or hers owndistinctive tone. Every humanperson presents himself or her-self with a characteristic voicewhich hardly coincides withany other human person speak-ing the same language. In thisway there are billions of diversetones that light has created.And yet there are some voiceswhich are so melodious thatthey unswervingly make ashort cut to one’s soul.

Many a singers in all lan-guages have got winsome voic-es and rule over the hearts ofmasses. This is a very specialattribute of light. Thus, everysong is an action of light enact-ed by a singer. A melody is aform of light, a tragedy is aform of light. A rhyme is a formof light. A love song is a formof light. A romantic song is aform of light. A chorus is aform of light. A lullaby is aform of light.

(The author is a former pro-fessor of Environmental Sciencein GB Pant University ofAgriculture and Technology)

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After the UttarakhandGovernment provided

some relaxation to the localbusinessmen to operate theirshops from 8 AM to 5 PM onthree days of the current phaseof the Covid curfew, somebusiness associations have pro-posed that the chief minister

allow the operation of shopsfive days a week. According tothem, the numbers of Covid-19positive cases have significant-ly declined and the business-men should now be allowed tooperate their shops.

However, locals and shop-keepers have different views onthis matter. According toAnshu Saini, a Rudrapur resi-

dent, shops or any businessesmust not be allowed to operatefor long hours because the sit-uation is still quite vulnerableacross the State. "People tend tovisit marketplaces whether theyneed something or not. Also, ifthe shops do not open full timesoon, the marketplaces wouldbe crowded even during thecurfew just because people

want to get out of their hous-es in curfew period," said Saini.Ashish Kumar, a school teacherfrom Dehradun said that shopsmust be allowed to open butonly for few hours and thehours must be increased grad-ually as per the local situationof the cities. "Less positivecases of Covid do not indicatethat the pandemic is going toend soon and the governmentshould not allow all the busi-nesses to operate at once.Ignorance and carelessness arethe reasons due to which thesecond wave of Covid hit us sohard. Local authorities need tobecome more serious about theimplementation of Covidnorms in their areas even whenthere are negligible cases ofcovid," stated Kumar.

A Rishikesh resident,Monika Sharma also opinedthat markets can be allowed tooperate with proper guidelinesas a closed market affects thelivelihood of several peoplewho work there. PrakashGusain, a salesman in a cloth-ing store in Paltan Bazaar ofDehradun said that he wantsshops to operate full time as hehas not received full salarysince the Covid curfew wasannounced in the district. Hestated that since his wife alsolost her job during lockdownlast year in a private school, ithas been hard for him to feedhis family and spend money onhis children's school admissionand books. "I know Covidscare is still there but peopleneed their jobs to survive in thecity. I think the governmentmust take serious action againstthose who violate Covid guide-lines but the shops must not beclosed for much longer now,"said Gusain. Talking about thedemand of opening of shopsfive times a week, Sunil Massonfrom Doon Udyog VyaparMandal (DUVM) said thatthey have lost about 200 busi-nessmen during the pandem-ic and they understand theseverity of Covid-19 disease.However, he said that since theCovid cases have declined dras-tically in the state, the StateGovernment must allow theoperation of shops five days aweek from this week regardingwhich DUVM recently metCM Tirath Singh Rawat. "Wewould cooperate with theauthorities completely torestrict the contagion in mar-ketplaces but the opening ofmarkets is important for hun-dreds of businessmen andemployees amid this pandem-ic," stated Masson.

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Coming together after a gapof over 25 years, the

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)wanted to convert its failure intoBahujan Samaj Party’s (BSP)success. As BSP is makingmerry by securing 20 seats tocontest in alliance with SAD inthe ensuing Punjab polls, littledoes it know that Akali candi-dates have been facing defeat onmajority of these seats since past15 years.

Notably, the SAD has

agreed to give 20 seats to its newalliance partner, BSP, to contestin the 2022 polls, of which 12belonged to the general cate-gory. Also, out of the total 20seats in BSP’s kitty, 11 were ear-lier contested by the BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP), in alliancewith SAD. In all, BJP used tocontest 23 seats in coalition withAkali Dal.

BSP has got in its shareKartarpur, Jalandhar West,Jalandhar North, Phagwara,Nawanshahr, Hoshiarpur city,Tanda Urmur, Dasuya,

Chamkaur Sahib, BassiPathana, Mehal Kalan,Ludhiana North, Sujanpur,Bhoa, Pathankot, AnandpurSahib, Mohali, Amritsar North,Amritsar Central and Payalassembly constituencies.

Among these, eight seg-ments are in Doaba regionwhere the party has its strongestpresence considering the factthat more than 30 percent ofstate’s total SC voters are fromthis region. Besides, five seg-ments from Majha and sevenfrom Malwa also went to BSP’s

kitty. SAD, in a strategicmove to take advantage ofthe BSP’s considerablesupport base in these seatsin Malwa and Doabaregions, would try to makean effort to win theseseats where it has beenstruggling since past 15-20years.

In fact, despite BSP’sinsistence, the Akali Dalhas tactically kept alongwith it the three reservedseats where it has three sit-ting MLAs in Doabaregion — Adampur,Phillaur, and Nakodar —considered to be BSP’sstrongholds.

A look at the figuresavailable, SAD has beenfacing defeat since pastthree state assembly elec-tions (in 2007, 2012, and2017) from six seats —including Mohali,Kapurthala, Tanda Urmur,Nawanshahr, MehalKalan, and ChamkaurSahib — it has given to theBSP. Also, on three otherseats — Kartarpur, BassiPathana and Payal — theparty has managed to winjust one in 2012 when theSAD-BJP governmentformed the governmentfor the second consecutive

term.In fact, looking at the cur-

rent composition, of the total20, 18 seats are represented bythe ruling Congress party, whileone (Mehal Kalan) was repre-sented by the principal oppo-sition Aam Aadmi Party.Remaining one seat of Sujanpurassembly segment was repre-sented by BJP’s Dinesh SinghBabbu.

BSP has always centered itspolitics around the dalit issues,while other sections used to stayaway from it. Considering theneed to change the politicalstrategy with changing sce-nario, party supremo Mayawati,in 2004, appointed a Brahminadvocate Satish Mishra asparty’s national general secre-tary. Notably, Mishra has playeda significant role in forging analliance with the Akali Dal, andit was he who had come toannounce the same onSaturday.

BSP’s best performance inthe state was in 1992, when itsrecord nine leaders were elect-ed as MLAs with the partyfetching highest ever 16.32 voteshare. However, at that time, theSAD boycotted the polls. Laterin 1997, BSP got one seat,Garshankar, with total 7.29percent vote share. Its voteshare had further come downto 1.5 percent which is the low-est secured by the party in thestate. In 1989, BSP had analliance with Simranjit SinghMann led Akali Dal and theparty got its first MP fromPunjab in Harbhajan Lakhafrom Phillaur constituency.Later, in 1996, the party's threeMPs were elected.

There is no denying the factthat with maximum dalit votesconcentrated in the state’sDoaba region, any party canmake it to the supreme positionin the state. It is to be seen how

the SAD would take benefit ofthe BSP’s support base while itsown voter base was dwindlingunder the shadow of sacrilegecases and farm laws.

SAD ALSO IN TALKSWITH LEFT PARTIES

Even as it has forged analliance with the BSP and alsoarrived at a set seat sharing pat-tern, the Akali Dal is also hold-ing talks with the left parties —Communist Party of India(CPI) and CPI (Marxist).

Already made clear that itwas not averse to join handswith any like-minded party,the Akali Dal is trying to builda coalition to take advantage ofany little support enjoyed byany political outfit by consoli-dating all votes in its favour.

Notably, the left partiesenjoy considerable support inthe Malwa region. “The votespolled by the supporters ofthese political outfits usuallycounted as waste as it comes notin favour of the major politicalparties that form the govern-ment, so by merging all thesevotes together, a big differencecould be made,” a senior Akalileader told The Pioneer.

On the other hand, the CPIleader also maintained that itwas holding talks with the SADand other parties are alsoapproaching it, but nothinghas been finalized yet.

SAD-BSP ALLIANCEOPPORTUNIST AND AMARRIAGE OF CONVE-NIENCE: RANDHAWA

Punjab Cabinet Ministerand senior Congress leaderSukhjinder Singh Randhawaon Sunday termed the SAD-BSP alliance as a rank oppor-tunistic one which is more of amarriage of convenience basedon vote bank politics sans anyideological foundations.

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Haryana Chief MinisterManohar Lal Khattar on

Sunday directed the officersconcerned to prepare a cen-tralized water monitoring sys-tem over the next two years forthe smooth availability ofground water, river water andtreated water to the farmers inthe state. The Chief Ministerasked the officers to soon for-mulate a plan in this regard inwhich districts, blocks and vil-lages should be included.

Presiding over the first meet-ing of Haryana Water ResourcesAuthority, Khattar said that toraise the depleting ground waterlevel in the state, there is a needfor a customized plan for waterrecharge and utilization so thatpeople can get adequate supplyfor agriculture and domesticuse.

The plan should be extend-ed to the village level with theparticipation of people and pub-lic representatives so that futuregenerations do not have to facethe problem of shortage of water,he said. He directed the officersto formulate plans on the basisof different areas of the state andprepare water availability indexof each village, so that people canget information regarding avail-ability of water in future. TheChief Minister said that theground water level has gonedown to 80 feet in some districtsincluding Kurukshetra, Karnal,Kaithal and Panipat in the lastfive decades, which is a seriousproblem. While the level ofground water is going down, thedependence and exploitation ofthe farmers on the ground waterhas increased continuously. Thescientific methods have to beadopted for rational use of water

and supply of water to the areaswith water scarcity, he said.Khattar said that the previousgovernments did not pay anyattention to increase the avail-ability of water for agriculturaluse and as a result, the depen-dence of the people on groundwater increased. This has badlyaffected the financial conditionof the farmers and the agricul-tural economy due to the expen-diture on installation of tubewells etc. Therefore, farmersshould give priority to micro-irrigation in the areas where thegroundwater has gone down. Forexample, the condition ofShahabad and Ismailabad inKurukshetra district is worse, headded. He further said that thePublic Health and EngineeringDepartment should do the workof laying proper pipelines andtake proper care to provide puri-fied water to the industries.

During the meeting, chair-person, Haryana WaterResources Authority, KeshniAnand Arora gave detailed infor-mation in this regard.

She said that a customizedwater plan will be prepared forthe availability of water as per therequirement of all in the state. Inthis, the classification of groundwater level in different parts, onthe basis of areas will be studied.The Authority will make peopleaware by following the waterrelated plan of the CentralGovernment and the StateGovernment, she added.

Additional Chief Secretary,Irrigation and Water ResourcesDepartment, Devender Singhsaid that the problem arising outof ground water exploitation hastaken a formidable form in 14 outof 22 districts of Haryana, besideswater logging and water salini-ty in seven districts.

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In a clear indication that thecurve of the second wave of

Covid-19 has effectively flat-tened in Uttarakhand the statehealth department reportedthat the recovery rate from thedisease has climbed to 95 percent and the number of activecases in the state have comebelow 5,000 figure mark onSunday.

The authorities reportedonly 263 new cases and sevendeaths from the disease on theday. The cumulative count ofpatients in the state has nowincreased to 3,36,879. The statehealth department also report-ed recovery of 629 patients onthe day. A total of 3,19,559patients have so far recoveredfrom the disease. The recoverypercentage is now at 94.86 percent while the sample positiv-ity rate is 6.56 per cent. The

department took samples of14,292 patients on the day forCovid -19 testing.

Out of the seven deathsreported on the day, twopatients each died at All IndiaInstitute of Medical Sciences(AIIMS) Rishikesh and SushilaTiwari Government HospitalHaldwani.

The provisional state cap-ital Dehradun reported 67,Haridwar 55, Nainital 23,Uttarkashi 22, Tehri 20, UdhamSingh Nagar 15, Almora 12,Chamoli and Champawat 11each Pauri nine, Bageshwareight and Pithoragarh andRudraprayag five each newcases of the disease on Sunday.

The state now has 4,633active patients of the disease.Pauri district is at top of thetable in the list of active caseswith 831 cases whilePithoragarh is in second posi-tion with 684 active cases.

Haridwar has 539, Almora 464,Tehri 432, Bageshwar 274,Champawat 262, Nainital 261,Chamoli 232, Dehradun 231,Rudraprayag 203, Uttarkashi114 and Udham Singh Nagar106 active cases of the disease.

The state reported 10 newcases of Mucormycosis (Blackfungus) on Sunday after whichit now has 390 patients of thedisease.

Death of six patients fromBlack Fungus was also report-ed on the day. A total of 66patients have so far died fromthis disease while 39 haverecovered.

In the ongoing vaccinationdrive, 29,450 people were vac-cinated in 298 sessions in dif-ferent parts of the state onSunday. A total of 6,94,536 peo-ple have been fully vaccinatedwhile 26,16,120 have receivedthe first dose of the vaccine inthe state.

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The Municipal Corporationof Dehradun (MCD) is all

set to use drones in its anti-dengue campaign to prevent thebreeding of mosquitoes, espe-cially dengue causing mosqui-toes. As per the officials, the cor-poration is regularly fumigatingall the wards besides sprayinglarvicide at various locations forthe past few months to min-imise the potential risk ofdengue disease in Dehradun.According to the municipalcommissioner, Vinay ShankarPandey, the corporation is tak-

ing all possible measures torestrict the potential risk ofdengue in the city while spread-ing awareness among localsabout the same.

He informed that though allpossible measures are beingtaken by the MCD, there aresome areas in the city that arefavourable for mosquito breed-ing like the slums near theRispana and Bindal rivers. "Ithas been observed that in theseslums, people keep things likeold tyres, buckets and otheritems filled with water in openwhich are ideal for mosquitobreeding. In view of this, the

corporation has decided to usedrones to spray larvicide todestroy the larvae of mosquitoesin such areas," stated Pandey.

He further said that the cor-poration recently did its firsttrial near Bindal river which wassuccessful. As per Pandey, thecorporation would now usedrones to spray larvicide torestrict mosquito breeding insuch slum areas. He alsoappealed to locals to take allpossible measures to prevent thebreeding of mosquitoes in theirhomes and neighbourhood inorder to have a dengue-freeyear like the last year.

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Known as the Iron Lady ofUttarakhand, the late

Indira Hridayesh was a powercentre of politics since the cre-ation of Uttarakhand. She wasone of the most experiencedpoliticians in the state, activesince the times of undividedUttar Pradesh.

Born on April 7, 1941,Hridayesh had played animportant role in the politics ofthe state. She had made con-siderable contribution towardsdevelopment of Haldwani- thegateway to the Kumaon region.Elected as an MLC four timesand an MLA four times, shewas politically active for aboutfour decades and known to bea repository of knowledge onparliamentary procedures. Shewas first elected member of leg-islative council from 1974 to

1980 in undivided UttarPradesh. This was followed bysubsequent elections as anMLC from 1986 to 1992, 1992to 1998 and 1998 to 2000.After creation of Uttarakhandstate in 2000 she was a cabinetminister in the state govern-ment under chief minister NDTiwari and had played a crucialrole in running of the govern-ment. She again became a cab-inet minister in the Congressgovernment from 2021 to 2017after being elected to theVidhan Sabha again fromHaldwani.

She handled variousimportant portfolios includingfinance and parliamentaryaffairs. Elected yet again fromHaldwani in 2017, she waschosen as the leader of oppo-sition in the Assembly.Appreciated by politicians of allpolitical parties for her experi-

ence and knowledge, she wasapproached even by her rivalpoliticians for advice at times.In addition to her work for thestate, she was known for herefforts to improve the conditionof Haldwani where she hadintroduced LED street lights

and facilitated the laying of anetwork of roads. She had alsomade consistent efforts towardsmaking an international sportsstadium, inter state bus termi-nus and a zoo in Haldwanithough these could not beachieved during her lifetime.

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Many leaders of Congressparty have expressed their

condolences on the death ofIndira Hridayesh. In her mes-sage, the Congress PresidentSonia Gandhi has expressedher deepest condolences on thesudden demise of IndiraHridayesh. She said thatHridayesh served the Congressparty till her last breath andleaves behind a legacy of pub-lic service as an MLA, MLC,Minister, Leader of Oppositionin Uttarakhand, and above allas a dedicated lifelongCongressperson.

“She was particularly pop-ular amongst her colleagues forher knowledge of legislativeprocesses and procedure aswell as her performance as anable administrator. Her con-tribution to the Congress partywill be treasured and cherishedby all,’’ she said.

Former Chief Minister andGeneral Secretary of All IndiaCongress Committee, HarishRawat said that Hridayeshwould be remembered for herknowledge of parliamentaryproceedings. “Her death is agreat loss for all of us. She wasa great leader, voice of peopleand teachers and a dedicatedsocial worker,’’ he said.

In his message, the PradeshCongress Committee (PCC)president Pritam Singh saidthat the death of Hridayesh isa personal loss for him. Singhsaid that she was always com-mitted to raising the issue ofpublic interest and was respect-ed equally by the leaders ingovernment and opposition. “She played a great role in thedevelopment of the state. Herdeath is an irreparable loss. Ipray for peace for the depart-ed soul and wish that God givesstrength to the family membersin this hour of grief,’’ he said.

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Chief minister Tirath SinghRawat inaugurated the

pneumococcal conjugate vac-cine (PCV) programme hereon Sunday. He said that thisfree vaccination programmehas been started in the entirestate. The government of Indiais conducting PCV as a cam-paign and this vaccination cam-paign will also be conducted inthe villages, he said.

The vaccine is being admin-istered to children to protectthem from pneumococcalpneumonia and brain infection.A total of three shots are beingadministered to the children aspart of the vaccination. The firstshot is administered when thechild is six weeks old, second at14 weeks and the booster doseat nine months. The ailmentafflicts children aged below fiveyears especially those agedunder two years. Dehradunmayor Sunil Uniyal, MLAsKhajan Das, Pranav Singh‘Champion’ and health directorgeneral Dr Tripti Bahugunawere also present on the occa-sion. Later, the chief ministervisited the under constructionbuilding of the governmentDoon medical college. Heexpressed dissatisfaction at theslow pace of construction anddirected officials of the execut-ing agency to complete theconstruction by the month ofSeptember. There should be nocompromise with the quality ofconstruction, he stressed.

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One day after strong windscaused some damage in

Dehradun, the state meteoro-logical centre has forecast thatlight to moderate rain/thun-derstorm are very likely tooccur at many places inUttarakhand on Monday. Themeteorological centre has also

issued a warning about thepossibility of heavy rainfall atisolated places in Pithoragarhand Bageshwar districts.Thunderstorm accompaniedwith lightning and intenseshowers is also likely to occur atisolated places in the state.Apart from this, gusty winds(30-40 kmph) are likely to occurat isolated places in the plains of

the state. For Dehradun, themeteorological centre has fore-cast partly cloudy sky with oneto two spells of rain/thunder-shower accompanied with gustywind likely to occur in someareas. The maximum and min-imum temperatures likely to bearound 33 degrees Celsius and23 degrees Celsius respectively.Meanwhile, the maximum and

minimum temperatures record-ed at various places on Sundaywere 33.4 degrees Celsius and22.2 degrees Celsius respec-tively in Dehradun, 34.4 degreesCelsius and 24.8 degrees Celsiusin Pantnagar, 20.8 degreesCelsius and 13.8 degrees Celsiusin Mukteshwar and 25 degreesCelsius and 14 degrees Celsiusrespectively in New Tehri.

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At a time when instances ofwastage of vaccine in

Rajasthan hog limelight andwhen ‘vaccine hesitancy’ isbeing reported from differentplaces in the country, the non-descript Khatauti village inBansur development block ofAlwar village has stood out.Each one of the 723 villagersabove the age of 18 years haseither received the first dose orboth. And it has been madepossible by a 48-year-oldwoman, Chand Bai, whosepersistent efforts ensured thatthe villagers shed their initialinhibitions and apprehensionsto get inoculated.

Chand Bai is a nominatedCommon Service Centre(CSC) Village LevelEntrepreneur at the remotevillage of Rajasthan.

A few weeks ago when theCentral Government roped inthe CSCs, a Special PurposeVehicle under the Ministry ofElectronics and IT, for regis-trations for vaccines in ruralareas, Chand Bai, who was justa semi-literate housewife till ayear ago before opening herCSC, started contacting people

of her village for registrations.But seeing the resistance from

residents of her villagersbecause of various myths sur-

rounding the vaccines, shedecided to dedicate her fulltime to the vaccination drive.

“As part of the CSC aware-ness drive for the vaccination,

I launched a door-to-doorcampaign in my village. I hada tough time to convince peo-ple, particularly the senior cit-izens, about the urgent need for

getting the vaccine. After ini-tial resistance, people startedgetting registrations donethrough my CSC. But anotherchallenge was to make them

visit a vaccination centre whichwas a few kilometres awayfrom my village,” she said.

With the help of local CSCofficials, she then contacted herblock’s health authorities whoagreed to send their specialmedical vans for carrying outthe vaccination drive in her vil-lage. “In the first phase, I got allthe 210 residents – 86 in the 45-60 age group and 124 in theabove 60 years segment – reg-istered for the vaccination.Soon, all of them got their firstjab. And out of these, 74 havegot their second dose also,” shepointed out.

When the second phase ofvaccination for the 18-45 agegroup commenced, Chand Baiimmediately started getting theremaining villagers registered.Last week the vaccination of513 residents between 18-45years of age also got complet-ed. “I am very happy to havegot all my residents’ receivetheir first dose of vaccine. Ihave a record of all my resi-dents who have got vaccinatedand I am keeping a tab onwhen to give them the seconddose too. It gives me great sat-isfaction to see that I have beenable to give protection fromCovid-19 to the people with

whom I live and share mysocial bonding,” she added.

Chand Bai’s efforts are notjust confined to her village. Sheis also getting registrations forvaccination done in her neigh-bouring villages of Dheerpurand Harnath ki Dhani in herdevelopment block.“Vaccination drives in myneighbouring villages are alsogoing on smoothly and withinthe next few days all its around1000 residents will get their firstdose of vaccine,” she said witha sense of happiness.

Stating that VLEs likeChand Bai were an inspirationfor lakhs of her counterpartsacross the country, CSCManaging Director Dr DineshTyagi said: “VLEs like ChandBai, who is a true social work-er, will make India’s vaccinationdrive a big success. Our 3.7 lakhVLEs who run CSCs in all thestates are carrying out the reg-istration process and organiz-ing massive awareness drives.So far, we have registered over14.5 lakh residents for vacci-nation drives. We have alreadystepped up our drive and with-in a few weeks we hope to reg-ister crores of residents, par-ticularly in rural areas, acrossIndia.”

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Veteran Congress leader andLeader of Opposition in

Uttarakhand Assembly IndiraHridayesh passed away in thenational Capital on Sunday.She breathed her last atUttarakhand Sadan after suf-fering a heart attack. The 80-year-old prominent leader ofCongress was in Delhi formeetings to review the party’spreparation for the next year’sassembly elections inUttarakhand.

Hridayesh, who was anMLA from Haldwani in theNainital district, was always acontender of the party’s CMface in the state.

Prime Minister NarendraModi expressed condolence onthe death of Hridayesh. “DrIndira Hridayesh Ji was at theforefront of several communi-ty service efforts. She made amark as an effective legislatorand also had rich administra-tive experience. Saddened byher demise. Condolences to herfamily and supporters,” theprime minister posted onTwitter.

Congress president SoniaGandhi and party leader RahulGandhi said the demise of a tallleader is a huge loss to the party.

Sonia said that DrHridayesh served the Congresstill her last breath and leavesbehind a legacy of public ser-vice as an MLA, MLC, Minister,Leader of Opposition inUttarakhand, and above all asa dedicated lifelongCongressperson.

She was particularly popu-lar amongst her colleagues forher knowledge of legislativeprocesses and procedure asalso her performance as an able

administrator. Her contributionto the Congress party will betreasured and cherished by all,Sonia said in her condolencemessage.

Rahul mentioned thatIndira Hridayesh remainedactive for the social serviceand the Congress till her lastbreath. “Her social and politi-cal contributions are inspiring,”Gandhi tweeted.

Condoling her demise,AICC general secretaryPriyanka Gandhi Vadra said theCongress has lost a brave leaderand popular public representa-tive.

Uttarakhand ChiefMinister Tirath Singh Rawatand Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath alsoexpressed condolences.

Congress general secretaryand former state Chief MinisterHarish Rawat said it is anirreparable loss for the countryand the state.

Hridayesh was a memberof the legislative council inundivided Uttar Pradesh forfive times. She was electedMLA in Uttarakhand in 2002,2012, and 2017. She served asa cabinet minister in the gov-ernments of ND Tiwari, VijayBahuguna, and Harish Rawat.“She had a great organisation-al and administrative capabili-ty. She had the legislative expe-rience of 50 years,” said seniorCongress vice-presidentSuryakant Dhasmana.

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In the absence of any cleardirection from the Centre

and the State governmentsabout the Covid-19 vaccineavailability under the newnational jab policy, several pri-vate hospitals across the coun-try are a confused lot. Some ofthem have also flagged theservice charge for vaccinationbeing capped at �150, saying itmay not be feasible for them toorganise sessions outside theirown centres at that rate.

The hospital managements

said they were clueless onprocuring Covid-19 jabs underthe new policy announced byPrime Minister Narendra Modiand that it has led to the vac-cination being put on hold attheir centres.

They have now sought aproper mechanism and a sin-gle-window system to be put inplace for procurement of vac-cine doses. They also claimedthat they had approached boththe vaccine manufacturers,Bharat Biotech and SerumInstitute of India (SII) -- andalso state governments, but tono avail.

Meanwhile, in a recentcommunication to the Union

health ministry, PrakashKumar Singh, Director,

Government and RegulatoryAffairs at SII, is learnt to have

written, “As per your direction,we are not accepting any fur-ther orders/payment from anyprivate hospital in the country.We await your further directionwith regard to the roadmap forfuture supplies to private hos-pitals.”

S C L Gupta, medical direc-tor, Batra Hospital said, “Theproblem is that there is no clar-ity on how we will be procur-ing the vaccines. When we askthe state government officials,they say wait till June 21 stat-ing that the policy is not yetclear.

“The central governmentalso has asked us to wait. Wehave approached the compa-nies too, but they are also notclear on the methodology ofprocurement,” he said.

In the whole process,Gupta said, vaccination of peo-ple is getting delayed. “Withfear of a possible third wave hit-ting India, we want to vaccinateas many people as possible.Also several people and manyof our healthcare workers who

have taken the first dose arewaiting for their second dose,”he said.

P K Bhardwaj, ChiefExecutive Director and Head ofDepartment of Surgery, SarojHospital also said that nothinghas been clearly spelt aboutprocurement by private hospi-tals and how much vaccineswill be given to each privatehospital.

The vaccinations at most ofthe private hospitals are onhold and the public, especial-ly those patients who need toget the second doses, are at thereceiving end.

Sarvesh Saran Joshi, pres-ident, Rajasthan Doctors’Association and also ManagingDirector of Shekhawati

Hospital, Jaipur said, “We havespoken to manufacturers ofboth Covishield and Covaxinand they said the governmenthas asked them not to supplythe vaccines directly to privatehospitals. So, the majority ofmedium to small hospitals aresuffering the most.”

“At a service charge of Rs150, we can provide vaccina-tion only at our centre. We hadstarted to go to RWAs and pri-vate sector companies, but noworganising such sessions at thisrate will not be possible.

Capping the price at Rs 150will also impact the entire vac-cination drive. So a mechanismneeds to be worked for thistoo,” Gupta said.

Under the revised guide-lines, which will come intoeffect from June 21, the Centrewill procure 75 per cent of theCOVID-19 vaccines beingproduced by manufacturerswhile private hospitals can pro-cure the remaining 25 percentdirectly from the manufactur-ers.

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India reported 80,834 freshCovid-19 cases, the lowest

after 71 days and below onelakh for the fifth day in a row,while the daily positivity ratefurther dropped to 4.25 percent, according to the UnionHealth Ministry data updatedon Sunday.

The country’s tally of caseshas climbed to 2,94,39,989while Covid-19 death tollsurged to 3,70,384 with 3,303daily deaths, the data updat-ed at 8 am showed.

The active cases furtherdeclined to 10,26,159 com-

prising 3.49 per cent of thetotal infections, while thenational COVID-19 recoveryrate has improved to 95.26 percent.

A net decline of 54,531cases has been recorded in theCovid-19 caseload in a span of24 hours.

Also 19,20,477 tests wereconducted on Saturday takingthe total cumulative tests con-ducted so far for detection ofCOVID-19 in the country to37,62,32,162 while the dailypositivity rate has furtherdropped to 4.25 per cent .

It has been less than 10per cent for 20 consecutive

days, the Ministry said, addingthe weekly positivity rate fellbelow 5 per cent and wasrecorded 4.74 per cent.

About vaccines, theMinistry said that more than26 crore (26,64,84,350) vac-cine doses have been provid-ed to States/UTs so far. “Morethan 1.53 crore (1,53,79,233)COVID Vaccine doses arestil l available with theStates/UTs to be adminis-tered,” it said adding that fur-thermore, more than 4 lakh(4,48,760) vaccine doses are inthe pipeline and will bereceived by them within thenext three days.

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Chinese researchers haveclaimed they have found a

batch of new coronaviruses inbats including one--Rhinolophus pusillus-- virusthat may be the second-closestyet (genetically) to the Covidvirus that has swept the worldsince it was identified inDecember 2019, claiming lakhsof human lives.

In a report published in thejournal Cell, the Chineseresearchers from ShandongUniversity said they had assem-bled 24 novel coronavirusgenomes from different batspecies including four SARS-CoV-2 virus and have found thenew batch of virus.

The discoveries in a single,small region of Yunnanprovince in China indicate justhow many coronaviruses canexist in bats and how manyhave the potential to spread topeople and a wide range ofdomestic and wild animals,including pigs, cattle, mice,cats, dogs, and chickens, as perthe CNN News.

The researchers collected283 fecal samples, 109 oralswabs and 19 urine samplesfrom small, forest-dwelling batsin a tropical botanical gardenand adjacent areas in a countyin Yunnan province betweenMay 2019 and November 2020.

The Chinese researcherssaid one of the viruses was verysimilar, genetically to the SARS-CoV-2 virus that’s causing theongoing pandemic.

“It would be the closest

strain to SARS-CoV-2 exceptfor genetic differences on thespike protein, the knob-likestructure that the virus useswhen attaching to cells,” theysaid.

The researchers furthersaid, “Together with the SARS-CoV-2 related virus collectedfrom Thailand in June 2020,these results clearly demon-strate that viruses closely relat-ed to SARS-CoV-2 continue tocirculate in bat populations, andin some regions might occur ata relatively high frequency.”

Now researchers are tryingto locate the original source ofSARS-CoV-2. The researcherssaid it’s quite likely that the virusinfected an intermediary ani-mal. The SARS virus thatcaused the 2002-2004 outbreakwas traced to an animal calleda civet cat.

It would be the closeststrain to SARS-CoV-2 exceptfor genetic differences on thespike protein, the knob-likestructure that the virus useswhen attaching to cells, theysaid.

“Together with the SARS-CoV-2 related virus collectedfrom Thailand in June 2020,these results clearly demon-strate that viruses closely relat-ed to SARS-CoV-2 continue tocirculate in bat populations, andin some regions might occur ata relatively high frequency,”they wrote.

“Our study highlights theremarkable diversity of batcoronaviruses at the local scale,including close relatives of bothSARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV,”they wrote.

The bat species they sam-pled are common acrossSoutheast Asia, includingsouthwest China, Vietnam,Laos and elsewhere.

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In an effort to encourage newideas and concepts, Defence

Minister Rajnath Singh onSunday approved a �499-crorebudget for innovations indefence manufacturing. Thisstep will help the small andmedium scale enterprises andstart-ups with India aiming tobecome a major hub forweapon production.

The �498.9-crore bud-getary support to Innovationsfor Defence Excellence (iDEX)- Defence InnovationOrganisation (DIO) is for thenext five years. The budgetarysupport will provide a bigboost to the ‘AatmanirbharBharat Abhiyan’ as iDEX–DIOhas the primary objective ofself-reliance and indigenisa-tion in defence and aerospacesector of the country, thedefence ministry officials saidhere.

The creation of the iDEXframework and establishmentof the DIO by the Departmentof Defence Production (DDP)is aimed at creating an ecosys-tem to foster innovation andtechnology development indefence and aerospace by

engaging Industries includingMSMEs, start-ups, individualinnovators, research and devel-opment(R&D) institutes andacademia and provide themgrants to carry out R&D devel-opment which has good poten-tial for future adoption forIndian defence and aerospaceneeds.

The scheme is aimed atproviding financial support tonearly 300 start-ups/MSMEs/individual inno-vators and 20 partner incuba-tors under the DIO framework.It will support increased aware-ness in the Indian innovationecosystem about defence needsand, conversely, in the IndianDefence establishment aboutthe potential of the Indianinnovation eco-system to deliv-er innovative solutions to meettheir needs, officials said..

The DIO, with its team,will enable the creation ofchannels for innovators toengage and interact with the

Indian Defence productionindustry. The long-term effectto be realised by the group isthe establishment of a culture,where enlisting the effort ofinnovators by the Indian mil-itary is commonplace and fre-quent.

The scheme aims to facil-itate rapid development of new,indigenised and innovativetechnologies for the Indiandefence and aerospace sector tomeet their needs in shortertimelines, create a culture ofengagement with innovativestart-ups to encourage co-cre-ation for defence and aero-space, empower a culture oftechnology co-creation andco-innovation within thedefence and aerospace sectorand boost innovation amongthe start-ups and encouragethem to be a part of the ecosys-tem.

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The Left parties on Sundayannounced nationwide

two-week-long protests (June16-30) demanding a roll backof fuel price hike and control-ling of prices of essential com-modities and drugs. The fiveLeft parties in a joint statementaccused the CentralGovernment of increasingpetrol and diesel prices “atleast 21 times” since theAssembly elections ended onMay 2.

“More assaults on people’slivelihood are being mountedby this relentless rise in pricesof all essential commodities.Instead of helping people tocombat the ravages of theCovid health catastrophe, theModi government hiked theprices of petroleum productsby at least 21 times after theannouncement of results ofthe recent assembly electionson May 2, 2021. This is leadingto a cascading inflationary spi-ral with the Wholesale PriceIndex (WPI) rising to a elevenyear high, said the joint state-ment signed by SitaramYechury, D.Raja, DebabrataBiswas, Manoj Bhattacharyaand Dipankar Bhattacharya,the general secretaries of thefive Left parties CPI(M), CPI,Forward Bloc RSP, CPI(ML)Liberation.

The Left leaders pointedout that the prices of food arti-cles have raised by nearly 5 percent in April. Primary com-modities saw a rise of 10.16 percent and manufactured prod-ucts have risen by 9.01 per cent.By the time these commoditiesreach the retail markets, theconsumers are charged muchmore.

This is happening while theeconomy is witnessing a deeprecession, galloping unem-ployment, collapsing purchas-ing power and rising levels ofhunger, they said.

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What Kerala and TamilNadu need immediately

is a comprehensive law banningbegging of any kind, accordingto Pidi Arisi Krishna Iyer, asocial activist of repute basedin Tiruchirappalli.

“Though there are manyinstitutions that help personswho do not earn anything bythemselves and have to beg fortheir daily survival, nearly 80percent of them prefer to be inthe streets begging for alms.But what is disturbing is thatthey are all part of a mafiaoperated by cruel dons who donot come out in the open,” Iyertold The Pioneer amidst hisdaily chore of offering freefood to the needy in times ofCovid-19.

Iyer (42) is a familiar figurein Tiruchirappalli city and sur-roundings because of his daily

routine of feeding peoplewhose livelihood has beenthrown off the rails. “There arecertain people begging for almsin certain areas, like Toll Plazasand in front of places of wor-ship who politely decline myoffering of food. I deployedpeople to track theirantecedents and the findingswere shocking,” said Iyer.

He saw most of the beggarsgetting food (mutton or chick-en biriyani with drinks)brought to the spot by personswho come riding their bikes.“The riders bring backpackscontaining food and drinks.The beggars need not dependon the vegetarian dish offeredby me,” he said.

Further investigation tookIyer to many shocking realities.“The bike driver who deliversthe backpack was found to bethe son of the beggar and heowns many houses in Tiruchiwhich have been rented out.

The daily collection of each ofthese beggars crosses �2,000per day,” said Iyer. This is notan isolated incident as syndi-cates operating all over TamilNadu and Kerala make a “giantkill” by deploying beggars atvantage points.

Sudheer Damodaran,social activist based in Kerala’sThrissur has a similar incidentto tell. “The rape and murderof Sowmya, a Thrissur girl bya person named Govindchamyin 2012 has a lot to do with thebegging mafia in Kerala.Govindachamy was a beggarwho was returning to his basein Thrissur by train when hecame across Sowmya. Thehunter pushed down the victimfrom the slowing train, rapedand murdered her. Thoughthe trial court sentenced him todeath, the High Court quashedthe death sentence,” saidDamodaran.

He said beggars in Thrissur

and Kochi are conduits for thedrug mafia who use them topush narcotic materials to reg-ular customers. “The beggarsdecline the offer of food fromall good Samaritans and preferto be in dirty surroundings.This is to ward off the police,”said Damodaran who has stud-ied their antecedents.According to Damodaran, beg-gars in Thrissur and Kochi aregetting free biriyani and liquorfor the services they render.

“It is not possible to banbegging by legislation becausethe mafias get political and reli-gious patronage. The lawyerwho argued in the High Courtfor Govindachamy was charg-ing millions per appearanceand you can imagine the holdof the dons,” said Damodaran.

Krishna Iyer continues hisfight for the establishment ofTiruchirappalli free of beg-ging menace despite the non-cooperation of officials.

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BJP leaders, activists andsupporters have become

persona non grata inLakshadweep islands sinceSaturday. Most of the shopshave started displaying boardsstating that leaders, activistsand workers of BJP would notbe offered goods.

Though some of theislanders blamed the Islamistsfor the ‘social boycotting’ of theHindutwa party, SayedMohammed Koya, a BJP leaderin Lakshadweep said the movewas the fall out of the IslandAdministration’s move to makedrastic changes in the lifestyleof the local population.

“A P Abdullakutty, thenational vice president of theBJP and K P Muthukoya , theparty's in-charge of the Islandsare responsible for the state ofaffairs. The move by BJPactivists to file cases against ahitherto film model who madesome unprintable commentagainst the Government ofIndia has boomeranged on theparty,” Koya told The Pioneer.

He said the proposal by theLakshadweep DevelopmentAuthority to widen the roadswas an inn-conceived propos-al. “We do not need such roadsin these islands because thelength of each island is aboutfour to five km,” said Koya who

was the BJP’s candidate in the 2014 Lok Sabha election.

Though he could poll only182 votes, he said the party hadpopularity in the islands. The2019 Lok Sabha election sawAbdul Khaer Haji, the BJPcandidate polling 125 votes.When asked what was the totalstrength of the BJP in theislands, Koya said : “Please donot count the popularity of aparty by the number of votespolled by it in elections”. Koyahad left the party the momentLDA launched its reformmoves. Vernacular media inKerala say that thousands ofBJP workers have left the partyover the last one week.

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Jammu popularly known as“City of temples” on Sunday

added address of another“architectural grandeur” in itslong list of 'historic' templesafter Lt- Governor Manoj Sinhaperformed 'Bhoomi Poojan'ceremony for construction ofSri Venkateswara SwamyTemple by Tirumala TirupatiDevasthanams (TTD) inMajeen village of Sidhra.

The temple complex withvarious amenities for pilgrimsand other allied infrastructureis expected to be ready in 18months on a piece of 62.10acres of land at a cost of 33.22crores in two phases.

Union Ministers G KishanReddy, Dr Jitendra Singh, OSDin the Commerce Ministryand former Chief SecretaryBVR Subrahmanyam,Chairman TTD Board, Y VSubba Reddy, Ram Madhav,Member, National Executive,RSS, and several other digni-taries also attended the cere-mony.

The ambitious projectwhen completed is also expect-ed to boost pilgrim traffic inthe region.

Before Covid-19 pandem-ic jammed wheels across thenation an estimated populationof 70-80 lakh pilgrims werearriving here to perform MataVaishno Devi and Amarnathpilgrimage. The local econo-my is also expected to gain withthe creation of huge infra-structure alongside the famoustemple complex.

While speaking on theoccasion, the Lt Governor saidthat the magnificent divinetemple when completed will bea centre of faith as well as des-tination of spirituality.

He further informed thatthe Tirumala TirupatiDevasthanams Board willestablish a Gurukul/VedaPathshala to promote theSanskrit language and ancientculture of Vedic teachings andlearning. The board has alsoagreed to set up centres ofexcellence in the field of health-care on the lines of its excel-lence centres in AndhraPradesh.

Terming the occasion as ahistoric and proud day forJ&K, the Lt Governorexpressed gratitude towards

Tirumala TirupatiDevasthanams Board and theUnion Government for fulfill-ing the long pending wish ofpeople of J&K and North Indiafor establishing the temple ofLord Balaji on the land of ShriMata Vaishno Devi.

“Lord Balaji’s divine bless-ing is a state of inner celebra-tion. Ved Pathshala in the sec-ond phase will strengthen thefoundation of Indian culture.The construction of the templewill also open up opportunitiesacross sectors and it will cer-tainly change the economy ofthe region”, observed the LtGovernor.

The temple will become amajor religious and pilgrimagedestination attracting a lotmore tourists, which will ulti-mately give boost to the reli-gious and pilgrimage tourism,besides providing ample liveli-hood opportunities, and socio-economic upliftment of thepeople of the region, added theLt Governor.

The Lt Governor said thatexcept for the main pujaris ofthe temple and the core super-vision team, it will also have alarge number of local peoplefor the management, thus pro-

viding direct and indirectopportunities to the people ofthe region.

The prestigious project willinclude a host of pilgrimagefacilities and other Educational& Developmental infrastruc-ture like Veda Pathshala- class-rooms, hostel building & staffquarters; pilgrims’ amenitiescomplex, Kalyanamandapam,Vahanamandapam etc.

The government ofJammu and Kashmir onMarch 31, 2021 had granted thestate land measuring 62.10acres under Khasra number243 in Village Majeen ofJammu tehsil in favour of TTDfor building of a temple and itsallied infrastructure on leasebasis for a period of 40 yearson payment of nominalground rent of Rs 10 per kanalper annum without charge ofany premium.

An amount of Rs 1.98lakhs was paid to Governmentof Jammu and Kashmirtowards lease charges for aperiod of 40 years. The pos-session of the land was takeninto the fold of TTD on April19, 2021 from the governmentof J&k, duly concluding leaseagreement.

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Thiruvananthapuram: Themother of Nimisha Fathima, aKeralite woman who landed ina jail in Afghanistan followingthe killing of her IS fighter hus-band in an attack there, hopesthat the Narendra Modi-Government will pardon herdaughter and bring her back toIndia.

“I've heard that PrimeMinister Narendra Modi is avery kind-hearted person. Ihave full faith in him,” BinduSampath, Fathima's mother toldPTI. She was reacting toreports that the Central gov-ernment was not interested inbringing back her daughter andthree other IS widows of Indianorigin, now lodged in a Kabuljail.

Sampath said no commu-nication has been received fromthe Government on the issue

and reports about theGovernment's disinterest couldbe one view of the Centre.

“But I am very positivebecause there will be otherviews also in the government. Iam banking on that. I believe inGod. I am sure that God will cre-ate a situation for her return,” shesaid.

Sampath said she wanted tomeet Modi and submit a mem-orandum, seeking the return ofher daughter.

“But no one is there to helpme out,” she said.

The mother said she wouldseek the legal route to get herdaughter back home if all effortswith the Government failed.“I have consulted some lawyersof the Supreme Court. Theyhave said there is a legal option,”Sampath said. NimishaSampath was a Hindu before

embracing Islam. She changedher name to Fathima Isa.

She married an allegedIslamic State (ISIS) operativefrom Kerala and both werereported missing, along with 19others from the southern state inJune 2016 before reaching anISIS-controlled territory inAfghanistan. Fathima gavebirth there. She and three otherwomen had surrendered to theAfghanistan Government in2019 after their husbands werekilled in the fight with the forcesthere.

When reports about thegovernment's disinterestappeared in the media onSaturday, Sampath had said shefeared that her daughter wouldfall into the hands of Talibanonce the US troops withdrawfrom Afghanistan in Septemberthis year. PTI

New Delhi: The NationalGreen Tribunal (NGT) hasdirected the Uttar PradeshGovernment to issue notifica-tion specifying the HastinapurWildlife Sanctuary boundarywithin six months.

A bench headed by NGTChairperson Justice AdarshKumar Goel noted that a sta-tus report has been filed onbehalf of Uttar Pradesh to theeffect that steps have beentaken and proposal was pending consideration beforethe Na

“It is stated by the counselfor the State that delay hastaken place due to pandemicand the RationalisationCommittee is now likely tocomplete its work within threemonths and thereafter the StateGovernment will issue finalnotification within threemonths.

“We direct theCommissioner, Meerut toensure that the rationalisationprocess is completed withinthree months and report sub-

mitted to the State Governmentand thereafter, the AdditionalChief Secretary,

Forest and Environment,UP, may ensure that furtheraction is completed withinnext three months,” the benchsaid.

The NGT made clear thatin case of failure, it will be opento either party to move the tri-bunal after six months, seekingcoercive measures against theerring officers.

The counsel appearing forthe State of UP submitted thatafter approval of the proposalby the Environment Ministry,a committee for rationalisationwith the Commissioner,Meerut as Nodal Officer hasbeen appointed on November17, 2020.

The counsel for theMinistry of Environment,Forest and Climate Change(MoEF) confirms that the pro-posal received from the Statewas duly approved in 59thmeeting of the National Boardfor Wildlife. PTI

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Dhubri (Assam): The Assam Policeresorted to firing in the air after beingattacked by a group of cattle smugglers,and rescued 30 bovines from themalong the India- Bangladesh border inDhubri district, a senior officer said on Sunday. The incident took place onSaturday night near Birshing Char(sandbar) bordering Bangladesh whenthe cattle smugglers were on their wayto the neighbouring country through

the river route.Acting on a specific input, two

teams of police personnel were sent inas many boats around 8 pm, DhubriASP Rosyrani Sarma said. The teamsof police personnel chased the smug-glers' boat and signalled them to stopbut they tried to escape from the spot.

A boat carrying cattle was inter-cepted at around 10.40 pm, the addi-tional superintendent of police said.

Sarma said when the police chasedthe smugglers, the boatman anchoredit on the bank of the river and thenthey attacked the police teams withsharp weapons.

“The police personnel retaliatedand were forced to fire about sixrounds in the air in self-defence. Thesmugglers managed to escape from thespot taking the advantage of darkness,”the officer said. PTI

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Avideo clip showing an SUVbeing sucked into a sink-

hole that had developed afteran RCC slabs covering a wellgave way in a suburban hous-ing society following heavyrains, went viral in Mumbaiand other parts of the countryon Sunday.

The freak incident tookplace at around 8.30 am inRamnivas Society on CamaRoad at Ghatkopar in north-east Mumbai. The owner hadparked the vehicle on the RCCslabs covering a communitywell.

Following the heavy inces-sant rains witnessed duringthe past four days that had ledto inundation in the housingsociety, the slabS either appar-ently were swept away or theyfell into the well, causing thehuge sink-hole. The residents

noticed the unusual sight whenthe vehicle was beginning tocave into the well through thesinkhole.

The video that went viralshows the rear half of the vehi-cle getting completely suckedinto the well through a largesink-hole.

Kiran Doshi, the owner ofthe vehicle, came to knowabout the incident, when hiscleaner told him that the vehi-cle was tilting and going underthe ground. Even the driver hadnot realised that the vehicle wasbeing sucked into the wellthrough the well.

“When I ran out of my

home to check, the vehicle gotsucked into the well in front ofmy eyes. Everything happenedin a few seconds. It took a fewminutes before I realised whathad happened,” Doshi toldlocal police.

Before long, the incident –thanks to the video that hadgone viral – became talk of thetown. On its part, theBrihanmumbai MunicipalCorporation (BMC) rushed itsteam with pumps to emptyswollen water in the well. Thepolice also rushed to the scene.

On its part, the societymanagement requisitioned acrane to lift the vehicle from thebottom of the well, which isnearly 50 feet deep. Efforts wereon till late in the night toretrieve the vehicles from thebottom of the well.

Fortunately, there was noone in the vehicle when itsank into the well.

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Days after BJP national vice-president Mukul Roy joined

the Trinamool Congress, a num-ber of his loyalists in the saffronoutfit are making efforts to crossthe floor. Among them are at least3 MPs, 13 MLAs, and some otherstate-level functionaries.

According to sources, Roy hasgiven TMC national general sec-retary Abhishek Banerjee a list ofBJP leaders including some MPsand MLAs who could switch overto the TMC. Some influential BJPpoliticians from North Bengal,where the saffron outfit has a goodsupport base, could also switchsides under the influence of Roy,insiders say.

Roy, a former RailwayMinister, on Friday re-joined theTMC — a party that he hadfounded with Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee in 1998 and leftin 2017. Roy’s son Subhrangshu,also a former Trinamool MLAjoined his old party along with hisfather.

Already BJP MLAs like AshokKirtaniya, Biswajit Das, the saffronparty’s State SC/ST cell chairmanDulal Bar, and former MLA SunilSingh have started dropping hints

of their “future plans.”A powerful Matua leader and

BJP MP Shantanu Thakur andMLA Subrata Thakur fromBongaon too are in the “tentativelist” of turncoats, sources saidadding both the leaders have notattended crucial party meetingspost elections.

Supporting Roy’s moveKirtanya, another MLA fromBongaon North seat, said “ofcourse Mukul da’s exit will hurtthe BJP. A leader of his statusshould have been given moreresponsibility in the party.”

Another leader Sunil Singh, aformer MLA and relative of BJPNP Arjun Singh, said “Mukul dahas a huge contribution in theparty’s winning 18 seats in the LokSabha elections,” adding he wouldlove to be with him all the time.

Another BJP MLA BiswajitDas boasted of his “good familyrelations with Mukul da andAbhishek Banerjee. When askedwhether he too would try to finda toehold in the ruling outfit theBJP leader gave a cryptic reply.“Let us see what happens infuture.”

Roy had not been properlydealt with by the BJP leadership,Dulal Bar the State president of

BJP’s SC/ST cell said, adding “noone can live in the BJP with hon-our … Though I don’t say that Iam quitting immediately, I can’tignore Mukul da’s presence in mypolitical career … he has alwaysbeen my leader.”

Yet another Roy loyalistSabyasachi Dutta too has startedsounding

“incoherent” within the BJP.Dutta, a former TMC MLA whohad followed Roy into the saffronoutfit, blamed the BJP for its lossin Bengal. “They had employed somany Hindi-speaking leaders whowere not properly understood ininterior parts of Bengal … it wasa strategic blunder … there was noface against Mamata Banerjee, apowerful national leader,” Duttasaid. When asked as to whether hewas planning to join the TMC hesaid “for now I am in the BJP.”

Roy’s loyalists apart there areother leaders like Rajib Banerjee,a former minister who too left theTMC before the elections, formerBengal Deputy Speaker SonaliGuha, who quit Trinamool afterfailing to get a nomination, arealso in the race to join the TMC.

Former TMC MLA DipenduBiswas on Sunday said that he had“done a great mistake by leaving

Didi … but I have understood myfault and am willing to return toher party.”

Rajib Banerjee on Saturdaymade a “courtesy call” at TMCspokesperson Kunal Ghosh’s res-idence saying he had not decidedabout his future yet. The lesserTrinamool leaders have howeverexpressed their reservations abouttaking him back in the party.

On whether these leaderswould be taken back into the partythe Chief Minister earlier catego-rized the group of turncoats into“extremists” — those who attackedthe party and its leadership bru-tally — and “moderates” — likeRoy “who did not make provoca-tive statements and was not vehe-ment in his remarks.”

She said “the party will con-sider the case of “moderates, butwill not forgive the extremists.”

Meanwhile, in a cuttingremark Bengal Opposition LeaderSuvendu Adhikari who himselfleft the Trinamool a couple ofmonths before the elections,warned the possible deserterssaying, “all the MLAs who areplanning to quit will be tackledlegally … I know how to use theanti-defection laws in an appro-priate manner.”

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A32-ground land parcel hereworth crores of rupees

and owned by a Shiva templewas taken over by authoritieson Sunday while officials weredirected to initiate action totake possession of nearly more100 plots of land belonging tothe same shrine, the govern-ment said.

The temple's executiveofficer took over possession ofland and buildings onPoonamallee High (PH) Roadin downtown Kilpauk here, anofficial release here said addingHindu Religious and CharitableEndowments Minister P KSekar Babu and top officialswere present. The HR & CEMinister directed officials toinitiate action including takingup survey work to take over anadditional chunk of 96.5grounds, also belonging to thesame temple.

In total, SriEkambaranathar temple inKancheepuram owned 141grounds (each ground is 2,400sq ft) on PH road here, therelease said. The total landparcel is estimated to be worthat least �350 crore.

Following completion ofa 99-year lease to a charitabletrust which ran a school on thepremises, the matter went tothe Madras High Court.After the court's ruling, thetrust administration handedover the land and buildings tothe temple's executive officerhere on Sunday in the presenceof senior officials includingPrincipal Secretary (Tourism,Culture and Endowments) BChandra Mohan.

Years ago, land measuring12.5 grounds, also owned bythe same temple was handedover by the trust, which ranSeetha Kingston School on PHroad to authorities and with thepresent handover, the trust hashanded back 44.5 grounds thatit had in its possession previ-ously.

Out of the total 141grounds owned by the temple,44.5 grounds have been takenover by authorities and inrespect of the remainder of96.5 grounds, action would betaken, the Government said.

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was out of regard for me orin expectation of our spend-ing �4 crore. The audiencelaughed, which eloquentlymeant the latter. I said wewould meet again to decidewhat development works weshould do and where.

The next day I went tosee the District Collector,who was warm and friend-ly. My request to him was tohelp me implement thisscheme as I had no machin-ery. I went on to say that Idid not wish to mix it upwith my business. His advicewas that I should set up anNGO and get the schemeimplemented through it.

Another wise man I con-sulted advised me to get myparty MLAs together and afew active workers, and thenverbally distribute the totalfund amongst them. Thatmeant that if an MLA was toget �20 lakh, up to this fig-ure, whatever work he rec-ommended in his con-stituency, I would sign on.He would do the rest and Iwould ask no questions,except go to inaugurate hiswork if he invited me. Thewise man went on to say:“Then you see how thesepeople work for you at elec-

tion time in case you contestfor the Lok Sabha next time.”

Meanwhile, someonenon-political suggested thatI should build as manySulabh Shauchalayas as pos-sible on Vadodara’s streets.The common people, espe-cially the women, wouldbless you. This suggestionnot only gave me confi-dence but also a reliable,known and professionalimplementer.

It took two odd years toget all the piece of land toofor 10 bus stops in the city.In the rural sector, 88 brickand mortar bus stops werebuilt, fortunately obliged bythe same agency. Medicalequipment for Ahmedabad’spublic hospital Sheth VadilalSarabhai, a computer systemin a school in Vadodara cityand several anganwadis in afew villages were also set up.Imagine the amount of workthat could be done with amere �4 crore!

In many cases, the MPfinds it difficult to imple-ment projects. In my time,no particular item couldentail more than �10 lakh.This meant that I had tospend my total grant on atleast 40 small projects.

Therefore, some MPs have ago at a few projects and leavethe remaining fundsunspent. Some distributethe money among localMLAs and others. Othersuse their own NGOs. Thewhole scheme is so clumsythat it is wasteful. It wascomprehensively useful ifthe purpose was only to dis-tribute perquisites to theMPs.

In spite of these short-comings, if there be a parlia-mentar y consensus forresuming the grants to MPs,be it so. But a change in pro-cedure is necessary; let akeen MP apply to theFinance Minister givingwhat s/he proposes to doand how, within how muchtime. If an earmarked jointsecretary finds the proposalviable and useful for theparticular area, an approvalcould be given but subject toaudit by a licensed auditorempanelled for MPLADS.The result would be benefi-cial to the area’s people, exe-cuted economically and witha degree of uprightness.

(The writer is a well-known columnist and anauthor. The views expressedare personal.)

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�� Sir — The official COVID-19 toll so far inIndia is around 4 lakh lives. However,experts are of the opinion that this is not anaccurate figure. They think that the real fig-ure will be much higher. It is assumed thatover a million people may have lost theirlives due to COVID-19, which is consideredthe second largest cause of death in thecountry. It is worrisome that COVID-relat-ed data is not properly collected and main-tained. Recording of accurate data helpsunderstand the enormity of the disease andthe steps to be taken to combat it. Further,demographic and geographical data willhelp combat the third wave.

As any kind of death is a great loss to thefamilies concerned, the families of COVIDvictims too deserve to be treated fairly by theGovernment. However, unlike railway acci-dents or industrial disasters, the families ofCOVID victims are not compensated. Justas the Government holds the responsibilityto compensate those rendered jobless or des-titute, it has the responsibility to compensatethe families of COVID victims.

A number of factors have contributedto India’s underreporting of COVID deathdata. As a consequence, it has raised doubtsabout India’s real COVID-related death toll.In fact, many countries have not reportedaccurate COVID death toll.

Venu GS | Kollam

�� Sir — This decade has been designated asthe “decade of ecosystem restoration” by theUN. The ongoing pandemic must serve asa wake-up call for humanity to revisit theconcept of GDP as a true measure of a coun-try’s growth. In fact, economic parameteralone does not present the true picture ofa nation’s growth and development, even ashalf of the world’s GDP is dependent on nat-ural resources alone.

But several developed and developingcountries, in the guise of developing natur-al areas, resort to commercial plantationsand designate them as forested areas, whichgoes against the tenets of natural law. It isno wonder then that the UN has declared

the (2021-2030) decade a time for ecosys-tem restoration, and called on the world torestore at least 1 billion hectares (2.5 billionacres) of degraded land in the next decade.

It is also an alarming situation that if theecosystem services decline at a steady rate,an estimated $10 trillion in global GDP maybe lost by 2050. In this context, Uttarakhand,also called the Dev Bhumi (god’s paradise),has become the first State in the country toassign monetary value to natural resourceslike air, water, forest and soil to arrive atGross Environmental Product (GEP) inevaluating the GDP.

Vijay Singh Adhikari | Nainital�� Sir — The GST Council meeting has turnedits back on COVID-19 relief. The lone deci-sion we might be satisfied with was thewaiver of the tax levied on two critical drugsagainst COVID-19 and mucormycosis,Tocilizumab and Amphotericin B.

Instead of reducing tax on Remdesivirand anticoagulants like heparin, medical gradeoxygen, oxygen concentrators, ventilators,BiPAP machines, pulse oximeters and test-ing kits from 12 per cent to 5 per cent, andfrom 18 per cent to five per cent for hand sani-tisers, temperature checking equipment, gasor electric furnace for crematoria and from28 per cent to 12 per cent for ambulances andkeeping the tax on COVID-19 vaccinesunchanged at five per cent, the GST Councilshould have made all COVID-19 relatedproducts, technologies and service tax-free.

It is inconceivable that the Governmentis insisting on raising revenue by taxing whatis needed to fight the battle against the pan-demic. Why on earth should anyGovernment with compassion and empathytax electric/gas furnaces used in crematoria?

G David Milton | Kanyakumari

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Members ofParliament LocalArea DevelopmentScheme, or

MPLADS, which allots �5crore annually to every MP,was suspended for 2020-21and 2021-22, and for good rea-son. But several MPs feel thescheme should be revived.There are 543 Lok Sabha and250 Rajya Sabha MPs, a total of793. Each was last entitled to�5 crore for this purpose. Iffully utilised by every member,the Government of Indiawould spend �19,825 croreover five years (the RajyaSabha’s term is six years but letus ignore the sixth year for thetime being). Over five years,the Government’s outlay wouldtotal up to �99,125 crore ornearly �1 lakh crore onaccount of MPLADS.

Individual MPs are notaccountable to anyone regard-ing what they have done withtheir �25 crore during theirterms. There is no audit at all.At its most practical, it ismoney for jam. At its inaction,it remains unspent. It wasintroduced by Prime MinisterNarasimha Rao, in my view, tokeep the MPs happy as hisCongress Government wassome 50 MPs short of a major-ity. The figure then was �2crore annually; ManmohanSingh increased the figure to�5 crore, again to keep the MPshappier. In both cases, thisscheme was a baksheesh toevery MP in exchange of sup-port, present or future, to theGovernment — as cynical asthat.

Rather than comment, letme give my own experience ofthe �4 crore allocable to me formy two-year membership. Myparty al located to meVadodara, the city as well asthe district. We are talking ofthe period towards the end of2000. The party held a meet-ing of local workers, of whomsome 30 persons turned up.They warmly applauded mycoming and garlanded me. Ihad never before been so hon-oured. In my brief speech, Ithanked them but asked jocu-larly whether their warmth

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The Corona pandemic may have broughtabout sharp deceleration in India's eco-nomic growth - the sharpest ever duringthe lastfour decades or so - but has yield-

ed a bonanza for the investors. The wealth of investors in the stock market

as represented by the market capitalization ofIndian equities (market value of shares multipliedby their number) almost doubled from around Rs113 trillion (a trillion equals 100,000 crore) as onMarch 31, 2020 to Rs 226 trillion as on March 31,2021. In contrast, India's GDP at current pricesdeclined from Rs 203 trillion during 2019-20 toRs 197 trillion during 2020-21. As a result, themarket capitalization to GDP ratio almost dou-bled from 56 per cent during 2019-20to 115 percent during 2020-21.

Gross Domestic Product(GDP) of a countryis the total value of goods and services producedduring a specific time frame say a quarter or a year.Used worldwide, it is the most crucial economicindicator for reflecting on the economic health ofa country. For developing countries such as India,a high year-on-year GDP growth should result inincreasing prosperity for its people and vice versa.

During 2020-21, when the Corona pandem-ic destroyed economic activity on a mammothscale, annihilated millions of micro, small andmedium enterprises (MSMEs), took away jobs oftens of millions and severely impacted earningsof others, one section that went unscathed was thecorporate sector in particular, the investors whomade huge gains from their shareholdings in cor-porate entities across all categories such as large-caps, mid-caps, small-caps etc. So, what explainsthis anomalous situation?

The market value of a share depends on thedemand or investors' interest which in turn, is afunction of the company's current profitability andtheir assessment of how this is expected to be inthe years to come.

During the year, profitability of majority of thelisted firms increased despite decline in revenue.This was made possible due to higher prices oftheir products on the one hand and reduction inexpenditure (that included expenses on wages andsalaries, other fixed costs, interest outgo, etc.) onthe other. As regards expectation for the future,investors including foreign investors have confi-dence in the fundamentals of firms and their abil-ity to deliver good returns in the medium to long-term. This is vindicated by a record FPI (foreignportfolio investment) of about US$37 billion dur-ing 2020-21.

Even the measures announced by the UnionGovernment and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)purportedly to revive growth, boost aggregatedemandand promote 'inclusive' developmentwith emphasis on reinvigorating MSMEs endedup adding to the fortunes of the corporate sector.

The steep reduction in the corporate tax rateto 15 per cent for new enterprises set up afterOctober 1, 2019 and to 22 per cent for existingentities (subject to their foregoing exemption anddeductions available under existing dispensa-tion)meant leaving an additional about Rs 150,000crore in the hands of corporate in a full year. Thecorporate entities also benefitted from the reduc-tion in the policy rate (interest rate at which RBIlends money to commercial banks) by 1.15 percent during 2020 over and above a total cut of1.35 per cent delivered during 2019.

Of the much trumpeted special package of Rs

2100,000 crore announced by theFinance Minister, NirmalaSitharaman (May, 2020) under the'Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan', amere about Rs 200,000 crore wasspent on catering to food and otherbare basic needs such as higher sub-sidy on LPG, hike in wages underMGNREGA (Mahatma GandhiNational Rural EmploymentGuarantee Act), financialassistanceto farmers under PM-KISAN, ex-gratia to Jan Dhan (JD) accoun-tholder etc. under PM Garib KalyanYojna (PM - GKY).

The rest Rs 1900,000 crore wasgiven as(i) liquidity support byRBI (measures announcedbyGovernor, Shashikant Dason March27 and April 17, 2020injected closeto Rs 500,000 crore followed byanother Rs 300,000 crore on May22); (ii) increasing resources ofbanks and other financial institu-tions (FIs) to enable them on-lend;(iii) releasing pending dues to agen-cies tasked with implementation ofwelfare schemes of theUnionGovernment. A big slice of thesefundseither landed with corporateentities or remained un-utilized.

For instance, out of the Rs100,000 crore auction of targetedlong-term repo operations (TLTRO- 1) of three-year tenor bythe RBI,Rs 75,000 crore went to the big cor-porate. The apex bank tried to rec-tify this anomaly when under theTLTRO 2.0 (April 17, 2020) itreserved 50 per cent of additionalliquidity injection Rs 50,000 crorefor small and mid-sized non-bank-ing financial companies (NBFCs)and micro-finance institutions

(MFIs). One wonders whether thisreserved quota of Rs 25,000 croreactually went to small players.

Consider Rs 300,000 croremeant for MSMEs or identifiedstressed sectors under theEmergency Credit Line GuaranteeScheme (ECLGS). As against a tar-get of eight million MSMEs bene-ficiaries, only four million got loanaggregating to Rs 150,000 crore.Even today, the money availableunder the scheme remains un-uti-lized; this has prompted theGovernment to extend the schemetill September 30 and even relaxedthe conditions to allowfirms withoutstanding up to Rs 50 crore (upfrom existing Rs 25 crore) avail ofthe facility.

Look at the payment of Rs65,000 crore to fertilizer manufac-turers (in additionto Rs 71,000crore allocated in the budget for2020-21) towards subsidy duesbeing carry forward from previousyears. These payments went towardsbolstering their bottom-line.Likewise, Rs 90,000 crore given topower distribution companies(PDCs) (amount since raised to Rs130,000 crore) eventually landedwith power generation companiesbeing former's pending dues to thelatter. As for food subsidy, theGovernment paid to the FoodCorporation of India (FCI) Rs350,000 crore (as per RE) over andabove the budget provision of Rs116,000 crore for 2020-21. A goodchunk of this was used by the FCIfor clearing dues to itscreditors/companies.

Thus, contrary to the stated

intent of the Atmanirbhar packageto provide succor to MSMEs andmillions of workers in informal sec-tor etc., on ground zero, the moneywas given mostly by way of tax cuts,reduction in interest rate, loans, liq-uidity support and clearance of dueswhich contributed to enrichment ofthose (read: corporate) who werealready well-off. The latter alsogained a lot from the recklessspending by governments in devel-oped countries (a gargantuan US$9trillion was pumped in) even as a lotof that money found its way toemerging market economies includ-ing India.

To sum up, the highlyinequitable outcome during 2020-21 was due the Government relyingtoo much on monetary support-which was availed mostly by corpo-rate entities and too little fiscal sup-port (free food, subsidized LPG,PM-KISAN etc) which barelyhelped tens of millions low-incomeearners keep their head above water.In contrast, imagine if all of the Rs2100,000 crore under theAtmanirbharpackage were to be dis-tributed among 40 crore workers inthe informal sector. This would havegiven the much-needed boost todemand across all sectors and resul-tant fillip to inclusive growth, butthat was not to be.

Even as the pandemic contin-ues to bite during the current yearas well (though, to a lesser extent),will the Government give a big fis-cal push directed at these most vul-nerable people? Going by FinanceMinister's stance thus far, it seemsunlikely.

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In wake of the Indo-UKtrade discussions, many'experts' argue for reduc-tion in tariff, particularly

slashing custom tariffs onimported Scotch and on'Intermediate' products whichthey say are nothing but high-strength, potable, undenaturedethyl alcohol used for bottlingand blending in India.

They argue on three maingrounds. One, that India has alarge trade surplus in the cate-gory and can afford greaterimports; two, customs dutyreduction on intermediate prod-ucts will encourage 'Make inIndia'; and three, even if tariff isreduced the bulk of consumptionwill remain locally producedwhiskies -- so why bother.

This industry contributesnearly Rs 250,000 crore in taxes

and for most states it constitutes15-30 per cent of revenue.Customs duty is not even Rs5000 crore in comparison.Second, this industry uses agri-cultural products as primaryraw material and nearly 50lakh farmers depend on it. Itprovides employment to 20lakh people. Any disruption willhave widespread ramificationsfor the government, farmersand labour market.

The problem with the firstargument is that it hides thetrue balance of trade on alco-holic beverages using a widerhead of 'Food and Drinks'. Ifone separates alcoholic bever-ages/products for human con-sumption from the wider club-bing of Food and Drinks, a verydifferent picture emerges.

As per DGFT data for

2018-19, India exports only Rs5 crore worth of alcoholic prod-ucts/beverages to the UK,against import of Rs 1300 crore.Clubbing alcohol under a muchbigger Food & Drink categoryto claim favourable balance oftrade is highly misleading.

The second argument isalso a misconception. Scotchwhisky goes through two majorstages of productions -- distil-lation and bottling. The'Intermediate' Scotch whisky isactually the output of the firststage, it has been produced andmatured in Scotland. Whathappens in India is only bot-tling. Therefore, while incen-tivising Intermediate productsthrough reduced or zero dutywill lead to an increase of usageof bottling plants in India,which will be a big loss for

Indian farmers and manufac-turers.

The third argumentmissesout on three vital points. One,in product categories with mul-tiple price segments like whisky,consumers seamlessly shift tothe next category up or downdepending on affordability.

So, when a Scotch whiskyis sold at a lower price it takesaway consumers from productsin the price segment, starting a

domino effect that makes thedomestic industry the net loser.Two, introduction of Scotchwhisky at lower price attacks theprofit driving end of portfolioof Indian companies, thus jeop-ardising their viability.Third,Indian premium whiskies likeAmrut, Paul John or Rampurare now regarded amongst thebest in the world but are unableto make the same headway inthe domestic market due to anunsupportive regime andreducing customs duty furtherjust will not help.

Another notion worth dis-pelling is that Scotch whiskiesare costlier to produce. Rather,it costs at least 50 per cent moreto produce a whisky of similarquality in India than inScotland. This is primarily onaccount of a higher cost of cap-

ital and higher taxes in India,interstate restrictions and high-er evaporation losses.

Also, many states offerconcessionary taxes on import-ed products, but reduction incustoms tariffs cannot be donewithout removing compen-satory state-based concessionsas otherwise it will create ahugely discriminatory taxregime against Indian products.

If we talk about reciprocalduty concessions, the problemis that barriers put up by the UKare not tariff based but non-tar-iff ones. India, being a sugarproducing country, has evolvedwhisky recipes based on spiritdistilled from molasses. The UKdoes not accept this as it is not"recipe standards". The result ofthese non-tariff barriers is thatof the 70 lakh cases of whisky

exported from India every year,the whole of the EU includingthe UK accounts for less than30,000!

Indian industry is notagainst reducing customs dutyon alcohol, but it should be ina phased manner and up to apoint where it creates a levelplaying field.

Accordingly, it has put for-ward its recommendation toreduce import taxes, aggregateof customs duty and AIDC,from 150% to 100% now and to75% in five years' time. It hasalso recommended a thresholdimport price for taxation at $5per bottle, and reciprocal con-cessions from the UK allowingwhiskies from India to beallowed in the UK market as'Indian Whisky' without mini-mum maturity conditions.

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At least 12 people were killedand 39 seriously injured on

Sunday after a gas line explo-sion tore through a residentialneighborhood in central China.

Responders to the earlymorning blast in the city ofShiyan in Hubei province sentmore than 150 people to thehospital, according to officialsquoted by state media.

The cause of the explosionremains under investigation.

Stall keepers and customersbuying breakfast and fresh veg-etables at a food market werethe majority of victims whenthe explosion hit shortly after6 a.m., according to the reports.The blast struck a two-storybuilding built in the early1990s, which includes phar-macies, restaurants and otherbusinesses. More than 900people were evacuated from thearea.

Images showed rescuersclimbing over broken concreteslabs to reach those trappedinside.

Chinese president XiJinping called for a thoroughprobe into the cause of the blastin order to create a "goodatmosphere" for the 100thanniversary of the founding ofthe ruling Communist Party onJuly 1.

"In light of numerous acci-

dents at companies and oncampuses, all must worktogether to shoulder theirresponsibilities, strengthentheir political comprehensionand root out the causes ofsuch hazards," Xi was quoted assaying by the official XinhuaNews Agency.

The Shiyan explosion camea day after eight people diedand three others were injuredwhen toxic methyl formateleaked from a vehicle at achemical handling facility inthe southwestern city ofGuiyang.

The blast appeared similarto one that occurred in thenortheastern port of Qingdaoin 2013, in which 55 peoplewere killed when underground

pipelines ripped open follow-ing a leak.

Frequent deadly accidentsare usually traced to weakadherence to safety standards,poor maintenance and cor-ruption among enforcementbodies. Those responsible areoften handed harsh punish-ments, but high demand andthe desire for profits oftentrump such concerns.

Among the worst acci-dents was a massive 2015explosion at a chemical ware-house in the port city of Tianjinthat killed 173 people, most ofthem firefighters and policeofficers. The blast was blamedon illegal construction andunsafe storage of volatile mate-rials.

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Leaders of the Group ofSeven wealthy nations

staked their claim on Sunday toleading the world out of thecoronavirus pandemic and cri-sis, pledging more than 1 bil-lion coronavirus vaccine dosesto poorer nations, vowing tohelp developing countries growwhile fighting climate changeand backing a minimum tax onmultinational firms.

At the group's first face-to-face meeting in two years, theleaders dangled promises ofsupport for global health, greenenergy, infrastructure and edu-cation.

The leaders wanted toshow that international coop-eration is back after theupheavals caused by the pan-demic and the unpredictabili-ty of former US PresidentDonald Trump. And theywanted to convey that the clubof wealthy democracies —Canada, France, Germany,Italy, Japan, the UnitedKingdom and the United States— is a better friend to poorernations than authoritarianrivals such as China.

Speaking at the end of thethree-day summit in southwestEngland, US President JoeBiden, who was making hisfirst foreign trip as leader, saidit was an “extraordinary, col-laborative and productivemeeting.”

British Prime MinisterBoris Johnson, the summit'shost, praised the “fantasticdegree of harmony” among

the group.Johnson said the G-7

would demonstrate the value ofdemocracy and human rightsto the rest of the world and help“the world's poorest countriesto develop themselves in a waythat is clean and green and sus-tainable.”

“It's not good enough forus to just rest on our laurels andtalk about how important thosevalues are,” he told reportersafter the 3-day meeting on theCornwall coast. “And this isn'tabout imposing our values onthe rest of the world. What weas the G-7 need to do is

demonstrate the benefits ofdemocracy and freedom andhuman rights to the rest of theworld.”

But health and environ-mental campaigners were dis-tinctly unimpressed by thedetails in the leaders' finalcommunique.

“This G-7 summit will liveon in infamy," said MaxLawson, the head of inequali-ty policy at the international aidgroup Oxfam. “Faced with thebiggest health emergency in acentury and a climate cata-strophe that is destroying ourplanet, they have completelyfailed to meet the challenges ofour times."

Despite Johnson's call to"vaccinate the world" by theend of 2022 the promise of 1billion doses for vaccine-hun-gry countries — coming bothdirectly and through the inter-national COVAX program —falls far short of the 11 billion

doses the World HealthOrganization said is needed tovaccinate at least 70% of theworld's population and trulyend the pandemic.

Half of the billion-dosepledge is coming from theUnited States and 100 millionfrom Britain. Canada said italso would give 100 milliondoses, and France pledged 60million.

The vaccines are due to bedelivered by the end of 2022,but Biden said the leaders wereclear that the commitmentsthey made to donate doseswouldn't be the end.

The U.S. President saidgetting shots into arms aroundthe world was a “gigantic, logis-tical effort” and the goal maynot be achieved until 2023.

The G-7 also backed aminimum tax of at least 15% onlarge multinational companiesto stop corporations from usingtax havens to avoid taxes.

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World leaders gathered atthe G7 Summit in

Cornwall discussed the possi-bility that a laboratory leak incentral China's Wuhan citymay have a connection withthe start of the Covid-19 pan-demic, with the World HealthOrganisation (WHO) chiefsaying all hypotheses behindthe origins of the deadly dis-ease remain in play.

UK Foreign SecretaryDominic Raab said that offi-cials "compared notes" over thetheory that the pandemic mayhave originated from a leakfrom a lab in Wuhan, callingfor further investigations.However, he asserted that theUK's "best information"remained that it "jumped"from animals to humans butadmitted they did not have "allthe answers".

"That's why international-ly we wanted the review to beable to go into China to get allthe answers, so that we havethe full picture rather thanthese possible, potential, plau-sible options,” Raab told ‘Sky

News' on Sunday when askedabout the issue.

"But, on balance, we donot believe that it came froma laboratory. We think it ismuch more likely to havejumped from animal species,"he said.

WHO Director-GeneralDr Tedros AdhanomGhebreyesus told reporters onSaturday that the theory wasraised during a formal sessionat the G7 summit in Cornwalldedicated to health mattersand that identifying the sourceof the pandemic was a corepart of showing respect to themillions of people around theglobe who have died from thedeadly virus. "Yes, it was raised,and we discussed about theorigins," he said in response toa question.

"The first phase of theorigin study was not conclusiveso there are four hypotheses,but [it's] not conclusive yet. Sowe believe that all fourhypotheses should be open,and we need to proceed withthe second phase, to reallyknow the origins,” said DrGhebreyesus.

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President Joe Biden andTurkish counterpart Recep

Tayyip Erdogan have knowneach other for years, but theirmeeting Monday will be theirfirst as heads of state. And itcomes at a particularly tensemoment for relations betweentheir two countries.

The list of disagreements isunusually long for the twoNATO allies: There's U.S.Support for Kurdish fighters inSyria, as well as Turkey's pur-chase of a Russian weapons sys-tem. And in April, Biden infu-riated Ankara by declaringthat the Ottoman-era masskilling and deportations ofArmenians was “genocide.”

Previous U.S. Presidentshad avoided using the term outof concern that it would com-plicate ties with Turkey, whichis fiercely proud of its Ottomanhistory and insists that thosekilled in the early 20th centu-ry were victims of civil war and

unrest.However, besides blasting

the decision in speeches,Erdogan didn't immediatelyhit back at Washington. Themuted response suggests hewants a good relationship withBiden, said Rachel Ellehuus, ananalyst at the Washington thinktank Center for Strategic andInternational Studies.

“Not least because he needsthat economic relationship withthe U.S. And the appearance ofa cooperative relationship inorder to retain his base, whichis very much built on a func-tioning Turkish economy thatis tethered into the West,"Ellehuus said.

However, before leavingSunday for the NATO summitin Brussels where he will meetBiden, Erdogan described thepresident's comments on thekillings of Armenians living inthe Ottoman Empire as “verynegative” and an “approach (that) has seriouslyupset us.”

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Italian Premier Mario Draghisays the dominant theme of

the Group of Seven summitwas how to respond to Chinaand other autocratic govern-ments.

Draghi said Sunday thatChina has the right to a greateconomy but that practiceslike coercive detention andusing forced labour were out ofstep with the vision of theworld's democracies.

He said the position takenwasn't particularly tough, butwas rather realistic, in view ofthe necessity to cooperate onclimate change, rebuilding theworld after the coronaviruspandemic and other issues.

He also said his Cabinetwould be reviewing the con-troversial 2019 trade and infra-structure deal Italy's previousgovernment signed withBeijing. Over U.S. And otherobjections, Italy in 2019became the first G7 country tosign onto China's “Belt andRoad” initiative,

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Missiles have hit a hospitalin a northern Syrian town

controlled by Turkey-backedfighters, killing at least 13 peo-ple, including two medicalstaff, and putting the facility outof service, activists and an aidgroup said.

It was not immediatelyclear who was behind theshelling, which came fromareas where government troopsand Kurdish-led fighters aredeployed.

The governor of Turkey'sHatay's province, across theborder from Afrin, also said the

attack on Saturday killed 13civilians and injured 27, addingthat it involved rocket andartillery shelling of the hospi-tal. The governor's officeblamed the attack on SyrianKurdish groups.

A war monitor, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory forHuman Rights, put the deathtoll at 18. The discrepancycould not be immediately rec-onciled.

The Syrian AmericanMedical Society, or SAMS, anaid group that assists healthcenters in opposition areas,said al-Shifaa Hospital in thetown of Afrin was targeted by

two missiles. The attackdestroyed the polyclinic depart-ment, the emergency and thedelivery rooms, the group said.

Two of the 13 people killedwere hospital staff and twowere ambulance drivers, saidSAMS, which supports thehospital. Eleven of its staffwere injured. The hospital hasbeen put out of service andpatients were evacuated, thegroup said.

SAMS called for an inves-tigation into the attack on thehospital, one of the largestfacilities in northern Syria thatoffered thousands of medicalservices each month.

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Israel's parliament is set tovote on Sunday on a new

government led by Yaminahead Naftali Bennett, oustingPrime Minister BenjaminNetanyahu from power after anuninterrupted 12 years at thehelm of affairs.

The prospective govern-ment - an unprecedented coali-tion of ideologically divergentpolitical parties drawn from theRight, the Left and the Centre,along with an Arab party - hasa razor-thin majority of oneseat.

The Knesset (Israeli parlia-ment) is scheduled to meet at4 PM local time and sans last-minute grand surprises,Bennett, an old-time associateof Netanyahu and leader of theright-wing Yamina party, wouldtake over the mantle from hisone time mentor leading afragile government with arazor-thin majority of 61 law-makers in a 120 member house.

Ahead of the vote inParliament, heads of the eightfactions constituting the new

coalition met to confirm thegovernment.

Informed sources said that"they all re-affirmed their com-mitment and it was all set to goahead”.

The approval by theKnesset would bring to an end12 years of uninterrupted ruleby Netanyahu, 71, who holdsthe record of being the longest-serving Prime Minister in thecountry's history.

Having served in the posi-tion earlier between 1996 and1999, Netanyahu last year sur-passed the record held by oneof the Jewish state's foundingleaders, David Ben-Gurion.

The formation of the newgovernment would end thepolitical impasse in the coun-try that saw four elections inless than two years leading toinconclusive results.

But opinion polls suggestthat majority of the Israelis donot look too hopeful regardingthe longevity of the coalition ofeight disparate parties who donot see eye-to-eye on most ofthe critical issues facing thecountry.

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At a low point in US-Russianrelations, President Joe

Biden and Russian PresidentVladimir Putin appear to agreebroadly on at least one thing —their first face-to-face meetingWednesday is a chance to setthe stage for a new era in armscontrol.

Whether that leads to actu-al arms negotiations is anoth-er matter, complicated by the

soured relationship and accu-sations by each country that theother has cheated on past armstreaties.

The fabric of arms controlhas been fraying, notably withthe abandonment in 2019 —first by Washington, then byMoscow — of theIntermediate-Range NuclearForces Treaty, which had gov-erned a whole class of missilesfor more than three decades.

Rome: Pope Francis demand-ed Sunday that humanitarianaid reach hungry people in thewar-torn Tigray region ofnorthern Ethiopia, whereEthiopian and Eritrean sol-diers are blocking food deliv-eries and other assistance.

Francis called for an imme-diate end to the fighting inTigray, the return of socialharmony and for “all food aidand health care assistance to beguaranteed.”

Speaking at his Sundaynoon blessing, Francis said hewas thinking of the people ofTigray who have been “struckby a grave humanitarian crisisthat has exposed the poorest tofamine. AP

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China on Sunday assertedthat the days when global

decisions were dictated by a"small group" of countries arelong gone, hitting back at theG-7 summit where Beijing wasat the centre of severe criticismover the COVID-19 origins,human rights violations and itsmega Belt and Road Initiative.

As the leaders of G-7 --Canada, France, Germany, Italy,Japan, the United Kingdomand the United States -- met inLondon where US President JoeBiden made a strong bid to rallythe allies against China's eco-nomic clout, human rightsbesides its reluctance to agreefor a probe into the COVID-19origin, Beijing appeared defiantand firm questioning the rele-vance of the bloc.

While there is no directresponse by the Chinese gov-

ernment here, state-run GlobalTimes quoted statement issuedby China's Embassy in London,rebutting G-7 criticism againstBeijing. Answering a questionon issues covered by the G-7Summit on pandemic response,economy, trade and global sup-ply chains and US efforts to“seizing” the opportunity tobond with other Western coun-tries to safeguard the “rules-based international system”,the Chinese embassy state-ment said there is only one sys-tem, the international system,which is led by the UN.

"We always believe thatcountries, big or small, strong orweak, poor or rich, are equals,and that world affairs should behandled through consultationby all countries," it said.

"The days when globaldecisions were dictated by asmall group of countries arelong gone," it said.

"There is only one systemand one order in the world, thatis, the international systemwith the United Nations at thecore and the internationalorder based on internationallaw, not the so-called systemand order advocated by a hand-

ful of countries," it added.To another question that an

announcement will be made atthe G7 summit on the provi-sion of one billion doses ofCOVID-19 vaccine to coun-tries in need, the statement list-ed about what China has doneincluding providing free vac-cines to more than 80 devel-oping countries exporting vac-cines to 43 countries.

"We have delivered 350million doses to global part-ners, more than any othercountry in the world," it said.

"China is fully implement-ing the G20 Debt ServiceSuspension Initiative forPoorest Countries and has sofar deferred repayment of morethan USD 1.3 billion worth ofdebt. This is the highest defer-ral amount among the G20members,” it said.

While Biden's efforts mak-ing headway to forge a consen-sus with other G-7 and EUcountries came as a surprise toChina, analysts here cautionedBeijing about the US successfullypushing its Build Back BetterWorld (B3W) plan to counterBeijing's multibillion dollar Beltand Road Initiative (BRI).

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Britain accused EuropeanUnion leaders on Sunday of

holding the “offensive” viewthat Northern Ireland is notfully part of the UnitedKingdom, as Brexit cast a shad-ow over the Group of Sevensummit.

Britain and the EU are ina spat over post-Brexit tradearrangements that could seeBritish sausages banned fromentering Northern Ireland, theonly part of the UK that bor-ders the 27-nation bloc. Thedispute is raising political ten-sions in Northern Ireland,where some people identify asBritish and some as Irish.

British media reported thatPrime Minister Boris Johnsonasked French PresidentEmmanuel Macron when theymet Saturday in the Englishseaside resort of Carbis Bayhow he would feel if sausagesfrom Toulouse could not bemoved to Paris. They saidMacron replied the comparisondid not work because Paris andTolouse were part of the samecountry.

The French presidency didnot deny Macron had made thecomments. It said he wasexplaining “that Toulouse andParis were on a geographicalunity of territory, NorthernIreland is on an island. Thepresident wanted to stress that

the situation was quite differ-ent and that it's not appropri-ate to hold that kind of com-parison.”

UK Foreign SecretaryDominic Raab said the ideaNorthern Ireland was not anintegral part of the UK was “notonly offensive, it has real worldeffects on the communities inNorthern Ireland, creates greatconcern, great consternation.”

“Can you imagine if wetalked about Catalonia, theFlemish part of Belgium,northern Italy, Corsican France,as different countries?” he saidon Sky News. “We need a bit ofrespect here. And also, frankly,an appreciation of the situationfor all communities in

Northern Ireland.” Relations between Britain

and the EU have soured sincethe UK made its final breakfrom the bloc at the end of2020, more than four yearsafter voting to leave.

The EU is angry over theBritish government's delay inimplementing new checks onsome goods coming intoNorthern Ireland from the restof the UK, as was agreed in theBrexit divorce deal. The bloc isthreatening legal action if theU.K. Does not fully bring in thechecks, which include a ban onchilled meats such as sausagesfrom England, Scotland andWales going to NorthernIreland beginning next month.

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President Joe Biden is takinga series of subtle jabs at

Donald Trump at the end of theGroup of Seven summit, sug-gesting there was a “genuinesense of enthusiasm” amongforeign leaders that the UnitedStates was engaged on worldissues.

The president is highlight-ing very fundamental differ-ences with Trump over climatechange and national security ata news conference Sunday.

Biden says that he does notview NATO as a “protectionracket.” That's a contrast toTrump who said that foreigncountries should pay for the pres-ence of the U.S. Military abroad.

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With petrol and dieselprices climbing to record

high, Oil Minister DharmendraPradhan on Sunday askedCongress Governments inRajasthan and Maharashtra tocut sales tax if the party wasconcerned about fuel priceburden on common man, butdid not say if BJP-ruled Stateslike Madhya Pradesh andKarnataka, where petrol hascrossed �100 mark, would dothe same.

Petrol and diesel have risento an all-time high across thecountry after fuel rates rose by�5.72 to �6.25 per litre in lessthan six weeks. This is due toa combination of rising inter-national oil prices and record-high central and State taxes.

Talking to reporters on thesidelines of an event organisedto inaugurate the oxygen plantset up by Indraprastha Gas Ltdat Maharaja Agrasen Hospital,he said central and StateGovernments need additionalmoney from the taxes on petroland diesel to meet expenses forfighting pandemic as well asdevelopment work.

“I accept that fuel prices arepinching consumers,” he said,adding the government isspending �1 lakh crore onproviding free food grains to

poor this year alone besidesspending money on vaccinesand healthcare infrastructure.

Asked about Congressleader Rahul Gandhi’s repeat-ed attacks on the Modi gov-ernment for skyrocketing fuelprices, Pradhan said, “Why isfuel expensive in Maharashtra,Rajasthan and Punjab (whichare ruled by the party)?”

“If Rahul Gandhi is con-cerned about the poor being hitby fuel prices, he should askchief ministers of Congress-ruled states to cut taxes. Heshould ask (Maharashtra ChiefMinister) Uddhav Thackeray toreduce taxes,” he said.

He, however, did not say ifBJP-ruled states like MadhyaPradesh and Karnataka, whichtoo have seen petrol price crossRs 100 a litre mark due to localtaxes, would follow suit.

Fuel prices differ from stateto state depending on the inci-dence of local taxes such asVAT and freight charges. Andbecause of this, petrol retails atover �100 per litre mark inseven states and union territo-ries -- Rajasthan, MadhyaPradesh, Maharashtra, AndhraPradesh, Telangana, Karnatakaand Ladakh.

Of these states, Congress isin power in Rajasthan and is acoalition partner with ShivSena and NCP in Maharashtra.BJP rules Madhya Pradesh andKarnataka and Ladakh too isunder central rule. AndhraPradesh has YSR-Congress inpower while TRS rules inTelangana.

Rajasthan levies the high-est value-added tax (VAT orsales tax) on petrol and dieselin the country, followed byMadhya Pradesh, Maharashtra,Andhra Pradesh, Telanganaand Karnataka.

�� &'� &()*

Edible oil firm Ruchi Soya,which is owned by Baba

Ramdev-led PatanjaliAyurveda, has filed draft doc-ument with SEBI to launch afollow-on public offer (FPO)for raising up to � 4,300 crore.

The FPO is being launchedto meet the SEBI norm ofminimum public sharehold-ing of 25 per cent in a listedentity. Ruchi Soya filed thedraft red herring prospectus(DRHP) with market regulatorSEBI on Saturday, sources said,adding that the company plansto raise up to �4,300 crorethrough the share sale.

�� +�7.*

With payments majorPaytm’s board reported-

ly approving a bumper sharesale plan running north of�22,000 crore, the IPO marketis set for a big days as over adozen financial services play-ers, including fintechs, are setto mop up over �55,000 crorethis fiscal from the market,according to investmentbankers.

With more than a dozeninsurance, asset management,commercial banking, non-banks, microfinance, housingfinance and payment bankplayers already filing draft doc-uments with the market regu-lator Sebi for public offerings,the financial services sector isset to dominate the primaryissues or initial public offerings(IPOs) over the comingmonths.

Some of those who havealready filed the draft red her-ring prospectus (DRHPs) withthe Sebi include AadharHousing Finance (�7,500crore), Policy Bazaar (�4,000crore), Aptus Housing Finance(�3,000 crore), Star HealthInsurance (�2,000 crore),Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC(�1,500-2,000 crore) Arohan

Financial Services (�1,800crore), Fusion Microfinance(�1,700 crore), Fincare SmallFinance Bank (�1,330 crore),Tamilnad Mercantile Bank(�1,000-1,300 crore), MediAssist (� 840 crore) and JanaSmall Finance Bank (�700crore), among others.

And the board of thebiggest payments bank Paytmhas reportedly cleared an over�22,000 crore IPO. Together,these financial services com-panies are set to garner around�55,000 crore from the public.If materialised, the Paytm issuewill be the largest IPO ever inthe country, eclipsing the hith-erto largest issue - the � 15,000-crore share sale by the govern-ment in national miner CoalIndia in October 2010, saysinvestment bankers seekingnot to be quoted. Investmentbankers and analysts considerthe IPO boom to be reflectiveof the ongoing bull run andthus advice retail investors to becautious while parking moneyin new companies.VKVijayakumar, chief investmentstrategist at Geojit FinancialServices in Kochi, said theperformance of the IPO mar-ket usually has a strong corre-lation to the performance of thesecondary market.

�� &'� &()*

Leading exchanges BSE andNSE will suspend trading in

the shares of Dewan HousingFinance Corporation Ltd(DHFL) with effect fromMonday.

The move, aimed at avoid-ing “market complications”,comes against the backdrop ofthe National Company LawTribunal (NCLT) approvingPiramal Group’s resolution planfor the bankrupt-DHFL.

The resolution plan underthe Insolvency and BankruptcyCode (IBC) was approved bythe tribunal on June 7.

In separate but similarly-worded circulars issued onFriday, BSE and NSE said theywould suspend trading in theshares of DHFL with effect

from June 14.The approved resolution

plan provides for delisting ofequity shares of the company.

As per the circulars, thecompany made an announce-ment on June 9, saying that “novalue was attributable to theequity shares as per the liqui-dation value of the companyestimated by registered val-uers appointed under theInsolvency and BankruptcyBoard of India (InsolvencyResolution Process forCorporate Persons)Regulations, 2016”.

According to the circularissued by BSE, “to avoid mar-ket complications, trading inthe securities of DewanHousing Finance CorporationLimited will be suspendedw.E.F June 14, 2021”.

In November 2019,Reserve Bank of India (RBI)had referred DHFL -- then thethird-largest pure-play mort-gage lender -- for resolutionunder the IBC. It was the firstfinance company to be referredto the NCLT by RBI using spe-cial powers under Section 227of the IBC.

�� &'� &()*

Amazon India on Sundayannounced the launch of

an integrated learning pro-gramme for students to learnapplied Machine Learning(ML) skills, making themindustry ready for careers in thenew technology. The pro-gramme - ML Summer School- has been introduced to helptrain students in ML andaddress the growing demandfor talent with this skill setacross various industries,Amazon India said in a state-ment. The curriculum willcover the fundamental con-cepts in ML, while linkingthem to practical industry

applications through animmersive three-day course, itadded. Participants of the MLSummer School will be identi-fied through an online assess-ment.

It is open to engineeringstudents in their pre-final/finalyear of Bachelors, Masters orPhD studies across select techcampuses in 2021, includingIndian Institute of Technology(IIT) Bombay, IIT Kharagpur,IIT Delhi, InternationalInstitute of InformationTechnology (IIIT) Hyderabad,Birla Institute of Technology(BITS), National Institute ofTechnology (NIT)Tiruchirappalli and AnnaUniversity among others.

�� &'� &()*

In line with the proposeddeal, Axis Bank is likely to

raise its stake in Max LifeInsurance to about 20 per centover the next 12-18 months,said the insurance company’sCEO Prashant Tripathy said.

Currently, Axis Bank andits two subsidiaries - AxisCapital Ltd and Axis SecuritiesLtd - collectively own 12.99 percent in Max Life Insurance postapproval of the deal in Aprilthis year. With this, Axis enti-ties have now become co-pro-moters of Max Life with threeboard seats. “Axis Bank is toincrease to 19.99 per cent intranches. Thirteen per cent isalready done over the nexttwo quarters, we will seekapproval for the balance sevenper cent. So, it will reach about20 per cent and that will be theownership of Axis Bank,”Tripathy told PTI.

New Delhi:State-run powergiant NTPC has floated a glob-al expression of interest (EoI)for setting up hydrogen fuel-based power backup systemand a standalone fuel-cell basedmicrogrid system, a statementsaid on Sunday.

Through these projects,NTPC is looking to furtherstrengthen its footprint in greenand clean fuel, the companysaid.NTPC will collaborate forimplementation and furthercommercialization of the pro-jects. This is in line withNTPC’s initiatives towardsadopting hydrogen technolo-gies. The power PSU is explor-ing the use of hydrogen-basedfuel cells-electrolyser systemsfor backup power requirement.Currently, the backup powerrequirement and micro gridapplications are being metfrom diesel-based power gen-erators. Looking at these asearly adopter use case of hydro-gen basedtechnologies, NTPCis working towards creatingsolutions which are a greenalternative to diesel generators.

PTI

�� &'� &()*

For more than five years,Amazon, Walmart-owned

Flipkart and many other for-eign-funded e-commerce com-panies have indulged into allkinds of unethical businesspractices with an objective oftaking control of not only thee-commerce but even the retailbusiness of India, theConfederation of All IndiaTraders (CAIT) said.

Their sinister designs havegreatly vitiated the e-com-merce landscape of the coun-try, the traders body said.

In view of such a situation,the Confederation of All IndiaTraders (CAIT) has launchedan “e-commerce purificationweek” from Monday to June 21,which is gaining massive sup-port from thousands of tradeassociations across theCountry.

During the e-commercepurification campaign, thetrade organizations across thecountry will handover a mem-

orandum to the DistrictCollectors in all states in theCountry. On the other hand,the trade delegations will meetthe Chief Ministers andFinance Ministers of theirrespective States urging them toset up a monitoring mecha-nism for e-commerce trade inthe State for ensuring strictimplementation of FDI in e-commerce policy of theGovernment.

Simultaneously, the tradeassociations will send an e-mailto Prime Minister NarendraModi and Commerce MinisterPiyush Goyal urging them foran immediate direction to theCCI for initiating an investiga-tion of the business module ofAmazon and Flipkart, issuanceof a fresh Press Note removingthe flaws of Press Note 2, andsetting up of a Regulatorymechanism at the Centre tomonitor e-commerce businessin India. The CAIT has alsodeclared to launch a digital sig-nature campaign across theCountry on this issue.

�� &'� &()*

The chief of the World TradeOrganisation (WTO) has

convened a meeting of all tradeministers on July 15 to iron outdifferences with regard to pro-viding fisheries subsidies,sources said.

The aim is to conclude thenegotiations soon and afterthat a text is finalised so that anagreement on fisheries can bereached in the forthcomingMinisterial meet of WTO inDecember in Geneva.

Hectic negotiations aregoing on in Geneva on the mat-ter. The objective of thesenegotiations is to disciplinesubsidies with the overall objec-tive to have sustainable fishingand to eliminate IUU (illegal,unreported and unregulated)fishing subsidies and prohibit

subsidies contributing to over-capacity and overfishing.

“It will be an online meet-ing of the Trade Ministers.WTO Director General NgoziOkonjo-Iweala has called themeeting of the trade negotiat-ing committee on July 15 onthe matter,” sources said.

While developed nationsare pushing for prohibitions onsubsidies, India wants an equi-table and balanced outcome asthe country provides support toits small and marginal fisher-men who depend on the sectorfor sustenance.

Unlike rich nations whichprovide billions of dollars ofsubsidies to their fishermen,India’’s subsidy amounts toonly about Rs 770 crore. Thegovernment provides subsi-dies on things like fuel andboats.

Fishing communities ofdeveloped countries use high-ly mechanised boats for fishing,which are called mother boatswherein they have processingunits also.

As India’’s subsidy is min-imal and provided to small andmarginal fishermen, it hassought more time to imple-ment the norms or disciplines,which would be finalised aftercomplete negotiations, on theprohibition of subsidies forfishing activities in ExclusiveEconomic Zones (EEZs).

There are primarily threeareas of fishing - territorialwaters (12 nautical miles fromthe sea shore), EEZ (exclusiveeconomic zones - 200 nauticalmiles), and high seas.

India wants that fishingactivities in territorial watersshould be completely out of theambit of the agreement, whileadequate time should be givento implement commitmentsof the agreement in EEZs.

For this, the country hasasked for the necessity of anappropriate and effective spe-cial and differential treatment(S&DT) for developing coun-tries and LDCs (least developedcountries) in the negotiations.

�� &'� &()*

Total outstanding dues owedby electricity distribution

utilities or discoms to powerproducers fell 11.2 per cent to�81,628 crore in April 2021from a year ago.

Distribution companies(discoms) owed a total �91,915crore to power generation firmsin April 2020, according to por-tal PRAAPTI (PaymentRatification And Analysis inPower procurement for bring-ing Transparency in Invoicingof generators).

However, outstanding duesof discoms towards electricityproducers have been increasingyear-on-year as well as month-on-month for years showingperennial stress in the powersector till February this year. Ithas started tapering off fromMarch 2021.

Total dues in Aprilincreased sequentially com-pared to �78,841 crore inMarch this year.

Total outstanding dues ofdiscoms had dipped 3.4 percent in March this year from �81,687 crore in the same monthlast year.

The PRAAPTI portal waslaunched in May 2018 to bringin transparency in power pur-chase transactions betweengenerators and discoms.

In April 2021, the totaloverdue amount, which wasnot cleared even after 45 daysof grace period offered by gen-erators, stood at �68,732 croreas against �76,117 crore in thesame month a year ago. Theoverdue amount stood at

�67,656 crore in March thisyear.

Power producers give 45days to discoms to pay bills forelectricity supply. After that,outstanding dues become over-due and generators chargepenal interest on that in mostcases. To give relief to powergeneration companies (gen-cos), the Centre enforced a pay-ment security mechanism fromAugust 1, 2019.

Under this mechanism,discoms are required to openletters of credit for gettingpower supply. The Centre hadalso given some breathers todiscoms for paying dues togencos in view of the Covid-19-induced lockdown. The gov-ernment had also waived penalcharges for late payment ofdues.

In May, the Governmentannounced �90,000 crore liq-uidity infusion for discomsunder which these utilitieswould get loans at economicalrates from Power FinanceCorporation (PFC) and RECLtd.

This was a government

initiative to help gencos remainafloat. Later, the liquidity infu-sion package was increased to�1.2 lakh crore and further to�1.35 lakh crore. Under the liq-uidity package, over �80,000crore has been disbursed.

Discoms in Rajasthan,Uttar Pradesh, Jammu &Kashmir, Telangana, AndhraPradesh, Karnataka,Maharashtra, Jharkhand andTamil Nadu account for themajor portion of dues to gen-cos, the data showed.

Overdue of independentpower producers amounted to53.04 per cent of the totaloverdue of �68,732 crore of dis-coms in April 2021. The pro-portion of central PSU gencosin the overdue was 30.52 percent.

Among the central publicsector gencos, NTPC alonehas an overdue amount of�5,167.11 crore on discoms,followed by Damodar ValleyCorporation at �5,156.34 crore,NLC India at �3,416.18 crore,NHPC at �2,261.05 crore andTHDC India at �1,134.17 crorein April 2021.

�� &'� &()*

Former RBI Governor DSubbarao has expressed

concerns over “extremeunevenness” in economicrecovery and “sharpeninginequalities” between upperincome segments and lowerincome households in thecountry, cautioning that thetrend will hit growth prospectsgoing forward.

Terming the uneven recov-ery “morally wrong and polit-ically corrosive”, he said liq-uidity in the domestic marketand foreign fund inflows areleading to soaring of prices ofstocks and other assets despitedisruptions due to Covid pan-demic.

The ex-central bank gov-ernor further said that earlierexpectations of a sharp eco-nomic recovery this year havebeen dashed by the new pan-demic wave.

“The economy contractedlast year, for the first time infour decades, by as much as 7.3per cent. That was less deepthan we had first feared but stilldeep enough to have causeddistress to millions of familiesin the informal sector. Therewas expectation of a sharprecovery this year but thoseexpectations are now temperedby the impact of the secondwave,” Subbarao told PTI.

The RBI too reduced itsgrowth forecast for the currentfiscal by one percentage point,from 10.5 per cent to 9.5 percent, he said adding that even9.5 per cent growth might

seem impressive but note thatthis is coming on a very lowbase of last year.

“Even if we clock thisgrowth rate, the output duringthis fiscal 2021/22 will still beless than the output two yearsago before the pandemic hit us.Compare that with Chinawhich never fell below its pre-pandemic level and the USwhich is expected to recover toits pre-pandemic level thisyear,” the former RBI chiefsaid. Expressing concerns,Subbarao said that while themajority of people have lostjobs and saw reduction in theirincome, the wealth of somerich individuals have increasedduring the pandemic period.

“The positive wealth effectof the upper income segmentsjuxtaposed with the negativeincome effects of the lowerincome households tells a storyof a very uneven recovery andsharpening inequalities. This ismorally wrong and politicallycorrosive,” he said adding thatit will also have a big impact ongrowth prospects going for-ward.

�� &'� &()*

As the Central Governmentdraws a plan to privatise at

least two public sector banks(PSB) this fiscal, it has alsodecided to front load capital-isation of State-owned banksso that the balance sheets ofsome of these entities arestrengthened ahead of possi-ble sale.

Sources said that PSBsmay be provided this yearjust after their first quarterresults before October. Thiswould be a departure from thepractice of previous year whenbank capitalisation was under-taken late in the year andtowards the end of fiscal.

Even in FY21, a substan-tial portion of capital wasreleased right at end of the fis-cal year in March.

“Front loading of capitalwill help PSBs to strengthentheir financials that may againget impacted this year withweak lending and stress com-ing back on a lot of their cred-it assets with Covid pandem-ic continuing to disrupt busi-nesses.

This could also help intaking out weak banks out ofthe PCA (prompt correctiveaction) framework that wouldbe helpful in their possible pri-vatisation this year,” said anofficial source on the condi-tion of anonymity.

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New Delhi:Fuel prices whichhave been rising over the pastone month remainedunchanged in the nationalCapital on Sunday. In Delhi,petrol was sold for �96.12while diesel was priced at �86.98 per litre, both at the samelevels on Saturday. Fuel priceshave increased in the last twoconsecutive days across thecountry. In the financial capi-tal of the country, Mumbai,both petrol and diesel weresold for �102.30 and �94.39 perlitre, respectively. PTI

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�� Two years after you were introduced to the students

of Rosewood High, they are back with new friendships,new rivalries and a rush of adrenaline along with a darktwist. It releases on June 27 on ALT Balaji.

�� The blood-soaked land of Kolar Gold Fields (KGF)

has a new overlord now — Rocky. Bloodier battles anddarker days await as Rocky continues on his quest forunchallenged supremacy. It releases on July 16 onAmazon Prime.

��One young boy in a seaside town on Italian Riviera expe-

riences an unforgettable summer filled with gelato, pastaand endless scooter rides. Luca shares these adventures withhis newfound best friend, but all the fun is threatened bya deep secret. It releases on June 18 on Disney+.

: � � � � 2

Hair fall is a huge concern formany women across the

world, and if you are one of them,you should know that many treat-ments can help with this issue.

The only problem is that noteveryone has enough time to visitthe salon to get one of these treat-ments. With a busy schedule, tak-ing time out to get your hair treat-ed can be a hassle. However, an effi-cient and smart way to prevent andstop hair loss permanently is bytrying out some homemade hairmasks.

For sun-damaged hairSun-damaged hair needs prop-

er care especially if you are out inthe sun often or if your hair hasbeen chemically treated. The UVrays weaken the shaft of your hairand fade the colour of your hair.

Make a nourishing pack athome by mixing one banana withone teaspoon of cream and aquarter teaspoon of castor oil. Putit on for half an hour and rinse itoff thoroughly. It might take oneor two washes for the banana tocompletely go from hair, it’s the bestnourishing hair pack that you caneasily prepare at home

For oily hairOily hair can be very difficult

to maintain. You are always busyscheduling your hair wash andthinking whether you are over-shampooing your hair. Moreover,oiling becomes impossible. Besides,hair masks make the scalp oilierand you just wish you had dry hair.Coconut milk is the healthiest nat-ural ingredient for healthy hair. Ifyou have oily hair, you should trymixing freshly extracted coconutmilk with a squeezed lemon and

four-five drops of lavender essen-tial oil. Leave it on for four hoursand then rinse it off.

To aid hair growthFor those who want to know

the best solution for hair growth,there is a very simple one sitting inyour kitchen. The vitamins, min-erals and fatty acids in ginger pro-mote hair stimulation which leadsto hair growth. Ginger containsgingerol which improves blood cir-culation, leading to hair growth.

Take one teaspoon each ofcoconut oil, argan oil, ginger juiceand onion juice. Combine it withhalf teaspoon castor oil, two dropsof lavender essential oil and onedrop of rosemary essential oil. Mixall these and finally add one tea-

spoon of your conditioner. Applyit thoroughly on your scalp andhair strands, keep it on for 30 min-utes and then rinse it off with yourshampoo. You can use a lightconditioner afterwards if your hairis too dry. This will not only makeyour hair grow faster but will alsoadd lustre to your hair.

For dry and brittle hairExcess use of hair colour,

chemicals and exposure to the suncan lead to dry, brittle and dull hair.But who would want that? So asimple solution is to make a con-ditioning pack at home.

Take one or two tablespoonsof hair conditioner, depending onthe length of your hair, and mix itwith one teaspoon glycerine and a

quarter teaspoon of vinegar to addshine to your hair along with a fewdrops of sandalwood essential oil.This pack gives instant sheen andlustre.

To treat dandruffWe all have a common

enemy. Yes, dandruff. No matterhow much oiling we do, havingdandruff in summers due tosweating is inevitable. To combatthis enemy the best thing you cantry is a pack made of half a table-spoon of lemon juice and a quar-ter teaspoon of vinegar. Use a cot-ton ball to apply this mix all overyour scalp. Comb your hair afterapplication. It might cause someirritation or itching but don’tworry that means it is working.Do this no more than once a weekas too much may lead to hair fall.

Nothing beats a good hot oilmassage

There is one thing we com-pletely forget when we have dam-aged hair, we will go to salons fortreatments and apply the mostexpensive hair care products butwe ignore the most potent thingthat can reverse hair damage —a good hot oil massage.

Take a tablespoon ofcoconut/olive oil and add a tea-spoon of castor oil along withthree or four drops of lavenderessential oil to it. Heat the mix alittle and massage it gently inyour scalp and hair at night.Shampoo it out in the morning.Follow this routine at least oncein two weeks as it is extremelybeneficial.

(The author is founder &chairperson of an aromatherapycosmetic brand.)

Corporate sustainability hasbecome increasingly significantover the last few years. Lately, it

has been observed that employees,especially from the millennial work-force, look out for companies focussedon environmentally sustainable prac-tises and programmes. These pro-grammes are crucial in building a pos-itive brand image, retaining top talent,and driving profit for any organisation.Employers and leaders will be sur-prised to notice the sincerity andmindfulness of the workforce in per-fecting sustainability initiatives.Moreover, involving employees insuch practises leads to a more engagedand motivated workforce.

Sustainable practises for the work-place

Some simple but effective every-day practises add to building a sustain-able workplace in the long run. Hereare some steps that you can adopt:

�Keep recycling bins around theworkplace as a part of a recycling pro-gramme.

�Go paperless. Opt for electron-ic files, cloud storage, and cloud-based collaboration options.

�Switch to motion-activated lightsthat turn off automatically when noone is in the room.

�Replace disposable utensils withreusable ones.

�Ask employees to keep comput-ers and laptops in sleep mode to saveenergy.

The practises mentioned abovetake little effort but go on to producetangible, long-term results.

As one of the most populouscountries, with a huge consumer basefor any thriving business, India’s rolein sustainability cannot be under-mined and many businesses andorganisations are rising to the challengealready. They are doing so by integrat-ing the UN’s Sustainable DevelopmentGoals (SDGs) with their businessstrategies. Such mindful strategies willdrastically ease the environmentalcosts resulting from the patterns in pro-duction, consumption, resource, andenergy usage of a company.

It is high time for all businesses tobe conscious about their environ-mental footprint. Employers and lead-ers must innovate ways to transform

their organisation into aneco-friendly and sustain-able one. Many top com-panies have already start-ed their journey inachieving environ-mental sustainabili-ty. If MNCs canimplement sustain-able policies at work, smalland medium businesses willfollow in their footsteps. Listedbelow are a few practical and effec-tive sustainable practises thatshould be employed in every work-place.

Introduce and implement a recyclingprogramme

Recycling programmes in theworkplace will give a head start toemployees on their journey to sustain-ability. These programmes enableemployees to learn about adequatewaste disposal and the recyclingprocess. There should be accuratesignage for disposing of degradable,non-degradable, and recyclable waste.

Asking employees to recycle dis-carded paper or reuse the paper forphotocopies can ensure optimal use ofresources while generating minimumwaste. Another way to go about thisinitiative is by using refillable pens only.These small steps have a rather posi-tive impact on the waste managementof the company.

Encourage employees to cycle towork

In a pre-Covid world, using pub-lic transportation could significantlycontribute towards reducing CO2emissions. Now, public transportationis out of the question due to the ongo-ing pandemic. But, if we were to talkabout alternatives, employees can useeco-friendly modes of transport likecycles and e-bikes. Cycling to workreduces the carbon footprint and helpsemployees stay fit while increasing theirsavings.

Our organisation has alwaysencouraged employees to cycle oreven walk to work. We started this ini-tiative as a sustainable practise onWorld Environment Day, 2018. Evenafter the nationwide lockdown easedlast year, many employees continuedcycling to work. The employees have

often talkedabout the benefitsof this initiative —right from saving upon petrol to seeing apositive change intheir body and mind-set.

These positivescan be used to create areward system for theemployees. Using an AI-pow-ered corporate wellness solutionin the form of a mobile application,weekly targets can be set for employ-ees. The app can be designed to helpemployees achieve health and wellnessthrough various activities and fitnesschallenges. Whenever employeesreach their targets, these can beincentivised with redeemable rewards.

Recognising their effort helpsmotivate them and all corporate lead-ers should try something along sim-ilar lines. The results would not dis-appoint them.

Install eco-friendly lighting in theworkplace

After conducting an employeesurvey sometime in May 2019, weswitched to eco-friendly lighting to fur-ther enhanced our green practises.

Something as simple as changinga light bulb can have a considerableenvironmental impact. LED lights arealso easier on the surroundings.Moreover, they produce far less toxicgases and use 75 per cent less energyas well.

Switch to PCW paperThe paper industry

generates huge amounts ofwaste every year. Sadly,paper also happens to be theone stationery item corpo-rate offices use a lot. Here’sanother finding — Post-con-

sumer waste or PCW paper isknown to use 45 per cent less

energy.So switching to PCW paper or

recycled paper will drastically reducewaste generation.This is a commonpractise in our company and employ-ees are more than happy to be activecontributors in reducing waste gener-ation as well as greenhouse gas emis-sions.

Encourage employees to volunteer incommunity environmental drives

Companies can either partici-pate in or host environmental drivesfrom time to time. Community par-ticipation and involvement are crucialto bringing about large-scale changeslocally. These eco-friendly drives andprogrammes can be anything fromcleaning up the locality to planting afew dozen saplings around the neigh-bourhood. Participating in such dri-ves makes employees feel engaged andproud of the organisation they workin and the values it stands for.

Use solar energy Using solar energy at workplaces

and organisations can do wonders.This form of energy is not only

cleaner than others but is alsoinexhaustible.

Implementing this solutionspeaks volumes about a compa-ny’s stance on sustainability and

green practises. Installing solarpanels will directly reflect anorganisation’s commitment toachieving sustainability in the

workplace.

Organise employee awareness pro-grammes

Employee awareness programmesshould be a regular occurrence. Awareemployees will become mindfulemployees who are conscious of theenvironmental impacts of their actionsin their daily lives.

Hosting environmental aware-ness programmes, recommendingeducational documentaries can edu-cate the employees and make themaware of the need for being extreme-ly responsible about their actions andlife choices. Moreover, they are moreengaged in creating an eco-friendlyand green workplace, ending up witha sense of satisfaction.

Keep indoor plants around theworkspace

Indoor plants are known to reduce87 per cent of indoor pollutants with-in 24 hours. It is recommended for allemployers to invest in quite a fewindoor plants for the workspace as thisalso eases anxiety to a great extent.

Time for mindful action!Creating an eco-conscious work-

force has become a top priority for cor-porations around the world. Suchactions not only create a green and sus-tainable workplace but also drivebusiness growth and profit. Researchshows that 77 per cent of consumerswant brands to be sustainable andenvironmentally responsible while 57per cent are willing to change theirpurchasing habits to reduce the neg-ative impact on the environment.

Building sustainable practises inthe workplace is all about takingthose seemingly tiny but meaningfulsteps on the ground level. Employersneed to recognise the beauty andpower of an eco-friendly workplaceand take initiatives to achieve the sameevery day of the year.

(The author is co-founder andCEO of a leading employee engagement solutions company.)

Lagaan needs no introduction. It wasa film that made its mark not just in

Hindi cinema, but the world stage too.The national award-winning docu-mentary Chale Chalo highlights themaking of this masterpiece, showing usthe struggle and belief that went behindAshutosh Gowariker’s dream project.

Made on a then-unprecedentedbudget of approximately �25 crores,Lagaan is a story of perseverance andinspiration which also reflects throughits team’s conviction. The movie produc-tion went through multiple challengeslike gathering a crowd of 10,000 peoplefor the cricket match sequence, shoot-ing under severe weather conditions,limited supply of water and electricity,transforming a building into a hotel ina small village in Gujarat for the accom-modation of the cast, A K Hangal brav-ing an injury to finish shooting his partand even Ashutosh directing from a cotafter suffering a slipped disc.

Elaborating about the film,

Ashutosh said, “The box office responseto my first two films jolted me. It alsoenlightened me to come back with astory that I believed in; a story thatwould encompass a cinema-lovingaudience. And the outcome was thescript of Lagaan. I was fortunate to haveAamir Khan back me on this one,despite our previous film not doing wellat the box office. I thank the audiencesfor showering so much love and admi-ration to Lagaan over the years”

At the same time, 20 years ago,Sunny Deol roared to save his love andbeloved nation in Gadar: Ek PremKatha and the echo has stayed alive withthe audience even today. Directed byAnil Sharma, no stone was left unturnedwhile giving the ‘real touch’ to each scenein the movie. The train sequence, at thebeginning of the movie, was shot at theAmritsar station where the historicalevents shown in the movie had actual-ly occurred. The station was given thelook of the 1940s to give an authentic

feel. The steam engine used for theshooting was hired from the RailwayMuseum in Delhi to bring alive the real-istic feel of that era.

Talking about the film, Sunny Deolexpressed, “Gadar is a beautiful lovestory. I was in Ooty shooting for a filmwhen Anil narrated the story to me andI instantly fell in love with the project.Like always, I went with my instincts andthat’s how it all started. I have had theopportunity to play some great charac-ters throughout my career but there wassomething special about the characterof Tara Singh. He is soft and sweet butcan turn the world upside down whenit comes to his family and country. Backthen, we didn’t predict that the dialoguesand songs of the movie would becomea rage.”

Despite releasing at the same time,these blockbuster films individuallycreated history on their merit and haveleft a lasting impression for generationsto come.

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Today we all are living in an age wheretechnology rules, yet many of us believe

that God is everywhere and in everythingaround us. According to most religious schol-ars, God is present in every creature andevery particle is his manifestation. However,is it really so?

Since the infiniteness of God leaves noroom for any other existence, some peopleput forth arguments to say that, besides God,whatever else appears has no real and sepa-rate existence. They say that what you call‘souls’, embodied in various forms, aren’t sep-arate from andidentical withinfinite God.The distinc-tion which wen o t i c ebetween thee m b o d i e dsouls and Godis, accordingto them, onlyin appearance.They call it adream or anillusion. Is thatreal ly thecase? If that’strue then why is there so much strife,hatred and sorrow in this world? For ages,humans have prayed to God and undertak-en penances to get a glimpse of him orreceive his blessings.

Now, from a rational point of view, thevery act of prayer is contrary to the belief inGod’s omnipresence, because if he is presenteverywhere and in every one what is the needto pray? And why have saints, seers and otherholy people searched for the supreme Godif he is everywhere? Furthermore, dreams,as far as man understands them now, are rep-resentative of suppressed wishes, reminiscentof past events and certain emotions whichare waiting to be fulfilled or exteriorised.They are not unreal but are correlated to thereal world.

Thus, it is unphilosophical and illogicalto theorise that God is infinite and that thesouls or jivas are not different from him andthat the world is a mere dream. The truth isthat souls are infinitesimal points of light,eternal in their existence and God is asupreme point of light.

When souls are suffering, they call outto God to come and liberate them from theirbondage and end their misery. It is thus obvi-ous from this that the soul is not God. If itwere God, then it would not be undergoingsuffering in the first place. And this alsoshows that God is not omnipresent. If he waspresent everywhere, then there would havebeen no need for anyone to pray and beg himto come and end their sorrows, right?Because he comes and liberates humansouls from the bondage of vices, which arethe root cause of all human suffering, Godis called a liberator. Remember, humansouls come into these bondages preciselybecause they are not God, who is never cap-tured by bondages as he is pure. That’s thereason why can purify another soul becauseall souls are caught in the same quagmire ofvices. So, let us connect to that one supremesource and enlighten ourselves with his pos-itive energy and powers to live a life of abun-dance.

Last week, the World HealthOrganisation (WHO) reported a 13per cent decrease in new COVID-19

cases in India. However, the number ofnew infections in the country remains thehighest in the world. As the pandemiccontinues to hold sway over large swathes,rural areas with no proper health infra-structure are bearing the brunt. This hasforced villagers to turn to quacks (med-ical practitioners who have received noformal training) for treatment.

The lack of information about govern-ment hospitals, medicines, treatments andvaccinations has affected the regulation ofthe virus in rural areas. Furthermore, thevillagers’ concerns have been heightenedby the fact that there are few or no doc-tors in the government hospitals in theirareas. In such a situation, the quacks haveassumed a larger role, ironically so, in sev-eral villages across the country.

The situation in Bihar’s Muzaffarpurdistrict is no better. The district has thehighest number of reported cases in thecountry. While the government reported208 COVID-19 deaths between April 1and May 20 in the district, according toa report published in an online portal, 315people were cremated at Muktidham cre-matorium during this time. The ruralareas of Sikanderpur, Mothijheel, TownThana, Khabda, Ramdayalu, Patahi,Bhagwanpur, Patahi, Bhikhanpura andMushahari block were most affected. Thelack of proper treatment resulted in thedeath of many patients in these areas.Ragini, a resident of Alkapuri colony inMuzaffarpur, expressed that people wereterrified at the mere mention of COVID-19.

“Those who test positive are isolatedin rooms. However, because the virus ishighly stigmatised, the infected person isnot treated well by the public. Imagine thesituation of the infected families withoutany support from their neighbours,” saidRagini.

Ankush Singh, a resident of Manikavillage in Mushahari block, while express-ing widespread fear among the rural pop-ulation, added that even after he recov-ered from the virus, no one was concernedabout his well-being. He also pointed out

the unprofessional behaviour of the staffat block hospitals. “Both my brother andI had tested positive. After several attemptsto be examined, the doctor at the block hos-pital prescribed medicines likeParacetamol, Doxycycline and vitaminswith no guidance or concern for patients,”Ankush informed. According to him,chemists and quacks are more concernedthan doctors about the well-being of thevillagers.

In Paru block, which reported sever-al positive cases, dispensary employees andquacks were treating people. Acceptingquacks as the first line of defence againstCOVID-19, District Councilor, DeveshChandra stated that they are a lifeline formore than 50,000 people in the block.These quacks, who do not have medicaldegrees, but practice medicine based ontheir practical experience, have kept the sit-uation in the villages from going haywire.

Quacks Balram Shah, Umesh Prasad,Ganesh Pandit, Asharfi

Bhagat, ParmeshwarPrasad, and others in

Paru Block had decided to come forwardand assist the villagers. “Whatever medicalexperience we have gained over theyears, the villagers are benefiting fromit. The situation was such that people

were scared and unwilling to get vaccinat-ed and, therefore, we decided not to leave

them under such circumstances.We are likely to get infected in theprocess, but helping people is the

need of the hour,” said these quacks. Theblock medical officer, on the other hand,stated that trained healthcare workers aregoing to villages for inspection, vaccination,and to provide medicines on a regular basis.At the block level, consultation, medicineand inspection are available.

Regardless, the pandemic hasundoubtedly exposed the condition ofhealth infrastructure in rural areas. Thesituation in Bihar’s Vaishali district is alsosimilar. Basant Kumar, a homoeopathicpractitioner from Chaklahlad village inVaishali district, while sharing his expe-rience, said, “I went to the block healthcentre to get the rapid antigen testdone. The centre was crowded with noCOVID-19 guidelines being followed.Although I had registered myself, due tothe huge crowd, I had to return withoutgetting tested. Two days later, I receiveda message on my mobile number inform-ing me that I had tested negative. I wasshocked to receive that message.”

Basant claimed that several people inhis village received negative reportswithout being tested. He believes thateven in medical colleges, Covid positivepatients are not being cared for. Villagershave become hesitant about visitinggovernment hospitals and started rely-ing on these quacks.

It should be noted, however, that thepurpose of this article is not to recogniseor glorify quack doctors. But, at the sametime, it is equally important to note thatif properly trained, these quacks can playa critical role in reaching out to villagers.The government should consider train-ing these quacks on COVID-19 proto-cols and benefitting from their knowl-edge and the relationship they share withvillagers in creating awareness about pre-ventive measures and vaccination inthese hard-to-reach areas. West Bengalgovernment has already ordered to trainand tag quacks with health workers tohelp in surveillance so that the COVID-19 treatment (of patients) can startearly; specifically in remote rural areaswhere proper doctors are not readilyavailable. If successful, other statesshould also follow suit.

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Summers can be difficult in a lotof ways as the heat has drastic

effects on us in the form of heatstroke, sunburn and dehydra-tion among other things. With thesoaring temperature, even whenmost of us are restricted indoors,it is easy to lose focus on ourhealth. Severe sweating can causean electrolyte imbalance due tothe loss of sodium from the bodyand often demotivates peoplefrom working out. The same isfollowed by a loss of appetite andan absence of cravings for oily,high-calorie foods. These factorscan be used to your advantage ifyou wish to lose weight, by fol-lowing certain dietary habits andfulfilling the cravings for light andcold foods.

Drink lots of water and healthybeverage alternatives

The best way to remainhydrated in summers is by drink-ing a lot of water. You can put asliced lemon and some mintleaves in your water jug for added

benefits and flavour.You can replace yourtea and coffee withgreen tea. As perresearch, if drunk inmoderate amounts, it can be ashydrating as water. Its anti-inflammatory properties will helpwith other summer issues likecooling down the redness andswelling of sunburn, acne or irri-tation.

Meditate to stay away fromstress

It is easy to be irritated andrestless during summers due tothe unbearable heat. In presentcircumstances where you areworking from home, you can getstressed. All this will affect yourmental peace, hence it is recom-mended to indulge in a long ses-sion of meditation to stay awayfrom stress which triggers hor-mones like cortisol resulting inweight gain. Cortisol doesn’t onlycause sugar cravings but alsoslows down metabolism.

Don’t overeat andadd healthy alternatives to yourdiet

When you lose appetite dur-ing summers, it is easy to fill your-self with finger foods or otherjunk food, often resulting inovereating. To avoid unhealthyfood habits, opt for healthieralternatives. Add foods likequinoa, trail mix, seeds, and oliveoil to your diet. Not only will thiskeep you full, but its added ben-efits will help lose weight. Quinoais one of the healthiest and mostversatile ingredients out there,which is power-packed withnutrients and can be easily incor-porated into most dishes.

Similarly, incorporatingseeds and olive oil will pro-

vide you with a fibre-richdiet.

Do yoga and low-impact exercis-es to remain fit

While it is unimaginable toindulge in a heavy workout dur-ing the summer months, youdon’t want to lose your gains interms of weight loss by missingexercise. Hence, do yoga andother low-impact exercises that,apart from helping you keep fit,act as a stress-buster. This caninclude walking, swimming,cycling or elliptical cardio too.

Reduce sugar intake andreplace it with healthy alterna-tives

We may not want to eatheavy foods but craving cold softdrinks during the summers is

something we all succumb to.But it increases our sugar intake,which is the case even when wemake smoothies and shakes athome. Instead of using sugar, usehealthier alternatives like honeyand stevia. Stevia is a non-nutri-tive and zero-calorie sweetenerthat is made of steviol glycosidesextracted from the leaves of aplant with the same name. It isknown to reduce calorie intake,blood sugar levels and risk ofcavities.

Healthy snacks For your hunger pangs,

always keep healthy snacks andcookies with you, especially ifyou are diabetic. Sort out yoursnacks for midday, post-lunch,midnight in the form of trailmix, cookies and granola bars. Itwill deter you from indulging ineating unhealthy snacks.

Start your mornings with healthyfood

Breakfast is the most impor-tant meal of the day. How you startyour day essentially determines therest of your day. It is recommend-ed to start the morning with lightand healthy food like corn flakesor muesli. It will keep you filled forlonger and won’t be heavy on thegut. One can also go for summerfruits as they will keep you hydrat-ed as well.

In a nutshell, keep yourself atease with light foods and exercis-es. You wouldn’t want to miss outon healthy ingredients in your diet,therefore incorporate them intoyour food in different ways. It ispossible to have a tasty and healthydiet at the same time.

(The author is director andfounder of an entrepreneurial

venture in the wellness and skin-care space.)

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New Zealand overpoweredEngland by eight wickets in

the second Test at Edgbaston onSunday as they sealed a 1-0series win with more than a dayto spare.

Set a target of just 38 afterEngland tailender Olly Stonewas out to the very first ball ofthe fourth day, the Blackcaps fin-ished on 41-2.

Tom Latham, captainingthe team in place of the injuredKane Williamson, hit the win-ning boundary to be 23 not outafter the first Test of a two-matchseries at Lord’s last week endedin a draw.

Victory gave New Zealandjust a third win in 18 Test seriesin England, and a first this cen-tury after their 1986 and 1999triumphs.

And it means they will headinto next week’s inaugural WorldTest Championship final againstIndia at Southampton in confi-dent mood.

“It’s great to get an extra day

of rest before India but we’ll cel-ebrate as well — we’ve not wonhere since 1999, so it’s importantto celebrate those achievements,”said Latham at the presentationceremony.

By contrast, this wasEngland’s first series loss athome since a 2014 defeat by SriLanka.

“It hasn’t been our bestweek, has it?” England captainJoe Root told BBC Radio.

“I think we’ve massively

underperformed. Credit to NewZealand, they have outper-formed us throughout thegame.”

Matt Henry was namedplayer of the match followingoverall figures of 6-114.

South Africa-born openerDevon Conway was namedNew Zealand’s player of theseries after he followed aremarkable 200 on Test debut atLord’s with 80 in the first inningsof this match.

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French Open championBarbora Krejcikova com-

pleted a rare sweep of titlesat Roland Garros as she wona third women’s doublesmajor trophy with fellowCzech teammate KaterinaSiniakova on Sunday.

Less than 24 hours aftershe claimed her maiden sin-gles slam title, Krejcikovabecame the first womansince Mary Pierce in 2000 tolift both trophies at the clay-court major. Only sevenwomen have completed thetitles sweep at RolandGarros.

“Right now after all ofthis happened, this last twoweeks, last two days, I feelreally relieved and relaxed,”Krejcikova said.

“I just know from now

on I can really enjoy becauseI have pretty much achievedeverything I really wanted.Now I can just improve,that's the only thing I can do,just improving.”

In addition to her pair oftrophies, Krejcikova willreclaim the No 1 spot in thedoubles rankings next week.

“We will have a little bitglass of champagne,”Krejcikova said. “I alreadysaid I don’t really drink butI think it’s a time to actuallycelebrate it. I think we goingto really enjoy.”

Krejcikova, who defeat-ed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkovafor the women’s singles titleon Saturday, also becamethe first player to sweep bothtitles at any Grand Slamtournament since SerenaWilliams at Wimbledon in2016.

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Raheem Sterling ignitedEngland’s Euro 2020 cam-paign as the Manchester City

forward’s clinical finish sealed a 1-0 win against Croatia in theirGroup D opener on Sunday.

Gareth Southgate’s side werestruggling to break down Croatiauntil Sterling struck in the secondhalf at sun-baked Wembley.

The 26-year-old’s first goal ata major tournament — in his 13thgame — was the perfect riposte tocritics who questioned Southgate’sdecision to select him instead ofJack Grealish.

Sterling has endured a che-quered relationship with Englandfans after being hounded followinghis tame performances at Euro2016.

He also struggled to hold downa place with Premier League cham-pions City this term, culminatingin his lacklustre display in theirChampions League final defeatagainst Chelsea.

But, days after he was given anMBE in the Queen’s BirthdayHonours List for his anti-racismcampaigning, Sterling enjoyed aperfectly-timed moment ofredemption.

In a rematch of the 2018 WorldCup semi-final won by Croatia,England were hampered by a lackof cutting edge until Sterling cameto the rescue.

Sterling’s winner eased thetension at Wembley and got fansbellowing ‘Football’s coming home’in the hope England can emulatetheir run to the semi-finals whenthey hosted Euro 96, and maybe

even win a major tournament forthe first time since the 1966 WorldCup.

In truth, this was a far fromconvincing performance, butSouthgate will take heart from theway his team kept their nerve ona pressure-packed occasion.

England host neighboursScotland in their second Group Dmatch on Friday before taking onthe Czech Republic in their finalgame of the first stage on June 22.

FINLAND SNATCH WINCopenhagen: Finland beat

Denmark 1-0 in their openingmatch of Euro 2020 which wasovershadowed by ChristianEriksen collapsing and having tobe revived on the field by medics.

Joel Pohjanpalo scored theonly goal on the hour mark of aGroup B match which wasstopped for nearly two hours afterDanish playmaker Eriksenslumped to the turf towards theend of the first half.

The match, which had kickedoff at 1800 local time (1600 GMT),resumed two-and-a-half hourslater in front of a passionate

crowd at the Parken Stadium.The two teams played out an

uneventful final few minutes ofthe first half after both sets of play-ers returned to the pitch with sev-eral Danish players in tears.

After a short break of fiveminutes the second half of thematch continued with a similarpattern as before Eriksen’s col-lapse.

Pohjanpalo stunned the crowdinto silence with when he headedhome Jere Uronen’s cross, capital-ising on Finland’s one true chanceof the game.

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St Petersburg: Belgium strikerRomelu Lukaku sent a message ofsupport to his stricken InterMilan team-mate ChristianEriksen after scoring, as his dou-ble helped the Red Devils opentheir Euro 2020 campaign with a3-0 win over Russia on Saturday.

Lukaku gave Belgium anearly lead in Saint Petersburg,then shouted “Chris, Chris, staystrong - I love you” into a pitch-side camera during the celebra-tion for his opening goal.

“I am really happy with thewin, but it was hard for me to playbecause my thoughts were withChristian Erkisen,” said Lukaku,who revealed he cried tears ofconcern before kick-off for hisInter team-mate.

Substitute Thomas Meunier

doubled Belgium’s lead on 34minutes before Lukaku put theresult beyond doubt with a latesecond goal.

Belgium, the world’s top-ranked team, are under pressureto deliver at the EuropeanChampionship as some punditsclaim this is Martinez’s lastchance to win a title with an age-ing squad.

Yet even with ManchesterCity playmaker Kevin De Bruyneand Borussia Dortmund mid-fielder Axel Witsel sidelined byinjury, Belgium were too strongfor Russia.

Before kick-off, the Belgiumteam were booed for taking aknee to highlight racial injustice,while their Russian opponentsstood. AFP

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Birmingham: India is dan-gerous on all fronts, NewZealand vice-captain TomLatham on Sunday said oftheir challengers for theWorld Test Championshipcrown, describing the Virat-Kohli unit a “completelydifferent side” from van-quished England.

In the absence ofinjured Kane Williamson,Latham led the team to amemorable 1-0 Test seriestriumph in the two-matchrubber against hostsEngland, their first in theUK since 1999.

Asked where does hesee the biggest danger fromIndia coming, Latham said,“All around the board.”

“They’ve got a fantasticset of bowlers, a lot of qual-ity batsmen that have scoredruns in different conditionsall round the world. Theywere over here a few yearsago and played really well,so we know we’ll have toplay well to beat them.”

While the team cele-brated a fine series triumph,Latham said the focus willshift to India in two days’-

time.“The preparation has

been great but it’s importantthat we do shift our focus

and adapt to a completelydifferent side,” he said at thepost-match press confer-ence.

Latham said that India’sperformances on their tourof England in 2018 — albeitin a 4-1 series defeat —showed that they would betough to beat at the AgeasBowl.

The inaugural WTCfinal is scheduled to be heldin Southampton from June18-23.

With the match finish-ing in under four days, theKiwis will get a day extra torest and prepare for theIndia challenge.

“Great to put the feet upfor a day, big challengecoming up but looking for-ward to celebrating, haven’twon here since 1999, so cel-ebrate tonight and thenlook forward,” Latham said.

“Great support fromKiwis, the English and alsoback home. Atmospherewas amazing.”

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Novak Djokovic has wonhis second FrenchOpen championship

and his 19th Grand Slam titleby rallying past Stefanos

Tsitsipas in a seesaw final atRoland Garros. The score was6-7 (6), 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.

Djokovic also erased atwo-set deficit to win in thefourth round, and has done itsix times in his career.

The 22-year-old Tsitsipaslooked like the fresher playerearly on, and Djokovic wascoming off an epic semifinalvictory over Rafael Nadal. Butthe 34-year-old Serb found hisform and held every service

game in the final three sets.Djokovic improved to 35-

10 in five-set matches. He haswon the first two majors of theyear, and at Wimbledon he'llhave a chance to match themen’s record of 20 Grand

Slam titles shared by Nadaland Roger Federer.

Djokovic joined RodLaver and Roy Emerson as theonly men to win each of thefour major tournaments atleast twice.

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The Pioneer · a ,- + ( * ˘˝ ˝ # ˘ ˝ ˛ ˛ ˚ ˙˝ ˜ ˙ ˛ !! & ˝ ˝˝ ˝ ˚&’ &()* $ $ +...

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Transcript of The Pioneer · a ,- + ( * ˘˝ ˝ # ˘ ˝ ˛ ˛ ˚ ˙˝ ˜ ˙ ˛ !! & ˝ ˝˝ ˝ ˚&’ &()* $ $ +...