2020/09/19  · an organisation of 62 farmers unions,” he said, adding that farmers will hit the...

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A day after the Lok Sabha passed two contentious agriculture Bills, despite the opposition by BJP’s oldest ally Shiromani Akali Dal terming it as an “anti-farmer” move, farm- ers’ protests have spread in sev- eral States, including Maharashtra, Punjab, Haryana, Telangana, Chhattisgarh and western Uttar Pradesh. A protesting farmer in Punjab on Friday tried to com- mit suicide by consuming poi- sonous substance. Farmers’ organisations have decided to hold a “rail roko” agitation from September 24 to 26 in protest against the Bills. Thousands of farmers from western Uttar Pradesh held a sit in protest on the Delhi-Meerut expressway on Friday. The Congress has announced to launch a nation- wide agitation against the farm Bills and is in talks with other Opposition parties to corner the Modi Government. Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal on Friday said Punjab alone would suffer a loss of 4,000 crore every year due to these legislations that will lead to mass destruction of rural liveli- hoods, increase farmer distress. “We have decided to hold a rail roko nationwide agitation from September 24 to 26 against the three agriculture legislations,” Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee general secretary Sarwan Singh Pandher said. Already, differ- ent farmer organisations in Punjab have given a call for a “bandh” on September 25. A protesting farmer has tried to commit suicide in Badal village, the hometown of the Badals, in Muktsar district. He ate poison on Friday morn- ing around 6:30 and his con- dition is still critical. Thousands of farmers are sitting on dharna in Muktsar, Amritsar and other areas in Punjab under the banner of Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee, Bhartiya Kisan Union, All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee and Rashtriya Kisan Mahasangh. The farmers argue that the legislations would lead to the dismantling of the minimum support price (MSP) system, leaving them at the “mercy” of big corporates. According to Rakesh Tikait, Bharatiya Kisan Union, thou- sands of farmers have protest- ed at the Delhi-Meerut Expressway against the passage of farm Bills. A member of Punjab Aarhtia Association, said, “These legislations will ruin the agriculture marketing infra- structure network created in the past five decades. Benod Anand of Rashtriya Kisan Mahasangh, an organisation of 62 farmers unions,” he said, adding that farmers will hit the road on September 24 across India. The Centre has brought the Bills without discussion with stakeholders, he alleged. “Agriculture falls in the State list of subjects,” he said, adding that the Union Government’s action impinges on the State’s rights. Traditionally at odds (farmers and arthiyas) are together in this one-on-one against the BJP-led Centre aided by Opposition parties, farmers’ organisations and activists. Perhaps the real issue is too technical and the threat of new ecosystem rendering MSP irrelevant more impacting. In Haryana, the members of the Bharatiya Kisan Union blocked the national highway-44 on September 10, demanding the immediate withdrawal of the agriculture ordinances. Protesters were also baton charged in Pipli near Haryana’s Kurukshetra, for defying the administration’s warnings dur- ing the coronavirus pandemic. Harsimrat Kaur Badal, an Akali Dal MP who resigned from the Prime Minister’s Cabinet on Thursday over the farm Bills, said she has opposed the ordinance and requested it to a select committee. The Congress said any move to “disturb” the present procurement system may deep- en “social unrest” amongst farmers of the state”. “We urge upon the Government to review and reconsider these measures as these are unlikely to deliver on the promises made to them. Agri-marketing should be left to the states as envisaged in the Constitution,” the party said. Breaking his silence after his resignation as a Minister last year, the cricketer-turned- politician Navjot Singh Sidhu described farming as the “soul of Punjab”. In a tweet in Punjabi, he said, “Farming is the soul of Punjab, the wounds of the body can heal but an attack on our spirit, our exis- tence will not be tolerated. The war trumpet says Inqilab Zindabad, Punjab, Punjabiyat and each Punjabi are with the farmers.” The three Bills will now be tabled in the Rajya Sabha and become laws after the Upper House also passes them. The Bills seek to open up the farm sector to more competition, modernise supply chains by allowing bigger agribusinesses to engage directly with farmers and create seamless access to markets. A ccusing the opponents of the agriculture Bills passed by the Lok Sabha of “standing with middlemen”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday assured farm- ers that the Government’s pur- chase of their produce and Minimum Support price (MSP) would continue. He asked them “not to be mislead by the lies” of those “who ruled the country for decades”. Asserting that three Bills passed by the Lok Sabha on Thursday were aimed at “reforming agriculture”, the Prime Minister said the legislation would “free” farmers to sell their produce anywhere in the country and fetch them more returns. He said new moves by the Government would pro- vide farmers with “rakhsha kavach ” and save them from brokers. “But a few people who ruled the country for decades are trying to mislead farmers and telling lies. They had promised about the reform in their manifesto but forgot after reforms and when the NDA implementing them, these people are creating mis- givings,” Modi said on the occasion of inauguration of Kosi rail mega bridge in Bihar while addressing through video conference. Without naming the Congress, Modi hit out at the Opposition party for “double crossing” farmers and creating “disinformation”. Praising Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Modi said, “Nitish understood what damage Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC), set up by States to regulate markets, had done to the farmers and “removed APMC Act in the State.” A day after Akali Dal’s Harsimrat Kaur Badal resigned from the Union Cabinet opposing the contro- versial farms Bills, Haryana Deputy Chief Minister and JJP leader Dushyant Chautala met Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Friday in a bid to find a way out of the vexed sit- uation with farmers on the warpath in the State. Sources said the State Government would reach out to the farmers and their organisations to take the mes- sage across that the Bills would actually help their cause. JJP leader Digvijay Singh Chautala asserted that the party’s coalition with the BJP in Haryana is going strong and accused the Opposition Congress of trying to mislead the farmers. He downplayed reports that there was fissure in the alliance saying the Congress spreads rumours. Interestingly, JJP had ear- lier apologised for the lath- icharge on farmers in Kurukshetra’s Pipli last week when farmers were protesting against the three farm ordi- nances promulgated by the Union Government. Asked if the JJP was fac- ing any pressure in its alliance with the BJP after Harsimrat’s resignation, Digvijay said, “Our tie-up is strong. Our responsibility is to ensure that farmers’ crops are procured as per the MSP and we will ensure this in the upcoming procurement season. The biggest issue is the MSP. It is our commitment to farmers that we will not allow their crops to be procured below the minimum support price.” Digvijay’s elder brother and Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant and Khattar held a meeting in the backdrop of the developments in both Punjab and Haryana where farmers have repeatedly taken to the streets against the farm Bills, which they have dubbed as “anti-farmer”. They have expressed apprehension that the passage of these Bills would pave the way for the dismantling of the MSP system and leave the farming community at the “mercy” of big corporates. On the meeting between Khattar and Dushyant, Digvijay said the two held dis- cussions on a range of issues, including the steps to be taken to ensure smooth crop pro- curement in the upcoming season. The lathicharge on farmers also figured in the dis- cussions, he said without elab- orating. Meanwhile, the Opposition Congress sought a special Session of the Haryana Assembly to discuss the impact and ramifications of the three farm-related Bills passed by the Lok Sabha. Former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said his party will move a resolu- tion against the legislation when the assembly session is convened. Led by Hooda, who is the Leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly, a delega- tion of Haryana Congress MLAs submitted a memo- randum to Governor Satyadev Narayan Arya. “We request you to recommend to the Union Government not to pursue the Bills recently passed in the Lok Sabha as these are against the interest of millions of small and mar- ginal farmers,” the Congress said in the memorandum. The Congress said any move to disturb the present procurement system may deepen social unrest amongst farmers of the State. “We urge upon the Government to review and reconsider these measures as these are unlike- ly to deliver on the promises made to them. Agri-market- ing should be left to the states as envisaged in the Constitution,” the party said. P unjab on Friday reported 2,817 fresh cases of the novel coronavirus besides 62 casualties, pushing the State’s Covid-19 tally to 92,833, and the death toll to 2,708. Friday’s infection tally is the second highest the Sstate has wit- nessed in a single day. Only a day before, as many as 2,896 cases were reported in a span of 24 hours. Maximum number of infec- tions were reported from Ludhiana with 437 new cases of Covid-19, followed by Amritsar with 401 cases, SAS Nagar (Mohali) with 312, Jalandhar with 307, Patiala 219, Hoshiarpur 163, Gurdaspur 131, Pathankot 119, Bathinda 105, Kapurthala 85, Fazilka 73, Faridkot 69, Ferozepur 57, Sangrur 55, Tarn Taran 49, Muktsar 43, Barnala 43, Ropar 42, Mansa 42, Fatehgarh Sahib 32, SBS Nagar (Nawanshahr) with 27 cases, and Moga with six. As many as seven districts of the state have active cases in four-digit figure - SAS Nagar (Mohali) has the highest with 2,613, followed by Jalandhar with 2,435, Patiala (2,139), Ludhiana (1,898), Bathinda (1,670), Amritsar (1,566), and Gurdaspur (1,537) - accounting for 63.97 per cent of the total active cases in the State, and 14.93 per cent of the total pos- itive cases reported till date in the State. Punjab has 21,662 active cases, which is 23.33 per cent of the total cases. Among these, 501 patients are on oxy- gen support; while 76 are crit- ical and on ventilator support. Among the Covid-19 fatal- ities, Ludhiana reported high- est with 12 new deaths; fol- lowed by 10 in Jalandhar; seven in Hoshiarpur; six in SAS Nagar (Mohali); five in Patiala; two each in Amritsar, Barnala, Gurdaspur, Kapurthala, Muktsar, SBS Nagar, Sangrur, and Tarn Taran; and one each in Bathinda, Faridkot, Fatehgarh Sahib, Moga, Pathankot, and Ropar. A total of 2,645 coron- avirus patients - including 382 from Gurdaspur, 228 from Mohali, 223 from Kapurthala, 208 from Amritsar, 206 from Patiala, 174 from Jalandhar, 113 from Bathinda, 100 from Hoshiarpur, among others — were discharged in the last 24 hours after recovering from the contagion. With this, the total number of recoveries has increased to 68,463 -73.75 per cent. 23 MORE DIE IN HARYANA; STATE REPORTS 2,488 FRESH CASES Haryana on Friday report- ed 23 more Covid-19 fatalities, taking the death toll to 1,092, while 2,488 fresh cases pushed the infection count in the State to 1,06,261. Of the 23 fatalities, three each were from Gurgaon and Panchkula. Two each per- sons died in Faridabad, Ambala, Hisar, Kurukshetra, Sirsa and Yamunanagar while one death each took place in Fatehabad, Bhiwani, Jhajjar, Karnal and Rohtak, according to the health department’s daily bulletin. Among the districts which reported a big spike in coron- avirus cases included Gurugram (339), Faridabad (287), Sonipat (171), Hisar (167), Panchkula (157), Kurukshetra (131) and Sirsa (121). The active cases in the State currently are 21,291, while 83,878 have been discharged after recovery, as per the bul- letin. As of Friday, the state has a recovery rate of 78.94 per cent. The fatality rate is 1.03 per cent while the rate at which infections are doubling is 27 days. The Covid-19 positivity rate is 6.57 per cent, it stated. W ith strong opposition by the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) to the BJP-led Central Government’s three agriculture- related bills coupled with Harsimrat Badal’s resignation from the Union Cabinet in protest, the already-strained rela- tionship between the decades old alliance partners, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the SAD, has taken another hit with the saffron party toughening its stand against the Akalis. Not only Harsimrat’s res- ignation as the Union Minister of Food Processing Industries was accepted by the President Ram Nath Kovind, Punjab’s BJP top brass has given enough indications that it would not be bogged down by Akalis’ deci- sions. In fact, the senior BJP leaders have made it clear that it was upon the Akali Dal to decide whether they want to make or mar the coalition. What is more! In the absence of support of its ally, SAD, on the issue of agri bills, the saffron brigade has decid- ed to fight its own battle. It has decided to go house to house, covering all villages, meeting people, and making them aware of the benefits of these bills. “BJP will go to each vil- lage in the State and readdress the issues of any misunder- standing over this ordinance to the farmers,” said Punjab BJP president Ashwani Sharma, adding that the party would clear their doubts. Sharma said the party would also “work out on any suggestions by the agrarian community and will strive to always work for economic bet- terment”. At the same time, he appealed to the farmers not to be misled by “petty politics of Opposition parties”. The State BJP chief alleged that the Opposition was a “fraud” by misleading the farm- ers that MSP (minimum sup- port price) will be withdrawn. “MSP was there for decades, MSP will stay and every grain of the farmer will be pur- chased by the government,” said Sharma, adding that the option is being given to the farmers that they can sell their produce anywhere in the coun- try at the best price offered. “Never in history has the farmer been given the oppor- tunity to merchandise his crop at optimum price. It’s a revolu- tion in the farming sector,” said Sharma hailing the three bills which he described as “revolu- tionary” which would eco- nomically uplift the agricul- ture community in the nation. Even as the SAD had given indications that it would con- tinue its support to the NDA, the talks of snapping ties in Punjab has once again gained steam. State BJP leaders have all along been pushing the pro- posal of claiming a larger seat share than its ally, and play the role of a big brother in the alliance, which Akali Dal has been playing till date. And with SAD deciding to quit the Cabinet in protest against its own Government’s move, the BJP leaders in the State have once again laid claim on 59 seats out of total 117. “We have not snapped the ties, nor did we ask them to do so or pressurised them. Staying in coalition or not, is upon them to decide,” said senior BJP leader Madan Mohan Mittal, adding that if they wanted to fight polls together, “we will give them 58”. The coalition between the SAD and BJP dates back since 1997, and has a settled seat- sharing formula. Out of the total 117 assembly seats in Punjab, the BJP fights on 23 while the Akalis contest the rest, while in parliamentary elections, the BJP gets three seats against 10 for the SAD. Akalis’ traditional vote bank includes the Sikh rural peas- antry, while the BJP’s vote bank mainly comprised the urban and the semi-urban trader communities. T he Lok Sabha on Friday witnessed heated exchanges between the Congress and the BJP members, leading to four adjournments over Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur barb that Sonia “Gandhi family was cheating the public”, during a debate on the tax laws amendment Act to include tax concessions to donations in PM Cares Fund. The Lok Sabha resumed only after Thakur apologised. Chaos started after Congress MPs Shashi Tharoor, Manish Tewari and TMC MP Sougata Roy opposed the cre- ation of PM Cares Fund and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman allowed her deputy Thakur to reply to the Opposition charges. Praising Prime Minister Naredra Modi and the fund, Thakur started attacking the Opposition and alleged that “Gandhi family” fooled the people by including the Congress president in the PMNRF set up by Jawaharlal Nehru.

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Page 1: 2020/09/19  · an organisation of 62 farmers unions,” he said, adding that farmers will hit the road on September 24 across India. The Centre has brought the Bills without discussion

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Aday after the Lok Sabhapassed two contentious

agriculture Bills, despite theopposition by BJP’s oldest allyShiromani Akali Dal terming itas an “anti-farmer” move, farm-ers’ protests have spread in sev-eral States, includingMaharashtra, Punjab, Haryana,Telangana, Chhattisgarh andwestern Uttar Pradesh.

A protesting farmer inPunjab on Friday tried to com-mit suicide by consuming poi-sonous substance. Farmers’organisations have decided tohold a “rail roko” agitationfrom September 24 to 26 inprotest against the Bills.Thousands of farmers fromwestern Uttar Pradesh held a sitin protest on the Delhi-Meerutexpressway on Friday.

The Congress hasannounced to launch a nation-wide agitation against the farmBills and is in talks with otherOpposition parties to cornerthe Modi Government. PunjabFinance Minister ManpreetSingh Badal on Friday saidPunjab alone would suffer a lossof �4,000 crore every year due tothese legislations that will lead tomass destruction of rural liveli-hoods, increase farmer distress.

“We have decided to holda rail roko nationwide agitationfrom September 24 to 26against the three agriculturelegislations,” Kisan MazdoorSangharsh Committee generalsecretary Sarwan SinghPandher said. Already, differ-ent farmer organisations inPunjab have given a call for a“bandh” on September 25.

A protesting farmer hastried to commit suicide inBadal village, the hometown ofthe Badals, in Muktsar district.He ate poison on Friday morn-ing around 6:30 and his con-dition is still critical.

Thousands of farmers aresitting on dharna in Muktsar,Amritsar and other areas inPunjab under the banner ofKisan Mazdoor SangharshCommittee, Bhartiya KisanUnion, All India KisanSangharsh CoordinationCommittee and RashtriyaKisan Mahasangh. The farmersargue that the legislationswould lead to the dismantlingof the minimum support price(MSP) system, leaving them at

the “mercy” of big corporates.According to Rakesh Tikait,Bharatiya Kisan Union, thou-sands of farmers have protest-ed at the Delhi-MeerutExpressway against the passageof farm Bills.

A member of PunjabAarhtia Association, said,“These legislations will ruinthe agriculture marketing infra-structure network created in thepast five decades. Benod Anandof Rashtriya Kisan Mahasangh,an organisation of 62 farmersunions,” he said, adding thatfarmers will hit the road onSeptember 24 across India.

The Centre has brought theBills without discussion withstakeholders, he alleged.

“Agriculture falls in theState list of subjects,” he said,adding that the UnionGovernment’s action impingeson the State’s rights.Traditionally at odds (farmersand arthiyas) are together inthis one-on-one against theBJP-led Centre aided byOpposition parties, farmers’organisations and activists.Perhaps the real issue is tootechnical and the threat ofnew ecosystem rendering MSPirrelevant more impacting. In

Haryana, the members of theBharatiya Kisan Union blockedthe national highway-44 onSeptember 10, demanding theimmediate withdrawal of theagriculture ordinances.

Protesters were also batoncharged in Pipli near Haryana’sKurukshetra, for defying theadministration’s warnings dur-ing the coronavirus pandemic.

Harsimrat Kaur Badal, anAkali Dal MP who resignedfrom the Prime Minister’sCabinet on Thursday over thefarm Bills, said she has opposedthe ordinance and requested itto a select committee.

The Congress said anymove to “disturb” the presentprocurement system may deep-en “social unrest” amongstfarmers of the state”.

“We urge upon theGovernment to review andreconsider these measures asthese are unlikely to deliver onthe promises made to them.Agri-marketing should be leftto the states as envisaged in theConstitution,” the party said.

Breaking his silence afterhis resignation as a Ministerlast year, the cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhudescribed farming as the “soulof Punjab”. In a tweet inPunjabi, he said, “Farming isthe soul of Punjab, the woundsof the body can heal but anattack on our spirit, our exis-tence will not be tolerated.The war trumpet says InqilabZindabad, Punjab, Punjabiyatand each Punjabi are with the

farmers.”The three Bills will now be

tabled in the Rajya Sabha andbecome laws after the UpperHouse also passes them. TheBills seek to open up the farmsector to more competition,modernise supply chains byallowing bigger agribusinessesto engage directly with farmersand create seamless access tomarkets.

����������� ������ ������� ���� ���

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Accusing the opponents ofthe agriculture Bills

passed by the Lok Sabha of“standing with middlemen”,Prime Minister NarendraModi on Friday assured farm-ers that the Government’s pur-chase of their produce andMinimum Support price(MSP) would continue. Heasked them “not to be misleadby the lies” of those “who ruledthe country for decades”.

Asserting that three Billspassed by the Lok Sabha onThursday were aimed at“reforming agriculture”, thePrime Minister said the legislation would“free” farmers to sell theirproduce anywhere in thecountry and fetch them morereturns. He said new moves bythe Government would pro-vide farmers with “rakhshakavach” and save them from brokers.

“But a few people whoruled the country for decadesare trying to mislead farmersand telling lies. They hadpromised about the reform intheir manifesto but forgotafter reforms and when the

NDA implementing them,these people are creating mis-givings,” Modi said on theoccasion of inauguration ofKosi rail mega bridge in Biharwhile addressing throughvideo conference.

Without naming theCongress, Modi hit out at theOpposition party for “doublecrossing” farmers and creating“disinformation”.

Praising Bihar ChiefMinister Nitish Kumar, Modisaid, “Nitish understood whatdamage Agriculture ProduceMarket Committee (APMC),set up by States to regulatemarkets, had done to thefarmers and “removed APMCAct in the State.”

����������������� �

Aday after Akali Dal’sHarsimrat Kaur Badal

resigned from the UnionCabinet opposing the contro-versial farms Bills, HaryanaDeputy Chief Minister and JJPleader Dushyant Chautala metChief Minister Manohar LalKhattar on Friday in a bid tofind a way out of the vexed sit-uation with farmers on thewarpath in the State.

Sources said the StateGovernment would reach outto the farmers and theirorganisations to take the mes-sage across that the Billswould actually help theircause.

JJP leader Digvijay SinghChautala asserted that theparty’s coalition with the BJPin Haryana is going strongand accused the OppositionCongress of trying to misleadthe farmers. He downplayedreports that there was fissurein the alliance saying theCongress spreads rumours.

Interestingly, JJP had ear-lier apologised for the lath-icharge on farmers inKurukshetra’s Pipli last weekwhen farmers were protestingagainst the three farm ordi-nances promulgated by theUnion Government.

Asked if the JJP was fac-ing any pressure in its alliancewith the BJP after Harsimrat’sresignation, Digvijay said,“Our tie-up is strong. Ourresponsibility is to ensure thatfarmers’ crops are procured asper the MSP and we willensure this in the upcomingprocurement season. Thebiggest issue is the MSP. It isour commitment to farmersthat we will not allow theircrops to be procured belowthe minimum support price.”

Digvijay’s elder brotherand Deputy Chief MinisterDushyant and Khattar held a

meeting in the backdrop ofthe developments in bothPunjab and Haryana wherefarmers have repeatedly takento the streets against the farmBills, which they have dubbedas “anti-farmer”.

They have expressedapprehension that the passageof these Bills would pave theway for the dismantling of theMSP system and leave thefarming community at the“mercy” of big corporates.

On the meeting betweenKhattar and Dushyant,Digvijay said the two held dis-cussions on a range of issues,including the steps to be takento ensure smooth crop pro-curement in the upcomingseason. The lathicharge onfarmers also figured in the dis-cussions, he said without elab-orating.

Meanwhile, theOpposition Congress soughta special Session of theHaryana Assembly to discussthe impact and ramificationsof the three farm-related Billspassed by the Lok Sabha.

Former Chief MinisterBhupinder Singh Hooda saidhis party will move a resolu-tion against the legislationwhen the assembly session isconvened.

Led by Hooda, who is theLeader of the Opposition inthe State Assembly, a delega-tion of Haryana CongressMLAs submitted a memo-randum to Governor SatyadevNarayan Arya. “We requestyou to recommend to theUnion Government not topursue the Bills recentlypassed in the Lok Sabha asthese are against the interestof millions of small and mar-ginal farmers,” the Congresssaid in the memorandum.

The Congress said anymove to disturb the presentprocurement system maydeepen social unrest amongstfarmers of the State. “We urgeupon the Government toreview and reconsider thesemeasures as these are unlike-ly to deliver on the promisesmade to them. Agri-market-ing should be left to the statesas envisaged in theConstitution,” the party said.

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Punjab on Friday reported2,817 fresh cases of the

novel coronavirus besides 62casualties, pushing the State’sCovid-19 tally to 92,833, andthe death toll to 2,708. Friday’sinfection tally is the secondhighest the Sstate has wit-nessed in a single day. Only aday before, as many as 2,896cases were reported in a spanof 24 hours.

Maximum number of infec-tions were reported fromLudhiana with 437 new cases ofCovid-19, followed by Amritsarwith 401 cases, SAS Nagar

(Mohali) with 312, Jalandharwith 307, Patiala 219, Hoshiarpur163, Gurdaspur 131, Pathankot119, Bathinda 105, Kapurthala85, Fazilka 73, Faridkot 69,Ferozepur 57, Sangrur 55, TarnTaran 49, Muktsar 43, Barnala43, Ropar 42, Mansa 42,Fatehgarh Sahib 32, SBS Nagar(Nawanshahr) with 27 cases,and Moga with six.

As many as seven districtsof the state have active cases infour-digit figure - SAS Nagar(Mohali) has the highest with2,613, followed by Jalandharwith 2,435, Patiala (2,139),Ludhiana (1,898), Bathinda(1,670), Amritsar (1,566), and

Gurdaspur (1,537) - accountingfor 63.97 per cent of the totalactive cases in the State, and14.93 per cent of the total pos-itive cases reported till date inthe State. Punjab has 21,662active cases, which is 23.33 percent of the total cases. Amongthese, 501 patients are on oxy-gen support; while 76 are crit-ical and on ventilator support.

Among the Covid-19 fatal-ities, Ludhiana reported high-est with 12 new deaths; fol-lowed by 10 in Jalandhar; sevenin Hoshiarpur; six in SASNagar (Mohali); five in Patiala;two each in Amritsar, Barnala,Gurdaspur, Kapurthala,

Muktsar, SBS Nagar, Sangrur,and Tarn Taran; and one eachin Bathinda, Faridkot,Fatehgarh Sahib, Moga,Pathankot, and Ropar.

A total of 2,645 coron-avirus patients - including 382from Gurdaspur, 228 fromMohali, 223 from Kapurthala,208 from Amritsar, 206 fromPatiala, 174 from Jalandhar, 113from Bathinda, 100 fromHoshiarpur, among others —were discharged in the last 24 hours after recoveringfrom the contagion. With this,the total number of recoverieshas increased to 68,463 -73.75per cent.

23 MORE DIE IN HARYANA;STATE REPORTS 2,488

FRESH CASES

Haryana on Friday report-ed 23 more Covid-19 fatalities,taking the death toll to 1,092,while 2,488 fresh cases pushedthe infection count in the Stateto 1,06,261. Of the 23 fatalities,three each were from Gurgaonand Panchkula. Two each per-sons died in Faridabad,Ambala, Hisar, Kurukshetra,Sirsa and Yamunanagar whileone death each took place inFatehabad, Bhiwani, Jhajjar,Karnal and Rohtak, accordingto the health department’s daily

bulletin.Among the districts which

reported a big spike in coron-avirus cases includedGurugram (339), Faridabad(287), Sonipat (171), Hisar(167), Panchkula (157),Kurukshetra (131) and Sirsa(121). The active cases in theState currently are 21,291, while83,878 have been dischargedafter recovery, as per the bul-letin. As of Friday, the state hasa recovery rate of 78.94 percent. The fatality rate is 1.03 percent while the rate at whichinfections are doubling is 27days. The Covid-19 positivityrate is 6.57 per cent, it stated.

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With strong opposition bythe Shiromani Akali Dal

(SAD) to the BJP-led CentralGovernment’s three agriculture-related bills coupled withHarsimrat Badal’s resignationfrom the Union Cabinet inprotest, the already-strained rela-tionship between the decades oldalliance partners, the BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP) and the SAD,has taken another hit with thesaffron party toughening itsstand against the Akalis.

Not only Harsimrat’s res-ignation as the Union Ministerof Food Processing Industrieswas accepted by the PresidentRam Nath Kovind, Punjab’sBJP top brass has given enoughindications that it would not bebogged down by Akalis’ deci-sions. In fact, the senior BJPleaders have made it clear thatit was upon the Akali Dal todecide whether they want tomake or mar the coalition.

What is more! In theabsence of support of its ally,SAD, on the issue of agri bills,the saffron brigade has decid-ed to fight its own battle. It hasdecided to go house to house,

covering all villages, meetingpeople, and making themaware of the benefits of thesebills. “BJP will go to each vil-lage in the State and readdressthe issues of any misunder-standing over this ordinance tothe farmers,” said Punjab BJPpresident Ashwani Sharma,adding that the party wouldclear their doubts.

Sharma said the partywould also “work out on anysuggestions by the agrariancommunity and will strive toalways work for economic bet-terment”. At the same time, heappealed to the farmers not tobe misled by “petty politics ofOpposition parties”.

The State BJP chief allegedthat the Opposition was a“fraud” by misleading the farm-ers that MSP (minimum sup-port price) will be withdrawn.“MSP was there for decades,MSP will stay and every grainof the farmer will be pur-chased by the government,”said Sharma, adding that theoption is being given to thefarmers that they can sell theirproduce anywhere in the coun-try at the best price offered.

“Never in history has the

farmer been given the oppor-tunity to merchandise his cropat optimum price. It’s a revolu-tion in the farming sector,” saidSharma hailing the three billswhich he described as “revolu-tionary” which would eco-nomically uplift the agricul-ture community in the nation.

Even as the SAD had givenindications that it would con-tinue its support to the NDA, thetalks of snapping ties in Punjabhas once again gained steam.

State BJP leaders have allalong been pushing the pro-posal of claiming a larger seatshare than its ally, and play therole of a big brother in thealliance, which Akali Dal hasbeen playing till date. Andwith SAD deciding to quit theCabinet in protest against itsown Government’s move, theBJP leaders in the State haveonce again laid claim on 59seats out of total 117.

“We have not snapped theties, nor did we ask them to doso or pressurised them. Stayingin coalition or not, is upon themto decide,” said senior BJP leaderMadan Mohan Mittal, addingthat if they wanted to fight pollstogether, “we will give them 58”.

The coalition between theSAD and BJP dates back since1997, and has a settled seat-sharing formula. Out of thetotal 117 assembly seats inPunjab, the BJP fights on 23while the Akalis contest therest, while in parliamentary

elections, the BJP gets threeseats against 10 for the SAD.Akalis’ traditional vote bankincludes the Sikh rural peas-antry, while the BJP’s votebank mainly comprised theurban and the semi-urbantrader communities.

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The Lok Sabha on Fridaywitnessed heated exchanges

between the Congress and theBJP members, leading to fouradjournments over Ministerof State for Finance AnuragThakur barb that Sonia“Gandhi family was cheatingthe public”, during a debate onthe tax laws amendment Actto include tax concessions todonations in PM Cares Fund.The Lok Sabha resumed onlyafter Thakur apologised.

Chaos started after

Congress MPs Shashi Tharoor,Manish Tewari and TMC MPSougata Roy opposed the cre-ation of PM Cares Fund andFinance Minister NirmalaSitharaman allowed her deputyThakur to reply to theOpposition charges.

Praising Prime MinisterNaredra Modi and the fund,Thakur started attacking theOpposition and alleged that“Gandhi family” fooled thepeople by including theCongress president in thePMNRF set up by JawaharlalNehru.

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Page 2: 2020/09/19  · an organisation of 62 farmers unions,” he said, adding that farmers will hit the road on September 24 across India. The Centre has brought the Bills without discussion

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The Himachal PradeshAssembly was adjourned

sine die on Friday, with ten sit-tings held since September 7 inits Monsoon Session amidstrict Covid-19 protocols. Thiswas the first Session of the StateAssembly after restrictionswere imposed on March 24 inHimachal Pradesh in the wakeof coronavirus outbreak.

Before adjourning theHouse, Speaker Vipin SinghParmar said this Session wouldbecome history as it had beenheld under adverse circum-stances. Several important issueswere discussed in the Houseduring the Session, he said,added a discussion on Covid-19situation by an adjournmentmotion under Rule 67 lasted 6hours and 25 minutes.

This is the first time that adiscussion was held under Rule67, the Speaker said. UnderRule 67, all other business of theHouse is "interrupted in thecourse of a sitting by an adjourn-ment motion", according to therules and procedures of theassembly. Parmar said thatanswers to 434 starred and 223unstarred questions were laidduring the Question Hour of thesession. The Speaker thankedthe leader of the House Jai RamThakur and the Leader of theOpposition Mukesh Agnihotrifor smooth conduct of theMonsoon Session.

Parmar in a special men-tion said that the senior-mostmember of the House and for-mer chief minister, VirbhadraSingh, was present for theSession despite the Covid-19scare. Earlier the Chief Ministerand Leader of Opposition alsospoke in the Assembly.

CM ANNOUNCES RESTORATION OF MLALAD

FUND FOR LEGISLATORS

Himachal Pradesh ChiefMinister Jai Ram Thakur on

Friday announced the restora-tion of the MLA local areadevelopment (MLALAD) fundover five months after it was sus-pended. Informing the StateAssembly on the last day ofMonsoon Session on Friday, thechief minister said the MLAL-AD fund would be restored andits first installment of Rs 25 lakhwould be released in October.

The State Government hadin April decided to suspend theMLALAD fund for two years tofight the Covid-19 pandemic.Thanking the Chief Minister,Leader of Opposition MukeshAgnihotri said the Congress leg-islators had met him to discussthe issue. It is not a personalfund for the MLAs but will bespent on different areas and vil-lages of the constituencies, headded. Majority of MLAs werein favour of restoration of theMLALAD for ensuring devel-opment work in their segments.

They were of the view thatthis fund of Rs 1.75 crore peryear should be restored for leg-islators immediately for ensur-ing development work in theirrespective constituencies.

COVID-19 LED TO DELAYIN REPAIR OF DAMAGED

KULLY BRIDGE

Covid-19 has delayed therepair work of Kullu's damagedBhoothnath bridge and a newtarget of opening it for vehicu-lar traffic has been fixed for nextyear, Himachal Pradesh ChiefMinister Jai Ram Thakurinformed the state assembly onFriday. Replying to a call atten-tion motion of Kullu MLASunder Singh Thakur regardingdelay in repair of the bridge, theCM said it was delayed due toCovid-19 related restrictions.

The bridge is significantfor the smooth flow of traffic inKullu and also connects touristdestination Manali, he said. TheState Government wants to getthe repair work completed at theearliest but some technical prob-

lems and Covid led to delays,Thakur added. Now, a new tar-get has been fixed to open thebridge after its repair by March31, 2021, he stated. Earlier, it wassupposed to be opened in June,he pointed out. The tenders forrepair were invited in April lastyear after the bridge had beenclosed for vehicular traffic inJanuary, 2019 as it had devel-oped cracks, he added.

The company to which therepair work has been allottedsubmitted its design on July 3and the work has now also beenstarted. Meanwhile, an alterna-tive bailey bridge has been con-structed for smooth flow of traf-fic, he added. Having remainedopened around five years ago,the bridge near Kullu city busstand and Bhoothnath templewas not safe for vehicular traf-fic. The 96-metre-long double-lane bridge over the Beas riverat Bhoothnath was constructedat a cost of Rs 10 crore and wasinaugurated by then chief min-ister Virbhadra Singh onOctober 9, 2013.

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The Union Territory ofChandigarh on Friday

reported four Covid-19 fatali-ties and 260 fresh positivecases. With this, the death tolldue to Covid-19 reached 110while the total case tally stood

at 9,506 in the city."Out of total 9,506 positive

cases, there were 2,978 activecases in the city. With 353 fresh recoveries reported inthe past 24 hours, a total of6,415 residents have so farrecovered from the virus," stated Chandigarh Health

Department's evening bulletin.

In the past 24 hours,Manimajra recorded a maxi-mum of 31 fresh positive cases.12 fresh cases were reported inMauli Jagran, 11 in Sector 45,10 cases each were reported inSectors 44, 52 and 20.

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Page 3: 2020/09/19  · an organisation of 62 farmers unions,” he said, adding that farmers will hit the road on September 24 across India. The Centre has brought the Bills without discussion

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Punjab Chief Minister CaptAmarinder Singh on Friday

slammed the farm legislations“being forced on to the nation”by the Central Government aspart of the Kisan maaru, Punjabmaaru (Destroy Farmers,Destroy Punjab) conspiracy ofthe BJP-led NDA, of which theAkalis “shamelessly” continueto be a part at the cost of theirown State and its people.

“I don’t know what enmi-ty the BJP and the Akalis havewith Punjab and why they areout to destroy us,” said theChief Minister while launchingthe virtual Kisan Mela of thePunjab Agriculture University,Ludhiana. The launch was heldwith virtual connectivity at100 locations and participatedby farmers, farmer representa-

tives, and other stakeholders,including Ministers, MLAs andPunjab Congress presidentSunil Jakhar.

Warning again that the leg-islations will lead to growingangst among the people in theborder State, thus givingPakistan the opportunity tostoke more fires, CaptAmarinder said that the anti-farmer move will spoil Punjab’s

abo hawa (environment). “Delhihas to rethink on this issue,” hestressed, adding that the legis-lations would undo the sacri-fices made by Punjab and itsfarmers over 65 years to makeIndia self-sufficient in food.

Accusing the Akalis of play-ing their own political games inthis entire affair, Capt Amarinderasked the Badals why the SADhad failed to stand with thePunjab Government on theseBills and even on the criticalwater issue. “Did you not thinkeven once what will happen toPunjab without agriculture andwithout water?” he asked theAkalis, pointing out that with theSYL issue hanging over the State,the situation was perilous and theSAD had only contributed to thecrisis by supporting the farmordinances.

“Notwithstanding the

Centre’s denials, these newlaws will eventually pave theway for the elimination of theMSP regime and end of the FCI(Food Corporation of India),leaving the farmers at themercy of big corporates, as rec-ommended by the ShantaKumar committee.

Strongly opposing the leg-islations, the Chief Ministeralso trashed the Centre’s guar-antee of MSP not being tam-pered with, saying that it wasa Constitutional guaranteegiven by the Parliament, which,in fact, the incumbent govern-ment at the Centre was tryingto destroy with their brutemajority. “Even the MSPalready announced on itemslike Maize is not being given tothe farmers,” he noted, ques-tioning the sincerity of theGovernment of India.

Categorically rejecting BJPand SAD claims that Punjab wason board with the farm ordi-nances, the Chief Minister madeit clear that the issue of any suchordinances or new laws onagriculture was never discussedat any of the meetings in whichhis Government was represent-ed at the high-powered com-mittee set up by the Centre onagricultural reforms.

“Politicians should not lieon such grave issues with seri-ous implications for our futuregenerations,” said CaptAmarinder, in an obvious ref-erence to the false and mis-leading claims of UnionMinister Raosaheb Patil Danveand SAD president SukhbirSingh Badal. Politics aside, thisis an issue concerning the futureof our children, he added.

With only 13 seats in Lok

Sabha, the Congress was brow-beaten and the dangerous andvicious Bills were passed by theCentre with brute majority, hepointed out, adding that India’sfuture generations will not for-give the damage being inflict-ed on the nation by the NDAand its allies.

The high-powered com-mittee was clearly an eyewash,the Chief Minister said, wavingthe draft report shared with

Punjab, which made no mentionwhatsoever of the ordinances.

It was shameful that despiteknowing these facts as part ofthe ruling coalition, the Akaliscontinued to side with theCentral Government and didnot oppose the ordinances dur-ing the all-party meeting con-vened by him and did not evencome to the Assembly to votefor the resolution against them,said Capt Amarinder.

Taking a dig at HarsimratBadal’s remarks of standingwith her ‘farmer brethren’ byresigning from the UnionCabinet, Capt Amarinder askedwhy she forgot that the farmerswere her brothers when theCentre brought in the ordi-nances. Had SAD stood with hisgovernment from the outset andput pressure on their ally, theBJP, the current situation maynot have arisen, he added.

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Staying away from the activepolitical scene for over a

year, the senior Congress leaderNavjot Singh Sidhu on Fridaymade his presence felt in hisdistinct style to support theprotesting farmers in their agi-tation against the Centre’s threeagriculture-related bills.

Former Cabinet Minister,Sidhu, declared that “Punjab,Punjabiyat and every Punjabi”are with the peasants, “farming is the soul of Punjaband attack on the soul wouldnot be tolerated”.

Slamming the BJP-ledCentral Government for bring-

ing the farmbills, Sidhu tookto Twitter, morethan a year after

he resigned from the PunjabCabinet. “Farming is the soul ofPunjab, the wounds of thebody can heal but an attack onour sould, our existence willnot be tolerated. The war trum-pet says Inqilab Zindabad,Punjab, Punjabiyat and eachPunjabi are with the farmers,”he tweeted in a series of tweets.

Maintaining that the farm-ers “are the pride and identityof every Punjabi”, Sidhu askedthe farmers to prepare for astruggle against theGovernment which has“snatched their rights”.

Taking a jibe on the rivalsin his philosophical style, thecricketer-turned-politician said,“The Governments time andagain kept on making mistakesthat they kept cleaning themirror while the dirt is actual-ly on their face”.

Interestingly, Sidhu, who is‘upset’ with his CongressGovernment in Punjab, lastused Twitter on September 25,2019, to declare that he vacat-ed his official bungalow as theCabinet Minister after resign-

ing from the Capt AmarinderSingh-led Cabinet.

Harsimrat Kaur Badal, whobelongs to Punjab, resigned asthe Union Minister of FoodProcessing Industries onThursday to protest a new leg-islation that sought to liberalisethe agricultural markets.

Several farmers’ outfits inPunjab are protesting againstthe farm bills the governmenthas tabled in Parliament dur-ing the ongoing monsoon ses-sion. Farmers have expressedapprehension that the pro-posed legislations would pavethe way for dismantling of theminimum support price systemand they would be at the“mercy” of big corporates.

The Lok Sabha passed theFarmers Produce Trade andCommerce (Promotion andFacilitation) Bill and theFarmers (Empowerment andProtection) Agreement onPrice Assurance and FarmServices Bill on Thursday.Earlier, it had earlier passed theEssential Commodities(Amendment) Bill.

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Accusing the NDAGovernment of violating

the federal structure of theConstitution by passing bills onitems reserved on the StateList, Punjab Finance MinisterManpreet Singh Badal onFriday said that Punjab alonewould suffer a loss of Rs 4,000crore every year that will leadto the mass destruction of rurallivelihoods, increasing farmerdistress and pauperisation.

Addressing the media atBathinda, Manpreet said thatthe NDA Government is shyingaway from issuing a categoricalassurance to the Indian farmersthat the Minimum SupportPrice (MSP) will remain intact.“Why is the Union Governmenthesitating in announcing thatunlimited and uninterruptedMSP will continue?” he asked.

Agriculture falls in the StateList of subjects, said theMinister, adding that the UnionGovernment’s action impingeson the state’s rights. “This is not

the first time the NDAGovernment has harmed therights of the states. Despiteincluding a provision in theIndian Constitution regardingcompensating states in case ofGST revenue shortfall, the NDAGovernment has deliberatelyignored the federal fabric of theConstitution,” he added.

“This is the death knell ofthe MSP and the AgricultureProduce Marketing Committeesthat have served the nationvery well since the 1960s,” saidManpreet.

Presenting the minutes ofthe meeting with the UnionGovernment, the FinanceMinister said he had raisedseven issues with the Centreincluding a categorical assurancefrom them that the MSP will notbe removed. “Other mattersincluded inclusion of maizewithin the ambit of MSP, moreresources to States for agricul-tural research, greater powers toStates under the Insecticide Act,and need for further research inother crops,” he said.

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Page 4: 2020/09/19  · an organisation of 62 farmers unions,” he said, adding that farmers will hit the road on September 24 across India. The Centre has brought the Bills without discussion

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Parliament on Friday passeda Bill to reduce for one year

the salaries of MPs by 30 percent “to meet the exigenciesarising out of the Covid-19pandemic”. The Bill was passedin Rajya Sabha with a voice votewhile Lok Sabha had passed theSalary, Allowances and Pensionof Members of Parliament(Amendment) Bill, 2020 Billearlier this week. The RajyaSabha also approved two Bills,replacing ordinances relatedto the Central Council ofHomoeopathy and the IndianMedicine Central Council.

While supporting the cutsin salaries, most Oppositionmembers who participated inthe discussion urged the gov-ernment to review its decisionto suspend the Members ofParliament Local AreaDevelopment (MPLAD)scheme for two years saying it

was necessary to carry outdevelopment works in theirrespective constituencies.Parliamentary Affairs MinisterPralhad Joshi, however, saidthis was a temporary suspen-sion.

Minister of State for HomeG Kishan Reddy moved theSalaries and Allowances ofMinisters (Amendment) Bill,2020 and both bills were takenup simultaneously and passedby voice vote.

During the debate, Joshisaid it did not matter howmuch money was being savedthrough salary cuts of mem-bers. “Charity should beginfrom home and that is the con-cept we have started. It is not�4 crore saving as said byDMK member but � 53.9 croreper year from members’ salary,”he said. DMK member PWilson had earlier during thediscussion said the measurewould entail savings of just �4

crore.On several opposition

members asking the govern-ment to stop various projectslike Bullet train and construc-tion of a new Parliament build-ing to cut costs, Joshi said,“First you say public spendingshould be increased and nowyou are demanding that allthese projects should bestopped. At least, we don’t pay

to some private trust from PMRelief fund. These peopleraised similar issues in 2019election and people haveanswered,” Joshi further said.

Reddy said COVID-19 hasimpacted the incomes of peo-ple working in the private sec-tor and so the Prime Ministerinitiated this bill which entails30 per cent reduction in min-isters’ salaries.

Senior Congress leaderGhulam Nabi Azad saidaround 70 per cent MPsdepend on their salaries andhave to take care of everyexpense through these emolu-ments alone. He said MPLADfunds are meant for takingcare of needy people in theirconstituencies and are utilisedfor various things like pur-chasing ambulances, making

small roads and communitycentres.

“It (MPLAD) should notbe suspended for two years.How did you presume thatcorona will go on for twoyears? Even if you had to do ityou should have reduced it byhalf to �2.5 crore. My sugges-tion to the Government will beto reduce it to one year and inthat one year �2.5 crore fund be

kept,” he said.Similarly, Vishambhar

Prasad Nishad (SP), V VijaysaiReddy (YSRCP), KSomaprasad (CPI-M), FauziaKhan (NCP), Veer Singh (BSP),Nazir Ahmed Laway (PDP)while supporting the reductionin salaries, sought restorationof the MPLAD scheme.

Pointing at the PM CARESfund, Congress MP Rajeev

Satav said “no one knows towhom it is caring”. He alsopointed out expenses by thegovernment during the pan-demic on projects such asCentral Vista, Bullet train anda special �850 crore aircraft forthe PM. Trinamool Congressmember Dinesh Trivedi saidthe bill for reduction of mem-bers’ salaries was decided onlyby some MPs on whatsapp.

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Indian genes are helping bat-tling coronavirus and reduc-

ing the mortality rate in com-parison to the US and Europe,according to scientists includ-ing an expert from the BanarasHindu University (BHU). Thestudy is published in the PLOSONE journal.

A team comprising distin-guished genetic experts fromsix institutions, led by ProfGyaneshwer Chaubey of theBHU, analysed complete DNAdata of the Angiotensin-con-verting enzyme 2 (ACE2) geneof X chromosome from variouscontinental populations andfound that it is the Indian genesthat have protected the popu-lation and helped battle thedeadly virus.

This explains why the mor-

tality rate of COVID-19 hasbeen much higher in Europeancountries and in the US, ascompared to India andSoutheast Asian countries, theysaid.

The scientists have provid-

ed a possible molecular genet-ic explanation for why Iranians,Europeans and Americans ofEuropean ancestry are at moremortality risk to the novelCoronavirus than people inIndia and East Asia, as reflect-

ed in the current global distri-bution of reported COVID-19cases per 1,00,000 inhabitants.

The international teamanalysed complete DNA data ofthe ACE2 gene from variouscontinental populations andfound that certain mutations inthis gene are helping SouthAsian and East Asian popula-tions in successfully battling thevirus and reducing mortalityrate in comparison to the USand Europe.

There have been a few ini-tial studies on the ACE2 geneby other research groups, butall of them looked for thepresence or absence of variousmutations, whereas, this teamused more powerful haplo-type-based analysis (themethod in which experts breakthe whole length of DNA intoseveral pieces and make com-

parisons).The second important

finding is about two majormutations which are responsi-ble for strengthening the entrypoint of the Coronavirusamong South Asians. “Thus,this paper adds importantpotential implications tounderstanding the transmis-sion patterns of Coronavirus invarious populations across theworld,” said AnshikaSrivastava, one of the authorsof the paper.

Rudra Pandey and PrajwalSingh from BHU, AvinashRasalkar, Pankaj Srivastavafrom Sagar Central University,Rakesh Tamang from CalcuttaUniversity and PramodKumar from National Centrefor Disease Control (NCDC)were also involved in this research.

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As the Covid-19 batteredworld continue to scout for

vaccine to combat the deadlyvirus, States in India are bank-ing on herbal immunity boost-ers among other safety normslike masks and social distanc-ing to keep the pathogen at abay which has so far infected 54lakhs people and claimed83,000 lives across the country.

While Tamil Nadu is dis-tributing Siddha-based herbalimmunity boosters like‘Athimathuram’ and ‘KabasuraKudineer’, Karnataka is sup-plying ayurveda-based immu-nity enhancing tablets anddecoction to the locals as part

of the fight against coronavirus.So is the case with Delhi andPunjab where cops are beingarmed with the formulationbased on medicinal plants andessential oils to fight the virusfrom the front.

Punjab has recentlyannounced doling out to itspolice personnel Covid-carekits having medical gadgetslike mask, oximeter besidesmedicines and an herbal immu-nity booster Amynity Plus tocombat the virus. Nearly 3,800police personnel have testedCovid positive in the State.

The herbal formulation isextract of around 51 herbs likeharad, Neem, Amla, Sunthi,Ashwagandha, Gudduchi

besides eight essential oils toempower immunity of the bodysystem.

Dr Sanchit Sharma,Executive Director of AIMILPharmaceuticals which hasdeveloped the herbal brew,noted that not only a strongimmune system but multi-sys-tem immune defence could bethe perfect solution to tackle theinfection which has brought theworld standstill.

Like in Punjab, police per-sonnel in Delhi are being dis-tributed ‘Ayuraksha Kit’ com-prising of ‘Kadha’ concoction(herbal tea), ‘Sanshmani’ tablet(made from Giloy), oil to beused as nasal drops and pack ofChyawanprash while Tamil

Nadu is offer-ing the concoc-tion like‘Athimathuram’and ‘KabasuraKudineer’.

“These arenot a cure forCovid-19 butfor boosting theimmunity of anindividual,” saidChief MinisterEdappadi K

Palaniswami launched thescheme by distributing thedrink to police personnel.

Similarly, KarnatakaGovernment is offeringayurveda-based immunityboosting tablets and decoctionto lakhs of families inShivamogga under an initia-tive by Karnataka RuralDevelopment and PanchayatRaj Minister K S Eshwarappaas part of the fight againstcovid-19. Likewise, UttarPradesh too is pushing herbalimmunity boosters to fight thevirus.

In fact, scientists fromGovernment organisations tooare doing their bit in thisregard. For instance, Dr SanjayJachak, scientist fromResearchers from NationalInstitute of Pharmaceutical Educationand Research (NIPER) inMohali, Punjab has devel-oped an immunity boosterherbal tea —a combination ofsix herbs such as Aswagandha,Giloy, Mulethi, Tulsi andGreenTea--to strengthen thebody and build physical resis-tance to the virulent infec-tions.

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Earlier in the day, theHomoeopathy Central

Council (Amendment) Bill,2020 seeking to further extendthe time to form the CentralCouncil of Homeopathy bya year and the IndianMedicine Central Council(Amendment) Bill, 2020also seeking a year’s time toreconstitute the centralcouncil and provides for aboard of directors to exer-cise its powers in the inter-im period was passed inthe Upper House after adebate.

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The Congress on Fridayannounced to launch a

nationwide agitation againstthe Centre’s three agriculture-related Bills. It is in talks withother Opposition parties tocome on board to corner theModi Government on thefarmer related issue which hasalso led to the resignation ofUnion Minister HarsimranKaur of Shiromani Akali Dal,BJP’s oldest ally in the NDA.

With farmers protestingagainst the bills, Congressalleged that Prime MinisterNarendra Modi has misled thefarmers and the country andModi is a big liar.

“Person sitting on primeminister’s post should notmislead farmers and country.The PM is lying at a timewhen the country is battlingcoronavirus and China isbreathing down our neck,”Congress chief spokespersonRandeep Singh Surjewala said

at AICC Press conferencenear Parliament.

Congress said any move to“disturb” the present procure-ment system may deepen“social unrest” amongst farm-ers of the state”. “We urge uponthe government to review andreconsider these measures asthese are unlikely to deliver onthe promises made to them.Agri-marketing should be leftto the states as envisaged in theConstitution,” the party said.

Congress again ques-

tioned as to why the ModiGovernment is trying to fin-ish off MSP. “Both theAgriculture minister and thePM are saying that MSP willcontinue but when mandiswill be finished, who will giveMSP? Will FCI (FoodCorporation of India) go tofarmers’ fields to give MSP?”Prime Minister NarendraModi says now farmers cansell produce anywhere, 86.2per cent farmers own lessthan six acres of land and 60

per cent own less than twoacres of land. How can suchpoor farmers have access tofar-off markets,” Surjewalasaid. He was joined by hisparty colleagues andParliamentarians GauravGogoi, Rajeev Satav, JasbirSingh Gill, Hibi Eden, andAmar Singh.

Surjewala further askedthe Centre, “How will smallfarmers f ight for r ightsagainst mega corporate?”“When APMC act will nolonger be there, how willsmall farmers, mandi workersand transporters earn theirlivelihood? The mandi feeshelps development in vil-lages,” Surjewala said alsoannouncing for the joint agi-tation against the decision.

AICC sources said thatagitation being planned withother parties can be bothphysical and virtual.

Accusing the Congressof doublespeak, the BJP hasbeen pointing out that theopposition party itself had inits manifesto for 2019 LokSabha elections proposed theabolition of APMC Act andmaking agricultural producefree from restrictions.

But former Har yanaChief Minister BhupinderSingh Hooda said his partywi l l move a resolut ionagainst the legislations whenthe assembly session is con-vened. Talking to reporterslater, Hooda said Haryanafarmers are facing an exis-tential crisis due to the three“black laws”, which will “takeaway” the protection pro-vided to them. It is importantthat all parties raise theirvoice in the interest of theState’s farmers, he said,adding that they will notallow the implementation ofthe legislations in Haryana.

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Following the agreementbetween External affairs

minister S Jaishankar and hisChinese counterpart Wang Yion September 10 to defusetension at the Line of ActualControl (LAC) at the earliest,the next round of militarylevel talks will see India urgingsimultaneous disengagementand de-escalation. The CorpsCommander-level talksbetween the two armies arelikely to take place in the nexttwo to three days.

The Indian stance during

the forthcoming military leveltalks was discussed at greatlength for more than 90 min-utes in the China StudyGroup(CSG)meeting chairedby National Security AdvisorAjit Doval here on Friday,sources said. The top defencebrass including Chief ofDefence Staff(CDS)GeneralBipin Rawat took part in thecrucial meeting, they added.

The two commanders LtGeneral Harinder Singh andMajor General Liu Lin haveheld five rounds of parleys sofar since June 6 but no signif-icant improvement took place

on the ground. The last roundwas held on August 2 when itwas agreed to disengage andde-escalate.

However, China did nothonour the commitment andin fact tried to unilaterallyalter the LAC in south bank ofthe Pangong Tso(lake)onAugust 29 and 30. The aggres-sive action was thwarted by theIndian army.

Moreover, both the sides inthe last fortnight fired morethan 200 rounds in the air onat least four occasions therebyincreasing tension at thealready volatile border.

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Sudarshan TV, which is fac-ing legal proceedings in the

Supreme Court, has moved anapplication seeking a live tele-cast of the hearing of the plea,which has raised a grievanceover its “Bindas Bol” pro-gramme, the promo of whichhad claimed that the channelwould air a “big expose on theconspiracy to infiltrate Muslimsin government service”.

On September 15, the topcourt had restrained the chan-nel from telecasting theepisodes of “Bindas Bol” tillfurther orders, saying that “theintent” of the episodes “primafacie” appeared to “vilify” theMuslim community.

The application filed bySudarshan News through itsdirector and editor SureshChavhanke said, “It is respect-

fully submitted that the presentcase is one of the most impor-tant cases concerning the pub-lic at large as the question offreedom of press protected byArticle 19(1)(a) of theConstitution of India isinvolved.”

It said crores of viewers ofthe channel want to knowabout the legal proceedingsand hear the points of argu-ments being raised by the par-ties.

“Direct for a live telecast ofthe proceedings of this casethrough audio-visual broad-casting/telecasting universallyby an official agency as thecourt may deem fit and prop-er,” the application said.

A bench comprising jus-tices D Y Chandrachud, InduMalhotra and K M Joseph willtake up the matter for hearingat 12 noon.

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The Supreme Court hasenhanced the compensa-

tion to a victim of road accidentsaying that courts should bemindful that a serious injurynot only imposes disabilitiesbut also inflicts deep mentaland emotional scars.

The apex court said it hasemphasised time and againthat “just compensation”should include all elementsthat would go to place the vic-tim in as near a position as sheor he was in, before the occur-rence of the accident.

The top court said that noamount of money or othermaterial compensation canerase the trauma, pain and suf-fering of the victims.

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Page 5: 2020/09/19  · an organisation of 62 farmers unions,” he said, adding that farmers will hit the road on September 24 across India. The Centre has brought the Bills without discussion

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Eminent fashion designerSharbari Dutta on Friday

was found dead under myste-rious circumstances police saidadding she was discovereddead inside her bathroom withblood oozing out of her mouthand some bruises on her ankle.

Dutta 63 and daughter ofDutta Bengali poet Ajit Dutta,was a pioneer of male fashiondesigning. She had draped agalaxy of cricketing icons likeSachin Tendulkar, SunilGavaskar, Imran Khan, KapilDev, Sourav Ganguly apart

from a host of film personali-ties and politicians.

Dutta reportedly did notenjoy good chemistry with hisson and his wife who lived inthe same building runningseparate brands after the moth-er and the son parted waysthree years ago.

Though preliminary post-mortem reports suggested she“might have suffered a cerebralattack,” the police would notcome out with any final con-clusion. “The investigationprocess is on and things wouldbe clear in a few days thoughinitial PM reports suggest thatshe had suffered cerebralstroke.”

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Fifteen more Covid-19 patients died here in Jammu &Kashmir while 1,330 new cases of coronavirus were

reported taking the total tally of active positive cases to20,770 and the total number of deaths to 966 on Friday.

Compared to Kashmir valley, the situation is worrisomeacross Jammu region as no district remains untouched withthe spread of the virus in the last two weeks.

The hilly districts of Doda and Kishtwar and twin bor-der districts of Rajouri and Poonch are recording spike innumber of cases due to blatant violation of social distanc-ing norms and ignorance over use of face masks in public.

Several social gatherings in the region were directlylinked to spread of the virus in remote areas of the hilly dis-tricts. Meanwhile, situation across Jammu hospitals remaingrim. Large number of patients from the periphery arereaching GMC, Jammu for admission and when they failedto get hospital bed or admission in the isolation ward thecaretakers show their resentment as chaos is prevailing inthe hospital premises.

According to the media bulletin, 672 cases were report-ed from Jammu while Kashmir region recorded 658 cases.Out of fifteen deaths, 10 patients died in Jammu and fivein Kashmir valley on Friday. Out of 20770 active positivecases, Jammu region accounted for 11823 patients whileKashmir reported 8947 cases. Out of 966 deaths, 757 werereported from Kashmir and 209 from Jammu region.

A total number of 39,305 patients have recovered so faracross Jammu & Kashmir.

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The forecasts made by ChiefMinister Pinarayi Vijayan and

Health Minister KK Shylaja early thismonth is coming true in Kerala as thenumber of persons diagnosed withCovid-19 continued to surge ahead onFriday too. The last 24 hours saw theState identifying 4,167 new patientsacross Kerala out of which 3, 849 per-sons contracted the disease throughsocial contact.

The death toll in the State touched501 by Friday evening as theDepartment of Health confirmed that12 persons succumbed to the pan-demic. Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, CPI(M)State Secretary who addressed themedia earlier in the day blamed theopposition BJP and the Congress forthe surge in the Covid-19 cases.

“The demonstrations and ralliesstaged by the BJP and the Congress

across Kerala were with the intentionof sabotaging the good works beingdone by the CPI(M)-led Government.They threw to the wind all safety pro-tocols and restrictions like wearingfacemasks and maintaining social dis-tancing,” Balakrishnan said whilespeaking to the press after the StateSecretariat meet.

Thiruvananthapuram districttopped the table with 926 new patientson Friday while Kozhikode diagnosed404 patients. Except in Wynadu districtwhich diagnosed 68 new cases, all dis-tricts registered high numbers ofpatients. The medical fraternity in theState is upset over the ever increasingnumber of health workers who con-tract the pandemic. On Friday 102health workers were diagnosed withCovid-19. As on Friday, there were 35,724 Covid-19 patients in the State. OnFriday, 3,282 persons were admitted tohospitals across the State.

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Junior engineer Dharmpal ofmedical road electricity

house was suspended for giv-ing the wrong electricity con-nection. On his suspension, theunion of JEs visitedSuperintendent Engineer SKJain and said that wrong actionhas been taken againstDharmpal. In this case, theinquiry committee has beenestablished.

In the medical road pow-erhouse,there was a domesticconnection in the name ofAslam. Executive engineerAkhilesh Kumar told that a billwas outstanding for Rs 3.67lakh on Aslam’s connection. Anew connection cannot begiven on an outstanding billconnection.

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There was a time then thewhole world was crazy

about the cycle and all thecycles around the world werefitted with Aligarh lock at thattime. The frame lock was notmade anywhere in the worldexcept Aligarh. Its technologyand design were prepared bytechnicians of the Aligarh lockindustry. That lock was man-ufactured in more than hun-dreds of factories here.

But now the time haschanged and this industry hasbeen reduced to 30% only. Inaddition to the decreaseddemand for bicycles, theincreasing demand for thecable lock and wire lock alsoresults in the lagging demandof frame locks.

All kinds of locks are madein Aligarh from the vault to fur-niture and are export to dif-ferent countries from here, butby the year 1980, Aligarh wasrecognized worldwide for itsbicycle lock. Konark Lock,Link Lock, Harrison Lock,

Master Bajaj Lock, and otherwell-known brands had estab-lished unitary rule on domes-tic and foreign markets. At thattime, 70 to 100 skilled laborersworked in a factory. With pass-ing time, the design of the bicy-cle changed and the demandalso started decreasing becauseof the bike market. RangerCycle replaced StandardCycle.

The locks installed in themstarted being made in othercountries as well with newtechnologies. Cable and wirelock started trending in themarket. Due to the fashionlook, the demand of Aligarh'sframe lock started decreasing.After 2005, Chinese madecheap wire and cable lockscame in the market, this direct-ly affected the manufacturingunit of Aligarh.

President of AligarhManufacturing Bicycle LockAssociation Hari Om Aggarwalsaid that Aligarh bicycle lockshad a worldwide identity butchanging trends brought thecrisis on this business.

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Because of the increasingnumber of Corona patients,

the district administration hasbanned the supply of oxygencylinders for industries. Nowcylinders will be supplied in thehospital only. An order hasbeen issued on behalf of the druginspector to all four whole-salers in the city. The cylinderwill be issued for industry onlyunder special circumstances.

There are 4 wholesalerssupplying oxygen gas cylindersin the district. These includeRadhika Air Traders based atTalanagari, Laxmi Traders atRam Ghat Road, Universal GasCylinder at Masudabad, andTrilok Gas Service at MarrisRoad. These traders are supply-ing cylinders for industries andmedical purposes. Etah, Kasganj,Hathras, and Agra also getting cylinders from these

wholesalers.

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If your electricity bill is notreaching your home or there

is a mistake in the bill, thendon't worry, you will have tosend the old bill to Whatsappnumber 9193304552 of theElectricity Department and theproblem will be resolved.

If there is not too muchmistake in the bill then the newbill will be generated in an hourand will be reached on yourWhatsApp, otherwise, it will beavailable on the second day,Aligarh is the first district in thestate to start this facility.

During the corona period,the major problem was that thebill not reaching the con-sumers. Meter readers also didnot stop visiting the homes totake the readings during thelockdown.

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Even as the CPI(M) State Secretary KodiyeriBalakrishnan alleged about a BJP-Congress con-

spiracy to derail the Kerala Government, the Centralinvestigating agencies, probing the gold smuggling,import of Quran and violation of protocols by aMinister, said that the Intelligence Wing of the KeralaPolice was spying on them.

“Telephones of senior investigating officials arebeing tapped by the State Intelligence Wing report-ing directly to the Chief Minister. They are keepingan eye on all out activities in the gold smugglingprobe, Quran import case and drug trafficking probe,”a senior official in the investigating team told ThePioneer on Friday. He said though he or other offi-cials in the team are not familiar with the nuancesof telephone tapping, it is a truth that the State offi-cials were resorting to all kinds of dirty tricks to keeptrack of the progress they make in the investigating.The Intelligence Bureau is closely following the activ-ities of their Kerala counterparts.

“It is routine and characteristic of the CPI(M) toensure that their people are guarded and protectedfrom the investigation. They feel that we do not knowof their antecedents. Swapna Suresh and her associ-ate were taken to the Thrissur Medical CollegeHospital so that they could communicate with herthrough the mobile phones of the hospital staff. Aminister (A C Moideen) reaching the hospital at thattime was not a coincidence,” said the official.

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The CPI(M) on Friday allegedthat there was a deep-rooted

conspiracy by the BJP and theCongress against the Governmentof Kerala and the current unrestseen in the State is a proof of thissecret plan.

“The BJP and the Congresswant to sabotage and derail theKerala Government led by theCPI(M). A conspiracy has beenhatched by the Sangh Parivar andthe Congress to murder Minister KT Jaleel. The attacks on the officialcar of the Minister on Thursday bythe BJP elements is proof of thisplan,” said Kodiyeri Balakrishnan,CPI(M) Kerala secretary during apress meet at the capital city onFriday.

Balakrishnan was addressingthe media after Friday’s StateSecretariat meet of the CPI(M). Hesaid there was nothing unusual inthe National Investigation Agencysummoning Jaleel to their office.“The NIA in its letter of invitationsent to Jaleel has said that the agencywould like to speak to him as a wit-

ness. But the Congress and the BJPare blowing it out of proportion,”said the Secretary who se sonBineesh Kodiyeri too had beeninvited by the EnforcementDirectorate recently. Balakrishnansaid that the BJP and the Congresswere on a massive drive to recruitgoondas to eliminate the CPI(M)cadre and the State Government hasall the documentary evidence. “TheCongress is organizing ‘get togeth-ers’ of its goonda elements acrossKerala. The BJP is also doing thesame thing,” he said.

The State Secretariat in itsmeeting concluded that the Centrewas deliberately denying and delay-ing the financial dues meant for theState. “ The Congress is upset overthe general impression that theCPI(M) would come back to powerin the 2021 Assembly election andthat party is staring at a bleak future.Irrespective of the attitudes of theBJP and the Congress, the CPI(M)is going ahead with its developmentagenda for the welfare of the peo-ple,” said Balakrishnan whileexplaining the decisions taken in theSecretariat meeting.

Jaipur: RajasthanCommissioner of Informationand Public RelationsDepartment Mahendra Sonisaid that to prevent the risingcorona infection in the State,the resolution of “no mask-noentry” and other measuresshould be made available tothe people. Spread wide pub-lic awareness of corona byusing various means of pub-licity. Soni was directing thedistrict information and pub-lic relations officers throughvideo conferencing from theheadquarters here on Friday.

Commissioner Soni saidthat cases of corona infectionin the State have been steadi-ly increasing.

In view of this, we all haveto become more serious andresponsible, he said. For this,eminent doctors of the coun-try have considered masks tobe the most useful. Accordingto him, if all people havemasks, then the possibility ofinfection of this virus is great-ly reduced.

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Two more Maharashtra Ministers — Nitin Raut and HasanMushrif – tested positive for Covid-19 on Friday.The two ministers took to twitter to share information about

their having contracted Coronavirus. Sixty-three-year Raut, who is Maharashtra Energy Minister

and the State working president of Congress, tweeted: “I havetested positive for COVID-19. I would request all those who hadcome in contact with me to get themselves tested as a precau-tionary measure. Stay Safe everyone and take care”.

Mushrif, who is the State Rural Development Minister andNCP leader, said in a Marathi tweet posted on his official han-dle: “I have tested positive for COVID-19 and those who camein my contact should get themselves tested. I will soon be at yourservice defeating coronavirus. My health is fine”.

With Friday’s development, the total number of Maharashtraministers testing positive for Covid-19 has gone up to ten. Earlier,Ministers Jitendra Awhad (housing), Ashok Chavan (PWD),Dhananjay Munde (social justice), Sunil Kedar (animal hus-bandry), Balasaheb Patil (cooperation), Aslam Shaikh (textile),Abdul Sattar (MoS-rural development), Sanjay Bansode (MoS-environment) and Vishwajit Kadam (MoS-cooperation) had test-ed positive for Coronavirus.

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The daily Covid-19 tollcrossed 400-mark in

Maharashtra for the secondconsecutive day on Friday, as440 more deaths were report-ed in the state, while 21, 656more people tested positivefor Coronavirus.

A day after staggering 468deaths were reported in thestate, Maharashtra logged 440more deaths on Friday, takingthe total number of deaths to31,791.

Of the 440 deaths record-ed on Friday, 405 deaths werereported today while 35 olddeaths were added to the tallyafter the updation of the Covid-19 portal.

With 21,656 fresh infectedcases, the total number ofinfections jumped from

11,45,840 to 11,67,496.Of the total 440 deaths

(including 35 old deaths)reported on Friday, Nagpuraccounted for a maximum of64 fatalities, while there were52 deaths in Mumbai, 39 inPune, 34 in Satara, 32 inThane, 21 each in Ahmednagarand Sangli, 16 each in Nashikand Jalgaon, 12 each in Solapur,Aurangabad and Latur and 11deaths in Kolhapur and 10 inYavatmal.

Similarly, in the lowerrange, there were 9 deaths inRaigad, 7 in Beed, 6 inSindhudurg, 5 in Palghar, 4each in Nanded and Gondia, 3each in Dhule, Parbhani andWashim, 2 in Osmanabad andone each in Jalna, Hingoli,Akola, Amravati and Buldhana.In addition, two from outsidethe state died in Maharashtra.

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Page 6: 2020/09/19  · an organisation of 62 farmers unions,” he said, adding that farmers will hit the road on September 24 across India. The Centre has brought the Bills without discussion

Media, particularlytelevision, coverageof Sushant SinghRajput’s suicide — Iwill call the manner

of his death so until established oth-erwise — and its aftermath hasraised questions. Avoiding themutually accusatory statementsthat have been doing the rounds, Iwould rather focus on some of thedeeper issues involved. The first iswhether the extent of coverageextended to it is justified.

The event, doubtless, was mosttragic. A young man, who has givenmuch to Indian cinema, and couldhave given more, has been cut shortin his prime. The unnatural natureof his passing, the allegations andcounter-allegations ranging over it,the controversy about who shouldinvestigate it, the Centre’s decisionto put the CBI in charge, theSupreme Court’s verdict endorsingthe transfer and the subsequentdevelopments, certainly meritedmedia coverage. But did it have totake up huge chunks of prime-timecoverage on most channels sinceJune 14 when the alleged suicideoccurred?

The question is relevant whenthe country is facing a seriousthreat of Chinese aggression, a rag-ing and escalating COVID-19 pan-demic and an economy in crisis —to mention three of the mostimportant challenges. The argu-ment that these are also receivingattention raises the question: Is theattention of the deserved qualityand extent? The question can becountered by two arguments. First,any answer, in the negative or affir-mative, will involve a large measureof subjective judgement and, hence,cannot be regarded as definitive.The second can be that viewerswant the kind of coverage provid-ed.

As to the first, all judgments onall issues are subjective in thesense that whatever the quality ofthe evidence, a person or a groupmust assess it and come to a con-clusion. The assessment is by indi-viduals who have their ownpredilections and orientations,which they may or may not be ableto overcome. But then, a societywould not have been able to func-tion if it did not proceed by accept-ing as valid judgements that, underthe normative criteria embedded inits underlying social contract,passed the tests of rationality andmorality.

Here, rationality dictates thequestion: Whether Rajput’sdeath and its sordid aftermathhas greater relevance to thelives of the country and its peo-ple than the Chinese aggression,the COVID-19 pandemicand/or the economic crisis?One can argue that the after-math’s importance can hardly beunder-stated because it is lead-ing to the unravelling of theBollywood drug network, whichin turn may lead to the eradica-tion of the drug trade’s tentaclesthroughout the country. Againstthis, one has the Union Ministerof State G Kishan Reddy’s writ-ten reply to a question by aCongress MP, K Sudhakaran, inthe Lok Sabha on September 15stating, “Narcotics ControlBureau (NCB) carries outsearch, seizure, arrest and inves-tigation continuously through-out the year on the actionableinputs developed on its ownand/or on receipt from othersources. During the period ofCOVID-19 lockdown, no suchactionable inputs were receivedby the NCB revealing the nexusbetween people in the filmindustry and drug traffickers.”He, however, added, “However,a case in this regard has beenregistered by NCB Mumbaizonal unit on August 28, 2020.Till date, in this case 10 personshave been arrested. Drugs suchas Ganja, Hashish, Tetra HydroCannabinol and Lysergic acidDe-ethylamide have been seizedin the operation.”

Clearly, one has to see whatthe NCB produces. Until then it

would be a bit too much to citethe possibility of its unearthinga pan-India drug racket to jus-tify the massive coverage givento the train of events followingRajput’s death. This leads to thesecond justification cited above:Viewers want it. This may betrue given that the titillation andvoyeuristic pleasure that a verylarge number of people getfrom watching the lives ofcelebrities unscramble or theaftermath of a shocking tragedyunfold.

The mere fact that peoplewant to see something does notmake it acceptable. Time waswhen nothing was consideredwrong with masses assembled inRome’s Colosseum roaring inapplause as a gladiator killedanother or a lion. Even now,many in Spain are happy to wit-ness bullfights in which mata-dors kill bulls in unequal com-bat, and thousands participate injallikattu in South India inwhich bulls suffer horribly.

Clearly, popular participa-tion or viewing does not by itselfjustify an event or its extensiveand approbatory coverage —especially when it diverts atten-tion from critical issues facing acountry and trivialises discoursein what the German socialphilosopher, Jurgen Habermas,calls the “public sphere.” The lat-ter, he states in The StructuralTransformation of the PublicSphere (1962), is a virtual orimaginary community whichdoes not necessarily exist in anyidentifiable space. In its idealform, the public sphere is “made

up of private people gatheredtogether as a public and articu-lating the needs of society withthe state.” It is a space where pri-vate individuals discuss publicmatters, which mediatesbetween society and the state,leading to a critical consensustranslating itself into a coherentpublic opinion, which makes thestate accountable to citizens.

The media has a critical rolein providing information for dis-cussion in the public sphere. It,however, also has a responsibil-ity to ensure that investigationsproceed along right lines.Investigating and prosecutingagencies charged with deliveringcriminal justice are known tomake mistakes and even frameinnocent persons, often whenunder pressure to solve a crime.This writer’s decision to becomea journalist has been significant-ly influenced by his witnessing,as a school student in the early1950s, the film Call Northside777. Directed by HenryHathaway, it was based on thereal life efforts by a Chicago DailyTimes reporter, James McGuire,undertaken at the behest of thecity editor, Karin Walsh, that ledto the release of Joseph Majczek,wrongly convicted of murderinga police officer and serving a 99-year prison term.

One, however, must proceedwith extreme caution. Pressureson investigative agencies to pro-duce results can make probes gohorribly wrong, leading to pro-longed, rough interrogation,arrest and prosecution of inno-cent people whose lives are dev-

astated in the process even if thejudiciary exonerates them in theend. The matter reminds one ofthe title of Malcom Feeley’smuch-discussed book, TheProcess is the Punishment:Handling Cases in a LowerCriminal Court, first publishedin 1979. Doubtless, the bookdeals with lower criminal courtsin the US and not India. Also, weare talking here not just aboutlower criminal courts but theentire process. It can be a longhaul, involving expenses in theform of lawyers’ fees and trans-port, time spent in preparations,which often involves time takenoff from income-generatingactivities and, of course, stressand worry.

Should a person, eventuallyproved innocent, have beenmade to suffer all this becausemedia pressure led to him/herbeing pronounced guilty? Thisdoes not mean that investigativejournalism should not extend tocases under investigation. But itdoes mean scrupulous obser-vance of the canons of fair playand integrity and two cardinalprinciples of democratic, liber-tarian jurisprudence, wedded torespect for human rights.

The first is enshrined inArticle 11(1) of the UniversalDeclaration of Human Rightsadopted by the United Nationsin 1948. It reads, “Everyonecharged with a penal offence hasthe right to be presumed inno-cent until proved guilty accord-ing to law in a public trial atwhich he has had all the guar-antees necessary for his defence.”

It is also incorporated in TheEuropean Convention for theProtection of Human Rights,originally Convention for theProtection of Human Rights andFundamental Freedoms, whichcame into force on 3 September1953. It states in Article 6(2),“Everyone charged with a crim-inal offence shall be presumedinnocent until proved guiltyaccording to law.”

The famous English jurist,William Blackstone, articulatedthe second principle when hewrote in Commentaries on theLaws of England, “..all presump-tive evidence of felony should beadmitted cautiously, for the lawholds that it is better that tenguilty persons escape than thatone innocent suffer.” BenjaminFranklin, one of the foundingfathers of the United States,went further and said, in a let-ter in March,1785, “That it isbetter 100 guilty Persons shouldescape than that one innocentPerson should suffer, is a Maximthat has been long and general-ly approved.”

Journalists should remem-ber both, always.

(The writer is ConsultantEditor, The Pioneer, and author)

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����������� ������Sir — Question Hour is the liveli-est hour in Parliament and lendsa certain depth to proceedings.MPs ask questions to hold theGovernment and its Ministersaccountable. It is a sacred parlia-mentary device meant for exer-cising legislative control overexecutive actions. Unfortunately,the ruling party has watereddown the Question Hour for thismonsoon session. This decisionerodes the constitutional man-date of parliamentary oversightover executive actions as envis-aged under Article 75 (3) of theIndian Constitution.

Noor Ahmad Hyderabad

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Sir — It was heart-wrenching towatch the viral video on socialmedia, which claimed that thou-sands of Indians, mostly from UPand Bihar, are lodged in jails ofSaudi Arabia for more than sixmonths now. With the lockdowneased, many Governments haveevacuated their citizens as hasours. But somehow we havebeen callous about these helpless

migrants, who have not been ableto articulate their plight.

AMS NadwiLucknow

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Sir — The ongoing investigationinto the Delhi riots of February2020 has begun to assume a far-cical character. The focus of the

investigation has shifted from theperpetrators of the riot and itsinstigators and turned towardsonly civil society dissenters andprotesters of Government poli-cies. In effect, the conspiratorialnet has been cast so wide as tocapture anyone who opposed theCitizenship (Amendment) Act(CAA), be it a student activist,political leader or voluntaryworker. The investigation must

be thorough, fair and transpar-ent, and deemed as such.

Bhagwan ThadaniMumbai

������������������Sir — The collection of digitaldata on our President, PrimeMinister, politicians, judges, mil-itary officers, industrialists andother dignitaries by China is a

matter of national security. AnEnglish newspaper report saidthat a company associated withthe Chinese Government and themilitary is monitoring theInternet and social media activ-ities of about 10,000 distin-guished Indians and their closeones. It is clear from this thatalong with strategic and econom-ic aggression, the digital breachis also a part of China’s hybridwar against India. Along with theexpansion of information tech-nology and the Internet, theissue of data security is a matterof grave concern.

Bhupendra Singh RangaHaryana

����������� �Sir—The Telangana Governmenthas announced that senior stu-dents of classes IX to XII shouldstart attending school with 50 percent teachers. However, withmany parents unwilling to paythe fees for the month of June,the State Government mustarrange the necessary amountfrom its Treasury to get the sys-tem rolling.

SM Arif HussainHyderabad

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Page 7: 2020/09/19  · an organisation of 62 farmers unions,” he said, adding that farmers will hit the road on September 24 across India. The Centre has brought the Bills without discussion

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Responding to the pandemic, the Reserve Bankof India (RBI) had “permitted” banks to grantmoratorium on payment of instalments of

term loans due after March 1 up to August 31. Asimilar dispensation was “allowed” on recovery ofinterest on working capital. The moratorium wasinitially permitted up to the end of April and 55.1per cent of customers of Scheduled CommercialBanks (SCBs), accounting for 50 per cent of out-standing credit, had availed this facility. In PublicSector Banks (PSBs), 80.3 per cent of all individ-ual customers, accounting for 80 per cent of totaloutstanding individual loans, opted for the mora-torium. A whopping 74 per cent of Micro, Smalland Medium Enterprise (MSME) borrowers and28.8 per cent of corporate borrowers, covering 81.5per cent and 58 per cent (by outstanding amountin category loans), availed the facility.

For private banks, 41.8 per cent of individualcustomers, accounting for 80 per cent of outstand-ing individual loans, and 20.9 per cent of all MSMEcustomers opted for moratoriums, comprising 42.5per cent of outstanding loans to MSMEs. About 21.6per cent of corporate borrowers, covering 19.6 percent of total outstanding corporate loans, had availedthe facility.

The Supreme Court has extended the morato-rium and the Central Government has appointedan expert panel to look into the issue. Exactly howmany loans accounts and what loan amount is undermoratorium are not known. Some borrowers mayhave decided against seeking the moratorium facil-ity due to uncertainty about relief on interest. Hadthe interest relief been announced upfront, almostall borrowers would have instantly opted for themoratorium, except possibly for borrowers tooproud of their financial standing to seek any relief.

Since the verdict of the apex court was not avail-able by August 31, it was the borrowers’ call to takea wager on the verdict and decide whether to optfor a moratorium or not. It is unclear if the relief,if and when granted, would be available only tothose availing of the moratorium. Overall, the sys-tem lacks incentives for those remaining fully com-pliant while the non-compliant people may hopeto get some relief. Had the interest relief been a mat-ter of legal right under the Banking Regulation orDisaster Management Acts, it would have beenthrough by now. The Disaster Management Act(DMA), empowering the Government to takeimmediate relief and rescue measures, cannot beover-read to give it unfettered powers to deal withthe full economic fallout of the disaster. It certain-ly does not empower the Government to alter termsof private contracts on jobs, rentals, sales, lendingand so on. That explains why the tone and tenorof parts of the “orders” issued under the DMA isnot peremptory, prescriptive, definitive but indica-tive, persuasive and advisory in nature. Hence, legal-ly binding orders regarding timely payment of fullsalaries, non-recovery of rent and school fees andso on could not be issued for this reason. Appealsto good conscience is a different matter.

Likewise, the Banking Regulation Act (BR Act)would by itself not confer any rights on the RBI tomandate any alteration in individual contractsentered into by the banks unless supplemented withlegal remedies under the Securitisation andReconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcementof Securities Interest Act (SARFAESI Act) or theInsolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).Appropriately, the RBI has “permitted” grants ofmoratorium while extending regulatory forbearanceon recognition of the non-performing asset (NPA).The BR Act does not empower the RBI to mandate

changing loan terms already contracted.Loan contracts can be changed only onthe orders of insolvency courts.Mandatory moratorium requires morethan the BR Act.

There are no free lunches in econom-ics except those paid for by others. If bor-rowers get interest relief during themoratorium period, bank investors anddepositors would stand to lose unlesscompensated by the Government, like ithappens in farm loan waivers. Charity atothers’ expense is systemic. Relief to bor-rowers at the expense of depositors is akinto relief to consumers ending up suppress-ing remunerative market prices for farm-ers.The bank depositors are also adverse-ly impacted by the pandemic-induced fallin interest rates that stand to benefit newborrowers as well as the borrowers whoare able to refinance high-cost old loans.The post-outbreak rate cuts and liquidi-ty infusion by the RBI, aided by rising for-eign exchange reserves, has caused a pre-cipitous fall in interest rates. Some areoffering record-low home loan interestrates under seven per cent per annumwith new products of repo-linked homeloans on offer. Low interest rates bringcheer to borrowers but gloom to depos-itors.

There are no fiscal guarantees todepositors on minimum interest rates andthe IBC haircuts have been too costly insome cases. When corporate borrowersget a tax reduction bonanza, they don’tshare the booty with lenders as they arenot obliged to. When farm loans arewaived, Governments provide fiscal sup-port to banks but at present the Centredoes not seem able and willing to com-pensate the banks for interest relief.

In the absence of fully disaggregat-ed data on different types of loans undermoratorium, a back-of-the-envelopequantification of the impact of interestrelief can be �1 lakh crore per month,

assuming interest relief to be about oneper cent per month on total pre-pandem-ic outstanding credit of about �100 lakhcrore. Even direct fiscal relief to the gen-eral population is not of this magnitude.

Financial stakes on the SupremeCourt’s verdict are very high. The inter-est relief has been sought from the high-est court of justice precisely because it isnot a legal right. The golden balance ofjustice is being watched by distressed bor-rowers and anxious depositors. All bor-rowers are not equally distressed by thepandemic. Some differentiating criterionbased on quantum of liability outstand-ing on March 1 and purpose of loan(whether educational; for first home/caror second one, for the EconomicallyWeaker Section or affordable housing,past credit history) and proven impact ofthe contagion on income can be evolvedto give relief to a truly needy class of bor-rowers. The relief even to this subsetshould not be entirely a burden on bankdepositors. Ideally such relief is best pro-vided by governments under fiscal stim-ulus paid by taxpayers, current or future.

The need to maintain the health ofbanks can hardly be overemphasised.Deep-rooted socio-cultural beliefs stigma-tising indebtedness (indebted personembarrassed and lenders reviled ) contin-ue to change worldwide.

Post World War, the wheels of growthare lubricated by the continuous supplyof credit. India joined the borrow/spendbandwagon in the 80s. Lending byScheduled Commercial Banks rose from�8,64,300 crore (30 per cent of the GrossDomestic Product [GDP]) at the end ofMarch 2004 to �67,35,200 crore at the endof March 2014 (60 per cent of the GDP).At present, bank lending is only about 50per cent of the GDP.

As on July 31, the total deposits ofSCBs were �141,61,689 crore (�127,44,583crore a year ago); outstanding credit was

�102,65,888 crore (�97,29,002 crore a yearago) and investments were �42,78,294crore (�35,57,063 crore a year ago). Thecombined effect of risk aversion of banksto lend and predominantly domesticfinancing of fiscal deficit is that only abouttwo-third of deposits get lent to non-Government entities.

We have made great strides in termsof expanding the reach of banking ser-vices and financialisation of savings buthigh-profile delinquencies by those whocan afford to pay continue to eclipse theseachievements.

The gross NPA of SCBs that hadpeaked to 11.2 per cent in 2017-18 hasbeen brought down to 8.5 per cent byMarch. This achievement is at great costto bank investors/depositors on accountof hefty haircuts following not-so-com-petitive slump sales of distressed compa-nies under the conventional, single roundbidding system being followed under theIBC. The RBI has assessed that the grossNPA of all SCBs may increase from 8.5per cent in March to 12.5 per cent byMarch 2021 and even to 14.7 per cent ifthe adverse economic impact of thepandemic is very severe. Seeing theplight of forecasting tools, the economicfallout of the contagion is hard to predictand measure.

Since bank lending is only about 50per cent of the GDP and post-pandem-ic recovery would require a heavy doseof credit, it is imperative to maintainincentives for financial savings.

Erosion of bank profitability runs therisk of dire consequences of de-finacial-isation or informalisation of savings,derailing the hard-won recovery. Thebanking system needs calibrated supportto prevent relapse into transmitted sick-ness.

(The writer is a retired IAAS officerand former Special Secretary, Ministry ofCommerce and Industry.)

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It is disconcerting that every sec-ond child in India suffers someform of nutritional failure in India.

Over the years, Government data haveborne witness to how many people,especially women and children, donot get three square meals in a day.Worryingly, the potential disrup-tions caused by the lockdown maymake the varied forms of malnutri-tion a lasting reality. However, thelaunch of the Government’s flagshipprogramme ‘POSHAN Abhiyaan’,seems to have made some headway,with an ambitious target of achievinga malnutrition-free India by 2022.

It also aims to reduce stunting inchildren aged between zero and five

years from 38.4 per cent to 25 per centduring the same period, along withreducing the level of anaemia and lowbirth weight in children.

With inter-sectoral convergencebeing the key strategy, the pro-gramme makes a shift from the exist-ing approach of making planning andimplementation the responsibility ofone Ministry. Instead, it rightly notesthe various critical components ofsuccess and makes ‘POSHANAbhiyaan’ a multi-ministerial initia-tive. While the Ministry of Womenand Child Development acts as thenodal office, the Ministry of DrinkingWater and Sanitation is responsible forthe Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM)that ensures cleanliness and hygieneand the Ministry of Education isresponsible for the Mid-Day MealScheme (MDMS).

Two other Ministries, that ofHealth and Family Welfare and theone responsible for RuralDevelopment, are looking after healthprogrammes such as Mission

Indradhanush for immunisation cov-erage and rural income schemes, suchas MNREGA, respectively. The LPGdistribution scheme by the Ministryof Petroleum and Natural Gas enabledsafe and hygienic cooking in under-privileged households.

But will India accept malnutritionas everyone’s problem? The copiousfund allocation for the ‘POSHANAbhiyaan’ and its increase in the pastthree years have shown theGovernment’s sincerity in taking themission to its intended conclusion.From �950 crore in 2017-18, the cur-rent allocation for the ‘POSHANAbhiyaan’ reached a sum of �3,400crore for the financial year 2019-20.However, the potential challenge canbe bringing social and behaviouralchange towards malnutrition at thecommunity level. Ensuring equitablenutrition to build a healthier nationwill require the following.

Eating local and seasonal food:This comprises a part of the trendknown as “sustainable eating” and has

been proven to be an economicalsolution to the food crisis globally.This saves time and the cost of trans-portation while promoting the use offewer preservatives. Such food itemsare also suitable to fulfil the nutrition-al needs of the people in a way thatis commensurate with the local envi-ronment.

The concept of introducingkitchen gardens in schools to fulfilsome part of the requirements underthe MDMS is an innovative step. Inthe coming days, introducing moresteps, such as promotion of local,nutritious millet and crop diversifica-tion to promote traditional millet willbe the right steps to complement thisongoing effort. Recent studies haveobserved that investing $1 in nutri-tion-related interventions will haveeconomic gains of about $19 to $22.

Addressing intrinsic social andcultural biases: In his paper‘POSHAN Abhiyaan: MakingNutrition a Jan Andolan’, NITI Aayogmember Vinod K Paul and co-

authors observe that despite theProhibition of Child Marriage Act,2006 mandating the legal age ofmarriage at 18 for girls, 30 per centof them are married before that ageand eight per cent are already preg-nant by the time they are 15-19 yearsof age. Facing intra-household depri-vations due to their sex and abjectpoverty, these young girls often foregonecessary nutrition, care, and rest evenduring their pregnancy, thus deliver-ing low birth weight babies. Forthese babies, the cycle of malnutritionhas already begun, they note.

This long-standing social biasdeepens with socio-economicnuances. For example, in tribal house-holds, the overall amount of food isanyway low and the men, by tradition,get the larger share of it, consideringthe physical labour they must under-take. A male child may get less to eatthan his father, but is likely to get morethan his mother, grandmother or sis-ter. There is a need to free nutritionfrom the perceived requirement of the

receiver. Disseminating a scientifical-ly-validated diet chart according to ageand sex to the Panchayat level can helpin spreading awareness and helphouseholds modify their practices.

Clear and visible measures forbetter accountability: Owing to thepossible institutional leakages,Government initiatives should bemonitored by some metric foraccountability. For this, an enhancedinformation and process system iscrucial. Monitoring, surveillance, andevaluation remain critical to allGovernment initiatives not only tofirm up the people’s trust but for bet-ter outcomes as well. Understandingground-level realities will not onlyenrich policymakers’ understanding,it may help in building a positive per-spective among beneficiaries aboutpublic interventions. Public consulta-tions, surveys among beneficiariesand social audits are some of the mosteffective ways to do this.

Building a case against hiddenhunger: Few realise that malnutrition

is not exclusively a rural phenomenon.Many people, especially children, inthe cities, too, suffer from malnutri-tion, albeit of a different kind. Sincea good part of their diet is filled withrefined and finished items, not tomention the large amounts of salt,sugar and trans-fat they consume, thechildren lack micronutrients such asiron and zinc. Traditional crops andmillet, marked as nutri-cereals thatshould have been part of our diet, arefast becoming a favourite of the edu-cated and wealthier part of the soci-ety. However, as companies produc-ing fast-moving consumer goodslook to the rural market to revive fromthe economic effect of the pandem-ic, it is important to ensure that ruralconsumers do not acquire the habitsof cities. The onus is on theGovernment to ensure that the learn-ings from the cities reach the villagesbefore it is too late.

(The writer is Associate Professor,Health Economist, IIHMR University,Jaipur)

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Russia has approved R-Pharm’s Coronavir treat-

ment for outpatients with mildto moderate COVID-19 infec-tions and the antiviral drugcould be rolled out to phar-macies in the country as soonas next week, the company saidon Friday.

Coronavir’s approval as aprescription drug follows thegreen light for another RussianCOVID-19 drug, Avifavir, inMay. Both are based on favipi-ravir, which was developed inJapan and is widely used thereas the basis for viral treatments.

R-Pharm’s announcementis another sign Russia is push-ing hard to take a global leadin the race against the virus. Itis already exporting itsCOVID-19 tests and hasclinched several internationaldeals for supplies of its Sputnik-V vaccine.

R-Pharm said it receivedapproval for Coronavir afterPhase III clinical trials involving168 patients with COVID-19.

Washington: The United Stateson Friday ordered a ban ondownloads of popular Chinese-owned video app TikTok anduse of the messaging and pay-ment platform WeChat, sayingthey threaten national security.

The move, to be imple-mented Sunday, comes amid ris-ing US-China tensions andefforts by the Trump adminis-tration to engineer a sale ofTikTok to American investors.

“The Chinese CommunistParty has demonstrated themeans and motives to use theseapps to threaten the nationalsecurity, foreign policy, and theeconomy of the US,” CommerceSecretary Wilbur Ross said in astatement.

The initiative would banWeChat, an app with massiveuse among Chinese speakers,and TikTok from the onlinemarketplaces operated by Appleand Google.

But while WeChat will effec-tively be shut down from Sundayin the US, existing TikTok user

will be able to continue using theapp until November 12 -- whenit would also face a full ban onits US operations.

But the CommerceDepartment said if nationalsecurity concerns over TikTokwere resolved before then, theorder may be lifted.

TikTok’s brand of brief,quirky videos made on users’cellphones has become hugelypopular, especially among youngpeople.

The plan follows through ona threat by President DonaldTrump, who has claimedChinese tech operations may beused for spying, and it ramps upthe pressure on TikTok parentByteDance to conclude a deal tosell all or part of TikTok to allayUS security concerns.

A deal which appeared to betaking shape would allow SiliconValley giant Oracle to becomethe tech partner for TikTok, butsome US lawmakers haveobjected to allowing ByteDanceto keep a stake. AFP

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Hong Kong’s high court onFriday ruled that same-sex

couples should receive equaltreatment under inheritancelaw, in a step forward for LGBTrights in the finance hub.

But the victory came on thesame day as a separate legal bidfor full recognition of foreignsame-sex marriages was struckdown, underscoring what cam-paigners say is a lack ofprogress on equality issues.

Hong Kong’s law does notallow same-sex marriage anddoes not recognise foreignunions, though limited recog-nition has been granted inrecent years in several land-mark rulings.

Edgar Ng, a gay HongKonger, last year launched alegal challenge against the city’sinheritance and intestacy laws,alleging discrimination on thebasis of sexual orientation.

In 2018 he bought a gov-

ernment-subsidised flat, a yearafter marrying his partner inLondon, according to courtdocuments.

Under Hong Kong’s hous-ing policy, his husband cannotbe recognised as the jointhomeowner, and Ng was con-cerned that should he die with-out a will, his property wouldnot be passed to his partner.

In the judgement handeddown Friday, Judge AndersonChow said the exclusion ofspouses in same-sex marriagesfrom their legal entitlements“constitutes unlawful discrim-ination”.

The judge said “differentialtreatment is not justified”.

LGBT rights activists withcampaign group Hong KongMarriage Equality described theruling as an “important victory”.

“The government shouldseize this opportunity to workwith the LGBT+ community toimplement marriage equality inthe city,” the association said.

Taipei: China’s military sent 18planes including fighter jetsover the Taiwan Strait in anunusually large show of force onMonday as a US envoy held aday of closed-door meetingson the self-governing islandclaimed by China.

Under Secretary of StateKeith Krach, who handles theeconomic growth, energy andthe environment portfolio, heldtalks with Taiwan’s minister ofeconomic affairs and vice pre-mier. He also met with businessleaders over lunch and was todine with President Tsai Ing-wenlater Friday.

In response to Krach’s visit,the Eastern Theater Commandof the Chinese People’sLiberation Army held combatexercises near the Strait, in atleast the second round of wargames this month aimed atintimidating supporters of the

island’s independent identity.Taiwan’s defense ministry

said two bombers and 16 fight-er jets from China crossed intoTaiwan’s air defense identifica-tion zone. It said it scrambled jetsin response and monitored themovements of the Chineseplanes. Chinese defense ministryspokesperson Ren Guoqiangcalled the drills a “legitimate andnecessary action taken inresponse to the current situationacross the Taiwan Straits tosafeguard national sovereigntyand territorial integrity.”

“Recently, the U.S. And(Taiwan’s ruling) DemocraticProgressive Party authoritieshave stepped up their collusionand frequently stir up troubles,”Ren told reporters Fridaymorning.

“Whether it is usingTaiwan to contain China orrelying on foreign powers tothreaten others, it is wishfulthinking and is destined to bea dead end.” In a brief messageon its microblog, the EasternTheater Command said theexercises involved naval and airforce units in the Taiwan Straitaimed at gauging their ability

to carry out joint operations.China’s Ministry of Foreign

Affairs also defended the move.Ministry spokesman WangWenbin said China has the“firm will, full confidence andsufficient ability to thwart allexternal interference and sepa-ratist actions by Taiwan inde-pendence forces.” Beijing viewsTaiwan as part of its own terri-tory and strongly opposes anytype of formal interactionbetween other countries and theself-ruled island democracy.

Krach’s trip follows a visit inAugust by U.S. Health SecretaryAlex Azar, the highest-level U.S.Cabinet official to visit since theU.S. Switched formal relationsfrom Taiwan to China in 1979.

It is one of a series of movesby the Trump administration tostrengthen relations withTaiwan, including stepped-uparms sales and support for theisland’s participation in inter-national forums.

Before Krach’s arrival, theU.S. Ambassador to the UnitedNations, Kelly Craft, had lunchWednesday with Taiwan’s topofficial in New York, in a meet-ing she called historic. AP

Beijing: Thousands of peoplein northwest China have test-ed positive for a bacterial dis-ease after a leak from a state-owned biopharmaceutical plantmaking animal vaccines lastyear.

Health officials in Lanzhoucity said 3,245 people had con-tracted brucellosis, a diseaseoften caused by close contactwith infected animals or animalproducts that can bring aboutfevers, joint pain andheadaches.

Another 1,401 people test-ed as an early positive for thedisease, and health authoritiessaid there was no evidence ofperson-to-person transmissionso far.

Chinese authorities found a biopharmaceuticalplant had used expired disin-fectant in its production ofBrucella vaccines for animalsbetween July and August lastyear — meaning the bacteriawas not eradicated in its facto-ry exhaust. AFP

Pristina: Kosovo awarded USPresident Donald Trump onFriday with one of the country’shighest honours for his gov-ernment’s efforts on peace andreconciliation in the formerwar-torn region.

President Hashim Thaciawarded Trump with Kosovo’sOrder of Freedom “for hisexceptional contribution forthe freedom of Kosovo and thestrengthening of Peace andreconciliation in the region.”

The honour is given tolocal and foreign citizens fortheir high contribution indefending Kosovo’s freedom.

Trump’s administration hasbeen working to normaliserelations between Serbia andKosovo, two former Balkanwar foes, and two weeks agoSerbian President AleksanderVucic and Kosovo PrimeMinister Avdullah Hoti signedan economic normalisationdeal at the White House.

Thaci also awarded Trump’sNational Security AdviserRobert O’Brien and his envoyfor Serbia-Kosovo talks RichardGrenell with the lowerPresidential Medal of Merits. AP

Houston: Sitting across fromher lawyer at an immigrationdetention center in ruralGeorgia, Mileidy CardenteyFernandez unbuttoned her jailjumpsuit to show the scars onher abdomen. There were threesmall, circular marks.

The 39-year-old womanfrom Cuba was told only thatshe would undergo an opera-tion to treat her ovarian cysts,but a month later, she’s still notsure what procedure she got.After Cardentey repeatedlyrequested her medical recordsto find out, Irwin CountyDetention Center gave hermore than 100 pages showinga diagnosis of cysts but noth-ing from the day of the surgery.

“The only thing they toldme was: ‘You’re going to go tosleep and when you wake up,we will have finished,’”Cardentey said this week in aphone interview.

Cardentey kept her hospi-tal bracelet. It has the date, Aug.14, and part of the doctor’sname, Dr. Mahendra Amin, agynecologist linked this weekto allegations of unwanted hys-terectomies and other proce-dures done on detained immi-grant women that jeopardizetheir ability to have children.

An Associated Press reviewof medical records for fourwomen and interviews withlawyers revealed growing alle-gations that Amin performedsurgeries and other procedureson detained immigrants that

they never sought or didn’t fullyunderstand. Although someprocedures could be justifiedbased on problems document-ed in the records, the women’slack of consent or knowledgeraises severe legal and ethicalissues, lawyers and medicalexperts said.

Amin has performedsurgery or other gynecologicaltreatment on at least eightwomen detained at IrwinCounty Detention Center since 2017, including one hysterectomy, said Andrew Free,an immigration and civil rightslawyer working with attorneysto investigate medical treat-ment at the detention center.Doctors on behalf of the attor-neys are examining new recordsand more women are comingforward to report their treat-ment by Amin, Free said. AP

Washington: An Indian-American federal judge hasturned down an appeal by 169Indian citizens who had chal-lenged President DonaldTrump’s order that barred for-eign nationals on H-1B spe-cialty occupation visas fromentering the US till the end ofthe year.

The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows UScompanies to employ foreignworkers in speciality occupa-tions that require theoretical or

technical expertise. The tech-nology companies depend onit to hire tens of thousands ofemployees each year fromcountries like India and China.

US District Judge Amit PMehta of US District Court forthe District of Columbia in his11-page order on Wednesdaysaid that Indian citizens, whoare now trapped abroad duringtrips to India when bordersclosed, are unlikely to win theircase contesting the travel banproclamation of Trump. PTI

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United Nations: The UNSecurity Council on Fridaywelcomed the start of theAfghanistan PeaceNegotiations in Doha andstrongly encouraged the partiesto continue pursuing confi-dence-building measures,including reduction in vio-lence and to continue to engagein good faith.

In a statement, the 15-member powerful organ of theworld body reaffirmed itsstrong commitment to the sov-ereignty, independence, terri-torial integrity and nationalunity of war-torn Afghanistan.

“The members of theSecurity Council recognisedthat a sustainable peace can beachieved only through a com-prehensive and inclusiveAfghan-led, Afghan-ownedpeace process that aims at apermanent and comprehen-sive ceasefire as well as aninclusive political settlement toend the conflict inAfghanistan,” it said.

They “strongly encouragedparties to the negotiations tocontinue pursuing confidence-building measures includingreductions in violence and tocontinue to engage in goodfaith.”

The Council reaffirmed theimportance of the UN’s role inpromoting peace and stabilityin Afghanistan and welcomedthe efforts of all regional andinternational partners ofAfghanistan in facilitating intra-Afghan negotiations and inhelping the parties reach peace.

The Security Council mem-bers also thanked the govern-ment of Qatar for facilitating thefirst round of negotiations.

The first-ever direct talksbetween the Afghan govern-ment representatives and theTaliban began on September 12.

Negotiators from theAfghan government and theTaliban will hold talks as partof intra-Afghan negotiations inDoha to bring a lasting peaceto Afghanistan. PTI

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New Delhi:Shri J K Jain hastaken over as Director (HR) ofDelhi Transco Limited. Withproficiency in Hindi , Englishand Bengali, Shri Jain is a qual-ified Chartered Accountant.He has also done courses inM a r k e t i n g & F i n a n c i a lManagement as well asBusiness & Labour Laws fromIndian Institute ofManagement,Kolkata(IIM– C).

An officer of DANICS of1994 batch, Shri Jain has exten-sive work experience of morethan 26 years. Shri Jain startedhis career as SDM of HausKhas, Delhi and move tobecome Deputy Secretary(Finance). The other importantpostings Shri Jain has handledin Delhi include, Collector –Property Taxes in MCD.

NewDelhi: In order to cater therising passenger traffic andthe demand for better ser-vices, AAI`sTuticorin Airportis undergoing major up-gra-dation in phaseswith cost of Rs381 crores.The master projectincludes widening extensionand strengthening work ofexisting Runway and associat-ed infrastructure.

In order to cater to the ris-ing passenger traffic, con-struction of the new DomesticTerminal Building is alsoplanned, spreading over anarea of 13530 sqm.The newTerminal Building will be ableto handle 600 passengers dur-ing peak hours. The TerminalBuilding will be equipped withall the modern facilities andpassenger amenities.

New Delhi:29th August 2020was a day which will be markedas a special occasion in thediaries of many women. On thisday, a unique networking plat-form for Global Indian Women,GIWA - was launched at the TajAmbassador, New Delhi.Though keeping in mind, therestrictions of COVID 19, thegathering was of only 25 women(maintaining the social distanc-ing norms), the excitement theydemonstration was massive andmind blowing. Based on the ideaof giving women ‘Wings to Fly’,GIWA Women Association aimsat helping women from diversebackgrounds to come forwardand fulfil their dreams. Givingthem the requisite platform toshowcase their talents and get-ting for them the much-awaitedaccolades.

New Delhi:Indian fan manu-facturers on Thursday soughtlower GST rate at 5 per cent onfans, saying the existing 18 percent tax is "adversely" impact-ing the industry.

The lower GST (goods andservices tax) slab would makethe fans a promptly accessiblecommodity for everyone byincreasing grass-root level pen-etration, exceptionally in ruralIndia, the Indian FanManufacturers Association(IFMA) said in a statementafter its virtual Annual GeneralMeeting.

The fan industry lostaround 35 per cent of its annu-al sales due to the outbreak ofCOVID-19 this year during thepeak sale period, causing hugefinancial losses for fan compa-nies, said the association.

PTI

New Delhi: The rapid increasein Covid-19 afflictions and inter-mittent lockdowns will increaseasset quality challenges of non-banking financial companies(NBFCs), already grappling withthe economic slowdown sincelast fiscal, Crisil Ratings said onFriday. According to Crisil, thetrend in monthly collection effi-ciency till August 31, 2020(unadjusted for moratorium)shows there is still some way togo before reaching pre-pan-demic levels. While the recent restructuringscheme afforded by the ReserveBank of India (RBI) would be aleash on reported non-per-forming assets (NPAs), under-lying challenges continue.Loandelinquencies of NBFCs coulddart up 50-250 basis points(bps) this fiscal, depending onthe segment of operation,because of vulnerability in bor-rower cash flows. IANS

New Delhi: Markets regulatorSebi on Friday extended thedeadline till October 18 tosubmit public comments on theproposed format for businessresponsibility and sustainabil-ity reporting in view of theimpact of the COVID-19 pan-demic.

The proposed format forbusiness responsibility and sus-tainability reporting coveringenvironmental, social andGovernance perspectives willbe applicable to top 1,000 list-ed firms by market capitalisation.

The comments on the pro-posed format were invited tillSeptember 18.

PTI

New Delhi:Beginning Monday,Indian customs authorities willstrictly scrutinise documentsprovided by importers claimingduty benefits under free-tradeagreements, a move aimed atcurbing serious misuse of theconcessions under these pacts,finance ministry sources said.

Importers will now have toprovide sufficient proof to thedomestic customs authoritiesthat the goods being importedhave a minimum 35 per centvalue addition in the countryfrom which it is being exportedto India, they said.

"It will be the responsibilityof importers to ensure that thegoods being imported by themshould have been only manu-factured or produced on the for-eign countries and minimum 35per cent value addition have

taken place in those countries,"the sources said.

For example, if a mobile isexported from, say, Indonesia toIndia, then it would qualify to beof Indonesian origin only ifsuch mobile is made significantlyin Indonesia and 35 per cent ofits value is contributed by thatcountry. The move assumes sig-nificance in the backdrop of con-cerns being raised by certainquarters of the domestic indus-try about misuse of free tradeagreement (FTA) benefits from10-member ASEAN countries.

The importer has to possessall documentary proof to provethat the 35 per cent value addi-tion requirement has been metand showing a mere 'certificateof origin' provided by the export-ing country to Indian importerwould not suffice. PTI

Mumbai: Equity benchmarksnursed losses for the second con-secutive session on Friday asinvestors offloaded banking,finance and consumption stocksamid mixed global cues.

The BSE Sensex, whichopened on a firm footing, cameunder fag-end selling pressureand closed at 38,845.82, down134.03 points or 0.34 per cent.

Similarly, the broader NSENifty slipped 11.15 points or 0.10per cent to finish at 11,504.95.HDFC Bank was the top loseramong the Sensex constituents,skidding 2.39 per cent, followedby Kotak Bank, Bajaj Finserv,Maruti, Titan, SBI, HUL, HDFCand Tata Steel.

Bharti Airtel led the gain-ers' list with a jump of 3.73 percent. M&M, NTPC, TechMahindra, Sun Pharma,PowerGrid and ONGC wereamong the other winners,climbing as much as 2.72 percent. During the week, theSensex dropped 8.73 points or0.02 per cent, while the Niftyadvanced 40.50 points or 0.35per cent. "Indian benchmarkindices, after trading in the

green for most of the day, suc-cumbed to a round of selling inthe last hour of trading, to closeout the day flat, with a slightnegative bias. PTI

New Delhi: Google on Fridaysaid it does not allow apps facil-itating sports betting and willremove such apps from theGoogle Play Store. There is oftena surge in launch of such appsbefore major sporting tourna-ments like the IPL. The latest sea-son of the IPL is scheduled tostart from September 19 in theUnited Arab Emirates. "We don'tallow online casinos or supportany unregulated gambling appsthat facilitate sports betting. Thisincludes if an app leads con-sumers to an external websitethat allows them to participate inpaid tournaments to win realmoney or cash prizes, it is a vio-lation of our policies," Googlesaid in a blog post. PTI

Mumbai: India Ratings andResearch has revised its outlookon the banking sector to 'neg-ative' from 'stable' for 2HFY21.

The ratings agency Ind-Rasaid this revision was done inview of an expected spike instressed assets, higher creditcosts, weaker earnings onaccount of interest reversalsand lower fee income, andmuted growth prospects.

Even the capital buffersfor most public sector banks(PSBs) remain modest, it said.

As per Ind-Ra's bear case,the spike in stressed assets dueto the pandemic is expected todouble the credit costs forbanking system than estimat-ed pre-Covid-19 levels forFY21.

Consequently, Ind-Ra

revised the rating outlook onPSBs to 'negative' for 2HFY21.

"PSBs' modest capitalbuffers are expected to depletefurther in FY21, due to provi-sioning requirements. Also,pre-Covid profitability expec-tations for FY21 would bebelied and most banks arelikely to report net losses," theagency said in a statement.

"They may also need tocontinue to build-up their pro-vision cover in FY22 forrestructured assets as some ofthe restructured assets couldturn NPA in FY23. PSBs' couldrequire INR350 billion-550 bil-lion in 2HFY 21 for Tier-1 ratioof 10 per cent. Covid-19 orcontingent provisions are muchlower than that for privatebanks." IANS

New Delhi: Retail inflationfor farm workers and rurallabourers cooled down to 6.32per cent and 6.28 per cent,respectively, in August com-pared to the year ago periodmainly due to the softening ofprices of some food items. Point-to-point rate of inflationbased on the CPI-AL(Consumer Price Index-Agricultural Labourers) andCPI-RL (Consumer PriceIndex-Rural Labourers) was6.39 per cent and 6.23 per centrespectively in August 2019, thelabour ministry said in a state-ment.

Inflation based on foodindex of CPI-AL is at 7.76 percent and of CPI-RL at 7.83 percent in August 2020 comparedto 7.27 per cent and 6.98 percent, respectively, in the same

month last year.Among states, the maxi-

mum increase in the CPI-ALand CPI-RL was experiencedby West Bengal State (27 pointsand 28 points respectively)mainly due to rise in the pricesof wheat-atta, pulses, mustard-oil, milk, chillies-green, ginger,country liquor, firewood, bidi,meat goat, fish dry, bidi, busfare, vegetables and fruits etc.

The maximum decreasein CPI-AL and CPI-RL wasexperienced by Kerala (6 pointsand 8 points respectively)

mainly due to fall in the pricesof pulses, coconut oil, chillies-dry, onion, fish fresh etc. Labour Minister SantoshGangwar said, "The continuedsoftening of inflation in suc-cession for seven months maybe mainly attributed to therelief measures announced bythe government to help poorpeople including labourers dur-ing the COVID-19 pandemic."The increase in the index willhave a positive impact on thewages of millions of workersworking in the unorganizedsector in rural areas."Director General LabourBureau D S Negi said, "LabourBureau has been able to bringout the monthly indices as perthe pre-defined schedule con-sistently even during the toughtime of COVID-19." PTI

New Delhi: Over 4.87 crore e-way bills, valued at over Rs13.85 lakh crore, were gener-ated by businesses and trans-porters in August, reflecting apick up in economic activity,GSTN data showed.

Electronic way or e-waybills are required for inter-state movement of goods worthover Rs 50,000. For intra-statemovement, limits vary fromstate to state.

As per the data shared bythe Goods and Services TaxNetwork (GSTN), 4.76 crore e-way bills, valued at over Rs13.66 lakh crore, were gener-ated in July.

The number stood at 4.27crore in June (worth Rs 12.40lakh crore), 2.51 crore in May(Rs 8.98 lakh crore), 84.53lakh in April (Rs 3.90 lakhcrore) and 4 crore in March (Rs11.43 lakh crore).

In February, before the

coronavirus lockdown cameinto force, 5.63 crore e-way billswere generated, valued at Rs15.39 lakh crore.

In a statement, GSTN,which manages the technologybackbone of GST, said busi-nesses can now download theire-way bill data for past one-month period from the e-waybill portal run by the NationalInformatics Centre (NIC).

So far, taxpayers or trans-porters could download e-waybills generated by them for alimited period of 5 days. GSTNsaid it had received suggestionsfrom taxpayers to increase thenumber of days for which e-way bills could be downloaded.

"Taxpayers can now makeuse of this facility to downloadthe e-way bills in excel formatand use in their systems. Thisfacility is presently availabledaily between 8 AM to 12noon," it said. PTI

New Delhi:Telecom regulator TRAI on Friday issued a fresh setof rules for publication and advertisement of tariff plans by tel-cos, in a bid to boost transparency in mobile offers and to helpsubscribers make informed decisions.

The consumer-oriented move assumes significance as tele-com subscribers often grapple with issues such as lack of infor-mation, unclear or hard to find plan details - a situation that affectssubscribers' ability to make proper choices.

Tightening the rules for telcos, Telecom Regulatory Authorityof India (TRAI) on Friday issued directions on tariff publica-tion and tariff advertisements. "...It has been observed that exist-ing measures adopted by telecom service providers are not trans-parent as they should be and that some of the telecom serviceproviders are not prominently highlighting additional terms andconditions," TRAI directive said. PTI

Hong Kong: Investmentbetween the United States andChina tumbled to a nine-yearlow in the first half of 2020, hitby bilateral tensions that couldsee more Chinese companiescome under pressure to divestUS operations, a research reportsaid. Investment, both directinvestment by companies andventure capital flows, betweenthe two countries fell 16.2% to$10.9 billion in January-Junefrom the same period a year ear-lier - also hurt by the coronaviruspandemic, according to figuresfrom consultancy RhodiumGroup and the NationalCommittee on US-ChinaRelations, an NGO. That's a farcry from half-yearly totals ofnearly $40 billion seen in 2016and 2017. Flows are unlikely torecover this year, regardless of theoutcome of the U.S. presidentialelection, the report said.

New Delhi: Although festiveseason demand may providesome temporary relief to the autoindustry in the next two-threemonths, the continued dispro-portionate wholesale billings byoriginal equipment manufac-turers could lead to increasedstress for dealers if uptake islower than expected, accordingto a report.

In its latest report on theauto sector, India Ratings andResearch (Ind-Ra) on Fridaysaid retail sales are likely tocontinue to lag behind wholesalesales in September 2020although the sector has report-ed a month-on-month rise insales over May-August 2020after the washout in April.

"After an above-averageacreage backed by adequatemonsoon, the prospects of arobust kharif harvest have orig-inal equipment manufacturers

(OEMs) hoping for a retaildemand revival from the ruralside during the upcoming festiveseason," the ratings agency saidin a statement. It added that salesare likely to remain sluggish inSeptember, especially on theretail side, "due to the inauspi-cious period of Shraadh".

The retail demand alsoimproved sequentially overApril-August 2020, the salesvolumes are still much lowerthan wholesales. But, passengervehicle (PV) and two-wheeler(2W) retail sales volumes fell 7per cent and 29 per cent year-on-year, respectively, in August2020.Amid the increasing casesof COVID-19 and job lossesacross the sections of the society,consumer sentiment remainsweak; the overall retail sales inAugust 2020 were only around71 per cent of the August 2019levels, it said. PTI

Gurugram:, RITES Ltd. (NSE:RITES, BSE:541556), the leadingTransport InfrastructureConsultancy and Engineeringfirm, reported that its Board ofDirectors has approved buy-back of96,98,113 equity sharesofface value of ̀ 10 each at ̀ 265pershare, translating into the totalbuy back amount not exceeding�257 crore.The company waslisted in July 2018 and at present72.02 % shares are held by GoIand balance is with the public&FIs. Commenting on the sharerepurchase program, Mr. RajeevMehrotra, Chairman andManaging Director, RITESLimited, said, “The company hasstrong financial fundamentalswith debt free balance sheet. Thisrepurchase reflects manage-ment's confidence in the com-pany and growth in sectors”.

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Mumbai: The rupee strength-ened by 21 paise to close atmore than one-week high of73.45 against the US dollar onFriday as the greenback weak-ened in the global markets.

At the interbank forexmarket, the domestic unitopened higher at 73.47 againstthe dollar and touched a day'shigh of 73.15 as the dollar fellagainst its major rivals.

The local unit later lostsome ground to close up by 21paise at 73.45, a level not seensince September 7. OnThursday, the rupee depreciat-ed by 14 paise to end at 73.66against the US dollar. The rupeeadvanced largely due to broaddollar decline globally. PTI

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Page 10: 2020/09/19  · an organisation of 62 farmers unions,” he said, adding that farmers will hit the road on September 24 across India. The Centre has brought the Bills without discussion

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The pandemic and then a series of lock-downs, that followed shortly after, gaveus a moment to hit pause on our fast-

paced lifestyles. There was enough time toreflect on our actions, relationships, beliefs,the power of art, fashion and creativity. Wecould discover a narrative that stirs the exist-ing dialogue of love, where the boundariesare patched, corridors of division are nar-row, cults and definitions are pushed far andwide to make space for love — the only thingthat matters. This is what fashion designerGaurav Gupta’s muse turned out to be whilehe worked on his collection for the FDCIIndia Couture Week 2020, the digital ver-sion. He said, “Through our theme — Nameis Love — we aim to put all the light on love;for self, all genders, all body shapes, all eth-nicities, all sexualities, and most important-ly, for inclusivity.”

During the process of casting models forthe show, which kickstarted online yester-day, he discovered “beautiful stories” wheredifferences and sexualities were not justaccepted but celebrated. Said Gaurav, “Wewere enamoured by every individual’s sheeroptimism. Their experiences felt familiar andbold. And I realised that their stories need-ed to be told.”

A young, proud lesbian couple Anjaliand Manauti living with their parents; Vee,an 18-year-old trans-male student; AnjaliLama, the first Indian trans-female super-model, and many other models who earneda name in unconventional setups, becamethe designer’s many ways to represent thevaried forms of love. “I hope that this mes-sage resonates and connects with millionswho are facing prejudice or feel inhibited toexpress themselves due to the pre-conceivedsocietal norms,” said Gaurav and empha-sised, “We’re celebrating uniqueness.”

In these desperate times when humanshave become more agile and vulnerable, thedesigner was glad that technology couldmake the Couture week happen. Said he, “Itwas the need of the hour to keep the showgoing, lighten up the mood and make thingsmore celebrative. It has given me hope. It’sso nice to see that millions of people aroundthe world can view the show and our col-lections.”

Well, the show is definitely differentunder the shadow of the novel Coronavirusbut what’s new this time? “We have present-ed 50 new women’s wear, 20 men’s wear and50 jewellery pieces. I wanted my collection

to reflect me and my choices. It had to bevery ‘Gaurav Gupta.’ I also discovered newcolours like Cerise, Bright Emerald, BerryPink, Snow Pink, Shadow Pink and more.I wanted to give a new life to these sophis-ticated colours. I also wanted to do a wholeBlack-and-White line. It was very new andcool for me. I also played with a lot of organ-za giving rise to new forms,” he said.

Another notable thing about his collec-tion, he pointed out, was the indigenoustechnique of sculpting, which was reinvent-ed in the form of structured wings, graph-ic spiralling ruffles and architectured waves.“We have also incorporated dramatic shim-mers, sheer fabrics, 3D floral applique, intri-cate hand embroideries along with pearlsand metallic sequins,” said Gaurav.

The designer’s men’s wear was refinedwith embroideries and mystical motifs. Saidhe, “We have introduced full Bordeaux vel-

vet suits with the house’s signature sculpt-ing techniques, punctuating the looks andcreating perfect statement pieces for acocktail or reception.”

The garments, sharply tailored andaccented with ornate hand embroi-deries, gave a meticulous and detailedlook — coming all the way from thecrisp ‘Downtown Abbey’ shirt inEgyptian cotton. The collection wasfurther elevated with timelessaccessories across all categorieslike pocket squares, bow-ties andloafers.

Gaurav’s collection alsofound their way to the couturejewellery. The line wasexpressed through fivedistinct elements ofinfinity, classic, pearl,feather and forest and

featured pieces created with rare diamonds,rubies, emeralds, opals and

tanzanite — sourced fromBurma, Botswana,Colombia andHyderabad.

The handmade col-lection was created with

precious stones, crafted inshades of white androse gold. It was ren-dered with details of a

custom wedding gown.The jewellery wasinspired by the Indianheritage integrated withthe influences of theVictorian era. Said

Gaurav, “We havetaken this ideologyto construct and re-invent these jewels.What makes our jew-

ellery couture unique isa distinct approach,where each diamond isindividually cut accord-ing to the design.” His lat-est collection includednecklaces, bracelets, rings,earrings and ear-cuffs.

Talking about whetherthe festive market is trend-ing more than the weddingone, the designer chose thelatter. He said, “The weddingmarket is more in trend andwill always be. Brides arelooking for authentic sculp-

tures and that ‘wow’ factor,something timelessthat they can weareven after four to five

years. They can also mix and match a lot ofthings from my collection. They wear ourlehenga blouses with saris because there’s somuch detail in each element that one is ableto play it up as and when they want to.”

When we talk of the Couture Week, itis imperative to know the consumer behav-iour as the buying pattern internationally hasundergone a drastic change. The gulf coun-tries are purchasing more as they are com-paratively less affected from COVID-19.Added Gaurav, “But slowly and gradually,the international markets are coming backinto line. We have a big market in the gulfall across UAE and Middle East. Earlier, theyused to fly down and have couture appoint-ments but this time they’re all purchasingour products online, even couture. They dovideo consultation with our stylists and getgarments fitted virtually.”

Actor Farhan Akhtar will open Star Sports’Live Broadcast on ‘Cricket Live’, ahead ofthe opening match of Dream11 IPL 2020.

The nation has been going through toughtimes due to COVID-19, making this seasoneven more special since it gives a reason for peo-ple to come together to watch our very owntournament.

Farhan will set the tone of the tournamentby introducing ‘Cricket Live’, before the much-anticipated clash between Mumbai Indians andChennai Super Kings. He will be addressingtoday’s testing times, and how we need to to rideover this crisis.

Speaking on this, Farhan said, “These aretrying times and our nation continues to per-severe and move forward. With the world pick-ing up pace in the new normal, the announce-ment of the IPL was a breath of fresh air. I havebeen looking forward to some sporting action,and Live Indian cricket is back after a long hia-tus. There’s much to learn from the journey ofa team or an individual in it. To rise after youfall, to learn from ones mistakes and mostimportantly, to stay grounded and humble invictory. I resonate with this feeling even moreafter working on my forthcoming film Toofaanin which sport is the backdrop, made on sim-

ilar ethos. It is important to stay resilient, opti-mistic and ready to battle all odds for a bettertomorrow. Personally, it also is an absolute plea-sure to open the maiden show. Looking forwardto a grand opening game.”

(Watch the actor on Star Sports’ pre-showCricket Live from 6 pm onwards on September19.)

Fashion designerSharbari Dutta was

found dead inside thebathroom of her SouthKolkata’s Broad Street res-idence on the interveningnight of Thursday andFriday.

As per police sources,Dutta was found deadinside her bathroom ataround 12.15 am onFriday. Officials of localpolice station and theKolkata Police headquar-ters Lalbazar’s homicidebranch reached the spot atnight.

Her family memberssaid Dutta (63) was lastseen during the dinner onTuesday. After that shealso went incommunicado.

Primary investigationsuggests that she died of asudden cardiac attack inthe toilet. But Dutta’s fam-ily members claim thatshe was otherwise keepingfine and had no suchchronic ailment.

Kolkata Police’s homi-cide branch will carry outthe investigation to findout the actual reason of thedesigner’s sudden demise.

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��������Dutta’s body was sent for thepost-mortem examination.

Daughter of celebratedBengali poet Ajit Dutta,Sharbari Dutta was a popularname in the costume design-ing industry for over past fewdecades, and was the onlywomen designer to work onmen’s ethnic fashion wear. Itwas Dutta who had intro-duced coloured Bengali dhotisand designer Punjabi kurtas tothe mainstream fashion worldwith her exclusive touch onbright colours along withembroidery works.

The fashion mogul hasalso styled present PrimeMinister of Pakistan ImranKhan and cricketer SachinTendulkar.

Dutta has shattered stereo-types defining men’s ethnicfashion over the years. Well,through a flood of condo-lences from models, actors andpeople from the film industryfor her family on social media,we can certainly see how signif-icantly she contributed to theIndian fashion at large.

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Page 11: 2020/09/19  · an organisation of 62 farmers unions,” he said, adding that farmers will hit the road on September 24 across India. The Centre has brought the Bills without discussion

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Novak Djokovic was beingpushed so hard in the first

set by Filip Krajinovic that heurgently needed somewhere tosit down and catch his breath.

Since it was 5-5 and nottime for a changeover, heplopped down on one of thenew boxes installed behindthe court for players' towel -which are there because ballkids are no longer providingtowel service amid the coron-avirus pandemic.

It would take Djokovicquite a bit more work before hefinally closed out the first set in1 hour, 28 minutes and went onto finish off a 7-6 (7), 6-3 vic-

tory for a spot in the quarter-finals for the 14th straightyear.

"It was a great battle," saidDjokovic, who is playing hisfirst tournament since beingdefaulted from the U.S. Open.

"Definitely one of thelongest sets I've ever played. Wewent toe to toe. It could havegone a different way."

With the temperature onCampo Centrale soaring to 32degrees C (90 degrees F),Djokovic said that "we bothstruggled physically in thatfirst set."

The set was so close thatboth players won the sameexact number of points - 61 -and Djokovic didn't close it out

until his fifth set point whenKrajinovic's forehand sailedlong. Shadows moved acrossthe court in the second set.

"That allowed us to feelbetter," Djokovic said.

"But I'm very pleased withthis first set. There were somevery long rallies. This is whatclay tennis is all about."

Djokovic, a four-timeRome champion, will next playone of two qualifiers, either 18-year-old Italian LorenzoMusetti or Dominik Koepfer.

Later, nine-time Romechampion Rafael Nadal wasplaying Dusan Lajovic for aspot in the last eight.

Also at the Foro Italico,15th-seeded Grigor Dimitrov

ended the run of Italian teenag-er Jannik Sinner with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 win.

Sinner, who had beatenthird-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipasin the previous round, missedan easy overhead smash intothe net on Dimitrov's fifthmatch point.

"A loss like that hurts. ButI'll try to take the positiveaspects out of it," Sinner said.

"That wasn't the end Iwanted."

Dimitrov's quarterfinalopponent will be DenisShapovalov, who rallied pastUgo Humbert 6-7 (5), 6-1, 6-4. Shapovalov, who reached theU.S. Open quarterfinals inboth singles and doubles, is

aiming to do even better inboth events this week.

Matteo Berrettini, the big-serving Roman who reachedlast year's U.S. Open semifinals,beat Stefano Travaglia 7-6 (5),7-6 (1). He'll next meet CasperRuud, who defeated MarinCilic 6-2, 7-6 (6).

In the women's tourna-ment, top-seeded SimonaHalep improved to 7-0 in ten-nis' restart with a 7-5, 6-4 winover Dayana Yastremska.

Halep, who is actually onan 11-0 run overall stretchingback to February, recovered anearly break in the opening setand then overpowered her29th-ranked opponent the restof the way.

"After I lost the first threegames, I had just to focus a lit-tle bit better and to stop givingher the ball that she likes,"

Halep said."So I tried to change a lit-

tle bit, to make her move, a lit-tle bit up high. ... I found somesolutions that were good towin.

"It gives me confidencethat even in these conditionswith a big hitter I could win intwo sets."

After winning a title inDubai before the lockdown,Halep marked her return aftertennis' five-month break withanother trophy in Prague lastmonth. She then skipped theU.S. Open because of healthand travel concerns amid thepandemic.

Halep, who lost twostraight finals in Rome to ElinaSvitolina in 2017 and 2018, willnext face 10th-seeded ElenaRybakina, who overcame YuliaPutintseva 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-2.

Page 12: 2020/09/19  · an organisation of 62 farmers unions,” he said, adding that farmers will hit the road on September 24 across India. The Centre has brought the Bills without discussion

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Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s pokerface, Virat Kohli’s raw emotions

and Rohit Sharma’s effortless han-dling of his Galacticos will be back tocharm cricket fans across the globewith the Indian Premier Leaguestarting on Saturday, promising to bea happy distraction in a world scarredby Covid-19.

Rohit’s defending championsMumbai Indians will be lockinghorns with Dhoni’s Chennai SuperKings in what is likely to be a fitting-ly exciting opening showdown here.

The tournament, which has beenshifted to the UAE due to five millionplus Covid cases in India, is a ‘TV-only event’, expected to be lapped upby all and sundry who crave for crick-et and Bollywood in equal measureduring prime time.

Bollywood had its share of primetime in the past few months but restassured, the next 53 days wouldbelong to Dhoni’s CSK, Kohli’s RCBand Rohit’s Mumbai Indians chal-lenged by young pretenders compris-ing KL Rahul’s KXIP and ShreyasIyer’s Delhi Capitals among others.

IPL happening in foreign shoresis not a new phenomenon, not eventhe shift to the Emirates but asIndian sports hits the restart button

with the billion dollar cricketingextravaganza, the hugely popularevent to be held closed doors in a bio-secure environment will be a newexperience.

David Warner or Chris Gayle’stowering sixes welcomed by artificialcrowd cheer will be the new normaland the deafening roars during SuperOvers will be missing but no one cancomplain as at least the show will goon in amid a devastating health cri-sis.

A look at the teams would indi-cate that Mumbai Indians by a dis-tance is the most formidable withRohit, Pandya brothers — Hardik andKrunal, the indomitable KieronPollard and the ‘King of Death’ bowl-ing Jasprit Bumrah giving it a men-acing look.

The perennial Dad’s ArmyChennai Super Kings can never becounted out till that man with ‘HawkEyes’ uses his peripheral vision

behind the stumps.Experience can’t be bought and

the likes of Shane Watson, DwayneBravo, Faf du Plessis and RavindraJadeja have given their blood andsweat for the ‘Yellows’ and it wouldbe no different this time.

For Kohli, winning a tournamentas a captain would reaffirm his sta-tus even as naysayers question hisstyle of leadership. The team is ashade better with presence of AaronFinch, Chris Morris and the wonder-fully gifted Devdutt Padikkal, who ifall goes well, is destined to become abig name in years to come.

Delhi Capitals, with their newfound vigour and more pragmaticnew owners, found their mojo lastyear and would like to go one betterunder an enormously talented skip-per in Shreyas Iyer, who can bematched in skills by a Prithvi Shawor a Rishabh Pant.

Seasoned brains like

Ravichandran Ashwin would be idealfoil for the team’s youthful exuber-ance.

KXIP’s KL Rahul is a class act andhow he shapes as a leader could alsocreate a narrative for the futurewhen Indian cricket goes throughanother change of guard in next fewyears.

There will be a lot of interest asto how he handles players like GlennMaxwell, Gayle and MohammedShami, who are savage on their days

but can be ordinary on some others.Handling an inconsistent team to

a decent finish will be on top ofRahul’s agenda.

The low profile SunrisersHyderabad once again will be gun-ning for a place in the summit clashand their skipper David Warnerknows how to win the IPL havingalways led the way with spectacularperformances.

There is Jonny Bairstow’s flair,Kane Williamson’s poise and Rashid

Khan’s flamboyance with a host ofyoungsters like Virat Singh andPriyam Garg eager to make a namefor themselves.

When the IPL was partially heldin UAE back in 2014, KKR were theeventual champions.

If Ben Stokes is the world’s bestall-rounder across formats, AndreRussell probably is a bit more destruc-tive in this format as he hit 52 sixesduring their horrendous last edition.

The 2018 U-19 World Cup stars— Shubman Gill, Shivam Mavi andKamlesh Nagarkoti — add a dash ofyouth. Eoin Morgan’s leadershipskills that might prove to be handy incase a normally inconsistent DineshKarthik misfires.

Rajasthan Royals is the weakestteam lacking quality in the Indianline-up but expect Jos Buttler, SteveSmith and Jofra Archer to do theheavy lifting in Stokes’ absence.Stokes is currently in New Zealand tobe with his ailing father.

MI START FAVOURITESMumbai Indians are traditional

slow-starters in the IPL but on paper,they will be the favourites againstChennai Super Kings in the openinggame in Abu Dhabi.

MI looks the most prepared andset team with a scary batting line-up

of Rohit, Quinton de Kock,Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan,Hardik and Krunal Pandya, KieronPollard. Trent Boult and NathanCoulter-Nile will complete theirquota of foreigners.

For CSK, the core has remainedthe same save for Suresh Raina, whowas their worst performer last yearand has pulled out citing personal rea-sons this year. His replacementRuturaj Gaikwad remains in quaran-tine having tested Covid-19 positive.

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Abu Dhabi: Going through a poorrun of form, Australian top-orderbatsman Chris Lynn is banking onhis exploits at last year’s T10 tour-nament in UAE to turn thingsaround and contribute to his IPLteam Mumbai Indians.

Lynn, a hard-hitting opener, hada poor run at the recently-conclud-ed Caribbean Premier League hav-ing scored less than 150 runs in ninegames for St Kitts and Nevis Patriots.

However, the 30-year-old wasthe highest run-getter at last year’sT10 league in UAE. He amassed 371runs for Maratha Arabians andalso smashed the highest individualscore of 91 off 30 balls.

“I have got some really goodmemories from the T10 tour-namemt last year here in AbuDhabi, so hopefully just reconnectwith what worked for me there andhopefully put some performaces onthe board,” he said.

However, Lynn will find it dif-ficult to break into the MI’s playingXI with coach Jayawardene alreadymaking it clear that he will not tin-ker with the opening combinationof Rohit Sharma and Quinton deKock.

The Australian said he is readyto bat at any position that MumbaiIndians coach Mahela Jayawardene

deems fit.“Rohit! what aworld class player, runson the board, on and offthe field what he’s con-tributed to Mumbai is

something really real-ly special. AndQuinny (De Kock)

has been out-standing withthe gloves andbat in hand,”Lynn said in a

video posted onMumbai Indians

official Twitterhandle.

New Delhi: Former Australian speedsterBrett Lee has tipped three-time championsChennai Super Kings to win the 13th IPL,saying the variety in their spin departmentgives them an advantage in the UAE condi-tions.

“They (CSK) are up there. I have pickedthem to win and I think CSK have a goodchance because of their spin attack,” Lee said

on Star Sports show Game Plan.“With Santner, Jadeja needs to step up

and be the No 1 spinner and CSK have gotgreat variety and none of the spinners aresame, so they are at an advantage for the con-ditions in the UAE as the tournament pro-gresses.”

Four-time winners Mumbai Indian willmiss the services of their bowling spearheadLasith Malinga who opted out of the tour-nament citing personal reasons.

However, the 43-year-old Lee said he hasno doubts that Jasprit Bumrah will be ableto fill in the shoes of the experienced seam-er.

“I am always Bumrah’s fan since he burstonto the scene some years ago. He has gota different bowling action, he pushes the ballin, and can swing the ball both ways. He isgood with the new ball but I like him withthe old ball and that’s why he can fill the shoesof Malinga and can bowl at death overs,”he said.

“He can bowl at 140kmph andzoom the ball in at the batsman’sfeet. He is bowling the yorkersconsistently and there are veryless bowlers like that, so he canfill those shoes.”

Lee, who has 310 wickets in76 Tests and 380 scalps in 221 ODIs,said he considers Mumbai Indians inhis top four.

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His sabbatical from the game hasdone Mahendra Singh Dhoni a

world of good, Chennai Super Kingscoach Stephen Fleming said onFriday, asserting that the enigmaticskipper is “mentally engaged anddetermined” to encounter the chal-lenges of a “tactically different” IPL.

Dhoni’s CSK will take on RohitSharma’s Mumbai Indians in thetournament opener on Saturday.Fleming, a former New Zealand cap-tain, stressed that his team’s experi-ence of winning big matches willcome in handy during the next 53days.

Dhoni retired from interna-tional cricket last month after beingon a break for over one year andwhen asked about the 39-year-old’spreparedness for the IPL, Flemingsaid, “It has been no different. He’svery fit and mentally, he’s been veryengaged and determined.”

“In some ways the break canwork for the experienced and older

players that we have. MS is fresh andready to go,” Fleming said in a pre-tournament interview to CSK’s offi-cial website.

The three-time champions arebanking heavily on their 35-plusplayers, including Dhoni himself,Shane Watson, Dwayne Bravo, Kedar

Jadhav, and Imran Tahir to name afew.

“...Experienced players identifykey times and that’s why they’ve doneso well in their careers. They can turngames, absorb pressure or just sumout the situation. That’s what expe-rience is about and that’s why wevalue it so highly,” said Fleming.

“And that’s why we’ve been ableto get over the line in so many closegames because the key player hasbeen one with a lot of experience.And you also mix that with skill. Youare conscious of having a skilful sideand adding youth when we can andwith that get the balance pretty right.”

Starting against a quality side likeMI is certainly exciting for Fleming,who wants his men to have a crackat the defending champions aftertheir agonising last-ball loss in theprevious edition.

“The first game is always full ofanxiety, nerves and excitement, andCSK-MI has added extra excitementand pressure and we enjoy that.We’ve earned the right to play the

first game by playing well last year,and given the way the final finishedlast year, it’s nice to have anothercrack at MI.

“They (MI) are a very good sideand it gives you a good gauge as tohow the pre-season has gone and theareas that need improvement. Youget a good idea after the first gameas to where your team is sitting.”

With the home advantage ofplaying seven games at Chepaukgone, Fleming is bracing up for avery different tournament tactical-ly where adaptability will be the key.

“I see this season is going to bevery different tactically. With no realhome ground advantage here, we’vegot to be very good at adapting to theconditions in each ground.

“We’ve got three differentgrounds to assess and each groundhas its own character and nuancesand we’ve just got to be good enoughto pick the right team and get theright game plan to match that. It’s likeevery game is an away game,” heexplained.

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Tottenham scored twicein the final 10 minutes

to avoid a humiliatingEuropa League exit toLokomotiv Plovdiv as JoseMourinho’s men camefrom behind to beat thenine-man Bulgarians 2-1on Thursday.

Harry Kane’s penaltyand Tanguy Ndombele’swinner five minutes fromtime ensured the 2019Champions League final-ists did not fall at the firsthurdle of their EuropaLeague campaign to a sidethat have never progressedbeyond the qualifyingstages of European compe-tition.

“I think it was a hellu-va experience for the play-ers. Sometimes in footballmiracles happen and whenyou play a knockout, one-leg it is the perfect scenariofor a miracle to happen,”said Mourinho.

“Everyone on their sidehad the moment wherethey dream and we had the

moment where we believeda nightmare could arrive.”

Mourinho named astrong side featuring Kane,Hugo Lloris and SonHeung-min with just fourchanges from Sunday’s 1-0defeat to Everton to starttheir Premier League cam-paign.

But there was moreevidence why Spurs are

desperate to secure GarethBale’s return on loan fromReal Madrid as they strug-gled to break Plovdiv downand went behind to GeorgiMinchev’s header 19 min-utes from time.

The tie swung back inSpurs favour nine minuteslater when MomchilTsvetanov punched clearoff his own line and the ref-eree had no option but topoint to the spot and sendTsvetanov off.

Birsent Karagaren wasthen also shown a secondyellow card before Kanedispatched the spot-kickinto the top corner.

Ndombele has strug-gled for game time underMourinho despite beingthe club’s record signing.

But the Frenchman,who was introduced onthe hour mark, proved thematch winner by bundlinghome from close range.

A trip to Macedonianext week to face KFShkendija faces Mourinho’smen in the third qualifyinground.

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Liverpool completed the signingof Thiago Alcantara from

Bayern Munich on Friday, bring-ing in one of the world’s most tech-nically gifted players to add anoth-er dimension to the English cham-pions’ midfield.

The 29-year-old Thiago endedhis seven-year spell at Bayern bymoving for an initial fee of 20 mil-lion pounds ($26 million), with apotential additional 5 millionpounds ($6.5 million) later.

“My decision is purely ofa sporting nature,” the Spaininternational said in a videoannouncing his departurefrom Bayern.

“As a football player, Iseek new challenges todevelop myself fur-ther. Bavaria willalways be my home.”

Thiago, whosefather is formerBrazi l midfielderMazinho, leavesBayern as a EuropeanCup winner, his lastmatch being the 1-0 vic-tory over Paris Saint-

Germain in the Champions Leaguefinal in August. He also won sevenstraight Bundesliga titles withBayern.

“When the years are passing,you are trying to win as much asyou can — and when you win, youwant to win more,” Thiago said.

“I think this club describeswhat I am as well. I want toachieve all of the goals, win asmany trophies as possible.”

At Liverpool, he will add amore creative edge — nurtured at

Barcelona’s famed La Masia acad-emy — to a midfield that cur-rently is more notable for itsenergy and intensity throughhard-running players like

Jordan Henderson, GeorginioWijnaldum and James

Milner.Thiago — with

his technique, touchand vision — willprovide Liverpoolwith more controlin midfield, too,allowing managerJuergen Klopp toadopt a different

approach in certaingames.

New Delhi: Olympic Silver medal-list PV Sindhu on Thursday pulledout of the Denmark Open tourna-ment scheduled to be held inOdense from October 13 to 18.

“Sindhu is not playing inDenmark, she has pulled out,” asource in the Gopichand Academytold PTI.

The BAI had on Tuesday writ-ten to the players who have senttheir entries for the DenmarkOpen, stating that they would be“travelling or participating at theirown responsibility due to the cur-rent pandemic” and “have to sendtheir consent within September17”.

Though Sindhu decidedagainst travelling to Denmark, sheplans to participate in the AsiaOpen-I and Asia Open-II sched-uled to be held in November.

Kidambi Srikanth, LakshyaSen and Subhankar Dey wereamong those players who have senttheir consent letters and will beparticipating in the super 750event.

Saina Nehwal and ParupalliKashyap have also sent their con-sent letters but will take a final callnearer to the date of the tourna-ment.

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