ˇ !#!#$%&’()*)%+ ˇ ˙ ˚ !# ˇ .’#(%#’(-%+#/012*-3 ˝˛...2 days ago  · airport...

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T he Director-General of Civil Aviation has com- menced the enquiry into the crash landing of the Air India Express Flight IX13444 from Dubai at Karipur on Friday night, said Union Civil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Saturday at Kozhikode. The disaster at Kozhikode airport claimed the lives of 18 persons, including the pilot and co-pilot, of the ill-fated Boeing 737 aircraft, said the Minister while addressing the media. “As many as 149 passengers are undergoing treatment in various hospitals in Kozhikode and Malappuram districts. 23 persons who had minor injuries were discharged after treatment,” said the Minister. Except for the pilot and co- pilot, all those who lost their lives were from Kozhikode, Malappuram, and Palakkadu districts of Kerala. Minister Puri flew down to Kozhikode on Saturday to take stock of the situation and held meetings with the officials of the airport, DGCA and Air India before he met the media. He said a major disaster could be averted because of the instant search and rescue actions initiated by all con- cerned at the airport. “The Black Box and the Flight Data Recorder have been retrieved and we have to wait till the probe is on. I request you all not to speculate on any- thing. What I could say right now is that the aircraft overshot the runway and fell down from a height of 30 ft. The causali- ties could be restricted only because of the search and res- cue mission which commenced within minutes and that too in an exemplary manner,” said Puri. On the reduced length of the runway in Kozhikode air- port, the Minister said all issues which were raised in the past had been addressed. The Kozhikode airport has a tabletop runway, which refers to one located on the top of a plateau or hill with one or both ends adjacent to a steep eleva- tion that drops into a deep gorge. Several international airlines had decided not to fly big aircrafts including Boeing 777 and Airbus A330 jets into Kozhikode citing safety issues over the length on the runway. Turn to Page 6 I ndia and China held yet another round of military- level talks on Saturday to defuse the situation on the Line of Actual Control (LAC), but nothing concrete came out of the deliberations. Major General level offi- cers of the two sides held a detailed discussion to expedite disengagement from all the friction points, including Depsang valley. The talks, which began at 11 am at Daulat Beg Oldie (DBO), also saw the two coun- tries agreeing to sustain the tempo of dialogue and reiter- ated their commitment to with- draw and de-escalate. Sources said the two senior military officers also touched upon the other friction points, including Pangong Tso, Gogra, and Hot Springs. While the Chinese have withdrawn their forces from Hot Springs and Gogra, they are reluctant to do so in the Pangong Tso. In fact, the first stand-off started from here on May 5 when the Chinese intruded and blocked an Indian Army patrol. It led to the exchange of fisticuffs and several men from both sides were injured. India has maintained that complete disengagement from all the “friction points” is of utmost importance. It has also insisted that the Chinese forces have to return to their positions as existing before May 5. The two officers will meet again next week to review the progress made. The Indian side was led by chief of 3 Mountain Division Major General Abhijit Bapat. Incidentally, the last round of talks was held on August 2 between the Corps Commanders of the two armies without any significant improvement in the situation on the ground. The Chinese continue to sit tight at the Pangong Tso (lake) and in the Depsang Valley, sources said here on Saturday. Turn to Page 6 I n the run up to the crucial Assembly session in Rajasthan next week, the BJP too is now said to have started herding its MLAs, mostly from the tribal areas, fearing “poach- ing” by the Congress whose legislators have already been taken to Jaisalmer from Jaipur. The BJP has decided to shift 12 of its Rajasthan MLAs to a resort on the outskirt of Ahmedabad and six others to another resort in Porbandar. This even as six BSP MLAs moved the Supreme Court on Saturday seeking a transfer from Rajasthan High Court to it the matter pertaining to their merger with the Congress in the State. The BSP as well as the BJP have challenged their merger. A Single-judge Bench of the High Court is likely to pro- nounce its judgment on the decision on their merger with the Congress on August 11. State BJP president Satish Poonia said his party has infor- mation that the Congress was approaching BJP legislators in the Udaipur division through administrative officers and other influential people of the area. “So we decided that they should all be at one place where they can be protected,” Poonia maintained. BJP leaders said they have evidence that the Congress was trying to lure its legislators, especially in the tribal belt of Mewar in southern Rajasthan. Some MLAs have been sent to Gujarat. State Congress president Govind Singh Dotasra, how- ever, denied the BJP’s allegation even as he ruled out any threat to the existence of the Ashok Gehlot Government. “We have alerted our MLAs and told them to be together,” Leader of Opposition Gulab Chand Kataria said asserting that since the Gehlot Government is set to fall, the Congress is approaching BJP legislators for support. Turn to Page 6 M ahrashatra Home Minister Amit Deshmukh said here on Saturday that while his Government would oppose the Centre’s decision to hand over the investigations into actor Sushant Kumar Rajput’s alleged suicide on the grounds of juris- diction, but it would abide by the impending Supreme Court in a case in connection with Sushant’s “suspicious death”. Talking to media persons here, Deshmukh said: “The Mumbai Police is investigating the case very professionally…. The Supreme Court’s hearing is scheduled for August 11. we will abide by what the apex court says”. The CBI has registered an FIR based on the one on the basis of an FIR registered at the Rajiv Nagar police station in Patna. Meanwhile, a day after she was grilled by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for alleged money laundering in Sushant Singh Rajput case, his girlfriend and actress Rhea Chakraborty on Saturday shared a picture of a note which she claims was written by the late actor expressing his gratitude for certain things in his life. Chakraborty (28) also shared through her advocate Satish Maneshinde a photo- graph of a water sipper, which is a piece of movie merchandise from Rajput’s 2019 film “Chhichhore”. “The only property of Sushant that I possess,” she said in a message sent along with the photo to the media. The other picture shows a page of a notebook titled “Gratitude List” with seven serial numbers. Turn to Page 6 A larmed by reports that Covid-19 patients were dying within 48 hours of being admitted in health centres in some parts of the States such as UP, Kerala and Bihar, the Centre on Saturday asked the respective State Governments to ensure timely referral and hospitalisation of people infect- ed with the deadly virus. Deaths due to Covid-19 in India has crossed 42,000 while over 21 lakhs people have been infected so far. The Union Health Ministry pointed out that 13 districts in eight States and Union Territories are reporting Covid-19 mortality higher than the national average and advised them to address the issues of low testing and delay in test results, and ensure time- ly hospitalisation. These are Kamrup Metro in Assam, Patna in Bihar, Ranchi in Jharkhand, Alappuzha and Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, Ganjam in Odisha, Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh; North 24 Paraganas, Hooghly, Howrah, Kolkata and Maldah in West Bengal, and Delhi. These districts account for nearly nine per cent of India’s active cases and about 14 per cent of Covid-19 deaths. They also report low tests per million and high confirmation per- centage. Turn to Page 6 Noida: (PTI): Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday inaugurated a dedicat- ed 400-bed government hospital for COVID-19 patients in Noida. The facility is located in Sector 39 of the city and has come up in association with the Tata Trusts and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, according to officials. Aditynath also reviewed the facilities in the hospital, which is expected to begin services with 200 beds initially from Sunday and will have 400 beds in the course of time, the officials said. Gautam Buddh Nagar MP Mahesh Sharma, Noida MLA Pankaj Singh, Dadri MLA Tejpal Nagar, Jewar MLA Dhirendra Singh, District Magistrate Suhas L Y, District’s COVID-19 response officer Narendra Bhooshan and senior government doctors were present during the inauguration. The chief minister had arrived in Gautam Buddh Nagar on Friday evening to review the district’s preparedness in the fight against COVID-19. Mumbai: Captain Deepak Sathe, pilot of the Air India Express flight who died along with 17 others after the plane crashed at Kerala’s Kozhikode airport, had survived an air crash in the early 1990s when he was in the Air Force and was hospitalised for six months, his cousin said. Sathe had suffered multiple injuries on his skull in that incident, but due to his strong willpower and passion he cleared the test and started fly- ing again. PTI New Delhi: Constructed on ele- vated terrains and mostly hav- ing little space for last minute maneuver, tabletop runways at times pose challenges for pilots while landing their aircraft. And Air India Express planes have crashed at least twice on such runways in little over a decade. At least five airports, including at Kozhikode where an Air India Express aircraft crashed on Friday, have table- top runways. PTI Patna: The tragic air crash at Kozhikode, in which at least 18 peo- ple were killed, has triggered fresh hopes that the spotlight would be back on “risky” airports like the one here which suffers from many deficiencies and has seen one of the major plane accidents in the countrys history two decades back. The Jaiprakash Narayan International Airport, reckoned among the 20 busiest ones across the country, had hit the headlines on July 17, 2000 when more than 60 people were killed when a Delhi-bound Boeing 737 from Kolkata ploughed through a residential locality. PTI Lucknow (PNS): Six hundred and sixty three persons test- ed positive for coronavirus in the city on Saturday taking the total to 12074 cases in the district. There were 6 deaths in the city which included 3 of per- sons from outside the state cap- ital. Among those who tested positive included 32 from Alambagh, 26 from Chowk, 24 from Mahanagar, 23 each from Gomtinagar and Hazratganj, 19 each from Indiranagar, Bazarkhala and Naka 18 from Jankipuram, 17 from Ashiyana, 15 from Rae Bareli road, 14 from Talkatora, 13 each from Chinhat and Para, 12 each from Hassanganj, Mandiyaon and Thakurganj 11 from Aliganj, 10 from Vikasnagar, 9 from Hussainganj and Krishnagar, 8 each from Cantt and Gomtinagar Extention, 7 each from Kakori, Sarojininagar and Kaiserbagh, 6 from Sahadatganj, 5 each from Gudamba and Wazirganj and 2 from Aminabad.

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Page 1: ˇ !#!#$%&’()*)%+ ˇ ˙ ˚ !# ˇ .’#(%#’(-%+#/012*-3 ˝˛...2 days ago  · airport claimed the lives of 18 persons, including the pilot and co-pilot, of the ill-fated Boeing

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The Director-General ofCivil Aviation has com-

menced the enquiry into thecrash landing of the Air IndiaExpress Flight IX13444 fromDubai at Karipur on Fridaynight, said Union CivilMinister Hardeep Singh Purion Saturday at Kozhikode.

The disaster at Kozhikodeairport claimed the lives of 18persons, including the pilotand co-pilot, of the ill-fatedBoeing 737 aircraft, said theMinister while addressing themedia.

“As many as 149 passengersare undergoing treatment invarious hospitals in Kozhikodeand Malappuram districts. 23persons who had minorinjuries were discharged aftertreatment,” said the Minister.

Except for the pilot and co-pilot, all those who lost theirlives were from Kozhikode,Malappuram, and Palakkadudistricts of Kerala.

Minister Puri flew down toKozhikode on Saturday to takestock of the situation and heldmeetings with the officials of

the airport, DGCA and AirIndia before he met the media.He said a major disaster couldbe averted because of theinstant search and rescueactions initiated by all con-cerned at the airport.

“The Black Box and theFlight Data Recorder have beenretrieved and we have to waittill the probe is on. I requestyou all not to speculate on any-thing. What I could say rightnow is that the aircraft overshotthe runway and fell down froma height of 30 ft. The causali-ties could be restricted onlybecause of the search and res-cue mission which commencedwithin minutes and that too inan exemplary manner,” saidPuri.

On the reduced length ofthe runway in Kozhikode air-port, the Minister said all issueswhich were raised in the pasthad been addressed.

The Kozhikode airport hasa tabletop runway, which refersto one located on the top of aplateau or hill with one or bothends adjacent to a steep eleva-tion that drops into a deepgorge. Several internationalairlines had decided not to flybig aircrafts including Boeing777 and Airbus A330 jets intoKozhikode citing safety issuesover the length on the runway.

Turn to Page 6

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India and China held yetanother round of military-

level talks on Saturday to defusethe situation on the Line ofActual Control (LAC), butnothing concrete came out ofthe deliberations.

Major General level offi-cers of the two sides held adetailed discussion to expeditedisengagement from all thefriction points, includingDepsang valley.

The talks, which began at11 am at Daulat Beg Oldie(DBO), also saw the two coun-tries agreeing to sustain thetempo of dialogue and reiter-ated their commitment to with-draw and de-escalate.

Sources said the two seniormilitary officers also touchedupon the other friction points,including Pangong Tso, Gogra,and Hot Springs. While theChinese have withdrawn theirforces from Hot Springs andGogra, they are reluctant to doso in the Pangong Tso.

In fact, the first stand-offstarted from here on May 5when the Chinese intrudedand blocked an Indian Armypatrol. It led to the exchange offisticuffs and several men fromboth sides were injured.

India has maintained thatcomplete disengagement fromall the “friction points” is ofutmost importance. It has alsoinsisted that the Chinese forceshave to return to their positionsas existing before May 5.

The two officers will meetagain next week to review theprogress made. The Indianside was led by chief of 3Mountain Division MajorGeneral Abhijit Bapat.

Incidentally, the last roundof talks was held on August 2between the CorpsCommanders of the two armieswithout any significantimprovement in the situationon the ground. The Chinesecontinue to sit tight at thePangong Tso (lake) and in theDepsang Valley, sources saidhere on Saturday.

Turn to Page 6

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In the run up to the crucialAssembly session in

Rajasthan next week, the BJPtoo is now said to have startedherding its MLAs, mostly fromthe tribal areas, fearing “poach-ing” by the Congress whoselegislators have already beentaken to Jaisalmer from Jaipur.

The BJP has decided toshift 12 of its Rajasthan MLAsto a resort on the outskirt ofAhmedabad and six others toanother resort in Porbandar.

This even as six BSP MLAsmoved the Supreme Court onSaturday seeking a transferfrom Rajasthan High Court toit the matter pertaining totheir merger with the Congressin the State.

The BSP as well as the BJPhave challenged their merger.

A Single-judge Bench of theHigh Court is likely to pro-nounce its judgment on thedecision on their merger withthe Congress on August 11.

State BJP president SatishPoonia said his party has infor-mation that the Congress wasapproaching BJP legislators inthe Udaipur division throughadministrative officers andother influential people of thearea. “So we decided that they

should all be at one placewhere they can be protected,”Poonia maintained.

BJP leaders said they haveevidence that the Congresswas trying to lure its legislators,especially in the tribal belt ofMewar in southern Rajasthan.Some MLAs have been sent toGujarat.

State Congress presidentGovind Singh Dotasra, how-ever, denied the BJP’s allegationeven as he ruled out any threatto the existence of the AshokGehlot Government.

“We have alerted ourMLAs and told them to betogether,” Leader of OppositionGulab Chand Kataria saidasserting that since the GehlotGovernment is set to fall, theCongress is approaching BJPlegislators for support.

Turn to Page 6

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Mahrashatra HomeMinister Amit

Deshmukh said here onSaturday that while hisGovernment would oppose theCentre’s decision to hand overthe investigations into actorSushant Kumar Rajput’s allegedsuicide on the grounds of juris-diction, but it would abide bythe impending Supreme Courtin a case in connection withSushant’s “suspicious death”.

Talking to media personshere, Deshmukh said: “TheMumbai Police is investigatingthe case very professionally….The Supreme Court’s hearing isscheduled for August 11. wewill abide by what the apexcourt says”.

The CBI has registered anFIR based on the one on thebasis of an FIR registered at the

Rajiv Nagar police station inPatna. Meanwhile, a day after shewas grilled by the EnforcementDirectorate (ED) for allegedmoney laundering in SushantSingh Rajput case, his girlfriendand actress Rhea Chakraborty

on Saturday shared a picture ofa note which she claims waswritten by the late actorexpressing his gratitude forcertain things in his life.

Chakraborty (28) alsoshared through her advocateSatish Maneshinde a photo-graph of a water sipper, whichis a piece of movie merchandisefrom Rajput’s 2019 film“Chhichhore”.

“The only property ofSushant that I possess,” she saidin a message sent along withthe photo to the media.

The other picture shows apage of a notebook titled“Gratitude List” with sevenserial numbers.

Turn to Page 6

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Alarmed by reports thatCovid-19 patients were

dying within 48 hours of beingadmitted in health centres insome parts of the States such asUP, Kerala and Bihar, theCentre on Saturday asked therespective State Governmentsto ensure timely referral andhospitalisation of people infect-ed with the deadly virus.

Deaths due to Covid-19 inIndia has crossed 42,000 whileover 21 lakhs people have beeninfected so far.

The Union HealthMinistry pointed out that 13districts in eight States andUnion Territories are reportingCovid-19 mortality higher thanthe national average andadvised them to address theissues of low testing and delayin test results, and ensure time-

ly hospitalisation.These are Kamrup Metro

in Assam, Patna in Bihar,Ranchi in Jharkhand,Alappuzha andThiruvananthapuram inKerala, Ganjam in Odisha,Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh;North 24 Paraganas, Hooghly,Howrah, Kolkata and Maldahin West Bengal, and Delhi.

These districts account fornearly nine per cent of India’sactive cases and about 14 percent of Covid-19 deaths. Theyalso report low tests per millionand high confirmation per-centage.

Turn to Page 6

Noida: (PTI): Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister YogiAdityanath on Saturday inaugurated a dedicat-ed 400-bed government hospital for COVID-19patients in Noida. The facility is located in Sector39 of the city and has come up in associationwith the Tata Trusts and the Bill and MelindaGates Foundation, according to officials.

Aditynath also reviewed the facilities in thehospital, which is expected to begin services with200 beds initially from Sunday and will have 400beds in the course of time, the officials said.

Gautam Buddh Nagar MP Mahesh Sharma,Noida MLA Pankaj Singh, Dadri MLA TejpalNagar, Jewar MLA Dhirendra Singh, DistrictMagistrate Suhas L Y, District’s COVID-19response officer Narendra Bhooshan and seniorgovernment doctors were present during theinauguration.

The chief minister had arrived in GautamBuddh Nagar on Friday evening to review thedistrict’s preparedness in the fight againstCOVID-19.

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Mumbai: Captain DeepakSathe, pilot of the Air IndiaExpress flight who died alongwith 17 others after the planecrashed at Kerala’s Kozhikodeairport, had survived an aircrash in the early 1990s when hewas in the Air Force and washospitalised for six months, hiscousin said. Sathe had sufferedmultiple injuries on his skull inthat incident, but due to hisstrong willpower and passion hecleared the test and started fly-ing again. PTI

!"#��!#$%�&'()*)%+!*(�,(!&$�*-�����&�.'#�(%#'(-%+�#/�012*-3�

�#�1%!&#����-+*!-!*("/(#&�$!)%#!.1%#/"�('-4!2&New Delhi: Constructed on ele-vated terrains and mostly hav-ing little space for last minutemaneuver, tabletop runways attimes pose challenges for pilotswhile landing their aircraft.And Air India Express planeshave crashed at least twice onsuch runways in little over adecade. At least five airports,including at Kozhikode wherean Air India Express aircraftcrashed on Friday, have table-top runways. PTI

Patna: The tragic air crash at Kozhikode, in which at least 18 peo-ple were killed, has triggered fresh hopes that the spotlight wouldbe back on “risky” airports like the one here which suffers frommany deficiencies and has seen one of the major plane accidentsin the countrys history two decades back. The Jaiprakash NarayanInternational Airport, reckoned among the 20 busiest ones acrossthe country, had hit the headlines on July 17, 2000 when morethan 60 people were killed when a Delhi-bound Boeing 737 fromKolkata ploughed through a residential locality. PTI

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223���������������������#���Lucknow (PNS): Six hundredand sixty three persons test-ed positive for coronavirus inthe city on Saturday takingthe total to 12074 cases in thedistrict.

There were 6 deaths in thecity which included 3 of per-sons from outside the state cap-ital.

Among those who testedpositive included 32 fromAlambagh, 26 from Chowk, 24from Mahanagar, 23 each fromGomtinagar and Hazratganj,19 each from Indiranagar,Bazarkhala and Naka 18 fromJankipuram, 17 from Ashiyana,15 from Rae Bareli road, 14from Talkatora, 13 each fromChinhat and Para, 12 eachfrom Hassanganj, Mandiyaonand Thakurganj 11 fromAliganj, 10 from Vikasnagar, 9from Hussainganj andKrishnagar, 8 each from Canttand Gomtinagar Extention, 7each from Kakori,Sarojininagar and Kaiserbagh,6 from Sahadatganj, 5 eachfrom Gudamba and Wazirganjand 2 from Aminabad.

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Finance Minister SureshKhanna said that green

shoot in the state’s economywere visible now with signifi-cant improvement in revenuecollections in July.

He said that revenue collec-tion had improved to Rs10,675.42 crore in July, whichwas 97.7 per cent of the collec-tion in the corresponding yearlast year, due to effective finan-cial discipline.

The finance minister saidthat revenue collection was hitin previous quarter of 2020-21fiscal due to disruptions causedpandemic and nation-widelockdown.

“Revenue collection hasimproved in July due to finan-cial discipline. While tax rev-enue collected in July, 2019stood at Rs 10,926.36 crore, itis Rs 10,675.42 crore this yearwhich is around 97.7 per cent,”he said.

Khanna said that it was anindicator that the state was ina better position in July as com-pared to the last three months.He expressed hope that thestate would soon be back topre-COVID-19 position.

The minister claimed thatthe state government managedto pay the salaries and pensionto its staff on time withoutdelay.

Giving details, Khannasaid, “GST collection was Rs6224.16 crore in July this year

as against Rs 6564.19 crore inJuly last year. But in three

heads there were marginalincrease in collection, includ-

ing VAT, Stamps & Registrationand Mining.”

“In VAT, the collection inJuly was Rs 1903.54 crore ascompared to Rs 1702.19 crorein July,2019. In Stamp &Registration, collection was Rs4421 crore as compared to4214 crore last year and inMining, Rs 178 crore against Rs147 crore last year,” he said.

In April, the first month ofthe current fiscal, the stategovernment faced hugeresource crunch and hencebanned payments of all kindsof arrears to state employees tillSeptember 30. The govern-ment also directed all depart-ments to not to issue any finan-cial sanction and release for bigconstruction projects and landacquisition without obtainingprior approval of Financedepartment.

A government order issuedby Finance department in Julysaid that the decision was takenin view of sharp fall in revenuecollection in the first quarter of2020-21 fiscal and for cashmanagement.

Suresh Khanna, also parlia-mentary affairs minister, saidthat the coming Assembly ses-sion starting August 20 wouldbe short in view of the pan-demic and social and physicaldistancing would be strictly fol-lowed.

The first floor would alsobe used and guests would notbe allowed. Besides, permanentpasses to former MPs andMLAs will also remain sus-pended.

Kanpur (PNS): A sharpshoot-er of slain gangster VikasDubey’s gang and Bikru car-nage accused, Uma KantShukla alias Guddan, surren-dered at the Chaubepur policestation on Saturday.

In a placard hanging fromhis neck, Guddan confessedhimself to be a close aide ofVikas Dubey and expressedguilt for his involvement inBikru ambush. He was accom-panied by his wife and daugh-ter. On reaching the police sta-tion, he introduced himself asUma Kant Shukla aliasGuddan involved in Bikru car-

nage with Vikas Dubey. Shuklasaid he was very much scaredof regular raids of police andwas feeling guilty for his act. “Iam surrendering myself beforethe police for security of mylife and being condoned for theact,” he said.

Meanwhile, Guddan’sdaughter urged the cops withfolded hands to be lenientwith her father and not killhim in encounter.

It may be recalled that theSTF has been conducting raidsto nab all the named accusedinvolved in Bikru carnage inthe early hours of July 3.

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The Lucknow police brasswent into a tizzy after an

ominous recorded message wassent over voice call to hundredsof senior journalists across thestate on Saturday. Subsequently,an FIR was registered atHazratganj police stationagainst unknown miscreants .

While several journalistsdid not pick up the call madefrom international numbers,some recorded the hate mes-sage Almost all journalists,who are accredited with UPInformation department,received the call.

The terse message said thata temple was being construct-ed after demolishing Babrimosque and don’t allow PMModi to unfurl the national tri-colour from Red Fort onAugust 15.

It further stated that Sikhs

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Claiming to add momen-tum to development,

impacted by lockdown,Deputy Chief Minister KeshavPrasad Maurya, who holds thePWD portfolio, said that astrong network of roads andbridges was being laid in thestate which would facilitatesafe transport and also boostthe economy.

Maurya said that withwork in full swing now, sever-al lakh migrant returnees werebeing given employment whilefarmers and businessmenengaged in production of localproducts were getting betterreturns due to better modes oftransportation.

The PWD minister alsoclaimed that facilitating a goodinfrastructure would alsoboost investment in rural areasand more private players wereturning towards small townsto set up their businesses.

Maurya said that develop-ment work was restarted inApril complying with Covidprevention protocol, and atpresent, 14,923 PWD projectswere underway involving atotal budget of Rs 195.98crore.

“For these, 1.17 lakhworkers, including migrantworkers were engaged.Besides, 200 projects wereunderway of UP BridgeCorporation with a budget ofRs 66.56 crore and 3,894labourers were working in it.Similarly, under UPRNN, 548projects were underwayinvolving Rs 184.64 crore and15,840 labourers were givenjobs,” the deputy chief minis-ter said.

Maurya further said thatthe BJP government had laid11,359 kilometres of roads inrural areas besides broadeningand beautification of 12,600kilometres of roads. Heclaimed that with assistance of

Rs 3,025 crore from CentralRoad Fund, 1,828 kilometresof 117 major roads were beingbroadened across the state.

The minister said that forenvironment protection, thePWD was developing 175herbal roads on 175 sectionswhile in 171 sections work wascompleted.

“Along these roads,saplings of Neem (Azadirachtaindica), Shahjan (Drumstick),Tulsi (Holy Basil), Peepal(sacred fig) etc were beingplanted. Besides, the PWD willalso construct four new dakbungalows (guest houses) onthe borders of Ayodhya forexpected increase in the num-ber of tourists,” Maurya said.

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Even as the total number ofcoronavirus cases topped the

1.14 lakh mark in Uttar Pradesh,the Health department is upbeatwith the fact that test positivity andmortality rate (TPMR) is low ascompared to other states.

“Uttar Pradesh has done well incontaining coronavirus infectionwhich is indicated by low mortal-ity rate of 1.75 per cent. It is lowerthan the national average as the rateis higher in most states,” saidMedical Education Minister SureshKumar Khanna on Saturday.

India’s COVID-19 fatality rateis 2.43 per cent and deaths per mil-lion stand at 20.4 — among thelowest in the world.

The current test positivity ratein UP stands at 3.9 per cent, whileit is 19.6 per cent in Maharashtra.

In UP, 29 lakh people were test-ed out of which 1.13 lakh testedpositive for the infection. InMaharashtra, around 25 lakh sam-ples were tested, out of which 4.88

lakh were found positive. The figure in neighbouring

Bihar stands at 8.2 per cent as 8.70lakh samples were tested out ofwhich 71,794 were found positive.

Similarly, in Kerala, the rate isaround 8.2 per cent and in Assamaround 4.40 per cent.

In Andhra Pradesh, 23.62 lakhsamples were tested out of which2.06 lakh were positive, taking thepositivity rate to 8.76 per cent.

Khanna said the number oftests had gone up to one lakh perday from 100 tests done in Marchand the number of beds in Covidhospitals had gone up to 1.51 lakh.

“The government has allowedhome isolation which has been abig relief to asymptomatic patients.Of active coronavirus cases, 15,678are in home isolation, 1,352 in pri-vate hospitals, 178 in semi-paidhotels and the rest in Covid hospi-tals. Also, setting up of commandand control centre in every districtshas rendered management ofCOVID-19 patients easy,” Khannasaid.

Meanwhile, Additional ChiefSecretary (Home) Awanish Awasthisaid that there were 46,177 activecases in the state and 69,833 peo-ple had recovered, including 2,999on Saturday. On Friday, the stateagain recorded over 1.02 lakh sam-ple tests. With this, the total testsacross the state went up to 29.96lakh, just two lakh short of TamilNadu, which is the top state interms of sample testing.

���������5� ��Expressing concern over the

surge in coronavirus cases in UttarPradesh, Rashtriya Lok Dal nation-al spokesman Anil Dubey said theUP government had failed to con-trol the situation.

“There is a lack of arrange-ments. The government has turnedits eye away from Covid hospitalsand quarantine centres and is ped-dling fake data in press briefingsand by official statements to showits success in controlling the pan-demic,” he said..

Dubey said people were living

in fear of contracting the infectionand were disappointed as the gov-ernment had failed to check thespread of the dreaded virus.

“They are facing hardshipsand have been locked down for thelast five months and several of themhave ended their lives. Due torestriction, schools and colleges arelying closed, patients are unable toget treatment and consultation inOPDs, corona warriors are facinggovernment negligence and theCovid testing is shattered complete-ly,” Dubey said. The RLD leadercriticised the government for delaysin providing ambulances, testingand treatment to the infected peo-ple. “Even hearses are not availablefor as long as 17 hours. The mis-management is evident as a Cabinetminister died of coronavirus infec-tion and several ministers havecontracted infection but the gov-ernment is in deep slumber,” hecommented.

He demanded strict review ofthe arrangements to handle the cri-sis in each of the districts of UP.

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Uttar Pradesh Sunni CentralWaqf Board said that Chief

Minister Yogi Adityanathwould be invited to lay thefoundation stone for variouspublic facilities at the pro-posed mosque in Ayodhya’sDhannipur village.

As per Supreme Court’sorders, the Sunni Waqf Boardset up a trust for the construc-tion of a mosque on the 5-acreland allotted by the UP govern-ment.

“On the land tract given forconstruction of a mosque inDhannipur village, a hospital,a library, a community kitchenand a research centre will alsobe built. These will be for thepublic and Chief Minister YogiAdityanath will be invited to laythe foundation stone of theseprojects,” said secretary andspokesperson of Indo-IslamicCultural Foundation (IICF)Trust, Athar Hussain onSaturday.

Hussain said that the chiefminister would not only partic-ipate in the programme butwould also assist in the con-struction of these facilities.

To a question on whetherYogi Adityanath would lay thefoundation stone of themosque, the IICF head saidthat as per four schools ofthought in Islam — Hanafi,Hanbali, Shafi and Maliki —there was no provision for lay-ing the foundation stone for amosque.

Asked whether the mosquewould be named as ‘BabriMasjid’, Hussain said, “There isno such thinking. The name isyet to be finalised. BarringMasjid-e-Nabwi (Madina inSaudi Arabia) and a few others,the names do not matter. In theeyes of Allah. ‘sajda’ done atmosques is important, every-thing else is meaningless,” headded.

The IICF Trust, set up bythe UP Sunni Central WaqfBoard to construct the mosque,is in the process of setting upan office in Lucknow and isexpected to be functional in 10-12 days.

“The IICF Trust has beenformed and we have applied fora PAN number. After we get itwe will meet online and pass aresolution for opening a bankaccount. As of now, we haveidentified an office space and

renovation is going on there. Itwill take 10-12 days for the

work to be completed, afterwhich the office will be func-tional,” Hussain said.

A member of the IICFTrust said, “Ayodhya DistrictMagistrate Anuj Kumar Jha hasformally handed over the pos-session of land for the mosqueto the Trust and we have got acertified copy of the revenuerecord.”

In November last year, theSupreme Court paved the wayfor the construction of a Ramtemple by a trust at the disput-ed site in Ayodhya and direct-ed the Centre to allot an alter-native five-acre plot to theSunni Waqf Board for buildinga new mosque at a prominentplace in the holy town in UttarPradesh.

Meanwhile, the SamajwadiParty sought an apology fromYogi Adityanath on Friday forhis remark that he would notattend the inauguration of themosque to be built in Ayodhya.

After bhoomi pujan forRam temple in Ayodhya, thechief minister had said on tele-vision that as a yogi and aHindu, he could not go for theinauguration of a mosque.

“If you ask me as a chiefminister, I have no problemwith any belief, religion orcommunity. If you ask me as ayogi, I will definitely not gobecause as a Hindu, I have theright to follow my way of wor-ship and act accordingly,” hehad said. “I am neither ‘vaadi’nor ‘prativaadi’ (neither peti-tioner nor respondent). That iswhy neither will I be invited,nor will I go. I know that I willnot be getting any such invita-tion,” Yogi had said.

“The day they invite me,the secularism of many will bein danger. That is why I wantthat their secularism should notbe in danger and I continue tosilently work to ensure thateveryone benefits from govern-ment schemes without any dis-crimination,” the chief minis-ter had said.

SP spokesperson RajendraChaudhary criticised YogiAdityanath, saying that he vio-lated the oath he took whileassuming office of chief min-ister.

“He is the chief minister ofthe entire state and not only ofthe Hindus. This language ofthe chief minister lacks digni-ty and he should apologise tothe people,” Chaudhary said.

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Eyeing the Brahmin votebank, Samajwadi Party is

preparing to erect a 108-foottall statue of Parashuram,believed to be the sixth avatar(incarnation) of Lord Vishnu,in Lucknow.

Former SP ministerAbhishek Mishra said that astatue of Parashuram wouldbe set up in Lucknow and agrand temple would also bebuilt along with a researchcentre.

Mishra said that the projectwas still being finalised and‘Parashuram Chetna Peeth’would supervise the projectwhich would be crowd-funded.

“We are yet to finalise thesculptor and the site where thestatue will be installed. Theeducational research centrewill be patterned on gurukulconcept,” he said.

Asked whether the SP wasclosely involved in theproject, Mishra said, “I am apart of the SP and it is obviousthat the party is a part of theproject. Contrary to claims, theSP is not averse to Brahmincommunity. It was the AkhileshYadav regime that declared aholiday on Parashuram Jayantiwhich was later cancelled bythe Yogi Adityanath govern-ment.”

The former SP ministersaid that it was the Akhileshgovernment that had builtJaneshwar Mishra Park inLucknow and installed a larg-er than life statue of theBrahmin leader there.

The move to erect a statueof Parashuram, a Brahminicon, is widely being seen as anattempt by Samajwadi Party towean over Brahmins, who con-stitute about 11 per cent of pop-ulation in Uttar Pradesh.

$%����������������Lucknow (PNS): Aiming toreap political mileage, VishwaHindu Parishad is set to dis-play models of the proposedRam temple in over fourlakh villages across the coun-try and claim of fulfilling thepromise of construction of aRam temple in Ayodhya.Through the campaign, theoutfit is expected to reach outto over 10 crore people. TheVHP blueprint is ready andthe outfit will seek donationof Rs 11 from each family toconstruct the model to beshowcased in main areas ofvillages so that people couldhave a darshan of Ram temple.

“The VHP would makethis campaign official duringa meeting to be held inDecember next,” a source inthe VHP said on Saturday.

Besides, the VHP is alsoplanning to hold religiousfunctions in all villages of thestate to celebrate the start ofconstruction of Ram templeat Ayodhya .

“At this point of timeour focus is on distribution ofprasad of bhoomi pujan forthe Ram temple held onAugust 5 among villagersacross India,” the source said.

The VHP had used theissue to generate passion.Before bhoomi pujan, it hadasked people across the coun-try to decorate their homes,mohallas and temples andwatch the live telecast of theevent with families andfriends while singing bhajans.

VHP secretary generalMilind Parande had issued astatement saying that the livetelecast should be shown tothe community on bigscreens or in auditoriums.

“People should decoratetheir houses, neighbour-hoods, villages, markets,monasteries, gurdwaras andashrams, distribute prasadand also light lamps after sun-set in the evening. Use meansof publicity to make the grandfunction available to moreand more people,” the VHPleader had said.

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were doing the right thing bydemanding Khalistan and nowthey were demandingUrdustan, a separate countryfor Muslims.

After being informed aboutthe ominous message,Commissioner of Police SujitPandey ordered a probe andthe IT Cell was engaged. AnFIR was lodged at Hazratganjpolice station under sections505(1)(B), 505(2), 153A, 153B,124A, 295(A), 298, of UAPAAct and IT Act.

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Lucknow (PNS): Lucknow Film Forum organised a webinar onSaturday to help the aspirants connect with the industry. Forum’spresident Renuka Tandon said it was another such effort to con-nect these aspirants with the right people from industry so that fol-lowing the advice based on their experience in this field, they finda toehold in this entertainment world.“Notwithstanding the constraints in these difficult times, we havebrought together on this podium three elite personalities from theindustry.

There was Jyoti Kapur Das, a writer-director-producer whomade ‘Chutney’, an acclaimed short film, and has been associatedwith films like ‘Bhaag Milkha Bhaag’, ‘Queen’, ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’and ‘Kahani’. She gave tips to the aspirants on honing their skillsand also addressed the concerns of their anxious parents.

Another speaker was Parth, a director who has to his creditseveral blockbusters, including incredible games like ‘Guardiansof the Galaxy’, ‘Ant Man’, ‘Godzilla’, ‘Max Max’ and ‘Assassins Creed’.He shed light on the upcoming techniques of filmmaking.

Shiv Sagar, director of a company, spoke about how in thischanging times and scenario, the animation industry is witness-ing a boom and how both the historical and mythological figuresnow occupy the centre stage of the new normal animation world.

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Di r e c t o r - g e n e r a l(Technical), School of

Management Sciences, ProfBharat Raj Singh has receivedthe patent certificate of air-powered engine (motorbikes).School of ManagementSciences is affiliated to Dr

Abdul Kalam TechnicalUniversity. Singh said he hadbeen given the certificate aftercontinuous efforts of 10 yearsand observing the test resultsand as per regulations fromthe Patent Off ice,Government of India for itscommercial use for lifetime(20 years).

Singh said he would nowcontact companies which areestablished to get it launchedas soon as possible. He said theinvention was a major achieve-ment and had received globalappreciation. For the achieve-ment, he gives credit to hiswife Malti Singh and familymembers, and also mentors.

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Lucknow University hasmade special preparations

for the successful conduct ofBEd-JEE, which is scheduled tobe held on Sunday. Prof DhruvSen Singh from LucknowUniversity said 30,500 candi-dates would be appearing forthe exam at 82 centres inLucknow. A BEd-JEE control

room has been set up atLucknow University and thehelpline number for the same is0522-2740848. “If any candi-dates is suspected to be carry-ing coronavirus infection, infor-mation can be given at 0522-4523000 and 0522-2610145,” he said.

In the state, 14 nodal cen-tres and four sub-nodal centreshave been set up for the con-

duct this exam. A total of4,31,904 candidates at 1089centres in 73 districts of thestate are scheduled to appear forthe entrance exam.

The process of sanitisingthe examination halls and fur-niture at each centre was doneon Saturday. “To supervise theprocess of sanitisation at eachexamination center in the cor-rect manner, a dedicated officer

had been appointed. The entireactivity of sanitisation has beenaccomplished under the super-vision and guidance of specialofficer. In addition, hand sani-tisers, masks and thermal scan-ners have also been provided ateach centre in the state.Necessary arrangements havebeen made for all the candidatesto take the exam with socialdistancing at all the centres.

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Anative of Gonda wasarrested in Hazratganj on

Saturday for allegedly spread-ing communal hatred throughsocial media posts after bhoo-mi pujan in Ayodhya. Thepolice recovered a mobilephone which he used to postthe hateful messages.

The accused, identifiedas Imran aka Karimullah ofMaharaniganj locality ofGonda, was arrested by ajoint team during the investi-gation of a case which wasregistered on Friday.

A spokesman said a mes-sage on the issue was inter-cepted during the routinemonitoring of social mediaposts by Lucknow police.“The police worked on thecase and the needle of suspi-cion turned towards Imran.

The team worked further andnabbed Imran from hishouse,” the spokesmaninformed mediapersons. Thespokesman said the messagesbeing spread by Imran hadhurt communal sentimentsand could have disturbed lawand order.

Meanwhile, the Ghazipurpolice on Saturday arrested ayouth who had lured a minorgirl into running away fromher house. The police also

recovered the minor girl. Theaccused was identified as AjaySingh of Kushinagar.

As per reports, the girl lefther house on July 31 to sub-mit her registration form forboard exams but did notreturn. Her parents lodged acase and a team was pressedinto service. The team laterrecovered the girl fromGhazipur police station areaon August 7. The team carriedout a hunt for the accused andnabbed him on Saturday nearPrime Plaza in the area.

In another success, theChinhat police arrested threedrug peddlers and recovered35 grams of smack, a stolenmobile phone and Rs 500 incash on Saturday. The accusedwere identified as ShyamuGupta (19), Rahul (20) andJayant Singh (20), all ofChinhat.

���������������������������#���������������Lucknow (PNS): With floodscreating havoc in several districtsof UP and paddy and canecrops being ravaged, UPCongress Committee demand-ed that the state governmentmust compensate the farmersimmediately and provide relief inthis hour of agony.

In a statement issued inKushinagar on Saturday, UPCCchief Ajay Kumar Lallu saidthat he had been taking stock ofthe floods in affected areas dur-ing the last week and termed thesituation as alarming fromBahraich to Ballia.

At many places, the condi-tion of embankments is pathet-ic, indicating negligence of gov-ernment agencies. BhikharipurSakror is broken at Tarabganj.The condition of Elgin Charsadiembankment worsens everyyear. Bhikharipur embankmentwas damaged in 2018 as well.This year, a sum of Rs 70 crorewas released for its repair. Riverslike Ghagra, Saryu, Rapti, Kuanoand Sharda have caused havoc.Numerous people in these areashave lost lives due to rain, floodsand overflowing rivers,” Lallustated in the press release. He saidflood caused huge loss to people’swealth and property and the gov-ernment should come forwardand alleviate their condition.

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Thieves decamped with cashand jewellery from the

house of a jailor in VikasNagar. The incident came tolight when a relative visited thehouse on August 5 to see ifeverything was right.

As per reports, PramodKumar Singh is a native ofPratapgarh and posted inAligarh jail at present. Hisfamily stays in a house in sec-tor-14 of Vikas Nagar. Thehouse is owned by SB Pandey.

On July 31, Pandey, alongwith his family, left for someplace out of the city whilejailor’s wife Kaveri and herchildren stayed back. OnAugust 1, Kaveri and her chil-dren left for Aligarh after lock-ing the house. On August 5,Singh’s relative Vishal Singh ofsector-5 in Vikas Nagar reached

the house to check if everythingwas okay and found the houseburgled. He informed Singh,who reached the city and laterlodged a case. In his com-plaint, Singh said the thievesmade off with Rs 50,000 in cashand ornaments. Since the caseinvolved a jailor, the policepressed forensic experts in col-lecting evidence from the crime

scene. It surfaced that thethieves also burgled the roomsin which the house owner liveswith his family. Pandey told thepolice that thieves made offwith cash and jewellery worthlakhs from his house too. Thepolice said they registered a caseand launched a manhunt forthe thieves by scanning CCTVfootage.

In another incident, thievesdecamped with cash and orna-ments from the house of IsrarAhmad of New Haiderganj.

In his complaint, Israr saidhe, along with his family, hadgone to his native house inBasti on the occasion of Bakrid.“On August 5, I got a call froma neighbour who informed meabout the theft. The thievesmade off with cash and all theornaments of my wife,” hesaid. A case was registered inthis connection.

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Efforts are being made toensure that people do not

get themselves tested multipletimes, with CMO Dr RajendraPrasad Singh saying that theywere getting reports of peopleindulging in this practice andit also reflected in their sys-tems in which data is collected.

He said they were makingassessment of the situationand directions were beinggiven to labs to get a copy ofAadhaar card and a statementthat Covid test was being donefor the first time. The CMOsaid they were hopeful of get-ting this under control.

Giving details of suchcases, the CMO said: “Therewas one man who got himselftested four times in differentlabs, and it also resulted inincreases number of positivecases in the city. We are work-ing on the correct figures ofthose who have tested positiveand will also devise a systemwhere they will ensure that thepatients who reach a privatelab for testing are asked if itwas their first time.”

District MagistrateAbhishek Prakash said thepeople coming for testingshould provide correct mobilenumber and address and fol-low the protocol. He said ithad come to their notice thatsome people were changingtheir identities and getting

themselves tested multipletimes.

The DM also directed theprivate labs to provide datarelated to Covid-19 patients tothe Integrated Control andCommand Centre because itwas not being uploaded on theDIOS portal, causing a delay infacilities for the patients andalso impacting the correct fig-ures of patients.

He asked many of the pri-vate hospitals and labs givingreports of Covid-19 testing to

patients without uploadingthe same on the departmentalportal to mend ways.

CMO Dr Rajendra PrasadSingh said they heightened upthe arrangements and ambu-lances would reach in time toshift patients to hospitals.

Meanwhile, at SGPGI,ICU incharge Dr SP Ambeshon Saturday issued directionsthat all Covid reports ofpatients getting themselvesadmitted to the hospital wouldbe verified. The decision came

a day after SGPGI lodged anFIR against three persons,including a patient and anattendant who had come witha fake Covid-19 report, and anunidentified person who hadmade the report.

One patient from Gondaand his attendant had visitedSGPGI for admission toMICU. “We sensed somethingwas amiss about the reportdated July 28, which showedthat that the patient was neg-ative and so was his attendant.

Both the reports were fake butat one glance, one could notsay it. We decided to lodge anFIR because it was a seriousissue,” he said. “It was a seri-ous matter also because if aCovid-19 patient gets admit-ted to a non-Covid ward, itwould harm other patients,” headded.

At KGMU, an 8-year-oldboy lost his life to coron-avirus on Saturday.Spokesperson Dr Sudhir Singhsaid the patient was sufferingfrom obstructive uropathy anddied of metabolic acidosis.

Meanwhile, HazratganjCO Abhay Kumar Mishra saidthe staff at the cyber cellwould get themselves testedfor Covid -19. Nine peoplewere arrested from Jharkhandand after antigen testing wascarried out, three came outpositive and were admitted toLevel -1 hospital. Those whocame in contact with thesepersons will now get them-selves tested.

Besides, NBRI developedan alcohol-based herbal handsanitiser. The product,‘Germivid’, was launched bythe NBRI director for socialwelfare. The sanitiser wasdeveloped by the team led bysenior principal scientist atPharmacognosy divisionSharad Srivastava. The tech-nology was also transferred toa Lucknow-based manufac-turer in view of the increaseddemand of sanitisers.

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The state was rocked by yetanother kidnapping when

the 5-year-old son of a privatefinance company employeewas abducted and a ransom ofRs 30 lakh was demanded forhis safe release in Moradabadon Friday. However, much tothe relief of the concernedfamily members, the kidnap-pers abandoned the boy in abus in New Delhi on Saturdaymorning.

While the police pattedtheir back claiming that the‘heat’ mounted on kidnappersresulted in the boy’s release, cir-cumstances pointed towards aransom amount being paid tothe miscreants for his saferelease. In fact, after releasingthe boy, the kidnappers leftdetails and phone number ofthe victim’s father which helpedhim reunite with his family

soon enough. As per reports,Gaurav of Majhola area worksas a collection agent forShreeram Finance Company.On Friday afternoon, afterGaurav left for his office, hisson Dhruv, who was playingnear Ramlila Ground, wentmissing. Even as the familysearched for the boy, Gauravreceived a phone call and thecaller claimed having the boyin his custody and asked for aRs 30 lakh ransom around4:30 pm on Friday.

Later, Moradabad SSPPrabhakar Chaudhary and IG(Moradabad Range) RamitSharma swung into action andalso alerted the Special TaskForce (STF) brass. A case ofkidnapping was registered andtwo teams were formed totrack the miscreants and rescuethe boy.

Even as the cops were tail-ing the kidnappers, they learnt

that the kidnapped boy wasfound in a roadways bus inNew Delhi.

The kidnappers left a slipin the boy’s pocket in which theaddress and phone number ofGaurav was provided. Later, theconductor and driver of the businformed the family membersafter which they took the boyin their custody.

Meanwhile, in Jaunpur, a13-year-old speech and hear-ing-impaired girl was kid-napped, raped and later herbody was dumped in the fieldin Madiyahun area on Saturdaymorning. Circumstantial evi-dence indicated that she wasraped and murdered. She waslater identified as the daughterof a local resident and had gonemissing on Thursday after-noon. Her parents, with thehelp of local pradhan, got a caseregistered about her disap-pearance with the police.

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After seeing the flood situ-ation in parts of Ballia,

Mau and Azamgarh districts inthis belt of Purvanchal (easternUP), the river Ganga hasrecorded rising in Varanasinow, though there is no anyserious threat of flood yet as theriver is still flowing far belowthe warning level. However, therivers like Ghagara and Sarju,which were steady at most ofthe places now, had seen asharp rise in their water levelsin the region, forcing the resi-dents of low-lying areas toshift elsewhere.

According to reportreceived from Middle GangaDivision-III of Central WaterCommission (CWC), the riverGanga started rising inVaranasi and upstreamMirzapur and Chunar onSaturday morning, though itwas steady at upstreamPhaphamau (Prayagraj) anddownstream Ghazipur andBallia. The rise indicates thatthe major water flows in theriver came from the riverYamuna side after Sangam(confluence of rivers Ganga,

Yamuna and invisibleSaraswati) at Prayagraj as theriver was also recorded risingthere. However, as the waterlevel is steady in river Gomtiboth at Sultanpur and Jaunpur,there is no threat of flood insome villages of Daab arealocated between the riversGanga and Gomti near its con-fluence, about 25 kilometresaway from the city.

Due to the rising of riverGanga in the city, water hasalready entered some low-lyingtemples located on interna-

tional famous ghats here. Dueto this, many temples wereclosed and at some ghats locat-ed on the curve, the collectionof jalkumbee (hyacinth) wasseen. As the boats remainedstandstill due to statewideweakened lockdown, therewere no big activities at theghats. In Varanasi, the river wasrecorded at 61.66 metresagainst a warning level of 70.26metres.

However, according toreports received from some dis-tricts of the region, though the

water level of river Ghagarastarted receding in upstream, ithad already created a havoc likesituation in parts of Mau andAzamgarh districts when hadreached close to break all-timerecord just two days ago inadjoining areas of Dohrighat.In Sagri tehsil in Azamgarh, thewater level of the river wasdecreased by 20 centimetresfrom 72.64 metres to 72.44metres and continued but wasflowing above warning level of70.40 metres, creating flood sit-uation in about 80 villageswhere the administration hasmade arrangements of 281boats to help the affected peo-ple get essential items.

River Sarju also saw thesame story as the water level ofthe river which was flowingabout the warning level of64.01 metres in Basdih area inBallia district has started reced-ing now. However, the floodwater has already entered sev-eral villages and seeing thegrim situation, senior districtofficers visited there. Effortswere also made to put sand-filled bags at the dams wherethere were possibilities of soilerosion and leakage.

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The first convalescent plas-ma donation was success-

fully carried out at Blood Bankin Banaras Hindu University(BHU) here on Friday. Thevoluntary donor was a healthcare worker who is working inthe CMO office, Jaunpur andwas recovered from COVID-19recently. His corona report wasnegative.

Prior to plasma donation atthe Blood Bank, BHU, all thetests that were to be doneunder the Indian Council ofMedical Research (ICMR)guidelines were conducted inwhich they were found to befully fit. After the completionof all the procedures, plasmawas successfully removed fromthe body of the donor and later,the same will be transfused inthe patient. Blood Bankincharge Dr Sandeep Kumar,Dr SK Singh and their entireteam were engaged in theprocess.

DLW STAFF HELPINGCORONA-INFECTED COL-LEAGUES: The Loco Division

of the Diesel LocomotiveWorks (DLW) has formed avoluntary team to assist theemployees infected withCOVID-19. All the members ofthis team have given their con-sent voluntarily. This team willprovide all possible help to acorona-infected employee ofLoco Division and his/her fam-ily. This initiative of LocoDivision is also an inspirationnot only for the entire DLW but

for the Indian Railways andother industrial institutions.

In this direction, the vol-untary group has taken sever-al steps including formation ofa WhatsApp group of corona-infected employees in whichthey can tell their problems. Afund of �10,000 has been cre-ated by the employees to meetthe needs of the infectedemployees apart from writingthe details of incurred expens-

es in a register, arrangements toisolate the infected employeesand sanitise their houses. Theywill also make arrangements ofall items to be used by thembetween 7 am and 9 pm aftergetting the demands throughphone or WhatsApp and toprovide medicines for 24 hours.The volunteers will be available24 hours during an emergency.

Besides, the volunteers willcontact the infected employeesdaily through phones / mobilesand give their full mental andpsychological support to thepatients so that they can berecovered soon. In case ofemergency, the team mem-bers after wearing PPE kits,masks, and hand gloves meetthe infected employees in viewto solve their problems. Theteam members will inform allthe details to the concernedHealth department and high-er officials regularly. So far, allpossible assistance has beenprovided to seven corona-infected employees and theirfamily members/ neighboursby the members of this supportteam.

ALLAHABAD (PNS): NorthCentral Railway has taken aseries of steps to improve safe-ty in train operations and secu-rity of passengers despiteCOVID-19 related restrictions.Many important safety andsecurity related works havebeen completed this financialyear. When the whole world ispassing through the coronapandemic Indian Railwayswhich is known for performingduring all adversities has adopt-ed itself according to currenttimes and is working tirelesslyto ensure essential freight andpassenger travel all over thecountry. Besides maintainingever best operational indices of97 per cent punctuality and 47

kmph average speed of goodstrains in July 2020, NorthCentral Railway has also per-formed par excellence in com-pletion of safety related workand security of passengersdespite COVID-19 relatedrestrictions. With safety first culture manyimportant road user safetyrelated works were completedon North Central Railway dur-ing 2020-21 including closuresof 12 level crossing gates, com-missioning of one each ROBand RUB, interlocking of twolevel crossing gates with sig-naling system for trains, pro-vision of sliding boom at 19gates prone to boom breakage,and provision of electric lifting

barrier at 10 level crossinggates. For protection of impor-tant installations from fireIntelligent fire detection andalarm system has been provid-ed at CTC and Tundla controlroom. Besides regular review, inspec-tions safety department onNorth Central Railway under-took seven safety drives onimportant items related tooperation and maintenance ofRailways and two public aware-ness drives to curb trespassingof Railway tracks and to createawareness on level crossingsafety on the occasion ofInternational Level CrossingAwareness Day (ILCAD) dur-ing current financial year.

On the front of security ofpassengers on North CentralRailway, during 2020, RailwayProtection Force took actionagainst 9,981 unauthorisedticket agents and approx. 1,500persons indulged in alarmchain pulling. Approximately782 distress calls received onsecurity help line no 182 overNCR territory were respondedto and security concerns of pas-sengers were addressed imme-diately. RPF and other Railwayofficials on North CentralRailway have rescued morethan 300 lost kids and reunit-ed them with their families orhanded over to NGOs or localpolice for further assistance tosuch children.

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Alocal boy Shivam Pandey, along withhis team, has developed ‘BharatShare’

app, claiming that it can easily replaceChinese popular app ‘SHAREit’. Recently,the Chinese app SHAREit has been bannedin the country due to security reasons. Inresponse to the call of ‘AtmanirbharBharat’ (self-reliant India) given by thePrime Minister Narendra Modi, who isalso a local parliamentarian, Shivam andhis team have made this ‘BharatShare’ app,which has been launched on the Play Store.

Giving the call to ‘boycott Chinese andadopt Swadeshi’, Shivam has informed thatthrough this application, one can send andshare the big files such as photos, videos,audio, documents, etc. easily to others. Healso claimed that this application has beenmade of very low MB so that people candownload it easily. This application is cur-

rently made for Android users. Heappealed to all to give his app a five starsrating to make this app popular. Accordingto him, some of the responses were very

encouraging. He said that one can visit thesite by clickinghttps://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bharatshare.sharebharat

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The Health department teamis going door-to-door these

days to find corona patients. Alist of 235 people has been pre-pared in the four-day cam-paign, in which symptoms ofcoronavirus have been found.That is, these people are suf-fering from fever, cough or coldor respiratory disease. Thesepeople are being tested forcoronavirus. After the reportcomes, it will be clear whetherhe or she is infected with theepidemic or not.

Recently, instructions weregiven by the state government

for Prayagraj that a door-to-door survey should be con-ducted in this city and patientswith symptoms of coronavirusshould be discovered andexamined. This campaign start-ed from August 2. It has pre-viously marked such mohallaswhere the highest number ofcases of corona have beenfound. Teams of Health depart-ment have been constitutedwhich are covering each houseby visiting the identified areasand after getting informationabout cold-cough, fever andbreath-related patients, theyare being directed to conductcorona test. Nodal Officer and

ACMO of the door-to-doorsurvey campaign, Dr SatyenRai said that 235 patients havebeen found under this cam-paign, in which 126 patientshave also got their corona testdone at the testing centre.About 109 patients who havenot yet been tested are beingmotivated to get them tested.

In the wake of coronainfection, social workers inPandeshwarnath Dham Padillaof Tharavai made shopkeepersand common people aware ofapplying masks and followingphysical distancing. LakshmiNarayan Sharma, Bindu Gupta,Mahendra Giri, Dr Dharmaraj

Yadav, Shivchandra Yadav andLalit Sharma etc. were presenton this occasion.

Meanwhile, people of thelocality have been frightened bythe report of a woman beingtested positive for corona onThursday evening in GangaBihar Colony of Phaphamau.This led to the neighbour-hood being declared a hotspot.After this, the administrationand Health department teambecame active. Nodal Officer ofthe Health department, Dr UBSingh informed that screeningof residents living in the local-ity will be done. The patient hasbeen isolated at home.

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Adivision bench of theAllahabad High Court has

stayed cancellation of appoint-ment of Assistant Teachers inJunior Basic Schools who wereappointed during the period2008-11 after obtaining theirBEd degrees during the session2004-05 from Dr BRAmbedkar University, Agra.The court has directed thestate government to file itsreply in the case within 2weeks. There are more than3,000 such appointed assistantteachers in the state.

The Bench comprisingJustice Pankaj Mithal andJustice YK Srivastava passedthe order in a bunch of specialappeals filed by Kiran LataSingh and several others.

In 2013, a controversy wasraised in a PIL that thousandsof candidates of Dr BRAmbedkar University, Agrawere given fake degrees during2004-05. A SIT was formed toinvestigate controversy withregard to BEd marksheets ofthe year 2004-05 of the uni-versity. In August 2017, SITsubmitted its report holdingthat there were more than3500 fake marksheets andabout 1000 tampered mark-sheets. On the basis of thereport of the SIT, the DistrictBasic Education Officers can-celled appointment of peti-tioners across the state.

On February 7, 2020, uni-versity declared the mark-sheets/degrees of 2,823 candi-dates to be fake and those of814 remained under consider-

ation. Petitioners earlier filedwrit petitions before a singlebench of High Court but thepetitions were dismissed.

Therefore, petitioners filedpresent special appeals beforedivision bench challenging sin-gle bench order.

Senior Advocate, AshokKhare and Advocate SiddharthKhare appearing for AssistantTeachers argued, ‘The inquiryreport submitted by the SITcannot form the sole basiseither for cancelling theappointments of the petition-ers or for declaring their mark-sheets fake and tampered asobjection of Petitioners againstSIT report is still pending andnot considered till date.’

‘There are no fake or tam-pered marksheets rather theSIT has reported it without

considering the fact that earli-er there was a dispute regard-ing the admissions to the BEdcourse in the affiliated collegesof the university due to whichextra students were givenadmission in the colleges,’argued senior advocate AshokKhare. The bench grantedinterim relief and stayed thecancellation of appointmentof petitioners while observingthat the petitioners have beenworking as Assistant Teachersfor more than a decade andtampering of the marksheetsmay not be attributed solely tothe candidates ‘without con-nivance of the authorities con-cerned’. Further, petitionerswill face serious civil conse-quences including orders ofrecovery, if no interim relief isgranted to them.

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The number of coronapatients is steadily increas-

ing in the district with eachpassing day. While three coro-na patients died at SRNCOVID Hospital from Fridaymorning till late night, 226 newcorona patients have beenfound within 24 hours. Withthis spike in the cases of coro-na patients in the district, thecount of total cases hasincreased to 3,625. While 107patients were discharged fromCOVID hospitals on Friday.

The Health departmenthas stepped up its preparationsin view of the increasing coro-na patients. All the COVIDHospitals as well as the RapidResponse Team have beendirected not to take any negli-gence in the care and treatmentof corona patients. Due to theincreasing number of patientsof corona, the load on SwaroopRani Nehru COVID Hospitalhas increased.

The number of seriouspatients is increasing here, 109patients are admitted here.While 40 patients have beenadmitted in Kotwa Bani, 37 inRailway Hospital, 147 inKalindipuram COVID Centre,62 in Unani, 30 in United and69 in Beli COVID Hospital. OnFriday, reports of 1591 sus-pected patients have also comenegative while samples of 1,554

suspected patients have alsobeen taken.

As soon as the corona pos-itive report comes, the patientfirst expresses his desire to bein home isolation. Most of thepatients prefer to stay isolatedat home rather than going toCOVID Hospital or COVIDCare Centre. This is the reasonthat so far 1,280 corona patientshave been allowed to remain inhome isolation. These arepatients whose reports arecorona positive but they arecompletely healthy. They haveno symptoms in them.

Nodal Officer for COVID-19, Dr Rishi Sahai said thatfrom July 24, the convenienceof home isolation is being pro-vided to corona patients in thedistrict, but for this, the patientwill have to follow the guide-

lines completely. It is manda-tory to give their health infor-mation to the Health depart-ment in the morning andevening through the app.

The pace of the coronapatients has gained momentumin the district from July 23 andsince then the patients arebeing detected in three figureseveryday.

The number of coronapatients are also increasingmany fold in August. With thenumber of patients increasingin the district, the death toll isalso increasing.

The city has witnessed atotal of 16 deaths in the last sixdays. Whereas till July this fig-ure was 50. According to doc-tors, the number of patients willincrease further. Nodal Officerfor Covid-19 Dr. Rishi Sahai

said that every step is beingtaken by the department to pre-vent the spread of coronavirus.The biggest reason for theincrease in patients is the speedof testing. However, the negli-gence on the part of the peo-ple is disrupting the exercise ofthe department. People have tobe aware now.

Barring one day only in themonth of July, between 100 and200 patients are being report-ed after July 23. Even if the doc-tor may say that the picture ofthe figures has changed due tothe speed of sample testing, butsomewhere the negligence onthe part of the common man isalso a big reason behind it.

The way the number ofpatients increased in the districtare as follows:- on July 23, 110patients detected while twodeaths occurred, July 24 – 84patients and -03 deaths, July 25– 101paitients – 02 deaths,July 26 – 114 patients – 01death, July 27 – 149 patients –01 death, July 28 – 125 patients– 01 death, July 29 – 149patients – no death, July 30 -239 patients – no death, July 31- 188 patients – 02 deaths,August 1 – 141 patients – 02deaths, August 2 – 119 patients– 01 death, August 3 – 134patients – 02 deaths, August 4– 199 patients – 02 deaths,August 5 – 198 patients – 03deaths, August 6 – 180 patients-04 deaths.

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After seeing the biggest spikea day ago, the district

heaved a sigh of relief onSaturday when as many as 196COVID-19 patients have beendetected. With this, the totalnumber of cases has increasedto 4,261. Besides, the districtalso saw two more deathsincreasing the toll to 79. Duringthe day, the follow-up negativereports included 106 patientsrecovered from home isolationand the total number ofpatients cured at home hasincreased to 947, while 32recovered from the hospitals.With this, the total number ofpatients discharged from thehospitals has reached 1,396while the total number of curedpatients is 2,343, leaving 1,839active patients.

Meanwhile, according tostate COVID-19 report, thoughthe same often differs fromlocal figures, during the day765 new cases have been foundin this belt of Purvanchal (east-ern UP) comprising 10 districtsof three divisions with maxi-mum 221 cases (4315) inVaranasi followed by 113 in

Azamgarh (1603), 103 in Ballia(2354), 92 in Ghazipur (1610),71 in Jaunpur (2639), 49 inMirzapur (999), 38 inSonbhadra (829), 37 inChandauli (1197), 27 in Mau(717) and 14 in Bhadohi (714).Though as per the local reports,the total cases in Mirzapur hadalready crossed the four-figuremark with a total of 1,024cases a day ago, the same is still999 in state figures even onSaturday.

According to the ChiefMedical Officer (CMO) Dr

VB Singh, in the first reportreceived by 11.00 a.m. duringthe day, as many as 109 newcorona patients were foundout of 1,301 reports receivedfrom Microbiology departmentof Banaras Hindu University(BHU).

Till then, the total testreports received were 54,944and the results of 6,966 exclud-ing 873 RTPCR samples col-lected a day ago are awaited.Out of these, 50,770 were neg-ative reports while 4,174 pos-itive. The total number of sam-

ples collected was 62,783.Earlier, two women aged 73and 45 and belonged toShivdaspur (Manduadih) andLaddanpura (Jaitpura) respec-tively died during their treat-ment at Sir Sundarlal Hospital(SSH) in BHU. With the addi-tion of 24 red zones, the totalnumber of hotspots hasincreased to 1,048 including390 red zones. Besides, thereare 658 green zones including21 new ones.

Earlier, this region saw arecord spike in corona patientswhen 802 cases were detectedon Friday. The maximumnumber of 312 cases was foundin Varanasi (4065), followed by99 in Azamgarh (1542), 91 inGhazipur (1509), 87 in Ballia(2187), 65 in Jaunpur (2628), 46in Mirzapur (1024), 45 inChandauli (1082), 30 inSonbhadra (796), 14 in Mau(643) and 13 in Bhadohi (746).Besides, the region also saweight deaths including four inAzamgarh, three in Varanasiand one in Chandauli.Mirzapur has become the sev-enth district of the regionwhere the cases have crossedthe four-figure mark.

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The Khorabar police arrest-ed two youths with a stolen

bike, a pistol and cartridges.They were identified as VijayYadav, a resident of Lala Tola,and Ranjit Kumar, a resident ofSahu Tola, in Ghira villageunder the Jhangha police sta-tion. SHO Khorabar NasirHussain said that S-IsRamsharan Pal andJayaprakash Yadav were doing

night patrolling along withtheir colleagues near BudhiyaMata Mandir our comrades onThursday night. In the mean-time they were tipped off by aninformer that two youths werecoming with a stolen motor-cycle. When the police sig-nalled them to stop they triedto flee. However the policeencircled the area and caughtboth of them . During interro-gation, both of them disclosedthat they had stolen the motor-

bike from Deoria city in theyear 2019. On frisking them thepolice recovered a pistol andthree cartridges from one ofthem. The police producedboth of them in the court fromwhere they were sent to jail.

Meanwhile the Rajghatpolice arrested a miscreant,Kamal Kant Pandey, a residentof Nagwa village under theGida police station, who car-ried a reward of �15,000 on hishead on Friday.

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The team of STF Varanasiunit on Friday recovered

21.22 quintals of ganja from acontainer near Chakia Mor inChandauli district. The policenabbed a youth on charges ofsmuggling.

The Narcotics departmentregistered a case against thearrested accused and was tak-ing further action. A mobilephone and �4,000 were recov-ered from the possession of theaccused. The police said thevalue of the recovered ganjawas �5 crore and it was beingtaken to Prayagraj in the saidcontainer. The team of STF

Varanasi unit was informedthat the consignment of ganjawas going about to Prayagrajvia the highway at Chandauli.Following the information theSTF team along with officials ofthe Narcotics department inter-cepted a container on the basisof suspicion near Chakia Morunder the Alinagar police sta-tion. During the search of thecontainer the team found theganja. Police caught SubodhKumar Yadav, a resident ofKoderma district in Jharkhand.During questioning, he saidthat there was 21.22 quintals ofganja in it. He said that the con-tainer belonged to MohammadSalim Akhtar Khan, a resident

of Howrah in West Bengal. Theaccused said that he was giventhis container by a personnamed Sudhir. According tothe police, Bihar’s ganja smug-gler Datul Singh had ordered itthrough Dabboo Singh andPrem Singh, residents ofKolkata. This ganja was givenby Mathi Dada, a resident ofSalur Valley (Andhra Pradesh)and this container had to betaken to Prayagraj. The arrest-ed accused said that he used toget �60,000 for delivering aconsignment. The team mem-bers comprised inspectorsPuneet Parihar and ArvindSingh, S-I Alok Singh and con-stable Abhay Vikram Singh.

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DM Sushil Kumar Patel hasurged the people’s repre-

sentatives of Nagar PalikaParishad to cooperate with thegovernment machinery in thework to control Covid-19.These views were expressed byhim at a meeting organised

with the chairman Nagar PalikaParishad along with the boardmembers. He apprised themembers that for controllingCovid-19 631 surveillanceteams were working in therural area 104 teams wereengaged for urban area. Heappealed to ward members tocooperate with the teams andensure testing of each family intheir area. He said that in caseanybody was found with pre-liminary symptoms of Covid-19 they should feel free to callcontrol room or CMO officefor instant testing. Treatment atinitial stage was very helpful forgetting cured, he added.Chairman NPP Manoj Jaiswalsuggested to the Health depart-ment to direct the surveillanceteams to contact the wardmember in the area wheretheir movement was scheduleda day in advance. He said thatif the the teams were in regu-lar touch with the ward mem-bers it would was prove morefruitful. CMO Dr OP Tiwarisaid that the contribution ofpeople’s representatives could

not be denied at all. The meet-ing was attended by all theward members of Mirzapurcity, ADM, city magistrate anddeputy collectors.

FOUR HELD: TheMadihan police have unveiledthe fact behind the concoctedstory of loot, arrested fourpersons and recovered

�2,44,220. Giving details, SP DrDharmveer Singh said that theMadihan police got a messageabout snatching of cash in thejungle on Wednesday and vic-tims lying in an unconsciousstate in a bush. The policeswung into action but consid-ered the case as suspicious. Inbetween the police got a com-plaint from Triveni Maurya,incharge of Madihan branch ofSurya Jyoti Micro Financeunder which the victims werealleged as suspects. When thepolice interrogated the so-called victims what they con-fessed was very startling.Amaresh Maurya, an employ-ee of the microfinance compa-ny, said that he had hatched theconspiracy along with his col-league, Sanjay Maurya, forswindling the cash. They alsoincluded Ajit Maurya andGauri Shankar Maurya in theirplan and planted the forgedstory of loot. The police recov-ered the total cash of the com-pany from Gauri ShankarMaurya, a resident of GurudeoNagar under Madihan police

station. After lodging the FIR,police sent all the four con-spirators to the jail, recovereda motorcycle and five mobiles.For efficient policing the SP thegave a cash reward of �10,000 toSHO Madihan Raj KumarSingh and his team.

Meanwhile the CityKotwali police arrested onekidnapper and recovered thekidnapped girl. The father of agirl had lodged an FIR at CityKotwali that his daughter waskidnapped by someone byenticing her on Tuesday. Takinginstant action the police raid-ed the possible places. Onbeing tipped off by an informerthe police raided Roadways busstand where the kidnapper washiding with the girl. The policearrested the accused, Karan,son of Arjun, a resident ofGhode Shaheed under CityKotwali. Meanwhile the Chilhpolice arrested four gamblersalong with �23,700 cash. Policehad inputs about the gam-bling in the area. InchargeChetganj police outpost AshokKumar Singh raided theMajhara village with policeteam and found some two-wheelers near a bush. Whenthe police went near the bushthey found some persons gam-bling there. The police arrest-ed four persons, recovered�23,700 and playing cards.They seized three two-wheel-ers under Section of 207 ofMotor Vehicles Act in whichone vehicle was unclaimed.The accused were identified asArun Verma, a resident ofAtarsuiya, Prayagraj,Shyamsundar Dubey, a resi-dent of Sahsepur village,Bhadohi, Aman, a resident ofVasliganj, Mirzapur city andManish Sharma, a resident ofPakka Pul, Mirzapur city. Afterlodging the FIR the police sentthe accused to jail.

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North Eastern Railway(NER) administration is

making several efforts to pro-vide better goods transporta-tion facility to the industry andbusinessmen. In order toencourage loading of goods byproviding advanced facilities totraders the work for improvingand expanding facilities givenin goods sheds located at var-ious stations is being done ona priority basis. Goods shedshave an important role in trans-portation of goods. The load-ing of goods to be sent out andthe unloading of those comingfrom outside takes place here.Therefore, better maintenanceof goods sheds and availabili-ty of all necessary facilities areensured there. The work ofimproving and expanding facil-ities at goods sheds situated inthe North Eastern Railway’sLucknow division’s Subhagpur,Basti, Khalilabad, NakahaJungle and Nautanwa railwaystations and at Thompsonganj(Sitapur), in Izzatnagar divi-sion’s Rudrapur City, Kashipur,Farrukhabad and Haldi Roadstations and Varanasi division’sChhapra Gramin, Siwan,Sardarnagar, Deoria Sadar etc.stations is being done at arapid pace. In these goodssheds for ensuring convenient

loading and unloading ofgoods for traders the approachroad is being repaired as perrequirement. In the entiregoods shed, including thegoods superintendent’s officeand rooms for traders andlabourers, along with necessaryrepairs painting is also beingdone. Apart from ensuringuninterrupted supply of water,tiles etc are being installed to

keep drinking water boothsclean. Necessary improvementsare also being made to the sur-face of the goods platform. Forsufficient lighting along withthe provision for tubelights,arrangement for high mastlight is also being made in thegoods sheds premises, if nec-essary. Apart from changingthe wiring of the entire build-ing as per the need, addition-al fans etc are also beinginstalled. Arrangement forproper furniture etc for sittingcomfortably in the traders’room is also included in theseimprovement and expansion

works. Meanwhile work hasbeen completed in severalgoods sheds while it is beingdone in the remaining ones.Railways is constantly strivingto promote business and indus-tries, said CPRO PK Singh.

MEETING HELD: Ameeting of North EasternRailway Promotee Officers’Association (NERPOA) underthe chairmanship of its presi-dent, Krishna Singh, was heldat NE Railway PromoteeOfficers’ Association office,Gorakhpur, on Friday, CPChauhan, Senior PublicRelations Officer, NER, andjoint secretary/Publicity, NER-POA, said. On the occasionNERPOA president KrishnaSingh presented mementoesto station director Rajan Kumarand accounts officer/RCTSatish Kumar, who had retiredrecently, and wished them a longlife and a bright future. Whileconducting the meeting, thegeneral secretary of the associ-ation Ramesh Pandey stressedon always sanitising hands,wearing masks and maintainingphysical distancing for protec-tion from Covid-19 pandemic.In the meeting Sanjay KumarMishra, finance secretary,Mukesh Kumar Singh, stationmanager, CV Srivastava, YKMandal and several officialswere present.

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Anewly-wed couple com-mitted suicide following

domestic conflicts in Hania vil-lage under Maharajpur policestation late Friday night.

Their bodies were foundhanging from the same branchof a tree on Saturday morning.

They were identified asJitu (25), son of Shiv Nath Palof Hania, and his wife Archanaalias Rumi (22).

Jitu was employed in afactory in Ruma industrialarea. He was married toArchana, daughter of RambabuPal of Asania in Sadh area ofGhatampur on May 17 this

year. SHO of Maharajpur,

Raghvendra Singh, said accord-ing to the kin of the deceased,Jitu, along with Archana, hadgone to the house of his in-lawson Raksha Bandhan on August5. During her visit to her par-ents’ house, Archana’s jew-ellery was stolen there.

After returning home, Jituand Archana had been quar-relling for the past 2-3 days.

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injury while three others,including a woman, wereinjured when two groupsclashed over maintaining

supremacy in Kharagpur vil-lage in Chaubepur police sta-tion area on Saturday morning.

Tension prevailed in thevillage after the clash.

According to reports, therewas enmity between the fami-lies of Govind Singh andRandhir Singh for the pasttwo months. About a monthback, Randhir Singh had beat-en up Govind Singh’s son Omu.Police also did not initiate anyaction against the accused.

On Saturday morning,Ranjit of Randhir Singh fami-ly was beaten up by GovindSingh’s henchmen when hewas returning from the field.Hearing about the incident,

dozens of armed youths fromRandhir Singh group attackedthe members of Govind Singhgroup. During the clash,licensed and illicit firearmswere used by both sides.

During the exchange offire, Ankush Singh of GovindSingh group sustained injuryfrom bullet splinters on hisback and arms, while DaulatSingh, Maniraj Singh and Binaof the rival group sustainedinjuries from sticks.

Police sent all the injured toLLR Hospital.

The police said a casewould be registered afterreceiving complaints from boththe sides.

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The Rail Bazaar police haveworked out the murder of

a couple with the arrest of fourpersons along with lootedgoods on Saturday.

Those arrested includedmastermind Danish of GammuKhan Ka Hata in Colonelganj,and his two nephews living inSujatganj. The accused con-fessed that they had killedpainter Vishnu Nishad (23)and his wife Shalu (22) on thenight of August 2 at the RailwayGround of Loco Colony in RailBazaar for loot. SSP PritinderSingh said after the incident, acall was made from Shalu’smobile phone to a woman ofSujatganj. She was taken intocustody and on being grilled,she revealed the names of thekillers. She disclosed thatDanish, her brother, andnephews Jamshed alias Goluand Vikas Gautam of Rura(Kanpur Dehat) were alsoinvolved in the killing. Theaccused also confessed theirinvolvement in thefts inNaubasta and Chakeri policestation areas in the past.

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The all-religion meet chairedby District Magistrate, BR

Tiwari has unanimously decid-ed that the places of worshipshould not be opened yet,especially in view of the surgein coronavirus positive casesand the high number ofCOVID-19 deaths.

The members voluntarilyagreed that till further ordersno place of worship shall beopened.

Initially a small segmentwas in favour of opening theplaces of worship with condi-tions but majority agreed thatin view of coronavirus spreadmoving towards communitytransmission, it was in theinterest of the masses to keep

the places of worship closed.The DM said it was good

that the decision had beentaken unanimously and it wasalso good in the interest of thepeople to refrain from going tothe places of worship as it vio-

lated the social distancingnorms.

He said social distancingwas in fact a kind of vaccinewhich could prevent the spreadof coronavirus and thus it needto be followed.

Tiwari said even on streetsa big number of people did notwear face masks despite know-ing that they could be finedwhile some people were igno-rant about it.

DIG Pritinder Singh saidthe matter of worshiping atplaces of worship differed andthus it was difficult to maintainsocial distancing in crowd espe-cially when it came to religiousfenzy. He said it was good thatall religious head had volun-tarily agreed to keep the placesof worship closed till furtherorders.

Prominent among thosewho took part in the meetingof heads of all religions wereADM VK Srivastava, all SPs .Members from all religionsexpressed their views.

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*#���������������������������#����,56� �����7�KANPUR (PNS): Kanpur Nagar reported 284 more coronaviruspositive cases on Saturday evening. Chief Medical Officer DrAnil K Mishra said 284 more people tested positive for coron-avirus infection between Friday evening and Saturday evening,taking the tally of confirmed cases to 8,095.

He said with 90 COVID-19 patients being discharged fromhospitals in the past 24 hours, 2,540 infected people had beencured in the city so far and 4,562 active cases were undergoingtreatment in various Covid hospitals. The CMO said with fivemore deaths, the COVID-19 death toll stood at 261 on Saturdayevening. He said that 2,600 samples were taken for testing.

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Another head rolled onaccount of laxity, derelic-

tion of duty and failure tomake any effort to controlCOVID-19 deaths at the Level-3 Covid facility at LLRHospital, with head of anaes-thesia department, Dr ApurvaAgarwal, being shown thedoor.

He has been replaced withassociate professor of anaes-thesia, Jalaun, Dr ChandraShekhar Singh.

The city has till date seenmore than 255 COVID-19deaths and 90 per cent ofthem were at LLR Hospital.

The constant deaths atLLR Hospital has become abig cause of concern while a

hype is being created by themedical authorities that thepatients reach the hospitalvery late.

The government had senta special team of doctors fromKG Medical University atLucknow to look into thecause of deaths of patientsadmitted to the hospital andkeep an eye on the manage-ment of COVID-19 patientsadmitted there.

The probe into thecharges against the hospitalbrought to fore the fact thathead of anaesthesia depart-ment, Dr Apurva Agarwal,never entered the COVID-19ICU.

Besides there were sever-al reports that Dr Agarwalnever attend the patients or

showed any interest in man-aging the patients in the ICU.

He had been served manywarnings but it was allegedthat he failed to mend his pat-tern of working and as a resulthe was shunted to Jalaun.

A few doctors pleadinganonymity claimed that asthe patients reached the hos-pital very late when their oxy-gen level fell below 70, it wasdifficult to manage their crit-ical condition.

They said it was true thatmajority of the senior doctorsdid not visit the ICU and justtook a casual round leavingeverything on the junior res-idents. They also claimed thatin most lung diseases, such aspneumonia, blood-oxygensaturation level dropped

accompanied with otherchanges, including stiff orfluid-filled lungs, or risinglevels of carbon dioxidebecause the lungs could notexpel it efficiently.

GSVM Medical CollegePrincipal Dr RB Kamal saidDr Agarwal had severalcharges pending against himand despite umpteen warn-ings, there had been practi-cally no change in his style offunctioning. He added that DrAgarwal had been sent toJalaun. Dr Kamal said thechief minister was really con-cerned over the constantdeaths in LLR Hospital andhad even sent a team of spe-cialists to monitor things andensure that the death ratewas brought down.

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The Akhil Bharatiya UdyogVyapar Mandal (ABUVM)

has decided to boycott Chinesegoods, especially withJanmashtami around the cor-ner. The Confederation of AllIndia Traders (CAIT) hadissued directive to the traders’organisations and handed thema list of goods, especially elec-tronics and electricals, to beboycotted.

In Uttar Pradesh alone,sales related to Janmashtami

soar as high as Rs 100 croreand majority of the items forthe festival are imported fromChina, be it decoration items,idols or lights.

Addressing a webinar onSaturday, ABUVM presidentSandip Bansal said that inprinciple it had been decided tohold a boycott demonstrationagainst the Chinese productswhich were inundating theIndian markets. He said it wasthe people who had to boycottthe products manufactured inChina. He said it was a matterof concern that during everyHindu festival, products wereimported from China whileindigenous products had few

takers. He called upon alltraders to assemble on Sundayfor a grand protest.

Bansal said that as per theCAIT, around 3,000 items werebeing exported from Chinathat could easily be replacedwith indigenous products. Hesaid to promote Make In Indiacampaign, the need was tospread awareness of ‘IndianGoods Our Pride’ which aimsto achieve reduction in importsof Chinese manufacturedgoods by Rs 1 lakh crore byDecember 2021.

He added that retail andwholesale traders across Indiawould launch a campaign toboycott import of Chinese

goods on Sunday. Bansal said over 40,000

traders’ bodies representingseven crore retailers and whole-sellers in the country hadagreed to join the movementfor a total boycott of Chineseproducts. He said furtherthere was a visible change inpurchasing pattern among con-sumers as well who did notwant to buy Chinese goods asreadily as before.

He said Chinese goods hadan advantage of low cost butthey were also low on quality.He said currently the moodwas against China and thetraders need to educate self andconsumers about this.

The list of items that CAIThas prepared mostly includeselectronic goods, FMCG prod-ucts, toys, gift items, confec-tionary products, clothes,watches and a host of plasticproducts. The alternatives forthese are already available inthe country, the CAIT said.

Bansal said the ABUVMhad decided to go in for mouthto mouth campaign and advisepeople to prefer to buy godsand idols and decoration piecesfor Janamashtami floats thatwere made in India. He said theproducts made in China wereagainst the religious sentimentsand thus people should boycottthem in a big way.

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Union Micro, Small andMedium Industry Minister

Nitin Gadkari has called uponthe country to focus more onresearch and modern technol-ogy so that more momentumcan be given to the existingindustries.

He said the products whichwere being manufactured inIndia had to be brought at parwith the world. He saidMSMEs were doing a wonder-ful job but certainly were fac-ing umpteen problems to estab-lish themselves. He said withlimited resources, they weredoing a remarkable job andwere existing in the market onaccount of their credibility andquality.

Gadkari was addressing awebinar organised by FICCIFlo during a virtual roundtable discussion. The functionwas organised by KanpurChapter Chairperson Dr AratiGupta. He said skill develop-ment was India’s forte andcited the example that country’sBenaras silk was famous acrossthe world and similarly thekhadi produced in the countrywas famous all over the globe.

He said India had immensepotential and had skilled youthwhat was in fact required togive them a new though, adirection to utilise it till opti-mal.

The minister said the gov-ernment was promotingwomen entrepreneurs in a bigway and thus it had giventhem big rebates between 15per cent and 35 per cent bothin rural and urban areas. Hesaid apart from this, the gov-ernment was also focused onagriculture and rural industriesto promote entrepreneurship.

He said women wereemerging as a dominant forcewith entrepreneurial skills andpraised the role of FICCI Flofor this.

Others who took part inthe round table were FICCI Flonational president JanakiPhukan, Ludhiana Chapterpresident Mannat Kothari, RituLord, Amita Tilak and mem-bers of 17 chapters and office-bearers.

Page 6: ˇ !#!#$%&’()*)%+ ˇ ˙ ˚ !# ˇ .’#(%#’(-%+#/012*-3 ˝˛...2 days ago  · airport claimed the lives of 18 persons, including the pilot and co-pilot, of the ill-fated Boeing

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Jammu & Kashmir police onSaturday claimed to have bust-

ed a terror financing network ofLashkar-e- Tayyeba (LeT) active inthe Jammu region for a long time.

A total number of five sus-pects, working for a Pakistanbased LeT handler, were paradedby the police in front of media per-sons.

Police also claimed these sus-pects had recently shared imagesof Northern Command head-quarters located in Udhampurand locations of different armycamps in Uri to their handlersoperating from Pakistan.

It is learnt that all five ofthem were arrested by the policeearlier and were being interrogat-ed to track down the foot prints ofseveral others actively involved inthe terror module.

Briefing selected media per-sons, Mukesh Singh, InspectorGeneral of Police Jammu rangesaid, “The LeT terror module wasbusted on the basis of sustainedinterrogation of a Doda based

B.Sc student, Mubashir Farooq Batt, arrested on July 19,2020”. Batt was studying in Khararnear Chandigarh and was appre-hended by the Special operationsgroup of J&K police with a con-signment of 1.5 lac concealed in atiffin box.

IG, Jammu said so far theyhave arrested a Moulvi ToqeerAhmad resident of Doda, a sur-rendered terrorist and former SPOAif Batt, Khalid Latief, a contrac-tor, a Chicken shop worker GaziIqbal from Doda, a owner of aKaryana shop Tariq Hussain fromDoda.

Singh said, a former districtcommander of LeT identified asHaroon hailing from Thathri areaof Doda was in touch with thesepeople and had tasked them toprovide logistics/financial supportto set up a network of LeT inJammu region.

“Haroon is currently operat-ing from Pakistan”. According topolice records he exfiltrated toPakistan in 2007, Singh added.

Referring to their role in theterror module Singh said, “these

local recruits were tasked to ropein more youth to widen the terrornetwork, carry out recee of vitalsecurity installations,sharing information about presence of secu-rity forces and their importantlocations to Pakhandlers,Transportation of Arms& Ammunition from one locationto another and distributing moneyamong the families of active anddeceased terrorists”. He said dur-ing their interrogation so far it hasbeen revealed that they had sharedimages of Northern Commandheadquarters and locations ofarmy camps in Uri to their han-dlers operating from Pakistan.

Inspector General MukeshSingh also claimed, “during ques-tioning of all above 06 arrested per-sons it has surfaced that theyreceived money amounting to Rs12,19,704 through different meanson different occasions as part ofthis module. They were also instru-mental in recruiting Abid AhmedBhat (LeT) S/O Waliya Bhat R/OSazan, Doda( Now Killed) andJamal Din (LeT) R/O Doda ( NowSurrendered).

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Amaravati: Andhra Pradeshcontinued to witness a surge inCOVID-19 cases as 10,080fresh infections were reported,taking the overall tally to2,17,040 while a single day highof 97 fatalities were recorded.

The latest government bul-letin said the state now had85,486 active cases after1,29,615 coronavirus positivepersons got cured, including9,151 in the last 24 hours, and1,939 succumbed.

The state reported over10,000 cases for the fourthstraight day.

For the first time, AndhraPradesh overshot the nationalaverage (8.93 per cent) in theinfection positivity rate clock-ing 8.95 per cent.

It also continued waybelow the national average (68.

32 per cent) in the recovery ratewith 59.72 per cent.

Only in terms of mortali-ty rate, at 0.89 per cent, AP waslower than the national average(2.04 per cent).

East Godavari districtcrossed the 30,000 mark as itadded 1,310 fresh cases in thelast 24 hours, pushing thecumulative tally to 30,160.

The district has 13,794active cases.Kurnool tooreported 1,253 more cases,taking its aggregate to 26,032.

Visakhapatnam (998),Anantapuramu (976) andChittoor (963) too added morecases followed by SPS Nellore(878).

Guntur district reported 14deaths, Anantapuramu (11),Kurnool and West Godavari(10) fatalities each whileChittoor and SPS Nelloreadded eight each, Prakasamand Srikakulam added seveneach to their toll in the last 24hours, according to the bul-letin. PTI

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Maharashtra notched a mile-stone on the Covid-19 infec-

tions front on Saturday, as the num-ber of infected cases breached 5lakh mark to touch 5,03,084 after12,822 people tested positive forcoronavirus, even as 275 peoplesuccumbed to the pandemic in var-ious parts of the State.

With 275 fresh deaths, thetotal number of deaths in the statemounted to 17,367.

Of the total deaths reported,Pune accounted for highest 67deaths, followed by 58 in Mumbaiand 48 deaths in Thane district.

Apart from 67 deaths inPune,58 in Mumbai and 48 inThane, there were 17 deaths inRaigad, 14 in Palghar, 9 inKolhapur, 8 each in Nashik, Dhuleand Sangli, 7 in Solapur, 6 each inJalna and Nagpur, 4 in Ratnagiri,3 in Beed, 2 each in Ahmednagar,Jalgaon, Aurangabad and Yavatmaland one each in Satara, Latur,Osmanabad and Akola.

After being well below 50 markfor several days, the Covid-19Covid-19 daily in Mumbai went upto 58, taking the total deaths to6751 and seeing the total the daily

infection tally increase by 1304from 6,693 to 6751 and taking thetotal infected cases to 122316.

In a related development, asmany as 11081 patients were dis-charged from hospitals in the stateafter full recovery, taking the totalnumber of patients dischargedfrom various hospitals after fullrecovery since the second week ofMarch this year to 3,38,262.. Therecovery rate went up to 67.26 percent. The mortality rate in the stateis 3.45 per cent. The state healthauthorities pegged the number of“active cases” in the state at1,47,048.

Pune, which has emerged asthe second worst-affected districtin terms of spread of the pandem-ic, has recorded 1,09,988 infectionsand 2961 deaths till now.

With 103642 infected casesand 2961 deaths, Thane continuedto be the second-worst hit districtin Maharashtra.

Out of 26,47,020 samples sentto laboratories, 5,03,084 have test-ed positive (19 per cent) forCOVID-19 until Saturday.

Currently, 9,89,612 people arein home quarantine while 35,625people are in institutional quaran-tine.

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The newly appointed Lt- GovernorManoj Sinha, on day one at work,

visited SMHS hospital in Srinagarand later reviewed Covid-19 controlmeasures with a team of senior officersat Raj Bhawan on Saturday.

The total number of Coronaviruspositive cases crossed 24,000 markwhile 10 Covid-19 patients died inKashmir division, taking the total tallyto 459 . Spokesman of the Jammu andKashmir government, Rohit Kansal ina tweet said, “Lt-Governor visitedSMHS hospital, reviewed COVID sit-uation on Saturday”. He said on notic-ing shortage of ward staff in isolationwards, Lt -Gov Manoj Sinha directedimmediate appointment, on a shortterm basis, of 200 nursing orderlies(100 each for Kashmir and Jammu) toattend to COVID patients in isolation.

During the review meeting, Lt GovSinha announced the J&K Governmentis considering providing additionalsupport to Health Workers andFrontline Corona Warriors in additionto the existing insurance cover of Rs 50lakhs”.

Briefing about the preparednessfor COVID-19 in J&K, FinancialCommissioner Health and MedicalEducation, Atal Dulloo informed the

Lt Governor that Rapid Antigen Testis being conducted with 18,000 testsdone in the last 5 days. 432 Ventilatorsreceived from the Ministry of Health& Family Welfare, Government ofIndia are in the process of installationin various health institutions and 342ventilators are in transit.

He informed that there are around7,266 active positive cases out of24,390 confirmed positive cases in J&Kwith a recovery rate of 67.78 percentand 56,707 Tests per Million popula-tion.

It was informed that the samplesof 2,95,878 number of travellers, 83,016persons in contact and 8,621 healthcare workers have been taken so far.

According to the media bulletin,463 new positive cases of Coronaviruswere detected,81 from Jammu divisionand 382 from Kashmir division. Also10 COVID-19 deaths were reportedfrom Kashmir Division.

According to the media bulletin,out of 24390 positive cases, 7264 areActive Positive, 16667 have recoveredand 459 have died; 34 in Jammu divi-sion and 425 in Kashmir division.

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In what appears to be never-ending Sushant Singh Rajput

suicide saga, one more piece ofevidence in the form of the lastvideo of Sushant’s ex-managerDisha Salian surfaced onSaturday – a video in which sheis seen dancing with a groupthat included her boyfriend andactor Rohan Rai.

Given that Disha was full oflife – as can be seen in the videoclip, the development hasamong other things raisedquestions as to how such a live-wire kind of person couldcommit suicide.

Disha (28), it may berecalled, had reportedly com-mitted by falling from the 14th

floor of Galaxy Regent build-ing at Malad in north Mumbaion the intervening night ofJune 8-9.

Her death had taken placenearly five weeks beforeSushant (34) committed suicideat his rented duplex flat inBandra in north-west Mumbaion June 14.

The Malvani police stationhad registered an accidentaldeath report (ADR) in hercase. The investigators had vir-tually closed the case, term it asa “suicide”.

In the video clip that hassurfaced, Disha can be seenalong with a few others in thevideo and looking happy. Theyare seen dancing to the tune ofa 'Mission Kashmir' number

'Rind Posh Maal' featuringHrithik Roshan.

On their part, Disha’s par-ents Satish and Vasanti Salianhad ruled out any foul play intheir daughter’ suicide “Alltheories and stories are fakeand just rumours. I lost myonly child but now all thesemedia people social mediapeople will murder us.Therefore I request to stop allthis. I request the SupremeCourt to stop all this, we arebadly suffering because of this.Now we don't have anystrength to listen to all thesefake news against our daugh-ter,” they had told a televisionchannel

However, Disha’s allegedsuicide has come to be seen in

the context of allegations by theOpposition BJP that it is linkedto Sushant’s suicide.

Dubbing the suicides byDisha and Sushant as inter-linked, Maharashtra’s formerchief minister and BJP leaderNarayan Rane created a sensa-tionon August 4 by claimingthat both Sushant was “mur-dered” while his ex-managerDisha Salian was “raped” and“murdered”.

Addressing a news confer-ence here on Tuesday last,Rane indirectly had targetedMaharashtra Minister andThackeray scion AadityaThackeray, by demanding toknow: “Who all were there inthe parties that were held onJune 8 and June 13? Find them

out”. He had suggested that aMaharashtra minister too wasin these parties.

“The State government istrying to shield the culpritsbehind the deaths of Disha andSushant. We as opposition areefficient and we will let thathappen. Parties are held inDino Morea every day. Manyministers attend these parties.There was a party on that dayas well. The same ministerhad gone to Sushant’s homebefore the actor’s suicide. Thepolice should investigate thatminister concerned,” Rane hadalleged.

Rane had alleged that onJune 8, Disha Salian was rapedand then murdered, while onJune 14, Sushant Singh Rajput

was murdered. “That DishaSalian was raped was evidentfrom the post-mortem report,”he said.

Alleging that both the inci-dents were linked, Rane said: “Itis not difficult to find out whowas issuing threatening calls toSushant Singh Rajput”.

Two days earlier, MumbaiBJP general secretary and MLAAmeet Satam had raised sus-picions over the actor’s ex-manager Disha Salian’s allegedsuicide.

In a letter he shot off toMumbai’s DeputyCommissioner of Police (Zone--IX) Abhishek Trimukhe,Satam had sought to raisequestions about Disha’s deathin the context in the context of

Sushant’s sensational suicide, bysaying that “there are a lot ofstories and theories that arebeing talked about and there isa deep desire in public to knowthe truth”.

Satam’s letter to DCPTrimukhe came a day after theBihar police visited the reachedthe Malwani police station innorth Mumbai and soughtdetails about Disha’s death.

The Malwani police toldthe visiting police team that thefolder about Disha’s file hadbeen “deleted by accident” andcould not be retrieved.However, there were uncon-firmed reports on Sunday thatthe Malwani police were verymuch in the possession of theDisha’s death file, but it is not

certain yet if they have nothanded over the file to theirBihar counterparts.

In one of a series of ques-tions that he asked in his letterto DCP Tirmukhe, Satam hadwanted to know to as to whatDisha’s post-mortem reportsay, were the circumstancesleading to her suicide probed,considering that she hadattended a party the previousnight and who were present atthe party.

Satam had sought details ofher phone calls/messages of the24 hours preceding her deathand asked if the mobile towerlocation of the place where shedied was ascertained as to whoall were present and she metbefore her death.

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From Page 1While the Chinese have intruded more

than five km into India at the Pangong Tso,they have deployed more than 15,000 troopswith heavy armour and artillery on their sideof the LAC in the Depsang valley at a heightof more than 16,000 feet. This makes this spotalso part of the four or five “friction points”at the volatile border in Ladakh. India onSaturday insisted that China scale down itsforce levels as a confidence-building measureand restore status quo ante, sources said.

Not willing to take any chances in theDepsang plains, India has also bolstered itstroops’ strength and brought forward itsarmour elements including tanks and heavyguns. The Depsang plains are strategicallyimportant as India can maintain a vigil on theKarakoram highway across the LAC andChina wants to negate that advantage.

Also, with the reopening of the Daulat BegOldie advance landing ground some yearsback, India’s logistical capabilities haveimproved manifold as big transport planes canland there with supplies throughout the year.Plans are also afoot to make the airfield fit forfighter jet operations.

Sustaining the drive to improve infra-structure there, a 200-km long road was alsorecently completed linking some of the rearareas with Daulat Beg Oldie. The Chineseobjected to the construction of a small bridgeon the road and obstructed an Indian patrolin late May leading to the standoff in theGalwan valley. An ugly brawl there betweenthe two sides on June 15 led to the death of 20Indians including their commanding officer.

Besides amassing troops leading to height-ened tension on the border, the Chinese arealso objecting to the Indian Army patrols cov-ering Patrolling Points 10 to 13 in Depsang.India maintains it is patrolling in its own ter-ritory. The Depsang valley has seen a prolongedstand-off in 2013 also and intervention at thediplomatic and political levels had resolved theissue then.

From Page 1Kataria hails from southern Rajasthan which has 28

Assembly seats of which the BJP has 15.While the Congress has 10 seats, one is with an Independent

MLA and two are with the Bharatiya Tribal Party which is sup-porting Gehlot.

In partial relief to the Ashok Gehlot-led CongressGovernment in Rajasthan, the Division Bench of the High Courthad on Thursday disposed of appeals filed by a BJP MLA andthe Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) against the order of a judge, whohad refused to stay the functioning of six BSP MLAs as Congresslegislators.

BJP MLA Madan Dilawar and BSP national secretary SatishMishra had approached the Division Bench on Tuesday appeal-ing against the Single-judge Bench order.

From Page 1“A surge has been observed in

daily new cases in four districts --Kamrup Metro in Assam; Lucknowin Uttar Pradesh; andThiruvananthapuram andAlappuzha in Kerala,” the Ministrysaid.

In a high-level virtual meetingchaired by Union Health SecretaryRajesh Bhushan, these eight Stateswere directed to ensure availabili-ty of ambulances and maintainzero tolerance for their refusal, itsaid.

As part of the Centre’s effort toreview and handhold States andUnion Territories for collaborativemanagement of Covid-19, twohigh-level meetings were chaired byBhushan -- on August 7 and 8 -- toengage with those States with fatal-ity rates higher than the nationalaverage in order to advise and sup-port them on efforts to prevent andreduce fatality, it said.

On Friday, the Union HealthSecretary also held a virtual meet-ing with 16 other districts in fourStates -- Gujarat, Tamil Nadu,Telangana and Karnataka -- report-ing Covid-19 mortality higher thanthe national and States’ average.

According to the Ministry, thesedistricts include Gujarat’sAhmedabad and Surat, Karnataka’sBelagavi, Bengaluru Urban,Kalaburagi and Udupi, Tamil Nadu’sChennai, Kanchipuram, Ranipet,Theni, Thiruvallur, Tiruchirappalli,Tuticorin and Virudhnagar andTelangana’s Hyderabad andMedchal Malkajgiri.

From Page 1“I am grateful for my life.

I am grateful for Lillu in my life.I am grateful for Bebu in mylife. I am grateful for Sir in mylife. I am grateful for Ma’am inmy life. I am grateful for Fudgein my life. I am grateful for allthe love in my life,” reads thenote which Maneshinde saidwas written by the late actor inChakraborty’s notebook.

In her message shared byManeshinde, Chakraborty stat-ed, “And this is his (Rajput’s)

handwriting...Lillu is Showik(Chakraborty’s brother), Bebuis me, Sir is my dad,Ma’m is my mom and Fudge

is his dog”.Maneshinde, however, did

not say when the note was writ-ten or if it was handed over tothe Mumbai police which hadregistered an Accidental DeathReport (ADR) after Rajput’sdeath in June this year.

The actor (34) was foundhanging at his residence in sub-urban Bandra on June 14.

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�%������BBB��������������:::Shimla: Himachal Pradesh recorded 114 fresh coro-navirus cases on Saturday, taking the infection tally to3,265.

Meanwhile, BJP state spokesman Baldev Tomaralso tested positive for the disease. He had come in con-tact with Power Minister Sukh Ram Chaudhary, whohad tested positive on Thursday. Chaudhary'swife and some of his close relatives also tested posi-tive for coronavirus on Saturday, an official from

Sirmaur district said.Of the fresh COVID-19 cases, 43 were reported

from Chamba, 24 from Sirmaur, 17 in Solan, eight eachfrom Kangra, Mandi and Hamirpur, four each fromKullu, and one each from Una and Shimla, AdditionalChief Secretary (Health) R D Dhiman said.

In Chamba, Chowgan, Hatnala, Jansali, Chauntra,Surada and Sapri have been declared as containmentzones, a district official said. PTI

From Page 1Of the four airports in Kerala,

the Kozhikode airport has theshortest runway and has sufferedmassive damage due to incessantrains in the pa

“Deepak Sathe, who was thecaptain of the Air India Expressflight was one of the most distin-guished and experienced com-manders of Air India. He had morethan 10,000 hours of flying experi-ence and had landed in Kozhikodeairport 27 times in the past. He hasflown many aircraft including Mig-21 and was well versed in all kindof aircraft. His deputy, CaptainAkhilesh Kumar (32) too was anequally competent pilot with morethan 1,723 hours of flying,” said theMinister.

Puri declined to be drawn intoany controversy regarding the oper-ational capability of the crew or theaircraft. He repeatedly asked thejournalists to wait till the probe wasover the report is submitted to theGovernment.

He announced a solatium of Rs10 lakh to each of the deceased, Rs

2 lakh to each of the injured and Rs50,000 to each of those who sufferedminor injuries.

The Minister also disclosedthat the Vande Bharat flights (ofwhich the Air India’s ill-fated aircraftwas a part) have ferried more thanone million passengers from foreigncountries to India since the servicesbegan on May 6. This is the firstaccident involving a Vande Bharatflight and we are all distressed anddejected by the mishap,” said theMinister.

It may be a strange coincidencethat Capt Akhilesh was the first pilotto command a Vande Bharat flightto Kozhikode airport. Friday’s flightturned out to be his last one too.

While the Minister said that allthe issues which were raised in thepast about the length of the runwayhad been addressed, aviationexperts have all along been cageyabout the safety concerns about therunway.

In fact, Directorate General ofCivil Aviation (DGCA) had issueda show-cause notice to the directorof the Kozhikode airport on July 11

last year after it found “various crit-ical safety lapses” in different places,including the runway and the apron.The DGCA had conducted theinspection after an Air India Expressflight coming from Dammam inSaudi Arabia had a “tail strike” whilelanding at the Calicut (Kozhikode)airport on July 2 last year.

According to officials, after theJuly 2 incident last year, the DGCAinspected the airport on July 4 andJuly 5 and found various criticalsafety lapses. On July 11, Kozhikodeairport director K Srinivasa Rao wasissued a show-cause notice, statedanother DGCA official. In a state-ment on Saturday evening, theDGCA said, “Based on the abovefindings, a show-cause notice wasissued to the airport director atCalicut for non-compliance andadvised to take immediate action onfindings.”

“Airport Director, Calicut senta compliance report on August 5,2019. After the examination of thecompliance report, all the majorfindings were closed,” the DGCAnoted.

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Aclose aide of UnionMinister Ramdas

Athawale for whom theMinister had requested HomeMinistry for his security coverover threat perception in Junethis year is now mysteriouslyuntraceable. Saif i wentincommunicado after beingasked by Delhi Police to joininvestigation in connectionwith the firing incident at hisNihal Vihar farmhouse inwhich his 50 year-old securi-ty guard was injured.

According to policesources, Mohammad ShakeelSaifi, leader of the RepublicanParty of India (RPI) 's namecame to light after three menwere arrested and they during

investigation alleged that thefiring conspiracy was alleged-ly planned by Saifi himself toget police security cover

“The main attacker is atlarge and as many as fourteams have been tasked tolocate him, whose interroga-tion is important to unravelthe entire conspiracy and alle-gations leveled against Saifi bythe three accused persons whohave been arrested,” a policeofficial associated with theprobe said. Following thisalleged shootout Athawale hadwritten to the Home Ministerto recommend security forhis party colleague which wasaccordingly forwarded toDelhi Police. Sources said thatSaifi —the national presidentof the minority cell of RPI—

is untraceable since the threemen, identified as VarunKumar, Nadeem Siddiqui andVijay alias Lala, were arrestedon June 17 of this year, threeweeks after the firing tookplace at main gate of his farm-house while he was insidewith his family members.

The three accused allegedthat on the instructions of Saifithey had provided logisticalsupport such as a bike and thefirearm to the attacker forexecuting the firing.

“Their original plan wasonly to fire at the iron gate ofSaifi’s farmhouse. However,the two bullets he fired rico-cheted and hit the lower por-tion of the security guard HariNath’s legs. Since the allega-tions of the three men were

serious, police tried contactingSaifi and making him join theprobe. However, he wasunavailable at home and hisfamily members claimed theywere unaware of his where-abouts,” a senior police officerprobing the case said on thecondition of anonymity.

According to the sources,Saifi’s farmhouse is lockedand as the official notice toSaifi seeking his presence inthe investigation could not bephysically delivered to him,the same was pasted outsidehis home.

“However, Saifi has yetnot turned up to join theprobe,” he said. During theprobe it has come to noticethat Saifi had been regularlyfiling applications in the police

station and in the offices ofother senior police officers,seeking police protection andclaiming threat to his life. Justa day after the firing incident,Saifi wrote a letter to theHome Ministry informingabout the incident and seekingpolice protection.

“On the same day, RPIchief Athawale also wrote toUnion Home Minister AmitShah asking for police securi-ty to his party leader Saifi. Afortnight later, the home min-ister responded to Athawale’srequest letter by saying thatrequisite action will be takenafter detailed examination intothe matter by Delhi Police,” thecopy of letter stated which isin the possession of ThePioneer.

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Outlining cleanliness as animportant measure in the

fight against the Cornona pan-demic, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Fridayannounced a weeklong cam-paign — ‘Gandagi MuktBharat’ — from August 8 to 15to free India of garbage.

Inaugurating the ‘RashtriyaSwachhata Kendra’ — an inter-active experience centre onthe Swachh Bharat Mission, atthe Gandhi Smriti at Rajghat ,Modi urged the younger gen-eration to concentrate on thecleanliness in the country andadhere to social distancingnorms in the pandemic times.After the inauguration of theKendra, Prime Minister inter-acted with school children,stressing for the need of“swachhata” in life and streets.

After interacting with thechildren, the Prime Ministerspoke about the journey ofthe Swachh Bharat Mission(SBM) and dedicated theRashtriya Swachhata Kendra(RSK) as a permanent tributeto Mahatma Gandhi. He laud-ed the people of India formaking swachhata a janandolan and urged them tocontinue to do so in thefuture. Modi reiterated the

importance of swachhata inour daily lives, especially dur-ing our fight against the coro-navirus.

Gajendra SinghShekhavat, Minister, Jal Shaktiand Rattan Lal Kataria,Minister of State, Jal Shaktiwere present on the occasion.The RSK has a balanced mixof digital and outdoor instal-lations tracking India’s trans-formation from having over50 crore people defecating inthe open in 2014 to becomingopen defecation free in 2019.

The Prime Minister tooka tour of the three distinctsections of the RSK. He firstexperienced a unique 360°

audio visual immersive showin Hall 1 which provides anoverview of the SwachhBharat journey. He thenmoved to Hall 2 which con-tains a series of interactiveLED panels, hologram boxes,interactive games and muchmore on the SBM.

The Prime Minister alsosaw the installations in thelawn adjacent to RSK whichshowcase three exhibits whichare synonymous with theSBM - Mahatma Gandhi lead-ing people to the Swachhatapledge, Rani Mistris of ruralJharkhand and chi ldrenswachhagrahis who call them-selves Vaanar Sena.

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The number of doctors, par-ticularly general medical

practitioners, succumbing toCovid-19 is on the rise.Flagging this concern, theIndian Medical Association(IMA) has drawn the attentionof Prime Minister NarendraModi pointing out that due tothe absence of timely medicalfacilities like proper beds andtreatment after getting infect-ed nearly 200 medical profes-sionals across the country havelost their lives.

In a letter to Modi onSaturday, the association saidthat such incidents would cre-ate a demoralising effect on thehealthcare community, whoare also at the frontline of thecorona war.

“Disturbing reports haveappeared about doctors andtheir families not getting bedsfor admission and also lack ofdrugs in many cases. It is per-tinent to draw your attention tothe demoralising effect it willhave on our healthcare com-munity,” IMA President DrRajan Sharma, NationalPresident said in the letter.

The IMA has demandedadequate care for doctors andtheir families. “We need his(PM) attention and indulgencebecause of the rising concernsof the safety of doctors duringthis COVID-19, crisis. Anincreasing number of doctors

are getting infected and losinglives due to COVID-19,” addedRV Asokan, secretary-generalof IMA.

Besides, the associationalso demanded the extension ofstate-sponsored medical andlife insurance facilities for doc-tors in all sectors.

As per the IMA, 40 percent of the doctors who suc-cumbed to the pandemic aregeneral practitioners who workin private sectors or indepen-dently. “It is pertinent to men-tion Covid-19 does not differ-entiate between theGovernment and the privatesector.

While an increasing num-ber of doctors are gettinginfected and losing their livesevery day, a substantial numberof them have been found to begeneral practitioners. Since, asignificant proportion of thepopulation consult generalpractitioners due to fever andits related symptoms, theyremain the first point of con-tact as well as care, the doctors’body.

“Of all the fatalities werecorded, the substantial num-ber of them are GeneralPractitioners. A significantproportion of the populationconsults them for fever andrelated symptoms. Theyremain the first point of con-tact and care. They also hap-pen to spend quality time inconsultation and practisingclinical medicine,” Asokan

said.The IMA also said that the

highest number of casualtieswas recorded from TamilNadu, where 43 doctors dieddue to the Coronavirus, fol-lowed by Maharashtra andGujarat which recorded 23

deaths each.Dr Vijay Gurjar, Assistant

Professor in department ofGeriatric Medicine, AIIMS,Delhi said that it is disturbingthat while the DelhiGovernment is ready to doleout Rs 1 crore to the families

of the deceased doctors, but itcan’t ensure adequate medicalfacilities and treatment fees tosave the life of the Covid-infected doctors who are at theforefront of the war against thepandemic. “It is very demor-alising,” he added.

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Stating that their non-detec-tion can potentially spread

the infection to a large num-ber of people, the Centre hasasked States and UnionTerritories to take up coron-avirus testing of grocery shopworkers and vegetable ven-dors besides workers at indus-trial clusters among others.

“There can be potentialhotspots for spread of infec-tion like industrial clusterswith closed work environ-ment, people coming fromhigh prevalence areas, otherhigh density areas such asslums, prisons, old age homesetc. In addition, groceryshops, vegetable and othervendors etc can be potentialspreaders of infection to alarge number ofpeople.Testing in such areasand of such people should be

taken up proactively as perICMR guidelines,” UnionHealth Secretary RajeshBhushan said in a letter tostates and UTs.

He also stressed the needfor operationalising ambu-lance transport system withoxygen facility and quickresponse mechanism.

He underlined that refusalrate of ambulances must bemonitored on a daily basisand brought down to zero.With the COVID-19 pan-demic now spreading tonewer areas in the country,Bhushan said there are likelyto be scattered cases, clusterof cases or large outbreaks indistricts and that the prima-ry aim is to control outbreaksespecially in new locations.

“An ambulance transportsystem with oxygen facilityand quick response mecha-nism needs to be opera-

tionalised. The refusal rate ofambulances must be moni-tored at a daily basis and mustbe reduced to zero,” hestressed.

Availability of COVIDbeds in all healthcare facilities(government and private)must be proactively put in thepublic domain, he said,adding responsible adminis-trative officers should coor-dinate transparent allocationof beds and timely admission.

“The focus at the sametime should be to save lives atall cost. While we have so fardone better than many othercountries in this respect, ouraim should be to furtherreduce mortality and ensurethat it does not cross the 1 percent mark,” Bhushan said intheletter, addressed to addi-tional chief secretaries, prin-cipal secretariesand secre-taries (health).

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The Border Security Force(BSF) on Saturday killed a

Pakistani infiltrator along theIndia-Pakistan InternationalBorder in Rajasthan’s Barmerdistrict.

“BSF troops observed aPakistani intruder who crossedthe IB and attempted to sneakover the fence. He was chal-lenged but he still crossed thefence and ran towards theother side. “Troops fired uponhim and he hid behind a bush,but was found dead duringsearch of the area,” the BSF said.

The incident took place

around 1 am at the Bakhasararea along the border, they said.

The BSF patrol also saw“10 to 15 torch light flashes andheard shouting from thePakistan side.”

The BSF is on high alert inview of the forthcoming

Independence Day celebra-tions in the country, a seniorofficer said.

An official said the BSF hasasked Pakistan Rangers to iden-tify the intruder, and moredetails will be made availableregarding him after Pakistanresponds.

At the same time, the BSFalso noticed movement on thePakistan side, it said.

“Earlier, similar attemptsmade by Pakistan during daytime were also foiled by theBSF. However this is the firsttime that an infiltration attempthas been made during night inthis area,” it said.

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The India MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD) on

Saturday said that rainfall islikely to continue over Keraladue to low pressure system for-mation over Arabian Sea.According to the IMD, therainfall activity is to becomeactive again in the coastal areasof Maharashtra and coastalKarnataka on August 10 andwill remain so for the nextseven days. The intensity ofrain reduced gradually in thelast two days. Due to low pres-sure system, heavy rainfall atisolated places would occurover East & West UP, EastRajasthan, Haryana, Northernparts of Punjab, Uttrakhandand Himachal Pradeshbetween August 10 and 12.

The IMD further said thatthe southwest monsoon willbecome active over northwestIndia likely to increase fromAugust 9 to 11, onwards withheavy to very heavy rainfallvery likely over WesternHimalayan region and adjoin-ing plains. India has received522.6 mm rainfall as againstthe normal of 525.1 mm so far.

“Due to strong southwest-erly and easterly monsoonflow prevailing over theArabian sea, scattered heavy toheavy rainfall is likely to con-tinue over Kerala andMaharashtra during the next24 hours. Coastal Karnatakaand south interior Karnatakais likely to experience extreme-ly heavy rainfall in the next 24hours,” K Sathi Devi, SeniorScientist, India MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD), said.

Due to low pressure sys-tem near Odisha, rainfallactivity likely to increase overeast and adjoining parts ofcentral India with heavy tovery heavy rainfall overOdisha during 9th to 11th andover Vidarbha andChhattisgarh during 10th to12th. Isolated extremely heavyfalls also likely over Odisha onAugust 10.

Meanwhile, IMD studyshows that whenever a low-pressure system forms nearOdisha, rainfall scale up overKerala. “Kerala - Idukki(Peermade)-176 mm,K a n n u r ( I r i k k u r ) - 1 7 3 ,Kasargode(Vellarikkundu)-162, Kottayam (Poonjar)-141,

Kottayam (Kumarakom)-82,Kozhikode (Kakkayam)-258,Palakkad(Adakkaputhur)-117,Pathanamthitta (Seethathode)-111, Wayanad(Padinjarathara_dam)-158,Kollam (Valiyapadam)-51,Ernakulam (North Paravar)-129, Allappuzha( K a n j i k k a z h y ) - 7 9 ,Thrissur(Poringalkuthu)-79,Chalakkuddy-81,” the IMDsaid.

IMD further said thatmonsoon trough (line of lowpressure) is likely to shiftnorthward and will continue topass close to Delhi NCR dur-ing evening of August 9 to 12.During this period south west-erly winds from Arabian Sea &easterly winds from Bay ofBengal will reach to Haryana,Delhi NCR and west UttarPradesh in lower levels.

“Under influence of this,moderate rain accompaniedwith one or two spell of intanserain would occur over Delhiduring evening /night of 9th to12th August. Thunder stormwould also occur during abovementioned period. IsolatedHeavy rain may also occurover NCR,” the IMD said.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi will launch the

financing facility of �1 lakhcrore under the AgricultureInfrastructure Fund on Sundayand also release the sixth instal-ment of funds of �17,000 croreto 8.5 crore farmers under thePM-KISAN scheme. The moveis aimed to boost private invest-ment and generate more jobs inrural areas as the fund willcatalyse the creation of post-harvest management infra-structure and communityfarming assets such as coldstorage, collection centres andprocessing units.

The virtual event will be

witnessed by lakhs of farmersand cooperatives across thecountry and will have UnionAgriculture and Farmers’Welfare Minister NarendraSingh Tomar in attendance.The Modi government had inJuly approved the setting up ofan agri-infra fund with a cor-pus of �1 lakh crore to extend

subsidised credit for farm infra-structure projects. The agri-infra fund was part of the over�20 lakh crore stimulus pack-age announced in response tothe COVID-19 crisis.

The AgricultureInfrastructure Fund, the dura-

tion of which will be 10 yearstill 2029, aims to provide medi-um-to-long term debt financ-ing facility for investment inviable projects for post-harvestmanagement infrastructureand community farming assetsthrough interest subvention

and financial support. The agri-infra fund was

part of the Rs 20 lakh crorestimulus package announced inresponse to the COVID-19crisis. Under this, about Rs onelakh crore will be provided bybanks and financial institutionsas loans to primary agri cred-it societies, farmer groups,farmer producer organisations(FPOs), agri-entrepreneurs,start-ups and agri-tech players.

Eleven of the 12 public sec-tor banks have already signedMoUs with the Department ofAgriculture. A three per centinterest subvention and creditguarantee of up to Rs 2 crorewill be provided to the benefi-ciaries to increase the viabilityof these projects.

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The CISF acted as firstresponder and a team of 40

personnel as also reinforce-ments evacuated most of thepassengers of AI Express flightthat overshot the runway atCalicut last night before otheragencies arrived on the scene.

On Friday, at about 7.30PM an Air India Express flightIX-1344 from Dubai to Calicutcarrying 184 passengers and sixcrew members, made a crashlanding at Calicut InternationalAirport and went off the run-way near Gate No.8.

“Assistant Sub-Inspector,Mangal Singh performing dutyat Gate No.8, and Asstt. SubInspector Ajit Singh, carryingout patrolling in the area, whowas near the spot respondedimmediately. The message waspassed to the CISF controlroom, who in-turn informedthe message to ATC Tower, AAIFire Wing, senior officers ofCISF, district authorities andother agencies,” the CentralIndustrial Security Force (CISF)

said in a statement here.In the meantime, around 40

CISF personnel led by DeputyCommandant/CASO (Cordonand Search Operation), KishorKumar A V, reached the spotand started evacuating the pas-sengers amid heavy downpour.Later AAI officials along withlocal police and district author-ities also reached the spot andhelped in the rescue operation.At about 10 PM, NDRF teamalso reached the spot and res-cued two passengers who werestuck between the seats in theflight, the CISF said.

“CISF as the first responderhas done excellent work in therescue of the passengers, andarranged ambulance and othervehicles to shift the passengersto hospital. By the time otheragencies arrived at the crash site,CISF had already evacuatedthe majority of passengers. TheChief Airport Security Officer,CISF Calicut Airport, DeputyCommandant, Kishor Kumar AV reached the site within 20minutes and mobilized men andmaterial, because of which thepassenger could be shifted

quickly for treatment and evac-uation was done within twohours, the CISF further said.

Asstt Sub-Inspector, AjitSingh, Incharge of CISFpatrolling team and Asstt. Sub-Inspector, Mangal Singh per-forming duty near the crash site,showed exemplary alertnessand presence of mind by alert-ing the Control Room andguiding the CISF rescue team tothe site.

Director General RajeshRanjan has commended theprompt and outstanding effortsof the CISF officers and per-sonnel in saving precioushuman lives. In recognition oftheir outstanding efforts, DG,CISF has announced to awardDG’s commendation DISC tothese officers.

Reinforcement alsoresponded from the CISF unitlines and helped the personnelwho were engaged in rescueoperations. Not only the barrackpersonnel, even those who stayoutside the airport campus,rushed to the site after inputsabout the crash despite heavyrain.

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New Delhi: The SupremeCourt administration has calledfor an explanation from offi-cials concerned over the listingof a plea filed by former unionminister Arun Shourie, veter-an journalist N Ram andactivist lawyer PrashantBhushan in which they havechallenged the constitutionalvalidity of a legal provisiondealing with criminal con-tempt, official sources said onSaturday.

According to the cause liston the apex court website onSaturday morning, the petitionwas scheduled to come up forhearing through video-con-ferencing before a bench ofJustices D Y Chandrachud andK M Joseph on August 10.

Apex court sources main-tained that the plea should havebeen listed before the benchwhich is already seized of sim-ilar matters, in line with theestablished practice.

“As per the practice andprocedure in use, the said mat-ter should have been listedbefore the bench which is

already seized of similar mat-ter, but it has been listed byignoring established practiceand procedure. In this regard,explanation from officials con-cerned has been called,” a reli-able source said.

However, after a couple ofhours the matter was droppedfrom the cause list on the apexcourt website.

In their petition, Ram,Shourie and Bhushan havechallenged the constitutionalvalidity of a legal provisiondealing with criminal con-tempt for “scandalizing thecourt”, saying it was violative offreedom of speech and right toequality. PTI

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The Central AdministrativeTribunal (CAT), which

adjudicates service matters ofGovernment employees, hassought the Centre andUttarakhand Government’sresponse to a plea of whistle-blower bureaucrat SanjivChaturvedi seeking deputa-tion in the anti-corruptionombudsman Lokpal.

Chaturvedi, a 2002 batchIndian Forest Service officer ofUttarakhand cadre, hadapproached the CAT seekingdirection for Secretary,Ministry of Environment,Forests and Climate Change

(MoEFCC) “to pass appropri-ate orders” on a No ObjectionCertificate (NOC) given byUttarakhand state governmentin December 2019, allowinghim to join the Lokpal. He is,at present, posted as ChiefConservator of Forest(Research) at Haldwani,Uttarakhand.

“Let counter reply onbehalf of both the respondents(MoEFCC and ChiefSecretary, Uttarakhand gov-ernment) be filed within sixweeks. Applicant is directed tofile his rejoinder within twoweeks thereafter,” according tothe order issued on Tuesdayby CAT’s Allahabad Bench.

In his application filedbefore the tr ibunal inFebruary this year, Chaturvedihad also sought interim reliefas direction for the respon-dents to maintain status quoin respect of the NOC grant-ed to him by the state gov-ernment for joining theombudsman “till the dispos-al of the instant case”.

“Both the counsels arealso directed to file theirobjection separately on therequest of interim relief with-in three weeks,” said the divi-sional bench of Justice BharatBhushan (Judicial member)and Devendra Chaudhary(Administrative member).

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As researchers learn moreabout the Coronavirus

which has swept the entireworld, a new study has said thatthe incubation period ofCovid-19, which is the timeafter which those infected withthe novel coronavirus startshowing the first symptoms,could be as much as eight days— longer than previous esti-mates of four to five days.

The study published in thejournal Science Advances,involved the largest amount ofpatient samples to date in suchan analysis.

The researchers identifiedpre-symptomatic individuals

at their time of departure fromthe Chinese city of Wuhan,where the Covid-19 pandem-ic originated, and then followedthese infected people untiltheir symptoms developed.

According to the scien-tists, including Chong Youfrom Peking University inChina, the existing estimates offour to five days for the incu-bation period were based onsmall samples sizes, limiteddata, and self-reports that couldbe biased by the memory orjudgement of the patient orinterviewer.

In the current study, theydeveloped a low-cost approachto estimate incubation periods,and applied it to 1,084 con-

firmed cases of Covid-19 thathad known histories of travel orresidency in Wuhan.

The method has better

accuracy by relying on a publicdatabase of dates of infection,and uses statistical methods toreduce recall bias -- the inac-

curate recollection of pastevents, the scientists said.

Using the new approach,the researchers calculated thatthe average incubation periodwas 7.75 days, with 10 per centof the patients showing an incu-bation period of 14.28 days.

For many people, Covid-19symptoms start as mild symp-toms and gradually get worseover a few days.

They said the findings mayconcern health authorities rely-ing on the standard 14-dayquarantine, but cautioned thattheir approach relies on sever-al assumptions and may notapply to later cases in differentparts of the world where thevirus may have mutated.

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This time of the year used to be abusy period for the sale of

National flag. But covid-19 and thelockdown has made the manufac-turing and the sale of national flagto fall down.

This is the first time in the his-tory of Shree Gandhi Ashram, whenthe demand for the national flagmade here is almost zero. No majoror small orders have come sinceMarch. Everyone is upset with this.There is only one question in every-one's mind that the national flagwhich every countryman has feltproud in creating, keeping, waving,hoisting, why there is no demand forit on the occasion of IndependenceDay? Whereas in the past years, therewas no leisure to breathe even thesedays. Every year on the occasion ofAugust 15, at least forty thousandflags are sold, this time not a singleflag has been taken from here.

When Mahatma Gandhi, theFather of the Nation, in 1920, wasdemanding the support of the wholecountry to make the Non-Cooperation Movement successfulagainst the British. At the same time,Acharya JB Kripalani, working in theBanaras Hindu University, quit his250-month-old job and established

the Shree Gandhi Ashram. TheShree Gandhi Ashram was estab-lished on 30 November 1920 andtoday its 47 regional offices are oper-ated in the name of the regionalShree Gandhi Ashram. One of theseis in Banna Devi.

According to people associatedwith the Gandhi Ashram, the tran-sition period of Corona Virus, con-sequent lockdown, no mass orga-nizing, cheap tricolor by privateclothing firms etc are responsible forlow selling of the national flag.Government apathy, no relaxation inKhadi, even five per cent GST onKhadi also reduced the speed ofspinning wheel. However, till August7, the national flag was stocked in theentire area of the regional ShriGandhi Ashram, in which fourstandard size flags were present.

Printing takes place inBarabanki and Faizabad: AfterKhadi is ready, it comes to theashram in Aligarh and it is sent toBarabanki and Faizabad for printing.On behalf of the Government ofIndia, these are the only two districtsnear Aligarh in Uttar Pradeshwhere the national flag of KhadiGramodyog Kendra and other tex-tiles can be printed. No one else hasthe right to it. After printing fromthere, the national flag comes to

Aligarh. Due to such a long processin different places, it also becomesexpensive. Well, after that they areneatly decorated in stores.

The flag made in Aligarh fliesup to Lucknow: Shriram Yadav,manager of the regional Shri GandhiAshram Banna Devi, told that thereare ten stores in the district. Whichincludes Railway Road, ChitraMahal, Samad Road, Jawan, Khair,Iglas, Atrauli, Jattari, Harduaganj,Chharra. In addition there is a storein Hathras district. Vrindavan,Govardhan, Chatta are the threestores in Mathura district. A store isalso in Lucknow. In this way a totalof 15 stores supply the national flagand other Khadi garments from hereto about 18 districts including Noida,Ghaziabad, Kanpur, Barabanki, luc-know etc.

Pooni comes from Rae Bareli:Santosh Mishra, Minister of the

regional ShreeGandhi Ashram, saysthat Pooni comes to Aligarh from thePooni plant of Khadi VillageIndustries located in Rae Bareli.Vijayad Bahadur Pandey, the admin-istrator of the place where the threadof this yarn is made by the weaversto make cloth by giving it to theweavers, said that there were 300weavers till the 1990s, now only 20-25 weavers are weaving.

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Where there was tensionamong Hindu Muslim

during Ram MandirFoundation, apart from thatMuslim families are engaged inmaking deities for lord Krishnafor the occasion of Janmashtmi.

Behind the back ground ofa communally sensitive city andrecent communal tension,aMuslim family of Aligarh isfamous for making dress ofKrishna not locally but at farflung places also . The demandof thier dress for Krishnaincreases manifold onJanamashtami . The dressesmade by Abid r/o ChowkBundoo Khan and his youngerbrother Firaz r/o Civil Lines arebeing taken by many to makeKrishna as Kanha or Govinda.Abid and Firaz did not com-promise on dress for Krishna atall . This is biggest examplecommunal harmony in a citywhich is known for its riots andcommunal flare up .

Abid and Firaz belong tofourth generation of a aMuslim family who preparedress for Lord Krishna. Abid,Firaz and youngest Jabbar hadlearnt the art of making dress forKrishna from their father Naim. Now young generation is alsocarrying on the tradition oftheir forefathers .Though theyare eight brothers but rest ofbrothers are engaged in otherbusinesses.

All three brothers Abid,Firaz and Jabbar make dress forvarious Hindu god and goddesslike Durga and Ganesha to beused on special occasions suchas Janamashtami and DurgaPuja. They first stitch the dressand then decorate it with gotaand moti. They are receiving bigorders from near by areas asBulandshahar ,Hathras,Kasganj,Etah and also fromfar flung cuties . This dress mak-ing of Hindu god and goddess-es is so dear to Abid, Firaz andJabbar that they are not pre-pared to under take any other

business. They are also makingcrowns and decorative items ofHindu god and goddesses . Onthis Shree KrishnaJanamashtami they have ordersof Rs. 2 lac in hand.

In this respect Jabbar toldPioneer “his father was inclinedfor making dresses for Hindugod and goddesses since begin-ning “. Not only this they havemarried their sister in a familywhich is also engaged in mak-ing dress of Hindu god and god-dess .

Now Imran son of Abid isalso entering in the dress mak-ing for gods. He knows well thatwhich colour will suit on whichidol. Some of their customersonly order the dress after con-sulting him .

Interestingly the familiesof Abid, Firaz and Jabbar arereceiving honor and respectacross the religions boundaries. People believe that they arehonest because they are associ-ated with making dress for godand goddess .

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The death toll in Fridayearly morning’s land-

slide and deluge in Kerala’sMunnar rose to 26 withthe rescue workersretrieving 11 dead bodieson Saturday, according toChief Minister PinarayiVijayan.

Rescue operationswere slowed down due toheavy downpour andinclement weather condi-tions in the high ranges.Even as this report is being filedMunnar and surrounding areasare lashed by torrential down-pour.

The NDRF team engagedin the search and rescue oper-ations said they were trying toretrieve 42 more persons whowere washed away in the land-slide and flood that ravaged theRajamala quarters of the plan-tation workers.

The possibility of anyrespite from the downpourlooks bleak as the weatherbureau has forecast more rainsin the next 24 hours.

The Revenue departmenthas issued red alert all along thedistrict as chances of morefloods and natural disasters

have increased.Kerala Government has

asked the Tamil NaduGovernment to bring down thewater level in the contentiousMullaperiyar Dam from 134 ftto 132 ft as more rains in theregion is certain to increase thewater level further.

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Kerala continued to be battered by Covid-19 as1,420 new persons were diagnosed with the pan-

demic on Saturday, said Chief Minister PinarayiVijayan in his daily press briefing. He said this is thehighest number of Covid-19 affected persons beingtested in the State on a single day.

The State saw four persons succumbing to thecoronavirus during the last 24 hours which endedon Saturday evening, said Vijayan. He said 1,216 per-sons out of the 1,420 new patients contracted Covid-19 through local transmission. “While 60 expatri-ates and 108 persons from other parts of the coun-try tested positive, 92 persons failed to point out thesource from where they contracted the pandemic,”said the chief minister.

He said the only silver lining in the news relat-ed to covid-19 was the number of persons who werecured from the pandemic. “On Saturday, we saw1,715 persons getting cured and discharged fromhospitals,” he said.

Vijayan said the number of health workers get-ting infected with the pandemic is disturbing. “Morethan 30 health workers got afflicted with Covid-19during the last 24 hours,” said the chief minister.

In Thiruvananthapuram, 485 persons werediagnosed with Covid-19 on Saturday. Out of this,435 were infected through social transmissionwhile 33 persons failed to furnish the details of thesource of infection, said the chief minister. Heexpressed concern over the rising number of Covid-19 patients in the district.

Samples from 27,714 persons were tested dur-ing the last 24 hours.

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Gujarat's Covid19 tallymounted to 69,986 on

Saturday with addition of 1,101new patients, state health depart-ment said. With 23 fatalities, theoverall toll in the state rose to2,629. A total of 1,135 patientswere discharged in the day, tak-ing the count of recoveries to52,827, the department said.

A total of 26,272 sampleswere tested in the last 24 hoursin the state, it said, adding thatthe average rate of conductingtests in the state now stands at404.18 tests per day per million,it said. 9,56,645 samples havebeen tested so far in the state, itadded.

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He had not only survived anair crash with multiple

skull injuries when he waswith the Indian Air Force earlynineties, but he had alsoresumed flying with full vigour.Capt. Deepak V. Sathe, thepilot who was killed in Fridayevening’s Air India Expressaircraft at KozhikodeInternational Airport, was notso lucky in his 15th year of hissecond avatar as a commercialpilot which he became after his27 years’ stint with the IAF.

“It’s hard to believe thatDeepak Sathe, my friend morethan my cousin, is no more,” ashocked relative Nilesh Sathestated in his post on socialmedia.

Describing Capt Deepak asan experienced aerial operatorwith 36 years of flying experi-ence, Nilesh recalled: “He (CaptDeepak) survived an air crashin the early nineties when hewas in the Air Force. He was

hospitalised for 6 months formultiple skull injuries andnobody thought that he wouldfly again. But his strong willpower and love for flying madehim clear the test again. It wasa miracle”.

Capt. Deepak comes froman illustrious family that hasmade sacrifices for the country.Earlier, his Army-man broth-er, Capt Vikas, had laid his lifewhile serving in Jammu region.

Capt. Deepak is survivedby his wife and two sons, bothof whom have graduated fromIndian Institute of Technology-Bombay (IIT-B). His elder sonShantanu – who is currently inthe United States – had gotmarried on March 8, a fort-night before the Governmentimposed lockdown across thecountry in the wake of the out-break of the Coronavirus. Hisyounger son Dhananjay worksfor a firm in Bengaluru, whiledaughter Anjali lives inMumbai.

Capt Deepak was the son

of Brigadier Vasant Sathe, wholives in Nagpur along with hiswife.

Reminiscing his last con-versation with him, Nileshsaid: “He (Caot Deepak) calledme just a week before and wasjovial, as always. When I askedhim about the 'Vande Bharat'Mission, he was proud ofbringing back our country-men from Arab countries”

“When I asked Deepak, doyou carry empty Aircraft sincethose countries are not allow-ing entry of passengers?”. Hehad replied to me saying ` Oh,No. We carry fruits, vegetables,medicines etc to these countriesand never the aircraft flies tothese countries empty’. Thatwas my last conversation withhim,” Nilesh said.

Capt Deepak’s family livesin the Jalvayu Vihar complex inthe upmarket Powai offAndheri (East) in north-east-ern Mumbai.

After the news of CaptDeepak’s tragic death spread on

Friday night, a pall of gloomdescended on Jalvayu Viharcomplex, where messages ofcondolences poured in from allover the country.

Recalling his friendshipwith Capt Deepak, Dehradun-based Pradeep Singh Bishtsaid: “He was my friend sincemy school days. Both of usstudied at a private school,Cambrian Hall. We becameclose friends after his father,Brig. Vasant Sathe was postedat the IMA Dehradun for fiveyears,” Bisht said.

“While I joined the mer-chant navy as an officer, Capt.Sathe joined the NDA andachieved his childhood dreamof becoming an Indian AirForce pilot, and post-retire-ment, with Air India,” Bishtsaid.

“Academically, Deepak wasbrilliant and harboured a deeppassion for flying from hisschool days. Deepak was agood fighter from his earlydays,” Bisht said.

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The India MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD) on

Saturday said that rainfall islikely to continue over Keraladue to low pressure system for-mation over Arabian Sea.According to the IMD, therainfall activity is to becomeactive again in the coastal areasof Maharashtra and coastalKarnataka on August 10 andwill remain so for the nextseven days. The intensity ofrain reduced gradually in thelast two days. Due to low pres-sure system, heavy rainfall atisolated places would occurover East & West UP, EastRajasthan, Haryana, Northernparts of Punjab, Uttrakhandand Himachal Pradeshbetween August 10 and 12.

The IMD further said thatthe southwest monsoon willbecome active over northwestIndia likely to increase fromAugust 9 to 11, onwards withheavy to very heavy rainfallvery likely over WesternHimalayan region and adjoin-ing plains. India has received522.6 mm rainfall as againstthe normal of 525.1 mm so far.

“Due to strong southwest-erly and easterly monsoonflow prevailing over theArabian sea, scattered heavy toheavy rainfall is likely to con-tinue over Kerala andMaharashtra during the next24 hours. Coastal Karnatakaand south interior Karnatakais likely to experience extreme-ly heavy rainfall in the next 24hours,” K Sathi Devi, SeniorScientist, India MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD), said.

Due to low pressure sys-tem near Odisha, rainfallactivity likely to increase overeast and adjoining parts ofcentral India with heavy tovery heavy rainfall overOdisha during 9th to 11th andover Vidarbha andChhattisgarh during 10th to12th. Isolated extremely heavyfalls also likely over Odisha onAugust 10.

Meanwhile, IMD studyshows that whenever a low-pressure system forms nearOdisha, rainfall scale up overKerala. “Kerala - Idukki(Peermade)-176 mm,K a n n u r ( I r i k k u r ) - 1 7 3 ,Kasargode(Vellarikkundu)-162, Kottayam (Poonjar)-141,

Kottayam (Kumarakom)-82,Kozhikode (Kakkayam)-258,Palakkad(Adakkaputhur)-117,Pathanamthitta (Seethathode)-111, Wayanad(Padinjarathara_dam)-158,Kollam (Valiyapadam)-51,Ernakulam (North Paravar)-129, Allappuzha( K a n j i k k a z h y ) - 7 9 ,Thrissur(Poringalkuthu)-79,Chalakkuddy-81,” the IMDsaid.

IMD further said thatmonsoon trough (line of lowpressure) is likely to shiftnorthward and will continue topass close to Delhi NCR dur-ing evening of August 9 to 12.During this period south west-erly winds from Arabian Sea &easterly winds from Bay ofBengal will reach to Haryana,Delhi NCR and west UttarPradesh in lower levels.

“Under influence of this,moderate rain accompaniedwith one or two spell of intanserain would occur over Delhiduring evening /night of 9th to12th August. Thunder stormwould also occur during abovementioned period. IsolatedHeavy rain may also occurover NCR,” the IMD said.

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The CISF acted as firstresponder and a team of 40

personnel as also reinforce-ments evacuated most of thepassengers of AI Express flightthat overshot the runway atCalicut last night before otheragencies arrived on the scene.

On Friday, at about 7.30PM an Air India Express flightIX-1344 from Dubai to Calicutcarrying 184 passengers and sixcrew members, made a crashlanding at Calicut InternationalAirport and went off the run-way near Gate No.8.

“Assistant Sub-Inspector,Mangal Singh performing dutyat Gate No.8, and Asstt. SubInspector Ajit Singh, carryingout patrolling in the area, whowas near the spot respondedimmediately. The message waspassed to the CISF controlroom, who in-turn informedthe message to ATC Tower, AAIFire Wing, senior officers ofCISF, district authorities andother agencies,” the CentralIndustrial Security Force (CISF)said in a statement here.

In the meantime, around40 CISF personnel led byDeputy Commandant/CASO(Cordon and SearchOperation), Kishor Kumar A V,reached the spot and startedevacuating the passengers amidheavy downpour. Later AAIofficials along with local policeand district authorities alsoreached the spot and helped inthe rescue operation. At about10 PM, NDRF team alsoreached the spot and rescuedtwo passengers who were stuckbetween the seats in the flight,the CISF said.

“CISF as the first responderhas done excellent work in therescue of the passengers, andarranged ambulance and othervehicles to shift the passengersto hospital. By the time otheragencies arrived at the crashsite, CISF had already evacuat-ed the majority of passengers.The Chief Airport SecurityOfficer, CISF Calicut Airport,Deputy Commandant, KishorKumar A V reached the sitewithin 20 minutes and mobi-lized men and material, becauseof which the passenger could

be shifted quickly for treatmentand evacuation was done with-in two hours, the CISF furthersaid.

Asstt Sub-Inspector, AjitSingh, Incharge of CISFpatrolling team and Asstt. Sub-Inspector, Mangal Singh per-forming duty near the crashsite, showed exemplary alert-ness and presence of mind byalerting the Control Room andguiding the CISF rescue team tothe site.

Director General RajeshRanjan has commended theprompt and outstanding effortsof the CISF officers and per-sonnel in saving precioushuman lives. In recognition oftheir outstanding efforts, DG,CISF has announced to awardDG’s commendation DISC tothese officers. Reinforcementalso responded from the CISFunit lines and helped the per-sonnel who were engaged inrescue operations. Not onlythe barrack personnel, eventhose who stay outside the air-port campus, rushed to the siteafter inputs about the crashdespite heavy rain.

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New Delhi: The SupremeCourt administration has calledfor an explanation from offi-cials concerned over the listingof a plea filed by former unionminister Arun Shourie, veter-an journalist N Ram andactivist lawyer PrashantBhushan in which they havechallenged the constitutionalvalidity of a legal provisiondealing with criminal con-tempt, official sources said onSaturday.

According to the cause liston the apex court website onSaturday morning, the petitionwas scheduled to come up forhearing through video-con-ferencing before a bench ofJustices D Y Chandrachud andK M Joseph on August 10.

Apex court sources main-tained that the plea should havebeen listed before the benchwhich is already seized of sim-ilar matters, in line with theestablished practice.

“As per the practice andprocedure in use, the said mat-ter should have been listedbefore the bench which is

already seized of similar mat-ter, but it has been listed byignoring established practiceand procedure. In this regard,explanation from officials con-cerned has been called,” a reli-able source said. However, aftera couple of hours the matterwas dropped from the cause liston the apex court website.

In their petition, Ram,Shourie and Bhushan havechallenged the constitutionalvalidity of a legal provisiondealing with criminal con-tempt for “scandalizing thecourt”, saying it was violative offreedom of speech and right toequality. PTI

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The Central AdministrativeTribunal (CAT), which

adjudicates service matters ofgovernment employees, hassought the Centre andUttarakhand government’sresponse to a plea of whistle-blower bureaucrat SanjivChaturvedi seeking deputa-tion in the anti-corruptionombudsman Lokpal.

Chaturvedi, a 2002 batchIndian Forest Service officer ofUttarakhand cadre, hadapproached the CAT seekingdirection for Secretary, Ministry ofEnvironment, Forests andClimate Change (MoEFCC)

“to pass appropriateorders” on a No Objection

Certificate (NOC) given byUttarakhand state governmentin December 2019, allowinghim to join the Lokpal. He is,at present, posted as ChiefConservator of Forest(Research) at Haldwani,Uttarakhand.

“Let counter reply onbehalf of both the respondents(MoEFCC and ChiefSecretary, Uttarakhand gov-ernment) be filed within sixweeks. Applicant is directed tofile his rejoinder within twoweeks thereafter,” according tothe order issued on Tuesdayby CAT’s Allahabad Bench.

In his application filed

before the tr ibunal inFebruar y this year, Chaturvedi had also soughtinterim relief as direction forthe respondents to maintainstatus quo in respect of theNOC granted to him by thestate government for joiningthe ombudsman “ti l l the disposal of the instantcase”.

“Both the counsels arealso directed to file theirobjection separately on therequest of interim relief with-in three weeks,” said the divi-sional bench of Justice BharatBhushan ( Judicial member) and DevendraChaudhary (Administrativemember).

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As researchers learn moreabout the Coronavirus

which has swept the entireworld, a new study has said thatthe incubation period ofCovid-19, which is the timeafter which those infected withthe novel coronavirus startshowing the first symptoms,could be as much as eight days— longer than previous esti-mates of four to five days.

The study published in thejournal Science Advances,involved the largest amount ofpatient samples to date in suchan analysis.

The researchers identifiedpre-symptomatic individualsat their time of departure fromthe Chinese city of Wuhan,

where the Covid-19 pandem-ic originated, and then followedthese infected people untiltheir symptoms developed.

According to the scien-tists, including Chong Youfrom Peking University inChina, the existing estimates offour to five days for the incu-bation period were based onsmall samples sizes, limiteddata, and self-reports that couldbe biased by the memory orjudgement of the patient orinterviewer.

In the current study, theydeveloped a low-cost approachto estimate incubation periods,and applied it to 1,084 con-firmed cases of Covid-19 thathad known histories of travel orresidency in Wuhan.

The method has better

accuracy by relying on a publicdatabase of dates of infection,and uses statistical methods toreduce recall bias -- the inac-

curate recollection of pastevents, the scientists said.

Using the new approach,the researchers calculated that

the average incubationperiod was 7.75 days,with 10 per cent of thepatients showing anincubation period of14.28 days.

For many people,Covid-19 symptomsstart as mild symptomsand gradually get worseover a few days.

They said the find-ings may concern healthauthorities relying onthe standard 14-dayquarantine, but cau-tioned that theirapproach relies on sev-eral assumptions and

may not apply to later cases indifferent parts of the worldwhere the virus may havemutated.

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Germany and France havechallenged Washington's

role in leading talks overreforming the World HealthOrganisation, citing the USdecision to quit the global body.

Germany's Health Ministrysaid the issue was discussedduring a call of health minis-ters from the Group of Sevenleading economies Thursday.

In a statement Saturday, theministry said that in view of theUnited States' withdrawal fromWHO, “Germany and Francecurrently see no mandate forthe US to lead the WHOreform process for the G-7.”

“How can you be leadingwhile you are leaving?” theministry added.

The Trump administra-tion, which holds the rotatingpresidency of the G-7 this year,has accused WHO of bowingto pressure from China in itshandling of the coronaviruspandemic.

Johannesburg: The IndianOcean island of Mauritiusdeclared a “state of environ-mental emergency” late Fridayafter a Japanese-owned shipthat ran aground offshore daysago began spilling tons of fuel.

Prime Minister PravindJugnauth announced the devel-opment as satellite imagesshowed a dark slick spreading inthe turquoise waters near envi-ronmental areas that the gov-ernment called “very sensitive.”Mauritius has said the ship wascarrying nearly 4,000 tons offuel and cracks have appearedin its hull.

Jugnauth earlier in the daysaid his government was appeal-ing to France for help, saying thespill “represents a danger" forthe country of some 1.3 millionpeople that relies heavily ontourism and has been been hithard by the effects of the coro-navirus pandemic.

“Our country doesn't havethe skills and expertise to refloatstranded ships, so I haveappealed for help from Franceand President EmmanuelMacron," he said. Bad weather

has made it impossible to act,and “I worry what could happenSunday when the weather dete-riorates."

Jugnauth shared a photo ofthe vessel, the MV Wakashio,tilted precariously. “Sea roughbeyond the reefs with swells.Ventures in the open seas arenot advised,” according to theMauritius MeteorologicalServices.

Video posted onlineshowed oily waters lapping atthe shore as people murmuredand peered at the ship in the dis-tance. Online ship trackers

showed the Panama-flaggedbulk carrier had been en routefrom China to Brazil.

The French island ofReunion is the closest neighborto Mauritius, and France'sForeign Ministry says France isMauritius's “leading foreigninvestor” and one of its largesttrading partners.

“We are in a situation ofenvironmental crisis,” the envi-ronment minister of Mauritius,Kavy Ramano, said, calling theBlue Bay Marine Park and otherareas near the leaking ship“very sensitive.” AP

Washington: China has boost-ed its efforts to influence the USpresidential election inNovember and wants PresidentDonald Trump to lose becauseit sees him as "unpredictable," atop US intelligence official saidFriday.

"We assess that Chinaprefers that President Trump —whom Beijing sees as unpre-dictable — does not win reelec-tion," said William Evanina,director of the NationalCounterintelligence andSecurity Center.

"China has been expandingits influence efforts ahead ofNovember 2020 to shape thepolicy environment in theUnited States, pressure political

figures it views as opposed toChina's interests, and deflectand counter criticism of China,"Evanina said in a statement.

He pointed to China's crit-icism of Trump's handling of thecoronavirus epidemic, of the USclosure of China's Houstonconsulate, and of the US admin-istration's stances on Chineseactions in Hong Kong and theSouth China Sea.

"Beijing recognises that allof these efforts might affect thepresidential race," Evanina said.

Evanina said Iran is usingsocial media disinformation todivide the country and hurtTrump, while Russia is med-dling to damage the campaignof his Democratic opponent Joe

Biden. "Russia is using a rangeof measures to primarily deni-grate former vice presidentBiden and what it sees as ananti-Russia 'establishment,'"Evanina said.

"This is consistent withMoscow's public criticism ofhim when he was vice presidentfor his role in the Obamaadministration's policies onUkraine and its support for theanti-Putin opposition insideRussia," he said.

Evanina, the top intelli-gence official monitoring threatsto the election, gave no detailson the outside interference.

A strong hacking and socialmedia campaign by Russia in2016 is credited by US intelli-gence with helping Trump tovictory over Democrat HillaryClinton. "Foreign efforts toinfluence or interfere with ourelections are a direct threat tothe fabric of our democracy," hesaid. AFP

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New Jersey: US PresidentDonald Trump on Friday saidthat China would "love" tohave an election if he lost tohis "sleepy" Democrat presi-dential candidate Joe Biden.

"China would love for usto have an election whereDonald Trump lost to sleepyJoe Biden. They would dream(that) they would own ourcountry. If Joe Biden waspresident, China would ruleour country," he told reportersin New Jersey.

He said that Iran wouldalso "love" to see him lose theelection in November, addingthat if he won the elections, hewill "make deals with Iran veryquickly".

"If and when we win, wewill make deals with Iran

very quickly. We will makedeals with North Korea veryquickly. If I did not win theelections in 2016, our countrywould have been in war withNorth Korea. We actually havea relation with North Korea,"Trump added.

Talking about interfer-ence in the US elections,Trump called China "a biggerthreat".

"Do you think China is abigger threat? I think maybeit is. We will be watching all ofthem very closely. The biggestrisk we have is mail-in ballotsbecause with the mail-in bal-lots it is much easier for a for-eign power — whether it isRussia, China, Iran or NorthKorea — to forge ballots," hefurther said. AFP

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Washington: It was a week ofrelentless attacks by PresidentDonald Trump and his allies onmail-in voting for theNovember election, and truthtook a beating at every turn.

Fearing a pandemic-induced surge in such votingwill work against him, Trumppersisted in arguing that fraudis rampant for mail-in ballotsyet quite fine and safe forabsentee votes, which are alsomailed.

There is no functional dif-ference between the two, andboth have extensive verificationsystems.

He and his campaign also tried to cast a new Nevadalaw as allowing ballots to be “showered” across the state to any living person,regardless of age or citizenship,who would have the ability to vote after Nov. 3 withouttheir identities ever verified.Each of those claims is off

the mark.Meanwhile, on the coron-

avirus, Trump painted a farrosier picture than his ownhealth experts on when a vac-cine could become available.He asserted it could be ready byElection Day.

He also falsely claimedonce more that kids are basi-cally immune from the disease,prompting rebukes from bothFacebook and Twitter for themisinformation. AP

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Washington: Joe Biden's con-troversial remarks about racethis week risk alienating youngBlack voters who despisePresident Donald Trump butare not inspired by hisDemocratic rival.

When pressed by ErrolBarnett of CBS News onwhether he'd taken a cognitivetest, Biden responded that thequestion was akin to asking theBlack reporter if he would takea drug test to see if “you're tak-ing cocaine or not? ... Are youa junkie?”

In a later interview withNational Public Radio's LuluGarcia-Navarro, Biden seemedto draw distinctions betweenBlack and Hispanic popula-tions in the US.

“Unlike the AfricanAmerican community, withnotable exceptions, the Latinocommunity is an incrediblydiverse community with

incredibly different attitudesabout different things,” he toldthe Latina reporter. He laterwalked back the comment.

Black voters as a wholedelivered the Democratic nom-ination to Biden, powering hiscommanding win in the SouthCarolina primary, which res-cued his floundering cam-paign. But that success washeavily dependent on olderBlack voters. In a general elec-tion where Democrats say novote can be taken for granted,young Black activists and elect-ed officials say this week's mis-steps could make it harder toget their vote.

“Trump is terrible, andhe's a racist, and we have to getracists out of the White House.But then Biden keeps sayingracist things,” said MariahParker, a 28-year-old countycommissioner in Athens,Georgia. AP

"�������)����������������"���)�������������� ��)� Hong Kong: Hong Kong's

leader and China's top repre-sentative in the city took potshots at the United States onSaturday after the Trumpadministration sanctionedthem and nine other officialsfor allegedly cracking down onfreedom and undermining thelocal autonomy of the formerBritish colony.

Chief Executive CarrieLam took to Facebook to saythat the U.S. got her addresswrong, listing the officialaddress of her chief deputyinstead. She noted that she wasthe deputy when she appliedfor her U.S. Visa in 2016.

“By the way, my entry visato the U.S. Is valid until 2026.Since I have no desire to visitthis country, it looks like I cantake the initiative to cancel it,"Lam said.

The sanctions, announcedFriday by the U.S. TreasuryDepartment, block all proper-ty or other assets that the indi-viduals have within U.S.Jurisdiction. Luo Huining, thedirector of the central govern-ment's liaison office in Hong

Kong, said being included onthe list shows that he has donewhat he should for the city andhis country.

“I don't have a penny ofassets abroad. Isn't it in vain toimpose 'sanctions'? Of course,I can also send 100 U.S. Dollarsto Mr. Trump for freezing,” hesaid in a statement on theoffice's website. H o n gKong Commerce SecretaryEdward Yau, who wasn't sanc-tioned, called the sanctions“unreasonable and barbarous”and said they would harm U.S.Interests in the city, an Asianfinancial and shipping hub.

Hong Kong has longenjoyed civil liberties not seenin mainland China because itis governed under a so-called“one country, two systems”principle in place since itreverted to Chinese rule in1997.

However, Beijing imposeda national security law onHong Kong at the end of June,following months of anti-gov-ernment protests last year.

The new law prohibitswhat Beijing views as seces-

sionist, subversive or terroristactivities or what it sees as for-eign intervention in HongKong's internal affairs.

Police now have sweepingpowers to conduct searcheswithout warrants and orderinternet service providers andplatforms to remove messagesdeemed to be in violation of thelegislation.

Critics see the law asBeijing's boldest move yet toerase the divide between HongKong's Western-style systemand the mainland's authoritar-ian way of governing.

“The recent imposition ofdraconian national securitylegislation on Hong Kong hasnot only undermined HongKong's autonomy, it has alsoinfringed on the rights of peo-ple in Hong Kong,” theTreasury Department said.

The Hong Kong govern-ment accused the U.S. Of usingHong Kong as a pawn to cre-ate trouble in the China-U.S.Relationship, calling the sanc-tions “blatant and barbaricinterference” in China's inter-nal affairs. AP

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Beirut: Police fired tear gas andclashed with demonstrators inLebanon's capital on Saturdayat the start of a planned protestover this week's massive explo-sion that devastated large partsof the capital and killed morethan 150 people.

Thousands of people werepouring into Beirut's mainsquare, where they had set upsymbolic nooses to hang politi-cians whose corruption andnegligence they blame forTuesday's explosion at the Portof Beirut.

The huge blast was caused

by thousands of tons of ammo-nium nitrate improperly storedat the port for more than sixyears, apparently set off by afire. It was the biggest inLebanon's history and causedan estimated $10-15 billionworth of damage, according toBeirut's governor.

It also left hundreds ofthousands of people homeless.

The protest Saturday wasthe first significant demon-stration since the explosionand organisers planned to holda symbolic funeral for thedead. AP

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Mexico City: Mexico has post-ed 6,717 newly confirmedcoronavirus cases, increasingthe country's accumulated totalto 469,407.

Officials also said Fridaythat the number of confirmedCOVID-19 deaths rose by 794to a total of 51,311.

Hopes for a significantdecline in cases have beenfrustrated by continued highinfection rates. AssistantHealth Secretary Hugo López-Gatell said Friday that “this isgoing to be a prolonged pan-demic.” AP

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Minneapolis: A Minnesotajudge ordered the release ofbody camera footage recordedby former officers charged in thedeath of George Floyd.

Judge Peter Cahill ruledFriday the that videos from thebody cameras of Thomas Laneand J. Kueng taken on the nightFloyd died will be made publiclyavailable, though it is unclearhow or when the footage will bereleased.

The videos were filed withthe court last month by Lane'sattorney. Initially only tran-

scripts of the audio werereleased, but a judge laterallowed journalists and mem-bers of the public to view thefootage by appointment. ABritish tabloid on Monday pub-lished parts of the videos.

The body camera videosand transcripts were filed incourt by Lane's attorney, EarlGray, as part of a motion to haveLane's case dismissed. Attorneysfor the coalition of media orga-nizations, including TheAssociated Press, had asked thejudge to allow them to be pub-

lished. Floyd, a Black man whowas handcuffed, died May 25after Derek Chauvin, a whitepolice officer, pressed his kneeagainst Floyd's neck for nearlyeight minutes as Floyd said hecouldn't breathe. Chauvin ischarged with second-degreemurder, third-degree murderand manslaughter.

Tou Thao, Lane and Kuengare charged with aiding andabetting both second-degreemurder and manslaughter. Allfour officers were fired. AP

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Bangkok: Hundreds ofdemonstrators rallied inThailand on Saturday, afterpolice arrested two leadinganti-government protaestleaders in an apparent attemptto stifle growing politicalunrest.

Around 800 demonstra-tors packed a concourse neara shopping mall in centralBangkok to hear speechesdenouncing the arrests andcall for Prime MinisterPrayuth Chan-ocha to resign.

Tensions rose briefly aspolice officers moved in,

telling the crowd they wereonly observing. They with-drew to a chorus of boos andchants for them to get out.

After a period of relativecalm in Thailand's fractiouspolitics, the temperature isrising again with a wave ofanti-government protests.Many have been held onschool and university cam-puses in Bangkok and othercities.

They reflect a growinganger among many youngpeople with the Prayuthadministration. AP

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Apatient in northern Chinahas died from the plague,

the second death from the dis-ease in the country's InnerMongolia region this week.

The victim died on Fridayfrom multiple organ failure in acase of bubonic plague, theBayannaoer city health com-mission said on its website.

The area where the personlived has been sealed off, andseven close contacts have beenplaced under medical observa-

tion, the commission said. Theyall tested negative for the plagueand showed no symptoms.

On Thursday, medicalauthorities confirmed a differentform of the disease as the causeof death of another person fourdays earlier, the Baotou cityhealth commission said. Chinahas largely eradicated theplague, but occasional cases arestill reported. The last majorknown outbreak was in 2009,when several people died in thetown of Ziketan in Qinghaiprovince on the Tibetan Plateau.

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/�� �������>�%����(�'�7� ����>��� ��>�����������>��+Colombo: Mahinda Rajapaksawill be sworn in as Sri Lanka’sprime minister at a historicBuddhist temple on Sunday,allowing the powerful Rajapaksaclan to consolidate their grip onpower in the island nation.

The 74-year-old Sri LankaPeople’s Party (SLPP) leader,who polled over 500,000 indi-vidual preference votes — thehighest ever recorded by a can-didate in the country’s history ofelections — will take the oath ofoffice for the ninth Parliamentat the sacred Rajamaha Viharayain Kelaniya, a north Colombosuburb, according to an officialstatement.

The SLPP, led by Mahinda,registered a landslide victory inthe general election, securingtwo-thirds majority inParliament needed to amend theConstitution to further consol-idate the family’s firm grip onpower for the next five years.

The party won in 145 con-stituencies, bagging a total of 150seats with its allies, a two-thirdsmajority in the 225-memberParliament. It polled 6.8 millionvotes (59.9 per cent). OnSaturday, President GotabayaRajapaksa, 71, congratulated hiselder brother Mahinda for win-ning the General Election.

“I extend my warmest con-gratulations to Prime Minister@PresRajapaksa and all the can-didates of the @PodujanaParty,who contested the recentGeneral Elections and was elect-ed to Parliament by popular voteand the National List,” the pres-ident tweeted ahead of theswearing-in ceremony onSunday morning.

The Cabinet of Ministerswill be sworn-in on Monday, fol-lowed by the swearing-in of the

state and deputy ministers, theDaily Mirror newspaper report-ed.

The new government hasdecided to restrict the size of theCabinet to 26, though it can beincreased up to 30 in terms ofthe 19th Amendment to theConstitution.

The Rajapaksa family —including SLPP founder and itsNational Organiser BasilRajapaksa, who is the youngerbrother of President GotabayaRajapaksa and former presi-dent Mahinda — has dominat-ed Sri Lankan politics for twodecades. Mahinda previouslyserved as the president for near-ly a decade from 2005 to 2015.

Mahinda Rajapaksa’s sonNamal Rajapaksa, 34, has alsowon the General Election heldon August 5 from Hambantota,the family bastion.

President Gotabaya hadwon the November presidentialelection on the SLPP ticket.When he is sworn-in, MahindaRajapaksa will have the chanceto serve as the Prime Minister ofSri Lanka for the fourth time.

In the parliamentary elec-tion, he was seeking 150 seatsmandatory to execute constitu-tional changes, including torepeal the 19th Amendment tothe Constitution which hadcurbed the presidential powerswhile strengthening the role ofParliament. Reacting on theprospects of amending theConstitution, SLPP Chairman GL Peiris on Friday said it wouldonly be carried out after muchthought and consideration.

“Clearly, some amendmentsare required. It cannot continuein this manner when it comes togoverning the country,” he toldreporters. PTI

2����7�>���4��7��������%�>���������"2����4��>��@ *��A��Beijing: Chinese tech giantHuawei is running out ofprocessor chips to make smart-phones due to US sanctionsand will be forced to stop pro-duction of its own mostadvanced chips, a companyexecutive says, in a sign ofgrowing damage to Huawei’sbusiness from American pres-sure.

Huawei Technologies Ltd,one of the biggest producers ofsmartphones and networkequipment, is at the centre ofUS-Chinese tension over tech-nology and security. The feudhas spread to include the pop-ular Chinese-owned video appTikTok and China-based mes-saging service WeChat.

Washington cut offHuawei’s access to U.S. com-ponents and technologyincluding Google’s music andother smartphone services lastyear. Those penalties weretightened in May when theWhite House barred vendorsworldwide from using US tech-

nology to produce compo-nents for Huawei.

Production of Kirin chipsdesigned by Huawei’s ownengineers will stop September15 because they are made bycontractors that need US man-ufacturing technology, saidRichard Yu, president of thecompany’s consumer unit. Hesaid Huawei lacks the ability tomake its own chips.

“This is a very big loss forus,” Yu said Friday at an indus-try conference, China Info 100,according to a video recordingof his comments posted onmultiple websites.

“Unfortunately, in the sec-ond round of US sanctions, ourchip producers only acceptedorders until May 15.Production will close onSeptember 15,” Yu said. “Thisyear may be the last generationof Huawei Kirin high-endchips.” More broadly, Huawei’ssmartphone production has“no chips and no supply,” Yusaid.

Yu said this year’s smart-phone sales probably will belower than 2019’s level of 240million handsets but gave nodetails. The company didn’timmediately respond to ques-tions Saturday. Huawei, found-ed in 1987 by a former militaryengineer, denies accusations itmight facilitate Chinese spying.Chinese officials accuseWashington of using nationalsecurity as an excuse to stop acompetitor to US tech indus-tries.

Huawei is a leader amongemerging Chinese competi-tors in telecoms, electric cars,renewable energy and otherfields in which the rulingCommunist Party hopes Chinacan become a global leader.

Huawei has 180,000employees and one of theworld’s biggest research anddevelopment budgets at morethan $15 billion a year. But, likemost global tech brands, itrelies on contractors to manu-facture its products. AP

Page 10: ˇ !#!#$%&’()*)%+ ˇ ˙ ˚ !# ˇ .’#(%#’(-%+#/012*-3 ˝˛...2 days ago  · airport claimed the lives of 18 persons, including the pilot and co-pilot, of the ill-fated Boeing

She is sweet, charming and bewitching,somewhat opposite to her onscreencharacter, Uma Devi aka Harbheji in

&TV’s Gudiya Humari Sabhi Pe Bhari. MeetMadhuri Sanjeev, who has enthralled theaudience all these years with her stupendousacting skill.

Dressed in a vibrant colourful saree witha bindi dazzling on her forehead, Sanjeev willprove to be a sure shot entertainer in theshow.

“I play Harbheji. She belongs to a familyof dacoits and was forcefully married off ata very young age. Hence,she was never able to getalong well with herhusband. After her sister-in-law passed away, shetook the responsibility ofher son and is like a motherfigure to him. She has twokids of her own — anoverweight daughter anda mentally challengedson. She fears that herchildren won’t get theirdue in the property soshe tries to convinceher sister-in-law’s sonthat he can’t marryanyone and he is abrahmachari. I won’t callit a negative character butthere are shades of grey to it. Sheis a kind hearted woman, but forthe sake of her children she doesall this. To cut it short, thecharacter is very real and moreoften than not we all have comeacross such people in our livesso it is exciting to play such acharacter,” Sanjeev tells you.

Taking over a show when itis already running for a while andmake a place for your characterin the hearts of the audience isdefinitely not everyone’s cup oftea. “When you enter an alreadyestablished show, it does requirea lot of hard work anddedication. Making people lovea new entry is challenging, moreso when your character hasshades of grey. It comes with a lotof apprehensions too, but that isexactly the job of an actor andyou have to live up to it. I amdoing my best to look differentfrom the other characters,”Sanjeev, who debuted withNukkad in 1987, explains.

Acting, she says, is not an easyjob, however it is a veryprestigious one. One gets to livea lot of different characters in life.“When you play a character, ata certain point of time, you haveto start behaving like it. Youhave to start thinking in a wayin which your character thinks.It is just overwhelming,” shetells you. Acting is more thanjust enacting somebody, she

adds.“Whenever we have enacted an intense

or emotional scene, it does take us sometimeto get out of that zone even after the directorcalls it cut. Our directors and producers too,understand the fact and try and shoot lighterscenes later that day —that are notemotionally exhausting. Sometimes whena scene is too heavy or emotionallydemanding, it takes us hours to get back tonormal,” Sanjeev tells you.

Sanjeev’s association with TV is not lessthan 33 years old and till date she hasenjoyed every bit of her career.

“My husband was the reason behind myacting career. He, being a director himself,always supported my dreams of being anactor. Just like my character Harbheji, I toowas married off at a young age. Andfortunately because of such a supportinghusband, I was able of become a part of theindustry,” she asserts.

In all these years of career, Sanjeev hasseen a massive change in how theindustry works. “Back then, serialswould work on a director’s name. Alsodirectors used to call us to offer roles.And I have been fortunate enough tohave worked with some of the bestdirectors like Sudhir Mishra and

Ravi Ojha to name a few. There were noauditions. We had very good equation withour directors. Now, directors are changedevery 15 days, so we don’t get enough timeto bond well with each other. But now, weare learning to change with time,” she tellsyou. Commercialisation, she says, has takenover the industry now. “Things were farmore real back then. But now things havebecome commercial. Simplicity is lost.Good and real stories are no longer a partof TV. I have a question for all the makersand producers of TV shows that in real lifewhich saas-bahu lives like this? We shouldfocus on showing our culture and traditionmore, for which we are known worldwide.But, may be this is the new normal,” she says.

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This is not the first time that a filmhas been made that talks aboutthe disparity that exists between

the haves and the have-nots when itcomes to education in our country. Noris it the first time the writer-directorhas made a movie on the subject.Remember Aarakshan, back in 2011?While Pareeksha is not in the similarvein, it takes you on a journey of afather’s, a rickshaw-puller, desire toensure that his son gets the besteducation. ‘It is the only way to get outof this hell’ he tells his son. For this heis willing to do anything — even taketo thieving.

Jha doesn’t make any excuses forwhat the father, played by Adil Hussain,did just tells you that our educationsystem is such that while it offersopportunities for the rich, there arenone for those who are less privileged.‘Every child has the calibre, it is thehunger to better one’s life is where thedifference lies’ is an apt dialogue.

The film, inspired by a storyshared with Jha where a cop wouldtake time from his duties to teach abunch of underprivileged, but talentedkids. Some of the kids were sointelligent that they qualified forengineering colleges, and had Jha’sstamp all over in the one hour 42minutes of some great performancesby Adil Hussain.

Hussain, as Bucchi the rickshaw-puller, is brilliant. His emotions are rawand makes you find a connection withthe father who wants the best for hischild even if he takes the wrong routeand has to pay a heavy price for thesame.

There are so many heart-wrenching moments that will tear oneup. One where Bucchi breaks down infront of the policeman begging him tonot tell his son what he has done,another how a rich father doesn’tapprove of Bucchi’s son sitting on theseat in the rickshaw and gets angry.

Despite the predictability in thefilm, the intent of Pareeksha is in theright place, A movie that makes for amust see.

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Revenge is a dish best served cold. This is thepremise of Scotland, a movie that is part inEnglish and part in Hindi. The movie is

about a father who looks for justice for hisdaughter who is sexually assaulted by four men.Nothing unusual here. However, this one comeswith a bit of a twist.

The father is a well-known doctor. For adoctor to turn killer, that too in cold blood, is akicker. The story is simple enough and there areno other twists and turns. In the first half hour,one comes to know how the story is going tounfold. The question that this film asks here iswhether it is correct to take the law in one’s handand serve justice? It makes you think — is it rightto walk the dark side when the system fails to getyou the justice you want? It is a question ofmorality versus ethics.

Adam Saini, who is also the story writer, plays

the doctor. It is interesting to see him plot revengewithout having any remorse while killing. Whilehe appears to be a little stiff in deliveringdialogues, his poker face — I don’t know what youtalking about — was well-mastered.

Director Manish Vatssalya, who also plays theACP, manages to keep one engrossed even thoughthe plot is out right at the beginning. He keeps youglued for two hours and one minute with only onething — does the doctor get away?

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If you are looking for a movie that is funny, hasgreat dances and some great music Work It is justthe right film to watch. Though this is not the

best dance movie, there have been others like Grease,Dirty Dancing and Flash Dance still, given this pastyear, one would say that this one will help beat theblues with its peppy numbers and some awesomemoves especially those by the physically challenged.Who said you need two good legs to dance? It isdefinitely not stopping these guys from followingtheir passion.

That is what Work It is about, a girl who has twoleft feet suddenly finds herself in a position whereshe needs to learn how to dance or lose a chance ofgetting into a college her father went to. From thereon, the movie takes you on a roller coaster ride wherethe characters and the situations are relatable. Thisis what makes this film so likeable despite their beingnothing new in terms of the storyline which has beenplayed out a thousand times.

It is the chemistry between two friends who have

known each other since they were in kindergarten,it is the wild side of Liza Koshy that makes you smile,it is the go get attitude of Sabrina Carpenter thatmakes you think that sometimes it is good to becreative and take risks.

Overall, a sweet and cute movie to watch if youlove dancing.

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She is bold, fearless and arebel. Following ageoldregressive traditions wasnot her cup of tea and thatis why at a very young age,

she ushered a revolution in her vil-lage. In her village where the wordmenstruation was taboo and waswas even rarely allowed into per-sonal thoughts, she decided tocreate awareness on the subject andteach women the importance ofmenstrual hygiene. And if youpicture her as a middle-agedwoman or someone like ShakuntalaDevi, you are wrong.

Meet Shikoh Zaidi, a 16-year-old student and resident ofKuwarpur Baghel village in UP’sHardoi district. Zaidi’s determina-tion, paired with the hard work ofteachers from VidyaGyan, Sitapur,a differently enabled school for theunderprivileged, has earned heradmission to the prestigiousGeorgetown University in Qatar allexpenses and paid.

“I am glad to have gotten theopportunity to study abroad. It isa dream come true for me,” Zaidisays.

However, sending Zaidi to aforeign land didn’t sit well with herfamily, which feared how she wouldmanage everything all by herself atsuch a young age.

“My family was initially appre-hensive about sending me to Qatar,especially my father who believedI was too young for it. It took mea couple of months persuade themto support me in this once in a life-time opportunity and that I did notwant to let go of,” Zaidi, who hasbeen a student of VidgyaGyanfrom Class VI, tells you.

Zaidi is all praise for her teach-ers because of whom, she says, shehas got the opportunity.

“There was a time when I hadwithdrawn my name from the listof students shortlisted to studyabroad. I was unable to handle thepressure, not that anyone was pres-surising me to pass the exam, butI thought that my focus would shiftfrom Boards to this. Maths hasbeen my weak point and I was notable to concentrate on it. I told myprincipal that I didn’t want to be apart of that and she said that it’sfine. I felt relieved,” she recalls.

But destiny had its plans forZaidi. “After a few days, I was ableto tackle the problematic topics inmaths. One day, our principalcalled me again and asked if thatwas my final decision. She mademe realise what I was missing. I

understood her, gained back con-fidence and went on to give thefinal exam for selection,” Zaidi tellsyou.

Breaking societal stereotypesand questioning the norms gotimbibed in Zaidi since she wasmerely six years old.

“The gender discriminationdidn’t sit well with me. I often ques-tioned my mother but got no sat-isfactory answers. When I grew up,I went to VidyaGyaan where Ibecame a part of an altogether dif-ferent atmosphere. Whenever Ivisited my house during vacations,I felt the need to create awarenessin my village regarding genderequality. But what I found the mostdisturbing was lack of menstrualhygiene practises,” she tells you.

Zaidi tried talking to a friendabout the matter but she was reluc-tant.

“I tried to convince her thatthis is natural and nothing to feelashamed of, but to no avail. ThenI thought of organising workshopsin the village about menstrualhygiene. When I told my motherabout my plans she thought that Iwas going nuts. She said that itdoesn’t look nice when girls talk

about these things. I was asked tokeep quiet. Then, I went to myfather and he agreed in one go. Thenext step was to implement myplan,” she tells you.

But that was not all. The otherchallenge was to convince womento attend the workshop. “I wentdoor to door to tell people about it.Some laughed it off while othersasked what menstruation or peri-ods meant. I tried talking to them,but they all had tons of excuses ofnot being able to make it to theworkshop. I started losing hope asthe ones who would benefit fromit were not even interested toattend it. But my father asked meto never give up and he accompa-nied me to their houses. That’s howwe were able to have a few womenin the workshop,” she tells you.

The second workshop workedmuch better and more womenwere interested to be a part of it. “Inthe second workshop, I had twoboys with me from my neigh-bourhood. This made the girlsuncomfortable, but they soonrealised that it was no big deal.Now a lot of women in my villageuse sanitary napkins and those whocan’t afford it, know the importanceof cloth hygiene,” she says.

Zaidi’s bold initiative was oftenattacked with nasty taunts fromsome women, but that did not stopher from treading the difficultpath.

“Some people called us names.They spread rumours about us andtell people that my sisters and I arenot decent girls, but I go by myfather’s words and ignore them. Iam focused in life and I want to domore good for society,” she tellsyou.

If one is to wonder, from whereZaidi gets confidence and inspira-tion, it is because of her teachers,Mahatma Gandhi and MeghanMarkle.

“My teachers always tell me tonot fear anyone and never shy awayfrom speaking the truth. I also reada lot of books on Mahatma Gandhiand his journey and spirit haveinspired me a lot. Another idol thathas inspired me to become a strongwoman is Meghan Markle. AndPrime Minister Narendra Modiwho is an example for everyonewho doubts his capabilities,” shetells you.

Zaidi’s goal is to become anusher of positive change in the livesof the less privileged and she hasalready crossed some milestones inreaching her goal.

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The list of these young achiev-ers is never ending. Zaidi andTiwari are not lone cases,

there is more. Sagar Rathi, a studentof VidyaGyan, Bulandshahr with 88per cent in Class XII is also head-ing to Georgetown University,Qatar. However, this is not the firsttime Rathi is going to study abroad.His last study trip, also his first onewas to the US in 2017 as part of astudent exchange programme.

Though Rathi is well-versedwith the know-hows of studying ina foreign university, but goingonce again and for a longer peri-

od gives him goosebumps.“I am extremely excited to go to

Georgetown University. It definite-ly feels amazing to study in a differ-ent land as one gets to experiencedifferent cultures and is able to seethe larger picture of the world,”Rathi says.

Coming from a family of farm-ers, it was difficult for Rathi to con-vince his parents to send himabroad. “Everyone in my family isinto farming. Even my elder broth-er helps my father in the job. Iturned out to be the black sheep ofthe family. Even my sister, she is pur-

suing MSc, so we — brother-sisterduo are doing a good job of break-ing the family traditions and chas-ing our dreams,” he says.

What brings Rathi toVidyaGyan was the fact that theschool has larger-than-life campus,a variety of sports and even foreignexchange programmes.

“I love sports. I came to knowabout how good the campus isthrough a friend. I was fascinated bythe whole idea of foreign exchangeprogrammes. That’s when I thoughtthat I have to make it to the schooland fortunately I cracked the

entrance exam and got the admis-sion,” he tells you.

Once reaching the university,apart from academics, Rathi wish-es to join the Qatar football teamone day. “I want to be a part of theirfootball team. I love the sport andwould work hard to make it cometrue,” he tells you.

Before securing admission inGeorgetown University, Rathi’sapplication was rejected once, andthat, he says, was the most challeng-ing time for him.

“After I got rejected, all myhopes went down. I was left dis-

heartened. I kept thinking whatwent wrong and was convinced thatI would not be able to go abroad. Foratleast three months, I struggledwith the fear of failure and then for-tunately I got selected forGeorgetown University. However,my friend Shiva, supported me a lotduring the phase,” he tells you.

After seeing Rathi’s journeywith the school and what educationcan do to a human being, a lot morechildren of his village got motivat-ed to go to schools.

“Children now are more moti-vated than ever to go to any school,

if not VidyaGyan. They are interest-ed to learn things and explore theworld,” he tells you.

Rathi has a message for thosewho think they can’t excel in aca-demics. “One just has to believe inhimself. Self-confidence is the key.You have to figure out your pluspoint, it is not only about acade-mics, a student can be good atsports while the other can possessexcellent communication skills,one just has to figure out his tal-ent and start pursuing it. Also likepeople say hard work always payoff,” he says.

Another bright student of VidyaGyan who hasmade it to Cornell University, US after scor-ing 98.2 per cent in Class XII Boards is an 18-

year-old Anurag Tiwari, a resident of Parasan Villagein Lakhimpur district, Uttar Pradesh.

Tiwari got admission in VidyaGyan, Sitapur in2013 and since then his life has changed for the bet-ter. “I got to know about VidyaGyan when I wasstudying in primary school in my village throughmy brother, who was a teacher there. With the helpof his guidance and my hard work I was able to crackthe entrance exam,” Tiwari tells you.

But things didn’t go very smoothly. The chal-lenges came after the admission.

“Initially, things were a bit difficult, themedium of speaking was English there andI was studying in Hindi. I thought that itwould be very difficult for me to adjustin the environment. When I saw otherchildren conversing in fluent English, Ithought that I wouldn’t be able to sur-vive here, but with time, when I touchedbase with my seniors, I got to know thatthey all have come from similar back-grounds and with an urge to learn, theygot hold of the language. This gave me alot of confidence and with time I got accus-tomed to living away from home andcomfortable in speaking inEnglish,” he says.

He tells you thatgradually his perceptiontowards educationchanged too. “Earlier, Iwas forced to believethat to get a goodscore, get a degreeand a job was the solepurpose of education.But at VidyaGyan, Igot to see a muchlarger perspective.The school wantsstudents to developskills, to be inde-pendent, do thingsby themselves, andlearn to do thatpractically. Themethod of teachingis different and stu-dents are encour-aged to take part inmany activitiesbeyond studies. Thestudents who aregood at sports, theytake part in sports,children who aregood in extracurric-ular activities, theyare encouraged to be apart of those activitiesdepending upon their inter-est,” he tells you.

Like any other parent,Tiwari’s parents too wereapprehensive about sending

their child to a foreign country. “Initially, they werereluctant to send me to the US. They were worriedabout how I would return. My father got to knowthat it is very cold there and it added to his worries.I told my parents that Cornell is one of the best uni-versities in the world and showed them some pic-tures. I made them realise that getting scholarshipsto study abroad that too with a top university is noteasy. I assured them that I will take proper care ofmyself and that it is safe. That’s when they agreedand gave me a go ahead,” he tells you.

The opportunity is no less than a dream forTiwari, who without the financial aid wouldn’t haveimagined even a trip to a foreign country let alone

study.“My father is a farmer and mother is a

homemaker. I have three elder sisters.Since my childhood, I have learnt to notdemand anything because I don’t comefrom a financially strong family. Therewas a time when we were only able tomeet basic necessities. My father wasnot able to give us good education. Iused to watch other children go to fancyschools, but I learnt to be satisfied and

make do with what I had. I alwaysthought that if I could get an opportuni-ty, I would make full use of it. This has

been a breakthrough,” Tiwari tells you.His goal is to become an econ-omist and return to India to

help the children who aredeprived of education. “Asof now, I will be pursuingmy undergrad in econom-ics and mathematics andfocus on studies to get agood job. I want to be aneconomist and come backto help children who seekopportunities to fulfiltheir dreams. Had I notgot this opportunity; Iwould have been living anormal life. I would like tohelp children with suchopportunities, even if Iam able make a smallcontribution that couldmake a big difference intheir lives I would behappy,” he says. Tiwari hasadvise for all those whofear to dream because offinancial constraints.

“Never stop dreaming asyou never know when theycan come true. When lifegives you an opportunity,

however small, make full useof it. If you are fortunateenough to get education don’t

just study to get marks, devel-op skills to be independent and to

be able to stand on your feet andspread happiness in your society

and for yourself,” he tells you.

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Manchester City tookadvantage of twoshocking mistakes by

Raphael Varane to beat RealMadrid 2-1 in their ChampionsLeague last 16 second leg onFriday and advance to the quar-ter-finals as Pep Guardiola cameout on top in his duel withZinedine Zidane.

The Frenchman had neverbeen knocked out of Europe’selite club competition as Realcoach, leading them to threeconsecutive victories between2016 and 2018 in his first spellbefore returning to the job lastyear.

But Madrid had been leftwith a mountain to climb in thistie after throwing away the leadto lose 2-1 in the first leg atSantiago Bernabéu in February,before the coronavirus forcedthe competition into hiberna-tion.

An identical defeat at anempty Etihad Stadium means itis City who advance 4-2 onaggregate.

Without Sergio Ramos dueto suspension, Real were undoneby mistakes by their other first-choice centre-back.

Varane was dispossessedinside the box in the ninthminute allowing RaheemSterling to put City ahead, andhis poor headed backpassattempt gifted Gabriel Jesusanother goal midway throughthe second half.

Before that second goal thetie had been in the balance withthe in-form Karim Benzema

having scored for the visitors justbefore the half-hour mark.

The circumstances may behighly unusual, but this is stillCity’s finest Champions Leagueresult, their most significantvictory in a knockout tie.

“We beat a top team, thebest club in this competition sofor us it is massive,” Jesus told BTSport.

City’s best performance inthe competition remains a runto the semi-finals in 2016, whenthey went out rather limply toReal.

Now, with only two formerwinners still involved in BayernMunich and Barcelona, Cityshould very possibly be consid-ered the favourites to win thecompetition in Lisbon onAugust 23.

If they do so, the victorywould taste all the sweeter com-ing so soon after their success-ful appeal to the Court ofArbitration of Sport against a

two-year ban from Europehanded down by UEFA forFinancial Fair Play breaches.

They have already qualifiedfor next season’s tournamentafter coming second in thePremier League but now theycan look forward to facing Lyonin the quarter-finalsnext Saturday at theEstadio Jose Alvalade.

Real, meanwhile,will get over this.

They have dinedout on success in theChampions League inrecent years but their mainobjective after the coronavirusshutdown was to win La Ligaand they did that.

“I think we get nine out of10 for this season,” said Rodrygo.“We don’t deserve 10 because ofthe Champions League but wehave still had a great season.”

������ �����It was already going to be an

uphill struggle for them in the

absence of Ramos, sent off latein the first leg, and their taskbecame even harder after theyconceded an early opener.

City’s high pressing paid offas Varane was barged off the ballin his own area by Jesus, whosquared for Sterling to roll in.

There was a responsefrom the 13-timeEuropean champions,though, with Benzemaand Eden Hazard forcingsaves from Edersonbefore their equaliserarrived in the 28th

minute.A fine move ended with

Benzema feeding Rodrygo andthe young Brazilian clipping ina cross from the right for theFrenchman, who rose aboveAymeric Laporte andFernandinho to head in from theedge of the six-yard box.

It was his 65th goal in theChampions League, putting himone clear of Bayern Munich’sRobert Lewandowski on the

overall list and behind onlyCristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messiand Raul.

Unfortunately for Real,Benzema was not able to add tothat tally and this tie was effec-tively ended by another Varaneblooper.

The Frenchman struggledwith an awkward high balldownfield and his header backtowards Thibaut Courtois wasshort, allowing Jesus to prod itbeyond the goalkeeper and intothe net.

Real will not return toLisbon, where they won theChampions League in 2014, butthe dream remains alive forGuardiola and City.

�7��� �"(0�

Lyon coach Rudi Garcia hailed histeam for seeing off Juventus and the

“extraterrestial” Cristiano Ronaldo toreach the Champions League quarter-finals on Friday.

Captain Memphis Depay’s earlypenalty sealed Lyon’s berth in the lasteight despite losing 2-1 on the nightin Turin.

A goal up after winning February’sfirst leg, Lyon will face Manchester Cityat the final tournament in Lisbon afterdrawing 2-2 on aggregate and goingthrough on away goals.

“We came up against an opponentwho has an extraterrestrial in itssquad,” said Garcia of five-

time Ballon d’Or winner Ronaldo who scored

both of Juve’s goals on Friday.Lyon squeezed past the Italian

champions thanks to Depay’s 12th-minute penalty which put Garcia’s sidetwo goals ahead in the tie and left Juvewith a mountain to climb.

Needing to score three unan-swered goals in order to go through,Portuguese star Ronaldo tried hisbest to drag the Italian champions overthe line.

He levelled the scores on thenight with a penalty of his own withtwo minutes left in the opening peri-od before crashing home a second goalon the hour mark.

However Juve performed poorlyand Lyon managed to hold on to setup a clash with Pep Guardiola’s City onAugust 15.

“I think we did very well in the

first half,” added Garcia.“Unfortunately the penalty award-

ed to them, which was completelyunjustified, put them back in thegame.”

“This is the victory of a group. Wewanted to be in the Final 8 in Lisbon,we are there.

“We’ll still be outsiders and thatsuits us very well.”

Despite their nine consecutiveItalian league titles in a row, Juventuscould not get past a French side thatfinished seventh in Ligue 1 this season.

“We went out because of the firsthalf in Lyon,” said Juventus coachMaurizio Sarri.

“I’m devastated, but satisfied withthe performance. We are very sorry.We had a good game tonight.”

�7� � �"(0�

Juventus sacked coachMaurizio Sarri on Saturday

after the Italian club’sChampions League last 16 exitto Lyon.

“Maurizio Sarri has beenrelieved of his post as coach ofthe first team,” the nine-timereigning Serie A championssaid in a statement.

Sarri, 61, had replacedMassimiliano Allegri last sum-mer, after leading Chelsea tosuccess in the Europa League.

“The club would like tothank the coach for havingwritten a new page in Juventus’history with the victory of theninth-consecutive cham-pionship, the culmina-tion of a personaljourney that ledhim to climb allthe divisions of Italianfootball,” the team said.

The Scudetto was the firstleague title for Sarri in his 30-year coaching career, extendinga record run in Turin whichAntonio Conte started withthree titles from 2012 andAllegri continued with the fol-

lowing five.But the former Napoli boss

paid for the club’s failure on theEuropean stage. “Sarri Out!”headlined Turin sports dailyTuttosport, with Corriere DelloSport saying: “Adieu Maurizio.”

Lazio coach SimoneInzaghi, Real Madrid’s ZinedineZidane and former Tottenhammanager Mauricio Pochettinohave been touted as possiblesuccessors.

Sarri was hired to giveJuventus a more flamboyantedge but struggled to imposehis so-called Sarri-ball high-tempo passing game on theTurin side.

He had been under pres-sure since his side lost to Napolion penalties in the final of theCoppa Italia in June.

Sarri, who never playedfootball professionally, begancoaching amateur teams back inthe 1990s, managing to com-bine his hobby with a bankingcareer that took him to theUnited Kingdom, Germany,Switzerland and Luxembourg.

He coached 16 differentsides in the lower division of theItalian league before reachingSerie A with Empoli in 2014.

Known as Mr 33 becausehe reputedly thought up 33different plans for setpieces,Sarri joined Napoli in 2016and turned them into theside most likely to threatenJuve’s dominance.

He then spent one sea-son at Chelsea, winning

the Europa League with theLondon side, before joining

Juventus.

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Chelsea winger Christian Pulisic couldmiss the start of the 2020-21 Premier

League season because of a hamstringinjury which is likely to keep him out for asix weeks.

Pulisic was injured during the 1-2 lossto Arsenal in the FA Cup final last Saturday.

“It’s going to be touch and go for the startof the season. Six weeks probably gets intothe start of the season, but we have to treatthe injury right,” Chelsea manager FrankLampard was quoted as saying by the club’sofficial website on Friday.

“In the big scheme of things, whenChristian reflects on his first season, heshould be very happy with his improvementlevels. He’s had the most goals and assists inhis career, and that’s in his first season in thePremier League.

“We’ll get him fit and get him ready. Ifhe misses the first one or two games, we’llhave a firing Christian and hopefully as hun-gry as he looked after restart,” he added.

�7� � �.#�P)(�

Former champion Stan Wawrinkaon Friday confirmed that he will

not play the US Open citing “thehealth situation in New York” as theGrand Slam event took another hit.

Wawrinka, the US Open winnerin 2016, was already missing from theentry list along with four-timechampion Rafael Nadal.

Now, the 35-year-oldwill instead focus onRoland Garros wherehe won his secondcareer major in 2015.

“There is thehealth situation whichis particular in New York.I did not want to go theUS under these condi-tions,” the world number17, also the 2014

Australian Open champion, told RTSin Switzerland.

Players at the US Open, whichstarts on August 31, will be subject totight health controls to avoid thespread of the coronavirus. It will alsobe played behind closed doors.

“And the sequence of tourna-ments which follows after the US

Open will be tough,” he added,referring to the Italian Openwhich starts a week after the con-clusion of the New York event.

Roland Garros, delayed fromMay-June, will then start in

Paris on September 27.“Finally, there are all

the uncertainties relatedto the quarantine issue.

There are still many ques-tions and doubts aboutthe holding of the USOpen.”

�7� � 20/9.(2�)�.

Valtteri Bottas outpaced hisMercedes team-mate and

world championship leaderLewis Hamilton by the finest ofmargins on Saturday to claim adramatic pole position for the70th Anniversary Grand Prix.

The Finn clocked a fastestlap in one minute and 25.154seconds to beat the six-timeworld champion by only 0.063in the final seconds of anenthralling qualifying session.

It was the Mercedes team’s67th front row lockout.

“It feels good,” said Bottaswho was securing the 13th poleof his career 48 hours after sign-ing a new contract to keep himat Mercedes next season.

He added: “We have

improved the set-up and the carsince last week. Mentally, whenyou start on pole, you can onlyaim to win the race — and thestarting point is good! It is sonice to drive this amazing car.”

Hamilton explained hisunexpected ‘slip’ to second.

“I wasn’t that great, butValtteri did a great job and hedeserves pole.”

Nico Hulkenberg, standingin for coronavirus victim SergioPerez with the Racing Pointteam, was third, securing hisspot with an impressive perfor-mance only 10 days after receiv-ing a late call-up while eating a

pastry in a Cologne café.“It’s been a crazy last week,”

he said.“Q2 was tricky and I made

life hard for myself — and it isdefinitely going to hurt tomor-row, not having had the expe-rience last week.”

He failed to start lastSunday’s British Grand Prix atthe circuit after an engine prob-lem.

Max Verstappen tookfourth for Red Bull ahead ofDaniel Ricciardo of Renault,Lance Stroll in the second ForceIndia, Pierre Gasly of AlphaTauri and down in eighthCharles Leclerc in the leadingFerrari.

Alex Albon was ninth in thesecond Red Bull and LandoNorris 10th for McLaren.

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He has not been in theIndian football squad for

the last few years but ‘spider-man’ goalkeeper Subrata Paulis hoping to make a come backto the national team duringthe Asian Cup in 2023.

The 33-year-old Paul lastplayed for India in 2017 andsince then Gurpreet SinghSandhu has been a regularunder the Indian bar. Paul,though, is still going strong inthe Indian Super League forJamshedpur FC and now forHyderabad FC.

“I strongly believe that Ihave a lot to contribute to thenational team. Coach has(Igor Stimac) said whoeverhas an Indian passport stands

a chance to get selectedto play for the country.I am working day inand day out to achieveit,” Pual said.

“I want to play anoth-er Asian Cup. It may soundfunny,” he said during achat with the AIFF TV.

India is already out ofcontention for a 2022FIFA World Cup berthbut Stimac’sside is verymuch inthe reckon-ing for a2 0 2 3Asian Cupspot. The jointqualification campaignresumes with a matchagainst Asian champions

Qatar in Bhubaneswar onOctober 8.

Paul, who was referredto as ‘spiderman’ by theAsian media for his

exploits during the2011 Asian Cup in

Doha, admittedthat the thoughtof not being

able to makeit to then a t i o n a lteam hasb e e n

“troubling”him.

“I am blessed tobe financially stable,I already have acontract with aclub. But there’ssomething in me

that is troubling me — and Iknow I can be there (in theteam). That’s the challengewhich I have taken,” he said.

“The urge to be backagain is what is driving me. Ihave full respect for coachStimac. If he thinks I amgood enough he will call me.I am not being arrogant. Ihave played 74 matches forIndia.”

Paul said if he did nothave anything to offer to thenational team, he will pack hisbags and hang his boots.

“(Gianluigi) Buffon is mymotivator. If coach calls meup, I’ll come up. Everyoneknows about my work ethic.Age is only a number. If youstay fit, you can become num-ber one.”

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The five hockey players who testedpositive for Covid-19 at the Sports

Authority of India’s (SAI) centrein Bengaluru are being attend-ed to by the centre’s in-housedoctor in addition to a doctorfrom the state Government,SAI said on Saturday.Additionally, SAI said thatit has “got on board expertdoctors from ManipalHospital.”

“The vitals of theplayers like temperature,oxygen levels have beenmonitored and all five players havebeen found to be mild symptomaticcases,” Dr Avinash HR, who hasbeen deputed by the stateGovernment and diagnosed the play-ers on Saturday, said in a SAI state-

ment.“Except for one the other four

players did not have fever. They aredoing fine and we have put themon immunity boosters and other

support medicines.”SAI has also deputed two

officers to exclusively monitorthe athletes and cater to theirrequirements and to ensurethat the five athletes have 24-hour access to the SAIauthorities.

“I am constantly intouch with all five of them

and they are doing fine. SAI hasmade every arrangement to give

them the best care. The chefs aremaking special dishes for them as

per their choice, beyond the messmenu, and the athletes are veryhappy about it,” team coach Graham

Reid said.

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=����������� ��< $����Manchester: Real Madrid defender RaphaelVarane took full responsibility for his side’s 2-1 defeat at Manchester City after making twocatastrophic errors which saw the Spanish sideknocked out of the Champions League.

“I wanted to show my face because thisdefeat is mine,” French international Varane toldreporters after the last-16 second leg.

“I have to take all the responsibility for thismatch. We played well in the game, we’d pre-pared well for it, but at this level if you makemistakes you end up paying a lot for them.”

“I can’t explain the errors but I have to

accept them. This is a complicated moment forme,” added Varane, who has made over 300appearances for Real since joining from Lensin 2011.

“This hasn’t happened to me many timesin my career but something like this can alwayshappen, errors are made all over the pitch butin my position they have a higher price.

“My team mates know I’m sad but I haveto show character and get over this quickly. It’llbe a sad night for me. I’m a competitor andtoday I messed up. I’m not happy but I have toaccept it.”

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India’s premier pacer JhulanGoswami will be 39 by the

time the postponed Women’sWorld Cup comes in 2022 butthe leading wicket-taker inODIs has not given up oncompeting in the mega event,saying she would try to stay inreckoning by performing con-sistently.

The 2021 ODI World Cupin New Zealand in February-March was expected to be thelast one for greats like Jhulanand India captain MithaliRaj.

Following ICC’sannouncement onFriday, Mithali hadtweeted that the post-ponement by anoth-er 12 months willgive her team muchneed preparationtime as the Covid-19pandemic impactedtheir plans immense-ly but the goalremains to win theirmaiden global tro-phy.

Jhulan, who too

is 37 like Mithali, also wants tobe there in New Zealand 18months from now but says herfitness and performance in therun up to the event will decidethat.

“We have got a lot of timefor preparation, almost 18months, but on the other hand,it would have been good if ithappened next year as I wasfocussed on that for long,”Jhulan said.

“ N o wyou will

need to thinkbeyond that.We have not

played anycricketin the

past five-six months

and playerslike me (who

play only ODIs)played back in

November (2019)as all teams playedT20s ahead of theWorld Cup (2020in Australia in

Feb-March.Does she

see herself playing the 2022 edi-tion?

“To play for India is thebiggest honour. Yes 2022 is thegoal now but you have to bepart of the process and playmatches consistently and per-form and then you can thinkabout the World Cup becausethere is a lot of time left and itis not round the corner any-more.

“At this time, I can onlythink about the next seriesand performing in it and startfrom zero and that is what I amgoing to do. I can’t tell you whatmay happen between now and2022 as it is still far way.

“At this moment, it is aboutgetting access to the ground,hopefully we will have a campin September before theWomen’s T20 Challenge (dur-ing IPL in November), whichis the next assignment wehave,” said the holder of 225ODI wickets.

Commenting on ICC’sdecision to postpone the megaevent, Jhulan said the right callwas taken as most teams wouldhave been under-prepared hadit happened as planned.

���6������ The iconic MCG will not lose out on host-ing India for the Boxing Day Test if crowds are allowedinside the stadium, Cricket Australia (CA) interim chiefexecutive Nick Hockley said on Saturday.

It is being speculated that the Boxing Day Test dur-ing India’s tour later this year could be shifted to Adelaidein the wake of rising number of coronavirus cases in thestate of Victoria.

“It comes down to if we can get a crowd at the MCGwe’ll play at the MCG,” Hockley was quoted as saying bycricket.Com.Au.

“All the restrictions that are ongoing, we are just hope-ful that they take very quick effect and we get back on topof the situation and people can get out and about, we canget back to crowds and get back to live events.”

Hockley said the CA is full steam ahead with theplanning “in the anticipation that we’ll be back to somelevel of normalcy by that point in time”.

“It’s one of the most iconic events on theAustralian sporting calendar. Certainly at this stagewe are planning full steam ahead.

“We’re in really constructive discussions with theBCCI and the Government to make sure we get all thetravel exemptions for India to come,” he said. PTI

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New Zealand could havehosted the women’s ODI

World Cup next year as sched-uled but it supports ICC’s deci-sion to postpone the showpieceevent to 2022, country’s sportminister Grant Robertson saidon Saturday.

The ICC on Fridaydeferred next year’s 50-overwomen’s World Cup in NewZealand until February-March2022 because of the impact thepandemic has had on cricketglobally.

“This is obviously a disap-pointing decision for cricketplayers and fans around theworld and for the White Fernsand their supporters here athome,” Robertson was quotedas saying by stuff.Co.Nz.

“The disruption caused byCovid-19 around the worldhas meant no internationalwomen’s cricket has beenplayed and many teams willstruggle to even come togeth-er to train in the foreseeablefuture.

“The organising committeein New Zealand has beenworking with the Governmentto ensure a safe and enjoyabletournament could be played.We could have done it in 2021,but now we will look to 2022.As a Government we havereiterated our commitment tosupporting the tournament.”

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Premier Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan is

set to start training at the BKSPfacility at Savar from nextmonth, ahead of his return tocompetitive cricket.

The southpaw was bannedfor two years, one year of it sus-pended, for failing to report cor-rupt approaches by an allegedIndian bookie during the IndianPremier League.

His ban ends on October 29this year.

“Shakib will come to theBKSP next month where he willhave coaches and trainers avail-able,” Shakib’s mentor Nazmul

Abedeen was quoted as sayingby ESPNcricinfo.

“We are functional as thecoaches are all residing withinthe campus, so we can work with

him well. Shakib will have every-thing at his disposal,” he added.

Abedeen, who was theBangladesh Cricket Board’sgame development manager formany years, is one of Shakib’searliest coaches. He now servesas the cricket advisor at theBKSP facility.

According to Abedeen, the33-year-old Shakib, who is cur-rently in the United States withhis family, plans to return toDhaka at the end of August ina bid to prepare for his return tointernational cricket.

Shakib was in sublime formbefore the ban, amassing 606runs in the 2019 World Cup inthe UK last year.

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Former India batsman SanjayManjrekar on Saturday

revealed Mahendra SinghDhoni had told him he wouldconsider himself fit for interna-tional cricket as long as he is“beating the fastest sprinter inthe team.”

Manjrekar, a well-knowncommentator, said he had achat with the two-time WorldCup-winning former captainregarding his future in interna-tional cricket during Indiaskipper Virat Kohli’s weddingin 2017.

“During Virat Kohli’s wed-ding, I had a little corner timewith him and he said as long as‘I am beating the fastest sprint-er in the team, I am going toconsider myself fit enough to beplaying international cricket orplaying high-level cricket’,”Manjrekar said.

“People like Tendulkar,Dhoni, these are championcricketers. Once they are onpublic stage, you will never seeDhoni ever on a public stage,like a cricket field, lookingslightly unfit or unable to sprintor run...,” he said on Star Sportsshow Cricket Connected.

Dhoni’s last outing in com-petitive cricket was the 2019World Cup semifinal againstNew Zealand.

Manjrekar also reckonedDhoni, who has already startedpractising in Ranchi wouldcome good in the IPL, sayingthe presence of “only four-five”good bowlers in the league isnot enough to trouble the sea-soned campaigner.

“He is going to be very goodand one of the reasons he is sosuccessful and consistent inIPL as a batsman as opposed tointernational is that he knowsthat there are about four to five

bowlers to handle,” Manjrekarsaid.

“There are some good onesand there are some not so goodones in the IPL. In internation-al, you have got five qualitybowlers, so he’s so good atpicking out those guys andgoing after them,” addedManjrekar.

“So, as a batter, with MSDhoni in the IPL, I don’t seemuch difference.”

Manjrekar, who has played37 Tests and 74 ODIs, said thatit is going to be about mindand not just power hittingfor the Jharkhand dasherin the IPL.

“In fact, the con-ditions that wehave, I keep saying,is just perfect forDhoni, where it’sgoing to be about the mind andnot just power hitting,” hesigned off.

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As just about no one anticipated,England won an extraordinary

match, a classic in camera, by three wick-ets. Needing 277 for victory they slumpedto 117-5 and the pitch seemed to haveacquired the qualities of a snake pit. Thena sublime partnership of 139 between JosButtler, roundly condemned for hiskeeping in this match, and Chris Woakes,peculiarly ignored by his captain in thefield on Friday, united to transform thegame. No one could ignore their quali-ties anymore.

As ever there was a little flurry ofwickets as England homed in on theirtarget. Buttler departed with 21 runs stillrequired, lbw to Yasir Shah. The promot-ed Stuart Broad went the same way whenfour runs were required but an outsideedge through the slip cordon from thebat of the heroic Woakes prompted theplayers to bump elbows after an epic con-test that has justified all the peculiar hur-dles that the pandemic has requiredeveryone involved to overcome.

There was little cause for optimismwhen Buttler and Woakes were united.The English innings, which had reachedthe dizzy heights of 86 for one, was infreefall. The last two batsmen to be dis-missed, pivotal players in Ben Stokes andOllie Pope (his standing is on the rise),had received hellish deliveries, which hadleapt from a dusty dry surface, the likesof which have often been seen in Karachiin the past. A famous victory was on thecards — but not for England.

Such deliveries and such a dire sit-uation encourages freedom for the bats-men so who better to be at the creasethan Buttler and — as we soon conclud-ed — Woakes? Buttler announced him-self with two sumptuous cover drives offYasir Shah; no one had been able to attackhim on a turning pitch like that until now.Then he unfurled some sweeps, reverseand orthodox, with remarkable power,shots which have been honed on theturning tracks of the IPL. Would this beany more than an unavailing display ofdefiance? Woakes was equally fluentfrom the start of the innings. How toexplain his barren trot in recent Tests?Until this match he had not gone beyondsix in nine Test innings, not a reassur-ing statistic for a No 7. His cover drivingwas as exquisite as Buttler’s, whether hewas facing leg-spinners or seamers and,like Buttler, he recognised the virtues ofan uncluttered mind at the crease. He hasnever timed the ball better than this.

It mattered little to the two soft spo-ken Englishmen who was bowling; thepitch seemed to doze off as the stroke-play became ever more assured. AzharAli was quick to spread the field againstButtler, all too wary of what he might do.Not until England became the favouriteswith about 60 runs required did thesetwo rein themselves in when confront-ed with the alarming realisation that thiswas now a match for England to lose.Eventually two unsuccessful sweepsfrom Buttler and Broad produced lbwsfor Yasir but Woakes, the most self-effac-ing all-rounder England have had for a

long, long time, was still there at the end.For nearly all of this match England

had been losing it. That was even the casein the first ten minutes of the day.England polished off the Pakistan tail in16 deliveries, the only problem being that32 runs had been added in that time,most of them off various parts of the batoff Yasir, who swung merrily and to goodeffect. 11 came from Jofra Archers’s firstover; Broad was walloped for four andsix before Yasir was caught behind. Those32 runs had swung the pendulum fur-ther in Pakistan’s favour.

Yet for the rest of that morning ses-sion the pitch behaved decorouslyenough. Dominic Sibley dug in and it wasnot until Mohammad Abbas switched toaround the wicket against Rory Burnsthat Pakistan made some headway.Burns was lbw to a delivery that jaggedin to him. Progress throughout the restof the morning was relatively sedate andsteady; Root was sharp, hawk-eyed,playing everything on its merits andEngland had advanced to 55 for one bylunch.

The second session was livelier. 31more runs were added and Yasir Shahhad even retreated by bowling around thewicket to Sibley; then he switched backto over, Sibley drove and edged to slip andYasir gave the impression that this wasall part of a very cunning plan. ThenRoot received a fine delivery fromNaseem Shah and the edge was held byBabar Azam at slip; the decibel level out

in the middle went up another notch.Only now did the batsmen feel that

sense of betrayal, stemming from acapricious surface that suddenly gives thestriker, however skilful, no chance. Stokesreceived a delivery from Yasir that leapt

towards his throat and he could not avoidthe ball brushing his glove before beingsuperbly held by Mohammad Rizwanbehind the stumps. And there was noth-ing Pope could do with the lifter hereceived from Afridi from around the

wicket. It ballooned from his glove toShadab Khan in the gully. Pope may neverreceive two such devilish deliveries in aTest match throughout what should bea very long career. And he may never playin such a remarkable Test match.

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German sports apparel andfootwear major Puma could be

the frontrunner in bagging theIndian cricket team’s kit sponsorshiprights while rival Adidas couldalso enter the fray.

However, it couldn’t be con-firmed whether Nike would re-bidafter refusing BCCI’s scaled downbid offer from their �370 crore (plus30 crore royalty), which they paidfrom 2016 to 2020.

“I can confirm you that Pumahas bought the ITT (Invitation toTender) document worth �1 lakh.While buying bid document does-n’t mean one is bidding, Puma hasshown genuine interest in submit-ting a bid,” a senior BCCI officialtold PTI.

It is learnt that Adidas too hasshown interest but whether it willbe bidding for the sponsorshiprights is still not known. Eventhough some feel that the Germangiant could independently bid formerchandise products, which willbe a separate tender.

Selling of exclusive merchandiseproducts depends on how manyexclusive stores a company hasalong with the point of sales (shopsthat sells your company’s products).

While Puma has over 350exclusive stores, Adidas has morethan 450 outlets which makes thesetwo companies the most soughtafter.

A senior industry insiderexplained the whole sponsorshipissue in these turbulent economictimes.

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Colombo: A total of 93 international cricketers,including England’s World Cup-winning pacer LiamPlunkett and New Zealand seamer Tim Southee, havebeen listed for the inaugural edition of the LankaPremier League (LPL) beginning on August 28.Veteran Pakistan all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez andWest Indies opener Dwayne Smith are also part of thelist, according to a report in ‘Ceylon Today’. The reportalso said that Dubai-based sports broadcasting com-pany, Innovative Production Group (IPG), has beenawarded “total rights” of the LPL for five years. “IPGhas total rights over ground, production, franchises andTV rights of the tournament where they pay USD 2 mil-lion annually for the said rights,” the report said.

&>������� ����)���������������������"���(Manchester (PTI): England playersmust endeavour to take the pressure offteammate Jos Buttler, who has beenstruggling behind the stumps in theongoing Test against Pakistan, feel for-mer wicketkeepers.

Buttler dropped two catches andmissed a stumping during Pakistan’sfirst innings in the Test here. Two ofthose misses cost the hosts dearly asShan Masood, who was on 45, went onto score 156, helping the visitors put up326.

Former wicketkeeper Matt Priorfeels Buttler is stuck in a “horribleplace” and the team should supporthim.

“I feel for Jos it’s a horrible place tobe but England need him to come outof it,” Prior told Sky Sports’ The

Cricket Debate.“But it’s not just one guy. If one guy

is struggling, the wicketkeeper is strug-gling, the team have to stand up andsay ‘concentrate on your stuff, we’ve gotthis’,” Prior added.

The 38-year-old Prior, who fea-tured in 79 Tests between 2007 and2014, said Buttler’s posture anddemeanour during the match indicat-ed he is not confident about his game.

“I watched Jos very closely and he’sin that place, which I unfortunatelyhave experience of myself, where youquestion your own game. A number oftimes you could see that Jos was look-ing at his hands, his gloves.

“I know that suddenly your glovesdon’t feel quite right, your posture is notright.

“You question everything ratherthan looking at what the match situa-tion is and how you can help the bowleror captain or gee the fielders up which,as we know, is such a crucial role for akeeper,” he added.

Prior said it is “the worst” place fora player to be in when on the field.

“When you are battling behind thestumps, it is quite literally the worstplace to be on the cricket pitch becauseyou know that ball is coming to you.

“As a wicketkeeper you are outthere for seven hours and the ball willcome to you so you have to find a wayto not go too internal.”

Former wicketkeeper-batsmanAlec Stewart agreed that the teamshould rally behind Buttler during hisdifficult time.

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Page 14: ˇ !#!#$%&’()*)%+ ˇ ˙ ˚ !# ˇ .’#(%#’(-%+#/012*-3 ˝˛...2 days ago  · airport claimed the lives of 18 persons, including the pilot and co-pilot, of the ill-fated Boeing

&#��������������3��)���A���(�What is Bahut Hua Samman about??

The film is totally opposite to the webseries — Undekhi. I either make dark

thriller or crime or dark comedy andsatires, which I love. The film is set

in Benaras and about two finalyear mechanical engineeringstudents. In the same college

there is an alumnus played by

Sanjay Mishra. He is a bit of a krantikariand hatches a plot to rob the campus bank.While he manages to escape. From here thefilm unfolds.�You have directed films and web series.What is better?

It is not about what is better. I am sto-ryteller. I need a story to tell, this can bein any form — TV, ad films, films, webseries and documentaries — these are dif-ferent mediums of storytelling. It can be

for a few seconds to a couple of hours.It is my job to specialise at all medi-

ums. Web series allows you todevelop your character. In films,

there are restrictions.Sometimes, we have more tosay and we go into sequel. Inthis sense, web series are abetter option since we cangive depth to the character.�Does releasing a film onthe OTT platform affectfinances?

I am not in the rightposition to answer this to the

fullest, a producer is betterequipped. People didn’t expect

the pandemic and made a film at abudget. Now, they will have to evaluate

the budget depending on the starcast andrelease it on the OTT platform and not justrelease on OTT but also on Satellite, TV,international and DVD. This can either leadto a profit or loss. Henceforth, people willreevaluate their budget in a manner wherethey don’t incur a loss. From now, contentwill be king.�Has the pandemic changed the futureof the entertainment industry?

Not really. There have been many

things that have affected the industry.Recession and #MeToo had its effect. Wejust have to adjust ourselves to the presentsituation. There are challenges, but we willfind a way to work around it.�How did you come up with the story forUndekhi?

I came onboard the project a little late.The script had been in the writing for thelast two years; by the time I came, it wasin its last stages of writing. The creator-pro-ducer of the show — Siddharth Sengupta— told me that the story is inspired fromsmall newspaper clippings which are newsbut people after empathise with it but flipthe paper. The idea was to ask people whatthey would have done in a similar situation.When I got the script, I was awe-struck withthe sharpness of the storyline. I knew thatI had to do justice to it, it is rare that youcome across such good writing.�Did you expect such an overwhelmingresponse?

Frankly, I didn’t. We knew we had agreat story and had approached it with afresh approach. But since there were no bignames associated, we didn’t have muchexpectations from it. But then the lockdownhappened and people had time to watch it.Word of mouth worked in our favour.

�I understand Season 2 is in the offing.A little sneak peek — when you start theshoot?

I don’t know what the story is about.He is in the process of writing the story.Once he is satisfied, we will know what thestory will be about. If things work out, wewill start shooting next year — sometimein March. One thing I can say for sure, itwill be bigger, better and have many moresurprises.�Usually sequels disappoint. How impor-tant it is to take up from where the orig-inal left off and build on it?

This will not happen with Undekhi 2since my story has not finished. I have moreto say. Second, we have seasoned writerswho won’t take anything for granted.Generally, what happens is that sometimespeople treat the show as a franchise anddon’t bother to develop the story. If I thinkthat is what is going to happen withUndekhi, I would end it myself. For now,we have matter for Season 3 as well.�What next?

I am working on my next web series.But it is too soon to talk about it since wehave not announced anything officially. AllI can say is that is a romantic-revengedrama.

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� What is Suit Sandal about?The song is inspired by the innocent conversation between cou-

ples coming from varied backgrounds and a modern take on rela-tionship dynamics. The song is bound to create a feeling of relata-bility as one-sided love with someone you can't have is a commonsight now a days. The song was created with the aim of upliftingyour mood so it has peppy beats, a slow tempo, playful tune andcatchy lyrics that get people singing the song on loop. � From Harpreet to Harpi Gill, how did that happen?

I did my first duet with Raj Brar sahibji and during the cre-ation of that song he gave me the name Harpi and it caught on. Iwas so grateful for the opportunity to work with him so early onin my career that I decided to stay with the name.� How did your musical journey begin?

I got interested in music when I was in Class III and startedsinging at school functions and competitions. My family wasextremely supportive of me so when I decided to pursue a diplo-ma in music. During my diploma, I experimented with differentsinging styles and found a style that suited me best. I got associ-ated with White Hill Music about two years back. That is when Igot my first few hits through Punjabi movies like Muklawa andArdab Mutiyaran where I playbacked. Considering I got so muchlove from the audience for my work, I released my first single, LethalJatti that garnered over 54 million views on YouTube and then madeSuit Sandal that has received over 10 million views. I hope I con-tinue to entertain larger audiences through my music. � Was it tough to release a song during the pandemic?

There were many apprehensions. However, I got a lot of sup-port from the team. It was rough but at the end of the day, I believethat as artists, it is our responsibility to help our audience and fanbase connect with themselves, and face challenges with a positiveattitude. Knowing that the song would cheer up people who wouldlisten, we were convinced that this was the most appropriate timeto launch the song.� How did you end up collaborating with While Hill Music?

I ended up meeting with people at White Hill Music, when Iwas still finding my footing in the industry. They had very spe-cific needs that cater to their audience, so I had to work hard toget recognised by the label during the initial days. Once they likedwhat I had to offer and we came to understand each other’s expec-tations and started to working together. � Why are all your songs sad?

Songs have always been a way to emote a wide range of sen-timents. I do have a few songs that are sad, but most of my recentones are quite peppy. As an artist we have to showcase a wide rangeof emotions, basically personifying what our audiences want to feelat a given point. I try to do justice to whatever emotion the songis trying to portray — sad, peppy or romantic. � How tough was it to make space for yourself?

I am fortunate enough to say that this industry has beenextremely kind to me. Despite not having any prior connection tothe music world, the Punjabi music industry offered me ampleopportunities to win hearts on merit. � What next?

I am working on a couple of projects simultaneously, but theone I can talk about as of now is a duet single with Kamal Khairathat would soon be launched on White Hill Music.

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At the age of eight, when childrenbuild sand castles on beachesand play around with superhero

figurines and stuffed toys, and intuitivearts are nothing, but mere words forthem, this Pune-based boy took tolearning meditation. He then gotenrolled in Vishwa Reiki Sansthan,Pune and at the age of 12 became aReiki healer.

Meet Ayush Gupta, a 17-year-oldClass XII student, who believes that hedidn’t chose the art, but the energieschose him.

“My father, Kashi Prasad Gupta,introduced me to meditation when Iwas eight. He is into spiritual things alot and he wanted me to walk his path.When I turned 12, he introduced meto Reiki and I found it interesting. SinceI was very young, I didn’t understandthe depths of the art, but for the sakeof my father, I learnt it at Vishwa ReikiSansthan by grandmaster DevanshShukla. Once I was into the art, mythought process changed completelyand I was a different person altogeth-er. It was like the energies had chosenme,” Gupta explains.

He tells you that after four-fivemonths, unfortunately his mother wasdiagnosed with throat cancer and thatis when he dug deep in the healing art.

“When the news broke to us, all ofus were shocked. We didn’t knowwhat to do. That is when I thought ofturning to Reiki and see if that willprove beneficial for my mother. Ihealed her for three months and whenwe went to Nagpur for her re-checkup,the cancer was cured. The doctors wereleft shocked because cancer is a diseasewhich is non-curable till date. That wasa proud moment for me and there weretwo reasons for celebration — one, mymother was cured of cancer and two,that it was my first Reiki case. That’swhen I realised that if the art is bene-ficial in these kind of problems. then Ishould use it to make people happy,” hetells you.

There were absolutely no appre-hensions in Gupta’s mind, when treat-ing his mother. “I am into energies sinceI was eight. I know that if the energieswon’t heal, they won’t cause any harmeither. I always had a connection withthese energies. Moreover, there was a

hidden trust that I could do that andthat trust along with the energiesworked in partnership and I was ableto solve my first case successfully,” hetells you.

The success gave Gupta the muchneeded confidence and he decided totake it up full fledgedly. “I became 100per cent confident that I could help alot more people in life. It was like mylife took a U-turn,” Gupta, who hascured 400 patients, that of Diabetes,Cancer and even Corona till date, says.

His first corona patient was hisfriend’s sister, who had tested COVID-19 positive in April 29. “My friend calledme one day and informed me that hissister, who was pregnant back then, hadtested positive for COVID-19. Honestly,

I was a bit nervous in treating herbecause it was a matter of two lives, butwas able to cure her of Corona in aweek. She is now doing perfectly fine.I have treated two more Corona patientsand they have recovered,” he tells you.

Reiki, he says, is a scientifically-proven technology in the world and hissuccess rate in curing all 400 patientsis 100 per cent. “In Reiki, we deal withpositive and negative energies.Whatever problems that one faces isbecause of the negative energies.Through Reiki, there are few symbols— one for mental energy, second forphysical and third for distance healing.In distance healing, we send somesounds to the person and he has to sitand listen to them for focus and then

we can send the energies to him,” Guptaexplains.

There are four levels of learningReiki. In the first stage, one can onlyheal himself, in second he can practisedistance healing, third he becomes amaster and can deal with more ener-gies and heal many people, fourth is theteachers level, where he can teach theart to others as well and fifth is thegrandmaster.

“I am a grandmaster. It took metwo years to reach the level,” he tells youand adds that there is no fixed term ofcompleting the levels, it differs fromperson to person.

Everything in Gupta’s life has hap-pened all of a sudden and so is the casewith making it into the World Records

as the Youngest Reiki Healer of India.“One day, I got a call from the WorldRecords Association saying that theyhave shortlisted five children for the titleall over India. Then we were called foran examination. It was like an energycheck with their grandmasters andteam. I passed it and after a month I gota call from them that I had made it tothe World Records. I can never forgetthe feeling because I had never thoughtthat I could achieve it,” he recalls witha smile.

The time taken for healing peopledepends on the problem they are fac-ing and for how long.

“I have treated and cured a 75-year-old Diabetic, who had Diabetes for sev-eral years. It took me a few days to curehim. For rest, it can be months,” Gupta,who takes a 25-minute session each day,tells you.

As interesting it may sound to bethe Youngest Reiki Healer of India, butthere are challenges too. “Sometimepeople don’t put trust in a 17-year-old.They doubt the calibre. Like the 75-year-old Diabetic I cured, he was ini-tially reluctant to the treatment. Hedoubted that how can a child cure himwhen even doctors can’t. I wanted tochange that mindset, hence I had putall my focus on that one case andshowed him the results in a few days.He was shocked. This is, at times, upset-ting when adults don’t have faith in youjust because of your age, but I think withmy actions I can and have provedmyself to them,” he asserts.

Not only that, Gupta is also theYoungest Tarot card reader of India andhas done sessions for many celebritieslike Remo D’souza, ShankarMahadevan, Ravi Dubey and BalrajSyal, to name a few.

“All these people came to methrough word of mouth. I am glad thatI am able to help people and ward offnegativity from their life. I would con-tinue doing the good work,” Gupta, whodoesn’t charge any particular amountfor healing and even does it for free forthose who can’t afford it, tells you.

“The moment one tries to com-mercialise the healing art. It losesessence and results. The art is for peo-ple to do good and not make money outof it,” Gupta says.

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No matter where we go, what we doand what all genres we get to see, but

thrillers, mysteries and detective storieswill always be our chart toppers. That’sthe reason why the likes of ByomkeshBakshi and Karamchand have achievediconic and legendary stature.

And if one is to talk about the mostpopular detective character, it goes with-out saying that it has to be SherlockHolmes, conceived by Sir Arthur ConanDoyle. Such has been the craze for thegenre that recently, Netflix India posteda tweet, asking people as to whom, otherthan Sherlock, they would hire to solvea case.

The tweet read: “If you had to hirea detective, who would you approachafter Sherlock refuses to take yourcase?”

Soon after, the tweet became the talkof the town as Twitterati converged inlarge numbers to share their pick, whichranged from local Indian heroes toLucifer Morningstar, the Los Angeles-

based devil in disguise played by TomEllis, who solves cases just for the affec-tion towards Detective Chloe Decker, anLAPD official played by Lauren German.Lucifer was an obvious choice consid-ering that after four consecutive hit sea-sons, the fifth season is set for a launchon August 21.

Second in the list was DoctorWatson, who is Sherlock Holmes’ assis-tant and more importantly, his onlyfriend. Interestingly, this character toowas introduced along with Sherlock by

Sir Doyle in A Study in Scarlet itself. Afew others were reminded of SushantSingh Rajput, who left us for the heav-enly abode recently. They recalled themodern Byomkesh Bakshy played by theactor in a Dibakar Banerjee-directed2015 film.

Amid these popular names, thereappeared a few remarkable Indian detec-tive characters, who might not havemade it to the silver screen yet, but havecertainly created a niche for themselveson the Imternet. One such name was thatof Detective Boomrah, whose storiespublished under Kahanikaar SudhanshuRai, are immensely popular on YouTubeand Facebook. Just days before Netflixposted the query, the creators of the char-acter had launched Boomrah’s first lookas well.

Well, no matter which characterNetflix zeroes in on, high dosage of funand an edge-of-the-seat thriller seems instore for us. Now let’s wait and watch ifNetflix India goes vocal for local or set-tles for already-established western char-acters.

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Nothing shakes the Indian’s faith inland and gold. The birth of pan-demic panic definitely put thebrakes on the movement in rentalsand sales during the stricter lock-

down following March 22, further exacerbatedby the halting of international flights. But, theluxury real estate market was swift to adapt.With potential clients stalled in various parts ofthe world, digital innovation in presentinghomes played a massive part in changing thestructure of how true innovators helped thereal estate industry maintain stability duringthe crisis. And a previously uninterested mar-ket emerged. Millennials, with one foot alwayson a plane, smelt the possibility of a bargain,and began to shop around to plant roots. Aslockdown lingered on, Work from Home wasborn. And suddenly, home was simply the bestplace to be.

����������� �!�"#�� �The luxury neighbourhoods of Delhi that

rely heavily on diplomats and senior corporateexpats for housing demand, faced a sudden haltwith the airports shut. The heavy diplomatictraffic season, during the months commencingApril, saw the industry at a standstill. Arrivalnumbers dropped like a stone from 100%, withrenters jostling for the best homes, to a sharp0%. As droves of members of the diplomaticcommunity were evacuated in a rush, with skele-tal staff left to man the embassies, there was asudden tilt in the demand versus supply of luxu-ry housing across the neighbourhoods in theLutyens Bungalow Zone, the Diplomatic Zone,and localities in close proximity. Notices weredelivered, Force Majeure clauses debated endless-ly, and an abrupt glut emerged in the market.Corporate bigwigs that compete for the samehousing also caused a major rolling shift withmajor companies restructuring their setups, andbudgets often being scythed by at least 20%. Topbrass airline employees faced the same cuts intheir housing allowances. And this gave rise to anew trend. With the end of Lockdown 1.0, therewas a sudden surge in intra-city housing move-ment. Top-level expats within the city were sud-denly on the move and the brakes lifted. Savvylandlords who saw no end in sight to the airlinerestrictions being lifted, brought their pricesdown adequately, between 20-30%, to nab theseclients. There has been a slight increase indemand with about a quarter of the diplomatsnow arriving to replace their end-of-tenure pre-decessors but restoration of normalcy could takeclose to a year and a half. Pricing, however, is upin the air, as new arrivals come with the precon-ceived and fairly appropriate understanding thatthings have changed. With corporate budgetsstill undergoing a massive upheaval, luxuryrental pricing will continue to fluctuate untilgiant multinationals arrive at an equilibrium inhousing allowances. But a new normal will finditself as flights begin to commence operating tofull capacity and previously held back senior cor-porates on work visas resume their arrivals. Forthe luxury rental economy to keep its wheelschurning, landlords will have to see the light ofthe new normal and accordingly adjust theirexpectations.

�$%�����$&��#�'�!$#�Luxury Real Estate has always been about

structure, curation and presentation. As lock-down 1.0 struck its gong, a complete shift wasmade to enable clients to understand a city andits housing remotely. Extensive presentationswere created to digitally experience the city andeach of its colonies. Videos of neighbourhoods’idiosyncrasies and specialties were created. Stylesof housing were presented through stock imagesto delineate the differences between bungalows,builder floors and the ubiquitous ‘charming’properties scattered around the capital.Conversation became paramount as words were

used to help the eyes see. This resulted in thedeath knell for quite a few boutique agencieswithout the ability to cope under the new andchanged circumstances. FaceTime and othervideo communication apps ruled Lockdown 2.0Realty. As curation had commenced in the earli-er phase, video viewings minimised the risk ofcovid contraction and the interaction betweenthe home and the client became extremely upclose and personal, and, unsurprisingly, moreprone to close scrutiny, as the camera never lies.However, a number of empty houses were inshabby states as workers had gone into isolationand the worry that they would be delivered spot-less had to be constantly quelled, and very often,expectations adjusted.

The king of the lease agreement became theForce Majeure clause: the word pandemicflounced its way into every rental agreement.The realtor’s biggest task became about adaptingto viewings without physically visiting a propertywith a client, and helping landlords see thefinancial sense of a cut in rent over a locked uphouse over an indefinite period.

�("(#"�'Work From Home (WFH) was the new

mantra on everyone’s mind. And what home hadto be, was now changed. Quiet spaces becameprized and as the pandemic raged on, there wasa new market player. The exodus of the Delhiresident to inhabit the towers of Gurgaonreversed itself, as more and more companies andemployees realised their structures could func-tion unhindered with the WFH model. SeniorIndian employees and their families, heldhostage by the proximity of condominium livingto their skyscraper workplaces in Gurgaon andNoida, sought to return home. Delhi called withits lush green parks and low density of popula-tion in the luxury neighbourhoods.Neighbourhoods like Vasant Vihar with theirquick commute to Aerocity and Gurgaon saw aresurgence in demand for mid-priced housing.The siren song of admissions in South Delhi’sfinest schools suddenly looked like it couldbecome a reality, with a move back to the moth-er metropolis. The price drop, along with a wider

range becoming available to luxury condo resi-dents in the satellite cities, has formed a largerpart of clientele in Delhi in recent times.

!���)$(� �'���!���#��!����As globetrotting has been brought to a

grinding halt, the restless millennial’s gaze hasturned towards buying a home. A sea shift intheir mindscape has made them look to turningtheir spend on the ever-changing hotel roomand destination towards a home to call theirown. Astute at sniffing out bargains, whether ina far-flung flea market or the local propertydomain, they sense that the time is ripe toacquire property, as sale prices slowly begin toplummet. What was an easy step to take in thiscity for earlier generations, buying a home closeto the standards and neighbourhoods akin to theones these wealthy millennials grew up in, nowlooks a more achievable proposition. The grow-ing number of multi-home owning landlordslooking to sell is also seeing a rise as the verybusinesses that enabled them to buy severalhomes are now in jeopardy. The coming monthswill see a rise of more realistic numbers beingset, with luxury property acquisition coming thatone step closer to plausibility. Delhi is alreadyseeing a 10 to 15% drop in prices with Gurgaonsurging ahead at around 20%. The market is alsoflush with the arrival of the home convertor. Akeen awareness of the price shift that the pan-demic has created, is bringing in a large numberof homeowners looking to upgrade. Theseclients keenly seek to enhance their lifestyle byconversion to better neighbourhoods, qualityand age of property, or size. Their shopping hasjust begun.

!���"�'���%'�*'�The industry is now at phase where true

introspection and change can be wrought. Thedwindling number of expats means that homeowners need to be more open to local clienteleand lose the bias that has long scarred India. Thedesign element of rental prospects could also berevisited to make them more attractive to thetaste profile of the potential renter: essentially, ablank canvas of space and colour, left for any

tenant to style to their choice. Expats are increas-ingly aware that accommodation with standardfixtures in their home countries are now moreeasily available in India. Modern, updatedkitchens with ovens sizeable enough for differentcuisines; bathrooms with fittings and fixturesthat are standardised and upgraded; boilers for24 hour hot water supply to replace the leg-endary Indian geyser that could never fill a bath-tub, voiding its very existence. The well-travelledIndian is also aware of advancement in housingdesign and structure, better exposed to globalcuisines, and actively seeking the very same ele-ments whilst choosing housing. To make a prop-erty instantly rentable, this time could be used torecalibrate what used to be considered luxurystandards to turn it into the new normal. It isalso time to consider that WFH is definitelygoing to be an enormous part of our foreseeablefuture. Upgrading at least one room in an apart-ment to office level infrastructure would be awise yet inexpensive design move. With enoughelectrical sockets to hold office equipment andstorage for supplies incorporated, the average 4bedroom luxury apartment would definitely be abigger value proposition if one room could trulyserve as an effective work space. Severalembassies and companies have already deferredtheir return to the office space to the summer of2021. The most important real estate query ofthe season has been the suitability of at least acouple of the bedrooms being equipped to runas an office or study room for the new digitalclassroom. With pollution season round the cor-ner, another big draw for expats and Indiansalike, is the installation of vacuum sealed doorsand windows. This feature being available isoften the one that gets the property off the mar-ket, more than any other. Just as the last decadesaw the addition and acceptance of air purifiersin our lives as the norm, this new one bringswith it the need for homes and offices to unite intheir purpose to become a very viable proposi-tion. This is our new normal. Welcome Home!

The writer is the Founding Partner ofWelcome Home Luxury Real Estate Services in

New Delhi. Clients include the BBC, World Bank,several top corporates and embassies

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For every school or college student, the word‘Career’ is often the most polarising wordthrown around by seemingly responsible

adults at every dinner table conversation, familymeeting or gathering. The irony is that most of themodern day parents themselves know little aboutthe modern day careers like digital marketing anddata analytics. However that doesn’t stop themfrom giving their two cents on every aspect of amodern day career. The parents don’t realise thatthe world has drastically changed over the courseof the last 10-15 years.

The careers that are the biggest money spin-ners today didn’t even exist twenty years back.Social media is a construct of the last 15 years, dif-ferent apps like uber, bigbasket, makemytrip,bookmyshow all have come up during the sametime-period. Gone are the days when memorising,rote-learning could get you huge breakthroughs.Today all information is available in your pocket,so skills like memorising and calculations arebecoming mundane. So, what ticks today is a dif-ferent skill set. Critical thinking, data analyticalskills and coding are the modern day skills that setyou apart. When a young boy ends up in a googleor a facebook with a whooping �40-50 lakh pack-age as a start, it’s not because he is the most hardworking kid around. It is because he was into cod-ing from a young age of 13 and he was passionate-ly working hard on a thing that mattered the mostin the modern era. And that’s my first big messageto all students and hustlers — ‘Watch where themoney is’. Start early and keep your eyes and earsopen all the time.

One of the biggest luxuries of the modern dayand age in terms of careers is the multitude ofoptions. You can be a college dropout turned you-tuber and earn more than an IITian. As amazingas it is, let’s not be fooled here by looking at a fewexamples. The problem with many career coun-selors, motivational speakers is that they haveturned dream merchants rather than mentors.They quote Steve Jobs and Ratan Tata as if everykid can become a trailblazer. The fact of the matteris that there are many who won’t be the next SteveJobs and a plan needs to be in place for them.Truth is that yes every kid can become great, butlet’s understand that these are rare examples and alittle bit of practicality is always welcome. Truth isthat many of these great people gradually becamegreat and had probably not planned on becomingthis big. So what was critical in the journey of

these great people is the journey itself. They wereon the right track in their life. They got to knowsomething they were good at and passionate aboutand then they worked tirelessly towards their goal.This is the best that we can do in our pursuit ofgreatness. So how does one pick the right track.Well the ideal career choice should be a fluid mixof your dreams and practicality.

It starts with evaluating your interests. What isit that you would want to do for the rest of yourlife or at least a major part of your life. At thisstage, you can be a total dreamer. Just run in thedirection of your dreams and start trying differentcareers. The best time for this is college. Neverever settle for just classroom experience in yourschool or college. Step out and start interningunder different organisations and individuals. Startvolunteering for free services just so you can eval-uate your interests. Is your interest for real? I’veseen many individuals come to conclusions about

their interests by drawing references from pop-cul-ture. Invest Banking, Film-making and stock-broking excite many young students courtesy theportrayal of these careers on the big screen.However the same students didn’t really find film-making so exciting when they visited a film setand found out how non-glamorous and tediousthe process of film-making is in real. Once you’vecome to a shortlist of your genuine interests, youneed to run further in the direction of yourdreams. And then the dreamer in you will wake upto reality — the reality of your abilities. You’llslowly find out that as much passion as you havefor cricket, you actually don’t have that magicaltiming or touch or in the same vein, you might befascinated by statistical analysis but your math skillmight not be of the same quality. You might devel-op some of the ability needed but actually youhave your limitations and it’ll perhaps neverbranch out to become a viable career. It is a tough

call to take but that’s where your intelligence needsto kick in.

So my second big message to all students is —Know yourself and embrace your strengths andlimitations. Your career should be an extension ofyour personality. If it is not, then sooner or later,frustration will kick in and you will not be happywith the way your life is unfolding. In the end, youshould be happy going to work everyday. A goodcareer isn’t just about designations or pay packets,it is most importantly about happiness. In the end,that is all that matters. Of course you’ll have tocompromise and you’ll probably not get every-thing you wanted but you may get close and that’llbe good enough. Once your dreams are definedand your strengths are identified, you’re actually ina position to define a career goal. But for that, youneed to understand the scope and potential of acareer in the given times. As an example, thosewho are seeking a career in hotel management

right now in the post covid-era might need torethink. They could probably go about it by a dif-ferent route. Do a course in management or finearts and revisit their passion later. They could alsocompromise given the tough times and take upwhatever job they’re getting in whichever domainwithout being too fussy about the role and desig-nation. They can probably survive now and thrivelater at a time when the circumstances are right.Flexiblity in career paths, choices makes one awinner in the long run. You cannot be rigid aboutyour choices and goals. They have to be dynamicand in sync with the times. You might have a tastefor event management and wedding planning butit won’t be a good idea to set up that company inthe post covid environment right now. Of course ifyou already have a company, then you need toinnovate and hang in there one way or another. Sothe truth is that there is no ‘one size fits all’approach in matters of careers.

We need to start accepting the fact that theskills in demand will keep changing. Today theskills that’ll be most richly rewarded will be cod-ing, machine learning and data analytics. Ofcourse, the one big skill that’ll forever be evergreenis the art of communication. All stakeholders needto contribute to developing human skills like com-munication, understanding people, storytelling,accepting diversity, remaining calm under pres-sure. These are the skills which far outweigh alldegrees and certifications in the game of life.Unfortunately they’re at best confined to a boringmoral science lecture in school. It is high time thatthese soft skills were imparted to students in inno-vative ways. Students must understand that alongwith talent it is their temperament that’ll takethem a long way in their careers. One cannot func-tion without the other. A solid temperament isn’tbuilt over the years. It’s foundation has to be laidearly on in school. In the times of the Corona pan-demic, human temperament has been tested to thehilt. Those who didn’t get dispirited and soughtways to innovate have survived this tide and willthrive someday. However the ones with a weaktemperament succumb to the pressure.

The biggest skill set that’ll determine the alti-tude of one’s career will be emotional intelligence.If one can bounce back from setbacks, failures andgo from one task to another with equal vigor thensky is the limit.

The writer is the author of Dhruv: Love Storyof an Alchemist

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In early June, the Delhi governmentlaid out an impeccable plan toincrease hospital bed capacity to treatCovid patients. It proposed toincrease the numbers of beds in pri-

vate hospitals and transform banquethalls in hotels and community centres into Covid recovery centres while linkingthem to hospitals in the vicinity. At thattime there were only 3,200 hospital bedsin the city available to treat 29,943 Covidpatients and Delhi desperately neededmore beds.

A fortnight later, my team was plan-ning to set up several temporary Covidrecovery facilities across the capital withthe officials of the Delhi government. Wehad also just finished setting up temporaryCovid recovery facilities in Kerala,Maharashtra and Gujarat. Barring savour-ing the clock like precision of how thingsroll in Kerala, we were still reeling fromthe strenuous effect of arduously workingin the other two states. So much so thatthe plan in Delhi came to us as a sourceof much relief. It seemed that the Delhigovernment had nailed it with their inge-nious plan. Why did other states not thinkof linking temporary Covid recoveryfacilities to hospitals, we wondered! Doingso would overcome the staffing challengesthat Mumbai’s Covid recovery facilities toowere facing.

To a large extent it is understandablewhy the implementation of Delhi’s planwould be fraught with challenges. Theseare indeed unprecedented times and we areall learning how to cope. Also, given thestark disparities between various socio-economic groups and power status of itsresidents, Delhi is a microcosm of the com-plexities that abound in India whichmake implementation of ambitious plansduring a pandemic a steep climb. But thechallenges to the plan also came from othersources, a few of which are as follows.

First, there is a serious problem of poordata culture within a preposterous topdown organisational structure operatingthe management of the pandemic in thecapital city. This damages the vital com-munication flow of the organisation’soperations. The poor quality of health datais a symptom of the overrun public healthsystem. Data about the prevalence andspread of the virus in communities, capac-ity and utilisation of medical infrastruc-ture, triggers for behaviour changeamongst patients, lends itself to effectivepolicy to help curb the pandemic. Further,in the Delhi administration the top boss-es have a vision but — unlike say inMumbai — they are not directly at work

on the ground. Their vision is insteadpassed down to subsequent levels in thehierarchy, which is often lost in Chinesewhispers by the time it reaches their min-ions on the ground.

The implications of the loss in thereversed flow of information is perhapseven more hazardous, as minions at timesgive false or tampered evidence of Covidpreparedness to the top bosses. The topdown approach is further perpetuated byjunior government officials on to dailywage workers and labour on site, in waysI have yet to see in other cities.

The perils of working without data isthe reliance on poor anecdotal evidence.In a top heavy bureaucracy, anecdotal evi-dence can be easily tampered by staff onthe ground who pass on only the ‘goodnews’ to the bosses. For instance the sameset of beds would shockingly be movedaround from one hall to another, each timecaptured for photographic evidence to

send to the top bosses. These bosses areso removed from the ground reality thatthere is a slim chance that they would everdiscover the truth.

A second major challenge is misman-agement. Parts of the plan of linking thetemporary facilities to neighbouring hos-pitals remains only on paper. Despite therise in Covid cases, the empty beds forCovid patients has been much in the news.The much celebrated 10,000-bed Covidfacility at the Radha Soami Satsang Beasin Delhi received 20 patients on the firstday of its opening on July 5, and until July15 only about 200 patients were beingtreated there. The two 100-bed Covidrecovery facilities in Delhi that we set upover the last two weeks in banquet hallsin Kapashera and Sinkhole areas in Delhi,are yet to be equipped with health careworkers and oxygen cylinders from thehospital it is supposedly attached to.Sadly, it is also well-known that there have

been a few cases of rape and sexual assaultupon patients in temporary Covid carefacilities in Delhi alone. The reason for thisabject mismanagement is not just the obvi-ous lack of healthcare staff such as nurs-es, doctors, paramedics to run thesespaces, but also a glaring gap in know-howand planning of operations. Overcapacityof temporary beds is not a sign of pre-paredness, it instead points to the lack ofplanning besides a waste of resources.

On the other hand, Delhi government’spromotion of home quarantine of asymp-tomatic Covid patients or of those who hadmild symptoms, has been particularly suc-cessful in the city’s fight against Covid. Thismeant that patients could recover in thecomfort and security of their homes.This also led to less fear amongst peopleof testing Covid-positive. People were lesslikely to hide positive test results. However,the lack of randomised testing in mostparts of the country including the nation-

al capital has obviously led to a large sec-tion of this category of patients minglingwith the rest of the population uncheckedand under no quarantine.

Yet overall it has been nothing shortof a war waged with full might by India’scapital city against the virus, with militarystyle hierarchy and immaculate planningthat was much abandoned in the throes ofthe fight.

It was not just the government inDelhi, but the city’s business houses suchas Bharti Airtel, JSPL, DLF who also ledfrom the front to distribute food, PPE kits,or funds to help in ways they could. Thecivil society such as the PopulationFoundation of India and prominent NGOsin the city such as Sa-laam Balak Truststepped in to the fight as well, each work-ing in their domain of expertise. Themethod in the madness has shown goodresults. According to data shared by theDelhi government, between July andAugust, the total active cases of Covid-19in Delhi came down from 27,007 to10,207 — a reduction of over 2.5 times.Delhi’s daily active cases continues to beon a downward curve.

A good war strategy would be to notlose caution, and leverage this breathingtime to build data and analysis aroundCovid cases in Delhi. Delhi has already ini-tiated a second serological (sero) surveyacross the 11 districts of the capital to esti-mate the percentage of the population thatcould have developed antibodies againstthe novel coronavirus. Not everyone willbe tested, therefore it will not be clear howmany people in the population are infect-ed but the results will be indicative of thespread within specific communities.

The plan so far is for the Delhi gov-ernment to conduct a similar sero surveyduring the first five days of every month.Indeed repeated sero surveys across dif-ferent areas will help to estimate the spreadof Covid in different communities in Delhi.It will also help in making governmentaction to control Covid in Delhi lessdependent on random anecdotal evi-dence, more data driven, and therefore farmore effective.

However the sero survey in Delhi duethis month is already delayed by ten days.So once again the data culture and abili-ty to implement ambitious plans made bythe Delhi administration remains con-ten-tious.

The writer is CEO of Sustain Labs andAdjunct Professor at SciencesPo Paris. Sheis also a columnist and author of the 2019bestseller Indian Instincts — essays on free-dom and equality in India

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D9���������%������ ��?�������)�����������(� ������������The worst that descended on

humanity was the explo-sion of the two nuclear bombson Hiroshima and Nagasaki onAugust 6 and 9, 1945, respec-tively. The 75th anniversary ofthis heinous act is quietlyobserved in both the cities bythe survivors of the nuclearattack and the peace-lovingpeople of Japan. What it bringshome is the gruesome misuseof science & technology oninnocent civilians. And, it isplainly in the name of fightingthe enemy and to subsequent-ly herald peace to the world.The central argument that jus-tified the actions of that horri-fying act was shaped to conveythe message that the bombingfinally put an end to the SecondWorld War. Also it prevented aprotracted conflict spearhead-ed by the “Axis Powers” con-sisting of Italy, Germany andJapan. Arguably, the ghastlyscenes of Hiroshima andNagasaki clearly discouragedthe rest of the nations to plungeinto another nuclear war for therest of the century.

The two atom bombsdropped over Hiroshima andNagasaki were known as “LittleBoy” and “Fatman”. Once thefirst bomb was dropped overHiroshima on August 6, almostafter sixteen hours, then USPresident Harry S Truman

asked the then JapaneseGovernment to surrender.However, Japan did not agreeand this led to the secondbombing of Nagasaki. The firstbomb was dropped by the USbomber called Enola Gay.Interestingly, this bomb wasdropped little over 600 metresabove the ground which had aforce equivalent to 15,000tonnes of TNT. This allowed infact optimal destruction thathas never been witnessed dur-ing the wartime.

The exact death toll wasnot known. But as per reportsavailable, nearly 2,40,000 peo-ple died in the attack. And thishorror attack had indeed leftmillions traumatised and evenstigmatised in the days tocome. The victims were killedby intense heat, radiation, flash-es, firestorms, etc. Initially peo-ple just noticed huge ball of fireon the spot of the bombing.The relics of the atomic attackcan be witnessed in an unquan-tifiable legacy of radiation,leukemia, anemia, cataracts,keloids (in this case, a scar tis-sue heals and at times heals toomuch which finally leads toswelling and can result inabnormal growth), major birthcomplications like micro-cephaly (a condition in whichthe head of the baby is small-er than the usual size) and

finally, environmental degra-dation of monumental vol-ume. Many reports say thattemperatures at the epicentre ofthe blast reached an estimated7,000 degrees Celsius. As thetemperature rose, it causedmassive burning of peoplewithin a radius of approxi-mately three kilometres. The whirlwind of heat brought by it further led tothousands of fires in andaround both the cities.

Meanwhile more and morepeople died of suffocationbecause of lack of oxygen as thefirestorm consumed all of it.The saddest part of the tragedywas that these complicationshave become a significant partof inter-generational legacy ofJapanese people living in thesecities and adjacent areas.

What had exactly takenplace in Hiroshima is vividlyspoken in this historic poemcalled, ‘No More Hiroshimas’:

‘Here atomic peace isgeared to meet the tourist trade

Let it remain like this for allthe world to see.

Without nobility or loveli-ness, and dogged with shame

That is beyond all hope ofindignation. Anger too is dead.

And why should memori-als of what was far

From pleasant have thegrace that helps us to forget?’

Precisely, this poem speaksvolumes about the agonies ofthe after-effects of “Little Boy”and “Fat Man”. The survivorsknown as ‘Hibakusha’ todaysuffer terminal illnesses such ascancer. This has left an indeli-ble mark in the Japanese soci-ety, economy, culture, and mostimportantly on the polity. Thethen Emperor of JapanHirohito surrendered to theAllied Powers on August 15,1945, and that brought an endto one of the most devastatingwars in human history.

The rise of the militarists inJapan in the inter-war periodindeed had spiked its ambitionto become an Asian power inthe continent. Simply put,Japan’s war aims were primar-ily to establish a “New Order”in East Asia. And interesting-ly this was based on a frame-work of co-prosperity whichwill place Japan at the centre ofan economic bloc consisting ofManchuria, Korea and NorthChina. Ironically, the smartimperial moves advanced byJapan gradually underminedthe slogan called “East Asia forAsiatics” and replaced it with“East Asia for Japan”.

Apart from these Japaneseambitions, the entire SecondWorld War was a unique one.First of all, it was a multi-the-atre war wherein wars were

fought in Africa, Europe and inthe Pacific. However, thePacific theatre saw some of theintense fighting zones. Second,for the first time, the atomicweapons were used in this warand also on civilian targetswhich eventually led to the endof the war. Third, the war in thePacific saw the Allied Power ofthe US fighting the Axis Powerof Japan. Historical recordsreveal that this part of the warhad remained incredibly bru-tal and devastating for soldierson both sides. In fact, fightingthe Japanese Army was one ofthe toughest tasks for theAmerican soldiers because oftheir extreme loyalty to thenation and their Emperor. Thiswas very evident in the war ofIwo Jima that took place fromFebruary to March 1945between the US and Japan,codenamed by the Americansas “Operation Downfall”. Itwas really difficult to defeat theJapanese forces because of thefact that they either die fight-ing till the last or by resortingto ritual suicide instead of sur-rendering to American forces.The “Bushido Code of Honor”followed by a unique war pro-paganda to project theAmerican soldiers as ruthless animals prevented theJapanese forces to quit the war.It must have been one

of the few important reasonsthat compelled the US to final-ly press the nuclear buttonagainst Japan.

The long-term effects ofthe atomic bombs are stillaround in both Hiroshima andNagasaki. And these disas-trous effects can be easilynoticed in the vast landscape,environment and most impor-tantly on the people of thesecities. Even today historians arewidely divided on the matterwhether nuclear bombingshave finally stopped the warand averted a massive land war,probably leading to the loss ofmillions of soldiers on bothsides. This was evident in whatwas later expressed by the USSecretary of War HenryStimson in 1947, “The princi-pal political, social and militaryobjective of the US in the sum-mer of 1945 was the promptand complete surrender ofJapan.” Though the decisionwas unfortunate, it was adopt-ed for a greater good of human-ity. A Gallup Poll conducted in1945 among the Americansrevealed that 85 per cent ofthem were in favour of thenuclear bombing. But suchconjectures hardly mattered tothose who died and moreimportantly those who havesurvived till date. Many of the“Hibakushas” have been

encountering physical and psy-chological traumas and strug-gling to live in open societies.They being the first victims ofatomic age are at timesshunned by people when itcomes to marriage because ofthe prejudice that they maycarry radiation related dis-eases. It is purely an insur-mountable mental battle for thesurvivors of the disaster simplyto live and to let their next gen-eration carry forward.

Is war morally justified?Can a pacifist perspective savethis planet from war hawks?Can the whole lot of non-vio-lent and peace-loving populaceprevent the brutes? These arealarming, complex and terri-fying questions, having almostno accurate answers. Nowhereon this earth, can one justifywar, leading to killing of civil-ians, either to protect onessovereign territories, groupsand especially to annex terri-tories of other countries.Hiroshima and Nagasaki aremindless human disasters andsymbols of ultimate war bru-tality. Not a single AmericanPresident so far has apolo-gised for this tragedy. BarrackObama was the first sitting USPresident to visit Hiroshima in2016, but he did never mentionof any such apology. The rem-nants of this horrendous

episode will remind mankindof the misuse of science & tech-nology developed by legendaryscientist Albert Einstein.Ironically, the great physicistwas an avowed pacifist!

(The writer is an expert oninternational affairs)

�������������8����������9�!�����,���9��#���������“All of the great leaders

have had one characteristic incommon: it was the willingnessto confront unequivocally themajor anxiety of their people intheir time. This, and not muchelse, is the essence of leadership.”

John Kenneth Galbraith inTHE AGE OF UNCERTAINTY

April 1983. I, first time inDelhi from a small town

Gorakhpur, having travelledmore than 24 hours to cover adistance of almost 800 oddkilometres, lodged in adharamshala where I was allot-ted a small room with slow-moving ceiling fan coupledwith totally ineffective andnon-functional fan-regulator.Beggars can’t be choosers. Itdoes not take much wisdom topronounce such dictums butrealisation of truth behindthese words was yet anothermilestone I reached in myearly life. Yes, India, then, wasa poor country by any socio-economic standard. Moreimportantly then even afteralmost 35 years of its indepen-dence, it had all the attributesbefitting the status of whatSwedish economist GunnarMyrdal, the most eclectic econ-omist of last century andfamous for his magnum opusThe Asian Drama, called Asiancountries “soft state”.

A day later, I was before theinterview board assessing myworth and ranking in CivilServices. One of the membersasked me if I had heard ofeconomist Galbraith and hisbook the Affluent Society. Myanswer was affirmative. Heasked me the meaning of theword, “affluent”. I replied; heseemed satisfied. Anotherquestion ensued. “Why didGalbraith call India ‘a func-tioning anarchy’?” I was at aloss for words. I had noanswers. But I took a chanceand quoted Nirad C Chaudhuriwho in the context of tardyimplementation of landreforms wrote in one of hisbooks, “We don’t have guts todo it.” The member looks at meambivalently and passed me onto the next member.

I have been an admirer asmuch as of Nirad CChaudhuri’s intellectualprowess as of Galbraith’s can-didly shared experiences. Howtrue both were? What Galbraithimplied, as is commonly under-stood, was that the country didwell despite the Governmentnot doing much. Governmentnot doing much was the maintheme of Galbraithian oxy-moron. What is a “soft state”?Myrdal had a definition readywith him. He illustrated a soft

state in terms of a set of char-acteristics. These inter-aliainclude 1) various types ofsocial indiscipline which man-ifest themselves by deficienciesin legislation and, in particular,law observance and enforce-ment, 2) a widespread disobe-dience by public officials and,3) often, their collusion withpowerful persons and groups...whose conduct they shouldregulate. Vested interests play avital role in soft state. Galbraithwrote, “Ideas may be superiorto vested interest. They arealso very often the children ofvested interest.”

For Myrdal “competence ofthe government of the poorcountry is itself a part of equi-librium of poverty.” Myrdalemphasised the intimate rela-tionship between poverty, pop-ulation and soft state.Functioning anarchy connoteswhen society develops andgrows in the absence of anyhelp from state like authorityand continues to perform itsnormal functions. Read togeth-er, both these terms combine torefer to a situation where soci-ety functions without any stateinterference and help. Theprincipal reason why Indiaremained a “soft state” or metthe criteria of “functioninganarchy” was absence of “guts”to take in time hard decisionsin larger public good.

India, for a fairly long time,represented a combination of asoft state enduring indifferenceand incompetence of its func-tionaries while a social orderexisted marked by inadequatefunctioning of both state andsociety. In India if we look at thebehaviour of society, individu-als, institutions, policy makingcircles and the social elite andsystems, there are reasons tobelieve that for a considerablepart of post freedom period, theillusion of governance ratherthan good governance was theperceived reality.

With the BJP coming topower under the leadership ofNarendra Modi in 2014, theimage of India as a soft state hasundergone complete change.Last six years have witnessedfoundational changes in econ-omy and society. The scenariois much cleaner: the haze hasvanished, transparency isinbuilt in decisions taken andthe hands of a strong firmleader are writ large. NeitherGunnar Myrdal’s “soft state”nor does Galbrathian “func-tioning anarchy” holds water.The leader of almost 138 croreIndians leads from the front: beit digitisation, demonetisation,a new India, surgical strike,handling Covid pandemic or

recent skirmishes with China.Let us take three examples.

During recent past inremote Ladakh region border-ing China, the soldiers of thetwo countries did face off fornearly two months. In June thisyear there was hand-to-handcombat between Indian andChinese soldiers that resultedin causalities on both sides. Itwas the worst confrontation inover four decades between twocountries which fought a bor-der war in 1962, spilling intoLadakh. The two countrieshave been trying to settle theirborder dispute since the early1990s, without success. Thedisputed border covers nearly3,500 kilometres of frontierreferred to as the Line of ActualControl and stretches fromLadakh in the north to theIndian State of Sikkim in theNorth-east. Indian leadershipheaded by the strong PrimeMinister took an extremelycourageous step to correct ahistorical wrong. It declaredLadakh a federal territory whileseparating it from Kashmir inAugust 2019, ending the terri-tory’s semi-autonomous status.It must have infuriated Chinathat condemned the move.Historical wrongs by one coun-try more often than not pleasemany countries especiallyneighbours. These open gatesfor other countries to fish introubled waters.

Prime Minister NarendraModi made an unannouncedvisit to this region. He mettroops in Ladakh region andinteracted with brave armedforces personnel. Praising thevalour of Indian jawans, hechanted, “Long live motherIndia.” Reminding that “afterevery crisis, India has emergedstronger,” the Prime Ministersaid, “Enemies of India haveseen your fire and fury.” Andgave a firm message, “Days ofexpansionism are over.Expansionism creates dangerfor world peace. This is an eraof development. Expansionistforces have either lost or forcedto turn back.” His message wasloud and clear: he meant busi-ness. No-nonsense attituderequires political guts and nowthere is no dearth of it.Government’s decision to banChinese apps and do awaywith many big projects that hadgone to Chinese companiesmust have taken China byutter surprise. First time in thehistory of independent India,an Indian leader showed firm-ness of voice and intent.Similarly in case of Pulwamaterrorist massacre, there was aretaliatory Indian airstrike onthe Jaish-e-Mohammed’s lair in

Balakot. The days of a soft stateare over. Modi minces nowords when it comes to callinga spade a spade: be it within thecountry or outside especiallywith irking neighbours.

Second, let us now come toabolition of Article 370. Article370 of the Constitution grant-ed special status to Jammu &Kashmir whereby provisions ofthe Constitution which wereapplicable to other States werenot applicable to J&K. This arti-cle provided, except for defense,foreign affairs, finance andcommunications, Parliamentneeds the State Government’sconcurrence for applying allother laws. Did it not soundridiculous? Over a period oftime, Article 370 allowed vest-ed interests within Jammu &Kashmir prosper for their ownnefarious purposes. Mostimportantly Article 370 com-promised the unity, integrityand sovereignty of the country.Article 370 created power eliteswielding prodigious power andcontrol over resources resultingin genuine demands of com-mon people remaining unmet.Article 370 was utilised todeprive both Ladakh andJammu region of a fair share ofeconomic pie. While, Article370 provided political, eco-nomic and cultural and othersafeguards to Kashmiris, it wasalso misused by some to denythe same safeguards to people

of other regions of the State.Existence of Article 370brought sufferings, traumaboth physical and psychologi-cal and alienation to commonpeople of J&K.

In August 2019, theGovernment abolished Article370 that gave special status toJammu & Kashmir. It alsomoved a Bill to bifurcate theState into two separate unionterritories of Jammu & Kashmir,and Ladakh. The UT in Ladakhwill have no legislature likeChandigarh while the otherUT of Jammu & Kashmir willhave a legislature like Delhi andPuducherry. The move deserveshigh praise for it corrected a his-torical wrong. It’s easy to com-mit historical wrongs with aview to obtain some short-term benefits with long-termadverse consequences but cor-recting such historical wrongsreally requires tough interior ofleadership and political guts. Ahistorical wrong existing fordecades can be corrected onlyby a leader who has visionaryqualities in him both: short-term and long-term. One of themost important consequencesof abolition of Article 370 is nowthe veil covering J&K has evap-orated. Article 370 that prompt-ed separatist forces to feelenthused to indulge in sepa-ratism, including terrorist activ-ities, will now not protect them.The monopoly of a few house-holds in J&K to hold the UnionGovernment to ransom endedand ended for good. Sunrayscan now peep into J&K andtransparency is very muchalready in place. Abolition willalso help economically weakersections. For example, duringlast one year, the Governmentissued domicile certificates toWest Pakistani refugees,Valminki Community. Thiscommunity, along withGorkhas, was considered non-state subjects and thus wasdeprived of their citizenshiprights. The process of assimila-tion of Kashmiris into thenational mainstream has begun.

Third, demonetisation. Theconcept of New India and digi-tisation cannot be achievedwithout demonetisation.Economists, by and large,believe that delivery of publicgoods through the systemsbefore high-value currencynotes were demonetised inNovember 2016 was imbuedwith corruption leading to hugedelays and inefficiency. Blackmoney implied parallel econo-my eating into the vitals ofhealthy economic relations.The objective of demonetisationwas to curtail the black moneyrunning as shadow economy

and to prevent the use of coun-terfeit cash to fund illegal activ-ity and terrorism. The movewas riddled with administrativehiccups which got overcomewith the passage of time.

The audacity of the movesent out a strong signal aboutgovernmental determinationto establish rule of law and pur-sue it firmly and vigorously.There has been a markedbroadening of India’s directtax base. The lesson learnt isthat the premium on honestyhas been restored.Demonetisation is the greatestfinancial reform aiming attackling black money, illegalpractices and counterfeit cur-rency notes. The move hasalready helped the Governmentto track the black money andthe amount collected by meansof tax can be better utilised forthe public welfare and devel-opment schemes. Most impor-tantly, demonetisation has beenseen as a move to place a dras-tic curb on terrorist activities.The funding of the terrorismbecause of inflow of unac-counted cash and fake curren-cy in huge quantity hasstopped. Money launderingwill eventually end as suchactivities can easily be trackedand lawful action initiated.One key impact of demoneti-sation has been that more peo-ple have made digital pay-ments part of their lives andloved moving towards a cash-less economy. The end resultshave been successful digitisa-tion, honest transactions andfinancial transparency both inpublic and private life by effec-tively pushing the transitionfrom a cash-based to digitallyenabled economy. Digitisationand demonetisation makeexcellent bed-fellow. Bothencourage access to techno-logical innovation, enhance-ment of digital financial ser-vices infrastructure and greaterfinancial inclusion. For poli-cymakers it is easier now topinpoint areas relevant todesigning policies needed tofacilitate the adoption of digi-tal payment systems. Coupledwith tax and regulatory over-haul, demonetisation is set toboost economic growth andprosperity. Demonetisation isan essential measure tostrengthen democracy.

In my view the most cru-cial element that has con-tributed to the end of “softstate” and “functioning anar-chy” is massive empowermentof people particularly fromlower strata of society. Thosewho listen to “Mann Ki Baat”programme of the PrimeMinister, delivered on last

Sunday of every month, musthave noticed it is a mightymeans for the Prime Ministerto reach out to 138 crore peo-ple and equally mighty meansfor 138 crore people to reachout to the Prime Minister. Thisis real empowerment. Realempowerment brings nationalunity and collective prosperi-ty. It ends vested interests andcorruption. It allows sunrays toillumine people and society.

Before we finish and cometo a conclusion, it is pertinentto highlight what Galbraithrecorded in The Age ofUncertainty regarding his asso-ciation with India’s first PrimeMinister Jawaharlal Nehru. Letme quote Galbraith, “ForNehru, the temptation toequivocate was especiallystrong. Nehru himself movedeasily among Europeans, oftenwith a poorly concealed senseof his own superior grace andeducation. Once he told me,again not quite seriously, thathe would be the lastEnglishman to be PrimeMinister of India… WhenHitler became the great sourceof anxiety, Roosevelt faced thatfear, as did Winston Churchilland Charles de Gaulle. Nehrudid not have a similar capaci-ty for change… In his lastyears his leadership suffered. Aleader must be able to confrontthe anxieties of his time. Hemust also change as thesechanges.” Nehru did not changewith changing mass anxieties,and thus his leadership suffered in his last years, so said Galbraith.

The three above citedexamples which are only illus-trative and not exhaustiveanswer very effectively whetherIndia is still a “soft state” or “afunctioning anarchy”? Theanswer is an emphatic “No”.India functions much better, itbelieves in sagacity and benev-olence but it has done away withbeing a “soft state”. The signs ofcomplacency, general inertiaand propensity towardsappeasement of certain sec-tions of society prevalent insociety have vanished. Harddecisions with positive conse-quences of far-reaching effectare being taken in the interest ofnation and people. To draw ananalogy from Galbraith whowrote in the same book “Thegreatest support to evasioncomes from complexity. Theproblem seeming difficult, wepostpone, compromise, yieldto conveniences of politics.”That is simple hari-kari andPrime Minister Modi has sim-ply put an end to such hara-kirisby not evading taking harddecisions. Thus the first require-

ment of India ceasing to beeither a “soft state” or a “func-tioning anarchy” has been morethan adequately met by theleader of the nation who withhis visionary qualities not only“confronts the anxieties of histime” but also changes as thesechange. Narendra Modi asPrime Minister has successful-ly confronted the anxieties of138 crore Indians. This in turnoffers a New India which pre-serves and enhances humanfreedom, fosters prosperity,reduces inequality, discrimina-tion and oppression and aboveall upholds the dignity of humanbeings. India is well poised at agreat moment in its history.

(Born in Gorakhpur in1960, KK Srivastava did hisMasters in Economics fromGorakhpur University in 1980and joined Indian Audit &Accounts Service in 1983. He isa poet, writer and critic. Hisfourth book Soliloquy of a SmallTown Uncivil Servant: a literarynon-fiction published in March2019 by Rupa Publications,New Delhi has been receivinginternational acclaim in literaryfield. He was Additional DeputyComptroller and AuditorGeneral in the office ofComptroller & Auditor Generalof India when he superannuat-ed recently. Views expressedhere are his own)

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We are all born with a sense offreedom ingrained in ourmind. So, unless otherwise

forced by circumstances, one wouldwish to live on own exclusive terms. If,perchance, the ego level is high, onewould not care for other’s sensibilitiesand concerns either, often inviting dis-comfort. In this complex world, whereevery being is born unique, each mani-festing varying desire and mind traits, isit possible to pursue one’s whims andfancies unhindered? Not at all, in fact,the world is a natural breeding groundfor conflict of interest. So, no initiativeor movement can come about withoutbeing faced with challenges. That callsfor a lesson in the ‘art of living’, whichmay help us intelligently negotiate withthe callings of life, overriding all oddscoming our way.

The other day a worried mothercame asking: “Sir, my daughter is inacute stress. She is very intelligent. Yet,she is struggling in her career. She wasnot comfortable in her job. In a state ofdesperation, she left her job and is nowpursuing her own business venture. Herealso, things are not moving along theexpected lines. She doesn’t get along

with her family members either. Pleaseguide me as to what is in store for her?”

Well, in so far as your daughter’spotential is concerned, she has thecapacity to make it big in life. Provided,she overcomes her inherent fault linesthat stand in way of her positives bloom-ing out in full. Intelligence by itself can’tensure success. Even more important isto learn how to use it productively. Itappears that she may keep breeding verygood ideas, but because of her own infir-mities she is not able to successfully pur-sue them to their logical end.

Here, an insight into astrologicalpointers to her personality traitsbecomes imperative. The main markeris Mercury, the lagna as well as Moonsign lord. Although Mercury is exalted,meaning high level of intelligence andanalytical abilities, but is ill-disposed offto Moon, Mars, Uranus and Neptune.This planetary alignment, in the firstplace implies that plurality is her pas-sion and would never be satisfied withthe just one task in hand. Midwaythrough, she may delve into too manythings, leaving all of them half way. She,thus can’t remain riveted to her prioritypreferences. Second, she wishes to live

on her own exclusive terms. She wouldbe stuck to her delusional perceptions,and not prepared to look beyond for areality check. Third, she literally suffersfrom ‘I am the only right person syn-drome’, as if others are not intelligentenough to understand and appreciateher perception. She would wish from allothers to follow her script. If someonedisagrees, she may become overcritical,and would not hesitate passing sarcasticremarks. In fact, ‘my way or high way’ isher attitude. Fourth, she is temperamen-tal, moody and irritable. What furthercompounds her problem is thatMercury is placed adverse to Neptune,which accounts for her insensible rea-soning and judgment. Fifth, Moonopposite Uranus gives her a mercurialtemperament. Sixth, she is vulnerable tosuffer from inferiority complex, whichcomes into play as and when thingsdon’t move on expected lines. All puttogether tells upon her interpersonalrelationship skills, which is why she isnot able to get along with others. It maynot come as a surprise that she wouldbe trying to force her ideas even on herclients. Later, admitting this, the girlsaid: “Sir, I try to give my best to thembut they don’t appreciated my view-

point.” What she doesn’t understandthat the client is better conversant withhis logistics, and accordingly he mayhave other perspective, which she needsto appreciate. With this mindset, thebusiness won’t grow. On top of all that,the Sun placed adverse to Jupiter speaksof her swaggering ego, which makes herstuck to her self-defined parameters andwould not take kindly, if a contrarianview is offered even with best intent.Instead of trying to understand what theother person really means, and accord-ingly make necessary amends, she willbecome overcritical and try to defendherself. And the result is there to see.

All the above infirmities could beovercome given the fact that benevolentJupiter extends its harmonious aspect onMercury, which also speaks loud of herimmense potential, lying dormant thusfar. Provided, she consciously exploitsthis inlaid potential, when her positivesmay come into full play that may leadher towards a better tomorrow.

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