A fter agreeing to hold upgraded military-level talks this week, China is yet to confirm the date, stalling attempt to defuse the volatile situation prevailing at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh. The situation is so grim that the border saw at least four incidents of firing by the Indian and Chinese armies in the last 15 days. Tension cooled down after extensive talks between External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on September 10. It was agreed there to continue the military and diplomatic-level talks. Sources said China was yet to inform India about the next date though they had agreed in principle to have the next round sometime this week. With the Opposition seek- ing to know from the Government if China occupied any part of our land during repeated attempted transgres- sion since May, the Defence Minister will make a state- ment on India-China issue in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday. This announcement came after a meeting chaired by the Defence Minister resolved that the Government will allow dis- cussions on issues like the China crisis, GST, Covid and National Education Policy. During the meeting, Rajnath agreed to take one or two questions on the LAC sit- uation after his speech in the Rajya Sabha. India is concerned over the PLA troops build-up because the Chinese have so far not given any indication of starting the process of genuine disengagement. So far Lt General Harinder Singh and his Chinese counterpart Liu Lin have held five rounds of talks since June but could not achieve any breakthrough. In the last round of talks on August 2, both sides agreed to withdraw their troops from the friction points and pull back additional troops from the depth areas as a confidence- building measure. However, China later refused to do so and the stalemate continues. Holding a bilateral meeting at the political level in Moscow for the first time since the stand-off on the LAC in Eastern Ladakh started in May, the two Foreign Ministers agreed on a five-point plan to disengage and de-escalate at the border. Since then relative peace prevailed with both the armies staying put at their positions on all the friction points. As regards incidents of fir- ing, sources said here on Wednesday the border wit- nessed four such episodes. This revelation came even as both the sides so far maintained that one incident had taken place on September 7. While China had blamed India of opening fire, India flatly denied the accusa- tion and held responsible Chinese troops for breaching the 45-year-old peace. Giving the chronology of events, sources in the security establishment said the first two incidents took place on August 29 and 30 when the Indian troops thwarted a Chinese provocative action to advance into south bank of the Pangong Tso (lake). The third incident also took place there on September 7 when the belligerent Chinese troops fired warning shots in the air but the Indian Army maintained calm. This provocative act by the Chinese was part of a failed attempt to dislodge the Indian Army troops now positioned on the strategically important hill tops in the area. This firing incident was just four days after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his Chinese counterpart held more than two hour-long bilateral meetings in Moscow during the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meet on September 4. The fourth episode of both sides firing in the air as a warn- ing was reported from the northern bank of the Pangong Tso (lake) on September 9. It was a day before Jaishankar was to hold parleys with Wang Yi. The Indian Army in a pre- emptive move readjusted its troop deployment and occu- pied heights on the north bank in the first week of this month. The Chinese have intruded more than five km here and have deployed a large number of troops. However, the surprise move by the Indian Army now has placed it in an advanta- geous position as it now over- looks the Chinese posts at most points in the zone. This rattled them and the Chinese tried to dislodge the Indian troops on September 7 and 10 leading to firing, sources said. Since then, the Indian Army is now deployed on key hills, including Black Top besides Rezang La and Rechin La. Mountain passes are known as La in the Tibetan language. The latest attempt by the PLA to remove the Indian soldiers was in the area between these two mountain passes at Mukhpari, sources said. T he special CBI court hearing the Babri mosque demolition case of December 6, 1992, in which senior BJP leaders LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Kalyan Singh and Uma Bharti are among the 32 accused, will pro- nounce its judgment on September 30. Special judge SK Yadav has completed all the arguments and reserved his judgment on September 2 last. The special court has direct- ed all the 32 accused, including former Deputy Prime Minister Advani, former Union Minister Joshi and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh, to be present in the court on the day of the judgment. The hearing of the trial was completed on August 30 but the written submission was made on September 2, after which the ver- dict was reserved. The special judge SK Yadav, who has retired but was on extension by the orders of the Supreme Court, has been asked by the SC to complete the for- malities by September 30. Advani, who recorded his statement on July 24, 2020 through video conferencing, had denied all charges of the CBI made against him on the con- spiracy to demolish the Babri mosque structure. Similarly, Joshi pleaded to say he was innocent. Dr Joshi said he was not pre- sent there at the time of the demolition and he was political- ly implicated in the case. Kalyan, while appearing before the trial court on July 13, 2020 had blamed the then Congress Government of impli- cating him in the Ayodhya demo- lition case. “As a Chief Minister of UP, we had made elaborate security to protect the structure and from time to time have given orders to strengthen its security cover,” he had said before the court. Kalyan was admitted in the SGPGI for treatment of Covid. The other accused, who recorded their statements are BJP MPs Braj Bhushan Sharan Singh, Lalu Singh, Sakshi Maharaj, for- mer MPs Vinay Katiyar, Ram Vilas Vedanti , VHP leader and Ramjanambhoomi Tirath Khetra Trust general secretary Champat Rai, Sadhvi Ritambhara, Mahant Nritya Gopal Das, Mahant Dharamdas, R N Srivavastava, Pawan Kumar Pandey and Satish Pradhan. T he Special Cell of Delhi Police on Wednesday filed a 17,500-page chargesheet against 15 people at Karkardooma court in a “larger conspiracy” case under the stringent anti terror law — Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act -related to the communal violence that broke out in February in the national Capital. Police have so far arrested 21 people and 15 names men- tioned in the chargesheet are based on scientific, documen- tary and testimonial evidence gathered during investigation. Police said the chargesheet against the remaining six names will be filed after col- lecting sufficient evidence and completing statutory and pro- cedural requirements. Among those named in the chargesheet are Pinjra Tod members and JNU students Natasha Narwal and Devangana Kalita, Jamia Millia Islamia student Asif Iqbal Tanha, former Congress Councillor Ishrat Jahan, Meeran Haider, Jamia Coordination Committee members Safoora Zargar, expelled Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Councillor Tahir Hussain and activist Khalid Saifi. Apart from these, the names of Mohammad Pervez Ahmed, Mohammad Illas, Shahdab Ahmad, Taslim Ahmad, Salim Malik, Mohammad Salim Khan and Athar Khan appear in the chargesheet as key conspirators. According to police, the chargesheet includes accounts of over 700 witnesses, techni- cal evidences WhatsApp chats and call data records (CDRs). “Police teams have specif- ically mentioned about the WhatsApp chats on February 24 as evidence in the chargesheet. That was the time when riots were happening in the city. At that point, the key conspirators were guiding their foot shoulders about violence in the Northeast area. They were directly in touch with riot- ers,” said the sources. Continued on Page 11 T ata Projects Ltd has emerged as lowest bidder for the project to construct and maintain the new Parliament building for five years. After the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) opened financial bids, on Wednesday, Tata Projects Ltd quoted a bid worth 861.90 crore, while Larsen and Toubro Ltd quoted 865 crore. The bid document estimated the cost of the project at roughly 889 crore. Work on the building is likely to begin after the ongo- ing Monsoon Session of Parliament comes to an end. According to the CPWD, three bidders had qualified in the technical round but only two firms ended up submitting their financial bids. Shapoorji Pallonji & Company Private Limited was the third firms which qualified for financial bids for this project. “The contract is likely to be awarded to the lowest bidder. In infrastructure projects the firm is finalised only after get- ting the letter of award for the project,” the officials added. The proposed work is of very prestigious nature and is required to be completed with- in the prescribed 21 months with the highest standards of quality and workmanship, the bid document said. Continued on Page 11 T he Opposition on Wednesday alleged that the imposition of the nationwide lockdown in the wake of Covid pandemic situation was delayed because of the “Namaste Trump” event and to bring down the elected Government in Madhya Pradesh. Participating in the first ever discussion in the Rajya Sabha on the Covid-19 situa- tion, DMK MP Tiruchi Siva said that the Government deliberately delayed the lock- down and the reason was Donald Trump. “Was the lockdown announcement delayed because of US President Donald Trump’s February visit? The delay was because of Donald Trump. You had a gala event planned,” Siva said. US President Donald Trump made a two-day State visit to India beginning February 23. The events planned for his trip included a massive “Namaste Trump” rally in Ahmedabad. Responding to Health Minister Harsh Vardhan’s state- ment, the Opposition was of the view that the lockdown was unplanned and the people suf- fered as a result. Congress leader Anand Sharma initiated the discussion on the statement of Health Minister and targeted the Government over the “sudden lockdown”. He said the Government is claiming it pre- vented nearly 14 to 29 lakh Covid-19 infections and now the Centre is saying it does not have the data for migrant labourers. Continued on Page 11 D elhi’s Covid-19 tally rose to more than 2.30 lakh after record 4,473 fresh cases were reported on Wednesday, which was the highest single-day spike in the national Capital recorded so far. Meanwhile, Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta on Wednesday said he has tested positive for Covid-19. “I was feeling unwell. The first report was negative. The report has now come as positive,” he said in a tweet in Hindi. Thirty-three fatalities pushed the death toll in the national Capital to 4,839, according to the latest bulletin issued by the Delhi health department. Four of these 33 deaths are from the previous days. The Covid-19 death toll in Delhi stood at 4,806 on Tuesday. A gainst the backdrop of the massive troop buildup along the Line of Actual Control in Eastern Ladakh and several skirmishes between China’s PLA and the Indian Army since May, the Centre on Wednesday informed the Rajya Sabha that “no infiltration has been reported along the India- China border during the last six months.” Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai said in a writ- ten reply that since February there had been 47 cases of attempted infiltration along the India-Pakistan border and added that “no infiltration has been reported along India- China border during the last six months.” BJP MP Anil Agarwal asked the Upper House in a written question whether it was a fact that cases of infil- tration from Pakistan and China had increased in the last six months. On Tuesday, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh informed the Lok Sabha that China had mobilised a large number of troops and arma- ment along the LAC as well as in the “depth areas.” He said the LAC was not commonly delineated. Singh said that in early May, the Chinese side took action to hinder the normal, traditional patrolling pattern of Indian troops in the Galwan valley area, causing a face-off. However, MHA officials said the answer by Nityanand Rai is not in conflict with what Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has said. “Infiltration as terminology is associated with terrorists or action where a hostile element sneaks into our territory and moves to the hin- terland,” a senior official said. MHA officials added that Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had also spoken about attempted transgressions by Chinese troops in his address to the Lok Sabha on Tuesday. Continued on Page 11 A purported statement from the Indian Army about its operational preparedness to take on China in a war has cre- ated a lot of confusion after the “statement” was cancelled on Wednesday evening. The source of the confu- sion was an email sent by the PRO of Udhampur (Defence) to Jammu-based reporters of all major TV channels and print media. The statement attributed to a spokesman of the Northern Command said, “The Indian Army is fully pre- pared and more than capable of fighting a full-fledged war even in winters in Eastern Ladakh.” The spokesman said the Indian soldiers have experi- ence of winter warfare and are psychologically tuned to oper- ate at short notice. He said, “The Indian Army has experience in Siachen where conditions are much more demanding than the frontiers with China.” Continued on Page 11 F or once, the number of COVID-19 patients who recovered was more than the fresh cases reported across Uttar Pradesh and in the state capital on Wednesday. As many as 869 people tested positive for coronavirus infection in Lucknow, taking the tally to 41,958 on Wednesday evening. However, 986 COVID-19 patients recovered in the city during the last 24 hours. With this, 31,827 coronavirus infect- ed people have been cured in the city so far. At present 9,577 active cases are undergoing treatment. There were 16 COVID-19 deaths in he city, pushing the toll to 554. The health workers col- lected 9,866 samples for testing in the district. Meanwhile, 6,337 people tested positive across the state, taking the tally of confirmed cases to 3,30,265. With 6,476 COVID-19 patients recovering in the last 24 hours, 2,58,573 infected people have been cured in the state which has 67,002 active cases.
talks this week, China is yet toconfirm the date, stallingattempt to defuse the volatilesituation prevailing at the Lineof Actual Control (LAC) inLadakh. The situation is sogrim that the border saw atleast four incidents of firing bythe Indian and Chinese armiesin the last 15 days.
Tension cooled down afterextensive talks betweenExternal Affairs Minister SJaishankar and his Chinesecounterpart Wang Yi onSeptember 10. It was agreedthere to continue the militaryand diplomatic-level talks.
Sources said China wasyet to inform India about thenext date though they hadagreed in principle to have the next round sometime this week.
With the Opposition seek-ing to know from theGovernment if China occupiedany part of our land duringrepeated attempted transgres-sion since May, the DefenceMinister will make a state-ment on India-China issue inthe Rajya Sabha on Thursday.
This announcement cameafter a meeting chaired by theDefence Minister resolved thatthe Government will allow dis-
cussions on issues like theChina crisis, GST, Covid andNational Education Policy.
During the meeting,Rajnath agreed to take one ortwo questions on the LAC sit-uation after his speech in theRajya Sabha.
India is concerned overthe PLA troops build-upbecause the Chinese have so farnot given any indication ofstarting the process of genuinedisengagement. So far LtGeneral Harinder Singh andhis Chinese counterpart LiuLin have held five rounds oftalks since June but could notachieve any breakthrough. Inthe last round of talks onAugust 2, both sides agreed towithdraw their troops from thefriction points and pull backadditional troops from thedepth areas as a confidence-building measure. However,China later refused to do soand the stalemate continues.
Holding a bilateral meetingat the political level in Moscowfor the first time since thestand-off on the LAC inEastern Ladakh started in May,the two Foreign Ministersagreed on a five-point plan todisengage and de-escalate at theborder. Since then relativepeace prevailed with both thearmies staying put at theirpositions on all the frictionpoints.
As regards incidents of fir-ing, sources said here onWednesday the border wit-nessed four such episodes. Thisrevelation came even as boththe sides so far maintained thatone incident had taken place onSeptember 7. While China hadblamed India of opening fire,India flatly denied the accusa-tion and held responsibleChinese troops for breachingthe 45-year-old peace.
Giving the chronology ofevents, sources in the securityestablishment said the firsttwo incidents took place onAugust 29 and 30 when theIndian troops thwarted aChinese provocative action toadvance into south bank of thePangong Tso (lake).
The third incident also
took place there on September7 when the belligerent Chinesetroops fired warning shots inthe air but the Indian Armymaintained calm. This
provocative act by the Chinesewas part of a failed attempt todislodge the Indian Armytroops now positioned on thestrategically important hill tops
in the area.This firing incident was
just four days after DefenceMinister Rajnath Singh and hisChinese counterpart held morethan two hour-long bilateralmeetings in Moscow duringthe Shanghai CooperationOrganisation (SCO) meet onSeptember 4.
The fourth episode of bothsides firing in the air as a warn-ing was reported from thenorthern bank of the PangongTso (lake) on September 9. Itwas a day before Jaishankar wasto hold parleys with Wang Yi.
The Indian Army in a pre-emptive move readjusted itstroop deployment and occu-pied heights on the north bankin the first week of this month.The Chinese have intrudedmore than five km here andhave deployed a large numberof troops.
However, the surprisemove by the Indian Army nowhas placed it in an advanta-geous position as it now over-looks the Chinese posts at
most points in the zone. Thisrattled them and the Chinesetried to dislodge the Indiantroops on September 7 and 10leading to firing, sources said.
Since then, the IndianArmy is now deployed on keyhills, including Black Top
besides Rezang La and RechinLa. Mountain passes are knownas La in the Tibetan language.The latest attempt by the PLAto remove the Indian soldierswas in the area between thesetwo mountain passes atMukhpari, sources said.
����� 1(,��4)
The special CBI court hearingthe Babri mosque demolition
case of December 6, 1992, inwhich senior BJP leaders LKAdvani, Murli Manohar Joshi,Kalyan Singh and Uma Bharti areamong the 32 accused, will pro-nounce its judgment onSeptember 30.
Special judge SK Yadav hascompleted all the arguments andreserved his judgment onSeptember 2 last.
The special court has direct-ed all the 32 accused, includingformer Deputy Prime MinisterAdvani, former Union MinisterJoshi and former Uttar PradeshChief Minister Kalyan Singh, tobe present in the court on the dayof the judgment.
The hearing of the trial wascompleted on August 30 but thewritten submission was made onSeptember 2, after which the ver-
dict was reserved.The special judge SK Yadav,
who has retired but was onextension by the orders of theSupreme Court, has been askedby the SC to complete the for-malities by September 30.
Advani, who recorded hisstatement on July 24, 2020through video conferencing, haddenied all charges of the CBImade against him on the con-spiracy to demolish the Babrimosque structure.
Similarly, Joshi pleaded to
say he was innocent. Dr Joshi said he was not pre-
sent there at the time of thedemolition and he was political-ly implicated in the case.
Kalyan, while appearingbefore the trial court on July 13,2020 had blamed the thenCongress Government of impli-cating him in the Ayodhya demo-lition case.
“As a Chief Minister of UP,we had made elaborate securityto protect the structure and fromtime to time have given orders tostrengthen its security cover,” hehad said before the court.
Kalyan was admitted in theSGPGI for treatment of Covid.
The other accused, whorecorded their statements are BJPMPs Braj Bhushan Sharan Singh,Lalu Singh, Sakshi Maharaj, for-mer MPs Vinay Katiyar, RamVilas Vedanti , VHP leader andRamjanambhoomi Tirath KhetraTrust general secretary ChampatRai, Sadhvi Ritambhara, MahantNritya Gopal Das, MahantDharamdas, R N Srivavastava,Pawan Kumar Pandey and SatishPradhan.
����������� �0)�'0123
The Special Cell of DelhiPolice on Wednesday filed a
17,500-page chargesheet against15 people at Karkardooma courtin a “larger conspiracy” caseunder the stringent anti terrorlaw — Unlawful Activities(Prevention) Act -related to thecommunal violence that broke out in February in thenational Capital.
Police have so far arrested21 people and 15 names men-tioned in the chargesheet arebased on scientific, documen-tary and testimonial evidencegathered during investigation.Police said the chargesheetagainst the remaining sixnames will be filed after col-lecting sufficient evidence andcompleting statutory and pro-
cedural requirements.Among those named in the
chargesheet are Pinjra Todmembers and JNU studentsNatasha Narwal andDevangana Kalita, Jamia MilliaIslamia student Asif IqbalTanha, former CongressCouncillor Ishrat Jahan,
Meeran Haider, JamiaCoordination Committeemembers Safoora Zargar,expelled Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) Councillor TahirHussain and activist KhalidSaifi. Apart from these, thenames of Mohammad PervezAhmed, Mohammad Illas,Shahdab Ahmad, TaslimAhmad, Salim Malik,Mohammad Salim Khan andAthar Khan appear in thechargesheet as key conspirators.
According to police, thechargesheet includes accountsof over 700 witnesses, techni-cal evidences WhatsApp chatsand call data records (CDRs).
“Police teams have specif-ically mentioned about theWhatsApp chats on February24 as evidence in thechargesheet. That was the timewhen riots were happening inthe city. At that point, the keyconspirators were guiding theirfoot shoulders about violencein the Northeast area. Theywere directly in touch with riot-ers,” said the sources.
Continued on Page 11
������������� �0)�'0123
Tata Projects Ltd hasemerged as lowest bidder
for the project to construct andmaintain the new Parliamentbuilding for five years.
After the Central PublicWorks Department (CPWD)opened financial bids, onWednesday, Tata Projects Ltdquoted a bid worth �861.90crore, while Larsen and ToubroLtd quoted �865 crore. The biddocument estimated the cost ofthe project at roughly �889crore. Work on the building islikely to begin after the ongo-ing Monsoon Session ofParliament comes to an end.
According to the CPWD,three bidders had qualified inthe technical round but onlytwo firms ended up submittingtheir financial bids. Shapoorji
Pallonji & Company PrivateLimited was the third firmswhich qualified for financialbids for this project.
“The contract is likely to beawarded to the lowest bidder.In infrastructure projects thefirm is finalised only after get-ting the letter of award for theproject,” the officials added.
The proposed work is ofvery prestigious nature and isrequired to be completed with-in the prescribed 21 monthswith the highest standards ofquality and workmanship, thebid document said.
Continued on Page 11
����� �0)�'0123
The Opposition onWednesday alleged that the
imposition of the nationwidelockdown in the wake of Covidpandemic situation was delayedbecause of the “NamasteTrump” event and to bringdown the elected Governmentin Madhya Pradesh.
Participating in the firstever discussion in the RajyaSabha on the Covid-19 situa-tion, DMK MP Tiruchi Sivasaid that the Governmentdeliberately delayed the lock-down and the reason wasDonald Trump.
“Was the lockdownannouncement delayedbecause of US PresidentDonald Trump’s February visit?The delay was because ofDonald Trump. You had a galaevent planned,” Siva said.
US President DonaldTrump made a two-day Statevisit to India beginningFebruary 23. The eventsplanned for his trip included amassive “Namaste Trump” rallyin Ahmedabad.
Responding to HealthMinister Harsh Vardhan’s state-ment, the Opposition was ofthe view that the lockdown wasunplanned and the people suf-fered as a result.
Congress leader AnandSharma initiated the discussionon the statement of HealthMinister and targeted theGovernment over the “suddenlockdown”. He said theGovernment is claiming it pre-vented nearly 14 to 29 lakhCovid-19 infections and nowthe Centre is saying it does nothave the data for migrantlabourers.
Continued on Page 11
���������������� �0)�'0123
Delhi’s Covid-19 tally rose tomore than 2.30 lakh after
record 4,473 fresh cases werereported on Wednesday, whichwas the highest single-dayspike in the national Capitalrecorded so far.
Meanwhile, Delhi BJPpresident Adesh Gupta onWednesday said he has testedpositive for Covid-19. “I wasfeeling unwell. The first reportwas negative. The report hasnow come as positive,” he saidin a tweet in Hindi.
Thirty-three fatalitiespushed the death toll in thenational Capital to 4,839,according to the latest bulletinissued by the Delhi healthdepartment. Four of these 33deaths are from the previousdays. The Covid-19 death tollin Delhi stood at 4,806 onTuesday.
along the Line of ActualControl in Eastern Ladakhand several skirmishesbetween China’s PLA and theIndian Army since May, theCentre on Wednesdayinformed the Rajya Sabha that“no infiltration has beenreported along the India-China border during the lastsix months.”
Minister of State for HomeNityanand Rai said in a writ-ten reply that since Februarythere had been 47 cases ofattempted infiltration alongthe India-Pakistan border andadded that “no infiltrationhas been reported along India-China border during the lastsix months.”
BJP MP Anil Agarwalasked the Upper House in awritten question whether itwas a fact that cases of infil-tration from Pakistan andChina had increased in the lastsix months.
On Tuesday, DefenceMinister Rajnath Singhinformed the Lok Sabha thatChina had mobilised a largenumber of troops and arma-ment along the LAC as well asin the “depth areas.” He saidthe LAC was not commonlydelineated.
Singh said that in earlyMay, the Chinese side tookaction to hinder the normal,traditional patrolling patternof Indian troops in the Galwanvalley area, causing a face-off.
However, MHA officialssaid the answer by NityanandRai is not in conflict with whatDefence Minister RajnathSingh has said. “Infiltration asterminology is associated withterrorists or action where ahostile element sneaks into ourterritory and moves to the hin-terland,” a senior official said.
MHA officials added thatDefence Minister RajnathSingh had also spoken aboutattempted transgressions byChinese troops in his addressto the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
Continued on Page 11
����� �0)�'0123
Apurported statement fromthe Indian Army about its
operational preparedness totake on China in a war has cre-ated a lot of confusion after the“statement” was cancelled onWednesday evening.
The source of the confu-sion was an email sent by the
PRO of Udhampur (Defence)to Jammu-based reporters ofall major TV channels andprint media. The statementattributed to a spokesman ofthe Northern Command said,“The Indian Army is fully pre-pared and more than capableof fighting a full-fledged wareven in winters in EasternLadakh.”
The spokesman said theIndian soldiers have experi-ence of winter warfare and arepsychologically tuned to oper-ate at short notice.
He said, “The IndianArmy has experience inSiachen where conditions aremuch more demanding thanthe frontiers with China.”
recovered was more than thefresh cases reported acrossUttar Pradesh and in the statecapital on Wednesday. As manyas 869 people tested positive forcoronavirus infection inLucknow, taking the tally to41,958 on Wednesday evening.
However, 986 COVID-19patients recovered in the cityduring the last 24 hours. Withthis, 31,827 coronavirus infect-ed people have been cured inthe city so far. At present 9,577active cases are undergoingtreatment. There were 16COVID-19 deaths in he city,pushing the toll to 554.
The health workers col-lected 9,866 samples for testingin the district.
Meanwhile, 6,337 peopletested positive across the state,taking the tally of confirmedcases to 3,30,265. With 6,476COVID-19 patients recoveringin the last 24 hours, 2,58,573infected people have beencured in the state which has67,002 active cases.
���������� ��������������������������� ��
city 02LUCKNOW | THURSDAY | SEPTEMBER 17, 2020
Printed and Published by Vijay Prakash Singh for and on behalf of CMYK Printech Ltd., 4th Floor, Sahara Shopping Centre, Faizabad Road, Lucknow-226016 and Printed at Tin Tin Printech Pvt Ltd., C-33 Amausi Industrial Area, Nadarganj, Lucknow. Editor: Chandan Mitra. Resident
Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi-110 002, Phone: 011-40110455. Communication Office: F-31, Sector 6, NOIDA, Gautam Budh Nagar-201301, U.P. Phone: 0120-4879800 & 4879900
Although every possible care and caution has been taken to avoid errors or omissions, this publication is being sold on the condition and understanding that information given in this publication is merely for reference and must not be taken as having authority of or binding in any way on the writers, editors, publishers, and printers and sellers who do not owe any responsibility for any
damage or loss to any person, a purchaser of this publication or not for the result of any action taken on the basis of this work. All disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of competent court and forums in Lucknow only. Readers are advised and requested to verify and seek appropriate advice to satisfy themselves about the veracity of any kind of advertisement before respond-
ing to any contents published in this newspaper. The printer, publisher, editor and any employee of the Pioneer Group’s will not be held responsible for any kind of claim made by the advertisers of the products & services and shall not be made responsible for any kind of loss, consequences and further product-related damages on such advertisements.
lwpuk
PNS n LUCKNOW
After granting transgendersthe rights to inherit their
ancestral agricultural land, theUttar Pradesh government hasdecided to set up a transgenderwelfare board.
The transgender welfareboard will identify transgendersin UP, enlist them, issue identi-ty cards and ensure their enrol-ment in various educationalinstitutions.
The government alsointends to launch different wel-fare schemes for the communi-ty for their social and econom-ic rehabilitation into the main-stream of society.
“The board would work forthe welfare and uplift of thetransgender community. Along
with the state government offi-cers, the board would alsoinclude representatives of trans-genders and members of socialorganisations working for theirwelfare,” said an official of SocialWelfare department. In 2014,after the Supreme Court hadidentified transgender people asthe third gender, the UP KinnarAkhada Parishad had demand-ed the government to set up atransgender welfare board.
In March 2019, the State LawCommission had submitted aproposal to the government foracknowledging the demands ofthe transgender and protectingtheir civil and other rights. Thecommission had drawn theattention of the governmenttowards the inheritance lawsthat did not include the trans-
gender people. The UP Assembly passed the
UP Revenue Code Bill, 2020 toidentify and allow the transgen-der people in the state to inher-it ancestral agriculture land,during this monsoon season.
Transgender people havebeen discriminated againstbecause of societal prejudices.The setting up the transgenderwelfare board will go a long wayin addressing the grievances ofthe third gender. In December2019, the state government hadalso announced to set up a uni-versity for transgenders. Theuniversity, to come up inFazilnagar block of Kushinagardistrict, is being built by theAkhil Bhartiya Kinnar SikshaSeva Trust (All-India transgen-der education service trust).
PNS n LUCKNOW
The Uttar Pradesh government hasset a target of exporting electron-
ics and software products worth Rs 1lakh crore in three years, reckoning thatit can lure international companies.
This will be a quantum leap of 10times in the electronics and softwareexports considering that the currentlevel of exports from UP are valued atRs 10,000 crore.
In fact, the government has alsoreserved about 900 acres of land forElectronics Mega City near Sector 21and Sector 28 in Noida flanking theYamuna Expressway.
According to Additional ChiefSecretary (MSME and Export
Promotion) Navneet Sehgal, a newexport policy was being formulated toprovide maximum and competitiveinvestment-related facilities to theexporters, so that the target could berealised. “Under the Ease of DoingBusiness (EODB) scheme, it is the pri-ority of the state government to provideall possible assistance to the manufac-turers and exporters of the state.Recently, UP has jumped to the secondrank at the national level in terms ofEase of Doing Business,” he added.
The state government has alsoimplemented the MSME Act underwhich the application for setting up ofunits will be acknowledged within 72hours, while the entrepreneurs couldestablish their units while getting all the
approvals issued from various depart-ments in the course of the following1,000 days. Recently, the MSME depart-ment had organised virtual interactionwith electronics and computer softwareand hardware manufacturers under thejoint aegis of UP Export Promotion
Council, and Electronics and ComputerSoftware Promotion Council. Apartfrom Indian members of the Council,representatives of the Councils ofFrance, Germany, Republic of Korea,Malaysia, UAE, Oman and Hong Kongalso participated in the deliberations.
Meanwhile, the UP ProcurementPolicy has already mandated for 25 percent purchases to be made by the stategovernment departments from theMSME units only. The state govern-ment is considering giving exemptionon various taxes and duties in UP onthe lines of the bonded manufacturingscheme of the Central government. Theproposal to give more relaxation onestablishment of common facility cen-tres has also been accepted.
478.1 acres of land isrequired for phase-1 ofAyodhya airport: AAILucknow (PTI): The Airports Authority ofIndia (AAI) has told the UP government thatit requires 478.1 acres land for the phase-1 devel-opment of the Ayodhya airport, said CivilAviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri onWednesday. “The state government of UttarPradesh has informed that they have earmarkedRs 525.92 crore for acquiring the land so far (forthe airport),” Puri said in a written reply to aquestion in Rajya Sabha.
On the request of the UP government, amulti-disciplinary team of the AAI visited theexisting Ayodhya airport in December last yearto conduct a pre-feasibilty study to develop theairport further so that it can handle wide-bod-ied aircraft, Puri said.
“As per the techno-economic feasibilitystudy report, the airport is suitable for devel-opment in two phases i.e. phase-I and phase-II with the expected rise in passenger traffic inAyodhya,” he noted. Prime Minister NarendraModi had on August 5 performed the 'bhoomipujan' of a Supreme Court-mandated Ram tem-ple in Ayodhya, bringing to fruition the BJP’s'mandir' movement that defined its politics forthree decades and took it to the heights of power.
“AAI has projected land requirement of478.1 acres to the state government of UttarPradesh for development of the airport in Phase- I,” Puri stated on Wednesday.
The timeline for start and completion of anairport project depends upon many factors suchas land acquisition, availability fo mandatoryclearances, financial closure, etc, said Puri.
PNS n LUCKNOW
Calling Uttar Pradesh gov-ernment a friend of the
poor and destitute, ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath dis-tributed Rs 1,311.05 crore toaround 87 lakh people who areeligible for old age, destitutewomen and divyang pensionsin the state.
The money was transferredonline to bank accounts of86,95,027 beneficiaries as threemonths’ pension.
“If we can strengthen theweakest link of the chain thenthe society will become strongitself. This government is com-mitted to empowering thatsection of society. This will alsolead to self-reliance amongthose members and this is the‘atmanirbhar’ dream of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi,” Yogisaid.
During the function heldhere, the chief minister alsointeracted with some of thebeneficiaries from Prayagraj,Ayodhya, Deoria, Varanasi andChitrakoot and received feed-back on the working of his gov-ernment and the ongoingschemes.
Out of the fund trans-ferred, Rs 49.87 lakh was forold age pension and Rs 10.67lakh for divyangs. They weregiven three months’ pension of
Rs 1,500 each for July, Augustand September.
Similarly, 26.06 lakhdestitute women were givenRs 1,500 each as pension forthree months starting fromJuly.
While addressing the peo-ple on the occasion virtually,Chief Minister Yogi Adityanathsaid his government’s mottowas to help the people, partic-ularly the needy and thepoor.
He said, “We should begrateful to Prime MinisterNarendra Modi for his vision.Due to his effort, the pensionamount is being directly cred-ited in the bank accounts of thebeneficiaries.”
He said, We are makingall out efforts so that thepeople get the benefit of allthe schemes and the projectslaunched by the government.”
He directed officials toinclude those people in the nextscheme who had been left outdespite being eligible for theschemes.
The chief minister saidthat on the directions of theprime minister, the UP govern-ment had launched theAtmanirbhar Bharat schemeand it was the duty of the gov-ernment to see that every peo-ple got the benefit of the gov-ernment schemes.
Lucknow (PNS): UttarPradesh’s Deputy ChiefMinister Dinesh Sharma saidthat the chances of partialreopening of schools fromSeptember 21 were “very bleak”due to the rising number ofcoronavirus infection cases inthe state.
“It is very unlikely thatschools can be allowed to func-tion partially. It is not possibleto run schools, even partially,at least in this month. Safety ofthe students is a big issue andit cannot be compromised,”Sharma said. The Centre, in itsUnlock 4.0 guidelines, has
issued SOPs (standard operat-ing procedures) for partialreopening of schools for stu-dents of classes 9 to 12 on a vol-untary basis to seek guidancefrom teachers.
Sources, however, said thatChief Minister Yogi Adityanathwould take a final call onwhether schools would reopenthis month or not. The UP gov-ernment, however, has no plansto allow partial reopening ofschools. Parents are alsostrongly opposed to the idea ofsending their children toschools during the novel coro-navirus pandemic.
Lucknow (PTI): An upcoming‘Mughal museum’ in Agrawhich has been renamed afterMaratha warrior kingChhatrapati Shivaji will houseartefacts from Braj region ofUttar Pradesh as well, a seniorgovernment official said onWednesday.
However, a former chiefsecretary of the state claimedthat Braj was part of the initialplan conceptualised in 2015.
“The Braj region comes inAgra division. Braj region andAgra division will be includedin the museum, and work willbe done in a speedy manner,"Additional Chief Secretary(Home and Information)Awanish Awasthi told PTIhere.
Braj also known as Brij orBrijbhoomi, is the regionaround Mathura-Vrindavanand is considered to be theland of Lord Krishna. Thearea stretches from Mathura,Jalesar, Agra, Hathras andAligarh to Etah, Mainpuri andFarrukhabad districts.
On Monday, Uttar PradeshChief Minister Yogi Adityanathdecided to name the upcoming‘Mughal museum’ in Agra after
Chhatrapati Shivaji.Chairing a review meeting
of Agra division (in Lucknow),the chief minister made itclear that his government“always nurtured nationalistideology and anything whichsmacks of subservient mental-ity will be done away with”, theUP government said in a state-ment.
“How can Mughals be ourheroes,” the chief ministerasked, adding that the veryname of Maratha warriorShivaji will invoke a “feeling ofnationalism and self-esteem”.
Meanwhile, former chiefsecretary of the state AlokRanjan told PTI that the pro-ject was conceptualised in2015, and it was to be complet-ed in 2017-18.
“An interpretation centre isbuilt there (in Agra). It consistsof videos, books and audiosabout Taj Mahal and othermonuments there. It also hous-es the art and craft of the localarea. The local art, cultureand heritage is available to theforeign tourists in their lan-guage. There were stalls of artand craft of Agra as well as theBraj area. A very good complex
had come up,” he said.Asked if Braj was includ-
ed in the initial plan itself,Ranjan said, “I think it was.”
He said the basic objectivebehind planning the museumwas to earn more revenue forAgra.
“Tourists come fromDelhi, visit Agra and then goback. As a result the hotelindustry, restaurants, shops,craftsmen don’t earn any rev-enue," Ranjan, a 1978-batchIAS officer, added.
“We will get revenue whenpeople spend a night in Agra.For a night halt, the attractionshave to be increased. Howlong will people keep watchingthe Taj Mahal? Then certainthings were thought of, and wedeveloped the entire areaaround the Taj Mahal.
“We built an interpretationcentre, art and crafts centre onthe lines of monumentsabroad, cobble-stone path-ways, antique lighting. Onepart of it was also to developthe Mughal museum. The ideawas to reflect the Mughal his-tory, their lifestyle and cultureof that period, along with art,literature,” he said.
PNS n LUCKNOW
Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath
has asked officials to ensureavailability of all the requiredmedicines for the treatment ofCOVID-19 with proper back-up.
“Medicines and oxygenshould be available in all thehospitals, medical colleges andmedical institutes. Oxygenshould be made available at theprescribed rates and strictaction be taken against theblack marketers,” the chiefminister said while presidingover a high-level Unlock reviewmeeting at Lok Bhawan here onWednesday. He said the Covidhospitals should have allarrangements. He said thatdoctors and nursing staffshould take regular rounds inthe hospitals and emphasis begiven on their training.
“Increase the number ofbeds in the Covid hospitals.Contact tracing should be donewith a sense of urgency forwhich strengthening of thesurveillance teams system isnecessary,” he said.
The chief minister direct-ed officials to strengthen Covidtreatment facilities in Lucknowand Kanpur Nagar.
He asked Additional ChiefSecretary (Health) AmitMohan Prasad and AdditionalChief Secretary (RuralDevelopment and PanchayatiRaj) Manoj Kumar Singh toreview the health services ofLucknow. Similarly, he askedPrincipal Secretary (Health)Alok Kumar to review thehealth services of KanpurNagar.The chief minister also
stressed on intense monitoringof patients admitted at Covidhospitals. He said the treatmentand recovery pattern of the suc-cessfully treated patients shouldbe studied well as it would helpin treating other patients. Thechief minister asked AdditionalChief Secretary (MedicalEducation) Rajneesh Dube andAdditional Chief Secretary(Health) Amit Mohan Prasad
to review the pattern in med-ical colleges and medical insti-tutes and district hospitalsrespectively. Yogi reiteratedthat mass awareness was essen-tial for protection and safetyfrom COVID-19. He said thatprotection was the best optiontill a vaccine or medicine forCOVID-19 was developed.
The chief minister wasinformed that an action planwas ready to publicise theCovid protection message andspread traffic awareness.
The chief minister askedthe officials to take all necessarysteps to make vegetables avail-able at reasonable prices. Heasked the officials to take strictaction against hoarders of pota-to, tomato and onion.
He said preparations forpaddy purchase should bemade in a time-bound mannerwith an increase in the numberof purchase centres.
Yogi asked officials to pre-pare an action plan with theState Level Bankers Committee(SLBC) for providing loansunder various schemes for suc-cessful implementation ofAtma Nirbhar Bharat scheme.He stressed on district-wise tar-get review to ensure loans toentrepreneurs, unemployedand other eligible persons.
More oldies getting infected Lucknow (PNS): Even though the COVID-19 recovery rate hasgone up, the rise in infection among the senior citizens has raiseda big question on government’s efforts to control the spreadof coronavirus as experts say that this can increase mortalityrate. The recovery rate of the COVID-19 patients has gone upto 78.29 per cent and the number of patients recovered onWednesday was more than the fresh cases, said Additional ChiefSecretary (Health) Amit Mohan Prasad here on Wednesday.
Prasad said that there were 67,002 active cases in the statewhile the 2,58,573 COVID-19 patients had recovered, includ-ing 6,476 people discharged from hospitals on Wednesday. Hesaid that 1,54,202 samples were tested on Tuesday and withit the total Covid tests had reached 79,38,533. Prasad said therewere 35,415 asymptomatic patients in home isolation, whichwas 52.85 per cent of the total active patients. He said therewere 3,918 COVID-19 patients in private hospitals and 232 insemi-paid hotels while the rest were in government-run Covidhospitals The additional chief secretary said the number ofsenior citizens testing positive was rising and this was a causeof concern. He said 8.90 per cent of the confirmed cases wereabove the age of 60 years while earlier it was between 6 and 7per cent.
Schools unlikely to reopen on Sept 21
CM distributes 3 months’ pension to beneficiaries
CM Yogi: Ensure availability of
Covid medicines in hospitals
Shivpal flags off PSPL Cycle Sandesh Yatra Lucknow (PNS): Pragatisheel SamajwadiParty (Lohia) on Wednesday flagged offa Cycle Sandesh Yatra to highlight thewoes of the unemployed youth and stu-dents of Uttar Pradesh.
PSPL founder and president ShivpalSingh Yadav flagged off the cycle yatrafrom the state party office here.
The Cycle Sandesh Yatra will end atIndia Gate in New Delhi on September 26.
Yadav, while flagging off the cycleyatra, said the youths taking part in itwould interact with the unemployedyouth in different districts and registertheir problems. They will also notedown the problems of the students.
The Sandesh Yatra will pass throughUnnao Auraiya, Etawah, Shikohabad,Agra, Mathura, Aligarh, Bulandshahr,Noida and Ghaziabad to end in NewDelhi.
Mughal museum will houseartefacts from Braj region
UP to increase electronic, software exports 10 folds
The government hasalso reserved about900 acres of land forElectronics Mega Citynear Sector 21 andSector 28 in Noidaflanking the YamunaExpressway
UP to set up transgender welfare board
city 03LUCKNOW | THURSDAY | SEPTEMBER 17, 2020
PNS n LUCKNOW
Tightening the noose aroundmafia-turned-politician
Mukhtar Ansari, the Lucknowpolice on Wednesdayannounced a cash reward of Rs25,000 each on the arrest of hissons. The move came close onthe heels of a case which wasregistered against them atHazratganj police station onAugust 27.
DCP (Central) SomenVerma said the cash rewardwas announced after a case wasregistered against Abbas Ansariand Umar Ansari on the com-plaint of lekhpal Surjan Lal fol-lowing the order of districtadministration.
He said that the districtadministration had demolishedthe illegal buildings construct-ed by Ansari’s sons. He said thepolice conducted a probe intothe case and started legal pro-cedure, but Abbas and Umarabsconded following which thereward was announced. He saidAnsari and his sons were foundguilty of fraud, tampering withgovernment documents andpreparing fake documents tostake claim on the land.
The police have attachedproperty worth Rs 66 lakh instern action against Ansari andseveral persons have beenarrested. Also, under GangsterAct, UP Police had initiatedaction against seven close aidesof Ansari and cancelled thearm licenses of 75 persons.Besides, 12 close aides of Ansarihave been externed by thepolice. Sources said theLucknow police were mulling toinitiate an action against Ansariand were in consultation withthe Law department.
PNS n LUCKNOW
The Hazratganj policeclaimed to have arrested a
fraudster impersonating areview officer in Home depart-ment who had duped severalpeople of huge cash in thename of facilitating govern-ment jobs. The accused, iden-tified as Prem Sagar ofAmbedkar Nagar, was arrestedfrom Lok Bhawan on the com-plaint of Abu Faisal of KhurramNagar. The complainant hadgiven money to the accused fora government job.
He tried to impress uponthe cops on being asked to stop.However, the police took him toHazratganj Kotwali where hewas interrogated. He reported-ly owned up his crime and dis-closed that he used to visit LokBhawan frequently with thehelp of a fake ID card, which wasrecovered by the police from hispossession later. The police saidthey were summing up thenumber of people defrauded bythe accused. It surfaced thatPrem Sagar had duped several
persons in his home district,Ambedkarnagar. He had beenstaying at Officers’ Colony inChinhat for the last four years.The police recovered a vehiclepass for entry to Secretariat andanother with his designationmentioned as review officer,Home department.
In another case, an Amethiresident was duped of Rs 96lakh on the promise of attrac-tive profit against investment ina herbal company in GomtiNagar. According to the com-plainant, Deshraj of Kamrauli inAmethi, he met company’sdirectors (Jai Prakash Prajapati,Zainuddin Ansari, DharmendraPrajapati and Ratan Chandra) atthe office in Vikas Khand,Gomtinagar. He said he wasoffered attractive profit againstinvestment and he agreed toinvest the money. “For threemonths, I got a profit of Rs onelakh per month but the com-pany stopped the payment later,”he alleged.
He said he contacted thecompany’s directors and wasassured that he would be given
PNS n LUCKNOW
Even as the Covid positivecases continue to surge, the
recovery rate in Lucknow hasimproved from 74 per cent lastmonth to 76 per cent now. Asenior official at the CMOoffice said the figure is close tothe average recovery rate ofUttar Pradesh which is 77.8 percent. The mortality rate in thedistrict is 1.3 per cent, which isless than the state average of 1.4per cent.
Overall, the positivity ratehas been 12.2 per cent thismonth, which means over adozen people out of 100 beingtested are coming out Covidpositive. Earlier, the positivityrate was 9 per cent, he point-ed out.
The official said the recov-ery rate was good because ofthe treatment facilities beingprovided at the various hospi-tals in Lucknow. “This is thereason why people from acrossthe state come to Lucknow fortreatment,” he said.
On Wednesday, threeCovid-19 patients succumbedat KGMU and the deceasedincluded a 59-year-old manfrom Ashiyana. He died ofcardiopulmonary arrest. A 50-year-old man from VishwalokColony died of acute respira-tory distress syndrome while a62-year-old man from Hardoidied of respiratory failure.
Meanwhile, KGMUspokesperson Dr Sudhir Singhsaid that as a depot of theIndian Council of MedicalResearch (ICMR), the medicaluniversity has supplied a totalof 94,888 RT-PCR testing kitsreagents from May onwards,which reached a total of fourlakh in August.
With a view to strength-ening testing capacity acrossthe country, ICMR had estab-lished 16 regional depots in dif-ferent districts.
“In Lucknow, KGMU isone amongst them. The aim isto maintain a regular and con-sistent supply of testing kits tothe network of approved labsacross the country. KGMUdepot was commissioned byICMR on May 1 for storage andtransportation of testing kits todifferent labs across UP,” he
said.The depot is engaged in
supplies of RT-PCR Kits, RNAextraction kits, viral transportmedium and miscellaneousitems like magnetic stand andthermal blocks. There are sevenfaculty members from medicaluniversity deputed for smoothand seamless functioning of thedepot. The KGMU depot iswell equipped for storage ofthese reagents at lower tem-peratures — maintaining coldchain is a prerequisite for qual-ity assurance.
Meanwhile, CDRIspokesperson Sanjeev Yadavsaid they would come up witha few more repurposing drugsfor Covid-19 after Umifevonir.“We are almost reaching theconclusion and if everythinggoes in right direction, we maycome up with these drugs in a
month’s time,” he said. Headded that the clinical trials ofUmifevonir were already onand the results were likely bythe last week of October.
“If the trials are successful,the drug will be in the marketssoon,” he said. Regarding thesequencing of coronavirussamples which they are doing,he said CDRI has increased itstarget. “Earlier, we had decid-ed to sequence 100 samples butlater increased to 200 and nowwe are sequencing 500 samples.The analysis of these sampleswill give us the unique charac-teristic of the mutant varietiesfrom UP. We have decided toincrease the samples to 500because the more the data, thebetter will be the analysis. Weare feeding this data on a com-mon portal where several otherinstitutes can reach out to
these samples and make thecomparisons,” he added.
Dr Shrikesh Singh fromRam Manohar Lohia Instituteof Medical Sciences said theydid a random testing of around250 workers in the Covid hos-pital and only two were foundto be positive. They are not theregular staffers and have beenoutsourced.
“Less number of peoplehave tested positive in ourCovid hospital because we areobserving precautions. We haverestricted the entry of peopleand only the regular staffers areallowed to enter the hospital,which is a separate facilityaway from the non-Covid hos-pital. Our orange, green andred zones are demarcated andthere is no crossover of people.There are two entries, one forthe patients and another fordoctors, and regular monitor-ing is carried out,” he pointedout.
Meanwhile, MunicipalCommissioner Ajay KumarDwivedi said that utilising theRs 2,10-crore funds which theyreceived from the 14th FinanceCommission, LMC has pur-chased 31 tractors and as manytankers of 5,000 litres capacitywith the help of which saniti-sation will be carried out in 110wards and containment zones.Mayor Sanyukta Bhatia flaggedoff the vehicles fromGomtinagar on Wednesday.
Recovery rate improves to 76%
the profit. “As I did not get themoney, I contacted the compa-ny’s directors again. CMD RatanChand gave a cheque of Rs 5lakh to me but it was dishon-oured by the bank. I approachedthe company officials but wasthrown out of the office,” healleged. The police registered acase in this connection andstarted probe.
Meanwhile, a 21-year-oldvegetable vendor was moweddown by a train in Gosainganjon Wednesday morning. Thedeceased was identified as AnilKumar of Bhaduha village inGosainganj. Anil left his houseto attend nature’s call onWednesday morning but didnot return home. After waitingfor him, his family went out tosearch for him and reached rail-way tracks in the village wherethey found his mutilated body.In the meantime, station mas-ter of Anoopganj SurendraYadav sent a memo to thepolice, informing them aboutdeath of a youth on railwaytracks between Rehmatnagarand Chandrauli stations. Thepolice said Anil’s uncle SatishChandra identified the body.
In another case, a youth fellinto a pond in Sushant Golf CityPolice station area and died onWednesday. Reports saidShubham Yadav (23) of Mai JiKa Purwa locality in the areawas going to sow seeds in thefield and fell down in the pond.Locals rushed him to TraumaCentre of KGMU where hewas declared brought dead.
Fraudster duping job-seekers nabbed in Lok Bhawan
PNS n LUCKNOW
Former UP Chief MinisterKalyan Singh was dis-
charged from the RajdhaniCovid hospital of SGPGI onthe request of his relatives onWednesday. He will now beadmitted to Yashoda Hospitalin Delhi. “He was stable andwas improving. He was main-taining 100 per cent oxygen
saturation and did not havefever. His blood pressure wasalso normal. However, as perthe wishes of his kin, he wasdischarged at 3 pm,” a doctorsaid.
Singh was admitted tothe Rajdhani Covid hospital ofSGPGI on September 14 afterhe complained of fever, drycough and breathlessness onminimal exertion. His condi-
tion had been stable and oninitial evaluation, his oxygensaturation during rest was97% on room air.
After initial evaluation,blood investigations and CTscan of chest were done and hewas transferred to ICU forclose observation. He waslater shifted to a private wardwhen his condition improvedon Tuesday.
Kalyan Singh discharged from SGPGI
PNS n LUCKNOW
Ranjan Kumar (left) assumed chargedas divisional commissioner on
Wednesday. He said his priority wouldbe to strengthen the system so that peo-ple could get better facilities in the timesof coronavirus pandemic. He said sus-pected cases needed to be identified andinfection spread contained.
He said he would also ensure quickresolution of people’s problems related totraffic and cleanliness.
Ranjan said all the schemes and pro-jects of the state government would betaken up on priority. The commission-
er said development works would be car-ried out in time with no quality com-promise so that maximum people couldbe benefited. He said that with severalfestivals coming up in the next monthsuch as Dussehra, Durga Puja Diwaliand Chehellum, it would be essential toprovide a peaceful atmosphere to people.
A 2000-batch IAS officer, Ranjancomes from Nalanda, Bihar. He has beenthe DM of Chitrakoot, Auraiyya, Ballia,Banda, Baghpat, Pratapgarh, Shamli,Amroha and Gorakhpur. Before thisassignment, he was PWD secretary. Hehas also served as divisional commis-sioner of Mirzapur.
Ranjan Kumar takes charge as div commissioner
Police announce
cash reward
on Mukhtar
Ansari’s sons
The cash rewardwas announcedafter a case wasregistered againstAbbas Ansari andUmar Ansari on thecomplaint oflekhpal Surjan Lalfollowing the orderof districtadministration
�� ��������� ���������� ��� !� "# � $%&�'('(
�1� �������1���Swachhata Pakhwara,
under Central government’sSwachh Bharat Mission,kicked off at RDSO onWednesday. Director-general,RDSO, Virendra Kumaradministered cleanlinesspledge to officials in the mini-conference hall while adher-ing to Covid guidelines. Inother directorates and fieldunits of RDSO, the seniormost officers administeredpledge to respective officials.A webinar, video-conferenc-ing with field unit officials willbe held in the coming days.Kumar appealed to officials toshun use of plastic bags andreduce the use of single-useplastic.
������4&'&'�City Montessori School,
RDSO Campus, organisedvirtual sports event ‘Spardha-2020’ in the memory of leg-endary hockey player MajorDhyanchand. Students fromschools of Thailand and manystates of India sent theirentries of sports activities forparticipation and the best
entries were awarded online ata closing and prize distribu-tion ceremony. Former Indiancricketer Chetan Sharma wasthe chief guest whose virtualpresence infused enthusiasmin young players. CMS stu-dents presented a virtualworld parliament, discussingthe role of sports in educationand establishing world unity.
�������������Harsh Bhatnagar, a stu-
dent of City MontessoriSchool, Rajendra NagarCampus I,has beenselected foradmission bytwo noteduniversities ofEngland. Hehas beeno f f e r e dadmission by the University ofGlasgow and University ofReading. Harsh has got thisopportunity for higher edu-cation due to his academicexcellence and diligence andhe attributed his success to therobust academic atmosphereof CMS.
����� 1(,��4)
Piqued over Power depart-ment officials’ apathy, a
farmer attempted to immolatehimself inside the office ofexecutive engineer inMohanlalganj on Wednesdayafternoon. Luckily though,consumers present at the officerescued him. A police teamreached the scene later andstarted a probe into the issue.
As per reports, KamalKishor of Govind Nagar inMohanlalganj, along with his
brother, reached the office ofthe executive engineer to get hiselectricity bill amended. All ofa sudden, he doused himself indiesel and threatened to sethimself on fire. However, otherconsumers flocked to the sceneand overpowered him.
Kamal Kishor later told thepolice that he had an electric-ity connection in the name ofhis father Sukhlal. He said thedepartment installed a faultyelectric meter at his housedue to which the bill shot upto Rs 14,342 in 15 days.
“I contacted the officialson several occasions in the pastand even tried to meet theexecutive engineer, but in vain.They were not addressing myproblem and I was beingforced to pay the bill,” healleged.
Mohanlalganj SHO saidKamal Kishor reached theoffice of the executive engineerand threatened to immolatehimself. “His brother and otherconsumers present at the officeoverpowered him and calledthe police,” he said.
����� 1(,��4)
Rishabh Anand Omar, a PhDscholar of BBAU’s depart-
ment of Microbiology, hasdeveloped an immuno-biosen-sor under the guidance ofassistance professor PankajKumar Arora and in collabo-ration with Prof Nishith Vermaof IIT-Kanpur’s department ofChemical Engineering.
BBAU spokespersonRachna Gangwar said theimmuno-suppressive biosen-sor was developed using theprotein secreted by TB bacte-ria as a biomarker and certainspecific antibodies against it. “Itmakes early diagnosis of the
disease possible with accurateinformation,” she pointed out.
TB is one of the deadliestinfectious diseases worldwide,with millions of people dyingacross the world.
“The number of peoplesuffering from this disease isincreasing every year in India.According to a report releasedby the Union Ministry ofHealth and Family Welfare,24.04 lakh people were affect-ed by TB in 2019. The numberwas 14 per cent higher thanthat the previous year. In addi-tion, the report said that 79,144people died due to TB in 2019.The increase in mortality dueto this disease annually is a seri-
��!5'��60�
0������� ����������������������������� �"������ ous concern. This high mor-
tality rate in case of TB patientsis due to the lack of early diag-nosis. If we can diagnose thedisease at the early stage, therate of mortality can be broughtdown significantly,” she said.
Meanwhile, Engineer’s Daywas celebrated on the birthanniversary of SM Visvesvarayaby BBAU’s UIET departmenton Wednesday. An interna-tional webinar was organisedby the department and it was
chaired by Vice-ChancellorAcharya Sanjay Singh. He saidthe period of 19th century, inwhich Visvesvaraya was born,was the golden era for Indiabecause many great personal-ities like Pandit Madan MohanMalaviya, Dr Ambedkar, Sir JCBose and Mahatma Gandhiwere also born and they led thecountry on the path of devel-opment.
National Council memberand chairman of Civil
Engineering Division of TheInstitute of Engineers, VBSingh told the students aboutthe life and achievements ofVisvesvaraya whose efforts laidthe foundation for modernIndia. He said VrindavanGarden of Mysore, HirakudDam, Mokama Bridge wereexcellent examples ofVisvesvaraya’s engineering. Hewas awarded Bharat Ratna forhis contribution to the country.
##@(�������������!������������� ������ �������.#
�+7���������������!��������������� ������ �����
����� 1(,��4)
The upcoming by-elections toeight Assembly seats in UP,
being termed as mini state elec-tions before the 2022 polls,would be a four-cornered con-test with Bahujan Samaj Partyannouncing to contest on all theseats. In MP too, the BSP is con-testing elections on all the 22seats in the bypolls. Theannouncement to contest thebypolls in UP was made by theparty here on Wednesday. It saidthat the incharges of these eightassembly seats would beappointed very soon.
Earlier, the BSP used to stayaway from bypolls but after fac-ing a humiliating defeat in the
UP Assembly elections in 2017,Mayawati changed her mindand announced that her partywould also contest bypolls.Sources in the party said that thesector incharges wouldannounce the names of theincharges for the assembly seatswhere bypolls will be held aftergetting approval from partypresident Mayawati.
The Bharatiya Janata Party,the Samajwadi Party and theCongress have alreadyannounced to contest thebypolls that are scheduled to beheld along with the BiharAssembly polls in the next twomonths. Both the Congress andthe BSP have nothing to lose inthese bypolls as out of these
eight seats, six were held by BJPand two by SP. But if Congressand BSP perform well and evenwin a seat, their fate in the 2022Assembly polls will brighten.
The BJP has already start-ed the process for selection of itscandidates for these seats whilethe SP is inviting applicationsfrom the candidates. TheCongress on Wednesdayannounced committees forselection of the candidates foreach seat. The seats where thebypolls are slated are NaugaonSadat (Amroha), Bulandshahr,Tundla (Firozabad), Swar(Rampur), Bangarmau(Unnao), Ghatampur (KanpurDehat), Malhani (Jaunpur) andDeoria Sadar.
'�#�������������3���������� ����
Lucknow (PNS): Alreadymaking a frontal attack onchief minister YogiAdityanath over various issuesaffecting the public at large inUP, Congress general secre-tary, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra,on Wednesday asked thecommittees to gear up andmingle with the commonman so that all the key theproblems faced by them couldbe incorporated in theElection Manifesto for 2022Assembly elections.
Sources said that in hisvirtual meeting with the com-mittees formed last week, astrategy has been finalised forcurating the election mani-festo and key points include-
law and order situation, farm-ers’ issues, corruption, unem-ployment and worsening eco-nomic conditions. A meetingin this regard was convenedby the General Secretary andstate Congress in-chargePriyanka Gandhi Vadra.
The key meeting was heldbetween Priyanka GandhiVadra, Manifesto Committeemember Salman Khurshid,Rajya Sabha MP PL Punia,Supriya Srinetra, VivekBansal, Amitabh Dubey alongwith State President AjayKumar Lallu and CLP leaderAradhana Mishra ‘Mona’. Itwas decided to hold meetingsacross districts in the state togather first-hand inputs.
��������������������� ���!��"!#���!$�!�%��&��'���&$�Lucknow (PNS): Following avideo that went viral onTuesday showing an accidentvictim dying allegedly due tothe negligence of hospitalemployees after a sub-inspec-tor tried to help her, a case wasregistered by the Budaun policeon Wednesday morning.
Senior officers claimed thatthe facts in the video would beverified and if found true thenstern action would be takenagainst all those who found tobe responsible for their negli-gence leading to the death ofthe victim. A canter hit a bike-borne woman and her sonnear the Naraini crossing onthe Badaun-Islamnagar high-way in the Ughaiti police sta-tion area last Monday.
Upon receiving informa-tion, SI Sushil Pawar fromUghaiti, reached the spot alongwith a woman constable. Thewoman was alive till that time.
In view of the critical con-dition of the woman, the cops
rushed her to the communityhealth centre in Bilsi in the gov-ernment vehicle.
SI Sushil Pawar kept urgingthe staff at the hospital forabout 30 minutes to admit thewoman but no health workercame to the jeep to even checkthe woman. With the help ofthe woman constable, the SItook the victim and her soninside the hospital on a stretch-er. They appealed to a doctorfor immediate treatment butinstead of treating the patient,the doctor allegedly startedarguing with the SI. Thewoman succumbed to injuriesin absence of timely treatment.
SI Sushil Pawar has saidthat the doctors should havetreated the woman. As a videoof the incident has gone viral,the SI is being praised for hisefforts whereas it has left thehealth department red-faced.
SSP Sankalp Sharma saidthat a case had been registeredat the Ughaiti police station.
Mahamandleshwar LakshmiNarayan Tripathi offeredTripindi Shraddha for the peaceof the souls of all the KinnarGurus, known and unknownancestors of eunuchs at a reli-gious ritual progamme organ-ised at mythologicalPichasmochan Talab (pond)here on Wednesday. On thepenultimate day of ongoingPitrapaksh, there were heavyrush of the people and it isexpected that the same wouldbe increased more on the lastday on Thursday.
As the famous site wit-nessed heavy rush of peoplethroughout the day, rarelysocial distancing was main-tained. Besides, a good numberof participants were also notwearing masks, making amockery of all coronavirus
guidelines. However, the day’sattraction was the pinddaan bythe members of KinnarAkhara. They strictly per-formed all the rituals as per theSanathan Dharm. Lakshmi saidthat through the programme,they also prayed for rest in
peace of the souls of all thecorona victims whose death-after rituals as per the traditioncould not be performed due toCOVID-19 restrictions. Therituals were conducted by thepriests under the leadership ofMunna Lal Panda which last-
ed for almost two hours. The other important per-
sons of the Kinnar Samajincluding Devi Pavitra andKamini Mai were also pre-sent.
It was not for the firsttime, the eunuchs did such rit-uals here but in the past theycame here on many occasions.Lakshmi said that eunuchsfrom various parts of the coun-try came here to attend the reli-gious programme.
She said that for the firsttime in history, the eunuchsstarted a new tradition of offer-ing pind-daan to their ances-tors nearly 3,000 years after theepisode of Shikhandi duringthe Mahabharata period. Inorder to pray for the peace ofthe souls of their ancestors andsalvation, the eunuchs per-formed rituals.
They also prayed for rest inpeace of soul of Kinnar GuruEkta Joshi who was murderedrecently.
PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n VARANASI
Afire incident took placeduring morning hours in
Diesel Locomotive Works(DLW) here on Wednesday inwhich, property worth lakhswas damaged. In connection ofthe incident, the DLW admin-istration has constituted a five-member committee to investi-gate the causes behind theincident and it will also assessthe details of losses. The com-mittee will be led by DeputyChief Security Officer (DSDO),DLW.
According to Chief PublicRelations Officer (CPRO)Vaibhav Sohane, the fire inci-dent came into the light around
6.15 am at ToT building, adja-cent to AdministrativeBuilding. Fire alarm system
installed in the building sound-ed immediately. Two fire ten-ders of DLW reached the spot
immediately and started extin-guishing the fire. DLW safetyofficials, Civil Defence and St.John's Brigade volunteers andmedical team with ambulancealso reached the site within 10minutes. GAIL and UP statefire service tenders were alsogiven a call and they alsoreached the site at around 7 am.With all efforts the fire wascontrolled by around 8.15 am.
No casualties or injurieshave been reported. ‘Primafacie it appears that the firebroke out in the import storessection due to which the officeequipment, furniture and falseceiling caught fire,’ said theCPRO. To extinguish the fire,the fire fighters broke severalwindows of the building.
PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n ALLAHABAD
Swachhta Pakhwara is beingobserved from September
16 to 30 over North CentralRailway. Swachhta kit was dis-tributed among 200 Railwaystaff at NCR HQ on SwachhtaAwareness Day.
Like previous yearsSwachhta Pakhwara is beingobserved all over North CentralRailway which has adviseddivisions, workshops, traininginstitutes and other units overits territory to dedicate specif-ic days to cleaning of stations,trains, tracks, circulating area,yards, depots, toilets, drains,water vending points, pantrycars/ canteens duly observingsocial distancing norms.
Further seminars, compe-titions, reviews, publicity,awareness campaigns shall alsobe done through virtual oronline means due to COVID-19. Focus shall also be oneradication of Single Use Plasticand it has been decided thatMahatma Gandhi birthanniversary on October 2 shallbe observed in a befitting man-ner all over North CentralRailway. Accordingly a sched-ule for observing SwachhtaPakhwara over NCR has beendecided.
North Central Railway kickstarted Swachhta Pakhwara byobserving of SwachhtaAwareness Diwas at HQ office,divisions and other units onSeptember 16. In a programme
organised under guidance ofGM Rajiv Chaudhry onSwachhta Awareness Diwas;PCME NCR Kundan Kumarand officials from EnHM wingof NCR distributed Swachhtakit among Railway staff to cre-ate awareness on importance ofpersonal hygiene especiallyduring COVID-19 crisis. Thiskit containing mask, sanitiserand soap was distributedamong 200 Railway men andwomen of NCR HQ office.
Similar awareness cam-paigns were also organised bydivisions and other units ofNCR.
4 JUDGES TAKE OATH:Four newly appointed judges ofthe Allahabad High Court tookoath on Wednesday in the
Chief Justice's court room at 10am .
The oath was adminis-tered by the Chief Justice ,Govind Mathur, following therule of social distancing.
All the four judges, whotook oath were senior judges ofthe rank of district judge in thelower judiciary. A notificationof their appointments wasissued by the Ministry of Lawand Justice on September 11,2020 as additional judges of theAllahabad High Court for aperiod of two years.
The judges, who tookoath are - Justice SanjayKumar Pachauri, JusticeSubhash Chandra Sharma,Justice Subhash Chandra, andJustice Saroj Yadav.
PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n ALLAHABAD
The outbreak of the coronapandemic continues in the
Prayagraj city. In the last 24hours, 388 new corona positivecases have been found in thedistrict, now the number ofpatients has reached beyond15,000 marks. Four coronapatients died. On one hand,the graph of the corona isincreasing, while on the otherhand, the number of patientsrecovering from this deadlyvirus is also increasing rapid-ly. On Tuesday, 404 coronapatients were discharged fromhome isolation and Covid hos-pitals.
The new corona patientsincluded half-a-dozen doctors,health workers, bank workers.A doctor in the Department ofSurgery of Covid ward of SRNHospital, a junior doctor in theDepartment of Medicine, apharmacist at the MauaimaPrimary Health Centre, AnoopPathology technician and adoctor of the Sahson PHCCovid Hospital tested posi-tive.
Besides, the assistant man-ager posted at the rural bank ofSikandra, the assistant manag-er of Indian Bank Zero RoadBranch and the manager ofGarapur Gramin Bank havealso been found infected. Thecorona virus has also beenconfirmed in CRPF personnelincluding a corporator, a con-stable of SP City office.
Another doctor’s reportposted at Sahaso Primary
Health Centre has again beencorona positive. Four days ago,junior doctors of Swaroop RaniNehru Covid Hospital alsocame positive. In fact, Sahaso’sdoctors tested corona positivea month ago in an RTPCR test-ing. About 10 days later hebecame negative and he wasconvinced that he would nolonger have corona. But due tosome symptoms, he got hisown RTPCR check conductedalong with his mother, and hewas also shocked to see thereport. His mother was nega-tive in the report, but he wasstartled to know that his reportwas positive again.
Dr. Rishi Sahai, the NodalOfficer for COVID-19, saidthat the doctor’s report camepositive for the second time.This necessitates the patientswho have become corona neg-ative. He advised the peoplenot to be careless, because therisk of being positive againincreases.
The number of active casesis 3,698. This has been con-firmed by Dr. Rishi Sahai, theNodal Officer of Corona.
He said that the total num-ber of infected people in thedistrict has increased to 15,084with 388 new infections beingreceived on Monday, while
11,171 people have been cured.Because of this, the recoveryrate remains around 73 percent. The number of activecases has dropped to 3,698.There are 373 patients admit-ted in different hospitals.
Most patients are admittedto Swaroop Rani NehruHospital. According to thereport, a total of 140 infectedbelonging to Prayagraj areadmitted here in the hospital.Apart from this, 53 infectedadmitted in railways, 56 inCovid Care CentreKalindipuram, seven in UnaniMedical College, 74 in two pri-vate hospitals, 43 in BeliHospital. The remaining 3,325people are in home isolation.
Apart from this, 47 peoplehave been discharged fromhospitals. Of them 10 peopledischarged from Covid CareCentre Kalindipuram, threefrom Railway Hospital, onefrom Unani Medical College,seven from Beli, seven fromtwo private hospitals and 19from SRN Hospital. Apart fromthis, samples have been takenfor testing of 2,875 suspects andreports of 3,151 people havecome negative.
Nodal Officer for COVID-19, Dr Rishi Sahai said that 231people have been found infect-ed by antigen test, 136 fromRTPCR and 21 in Trunotamong those who came posi-tive on Tuesday. In RTPCR, 41people were examined in a pri-vate lab. He said that more than55 people were tested in privateand their reports came positive.
PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n ALLAHABAD
In an official communique the DefencePRO has apprised of the operational
logistics readiness of the Indian Army whenthe neighbours are creating disturbanceson the border.
India is a peace loving country andwishes to have good relations with itsneighbours. India always prefers toresolve issues through dialogue. Whiletalks are in progress to resolve the issueof borders with China in Eastern Ladakh,at military level it is well prepared for theprolonged stand off.
Altitudes in Ladakh ranges fromhigh to super high altitude and there isa lot of snow fall, after the month ofNovember upto 40 feet of snow is expe-rienced. Coupled with this, temperaturedipping down to minus 30-40 degrees isa usual phenomenon. Wind chill factormakes matters further worse for thetroops. The roads also get closed due tothe snow.
But despite all this, most encourag-ing part for India is that the Indian sol-diers have a huge experience of winterwarfare and are psychologically tuned tooperate at short notice.
While this fact is known to theworld, the operational logisticscapabilities are hardly known. Mediaoutlets of adversary (China) mediareports that India’s Operational Logisticsis not geared up adequately and will notbe able to fight through winters effective-ly.
This can best be attributed to igno-rance. Indian Army is fully prepared andmore than capable for fighting a fullfledged war even in winters in EasternLadakh.
Logistic capability relates to mobili-ty, habitat and billeting, quality servicesfrom health, special rations, repair andrecovery, heating systems, high qualityweapons, ammunition, quality clothing,and so on.
While much of this capability exist-ed earlier and troops could simply plugand play, a lot has also been boosted sinceMay this year when China showed first
signs of aggression. It is important to understand that
Army has experience of Siachen whereconditions are much more demandingthan the frontiers with China.
Traditionally there were two routesfor moving into Ladakh, that is throughZojila and Rohtang Passes. RecentlyIndia commissioned the third road fromDarcha to Leh which is much shorter dis-tance wise and less prone to closure.Completion of Atal tunnel on the Rohtangroute has force multiplied the logisticcapacities.
In addition, we have a large numberof air bases with the help of which we canmaintain the army well. Modern snowclearing equipment has also been placedon these routes to keep them openbeyond November, thus giving usmore time for daily maintenance of thetr oops.
Special fuel and lubricants for tanksand armoured personnel carriers havealso been stocked adequately, includingspares for their maintenance. Waterpoints and tubewells have been estab-lished for the troops and animals likemules and yaks. The living barrackshave also been prepared which are com-fortable and warm. Facilities such as cen-tral heating system are some of the highpoints of these facilities. Ammunition ofvarious types including small arms, mis-siles and tank and artillery ammunitionhave also been adequately stocked. Themedical system is also in place for anyeventuality.
Compared to Indian troops that arebattle hardened physically and psycholog-ically, Chinese troops are mostly fromurban areas and not used to hardships orprolonged deployment under field con-ditions.
China’s concept has always been towin the Wars without fighting, hence ifthey create conditions for war, they willcome across a better trained, better pre-pared, rested and psychologically hard-ened Indian troops. These worrieshave been percolating the minds ofChinese troops and is visible in Chinesemedia.
388 more test positive in Prayagraj
Swachhta kit distributed among 200 Railway employees
Army prepared for
winter challenges
198 new COVID-19 patients found
PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n VARANASI
As many as 198 newCOVID-19 cases have
been detected in the districthere on Wednesday, increasingthe total number of cases to10,881. Besides, the districtalso saw three more deaths,increasing the toll to 181.During the day, the follow-upnegative reports included 218patients. Out of them, 205patients recovered from homeisolation and the total numberof patients cured at home hasincreased to 6,486. Besides, 13recovered from the hospitaland the number of patientswho have been dischargedfrom the hospitals has reached2,572. The total number ofcured patients is now 9,058,leaving 1,642 active patients.The recovery rate has improved
to 83.24 per cent and mortali-ty rate remained at 1.66 percent.
Meanwhile, on theinstructions of DistrictMagistrate (DM) Kaushal RajSharma, a special campaignhas been launched to test theco-morbid persons sufferingfrom chronic diseases likehypertension, diabetes, heartdisease, cancer etc for coron-avirus. In this direction, fourmobile teams of lab-bikes(LA-bikes) are busy and onthe first day, they tested 361persons, out of which 16 per-sons were found positive.ACMO and DistrictImmunisation Officer Dr VSRai said that the risk of coro-na infection in co-morbidpatients is high, due to whichthe surveillance campaign wasconducted. So far, 92,493 per-
sons suffering from symp-toms similar to the corona andsuffering from chronic dis-eases have been examinedunder the campaign.
Chief Medical Officer(CMO) Dr. VB Singhinformed that the mass /group corona antigen testswere done at various places inthe district. A day ago, in 57tests at the Police Lines, allwere found negative. Similarly,out of 206 tests at KuberComplex, Rathyatra, all thepeople were found negative,while 15 tested at Hotel Adesh(Dashaswamedh police sta-tion) and 12 at Urban PHCRajghat, but none of them wasdetected positive. However, in79 tests at Collectorate andSessions Court premises, fivewere found positive while twowere detected positive out of
112 at Haraha Sarai (NaiSarak).
CMO has informed thatby the first of the day at 11 am,145 positive patients weredetected out of 2,020 reportsreceived. Till then, the totaltest reports received were1,54,428 and the results of3,173 are awaited. Out ofthem, 1,43,600 were negative,while 10,828 positive. Thetotal number of samples col-lected was 1,67,556. Earlier,two males aged 60 and 65from Salarpur andManduadih succumbed toCOVID-19 at HIMS and ApexHospital respectively. Besides,with the addition of 14 newred zones, the total number ofhotspots has increased to1,838 including 386 red zones.There are 1,452 green zonesincluding 49 new ones.
Kinnars offer ‘shraddh’ for ancestors
Kinnars offering rituals for ancestors at Pichasmochan in Varanasi on Wednesday Pioneer
Fire breaks out in DLW
Fire incident takes place at DLW in Varanasi on Wednesday Pioneer
BJP launches massive cleanliness drivePIONEER NEWS SERVICE n VARANASI
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)launched a massive clean-
liness drive on the third day ofongoing Service Week beingobserved to celebrate the 70thbirthday of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi. In the cam-paign, apart from senior partyleaders and ministers, districtand city office-bearers tookpart and offered their shram-daan. The party workers atregional, sector and ward lev-els also participated in thecampaign.
BJP state co-incharge SunilOjha led the cleanliness driveat Shultankeshwar temple.Expressing his views on theoccasion, Ojha said that ahealthy mind resides in a cleanbody. ‘Prime Minister Modihad started the cleanlinessdrive from his parliamentaryconstituency in 2014 which hastaken the form of a mass move-ment today. We should takecare of cleanliness in andaround ourselves so that dis-eases caused by dirt can beavoided,’ he added. On the
occasion, Kashi and GorakshPranth units general secretaryRatnakar, district presidentHansraj Vishwakarma,Rohanian MLA SurendraNarayan Singh and many oth-ers were also present.
Besides, regional president(Kashi unit) Mahesh ChandSrivastava launched the clean-liness drive near the statue ofPandit Madan Mohan Malviya
near BHU Gate at Lanka. Aftergarlanding the statue ofMalviya ji he reached RavidasGate carrying a broom in hishand and sweeping the mainroad. Sivastava said that sincethe drive was launched in 2014from Assi Ghat here by the PM,the people of the countrybecame aware of the same andas a result this campaign hasnow become a mass move-
ment. Ex-MLC Dr. VeenaPandey, state spokespersonAshok Pandey, regional mediaincharge Navratan Rathi,Sudhir Mishra and many oth-ers were also present.
UP Cabinet Minister AnilRajbhar inaugurated the clean-liness drive at Kaccha Babatemple, Chiragaon in Shivpurassembly constituency, whileMinister of State (Independentcharge) Dr Neelkanth Tiwarilaunched the cleanliness driveat several places includingChittaranjan Park andNawabganj spearheading thecleanliness drive in variouswards of City South assemblyconstituency. Another localminister Ravindra Jaiswal start-ed a drive at Maldahia, clean-ing up the entire premises nearthe statues of SardarVallabhbhai Patel and MunshiPremachandra at Pandeypur inCity North constituency. MLCLaxman Acharya launched thedrive in Ramnagar while MLASaurabh Srivastava inShivpurwa and Mayor MridulaJaiswal at slum locality atChittupur.
BJP co-state incharge Sunil Ojha and others offering shramdaan during cleanlinessdrive in Varanasi on Wednesday Pioneer
ABVP for CBI probe in BHU student missing caseVARANASI (PNS): AkhilBharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad(ABVP), student wing of theBharatiya Janata Party (BJP), onWednesday staged a protestagainst the indifferent attitudeof the administration ofBanaras Hindu University(BHU) in searching for a var-sity student went missing aboutseven months ago and
demanded a CBI inquiry intothe matter. Activists of theABVP in scores gathered atmain entrance gate of BHU andstaged a protest to raise theirvoices against the apathy shownby varsity administration insearching for Shiv KumarTrivedi, a BHU student whowent missing about sevenmonths ago. It is a matter of
shame that a student has beenmissing for last seven monthsbut the BHU administrationtook no initiative to search forhim and rather, it overcame itsresponsibility in this matter,blamed the activists adding, itis shocking that the police alsodid not take any concrete stepto search for him. It was saidthat a second year B Sc student
of BHU Shiv was last seen onFebruary 12 last. After theintervention of the court, thepolice started searching forhim after six months of hismissing but there is no head-way in this connection and thusthe matter should be handedover to the central investigat-ing agency Central Bureau ofInvestigation (CBI).
Girl allegedlyraped by doc,BJP leader
ALLAHABAD(PNS): A 22-year-oldgirl, student of BA final year inColonelganj, was allegedly gang-rapedafter the former was offered a colddrink mixed with sedatives. It is allegedthat in the name of first aid, the doc-tor posted at Beli Hospital raped herand later pressurised her to go to theBJP leader.
Police said that an investigation isunderway after registering a report onthe basis of a written complaint givenby the victim.
The student has given a complaintto the police, alleging that her fatherwas badly injured in a road accident in2011. The treatment cost a huge amountof money, with the family destroyed indebt. An acquaintance introduced herto Anil Dwivedi, a doctor in the TB sec-tion of Beli Hospital, who developed hisproximity to the family by pretendingto sell the land.
Then one day, he fraudulentlycalled her to Jaya Hospital in Alopibaghand gave her a cold drink with intoxi-cants and forced her for physical rela-tions. At the same time, he also threat-ened her and her family for dire con-sequence if she dared open her mouthin this connection.
A few days later, the doctor againpressured her on the phone and thenraped her at his residence near theMyorabad intersection.
After about a week, the doctor puther under pressure and took her to theHotel Star Regency at Civil Lines nearhis familiar BJP leader Shyam PrakashDwivedi. Shyam Prakash Dwivedi whowas allegedly armed with a pistol, andthe doctor gang raped her there. Also,they threatened to kill her if she triedto leak the issue to anyone.
The Colonelganj Inspector saidthat a report has been registered againstthe BJP leader and doctor on the basisof the victim's written complaint.
Investigation is underway. On theother hand, accused BJP leader ShyamPrakash Dwivedi alleged that heopposed conversion to an educationalinstitution, so he was implicated underthe conspiracy.
state 06LUCKNOW | THURSDAY | SEPTEMBER 17, 2020
CORRESPONDENT n JALAUN
Three criminals were arrested in connectionwith a loot case from the road connecting
Ajnari village to Kanpur-Jhansi highway onTuesday. The police confiscatedtwo illegal pistols, five cartridges, 115gm intoxicating powder, a knife,three cell phones, `550 and a SwiftDzire car etc from the possessionof the criminals identified asShakil, Namo Narayan andMohan. SP Yashveer Singh said thatthe complaint of Ikbal Singh Bhatia, a resident ofJhansi, regarding the loot of his car on September10 an FIR was lodged. A team was constitutedunder the guidance of ASP Dr Awadhesh Singhand leadership of CO Santosh Kumar. The joint
teams of SOG, surveillance and Kotwali Orailaunched a search operation. The police arrested twoaccused with the looted Swift Dzire car during anencounter. The third accused Mohan was nabbed fromKanpur-Jhansi highway. SP said that the accused
administered some intoxicating sub-stance to the victim and commit-ted the crime when he lost his con-sciousness. Theteam which made thearrest comprised inspector JP Pal,incharge Kotwali Orai, S-I PraveenKumar (SOG incharge), S-IsChandanPandey and Ramveer Singh, head con-
The Hindi Fortnight concluded at NTPCRihand with the organising of award dis-
tribution function at administrative building onMonday in a simplistic manner maintainingsocial distancing. ED Balaji Iyengar was the chiefguest. He inaugurated the function by lighting thelamp along with other guests. Earlier the guestswere welcomed and NTPC song was sung. In hisaddress Iyengar appreciated various programmesorganised during the fortnight and said that wecould help in furthering Hindi by using it moreand more in our daily lives. “Hindi should be therein our thinking. To enrich Hindi, we should studyHindi literature,” he added. Later the awards were pre-sented to the winners by the jury members and otherguests. Earlier, AGM (HR) KS Murthy welcomed theguests and gave details of the programme organisedduring the fortnight. The first winners of variousonline competitions gave their presentationswhich were highly appreciated. The function wasconducted jointly by executive (CorporateCommunications) Shiksha Gupta and B Seshanwhile the vote of thanks was proposed by AGM(EEMG) and Rajbhasha ImplementationCommittee member Hareram Singh. CGM(O&M) AC Sahu, GMs M Ramesh, AKChattopadhyay, KN Reddy, S Krishna, KC Tripathi,
Nand Kishore and AK Papaneja were also present.HINDI DIWAS: ED of NTPC Vindhyachal
Munish Johri, throwing light on the developmentand importance of Rajbhasha Hindi in his messageon Monday said that it was a great day for us becauseon this day i.e. on September 14, 1949, Hindi wasadopted by our Constitution as the official languageof the Union of India. He greeted all the GMs, headsof departments and employees connectedthrough online during the day’s programme. Hesaid that it was a commendable work done byRajbhasha unit of NTPC Vindhyachal that dur-ing the global pandemic various competitionswere organised online maintaining the guidelinesof Rajbhasha department of Union Ministry ofHome Affairs. He expressed the hope that NTPCVindhyachal would continue its efforts in futureto get first position in compliance with Rajbhashaimplementation. GM (HR) Uttam Lal greetedeveryone on Hindi Diwas and informed about theimportance of the day and the work being done byNTPC Vindhyachal. CGM (O&M), all GMs, headsof various departments, senior officers and employ-ees were connected through online. Earlier duringthe fortnight, Hindi GK competition related to tech-nical/ administrative/official terminology for allproject employees was conducted online. Seniorofficials and employees participated in it withgreat enthusiasm.
CORRESPONDENT n JALAUN
Aprogramme under Kishori Shiksha SamadhanYojana was held under the presidentship of
DM Mannan Akhtar at the GIC, Orai, on Tuesday.The distinguished guests were SP DrYashveer Singh and CMO Dr AlpanaBarataria. DM in collaboration with thedistrict administration, SecondaryEducation department, Jalaun, andsocial workers provided benefits to20 girls. It was conducted by DIOSBhagwat Patel. DM said that social workers would pro-vide books and education materials to girls. Socialworker Sanjay Singh provided items of daily use togirls. DIOS said that Shivani, Niketa Devi and Kajal
were adopted by a social worker Dr Nitin Mittal fortheir education and Kriti Soni by Dr AlpanaBarataria. Besides Ricky was adopted by DIOS,Priyanka and Laxmi by Dr CP Gupta, Dipanjaliby Vineet Agarwal, Shilpi Devi by Kaushal
Kishore Gurjar, Anushka Jatav byBhupendra Rajput, Sakshi andRohini by Rupesh Batham, Sanjumby Avinash, Sadhana by Ajay Itauriya,Kirti and Sadhana by RajaramNiranjan, Madhu by Uttam KumarNiranjan, Nisha and Meera by
Mahendra Gupta for their education. Cell phones and15 tablets were given to girls and bicycles to three oth-ers. Social workers Alim Sir, Sanjeev Tyagi, Dr MamtaSwarnakar, Anurag and Amit Nayak were present.
8 pairs of clone spl trains to run from Sep 21CORRESPONDENT n GORAKHPUR
As per the decision taken by the RailwayBoard the movement of eight pairs of clone
special trains will be done from/via NorthEastern Raiway (NER) from September 21.Clone special trains will be fully reserved, saidCPRO PK Singh. The advance reservation timefor these trains is 10 days and their fare will belike Humsafar Express. The movement of clonespecials from NER:- 04055 Ballia-Delhi tri-week-ly clone special train will depart from Ballia at 14.10hours on every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday andreach Delhi at 06:25 hours the second day. Duringthe return journey 04056 Delhi-Ballia tri-weeklyclone special train will depart from Delhi everyMonday, Wednesday and Friday at 18.00 hours andreach Ballia at 10.00 am the second day. The04055/04056 Ballia-Delhi-Ballia clone specialtrain will stop at Ghazipur City, Jaunpur, PrayagrajJn and Kanpur Central Stations on its journeyroute. The 09065 Surat-Chhapra weekly clone spe-cial train will leave Surat at 08:30 hrs on everyMonday and reach Chhapra at 14:30 hrs on sec-ond day. During the return journey the 09066Chhapra-Surat Weekly clone special train willleave Chhapra every Wednesday at 08.30 hrs andreach Surat at 14.45 hrs the next day. The09065/09066 Surat-Chhapra-Surat weekly clonespecial train will stop at Bhusaval, Itarsi,Jabalpur, Prayagraj Jn, Varanasi and Shahganjstations on its journey route. The movementof clone specials through NER:- The 02563Saharsa-New Delhi clone special will leaveSaharsa at 05:15 hours daily and reach New Delhiat 05:10 hours the next day. In the return jour-ney 02564 New Delhi-Saharsa clone special trainwill depart from New Delhi at 17:50 horus daily andreach Saharsa at 18:30 hours the next day. The02563/02564 Saharsa-New Delhi-Saharsa clone spe-cial train will stop at Barauni, Chapra, Gorakhpur,Aishbagh and Kanpur Central stations on its jour-ney route. The 02569 Darbhanga-New Delhi clonespecial will depart from Darbhanga daily at 07:00hours and reach New Delhi at 04.00 hours the nextday. During the return journey 02570 New Delhi-Darbhanga clone special will depart from New Delhiat 12:15 hours daily and reach Darbhanga at 09.15hours the next day. The 02569/02570 Darbhanga-New Delhi-Darbhanga clone special will stop at
Samastipur, Muzaffarpur, Chhapra, Gorakhpur,Aishbagh and Kanpur Central stations on its jour-ney route. The 02573 Muzaffarpur-Delhi weeklyclone special will depart from Muzaffarpur everySunday at 09:40 hours and reach Delhi at 05.30 hoursthe next day. During the return journey 02574 Delhi-Muzaffarpur weekly clone special will leave Delhiat 12.50 horus on every Monday and reachMuzaffarpur at 10:30 hours the next day. The02573/02574 Muzaffarpur-Delhi-Muzaffarpurweekly clone special will stop at Gorakhpur,Lucknow and Moradabad stations on its journeyroute.The 04653 New Jalpaiguri-Amritsar weeklyclone special will depart from New Jalpaifuri everyFriday at 07.00 hours and reach Amritsar at 16.20hours the next day. In the return journey 04654Amritsar-Newjalpaiguri weekly clone special will leaveAmritsar at 08.10 hours on every Wednesday andreach New Jalpaiguri at 17.45 hours the next day. The04653/04654 New Jalpaiguri-Amritsar-New Jalpaiguriweekly clone special on its journey route will stop atKatihar, Samastipur, Chhapra, Gorakhpur, Sitapur,Moradabad and Saharanpur stations. The 04651Jaynagar-Amritsar tri-weekly clone special willdepart from Jaynagar at 06.15 hrs on every Tuesday,Friday and Sunday and reach Amritsar at 13.00 hoursthe next day. During the return journey 04652Amritsar-Jayanagar tri-weekly clone special willleave Amritsar at 10.55 hours every Sunday,Wednesday and Friday and reach Jayanagar at 20.00hours the next day. The 04651/04652 Jaynagar-Amritsar-Jayanagar tri-weekly clone special will onits journey route stop at Samastipur, Chhapra,Shahganj, Lucknow, Moradabad, Delhi andAmbala Cantt stations. The 09465 Ahmedabad-Darbhanga Weekly clone special will leaveAhmedabad at 20:40 hrs on every Friday and reachDarbhanga at 09:30 hrs on the third day. In thereturn journey 09466 Darbhanga-Ahmedabadweekly clone special will leave Darbhanga at 04.00hrs on every Monday and reach Ahmedabad at16.20 hrs the next day. 09465/09466 Ahmedabad-Darbhanga-Ahmedabad weekly clone special willhalt at Ratlam, Ujjain, Guna, Jhansi, KanpurCentral, Lucknow, Faizabad, Shahganj, Chapraand Samastipur stations. The rakes of HumsafarExpress will be used in these clone special trainsin which a total of 18 coaches will be attached,including two each of generator-cum-luggageand third AC and four of sleeper class.
Hindi Fortnight concludes at NTPC Rihand
Three criminals apprehended
Regional Manager, Bank of Baroda, Basant Singh Chaudhary honouringbank’s law officer Vivek Tripathi at the regional office in Betiahata, Gorakhpur.DyRM SK Singh and Rajbhasha Officer Rahul Kumar were also present.
20 girls benefit under Kishori Shiksha Samadhan Yojana
Ganja seized; 6 arrestedCORRESPONDENT nMIRZAPUR
Six smugglers were arrested alongwith 225 kg ganja worth ̀ 20 lakh
on Monday. The joint team of SWAT,SOG and Vindhyachal policereceived an input about the trans-portation of ganja and started check-ing vehicles at Doodhnath Tiraha.When the police stopped an Innovaits four occupants tried to flee but werecaught. At this the two occupants ofa DCM truck which was behind it tootried to flee but were nabbed. Duringinterrogation the accused said that theganja was being transported fromOdisha by hiding it under coconutsand was to be sold at Mathura andits adjoining places. The police teamwas awarded cash reward of ̀ 15,000.
One held with intoxicating powderCORRESPONDENT nMIRZAPUR
The Katra Kotwali police arrested a criminal along withintoxicating powder. The Dankeenganj police outpost
incharge was patrolling when was informed about the pres-ence of some miscreants near PNB. The police raided the spotand arrested Dilip alias Lalau Yadav whose name figured inthe list of top-10 criminals with a countrymade gun etc.
PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n KANPUR
Additional Chief Secretary(Medical Education)
Rajneesh Dube has directed theUttar Pradesh Drug Controllerto ensure that there is no cri-sis of oxygen and COVID-19drugs.
He said all steps had beentaken to ensure that oxygen wassupplied to government hos-pitals at the rates decided in thesupply agreement. He warnedthat if there was any complaintof black-marketing of oxygen,strict legal action would betaken against the firm con-cerned.
The additional chief secre-tary directed private hospitalsto sign contract with oxygensuppliers so that it was suppliedar the rates settled by them. Hesaid there were reports that inthe absence of rate contract,some oxygen suppliers hadincreased the rates.
Dube, who addressedKanpur Nagar officials throughvideo conferencing, said there
were rumours that there was anacute crisis of remdesivir injec-tions but the health officialshad informed the governmentthat there was enough stock ofit so treatment of COVID-19patients would never be hin-dered.
The additional chief secre-tary directed the authoritiesconcerned to ensure that therewas no crisis of any medicine
or oxygen, as was being report-ed by the media.
He said strict monitoringshould also be done of thedruggists and suppliers. Heasked the district officials to seethat there was no hoarding ofoxygen cylinders, addingthat hoarding of oxygen cylin-ders was punishable as perlaw.
It may be mentioned here
that private hospitals havehiked the price of oxygen cylin-ders in the patients’ bill on thepretext that it being short insupply, its was being providedto hospitals at higher rate.People who approach medicalstores for oxygen cylinder haveto pay the hiked price or returnempty-handed. This is causingproblems to COVID-19patients in home isolation.
Meanwhile, LLR HospitalChief Medical SuperintendentDr Richa Giri said as 80 percent of the medicineswere being supplied byUttar Pradesh MedicalSupply Corporation and only20 per cent were being pur-chased at the local level, thishad created a crisis of antibi-otics.
She claimed that currentlythere was a stock of just 25 daysand if the restriction on localpurchase of medicines was notlifted immediately, it couldcreate problems.
Dr Giri said the issue hadalready been brought to thenotice of the government.
PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n KANPUR
Conversations around peri-ods and the usage of sani-
tary napkins must no longer beheld in hushed tones. PrimeMinister Modi’s IndependenceDay speech highlighted hissupport for breaking taboosabout menstruation. These dis-cussions cannot be restricted toonly women if we are to breakthe stigma surrounding thisbiological process as menstru-ation concerns us all.
In order to bring menstru-ation and safe menstrualhygiene practices into themainstream, home grownbrand Niine has partneredwith the Rajasthan Royals.
Rajasthan Royals will dis-play the Niine logo on the backof the team’s jersey for theupcoming edition of the IndianPremier League to be held inthe UAE from September 19 toNovember 10, 2020.
Niine brand, born from asmall town of UP just over twoyears ago has managed toestablish a strong market withits premium yet affordablerange of products.
Niine has constantly beena driving force for socialacceptability to free womenfrom menstrual shackles thatmay be imposed by society. AtNiine, there has been a con-scious effort to break stereo-types and ensure that familiesand men, in particular, areopen to seeing and discussingsanitary products within theirfamilies.
By breaking taboos andencouraging conversations,Niine has become instrumen-tal in empowering women tobe at the forefront of this ini-tiative. Rajasthan Royals, as asporting organisation, believein being at the forefront ofchange by working withempowered women to furthereducate society though theirmeaningful initiatives.
This partnership is a trueexemplification of the synergybetween the two brands andthe belief and vision carried bythem. Prior to this, back in2016, Niine’s parent company,Shudh Plus, had joined handswith Gujarat Lions in a fronttitle sponsorship.
Sharat Khemka, founder ofthe brand, is fond of cricket.Khemka also understands thatcricket is not just a game but areligion in India, hence the bestplatform for making people,especially men, more aware fora cause like this and help bringmenstruation at the forefront.
Rajasthan Royals arepoised to be the vehicle thatwill help educate men throughthe IPL 2020 season by build-ing not only awareness but alsounderstanding on a grandscale.
“Rajasthan Royals isknown for their affinity withsocial causes, and share a com-mon vision of empoweringwomen to strengthen Indiafurther. We are very excited atthis partnership and look for-ward to a strong season ofinnings and knock out men-strual shackles from lives of ourgirls and women, together.
“We also believe IPL is apowerful platform that reach-es out to millions and millionsof men and women in ourcountry and internationally,and can be a catalyst in doingaway with the embarrassmentfaced by many when it comesto sanitary napkins or in talksabout periods.
KANPUR (PNS): TheAnwarganj police have busteda gang of drug peddlers withthe arrest of three persons car-rying 14.350 kg ganja lateTuesday night.
Police registered a caseunder NDPS Act against theaccused and sent them to jail.
SHO Gangadhar said dur-ing vehicle checking atBansmandi crossing, three sus-picious youths were spottedriding a bike and a scooter.
During search, they werefound in possession of 14.350kg ganja, one country-madepistol, one live cartridge,motorcycle, scooter and twomobile phones.
The accused were identi-fied as Mohd Aziz alias Bhaiyaof Lalimli, Civil Lines; Sagarand Sunny of Makhi (Unnao).Sagar and Sunny were involvedin smuggling of drugs anddelivery of goods to differentdistricts.
Drug controller asked to ensure
uninterrupted oxygen supply
No shortage of Covid medicines: ACS
369 more test positive
PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n KANPUR
Kanpur Nagar reported 369 fresh cases of coronavirus infec-tion till Wednesday evening.Chief Medical Officer Dr AK Mishra said 369 more peo-
ple had tested positive for coronavirus infection betweenTuesday evening and Wednesday evening, taking the count ofconfirmed cases to 21374. He said a total of 65 cases were dis-charged and 5737 COVID-19 patients had been cured in thecity so far, and at present 4822 active coronavirus cases wereundergoing treatment.
The CMO said 11 COVID-19 deaths were reported in thecity till Wednesday evening taking the toll to 554. He said a totalof 6637 samples were sent for testing in the district.
PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n KANPUR
District Magistrate AlokTiwari has asked doctors
to remain present in the hos-pital during their duty hoursand warned that disciplinaryaction would be taken againstthose not found at hospitalwhile on duty.
Addressing a meeting hereon Wednesday, Tiwari direct-ed the static magistrates toensure that anaesthetists, chestspecialists and post-graduatedoctors were available in thehospital round-the-clock. Hesaid all these doctors had toreport their presence on dutyto the chief medical officerevery day.
The district magistrate saidall static magistrates wouldhave to be present at the hos-pital assigned to them to mon-itor the presence of doctors.
Tiwari said the static mag-
istrates would see that therewas no over-billing and in caseof any complaint in this regard,the facts would the cross-checked and if found true,action would be taken againstthe hospital administrationand the static magistrates aswell.
He stressed on specialmonitoring of critical patients.
The district magistratemade surprise inspection ofRama Medical College andtook feedback about the ICUfacility.
Tiwari directed the hospi-tal management to increase theICU beds to 75 on a war foot-ing. He also directed the hos-pital authorities to ensure thepresence of doctors in the pre-scribed ratio.
He then took feedbackfrom the patients in the ICUand also interacted with theirrelatives.
DM asks docs to remain in
hospital during duty hours
The District Magistrate, City, Alok Tiwari, along with other official carried out asurprise raid on Rama Medical College on Wednesday. Pioneer
Niine joinshands with RR to breaka taboo
Drug peddlers’
gang busted
PS reviews KDA geotagging work
PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n KANPUR
Kanpur DevelopmentAuthority Vice Chairman
Rakesh Kumar Singh held ameeting with the PrincipalSecretary (Housing & UrbanPlanning) through video con-ference on Wednesday inwhich the latter reviewed theprogress of geotagging work forthe establishment of UttarPradesh Centre for GeoInformatics.
Singh later held a meetingwith KDA officials and direct-ed Secretary SP Singh to sub-mit a report on installation ofrainwater harvesting system,issuance of completion certifi-cates and initiating com-pounding action within thenext two weeks.
He also sought a report ongeo-tagging from sales inchargeand executive engineer withina week.
Retired IAS officer Keshav
Verma gave a presentation onRiverfront Development.Secretary SP Singh, AdditionalSecretary Gudakesh Sharmaand other senior officers were
present in the meeting. Meanwhile, KDA enforce-
ment squad got land wortharound Rs.3.39 crore freedfrom unauthorised possession
on Tuesday. Under the Sujatganj
Housing Scheme, the teamfound unauthorised posses-sion on plot Nos 253, 175 and176 and got it vacated.Thereafter, the possession washanded over the allottees ofthese plots.
During the drive, OSDAlok Kumar Verma, JointSecretary KK Singh, ExecutiveEngineer Manoj KumarUpadhyaya, Tehsildar VyasNarain, Assistant Engineer RKPandey, Junior EngineerRavindra Prakash, SK Gupta,MM Sati, officials of engineer-ing and enforcement depart-ment, local police and PACforce were present.
It may be recalled that onthe directives of the KDA vicechairman, a drive has beenlaunched to free plots fromunauthorised possession andremove unauthorised con-structions.
KDA Vice Chairman Rakesh Kumar Singh reviews progress of various works withdepartmental officers on Wednesday. Pioneer.
Jagruk Matdata Manch honours 51 karsewaks PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n KANPUR
Under the aegis of JagrukMatdata Manch, a
Karsewak Samman Samaroh inthe memory of Vishwa Hinduparishad chief Ashok Singhalwas organised at Gyan BhartiBalika Inter College in BirhanaRoad here on Tuesday evening.
The event was organisedto mark Sangharsh Divaswhen on September 15, 2004,police had cane-charged thethen BJP MLA Salil Vishnoiand caused him serious injuryduring his agitation for civicamenities.
On this occasion, as manyas 51 karsewaks who hadplayed a leading role duringRam Janmabhoomi move-ment and were lodged in jail,were felicitated by the RSSprant pracharak Ramji, vibhagkaryavah Bhavani Bhikh and
BJP state vice-president andconvenor of the programmeSalil Vishnoi.
Recall ing the RamJanmabhoomi movement,Ramji highlighted the contri-bution of Ashok Singhal andprised the role of thousands ofkarsewaks.
Mannalal Omar of Koda(Jahanabad), who has donat-ed Rs 30 lakh for the Ramtemple construction, wasextended special felicitation.The proceedings were con-ducted by Jagruk MatdataManch secretary DharmPrakash Gupt while presidentof the organisation, KamleshPathak, proposed the vote ofthanks.
Prominent persons pre-sent on the occasion wereRSS district sarsanghchalakHari Shyam Gupta, corpora-tors Yashpal Singh, Vikas
Jaiswal, Guru Narain Gupta,Deepak Sharma, RameshBalmiki, Vijay Omar, SanhyaMisra and Chandra Kant.
MAN KILLS DAUGHTERIn a case of honour killing,
a man axed his daughter todeath when she was presentwith her paramour inKhanpana vil lage underGajner police station ofKanpur Dehat on Wednesdaymorning.
Police arrested theassailant and recovered theblood-stained axe from thespot.
SP (Kanpur Dehat)Keshav Kumar and ASPAnoop Kumar along withforensic team reached thespot and carried out investi-gations.
The villagers informedthe police that the 19-year-old
girl was having an affair witha neighbouring youth andboth secretly met and oftenwent outside the villagetogether without the knowl-edge of their family members.
They said four days ago,he girl’s mother had gone toher parents’ house in Maithavillage, leaving behind herdaughter to cook food.
On Wednesday morning,her father had gone to thefield. On returning home, hesaw his daughter with theyouth. On being scolded,when the daughter startedarguing, he attacked the cou-ple with the axe, killing hisdaughter while her lover man-aged to escape.
The injured youth wasadmitted to hospital.
A police force wasdeployed there to avert anyuntoward incident.
����� �7������������������ ��� !� "# ��$%&�'('(
����� �0)�'0123
As the world races to devel-op vaccines to combat the
deadly Covid-19, India onWednesday witnessed twomajor developments in thesector: While the RussianDirect Investment Fund(RDIF) inked a deal with DrReddy’s Laboratories to con-duct a clinical trial and distri-bution of 100 million doses ofits Covid-19 vaccine, SputnikV, in India, the Serum Instituteof India (SII) got the DCGInod to resume the clinicaltrial of the Oxford coronavirusvaccine candidate here butwith certain precautionaryconditions.
Under the agreement,RDIF, which is Russia’s sover-eign wealth fund, will supply100 million doses of Russia’sshot to the Indian drug maker.Both the trials and supply dealdepend on central drug regu-lator’s approval. If the trials aresuccessful, the vaccine will beavailable in India by the end ofthis year, said the RDIF in astatement. It was developed bythe Gamaleya NationalResearch Institute ofEpidemiology andMicrobiology on August 11and was registered by theMinistry of Health of Russia tobecome the world’s first regis-tered vaccine against Covid-19based on the human adenovi-
ral vectors platform.The RDIF further said,
“Upon regulatory approval inIndia, RDIF shall supply to Dr.Reddy’s 100 million doses ofthe vaccine. The Sputnik V
vaccine, which is based onwell-studied human adenovi-ral vector platform with provensafety, is undergoing clinicaltrials for the coronavirus pan-demic.”
“Deliveries could poten-tially begin in late 2020 subjectto completion of successfultrials and registration of thevaccine by regulatory author-ities in India,” it added.
Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of theRussian Direct InvestmentFund, said: “We are verypleased to partner withDr.Reddy’s in India. India isamongst most severely impact-
ed countries from Covid-19and we believe our human ade-novirus dual vector platformwill provide a safe and scien-tifically validated option toIndia in the battle against
Covid-19.”GV Prasad, Co-Chairman
and Managing Director of Dr.Reddy’s Laboratories, saidthat the Phase I and II resultshave shown promise, and wewill be conducting Phase-IIItrials in India to meet therequirements of the Indianregulators. “Sputnik-V vac-cine could provide a credibleoption in our fight againstCovid-19 in India,” he said.
Meanwhile, giving its nodto the SII to start the trial, theDCGI asked the SII to submitdetails of medication used inaccordance with the protocolfor management of adverseevents. The DCGI alsorevoked its order on newrecruitment for phase two andthree trials to the SII.
The DCGI had onSeptember 11 directed SII tosuspend any new recruitmentin the phase two and threeclinical trial of the OxfordCOVID-19 vaccine candidatetill further orders in the back-drop of pharma giantAstraZeneca pausing the clin-ical trials in other countriesbecause of ‘’an unexplained ill-ness’’ in a participant in thestudy.
Covid-19 infections in theparamilitary forces have
surpassed the 33,000-markand the deaths due to the dis-ease have breached the 100tally.
The Central Reser vePolice Force (CRPF) hasreported 9,253 cases ofCovid-19 infections till nowand 42 patients have suc-cumbed to the illness. While1,463 patients continue to beactive, the remaining havebeen cured.
Likewise, the BorderSecurity Force (BSF) hasreported 9,337 cases of infec-tion and 25 casualties toCovid-19. As many as 1,860cases continue to be active inthe BSF ranks.
The Central IndustrialSecurity Force (CISF) hasreported 5,719 cases ofCovid-19 infection in itsranks and 24 personnel havedied due to the disease. Atotal of 1,293 patients con-tinue to be active.
The Indo-Tibetan BorderPolice (ITBP) has reported
3,428 cases of Covid-19 andseven personnel have dieddue to the viral disease. Asmany as 856 patients contin-ue to be active.
The Sashastra Seema Bal(SSB) has recorded 3,132cases of Covid-19 and sevencasualties due to the infec-tion.
The National SecurityGuards (NSG) has reported230 cases of novel coron-avirus infection without asingle casualty in its ranks.Forty five patients are stillactive in the NSG ranks.
The National DisasterResponse Force (NDRF) hasreported 493 cases of Covid-19 infection and one deathdue to the pandemic. Tencases are active in its ranks.
As on September 10, theAssam Rifles has reported1,605 cases of Covid-19 anddeaths due to the viral dis-ease.
The total number ofCovid-19 infections acrossthe paramilitary forces standat 33,280 cases and 111deaths due to the viral dis-ease.
� ����������(������������� ������ �,,-����&
����� �0)�'0123
The Union Home Ministryon Tuesday informed the
Parliament that in addition tothe normal benefits available toa Central Armed Police Force(CAPF) personnel on death, ithas been decided to provide �15 lakh to the next of kinthrough Bharat Ke Veer fundsin case of fatality due to theviral infection contracted whiledeployed on Covid-19 relatedduties.
Around 28 hectares of thearchaeologically rich site in
Uttar Pradesh’s Baghpat area inSinauli where “sacred cham-bers”, chariots, decorated“legged coffins” as well as fas-cinating artifact pointing to thepresence of a warrior classaround 4,000 years ago wereexcavated two years ago has gotthe tag of ‘national importance’. The Governmentissued a notification in thisregard recently.
The Union CultureMinistry, which supervisesthe functioning of the country’s premier conserva-tion body, Archeological
Survey of India (ASI), hadissued a preliminary notifi-cation in June to bring the siteunder its fold.
The aim is to protect thesite from encroachment, tam-pering and destruction.Around 28.67 hectares of landmostly belonging to the localsin the region has beenbrought under protection,according to which while thefarmers of the land will beal lowed to carr y on agricultural practices but theywill not be permitted to con-struct any permanent struc-ture. “Sanauli is an importantsite from an archeologicalpoint of view as artifacts
found from the venue arenot only of nat ional importance but of interna-tional importance too. Muchremains yet to be explored,”said archeologist SK Manjulwho is credited for theunearthing coffins and sacredchambers important artifactsfrom the site in 2018.
Sanauli is located on theleft bank of the River Yamuna,68 km north-east of Delhiwhich brought to light thelargest necropolis of the lateHarappan period datable toaround early part of secondmillennium BCE.
Manjul said that theunearthed chariots, some coffins, shields, swords and helmets points towards the
existence of a “warrior class inthe area around 2,000 BCE”.The three chariots found inburial pits indicate the possi-bility of “royal burials” whileother findings confirm thepopulation of a warrior classhere, he added. “These find-ings are important to under-stand the culture pattern ofthe Upper Ganga-Yamunadoab. We found copperswords, helmets, shields andchariots,” Manjul said.
He claimed that the dis-covery of chariots put Indiaon a par with ancient civili-sations in Mesopotamia andGreece, where chariots wereused extensively.
National Rural EmploymentGuarantee Act (Mgnrega)increased nearly 40 per cent inthe current fiscal year owing tothe mass migration of migrantworkers to rural India,Parliament was informed onWednesday.
Responding to a question inthe Lok Sabha, RuralDevelopment Minister NarendraSingh Tomar said demand forwork rose by 38.79 percent as22.49 crore people sought workunder the scheme this year untilSeptember 12, as compared to16.2 crore last year in the sameperiod.
“The number of beneficia-ries provided employmentunder Mgnerga during thecurrent fiscal year 2021 as onSeptember 12, 2020, is 8.29crore,” he said in a statement.
More than 1.04 croremigrant workers across thecountry returned to their homestates amid the coronaviruspandemic-led livelihood crisis.
Of all the migrant workers whoreturned home, 75 percenthailed from five states - UttarPradesh, Bihar, West Bengal,Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.
The number of householdsseeking employment underMgnerga also went up by 38.73percent this fiscal year. As perthe data, 8.9 crore householdssought work under the schemein the April-July period of 2020,which rose to 12.47 crore house-holds in the same period this fis-cal year.
There is a budgetary allo-cation of Rs 61,500 crore duringfiscal year 2021 under Mgnergaand �60,599 crore has beenreleased so far, the statementsaid. When asked if the govern-ment has any plan to allowemployment for workers underMgnerga in private agricultur-al activities, Tomar said no suchplan is in the works.
������� ��* �&�����!�"34�.��($��567%� ����� ��
����� �0)�'0123
Against the backdrop ofthree bills related to farm-
ers being voted in Parliament,BJP President JP Nadda onWednesday charged theCongress with being “doublefaced” and playing politics byopposing the “revolutionarybills” in the two houses even ashe asserted that Prime MinsterNarendra Modi is actuallyimplementing what the oppo-sition party had promised tothe farmers in its 2019 mani-festo.
A day after the Lok Sabhapassed the EssentialC o m m o d i t i e s(Amendment)Bill, 2020,which seeks to deregulate fooditems, including cereals , puls-es and onion and aimed atraising farmers’ income, theBJP claimed that itsGovernment was “freeing”farmers from an outdated andrestrictive system.
The Bill, which would nowgo to the Rajya Sabha and twoother bills on the floor, havebeen described as “revolu-tionary” and “far sighted” byNadda. He said it wouldincrease the price of the pro-duce, give freedom to farmersto sell their produce outsidethe ‘Mandi’ and increase pri-vate investment in agricul-ture.
He said the Essential
Commodities Act, 1955, hadturned outdated as it was thenneeded to regulate the marketand prevent hoarding.
The produce of wheat,rice and dal, he said, has nowincreased ten, four and twoand half-times respectivelyand the market requires to bederegulated.
“You can now sell produceoutside mandi also in a com-petitive market to get the bestprice in a transparent manner,”said the BJP President.
Nadda said contract farm-ing would be on a writtendocument on the produce andnot on the land with “ assuredprice, bonus and variables forthe farmer”, he claimed.
Charging Congress withhaving a “double-faced” stand,the BJP chief said Congresspromised to remove all restric-tions on the agriculture pro-duce in its 2019 manifesto anddemanded replacement of1955 Act.
“Modiji has implementedwhat Congress promised. Thesame Congress is now oppos-ing these bills in the LokSabha and Rajya Sabha,”Nadda said and asserted theywere meant for the “azadi ofkisans”.
He said despite the pro-gressive legislation for farmers,the system of MinimumSupport Price for the farmerswould continue.
day” in India’s history, allegingthat Prime Minister NarendraModi “lied” to the nation onthe day about the Chinesetransgressions in Ladakh.
The party also attackedthe Modi Government for tak-ing loans to the tune of $750million (�5,521 crore) fromBeijing-based AsianInfrastructure Investment Bank(AIIB) to provide financialsupport to the Pradhan MantriGarib Kalyan Yojana(PMGKY), a scheme launchedto help the poor hit hard by theCovid-19 pandemic, at a timewhen the armed forces werefighting China’s People’sLiberation Army in easternLadakh.
Former Congress presi-dent Rahul Gandhi tooattacked the government onthe issue. “Understand thechronology: PM said no onehas entered Indian territory,then took loans from China-based bank, then defence min-ister said China has intrudedinto our territory and now
home minister says no infil-tration along India-China bor-der. Is the Modi governmentwith Indian armed forces orwith China? Why is there somuch of fear?” Rahul, who iscurrently abroad, tweeted.
Addressing reporters out-side the Parliament Housecomplex here, Congressspokesperson Pawan Kheraclaimed that the Union min-isters are speaking in differentlanguages on the India-Chinaborder standoff.
“June 19 is a black day inthe history of India becausethat was the first time that anyPrime Minister lied to thenation. Not only did he give aclean chit to China that day,but also signed a loan agree-ment with the Beijing-basedAsian InfrastructureInvestment Bank (AIIB) tothe tune of $750 million (Rs5,521 crore),” he said. China isthe largest shareholder inAIIB.
“By then, 20 of our bravesoldiers had sacrificed theirlives while protecting our sov-ereignty in violent clasheswith Chinese troops,” addedKhera.
sure report filed by RajasthanPolice and ordered a fresh inves-tigation into the mysteriousdeath of a third-year student ofthe National Law University,Jodhpur, in August 2017.
A bench of justices R FNariman, Navin Sinha andIndira Banerjee said, “We haveset aside the closure report. Wehave directed a de-novo investi-gation with certain more direc-tions”.
On September 8, the topcourt had said there is a need fora re-investigation in the case.“We may direct re-investiga-tion. This is not the way,” the topcourt had observed after perus-ing the report filed by theRajasthan Police in the matter. InJuly, the top court had said thatthe investigation in the mattershould be completed within twomonths and a final report be filedbefore it. While claiming that anFIR was lodged in the case aftera delay of around 10 months inJune 2018, the petitioner hasalleged that the manner in whichthe probe was conducted “leadsto an inescapable reasonableapprehension” that it is a resultof a “probable collusion to shieldsome high, mighty and influen-tial person(s)”.
���� �0)�'0123
The Supreme Court onWednesday said there
was an approval by theCentral Government on useof Remdesivir andFabiparivir as medicines totreat COVID-19.
The top court was hear-ing a plea seeking registra-tion of an FIR by the CBIagainst ten Indian pharma-ceutical firms for manufac-turing and selling these twomedicines for treatingCOVID-19 patients alleged-ly without valid licences.
Remdesivir andFavipiravir are antiviraldrugs and their efficacy intreating COVID-19 patientshave been a matter of debateamong medical experts.
A bench comprisingChief Justice S A Bobde andJustices A S Bopanna and VRamasubramanian referredto the New Drugs andClinical Trials Rules, 2018and said these medicineshave been permitted by theGovernment for using intreatment of novel coronavirus patients.
Mamata Banerjee has decidedto visit the districts to holdadministrative meetings. Herdistrict tour will begin with vis-its to North Bengal townswhere the Chief Minister willtake stock of situations, officialsat State Secretariat Nabannasaid.
The resumption ofBanerjee’s administrative meet-ings amid corona crisis comesin the backdrop intensifiedmovements on the part ofprincipal Opposition party BJP.
The Chief Minister willreach Siliguri on September 21where she will stay for a nightbefore holding meetings withdistrict officials of Alipurduarand Jalpaiguri districts at
“Uttarkanya” building which isthe second secretariat of theState.
After meeting officialsthere she would the districtauthorities of Darjeeling,Coochbehar and Kalimpongbefore returning to Kolkataon September 24, sources said.
Soon after coming topower Banerjee had startedregular administrative trips todistrict headquarters takingalong with him respective min-isters, and secretaries. Duringadministrative meetings shewould confront local authori-ties and evaluate their progressreport on various pending pro-jects. Besides she would alsomeet local people to take feed-backs from them.
The formula had yieldedresults with the effect that pro-jects were speedily completed.
Banerjee had held anadministrative meeting out ofKolkata for the last time in themonth of March when she vis-ited Malda. Subsequently withthe outbreak of corona pan-demic the programmes had tobe halted.
On whether corona proto-cols would be compromised inthe crowded meetings in thedistrict a senior official said “allprecautions are being taken.”
Meanwhile, pooh-pooingthe resumption of administra-tive meeting State BJP leaderSayantan Basu said “such eye-washes would hardly yield anyresult because the people havealready made up their minds tothrow out this Government…We had said that in 2019 wewill make them half and wehave done that by reducing theTMC to 22 out of 42 seats …
Now we have promised tomake them ‘saaf ’ (clear themout) and we will do that withthe help of the people. Noamount of administrativemeeting will help.”
Bengal Minister ParthoChatterjee however said “Thevictory of 2019 has gone toBJP’s head and in the past oneyear they have shown theirmetal to the people. Now theyhave once again made up theirmind because they know thattheir future lies with MamataBanerjee and not the commu-nal party like BJP.”
Meanwhile, the State BJPhad decided to stage a Nabannamarch on October 6, partysources said adding the marchwill be organized to raise a num-ber of issues including corrup-tion, syndicate raj, falling lawand order situation etc.
Bachchan spoke vociferouslyin Rajya Sabha against theattempts being made by certainpeople to “vilify” Bollywood, theMumbai Police on Wednesdaybeefed up security outside theoutside Bachchans’ bungalow“Jalsa” at Juhu in north-westMumbai.
Taking serious cognisanceof intense trolling that Jaya hascome under after remarks inRajya Sabha made in responseto BJP MP and Bhojpuri actorRavi Kishan and actressKangana Ranaut, the Mumbaipolice deployed police person-nel outside Bachchans resi-dence “Jalsa” to ensure againstuntoward incidents.
Simultaneously, theMumbai Police Cyber Cell islooking into trolling and virulentsocial media posts that have tar-geted the Bachchans during thelast two days. Talking to mediapersons here, Mumbai GuardianMinister Aslam Shaikh said: “Ihave told the Mumbai police toincrease security for theBachchan family which is beingtrolled and targeted viciously inthe social media after herremarks in support ofBollywood in Parliament”
It may be recalled that actorRavi Kishan said that there wasa drug problem in Bollywood,Jaya Bachchan had hit backsaying that some attempts werebeing made to “vilify”Bollywood.
“Just because of a few peo-ple, you cannot vilify the whole
industry… I was really embar-rassed and ashamed that yes-terday one of our members inthe Lok Sabha, who is from theindustry, spoke against the filmindustry. Jis thaali mein khaatehain usi mein chhed karte hain(they are biting the hand thatfeeds them),” Jaya had said inRajya Sabha, without namingKishan.
“At a time when the finan-cial situation is in a depressingstate and employment rate at theworst levels, in order to divertthe attention of people, we arebeing flogged on social mediaand there is no support from thegovernment…. the entertain-ment industry in the countryprovides direct employment to5 lakh people daily and indirectemployment to 5 million peo-ple,” Jaya had said.
������� �����������������������������1���
9������#�������� ��� ����� ��������:(����7
������ �������� � �4,23
For the first time in the his-tory of Kerala, leader of a
political party stood in front ofthe main gate of the KeralaSecretariat on Wednesday andshouted that Chief MinisterPinarayi Vijayan was the directbeneficiary of the gold smug-gling scam, LIFE Mission cor-ruption and even the drugtrafficking cases in the State.
“Pinarayi Vijayan is thedirect beneficiary of goldsmuggling scam, LIFE Missioncorruption and drug traffick-ing. That’s the reason behindhis over enthusiasm in savingand protecting K T Jaleel, theminister for higher educationwho has been questioned bythe Enforcement Directorate,”declared K Surendran, presi-dent of the Kerala BJP onWednesday.
Surendran, who wasaddressing hundreds of partyworkers including activists ofMahila Morchcha, said thatVijayan was afraid of his ownshadow. “It is because of hissense of guilt. We want theinvestigating agencies to ques-tion Vijayan’s daughter andson-in-law in these cses,” saidthe BJP leader.
The BJP president wasreferring to Vijayan’s pressbriefing on Tuesday eveningwhen he shouted at the formerdescribing him as a person wholost his mental balance. “ Asense of fear is hauntingVijayan and it is because of hisinvolvement in the criminaldeeds,” charged Surendran.
Earlier VV Rajesh, seniorBJP leader, alleged that theCPI(M) was conspiring withthe Police in sabotaging the ral-lies and demonstrations orga-nized by the saffron brigade allover Kerala.
“There were manyinstances at Thiruvanantha-puram and Kannur whenpolicemen without name-boards and number plates beat-ing up BJP activists,” allegedRajesh.
For over six decades, one hasnever witnessed such astrong projection of thenational resolve to imple-ment a policy. This rare
privilege goes to the NationalEducation Policy (NEP), 2020. ThePresident of India addresses thenation, the Prime Minister address-es twice within a week, the UnionEducation Minister and his teamseem busy 24X7, conducting andguiding national-level webinars onspecific topics that would requirenew initiatives and action at theimplementation stage. It’s evidentthat the nation has realised that forequitable growth, progress anddevelopment, it has to be “education,education, and education.” India isnow determined to create a pool ofteachers who would not only bedegree-holders but possess “person-alities.” These would be peopleimbued with a comprehensivemulti-disciplinary and multi-dimen-sional perspective.
In fact, the new approach toteacher preparation would expectevery instructor to develop a com-prehensive perspective on life andliving. They would internalise thehigher goals of education. Thefocus, henceforth, would be onthem believing in Sarva Bhut HiteRatah. And as was the ancient tra-dition, they would be life-longlearners, yavadjeevait adhiyateviprah. It is, in a sense, a revolution-ary recommendation that by 2030all teachers would be prepared inmulti-faculty colleges and universi-ties through four-year integratedprogrammes. As one goes throughthe various sections of the NEP, thisexpectation becomes evident toeveryone.
The objective of achievingscharyatwa would require a strongsupport system that must emergefrom the establishment and society.There are clear indications to ensurethat: “In order to improve andreach the levels of integrity and cred-ibility required to restore the pres-tige of the teaching profession, theregulatory system shall be empow-ered to take stringent action againstsub-standard and dysfunctionalTeacher Education Institutions(TEIs) that do not meet the basiceducational criterion, after givingone year for the remedy of breach-es. By 2030, only educationallysound, multi-disciplinary and inte-grated teacher education pro-grammes shall be in force.” Thisobjective of restoring the credibili-
ty of TEIs is achievable. TheNational Council for TeacherEducation (NCTE) had, during1998-99, successfully exercisedthis authority, and certain well-known but sub-standard teacherpreparation programmes wereclosed down. Once teacher edu-cators accept this responsibility,they could transform the entiresystem. Let them never forget thatthe recommendations on teachereducation arise from the expec-tations and aspirations of theyoung. But somewhere besidesthese is also the hidden pain andanguish which was recorded –with a heavy heart – by late JusticeJS Verma: “A majority of stand-alone TEIs – over 10,000 in num-ber – are not even attemptingserious teacher education but areessentially selling degrees for aprice.” One could mention it onlywith immense pain, as the firstchairperson of the NCTE said,that all these 10,000 institutionsselling degrees were certified bysenior teachers, teacher educa-tors, professors and other acad-emics. The policy has done itspart, no more stand-alone col-leges. Now it is the responsibili-ty of teachers, teacher educatorsand professionals in the field toensure that in future regulatorymechanisms are not trivialised.
This policy suggests alterna-tive regulatory structures, whichwould transform the manner inwhich future multi-disciplinary
teacher preparations institutionsand universities would emerge.The responsibility of teachers atevery stage would grow multi-fold as autonomy would be thein-thing.
When one goes through thevarious general recommenda-tions in the policy, one finds seri-ous concern for drastic change inteacher education in contentand pedagogy, and the need toachieve an attitudinal transforma-tion among aspiring teachers. Itis now learning, learning andmore learning. Examinationsshall no more be days of nation-wide anxiety and widespreadtension. The focus of assess-ment in schools shifts to applica-tion of knowledge gained andinternalised.
The present pattern of exam-inations was transplanted in thiscountry by alien rulers. It hadbeen discarded in Britain muchearlier but we still adhere to it inIndia. Teachers, and teacher edu-cators, have a tremendous taskahead in implementing curricu-lum load reduction, to ensurethat textbooks and textual mate-rials are neither deficient onnew knowledge nor too over-loaded with obsolesce content.
Teaching and learning shallbecome more interactive, andmuch would transpire outside theclosed classroom. Skill develop-ment and bringing in vocation-al education elements early in
schools would require TEIsabsorbing them in their own cur-ricula. Those who know thestory of Richard Feynman wouldfind it much easier to visualise itsgreat transformative and inspir-ing impact on the system as awhole. It would be possible onlywhen the promises to ensure theassured recruitment process areput to practice, and the assur-ances on the professionallyacceptable teacher-student ratiois implemented without anyaberrations. One must not ignoreconsiderable dilution in the qual-ity of education and decline in theacceptability and credibility ofschools funded by the public. Thepolicy realises this.
The ancient Indian traditionof knowledge quest spreads overfour stages: adhyayan, manan,chintan and upayog. And its rel-evance is eternal. It is the essenceof the process of transfer ofknowledge to generations ahead.Every teacher, henceforth, wouldbe expected to comprehend theessence of Indian philosophy ofeducation that finds reflectionthroughout this policy.
Let me recall three sen-tences of Sri Aurobindo; firstbeing that the process mustbegin with “from near, to far”;and hence the mother tonguemedium and other aspects. Hissecond principle was that “noth-ing can be taught.” Every active,alert and vibrant teacher shall
have to grasp its essence. It is“learning the treasure within.” Itis the perfection within that thechild is discovering, and teachersare assisting, supporting, guiding,and much more.
When Sri Aurobindo statesthat the “mind must be consult-ed in its growth,” he is emphasis-ing how pertinent it is to “knowthe child.” It is the comprehen-sion of these basic principles thathas led to the restricting of theschool education system to5+3+3+4. The most significantis the addition of initial threeyears, after the age of 3. Indiawould need very specialisedteachers for this age group.
A couple of years ago, Indiahad anticipated the importanceof open and distance learning.That experience comes veryhandy as the global attentiondiverts to online learning.Creation of digital platforms ande-content had already begun infull swing and has come handyduring the corona crisis, as chil-dren are confined to their homes.The pedagogy is undergoingunprecedented change, teachersassociated with schools will haveto gear up to learn new skills.While tools and techniques shallchange – sometimes beyondrecognition – the pedagogicalprinciples would remain thesame.
(The writer works in education and social cohesion)
Sir — The Tamil NaduAssembly has unanimouslypassed a Bill to provide 7.5 percent horizontal reservation inmedical admissions for StateGovernment students who clearthe National Eligibility cumEntrance Test (NEET). Theprovisions of the new law areapplicable to all governmentand private medical, dental,Indian medicine and homeopa-thy streams. The reservationwill benefit 300 underprivi-leged scholars annually andwill be implemented from thisyear onwards.
Amit Singh KushwahaMadhya Pradesh
������������� �
Sir — The Uttar PradeshGovernment has issued a noti-fication for setting up a SpecialSecurity Force (SSF). It will begiven responsibility of impor-tant Government buildings,industrial establishments, majorsites, airports, metros and otherimportant places. Empoweredto make “arrests” and conduct“searches” without any prior
warrant, the force can proveuseful in apprehending crimi-nals. The officer can also imme-diately search that person’sproperty and house. However,the possibility of this powerbeing exploited by the author-ities cannot be ruled out.
Bhupendra Singh RangaHaryana
� ������ ��� ���
Sir — Inflation is primarily dri-ven by food prices, whichaccount for 39 per cent of theConsumer Price Index (CPI)basket, and a sharp spiral inprices of transport and commu-nication services, which amount
to 8.6 per cent. The sub catego-ry of petrol and diesel for vehi-cles and telephone charges formobiles account for around 50per cent of transport and com-munication charges, which havebeen growing in double digits inJuly and August. Prices of basicfood items such as pulses, vegeta-bles, edible oil, meat, fish and
eggs have doubled. Even fruitsare extremely costly. While theCPI in August is lower than thatof July by 0.04 per cent, it is stillhigher than the upper limit of theRBI’s comfort level of six per centfor the fifth consecutive month.The data is not at all encourag-ing.
CK RamanathanGhaziabad
��������� �Sir — India got elected asMember of the UN Commissionon the Status of Women, theprincipal global body focussedon gender equality and womenempowerment, beating China ina hotly-contested election. Indiagarnered 38 votes of the 54 bal-lots cast.
India and Afghanistan will joinArgentina, Austria, DominicanRepublic, Israel, Latvia, Nigeria,Turkey and Zambia, which wereelected by acclamation, to theCommission on the Status ofWomen for a four-year termbetween 2021 and 2025. This isa proud moment for us indeed.
The recent confession of Professor JessicaKrug about her true identity may have out-raged many. However, it offers an opportuni-
ty to re-evaluate what academics given to conscious-ness-raising often do. Krug, a historian teachingAfrican history at George Washington University,admitted in a blog that she is a Jew born of Whiteparents and has nothing to do with African-American Blackness, something which she had beenclaiming for a long time. She regretted that her actionwas “the very epitome of violence, of thievery andappropriation, of the myriad ways in which non-Black people continue to use and abuse Black iden-tities and cultures.” In the same breath, Krug declaredthat she is no culture vulture but a culture leech. Heractions though have proved otherwise. Prior to herouting of herself in the blog, Krug had used a moreAfrican-sounding name (Jessica La Bombalera) inher activist avatar, and during a demonstration hadquestioned the gentrification of New York by call-ing out the “White New Yorkers” for having failedto spare a thought for Black and Brown New Yorkers.We don’t know what prompted her to come out asWhite though it is said that there were increasingmurmurs about her identity that forced her to doso.
The knowledge market: On the face of it, a sit-uation such as this is not representative of the aca-demic environment in the US or India. This is wherethe present intervention marks its departure. Krug’sadmission, no doubt, betrays her inability to fake itany longer, but more importantly, it reveals themalaise of contemporary academic knowledgeproduction. The difference between usurping thevoice of the weak (what academics do) and pretend-ing to be the weak (what Krug did) is perhaps oneof degree and not of kind. When Krug claimed tobe a culture leech rather than a vulture, she was high-lighting that subtle difference. We can be reason-ably sure that Krug is not the first one and won’t bethe last, at least until the academic market stops con-verting experience of marginality to elitist knowl-edge and suspends placing a premium on the dishof victimhood.
Those who see Krug’s problem as an individ-ual transgression are either oblivious of what goesin the name of knowledge or are beneficiaries of suchmethods. Academic scholarship has often beenobsessed with not just representing cultural differ-ence but also in producing, controlling and own-ing it. Few questions are raised about the moral foun-dation of such knowledge. It is taken for granted thatif cultural difference does not exist, it is to be invent-ed and if academic knowledge has to sustain itself,“savage slots” are to be continuously filled. Krug tookit one step further. Instead of being content withimmersion or academic self-othering, or spongingon cultural difference of the Blacks like a leech, shechose to become indistinguishable from what shewas writing about.
A few years ago, Harvard University had goneto the market advertising its culture of diversity byprojecting Elizabeth Warren, a law professor whoclaimed to be a Cherokee Indian (and went on tohave a thriving political career). The differencebetween birth identity and assumed identity mayappear as academically adventurous and a cool wayof moving beyond fixed identities, but in reality, andfor the people whose identity is thus stolen, it is anact of violence. In a post-modern academic world,race is increasingly seen as a political invention rather
than a frozen identity, thus creating a path-way for becoming someone else, orbelonging without believing. That way,what Krug did was chic because she wasmaking herself a trans-individual. But weall understand that Blackness as knowl-edge and Blackness as experience (not justindividual but collective and communal)are different things. One is of romantici-sation, appropriation, exoticisation, evensilencing, and the other of everyday-nessand its struggle.
Though living the marginal lifeinvolves costs in real life — humiliation,powerlessness, sub-human life and so on— the academic world knows the bene-fits of being Black or minority, at least inthe latter’s potential for being objects ofknowledge. In the market of scholarship,victimhood sells and is safely monetised:Black or Coloured in America andMuslim or Dalit in India. Cultural differ-ence and victimhood are a minefield offame and money.
That said, the demonstrations over thedeath of George Floyd or over atrocitiesagainst Dalits reveal a mindset of remem-bering the victim only when they can beused as a medium of accumulating sym-bolic capital. It is not just about dehuman-ising and instrumentalising them foradvancing one’s career but also the beliefthat being a victim pays. The willingnessto barter away one’s identity, as Krug did,springs from the conviction that academ-ic benefit from such impersonation out-weighs the losses.
Imaginary victims: What Krug didnot acknowledge in her confession is thather violence was not only directed as gen-uine Black experience but also at Whiteexperience. While faking to be Black, shewas creating a template in whichWhiteness is antagonistic to Blackness andso was perpetuating a race binary. She wasreducing her own race by making it appearinflexible, intolerant, exclusivist and thenegation of Black experience. Her imper-sonation implied that sincere appreciation
of Black history is not possible while beingWhite. She also pandered to those radi-cal elements who believe that genuineunderstanding of the other is possible onlyby denying one’s own authenticity. Herpretension perpetuated the academicworld of make-believe that being major-ity is a matter of shame and its disavow-al or degradation is necessary to speak forthe weak.
Krug converted the Black experienceto some bare codes defining Black authen-ticity: Angry, violent, abusive. That is whatshe was doing while appearing as JessicaLa Bombalera. The resonance of this men-tality in India is not difficult to find. Dalitsand Muslims are often projected in themedia as angry and violent because thatis the only way to be weak and a minor-ity. Being helpless and being violent are theexpressions of the same authentic core.Academics like Krug not only stereotypeor steal identity, they also create normswhich guide victimhood. As long as theBlack man is anti-police or a Muslim isanti-State or a Dalit is anti-Brahmin, theyare authentic; a republican African-American is beyond this template as is anationalist Indian Muslim.
An academic from Hunter Collegenamed Yarimar Bonilla said somethingvery revealing about Krug, that the latternot only fooled others about being awoman of colour, but also into thinkingthat they are actually inferior, intellectu-ally and politically. Krug was denying themtheir being, their worth outside her ownwritings and activism. What it reveals isthat being a victim of violence has moremoral, academic and perhaps politicalworth than being normal and majority.
So behind minority identity, its pro-duction and circulation, there is a politi-cal economy of cultural difference and ofdiversity that can be a passport to capital— economic or symbolic. Becoming theother involves a life-time of dedication tolive another life. Krug must have inter-nalised the new identity. In the acknowl-
edgment section of her book FugitiveModernities, she thanked her “ancestors,unknown, unnamed, who bled life into afuture they had no reason to believe couldor should exist. … Those whose names Icannot say for their own safety, whetherin my barrio, in Angola, or in Brazil.” Itmay be mentioned here that Krug hadreceived financial assistance for writingthis book from Schomburg Center forResearch in Black Culture.
It is not important to know whetherbeing White or feigning Blackness is bet-ter for being a scholar of African history.What is important is the knowledge itself— of victims and minority. As long as weare getting ethnic food in Delhi haat (mar-ket), it does not matter if the cook is Whiteor Brown. There may be many serviceproviders but the good/service is the same.
Impersonation as passport: If imper-sonating was Krug’s way of legitimisingherself as an academic, making commoncause with a supposedly discriminatinglaw or mobilising the disenfranchised andthen representing them as perpetual vic-tims is another. The latter is much morerampant and a fairly common practicegoverning funding agencies that guideresearch on minority cultures. Thoughsuch politically engaged research mayappear as a fight for an inclusive polity, italso betrays the desire to be the source ofall cultural politics.
That partly explains Brahmin acad-emics monopolising Dalit experiences. Ata poetry reading session, a very fair-skinned Brahmin poet advocated “ourown” Dravidian cause and how herDravidian skin will always be a marker ofher identity. She spoke with a flair evenas her complexion struggled to adjust itselfto the victim narrative. Playing around thispolitics of “we” and trying too hard to besomeone else in order to be legitimised isan effort complementary to Krug’s.
(The writer is Professor, Faculty ofHumanities and Social Sciences, IITMadras and a cultural critic.)
The five centuries-old BabriMasjid in Ayodhya wasdemolished on December 6,
1992 by a Hindu mob, mostly com-prising diehard Kar Sevaks (volun-teers) of the Vishva Hindu Parishadled by Sangh Parivar leaders.Intellectuals across the globe, irre-spective of caste, creed and religioncondemned the demolition, as didthe Supreme Court (SC). No saneperson will justify the demolition ofthe Babri Masjid but the biggerheinous crimes of massacres, mul-tiple demolitions and destruction ofthe holiest of religious and heritagesites, shrines, relics have taken placein Saudi Arabia. This was done at thebehest of its Wahhabi/Salafi rulers ofZionist ancestry who, wearing thecloak of Islam, in the middle of the
18th century introduced a new anddistorted version of the faith basedon terrorism. The demolished anddesecrated holiest of Islamic religiousplaces included the birth place ofProphet Mohammad.
Wahhabism, the new, distortedversion of Islam, aimed to captureworldwide political power usingterrorism. The dreaded terrorist,Abu Bakr Baghdadi, is one suchexample of this diabolical plan. Thisnegative ideology was created by oneSheikh Najdi ibn Abd-al-Wahhab, inassociation with a Bedouin triballeader Muhammad-ibn-Saud.Wahhabi ideology should not bemistaken as Islam’s tenets, althoughits practitioners shrewdly camou-flage their real identity under thecover of Sunni Islam and associatethe names of their terror groups withtypical Islamic names, such as theIslamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS),and so on.
Wahhabi ideology manifestlydeclares, “Follow my ideology, elseget ready to be killed.” According torenowned British historian andwriter Charles Allen, all dreaded ter-rorist organisations like the ISIS, the
Taliban, the Al-Qaeda, the Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Boko Haram, and so on,follow Wahhabi ideology. And, AbuBakr Baghdadi’s ISIS, following theWahhabi ideology alone, murderedmore than 20 lakh people. A major-ity of them were Muslim youth inIraq, Syria, Afghanistan and otherparts of the world.
On December 6, 2019, the daymarking the 27th anniversary of thedemolition of Babri Masjid, severalreview petitions were filed in the SCby individuals who were party to thecase. The pleas were supported bythe All India Muslim Personal LawBoard. Earlier, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind had also filed a review petitionagainst the order saying justice canbe done only by ordering the Centreand the UP Government to build themosque at the disputed site.
Surprisingly, the entire Muslimcommunity across the globe, includ-ing the intellectuals, remained silentspectators when Saudi ruler Abd-al-Aziz, the son of Muhammad ibnSaud, who was also the son-in-lawof Sheikh Muhammad Najdi ibnAbd-al-Wahab, the founder ofWahhabism, in 1802 attacked
Karbala in Iraq. He allowed the des-ecration of the shrine of HazratImam Husain (grandson of ProphetMohammad).
Giving the details of the attack,Charles Allen in his book, God’sTerrorists: The Wahhabi Cult and theHidden Roots of Modern Jihad, hasquoted Lieutenant Francis Wardenwho wrote, “They pillaged the wholeof it and plundered the tomb ofHazrat Imam Husain, slaying in thecourse of the day, with circumstancesof peculiar cruelty, about 5,000 of theinhabitants. A huge amount of bootywas seized.”
In 1803, Abd-al Aziz ibn Saudobtained a visit permit from theShareef of Mecca on the pretext ofperforming Haj, whereupon hisWahhabi fighters laid waste Islam’sholiest shrine the Ka’aba, whereinMuslims across the globe performthe ritual of Haj. Abd-al Aziz ibnSaud followed in the footprints ofYazid who had earlier desecratedKa’aba in 682 AD.
According to TE Ravenshaw,author of A Memorandum on theSect of Wahhabees, “They robbed thesplendid tombs of the Mahomedan
saints, who were interred there andtheir fanatical zeal did not even sparethe Prophet’s Mosque (in Medina),which they robbed of the immensetreasures and costly furniture towhich each Mahomedan Prince ofEurope, Asia and Africa had con-tributed his share.”
In 1804, a Wahhabi gang crossedthe great desert in the Hijaz anddestroyed tombs of ProphetMohammad’s family members atJannat-ul-Baqi, the ancient cemeteryof Medina, and even despoiled thegrave of the prophet. After this, theWahhabi gang reached Mecca anddemolished another heritage site, thecemetery of Jannat-ul-Mualla, wherethe ancestors and other close rela-tives of Prophet Mohammad areinterred. Again on April 21, 1925,Wahhabis demolished the shrine ofProphet Mohammad’s daughterHazrat Fatima Zehra as well asthose of his grandsons, namelyImam Hasan, Imam Zain ul Abideenand Imam Mohammad Baqir. Theshrines are still lying demolished andthe Saudi Government does notrepair them or allow pilgrims to offerprayers at the revered sites.
Again in 2014, a leading Saudiacademic had proposed to destroythe tomb of the Prophet Mohammadin Medina with the mala fide inten-tion of removing the remains of theProphet from there and buryingthem anonymously in the Jannat-ul-Baqi cemetery. However, the nefar-ious plan to destroy the tomb underthe custody of Saudi monarchAbdullah was exposed by anotheracademic, hence it could not be exe-cuted. Had it been executed, themotionless Muslims would haveremained calm as the perpetratorswere Wahhabis in Muslim attire and not people from any other reli-gion.
In India, those who demolishedthe Babri Masjid are still facing trialin the Special CBI Court at Lucknow,under various sections of the IndianPenal Code. In all, there are 32accused and the apex court hasdirected the Special CBI Court toconclude the hearing by September30 this year. Till now the CBI haspresented 351 witnesses before thecourt.
What legal action has the SaudiGovernment or the groups of
Muslim countries taken against theperpetrators of mass destruction anddemolition of heritage and reveredsites and massacres committed byWahhabis feasting on Saudi petrodollars and spreading terrorism inthe name of Islam? There is a deaf-ening silence on that account.
The cacophony created by theMuslim leadership and millions oftheir followers on the matter of BabriMasjid may be based on the pre-sumption that its perpetrators wereHindu bigots and the thugs behindthe demolition of the holiest ofIslamic sites, like the Jannat-ul-Baqi in Medina and the Jannat-ul-Mualla in Mecca, were Muslims. Itmatters little to them that the per-petrators of the crimes against Islamare Muslims just in name.
Will the global Muslim commu-nity raise its voice and take a con-scious decision for the restoration ofthe holiest of Islam’s revered sites ofreligious and heritage importancethat were systematically destroyed bythe Wahhabis? If they don’t it willsmack of hypocrisy and bigotry.
Banking Regulation(Amendment) Bill bringing theUrban Co-Operative Banksunder the supervision of theReserve Bank of India to protectthe interest of depositors. TheBill was supported by manyopposition parties includingShiv Sena while the Congressand the Trinamool Congressobjected that the Bill intendedto usurp the State’s power in theco-operative sector.
Replying to opposition,Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman said that the bill isonly intended to protect thedepositors and only apply to
the banking operation of theCo-operative Banks and notapplicable to primary agricul-tural credit societies.
“This is not the first timeRBI intervening into the bank-ing operations co-operativebanks. From 1965, RBI issuedmany circulars on this regard.Many urban co-operativebanks are facing serious prob-lems like NPA and manywound up losing money of thedepositors. Those functioningas Banks must work asCommercial Banks and RBIrules must apply on them,” shesaid. She also clarified that co-operative banks engaged inland mortgage will come underthe RBI supervision since it isa banking activity.
New Delhi: The Government isworking on setting up a singlewindow system for clearancesand approvals of industry,Parliament was informed onWednesday.
In a written reply to the LokSabha, Commerce and IndustryMinister Piyush Goyal saiddespite the presence of several ITplatforms for investing in Indiasuch as in departments of thecentral government, and statesingle window clearances,investors have to visit multipleplatforms to gather informa-tion and obtain clearances fromdifferent stakeholders.
To address this, he said, thecreation of a centralised invest-ment clearance cell which wouldprovide end-to-end facilitation
support, including pre-invest-ment advisory, information relat-ed to land banks and facilitatingclearances at central and statelevel, was proposed.
"The government is workingon setting up a Single WindowSystem for clearances andapprovals of industry in thecountry," he said.
He also said the cell is beingplanned as a one-stop digitalplatform to obtain all requisitecentral and stateclearances/approvals to startbusiness operations in India.
The investment clearancecell will be a national portal thatintegrates the existing clearancesystems of variousministries/departments of thegovernment and of states. PTI
New Delhi:The Governmenton Wednesday informedParliament that introduction of5G services in the country willdepend on equipment, deviceecosystem and economic con-siderations by telecom opera-tors.
The Government also saidthat State-owned BSNL andMTNL have not planned intro-ducing 5G services yet on theirnetworks.
Minister of State forTelecommunications SanjayDhotre, in a written reply to aquestion on the 5G rollout,said, “5G services depends on5G equipment and deviceecosystem, and economic con-siderations by the telecom ser-vice providers.” PTI
Mumbai:Swiss brokerage UBS Securitiessaid it forecasts a GDP contraction of 8.6per cent in FY21 as against its earlier pre-diction of 5.8 per cent, citing factors includ-ing the “modest” government response tothe crisis for its estimate.
It said the country's potential rate ofgrowth has also come down to 5.75-6.25per cent as per its estimate as against 7.1per cent, driven by factors including theweak government response to arrest thegrowth slide. Some improvement is beingobserved in the high frequency data, butmuch of it is pent-up demand and eco-
nomic recovery will be “gradual” after theSeptember quarter, its chief economistTanvee Gupta Jain told reporters.
It can be noted that the country's grossdomestic product (GDP) shrunk by near-ly a fourth in the June quarter as theCOVID-19 pandemic fuelled lockdownschilled all economic activity. Jain said themodest recovery which we are seeing rightnow cannot be sustained because of the ris-ing infections and also income uncertainty,which is holding back people from con-sumption in the economy that relies 60 percent on consumption.
New Delhi: RBI GovernorShaktikanta Das on Wednesdaysaid economic recovery is stillnot well entrenched and that thecentral bank is “battle ready” totake appropriate measures tosupport growth.
Addressing a virtual con-ference organised by industrybody Ficci, Das said that GrossDomestic Product (GDP) datareleased by the government wasa "reflection of the ravages of theCOVID-19".
The economy contracted23.9 per cent during the April-June quarter on account of thestrict lockdown imposed by thegovernment towards end ofMarch to check the spread ofcoronavirus infections.
"Nevertheless, high fre-quency indicators of agricultur-al activity, the purchasing man-agers' index that is PMI formanufacturing and certain pri-vate estimates on unemploy-ment point to some stabilisationof economic activity in the sec-ond quarter of the current year,while of course contractions inseveral other sectors are alsosimultaneously easing," he said.However, Das said that the eco-nomic recovery was not yetfully entrenched and also that therecovery is likely to be gradual.
"The recovery is, however,not yet fully entrenched andmoreover, in some sectors, theuptick, which was noticed inJune and July they appear to have
levelled off. By all indications therecovery is likely to be gradual asefforts towards the reopening ofthe economy are confrontedwith rising infections," he said.
At the same time, Dasassured the industry that theRBI stands "battle ready" andwhatever measures are requiredwill be taken to support liquid-ity, growth and control pricerise.
According to him, theimmediate policy response toCOVID-19 in the country hasbeen to prioritise the stabilisa-tion of the economy and sup-port quick recovery policies fordurable and sustainable highgrowth in the medium termpost the coronavirus. PTI
New Delhi:A total of 194 phish-ing incidents and two financialfraud incidents affecting ATMs,cards, point-of-sale (PoS) sys-tems and Unified PaymentInterface (UPI) were reportedbetween January-August thisyear, Parliament was informedon Wednesday. As per theinformation reported to andtracked by Indian ComputerEmergency Response Team(CERT-In), a total of 454, 472
and 194 phishing incidents wereobserved during the year 2018,2019 and 2020 (till August)respectively, Minister of State forElectronics and IT SanjayDhotre said in a written reply tothe Lok Sabha. "Further, a totalof 6, 4 and 2 financial fraud inci-dents affecting ATMs, Cards,Point-of- Sale (PoS) systemsand Unified Payment Interface(UPI) have been reported dur-ing the year 2018, 2019 and 2020
(till August) respectively," headded. Dhotre said cyber spaceis a complex environment ofpeople, software, hardware andservices on the Internet.
"With a borderless cyber-space coupled with the possi-bility of instant communicationand anonymity, the potential formisuse of cyberspace includingidentity theft, creation of fake e-mails and websites is a globalissue," he added.
Economic recovery still not
well entrenched: RBI Guv
Banking regulation Bill takingUrban Co-Operative banks underRBI passed in Lok Sabha
Mumbai:Equity benchmarks darted upfor the second straight session onWednesday as banking, auto and ITstocks saw robust buying amid mixedglobal cues. A strengthening rupee andsupportive comments by the RBIGovernor also bolstered investor senti-ment, traders said. The 30-share BSESensex jumped 258.50 points or 0.66 percent to close at 39,302.85. The broaderNSE Nifty rose 82.75 points or 0.72 percent to finish at 11,604.55.
M&M was the top gainer in theSensex pack, climbing 4.24 per cent, fol-
lowed by Bajaj Auto, Sun Pharma, HDFCBank, Infosys, L&T and UltraTechCement. On the other hand, IndusIndBank, NTPC, SBI, ONGC, Bharti Airteland Axis Bank were among the laggards,skidding up to 1.80 per cent. Accordingto traders, stock-specific action and sus-tained foreign fund inflows drove domes-tic equities higher, despite mixed cues fromglobal markets ahead of the US FederalReserve's policy outcome. Foreign insti-tutional investors bought equities worthRs 1,170.89 crore on a net basis onTuesday, exchange data showed. PTI
$�%"& ''������������������ ��� !� "# ��$%&�'('(
����� )@-23�+.4�
US President Donald Trump, in hislatest shredding of political
niceties, suggested Tuesday that hisDemocratic opponent Joe Biden hastaken drugs to improve his perfor-mance in debates. The Republican,who is well behind in national polls,initially insinuated during a Fox Newsinterview that “something wasstrange” with what he saw as Biden’simprovement during the Democraticprimary season debates.
Early on, when there were multi-ple Democratic candidates lined up onstage, Biden was “a disaster” and
“grossly incompetent,” Trump said.But at a later debate where Biden wasone-on-one with leftist rival BernieSanders, “he was OK.”
Trump told Fox he didn’t want tosay what he thought was the reason forthe improvement. Seconds later, hedid. “He’s taking something (that) youknow, gives him some clarity, orwhatever,” he said.
Trump repeated his demand thatBiden should undergo a drug testbefore their first of three presidentialdebates scheduled for September 29.
“I would take one too,” he said.Biden responded by telling a
Florida radio station “I’m looking for-
ward to the debate and he’s a fool. Thecomments are just foolish.”
Trump, 74, has for months triedto persuade voters that Biden, 77, issuffering from mental decline.
The former businessman citesBiden’s penchant for gaffes — whichsome believe to be linked to theDemocrat’s lifelong struggle with stut-tering — and his reluctance to faceunscripted questioning fromreporters. Trump — who takes ques-tions from reporters almost daily butis known for his own frequently gar-bled and baffling statements — said,“Joe is lost. We can’t have a presidentthat is mentally lost.”
���� ���� -@���9@�,3-,4E)@-23�+.4�
Sixty-six per cent of IndianAmericans currently favour
Democratic presidential can-didate Joe Biden for the 2020presidential election as com-pared to only 28 per cent whoprefer President DonaldTrump, according to a surveyreleased on Tuesday.
Indiaspora, a nonprofitmember organisation of globalIndian diaspora leaders, andAsian American PacificIslanders (AAPI) Data onTuesday released their jointreport on Indian American vot-ers’ attitudes in the upcoming2020 US presidential election.
“66 per cent of IndianAmericans currently favour VicePresident Biden, 28 per centfavour President Donald Trump,and 6 percent were undecided.In the 2016 presidential election,77percent voted for SecretaryHillary Clinton, and 16 per centvoted for President Trump. If theremaining undecided votersbroke in the same pattern asthose who have madeup theirmind, Joe Biden would secure 70per cent of the vote, when com-pared to 30 per cent for Trump,”the report read.
Election experts projectthat Democrats should be wor-ried about Indian Americanvoters attrition considering theoverall percentage number mayhave dropped down for theDemocrats from the 84 percent that supported Obama in2012 and the 77 per cent whosupported Hillary Clinton 2016
as compared to the 66 per centsupporting former VicePresident Joe Biden.Meanwhile, President Trump’svote share has gone up from 16percent in 2016 to 28 per cent.
“I think Democratsabsolutely should be concernedabout making sure that theyconduct sufficient outreach toIndian Americans that theyconduct sufficient outreach tothe different groups that com-prise bases and IndianAmericans because every voteis going to count especially inthose battleground states,” saidRaja Krishnamoorthi, aDemocrat congressman.
An Indian American him-self and representative from stateof Illinois, Raja Krishnamoorthifurther said that the states ofPennsylvania, Michigan, Floridaand North Carolina could be apart of tipping factor this elec-tion. “And because of that I thinkthe Joe Biden campaign has to beespecially attentive,” RajaKrishnamoorthi further assert-ed. The survey report also doc-uments the strengthening polit-ical power of the IndianAmerican electorate in the U.S.due to factors such as theirrapidly growing population andincreased political participation.“With increased attention beingpaid to the Indian American votegiven our growing numbers,increasing political contribu-tions and overall political engage-ment, we wanted to shine a spot-light on the issues that really mat-ter to Indian American voters,”said MR Rangaswami, founderof Indiaspora.
Beijing: China has successful-ly sent nine satellites into orbitin its first commercial launchof a rocket from a platform atsea, state media reported onWednesday.
The satellites, one of whichbelonged to video-sharing plat-form Bilibili, were deployed bya Long March 11 rocket fromthe Yellow Sea on Tuesday,media reported.
The Long March 11,designed to be deployed quick-ly and from mobile launchsites such as a ship, is mainlyused to carry small satellites.The rocket made its first sealaunch in June last year.
“Sea launch platforms will
increase the number of China’slaunch areas, improve launchefficiency, and make launchessafer and more flexible,” theofficial People’s Daily cited LiZongli, director of the TaiyuanSatellite Launch Center, as say-ing. China has three inlandspace launch centres, whereused rocket stages return toearth and sometimes pose adanger to inhabited areas. Sea launches would reducethat risk.
China has made its spaceprogramme a top priority inrecent years as it races to catchup with the United States andbecome a major space powerby 2030. Agencies
���� )@-23�+.4�
US President Donald Trumphas made inroads into the
Indian-American vote bank,the biggest ever by a Republicanpresident, according to a surveywhich has sent worrying signalsto the Democrats that the sup-port of this influential ethniccommunity can no longer betaken for granted.
The survey by Indiasporaand Asian Americans & PacificIslanders (AAPI) Data onTuesday showed that a major-ity of Indian-Americans stillfavour former vice presidentBiden, the Democratic Party’snominee in the November 3 USpresidential election.
It found that 74-year-oldTrump, seeking re-election, ismaking a big dent into theIndian-American vote bankdespite the fact that Biden hasa strong relationship with thecommunity and played a keyrole in bilateral ties over thepast few decades. Biden, 77,also scripted history last monthby selecting Senator KamalaHarris, 55, as his running mate.
According to the survey, 66per cent Indian-Americans
currently favour Biden and 28per cent favour Trump whilesix per cent were undecided.
Notably in the 2016 presi-dential election, 77 per centvoted for former US secretaryHillary Clinton, and 16 per centfor Trump. In 2012, as many as84 per cent Indian-Americansvoted for Barack Obama. DrKarthick Ramakrishnan, pro-fessor of public policy and polit-ical science at University ofCalifornia, Riverside andfounder of AAPI Data who isauthor of the survey, said that theIndian-Americans’ support toTrump, in case of a swing of theundecided Indian-Americans,would probably reach the 30 percent mark.
“Democrats absolutelyshould be concerned aboutmaking sure that they conductsufficient outreach to the Indian-Americans,” Indian-AmericanCongressman Raja Krishnam-oorthi said. “The Democratsshould conduct sufficient out-reach to the different groups thatcomprise Indian-Americans,because every vote is going tocount, especially in those bat-tleground states as the surveyresult indicated,” he said.
Berlin: A German think tank said on Wednesdayit is closing its Hong Kong office following China’simposition of a sweeping new national security lawon the territory. The Friedrich NaumannFoundation for Freedom, which is linked toGermany’s opposition Free Democratic Party, saidit could no longer ensure the safety of its employ-ees as a result of the new law.
It said it is freezing its activities in the formerBritish colony, giving up its office and parting com-pany with its four remaining staff members there.One employee already had left because of concernsover his personal safety, it added. “A climate of fearand permanent danger prevails in Hong Kongtoday,” foundation chief Karl-Heinz Paque said ina statement. “Those who stand up for democracyand freedom in Hong Kong today put themselvesin danger. We cannot expose our employees andpartners to this risk.”
Kuala Lumpur: A Malaysianstudent whose cellphone wasstolen while he was sleeping hastracked down the culprit: amonkey who took photo andvideo selfies with the devicebefore abandoning it.
Zackrydz Rodzi, 20, saidhis phone was missing from hisbedroom when he woke upSaturday. He found the phone’scasing under his bed but therewas no sign of robbery in hishouse in southern Johor state.
When his father saw amonkey the next day, helaunched a search in the junglebehind his house. Using hisbrother’s phone to call thedevice, he found it covered inmud under a palm tree. But abigger surprise came when hechecked his phone and founda series of monkey selfies andvideos recorded in the phone.
“My uncle was joking thatmaybe the monkey took someselfies with the phone... Sowhen I checked my phone pic-ture gallery, I was shocked. Thesuspect’s face was plastered onthe screen. It was hilarious,”Zackrydz said. AP
���� +0�07@
Describing Pakistan as an “epi-center of terrorism”, India has
said that no one deserves an unso-licited lecture on human rights fromIslamabad that has consistently per-secuted its ethnic and religiousminorities including Hindus, Sikhsand Christians.
Exercising the Right of Reply tothe statements made by Pakistan atthe 45th session of the Human RightsCouncil (HRC) here, the Indian rep-resentative on Tuesday said that it hasbecome habitual for Pakistan tomalign India with false and fabricat-ed narratives for its self-serving mali-cious purposes.
“Neither India nor others deservethis unsolicited lecture on humanrights from a country that has con-sistently persecuted its ethnic andreligious minorities, is an epicenterof terrorism, has the distinction ofproviding pensions to individuals onUN Sanctions list and has a PrimeMinister who proudly admits train-ing tens of thousands of terrorists tofight in Jammu & Kashmir,” theIndian diplomat said.
It was not surprising that otherrelevant multilateral institutions havebeen raising serious concerns onPakistan’s failure to stop terror financ-ing and lack of effective actionsagainst all terror entities in Pakistan,India said.
Highlighting the nefariousdesigns of Pakistan in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), it said, “themass influx of outsiders has whittleddown the number of Kashmiris to aninsignificant number in Pakistanoccupied parts of Indian UnionTerritories of Jammu & Kashmirand Ladakh”.
“In its zeal to reassert its theo-cratic ideology, it (Pakistan) hasensured that ethnic and religiousminorities have no future throughsystematic persecution, blasphemy
laws, forced conversions, targetedkillings, sectarian violence and faith-based discrimination,” India said.
Thousands of Sikh, Hindu andChristian minority women and girlshave been subjected to abductions,forced marriages and conversions inPakistan, it said.
On the plight of people inBalochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwaand Sindh, India said, “Not a singleday has gone by when a family inBalochistan doesn’t find its memberspicked up or kidnapped by the secu-rity forces of Pakistan.”
“Pakistan does well when itcomes to intimidation and attacksagainst journalists, human rightsdefenders and political dissidents inparticular by its state machinery. It isnot without a reason that Pakistan hasbeen highlighted by internationalorganisations as a country wherejournalists are slain and their killersgo scot free,” India said.
India also slammed Pakistan for“abusing various HRC mechanismsand platforms for raising issues,which are extraneous to the mandateof the HRC and which relate to theinternal affairs of India, with a viewto distract the attention of the inter-national community from serioushuman rights violations committedby it against its own people, includ-ing in Indian territories occupied byit.” India also rejected the referencemade by the Organisation of IslamicCooperation (OIC) to Jammu &Kashmir, which is an integral part ofIndia. “The OIC has no locus standito comment on internal affairs ofIndia. The OIC has allowed itself tobe misused by Pakistan to subverseits own Agenda. It’s for the membersof the OIC to decide if it is in theirinterests to allow Pakistan to do so,”it said. India also advised Turkey torefrain from commenting on itsinternal affairs and develop a betterunderstanding of the democraticpractices.
Jerusalem: The Israeli mili-tary struck Hamas militantsites in the Gaza Strip early onWednesday in response torocket fire toward Israel theprevious night that coincidedwith the signing of normalisa-tion agreements between Israeland two Arab countries at theWhite House.
The barrage against Israelbegan on Tuesday night just asthe ceremony in Washingtonwas getting underway to for-malize the new agreementswith the United Arab Emiratesand Bahrain. Two Israelis werelightly wounded.
The rocket fire continuedovernight, with sirens sound-ing across southern Israel. Themilitary said five projectileslanded in open areas with therest intercepted by Israel’s rock-et defense system.
In response, the militarysaid it struck about 10 sitesbelonging to Gaza’s militantHamas rulers, including aweapons and explosives manu-facturing factory, undergroundinfrastructure and a militarytraining compound. AP
Lahore: An anti-terrorismcourt in Pakistan onWednesday indicted fourtop leaders of the bannedJamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD),including the brother-in-law of Mumbai attackmastermind Hafiz Saeed,in four more cases of ter-ror financing. “Terrorfinancing charges wereframed on Hafiz AbdulRehman Makki (brother-in-law of Saeed), Yahya
Mujahid (JuD spokesper-son), Zafar Iqbal andMuhammad Ashraf infour more cases,” a courtofficial told PTI after thehearing. The suspectswere brought to the ATC-III amid high securityfrom the Kot Lakhpat Jail.The official said judgeIjaz Ahmad Buttar direct-ed the prosecution to pre-sent witnesses on nexthearing on Thursday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi too had inMay categorically stated at an all-party meetingthat “neither is anyone inside our territory noris any of our post captured”, post which the PMOhad to clarify that the “observation that there wasno Chinese presence on our side of the LAC per-tained to the situation as a consequence of thebravery of our armed forces”.
Referring to the propaganda by the China’sState media especially Global Times, that theIndian Army would not be able to withstand theharsh conditions in Ladakh heights, theNorthern Command spokesman said that it canbe best attributed to the “ignorance” of Chinesemedia.
“The Indian Army is fully prepared andmore than capable of fighting a full-fledged wareven in winters in Eastern Ladakh.”
After the statement became viral and wasuploaded on the websites of all TV channels andpublications, the PRO issued another statement,saying, “The mail in trail may please be treat-ed as cancelled. This statement doesn’t representthe views of either Northern Command orIndian Army.” Defence PRO (Jammu) also issueda similar statement.
Incidentally, several TV channels had randetailed stories from forward bases about theIndian Army’s readiness to take on China.
Police sources also said the conspirators used aWhatsApp group, which is now closed, for vio-lence in two areas. “Twenty-five WhatsAppgroups were especially created for protest sitesin the city,” said the sources.
“The impression was given that they werean anti-CAA protest group, but through thesegroups conspirators were being guided,” headded.
The chargesheet, which includes Tahir in theDelhi riots case, does not have names of formerJNU student leader Umar Khalid and Sharjeel
Imam as accused.“Khalid and Imam were arrested a few days
ago and their names will be in the supplemen-tary chargesheet,” a Delhi police official said.
Earlier, the Delhi Police had said the riotswere the result of a planned conspiracy afterfinding a common pattern during their inves-tigation.
According to Anil Mittal, the AdditionalPublic Relation Officer (APRO), the firstchargesheet in case FIR 59/2020 has been filedby the Special Cell.
“The riots which broke out in parts of NorthEast Delhi in February 2020 had claimed 53deaths, 583 persons were injured and there wasdestruction and damage of both Government aswell as private properties on a huge scale. Claimsamounting to more than Rs 20crore to com-pensate for loss of property have been filedbefore the GNCTD, which indicates the scaleand immense cost of the tragedy,” said Mittal.
“Over16,000 PCR calls were received and atotal of 751 cases were registered by Delhi Policein connection with these riots. 59 cases wereassigned to SIT constituted in the CrimeBranch, 691 cases were investigated by the dis-trict police and one case which was registeredon March 6, 2020 to investigate the larger con-spiracy behind these riots was assigned to theSpecial Cell,” said Mittal.
“In the course of investigation of the 750FIRs registered concerning the specific offencescommitted during the riots, 12 pistols, 121 emptycartridges, 92 live cartridges, 61 glass bottlesfilled with noxious chemicals and an assortmentof sharp-edged weapons have been seized so farby Delhi Police,” said Mittal.
“As regards the above-mentioned case withthe Special Cell, it took 195 days to complete thefirst phase of investigation. During this period,747 witnesses have been examined and approx-imately 75 electronic devices have been seizedas part of the investigation,” said Mittal addingthat further investigation into the matter is con-tinuing and supplementary chargesheets are like-ly to be filed in due course.
Enacted in December 2019, the CAA grantscitizenship to Hindu, Sikh, Christian, Buddhist,Jain, and Parsi immigrants from Pakistan,Bangladesh, and Afghanistan.
Sharma sought to know from the HealthMinister if the Government made any prepa-ration before announcing the lockdown from 25
March.“Yesterday, the Health Minister said that this
decision (lockdown) could prevent approxi-mately 14 to 29 lakh Covid-19 cases and37,000-78,000 deaths. This House must beinformed what is the scientific basis of this andhow we have reached this conclusion,” Sharmasaid. He said that there was a very wide gap.
Sharma also questioned why theGovernment has no data on the migrant work-ers. He highlighted that had facilities like quar-antine centres been in place in the cities for themigrant workers, their reverse migration couldhave been restricted and the pandemic couldhave been contained from spreading to the ruralareas.
While CPI-M MP E Kareem alleged that the“lockdown was only announced when the gov-ernment was toppled in Madhya Pradesh.
Kareem was referring to the late-March shiftin Government in Madhya Pradesh that followeda rebellion mounted by Jyotiraditya Scindia andhis loyalists against the erstwhile Congressadministration.
While RJD MP Manoj Jha said the pro-gramme has cost the country dearly, and “laterthe Government thought that the lockdown wasthe cure”, JD(U) MP RCP Singh said the‘migrant’ word should be scrapped as “how a cit-izen of the country can be a migrant in anoth-er State.
This was in reaction to Minister of State forLabour and Employment Santosh KumarGangwar statement that ‘no such data is main-tained’ by the Government, in reply to a writ-ten question in the Lok Sabha.
Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naiduhad set aside two hours for a discussion on coro-navirus, but extended it to four hours at theinstance of the Opposition. While a two-hourdiscussion took place Wednesday, another twohours is slotted for Thursday. The Centre willthen reply. Nominated MP Swapan Dasguptatoo sought a “clarification from the Governmenton the statistical robustness of the figures”. “Isthere a science behind it?”
Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP DerekO’Brien referred to the Government’s claimsabout having held video conferences withStates in the run-up to the lockdown. “We wantto know how many were held before 25 March,”he said. Prasanna Acharya of the Biju Janata Dal(BJD) said all State Governments are reelingunder an economic crisis, but the CentralGovernment is “not coming forward to assistthem”. “What is the assistance from the Centreto deal with Covid apart from issuing advisoriesand circulars?”
K Keshava Rao of the Telangana Rashtra
Samithi (TRS) made a similar claim, also refer-ring to the ongoing row between some States andthe Central Government over GST compensa-tion dues. “You owe us Rs 800 crore. You are nottalking about it… The states are aware of theirresponsibility. Mere video conferencing will nothelp.”
The Modi Government had told the RajyaSabha earlier this week that it allocated a sumof Rs 4,230.78 crore to States and UnionTerritories to deal with the Covid-19 pandem-ic.
In a written response to a series of questionsasked by DMK MP Tiruchi Siva from TamilNadu related to Covid-19 fund allocation,Minister of State for Health and Family WelfareAshwini Kumar Choubey said on Tuesday themoney was rolled out in two phases betweenMarch and August.
CPWD had invited bids in a two-bid sys-tem to construct the triangular shaped buildingon a built-up area of around 60,000 square metreon plot number 118 of the Parliament HouseEstate, adjacent to the current Parliamentbuilding. The current parliament building,built during the British era, is circular and is oneof India’s most acclaimed monuments. Sevencompanies evinced interest in the constructionof the new Parliament building as part of theambitious Central Vista redevelopment project.Of them, Mumbai-based construction and civilengineering company ITD Cementation IndiaLimited, Hyderabad-headquartered NCCLimited, PSP Projects Limited of Ahmedabad,and Uttar Pradesh State Government’s UPRajkiya Nirman Nigam Limited were disqual-ified for financial bids.
The new Parliament complex will be amongthe first projects to be finalised and tendered outas part of the Central Vista redevelopment,which includes plans to turn North and SouthBlock, situated opposite each other on RaisinaHill and which house top Central GovernmentMinistries, into a museum and the constructionof new administrative offices with an under-ground metro. As per the new plan, the nation-al emblem is an adaptation of the Lion Capitalof Ashoka at Sarnath, a fine sculpture that datesback to around 250 BC at the time of EmperorAshoka’s reign, and which depicts four lions,each facing the four directions, placed atop theAshoka pillar is likely to be atop the newParliament building.
0���/�������������"��"�����#����6:�����(�����������"��������Beijing (PTI): China’sByteDance has decided to placethe headquarters of its popularvideo platform app TikTok inthe US in order to escapePresident Donald Trump's ban,official media here reported onWednesday.
As per the plan presentedto the US officials byByteDance, TikTok will remain
the majority shareholder ofthe new US headquarteredcompany, and tech firm Oraclewill be a minority shareholder,state-run CGTN TV reported.
Other potential USinvestors such as the world’slargest retailer Walmart, whichhad launched a joint bid withMicrosoft, would own a minor-ity stake, the report said.
People familiar with thenegotiation process empha-sised that specific details of theplan may change.
Independent third partieswill serve as directors of thenew company, and ByteDancewill continue to control TikTokand its core algorithms.
In order to allay US con-cerns about “national security,”
TikTok’s data from Americawill be stored in the US andOracle will serve as the dataservice provider, the reportsaid. “There’s also a commit-ment to create TikTok Globalas a US headquartered com-pany with 20,000 new jobs,”Treasury Secretary StevenMnuchin said on Monday in aninterview with CNBC, adding
that Oracle will be the trustedtechnology partner.
ByteDance on Mondaysaid it will not sell TikTok’s USoperations to Microsoft orOracle, nor will the companygive the source code to any USbuyers.
On August 6, Trumpissued an executive order stat-ing that TikTok’s US business
must be sold before September20, and threatened to block thevideo app in the US.
TikTok was among the 59Chinese apps banned by Indiain June this year saying theywere prejudicial to sovereign-ty, integrity and security of thecountry. Later India followedup with ban on 118 moreChinese apps.
The Indian tourism sector has hada long journey of growth and find-ing its place on the world map. The
era after the economic liberalisation of the90s in India sparked the growth of thesector and attained new heights. In 2018,tourism contributed more than nine percent to India’s GDP and accounted foreight per cent of the country’s employ-ment. As per the statistics, states likeSikkim, tourism helped increase itsemployment rate to 33 per cent. And thehospitality industry constitutes a major-ity share of the tourism sector. Hotels area part of essential tourism infrastructureas providers of tourist accommodation inall categories. From providing basicfacilities to a weary traveller who wantsto break the journey to rest and refuel,wayside motels have come a long way andbecome centres for culinary delights,venues for events and destinations forleisure seekers.
PM Narendra Modi has advocatedthat the ongoing pandemic should belooked at as an opportunity and given aclarion call to the nation to build anAtmanirbhar Bharat (Self-reliant India).As per the Hotel Association of India(HAI), the hotel industry is proud to saythat it is an embodiment of his cherisheddream. Today, Indian hotels are amongthe best globally and have won accoladesand awards for excellence in service bybusiness and leisure tourists alike. Andwhat is commendable is the fact that glob-al recognition has come by practising theage-old Indian tradition of “Atithi Devo
Bhava” and by using local sources, be itmoney, material, machines or manpow-er. The Indian hospitality industry usesmore than 90 per cent local resources.
Puneet Chhatwal, President of HotelAssociation of India, explains thattourism is integral to any nation’s pros-perity as it creates jobs, drives exports,enhances foreign exchange earnings andcreates sustainable livelihoods. He says,“We all know that tourism is much morethan what meets the eye. It is one of thefastest growing sectors of Indian econo-my over the past decade at a CAGR of 8.5per cent. The sector employs close to 10-12 per cent of all workforce in the coun-try, thereby contributing to buildinglivelihood with a multiplier effect. Inaddition, the sector contributes to over�10,000 crores to the exchequer everyyear. Hotels are significant employers ofunskilled, semi-skilled and skilled work-ers. The industry also promotes genderdiversity and equal opportunity. Fromimport subsidisation to vendor develop-ment, creation of green supply chains,minimising carbon footprints, the indus-try contributes richly to the economy.”
����������������The industry’s endeavour has been to
increase its focus on local sourcing ofingredients/components in its key pillarsof food and beverage, infrastructure andengineering equipment. From about 65per cent in the year 2000, there has beenconsistent efforts to increase the extentof local sourcing which rose to about 87
per cent in 2020. Priya Paul, Chairperson of Apeejay
Surrendra Park Hotels Limited andExecutive Committee Member of HotelAssociation of India, says, “THE ParkHotels as well as our social catalyst brand,Zone by THE Park, are a true reflectionof contemporary India. Our DNA of cre-ativity and innovation is expressed in dis-tinctive ways. We work with numerousIndian designers, products as well as localartisans and even promote new Indianperforming arts. For instance, at ourHyderabad branch, we worked withmore than 25 designers for our variousspaces. We commissioned local artisansand craftsmen to work on the dying artof Kalamkari and to recreate it in a con-
temporary way.”She adds, “We have been promoting
farm-to-fork concept for the last manyyears. We work closely with the localorganic farmers and have been promot-ing sustainable food practices. Before thelockdown, our hotels in New Delhi,Chennai and Kolkata used to haveweekly organic farmer markets. Ourmenus are also designed in a way whereinformation on the source of food is alsoshared. For us, this has been a practicefor a very long time.”
The industry aspires to increase thisfurther to an overall 95 per cent andmore by 2025. In certain value compo-nents such as DG sets, AC units,mechanical equipment and elevators, itwould be closer to 100 per cent.However, the question is — despite see-ing no guests at all for the past fivemonths and currently not attractingmany tourists due to the ongoingCOVID-19 pandemic, how does the self-reliant claim stand true? Puneet tells us,“The impact of the pandemic has defi-nitely been severe. As per The HorwathHTL India Report, this is best reflectedby the loss of demand and revenue. Theaggregate loss for March to June 2020,compared to 2019, is �4,810 crore for thehospitality sector.”
“Even in the given bleak scenario,the sector has been able to hold itsground and is working hard to weatherthis storm. It is adapting to the new nor-mal with enhanced safety and hygienepractices, moving swiftly towards
increased digitisation and rolling outnew products and alternative revenuestreams like online food delivery.However, due to a lack of uniform regu-lations across states, hotels are continu-ing to bear the brunt. While the Indianhospitality sector is very much self-reliant, it requires a few extraordinarymeasures, including the support from itsstakeholders and the government,” addshe.
�?�����������������������
Indian hospitality has brought Indiaon the world tourism map. From playinghost to heads of states, celebrities, seniorofficials, industrialists and entrepre-neurs, facilitating large and prestigiousnational as well as international conven-tions and events to providing a securecomfortable abode for people during dis-asters, Indian hotels have displayed theircommitment to the nation.
“Hotels have always showcased India’srich culture and diversity. They supportlocal artistes and artisans by giving thema platform to exhibit their craft. They arethe centres for the promotion of Indianheritage, textiles, cuisines, handicrafts,culture, art and artists. They have alsointroduced the world to our ancient prac-tices of yoga and Ayurveda. And they willcontinue to carry forward this tradition,”shares Puneet.
The fact that some of the best hotelsin the world are managed by Indians addsto the national pride.
���������� ��������������The Indian hospitality sector employs
close to 4.5 crore people and livelihoodto many more. It provides an opportuni-ty for women and to the differently-abled.From the humble basic tourist accommo-dation tents and lodges, the industry hasofferings also for the first-class travellerto those seeking ultra-luxury, thus, giv-ing all Indians an opportunity to expe-rience the country’s rich touristic trea-sures, undertake pilgrimages and muchmore.
Christie’s announced an online-only charity auc-tion — NASHVILLE: An Auction to benefit
ACM Lifting Lives COVID-19 Response Fund — ledby a Swarovski-crystal bedazzled four-string dul-cimer, owned by Dolly Parton for 30 years. It’saccompanied by its original stand and used by theartist as she celebrated her 50th anniver-sary performing at the Grand OleOpry in 2019. The dulcimer is esti-mated at $50,000-1,00,000 and leadsa sale featuring items generouslydonated by country music’s biggestnames, including Reba McEntire,Tim McGraw, Marty Stuart, BernieTaupin, and Trisha Yearwood.
The auction received a specialmention during the live broadcastof the 55th Academy of CountryMusic Awards hosted by KeithUrban on Wednesday. ACM LiftingLives is the philanthropic arm ofthe Academy of Country Musicdedicated to improving livesthrough the power of music. Theauction dates and additional lots willbe announced at a later date.
Dolly Parton said, “Seeing mycountry music community sufferdue to the pandemic has brokenmy heart. It was important todonate the dulcimer that wasdesigned for my 50th OpryAnniversary so we can raiseawareness and much neededfunds to keep these folks on theirfeet before we can open the doorsto our stages once again.”
Lyndsay Cruz, ExecutiveDirector, ACM Lifting Lives, said,“We are immensely grateful to theartists in the Nashville communityand beyond who have generouslydonated items for this auction in col-laboration with Christie’s. Every win-ning bid will go towards our COVID-19 Response Fund to support the work-ers of our country music community — the tourbus drivers, aspiring musicians, techs and venueworkers — so many of whom have lost their liveli-hoods overnight during the course of this pandem-
ic. So far, the fund has distributed $1.5 million andwe are hoping the sale of these iconic items willenable us to support more affected by this crisis.”
“Christie’s is honored to work with the musiccommunity in Nashville and partner with ACMLifting Lives COVID-19 Response Fund to supportthe country music frontline workers who are inneed at this time. We are particularly excited to beoffering the first musical instrument ever toappear at a global auction from Dolly Parton,” saidNancy Valentino, Strategic Business and ClientDevelopment, Christie’s.
While the dulcimer is an ancient instrument,the Appalachian dulcimer is a cornerstone to thesound of country music, and one that CountryMusic Hall of Famer Dolly Parton has usedthroughout her career.
As a part of the DiscoveryChannel’s latest series — Lost
Essence of India — singer, actorand an avid photographer,Meiyang Chang, who is also thehost of the show, takes viewers onan enchanting journey and helpsthem uncover hidden gems thathave been forgotten over time.
In the first episode of thisfour-part series, Chang exploresthe Rivona Caves in Goa knownto be creation of Buddhist monksaround the 6th century, enteringsome of the remotest parts of thecountry, with roads that are notwell-trodden.
The second episode witness-
es Chang relishing the SaraswatBrahmin cuisine that not manyhave been fortunate to enjoy.Moving on to the third episode,he explores the lost heart ofKashmir, Choharnag, which issurrounded by meadows allaround. In the finale episode,Chang goes on to unveil anothergem, Naranag Temple in Kashmir,one of the important archaeolog-ical sites of the country.
“India boasts of an immense-ly rich culture and architecture,and we only know about the pop-ular and promoted aspects of it.There are a million more places,stories and experiences that are
yet to be discovered. And that’swhat we set out to do with LostEssence of India,” said Chang.
“I have been to Goa andKashmir before and yet I wasunaware of the existence of theseexperiences. It was a breath-tak-ing, mindset-changing journeythrough lesser taken paths to dis-cover the lost essence of somemagnificent places in the coun-try. I pray you love this and get toexperience it someday whilebeing a responsible tourist.Respect nature and nature willlove you back. Also, I can’t waitto see where we head to next,” headded.
CG-COP mobile app ofChhattisgarh Police, at hisresidence office. On theoccasion, Baghel said thatthe app developed byChhattisgarh Police willhelp in developing mutualtrust between common
people and the police,bringing them closer. It willbe now more comfortablefor people to seek help fromthe police. The app will actas a bridge between thecitizens and the police in thedirection of crime control.
Through the app, citi-zens will be able to giveinformation about crime
or the information relatedto different cases with a sin-gle click. Citizens will beable to avail 14 types of ser-vices without having to goto the police stations.
It has features that helpsfile civil FIR, online com-plaint about theft, missing,seized vehicle, unknownbody, seized mobile, miss-
ing person, to share cluewith police, search case sta-tus, police telephone direc-tory, help centre, sharedetails of the arrested per-son, locate nearest policestation and access helplineservices.
On this occasion,Home MinisterTamradhwaj Sahu, Chief
Secretary RP Mandal,Additional Chief SecretarySubrat Sahu, DirectorGeneral of Police DMAwasthi, Director Generalof Police, Jail, Sanjay Pillay,Special Director General ofPolice RK Vij and AshokJuneja along with othersenior officers of the policedepartment were present.
In remembrance of MVisvesvaraya, recipient
of Bharat Ratna, Delhi JalBoard celebratedEngineer’s Day onTuesday. Every year theday is celebrated at largescale, commemoratingthe contribution made bythe eminent personali-ties in engineering par-lance.
Keeping social dis-tancing and the currentcrisis in mind, DJB cher-ished the essence of thisday by naming theAndrews Ganj building asDJB Engineers Bhawanby Chairman (DJB),Satyendar Jain in presenceof Vice Chairman (DJB),Raghav Chadha, KasturbaNagar MLA Madanlal,CEO(DJB) Nikhil Kumar,Member (Water),Member (Drainage),M e m b e r( A d m i n i s t r a t i o n ) ,Member (Finance) andother officers.
India celebrates thisday every year to markthe birth anniversary ofVisvesvaraya, the engi-neering pioneer of India.Fondly known as Sir MVor the Builder of India,Visvesvaraya was born in1860 in Chikkaballapuradistrict of Karnataka.
DJB Engineers
Bhawan is a four storiedbuilding situated atAndrews Ganj and shallbe used as public griev-ance redressal officeregarding water, waste-water, etc. for the resi-dents of South Delhi. Theknowledge disseminationregarding RWH and var-ious other DJB schemesfor the benefit of the res-idents can also be availedfrom there.
On the occasion, Jainsaid, “We are equippedwith engineers, who workround the clock to makeDelhi a better place bybringing it into the ambitof water and wastewaterservices and providingstate-of-the-art technolo-gy. In future DJB willprovide consultancy ser-vices to other states andcountries. Creativity andinnovation are twoimportant aspects thatshould be kept in mindwith every project.”
On closing the event,Shalabh Kumar, Presidentof The EngineersAssociation, DJB Delhiand Member (Water) DJBassured Jain that theirresolution to work in theinterest of the people willalways be intact alongwith striving for better-ment.
To expand its footprint in theUrban Transportation Sector as a
part of its diversification initiatives,Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited(BHEL), has entered into aMemorandum of Understanding(MoU) with SwissRapide AG forMaglev Train projects in India.
To this effect, an MoU was signed
by SV Srinivasan, GM and Head(Transportation Business Group),BHEL and Niklaus H Koenig,President and CEO, SwissRapide AG.
Significantly, the agreement hasbeen signed in the backdrop of thePrime Minister’s ‘Make in India’ andAtmanirbhar Bharat initiatives, andwill enable BHEL to bring the latest,
world-class technology to India andmanufacture state-of-the-art MaglevTrains indigenously.
The MoU sets out the foundationto cooperate and explore mutuallybeneficial business opportunities, andutilise both the companies’ inherentcapabilities, skills, knowledge andassets.
Notably, the Maglev Rail systemhovers in the air instead of rolling, dueto magnetic levitation, thus the vehi-cles have no physical contact with theguideway. This enables the system tobe highly energy efficient, allow oper-ating speeds of 500 km/h easily andsignificantly reduce the total cost ofsystem ownership.
Veer Savarkar InternationalAirport, Port Blair is soon
going to have a new terminalbuilding. The airport cur-rently handles 18 lakh passen-gers annually. Consideringthe surge in the passengertraffic, Airports Authority ofIndia has undertaken the con-struction of integrated termi-nal building there at �700crore.
With total built up area of40,837 sqm, the building willbe capable to handle 1,200passengers during peak hoursand about 50 lakh passengersannually. The new passengerterminal building will havethree levels comprising oflower ground, upper groundand first floor. The lowerground floor will be used as
remote arrival, departure andservice area, the upper groundfloor will have entry and exitgates and the first floor asawaiting lounge for interna-
tional passengers.The building will be
equipped with modern pas-senger’s facilities with 28check-in counters, three pas-
senger boarding bridges, fiveconveyor belts with in-linescan system and state-of-the-art firefighting and fire alarmsystem. City side area of the
Airport will also be developedwith adequate parking facili-ties for car, taxi and busesalong with the landscaping.
Inspired from nature, thedesign of the terminal is ashell shaped structure depict-ing sea and islands. It is astructural steel framed build-ing provided with aluminumsheet roofing and cable netglazing all around. The entireterminal will also have 100 percent natural lighting throughskylights provided at rooflevel.
Curved shaped Cable NetGlazing will be provided allaround the building. Morethan 65 per cent of the projectis completed and the buildingis scheduled to be ready bymid-2021.
In view of the ongoing pandemic andthe vulnerability of elderly popula-
tion to Coronavirus, the Governmenthas relaxed the existing timeline forsubmission of Life Certificate. Thisyear, all Central Government pension-ers can submit Life Certificate fromNovember 1 to December 31. Thepensioners in the age group of 80 yearsand above, can submit their certificatefrom October 1. Earlier, this used tobe only for the month of November.
During this extended period, thepension will be continued to be paidby the Pension Disbursing Authorities(PDAs) uninterrupted.
In addition to above, in the line ofRBI notification no. RBI/2019-20/138,dated January 9 which permits Videobased Customer Identification Process
(V-CIP) as a consent based alternatemethod of establishing the customer’sidentity, Pension Disbursing Bankshave been also asked to explore thesaid methodology for obtaining aLife Certificate from the pensioner, tothe extent permitted by RBI guidelines,in order to avoid rush at the branch-
es and maintain social distancing,while obtaining Life Certificates.
Pensioners can submit life certifi-cate by visiting the bank branches.However, the department has beenpromoting the Digital Life Certificatewhich can be given from the comfortof one’s home also.
The Cabinet Committee onEconomic Affairs (CCEA) has
approved Haryana Orbital RailCorridor Project from Palwal toSonipat via Sohna-Manesar-Kharkhauda. The total length of theproject is 121.7 km.
This will facilitate diversion oftraffic not meant for Delhi and willhelp in developing multimodal logis-tics hubs in Haryana sub-region ofNCR.
������������The project will be implement-
ed by Haryana Rail InfrastructureDevelopment Corporation Limited(HRIDC), a joint venture companyset up by Ministry of Railways withthe Government of Haryana.
The estimated completion costof the project is �5,617 crore and itis proposed to be completed in fiveyears.
The line will start from Palwaland end at existing Harsana Kalanstation (On Delhi-Ambala section).This will also give connectivityenroute to existing Patli Station(On Delhi-Rewari line), Sultanpurstation (On Garhi Harsaru-Farukhnagar Line) and AsaudhaStation (On Delhi Rohtak Line).
�������The districts of Palwal, Nuh,
Gurugram, Jhajjar and Sonipat dis-tricts of Haryana will be benefittedthrough this railway line.
It will provide high-speed seam-
less connectivity of this region toDedicated Freight Corridor net-work resulting in reduction of costand time of transportation for EXIMtraffic from NCR to ports of India,making exports of goods more com-petitive. The transport corridoralong with other initiatives willprovide enabling infrastructure toattract multinational industries to setup manufacturing units to fulfill the‘Make in India’ mission.
The project will connectunserved areas of the state ofHaryana, thereby boosting econom-ic and social activities in Haryana.This multi-purpose transport pro-ject will also facilitate affordable and
faster commuter travel, long distancetravel in different directions fromGurugram and the industrial regionsof Manesar, Sohna, Farukhnagar,Kharkhauda and Sonipat.
Approximately 20,000 passen-gers each day will be travellingthrough this line and 50 MillionTonnes goods traffic would also becarried out every year.
�� �������The Orbital Rail Corridor from
Palwal to Sonipat by passing Delhiis a crucial infrastructure project forsustainable development of the NCRand to de-congest existing IndianRailway network in Delhi area.
The alignment of this project isadjacent to the western peripheral( K u n d l i - M a n e s a r - P a l w a l )Expressway and has been under con-sideration for some time. The pro-ject will have connectivity with allthe existing railway routes originat-ing from Delhi and passing throughHaryana State as well as with theDedicated Freight Corridor net-work.
As a token of support, Tanuja Kansal,President of Western Railway Women’s
Welfare Organisation (WRWWO), recently dis-tributed the ‘Samvedna Rashi’ to the widowsof the Western Railway’s 15 Corona Warriorsof frontline staff.
According to Sumit Thakur, Chief PublicRelations Officer of Western Railway, Kansalhanded over an amount of �5,000 each to the15 widows of the employees of frontline staff.
She said, “It is very disheartening andunfortunate that these employees lost their liveswhile performing their duty during theCOVID-19 pandemic. These employees camefrom various fields like Ticket Checking,Ticket Booking, Loco Pilot, Guard, Fitter,Technician, Trackman etc.”
The WRWWO salutes its sincere and ded-icated employees. Kansal and the executivecommittee members encouraged railwayemployees to empower themselves and be con-fident to face adversities.
In her address on this occasion, Kansal saidthat be it during the COVID-19 pandemic, nat-ural calamities or serious illness, WRWWO hasalways empathised with the employees andtheir families and is ready to reach out to themin difficult times. She said that our corona war-riors without caring for their life have sincere-ly carried out their duty. “It is very unfortunatethat while performing their duties, some ofthem got infected with the Coronavirus and losttheir lives. There is no compensation to the liveslost. WRWWO and its members salute suchbrave employees and stand by their bereavedfamilies,” she added. Kansal said that the wivesof these employees have always backed theirhusbands and stood by them with grit anddetermination.
The recipients of the amount were Sujataw/o Arun Tenbulkar — MCF, Lower Parel;Janki w/o Ramavadh Shastri — chief book-ing supervisor, Vasai Road; Jashuben w/oJitendra Gamit, Chief Ticket Inspector,Ahmedabad; Mira Devi w/o Durga LalMeena, Mail Guard, Surat; Devanti w/o KapilDev Bhagat, Fitter, Borivali; Namita w/oNitin Gharat, Technician, Lower Parel,Shushma w/o Rajesh Mishra, ELF, Kandivali;Ruma w/o Ganeshchandra Mujkuri, LocoPilot /Mail, Bandra Terminus; Nirmala w/oVijay Bote, TCM, Mumbai Central; Sunita w/oSunil Khandre, Chief Booking Supervisor,Santacruz; Leena w/o Vincent Farnandes,Head Constable, Kankariya; Chandrika w/oTulsibhai Vaghela, HKA, Chirai; Gayatrideviw/o Narenda Gosai, Tech, Diesel Shed,Sabarmati; Devendramma w/o NagappaAgasur, Trackman, Borivali and Prabha w/oR S Sharma, Dy Chief Ticket Inspector,Rajdhani Express.
Government-ownedPower Finance
Corporation (PFC),India’s leading NBFC,has installed a stand-alone solar rooftopsystem at ASHASchool, run by IndianArmy Wives WelfareAssociation in theDelhi Cantonmentarea. The installationhas been carried out aspart of PFC’s CSR ini-tiative.
Ravinder SinghDhillon, Chairmanand ManagingDirector, PFC alongwith Lt General R KAnand inaugurated thestand alone solar
rooftop system of5kWp capacity.
PK Singh, DirectorCommercial, R
Murahari, ExecutiveDirector-CSR and MPrabhakar Das, ChiefGeneral Manager
(CSR & SD), PFC alsograced the occasionalong with otherIndian Army officialsand school staff.
Under the CSR ini-tiative, PFC is provid-ing 5kWp standalonesolar rooftop systemswith battery backup in37 Asha schools acrossthe country.
PFC is also provid-ing solar lanterns toIndian Army under itsCSR initiative. Around5,000 solar lanternshave already been sup-plied to Indian Armywhich is helping themin tough terrains andforward posts.
110 services are being run onNorth-South Metro corridorand 72 services are being runon East-West Metro corridorfrom 8 am to 8 pm.
It’s being made sure thatthe commuters maintainsocial distancing and all otherCOVID-19 safety protocolsinside Metro premises havebeen ensured. Metro staff atdifferent stations are helpingcommuters to follow safetyguidelines like sanitisation,
maintaining social distanc-ing, wearing masks, etc. RPFstaff checks e-pass of eachcommuter as well as screenhis/her body temperaturewith thermal gun.
Frequent announce-ments are made inside theMetro premises requesting allto maintain distancingnorms. Short-film on Do’sand Don’ts is also beingshown on Platform TVs toeducate commuters how tostay secure and help otherstoo.
London: Aston Villa announcedthe signing of Arsenal goalkeep-er Emiliano Martinez onWednesday for a reported fee of£20 million ($26 million).
The 28-year-old Argentine,who has signed a four-year deal,helped Arsenal to FA Cup vic-tory last season and CommunityShield glory last month butfaced playing second fiddle toBernd Leno.
Villa boss Dean Smith said:“We are really pleased with thesigning of our new goalkeeperEmiliano Martinez.
“We know how highlyArsenal rated him and wewatched his outstanding perfor-mances last season in a trophy-
winning top side.“We moved for Emi when
we saw the opportunity, as it israre to be able to buy a top-classgoalkeeper who hasn’t yetreached their peak age and whocan therefore be a key player forour club for the long term.”
���� '(#@3�
South African star AB deVilliers believes the biggest
challenge for all teams in theupcoming Indian PremierLeague will be adjusting to theprevailing hot and humidconditions in the UAE.
Most games will be playedin the night but the conditionswould still be challenging.
“I am not really used tothese kind of conditions to behonest. It’ very hot, it reminds
me of a Test match we playedin July in Chennai once whereViru (Virender Sehwag)scored 300. It was one thehottest weather conditions Ihave experience in my life,” hesaid in a an interview postedon RCB’s Twitter handle.
“The humidity is similarto that, even at 10 at night.
When I arrived here I checkedthe weather conditions of afew months and it seems to begetting better. It is definitelygoing to play a part and youhave to make sure you havethe energy for the backend ofthe innings or last 5 overs ofyour bowling spell.”
De Villiers said he wouldalso miss playing in front ofpacked crowds in India withthe event to be played behindclosed doors in UAE due tothe Covid-19 pandemic.
“I think obviously all areare used to playing in front ofcrowds in big stage, there iscertainly an amount of adren-aline that pumped into youwhen it gets really loud, espe-cially in Chinnaswany whenthe RCB crowd gets going, itsdifficult to stop the RCB team.So, well miss that there is nodoubt about it.
“But I won’t say I am notused to it, I have played a lotof cricket in empty stadiums.I grew up like that. It’s only inmy international career that Ihave played in front of crowd,”he said.
��� � -@4��@(14
Brazil’s Government sentits support to Neymar on
Tuesday after he was red-carded for a fight in a Ligue 1match in France, condemningthe “racism” that triggeredthe brawl.
The Paris Saint-Germainstar is facing punishment bythe French league’s discipli-nary commission after slap-ping defender AlvaroGonzalez near the end ofPSG’s 1-0 loss to Marseille,accusing the Spaniard of call-ing him a “monkey.”
Gonzalez denies the accu-sation. But in Neymar’s nativeBrazil, the ministry responsi-ble for human rights issuessaid it stood behind theworld’s most expensive foot-
baller.“In the face of yet anoth-
er case of racism that has
come to the surface in sport,the ministry of women, thefamily and human rights pub-licly voices its solidarity withthe player Neymar Jr,” theministry said in a statement.“Racism is a crime.”
The statement came afterBrazil ian President JairBolsonaro on Mondayretweeted Neymar’s own ver-sion of events.
The Brazilian strikerslapped Gonzalez on the backof the head near the end ofSunday’s match, sparking amass brawl that ended withfive players sent off, includingNeymar.
He now faces a potentialmulti-match suspension, asdoes Gonzalez, if league offi-cials find Neymar’s accusationis true.
����� 14�'4�
Gareth Bale’s agent says theReal Madrid forward is
“close” to a move back toTottenham but admitted it is acomplicated deal to thrashout.
The Wales internationalhas been frozen out by Realmanager Zinedine Zidane andsaid earlier this month that hewas open to returning to thePremier League.
It has been reported thatSpurs and Manchester Unitedare interested in signing Balebut Jose Mourinho appears tobe leading the race to land the31-year-old.
“It’s close but not done,”Bale’s agent Jonathan Barnetttold AFP. “It’s a complicated
deal.”Bale has two years left on
a contract that pays him areported salary of about£600,000 ($775,000) a week at
Real.It has been reported the
Spanish club would be willingto pay some of that salary tofinally move on from theirtroubled relationship with theforward.
Bale left Tottenham forReal in 2013 for a then world-record fee of £85 million.
He has won fourChampions League titles andtwo La Liga crowns during histime in Spain, but his turbulentrelationship with Zidane hasleft him a peripheral player.
The winger still has anemotional attachment toTottenham after joining theclub from Southampton as ateenager and developing intoone of the world’s most excit-ing forwards.
���� @#(�'2@#3
Kolkata Knight Riders bats-man Rinku Singh feels no
one can match the big-hittingprowess of explosive all-rounder Andre Russell and heremains the World’s best all-rounder at the moment.
The Jamaican allrounder,who joined KKR in 2014, hasbeen in sensational form in thelast two seasons and remains
���� @#(�'2@#3
Back from a lengthy injury layoff,Mumbai Indians’ star all-
rounder Hardik Pandya said the set-back motivated him to work hard-er and he is now in good shape bothphysically and mentally for the IPL.
Pandya’s form will be crucial fordefending champions MumbaiIndians, who will take on ChennaiSuper Kings in the lung-opener ofthe cash-rich T20 league onSeptember 19.
“The way I’m hitting the ballright now, the shape I’m in, the men-
tal space I’m in, it is just a matter oftime that I go and spend some timeon the ground and I think things willcome out pretty well,” Pandya saidin a video posted by MumbaiIndians’ official Twitter handle.
“No matter how far I go fromthe game, no matter how long I stayout, when I come back, it has to beworth it. I have prepared very welland I think, great things are comingahead,” the 26-year-old flamboyantall-rounder added.
Last year in November, Pandyahad undergone a back surgery inLondon. He came back in the DY
Patil T20 tournament held in earlyMarch.
He was even selected for theODI series against South Africa, butthe Covid-19 pandemic, whichforced the rubber to be abandoned,delayed his return. He is now look-ing forward to the IPL.
“IPL is something that I haveenjoyed a lot and I would like tomake a comeback very strong andI’m just looking forward to it,” saidPandya. He also conceded thatinjuries would be a part of his crick-eting journey and motivate him todo better.
���� 94�0�
Novak Djokovic expressed his reliefthere was no “mental or emotion-al blockages or drama” as he swept
past Italian wild card entry SalvatoreCaruso into the Italian Open thirdround on Wednesday in his firstmatch since his US Open default.
“I was actually looking for-ward to get the official match assoon as possible after what hap-pened in New York,” said theworld No 1.
The Serb was on his bestbehaviour after his dramatic last 16 dis-qualification on September 6 after heaccidently struck a line judge with a ballhit in frustration.
“I didn’t feel that I had any mental oremotional blockages or any dramasplaying a match today,” he said.
Djokovic, who had said he hadlearned a “big lesson” from his first everdisqualification, was keen to move on inRome.
The 33-year-old playfully greeted animaginary crowd in an empty CentralCourt at the Foro Italico because of strictcoronavirus measures.
Only some noisy workers managedto unnerve the 17-time Grand Slam win-ner after missing break points.
“It was very, very quiet, which is veryunusual to what we are used to here inRome, which has one of the loudest andmost energetic crowd atmospheres on thetour.
Djokovic continued where he left offbefore his US Open exit, having won theCincinnati Masters on the same FlushingMeadows courts.
“It was a very good test for me. I’mvery pleased with the way I handledmyself in important moments,” saidDjokovic, who was unbeaten in 2020before his US Open default.
“I was in control of the match.”Djokovic, who has played nine finals
in Rome, and won four titles, will meeteither 29th-ranked compatriot FilipKrajinovic or Italian qualifier MarcoCecchinato, ranked 113th, for a place inthe quarter-finals.
Nine-time Rome winner RafaelNadal will make his return to competi-
tion later on Wednesday after a six-monthhiatus linked to the coronavirus pandem-ic.
The number two seed plays fellowSpaniard Pablo Carreno Busta, a recentsemi-finalist at the US Open, for a placein the third round.
Third seed Stefanos Tsitsipas fell toItalian teenager Jannik Sinner 6-1, 6-7(9/11), 6-2, with sixth seeded BelgianDavid Goffin also exiting 6-2, 6-2 toCroatia’s Marin Cilic.
returned a month after winning inPrague to ease past 99th-ranked ItalianJasmine Paolini 6-3, 6-4.
“It was a little bit difficult to get therhythm and to get relaxed,” said the 28-year-old Romanian, who skipped the USOpen but is warming up for a bid for asecond French Open title later thismonth.
The world No 2, a two-time Romefinalist, next meets either AmericanAmanda Anisimova or DayanaYastremska of Ukraine.
US Open finalist Victoria Azarenkashrugged off the move from hard courtto the clay surface to beat AmericanVenus Williams 7-6 (9/7), 6-2, in theirfirst round match.
Belarusian Azarenka will play thirdseeded American Sofia Kenin, the reign-ing Australian Open champion, for aplace in the third round.
Swiss sixth seed Belinda Bencic fell6-3, 6-1 in her second round match toMontenegro’s 86th-ranked DankaKovinic.
���� �@�,20-.09
Jonny Bairstow struck 112 and under-pinned another innings rebuild with SamBillings as England recovered from losing
two wickets from the first two balls to setAustralia a target of 303 in the deciding one-day international on Wednesday.
Mitchell Starc removed Jason Roy and JoeRoot off successive deliveries to leave Englandin early turmoil on a glorious afternoon at OldTrafford, and both Eoin Morgan (23) and JosButtler (8) also departed cheaply.
From 96-4, Bairstow and Billings (57) puton 114 runs for the fifth wicket to bringEngland right back into the match — just asthey did in the first ODI on Friday when shar-ing a stand of 113 in defeat.
Bairstow reached his 10th ODI centurybefore some lusty hits by Chris Woakes (53off 39 balls) lifted the hosts to 302-7, leavingAustralia needing a record run chase at theManchester venue. Fifty-three runs camefrom the last five overs.
The series is tied at 1-1.England is looking to preserve its five-
year unbeaten record in bilateral ODI series,and finish its international summer — dur-ing which all of its games have been playedwithout fans — unbeaten in all formatsagainst the West Indies, Ireland, Pakistan andAustralia.
It is Australia’s final match of its white-ball tour, with the team
having already lost theTwenty20 series 2-1.
Steve Smith wasagain missing for theAustralians after fail-ing to fully recover
from being hiton the headfrom athrowdown
in the netsbefore the first
match of the series.Australia captain
Aaron Finch said Smithhad a hit in the nets onTuesday but “just did notpull up well” and felt “a bitgroggy.”
Dubai: The pitches in UAE areexpected to aid spinners butDelhi Capitals leg-spinner AmitMishra feels it is too early to pre-dict that as the conditions havebeen “neutral” so far.
The 36-year-old India spin-ner said UAE pitches suitingbatsmen or bowlers more canonly be ascertained only oncethe tournament progresses.
“The conditions so far have
been neutral. I can’t say if theyfavour the batsmen or thebowlers more,” Mishra said in apress release.
“When we start playing,then we will have a clearer pic-ture and can say whether it ishelping the batsmen or thebowlers more,” said the the sec-ond highest wicket taker in IPLhistory behind Sri Lankan LasithMalinga. PNS
New Delhi: Former Indiaopener Gautam Gambhir feelsNew Zealand pacer Trent Boultforms a formidable pair withJasprit Bumrah, giving MumbaiIndians an edge over ChennaiSuper Kings in this IPL.
With Mumbai Indians tak-ing on Chennai Super Kings inthe tournament opener onSaturday in Abu Dhabi,Gambhir said he is waiting tosee how Boult and Bumrah goabout their business.
“I am really excited to watchhow Trent Boult and JaspritBumrah will bowl with the newball, because we all knowBumrah and Boult are worldclass bowlers, and in the T20format both are wicket-takingoptions,” Gambhir said on StarSports show Cricket Connected.
“A left-arm seamer, whowill bring the ball inside for aright hand batsman while JaspritBumrah believes in an unortho-dox style of bowling.”
A vital cog in CSK’s wheel,Raina had pulled out of the IPLdue to “personal reasons” andGambhir feels it will be a chal-lenge for CSK without him atnumber 3.
“There will be a challenge
for Chennai Super Kings con-sidering they do not have SureshRaina batting at No 3. ShaneWatson has not played interna-tional cricket for a long time, sowe would want to know whowill open with him and how willthese batsmen face thesebowlers,” the former KolkataKnight Riders skipper said.
Gambhir, a two-time IPL-winning skipper, believes four-time champions MumbaiIndians will be favouritesagainst Chennai consideringthe overall team balance anddepth after the addition ofBoult.
“I am skewed more towardsMumbai Indians for the open-ing match because if we noticethe team balance and the depthof the squad while not forget-ting the addition of Trent Boultin the squad can prove to be anexcellent option,” he said.
“Every team wants a bowlerwho will take wickets with anew ball and use JaspritBumrah in an experimentalway. I would want to see howthese two bowlers performwith the new ball not only inthe first match but throughoutthe tournament.” PTI
the talk of the town ahead ofthe 13th edition which will getunderway on Saturday.
“There is no one who canhit the ball better than him. Hehas a lot of life and strength inhim,” Singh said in an inter-view in KKR’s website.
“His sixes are massive andI just don’t see any batsman asa competition to him. He is thebest all-rounder in the worldat this moment,” Singh added.
New Delhi: Former Indianopener Virender Sehwag expectsthis year’s IPL to be “extra spe-cial” and a major reason for thatis Mahendra Singh Dhoni get-ting back on the pitch afterannouncing his internationalretirement following a year-long sabbatical from the game.
“I think this tournamentwill be extra special for everyone— the players as well as the audi-ence...Watching Dhoni back onthe pitch is sure to be a delight.There’s so much in store, needI say more?” Sehwag, who willbe co-hosting a show Power Playwith Champions on FlipkartVideo, said.
Sehwag said cricket is anintegral part of an Indian’s lifeand the fans have waited long forthe sport to return.
“I’ve spent a lot of my timeduring the lockdown watchingold matches. Cricket forms animportant part of our DNA asIndians and we’ve waited withbated breath for it to return” hesaid. PNS
