I n the middle of the stand-off in eastern Ladakh last year, China unleashed coordinated cyberattacks on India’s power facilities that may have trig- gered the massive power out- age in Mumbai in October 2020. The outage led to a coun- trywide uproar as India’s finan- cial capital came to a grinding halt on October 12. Mumbai lifeline local trains were shut, hospitals could not carry life- saving operations and stock exchange remained out of gear for hours. The cyberattack on power facilities may have been initi- ated by a group of Chinese hackers, according to a study that first appeared in the New York Times. China-linked threat activ- ity group RedEcho may have planted malware in key power plants in India, said the study. “The Mumbai power cut pro- vides additional evidence sug- gesting the coordinated tar- geting of Indian Load Dispatch Centres,” said the study. The study also suggested that some of the country’s most sensitive infrastructures are vulnerable to cyberattacks from Chinese hackers. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Power on Monday said there is no impact on operations of Power System Operation Corporation (POSOCO) due to any malware attack and that prompt actions are taken on advisories issued against such threats. However, the Ministry did not mention about the Mumbai outage in its statement. Responding on the find- ings of the study, the Ministry said, “There is no impact on any of the functionalities car- ried out by POSOCO due to the referred threat. No data breach/data loss has been detected due to these inci- dents.” The Ministry further said, “Prompt actions are being taken by the CISOs (chief information security officers) at all these control centres under operation by POSOCO for any incident/advisory received from various agencies like CERT-in, NCIIPC, CERT- Trans etc.” The CERT-in (Indian Computer Emergency Response Team) is the nodal agency to deal with cyber secu- rity threats like hacking and phishing. The National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC) is national nodal agency for crit- ical information infrastructure protection. Confirming the possibility of the cyberattack, Maharashtra Energy Minister Nitin Raut on Monday said the New York Times report claiming that the massive power outage in Mumbai last year might have been due to a cyber attack from China was true. “There is truth in the claims made by the NYT. We had formed three committees to enquire into the matter. We will receive a detailed report this evening from the cyber department,” Raut said. The Maharashtra cyber department had initially sus- pected that a malware attack could be responsible for Mumbai’s power outage in October last year, which stopped trains and shut down hospitals and the stock exchange for hours. Some areas in suburban central Mumbai suffered outages for almost 10 to 12 hours. Recorded Future, a US- based company that analyses online digital threats, first detected the flow of malware. Recorded Future’s Insikt Group observed that from early 2020 there was a large increase in suspected cyberattacks against Indian organisations from Chinese state-sponsored groups, said the report. “From mid-2020, Recorded Future’s midpoint collection revealed a steep rise in the use of infrastructure tracked as AXIOMATICASYMPTOTE, which encompasses ShadowPad command and control servers, to target a large swathe of India’s power sector. 10 distinct Indian power sector organisations, including four of the five regional load dispatch centres responsible for the operation of the power grid through balancing elec- tricity supply and demand, have been identified as targets in a concerted campaign against India’s critical infra- structure. Other targets iden- tified include two Indian sea- ports,” the report said. P rime Minister Narendra Modi, Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Minister for External Affairs (MEA) S Jaishankar received the Covid-19 jab even as more than one million citizens reg- istered themselves on the Co- WIN portal till 1 pm on Monday with India opening up vaccination drive for those over 60 years and within the age bracket of 45 to 59 years with specified comorbidities. AIIMS chief Dr Randeep Guleria said the Prime Minister’s move to take the first dose of Covid-19 vac- cine on the very first day of the inoculation drive should elim- inate any hesitancy from the minds of people about the vaccine. Vaccines provided to ben- eficiaries at the Government health facilities will be entire- ly free of cost, while private facilities cannot charge the beneficiary a sum above 250 per person per dose (150 for vaccines and 100 as opera- tional charges. As the vaccination pro- gramme got underway in other places across the country, Venkaiah, Shah, Jaishankar too was vaccinated on Monday. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his Odisha coun- terpart Naveen Patnaik also received their shots. Similarly, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, his wife, and MP daughter Supriya Sule too received the first dose of Covid- 19 vaccine at a civic hospital in Maharashtra while Kumar said vaccines will be provided free to everybody. T he dissident Congress camp continued to criticise the party decision-making, with senior Congress leader Anand Sharma questioning the party’s alliance with the Indian Secular Front (ISF) for the West Bengal elections. Taking to Twitter, the for- mer Union Minister in the Manmohan Singh Government said that Congress alliance with parties like ISF and other such forces “militates against the core ideology of the party” and Gandhian and Nehruvian secularism, which forms the soul of the party. Sharma is also the Deputy Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha. Stating that these issues need to be approved by the party’s highest decision-making body, the Congress Working Committee (CWC), Sharma said the Congress cannot be selective in fighting commu- nalists but must do so in all its manifestations, irrespective of religion and colour. “The presence and endorsement of West Bengal PCC president is painful and shameful, he must clarify,” Sharma said in an apparent ref- erence to visuals of Bengal Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury at a joint rally with the Left and the ISF. T he Road, Transport, and Highways Ministry has achieved the enviable target of constructing record 30 km highway a day. The feat could be achieved after the con- struction of 11,035 kilometres of national highways this fiscal so far. Union Road Transport, Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said highway building has achieved a new feat, with the construction touching record 30 km a day. “We have built 11,035 km of highways till date this year. This comes to 32.85 km a day of highway building, which is a record,” Gadkari said on the sidelines of an event talking to the media. Gadkari said that by end of this financial year the con- struction could go up to 40 km a day. I n the battle royal for Bengal, two Yadav chieftains from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh have thrown their weight behind Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Both Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav have declared their parties’ support for the Trinamool Congress in the coming Assembly elections. The RJD leader, who called on Mamata in her office at State Secretariat Nabanna on Monday, appealed to the peo- ple of Bihar who live in Bengal to support the TMC in the coming elections. He had an hour-long meeting with the Chief Minister during which the duo reportedly discussed seat-sharing. Lending his support for the TMC chief, former UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, too, said that the BJP was trying to wrest power in Bengal by hook or by crook. A fter a harsh winter for the northern States, most parts of the country should brace for a hotter than usual summer this year. In its summer forecast, India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Monday forecast that day tem- peratures are likely to be above normal in north, northeast, parts of east and west India except for south and central India between March and May, which represents the pre-mon- soon season for the country. “The maximum tempera- tures will be as high as 0.86 degrees celsius higher than normal across northern, east- ern, and western India,” the IMD said. However, the pre-mon- soon months of March, April, and May will provide some respite for the other regions, especially south India, where the mercury is likely to dip as much as 0.57 degrees celsius from its normal. There is a probability forecast for above maximum temperatures in Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Gujarat, coastal Maharashtra, Goa and coastal Andhra Pradesh. The worst impact of the summer will be felt in Odisha and Chhattisgarh, where max- imum temperatures will devi- ate 0.86-degree celsius from their usual averages. Last week, Bhubaneswar was the first region to record 40 degrees cel- sius anywhere in India this year. North Indian States such as Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh should brace for summer tem- peratures anywhere from 0.46- degrees celsius to 0.71-degree celsius above normal. “During the upcoming hot weather season (March to May), above normal seasonal maximum temperatures are likely over most of the subdi- visions of north, northwest and northeast India, a few sub- divisions from Eastern and Western parts of Central India and few coastal subdivisions of north peninsular India. New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked the nurs- es administering the Covid-19 vaccine to him on Monday whether they were planning to use some special thick needle as politicians are known to be “very thick-skinned”, drawing laughter from the medical staff who immediately felt at ease. New Delhi: Protesting farmer leaders in the vulnerable age group on Monday said they are not afraid of coronavirus and won’t take vaccine jabs, even as the second phase of vaccination drive got underway to inocu- late senior citizens and those above 45 with underlying med- ical conditions. New Delhi: Delhi fought the coronavirus well and brought down both the positive as well as death rates, said Delhi Health Minister Satyender Jain on Monday. There are challenges but the Delhi Government is ready to deal with it, be it vaccination or health infrastructure. RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd. No. L-2/BPLON/41/2006-2008
In the middle of the stand-offin eastern Ladakh last year,
China unleashed coordinatedcyberattacks on India’s powerfacilities that may have trig-gered the massive power out-age in Mumbai in October2020.
The outage led to a coun-trywide uproar as India’s finan-cial capital came to a grindinghalt on October 12. Mumbailifeline local trains were shut,hospitals could not carry life-saving operations and stockexchange remained out of gearfor hours.
The cyberattack on powerfacilities may have been initi-ated by a group of Chinesehackers, according to a studythat first appeared in the NewYork Times.
China-linked threat activ-ity group RedEcho may haveplanted malware in key powerplants in India, said the study.“The Mumbai power cut pro-vides additional evidence sug-gesting the coordinated tar-geting of Indian Load DispatchCentres,” said the study.
The study also suggestedthat some of the country’smost sensitive infrastructuresare vulnerable to cyberattacksfrom Chinese hackers.
Meanwhile, the Ministry ofPower on Monday said there isno impact on operations ofPower System OperationCorporation (POSOCO) dueto any malware attack and that
prompt actions are taken onadvisories issued against suchthreats.
However, the Ministry didnot mention about the Mumbaioutage in its statement.
Responding on the find-ings of the study, the Ministrysaid, “There is no impact onany of the functionalities car-ried out by POSOCO due tothe referred threat. No databreach/data loss has beendetected due to these inci-dents.”
The Ministry further said,“Prompt actions are beingtaken by the CISOs (chief
information security officers) atall these control centres underoperation by POSOCO for anyincident/advisory receivedfrom various agencies likeCERT-in, NCIIPC, CERT-Trans etc.”
The CERT-in (IndianComputer EmergencyResponse Team) is the nodalagency to deal with cyber secu-rity threats like hacking andphishing.
The National CriticalInformation InfrastructureProtection Centre (NCIIPC) isnational nodal agency for crit-ical information infrastructure
protection.Confirming the possibility
of the cyberattack, MaharashtraEnergy Minister Nitin Raut onMonday said the New YorkTimes report claiming that themassive power outage inMumbai last year might havebeen due to a cyber attack fromChina was true.
“There is truth in theclaims made by the NYT. Wehad formed three committeesto enquire into the matter. Wewill receive a detailed reportthis evening from the cyberdepartment,” Raut said.
The Maharashtra cyber
department had initially sus-pected that a malware attackcould be responsible forMumbai’s power outage inOctober last year, whichstopped trains and shut downhospitals and the stockexchange for hours. Some areasin suburban central Mumbaisuffered outages for almost 10to 12 hours.
Recorded Future, a US-based company that analysesonline digital threats, firstdetected the flow of malware.Recorded Future’s Insikt Groupobserved that from early 2020there was a large increase insuspected cyberattacks againstIndian organisations fromChinese state-sponsoredgroups, said the report.
“From mid-2020,Recorded Future’s midpointcollection revealed a steep risein the use of infrastructure tracked asAXIOMATICASYMPTOTE,which encompassesShadowPad command andcontrol servers, to target alarge swathe of India’s powersector. 10 distinct Indian powersector organisations, includingfour of the five regional loaddispatch centres responsiblefor the operation of the powergrid through balancing elec-tricity supply and demand,have been identified as targetsin a concerted campaignagainst India’s critical infra-structure. Other targets iden-tified include two Indian sea-ports,” the report said.
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Prime Minister NarendraModi, Vice-President M
Venkaiah Naidu, Union HomeMinister Amit Shah andMinister for External Affairs(MEA) S Jaishankar receivedthe Covid-19 jab even as morethan one million citizens reg-istered themselves on the Co-WIN portal till 1 pm onMonday with India opening upvaccination drive for thoseover 60 years and within theage bracket of 45 to 59 yearswith specified comorbidities.
AIIMS chief Dr RandeepGuleria said the Prime Minister’s move to takethe first dose of Covid-19 vac-cine on the very first day of theinoculation drive should elim-inate any hesitancy from theminds of people about the vaccine.
Vaccines provided to ben-eficiaries at the Government
health facilities will be entire-ly free of cost, while privatefacilities cannot charge thebeneficiary a sum above �250per person per dose (�150 forvaccines and �100 as opera-tional charges.
As the vaccination pro-gramme got underway in otherplaces across the country,Venkaiah, Shah, Jaishankar toowas vaccinated on Monday.
Bihar Chief Minister NitishKumar and his Odisha coun-terpart Naveen Patnaik alsoreceived their shots.
Similarly, NCP chiefSharad Pawar, his wife, and MPdaughter Supriya Sule tooreceived the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine at a civic hospital inMaharashtra while Kumar saidvaccines will be provided freeto everybody.
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The dissident Congress campcontinued to criticise the
party decision-making, withsenior Congress leader AnandSharma questioning the party’salliance with the Indian SecularFront (ISF) for the West Bengalelections.
Taking to Twitter, the for-mer Union Minister in theManmohan Singh Governmentsaid that Congress alliancewith parties like ISF and othersuch forces “militates againstthe core ideology of the party”and Gandhian and Nehruviansecularism, which forms thesoul of the party. Sharma is alsothe Deputy Leader ofOpposition in the Rajya Sabha.
Stating that these issuesneed to be approved by the
party’s highest decision-makingbody, the Congress WorkingCommittee (CWC), Sharmasaid the Congress cannot beselective in fighting commu-nalists but must do so in all itsmanifestations, irrespective ofreligion and colour.
“The presence andendorsement of West BengalPCC president is painful andshameful, he must clarify,”Sharma said in an apparent ref-erence to visuals of BengalCongress chief Adhir RanjanChowdhury at a joint rallywith the Left and the ISF.
�� � �67�(6+89
The Road, Transport, andHighways Ministry has
achieved the enviable target ofconstructing record 30 kmhighway a day. The feat couldbe achieved after the con-struction of 11,035 kilometresof national highways this fiscalso far.
Union Road Transport,Highways Minister NitinGadkari said highway buildinghas achieved a new feat, withthe construction touchingrecord 30 km a day. “We havebuilt 11,035 km of highways tilldate this year. This comes to32.85 km a day of highwaybuilding, which is a record,”Gadkari said on the sidelines ofan event talking to the media.
Gadkari said that by end ofthis financial year the con-struction could go up to 40 kma day.
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In the battle royal for Bengal,two Yadav chieftains from
Bihar and Uttar Pradesh havethrown their weight behindBengal Chief Minister MamataBanerjee.
Both Samajwadi Partychief Akhilesh Yadav andRashtriya Janata Dal leaderTejashwi Yadav have declaredtheir parties’ support for theTrinamool Congress in thecoming Assembly elections.
The RJD leader, who calledon Mamata in her office at StateSecretariat Nabanna onMonday, appealed to the peo-ple of Bihar who live in Bengalto support the TMC in thecoming elections. He had anhour-long meeting with theChief Minister during whichthe duo reportedly discussedseat-sharing.
Lending his support for theTMC chief, former UP ChiefMinister Akhilesh Yadav, too,said that the BJP was trying towrest power in Bengal by hookor by crook.
��� �67�(6+89
After a harsh winter for thenorthern States, most parts
of the country should brace fora hotter than usual summerthis year.
In its summer forecast,India MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD) onMonday forecast that day tem-peratures are likely to be abovenormal in north, northeast,parts of east and west Indiaexcept for south and centralIndia between March and May,which represents the pre-mon-soon season for the country.
“The maximum tempera-tures will be as high as 0.86degrees celsius higher thannormal across northern, east-ern, and western India,” theIMD said.
However, the pre-mon-soon months of March, April,
and May will provide somerespite for the other regions,especially south India, wherethe mercury is likely to dip asmuch as 0.57 degrees celsiusfrom its normal. There is aprobability forecast for abovemaximum temperatures inChhattisgarh, Odisha, Gujarat,coastal Maharashtra, Goa andcoastal Andhra Pradesh.
The worst impact of the
summer will be felt in Odishaand Chhattisgarh, where max-imum temperatures will devi-ate 0.86-degree celsius fromtheir usual averages. Last week,Bhubaneswar was the firstregion to record 40 degrees cel-sius anywhere in India thisyear. North Indian States suchas Delhi, Himachal Pradesh,Haryana, and Uttar Pradeshshould brace for summer tem-peratures anywhere from 0.46-degrees celsius to 0.71-degreecelsius above normal.
“During the upcoming hotweather season (March toMay), above normal seasonalmaximum temperatures arelikely over most of the subdi-visions of north, northwestand northeast India, a few sub-divisions from Eastern andWestern parts of Central Indiaand few coastal subdivisions ofnorth peninsular India.
New Delhi: Prime MinisterNarendra Modi asked the nurs-es administering the Covid-19vaccine to him on Mondaywhether they were planning touse some special thick needleas politicians are known to be“very thick-skinned”, drawinglaughter from the medical staffwho immediately felt at ease.
New Delhi: Protesting farmerleaders in the vulnerable agegroup on Monday said they arenot afraid of coronavirus andwon’t take vaccine jabs, even asthe second phase of vaccinationdrive got underway to inocu-late senior citizens and thoseabove 45 with underlying med-ical conditions.
��������� �������� �������������������������� ���
New Delhi: Delhi fought thecoronavirus well and broughtdown both the positive aswell as death rates, said DelhiHealth Minister SatyenderJain on Monday. There arechallenges but the DelhiGovernment is ready to dealwith it, be it vaccination orhealth infrastructure.
Rajput on Monday said onSidhi bus accident that accidentis an accident and cannot bestopped, but our efforts shouldbe that such accidents do notrecur. In this temple of democ-racy, as the representative of 7.5crore people of the State, weshould take a decision on boththe sides of any event-accidentand decide how to prevent it .
Replying to the adjourn-ment motion on direct busaccident, he said that on receiv-ing the information of theaccident, first of all he informed
the Chief Minister ShivrajSingh Chauhan about this heartbreaking incident.
On the next day, the ChiefMinister himself left for theincident site. There met the vic-tim families and directed themilitary officer and local policeadministration for the rescueoperation.
Assistance to the affectedfamilies for the funeral of eachdeceased and Rs 10000 and thegovernment vehicles to carrythe dead bodies to the desti-nation was provided. Familiesof deceased were sanctioned Rs7 lakh each.
The Transport Ministersaid that it is not true that reg-istration, permit, fitness andinsurance of the crashed busnumber MP19P1882 hadexpired. The vehicle was regis-tered with Satna RTO on 1 May2014. The manufacturing yearof the said 32 + 2 seater vehi-cle is valid till January 1, 2014and its fitness year 2021. Theinsurance of the vehicle is valid
till 28 September 2021, the pol-icy of which is New IndiaInsurance Company45040031200100010428. Thepermit to the vehicle was issuedon May 23, 2020, with validitytill May 12, 2025.
The magisterial inquiry isbeing carried out on, Underwhat circumstances did theincident occur? Who is respon-sible for the incident? andRemedy and suggestion forthis kind of incident should nothappen in future.
On receipt of the report,further action will be ensuredon the basis of it and the guiltypersons will not be left in anysituation.
������������� A8<��+
Sensation prevailed in thearea after a 36-year-old
woman was found dead at herhouse in Rajeev Nagar in themorning; Ayodhya Nagar policehave started investigation.
After the body was spotted,Bhagwan Singh Rajputinformed the police and on thereceipt, a police team reachedthe spot and started investiga-tion.
The deceased identified as
Ashma was in an unconsciousstate and when taken to hos-pital she was declared dead.
SHO Ayodhya Nagarpolice Renu Murab said thatthe body is found at her house,Bhagwan Singh who claims tobe her brother informed policeand later further investigationwas conducted. The body wassent for the post mortem andpost mortem report is awaited.
In the primary investiga-tion no visible injury markswere found and as the short
post mortem report is awaitednothing could be ascertained atthe moment and investigationis on to establish reason behindthe death, she added.
The police would regis-tered a case of murder after itwould be revealed in the autop-sy, further investigation hasbeen started.
The complainant wouldbe questioned along with Babluwho is the prime suspect in thecase and the two had fight latein the night after having liquor.
������������� A8<��+
Sonam Keer, golf player of theState gave a brilliant perfor-
mance at Madhya PradeshGolf Open Championship andbagged the trophy under juniorcategory.
Sonam is trained in theDrawing Golf RangeBishankhedi. She won the titleunder Junior category in theMadhya Pradesh Golf OpenChampionship held onFebruary 28 at Gada GolfCourse, Indore.
Sonam Keer brought lau-rels to the city by winning thetrophy with a score of 76 in 18holes. Bhopal's golfer KumariDeepika and Monika Kaur alsoparticipated in the champi-onship and Deepika scored108 and Monika scored 83while performing brilliantly.
Golf players met DirectorSports and Youth WelfarePawan Jain at the city stadiumon Monday. Director of SportsJain encouraged the children ofthe players to set goals and playand achieve success. He alsopraised the performance ofjunior category winner SonamKeer and inspired other players.
Golf coach DevendraPatel, present on the occasion,informed the sports directorthat 12 players including sevengirls and five boys are under-going training at the golfcourse. He informed that theplayers are working hard for theBHEL Open GolfChampionship which will beheld on March 6 and 7.
The Sports and YouthWelfare Department is givingtraining to golf players on theDrawing Golf Range atBishankhedi by Golf CoachShri Devendra Patel.
������������� A8<��+
The literature lovers can readnew releases at Swami
Vivekananda Library. A newmega collection of new bookswas launched at SwamiVivekananda Library.
Books like Boskiyana talks- Mulaqat Gulzar, Scatteredpearls of memories writerAnchal Malhotra, Rahne narahen hum maheka hai WriterMajrooh Sultanpuri, GloriousIndia writer Mohan Bhagwat,Shubhadra writer NarendraKohli, Khanzada writerBhagwandas Morwal,Chanakya's spy writer TrilokNath Pandey, Matoshree writerSumitra Mahajan, When theearth will sing, the writer SahirLudhianvi and Murthy ChorAuthor S. Vijay Kumar will beincluded.
Manager Yatish Bhatelesaid that in this collection,popular books read in Hindi,Narendra Kohli and Gulzar'spopular books and other verygood titles have been included.Many titles are new in thismega Hindi collection. And
books translated from Englishto Hindi have been included. Inthis collection, Hindi books ondifferent topics in Hindi liter-ature / biography / fiction /non-fiction / history and etc.have been made a part of thiscollection of the library.
Collections such as MovieDVD Collection / EnglishBooks Collection / NewMagazine Collection / NewHindi Books Collection /Children's Books Collectionare included in the librarymembers' library from time totime.
Similarly, the library alsotakes books / DVD / magazineetc. suggestions from its mem-bers from time to time. Everymonth a collection of Hindibooks is being included in thelibrary.
Books will be displayedon Sunday. Members canreserve them and memberswill be able to issue thesebooks on next Friday. Newbooks are released everySunday in the library and Hindibooks have been included inthis collection.
�������������A8<��+
Miscreants targeted house atBavachia village and
escaped with valuables worthRs 70,000 were burgled onSunday; Berasia police havestarted investigation.
Police said that the victimSajid Khan had gone to his rel-atives in Old city area and whenthey returned on Sunday valu-ables were found burgled.
The victim in his com-plaint stated that he along withfamily had gone to meet his in-laws and when he returneddoor was found open and locksbroken. On entering the housevictim found that the valuableswere targeted by the miscre-ants.
Victim approached policeand lodged a complaint. Basedon the complaint after the pre-liminary investigation thepolice have registered a caseunder sections 457 and 380 ofthe IPC and have started fur-ther investigation.
After checking the valu-ables victim found that cashand gold and silver jewelrywere burgled. The total loss inthe burglary is around Rs 70000claimed the victim.
Police suspects that theburglars were aware regardingthe whereabouts of the familyand committed the burglarywhen the family was away. Thearea had no CCTV cameras tomonitor the entry of people vis-iting or entry without permis-sion. Meanwhile, house of pho-tographer at South TT Nagarwas targeted by miscreants andescaped with valuables onSunday; TT Nagar police havestarted investigation.
and arrested by five accused;STF has busted an inter-
state gang involved in printingfake currency and circulating itin the market.
The STF has arrested fivepeople, including the kingpin.The accused used to print fakenotes of denomination Rs 2000and Rs 500, so that no one sus-pected them. The gang leaderand one of his associates areresidents of Pratapgarh districtin Rajasthan. He has beenarrested earlier in the samecrime.
More than fake currencynotes of Rs 3.35 lakh have beenfound from the accused. Apartfrom this, photocopy machines, chemicals have alsobeen seized.
The accused have beenproduced in court and sent
under police custody.STF SP Anjana Tiwari told
that, on Sunday night, after act-ing on a tip off regarding fourpeople in a car bearing regis-tration number RJ35CA0591were waiting for the customerwith fake notes near HariomWare House on Agar Road.
A team was dispatchedand the four were nabbed fromthe spot.
From the vehicle bundlesof currency notes of Rs 2000and Rs 500 notes were foundand in the investigation theywere found fake.
The accused were identi-fied as Mahmud Khan of Agar,Saddam and Naeem aliasNayum resident Pratapgarh,Rajasthan, NaikheriBhairavgarh of Govardhan,Ujjain. Santosh, the fifth mem-ber of the gang, was caughtfrom Susner. Saddam andNaeem have also served jail fordealing in fake notes.
The members of the gangused to give fake notes of Rs 1lakh for Rs 30000.
The SP said, during inter-rogation, it has been found thathe used to make a fake note byphotocopying the real note.Chemical was applied on fakenotes to avoid suspicion. Thecustomer were told to wash thenote in hot water, the chemicalwill come off and the note willlook like real.
During interrogation, itwas found out that the gangpeople used to demonstrate tothe customers before buyingfake notes.
To trap customers, theyused to apply tincture on realnotes (fake notes told to customers) and boil them inhot water.
The tincture dissolves inwater and the note starts toappear clear. In this way, cus-tomers were duped by givingfake notes.
������������� A8<��+
The students of SECTCollege bid a farewell to
their seniors on Monday. A farewell party was organ-
ised at college premises whereall the seniors and juniors hada lot of fun together. Theseniors received a warm wel-come by the juniors as theyentered wearing elegant attire.
The programme beganwith the juniors performances.The juniors enthusiasticallyperformed farewell songs forthe seniors; they sang the goodbye songs which again createdan ambiance full with emo-tions. The juniors were beau-tifully dressed in traditionalcostumes.
Later the programme wasfollowed with the award cere-mony and title distribution.Awards were given to theseniors keeping in mind theircaliber and capability they haveshown throughout the session.The title of Mr Farewell was
given to Shivam Singh Rai andMiss Farewell was given toSonali Sahu.
The programme then wasfollowed with the group danceperformances where thejuniors gave outstanding per-formances on traditional andmodern Hindi movies songs.The juniors created anambiance of enjoyment andmusic for the seniors to enjoytheir last memories in the col-lege.
As the performances wereso splendid, the faculty mem-bers while addressing the stu-dents said that being studentsthey will always remembertheir college days and the fac-ulty members also wished theseniors luck and well being fortheir future.
Principal and other facul-ty members wished all the stu-dents luck for their futureendeavours.
They asked them to dotheir best and face life chal-lenges with confidence.
������������� A8<��+
Under the latest and popularonline series of Indira
Gandhi Rashtriya ManavSangrahalaya under 'Exhibit ofthe Week’ displayed the Ruieh,wooden ritual plate collectedfrom 1989. The Nicobarese com-munity of Andaman & Nicobar.Its Measurement Height –197cm., Width-105 cm. displayed inthe audience as The First Exhibitof the month of March, 2021through official website,Facebook, Instagram and twitterpage of the IGRMS.
In this regard PraveenKumar Mishra, Director, IGRMSsaid that Indira Gandhi RashtriyaManav Sangrahalaya (NationalMuseum of Mankind), Initiallythis series will focus on themasterpieces from its collectionwhich are considered as uniquefor their contribution to thecultural history of a particularethnic group or area. Ruieh, thewooden ritual plate of Car-
Nicobarese community is amedium to express their beliefsystem towards the Universe.They believe that each and everypeople as well as objects of theirUniverse are possessed by aspirit. The deceased members getre-assimilated into their universein the form of spirits which mustbe honoured and ritually propi-tiated to bring good fortune tothe family.
Regarding this objectSudeepa Roy said that Thesewooden ritual plates provide apowerful means for communi-cating with the spiritual andancestral world. The spiritsmay appear in different formslike sacred birds, mythologicalcharacters or combination ofboth. The painted board aremade by mineluan- the Shaman,on behalf of the family or the vil-lage in order to repel bad spir-its. It also attracts good spirits tothe place in which it is installedto cure the misfortune, illnessand death.
Madhya Pradesh will fully sup-port the filmmakers of thecountry and abroad for mean-ingful film production.
Be it a feature film or adocumentary, if its theme iswomen empowerment or othersocietal theme, then the stategovernment will give fullencouragement for that. Taxexemption facility can also begiven to such films.
Chouhan said this duringa discussion with Shweta Rai,Madhya Pradeshs daughterand the director and writerassociated with filmmaking inHollywood, who called on himtoday.
On this occasion, Shweta'sfather Prof. Surendra KumarRai, Mother Anita Rai andformer Minister Sanjay Pathakwere present. Shweta Rai is anative of Kymore in Katni dis-trict.
Chouhan said that empow-erment of women characters
has been given prominence infilms. Even today, in our soci-ety, women have accomplishedin various fields and displayedtheir capable leadership andperformance. In the recentCorona period, self-helpgroups of women in MadhyaPradesh played an importantrole in protecting large popu-lations from Corona infectionby making face masks andsanitizer. Such themes can bethe basis of feature and docu-mentary films. Rai told ChiefMinister Shri Chouhan that shehas produced a film with 10prominent women at the cen-tre, which include Dr. SaumyaSwaminathan who collaborat-ed in vaccine for protectionfrom Covid in India and thefirst pilot Swati Rawal.
Chouhan appreciated thiseffort of Sushri Shweta. ChiefMinister Shri Chouhan saidthat Principal Secretary CultureShri Sheo Shekhar Shukla hasbeen entrusted with theresponsibility of film produc-tion in the state and providingnecessary support to the film-
makers. He will also take nec-essary action on the proposalreceived in relation to Shweta'sfilm production project.
About filmmaker ShwetaRai
Madhya Pradesh's daugh-ter Shweta Rai graduated fromthe Government ExcellenceCollege in Bhopal and obtaineda Master's degree in the UnitedStates. She has collaboratedwith leading Hollywood film-makers to produce variousfilms in the last 10 years.Shweta has urged Hollywoodfilmmakers to produce films atmajor locations in MadhyaPradesh. Shweta is also keen tobring key features of MadhyaPradesh to Hollywood throughfilmmaking. A film made byher has also been nominatedfor an Oscar Award. Shweta iscurrently residing in LosAngeles.
“A Pandemic Away fromthe Mother Lands” is a filmmade by her during lockdown period. Shweta is thefounder and CEO of Indo HoliFilms.
Three persons including a woman werenabbed by Kamla Nagar police who
attacked a Ola Cab driver with sharp edgedweapons near 23rd Battalion atBhadbhada; reason of attack remainedunclear.
According to the police, Rashid Khanof Karond was attacked by Pooja Ahirwar,Akash, Laddu and Ankit and in the attackvictim sustained severe multiple injuries.
The victim was rescued by locals andrushed to hospital where his condition isreportedly stable, said police.
In his complaint victim had denied ofany kind of robbery attempt by the fourand his reason which he revealed was irri-tation of accused when he stared at thewoman. The reason remained unclear andis under investigation.
The victim stated that he picked theaccused near Peoplea Malls and took themto Bhadbhada where one of asked to stopcar to answer nature’s call and as soon ashe stopped car accused started to assaulthim and attacked him with sharp edgedweapons in his neck, back, abdomen andpalms.
Victim sustained injuries in his palms
after he tried to rescue himself. During theinvestigation it was found that the accusedlive in a rented house near Peoples Malland hail from Itarsi.
Soon after committing the crime, theassailant managed to flee. The victim wasrushed to hospital, where the condition ofhim is reportedly stable.
Police said that the attackers PoojaAhirwar, Akash, Laddu were nabbedwhile Ankit is still absconding. After thepreliminary investigation, the police haveregistered a case under sections 307 and34 of the IPC and have launched a man-hunt to nab the miscreant.
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Sagar Public School organized 3600 FitnessHealth Drive at its Rohit Nagar campus. The
health drive was organized for a healthy mindfor citizens of Bhopal Over 400 citizens of cityand Sagarites participated in yoga, aquarobics,zumba, cricket, football, badminton, art and craftactivities and tournaments.
The drive also witnessed active participationin hop and drag, raise and snatch, way to win,ring the monkey catch me, dice game, body
twister, hop scotch, ring-a-roll, blow and pass,tap and catch, snakes and ladders etc. as recre-ational games in fun zone.
Sagarites also learnt making of newspaperbag to spread the message of ‘Say no to plasticbag, Save the Trees and Save Life, Reuse toSustain by distributing the bags.
Speaking to audience Principal MadhuabalaChauhan said, “Our health drive is unique andare much awaited fitness drive in the city. I wel-come you all to fitness drive with the messageof 'Fit Hai India, Hit Hai India'.”
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Amovie depicting the life ofIndian Navy officers and
how the navy works ‘SentinelsAt Sea’ was screened at ShauryaSmarak here on Monday.
The film was screenedunder the regular film screen-ings held at Shaurya Smarakevery day. The movies screenedhere are based on Indian Army,Navy and other armed forces.Produced by Films Division,this film Sentinels at Sea isdirected by Dilip Jamdaar.
The Indian Navy is a well
balanced and cohesive three-dimensional force, capable ofoperating above, on and underthe surface of the oceans effi-ciently safeguarding the nation-al interests.
It is to be noted that thefilm featured the brave heartswho protect the country fromseas and oceans. The film fea-tures advanced technologiesused by the Navy even in sub-marines. The same water sur-face is equipped with veneer,fatal warheads equipped withdeadly weapons. Modern mis-siles to combat the problem of
air in the air above the surfacesurface, the combatants. Thereare also the capabilities of theaircrafts to be there on theships. The Chief of the NavalStaff (CNS) exercises opera-tional and administrative con-trol of the Indian Navy fromIntegrated Headquarters ofMOD(Navy). He is assisted bythe Vice Chief of the Naval Staff(VCNS) and three otherPrincipal Staff Officers, name-ly the Deputy Chief of theNaval Staff (DCNS), the Chiefof Personnel (COP) and theChief of Material (COM).
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On the instructions ofdeputy transport commis-
sioner Indore division SapnaAnurag Jain Indore RTOJitendra Singh Raghuvanshihas initiated a continuouschecking drive of vehicles onroads daily. On Monday ARTONisha Chouhan checked vari-ous buses on Indore bypassroad.
A bus carrying marriageparty was seized when the buswas returning after marriagecarrying the bride and thegroom and was about to reachat the village nytamundal vil-lage of Indore district. The buswas running without permitand rs 57000 was pending onthe bus as rto tax.
In another case a bus wascaught on which rs 118000 waspending as road tax also adumper was confiscated onwhich rs 57000 was pending.Two transport truck were alsoseized on which rs 53552 waspending as tax and other trans-port truck on which rs 32000was pending. Transport inspec-tor Ravindra thakur and trans-port sub inspector jyoti muvelwere also present during thechecking drive.
scooter-borne armed robbersin Ghaziabad. Police said that theincident occurred on Monday atabout 11:00 am in posh com-mercial hub of Raj Nagar DistrictCentre (RDC) in the city.
According to a senior policeofficial, the cashier Nitin Sharmaof KR Foods Private Limited,dealing in cow butter (Ghee)product came to deposit the cashof rupees ten lakh in the RDCbranch of HDFC bank.
“As he stepped out of his car,two robbers intercepted him andon the gun point, they took thebag containing cash,” said thesenior police official.
The robbers also brandishedpistol in the air in the denselypublic movement in this com-mercial hub, a woman alsobecame unconscious and fell onthe road. The by passers took herto a nearby open barandahwhere she gained consciousness.
“The cashier, immediatelyphoned his employer and thepolice simultaneously whichreached the spot and inspectedthe crime scene,” said Ghaziabadpolice. Prior to this incident,eight dacoits had barged into theresidence of a businessman andlooted cash and jewelry worthover rupees ten lakh at gunpointin Raj Nagar posh locality.
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The Indian Railways has sur-passed last year’s cumulative
freight loading on 28thFebruary in spite of Covid-19challenges.
The Ministry said thatfreight figures continue tomaintain the high momentumin terms of loading, earning andspeed in the month of February2021 as well for IndianRailways. Yesterday’s loadingcrossed five million tonnes.
“As on 28 February, IndianRailways cumulative freightloading was 1102.17 milliontonnes for this year which ishigher compared to last year forthe same period (1102.1 milliontonnes). On a month to monthbasis up to February 28, theIndian Railways loading was112.25 million tonnes, which isalmost 10 per cent higher com-pared to loading up toFebruary 28 of last year. (102.21million tonnes),” it said.
On a day to day basis, thefreight loading of IndianRailways was 5.23 million
tonnes, which is 36 per centhigher compared to last year’sloading for the same date (3.83million tonnes).
The average speed offreight trains in the month ofFebruary 2021 was 46.09 kmphwhich is more than double ascompared to last year for thesame month (23.01 kmph). On28th February, the averagespeed of freight trains was47.51 kmph compared to 23.17kmph last year for the same datewhich is also more than double.
Also in the month of
February this year, IndianRailways earned Rs. 11096.89crores from freight loadingwhich is 7.7 per cent highercompared to last year’s earningsfor the same period (Rs10305.02 crores). On 28thFebruary 2021 Indian Railwaysearned Rs 509.44 crores fromfreight loading which is 34 percent higher compared to lastyear’s earnings for the same day(Rs 378.56 crores).
It is worth mentioning thata number of concessions/dis-counts are also being given inIndian Railways to makeRailways Freight movementvery attractive. Strong emer-gence of business developmentunits in zones and divisions,constant dialogue with theindustry and logistics serviceproviders , faster speed etc areadding to the robust growth offreight business for theRailways.
It may be noted thatCOVID 19 has been used byIndian Railways as an oppor-tunity to improve all-roundefficiencies and performances.
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,��&���������%�&$��'���-��#��������������$���������(�#The entire 2020 was a Covid
year. Not only Delhi andIndia, but also the entire worldwas going through a toughtime and everyone was fight-ing the virus. Despite variouschallenges, Delhi fought thevirus and brought down boththe positivity and death ratesdown. In the initial days,everything was new to every-one and people thought thevirus would go in summer.The lockdown was alsoextended but nothing changed.The biggest challenge was howto contain and treat the virus.
The Delhi Governmentproactively worked and adapt-ed itself to the situation andcame up with several initia-tives which brought the casesdown. The DelhiGovernment’s initiatives havebeen copied and followedwidely by the entire nation andthe world. For example, plas-ma therapy and home isola-tion, were started first byDelhi in the entire world. Thefirst plasma bank in thenational Capital was openedon July 4. Later on August 27,America also suggested plas-ma therapy for Covid 19.Similarly, home isolation wasfirst started by DelhiGovernment which largelyhelped it to control and curethe virus and was followedwidely by other States.
Delhi Health MinisterSatyender Jain spoke to ThePioneer’s PrincipalCorrespondent Sapna Singhon various issues pertaining toDelhi’s fight against Covid-19.
Delhi Government isapproaching its target with alow corona positivity rateand zero death, what are thechallenges ahead?
The Covid-19 cases havebeen recorded less than fiveper cent in the past threemonths and since one month,the positivity rate is one to halfper cent. If it is going belowone per cent, we can say thesituation is normal because thebase is low but still Corona isunpredictable and I will appealto the masses to wear masksand follow social distancingnorms. There was a time when8,600 cases were recorded butnow the situation has beenimproved.
Challenges ahead are howto create awareness amongthe masses and to understandhow the Covid-19 is acting atdifferent stages. Along with theCentral Government, we arelearning about Corona’sbehaviour via research anddevelopment model. Certainly,there are challenges but DelhiGovernment is also ready todeal with it, be it at vaccinationor health infra.
The medical institutions inDelhi are playing pivotal rolein the Covid-19-pandemictimes but as per the economicsurvey (GNCTD) 2019-20,the number of medical insti-tutions in Delhi has increasedat low rate. Does the DelhiGovt has any plan to expandthe institutions?
At present, Delhi has10,000 beds and our target is toexpand these to 15,000, wehave started constructions ofthree new buildings and twoare purely dedicated to Covid-19 treatment facility — Burariand Ambedkar Nagar. Theseinstitutions will be fully oper-ational once the pandemic getsover. One medical institution
in Dwarka would have startedfunctioning but covid outbreakhalted the project. We haveAIIMS-like institutions, forinstance, GB Pant. I would saythat our institutions are betterthan those of Centre. Gettingtreatment in AIIMS orSafdarjung is a tedious processbut in our hospitals, people geteasier, faster and timely treat-ment.
Despite the fact that Delhi’spopulation has been increas-ing at the rate of 10 per centin every five years, how theAam Aadmi Party (AAP)dispensation will providehealth services to its citi-zens, when the bed ratio isstill 2.94 per thousand pop-ulation against the WorldHealth Organisation (WHO)prescribed standards – fivebeds per thousand?
Delhi Government is cre-ating the best health infra-structure in the world. If we goby the WHO standards, weshould compare Delhi withother Indian States, and notonly India, at the global arenafor the coronavirus treatment,we have provided best treat-ment by increasing bed num-bers. Delhi’s health model is toptreating Covid, and we arebeing widely appreciated atinternational level.
The AAP Government hasincreased its health budgetfrom 11.54 per cent in 2013-14 to 14.89 per cent in 2018-19 as per the economic sur-vey report (GNCTD) 2019-20. However, there are coreareas in health sector wherePPP model plays a crucialrole. For instance, DelhiGovernment has joinedhands with the private play-ers for providing Dialysisser vices. How does theGovernment help commoncitizens with low cost treat-ment having a major stake inprivate entities in criticalhealth infra.. as we have seenin Corona times?
Health is our priority andthis year too, the health budgetwill be higher than the previ-ous one. Our focus will remainon health. We have a transpar-ent system where patients cancheck the availability of beds.For instance, at present, out of5,700 beds, 399 beds are occu-pied and 5,363 are still free forCovid treatment. The DelhiGovernment is ready to dealwith any circumstancesbecause our objective is clearand that is to provide basichealth facilities to our people.
Delhi Government hasjoined hands with private hos-pitals. Though we cannotmake a dedicated facility fordialysis, Government providesfree such treatments for theEconomically Weaker Section(EWS) in private hospitalsalso. LNJP and Rajiv GandhiSuper Speciality Hospitals havebeen established to treat lifethreatening diseases.In the digital era when DelhiGovernment will soon turnout to be one State to have acloud-based well-beingadministration system as thefacility in healthcare serviceswith the induction of HealthInformation ManagementSystem (HIMS), how is theAAP Government ready forthis?
The Delhi Government isready for the digital transfor-mation, for it will save timeand will help medical staff to
provide faster treatment hav-ing history details of patients.With a cloud base system, theinformation and medicationwill work hand in hand thuswill help in both ways.
With 338 Mohalla clinics(Pilot + regular), the AAPclaims revolution in healthcare services. Do you thinkthese clinics may reduce thepatients load in big hospitals?
Definitely, the impact willbe visible after the number ofthe clinics reach upto 1,000.Presently, on an average,50,000 people visit OPDs inthese Mohalla clinics acrossDelhi. If patients get timely,needy and speedy treatmentnearby, it will certainly reducethe burden on bigger hospitals.
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The Supreme Court, hearingan appeal against a Calcutta
High Court order allowing CBIprobe into an alleged coal min-ing and transportation case,Monday said it would firstexamine a legal issue whetheran intra-court appeal can beentertained by the high court ina criminal matter against anorder of a single judge bench.
A bench headed by JusticeD Y Chandrachud, meanwhile,granted time to CBI to file itsresponse to the appeal of AnupMajee, the director of a com-pany engaged in purchase andsale of the dry fuel, which is anaccused in a case of alleged ille-gal coal trading in the Asansol-Raniganj belt of West Bengal.
Majee, in his plea, has chal-lenged the Calcutta High Courtorder which allowed the CBI toinvestigate a case of alleged ille-gal mining and transportationof coal in West Bengal withoutthe State’s consent.
In the proceedings con-ducted through video confer-encing, the bench, also com-prising Justice M R Shah,referred to an earlier judgementin which it was held that a let-ter patent appeal (LPA), alsoknown as intra-court appeal,would lie in the high courtagainst the order of a singlejudge bench in a criminal case.
“We are concerned with theissue of maintainability of LPAbefore the division bench. Weare not concerned with subse-quent development,” the bench
said. It adjourned the hearing on
Majee’s plea to March 10 afteraccepting the request ofSolicitor General Tushar Mehtawho was representing the CBI.
Earlier, the bench hadissued notices to Centre andCBI and had sought theirresponse by March 1 on the pleawhich claimed that the centralprobe agency lacked jurisdic-tion to lodge an FIR in the caseafter the withdrawal of gener-al consent by the West BengalGovernment in 2018.
It, however, had refused togrant protection to Majee.
Senior advocate A MSinghvi, appearing for WestBengal government, had saidthat he supported the con-tention of Majee on the ques-tion of law as there was no con-sent given to the CBI to inves-tigate the case after West Bengalwithdrew its general consent.
On February 12, a divisionbench of the Calcutta HighCourt had stayed a single benchorder that had restricted a CBIinvestigation into alleged illegalmining and transportation ofcoal to just “railway areas” of thestate and rejected the plea ofMajee for grant of protectionfrom any coercive actionagainst him.
It has been observed that ifthe process of investigation isstalled at this stage, material evi-dence which may have to becollected can get lost and theaccused may be able to achievethe objective for which “frivo-lous litigation” has been filed.
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Five States—Maharashtra,Kerala, Punjab, Karnataka,
Tamil Nadu and Gujarat —continue to cause serious con-cern for the Centre by showinga consistent surge in newCovid-19 cases. Put together,they contributed 84 per cent ofthe 15,510 fresh infectionsreported in a day on Monday.
The Union HealthMinistry said on Monday,India’s total number of activeCovid-19 cases was recorded at1,68,627, comprising 1.52 percent of the total infections.
Maharashtra aloneaccounts for 46.39 per cent ofIndia’s total active cases, fol-lowed by Kerala with 29.49 percent. “A total of 15 states andunion territories have regis-tered more than 1,000 active
cases. Kerala and Maharashtraare the two states with over10,000 active cases, while therest of the 13 States and UTshave between 1,000-10,000active cases,” the Ministry said.
The total number of caseswith the UK, South Africa andBrazil variants of SARS-CoV-2 in the country as on date hasreached 213, the Ministry said.
A total 15,510 new caseswere registered in a span of 24hours. Maharashtra continuesto report the highest daily newcases at 8,293, followed byKerala with 3,254 cases whilePunjab has reported 579 newcases.
The Centre is continuous-ly engaging with the states andunion territories manifestinghigher number of active casesand those reporting a rise in thedaily new Covid-19 cases.
States and UTs have beenadvised to maintain a contin-ued rigorous vigil for contain-ing the spread of COVID-19.Need for effective testing, com-prehensive tracking, promptisolation of positive cases andquick quarantine of close con-
tacts are strongly emphasised,the Ministry said.
“Eight states are displayingan upward trajectory in thedaily new cases,” it underlined.
So far, a total of 1,43,01,266vaccine doses have beenadministered to beneficiaries
through 2,92,312 sessions.These include the first dose to66,69,985 healthcare workers,second dose to 24,56,191healthcare workers and51,75,090 frontline workerswho have taken the first dose.
“The next phase ofCOVID-19 vaccination hascommenced from today forthose who are over 60 years ofage and for people aged 45 andabove with specified comorbidconditions.
“A simplified process ofregistration has been set up,whereby potential beneficiariescan have the option of advanceself-registration, on-site regis-tration or facilitated cohortregistration,” the ministry said.
Five States account for86.79 per cent of the newdeaths. Maharashtra saw themaximum casualties of 62deaths. Kerala followed with 15daily deaths and Punjab hasreported seven fatalities in aspan of 24 hours.
A total of 20 States and UTshave not reported any Covid-19 deaths in the last 24 hours.
Politics erupted over PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’s
vaccination on Monday as theOpposition accused him ofusing the occasion for electoralgains while the BJP sought thenation to “speak in one voice”in the battle against coron-avirus and sought theOpposition to not to come upwith “wild theories” and politi-cise the vaccination drive
Politcising Modi gettinghis first vaccine dose in the sec-ond-phase scheduled for seniorcitizens, Trinamool CongressMP Shantanu Sen claimed thatthe Prime Minister’s jab was“publicity” adding,“Photograph is more importantthan protocol”.
Commenting on Modi’s“changed appearance”, heclaimed that the PM’s “newlygrown Rabindrik beard”would have become invisibleif he had worn a mask. Adding‘God save India’, theTrinamool MP added thatMamata Banerjee was “savingBengal”.
Several other politicianslike Congress’s Adhir RanjanChowdhury and SP’s Akhilesh
Yadav have politicised vacci-nation as a BJP “stunt”.
Chowdhury said, “In PM’sinoculation visuals, there wasgamcha of Assam, and nurs-es who vaccinated him werefrom Kerala and Puducherry”.
Kicking off part-2 ofIndia’s Covid vaccination pro-gramme, Prime Minister Modi received hisfirst jab of the vaccine onMonday at All India Instituteof Medical Sciences in NewDelhi, sporting an AssameseGamcha.
He got a jabb by nurses-Sister Niveda & sisterRosamma hail ing fromPuducherry and Tamil Nadurespectively.
The event soon turnedinto political name calling inthe backdrop of high pitchpoll campaigns in five States,including Bengal, Assam andTamil Nadu and Kerala,going for Assembly electionsby the march-end and thenext month.
BJP hits back with UnionMinister Ravi Shankar Prasadstressing the need to speak inone voice to battle-out coro-navirus pandemic as BJPpresident JP Nadda demand-
ed that the Opposition shouldstop resorting to “ wild theo-ries” to crit icise Indianachievement.
Prasad said Modi hadworn Assamese gamcha andMundu last year when hehad appealed to light a lampto fight corona. “Than therewere no elections”, Prasadsaid and taking a swipe upsuggested to Chowdhury to “wear all Bengali symbolswhen he gets himself vacci-nated “.
BJP chief said that theOpposition party comes upwith “wild theories” to ridculeIndia’s achievements.
“Congress and theOpposition is not proud ofanything Indian. They shouldintrospect about how theirlies on the COVID-19 vaccinewill be used by vested inter-est groups for their own agen-das. People of India havebeen rejecting such politicsand will keep doing so in thefuture”, Nadda tweeted.
Union aviation ministerHardeep Singh Puri also tooka swipe at the oppositionleaders, saying they are on aquest for permanent politicalmarginalisation.
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Farmer ProcessingOrganisation (FPO)
‘Krishak Utpadak SanghthanEvam Audyanik ViparanSahkari Samiti’ from UttarPradesh’s Varanasi, PrimeMinister’s ParliamentaryConstituency has become thecountry’s first agricultural enti-ty to be registered under theambit of the CooperativeSocieties Act.
Generally, the FPOs areregistered under theCompanies Act. But, this is thefirst time that such an entity hasbeen established under theCooperative Societies Act asthe part of the Government’sCentral Sector Scheme titled“Formation and Promotion ofFarmer ProducerOrganizations (FPOs)” to formand promote 10,000 new FPOs.More FPOs are on the wayunder the scheme.
One of the implementingagencies of the scheme, theNational CooperativeDevelopment Cooperation(NCDC), an apex finance enti-ty under the Union AgricultureMinistry, will handhold theVaranasi-based FPO for nextfive years in helping it settingup the multi-service center
facilities for mushroom pro-duction and cultivation whilethe green chilli drying systemwill be equipped with dryerswith vacuum nitrogen dryingcapacities. It was registered onFebruary 26, 2021, as part ofthe ‘Formation and Promotionof Farmer ProducerOrganizations (FPOs)’ schemewhich was launched by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi onFebruary 29, last year.
It aims at bringing smalland marginal farmers on abigger platform as a joint enti-ty to help them become ‘aat-manirbhar’ (self-reliant) in thelong run.
On the occasion of thefirst anniversary of the schemeon Monday, UnionAgriculture Minister,Narendra Singh Tomar tweet-ed that FPOs will help toimprove the rural economyand create employmentopportunities for rural sectorin the villages itself and thiswill prevent migration tocities. Later at an event online,Parshottam Rupala, UnionMinister of State forAgriculture and FarmerWelfare termed the FPOs’scheme as a game changer inthe country’s agricultureecosystem and said that “FPOswill make farming more viable
by aggregating land. ““Formation of FPOs is
not just a scheme but it is aplan to give a new dimensionto Indian Agriculture in anew India. We will ensure thateach FPO is a role model initself,” he said at the eventwhich was also attended byKailash Choudhary, UnionMinister of State forAgriculture and FarmerWelfare besides senior officialsfrom the concerned depart-ments from the Ministry andimplementing agencies likeNABARD.
Sanjay Agrawal, UnionAgriculture Secretary said thatin each block there should bean FPO which acts as catalystfor institutional infrastruc-ture while Sundeep Nayak,Managing Director of theNCDC, said that the farmersin the country are keen to setup FPOs as it will help themboost their income and makethem self-sustaining.
“This is just the begin-ning”, he said adding thatmore than 2200 FPOs produceclusters have been allocated forthe formation of FPOs in thecurrent year. “TheGovernment aims at trans-forming agriculture into a sus-tainable enterprise throughFPOs,” Nayak said.
assess the performance of citiesthis time, the Ministry ofHousing and Urban Affairs(HUA) on Monday launchedthe field assessment ofSwachchh Survekshan (SS)2021, which is dubbed as theworld largest cleanliness drive.
Launching the sixth editionof the SS 2021, Durga ShankarMishra, Secretary, Ministry ofHUA said that this year SwachhSurvekshan will get over 3crore citizen feedback throughvarious platforms and focuswould be on parameters per-taining to wastewater treat-ment and reuse along withfaecal sludge. Similarly, thecrucial issues of legacy wastemanagement and remediationof landfills have also beenbrought to the fore in this edi-tion of Survekshan.
Every year, the on-fieldassessments for SS takes placebetween January 4-31.However, the same had beendelayed by two months due tothe COVID pandemic and willnow be conducted between 1-28 March 2021. The secondphase of SBM-U for a period of5 years (2021-26) has recentlybeen announced in the UnionBudget of 2021.
Speaking at the webinar,Mishra said, “SS has led to aspirit of healthy competitionamong cities and towns ofIndia. The journey that startedin 2016 with only 73 cities withmillion plus population hasgrown manifold, with 434 citiesin 2017, 4,203 cities in 2018,4,237 cities in 2019 and 4,242cities in SS 2020, including 62Cantonment Boards. Citieshave been regularly filling intheir data, updating theirprogress in the MIS along withrunning several citizen centriccampaigns in preparation of SS2021. Today, we are happy toformally kick off the survey asmore than 2,000 assessors getready to go on the field to assessthe performance of cities”.
The Swach Survekshan wasintroduced by MoHUA in 2016as a competitive framework toencourage cities to improve thestatus of urban sanitation while
encouraging large scale citizenparticipation.
Since its launch in 2014,Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban(SBM-U) has made significantprogress in the area of bothsanitation and solid waste man-agement. 4,360 Urban ULBshave been declared ODF, 2158cities certified ODF+ and 551cities certified ODF++.Moreover, 66 lakhs individualhousehold toilets and over 6lakhs community/ public toiletshave been constructed/ or areunder construction.Additionally, nearly 60,000 toi-lets across 2,900+ cities havebeen made live on GoogleMaps. In the area of solidwaste management, 97% ofwards have 100% door-to doorcollection while 68% of thetotal waste generated is beingprocessed. A total of six citieshave been certified as 5 Star, 86as 3 star and 65 as 1 star underthe Star Rating Protocol forGarbage Free Cities.
The next phase of theMission will focus extensivelyon aspects of sustainable san-itation including faecal sludgeand wastewater management,along with holistic solid wastemanagement with a focus oncurbing and ultimately elimi-nating the use of single-useplastic (SUP), reducing air pol-lution through effective man-agement of construction &demolition waste, and reducingsoil pollution through remedi-ation of legacy dumpsites.
posed to a public servant, whois accused of repeatedly rap-ing a minor girl but when theSupreme Court on Mondaywas told that he is alreadymarried he was asked to seekregular bail from the courtconcerned.
A Bench headed by ChiefJustice S A Bobde was hear-ing a plea filed by the accusedwho is serving as a technicianin Maharashtra StateElectr icity ProductionCompany Ltd and has movedthe apex court against theBombay High Court February5 order which had cancelledthe anticipatory bail grantedto him in the case.
When the hearing com-menced, the bench also com-prising Justices AS Bopannaand V Ramasubramanian,asked the accused “Are youwilling to marry her?”
“If you are willing tomarry her then we can con-sider it, otherwise you will goto jail,” observed the benchadding “We are not forcing
you to marry.”After taking instructions
on the query posed by thebench, the counsel appearingfor the petitioner, said theaccused was initially willingto marry the girl but she hadrefused and now he was married to someone else.
As the counsel said thatthe accused is a public ser-vant, the bench said, “Youshould have thought thisbefore seducing and rapingthe girl. You knew that youare a government servant”.
The counsel said thatcharges in the case are yet tobe framed.
“You apply for regularbail. We will stay arrest,” thebench said.
The apex court grantedthe accused protection fromarrest for four weeks.
The top court was hearinga plea filed by the accusedagainst the Bombay High Court’s February 5 ordercancelling the anticipatorybail granted to him by thetrial court in January lastyear.
He has also been accusedof offences punishable underthe Protection of Childrenfrom Sexual Offences(POCSO) Act.
Aplea challenging the ElectionCommission’s decision to
conduct Assembly elections overeight phases in West Bengalwas filed in the Supreme Courton Monday.
The plea, filed by lawyer ML Sharma, seeks the apex court’sdirection to the poll panel to stopit from conducting eight-phaseelections in the State as it violatesArticle 14 (right to life) andArticle 21 (right to life) of theConstitution.
On February 26, theElection Commissionannounced the schedule forassembly elections to be held inWest Bengal, Assam, Kerala,Tamil Nadu and in Puducherry.While the Trinamool CongressParty-led West Bengal will haveelections over eight rounds fromMarch 27-April 29, polling inTamil Nadu, Kerala andPuducherry will be held in onephase on April 6 and in Assamover three phases.
The plea, which may comeup for hearing in few days, alsoseeks a direction to the CBI toregister an FIR into the allegedchanting of religious slogansduring electioneering in WestBengal.
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The NIA on Monday arrest-ed four alleged drug traf-
fickers from Srinagar in con-nection with the HandwaraNarco-Terrorism Case.
The arrested accused areAltaf Ahmed Shah(Dangherpora , KheerBhawani, Ganderbal, Jammuand Kashmir) ShowkatAhmad Parray (ParrayMohalla, Wangipora Sumbal,Bandipora, J&K), MudasirAhmad Dar (Wanduna,Shopian, J & K) and Amin
Allaie alias Hilal Mir (NearPetrol Pump, Shan-e-KashmirNational Highway Sangam,Bijbehera, Anantnag, J&K).
The case relates to seizureof 21 kg of heroin and cashamount of Rs 1,35,89,850from the members of a drugssyndicate operating in theValley.
The case was initially reg-istered as FIR No. 183/2020dated June 11, 2020 atHandwara in Kupwara districtwherein during checking ofvehicles at Kairo Bridge,Handwara, accused Abdul
Momin Peer’s Hyundai Cretavehicle was intercepted bypolice at a naka and during
search Rs 20 Lakhs along withtwo kg heroin was recoveredand seized.
The NIA had re-regis-tered the case on June 23 lastyear and took up the investi-gation of the case. Achargesheet was filed in theinstant case on December 5,2020 against six accused per-sons before the NIA SpecialCourt, Jammu.
Investigation so far hasrevealed that the accused per-sons were involved in cross-border smuggling of heroin inhuge quantities from Pakistanand were supplying the samein J&K and other parts of thecountry, the NIA said.
Patna: A 20-year-old youthhas been arrested by the Biharpolice for allegedly raping athree-year-old girl in the state'sJamui district on Monday.
The accused has been iden-tified as Hareram Manjhi, whois a native of Dhamana villagenear the Aliganj police stationin Jamui district.
He had come to Khutaunavillage to attend the marriageof his cousin brother. Manjhispotted the victim who wasplaying outside her house atnearly 9 a.m. He lifted her andtook her to a nearby desertedhouse and raped her. The vic-tim's screams were not heardby anybody due to the loudmusic being played at the mar-riage venue nearby.
After committing thecrime, Manjhi tried to fleefrom the village but the vil-
lagers became suspicious andcaught him.
They found the girl lying inthe deserted house, bleedingprofusely. Following this, thevillagers handed Manjhi over tothe police. Pramod KumarMandal, Superintendent ofPolice (SP) of Jamui districtsaid, “We have registered anFIR under the POCSO Act andarrested the accused. He hasbeen sent to judicial custody.”
“We will soon file achargesheet in the matter andare committed to bring up thematter in a fast track court forspeedy justice,” Mandal said. IANS
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Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath saidon Monday that hisGovernment has accorded toppriority to the development ofthe Jewar International Airportin Noida.
He said that despite theCovid-19 pandemic, the speed,transparency and execution asper the schedule of this projecthas demonstrated the newwork culture of the state. It hasbeen decided to increase thenumber of airstrips from two tosix at this airport, he informed.
The Chief Minister alsoappreciated the work of theZurich Airport InternationalAG, a developer selected forJewar airport, and assured theirrepresentatives of all possiblehelp to be provided by the gov-ernment.
Adityanath was reviewingthe progress of the project onMonday on the occasion of thesigning of the 'state supportagreement' between Yamuna
International Airport PrivateLimited and NoidaInternational Airport Limited,constituted by Zurich AirportInternational AG, the chosendeveloper for Jewar airport.
The Chief Minister recalledthat the Jewar airport projectwas lying pending with the pre-vious governments for almost30 years.
“We decided in March2017 itself that this projectwould be completed on prior-ity in the interest of the coun-try and the state,” he said.
In 2017, Lucknow andVaranasi had the only opera-tional airports in the state. Injust three years, five more air-ports, including in Gorakhpur,Hindon, Agra, Prayagraj andnow Bareilly, have becomeoperational.
There were only two inter-national airports in the coun-try's largest state (Lucknowand Varanasi), but now therewill be five international air-
ports with the addition ofJewar, Kushinagar andAyodhya to the list.
The Chief Minister saidthat he was of the view thatgood connectivity expeditesthe development process. “Theprocess of operationalisation of21 airports and seven run-ways is underway. The effort isto make Uttar Pradesh soar inthe field of civil aviation,” hestated.
Reviewing the displace-ment and subsequent rehabil-itation of the families affectedby the construction of Jewarairport, the Chief Minister saidthat dialogue should be estab-lished with these families andthey should have a better dis-placement mechanism.
He directed the concernedofficials to address this issuewithin one week, saying thatthe process of allotment ofplots to the displaced popula-tion should be conducted withcomplete transparency. IANS
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Chennai: DMK President MKStalin turned 68 on Monday andthe party marked the occasionby releasing a campaign song forthe April 6 Assembly elections.
The song titled “Stalin dancevaraaru, vidiyal than poraru”(Stalin is going to come andensure dawn) was relased bysenior DMK leaderDuraimurugan.
On Monday, Stalin paidfloral tributes at the memorialsof his father and former ChiefMinister of Tamil Nadu,Muthuvel Karunandihi, thefounder of Dravidian politics,C.N. Annadurai, besides visitingthe memorial of E.V.S. Periyar,the rationalist leader of TamilNadu. While addressing a DMKleadership meet, Stalin said thatif voted to power, he will striveto make Tamil Nadu the beststate in all spheres of life.
Several programmes,including sporting events, wereorganised by the DMK youthwing across the state to mark theoccasion.
Former Prime MinisterManmohan Singh, Congressleader Rahul Gandhi, BJP leaderKushbhu Sundar and MNMleader and Tamil superstarKamal Haasan extended theirwishes to the DMK leader on hisbirthday.
With DMK out of power inTamil Nadu since the past 10years, the onus is on Stalin toscript a grand comeback for theparty in the coming Assemblyelections. And the party con-verted his birthday celebrationsas an opportunity to connectwith the masses with pro-grammes held across all the 284constituencies in the state. IANS
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Gandhinagar: There was an average of around64% polling in the local body elections formunicipalities, district and tehsil panchayats inGujarat on Sunday. Voting for 8,473 seats inmunicipalities, 980 in district panchayats and4,773 in taluka panchayats took place across36,008 booths. The counting of votes will takeplace on March 2.
According to the State Election Commission(SEC), around 64 per cent voter turnout wasrecorded in the elections to Gujarat's 81 munic-ipalities, 31 district panchayats and 231 talukapanchayats which were held in a largely peace-ful manner.
As per the figures provided by the StateElection Commission (SEC), there was 58.82percent voter turnout across 81 municipalities,65.80 per cent in 31 district panchayats, and66.60 per cent in 231 taluka panchayats.
The average voting percentage across allthese local bodies together was around 63.74 percent.
The SEC officials said voting for 8,473 seats,comprising 2,720 in 680 wards in 81 munici-palities, 980 in 31 district panchayats and4,773 in 231 taluka panchayats took place across36,008 booths.
Out of them, 237 seats remained unopposed,
and no forms were filled for two seats in talu-ka panchayat.
The elections were held on a total 8,235 seatsfor which the BJP had fielded 8,161 candidates,Congress 7,778, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)2,090, among others, said the SEC.
Besides these, by-elections for two seats intaluka panchayats and 24 seats in municipali-ties, was also held on Sunday, where there was47.63 percent voter turnout in municipality by-elections and 68.65 per cent in taluka panchayatsby-elections.
Gujarat BJP president CR Paatil led a roadshow in Navsari, while Leader of Opposition inthe Assembly, Paresh Dhanani, took part in amotorcycle rally in Amreli. Aam Aadmi Partyhead and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwalsought votes during a road show in Surat on thelast day of campaigning on Friday.
For the first time, the All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) has fieldedcandidates in minority-dominated seats inGodhra, Modasa and Bharuch municipalities.
According to the Director General of PoliceAshish Bhatia, over 44,000 policemen along with54,000 Home Guards were deployed to ensureincident-free voting on Sunday. IANS
Kanyakumari: Kumbh SandeshYatra, aimed at spreading themessage on the significance ofKumbh Mela, started fromVivekananda Centre inKanyakumari on Saturday. Theyatra was flagged off by SwamiChaityananand Maharaj,Vivekananda Ashramam,Kanyakumari and PonguletiSudhakar Reddy, BJP nationalco-incharge, Tamil Nadu.
The 25 days yatra beingorganised by the GramodayaChamber of Commerce andTechnology will cover 5000 kmbefore concluding in Haridwar.“Started from Kanyakumari, theRath Yatra will travel via all fourplaces where the Kumbh Melais held, including Nasik, Ujjain,and Prayagraj and reach Delhiand later to Haridwar,” saidHaridwar-based Divya PremaService Mission presidentAshish Gautham. PNS
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Alert jawans of Kathua police inJammu region late Sunday night
foiled a cow smuggling bid after inter-cepting a water tanker near SatkeyChak and rescued nine bovines packedinside the modified cavity.
However, the driver of the watertanker managed to give a slip to thepolice party deployed at one of thesecurity checkpoints along the Nationalhighway. In the last one month Kathuapolice has successfully foiled 16bovine smuggling bids and rescuedover 200 bovines.
At present Kathua police is cater-ing for over 500 bovines, kept in a cow-shed in Kathua. These bovines wererescued by the police teams while theywere being illegally transportedtowards the Kashmir valley.
Senior Superintendent of Police,
Kathua Shailendra Mishra said, “lateSunday night a rare type of bovinesmuggling bid was noticed in which a
water tanker was being usedfor illegal transportation of ani-mals”.
He said a water tankerbearing Reg.No.JK02AD-5569was intercepted by the policeteams.” When the driver wasdirected to stop for checking,the driver of the water tankerparked the vehicle way behindthe naka point and fled awayfrom the spot taking advantageof the darkness”
During checking of thesaid tanker 09 bovines werefound loaded inside the tanker.
According to a writtenstatement issued by the Kathuapolice, “A case vide FIR No.100/2021 Under Sections 188
IPC,11 PCA Act has been registered inP/S Kathua and further investigationhas been set into motion”.
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After suffering for 12 long years subsequent to mar-riage at the tender age of seven, 18-year-old Mansi
Gurjar has finally summoned courage to initiate stepsto annul her child marriage.
A resident of Paladi village of Rajasthan's Bhilwaradistrict, Mansi knocked the doors of Bhilwara's FamilyCourt and filed the case for annulment of her childmarriage on which Family Court Judge MukeshBhargava has issued summons to her so-called 'hus-band'.
Manasi elicited the support of Dr. Kriti Bharti,Managing Trustee and Rehabilitation Psychologist ofSarathi Trust, Jodhpur, in her quest to break free fromchild marriage. Dr. Bharti, known for launching a cam-paign that facilitates annulment of child marriages,said that Mansi, 18, was married at the age of sevenin 2009 to a young man from Banera tehsil.
The child bride is busy pursuing her first year ofgraduation. Her marriage took place in 2009 undersocial pressure. All of seven years, old, Mansi realisedwhat had happened only a few years ago.
After Mansi became an adult, she refused to acceptthe marriage. Since then, her in-laws have been puttingpressure on her family and Mansi. They've even threat-ened the family with dire consequences. Certain castepanchs have also been threatening the family of penal-ty and social boycott if the child marriage wasannulled.
Mansi and her family became depressed for a longtime owing to pressure and personal fear of caste pan-chayats. Now, with help from Dr. Kriti Bharti of Saarthi Trust, Mansi has shown courage to annul thechild marriage. Dr. Bharti helped Mansi file a childmarriage annulment case in the family court ofBhilwara District. In the petition, Dr. Bharti plead-ed on behalf of Mansi and presented the facts relat-ed to her age and other facts in the court.
Lucknow: The Congress has appointedseven new presidents for district unit inDeoria, Maharajganj, Jalaun, Kanpur,Unnao, Bulandshahr, and Lucknow City(South).
An official statement from the AllIndia Congress Committee said that theCongress President has approved theproposal of the appointment of presidentsof seven district/city Congress committees in Uttar Pradesh with imme-diate effect.
Ramji Giri has been appointed pres-ident of Deoria district, Sharad SinghBabloo for Maharajganj district, RajivNarayan Mishra for Jalaun district, AmitKumar Pandey for Kanpur Nagar .
The DCC of Unnao district will haveArti Bajpai as its president andBulandshahr District and Lucknow City(South) will have Sheopal Singh andDilpreet Singh, respectively. IANS
Maharashtra Governor BhagatSingh Koshyari said here on
Monday that the Centre owed a siz-able sum of Rs 29,290 to the ShivSena-led MVA Government asGoods and Services Tax (GST)compensation.
Addressing a joint sitting of theMaharashtra Legislature on the firstday of the State Legislature, Koshyarisaid: “By the end of February 2021,out of the Rs 46,950 crore due to myGovernment as Goods and ServicesTax Compensation, the CentralGovernment has paid just Rs 6140crore and Rs 11,520 crore as loan forGoods and Services Tax compen-sation. Goods and Services TaxCompensation to the tune of Rs29,290 crore is overdue from theCentre”.
Lamenting that the State econ-omy had slowed down because ofthe Covid lockdown, medical emer-gency and natural calamities, theGovernor said: “Of the revenue col-lection target of Rs 3,47,456 crore,the State has collected just Rs1,88,542 crore at the end of January2021. This is 35 per cent less thanthe budgetary estimate and 21 percent lower than the collection in thesame period in the previous year.
The Governor said that thestate government was pursuingwith the Government of India forincreasing the grant in aid receivableto my State in accordance with therecommendations of the Central
Finance Commission.“Last year was not only a year
of medical emergency but also pre-sented several economic challenges.As jobs and livelihoods were affect-ed, my Government undertookmassive humanitarian aid pro-grammes,” he said. The Governorsaid that in view of the pandemic sit-uation and the economic condition,the State government is pursuingwith the Centre to increase the lat-ter’s contribution to central schemes
“To stimulate the economy, mygovernment has provided for 75percent of the budgetary provisionfor capital expenditure and released100 percent money to the LocalDevelopment Fund, DPC schemesand Dongri Vikas Karyakram,” theGovernor noted.
Alluding to the success ‘MyFamily, My Responsbility’ scheme ofthe chief minister, Koshyari said thatthrough as an ‘innovative healthcheckup mission in the country’, thestate government had carried outtwo rounds of surveys, the stage gov-ernment had reached out to all thefamilies in the state. During the sur-vey, it had examined high-risk per-sons and senior citizens and detect-ed many Covid-19 cases whichhelped chart out the state healthmap. “By participation of citizensin the management of Covid-19pandemic, our state ensured suc-cessful control of this epidemic. Butthe battle against Covid-19 is still onand now the ‘Me Jababdar’ (MyAccountability) mission has been
launched,” the Governor said. Koshyari said that the state
government had effectively com-bated the pandemic by reducing thenumber of active cases, dealingsuccessfully with problem areas likeDharavi (Mumbai slum), first to setup jumbo (field) corona hospitals,implementing the Mahatma PhuleJeevandayi Yojana to prevent exor-bitant charges for treatment.
The government had also aug-mented testing facilities and regu-lated testing fees, hiked capacity inpublic hospitals and reserved bedsin private hospitals at affordablerates, for public benefit, he said.
Stressing on the need for “con-stant Vigil” on safety measures as theCovid-19 dangers have not passedwith the imminent possibility of a‘second wave’, the Governor stressedon physical distancing norms, face-masks, washing hands, etc.
The Governor said that the Statewas also implementing the Covid-19 vaccination programme andinvesting in public health infra-structure by approving new medicalcolleges for Sindhudurg, Nashikand Osmanabad, with plans formore in future. Chief ministerUddhav Thackeray, his deputy AjitPawar, Leaders of Opposition inrthwe Assembly and Council respec-tively Devendra Fadnavis andPravin Darekar, ministers and leg-islators from both the houses werepresent at the Joint sitting of mem-bers from both the Houses of theState Legislature.
Srinagar: The Jammu andKashmir Police have arrested aperson, who was helping theJaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) ter-rorists, at Awantipora in SouthKashmir's Pulwama district andrecovered incriminating mater-ial from his possession, policesaid on Monday.
Police said following specificinformation about presence ofterrorists in Larow Jagir Tral,police along with army's 42RRand the CRPF launched a searchoperation in the area.
During searches one ter-rorist associate of the JeM, iden-tified as Muzamil Qadir Bhat, aresident of Larow Jagir Tral wasarrested. “Incriminating mater-ial of proscribed terror outfitJeM has been recovered from hispossession. On his disclosure,one hand grenade was alsorecovered which he had con-cealed in the compound of hishome,” police said.
Police said preliminaryinvestigation has revealed thatthe arrested person was in con-tact with JeM commander inTral. IANS Itanagar/Agartala: Arunachal
Pradesh has reported zeroCovid cases during the last tendays, even as the state's recov-ery rate stands at 99.67 percent, the second highest in thecountry after the UnionTerritory of Dadra & NagarHaveli and Daman & Diu hav-ing a recovery rate at 99.82 percent, health officials said onMonday.
According to the datareleased by the Union Ministryof Health and Family Welfareon Monday, the total Covid-19positive cases in ArunachalPradesh were 16,836, whilethe number of recoveries stoodat 16,780.
In all, 56 patients havesuccumbed to the coronavirusin the northeastern state regis-tering the fatality rate of 0.33per cent. As per the informa-tion released by the UnionMinistry of Health and FamilyWelfare, the recovery rate ofseven of the eight northeasternstates excluding Sikkim isabove 98 per cent.
Sikkim's recovery rate is97.05 per cent and mortalityrate is 2.20 per cent, the thirdhighest in India after Punjab(3.20 per cent) andMaharashtra (2.42 per cent).
The northeastern state ofMizoram among the 28 statesin India has the distinction ofhaving the lowest death rate of0.23 per cent and the state'srecovery rate is 99.21 per cent.
Mizoram was the lone statein India where there was noCovid-19 related death untilOctober 28 last year even as thefirst death was reported inIndia on January 30, 2020.
According to the health
officials in Aizawl on Monday,Mizoram has so far reported4,423 Covid-19 cases with tenpeople having died.
While 4,393 people haverecovered from the infectiousvirus, there were 20 activecases as on Monday. The offi-cials said that all the ten deathswere in two -- Aizawl (9) andSerchhip (1) -- of the state's 11districts.
Meanwhile, in a bid tocontain the spread of coron-avirus, officials in Meghalayasaid that the night curfew (11p.m. in the night to 5 a.m. inthe morning) would remain inforce in Shillong and otheradjoining areas under the EastKhasi Hills district for the nextseven days from Monday.
Besides Shillong, the nightcurfew is being extended fromtime to time in Mizoram cap-ital Aizawl.
According to the officials ofthe Health and family WelfareDepartment of Assam, the statehad reported its first death dueto coronavirus on April 10 lastyear.
The first death in Assam, aswell as in the northeasternregion, was reported fromHailakandi district in southernAssam where a middle agedman, who had gone abroad,succumbed to Covid-19 at theSilchar Medical College andHospital.
In Assam, 2,17,537 peoplehave so far been infected by thedreaded virus and 2,14,830people recovered from the dis-ease with the recovery andmortality rates are 98.76 percent and 0.50 per cent respec-tively. The state's active cases onMonday were 1,615. IANS
Lucknow: Under the ongoingMission Shakti programme, girlstudents in more than 40,000upper primary schools will learnself-defence techniques betweenMarch 1 and 31.
According to Vijay KiranAnand, Director-General ofSchool Education, “These class-es will help rural students boosttheir self-confidence and self-esteem. It is time for the girls ofclass 6 to 8 to learn self-defencetechniques. Participants willalso be given certificates.”
He further said that the edu-cation department has 10,748physical education instructorswho have been given the respon-sibility to train girl students.
The department has madea provision of Rs 3,000 perschool for the purpose.
The trainers will train girlsin their own school and a near-by schools as well, said the offi-cial. He said that the main pur-pose of self-defence training isthat is to make the girls physi-cally and mentally self-depen-dent so that they can face any sit-uation. IANS
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Four months ago, a 27-year-old Muslim man had
allegedly 'eloped' with a girlfrom another faith to get mar-ried, which had created a lot ofsensation. The man was latercaught and jailed for over amonth.
The couple has since beenwaiting for permission fromthe sub-divisional magistrate(SDM) to get 'legally' marriedbut has been asked to wait foranother month.
The couple has anAllahabad high court order,giving them freedom to getmarried and an exemptionfrom notice period under spe-cial circumstances by the mar-riage officer.
SDM Sadar area, VishuRaja, said, “The law favours thecouple, but they would have towait for a police report toensure there is no law-and-order issue. The couple had
come with their friends whoagreed to sign as witnesses onSaturday but the girl's family isstill against the marriage.”
The SDM said that thecouple represented themselvespersonally, as well as throughtheir legal counsels, for theapplication of marriage underthe special act. They producedan Allahabad high court orderwhich stated that days of noticeperiod can be exempted underspecial circumstances by themarriage officer.
“The judgement favoursthem. However, we are seekinga verification report on 12points to ensure that neither ofthe persons is already married,their actual place of residence,possibility of law-and-orderissue, etc. Police report is cru-cial here as well. This pro-ceeding may take less than 30days to complete and the per-mission would be granted tothe couple for marriage afterthat,” said the SDM.
rich quickly by avoiding com-petition against Indian busi-ness communities and cross-ing over to the new State,where they would have tocompete only against thePunjabi and Sindhi farmers.For the rest, Jinnah pleadedbrilliantly for those Muslimswho wanted or half-wished aseparate homeland. This wasJinnah’s role in actuality; hisfee was his place in history’shall of fame. Fortunately forhim, he died within 13 monthsof Independence. The wordmohajir, a term for Muslimsfrom Uttar Pradesh (UP) andBihar migrating to Pakistan,came into circulation soonthereafter. But mohajirs soonfound themselves not onlyunwelcome but also the targetof ethnic hostility in the newlycarved out Muslim home-land. Jinnah’s deputy LiaquatAli Khan, from UP, was assas-sinated a mere four years afterPakistan had been carved out.
What prevails in Pakistannow is the will of the WestPunjabis who are two-thirdsof the country’s population.Their need for Kashmir hasbeen to keep the countrytogether and paper over theirdominance of everything,which is now a bone of con-tention. Plus, they portrayIndia as a great threat to the
survival of Pakistan and thusjustify the indispensability ofthe Army as the country’sguardian.
If one looks at the latestceasefire agreement, onewould conclude that forIslamabad, it is a temporarymove to hopefully tide overthe crises the country is facing.The moment Pakistan’s rulersare able to find some way ofrelief for these crises, the cur-rent agreement will turn intoa mere piece of paper. Onereason for Pakistan’s softeningcould be that its rulers realisethat China has overplayed itshand, whether with India,Taiwan or the South ChinaSea, and that the US hasreacted strongly, though so faronly in words. Otherwise,there is no explanation forBeijing to kick off a con-frontation in Ladakh duringthe winter. It could have wait-ed until after the spring toexercise its options whichwere three: To try and grabsome strategically useful landpoints, to ease off by extract-ing some other concessions orby continuing to harass theIndian forces by creating localpoints that would pose athreat. Similarly, Islamabadwants to cool off vis-à-visNew Delhi until China warmsup again after, say, arriving at
some settlement with the US.If not, the rulers would waitfor circumstances to change;for a true momin, his faith inAllah the Merciful is infinite.We must not compare it withthe mind of a thinking or ret-icent Hindu.
Another possibility mightbe that Pakistan’s real ruler,General Bajwa, wants to easeIndia’s pressure on his easternIndian front and use it to set-tle his scores with Baluchistan,like General Tikka had tried todo in East Pakistan in 1971.Bajwa may have been advisedthat the Baloch province is sorich in resources that it couldgreatly help in solvingPakistan’s economic problems.But to exploit these resourceswould take time, peace andcomplete control. I concedethat this possibility may soundtoo farfetched, but unlessIslamabad takes some drasticsteps, how can it keep the eco-nomic wheels of Pakistanrolling? If it depends onChinese loans, Pakistan couldbecome a Beijing protectorateinch by inch, as one hasalready begun to see with theChina Pakistan EconomicCorridor coming into play.
(The writer is a well-known columnist and anauthor. The views expressedare personal.)
One mistake Indiansmust not make is toread Pakistan throughIndian eyes.
Normally, anything that leads topeace should be welcome.Similarly, we should welcomethe fact that Pakistan has agreedto cessation of the ongoinghostilities with us and honourthe ceasefire pact of 2003.
Yet, one must interject a noteof caution here. This is becausequite a few Indians, includingexpert observers, have interpret-ed the venom from Islamabadon Kashmir for years as revengefor India dismembering theircountry in 1971. In actual fact,as soon as the anger of the defeatwas forgotten, the Pakistaniswere relieved that the “darkshort people” — as the Bengalisare contemptuously referred toby Pakistanis — who were amajority of their population,were finally gotten rid of.
Poet Mohammad Iqbal, whowas also a leading light of theMuslim League, as its presidenthad in 1930 at Prayagraj (thenAllahabad) proposed a separateMuslim homeland which com-prised only the north westernprovinces. He made no mentionof Bengal or any part thereof.The larger Pakistan was for MAJinnah’s glorification; he beganby dreaming of six provinces,four in the west and two in theeast, including Assam. Throughhis League colleague who wasthe Premier of Assam for sever-al years after 1939, Mohd SaadAli, he had nearly succeeded inrecording that the adivasis werenot Hindu but animists. Thiswas to bring down the Hindupercentage of population anddraw Assam into Pakistan whenthe moment of decision came.When Jinnah could not getAssam, except the district ofSylhet, Bengal and Punjab weredivided by Sir Cyril Radcliffe,the lawyer dispatched byLondon. Jinnah was sorely dis-appointed at getting what hecalled “a moth-eaten Pakistan”.
Here, it has to be iterated thatJinnah did not represent the ulti-mate choice of any Pakistaniexcept the Gujarati-speakingbusinessmen like the Khojasand Memons who wanted to get
SOUNDBITE������������������ ���������Sir —The second phase of India’s vacci-nation drive has been rolled out andPrime Minister Narendra Modi got thefirst shot of COVAXIN, the India-researched and produced COVID-19vaccine (produced by Bharat Biotech) atthe All India Institute of Medical Sciences(AIIMS) in Delhi. The drive aims tocover 10 crore people across the coun-try. So far, more than 1.5 crore peoplehave received the jabs.
Mostly the elderly would benefit inthe second phase. This phase is a nation-wide drive to inoculate people above 60years of age and those above 45 years withco-morbidities. Several old people wereseen at the centres to get themselves inoc-ulated. The self-registration process in Co-WIN module has allowed people to get asmany as four people registered, pickslots at their nearby vaccination centre andreschedule the appointment. Thus, thevaccination pace is expected to increasein the coming days.
A lot of hard work has gone intoreaching this phase wherein theGovernment has started to vaccinate gen-eral population. We must rely on our vac-cines as they are absolutely safe and arebeing used all over the world. In the com-ing days, we hope that the process willpick up pace and get completed inrecord time. On the other hand, there isalso the need to worry as the countryreported a single-day rise of 16,752cases in the last 24 hours, the highest inthe last 30 days, taking the overall tallyto 1,10,96,731 on Sunday.
CK Ramani | Mumbai
���������� � ��� ����������Sir — When cricket matches like T-20s andODIs are making life hell for the bowlerswith batting-friendly surfaces, Test match-es of late, especially pink-ball day-nightTest matches, have come like a whiff offresh air for the bowlers. The pink-ball Testcricket is still evolving and teams are stillgetting to grips with the ball that was toughto handle for a spinner due to the extra
gloss on it. Also, there have been only 16pink-ball Test matches in the world andmany of those have finished fairly early.There have been some abysmal battingperformances, like in the pink-ball TestsIndia and England have played. The pink ball is bringing new dimensions
to the game, and the players need to adoptthese. If one plays more and more, hewould obviously get used to it. Cricketerswere playing with the red ball for a longperiod of time, then they shifted to thewhite ball. That’s how the format keeps onevolving and, with this new dimesnsion,more action is expected in the comingdays. Not only the players but also spec-tators will enjoy more pink-ball game inthe coming days.
V Nagendra Kumar | Hyderabad
������ ��������� �������������Sir — It is good on the part ofMaharashtra Forest Minister SanjayRathod to resign from his post after theOpposition BJP linked him to a 23-year-
old woman’s alleged death by suicide inPune. This will pave the way for animpartial enquiry in the case.
The audio clip which surfaced onsocial media two days after her death, inwhich two men are talking about thewoman’s death, should be sent to foren-sic science laboratory for examination.The BJP has claimed that one of the menin the audio clip is Rathod while the ShivSena leader has denied the charge. On theother hand, responding to theOpposition’s demand for a case againstthe Minister, Chief Minister Thackeraysaid a First Information Report (FIR)can’t be registered before investigation.The Maha Vikas Aghadi Governmentmust get the case investigated by theCentral agencies for a free and impartialinvestigation. The CM must act andthink out-of-the-box to save his image.
Under a big bang approach to privatisationannounced in the Union Budget, FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharaman has divid-
ed the Central Public Sector Undertakings(CPSUs) in two broad categories i.e. strategic andnon-strategic. Whereas the former is broken upinto four subgroups: Atomic energy, space anddefence; transport and telecommunications;power, petroleum, coal and other minerals; bank-ing, insurance and financial services, the latterincludes all other sectors such as hotel and touristservices, industrial and consumer goods, trad-ing, marketing and so on. As per the plan, allPSUs in non-strategic sectors will be privatisedand all loss-making enterprises in this catego-ry will be closed. In the strategic sector, too, theGovernment will be open to privatisation withthe caveat that at least one undertaking (and amaximum of four) will be retained in the pub-lic sector.
When seen in the backdrop of the UnionGovernment having made an indiscriminateentry in almost every conceivable business activ-ity, including areas such as hotel and tourist ser-vices where it had no business to be present inthe first place, any initiative aimed at exitingfrom all of these is welcome. This has the poten-tial to unlock value and generate huge revenuebecause of the high valuation that the real estateand properties under these PSUs command. Asregards the strategic sector, though theGovernment does not rule out privatisation, thecaveat of retaining a maximum of four under-takings in the public sector can defeat the pur-pose. For instance, currently there are around12 oil PSUs ranging from upstream oil produc-ers like the ONGC and OIL to downstream oilrefining and fuel marketing firms IOC, BPCLand HPCL to gas transporter GAIL IndiaLimited and engineering firm Engineers IndiaLimited. These 12 could be consolidated intofour behemoths through a process of merger andamalgamation, leaving no space for privatisationwhatsoever.
Why does the Government want to put thiscaveat? What does it fear? Sans this, will it com-promise national interest? In the above exam-ple, consider an extreme scenario, in which thereis not even one PSU and the entire oil and gasspace is occupied by private enterprises. Are weto infer that this will compromise India’s ener-gy security? If this were to be the case, then whynot reserve this sector exclusively for PSUs? Whyallow even one private company? This line ofargument is bizarre. For ensuring security instrategic items, the critical requirement is to havea minimum number of companies to ensurethere is adequate competition and supply in themarket. Who those firms are —whether ownedby private promoters or the Government —should not matter.
In the 1970s-80s, when India needed todevelop these sectors and private players wereunwilling to invest, it made sense for theGovernment to take the lead. Since then, lot ofwater has flown down the Ganga. Currently,there is considerable interest among privateinvestors and the Government itself is invitingthem. Therefore, any arbitrary restriction shouldbe avoided. Any decision to privatise a PSU
should be taken on the merit ofeach case, irrespective of whetherit is in a strategic or non-strategicarea. Likewise, the mandatory clo-sure of any loss-making enterpriseshould apply to all such entitieswithout any distinction. Nationalsecurity concerns are always bestaddressed through strong, resilientand responsive regulatory andsurveillance mechanisms.
Implementation is far moreimportant than the policy. In thisregard, the score of the ModiGovernment during the last sevenyears or so (it was pursued undera sophisticated nomenclature‘strategic disinvestment’) has beendisappointing. Except for two bigticket sales like the divestment ofits 51.11 per cent shareholding inHPCL in 2017-18 and 52.63 percent stake in the REC in 2018-19,there is nothing much to show.Even these sales can’t be termed asprivatisation as the buyers wereONGC and PFC respectively —both PSUs.
As per the original plan, 51.11per cent shares of the UnionGovernment in HPCL were to besold to a private investor. Butthings did not pan out as plannedand in January 2018, theGovernment had to ask ONGC topick up the entire stake, as it des-perately needed money to meet thefiscal deficit (FD) target. In the caseof REC too, it asked the PFC tobuy. During 2018-19, Air India wasalso put on the block but failed.
During 2019-20, besides resur-recting that offer, the Governmentalso took up sale of all of its share-holding in BPCL (53.29 per cent);CONCOR (30 per cent); SCI(63.75) per cent; NEEPCO (100per cent) and THDC India Limited(75 per cent). Sans NEEPCO andTHDC which were sold to NTPC— a CPSU in the power sector —others made no progress. During2020-21, COVID-19 spoilt theparty. For 2021-22, there is notmuch hope either. The target forproceeds for disinvestment speaksfor itself. At �1,75,000 crore, thisis substantially lower than thetarget for 2020-21 (�2,10,000crore). This is despite adding twoPublic Sector Banks (PSBs) andone general insurance company tothe list of those (Air India, BPCL,SCI, CONCOR, LIC) alreadyunder the hammer. The man-darins in the Finance Ministryhave sensed that some disinvest-ments may not go through, otherswould fetch lower valuation.
There are four major bottle-necks in the way like policy flip-flops (it stymied Air India’s sale in2018-19/2019-20); bureaucraticred tape (but for this, HPCL couldhave got a private suitor andBPCL’s sale could have happenedin 2019/20); thrusting decisions onPSU Boards under a typical top-down approach; linking share saleto meeting the FD target. The lasttwo reasons have the inevitableeffect of delaying and reducing
realisation from every sale. The Budget offers nothing to
address any of these bottlenecks.Under a business as usualapproach, it will take several years,if not decades, for the sale processto get completed. The decision toset up an empowered group of sec-retaries to address the concerns ofpotential investors won’t be ofmuch help as even under thisarrangement, bureaucrats will con-tinue to rule the roost.
The Centre should de-bureau-cratise the process of runningPSUs. This should be done evenbefore privatisation is taken up.The Government may set up aholding company — on the linesof a bank investment company rec-ommended by an RBI committeeunder P Nayak — where all itsshares in PSUs will be vested. Itshould authorise the holding com-pany to take all decisions, includ-ing share sale to private investors,in consultation with the manage-ment. To be manned by eminentprofessionals drawn from respec-tive fields, the company should tobe given full autonomy in itsworking.
This mechanism will also helpin de-linking divestment from theBudget exercise and give much-needed flexibility to the holdingcompany to decide the contoursand timing of sale, taking intoaccount the market conditions soas to maximise the proceeds fromsales.
In today’s world we are sur-rounded by ArtificialIntelligence (AI) which
finds its application every-where, from science fiction tolocal hospitals. AI helps med-ical professionals by relievingthem of routine tasks and alsomakes medical proceduressafer and pocket-friendly forpatients.
Further, AI-guidedmachines are also capable ofperforming minute surgerieswith accuracy and help intransporting substances,which are unsafe for humansto handle. In medical systems,call centre staff for websiteshas increasingly beenreplaced by chatbots that useNatural Language Processing(NLP) to provide callers withinformation and managequeries.
In various hospitals andother health institutes, AItechnologies such as fuzzy
systems, Bayesian networks,artificial neural networks andsmart hybrid systems arebeing used.
AI in medicine can be dif-ferentiated into two subtypes— virtual and real. The phys-ical segment deals with robot-ics that helps in procedures,for instance smart prosthet-ics for people with disabilitiesand the treatment of theelderly. The interactive com-ponents range from applica-tions for electronic healthrecord systems to neural net-work-based guide in caredecisions for patients.
There is increasing use ofAI-powered robots in thesurgical environment.Robotics technology can beapplied in many areas thatdirectly affect patient care.Some of their applicationsinclude disinfecting patientrooms and operating setsand reducing the risks for
patients and medical per-sonnel.
They can be used in lab-oratories to take samples andtransport, analyse and storethem. Also, the robotic labassistant can exactly locate thevessel from which the bloodis required to be taken andextract the sample withoutcausing pain and anxiety tothe patients, who are troubleda lot by the multiple pokesthat a doctor or nurse makesfor finding a good vein.
AI software also helpsprimary healthcare doctors inidentifying patients who needadditional treatment and havespecific protocols. It will beused by medical practitionersfor commenting, reviewingpatient conversations and soon.
The COVID-19 pandem-ic has changed the world andadversely affected multiplelayers of our society. Frontline
workers and particularlythose who have been in directcontact with patients areexposed to major risk.
To mitigate the spread ofthe Coronavirus and to pro-tect healthcare workers andpatients, medical services hadbeen largely restricted,including the cancellation ofelective surgeries. This result-
ed in a substantial burden forpatients and economic lossfor various hospitals. It is insituations like this that AI-robot surgeries could be apowerful tool to maintainsurgical volumes while at thesame time mitigating the fearof contamination by operat-ing procedures on patientswithout healthcare workerscoming in physical contact.
While talking about theCoronavirus, it is imperativeto mention that using AI topredict its pattern was able tohelp mitigate the crisis tosome extent. For instance —BlueDot — a Canadianorganisation specialising ininfectious disease forecasting,used AI to gather data frommultiple points.
It was able to predict theCOVID-19 outbreak andalert people around, evenbefore the World HealthOrganisation (WHO) did so.
Similarly, an AI-poweredchatbot, based in Singaporenamed SGDormBot, helpedin mass screening for symp-toms among migrant work-ers.
The pandemic has alsohighlighted the need for rapidscreening and testing ofpatients to improve treat-ment pathways and reducethe risk of cross-infection.The use of AI here, for access-ing electronic health records(EHR) of routinely-orderedtests and vital signs can pro-duce an effective tool toscreen patients in emergencydepartments and hospitaladmission units.
Data collected fromEHRs can be further supple-mented with data from wear-able technology such as smartwatches or mobile healthapps and medical devices.
With the potential appli-cation of AI within the
healthcare system, the ques-tion remains how this willaffect the workforce.According to McKinseyGlobal Institute, 50 per centof companies say thatautomation will decrease thenumber of full-time staff by2022 and that by 2030, robotswill replace 800 million work-ers across the world.
Also, automation of cler-ical processes could potential-ly have an impact on the non-clinical workforce of thehealthcare system. Specialtiessuch as radiology whereimaging reports can be auto-mated and produced by AIalgorithms may well be thereality.
Of course, the ethics ofdata sharing and privacyimplications for patients andtheir insurers is debatable. Aswe enter a brave new worldwith AI, it entails certainbenefits and limitations.
Police in Myanmar’s biggestcity fired tear gas Monday at
defiant crowds who returned tothe streets to protest lastmonth’s coup, despite reportsthat security forces had killed atleast 18 people a day earlier.
The protesters in Yangonwere chased as they tried togather at their usual meetingspot at the Hledan Centerintersection. Demonstratorsscattered and sought in vain torinse the irritating gas fromtheir eyes, but later regrouped.
The coup reversed years ofslow progress toward democra-cy in Myanmar after five decadesof military rule. It came Feb. 1,the same day a newly electedParliament was supposed totake office. Ousted leader AungSan Suu Kyi’s party would haveled that government, but insteadshe was detained along with
President Win Myint and othersenior officials.
The army has leveled sev-eral charges against Suu Kyi —an apparent effort by the mil-itary to provide a legal veneerfor her detention and poten-tially to bar her from running
in the election the junta haspromised to hold in one year.On Monday, Suu Kyi made acourt appearance via video-conference and was chargedwith two more offenses, herlawyer Khin Maung Zaw toldreporters.
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AParis court on Mondayfound French former
President Nicolas Sarkozyguilty of corruption and influ-ence peddling and sentencedhim to one year in prison anda two-year suspended sen-tence.
The 66-year-old politician,who was president from 2007to 2012, was convicted for hav-ing tried to illegally obtaininformation from a seniormagistrate in 2014 about alegal action in which he wasinvolved. The court saidSarkozy is entitled to request tobe detained at home with anelectronic bracelet.
This is the first time inFrance’s modern history that aformer president has been con-victed of corruption.
Sarkozy’s co-defendants —his lawyer and longtime friendThierry Herzog, 65, and now-retired magistrate GilbertAzibert, 74 — were also foundguilty and given the same sen-tence as the politician.
The court found thatSarkozy and his co-defendantssealed a “pact of corruption,”based on “consistent and seri-ous evidence”.
The court said the factswere “particularly serious”given that they were commit-ted by a former president whoused his status to help a mag-istrate who had served his per-sonal interest. In addition, as a
lawyer by training, he was“perfectly informed” aboutcommitting an illegal action,the court said.
Sarkozy had firmly deniedall the allegations against himduring the 10-day trial thattook place at the end of lastyear. The corruption trialfocused on phone conversa-tions that took place inFebruary 2014.
Berlin: A temporary agreementwith Iran to allow UnitedNations inspectors continuedaccess to the country’s atomicfacilities lays the groundworkfor the return to full verifica-tion measures if and whenTehran allows it, the head of theInternational Atomic EnergyAgency said Monday.
Iran began restrictinginternational inspections lastweek, but under a last-minutedeal worked out during a tripto Tehran by Rafael Grossi, thehead of the Vienna-based UNatomic watchdog, some accesswas preserved.
Under the agreement, Iranwill no longer share surveil-lance footage of its nuclearfacilities with the IAEA but ithas promised to preserve thetapes for three months. It willthen hand them over to theIAEA if it is granted sanctionsrelief. Otherwise, Iran hasvowed to erase the tapes, nar-rowing the window for a diplo-matic breakthrough.Inspections are a critical part of
the landmark 2015 nucleardeal with world powers, knownas the Joint ComprehensivePlan of Action, or JCPOA.
Since President DonaldTrump pulled the US unilater-ally out of the deal in 2018, Iranhas been slowly increasing itsviolation of the pact by enrich-ing more uranium than allowed,and to a greater purity thanallowed, among other things.
The violations have beenintended to put pressure on theother signatories to the deal —Britain, France, Germany,Russia and China — to come upwith ways to offset the economicdevastation caused by Americansanctions, but so far they havenot been able to come up witha solution suitable to Iran.
US President Joe Bidenhas said he is ready to join talkswith Iran and world powers todiscuss a return to the deal. Thenew restrictions on inspec-tions complicate matters, and,in effect, set the clock tickingon coming up with some sortof a resolution. AP
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In his first public speech sinceleaving office in January, for-
mer US president DonaldTrump indicated he mightlaunch a third presidential bidin 2024, called for RepublicanParty unity and slammed theJoe Biden administration, say-ing it was “anti-jobs” and “anti-science”.
“We will take back theHouse. We will win the Senateand then a Republican presi-dent would triumph the WhiteHouse. I wonder, who thatwill be,” he said amidst cheersfrom his supporters at theannual session of theConservative Political ActionCommittee in Orlando,Florida.
Though 74-year-oldTrump multiple times in his
speech stopped short fromannouncing that he will run forpresident 2024, he gave enoughindications that he is moving inthat direction.
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Israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu on
Monday accused Iran of attack-ing an Israeli-owned ship in theGulf of Oman last week.
Netanyahu spoke to Israelipublic broadcaster Kan andsaid that “it was indeed an actby Iran, that’s clear.”
“Iran is the greatest enemyof Israel, I am determined tohalt it. We are hitting it in theentire region,” Netanyahu said.
The mysterious explosionstruck the Israeli-owned MVHelios Ray, a Bahamian-flaggedroll-on, roll-off vehicle cargoship, as it was sailing out of theMiddle East on its way toSingapore on Friday.
Kathmandu: Nepal PresidentBidya Devi Bhandari onMonday summoned a sessionof the House of Representativeson March 7, days after the apexcourt reinstated the lowerhouse in a landmark verdictthat annulled embattled PrimeMinister KP Sharma Oli’s“unconstitutional” decision todissolve it.
President Bhandari calledfor the commencement ofHouse on recommendation ofGovernment of Nepal, inaccordance with Article 93 (1)of the Constitution of Nepal,according to a notice issued bythe President’s Office onMonday. As per the notice, the275-member lower house willbegin at 4:00pm on the slateddate. PTI
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Hungary’s right-wing PrimeMinister has threatened to
pull his party out of its groupin the European Union’s legis-lature as the conservative groupedges closer to excluding itslargest Hungarian delegation.
In a letter on Sunday tochairman of the EuropeanPeople’s Party (EPP) group inthe European Parliament
Manfred Weber, PrimeMinister Viktor Orban con-demned a group proposalagreed to on Friday that wouldallow for entire parties to beexcluded from the center-rightEPP, rather than just individualMEPs as currently allowed.
Orban wrote that the pro-posed rules, which are expect-ed to pass with a two-thirdsvote at an EPP group meetingon Wednesday.
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The new head of the WorldTrade Organization threw
her support behind long-fruit-less efforts among membercountries to agree on fisheriessubsidies that could reduceoverfishing, calling the effortsa top priority as she took officeon Monday.
Director-General NgoziOkonjo-Iweala, a Nigerianeconomist and former gov-ernment minister, donned amask and doled out elbowbumps — Covid-19 oblige —as she took up the job at WTO
headquarters on the banks ofLake Geneva.
“I am coming into one ofthe most important institu-tions in the world and we havea lot of work to do,” saidOkonjo-Iweala, 66, who is boththe first woman and the firstAfrican to hold the job. “I feelready to go.”
Negotiators have beentasked with striking an agree-ment that could help eliminatesubsidies for illegal, unreport-ed and unregulated fishing,and prohibit some fisheriessubsidies that contribute toovercapacity and overfishing.
In his first public speech sinceleaving office, former US
president Donald Trump hascalled for Republican Partyunity while indicating that hemight launch a third presiden-tial bid in 2024 even as heslammed the Biden adminis-tration, claiming that the coun-try has gone from “AmericaFirst” to “America Last” in justone month.
INBRIEFITS OFFICERS CELEBRATE SILVER JUBILEE REUNIONOF 1994 BATCHITS officers celebrated silver jubilee reunion of 1994 batch on 26 thFebruary, over 20 officers had come to attend the reunion at IndianHabitat Centre Lodhi Road New Delhi. Other officers celebrated it atdifferent places as well like Bangaluru and Udaipur. AS Meena Ex-President and Ex- General Secretary of ITS association, told that manyof them had come with their spouses and children. Besides telecomfield, officers either had worked or are working on deputation indifferent ministries like Agriculture, Corporate Affairs, Environment&Forest, Home Affairs, Minority Affairs etc and also in importantorganisations like UPSC, CVC, Election commission, NPPA, UID andvarious state governments.
NORTH DMC’S KAROL BAGH ZONE LAUNCHES A #14DAYS CHALLENGE INVOLVING SIX ACTIVITIES Mayor of North Delhi Jai Prakash on Monday informed that NorthDMC’s Karol Bagh Zone today launched a #14days challenge which isin accordance to the true spirit of Swacch Survekshan-2021 i.e.maximum participation of stakeholders with true spirit. The citizenshave been requested to perform six activities regarding cleanliness andupload photos of on Twitter, Instagram & Facebook at#14dayschallenge, #Swacchdelhi and tag the @North DMC or @kbzdc,@kbzdc1 and @KBZ Dc respectively. The six activities involve are dailysegregating of the household waste into wet, dry & hazardous waste,converting wet garbage into compost at home using compostingmethods, avoiding banned plastic use. Citizens can upload theirphotos on their facebook, instagram and twitter pages daily for 14days to complete the task every action will be given 10 points & extrapoints will be given as per likes and comments.
PTI n NEW DELHI
Leading car makers MarutiSuzuki, Hyundai and Tata
Motors reported robust salesgrowth in the domestic marketin February as the demand forpersonal mobility amidCOVID-19 pandemic contin-ues to drive the market.
Others, including ToyotaKirloskar Motor (TKM),Mahindra & Mahindra, andHonda Cars India, also report-ed strong wholesale dispatch-es to dealers last month.
The country’s largest car-maker Maruti Suzuki India(MSI) said its domestic salesincreased 11.8 per cent to1,52,983 units last month, asagainst 1,36,849 units inFebruary 2020.
PTI n NEW DELHI
Cooking gas LPG price was on Mondayhiked by Rs 25 per cylinder across all cate-
gories, including subsidised fuel and thoseavailed by Ujjwala scheme beneficiaries - thefourth increase in rates in a month’s time.
LPG prices have gone up by Rs 125 per14.2-kg cylinder since the beginning of February,price data from state-owned oil marketing com-panies showed.
Also, jet fuel prices were hiked by a steep 6.5per cent on the back of a rally in internationaloil prices.
A 14.2-kg cylinder in Delhi now costs Rs819 as against Rs 794 at which they were suppliedon Sunday.
The increase is applicable across all cate-gories, including subsidised and non-subsidisedusers.
LPG is available only at one rate, marketprice, across the country. The government,however, gives a small subsidy to select customers.
However, this subsidy has been eliminatedin metros and major cities through successiveprice increases over the past couple of years.
So, in places like Delhi, there is no subsidypaid to customers since May 2020 and all LPGusers pay the market price, which currently is Rs819.
An oil company official said a small subsidyis paid to customers in remote and far-flung areasto make up for the higher price arising fromfreight charges.
LPG prices were hiked first by Rs 25 percylinder on February 4, followed by a Rs 50 percylinder increase on February 15 and Rs 25 raiseon February 25.
Prices have been on the rise sinceDecember and rates have cumulatively gone upby Rs 175 per cylinder.
PTI n NEW DELHI
India’s first auction of spec-trum in five years attracted
Rs 77,146 crore of bids on theopening day on Monday withReliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, andVodafone Idea participating inthe bidding process - aresponse that the governmentsaid was better than expected.
There were, however, notakers for spectrum in 700MHz and 2500 MHz bands onthe first day, and the auctionswill continue and conclude onTuesday.
About 2,308.80 MHz ofspectrum, that carry telecomsignals, in seven bands worthnearly Rs 4 lakh crore at thereserve or start price, wasoffered for bidding in the auc-
tion that began on Monday.Communications MinisterRavi Shankar Prasad said Rs77,146 crore worth of spectrumwas bid on the first day butthere were no takers for the air-waves in the premium 700MHz as also 2500 MHz bands.
The response from playersand the bids received sur-passed government’s internalestimates, that had anticipatedbids worth Rs 45,000 crore.
“The winning bids thathave come till 6 PM today is Rs77,146 crore. We thought sincethere are only three players, andspectrum replacement is hap-pening...Our estimation wasthat the bids will touch aboutRs 45,000 crore, but it is a mat-ter of assurance that it has goneas high as Rs 77,146 crore,”Prasad said.
The bidder-wise detailswere not available immediate-ly. A total of 2,308.80 MHz
spectrum is being put to auc-tion, out of which there havebeen bids for 849.20 MHz sofar, an official release said.
Bids were received in 800MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz,2100 MHz and 2300 MHzbands, as players gave theprized 700 MHz band a misson the first day of auctions.
“Total value of spectrumput to auction was about Rs 4lakh crore. In this, 700 MHzband was a costly band, andthat cost itself is Rs 1.97 lakhcrore,” the minister said addingthat the government will takea call on 700 MHz band, usedfor 5G, in case it remainsunsold in the ongoing auctions.Excluding 700 MHz and 2500Mhz bands, the biddingaccounted for 60 per cent of thespectrum that was put to auc-tion.
The 700 MHz band wentunsold during the 2016 auc-
tions, too. During 2016, whenthere were seven bidders, thespectrum sold was 41 per centby quantity and 12 per cent byvalue of the total spectrum putto auction. The correspondingfigures in the 2021 spectrumauction so far are 37 per centand 19 per cent respectively,with three participants.
Spectrum will be offeredfor assignment for a validityperiod of 20 years. Successfulbidders can pay entire bidamount in one go (upfront), orexercise an option to pay a cer-tain amount (25 per cent forspectrum won in 700 MHz, 800MHz, 900 MHz bands or 50per cent for spectrum won in1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300MHz, 2500 MHz bands)upfront with remainingamount in a maximum up to16 equated annual instalments,after a moratorium of twoyears.
PTI n NEW DELHI
GST collections crossed the`1 lakh crore-mark for
the fifth month in a row inFebruary, rising 7 per cent toover `1.13 lakh crore, indicat-ing economic recovery, theFinance Ministry said onMonday.
The collection is, howev-er, lower than the record`1,19,875 crore collected in theprevious month.The gross GSTrevenue collected in February2021 is `1,13,143 crore, ofwhich CGST is `21,092 crore,SGST is `27,273 crore. IGSTis ` 55,253 crore (including`24,382 crore collected onimport of goods) and Cess is`9,525 crore (including ̀ 660crore collected on import ofgoods).”In line with the trendof recovery in the GST rev-enues over past five months,the revenues for the month ofFebruary 2021 are 7 per centhigher than the GST revenuesin the same month last year.
“During the month, rev-enues from import of goodswere 15 per cent higher andthe revenues from the domes-tic transaction (includingimport of services) are 5 percent higher than the revenuesfrom these sources during thesame month last year,” theministry said in a statement.
PTI n MUMBAI
Benchmark BSE Sensexsurged nearly 750 points
and NSE Nifty rallied over232 points on Monday asinvestors cheered the domesticeconomy returning to positiveterritory after two quarters ofcontraction.
The 30-share BSE indexbriefly traded above the 50,000-mark in day trade before clos-ing at 49,849.84, showing a riseof 749.85 points or 1.53 percent. Of the Sensex con-stituents, 29 closed with gains.
Likewise, the NSE barom-eter Nifty settled with a gain of232.40 points or 1.60 per centat 14,761.55.
Top performers werePowerGrid, ONGC, UltratechCement, Asian Paint, KotakBank and Titan – rising asmuch as 5.94 per cent.
“Positive global cues andUS yields retreating from highsled to a strong opening todaywith Indices sustaining gainsthroughout the day. The broad-er markets saw energetic buy-ing momentum across PSUbasket and sectors like Paints &Speciality Chemicals,” SRanganathan, Head ofResearch at LKP Securitiessaid.
After two consecutivequarters of contraction, theIndian economy has finallyentered an expansionary path.
The Gross DomesticProduct (GDP) grew 0.4 per
cent in the October-December2020 period compared with thesame period a year back, datareleased by the NationalStatistics Office on Fridayshowed.
High-frequency indica-tors were pointing towards thefact that the domestic economyis slowly entering the recovery
path.Vinod Nair, Head of
Research at Geojit FinancialServices said, “Domestic mar-kets kick-started the month ona strong footing with increasedoptimism led by GDP reachingpositive numbers, improvingauto numbers and steady PMImanufacturing data.”
PTI n NEW DELHI
Prime Minister NarendraModi on Monday empha-
sised on farmers getting moreavenues to sell crops and saida food processing revolutionwas needed in the country forvalue addition to farm produceand to realise better prices.
Addressing a webinar oneffective implementation ofBudget provisions regardingthe Agriculture Ministry, he
underlined the need forincreased participation of pri-vate players in the farm sector,including in research anddevelopment (R&D) work.
Without making anydirect reference to the threenew farm reform laws or to thethree-month-old agitation byfarmers, Modi said there is aneed for expanding options forthe country’s farming com-munity to sell agri produce.
Sensex surges 750 pts asinvestors cheer Q3 GDP
PTI n MUMBAI
The rupee dropped by 8paise to close at 73.55
against the US dollar onMonday, extending its fallingstreak to a third day due tospike in global crude oil pricesand strong American curren-cy.
At the interbank forexmarket, the local unit openedlower at 73.76 against thegreenback and witnessed anintra-day high of 73.19.
The local currency finallyended at 73.55 against theAmerican currency, registeringa fall of 8 paise over its previ-ous closing.
On Friday, the rupee hadsettled at 73.47 against theAmerican currency.
PTI n NEW DELHI
Gold prices on Monday roseby `241 to `45,520 per 10
grams in the national capital inline with the strong global bul-lion market trend, according toHDFC Securities.
The precious metal hadclosed at `45,279 per 10 gramsin the previous trading session.Silver also jumped by ` 781 to`68,877 per kg, compared withthe previous close of 68,096 perkg.HDFC Securities SeniorAnalyst (Commodities) TapanPatel said, “Spot prices for 24karat gold in Delhi rose by`241, in line with the recoveryin global gold prices whilerupee appreciation cappedupside.” The spot rupee wastrading around 16 paisestronger against the dollar,halting three days of loss, dur-ing the intra-day session,HDFC Securities added.
Rupee drops 8paise to 73.55against dollaras oil spikes
Gold price rises`241; silverjumps `781
PTI n NEW DELHI
Prime Minister NarendraModi taking the first dose
of the Covid-19 vaccine wouldgo a long way in building con-fidence in the ongoing nation-wide vaccination processagainst the pandemic, BharatBiotech said on Monday.
The PM on Monday tookhis first dose of the COVID-19vaccine at AIIMS here andappealed to all those who areeligible to get inoculated. NurseP Niveda, who hails fromPuducherry, administeredBharat Biotech’s COVAXIN tothe prime minister. “We thankthe Prime Minister for takingthe first dose of the COVID-19vaccine himself and are deeplyappreciative of the gesture.This has set a powerful exam-ple for all Indians to follow,which will go a long way inreducing vaccine hesitancy andbuilding confidence in immu-nisation against the ongoingpandemic,” Bharat BiotechInternational CMD KrishnaElla said in a statement. Thishas set a powerful example forall Indians to follow, which willgo a long way in reducing vac-cine hesitancy and buildingconfidence in immunisationagainst the pandemic, headded.
`77,146 cr bids for spectrum on Day 1 Automakers reportdouble digit salesgrowth in Feb
PM says farmers should getmore avenues to sell crops
Industry of India(ASSOCHAM), one of theapex trade associations of thecountry successfully organ-ised another edition of thewebinar series on ‘Illness toWellness’ campaign, themedaround “Thyroid & RelatedDisorders – Impact on Health”.
ASSOCHAM organisedthis webinar with an objectiveto cascade mass awarenessand disseminate knowledge &wisdom for prevention andtreatment of thyroid.
The virtual event wasgraced by a team of eminentGastroenterologists, hepatolo-gist who shared their valuableinputs on causes, trends andrecent advancements in thetreatment of thyroid.
The ASSOCHAM’s cam-paign running under a CSRinitiative supported bySAVLON, aims at promotinghealthy living with a keenfocus on wellness and preven-tive health through healthy
habits, diet, exercise, and holis-tic health.
Sharing his perspective,Dr Joshi said: “Thyroid disor-der occurs when thyroid glanddoes not work properly eitherpermanently or temporarily.However, the disease is treat-able and one needs to consultendocrinologists once in threemonths and in some cases onlyonce in a year.”
Dr Joshi also emphasisedon following healthy lifestyle,balanced diet and follow reg-ular exercise regime.
Addressing theASSOCHAM webinar, DrTripathi talked about the var-ious thyroid disorders in detail.He said, the commonest thy-roid disorder isHypothyroidism, followed byH y p e r t h y r o i d i s m .Hypothyroidism can affectthe entire life span of a humanfrom congenital hypothy-roidism at birth, to juvenilehypothyroidism, adult onsethypothyroidism and even inthe elderly age group. The
treatment of hypothyroidismis generally lifelong, but it iseasy to begin and continue andis without side effects.
Dr Kapoor, in his addressalso explained thyroid is a but-terfly shaped gland in theneck which weighs about 18grams it is not a disease. Theunder functioning glands leadsto hypothyroidism and theover functioning gland leads tohyperthyroidism.
On behalf of the chamber,Rajput said that following aregular exercise regime, main-taining healthy weight togeth-er with low fat, low sugar, lowrice and high fibre diet can goa long way for everyone tokeep such ailments at bay.
He added: “In India over42 million people suffer fromthyroid ailments and 1 in 10adults suffer from hypothy-roidism, a condition in whichthe thyroid gland doesn’t pro-duce the required hormones tomeet the needs of the body. Itcan also cause serious compli-cations during pregnancy.”
ACentral Fabrication Unit for pros-thetics and orthotics is being devel-
oped at Narayan Seva Sansthan withsupport from Rotary Foundation. Theunit will provide artificial limbs andequipment to bolster NSS global cam-paign for empowering the differently-abled. The cutting-edge technologyinstalled at the unit will ensure qualityand affordable prosthetics and will helpto bring down the cost of the procedures.
During the programme Rotary gov-ernor (District 6900), Rajesh Agrawalsaid: “To give a fresh start to the differ-ently-abled, NSS is serving needy indi-viduals by offering services such as freefood, operative surgery, limbs, education,and skills. With setting up for artificiallimb manufacturing, which will bring usadditional accomplishment to change thelives of differently-abled people.”
In a two-phase project, GlobalGrant by Rotary Foundation, RotaryClub Emory-Druid Hills(USA District-6900), Rotary Club Udaipur Mewar bud-get is USD 182995 passed in the firstphase.
Speaking on occasion PrashantAgarwal, President, Narayan SevaSansthan said: “Due to the RotaryFoundation, our various efforts toestablish this unit have now been suc-cessful. NSS hopes that the installationof the central manufacturing unit willmeet the demands and release of thepatient load to achieve stability in thequality of equipment manufactured ina short period of time.”
������� Papayas are rich inVitamin C, fibre andantioxidants which preventcholesterol build up in yourarteries and boosts immunity,apart from the several otherhealth benefits.
It also helps in weight lossbecause the fibre content inpapaya leaves you feeling fulland clears your bowel move-ment.
It is also a richsource of phytonu-trients andflavonoids thatprevent yourcells fromundergoingfree radicald a m a g e .Some stud-ies have alsolinked the con-
sumption papaya to reducedrisk of colon and prostate can-cer.
The presence of variousvitamins and nutrients alsohelp in preventing the skinfrom free radical damage there-by keeping all the signs of age-ing at bay.
Several studies have shownthat eating papayas also help inmaintaining and improving
h e a r thealth.
With India beginningthe COVID-19 vacci-nation phase 2 fromMarch 1 administering
vaccines to those above the age of60 and people with other medicaldiseases, it won’t be too long whenpeople above 50 and less will alsobe able to receive the jab.
Despite the fact that the virusis a new and a highly transmissibleone, the medical fraternity haslearnt immensely from it in the lastyear. It has managed to fight the dis-ease, analyse and lay down proto-cols for the treatments, and aboveall, have worked from all parts of theworld together as one to producereliable and safe vaccines in recordtime.
Therefore, as your much await-ed turn rolls in, here are some pre-cautions you should remember toadhere to before you go to thehealth facility for your inoculation.
Some of these precautions applyto any vaccine you may have takenbefore this.� Take normal diet the eveningbefore the vaccine.�Avoid alcohol before the injection(and for a few days after). This helpsin reducing any mild side effectsyou may have. �Clarify with your physician aboutyour underlying illnesses and med-ical history (the Ministry of Healthand Family Planning, Govt. of
India has issued clear guidelines andyour physician will be aware of this).
Precautions specific to theCOVID-19 vaccine:� The three basics of COVID-19preventive measures will have to befollowed (i.e. wearing a mask, handhygiene and social distancing) at the
vaccination site and in public places.�Cough/sneeze etiquette should bepracticed in all areas. � Register yourself for the vaccineand go to the centre designated toyou on the date intimated.�Do not worry about side effects.Any vaccine can have side effectsbut they are miniscule compared tothe good they do to the individualand to the society.
Vaccines are voluntary, so
decide for yourself but rememberthat we already have a vast experi-ence in vaccines, tried and tested inmany diseases to make the world ahealthy place for ourselves and ourchildren.
With the COVID-19 vaccines,we have learnt to deal with this dis-ease scientifically, clearly and withoptimism.
Dysphagia, a medical condition that makes swallowing of foodor fluid difficult, is one of the lesser-known side effects of
COVID-19 infection. The condition has so far been observedas a fallout of viral and bacterial infections, pharyngeal andesophageal obstructions or other palate problems and neurolog-ical diseases. Dysphagia was witnessed in maximum cases ofsevere cases of COVID-19, especially those who developed acuterespiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and were ventilated.
There are a few ways to feelbetter even if one has this con-dition:� Think of baby food andbring your food to that consis-tency. Include a lot of fluid suchas juices to the diet. As you getcomfortable, slowly shift to anormal diet. Chew the foodcompletely before swallowing� Sit upright when you eat ordrink. Start with liquids usingstraw. Do not lay down orbend while eating or drinking.Stand or walk for a minimumof 30 minutes after meals � Small portion sizes help toease the discomfort of dyspha-gia. Clear your mouth com-pletely before taking the nextbite.
Most of the COVID-19patients also experienced achange in their voice, rangingfrom a rough one to a deeper-pitched one or a mere whisper.
The inflammation of vocal cords is exacerbated by long periodsof coughing. Such an effort makes the vocal folds put extra effortto clear any mucus from lungs and throat, in the process mak-ing them swollen and inflamed.
Easing the sore throat and post-COVID voice problem canbe done by following these steps:� Keep yourself well hydrated with warm fluids. Drink abouttwo liters of fluid (plain water and fresh juices) daily. Avoid caf-feine or alcohol as they can aggravate the condition� Warm saline gargles and steam inhalation for at least 15 min-utes� Try to rest your voice as much as possible.
If you are in hospital then you must keep a few things in mindthat comprises immediately informing the concerned Doctoror paramedical staff immediately if you are feeling more shortof breath during or after the meals.
If you are recovering at home, then you must be careful abouta few things and directly inform your General Physician if youare facing problems while eating or drinking something andcoughing or choking while having your food. Such patients shouldavoid shouting, smoking or chewing tobacco and going in dustyareas Medicated lozenges can also be used.
We all might havehad a toothacheat least once in a
while. While as painful it is,it is also extremely annoy-ing.
Here are a fewremedies thatcan helprelieve thepain.
R i n s ewith saltwater. Saltwater is a nat-ural disinfec-tant. One canrinse their mouthtwice to relieve the pain andinflammation caused bybacteria.
Use garlic. Garlic canhelp in killing the harm-
ful bacteria that causesdental plaque and can alsohelp in relieving toothache.Crush a clove of garlic and
apply it to the affected areaand let it sit for five minutes.Alternatively, you can alsochew a clove of garlic.
Cloves can help. Clovesare known to relieve
toothache andreduce inflam-
mation formany years.Dab a smallamount ofclove oil ontoa cotton ball
and apply it tothe affected
area. You maywant to dilute the
clove oil with a few drops ofa carrier oil, like olive oil, orwater. Do this a few timesper day.
You can also add a dropof clove oil to a small glassof water and make a mouth-wash. Use it twice daily forbest results.
Toothaches are common,especially if one prefers to eat
a lot of sweets. ROSHANI DEVI shares easyhome remedies that can help
ease the pain without much hassle
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Good health and beauty are two sidesof the same coin. For a flawless skin,lustrous hair and a slim figure, good
health must be on top of the list. A healthywoman is also better equipped to deal withthe stresses of daily life. A body that ishealthy is imperative for preserving beau-ty and building up immunity.
The right diet is absolutely essential togood looks. A diet for beauty should be highin vitamin-rich foods and low in carbohy-drates and sugar. The answer is to choosefrom a variety of foods, to ensure a balanceddiet. Fresh fruits, raw salads, sprouted grainsand yogurt should be included in the dailydiet. Have whole grain cereals. Reduce teaand coffee and have freshly extracted fruitand vegetable juices, lassi and clear soups.Avoid fried snacks, rich gravies and desserts,and confectionary items. Add the juice ofa lemon to a glass of water and have it firstthing in the morning. Drinking adequatewater helps to eliminate toxins and wastesfrom the system.
Exercise, together with a balanced diet,can work wonders. Not only does it buildup stamina and strength, but improvesblood circulation to the skin and scalp.Every tissue of the body needs oxygen, sobegin your exercises by doing deep breath-ing in front of an open window. Check withyour doctor before beginning regular exer-cise. Walking is good physical activity, as itexercises all the muscle groups. The ancientIndian doctrine of Yoga has attained uni-versal popularity today. In fact, it hasbecome very relevant to modern lifestyle,bringing about harmony of body andmind.
Pay attention to cleansing and dailyhygiene. Improper daily hygiene can under-mine the health in a number of ways. Theskin is influenced by many external factors,like dirt, chemical pollutants, bacteria andvirus. By daily washing, bathing andcleaning, we can remove impurities andkeep ourselves free from infections. A dailybath, or shower, is a must, especially onreturning home. During the ancient times,infusions were used to wash the body. Soakneem leaves in hot water and let it standovernight. Use the water to bathe the nextmorning.
Adequate sleep is also essential for fit-ness. Sleep is a way of restoring energy tothe body and is nature’s best cure. It is abeauty treatment in itself.
A positive mental attitude is alsoimportant, because mind and body areclosely related. All of us encounter a certainamount of stress and anxiety in our dailylife. It is a matter of learning how to copewith it. We have to train our minds towardspositive thinking and relaxation. Regularpatterns of rest and exercise, along with hob-bies and interests certainly help. Some peo-ple are so aware of the world around them.They are always keen to learn new things.Hobbies, interests and new activities canactually be very relaxing to the mind. Theyalso give another dimension to the person-ality.
Indeed, the finest foundation for beau-ty consists of some common factors, whichwe often overlook.
�������+���1�) �(���India has embarked on the third
and the largest phase of vaccina-tion drive against Covid-19 whichwill reach out to around 27 crore ofpopulation aged above 60 or above45 with co-morbid conditions.
However, registration isrequired to receive the vaccinedoses. The Government has provid-ed three modes for the registrationof eligible beneficiaries — online,on-site and facilitated cohort reg-istration.
The first is advance self-regis-tration under which the beneficia-ries will be able to self-register inadvance by downloading the CO-Win 2.0 portal and through otherIT applications such as ArogyaSetu etc.
Eligible people can registerthemselves on the platform fromMonday, March 1, 9 am onwards.The platform can be accessed viaweb or through a mobile applica-tion.
Eligible beneficiaries can regis-ter at the CO-WIN 2.0 portalthrough their mobile number fol-lowing a step by step process. Afterregistration, the application willshow the government and privatehospitals serving as CovidVaccination Centres (CVC) withthe date and time of the availableschedules. The beneficiary would beable to choose the CVC of his/herchoice and book an appointmentfor vaccination.
As the world experiences theCOVID-19 pandemic, there hasbeen an upsurge in people turn-
ing active on social media. This phasehas unlocked the creative minds andpushed people to explore relativelyfresh opportunities. AradhanaSrivastava, Public Relations Expertfrom Savin Communication says,“Social Platforms have hidden potential,if cultivated fairly can yield exception-al output both in matter of content andvogue.”
Social Media has always been ahighly interactive platform catering tousers of a young generation, giving riseto a new community called“Influencers.” These social media con-noisseurs have turned into a drivingforce for the national economy in themost surprising way. They are the firstpreference of any brand because of theirbetter reach among millions of insta-gram users and creators.
Welcome the nano influencersThe latest community of influ-
encers added to the Instagram family ispopularly called “Nano Influencers.”These are the social media warriors withthe power to influence a small group of1000-5000 people and have the abilityto nurture communities with specificinterests and influence.
Partnering with nano-influencers isfast becoming a major strategy point for
brands with budgetary constraints dueto the pandemic. A report by MarketingWeek projected that 52 per cent ofbrands are planning to collaboratewith more nano-influencers in theforthcoming months and 44 per cent ofbrands who are already collaborating,plan to continue their association with
these new-age agents of social mediagrowth. Engaging with such influencersis not only cost-effective but also help-ful in reaching highly engaged audiences.
New-age celebsRemember the ice bucket chal-
lenge? Those were the days when film
celebrities used to set trends that wentviral but the situation has flipped now.Nowadays, it is the Nano influencers’who are driving public opinion in amicro-manner than global celebrities. Nowonder that this community has becomethe new-age celebs and has even moti-vated various brands to collaborate.
Taking over competitionNano-influencers may take over
from the micro-influencers as key brandpartners in the coming years. Micro-influencers who have followers between5k to 100k have been the premiere pref-erence for any brand campaigns for thepast couple of years but it is beingobserved that nano influencers haveestablished a closer relationship withtheir audience and are considered a morereliable option to take the brand forward.
The need of the hourSince there are thousands of nano
influencers creating content forInstagram, brands look for a platformthrough which they can directly pick theright influencer for their needs. One suchforthcoming platform is ‘We TheInfluencers’. It is an online communityof talented and enthusiastic influencersfrom all across the country. This platformwill cater to a common room for boththe brand and the influencer, allowingthem to communicate and create fruit-ful collaborations.
A helpful companion Marketing specialists are searching
for creators with an individual approachand who enjoy the trust of their follow-ers. Since the nano influencers tick boththe boxes, they’ve become the ideal com-panion for brands looking for new waysto spread their message. What makes thisassociation better is the fact that theseyoung guns are also highly dedicated totheir work and are open to learning newthings.
Do you often find yourselfjuggling to achieve a fine
balance between the lifespanand design of our interiors?Trust us, it’s not a herculeantask. Undoubtedly, home decormust be planned very thought-fully whether you are re-pur-posing the space or thinking ofsome minor tweaks. There arevarious elements and aspects tokeep in mind, such as the cli-mate in your city and the designaesthetics. Today, the evolvingtechnology and innovationshave ensured the integration ofall these elements under oneroof. Parul Mittal, Director,Greenlam Industries Ltd sharesa few simple decor themes thatoffer you the best of both worlds– durability and design.
����!�����������The entry of your house is
usually through the living roomwhich sets the tone for the entirehome and leaves the firstimpression. Therefore, a mini-mal and clean look is needed forsuch spaces. Calming shadesgive your mind, body and soula certain level of relaxation.Throw muted shades of yellow
and grey to your cushionsplaced on a sofa set in mutedblue. These colours will instant-ly infuse a comforting vibearound your space. The bestway to distinguish your colourscheme is by keeping yourwalls, door and floor crispwhite.
While visual impact ofdoors must not be compro-mised as they are some of themost visible design elements inthe house, its resistance andlifespan should top your check-list.
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The majestic grandeur andsimplicity of a natural elementlike wood is just limitless. Woodholds the power to make anunmatched statement and looksabsolutely charming when usedfor home interiors. If you havecream or off-white interiors,opting for a darker shade ofwooden doorset to comple-ment the entire ambiance. Keepyour area spick and span byplacing minimal kitchen essen-tials out in the open. Make itlook more modern by showcas-
ing your silver crockery andglassware in open cabinets.
����)����������%�We all have stepped into a
new year with positivity andhopefulness. How about wepaint this outlook all over thehouse to ensure every touchpoint encourages you? Spill thepantone colour ‘Ultimate Gray’on your walls to add an instantwarmth and comfort. Since, weare talking about all the earthytones, we suggest going for acrisp yet classic white shade fordoors. It will not only exudesheer panache but also a strongsense of calmness. Make yourspace functional and minimal;this can be done by placing astatement sofa and a mini-breakfast table in oppositedirections.
Every element of yourhouse speaks to you and bringsalong a purpose to fulfill. Thethree distinct decor looks arean inspiration for designing aspace that brings élan as well asensures durability. So, think nofurther and get on with curat-ing your own dream-likehaven.
The armed forces of Indiahave been on the front-
line of the COVID-19 pan-demic in India, protectingthe citizens of the countrywhile being in harm’s way.Bollywood star AyushmannKhurrana, who is current-ly shooting for his next,Anek, directed by AnubhavSinha, has been deeplymoved seeing the com-mendable work that theCentral Industrial SecurityForce (CISF) in Guwahatihas been doing. The youthicon was requested to senda video message to theentire unit stationed inAssam and Ayushmannsent them a heartfelt thankyou.
In the video,Ayushmann says, “I wouldlike to congratulate all themajors and soldiers fromthe CISF Guwahati regi-ment on how right sinceCOVID-19 unfolded, untilnow, they have contributedto the aviation security withpatience and valour. I trulysalute all your efforts toserve. I truly hope you staysafe and healthy.”
Ayushmann has alwaysbeen inspired by the armymen in India who selfless-ly devote their lives to pro-tect others. The actor hasalso been deeply moved bythe pandemic and how ithas impacted people fromevery strata. He has alsocomposed some heartfeltpoems on this sufferings of
people during the pandemic, whichinstantly became a rage in the coun-try. The actor will be shooting forAnek right through March beforejumping onto his next film, Doctor G.
At the art gallery, Akar Prakar,there are canvasses created by
Sayed Haider Raza in his last fewyears. They are a testimony to his lovefor painting and clearly prove that hewas a pilgrim of deeper intensities ingeometry and symbolism.
Amongst all the works in thisseminal show, it is Shantibindu thatstrikes a deep chord in this critic. Ina conversation to me in 2004 on theeve of his 85th birthday, he said, “Mybindu is primarily a philosophicalexpression, an act of faith in the infi-nite, an affirmation of spirituality.When I sit down in front of one of mypaintings to contemplate, I sudden-ly feel a great expansion of the spir-it, I feel like a man liberated from thewants of material desires, a man whobelongs to the vastness of the presentand past.
Shantibindu tryst Raza Sahib’s tryst with the
Shantibindu began in the 1990s. Theblack orb that went beyond the blacksun into infinite realms and referencesgave way to a set of concentric geo-metric circles that formed a suffusedethereal Bindu, which looked like asymphony of peace created for a vistaof harmonies. For Raza, the recurringBindu became a new corollary oncanvas with infinite variations.
The Shantibindu for Raza was anexemplification of Purusha Prakritiprinciples. These principles dwellon the infinite, on dualities anddeeper philosophies of the innerspirit and outer realities of nature’s rel-ativity. Born of a meditative mooring,
his bindu was the device of a spiritu-al firmament. The softly nuancedpastel toned circles resonate with aharmony emanating from the epi-centre. Their terracotta and soft tint-ed colour tones form an elegantexemplar. The Shantibindu became
an iconic nucleus in which the cen-tral core was an energy that createda ritual.
Nostalgia and memory Looking at this show highlights
the power and prowess of his paint-
ings that come rushing into humanmemory. His early landscapes ofEuropean cities, churches, glowingember like landscapes that spoke ofhis passion for nocturnes, his mid-night moorings of works likeTapovan, La Terre, Saurashtra,
Rajasthan and his Shantibindu series,all become a part of his pilgrimageof painting. India’s avant grade artistwho combined expressionist brush-work with the symbolism of geom-etry woven into personal memorylives through his works.
the Stadio Olimpico in theItalian capital on Sunday night,as Stefano Pioli’s side push fora first league title since 2011.
A Franck Kessie penaltygave Milan the lead five min-utes before the break afterFederico Fazio fouled DavideCalabria.
Jordan Veretout pulledRoma level five minutesafter the break with anarrowed shot, but the awayside were soon back in front.
Ante Rebic drilled homethe winner eight minutes laterafter collecting a pass fromAlexis Saelemaekers follow-ing a poor clearance fromRoma goalkeeper Pau Lopez.
Off-form Milan star ZlatanIbrahimovic had been substi-tuted shortly before Croatiainternational Rebic scored thedecisive goal.
“I told the lads that twogames (losses) cannot takeaway the confidence build up
over a year,” said Pioli.“It’s an important win at a
decisive moment in the seasonwhich takes us out of
two very strange weeks.”Earlier, Napoli’s record
goalscorer, Dries Mertens,returned from injury tohelp the southerners boosttheir Champions League
hopes with a 2-0 win overlocal rivals Benevento, to
sit just a point behind Romain sixth.
Mertens started for thefirst time in over two monthsafter injuring his ankle inmid-December, and the 33-year-old got his boot to aFaouzi Ghoulam cross after
half an hour for his 131stNapoli goal.
Matteo Politano turned inthe second in the 66th minute,with Gattuso’s side holding onfor the points despite KalidouKoulibaly’s sending-off 10minutes from time.
���� E�9�.B
Domestic giants Mumbaitrounced Himachal
Pradesh by 200 runs in theirfinal Elite Group D game hereon Monday to remain unbeat-en in the league stage of theVijay Hazare Trophy.
Mumbai had won their firstfour matches against Delhi,Maharashtra, Puducherry andRajasthan.
Opting to bat at the SawaiMansingh Stadium, Mumbaiposted an imposing 321/9, cour-tesy Shardul Thakur’s 92,Suryakumar Yadav’s 91 andAditya Tare’s 83 after a top-orderfailure.
Himachal were then bun-dled out for a meagre 121, withleg-spinner Prashant Solanki(4/31) shining with the ball.
After losing four for 49,Suryakumar began the rescueact and toyed with the Himachalattack, striking 15 boundarieson his way to a 75-ball 91.
He found an able ally in theexperienced Tare (83 off 98balls; 6x4; 1x6) who played theperfect second fiddle as the duoforged a 99-run fifth wicketstand to rally the innings.
After Suryakumar fell in the31st over, Tare and Sharduladded 112 runs for the sixthwicket, as they tackled the
Himachal attack with ease.Shardul, one of the heroes
of the Brisbane Test againstAustralia, hammered six bound-aries and as many sixes, as hecantered to 92 in just 57 balls.
Thanks to Shardul’s hit-ting, Mumbai crossed the 300-run mark, but Tare’s patientknock was equally important ashe anchored the innings andsupported the aggressors.
In the other two Elite GroupD league games, Maharashtrathrashed Puducherry by 137runs, while Delhi defeatedRajasthan by eight wickets.
SAURASHTRA IN Q/FIn Group E games at
Kolkata, Saurashtra suffered ashocking 62-run loss at the
hands of Services but still man-aged to finish as group toppersand qualified for the knock-outphase.
Saurashtra finished with 16points, four clear of Chandigarhwhose direct qualification hopeswere dashed with an eight-wicket loss to Jammu &Kashmir at the JadavpurUniversity second campus inSaltlake.
At the 22 Yards Academy inSaltlake, Services rode on RahulSingh Gahlaut’s career-best 158to post a challenging 301 forseven and in reply Saurashtrawere bundled out for 233 in 43.1overs.
Elsewhere at Eden Gardens,hosts Bengal lose by five wick-ets against Haryana.
U’KHAND PIP ASSAMUttarakhand thrashed
Sikkim by 145 runs to remainunbeaten in the Plate group, andclinch a spot in the knockoutphase, pipping Assam by virtueof a better net run-rate.
Assam completed itsengagements with a crushing182-run win over Mizoram.
Both Uttarakhand andAssam finished with an all-winrecord but the former qualifiedfor the next stage due to a high-er NRR (3.273) as against thelatter’s 1.909. Meghalaya edgedNagaland to the third spot byvirtue of a superior NRR despitesecuring 16 points. They werefollowed by Sikkim (4 points),Arunachal Pradesh (2),Mizoram (2) and Manipur (0).
doubters that have written theirseason off wrong after snappinga four-game Premier Leaguelosing streak to win 2-0 atSheffield United on Sunday.
The English champions’title defence has been decimat-ed by injuries and they face abattle just to qualify for nextseason’s Champions League viaa top-four finish.
Klopp’s men remain insixth, but are now just twopoints behind fourth-placedWest Ham and can leapfrogChelsea in fifth when the Bluesvisit Anfield on Thursday.
“Plenty of people have writ-ten us off. That’s fine,” saidKlopp. “With all the problemswe have had, we’re still aroundthe exciting places.”
Jordan Henderson has beenadded to Liverpool’s long-terminjury list, while goalkeeperAlisson Becker was absent after
he lost his father this week. But the Championship-
bound Blades proved the per-fect opponents for Klopp’smen to restore some confi-dence as Curtis Jones’ second-half strike and Kean Bryan’sown goal got the Reds back towinning ways.
“This was about us show-ing we’re still there,” addedKlopp.
“We play Chelsea onThursday, we have to show itagain. We have to win footballgames, we know that. There’sno way into the ChampionsLeague without results.”
Sheffield United are still 15points adrift of safety at the bot-tom of the table and managerChris Wilder admitted his sidelacked the quality to challengeeven a depleted Liverpool.
form with a hard-fought 2-0win at Villarreal on Sundaythat allowed the La Liga pace-setters to extend their lead tofive points.
An own goal fromAlfonso Pedraza and JoaoFelix’s powerful strike gaveAtletico a precious win after awobble which had allowedBarcelona and Real Madrid togain ground in the title race.
Diego Simeone’s side hadcome into the match off theback of a Champions Leaguelast 16 defeat to Chelsea and aleague run in which theypicked up just five points from
their previous four matches.However, the win ensures
Atletico hold second-placedBarca at bay and crucially
keeps the gap between themand rivals Real Madrid at sixpoints ahead of next weekend’slocal derby.
Big guns Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharmaand Ajinkya Rahane went full throt-
tle at the nets as the Indian cricket onMonday trained in earnest for theupcoming fourth and final Test againstEngland.
The fourth Test starts here onThursday.
Captain Kohli, his deputy Rahaneand senior opener Rohit were seen bat-ting at the nets in a video posted by theBCCI on Twitter.
The three senior players drove,pulled and flicked against the fast
bowlers and spinners at the NarendraModi Stadium here.
Head coach Ravi Shastri was seeninteracting with Rohit and Kohli beforethe two star batsmen sat together for adiscussion.
Left-arm spinner Axar Patel, whobagged 11 wickets in India’s thumpingwin in the pink ball third Test at the samevenue, was seen rolling his arms over atthe nets against some of the world’s bestbatsmen.
They were also seen fielding withRahane, standing next to Rohit in thesecond slip position, taking a one-handed diving catch to his right.
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West Indian battinglegend Viv Richardsis not amused with
past and present English crick-eters “moaning and groaning”about the spin-friendly pitch-es in India and said the visitorsdid not prepare well for thechallenge.
The newly-laid Moteratrack in Ahmedabad became asubject of debate after Indiacrushed England inside twodays in the third Test to go 2-1 up in the four-match series.The severe criticism camefrom former England captainslike Michael Vaughan and asection of the British media.
All the chatter has notgone down well with Richards,whose incredible range ofstrokes and fearless approachto the game terrorised thebest of bowlers in his prime inevery corner of the cricketingworld.
“I’ve been asked questionsrecently about the Test matchthat was played in India, thesecond and third Test matchagainst England.
“And I am a little confusedabout the question reallybecause there seems to be a lotof moaning and groaningabout the wicket that theywere playing on,” Richardssaid in a video posted on hisFacebook page.
“I just felt that the oneswho are moaning, in my opin-ion, should realise that thereare times that you’re going toget a seaming track, a ball thatis basically jumping off a goodlength and everyone thinksthat’s a problem for batters,” hereasoned.
The 68-year-old pointedout that playing in India hasmostly been about tacklingquality spinners and thatEngland may not have donetheir homework properlyahead of the tour.
Weighing in on the debate,the batting great said, “... Butnow you’ve seen the otherside, and this is why I think itwas given the name Test matchcricket, because of the test ofthe mind and will and every-thing else that goes with itwhen you’re competing.
“And the complaints havebeen that the wicket is spin-ning too much and all thatsorts of stuff. This is another
side of the coin guys.“People seem to forget that
if you’re going to India, youshould expect that. You aregoing to spin land. You shouldbasically prepare yourself toknow what you’re going toencounter.”
Richards said that Indiahave pushed England out oftheir comfort zone, weeks afterthe visitors started the serieswith a big win.
“Ever since that first Testmatch, England were in theircomfort zone. They have nowbeen taken out of their comfortzone at present and they havegot to find ways and means tocope with what they are going
to encounter.“Spin is also a part of the
game, this is what a Test matchbrings. The Indian pacers havebeen brilliant over the past fewyears in terms of substance, thewicket-taking ability and stufflike that.”
The legend urged theEnglish team to work harderand face the challenge resolute-ly.
“...Now that you’re in India,you are going to encounterthings and have got to find away. You’re going to get dirty.There is nothing in the rulebook that says I’ve got to scoremy runs in pretty, classicalways,” he said.
London: England on Mondayappointed former openerMarcus Trescothick as the newbatting coach of the nationalteam, besides roping in JonLewis and New Zealand’s JeetanPatel as bowling and spin bowl-ing coaches on permanentbasis.
These three are part of thefour new appointments toEngland’s coaching set-up,which is being headed by chiefcoach Chris Silverwood.
Trescothick will take overfrom Jonathan Trott, whoreplaced South African JacquesKallis in the ongoing tour.Kallis had played the role of abatting consultant for Englandin Sri Lanka.
“...I’m really excited aboutthe calibre of the individualsthat we’ve appointed into thesespecialist roles. Marcus, Jonand Jeetan have demonstratedtheir ability at the highest leveland also show huge potentialfor the future,” ECB perfor-mance director Mo Bobat saidin a statement.
Trescothick, who scoredover 10,000 International runsacross formats between 2000and 2006, is expected to take uphis new role in mid-Marchafter stepping down from hisposition as assistant coach atSomerset. PTI
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New Delhi: Australian greatSteve Waugh feels that ViratKohli is like a “modern-dayhero” who represents the “newattitude of India” of takingeverything head on with amind set of nothing is impos-sible.
In a 60-minute documen-tary titled, Capturing Cricket:Steve Waugh in India, the for-mer Australia captain said thatKohli is loved by the fans for hisattitude of not being intimidat-ed by an opposition.
“What they love aboutKohli is that it’s like the newattitude of India, get stuck in,don’t be intimidated. Takeeverything on and anything isachievable and possible. But he’slike the modern-day hero,”Waugh was quoted as saying ina media release after the launchof the documentary.
The documentary capturesthe very essence and undyinglove for the game in Indiathrough the lens of Waugh andis brought by discovery+. PNS
Australian all-rounder GlennMaxwell is chuffed about
playing alongside and learningfrom Virat Kohli in the upcom-ing IPL, calling the Indian cap-tain “the pinnacle of the game”for his dominance across for-mats. The Kohli-led RCB boughtMaxwell, who was released byPunjab Kings, for a whopping�14.25 crore at the auctions lastmonth.
“It’s (RCB stint) going to benext level,” Maxwell toldAustralian Associated Press. “He’s(Kohli) been the pinnacle of thegame for a while as a multi-for-
mat player from Tests all the wayto T20s. “He’s been able toadapt his game, dominate for along period of time and dealwith the Indian pressure ofbeing their captain and their bestplayer,” Maxwell added.
The Indian Premier Leagueis scheduled to start in the sec-ond week of April and theswashbuckling all-rounderhopes to pick up some leader-ship qualities from the Indianskipper, who will also beMaxwell’s captain at RCB.
“I’m looking forward towatching him go about hiswork, not just in games but intraining, and hopefully tappinginto some of the leadershipstuff and try and learn off him.”
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