M umbai terror attack mas- termind and Jamat-ud- Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed was on Thursday sentenced to ten years in jail by an anti-ter- rorism court in Pakistan in two more terror financing cases. Saeed, a UN designated terrorist whom the US has placed a USD 10 million boun- ty on, was arrested on July 17 last year in the terror financing cases. He was sentenced to 11 years in jail by an anti-terror- ism court in February this year in two terror financing cases. The 70-year-old JuD chief is lodged at Lahore’’s high- security Kot Lakhpat jail. “The Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) of Lahore on Thursday sentenced four JuD leaders, including its chief Hafiz Saeed, in two more cases,” a court official told PTI. Saeed and his two close aides — Zafar Iqbal and Yahya Mujahid — have been sen- tenced to ten and a half years each, while JuD chief’s broth- er-in-law Abdul Rehman Makki was sentenced to six months imprisonment. “Judge Arshad Hussain Bhutta of ATC Court No. 1 heard the case filed by the Counter Terrorism Department in which the verdict has been announced after the statements of witnesses were cross-exam- ined,” the official said. A total of 41 cases have been registered by the CTD against the JuD leaders, out of which 24 have been decided while the rest are pending in the ATC courts. Four cases have been decided against Saeed so far. Thursday’s sentencing comes weeks after Paris-based global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog - the Financial Action Task Force — retained Pakistan on its grey list till February 2021 as Islamabad failed to fulfil the agency’’s six key obligations, including failure to take action against two of India’’s most wanted terrorists — Saeed and Maulana Masood Azhar. Saeed-led JuD is the front organisation for the Lashkar-e- Toiba (LeT) which is responsi- ble for carrying out the 2008 Mumbai attack that killed 166 people, including six Americans. The US Department of the Treasury has designated Saeed as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. He was listed under the UN Security Council Resolution 1267 in December 2008. The FATF had placed Pakistan on the grey list in June 2018 and asked Islamabad to implement a plan of action to curb money laundering and terror financing by the end of 2019 but the deadline was extended later on due to COVID-19 pandemic. With Pakistan’’s continua- tion in the ‘’grey list’’, the coun- try may find it difficult to get financial aid from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the European Union, thus fur- ther enhancing problems for the cash-strapped nation. I n the wake of surge in coro- navirus cases in the nation- al Capital, the AAP Government braced itself for the occasion and on Thursday it announced several measures, including a steep 2,000 fine for not wearing masks, reservation of 80 per cent ICU beds in pri- vate hospitals, doubling testing centres in every district and postponement of non-critical surgeries at health facilities. In the all-party meeting held on Thursday, all political parties have agreed to collec- tively serve the people of Delhi keeping their political differ- ences aside, said Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Private hospitals have also been directed to increase the percentage of non-ICU Covid- 19 beds from 50 per cent to 60 per cent. The Government will increase the number of RT- PCR test to 27,000 a day in Delhi and MBBS students and interns will be engaged to tack- le the Covid-19 situation. Addressing an online media briefing, Kejriwal said the fine for not wearing masks has been raised from 500 to 2,000. The hard line by the AAP Government comes days after Kejriwal repeatedly appealed to Delhiites to wear masks amid a surge in coron- avirus cases. He announced the slew of measures after meeting Lt- Governor Anil Baijal and apprising him of the decisions taken by the AAP Government. He also appealed to political , social and religious organisa- tions to distribute masks among people saying masks very much reduce the chances of coronavirus infection. Arrangements are being made for over 1,400 ICU beds, including 663 in Delhi Government hospitals and 750 at a Central Government facil- ity, Kejriwal said, adding 7,500 normal and 446 ICU beds are currently available for Covid- 19 patients in Delhi. Continued on Page 2 Ahmedabad: Ahmedabad has imposed night curfew from 9 pm to 6 am after coronavirus cases kept rising in the city. The curfew will come into effect from Friday and will stay on indefinitely. The city in Gujarat report- ed a total of 46,022 till Tuesday. New Delhi: Expressing confi- dence that a Covid-19 vaccine will be ready in the next three- four months, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Thursday said the Government has drawn up a meticulous pri- ority plan with healthcare workers and those above 65 years on top of the list. A mid frequent controversy over alleged politicisation of Central probe agencies, the Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) cannot take up an investigation with- out a State Government’s con- sent. The court also said the Centre cannot extend the agency’s jurisdiction to a State without permission either. “As per law, State consent is a must and the Centre cannot extend CBI jurisdiction with- out the State’s consent. The law is in tune with the federal structure of the Constitution,” the court said on a petition by officials accused in a corrup- tion case in Uttar Pradesh. Accusing the CBI of car- rying political witch-hunt on behalf of the Centre, eight Opposition-ruled States — Rajasthan, Bengal, Jharkhand, Kerala, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Punjab and Mizoram — have withdrawn consent for CBI probes in their States. Referring to the Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act that regulates the CBI, Justices AM Khanwilkar and BR Gavai said, “ Though Section 5 enables the Central Government to extend the powers and jurisdiction of members of the DSPE (CBI) beyond the Union Territories to a State, the same is not per- missible unless, a State grants its consent for such an exten- sion within the area of State concerned under Section 6 of the DSPE Act. Obviously, the provisions are in tune with the federal character of the Constitution, which has been held to be one of the basic structures of the Constitution.” The apex court’s verdict was on appeals challenging a judgment passed by the Allahabad High Court in August 2019 in a case involv- ing Fertico Marketing and Investment Private Limited. The CBI had conducted a surprise raid in the factory premises of Fertico and found that the coal it had bought under the Fuel Supply Agreement with Coal India Limited was allegedly sold in the black market. The CBI had registered a case. Continued on Page 2 A mid the continuing stand- off at the Line of Actual of Actual Control (LAC), the Government on Thursday signed a loan agreement worth $500 million with the Shanghai-based New Development Bank (NDB) to fund part of the Delhi- Ghaziabad-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) Project to boost connectivity between Delhi and Meerut in Uttar Pradesh. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affair, Ministry of Finance (MoF), National Capital Region Transport Corporation Limited, and Chief Operations Officer Xian Zhu from NDB side, signed the loan agreement. The loan has a tenure of 25 years with an eight-year grace period. Approval from the NDB — a multilateral devel- opment bank established by the BRICS countries — for the loan came after a board meeting on September 29. Earlier in September, the Centre had taken another loan of $500 million to fund the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS corridor. The Government also plans to bor- row from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). Both NDB and AIIB are headquartered in China. The funds will be used to finance rolling stock, signalling system, operational structures, residences for operational staff, train control and telecommu- nication system, among other works. Executed by the National Capital Region Transport Corporation, the 82 km-long corridor is estimated to cost $3.7 billion. The total project cost is estimated at $3,749 million, which will be financed by the NDB ($500 million), Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank ($500 mil- lion), Asian Development Bank ($1,049 million), Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction ($3 mil- lion), and Government and Other sources ($1,707 mn). The RRTS project stretch- es over a distance of 82km between Delhi and Meerut and once ready, high-speed trains will run between the corridor reducing the travel time. The elevated corridor will have 24 stations, and of the 82 km dis- tance, 11.5 km will be under- ground. Continued on Page 2 T he Government has decid- ed to reserve five MBBS seats under the Central pool for wards of Covid-19 warriors for the academic year 2020-2021. Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said the move aims to honour the noble con- tribution made by Covid-19 warriors who have lost their lives due to the infection or died on account of Covid-19 related duty. The Health Ministry has introduced a new category, “Wards of Covid Warriors”, in the guidelines for selection and nomination of candidates against central pool MBBS seats. The selection will be made by the Medical Council Committee (MCC) through online application on the basis of rank obtained in the NEET- 2020 conducted by National Testing Agency. Vardhan said, “This will honour the solemn sacrifice of all Covid warriors who served with selfless dedication for the cause of duty and humanity.” Noting that the definition of “Covid warrior” has been laid down by the Government while announcing the insur- ance package of Rs 50 lakh for them, the Minister said, “Covid warriors are all public health- care providers including com- munity health workers, who may have to be in direct con- tact and care of Covid-19 patients and who may be at risk of being impacted by this.” “Private hospital staff and retired/volunteer/ local urban bodies/contracted/ daily wage/ad-hoc/ outsourced staff requisitioned by States/Central hospitals/autonomous hospitals of Central/States/UTs, AIIMS and Institutes of National Importance (INIs)/ hospitals of Central Ministries drafted for Covid-19-related responsibili- ties are all included,” he added. J D(U) leader Mewa Lal Chaudhary, whose appoint- ment as the Education Minister of Bihar despite a corruption taint had brought the Nitish Kumar Government under heavy Opposition fire, resigned on Thursday barely hours after taking charge. Soon after assuming charge, Chaudhary expressed dismay over the controversy and told journalists that he was neither convicted by a court nor named in any chargesheet filed by the investigating agency in connection with irregulari- ties that allegedly took place at an agriculture university a few years ago while he was its vice chancellor. His resignation was accept- ed by Governor Phagu Chauhan on the recommenda- tion of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, and Ashok Choudhary, who holds building construc- tion and other portfolios, has been asked to take the addi- tional charge “till further orders”. “I was nowhere directly involved in the appointments. As the VC, I was only the Chairman of the experts’ com- mittee which was entrusted with the recruitments. Moreover, no court of law has held me guilty nor has any chargesheet been filed against me,” said Chaudhary, who is understood to have been sum- moned by the chief minister twice before he agreed to step down. Continued on Page 2 C old winds blowing from snow-capped western Himalayas brought down the minimum temperature in the national Capital to 9.4 degrees Celsius on Thursday morning, three notches below normal and the lowest of the season. Delhi had recorded a low of 10.6 degrees Celsius on Wednesday. The IMD had earlier pre- dicted a drop in the minimum temperature in Delhi as cold winds have started blowing from hilly regions, which have witnessed a fresh bout of snow- fall. The minimum tempera- ture this month, barring on November 16, has remained 2- 3 degree Celsius below normal in the absence of a cloud cover, according to IMD officials. Normally, the Safdarjung Observatory, which provides representative data for the city, records a minimum of 12.3 degrees Celsius from November 19 to November 21. The average minimum temperature from November 22 to November 26 is 11.3 degrees Celsius, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD). Kuldeep Srivastava, the head of the regional forecasting center of IMD, had earlier said the month of November this year is expected to be the cold- est in the last four to five years. Clouds trap some of the outgoing infrared radiation and radiate it back downward, warming the ground. F our heavily-armed infiltra- tors believed to be the mem- bers of the fidayeen squad (suicide bombers) of Pakistan- based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) were neutralised by the joint team of security forces during a three-hour long fierce gunfight early on Thursday near Ban Toll Plaza on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway. For the first time, the secu- rity forces used flamethrowers to neutralise the terrorists hid- ing behind the rice/sand bags inside the “mobile bunker” of a Kashmir-bound truck. A huge consignment of arms and ammunition, includ- ing 11 AK-47 rifles, 29 grenades, 3 kg RDX, mobile phones & radio handsets, med- icine and ration supplies were also recovered from the encounter site. Two jawans of the special operations group of Jammu & Kashmir Police namely Sgct Mohd Ishaq Malik and Ct Kuldeep Raj received injuries. Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha visited Government Medical College Jammu to enquire about their wellbeing. The terrorists were obvi- ously sent on a special mission to execute a bigger terror plot ahead of the District Development Council polls beginning November 28 in J&K. J&K Director General of Police Dilbagh Singh said the forces have foiled an attempt made by the Pakistan-based terrorist outfit to sabotage peaceful conduct of District Development Council polls. Continued on Page 2
Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeedwas on Thursday sentenced toten years in jail by an anti-ter-rorism court in Pakistan in twomore terror financing cases.
Saeed, a UN designatedterrorist whom the US hasplaced a USD 10 million boun-ty on, was arrested on July 17last year in the terror financingcases. He was sentenced to 11years in jail by an anti-terror-ism court in February this yearin two terror financing cases.
The 70-year-old JuD chiefis lodged at Lahore’’s high-security Kot Lakhpat jail.
“The Anti-TerrorismCourt (ATC) of Lahore onThursday sentenced four JuDleaders, including its chiefHafiz Saeed, in two morecases,” a court official told PTI.
Saeed and his two closeaides — Zafar Iqbal and YahyaMujahid — have been sen-
tenced to ten and a half yearseach, while JuD chief ’s broth-er-in-law Abdul RehmanMakki was sentenced to sixmonths imprisonment.
“Judge Arshad HussainBhutta of ATC Court No. 1heard the case filed by theCounter Terrorism Departmentin which the verdict has been
announced after the statementsof witnesses were cross-exam-ined,” the official said.
A total of 41 cases havebeen registered by the CTD
against the JuD leaders, out ofwhich 24 have been decidedwhile the rest are pending inthe ATC courts. Four caseshave been decided against
Saeed so far.Thursday’s sentencing
comes weeks after Paris-basedglobal money laundering andterrorist financing watchdog -the Financial Action Task Force— retained Pakistan on itsgrey list till February 2021 asIslamabad failed to fulfil theagency’’s six key obligations,including failure to take actionagainst two of India’’s mostwanted terrorists — Saeed andMaulana Masood Azhar.
Saeed-led JuD is the frontorganisation for the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) which is responsi-ble for carrying out the 2008Mumbai attack that killed 166people, including sixAmericans.
The US Department of theTreasury has designated Saeedas a Specially DesignatedGlobal Terrorist. He was listedunder the UN Security Council Resolution 1267 inDecember 2008.
The FATF had placedPakistan on the grey list in June2018 and asked Islamabad toimplement a plan of action tocurb money laundering andterror financing by the end of2019 but the deadline wasextended later on due toCOVID-19 pandemic.
With Pakistan’’s continua-tion in the ‘’grey list’’, the coun-try may find it difficult to getfinancial aid from theInternational Monetary Fund(IMF), World Bank, AsianDevelopment Bank (ADB) andthe European Union, thus fur-ther enhancing problems forthe cash-strapped nation.
�������������� 54$��402.
In the wake of surge in coro-navirus cases in the nation-
al Capital, the AAPGovernment braced itself forthe occasion and on Thursdayit announced several measures,including a steep �2,000 fine fornot wearing masks, reservationof 80 per cent ICU beds in pri-vate hospitals, doubling testingcentres in every district andpostponement of non-criticalsurgeries at health facilities.
In the all-party meetingheld on Thursday, all politicalparties have agreed to collec-tively serve the people of Delhikeeping their political differ-ences aside, said Delhi ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal.
Private hospitals have alsobeen directed to increase thepercentage of non-ICU Covid-19 beds from 50 per cent to 60per cent. The Government willincrease the number of RT-
PCR test to 27,000 a day inDelhi and MBBS students andinterns will be engaged to tack-le the Covid-19 situation.
Addressing an onlinemedia briefing, Kejriwal saidthe fine for not wearing maskshas been raised from �500 to�2,000. The hard line by theAAP Government comes daysafter Kejriwal repeatedlyappealed to Delhiites to wearmasks amid a surge in coron-avirus cases.
He announced the slew ofmeasures after meeting Lt-Governor Anil Baijal andapprising him of the decisionstaken by the AAP Government.He also appealed to political ,social and religious organisa-tions to distribute masksamong people saying masksvery much reduce the chancesof coronavirus infection.
Arrangements are beingmade for over 1,400 ICU beds,including 663 in DelhiGovernment hospitals and 750at a Central Government facil-ity, Kejriwal said, adding 7,500normal and 446 ICU beds arecurrently available for Covid-19 patients in Delhi.
Continued on Page 2
Ahmedabad: Ahmedabad hasimposed night curfew from 9pm to 6 am after coronaviruscases kept rising in the city.
The curfew will come intoeffect from Friday and will stayon indefinitely.
The city in Gujarat report-ed a total of 46,022 till Tuesday.
New Delhi: Expressing confi-dence that a Covid-19 vaccinewill be ready in the next three-four months, Union HealthMinister Harsh Vardhan onThursday said the Governmenthas drawn up a meticulous pri-ority plan with healthcareworkers and those above 65years on top of the list.
of Central probe agencies, theSupreme Court on Wednesdayruled that the Central Bureauof Investigation (CBI) cannottake up an investigation with-out a State Government’s con-sent. The court also said theCentre cannot extend theagency’s jurisdiction to a Statewithout permission either.
“As per law, State consent isa must and the Centre cannotextend CBI jurisdiction with-out the State’s consent. The lawis in tune with the federalstructure of the Constitution,”the court said on a petition byofficials accused in a corrup-tion case in Uttar Pradesh.
Accusing the CBI of car-rying political witch-hunt onbehalf of the Centre, eightOpposition-ruled States —Rajasthan, Bengal, Jharkhand,Kerala, Maharashtra,Chhattisgarh, Punjab andMizoram — have withdrawnconsent for CBI probes in theirStates.
Referring to the DelhiSpecial Police Establishment(DSPE) Act that regulates theCBI, Justices AM Khanwilkarand BR Gavai said, “ ThoughSection 5 enables the CentralGovernment to extend thepowers and jurisdiction ofmembers of the DSPE (CBI)beyond the Union Territories toa State, the same is not per-missible unless, a State grantsits consent for such an exten-sion within the area of Stateconcerned under Section 6 ofthe DSPE Act. Obviously, theprovisions are in tune with thefederal character of theConstitution, which has beenheld to be one of the basicstructures of the Constitution.”
The apex court’s verdictwas on appeals challenging ajudgment passed by theAllahabad High Court inAugust 2019 in a case involv-ing Fertico Marketing andInvestment Private Limited.
The CBI had conducted asurprise raid in the factorypremises of Fertico and foundthat the coal it had boughtunder the Fuel SupplyAgreement with Coal IndiaLimited was allegedly sold inthe black market. The CBIhad registered a case.
Continued on Page 2
� �� 54$��402.
Amid the continuing stand-off at the Line of Actual of
Actual Control (LAC), theGovernment on Thursdaysigned a loan agreement worth$500 million with theShanghai-based NewDevelopment Bank (NDB) tofund part of the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RegionalRapid Transit System (RRTS)Project to boost connectivitybetween Delhi and Meerut inUttar Pradesh.
The Ministry of Housingand Urban Affair, Ministry ofFinance (MoF), NationalCapital Region TransportCorporation Limited, andChief Operations Officer XianZhu from NDB side, signed theloan agreement.
The loan has a tenure of 25years with an eight-year graceperiod. Approval from theNDB — a multilateral devel-opment bank established by theBRICS countries — for the loancame after a board meeting onSeptember 29.
Earlier in September, theCentre had taken another loan
of $500 million to fund theDelhi-Ghaziabad-MeerutRRTS corridor. TheGovernment also plans to bor-row from the AsianInfrastructure Investment Bank(AIIB). Both NDB and AIIBare headquartered in China.
The funds will be used tofinance rolling stock, signallingsystem, operational structures,residences for operational staff,train control and telecommu-nication system, among otherworks. Executed by theNational Capital RegionTransport Corporation, the 82km-long corridor is estimatedto cost $3.7 billion. The totalproject cost is estimated at$3,749 million, which will befinanced by the NDB ($500million), Asian InfrastructureInvestment Bank ($500 mil-lion), Asian Development Bank($1,049 million), Japan Fundfor Poverty Reduction ($3 mil-lion), and Government andOther sources ($1,707 mn).
The RRTS project stretch-es over a distance of 82kmbetween Delhi and Meerut andonce ready, high-speed trainswill run between the corridorreducing the travel time. Theelevated corridor will have 24stations, and of the 82 km dis-tance, 11.5 km will be under-ground.
Continued on Page 2
� �� 54$��402.
The Government has decid-ed to reserve five MBBS
seats under the Central pool forwards of Covid-19 warriors forthe academic year 2020-2021.
Union Health MinisterHarsh Vardhan said the moveaims to honour the noble con-tribution made by Covid-19warriors who have lost theirlives due to the infection ordied on account of Covid-19related duty.
The Health Ministry hasintroduced a new category,
“Wards of Covid Warriors”, inthe guidelines for selectionand nomination of candidatesagainst central pool MBBSseats.
The selection will be madeby the Medical CouncilCommittee (MCC) throughonline application on the basisof rank obtained in the NEET-2020 conducted by NationalTesting Agency.
Vardhan said, “This willhonour the solemn sacrifice ofall Covid warriors who servedwith selfless dedication for thecause of duty and humanity.”
Noting that the definitionof “Covid warrior” has beenlaid down by the Governmentwhile announcing the insur-
ance package of Rs 50 lakh forthem, the Minister said, “Covidwarriors are all public health-care providers including com-munity health workers, whomay have to be in direct con-tact and care of Covid-19patients and who may be at riskof being impacted by this.”
“Private hospital staff andretired/volunteer/ local urbanbodies/contracted/ dailywage/ad-hoc/ outsourced staffrequisitioned by States/Centralhospitals/autonomous hospitalsof Central/States/UTs, AIIMSand Institutes of NationalImportance (INIs)/ hospitals ofCentral Ministries drafted forCovid-19-related responsibili-ties are all included,” he added.
���� /1 51
JD(U) leader Mewa LalChaudhary, whose appoint-
ment as the Education Ministerof Bihar despite a corruptiontaint had brought the NitishKumar Government underheavy Opposition fire, resignedon Thursday barely hours aftertaking charge.
Soon after assumingcharge, Chaudhary expresseddismay over the controversyand told journalists that he wasneither convicted by a courtnor named in any chargesheetfiled by the investigating agencyin connection with irregulari-ties that allegedly took place atan agriculture university a few
years ago while he was its vicechancellor.
His resignation was accept-ed by Governor PhaguChauhan on the recommenda-tion of Chief Minister Nitish
Kumar, and Ashok Choudhary,who holds building construc-tion and other portfolios, hasbeen asked to take the addi-tional charge “till furtherorders”.
“I was nowhere directlyinvolved in the appointments.As the VC, I was only theChairman of the experts’ com-mittee which was entrustedwith the recruitments.Moreover, no court of law hasheld me guilty nor has anychargesheet been filed againstme,” said Chaudhary, who isunderstood to have been sum-moned by the chief ministertwice before he agreed to stepdown.
Continued on Page 2
�������������� 54$��402.
Cold winds blowing fromsnow-capped western
Himalayas brought down theminimum temperature in thenational Capital to 9.4 degreesCelsius on Thursday morning,three notches below normaland the lowest of the season.Delhi had recorded a low of10.6 degrees Celsius onWednesday.
The IMD had earlier pre-dicted a drop in the minimumtemperature in Delhi as coldwinds have started blowingfrom hilly regions, which have
witnessed a fresh bout of snow-fall. The minimum tempera-ture this month, barring onNovember 16, has remained 2-3 degree Celsius below normalin the absence of a cloud cover,according to IMD officials.
Normally, the SafdarjungObservatory, which providesrepresentative data for the city,records a minimum of 12.3
degrees Celsius from November19 to November 21.
The average minimumtemperature from November22 to November 26 is 11.3degrees Celsius, according tothe India MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD).
Kuldeep Srivastava, thehead of the regional forecastingcenter of IMD, had earlier saidthe month of November thisyear is expected to be the cold-est in the last four to five years.
Clouds trap some of theoutgoing infrared radiationand radiate it back downward,warming the ground.
��%���� �%���� %15� 300/0161��51��3 1��71��-
Four heavily-armed infiltra-tors believed to be the mem-
bers of the fidayeen squad(suicide bombers) of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad(JeM) were neutralised by thejoint team of security forcesduring a three-hour long fiercegunfight early on Thursdaynear Ban Toll Plaza on theJammu-Srinagar NationalHighway.
For the first time, the secu-rity forces used flamethrowersto neutralise the terrorists hid-ing behind the rice/sand bagsinside the “mobile bunker” ofa Kashmir-bound truck.
A huge consignment ofarms and ammunition, includ-ing 11 AK-47 rif les, 29grenades, 3 kg RDX, mobilephones & radio handsets, med-icine and ration supplies werealso recovered from theencounter site.
Two jawans of the specialoperations group of Jammu &Kashmir Police namely SgctMohd Ishaq Malik and CtKuldeep Raj received injuries.Lieutenant Governor ManojSinha visited GovernmentMedical College Jammu to
enquire about their wellbeing.The terrorists were obvi-
ously sent on a special missionto execute a bigger terror plotahead of the DistrictDevelopment Council pollsbeginning November 28 inJ&K.
J&K Director General ofPolice Dilbagh Singh said theforces have foiled an attemptmade by the Pakistan-basedterrorist outfit to sabotagepeaceful conduct of DistrictDevelopment Council polls.
appealed to the people of Delhito celebrate Chhath Puja insidetheir homes, so that they arenot exposed to the risk of get-ting infected by Corona.
In the all-party meetingheld on Wednesday, the chiefminister said that in the wakeof a surge in Corona cases inDelhi, all political parties haveagreed to collectively serve thepeople of Delhi by leaving pol-itics aside in this time ofCorona calamity. He also saidthat non-emergency opera-tions in hospitals across Delhiwill be stalled for a few days inthe wake of rising Coronacases.
"“The Delhi government
allocates a separate budget forthis festival to be celebrated inDelhi since we have come intopower. But right now, we aregoing through a pandemic,because of which we are takingthis step. Please celebrateChhath Puja in your home, and
do not celebrate it in publicwater ponds to prevent yourselfand your family from gettinginfected from COVID," he said.
“Experts say the Coronawill be transmitted throughthat water and hundreds ofpeople will get infected. We
have only disallowed celebrat-ing Chhath Puja in a publicwater pond or any water bodyin the open. We have not dis-allowed celebrating ChhathPuja. Let's celebrate ChhathPuja by staying indoors,” hesaid.
The chief minister saidthat even with a huge spike inCorona cases in Delhi, thedoctors, nurses, and all medicalfraternity in Delhi are doing acommendable job for the treat-ment of Corona patients.
Kejriwal said, "To deliber-ate on the situation related toCorona in Delhi, an all-partymeeting was convened today.Some great suggestions werereceived from all the parties,and we will work on imple-menting all the suggestions inDelhi. This is a difficult situa-
tion for Delhiites when Coronais on a surge and this is not thetime to play politics. We haveto keep politics, making polit-ical statements and remarks,and blaming each other aside,since this is the time to servethe people so that we are ableto protect our people fromCorona,” he said.
“The coming generationswill remember us for our ser-vice to the people when Delhiwas going through this difficulttime. All the parties agreed toserve the people of the country,as Delhiites and as Indians. Iam glad that all parties havesupported this,” he said.
Delhi has 7461 beds in allthe government and privatehospitals across the nationalcapital, and around 446 ICUsare available, Kejriwal said,
adding that the government hastaken many significant deci-sions to increase the number ofICU beds in Delhi.
“The reservation of non-ICU beds in private hospitalshas been increased from 50to60 per cent for a few days. Allnon-critical planned surgerieswill be stalled or postponedfor a few days. We will requestthe hospitals in this regard. AsI said yesterday, we willincrease around 663 beds inother Delhi government hos-pitals in the next few days, andthe Central government hasassured us an additional 750beds in the Central govern-ment hospitals, which meansthat we will have around 1413additional ICU beds in thenext few days in Delhi," hesaid.
'� �����'�����������=�2� ���',���������� ��Gurugram: A team of DistrictTown Planner (DTP) carriedout a demolition drive at anillegal 1,500 shanties spreadover five acres of land in resi-dential sectors-58 and 61 hereon Thursday.
The demolition drive wasconducted by the officials of theenforcement wing of the DTPand was carried out underheavy police protection.
Over 100 police officerswere present at the spot to givecover to the officials. There wasa stray incident of stone-pelt-ing allegedly by those living inthe shanties, said District TownPlanner (enforcement) RSBatth, adding that the matterwas quickly resolved by thepolice personnel present at the
spot.They had tried to stop the
demolition drive by settingsome slums on fire but weremanaged by the police forceand the drive was completed till5 p.m.
The police have alsodetained several people in anattempt to obstruct govern-ment work.
"We were receiving sever-al complaints by the residentsof nearby sectors about theseillegal shanties. We will notflourish such illegal activities inGurugram and will soon rec-ommend strict actions againstsuch people who are inten-tionally developing such illegalstructures," Batth said.
IANS
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Amajor cause for concern,the Covid-19 deaths shot
up 154 in Maharashtra onThursday, while the infectionswent up marginally to 5,535 inthe state.
A day after Maharashtralogged 100 deaths and 5,011infections, the deaths rose morethan 50 per cent, while theinfections rose by 524.
With 154 fresh infections,the Covid-19 toll inMaharashtra mounted from46,202 to 46,356. Similarly, with5535 fresh infections, the totalinfected cases jumped from17,57,520 to 17,63,055.
As 5860 more people were
discharged from various hospi-tals the number of people dis-charged from the hospitals afterfull recovery since the secondweek of March this year went upto 16,35,971 The recovery ratein the state rose marginallyfrom 92.75 per cent to 92.79 percent.
Of the 154 deaths reported,Solapur accounted for a maxi-mum of 25 deaths, followed by17 deaths each in Thane andPalghar, 12 each in Mumbai andSatara, and 11 deaths in Pune.
In the lower range, therewere 8 deaths in Nashik, 7 inNagpur, 6 in Amravati, 5 inChandrapur, 4 each inNandurbar and Nanded, 3 eachin Jalgaon, Aurangabad and
Yavatmal, 2 each inAhmednagar, Kolhapur, Sangli,Sindhudurg, Latur, Akola andone death each in Osmanabad,Beed, Washim and Bhandara. Inaddition, one from outside thestate died in Maharashtra.
With 12 fresh deaths, theCovid-19 toll in Mumbaiclimbed from 10,615 to 10,627,while the infected cases rose by924 to trigger a jump in theinfections in the metropolisfrom 271,531 to 272,455.
Meanwhile, the number of“active cases” total cases rosefrom 80,221 to 79,738.. Thefatality rate in the state stood at2.63 per cent.
Pune district, which con-tinued to be the worst-affected
city-district in Maharashtra,saw the total number of casesincrease from 3,43,213 to 3,44,002, while the total number ofdeaths in Pune increased from7195 to 7206.
Thane district remained inthe third spot --after Pune andMumbai – after the total num-ber of infections rose from2,32,411 to 2,33,169, while thepandemic toll climbed from5406 to 5423. Currently,5,60,868 people are in homequarantine while 4284 peopleare in institutional quarantine.
In a related development,out of 99,65,119 samples sent tolaboratories, 17,63,055 havetested positive (17. 69cent) forCOVID-19 until Thursday.
Indian Railways has completedthe 'Request for Qualifications'
(RFQ) evaluations for 'PublicPrivate Partnership' (PPP) inpassenger train operations pro-ject.
The railways ministry saidthat out of 120 applications, 102applications have been found eli-gible to participate in the RFPstage.
Ministry of Railways (MOR)had invited RFQ for privateparticipation in operation ofpassenger train services over 12clusters comprising for morethan 150 origin destination pair
of routes through introduction of151 modern trains.
"This is the first major ini-tiative of attracting private invest-ment for running Passengertrains over railway network. Theproject would entail private sec-tor investment of about Rs30,000 crores," it said.
The private entities forundertaking the project wouldbe selected through a transpar-ent two-stage competitive bid-ding process comprising ofRequest for Qualification (RFQ)and RFP, it said.
The RFQ for 12 clusterswere published on 01 July 2020.The applications were opened on
October 7, 2020, the applicationdue date. MoR has receivedexcellent response.
"In all 120 applications havebeen received for the 12 Clusters,from 16 applicant firms. Clusterwise details of the applicationsreceived are attached herewith,"it added.
The ministry has complet-ed the evaluation of Applications.Out of 120 applications, 102applications are found eligible toparticipate in the RFP stage. "Theresults of evaluation of applica-tions are attached herewith. TheRFP documents will be madeavailable to the qualified appli-cants very soon," it added.
named in an FIR lodged in2017 pertaining to allegedirregularities in appointmentof assistant teachers and juniorscientists at the BiharAgriculture University inBhagalpur district.
Known to be close to theJD(U) boss, he was appointedas the VC when the varsity wasestablished in 2010 and fiveyears later, following expiry ofhis tenure, got elected fromTarapur Assembly seat on aparty ticket which he retainedin the recently held elections.
Chaudhary was also askedabout stinging criticism byformer Deputy Chief MinisterSushil Kumar Modi, who wasthen in the opposition and hadstrongly demanded actionagainst the Tarapur MLA inconnection with the corrup-tion case.
“I think he was misled bysome people,” said Chaudharyabout his mentor’s trustedlieutenant Sushil Kumar Modiwho has been replaced by twolesser known BJP leaders TarKishore Prasad and RenuDevi.
He expressed anguish oversuspicions being raised insome quarters over the deathof his wife Neeta who suc-cumbed to injuries sustainedin a gas cylinder explosion lastyear. “I am going to send legalnotices to those who arespreading canards against me.I will seek damages worth Rs50 crore,” he fumed.
Chaudhary’s wife had rep-resented Tarapur in 2010-15.
After he retained the seatfor the second consecutiveterm, he was sworn in as amember of the cabinet onMonday and allocated theeducation portfolio a day later.
TV footage ofChaudhary’s official residenceshowed hundreds of bouquetsand sweet packets lying in theforecourt, with only a handful
of supporters roaming aboutdesultorily.
Meanwhile, RJD leaderTejashwi Yadav, who had beentargeting the newly installedGovernment overChaudhary’s induction, cameout with angry tweets over the‘isteefe ka naatak’ (the dramaenacted around the resigna-tion).
“Respected Chief Minister,we have the people’s mandateto keep you on your toes...justone resignation is not enough.We shall be taking on you overissues like 19 lakh jobs and payparity for contractual workers.Jai Bihar, Jai Hind,” Yadavtweeted in Hindi.
“Had I not said that youhave become tired and, there-fore, lost your power of judge-ment? You got a corrupt manappoin
ted as minister, allowedhim to take charge despite somuch of condemnation andthen got a drama enactedaround his resignation. Youare the real culprit...you will nolonger be allowed to get awaywith your duplicity,” Yadavsaid in a series of tweets.
JD(U) MLC andspokesperson Neeraj Kumar,who was a Minister in the pre-vious Government, however,said Chaudhary’s resignationwas “yet another proof ofNitish Kumar’s zero tolerancefor corruption”.
“I would now like RJDleader Tejashwi Yadav to takea leaf out of our leader’s book.He and his family are neckdeep in corruption cases.Hence, he must not remain theleader of the Opposition,” theJD(U) leader said.
From Page 1Two State officials were
also found to be involved in thecase. The officials had arguedthat the general consent givenby the State Government wasnot enough and separate per-mission was required if theywere to be investigated.
The Allahabad High Courthad noted that the UttarPradesh Government hadretroactively granted consentagainst the two Governmentofficials, who were later namedin a charge-sheet, and that wassufficient.
Confirming the HighCourt order, the SupremeCourt on Wednesday said, “Inthe result, we find no reason tointerfere with the finding of theHigh Court with regard to notobtaining prior consent of theState Government.”
Several Opposition-ruledStates have withdrawn gener-al consent to the CBI to inves-tigate cases, alleging that theBJP-led Government at theCentre is misusing the agencyto harass political opponents.
The move means the CBIcannot carry out investiga-tions in these States withoutseeking permission every time.
From Page 1“From today we have
implemented the decision toreserve 80 per cent ICU beds inall private hospitals for Covid-19 patients. It will increase ICUbed availability by 300-400 forcoronavirus patients in Delhihospitals,” he said.
The percentage of normal,non-ICU beds reserved in pri-vate hospitals for coronapatients, are being increasedfrom 50 per cent to 60 per centtill the peak of the pandemic isthere, he said.
Hospitals have also beenasked to postpone non-criticalplanned surgeries for the timebeing, he added.
The national Capital haswitnessed a spurt in coronaviruscases since October 28, whenthe daily rise breached the5,000-mark for the first time,and it crossed the 8,000-markon November 11. OnWednesday, the infection tally inDelhi rose to over 5 lakh with7,486 fresh cases reported, while131 new fatalities, the highestsingle-day death count till date,took the toll to 7,943.
According to Kejriwal, hereceived assurance of coopera-
tion from various political par-ties at an all-party meeting onthe Covid-19 situation in Delhi.He said that he urged them todistribute face masks to savepeople from the infection.
After the meeting, rulingAAP MLA Saurabh Bharadwajsaid the Delhi Government willincrease the number of RTPCRtests conducted daily fromaround 18,000 to 27,000 and theChief Minister will also meetmarket associations if any deci-sion is taken on shutting downmarkets. Bharadwaj said hesuggested that market associa-tions should be given a chanceto present their views and takeprecautionary measures tocheck the spread of the virus.
Kejriwal also appealed tothe people not to celebrateChhath puja at ponds and otherwater bodies, saying it couldcause a widespread infection.
“Even if one Covid-19infected person enters the waterduring Chhath Puja, all othersmight get infected by the virus,”he said, adding his Governmentis being forced to restrictChhath Puja celebrations atriver banks, ponds and otherpublic places due to the threat
of the infection. Meanwhile, the Delhi
Government directed all districtmagistrates to take steps todouble the number of testingcentres in their respective dis-tricts immediately.
The order issued by theDelhi Health Department alsosaid manpower required forthe new testing centres “may behired from open market, ifrequired”.
“It has been observed thatthe number of Covid-19 casesare increasing in Delhi and “toensure early detection and sub-sequent isolation of the Covid-19 infected patients, it is felt nec-essary to enhance the Covid-19testing capacity”, the order said.
Authorities in the cityhave allowed all coronavirusfacilities of the Governmenthere to engage MBBS studentsin fourth and fifth years, internsand others to assist doctors onduty at a fixed honorarium.
Meanwhile, the number ofavailable ICU beds equippedwith ventilators is shrinkingfast at several hospitals here,with zero vacancy at nearly 60facilities.
According to the online
Corona dashboard of the DelhiGovernment at 12:30 pm onThursday, only 131 COVID-19ICU beds were available out of1,362 such beds at various facil-ities here.
There was no vacancy atRajiv Gandhi Super SpecialityHospital (RGSSH), Max hospi-tal’s facilities at Saket, Patparganjand Shalimar Bagh, Batra hos-pital, Fortis hospital’s facilities atShalimar Bagh and Vasant Kunjand Fortis Escorts HeartInstitute, and VenkateshwaraHospital in Dwarka, amongothers, as per the data.
The RGSSH, a dedicatedcoronavirus facility under theDelhi Government, has 200ICU beds with ventilators, alloccupied, while at the LNJPHospital, another dedicatedfacility, only seven such bedswere available out of 200 at12:30 pm.
On Wednesday, the Centresaid the Railways will be pro-viding coaches with 800 beds.The Delhi DisasterManagement Authority onWednesday reverted to the ear-lier cap of 50 guests at marriagefunctions instead of 200 allowedthrough its October 31 order.
From Page 1He said, “We were receiving regular
inputs about the possibility of infiltrationby a group of terrorists from across theborder to smuggle arms and ammunitionahead of the DDC polls in Jammu &Kashmir.
“In order to prevent them from dis-turbing peace in the region, we had also
beefed up and alertedour security checkpointsalong the JammuSrinagar NationalHighway to prevent anyterror strike,” the DGPadded.
Soon after theencounter was called off,a team of officers fromthe NationalInvestigation Agency(NIA) visited the sitenear Ban Toll Plaza. Theteam members interact-ed with some of the offi-cers present during theoperation and gatheredfeedback.
The forensic sam-ples were also lifted bythe different teamsbefore the traffic wasallowed to ply on thebusy highway. The NIAis expected to take overthe probe in the caseonly after the receipt ofa formal order.
Terror revisited thespot after a gap of morethan nine long months.
Earlier, three JeM terrorists too wereneutralised during a gunfight at the samelocation on January 31, 2020.
Vehicular traffic on the busy highwayremained disrupted for over six hours. Thecommuters were allowed to ply vehiclesonly after the security forces completed theroutine drill of sanitising the encounter sitepast 11 am. Addressing a Press conferencehere at the police control room in Jammu,Inspector General of Police Jammu rangeMukesh Singh said, “The group of terror-ists were pushed inside the Indian terri-tory ahead of the DDC polls to carry outsome bigger plans”.
Sharing details of the successful oper-ation Singh said at about 5 am duringchecking at Ban Toll Plaza a truck bear-ing No. JK01AL-1055 was checked duringwhich the driver tried to flee away and theterrorists hidden in the truck opened fireon the police party.
The IG said the group of terrorists mayhave infiltrated via the InternationalBorder.
According to the official sources, thetruck had passed through a toll plaza inSamba district around 3.44 am beforereaching Ban Toll Plaza. Preliminaryinvestigations have so far revealed that theregistration number Jk01AL 1055 was alsofake.
The same registration number was reg-istered in the name of a goods carrier(Mahindra and Mahindra) in the office ofRTO, Srinagar.
Meanwhile, Jammu & Kashmir Policehas registered an FIR no. 426/2020U/S307,120b, 121,122,123 7/25/27 Arms Act16/18 ULA at PS Nagrota ahead of initi-ating probe in the case.
Official sources said, “Due to thestrong anti-infiltration grid established bythe Indian security forces, Pakistan isunable to infiltrate terrorists and weaponsinto the Valley to increase violence levels”.
They said, “Pakistan ISI has been givenan ultimatum to push in maximum infil-trators along with weapons into Kashmirbefore onset of winters, when the under-growth/bushes in most infiltration proneareas will die down due to dew and snow-fall”. “Pakistan based terrorist GroupJaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) is based atBahawalpur in Pakistan and is exploitingthe International Boundary area in Punjab-Jammu sector to push in maximum ter-rorists,” official sources said.
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From Page 1Civil construction work
on the project is in full swingover a 50km stretch betweenSahibabad in Ghaziabad andShatabdipuram in Meerut.The 17-km long priority sec-tion between Sahibabad andDuhai is scheduled to com-mence operations in 2023and the entire corridor will beoperational in 2025. Threecorridors are enlisted in thefirst phase - Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut, Delhi-Gurugram-Alwar and Delhi-Panipat.They will converge at SaraiKale Khan in Delhi and willbe interoperable.
The RRTS stations will beseamlessly integrated withnearby transport modes suchas Metro Stations, ISBTs, rail-way stations, and airports.
This clean and green rail-based system will set a bench-mark for similar future pro-jects. Lack of efficient optionsfor public transport and rapidgrowth in vehicle traffic havemade the National CapitalRegion one of the most pol-luted regions in the world. By2030, NCR is projected to bethe most populous urbanareas in the world, which willincrease pressure on housing,water supply, electricity andtransport facilities.
Notably, Indian con-sumers have mostly stayedaway from purchasing China-made products this festiveseason. According to aLocalCircles survey, 71 percent of local consumers didnot purchase goods that car-ried a ‘Made in China’ tag.
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GOVERNMENT OF CHHATTISGARH, WATER RESOURCES DEPARTMENT
OFFICE OF THE CHIEF ENGINEER
MAHANADI GODAWARI BASIN
RAIPUR (C.G.)
e-PROCUREMENT TENDER NOTICE
eProcurement Portal: https://eproc.cgstate.gov.in
(1st CALL)
System Tender No.: 69140/NIT No. : 12/SAC/2020-21 Durg Dated: 13.11.2020
Online Tenders are invited for the following works up to 07.12.2020 at 17.30HourName of work: CONSTRUCTION OF NAWAGAON-PURDA ANICUT
CUM CAUSEWAY ON SONBARSA NALLA IN BLOCKDHAMDHA OF DISTRICT BEMETARA (DURG)
Probable Amount of Contract :- Rs. 366.60 LakhsThe details can be viewed and downloaded online directly from the
Government of Chhattisgarh Integrated e-Procurement Portal(https://eproc.cgstate.gov.in) from Date 23.11.2020, at 17.31 Hours.(IST)onwards.NOTE:- All eligible/intrested contractors/bidders are mandated to get enrolledon the Integrated e- procurement portal (https://eproc.cgstate.eov.in) and getapproval on specific vendor class from PWD under CentralizedContractor/Supplier Registration in order to download the tender docu-ments and participate in the subsequent bidding process.
Sd/-Executive Engineer
Tandula Water Resources Division, Durg (C.G.)R.O. No:- 85006/12 For, Chief Engineer, Mahanadi Godavari BasinR.O. Date:- 17/11/2020 Raipur (C.G.)
class’ that preaches moral val-ues to the students. Instead, itfocuses on developing themindset of the students toadopt the values in their every-day attitude and behavior,”Delhi Deputy Chief MinisterManish Sisodia said while par-ticipating in an online paneldiscussion on ‘systematic socialemotional learning’ of the hap-piness curriculum by HarvardGraduate School of Education(HGSE) during its interna-tional education week to cele-brate the successful imple-mentation of ‘happiness class-es’ across Delhi Governmentschools.
The panel line-up includ-ed Professor FernandoReimers, Ford FoundationProfessor of Practice inInternational Education atHGSE, Dr Anil Teotia,Chairperson of the HappinessCommittee and Richa Gupta,co-founder of LabhyaFoundation, who moderatedthe discussion.
During the discussion, on
being asked to share his visionfor developing this curriculum,Sisodia said, “I’m just a politi-cian who thinks education isthe only way to reform society,and I believe that politiciansshould work as facilitators ofeducation through better edu-cation."
“Education is the only toolavailable that can reform thesociety, and give us a societythat we all dream of,” Sisodiasaid. He added that education,globally, is being used to fillunemployment gaps and lessenpoverty, but it still doesn’taddress more human prob-lems that the society faces.
“So far, successful educa-tion models around the worldhave been producing profes-sionally sound people, but notemotionally sound people.Happiness curriculum workstowards building a confidentand a holistic mindset towardscaste, creed, and religion so thestudents become more self-aware, and open towards eachother,” Sisodia said.
The discussion furtherlooked at understanding theneed for social emotional learn-ing (SEL) programs across sys-
tems around the world. Sisodiasaid, “Happiness Curriculumprovides the toolkit for the chil-dren to scientifically observetheir emotions and understandthem. It's the science of emo-tions because once students areable to understand and recog-nise their emotions well, theywill grow up to become betterhuman beings”.
“The role of happiness cur-riculum then becomes criticalin developing the mindset ofthe students as well as theteachers in adopting these eth-ical values in their behaviour.The students should be pre-pared coming out of schoolready to live in the world as life-long learners,” Sisodia said.
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In a major breakthrough inthe murder case of woman
that had taken place onNovember 3, the Crime Branchunit of the Sector-40 police sta-tion have arrested three dread-ed criminals. The accused hadallegedly shot the victim dur-ing a failed robbery bid, thepolice said.
According to the police, thearrested accused persons wereinvolved in more than 100cases of looting, snatching andArms Act. A Maruti Swift carhas also been recovered fromtheir possession.
The accused have beenidentified as Irshad alias Goluof Nuh, Jitender alias Jeetu, thekingpin of Narnaul inMahendragarh and Hariomaka Kuldeep of Datia district inMadhya Pradesh.
Police said Jitender was ahabitual chain snatcher andserved jail term in the past.
The accused was arrestedon Wednesday from Dev Nagarcolony in Bhondsi village afterspecific inputs received by the
investigation team."During questioning the
accused disclosed that onNovember 3 they were on theirbike and later on they inter-cepted Hyundai Creta car onGolf Course extension road torob the car occupants but thewoman who was driving thecar tried to speed away follow-ing which they shot the womanand fled the spot," said PreetPal Sangwan, ACP (crime).
The accused also revealedthat they just wanted to rob thecar occupants but unfortu-nately, the bullet hit thewoman.
The crime took place onthe southern peripheral road(SPR) near Sector-65 at around11.15 pm on November 3.When she was traveling alongwith her friend SagarManchanda (29) in his
Hyundai Creta.She worked as an MNC
executive in a private firm andManchanda, a software engi-neer, was his colleague.
She was allegedly shot bythree unidentified assailantsin a bid to snatch her HyundaiCreta car and died onNovember 5 during treatmentat a private hospital inGurugram.
A team from the Sector-65police station was probing thematter along with the crimebranch of sector-40.
"During investigation theinvestigation team had alsoscanned around 500 CCTVfootage of several locationsbut didn't get clear pics of theculprits,' Sangwan said.
The police said that theaccused usually targeted peo-ple at isolated stretches and
conducted recce of the areabefore targeting their victims.
"In this murder case theaccused used a motorcyclewith a fake number plate. Theyhad visited the spot in their carsoon after the shooting incidentto look after the woman thatshe had survived. They werewatching TV news channelsand reading newspaper papersto get updates about the case,"said Gunpal, Incharge crimeunit Sector-40.
"The accused had evenshot dead one of their friendsGaurav on Diwali night atShivaji Nagar in Gurugramfollowing an old enmity, hesaid.
"The culprits were pro-duced before a local court onThursday and which sent themfour days' police remand.During interrogation, thepolice will try to recover themurder weapon used in thecrime. Further probe is on," theIncharge, added.
The police had registered acase of murder (302), Arms Act25 (1-B)(A) and commonintention (34) of the IPC atSector-65 police station.
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The Economic OffencesWing (EOW) of Delhi
Police has arrested six direc-tors of a company for alleged-ly cheating people to the tuneof Rs 42,000 crores by induc-ing them in a ponzi scheme‘Bike Boat’.
The accused have beenidentified as Vijay Pal, RajeshSingh Yadav, Haresh Kumar,Vinod Kumar, Vishal Kumarand Sanjay Goel and they arerunning in judicial custody inGautam Budh Nagar in UttarPradesh (UP). Police said thatthey have been placed underarrest by the EOW after per-mission from the Court.
According to Dr O PMishra, the JointCommissioner of Police,EOW, several victims had
filed complaint against SanjayBhati and other of GarvitInnovative Promoters Limitedregarding cheating of approx-imately Rs 42,000 Crore.
“It is alleged that theaccused persons have inducedthe victims to invest Rs.62,000 for a bike and toreceive Rs. 9500 monthlyincluding principle and rentalincome on bike for one year.Due to lucrative offer ofalleged, number of victimsinvested and in January 2019,alleged company launchedElectric-Bike scheme andoffered to deposit Rs. 1.24 lacsfor a Bike and to receive Rs.17000/per month till one year.Initially alleged had repaid theassured amount but after win-ning confidence of investors,they absconded,” said the JointCP.
“During investigation, the
account details of the allegedcompany were obtained and areply from the RBI was alsoreceived, where it was revealedthat alleged company was notregistered with RBI as a NBFCand was not authorized to col-lect money from public,” saidthe Joint CP.
“Around 8000 com-plainants against the allegedcompany are Delhi based andtheir cheated amount isapprox 250 Crore. From theinvestigation conducted, num-ber of properties worth Rsseveral hundred crores havebeen found and investigationon the same is in progress. Itfurther revealed thatDirectorate of EnforcementLucknow Zonal office is alsoinvestigating this issue andnumber of cases are registeredin Noida and other States,” headded.
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The Customs Department hasrecovered around Rs 3 crore of
Customs Duty from threeimporters who misutilised notifi-cation of various exemptions issuedduring Covid-19 pandemic by theCentral Board of Indirect Taxes andCustoms (CBIC).
According to a senior Customsofficial, the Export PromotionCircle (EPC) under Customsdepartment received a tip-off inFaridabad regarding an importerwho was misutilising the notifica-tion.
“Acting on the tip-off an EPCteam was dispatched for the spotwho found that the importer wasimporting battery chargers whichare not exempted in the notifica-tion. Around 33 lakhs were recov-ered from the importer as Customsduty,” said the official.
“In another case, a 100 per centEOU manufacturer-importer wasprocuring the goods at nil rate ofduty after taking benefit of exemp-tion while the imported goodswere being cleared 'as such' fromthe factory premises with short pay-ment of Customs duty,” said the
official.“On being pointed out by
Customs officers the importer hasdeposited an amount of Rs 31.54Lakhs towards payment of CustomsDuty. Further, enquiry is still goingon and approximately duty amountof Rs 300 lakhs appears to beinvolved in the matter,” said the offi-cial.
“In the third case, the importerwas procuring the imported goodson nil rate of duty after taking ben-efit of exemption. As informed bythe importer, the goods procured bythem had got lost due to fire at theirfactory premises, therefore, theimporter had applied for remissionof duty under section 23 ofCustoms Act, 1962,” said the offi-cial.
“The case was scrutinized bythe officers of customs EPC and itwas noticed that the goods inquestion were not entitled forremission of duty in accordancewith Section 23 of the Customs Act,1962. The same was pointed out tothe importer who has now deposit-ed an amount of Rs 234.67 lakhstowards payment of Customs Duty,”said the official.
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Delhi Deputy Chief MinisterManish Sisodia on
Thursday announced that theregistration and renewal ofconstruction workers with theconstruction board will bedone through a door-stepdelivery programme.
Sisodia said that the servicebegins from today on '1076'helpline number and no con-struction worker will have tostand in long queues at gov-ernment offices now.
The deputy chief ministersaid that it is the Delhi gov-ernment’s priority to ensure theconstruction workers in Delhireceive all benefits of the gov-ernment’s various welfareschemes.
“The workers can now justdial the number 1076, and saythat they're a constructionworker in Delhi, and want toget registered for Delhi gov-ernment’s schemes. A govern-
ment executive will go to theworker’s home at a suitabletime, and the documents willbe uploaded there. It will beapproved online and the appli-cant will receive the acknowl-
edgement SMS and a call con-firming his registration” Sisodiasaid.
Addressing the media,Delhi Secretariat, Sisodia saidthat construction workers' wel-fare cess is collected from con-struction companies, and thisamount is used for the welfare
of construction workers. Toavail this amount, a construc-tion worker needs to be a reg-istered worker with the board,he added.
Sisodia further said that hehas taken this step after seeingthese workers standing trou-bled for hours in the long
queues during his recentinspection visit to the DistrictLabour offices.
“Due to the complexprocess of registration andrenewal, middlemen illegallyended up taking anythingbetween Rs. 1,000 to Rs. 2,000from the labourers in the nameof filling up their forms.Moreover, the workers had torepeatedly go to the labor officeon several days and spendhours in the queues which ledthem to lose their daily wages,”he said. Furthermore, after theapplication, the worker had togo to the labour office for ver-ification and often had to takeleaves from their work. Toease this process, the DelhiGovernment has started thedoorstep delivery of registra-
tion and renewal of workersfrom Thursday.
Sisodia said that now withjust a phone call, a member ofthe Delhi government will visitthe worker’s house, fill theirdocuments, in addition touploading those documentsand photos of the workersonline. The worker has to payRs. 25 and a service charge ofRs 50.
Sisodia also said that awatchman at construction sites,plumbers, carpenters, electri-cians, fitters, welders, shutter-ing workers, pump operators,bar winders, and crane opera-tors are also categorized asconstruction workers.
The registered workers canavail an amount of anythingbetween Rs 35,000 to Rs.
51,000 for their child’s mar-riage. Some of the provisions,he talked about such as healthbenefits of 2000 to 10000 andmaternity benefit of up to Rs30000, monthly pension of Rs3,000 for workers over the ageof 60, compensation of twolakh in case of accidental death,one lakh in case of naturaldeath, Rs 10,000 for coveringthe costs of funeral, and onelakh as disability cover.Additionally, monthly scholar-ships ranging from 500 to Rs10,000 are also given for aworker’s child’s education.
“Until now, only 1,11,000workers have been registered inDelhi even though Delhi has anestimate of 10 lakh construc-tion workers working in thecity,” he said.
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AAP MLA Atishi onThursday said that the Air
Quality Panel set up by theCentre to monitor Delhi's air pol-lution situation has neither anoffice space nor a personal officeof the chairperson or any officestaff.
The AAP leader said thatthis shows the reluctance of theCentral Government towardsthe issue of combating air pol-lution. Atishi said that the AAPdemands that the Central Gov-ernment should immediatelyprovide office space to the panelchairperson and also provideoffice staff for smooth action.
"In the view of the recentpollution condition in Delhi theCentral government has formeda high power committee on28th October. The central gov-ernment got an ordinance signedby the president and aCommission For Air QualityManagement in Delhi NCR andadjoining areas was formed. Thecommission, therefore, wasformed because the CentralGovernment is also cognizant ofthe fact that the factors causingpollution in Delhi are external.For the same, exclusive jurisdic-tion was given to this commit-tee to take action on the same.This panel can direct the stategovernment, state pollution con-trol boards and also the CentralPollution Control Board," sheadded.
"With the increasing num-ber of stubble burning cases inPunjab and Haryana there wasa deepening in the air quality ofDelhi. At the same time, with thenumber of stubble burning casesgoing down the air quality ofDelhi improved. In view of thissituation, we demanded thatthis panel should take immedi-ate action against the CMs ofPunjab and Haryana. Wedemanded that because the chiefministers of Punjab Haryana didnot take any steps to stop stub-ble burning in their states anddid not adopt the Pusa institute’sbio-decomposer technique tostop stubble burning, actionsmust be taken against the CMs."
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The Dialogue andDevelopment Commission
of Delhi of the DelhiGovernment and YuWaah, aUNICEF- initiated multi-stake-holder global platform, signeda Memorandum ofUnderstanding (MoU) onThursday to work together oninitiatives to empower theyouth with skills and jobopportunities, starting withthe strengthening of RozgaarBazaar portal that waslaunched in July this year.
Delhi Deputy ChiefMinister Manish Sisodia said,“This partnership has risenfrom political will and is anopportunity to help the youthlive a meaningful and produc-tive life which contributes tothe society and the nation.”
“The two biggest chal-lenges that the country is fac-ing right now is joblessness andCOVID19. While the worldwaits for the COVID19 vac-
cine,
t h eproblem of job-lessness is not going to besolved by a simple vaccine,”Sisodia said.
Deputy Chief MinisterManish Sisodia said, “Toaddress this, we need to cometogether through concentratedefforts, such as the collabora-tion we have signed betweenthe Delhi Government andYuWaah. I look forward to animpactful collaboration andleveraging the expertise ofYuWaah and UNICEF towardsmaking the Rozgaar Portal atruly robust one-stop solutionfor young people looking forjobs.”
The deputy chief ministerfurther said this at the MoUsigning at the Delhi Secretariat,
and added that through suchnew initiatives, the govern-ment is constantly working onfinding solutions to unem-
ployment to providebetter for the youth ofthe city.
The MoU wassigned by Jasmine Shah,Vice Chairperson,
Dialogue and DevelopmentCommission of Delhi and DrYasmin Ali Haque, UNICEFIndia Representative, in thepresence of Manish Sisodia.
UNICEF/YUWaah willalso look at supporting DelhiG o v e r n m e n t ’ s‘Entrepreneurship MindsetCurriculum’. The two will joint-ly organise live entrepreneurinteractions, support effortson apprenticeship opportuni-ties, and work together on thecareer guidance portal for stu-dents in classes from class nineto 12, along with potential toengage in supporting the Skillsand EntrepreneurshipUniversity in Delhi.
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Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal visitedthe Deen Dayal Upadhay (DDU) hos-
pital of the Delhi Government on Thursdayto review the preparedness of the hospitalin wake of a surge in Covid cases in Delhiand applauded the doctors and nurses andthe medical fraternity in Delhi for effectivelymanaging the Covid situation in Delhi.
Kejriwal thanked the medical team ofthe DDU Hospital for increasing the num-ber of ICU beds from 50 to 100 beds. Hesaid that the Delhi Government is trying tocombat the situation on a war footing, andvisiting hospitals individually to increase thenumber of ICU beds.
Briefing the media, Kejriwal said, “I metwith the medical director and doctors atDDU and I am extremely thankful to themfor agreeing to increase the capacity of ICUbeds dedicated for covid patients from 50to 100. The medical staff in Delhi hospitalshas been instrumental in effectively man-aging the situation at hand so far. However,owing to the sudden surge in cases, therehas been a shortage of ICU beds. We are try-ing to combat the situation with war foot-ing, and visiting hospitals individually toincrease the number of ICU beds, and in
this endeavor, we are receiving constant sup-port from the medical staff and doctors.”
Responding to the query regarding themeeting with the home minister regardinghelp from Delhi Government to increaseICU beds, he said “Home Minister had saidthat by Monday evening, 250 beds will beprovided to us. Subsequently, on Tuesdayanother 250 beds will be provided. Around750 ICU beds, 500 beds with a ventilator,and 250 beds without ventilators will beallocated to us. We are still waiting but I’mhopeful that we will meet him soon. It’s myhumble appeal to him to provide the bedsat the earliest since it’s an emergency rightnow.”
IIT Delhi has been rated asthe most employable uni-
versity in the country as per theGlobal Employability Rankingand Survey of GEURS 2020. Ina comprehensive report on theperformance of the universitiesof various countries, India hasshown a commendableincrease in overall employabil-ity, rising to number 15 posi-tion, vis a vis its 23rd rank in2010.
“Employability Rankings2020: Glad to share that Indiahas been featured among thetop 15 countries with univer-sities producing the mostemployable graduates. Indiahas improved its ranking from23 in 2010 to 15 in 2020,”Education Minister Ramesh
Pokhriyal tweeted.In a study published by
French HR Consultancy groupEmerging and Times HigherEducation, while USUniversities continued toremain in the top spot, manyuniversities of other countrieshave shown a tremendousimprovement in employabili-ty over the last decade. Amongthe best-performing countriesare Germany, China, andSouth Korea. India too hasincreased the number of uni-versities in the Top 250 rank tofind it on 15th rank, which isan improvement of 8 placesover the last decade.
As for individual universi-ties, IIT Delhi climbed 27ranks from 54th in 2019 to27th in 2020. The only otherIndian university – Indian
Institute of Science, Bangalorehas slid from Rank 43 in 2019to Rank 71 in 2020. IITBombay has also made anentry in the Top 150 at num-ber 128, an improvement of 25places from 2019’s rank of153.
IIT Kharagpur and AmityUniversity have made a freshentry into Top 250 Rankingsthis year with IIT Kharagpur at195 and Amity at 236th rank.
As for the global list,California Institute ofTechnology or CalTech unseatsHarvard University to clinchthe Top spot as the latterslipped to number 3 this year.Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology also gained a rankfrom third to second rank thisyear. US Universities claimed7 spots in the top 15 mostemployable universities rank-ing. Australian NationalUniversity has gained 14 placesto enter the fold at number 15from its 29th rank in 2019.
While the rankings con-tinue to show a steady numberof US Universities, overall theuniversities in both US and UKhave shown a decline in the last10 years.
The country score of theUS has fallen by 51 per cent inthe last 10 years. The UKslipped from the second rankto the fourth position in termsof best-performing countriesfor employability with a 46 percent drop in its country score.
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The Union Health Ministryon Thursday deputed four
separate high-level Centralteams to Haryana, Rajasthan,Gujarat and Manipur to takestock of the Covid-19 situationthere as it feared infectionspillover effects particularly inthe National Capital Region inview of sharp surge inCoronavirus cases in Delhi.
Overall cases in Delhi hascrossed 5 lakh figure, the lastone lakh cases reported in justlast 15 days. Number of fatali-ties in the national capital isalso on rise with experts warn-ing that cases and deaths mightincrease further in the comingdays because of the negligenceof Covid-norms by the publicduring the ongoing festivalsand holidays.
Randeep Guleria, Directorof the All India Institute ofMedical Sciences (AIIMS), isleading the three-member teambound for Harayana; NitiAayog member (health), V.K.Paul, is heading the Rajasthanteam; NCDC Director, S.K.
Singh, will beleading theGujarat team;w h i l eA d d i t i o n a lD D G ,D i r e c t o r a t eGeneral ofHealth Services,L. Swasticharan,
is heading the Manipur team,said the Ministry in a state-ment.
The teams will visit the dis-tricts reporting high number ofCovid-19 cases and support thestate efforts towards strength-ening containment, surveil-lance, testing, infection pre-vention, control measures andefficient clinical managementof the positive cases.
The Central teams shallalso guide in effectively man-aging the challenges related totimely diagnosis and follow-up.
“As an ongoing effort tostrengthen the efforts of vari-ous state and UT Governmentsfor Covid management, theCentre has been deputingCentral teams from time totime to visit various states andUTs.
“These teams interact withthe state and UT authoritiesand get a firsthand under-standing of the challenges andissues being faced by them soas to strengthen their ongoingactivities and remove the bot-tlenecks, if any,” the Ministrysaid.
Thursday expressed confidencethat the Covid-19 vaccine wouldbe ready in the next three-fourmonths and that the priority toprovide the same will be givento health-care workers andcorona warriors followed byelderly and disease-prone peo-ple.
The Minister was address-ing the FICCI FLO webinar on‘’The Shifting HealthcareParadigm During and Post-Covid’’ on Thursday.
“I am confident that theCOVID-19 vaccine will beready in the next three-fourmonths. Priority for the vaccinewill be designed on the basis ofscientific data. Of course, healthcare workers and corona war-riors will naturally be prioritisedfollowed by elderly and disease-prone people. Very detailedplanning is underway for vac-cine dissemination. An e-vac-cine intelligence platform hasbeen created to discuss theblueprint for the same. Trackingand tracing of the vaccine would
be neck-deep once it’s availablefor the public. Hopefully, 2021should be a better year for all ofus,” the Health Minister said.
Praising the efforts of theCentral government, theMinister said some ‘’very boldsteps’’ were taken to fight thepandemic in the last fewmonths.
“Janta curfew was a veryinnovative and unique experi-ment by our Prime MinisterNarendra Modi. It had nation-wide participation from thecitizens. The decision to imposea lockdown followed by unlock-ing were some bold decisions bythe central government duringthe pandemic. We have handledit very well,” the Minister said.
“The Government has beenvery proactive in its responsetowards this fight. Airports,seaports and land borders were
put under surveillance forCOVID-19 well in time,” headded.
Giving an account of thejourney of the last 11 months,the Minister said India wasamongst the top countries tocontrol the impact of thepathogen in a short duration.
“Initially we faced a short-age of PPE kits, ventilators andN-95 masks. But in a fewmonths time, we were able toexport these things to differentparts of the world. Our scientistsare now well ahead of many oth-ers globally in their research onthe vaccine. In a couple ofmonths, we should be able toproduce a vaccine for theCovid-19 infection.
“Our performance has beenexcellent on every parameter setby the World HealthOrganisation, we have the high-est recovery rate and the leastfatality rate. We have 2,115 lab-oratories in every look and cor-ner of the country for Covidtests. Over 20 lakh dedicatedCovid beds are in place. Itproves that whenever Indiadecides to excel at something, itdoes,” he said.
India’s Covid-19 caseload roseto 89.58 lakh with fresh
45,576 infections, while thenumber of people who haverecuperated from the diseasesurged to over 83.83 lakh push-ing the national recovery rateto 93.58 per cent, according tothe data available from theUnion Health Ministry onThursday.
India’s COVID-19 tally hadcrossed the 20-lakh mark onAugust 7, 30 lakh on August 23and 40 lakh on September 5. Itwent past 50 lakh onSeptember 16, 60 lakh onSeptember 28, 70 lakh onOctober 11 and crossed 80 lakhon October 29.
In almost twenty dayssince then, total coronaviruscases mounted to 89,58,483,with 45,576 infections beingreported in a day while thedeath toll climbed to 1,31,578with 585 new fatalities.
The number of active cases
remained below 50,000 for theninth consecutive day.
There are 4,43,303 activecases of coronavirus infectionin the country as on datewhich accounts for 4.95 percent of the total caseload whilethe total recoveries have surgedto 83,83,602, pushing thenational recovery rate to 93.58per cent. The Covid-19 casefatality rate stands at 1.47 percent.
According to the IndianCouncil of Medical Research(ICMR), a cumulative total of12,85,08,389 samples havebeen tested up to November18, of which 10,28,203 sampleswere tested on Wednesday.
The 585 new fatalitiesinclude 131 from Delhi, 100from Maharashtra, 54 fromWest Bengal, 31 from Punjab,30 from Haryana, 29 fromUttar Pradesh, 28 from Kerala,23 from Chhattisgarh and 21from Karnataka.
Total 1,31,578 deathsreported so far in the country
include 46,202 fromMaharashtra, 11,578 fromKarnataka, 11,531 from TamilNadu, 7,943 from Delhi, 7,820from West Bengal, 7,441 fromUttar Pradesh, 6,899 fromAndhra Pradesh, 4,541 fromPunjab and 3,823 fromGujarat.
The Ministry stressed thatmore than 70 per cent of thedeaths occurred due to comor-bidities.
Of the new recoveries,77.27 per cent was contributedby 10 states and Union terri-tories, with Kerala recordingthe most 7,066 people recu-perating from Covid-19 in aday. Delhi registered 6,901recoveries while Maharashtrareported 6,608 new recoveries,according to the Ministry.
Ten states and UnionTerritories have contributed77.28 per cent of the newcases. Delhi reported 7,486cases in 24 hours, Kerala 6,419and Maharashtra 5,011 freshinstances of the infection.
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The CBI has arrested anAssistant Commissioner,
Food & Supply Department,Delhi and a contractualemployee for accepting abribe of �1Lakh from thecomplainant.
A case was registeredagainst the accused AssistantCommissioner, Food &Supply Department, Delhi,Jitender Singh Rathi.
“It was alleged that thesaid public servant demand-ed an amount of Rs 1.5 lakhas illegal gratification forrevoking suspension oflicense of fair price shop ofthe complainant. The CBIlaid a trap and caught theaccused along with a con-tractual employee of the Foodand Supply Department,Delhi while accepting a bribeof Rs One lakh from thecomplainant,” the agency saidin a statement.
Searches are being con-ducted today at the premises
of the accused including atDelhi and both the arrestedaccused will be producedbefore the designated courton Friday.
Meanwhile, the CBI onThursday conducted search-es at 25 places includingGuntur Distr ict andHyderabad at the premises offormer MLA of GurazalaConstituency (AndhraPradesh) and others includingprivate persons in an ongoinginvestigation of a case.
During searches, severalincriminating documents,mobile phones, materialobjects and cash have beenrecovered, it said.
In pursuance of theNotification issued by theGovernment of AndhraPradesh and furtherNotif icat ion issued by DoPT, the CBI had takenover 17 cases of illegal lime-stone mining from CBCID,Andhra Pradesh and regis-tered a case on August 26against 17 accused.
It was alleged that theaccused had fraudulently con-ducted illegal and unautho-rized mining, quarrying andtransportation of limestone inKonanki vi l lage ofPidugural la Mandal,Kesanupalli and Nadikudi villages of Dachepalli Mandal,Guntur district for severalyears and thereby caused rev-enue loss to the Governmentand other licensed lease hold-ers, and also exploited thenatural resources, it said.
“It was further allegedthat i l legal mining of several lakh tonnes of limestone was conducted bythe accused during the peri-od from 2014 to 2018, as aresult of which, naturalresources worth several croreof rupees have been plun-dered, ‘’ the CBI said in astatement.
In order to ascertain thequantum of unauthorized andillegal mining, CBI is alsoconducting volumetric analy-sis by using satellite imagery.
31, next year to UttarakhandGovernment to demolish thefour illegal religious structuresbuilt on public land in Haridwarin view of upcoming ‘KumbhMela’ which is scheduled to beheld in the city from January,2021.
A bench of Justices AshokBhushan, R Subhash Reddy andM R Shah said, “For the reasonsgiven in the application andespecially that ‘Kumbh Mela’ isto commence in 2021 and willend on April 15, 2021, we are ofthe view that the State should bepermitted to demolish the illegalstructures by May 31, 2021”.
Solicitor General TusharMehta, appearing forUttarakhand government, sub-mitted that the State has under-taken to commence proceedingsfor demolition of the four illegal
structures in Haridwar and willremove them by May 31, 2021.
Counsel appearing for inter-venor ‘Akhil Bhartiya AkharaParishad’ submitted that thestructures, which have beenmade, should not be demolished.
He, however, conceded thatthe religious structures havebeen made on the land belong-ing to the State’s IrrigationDepartment but added that thesaid lands were allocated during ‘Kumbh’ period to the‘Parishad’.
The bench said, “Be thatas it may, allotment, if any, istemporary and any perma-nent structure could not havebeen constructed and thesame is to be demolished”.
The four religious struc-tures which are to be demol-ished are of ‘Nirmohi Akhada’,‘Nirmani Adi Akhada’,‘Bhaiyadas Digamber Akhada’and ‘Niranjani Akhada’ atBairagi camp of Haridwar.
objected to the design submit-ted for the stabling yard andsupporting residential facilitiesat Jangpura for the rapid railtransit system (RRTS) con-necting Delhi to Meerut.According to the DUAC, thecurrent layout planning seemsto portray wastage of spacesand does not consolidate usezones for efficient circulation.
DUAC, the statutory bodyresponsible for maintainingaesthetics and environmentaldesign in Delhi, has not
approved the design of stablingyard and supporting residentialfacilities at Jangpura for therapid rail transit system.
“The architectural vocab-ulary of all the residential tow-ers to be the same to maintainharmony and the aesthetics ofthe complex. Currently, thetowers have different vocabu-lary. The balconies need to bescreened appropriately alongwith the provision of screeningof drying clothes. Innovativearchitectural features and mate-rials shall screen dish antennasin the balconies. The parkingfor Tower A, B, C and D to beconsolidated together (by
exploring MLCP etc.) to ensurespace optimisation. Surfaceand road network to be min-imised to reduce heat islandeffect. Also site to be appro-priately landscaped and seam-less pedestrian connections tobe ensured,” the DUAC said inits observation.
It further added that theprovision of air-conditioningunits on the façade is not givenin the proposal ( drawings/3dviews ). The air-conditionerswould be an eye-sore to thebuilding façade. To avoid thesame, provision shall be madein the design to accommodatethe outdoor units, at this stage,
so as not to mar the aesthetics.“All the residential towers
shall be such designed that theyare not scattered and locatedclose to each other. This wouldensure cohesiveness in thedesign. Also, the cost of ser-vices/utilities in the site woulddecrease due to the close place-ment of the building foot-prints. A clear zoning plan is tobe shown. Amenities likeClubhouse, which would beshared facilities, can be locat-ed centrally in the design toensure its equitable use by allusers. The same to be linked byappropriate pedestrian path-ways,” the DUAC said.
For the residential tower A,the DUAC has observed thatparking in stilts to be removedand relocated elsewhere (basement or consolidatedMLCP for all use zones ). Thestilts can then be used as com-munity spaces for residents,and for facilities including toi-lets for guards and servants. Fortower B, the uses on 22ndfloor are not understood asthere is no clear layout plan forfurniture.
The kitchen on the 23rd to28th floor is designed awayfrom the servant’s quarters.They both are suggested to belocated closely to ensure ser-vicing and functionality.
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Union Housing and UrbanAffairs Minister Hardeep
Singh Puri on Thursdaylaunched the ‘SafaimitraSuraksha Challenge’ across 243cities in the country, a movethat aims to mechanise allsewer and septic tank cleaningoperations by April 30 nextyear.
Addressing a webinar on‘World Toilet Day’, Puri said thechallenge is to ensure that nolife of any sewer or septic tankcleaner is ever lost again owingto the issue of “hazardouscleaning”.
The Minister, according toa statement, said this is in linewith Prime Minister NarendraModi’s vision, who has alwaysplaced the safety and dignity ofsanitation workers at the coreof the Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban (SBM-U).
The virtual event saw thechief secretaries, state missiondirectors and other senior stateand union territories comingtogether to take a pledge onbehalf of 243 cities to mecha-nise all sewer and septic tank
cleaning operations by April 30,2021, and gave their commit-ment to work towards pre-venting any deaths from haz-ardous entry, it said.
“The Prohibition ofEmployment as ManualScavengers and theirRehabilitation Act (2013) andvarious judgements of Hon’bleSupreme Court expressly pro-hibit hazardous cleaning, i.e.manual entry into a septictank or sewer without protec-tive gear and observing oper-ating procedures,” the state-ment quoted Puri as saying atthe event.
He said despite this, recur-ring episodes of human fatali-ties among those engaged incleaning of septic tanks andsewers, typically belonging tothe economically disadvan-taged and marginalised com-munities of society, continue tobe an issue of concern. Asmany as 4,337 Urban localbodies (ULBs) have beendeclared open defecation free(ODF) (except 35 ULBs ofWest Bengal), it said. “Besides,over 62 lakhs individual house-hold toilets and over 5.9 lakhscommunity/ public toilets havebeen constructed. Additionally,over 59,900 toilets across 2900plus cities have been madelive on Google Maps,” it added.
In the area of solid wastemanagement, 97 per cent ofwards have 100 per cent door-to-door collection while 67per cent of the total wastegenerated is being processed,the ministry said.
of social media giant Twitter onstand-up comedian KunalKamra’s recent “obscene” tweets
targeting the Supreme Courtand the chief justice of India andsought a reply within sevendays, the panel’s chairpersonMeenakshi Lekhi said onThursday.
This came close on the heelsof Twitter apologising in writing
to the same parliamentary panelfor wrongly showing Ladakh inChina and promising to correctthe error by the month-end.
Twitter India representa-tives deposed before the JointCommittee of Parliament onData Protection Bill on
Thursday.“It is shameful that Twitter
is allowing its platform forobscene remarks like the one bystand-up comedian KunalKamra against the SupremeCourt and the CJI,” Lekhi toldreporters here.
The Congress on Thursdaypaid rich tributes to former
prime minister Indira Gandhion her birth anniversary withRahul Gandhi saying the wholecountry still gives the exampleof her impressive leadership.
Born on 19 November,1917, Indira Gandhi served asPrime Minister from 1966 to1977 and then again from 1980until her assassination in 1984.
“A trailblazer, a visionary, atrue leader and a great daugh-ter of our motherland, IndiraGandhi was much more than aPrime Minister to our citizens;she was the revitalising strengthin their quest for greatness &prosperity. Today, we pay aproud tribute to India’s Indira,”the Congress tweeted from itsofficial Twitter handle.
In a tweet in Hindi, RahulGandhi also paid tributes toIndira Gandhi, calling her anefficient prime minister.
“The whole country stillgives the example of herimpressive leadership, but Ialways remember her as mybeloved grandmother. Herteachings inspire me constant-ly,” the former Congress chiefsaid.
Rahul Gandhi also paidfloral tributes to Indira Gandhiat her memorial ‘Shakti Sthal’here.
Congress’ chief spokesper-son and party general secretaryRandeep Surjewala also paidrich tributes to Indira Gandhion her 103rd birth anniversary.
“Known as the Iron ladyacross the world, the one withdetermination, courage andamazing ability, the first andonly woman Prime Minister ofIndia, Indira Gandhi. My trib-utes to her on her birth anniver-sary,” he said.
The Indian Youth Congressmarked her birth anniversaryby distributing blankets to thepoor and needy in Delhi.
Malda: Five persons were killedand five others critically injuredin a blast in a plastics factoryin West Bengal’s Malda districton Thursday, police said.
The incident took place inSujapur area around 11.30 am,a senior police officer said.
“Four factory workers werekilled on the spot and one wasbrought dead to the hospital.Five others have been critical-ly injured in the explosion thatripped the establishment apart,”he said.
Preliminary investigationhad found that a technicalfault in a heavy machine insidethe factory caused the high-intensity blast, Superintendentof Police Alok Rajoria said.
“The explosion happenedduring plastic manufacturing.We are probing all the anglesand a forensic team will visitthe spot,” he said.
A huge police contingenthas been deployed at the spotto keep the situation undercontrol, the officer said.
The state governmentannounced ex-gratia of Rs 2lakh each for the kin of thedeceased and Rs 50,000 eachfor the injured persons.
Senior TMC leader andstate minister Firhad Hakimhas been sent to the spot to takestock of the situation.
Governor JagdeepDhankhar expressed anguishover the incident and asked
Chief Minister MamataBanerjee to “contain illegalbomb-making” and ensure“professional non-partisaninvestigation”.
“Anguished at deaths inreported blast that rippedestablishment apart at Sujapurarea of Malda district.According to SP five killed &five injured. Time@MamataOfficial to proac-tively contain illegal bombmaking and ensure profes-sional non-partisan investigations @WBPolice,” hetweeted.
Dhankhar also asked theadministration to ensure med-ical assistance to the injured. PTI
There was more haze aroundsenior Bengal Minister and
power Trinamool Congressleader Subhendu Adkary’sfuture political move.
Leaving more suspensearound his political plans,Adhikary, once the Nandigramspearhead of the Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee on Thursdaytold a mass rally unattended byany of the senior TMC leadersthat there were so many polit-ical things which could not bedwelt from within the Cabinet.
“There are so many thingswhich cannot be said when youare still in the Cabinet… and Iam still a Minister and a pri-
mary member of the party …as neither I have been expelledby the Chief Minister nor Ihave left the party on my own,”Adhikary the most powerfulsatrap in the TMC after theChief Minister with a strongorganizational base in morethan one districts apart fromhis own East Midnapore said.
“There can be differencesof opinion which may lead todispute and that may causesplits but till you are in theparty you cannot say some-thing political things whichshould not be said,” he saidreminding how he was “not thecuckoo that sings only duringthe Spring … I am not the onewho enjoys the comfort of my
house. Rather I spend my daysin the political field and I amthe person who never com-promises on questions of pol-icy and ideology.”
A team of senior TMCleaders led by MP Saugato Royhad been holding talks withAdhikary to address his griev-ances that allegedly includethe rising importance of ChiefMinister’s nephew and MPAbhishek Banerjee in theTrinamool’s scheme of things.
Notwithstanding the inter-nal issues, a parallel opinion inthe party says that Adhikary --- who is under scanner inNarada and other chit fundscams --- has been undertremendous pressure from the
BJP to come out of his partyand join the saffron group a laanother very senior formerTrinamool leader Mukul Roy.
Independent posters ofAdhikary who has not attend-ed at least two Cabinet meet-ings in the recent past havebeen appearing in a number ofdistricts including East andWest Midnapore, Bankura,Malda,
Murshidabad and else-where with catch lines saying“We are with our leaderSubhendu Adhikary.”
Meanwhile, reacting to theintra-party imbroglio SaugatoRoy on Thursday said that hehad talks with the rebel minis-ter and “have communicated
his grievances to our party chiefMamata Banerjee. Next weekwe will again sit and talk andthen wait for the decisionstaken by the Chief Minister. Bythe next week things will be getclearer… Till then he is still amember of TrinamoolCongress.”
When asked to commentabout his future political movesregarding the BJP a close asso-ciate of Adhikary said “till youare in a party you the memberof that party … when you willjoin another party you willbecome a member of thatparty… but we can say thatwherever he goes a large num-ber of supporters will move outof the TMC.”
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With both Supreme Courtand Calcutta High Court
refusing to relax curbs on offer-ing Chhath prayers at RabindraSarobar and Subhas Sarobar —two water bodies consideredthe ling of Kolkata — BengalChief Minister MamataBanerjee on Thursday appealedto the devotees to offer theirprayers at alternative sites andnot the protected lakes kept outof bounds by the law courts.
Making a televised appealto the devotees Banerjee askedthem to “Please follow thecourt directives and offer yourprayers at alternative sites.”Like the people followed the
court orders during DurgaPuja and Kali Puja by not vis-iting the pandals “the devoteesof Chhath Puja are alsorequested to go to other pondsand lakes,” Banerjee said.
State Chief SecretaryAlapan Banerjee too appealedto the people saying that 1,300artificial water tanks had beenconstructed by the StateGovernment for offering thePuja. “The Chief Minister hasalso requested the people tooffer their prayers from theirrespective homes or the near-by ponds or the water tanksconstructed by theGovernment but please followthe Court order and stay awayfrom Rabindra Sarovar andSubhas Sarovar.”
Aligarh: BSA LakshmikantPandey terminated the serviceof 5 teachers on the charges ofcontinuously going off-duty inthe school and the violation ofthe posting rules. Amit Kumar,Assistant Teacher of formerSecondary school, Panihawar,has been absent since July 29,2018 without giving anynotice.
Preeti Goyal, an assistantteacher of the primary schoolof Visra development block,has been also going absentsince 1st January 2019 withoutany notice or prior approval.
Similarly, Tarannum, assis-tant teacher of Primary Schoolof Savkara development blockjawan is going absent from 26thJuly 2019 without giving anynotice. PNS
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38 days have passed since theCBI team started the investi-
gation. On November 25, theymust submit a status report inthe High Court. After the festi-val holidays, CBI has started theinvestigation again. The CBIteam re-visited the house of theaccused and questioned the rel-atives. After an hour of ques-tioning, the team called Chhotuto their camp for questioningand sent him back after anhour.
The SIT investigation ofthe Boolgadhi case revealed thenegligence of a home guard ofChandpa police station. On14th September, the home guardleft the victim in the district hos-pital and returned to the policestation. The letter has beenwritten to the government foraction against him.
The SIT formed after thedeath of the girl, submitted theinvestigation report to the gov-ernment, while the CBI investi-gation is still going on. OnSeptember 14, the girl wasattacked in village Boolgadhi.Mother, brother and other rel-atives brought her to Chandpapolice station. From there shewas sent to the district hospital.
The SIT investigationrevealed that the home guardShivkumar had taken her to thedistrict hospital from where shewas referred to JN MedicalCollege Aligarh. The homeguard did not go to Aligarh withher and returned to Chandpapolice station without informingher family members. He did noteven wait for the ambulance toleave. The SIT has recom-mended action on the homeguard, considering it to be insen-sitive.
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Following the leak of a voice mes-sage by Swapna Suresh, one of the
kingpins in the gold smuggling scamand LIFE Mission kickbacks that shewas under pressure from investiga-tion agencies to name Chief MinisterPinarayi Vijayan as a beneficiary ofthe scams, the CPI(M) in Kerala haslaunched a multi-pronged attackagainst the Centre on Thursday.
“The Centre, shocked over theprogress made by the LDFGovernment in implementing peo-ple’s welfare measures, is making useof various Central investigation agen-cies to target the popular ChiefMinister Pinarayi Vijayan and to sub-vert the development works carriedout by the State Government. Theinvestigating agencies are acting as thehand maidens of the Congress andthe BJP,” said a Statement released bythe CPI(M) to the media on
Thursday.The immediate provocation
behind the volte-face by the Marxistsis the reported voice messageallegedly belonging to SwapnaSuresh in which the woman chargedthat she was being pressurized by theinvestigating agencies to name thechief minister as the beneficiary inall the scams so that she couldescape from all charges as anapprover.
Rishiraj Singh, the director gen-eral of police (prisons) asked the StatePolice Chief Lok Nath Behra, to ordera thorough probe into the voice mes-sage and how it reached a news por-tal. The Inspector General of Prisonsheld a preliminary enquiry byinspecting the jail where Swapna isundergoing judicial custody.
She also charged that the inves-tigating agencies viz NIA, ED andCustoms which had interrogatedher in various cases never showed her
or read out to her the copies of thestatements they submitted to thecourt.
It was Chief Minister Vijayan’sletter to Prime Minister NarendraModi in early July that resulted in theinvestigation into the gold smugglingscam and other cases were handedover to central agencies. Vijayan hadsaid that since gold smuggling wasa pan India affair with global rami-fications, it would be better if the cen-tral agencies investigate the cases. Butit led to the opening of a pandora’sbox as many bigwigs with closelinks to the CPI(M) and the chiefminister got arrested in the process.
Meanwhile, Thomas Issac,finance minister, said that theComptroller and Auditor General’sReport on Kerala InfrastructureInvestment Board Fund (KIIBF) waspolitically motivated and it’s missionwas to derail the development activ-ities in the State.
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New Delhi:The Indian Institute ofManagement, Indore (IIM, Indore) hasreceived the fifth rank in theEduniversal Rankings 2020 and thirdrank in the 4 Palmes of ExcellenceCategory in the Central Asia Region—under the top business school with sig-nificant international influence.
The awards were announced at theannual Eduniversal 3-D WorldConvention (EWC) 2020
Every year, during the EWC, theEduniversal Awards Ceremony recog-nises the Top 3 Business Schools fromeach of the nine geographical zones.These zones include Africa, CentralAsia, Eurasia and Middle East, Far EastAsia, Latin America, North America,Eastern Europe, Western Europe andOceania. The rankings are based on the
results from the academic peers whoparticipated in the annual Deans’ Votesurvey.
‘We’re delighted to be on Rank 5 inthe Eduniversal Rankings 2020, withthird position in the 4 Palmes ofExcellence category. Now we will aimto get into the 5 Palmes category’, saidProfessor Himanshu Rai, Director, IIMIndore.
IIM Indore is the second institutein the country with a Triple Crown toreceive the three prestigious interna-tional accreditations—AMBA, AACSBand EQUIS.
“We already have more than 35 for-eign collaborations and we look forwardto providing contextually relevant andworld class academics to our partici-pants,” he added. PNS
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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Thursday unveiled
the 23rd edition of theBengaluru Tech Summit 2020in virtual mode through video-conferencing from New Delhiamid the Covid pandemic.
Leveraging the digital tech-nology, Modi also addressedthe gathering in this tech cityand in virtual world, whichincluded Australian PrimeMinister Scott Morrison andSwiss Confederation vice-pres-ident Guy Parmelin.
“Thanks to digital tech-nology, India has been able toscale up faster in the servicedelivery to people across thecountry. Even during theCovid-19 pandemic, the gov-ernment has been able to help
citizens through AyushmanBharat for medical assistanceefficiently thanks,” said Modi inEnglish.
Recalling that the Uniongovernment had started theDigital India initiative 5 yearsago to transform a citizen's lifein terms of ease of work andservice delivery, the primeminister said the flagship pro-gramme had become a way oflife in the country.
“Our resilient technologyindustry was able to overcomedifficulties caused by the pan-demic and enabled employeesto work from home and fromanywhere. This has become anew norm and is going to stay.We will see a high amount oftech adoption in education,agriculture and other sectors,”asserted Modi.
Bengaluru: Union IT andCommunications MinisterRavi Shankar Prasad onThursday said the Governmentwas very keen to promoteIndia as a very big centre of thedata economy and wouldfinalise a data protection lawvery soon. “I''m very keen topromote India as a very bigcentre of the data economy.Data is going to drive the dig-ital economy. It is also going todrive international commerce,”he said.
Addressing the BengaluruTech Summit, 2020 (BTS2020)virtually, he said India produceshuge data and the digitalecosystem, like mobile phones
and Aadhaar, is producingdata. “We are going to finalisea data protection law verysoon. India is waiting for itsmovement for data economy,data innovation, data refinery.I would urge the Chief Minister(of Karnataka) to ensure thatthe state becomes a great cen-tre of India''s data economy,” headded.
Organised by the Karnatakagovernment,along withKarnataka Innovation andTechnology Society, the stategovernment''s Vision Group onInformation Technology,Biotechnology & StartUp andSoftware Technology Parks ofIndia, the summit, that saw the
inaugural address by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, isscheduled to take place fromNovember 19 to 21.
Prasad said even during thepandemic the communicationssector witnessed a growth ofover seven per cent and alsoreceived significant investmentsfrom major global companies.
“It is a challenging time andwe decided to convert it into anopportunity. The global manu-facturing world was lookingtowards alternative destinations.In view of India''s enormous suc-cess in mobile manufacturing,we came up with a big idea ofproduction linked incentive,”he said. PTI
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Sending out a stern warningto Pakistan Indian Army
Chief General Manoj MukundNaravane Thursday saidwhosoever crosses the Line ofControl to infiltrate into Indiawould be dealt with in the samemanner and would not be ableto go back.
The Army Chief heapedpraise for the troops who car-ried out the operation againstterrorists hiding in a truck. Hesaid that there was a great dealof synergy between the Army,Jammu and Kashmir Policeand paramilitary troopsdeployed there.
“This was a very successfuloperation by the security forces.It shows the high degree of syn-ergy between all the securityforces operating on theground,” General Naravanesaid.
“The message is very clearfor the adversary and terroriststhat whosoever tries to infil-trate towards our side would bedealt in the same manner andthey would not be able to goback,” he added.
The Army Chief was askedto comment on the operationin Nagrota in which four ter-rorists were killed. The four ter-rorists are suspected to bemembers of the Jaish-e-Mohammed.
The ruling Shiv Sena founditself in an embarrassing
situation on Thursday, as oneof its activists NitinNandgaonkar ordered theowner of the famous sweetsshop “Karachi Sweets” atBandra (west) in north-westMumbai to change the estab-lishment’s name from“Karachi” to some Marathiname.
However, Shiv Sena MPand spokesperson Sanjay Rautnipped the brewing controver-sy by disassociating the partyfrom Nandgaonkar’s actthrough a tweet.
“Karachi bakery andKarachi sweets have been inMumbai since the last 60 years.They have nothing to do with
Pakistan. It makes no sense toask for changing their namesnow. Demand for changingtheir name is not Shiv Sena'sofficial stance,” Raut tweeted.
Raut’s tweet came after avideo put out by Nandgaonkarshowing him ordering theowner of “Karachi Sweets”shop at Bandra (west) to eitherchange the name or remove theword “Karachi” from the shop’sname and replace it with someMarathi name, went viral in thesocial media.
In the video, Nandgaonkaris heard telling the “KarachiSweets” shop owner: “InMumbai and Maharashtra,there cannot be any shop withKarchi. Having the word`Karachi' in the name of theshop gives an impression thatyou are supporting Karachi
and Pakistan from where theterrorist activities are plannedagainst India. Our soldiers arekilled because of Pakistan’sactivities. ... If you want to bein Maharashtra, the wordKarachi has no place”.
“We are not bothered if youare a Hindu or Muslim… Thename Karachi is a problem, andyou cannot use it here… It is aplace of terrorism and no busi-ness should be carried in thename of Karachi,”Nandgaonkar told the shopowner.
“You may have migratedfrom Pakistan after partition,but do not make Karachi partof the shop’s name. I am readyto give you some time. I willcome back after a fortnight andcheck... You either change thename of your stores or remove
the word `Karachi’ from thename,” Nandgaonkar told theshop owner.
Nandgaonkar – who inci-dentally is a former activist ofthe Raj Thackeray-ledMaharashtra Navnirman Sena(MNS) --also offered to helpthe shop owner in taking upwith the BrihanmumbaiMunicipal Corporation (BMC)and completing the namechanging formalities. “But, youshould realise that we have aproblem with word `Karachi’
Incidentally, there are othervery old shops and establish-ments named after ‘Karachi’and ‘Lahore’ in Mumbai, Puneand some other cities ofMaharashtra, which indicatethat the owners belong to thefamilies that migrated to Indiaafter partition.
Ayodhya: The temple town ofAyodhya that has seen harshrestrictions during theDeepotsav celebration on theoccasion of Diwali festiwal willonce again be under strictguard. This time, a centuries-old tradition will be broken inKartik Mela.
Amid the coronavirus pan-demic, the 'panch kosi parikra-ma' and 'chaudah kosi parikra-ma' in which lakhs of devoteesused to participate , will now bebanned this time. Outsidedevotees will not be allowed toattend the main festival ofKartik Mela, Chaudhkosi andPanchkosi Parikrama , as onlylocals will be allowed to par-ticipate. IANS
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In Nazi Germany, certain lawswere announced inNuremburg, which prohibit-ed Jews from marrying or hav-
ing intimate relations with personsof “German or related blood.” AJew would have to prove his/hercredentials by showing that he/shehad three or four Jewish grandpar-ents. The aim of the law was, ofcourse, to alienate the Jews fromGerman society and to furtherentrench prejudices against thatcommunity as a whole.
In India, over the past fewweeks, States like Haryana, MadhyaPradesh and Karnataka have beenmulling and working towardsdrafting a law that targets the prob-lem of “love jihad.” All of these havea BJP government handling theropes. The Madhya PradeshGovernment, as an example, hasdecided to bring in the DharmaSwatantrya Bill 2020, which makescoercing or pressurising an individ-ual into marriage a punishableoffence, non-bailable in natureand proposes a five-year rigorouspunishment. Furthermore, the Billcodifies that in case someonewishes to undergo voluntary con-version for marriage, they will haveto mandatorily apply to the collec-tor a month in advance. In a soci-ety that is yet to come out of therevenge code of honour killings,would not a public declaration oflove and conversion invite a hit-back? Consider the consequencesif the person seeking an inter-faithunion is a young girl. We just sawthe backlash following an adver-tisement campaign by a jewellerybrand of an inter-faith marriage,where none of the partners wereshown as changing their religion.If that had to be taken down, imag-ine what could happen to two peo-ple making independent choices.
One of the most importantquestions to ask in this regard is ifat all there is a need for such a law.And more importantly is it evenconstitutionally valid? What is rel-evant is how many instances of“love jihad” are actually recorded.According to the Central govern-ment, not too many. In Februarythis year, for example, whileresponding to a question on thesubject, the Government informedParliament that the term “lovejihad” had not been defined underany law and no case had beenreported or registered by anyCentral agency. Therefore, it is evi-dent that the Central Government
itself does not really considerthis to be a problem. Anotherimportant consideration toassess whether these BJP-ledState governments need to comeout with such a law is to exam-ine if there is an absence of ade-quate legal provisions that crim-inalise the act of forced conver-sions at present. On this count,too, the claim of these StateGovernments fails. For example,Section 366 of the Indian PenalCode criminalises any act ofkidnapping, abducting or induc-ing a woman to marry by forceand punishes such an act withimprisonment for up to tenyears.
The next question iswhether a move to target inter-faith marriages is constitution-ally valid? The answer to thisquestion, too, appears to befirmly in the negative. Article 21of our Constitution gives eachindividual in our country aright to life and personal liber-ty and one of the most funda-mental expressions of this rightto exercise one’s life choices is tochoose who to marry.
Therefore, if there are hard-ly any instances of “love jihad”and if adequate laws are alreadyin place to prevent forced mar-riages and conversions, what isthe motive behind introducingor talking about such a law? Thewords of Pandit Nehru fromdecades ago may provide theanswer. While debating on laws
to safeguard against forced con-versions, he displayed character-istic prescience in noting thatsuch laws “will not help verymuch in suppressing the evilmethods [of gaining converts],but might very well be thecause of great harassment to alarge number of people.” PanditNehru went on to state that “themajor evils of coercion anddeception can be dealt withunder the general law. It may bedifficult to obtain proof but sois it difficult to obtain proof inmany other offences, but to sug-gest that there should be alicensing system for propagat-ing a faith is not proper. It wouldlead in its wake to the policehaving too large a power ofinterference.”
Few can explain the poten-tial risks better. Such a move,therefore, is not grounded inreality but is merely a stunt tofan emotions against particularcommunities and arouse fearwhen there is little reason to beworried. Such a move wouldalso be antithetical to what theBJP has spoken till now withrespect to the Uniform CivilCode (UCC). As noted byFaizan Mustafa, Vice-Chancellor of the NationalAcademy of Legal Studies andResearch (NALSAR), the UCCencourages or at the very leastmakes it easier to enter intointer-faith marriages. However,the spectre of these State laws
being mooted by BJP govern-ments would in effect createhurdles for such marriages,which is wholly incongruouswith the idea of a uniform civilcode. It is no wonder then thatthe BJP only speaks about UCCwhen talking about triple talaqbut finds no mention of it whentalking about inter-faith mar-riages. Stoking hate and feardoes, unfortunately for the BJP,come with its own set of uniquecontradictions.
The real danger is the slip-pery slope that such a movewould lead to. For example, thefirst supplemental decree of theNuremberg Laws extended theprohibition of marriage andintimate relations from Jews tobetween people who could pro-duce “racially suspect” offspring.This was later interpreted by theNazi government of the time tomean relations of “Germans ofrelated blood” with gypsies,Blacks or their offspring. So whois to say that after such seeds ofhate have been planted, the bit-ter fruits that will follow may bethe restraint of marriagebetween different castes orbetween different classes. At atime when the rest of the world’srespected democracies are work-ing towards celebrating love, wemust make sure that we are notthe ones who seek to destroy it.
(The author is former IPSand member of the CongressParty)
���������������� Sir — It is a good thing thatPrime Minister Narendra Modicalled up US President-elect JoeBiden and Vice-President-electKamala Harris and congratulat-ed them on their victory. He alsodiscussed the Indo-US relation-ship, priorities and concernsregarding the COVID-19 pan-demic, climate change and coop-eration in the Indo-Pacificregion. Thankfully, climatechange is back on the talks agen-da under Biden. But equallyimportant from India’s perspec-tive is the continuing focus on theIndo-Pacific region.
The leaders agreed to workclosely to further advance theIndia-US Comprehensive GlobalStrategic Partnership, built onshared values and commoninterests. Now, it remains to beseen what will be the US’response to India’s escalatingconflict with China and Pakistan.It is turning out to be dangerousin the region and could lead toa two-front war for India. Thatis why it is vital for India to havethe US on its side as it cannotafford to be isolated at this pointof time.
Bhagwan ThadaniMumbai
�����������������Sir — Increasing the number ofhospital beds, includingIntensive Care Units (ICUs),ramping up the availability ofventilators and all other medicalfacilities now planned by theCentral and Delhi Governmentsare simply an eyewash. Curative
steps for treating Coronaviruspatients in Delhi will remaingrossly insufficient till real pre-ventive steps are taken to stopthe spread. That means ensur-ing behavioural discipline, earlytesting and treatment.
Even daily statistical datagiven by Government agenciesregarding new Corona cases
and deaths may be far below theactual figures because these donot include those undergoingself-isolation in homes withoutinforming the agencies con-cerned. One of the reasons forthe spread of COVID during thefestive season is the encroach-ment of footpaths and marketplaces in the city. This lack of
space led to overcrowding andpeople being forced to shop incongested and spilling at theseams markets.
The Government must dowhatever it can to get rid of thesquatters. However, sadly, allpolitical parties avoid touchingencroachers because they are thereal vote bank and law-abidingcitizens are in a minority. Hence,a tough drive is urgentlyrequired to remove all encroach-ments from all over Delhi. Butsadly, there is no political will todo the same. As a resultDelhiites will continue to suffer.
Subhash Chandra AgrawalNew Delhi
���������Sir — At last, good sense has pre-vailed and the Government hasdecided to bring the number ofpeople being allowed to attendweddings down from 200 to 50.This may inconvenience thefamilies of those getting marriedbut it will certainly help in keep-ing the number of new infectionslow. It is a small price to pay forthe greater good.
The spirit of decentralisation runs deep with-in the consciousness of India. Local gover-nance had been at the core of functioning of
the country’s rural and urban administration evenbefore it was mandated by the 73rd and 74th con-stitutional amendments in 1992. At present, thereare 2.5 lakh gram panchayats, over six lakh villages,around 4,500 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) and 4,000census towns in the country. Being at the forefrontof rural governance, panchayats have borne the bruntyet stood resilient amid the COVID-19 outbreak.It is important to note that they have played a piv-otal role in saving lives even before the pandemic,because women members of panchayats help inbuilding trust among the village folk and the health-care providers, the locals wary of visiting doctors.
These women even helped the doctors and nurs-es to explain to the villagers the diseases they weresuffering from and the treatment protocols in a lan-guage they understood. Consequently, the numberof villagers availing medical services without fear oranxiety increased exponentially over the years. Intimes of COVID-19, the trust developed by thePanchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) has aided theUnion and State Governments’ efforts to test, traceand treat people and contain the crisis in rural areasto a very large extent.
This, in the words of Professor James Manor,an expert on the study of decentralisation in India,would further deepen accountability and transparen-cy at the grassroots, drawing ordinary people in vil-lages into democratic processes to pursue their rightsand contribute towards poverty alleviation.According to Manor, the world has a lot to learn fromthe Indian panchayat system. He exemplifies howBritain is centralising the system to tackle the con-tagion, which in turn is costing the lives of peopleeven as the neutrality of local councils is beingignored. In a similar manner, the decentralisationsystem has been weakened in South Africa wherelocal councils are being dominated by people at high-er levels. Thus, all efforts to implement the ruralemployment guarantee Act, that has been styled onthe lines of the National Rural EmploymentGuarantee Act in India, failed in South Africabecause of restricted access to financial resources.Now, even the COVID testing, tracing and treatmentin South Africa have lagged because of this weak-ening of local councils.
The constitutional duties of the panchayats arelisted under Schedule 9, Schedule 11 and Schedule12 of the Indian Constitution. Its makers foresawthat a major health emergency in the country, likethe present contagion, would require a resolutionat both rural and urban levels. So they devised amechanism called the District Planning Committee,on which members elected to the panchayatswould have a major representation as compared tothose elected to municipal bodies. According to leg-islation under Article 243G, panchayats have thepower and authority to enable them to function asinstitutions of self-government in respect of prepa-ration of plans and implementation of schemes foreconomic development and social justice. The 73rdAmendment left the decision to delegate powers,functions and finances to PRIs to the State legisla-tures. Item 23 of Schedule 11 of the Constitutionrelates to the empowerment of PRIs where healthand sanitation are concerned, including hospitals,primary health centres and dispensaries, which issignificant in view of the current pandemic. Stateshave fulfilled the constitutional mandate to empow-
er the PRIs to look into health and sani-tation, which are intimately connectedwith COVID-19 and where such respon-sibilities are institutionally exercisedthrough hospitals, primary healthcare cen-tres and dispensaries under their overallsupervision. A staunch advocate of demo-cratic decentralisation and a formerUnion Panchayati Raj Minister, ManiShankar Aiyar, says that the pandemic hasaffected many vital areas and vulnerablesections of rural society. First it has hitwomen and child development whereAnganwadi workers along with auxiliarynurses, midwives and Accredited SocialHealth Activists (ASHAs) are responsiblefor development of children, pregnantwomen and lactating mothers. Second,mentally and physically challenged peo-ple, who are not able to access medicalcare, have become even more vulnerable.While people with money and thosebelonging to higher castes in rural Indiawould be able to access medical care dueto their influence in society, it would bedifficult for people with less money orthose belonging to the backward castes toaccess the same. Lastly, the PublicDistribution System (PDS), which canprovide food access to the underprivileged,as mandated by Schedule 11, has been hittoo.
The optimism that PRIs would begreatly successful in attending to problemsbrought on by COVID-19 is strengthenedby Kerala’s demonstrated capacity todecentralise the planning system in theState and strengthen local governance inmatters of health, sanitation, women andchild development, welfare of the weak-er sections of society, the PDS, feeding ofthe destitute, free day care centres for thedifferently-abled and so on.
Financially-empowered panchayatsalong with the Kudumbashree movementfor economic empowerment of womenand inclusion of schools and district col-leges in the panchayat systems have all ledto consolidating holistic efforts to effec-
tively combat the pandemic with minimalloss of lives. Thus, Kerala’s panchayats havesmoothly transitioned to take care of thoseaffected by COVID-19.
Similarly, in Karnataka, panchayatlevel COVID-19 task forces were formedand are working successfully. They com-prise primary health centre doctors, aux-iliary nurses, midwives, ASHA workersand elected representatives and panchay-at-level staff. Present across the State, thesetask forces have been at the forefront ofpandemic management. This has result-ed in strict enforcement of lockdowns, dis-infection, providing food to the needy,ensuring the supply of essential services,and so on.
Over the years, Odisha has wit-nessed strengthening of panchayats, whichhave played an important part in combat-ing natural disasters. As a result, duringthe pandemic-induced reverse migrationof labourers, the role of panchayatsbecame crucial. The State Governmentworked in close coordination with PRIsand delegated the powers of the DistrictCollectors to the latter to work towardscontaining the spread of the Coronavirusin each panchayat. Women-led PRIs haveproactively engaged with Self Help Groups(SHGs) in running free kitchens and inmaking face masks to contain the spreadof COVID-19.
Such responses from the PRIs are veryencouraging as they are going the extramile to ensure continuity of essential ser-vices, especially for the vulnerable. PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, too, hasapplauded the efforts of the PRIs to fightthe pandemic and remarked that thestronger the PRIs, the stronger the democ-racy of a country. In fact, in order tostrengthen PRIs, the Government hasannounced two projects: The e-GramSwaraj App, where details of the develop-ment work of panchayats and the fundswill be available and the Swamitwa Yojana(ownership plan), where each property inthe village will be mapped through drones
after which a certificate of ownership willbe issued. This will help in removing con-fusion about the property and help inproper policy planning, too. Further, theUnion Ministry of Panchayati Raj hasexhorted all States to use a tool forassessing the community response toCOVID-19 at the village and panchayatlevel for timely action in containing thespread of the virus and vector- borne dis-eases. This includes eight areas for actionat the village level: Creating awarenessregarding preventive measures, solidari-ty to address the associated stigma, sup-port for home as well as community quar-antine, help in surveillance activities’identification, support to needy families,ensuring availability of routine healthcareservices, prompt response in case of pos-itive cases and maintaining hygiene andsanitation at the village level. The infor-mation in this check list will help the pan-chayats to self-assess their preparednessand identify what more they may do. Thiswill also help the health department to taketimely and corrective measures.
To effectively handle the crisis, it isimportant to look at the number ofrecoveries and the number of fatalitiesalong with co-morbidities. There exists apositive correlation between operating thePRIs and effectively handling the pandem-ic. COVID-19 should be a lesson for thecurrent and future governments to makePRIs an inclusive part of governance. Thechallenges pertaining to provision of suf-ficient protection kits for frontline pan-chayat workers, inadequate funding, dilu-tion of powers of panchayats in normaltimes, strengthening management infor-mation systems for accurate panchayat-level data, and so on, remain to beaddressed as policy priorities. Only thenMahatma Gandhi’s dream of “an India inwhich the poorest shall feel that it is theircountry, in whose making they have aneffective voice”, would be fulfilled.
The last few decades have wit-nessed vast changes in politicalideology and economic policies
across the world. People of differentcountries have been affected different-ly, but always in a significant mannereverywhere. Goa has achieved remark-able progress since liberation fromPortuguese rule on December 19,1961. The greatest gain of this freedomhas been the feeling of self-respectregained, the opening of the portals ofopportunity, particularly to the vastmass of people who were deniedupward mobility over the centuries andperhaps millennia.
Great strides have been made incore sectors such as education. In 1961,the literacy rate here was 30 per cent.
Goa is now a fully literate State if weexclude some people above the age of50 and a section of migrant labourers.
This has been achieved mainlythrough private institutions.Regrettably, Government schoolsthemselves are in an appalling condi-tion. As a result, only those who can-not afford to enroll their children in pri-vate schools send them to theGovernment schools in the State. TheFundamental Right to Education for allchildren up to the age of 14 years isenshrined in our Constitution. Whatis required is a law to determine thefacilities which the State Governmentshould provide to the children so thatthey can exercise this fundamentalright.
“Free education” means not mere-ly freedom from tuition fees but alsoadequate classrooms and teachers,free uniforms, textbooks and othereducational material. Inequalities ineducation will be accentuated in thecomputer age. The dangerous “digitaldivide” can only be prevented if nec-essary steps are taken right now. Theideal is the “Common School System”with quality Government schools,known as “neighbourhood schools”, in
every locality where all children, irre-spective of social class or religious affil-iation can attend. This is the systemprevailing in Scandinavia and othereducationally-advanced countries.
The Goa University ought to bea centre of academic excellence at thenational as well as at the internation-al level. It should be a powerful instru-ment to enable the youth of Goa andof the country at large to deal with andthrive in today’s increasingly compet-itive world, the global “knowledge soci-ety” where education is the key to suc-cess. Turning Goa University into aCentral University would haveadvanced this objective and would haveimproved significantly our universityeducation.
The Official Language Act wasenacted in 1987. It was intended tostrengthen our common cultural her-itage and achieve greater unity and har-mony among our people. Yet, in theprocess of implementing the Act,those who write Konkani in the Romanscript are entitled to the same protec-tion available to those who write inDevanagari. This is their right and itflows from Article 29 (1) of theConstitution of India. Konkani writers
in Roman script should have access toliterary awards, representation in liter-ary bodies, financial assistance and soon, to the same extent available to thosewho write in Devanagari. However,Konkani should be taught in schoolsthrough the Devanagari script only.The reason is that children learn theRoman script through the study ofEnglish, which is important for inter-national communication and for avail-ing the increasing employment oppor-tunities in the country itself.Devanagari is equally important foraccess to Indian culture and otherIndian languages. The importance ofnational languages and assertion ofnational cultural identity are growingeverywhere in the world. India is notand should not be an exception.
In the 1960s, tourism was adopt-ed as a key sector for Goa’s develop-ment primarily because of its potentialto generate employment in a State withan increasingly educated workforce andlimited industrial growth. The objec-tive of employment has been achievedto a great extent in as much as almostone-third of Goa’s population isengaged in tourism-related activities,directly or indirectly. However, Goa
being a small State, its carrying capac-ity in terms of its size, facilities avail-able and ecological fragility should beconsidered.
Very little awareness existed untila decade ago among policymakers inGoa or elsewhere in the world aboutthe need for sustainable tourism devel-opment. It is now accepted that tourismshould be developed in a manner thatmeets the requirements of the presentwithout compromising the ability offuture generations to meet their ownneeds.
Sustainable tourism developmentconsiders three fundamental elements,economic, social and environmental.Economic sustainability consists inmaintaining the growth rate at a man-ageable level to avoid consumer dissat-isfaction. In Goa, it is necessary toupgrade the basic physical infrastruc-ture. Social sustainability refers tosociety’s ability to absorb tourist arrivalswithout adversely affecting local well-being and value systems.
Environmental sustainabilityrelates to the capacity of the environ-ment to handle population impactwithout damage. Mega constructionprojects have transformed the land-
scape of Goa. Huge buildings have nowprogressed from the coastline into thehinterland and they have a negativeimpact on the lifestyle of the local pop-ulation. Big buildings, especially in thevillages, destroy the environment andshould not be permitted. Non-dispos-al of garbage, particularly inorganic, ina scientific manner is also assumingmenacing proportions. This mattershould be tackled with a sense ofurgency. There is apprehension in ourState regarding the influx of peoplefrom other States who come here most-ly for employment.
The Department of NRI Affairspublished in 2008 the first-ever GoaMigration Survey. It identified theGoan diaspora in 43 countries and stat-ed that “the actual number of countrieswould be much larger. Goans arefound the world over and it would bedifficult to name a country without aGoan community.”
The United Nations DevelopmentProgramme (UNDP) released its annu-al Human Development Report underthe caption “Overcoming Barriers:Human Mobility and Development.”The report deals entirely with migra-tion within and among countries. It
finds that migrants boost economicoutput and, contrary to commonly-held beliefs, immigration generallyincreases employment in host commu-nities, does not crowd out locals fromthe job market and improves the rateof investment in new businesses andinitiatives.
The UNDP report recommendsthat Governments should reflect on thebenefits and costs of migration on theirstrategy and plans. Migration from oneregion to another puts pressure on theexisting infrastructure and social ser-vices such as housing, electricity, waterand sanitation.
While Goans can be justifiablyproud of the vast social and econom-ic progress achieved over the last fivedecades, they do also face several chal-lenges at this point of time. Goansought to confront these hurdles withconfidence and commitment to valuesthat shape a forward-moving and pro-gressive society. These values should betaught at school and at home so thatour land is prosperous and free fromoppression of any sort, where justiceand fairplay do indeed prevail.
Washington: Around 887,000units were sold in the US andCanada, which includes pre-order sales and first-day sales,CNN reported citing PenguinRandom House. The publish-er said this sale represented “thelargest first-day sales total forany book ever published” bythe company.
Another publisher saidObama’s new book will be abook of “rare consequence”and will do good business, atpar with the likes of the HarryPotter series.
“This will be a book of rareconsequence. That it will sell asno other book has done sinceJuly 21, 2007 — when HarryPotter and the Deathly Hallows
came out, is immensely cheer-ing to booksellers,” said Barnes& Noble CEO James Daunt,CNN quoted.
Prior to the opening day,Obama had asked his followerson Twitter to read his memoirto get an insight on events andpeople that shaped him duringhis early years.
“My memoir, A PromisedLand, is out today. I hopeyou’ll read it. My goal was togive you some insight into theevents and people that shapedme during the early years of mypresidency. Most of all, I hopeit inspires you to see yourselfplaying a role in shaping a bet-ter world,” Obama tweeted onTuesday.
Caracas (Venezuela):Washington has its first ambas-sador to Venezuela in a decadedespite the US having no diplo-mats at its Caracas embassyamid a breakdown in relations.
James Story’s nomination asambassador to Venezuela wasconfirmed on Wednesday by aUS Senate voice vote. TheSouth Carolina native takesthe job that he will carry outfrom the capital of neighbour-ing Colombia as Venezuelaendures a historic economicand political crisis.
Story, 50, will likely be atthe centre of helping guide USpolicy on Venezuela duringthe transition of President-elect Joe Biden. Relations havehad a long, rocky past that
include President DonaldTrump’s administration win-ning an indictment againstVenezuelan Nicolas Maduro asan alleged narcoterrorist.
Biden’s win has sparkeddebate among those who backTrump’s hard-line approachagainst Maduro and otherswho say it is time for a newapproach. The critics say heavysanctions have failed to removeMaduro from power whilemaking life harder on millionsof Venezuelans.
The US and Venezuelahaven’t exchanged ambassadorssince 2010, when relations firststarted to fray under the latePresident Hugo Chávez. Thetwo nations totally broke diplo-matic ties last year, each with-
drawing its diplomats shortlyafter Washington backedVenezuelan opposition leaderJuan Guaidó as the country’slegitimate leader.
The US leads a coalition ofdozens of nations that rejectedMaduro following his electionin 2018 to a second term in avote widely considered fraudu-lent because the most popularopposition leaders were bannedfrom running.
The US has since heavilysanctioned Maduro, his innercircle and the state-run oilfirm, attempting to isolatethem. The Trump administra-tion offered a $15 millionbounty for Maduro’s arrestafter a US court indicted himon drug charges. AP
Washington: A bipartisan res-olution recognising the cultur-al and religious significance ofan autonomous Tibet and seek-ing peaceful solutions to theconflict has been passed by theUS House of Representatives.
The resolution recognisedthe significance of the genuineautonomy of Tibet and theTibetan people, and the workdone by 14th Dalai Lama topromote global peace, harmo-ny and understanding.
Passed by a voice vote, theresolution determined that itwould be beneficial to convenea bipartisan, bicameral forum,either through a Joint Meeting
of Congress, a teleconferencebroadcast at the Capitol VisitorCenter, or roundtable, betweenMembers of Congress and HisHoliness the Dalai Lama to dis-cuss peaceful solutions to inter-national conflicts.
It also noted that there isoverwhelming bipartisanCongressional support for theTibetan people’s aspirationsfor internationally recognisedhuman rights and freedomsand the protection of theirdistinct religious, cultural, lin-guistic, and national identity.
The resolution said thereare over 6,000,000 Tibetans inthe world, spanning over 40
countries.“Honoured to see the
House unanimously passed myresolution recognising the gen-uine autonomy of Tibet andcelebrating the work the DalaiLama has accomplished. TheUS must continue to workwith allies to secure freedomfrom oppression for theTibetan people,” CongressmanTed Yoho said.
Speaking on the floor ofthe House, Congressman EliotEngel, Chairman of the HouseForeign Affairs Committee,accused China of violation ofinternational religious free-dom in Tibet. PTI
Washington: President-electJoe Biden congratulates NancyPelosi for her nomination toserve as House speaker foranother term.
Biden’s transition teamsays the incoming presidentand Pelosi spoke onWednesday following HouseDemocrats’ vote.
Biden told the speaker that“he looks forward to workingwith her and Democratic lead-
ership in the House on ashared agenda to get COVID-19 under control and build oureconomy back better.”
Pelosi will serve as Biden’smost powerful ally on CapitolHill over the next two years.
The California Democratwas nominated by acclamationas the party’s lawmakers used a pandemic-induced virtual meeting to pick theirleaders. AP
Tehran: An adviser to Iran’ssupreme leader who is a pos-sible 2021 presidential candi-date is warning that anyAmerican attack on the IslamicRepublic could set off a “full-fledged war” in the Mideast inthe waning days of the Trumpadministration.
Speaking to TheAssociated Press, HosseinDehghan struck a hard-linetone familiar to those in Iran’sparamilitary RevolutionaryGuard, a force he long servedin before becoming a defenseminister under PresidentHassan Rouhani.
A soldier has yet to serve asIran’s top civilian leader sinceits 1979 Islamic Revolution, inpart over the initial suspicionthat its conventional militaryforces remained loyal to thetoppled shah.
But hard-liners in recentyears openly have suggestedIran move toward a militarydictatorship given its econom-ic problems and threats fromabroad, particularly afterPresident Donald Trump pulledAmerica out of Tehran’s 2015nuclear deal with world powers.
“We don’t welcome a cri-sis. We don’t welcome war. Weare not after starting a war,”Dehghan said Wednesday. “Butwe are not after negotiationsfor the sake of negotiationseither.”
Dehghan, 63, describedhimself as a “nationalist” with“no conventional political ten-dency” during an interview inhis wood-panelled office indowntown Tehran. He’s one ofmany likely to register to runin the June 18 election asRouhani is term-limited fromrunning again.
Others likely include ayoung technocrat with ties toIranian intelligence and formerhard-line President MahmoudAhmadinejad.
Dehghan’s military servicecame under presidencies rep-resentative of the groups thatlargely compose Iran’s tightlycontrolled political arena —reformists who seek to slowlychange Iran’s theocracy fromwithin, hardliners who want tostrengthen the theocracy andthe relative moderatesbetween.
Those calling for radical
change are barred from run-ning for office by Iran’s pow-erful constitutional watchdogknown as the GuardianCouncil, which serves underSupreme Leader Ayatollah AliKhamenei.
While discussing the worldIran finds itself in, Dehghan’spoints mirrored many ofKhamenei’s. The former headof the Guard’s air force whoachieved the rank of brigadiergeneral said any negotiationswith the West could notinclude Iran’s ballistic mis-siles, which he described as a“deterrent” to Tehran’s adver-saries.
Propaganda involvingIran’s missile programme hassurged in recent weeks.
The front page of theEnglish-language TehranTimes on Wednesday showeda map of Iran’s missile rangeswith red stars markingAmerican bases across theregion under the words “Backoff!” printed in big, bold let-ters. A headline abovewarned Iran would respondto “any melancholy adventureby Trump.” AP
Washington: Getting nowherein the courts, President DonaldTrump’s scattershot effort tooverturn President-elect JoeBiden’s victory is shiftingtoward obscure election boardsthat certify the vote as Trumpand his allies seek to upend theelectoral process, sow chaosand perpetuate unsubstantiat-ed doubts about the count.
The battle is centered in thebattleground states that sealedBiden’s win.
In Michigan, twoRepublican election officialsin the state’s largest county ini-tially refused to certify resultsdespite no evidence of fraud,then backtracked and voted tocertify and then on Wednesdayflipped again and said they“remain opposed to certifica-tion.”
Some Republicans havecalled on the GOP statewidecanvassers to so the same.
In Arizona, officials arebalking at signing off on votetallies in a rural county.
The moves don’t reflect acoordinated effort across thebattleground states that brokefor Biden, local election offi-cials said. Instead, they seem tobe inspired by Trump’s incen-diary rhetoric about baselessfraud and driven by Republicanacquiescence to broadsidesagainst the nation’s electoralsystem as state and federalcourts push aside legal chal-lenges filed by Trump and hisallies.
Still, what happened inWayne County, Michigan, onTuesday and Wednesday was ajarring reminder of the dis-ruptions that can still be causedas the nation works through theprocess of affirming the out-come of the Nov. 3 election.
There is no precedent forthe Trump team’s widespreadeffort to delay or underminecertification, according toUniversity of Kentucky lawprofessor Joshua Douglas.
“It would be the end ofdemocracy as we know it,”
Douglas said. “This is just nota thing that can happen.”
Certifying results is a rou-tine yet important step afterlocal election officials have tal-lied votes, reviewed proce-dures, checked to ensure voteswere counted correctly andinvestigated discrepancies.Typically, this certification isdone by a local board of elec-tions and then, later, the resultsare certified at the state level.
But as Trump has refusedto concede to Biden and con-tinues to spread false claims ofvictory, this mundane processis taking on new significance.
Among key battlegroundstates, counties in Michigan,Nevada and Wisconsin have allmade it through the initialstep of certifying results. Exceptfor Wayne County, this processhas largely been smooth.Arizona, Pennsylvania andGeorgia still haven’t concludedtheir local certifications. Thenall eyes turn to statewide cer-tification. AP
Beijing: China on Thursdayrejected the latest attack on itsHong Kong policy by the USand several of its allies, sayingthey “should face up to the real-ity” that the former Britishcolony has been returned toChina.
Foreign ministryspokesperson Zhao Lijian wasresponding to a statement onHong Kong issued by the US,UK, Australia, Canada andNew Zealand, which togethermake up an intelligence part-nership known as the FiveEyes.
“No matter if they havefive eyes or 10 eyes, if they dareto harm China’s sovereignty,security and developmentinterests, they should beware oftheir eyes being poked andblinded,” he said at a dailybriefing.
The foreign ministers ofthe five nations said that a newChinese government resolutionthat led to the disqualificationof four pro-democracy law-makers in Hong Kong appears
to be “part of a concerted cam-paign to silence all criticalvoices.”
The joint statement calledthe resolution a breach ofChina’s international obliga-tions and its commitment togrant Hong Kong a high degreeof autonomy and freedom ofspeech.
Hong Kong, a city of 7.5million people, was promisedautonomy over local affairs for50 years after its return toChina in 1997.
Zhao said Hong Kong isan inalienable part of Chinaand that public officials must“be loyal to the motherland.This is a basic political ethic inevery country in the world,right?”
The four disqualified law-makers were earlier barredfrom running for reelectionbecause of their calls for foreigngovernments to impose sanc-tions on China and HongKong. They had remained inoffice because elections werepostponed for one year. AP
Wellington: A shockingAustralian military report intowar crimes has found evidencethat elite Australian troopsunlawfully killed 39 Afghanprisoners, farmers and civilians.
Australian Defence ForceChief Gen. Angus Campbellsaid Thursday the shamefulrecord included allegedinstances in which new patrolmembers would shoot a pris-oner in order to achieve theirfirst kill in a practice known as“blooding.”
He said the soldiers wouldthen plant weapons and radiosto support false claims theprisoners were enemies killedin action.
Campbell said the illegalkillings began in 2009, with themajority occurring in 2012and 2013. He said some in theSpecial Air Service encour-aged “a self-centered, warriorculture.” He said the report rec-ommended 19 soldiers be
investigated by police for pos-sible charges, including murder.
The chief was announcingthe findings of a four-yearinvestigation by Paul Brereton,a judge who was asked to lookinto the allegations and inter-viewed more than 400 wit-nesses and reviewed thousandsof pages of documents. AP
<��� ������4�� ���������������������@+�4����� Johannesburg: Former South
African president Jacob Zumastaged a walkout Thursday atthe commission investigatinggraft in government during histenure after failing in his legalbid for the commission’s chair-man to recuse himself.
Zuma was set to take thewitness stand after the ruling,but he left despite appearingunder a summons.
Zuma was summoned torespond to questions related toevidence contained in at least 35affidavits submitted to the com-mission. But he argued thatDeputy Chief Justice RaymondZondo was biased against him.
Zuma this week appearedbefore the commission for thefirst time in more than a yearafter abandoning his testimonylast year. Zuma’s legal stepsagainst the commission and itschairman are widely seen asdelaying tactics to avoid facingquestions about his role inalleged corruption thatoccurred largely from 2009 to2018. AP
Anasal spray that can pro-vide effective protection
against the Covid-19 virus hasbeen developed by researchersat the University ofBirmingham, using materialsalready cleared for use inhumans, the varsity said onThursday.
A team in the University’sHealthcare TechnologiesInstitute formulated the sprayusing compounds alreadywidely approved by regulatorybodies in the UK, Europe andthe US.
The materials are alreadywidely used in medicaldevices, medicines and evenfood products.
Thursday said it has complet-ed the sale of about 10 per centstake in its retail unit to a clutchof foreign investors for � 47,265crore.
Since September 25, thecompany has sold 10.09 percent stake in Reliance RetailVentures Ltd (RRVL) to privateequity firms Silver LakePartners, KKR, GIC, TPG andGeneral Atlantic, as well as sov-ereign wealth funds Mubadala,ADIA and PIF.
“RRVL has receivedcumulative subscriptionamount of �47,265 crore fromthe following financial partnersand allotted 69.27 crore equi-
ty shares to them,” the compa-ny said in a statement.
Silver Lake Partnersbought 2 per cent stake in twotranches for �9,375 crore whileKKR invested �5,550 crore for1.19 per cent interest.
GIC and Abu DhabiInvestment Authority (AIDA)each bought 1.18 per cent for�5,512.50 crore.
The UAE’s Mubadalabought 1.33 per cent stake for�6,247.50 crore. PublicInvestment Fund, the sovereignwealth fund of Saudi Arabia,bought 2.04 per cent stake for�9,555 crore.
Besides, General Atlanticinvested �3,675 crore for 0.78per cent stake and TPG put in�1,837.50 crore for 0.39 percent interest.
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With the pandemic forcingbusinesses to adopt dig-
italisation, the hiring in the ITsector has been the leastimpacted compared to othersectors, in both software andhardware segments, accordingto a report. The informationtechnology (IT) sectorremained one of the leastimpacted sectors in terms ofhiring from the global pan-demic, job site Naukri.Comsaid in the report. It showedthat with all businesses goingvirtual, the demand for pro-fessionals in software and hard-ware segments has been steady.
The report is based on jobpostings on Naukri.Com dur-ing February and the monthsafter the lockdown, which wasimposed in late-March.
Further, the report stated
that the overall sector sawupward month-on-monthrecovery, peaking in Septemberfor hardware (63 per cent) andsoftware roles (20 per cent), itadded. Top roles that recruitersare hiring for include softwaredeveloper, tech lead, tech archi-tect, testing engineer, technicalcontent developer, databasearchitect and solution architect.
Roles such as technicalcontent developer, solutionarchitect and database architecthave seen 350 per cent, 150 percent and 100 per cent growthin demand year-on-year. Eventech architect roles have seen agrowth of over 50 per cent year-on-year.Java developer, manu-al testing and business analystare among the top-searchedkeywords by jobseekers on theNaukri platform, thereby show-ing high intent for such roles inthe sector.
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Chinese President Xi Jinpingsaid on Thursday that
China is set to change its devel-opment model from next year,relying more on domestic con-sumption than export-reliantgrowth which propelled it tobecome the world’s secondlargest economy next only tothe United States.
“From next year on, Chinawill embark on new journeytoward fully building a modernsocialist country,” 67-year-oldXi said while addressing theAsia-Pacific EconomicCooperation (APEC) CEODialogues via video link.”Wewill foster a new developmentparadigm with domestic cir-culation as the mainstay anddomestic and international cir-culations reinforcing eachother,” he said.
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Global forecasting firmOxford Economics on
Thursday revised downwardsits India growth forecast overthe medium term to an average4.5 per cent over 2020-25,from its pre-pandemic projec-tion of 6.5 per cent.
In a research note, it saidIndia’s post-COVID-19 scarscould be among the worst inthe world.
“We forecast India’sgrowth equilibrium to worsensubstantially over the medium
term, with potential growthaveraging just 4.5 per centover 2020-2025 in our latestbaseline, as opposed to our pre-virus forecast of 6.5 per cent,”Oxford Economics said.
It said an adequate andwell-designed fiscal stimuluswould halve this impact by lim-iting deterioration in pre-COVID-19 headwinds.
“But, given the low like-lihood of such a comprehen-sive response, we projectIndia’s GDP per capita to be 12per cent below our pre-virusbaseline even in 2025, imply-ing the largest amount ofscarring among majoreconomies globally,” OxfordEconomics said.
It added that the Indian
government has announcedvarious schemes and reformsthis year, with an eye on them e d i u m - t o - l o n g - t e r mgrowth.
“However, its policyimplementation track record ismixed and is likely to have beenweakened further by recentsocial and institutional devel-opments that detract from itscapacity to focus on econom-ic policymaking,” the globalforecasting firm said.
Beyond 2020, OxfordEconomics said India remainsone of the most rapidly grow-ing economies in our baseline.
“But, that is not enough topreclude a large medium-termoutput loss in the wake ofCOVID-19,” it said.
Oxford Economics saidthat even after the pandemic iscontained, India’s economywill have to deal with its after-math.
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The Sensex and Nifty retreat-ed from record highs on
Thursday following heavy prof-it-booking in financial stocksamid a weak trend in globalmarkets due to rising Covid-19cases in multiple countries.
A depreciating rupee andconcerns over frothy valuationsfurther dented risk appetite,traders said.
After briefly touching itsrecord intra-day high of 44,230in a volatile session, the 30-
share BSE Sensex ended 580.09points or 1.31 per cent lower at43,599.96.
Similarly, the broader NSENifty hit a fresh intra-day peakof 12,963, before ending 166.55points or 1.29 per cent down at12,771.70.
Both the key indices hadended at fresh lifetime highs ineach of the previous three ses-sions. The Sensex and Niftyhave closed in the red onlytwice this month so far. SBIwas the top laggard in theSensex pack on Thursday, tum-bling 4.88 per cent, followed byAxis Bank, ICICI Bank,UltraTech Cement, BajajFinance, HDFC Bank andBharti Airtel.
On the other hand,PowerGrid, ITC, NTPC, TataSteel and Titan were among theprominent gainers, spurtingup to 2.43 per cent.
Global stocks slipped forthe third straight day as theunabated rise in COVOD-19caseload in various regionsoffset euphoria around vaccineprogress.
“The increasing virusinfections raised fears of addi-tional restrictions and consid-ering its impact on global eco-nomic activity, global marketsentiments turned negative.This was in spite of the opti-mism surrounding theadvanced stages of vaccinedevelopment.
Indian markets also wit-nessed profit booking fromrecent highs, as investorsturned cautious. Financials ledthe losses while defensive sec-tors such as FMCG andPharma fared better.
“The positivity in Autosales numbers continued andcould be an indicator of eco-nomic recovery.
However, increasing virusinfections, which is again beingreported in some parts of India,can offset this nascent recovery.We can expect short termvolatility in the markets andinvestors are advised to remaincautious,” said Vinod Nair,Head of Research at GeojitFinancial Services.
London:An Indian tech start-up is among 10 winners to bagsame-day contracts worth up to53,000 pounds to fast-trackthe development of their inno-vations after directly pitching tothe UK, US and NATO militaryleaders their solutions to keychallenges within the aero-space and defence industry.114 AI Innovation LLP, aDelhi-registered firm set uptwo years ago, won the inau-gural International Space PitchDay with its “Spacewise” con-cept for data analysis in real-time. The joint UK-US pitchinitiative aims to find, fund andfast-track innovation and tech-nology that would give advan-tage to military personnel andoperations in the space domain.
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Solicitor General TusharMehta on Thursday
informed the Supreme Courtthat �5270 crore has been cred-ited to 13.12 crore accounts inthe interest waiver plan so far.
The Centre has subsidisedcompound interest for a 6-month moratorium for allloans up to �2 crore. Mehtasubmitted before a bench head-ed by Justice Ashok Bhushanthat the government is on topof the matter and it is taking allthe necessary steps.
Mehta submitted that pre-COVID defaulters cannot ben-efit from a fresh resolution
framework and the committeefor resolution framework forCOVID related stress hasassessed varioussectors.Detailing other mea-sures, he assured the top courtthat the Disaster ManagementAuthority has done whatever itcould.
Mehta told the SupremeCourt that it is the responsi-bility of the banks to creditcompound interest waiver forloans up to 2 crores, not forconsumers to remind the banksof this scheme.He added thatthe IBC process has alreadybeen suspended since March tostop companies from slippinginto bankruptcy.
New Delhi:Oil marketing com-panies (OMCs) did not reviseretail price of petrol and dieselon Thursday maintaining thetrend set almost two monthsback when fuel prices were lastrevised.So, petrol price in thenational capital continued toremain at �81.06 per litre. InMumbai, Chennai and Kolkata,the fuel was sold for �87.74,�84.14 and �82.59 per litre,respectively.Diesel prices inDelhi, Mumbai, Chennai andKolkata were at �70.46, �76.86,�75.95 and �73.99, respective-ly. With no revision onThursday, petrol price has nowremained at the same level for58 days now, while diesel pricehas been static for 48 days.
per 10 grams in the nationalcapital, as investors andtraders switched to riskierassets on new vaccine devel-opment, according to HDFCSecurities.The precious metalhad closed at �49,962 per 10grams in the previoustrade.Silver also declined by�853 to �61,184 per kg, com-pared to the previous close of�62,037 per kg.
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Mumbai:The Indian rupeesaw its first decline in foursessions on Thursday, depre-ciating by 8 paise to settle at74.27 against the US dollartracking weakness in Asiancurrencies and a lacklustretrend in domestic equities.
At the interbank forexmarket, the domestic unitopened at 74.28 against theUS dollar and touched anintra-day high of 74.22 anda low of 74.33.
Product (GDP) may havenarrowed to 9.5 per cent inthe second quarter of the cur-rent fiscal from 23.9 per centin the April-June quarter,says a report. The CentralStatistics Office (CSO) willrelease the GDP data for thesecond quarter of FY21 onNovember 27.
In a report on Thursday,rating agency Icra said theYear-on-Year (YoY) contrac-tion in Indian GDP (at con-stant 2011-12 prices) is esti-mated to have narrowedappreciably to 9.5 per cent inQ2 FY2021 from 23.9 percent in Q1 FY2021, as theeconomy recovered from thelows of the pandemic-induced lockdown.
It said the contraction inthe Gross Value Added
(GVA) at basic prices isexpected to have moderatedconsiderably to 8.5 per cent inthe July-September quarterfrom 22.8 per cent in the pre-vious three months.
The ease in GVA wouldbe led by industry to (-) 9.3per cent from (-) 38.1 percent, driven primarily bymanufacturing and con-struction and services to (-)10.2 per cent from (-) 20.6 percent), it said. Icra’s principaleconomist Aditi Nayar said asubstantial recovery in man-ufacturing and constructionis likely to underpin theexpected improvement in theperformance of the industri-al GVA in the second quarterof the current fiscal. Varioussectors of manufacturingrecorded an improvement indemand and volumes in theSeptember quarter althoughthe performance was admit-tedly uneven.
As people rebuild their livespost-lockdown, they face newrealities and feel the need to
change their ways and means. Thearena of the development sector isno different. In particular, the pan-demic has brought to the forefrontthe challenges of protecting andupholding the well-being of chil-dren, young people, their familiesand communities, especially thosemarginalised, worldwide. Millionshave been rendered homeless andwithout a livelihood. The health andsafety of their children are endan-gered. A long-term adverse impacton children’s health, developmentand overall well-being are inevitable.
Children without parental careor those at the risk of losing one areamong the most vulnerable. It is per-haps debatable whether the virus perse affects children as severely asadults, but it is certain that childrenare adversely impacted by contain-ment measures. School closures andisolation have meant that they aredeprived of quality education, faceto face interaction and playtime withother kids and social connect atlarge. While this phase might be anaberration to most adults, it is how-ever, rather disruptive for children,who are in their formative years,denying them opportunities forphysical, intellectual and emotion-al well-being and development.Their survival, developmental, pro-tection and participation rights areat stake. All children’s rights must beprotected, promoted and taken intoconsideration in response to the
COVID-19 outbreak and its after-math.
Among the most vulnerablechildren, who get left out in thedevelopmental agenda are ‘childrenwithout parental care’. The UnitedNations Convention on the Rights ofthe Child (UNCRC) mandates thatevery child has a right to a familyand that ‘children have the bestchance of developing their fullpotential in a family environment’.Family-like alternative care for ‘chil-dren without parental care’ wherethe best interests of a child are theprimary consideration, upholds andprotects the principles of non-dis-crimination as well as their rights.
Therefore, more developmentalefforts must be channeled to the wel-fare of such children as well as thosewho are at the risk of losing it. It iscritical to ensure that the childprotection initiatives are geared toprevent unnecessary family separa-tion. This can be done by providingsocial protection services that sup-port the income of families and theirwell-being. Such services caninclude: Implementing or augment-ing cash transfer programmes,improving access to health, disabil-ity services, housing during and afterthe outbreak, directly deliveringfood, hygiene items and kits,enhancing connectivity access forremote education to bridge the dig-ital divide, to provide parenting sup-port and expanding access to men-tal health and psychosocial supportto address the consequences of iso-lation on children and their families.
In the case of children, who areseparated from their families and arenow without the parental care, weshould guarantee good quality alter-native care. It is all about buildinga safe environment — a place kidswithout parental care can call ‘home’,where they grow to achieve theirtrue potential.
Also, we must not forget socialworkers who are at the forefront ofcontaining and mitigating theimpact of the pandemic on our chil-dren and their families. No resourcesshould be spared to ensure thewell-being, health, protection, train-ing, preparedness and labor rights ofsocial workers so that they cancontinue making their invaluablecontributions.
COVID-19 should never beused as a reason or an excuse toregress or neglect the rights of allchildren, especially those most vul-nerable. Promoting and protectingchild rights is a moral obligation.We, the civil society, the govern-ment, the private sector as well as thecommunities need to come togeth-er to help every child build a future,support every family and strength-en our society as a whole. Reflectingon how to bring our lives back togear after the pandemic and tobuild back a better world, we can-not help but think about how wemust stand together stronger atthese unprecedented times. Thetime to act is now.
(The author Sumanta Kar is theSenior Deputy National Director,SOS Children’s Villages of India.)
At the end of the day you canlook at a car as simply some-
thing with four wheels that getsyou from point A to B as andwhen you need to go. That inessence is the raison d’etre for acar. The little things such as com-fort in the form of air-condition-ing and even power windows arenice extras to have. You would likea car to do its job efficiently butalso safely. So yes, things likeairbags and anti-lock brakes areuseful but if these are your beliefs,you’re not exactly the target audi-ence for a column like this.
This is because for manyindividuals cars are an extensionof their personality just like var-ious other products such as cloth-ing and personal electronics. Orthere are those who use a car toproject success and wealth. Thereis a reason that Dictators andPresidents move around in thelikes of an Audi A8, BMW 7-series or a Mercedes-Benz S-Class. Once you taste success inyour career, you wouldn’t mindshelling out a bit for a badge. Youdon’t need to get a luxury sedanwhen a regular Honda or Toyotawill do the job equally well, pos-sibly better, cheaper and more reli-ably. But it is what it is. You buya BMW to project success andyour love for motor vehicles.
But you do not buy a BMWM car for either of those reasons.You buy it because you are oneincident away from going to themadhouse, you want to knowwhat turning dinosaur juice intonoise sounds like, and also
because speeding fines are pettychange. You buy a BMW X3Mbecause you want to understandhow automotive engineering hasdeveloped to the point whereyou can stick a stonking bigengine, in this case a 3-litre six-cylinder engine producing 480horsepower, into a Sports UtilityVehicle (or Sports Activity Vehicleas BMW calls it) and still make ithandle like a sedan.
The BMW X3M is no ordi-nary, it is a bonkers car. But youforget that you are in a two-tonSUV when you drive this carbecause you see the numbers onthe heads-up display blur. You areat the urban speed limit in a fewseconds and your eyes are scan-
ning overhead gantries for speedcameras. You see a corner or asweeping turn and think youshould dab the brakes but youdon’t need to as the tires hold ontothe road even as they turn atspeeds that should not be possi-ble. Your brain thinks ‘Seriously?How can a car do this?’ And yousmile, the widest smile you havein a long time, particularly in ayear where everything else seemsto have gone wrong. AlthoughBMW has hardcoded speedalarms into the system. And onceyou stop you are awed at how farthe Germans have gotten in devel-oping cars that physics doesn’tseem to matter anymore.
What genuinely surprises meabout this X3M is the pricing, astandard X3 30i costs �60 lakh,this X3M which is an import andhas all sorts of ‘M’ things such asthe differential, costs just undera crore. Yes, it is expensive butnot much when you considerwhat you get. It is not somethingthat just takes you from point Ato B and shows the world thatyou’ve done well. It is somethingthat is an incredible feat of engi-neering and makes sense at var-ious levels.
Actor Aditya Roy Kapur who has complet-ed 11 years in the industry this year is hum-
bled because of the appreciation he hasreceived for his role in the dark comedy —Ludo.
The actor portrayed the role of AkashChauhan with an on point comic timing.Director Anurag Basu also needs to be applaud-ed for exploring this new side of Aditya.Romancing co-star Sanya Malhotra for the veryfirst time, it’s a delight to watch their freshchemistry on screen.
What’s interesting is that over a span oftime, fans saw Aditya exploring differentshades with each filmmaker that he has pairedup with. While Mohit Suri’s Malang establishedhim as the new deadly action hero, its now withAnurag’s Ludo that the audience has seen hiscomic avatar. In one of the portions where he’sseen doing a mimicry of megastar AmitabhBachchan, the actor has earned himselfimmense praise and made the sequence go viralon social media.
Humbled with all the rave reviews and lovecoming in, Aditya said, “It’s really heartwarm-ing to see so much love coming my way. It’s niceto see your hard work being appreciated andI hope to continue doing so with my next filmas well.”
Being hailed by the audience as a versatileactor, he adds, “Its been a good year becauseof the kind of response Malang received andnow Ludo. Bringing different genres to the audi-ence is really fulfilling and exciting as an actor.I am really thankful to everyone for giving mycharacter so much love and appreciation.”
The film is produced by Bhushan Kumar,Anurag Basu, Divya Khosla Kumar, TaaniSomarita Basu and Krishan Kumar.
India is one of the largely infected coun-tries by a disease other than theCoronavirus — diabetes. It has been here
for the longest of time, and little or no atten-tion has been paid to it unless it turns intoa question of life or death. However, mul-tiple efforts have been taken to educate themasses on limiting sugar intake. As aresult, people are getting increasingly con-scious about eating habits and are inclinedtowards reducing their intakes. In recenttimes, people have realised the fatality ofconsuming ample amount sugar and sugar-infused food products.
Sugar is an unavoidable part of our dailydiet, however, could be highly dangeroustoo. To name a few of the side effects — can-cer, diabetes, obesity, heart sickness, etc. Asa result, we are witnessing a rise in peoplelooking for alternatives for sugar, especial-ly during the festive season where sweets
play a prominent role on the table.So why not add some sweetening ele-
ments through natural ingredients? Theybring in the required taste and at the sametime, keep the health in check. Following aresome of the plant-based sweeteners that arethe best replacements of refined sugar.
���� !"�#�$�%��&!'�(Even though sugar is usually extracted
from sugarcane, which is also plant-based,but the only difference is that normal sugaris refined and hence, unhealthy. Hence,coconut and palm sugar are healthieroptions to choose from. For example, if oneuses jaggery or coconut sugar to prepareKheer, the taste will not be compromisedrather would make the dish full of nourish-ment and will be very rich in flavour.Coconut ladoos made with coconut sugarare also delicious and at the same time, nutri-
tious. We just need to avoid eating regularsweets and replace them with coconut lad-doos made with millet and ragi flour, blend-ed with cashew nuts and almonds. It tastesreally good and at the same time, the healthfactor is kept in check. They add nutrientsto the food and have low glycemic index.Hence, coconut sugar is considered to be oneof the best options for diabetes.
)�"*&Dates are rich in dietary fibre as well as
minerals like calcium, magnesium andpotassium. It is one of the best substitutesfor refined sugar. This can be used indesserts and other dishes as a date syrup andsatisfy the sugar cravings for a diabetic per-son, providing the necessary nutrition.
� � �&The fruit is a good source of vitamins
B6 and C and is rich in fibre and potassi-um. Due to its delicate taste, it’s an ideal nat-ural sweetener.
+�''*(,When it comes to replacement of white
sugar, a lot of options are available in the
market. For example, we all use jaggery athome and it is one resource, which is themost commonly-used alternative for sugar.
&"*-��Last, but not the least, is stevia, a plant-
based sweetener. A pinch of it can fulfill therequirement for a teaspoon of refinedsugar. It is one of the most commonly-usedreplacement for diabetics to maintain theirsugar level without hindering the taste.
.*�%".,�)*&&*("&First, the Honey coconut pudding with
chia seeds topped with berry — sugar less.Second, an Avocado chocolate mousse is ago-to healthy but delicious dessert. Anotheris the Honey, raisin and carrot cake — thename itself sounds perfect, isn’t it?
When it comes to satisfying the sweettooth, we mostly think of the traditionalsweets. However, with people wanting tobring a change in their lives by adoptinghealthier-eating practices after the currentpandemic, changing the way we consumesweets should be the priority.
(The writer is director, culinary develop-ment & innovation, Elior India.)
will it be Ishant, will it beUmesh Yadav, will it be a youngguy like Saini or Siraj?
“They’ve got a lot of ques-tions to ask as well. And whichspinner? They’ve got a fewspinners in their squad andthey’ve got to figure out whichone to pick for the pink-ballgame in Adelaide,” Pontingsaid.
India made history by win-ning their first Test series onAustralian soil in the 2018-19series. However, the hosts werethen without their star batsmen
David Warner and Steve Smith,who were were serving bans fortheir involvement in the 2018ball-tampering incident.
“The one thing we haven’tspoken enough about is yesIndia were really good here lasttime, but with those guys(Smith and Warner) missing atthe top of the order, that leavesa big gap in any team,” Pontingsaid.
The-45-year-old backedincumbent opener Joe Burns tostart ahead of the young WillPucovski.
“Burns hasn’t done muchwrong. If you go back to lastsummer, he played really well inthe first Test in Brisbane and Iremember saying then to lockhim in and give him a good goat it for a while.
“We read a lot into what’shappened in the first fewrounds of Shield cricket, andbecause they haven’t played aTest match for so long, a lotpeople are forgetting what hap-pened last summer.”
Pucovski is coming offback-to-back double hundredsin the Sheffield Shield and is insensational form. His inclusionhas set up a competition withBurns, who is feeling the heatafter a disastrous start to thefirst-class summer.
“But I think that’s wherethis one becomes a uniqueone; Burns is about 30, andyou’ve got a young guy whoseems to be at the peak of hispowers, who’s been touted as avery good player for Australiaand has been for a few years.
“That’s where the decisionis going to be a really tough onefor them.”
Head coach Justin Langer
���� 035�35
Romelu Lukaku helped fireBelgium into the UEFA
Nations League finals by scoringtwice in a 4-2 win over Denmarkon Wednesday, while Italy alsosecured a place in the last fourwith victory away to Bosnia andHerzegovina.
The world’s number one-ranked side, Belgium onlyrequired a draw from their lastLeague A, Group 2 game athome to Denmark behindclosed doors in Leuven andtook an early lead through YouriTielemans.
Jonas Wind equalised forDenmark, but Lukaku got a sec-ond-half double and Kevin DeBruyne made sure of the victo-ry for Roberto Martinez’s sideafter Thibaut Courtois alloweda Nacer Chadli back-pass tosquirm under his leg and in foran own goal.
Italy secured first place inGroup 1 with a 2-0 triumph inSarajevo thanks to a goal in eachhalf from Torino’s Andrea Belottiand Domenico Berardi ofSassuolo.
That ensured they finisheda point ahead of theNetherlands, who came frombehind to beat Poland 2-1 awaywith captain GeorginioWijnaldum scoring the winnerafter Memphis Depay’s penaltycancelled out Kamil Jozwiak’sopener.
Italy and Belgium join Spainand World Cup holders Francein a final tournament which isexpected to be held in Italy inOctober next year.
Before the finals, Europeannational teams will start their2022 World Cup qualifyingcampaign in March and then the
delayed Euro 2020 is set to goahead next June and July.
England have more thanone eye on that tournament,with the semi-finals and finalscheduled for Wembley, andGareth Southgate’s team round-ed out their Nations League
campaign with a 4-0 win overIceland.
Declan Rice and MasonMount scored in the first halfand Manchester City’s PhilFoden got his first internation-al goals with a late brace asEngland had three players aged
21 or younger score in the samematch for the first time since1883.
Birkir Mar Saevarsson wassent off for Iceland who, likeBosnia, are relegated and willcompete in League B in the nextedition.
WALES MOVE UPWales won promotion to
League A with a 3-1 win over10-man Finland that allowedthem to top Group B4.
Despite manager RyanGiggs being missing after hisrecent arrest on suspicion ofassaulting his girlfriend, Walescame good with goals fromHarry Wilson, Daniel Jamesand Kieffer Moore. TeemuPukki netted for Finland, whohad left-back Jere Uronen sentoff after just 12 minutes.
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India will “not be clear intheir own mind” about theirbatting order after the
departure of talismanic captainVirat Kohli at the end of firstTest Down Under, feelsAustralian great Ricky Ponting.
The 32-year-old Kohli hasbeen granted paternity leave bythe BCCI to be with his wife forthe birth of their first child.
“India will feel that withoutKohli there (for three Tests), forhis batting and leadership,that’ll put all sorts of pressureon different players,” Pontingwas quoted as saying by crick-et.Com.Au.
“You’d think (Ajinkya)Rahane will take over the cap-taincy, which will put extrapressure on him, and they’vegot to find someone to bat atthat really important No 4 spot.
“I don’t think they’ll beclear in their own mind, evennow, what their batting orderwill look like for the first Test.Who’s going to open, who’ll batat four when Kohli goes?”Ponting added.
The Indian bowling attackwill comprise Jasprit Bumrahand Mohammed Shami in leadroles. The tourists will call onIshant Sharma if he recoversfrom the side injury sustainedat the IPL while Umesh Yadav
and Navdeep Saini are alsopart of India’s Test squad.
With so many options,Ponting feels India will have toanswer more questions than thehosts.
“The questions that arebeing asked around Australiawith Pucovski and Green, Ithink India have got a fewmore questions to answer.
“Shami, Jasprit Bumrah —
���� �C�54C
Cameron Green has earnedthe right to make his Test
debut as a batsman but needsto make his case as an all-rounder for the ODIs againstIndia starting November 27,said Australian coach JustinLanger.
Green, who can also bowlexpress pace, and WillPucovski are among the fivefresh faces in the Australiansquad for the high-profileTest series against India, whichwill take place after threeODIs and as many T20s.
“In one-day cricket he’llonly play if he can bowl a fewovers because that’s how we’llset up the team. He hasn’t hadthe white-ball experience tocome in as a pure batsman but
if he can bowl a few overs, mygosh he becomes a goodprospect,” Langer was quotedas saying by cricket.Com.Au.
“But Test cricket is differ-ent. He’s earned the right toplay Test cricket on his batting.
I love watching him bat. Forsuch a tall batsman, he’s got somuch time.”
Green has been ratedhighly by the likes of GregChappell, who called the 21-year-old the best batting tal-ent he had seen since the greatRicky Ponting.
Green said he would gaina lot of experience from hisdebut series, whether he playsor not.
“The results I’ve had infour-day cricket are definite-ly a lot better than what I haveshown in T20s. If I don’t play,I’ll get a lot of experience andhopefully take a lot out of it.
“There’s probably no bet-ter place to keep learning andevolving your game thanaround world-class coachesand players,” said Green.
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Australia’s premium spin-ner Nathan Lyon has
missed the adrenaline rush ofTest cricket while he was awayfrom the game due to theCovid-19 pandemic but saysthe break has rekindled hisdesire to go beyond 500 wick-ets in the format.
Lyon, who is just fourgames short of playing100 Tests, has captured390 wickets so far, themost by any Australianoff-spinner.
“I still feel I’m get-ting better and stillfeel like I’ve got a lotof cricket to offerCricket Australia,”Lyon, who turns 33on Friday, was quot-ed as saying by foxs-ports.
“Definitely 500and beyond is onmy radar.”
Lyon willbecome just the10th player in
Australian history to reach 100Tests, in the fourth and finalmatch against India inBrisbane early next year.
The veteran spinner lastplayed a Test in January thisyear before the Covid-19 pan-demic shut down cricketacross the globe. He says thebreak has made him hungri-er to perform.
“Probably it’s driven mylove for the game,” Lyonsaid.
“Without being ableto play the game that
you love so muchand not beingable to play thatregularly that’sdriven my pas-sion to get outthere and thathunger to per-form wellagain.“The most I’ve
missed is that pres-sure that comes
along with playingTest cricket. Missingthat adrenaline.”
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Cheteshwar Pujara, whohas not played competi-
tive cricket since March, hadan extensive net session hereon Thursday and looked com-fortable facing the fast bowlersas he geared up for whatpromises to be a gruelling red-ball series against Australia.
Pujara batted both at theside nets and the centre stripwhere he faced Ishan Porel,Kartik Tyagi, who are with the
team as net bowlers, UmeshYadav and RavichandranAshwin.
The BCCI posted a shortvideo of Pujara’s net session onsocial media.
The Indian team isallowed to train in its 14-dayquarantine, having arrivedhere last week.
While most India playerscompeted in the IPL, Testregulars Pujara and HanumaVihari joined the nationalteam bubble in the UAE
before reaching Australia.Pujara, who last played the
Ranji Trophy final, was instru-mental in India’s historic winover Australia two years agoand his role at number threewill be of immense value,especially after Virat Kohli’sdeparture following the firstTest.
In Bengaluru, Australia-bound Rohit Sharma alsostarted his fitness training atthe National Cricket Academyon Thursday.
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Daniil Medvedev is enjoyingthe ATP Finals a lot better
in his second appearance.Medvedev secured a spot
in the semifinals of the season-ending tournament by domi-nating five-time championNovak Djokovic 6-3, 6-3 onWednesday for his secondstraight win of the group stage.
Medvedev, who lost allthree of his group matcheslast year on his tournamentdebut, has now beatenDjokovic in three of their lastfour meetings. The top-rankedSerb can still advance ifhe beats 2018 champi-on Alexander Zverev ina winner-takes-allmatch on Friday.
Zverev kept histournament hopes alivewith a 6-3, 4-6, 6-3victory over DiegoSchwartzman earlier onWednesday.
Medvedev broke Djokovicthree straight times to go from3-3 in the first set to a 3-0 leadin the second. The first breakcame after a marathon gamewhen the Russian finally con-verted his third break pointwhen Djokovic missed a fore-hand after a long rally.
Djokovic then double-faulted on set point and neverlooked likely to stage a come-
back in the second.Medvedev saved theonly break point hefaced at 2-0 andthen secured thevictory with aforehand winneron his firstmatch point.
“He was justbetter, no questionabout it,” Djokovic said.
“Just not a greatmatch from my side.I thought I couldhave and shouldhave done better,but credit to him forplaying on a highlevel.”
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Pep Guardiola has endedspeculation over his
Manchester City future aftersigning a new two-year contractextension on Thursday.
Guardiola was due to beout of contract at the end of thisseason and it had been suggest-ed he might be ready to leaveCity. But the 49-year-old hasnow agreed to stay at the EtihadStadium until at least 2023.
“Manchester City arepleased to announce that PepGuardiola has signed a new
two-year deal with the club,”a statement on
Man City’swebsite said.
F o r m e rB a r c e l o n aand BayernMunich bossGuardiola is
m i d w a ythrough his fifthcampaign withthe Premier
League and hisnew deal willextend what isalready hislongest stay atany club.
and and skipper Tim Paineboth have hinted at persistingwith the experienced Burns atthe top.
“I’m just reading the tealeaves a little bit, even with whatJustin had to say about the rela-tionship between Burns andWarner, my gut feeling is theywon’t go to Pucovski just yet.
“But it’ll only be a few slipups from a few players and weknow who the next cab off therank is going to be. (Opening)is just another string to(Pucovski’s) bow,” Pontingadded.
������� � South African play-ers won’t take the knee in theirlimited over series againstEngland at home as they havealready expressed their supporttowards the Black Lives Mattermovement during the 3TCgame in July, coach MarkBoucher has said.
South Africa will appear intheir first international assign-ment since the Covid-19-induced lockdown in Marchwhen they host England forthree T20Is and as many ODIs,beginning on November 27 atNewlands.
South African players,match officials, administratorsand commentators, includingdirector of cricket GraemeSmith, had taken the kneewhile wearing black arm-bandswith the BLM logo on it at the3TCricket match in Centurionfor the Solidarity Cup on July12.
“I have spoken to the guy(Lungi Ngidi) who was drivingthe whole movement withinour set-up, he is pretty happythat we have done what weneeded to do, in particular atthat (3TC) game,” MarkBoucher told ESPNcricinfo.
“It’s not something that we
have to continue to show. It’ssomething that you have tolive... If guys who brought it upare happy with it, that’s great,but if they feel we have to domore, that will be a chat andthat they are open to expresstheir opinions.”
3 CRICKETERS ISOLATEDThree players of the South
African men’s cricket team havebeen placed under isolationafter one of them tested positivefor Covid-19 ahead of thewhite-ball series againstEngland, the country’s cricketboard confirmed. Cricket SouthAfrica though, did not dis-close the names of the threeplayers. PTI
