H eavy rain in Delhi-NCR on Wednesday resulted in waterlogging, tree uprooting, partial house collapses and traffic jams at various places. According to civic bodies of Delhi, seven trees were uprooted and waterlogging was reported in several areas. A portion of a dilapidated building collapsed due to inces- sant rainfall in Chirag Delhi and a boundary wall of a pub- lic school collapsed in Saket according to South Corporation’s official. Besides, a building situat- ed at Moti Nagar and Jahangirpuri also collapsed, a senior north Corporation offi- cial said. Many areas of the neigh- bouring Gurugram were sub- merged in an average of three feet of water, according to local administration. The worst hit areas being Delhi-Gurugram expressway, service lane near Jharsa Chowk, IffCO Chowk, Sohna Road, Narsinghpur, Basai Chowk, Sohna Chowk, Sector 4-7, Hanuman Chowk, Bilaspur Chowk, Fazilpur Chowk, Vatika Chowk, Subhash Chowk, Baghtawar Chowk, Atul Kataria Chowk, Mahavir Chowk, Dundahera and Jawala Mill. Following the heavy rain- fall, the Delhi Traffic Police issued an advisory for the peo- ple informing them about the routes with heavy jams. The rain flooded many streets across the city, turning them into small rivers, as traf- fic came to a virtual standstill at key stretches. Many parts of the city were completely inundated after just a few hours of rain. Pictures and videos of vehicles stuck on waterlogged roads and people wading through waist-deep water were widely shared on social media. According to the Delhi Traffic Police, waterlogging has been reported at BRT near Central School, Badarpur to Ashram, Badarpur flyover underpass, Sarita Vihar under- pass, Dhaula Kuan towards AIIMS carriageway, Moti Bagh flyover underpass, MB Road near Batra Hospital, Palam Flyover and Chhata Rail. T he Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the Patna Police FIR to probe the alleged abetment to suicide of film star Sushant Singh Rajput and subsequent transfer of the case to the CBI. The verdict came in response to actress Rhea Chakraborty’s plea seek- ing transfer of the Patna Police FIR to Mumbai. The SC said the obstruc- tions for the Bihar Police team in Mumbai while investigating the Patna FIR registered by Rajput’s father should have been avoided as it gave rise to suspicion on the bonafide of the Mumbai Police’s enquiry. “The records of the case produced before this court does not prima facie suggest any wrongdoing by the Mumbai Police. However, their obstruction to the Bihar Police team at Mumbai could have been avoided since it gave rise to suspicion on the bonafide of their enquiry,” the court said. The SC ruling ordering the CBI probe came when a single judge bench exercised the special powers under Article 142 of the Constitution. Justice Hrishikesh Roy cited the Justice LS Panta judg- ment, “Under Article 142 of the Constitution, this court in the exercise of its jurisdiction may pass such decree or make such order as is necessary for doing complete justice in any cause” or “matter” pending before it. The expression “cause” or “mat- ter” would include any pro- ceeding pending in court and it would cover almost every kind of proceeding in court, including civil or criminal.” “This court’s (SC) power under Article 142(1) to do complete justice is entirely of different level and of a differ- ent quality. What would be the need of ‘complete justice’ in a cause or matter would depend upon the facts and circum- stances of each case and while exercising that power the court would take into consideration the express provisions of a substantive statute,” said Justice Roy citing the Panta judg- ment. Justice Roy further said, “The above ratio makes it amply clear that the Supreme Court in a deserving case, can invoke Article 142 powers to render justice. The peculiar circum- stances, in this case, require that complete justice is done in this matter. How this is to be achieved must now be decid- ed.” Justice Roy underlined that the Bihar and Maharashtra Governments are making acri- monious allegations of politi- cal interference against each other, and the legitimacy of the investigation has come under a cloud. “These developments, unfortunately, have the propen- sity to delay and misdirect the investigation. In such a situa- tion, there is a reasonable apprehension of truth being a casualty and justice becoming a victim,” observed Justice Roy. He asserted that to ensure public confidence in the inves- tigation and to do complete jus- tice in the matter, the court considers it appropriate to invoke the powers conferred by Article 142 of the Constitution. Justice Roy turned down the Maharashtra Government’s arguments that ordinarily, the local police should conduct an investigation into any reported crime and entrustment of the investigation to the CBI must be an exception to meet extra- ordinary exigencies, and the consent given by Bihar Government, was for political exigencies. I n a first-of-its-kind of “hijacking” drama in Uttar Pradesh, a private bus plying from Gurgaon to Madhya Pradesh was stopped by four men who identified themselves as recovery agents of a finance company in Agra, asked the driver and two conductors to get down and then sped away with its 34 passengers. The bus was later found in Jhansi, 250 km from Agra, and all the passengers are safe. According to a report, the incident took place in the Malpura police station area when the bus was en route to Panna in Madhya Pradesh from Gurgaon. Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish Awasthi said the bus driver, staff and pas- sengers are safe. However, the accused are yet to be nabbed. T he Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved leas- ing out Jaipur, Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram airports to the successful bidder Adani Group. The Gautam Adani-head- ed Group has also won the bid for Lucknow, Ahmadabad and Mangaluru airports under PPP mode. Adani Group lost the new Jewar Airport in Noida to Zurich Airport in the bid. “The Union Cabinet accorded its approval for leas- ing of three AAI airports name- ly, Jaipur, Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram for Operation, Management and Development to M/s Adani Enterprises Ltd, who is declared as the successful bidder in a Global Competitive Bidding conducted by the Airports Authority of India, for 60 years,” said the Government. W hen Rahul Gandhi stepped down as the Congress president last year, his sister and party general secre- tary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra agreed with his views that a non-Gandhi should lead the party. As per the excerpts of a book, India Tomorrow: Conversations with the Next generation of Political Leaders authored by US academicians Pradeep Chibber and Harsh Shah, Priyanka Gandhi has said that the Congress should have its own path. The Congress dismissed the issue saying it was “the sud- den media interest egged on by BJP” in a “year-old remark” and asserted the Nehru-Gandhi family was never drawn by the trappings of power. Priyanka’s interview refers to her brother’s resignation letter, in which he stressed that the party must search for a new president. The indication was that it should be someone outside the family, which has led the Congress for most of its 134- year-old history. I n a landmark decision to benefit millions of Government job aspirants, the Centre on Wednesday set up a National Recruitment Agency with the mandate to conduct Common Eligibility Test (CET) for selection to non-gazetted non-technical posts in the Central Government and pub- lic sector banks. The NRA CET will be conducted twice a year in about 12 languages the scores of which will be valid for three years within which period the candidate can apply for a job in the department or sector seek- ing recruitment based on a cer- tain score of NRA CET. However, in some of the sectors requiring higher skills like Bank Probationary officers or Railways or technical posts in any PSU, the candidate with NRA CET score will have to apply for another final exams and interview process. The NRA now be respon- sible to conduct “one exam” for bankings services, railways and Government Secretariat ser- vices which was till now con- ducted by three different agen- cies — banking personnel selection agency IBPS, railway recruitment board RRB, and the Staff Selection Commission (SSC). There are more than 20 recruitment agencies in the Central Government and in due course all will come under the ambit of NRA. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said NRA will prove to be a boon for crores of youngsters it will eliminate multiple tests and save precious time as well as resources. “This will also be a big boost to transparency, “ Modi said in a tweet soon after the Union Cabinet approved the NRA. T he second round of the serological survey, con- ducted in the first week of August across Delhi, has sug- gested that 28.35 per cent of the tested people have developed antibodies against Covid-19. It means that they have been exposed to the virus but were asymptomatic and did not fell ill, said sources in the State Government. Delhi’s population is around two crore. It means more than 50 lakh people and every fourth person in Delhi have been infected with the virus one time or another dur- ing the last six months. The highest prevalence has been reported from the central district, said the sources. The first round carried on a sample size of 21,387 had shown that 22.86 per cent of the people surveyed had been exposed to the virus. A sero- logical survey involves collect- ing blood samples and testing it to determine whether a per- son has developed antibodies against the virus. During the second round of survey, more than 15,000 samples were lifted across 11 districts in Delhi to assess the spread of the virus. Of the total samples collected this time, half were from people between the ages of 18 and 49. The samples were processed in 18 authorised labs, said the sources. The data collated by researchers at Maulana Azad Medical College has been submitted to Principal Health Secretary Vikram Dev Dutt. Despite several efforts, Dutt could not be contacted. “The labs have submitted their reports and, after com- piling the data, we have found a prevalence of 28.35 per cent of the disease among people who were tested in the second round. The highest prevalence has be en reported from the cen- tral district,” said a senior offi- cial from the State Health Department. “We have already started the work on the next survey and a meeting is scheduled for August 20 to discuss the sam- ple size,” added the official. T he Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA), headed by Lt Governor Anil Baijal, on Wednesday gave approval for the opening of hotels and weekly markets in the nation- al Capital on trial basis, how- ever gyms will remain shut. The move is expected to help revive the city’s economy which was hit by the coron- avirus pandemic and months of lockdown. Citing Delhi health bul- letin report, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said, “The corona situation in Delhi is much better now, the econ- omy of Delhi has to be now brought on track.” The DDMA decision was welcomed by many hotel and restaurant associations as well traders bodies which thanked the CM for his efforts to get the hotels and weekly markets opened in the city. T he BJP and its allies in the National Democratic Alliance on Wednesday wel- comed the Supreme Court order upholding the Bihar Government’s recommenda- tion for a CBI probe in actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death saying people know that “cover-up” will now not be possible in the case even as Congress pointed out that SC ruling did not cast any asper- sions on the Mumbai Police. The politicians in the poll- bound Bihar had turned the heat on the Mumbai Police and backed the demand for a CBI investigation into the circum- stances leading to the death of 34-year-old Rajput. The Shiv Sena refused to make a “political comment” on the apex court’s ruling but described “State’s justice system one of the best in the country”. But Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh said the State Government wel- comes the judgment. “We wel- come the judgment of the Supreme Court and we will provide whatever cooperation is needed by the CBI. It is a matter of pride for Mumbai Police that Supreme Court observed there is no fault found in their investigation,” he said. On whether the Mumbai Police will continue a parallel probe in the matter, Deshmukh added, “State Government will think as per paragraph 34 of the Supreme Court order.” Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, who had also paid a visit to Sushant’s ances- tral house in Patna, said, “The soul of late actor Sushant Singh Rajput will surely now rest in peace with the assurance of a fair investigation by CBI.” ❝ ❝ ❝ H aryana on Wednesday wit- nessed the highest single- day spike of Covid-19 cases as 994 people tested positive in the last 24 hours, taking the tally to 49,930, while the death toll rose to 567 with 10 more fatalities, the Health Department said. So far, the State has a total of 49,930 pos- itive cases including 7303 active cases, 42, 056 discharges and 567 deaths. The number of recoveries rose to 42,056 with 758 more people being dis- charged, according to the bul- letin.Out of the 10 new fatali- ties, two each were reported from Faridabad, Rewari, Ambala while one each from Gurugram, Hisar, Kurukshetra and Sirsa, it said. On Tuesday, there were seven more coron- avirus deaths and 896 infec- tions in the State.Out of the 994 new Covid-19 cases, 79 were reported in Faridabad while 67 in Gurugram, 40 in Sonepat, 52 in Rewari, 68 in Ambala, 56 in Rohtak and 83 in Panipat. 78 more people were afflicted with the disease in Karnal, 46 in Panchkula, 55 in Mahendragarh, 60 in Kurukshetra, 88 in Yamunanagar. The recovery rate has risen to 84.23 per cent, while the fatality rate is 1.14 per cent, according to the bulletin. As many as 8,89 samples have been sent for testing. The pos- itivity rate is 5.65 per cent,, while the tests per million population stands at 35, 079, the department said. Related Covid reports on Pg 3
Transcript
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Heavy rain in Delhi-NCRon Wednesday resulted in
waterlogging, tree uprooting,partial house collapses andtraffic jams at various places.
According to civic bodiesof Delhi, seven trees wereuprooted and waterlogging wasreported in several areas.
A portion of a dilapidatedbuilding collapsed due to inces-sant rainfall in Chirag Delhiand a boundary wall of a pub-lic school collapsed in Saketaccording to SouthCorporation’s official.
Besides, a building situat-ed at Moti Nagar andJahangirpuri also collapsed, asenior north Corporation offi-cial said.
Many areas of the neigh-bouring Gurugram were sub-merged in an average of threefeet of water, according to localadministration. The worst hit
areas being Delhi-Gurugramexpressway, service lane nearJharsa Chowk, IffCO Chowk,Sohna Road, Narsinghpur,
Following the heavy rain-fall, the Delhi Traffic Policeissued an advisory for the peo-ple informing them about theroutes with heavy jams.
The rain flooded manystreets across the city, turningthem into small rivers, as traf-fic came to a virtual standstillat key stretches.
Many parts of the city werecompletely inundated after justa few hours of rain. Picturesand videos of vehicles stuck onwaterlogged roads and peoplewading through waist-deepwater were widely shared onsocial media.
According to the DelhiTraffic Police, waterlogging hasbeen reported at BRT nearCentral School, Badarpur toAshram, Badarpur flyoverunderpass, Sarita Vihar under-pass, Dhaula Kuan towardsAIIMS carriageway, Moti Baghflyover underpass, MB Roadnear Batra Hospital, PalamFlyover and Chhata Rail.
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The Supreme Court onWednesday upheld the
Patna Police FIR to probe thealleged abetment to suicide offilm star Sushant Singh Rajputand subsequent transfer of thecase to the CBI. The verdictcame in response to actressRhea Chakraborty’s plea seek-ing transfer of the Patna PoliceFIR to Mumbai.
The SC said the obstruc-tions for the Bihar Police teamin Mumbai while investigatingthe Patna FIR registered byRajput’s father should havebeen avoided as it gave rise tosuspicion on the bonafide ofthe Mumbai Police’s enquiry.
“The records of the caseproduced before this courtdoes not prima facie suggestany wrongdoing by theMumbai Police. However, theirobstruction to the Bihar Policeteam at Mumbai could havebeen avoided since it gave riseto suspicion on the bonafide oftheir enquiry,” the court said.
The SC ruling orderingthe CBI probe came when asingle judge bench exercisedthe special powers underArticle 142 of the Constitution.
Justice Hrishikesh Roy
cited the Justice LS Panta judg-ment, “Under Article 142 of theConstitution, this court in theexercise of its jurisdiction maypass such decree or make suchorder as is necessary for doingcomplete justice in any cause”or “matter” pending before it.The expression “cause” or “mat-ter” would include any pro-ceeding pending in court andit would cover almost everykind of proceeding in court,including civil or criminal.”
“This court’s (SC) powerunder Article 142(1) to docomplete justice is entirely ofdifferent level and of a differ-ent quality. What would be theneed of ‘complete justice’ in acause or matter would depend
upon the facts and circum-stances of each case and whileexercising that power the courtwould take into considerationthe express provisions of asubstantive statute,” said JusticeRoy citing the Panta judg-ment.
Justice Roy further said,“The above ratio makes itamply clear that the SupremeCourt in a deserving case, caninvoke Article 142 powers to
render justice.The peculiar circum-
stances, in this case, requirethat complete justice is done inthis matter. How this is to beachieved must now be decid-ed.”
Justice Roy underlined thatthe Bihar and MaharashtraGovernments are making acri-monious allegations of politi-cal interference against eachother, and the legitimacy of the
investigation has come under acloud.
“These developments,unfortunately, have the propen-sity to delay and misdirect theinvestigation. In such a situa-tion, there is a reasonableapprehension of truth being acasualty and justice becominga victim,” observed Justice Roy.
He asserted that to ensurepublic confidence in the inves-tigation and to do complete jus-tice in the matter, the courtconsiders it appropriate toinvoke the powers conferred byArticle 142 of the Constitution.
Justice Roy turned downthe Maharashtra Government’sarguments that ordinarily, thelocal police should conduct aninvestigation into any reportedcrime and entrustment of theinvestigation to the CBI mustbe an exception to meet extra-ordinary exigencies, and theconsent given by BiharGovernment, was for politicalexigencies.
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In a first-of-its-kind of“hijacking” drama in Uttar
Pradesh, a private bus plyingfrom Gurgaon to MadhyaPradesh was stopped by fourmen who identified themselvesas recovery agents of a financecompany in Agra, asked thedriver and two conductors toget down and then sped awaywith its 34 passengers.
The bus was later found inJhansi, 250 km from Agra,and all the passengers are safe.
According to a report, theincident took place in theMalpura police station areawhen the bus was en route toPanna in Madhya Pradeshfrom Gurgaon.
Additional Chief Secretary(Home) Awanish Awasthi saidthe bus driver, staff and pas-sengers are safe.
However, the accused areyet to be nabbed.
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The Union Cabinet onWednesday approved leas-
ing out Jaipur, Guwahati andThiruvananthapuram airportsto the successful bidder AdaniGroup.
The Gautam Adani-head-ed Group has also won the bidfor Lucknow, Ahmadabad andMangaluru airports under PPPmode. Adani Group lost thenew Jewar Airport in Noida toZurich Airport in the bid.
“The Union Cabinetaccorded its approval for leas-ing of three AAI airports name-ly, Jaipur, Guwahati andThiruvananthapuram forOperation, Management andDevelopment to M/s AdaniEnterprises Ltd, who is declaredas the successful bidder in aGlobal Competitive Biddingconducted by the AirportsAuthority of India, for 60years,” said the Government.
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When Rahul Gandhistepped down as the
Congress president last year, hissister and party general secre-tary Priyanka Gandhi Vadraagreed with his views that anon-Gandhi should lead theparty.
As per the excerpts of abook, India Tomorrow:Conversations with the Nextgeneration of Political Leadersauthored by US academiciansPradeep Chibber and HarshShah, Priyanka Gandhi hassaid that the Congress should
have its own path.The Congress dismissed
the issue saying it was “the sud-den media interest egged on byBJP” in a “year-old remark” andasserted the Nehru-Gandhifamily was never drawn by thetrappings of power.
Priyanka’s interview refersto her brother’s resignationletter, in which he stressedthat the party must search fora new president.
The indication was that itshould be someone outsidethe family, which has led theCongress for most of its 134-year-old history.
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In a landmark decision tobenefit millions of
Government job aspirants, theCentre on Wednesday set up aNational Recruitment Agencywith the mandate to conductCommon Eligibility Test (CET)for selection to non-gazettednon-technical posts in theCentral Government and pub-lic sector banks.
The NRA CET will beconducted twice a year in about12 languages the scores ofwhich will be valid for threeyears within which period thecandidate can apply for a job inthe department or sector seek-ing recruitment based on a cer-tain score of NRA CET.
However, in some of thesectors requiring higher skillslike Bank Probationary officersor Railways or technical postsin any PSU, the candidate withNRA CET score will have toapply for another final examsand interview process.
The NRA now be respon-
sible to conduct “one exam” forbankings services, railways andGovernment Secretariat ser-vices which was till now con-ducted by three different agen-cies — banking personnelselection agency IBPS, railwayrecruitment board RRB, andthe Staff Selection Commission(SSC).
There are more than 20recruitment agencies in theCentral Government and indue course all will come underthe ambit of NRA.
Prime Minister NarendraModi said NRA will prove to bea boon for crores of youngstersit will eliminate multiple testsand save precious time as wellas resources.
“This will also be a bigboost to transparency, “ Modisaid in a tweet soon after theUnion Cabinet approved theNRA.
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The second round of theserological survey, con-
ducted in the first week ofAugust across Delhi, has sug-gested that 28.35 per cent of thetested people have developedantibodies against Covid-19. Itmeans that they have beenexposed to the virus but wereasymptomatic and did not fellill, said sources in the StateGovernment.
Delhi’s population isaround two crore. It meansmore than 50 lakh people andevery fourth person in Delhihave been infected with thevirus one time or another dur-ing the last six months.
The highest prevalence hasbeen reported from the centraldistrict, said the sources.
The first round carried ona sample size of 21,387 hadshown that 22.86 per cent ofthe people surveyed had beenexposed to the virus. A sero-logical survey involves collect-ing blood samples and testingit to determine whether a per-son has developed antibodiesagainst the virus.
During the second roundof survey, more than 15,000samples were lifted across 11districts in Delhi to assess thespread of the virus. Of the totalsamples collected this time,
half were from people betweenthe ages of 18 and 49.
The samples wereprocessed in 18 authorisedlabs, said the sources. The datacollated by researchers atMaulana Azad Medical Collegehas been submitted to PrincipalHealth Secretary Vikram Dev
Dutt. Despite several efforts,Dutt could not be contacted.
“The labs have submittedtheir reports and, after com-piling the data, we have founda prevalence of 28.35 per centof the disease among peoplewho were tested in the secondround. The highest prevalencehas be
en reported from the cen-tral district,” said a senior offi-cial from the State HealthDepartment.
“We have already startedthe work on the next surveyand a meeting is scheduled forAugust 20 to discuss the sam-ple size,” added the official.
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The Delhi DisasterManagement Authority
(DDMA), headed by LtGovernor Anil Baijal, onWednesday gave approval forthe opening of hotels andweekly markets in the nation-al Capital on trial basis, how-ever gyms will remain shut.
The move is expected tohelp revive the city’s economywhich was hit by the coron-avirus pandemic and months
of lockdown.Citing Delhi health bul-
letin report, Delhi ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal said,“The corona situation in Delhiis much better now, the econ-omy of Delhi has to be nowbrought on track.”
The DDMA decision waswelcomed by many hotel andrestaurant associations as welltraders bodies which thankedthe CM for his efforts to getthe hotels and weekly marketsopened in the city. ��� ��������
The BJP and its allies in theNational Democratic
Alliance on Wednesday wel-comed the Supreme Courtorder upholding the BiharGovernment’s recommenda-tion for a CBI probe in actorSushant Singh Rajput’s deathsaying people know that“cover-up” will now not bepossible in the case even asCongress pointed out that SCruling did not cast any asper-sions on the Mumbai Police.
The politicians in the poll-bound Bihar had turned theheat on the Mumbai Police andbacked the demand for a CBIinvestigation into the circum-stances leading to the death of34-year-old Rajput.
The Shiv Sena refused to
make a “political comment” onthe apex court’s ruling butdescribed “State’s justice systemone of the best in the country”.But Maharashtra HomeMinister Anil Deshmukh saidthe State Government wel-
comes the judgment. “We wel-come the judgment of theSupreme Court and we willprovide whatever cooperationis needed by the CBI.
It is a matter of pride forMumbai Police that SupremeCourt observed there is no faultfound in their investigation,” hesaid.
On whether the MumbaiPolice will continue a parallelprobe in the matter, Deshmukhadded, “State Government willthink as per paragraph 34 of theSupreme Court order.”
Union Minister RaviShankar Prasad, who had alsopaid a visit to Sushant’s ances-tral house in Patna, said, “Thesoul of late actor Sushant SinghRajput will surely now rest inpeace with the assurance of afair investigation by CBI.”
Haryana on Wednesday wit-nessed the highest single-
day spike of Covid-19 cases as994 people tested positive inthe last 24 hours, taking thetally to 49,930, while the deathtoll rose to 567 with 10 morefatalities, the HealthDepartment said. So far, theState has a total of 49,930 pos-itive cases including 7303 activecases, 42, 056 discharges and567 deaths. The number ofrecoveries rose to 42,056 with758 more people being dis-charged, according to the bul-
letin.Out of the 10 new fatali-ties, two each were reportedfrom Faridabad, Rewari,Ambala while one each fromGurugram, Hisar, Kurukshetraand Sirsa, it said. On Tuesday,there were seven more coron-avirus deaths and 896 infec-tions in the State.Out of the 994new Covid-19 cases, 79 werereported in Faridabad while 67in Gurugram, 40 in Sonepat, 52in Rewari, 68 in Ambala, 56 in
Rohtak and 83 in Panipat. 78more people were afflictedwith the disease in Karnal, 46in Panchkula, 55 inMahendragarh, 60 inKurukshetra, 88 inYamunanagar. The recoveryrate has risen to 84.23 per cent,while the fatality rate is 1.14 percent, according to the bulletin.As many as 8,89 samples havebeen sent for testing. The pos-itivity rate is 5.65 per cent,,while the tests per millionpopulation stands at 35, 079,the department said.
The State Level Committee ofTown and Country Planning
Department which met underthe Chairmanship of ChiefMinister Manohar Lal Khattarhere on Wednesday approvedthe Nilokheri-Taraori, Barwala,Julana, and Uchana DraftDevelopment Plan-2041.
Besides, it also approved amend-ment in the Final DevelopmentPlan-2031 of Assandh.
The Draft DevelopmentPlan of Nilokheri-Taraori hasbeen prepared for a projectedpopulation of 230,000 personsby the year 2041. The proposedaverage residential density willbe 300 persons per hectare. Inthe development plan, while
767.89 hectares has been kept forresidential purpose, 143 hectaresarea has been kept for com-mercial purpose.
Similarly, 282.72 hectareshas been kept for industrialpurpose, 243.38 hectares fortransport and communication,45.81 hectares for public utilities,53 hectares for public and semi-public uses and 371.28 hectaresfor open spaces. The DraftDevelopment Plan of Barwalahas been prepared for a pro-jected population of 110,000lakh persons by the year 2041.The average residential sectordensity would be 250 personsper hectare.
In the Development Plan,while 558 hectares have beenkept for residential purpose, 55hectares have been kept forcommercial purpose, 87hectares for industrial purpos-es, 122 hectares for transport andcommunication, 37 hectares forpublic utilities, 120 hectares forpublic and semi public uses, and123 hectares for open spaces.
The Draft DevelopmentPlan of Julana has been preparedfor a projected population of76,000 persons by the year 2041.The average residential sectordensity would be 250 personsper hectare. In the Draft DevelopPlan, while 216 hectares havebeen kept reserved for residen-tial purpose.
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Haryana Police have arrest-ed four miscreants on the
charges of trying to disruptpeace, brotherhood and com-munal harmony by hoisting aflag with 'khalistan zindabad'written on it at a village chau-pal under Kalanwali police sta-tion in Sirsa district.
A Haryana Policespokesperson on Wednesdaysaid that arrested accused wereidentified as Rupinder Singhalias Rim, Yudhvir Singh aliasJony and Gurjeet, all residentsof village Singhpura and AmanSharma of Ward Number 3,Talwandi Sabo. Two accusedcarried out the incident andwhile the other two shot avideo/photo and posted onsocial media.
During preliminary inter-rogation, accused Rupinderconfessed to having beeninvolved in the disgraceful actafter seeing a video on socialmedia on August 14. A caseunder relevant sections of IPChad been registered at Kalawalipolice station and a probe wasunderway, the spokesman said.
36,000-mark and the deathtoll surpassed 900-mark withthe State recording 1693 freshcases and 24 deaths in the past24 hours. With this, the state’sinfection tally stood at 36,083and death toll at 920.
Of the total 22 districts, fivedistricts — Ludhiana with 462,Jalandhar with 208, 117 fromPatiala, 114 from SAS Nagar(Mohali), and 111 fromFerozepur — reported freshcases in three-digit figure,accounting for 60 percent of theWednesday’s total cases.
Besides, 86 fresh cases werereported from Amritsar, fol-lowed by 68 from Sangrur, 64from Moga, 62 from Bathinda,59 from Fatehgarh Sahib, 54from Faridkot, 52 fromBarnala, 46 from Muktsar, 39from Gurdaspur, 38 fromFazilka, 34 from Ropar, 29from Hoshiarpur, 24 fromMansa, 10 from SBS Nagar,eight from Kapurthala, sevenfrom Tarn Taran, and one newcase from Pathankot.
The deadly virus claimedeight lives in Ludhiana district,followed by six in Patiala, threein Jalandhar and one each inAmritsar, Fatehgarh Sahib,Kapurthala, Barnala,Ferozepur, Pathankot andMansa districts.
As many 13 prisoners — 10from Bathinda and three fromBarnala, and six PolicePersonnel — two each fromLudhiana and Tarn Taran, oneeach from Mohali and
Bathinda, have been testedpositive while 17 positive caseshave the travel history to otherstates or countries. As many941 patients — including 281from Jalandhar, 236 fromPatiala, 170 from SAS Nagar(Mohali), 98 from Amritsar, 35from Hoshiarpur, 23 fromPathankot, 18 from Mansa, 15from Gurdaspur, 13 fromMoga, 12 from Sangrur, 10each from Barnala and Fazilka,nine from Muktsar, seven fromFerozepur, and four fromFatehgarh Sahib — have beendischarged in Wednesday afterrecovering from the conta-gion.
With this, the total numberof recoveries has reached22,703 at the rate of 68.62 per-cent. The state still has 12,460active cases — accounting for37.66 percent of the state’stotal positive cases — of which362 patients are on oxygen sup-port, and 36 are critical and onventilator support.
On Wednesday, a total of17,667 samples were collectedfrom across the state. Till date,the state has collected total of8,19,657 samples.
Meanwhile, SAD’s MLAfrom Dera Bassi NK Sharmahas been tested positive for thenovel coronavirus onWednesday. Currently, five leg-islators — Cabinet MinisterGurpreet Singh Kangar, PunjabVidhan Sabha Deputy SpeakerAjaib Singh Bhatti, AAP’s rebelMLA Nazar Singh Mansahia,SAD’s Dakha MLA ManpreetSingh Ayali, and Dera BassiMLA — are infected by thecontagion. Sharing the infor-
mation from his Facebookpage, Sharma has appealed toall the people who had come inhis contact to get their testsdone. “I would like to sharewith you that I am tested pos-itive for COVID-19. I was fac-ing mild symptoms from lastfew days, so I got myself test-ed and the report turned out tobe positive. I am now in com-plete isolation and perfectlyhealthy and will be back withmy well wishers soon,” he said.
Amidst reports that Punjabis unable to handle the heavypatient load owing to steep risein the COVID tally, PunjabChief Secretary Vini Mahajanon Wednesday claimed that theState is well prepared to handlethe current patient load and theState Government has part-nered with the private health-care sector to ensure greatercoverage and better utilizationof available resources in theState for the benefit of thepatients.“COVID response inPunjab is founded on the pil-lars of preparedness, inter-sec-toral coordination, intensivesurveillance, strict contain-ment, capacity building andcomprehensive patient man-agement. All desired diagnos-tic and drug therapy facilitieshave been ensured at bothLevel II and Level III facilities,”she said.
Mahajan said that the LevelII facilities in the state are wellprepared to handle the currentpatient load with more than 60
percent beds even lying vacantin the top four districts with thehighest COVID-19 caseloadcumulatively — that isLudhiana, Jalandhar, Patiala,and Amritsar.
“At Level III facilities inthese four districts, cumula-tively more than 40 percentbeds are currently unoccu-pied. Although given the cur-rent spurt of cases, the occu-pancy of hospital or ICU bedsby critically-ill patients isincreasing, the situation is farfrom being as grave as men-tioned in some news reports,”she said.
She said that while it is pos-sible that some individual cen-ters may report full occupancyat times, there is a strong mech-anism in place at the districtlevel to ensure that patients arereferred immediately to anoth-er centre with sufficient bedsand given the best possiblemedical care.“The Governmentalso has designated dedicatedofficers, called COVID PatientTracking Officers (CPTOs), forpatient tracking, who monitorevery person that tests positiveright from the time the testresult comes till the completionof treatment,” she said.Similarly,senior IAS and PCS officershave also been made in-chargeof tertiary care and Level IIIfacilities to ensure that there isoptimal utilization of resources,she said.
Moreover, the state author-ities are keeping a close eye onthe situation and appropriatesteps are being undertaken toensure sufficient availability ofbeds or ICUs for COVID-19
patients. The live bed statusavailability will also be madeavailable to the general publicshortly on the COVA App.
“While it is true that thereis a spurt in the number ofCOVID 19 positive cases, it hasbeen limited to major citiesincluding Ludhiana, Jalandhar,Amritsar, and Patiala. It is pri-marily driven by the easing oflockdown restrictions, rampingup of testing facilities and alsobecause of non-observance ofthe Government directivessuch as use of mask, main-taining social distancing, fol-lowing protocol for coughingor sneezing, etc,” she said.
Chandigarh on Wednesdayreported 91 fresh COVID-19cases. One more resident dieddue to COVID-19 and thetotal toll reached 31 in the city.
The total tally of positivecases stood at 2396 including1012 active cases till theevening. 108 COVID-19patients were also declaredcured taking the total recover-ies to 1351.
“A 74 years old male resi-dent of Sector 24, who was aCOVID positive, expired inPGIMER on August 19. He suf-fered refractory septic shockdue to COVID acute respira-tory distress syndrome,” statedChandigarh HealthDepartment’s evening bulletin.
Giving details of the posi-tive cases, the bulletin stated,“The fresh cases were report-ed from Sectors 14, 15, 16, 19,20, 21, 22, 25, 37, 38, 40, 45, 47,50, 52, 56, 63, Daria, RaipurKhurd, PGIMER, Kajheri,Burail, Manimajra, MauliJagran, Dadumajra,Kishangarh, Khuda Lahora andBehlana.
Out of total 91 cases detect-ed, 55 were found positivethrough RT-PCR testing whilethe rest of the cases were detect-
ed through rapid antigen test-ing. Among those tested posi-tive included a one year oldmale child from Manimajraand a five-year old male childfrom Sector 25, according to thebulletin. The recovery rate ofpositive cases was recorded at56 percent while the fatality ratewas 1.29 percent.
Till date, 22730 samples ofcity residents have been testedfor COVID-19. 532 sampleswere tested in the past 24hours, the bulletin added. Withthe city witnessing rapid surgein positive cases, 1348 positivecases have been reported so farin the month of August.
COVID-19 patients amid thesudden increase in spread ofinfection, the UTAdministration on Wednesdaydirected the private hospitals tokeep at least 25 percent bedsreserved for COVID-19patients. The Administrationhad earlier capped the treat-ment cost for COVID-19patients in the private hospitalsof the city.
“In exercise of the powersconferred under ‘TheChandigarh Epidemic Disease,COVID-19 Regulations, 2020notified under Epidemic DiseaseAct 1897, all the private hospi-tals are hereby directed to keepat least 25 percent of the bedsand ICU beds etc. in all specialityfor COVID 19 patients on pay-ment basis,” stated an orderissued by Arun Gupta, UTPrincipal Secretary Health.
starting from August 26,Haryana Health and HomeMinister Anil Vij onWednesday said that a coronascreening camp will be organ-ised in the assembly premiseson August 24, in which MLAs,officers, employees and jour-nalists will be able to get theCovid-19 tested.
Recently Haryana VidhanSabha Speaker Gian ChandGupta said that anyone enter-ing the Haryana Vidhan Sabhacomplex for the upcomingmonsoon session will have toshow a COVID-19 negativecertificate.
Apart from this, all the dis-trict civil surgeons of the Statehave been instructed to organ-ise Covid-19 screening campfor MLAs of their respectivedistricts. Vij e said that doctorsin the State are treating patientseffectively due to which thecondition of corona is undercontrol. As a result, the recov-ery rate of corona patients inthe state is around 84 percent,death rate is only 1.1 percentand the duration of doubling ofpatients is 32 days.
The Health Minister saidthat to examine the antibodyamong the people, arrange-ments are being made to con-duct a sero-survey in 850 peo-ple in each district. Under this,550 people will be examined inthe villages of the districts and300 in the cities.A sero-surveyis an epidemiological tool thathelps in detecting unreportedor past cases of Covid-19 andin understanding the preva-lence of the disease in com-munities. In the survey, bloodsamples are randomly collect-ed from various high-risk pop-ulation groups — based on thecategories identified by theIndian Council of MedicalResearch (ICMR) — to look forantibodies against Covid-19.Antibodies are generated in thebody as an immune response tofight against the infection andprovide protection against con-tracting the same infectiousdisease again.He said that as nomedicines for corona havebeen prepared in the world soeveryone should wear masksand maintain a distance of 2yards while leaving the house.Apart from this, the policehave also been instructed totake action against those per-sons who do not wear masks.
private hospitals and labs forthe treatment and test ofCOVID-19, Punjab Health andFamily Welfare Minister BalbirSingh Sidhu on Wednesdayinstructed the Civil Surgeons toensure that all such serviceswould be availed as per thecapped rates decided by theState Government.
“If anyone found violatingthe instructions, immediateaction would be taken againstthe management under theEpidemic Disease Act,” saidSidhu.
The Minister said that ser-vices of test and treatmentwere being provided free of costat all government health facil-ities so that all needy people getthe quality services without anyfinancial burden.
“Similarly, to check profi-teering by private hospitals,there was also a dire need to fixthe rates of private health estab-lishments during the currentpandemic.
That’s why, CaptAmarinder Singh led PunjabGovernment has fixed theirCOVID treatment rates in July,”
he said. Sidhu said that it wasbrought to his notice that evennow, some private hospitalshave been charging exorbi-tantly from families of patients.
He appealed to the man-agements of private hospitals toserve the humanity for thesake of safe future of our coun-try during this tough time andto “stop overcharging for thetreatment as families of patientsare already passing throughtrauma, financial shock, anddiscrimination associated withthe disease”.
Divulging about fixed ratesof treatment, the Minister saidthat for moderate sicknessrequiring Isolation Beds,including supportive care and
oxygen, the rates per day ofadmission are fixed at Rs10,000 for all private medicalcolleges, NABH private hospi-tals with teaching programmefrom NBE, Rs 9000 for NABHaccredited Hospitals (includingPrivate Medical Colleges with-out PG or DNB Course) and Rs8000 for Non-NABH accredit-ed hospitals.
The rates across these cat-egories of hospitals for SevereSickness (ICU without need forventilator) have been capped,respectively, at Rs 15,000, Rs14,000 and Rs 13,000, while forvery severe or critical patients,these are fixed at Rs 18,000, Rs,16,500 and Rs 15,000 respec-tively. All these rates are inclu-sive of PPE cost.
“To encourage private hos-pitals to cater to mild sicknesscases also, the PunjabGovernment has also fixed perday admission rates for suchcases at Rs 6500, Rs 5500 andRs 4500 respectively,” he added.
Sidhu said that to bringmore transparency in the pri-vate labs, the PunjabGovernment has also cappedthe cost of testing maximum Rs2400 for RT-PCR inclusive ofGST or Taxes, it also includesany cost involved in home col-
lection of samples. For antigentesting at private labs, the costhas been capped at maximumRs 1,000 including GST orTaxes and any cost involved inhome collection of samples, headded.
The Minister said that forgetting tested, no prescriptionfrom a doctor is required ingovernment hospitals andthose testing positive and areasymptomatic or mild symp-tomatic need not be admittedto hospitals and can opt forhome isolation, if they havefacilities.
Sidhu said that testing isavailable free of cost at allGovernment Health Facilities.The list of approximately 600Government (All DistrictHospitals, Sub DivisionalHospitals and CommunityHealth Centers) and 52 ICMRapproved private testing centersare available at the HealthDepartment’s website.
Some private labs providefacilities for home collection ofsamples.
“Instructions have beenissued to all DeputyCommissioners to take strictaction, if any hospital and pri-vate lab are found violating theorders,” he added.
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Punjab Finance MinisterManpreet Singh Badal on
Wednesday said that thePunjab Government has stoodby its employees and pension-ers despite the financial con-straints due to nationwide lock-down imposed to contain theCOVID-19 pandemic claimingthat the Government has paid100 percent salary and pensionto them “on time, without anydelay”.
Urging all employees andpensioners to terminate thestrike and help the StateGovernment fight the COVID-19 pandemic, Manpreet saidthat the State Government haseven allowed ProvisionalPension to the employees retir-ing from January 2020onwards, so that no one has toface financial crunch onaccount of the lockdown.
He said that the StateGovernment has lived up to itsfive mantras — salaries, pen-sions, subsidy to Powercom,debt servicing, and disbursingold-age and social securitypension — it has not default-ed for a single day.
“The State Government
has also increased the ex-gra-tia grant to Rs 50 lakhs payableto the dependents of govern-ment employees who die whileon duty fighting the novelcoronavirus,” he added.
“Punjab Government hadimposed a state-wide curfewfrom March 23, 2020, as tobreak the contagious COVID-19 transmission chain,” he said,adding that the economic activ-ity came to a standstill duringthe lockdown.
However, with the relax-ations in lockdown and theeconomy opening up, therehas been a revival in some sec-tors, though many sectorsremain subdued, he saidadding that the State, as a pre-cautionary measure in the
interest of citizens, has contin-ued with the weekend lock-down from June 13, 2020,onwards.
Manpreet said that how-ever, the State’s effort to breakthe transmission throughimposition of lockdown orcurfew has also meant a sig-nificant loss of Revenue andGross State Domestic Product(GSDP). “The state has fore-seen a shortfall in revenuesthat could be even more thanthe initial assessment of 25percent of Total RevenueReceipts (BE).
It could lead to an evenhigher shortfall of about Rs26,400 crore, that is about 30percent of our Total RevenueReceipts (BE) in 2020-21,” headded.
The Minister said that theState is now staring at a loss ofabout 30 percent in RevenueReceipts, making it imperativefor the State to take all steps itcan to reduce, if not bridge thisshortfall.
“Due to lockdown, theState has witnessed a shortfallof 80 percent in the State’s TaxRevenue collections in April2020 against the budgetarytargets.
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Hitting out at theOpposition for continuing
to play dirty politics at a timewhen Punjab was goingthrough a critical period in itsCOVID-19 crisis, Punjab ChiefMinister Capt AmarinderSingh on Wednesday said thatthe one-day Assembly sessionconvened by the governmentwas a “constitutional require-ment”, as clearly mentioned inthe official announcement twodays back.Contrary to the Akaliallegation, the ‘cruel joke’ onthe people was not by PunjabGovernment but by SAD pres-ident Sukhbir Badal, whosepathetic record in attendance inAssembly as MLA showed howlittle importance he gave to theHouse and its sessions, said theChief Minister. From March2017 to May 2019, when he wasMLA, Sukhbir attended Housefor only 16 of the 40 days in ses-sion, he pointed out.
Capt Amarinder expressedshock at the reaction of SADpresident Sukhbir Badal andAAP leader Harpal SinghCheema, terming it not justludicrous but a manifestation ofthe total lack of sensitivity andconcern on the part of the two
opposition parties in the State.“Both the parties seemed
bent on playing with the sen-timents of the people, whoseonly concern at present is toprotect themselves from thecoronavirus, which is peakingin Punjab and could play havocwith the State before stabiliz-ing,” said the ChiefMinister.Responding toSukhbir’s remark that the sin-gle day session was ‘evidence ofthe government’s acknowl-edgement that it has lost themandate to govern’, CaptAmarinder said that theGovernment had the mandateof the people and did not needthe support of the handful ofSAD MLAs in the Assembly.
“The only pressure on thegovernment in calling the one-day session is constitutional,”the Chief Minister further said,urging Sukhbir to go and readup the Constitution, whoseprinciples and rules the Akalishad stopped upholding a longtime ago.Pointing out that sev-eral Ministers, MLAs, and offi-cials were currently eitherCOVID-19 positive or in quar-antine, the Chief Minister saidthat either Sukhbir was igno-rant of the ground situation orsimply did not care.
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Learning lessonsfrom the recent
hooch tragedy inci-dent that claimedmore than 100 lives,Punjab Governmenthas decided to put inplace stringent mea-sures, includingmandatory GPS link-age, to check in-transport pil-ferage of ethanol, spirits andother products by unscrupu-lous elements for use in themanufacture of illicit liquor.
From September 5, novehicles will be allowed totransport such products with-out tamper-proof sealing andGPS enabling. That was not all!The en-route stopping of thesevehicles would not be allowedin any case, and stringent pro-tocols would be implementedin case of a breakdown.
The orders, aimed at break-ing the “ugly” nexus betweenmanufacturers and transportersof the kind that led to the recenthooch tragedy, were issued bythe Chief Minister CaptAmarinder Singh onWednesday.
As per the directives issuedon Wednesday by Excise
Commissioner Rajat Agarwalon the Chief Minister’s orders,“From September 5, no vehicleswill be allowed to transportsuch products without tamper-proof sealing and GPSenabling.”“The GPS coordi-nates of the vehicle will need tobe preserved by the unit for aperiod of not less than 15 daysfrom the date of completion ofdelivery of a consignment,”stated the new directives, aimedat providing checks on trans-portation of Extra NeutralAlcohol (ENA), Ethanol,Specially Denatured Spirit(SDS), Denatured Spirit (DNS)and Rectified Spirit (RS) by thedistilleries.Under the new rules,the tamper-proof sealing ofthe tankers will be done by thedistillery units before dispatchand the seal will be broken onlyby the recipient.
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Former Deputy PrimeMinister Devi Lal's grand-
son Aditya and sitting legisla-tor Mohan Lal are among thenew district presidents appoint-ed by the ruling BJP in Haryanaon Wednesday. The appoint-ments were made by HaryanaBJP president and formerMinister Om Prakash Dhankar,exactly a month after he tookover as the new state chief ofthe party.
Among the 22 districtpresidents appointed by theparty, three have been retainedand they are Ajay Bansal(Rohtak), Gopal Sharma(Faridabad) and Ashok KumarDhand (Kaithal).
BJP leader Aditya Devi Lalhas been made Sirsa districtpresident, while party legisla-tor from Rai segment, MohanLal becomes the district chieffrom Sonipat, in which Barodaassembly constituency alsofalls.
Baroda assembly segmentfell vacant after demise of sit-ting Congress MLA ShriKrishan Hooda in April thisyear and bypolls in the con-stituency are due, though datesare yet to be announced by the
Election Commission. The BJPis eyeing to wrest the seatfrom the main oppositionCongress.
Two women who have alsobeen appointed district presi-dents are Gargi Kakkar(Gurugram) and ArchanaGupta (Panipat). Among oth-ers to be appointed districtpresidents include StateSecretary of party''s KisanMorcha, Raj Kumar Saini(Kurukshetra), party''s stateexecutive members SatyenderParmar (Dadri), Raju Moor(Jind), Vikram Kadian(Jhajjar).
In the appointments for thedistrict unit presidents, theparty has attempted to balancethe caste equations in the state,where politics revolves aroundJats and non-Jats.
Chief Minister ManoharLal Khattar also congratulatedthe newly appointed districtunit chiefs.
Ahead of appointment ofdistrict unit presidents, StateGeneral Secretary(Organisation) Suresh Bhatt,who was accompanied byDhankar, had met BJP presi-dent J P Nadda in New Delhion Tuesday.
Chandigarh: The ChandigarhAdministration on Wednesdaylaunched the National DigitalHealth Mission in the cityproposing to cover the entirepopulation in a month’s timeperiod. For this, a special drivewill be launched in every sec-tor of Chandigarh.
Punjab Governor and UTAdministrator VP SinghBadnore formally launched thescheme and got his first digitalhealth card at Raj Bhawan.Manoj Parida, Adviser to UTAdministrator said that theChandigarh Administrationproposes to cover the entireunion territory within a peri-od of one month.
On the first day itself,4,000 persons have registeredonline and got their digitalhealth cards online, he said.Chandigarh will be the first tocover the entire population ofunion territory with digitalhealth cards. This will also helpin better implementation ofAYUSH Health scheme, Paridasaid. PNS
Wednesday conducted search-es in multiple cities in connec-tion with a money launderingcase against Tablighi Jamaatleader Maulana SaadKandhalvi, trusts linked to theJamaat and others.
Premises in Mumbai,Hyderabad and Delhi inlcud-ing the Markaz of the outfit atNizamuddin here besides afew other locations weresearched to gather evidence,officials said.
The operation was con-ducted under the Prevention ofMoney Laundering Act(PMLA), the ED said.
The agency had filed amoney laundering case inApril against Maulana Saadand others after it took cog-nisance of a Delhi Police FIRagainst these entities.
The Crime Branch of theDelhi Police had on March 31lodged an FIR against sevenpeople, including the cleric,on a complaint by the stationhouse off icer (SHO) ofNizamuddin police station forholding a congregation ofTablighi Jamaat followers inalleged violation of the ordersagainst large gatherings tocontain the spread of coron-avirus.
Saad was alleged to haveorganised the religious gath-ering in March at NizamuddinMarkaz in violation of socialdistancing protocol imposedby the Centre to curb thespread of Covid-19.
Before the congregation atNizamuddin, the TablighiJamaat had organised anIjtema in Malaysia whereinthe members had widelypropagated against followingthe protocol to check thespread of the coronavirus.
As part of the probe, theED is looking into the per-sonal finances and charges ofalleged money launderingagainst Maulana Saad andsome other office bearers andassociates of the TablighiJamaat.
Donations received by theIslamic organisation from for-eign and domestic sourceswithout due authorisationsare also being probed by theagency.
The police FIR registeredagainst the Tablighi Jamaatevent said Delhi Police con-tacted authorit ies ofNizamuddin Markaz here onMarch 21 and reminded themof the government order pro-hibiting any political or reli-gious gathering of more than50 people.
Despite repeated efforts,the event organisers failed to
inform the health departmentor any other Governmentagency about the huge gath-ering inside the Markaz anddeliberately disobeyedGovernment orders, says theFIR.
More than 25,500 Tablighimembers and their contactshave been quarantined in thecountry after the Centre andthe state governments con-ducted a “mega operation” toidentify them, the govern-ment had said.
At least 9,000 people par-ticipated in the ijtema (reli-gious congregation) atNizamuddin. Later, many ofthe Tanlighis travelled to var-ious parts of the countryostensibly to spread the virus.
Some of the accused for-eign nationals of the Jamaatwho participated in the con-gregation have been recentlyallowed to walk free andreturn to their countries bylocal courts on payment ofvarying fines, after theyaccepted mild charges underthe plea bargain process.
However, a number ofthem could not fly back totheir countries due to thependency of some other policeFIRs lodged against them forthe same offence or otherswho sought trial in the pend-ing cases and did not resort tothe plea bargain.
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The face-off between theBJP and the Congress over
controversy related toFacebook allegedly showingfavours to the ruling party hasspilled over in the standingcommittee for Information andTechnology where both theparties have moved privilegemotion against each other.
The Department RelatedStanding Committee forInformation and Technology ischaired by Congress MP ShashiTharoor.
While Tharoor has moveda privilege motion noticeagainst BJP Lok Sabha MPNishikant Dubey, the latter hasalso moved a privilege motionnotice against Tharoor as wellas former Congress presidentRahul Gandhi.
According to sources,Tharoor on Tuesday filed aprivilege motion notice againstthe BJP MP from Jharkhandand soon after this, Dubeytook to Twitter to announce abreach of privilege motionnotice against both Tharoorand Rahul for casting asper-sions on the BJP as a party.
The row started whenTrinamool Congress MPMahua Moitra attacked onher Twitter handle a BJP law-maker citing political agendafrom the ruling party by
being critical of Tharoor forsummoning Facebook beforethe committee.
Tharoor added to Moitra’stweet, saying the BJP was con-stantly undermining the pow-ers of the committee and alsotalking about the rules androle of the chairman of thebody.
Dubey lashed out at both,reminding them of the com-mittee rules and how Tharoorhad passed off his party’spolitical agenda as committeepriority.
Dubey in his letter hasunderstood to have said thatTharoor had “never consulted”the agenda of summoningFacebook and/or WhatsApp inany of the meetings of theParliamentary Committee onInformation Technology.
It is, therefore, accordingto BJP MP is “a clear case, ofbreach of privilege by ShashiTharoor in the capacity ofHonourable Chairperson ofthe Departmentally RelatedStanding Committee onInformation Technology.”
Dubey’s notice also refersto a “breach of privilege” byMP Rahul who had tweetedthat the “BJP and RSS controlFacebook and WhatsApp inIndia, they spread fake newsand hatred thorough it and useit to inf luence the electorate”.
three-day meet to review itsoperational readiness in thebackdrop of stand-offs at theLine of Actual Control(LAC)even as Defence MinisterRajnath Singh lauded the ser-vice for deploying its warshipsin a “proactive” manner and itsreadiness to face any chal-lenge. Singh, however,refrained from naming China.
These remarks fromRajnath at the inauguration ofthe Navy Commanders’ confer-ence came at a time when theNavy has deployed most of itsfrontline warships in the strate-gically important Indian Oceanregion. These mission-baseddeployments were undertakento deny China any advantage inthat region. Moreover, theIndian warships and maritimereconnaissance aircraft weremaintaining round the clockvigil and keeping an eye on themovement of the Chinese ships.
Addressing the comman-ders, Rajnath also compliment-ed the men and women of theIndian Navy for their role in pro-tecting the maritime interests ofthe nation and expressed confi-dence in the Indian Navy’s pre-paredness to meet any challengethrough a proactive response indeploying its ships and aircraft.
Speaking on the unprece-dented challenge posed byCovid-19 pandemic, he con-gratulated the Navy, on the con-duct of the biggest ever repatri-ation operation “Operation
Samudra Setu”, which has con-tributed extensively to thenational interest.
Despite the difficult seaconditions and the challenges ofdealing with an unseen enemyin the form of the Corona virus,the Navy was instrumental inbringing home almost 4,000people from neighbouringcountries in the Indian OceanRegion (IOR). Also, under‘Mission Sagar’, medical aid wasprovided to the countries ofSouth West Indian OceanRegion (Maldives, Mauritius,Comoros, Seychelles andMadagascar). He also lauded theefforts of all Naval Commandsin setting up of the quarantinefacilities to aid the civil admin-istration in managing Covid-19.
Referring to the dynamicchanges taking place in thearmed forces, the minister rihighlighted the creation of thepost of Chief of DefenceStaff(CDS) and Department ofMilitary Affairs as major mile-stones in bringing more syner-gy amongst the three services,especially in training, procure-ment and staffing and bringingjointness in operations.
Rajnath said accepting thechallenges arising out of theCovid 19 situation in the currentfinancial year, the Navy hascontinued to progress the operational, administrative andmodernisation efforts.Notwithstanding these fiscalchallenges, the Government hasinvoked the Emergency Powersto meet the emergent requirements of the services, headded.
Wednesday predicted intenserainfall over central parts of thecountry during the next fivedays. Due to favourable con-ditions, widespread rain, withisolated heavy to very heavyspells, is very likely overGujarat, Maharashtra, Goa,Madhya Pradesh (MP),Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand,Odisha, and Vidarbha duringthe next four-five days.Extremely heavy rain is alsolikely over south-west Odishaon Wednesday; Vidarbha andChhattisgarh on Thursday andGujarat on Saturday.
According to the IMD, themonsoon trough is active andlies south of its normal position(from Ganganagar to the Bay ofBengal). It is very likely to beactive and near-normal/southof its normal position duringthe next five days.
The convergence of strongmoist southwesterly windsfrom the Arabian Sea overplains of Northwest India andCentral India at lower levelsvery likely to continue duringnext two days.
“The monsoon trough isactive and lies close to its nor-mal position. It is very likely toshift southwards during thenext 24 hours and remainactive during the next fivedays. There is a convergence ofstrong moist southwesterlywinds from the Arabian Seaover plains of north-west Indiaand Central India at lower lev-els and likely to continue dur-ing the next three-four days,”IMD said.
Fairly widespread andheavy rain is likely over north-west India, including theWestern Himalayan region,until Thursday. Very heavyrain is likely over Jammu &Kashmir, Ladakh onWednesday and Uttarakhandand Punjab on Thursday; west-ern Uttar Pradesh onWednesday; eastern Rajasthanfrom Thursday until Saturday;and very heavy rain is likelyalso over northeastern states,except for Arunachal Pradesh,during the next three-fourdays, the IMD said.
Monsoon rain over thecountry since June 1 is 4.4%excess; 25.6% excess over thesouthern peninsula; 6.9%excess over central India; 5.8%excess over eastern and north-eastern India and 17.9% defi-ciency over north-west India.
New Delhi: A group of 772lawyers have written to ChiefJustice of India SA Bobde,raising concerns about anemerging trend to “browbeatand intimidate the judiciary”.
“India has witnessed aseries of attacks by institu-tional disruptors against judgeswho are unwilling to agreewith them and toe the linedrawn by them. It is unfortu-nate that when political ends oflawyers are not served by adecision of the court, they vil-ify the court by making scan-dalising remarks. The SupremeCourt of India, as well as thejudges, are subject to bothscurrilous language, maliciousattacks and scandalisingremarks,” the lawyers said inthe letter which comes againstthe backdrop of the PrashantBhushan case.
On August 14, theSupreme Court held senior
advocate Prashant Bhushanguilty of contempt of court andfixed the date of hearing for hissentencing on August 20.
A statement was issued by
“Campaign for JudicialAccountability and Reforms”(CJAR) on August 15, con-demning the judgment andfurther calling upon theSupreme Court, and everyjudge, to reconsider their deci-
sion. CJAR includes a retiredjudge, Justice P.B. Sawant, for-mer Union Law Minister andsenior advocate ShantiBhushan, among others as theirpatrons. IANS
Joseph Wednesday came outin support of lawyer PrashantBhushan and said contemptcases against him raised sub-stantial questions of lawwhich should be heard by aconstitution bench. JusticeJoseph also said that a personconvicted by the top court ina suo-motu case should getan opportunity for an intra-
court appeal. “Under Article145 (3) of the Constitution ofIndia, there shall be a quo-rum of minimum five Judgesfor deciding any case involv-ing substantial questions oflaw as to the interpretation ofthe Constitution,” Joseph saidin a statement. The formerjudge said a three-judgebench of the Supreme Courthas decided to hear a fewserious questions on thescope and extent of the con-tempt of Court.
sentence, activist-lawyerPrashant Bhushan who hasbeen held guilty of criminalcontempt for his two deroga-tory tweets, moved theSupreme Court seeking defer-ment of the proceedings till areview petition is filed andconsidered. A contemnor can
be punished with simpleimprisonment of up to sixmonths or with a fine of up to�2,000 or with both.
entertain a plea challengingthe Jharkhand government’’sdecision to appoint M V Raoas the acting Director Generalof Police (DGP) saying a PILcannot be accepted in a servicematter.
A bench of Chief Justice SA Bobde and Justices A SBopanna and VRamasubramanian, dismissedthe plea filed by a Jharkhandresident.
During the hearing, senioradvocates Fali S Nariman andNeeraj Kishan Kaul, appearing
for the JharkhandGovernment, said that it isproxy litigation and the courtcannot interfere in the servicematter under Article 32 juris-diction.
Senior advocate RVenkataramani, appearing forthe petitioner Prahlad NarayanSingh, said that he is a residentof the state and wants to knowas to how was the incumbentDGP (Rao) appointed as act-ing DGP despite the verdict oftop court in the Prakash Singhcase (2006) on police reforms.
The bench toldVenkataramani that it is notgoing to entertain this petition.
Keeping in view the inter-est of sugarcane farmers,
the Union Cabinet onWednesday approved raisingthe fair and remunerative(FRP) price of sugarcane by�10 to peg it at �285 a quin-tal. This price has been fixedfor the new marketing seasonof sugarcane starting October2020-21 (October toSeptember). The cabinet alsoapproved providing a premi-um of �2.85 per quintal forrecovery at 11 percent.
The decision to increase theFair and Remunerative Price(FRP) of sugarcane for the2020-21 marketing year wastaken in the meeting of theCabinet Committee onEconomic Affairs (CCEA). Thegovernment had fixed sugar-cane FRP at �275 per quintal forthe current 2019-20 marketingyear.
According to the cabinetdecision, the FRP of �285 perquintal has been fixed for a basicrecovery rate of 10 per cent.However, a premium of �2.85per quintal will be paid bysugar mills for every 0.1 per centincrease above 10 per cent in therecovery, it said. Also, the gov-ernment has made a provisionfor reduction in FRP by Rs 2.85per quintal for every 0.1 per-centage point decrease in recov-ery, in respect of those millswhose recovery is below 10 percent but above 9.5 per cent.However, for mills having recov-ery of 9.5 per cent or below, theFRP is fixed at � 270.75 perquintal in place of �261.25 perquintal in the current season.“The determination of FRPwill be in the interest of sugar-cane growers keeping in viewtheir entitlement to a fair andremunerative price for theirproduce,” the statement said.
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Covid-19 patients may losetheir sense of smell and
cannot detect bitter or sweettastes but they can breathefreely and do not tend to havea runny or blocked nose as inthe case of a bad cold, as per astudy.
Published in the journalRhinology, the study is a firstof its kind to compare how peo-ple with Covid-19 smell andtaste disorders differ fromthose with other causes ofupper respiratory tract infec-tions.
According to theresearchers, including thosefrom the University of EastAnglia (UEA) in the UK, theirwork could help develop smelland taste tests for fast Covid-19 screening - in primary careand emergency departments.
The findings lend weight to
the theory that Covid-19infects the brain and centralnervous system.
“The loss of smell andtaste is a prominent symptomof Covid-19, however it is alsoa common symptom of havinga bad cold,” said lead researcherCarl Philpott, a professor atUEA’s Norwich MedicalSchool.
“We wanted to find outexactly what differentiatesCOVID -19 smell loss with thekind of smell loss you mighthave with a cold and blocked-up nose,” Philpott said.
The research team carriedout smell and taste tests on 10COVID-19 patients, 10 peoplewith bad colds and a controlgroup of 10 healthy people --all matched for age and sex.
“We wanted to see if theirsmell and taste test scorescould help discriminatebetween COVID-19 patients
and those with a heavy cold,”Philpott said.
The researchers noted thatCOVID-19 behaves different-ly to other respiratory viruses,for example by causing thebody’s immune system toover-react, known as acytokine storm, and by affect-ing the nervous system.
They found that smell losswas much more profound inthe COVID-19 patents, andthey were less able to identifysmells, and were not able toidentify bitter or sweet tastes.
The researchers said itwas this loss of true tastewhich seemed to be present in
the COVID-19 patients com-pared to those with a cold.
“This is very excitingbecause it means that smelland taste tests could be used todiscriminate between Covid-19 patients and people with aregular cold or flu,” Philpottsaid.
“Although such tests couldnot replace formal diagnostictools such as throat swabs,they could provide an alter-native when conventional testsare not available or whenrapid screening is needed --particularly at the level of pri-mary care, in emergencydepartments or at airports,” headded.
The study also shows thatthere are altogether differentthings going on when it comesto smell and taste loss forCovid-19 patients, comparedto those with a bad cold, theresearchers said.
control measures tocontain Covid-19,many vital violenceprevention andresponse services weresuspended or inter-rupted, leaving manychildren at the receiv-ing end as they sufferedviolence and exploita-tion at homes.
Sample this :Nearly 10,000 out of 4.6lakh calls that theUnicef received in 21days from March 20 toApril 10, 2020 duringthe Covid-19 pandem-ic, needed interventionfrom the childline staff
of the global agency toprotect the childrenvictims of abuse andexploitation.
Of these, 30 percent were related toCovid-19 and with aneed for protectionfrom abuse andexploitation.
“The Covid-19pandemic has causeddisruptions to childprotection services inmore than 100 coun-tries, leaving a largenumber of children atincreased risk of vio-lence, exploitation andabuse,” according to aglobal survey byUnicef, details of whichwere released onWednesday.
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The Union HealthM i n i s t r y ’ s
‘eSanjeevani’ digital plat-form has provided twolakh tele-consultationsto the patients seekingmedical guidance amidthe Covid-19 pandemic.
“In a short span oftime since November2019, tele-consultation by‘eSanjeevani’ has beenimplemented by 23 states(which covers 75 per centof the population) andother states are in theprocess of rolling it out.
“In what can be seenas a big push for the‘Digital India’ initiativeof the prime minister, theeSanjeevani platform has
proved its usefulness andeasy access for the care-givers and the medicalcommunity, and thoseseeking healthcare ser-vices in the time ofCOVID-19,” the ministrysaid in a statement here.
The eSanjeevani plat-form has enabled twotypes of telemedicine ser-vices — doctor-to-doctor(eSanjeevani) andp a t i e n t - t o - d o c t o r(eSanjeevani OPD) tele-consultations. The formeris being implementedunder the AyushmanBharat Health andWellness Centre (AB-HWC). It aims to imple-ment tele-consultation inall the 1.5 lakh Healthand Wellness Centres in
conjunction with identi-fied medical college hos-pitals in a ‘Hub andSpoke’ model, as per thestatement.
“States have identi-fied and set up dedicated‘Hubs’ in medical collegesand district hospitals toprovide tele-consultationservices to ‘Spokes’, i.esub-health centres(SHCs), primary healthcentres (PHCs) andHealth and WellnessCentres,” it said.
The Ministry rolledout the second tele-con-sultation service‘e S a n j e e v a n i O P D ’enabling patient-to-doc-tor telemedicine owing tothe COVID-19 pandem-ic in April this year.
and Rajya Sabha Chairman MVenkaiah Naidu to allow MPsto participate in the upcomingMonsoon session of Parliamenteither physically or virtually asis being done by the courts.
While Congress leaderAdhir Ranjan Chowdhury haswritten a letter to Birla, PChidambaram has written toNaidu to allow MPs, unable toparticipate physically, attend
the proceedings through anapp or a link.
In his letter, Chowdhurysaid the monsoon sessionwould be held shortly as therules say that the interveningperiod between two sessions ofParliament cannot exceed sixmonths.
“Under these circum-stances, I thought it prudentto suggest to you that anAPP and link should be pro-vided to members (like in theSupreme Court and HighCourts).
“Members who are phys-ically present may speak inthe House. Members whocannot be physically presentshould be allowed to speak viaan APP. When the member’sname is called, his mike willbe unmuted, and he can speakfor the al lotted t ime,”Chowdhury said.
He said this facility is“absolutely necessary” in viewof the fact that the number ofnew COVID19 cases are ris-ing and by September it maytouch 70,000 per day.
State of Rajasthan, is wit-nessing a steady rise in thenumber of domestic touristsfollowing relaxations in theCovid-19 lockdown, an offi-cial said on Wednesday.
Famous for its scenic nat-ural beauty, the hill station sit-uated in Sirohi district hasreceived more than 10,000tourists after a long gap, theoff icia l f rom the state’stourism department said.
The destination remainsf looded with tourists during the summer seasonbut this year, due to the coro-navirus lockdown, there wereno tourists.
However, people haveagain started visiting MountAbu and the footfalls aregradually r is ing even
during the ongoing monsoonseason.
“The figure of tourists inMount Abu is rising... Similartrends have been noticed inUdaipur where tourists areexploring short and safe vaca-tions while following safetyguidelines,” the official said.
The safety of tourists andlocals is the top priority of thestate government and guide-l ines on preventive measures to contain thespread of COVID-19 arebeing strictly adhered to at allmonuments, resorts etc., AlokGupta, Principal secretary of the tourismdepartment, said.
“After missing the entiresummer season, people areeager for a getaway. Localtourists are returning in bignumbers. While unlockingtourism, the safety of peopleis our concern,” he said.
plea questioning the setting upof a three-member judicialcommission, headed by formerapex court judge Justice B SChauhan, to inquire into theencounter killing of gangsterVikas Dubey. A bench headedby Chief Justice S A Bobde saidthat there were enough safe-guards to ensure fair inquiry bythe judicial panel into theencounter which took place inKanpur.
The verdict came on a pleafield by advocate GhanshyamUpadhaya seeking re-constitu-tion of the inquiry commissionand substituting its members —Justice (retd) B S Chauhan, for-mer Supreme Court judge,Justice (retd) Shashi KantAgarwal and retired UttarPradesh DGP K L Gupta —with other former judges of theapex court and retired DGPs.
There were 53, 155 active Covid-19 cases in Tamil Nadu as on
Wednesday evening. While 116 per-sons succumbed to the pandemic onWednesday, 5,785 new persons werediagnosed with Covid-19.
The total number of patients test-ed positive till date reached the fig-ure of 3.55 lakh while 2.96 lakh per-sons recovered from the pandemic tilldate.
The State health department stafftested 65,592 persons across theState as part of aggressive testing toidentify and isolate the covid-19virus.
The metropolis of Chennai saw1, 186 patients testing positive onWednesday. Situation in the threeneighboring districts of Chengalpet(315) , Kancheepuram (257) andThiruvallur ( 393) continued to beunabated.
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The loss of police resources inthe district during the CAA-
NRC violence will now be recov-ered by force in Meerut. The StateGovernment has constituted theProperty Damage ClaimsTribunal in Lucknow and Meerutdistricts of the State. It has madeMeerut the headquarters ofAligarh district. After the forma-tion of this authority, now therecovery work will be accelerat-ed. The district police-adminis-tration will stake a claim to recov-er �1.83 lakh for the damages.
During the opposition to theCitizenship Amendment Act, itwas decided to compensate theloss of police resources that weredamaged in AMU on the night of15 December and during theviolence that took place on 20December in Shahzamal andCharkhawalan. The rebels dam-
aged six police vehicles withstones. 12 chairs and 4 CCTVcameras installed in public placeswere broken. The loss for vehicleswas estimated to be �1.15 lakh. Atthe same time, the loss of chairand CCTV cameras was estimat-ed as �68,000. In this way, theentire amount was fixed as �1.83lakh. A report has been submit-ted by the police administrationto the district administration tomake up for the loss. The districtadministration referred it to thegovernment. Now YogiAdityanath, the head of the stategovernment, will look upon thecompensation of the loss of gov-ernment property due to suchriots and crimes.
According to SSP Muniraj ji,thr report of damage caused dur-ing the CAA-NRC violence willbe sent to the authorities,once thefull guide lines from the state gov-ernment are sentto stake claims.
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The BJP's Muslim leader, Ruby AsifKhan is being threatened for
praising Ram at home and sendingRakhi on Rakshabandhan at the timeof foundation ceremony of Ram tem-ple. She is recieving threats of killingand rejecting her from Islam. Postershave also been pasted. BJP leader hasfiled a complain at Dehli Gate policestation. Ruby Asif Khan, wife of AsifKhan, is a resident of ADA ColonyShah Jamal of Dehli Gate and is thepresident of Mahavir Ganj MandalMahila Morcha of the BharatiyaJanata Party.
Ruby Asif Khan sent a rakhi toShreeRam on 30 July. On 5 August,when the foundation ceremony of the
Sri Ram Temple was performed inAyodhya, she performed aarti andworshiped Ram with other women ather home. A check of �5,100 was alsosent to the Ram Temple Trust by her.
Ruby Asif Khan alleges that nowsome people are threatening to burnher alive and kill her. They are threat-ening to reject me from Islam. Thesepeople have pasted posters in thelocality and in the area. Threat pam-phlets are also being distributed.
Ashish Kumar, in-charge of PoliceStation Dehli Gate, told that the BJPleader has filed a complain. Police isinvestigating the matter, posters thathave been pasted have been asked tobe removed. Action will be taken asper the law against whosoever is guiltyin this case.
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Aperusal of the 815 pageverdict delivered by the
Madras High Court onTuesday dismissing the peti-tions filed by Vedanta Groupseeking an order for reopen-ing the Sterlite CopperSmeltering plant atThoothukudi show that boththe DKM and the AIADMKdo not have anything to rejoiceabout the court’s decision.
Industrialists and entre-preneurs may not get enam-ored by invitations made bythe AIADMK and the DMK toset up factories in the State, say
industrialists and research sci-entists.
“Copper smelter plantspollute and they pollute heav-ily. One is at a loss to under-stand why the thenGovernment gave permissionto the Vedanta Group to set upa heavily polluting plant inThoothukudi,” said K NChandrasekharan, former topscientist in the Department ofAtomic Energy who is a met-allurgical engineer.
According to the series ofevents chronicled by theMadras High Court in its ver-dict, Sterlite Industries gotthe permission to set up the
plant in 1997 while the DMKwas in power. It was theAIADMK government thathad given 102.5 hectares ofland in Thoothukudi to thegroup in 1994.
The environmentalClearance was accorded by theCentre in 1995 while P VNarasimha Rao was the PrimeMinister and the AIADMKwas an alliance partner of theCongress.
This was followed by theTamil Nadu Government’sclearance to the plant for pro-ducing 234 tons/day copperand 638 tons per day sulphuricacid.
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BJP leader Nishit Sharmahas objected to the AMU
invite to Professor Hilal Sahinof Turkish University ofGiresun in a webinar at AMU.The matter is now heating up.He has asked the HumanResource DevelopmentMinister to investigate the mat-ter and punish the organizers ofthe webinar and question theVice Chancellor. Other BJPleaders have also taken a dig inthis matter.
Dr. Nishit Sharma says thatthe webinar was organized byAMU on August 13, in whicha Turkish professor was invit-ed. The theme of the webinarwas 'Turkey, India andMahatma Gandhi: In the lightof the Khilafat Movement'. Inthis, AMU VC Prof. TariqMansoor was also present.
Dr. Nishit Sharma says thatTurkey supported the Islamicterrorist organization ISIS.Opposed the removal of Article370 and supported Pakistan.
The BJP leader says that theKhilafat movement that wasdiscussed is known for geno-cide in the history of India andthe world. Riots erupted inKolabar and Armenia etc. ofKerala and massacre of non-Muslims. According to him, aturkish professor should not beinvited in the webinar.
He has demanded theHuman Resource DevelopmentMinister to investigate this andpunish the organizers of thewebinar.
A case of treason should befiled against the organizers:Dr. Manvendra.
Dr. Manvendra PratapSingh, Vice President of BJPBraj Region and Member ofNational Minority EducationMonitoring Committee, saidthat it is a matter of greatregret to provide the TurkishProfessor an opportunity tospeak in a webinar. Everyoneknows that the President ofTurkey is running an anti-India campaign. Attempting torekindle the Khilafat is a crimelike treason. It is a matter ofshame that the AMU's VC waspresiding over that webinar. Acase under treason should befiled on organizers . The districtadministration should imme-diately file an FIR against suchpeople. Questioning Turkishuniversity professor is baseless:AMU Aligarh MuslimUniversity has said that theobjection of some BJP leadersfor inviting Turkish Professor HHilal Sain in the webinar isbaseless.
The university administra-tion has said that MahatmaGandhi openly supported theKhilafat Movement started inTurkey in 1920.
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The charm of Onam festival season in Kerala is all setto be washed away by the coronavirus as 2,333 new
persons were tested positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday.This is the highest number of persons diagnosed on a sin-gle day with Covid-19 and the total number of patientsin the State reached 50, 231.
The day also saw seven deaths taking the total fatal-ities till date in Kerala to 182, said a release by theDepartment of Health.
That the State has become unsafe for travelers andtourists has been proved by the number of persons get-ting contracted with Covid-19 through community trans-mission.
Out of the 2,333 patients tested positive onWednesday, 2,151 were victims of community trans-mission. 53 patients failed to furnish details like how andfrom where they contracted the pandemic.
Seven personnel belonging to the Southern NavalCommand head quarters at Kochi and 17 health work-ers too were afflicted with the pandemic on Wednesday.The release further stated that 1,780 persons were hos-pitalized in the State while 1,217 were cured of the pan-demic.
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An 'illustrious' journey of ayoung Wushu player from
Jammu & Kashmir, whichstarted from the North Easternstate of Mizoram in 1995,Tuesday hit another milestoneafter Kuldeep Handoo's namefigured in the list of 13 coach-es recommended for this year'sDronacharya award by theSports Ministry's selectioncommittee.
Handoo, currently servingas the National Chief Coach,himself struck gold for thefirst time at the 6th NationalWushu Championship atMizoram in 1995. Since thenhe never looked back.
Before donning the cap ofa national coach, the lanky ladfrom Rainawari went on to cre-ate history and won 11 goldmedals in the National cham-pionships and 6 Internationalmedals in his eventful career.
Even after winning sever-al championships and groom-ing hundreds of young playershe is not ready to hang hisboots.
Speaking to The PioneerKuldeep Handoo said, “ myeyes are now set on winning agold medal in the 2022 AsianGames. I am working hard tofulfill my dream and groomingyoungsters for the same”.
Before participating in theAsian Games, “we are going toparticipate in the WorldChampionships scheduled tobe held in 2021 in the USA andAustralia”.
Due to nationwide lock-down in the wake of Covid-19pandemic, Handoo could notattend outstation training ses-sions but he is regularly coach-ing his players using socialmedia tools.
Reliving his long journey,Kuldeep Handoo said, “I havecome a long way from mynative place-Rainawari inSrinagar”.
He said despite sufferingpangs of migration my parentsalways supported me and moti-vated me to dream big.
Handoo said, “when i wasa kid i loved playing cricket in
my neighborhood inRainawari, a kashmiri panditlocality”.
He said, “at the peak of mil-itancy as the situation wors-ened my family was also forcedto migrate from the Kashmirvalley. I still remember beforestepping out of the house, forthe last time, I could not lay myhand on my cricket bat”. InJammu, “I stopped playing. Ialmost lost touch with myfavorite game. I was disen-chanted and remained silent.Tochannelise my energies a fam-ily friend motivated me to takeup any other sports activity”.
A die hard fan of Bruce Leemovies Kuldeep said, “I start-ed playing Taekwondo. Afterattending some practice ses-sions he said, I started enjoyingthe sport and gave vent to myanger by ruthlessly knockingdown my opponents”. In1995, my mentor and coachVishal Sharma convinced me totry my hand at Wushu as well.Rest is history, he added.
In recognition of his vasttalent and contribution to thepromotion of martial arts inJammu and Kashmir TheWushu Association of Indiaabsorbed him as Nationalcoach for the TEAM INDIA.Under his leadership, TeamIndia had won two gold medalsin world Championships andone in world cup, 28 silvermedals and 57 Bronze medalsin different championships.
In recognition of his ser-vices, the Jammu and Kashmirgovernment appointed him asInspector in the police depart-ment and conferred on him theprestigious state award, Sher-i-Kashmir award, Parshuramaward etc.
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In what the BJP leaders called a pol-itics of vendetta resorted to by the
Mamata Banerjee Government, theofficials of Bengal Police onWednesday raided the house of saffronstrongman and MP from BarrackporeArjun Singh.
The search was in connection of anold said Singh quoted the officials assaying but sources in the police saidthey were looking for documentsrelated to transactions from a localcooperative bank of which Singh wasthe chairman before he became an MP.
“There are reports of financialirregularities worth �12 crore,” sourcessaid on conditions of anonymityadding names of two close relatives of
the BJP MP were also involved.Singh, a former four-time
Trinamool Congress MLA consid-ered close to the Chief Minister left theparty in 2019 after his demand for aparliamentary ticket from Barrackporewas turned by the leadership. In sub-sequent elections he defeated the thensitting Trinamool MP Dinesh Trivedi.
The parliamentary polls saw mas-sive violence following which the BJPcandidate managed to scrape throughby little more than 10,000 votes.
Crying “vendetta politics”— anallegation Banerjee has always leveledagainst the BJP Government every timeher party functionaries were arrestedby the CBI in connection of chit fundscams —Singh said the Chief Minister“has singled me out because I havebeen giving her a tough political fightin Barrackpore … I snatched the MP
seat, then the BJP wrested the BhatparaMLA seat too from the TMC … thisis why she is angry on me and is send-ing police forces after leveling falsecharges against me.” Singh’s son andbrother-in-law are also sitting legisla-tors of the BJP.
Singh also said that “the TMC gov-ernment has framed 93 cases againstme so as to harass me after MamataBanerjee and her nephew (AbhishekBanerjee) failed to counter me politi-cally … Her nephew had said that hewill leave politics if he would not winhis seat by 2 lakh votes. But that wasnot to be. Though he won by wafer thinmargin he has notkept his words.”
Barrackpore has often been in thenews of late with repeated political-gang wars and public shootouts takingplace mostly involving goons fromboth sides.
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In the erstwhile State ofJammu & Kashmir, a 262
metre long bridge over riverJhelum at Jetty area ofKhawajabagh in NorthKashmir's Baramulla districtcould not be completed byfive Chief Ministers, twoGovernors and one Lt-Governor between 2002- tillJuly 2020.
Reason- adequate fundswere not made available atdifferent intervals to the projectexecuting agency leading tocost escalation and unwar-ranted delay in its completion.
On Wednesday, Lt-Governor Manoj Sinha duringhis visit to the Baramulla dis-trict headquarters approvedfunds to the tune of �21 crore
under Jammu & KashmirInfrastructure DevelopmentCorporation for completingthe construction work of theJetty bridge within a span of 2years
LG also e-inaugurated var-ious developmental projects atBaramulla. According to offi-cial sources, Jetty bridge wasenvisaged in 1998 but actualwork on ground zero was start-ed in the year 2002.
Jammu and KashmirProjects ConstructionCorporation (JKPCC) wasallotted the construction workof the bridge.
Between 2002 and June2018, five Chief Ministersnamely Mufti Mohd Sayeed,Ghulam Nabi Azad, OmarAbdullah, Mufti Mohd Sayeed(second term) and Mehbooba
Mufti remained in office butnone of them could ensure itscompletion.
Local residents in the areaoften blamed lack of funds forfrequent suspension of work onthe project.
The 262-meter bridge wassupposed to connectKhawajabagh and Janbazporaareas, and Rafiabad areas withSrinagar-Baramulla road high-way to ease load on the trafficpassing through Baramullatown.
A local resident in the areaclaimed, “work on the projectwas started when i was study-ing in the degree college. Aftercompleting me studies i gotmarried and now my childrenare going to school but thebridge is hanging in balanceover river Jhelum”.
According to officialsources, work on the bridgewas moving at snails pace fromthe very beginning. It was sus-pended in 2014 and later it wasresumed in 2017.
According to the pressstatement issued by theDepartment of Informationand Public Relations in January2017, Minister for R&B andParliamentary Affairs AbdulRehman Veeri while respond-ing to a question by GhulamNabi Monga in the UpperHouse had stated that con-struction work of Jetty Bridgein Baramulla on river Jhelumwas awarded to JKPCC in theyear 2001-02.
According to him, theGovernment had released�6.18 Crore to JKPCC for con-struction of the bridge.
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Ahmedabad: The Election Commission ofIndia (ECI) told the Gujarat High Court onWednesday that it will assess the coronavirus sit-uation and decide whether bypolls to eightAssembly seats in the State should be deferred.
The poll panel was responding to a PublicInterest Litigation seeking indefinite postpone-ment of the byelections.
The ECI will also frame broad guidelineswithin three days on holding of general andbyelections during the COVID-19 pandemicbased on guidelines issued by the UnionMinistry of Home Affairs and Ministry ofHealth, it had said in a press release issued onTuesday.
The release was submitted to the high courtalong with an affidavit-in-reply.
Petitioner Farsu Goklani sought indefinitepostponement of byelections to eight Assemblyseats -- which fell vacant after Congress MLAsresigned -- in view of the coronavirus outbreak.
“....The ECI is assessing the situation includ-ing the pandemic and so far not announceddates for the by-elections in the state of Gujaratas well as those in other states,” the poll bodysaid.
“The Election Commission will take appro-priate decision as to whether to announce elec-tions at an appropriate time or if required todefer holding of elections after following dueprocedure as prescribed in law,” said Joint ChiefElectoral Officer, Gujarat, Ajay Bhatt.
On the basis of the guidelines it is going toform, Chief Electoral Officers of states whereelections are due shall prepare a comprehensiveplan of COVID-19 related measures during theconduct of elections, the ECI's Tuesday releasesaid.
Bhatt also cited two Supreme Court judg-ments where it was held that the ultimate deci-sion on “whether it is possible and expedient tohold the elections” must rest with the ECI.PTI
of 13,165 on Wednesday, even thetotal Covid 19 toll –with fresh 346deaths – breached 21,000 mark totouch 21,033.
Eleven days after the dailyinfections touched a new high12,822 (on August 8), theCoronavirus reared its ugly head,as 13,165 tested positive for thepandemic in various parts of thestate.
With fresh infections, thetotal infected cases in the statejumped to a staggering 6,28,642.
Pune with 1,37,601 freshcases continued to race ahead ofMumbai with 1,31,542 in terms ofthe total infections.
Of the 346 deaths reported onWednesday, Pune accounted for ahighest of 86 deaths, followed by46 deaths in Mumbai, 42 in Thaneand 26 in Nagpur.
Similarly, there were 18 deathsin Sangli, 15 each in Solapur andKolhapur, 14 deaths in Palghar, 13in Ahmednagar and 10 inYavatmal.
On the lower side, there were9 deaths each in Jalgaon andSatara, 7 in Raigad, 6 each inNashik and Osmanabad, 4 inBhandara, 3 each in Dhule,Parbhani and Latur, 2 each inSindhudurg, Beed and Akola, 1each in Aurangabad, Hingoli,Wardha and Gondiya. In addition,one person from another statedied in Maharashtra.
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In a world of rapid revolution in theknowledge landscape, dramaticadvances in science and researchtechnology, evolution in entrepre-neurial aspirations, changing
employment paradigm, growing digiti-sation of learning process and risingneeds of innovation to address spirallingglobal challenges, the NationalEducation Policy (NEP), 2020, is a pio-neering initiative. It will help transformIndia’s educational system into a holis-tic, multi-disciplinary, flexible, synergis-tic, equitable, pluralistic, responsible andinnovative learning ecosystem.
NEP 2020 is like a déjà vu of theparadigm ingrained in the ancientIndian educational system, one thatentrenched the highest standards ofmulti-disciplinary teaching and researchin world-class universities such asTakshashila, Nalanda, Vikramshila andVallabhi. These universities nurturedthousands of students from India andabroad, focussing on multi-discipli-nary research and innovation to buildwell-rounded and innovative individu-als, who had the capability to lead andemancipate society through their knowl-edge and wisdom. Famous intellectualsof India such as Chanakya, Panini,Charaka, Vishnu Sharma and Jivaka,who were the students of the TakshashilaUniversity, left an indelible mark inworld history for possessing deeperknowledge in their respective fields ofstudy.
Now, the time is opportune to ini-tiate a complete overhaul of the Indianeducational system by infusing the pastglory and at the same time, keeping inmind the contemporary context as thekey driver of the mission. The 21st cen-tury world demands a holistic and multi-disciplinary educational system that candeliver integrated skills and capacities tothe students, making them not onlygreat professionals but also transform-ing them as global leaders who can leadthe Government, enterprise, politics,economy, society and human progresswith greater efficacy.
The key differentiator of NEP 2020is the synergy in curriculum across alllevels of education — from early child-hood care to primary education toschool education and higher education.This will help the students learn andgrow in an ecosystem where learning isnot just limited to examinations and cer-tificates, but goes beyond that, helpingthem develop critical thinking, ethicalvalues, the spirit of service and inculcatelife skills such as communication, coop-eration, teamwork and resilience. Thecornerstone of NEP 2020 is the inclu-sion of students from all social strataacross the educational system throughvarious supportive policies. This will
help the students — irrespectiveof their gender, caste, religion,language, socio-economic con-ditions and region — avail high-quality education for their over-all growth and contributetowards nation-building.
Pivoted on multi-discipli-nary learning in higher educa-tion, NEP 2020 will empowerstudents to adapt the demands ofthe 21st century in a more effec-tive way. For example, a studentlearning AI as a major with eco-nomics as a minor can build abetter AI system for economicdevelopment than a studentwhose focus is only on AI. As theworld is changing, it’s imperativefor a country like India to adaptto the multi-disciplinary form oflearning so as to address theglobal challenges in energy,healthcare, water, food and san-itation among others. Forinstance, the challenges thrownby the COVID-19 pandemiccan only be addressed througha multi-disciplinary approach.
NEP 2020 has articulated aparadigm shift from NEP 1986by urging higher educationalinstitutes to have a greater focuson research and innovation byestablishing centres for start-upincubation, technological devel-opment, in frontier areas ofresearch, greater industry-acad-emia collaboration and inter-dis-ciplinary research, includinghumanities, social sciences, sci-ence and technological research.This approach will strengthentranslatory research, innovation,
IP creation and entrepreneurshipin the country. The studentspassing through such education-al system will be tomorrow’s jobcreators, innovators, leaders andinstitution builders. Globally, it’san established fact that a multi-disciplinary approach to educa-tion is good for the economicprogress of a country.
Global higher educationalinstitutes such as MIT, Stanford,Harvard, Caltech, Oxford,Cambridge and Princeton havesignificantly contributed toresearch, innovation, IP cre-ation and economic progress.Countries like the US and theUK have leveraged such multi-disciplinary educational systemsto become industrially and tech-nologically developed nations.
One of the most laudablefeatures of NEP 2020 is theextensive use of technology inthe teaching and learningprocess. Technology can reducethe barriers, enhance access,increase affordability and ensureinclusion. As India is a globalleader in IT and emerging tech-nology domains, NEP 2020 canleverage the robust digital infra-structure established by theGovernment and the industry.
Online and digital educationwill also help divyang studentsaccess the learning ecosystem ina seamless manner. The forma-tion of the National EducationalTechnology Forum (NETF), asproposed by the new NEP, is apioneering idea to promote thefree exchange of ideas across
higher learning institutes to fos-ter innovation across the board.
India is now at the cusp ofdigital transformation and itsimpact is benefitting the societyat large. Further, a strong foun-dation of the IT industry haspaved the way for tech start-upsto leverage emerging technolo-gies such as AI, machine learn-ing, IoT, big data, blockchain androbotics. Such dynamism in theecosystem has also resulted inbuilding a start-up culture in thecountry. To further strengthenthis start-up culture and enableit to become an enormous massmovement across industry ver-ticals, NEP, 2020, will play acolossal role by supplying profes-sionals, who are inherently dri-ven by the spirit of innovationand entrepreneurship.
The new education policyalso envisions a comprehensiveapproach to transform the qual-ity and quantity of research inIndia in an integrated manner. Asignificant shift in school educa-tion system to encourage a moreplay and discovery-based style oflearning, with an emphasis onscientific method and criticalthinking, will further foster inno-vation early in the life of students.In extension, the establishmentof a National ResearchFoundation (NRF), as envi-sioned by NEP, 2020, will pro-mote a culture of research andinnovation of higher order acrossall disciplines.
NRF will also play a catalyt-ic role in propelling the growth
of IPRs and patents in variousdomains. Research and innova-tion will further promote start-up culture in the country todevelop path-breaking productsand solutions to address localand global challenges.
NEP 2020 also proposes asignificant rise in the allocationof funding for education fromthe current 4.43 per cent of theGDP to six per cent. As fundingis critical for any national mis-sion, public-private-partnershipwill play a transformative role indeveloping a modern, advancededucational ecosystem to achievea high-quality and equitableeducation system, one that cansteer India’s future economic,social, cultural, intellectual andtechnological progress andgrowth.
NEP 2020 is a pioneeringstep towards building thebedrock for a self-reliant India.The principles, objectives,visions, missions and directiveswill enable us to have a knowl-edge-driven economy. A knowl-edge-based educational ecosys-tem will promote innovation-ledentrepreneurship, encourageyouth of the nation to becomejob creators, bolster industrialproductivity and rev up inclusivedevelopment. This will eventu-ally accelerate the growth of theeconomy, increase per capitaincome and transform Indiainto a global technology leaderin the times to come.
(The writer is DirectorGeneral, STPI, Govt of India)
Sir — There can be no doubt thatwith the Supreme Court’s deci-sion to hold advocate PrashantBhushan guilty of criminal con-tempt for his two “false and mali-cious” tweets, the space forbonafide criticism of the judicia-ry has become more restricted.This is also apparent from theBench’s assertion that Bhushan’scase needs to be tackled with an“iron hand” lest quips like these “affect the national honour andprestige in the comity of nations.”
Many liberal democracieshave decriminalised the “scan-dalising” of the courts based onthe ideal that criticism is neces-sary to make the judicial systemstronger and foolproof. As such,it is disappointing that the topcourt of India has taken a differ-ent stand.
Further, it should not be for-gotten that only in 2018, fourSupreme Court judges had comeout in the open to speak againstthe then Chief Justice of India ina Press meet. Was any con-tempt case filed or action initi-ated against them?
It was expected that theapex court’s verdict will be advi-
sory in nature. The decision ofthe Bench to come down heav-ily on Bhushan in view of his dis-sent could shake the trust of thecommon man in the institutionwhich he considers to be his lastresort and rescuer.
Tharcius S FernandoChennai
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Sir — This refers to the article,“The Indian connection” (August19) by Kalyani Shankar. Indiansare rightly on cloud nine after theelection of Kamala Harris as JoeBiden’s running mate in the
upcoming US presidential elec-tions. In Harris, India will havea strong supporter who can argueits cause. Intriguingly, Biden,too, has an Indian connection.One of his forefathers, GeorgeBiden, had settled in India dur-ing the East India Companyregime and had married an
Indian woman. Harris has grownup with a tinge of Indian culturebut has simultaneously lived aproudly African-American life.Biden has expressed his intentionto stand by India regarding bor-der issues. On the other hand,Prime Minister Narendra Modiand US President Donald Trumpenjoy an excellent rapport. Bidenor Trump, India will not be loserin either case.
Azhar Ali KhanRampur
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Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “Thanks for the memories”(August 18). Dhoni’s decision toretire from international crick-et has come at the right time. Asthe captain of the men’s cricketteam, he has shown the way toremain cool in tense situationsand win the game. This is whyhe is respected by all quarters.Though we will miss Dhoni, welook forward to his “helicoptershot” in the IPL.
The Coronavirus pandemic has caused eco-nomic disruptions and shutdowns in manycountries across the world. Imposition of
nationwide lockdowns, layoffs in the workforce andrestrictions on non-essential travel have minimisedmarket output and affected foreign trade signifi-cantly. The lurking threat to all vital elements ofhuman life has also become prominent in the formof job losses, disruption in water supply and access,dwindling food production and distribution, andthreats to health and well-being. The COVID-19outbreak is not just an economic but a humanitar-ian and environmental crisis. This has impededIndia’s contribution towards the 17 SustainableDevelopment Goals (SDGs) that were put forth in2015 with an objective to eradicate poverty, safe-guard the planet and ensure peace and prosperi-ty for all by 2030. Moreover, the response to cli-mate change has also lost traction globally with thepostponement of the Conference of Parties(COP26) to 2021.
While India continues to grapple with thesechallenges, the contagion has offered two key learn-ings that can be leveraged for addressing climatechange domestically in coherence with our SDGcommitments. First, the COVID-19 responsemechanisms provide an exemplary account of therole of cooperative and collective action betweennational and sub-national governments for contain-ing the spread of the epidemic. Second, it show-cases how proactive structural changes —includ-ing the creation of health infrastructure, enforce-ment of guidelines and regulatory actions — canenhance the resilience of a system to effectivelyrespond to a crisis situation.
Third, the pandemic shows that society canadjust fast in the face of a crisis. Thus far, climatechange is not seen as a crisis. While the COVID-19 curve is likely to flatten eventually, the impactsof climate change will continue to rattle differentparts of the country through severe hydro-mete-orological events, ranging from the deadly cycloneAmphan to the wrecking floods in Assam and Biharbeing witnessed this year. The aforementionedlearnings likewise reinforce the need to adopt a bot-tom-up approach, involving sub-national entities,including State and local governments to step upstringent action for mitigating the impacts of cli-mate change in harmony with the CentralGovernment’s commitments at the domestic andglobal milieu. As the key lever of climate action inthe States, the State Action Plan on Climate Change(SAPCC), nears completion of the first phase of itsimplementation, this year invigorates hope forStates to ratchet up their SAPCC ambition underthe direction of the Ministry of Environment, Forestand Climate Change. Taking cognisance of the con-vergent nature of issues and the associated socialimpacts unveiled by the contagion, countriesaround the world are rallying towards “green recov-ery” — a road not taken earlier.
The ongoing revision of SAPCC offers a uniqueopportunity to States to experience “green recov-ery” that addresses multiple threats synergistical-ly through the integration of strategies (to absorbshocks from the pandemic), by enhancing climateresilience (impacts of climate change) and safe-guarding sustainable development (threat to peo-ple and inclusive action). This is critical to ensurethat incremental actions towards greening the post-COVID recovery as well as the economy are notjust reactive to the immediate crisis but are sus-tained well beyond the revival of the State’s econ-
omy. The SAPCCs inherently cater to amyriad SDGs, most noteworthy of whichwould be SDG 13 on Climate Action. TheSDGs have passed the baton of enforc-ing sustainable and inclusive develop-mental trajectories to all countries andunder this ambit there is enormouspotential for States to incorporate theSDGs within their SAPCC narratives andvice-versa. Through their sectoral inter-ventions that navigate across agriculture,energy, industries, health, employmentand resource conservation strategiescatering to water, forestry, biodiversityand so on, the SAPCCs can be potential-ly linked to several SDGs.
The recent TERI study, based oncontent analysis and rapid assessmenttechnique, mapped out the linkages thatexisted between all the 33 SAPCCs andthe 17 SDGs. As anticipated, the promi-nent linkages witnessed between SAPCCstrategies and the SDGs corresponded tosustainable agriculture (zero hunger,SDG two), renewable and efficient ener-gy (affordable and clean energy, SDGseven), sustainable urban landscapes(austainable cities and communities,SDG 11) and capacity-building (partner-ship for the goals, SDG 17) followed bycomplementarities with other SDGs.These include good health and well-being, clean water and sanitation, indus-try innovation and infrastructure,responsible consumption and productionand life on land.
Interestingly, linkages with targetsresonating with other crucial SDGs suchas quality education, gender equality,decent work and economic growth, jus-tice and strong institutions, were infre-quent and exceptional for a limitednumber of SAPCCs. Specific congruen-cies with SDG 4, which included integrat-ing the climate change module in theeducation curriculum, were witnessed inthe States of Chhattisgarh, Puducherry
and Tamil Nadu (TN), while States suchas Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Rajasthanand the Union Territory of Lakshadweepunderlined SDG 4 as necessary forbuilding adaptation capacities, resilienceand public awareness.
With respect to gender equality, theSAPCC of Himachal Pradesh identifiedthe gender component of climate actionstrategies and missions, such as in theGreen India Mission. Kerala was anoth-er State, which in its SAPCC, took cog-nisance of the indispensable role ofwomenfolk in forest and resource man-agement. Tripura’s SAPCC demarcatedthe role which women play in promot-ing social capital and resilience-buildingof communities through their Self-HelpGroups. SDG 8 (decent work and eco-nomic growth) has immense potential tocontribute towards a greener economythrough green jobs under climate actionstrategies within the SAPCCs.
Gujarat’s SAPCC has advanced onthis goal for creating green jobs throughactivities pertaining to afforestation,renewable energy-installation, waste tobio-fuel programmes, to name a few.Other SAPCCs, such as those of UttarPradesh, Andaman & Nicobar Island andMadhya Pradesh, have iterated the needto bolster employment under the sectorsof fisheries, industries and forestry to fos-ter sustainable growth and develop-ment. SDG 14 (Life below water) andSDG 16 (Peace, justice and strong insti-tutions) have seen limited linkages as onlycoastal SAPCCs would correspond to theformer and the need to build institution-al effectiveness and accountability wasunderscored only in Andhra Pradesh andTamil Nadu.
Further, the SDG India Index 2019rankings have classified States based ontheir performance. The NationalIndicator Framework (NIF), prepared bythe Ministry of Statistics and Programme
Implementation (MoSPI), is the back-bone of SDG rankings and elucidates howthe climate action agenda can beupscaled. The NIF spans over enhancingadaptive capacity of States, morbidity dueto climate extremes, reduction in emis-sions, meeting the Nationally DeterminedContributions (NDC) targets and inte-grating climate change module in theeducation curricula. Therefore, persist-ing congruencies between the two agen-da and the NIF overlap the aspiration ofa green economy, where an integratedframework of mutually co-benefittinggovernance for planning and imple-mentation is a requisite.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, inhis recent address at the India GlobalWeek 2020, reiterated the need for reviv-ing an India which is sustainable. He alsomentioned his vision of an AtmanirbharBharat that is self-sustaining and self-gen-erating and which reinforces the need forgreening the recovery as well as the econ-omy. Following suit, UP has already start-ed a “One District, One Product” initia-tive to harness local traditions, art andenterprise; reiterating the need to go local.This, if successful, will have a positiveeffect and encourage SDG commitments.States must endorse a holistic approachto include strategies in the SAPCCwherein green recovery measures areplanned in consonance with their abili-ty to mitigate climate change and achieveSDGs.
Strategies need to be devised acrosssectors that will make India’s economicrecovery sustainable and climate-proof.However, devising such effective greenstrategies as the economy recovers wouldalso demand one to assess how “green-ness” is defined and measured, as that remains woefully unaddressed at pre-sent.
(Pruthi and Raj are ResearchAssociates and Pahuja is, Fellow, TERI)
Recently somebody shared a videolink of an old television debatein which I had featured. Then
came the query, “Why aren’t youdebating on television these days?” Ireplied that since I am out of sync withthe style of the debate, which is invogue now, I opt out of the few offersthat come my way, especially whenthey need a dozen people peeping outof the tiny windows on the televisionscreen. However, the other person wasnot convinced by my explanation. Hesaid that it was just “a case of sourgrapes” as I was “outdated.” Thatremark stung me a bit but it also gotme thinking. Have I become outdat-ed? I had been mulling over this con-
versation for some time. Hence, I wasshaken when the news of Congressspokesperson Rajiv Tyagi collapsingafter a “toxic” television debate camein.
In hindsight, I thought, it had beena wise decision for a hypertensive andpre-diabetic person like me to opt outof these cantankerous shows of abu-sive persons baying for each other’sblood, spurred by an unscrupulouscheerleader christened as anchor.With no political fortune to seek andthe channels increasingly tighteningtheir purse strings when it comes topaying the panelists, I think it has beena wise decision to not put one’s life atrisk.
Many years ago, when I had justmoved from being a relative junior inthe profession to a middle leadershipposition in The Pioneer, a tempting joboffer had come my way from a televi-sion channel. In those days, televisionchannels were popping up a dime adozen as a Supreme Court order hadended Doordarshan’s monopoly onairtime. There were many whothought, and rightly so in many cases
(especially those with poor writing andediting skills) that television was theplatform to be in. When I entered ThePioneer Editor Dr Chandan Mitra’soffice with the offer letter in my handand asked for his permission to resign,he asked me to sit down and ordereda cup of coffee. He then told me thatsomeone with good writing skillsshould never seek to make a career asa television reporter. I thought this tobe a stratagem to retain me in theorganisation because in those days DrMitra himself would frequent televi-sion studios and was a celebrity in hisown right.
My doubts got cleared when hesaid, while sipping his piping hot cupof coffee, that television was a greatplace to be, if one was invited as a pan-elist for inputs beyond the bare news.That is what television debates oughtto be and to be fair it remained thatway for a very long time. It is justunfortunate that this has now beenturned on its head.
I must share that I was introducedas a television panelist on the recom-mendation of Dr Mitra on a news item
which I had penned and which hadcreated quite a stir. However, myappearances on television remainedinfrequent as I neither enjoyed thepolitical and social station of DrMitra, nor did I have the liberty of anEditor to leave office early for a tele-vision talk show. I, however, had along-run as a television panelistbetween 2008 and 2017 when the erst-while STAR News and later ABP Newsunder the stewardship of Shazi Zamanplanned pre-recorded talk show-basedcontent. The guest would be present-ed before a group of people fromacross the social spectrum and a fewjournalists, who would grill the per-sonality. But the lines of civility werenever crossed in those days.
The shows were planned in sucha manner that for the panelists, quickwit and intelligence became the mostimportant tools for creating an impactand surviving the scrutiny of theaudience. It was very clear that shout-ing, running down and abusing co-panelists were not part of the shows’grammar or the channels’ culture.
Appearances at these shows also
gave me the opportunity to rub shoul-ders and meaningfully interact withmany a veteran of the profession, spe-cially from language papers. Theybrought with them sagacious knowl-edge not earned by way of appendinga foreign degree but by years spent inthe field witnessing the evolution ofIndian society and politics and remain-ing its consistent student.
The recording sessions, whichwould expand over three to fourhours, always included space for infor-mal interaction with the guest of theday. These sessions were actually greatsittings in scholarship. Today I see onscreen such “scholars”, by the way ofholding a professorial position, gestic-ulating, pointing fingers and spewingvenom, which would make even themost wayward student cower with fear.
A media platform’s essential occu-pation should be dissemination ofwell-argued information rather thandebates which could pass off as a goator cock fight in a village marketplace.The late Rajiv Tyagi had the reputationof being a “forceful” spokesperson forthe Congress Party. Congress scion
Rahul Gandhi in his condolence mes-sage called him a “babbar sher (lion).”
However, one should not forget,that at the end of the day Tyagi, too,was another gladiator, in the ring fora bloody bout set up by channels everyevening. The world of professionalboxing and wrestling is full of tales offighters getting fatally injured anddying early. Are we now seeing a sim-ilar trend emerging in televisiondebates, which today are a euphemismfor sessions of shouting, aggressivebehaviour and abusing with physicalassault thankfully being avoided dueto the Corona protocols being inplace?
Given the untimely demise ofTyagi and the humiliation which isheaped on many in the name of tele-vision debates, personally for me sourgrapes are preferable over being linedin a row to be caned by a hectoringanchor.
(The writer is a senior journalistand Professor-ChairpersonVivekananda School of Journalism andMass Communication, VIPS, GGSIPU,Delhi)
Facebook Chief OperatingOfficer Sheryl Sandberg has
said that posts uploaded by USPresident Donald would betaken down if they violate thesocial media company’s policieson hate speech and false infor-mation. Ahead of theNovember 3 presidential pollsin the US, Facebook has takena series of steps to check thespread of misinformationthrough its platform.
Kabul: Bomb attacks in Kabuland in northern Afghanistan,as well as an ambush in thecountry’s south killed at leastfive people on Wednesday andwounded 15, officials said.
Two sticky bombs target-ed government employees inthe Afghan capital, killingtwo people, including a policeofficer, and wounding twoothers, police said.
Meanwhile in PuliKhumri, the capital of north-ern Baghlan province, a bombtargeted a vehicle belonging to
the provincial intelligencedepartment, killing two ser-vice members and wounding11 people, including both mil-itary and civilians, said NazirNajem, the provincial gover-nor’s spokesman.
In southern Urozganprovince, gunmen ambushedthe vehicle of the intelligencechief in the city of Tarin Kowt,killing him and woundingtwo other service members,said Zelgay Ebadi, thespokesman for the provincialgovernor. AP
Washington: Democrats haveofficially named Joe Biden astheir presidential candidateafter several elder statesmenlauded the former US vicepresident’s leadership skills tochallenge incumbentRepublican President DonaldTrump in November.
Two Democratic formerpresidents, Bill Clinton andJimmy Carter, and former sec-retary of state John Kerryendorsed Biden on Tuesday, thesecond day of the DemocraticNational Convention (DNC).Former secretary of state Colin
Powell, a Republican, alsobacked Biden’s candidacy.
Biden, 77, became theDemocratic Party’s nomineefor the November 3 presiden-tial election on Tuesday nightin a pre-recorded roll call votefrom delegates in all 50 states.
He said the nomination“means the world to me andmy family, and I’ll see you onThursday,” referring to hisspeech accepting the nomina-tion on the final night of thefour-day convention which islargely virtual, amid the coro-navirus pandemic. PTI
Gaza City (Gaza Strip):Hundreds of Palestinians in theGaza Strip on Wednesday ral-lied against the US-brokereddeal to normalise ties betweenIsrael and the United ArabEmirates.
Protesters burned Israeliand American flags, trampledon posters of Israeli PrimeMinister Benjamin Netanyahuand President Donald Trump,and chanted “normalisation isbetrayal to Jerusalem andPalestine.”
Unlike Palestinian protest-
ers last Friday near the AlAqsa Mosque compound inJerusalem’s Old City who alsoburned posters of the Emiraticrown prince, the Gaza demon-strators stopped short of burn-ing symbols of the UAE —apparently not to antagonisethe Gulf Arab country, wheretens of thousands ofPalestinians work and live.
The demonstrators in GazaCity also voiced support forPalestinian PresidentMahmoud Abbas for his rejec-tion of President Donald
Trump’s Mideast plan, whichthe Palestinians say unfairlyfavours Israel.
The protest was organisedby the militant Hamas group,which rules the Gaza Strip, andother factions.
Khalil al-Hayya, a seniorHamas official, denounced theIsraeli-Emirati deal.“Normalisation with the occu-pation harms us and doesn’tserve us,” he said. “Instead, itserves and promotes the occu-pation in its projects that targetPalestine and the region.” AP
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New Zealand appears to begaining control over a coro-
navirus outbreak in Aucklandafter just five new communityinfections were reportedWednesday amid record levelsof testing and contact tracing.
A sixth infection was foundin a quarantined traveler whohad returned from Qatar.
Prime Minister JacindaArdern says 500 more militarypersonnel would be deployed toquarantine hotels.
Bamako (Mali): The Maliansoldiers who forced PresidentIbrahim Boubacar Keita toresign in a coup promised earlyWednesday to organise newelections after their takeoverwas swiftly condemned by theinternational community.
In a statement carriedovernight on state broadcasterORTM, the mutinous soldierswho staged Tuesday’s militarycoup identified themselves asthe National Committee for the
Salvation of the People led byCol. Maj. Ismael Wagué.
“With you, standing asone, we can restore this coun-try to its former greatness,”Wagué said, announcing thatborders were closed and that acurfew was going into effectfrom 9 p.M. To 5 a.M.
The news of Keita’s depar-ture was met with jubilation byanti-government demonstra-tors in the capital, Bamako, andalarm by former colonial rulerFrance, and other allies and for-eign nations.
The UN Security Councilscheduled a closed meetingWednesday afternoon to discussthe unfolding situation in Mali,where the U.N. Has a 15,600-strong peacekeeping mission.
Keita, who was democra-tically elected in a 2013 land-slide and re-elected five yearslater, still had three years leftin his term. AP
Brussels: European Unionleaders on Wednesday saidthey stand beside the peopleprotesting for democratic rightsin Belarus, underlining thatthe EU rejects the electionresults that kept the country’sleader of 26 years in power andis preparing a list of Belarusianswho face sanctions over votefraud and a brutal crackdownon protesters.
The message of supportcame as the leading oppositioncandidate urged the Europeans
to support “the awakening ofBelarus,” and as authorities inthe country began again detain-ing protesters, who took to thestreets of Minsk for an 11th dayto demand that PresidentAlexander Lukashenko resign.
“The European Unionstands in solidarity with thepeople of Belarus, and we don’taccept impunity,” EuropeanCouncil President CharlesMichel told reporters afterchairing an emergency tele-conference.
“We don’t recognize theresults presented by the Belarusauthorities” Michel said theEU will impose sanctions on “asubstantial number” of peoplelinked to election fraud and vio-lence.
He declined to name any ofthose who might be listed. Healso said that the 27-nation blocfully supports mediating effortsbetween the Belarusian gov-ernment and opposition over-seen by the Organisation forSecurity and Cooperation inEurope. AP
Cairo: Sudan on Wednesdayfired the spokesman for theforeign ministry, a day after heremarked that the Africancountry was looking forwardto making a peace deal withIsrael.
The development comesafter last week’s bombshellannouncement of a dealbetween the United ArabEmirates and Israel to normal-ize relations, which will makethe UAE only the third Arabnation, after Egypt and Jordan,to have full ties with Israel.
Sudan’s acting ForeignMinister Omar Qamar al-Dinsaid he dismissed AmbassadorHaidar Badawi from his postafter Badawi said Tuesday thatSudan was “looking forward toconcluding a peace agreementwith Israel.” AP
Berlin: Saudi Arabia’s foreignminister on Wednesday cau-tiously welcomed an agreementbetween its close ally the UnitedArab Emirates and Israel toestablish full ties and exchangeembassies.
Prince Faisal bin Farhansaid the deal, which also haltedunilateral annexation by Israelof West Bank territory sought bythe Palestinians, “could beviewed as positive.”
But he refrained from out-right backing the move andstressed Saudi Arabia is open toestablishing similar relationson condition that a peace agree-ment is reached between Israeland the Palestinians.
His remarks during a newsconference with GermanForeign Minister Heiko Maaswere the first public commentby Saudi Arabia on Thursday’ssurprise announcement by USPresident Donald Trump thathis administration helped bro-ker the UAE-Israel agreement.
Bahrain, Oman and Egyptissued official statements wel-coming the agreement. The
kingdom did not issue similarstatements and did no-t respond to requests for com-ment until Wednesday’s newsconference in Berlin.The UAEframed its agreement as a suc-cessful measure that haltedIsraeli plans to annex WestBank territory. Israeli PrimeMinister Benjamin Netanyahu,however, has said the suspen-sion is only temporary.
The Palestinians haveissued scathing statements say-ing the UAE undermined Arabconsensus and describing themove as a “betrayal ofJerusalem, Al-Aqsa Mosqueand the Palestinian cause.” SaudiArabia, like other Arab Gulfstates, has built quiet ties withIsrael over the years, in partbecause of shared concernsover Iran and its policies in theregion. Prince Faisal reiteratedduring the press conference thekingdom’s long-stated publicstance of support for the ArabPeace Initiative which promis-es Israel full ties with Arab statesif a peace settlement is reachedwith the Palestinians. AP
Taipei: Chinese hackers infil-trated at least 10 Taiwan gov-ernment agencies and gainedaccess to around 6,000 emailaccounts in an attempt to stealdata, officials said Wednesday.
The damage done was “notsmall”, according to a topTaiwan cyber official, who saidthe full impact was still beingassessed.
Taipei has accused Beijingof stepping up a cyber cam-paign since 2016 when Taiwanelected President Tsai Ing-wen,who refuses to acknowledgeBeijing’s insistence that theself-ruled democratic island ispart of “one China”.
Tsai, who views Taiwan asde facto independent, won re-
election by a landslide inJanuary in what was seen as astrong rebuke to Beijing’s cam-paign to influence the island.
According to the TaiwanInvestigation Bureau’s CyberSecurity Investigation Office,two well-known Chinese hack-ing groups — Blacktech andTaidoor — have been targetinggovernment departments andinformation service providerssince 2018.
“We know for sure thatthese 6,000 emails have beencompromised. We are stillassessing the extent of thedamage,” the office’s deputydirector, Liu Chia-zung, toldAFP.
“As far as we know, the
damage done by this infiltra-tion is not small,” Liu added.
“We are making this pub-lic because we want to alerteveryone of the threat andstop further damage.”
The announcement comesa week after US health secretaryAlex Azar wrapped up a his-toric trip to the self-ruledisland as China warnedWashington not to “play withfire”.
Beijing has ramped updiplomatic and economic pres-sure on Taiwan as well asincreasing military drills nearthe island, including its jetsbreaching Taiwan’s air defencezone with unprecedented fre-quency in recent weeks.
Washington: No new high-level trade talks have beenscheduled between the UnitedStates and China but the twosides remain in touch aboutimplementing a Phase 1 deal,White House Chief of StaffMark Meadows told reportersaboard Air Force One onTuesday.
US President DonaldTrump earlier told reportersduring a visit to Yuma,Arizona, that he had post-poned an August 15 review ofthe trade agreement signedwith China in January given hisfrustration over Beijing’s han-dling of the coronavirus pan-demic.
“I postponed talks withChina. You know why? I don’twant to deal with them now,”Trump said during a briefingon construction of a borderwall with Mexico. “What Chinadid to the world was not eventhinkable. They could havestopped (the virus).”
Meadows said the review,mandated as part of the tradeagreement with China, hadnot been rescheduled, but USrade Representative RobertLighthizer remained in regularcontact with his counterparts in
China about fulfilling its com-mitments.
“There are no rescheduledtalks ... at this point,” Meadowstold reporters.
“Ambassador Lighthizercontinues to have discussionswith his Chinese counterpartsinvolving purchases and ful-filling their agreements.”
Trump struck a non-com-mittal tone when asked if hewould pull out of the trade dealwith China, saying, “We’ll seewhat happens.”
During visits to Arizonaand Iowa on Tuesday, Trumpexpressed frustration aboutChina’s handling of the healthcrisis and its failure to containthe disease, but he also laudedrecord purchases by Beijing ofUS farm products.
China’s imports of US farmand manufactured goods, ener-gy and services are well behindthe pace needed to meet a first-year target increase of $77 bil-lion over 2017 purchases. Butits purchases have increased asChina’s economy recovers froma coronavirus lockdown earli-er this year. AGENCY
The GST Council is likely tomeet on August 27 to dis-
cuss the compensation payoutto states and the opinion of theAttorney General on the legal-ity of market borrowing tomeet revenue shortfall.
Sources said the 41stmeeting of the Goods andServices Tax (GST) Councilwould be a single agenda meet-ing on states’ compensation tobe held via video conferencing.
Besides, a full-fledgedmeeting of the Council wouldbe held on September 19, agen-da for which is to be decided indue course, they added.
The Attorney General-who is the chief legal officer ofthe government - has opinedthat the Centre has no statuto-ry obligation to make up forany shortfall in GST revenuesof states from its coffers ,
sources had said.They had earlier indicated
that following the AG’s opinion,states may now have to look atmarket borrowings to meetthe revenue shortfall and theGST Council will take a finalcall. The Centre had in Marchsought views from AttorneyGeneral KK Venugopal on thelegality of market borrowing bythe GST Council to make upfor any shortfall in compensa-tion fund - a corpus createdfrom levy of additional tax onluxury and sin goods to com-pensate states for revenueshortfall arising from theirtaxes being subsumed intoGST.
The AG had also opinedthat the Council has to decideon meeting the shortfall in theGST compensation fund byproviding the sufficient amountto be credited to the fund.
Sources said the options
before the Council for meetingthe shortfall could be to ratio-nalize GST rates, cover moreitems under the compensa-tion cess or increase the com-pensation cess, or recommendhigher borrowing by states tobe repaid by the future collec-tion into the compensationfund.
Since raising tax or cessrates might not be feasible inthe current pandemic situation,the option that remains is eachstate borrowing from marketagainst the consolidated fundof the state. Under theGST law, states were guaran-teed to be compensated bi-monthly for any loss of revenuein the first five years of the GSTimplementation from July 1,2017. The shortfall is calculat-ed assuming a 14 per centannual growth in GST collec-tions by states over the baseyear of 2015-16.
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The Centre on Wednesdayapproved a proposal to give
one-time relaxation in workingcapital limit norm for discomsunder the Ujwal DISCOMAssurance Yojana (UDAY) toget loans as part of the �90,000crore liquidity infusionscheme.After the Cabinetmeeting, Union MinisterPrakash Javadekar in a pressconference said, “Power sectorhas a problem. There is aslump in power consumption.The bills are not being collect-ed by them. PFC and REC havebeen allowed to give loansabove the limit...(of) more than25 per cent working capitallimit. This will increase liq-uidity of the state discoms”.
“The working capital limitis 25 per cent of last year’s rev-
enue. Now, the limit is relaxed,”
he further said. According to anofficial statement, the CabinetCommittee on EconomicAffairs, chaired by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, hasapproved a one-time relax-ation to Power FinanceCorporation (PFC) and RECLtd for extending loans to dis-coms above limits of workingcapital cap of 25 per cent of lastyear’s revenues under UDAY.
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Markets regulator Sebi onWednesday proposed
relaxation in norms pertainingto 25 per cent minimum pub-lic shareholding for companieswhich undergo corporate insol-vency resolution and seekrelisting following the process.
Besides, it proposedenhanced disclosure for suchcompanies. Sebi said it is pos-sible that pursuant to imple-mentation of the resolutionplan, the public shareholding insuch companies may drop toabysmally low levels.
In fact, in one recent caseit was observed that post cor-porate insolvency resolutionprocess (CIRP), the publicholding decreased to 0.97 percent, and it showed 8,764 percent jump in share price in spiteof additional preventive sur-veillance actions, includingreduction in price band andmoving the scrip into trade fortrade segment.
According to Sebi, suchlow public shareholding raisesmultiple concerns like failure offair discovery of price of thescrip and need for increasedsurveillance measures and maytherefore be a red flag forfuture cases.
Low float also prohibitshealthy participation in tradingof such companies majorly dueto issues related to demand andsupply gap of shares, the regu-lator added.
Accordingly, the regulatorhas proposed recalibration ofthreshold for minimum publicshareholding (MPS) norms incompanies which undergoCIRP and seek relisting ofshares pursuant to implemen-tation of the approved resolu-tion plan.
It has sought views of pub-lic and market intermediariestill September 18 in this regard.
It has been suggested thatpost-CIRP companies may bemandated to achieve at least 10per cent public shareholdingwithin six months and 25 percent within three years fromthe date of breach of MPSnorm. Currently, the normsmandate that in case publicholding of such company fallsbelow 10 per cent, then thesame will be increased to atleast 10 per cent within 18months and 25 per cent with-in three years. Another optionwhich has been suggested isthat post-CIRP companies maybe mandated to have at least 5per cent public shareholding atthe time of relisting.
New Delhi: The Government’snew Affordable Rental HousingComplexes (ARHC) policy willboost supply of rental accom-modations besides opening theprospects of launching resi-dential REIT in the country,according to Savills report.
India has seen two suc-cessful launches and listing ofthe Real Estate InvestmentTrust so far with fund raisingof more than �9,000 crore, butboth were for rent-yieldingcommercial assets mainly officeparks.The consultant launcheda research report titled - ‘Rentalhousing in India: A study of theupcoming wave’ at an eventorganised by FICCI.
“Rental housing is anoth-er market that is yet to betapped, especially in the urbanareas which have seen prices ofhomes go beyond the cusp ofmost of the city dwellers.
“The recently releasedoperational guidelines onARHC are a long-awaited giantleap in the right direction,” saidAnurag Mathur, ChiefExecutive Officer, SavillsIndia.The property consultantsaid that rental housing inIndia could possibly see aboom in the next two yearsbacked by the recent reformsannounced by the government.
Rapid urbanization, migra-tion to cities and the rising costof home ownership are thethree key demand drivers foraffordable rental housing inIndia.
As per the 2011 census,urban households on rentstood at over 21 million, whichis around 20 per cent of thetotal number of houses inurban India. Almost 80 percent of the rental housing mar-ket in the country is concen-trated in urban centres, thereport said.
While India’s urban popu-lation share has grown morethan threefold in over a centu-ry at around 10 per cent in the1900s to current levels of morethan 34 per cent, annual inter-state migration is estimated tobe growing at around 9-10million annually. Meanwhile,the cost of house ownershipacross India has shown aCAGR of around 5 per cent inthe past few years, as per thereport. The policy initiativesover the last few years - includ-ing the establishment of RERA,PMAY, Model Tenancy Law,and others - gave the founda-tion for the development ofrental housing.
However, the ARHCsOperational Guidelines July2020 has now laid a roadmap.
“Operational Guidelinesfor ARHCs has laid down twomodels - while the first model(M-1) envisages the operationof vacant government fundedhouses as ARHCs by a conces-sionaire for 25 years, the secondmodel (M-2) provides for pub-lic & private entities to createARHCs on their own vacantlands,” the report said. PTI
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In yet another exodus, GoAirhas seen the exit of half-a-
dozen senior executives inrecent weeks amid the budgetairline struggling to pay salariesand keeping a significant chunkof staff on leave without pay,according to two sources.
The Wadia group-pro-moted carrier has around 6,700employees and around as muchas 4,000-4,500 of them are onleave without pay (LWP), oneof the sources said.
When contacted for com-ments on quitting of seniorexecutives, a GoAir spokesper-son neither denied nor con-firmed the resignations.Theairline “continues to assess thecurrent market situation andwill align its cost structureswith the current flight opera-tions. These are planned fur-loughs in order to minimisecash burn so that the staffcount is aligned to the currentscale of operations”, thespokesperson said in a state-ment.The airlines industry hasbeen grappling with strongheadwinds due to the coron-avirus pandemic, with many ofthe carriers laying off people as
part of cost-cutting measures.GoAir has also been severelyhit by suspension of flight ser-vices to curb the spread ofcoronavirus. Besides announc-ing paycuts for most of itsemployees in March, GoAirhad also announced the LWPscheme for 60-70 per cent ofthe staff in April.
The sources quoted abovesaid salary payments to theremaining 30 per cent of theworkforce is also not regular.
Earlier this month, the air-line gave three options to theemployees -- voluntary resig-nation, termination and con-tinue on LWP for an indefiniteperiod. Subsequently, morethan half-a-dozen senior exec-utives left the airline whilesome others mulling variousoptions, the sources told PTI.
“The top deck at GoAir isnow almost empty. In the lastfew weeks, the airline’s com-pany secretary, vice-presidentsfor international operations,cargo, procurement, customerservices, inflight services, andcorporate communication quitthe carrier as these peoplewere not getting paid sinceApril on account of LWP,” oneof the sources said.
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Market benchmarks tickedhigher for the third
straight session on Wednesday,propped up by RelianceIndustries, HDFC Bank andICICI Bank amid a bullishtrend in global equities.
The BSE Sensex toucheda high of 38,788.51 during theday but succumbed to profit-booking at the fag-end of thesession. It finally closed at38,614.79, up 86.47 points or0.22 per cent.
On similar lines, the NSENifty rose 23.05 points or 0.20per cent to 11,408.40.
Market behemoth RelianceIndustries climbed 0.68 percent after announcing acquisi-tion of 60 per cent stake in e-pharmacy Netmeds for �620crore. Tech Mahindra was thetop gainer in the Sensex pack,rising 1.91 per cent, followed byBharti Airtel, Maruti, ICICIBank, HDFC Bank, SBI, RILand , Asian Paints.
On the other hand, BajajAuto, ONGC, Nestle India,
HUL and Kotak Bank wereamong the laggards, slipping upto 1.42 per cent.
According totraders, domestic bourses fol-lowed positive cues from
global markets after USequities hit record highs inovernight session.
“Ever present fears regard-ing the Covid-19 impact oneconomic recovery broughtabout volatility in the globalmarkets, despite US marketssurging to record highs. Indianindices also exhibited thisvolatility before closing theday with a positive bias.Banking index again led thegains.
“The gains in the Indianmarket, as in the global mar-kets, have been driven by ampleliquidity and the expectation ofnormalisation of business sup-ported by government mea-
sures, in a post Covid-19 sce-nario.
However, investors mustcontinue to remain stock spe-cific and use the accumulationstrategy for the time being,”said Vinod Nair, Head ofResearch at Geojit FinancialServices.
BSE telecom, realty,industrials, basic materials,utilities and finance indicesjumped up to 1.49 per cent,while IT, FMCG, healthcareand teck indices ended in thered.
Broader BSE mid-cap andsmall-cap indices rallied asmuch as 1.16 per cent.Persistent foreign fund inflowstoo buoyed investor sentiment,traders said. Foreign institu-tional investors bought equitiesworth a net Rs 1,134.57 croreon Tuesday, provisionalexchange data showed.
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India’s general Governmentdebt-to-GDP ratio is set to
surge, with a World Bankreport projecting the ratio atrising to its peak of 89 per centin the financial year 2022-23,before gradually declining.
The report titled ‘IndiaDevelopment Update’ for July2020, noted that with the rev-enue outlook seriously dented,and new expenditure impera-tives, the fiscal deficit and debtof the central and state gov-ernments are likely to increasesharply over the next two years.
“India’s debt-to-GDP ratiois projected to increase signif-icantly in the short term,reflecting the expected con-traction in GDP growth andincrease in the primary deficit.While there is a significant levelof uncertainty around the pro-jections, the general govern-ment debt-to-GDP ratio is pro-jected to peak at around 89 percent in FY22/23 before gradu-ally declining thereafter,” itsaid.
General government debt
refers to the overall liabilities ofboth the Union Governmentand states.It, however, notedthat the country’s public debt isexpected to remain sustainablebecause it is mostly denomi-nated in domestic currency, oflong or medium-term maturi-ty, and is predominantly heldby residents.In a baseline sce-nario, which takes into accountrevised growth projections,lower-than-expected divest-ment proceeds, and newexpenditure commitments, thefiscal deficit of the central gov-ernment is projected toincrease to 6.6 per cent ofGDP in FY 2020-21 andremain at a high of 5.5 per centin the following year.
“Assuming that, the states’deficit is contained within 3.5-4.5 per cent of GDP, the deficitof the general government mayrise to around 11 per cent in FY2020-21,” it said. Further, thereport also said that the WorldBank may project a steepercontraction of the Indian econ-omy for the current financialyear, revised from the previousestimate of 3.2 per cent.
the national capital onWednesday following declinein international prices of theprecious metal, according toHDFC Securities.
The yellow metal hadclosed at �54,909 per 10gram in the previous trade.Silver prices also faced sellingpressure and declined by�3,112 to �69,450 per kgfrom �72,562 per kg in theprevious trade. In the globalmarket, gold was quotinglower at USD 1,988 perounce, while silver was trad-ing flat at USD 27.43 perounce. “Gold prices paredprevious gains on dollarrecovery as dollar index wit-nessed recovery onWednesday ahead of the USFederal Open MarketCommittee (FOMC) min-utes,” HDFC Securities SeniorAnalyst (Commodities)Tapan Patel said.
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The rupee pared its initialgains to settle 6 paise
lower at 74.82 against the USdollar on Wednesday due tosuspected RBI interventionand uncertainty ahead of therelease of minutes of the USFederal Reserve meeting.
At the interbank forexmarket, the domestic unitopened at 74.71 against theUS dollar, but lost ground andfinally settled at 74.82 against,down 6 paise over its previ-ous close of 74.76. During thesession, the local unit wit-nessed an intra-day high of74.67 and a low of 74.93against the greenback.Meanwhile, the dollar index,which gauges the greenback’sstrength against a basket of sixcurrencies, fell 0.04 per centto 92.23. The market focus ison Fed minutes, Rahul Gupta,Head of Research- Currency,Emkay Global FinancialServices said.
New Delhi: With an aim toupskill 1000 tyre mechanics intyre repair, mounting ordemounting in the country,Rubber Skill DevelopmentCouncil, in partnership withBridgestone, has launched TyreCarewala project, whose pilotphase has been launched fromKanpur to train 500 mechan-ics there.
“These tyre mechanicswill undergo training and thenwill be certified once they clearthe assessment,” said ShewaniNagpal, COO, Rubber SkillDevelopment Council.
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New Delhi: SLR Metaliks Ltdstrategically used the lock-down period to enhance its fur-nace capacity from 0.3milliontonnes to 0.4 million tonnesannually.
It has truly been anAtmanirbhar phase for a com-pany like ours which has beenable to make a phenomenalleap, said Rajkumar Goel, MD,SLR Metaliks.
The Delhi Disaster ManagementAuthority (DDMA) allowedhotels and weekly markets to
open on a trial basis in the national cap-ital, complying with the COVID-19 pro-tocols. However, fitness centres andgyms have not been given permissionto open. The meeting, chaired by LGAnil Baijal, happened on August 18 andresulted in favour of the hoteliers, whowelcomed the decision of the govern-ment.
The Hotel Association of India(HAI), which represents 300 hotelsacross categories, also supported themove. A spokesperson of HAI said,“The Hotel Association of India wel-comes the move by the StateGovernment to allow the hotel and hos-pitality sector to start operations again
in New Delhi. Indian HospitalityIndustry holds immense potential to bea global leader and we believe this movewill slowly help this capital-intensive,people-centric sector to gradually inchtowards revival. While the opening ofhotels in Delhi will help in aiding theresurgence of the sector, there is a lotmore support required to keep the ‘sur-vival and revival’ of the industry inmind.”
“We have been aggressively pursu-ing the government — both State andCentral — to allow an extension on loanmoratorium, relief towards PropertyTax, Excise Duty, Fixed Electricity andPower Costs. Our vision is to provideall the necessary elements that will pro-pel the sector towards heightenedgrowth in the years to come. Extending
support to the government, we have alsoproposed to bring in an inter-state taskforce to share the load in reviving thesector,” the spokesperson added.
Dr Jyotsna Suri, ExecutiveCommittee Member, Hotel Associationof India and Chairperson and MD,Bharat Hotels Limited, said, “We wel-come the move of the Government forreopening of hotels in Delhi. We arethankful to LG Anil Baijal, Chief Ministerof Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal, and Ministerof State for Tourism and Culture, PrahladSingh Patel, for this initiative. This deci-sion will enable the revival of the indus-try and help sustain the livelihood ofmany employees affected by the lock-down. We look forward to resumingoperations as per new norms and withstrict hygiene and sanitisation protocols.”
The Wallace Collection in Londonhosts Forgotten Masters: IndianPaintings for the East India
Company, curated by award-winninghistorian, William Dalrymple. Theexhibition, which roughly spans theyears between 1770 and 1840, is dedi-cated to the Indian artists who werecommissioned by British patrons asso-ciated with the East India Company(EIC). These artists (whose many workswere destined for export to Europe)have been generally grouped, by art his-torians and curators under the umbrel-la term ‘Company Painting’ ratherthan credited to individuals.
The exhibition aims to point outthat these individuals deserve a placein the history of Indian art more thanthey merit a place in the history of colo-nialism. Dalrymple, who calls himselfMehrauli goat herd, steps out of hisorbit and does India a huge favour incalling a spade a spade and giving iden-tities to these unknown artists.
‘Kampani Qalam’, the Urdu namefor the rich, hybrid art style associat-ed with commissions for the EIC, hasbeen split into six rooms of absolutenostalgia and brilliance in composition-al character.
�����������������Bengali-speaking artists and
Calcutta feature in this epic sojournsince the city was the headquarters ofthe EIC. Story goes that Elijah Impey,chief justice of Calcutta’s SupremeCourt, and his wife, Mary, had amenagerie of pets — animals andbirds. Mary commissioned the giftedMuslim painter Shaikh Zain-ud-din ofPatna to create an album documentingtheir exotica between 1777 and 1783.Zain-ud-din was then supported by apair of Hindu painters from Patna. Thethree did the lion’s share of the workwhile Zain-ud-din executed or oversawmore than 300 stunning sheets. Allthree natives of Patna spoke Bengali.
Critics have called this show of 100works, fascinating and delightful. TheBengali-speaking trio was master in the
Mughal miniature style of painting butunder their new aegis would createworks that were a new hybrid artform. Birds, animals and botanicalsformed the beauty of composition andnatural history.
The master, Shaikh Zain-ud-din,and his assistants, Ram Das andBhawani Das, were the core team forImpey. The latter’s, specialised in botan-ical drawings, Spray of Green Mangoes(1775) is a delightful showcase of all fer-tile greens in the spectrum and thefruit’s luscious deep tones contrastingwith the lime bending branches.Bhawani Das excelled at drawing ani-mals too, perhaps as shown in his MaleFruit Bat (1772-82). Painting throughwatercolours on paper in the Europeantradition, Das captured the form of thefruit bat using the Mughal practice of
prataj — a meticulous shading fromlight to dark to define shape.
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Combing a wide variety of Indiantraditions, curator Dalrymple alsoshifts the limelight from EIC commis-sioners towards the brilliance of theIndian artists. He belatedly honoursthese historically-overlooked artistsincluding Shaikh Zain-ud-din, BhawaniDas, Shaikh Mohammad Amir ofKarriah, Sita Ram and Ghulam AliKhan. He brings out a forgottenmoment in the Anglo-Indian history.These dazzling, surprising artworksoffer a rare glimpse of the culturalfusion between British and Indian artstyles as they reflect the beauty of thenatural world as well as the social real-
ity of those times.
����������� �����The Wallace Collection also high-
lights the conversation between tradi-tional Indian, Islamic and Westernschools and features works fromMughal, Marathi, Punjabi, Pahari,Tamil and Telugu artists. They werecommissioned by a diverse cross-sec-tion of EIC officials, ranging frombotanists and surgeons to the membersof the East India Company civil service,diplomats, governors and judges, theirwives, as well as some more itinerantBritish artists and intellectuals passingthrough India for pleasure and instruc-tion. What they all had in common wasa scholarly interest in, and enthusiasmfor, India’s rich culture, history and eco-logical biodiversity.
The exhibition highlights the maincentres of ‘Company School’ painting— Calcutta and Lucknow, whereprovincial Mughal painters fromMurshidabad, Patna and Faizabad wereemployed; Madras and Tanjore, whereartists from the South Indian traditionsreceived patronage; and Delhi, whereImperial Mughal artists created someof the finest works of this period. Theirpaintings represent one of the great andforgotten moments of Indian art dur-ing a period of cultural exchangebetween the artists and their EICpatrons.
Xavier Bray, director, WallaceCollection, hopes that the show will“highlight the long history of culturalco-operation between the UK andIndia and help foster partnershipsbetween Indian donors and UK insti-tutions. To this end, the exhibition issponsored by DAG, a commercialgallery with locations in India and NewYork.”
Dalrymple puts the spotlight onForgotten Masters, gives them an identitylong overdue and proves that the KampaniQalam was not a relic of the EIC but anunbroken tradition of Indian art before theadvent of conspicuous colonialism andimperial photography.
(The exhibition runs till September 13.)
After the departure of TikTok, Instagram Reels has
become the most popular appfor young Indians as seven in 10(18 to 29 age group) said theywould like to use Reels as a plat-form for video sharing, a newreport said.
In the absence of theChinese short-video-makingapp Tik Tok, nearly two-thirdsof urban Indians (65 per cent)said they are likely to turn toalternatives or start using videoapps that are either Indian ornon-Chinese in origin, accord-ing to data provided by YouGov,an Internet-based marketresearch and data analytics firm.
Millennials (69 per cent)were most likely to show theirreadiness to switch to Tik-Tok’salternatives, as compared toGenZ (54 per cent). Likewise,men were more likely thanwomen to hold a similar view(70 per cent vs 59 per cent).
“The government’s decisionto ban Tik Tok along with otherChinese apps has presented an
opportunity for homegrownplayers who are gearing up totake advantage of this situation,”said Deepa Bhatia, GeneralManager, YouGov India. “It is,therefore, imperative to gaugethe needs of the audience andunderstand their preferences inthis space,” she added.
Nearly 68 per cent TikTokcontent creators said they arelikely to switch to Indian ornon-Chinese versions of videosharing apps. On being present-
ed with a list of alternatives,Instagram Reels topped the listof apps most likely to be used bypeople in the future.
The platform, which isFacebook’s answer to TikTok, iswelcomed by more than six in10 (62 per cent ) urban Indianswho claim to have tried it andare likely to continue using it.
“Nearly as many have asimilar view about Singapore-based app Cheez (59 per cent),which has a higher appealamong tier-2 users as com-pared to tier-1 city residents,”said the survey.
Apart from these foreignapps, more than half claimed tohave tried the homegrown appRoposo and are likely to use itin the future (54 per cent).
Other regional social mediaapps such as Moj (47 per cent),Gana Hotshot (44 per cent),Josh (42 per cent), Taka Tak (42per cent), Mitron (40 per cent)and Chingari (36 per cent) alsoappear to have gained ground,the survey revealed.
The 74th Independence Day was cel-ebrated in Chittaranjan
Locomotive Works (CLW). The cele-bration was conducted adhering to thesafety norms of COVID-19. PraveenKumar Mishra, General Manager/CLWunfurled the National Flag in the mainfunction at Oval Ground followed byNational Anthem presented by CLWcultural association. Sunita Mishra,President, CLW Women’s WelfareOrganisation was present at the occa-sion. Keeping in view the social distanc-ing norms, a small number of staff,supervisors, officers and members ofstaff council along with their familymembers and members of CLW-WWO, representative of media werepresent. General Manager inspected theParade contingent consisting of RPF,Civil Defence, St John’s AmbulanceBrigade and Scouts & Guides of CLWin the ground.
During the function, a short filmdepicting the 70 years of CLW and thedigital version of a Coffee Table BookEngines of Change were digitally inau-gurated by the General Manager. Thefilm covered the journey of CLW fromits starting production, on the day Indiabecame republic to becoming largestelectric locomotive manufacturer. CLWhas transformed itself to diesel locomo-tives and finally to modern, highpower, electric locomotives.
On the occasion, Mishra paidrespect and remembered the sacrificesmade by the freedom fighters in mak-ing India free. While discussing thenotable achievements of CLW he saidthat despite COVID-19 related restric-tions, they produced 62 electrical loco-motives and five locomotives from theDankuni Unit, upto July. CLW has sur-passed the production of 10000 loco-motives so far by producing 2351steam locomotives, 842 diesel and
7274 electric locomotives.He expressed his satisfaction while
mentioning that CLW ushered in newera of electric loco production andbecame the largest electric loco produc-er in the world. He further elaboratedthat first WAP-7 locomotive withincreased serviced speed potentialfrom 140 kmph to 160 kmph has beendesigned indigenously and tested suc-cessfully upto speed of 180 kmph.Locomotives to haul long distancegoods trains and locomotives for TEJAShas been modified with aerodynamicre-profiling and are likely to bedespatched soon.
Mishra appreciated the efforts of allthe departments, doctors, paramedicalstaff and inhabitants of Chittaranjan. Healso mentioned that CLW has con-tributed �1,39,11,058 towards PMCares Fund.
The tricolour was also unfurled atSishu Vihar, Asha Kiran-the SpasticCentre, various units of CLW-WWOand RPF ground by adhering the safe-ty norms of COVID-19.
HMD Global, the home of Nokiaphones, launched the Nokia 5310
across leading mobile retail stores ofIndia. Reimagining the original Nokia5310 Xpress Music, the Nokia 5310brings with it an MP3 player and FMradio (which can be played wired orwireless), combined with powerful, dualfront-facing speakers letting you carryyour favourite tunes with you on the go.The phone remixes classic design witha slick new feel and battery that’s builtto last, keeping you connected dayafter day.
Sanmeet Singh, Vice President,HMD Global, said, “The originals havealways had a special place in our port-folio, as much as in our and our fanshearts. Nokia 3310 and Nokia 8110together have millions of users in thecountry. We’re excited to be able to keepthe trend going with the Nokia 5310,which has received a warm welcome.With this phone, we’ve brought acrossIndia, a unique proposition, which isdelightful not just for feature phoneusers but also to smartphone userswho will want to own the phone as theircompanion device.”
Stay tuned all day with a dedicated FMRadio and MP3 player
Keep the music f lowing bothindoors and outdoors with the Nokia5310. Mix up the beat, anytime, any-where, thanks to the MP3 player andwireless FM radio. Carry your favouritetunes with you on the go with theexpandable storage. The dual front-fac-ing speakers get as loud as 105 phons,enough sound to fill the room. Thephone also comes with dedicated musicbuttons, meaning you can adjust the vol-ume and shuffle through tracks withease.
Classic design with more power to con-nect
Celebrating this Nokia with a freshnew take, as it comes in a distinctivetwo-tone colourway, with a beautifullyrounded design, curved display glass andan elegant key mat for the perfect fit inyour hand. It has an ergonomic andclean numeric keypad, with a five-waynavigation key and comes with the clas-sic and familiar Nokia feature phone OSto deliver an easy to use and feature richexperience.
Its battery life lasts up to 22 days instandby mode.
AvailabilityIt will be available in White/Red and
Black/Red at best buy price of �3,399 forthe dual SIM variant.
SRM Institute of Science andTechnology (SRMIST),
Kattankulathur has found apodium finish in AtalRankings of Institutions onInnovation Achievements(ARIIA) 2020.
The ranking wasannounced virtually by VicePresident, M Venkaiah Naiduand SRMIST secured secondplace in the Private or Self-Financed universities category.A total of 674 institutions tookpart.
ARIIA is an initiative ofthe Ministry of HRD, imple-mented by AICTE andMinistry’s Innovation Cell,GOI to systematically rankhigher education institutionsand universities on indicatorsrelated to Innovation, Startupand EntrepreneurshipDevelopment amongst stu-dents and faculty.
The major parameters onwhich ARIIA is based are
Programs and Activities onIPR, Innovation, Start-up andEntrepreneurship, Pre-Incubation & IncubationInfrastructure & Facilities toSupport I&E, Annual BudgetSpent on Promoting andSupporting I&E Activities,Courses on Innovation, IPRand EntrepreneurshipDevelopment, IntellectualProperty (IP), TechnologyTransfer andCommercialisation, SuccessfulInnovation and Start-ups &Funding Innovation & start-ups.
The 74th Independence Day wascelebrated at Western Railway
with the National Flag hoisted byAlok Kansal, General Manager,Western Railway. On this occasion,he inspected the ceremonial paradeof RPF and extended his greetings toall railwaymen and their families.Eight Corona Warriors from themedical fraternity of W Rly includ-ing two RPF personnel who havedonated their blood plasma to saveother’s lives were invited as specialguests. Alok Kumar, AdditionalGeneral Manager, W Rly & PrincipalHeads of Departments along withDivisional Railway Manager ofMumbai Central were also present onthe occasion. The ceremony wasanchored by Gajanan Mahatpurkar,Senior Public Relations Officer andvote of thanks was offered byParikshit Mohanpuria, Dy GeneralManager (G) of W Rly. P C Sinha,Principal Chief SecurityCommissioner, Western Railwaywelcomed the General Manager onhis arrival.
According to a press releaseissued by Sumit Thakur, Chief PublicRelations Officer of Western Railway,Kansal in his address said that, thisyear due to the pandemic, the econ-omy has been affected. Never ever inthe history of Indian Railways, thepassenger services came to a haltwhich proves the severity of the sit-uation. In spite of such difficulttimes, Western Railway played a pro-tagonist in India’s fight againstCOVID-19 by running 1234 ShramikSpecial trains. More than 26 lakh
food packets were provided free ofcost to the passengers of the trainsand almost six lakh food packets weredistributed to the needy in associa-tion with IRCTC during the lock-down.
WR has converted challengesinto opportunities. Taking advantageof the lockdown, with minimal traf-fic, many major infrastructure bot-tlenecks and maintenance backlogworks, which required long blockduration have been completed. Re-girdering of six spans of steel girdersand replacement of channel sleepersacross Mithi river on Mahim-Bandrasection has been completed. Sixabandoned FOBs in Mumbai subur-ban section were dismantled. A 66metre open web girder on ROB, inlieu of level crossing, was launchedin Ahmedabad Division.
Kansal said that safety is theprime concern of WR and various
special safety drives were run for staff,as well as the public. He took thisopportunity to congratulate WR’steam of officers and staff who rose tothe occasion and came up with var-ious innovations to deal with thegrave situation. He commended theworkshops for making inhouse PPESuits which was approved by DRDO,besides, masks and sanitisers.
General Manager endorsedthat all the achievements have beenpossible because of dedicated workby the staff. He also lauded the roleof the recognised Trade Unionsand Associations and thanked themfor fostering cordial industrial rela-tions between the administrationand the railwaymen. He added thatWR will continue with the fightagainst COVID-19 and bounce backwith full force to make good the loss-es in the revenues and achieve thetargets.
Union Minister of MinorityAffairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi
said that the Modi Government’sresolute for “promotion andprogress” of meritorious youthsfrom Minority communities haveresulted in selection of 22 youthsfrom such communities in theCivil Services with the assistanceof free coaching being run by theMinistry of Minority Affairs.
While felicitating youths atAntyodaya Bhawan Naqvi saidthat that there is no dearth of tal-ent in minority communities. Butearlier, no such efforts had beenmade to create an environmentwhich recognises potential amongthe minority youths.
He further said that Modi’sgovernment has given a positiveatmosphere where capabilities ofyouths from such communities areprotected and promoted. This pos-itive atmosphere of “InclusiveEmpowerment” has ensured that alarge number of youths are select-ed in the top administrative ser-vices. This year also, 145 peoplebelonging to minority communi-ties have been selected in the CivilServices. The last three years havewitnessed similar encouragingresults.
Naqvi said that these youthsare a role model for other youthsfrom the similar communities andother weaker sections of the soci-ety. He also said that the Ministryof Minority Affairs is implement-ing a large scale free-coachingprogramme for meritorious youthsbelonging to notified minority
communities preparing for UPSCexaminations. The Ministry is alsoproviding free coaching underNai Udaan, Naya Savera to minor-ity youths preparing for CivilServices, other UPSC examina-tions, medical, engineering, bank-ing, administrative examinationsand other competitive examsthrough various institutions andorganisations.
Naqvi further said that only2,94,000,00 minority students hadbeen given scholarships before2014; while the ModiGovernment’s commitment hasensured scholarships to 4,60,000minority students during the lastsix years.
He shared that under the
Pradhanmantri Jan VikasKarykram (PMJVK), more than34,000 infrastructure projectsincluding school, college, hospital,community centre, common ser-vice centre, ITI, polytechnic, girlshostel, Sadbhavna Mandap, HunarHub have been developed in back-ward and deprived minority con-centrated areas across the countryin the last 6 years.
Union Minister of State(Independent Charge) forDevelopment of North EasternRegion & MoS in PM’s Office DrJitendra Singh and Union Ministerof State (Independent Charge) forYouth Affairs & Sports and MoS,Minority Affairs Kiren Rijiju werealso present on the occasion.
Coronavirus is said to be secularand egalitarian. It seems so awk-ward to say so for the disaster
that it epitomises. Despite all evils, thevirus marks its presence by not mak-ing distinction in race, caste, faith,creed and economic status. However,can we say the same about its impactbeing gender neutral in terms ofemployment? Definitely not in thecase of women as recent reports, sur-veys and experiences suggest that itaffects women more than men work-force.
.All over the world, female labourforce participation, which is one of themajor factors of women empower-ment, stands distressingly low. InIndia, it’s much worse, even lower thanwhat the global average of participa-tion rate is and what some of theneighbouring countries have. LatestInternational Labour Organisation(ILO) data shows that female partic-ipation rate in the labour force in Indiawas 21 per cent in 2019, which hasbeen continuously on decline since thelast 15 years, when it had touched thepeak of 32 per cent. Global average fig-ure is 47 per cent. As compared tomany other countries, India’s score inthis regard is abysmally lower.Neighbouring countries in South Asiasuch as Bangladesh (36 per cent),Bhutan (59 per cent), China (60 percent), Sri Lanka (35 per cent) are wayahead. Even Pakistan is one notchhigher, though just at 22 per cent. Inthe middle east, where most countries
are doing bad, Saudi Arabia is doingmuch better at 32 per cent. Such dis-mal figures do not mean that Indianwomen are sitting idle and doing noth-ing. These figures clearly indicate thatwomen in India are mostly engaged inunpaid works.
COVID containment strategy,which entailed prolonged lockdown inApril, May and then semi-lockdownin subsequent months, has affected theeconomy adversely. It brought devas-tation to sectors such as entertainment,hospitality, eateries, apparel, tourismand travel, where the presence ofwomen in the workforce has been sig-nificantly higher. Recent study con-ducted by McKinsey Global Institute,US based research arm of McKinsey& Co, shows that women are experi-encing greater job loss than men dueto the pandemic. In the case of India,the report shows that the pandemic isdisproportionately affecting women interms of employment. The obviousreason is that the sectors of the econ-omy which have better share of
women participation are the onesworse affected by the COVID crisis.The only exceptions are health careand to some extent, teaching.
With Coronavirus playing havocwith the economy and not sparingeven the most technologicallyadvanced countries, the sustainabledevelopment goal on gender equali-ty is going to be an uphill task for
India. Niti Aayog in its report in 2019,much before the pandemic hit us,rated the country's performance at 42on a scale of 100. All the states withexceptions of Himachal Pradesh,Kerala and pre-divided J & K are inthe red zone on the performance chartand far behind on the path to genderequality mandated in SDG 5. WithCOVID not abating and still hamper-ing economic activities, parity withmen in employment will be the keyfactor to decide whether performancefor SDG 5 will take a turn. It's a para-dox that while India impressed theworld with economic growth over thelast fifteen years, the trajectory ofwomen participation in the labourforce continues to roll downhill overthe same period.
In times of crisis, especially whenthere is existential threat from thevirus, what has been enforced is thatwomen are made to sacrifice forbeing saviour for the family wellbeing and men tend to be the earner,a role distinction that is borne of tra-
dition and culture laced with patri-archy. As a result of the lockdown,women are substantially more likelyto perform many of the unpaid careand domestic tasks. This crisis has putthem with an additional load ofwatching the children, caring for theelderly and sick, cleaning, cooking andserving meals due to the lockdown.
Along with the other pandemicsof the past, COVID-19 has also beenwritten in the pages of history, allthanks to human ingenuity. Whatimminently seems to have lastingimpact on women emancipation needto be handled now for timely interven-tion will contain its deleterious effect.There is a dire need to identify sectorsand roles which can be meaningfuland remunerative for women.
(The author is an IAS officer serv-ing Government of NCT of Delhi as aDirector in the Department of Womenand Child Development. He is also aNational Awardee for ElectionManagement given by the President ofIndia.)
Standing Conference ofPublic Enterprises
(SCOPE), apex body ofPublic Sector Enterprises(PSEs) and InternationalLabour Organisation (ILO),a tripartite UN agency signed an understanding for a joint studyon Women Empowerment — Adoption of Work from HomeModel. Atul Sobti, Director General, SCOPE and DagamerWalter, Director, ILO Decent Work Team for South Asia andcountry Office for India signed the understanding virtually.
The key objective of the study is to analyse and train womenin public sector in order to empower and motivate them to aspireto positions of leadership by addressing challenges faced by themat work. The study succeeds an earlier study of SCOPE & ILOwhereby a team of network of champions was developed to trainwomen in public sector on different aspects.
������� �� Pakistan headcoach Misbah-ul-Haq haspraised his side’s commitmentand belief in the second Testagainst England following aheart-breaking defeat in theseries opener.
“It was always going to bedifficult to fight back after whathappened in Manchester but theplayers’ commitment and beliefwas outstanding.
“We have the belief that wecan come back in the final Testand it’s so important to us thatPakistan supporters back homeand around the world share thatbelief with us,” Misbah wrote inhis column for PCB.
Pakistan recovered from158 for six to 236 all out andthen had England reeling at 110for four when the rain-affectedmatch ended.
“It was another brave deci-sion to bat first in the second
Test given the conditions buteverybody took on the chal-lenge. Overall I’m really happywith the way the team batted.Everybody just tried to hang inand score runs.
“The partnerships involvingAbid Ali, Azhar Ali and BabarAzam at the top of the orderwere really pleasing and encour-aging, in testing conditions,”wrote Pakistan’s most successfulTest captain.
Misbah opined the bowlers’performance in England’s shortfirst innings would give hisside the require momentumgoing in the third Test, whichwill commence on Friday. “Weexpected the pitch to deterioratetowards the end of the matchand it did. Even with just a cou-ple of hours of sun at the end ofthe match, Yasir Shah was ableto challenge the England bats-men,” he said. PTI
The wait is finally over forParis Saint-Germain.After 110 Champions
League matches, the Frenchpowerhouse has made it to thefinal of Europe’s top club com-petition.
And there was no need forlate drama for PSG this time asÁngel Di María scored a goaland set up two others in a com-fortable 3-0 win over Leipzig inthe semifinals on Tuesday.
PSG became the firstFrench league club to reach theChampions League final sinceMonaco in 2004, and it canbecome the second French teamto win the title after Marseille in1993.
PSG will face either five-time champion Bayern Munichor fellow French club Lyon.They meet on Wednesday in theother semifinal.
Marquinhos and JuanBernat also scored as the Qatari-owned French club moved a
win away from finally capturingan elusive European crown.
Neymar, who set up one ofthe goals with a neatbackheel flick inside thearea, is also a step clos-er to fulfilling his goal ofwinning the ChampionsLeague away from for-mer club Barcelona.
The result ended a surpris-ing run for the Red Bull-backedLeipzig, the young Germanclub that was making only itssecond Champions League
appearance.PSG looked in control from
the start at Benfica’s Stadium ofLight, with Marquinhos andDi María scoring in the firsthalf and Bernat adding tothe lead in the second.
PSG has been domi-nant in France but the maingoal for its Qatari owner has
been to win the ChampionsLeague title and earn its placeamong Europe’s elite. The clubwas eliminated in the tourna-ment’s round of 16 in the last
��� � ���&��
Kolkata Knight Riders headcoach Brendon McCullum
wants to delegate some “leader-ship responsibility” to youngShubman Gill during theupcoming IPL in the UAE.
During last season,Shubman batted way lowerdown the order which got thefranchise lot of flak.
“What a talent, and what agood guy as well. He is going tobe a part of our leadershipgroup this year as well, at leastin some capacity,” the formerKiwi skipper said of Gill in aninterview in KKR website.
“Even though he is young,I am a big believer that it’s notnecessarily true that you havingplayed for a long time makes you
a good leader,”the formerBlack Capsskipper said.
A p a r tfrom the star
Windies all-r o u n d e r
A n d r eRussell, the2 0 - y e a r-old Gillp l a y e ds o m eresponsibleknocks in
2019 edition but his battinglower down the order hurt theteam’s cause.
“It’s about you exhibiting thebehaviours of a leader. It’s alwaysgood to have a cross-section ofleadership within your group. Tous, Shubman is one of those guyswe would look to lean on forsome leadership throughoutthis season,” McCullum said.
Dinesh Karthik took overthe captaincy from their mostsuccessful skipper GautamGambhir in 2018 when theymade the play-off for the lasttime.
Backing Karthik as the oneof the best wicketkeepers ofIndia, McCullum said: “You’vegot to break DK down a little bitinto different parts to under-stand this. I think first andforemost, wicketkeeping. He’s upthere with the very best wicket-keepers in India.”
On Karthik’s batting, theNew Zealand great said: “He’s as
good and asadaptable inany role. He
doesn’t comewith perhaps, the
stardom that someguys do and that’s just
DK’s personality.“But he’s a big star
within the KKR franchise,he’s now been at the helm
for a couple of years and he’shad some success.”
McCullum believes thatKarthik has now matured as
a leader.“The team hasn’t quite got
over the line, but I think DK isin that stage in his leadershipwhere he’s almost ready to real-ly mature and to really take own-ership of the Knight Riders setup and back his judgement.”
With the addition of PatCummins and Eoin Morgan totheir leadership group,McCullum felt that Karthikwould also get some support tobring out his best.
�������� The coronavirus-forced break has helped Australia’slimited overs skipper Aaron Finchto re-assess his career as he aimsto extend his career till the 2023ODI World Cup in India. Finchsaid he is targetting to end hiscareer on a high with a World Cupfinal appearance in 2023. “My enddate at this stage is the World Cupfinal of the 2023 World Cup inIndia. That’s my goal and I’msticking to it,” Finch was quotedas saying by SEN radio network.“That’s what I had my mind set ona fair while (ago), but I think thisperiod has just confirmed it.That’ll see me through to 36 (yearsold), obviously with form andeverything permitting, andinjuries.” PTI
�������� Barcelona willtry to end one of the worstcrises in club history withRonald Koeman as its coach.
Barcelona of f icia l lyannounced a deal withKoeman on Wednesday, aday after club president JosepBartomeu had said theDutchman accepted thecoaching offer.
The official announce-ment comes five days afterthe team’s humiliating8-2 loss to BayernMunich in theChampions Leaguequarterfinals.
Barcelona saidthe former defend-er’s deal runsthrough June 2022.
Koeman replacesthe fired QuiqueSetién, whostayed only 25
matches on the job after tak-ing over from ErnestoValverde in January.
“The Dutchman bringsmore than 20 years of expe-rience as manager and eighttrophies on his CV,” the clubsaid.
Koeman had been coach-ing the Dutch national teamsince 2018, and previouslycoached in the PremierLeague, the Spanish league,
the Dutch league and thePortuguese league.
As a player, Koemanhelped Barcelona clinchits first European titleby scoring an extra-time winner in a final
�� �����%�$(������&�+��#�7%�&�%����&����Lisbon: Paris Saint-Germainforward Kylian Mbappe hasbacked teammate Neymar tobe named world’s best playerby FIFA this year.
Neymar has struck a richvein of form in 2020, guidingPSG to a domestic treble andto within one victory of theirfirst UEFA Champions Leaguetriumph.
“It’s very enjoyable to playwith a guy like Neymar. He isone of the best in the world,”Mbappe told reporters. “If wewin the Champions League, hewill certainly be in a positionto win the award. He is des-tined to win this type of tro-phy.”
Despite not being on thescoresheet in PSG’s past twomatches, Neymar has shone ina playmaker role that hasshowcased his fine passingskills. His back flick to set upAngel Di Maria’s first-half goalon Tuesday put in him in thetop 10 for all-time Champions
League assists.PSG captain and fellow
Brazilian Thiago Silva alsosaid Neymar deserved to berecognised as the world’s pre-eminent player.
“Whether we win the finalor not, I believe he can win it,”Silva said. “We know it’s hisgoal. He is an excellent playerand this year he has doneincredible things. He has beenmotivated since we came backfrom the pandemic. I think histime will come. He just has tokeep working hard like he’sdoing.” AP
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three seasons, and in the quar-terfinals four straight timesbefore that.
PSG was back at fullstrength in attack with KylianMbappé and Di María return-ing to the starting lineup.Mbappé didn’t play from thestart in the quarterfinals as herecovered from injury, whileDi María was suspended onaccumulation of yellow cards.
Di María delivered a per-fect free kick into the area forMarquinhos to open the scor-ing in the 13th minute with aheader into the far corner. TheBrazilian midfielder alsoscored the crucial 90th-minuteequalizer against Atalanta.
Di María added the sec-ond from inside the area in the42nd after a nice flick byNeymar in a buildup thatbegan with Leipzig goalkeep-er Péter Gulácsi making abad pass. Di María’s secondassist set up Juan Bernat close-range goal in the 56th.
PSG was denied by thewoodwork three times in thefirst half alone, with Neymar,Mbappé and Di María comingclose to scoring. It also had agoal disallowed for a handball.
