N early 8-9 crore Indian, or one in 15 individuals aged over 10 years, may have been exposed to coronavirus by the end of August, according to the findings of the second sero- survey conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research. In percentage terms, the total people exposed to coron- avirus will be estimated at around 7 per cent, which is 10 times higher than the numbers thrown by the findings of the first serosurvey released on September 11. It shows that between the two surveys, the infection has spread wildly. “One in 15 individuals aged over 10 years were esti- mated to be exposed to Covid- 19 by August 2020,” ICMR chief Balram Bhargava said. “Earlier we had thought that it does not affect those below 18, but have now found there’s no difference. The prevalence is not different by age group or gender.” The survey was conducted between August 17 and September 22. As per its find- ings, the prevalence of Covid- 19 among individuals over 10 years was 6.6 per cent, and in adults (over 18 years of age) was 7.1 per cent. Since India’s population is around 140 crore, the total number of people exposed to coronavirus could be around 8- 9 crore when we take out the below 10 age group. Incidentally, the findings of the first national serosurvey which became public on September 11 indicated that 0.73 per cent of adults in India were exposed to SARS-CoV-2, amounting to a total of 6.4 mil- lion Covid-19 infections by early May. Dr Bhargava also said that the second serosurvey report showed that urban slum and urban non-slum areas had higher SARS CoV 2 infection prevalence than that of rural areas. “Risk in urban slums twice than that in non-slum areas and 4 times the risk in the rural setting,” the report stated. I ndo-China stand-off has escalated as the Indian Government has rebuffed China’s provocative assertion that Beijing didn’t recognise Ladakh Union Territory and was opposed to India building military infrastructure in the border areas. The MEA on Wednesday asserted that the country never accepted the so-called unilat- erally-defined 1959 LAC and its position has been consistent and well known to the Chinese. India also asked China to refrain from advancing an “untenable unilateral” inter- pretation of the de-facto bor- der. India’s reaction was in response to China’s advice to India position to abide by its 1959 perception of the LAC. The Chinese Foreign Ministry insisted it abides by that LAC as proposed by then Premier Zhou Enlai to Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in a letter on November 7, 1959. Making this claim, China in a statement to a newspaper also blamed the Indian Army for the ongoing tension for the last five months in eastern Ladakh. It also termed the bloody brawl on June 15 in the Galwan valley leading to the death of 20 Indian Army per- sonnel as an “unfortunate event.” Brushing aside the Chinese claim of the perception, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said here, “India has never accepted the so-called unilaterally defined 1959 Line of Actual Control (LAC). This position has been consistent and well known, including to the Chinese side.” Srivastava referred to var- ious bilateral agreements including the 1993 agreement on maintenance of peace and tranquility along the LAC, 1996 pact on confidence build- ing measures (CBMs) and the 2005 agreement on political parameters and guiding prin- ciples for settlement of the boundary issue, to emphasise that both sides showed com- mitment to reach a common understanding of the align- ment of the LAC. “Therefore, the insistence now of the Chinese side that there is only one LAC is con- trary to the solemn commit- ments made by China in these agreements,” he said, adding the Indian side has always respected and abided by the LAC. T wenty-seven soldiers were killed and 146 wounded due to poor bullets and shells between 2014 and 2019. Gearing up for a long haul at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh, the Army has expressed concern over the alleged poor quality of ammu- nition leading to casualties among soldiers. The Army has noted that more than 960 crores was wasted on faulty ammunition and this money could have catered for buying more than 100 howitzers. These guns are very effective in mountain warfare and much needed on the borders facing China. Pointing these critical defi- ciencies, the Army also said at least 27 soldiers were killed and 146 wounded due to poor bul- lets and shells in the period 2014-2019 and urged the Government to take immedi- ate steps. They included fixing accountability and production of top-class ammunition. Most of the ammunition in question was produced by the Ordnance Factory Board while it while it disposed off 960 crore worth of ammuni- tion in the same period before their shelf life was complete, officials said here on Tuesday. The faulty ammunition included 23-mm air defence shells, artillery shells, 125-mm tank rounds and different cal- ibres of bullets used in infantry assault rifles. “Lack of accountability and poor quality of production has resulted in frequent acci- dents over the years with injuries and death of soldiers,” they said. On an average one accident has taken place per week, internal data of the Army from 2014 to 2019 shows. There were 403 inci- dents between 2014 to 2019 due to which the Army suf- fered 27 deaths and 146 injuries. A significant quantity of products was disposed off without completing shelf life due to poor quality. T he Amnesty International on Tuesday said it was halt- ing all its activities in India due to the freezing of its accounts and “incessant witch-hunt” over “unfounded” and “moti- vated” allegations, claims which were strongly denied by the Ministry of Home (MHA). In a statement, Amnesty India said the organisation has been compelled to let go of staff in India and pause all its ongo- ing campaign and research work. “The complete freezing of Amnesty International India’s bank accounts by the Government of India which it came to know on 10 September 2020, brings all the work being done by the organization to a grinding halt,” it said. Reacting to the develop- ment, the MHA said the alle- gations of Amnesty International is unfortunate and exaggerated and said that the NGO violated the laws in accepting foreign donations. T he five-member board of doctors of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) led by Dr Sudhir Gupta entrusted to re-evaluate film star Sushant Singh Rajput’s post-mortem and viscera reports has submitted its find- ing to the CBI and ruled out death by poisoning but raised certain doubts on the autopsy report conducted by the Cooper Hospital, Mumbai. The report is big blow to those who were claiming that Sushant was first poisoned and then hanged. The CBI investi- gation has so far not found any evidence to substantiate the murder theory. The AIIMS report has ruled out poison allegation, leaving it for the CBI to arrive at its own conclusion on the basis evidences, if any. The AIIMS team submit- ted the report at CBI HQ. The CBI is probing the death case of Sushant and the agency is seeking to ascertain whether it was a murder or suicide. “The AIIMS has submitted the report. The CBI is studying the report. The report is defi- nitely a help in investigation but not mandatory in all sense. Certain doubts raised by the medical board towards Cooper Hospital and the previous investigation agency which we will try to answer and find out the facts. The job of the agency is to find facts which can stand court of law with evidence. But AIIMS medical report can’t be ruled out completely,” a top source said. A 19-year-old girl, who was gangraped in a village in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras district two weeks ago, died of her grievous injuries at a Delhi hos- pital on Tuesday morning. As news of her death spread, protests broke out at Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital as well as in Vijay Chowk and in Hathras. Leading the protests outside Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital, Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad appealed to all members of the Dalit community to take to the streets and demand the death penalty for the four men alleged to be involved in the crime who were arrested and will now face charges under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code. “The Government should not test our patience. We will not rest until the culprits are hanged,” said Azad, adding that the victim was killed in the hospital to silence her forever and shield the culprits. The Uttar Pradesh Government announced a compensation of 10 lakh for the victim’s family. Hitting out at the Yogi Adityanath Government in Uttar Pradesh, the Congress questioned the “silence” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and women BJP leaders on the issue and alleged that the state has become the “crime capital” of the country. The party also staged protests demanding justice for the victim at Vijay Chowk. The party said its leaders PL Punia, Udit Raj, Amrita Dhawan and other party leaders were detained at Mandir Marg Police station for the protest. On September 14, the young woman had gone to the fields with her mother and went missing soon after. She was found later with severe injuries and her tongue cut as she bit it when the accused attempted to strangle her, the SP said while giving details of the incident. She was brought to Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital on Sunday night. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the young woman’s death is a shame for the entire society, the country as well as for all Governments. “It’s highly sad that so many daughters are being sexually assaulted and we have not been able to protect them. The guilty must be hanged at the earliest,” Kejriwal tweeted. New Delhi: Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday tested positive for Covid-19 but is in good health, the Vice President Secretariat said. Naidu, 71, who is asymptomatic, has been advised home quarantine. In the evening, Naidu had addressed a virtual event on post-Covid healthcare where he urged the private sector to pitch in to improve healthcare system in rural India. “The Vice President of India who underwent a rou- tine Covid-19 test today morning has been tested positive. He is, however, asymptomatic and in good health,” the Secretariat tweeted. P rime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated mega development projects worth 521 crore in Uttarakhand under the Namami Gange Mission through video confer- ence on Tuesday. He inaugu- rated a total of eight sewage treatment plants (STPs) includ- ing four in Haridwar, two in Rishikesh and one each in Muni-ki-Reti and Badrinath. He also inaugurated the Ganga Avalokan Museum, the first of its kind on the River Ganga at Haridwar and the new logo for the Jal Jeevan Mission. With the inauguration of the STPs, about 15.2 crore litres of contami- nated water will not end up in the Ganga daily. Modi highlighted the importance of keeping the Ganga clean as it plays a sig- nificant role in sustaining the lives of about 50 per cent of the country’s population from its origin in Uttarakhand till West Bengal. He termed the Namami Gange Mission as the largest integrated river conser- vation mission which not only aims at the cleanliness of the Ganga but also focuses on comprehensive upkeep of the river. The PM said this new thinking and approach had made the Ganga return back to life. Had the old methods been adopted, the situation would have been equally bad today. Old methods lacked public participation and foresight, he added. Modi highlighted the fact that under Namami Gange, projects worth more than Rs 30,000 crore are either in progress or have been com- pleted. He pointed out that due to these projects the sewage treatment capacity of Uttarakhand has increased four times in the last six years. The PM listed the efforts taken to close more than 130 drains in Uttarakhand from flowing into the Ganga. He referred specially to the Chandreshwarnagar drain which was an eyesore for visi- tors and rafters at Muni Ki Reti in Rishikesh. He applauded the closing of the drain and the construction of a four storied STP at Muni Ki Reti. Modi fur- ther said that as it was experi- enced by the pilgrims at Prayagraj Kumbh, the visitors to Haridwar Kumbh would also experience the clean and pure status of the Ganga in Uttarakhand. He said frag- mentation of work- on an important subject like water- into various ministries and departments, led to lack of clear guidelines and coordination. As a result, problems related to irrigation and drinking water continued to persist. He lamented that even after so many years of independence, piped drinking water has not reached more than 15 crore households in the country. Today, about one lakh house- holds are being provided piped water supply connections every day under the Jal Jeevan Mission. He said drinking water connections have been pro- vided to two crore families of the country in just one year. The PM said a special 100-day campaign is being launched on October 2 this year under Jal Jeevan Mission to ensure drinking water connection to every school and Anganwadi in the country. Modi also com- mended the Uttarakhand gov- ernment for providing drink- ing water connections to more than 50,000 families even dur- ing the Covid pandemic in the past 4-5 months. Thanking the PM and the Centre, Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat that of the 19 projects approved for 16 priority towns, 15 had been completed while the remaining will be completed before the 2021 Kumbh Mela. Of the 135 drains marked in these towns, 128 had been closed while the remaining will be closed before the Kumbh. The benefit of works done in the catchment areas of the Ganga will be evi- dent in the future. Further, organic agriculture is also being encouraged on 5 to 7 kms area on both banks of the Ganga under Namami Gange. The treated water coming out of the STPs built under this programme is also being pro- vided to farmers for irrigation, he added. The Jal Shakti min- ister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat also expressed his views on the occasion. Governor Baby Rani Maurya, Union Education minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ and others were also present on the occasion.
Transcript
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Nearly 8-9 crore Indian, orone in 15 individuals aged
over 10 years, may have beenexposed to coronavirus by theend of August, according to thefindings of the second sero-survey conducted by the IndianCouncil of Medical Research.
In percentage terms, thetotal people exposed to coron-avirus will be estimated ataround 7 per cent, which is 10times higher than the numbersthrown by the findings of thefirst serosurvey released onSeptember 11. It shows thatbetween the two surveys, theinfection has spread wildly.
“One in 15 individualsaged over 10 years were esti-mated to be exposed to Covid-19 by August 2020,” ICMRchief Balram Bhargava said.“Earlier we had thought that itdoes not affect those below 18,but have now found there’s nodifference. The prevalence isnot different by age group orgender.”
The survey was conductedbetween August 17 andSeptember 22. As per its find-ings, the prevalence of Covid-19 among individuals over 10years was 6.6 per cent, and inadults (over 18 years of age)was 7.1 per cent.
Since India’s population isaround 140 crore, the totalnumber of people exposed tocoronavirus could be around 8-9 crore when we take out thebelow 10 age group.
Incidentally, the findings ofthe first national serosurveywhich became public onSeptember 11 indicated that0.73 per cent of adults in Indiawere exposed to SARS-CoV-2,amounting to a total of 6.4 mil-lion Covid-19 infections byearly May.
Dr Bhargava also said thatthe second serosurvey reportshowed that urban slum and
urban non-slum areas hadhigher SARS CoV 2 infectionprevalence than that of ruralareas. “Risk in urban slumstwice than that in non-slumareas and 4 times the risk in therural setting,” the report stated.
Government has rebuffedChina’s provocative assertionthat Beijing didn’t recogniseLadakh Union Territory andwas opposed to India buildingmilitary infrastructure in theborder areas.
The MEA on Wednesdayasserted that the country neveraccepted the so-called unilat-erally-defined 1959 LAC andits position has been consistentand well known to the Chinese.India also asked China torefrain from advancing an“untenable unilateral” inter-pretation of the de-facto bor-der.
India’s reaction was inresponse to China’s advice toIndia position to abide by its1959 perception of the LAC.
The Chinese ForeignMinistry insisted it abides bythat LAC as proposed by thenPremier Zhou Enlai to PrimeMinister Jawaharlal Nehru in aletter on November 7, 1959.
Making this claim, Chinain a statement to a newspaperalso blamed the Indian Armyfor the ongoing tension for thelast five months in easternLadakh. It also termed thebloody brawl on June 15 in theGalwan valley leading to thedeath of 20 Indian Army per-sonnel as an “unfortunateevent.”
Brushing aside the Chineseclaim of the perception,
External Affairs Ministryspokesperson AnuragSrivastava said here, “India hasnever accepted the so-calledunilaterally defined 1959 Lineof Actual Control (LAC). Thisposition has been consistentand well known, including tothe Chinese side.”
Srivastava referred to var-ious bilateral agreementsincluding the 1993 agreementon maintenance of peace andtranquility along the LAC,1996 pact on confidence build-ing measures (CBMs) and the2005 agreement on politicalparameters and guiding prin-ciples for settlement of theboundary issue, to emphasisethat both sides showed com-
mitment to reach a commonunderstanding of the align-ment of the LAC.
“Therefore, the insistencenow of the Chinese side thatthere is only one LAC is con-
trary to the solemn commit-ments made by China in theseagreements,” he said, addingthe Indian side has alwaysrespected and abided by theLAC.
due to poor bullets and shellsbetween 2014 and 2019.
Gearing up for a long haulat the Line of Actual Control(LAC) in Ladakh, the Armyhas expressed concern over thealleged poor quality of ammu-nition leading to casualtiesamong soldiers.
The Army has noted thatmore than �960 crores waswasted on faulty ammunitionand this money could havecatered for buying more than100 howitzers. These guns arevery effective in mountainwarfare and much needed onthe borders facing China.
Pointing these critical defi-ciencies, the Army also said atleast 27 soldiers were killed and146 wounded due to poor bul-lets and shells in the period2014-2019 and urged theGovernment to take immedi-ate steps. They included fixingaccountability and productionof top-class ammunition.
Most of the ammunition inquestion was produced by theOrdnance Factory Boardwhile it while it disposed off�960 crore worth of ammuni-tion in the same period beforetheir shelf life was complete,
officials said here on Tuesday.The faulty ammunition
included 23-mm air defenceshells, artillery shells, 125-mmtank rounds and different cal-ibres of bullets used in infantryassault rifles.
“Lack of accountabilityand poor quality of productionhas resulted in frequent acci-dents over the years withinjuries and death of soldiers,”they said. On an average oneaccident has taken place perweek, internal data of theArmy from 2014 to 2019shows. There were 403 inci-dents between 2014 to 2019due to which the Army suf-fered 27 deaths and 146injuries.
A significant quantity ofproducts was disposed offwithout completing shelf lifedue to poor quality.
The Amnesty Internationalon Tuesday said it was halt-
ing all its activities in India dueto the freezing of its accountsand “incessant witch-hunt”over “unfounded” and “moti-vated” allegations, claims whichwere strongly denied by theMinistry of Home (MHA).
In a statement, AmnestyIndia said the organisation hasbeen compelled to let go of staffin India and pause all its ongo-ing campaign and research
work. “The complete freezingof Amnesty InternationalIndia’s bank accounts by theGovernment of India which itcame to know on 10 September2020, brings all the work beingdone by the organization to agrinding halt,” it said.
Reacting to the develop-ment, the MHA said the alle-gations of AmnestyInternational is unfortunateand exaggerated and said thatthe NGO violated the laws inaccepting foreign donations.
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The five-member board ofdoctors of the All India
Institute of Medical Sciences(AIIMS) led by Dr SudhirGupta entrusted to re-evaluatefilm star Sushant Singh Rajput’spost-mortem and viscerareports has submitted its find-ing to the CBI and ruled outdeath by poisoning but raisedcertain doubts on the autopsyreport conducted by theCooper Hospital, Mumbai.
The report is big blow tothose who were claiming thatSushant was first poisoned andthen hanged. The CBI investi-gation has so far not found anyevidence to substantiate the
murder theory. The AIIMSreport has ruled out poisonallegation, leaving it for the CBIto arrive at its own conclusionon the basis evidences, if any.
The AIIMS team submit-ted the report at CBI HQ. TheCBI is probing the death caseof Sushant and the agency isseeking to ascertain whether itwas a murder or suicide.
“The AIIMS has submittedthe report. The CBI is studyingthe report. The report is defi-nitely a help in investigation butnot mandatory in all sense.Certain doubts raised by themedical board towards CooperHospital and the previousinvestigation agency which wewill try to answer and find outthe facts. The job of the agencyis to find facts which can standcourt of law with evidence. ButAIIMS medical report can’t beruled out completely,” a topsource said.
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A19-year-old girl, who wasgangraped in a village in
Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras districttwo weeks ago, died of hergrievous injuries at a Delhi hos-pital on Tuesday morning.
As news of her deathspread, protests broke out atDelhi’s Safdarjung Hospital aswell as in Vijay Chowk and inHathras. Leading the protestsoutside Delhi’s SafdarjungHospital, Bhim Army chiefChandrashekhar Azadappealed to all members of theDalit community to take to thestreets and demand the deathpenalty for the four menalleged to be involved in thecrime who were arrested andwill now face charges underSection 302 (murder) of theIndian Penal Code.
“The Government shouldnot test our patience. We willnot rest until the culprits arehanged,” said Azad, adding
that the victim was killed in thehospital to silence her foreverand shield the culprits.
The Uttar PradeshGovernment announced acompensation of �10 lakh forthe victim’s family.
Hitting out at the YogiAdityanath Government inUttar Pradesh, the Congressquestioned the “silence” ofPrime Minister Narendra Modiand women BJP leaders on theissue and alleged that the statehas become the “crime capital”of the country.
The party also stagedprotests demanding justice forthe victim at Vijay Chowk. Theparty said its leaders PL Punia,Udit Raj, Amrita Dhawan andother party leaders weredetained at Mandir Marg Policestation for the protest.
On September 14, theyoung woman had gone to thefields with her mother andwent missing soon after. Shewas found later with severeinjuries and her tongue cut as
she bit it when the accusedattempted to strangle her, theSP said while giving details ofthe incident. She was broughtto Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospitalon Sunday night.
Delhi Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal said the youngwoman’s death is a shame for
the entire society, the countryas well as for all Governments.“It’s highly sad that so manydaughters are being sexuallyassaulted and we have notbeen able to protect them. Theguilty must be hanged at theearliest,” Kejriwal tweeted.
������ !�"#$"$�%&� �'%$�"�&#��(�)%% �*#�+"*New Delhi: Vice President MVenkaiah Naidu on Tuesdaytested positive for Covid-19but is in good health, theVice President Secretariatsaid. Naidu, 71, who isasymptomatic, has beenadvised home quarantine.
In the evening, Naiduhad addressed a virtual eventon post-Covid healthcarewhere he urged the privatesector to pitch in to improvehealthcare system in ruralIndia. “The Vice President ofIndia who underwent a rou-tine Covid-19 test todaymorning has been testedpositive. He is, however,asymptomatic and in goodhealth,” the Secretariat tweeted.
development projects worth�521 crore in Uttarakhandunder the Namami GangeMission through video confer-ence on Tuesday. He inaugu-rated a total of eight sewagetreatment plants (STPs) includ-ing four in Haridwar, two inRishikesh and one each inMuni-ki-Reti and Badrinath.He also inaugurated the GangaAvalokan Museum, the first ofits kind on the River Ganga atHaridwar and the new logo forthe Jal Jeevan Mission. With theinauguration of the STPs, about15.2 crore litres of contami-nated water will not end up inthe Ganga daily.
Modi highlighted theimportance of keeping theGanga clean as it plays a sig-nificant role in sustaining thelives of about 50 per cent of thecountry’s population from itsorigin in Uttarakhand till WestBengal. He termed theNamami Gange Mission as thelargest integrated river conser-vation mission which not onlyaims at the cleanliness of theGanga but also focuses on
comprehensive upkeep of theriver. The PM said this newthinking and approach hadmade the Ganga return back tolife. Had the old methods beenadopted, the situation wouldhave been equally bad today.Old methods lacked publicparticipation and foresight, headded. Modi highlighted thefact that under Namami Gange,projects worth more than Rs30,000 crore are either inprogress or have been com-pleted. He pointed out that dueto these projects the sewagetreatment capacity ofUttarakhand has increased fourtimes in the last six years.
The PM listed the effortstaken to close more than 130drains in Uttarakhand fromflowing into the Ganga. Hereferred specially to theChandreshwarnagar drainwhich was an eyesore for visi-tors and rafters at Muni Ki Retiin Rishikesh. He applaudedthe closing of the drain and theconstruction of a four storiedSTP at Muni Ki Reti. Modi fur-ther said that as it was experi-enced by the pilgrims atPrayagraj Kumbh, the visitorsto Haridwar Kumbh wouldalso experience the clean and
pure status of the Ganga inUttarakhand. He said frag-mentation of work- on animportant subject like water-into various ministries anddepartments, led to lack of clearguidelines and coordination.As a result, problems related toirrigation and drinking watercontinued to persist. Helamented that even after somany years of independence,piped drinking water has notreached more than 15 crorehouseholds in the country.Today, about one lakh house-
holds are being provided pipedwater supply connections everyday under the Jal JeevanMission.
He said drinking waterconnections have been pro-vided to two crore families ofthe country in just one year.The PM said a special 100-daycampaign is being launched onOctober 2 this year under JalJeevan Mission to ensuredrinking water connection toevery school and Anganwadi inthe country. Modi also com-mended the Uttarakhand gov-
ernment for providing drink-ing water connections to morethan 50,000 families even dur-ing the Covid pandemic in thepast 4-5 months.
Thanking the PM and theCentre, Chief MinisterTrivendra Singh Rawat that ofthe 19 projects approved for 16priority towns, 15 had beencompleted while the remainingwill be completed before the2021 Kumbh Mela. Of the 135drains marked in these towns,128 had been closed while theremaining will be closed beforethe Kumbh. The benefit ofworks done in the catchmentareas of the Ganga will be evi-dent in the future. Further,organic agriculture is also beingencouraged on 5 to 7 kms areaon both banks of the Gangaunder Namami Gange.
The treated water comingout of the STPs built under thisprogramme is also being pro-vided to farmers for irrigation,he added. The Jal Shakti min-ister Gajendra Singh Shekhawatalso expressed his views on theoccasion. Governor Baby RaniMaurya, Union Educationminister Ramesh Pokhriyal‘Nishank’ and others were alsopresent on the occasion.
to the agitating farmers inthese ‘dark and difficult times’,the Chief Minister CaptAmarinder Singh on Tuesdayassured of all possible legal andother steps to fight the “dra-conian” new farm laws, includ-ing a special session of theVidhan Sabha to discuss anddecide the way forward.
Capt Amarinder, chairinga meeting with the represen-tatives of 31 farmer unions totake their views on the matter,said that he would be dis-cussing the issue with his legalteam to finalize the next steps,including challenging the farmlaws in the Supreme Court.
Besides farmer represen-tatives, All India CongressCommittee (AICC) generalsecretary in-charge of PunjabHarish Rawat attended themeeting, along with CabinetMinisters Sukhjinder SinghRandhawa, Gurpreet SinghKangar and Bharat BhushanAshu, MLA Rana Gurjit Singh,Punjab Congress presidentSunil Jakhar and the stateAdvocate-General Atul Nanda.
“We will take all possiblesteps to counter the UnionGovernment’s assault on theState’s federal and
Constitutional rights, and fightfor the interests of the farmers,”Capt Amarinder assured thefarmer representatives.
If the legal experts adviseamendment to the state laws tofight the central laws, a specialsession of the Vidhan Sabhawill be immediately called todo so, he said.
Making it clear that theGovernment had no qualmsabout convening an Assemblysession if that was the bestcourse in the circumstances,the Chief Minister, however,trashed SAD president SukhbirBadal’s demand for a specialVidhan Sabha session as “cheap
gimmickry” after their activesupport to the central laws formonths.
He questioned, where werethe Akalis in the previous ses-sion and why Sukhbir did notsupport the other parties at theall-party meeting.
Asserting that the Centrehad no right to enact these lawsas it amounted to violation ofthe Constitution and attack onthe federal structure, the ChiefMinister said that PunjabGovernment shared the farm-ers’ concerns and will do what-ever it takes to scuttle theUnion Government’s attemptto ruin the farming commu-
nity with these draconian leg-islations.
“The battle will be foughton all fronts,” said the ChiefMinister adding that besidesthe Congress signature cam-paign, announced a day before,all Panchayats in the statewould be requested to pass res-olutions against theAgriculture Acts, and the samewould be sent to the UnionGovernment.
Declaring that PunjabGovernment and the StateCongress were with the farm-ers in this difficult time, CaptAmarinder said that he wouldtake the suggestions of the
Kisan Unions to legal expertsto finalize the next course ofaction.
“If the new laws are imple-mented, it will spell the end ofagriculture,” said the ChiefMinister, warning that “in thetimes ahead, the Governmentof India will follow up theselegislation with elimination ofMSP (minimum support price)and FCI (Food Corporation ofIndia), bringing an end to thetime-tested farming procure-ment and marketing system aswe know it.”
Promising to fight theFarm Laws shoulder-to-shoul-der with the farmers, Jakharsaid that he was ready to quitPPCC presidentship to jointheir protests without makingit a political act.
“However, I am confidentthat the Chief Minister wouldfind way to counter the Centralassault on the farming com-munity and protect your inter-ests just as he had done on thewater issue.
They (Centre) have killedthe farmers with a pen, we willhave to find a way to kill themwith a pen,” he said, quipping“Kalam naal marya hai, assikalam naal bachavange” (Wewill save the farmers with thepen.
FARMERS’ SPEAK
Earlier, several farmerleaders urged the ChiefMinister to challenge the cen-tral laws legally, and take what-ever other steps needed toprotect the farmers, includingblocking construction ofAdani’s silos in the State.
Bhartiya Kisan Union(BKU) Rajewal’s Balbir SinghRajewal said that the new lawswill ruin the farmers, thearhtiyas (commission agents),the farm labour, the Mandiemployees and rendered lakhsof people jobless, leading to adevastating impact on thestate’s economy.
“These laws will lead to theestablishment of two kinds ofmandis — one with tax andother without tax for privateplayers, which will eventuallydestroy the GovernmentMandis and lead to corporatemonopolisation and farmerexploitation,” he said whilestressing on passing the statelaws through a special sessionof the Vidhan Sabha to protectthe farmers and Punjab.
BKU Sidhupur’s JagjitSingh Dallewal also urged theChief Minister to convene aspecial session to pass a law tocounter the central legisla-
tions, while Krantikari KisanUnion Punjab’s president DrDarshan Pal requested him toconsult constitutional expertsso that the State could formu-late new laws, in line withCongress president SoniaGandhi’s directives. BKU Ekta’sButa Singh and Jhanda Singhsaid that it was a fight to thefinish to protect the farmersand the State from annihila-tion by the CentralGovernment, whose sole aimwas to help private corporates.If Agriculture is destroyed, sowill the nation, they warned.
Tuesday sought inputs or sug-gestions from legal experts,including legal representativesof the Kisan Unions, on thenext course of action for pro-tecting the interests of thefarmers against the Centre’sfarm laws.
The Chief Minister hasdirected the state Advocate-General Atul Nanda to collateand consider all such sugges-tions, which may be receivedon a specially created email id—[email protected].
The directives were issuedby the Chief Minister during ahigh-level meeting on Tuesdaywith the top government offi-cials to mull all aspects of theissues arising out of the three
Central acts on Agriculture,which were recently passed bythe Parliament and notifiedafter the Presidential assent.
During the course of themeeting, all suggestions givenby leaders of various KisanUnions earlier in the day, weredeliberated; and the meetingalso mulled the legal optionsavailable before the State, saida spokesperson of the ChiefMinister’s Office.
PUNJAB CONG INVITESRAHUL TO JOIN PROTEST
Punjab Congress wantsformer Congress PresidentRahul Gandhi to join theparty’s planned nationwidefarmers’ protests, beginningfrom October 2 on the birthanniversary of MahatmaGandhi, against the Centre’sfarm laws in Punjab.
“We are going to inviteRahul Gandhi to participate infarmer protest in Punjab. Thedate is not fixed yet and mightbe October 2, 3, or 4. It dependson which date he is going toparticipate. We are going toinvite him, we hope he mightget time to join us,” said PunjabCongress president SunilJakhar.
Jakhar said that the AllIndia Congress Committee(AICC) has decided to hold aprotest from October 2 toexpress solidarity with thefarmers. “Congress will observe‘Kisan-Mazdoor Bachao Divas’on October 2. Dharnas andmarches will be held at everyAssembly headquarters andDistrict headquarters acrossIndia on the Agriculture billsand asking for their immediatewithdrawal,” he said.
Tuesday as Chandigarhreported 138 fresh positivecases. With this, the death tollreached 158 while the totalcase tally stood at 11816 in thecity.
The daily count of casesremained below 200 for thethird consecutive day.However, the COVID-19related fatalities continued torise in Chandigarh. TheCOVID-19 fatality rate stoodat 1.33 percent in Chandigarh.102 residents have died in themonth of September due toCOVID-19 while 56 fatalitieswere reported from the monthof April to August.
According to ChandigarhHealth Department’s bulletin,out of 11816 total cases, therewere 2060 active cases till theevening. 9598 patients have sofar recovered from COVID-19in the city.A total of 273
patients have been dischargedincluding persons from homeisolation who have completed10 days and are asympto-matic, the bulletin added. Inthe last 24 hours, a maximumof 12 positive cases werereported in Manimajra andeight cases were reported inSector 48. As per the healthbulletin, the fresh cases werereported in Sectors 7, 8, 10, 12,14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22,23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30,32, 33, 34, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40,41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48,50, 52, 56, 61, Sector 38 west,Dadumajra, Daria, Dhanas,Kajheri, Khuda Lohara,Manimajra, Mauli Jagran,PGIMER campus, RamDarbar and Raipur Khurd.
A total of 7470 positivecases have so far been report-ed in the city in the month ofSeptember. A biggest single-day spike of 449 cases wasrecorded on September 13.
mounted to 126, 974 onTuesday with the State Healthdepartment reporting 1562fresh cases of the disease.Deaths of 25 patients werealso reported due to Covid-19on Tuesday after which thedeath toll from the diseasemounted to 1356.
On a positive note, theauthorities discharged 2403patients of the disease from dif-ferent hospitals of the State aftertheir recovery on the day. Atotal of 110,814 patients have sofar recovered from the diseaseand the recovery percentage inthe state is 87.27. The infection
rate (IR) in the state hasincreased to 6.73 percent witha doubling rate of 29 days.
Of the 25 fatalities onTuesday, three each werereported from Rohtak; Hisar,Yamunanagar while two eachfrom Sirsa, Kurukshetra,Bhiwani,Panipat and one eachfrom Faridabad, Gurugram,Rewari, Ambala, Palwal,Panchkula, Nuh and Fatehabaddistricts. Among the districtswhich reported a big spike incases are Gurugram (224),Faridabad (168), Kurukshetra(143), Sonepat (112) andRohtak (114). Currently, thereare 14,804 active Covid-19cases in Haryana, while 1, 10,814 people have been dis-charged after recovery.
Punjab on Tuesday added 1,100fresh cases to the infection tally
pushing the state’s Covid-19 count to1,12,460. Besides, as many as 75more Covid-positive patients suc-cumbed to the contagion in the past24 hours, pushing the state’s deathtoll to 3,359. The state’s mortality ratestood at 2.99 percent. Maximum 12casualties were reported in Ludhiana,followed by seven each in Amritsarand Gurdaspur; five each inPathankot, SBS Nagar (Nawanshahr),and SAS Nagar (Mohali); four each inJalandhar, Hoshiarpur, and Ferozepur;three each in Kapurthala, Barnala, andMuktsar; two each in Tarn Taran,Bathinda, Faridkot, Patiala, and Ropar;and one death each in FatehgarhSahib, Moga, and Sangrur districts.
Among the fresh cases, highest180 were reported from Ludhianadistrict, followed by 145 fromJalandhar, 109 from Mohali, 95 fromAmritsar, 71 from Patiala, 62 fromGurdaspur, 55 each from Bathindaand Kapurthala, 50 from Hoshiarpur,
47 from Tarn Taran, 43 fromMuktsar, 28 from Ropar, 25 fromFazilka, 20 each from Faridkot andSangrur, 18 from Fatehgarh Sahib, 16from Moga, 13 from Mansa, 12 fromBarnala, 11 from SBS Nagar, ninefrom Pathankot and eight new casesfrom Ferozepur district.
Registering a higher number ofrecoveries than the fresh cases in a sin-gle day on Tuesday, the state’s recoveryrate has reached 82.05 percent with atotal of 92,277 patients having cured ofthe virus in the state till date. As manyas 1932 patients — including 338 fromAmritsar, 266 from Jalandhar, 264 fromGurdaspur, 167 from Patiala, 115 fromLudhiana, among others — have beendischarged after recovering from thedeadly virus.
The state’s Health and FamilyWelfare Minister Balbir Singh Sidhuon Tuesday said that Punjab is doingwell to control the spreading coron-avirus as the recovery rate has reachedat 81 percent. There has been a steadydecline of cases from September 19when cases were 2,696 to 1,411 onSeptember 21, 1,711 on September 24,
and 1269 on September 28 and 1100on September 29.
The Minister, while encouragingthe people to come forward for coro-na test and get treatment in home iso-lation for COVID-19, said that thePunjab Government has made homeisolation very simple by allowingelderly and persons with co-mor-bidities to opt for home isolation asper medical protocol. Around 47,502patients have been recovered till dateand 10,006 are in home isolation inPunjab, he said. As per the dailyhealth bulletin, the State has 16,824active cases — accounting for 14.96percent of the state’s total infections.Among them, 396 patients were onoxygen support and 65 on ventilators.
Among the total 3,359 fatalitiesin the state so far, highest 735 deathshave been registered in Ludhiana dis-trict, 385 in Jalandhar, 359 inAmritsar, 320 in Patiala, 186 in SASNagar, 150 in Hoshiarpur, 144 inSangrur, 141 in Gurdaspur, 138 inKapurthala, 109 in Bathinda, 97 inFerozepur and 81 in FatehgarhSahib.
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The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA)on Tuesday ordered the transfer of three IAS
officers and one IPS officer of the AGMUTcadre. The MHA has ordered the transfer ofNitika Pawar (IAS -2012 batch) from Andamanand Nicobar Islands to Chandigarh and KetanBansal, an IPS officer of 2016 batch, fromMizoram to Chandigarh with immediate effect.
A day before, the name of Punjab-cadre IPSofficer Kuldeep Singh Chahal (2009 batch) wasapproved for the post of Senior Superintendentof Police, Chandigarh. Meanwhile, Sanjay KumarJha (2008 batch), UT Secretary, Departments ofAnimal Husbandry and Fisheries, PublicRelations, has been transferred to Andaman andNicobar Islands. Sachin Rana (2014 batch),Special Secretary, Departments of TechnicalEducation and House Allotment Committee, alsoholding the charge of Additional DeputyCommissioner, Additional Registrar CooperativeSocieties, Secretary, Red Cross Society, UT, hasbeen transferred to Arunachal Pradesh.
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The Medical Council ofIndia (MCI) has given
approval to the Shri Guru RamRai Institute of Medical andHealth Sciences to admit 150students for MBBS course thisyear. A team of the MCI hadrecently inspected the medicalcollege and the associated hos-pital.
The principal of the col-lege, Dr Anil Kumar Mehtasaid that the MCI has sent a let-ter for its approval of 150 seatsto the college.
He said that the medicalcollege has approval to admit150 MBBS and 94 PG studentsin various disciplines. DrMehta said that the institute isfully cooperating with theUttarakhand Government infighting the Covid-19 infectionin the state.
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Having a fasci-nation and
venturing intounknown territo-ry have been thecommon factorswhen it comes toteenage love. Inher book titledMellow Heart, thewriter KhushiGupta has depict-ed the thought process of a teenager throughSevoren Appter who loves to criticise love sto-ries as somewhere we are made to believe thefragility of love by our well-wishers.
The portrayal of a sarcastic teenager by Guptagives the story an edge. The attitude of the maincharacter who maintains her calm even when sheis stuck with the person whom she hates the mostgives the reader an account of a teenager’s ironwill.
For the second consecutiveday on Tuesday, the state
health department reportedless than 500 fresh cases ofCovid-19. On the day 493patients were reported whichincreased the tally of the dis-ease to 47,995 in the state.Deaths of 11 patients werereported on Tuesday whichincreased the death toll to 591.
Continuing the good trendof increased recoveries, 1,413patients of the disease weredeclared cured on Tuesday. Atotal of 38,059 patients have sofar recovered from the diseaseand the recovery percentagehas increased to 79.30 percent.The Infection Rate (IR) of the
disease is 7.09 percent and thedoubling rate of the disease is44.58 days.
Four patients of Covid-19were reported dead at SushilaTiwari government hospitalHaldwani. In All India Instituteof Medical Sciences (AIIMS)Rishikesh three patients of thedisease were reported dead.Similarly two patients suc-cumbed to the disease atGovernment Doon MedicalCollege (GDMC) hospitalDehradun. One patient eachwas reported dead atGovernment Base hospital andSN hospital Almora on the day.
The authorities reported174 fresh cases of the disease inDehradun district on Tuesday.In Tehri 65 patients werereported while 60 patients inUdham Singh Nagar, 53 inHaridwar, 47 in Nainital, 40 inUttarkashi, 15 each inChampawat and Pithoragarh,13 in Chamoli, six inBageshwar, four in
Rudraprayag and one patient inAlmora was reported.
Out of the 1413 patientsrecovered on Tuesday, 411 arefrom Dehradun, 301 fromNainital, 169 from Haridwar,142 from Udham Singh Nagar,120 Chamoli, 94 from Pauriand 74 are from Almora dis-trict.
Incidentally the count ofactive patients came below the10000 figure mark on Tuesday.The state now has 9122 activepatients of the disease.Dehradun district with 2971active cases is at top of tablewhile Haridwar with 1506active cases is on second spot.Udham Singh Nagar has 988,Nainital 945, Pauri 630,Uttarkashi 431, Tehri 346,Almora 295, Pithoragarh 260,Chamoli 250, Champawat 243,Rudraprayag 148 activepatients of the disease. With109 active patients of Covid-19Bageshwar district is at bottomof the table.
In what can be termed asgood news for the Covid-19
contagion hit Uttarakhand,the recovery rate in the last 15days has witnessed an incre-ment of 13 percent. OnSeptember 13, the recoveryrate was 66 percent whichnow has increased to 79 per-cent. Tehri and Udham SinghNagar districts lead the tableof recovery rate with a per-centage of 86 percent each.
In Udham Singh Nagar7118 patients out of total8317 reported have recov-ered while in the mountain-ous district of Tehri 1896patients out of 2203 haverecovered. Bageshwar andHaridwar have a recoverypercentage of 81 whileNainital has 77 percent recov-
ery rate. Dehradun with arecovery rate of 72 percent isat 10th spot in the table. Here9147 patients out of 12693have recovered from the dis-ease. With a recovery rate ofonly 60 percent Pauri districthas the worst recovery in thestate.
Provisional state capitalDehradun which is reelingunder the onslaught of thedisease has reported 12693patients of Covid-19 which ishighest in the state.Incidentally 49 percent oftotal fatalities in the statehave occurred in Dehradundistrict alone. Here 285patients have succumbed tothe disease so far. At 12.68percent, the Infection Ratetoo is highest in Uttarakhand.The overall IR in the state isat 7.12 percent.
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The Municipal Corporationof Dehradun (MCD)
extended the restriction ofpublic in its premises whenanother employee tested posi-tive for Covid-19 in the cor-poration within three daysafter an employee was foundCovid-19 infected on Sunday.
According to the municipalcommissioner, Vinay ShankarPandey, an MCD employeewas found Covid positive onTuesday due to which the cor-poration decided to keep theentry of locals restricted for twomore days. The campus will besanitised on Wednesday andThursday and public entry willbe allowed on the followingworking day, informed officials.
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In a big relief to the state gov-ernment and the people of
Uttarakhand, the nurses of thestate health services have takenback their agitation plan. Theassociation of the nurses hadearlier planned to go on anindefinite work boycott fromSeptember 30. The decision tosuspend the agitation was takenafter a delegation of the asso-ciation of nurses met the chiefminister Trivendra SinghRawat. The delegationappeared satisfied after themeeting and decided to sus-pend their agitation. In themeeting the delegation sub-mitted a memorandum to theCM. Addressing the nurses, theCM said that the nursing staffare discharging their duties
with utmost sincerity duringthe ongoing pandemic ofCovid-19. He appreciated thehealth workers for their selflessservice to the society. Directingthe officials to take necessaryaction on the demands of thenurses, the CM said that therecruitment of vacant posi-
tions of nurses and renamingstaff nurses to nursing officerswould be soon done.
The president of the asso-ciation Meenakshi Jakhmolasaid that the CM heard thegrievance of the nurses veryattentively. She added that theCM assured them that the pro-
posal to take back the decisionto deduct one day’s salary ofnurses would be brought beforethe state cabinet soon. Shesaid that the posts of nurseshave been increased on thebasis of norms of IPHS and GOfor which has been issued.
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The United Nations declared October 1 as theInternational Day for Elderly. On this day UN
and its allied groups raise awareness on issues affect-ing the elderly and our responsibilities towards ourelders. It is also a day to appreciate the contribu-tions of the elderly to society. The elderly popula-tion is defined as people aged 65 years and above.
This year we are still under the siege of the Covid-19 pandemic and it is the elderly who have beenafflicted the most by Covid.
Currently the total population of the world is7.8 billion. It is estimated that there were 703 mil-lion persons aged above 65 in 2019. This numberis projected to double to more than 1.5 billion peo-ple by 2050. One can imagine how seriously thisrise in geriatric population will bring changes to theailing Indian health system.
It is common knowledge that as our ageadvances, the immunity of our body decreases tofight against even less virulent virus or bacteriawhich can give rise to illness. Additionally, elder-ly people usually have other associated comor-bidities like diabetes, hypertension, heart, lungs andkidney problems.
Being an orthopaedic surgeon, in addition tothese above mentioned comorbidities, I mainly seetwo peculiar orthopaedic problems in elderly peo-ple- osteoporosis and osteoporosis related fractures.Osteoporosis is a disease which can cause gener-alised body pain and bending of these fragile boneswhich is more marked in the lower limbs and thespine. These deformities usually increase as the ageadvances. The quality of the bone becomes moreporous hence the bones become more bent andmore fragile which fracture with trivial trauma.
Osteoporotic fractures usually occurin the spine, hip and wrist bone. Thecommon mode of injury is a minorslip in the bathroom in cases of hipfracture and after travelling on bumpyroads, which is quite a common sce-nario in our country to sustain osteo-porotic spine fractures. Wrist fracturesusually occur when one falls on anoutstretched hand.
Wrist fractures can usually bemanaged by simple plaster whilemost osteoporotic spine fractures caneasily be managed with brace. But, inthe current scenario, there is not muchscope for conservative treatment inmanaging hip fractures. These hipfractures are difficult to manage dueto the age of the patients and theircomorbidities. These fractures arealmost always managed surgicallybut the results after surgery are alsonot very predictable. In my ownexperience -also supported by scien-tific studies, a third of the patients withhip fracture who are treated surgicallydie within a year of the injury irre-spective of any surgical treatment andthe hospital facilities not only in ourcountry but in developed countries
too. Not only do the elderly suffer from physicaldeformities and problems but also occasionally havemental problems like anxiety, depression, psychosisand Alzheimer’s disease or some other sort of neu-rological problem like Parkinsonism etc.
The UN is promoting the decade of healthy age-ing and bringing together UN experts, civil soci-ety, government and health professionals to preparea global strategy and action plan on ageing. Thisstrategy will be integrated into theSustainable Development Goals (SDGs)especially goal 3 which is to ensure healthylife and promote well being of all at all ages.One of the aims in the present proposal isreducing the health disparities betweenelderly people in developed and develop-ing countries so as to leave no one behind.Currently, the Covid pandemic hasincreased the burden on the health systemin treating elderly people in a short peri-od of time, hence the policy, planning andthe attitude of the public, social workersand policy maker’s needs to change.
Ageing and osteoporosis are creatinga burden on the already constrainedhealth services in both public and privatesectors in India hence, an attempt shouldbe made to prevent osteoporosis andosteoporotic fractures. Primordial pre-vention by eating a healthy, nutritious andbalanced diet containing calcium, vitaminD and the other micro nutrients, daily exer-cise in any form, any physical, professionalor recreational work improves bonestrength. This will definitely reduce theincidence of osteoporosis and relatedfractures. The other preventive measuresto reduce incidence of fractures is using awalking aid like cane or walker, keeping thefloor dry, turning on the light bulb in thebathroom particularly during the night.
Human resource is the biggest resourcebut its worth depends upon the health ofthe individual. Elderly people can play acritical and an important role through vol-unteer work and even helping their fam-ily with responsibilities and sharing theirvast experience. Though elderly peoplecannot do rigorous physical work they cando many other supervisory works. Theycan transfer their experience and knowl-edge to the younger generation which willgreatly benefit the family, society andnation. The elderly people particularly thewell trained and experienced profession-als should be motivated to make contri-butions to local communities. This willhelp both the community and the elderly
while boosting their self esteem and making themfeel more dignified as they age.
Ageing is a natural and physiological phe-nomenon which starts from conception of an indi-vidual. This process cannot be stopped but can bemodified. According to the 2011 Indian census thereare nearly 104 million elderly persons in India andwe all should be concerned about their mental,physical and nutritional requirements at large.
People are now living longer but not living health-ier. Everybody’s goal should be to improve quali-ty of life so that all can live comfortably and inde-pendently for the rest of their life. For that thereis an urgent need to build a stable infrastructure andhealth care support system for the elderly.
(The writer is an orthopaedic surgeon based inDehradun)
Fifty per cent of the amountto be spent on construction
of the railway road overbridges(ROB) and road underbridges(RUB) at identifiedrailway crossings inUttarakhand will now be facil-itated from the Central Roadand Infrastructure Fund(CRIF) instead of being borneby the state Government.
Chief Minister TrivendraSingh Rawat thanked theUnion Road Transport andHighways minister NitinGadkari for this development.
He said that now the stategovernment will be able to usethe large sum it would havespent on ROBs and RUBs onother developmental works inthe state instead. In the pastRawat had written to Gadkari,
requesting that the 50 percent of the cost to be borne bythe state government be paidfrom the CRIF.
Rawat said that a numberof accidents occur at the rail-way crossings apart from reg-ular traffic jams due to trafficpressure, causing major incon-venience to the public.
To resolve these problems,nine level crossings with morethan one lakh TVU have beenidentified in the state. With theministry accepting the CM’srequest, 50 per cent of the costof constructing the nineROBs-RUBs will be borne bythe railways while the remain-ing 50 per cent which wouldhave been borne by the stateearlier will now be paid fromthe CRIF. These are to beconstructed in the Dehradunand Haridwar districts.
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After a serviceof 40 years, the
commandant ofIndian MilitaryAcademy (IMA),L i e u t e n a n tGeneral JaiveerSingh Negi wouldsuperannuate onWednesday. Onthe day a simpleceremony wouldbe held at the warmemorial of IMA,where the outgo-ing commandantwould pay homageto the martyrs.
An alumnus of NationalDefence Academy (NDA),Khadakwasla the GeneralOfficer was commissioned intothe 16th Battalion, the DograRegiment on June 13, 1981. Asa Colonel, he commanded hisbattalion in the western sectorduring ‘Operation Parakram’and later as a Brigadier com-manded an Assam Rifles inNorth East .As a MajorGeneral; he commanded a divi-sion in Kargil (J&K) and latercommanded a strike corps atAmbala as a Lieutenant
General. As the commandant, IMA
he was instrumental in insti-tutionalizing stringent andinnovative measures to keepthe spread of Covid undercontrol. During his stint as thecommandant, the academyswiftly adapted modified train-ing modules to fulfill the pri-mary mandate of the Academytowards imparting qualitytraining to the future militaryleaders, while ensuring dueCovid protocols. After hisretirement, Negi plans to settledown in Dehradun.
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Several parents associatedwith Uttarakhand
Abhibhavak Sangh (UAS)accused the chief educationofficer (CEO) of Dehradun ofpressurising the parents todeposit school fees and favour-ing the management of privateschools over the welfare ofchildren and parents.According to the president ofUAS, Ram Kumar Singhal,many parents have complainedto him that when theyapproach CEO, Asha RaniPainuly, she asked parentswhether they deposited theschool fee or not and if theyhadn't, she instructed them tosubmit the fee first.
"Initially parents used tofile their complaints throughthe association but Painulyrecently instructed that shewill listen to the complaint ofevery parent individually whichmakes it easier to put pressureon parents," stated Singhal.According to a local resident,Mahesh Sharma, "I could not
deposit the fee of my child'snew class so I told the schoolmanagement that I will depositfee in the installments but theydenied him admission statingthat if I do not want to depositfee, I should admit my child toa government school. I evenbrought a signed letter by MLAGanesh Joshi to the CEO stat-ing that I should be allowed todeposit fees in three install-ments due to my financialinstability at the moment butshe told me to deposit the feeas per the school management.We are facing a severe financialcrisis due to the lockdown butfor the sake of my child'sfuture, I had to take a loan todeposit the school fee."
Meanwhile, the CEOrejected all the allegations asbaseless. She said, "Levellingaccusations against anyone iseasy. I am just doing my joband if anyone has any issue theycan write me a complaint let-ter regarding their issues and Iwill definitely consider it," stat-ed Painuly.
Committee (AIKSCC) onTuesday announced its plans tohold a massive all India farm-ers’ protests from October 2,the birth anniversary ofMahatma Gandhi.
Their decision came a dayafter Congress workers set atractor on fire while protestingnear India Gate. Meanwhile, the‘Rail Roko’ agitation by theKisan Mazdoor SangharshCommittee against the newlyenacted farm laws entered thesixth day on Tuesday.
Members of the committeesat on railway tracks inDevidaspura in Amritsar, wear-ing black clothes, in protestagainst the laws. All 31 farmersunions will join in the protest ofBKU (Ekta Ugrahan) of gherao-ing the corporate businesses.
According to AIKSCC,farmers will hold a protestacross India on October 2. Allfarmers will take a pledge forsocial boycott of those politicalleaders and representativeswhose parties have not opposedthese anti-farmers legislationsand for holding village meetings
to adopt resolutions on October2.
The committee has chalkedout a month-long protest plans.The Committee also decided tostage a dharna at HaryanaDeputy Chief MinisterDushyant Chautala ‘s residenceon October 6. Punjab farmerrights’ associations are usingsocial media to build momen-tum for the movement againstthe central laws.
In a related development,Chief Minister CaptainAmarinder Singh on Tuesdaymet farmers’ leaders and assuredfarmers of all possible legaland other steps to fight the “dra-conian” new farm laws, includ-ing a special session of theVidhan Sabha to discuss anddecide the way forward.Chairing a meeting with repre-sentatives of 31 farmers’ unions
to take their views on the mat-ter, the Chief Minister said hewould be discussing the issuewith his legal team later todayto finalise the next steps, includ-ing challenging the farm laws inthe Supreme Court.
On Monday, large-scaleprotests were held in severalstates of India including Uttar
Pradesh, Haryana, Telangana,Gujarat, Goa, Odisha and TamilNadu, where the DravidaMunnetra Kazhagam (DMK)and its allies, including theCongress, hit the streets. TheCongress has also planned toobserve October 2 as ‘Kisan-Majdoor Bachao Diwas’ andhold dharnas across India.
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With no let up in the five-month-long tension at
the Line of Actual Control(LAC) in Ladakh, IAF chiefRKS Bhadauria on Tuesdaysaid the present security sce-nario along the border is at an“uneasy no war no peace” sta-tus. He said the IAF hasresponded to the situation withrapidity and is fully resolved tocounter any “misadventure” inthe region.
Making this point hereduring a conference, he said“The present security scenarioalong our northern frontiers isat an uneasy no war no peacestatus. Our defence forces areprepared for any eventuality asyou are aware.”
The IAF is looking atinducting around 450 aircraftand helicopters in the next twodecades, besides upgrading atleast 200-300 planes during thisperiod, the Air Chief a said.
He also said the recentinduction of the Rafale fighterjets along with previous acqui-sitions of C-17 Globemastertransport aircraft as well asChinook and Apache heli-copters have provided the IAFwith substantial tactical andstrategic capability enhance-ment.
“Air power will be a crucialenabler in our victory in anyfuture conflict. It is thereforeimperative that the IAF obtainsand maintains technological
edge over our adversaries,” hesaid at the conference on ener-gising the Indian aerospaceindustry.
Five French-made multi-role Rafale fighter jets wereinducted into the IAF onSeptember 10. The fleet hasbeen carrying out sorties ineastern Ladakh in the last cou-ple of weeks.
The Chief ’s observationscame in the backdrop of theIAF deploying all its frontlinejets including the Su-30,Mirages, MIG-29 and Jaguarsat the forward airbases allalong the 4,000 km long LACstretching from Ladakh in thewest to Arunachal Pradesh inthe east.
The IAF is also carryingout night time combat airpatrols over the easternLadakh region in an apparentmessage to China that it wasready to deal with any even-tualities in the mountainousregion.
The IAF Chief said theraising of two squadrons oflight combat aircraft Tejas andintegration of some indige-nous weapons on the Su-30MKI combat jets in a veryreduced time frame have beenthe “most promising” devel-opment, reflecting the coun-
try’s capabilities to developindigenous military hardware.He also strongly backedindigenous development of afifth generation aircraft.
“We strongly supportindigenous development of afifth-generation aircraft. Weneed to have a single pointagenda to have a fifth-gener-ation aircraft with sixth gen-eration technology,” saidBhadauria, while congratulat-ing all the stakeholders indevelopment of the light com-bat aircraft Tejas.
He also complimented theDefence Research andD e v e l o p m e n tOrganisation(DRDO) for itsairborne early warning andcontrol system Netra, calling ita pathbreaking achievement.Bhadauria also asked theDRDOs and defence publicsector undertakings to includethe private sector in key pro-jects and treat them as theirown.
“Overall, we are looking at450 aircraft orders. It willinclude the helicopter fleet,”Bhadauria said.
“There cannot be a bettertime to energise the aerospacesector and there cannot be abetter opportunity...IAF isready to be an engine ofgrowth for the aerospaceindustry, you have to be readyto provide the requirementand get on board with confi-dence and determination,” hesaid.
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Former Congress presidentRahul Gandhi on Tuesday
interacted virtually with farm-ers from several States.Accusing the CentralGovernment of ‘breaking theback’ of the informal sectorthrough its policy decisions,Rahul said while demonetisa-tion and ‘ineffective’ rollout ofGST had affected the poor, therecent farm laws are like a dag-ger through the heart of thefarmers.
“We were told (demone-tization) was aimed at fight-ing black money but that wasa lie. The main aim was tofinancially hurt farmers andworkers. Rollout of GST hadthe same aim. Similarly dur-ing the coronavirus pandem-ic too, money was needed butthey did not give any,” Rahulsaid during the 10-minute-
long interaction which wastelecast on his social mediahandles on Monday.
“ The aim of thisGovernment is to break theback of farmers and workers.There is no dif ferencebetween demonetization andthe farm laws. Or between therollout of GST and the farmlaws. The only difference isthat the three farm laws arelike a dagger through yourhearts…I am very clear thatwe need to oppose this notjust for the farmers alonebut for the country,” headded.
During the interaction,farmers from states likePunjab, Bihar, Haryana andMaharashtra shared theirviews on the issue and raisedconcerns over minimum sup-port price (MSP), scope ofearning from their produceamong other topics.
year-old rape case observingthat he and the alleged victimwere in love, their relationshipwas consensual and the casewas “an afterthought” - filedwhen the man was about tomarry another woman.
The bench of Justices RFNariman, Navin Sinha andIndira Banerjee set aside theconviction by a trial court andthe Jharkhand High Courtquoting medical experts, whoestablished that the womanwas 25 years old when she filedthe case in 1999, and not 20 asshe claimed, making her amajor at the time of the allegedassault in 1995.
The court added that let-ters exchanged between the twoand their photographs togeth-er showed they were in loveand that a case of rape andcheating on pretext of marriagewas filed a week ahead of theman’s wedding to anotherwoman.
It added that no woman,after being sexually assaulted atknife-point, would write loveletters to the accused and sharea live-in relationship with himfor four years.
The woman had claimedshe stayed quite after the assaultbecause the accused haspromised to marry her.
“The marriage betweenthem could not materialisedue to societal reasons as theman belongs to a ScheduledTribe, while the woman is aChristian... The woman haddeposed that their marriagecould not be solemnizedbecause they belonged to dif-ferent religions. She was there-fore conscious of this obstacleall along...” the court said.
The court added it was notpossible to hold, on the basis ofevidence, that the man neverintended to marry her andquoted the woman’s letters inwhich she had acknowledgedthat the man’s family alwaystreated her well, and that theirfamilies even got themengaged.
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The Supreme Court onTuesday directed all States to
provide dry rations to sex work-ers, who are identified byNational AIDS ControlOrganisation (NACO) and legalservices authorities, withoutinsisting on any proof of iden-tity.
The apex court asked all thestates to file compliance reportwithin four weeks giving detailsof number of sex workers whogot dry ration within this peri-od.
A bench comprisingJustices L Nageswara Rao andAjay Rastogi said that it wouldlater deal with the aspect ofwhether financial assistancecould be provided to them dur-ing the period of COVID-19pandemic.
The top court, which post-ed the matter for hearing afterfour weeks, said that stateswould provide dry rations to sexworkers and would identifythem with the assistance ofNACO, district as well as statelegal service authority.
The bench was hearing aplea which has raised the issueproblems faced by sex workerson account of the COVID-19pandemic.
It asked the states to file adetailed report on how theywould provide ration cards andother facilities to sex workers.
“We are aware of the factsthat states are coming forwardto provide assistance but theproblem is that these sex work-ers don’t have any proof ofidentity. Therefore, all should begiven rations. States should tell
us how this should be imple-mented,” the bench said.
The counsel appearing forthe Centre said it has no objec-tion if states would provide dryration to sex workers.
Advocate Pijush KumarRoy, assisting the apex court asan amicus curiae in the matter,said bank accounts of sex work-ers should also be opened with-out insisting upon proof ofidentity in order to providethem financial assistance.
The apex court had lastweek taken note of problemsfaced by sex workers on accountof COVID-19 pandemic anddirected the Centre and states toapprise it about modalities fordistribution of monthly dryrations and cash transfer tothem without insisting on proofof identity.
Appearing for an NGO,senior advocate Anand Groverhad argued that a survey among1.2 lakh sex workers in AndhraPradesh, Karnataka,Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu andTelangana found that 96 percent of of them had lost theirsource of earning in the pan-demic.
Senior advocate JayantBhushan, who has also beenappointed as an amicus curiaeto assist the court in the matter,had said plight of sex workerscould be solved if they wereprovided ration cards withoutinsisting on identity proof.
The apex court was hearingan application filed by NGO,Durbar Mahila SamanwayaCommittee which had movedthe SC to highlight the destitu-tion faced by sex workers on theaccount of COVID-19.
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To review the progress of airpollution control initiatives
and the problem of stubbleburning, environment secre-taries of Delhi, Punjab,Haryana, Uttar Pradesh andRajasthan along with officialsfrom the Union EnvironmentMinistry and representatives ofthe Central Pollution ControlBoard (CPCB) will hold a
meeting on October 1, UnionMinister Prakash Javadekarsaid on Tuesday.
“All the agencies wereasked to make short, medium,and long-term plans in 2016 tofight pollution. The meetingwill focus on reviewing theprogress of these plans,”Javadekar told reporters here ata press briefing. TheGovernment feels that as theeconomic activities have
opened up, air pollution islikely to rise to pre-lockdownlevels.
Farm fires, which werenoticed in Punjab last week,coupled with resumption ofeconomic activities in the wakeof Covid-19 lockdown hasalready started deteriorating airquality in Delhi.
According to the System ofAir Quality and WeatherForecasting And Research
(SAFAR), which is run by theIndian Institute of TropicalMeteorology, the air quality inDelhi is set to worsen over thenext three days.
“The problem of air pollu-tion is not restricted to Delhiand NCR. It is a commonproblem of all the areas fallingunder the same airshed, whichincludes Punjab, Haryana,Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan,”Javadekar said adding that 50
teams of CPCB officials will bedeployed from 15 October tomonitor sources of pollution inDelhi, and recommend quickfixes.
The meeting, to be heldvirtually, will also be attendedby chiefs of the MunicipalCorporations of Delhi and theNew Delhi Municipal Council.
Javadekar also listed someof the initiatives taken by theNarendra Modi government
since 2016 to fight pollution.These include introduction ofBS VI vehicles and fuel, incen-tives to boost e-vehicles usage,and completion of peripheralhighways that prevent unnec-essary traffic from enteringthe capital.
He, however, said despiteall efforts Delhi is likely to seeincreased pollution levels fortwo-three months in winterdue to meteorological condi-
tions.According to a report by
the CPCB and the Ministry,cold, dry air, and ground basedinversion with low wind con-ditions are responsible forincreasing concentration ofpollutants during winter inDelhi.
Javadekar also encouragedcitizens to inculcate eco-friend-ly habits such as cycling toreduce pollution.
avirus cases during the festi-val season, which starts nextmonth, if people do not fol-low Covid-appropriate behav-iour, the Union HealthMinistry on Tuesday askedthe States to strictly imple-ment inventive containmentstrategies to keep the virusunder check.
So far, India has recorded61,45,291 confirmed Covid-19 cases, including 96,318deaths. Maharashtra, AndhraPradesh and Tamil Nadu havereported the highest numberof cases. However, infectionsare rising rapidly in states likeKarnataka, Uttar Pradesh andWest Bengal, as per the gov-ernment data.
“In the l ight of theupcoming festivities, winterseason and mass gathering,inventive containment strate-gies need to be implementedby the states,” said BalramBhargava, DG, ICMR at apress briefing here.
NITI Aayog member V KPaul urged people to keep fol-lowing Covid-appropriatebehaviour, saying there is no
reason to get lax if stability incoronavirus cases is observed.
“We need to have Puja,Chhath, Diwali and Eid withmasks, it is very important tokeep that in mind. We haveseen a second peak in Delhi,Kerala and Punjab so weshould not get lax and keepfollowing Covid-appropriatebehaviour,” he said.
People are more prone torespiratory infections likepneumonia and influenza inthe coming winter monthsand festive seasons and “wehave to put in all efforts, stayvigilant and diligently followCovid-appropriate behav-
iour”, Paul said.The Navratri festival that
involves temple visits andfasts for nine days will beginfrom October 17. It will cul-minate with Vijaya Dashmi orDussehra on October 25while Diwali will be celebrat-ed on November 20. Chhathfollows thereafter.
Health Secretary RajeshBhushan said India has 4,453Covid-19 cases and 70 deathsper million population whichis among the lowest in theworld. He also said that India’srecovery rate continues torise and now stands at 83 per-cent.
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Days after Serum Instituteof India’s chief executive
officer Adar Poonawallatweeted questioning if Indiahas �80,000 crore over thenext one year for distributionof the Covid-19 vaccine toevery person in the country,the Government on Tuesdaydismissed the observation say-ing that it does not agreewith the calculation cited bythe drug maker.
The Union health min-istry said that it does notagree with such calculationson social media and alsomaintained that the nationalexpert vaccine administra-tion panel met 5 times on
modalities.“In these meetings, we
have mulled over Covid-19vaccination distribution andthe amount required for it interms of prioritisation of pop-ulation and the staggeredimmunisation for this priori-tisation. For this, we havecalculated the amountrequired in the meetings andcurrently, that amount is avail-able with the government,”Rajesh Bhushan, Secretary,Union Health Ministry said ata press briefing here.
Meanwhile, the SII, whichis the world’s largest vaccinemanufacturing company, saidthat it would get a furtherUSD 150 million in fundingfrom the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation and the GAVIvaccines alliance to make anadditional 100 million Covid-19 vaccine doses for India andother low- and middle-income countries next year.
The expanded deal willaccelerate manufacturing anddelivery of safe and effectivecoronavirus vaccines, whichhas been priced at a maximumof $3 per dose or �250 perdose.
The collaboration buildsupon an initial agreementsigned in August by the com-pany with the GAVI allianceand the Gates Foundation,with the total number of vac-cine doses to be covered bythe partnership now up to 200million.
announced dates for bypolls toone Lok Sabha seat and 56Assembly constituencies spreadacross 12 States. Bypolls to 54Assembly constituencies willtake place on November 3while bypolls to the Lok Sabhaseat and two Assembly con-stituencies will be conductedon November 7. The votes willbe counted on November 10alongside the counting of votesfor the general assembly elec-tions in Bihar.
Before announcing theschedule, the poll panel hadissued a separate statement onTuesday to announce that it hasdecided not to hold assemblybypolls in seven seats acrossKerala, Tamil Nadu, Assamand West Bengal “at this stage”after specific request from thestates in conduct of polls.
By-polls will be held forChhattisgarh, Gujarat,Haryana, Jharkhand,Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh,Manipur, Nagaland, Odisha,Telangana, and Uttar Pradesh.Madhya Pradesh has the high-est number of seats--27--among the 54 Assembly con-stituencies for which pollingwill be held on November 3.Next is Gujarat (eight), UttarPradesh (seven); Jharkhand,Karnataka, Nagaland, Odisha(two each) and one each fromTelangana, Chhattisgarh andHaryana. The term of the leg-islative assemblies of the fourstates would end on differentdates between May and Junenext year.
The bypolls in MadhyaPradesh were necessitated after25 Congress MLAs followedtheir leader Jyotiraditya Scindiain joining the Bharatiya JanataParty (BJP) in March. This ledto the collapse of the state’sCongress government andpaved way for the BJP to returnto power. The bypolls werenecessitated on three of theseats - Joura, Agar and Biora -due to death of the MLAs - twofrom the Congress and onefrom BJP, and on the remain-
ing seats due to resignation ofthe then Congress MLAs.
The Valmiki Nagar LokSabha seat fell vacant inFebruary after the death ofincumbent Lok Sabha MPBaidyanath Prasad Mahato ofthe JD(U). The bypolls werenecessitated following resig-nations tendered by CongressMLAs, five in March and threein June. The reason is that thenumber of vacant seats in somestates has changed due to var-ious reasons, including courtcases.
According to EC, the dateof issue of notification for by-polls to 54 Assembly seats invarious states, except Manipur,is October 10, while the lastdate of filing nominations isOctober 16, and date for with-drawal is October 19. In thetwo Assembly seats of Manipur,and one Lok Sabha seat inBihar, the date for filing nom-inations October 20, and forwithdrawal of nominations isOctober 23.
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Chief Election CommissionerSunil Arora and
Commissioners Sushil Chandraand Rajiv Kumar visited Patnaon Tuesday to assess prepara-tions in poll-bound Bihar. OnWednesday, they would meetvarious stakeholders, includingcivil and police officials, and rep-resentatives of political parties.The Commission would alsovisit a few places in Bihar beforereturning to Delhi on October1 evening, sources said.
district, the district adminis-tration has postponed thehome isolation until furtherorders. In a review meetingheld at Collectorate, the controlroom in-charge Smriti Gautamsaid that during home isolation,asymptomatic patients are notfollowing guidelines and aremoving outside, living withfamily members which isincreasing the infection. Nodal
Officer Principal SecretaryNitin Ramesh Gokarn has alsobeen notified. On this, theDM Chandra Bhushan Singhpostponed the home isolationwith immediate effect. AllMagistrates / SDMs have beendirected to strictly follow it.
The people kept in homeisolation will complete theirtime by tuesday. But if a patientdoes not follow the rules dur-ing home isolation, then thatpatient should be shifted toCOVID Hospital. There will beno negligence in this.
Aligarh: The speed at whichthe corona infection is spread-ing has destroyed health ser-vices and created a crisis for theeconomy. Along with other patients, thisvirus has a fatal impact on heartpatients as well. Many peoplehave died from this disease.
According to M.URabbani, chairman of theDepartment of Heart Disease atJN Medical College and a
renowned Cardiologist , theglobal mortality rate accordingto coronavirus data is 3.02%,this rate is 2.6% in America and1.4% in India.
In poor and medium-income countries, the numberof corona infected patientswithout symptoms is 5 to 10times more due to less testingof coronavirus. 25% of heartattack patients died because ofnot getting proper treatment ontime. PNS
Aligarh: The Covid-19 pan-demic has created a global cri-sis with far-reaching social andeconomical repercussions andone of the biggest challengesthis crisis has brought is ofmental health, said Gurudev SriSri Ravi Shankar, Indian spir-itual leader and Art of Livingfounder.
He was addressing at theinaugural function of the two-day international webinar on'Role of Faith in FacingPersonal and Collective Crises:What Religion Can Offer to thePost-Covid World' organisedby the Dara Shikoh Centre forInterfaith Understanding and
Dialogue, Aligarh MuslimUniversity (AMU).
He explained that faithgives courage to people andprevents depression.
“During crisis, people tendto become either aggressive ordepressed and these twoextremes can be preventedwith spiritual knowledge,” saidSri Sri Ravi Shankar addingthat spirituality leads to serene,calm and meditative state.
He added that Coronavirus is a catastrophe, but notan apocalypse and faith canhelp us to search the silver lin-ings despite the dark clouds ofgloom. PNS
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Taken aback by the surge inthe number of Covid-19
patients, the Indian MedicalAssociation, the highest policymaking body of modern med-icine practitioners have askedthe Government of Kerala todeclare a state of “HealthEmergency”.
Dr Abraham Varghese,president, IMA (Kerala) said ina statement to the Governmentthat the situation in Kerala isprecarious and requires strin-gent action and an awarenesscampaign. The number of casesdiagnosed with Covid-19 on adaily basis is disturbing. Butwhat is of more concern is thenumber of patients contractingthe pandemic through socialcontacts,” said Dr Varghese.
The soft-spoken doctorhas been cautioning the author-
ities about community trans-mission which was set longback in the State.. He said theGovernment should go forstrict social controls and regu-lations to check the number ofpeople crowding at publicplaces and shopping centres.“Offices and business estab-lishments could work withskeleton staff and there shouldbe restrictions on the numberof people who could gather inpublic or private places,” saidDr Varghese.
Though the official fig-ures state that almost 58,000people are under treatment inthe State for Covid-19,Government doctors them-selves say that the figure hascrossed 2 lakh mark. “TheIMA’s studies prove that the sit-uation in Kerala is gettingworse by the day as shown bythe spurt in numbers.
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Bengaluru: Karnataka ChiefMinister BS Yediyurappa's polit-ical Secretary and MLA M PRenukacharya on Tuesday saidhe has tested positive forCOVID-19.
The MLA from Honnalliconstituency said he underwenta test as some changes wereobserved in his health condi-tions this morning, and thereport showed him to be posi-tive. Appealing all those whohad come in contact with himin the last four-five days to gettested, he said, he was doing fine.
Chief Minister Yediyurappatweeted wishing forRenukacharya's speedy recovery.Several Ministers and legislatorsin Karnataka including DeputyChief Minister Govind Karjol,Law Minister J C Madhuswamy,senior Congress MLAs H KPatil and Diensh Gundu Rao areamong those who have testedpositive for COVID in the lastfew days.
The state recently lost theBelagavi BJP MP and Ministerof State for Railways SureshAngadi, BJP Rajya Sabha mem-ber Ashok Gasti andBasavakalyan Congress MLA BNarayan Rao due to coron-avirus. PTI
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Schools in Andhra Pradeshwould be re-opened for the
2020-21 academic year onNovember 2, Chief Minister YSJagan Mohan Reddy announcedhere on Tuesday.
“We wanted to open theschools on October 5, but in viewof the prevailing situation, we havenow decided to re-open them onNovember 2,” the Chief Ministertold district Collectors during avideo conference. Schoolsremained shut due to the prevail-ing COVID-19 pandemic in thecurrent academic year.
The state government initial-ly announced September 5 as there-opening day and later deferredit to October 5. Though the Centreis yet to issue fresh guidelines onopening the schools fully, the ChiefMinister set November 2 as thedate.
The Chief Minister said the'Jagannanna Vidya Kanuka' (JagansEducation Gift) would, however, be
distributed on October 5 to all stu-dents.
A school kit, including uni-forms, would be distributed to thestudents under the freebie scheme.
“If we distribute the kits onOctober 5, students can get themstitched and be ready when theschools re-open on November 2,” hesaid. The Chief Minister, whoreviewed the progress of the 'ManaBadi, Naadu-Nedu' scheme, underwhich school infrastructure is beingrenovated, directed the DistrictCollectors to step up the works.
Of the 15,715 schools chosenfor renovation in the first phase,works were yet to begin in 153schools, he said. Start the worksimmediately.The district JointCollectors should monitor theworks daily and ensure that they arecompleted in time,” Jagan added.
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Andhra Pradesh's COVID-19tally Increased to 6,87,351 as6,190 more cases were addedon Monday, while 35 deathstook the fatalities to 5,780.
Also, the overall infectionpositivity rate dropped belowthe 12 per cent mark for thefirst time in over two months,standing at 11.99 per cent onTuesday after a gross 57.34 lakhsamples were tested sofar.
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Renewing her attack on theBJP Government Bengal
Chief Minister MamataBanerjee on Tuesday said it sel-dom delivered on its promisesand resorted to communalpropaganda for the sake ofpublicity during the elections.
The Chief Minister whowas currently touring NorthBengal said those in the centralGovernment “had promisedmany things but deliverednothing …they did nothing forthe tea plantation workers butwhen it comes to voting theywould raise communal issuesto derive publicity.”
Claiming that herGovernment had done morethan it promised Banerjee said
“we have continuously per-formed. Despite having per-formed so well for the past onedecade there is no publicitybecause we do not engage incommunal riots… rather weare defamed and become vic-tims of disinformation cam-paigns despite having workedhard for the people of thisregion whereas when the elec-tions will come they will incitecommunal riots to get cheappublicity and votes.”
Earlier Banerjee hadattacked the Centre for bull-dozing the opposition voice inParliament to pass a number of“draconian anti-people laws”like the farm bill and said thepeople would take account ofthat during the elections.Bengal will go to Assemblypolls in May next year.
The Chief Minister onTuesday promised the planta-tion workers their own housesin a few years’ time. “TheGovernment will constructhouses for the plantation work-ers in three years,” she saidadding “those who had comeand promised to you so manythings have done nothing foryou which can be proved by thecondition of the plantationworkers and industry here.”
Reacting to Banerjee’sstatements Bengal BJP presi-dent Dilip Ghosh said “ourChief Minister is a person wholoves to beat her own trum-pet… If she has worked wellthen it will be for the people tosee and for them to recognizeher services … but here it is dif-ferent. The Chief Minister ispatting her own back.”
�>. '��- ���-����,���& �������� ����% � KOCHI/CHENNAI: As the Indian Medical Association’s
Kerala branch demanded a state of Health Emergencyin the State, the number of new Covid-19 patients shotup to 7,354 which include 7,036 patients who contract-ed the pandemic through social contacts.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who briefed themedia after an all party meeting said that there were61,791 persons under treatment in the State for Covid-19 on Tuesday.
Neighboring Tamil Nadu is gradually bringingdown the number of cases on a daily basis without anyfanfare. On Tuesday, Tamil Nadu diagnosed 5,546 newpersons afflicted with Covid-19. A medical bulletinreleased by the Tamil Nadu Government said the num-ber of patients in the State as on Tuesday were 46,281which was well below that in Kerala. Tamil Nadu saw70 persons succumbing to the dreaded disease during thelast 24 hours.
Kerala, which had claimed that it tamed Covid-19as early as May 8 is facing a precarious position.Malappurm district alone diagnosed 1,040 new patientswhile the capital city of Thiruvananthapuram diagnosed935 patients. The Chief Minister blamed the Opposition,particularly the BJP for the State’s failure in counteringthe pandemic. Tamil Nadu tested almost 85,000 personsacross the State while Kerala had to content with 53,000persons. PNS
Bengaluru: Karnataka Primary and Secondary EducationMinister S. Suresh Kumar on Tuesday said that the StateGovernment had not taken any decision yet on reopen-ing of schools.
The Karnataka government had decided about a fort-night ago that Classes 9, 10, 11 and 12 would be partial-ly allowed to be held.
In other words, teachers of these classes would be pre-sent in schools wherein students who have doubts in anytopic could seek clarifications in their respective subjectsthough regular classes won't be held.
This had led to speculations that Karnataka wouldreopen schools soon. A section of parents had vehementlyopposed the reopening of schools amid the pandemic.
Owing to parental pressure, the government onSeptember 20 prohibited Class 9 to 12 students from vis-iting schools and only undergraduates to meet teachersamid the pandemic.
In a bid to allay the fears, Suresh Kumar had posteddetailed information on the issue on Facebook.
He maintained that the Karnataka governmentplanned to elicit views from various quarters like politi-cians, academics and health experts before taking any finaldecision on this matter.
Soon after returning from Bidar district tour in a dayor two, the Minister asserted, he would convene a meet-ing of different stakeholders along with the departmentsconcerned to decide on reopening of schools. IANS
Kolkata: West Bengal on Tuesdayreported 3,188 new cases of COVID-19, taking its tally to 2,53,768, as per abulletin issued by the HealthDepartment.
The COVID-19 toll rose to 4,899after 62 more people died. S i n c eMonday, 2,961 people have recovered,improving the discharge rate to 87.80per cent.
There are 26,064 active cases in thestate at present. In the last 24 hours,43,769 samples have been tested forCOVID-19 in the state, the bulletinsaid. PTI
New Delhi: The NationalCapital Regional PlanningBoard (NCRPB) has sanctionedover �15,000 crore loan in over�31,000 crore worth of projectsrelated to transport, regionalrapid transport system, watersupply, drainage, power, solidwaste management, tourismand road infrastructure.Informing this, the Ministry ofHousing and Urban Affairs(MoHUA) secretary DurgaShankar Mishra on Tuesdaysaid that 265 projects of morethan Rs 18,500 crore are com-plete and the rest is under con-struction.
Speaking at the launch ofthe Project ManagementInformation System (P-MIS),Mishra said that MIS will helpto monitor projects.
The NCR is presentlyspread over a 55,083 sq km areawith around 60 million popu-lation. According to theNCRPB, Haryana sub-regioncomprises of districts ofGurugram, Faridabad, Rohtak,Sonepat, Rewari, Jhajjar, Mewat,Palwal, Panipat, Mahendregarh,Jind, Karnal, Bhiwani andCharkhi Dadri. Rajasthan sub-region comprises districts ofAlwar and Bharatpur. Uttar
Pradesh Sub-region comprisesdistricts of Gautam BuddhaNagar, Ghaziabad, Meerut,Bulandsahr, Baghpat, Hapur,Muzaffarnagar, and Shamli.
Explaining the features ofthe software, Mishra said thatthe P-MIS is having unique fea-ture of doing calculations atback end for monitoring vari-ous financial critical events forGuarantee validity date andmonthly repayment of loandue date for each IA and gen-erates alert for GuaranteeRenewal and Payment of Loanin soft format i.e. email inadvance. PNS
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The Bombay High Court onTuesday reserved its order
on the bail applications ofaccused actress RheaChakraborty, her brotherShowik and others in theSushant Singh Rajput death-related drug case, after observ-ing that its verdict would have“wide reach and repercussions”and that it would pass separateorders in all matters.
After hearing all the sides,Justice S. V. Kotwal of theBombay High Court noted:“Arguments on the matter areclosed. The matter is nowreserved for orders. Due tovoluminous proceedings, theorder may take some time”.
“This judgment has widereach and repercussions. I willtry to write separate orders inall matters, but I might end upattributing Sayyed's argumentsof Sayyed (advocate for co-accused Abel Basit Parihar to(Satish) Maneshinde. Please
excuse me for that,” the Judgenoted.
At the hearing, AdditionalSolicitor General (ASG) AnilSingh argued for the state,while Satish Maneshinde rep-resented Chakraborty siblings',advocate Tareq Sayed appearedfor co-accused Abdel BasitParihar. Advocate SubodhDesai for Samuel Miranda (lateSushant’s house manager) andadvocate Rajendra Rathod forDipesh Sawant (late Sushant’shouse help).
Rhea, Showik and otheraccused in the Sushant death-related drug case had movedthe high court after the SpecialCourt had rejected their bailapplications on September 11.
Apart from Rhea andShowik, the four other accusedwhose bail applications weredenied bail by the special courtwere: Sushant’s house manag-er Samuel Miranda, house helpDipesh Sawant and two allegeddrug peddlers Abdel BashitParihar and Zaid Vilatra.
The over-hyped greenrevolution of the late1960s introduced vari-eties of dwarf rice andwheat in northern India
with a cocktail of chemical fertilis-ers and pesticides that sucked upgroundwater and gradually madeit unfit for drinking. The chemicalsleached into the soil and water.State-sponsored propaganda about“miraculous yields” extended thephenomenon across the country,ruining soil fertility and the nutri-tious value of food crops; theimpact on public health wasnoticed by the medical communi-ty but all voices were silenced.Today, Gurdaspur-to-Delhi trainsare called “Cancer Express”, yetthere has been no medical study ofthe harm caused by chemical agri-culture to the health of humans,animals, soil and water resources.
Now, four momentous lawscould pave the way for a revolutionin which farmers drive the change,with technology playing a support-ive role. If the Government repu-diates the genetically-modifiedfood crops lobby, India couldreturn to farming methods that donot require costly inputs and forcefarmers into a vicious cycle of debt(and even suicide).
On September 16, 2020, one daybefore the three agriculture-relat-ed Bills were moved in Parliament,the Banking Regulation(Amendment) Act, 2020 waspassed, bringing all cooperativebanks under the purview of theReserve Bank of India (RBI). Itmeans stricter supervision of 1,482urban and 58 multi-state cooper-ative banks, with deposits of �4.84lakh crore.
The legislation undermines thestrongmen who control theAgricultural Produce MarketingCommittees (APMCs), mandis,loans and so on in many States. Itis noteworthy that large farmers areresisting the new laws; earlier theyopposed the Mahatma GandhiNational Rural EmploymentGuarantee Act, 2005 (MGNRE-GA) as they had to match wages orlose farm labour. The ongoingCOVID pandemic has alsoimproved the bargaining power offarm labourers and added to thebitterness of large farmers.
Often, agents arranged debt-funding for farmers from privatemoneylenders, who charged usu-rious interest and enjoyed politicalheft; such debt has been linked to
farmer suicides in some States.Simultaneously, the Union
Cabinet approved the �15,000crore fund for animal hus-bandry as part of theAtmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyanstimulus package and a schemefor interest subvention of twoper cent to “shishu” loan catego-ry borrowers for one year underthe Pradhan Mantri MudraYojana. These developmentsform the sub-text of the farmBills.
The Farmers’ Produce Tradeand Commerce (Promotionand Facilitation) Act 2020allows sale and marketing ofproduce outside notified APMCmandis. State Governments can-not collect market fee, cess orlevy for trade outside the APMCmarkets; inter-state trade barri-ers are nixed and provisionshave been made for electronictrading of agricultural produce.No licence is needed; anyonewith a PAN card can buy direct-ly from farmers. The new sys-tem provides a dispute resolu-tion mechanism in case farm-ers are not paid immediately orwithin three days.
The APMCs failed as theyallowed vested interests to seizethe system. States levied cess toearn extra revenue that was notpart of the budget and was usedfor “discretionary” developmentspending, mostly under theChief Minister’s orders. As thecess increased, politicalappointees took charge of theAPMCs. Even the FoodCorporation of India (FCI) paidcess. Small farmers were bur-
dened with the cost of transportto take their produce to themandis and deal with middle-men. For instance, waiting out-side sugar mills, with heat evap-orating the sugar content in thecane, desperate farmers havesuccumbed to agents (of near-by mandis) who arrive miracu-lously and dictate the price.
Under the new Act, politi-cians and urban elite farmerswill find it difficult to get large“agricultural” incomes mandi-certified and pay zero per centincome tax, as payments have tobe made against PAN cards.
The Farmers (Empowermentand Protection) Agreement onPrice Assurance and FarmServices Act, 2020 regulatescontractual farming rules andState APMC Acts. Farmers canmake contracts with a corporateentity or wholesaler at a mutu-ally agreed price. The systemalready exists in 20 States;PepsiCo buys potatoes from24,000 farmers across nineStates. Further, 18 States alreadypermit private mandis whileKerala and Bihar don’t haveAPMC mandis at all. More per-tinently, the Act prohibitsacquiring ownership rights offarmers’ land.
The Centre has funded�6,685 crore for the formationof 10,000 Farmer ProducerOrganisations (FPOs) and the�1 lakh crore AgricultureInfrastructure Fund (AIF). TheFPO will give farmers higherbargaining power while AIF andmarket reforms serve as addi-tional enablers. They can invest
in farm equipment, infrastruc-ture and build forward marketlinkages by making agreementswith agribusinesses, thusimproving access to technologyand investment. Maharashtra’sSahyadri Farmers Producer Co.Ltd, with 8,000 marginal farm-ers, exports 16,000 tonnes ofgrapes every season.
The end of socialist-eraimpediments should stimulateincreased private sector invest-ment across the value chain, cre-ating jobs in logistics serviceproviders, warehouse operatorsand processing unit staff. Therise of food-processing indus-tries could create non-farmjobs in rural areas.
India processes less than 10per cent of output (cereals,fruits, vegetables, fish, etc) andloses around �90,000 croreannually to wastage. Hopefully,market linkages will motivatefarmers to diversify and growcrops such as edible oils andhelp reduce India’s edible oilimport bill that currently standsat over $10 billion.
Finally, The EssentialCommodities (Amendment)Act, 2020 removes excessivecontrol on production, storage,movement and distribution offood commodities; removescereals, pulses, oilseeds, edibleoils, onion and potatoes fromthe list of essential commodities,and paves the way for cold chaininfrastructure to come up.Previously, control regardingthe storage of essential com-modities (onions, potatoes, edi-ble oils, jute, rice paddy, sugar)gave draconian powers toauthorities to raid “hoarders”,confiscate stocks, cancel licens-ing and even imprison offend-ers. This naturally discouragedinvestment in storage as entre-preneurs feared being prosecut-ed as “hoarders.” Lack of stor-age also contributed to volatil-ity in prices as their stabilitydepends on adequate ware-housing infrastructure.
Henceforth, the ECA 2020will be invoked only underextraordinary circumstancessuch as war, famine, naturalcalamity of grave nature andextraordinary price rise (100 percent increase in retail price ofhorticultural produce over thepreceding 12 months, or 50 percent increase in retail price ofnon-perishables over the pre-ceding five years).
Dismissing the propagandathat the new laws would end theminimum support price (MSP),the Centre has quietly orderedprocurement, effectively nip-ping the canard that small andmarginal farmers would beshort-changed. Implementationwill be the key.
(The author is a senior jour-nalist. Views are personal)
������������ �Sir — The 2015 Assembly elec-tions in Bihar saw the Congressregain a reasonable space in theState legislature. After a gap of 15years, the party’s tally rose todouble digits, as 27 out of 41 can-didates in the fray won theirseats. But will the grand old partybe able to revive itself this timeagain? The Congress began tolose its support base as it failedto address backward caste aspi-rations between 1988 and 1990,when four of its Chief Ministerswere nominated to the top postonly to be pulled down swiftly,giving in to the intra-party castedivides. The support base alsosuffered massive erosion follow-ing the desertion by Muslimsafter the Bhagalpur riots in 1989and Babri Masjid demolition in1992. However, the electoralprospects for the party seemrather good this time, particular-ly for its role in mitigating suf-fering of the migrants and stu-dents during the lockdown andits active support to farmers’protests against the enactment ofthe three new farm Laws. Also,Dalits and Muslims are nowmobilising in favour of Congress.
Nihal RajNoida
�������������Sir — The tussle in the All IndiaAnna Dravida MunnetraKazhagam (AIADMK), relatingto the naming of the chief min-isterial candidate for the 2021Tamil Nadu Legislative Assemblyelection, continues with no solu-tion in sight. Both Chief MinisterEdappadi K Palaniswami andDeputy Chief Minister O
Panneerselvam, who are chiefministerial hopefuls, have dug intheir heels and are slugging it out.Even the five-hour-long meetingof the AIADMK executive coun-cil on Monday failed to arrive ata consensus on who will be itschief ministerial candidate. Thefinal decision will be taken onOctober 7. Hopefully, by then,Palaniswami and Panneerselvamwill be able to sort out their dif-
ferences and come to a decision.CK Subramaniam
Tirumangalam
�������������������Sir — The popularity of the rul-ing Janata Dal (United) and theBJP-led Government, headed byChief Minister Nitish Kumar, iswaning. While Nitish has beenunder fire for badly handling the
COVID outbreak and thereturnee migrants, the BJP hastaken on the defensive mode onquestions of border security,economic stagnation and farm-ers’ backlash. This should beenough for the Opposition tochallenge the State Government.However, the Rashtriya JanataDal (RJD) and the Congresstogether have not been able topush the Government on anysubstantial matter. Being heldunder exceptional circumstances,the battle for the ballot promis-es to be a challenging and excit-ing affair.
Yash Pal RalhanJalandhar
������������Sir — The investigation intoSushant Singh Rajput’s deathseems to have been sidetrackedas officials haven’t been able tofind any concrete evidence. It hasbecome a whirlpool of misre-ported facts and concocted liesand sheer entertainment in thename of news, reducing a tragedyinto a sensational drama.
The state of India’s school education continuesto be abysmal despite so many high-soundingpolicy prescriptions being tossed around.
There are, however, islands of excellence and evenin this bleak landscape there are shoots of green.While Government schools are the mainstay ofschool education for the poor, some exceptional pri-vate schools are affordable even to the extremely mar-ginalised. The accepted wisdom is that private schoolsserve the privileged; everyone else, especially theunderprivileged, requires public schools. This logicis grounded on the assumption that the poor needGovernment assistance if they are to get a good edu-cation. Which helps explain why many school choiceenthusiasts believe that the only way the poor canget the education they deserve is throughGovernment schools.
But if we reflect on some of the underprivilegedcommunities, we find these assumptions lacking. Thepoor have found remarkably innovative ways of help-ing themselves educationally and visionary leadersfrom among these communities are nurturing a largeand growing industry of good quality privateschools. Tikiapara, a sprawling slum in Howrah, isa witness and a willing participant in a quiet revo-lution led by Mamoon Akhtar that has the poten-tial to turn around the lives of its residents, especial-ly of its children. Mamoon was forced to drop outof middle school because his parents couldn’t affordto educate him further. Three decades later, he is thedriving force two schools in Tikiapara with 3,000 stu-dents, most of them children of unlettered parents.Mamoon’s extraordinary journey from a victim tochampion of the underprivileged started the day hedecided that just because his family couldn’t pay forhis schooling, he wouldn’t forego education.Mamoon’s passion helped him overcome his depri-vation.
His father was keen that his son get a good edu-cation. So he put him in one of the area’s leadingschools, St Thomas. After his father died, the teenag-er had to give up his studies and took up a librari-an’s job at a private school in Tikiapara, supplement-ing his income by giving private tuitions. Life wouldhave gone on as usual but Mamoon couldn’t get overthe tragedy he suffered on being forced to lose outon education. The young idealist believed in givingdirection to the fire within, not in extinguishing it.
In 1991, he started an informal “school”, teach-ing five to six children in his own house in theTikiapara slum. Thus began his lifetime romance witheducation. As the residents of the area became awareof this “school”, more and more children started com-ing and soon there was no place to seat them. Theenterprising Mamoon constructed a room on his own600 square foot plot of land. In that one room, theSamaritan Help Mission School was born with 25young and eager children flocking to it daily. Thegood Samaritan stretched his every rupee and can-vassed from door to door to raise �28,000 per annum(in addition to his own contribution of �10,000). Theorganisation has continued to steadily grow throughthe years. The catchment area of the school can breakthe determination of even the greatest optimist butMamoon is alive and equal to the challenge. The par-ents come from very poor backgrounds, some arerickshaw-pullers, drug peddlers and daily labourers.But with Mamoon’s effort, their dreams of educat-ing their children in an English-medium school hasbecome a reality.
Social responsibility: As an educationist,Mamoon is also sharply aware of his role of a socialreformer. Most children come from families afflict-ed with social maladies, with a large number of thembeing children of drug peddlers. Mamoon believesthat schools should have the right to exclude pupils
only as a last resort and that too, to pro-tect the other children in the class as wellas teachers. The excluded children, heavers, can be affected by anxiety, depres-sion and loss of self-worth. There is adecline in their mental health and childrenbecome very reclusive. The stress of theexclusion takes its toll on parents, too.
Mamoon knows the pain of depriva-tion only too well. At a time when thereis a widespread practice of pupils beingshunted off a school’s rolls in order tomanipulate its exam results or rankings inleague tables — he is doing his every bitto ensure that children remain at schoolduring the day. There are hundreds ofpupils who joined his school after beingbooted out of another one. Taking in asmany vulnerable pupils as possible is thecore of this teacher’s mission. His schoolis single-handedly ensuring pupils remainon the rolls. There are a number of young-sters who wouldn’t be getting an educationwere it not for the Samaritan Help MissionSchool. In a world where schools are clear-ly pushing vulnerable pupils out throughthe back door with little thought to theirnext steps and best interests, he is embrac-ing them with a cheerful heart.
With a little help from friends:When he canvassed for help from the com-munity around him, Mamoon reaped abonus — a strong connect with the com-munity. In 2007, the Samaritan HelpMission School became accredited andrecognised by the West BengalGovernment. Today, it is a co-education-al English-medium school, affiliated to theState Board of Secondary Education, withan enrolment of 1,300. The big thing is thatwith the school being an English mediumone, it makes a major difference to thefuture prospects of the kids once they goout into the world. However, the odds arestacked against the children of this local-ity given the inter-generational nature ofpoverty and the poor developmental out-comes that families face. This impacts thechildren in many ways. They battle pooracademic achievement, inferiority com-plex, maladjustment, lack of initiative and
an underdeveloped personality.Disheartened and discouraged by finan-cial stress and their own inadequacy, par-ents are ill-equipped to adequately supporttheir children. Sadly, parents in Tikiaparahave little motivation to invest in their chil-dren’s education. Fortunately, Mamoon’sconviction and commitment are unflag-ging and his enthusiasm is contagious,sending hope in the community.
Some of the students are orphans;some have run away from home; all areunderprivileged. The Samaritan HelpMission School charges them a measly ��a year, and that too because the teacherbelieves that people will not value anythingthat is free. Funds to run the school comefrom Mamoon’s savings and private donorswhose motivation is inspired by the goodSamaritan’s devotion. This led to an addi-tion to the original school on Mamoon’splot, the IR Belilious Institution onBelilious Road, covering two acres of landbequeathed by a Jewish couple, Rebeccaand Isaac Raphael Belilious. The schooltoday has a football field, basketball court,a water body, a two-storeyed school build-ing and a bigger one coming up close by.As a child Mamoon swam there, to latersee the water body turn into a municipalgarbage dump and the Government schoolthat used to run there become virtuallydefunct, the whole space go derelict andtransform into a den of drug pushers. Theland on which the second Samaritan HelpMission School stands had thus been agarbage dump for years until Howrah CityPolice and the Howrah MunicipalCorporation got together to create a con-ducive atmosphere for Mamoon to expandhis initiative. The police helped them(Mamoon and his staff) build a wall,remove encroachments and start a schoolthere.
Creating safe spaces for children atrisk: Many children studying in the twoschools attest to the fact that they have afun-filled, interactive and encouragingatmosphere and that the teachers areextremely supportive. Children areengaged in creative activities like sports,
quiz competitions, picnics and recre-ational programmes in the local parks.Regular cleaning campaigns in Tikiaparaare organised in which students, teachersand other volunteers take an active part.Mamoon has also introduced a paramediccourse for senior students. His policy ofinclusive education has ensured that theconstitutional right to primary educationis a reality in this slum. There are schoolswhich identify parents who are not well-educated and living in the slum. They areapproached informally and told that it “willbe difficult for your child to stay” in thehope that the parents agree to move outor home-school their child. But Mamoon’sschools are a safe learning haven where noone is shunned — either because of creed,low academic scores or poverty.
Innovative approaches: Mamoonsays that the process of teaching and learn-ing is an intimate act that neither comput-ers nor markets can hope to replicate. Itis a small wonder then that the technolo-gy-centric corporate business model hasnot worked in reforming the school sys-tem as there is simply no substitute for thepersonal element. There is no substitute fora good teacher and nothing more valuablethan quality classroom instruction. But wealso need more involved parents to makeleaning more effective.
The core objective of a school is to pro-vide high-quality instruction: Fosteringboth excellent teaching and a learning envi-ronment in which students can thrive.These schools don’t develop randomly ontheir own; an essential ingredient behindeach of these success stories is transforma-tional leadership.
A lot of good programmes got theirstart when one individual looked at a famil-iar landscape in a fresh way. What they didwas to simply change the fundamentalapproach to solving problems, and the out-comes have been truly revolutionary.Thus, people only need to summon theirwill power the way game-changers likeMamoon are doing to bring about change.
(The writer is a well known develop-ment professional)
In the fourth month of the lock-down, the UNICEF (UnitedNations Children’s Fund) had
warned India that if the nation does notseriously address the issue of hungerand malnutrition aggravated due to theshutdown and make proper arrange-ments for providing adequate nutri-tional food to underprivileged children,3,00,000 more kids under the age of fivewould die within the next six monthsand make the toll a total of around 12-13 lakh this year.
Even before the Coronavirus pan-
demic struck, the situation was quitealarming. In 2018, a whopping 8.8 lakhchildren under the age of six died inIndia, says the UNICEF. Nearly half ofall our children are underweight,about 45 per cent are stunted (too shortfor their age), 20 per cent are wasted(too thin for their height), 75 per centare anaemic and 57 per cent are defi-cient in Vitamin A. Half of the world’smalnourished children live in India.
The rate of malnutrition amongIndia’s children is almost five timesmore than China and double than thatin Sub-Saharan Africa, says a WorldBank report. A study commissioned bythe UNICEF in 2019 had found thatover 80 per cent of adolescents in Indiasuffered from hidden malnutrition.This includes deficiency of one or moremicronutrients such as iron, folate, zinc,vitamin A, vitamin B12, and vitaminD.
According to the Integrated ChildDevelopment Services (ICDS) Missiondocument of the Ministry of Womenand Child Development, out of the total
child births of 2.5 crore annually inIndia, child survival is only 1.75 crore.Infant mortality is 0.8 crore annuallyor 80,00,000 children die every year inour country before six months of age.This means that on an average as manyas 21,917 children die every day inIndia. Maternal and child malnutritionis one of the reasons for 68 per centunder-five deaths in India.
What has been the COVID-19lockdown impact? With job andincome loss on a large scale, closing ofschools and consequently the Mid-DayMeal Scheme (MDMS) andAnganwadis that gave hot, cookedmeals, a poor Public DistributionSystem (PDS) and poor implementa-tion of the announced schemes of freerations during the last five months,there is a situation of absolute pover-ty and hunger in our country that willhave a serious impact on the alreadypathetic nutritional status of our peo-ple, especially the children and women.
The UNICEF has estimated that120 million children living in South
Asian countries, including India, couldslip into poverty within the next sixmonths due to the COVID-19 crisis,taking the total number of such kidsin the region to 360 million. TheUNICEF also warns: “In the worst-casescenario, where health interventions arereduced by around 45 per cent, therecould be as much as a 44.7 per centincrease in under-five child deaths and38.6 per cent increase in maternaldeaths per month.”
In the last two decades, there havebeen many dialogues, debates, and legalsteps like the Supreme Court Judgmenton Right to food Act and so on toaddress the issue of malnutrition. Butthe schemes or missions rolled out byrespective governments proved to beinadequate. The ICDS, the flagshipscheme to address this crisis, has beendeprived of funds despite the apexcourt’s judgment for universalisation ofthe scheme. The fund allocation pat-tern has been changed to 60:40 in thelast few years, putting a major finan-cial burden on the States. With the
ongoing issues of lack of funds in States,things are going to worsen. In addition,there were drastic budget cuts. As animpact, according to the GlobalHunger Index 2019, wasting amongchildren in India rose from 16.5 percent in 2008-2012 to 20.8 per cent in2014-2018.
The much-acclaimed “PoshanMission” is just policing of theAnganwadi workers, who are alreadyoverburdened with non-ICDS work.Similar is the case of the other schemeslike the MDMS and the NationalHealth Mission. At present, despite thewarning bells, the announced packagesdo not address the problem of malnu-trition. Moreover, there is an absenceof a national composite guideline toaddress malnutrition at the communi-ty level.
To stop further loss of preciouslives, there is an urgent need for theGovernment to show political will torecognise the right to food/nutrition ofevery citizen of India, make qualityinfrastructure and basic nutrition ser-
vices schemes like ICDS, MDMS effi-cient with increased financial alloca-tion, so that the most marginalised andvulnerable are benefitted as well.
The pandemic has shown that thelakhs of community-based womencaregivers like the Anganwadi workersand helpers, Accredited Social HealthActivists and MDMS workers, are thecrucial link between the communityand policymakers. Their work must beregularised with minimum wages andsocial security, as recommended by the45th Indian Labour Conference.Otherwise whom do we expect to be“skilling” for the ‘Make in India’ pro-jects? The wasted, stunted, anaemic andmentally underdeveloped youth ofour country, who barely survived,cannot build a strong nation. Howmany more deaths do we need beforewe realise so many of our children aredying?
(The writer is general secretary, AllIndia Federation of Anganwadi Workersand Helpers and national secretary ofthe CITU)
Portland (US): Protesters andPortland police clashed againin Oregon’s largest city lateMonday, with demonstratorshurling rocks, punching apolice sergeant in the face andspraying a chemical irritant atofficers, police said in a state-ment. Twenty four peoplewere arrested.
The demonstration withabout 150 protesters tookplace outside a police unionbuilding that has turned intoa frequent protest site, policesaid in the statement issuedFriday.
The protesters withmakeshift shields gatheredearlier for their demonstrationin a park and officers movedin to take away the shields,
police said.A scuffle happened when
officers tried to seize a sign thatsaid “vote,” multiple videosfrom the scene showed, andpolice also used pepper spray,The Oregonian/OregonianLive reported.
Police in their statementcalled the protesters’ walkfrom the park to the unionbuilding a “planned unper-mitted march.” Most of thosedetained amid clashes werearrested on suspicion of inter-fering with a police officer anddisorderly conduct.
Portland has beengripped by nightly protests formore than three months sincethe police killing of GeorgeFloyd in Minneapolis. AP
Yerevan (Armenia): Armenianand Azerbaijani forces accusedeach other of attacks on theirterritory Tuesday, as fightingover the separatist region ofNagorno-Karabakh continuedfor a third straight day follow-ing the reigniting of a decades-old conflict.
Azerbaijan’s DefenseMinistry said Armenian forcesshelled the Dashkesan region inAzerbaijan, while Armenianofficials said Azeri forcesopened fire on a military unitin the Armenian town, settinga bus on fire and killing onecivilian.
Armenia’s ForeignMinistry “completely” deniedreports of shelling theDashkesan region and said ina statement that with thosereports Azerbaijan was layingthe groundwork for “expandingthe geography of hostilities,including the aggressionagainst the Republic ofArmenia.”
The previous two days of
fighting killed dozens and leftscores wounded. The Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Ministryreported 84 servicemen killedso far. Azerbaijan’s president,Ilham Aliyev, said Tuesday that10 civilians were killed on itsside, but he didn’t offer anydetails on the country’s military
casualties.The heavy fighting broke
out Sunday in Nagorno-Karabakh, which lies withinAzerbaijan but has been underthe control of ethnic Armenianforces backed by the Armeniangovernment since 1994 at theend of a separatist war. AP
Athens (Greece): US Secretaryof State Mike Pompeoexpressed support Tuesday fortalks between Greece andTurkey, NATO allies whoserelations have deterioratedsharply to the point where bothhad warships facing off in theMediterranean.
Speaking from the SoudaBay military base on the islandof Crete, on the second day ofa five-day regional tour,Pompeo said relations betweenthe United States and Greeceare “at an all time high and get-ting stronger.”
“Today I’m in Crete toshowcase one of America’sstrongest military relation-ships throughout all ofEurope,” Pompeo said.
“We, the Americans, lookto Greece as a true pillar forstability and prosperity in theeastern Mediterranean, andwe’re incredibly proud to sup-port its leadership.” Greecehas been looking to the U.S.And the European Union forsupport in its dispute with
neighbouring Turkey, which itaccuses of encroaching on itssovereign rights in the easternMediterranean.
Last month Turkey sent aresearch vessel, accompaniedby warships, to prospect forenergy resources in an areaGreece claims is on its owncontinental shelf and where itclaims exclusive economicrights. Athens sent warships ofits own to the area, and put itsarmed forces on alert. The dis-pute has led to fears of openconflict. EU leaders are to dis-cuss potentially imposing sanc-tions on Turkey for its actionslater this week.
But tension has easedsomewhat recently, withAthens and Ankara announc-ing they will restart an ongoingprocess of exploratory talks.
Technical discussions on amilitary level have also beentaking place at NATO for theavoidance of a military acci-dent, such as the collision inAugust of warships from thetwo sides, which reportedly
caused minor damage to aTurkish frigate and no injurieson either side.
“We strongly support dia-logue between NATO alliesGreece and Turkey andencourage them to resumediscussion of these issues assoon as possible,” Pompeo saidin brief statements after meet-ing with Greek Prime MinisterKyriakos Mitsotakis.
“I spoke with (NATO)Secretary-General (Jens)Stoltenberg just two days agoon the progress being made atNATO. And we hope thatthese talks can continue in aserious way.” Amid the tensionwith Turkey, Greece hasannounced major arms pur-chases, including fighter jetsfrom France, as well as war-ships, helicopters and weaponssystems.
“In the Mediterranean,there should be no wavescaused by threats and rivalry.It is a sea of strategic impor-tance, also for the UnitedStates,” Mitsotakis said. AP
Islamabad: The chief ofAfghanistan’s peace negotiatingteam said Tuesday on a visit toPakistan that the time hascome for the two neighbouringcountries to shun the suspi-cion, “stale rhetoric” and tiredconspiracy theories that havedogged past relations.
Abdullah Abdullah is inPakistan on a bridge-buildingmission meant to mend deep-rooted mistrust between thetwo countries. It was his firstvisit in 12 years.
Abdullah told the Instituteof Strategic Studies in the fed-eral capital of Islamabad thatthe two neighbors are on thethreshold of a new relationshipcharacterised by “mutualrespect, sincere cooperationand shared prosperity.”
“I am a firm believer thatafter many troubling years,we now need to go beyond theusual stale rhetoric and shad-owy conspiracy theories thathave held us back,” Abdullahsaid. “We cannot afford topursue business as usual. We
need fresh approaches andour people demand it. It ismore urgent than ever to lookto our region as one region. “
His statements come aheadof meetings later Tuesday withPakistan’s powerful army chiefand prime minister. His visitalso comes at a crucial time inAfghanistan’s troubled historyas a government-appointednegotiation team is in the Gulfstate of Qatar brokering an endto war with its Taliban foes.
Even before coming topower in 2018, Pakistan’sPrime Minister Imran Khanhas advocated for a politicalend to Afghanistan’s war andhas been a strong critic ofWashington’s so-called war onterror saying it has left tens ofthousands of Pakistanis andAfghans dead.
But many in Afghanistanhave been critical of the sup-port the Taliban received inPakistan following the col-lapse of their rule in 2001 withthe U.S.-led invasion ofAfghanistan. AP
Washington: As a presidentialcandidate in 2016, DonaldTrump seized control of theWhite House race and never letgo.
He masterfully defined anddenigrated his opponents withcutting nicknames and a say-anything debate style, andrepeatedly drew his rivals intothe controversies he created.
That’s proven far more dif-ficult for Trump in the 2020race.
Though he may still be themost visible and visceral forcein the White House contest, hehas repeatedly struggled tocontrol the contours of thecampaign against DemocratJoe Biden.
The president’s attacks onBiden have been scattershot andinconsistent, frustrating someRepublicans who believe hehas squandered repeatedopportunities to define his rival.
His efforts to move past thecoronavirus pandemic andonto issues he views as morefavourable for his reelectionprospects, including lawenforcement and the economy,have failed to convince manyvoters that the public health cri-sis is any less of a concern orthat his leadership during thepandemic has been effective.
Even Trump’s rollout ofJudge Amy Coney Barrett as hisSupreme Court nominee onSaturday, a pick aimed at ener-gizing conservative voters, wasovershadowed the very next
day by bombshell revelations inThe New York Times about hispersonal finances.
Tuesday’s first presidentialdebate between Trump andBiden offers the president oneof his last opportunities toreshape the race and colourvoters’ impressions of the for-mer vice president.
But with just five weeksuntil Election Day, votingalready underway in some bat-tleground states, and partisanviews among many votersdeeply entrenched, someRepublicans say Trump mayhave effectively run out oftime.
“Donald Trump is essen-tially facing three enemies inthis campaign: He’s facing thecoronavirus, he’s facing JoeBiden, and he’s facing the cal-endar,” said Neil Newhouse, aRepublican pollster.
Few leaders in either partyare ready to truly count Trump
out, particularly given thatpolls broke late for him in his2016 contest against HillaryClinton.
And in the lead-up toTuesday night’s debate, Trumphas previewed a broad attackon Biden’s record, his charac-ter and his mental acuity.
But his messaging hasinherent inconsistencies.
Sometimes Trump paintsBiden as a far-left candidate; atother times he argues thatwhile Biden is more moderate,he would be controlled by hisparty’s most liberal factions.
Trump has aggressivelyargued that his 77-year-oldrival has lost a step and isn’t upfor the job; yet in talking pointsTrump’s campaign sentRepublicans on Monday, theywarned that Biden’s abilities inthe debate should not beunderestimated.
Some of the president’ssupporters say they remain
confident Trump has both thetime and the political skill toovertake Biden in this finalstretch.
“President Trump hasplenty of ready-made ammu-nition he has been using effec-tively on the campaign trail,”said Ed Brookover, aRepublican strategist whoadvised Trump’s 2016 cam-paign before being ousted dur-
ing the general election. “They will resonate as peo-
ple learn more about VicePresident Biden.”
But privately manyRepublicans are perplexed thatTrump, who skillfully identifiedand preyed on his rivals’ weak-nesses in 2016, seems to still begrasping for the most effectiveways to define Biden at this latestage of the campaign. AP
United Nations: The UnitedArab Emirates has defended itsdecision to normalise ties withIsrael and criticised interfer-ence in Arab affairs, an appar-ent reference to its foes Iranand Turkey.
Emirati Foreign MinisterSheikh Abdullah bin Zayed AlNahyan, the brother of AbuDhabi’s powerful crownprince, made the remarks dur-ing a speech Tuesday beforethe U.N. General Assembly.
He proclaimed that theUAE’s decision announced inAugust to formalize ties withIsrael froze a controversialIsraeli plan to annex occupiedterritory in the West Bankclaimed by Palestinians.
Israel’s prime minister,however, has insisted thatplans have only been tem-porarily suspended.
“We hope this peaceaccord will provide the oppor-tunity for the Palestinians andthe Israelis to re-engage in
negotiations to achieve peace,”Al Nahyan said.
Palestinians have blastedthe deals signed by the UAEand Bahrain with Israel, whichwere brokered by the UnitedStates, as acts of betrayal.President Mahmoud Abbasused his U.N. Speech onFriday to stress that his gov-ernment has not given a man-date to anyone to speak ornegotiate on behalf of thePalestinian people.
Abbas said that the onlypath for lasting peace is an endto the Israeli occupation andcreation of a Palestinian state.
The Emirati foreign min-ister also warned against whathe said were “the expansion-ist ambitions of some coun-tries in the region.” Though hestopped short of naming anycountries, the UAE has longaccused Iran, Turkey andQatar of meddling beyondtheir borders in the affairs ofother states. AP
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Washington: Asserting thatSikhs in the US have neverbeen as safe as under theTrump administration, aprominent Sikh-Americanleader has claimed that theBiden campaign is trying to“demoralise and demotivate”the community.
Jasdip Singh, co-chair ofthe Sikhs for Trump, said onMonday that it was because ofPresident Donald Trump thatso many Sikh youths wereserving in the US militarytoday with their turbans andbeard intact.
This is because of the stepsthat he has taken with regardto religious freedom and liber-ty. Prominent Sikh Americanattorney Harmeet Dhillon isco-chair of Lawyers for Trump,he said.
“Sikhs in the United States
have never been as safe asunder President DonaldTrump. We are a martial com-munity, no one can bully us. Bysaying so, the Biden campaignis trying to demoralise anddemotivate us,” Singh said.
His remarks came a dayafter the Biden campaignlaunched the ‘Sikh Americansfor Biden’, an initiative to reachout to the Sikh community inthe US. The Biden campaignvowed to address the uniquechallenges, including xeno-phobia, being faced by theSikh community in the US.
In the November 3 presi-dential election, Democraticpresidential candidate JoeBiden and his running mateKamala Harris will challengeincumbent RepublicanPresident Trump and VicePresident Mike Pence. PTI
worth �31 crore has been pro-cured at minimum supportprice (MSP) in the last 72hours from farmers in Punjaband Haryana, while procure-ment has just commenced inother States.
With the latest procure-ment data, the Governmentaims to send a message tofarmers protesting against newfarm laws that it has no inten-tion of scrapping procurementat MSP. Farmers in Punjaband Haryana and several otherstates are protesting againstthe new farm laws, which theyfeel will lead to procurement inthe hands of corporates and theend of MSP regime.
The Union AgricultureMinistry, in a statement, saidarrival of kharif crops has justbegun and the governmentcontinues to procure 2020-21kharif crops like paddy at MSPfrom farmers as per the exist-ing schemes.
Paddy procurement com-menced from September 26 in
Punjab and Haryana, while itstarted on September 28 inother states.
In Punjab and Haryanaalone, about 16,420 tonnespaddy at MSP of �1,888 perquintal, totalling �31 crore,has been procured up toSeptember 28, it said.Of this, about 3,164 tonnespaddy has been purchased inHaryana, while 13,256 tonnesin Punjab from 1,443 farmers,it added.
For the current year, thegovernment has fixed the MSPof paddy (common grade) at�1,868 per quintal, while thatof A grade variety has beenfixed at Rs 1,888 per quintal.
The Government has alsogiven nod for procurement of14.09 lakh tonnes of kharifpulses and oilseeds for TamilNadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra,Telangana and Haryana underthe Price Support Scheme(PSS). The approval to otherstates will be given on receiptof proposal under the PSSwhich gets operationalised ifthe mandi prices fall below theMSP in the notified harvestingperiod, the statement said.
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Telecom major Reliance Jiohas questioned the
Department of Telecom’s ratio-nale to pause the policy ofannual spectrum auction anddemanded that the sale of air-waves should be held at the ear-liest to meet the demand fordata services in the country.
Mukesh Ambani-led Jioin a letter dated September 28to TelecomSecretary AnshuPrakash said that the nation-building policies should not bekept hostage to the vestedinterest of few operators anddelay in auction is hurting thenational exchequer as well asmaking investors jittery as per-ceived against the principle ofease of doing business.
The telecom major saidthat any delay in auction ofunutilised spectrum will lead toserious issues around quality ofmobile services in terms of calldrops etc and also result in“revenue loss to the govern-ment.”
“We are unable to findany reasonable rationale behindthis sudden pause in a suc-cessful and fruitful policy ofauctioning all available spec-trum every year, since theHon’ble Supreme Court deci-sion in 2012,” Reliance Jio saidin the letter.
The spectrum auctionswere held every year after theapex court order in the 2G case
in 2012 and the last was held in2016. “In order for sustain-able and orderly growth of thesector, to meet the nationalobjectives and for provision ofquality broadband for all, allo-cating sufficient spectrum isimperative. Therefore, we reit-erate that all available spectrumshould be immediately auc-tioned,” the letter said. TheDigital CommunicationsCommission, the apex decisionmaking body of theDepartment of Telecom, inMay approved the spectrumauction plan subject to Unioncabinet approval.
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The Indian cement industryhas started recovering from
the impact of Covid-19 helpedby pent-up demand andimproved rural markets, IndiaCements Vice-Chairman &Managing Director NSrinivasan said.
The company expects anuptick in demand on the backof Government’s push towardsinfrastructure projects such asconstruction of highways, ruralinfrastructure and irrigationprojects, Srinivasan said whileaddressing the 74th AnnualGeneral Meeting of IndiaCements Ltd (ICL).
“The industry has startedrecovering slowly from May2020 given the pent-updemand and the improvedrural demand,” Srinivasan saidwhile addressing the share-holders virtually.
During the first quarter ofFY2021, Andhra Pradesh andTelangana governments re-started their infrastructure pro-jects and housing for poorschemes. “With further relax-ation of lockdown measures,there are expectations ofincreased public spending onrural infrastructure, irrigation,road building and other pro-jects. This along with pick upin individual home buildingand construction is expected toimprove the cement demand,”he added.
According to DIPP data,the cement industry had asteep de-growth of 86 per centin production in April 2020and marginally improved toregister a de-growth of 39 percent unto June 2020, saidSrinivasan. “Based on the infor-mation available, the cementindustry in the south had alsoregistered a negative growth ofaround 45 per cent during thefirst quarter,” he said.
While talking about ICL’sperformance in the COVIDimpacted April-June quarter,Srinivasan said it reportedgood working results on theback of improved selling priceand sustained efforts on costreduction despite the steepdrop in volume caused by thelockdowns.
“The company achievedan EBIDTA of Rs 159 croreduring the first quarter as com-pared to Rs 245 crore in theprevious year during thesechallenging times with muchlower volume (was down by 52per cent) as compared to theprevious year,” he said. Totalrevenue of Chennai-based ICL,including other income, wasdown to Rs 5,085 crore in FY2019-20 as against Rs 5,659crore. As per the official esti-mates, the overall cement pro-duction for the industry in2019-20 had a “marginal neg-ative growth” to 334.48 milliontonnes from 337.32 milliontonnes in 2018-19.
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After two consecutive ses-sions of thumping gains,
benchmarks Sensex and Niftytook a pause on Tuesday amidlack of directional cues fromdomestic and global markets.
After starting the sessionon a positive note, the BSESensex was caught in an intensevolatility as the trade pro-gressed, paring all intra-daygains to end 8.41 points or 0.02per cent lower at 37,973.22.
Similarly, the NSE Niftyslipped 5.15 points or 0.05 percent to 11,222.40.
Analysts said that domes-tic equities traded on a chop-py note amid lack of directionalcues from the domestic as wellas global markets.
On the Sensex chart,ONGC was the top loser, shed-ding around 3 per cent, fol-
lowed by IndusInd Bank,PowerGrid, Axis Bank, HCLTech, NTPC and ITC.
On the other hand,UltraTech Cement, TCS, TataSteel, Titan and HDFC wereamong the gainers.
Of the Sensex constituents,20 logged losses and 10 regis-tered gains.
Sectorally, BSE telecom,utilities, FMCG, bankex, real-ty and power indices fell up to2.13 per cent.
On the other hand, con-sumer durables, metal, energy,basic materials, IT and autoindices rose up to 1.97 per cent.
Broader midcap and small-cap indices fell up to 0.16 percent.”After a gap up opening,the benchmark indices grewvolatile, before ending the dayflat. Global markets were alsoundecided and slightly negativefor the day as the outcome ofthe first US presidential debatewas awaited,” said Vinod Nair,Head of Research at GeojitFinancial Services.
With increasing coron-
avirus infections and chances oflocation-specific lockdowns,Indian indices were also uncer-tain, he said, adding that mar-kets are awaiting a trigger in theform of confirmation of a stim-ulus package by the govern-ment to boost economic activ-ity.
Market participants acrossthe globe are looking for cuesfrom the first presidentialdebate between US PresidentDonald Trump andDemocratic candidate JoeBiden, set for later in the day.
Asian markets endedmixed after a mildly higheropening on Tuesday ahead ofthe first US presidential debatelater in the global day, withinvestors also remaining cau-tious over the global economy’sprospects as coronavirus deathssurpassed the one-millionmark worldwide, marketexperts said.
Bourses in Shanghai,Tokyo and Seoul ended withgains, while Hong Kong was inthe red.
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The steady rise in caseloadsand the spillover effects of
the strict lockdown measureswill continue to undermineeconomic growth in the coun-try, says a report.
According to Dun andBradstreet’s Economy Forecast,concerns over the pace of eco-nomic recovery have deep-ened.
“The recovery now isexpected to be gradual as ris-ing infections pose constraints.Even if the growth takes theform of a V-shape, the level ofGross Domestic Product(GDP) will matter. Creditgrowth has not picked up asenvisaged,” said Arun Singh,Global Chief Economist, Dun& Bradstreet.
Moreover, with the creditguarantee scheme in place forSmall and Medium Enterprises(SMEs), credit off-take wasexpected to strengthen morethan the current level so far,Singh added.
According to various esti-mates, India’s coronavirus-bat-tered economy will witness
significant contraction duringthe current financial year.
India’s economy sufferedits worst slump on record inApril-June, with the GDP con-tracting 23.9 per cent as thecoronavirus-related lockdownsweighed on the already-declin-ing consumer demand andinvestment.
“The steady rise in case-loads and the spillover effectsof the strict lockdown measureswill continue to underminethe growth impulses during thesubsequent quarters of theyear. Constrained governmentfinances, contraction in invest-ment activity and probable
defaults, both at the firm andconsumer level will continue tobe a drag on growth,” Singhsaid.
According to the UnionHealth Ministry’s data updat-ed on Tuesday, the total coro-navirus cases in the countrymounted to 61,45,291 with70,589 new infections, whilethe death toll reached 96,318.
According to the Dunand Bradstreet (D&B) report,following the easing of lock-down restrictions, the pace ofcontraction in the Index ofIndustrial Production (IIP) isexpected to reduce further.
“The pent-up demand andre-start of small businessesand street vendors along withmedium and large firms arelikely to drive demand forindustrial goods. The index isexpected to rebound to thepositive territory from themonth of October,” the reportsaid.
During August, D&Bexpects IIP to have fallen by (-) 4 per cent to (-) 3 per cent.
According to official data,India’s industrial productionshrank 10.4 per cent in July.
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Rating agency Ind-Raexpects automobile sales
to decline by 20-25 per cent thisfiscal against its earlier forecastof 22-25 per cent on account ofincreasing preference for per-sonal mobility and an expect-ed demand rebound from ruraland semi-urban markets.
At the same time, the rat-ing agency has maintained anegative outlook for the autosector for the second half of thefiscal, owing to continued weakconsumer sentiments andmacroeconomic headwindsamid the disruptions caused bythe pandemic, Ind-Ra said in arelease.
The latest forecast ismarginally better than the ear-lier forecast of 22-25 per centY-o-Y decline in sales volumein FY2021, released in June thisyear, Ind-Ra said.
Favourable regulatorychanges such as GST cuts orincentive-based scrappage pol-icy could help demand revivalin the medium-term, the rat-ings agency said.
It, however, warned thatany significant spread of thevirus to rural India could affectthe recovery trend due to fur-ther disruptions in those partsof the economy.
Both passenger vehicles
(PVs) and two-wheelers (TWs)sales could fall 18-21 per centy-o-y in this fiscal while thedecline in the commercial vehi-cles (CVs) sales would be 30-35 per cent y-o-y in FY2021, onaccount of lower economicactivities, it said.
Ind-Ra further expectsauto volumes could post dou-ble-digit growth (in mid-teens) in FY22 primarily dueto a lower base over FY20-FY21.
According to the ratingsagency, lower affordability dueto job losses/ loss of incomewould shift consumers’ prefer-ence towards lower-end vehi-cles, especially PVs.
In 2Ws, motorcycles willcontinue to outperform scoot-ers as the former derives sub-stantial demand from ruralmarkets, it said adding CVsand more specifically mediumand heavy CVs would continuto see a muted demand due tolower industrial productionand excess capacity in thesystem, and any demandrevival, therefore, is unlikelybefore the fourth quarter of2021-22. Light commer-cial vehicles are likely to ben-efit from increased e-com-merce, and last mile trans-portation particularly for essen-tial commodities, it said in therelease.
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State-owned Oil India Ltd(OIL) has posted a profit
after tax of �2,584 crore withrevenue of �13,649 crore in fis-cal 2019-20, its Chairman andManaging Director SushilChandra Mishra said onTuesday. Addressing the 61stAnnual General Meetingvirtually, he said that during2019-20, OIL’s annual domes-tic production of crude oilstood at 3.133 million metrictonnes and domestic naturalgas production was 2,801 mil-lion metric standard cubicmetres.
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The Indian rupee lost fur-ther ground on Tuesday,
settling 7 paise down at 73.86to the US dollar, trackingweaker Asian peers againstthe greenback.
Besides, month-end dol-lar demand from importerstoo exerted pressure on theIndian currency.
At the interbank forexmarket, the domestic unitopened at 73.78 per US dol-lar and traded between ahigh of 73.75 and a low of73.91 during the session. Itfinally closed at 73.86, regis-tering a fall of 7 paise over itsprevious close.
“The slide in the Indianrupee continued for the sec-ond straight day, with INRhitting levels last seen inAugust.
The primary reasons forthe depreciation in the rupeecould be month-end dollarbuying. The dollar indexwas trading steadily againstthe basket of currencies,”said Nish Bhatt, founder andCEO, Millwood KaneInternational.
Bhatt further noted thatthe Reserve Bank postponingits monetary policy later thisweek also had a bearing onthe rupee.
The dollar index, whichgauges the greenback’sstrength against a basket ofsix currencies, fell 0.09 percent to 94.19.
Each day, new businesses are cre-ated with the aim of becomingprofitable and successful.
Businesses have always been inter-twined with the legal regulations, andwith the ever-evolving ecosystem, itbecomes necessary for lawyers andsolicitors to comprehend the impor-tance of business law. Business lawspecifically deals with the evolutionand establishment of new businessventures and any problems that mayarise as the business associates with thegovernment, other companies, and thepublic. It is, therefore, important tohave a business-law attorney repre-senting your business as well as toavoid any incidences of future litiga-tion.
Individuals need to be governed bylegal restrictions in a country in orderto operate with some measures.Similarly, businesses need to operateunder some legal guidelines. In the
absence of these laws, it will becomeextremely challenging to manage thevarious activities that are initiated inthe name of the business. The laws alsohelp to lay down the certainty and sta-bility to the stakeholders of the busi-ness, besides providing a means toresolve disputes and protect the pub-lic against any wrongdoings for ensur-ing better profits or assured sustenancein a highly competitive market.
It is important to enter someform of a contract while doing busi-ness. Let’s take an example of a whole-saler. A wholesaler wouldn’t shipshoes to the retailer unless there is alegal document or a force that can bindthe retailer to pay for the goods. Whena business enters into a contract withother businesses, it is important toknow who is bound to the contractand the outcomes in case the individ-uals who agreed upon the contract failto perform as legally outlined in the
contract.� Businesses need a universal set ofstandards: A basic understanding ofbusiness law helps the business own-ers and other professionals to makebetter decisions. There are several legalrules and regulations that apply tobusinesses, and they need these legalguidelines to resolve disputes andgrievances, provide certainty, defineunacceptable behavior, and protect theemployees.� Handling contracts and legalagreements: For a smooth businessoperation, it is important to keep allthe legal documents clear of discrep-ancies. Studying business law canequip young legal professionals to sug-gest their legal team to make theappropriate changes to eliminate anyterms that might seem conflicting withtheir business interests.� The rationale for judgment calls:Legal professionals need to tackle a
wide range of legal issues as a part ofday to day business operation.Possessing appropriate knowledge ofbusiness law enables the professionalsto not only fully understand these legalissues, but also their consequences andimplications for the business. This, inturn, proves critical in helping the pro-fessionals to make the most beneficialdecisions for the business. �Outlines the legal responsibilitiesfor the business and the consumer:In the day-to-day operations of a busi-ness, engaging with other parties likecustomers or vendors is crucial to anybusiness. Companies need to knowthat a set of legal responsibilitiesobligates them. Once it becomes com-plex, a clearly defined set of terms andconditions should be outlined by legalprofessionals to ensure the business-es' ethics and disputes are resolved inthe best possible way.� Help understand and manage
transactions: Exchange of moneytaking place between businesses, cus-tomers, or banks helps businesses tomake their transactions smooth. Butthe obligations associated with it arealso necessary to be understood.Business law makes sure that theorganisation is legally covered from allangles before any financial transactiontakes place.
The legal team also prepares thedocuments to ensure that the businessis protected on papers.
Business law as a specialisation isgaining popularity, and with a degreein business law, young lawyers can alsoexplore career options in differentfacets of business like legal fee audi-tors, transactional analysts. All thistranslates into a plethora of options forlaw graduates to engage in a mix ofbusiness and law.�����������#�������3�������������3������
The NSS Cell of Guru GobindSingh Indraprastha University,
Delhi, in collaboration with the NSSunit of Vivekananda Institute ofProfessional Studies, affiliated toGGSIPU, celebrated the NSS Day onSeptember 29, 2020. The event washeld online on Zoom and streamedlive over YouTube and Facebook.
The theme was — HolisticHealth and Wellbeing. Throughoutthe week, several online competi-tions were conducted includingposter making, cooking, sloganwriting, logo making, essay writing& recitation, NSS quiz and planta-tion campaign. The sub-themeswere — mental health, nutrition,physical health, environment, anti-
tobacco, harmful effects of drugsand unhealthy lifestyle.
The welcome address wasgiven by Dr BVR Reddy (pro-gramme coordinator of NSS Cell ofthe university). With motivating theNSS volunteers, he highlighted theprevious activities of NSS Cell andsaid: “We have 10 units and have alist of promoted activities at respec-tive units and also promote toadopt villages/slums so that, chil-dren get sensitised towards thesocietal problems and in a big way,university contributes in alleviatingprogrammes and finding technicalsolutions by sending our children towhat we call as special campaigns.These are our primary objectives.”
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The DefenceMinister of India,
Rajnath Singh onSeptember 29,2020launched A bouquetof flowers, a bookwritten by author DrKrishna Saksena, athis residence. This isthe ninth bookauthored by thesenior EnglishProfessor who is thefirst lady to get a PhDfrom Lucknow, UttarPradesh in 1955.
Through this
book, Dr Saksena,presents a series ofanecdotes that allowthe reader to extractthe moral of the sto-ries, rather than adidactic impositionof her views.
Speaking aboutthe book, Dr Saksenasays: “The book hasbeen designed toallow the readers totravel their journey,arrive at their per-sonal realisation andbe inspired. I hope thereaders enjoy andrelate with it.”
Business models across the worldhave changed and the expectations
of the customers' expectations, be it ser-vice or products, the ever increasingexpectations to run business is gettingtougher. With the change in the mod-els, the opportunities to start ups and runbusiness with support of other resourceswith combination of technology is ubiq-uitous. The opportunities to raise cap-ital funding and advisory services arealmost aplenty.
Hence the shift in the paradigm ofbusiness environment has undergone amassive transformation in recent years.This transformation has changed theperspective of our nation regardingvarious things including the approach wehave towards developing students for thechallenges thrown at the IndianEconomy and Prosperity. Earlier, we con-centrated on building job-ready studentsso that they can strengthen the econo-my.
However, this notion has changed inrecent years. Nowadays, we as a nationare more focused on developing studentswho can create job opportunities; stu-dents who can not only strengthen theeconomy but can also take our countrytowards development. Therefore, entre-preneurship should be encouragedamong students right from undergrad-uate degree education.
But, why should entrepreneur-ship encourage among students rightfrom undergraduate courses?
The best platform to inculcate thequalities of entrepreneur is the under-graduate degree education, and enhanc-ing interest and exposure to the oppor-tunities of being an entrepreneur andhelping them to develope basic entre-preneurial skills can give a strong foun-dation for students. It prepares the stu-dent for the journey ahead of them.Encouraging students for entrepre-neurship in the under-graduation level
allows them to develop and enhanceskills such as creative thinking, problem-solving ability, problem identificationability, time management, among others.
All these skills enable students toclimb the ladder of success quickly.Moreover, these skills also prove bene-ficial in personal development.Therefore, in recent years colleges areencouraging entrepreneurship throughcourses such as BBA.
How is BBA suitable to fosterentrepreneurial spirit as well as appro-priate skills?
BBA is a professional degree pro-gramme has the potential to expose var-ious business concepts that are basicrequirements to start a business on own,as well as the basic skills of accountingand finance, which are indispensible tobe an entrepreneur. It is also opening upchances to meet real life enterepreneursin the form of guest lectures to listen totheir experience and learn fruitful
lessons on the same. All the subjects ofBBA together will assist students inacquiring business knowledge and man-agement skills at an early stage.Furthermore, it also allows students tomaster in fields like finance, marketing,information systems, and internationalbusiness.
The course is distributed in sixsemesters that spread across three years.Its curriculum is designed in a way thatenables students to develop skills that areneeded in the management career. Thefactors listed below establishes ways BBAis helping students to achieve theirentrepreneurial goals.
The six semesters of the entire BBAcurriculum has the potential to offer ver-satile nature. It provides students with anin-depth understanding of manage-ment concepts and its implementationin the business environment. BBA pro-gram not only provides the students withtheoretical knowledge but also buildthem for practical applications of thisknowledge through internships. The endof semester mini projects and speciali-sation project with viva presents ampleopportunities to use creativity in com-pletion of projects as well as presentationskills, alongside earning experiencethrough internships.
The internship opportunity duringcollege duration gives students an expo-sure to the work environment.Furthermore, allowing them to learnmore about business practices. Alongwith it, they get a clear understanding ofthe domain they would like to pursue acareer.
While at the pursuance of thecourse, many of the management col-leges expose the students to special lec-tures in the form of entrepreneurshipevents, where in many real life entre-preneurs including the alumnus of thecolleges who turn out to be a successfulentrepreneur to share their experiencein a common platform to encourageentrepreneurship among students. Inconclusion, we can say that if one wantsto open their own business or enhancetheir management skills to pursue acareer in management, then BBA is theright choice for under-graduation.
Experts have been debating for the last fewyears that the introduction of machines,automation and digitisation will cause job
loss. The COVID-19 pandemic has proven itright, as the majority of work and other activi-ties, approximately 69 per cent, have movedonline.
Work online, buy online, learn online is thenew normal.
The pandemic has changed the mindset andparameters of hiring managers. During this pan-demic the online professional platform"LinkedIn" created a buzz by adding a tool to pro-vide help to professionals who wanted a jobchange. In a short span of time more than 30 mil-lion members have used this tool to help thembecome more discoverable by hiring managers.
It is now common knowledge that organi-sations that have skilled employees with exper-tise in specific skill sets can manage operationswith less staff but greater efficiency. That is thekey learning for professionals. Upskill, reskill, andexpand your skillset to prevent job loss in the newnormal that has been brought into focus by thepandemic.
There is a huge demand for professionals insectors such as ICT, FMCG, healthcare, logisticsand e-commerce to name a few, who are not onlyskilled in the relevant field but also possess goodproblem solving, communication, research andpresentation skills, and are also technologicallysavvy. It is expected that hiring in these sectorsmay go up by 15 per cent to 20 per cent duringthe current year. Even in the manufacturing sec-tor, organisations are on the lookout for indi-viduals with such skills.
India is a young nation with more than 65per cent of its population being less than 35years in age. It also possesses the largest work-force in the world. Our youth has an incredi-ble opportunity to become skilled in white col-lar and blue-collar jobs. Universities focusedon skilling such as Shri Vishwakarma SkillUniversity of Government of Haryana, aredoing a commendable job by skilling learners
through a unique model of two-way learning,in various sectors. In this model, theoreticaltraining is provided in the university by itsexpert faculty and the practical training is pro-vided through on-the-job training by partnerorganisations. Students get the chance toexperience practical training, through on-the-job to not only develop the skill sets in real lifesituations but also earn while they learn.
We hope this pandemic is seen as a wake-up call and more and more professionals andstudents embrace learning and skilling as a partof everyday life to make New India — SkilledIndia.��������������$������������;�������������������
Vidyamandir Classes, one ofthe leading institutes of the
test preparation industry, isdelighted to announce the launchof Vidyamandir Intellect Quest(VIQ), Its biggest admission &scholarship test of the year for onelakh plus prospective IITJEE andNEET aspirants.
VMC aims to pave the wayfor students scoring high marksin IITJEE and NEET through thislaunch. This exam will be con-ducted on October 24 andNovember 1, 2020 through theproctored online medium for
admissions in classroom andonline programmes starting April2021.
Students have the option ofselecting any of the two dates asconvenient considering festiveperiod during the time of exam.In lieu of the pandemic, studentswill get to study at last year fee asVidyamandir management hasdecided not to have the custom-ary increase in fees implemented.Upon qualifying, students canregister for the course at just�9,999 and pay the balance byApril 2021.
This is a huge opportunity forstudents as they can get mini-
mum savings of �50,000 on selectclassroom programmes uponqualifying and upto 100 per centscholarship on fees basis theirmerit and their score in thisqualifying test. It is also a chancefor the aspirants to be part ofunique pedagogy of VMC, whichoutshines in JEE Main 2020 (Sep)with six toppers from four statesDelhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Biharand J&K.
This exam is speciallydesigned for IIT/JEE and NEETaspirants who want to be a partof the top engineering and med-ical colleges and want to pursuecourses in these streams. This
exam is also a way for students tounderstand their current poten-tial and basis their marksobtained in VIQ, students cancomprehend their academic intel-lect. With VIQ Vidyamandir hasalso launched ProdigyProgramme which caters to pre-Foundation stage students whowill be entering Class VI to VIIIin April. These students will getto build their acumen for reach-ing their fullest potential. The reg-istration fee for the exam has beenrevised to �99/- during the lock-down. The students can visit thewebsite www.vidyamandir.comfor more information on VIQ.
FIITJEE’s Big Bang Edge Testwill be held across the coun-
try in Proctored Online Modeon October 18, 2020 for stu-dents presently in Class V, VI,VII, VIII, IX, X & XI (going toClass VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI &XII in 2021).
It is a unique platform forstudents aspiring all-roundexcellence as it will help stu-dents realise and maximisetheir current potential forNational and InternationalLevel Competitive as well asScholastic exams.this test isalso a scholarship test.
With the Big Bang Edge
Test, students will have a gold-en Opportunity to acceleratetheir preparation for JEEAdvanced, JEE Main, BITSAT,Olympiads, KVPY, X & XIIBoards, NTSE & Jr. Olympiads,without any break, impedi-ments and hurdles even amidstCOVID pandemic.
The test will showcase thestudent’s readiness reflectedby a single All India RankPotential Index for the goalsthey aspire for, such as JEE(Main & Advanced), KVPY,Boards, BITSAT, NTSE, Seniorand Junior Science OlympiadsKVPY, BITSAT and X / XIIBoards. For more details log onto www.bigbangedge.com.
In the current day scenario,education is making major
strides away from the erst-while ‘rote learning’ which wasits primary focus. Now, manycompanies look for individualswho do not just have a bag fullof academic qualifications, butrather skills and experiencethat they bring with them mak-ing them work-ready.
A survey conducted byVasitum, a recruitment start-up,and Talerang, employabilityand training organisation, hasreleased some insights byemployees about what theyconsider to be vital career skillsfor success in the workplace.
The survey has revealed someinteresting observations. Resultsshow that there is a consensusamong all about the importanceof skill development for jobs.Skill development is no longera matter of choice. It isinevitable to adapt, survive andsucceed.
About 45.5% of the partic-ipants are graduates and 31.8%are employed full-time withvarious companies, but notnecessarily having years ofexperience. About 14.9% aretrained professionals who saythat they acquired the necessaryskill-set on the job. This goes toshow the skill-gap that theexisting education regime needsto address on an urgent basis.
The JEE Advanced 2020organised by IIT-Delhi foradmission to the 23 IITs was
held on September 27, 2020. Therewere two papers — Paper-I amdPaper-II and both were compul-sory. Analysis of JEE Advanced(Paper-I):
Total Marks: 198The Paper had (54) questions
in total.It had three parts — Physics,
Chemistry & Mathematics.Maximum marks for each part
was 66.Over all analysis of Paper I:
Students found the overall level ofpaper moderate to difficult levelbut not easy. However, it was eas-ier compared to 2019 as per stu-dents.
Some students have reportedChemistry was easy to moderate,Physics was moderate but Mathsrelatively difficult.
In Physics almost questionsfrom chapter of Classes XI and XIIwere asked. Some students report-ed Physics was lengthy. Chapterslike Rotation, Work Power Energy,magnetism & Thermodynamicshad more questions.
In Mathematics, there werefive-six questions from Calculus.There were questions from
Continuity & Differentiability,Application of Derivative, DefiniteIntegrals. One question each fromProbability, Complex Numbers,Determinants and two questionsfrom 3 D Geometry.
In Chemistry, few questions onOrganic Chemistry compared toInorganic & Physical Chemistry.
No mistakes reported till nowas complete paper is yet to beanalysed.
Over all analysis of Paper-II:Students found the overall level ofthe paper to be moderately tough.
It was lengthy and toughercompared to Paper-I.
Chemistry was easy to mod-erate, Mathematics was moderate& Physics was moderate to tough.
In Physics questions weremore concept based and coveredall chapters. Questions were askedfrom Chapters of Fluids , RayOptics, Electromagnetic Induction,Current Electricity, RotationalMotion, Heat & Thermodynamics.Mixed concepts questions tookmore time.
In Mathematics, there weremore questions from Calculus &Algebra . Questions were askedfrom Functions, Limits, Continuity& Differentiability, Application ofDerivatives, Differential Equation.In Co-ordinate Geometry, therewas a question from Hyperbola. InAlgebra, there were questions fromPermutation & Combination,Complex Numbers, Matrices. A
question on Probability was hadlengthy calculations.
In Chemistry, questions fromall chapters were covered andwere Easy to Moderate level.Organic Chemistry had good no.of questions. In Physical Chemistrythere were questions from Chapterof Solutions, Atomic Structure,Ionic Equilibrium & ChemicalKinetics.
No mistakes reported till nowas complete paper is yet to beanalysed.As the test was comput-er-based students had the optionto clear response to change anyoption, they could mark it forreview, save and next to proceedfurther.
Every year, thousands of B-schoolaspirants apply for schools aroundthe world as a first step to secur-
ing a place in prestigious institutes.Cracking one of these schools is not aneasy task though. B-schools reflect thisrecognition and hence typically leantowards candidates who demonstrate all-round academic capabilities, a well-rounded personality, leadership quali-ties and intellectual vigour- attributesthat are seen to be important for successin the real world of business andfinance.
A key element of the admissionprocess to these schools is a standard-ised assessment test. Given the abilitiesthat are on test, the GRE is the one whichbest tests the students on the relevantmetrics. The GRE measures the students'verbal reasoning, problem solving, crit-ical reading and analytical writing abil-ity- in short, it’s a test for some majorcompetencies that are required for suc-cess in B-Schools as enumerated aboveand is structured as such.
The first section is the analyticalwriting section which is essentially a taskin writing two essays each spanning 30minutes. The first essay is typically writ-ten by the student on a topic as chosenby her stating her position on an issue.The second essay is then written to dis-sect the logic provided in the first essayand to figure out where the logic faltersand can therefore be improved.
The scoring is done on a scale of 0-6. Each essay is rated by a human read-er and an e-reader and in case of dif-ference in ratings, it's sent to anotherhuman reader and the average of the twohuman scores is taken. Analytical abil-ities and analytical writing in particu-lar are important skills which are notonly relevant to B-Schools but areextremely critical for success in the worldoutside.
This is followed by the verbal rea-soning section. This section places agreat deal of emphasis on vocabulary,logic and reading comprehension. Thisis important as proper vocabulary helpsthe student better communicate withpeers and others in an academic envi-ronment. To crack this section, onewould require a fair degree of expertise
in reading and reasoning skills. A fairamount of habitual reading should geta student past this section comfortably.This section is scored on a scale of 130-170 with one-point increments.
The last section is the quantitativeabilities section which involves problemsolving and quantitative comparisonsand essentially measures an individual'sability to interpret and analyze data andquantitative information using mathe-matical concepts. Quantitative reason-ing is also on test here. Students are alsoallowed to use the calculator for this sec-tion. As in the previous section, here toothe scoring is done on a scale of 130-170with 1-point increments.
The three-hour 45 minutes assess-ment is a section adaptive test whichmeans one can skip a question which istough and move on to another onewhich could be answered first andcome come back to skipped question.
An important feature of the GRE isScore Select option. On test day, thisenables a student to send scores from themost recent test or any other test takenwithin the last five years as per the stu-dent's preference. This has enabled stu-dents to send off their best scores, thusenhancing chances of success.
Applications are invitedfrom highly motivatedapplicants for the
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Application deadline: Thelast date to apply is December15, 2020.
Three wins from three games,two big rivals dispatched,
and an expensive new signingalready on the scoresheet.
Liverpool is making an omi-nous start to its title defense inthe Premier League.
The champion’s high-risk,high-reward strategy paid off inits come-from-behind 3-1win over Arsenal onMonday in an open gamefeaturing a late clinchinggoal by Diogo Jota in his firstleague start for Liverpool.
“This was absolutely excep-tional,” Liverpool managerJürgen Klopp said, “100% dom-inant against a team in form.”
Liverpool is one of threeteams to have opened with threestraight wins, including overChelsea and now Arsenal. Withtwo of its other main rivals —Manchester City andManchester United — having
already lost a game each, thestart to the season could hard-ly have gone better for Liverpool.
Arsenal dropped points forthe first time but was threaten-ing to beat Liverpool for a thirdstraight month — after wins in
the league in July and theCommunity Shield inAugust — when Lacazettetook advantage of a raremistake by AndrewRobertson to give the visi-
tors a 25th-minute lead.Sadio Mane equalized inside
three minutes before Robertsonmade amends by scoring him-self after controlling a crossfrom Liverpool’s other flying fullback, Trent Alexander-Arnold.
That wild nine-minute peri-od, featuring three goals, char-acterized a high-risk game planfrom Liverpool that causes chaos
for its opponents because of theway they are squeezed high up.
Break the press andLiverpool is in trouble, though,and Lacazette was playedthrough clean on goal in the sec-ond half for chances to equalize.Both of his efforts were tame andcomfortably saved by Alisson,and Lacazette was spotted hid-ing his head in his jersey in thedugout after being substituted.
Jota sealed victory in the88th by driving in a shot thatglanced the post as it went in,after David Luiz’s headed clear-ance only reached the edge of thearea.
“It's an amazing feeling, ofcourse,” said Jota, who recentlyjoined from Wolverhamptonfor 41 million pounds. “I justwish it was in front of a full sta-dium.”
Dubai: Australian all-rounderMitchell Marsh is unaware ofthe extent of his injury, whichruled him out of the IPL, asthe reports of the scans per-formed on his right anklewent missing in the UAE.
This was confirmed bythe cricketer himself onTuesday.
“We don’t really knowwhat happened with the scansover in the UAE. CricketAustralia haven’t been able toget their hands on them so it’sbit of a weird situation,”Marsh told reporters during
a virtual press conference.Marsh, who twisted his
ankle while going for a dive inhis franchise SunrisersHyderabad’s season openeragainst RCB, is currentlyundergoing a 14-day quaran-tine in a Perth hotel.
The injury cut short hisouting in the remainder of thelucrative T20 league.
Marsh, whose IPL cam-
paign in 2016 was alsoderailed by an injury, couldonly bowl four deliveries inhis spell before being helpedout of the ground.
“Hopefully I’ll go foranother scan at some pointthis week, if I can get clear-ance, and then we’ll be a lotclearer on what we’re dealingwith.
“This one is obviously
really frustrating and a littlebit unlucky. I’ve tried to divefor a ball like that a thousandtimes in my career.
“It’s one of those frustrat-ing injuries. I've been througha few now so I think I knowhow to deal with it. I moanedand groaned for about 48hours in the UAE,” Marshsaid.
The Australian, whoshone on the tour of Englandprior to the IPL, expressed hisdisappointment at not beingable to be a part of the actionin the UAE. PTI
Kolkata Knight Riders willhave to bat out of their skin
to stop a marauding RajasthanRoyals when the two teamsclash in an IPL match at theDubai International Stadiumon Wednesday.
Having started off asunderdogs, the Royals havetaken the IPL by storm, chas-ing down the highest tourna-ment total 224 against Kings XIPunjab in their last match.
In two wins from twomatches, the Royals have gotpast the 200-mark with ease. Intheir success, they have foundtwo stars in Sanju Samson andRahul Tewatia, who have out-shone marquee players.
In his second coming at theRoyals, little known Haryanaall-rounder Tewatia has gotinstant stardom for his 31-ball53 against KXIP, which helpedthe side chase down a record
224 with three balls tospare against KXIP.
But the season sofar belongs to Samson— the wicketkeeperfrom Kerala.
Boasting of the season’shighest strike-rate of 214.86,Samson has two successivehalf-centuries that has onceagain put him in contention fora longer rope in the Indianteam as a keeper-batsman.
Skipper Steve Smith hasbeen ever reliable, striking twohalf-centuries, while openerJos Buttler will be waiting toexplode.
To match or even surpassthe Royals, KKR have thebiggest stars in Andre Russellto go along with reigningWorld Cup winning Englishskipper Eoin Morgan, one ofthe best in limited-overs crick-et.
But both Morgan andRussell have got limited oppor-
tunities so far, having droppeddown to No 5 and 6 respective-ly.
The fixture might justfinally see them bat higher up,especially the star Jamaican,who was their highest run-get-
ter last season with 510 runs ata astonishing strike rate of204.81.
Having started off with afamiliar defeat to MumbaiIndians in their opener, KolkataKnight Riders put up a deter-mined show to bounce backagainst a sloppy SunrisersHyderabad.
Talented opener ShubmanGill’s unbeaten half-century,aided by Morgan’s late firepow-er overtook SRH’s below-par145 with two overs to spare.
Come Wednesday, it maywell be a run feast with no tar-get ‘safe’ against the Royals.
Dubai has been host toboth the Super-Over matchesthis season. The venue will bean unchartered territory forboth the teams who will beplaying here for the first timethis season.
For the record, the teamsbatting first have won all thefive matches here so far.
Sherif ’s fairytale Grand Slambreakthrough to set up aRoland Garros second roundclash against former championJelena Ostapenko on Tuesday.
Pliskova, a semi-finalist in2017, squandered eight setpoints in the opening set asworld number 172 Sherif, thefirst Egyptian woman to play inthe main draw at a Slam, tooka shock lead.
However, the Czech’sgreater experience eventuallytold as she recovered toprogress 6-7 (9/11), 6-2, 6-4.
“I think she was playingvery smart today. Of course shehad a lot of confidence justwinning three matches fromquallies,” said Pliskova of her24-year-old opponent. “Shehad nothing to lose.”
Latvia’s Ostapenko, theworld 43, won her first matchat the French Open sincesweeping to her shock 2017 titlewhen she fired 46 winners
past Madison Brengle of theUnited States to win 6-2, 6-1.
“After I won here it was atough time. I had to get used tothe pressure but now it’s allgone,” said the 23-year-oldOstapenko.
Meanwhile, a row wasbrewing after French player
Kristina Mladenovic suffered acontroversial exit against LauraSiegemund when the Germanplayer won a point off whatappeared to be a doublebounce.
The incident, which camewith Mladenovic 5-1 aheadand holding a set point in the
opener, was missed by chairumpire Eva Asderaki.
World number 44Mladenovic pleaded in vainand her German opponenttook full advantage, racing intothe next round 7-5, 6-3.
It was a second suc-cessive miserableGrand Slam for the2 7 - y e a r - o l dFrenchwoman whowas withdrawn fromthe doubles at the USOpen earlier this monthin a row over coronavirus.
Denmark’s Clara Tauson,just 17 and a qualifier,unleashed 48 winners to knockout American 21st seed and USOpen semi-finalist JenniferBrady 6-4, 3-6, 9-7.
Tauson also saved twomatch points on her way to afirst career main draw win.
Australian Open champi-on Sofia Kenin recovered froma break down in the final set todefeat 125th-ranked LiudmilaSamsonova 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
Fourth seed Kenin, whodumped out Serena Williams inParis a year ago, fought backfrom 2-0 down in the deciderTuesday to advance to a sec-ond-round tie against
Romania’s Ana Bogdan.
DJOKER WINSNovak Djokovic’s bid to
become the first man in half acentury to win all four GrandSlam titles twice got off to a
straightforward start onTuesday at Roland Garrosas a ‘double bounce’ rowprompted calls for videoreplays to be introducedin tennis.
World number oneDjokovic, returning to Grand
Slam action for the first timesince his US Open disqualifica-tion, eased past Sweden’s MikaelYmer, ranked 80, in straight sets6-0, 6-2, 6-3.
It was his 32nd win in 33matches in 2020 and kept himon course for a second FrenchOpen title following his 2016triumph, and 18th careermajor.
“It’s always a pleasure toreturn to Paris on PhilippeChatrier, this important court.The atmosphere is a little dif-ferent this year with few fansbut I remain motivated to winthe title,” said Djokovic, onlyone of two men to have defeat-ed 12-time champion, RafaelNadal, in 15 years in Paris.
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“No one can” and “no one shouldtry” to play like Mahendra
Singh Dhoni, wicketkeeper-batsmanSanju Samson said on Tuesday, reject-ing comparisons with the cricketgreat after taking the IPL by stormwith his incredible hitting prowess.
Samson cleared the boundariesat will to power his franchiseRajasthan Royals to two massive winsover Chennai Super Kings and KingsXI Punjab, thesecond oneending inrecord IPLchase.
After hisexploits, CongressMP fromThiruvananthapuram,Shashi Tharoor, calledhim the next MS Dhoni.
But Samson did not thinkso, quite like former India play-er and BJP MP GautamGambhir.
“I am sure that no one canand no one should try to playlike him. It’s not at all easy toplay like MS Dhoni, so leavethat aside. I never think ofplaying like MS Dhoni. He isa legend of Indian cricket,legend of the game,” Samsonsaid.
“I only focus on my game,what I can do, how I can do it
best and how I can win matches,” theKeralite added, again like Gambhir,on the eve of his team’s match againstKolkata Knight Riders.
With his belligerent knocks of 74and 85, Samson has again staked hisclaim for selection in the Indian team.
Asked if he thinks he has doneenough to attract the attention of the
national selectors, Samsonsaid, “I maybe, I maybe
not. The only think I know isI am in good form, my only
dream is to win matches for myteam, any team I play. My focus
is on the IPL right now.”Having performed
admirably well over the last fewIPL but probably not as muchin the domestic circuit, Samson
said he has started to under-stand his game better.
“I have understoodmy game, it’s more ofpower hitting. So I havebeen training on mystrengths on my powerhitting.”
He said playing mostof his cricket in Kerala andJaipur has helped him in
adapting to the hot andhumid conditions of the UAEbetter.
“I am in a very goodspace mentally. I have worked
closely with our video analystfor four to five months and that
really helped me improve.”
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Opener Jonny Bairstow scored hissecond fifty of the tournament asSunrisers Hyderabad posted a com-
petitive 162 for four against Delhi Capitalsin the Indian Premier League here onTuesday.
Bairstow smashed two fours and one
six in his 48-ball 53 and shared two cru-cial partnerships — 77 off 57 balls withDavid Warner (45 off 33) for the openingstand and 52 off 38 balls with KaneWilliamson (41 off 26) for the third wick-et.
Making his IPL debut, Jammu andKashmir's Abdul Samad (12 off 7) blast-ed a four and six in his useful cameo.
Put into bat, Warner and Bairstowwere circumspect with the pace trio ofIshant Sharma, Kagiso Rabada (2/21) andAnrich Nortje maintaining their line andlength.
The result was Sunrisers could onlyscore 38 in the powerplay, which yieldedjust two fours and a six — all hit by Warner.
Bairstow picked his first boundary inthe seventh over, launching a slog sweepfor a six off leg-spinner Amit Mishra(2/35).
The duo tried to make up for the lackof boundaries on the slow track with theirexcellent running between the wickets tokeep the scoreboard ticking.
Warner sent one straight over Ishant'shead for his second six and then picked afour off Mishra with a reverse sweep butthe spinner had the last laugh as he hadhim caught behind with SRH reaching 82for one in 10 overs.
Mishra returned to dismiss ManishPandey (3) before Sunrisers crossed the100-mark in 14th over.
Playing his first match of the seasonafter recovering from an injury,Williamson smashed two fours in the 16thover to take SRH to 128 for two.
Bairstow reached his fifty off 44 ballsbefore holding out to Nortje in the 18thover. Williamson too was dismissed in thelast over.
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Mumbai Indians’ decision to notsend Ishan Kishan, who was
striking the ball hard and clean, to batin the Super Over surprised many buttheir head coach Mahela Jayawardanedefended the tactic saying they hadfaith in their experienced players todo the job.
It was wicket-keeper batsmanIshan Kishan, who with his blisteringknock of 99 runs brought MumbaiIndians back in a stiff 202-run chasealong with Kieron Pollard (60).
However, the match had to bedecided via Super Over, where thedefending champions opted to sendHardik Pandya with Pollard.
The strategy backfired as all theycould manage was only seven runs offNavdeep Saini and lost the match toRoyal Challengers Banaglore.
Jayawardene said, Kishan felttired after giving his all during thecontest.
“If anyone could see, he (Kishan)was very tired at that moment and wewere thinking that we probably needa couple of fresh guys who can go andhit the ball,” the Sri Lankan said at thepost-match press conference.
“It is quite easy to say in hindsightthis and that, but Polly (Pollard) andHardik had done the job in the pastin those Super Overs, two experiencedguys who are capable of doing that.
“So you take a chance on these
calls and it could have gone either way.If we had 10-12 runs anything couldhave happened,” explained the coach.
Jayawardane had to admit thatseven runs were too small to defendeven for a bowler of the calibre ofJasprit Bumrah.
“In the Super Over, we had threedots, so that’s a killer for you becausewe lost a wicket and then we had acouple of more dots.
“We needed to make sure that weplayed some smart shots, get that earlyboundary away, which we couldn’t, wehad one, but a couple of boundarieswould have been really handy espe-cially when Booms (Bumrah) comesto bowl”, added the Sri Lankan battinggreat.
