T he Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected plea that sought the money collected under the PM CARES Fund for the Covid-19 pandemic should be transferred to the National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF). The decision has triggered a massive uproar with the BJP hitting at the Congress which said the judgment is a “body blow to transparency and accountability” of the Government to the people The court said the fund has been constituted with an objec- tive to extend assistance in the wake of public health emer- gency and no exception can be taken at this need of the hour in its constitution. A Bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan said it is for the Central Government to take the decision as from which fund what financial measures are to be taken, and it is neither for PIL petitioner to claim that any financial assistance be made from par- ticular fund nor this court to sit in judgment over the financial decisions. The observations came on a PIL, filed by NGO “Centre for Public Interest Litigation”, seek- ing a direction that all the money collected under the PM CARES Fund for the Covid-19 pandemic should be trans- ferred to the NDRF. “The Chairperson of the Board of Trustees (Prime Minister) shall have the power to nominate three trustees to the Board of Trustees who shall be eminent persons in the field of research, health, sci- ence, social work, law, public administration and philan- thropy... Any person appoint- ed a Trustee shall act in a pro bono capacity,” the Centre had submitted. Taking note of the sub- missions, the apex court said the PM CARES Fund is a pub- lic charitable trust and is not a Government fund. The Bench said it consists entirely of voluntary contribu- tions from individuals/organ- isations and does not get any budgetary support. “The mere fact that admin- istration of the Trust is vested in trustees, i.e., a group of people, will not itself take away its public character,” the apex court said. It noted that the contribu- tions made by individuals and institutions in the PM CARES Fund are to be released for pub- lic purpose to fulfil the objec- tive of the trust. “The PM CARES Fund is a charitable trust registered under the Registration Act, 1908 at New Delhi on March 27, 2020. The trust does not receive any Budgetary support or any Government money. “It is not open for the peti- tioner to question the wisdom of trustees to create PM CARES Fund which was constituted with an objective to extend assistance in the wake of public health emergency that is pandemic Covid-19,” the Bench also comprising jus- tices RS Reddy and MR Shah, said. Senior advocate Dushyant Dave, appearing for the NGO, had argued that he was not questioning the bona fide of constitution of PM CARES Fund. He had submitted that PM CARES Fund should not have been constituted when NDRF is already in place to take care of disasters. Dave also said NDRF is audited by CAG but PM CARES Fund is not audited by CAG rather by a private Chartered Accountant. The apex court, however, said the nature of NDRF and PM CARES Fund is entirely different. The guidelines issued under Disaster Management Act, 2005 with regard to NDRF specifically provides for audit of the NDRF by the Comptroller & Auditor General of India whereas for public charitable trust there is no occasion for audit by the Comptroller & Auditor General of India. Soon after the court dis- missed a plea for transferring PM CARES Fund to NDRF, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and BJP president JP Nadda on Tuesday hit out at the Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and his party for “doubting & questioning every step” taken by the Modi-Government to fight coronavirus and thus “weakening” the “national resolve” against the ongoing pandemic in the country. Continued on Page 2 T he political storm triggered over claims by a write-up in the Wall Street Journal that social media giant Facebook ignored hate speeches by BJP and RSS leaders further esca- lated on Tuesday. The Congress wrote a letter to FB CEO Mark Zuckerberg quoting Journal’s “explosive report” and pointed at the alleged favour shown by its policy head Ankhi Das. The BJP hit back at the Congress and cited speeches by its top leaders, which it said, were examples of hate speeches by Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. The Congress suspected that Facebook maybe a willing participant in the subversion of rights and values that “India’s founding fathers fought for” and demanded a time-bound high-level enquiry into the conduct of Facebook India executives over what it called its “blatant biases and dubious practices”. Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that the Congress’ charges were without a basis as he claimed that 700 BJP responses were removed from FB. “This is also a reality,” he said here at a Press conference while answering questions. Refuting special treatment meted out to the BJP leaders making “hate speeches”, Prasad referred to Sonia’s speech and quoted “aar paar ki ladayi” and Rahul saying “desh ke log PM ko dande marenge” and won- dered whether these do not come in the orbit of hate speeches.“Rahul thinks whoso- ever does not work on his line he is with the BJP and the RSS,” the Minister said. “Every Indian has right to convey his views on the media platform. Some think they should have monopoly and seek to dominate public dis- course in the social platform even after losing their political base”, Prasad commented defending his party’s position. The hard-hitting Congress letter, written by general sec- retary KC Venugopal, specifi- cally draws attention to the line in the article which states that Ankhi Das, who heads the Facebook in India, “has pro- vided the BJP with favourable treatment on poll-related issues.” A police case has also been filed against Ankhi Das, Facebook’s policy chief in India, for allegedly hurting religious sentiments and inciting people. The grand old party also levelled other allegations against the BJP and social media giants at a Press confer- ence at AICC HQ on Tuesday. Facebook should trans- parently put out details of all the hate speech posts since 2014 that were allowed on the platform, the letter said. “While the enquiry is going on, Facebook India’s operations should be led by a new team “so as not to influence the investi- gation”, the Congress letter demanded from the FB chief. Terming this a “damning and serious allegation” of inter- ference in India’s electoral democracy by Facebook India, the Congress said it is “deeply disturbing” that Facebook maybe a willing participant in the subversion of rights and values that India’s founding fathers fought for. Continued on Page 2 U nion Home Minister Amit Shah has been admitted to All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) for post Covid care after he complained of fatigue and body pain, said AIIMS in a statement on Tuesday, adding that Shah is comfortable and is continuing his work from hospital. “Shah has been complain- ing of fatigue and body aches for the last three-four days. He has tested negative for Covid- 19. He has been admitted to AIIMS for Covid care. He is comfortable and is continuing his work from hospital,” AIIMS said in the statement. Continued on Page 2 F antasy gaming platform Dream11 on Tuesday won the IPL title sponsorship rights with a bid of 222 crore, replac- ing Chinese mobile phone company Vivo for a four and a half month deal. Dream11 has been one of the IPL sponsors for a couple of years now. “Dream11 has won the rights with a bid of 222 crore,” IPL chairman Brijesh Patel told PTI. Vivo and the BCCI sus- pended a 440 crore per year deal for this season owing to the border stand-off between India and China. The IPL starts on September 19 in the UAE, moved out of India due to the Covid-19 pandemic this year. Detailed report on P12 I ndia is negotiating with 13 countries, including Israel, Australia, Japan, Russia and South Korea, to establish sep- arate bilateral air bubble arrangements for internation- al flight operations. Air bubbles also proposed with Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Nepal, and Bhutan. Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Twitter, “We are now taking these efforts forward & are negotiating with 13 more countries to establish such arrangements. These countries include Australia, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Nigeria, Bahrain, Israel, Kenya, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea & Thailand. Continued on Page 2 A head of the Assembly polls in Bihar, the Election Commission (EC) on Tuesday directed the States where elec- tions would be held in the com- ing months to frame broad guidelines within three days on the smooth conduct of the polling process amid the coro- navirus pandemic and report back to the poll body. The chief electoral offi- cers of the States/Union Territories will also prepare a comprehensive plan taking into account the local factors to con- duct the elections. The EC’s move comes amid demand by the RJD and the LJP to advance the Bihar polls in view of the coronavirus pandemic. The Bihar polls are scheduled to be held in November. According to the EC, the Commission on Tuesday held a meeting to discuss the fram- ing of guidelines for general/by- elections during the coron- avirus pandemic period. “The Commission considered the views and sug- gestions given by the political parties. It also considered the sugges- tions and recommen- dations made by Chief Electoral Officers of States and Union Territories. After considering all these, the Commission directed to frame broad guidelines within three days,” it said. The Commission also directed that on the basis of these guidelines, Chief Electoral Officers of election-bound States should also prepare a comprehensive plan for State or district concerned for Covid-19 related measures, taking into account the local conditions, while holding elections. The instructions from the EC comes at a time when the Assembly elections in Bihar have been in discussions after the rising number of coron- avirus cases and extended lock- down in the State. The term of the Bihar legisla- tive Assembly comes to an end on November 29 and polls are like- ly to he held some- time in October- November. The EC has made it clear the State of Bihar is likely to go to polls as per schedule in October-November. This despite Opposition parties demanding a postponement in view of the worsening coro- navirus situation in the eastern State. The Opposition parties have written to ECI demand- ing that poll body must look at the current scenario and defer the polls in Bihar. Continued on Page 2 R hea Chakraborty, who has been accused of driving boyfriend Sushant Singh Rajput to commit suicide, on Tuesday charged among other things that she has not received any money from Sushant’s bank account and that the actor’s inebriated sister Priyanka had once “groped” her while she was sleeping at Sushant’s home. In a statement on her behalf, her lawyer Satish Maneshinde said, “Rhea denies all allegations of abetment of suicide, misappropriation of funds and others or other- wise. Both the Mumbai Police and the Enforcement Directorate have been handed over all of Rhea’s financial doc- uments which clearly show the falsity of such allegations. She has not received a single trans- fer from Sushant’s accounts”. “All her Income Tax Returns have been examined by police as well as the ED. Neither of them has found anything incriminating against Rhea,” Maneshinde said. Alluding to an incident of “groping” that happened in Sushant’s home in April 2019, Maneshinde said, “In the initial months of their relationship, when Rhea had visited Sushant’s house, his sister Priyanka and her husband Siddharth were living with him. On one night, in and around April 2019, Rhea and Priyanka had gone out to a party. Priyanka consumed copious amounts of alcohol and was behaving inappropriately with men as well as women at that party”. Continued on Page 2 New Delhi: The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said on Tuesday that one of the three Covid-19 vaccine candidates would enter the third phase of the pre-clinical human trial by Wednesday. The information was shared by Dr VK Paul, head of the national task force on Covid-19, during a weekly press briefing. The Ministry officials said that the vaccine candidate entering the third phase has yielded encourag- ing results in the initial phases of its trial. T he Enforcement Directorate (ED) recorded the statement of late film star Sushant Singh Rajput’s father Krishna Kumar Singh on Monday in connection with a money laundering case, an off- shoot of the Patna police FIR relating to abetment of suicide of the actor allegedly by actress Rhea Chakraborty and others. Singh (74), was asked to provide evidence, if any, in sup- port of his charge that Rhea Chakraborty swindled 15 crore off Sushant’s account. Rajput’s father had last month filed a complaint with the Bihar Police against the late actor’s friend and actor Rhea Chakraborty, her family mem- bers and others alleging they abetted his son’s suicide. Continued on Page 2 T he stalemate over the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal continues. The much-hyped meeting between the Chief Ministers of Punjab and Haryana over the politically- sensitive issue of construction of SYL canal remained incon- clusive but ended with the decision of holding another round of talks to arrive at a res- olution within two weeks. Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh has vehemently opposed the con- struction of SYL canal during his video conferencing with Khattar and Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, who were present at New Delhi. Calling SYL an “emotive issue which could disturb national security”, Capt Amarinder said Punjab is reluctant to share water with Haryana and Rajasthan, as “it has nothing to spare”. “You have to look at the issue from the national securi- ty perspective,” he told Shekhawat during the meeting, adding, “If you decide to go ahead with SYL, Punjab will burn and it will become a national problem, with Haryana and Rajasthan also suffering the impact.” However, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar strongly advocated for the ear- liest honouring of the verdict of Supreme Court to complete the construction of SYL canal. He emphasised the immediate need for the creation of carry- ing capacity to draw the legit- imate share of water allocated to Haryana. The Tuesday’s meeting was held on the directions of the Supreme Court, which had asked the two States on July 28 to discuss the completion of the SYL canal, which is in the works for several decades, while asking the Centre to mediate between the two and submit report in the court when the matter would be taken up in the third week of August. Continued on Page 2
Transcript
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The Supreme Court onTuesday rejected plea that
sought the money collectedunder the PM CARES Fund forthe Covid-19 pandemic shouldbe transferred to the NationalDisaster Relief Fund (NDRF).
The decision has triggereda massive uproar with the BJPhitting at the Congress whichsaid the judgment is a “bodyblow to transparency andaccountability” of theGovernment to the people
The court said the fund hasbeen constituted with an objec-tive to extend assistance in thewake of public health emer-gency and no exception can betaken at this need of the hourin its constitution.
A Bench headed by JusticeAshok Bhushan said it is for theCentral Government to takethe decision as from whichfund what financial measuresare to be taken, and it is neither for PIL petitioner toclaim that any financial assistance be made from par-ticular fund nor this court to sitin judgment over the financialdecisions.
The observations came ona PIL, filed by NGO “Centre forPublic Interest Litigation”, seek-ing a direction that all themoney collected under the PMCARES Fund for the Covid-19pandemic should be trans-ferred to the NDRF.
“The Chairperson of theBoard of Trustees (PrimeMinister) shall have the power
to nominate three trustees tothe Board of Trustees whoshall be eminent persons in thefield of research, health, sci-ence, social work, law, publicadministration and philan-thropy... Any person appoint-ed a Trustee shall act in a probono capacity,” the Centre hadsubmitted.
Taking note of the sub-missions, the apex court saidthe PM CARES Fund is a pub-lic charitable trust and is not aGovernment fund.
The Bench said it consistsentirely of voluntary contribu-tions from individuals/organ-isations and does not get anybudgetary support.
“The mere fact that admin-istration of the Trust is vestedin trustees, i.e., a group ofpeople, will not itself take awayits public character,” the apex court said.
It noted that the contribu-tions made by individuals andinstitutions in the PM CARESFund are to be released for pub-lic purpose to fulfil the objec-tive of the trust.
“The PM CARES Fund isa charitable trust registeredunder the Registration Act,1908 at New Delhi on March27, 2020. The trust does notreceive any Budgetary supportor any Government money.
“It is not open for the peti-tioner to question the wisdomof trustees to create PM CARESFund which was constitutedwith an objective to extendassistance in the wake of public health emergencythat is pandemic Covid-19,”
the Bench also comprising jus-tices RS Reddy and MR Shah, said.
Senior advocate DushyantDave, appearing for the NGO,had argued that he was notquestioning the bona fide ofconstitution of PM CARESFund. He had submitted thatPM CARES Fund should nothave been constituted whenNDRF is already in place totake care of disasters.
Dave also said NDRF isaudited by CAG but PMCARES Fund is not audited byCAG rather by a privateChartered Accountant.
The apex court, however,said the nature of NDRF andPM CARES Fund is entirelydifferent.
The guidelines issuedunder Disaster Management
Act, 2005 with regard to NDRFspecifically provides for auditof the NDRF by theComptroller & AuditorGeneral of India whereas forpublic charitable trust there isno occasion for audit by theComptroller & AuditorGeneral of India.
Soon after the court dis-missed a plea for transferringPM CARES Fund to NDRF,Law Minister Ravi ShankarPrasad and BJP president JPNadda on Tuesday hit out at theCongress leader Rahul Gandhiand his party for “doubting &questioning every step” takenby the Modi-Government tofight coronavirus and thus“weakening” the “nationalresolve” against the ongoingpandemic in the country.
Continued on Page 2
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The political storm triggeredover claims by a write-up in
the Wall Street Journal thatsocial media giant Facebookignored hate speeches by BJPand RSS leaders further esca-lated on Tuesday.
The Congress wrote a letterto FB CEO Mark Zuckerbergquoting Journal’s “explosivereport” and pointed at thealleged favour shown by itspolicy head Ankhi Das. The BJPhit back at the Congress andcited speeches by its top leaders,which it said, were examples ofhate speeches by Sonia Gandhiand Rahul Gandhi.
The Congress suspectedthat Facebook maybe a willingparticipant in the subversion ofrights and values that “India’sfounding fathers fought for”and demanded a time-boundhigh-level enquiry into theconduct of Facebook Indiaexecutives over what it called its “blatant biases and dubiouspractices”.
Law Minister Ravi ShankarPrasad said that the Congress’charges were without a basis ashe claimed that 700 BJPresponses were removed fromFB. “This is also a reality,” hesaid here at a Press conferencewhile answering questions.
Refuting special treatmentmeted out to the BJP leadersmaking “hate speeches”, Prasadreferred to Sonia’s speech andquoted “aar paar ki ladayi” andRahul saying “desh ke log PMko dande marenge” and won-
dered whether these do notcome in the orbit of hatespeeches.“Rahul thinks whoso-ever does not work on his linehe is with the BJP and the RSS,”the Minister said.
“Every Indian has right toconvey his views on the mediaplatform. Some think theyshould have monopoly andseek to dominate public dis-course in the social platformeven after losing their politicalbase”, Prasad commenteddefending his party’s position.
The hard-hitting Congressletter, written by general sec-retary KC Venugopal, specifi-cally draws attention to the linein the article which states thatAnkhi Das, who heads theFacebook in India, “has pro-vided the BJP with favourabletreatment on poll-relatedissues.” A police case has alsobeen filed against Ankhi Das,Facebook’s policy chief in India,for allegedly hurting religious
sentiments and inciting people.The grand old party also
levelled other allegationsagainst the BJP and socialmedia giants at a Press confer-ence at AICC HQ on Tuesday.
Facebook should trans-parently put out details of allthe hate speech posts since2014 that were allowed on theplatform, the letter said. “Whilethe enquiry is going on,Facebook India’s operationsshould be led by a new team “soas not to influence the investi-gation”, the Congress letterdemanded from the FB chief.
Terming this a “damningand serious allegation” of inter-ference in India’s electoraldemocracy by Facebook India,the Congress said it is “deeplydisturbing” that Facebookmaybe a willing participant inthe subversion of rights andvalues that India’s foundingfathers fought for.
Continued on Page 2
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Union Home Minister AmitShah has been admitted to
All India Institute of MedicalScience (AIIMS) for post Covidcare after he complained offatigue and body pain, saidAIIMS in a statement onTuesday, adding that Shah iscomfortable and is continuinghis work from hospital.
“Shah has been complain-ing of fatigue and body achesfor the last three-four days. Hehas tested negative for Covid-19. He has been admitted toAIIMS for Covid care. He iscomfortable and is continuinghis work from hospital,” AIIMSsaid in the statement.
Continued on Page 2
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Fantasy gaming platformDream11 on Tuesday won
the IPL title sponsorship rightswith a bid of �222 crore, replac-ing Chinese mobile phonecompany Vivo for a four and ahalf month deal.
Dream11 has been one ofthe IPL sponsors for a coupleof years now.
“Dream11 has won the
rights with a bid of �222 crore,”IPL chairman Brijesh Pateltold PTI.
Vivo and the BCCI sus-pended a �440 crore per yeardeal for this season owing tothe border stand-off betweenIndia and China.
The IPL starts onSeptember 19 in the UAE,moved out of India due to theCovid-19 pandemic this year.
Detailed report on P12
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India is negotiating with 13countries, including Israel,
Australia, Japan, Russia andSouth Korea, to establish sep-arate bilateral air bubblearrangements for internation-al flight operations. Air bubblesalso proposed with Sri Lanka,Bangladesh, Afghanistan,Nepal, and Bhutan.
Civil Aviation Minister
Hardeep Singh Puri said onTwitter, “We are now takingthese efforts forward & arenegotiating with 13 more countries to establish sucharrangements.
These countries includeAustralia, Italy, Japan, NewZealand, Nigeria, Bahrain,Israel, Kenya, Philippines,Russia, Singapore, South Korea& Thailand.
Continued on Page 2
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Ahead of the Assembly pollsin Bihar, the Election
Commission (EC) on Tuesdaydirected the States where elec-tions would be held in the com-ing months to frame broadguidelines within three days onthe smooth conduct of thepolling process amid the coro-navirus pandemic and reportback to the poll body.
The chief electoral offi-cers of the States/UnionTerritories will also prepare acomprehensive plan taking intoaccount the local factors to con-duct the elections.
The EC’s move comesamid demand by the RJD andthe LJP to advance the Biharpolls in view of the coronaviruspandemic. The Bihar polls are
scheduled to be held inNovember.
According to the EC, theCommission on Tuesday helda meeting to discuss the fram-ing of guidelines for general/by-elections during the coron-avirus pandemic period. “TheCommissionconsidered theviews and sug-gestions givenby the politicalparties. It alsoconsideredthe sugges-tions andrecommen-dations made byChief Electoral Officers of Statesand Union Territories. Afterconsidering all these, theCommission directed to framebroad guidelines within threedays,” it said.
The Commission alsodirected that on the basis ofthese guidelines, Chief ElectoralOfficers of election-boundStates should also prepare acomprehensive plan for State ordistrict concerned for Covid-19
related measures, taking intoaccount the local conditions,while holding elections.
The instructions from theEC comes at a time when theAssembly elections in Biharhave been in discussions afterthe rising number of coron-avirus cases and extended lock-down in the State. The term of
the Bihar legisla-tive Assemblycomes to an end
on November 29and polls are like-
ly to he held some-time in October-
November.The EC has made it clear
the State of Bihar is likely to goto polls as per schedule inOctober-November. Thisdespite Opposition partiesdemanding a postponementin view of the worsening coro-navirus situation in the easternState. The Opposition partieshave written to ECI demand-ing that poll body must look atthe current scenario and deferthe polls in Bihar.
Continued on Page 2
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Rhea Chakraborty, who hasbeen accused of driving
boyfriend Sushant Singh Rajputto commit suicide, on Tuesdaycharged among other thingsthat she has not received anymoney from Sushant’s bankaccount and that the actor’sinebriated sister Priyanka hadonce “groped” her while shewas sleeping at Sushant’s home.
In a statement on herbehalf, her lawyer SatishManeshinde said, “Rhea deniesall allegations of abetment ofsuicide, misappropriation offunds and others or other-wise. Both the Mumbai Policeand the EnforcementDirectorate have been handedover all of Rhea’s financial doc-
uments which clearly show thefalsity of such allegations. Shehas not received a single trans-fer from Sushant’s accounts”.
“All her Income TaxReturns have been examinedby police as well as the ED.Neither of them has found
Alluding to an incident of“groping” that happened inSushant’s home in April 2019,Maneshinde said, “In the initialmonths of their relationship,when Rhea had visitedSushant’s house, his sisterPriyanka and her husband
Siddharth were living withhim. On one night, in andaround April 2019, Rhea andPriyanka had gone out to aparty. Priyanka consumedcopious amounts of alcohol andwas behaving inappropriatelywith men as well as women atthat party”.
Continued on Page 2
New Delhi: The Ministry of Health and FamilyWelfare said on Tuesday that one of the threeCovid-19 vaccine candidates would enter thethird phase of the pre-clinical human trial byWednesday. The information was shared by Dr
VK Paul, head of the national task force onCovid-19, during a weekly press briefing. TheMinistry officials said that the vaccine candidateentering the third phase has yielded encourag-ing results in the initial phases of its trial.
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The EnforcementDirectorate (ED) recorded
the statement of late film starSushant Singh Rajput’s fatherKrishna Kumar Singh onMonday in connection with amoney laundering case, an off-shoot of the Patna police FIRrelating to abetment of suicideof the actor allegedly by actressRhea Chakraborty and others.
Singh (74), was asked toprovide evidence, if any, in sup-port of his charge that RheaChakraborty swindled �15 crore off Sushant’s account.
Rajput’s father had lastmonth filed a complaint withthe Bihar Police against the lateactor’s friend and actor RheaChakraborty, her family mem-bers and others alleging theyabetted his son’s suicide.
The stalemate over the SutlejYamuna Link (SYL) canal
continues. The much-hypedmeeting between the ChiefMinisters of Punjab andHaryana over the politically-sensitive issue of constructionof SYL canal remained incon-clusive but ended with thedecision of holding another
round of talks to arrive at a res-olution within two weeks.
Punjab Chief MinisterCapt Amarinder Singh hasvehemently opposed the con-struction of SYL canal duringhis video conferencing withKhattar and Union Jal ShaktiMinister Gajendra SinghShekhawat, who were presentat New Delhi.
Calling SYL an “emotiveissue which could disturbnational security”, CaptAmarinder said Punjab isreluctant to share water withHaryana and Rajasthan, as “ithas nothing to spare”.
“You have to look at theissue from the national securi-ty perspective,” he toldShekhawat during the meeting,
adding, “If you decide to goahead with SYL, Punjab willburn and it will become anational problem, withHaryana and Rajasthan alsosuffering the impact.”
However, Haryana ChiefMinister Manohar Lal Khattarstrongly advocated for the ear-
liest honouring of the verdict ofSupreme Court to complete theconstruction of SYL canal. Heemphasised the immediateneed for the creation of carry-ing capacity to draw the legit-imate share of water allocatedto Haryana.
The Tuesday’s meeting washeld on the directions of theSupreme Court, which hadasked the two States on July 28to discuss the completion of theSYL canal, which is in theworks for several decades,while asking the Centre tomediate between the two andsubmit report in the courtwhen the matter would betaken up in the third week ofAugust.
breached the daily coron-avirus fatality mark of 400 onTuesday, as Covid-19 claimed422 lives, while 11,119 peopletested positive in various partsof the state.
Earlier on August 13, asmany as 413 people had suc-cumbed to the pandemic inthe state. With Tuesday’s all-time high tally of 422 deaths,the total number of deaths in
the state mounted to 20,687. With 11,119 fresh infec-
tions, the total number ofinfections in the state jumpedto 6,15,477.
Pune with 1,34,913 freshcases continued to race aheadof Mumbai with 1,30,410 interms of the virus spread.
Of the 422 deaths report-ed on Tuesday, Pune account-ed for a highest of 89 deaths,while there were 61 deaths inRaigad, 49 deaths each inMumbai and Thane and 34deaths in Nagpur.
Similarly, there were 17deaths each in Nashik andAhmednagar, 16 in Kolhapur,13 in Solapur, 11 each inJalgaon, Satara and Sangli, inthe middle range.
On the lower side, therewere 6 fatalities in Beed, 4each in Dhule, Latur,Osmanabad and Amravati, 3each in Palghar, Nandurbarand Ratnagiri, 2 each inHingoli, Nanded, Akola andChandrapur and one deatheach in Sindhudurg, Parbhaniand Buldhana. In addition,
two from other states died ofthe pandemic in Maharashtra.
At 49 deaths, Mumbai’sdaily fatality tally continuedto below 50-mark.
The total number ofdeaths in the metropolis rosefrom 7173 to 7,222 while thetotal number of infected casesincreased by 931 to touch1,30,410.
Pune, which has emergedas the worst affected city-dis-trict in terms of spread of thepandemic, has recorded1,34,913 infections, while
there have been 3336 deathstill now.
With 1,15,923 infectedcases and 3,400 deaths, Thanecontinued to be the third-worst hit distr ict inMaharashtra.
In a related development,as many as 9356 patients weredischarged from hospitals inthe state after full recovery,taking the total number ofpatients discharged from var-ious hospitals after full recov-ery since the second week ofMarch this year to 4,37,870
The recovery rate went up to71.4 per cent. The mortalityrate in the state is 3.35 percent. The state health author-ities pegged the number of“active cases” in the state at1,56,608.
Out of 32,64,384+ sam-ples sent to laboratories,6,15,477 have tested positive(18.85 per cent) for COVID-19 until Tuesday.
Currently, 11,35,749 peo-ple are in home quarantinewhile 38,175 people are ininstitutional quarantine.
Affairs Minister S Jaishankarwill deliver a major address onIndia-US relationship during avirtual leadership summit thatwill discuss enhancing eco-nomic and strategic collabora-tion between the two countries.
Titled 'US-IndiaWeek: Navigating NewChallenges', the summit isbeing organised by businessadvocacy group US IndiaStrategic and PartnershipForum (USISPF) from August31- September 3.
“We are honoured anddelighted to have VicePresident Pence join us for oursummit — a exceptionalinstance of the deepening com-mitment of the administration towards Indiaand the Indo-Pacific region,”USISPF president MukeshAghi said on Tuesday.“At a time of tremendous geo-economic and geo-politicaldisruption, a lot is riding on thesuccess and vitality of the US-India bilateral relationship,”he said.
The week-long third lead-ership summit of USISPF willdiscuss enhancing economicand strategic collaborationbetween the US and India dur-ing a transformative periodfor the global economy.
“Our week-long conversation during the US-India week highlights the depthand breadth of the partnershipas well as the urgency to builda strong architecture for thebilateral ties by consistentlybuilding on existing areas ofcollaboration — from defenceto energy, agriculture andhealthcare — but also with aneye towards the future to deep-en collaboration in areas suchas biosecurity, 5G, artificialintelligence, and startups,” Aghisaid.
Among other high-rankingUS and Indian governmentofficials participating at theleadership summit include:Piyush Goyal, Minister ofCommerce & Industry ;Kenneth Juster, USAmbassador to India and hisIndian counterpart TaranjitSingh Sandhu; and AmitabhKant, CEO, Niti Aayog.
to coronavirus and rains. Nofresh schedule has beenannounced as yet.
The authorities have askedpeople to wear face masks and
maintain social distancingamong other measures to checkthe spread of coronavirus,which has infected over 1 lakhpeople in Bihar.
The EC had last monthasked the parties to send their“views and suggestions...so thatnecessary guidelines may befirmed up for the election cam-paign by candidates or politi-cal parties for the conduct ofelection during the pandemicperiod”.
Parties such as the RJD andthe CPI(M) are learnt to beopposed to the concept of “vir-tual campaigning” in theAssembly polls.
Earlier too, in a memoran-dum submitted to the EC inJuly, nine Opposition partieshad questioned the digital cam-paign launched by the BJP inBihar, saying it disturbs thelevel-playing field. They haddemanded normal election-eering.
Asked whether the guide-lines would propose a mix ofdigital and physical campaign-ing, a senior official said all fac-tors would be kept in mindwhile formulating the docu-ment.
From Page 1Rajput (34), was reportedly found hang-
ing at his Bandra home in Mumbai on June14 and the Mumbai Police is probing the mat-ter under CrPC Section relating to acciden-tal death. During the recording of the state-ment by the ED, Singh was asked aboutRajput’s income, investments, professionalassignments and relationship with RheaChakraborty and others.
The ED had also questioned Rajput’selder sister Meetu Singh at its office inMumbai last week.
From Page 1Puri said air bubbles have
also been proposed with ourneighbours Sri Lanka,Bangladesh, Afghanistan,Nepal, and Bhutan. Under abilateral air bubble pact, airlinesof both countries can operateinternational flights with cer-tain restrictions.
Since July, India has estab-lished such bubbles with thefollowing countries - the US,the UK, France, Germany, theUAE, Qatar and the Maldives.
Puri also said that theMinistry of Civil Aviation willplace a proposal for “further”privatisation of airports beforethe Union Cabinet onWednesday.”We are going tothe Cabinet tomorrow(Wednesday) for further air-port privatization. We havegot many more airports linedup, dozens of them, and the 100new airports we will buildbetween now and 2030,” hesaid.
The AAI, which worksunder the Ministry of Civil
Aviation, owns and managesmore than 100 airports acrossthe country.
In the first round of priva-tization under the NarendraModi dispensation, the air-ports in Lucknow, Ahmedabad,Jaipur, Mangaluru,Thiruvananthapuram andGuwahati were cleared foroperation, management anddevelopment through public-private partnership (PPP)model in February 2019.
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From Page 1Shah, who was earlier undergoing treat-
ment for coronavirus infection at MedantaHospital, on Friday, said he has tested neg-ative for the disease. Shah, 55, had also saidon the advice of doctors, he will be in homeisolation for the next few days.
On August 2, Shah had tweeted about hiscorona positive report after initial symptomsof the disease. He said he is fine but is get-ting admitted to a hospital on the advice ofdoctors.
From Page 1During the meeting, both
the Chief Ministers presentedtheir cases, and shared theirsuggestions to resolve the con-flict, however, no final decisionwas taken as of now.
“For the same, the ChiefMinisters have agreed to holdanother meeting at Chandigarh— the joint Capital of both theStates — where further details,including the legalities, wouldbe discussed at length whichwould be followed by anothermeeting at New Delhi with theUnion Jal Shakti Minister.
“Then the report of thatmeeting between CMs andUnion Minister would beplaced before the Court,” asenior Government officialtold The Pioneer.
The official said the Centrehas to submit the report of thismeeting in the apex court, butit was agreed in the meetingthat the Central Government“will not submit any report tothe SC on the basis of today’smeeting. And a joint meetingof the CMs of the two Stateswill be organised again in thepresence of the Union Ministerwithin two weeks”.
Capt Amarinder urged theCentre to be cautious on theSYL issue, which had thepotential to disturb the nation’ssecurity, and reiterated theneed for a Tribunal to make afresh time-bound assessmentof the water availability. At thesame time, he sought completeshare of water for his Statefrom the total resource avail-able, including from RiverYamuna.
“Punjab remains at riskfrom all ends,” said Capt
Amarinder, pointing toPakistan’s continued attemptsto foment trouble and to tryand revive the separatistmovement through the bannedSikhs for Justice (SFJ) organi-zation, adding that the waterissue could further destabilisethe State.
“Punjab has a right toYamuna water, in which it didnot get a share at the time of60:40 division of assets withHaryana during the State’s divi-sion in 1966,” the CM said,even as he expressed his will-ingness to sit across the tablewith his Haryana counterpartto discuss the “emotive” issue.
Putting forth Punjab’sstand during the meeting, CaptAmarinder said it is necessaryto set up a Tribunal for fairadjudication of the water avail-ability, and pointed out that thewater sharing proposed byEradi Commission was 40years old, while internationalnorms require a review every25 years to ascertain the status.
Noting that there had, infact, been no adjudication orscientific assessment of avail-able Punjab river waters tilldate, the CM said Bhakra BeasManagement Board (BBMB)had reported that availability ofRavi-Beas water had comedown from the estimated 17.17MAF in 1981 to 13.38 MAF in2013.
Despite being a non-basinState and having a smallerpopulation as well as lesser cul-tivated land area, Haryana’stotal availability of river waterstood at 12.48 MAF as againstPunjab’s 12.42 MAF, he noted.
He pointed out that “trans-basin transfer of water can
only be allowed from a surplusbasis to a deficit basis, and, asof today, Punjab is a deficit stateand could not therefore beasked to transfer water toHaryana”.
Capt Amarinder said hehad taken a concerted decisionto terminate all water agree-ments back in 2004 to savePunjab from burning, amidreports that violence coulderupt in the State in protest.“The situation has aggravatedsince then…109 of the state’s128 blocks have officially beendeclared ‘dark zones’,” headded.
Pointing to the meltingglaciers, he urged the CentralGovernment to take the climatechange effects into account.The situation was likely toworsen with China construct-ing dams in their territory,warned Capt Amarinder,adding that this would lead towater shortage even in Satlujriver.
“Why would I not agreeto give water if we had it,” hesaid, adding that certain areasof south Haryana were, infact, part of the erstwhilePatiala estate and he person-ally had special love for theregion. The CM recalled thathe had suggested constructionof water storage dams inHimachal Pradesh for col-lecting water so that the flowof water into Pakistan couldbe checked. He urged theUnion Minister to considerthe suggestion.
Describing the meeting as“positive and cordial”, CaptAmarinder later said the UnionMinister seemed to under-stand Punjab’s viewpoint.
From Page 1“So, Rhea insisted that
they return to Sushant’s home.Upon returning, Sushant andhis sister continued drinkingalcohol while Rhea retired forthe night as she had a shootthe next morning. Rhea wasasleep in Sushant’s room whenshe suddenly awoke to findPriyanka had got into bedwith her and was groping her,”Maneshinde said.
“Rhea was extremelyshocked and demanded thatshe leave the room immedi-ately. Subsequently, Rhea her-self left the house. Thereafter,Rhea informed Sushant as towhat had transpired andSushant got into an argumentwith his sister regarding thesame. That due to the aforesaidincident, the relationshipbetween Sushant’s family and
Rhea had been strained sinceinception,” Rhea’s lawyer said.
“Even after his death whena list of 20 people was made toattend the funeral, Rhea’sname was not included in thelist and hence she was exclud-ed from attending the funer-al,” Maneshinde said.
In a statement issued a dayahead of the Supreme Courtdelivering a judgement onRhea’s plea to transfer the FIRlodged by Sushant’s fatherwith the Patna police toMumbai, Maneshinde said:“Rhea has always maintainedthat she would like the truth ofthe matter to be revealed byvirtue of a fair and impartialinvestigation. She has admit-ted in her petition to the SCthat she sent a message toAmit Shah Union HM toorder a CBI investigation. She
has also informed the SC thatif the court transfers it toCBI, she had no objection.
“What she has challengedis the illegal registration andinvestigation of Bihar Policewithout jurisdiction and trans-fer to CBI of an illegal inves-tigation.. .Unless theMaharashtra Governmentconsents to a CBI investiga-tion, the case cannot be trans-ferred to CBI,” Maneshindesaid.
Alluding to the relationsbetween Rhea and the lateactor, Maneshinde said: “Rheaand Sushant were known toeach other over the past sev-eral years as they were bothworking in the Indian filmIndustry. Rhea and Sushanthad maintained a cordialfriendship and would occa-sionally communicate with
each other. In April 2019,Rhea and Sushant had attend-ed a party hosted by the filmfraternity and shortly there-after they began dating eachother.
“Even though they spent alot of time in each other’shomes, they officially movedin together in December 2019and lived at Mount Blanc,Bandra, till Rhea left on the8th of June 2020,” he said.
“In June 2020, Sushanthad been calling his family,informing them of his decisionto move out of Mumbai andrequesting them to come meethim. After several days ofSushant calling and cryingover the phone, his sister,Meethu agreed to come livewith him on the 8th of June2020. Due to this develop-ment, Sushant requested Rhea
to live with her parents for thetime being. Rhea had been suf-fering from her own anxietyissues and often endured panicattacks,” Maneshinde said.
“Sushant’s conduct alsoaggravated these conditions.Even though Rhea wasdesirous of seeing her family,she was not at all comfortablewith leaving Sushant. The verysame day, 8th June 2020, Rheahad arranged to have a thera-py session of her own with DrSusan Walker and requestedSushant if she could leaveafter the session. However,Sushant told her to leaveimmediately before his sisterMeethu arrived. Thus Rheareluctantly left and informedSushant to let her or her broth-er know about anything herequired or in case he neededto talk,” he said.
From Page 1Venugopal noted that none
of this is exactly a surprise: theCongress and other politicalparties have previously raisedthe issue of bias “with manyexecutives of Facebook andWhatsApp” and that a detailedinvestigative article fromNovember 2018 by anothernews organisation showed thelinks between Facebook India’sleadership team and the BJP.
The Gandhi scion was thefirst to tweet the WSJ reportthree days ago with his com-ment “BJP & RSS controlFacebook & Whatsapp in India.
Till the reports filed,Facebook was yet to commentover Congress’ demand.
“This is a damning andserious allegation of FacebookIndia’s interference in India’s electoral democracy,”Venugopal has said in the letter.
“As India’s oldest politicalparty that fought for thenation’s freedom and estab-lished electoral democracythrough adult franchise, it isdeeply disturbing to note thatyour company may be a will-ing participant in thwartingthe very rights and valuesthat our founding leaders sac-rificed their lives for,” headded.
A row has also eruptedover Congress MP ShashiTharoor saying that theParliamentary StandingCommittee on InformationTechnology, which he headsmay summon Facebook offi-cials following which BJP MP
Nishikant Dubey attacked himsaying he had no right to do sowithout authorisation.Trinamool Congress MPMahua Moitra backed Tharoor.
Dubey has reportedlyurged BJP Parliamentariansand its allies in the committeeto write to Lok Sabha SpeakerOm Birla against ShashiTharoor.
Tharoor tweet was advo-cated by Rahul Gandhi whichsaid the MPs’ panel wouldconsider a testimony underthe topic “Safeguarding citizens’rights and prevention of mis-use of social/online news mediaplatforms”.
“The Chairman of theStanding Committee does nothave the authority to do any-thing without discussion ofthe agenda with its members.Shashi Tharoor, stop RahulGandhi’s agenda withoutauthorisation by theCommittee and Speaker,”Dubey retorted.
At a Press conference,Congress spokesperson PawanKhera said with each passingday new revelations exposethe unholy nexus between theruling BJP and the social mediagiants and alleged that thecosy connection of Facebookexecutive like Ms Ankhi Daswith senior BJP leaders andMPs in the run up to the LokSabha election of 2014 standsexposed.
Khera quoted documentsfrom a report citing leakedinternal memos, chats, andemail exchanges between keyFacebook officials into the kindof lobbying Facebook wasresorting to in the BJP ecosys-tem between 2012-14.
From Page 1Nadda claimed that
Supreme Court verdict has“foiled the nefarious designs”of Rahul and his party whichdoubted aims of PM CARESFund and wondered, in histweets, whether they wouldcontinue to be “deceitful” intheir political pursuits.
The BJP president saiddoubts about PM CARESFund were raised by theCongress to “wash its ownsins” of the past when moneyfrom was transferred fromNDRF to Gandhi family owned- Rajiv Gandhi Foundation(RGF).
Prasad who held a Pressconference here said so far Rs3100 crore have been spentfrom PM Care Fund to battle-out coronavirus in the countryof which Rs 2000 crore weremeant for the purchase of50,000 ventilators. Besides, hesaid Rs 1000 crore were give tothe states from PM CARESFund to help out migrantlabourers and Rs 100 allocat-ed for investigations to acquirecoronavirus vaccine.
Prasad said the functioningof PM CARES Fund, a publicregistered body with PrimeMinister Narendra Modi at itshead, was transparent unlikethat in the Congress regimewhen money was illegallytransferred from NDRF toRGF, he alleged.
He said RGF was being runlike a family trust and fundsmeant for the country werediverted there.
“Transparency is writ largein PM CARES Fund both in
terms of legal requirement andtransparent management offunds received on a voluntarybasis. Our Government has notfaced even a single accusationof corruption,” said Prasad.
He said Rahul, from day 1,had used coronavirus to createdisunity in the nation. “Rahulnever spared any opportunityto weaken the national resolvein the fight against Covid-19,”the Minister said.
At the same time, theCongress said the Court’sjudgement is a “body blow totransparency and accountabil-ity” of the Government to thepeople.
Congress chief spokesper-son Randeep Surjewala said theApex Court let go an opportu-nity to bring in transparency inthe fund which has “its ownopaque and murky rules” and,thereby, deviated from thebelief that “sunlight is the bestdisinfectant”.
Reacting to the verdict,Surjewala said, “The SC judg-ment is a body blow to trans-parency & accountability ofGovt to people. It marks a sadletter day for responsibility &answerability of rulers to theelectorate and remind themthat they are not ‘Monarchs’ but‘servants of the people’.”
“SC scrupulously believedthat ‘sunlight is the best disin-fectant’. Today, the Court, in adeparture from that tradition,passed up an opportunity todemand answers on the#PMCaresFund that seeks pub-lic money but plays by its ownopaque & murky rules,” he saidin another tweet.
Accusing Bharatiya JanataParty (BJP) of creating riots
like the situation in the NationalCapital during Delhi assemblyelection, Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) spokesperson SaurabhBharadwaj on Tuesday demand-ed a probe be conducted against50 people who joined the BJPrecently.
"The AAP demands that athorough probe should takeplace against the 50 people whohave joined the BJP and were
also the organisers of ShaheenBagh protest. Police shouldcheck the records of these peo-ple and check if they were intouch with BJP leaders,” he said.
BJP communalised andpolarised the situation of Delhiduring and before the DelhiAssembly election in a well-scripted manner and engineeredthe Delhi riot to take electoralbenefit, he said, adding that allthose who joined the BJP wereorganisers of Shaheen Baghprotest.
Bhardwaj said that the
Manthara (character ofRamayana) and Shakuni (char-acter of Mahabharata) of Delhiriots were the BJP leaders whomade hate speeches. He said thatthe BJP leaders provoked thepeople of both the communitieswhich led to riot across the city.
He also questioned DelhiPolice, saying that they weresilent when clashes eruptedbetween anti-CAA (CitizenshipAmendment Act) and pro-CAAprotesters which led to the Delhiriots.
Citing 2002, Gujarat riots
Bharadwaj said, "Earlier, wewondered how two religiouscommunities could fight againsteach other but in Delhi, com-munal riots erupted in themonth of February. The BJPleaders created riots like situa-tions to polarize voters."
Referring to Union HomeMinister Amit Shah statementduring election campaigning, hesaid "The Manthara andShakuni of Delhi riots were theBJP leaders who made hatespeeches. Minister AnuragThakur, Giriraj Singh, MP
Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma, UPChief Minister Yogi Adityanath,Home Minister Amit Shah andKapil Mishra were among thekey leaders who spread hatredin Delhi". Bhardwaj said theseBJP leaders continuously madehate speeches and those hatespeeches were broadcastedthrough various mediums andthe polarisation took place,"Bharadwaj said.
People killed each other,burnt houses, harassed womenand many other crimes tookplace. In February, the people of
Delhi witnessed how the BJPpolarised two different com-munities.”
“Now all the independentobservers, citizens and othersagree that in a very well script-ed manner the Bharatiya JanataParty communalised andpolarised the situation of Delhiduring and before the Delhiassembly election. The polari-sation was such that a riot likethe situation was formed," hesaid. We demand a thoroughinvestigation to fix the respon-sibility, he added
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ADelhi Police Inspector dieddue to novel coronavirus
on Tuesday morning at a cityhospital.
The 51-year-old inspector,identified as Sanjay Sharma,was posted at Police ControlRoom (PCR) department insouth zone. Sharma was 1997batch officer.
According to a seniorpolice official, Sharma wasadmitted in Indian SpinalInjuries Centre, Vasant Kunj,on Saturday with Pneumonia.
"Later, he found COVID-19 positive. The inspector lostthe battle and died on Tuesdaymorning in the hospital," hesaid.
"Police COVID-19 recov-ered staff donated plasma,assisted family in whatever
way required, but still couldn'tsave him," said Sharat KumarSinha, the DeputyCommissioner of Police(DCP), PCR.
He is survived by his wifeand a son who is studying inIIT Delhi. More than 2,500Delhi Police personnel havebeen infected with COVID-19so far. Of these, more than2,100 have recovered andresumed their duties, whileover a dozen succumbed to thedisease.
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A51-year-old Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) of Delhi
Traffic Police was hit alleged-ly by a car when he signalledthe vehicle to halt for checkingnear a police picket in RaghubirNagar in west Delhi’s Khyala.Police said that soon after theincident, the driver of theoffending vehicle managed toflee the spot.
Police said that ASIMahavir is in coma and isundergoing treatment at ShriBalaji Action Hospital, PunjabiBagh.
According to DeepakPurohit, the DeputyCommissioner of Police(DCP), West district, the inci-dent took place on August 17,when ASI Mahavir along withother staff from traffic policewere checking suspected vehi-cles near police picket
“Around 5.30 pm, whenASI signalled a white i20 car tohalt for checking, the driverinstead of stopping his vehicle,sped up and hit the ASI. Heimmediately managed escapefrom the spot,” said the DCP.
“He suffered severe injuriesand is in coma. He is current-ly under treatment at ShriBalaji Action Hospital here inPunjabi Bagh. Police teams arescanning through CCTV cam-eras and they are working onsome vital leads,” said the DCP.
“A case under section 307(Attempt to murder) and 186(Obstructing public servant indischarge of public functions)of Indian Penal Code has beenregistered at Khyala police sta-tion and an investigation is inprogress,” the DCP said.
ASI's son is posted as aSub-Inspector with the SpecialStaff of West district, policesaid.
On the evening of July 25,a 58-year-old AssistantCommissioner of Police(Traffic) Sanket KumarKaushik died in an accident onNH-8 near Rajokari flyoverafter he was hit by a mini-truckwhile he was on-duty.
Later, a 28-year-old driverof a mini-truck identified asAmit Pulami was arrested inconnection with the accident.
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Delhi Jal Board ViceChairman Raghav Chadha
inspected India's biggest singlephase water treatment plant of635 millions of liters per day atSonia Vihar and instructed theofficials to expedite the work infull swing and complete thesame within three months.
Chadha also inspected theproject of construction of a26.80 ML capacity under-ground reservoir. “The totalcost of the underground reser-voir is approximately Rs 36Crores and once completedwill benefit approximately sixlakh residents of Mustafabadconstituency and nearby areasof Sonia Vihar in north eastDelhi,” he said.
"I am happy to share thatthe DJB team is working con-tinuously to ensure that waterquality supplied to the citizensof Delhi is not compromised atany cost. Underground reser-voir of 26.80 ML capacity isbeing constructed to augmentthe water supply in Mustafabadassembly constituency andnearby areas of Sonia Vihar in
north east Delhi,” he said. On commissioning of the
project, approximately six lakhresidents of unauthorizedcolonies like Shiv Vihar, AnkurEnclave, Mahalaxmi Enclave,Ambika Vihar, Johripur,Dayalpur, Sadatpur, BhagatSingh colony, Jiauddin Nagar,Ambedkar Nagar, Bhagirathi
Vihar, Neharu Vihar etc. will bebenefited with water on ade-quate pressure and equal dis-tribution.
In its summer action planto meet the water demand, theDJB has set a target of pro-ducing 925 million gallons perday (mgd) of water this sum-mer.
The DJB vice-chairmanhad also listed several initiativesbeing taken to ensure enoughwater supply during this peri-od, including the completion offour underground reservoirs(UGRs), at west Kamal Vihar,Sonia Vihar, Mundka andMahipalpur, to cater to the westand central Delhi areas.
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The Aam Aadmi Party on Tuesday slammed theBJP-ruled North MCD for bringing a proposal
to hike four taxes including the professional tax,house tax, the property transfer tax and the elec-tricity tax.
Senior AAP leader and Delhi MCD in-chargeof the party Durgesh Pathak said that AAP isopposing BJP's proposal to increase professionaltax, 34 per cent increase of house tax, increase prop-erty transfer tax and electricity tax.
Pathak said that the Delhi BJP should imme-diately roll back the proposals of tax hike. “TheAAP will go door to door and protest against thetax hike if the BJP does not roll back their proposal.The party will hold a dharna at the Civic Centeron Wednesday from 1 pm to protest against thehike,” he said.
"In 2017 when the BJP fought the Delhimunicipal election they decided not to give the tick-et to all the sitting councillors. Then Delhi BJP chiefManoj Tiwari gave a slogan that "naye chahere nayeudan (new faces new heights)" but in reality thesenew councillors were not less than the previouscouncilors,” he said.
"Last month, the south MCD increased threetaxes and tomorrow the North MCD is bringingthe proposal of hiking four taxes at the StandingCommittee meeting. The BJP has also decided toincrease the house tax which means from now onif somebody buys a house in the north Corporationarea then that person will have to pay 34 per centmore tax,” he said.
Pathak further said that the north Corporationhas also decided to increase the property transfertax which means that it will affect the people whowant to buy new property or shift to new houses.
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Around 9,565 coronaviruspatients in Gurugram have
been cured till Tuesday. Withthis the district recovery ratefrom Covid-19 has increased to92 per cent while the death ratehas come down to 1.25 accord-ing to data shared by the dis-trict administration.
The total number of coro-navirus cases in the city tillTuesday rose to 10,458 whilethe Covid-19 toll has reached130 in the district.
Gurugram now has and763 active cases and 643 ofthem are in home isolation,officials added.
The health departmentsaid out of 130 deaths 92 dieddue to comorbidities and theremaining 38 without comor-bidities.
“Covid testing has beenincreased in the district toprevent the spread of coronainfection. The department issampling 1 lakh per milliontests a day. Which includesboth types-Rapid Antigen Testand RTPCR Test. Thosepatients have been done onpropriety. Patients are beingtreated based on their symp-toms,” said Amit Khatri deputycommissioner Gurugram.
The health official alsoinformed that a rate of Rs8,500 has been set for the plas-ma. So far, 42 persons hadcome forward to donate plas-ma in it, out of which 19 per-sons were donated plasma.These produced 38 units ofplasma, of which 34 units ofplasma have been given to theneedy.
Apart from this, the healthdepartment will start a secondround of a sero survey from
Wednesday in which about850 people will be tested.
“The purpose of this sur-vey is to monitor the popula-tion of Stork-Cove 2 infectionin the district. Out of 850 per-sons selected for the sero sur-veillance survey, 500 are fromrural and 350 are from urbanareas,” said civil surgeonGurugram, Dr. Virendra Yadav.
As part of the exercise theurban area will be divided intofour clusters for the survey andeach cluster will be furtherdivided into four parts.
A survey of 22 houses willbe done in a section i.e. 88houses will be surveyed ineach cluster. Similarly, eachcluster will be further dividedinto four quadrants by dividingthe rural area into 12 clusters.
A three-member team,
comprising a doctor, a healthworker and a lab technician,will visit consecutive housesfrom this point till the requiredsample size for the location iscompleted.
The official furtherinformed that 44 clusters havebeen placed in each cluster inrural areas which will be sur-veyed.
Apart from this, theDepartment of AYUSH is alsoregularly distributing immu-nity kits to the people. " Thedepartment has distributed 1lakh 60 thousand immunitykits in the district. In areaswhere more cases of coronainfection are reported, immu-nity booster kits are distributeddoor-to-door by the team ofAYUSH department, " Yadavsaid.
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Delhi Police CommissionerSN Shrivastava on Tuesday
flagged off “Dhanvantri Rath”to provide Covid and non-Covid essential healthcare ser-vices for the Delhi Police per-sonnel and their families.Additional Secretary Ministryof AYUSH, Pramod KumarPathak, was also present at theevent held at Police HeadQuarters (PHQ) in NationalCapital.
A Memorandum ofUnderstanding (MoU) was alsoexchanged between Ministry ofAYUSH and Delhi Police forDhanvantri Rath. “The rathwill visit police colonies regu-larly and a doctor team in therath will provide healthcare ser-vices and assistances to thepolice personnel and their fam-ilies,” said Dr Ajit Singla, theAdditional Commissioner ofPolice.
“Delhi Police personnelwhile valiantly performingtheir duties during the pan-demic, it was noticed that thepersonnel and their families
were going through palpablefear and anxiety. The first casesof Covid positive police per-sonnel seemed to add on to theexisting stress. Keeping these inview, project Nirmaya, withfocus towards physical andmental wellness for police per-sonnel was launched,” said DrSingla.
“Under this project sever-al initiatives were taken forDelhi Police personnel andtheir families. Boosting immu-nity with Ayurveda was initi-ated on 30 April. The JointCommissioners of Police andDeputy Commissioners ofPolice were put in place forintensive inspection of allpolice establishments, espe-cially police stations,” said DrSingla.
“Further, counselling ser-vices for the Delhi PolicePersonnel was started throughcounsellors from the NDMA.Later on due to escalation ofCovid Patients, 22 Counsellorsfrom Distress ManagementCollective India, RML Hospital,AIIMS Delhi and NIPCCDwere arranged for Counselling
services. Around 2233 per-sons have been counselled one– on – one by the counselors,”Dr Singla added.
“For medical assistance ofDelhi Police Personnel andtheir families, five Delhi PoliceWellness Centers have beenstarted on a pilot basis. Thesecenters are focal points pro-viding consultation and treat-ment in Ayurveda, Allopathy,Homeopathy, Yoga, Pranayamand any other wellness thera-py. These services are beingprovided at Police Coloniesincluding Hauz Khas, Dwarka,Shalimar Bagh, Model Town,Jyoti Nagar and Jagatpuri,” saidDr Singla.
“The palpable outcome ofall these ongoing measuresunder “Project Niramaya” is thereduction of police personneltesting Covid positive from ahigh of about 69 cases a day inmid June to single digit casescurrently, and the high levels ofmotivation in the personnel.The Dhanvanti Rath will alsobe part for Delhi Police per-sonnel and their families well-ness,” Dr Singla added.
the disease have shown adeclining trend from August13, the Union Health Ministrysaid on Tuesday, but warnedagainst any laxity, underliningthat five days are a short spanin the context of a pandemic.
“In spite of a sustainedlevel of 7-8 lakh coronavirustests a day, the positivity ratehas come down from 10.03 percent to 7.72 per cent. The dailynew cases from August 13 aredown from over 64,000 to55,079 now. There is a declin-ing trend. But five days are ashort span in the context of apandemic and there is no roomfor laxity on containment, test-ing and surveillance,” UnionHealth Secretary RajeshBhushan said at a press brief-ing here.
Dr VK Paul, member(health), NITI Aayog echoedsimilar sentiments as he said,“Number of Covid-19 tests perday has gone up to 9 lakh perday which is remarkable.Testing is the key to disease
containment and reducingmortality and improving out-comes. The death rate is steadi-ly decreasing but there is noneed to be careless. We have tobe vigilant. Today our grip hasbeen strengthened, but thechallenge has not subsidedyet,” Paul said.
India recorded the highest
ever number of tests in the last24 hours - a little more than8,99,000. “Absolute deathshave also declined during thesame period. These two para-meters do give us some satis-faction but there is no reasonfor us to slacken our guard,” hesaid.
The official said the num-
ber of recovered patients hasreached close to 20 lakhs,which is 2.93 times of activeCovid-19 cases.
“So far, 19,77,779 peoplehave recovered from the dis-ease. There are 6,73,166 activecases of coronavirus infectionand they are under medicalsupervision,” he said.
Bhushan said the casefatality rate has also comedown below 2 per cent. “Thedaily case fatality rate hasreduced to 1.92 per cent and
the weekly average fatalityrate is 1.94 per cent. Both arebelow 2 per cent,” he said.
“In its interaction withstate and UT governments, the
Health Ministry has repeatedlyunderlined the fact that ouraim should be to bring downthe case fatality rate to one percent or below that,” Bhushan
said.Testing is the key to dis-
ease containment and reduc-ing mortality and improvingoutcomes, Dr Paul maintained.
health issues post-infection,Dr VK Paul, member of NITIAayog, on Tuesday, termed ita new dimension of the dis-ease asserting that scientificand medical communities aremonitoring it.
“We’ll have to be awarethat there may be some impactlater too. But the long termoutcomes, right now, is notdangerous,” he said when askedabout the post-Covid symp-toms appearing in somepatients.
“As we understand it, we’lluse treatment modalities avail-able with us. It’s an ongoinglearning and the medical fra-
ternity is responding to this. Aswe understand more, will beable to tell more about it,” DrPaul added.
The Union HealthMinistry has set up a panel tolook into the issue and for-mulate guidelines for treatmentand care of such survivorsreporting health issues.
In fact, Union HomeMinister Amit Shah who test-ed negative for Covid-19 onAugust 14 was to take rest inhome isolation for the next fewdays had to be admitted to theAIIMS hospital Delhi onTuesday after he complained offatigue and body aches.
His is not the lone case.Doctors said that they are get-ting cases where patients arecomplaining of lung infec-
tions, fatigue and psychologi-cal disorders. Psychiatrists toohas pointed out that survivorsof Covid-19, particularly thosewho had severe cases, may suf-fer mental health issues whilerehabilitating, after recoveringfrom the infection.
In fact, an article pub-lished by a peer-reviewed jour-nal of the American MedicalAssociation, JAMA has saidthat the manifestations andoutcomes of Covid-19 infec-tion are similar to life-threat-ening conditions called Sepsis.
This apart, similar to theexperiences of sepsis survivors,many of those who have recov-ered from Covid-19 are likelyto experience long-lasting side-effects, said the article pub-lished recently.
Even as India battles Covid-19, the Indian Council of
Medical Research (ICMR) in itsreport released on Tuesday haspainted grim picture of thecancer incidence in India in thenear future estimating that therewill be an estimated 12 per centrise in cancer cases in India innext five years.
According to the estimates ofthe National Cancer RegistryProgramme Report 2020, releasedby the ICMR in association withNational Centre for DiseaseInformatics & Research (NCDIR)Bengaluru, there will be about13.9 lakhs cancer cases in 2020which is likely to increase to 15.7lakhs by 2025, based on currenttrends.
The estimates are based oninformation related to cancercollected from 28 PopulationBased Cancer Registries (PBCRs).Additionally, 58 Hospital BasedCancer Registries (HBCRs) pro-vided cancer data (see box).
Majority of States in India
have not declared cancer as a noti-fiable disease. So far, only nineStates in India have cancer as anotifiable disease so far either asadministrative order or Gazettenotification, including Karnataka.
“Emphasis to be given tomaking cancer a notifiable diseaseto enable increase coverage by reg-istries and establishment of reg-istries in areas hitherto uncoveredregions to get a more compre-hensive national picture,” said DrRavi Mehrotra, Chief ExecutiveOfficer (CEO), India CancerResearch Consortium (ICMR).
“This will help in better can-cer screening, early detection,referral, treatment and palliativecare services throughout thecountry. Sikkim was the only statein India to actually show adecrease in cancer prevalence forboth genders, reflecting theirgood public health system andaware population,” he said addingpeople living in NE India havemore than double the chances ofdeveloping Cancer compared toother regions.
Rahman of Basavangudi,Bangalore in connection withIslamic State KhorasanProvince (ISKP) case. Theaccused was allegedly devel-oping a medical application forhelping the injured ISIS cadresin the conflict-zones and aweaponry-related applicationfor the terror group.
Rahman, 28, is working asan ophthalmologist at MSRamaiah Medical College,Bangalore. Rahman had visit-ed an ISIS medical camp inSyria in early 2014 for treat-ment of ISIS terrorists andstayed with Islamic State oper-atives for 10 days and subse-quently returned to India.
The agency said, “Duringinterrogation, arrested accusedAbdur Rahman confessed thathe was conspiring with accusedJahanzaib Sami and otherSyria-based ISIS operatives onsecure messaging platforms tofurther ISIS activities. He wasin the process of developing a
medical application for helpingthe injured ISIS cadres in theconflict-zones and a weapon-ry-related application for thebenefit of ISIS fighters.”
After arresting him, NIAcarried out searches at threepremises belonging to him inBangalore with the assistanceof Karnataka Police and seizeddigital devices, mobile phoneand laptop containing incrim-inating materials, it said.
The accused who wasarrested on Monday will beproduced before the NIASpecial Court here and theNIA will seek police remandfor his custodial interroga-tion.
Further investigation in
the case is continuing, thespokesperson said.
This case was initially reg-istered by Delhi Police SpecialCell in March, 2020, after thearrest of a KashmiricoupleJahanzaib Sami Waniand his wife Hina Bashir Beighfrom Okhla Vihar, Jamia Nagarin Delhi.
The couple was found tobe having affiliations withISKP, which is a banned ter-rorist organisation and is a partof ISIS and they were found tobe involved in subversive andanti-national activities. Theduo was also in touch withAbdullah Basith, who wasalready lodged in Tihar jail inanother NIA case (ISIS AbuDhabi Module).
During further investiga-tion, the NIA arrested twomore accused Sadiya AnwarSheikh and Nabeel SiddickKhatri, both residents of Pune,for being part of the conspir-acy to further the activities ofISIS/ISKP in India and tocarry out subversive activitiesin the garb of anti-CitizenshipAmendment Act (CAA)protests.
For the second consecutiveyear, the Indian Institute of
Technology (IIT-Madras) hastopped the Atal Rankings ofInstitutions on InnovationAchievements (ARIIA) 2020,under the ‘best centrally-fund-ed institution’ category. IndianInstitute of Technology (IIT)Bombay and Delhi havesecured the second and thirdspots respectively.
The ranking was announcedby the Vice-President MVenkaiah Naidu in the top 10institutes in ‘Public funded’ and5 institutes in ‘Private and self-finance’ categories. Addressingthe virtual ceremony, Naidustressed on self-reliance andinnovation.
“Mere confidence will notsuffice. We need to be self-
reliant. For self-reliance, we needinnovation. Greater emphasis isgiven to promote a knowledge-able society. The culture of inno-vation and entrepreneurshipamong students will make themout-of-the-box thinkers. They
will be job creators and not jobthinkers,” said Naidu.
For the first time, ARIIA2020 had a special prize catego-ry for women only higher edu-cational institutions and the topplace for which was secured by
Avinashilingam Institute forHome Science and HigherEducation for Women under thiscategory.
The other five categorieswere — centrally funded institu-tions, state-funded universities,state-funded autonomous insti-tutions, private/deemed univer-sities, private institutions. Duringthe last one month this is the thirdof its kind of rankings of highereducation institutions -NIRF andthe Central Government ratingsof Central Universities’ which hadJamia Milia Islamia and JNU astop baggers.
Speaking on the occasion ofARIIA Minister of EducationRamesh Nishank Pokhriyal men-tioned that the ranking is namedafter former Prime Minister AtalBihari Vajpayee as under hisleadership, India took many leapsin the field of Innovation.
Minister of State forEducation Sanjay Dhotre said thatMinistry of Education has takenseveral policy initiatives and newprograms to make Innovation anintegral part of Higher EducationSystem in India. Secretary, HigherEducation, AmitKhare high-lighted the efforts that has beenput into compilation of all theparameters, data points, and howthe awareness sessions were con-ducted so as to encourage moreand more institutes to participatein this path-breaking initiative,because of which, an increase inparticipation of institutes inARIIA ranking was observed by30-35% in comparison to last year.He pressed upon the need andsuccessful execution of such ini-tiatives so as to make the existinginnovation and entrepreneur-ship ecosystem more robust.
This year, ARIIA
announcement included classi-fication of the institutes into twobroad categories and six sub cat-egories. Among these, IITMadras bagged the top positionunder the category of Institutesof National Importance, CentralUniversities, and CentrallyFunded Technical Institutes;Institute of ChemicalTechnology, Mumbai got thetop position under Governmentand Government AidedUniversities; College ofEngineering, Pune underGovernment and GovernmentAided Colleges; KalingaInstitute of IndustrialTechnology, Bhubaneswarunder Private or Self-FinancedUniversities and S REngineering College, Warangalunder Private or Self-FinancedColleges were declared on toppositions respectively.
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Union Ministry of HumanResource Development
(MHRD) has been officiallyrenamed as the Ministry ofEducation after PresidentRam Nath Kovind gave hisapproval to the change. Thenotification added that theheading Ministry of HumanResources Developmentstands substituted to theMinistry of Education.
The change in name of
the ministry was made aspart of the recommendationsof the new draft NationalEducation Policy (NEP),which was cleared during ameeting of the Union Cabinetin July.
In 1985, the Ministry ofEducation was renamed asthe HRD ministry whenRajiv Gandhi was prime minister. P V Narasimha Raowas appointed the first HRDminister by PM RajivGandhi.
Tuesday arrested an Appraiserof Customs Department andthree others including aCustoms House Agent, a mid-dleman, a private person in analleged bribery case of �7 lakhand recovered �1crore in cashbesides the graft money.
A case was registeredagainst the accused and othersbefore the searches.
“It was alleged that thenAppraiser, ICD, Tuglakabad,Delhi (presently posted in theOffice of Chief Commissionerof Customs, Chennai since July,2020) was regularly pursuingprivate parties and few officialsfor payment of pending undueadvantage in lieu of importconsignments cleared by himduring his tenure at ICD,Tuglakabad, Delhi,” the CBIsaid in a statement.
The arrested accused areSaurav Sharma, then Appraiser,ICD Tuglakabad ( presentlyposted at office of Chief
Commissioner of Customs,Chennai), Neeraj, CustomsHouse Agent, Ram KrishanMishra (Middleman) andKishore Kumar (private person).The CBI further alleged thatvarious parties had beenapproaching the middleman topursue their pending matterswith the said Appraiser. It wasfurther alleged that theAppraiser asked the middlemanthat a person will collect pay-ment of undue advantage (ille-gal gratification) on his behalf.
The middleman RamKrishan Mishra had allegedlydelivered the payment of Rs7lakh as the part of bribe moneyto said private person KishoreKumar. CBI caught Mishra,Kumar the Customs HouseAgent Neeraj and recovered � 7lakh, officials added. Searcheswere conducted at the office ofAppraiser at Chennai, his pre-vious office in ICD, Tuglakabadand residential premises ofaccused located at Delhi, Noida,Chennai which led to recoveryof incriminating documentsand cash of around �1crore.
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The merger of Tahreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, the
Pakistani terror group, with itssplinter group Jamat-ul-Ahrarknown for major attacksagainst Christians, there is like-ly to lead to coordinated attackson religious minorities inPakistan as also Christians ofIndian origin working inAfghanistan on projects beingexecuted by India.
The Jamat-ul-Ahrar hadsplit from the TTP in 2013-14over differences in the selectionof targets as the former soughtattacks against Christians andthe parent organisation pre-ferred hits on the Pakistanarmy.
After breaking away fromTTP, the JuA carried out anumber of major attacksagainst Christians between2014-18. However, the JuAsplit into two groups in laterpart of 2018 as one faction didnot subscribe to the killing ofChristians but the other groupcontinued attacks against theminority community there.
Earlier this year, the twofactions of JuA merged into one
but were unable to carry outattacks and were on the vergeof losing relevance. Followingthis, the JuA merged with theparent TTP on Sunday.
Estimates suggest the TTPwill now intensify attacksagainst the Pakistan army aswell as against the minorities inPakistan, forcing the Christiansto flee to India and take coverof the Citizenship AmendmentAct (CAA) to find refuge here.
Apart from the genuinepersecuted Christian refugees,the Pakistan Army and ISI islikely seek penetration underthe new CAA framework andcould push fake vicitms ofpersecution to flee to India tocarry out a variety of tasksincluding terrorism and espi-onage.
The strengthened TTP willalso target a number ofChristian employees of Indiancompanies engaged in recon-struction works in Afghanistan,sources said.
The Jamat-ul-Ahrar (JuA)had on November 2, 2014claimed responsibility for theWagah border attack in a tele-phone call to Dawn newspaperof Pakistan from Afghanistan.
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Union Minister of Health,Dr Harsh Vardhan on
Tuesday inaugurated aThalassemia Screening andCounselling Centre at IndianRed Cross Society’s nationalheadquarters blood bank hereaiming to provide adequatetherapy to those affected withthe disease as well as preventthe birth of children affectedwith hemoglobinopathies,through carrier screening,genetic counselling and pre-natal diagnosis.
The Minister said thereare around 270 millionThalassemia patients in theworld. “India has the largestnumber of children with
Thalassemia major in theworld, about 1 to 1.5 lakhs, andabout 10,000 -15,000 childrenhaving Thalassemia major bornevery year.
“The only cure available forsuch children is bone marrowtransplantation (BMT).However, BMT is difficult andnot affordable by the parents ofall these children. Therefore,the mainstay of treatment isrepeated blood transfusions,followed by regular iron chela-tion therapy to remove theexcessive iron overload, con-sequent to the multiple bloodtransfusions,” he stated.
The Counseling centre willaid in prevention of birth ofchildren affected with hemo-globinopathies, through wellplanned screening programs,
information dissemination andawareness generation activi-ties and help avert the immi-nent threat of this genetic dis-order turning into a majorhealth problem.
Haemoglobinopathies,such as Thalassemia and sick-le cell disease are inherited dis-orders of red blood cells and arepreventable. These illnesses arechronic, life impairing and in
some cases, life threateningand impose a heavy emotion-al and financial burden onfamilies.
In India, ThalassemiaMajor (TM) and the severeform of ThalassemiaIntermedia (TI) constitute themajor burden of disease. Bothare commonly managed byregular lifelong blood transfu-sions and regular iron chela-tion.
These Thalassemia syn-dromes are caused by inheri-tance of abnormal (beta)Thalassemia genes from bothparents or abnormal beta-Thalassemia gene from oneparent and abnormal varianthaemoglobin gene (HbE, HbD)from the other parent, said anofficial.
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Prime Minister NarendraModi will announce the
results of Swachh Survekshan2020, on Thursday. This is thefifth edition of the annualcleanliness survey of the coun-try. A total of 129 awards willbe handed over to the top per-forming cities and states in theprogramme, titled “SwachhMahotsav”. PM Modi will alsointeract with select beneficia-ries, swachhagrahis andSafaiKarmis under the SwachhBharat Mission-Urban (SBM-U), from different parts of the
country through video confer-ence.
The Prime Minister willalso launch the SwachhSurvekshan 2020 results dash-board on the occasion.According to the Ministry ofHousing and Urban Affairs(MoHUA}, SwachhSurvekshan 2020 is the World’slargest cleanliness surveywhich ranked a total of 4,242cities, 62 Cantonment Boardsand 92 Ganga Towns and
saw an unprecedented partic-ipation of 1.87 crore citizens.The ministry had conductedSwachh Survekshan 2016 sur-vey for rating 73 majorcities inJanuary 2016, followed bySwachh Survekshan 2017 conducted in January-February 2017 for ranking434 cities.
Swachh Survekshan 2018,which, ranked 4,203 citiesfol-lowed by SS 2019 which notonly covered 4,237 cities butwas also the first-of-its-kindcompletely digital survey com-pleted in a record time of 28days.
metric tons cement is likely tobe used for the construction of1.12 cr houses for urban poorunder the Pradhan MantriAwas Yojana (Urban) in thecountry. It is estimated that 84lakh metric tons steel and 370lakh metric tons cement havebeen used in the 67 lakh hous-es that have been grounded. Ofthem, 35 lakh delivered so far.
Speaking at a webinar on‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat:Fostering Steel Usage inHousing & Construction andAviation Sector’, UnionHousing and Urban Affairsminister Hardeep Singh Purion Tuesday said around 3.65crore jobs would be generatedin the construction of housessanctioned under the PMAY-Urban in the country. So far,1.65 crore jobs have alreadybeen generated.
Puri said that as per expec-tation, 40 per cent of our pop-ulation or 600 million Indiansare expected to live in oururban centres by 2030. To caterto this growing urban popula-tion, India has to build 600 to800 million square metres ofurban space every year till2030.
The minister said that it isestimated that 158 lakh metrictonnes of steel and 692 lakhmetric tonnes of cement wouldbe consumed in the construc-tion of the houses sanctionedunder the scheme. “An esti-mated 3.65 crore jobs would begenerated in construction of allsanctioned houses, of whichabout 1.65 crore jobs wouldhave already been generated inconstruction of houses ground-ed under PMAY (U) so far,” hesaid. “The ministry has sanc-tioned 1.07 crore housesagainst the demand of 1.12crore and of these, 67 lakhhouses have been grounded forconstruction and 35 lakh deliv-ered so far,” he said.
The joint teams of security forces onTuesday neutralised one Pakistani
terrorist while two critically injuredsoldiers succumbed to their injuries inthe hospital even as intense gunfightcontinued for the second day inside anapple orchard in Kreeri area of NorthKashmir's Baramulla district.
Two LeT terrorists including oneof their top commanders Sajad Miralias Haider were gunned down onMonday after they had attacked andkilled three security personnel in thearea.
Confirming the identity of theslain foreign ultra, Inspector Generalof Police, Kashmir range Vijay KumarTuesday evening told reporters, “Thethird terrorist killed in the operationhas been identified as Usman, aPakistani terrorist”
Vijay Kumar claimed, LeT ter-rorist Sajjad Mir alias Haider,neu-tralised on Monday along with hisaccomplice, was the conspirator & for-eign terrorist Usman executed thekillings of BJP leader Late WaseemBari, his father & brother in Bandiporaarea in the month of July 2020”.
He said, the encounter of these
two terrorists is a big achievement forpolice and security forces in the area.According to ground reports, “firingin the area resumed early Tuesdaymorning and fresh reinforcementswere rushed to completely plug theescape routes”.
The security forces waited patient-ly before tracking the exact locationof the terrorists in the area.
Unconfirmed reports claimed thesecurity forces had to blast the hide-out to flush out terrorists hidinginside an underground hideout in anapple orchard.
After losing three security per-sonnel in the initial exchange of fir-ing early Monday morning the secu-rity forces exercised extra caution andtactically neutralised all three terror-ists to contain the collateral damage.
A Srinagar-based defencespokesman, Col Rajesh Kalia Tuesdaysaid, “One more terrorist was killed,taking the terrorist toll in the opera-tion to three”. He said, “a total of twoAK rifles and three pistols were recov-ered so far from the area. Two soldierswho were critically injured suc-cumbed to their injuries,” Col Kaliasaid, adding that a joint operation wasin progress.
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Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankharon Tuesday wrote a strong letter to
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee con-demning the Monday’s vandalisminside the campus of the prestigiousVishwa Bharati University atShantiniketan and demanded ade-quate action against the perpetratorsof the violence allegedly led by a localTrinamool Congress MLA NareshBauri.
This even as the Viswa Bharatiexecutive council decided to write toPrime Minister Narendra Modi whois also the Chancellor of the Universityto deploy central forces for the pro-tection of the campus.
Expressing his anguish over whathe called “hoary incident” theGovernor wrote how the incidenthad made his head “drop in shame”considering the fact that ShantiniketanViswa Bharati founded by PoetLaureate Rabindranath Tagore was notonly the pride of Bengal but also theentire country.
“Am distressed at rampant van-dalism at Viswa Bharati with admin-istration … failing to take timely pre-emptive steps,” Dhankhar later wroteinforming that he had “shared withCM the hoary scenes of violence andpolice and administration beingnowhere around.”
Assuming that the State intelli-gence had utterly failed to gather infor-mation of a “pre-planned” attack onthe University campus Dhankharwrote that the incident itself spoke vol-umes of the precarious law and ordersituation of the State.
Earlier on Monday about a 1000-strong crowd of ruling TMC alleged-ly led by the local MLA attacked thecampus, ransacked the constructionmaterials including cement, sand,bricks and ‘mixture machine’, andother properties besides pulling downtwo ancient gates.
They were protesting against theUniversity authority’s attempts at con-structing bulwark surrounding the his-toric Poush Mela Ground. In fact theChief Minister too told the media that
heritage should be preserved at all costand the ground should not be fenced.
The University authorities lateralleged how “SP, Additional SP and theSDPO were sitting inside a localpolice station which was barely a fewmetres away but refused to intervenewhen the university property wasbeing destroyed.”
State BJP president Dilip Ghoshsubsequently said that the attackershad links with the local land mafia ofthe TMC that wanted to illegally grabthe University lands.
Reacting to the Governor’s letterand comments Trinamool MP KalyanBanerjee said “our Governor is run-ning his office like a BJP party office,”adding he should be ashamed of con-verting the Raj Bhavan into an agencyof the BJP.
Meanwhile, 8 persons were arrest-ed in connection with the Monday'sviolence police said adding FIRs hadbeen registered against the MLA too.A suo motu police complaint was alsoregistered against the University ViceChancellor, sources said.
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Death toll in Tamil Nadu due toCovid-19 crossed the 6,000 mark as
121 persons breathed their last onTuesday, said a release by theGovernment’s Department of Health. Therelease also said that 5,709 new personswere diagnosed with Covid-19 onTuesday.
There were 53, 860 active Covid-19cases in the State as on date. While 65.075persons were tested in the last 24 hours,5,850 patients were cured and dischargedfrom hospitals. This took the number ofpersons discharged from hospitals tilldate to 2.89 lakh.
Chennai Metropolis tested positivefor 1,182 persons while the number ofpatients in the three neighbouring dis-tricts continued unabated. Iconic singerS P Balasubramaniam continued to be onventilator support system in a corporatehospital in Chennai. His condition is sta-ble though he is on life support system,said the hospital. Meanwhile HVasanthkumar MP representingKanyakumari Lok Sabha constituency toowas on life support system, following con-tracted with Covid-19.
Situation in Chengalpet (344),Kancheepuram ( 249) and Thiruvallur(489) remained critical.
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As 1,758 new patients werediagnosed with Covid-19
in Kerala on Tuesday, the IndianMedical Association soundedcaution and said that theGovernment should not shyaway from accepting the truthabout community transmission. DrAbraham Varghese, Indian MedicalAssociation’s Kerala unit clear onTuesday that community transmissionof Covid-19 has set in the State as thenumber of persons contracting Covid-19 through local transmission hasincrease manifold.
Speaking to The Pioneer, DrVarghese said it was nobody’s faultthat the State was under the grip ofcommunity transmission as the virusresponsible for the pandemic was get-ting strengthened by the day.
Out of the 1,758 new patients onMonday, 1,641 persons contracted theCovid-19 through social contactswhile 81 were clueless about how they
became victims to thevirus. Since ChiefMinister PinarayiVijayan and seven of hiscabinet colleagues areunder self-quarantine,the Department ofHealth issued the releasemeant for the general
public.The release confirmed the deaths
of seven persons on Tuesday takingthe fatalities to 175 till date.
Thiruvananthapuram districttopped the table with 489 positivecases, out of which 476 were afflict-ed through contacts. There were 565hotspots in the State as on Tuesdayevening.
The pandemic is increasing by thehour all over the State. While therewere 16,274 persons under treat-ment in various hospitals in Kerala, onTuesday 1,583 persons were admittedto hospitals. The only news of con-solation from the State is that 1,365persons were cured of the pandemic.
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Two Kerala-based technolo-gists have developed a
multi-purpose state-of-the-artsecurity and surveillance sys-tem which may force espi-onage and crime thriller writ-ers to break their brains todevice new strategies for theirassassins who are out targetingheads of nations and VVIPs.
Aptly named ‘Third Eye’, itis a device which can pick upthat stranger who has intrud-ed into high security zoneshoodwinking policemendeployed to provide round-the-clock security to VVIPs.
“This will bring down thenumber of policemen deputedfor VVIP security duties. Thesystem offers fool proof secu-rity which would help thepolicemen breath easy,” said ARamachandran, a softwareexpert who is an internee withBangalore based DefenceResearch and DevelopmentOrganisation.
Ramachandran, hailingfrom Pallavoor in Kerala’sPalakkadu district is ‘thankful’to the corona virus pandemicwhich necessitated his employ-ers to keep him confined to thevillage. “It was during thisbreak I came across Dr M G
Gireeshan, vice-principal ofan arts and science college inPerumbavoor and our associ-ation resulted in Third Eye,” hetold The Pioneer.
Dr Gireeshan, who is morepopular by the name KeralaEdison thanks to the nearly 200technological and scientificinnovations, is a physicist.
“What we developed is asmart monitoring and surveil-lance system integratingArtificial Intelligence andInternet of Things. This is aLocal Area Network (LAN)based fully customisableportable, low cost and efficientsystem which will filter andidentify each physical move-ments with the help of sensors capable of picking up movements byhuman and animal bodies,”said Dr Gireeshan.
Security personnel couldset up their own desired andcomplex perimeter with thehardware modules. “Thesehardware modules contain apassive infra red sensor formovement detection, a com-puter vision enabled IP cameraand a solar panel for recharg-ing and back up. The commu-nication remain secure as itdoes not go out of the privatenetwork,” explained DrGireeshan.
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Dr Mohd Abu Bakr-e-Siddqui, Urdu Professorand Assistant Editor of Ficro Nazar
Department of Aligarh Muslim University, is nowcaught on charges of molestation after he wasattacked. The woman worker and her son fileda case of assault against him. The same womanhas filed a case against two professors, includingAbu Bakr, for her exploitation and molestationin the civil lines. In addition, a complaint has alsobeen lodged in the Women's Commission. TheWomen's Commission wrote that the AMU sys-tem has taken unilateral action in this matter.
Dr. Mohd Abu Bakr-e-Siddiqui filed a caseof assault on August 10 in Civil Lines. In whichhe nominated the female employee and her sonposted in his department. Now on the contrarya case against Abu Bakr and his fellow employ-ees Shakir Ali, Tabish, another Prof. Hashim hasbeen filed by that woman.
According to the woman, she is posted in theFicro Nazar Department. A few days after hertransfer, the accused used to comment on her invarious ways. Three months ago Abu Bakr triedto forcefully climb into her car and whenopposed, there were vulgar comments made byhim.
When she told Professor Hashim about thismatter, he took the side of his employee and saidwhat will happen if you tolerate it. In this waythese people are exploiting her physically andmentally and Professor Hashim was equallyresponsible for it.
According to Inspector Civil Lines PramendraKumar, a case has been registered against two pro-fessors and their two fellow employees formolesting, threatening and using abusive languageagainst a woman. Here, according to the woman,she has also lodged a complaint in the Women'sCommission in this matter, alleging unilateralaction of AMU system against Prof. Hashim.
Director of Urdu Academy and officialspokesperson of AMU, Dr Rahat Abrar told pio-neer that the case filed by the woman against pro-fessor is fake and this is a matter of cross FIR. Allthe facts will be clear under police investigation.
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There is a good news for the dis-trict. Uttar Pradesh's largest
defense corridor will be in Aligarh.It is to be developed in about 400hectares of area.
An investment of 400 crores isproposed for this. So far, 45.82hectares of land has been allottedto 12 investors. The Center ofExcellence, Defense Food Researchand Manufacturing Plant, DefenseInnovation Hub and DefenseAdministrators are to be set up atthis Defense Industrial Park. Thiswill provide employment to about2500 people. The announcement ofthe biggest defence corridor in UPwas made by Avnish KumarAwasthi, CEO and Additional ChiefSecretary, Uttar PradeshExpressway IndustrialDevelopment Authority on mon-day.
He inspected the selected landfor the corridor at Andala onKhair Road. He told that till nowinvestment of 400 crores has been
received from MSME sector. Soon,the work of setting up the road andpower sub-station will begin. FromSeptember, the allottees on theacquired land will start gettingpossession. Entrepreneurs will beable to start their projects byDiwali.
He further told that the DefenseMinister and CM Yogi are seriousabout Corridor, 45 hectares of landhas already been named underUPDA. The process of acquisitionof 10 acres of land is going on.
There will be a foundationlaid on this land and it will be fur-ther developed in the future. Landis to be taken from the nearby vil-lage itself. For this, administrativeofficers have been instructed to findmore land. Land is to be purchasedin the entire state with Rs. 15000crores. On this occasion, MP SatishGautam, DM Chandra BhushanSingh, SSP Muniraj and other offi-cers were also present.
Work distributed to depart-ments:
The CEO arrived at Andala on
the khair road to inspect the landacquired for the corridor. Here ameeting with PWD, ElectricityDepartment, Forest Department,Water Corporation, PollutionDepartment, Industry officers washeld. It is decided that the PWDwould start work on the roads assoon as the map is set. The powerdepartment will install the substa-tion.
The theme will be Make inIndia:
The CEO said that he metDefense Minister Rajnath Singh lastweek, he insisted that indigenousshould be the tool. On the questionof foreign investment in the corri-dor, he said that the corridor willwork on the theme of Make inIndia. The MSME will be promot-ed. The Aligarh corridor will alsobe the main focal point due to theproximity of the NCR. UPDA isconstructing four expressways inthe state including Gorakhpur. Onwhich 40000 crore rupees are to bespent. Industries will be devel-oped along these expressways.
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Hearing of the bail petitionmoved by Swapna Suresh,
the main accused in the GoldSmuggling Scam busted by theCustoms Department has beenin the District PrincipalSessions Court at Ernakulamon Tuesday. The judge wouldpronounce his verdict on Aug21.
Opposing the bail plea,the ED lawyer told the courtthat the 14-day long interro-gation of Swapna by the agencyhas found that she wields extraordinary influence in Kerala’scorridors of power and even inthe Chief Minister’s Office.
The seizure of cash worthRs. One crore and one kg goldfrom the bank locker operatedby Swapna and the auditor ofthe suspended principal secre-tary to Chief Minister provesthat lot of money and materi-al has exchanged handsbetween the main protago-nists in the Gold SmugglingScam.
,-.���������� �����������������������������Guwahati: The Assam
Government is getting ready toreopen educational institutionsin the state from September 1but this would depend on theUnion Home Ministry's deci-sion, state Education andHealth Minister HimantaBiswa Sarma said on Tuesday.
Talking to the media, hesaid that all teachers andemployees of the schools wouldcompulsorily have to get them-selves tested for Covid-19between August 21 and 30.
“Those teachers andemployees testing negative forcoronavirus must attend theirplace of postings fromSeptember 1 onwards, other-wise they would be treated as'on leave without pay',” he said.
Sarma said that the state
government had already pre-pared the SOPs (StandardOperating Procedures) for edu-cational institutions and thesewould be circulated, once theCentre's decision was received.
The Minister earlier saidthat after the reopening of theeducational institutions, class-es would be held in a pre-scheduled routine in openspaces, including the play-ground, and courtyard of theschool for students of Classes5 to 8.
Students in Classes 9 and11 would attend classes intheir classrooms for twice aweek while those in Classes 10and 12 would attend classes forfour days a week.
Around 15 students wouldbe allowed to be present in theclass at a time. IANS
Amaravati: The Covid-19 pandemicclaimed 88 more lives in AndhraPradesh while 9,652 new positive casespushed the state's tally to over 3 lakhon Tuesday, officials said.
With the fresh fatalities, the deathtoll mounted to 2,820 while new caseshave taken the tally to 3,06,261.
According to the media bulletinreleased by the State CommandControl Room, 14 more fatalities werereported from Chittoor district, while11 people succumbed in Prakasam dis-trict and nine each in Anantapur,Guntur, and Kurnool.
Seven deaths were reported fromNellore district, six from WestGodavari, five each from Srikakulam,Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam dis-tricts, four in East Godavari, three inKrishna and one in Kadapa.
During the last 24 hours ending 9a.m. on Tuesday, the authorities con-ducted 56,090 tests including 26,671rapid antigen tests. With this, the
state has so far tested 29,61,611 sam-ples.
The period also saw 9,211 peoplerecovering from the virus, taking therecoveries to 2,18,311.
The state now has 85,130 activecases with maximum 15,254 activecases in East Godavari, followed by9,366 in Chittoor, 7920 in Guntur and6,931 in Vizianagaram.
During the last 24 hours, EastGodavari district reported maximumcases (1,396). As many as 990 new caseswere reported from Chittoor, 928 fromVisakhapatnam, 895 from Guntur,830 from Kurnool and 805 in WestGodavari.
Andhra Pradesh stands third afterTamil Nadu and Maharashtra in thenumber of tests. However, it ranks firstin terms of tests per million with a fig-ure of 55,461. With a 10.34 positivityrate, it fares better than states likeMaharashtra, Karnataka andTelangana. IANS
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As many as 10 people who were engaged in the Karipur air crash rescue oper-ations, have tested positive for Covid-19, officials said on Tuesday.Air India Express flight IX 1344 from Dubai to Calicut with 191 passengers
crashed after overshooting the runway at Karipur airport on August 7.According to health officials, six of the rescue workers came from
Nettirepu, while four are from Kondotty. The health authorities soon after therescue and relief operations sent an advisory to all those who were directly engagedin the work, to go into self isolation.
There were 150 people who were advised to go into self isolation.Malappuram Collector K. Gopalakrishnan and 21 of his staff tested Covid
positive last week besides a police ASP, forcing Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayanand seven of his Cabinet colleagues who arrived at the accident site on August8, to go into isolation. However, all of them tested Covid negative.
The toll in the aircraft crash increased to 19 on Sunday night when a 68-year-old person under treatment for broken bones suffered a cardiac arrest.
Alongside convertingthe Hagia Sophiamuseum in Istanbulinto a mosque,Turkish President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan has vowedto “liberate” the Al-Aqsa mosqueon Jerusalem’s Temple Mount.His appeal has not only been con-demned by an umbrella group of53 major Jewish organisationsbut has also triggered convulsivereactions inside Israel. Cases ofradical Jews storming into themosque to offer Talmudic prayershave increased since then. Theyare guarded by the Israeli policeto prevent any conflict. Suchunauthorised raids are, at best, alaw and order problem that couldbe sorted out. There is currentlyno bar on the Jews visiting the Al-Aqsa mosque but they are not per-mitted to pray in its premises.
There was a time between the13th and 18th centuries in theaftermath of the Crusades whenno non-Muslim was permittedinside the entire Temple Mountcomplex at whose edge the Al-Aqsa mosque stands. However,norms seem to have been relaxedduring the 19th century. A num-ber of Jews visited the TempleMount since then. These Jews,mostly from the West, were eitherinquisitive or seized withZionistic fervour. They wereeither ignorant of the protocol orcould not care less. Their actionalways scandalised the tradition-al Jews in Palestine, whometaphorically lived in the shad-ow of the Temple Mount.
Traditionalists believe thatthe Temple Mount is so sacredthat it can’t be defiled by one’s bod-ily presence. Since the cleansingritual — required for all Jewish pil-grims in antiquity — has been per-manently lost since the destruc-tion of the Second Temple in 70AD, a Jew visiting the TempleMount would risk succumbing tothe divine wrath. Though there isno statistics concerning the num-ber of Jews who actually lost orwrecked their lives to visit theTemple Mount, it is futile to argueagainst an entrenched belief.However, all Jews are encouragedto visit the Wailing Wall (Kosel)nearby to chant their prayers.The wall, which stands at theWestern periphery of the TempleMount, is a remnant of thedestroyed Second Temple.
Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa, literallymeaning the farthest mosque, is
considered the third holiest onein Islam after the Great Mosquein Mecca and Al HaramMosque in Medina. Themosque (estd 715 AD) is dulyadministered by the JerusalemIslamic Waqf, which is placedunder the control of Jordan’sMinistry of Awfaq, IslamicAffairs and Holy Placesthrough the Peace Treatysigned between Israel andJordan on October 26, 1994, inWashington DC. The mosquehas never been under adversepossession except when theCrusaders controlled Jerusalembetween 1099 and 1187 AD. In1187 AD, Salah ad-Din Yusufibn Ayyub, better known asSaladin the Great, expelled theCrusaders from Jerusalem.
More than seven centurieswere to lapse before anyChristian Army could retakethe Holy City. British FieldMarshal Edmund Allenby(1861-1936) capturedJerusalem from the Ottomansduring World War I. Allenbyentered Jerusalem on footthrough the Jaffa Gate onDecember 11, 1917, at thehead of the EgyptianExpeditionary Force, a BritishEmpire military formation.This victory— seen in conjunc-tion with the BalfourDeclaration announced by thethen British Government amonth earlier — prepared theway for the establishment of themodern state of Israel in 1948.
There exists no Jewish tem-
ple on Temple Mount. The Jewsnever had one since thedestruction of their SecondTemple by the Romans in 70AD. That act signalled the ces-sation of the ancient State ofIsrael. It triggered the disper-sion of the Jews to variousnations, most notably inEurope and Middle East, butless importantly to India andChina, too. Since then, syna-gogues or the assemblies ofcongregational worship havebecome the central institutionin Judaism; though they mighthave been of far remoter origin.
The Temple Mount, how-ever, evokes distinct emotion inevery Jewish heart. It is themost recognisable site pertain-ing to the foundation of theancient State of Israel. Thefirst temple of the Jews wasplanned on that height byBiblical king David. It goes tothe credit of David, whomoulded Israel into one nationout of a conglomerate of clansand tribes. He wrestedJerusalem from the Canaanitesto make it the capital of Israel.He wanted the sacred “Ark ofCovenant” to be enshrined inthe magnificent temple.However, the temple couldfinally be established bySolomon, his son and succes-sor. The Solomon’s temple,open to people of all nations,lasted until four centuriesbefore being destroyed by theBabylonians in 586 BC.
The invader viz, King
Nebuchadnezzar, carried offthe Jews to Babylon. The Jewscould only return to Israel inthe later part of the centuryafter the liberal Persian kingCyrus triumphed in 538 BC.Thereafter, the Jews built animposing Second Temple at thesite. It lasted up to 70 AD, whenit was destroyed by the Romansto quell a Jewish national insur-rection against Rome’s hegemo-ny.
Temple Mount is nowhome to a Muslim shrine viz,Dome of the Rock (built Circa690 AD), and a mosque viz, Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa (built Circa 710AD). Both of them are prod-ucts of the Arab epoch.Jerusalem under the Arabs(638-1072 AD) emerged as theQuds-al-Sharif (or Al Qud), thecentre of Islamic sanctity.
The Temple Mount is geo-graphically located in EastJerusalem, which Israel wrest-ed from Jordan during theSix-Day War in June 1967. Fora brief while, the Israeli flag washoisted over Temple Mount.Then it was quickly broughtdown under the orders ofMoshe Dayan, the thenDefence Minister and hero ofthe war. Then, in an astonish-ing act of concession, the sov-ereignty of Temple Mount wasconceded back to the Wakf that maintained the two Islamicsites.
Dayan feared anything lesswould have turned the Arab-Israel conflict into a full scale
jihad against the Jewish State.The Jews were happy to resumepraying at the Wailing Wall,prohibited during theJordanian occupation of EastJerusalem (1948-67), but had toforego sovereignty over TempleMount. Though it had greatlyhurt the Jewish sentiments,Israel has continued with the1967 decision. However,depending upon the securitysituation in East Jerusalem,admission to the Al-Aqsamosque is sometimes regulat-ed. Such temporary provisionsare internal matters, whichErdogan is ill-advised to com-ment upon. He himself wasallowed to visit Al-Aqsa inJuly 2015.
Thus from who doesErdogan propose to “liberate”Al-Aqsa mosque when its sov-ereignty is already with Jordan?Or is the “liberation” actually acall to resume Turkish rule overJerusalem? It is evident fromsome of his statements orapprobation of slogans by hisparty members in the recentyears. Is that only Jerusalem onhis wishlist, or his visionapproximates to Gamal Abdel’sNasser’s agenda of “wiping outIsrael from the face of theglobe?” History is testimony towho prevailed in all the Arab-Israeli Wars.
(The writer is an authorand independent researcherbased in New Delhi. The viewsexpressed herein are his personal)
Sir — It is understandable whythe selection of Kamala Harrisas the Democratic Party’s vice-presidential candidate is beingconsidered a victory by Indian-American and African-American voters alike. Harris ison a history-making ticket,standing in opposition to aPresident who has deeplyoffended the minority com-munities. Unsurprisingly,Donald Trump has reactedadversely to the selection bycalling Harris “nasty”, “mean”,and “horrible.” The Senator, onthe other hand, criticisedTrump on his management ofthe COVID-19 pandemic.
There is no doubt thatHarris is a strategically smartchoice for the Democratic Party.Having run for both the Senateand the presidency, she hasalready been subjected tonational scrutiny. UnlikeTrump, who has consistentlydownplayed the importance ofclimate change, she has takenon the oil industry as theAttorney General of Californiaand campaigned for a Greennew Deal. Harris has prioritised
climate change. Her progressivepolitics will provide her with amuch-needed boost in theforthcoming elections.
Bidyut Kumar ChatterjeeFaridabad
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Sir — This refers to the edito-rial, “Thanks for the memories”(August 18). No other cricketer
in sporting history can boast ofthree ICC trophies and topglobal Test rankings. Such wasthe aura of MS Dhoni’s achieve-ments that made him a greatcaptain. He could have extend-
ed his shorter-format interna-tional career had it not been forCOVID-19. Dhoni’s journeyfrom a small-town boy to oneof the most astute team leadersthe world has seen is nothingshort of a fairytale. Even thoughhe has retired from internation-al cricket, his brand will contin-ue to have a strong recall value.Since calmness and reliabilitydefine Dhoni, all those brandswhich associate with him andthese values will still bear fruit.
Bal GovindNoida
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Sir — Chetan Chauhan was oneof our prolific opening batsmen.He will be remembered for hissuccessful opening partnershipwith the legendary SunilGavaskar in the 1970s. Over thecourse of his career, which last-ed 12 years, he representedIndia in 40 Test matches. Thisreveals he played for the teamand not for self.
When it comes to the question of the erst-while State of Jammu and Kashmir(J&K), it is time to lay some myths to
rest that not only continue to haunt all discoursebut are major stumbling blocks to a peaceful res-olution of the issue. The first, of course, is regard-ing its status as a disputed territory and the issueof Pakistan being co-opted as a party to the dis-pute. Few may recall that the IndianIndependence Act of 1947, passed by the BritishParliament, not only brought into being the twodominions of India and Pakistan, but also abro-gated all treaties signed between Britain and the562 princely States that were not formallyincorporated into British India.
This implied that those States were no longervassals of the British, and in theory at least,reclaimed their sovereign status and expected tobe treated as independent nations. Obviously,realpolitik got in the way and these States eithervolunteered or were coerced into joining eitherone of the dominions. Among these States, a few,that included Balochistan, made up of the fourprincely States of Kalat, Kharan, Las Bela andMakran, and J&K, wished to retain their statusas independent States and to this end proposedthe signing of “Standstill Agreements” with theirlarger neighbours. This, in effect, would recog-nise the right of these States to continue as inde-pendent entities, much in the way they had underthe British.
It is now a matter of record that Pakistanaccepted these proposals and signed StandstillAgreements with the rulers of both these prin-cipalities. That it then went on to renege on itsword, going on to surreptitiously invade them,thus setting the gold standard for untrustwor-thy behaviour that prevails to this day, is alsowell-known.
The Government of India, on the other hand,was not enamoured of the proposal it receivedfrom the Maharaja of J&K. And, while not out-rightly rejecting the proposal, it requested fur-ther discussions which never materialised.Instead, Pakistan’s illegitimate actions changedthe prevailing ground situation and forced theMaharaja to seek assistance from India againstits invasion and depredations. This was provid-ed after he agreed to join the Indian Unionunconditionally, by signing the “Instrument ofAccession” on October 26, 1947.
This little snippet of history is relevantbecause it makes clear that by signing theStandstill Agreement, Pakistan acceptedMaharaja Hari Singh as the legitimate ruler ofan independent and sovereign J&K. This impliedthat the Maharaja’s subsequent decision to signthe Instrument of Accession and join the IndianUnion was perfectly legal as well and could notbe questioned. Furthermore, Pakistan’s treach-erous invasion and occupation of Kashmiri ter-ritory, much of which it continues to hold evento this day, was violative of the United Nations(UN) Charter and thus wholly illegal.
That it continues to hold on to occupied ter-ritories and considers itself a party to the dis-pute can be attributed to the myopic handlingof the issue by India’s first Prime MinisterJawaharlal Nehru and his misplaced belief in theability of the UN to set things right. However,in the long run, it is perfectly clear that Pakistanfinds itself facing an existential crisis of enormousproportions because of its intractable hostility
towards India over J&K. The endresult, eroding internal cohesion and animploding economy.
Another myth that needs to beexposed is the oft-proclaimed wishamong some, especially within the lib-eral set, for a return to the heady daysof “Kashmiriyat”, the centuries-oldindigenous secularism that prevailedwithin Kashmir before the troublesbegan. Not only do they seem to haveoverly-romanticised the concept ofKashmiriyat but they seem to have mis-read the hard realities that generationalchanges imply. The truth is that thoseborn after 1990 in the Kashmir Valley,now in their 30s, have probably neverseen, let alone interacted, with aKashmiri Pandit. They have little ideaof what secularism truly means orimplies, since all they have ever wit-nessed at first hand is the manner inwhich local Governments have consis-tently treated minority communitieswith extreme prejudice, given the coldreality of majoritarian politics.
Let us be clear, there were no inno-cents among those who inhabitedmainstream political parties and theyare wholly undeserving of our sympa-thy for the ill-treatment meted out tothem now. It is indeed ironic that leg-islation used to keep them confinedwere pushed through by these veryleaders to keep the opposition in line.Surely what is sauce for the goose is alsosauce for the gander!
It is undeniable that the constitu-tional changes that were brought aboutlast August were unavoidable if thecycle of violence that has existed sincethe 1990s was to be broken. There havebeen numerous periods during whichthe Army has ensured that militancywas at levels that permitted local gov-ernance to be effective. Yet politicalleaders refused to take advantage of theenvironment to introduce substantive
measures that would allow for recon-ciliation and resolution of all outstand-ing issues.
Anger and frustration followedand we were back to high levels of vio-lence. However, it also needs to benoted that violence has never spiked tolevels that existed in the mid-90s. At thepresent time for example, police reportssuggest that not more than 200 mili-tants are active within the Valley, com-pared to the 3,000-4,000 that were nor-mally active at any one time in the earlyand mid-90s.
It, therefore, is completely inexplic-able as to why the Central Governmenthas given in to its worst fears and, forall practical purposes, laid siege to theValley, especially after initiating land-mark political measures. Its emphasisto err on the side of caution has beenfurther exacerbated by the adverseimpact of the pandemic, especially oneconomic development within theregion.
Clearly, the next urgent step shouldhave been the revocation of the ArmedForces Special Powers Act, (AFSPA)except along the Line of Control (LoC),and shifting of the majority of theRashtriya Rifles and Army unitsdeployed for counter-insurgency oper-ations into the counter-infiltrationrole. Such a move would have freed upadditional forces that could then havebeen deployed for dealing with theongoing Chinese imbroglio.
There are those who believe thatany attempt at thinning out the Armyfrom the hinterland will create a vac-uum that is likely to be filled by mili-tants, as happened nearly a decade agowhen such a course was attempted.They may well be correct and in allprobability, militants will attempt to dojust that. But given their existing state,they can easily be dealt with by the localpolice assisted by the Central Armed
Police Forces (CAPF). The military’suse in sealing off the LoC wouldensure that infiltration attempts fromPakistan would be neutralised to a verygreat extent. Some may recall we fol-lowed this methodology very success-fully in Punjab at the height of insur-gency there. In any case, these troopswould not be out of the Valley and ifthe situation so demanded, howeverunlikely that seems, they can always beredeployed at short notice.
The Government must not losesight of the tremendous gains such acourse of action would have within theValley, as well as among the internation-al community, where our clampdownon the local population is beingfrowned upon. It is bound to reinvig-orate the local community, give aboost to tourism and put pressure onmilitants to surrender. The ultimateprize of statehood would then seemachievable.
Understandably, some within thesecurity establishment will be extreme-ly unhappy if such a course is adopt-ed, as any change in the status quo willgreatly increase attention on the func-tioning of the police and the CAPF andmake them more accountable.Undoubtedly sections within the Army,too, will be unhappy as it will dimin-ish their importance, apart from mak-ing a fairly large section redundant.
Prime Minister Narendra Modiwould do well to disregard the naysay-ers and go the whole hog in J&K. Thisis no time for incremental moves or forbeing held captive by our own fears, aswe seem to be in Ladakh. There, canreally be nothing more pathetic thanletting the tail wag the dog.
(The writer, a military veteran isconsultant with the Observer ResearchFoundation and a Senior Visiting Fellowwith The Peninsula Foundation,Chennai)
Although many picture youngIndian men smoking in socialsettings to be the quintessential
image of tobacco use in India, datasuggest differently.
According to data, smokelesstobacco — which consists of tobaccoproducts that do not have to beburnt or smoked in order to be con-sumed — is a significant part of thatpicture. India is the greatest consumerof smokeless tobacco products in theworld and by extension at the receiv-ing end of its resulting harm. Over afifth of all Indian adults — nearly 200million individuals — report usingsmokeless tobacco. They representover two-thirds of all smokeless tobac-co users globally.
The prevalence of smokelesstobacco use in India is 25.2 per centfor men and 24.5 per cent for womenaged 35 years and older. The numberof deaths attributable to smokelesstobacco use in India is estimated tobe 3,68,127 (2,17,076 women and1,51,051 men), with nearly three-fifth(60 per cent) of these deaths occurringamong women. In fact, the countryaccounts for over three-fourths of theentire global burden of diseases andsuffers over 3,50,000 deaths each yearas a result of smokeless tobacco use.Chief among this burden of diseasesis oral cancer, with India having amajority of all cases in the world.
An even more insidious part ofthe picture is smokeless tobacco useamong women in India. According tothe most recent iteration of the GlobalAdult Tobacco Survey, nearly 60 mil-lion women — more than the entirepopulation of England — reportusing smokeless tobacco in India. Suchuse among women in the countrydovetails along predictable socio-demographic lines, with a higher rateof use in rural areas, among older
adults and those with lower levels offormal education.
To make matters worse, the harmcaused by smokeless tobacco useamong women is often inter-genera-tional. As authors of a recent studynoted, smokeless tobacco use is strik-ingly high among expectant and nurs-ing mothers and this has been asso-ciated with a number of negativehealth effects for both the mother andthe baby. Maternal use of smokelesstobacco has been linked to lower birthweight, higher incidence of still births,higher rates of anaemia and lowernutritional outcomes for both themother and the child.
Despite the obvious need toreduce these dangers, the risks ofsmokeless tobacco use are often com-pounded by poor health literacy, lim-ited access to cessation services and adearth — if not outright absence —of cessation initiatives, products andtherapies that are culturally-sensitiveand tailored to women. This may part-ly explain why the few Indian women,who are able to kick the habit, reportdoing so with no assistance whatso-
ever. As public health experts seek tochange this reality, four pressing areasfor research into the intersection oftobacco use and women in India comeinto sharp relief: First, a greater under-standing of the epidemiology — theproverbial who, what, when, where,and why — of smokeless tobacco useamong women. Despite their wide-spread use, which products are usedby which women and why are poor-ly understood. The need for a morenuanced understanding of the epi-demiological contours of smokelesstobacco use among women is thusparamount.
Second, a detailed understandingof the toxicology of smokeless tobac-co products is needed as India is hometo a plethora of these products. Inaddition to understanding which onesare used by which women and why,greater insight into what ingredientsare present in each product and theirpotential to cause various diseasesmust be pursued.
Third, a more thorough under-standing of the barriers that womenface to tobacco use cessation is impor-
tant. To date, our collective under-standing of these barriers and how toovercome them is predicated on theexperience of men. Analogous insightsinto the experience of women who usetobacco must be gained and in turn,deployed to develop culturally-sensi-tive, women-focussed tools, therapies,and technologies for cessation.
Fourth, a deeper understanding ofthe ability of healthcare providers toprovide tobacco cessation counselling— especially for women — is needed.Many healthcare providers in Indiareport feeling inadequately trained todeliver existing and potential tools,therapies and technologies to thosewho use tobacco. Even more striking-ly, a substantial number of healthcareproviders in India report using tobac-co themselves. Research into why thisis so and how to facilitate change, forboth providers and patients alike, willbe critical.
Given the scale, scope and result-ing dangers of smokeless tobacco useamong people in India, particularlywomen, research into these areas isneeded now more than ever. It is
important to recognise, however, thatacknowledging the problem will notsolve it. Robust research into the areasabove will not coalesce spontaneous-ly and even if it did, the synergiesbetween them would likely go unre-alised.
As a result, it will be criticallyimportant to build and support a lit-eral and figurative community ofexperts to study tobacco use in India,exchange ideas and work together toidentify solutions.
Their collective ideas and experi-ences will serve as the tip of a spearinto a much larger body of work and,in turn will change the image of tobac-co use in India for the better. If suc-cessful, the picture of tobacco use inidea will no longer contain youngIndian men smoking in a social set-ting or a young mother using asmokeless product. Instead it will bereplaced by healthier, longer-livingIndian men and women in places andspaces free of smoke.
(The writer is research manager atthe Foundation for a Smoke-FreeWorld , USA)
Amutation of the novel coro-navirus increasingly com-
mon throughout Europe andrecently detected in Malaysiamay be more infectious butappears less deadly, accordingto a prominent infectious dis-eases doctor.
Paul Tambyah, senior con-sultant at the NationalUniversity of Singapore andpresident-elect of the US-basedInternational Society ofInfectious Diseases, said theD614G mutation has also beenfound in Singapore.
The city-state’s health min-istry did not immediatelyrespond to a request for com-ment. Tambyah said there isevidence the proliferation ofthe mutation in Europe hascoincided with a drop in deathrates, suggesting it is less lethal.
The mutation is not likelyto impact the efficacy of apotential vaccine, despite warn-ings to the contrary from otherhealth experts, he added.
“Maybe that’s a good thingto have a virus that is moreinfectious but less deadly,”Tambyah told Reuters.Tambyah said most virusestend to become less virulent asthey mutate. “It is in the virus’interest to infect more peoplebut not to kill them because avirus depends on the host forfood and for shelter,” he said.
Scientists discovered themutation as early as Februaryand it has circulated in Europeand the Americas, the WorldHealth Organization said. TheWHO has also said there is noevidence the mutation has ledto more severe disease.
On Sunday, Malaysia’s direc-tor-general of health Noor
Hisham Abdullah urged greaterpublic vigilance after authoritiesdetected what they believe wasthe D614G mutation of coron-avirus in two recent clusters.
Noor Hisham said the newstrain detected was 10 times
more infectious and that vac-cines currently in developmentmay not be effective against thismutation. But Tambyah saidsuch mutations would not like-ly change the virus enough tomake potential vaccines less
effective.“The mutant affects the
binding of the spike protein andnot necessarily the recognitionof the protein by the immunesystem, which would be primedby a vaccine,” he said.
Milwaukee, United States: USDemocrats opened their nom-inating convention with a showof unity behind Joe Biden andformer first lady MichelleObama delivering a scathingrebuke of Donald Trump as sheurged voters to reject his poli-tics of ‘division.’ “Donald Trumpis the wrong president for ourcountry,” Barack Obama’s wifesaid in a keynote speech on thefirst night of a convention thathas shifted entirely online due
to the coronavirus pandemic.“Whenever we look to thisWhite House for some leader-ship, or consolation, or anysemblance of steadiness, whatwe get instead is chaos, divisionand a total and utter lack ofempathy.” The pre-tapedremarks came as unprecedent-ed criticism by a former firstlady of a sitting US President,painting him as a man wholacks the competence, characteror decency for the job. AFP
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Fourteen rockets hit a diplo-matic district and other
neighbourhoods of Kabul onTuesday injuring a total of 10people, as Afghanistan markedits 101st Independence Day, aspokesman of the InteriorMinistry confirmed.
“At 9.36 a.m. 14 rounds ofrockets were fired from twosedans from Police District 8and Police District 17 into thecity centre. Most of the rocketshit residential houses, injuring10 people,” Xinhua newsagency quoted Ministryspokesman Tareq Arian as say-ing in a tweet.
Local media footageshowed several vehicles andhouses damaged by the rocketexplosions and initial reportsfound that rockets struck PoliceDistricts 1, 2, 10, 9, and 16.
The blasts sent columns ofthick smoke into the sky in several locations and trig-gered panic.
The capital police havearrested two suspected terror-ists from Police District 17 afterthe rocket attack, according toArian. No group has claimedresponsibility for the attackyet. Afghanistan on Tuesday marked the 101stanniversary of its indepen-dence from British occupa-tion amid the worsening secu-rity situation.
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The Trump campaign’s inter-actions with Russian intel-
ligence services during the2016 presidential electionposed a “grave” counterintelli-gence threat, a Senate panelconcluded as it detailed in areport how associates of theRepublican candidate had reg-ular contact with Russians andexpected to benefit from theKremlin’s help.
The report, the fifth andfinal one from the Republican-led Senate intelligence com-mittee on the Russia investiga-tion, describes how Russialaunched an aggressive, wide-ranging effort to interferein the election on DonaldTrump’s behalf.
It says Trump associateswere eager to exploit theKremlin’s aid, particularly bymaximizing the impact of thedisclosure of Democraticemails that were hacked byRussian military intelligenceofficers.
The conclusions mark theculmination of a bipartisanprobe that spanned more thanthree years and produced whatthe committee called “the mostcomprehensive description todate of Russia’s activities andthe threat they posed.”
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North Korea is believed tohave up to 60 nuclear
bombs and the world’s third-largest stockpile of chemicalweapons totalling to 5,000tonnes, the US Army said in areport.
The US Department of theArmy headquarters made theassessment in its report, titled“North Korean tactics”, sayingPyongyang is unlikely to giveup these weapons to ensure theregime’s survival, the Seoul-based Yonhap News Agencyreported on Tuesday.
“Estimates for NorthKorean nuclear weapons rangefrom 20-60 bombs, with thecapability to produce six new devices each year,” thereport said.
The report also showedthat Pyongyang is estimated topossess “2,500-5,000 tonnes of
chemical weapons of approxi-mately 20 different types, mak-ing it the third-largest posses-sor of chemical agents in theworld.
It is “highly likely” that theNorth Korean military woulduse chemical artillery shells.
The regime has also doneresearch on biological weaponsand possibly weaponizedanthrax or smallpox, whichcould be mounted atop missilesfor use against South Korea, theUSand Japan, it added.
“Only 1 kilogram ofanthrax could kill up to 50,000people in Seoul,” Yonhap NewsAgency quoted the report assaying.
North Korea is alsobelieved to have securedadvanced computer warfarecapabilities, which is another key means of coercivediplomacy, according to thereport.
London: The World HealthOrganization said the planet isnowhere near the amount ofcoronavirus immunity neededto induce herd immunity,where enough of the popula-tion would have antibodies tostop the spread.
Herd immunity is typical-ly achieved with vaccinationand most scientists estimate atleast 70 per cent of the popu-lation must have antibodies toprevent an outbreak. But someexperts have suggested thateven if half the population
had immunity, there might bea protective effect.
WHO’s emergencies chiefDr Michael Ryan largely dis-missed that theory at a pressbriefing on Tuesday, saying weshould not live “in hope” ofachieving herd immunity.
“As a global population, weare nowhere close to the levelsof immunity required to stopthis disease transmitting,” hesaid. “This is not a solution andnot a solution we should belooking to.” Most studies con-ducted to date have suggested
only about 10 per cent to 20 percent of people have antibodies.
Dr Bruce Aylward, a senioradviser to WHO’s director-general, added that any massimmunisation campaign with aCovid-19 vaccine would aim tocover far more than 50 per centof the world’s population.
“We don’t want to bewrong,” he said. “You want toplan to get high coverage andnot get lulled into a danger-ously seductive suggestion that(the herd immunity threshold)could be low.” AP
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US President DonaldTrump’s election campaign
has described the DemocraticNational Convention as aHollywood-produced infomer-cial which fails to hide the rad-ical-leftist takeover of pre-sumptive nominee Joe Biden.
At the four-day DemocraticNational Convention (DNC)which began virtually onMonday amid the ongoingCOVID-19 pandemic, JoeBiden, 77, and his runningmate Kamala Harris, 55, will beformally nominated by theDemocratic Party.
The duo will challengePresident Trump and VicePresident Mike Pence in theNovember 3 presidential polls.
“Democrats can try to con-ceal the dangerous truth witha Hollywood-producedinfomercial, but they cannothide the fact that the radicalsocialist leftist takeover of JoeBiden is complete,” said HoganGidley, Trump 2020 nationalpress secretary.
On the opening night ofthe convention, Democraticleaders Bernie Sanders,Michelle Obama and AndrewCuomo attacked the Trumppresidency, particularly thegovernment’s handling of thecoronavirus pandemic.
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Swedish staff have left thecountry’s embassy in North
Korea but the diplomatic mis-sion in Pyongyang remainsopen and is being staffed bylocal employees, officials saidon Tuesday.
“The main reason is thatwe have temporarily relocatedour diplomats who are eitheron holiday or are part of a(scheduled) rotation,” ForeignMinistry spokesman AntonDahlquist said. “Let me stressthat we maintain our diplomatic relations with North Korea.”
But Dahlquist added that“the situation (in North Korea)for the diplomats and the inter-national organizations hasincreasingly become more dif-ficult recently, including trav-eling, receiving diplomatic mailand the like. This is partly dueto the COVID-19 pandemic.”
North Korea has imposeda lockdown and shut its borderwith China, its main ally andeconomic lifeline, in responseto the coronavirus.
Coronavirus cases in Asia-Pacific countries are now
being driven by people underthe age of 50 who may notknow they are infected, theWorld Health Organizationsaid on Tuesday, warning of a“new phase” in the pandemic.
Many have mild or noCovid-19 symptoms and riskinfecting the elderly and othervulnerable populations, theWHO’s Western Pacific region-al director Takeshi Kasai told avirtual briefing.
“The epidemic is changing.People in their 20s, 30s and 40sare increasingly driving the
threat,” Kasai said. “Many areunaware they’re infected withvery mild symptoms or none atall.” “What we are observing isnot simply a resurgence. I believeit’s a signal that we’ve entered anew phase of the pandemic inthe Asia-Pacific (region).”
WHO data on the currentphase of the contagion showedaround two-thirds of Japan’sinfections were among thoseaged under 40.
More than half of the case-loads in the Philippines andAustralia were also in that agegroup. “We must redoubleefforts to stop the virus frommoving into vulnerable com-munities,” Kasai said.
Some countries that hadbrought their outbreaks undercontrol — such as New Zealand,Vietnam and South Korea —have detected new clusters, forc-ing governments to reimposepainful lockdowns on cities andtighten social distancing rules.
But Kasai said the use oftargeted interventions in theregion was encouragingbecause it reduced the eco-nomic and social impact ofcontainment measures and wasmore sustainable.
He warned, however, thatthe challenge will remain “aslong as the virus is circulating and we don’t haveimmunity to it”.
Influenza viruses can spreadthrough the air on dust, fibres
and other microscopic particles,and not just expiratory droplets,according to a study publishedon Tuesday that has implica-tions for the novel coronavirustransmission.
“It’s really shocking to mostvirologists and epidemiologiststhat airborne dust, rather thanexpiratory droplets, can carryinfluenza virus capable ofinfecting animals,” saidProfessor William Ristenpartfrom the University ofCalifornia, Davis in the US.
“The implicit assumptionis always that airborne trans-mission occurs because of res-piratory droplets emitted bycoughing, sneezing, or talk-ing,” Ristenpart said.
The researchers, includingthose from the Icahn School ofMedicine at Mt. Sinai, notedthat transmission via dustopens up whole new areas ofinvestigation, and has pro-found implications for how weinterpret laboratory experi-ments as well as epidemiolog-ical investigations of outbreaks.
Influenza virus is thoughtto spread by several differentroutes, including in dropletsexhaled from the respiratorytract or on secondary objectssuch as door handles or usedtissues, the researchers wrotein the journal NatureCommunications.
These secondary objectsare called fomites, yet little isknown about which routesare the most important, theynoted.
The answer may be dif-
ferent for different strains ofinfluenza virus or for otherrespiratory viruses, includingcoronaviruses such as SARS-CoV2, according to theresearchers.
In the new study, theresearchers looked at whethertiny, non-respiratory particlesthey call “aerosolised fomites”could carry influenza virusbetween guinea pigs.
Using an automated par-ticle sizer to count airborneparticles, they found that unin-fected guinea pigs give offspikes of up to 1,000 particlesper second as they movearound the cage.
Particles given off by theanimals’ breathing were at aconstant, much lower rate,according to the researchers.
Immune guinea pigs withinfluenza virus painted on
their fur could transmit thevirus through the air to other,susceptible guinea pigs, show-ing that the virus did not haveto come directly from the res-piratory tract to be infectious,they said. The researchersthen tested whether micro-scopic fibres from an inani-mate object could carry infec-tious viruses.
They treated paper facialtissues with influenza virus, letthem dry out, then crumpledthem in front of the automat-ed particle sizer.
Crumpling the tissuesreleased up to 900 particles persecond in a size range thatcould be inhaled, theresearchers found.
They were also able toinfect cells from these particlesreleased from the virus-cont-aminated paper tissues.
Wellington: New Zealand Prime MinisterJacinda Ardern hit back on Tuesday against USPresident Donald Trump for saying her coun-try is experiencing a “big surge” in Covid-19,calling the remarks “patently wrong”.
Trump sparked uproar in New Zealandwhen he told a crowd in Minnesota that theSouth Pacific country of 5 million people wasin the grip of a “terrible” upsurge in Covid-19
cases, having earlier succeeded in eliminatingthe disease.
Thirteen new infections were confirmed inNew Zealand on Tuesday, taking the country’stotal number of cases since the pandemic beganto 1,293, with 22 deaths. This compares withthe US tally of more than 5.2 million cases and1,70,000 deaths.
Dubai: Dubai still requiresforeign residents who areoverseas to obtain permis-sion before returning, theemirate said on Tuesday.
The United ArabEmirates in March suspend-ed the entry of non-citizensas part of measures to curbthe spread of the coron-avirus disease.
Residents have sincegraduallly been allowed toreturn, either after beinggranted a special exemptionor by registering online,though many still remainoverseas. Last week, a feder-al policy requiring overseaseresidents to seek approvalbefore they returned to theGulf state was lifted. AFP
President Donald Trump saidTuesday that he will pardonSusan B. Anthony, a women’ssuffrage leader arrested forvoting in 1872 in violation oflaws permitting only men tovote. Trump’s support has beeneroding among suburban whitewomen in battleground statessince his last campaign, in partbecause of his harsh rhetoric.
Trump held a White Houseevent to announce the pardonand sign a proclamation declar-ing August 2020 as NationalSuffrage Month. But he and thewomen assembled for the eventquickly pivoted to the upcom-ing election and the outcry overPostal Service disruptions thatDemocrats say endanger thevoting rights of millions ofAmericans who would vote bymail in November during thecoronavirus pandemic.
“Win, lose or draw, wehave to get it right,” Trump saidof the November vote count,leveling a fresh offensive
against mail-in voting. “You can’t have millions
and millions of ballots sent allover the place, sent to peoplethat are dead, sent to dogs, cats,sent everywhere,” Trump said.
In fact, voter fraud hasproved exceedingly rare. TheBrennan Center for Justice in2017 ranked the risk of ballotfraud at 0.00004% to 0.0009%,based on studies of past elec-tions. Only nine states current-ly have plans for “universal”mail-in voting, where ballots aresent automatically to registeredvoters. Five of those states reliedon mail-in ballots even beforethe coronavirus pandemic raisedconcerns about voting in person.
Trump said he would sign “afull and complete pardon” forAnthony later Tuesday, the100th anniversary of the ratifi-cation of the 19th Amendment,which ensured women the rightto vote. It’s also known as theSusan B. Anthony Amendment.In recent weeks, Trump has beentrying to build support withinthe pivotal female voter con-stituency and has stepped up hisevents aimed at women.
framework for setting upumbrella entities for operatingpan-India retail payments sys-tems and invited applicationsfrom eligible companies byFebruary 26, 2021.
As per the framework, thecompanies with a net worth ofover �500 crore will be eligibleto set up an umbrella entitywhich among other things willbe permitted to set up, manageand operate new payment sys-tems in the retail space com-prising ATMs, White LabelPoS, Aadhaar-based paymentsand remittance services.
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Union Steel MinisterDharmendra Pradhan on
Tuesday asked the industrystakeholders to prepare a planto enhance investment thatwill boost steel consumptionand create new job opportuni-ties in the country.
He was speaking at awebinar on ‘AtmanirbharBharat: Fostering Steel Usage inHousing and Construction andAviation Sector’, organised bythe Ministry of Steel in associ-ation with industry bodyConfederation of IndianIndustry (CII).
Referring to COVID-19outbreak, Pradhan said, “Ibelieve, we have been able to
control the situation and you all(industry) have played a bigrole in it. In the coming days,providing employment oppor-tunities will be a big chal-lenge”.
The Minister suggestedthe industry to prepare a planso that states and private indus-try can increase their spending,saying it will be very beneficialin creating more jobs.
Higher spending in pro-jects will also lead to anincrease in steel usage, Pradhansaid. He further said the gov-ernment has alreadyannounced several infrastruc-ture projects across sectors,including rail, road, aviation,gas pipeline, Sand housing,where steel can find its usage.
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Equity benchmark Sensexrallied 478 points on
Tuesday, driven by gains inindex majors RelianceIndustries, HDFC Bank andICICI Bank amid positive cuesfrom global markets and sus-tained foreign fund inflows.
The BSE Sensex ended477.54 points or 1.26 per centhigher at 38,528.32, while theNSE Nifty surged 138.25 pointsor 1.23 per cent to 11,385.35.
UltraTech Cement was thetop gainer in the Sensex pack,rising over 3 per cent, followedby Kotak Bank, ICICI Bank,Asian Paints and Tata Steel.
Reliance Industries andHDFC Bank added most to thegains on the index. On theother hand, Tech Mahindra,HCL Tech, Bajaj Auto andPower Grid were among thelaggards.
According to traders, buy-ing in index heavyweights ledbenchmarks higher amid sus-tained foreign fund inflows.Foreign institutional investorsbought equities worth � 332.90crore on a net basis on Monday,provisonal exchange datashowed.
Largely positive cues fromglobal markets too supporteddomestic indices, they said.
Bourses in Shanghai andHong Kong ended on a positivenote, while Tokyo and Seoulwere in the red.
Stock exchanges in Europewere trading with significantgains in early deals.
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India’s farm exports rose 23.24per cent in value terms to
�25,552.7 crore during March-June period amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, the AgricultureMinistry said on Tuesday.
To promote farm exports,a “comprehensive action plan”has been prepared under which‘Export Promotion Forums’are being created and existingagri-clusters are being strength-ened besides identifying certaindestinations for promotion ofagricultural exports, the min-istry said in a statement.
Promotion of farm exportsis extremely important notonly for earning precious for-eign exchange for the countrybut also for achieving the goalof an ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’, forwhich self-reliant agriculture iscritical, it added.
“Even during the difficulttime of pandemic lockdown,
India took care not to disturbthe world food supply chainand continued to export,” itsaid.
Exports of agri-com-modities increased by 23.24 percent to �25,552.7 crore duringMarch-June 2020 as against�20,734.8 crore in the year-agoperiod, it added.
According to the ministry,“clear and proactive interven-tions” are required to be takento ensure India becomes a topexporting nation in agriculturecommensurate with the pro-duction. India holds secondrank in world’s wheat produc-tion, but ranks 34th in exports.Similarly, despite being rankedthird in vegetable production inthe world, India’s export rank-ing is 14th.
Same is the case for fruits,where India is the secondlargest producer in the world,but export rank is 23rd, thestatement said.
New Delhi: The Govt is con-sidering according MSME sta-tus to dealers as it will enablethem to avail benefits offered tomicro, small and mediumenterprises, Union MinisterNitin Gadkari said on Tuesday.
Micro, small and mediumenterprises (MSMEs) com-prising manufacturing and ser-vices units need to get regis-tered to avail the benefits andsubsidies offered under variousGovernment schemes.
Registered MSMEs are eli-gible for tariff subsidies and taxand capital subsidies. The reg-istration also helps them in get-ting Government tenders andenables easier access to loans atlow interest rates.
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The Ministry of CivilAviation will place a pro-
posal for “further” privatisationof airports before the UnionCabinet on Wednesday,Minister Hardeep Singh Purisaid on Tuesday.
In the first round of pri-vatisation under the NarendraModi dispensation, the air-ports in Lucknow, Ahmedabad,Jaipur, Mangaluru,Thiruvananthapuram andGuwahati were cleared foroperation, management anddevelopment through public-private partnership (PPP)model in February 2019.Subsequently, the AirportsAuthority of India (AAI) had inSeptember 2019 recommend-ed the Civil Aviation Ministryto privatise airports inAmritsar, Varanasi,Bhubaneswar, Indore, Raipurand Trichy.
Puri said during a webinaron Tuesday: “We are going tothe Cabinet tomorrow for fur-ther airport privatisation.
We have got many moreairports lined up, dozens ofthem, and the 100 new airportswe will build between now and2030.”
The AAI, whichworks under the Ministry ofCivil Aviation, owns and man-ages more than 100 airports
across the country. In 2018, thegovernment decided to priva-tise the airports in Lucknow,Ahmedabad, Jaipur,M a n g a l u r u ,Thiruvananthapuram, andGuwahati. Adani Enterpriseshad won the rights to runthese six airports after a com-petitive bidding process inFebruary 2019.
Adani Enterprises signedthe concessionaire agreementwith the AAI for three airports-- Ahmedabad, Mangaluru andLucknow -- on February 14,2020. The aviation sector hasbeen hit hard due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.
After a gap of two monthsdue to the coronavirus-trig-gered lockdown, Indiaresumed domestic passengerflights on May 25, albeit in acurtailed manner.International passenger flightscontinue to remain suspendedin the country
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Amid talks of prohibition inChhattisgarh, the
Alcoholic Beverage Companieshave urged the Bhupesh BaghelGovernment not to considertotal liquor ban in the State asit would prove detrimental toState’s growth and progress. Inits letter to Chief MinisterBhupesh Baghel, theConfederation of IndianAlcoholic Beverage Companies(CIABC) said the State needs toconsider the case of Biharwhich is facing deep financialand law and order problemsdue to failed implementation ofprohibition. CIABC has alsodrawn attention towards theexample of Gujarat which hastaken more practical approachwhile implementing partialprohibition to safeguard inter-ests of tourists while banningliquor.
CIABC letter also high-lights how states like Haryana,Andhra Pradesh and Kerala
first hastily implemented pro-hibition only to roll it back tosafeguard interests of the stateand its people. Similarly, inmany states political partiesincluded prohibition in theirmanifestos but failed to imple-ment it after coming to powerdue to practical difficulties.
“Prohibition also has con-sistently failed to bring aboutany social and health benefits,while during prohibition drugabuse increases manifold.Prohibition also affects tourismwith the MICE (meetings, con-ferences, expositions) industrybeing worst hit. Finally, the costof enforcing prohibitionbecomes enormous and provedcounter-productive”, CIABCDirector General Vinod Girisaid. According to Giri theapex body of alcoholic bever-age companies have soughttime from the ChhattisgarhCM to present their view point.Chhattisgarh government earnsRs.5200 crore every year fromexcise tax apart from GST
earning which comes fromsale of dry goods worth Rs.750crore used by the industry.
Referring to Bihar’s failedexperiment with prohibitionGiri said that liquor ban hascrippled state judiciary andpolice administration as todaythere are over 40,000 bail appli-cations related to prohibitionpending in various courts.“Nearly 40% of all jail incar-cerations in Bihar are estimat-ed to be prohibition related.Jails are overflowing. Even theprominent Beur Jail of Patnahas now nearly 100% moreinmates than its capacity.Situation in smaller jails iseven worse,” Giri said.
Prohibition in Bihar wasimposed on the premise that itwould result in a significantsocial dividend given state’sextreme backwardness on eco-nomic and health parameters.Four years down the road, thereis no evidence of any such gains,while there has been no improve-ment in law and order situation.
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Samsung Electronicsremained the top TV vendor
in the second quarter of theyear, while its local rival LGElectronics fell to the fourthspot in global TV shipments, areport said on Tuesday.
Samsung shipped 8.5 mil-lion TVs in the April-Juneperiod, down 6 per cent froma year ago but maintained itstop status, according to indus-try tracker Display SupplyChain Consultants (DSCC),citing DiScien’s monthlyreport.However, LG droppedfrom the second to fourth spotafter its TV shipments declined25 per cent on-year to 4.4 mil-lion units in the second quar-ter of the year, reports Yonhapnews agency. “LG has struggledto maintain its market positionas it tries to increase the volumeof OLED TV sales withoutdecreasing prices, and facedwith a vast price gap betweenLCD and OLED TV panelprices,” DSCC said.
Chinese brands TCL andHisense came in second andthird, respectively. TCL’s TVshipments increased 27 per centon-year to 5.6 million, whileHisense saw 18 per cent on-yeargain in its TV shipments to 4.7million units in the secondquarter, according to the report.
Raipur: Chief MinisterBhupesh Baghel will transfer �1500 crore into the bankaccounts of 19 lakh farmers onAugust 20, 2020, as the secondinstallment under Rajiv GandhiKisaan Nyay Yojana. ChiefMinister will transfer the sec-ond installment under thescheme in a programme to beorganized via video confer-encing from his residenceoffice, on the occasion of thebirth anniversary of BharatRatna late Shri Rajiv Gandhi.The programme will be attend-ed by the Cabinet Ministers.On the occasion, ChiefMinister will also transfer�232.81 crore into the bankaccounts of tendupatta collec-tors as bonus for the collectionin year 2018. Chief Ministerwill also transfer the paymentinto the bank accounts of dungsellers, against cowdung pro-cured in the second fortnight.
Under Rajiv GandhiKisaan Nyay Yojana of
Chhattisgarh Government, 19lakh farmers of the state arebeing provided grant aid of Rs5750 crore. First installmentunder the scheme i.e. �1500crore was transferred into theaccounts of farmers on mar-tyrdom day of Shri RajivGandhi i.e. on May 21, 2020.Likewise, the second install-ment of �1500 crore under thescheme will be transferred onAugust 20, 2020 on the occa-sion of birth anniversary of ShriRajiv Gandhi. StateGovernment is procuring dung
at the rate of �2/kg underGodhan Nyay Yojana. On theoccasion, payment to the dungsellers for dung sold betweenAugust 2 and August 15 will betransferred into their bankaccounts.
On the occasion, bonusworth �232 crore 81 lakh willbe transferred into the bankaccounts of 11 lakh 46 thou-sand 626 tendupatta collectorsof 728 societies, for the tendu-patta collection done in year2018 in 114 developmentblocks of the state.
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After the disclosure of aholding in HDFC, the
Chinese central bank PeoplesBank of China has nowacquired an equity stake inICICI Bank.
The government had inApril notified new norms forFDI investments by neigh-bouring countries which wouldrequire approvals. It is notclear if portfolio investmentsneed to go through some vet-ting process or the governmentwill continue with this openroute till the time no FDIapproval is required.
The investment by theChinese central bank in ICICIBank is modest. It subscribedto the recent ICICI Bank’s Rs15,000 crore capital qualifiedinstitutional investors (QIP)placement and invested Rs 15crore.
The Chinese central bankwas among the 357 institu-tional investors which includ-ed domestic mutual funds,insurance companies and glob-al institutions that subscribedto the issue.
The investment comes at atime when business and traderelations between India andChina have nose-dived after theGalwan valley clash betweenthe soldiers.
Earlier, a disclosure byHDFC had caused a flutter
after PBOC holding breached1 per cent mark. HDFC hadclarified that Chinese centralbank, People’s Bank of China(PBOC) has been an existingshareholder of the companyand only the disclosure wasbeing made as they hit the 1 percent threshold.
HDFC’s Vice Chairmanand CEO Keki Mistry had toldIANS that the PBOC had beenan existing shareholder and hadowned 0.8 percent in the com-pany as of March 2019.
Thereafter, there have beenreports that PBOC has cut itsstake in HDFC.
strongly criticized ICICI Bankfor allowing Peoples Bank ofChina to invest in the bankdespite strong sentiments pre-vailing in the country againstChina and its anti-India poli-cies.
The CAIT said that this isa second such instance of aChinese bank trying to makeinroads into the Indian bank-ing system.
The People’s Bank ofChina had earlier this yearmade an investment in HDFCBank. “The CAIT has askedFinance Minister NirmalaSithraman to direct both
ICICI & HDFC Bank toreturn the investments byChinese bank,” a statementsaid.
CAIT Secretary GeneralPraveen Khandelwal said thatit seems quite clear that Chinahas designed a well plannedstrategy to make an intrusioninto the Indian banking sec-tor which is quite well regu-lated and is very important forthe financial health of thecountry.
Even though theGovernment had introduceda mechanism to check the for-eign portfolio investments,there is nothing concrete yetfrom the RBI to restrain andcontrol the funding coming infrom China.
the US dollar on Tuesday asheavy buying in domesticequities and weak Americancurrency strengthenedinvestor sentiments.
At the interbank forexmarket, the domestic unittraded in a narrow range. Itopened at 74.78 and endedthe day at 74.76, registeringa gain of 12 paise over its pre-vious close of 74.88 againstthe greenback.
During the session,the local unit witnessed anintra-day high of 74.73 and alow of 74.89 against the USdollar.
The Ilamed has been successfullyrunning its three months Masters
Course in Cosmetic Gynaecologyprogramme for practising gynae-cologists with live sessions followedby hands-on training. This is the flag-ship programme from Ilamed whichis the most sought after programmein the field of Gynecology.
This course is designed byGynecologist for Gynecologist,which helps them in adding a newdimension to their practice andanswers most of the clients’ needs.This programme covers latest tech-niques and procedures which arefollowed around the world by the
eminent gynecologist including thebest practices as per the global stan-dards.
This masters course is backedby the best institutes and universi-ties of the world along with therenowned faculty who are havingmore than two decades of experi-ence in the field of teaching andtraining.
The curriculum is verydetailed and covers most of theimportant topics and procedureswhich are delivered in the form oflectures, and the candidates aregiven hands on training on livepatients which helps them toenhance their skills in their clini-cal practice.
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During the pan-demic, IMS Law
College Noida organ-ised a master class onthe subject of epi-demics and Englishvocabulary for law stu-dents to learn newtrending words.
The Online classwas taken by Prof DrThomas Samson DeanLiterature Departmentof English and ForeignLanguages, HyderabadUniversity.
Prof (Dr) Thomas
Samson said that inaddition to the spreadof infection in humansduring the epidemic,the infection of lan-guage flexibility hasalso spread. Giving anexample, he said thatnowadays many newwords like CovidiIdiet, Covid Tac andCovid Team have beenderived.Words aresomething that makescommunication easybut the right choice ofvocabulary at the righttime makes commu-nication effective.
Till 2018, in India and else-where, a degree programme in
data science was only available at agraduate/masters level, primarily inUSA. Graduate students (Mastersand PhD), over there, would be tak-ing specialised courses on big dataengineering, artificial intelligence,machine learning, data mining, sta-tistics to gain understanding ofshifts in innovation that’s gettingpowered by data science. Realisingthe importance that data science isgoing to play in future of the busi-ness in years to come, every top B-schools (mostly US universities)started offering a STEM (sciencetechnology engineering mathe-matics) classified Masters pro-gramme in analytics.
While the pieces of technolo-gies and methods were there since1950, the ideas were mostly in therealm of well-funded laboratoriesusing proprietary systems. Theadvent of big-4 (Google,Facebook, Microsoft, andAmazon), Apache Foundationand other open source contribu-tors changed the game and madedata science as part of everyday lifeof a professional.
The careers in data science areoriginating from four different butwell-connected streams:
�Computer Science�Statistics�Mathematics�Business AnalyticsHowever, the entire chain of
innovation is led by engineers whoare working for the likes of Google
and Amazon, hence there is a dis-proportionate influence ofComputer Science engineers inthis area.
The careers that a graduate ofdata science can pursue are as fol-lows:
�Data Engineers�Data Scientists�Data Analysts�Business AnalystsApart from the traditional
roles of Software Engineering andmodern roles of Cloud engineer-ing, DevOps engineering: thoseare available to him/her.Traditionally, Data Engineers arepegged at the highest salary buck-et.
Typically the qualities or qual-ifications that companies look at
�Strength in JavaScript forVisual Analytics (packages like
Tableau)�Cloud and DevOps� Some understanding of
Business Domain (eg Retail,Transportation, Healthcare andFinance: which can be gainedthrough capstone projects, dis-sertation, thesis etc.)
It is unlikely that someonewould combine all the abovequalifications, but one has to findhis/her own sweet spot and trygain competitive strength in threeor four skills above.
Top B Schools offer undergradprogrammes on data science andmany of the courses and topicsactually are from a typicalComputer Science Master pro-gramme; and therefore the rigoris unparalleled.
The students typically benefitfrom the 2X or more salary dif-ferential (vis-à-vis a comparableundergrad course in engineering)and have a jump-start career; andin case, s/he is able to crack intothe big league of Google, Amazon,FB, Microsoft, then this differen-tial goes up to 5X at the start of thecareer. Secondly, the graduatesalso get to work on the most hap-pening technologies in the worldthus improving their profession-al profile significantly. A job is notonly defined by the salary, but alsoby the content and contribution tohumanity and global impact.
Being sure of doing a law degreeis only the tip of the iceberg inyour journey of legal education.
The noble and highly coveted field hasmany other layers to it.
As you plan to apply for a careerin law, there are many factors that caninfluence your choices. The prestige ofthe school, the fee and educationalrequirements play important roles.However, what is one of the most crit-ical factors is to choose a specialisationthat suits your interests and needs.
We have picked out the top threeparameters that can help you make theright choice. Before we dive into that,let’s skim over why choosing law couldbe one of the best decisions.
Why choose law?Law creates a body of rules of
action to ensure people can live peace-fully with each other. Law protects gen-eral safety, and rights as citizens —against abuses from people, organisa-tions or even the system itself. It alsohelps protect your general safety at thelocal, state and national levels.
Some of the major benefits ofchoosing law are:� Very versatile degree� Builds essential skills for many pro-fessions
� Trains you to think and write logi-cally, clearly and critically� Provides transferable skills� Imparts the ability to read, write andinterpret complex ideas and concepts� Combines theory with practise� Inculcates public and persuasivespeaking along with attention to detail
Put simply, a degree in law buildsyour overall personality and gives youthe confidence and ability to take onany challenge comfortably.
Types of law specialisationsLawyers play the role of a guardian
for their clients. They introduce andinform clients about their rights,advise them on legal matters and helpthem navigate through the complex-ities of the law.
Law school will prepare you topractice in a large number of legalfields. Some of the different law spe-cialisations you can choose from are
� Civil Law� Tax Law� Criminal Law� Corporate Law� Labour Law� Real Estate Law� Media Law� Intellectual Property Law� Litigation
Three parameters to considerbefore you make the choice
Explore your options:It is always important to gauge
your options before making a decision.It applies to choosing a law speciali-sation too.
Every university offers a host ofchoices that you can select from.Going through them will open yourmind about what is available to you,what you prefer, where your strengthslie and which will make for a goodlong-term career choice.
Making an informed decisionwill pay off in the long run in termsof professional aptitude, achieve-ments and happiness quotient aswell. � Evaluate your strengths
and abilitiesAnalysing your strengths and
weaknesses will help you gauge whatyou will be good at and what you maynot ace.
For example, if writing andresearch are your strong points,Intellectual Property Law could be agreat choice. However, if publicspeaking comes easily to you, litiga-tion could be your cup of tea.
It is always better to know what
you want without restricting yourself.Combining strengths and abilities cangive you multiple options. It is betterto keep them all open, rather thanlimiting yourself to any one. Thisallows you to change track withchanging interests.
Long-term growth and oppor-tunities
When we talk about growth, wemust look at where this will take usin the next 15-20 years.
Is there scope to grow?Are there learning avenues?Will this maintain the lifestyle
you’ve always wanted?Answering important questions
like these will ensure you know whatyou are getting into.
The best way to find answers tothese questions is to speak to thoseworking in the field. Delve deep andask questions to get an idea of whatthe industry holds in store.
Law is a vast field with many spe-cialisations and numerous careerpaths. A specialisation in law opensup many doors and expands yourhorizons. It brings clarity regardingfuture prospects. Make a wise choice. .(�����������'�������#���������"�����(���#
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Many of us spend most of ourtimes reading articles on digi-
tal devices. But, when was the lasttime we got a software update on thisdevice? And has it ever happenedthat a particular tool or applicationstopped working and forced you toupdate its software to run again?
Well, that is exactly what COVID-19 has done to education systemsaround the world. It is a forcedupdate.
In India, while some students andeducators have adjusted to the newreality and have taken measures toexcel right from the first day, for mostothers it has been a nightmare.
Apart from the Edtech giants likeBYJU’s & Unacademy, many otherbudding Edtech companies have alsocome forward and are empowering theeducational institutions, students & theworking class within their own capac-ity.
Listed below are a few Edtechfirms, who are unique in their ownway. These platforms have ceased theopportunity presented to them duringthe nationwide lockdown and arecertainly contributing their bit inbringing back the wheel of educationand new learning on track.
Suraasa: The need for an hour isto redesign the teacher educationsystem and prepare Indian teachers toproudly find jobs and placements inthe Universities and Schools in Indiaand abroad.
Suraasa, an learning platform thatintends to redesign the current teachereducation systems by building a net-work of millions of teachers, is on amission to empower teachers by curat-ing tools and techniques that are eas-
ily usable in the classroom. They helpteachers in skilling themselves on lat-est teaching methodologies and mon-itoring their learning to analyse if theyhave improved by leaps and bounds.In a nutshell, the aim of the startup isto bring the best in a teacher.
EduBrisk: EduBrisk, a brain-friendly educational solutions platformfor schools and students, recentlyinitiated a programme called‘Classroom to Virtual Classroom’which enables schools to go live with-in 24 hours.
The edtech company helps teach-ers teach efficiently through activelearning engagement, students cangrasp concepts deeper & faster withminimal screen time.
It makes parents stress-free aseverything needed to learn and test areunder one umbrella and also facilitatesa strong channel of communicationbetween students, teachers, and par-ents.
PlayShifu: PlayShifu is a leadingAR toy company offering a variety ofimmersive, educational toys that con-nect the physical and digital worlds for
kids. The play experiences are of thetoys are specially designed for kidsaged two to 12 years so that they canlearn and as well as explore the world.
The founders of this educationaltoys startup saw a need to providemeaningful digital experiences forkids, PlayShifu is now loved aroundthe world with offices in Bay Area andBangalore, India.
Classroom.Live: It is a completevirtual classroom solution and a prod-uct of Unthinkable Solutions LLPcomes with an interactive whiteboardstriving for seamless collaboration andeasy content creation for teachers. Theplatform is safe for both teachers &students as they conduct fully securedand collaborative live sessions andkeep a complete control and track ofteachers & students activities and theplatform also claims that it is the onlyedtech platform which is launched tolower the work of both learners andeducators by providing necessarylearnings at every step.
Around 150 institutions are usingClassroom.live and one lakh + stu-dents take sessions per day.
Universities (ARWU) byShanghai RankingConsultancy was released onAugust 15, 2020. VelloreInstitute of Technology (VIT)has been ranked 801-900 thisyear.
Moving up from last year’s901-1000 among world uni-versities and VIT is the onlyPrivate Institution of Indiaranked in the Top 1000 as perthe list published in theShanghai Ranking websitewhere it is also mentioned thatVIT is one among the Top 9 outof 15 institutions of India pub-
lished by ARWU this year.VIT entered this prestigiousranking in 2019.
VIT Chancellor Dr GViswanathan said that thiswas because of the commit-ment of VIT faculty, researchscholars and hardworking stu-dents towards quality inresearch.
Since 2003, ARWU hasbeen presenting the worldtop universities ranking everyyear based on transparentmethodology and objectivethird-party data. ShanghaiRanking is also recognised asone of the Ranking agenciesby the Government of Indiafor Institution of Eminence(IoEs).
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Vidyamandir Classes, aname synonymous with
IITJEE and NEET preparation,launches National level mocktests, AIMNEET and AIMJEEto strengthen the skillsets ofIITJEE and NEET aspirantsand to build up the compe-tency of students to crack thetwo most popular competitiveexams with high score. VMCwill conduct these two tests forfree of cost for IITJEE andNEET aspirants across Indiaon August 30, 2020.
The motto behind theseexams is to boost up the con-fidence of the aspirants and forthem to have a reality check. Itwill help students to compre-hend their mistakes, weak areasand improve them according-ly. Moreover, these two mockexams will also give a chance tothe students to understand the
pattern and nuances of finalcompetitive exams.
The primary objective is tocurate a benchmarking tool forthe aspirants to compare theirpreparedness and flaws. It willalso help students to frame atest taking strategy, enhancetime management skills andachieve a 360 degree perfor-mance analysis.
Speaking on this occasion,Brij Mohan, Co-Founder,Vidyamandir Classes said:“NEET and IIT/JEE are the twomost popular exams. In recentyears number of candidates isincreasing in leaps and bounds.In such a competitive scenario,students must attend mocktests to understand the natureof the exam and to compre-hend their preparedness forbeing ahead of the curve andscore high marks to secureseats in leading national med-ical and engineering colleges.”
In a landmark achievement, KIITDeemed to be University,
Bhubaneswar has been rankedNo 1 among self-financing insti-tutions of the country in the AtalRanking of Institutions onInnovation Achievements (ARIIA),2020 of the Ministry of Education,Government of India. SRMInstitute, Chennai and VelloreInstitute of Technology (VIT),Vellore have bagged the 2nd and3rd ranks respectively.
The ranking report for 2020
was announced by M VenkaiahNaidu, Vice President of India inthe presence of Dr RameshPokhriyal Nishank, Minister ofEducation, Sanjay Shamrao Dhotre,Minister of State for Education; ProfAnil D. Sahasrabudhe, Chairman,AICTE; Amit Khare, Secretary,Higher Education and other dig-nitaries at an august ceremony inNew Delhi on August 18, 2020.ARIIA is an initiative of Ministryof Education (earlier HumanResource Development), to sys-tematically rank all major highereducational institutions and uni-
versities in India on indicatorsrelated to “Innovation andEntrepreneurship Development”amongst students and faculties.
KIIT, which was ranked sec-ond in the 2019 ARIIA Rankings,improved its rank this year to bagthe top spot. KIIT Deemed to beUniversity, recognised as an“Institution of Eminence” by theGovernment, has achieved thetop place in this prestigious rank-ings due to its innovation andentrepreneurship centers,advanced laboratories, centers ofexcellence, collaborations with
industries and international insti-tutions. Known for its student-friendly culture, it lays high empha-sis on involving students inresearch, development and inno-vation activities.
“I congratulate KIIT on thisachievement. We have moved tothe first position this year. It is thestory of our growth in the realm ofresearch and innovation. I thankMinister of HRD, Dr RameshPokhriyal Nishank ji for recognis-ing our efforts,” said Prof AchyutaSamanta, Founder of KIIT-DU andMember of Parliament, Lok Sabha.
The ebb and flow of the real estatesector may often discourageyoung professionals from choos-
ing this as an option. But the sector isso dynamic that every day is a newopportunity to learn and grow. Thereal estate sector has been adapting atreal time to a lot of changes onaccount of policy changes, entry of for-eign funds, varying demands fromhomebuyers, emergence of Next-gendevelopers and several other factors.As a result, the real estate developershave, over the years, become profes-sionally managed enterprises.
Begin with local: Real estate is ahumongous industry but highlylocalised. The trends in one micromarket do not reflect in another andvice versa. As a result, young profes-sionals must interact with a lot ofstakeholders like common people,real estate consultants, bankers etc. andthen read & learn to analyse whatworks in which market.
You must be aware of govern-ment’s infrastructure initiatives bothongoing and proposed in the future.In majority of the cases, locationbecomes the sales clincher.
The purchases in real estate, unlikeother sectors, are slower than usual.One must exercise patience and dur-ing this period, continue to learnnewer and smarter ways to sell.
You must be absolutely preparedabout the product you are selling. Asstated earlier, purchases are slowbecause stakes are high and so ques-
tions are many. Mis-selling may giveyou short term gains but honesty willtake you farther.
RERA understanding is must:The Real Estate Regulatory Authority(RERA) was made operational in2017 to bring about a transparency inthe real estate sector and empowerhomebuyers by bridging the knowl-edge asymmetry that existed betweenhomebuyers and developers.
Every young professional mustknow the laws they are working with.Earlier when the regulator did notexist, the industry was unorganisedand mis-selling was rampant. Buttoday, every homebuyer is aware of theprovisions and safeguards provided tohim under the RERA.
Understand the licenses and reg-istrations: Real estate and construc-tion business require innumerablelicenses and registrations. Basic knowl-edge about each one of them is a must.You would not want to embarrassyourself and the company by notknowing any of these if a questionfrom a buyer arises!
There are several states or localbodies working in granting these per-missions and licenses in construction
and real estate. One must build liaisonwith them for a deeper insight includ-ing on-ground situations and chal-lenges.
Research and pick a speciality:The sector is highly specialised as aresult young professionals mustresearch thoroughly on what excitesand interests them. The opportunitiesare unlimited in areas like sales, mar-keting, construction, architecture,interior designing, law, corporateaffairs to name a few.
Each one of the above mentionedareas of work are fast evolving and youmust be prepared to upgrade yourselfso that your skills don’t become obso-lete.
Listen to realty stalwarts so thatyou have better insights in the worldof real estate.
Optimum market scenario: Thedemand scenarios keep changingrapidly and that will give young pro-fessionals a lot of headroom to inno-vate in their area of work. In today’stime, that evolution in demand is hap-pening and the sector is fast adapting.
Digital is a reality in real estatetoday unlike a few years ago; and itwill be the future of real estate sale
and purchase. A lot of opportunitieswill be ushered in and use of tech-nology will be extremely critical.
The Government’s push for vocalfor local and atmanirbhar Bharatmakes it an opportune time to enterthe sector. Opportunities are beingcreated in every which way not justfor real estate sector but also for theancillary industries which not onlyemploy in large numbers but also ful-fill the supply requirements of the realestate sector.
There is a level playing fieldtoday in the way real estate organi-sations have evolved into a well-runprofessional company with best HRpractices.
Technology has brought compa-nies and consumers closer todaythan ever before especially in the realestate sector and therefore doingbusiness has become extremely excit-ing.
Even if the road ahead seemsbumpier than usual despite hugeopportunities, it is important that youmap the long-term benefits andexposure of the learning you willreceive in your maiden career venture.
It is a mobile/digitalchannel designed to enableyoung people to learn theskills they need to get the jobsthey want or make the jumpto starting sustainable enter-prises that solve problems inthe city.
It is city focused. Delhi,Bengaluru, Kolkata. It’s fea-tures the skills you need tobecome a problem-solvingentrepreneur in the city aswell as what’s up in the citythat’s interesting to youngpeople: Street food, streetart, extreme street sports.MoM has a fierce focus onyoung women in new careers,sectors and enterprises andwants to answer the questionWhat do young women wantwhen it comes to going towork in the city? Safety?Equal pay? Flexible hours?Cycle lanes to cycle to work?A pollution-free city?
The MoM is supported byBT a global communicationscompany that believes in thepower of digital content toempower young women withthe skills they need to transi-tion from school to work orenterprise of their choice.�How does it work?
It works online, for youngpeople age 18-23 it’s a free plat-form powered by video, youngpeople we hope will tune in,visit the site, app every morn-ing on their morning commuteto work on public transport tolearn skills for work, explorenew enterprises, answer ourquiz questions to win fun stufflike a bicycle and helmet tocycle to college or work.
For our secondary audi-ence of young people in ClassesXI and XII, there are 26 stepsto making a new life plan
focusing on school to worktransition�What are the benefits?
The benefits of MoM isthat it’s free, funky and ineach language of each citywith bespoke content. With aglobal telecoms supporter ofBT, the platform and content isset up to reach millions ofyoung people on the way towork to enable them to dis-cover new things they mightlike to do and dually to reachyoung people in Governmentschools who are at presentoffline, by BT volunteers tak-ing the content on mobilephones, tablets, laptops toschools young people not onlyget to make new life plans andonline bullet journals, theymeet young people with jobsthey might like to do and canask them lots of questionsabout how they did it.
The Department ofAccounting andFinance, Strathclyde
Business School, Glasgow isdelighted to offer a numberof partial 50% fee scholar-ships to international MScstudents. The Scholarshipswill be awarded on merit,rather thanfinancial need.
Number: 10Value: 50% of
International MSc TuitionFee: (£12,150)
Eligibility: Candidatesmust be self-funded andalready hold an offer of a placeon one of the aforementionedAccounting and Finance MScprogrammes for entry inSeptember 2020.
Candidates interested inapplying should provide amaximum 1000 word state-ment demonstrating, throughtheir ideas, experience andfuture career plans (includingtheir reasoning for joiningtheir chosen MSc pro-gramme)and why they shouldbe awarded this scholarship.Candidates' overall quality oftheir programme applicationwill also be considered.
In order to know moreinterested students can visit:[email protected] they can vist:https://www.strath.ac.uk/studywithus/scholarships/strath-clydebusinessschoolscholar-
s h i p s / a c c o u n t i n g f i -nancescholarships/depart-
mentofaccountingandf i -nancescholarshipsforinterna-tionalmscstudents/
Application deadline: Itis August 24, 2020.
The University ofCalifornia, Irvine invitesapplications for UC IrvineRegents’ funding for the USand international freshmenstudents for the academicyear 2020-2021.
Eligibility: Be incomingfreshmen who demonstrate ahigh level of academicachievement as demonstratedby their high school GPA asreported on the admissionsapplication, SAT (or ACT)scores, personal statements,and depth and breadth of theadmissions application. Be aUS citizen, an eligible non-cit-izen, an international studentwith a valid visa or studentsqualifying under AB130 orAB131.
Applicants must haverequired high school GPA,SAT (or ACT) scores, personalstatements, and depth andbreadth of the admissionsapplication.
How to apply: To be con-sidered for the Regents’Scholarship, you must applyfor fall admission byNovember 30. No additionalmaterials are required norconsidered in the selectionprocess.
Inter Milan are destined for“great things” under Antonio
Conte, according to LautaroMartinez after the Argentine andRomelu Lukaku both scoredtwice to thrash ShakhtarDonetsk 5-0 in Dusseldorf andreach the Europa League final.
Danilo D’Ambrosio was alsoon target for the Italian giants,who will face Sevilla in Friday’sfinal in Cologne.
Inter have endured a leandecade since winning theChampions League in 2010, butclosed the gap on Juventus at thetop of Serie A to just one pointin Conte’s first season in chargeand are now one win awayfrom first trophy in nine years.
Martinez and Lukaku’s pro-lific partnership has been thesource of much of Inter’s successand they took their tally to acombined 54 for the season.
“It was an incredible night,something we have been dream-ing of,” said Martinez, who has
been strongly linked with amove to be Luis Suarez’s succes-sor at Barcelona.
After a slow start, Martinezput Inter on course for their 10thEuropean final as he poweredhome Nicolo Barella’s cross toopen the scoring on 19 minutes.
Shakhtar had one goldenchance to level when MykolaMatviyenko’s cross picked outJunior Moraes, but the Brazilian-born Ukrainian international’sheader was too close to SamirHandanovic.
Two minutes later, Interlanded the killer blow whenD’Ambrosio met MarceloBrozovic’s corner with a power-ful header. “When Inter scoredtheir second goal we simply col-lapsed,” said Shakhtar coach
Luis Castro. “After 2-0 we madeso many terrible mistakes.”
Only a brilliant save from36-year-old Andriy Pyatov haddenied Martinez classy secondwith a lob long range early in thesecond half, but he gave the vet-eran ‘keeper no chance to sethimself with a brilliant quick hitfor his 21st goal of the season.
Lukaku extended his run ofscoring in now 10 straightEuropa League game 12 minutesfrom time as this time Martinezplayed provider before his strikepartner slotted low into the farcorner.
Five minutes later the for-mer Manchester United strikerhad his 33rd goal of the cam-paign by accelerating away froma slow Shakhtar backline beforefiring through Pyatov’s legs.
“I’m a forward and I’m hereto score, it’s something insideme,” said Lukaku, who showedUnited the predatory instinctsthey were lacking in a 2-1 defeatto Sevilla in the other semi-finalon Sunday.
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Pakistan head coach andchief selector Misbah-ul-
Haq has advised the coun-try’s cricket board to appointYounis Khan as the full-time batting coach.
The Pakistan CricketBoard (PCB) had appointedthe 42-year-old former cap-tain as the batting coach forthe team’s ongoing tour ofEngland.
According to a reliablesource in the board, Misbahhas had a discussion withPCB CEO Wasim Khan onthe subject.
“Younis has beenappointed as batting coach ofthe senior team for only theEngland tour. But Misbahhas been very impressedwith the dedication and hardwork put in by Younis Khanwhile working with the bats-men in the team in England,”
the source said.“Misbah has asked
Wasim Khan to considergiving Younis a long-termcontract with the team as hefeels the former captain andteammate will only have apositive influence on thebatsmen in the team,” thesource added.
The source said the
board is likely to followMisbah’s advice and rope inYounis for a longer contract.
“Everyone has beenpleasantly surprised to seethe positive and cheerfulbehaviour of Younis althoughduring his playing days hewas known for his flashy
temperament and run-inswith the establishment,” thesource added.
Younis, who is Pakistan’shighest run-getter in Testcricket with the most cen-turies, had recently said he isenjoying his stint as the bat-ting coach.
Star cricketer Rohit Sharma,wrestler Vinesh Phogat, andwomen’s hockey captain Rani
Rampal were among an unprece-dented five sportspersons pickedfor the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna,while a whopping 29 were recom-mended for the Arjuna award bythe sports ministry’s selection com-mittee here on Tuesday.
Paddler Manika Batra and RioParalympic Gold-winning highjumper Mariyappan Thangaveluwere the other two recommendedfor the country’s highest sportinghonour by a 12-member selectioncommittee. Rampal was a lateaddition to the initial list of four.
For the Arjuna, India pacerIshant Sharma, teen shooting sen-sations Saurabh Chaudhary andManu Bhaker, sprinter DuteeChand, footballer SandeshJhinghan, woman cricketer DeeptiSharma, woman boxer LovlinaBorgohain and Indian luge legendShiva Keshavan are some of the bignames to be shortlisted, an officialsource said.
The 31-year-old Ishant hasplayed 97 Tests and 80 ODIs forIndia, grabbing over 400 interna-tional wickets.
This is the first time in the his-tory of awards that five athletes havebeen recommended for the topsporting accolade with the finaldecision resting on sports ministerKiren Rijiju.
In 2016, four athletes — starshuttler P V Sindhu, gymnast Dipa
Karmakar, shooter Jitu Rai, andwrestler Sakshi Malik — were col-lectively given this award.
The 33-year-old Rohit willonly be the fourth cricketer afterSachin Tendulkar, just-retired
Mahendra Singh Dhoni and cur-rent skipper Virat Kohli to be con-ferred with the Khel Ratna.
Tendulkar was the first Indiancricketer to get the honour in1998, followed by Dhoni in 2007
and Kohli in 2018. Kohli won itjointly with weightlifter MirabaiChanu.
The committee, comprisingthe likes of Virender Sehwag andformer hockey captain SardarSingh, met at the Sports Authorityof India (SAI) headquarters hereand finalised the names after delib-erations that took up the first halfof the day.
While Rohit has been recog-nised for his ever-rising accom-plishments with the bat, Vinesh hasbeen rewarded for her Gold medalsin the 2018 Commonwealth andAsian Games besides a Bronze inthe 2019 Asian Wrestling C’ships.
Terming it as one of the biggestmoments of her career, Vineshpromised to live upto the expecta-tions associated with the award.
“It’s a proud moment for me.It was a long wait but it was worth-while. If God permits I would liveup to the reputation associatedwith this award,” Vinesh said.
Thangavelu is being reward-ed for his Gold medal in the 2016Rio Paralympics in the T42 highjump category. T42applies to athletes withsingle above the kneeamputations or a dis-ability that is compa-rable.
Star paddlerManika was recom-mended for herremarkable perfor-mance in 2018, ayear during which shewon the Commonwealth
Games Gold medal and AsianGames Bronze in women’s singles.
Rani is the lone female hock-ey player to have been recommend-ed for the honour.
Before Rani, only DhanrajPillay (2000) and Sardar Singh(2017) won the prestigious award.Sardar, incidentally, was a part ofthe 12-member selection commit-tee this year.
“Rani’s name was a late inclu-sion after some members wanteda discussion on her nomination.After due deliberation, everyone feltthat she deserves the recognitionfor her achievements,” a sourceclose to the development said.
In a first, this year’s NationalSports Awards ceremony, whichnormally held at the RashtrapatiBhavan, is likely to be conductedvirtually due to the Covid-19 pan-
demic, with all the winnerslogging in from theirrespective places to heartheir names beingannounced on August29.
August 29 is cele-brated as the
National SportsDay to com-memorate thebirth anniversaryof hockey wiz-ard Major DhyanChand.
The KhelRatna comprises a
medallion, a certifi-cate, and a cash prizeof �7.5 lakh.
The Arjuna award comes witha cash prize of �5,00,000, a Bronzestatue of mythological hero Arjunaand a scroll.
The National Sports Awardsalso include the Dronacharya andthe Dhyan Chand honours forachievements in coaching. They areconferred every year by thePresident of India.
�+��,��. Fantasy gamingplatform Dream11 onTuesday won the IPL titlesponsorship rights with abid of �222 crore, replacingChinese mobile phone com-pany Vivo for a four and a halfmonth deal.
“Dream11 has won therights with a bid of �222crore,” IPL chairman BrijeshPatel said.
There is a possibility thatDream11 can stay till the2022 IPL in case Vivo does-n’t come back next year.Dream11 will be then paying�240 crore each for 2021 and2022. This will make it anaverage of �234 crore per yearfor three years.
It is learnt that multina-tional conglomerate Tatagroup didn’t place a final bidwhile two education technol-ogy companies — BYJUs(201 crore) and Unacademy
(170 crore) — came secondand third respectively.
Vivo and the BCCI sus-pended a �440 crore peryear deal for this seasonowing to the border stand-offbetween India and China.
There are certain ques-tions about Chinese compa-ny Tencent’s investment inDream11 but one of theBCCI insiders privy to thedevelopment said that it isless than 10 per cent.
Dream11 is an Indian
company founded by HarshJain and Bhavit Sheth.
“Dream11 stakeholders,including its founders plus all400 plus employees, areIndian,” a BCCI source said.
“Their Indian investorsare Kalaari Capital andMultiples Equity. EvenDream11’s product is avail-able exclusively for use onlyby Indians. Only a single-digit percentage minoritystake is held by Tencent,” theofficial added.
However, as recently aslast month, the BCCI’s AntiCorruption Unit (ACU) hadsought an inquiry againstthe company after it wasreported that the platformhad links to a fake T20 leaguewhich was held in a Punjabtown but was Live-streamedas a game in Sri Lanka.
The ACU investigationsshowed that kits used by
players in the tournamenthad the Dream11 logo andthe event was live streamedon FanCode. Both Dream11and FanCode are part ofDream Sports group.
While the BCCI man-aged a title sponsor at a shorttime but the money comingin is less than what it was get-ting from Vivo.
BCCI insiders feel thatthe Dream11 deal, along withthe official sponsorshipamount coming fromUnAcademy and paymentapp Cred — the two compa-nies that have come on boardin Central sponsorship pool— will cover the losses to aconsiderable extent.
The two companies havepaid �40 crore each andBCCI’s total income fromofficial sponsorship is �222crore plus �80 crore, whichadds up to �302 crore. PTI
�+��,��.Vinesh Phogat, theonly Indian woman wrestler tohave qualified for TokyoOlympics, has pulled out of thenational camp citing healthsafety concerns amid theCovid-19 pandemic, a deci-sion which has irked thenational federation.
The rescheduled nationalcamp for Olympic weight cat-egory wrestlers is set to beginfrom September 1 in Lucknow(women) and Sonipat (men).
However, Vinesh is notcomfortable travelling toLucknow as she is fearful ofher health amid the ragingpandemic.
“I am not going toattend the camp. I am train-ing everyday with coachOm Parkash, who followsthe plan which my person-al coach Woller Akos sendsme every week. The situa-tion is not good to travel to
Lucknow,” Vinesh said.The 2019 World
Championship Bronze-medal-list said she “falls sick very eas-ily” so she does not want totake a chance with her health.
“My stomach is prettysensitive. You can’t go out ofthe SAI centre in Lucknow, soyou can’t get yourself a fewthings which you need. InLucknow, cases are rising butit’s safe in Haryana, so I ammore comfortable here.”
The WrestlingFederation of India (WFI) isnot impressed with reasonsgiven by the Asian GamesGold-medallist.
“The selection commit-tee will decide if Vineshwill get exemption or not.The camp is for players. Wewant preparation to kick offnow for Olympics,” said aWFI Assistant secretaryVinod Tomar.
“We are not running ashop for our benefit, thecamp is for players andwhen they express suchapprehensions, it’s a bit sur-prising,” he added. PTI
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Barcelona on Tuesdaysacked sporting director
Eric Abidal, a day after dis-pensing with coach QuiqueSetien in response to exitingthe Champions League lastweek with an 8-2 drubbing byBayern Munich.
Abidal, a doubleChampions League winner asa Barca player, had been in therole for over two years but hasbeen let go after one of theclub’s worst seasons in recentmemory, in which they alsosurrendered the league title toReal Madrid.
The Frenchman was alsothe target of criticism fromteam captain Lionel Messiearlier this year, who accusedhis former team mate of blam-ing the squad for ErnestoValverde getting sacked ascoach last January.
“The club would publiclylike to thank Éric Abidal forhis professionalism, commit-ment, dedication and the close
and positive nature of hisrelationship with all aspects ofthe Barca family,” the club saidin a statement.
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Suresh Raina wasa “terrific team
man” who couldhave amassed moreruns if he had battedup the order, saidbatting great RahulDravid, saluting himfor the role he playedin India’s success inwhite-ball cricket.
The 33-year-oldRaina surprised manywhen he followed hismentor MS Dhoni ininternational retire-ment, announcing hisdecision, just minutesafter the former Indiaskipper called it quit onAugust 15.
Dravid, whohad presentedRaina with the ODIand Test caps, on
“A lot of success that Indiahad in white-ball cricket, a lotof great moments and memo-ries that India had over the lastdecade and a half, Suresh has
been a really big part ofthat. I think his contribu-
tion in white-ball crick-et has been fantastic,”
he said in a videoposted by BCCI
on its Twitterhandle.
“He is aWorld cup
winner andC h a mp i o n s
Trophy winner.He contributed so muchon the field, his energy, the
enthusiasm he brought, theway he raised the standard of
field ...”A middle-order batsman,
Raina amassed nearly 8000
runs representing India in 18Tests, 226 ODIs and 78 T20Isin an international career span-ning 13 years.
“One thing we always feltis that Suresh did all the diffi-cult things,” said Dravid, whois the current NCA chief.
“For most part of hiscareer, he batted lower downthe order, fielded at difficultpositions and bowled somehandy overs and alwaysbrought a lot to the team. Aterrific team man, who alwaysgave his best, brought greatenergy to the game and a veryskillful batter.
“Honestly his numberscould have been a lot better ifhe had batted higher up theorder, that has been shown inthe success he had for CSK(Chennai Super Kings) in theIPL where he bats at No 3. Hehas been a phenomenal play-er for IPL.”
&�����.� Two-time World Cup-winningformer India captain Mahendra Singh Dhonihad nothing left to achieve and his interna-tional retirement is “close of an era”, said for-mer BCCI president N Srinivasan onTuesday.
“When Dhoni says he is retiring, it ismore than close of an era. He has captainedIndia to the 2007 T20 World Cup win, he hastaken India to 2011 World Cup win, inbetween there was a Champions Trophy. Hewas an outstanding leader, a great wicket-keeper, an attacking batsman. A person whomotivated the entire team,” Srinivasan said.
“What more is there for him to achieve?Every sportsperson knows that at some pointhe will call it quits. I am sad that he will notwear the India colours again. But I am gladthat he will continue to wear the CSKcolours,” he added. PTI
Rohit, Vinesh, Rani, Manika, Mariyappan picked for Khel Ratna
�����'�������.�����&��)����%�$�����������(����. Englandcaptain Joe Root has said he“would love” to play inPakistan but is unsure whenthe space could be found ina crowded schedule aheadof a planned tour in 2022.
England have notplayed in Pakistan since2005/06. “I’d love to go andvisit Pakistan,” Root said onMonday an echo of recentcomments made by coachChris Silverwood.
“It would be a great
opportunity to go and playthere personally.Unfortunately, it’s not mydecision to make but itlooks a wonderful countryto go and play cricket in.The wickets look nice andflat, which will be a nicechange to what we have justplayed on here,” the top-order batsman added.
Test cricket returnedto Pakistan in December,when Sri Lanka were thevisitors. AFP
�����-�����"����������$��&����� ���������� #����B������%!���!.���!�%�!����� �/��Barcelona: Ronald Koeman isin talks to leave his role asNetherlands manager inorder to succeed QuiqueSetien as Barcelona coach, theDutchman told reporters onTuesday outside thenational team’s head-quarters.
Koeman, whohas coached theDutch national sidesince 2018 and ledthem to qualify fornext year’s post-poned EuropeanChampionships,said he want-ed to coach
Barca but had not yetfinalised a deal.
“It is only definite whenmy signature is on the docu-ment. Until then I cannot sayanything, even if I wanted to,”Koeman said.
Koeman is dearlyloved at Barca for hisplaying career in JohanCruyff ’s hugely success-ful side known as theDream Team and forscoring the goal that
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