R eminding that the 9th Sikh Guru Teg Bahadur gave up his life for his ideals, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said that his “bali- dan” should be seen as a con- tinuation of great sacrifices made by “our Rishis and Gurus” to defend and preserve the “great heritage and tradi- tion” of India and not as a sep- arate event. Addressing the nation from the Red Fort to mark the 400th birth anniversary of Guru Tegh Bahadur, the PM said, “In front of Aurangzeb’s tyrannical thinking, Guru Tegh Bahadur became ‘Hind di Chadar’ and stood like a rock. This Red Fort is a witness that even though Aurangzeb sev- ered many heads, but could not shake our faith.” The Red Fort was chosen as the venue for the event as it was here that Mughal ruler Aurangzeb had given orders for the execution of Guru Teg Bahadur in 1675. As Shabad Kirtan like “Hari ko naam sada sukhdayi” wafted in the air, Modi wear- ing a Sikh turban looked immersed in the prayer. The Prime Minister later released a postal stamp and a commemorative coin on the Sikh guru. Addressing the gathering of the devotees, Modi said “When Guru Teg Bahadur was born, it was said that this child will eliminate sorrow of the marginalised. Gurdwara Shish Ganj Sahib, which is close to the Red Fort, is a symbol of Guru Teg Bahadur’s sacrifice”, he said. Seeing a “unity” in the sacrifices made by the Gurus and the “millions” others, Modi said all of them laid down their lives so that Indian heritage lives on. He said Guru Teg Bahadur lived and sacrificed himself for his ideals. India, he said is “not only a country but a great tradition which is “nursed” by thousands of Rishis and Gurus and that sacrifece of Teg Bahadurji “can- not be seen separately” . The PM recalled the tremendous services of ten Gurus and specifically referred to Guru Nanak whose travels unified the country. “Guru Nanak Dev ji unit- ed the whole country in one thread. Guru Tegh Bahadur’s followers were everywhere. Patna Sahib in Patna and Rakabganj Sahib in Delhi, we see ‘Ek Bharat’ every- where in the form of Guru’s wisdom and blessings,” he said. T he Supreme Court on Thursday extended the sta- tus quo until further order on the anti-encroachment drive in the violence-hit Jahangirpuri area and expressed displea- sure against the NDMC Mayor for uprooting structures with the use of bulldozers even after the SC passed an order to stay it on Wednesday. Issuing notice to Centre and others, bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and BR Gavai asked the matter to be listed after two weeks and said it will take a serious view of the demolition which was carried out for more than two hours after the stay order was passed and communicated to the Mayor. “Status quo to be main- tained till further order...List after two weeks and pleadings to be completed till then,” the court said on the petition filed by Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind that claimed that buildings of the Muslim riots accused were razed. Lawyers Dhusynat Dave, Kapil Sibal, Prashant Bhushan and CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat’s lawyer PV Surendranath informed the apex court that NDMC con- tinued demolition for two hours even after the court’s order was communicated to Mayor. “We will take a serious view of the demolition which was carried out even after the Supreme Court orders, even after NDMC Mayor was informed. We will take that up later,” the bench said. Initiating the arguments, Dave, appearing for Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, said this matter raises far-reaching questions of constitutional and national importance. The bench asked, “What is national importance in this matter? It is only per- taining to an area.” T he fourth and perhaps the final round of the series meeting between poll strategist Prashant Kishor and batches of Congress leaders, including party chief Sonia Gandhi, is scheduled for Friday to give direction to the party as well as Kishor’s much-awaited induc- tion in the party. According to some leaked reports claiming to be that of Kishor’s 600 slides presentation to the Congress leaders span- ning over five days, the poll strategist has advised a non- Gandhi to head the grand old party. Kishor has titled his five steps Congress revival plan as “Natraj”, the creator, preserver and destroyer of the universe. As per the Kishor’s Natraj model, Sonia can continue as UPA president and Rahul Gandhi can lead the party and leaders in Parliament, but Congress president should be a non-Gandhi. He has also pro- posed a campaign like “India Deserves Better” by the usage of powerful social media tools. He has suggested that the Congress should avoid main- stream media and that the party should create a powerful digital army that can take on the BJP. He recommended that the Congress should aim to bring 30 crore voters together to win the election. He has also suggested a topic like Gandhi vs Godse. Kishor has suggested that the Congress has to take six fundamental resolutions to rebuild itself. Kishor has stat- ed in his recommendation that the Congress is no longer a democratic organisation and 65 per cent of the district pres- idents and 90 per cent of the block presidents have not had any meeting with the Congress president or general secre- tary. He also recommended internal reforms like one fam- ily one ticket, fixed tenure of Congress president and Congress Working Committee and prevention of manipula- tion in internal elections. I ndia and the United Kingdom will further cement their strategic, defence and economic ties by inking deals worth over one billion pounds during Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s ongoing visit. Johnson landed in Ahmedabad on Thursday and will arrive in New Delhi for a summit meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday. This is the maiden visit by Johnson to India as the Prime Minister. He had to postpone his tour twice last year in the backdrop of a surge in corona cases in Britain and India. He will be accorded ceremonial recep- tion at the Rashtrapati Bhawan. India’s ties with Russia in the backdrop of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine sanctions will be discussed in the summit with Modi, Johnson said on Thursday. The two leaders will meet in New Delhi on Friday. Making this assertion in Ahmedabad after arriving from the United Kingdom on a two- day visit, Johnson said, “As I think everybody understands, India and Russia have histori- cally very different a relation- ship, perhaps, than Russia and the UK have had over the last couple of decades. We have to reflect on that reality, but clear- ly, I’ll be talking about it to Modi.” The conflict will figure in the summit with both sides exchanging their views. However, Britain is likely to maintain its stand that it is not in the business of lecturing or telling other countries what to do, sources said here on Thursday. The two leaders are also likely to review the long term consequences of the Ukraine crisis. Giving details of his visit, the British High Commission said Johnson will announce a draft of commercial agree- ments and hail a “new era” in bilateral trade and investment ties. R ussian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday claimed victory in the strategic city of Mariupol, even as he ordered his troops not to risk more loss- es by storming the last pocket of Ukrainian resistance in the war’s iconic battleground. “The completion of combat work to liberate Mariupol is a success,” Putin said in a joint appearance with his Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu. “Congratulations.” Ukraine jeered at the idea that a Russian victory in Mariupol was already achieved. Detailed report on P9 I ndia on Thursday con- demned US Congresswoman Ilhan Omar’s visit to Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK) and said it reflected her “narrow- minded” politics. She is on a four-day visit to Pakistan. Criticising Omar for visit- ing POK, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, “We have noted that she has visited a part of the Indian Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir that is currently illegally occu- pied by Pakistan. Let me just say that if such a politician wishes to practise her narrow- minded politics... That may be her business.” To a query on recent terror attacks in Afghanistan, the MEA Spokesperson said India has been looking at the devel- opments in that country. “We have seen some of the terrorist attacks. We have always been forthright in our condemnation of terrorist attacks. We are looking at what has been the developments there,” Bagchi said. 9
up his life for his ideals, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi onThursday said that his “bali-dan” should be seen as a con-tinuation of great sacrificesmade by “our Rishis andGurus” to defend and preservethe “great heritage and tradi-tion” of India and not as a sep-arate event.
Addressing the nationfrom the Red Fort to mark the400th birth anniversary ofGuru Tegh Bahadur, the PMsaid, “In front of Aurangzeb’styrannical thinking, Guru TeghBahadur became ‘Hind diChadar’ and stood like a rock.This Red Fort is a witness thateven though Aurangzeb sev-ered many heads, but could notshake our faith.”
The Red Fort was chosenas the venue for the event as itwas here that Mughal rulerAurangzeb had given orders forthe execution of Guru TegBahadur in 1675.
As Shabad Kirtan like“Hari ko naam sada sukhdayi”wafted in the air, Modi wear-ing a Sikh turban lookedimmersed in the prayer.
The Prime Minister laterreleased a postal stamp and acommemorative coin on theSikh guru.
Addressing the gatheringof the devotees, Modi said“When Guru Teg Bahadur wasborn, it was said that this childwill eliminate sorrow of themarginalised. Gurdwara ShishGanj Sahib, which is close tothe Red Fort, is a symbol ofGuru Teg Bahadur’s sacrifice”,he said.
Seeing a “unity” in thesacrifices made by the Gurusand the “millions” others, Modi
said all of them laid down theirlives so that Indian heritagelives on. He said Guru TegBahadur lived and sacrificedhimself for his ideals.
India, he said is “not onlya country but a great traditionwhich is “nursed” by thousandsof Rishis and Gurus and thatsacrifece of Teg Bahadurji “can-not be seen separately” .
The PM recalled thetremendous services of ten
Gurus and specifically referredto Guru Nanak whose travelsunified the country.
“Guru Nanak Dev ji unit-ed the whole country in onethread. Guru Tegh Bahadur’sfollowers were everywhere.Patna Sahib in Patna andRakabganj Sahib in Delhi,we see ‘Ek Bharat’ every-where in the form of Guru’swisdom and blessings,” hesaid.
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The Supreme Court onThursday extended the sta-
tus quo until further order onthe anti-encroachment drive inthe violence-hit Jahangirpuriarea and expressed displea-sure against the NDMC Mayorfor uprooting structures withthe use of bulldozers even afterthe SC passed an order to stayit on Wednesday.
Issuing notice to Centreand others, bench of Justices LNageswara Rao and BR Gavaiasked the matter to be listedafter two weeks and said it willtake a serious view of thedemolition which was carriedout for more than two hoursafter the stay order was passedand communicated to theMayor.
“Status quo to be main-tained till further order...Listafter two weeks and pleadingsto be completed till then,” thecourt said on the petition filedby Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind thatclaimed that buildings of theMuslim riots accused wererazed.
Lawyers Dhusynat Dave,Kapil Sibal, Prashant Bhushanand CPI(M) leader BrindaKarat’s lawyer PVSurendranath informed theapex court that NDMC con-tinued demolition for twohours even after the court’sorder was communicated toMayor.
“We will take a seriousview of the demolition whichwas carried out even after theSupreme Court orders, evenafter NDMC Mayor wasinformed. We will take that uplater,” the bench said.
Initiating the arguments,Dave, appearing for JamiatUlama-i-Hind, said this matterraises far-reaching questions ofconstitutional and nationalimportance. The bench asked,“What is national importancein this matter? It is only per-taining to an area.”
The fourth and perhaps thefinal round of the series
meeting between poll strategistPrashant Kishor and batches ofCongress leaders, includingparty chief Sonia Gandhi, isscheduled for Friday to givedirection to the party as well asKishor’s much-awaited induc-tion in the party.
According to some leakedreports claiming to be that ofKishor’s 600 slides presentationto the Congress leaders span-ning over five days, the pollstrategist has advised a non-Gandhi to head the grand oldparty. Kishor has titled his fivesteps Congress revival plan as“Natraj”, the creator, preserverand destroyer of the universe.
As per the Kishor’s Natrajmodel, Sonia can continue asUPA president and RahulGandhi can lead the party andleaders in Parliament, butCongress president should be
a non-Gandhi. He has also pro-posed a campaign like “IndiaDeserves Better” by the usageof powerful social media tools.
He has suggested that theCongress should avoid main-stream media and that theparty should create a powerfuldigital army that can take onthe BJP. He recommended thatthe Congress should aim tobring 30 crore voters togetherto win the election. He has alsosuggested a topic like Gandhivs Godse.
Kishor has suggested thatthe Congress has to take sixfundamental resolutions torebuild itself. Kishor has stat-ed in his recommendationthat the Congress is no longera democratic organisation and65 per cent of the district pres-idents and 90 per cent of theblock presidents have not hadany meeting with the Congresspresident or general secre-tary.
He also recommendedinternal reforms like one fam-ily one ticket, fixed tenure ofCongress president andCongress Working Committeeand prevention of manipula-tion in internal elections.
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India and the UnitedKingdom will further cement
their strategic, defence andeconomic ties by inking dealsworth over one billion poundsduring Prime Minister BorisJohnson’s ongoing visit.
Johnson landed inAhmedabad on Thursday andwill arrive in New Delhi for asummit meeting with PrimeMinister Narendra Modi onFriday. This is the maidenvisit by Johnson to India asthe Prime Minister. He hadto postpone his tour twice lastyear in the backdrop of asurge in corona cases inBritain and India. He will beaccorded ceremonial recep-t ion at the RashtrapatiBhawan.
India’s ties with Russia inthe backdrop of the ongoingconflict in Ukraine sanctions
will be discussed in the summitwith Modi, Johnson said onThursday. The two leaders willmeet in New Delhi on Friday.
Making this assertion inAhmedabad after arriving fromthe United Kingdom on a two-day visit, Johnson said, “As I
think everybody understands,India and Russia have histori-cally very different a relation-ship, perhaps, than Russia andthe UK have had over the lastcouple of decades. We have toreflect on that reality, but clear-ly, I’ll be talking about it toModi.”
The conflict will figure inthe summit with both sidesexchanging their views.However, Britain is likely tomaintain its stand that it is notin the business of lecturing ortelling other countries what todo, sources said here onThursday. The two leaders arealso likely to review the longterm consequences of theUkraine crisis.
Giving details of his visit,the British High Commissionsaid Johnson will announce adraft of commercial agree-ments and hail a “new era” inbilateral trade and investmentties.
Russian President VladimirPutin on Thursday claimed
victory in the strategic city ofMariupol, even as he orderedhis troops not to risk more loss-es by storming the last pocketof Ukrainian resistance in thewar’s iconic battleground.
“The completion of combatwork to liberate Mariupol is asuccess,” Putin said in a jointappearance with his DefenceMinister Sergei Shoigu.“Congratulations.”
Ukraine jeered at the ideathat a Russian victory inMariupol was already achieved.
Detailed report on P9
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India on Thursday con-demned US Congresswoman
Ilhan Omar’s visit to PakistanOccupied Kashmir (POK) andsaid it reflected her “narrow-minded” politics. She is on afour-day visit to Pakistan.
Criticising Omar for visit-ing POK, External AffairsMinistry SpokespersonArindam Bagchi said, “Wehave noted that she has visiteda part of the Indian UnionTerritory of Jammu & Kashmirthat is currently illegally occu-pied by Pakistan. Let me justsay that if such a politicianwishes to practise her narrow-minded politics... That may beher business.”
To a query on recent terrorattacks in Afghanistan, theMEA Spokesperson said Indiahas been looking at the devel-opments in that country.
“We have seen some of theterrorist attacks. We havealways been forthright in ourcondemnation of terroristattacks. We are looking at whathas been the developmentsthere,” Bagchi said.
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Over 1,300 student volun-teers connect with MCD'splastic-free campaign
Over 1,300 student volun-teers have connected
with the plastic-free Dooncampaign of the MunicipalCorporation of Dehradun(MCD) which is being rununder Swachh Survekshan2022 (SS22) to increase citi-zens’ engagement as well as toraise awareness among themabout cleanliness. The munic-ipal commissioner AbhishekRuhela informed that a totalof 1,342 Plastic Praharis (stu-dent volunteers) have con-nected with the corporationso far. He said that the cam-
paign was launched with theaim to reach about 25,000 stu-dents and their families from100 schools but 108 schoolshave already connected withthe campaign. The corpora-tion has already completeddetailed registration of 100schools. He said that MCDhas created a network of 99Plastic Praharis and 109 plas-tic warriors and consistent ef-forts are being made to reachmore students and their fami-lies. The mayor Sunil Uniyal‘Gama’ also said that the MCDteams have visited about 100
schools and have opened aplastic bank in each partic-ipating school under thecampaign for students todeposit the plastic waste init after the collection. Theofficials informed that thecorporation is collectingplastic waste and raisingawareness among localsthrough social media plat-forms, door to door visitsand nukkad nataks underthe campaign which wasinitially planned to end onApril 30 but since the Min-istry of Housing and
Urban Affairs (MoHUA) ex-tended the date of registrationof citizens’ feedback underSS22, the corporation mightextend the campaign by oneweek. The MCD team is likelyto start imposing penalties onthe usage of single-use plasticsand other prohibited materialsfrom the second week of May,as per the officials.
Rise in lemon ratessqueezes wallets ofconsumers
The considerable rise in therates of lemon in
Dehradun and other parts ofthe state is leaving a majordent in the day-to-day kitchenbudget of many people.With the price of the cit-rus item reaching Rs 250and more for a kilo-gramme, people have re-duced their purchase oflemons.
The Agricultural Pro-duce Market Committeesecretary Vijay Thapliyalsaid, “These lemons usu-ally come from places likeAndhra Pradesh and Maha-rashtra, so the high trans-portation cost of deliveringthese lemons, the heavy rainsin the months of Septemberand October, and the suddenrise in temperature post Feb-ruary causing the youngerfruits to drop easily, have allbeen the reasons why there isthis rise in the price oflemons.”
This rise in lemon priceshas also affected the streetvendors. Shravan Kumar, avegetable vendor at the NehruColony Mandi said, “Earlierwe used to sell at least 20 kilo-
grammes of lemon per day butnow we are barely able to sellfive kilogrammes in a day. Wedon't really know why theprice of lemons rose so sud-
denly. People who have lemonsoda stalls or restaurants buythese lemons sometimes butotherwise people usually justbuy one piece of lemon whichwe sell for Rs 10-15.”
The effects of this price hikeof lemons can also be seen atthe roadside lemon soda stalls.Rahul Kumar, a young juicevendor who runs a stall nearthe Rispana bridge said,“Weused to sell a glass of lemonsoda for Rs 20 earlier but be-cause of this price hike wenow sell it for Rs 30. We arebuying a lesser number oflemons and just hope it laststhe whole day.
The Mahant Indiresh Hos-pital here has received the
accreditation of National Ac-creditation Board ofHospitals andhealthcare (NABH).In the recent in-spection conductedby the NABH teamthe performance ofthe hospital wasfound up to themark on all param-eters. Chairman ofShri Mahant In-diresh Hospital,Mahant DevendraDas has congratu-lated Principal, ShriGuru Ram Rai In-stitute of Medicaland Health Sciences, Dr Yash-bir Dewan, Medical Superin-tendent (MS), Dr AjayPandita, NABH coordinatorDr Gaurav Raturi, all the doc-tors, nursing staff and supportstaff of the hospital for theachievement.
The certification is givenafter evaluating a hospital onbasic infrastructure, facilities,building, care of patients in
ICU, available facilities inemergency, emergency re-sponse, number of patients
coming everyday to the hospi-tal for treatment, ratio ofnurses posted in the wards forcaring patients, number of ef-ficient and specialist doctors,empanelment done with otherinstitutions by the hospital,availability of modern ma-chines in the hospital, numberof operation theatres accord-ing the guidelines and otherparameters.
Officials directed to prevent abuseof working animals in DehradunPNS DEHRADUN
The Dehradun districtmagistrate R Rajesh
Kumar has issued a letter tothe Dehradun municipalcommissioner and all the ex-ecutive officers of Nagar Pan-chayat/municipalities to lookinto the reported abuse ofworking animals. The districtmagistrate has stated that allthe working used for varioustasks should be mandatorilytagged by veterinary officer.Further, the local authoritieswill have to ensure these ani-mals are not exploited andthat proper food, water andshelter is given to them bytheir owner.
In a recent meeting with thedistrict magistrate Society forPrevention of Cruelty to Ani-mals (SPCA) member RubinaNitin Iyer had discussed aboutanimals being used for trans-porting loads and weddings.She had informed the districtmagistrate about how theworking animals are beingused in an inhumane andcruel manner and later aban-doned if not of any use whensick or injured which also re-sults in increasing the popula-tion of stray animals. They arenot even provided basic food,water and shelter when in use,
she stated.“We have seen
donkeys/mules/horses andbuffaloes used for variouskind of work, be it for trans-porting household material orcommercial activities like ille-gal mining and weddingsamong others. These animalsare kept in dirty conditionswithout vaccination and noneof the animals are tagged.These animals are later aban-
doned on the streets whenthey fall sick or are of no use.I have myself rescued many
such animals- some are in-fected with deadly diseasecalled glanders. With thechanging times and a plethoraof affordable options availablethere is no reason for an inno-cent animal to be put throughextreme pain and sufferingspecially at weddings,” addedIyer.
She further informed that aletter had also been issued tothe Municipal Corporation of
Dehradun (MCD) in themonth of December, 2021 toaffix weight chart in areaswhere excess overloading isbeen carried out. Two policecomplaints were also lodgedwith FIRs also being regis-tered for ill treatment andoverloading by owner of ani-mals, she added.
Volunteers in Dooncampaign to save soilPNS DEHRADUN
Volunteers in Dehradunare undertaking a cam-
paign aimed at saving the soil.The Himwant Foundationalong with volunteers fromthe Isha Foundation are un-dertaking the ‘Save Soil: EachOne, Reach One’. This is amovement headed by Sad-hguru of Isha Foundation,wherein he began a 100-daymotorcycle ride on March 21to cover 30,000 kilometresfrom Greenwich, London tothe Kaveri basin in TamilNadu spreading awarenessabout the importance of soil.Volunteers will be staging a
demonstration in Dehradunon Friday on this issue.
Talking to the media hereon Thursday, the founder ofHimwant Foundation,Sangeeta Thapliyal said,“Amidst all the measures wehave taken to fight against cli-
mate change and to save ourenvironment, we have realisedthat it is important to get tothe root of the problem. Soilbeing the foundation and oneof the most important aspectsof nature, should be givenmore importance in talks ofclimate change and environ-ment.”
Nandita Bakshi, one of thevolunteers of the Isha Founda-tion also said that they want tospread awareness among thepeople about the importanceof soil in the environment. Shesaid, “For the rejuvenation
and strengthening of soil, wealso need supportive govern-ment policies. To urge forsuch policies, we need thesupport of the people. Ourmain goal is to have a changein policies, so we can betterimplement these movementsand help our environment.”
Interactive sessionheld between DRT& bank officials
An interactive session washeld among presiding of-
ficer of the Debt Recovery Tri-bunal, Dehradun, UmeshKumar Sharma with all banksofficials of Dehradun onThursday at the Canara Bankcircle office. Sharma and thebank officials discussed as-pects related to functioning ofthe tribunal and educatingbank officials regarding DRTmatters. The DRT registrarYogesh Kumar was also pres-ent in the meeting. The sessionwas also addressed by PunjabNational Bank DGM,Dehradun circle head YS Ra-jput and Canara BankDehradun circle head U RamaMohan.
Trio arrested from Rajasthanfor online fraud in PauriPNS PAURI
The Pauri district policehave arrested three ac-
cused persons who are mem-bers of a gang involved incommitting fraud through theonline classifieds platformOLX. The trio was arrestedfrom Rajasthan in connectionwith a case registered in Kot-dwar Kotwali during August2021. The arrested accusedpersons are to be produced inthe court by the police. Thepolice said that arrested ac-cused are criminals operatingat an international level andthat many cases are registeredagainst them in various States.
According to the police,resident of Ghamandpur areaof Kotdwar, Sanjay Singh hadlodged a first information re-port on August 9 last year inthe Kotdwar Kotwali. He hadstated in the report that someunknown persons had dupedhim of about Rs 18 lakhthrough OLX for the purchaseof an Alto car. The police reg-istered a case under sections420, 120 (B) of IPC and 66 (C)
(D) of the IT Act. The Paurisenior superintendent of po-lice Yashwant Singh Chauhaninstructed the police person-nel to take necessary actionand arrest those involved inthe fraud. Additional superin-tendent of police ManishaJoshi constituted a joint teamof Kotdwar Police and ICUunder the Kotwali in-chargeVijay Singh and ICU in-charge Mohammed Akram tocrack this fraud case. Afterconsistent efforts and actingon inputs from informants,the police traced the accusedto a city in the Karauli districtof Rajasthan. Taking a war-rant-B and after requestingthe court, the police team tookthe accused in PCR for in-quiry in the police station. Thearrested accused confessed tohaving committed the fraudcrime and also revealed thatthey have committed threecrimes in the district. The ar-rested accused from Rajasthanare Juber Khan, Umar andJeveen Gujar.
DEHRADUN | FRIDAY | APRIL 22, 2022 uttarakhand 03
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MANISHA GUPTA RISHIKESH
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Ukrainians in Rishikesh hope forsupport from Indian government
Vyacheslav Grinchenko,the manager of a group of
17 Ukrainian pilgrimsstranded in Rishikesh says,“My day starts with readingthe news with the hopes thatmy family is safe in Ukraine.”The group arrived in India onFebruary 9 before the Russia-Ukraine conflict began andhad planned to stay for amonth but they are still hereas their return flight sched-uled on March 5 was cancelleddue to the ongoing war. Theirvisas expired on March 9 andtheir budget is also runninglow due to which they are fac-ing complications in continu-ing their stay.
Akshay Saha, the group’smusic teacher from Vrindavanas well as a friend who is ac-companying them inRishikesh told The Pioneer,“We applied for their visa ex-tension on March 1 to the For-eigners Regional RegistrationOfficer (FRRO), Lucknow.The visa extension of 10 peo-ple was granted, but for rea-sons unknown there has beenno progress for the remaining
seven and the extensiongranted is till different dates.”
The group associated withthe International Society forKrishna Consciousness(ISKON), visited India as pil-grims to visit holy places inthe country. First, they visitedJagannath Puri and then Vrin-davan. And since the summerheat was rising, the group
moved to Rishikesh on April11. Saha said,“For Ukrainians,it is difficult to cope with the
summer heat of India asUkraine’s climate is muchcolder. These days when themaximum temperature isabout 36 degrees Celsius inRishikesh, the temperature inKyiv does not go over 20 de-grees Celsius.” For now, thegroup is staying in a guest
house in the Swargashramarea.
The group of Krishna devo-tees spends time chantingprayers, reading the BhagavadGita, visiting temples inRishikesh and on its outskirtsapart from spending timenear the Ganga. Group mem-ber Grinchenko said thateveryone in the group is wor-
ried about the situation oftheir family in war-hitUkraine. He said, “We pray tothe lord for our and our fam-ily’s safety and believe thatlord Krishna will help us getout of this situation.”
Grinchenko asserted, “Weare disappointed with theUkrainian embassy. We triedcontacting them several times,but the response was disap-pointing. We feel safe in India,and we can only hope to get avisa extension for all of us andsome help in lodging andfood. We can’t demand thingsfrom the Indian governmentbecause we are guests here,but we would be grateful if weget some help from them,” headded.
The group has members ofdifferent age groups. RaktakaPabhu is the president of theUkrainian group as well as apreacher. He has been visitingIndia every year for the past17 years. This time he visitedwith his wife Radhika Priyaand his son Giriraj.
Champawat MLA Gehtodi resignsfrom Assembly membershipCM Dhami to contest the by election fromChampawat for entry into the U’khand Assembly
The Bharatiya Janata PartyMLA from Champawat
Kailash Gehtodi resignedfrom his membership of Ut-tarakhand Assembly onThursday. His resignation hasended the suspense on the as-sembly seat from which thechief minister Pushkar SinghDhami would contest the by-election to enter the state as-sembly. Gehtodi submittedhis resignation to the speakerof Uttarakhand assembly RituKhanduri at her residence.The speaker has accepted hisresignation.
Accompanied the BJP's Ut-tarakhand president MadanKaushik, cabinet ministersChandan Ram Das andSaurabh Bahuguna, BJP Stategeneral secretary (organisa-tion) Ajey Kumar, Dehradunmayor Sunil Uniyal Gama,
MLA Khajan Das and others,Gehtodi arrived at the Ya-muna Colony residence of thespeaker in the morning. Latertalking to the media persons,the BJP State president MadanKaushik said that the final de-cision on the resignation re-quest of Gehtodi was taken onWednesday following whichhe has resigned and his resig-nation has been accepted bythe speaker. Kaushik congrat-ulated Gehtodi for his deci-sion and said that it has madehim even more popular.
In the recently held assem-bly elections, CM PushkarSingh Dhami had contestedfrom his traditional Khatimaassembly constituency ofUdham Singh Nagar district.However he was defeated byCongress candidate BhuwanKapdi by a margin of 6,759
votes. Despite the reversal inKhatima, the ruling BJP cameback to power in Uttarakhandby winning 47 out of 70 seatsin the state assembly. The cen-tral leadership of BJP reposedfaith in Dhami after which hebecame CM of the state for thesecond consecutive time. Inorder to fulfil the constitu-tional obligation of gettingelected to the assembly withinsix months a safe seat wasbeing scouted for him. Thesearch has now ended withthe resignation of Gehtodi. Itis worth mentioning here thatGehtodi was the first MLAwho had offered to vacate hisseat for Dhami. Apart fromGehtodi many other MLAshave also offered their seats toDhami. Gehtodi has wonfrom Champawat seat in theyear 2017 and 2022.
Would do everything forall round development ofChampawat- CMPNS DEHRADUN
Chief minister PushkarSingh Dhami has said
that he will do every possibleeffort to bring Champawat onthe map of the world in thefield of tourism, power, hor-ticulture and other areas. Hewas interacting with themedia persons on Thursdayin Champawat. On the daythe CM visited the famous
Guru Gorakhnath temple inChampawat and sought theblessing of the deity. The CMwas accompanied by formerMLA Kailash Gehtodi whohad resigned from his assem-bly membership earlier onthe day. Dhami said that heis thankful to KailashGehtodi for leaving his seatand is grateful for the peopleof the Champawat for show-ering love and affection overhim. He said that thoughmany MLAs had offered their
seat for him but by the bless-ings of Baba Gorakhnath andMata Purnagiri has chosenChampawat to serve the peo-ple here.
Political experts opine thatthe Champawat is perfectlysuited for CM Dhami as it isvery big and more than halfof the electors are concen-trated in Tanakpur- Banbasa
area which makes it easy tocover it extensively in a shorttime. Champawat also has agood population of peoplebelonging to Pithoragarh dis-trict which is the native placeof Dhami. Apart from thesefactors the area has a consid-erable population of ex ser-vicemen who are consideredas a vote bank of BJP. Gehtodiwho was two time MLA fromthe BJP enjoys a good reputa-tion in the area and is likelyto lead the CM’s campaignthere.
High tech bee culture trainingcentre to come up Champawat
Immediately after the resig-nation of BJP MLA Kailash
Gehtodi, Chief MinisterPushkar Singh Dhami gavethe gift of high tech Bee Train-ing centre to Champawat. Hegave direction to the officersof horticulture department re-garding the training centre inChampawat during a honeyextraction programme organ-ised at CM’s residence onThursday. He said that the Beekeeping should be taken up asa pilot project. The CM di-rected that the a detailed PPTpresentation covering all as-pects of Bee keeping should bemade.
Dhami had recently di-rected the in charge horticul-ture of the CM’s residenceDeepak Purohit to develop thepremises as a model for horti-culture activities so that thevisitors to the CM residenceget a firsthand experience andinformation about moderntechniques in horticulture.Bee hives were placed in gar-den of the CM’s residence as
part of the programme. Thedirector horticulture Harmin-der Singh Baweja said thatapart from producing honeythe bees increased the agricul-tural output by increasing thepollination. Similarly theproducts such as royal jelly,propolis, bee wax, pollen,comb honey and bee venomare also produced by the beekeepers. He said that the bees
help in maintaining ecologicalbalance and bio diversity. Thedirector added that bee keep-ing provides additional in-come for the farmers.
The cabinet minister Chan-dan Ram Das, former MLAKailash Gehtodi, bee keepersRamesh Baijwal , RajendraSolanki and others were pres-ent on the occasion.
Smuggler arrestedwith leopard peltin Rudrapur The authorities nabbed a
wildlife smuggler inRudrapur area of UdhamSingh Nagar district with aleopard pelt on Thurs-day. The circle officer(CO) of the specialtask force (STF) of theKumaon divisionPurnima Garg formeda joint team of the offi-cials from Forest de-partment, police andSTF and arrested thewildlife smugglerDeenanath (40) in thewee hours of Thursdayfrom Pulbhatta area inRudrapur. The officialsinformed that the ac-cused smuggler, a resi-dent of Khatima, wasnabbed with a leopardpelt which was aboutseven feet long andfour feet wide and isworth lakhs of rupeesin the internationalmarket. The officialssaid that the policehave registered a caseagainst the accusedunder various sectionsof the Wildlife Protec-tion Act, 1972. The ac-cused has statedduring the interroga-tion that he hunted theleopard about six months agoin Surai forest range of Kha-tima using a snare and a sharpweapon, as per the officials.The Uttarakhand STF SSPAjai Singh said that the au-thorities have been workingconsistently to reach the peo-ple associated with such hunt-ing and smuggling gangs ofwild animals in the forests of
Kumaon division. The STFrecovered eight pelts of bigcats from different areas ofKumaon last year and with
time, hunting and smugglingof wild animals has become amatter of grave concern in theKumaon region. He said thatthe recently recovered leopardskin also belongs to thespecies of the leopard whichare on the verge of extinctionin the state. He said that thearrested smuggler Deenanathhas shared some valuable in-
formation during the interro-gation that will help the au-thorities to reach such moresmugglers and hunters. He
also appreciated constablesGovind Singh Bisht andChandrashekhar for theircontribution in nabbing theaccused. He also appealed tothe citizens to contact nearbypolice stations or call at01352656202 to register com-plaints or provide any infor-mation regarding hunting orwildlife smugglers.
People should own the govern-ment in a democracy- Pandey
Former chief secretary(CS) of Uttarakhand
Indu Kumar Pandey has saidthat for the success ofdemocracy it is importantfor the people to own thegovernment. He was ad-dressing a programme or-ganised to mark the‘National Civil Services dayhere on Thursday. Address-ing a gathering of the stu-dents, teachers and others,the former CS said thatmany factors such as politicsof vote bank distorts andothers the ideal structure ofdemocracy. He howeveradded that with time thedemocracy in India willevolve further and develop.Pandey said that one feels
optimistic for the future ofthe democracy and countrydue to increase in quality ofeducation, spread of educa-tion and social empower-ment. Talking on corruptionin services, Pandey said thatthe economic theory of cor-ruption proves that the cor-ruption decreases when thepenalties imposed on cor-rupt are more than the gainsachieved from the corruptpractices. Giving the exam-ple of Finland, the formerCS said that social boycott ofcorrupt people should bedone.
The Additional Chief Ex-ecutive Officer (ACEO) ofCentre for Public Policy andGood Governance, Uttarak-
hand, Manoj Kumar Pantgave a detailed account of allthe 17 Sustainable Develop-ment Goals (SDGs) to thestudents. He said that PrimeMinister Narendra Modi hasgiven the mantra of mini-mum government maxi-mum governance. Thesecretary women and childdevelopment H C Semwalwelcomed the guests andthrew light on the impor-tance of the day. Senior PCSofficer Lalit Mohan Rayalalso addressed the studentson the occasion.
The programme was at-tended by students andteachers of many schools ofthe city.
Light rain provides some relieffrom heat, more in store today
Very light to light rain cou-pled with cloudy skies
brought down the maximumtemperature in various parts ofthe state on Thursday. The Statemeteorological centre has fore-cast the possibility of very lightto light rainfall/thunderstormlikely to occur at a few places inUttarkashi, Rudraprayag,Chamoli, Bageshwar andPithoragarh districts and at iso-lated places in remaining dis-tricts of Uttarakhand on Friday.The surface winds are likely tobe strong and gusty during theday time. The meteorologicalcentre has also issued a warningabout the possibility of thunder-storm accompanied withhail/lightning likely to occur atisolated places in the state. Fur-ther, squall (50-60 kmph) islikely to occur at isolated placesespecially in the plains of theState today.
The provisional state capitalDehradun is forecast to experi-
ence partly to generally cloudysky. Rain/thunderstorm accom-panied with gusty wind (30-40kmph) is likely to occur in someareas. The maximum and mini-mum temperatures are likely tobe about 35 degrees Celsius and22 degrees Celsius respectivelyin Dehradun on Friday.
Meanwhile, the maximumand minimum temperaturesrecorded at various places in thestate on Thursday were 33.2 de-grees Celsius and 21.4 degreesCelsius respectively inDehradun, 35.4 degrees Celsiusand 20.4 degrees Celsius inPantnagar, 26.4 degrees Celsiusand 14.4 degrees Celsius inMukteshwar, 26 degrees Celsiusand 16.8 degrees Celsius respec-tively in New Tehri. Gunji inPithoragarh district receivedabout three millimetres of rain,Mana in Chamoli district andGangotri in Uttarkashi districtboth received about one mil-limetre of rain on Thursday.
Fortified salt to be availableat fair price shops- Arya
The Food and Civil SuppliesDepartment minister RekhaArya said that the governmentwill soon provide fortified saltand other necessary food sup-plies to beneficiaries in fairprice shops under the publicdistribution system (PDS).Besides this, she has also di-rected the officials of the de-partment to make a proposalto provide three LPG cylin-ders to the beneficiaries ofAntyodaya Yojana in fair priceshops. Arya conducted a re-view meeting of various pro-grammes running under thedepartment on Thursday. Shediscussed the progress of
schemes like Pradhan MantriGarib Kalyan Yojana andthose being run at the statelevel for thousands of benefi-ciaries. She also instructed theofficials to resolve the issues ofration card holders as well thedistributors at the fair priceshops. She also asked the offi-cials to ensure that all fairprice shops get the entire re-quired ration supply on timeevery month so that the bene-ficiaries get it on time too.
Arya also informed that thedepartment will soon startproviding fortified salt at fairprice shops across the state
that will help to fightiron and iodine defi-ciencies among mal-nourished womenand children. Shealso asked the offi-cials to make pro-posals of effectivepublic welfareschemes for peopleliving below thepoverty line. She hasalso directed the of-ficials of the depart-ment to make aproposal to providethree LPG cylindersto the beneficiariesof Antyodaya Yojana
in fair price shops which willbe presented in the upcomingcabinet meeting. Arya alsowarned of taking strict actionagainst those who will befound to be behaving rudelywith the public. She also saidthat the department will nottolerate the behaviour of theofficials arriving at the officesand negligence in the work.The secretary of the depart-ment Bhupal Singh Manral,additional commissioner PSPangtey and joint commis-sioner Mahendra Singh werealso present among other offi-cials.
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India’s ties with Russia in thebackdrop of ongoing conflict
in Ukraine even while severalwestern nations are imposingsanctions will be discussed inthe summit with PrimeMinister Narendra Modi,British Prime Minister BorisJohnson said on Thursday. Thetwo leaders will meet in NewDelhi on Friday.
Making this assertion inAhmedabad after arriving fromthe United Kingdom on a two-day visit, Johnson said, “As Ithink everybody understands,India and Russia have histori-cally very different a relationship,perhaps, than Russia and the UKhave had over the last couple ofdecades. We have to reflect thatreality, but clearly I'll be talkingabout it to Narendra Modi.”
The conflict will figure inthe summit with both the sidesexchanging their views.However, Britain is likely tomaintain its stand that it is notin the business of lecturing ortelling other countries what todo, sources said here onThursday. The two leaders arealso likely to review the longterm consequences of theUkraine crisis.
The first British PrimeMinister to visit Sabarmati
Ashram from where MahatmaGandhi led the freedom strug-gle against colonial rule, he alsotouched upon India’s views onthe conflict and said “Well,they've already raised Ukraine,as you can imagine with PrimeMinister Modi. And actually, ifyou look at what the Indianshave said, they were very strongin their condemnation of theatrocities in Bucha.”
The British Prime Ministertermed Mahatma Gandhi an"extraordinary man" who mobi-lized the principles of truth andnon-violence to change theworld for better. Johnson wrotein the visitors' book there "It isan immense privilege to come tothe ashram of this extraordinaryman and to understand how hemobilised such simple principlesof truth and non-violence tochange the world for the better."
Meanwhile, his remarksabout Ukraine came in the back-drop of India, time and again,calling for dialogue and diplo-macy to end the conflict betweenRussia and Ukraine. Calling foran immediate cessation of hos-tilities Modi also urged RussianPresident Vladimir Putin andUkraine President VolodymyrZelensky to hold one on one toput an end to the war. India, hasso far, refrained at least 11 timesfrom voting against Russia in theUnited Nations SecurityCouncil(UNSC)and the UnitedNations General Assembly(UNGA).
In his remarks, Johnsonalso said “India and UK bothshare anxieties about autocra-cies around the world, we'reboth democracies and we wantto stick together.”
On relations between the
two countries, he said “there'salso the opportunity for us todeepen our security anddefence partnership. As youknow, the UK is making anIndo-Pacific tilt in our inte-grated review of our nationaldefence and security strategy.”
Regarding economic ties,the British Prime Minister saidboth the countries are hopingto complete another free tradeagreement “by the end of theyear, by the autumn.”
On the nuances of the sum-mit, sources said here it will focuson the centrality of India in therise of the Indo-Pacific, in keep-ing with the priority attached toIndia in the UK’s integratedreview of defence, security andforeign policy in 2021. The twosides may also discuss the issueof economic fugitives such asVijay Mallya and Nirav Modi.Britain is also likely to discuss theissue of pro-Khalistan elementsthere as it is determined tocounterextremism, sources said.
Starting his two-day visit toIndia, Johnson arrived inAhmedabad on Thursdaymorning. On the first day of histour, Johnson met industrialistGautam Adani. The visitingPrime Minister began his visitwith a roadshow from theAhmedabad airport to his hotelon Thursday morning.
corruption allegations levelled byformer Jammu and KashmirGovernor Satya Pal Malik in theaward of contracts for groupmedical insurance scheme forGovernment employees andcivil work related to Kiru hydro-electric power project in the erst-while State.
After registering the FIRs,the CBI conducted searches onThursday at 14 locations inJammu, Srinagar, Delhi,Mumbai, Noida in UttarPradesh, Trivandrum in Keralaand Darbhanga in Bihar, the CBIsaid.
The agency has namedReliance General Insurance andTrinity Re-Insurance BrokersLimited as accused in its FIRrelated to a controversial healthinsurance scheme for Jammuand Kashmir governmentemployees reportedly clearedby Malik in the State adminis-trative council meeting onAugust 31, 2018.
"...Unknown officials ofFinance Department ofGovernment of Jammu andKashmir by abusing their officialposition in conspiracy and con-nivance with TrinityReinsurance Brokers Ltd,Reliance General InsuranceCompany Ltd and otherunknown public servants andprivate persons have committedthe offences of criminal con-
spiracy and criminal misconductto cause pecuniary advantage tothemselves and caused wrong-ful loss to state exchequer dur-ing the period 2017 and 2018and thereby in this mannercheated the Government ofJammu and Kashmir," the FIRalleged.
It was alleged in differentquarters that there were glaringdeviations from the govern-ment norms in the contractawarded to Reliance GeneralInsurance like absence of anonline tender, removal of anoriginal condition that the ven-dor should have experience ofworking in the state and com-panies having turnover of Rs5,000 crore among others.
After allegations of irregu-larities surfaced, the scheme,which was rolled out onSeptember 30, 2018, wasscrapped, they said.
The case was registered onthe request of Jammu andKashmir Government on theallegations of malpractices inaward of contract of J&KEmployees Health CareInsurance Scheme to privatecompany and release of Rs 60crore in 2017-18, the CBI said ina statement.
"The governor has approvedforeclosure of the contract withM/s Reliance General InsuranceCompany (RGIC) for imple-menting group mediclaimhealth insurance policy for theemployees and pensioners in thestate," a Raj Bhavan spokesper-
son had said on October 27,2018.
He had said the matter wasreferred to the Anti-CorruptionBureau for examining the entireprocess to see whether it wasconducted in a transparent andfair manner.
In the scheme which wasinitially signed up with RGIC forone year, the employees andpensioners would have got Rs 6lakh cover for themselves andfive dependent family membersby paying an annual premium ofRs 8,777 and Rs 22,229 foremployees and pensioners,respectively.
In its FIR relating to thealleged malpractices in theaward of contract for the civilworks package of KiruHydroelectric power project,the CBI said guidelines relatedto e-tendering were not fol-lowed.The agency has bookedIAS officer and former chairmanof Chenab Valley Power Projects(P) Ltd, Navin KumarChaudhary, former MD, M SBabu besides former directorsand Patel Engineering Ltd. M KMittal and Arun Kumar Mishra.The agency has also namedPatel Engineering as an accusedin this case.
"Though a decision wastaken in 47th Board meeting ofCVPPPL (Chenab Valley PowerProjects (P) Ltd) for re-tenderthrough e-tendering withreverse auction after cancellationof ongoing tendering process,same was not implemented (as
per decision taken in 48th boardmeeting) and tender was final-ly awarded to Patel EngineeringLtd," the FIR alleged.
Malik, who was theGovernor of Jammu andKashmir between August 23,2018 and October 30, 2019 hadclaimed that he was offered a Rs300 crore bribe for clearing thetwo files.
After going to Kashmir, twofiles came to me (for clearance),one belonging to Ambani andanother to an RSS-affiliatedman who was a minister in theprevious Mehbooba Mufti-ledPDP-BJP coalition governmentand claimed to be very close tothe Prime Minister (NarendraModi), he had said.
"I was informed by secre-taries in both the departmentsthat there is a scandal and Iaccordingly cancelled both thedeals. The secretaries told methat 'you will get Rs 150 croreeach for clearing the files' but Itold them that I have come withfive kurta-pyjamas and willleave with that only," Malik hadtold a gathering at an event inJhunjhunu in Rajasthan inOctober last year.
The civil works package ofKiru Hydroelectric power pro-ject was registered at the behestof Jammu and Kashmir gov-ernment and entailed allegationsof malpractices in award of thecontract worth Rs 2,200 crore toprivate company PatelEngineering in 2019, the CBIsaid in a statement.
between the two countries,Defence Minister RajnathSingh on Thursday invited USdefence manufacturing com-panies to set up joint venturesand carry out research and develop-ment facilities in India.
He urged the US companies to takeadvantage of the policy initiatives takenby Prime Minister Narendra Modi-ledgovernment in India in deefence man-ufacturing to achieve the vision of ‘Makein India, Make for the World’. India andthe US have a growing convergence ofstrategic interests and both sides seek aresilient and rules-based internationalorder that safeguards the sovereigntyand territorial integrity of all countries,Rajnath said.
He also said the recent India-US'2+2' dialogue and fruitful conversa-tion between Prime Minister NarendraModi and President Joe Biden havecreated the ground for a more ambi-tious and strategic engagementbetween the two sides.
He made these points here whileaddressing the members of AmericanChamber of Commerce in India(AMCHAM India) through videoconferencing during its 30th annualgeneral meeting.
Rajnath invited the US companiesfor co-production, co-development,investment promotion and develop-ment of maintenance repair and over-
haul facilities in India.He listed out a num-
ber of initiatives taken bythe government to facil-itate partnershipsbetween major OriginalEquipment Manufacturer(OEMs) and Indian com-panies.
Rajnath pointed out that the UScompanies have not only been asource of Foreign DirectInvestment(FDI)and employment inIndia, but are also contributing toIndia’s defence exports, totallingaround $2.5 billion to US in last fiveyears. He said it is 35 per cent of totalexports achieved during the period.
He termed the recently held 2+2dialogue as positive and fruitful, say-ing the defence sector is a strong andgrowing pillar of the bilateral rela-tionship.
The defence minister emphasisedon the need to move from a buyer-sell-er relationship to one of partnernations and business partners. Indiaand the US are uniquely poised toleverage each other’s strengths for amutually beneficial and bright future,he said.The AMCHAM-India is anassociation of American businessorganisations operating in India.Established in 1992, AMCHAM hasover 400 US companies as members.The principal objectives include pro-motion of activities that would encour-age and stimulate investment by UScompanies in India and increasingbilateral trade.
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As the ongoing con-flict in Ukraine has
unraveled a new kind ofwarfare, DefenceMinister Rajnath Singhon Thursday asked theArmy top brass to pre-pare for every possiblesecurity challenge thatIndia may face in thefuture, including that ofunconventional andasymmetric warfare.
Underlining thispoint while addressingthe Army Commanders’conference, Rajnathstressed upon the pre-sent complex world sit-uation which effectseveryone globally.
“Unconventionaland asymmetric warfare,including hybrid war willbe part of the futureconventional wars.Cyber, information,communication, tradeand finance have allbecome an inseparablepart of future conflicts.This necessitates thatArmed Forces will haveto keep all these facets inconsideration whileplanning and formulat-ing strategies,” he said.
Touching upon thesituation on the Line ofA c t u a l
Control(LAC)facingChina, the defence min-ister expressed confi-dence that while troopsare standing firm, theongoing talks for peace-ful resolution will con-tinue and disengage-ment and de-escalation,is the way forward.
Referring to the sit-uation along theWestern borders facingPakistan, he compli-mented the Army’sresponse to cross borderterrorism but said theproxy war by the adver-sary continues.
The commanderscarried out an extensivereview of India's nation-alsecurity challengesalong the borders withChina and Pakistan aswell as assessed possiblegeopolitical implicationsof the Russia-Ukrainewar for the region. Thefive-day conference willcome to an end on Friday.
The conclave is anapex level biannualevent held in April andOctober every year. Theconference is an institu-tional platform for con-ceptual level delibera-tions, culminating inmaking important pol-icy decisions for theIndian Army.
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Asking civil servants to maketransforming the life of com-
mon people their foremostgoal , Prime Minister NarendraModi on Thursday exhortedthem to evaluate every decisionin the context of "nation first".
Speaking on the CivilService Day when he also con-ferred the Prime Minister’sAwards for Excellence in PublicAdministration here at VigyanBhawan, Modi stressed onimproving the governance andknowledge sharing.
He suggested all the trainingacademies can virtually share theprocess and experiences of theaward winners on a weeklybasis. The Prime Minister saidfrom the award-winning pro-jects, one scheme may be chosenfor implementation among fewdistricts and the experience ofthe same may be discussed in thenext year’s Civil Service Day.
In his address , Modi listedthree goals that he said theyshould be keeping before them-selves while serving the demo-cratic set up of the country. "Thefirst goal is that there should bea change in the life of the com-mon people in the country, theirlife should be easy and theyshould also be able to feel thisease. The first goal is that thereshould be a change in the life of
the common people in the coun-try, their life should be easy andthey should also be able to feelthis ease.
"Common people shouldnot have to struggle in their deal-ings with the government, ben-efits and services should beavailable to them without has-sle.", he said. This apart, thePrime Minister sought publicServants to be in step with glob-al changes and developments lestthe focus of their decisions islost.
“ Secondly, given the grow-ing stature and changing profileif India, it is imperative thatwhatever we do, that should bedone in the global context. If wedon’t follow the activities at theglobal level, it will be very diffi-cult to ascertain our prioritiesand focus area.We need to devel-op our schemes and governancemodels keeping this perspectivein mind, Modi said.Thirdly, hesaid “Wherever we are in the sys-tem, our prime responsibility isthe unity and integrity of thecountry, there cannot be anycompromise".
Even local decisions shouldbe measured on this touch-stone, he emphasized. "Everydecision of ours should be eval-uated on its capacity to providestrength to the country’s unityand integrity. ‘Nation First’should always inform our deci-sions", said Prime Minister whiledriving his point home to theCivil Servants. Union MinisterJitendra Singh, PrincipalSecretary to Prime Minister, P KMishra, Cabinet Secretary RajivGauba were among those presenton the occasion.
The Prime Minister recalledthat he has been interactingwith Civil Servants for last 20-22years, first, as Chief Minister andlater, as the Prime Minister. It hasbeen a mutually learning expe-rience, he said.
Modi underlined the signif-icance of this year’s celebrationas it is taking place in the year of'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav.' Heasked the administrators to callpast district administrators inthis special year to the district.
Similarly, he said ChiefMinisters of states can call for-mer Chief Secretaries, CabinetSecretaries from the state in thislandmark year to commemorateand take benefit from the flag-bearers of administrativemachinery that have contributedsignificantly in the journey ofIndependent India.
terrorism is the biggest form ofhuman rights violation andaction against terrorism cannotbe contradictory to humanrights. Addressing the 13thfoundation day of the NationalInvestigation Agency (NIA)here, Shah said strong actionhas been taken against terrorfunding in Jammu andKashmir and against those whohad helped terrorism and wereliving respectfully in society.
Terrorism is the biggestcurse for society, he said,adding that if there is anycountry which bore the maxi-mum brunt of terrorism, it isIndia. "I have some differ-ences with human rightsorganisations. Whenever thereis an anti-terror action, somehuman rights groups comeforward to raise the issue. ButI strongly believe that therecannot be a bigger humanrights violation than terrorism.It is the biggest form of humanrights violation.
"Action against terrorismcannot be contradictory tohuman rights. It is absolutelynecessary to root out terrorismto protect human rights," Shah
said amid big applause fromofficers of the NIA and otherecurity organisations. HomeMinister said the NarendraModi government has adopt-ed a zero-tolerance policytowards terrorism and wasworking to root out the men-ace from India. He said theNIA had registered terrorfunding cases and these caseshelped to a great extent to rootout terrorism from Jammuand Kashmir.
Shah said that earlier, therewas no proper action against ter-ror funding. In 2018, cases wereregistered against terror fundingfor the first time, and because ofthat, there is no smooth road forfunding terrorism in Jammuand Kashmir, he added. "In2021-22, the NIA registeredmany cases which helped indestroying sleeper cells inJammu and Kashmir.
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The Association forDemocratic Reforms
(ADR) in a new report saidseven electoral trusts receiveda total amount of Rs 258.49crore from corporates and indi-viduals, and the BJP baggedmore than 82 per cent of it.
According to the ADR, 16out of the 23 electoral trustssubmitted details of their con-tribution for the financial year2020-21 to the ElectionCommission of India, of whichonly seven declared to havereceived donations.
Electoral trust is a non-profit organisation formed inIndia for orderly receiving ofcontributions from corporateentities and individuals to polit-ical parties. It aims at improv-ing transparency in the usageof funds for election-relatedexpenses.
"Seven electoral trustswhich have declared receivingcontributions during FY 2020-21, have received a totalamount of Rs 258.4915 crorefrom corporates and individu-als and distributed Rs 258.4301cr (99.98 per cent) to variouspolitical parties," it said.
Several doctors have urgedPresident Ram Nath Kovind
and Prime Minister NarendraModi to postpone the NationalEligibility cum Entrance Test(NEET PG 2022) exam, citinginsufficient gap to prepare forthe May 21 NEET PG 2022exam, as the NEET PG 2021counselling is scheduled to beover only on May 3, and someStates' counselling will startafterwards.
"As per the policy ofNational Medical Commission(NMC), there needs to be a suf-ficient gap betweenCounselling of one session and
next examination. But this yearthe all-India counselling will beover by 3rd May,2022 and Statecounselling will start after-wards which might go till midor may end. The examinationis scheduled on 21st May, justa few days after completion ofAll India counselling. Thisstands unfair," they said in a let-ter to the President and thePrime Minister.
Stating that they were in aCatch-22 situation as far asappearing for the NEET PG2022 exam is concerned, thedoctors wrote, " We are in adilemma if we should attendcounselling or prepare for theexam because of this insuffi-
cient time gap. The counsellingschedule was changed nearly 7times by MCC this year , alsothe mop up round was can-celled both at all India and statelevel. How could we studyamongst these uncertaintiescreated by these exam bodies."
The letter also referred tothe previous postponementorder, where Union HealthMinister, Mansukh Mandaviya,had clearly directed NBE togive a 6-8 week gap betweencounselling and exam. Thedoctors requested thePresident, Prime Minister andother concerned authorities topostpone the medical entranceby at least two months. "I
request you to kindly intervenein this at the earliest keeping inmind the life of thousands ofdoctors, whom you once calledCOVID WARRIORS," the let-ter concludes.
While senior Congressleaders Oommen Chandy andSrinivas BV took up their causeon the Twitter, Member ofParliament Tejasvi Surya wrotea letter to Mandaviya, pointingout that more than 5,000,interns from Kerala, Bihar,Jammu and Kashmir andJharkhand are ineligible towrite the NEET PG due to adelay in completion of theirinternship owing to theCovid19 pandemic.
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Nearly a year into the coronavirus crisis,parents across India— and the world —
are watching their children glued to the dig-ital world. This has also been indicated bya survey conducted between December 2020and February 2021 that covered 10,112 pri-mary/secondary caregivers and 2,916 front-line workers across 11 States in the country.
The survey by Niti Ayog painted agloomy picture of how Covid-19 pandem-ic changed the world of the kids who wererestricted in the four walls of their houseswhich prompted them to take to the digitalgadgets. The outcomes were scary as shownby the report ‘Evidence-based response to
ECD during the Covid-19 crisis.’It noted that one third of children sur-
veyed started watching videos/ playinggames on the TV / phone / computer for thefirst time following the start of the pandemicin March 2020. Ditto was the case with chil-dren less than 2 years of age, when screenexposure, especially passive tech usage isknown to be harmful for the cognitive devel-opment and psychosocial health of children.
Digital life is driven by urban house-holds, with 41% of urban parents reportingtheir child started watching TV/phone/com-puter compared to 26% of rural parents.Conversely, 50% of rural parents reportedtheir child continued to watch TV/ phone/computer compared to 38% urban parents.
In-depth interviews also revealed thatparents used phones and videos as a dis-traction to reign in their children. 1 in 4households reported children spending lesstime with other children including siblings,cousins or neighbors' children of their age.A greater proportion of urban households(29%) reported this than did rural house-holds (23%). Additionally, parents high-light children feeling more isolated and agi-tated; secondary research suggests higherusage of tech products and less interactionwith peers may be a cause.69 During indepth interviews, parents recalled theirchildren becoming agitated due to a lackof routine, lack of social interaction, andstaying indoors.
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Expressing concern over theperceived rising "nexus"
between politicians and civilservants, Vice President MVenkaiah Naidu on Thursdayasked bureaucrats to stand up forwhat is right and speak thetruth to the political executive.
He also said that instead ofpreferring to be indecisive andevasive and defer a decision,every civil servant has to bedynamic, initiative-bearing andproblem-solving. "This calls forreorienting bureaucracy intomeritocracy. Mediocrity shouldbe disincentivised," the vice-president asserted.
Naidu made these remarkswhile addressing officer traineesfrom various services on CivilServices Day in Hyderabad.According to the text of hisspeech made available by theVice-President's Secretariat, hesaid, "I can assure you all that thepoliticians are wise and receptiveto good suggestions if they arepresented to them convincinglyand rationally."
"This is because no ministerwould like to risk being punishedfor wrongdoing or a bad deci-sion. The growing nexusbetween the political class andcivil servants being widelyreferred to as a matter of deepconcern," Naidu said.
The vice-president was ofthe view that civil servants neednot take an adversarial position"on all matters". "When you areinstructed to present a particu-lar issue in a certain manner thatsuits the political executive, allyou need to do is to speak for theright and, if required, do so inwriting. "If you are overruled, theauthority concerned would betaken to task. The political andpermanent executive shouldwork in tandem and in the rightmanner. The political executiveshould definitely change," hesaid.
All that the officials have todo, Naidu said, is to show uptheir character and be on theright side of the law. "If not, youwill be conceding ground to yourpolitical masters from whichneither of you will benefit. Onthe contrary, the country and thepeople will suffer that much. So,I advise you to strictly stand upfor the right," he advised them.Citing his experience, the vice-president said 'yes sir' types arenot respected in the long runwhile "speakers of truth" are.
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Ajoint team of securityforces on Thursday
achieved a major success byeliminating one of the longest-surviving Lashkar-e-Tayyebaterrorists along with his accom-plice in Malwah area ofBaramulla district.
Till the time of filing thereport the operation in the areawas still going on. Accordingto a police spokesman, "threemore terrorists were still insidecordon and exchange of firewas going on".
Meanwhile, one of the slainterrorists has been identified asYousuf Kantroo. He figured inthe list of top 10 most wanted
terrorists in the Kashmir valley.
Inspector General ofPolice, Kashmir range VijayKumar said. "it's a big successfor us".
The LeT Commander wasinvolved in several killings ofcivilians and security person-nel including the recent killingof JKP’s SPO & his brother, onesoldier and one civilian inBudgam district.
According to policerecords, "Yousuf Kantroo wasan overground worker (OGW)of Hizbul Mujahideen outfitand was arrested in the year2005. Later, he was released inthe year 2008 but he againjoined terrorist rank in the year2017 and started killing inno-cent civilians, policemen andpolitical workers. Later on heswitched from HM to LeT ter-ror outfit". However, the iden-tification of the other killed ter-rorist is being ascertained.
According to a policespokesman, "a special team of
Budgam Police alongwithArmy (62RR) initially launcheda joint cordon & search oper-ation in Malwah area ofBaramulla on Thursday.During the search operation asthe joint search party reachedthe suspected spot, the hidingterrorists fired indiscriminate-ly upon them in which four(04) soldiers including oneofficer received minor injuries.The fire was effectively retali-ated leading to an encounter.Later on Baramulla Policeheaded by SSP Baramulla alsojoined in the operation. Onepoliceman from Baramulla dis-trict also got injured in theencounter who was later onshifted to Army’s base hospitalin Srinagar.
As per police records, "ter-rorist Yousuf Kantroo wasinvolved in dozens of civilianatrocities and security person-nel killings including killing ofSPO Mohd Ishfaq Dar and hisbrother Umer Ahmad Dar res-ident of Chatabugh Budgam on26/03/2022, killing of BDC
Chairman Late SardarBhupinder Singh on 23/9/20 inhis own native place in Khag,killing of NC Block presidentat Natipora ChanaporaSrinagar and several othercases.
According to policeKantroo was also involved ingrenade throwing incidents,abduction and killing of policeand security personnel.Moreover, he was also involvedin snatching 4 AK rifles fromthe residence of LegislatureMuzafar Parray at J-13 JawaharNagar Rajbagh.
Furthermore, on his direc-tions Abrar Nadeem (neutral-ized terrorist) carried out anattack on CRPF at LawayporaSrinagar in which 3 CRPF per-sonnel attained martyrdom on25/03/2021. According to apolice spokesman, the killedterrorist was also involved inrecruiting innocent/gullibleyouth into terror folds includ-ing recruitment of FaisalHafeez Dar of AaripanthMagam into terrorist ranks.
kicked off the Aam AadmiParty's (AAP) campaign inKarnataka and said his partywill form its third Governmentin the southern State afterbeing elected to power in Delhiand Punjab.
Speaking at a rally atNational College grounds,Kejriwal sought the support offarmer organisations to topplethe “40% Government”, a ref-erence to the corruption alle-gations hurled at the BJPGovernment by the KarnatakaState Contractors' Association.The rally was organised by var-ious farmers' body, led by theKarnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha(KRRS). KRRS convenorKodihalli Chandrashekar alsojoined the AAP and calledupon the members to extendfull support to the party. "Wehave to close the 20% and40% commission accounts ofthese governments," Kejriwalsaid, adding that a corrup-tion-free Government couldoffer several services for free tothe people.
Kejriwal congratulatedfarmers for their massive agi-
tation in the national capitalearlier, which forced the Centreto scrap the three farm laws 13months after their promulga-tion.
Kejriwal said even after 75years of independence farmers'condition has not improved,though 45 per cent of the pop-ulation depended on agricul-ture, the children of farmersdon't wish to take up farming.
Kejriwal said the previousCongress government inKarnataka had a 20 percentshare in commission from cor-ruption while the present BJPgovernment leads 40 percentcommission.
“We, the common people,were challenged to get into pol-itics when we demanded a lawagainst corruption. We formeda political party. Our first gov-ernment was formed in Delhiand then in Punjab (this year).Now, we will form our nextgovernment in Karnataka,” saidKejriwal.
“Delhi has zero per centcommission governmentbecause there is a hardcorehonest government in Delhi.Not a paise is taken as bribe,”said the AAP chief.
“I have gotten a certificatefrom our country's PrimeMinister, Modi ji that Kejriwal
is the most honestman. The CBI,Income Tax andDelhi police raidswere carried outagainst me, ManishSisodia and 17MLAs but the agen-cies could not findanything concrete to'frame' them,” saidKejriwal.
Referring to theriots in Delhi andelsewhere inKarnataka, Kejriwalsaid all the rowdies,rogues, uncouth and corruptacross the country go to "onepolitical party".
"A Minister's son murdersfarmers by driving his jeep overthem, but his father is reward-ed with a ministerial position.Whoever commits rape gets arousing welcome. A small girlwas raped, they took out a'Shobha Yatra'. In such a sce-nario how can the countryprosper," Kejriwal said.
"We don't know aboutengineering riots. There areriots across the country. Whois doing this? Which partydoes riots? People of the coun-try do not want riots. Theywant peace, they want to livepeacefully," said Kejriwal.
The Delhi CM also saidAAP does not know anythingabout rowdyism because hisparty is of gentle people, patri-ots and honest citizens whowant schools, hospitals, roads,potable water, electricity andfree transport.
“Two crore people of Delhienjoy free healthcare. We sup-ply free electricity in the statetoo. People get zero bills. All ofthis is possible because of ourhonesty and faith in progressivegovernance. It is because of ourcommitment to honesty thatwe are able to give five essen-tial services like education,healthcare, water, electricityand bus transport for women,”said Kejriwal.
Thursday claimed that the two-day Bengal Global BusinessSummit had attracted a whop-ping Rs 3.42 lakh crore invest-ment proposals from the visit-ing industrialists.
“It makes me extremelyhappy to announce that wehave received investment pro-posals worth Rs 3,42,375 croresduring the Bengal GlobalBusiness Summit (BGBS) 2022,a visibly happy Chief Ministersaid, adding the business pro-posals were expected to gener-ate around 40 lakh jobs.
“The BGBS was a remark-able success,” she said insistinga task force would soon be set
up under the chief secretary forspeedy implementation of theseprojects.
If materialized the invest-ments were likely to generate asmuch as 40 lakh jobs, theChief Minister claimed.
Banerjee also said thatabout “37 memorandums ofunderstanding (MoUs) and let-ters of intent (LoIs) were signedin these two days,” addingaround 4,300 participants from42 countries, “including morethan 500 international dele-gates, attended the summit.”
Among the noticeable pro-posals were the one made byAdani Group chief GautamAdani who announced aninvestment plan of Rs 10,000crore in the coming ten years.The JSW Group too
announced investment in a900 MW pumped storage hydelpower project. A strong dele-gation from the UnitedKingdom and Bangladesh alsoexpressed interest in investingin Bengal, sources said.
Earlier BangladeshCommerce Minister Tipu
Munshi who was leading a10-member delegation saidthat his country too was inter-ested in investing in Bengal.Praising the Chief Minister forher remarkable abilities theminister said that the summitwould go a distance in pro-moting India-Bangladesh bor-der trade.
This was the sixth BGBSorganized by the TMCGovernment to promoteinvestment. In the past fivesummits the State had attract-ed investment proposal of Rs12 lakh crore.
Banerjee’s claims notwith-standing questioning the abil-ity of the State Government toconvert MoUs and LoUs intoactual investment BJP nation-al vice president said “before
bragging about the investmentproposals of Rs 3 lakh crore theChief Minister should firstmake clear that how much ofRs 12 lakh crore proposed inthe past five summits havebeen converted into real invest-ment … the answer is in factzero.”
CPI(M) central committeemember said that the “partythat has driven away the Tatasfrom Singur and chemical hubat Nandigram will never betrusted by investors … partic-ularly when the State is over-whelmed by syndicates andTMC’s extortionists.” OnAdani’s investment proposalhe said “this is the same Adaniwho is the best friend ofNarendra Modi with MamataBanerjee feigns a fight.”
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The CPI(M) has put onnotice the CPI and K
Krishnankutty, Kerala’sMinister for power and the rep-resentative of the Janata Dal (S)in the Left Democratic FrontGovernment.
The COI(M), heading theLDF is not amused by the wayKrishnankutty is handling thecontroversies in Kerala StateElectricity Board. The ministeris known for his closeness to BAshok, the IAS officer who isthe chairman of the Board inhis battles with the tradeunions, especially the CITU.
Ashok, known for hisintegrity and uprightness hastaken action against threesenior officers of the Board forgross indiscipline. The officersgot the disciplinary actions
nullified by the Kerala HighCourt. But the three weretransferred from the head quar-ters of the Board atThiruvananthapuram to thyedistricts and this deterioratedfurther the relation between thechairman and the officers.
Minister Krishnankuttyhas been supporting the chair-man in the latter’s bid to cleanthe Eugen Stable the Board hasbecome. On Thursday theBoard asked M G SureshKumar, executive engineer, topay Rs 6.5 lakh for misusingthe official car for trade unionworks. Suresh Kumar was thede facto Board Chairman dur-ing the tenure of M M Mani(Krishnankutty’s predecessorin the department of power).
The CPI(M) party secre-tariat which met on Wednesdayreportedly expressed unhappi-ness over Krishnankutty’s infat-uation with Ashok and askedthe minister to either toe theCITU line or get ready to beousted from the councilof min-isters. JD(S) has just two mem-
bers in the House andKrishnankutty knows well thatthe other MLA is waiting in thewings to become minister. Theminister said on Thursday thatall issues related to the chair-man and the officers owingallegiance to the CITU wouldbe resolved in a week’s time.
The CPI, the second largestconstituent of the LDF wasshocked by an invitationextended by E P Jayarajan, thenewly appointed convenor ofthe Front, to Muslim League.“We are in the process ofexpanding the base of the LDFby bringing in like-mindedparties under one umbrella. Wewould love to have MuslimLeague among us in our mis-sion to dethrone the BJP fromthe Centre in the 2024 LokSabha election,” Jayarajan toldreporters on Thursday. Hereminded them of the resolu-tion adopted in the 23rd PartyCongress at Kannur early thismonth that the CPI(M) wouldforge alliance with all secular,
democratic and liberal forces todefeat the “communal” BJPonce and for ever.
The new convener waxedeloquence at P K Kunhalikutty,the Muslim League strongmanand termed him as the bestpolitical strategist in the coun-try.
Kanam Rajendran, theKerala secretary of the CPI,reaxcted to Jayarajan’s initiativeby making it known that therewas no agenda in front of theLDF to bring in new allies. “Itmay be his personal view,” saidRajendran, who looked visiblyupset over the development.“The CPI leader knows wellthat their prominence would beeclipsed with the entry ofMuslim League to the LDF. Butthere is no need to give anyimportance to Jayarajan’sstatement. He is the new con-venor of the LDF and wants tomake his presence felt. Till2024, nothing is going to hap-pen in Kerala politics,” said PSujathan, veteran commenta-tor.
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The CBI has filed achargesheet against former
NSE MD and CEO ChitraRamkrishna and former GroupOperating Officer AnandSubramanian in connectionwith its probe into a co-locationscam case. Ramkrishna andSubramanian are both cur-rently undergoing judicial cus-tody following their arrest bythe CBI on March 6 andFebruary 25 respectively.
In its charge sheet filedbefore a Special Court here, theCBI has alleged thatRamkrishna allegedly abusedher official position in keydecisions among other charges.
The SEBI on February 11had charged Ramkrishna and
others with alleged governancelapses in the appointment ofSubramanian as the chief strate-gic advisor and his re-designationas group operating officer andadvisor to MD. The CBI whichexpanded its probe in the co-loca-tion scam, after SEBI report sur-faced, has arrested both of themand told the court that formlessYogi is none other thanSubramanian who was allegedbeneficiary of her decisions.
Ramkrishna, who suc-ceeded former CEO RaviNarain in 2013, had appointedSubramanian as her advisorwho was later elevated as groupoperating officer (GOO) at a fatpay package of Rs 4.21 croreannually. Subramanian's con-troversial appointment and sub-sequent elevation, besides other
crucial decisions, were guidedby an unidentified person whoRamkrishna claimed was aformless mysterious yogidwelling in the Himalayas, aprobe into her email exchangesin an audit had revealed.
Ramkrishna got elevated asMD and CEO on April 1, 2013and left the bourse in 2016.During this period, co-locationwas started by NSE, the CBI hasalleged in the charge sheet.
In the co-location facilityoffered by NSE, brokers couldplace their servers within thestock exchange premises givingthem faster access to the mar-kets. It is alleged that some bro-kers in connivance with insid-ers abused the algorithm andthe co-location facility to makewindfall profits.
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The Mumbai police onThursday detained South
African national AgisilaosDemetriades, brother ofBollywood actor ArjunRampal’s girlfriend Gabriellaand an accused in the SushantSingh Rajput death-relateddrug case, from Goa in con-nection with a Supreme Courtorder rejecting his bail appli-cation in the three drug casesbeing handled by the NarcoticsControl Bureau (NCB).
A visiting team of theMumbai police executed thedetention order issued againstDemetriades in the aftermathof the rejection of his bailapplication by the Goa benchof the Bombay High Court onMarch 28, 2022 and subse-quently by the Supreme Courton April 19, 2022.
Demetriades will bebrought to Mumbai and lodged
at the Arthur Road Central Jail(ARCJ).
The detention order hadbeen issued againstDemetriades On September21, 2021 under Prevention ofIllicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugsand Psychotropic Substances(PITNDPS) Act in view ofinvolvement in multiple casesunder NDPS Act.
Demetriades is being pros-ecuted in three cases of theNCB – the first registered inconnection with the death ofBollywood actor Sushant SinghRajput in October 2020, thesecond one cocaine smugglingcase Nigerian drug and thethird case in which he wasarrested with a small quantityof Charas from Goa for whichhe spent two weeks in judicialcustody.
It may be recalled thatDemetriades was arrested forthe first time by the NCB fromLonavala near Pune on
October 19, 2020. Demetriades is alleged to
be a part of a larger drug syn-dicate operating in Bollywood,which is being investigatedafter the death of actor SushantSingh Rajput.
The NCB’s investigationshave revealed that Demetriadeswas in touch with OmegaGodwin, a Nigerian nationalwho had earlier been arrestedfor supply of cocaine inMumbai. During his custodi-al interrogation, Godwin hadnamed Demetriades and oth-ers in connection with theSushant death-related drugcase. Among other things, 47-year-old Rampal is being inves-tigated for his links withDemetriades and Australian-architect friend Paul Bartel,both of whom were arrestedearlier with the Bollywood-drug mafia nexus case. He hadbeen questioned twice – oncefor eight-long hours on
November 13, 2020 and onceagain on December 21, 2021.Rampal was questioned afterlive-partner Gabriella was sub-jected top two rounds of ques-tioning by the NCB subjected.
The NCB had earlier car-ried out searches at theRampal’s Bandra residence onNovember 9, 2020.
Incidentally, the raid onRampal’s residence had come aday after the NCB officialscarried out searches at film pro-ducer Firoz A. Nadiadwala’sresidence along GulmoharCross Road at Juhu Vile ParleDevelopment (JVPD) Schemein north-west Mumbai. Duringthe searches, the NCB sleuthsseized a total of 717.1 gm ofGanja, 74.1 gm charas and95.1 gm MD (CommercialQuantity) along with Rs3,58,610. They also seized 10gm of Ganja from anotheraccused Wahid Abdul kadirSheikh @ Sultan.
Stressing the urgent need forusing modern techniques in
both policing and investigation,Chief Minister YogiAdityanath, on Thursday,directed the officials to preparethe UP Special PoliceEstablishment Act (UPSPEA)on the lines of the CentralBureau of Investigation (CBI).
He asked the officials toinitiate the process in thisregard within 100 days.
To enhance the profes-sional skills of the Anti-Terrorists Squad (ATS) incrime investigation its person-nel should be imparted train-ing by various institutions inIndia besides foreign inves-tigative/intelligence agencieslike FBI, Homeland Security,the chief minister added.
This directive was given bythe chief minister during thepresentation of the action planof Home, Prison, Home Guard,Secretariat Administration andAppointment and Personnel
departments before the councilof ministers. He said energetic,skilled and dedicated personnelshould be selected in the next100 days for the new SpecialPolice Operation Team (SPOT)and they should be trained incollaboration with the CentralPolice Force/Indian Army.Sniper training should also begiven to them, as well as specialadventure courses should alsobe imparted to increase theirconfidence, he said.
The chief minister saidthat in the last five years, UttarPradesh had presented a modelof strong law and order.“Organised crime has ended inthe state. Illegally acquiredassets worth Rs 2,081 crorehave been confiscated. In futurealso, action against the mafiaand criminals will continue.Our police should be ready24×7 for the safety and to pro-tect the honour of the 25 crorepeople of the state," he said.
Yogi said that all cabinetministers would now go to thefield. "Under the chairmanship
of cabinet ministers, 18 teamsfor 18 divisions are beingformed and a programme isbeing prepared for 18 weeks.These teams will stay for 72hours in each division and willtravel to different districts. Theywill meet people, investigate thesystem, examine the possibili-ties, after which the nodal offi-cers of 75 districts will take thereport of these teams and sub-mit the plan of implementationwithin 15 days," he added.
It was also decided to selectland for the CommandoTraining Centre in Rampur andlike the men's team, form askilled team of women com-mandos in the state. Besides forthe next 100 days, a unit ofSpecial Task Force (STF) wouldbe formed in Ayodhya district.
New field units of ATS arebeing formed in many districts,including Deoband, Bahraich,Aligarh, Kanpur Nagar andBahraich. The availability ofnecessary human resources,buildings etc. would be ensuredfor the new units.
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Playing down the news aboutsulking Shivpal Singh
Yadav, Suheldev Bhartiya SamajParty president Om PrakashRajbhar said that thePragatisheel Samajwadi Party(Lohia) chief was a part of thealliance and would remain inthe alliance in future too.
“There is news aboutShivpal Singh Yadav claimingthat he is angry and will leavethe Samajwadi Party alliance.This is all false news. He is stillpart of the alliance and willremain so,” Rajbhar toldreporters here on Thursday.
He said that SP, SBSP andPSPL would contest the next LokSabha elections together. “He ispart of the family and all kindsof things happen in a family.Shivpal Yadav was angry evenbefore the election and there isnothing new,” Rajbhar said.
When specifically askedwhether Shivpal Yadav wouldbe joining Bharatiya JanataParty, Rajbhar said that he hadcandid discussions with Shivpal
Singh Yadav and he was notjoining any party. “You jour-nalists speculate too much. Noone is going anywhere,” hesaid. After Akhilesh Yadav waselected leader of the oppositionin the UP assembly, the politi-cal grapevine was pregnantwith rumours that ShivpalYadav would be joining BJP.The rumours got further cre-dence after Shivpal Yadav dis-solved all the executive com-mittee of PragatisheelSamajwadi Party (Lohia) afterhis meeting with Chief MinisterYogi Adityanath. Some politicalpundits even predicted that hewould be joining the BJP by theend of this month.
“You read too muchbetween the lines,” Rajbharsaid. On the issue of bulldoz-er, he said that shanties of thepoor were being demolishedwhile the actual guilty hadbeen given political patronage.
“Through this bulldozerdrive attention is being divert-ed from the real issues of infla-tion and unemployment,”Rajbhar said.
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In a suspected case of `hon-our’ killing in Hardoi, a 17-
year-old girl was found brutal-ly murdered behind her houseon Thursday.
The victim's throat hadbeen slit with a knife.
The family memberslodged a report againstunknown miscreants but thecircumstantial evidence point-ed to the hand of some insid-er in the killing. The police sentthe body for post-mortem andwere investigating the case.
Superintendent of Police(Hardoi), Rajesh Dwivedi, said,"The murder took place some-time on Wednesday nightwhen the victim's throat wasslit. The police are investigat-ing the murder but there is noevidence of honour killing yet."
The victim, Goldie, was thedaughter of a local resident,Deshraj, of Jakhwa village. Herbody was found lying in a poolof blood behind her house onThursday morning. After thelocals spotted the body they
raised an alarm and also calledthe family members. Later thepolice were informed about themurder.
The local police inspectedthe spot and also enquiredfrom the family members andthe relatives about the possiblereasons for the victim's murder.In addition to finding a blood-stained knife, the police alsorecovered a pair of slippers, amobile phone and mustard oilfrom near the body. Bloodstains were also found on theterrace of the house.
Police are investigating thecase apprehending that thekilling took place over some`love affair’.
In another tragic incidentin Farrukhabad, a four-year oldboy was killed when a straybullet hit him on the head at apre-wedding tilak ceremonyon Wednesday night.
The boy was identified asDinesh. A probe has been ini-tiated but no one has beenarrested so far in connectionwith the murder.
The incident happened at
the house of Kishan Pal Jatav inKhimsepur village underMohammadabad police sta-tion in Farrukhabad districtwhere a pre-wedding tilak cer-emony was going on. People ina mood of jubilation started fir-ing from their guns and the boywas accidentally hit on hishead which caused his death.He was rushed to a nearby hos-pital but he died on the way.
According to the police, theboy was the son of Tinku Jatav,one of Kishan Pal's relativeswho stayed in nearby Kuberpurvillage. Police rushed to thespot and a probe was initiated.
“The minor child sustainedgunshot injuries in his headand based on the complaintfurther action will be initiated,"said Inspector Dilip KumarBind, who was at the spot toinvestigate the matter.
Meanwhile, in a bizarrecase in Etah, a teacher made anattempt on the life of the prin-cipal for opposing him to signattendance register for the dayshe was absent.
site facilities in Punjab’s borderareas is serious. A case in pointis the recent incident where 19inmates fled a rehabilitationcentre at Bir Plassi village inNalagarh after thrashing thestaff. Since running such cen-tres in Punjab is a costly affair,several such centres have comeup in Himachal’s border areas.Although agencies likeHPSMHA have laid downnorms for operating such cen-tres, the Rehabilitation Councilof India has prescribed theminimum standards for infra-structure and manpower andWHO has recommendedtreatment protocols, but allrules and regulations are stillbeing violated with impunity.
As per norms, these cen-tres should have at least 75-100sq ft area per person, facility forsports, yoga and meditation,qualified staff and psychiatristson call. Actually, however,these centres are operational insubstandard rented premiseshaving space constraints, andall the above-mentioned facil-ities are missing. The patients,most of them hailing fromPunjab, fail to get the promisedcare. Majority of these centreshave obtained licences as‘Rehabilitation Centres’ andnot ‘Substance Used DrugTreatment Centres’. As perrules, they are not allowed totake in drug addicts, but theydo it to make easy money.
There is the general tendencyin groups of influential, well-connected people with politi-cal patronage coming togeth-er to register a society and startsuch centres without bother-ing to follow the norms orappointing required specialists.
In 2017, the StateGovernment had constitutedthe HPSMHA to deal with thisproblem and made the regis-tration of de-addiction centresmandatory. After receivingcomplaints of human rightsviolation, the Authority hastaken action against eight de-addiction centres in Una dis-trict. Six of these centres havebeen issued notices and thelicences of the other two havenot been renewed.
At present, there are 76private de-addiction and reha-bilitation centres operating inHimachal Pradesh with a totalcapacity of about 2,500 beds.As per Section 20(1) and (2) ofthe Mental Health Care Act,2017, the patients admitted tothese centres have the right toprotection from cruel, inhu-man and degrading treatment.Unfortunately, in many cases,the family members of drugaddicts lose patience and with-out understanding their realproblems send them to therehabilitation centres. Theyshould get the psychiatry eval-uation of the addicts donebefore deciding to send them
to these centres. All six med-ical colleges in Himachal havea psychiatry department andacute withdrawal symptomsleading to body cramps, irri-tation and aggressive behav-iour should be dealt withunder the supervision oftrained doctors.
We should understand thebackground of a person whois drawn into the trap of drugs.Generally, they are ignored ormisguided people comingfrom difficult families. Thefamily members should sharequality time and maintainconstant communication withone another. As they say,“Prevention is better thancure”. The families, schools,colleges, social and culturalorganisations should step for-ward to sensitise the masses,especially the youth, to live apurposeful and content life sothat they don’t fall into the trapof drugs. We should have reg-ular counselling for youth andtheir parents.
Sports should be madecompulsory in schools and col-leges. The youth should beprovided gainful employmentand must be fruitfully engagedso that they don’t have time tothink of drugs.
(The writer is a seniorjournalist and Chairman,Panwar Group of Institutions,Solan, Himachal Pradesh. Theviews expressed are personal.)
���������������� ����� �Sir — The Karnataka Government can-not escape from the charge that it is out-and-out responsible for the spurt incommunal strife in the State. It legislat-ed an anti-conversion law aimed mainlyat fostering communal divide and pre-venting inter-religious marriages. TheKarnataka Cattle Act, 2020, which bansthe slaughter of cows, calves, bulls, bul-locks of all ages and she-buffaloes, is arecycled version of the existing laws inforce in the State. The law is projected asa throwback to ancient culture, but it onlyserves the purpose of “criminalisinglivelihoods” and “legalising vigilantism”.
Also, the recent ban on hijabs inschools, though deemed malicious, is amessage cleverly couched in the consti-tutional ethos of equality. In fact, polar-isation along religious lines to win elec-tions is a proven strategy for the saffronparty. However, the suicide note of con-tractor Santosh Patil, wherein he heldKarnataka Panchayati Raj Minister KSEshwarappa responsible for his death, hasbrought corruption in high places to thecentre stage. It was alleged that theMinister’s associates had demanded a 40per cent commission in public works Patilhad executed. The die is now cast: It isgoing to be religious polarisation versuscorruption in Government in elections.
Haridasan Rajan | Kozhikode
��������������������������Sir — Of late, more and more seers areissuing political statements withoutbeing in active politics. Cine artistes,players, singers, and now seers areevincing interest in politics. The latestexample is Dingaleshwara Swami fromKarnataka. While addressing farmersrecently, he alleged that the KarnatakaGovernment has been demanding a 30per cent commission to release grants tomutts. This statement closely followscontractor Santosh Patil’s allegationbefore he committed suicide. The latestdisclosure made by the seer about thecommission demand at a political func-tion carries the same weight as the state-
ments of politicians.Generally, the statements made by
politicians are taken lightly unless theseare proved by an inquiry panel or in acourt. What prevented DingaleshwaraSwami from disclosing the commissiondemand in Government circles before thecontractor committed suicide? ChiefMinister Basavaraj Bommai has request-ed him to provide the details of those whodemanded commission from him. Theseer is duty-bound to disclose with proofthe names of the persons who are thriv-ing on corruption. The abominable prac-tice of demanding bribes for releasinggrants to mutts must go, if it really exists.
KV Seetharamaiah | Bengaluru
����������������������������Sir —While the world is busy witness-ing the war between Ukraine and Russia,China is again in the limelight for itsusual sneaky behaviour. China hasinstalled three mobile 4G towers close tothe Line of Actual Control (LAC) nearthe Indian territory of Ladakh. Recently,
China has also completed the construc-tion of a bridge over Pangong lake nearthe Indian border. The infrastructuredevelopmental activities near the Indianborder have been very frequent in the lastcouple of years. As China is already wellknown for its tricky behaviour, Indiashould always be on high alert.
Following the global events, Chinamight be seeing some selfish design tocreate tension on the border. This actionof China is highly suspect as the 4G tow-ers are also used for military mobilisa-tion. The security forces should keep thesituation under watch and must not letChina create any kind of misadventureduring these difficult times. The heatalong the borders has increased since thelast two years, the situation right now isquite concerning. China has a history ofcreating disturbances with every coun-try it shares its borders with.
The menace of drugs sup-ply, which initially start-ed from Punjab as asmuggling transit point
from the ‘Golden Crescent’(Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan)to Europe, first engulfed theState and later spread to theneighbouring Himachal Pradesh.Due to the inability of law-enforcement agencies to controlthe illegality, all kinds of drugs arebeing smuggled into Himachalfrom Punjab. Compounding thematters, drug peddling from the‘Eastern Golden Triangle’(Myanmar, Laos and Thailand) isalso thriving simultaneously.
According to a recent report,the prevalence of psychotropicdrugs (heroin, charas, ganja, chitta, opioids etc) across theregion is roughly three to fourtimes the national average, affect-ing most youth in the 15-30 agecategory. In Himachal, 5,972persons including 44 foreignershave been arrested in 4,514 casesunder the NDPS Act from 2019to 2021. The gravity can begauged from the Drug PreventionHelpline data, which waslaunched on January 6, 2022, andis managed jointly by the HPState Mental Health Authority(HPSMHA) and Nasha NivaranBoard. The data indicates that theuse of multiple drugs is on the rise and 40 per cent of callsreceived were related to multiplesubstance abuse.
In the last four months, 101calls were received on thehelpline, which included 67 callsfor help regarding addicts, ofwhich 28 were related to multi-ple drug users, 15 alcoholic, 13opioid users, 10 cannabis and onepharma drug while 34 were forqueries and information. Themaximum cases were from thedistricts of Solan, followed byKangra and Mandi. The mainreasons for drug abuse were easyavailability of drugs, peer pres-sure, inquisitiveness to try some-thing new and non-cordial rela-tions with family. The problemswere more acute in familieswhere there was no elder mem-ber to look after the family.
In the face of inept handlingof the situation by the adminis-tration, the issue of operating de-addiction centres without requi-
ited Yadadri, the renovated templeof Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy,even the Executive Officer was notpresent to welcome her. No min-ister and no district collector caredto receive her. Additional CollectorDeepak Tiwari was there to greether with a sapling. When hermother died at the Raj Bhavan, thePresident of India and the PrimeMinister called to say condolences,but KCR did not care to pay floraltributes to the departed soul. Hedid not even call her. She said herrequest to provide a special flightto take her mother’s body toChennai was turned down by theChief Minister. She said all hertours in the State in the last sixmonths were either by road or bytrain even if it was a distant desti-nation. She has not been invited bythe Government to public func-tions for some months. She trav-elled to the forest area in Mulugudistrict on her own to seeSammakka, SaralakkaJaatara whereneither the district collector notSuperintendent of Police was pre-sent to receive her. She was notinvited to address the joint sessionof legislature before the budget waspresented. Had the relations beengood, the CM would have person-ally invited the Governor to addressthe joint session.
Though KCR did not say any-thing openly against the Governor,his son K. Taraka Rama Rao, theworking president of TRS andMinister for MunicipalAdministration and InformationTechnology, Jagadish Reddy, ener-gy minister, and others criticizedthe Governor for airing her viewsin Delhi. KTR asked when a Tamil
Nadu BJP leader Tamilisai could benominated as Governor what waswrong in nominating KaushikReddy as an MLC? Jagadish Reddysaid she visited LakshmiNarasimha Swamy Temple as a BJPperson. Tamilisai took seriousobjection to this comment. “I vis-ited the temple as a devotee alongwith my husband. Did I take BJPflag or BJP leadership to the tem-ple? I did not even care whetherthe protocol was followed,” saidTamilisai in Delhi after meetingAmit Shah. She, in turn, challengedthe ministers to show one instancewhere she used Raj Bhavan forpromoting BJP interests. “I am pre-pared to reveal the appointmentsgiven in the last two years” she vol-unteered. The Governor said sheis entitled to respect as a womanif not as a Governor. She used tocall CM ‘Anna (brother)’ and shedeserved to be treated well even asa sister.
Tamilisai said she felt ignoredand insulted by some actions of thegovernment. She said the ministersand officials have been skippingimportant events at Raj Bhavanand they should understand thatthe invitation was not from anindividual. The latest cut was onUgadi day when not a single TRSleader or government officialaccepted her invitation to visit RajBhavan. Even in Delhi, theCommissioner of TelanganaBhavan reportedly did not receiveher or met her although she wasat Sabari block in the Bhavan fortwo days.
The Governor went on to lam-bast the State government. Shespoke of the drugs mafia and
neglected Government hospitalsand universities where 60 percentof faculty positions are lyingvacant. ‘As a mother I feel bad forthe youth in the State who arebecoming drug addicts,’ she said.She is understood to have givenher report on drugs and corrup-tion to the Prime Minister andHome Minister.
KTR, however, asserted thatthey have great respect for the con-stitutional post of Governor. Hesaid, “Why should we have anydisharmony with the constitu-tional head.” The TRS leadershave taken objection to theGovernor making allegations ofcorruption.
The attitude of the ChiefMinister towards the Governordepends on the relationship hehaswith the Prime Minister and theBJP. KCR was friendly with theNDA dispensation till recentlysupporting all the Bills, includingthe three controversial farm Bills,introduced by Modi governmentin Parliament. KCR probablyimagined, as did ChandrababuNaidu in 2018, that the BJP wouldlose in UP and other three Statesin the 2022 assembly elections andthere would be room for him toplay a national role in mobilizingregional parties on one plank. Inspite of the solid win by the BJP,the TRS continues to be belliger-ent and the agitation to force theCentre to buy paddy goes onunabated. How would KCR man-age the contradictions and find away to normalize the relationshipwith the BJP and the PrimeMinister remains in the realm ofimagination.
The year-long celebrationsto commemorate the400th birth anniversary
(Prakash Purab) of Sri GuruTegh Bahadur concluded onApril 21 with an address by thePrime Minister Narendra Modifrom the Red Fort in Delhi.Prime Minister Modi has allalong shown great reverence forthe Sikh Gurus.
The Prakash Purab servesan ideal opportunity to recallatrocities and persecution suf-fered by our forefathers at thehands of Muslim rulers and thesupreme sacrifice made by theSikh Guru to protect their free-dom and dignity. Hindus, andlater the Sikhs, suffered theworst of violence and religiouspersecution by the Mughals.Guru Nanak’s agony over bru-tal tyranny of Babur, the firstMughal invader, is echoed in his
own words: “KhurasanKhasmana Kiya HindustanDraya. Apey Dos Na Deyi KartaJum Kar Mugal Chareya. EytiMar Pyee Kurlanney Tain KiDard Na Aiya”.
Hindus and Sikhs also suf-fered the worst brutality duringfifty years of Mughal emperorAurangzeb’s reign (1658-1707).Aurangzeb was a cruel bigotwho wanted to establish Muslimtheistic state, Dar-ul-Islam, inIndia by the power of the sword.With this sinister design, heushered a reign of terror andtyranny on Hindus. They werecoerced to choose betweenIslam and merciless oppres-sion. He ordered heavy- hand-ed implementation of ruthlessIslamic fundamentalist pro-grams on Hindus and Sikhs.Religious tax (jazia) wasimposed exclusively on Hindus
to curtail their economic suste-nance. Celebration of the mostpopular Hindu festivals, Diwaliand Holi, were forbidden. Manysacred Hindu Temples weredemolished, and mosques erect-ed in their place. Forced massconversion of Hindus and Sikhsto Islam became the first and
foremost function of the IndianIslamic state. Resistance to theseatrocities meant loss of life anddignity. Under this genocidaltyranny, millions of Hindus,most in Kashmir, were massa-cred and their property looted.
According to the earliesthistorical narrative relied on bythe SGPC and other historicalliterature, Hindus of Kashmir,unable to withstand the tyran-ny unleashed by Aurangzeb,approached Guru Tegh Bahadurfor support. The Guru accept-ed their prayer and agreed todefend their freedom to religionand religious right to wear their‘sacred threads and frontalmarks.’ He decided, even if itcost him his life, to resist thenefarious act of forcible conver-sion of Hindus. On his instruc-tions, a communication wassent to the emperor asserting
that if the Sikh Guru could bepersuaded to accept Islam, theHindus would convert as well.Hearing this, the Guru wassummoned by Aurangzeb toDelhi, and, when he refused toforsake his faith, he was publiclydecapitated on November 11,1675 and his followers werebutchered for their refusal toabandon their faith. Thus, theGuru led a stubborn but non-violent resistance against zeal-ous proselytization and bigotryof Aurangzeb and willingly sac-rificed his life to protectHindustan. But for his sacrifice,Hindustan would have beenIslamised.
Guru Tegh Bahadur was thesecond Sikh Guru to be execut-ed by the Mughals for theirunyielding commitment to free-dom of religion. Seventy yearsbefore his execution (1675),
Guru Tegh Bahadur’s grandfa-ther, the fifth Guru of the Sikhs,Guru Arjan Dev (1563-1606),was tortured by emperorJahangir. He was chained andthrown into the river Ravi onMay 30, 1606 at Lahore. Theresistance against religious per-secution demonstrated by GuruArjan Dev, Guru Tegh Bahadurand his son and successor, GuruGobind Singh, invited the wrathof the Mughal empire. While thetwo elder sons of Guru GobindSingh died in battle againstMughals, his two younger sonswere bricked alive for refusingto embrace Islam and protect-ing the persecuted.
The Hindu-Sikh bond hasbeen cemented in perpetuity bythe blood and sacrifice of theSikh Gurus. And there is univer-sal acknowledgement and grat-itude of the Hindu community
towards the Sikh Gurus and theSikhs on account of the sacri-fices made by them for the pro-tection of Hindu faith. In recog-nition of this, Prime MinisterModi arranged worldwide cel-ebrations of the 550th PrakashPurab of Sri Guru Nanak Devand the 350th Prakash Purab ofSri Guru Gobind Singh withimmense reverence and fervour. To honour ChoteSahibzadas, December 26 willbe celebrated annually as VeerBal Diwas all over the country.
But some anti-national ele-ments attempt to sow the seedsof division between Hindusand Sikhs. To achieve theirnefarious designs, they projectfake threat to the Sikh identity.These evil designs must befrustrated. Guru ka Khalsa isinvincible. There is no threat toit, least of all from Hindus.
)*#�1����*�+�0��� Governors in India over thedecades were talking less andconducting themselves withregal finesse. Chief Ministers
and State Governments were treatingthem with due respect and diligence. Afterthe BJP came to power in 2014 for the sec-ond time, Prime Minister NarendraModi chose persons with RSS backgroundor BJP leaders for the titular positions.The Modi-era Governors, unlike theones appointed by Atal Behari Vajpayee,are at loggerheads with non-BJP Chief Ministers.
West Bengal Governor JagdeepDhankar and Chief Minister MamataBanerjee have running battles since hisappointment. Maharashtra GovernorBhagat Singh Koshyari and Chief MinisterUddhav Thackeray are not pulling alongwell. Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi andChief Minister M K Stalin don’t see eyeto eye on many issues. TamilisaiSoundararajan, the Telangana Governor,has joined the band of activist Governorswho thrive on controversies.
In united Andhra Pradesh there wereoccasions when Governors played ques-tionable politics. Ram Lal who dethronedNTR for a month became notorious andthe movement for restoration of democ-racy spearheaded by the TDP founderended only after Ram Lal was replaced bya thorough gentleman like Dr ShankarDayal Sharma who gave the oath of officeto NTR after restoring him as ChiefMinister. NTR himself had no respect forGovernor Kumudben Joshi but he fol-lowed protocol. NTR had problems withKrishan Kanth who decided in favour ofChandrababu Naidu but the actor-turned-politician was not in a position to fight.
The relations between Raj Bhavan andPragati Bhavan (residence of TelanganaChief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao)deteriorated suddenly. Tamilisai went toDelhi and met Modi on April 6 and UnionHome Minister Amit Shah the followingday. She also spoke to the media withoutany inhibition ventilating her frustrationwith the attitude of KCR. Till somemonths ago, they were on the best ofterms. When she did not sign the file per-taining to Kaushik Reddy’s nomination toLegislative Council under the Governor’squota, the trouble started.
In the meanwhile, KCR changed hispolicy and started attacking the BJP gov-ernment and Modi directly. He is also meet-ing non-BJP Chief Ministers like UddhavThackeray and Stalin to form a non-BJPand non-Congress front. KCR’s efforts wereslowed down after the BJP retained all thefour States with handsome majorities.But he raised the paddy bogey demandingthe Centre to buy paddy, not rice, as it hasbeen doing in Punjab. He asked for onenation, one procurement policy.
Governor Tamilisai has a number ofgrievances. First and foremost, she has notbeen shown normal courtesies that aremandatory for a Governor. When she vis-
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Sri Lanka's main OppositionSJB on Thursday presented
a constitutional amendmentbill that among other provi-sions seeks to abolish the pres-idential system of governance,in existence in the countrysince 1978, and replace it witha system that reinforces con-stitutional democracy.
The move by the SamagiJana Balavegaya (SJB) partycame in the backdrop of mas-sive protests demanding the
resignation of PresidentGotabaya Rajapaksa and his SriLanka Podujana (Peramuna)-led government over the coun-try's worst economic crisis.
The SJB presented the draft21st constitution amendmentbill to the secretary-general ofparliament with proposalsincluding the abolition of thecurrent executive presidentialsystem."We have handed overto the Speaker our proposal toabolish the executive presi-dential system," mainOpposition leader Sajith
Premadasa told Parliament.TheSJB document proposes to"abolish the executive presi-dential system and replace itwith a system that reinforcesconstitutional democracy".
While the president willremain the head of state andthe commander in chief, thepresident has no personal dis-cretion in appointing or dis-missing the prime minister,according to the proposal. Theprime minister shall be thehead of the Cabinet of minis-ters and the ministers are to be
appointed by president on theprime minister's advice, it adds.The amendment, while seekingto annul 20th Amendmentadopted in 2020, aims to restore19th Amendment toConstitution to curb the pow-ers of the president andempower Parliament.
The 19A adopted in 2015pruned presidential powers byempowering the 225-memberParliament above the executivepresident.
However, the 19A wasscrapped after prime ministerMahinda Rajapaksa's youngerbrother Gotabaya Rajapaksawon the November 2019 pres-idential election. The powerfulRajapaksa family tightenedtheir grip on power after
their massive victory inthe general elections in August2020 which allowed them toamend the Constitution torestore presidential powers andinstall close family members inkey positions.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa isunder pressure to quit alongwith his family as street protestshave raged over the govern-ment's mishandling of theisland nation's worst-ever eco-nomic crisis. The demand is toset up an interim cabinet of allparties and restore the 19Awhich would deprive GotabayaRajapaksa of the full powers ofthe presidency.
The Sri Lankan governmentwill not rest until justice
has been served to the guiltybehind the 2019 Easter terrorattacks, Prime MinisterMahinda Rajapaksa vowed onThursday as the island nationmarked the third anniversaryof the worst terror incident thatkilled 270 people, including 11Indians.
"Today we remember withgrief, the tragic events thattranspired 3 years ago on thatfateful #Easter morning. Wemourn the loss of innocentlives and the lives that wereimpacted. #GoSL has sincemade every attempt, to bringthose responsible to justice,"Rajapaksa tweeted.
Nine suicide bombersbelonging to local Islamistextremist group NationalThawheed Jamaat (NTJ) linkedto ISIS carried out a series ofdevastating blasts that torethrough three Catholic church-es and as many luxury hotelson April 21, 2019, killing near-ly 270 people, including 11Indians, and injuring over500.The attack stirred a polit-
ical storm as the then govern-ment headed by PresidentMaithripala Sirisena and PrimeMinister RanilWickremesinghe were blamedfor their inability to prevent theattacks despite prior intelli-gence being made available."Thus far 735 persons havebeen taken into custody, 27cases against 79 persons havebeen filed under 25,653charges.
The govt. Will not restuntil justice has been served tothe guilty with strict adherenceto rule of law and due process,"Rajapaksa said in anothertweet. The victims' families ledby the head of the local church,Archbishop of Colombo
Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith,have been critical of the slowpace of the investigationswhich they claim is a politicalploy for cover up.
On Sunday, hundreds ofpeople staged a silent protest inSri Lanka's capital, demandingjustice for the victims of theEaster terror attacks.The pro-testers joined hundreds of peo-ple camping near thePresident's Office in Colomboseeking resignation ofPresident Gotabaya Rajapaksaand all members of his familyfrom the government over theworst economic crisis that hascaused critical shortages offuel, food and medicines in thecountry. Displaying bannersand placards, protesters calledfor justice for the victims of theEaster attacks.
"3 years and still no jus-tice," read a banner carried byprotesters who walked a 5-milestretch to the site to be joinedby thousands who have beencarrying out the protest sinceApril 9 demanding PresidentGotabaya's resignation overthe unprecedented economiccrisis - the worst-ever in thecountry's history.
A special presidentialprobe found then presidentSirisena himself along with ahost of other top defence offi-cials guilty of ignoring priorintelligence.
The panel report had rec-ommended criminal actionagainst them. ArchbishopRanjith has been regularlyexpressing disappointmentover the police investigationand its slow nature.
In November last,President Gotabaya Rajapaksahad asked his detractors to becareful while demanding quickaction against the perpetratorsof the deadly Easter terrorattacks, warning that his gov-ernment can "act tough" on thecritics if the need arises.
He had said thejudicial proceedings wereunderway and his governmentwill not interfere in them.President Rajapaksa is theyounger brother of PrimeMinister Mahinda Rajapaksa.The two brothers led a decisivecampaign that helped end theisland nation's three decadelong civil war against theLiberation Tigers of TamilEelam (LTTE).
Aseries of explosions acrossAfghanistan on Thursday
killed at least 10 people andwounded scores more, accord-ing to police and hospital offi-cials.
No one immediately tookresponsibility for the deadlyexplosions, but they mostlytargeted the country's minori-ty Shiite Muslims and had allthe hallmarks of a deadlyIslamic State affiliate known asIslamic State in KhorasanProvince, or IS-K.
The worst of the threeattacks occurred in northernMazar-e-Sharif where at least10 worshippers were killed asthey knelt in prayer, said Dr.Ghawsuddin Anwari, head ofthe main hospital in northernMazar-e-Sharif. Another 40were injured. They werebrought in ambulances andprivate cars.
The explosion at the SaiDoken mosque in northernMazar-e-Sharif occurred asMuslims mark the holy month
of Ramadan, when the faithfulfast from sunrise to sunset.Earlier Thursday in the capital,Kabul, a roadside bombexploded and injured two chil-dren. That bomb also targetedthe country's minority Shiites,striking in the Dasht-e-Barchineighborhood of Kabul, dom-inated by Afghanistan's minor-ity Shiite Muslims.
Two days earlier in thesame area, multiple explosionstargeting educational institu-tions killed at least six people,mostly children, and wounded17 others. A third explosionThursday, this one in northern
Kunduz province, struck avehicle carrying mechanicscontracted by the rulingTaliban, according to MatiullahRohani, head of informationand culture in Kunduzprovince.
Thursday's series of dead-ly explosions comes aftermonths of relative calm inAfghanistan and after a crack-down against the IS-K by thecountry's Taliban rulers in thefirst months following theirsweep to power.
The IS affiliate, which hasbeen operating in Afghanistansince 2014, is seen as the great-
est security challenge facingthe country's Taliban rulers.Following their Augusttakeover, the Talibanlaunched a sweeping crack-down against IS headquartersin eastern Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, advocates forminority Hazaras called for astop to killings. Hazaras, whomake up around 9% of thepopulation of Afghanistan's36 million people, stand alonein being targeted because oftheir ethnicity-distinct fromother ethnic groups.
Aworried China on Thursdaycalled on Pakistan and the
Taliban-led interim governmentin Afghanistan to resolve their"concerns" through talks afterPakistani air raids reportedlykilled 47 Afghans, promptingKabul to lodge a "strongdemarche" to Islamabad.
"Afghanistan and Pakistanare close neighbours with tradi-tional friendship with China,"Chinese Foreign Ministryspokesman Wang Wenbin told amedia briefing here when askedabout recent border skirmishesbetween close allies sparked byrecurring terror attacks onPakistani troops allegedly fromacross borders in Afghanistan."Ibelieve countries can properlysettle their concerns through dia-logue and consultation and joint-
ly maintain peace and tranquil-ity," Wang said, declining toelaborate on Beijing's apprehen-sions over its trilateral initiativeof forming a China, Pakistan,Afghanistan alliance.
The Pakistani air raids onAfghanistan came about a fort-night after Chinese ForeignMinister Wang Yi held the thirdmeeting of the Foreign Ministersof the neighbouring countries ofAfghanistan comprisingPakistan, Iran, Russia, Tajikistan,Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan atTunxi in China on March 30-31for which interim TalibanForeign Minister Amir KhanMuttaqi was invited.
Wang later held a meeting ofForeign Ministers of China,Pakistan, Afghanistan whichwas attended by the thenPakistan Foreign Minister ShahMehmood Qureshi.
Israel's air force andPalestinian militants traded
fire across the Gaza frontierearly Thursday as clasheserupted again at Jerusalem'smost sensitive holy site, wors-ening an escalation that hasbeen eerily similar to the lead-up to last year's Israel-Gaza war.
The violence alongthe Gaza front, fuelled by theunrest between Israeli policeand Palestinians in Jerusalem,appears to be the heaviest-cross-border fighting since lastyear's 11-day war and comesdespite efforts to prevent arepeat. A rocket fired fromGaza this week shattered amonths-long period of calmthat followed the war.
Palestinian militantsfired two rockets toward Israelfrom the Gaza Strip lateWednesday and earlyThursday, and Israeli aircrafthit militant targets in the sea-side, Hamas-ruled enclave.
One rocket landed in thesouthern Israeli city of Sderot,a frequent target, and anotherfell short and landed in Gaza,the Israeli military said. Thelaunches set off air-raid sirensacross parts of southern Israel,
disrupting the quiet of thePassover holiday week.
Early Thursday, Israeli war-planes conducted airstrikes inthe central Gaza Strip, localmedia reported. Social mediaposts by activists showedsmoke billowing in the air.The Israeli military said theairstrikes were aimed at a mil-itant site and the entrance of atunnel leading to an under-ground complex holdingchemicals to make rockets.
The military latersaid its planes attacked anoth-er Hamas compound after ananti-aircraft missile was firedfrom Gaza. It said the missilefailed to hit its target and noinjuries or damage were report-ed.
The latest Israeli-Palestinian tensions boiled overafter a series of deadly attacksby Palestinians against Israelis,which then sparked days-longarrest raids by the military ina flashpoint West Bank city andspread into daily clashes inJerusalem.
This year, the Muslim holymonth of Ramadan has coin-cided with Passover, a time ofheightened religious obser-vances and visits by large num-bers of people to Jerusalem.
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In a veiled attack on Pakistan'sArmy chief General Qamar
Javed Bajwa, former prime min-ister Imran Khan has alleged that"some elements" in the powerfulestablishment who indulged in"bad practices" were responsiblefor his unceremonious ousterfrom power.
According to experts, Khan,who was ousted from power onApril 10 after National Assemblypassed a no-confidence motionagainst him, had apparently lostsupport of Army after he refusedto endorse appointment of ISIspy agency chief last year. Finally,he agreed but it soured his tieswith Army. Addressing partyworkers on Twitter at night,Imran said: "There are alsohumans in institutions. If one or
two individuals do somethingwrong, the entire institution isnot responsible. If one person (inan apparent reference to Armychief Gen. Bajwa) makes a mis-take, this does not mean thatwhole institution is atfault."Former information min-ister Fawad Chaudhry told anews channel on Wednesdaythat relations between the estab-lishment and Khan's PakistanTehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) govern-ment strained for months.
From attacks on "wokeism"to crackdowns on mosques,
France's presidential campaignhas been especially challengingfor voters of immigrant her-itage and religious minorities,as discourse painting them as"the other" has gained groundacross a swath of French soci-ety.
French voters head to pollson Sunday in a runoff votebetween centrist incumbentEmmanuel Macron andnationalist rival Marine LePen, wrapping up a campaignthat experts have seen asunusually dominated by dis-criminatory discourse and pro-posals targeting immigrationand Islam.
With Le Pen proposing toban women from wearingMuslim headscarves in public,women like 19-year-old stu-dent Naila Ouazarf are in abind. "I want a president whoaccepts me as a person," saidOuazarf, clad in a beige robeand matching head covering.She said she would defy thepromised law should Le Penbecome president, and pay theeventual fine.
Macron attacked Le Penon the headscarf issue in theirpresidential debate onWednesday, warning it couldstoke "civil war".Polls, howev-er, put Le Pen closer to Macronthan she was in their lastrunoff five years ago.
And in the first round, far-right candidates Le Pen andEric Zemmour together col-lected nearly a third of votes.
France has no hard data onvoters' race or religion becauseof its doctrine of colour-blind-ness, which sees all citizens asuniversally French and encour-ages assimilation.
Le Pen's National Rallyparty, formerly called theNational Front, has a history ofties with neo-Nazis, Holocaustdeniers and militias whoopposed Algeria's war for inde-pendence from colonialFrance.
Le Pen has distanced her-self from that past and softenedher public image, but a top pri-ority of her programme is toprioritise French citizens overimmigrants for welfare bene-fits, which critics see as insti-tutionalising discrimination.
She also hopes to banMuslim women from wearinga headscarf in public, toughenasylum rules and sharply cur-tail immigration.
She has gained groundamong voters since 2017, whenshe lost badly to Macron. Thistime around, Le Pen has put agreater emphasis on policies tohelp the working poor.
Le Pen can also thank therabble-rousing Zemmour, whocame in fourth in the first-round vote, for boosting herpopularity by making her seemsofter. Zemmour has beenrepeatedly convicted of incit-ing racial or religious hatred.
tion's first national drug con-trol strategy to Congress as thecountry's overdose death tollhit a new record of nearly107,000 during the past 12months.The strategy releasedon Thursday is the first nation-al plan to prioritise what's
known as harm reduction, saidWhite House drug czar Dr.Rahul Gupta.
It focuses on preventingdeath and illness in drug userswhile trying to engage them incare and treatment. The strat-egy calls for changes in statelaws and policies to support theexpansion of harm reduction."All too often, these drugswind up in communities where
naloxone isn't readily avail-able," Gupta said onWednesday, referring to themedication that can reviveusers who have overdosed,"where harm reduction servicesare restricted or underfunded,where there are unacceptablebarriers to treatment". TheAmerican Medical Associationhas advocated for naloxone tobe made available over the
counter. Test strips that preventoverdoses by checking drugsfor fentanyl and clean syringeprogrammes are other exam-ples of harm reduction. Harmreduction prevents overdoses,reduces the transmission ofinfectious diseases and "asdeclared in a recent congres-sional commission report, ithas bipartisan support", Guptasaid.
Russian President VladimirPutin tried to claim victo-
ry in the strategic port ofMariupol on Thursday, even ashe ordered his troops not tostorm the last pocket ofUkrainian resistance in thewar's iconic battleground.
Russian troops havebesieged the southeastern citysince the early days of theconflict and largely pulverizedit - and top officials haverepeatedly indicated it wasabout to fall, but Ukrainianforces stubbornly held on.
In recent weeks, they holedup in a sprawling steel plant,and Russian forces poundedthe industrial site and repeat-edly issued ultimatums order-ing the defenders to surrender.
"The completion of combatwork to liberate Mariupol is asuccess," Putin said. "Puttingsuch an important centre in thesouth as Mariupol under con-trol is a success."
But the Russian leader saidthat, for now, he would not risksending troops into the warrenof tunnels under the giantAzovstal plant, instead prefer-ring to isolate the holdouts whohave captivated the world'sattention "so that not even a flycomes through."
His defense minster saidthe plant was blocked off, whilegiving yet another predictionthat the site could be taken indays.
Putin's order may meanthat Russian officials are hop-ing they can wait for thedefenders to surrender afterrunning out of food or ammu-nition. Bombings of the plantcould well continue.
Even though Putin paint-ed the mission to take Mariupolalready a success and said thecity had been "liberated," untilthe plant falls, he cannotdeclare a complete victory.
Russian Defense MinisterSergei Shoigu said about 2,000Ukrainian troops remained inthe plant, which has a labyrinthof tunnels and bunkers thatspread out across about 11square kilometers.
Ukrainian PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskyy said thatabout 1,000 civilians were alsotrapped there.
Russian-backed separatistsin the area previously seemedbent on taking every last inchof the city, which has seen someof the most dramatic fightingof the war and whose capturehas both strategic and symbolicimportance.
The scale of suffering in thecity on the Azov Sea has made
it a worldwide focal point, andits definitive fall would depriveUkraine of a vital port, com-plete a land bridge betweenRussia and the Crimean
Peninsula, which Moscowseized in 2014, and free upRussian troops to move else-where in the Donbas.
Russian officials now saycapturing the Donbas,Ukraine's eastern industrialheartland, is the war's maingoal.
This week, Moscow's forcesopened a new phase of the war,in a deadly drive along a frontfrom the northeastern city ofKharkiv to the Azov Sea.Detaching the region from therest of Ukraine would givePutin a badly needed victorytwo months into the war, afterthe botched attempt to stormthe capital, Kyiv, and amidmounting Russian losses.
Britain's Defense Ministrysaid that Russia likely wants todemonstrate significant suc-cesses ahead of Victory Day onMay 9, the proudest momenton the annual calendar mark-ing its critical role in winningWorld War II.
"This could affect howquickly and forcefully theyattempt to conduct operationsin the run-up to this date," theministry said.
Retired British RearAdmiral Chris Parry describedPutin's remarks as reflecting achange in "operationalapproach" as Russia tries tolearn from its failures in theeight-week conflict, whichturned
from initial hopes of alightning fast invasion of aneighbour into a war of attri-
tion with ever mounting casu-alties and costs.
"It seems to me that theRussian agenda now is not tocapture these really difficultplaces where the Ukrainianscan hold out in the urban cen-tres, but to try and capture ter-ritory and also to encircle theUkrainian forces and declare ahuge victory," Parry said.
In the meantime, Westernpowers are doubling down ontheir support of Ukraine, mov-ing to push more militaryhardware in, heighteninggeopolitical stakes.
The latest in a long line ofWestern leaders venturing toKyiv, Danish Prime MinisterMette Frederiksen saidThursday: "One of the most
important messages today isthat Denmark is consideringsending more weapons. That iswhat is needed."
Several Western officialshave promised similar in recentdays.
With global tensions run-ning high, Russia reported thefirst successful test launch of anew type of intercontinentalballistic missile, the Sarmat, onWednesday. Putin boasted thatit can overcome any missiledefense system and make thosewho threaten Russia "thinktwice." The head of the Russianstate aerospace agency calledthe launch out of northernRussia "a present to NATO."
The Pentagon describedthe test as "routine" and said itwasn't considered a threat.
On the battlefield, Ukrainesaid Moscow continued tomount assaults across the east,probing for weak points inUkrainian defensive lines.Russia said it launched hun-dreds of missile and air attackson targets that included con-centrations of troops and vehi-cles. The Kremlin's stated goalis the capture of the Donbas,the mostly Russian-speakingeastern region that is home tocoal mines, metal plants andheavy-equipment factories.
In a video address,
Zelenskyy said the Russianswere not "abandoning theirattempts to score at least somevictory by launching a new,large-scale offensive."
The Luhansk governor saidRussian forces control 80% ofhis region, which is one of twothat make up the Donbas.Before Russia invaded on Feb.24, the Kyiv government con-trolled 60% of the Luhanskregion.
Analysts have said theoffensive in the east couldbecome a war of attrition asRussia faces Ukraine's mostexperienced, battle-hardenedtroops, who have fought pro-Moscow separatists in theDonbas for eight years.
Russia said it presentedUkraine with a draft documentoutlining its demands for end-ing the conflict - days afterPutin said the talks were at a"dead end."Moscow has longdemanded Ukraine drop anybid to join NATO. Ukraine hassaid it would agree to that inreturn for security guaranteesfrom other countries. Othersources of tension include thestatus of both the CrimeanPeninsula, seized by Moscow in2014, and eastern Ukraine,where the separatists havedeclared independent republicsrecognised by Russia.
from Mariupol after severalunsuccessful attempts,Ukrainian officials said onThursday, as thousands moreremained trapped under relent-less Russian attacks against thelast pockets of Ukrainian resis-tance in the devastated south-ern port city.
Another attempt to evacu-ate civilians from Mariupolwill be made on Thursday,Ukraine's Deputy PrimeMinister Iryna Vereshchuksaid.
In Kyiv, Spain's PrimeMinister Pedro Sánchez andDenmark's Mette Frederiksenbecame the latest Europeanleaders to show support with avisit to the capital.
They were due to meetwith President VolodymyrZelenskyy, who warned in avideo address overnight thatthe Russians were not "aban-doning their attempts to scoreat least some victory by launch-ing a new, large-scale offensive".
"The West stands togetherto support the Ukrainian peo-ple," Danish Prime ministerFrederiksen said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the Kremlinsaid it submitted a draft of itsdemands for ending the war,and the West raced to supplyUkraine with heavier weaponsto counter the Russians' newdrive to seize the industrial east.
Britain's Defence Ministrysaid in an assessment thatRussia likely desires to demon-strate significant successesahead of its annual May 9Victory Day celebrations.
"This could affect howquickly and forcefully theyattempt to conduct operationsin the run-up to this date."
As fears grew for the fate ofcivilians in Mariupol, the Kyivregional police said onThursday that two mass graveswith nine bodies were discov-ered in the city of Borodyanka,northwest of the capital.
The findings added tothousands of civilians report-ed killed by Russian forces, whohave been accused of wholesaleabuses of Ukrainians.
Head of the Kyiv regionalpolice Andriy Nebytov saidtwo women and a teenagerwere among the "civilians killedby the Russian occupiers".
"I want to stress that thesepeople are civilians. TheRussian military deliberatelyshot civilians that didn't put up
any resistance and didn't poseany threat," Nebytov said,adding that some of the victimswere apparently tortured.
With global tensions run-ning high, Russia reported thefirst successful test launch of anew type of intercontinentalballistic missile, the Sarmat.
President Vladimir Putinboasted that it can overcomeany missile defence system andmake those who threatenRussia "think twice".
The head of the Russianstate aerospace agency calledthe launch out of northernRussia "a present to NATO".
The Pentagon describedthe test as "routine" and said itwasn't considered a threat.
On the battlefield, Ukrainesaid Moscow continued tomount assaults across the east,probing for weak points inUkrainian defen-sive lines.
Russia said itlaunched hun-dreds of missileand air attackson targets thatincluded con-centrations oftroops and vehi-cles.
T h eKremlin's statedgoal is the cap-ture of theDonbas, themostly Russian-speaking easternregion that ishome to coalmines, metal
plants and heavy-equipmentfactories.
Detaching it from the restof Ukraine would give Putin abadly needed victory twomonths into the war, after thebotched attempt to storm cap-ital Kyiv.
The UK Defence Ministrysaid Russian forces wereadvancing from staging areas inthe Donbas towardKramatorsk, which continuesto suffer from persistent rock-et attacks.
The Luhansk governor saidRussian forces control 80 percent of his region, which is oneof two that make up theDonbas.
Before Russia invaded onFebruary 24, the Kyiv govern-ment controlled 60 per cent ofthe Luhansk region.
Governor Serhiy Haidai
said the Russians, after seizingthe small city of Kreminna, arenow threatening the cities ofRubizhne and Popasna. Heurged all residents to evacuateimmediately.
"The occupiers control onlyparts of these cities, unable tobreak through to the centres,"Haidai said on the messagingapp Telegram.
Analysts have said theoffensive in the east couldbecome a war of attrition asRussia faces Ukraine's mostexperienced, battle-hardenedtroops, who have fought pro-Moscow separatists in theDonbas for eight years.
Russia said it presentedUkraine with a draft documentoutlining its demands for end-ing the conflict - days afterPutin said the talks were at a"dead end".
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President Joe Biden onThursday announced an
additional USD 800 million inmilitary aid to help Ukrainefight back against the Russianinvasion, but he also warnedCongress will need to approveadditional assistance.
The new military assis-tance package includes muchneeded heavy artillery, 144,000rounds of ammunition, anddrones for Ukrainian forces inthe escalating battle for theDonbas region of easternUkraine. It builds on roughlyUSD 2.6 billion in militaryassistance that Biden had pre-viously approved for Ukraine.
He said USD 13.6 billionapproved last month byCongress for military andhumanitarian assistance was“almost exhausted.”
The new package includesmuch needed heavy artilleryand ammunition for Ukrainianforces in the escalating battlefor the Donbas region of east-ern Ukraine.
Earlier this week,Canadian Prime MinisterJustin Trudeau also said hiscountry will send heavyartillery to Ukraine.
And Dutch Prime MinisterMark Rutte told UkrainianPresident VolodymyrZelenskyy that the Netherlandswill send more heavy weapons,
including armored vehicles.A senior US defense offi-
cial on Wednesday said train-ing of Ukrainian personnelon American 155mm how-itzers has begun in a Europeancountry outside Ukraine.
Biden on Wednesday laud-ed US military officials for"exceptional" work armingUkraine as he gathered thenation's military brass for theirfirst in-person group meetingat the White House of hispresidency.
It's an annual traditionthat had been put on holdbecause of the coronaviruspandemic but is now being res-urrected as the US armsUkraine to help it fight backagainst Russia's invasion.
"I don't know about you,but I've been to Ukraine anumber of times before the war... And I knew they were toughand proud but I tell you what:They're tougher and moreproud than I thought," Bidentold military commanders."I'm amazed at what they'redoing with your help."
Biden brought togetherthe Pentagon's top civilian anduniformed officials amid themost serious fighting inEurope since World War II.
Russia's nearly two-month-old invasion of Ukrainewas at the center of wide-rang-ing talks with DefenseSecretary Lloyd Austin, DeputyDefense Secretary Kathleen
Hicks, the Joint Chiefs of Staff,and combatant commanders.
Biden also used the gath-ering to reflect on his admin-istration's efforts to diversifyPentagon leadership.
Hicks is the first Senate-confirmed woman to hold herrole. Biden also chose Gen.Jacqueline Van Ovost of theAir Force as commander ofUnited States TransportationCommand and Lt. Gen. LauraRichardson of the Army ascommander of United StatesSouthern Command. They arejust the second and thirdwomen to lead combatantcommands.
"It's an important mile-stone," Biden said. "I think thatspeaks to how we're harnessingthe strength and diversity ofour country." Following themeeting, Biden and first ladyJill Biden hosted the militaryleaders and their spouses fordinner in the White HouseBlue Room.
Such a gathering was lastheld in October 2019.
Donald Trump was presi-dent at the time and was fac-ing a House inquiry that wouldlead to his first impeachment,which centered on allegationsthat he withheld military assis-tance from Ukraine as part ofan effort to pressure the coun-try's president, VolodymyrZelenskyy, to dig up dirt onBiden's adult son's businessdealings in Ukraine.
President Joe Biden is show-ing enough strength inresponse to Russia's waragainst Ukraine, even as mostapprove of steps the US isalready taking and few wantUS troops to get involved inthe conflict.
A poll by The AssociatedPress-NORC Center for PublicAffairs Research shows 54% ofAmericans think Biden hasbeen "not tough enough" in hisresponse to Russia's invasion ofUkraine. Thirty-six percent
think his approach has beenabout right, while 8 per cent sayhe's been too tough. But as thewar has dragged on,Americans' desire to getinvolved has waned somewhat.
Thirty-two percent ofAmericans say the US shouldhave a major role in the con-flict.That's ticked back downfrom 40 per cent last month,though that remains slightlyhigher than the 26 per centwho said so in February. Anadditional 49 per cent say theUS should have a minor role.The results underscore theconundrum for the WhiteHouse.
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New Delhi: Government thinktank Niti Aayog on Thursdaycame out with a draft batteryswapping policy for electricvehicles and suggested incen-tives as well as a rigorous test-ing protocol for swappable bat-teries. The draft policy alsocomes at a time when there arerising concerns over safetyissues around electric vehiclesin the wake of multipleinstances of such vehiclescatching fire.
The Aayog in its draft pol-icy further said all major citiessuch as state capitals, UT head-quarters and cities with popu-lation above 5 lakh will be cov-ered under the second phase,given the importance of thetwo-wheeler and three-wheel-er vehicle segments in growingcities.
The policy seeks a levelplaying field across business
models involving the sale ofEVs with fixed or swappablebatteries.
The draft policy also pro-poses that demand side incen-tives offered under existing ornew schemes for EV purchasecan be made available to EVswith swappable batteries eligi-ble under this policy.
"The size of the incentivecould be determined based onthe kWh rating of the batteryand compatible EV," it sug-
gested.As per the draft policy, an
appropriate multiplier may beapplied to the subsidy allocat-ed to battery providers toaccount for the float batteryrequirements for battery swap-ping stations.
It is also proposed that aseamless mechanism for thedisbursement of subsidies shallbe worked out by the ministryor department concerned, thedraft policy stated.
New Delhi: Investors havebecome richer by over Rs 5.74lakh crore in two days of mar-ket rebound, boosted by bar-gain-hunting and a supportivetrend overseas.
The BSE benchmarkSensex zoomed 874.18 pointsor 1.53 per cent to finish at57,911.68 on Thursday. Haltingits five-day fall on Wednesday,the Sensex had closed 574.35points or 1.02 per cent higherat 57,037.50.
In tandem with the recov-ery in equities, the marketcapitalisation of BSE-listedfirms jumped by Rs 5,74,427.92crore in two sessions to standat Rs 2,71,77,156.37 crore.
"Positive global clues liftedsentiments for the secondstraight day. The board-basedrally saw buying across differ-ent sectors," said ShrikantChouhan, Head of EquityResearch (Retail), KotakSecurities.
M&M was the top gaineramong the Sensex constituentson Thursday, climbing 3.50
per cent, followed by MarutiSuzuki, Bajaj Finserv, AsianPaints, Reliance Industries,Kotak Mahindra Bank, HDFCand TCS.
In the broader market, theBSE smallcap gauge jumped1.33 per cent while the midcapindex gained 1.28 per cent.
As many as 2,303 stocksadvanced, while 1,115 declinedand 103 remained unchanged.
Among BSE sectoralindices, auto jumped the mostby 2.14 per cent, followed byconsumer discretionary goodsand services (1.60 per cent),finance (1.54 per cent), indus-trials (1.45 per cent) and IT(1.45 per cent). Metal indexwas the only laggard.
"Domestic equities wit-nessed a pullback rally aftertaking cues from its globalpeers and buying seen in Niftyheavyweights counter," saidSiddhartha Khemka, Head -Retail Research, Motilal OswalFinancial Services Ltd. PTI
Mumbai: The rupee appreci-ated by 15 paise to close at76.15 (provisional) against theUS dollar on Thursday amid aweak greenback overseas and arally in domestic equities.
However, surging crudeprices and persistent foreignfund outflows capped the gains,forex traders said.
At the interbank forexmarket, the rupee openedslightly higher at 76.28 againstthe greenback and moved in arange of 76.36 to 76.09.
It finally settled at 76.15,higher by 15 paise over its pre-vious close of 76.30.
On the domestic equitymarket front, the BSE Sensexended 874.18 points or 1.53 percent higher at 57,911.68, whilethe broader NSE Nifty jumped256.05 points or 1.49 per centto 17,392.60.
Brent crude futures, theglobal oil benchmark, rose 1.02per cent to USD 107.89 perbarrel. The dollar index, whichgauges the greenback's strengthagainst a basket of six curren-cies, slipped 0.43 per cent to99.98. PTI
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New Delhi: Gold pricesdeclined by Rs 46 to Rs 52,357per 10 grams in the nationalcapital on Thursday in line withweak global trends, accordingto HDFC Securities.
In the previous trade, goldhad finished at Rs 52,403 per 10grams.
Silver also declined by Rs103 to Rs 67,968 per kg fromRs 68,071 per kg in the previ-ous trade.
In the international mar-ket, gold was trading lower atUSD 1,949 per ounce and sil-ver was flat at USD 25.03 perounce.
"Gold prices kept lowertrading range on strong USbond yields despite a weakerdollar," Dilip Parmar, RetailResearch Analyst, HDFCSecurities. PTI
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New Delhi: Investments in theIndian capital markets throughparticipatory notes (P-notes)dropped to Rs 87,979 crore asof March-end, with expertsbelieving that foreign investorswill continue to adopt a cau-tious stance.
"We will see some liquid-ity drying up from global mar-kets over the coming monthsresulting in the continuation ofpressure in P-notes participa-tion for a few months.
"However, we believe thatthe India story is intact and theworld's leading economies arelooking at trade partnershipswith us," said Divam Sharma,founder at Green Portfolio, aSebi-registered portfolio man-agement service provider.
P-notes are issued by reg-istered Foreign PortfolioInvestors (FPIs) to overseasinvestors who wish to be a partof the Indian stock marketwithout registering themselvesdirectly. They, however, need togo through a due diligenceprocess.
According to Securitiesand Exchange Board of India
(Sebi) data, the value of P-noteinvestments in Indian mar-kets -- equity, debt, and hybridsecurities -- stood at Rs 87,979crore at March-end, comparedto Rs 89,143 crore at the end ofFebruary.
At the end of January, theinvestment level was Rs 87,989crore.
Of the total Rs 87,979 croreinvested through the route tillMarch 2022, Rs 78,233 crorewas invested in equities, Rs9,593 crore in debt, and Rs 153crore in hybrid securities. Incomparison, Rs 79,747 crorewas invested in equities inFebruary and Rs 9,224 crore indebt. "With fear around a highprobability of a recession in theUSA and an inevitable ratecycle reversal in India, theFPIs have shredded their posi-tions in equities as well asdebt in the month of March,"Sharma added.
According to him, thepositive side is that we are wit-nessing an undercurrent fromdomestic investors pumping inmoney to the extent FPI exitsare happening. PTI
New Delhi: The finance min-istry has barred public sectorenterprises from bidding forother Central Public SectorEnterprises (CPSEs) which areon the block for privatisation,as it would defeat the very pur-pose of the disinvestment pol-icy.
Stating that transfer ofmanagement control from thegovernment to any other gov-ernment organisation or stategovernment may continue the"inherent inefficiencies" ofstate-run firms, the ministrysaid such transfer would defeatthe very purpose of the newPSE policy.
"As a general policy, PublicSector Enterprises (PSEs)(Central /State /Joint)/ StateGovernments/CooperativeSocieties controlled by theGovernments ... Are not per-mitted to participate in thestrategic disinvestment/pri-vatisation of other PSUs asbidders unless otherwisespecifically approved by thecentral government in publicinterest," the Department of
Investment and Public AssetManagement (DIPAM) said.
PSEs controlled by thegovernment include thosewhere 51 per cent or moreownership is with theCentre/state governments orjointly with central and/or stategovernments.
In the past, the govern-ment has sold its majoritystake in certain CPSEs to pub-lic sector companies operatingin similar sectors -- which
helped it meet the disinvest-ment target set for a particularfiscal.
In 2001-02, 74 per centgovernment stake in IndoBurma Petroleum Co (IBP)was sold to Indian Oil Corp(IOC) for Rs 1,153 crore.
More recently, in January2018 Oil and Natural Gas Corp(ONGC) bought the govern-ment's entire 51.11 per centstake in HPCL for Rs 36,915crore. PTI
Kolkata: Dhaka wants to wrapup the comprehensive eco-nomic partnership agreement(CEPA) with India within thenext one year, BangladeshCommerce Minister TipuMunshi said here on Thursday.
In an exclusive interview toPTI, Munshi said thatBangladesh is in the advancedstage of talks with the TataGroup and Ashok Leyland forautomotive investment in thatcountry. He also said thatBangladesh would be interestedin a BIMSTEC free trade pact,which Prime Minister NarendraModi recently spoke of.
"We want to wrap up theCEPA with India, which is oursecond-largest trade partner, aswell as other countries such asSri Lanka and Indonesia with-in the next one year," Munshisaid. A study on the tradeagreement will be ready byMay and it will be the positionpaper for final negotiations, headded. "Sheikh Hasina wants usto gear up and finalise thesetrade deals before 2026," he said.
Bangladesh will soon grad-uate to the status of a develop-ing nation as per the UN. PTI
Kolkata: Continuing its 'hilsadiplomacy', Bangladesh is like-ly to export the prized silverfish to India during this year'sDurga Puja as well.
Bangladesh CommerceMinister Tipu Munshi toldPTI that his country's PrimeMinister Sheikh Hasina madea special exemption for India inthe last couple of years from theblanket export ban on hilsasale, which helps in conservingthe fish and keeps prices fromspiralling in the home market.
"Our prime minister madea special exemption duringthe Durga Puja festivities forIndia, because we know the fishis special during that season,"said Munshi, who hails fromGopalganj -- known for its hilsacatch.
Besides the high demand
during the festive season, many'Shakt' believers also make asacrificial offering of hilsa toGoddess Durga.
Bangladesh exported about2,500 tons of the fish during thelast Durga Puja to India, mostof which were snapped up inKolkata's markets.
Munshi, who met WestBengal Chief Minister MamataBanerjee earlier this week dur-ing his trip to Kolkata, said sheraised the issue of hilsa exports,pointing out that the
Bangladeshi reception to herdemand has always been pos-itive.
"Mamata-di told me,'Hasina-ji ke ilish pathate bol-ben' (tell Sheikh Hasina tosend hilsa -- this year too),"Munshi said, indicating that theBangladeshi response would beconsidered in a positive spirit,given the good relations.
About 86 per cent of theglobal hilsa catch is found inBangladesh waters. The fish,which travels upstream fromthe sea to breed, is a prizedcatch because of its taste.Connoisseurs consider the hilsafrom the Padma river, a dis-tributary of the Ganges whichcourses mostly throughBangladesh, to be the tastiest.
Hasina has used exportsand gifts of hilsa as part of her
diplomacy toolkit with Indiasince 1996 when she firstbecame the prime minister ofBangladesh. Her first gift ofhilsa was to Jyoti Basu, the thenchief minister of West Bengalin what many saw as part ofsweeteners to hasten theFarakka water-sharing agree-ment.
In 2013, when the thenIndian President PranabMukherjee went to an officialdinner during his trip toDhaka, she laid out a large ban-quet where hilsa was the mainoffering, knowing fully well'Pranab-da's' love for the fish.
In 2016, ahead of MamataBanerjee's swearing in cere-mony, a gift of 20 kg of theprized fish was specially flownin for her table as part of thecongratulatory message. PTI
New Delhi: South Korean automaker major Kia is planning toforay into the electric vehicle segment in India with the launchof its high-end premium electric crossover EV6 later this year.
The company, which currently sells models like Seltos andSonet in the country, will open the bookings for the electric modelon May 26. Only 100 units of the EV6 would be on sale in thecountry. "We are embarking on the next level Kia experiencein India. We are launching our most celebrated EV globally, theEV6 - a true game-changer, designed from the ground up to makeelectric mobility fun, convenient, and accessible by combininga highly impressive real-world driving range, ultra-fast charg-ing capabilities, a spacious high-tech interior," Kia India MD andCEO Tae-Jin Park said at an event on Wednesday evening.
EV6 is the most hi-tech Kia ever made, he added. "With EV6,we don't just want to reach out to the customer who is in themarket to buy an electric car, but we want to reach out to everypotential customer who wants to own a premium car," Park stat-ed. PTI
Mumbai: Telecom serviceoperator Airtel on Thursdayurged the government not tocharge high fees for allotting 5Gspectrum, saying a faster roll outof the next-generation telecom-munication network can havemore benefits than collectingrevenue in upfront cost.
Sunil Bharti Mittal, chair-man of Bharti Enterpriseswhich runs the country's sec-ond largest telco, said thatthere are a variety of applica-tions across sectors rangingfrom healthcare to video inter-actions, which will make 5G atechnology to be introduced assoon as possible.
"5G is important and that's
why we keep on requesting thegovernment to make the 5G asan enabler for hundreds ofthings that we develop in thecountry, to keep the spectrumat affordable pricing, to not loadthe industry too much," Mittalsaid at the Times NetworkIndia Economic Conclave.
Mittal argued that insteadof devoting money on spec-trum acquisitions, serviceproviders can invest in fasterroll out of the network, whichwill deliver high speed con-nectivity with lower latency.
"I will say the multiplierimpact that a faster, high-speed, low-latency networkcan have for a country is many
times more than what can beachieved by picking up somemoney upfront," he added.
In the past, telcos havecomplained about high reserveprices being a deterrent, andthe high cost for spectrum hasbeen called out as one of thereasons why the telecom indus-try has been in a poor financialposition for the last few years.
About the proliferation ofprivate and unregulated cryp-tocurrencies, Mittal said suchinstruments pose a "seriousproblem" and backed financeminister Nirmala Sitharaman'splea at a global forum inWashington for a concertedresponse. PTI
In order to bail out the farm-ers of Punjab from financial
crisis by supplementing theirincome leading to anotherWhite Revolution in the State,National Dairy DevelopmentBoard (NDDB) ChairmanMeenesh Shah has assured tosupport Punjab Government’sendeavour in setting up 12 milkplants in Punjab with an esti-mated outlay of about �900crore.
While discussing withKuldip Singh Dhaliwal,Minister for AnimalHusbandry, DairyDevelopment & Fisheries,Punjab at NDDB, Anand, Shahsaid that NDDB will work withGovt. of Punjab and arrangethe required financial & tech-nical assistance, Shah added.
As there are already 11milk plants, covering 6,000villages in the state, the num-bers would rise to 23 and covera total of 12,000 villages. Thiswould help in procuring addi-tional 10 lakh litres of milk perday.
Paris Saint-Germain won 3-0 away atAngers on Wednesday but will have
to wait a little longer to be confirmedas Ligue 1 champions after nearest chal-lengers Marseille beat Nantes 3-2.
PSG started the day 15 points clearwith six games left and so knew theycould clinch their eighth Ligue 1 crownin 10 years if second-placed Marseilleslipped up.
Mauricio Pochettino's sidegot the result they needed,brushing aside strugglingAngers despite beingwithout the injuredLionel Messi and thesuspended Neymar.
Kylian Mbappeput PSG in front asLigue 1's leadingscorer notched his22nd of the seasonjust before the half-hour mark at the StadeRaymond Kopa.
Sergio Ramos thenmarked a rare appearance bydoubling the lead in first-halfstoppage time when he headed inAngel di Maria's cross, and hiscentral defensive colleagueMarquinhos added a late third.
However PSG, who had youngmidfielder Edouard Michut sent off instoppage time, were made to wait forthe record-equalling 10th French titlein their history as Amine Harit's strikegave Marseille victory at the Velodrome.
OM came from behind twiceagainst Nantes through Dimitri Payet
penalties before Harit struck in the 75thminute to make it 3-2 and secure a pre-cious win for Jorge Sampaoli's side asthey chase Champions League qualifi-cation.
PSG remain 15 points clear with just15 points left to play for and also boasta far superior goal difference.
They will be confirmed championson Saturday with a point at home toLens.
"It is really important for us to winthe championship and I hope we can doit on Saturday," Pochettino told broad-caster Canal Plus.
A 10th title will see them equal therecord set by the Saint-Etienne side of
Michel Platini when they won theirlast championship in 1981.
Behind them Marseille are nowsix points clear in second place,with only the top two in Ligue 1qualifying automatically for theChampions League and third placeentering in the qualifying rounds.
Rennes remain third but areonly above Strasbourg and Monaco ongoal difference while Nice are twopoints back in sixth.
Strasbourg beat Rennes 2-1 inAlsace with Ludovic Ajorque grabbingtheir winner after Martin Terrier hadcancelled out Habib Diallo's early open-er for the home side.
Meanwhile Monaco have surgedback into European contention andclimbed above Nice by beating theirCote d'Azur rivals 1-0 on Wednesdaythanks to a first-half strike by Russianinternational Aleksandr Golovin.
It was a fifth consecutive victory forthe principality side.
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Manchester Cityheld their nerveto move backabove Liverpool at
the top of the Premier Leaguewith a 3-0 win over Brightonon Wednesday.
Riyad Mahrez, Phil Fodenand Bernardo Silva all struckin the second half as PepGuardiola's men edged onepoint ahead in the title racewith six games to go.
Guardiola recalled a num-ber of key players he had leftout for Saturday's 3-2 FA Cupsemi-final defeat by Liverpool,but it took City time to breakBrighton's resolve at a tenseEtihad.
The Seagulls had won onthe road at Arsenal andTottenham in their previoustwo games and frustrated theEnglish champions for thefirst 45 minutes.
Mahrez bore the brunt ofthe City support's nerves as hemissed the best chance beforethe break when he passed upthe opportunity to take aquick shot from RobertSanchez's mishit clearance.
City captain Ruben Diasmade his return from injuryafter a two-month absence athalf-time.
The Portuguese's returnmight have come at the per-fect time for Guardiola asJohn Stones limped off in the
second half just six days beforethe f irst leg of theirChampions League semi-finalagainst Real Madrid.
By the time Stones depart-ed, City had the game wonthanks to two goals in 12 min-utes.
Kevin De Bruyne's drivingrun through the heart of theBrighton defence teed upMahrez, who this time did notpass up the chance to slot inhis 23rd goal of the season.
Any doubt over the out-come was removed onceFoden's deflected effort froma corner worked to the edge ofthe box gave City a two-goalcushion.
Silva added a third eightminutes from time with anexquisite cushioned finishfrom De Bruyne's layoff at theedge of the area.
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Karim Benzema missed twopenalties in seven minutes
on Wednesday but Real Madridstill had enough to defeatOsasuna 3-1 as they continuedtheir march towards the La Ligatitle.
Benzema was looking forhis 45th goal of the season butwas twice denied by Osasunagoalkeeper Sergio Herrera, whoboth times dived to his right andboth times made the save withMadrid leading 2-1 at El Sadar.
But Osasuna were unable tofind an equaliser in the secondhalf and Madrid added a thirdin injury time, Vinicius Juniorteeing up Lucas Vazquez for aneasy finish. David Alaba's open-er had earlier been cancelled outby Osasuna's Ante Budimir,before Marco Asensio restoredMadrid's advantage on thestroke of half-time.
Madrid move 17 pointsclear at the top of La Liga, aheadof Atletico Madrid.
Real Madrid coach CarloAncelotti started Toni Kroos andVinicius on the bench whileLuka Modric was left out of thesquad completely, with the first
leg of Madrid's ChampionsLeague semi-final againstManchester City less than aweek away.
Alaba put Real Madrid infront in the 13th minute,bundling in the rebound afterBenzema had tapped the ballacross, but the advantage wasbrief as Budimir knocked inChimy Avila's pass to the backpost a minute later.
Madrid restored their leadat the end of the half as Asensioplayed inside from the rightwing and continued his run intothe penalty box. EduardoCamavinga chipped to the leftside of the box, and while DaniCeballos' effort was saved,Asensio's run was rewardedwith a simple finish.
Benzema's pair of penaltiescame in the 52nd and 59th min-utes, both won by Rodrygo,whose sharp turn tempted Avilainto a handball on the groundbefore Nacho Vidal stumbledinto the back of the Brazilian.
Vinicius came off the benchand should have added a thirdin injury time but side-footedwide before tearing away againand this time laying across forVazquez to find the corner.
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Novak Djokovic hit out at the "crazy"decision by Wimbledon on
Wednesday to ban Russian andBelarusian players from this year'stournament over the invasion ofUkraine.
The world number one said he dis-agreed with war, but said banning ath-letes was unfair.
"I will always condemn war, I willnever support war being myself a childof war," he said at the ATP event inBelgrade. "I know how much emotion-al trauma it leaves.
"In Serbia we all know what hap-pened in 1999. In the Balkans we havehad many wars in recent history.
"However, I cannot support thedecision of Wimbledon, I think it iscrazy. "The players, the tennis players,
the athletes have nothing to do with it(war). When politics interferes withsport, the result is not good."
The All England Lawn Tennis Club(AELTC), which runs Wimbledon, saidit was acting to "limit Russia's globalinfluence through the strongest meanspossible". But the ATP and WTAorganisers have also criticised the ban,
saying it was "unfair" and "very dis-appointing".
Russian Daniil Medvedev isDjokovic's closest rival in theworld rankings and denied the34-year-old a calendar GrandSlam in last year's US Open final.
Djokovic is playing in just histhird tournament of the season in
the Serbian capital after being deport-ed from Australia ahead of theAustralian Open over his Covid-19 vac-cination status.
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Emil Forsberg headed RBLeipzig into their third
German Cup final in four yearswhen he struck the last-gaspwinner to seal a 2-1 home vic-tory over Union Berlin onWednesday.
After an Andre Silva penal-ty had cancelled out SheraldoBecker's first-half header forUnion, Forsberg headed in across in the second minute ofstoppage time to seal the semi-final win.
Leipzig are through to theGerman Cup final on May 21at Berlin's Olympic Stadiumwhere they face Freiburg, whobeat Hamburg 3-1 in Tuesday'sother semi-final.
In a typically tense cupatmosphere, visitors Uniontook the lead with 25 minutesgone when Becker tucked across inside the far post to thedelight of the travelling fans.
This was the first goalLeipzig have conceded in theirrun to the cup final.
It was 1-0 at the break, butLeipzig drew level when theirtop-scorer ChristopherNkunku was brought down inthe area.
Portugal striker Silva con-verted the resulting penaltywith clinical accuracy on 61minutes.
Having failed to score threepenalties this season againstParis Saint-Germain, RealSociedad and Atalanta inEurope, Silva roared in celebra-tion when his spot kick sailedpast Union's Danish goalkeep-er Frederik Roennow.
Extra time was beckoningwhen Swedish playmakerForsberg rose above his mark-
er and guided his header intothe corner.
It extended Leipzig'sunbeaten run to 15 games in allcompetitions.
By a freak of the fixture list,Leipzig host Union thisSaturday in the Bundesligaahead of their Europa Leaguesemi-final at home to Rangerson April 28.
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Eddie Nketiah boosted Arsenal's bid for atop-four finish in the Premier League as the
striker's double inspired a dramatic 4-2 winagainst Chelsea on Wednesday.
Nketiah was released by Chelsea as a 16-year-old in 2015 and he exacted a measure ofrevenge with his first league goals this season.
The 22-year-old put Arsenal ahead early onat Stamford Bridge before Timo Wernerequalised.
Mikel Arteta's side regained the leadtrough Emile Smith Rowe, only for CesarAzpilicueta to draw Chelsea level again.
Nketiah settled a pulsating London derbywhen he punished shambolic Chelsea defend-ing in the second half and Bukayo Sakabagged the fourth with a stoppage-time penal-ty.
After losing their last three games,Nketiah's crucial contribution lifted Arsenalback into the race to qualify for next season'sChampions League via a top-four finish.
The Gunners are in fifth place, behindfourth-placed Tottenham on goal differencewith both teams having six games to play.
Arsenal's hopes of returning to theChampions League for the first time since 2017face another vital test against sixth-placed
Manchester United on Saturday.FA Cup finalists Chelsea remain in third
place, but they are now only five points aheadof Arsenal and cannot take a top four place for granted.
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Holders Juventus booked theirspot in next month's Italian
Cup final against Inter Milan witha 2-0 win over Fiorentina in theirsemi-final, second leg in Turin onWednesday to advance 3-0 onaggregate.
Juventus lost their Serie Acrown last season to Inter Milanand also fell to an Italian SuperCup defeat by their northernrivals in January.
Sitting fourth in Serie A,Juventus's hopes of avoiding a sea-son without a trophy for the firsttime since 2011 will likely beplayed out at Rome's StadioOlimpico on May 11.
Juve took control of the semi-final against their Tuscany rivalsafter Lorenzo Venuti's late owngoal in the first leg in Florence.
On Wednesday, former
Fiorentina winger FedericoBernardeschi fired the hosts aheadafter half an hour, with Daniloadding a second just before thefinal whistle.
Fiorentina could thank goal-keeper Bartlomiej Dragowski fordenying ex-Fiorentina strikerDusan Vlahovic twice in the firsthalf-hour, but Bernardeschivolleyed home the opening goal.
Juventus goalkeeper MattiaPerin saved headers from ArthurCabral and Lucas MartinezQuarta either side of the break.
Denis Zakaria missed thechance to double Juve's lead onthe night, hitting the woodworkafter the interval.
An Adrien Rabiot goal wasthen ruled offside before JuanCuadrado set up Danilo to scorelate on as Juve maintained theirbid for a record-extending 15thItalian Cup.
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Atletico Madrid were leftfrustrated by a goalless draw
with Granada on Wednesday asDiego Simeone's side missed thechance to pull away in the racefor La Liga's top four.
The stalemate meansAtletico move up to second inthe table but could be overtak-en by both Barcelona and Sevillaon Thursday. Barca play away atReal Sociedad after Sevilla trav-el to Levante.
Real Betis, who were beat-en by Elche on Tuesday, are fourpoints behind Atletico in fifth.
After six consecutive victo-ries between February and April,Atletico have now managed justone win from their last five in allcompetitions, bringing backsome of the concerns that hungover the team earlier in the sea-son. Without Joao Felix, whowill miss the rest of the seasonthrough injury, La Liga's reign-ing champions lacked the thrustneeded to break down a deter-mined Granada side, who wereplaying their first match undernew coach Aitor Karanka.
Granada sit 18th, a pointbehind Cadiz, who have a gamein hand.
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Erik ten Hag will leave Ajax to becomeManchester United manager next
season, the English giants confirmed onThursday.
The 52-year-old, who has signed athree-year contract, faces a huge task torevive the Red Devils fortunes after a fifthconsecutive trophyless season.
The Dutchman becomes the fifthpermanent manager at Old Traffordsince Alex Ferguson's retirement in 2013sent the 20-time English champions
into decline. Ten Hag is on course to win his third
league title with Ajax and took the four-time European champions to the semi-finals of the Champions League in 2019for the first time in 22 years.
"It is a great honour to be appointedmanager of Manchester United and I amhugely excited by the challenge ahead,"said Ten Hag.
"I know the history of this great cluband the passion of the fans, and I amabsolutely determined to develop a teamcapable of delivering the success
they deserve. "It will be difficult to leave Ajax after
these incredible years, and I can assureour fans of my complete commitment andfocus on bringing this season to a success-ful conclusion before I move toManchester United."
United sit sixth in the PremierLeague, 23 points behind leadersManchester City, and are unlikely to qual-ify for next season's Champions League.
The club have been looking for a per-manent manager since Ole GunnarSolskjaer was sacked in October.
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Yuzvendra Chahal'sbagful of tricks will
meet its perfect matchin Kuldeep Yadav's
guile as the two wristspinners are expected to
dictate the narrative whenRajasthan Royals clash withDelhi Capitals in an IPLmatch, on Friday.
With current 'OrangeCap' holder in Jos Buttler (375
runs) and 'Purple Cap' holderChahal (17 wickets) in theirranks, Royals are a team thatis looking pretty formidable atthe moment even with a dys-functional middle-order, saveShimron Hetmyer.
On the other hand, resur-gent Capitals are battling theagony that comes with amini COVID-19 outbreak
in the camp but are still try-ing to put their best foot for-
ward to stay afloat.In this backdrop,
the two wrist-spinners,who are currently domi-
nating the bowling chartswill be itching to show their
wares with Kuldeep (13 wick-ets at No 2) expected to posesome questions for in-formButtler in case there is a match-up.
For Delhi, Kuldeep along withAxar Patel and Lalit Yadav wouldlike to stem the run-flow but stop-ping Buttler will be on top of their
agenda on a Wankhede trackthat is expected to be goodfor batting.
For Chahal, how he varies thepace against a rampaging DavidWarner or the ever-attacking PrithviShaw and skipper Rishabh Pant will
be a delight for the fans.In the past five years, life has come
to a full circle for 'Kul-Cha' who werethe 'taste' of the nation between 2017and 2019 when wrist spinners were invogue during the Ravi Shastri-ViratKohli era.
While Chahal got a body blowafter being dropped from the last T20World Cup squad and was sporadical-ly picked in white ball formats,Kuldeep also lost his way.
He got very little support fromeither erstwhile national team man-agement or his previous IPL team(KKR) and also endured a career-threatening knee injury.
But now the smile is back and sois the guile. The left-arm wrist spin-ner's googly — the one that turns awayfrom right-hander — is back and sois the conventional left-arm leg-breakwhich comes into the right-hander.
However in these kind of games,the support cast becomes more impor-tant as they can create those littlegame-changing moments that impactthe final outcome of the game.
Mustafizur Rahaman's cutters andKhaleel Ahmed's clever change of pacecould also trouble the likes of SanjuSamson and Riyan Parag.
Similarly, if Trent Boult gets oneto tail in first-up, Shaw's response andtechnique will be tested in earnest.
But Royals have now got a calmdeath bowler in West Indies' ObedMcCoy, who was brilliant while bowl-ing the final over against KKR.
If middle-order non-performanceis an issue for Royals, the DC doesn'tseem to have found the second Indianbatter in that middle-order slot apartfrom skipper Pant, who can take thebowling apart.
India captain Rohit Sharmaand pace spearhead Jasprit
Bumrah have been namedamong five players in Wisden's'Cricketers of the Year' in the2022 edition of the Almanack.
Besides the duo, the listalso features New Zealand bat-ter Devon Conway, Englandpacer Ollie Robinson andProteas women star Dane vanNiekerk.
England's Joe Root has beennamed leading cricketer in theworld, while South Africanwomen's team batter Lizelle Leehas been awarded with the titleof leading woman cricketer.
Besides, Pakistan wicket-keeper-batter MohammadRizwan has earned the title ofleading T20 cricketer in theworld. Bumrah starred for Indiain their visit to England last sum-mer. Besides his exploits inIndia's historic win at Lord's, healso produced a match-win-ning spell at The Oval with the
latter handing India a 2-1 leadin the series that is to be con-cluded in July this year.
Rohit had an exceptionalsummer at the top of the orderfor India, scoring 368 runs infour Tests at an average of 52.57.The India skipper scored amatch defining 127 at The Oval,his first Test century away from
home. Root was named leadingcricketer of the year after an his-toric 12 months in which hescored 1,708 Test runs in a cal-endar year, the third most in his-tory. Lee was named leadingwoman cricketer in the worldafter a dominant 2021, averag-ing 90.28 with the bat in ODIcricket.
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Hit hard by COVID-19 outbreak beforetheir IPL game against Punjab Kings,
Delhi Capitals all-rounder Axar Patel saida pep talk from head coach Ricky Pontingworked wonders in lifting the morale of theside, resulting in a comprehensive win.
DC showed remarkable resilience toovercome a COVID crisis in their camp andhand Punjab Kings a nine-wicket thrashingin an IPL game on Wednesday night.
The match, which was shifted to theBrabourne Stadium from Pune, was givena go ahead barely an hour before the startof play after DC wicketkeeper-batter TimSeifert tested positive on Wednesday morn-ing. But head coach Ponting did all in hiscapacity to help his side stay focussed.
"We were quarantined and we startedpractice two-three days after that, he(Ponting) told us we have two options. Wehave to play the match. You can think thatthere are positive cases, and the preparationsaren't done.
"Or you can think all outside things arenot in our hands and you should show com-mitment with regard to the effort and prepa-ration," Axar said.
"We were focusing on our game (and)we did our planning (accordingly). Sothat's it, that was the speech and that wasour mindset," added the left-arm spinner,who grabbed two wickets and played a key
role in bundling out Punjab for a sub-par115. Delhi first bowled out Punjab Kings for115 and then cantered to the target in just10.3 overs, riding on David Warner'sunbeaten 60.
Axar was also happy with teammateKuldeep Yadav's return to form, saying theDelhi team management gave him the muchneeded confidence to prosper after a disap-pointing last IPL, where he representedKolkata Knight Riders.
"Like you said, the atmosphere is veryimportant. I had earlier said when he(Kuldeep) came, he needed confidence.
After you don't play well for a season or two,you are less confident, so Rishabh (Pant), Iand the coaching staff - Ricky (Ponting) gavehim the confidence, which was crucial,"Axar said. "We gave him confidence in thepractice match and he was told that he wouldplay all the matches and doesn't need to taketension about his performance.
"When he knows that he is playing allthe matches, he needs to focus on his bowl-ing. And that is happening. He is now focus-ing on his bowling and the way he is tak-ing wickets, it becomes easy for me to part-ner with him," he signed off.
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Chennai Super Kings onThursday named young
Sri Lankan pacer MatheeshaPathirana as replacement forinjured Adam Milne in theongoing Indian PremierLeague.
New Zealand's Milne suf-fered a hamstring injury inCSK's first match againstKolkata Knight Riders onMarch 26, which was also theseason opener, weeks afterwhich he has been ruled out ofthe tournament.
Pathirana, a young 19-yearold medium pacer, was a partof Sri Lanka's U19 World Cupsquads in 2020 and 2022.
"He will join CSK at theprice of INR 20 lakh," the IPLsaid in a statement.
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Defending champion SaritaMor was not at her best but
still managed to win a Bronzemedal while Sushma Shokeenalso earned a podium finish atthe Asian WrestlingChampionship here onThursday.
Competing in the five-wrestler 59kg category, Sarita,the 2021 World ChampionshipBronze medallist, began withtwo defeats -- against Mongolia'sShoovdor Baatarjav (1-2) andJapan's Sara Natami (VSU) --but made a comeback by win-ning her last two bouts.
She first beat Uzbekistan'sDilfuza Aimbetova by technicalsuperiority and then followedthat up with a 5-2 win overDiana Kayumova.
"I could have won that boutagainst Mongolian girl. Butsince she was from home team,she got some favour from the
referees. She was fleing the matbut was not given any caution,she benefitted from that," Saritatold PTI.
"That Japan wrestler wasalso beatable. It was just not myday. I could not perform the wayI wanted to. Maybe because ofweather. It is high-altitude city,I did not feel active on the mat.Plus, hardly there was any gapbetween my bouts," she added.
Also winning Bronze wasSushma in 55kg category, whichalso featured only five wrestlers.
She lost by technical supe-riority to Japan's Umi Imai butbounced back with a 5-0 winover Kazakhstan's AltynShagayeva in the next round.Then she enjoyed a stupendousbout against Uzbekistan'sSarbinaz Jienbaeva, wining byfall. However, she ended with aheavy defeat against local girlOtgonjargal Ganbaatar, towhom she lost by technicalsuperiority.
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Teen sensation UnnatiHooda, 14, was on
Thursday named in the Indianbadminton team for the upcom-ing Asian Games as the nation-al federation announced thesquads for the major events thisyear, including theCommonwealth Games,Thomas and Uber Cup.
The teams were named byBadminton Association of India(BAI) following six days ofselection trials at the IndiraGandhi Stadium here. Hooda isthe youngest Indian badmintonplayer to be part of the AsianGames squad. Double Olympicmedallist PV Sindhu will spear-head the women's challenge inboth the Commonwealth andAsian Games while LondonOlympics Bronze winner SainaNehwal did not expectedly fea-ture in the squads. WorldChampionships medallistsLakshya Sen and KidambiSrikanth will lead India's medal
quest among men in theBirmingham CWG (July 28 toAugust 8) and Asian Games(September 10-25 ) inHangzhou, China. Apart fromthe squads for the three majortournaments which are to beheld this year, the BAI alsofinalised names of 40 players (20men and 20 women) for thesenior national coaching campand core group for the 2024Olympic Games, based on play-ers' positions in trials.
For the CommonwealthGames, the men's team consistsof Sen, Srikanth, Satwiksairaj
Rankireddy, Chirag Shetty andB Sumeeth Reddy while Sindhuwill lead the women's squadwhich has Aakarshi Kashyap,Treesa Jolly, Gayatri P andAshwini Ponappa. SumeetReddy and Ponappa made thecut in the men's and women'ssquads respectively for theCommonwealth Games aftertheir top-place finish in themixed doubles category. Hooda,the teenage sensation fromRohtak, caught the selectors'eyes as she secured a place forthe Asian Games as well as UberCup by finishing third in thewomen's singles after Kashyapand Ashmita Chaliha, whoclaimed first and second posi-tions respectively.
A 10-member women'steam for the Asian Games andUber Cup will comprise Sindhu,Kashyap, Chaliha, Hooda along-side Top-3 doubles pairs fromthe trials -- Treesa Jolly-GayatriP, N Sikki Reddy- AshwiniPonappa and Tanisha Crasto-Shruti Mishra.
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All-rounder Lalit Yadav, one of the blue-eyedboys of Delhi Capitals coach Ricky Ponting,
feels that a victory always creates a positive vibedespite the mistakes committed on the job.
The COVID-hit DC crushed Punjab Kingsby nine wickets with 57 balls to spare. Lalit withfigures of 2/11, which included the wicket ofShikhar Dhawan, contributed in the victory.
"It was a different vibe altogether. You know,when we win, everything seems to look posi-tive, no matter how many mistakes we commit,"Lalit said ahead of Capitals' next match againstRajasthan Royals on Friday.
"That's a really great thing for the team, espe-cially when the next match is in two days. Themomentum we've gained is really important, andwe will go into the next game with confidence."
With six positive COVID-19 cases in the DCcamp, there was an element of uncertainty butLalit said that players were all focussed on thegame.
"We just discussed to enjoy the game andgive our 100%. We were just focusing on thematch. We also had one training session theother day, so it's not that we didn't have any prac-tice at all.
"It's just that we didn't know whether thematch will happen or not, but overall, we wereconfident about our abilities," he said.
Speaking about the next match, the all-rounder said, "They (RR) have been one of themost consistent teams in the tournament so far,and have been playing quality cricket. However,we will focus on ourselves, we will go with ourplans and try to execute them."
Having lost to RCB the other night, a com-prehensive win was necessary to get the cam-paign back on track and that is precisely whathappened against PBKS.
"We were looking for a momentum since thestart, we've played good cricket so far but wewere not consistent. In this game, we were con-sistent in all three departments, and that's whatwe were looking for. It has created a good atmos-phere in the camp," he added.
MS Dhoni's late flourishhelped Chennai SuperKings defeat MumbaiIndians by three wickets
at the DY Patil Stadium. Earlier,Mumbai Indians posted 155 for 7 asTilak Varma top-scored for MI with51 not out from 43 balls whileSuryakumar Yadav chipped in witha 21-ball 32. For CSK, MukeshChoudhary took three wickets for 19runs while Dwayne Bravo got two.Mukesh Choudhary scythed throughMumbai Indians' top order to removeRohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan forduck in the powerplay. He thenremoved Dewald Brevis for seven,reducing Mumbai to 23/3 in the firstthree overs. Mitchell Santner affect-ed further damage by taking theprized wicket of Suryakumar Yadav(32). Kieron Pollard also perishedcheaply but youngster Tilak Varmanotched up a brilliant half-century tobail Mumbai out of a precarious posi-tion. Varma's fighting 51 poweredMumbai to 155/7 in 20 overs.
Pacer Mukesh Choudharywreaked havoc with the new ballbefore Tilak Varma's responsiblehalf-century lifted Mumbai Indiansto 155 for seven in the IPL here onThursday.
Invited to bat, Choudhary (3/19)accounted for Rohit Sharma (0) andIshan Kishan (0) in the first over andthen dismissed Dewald Brewis (4),leaving Mumbai reeling at 23/3.
However, Varma's unbeaten 51off 43 balls, in which he struck threefours and two sixes, along withJaydev Unadkat's blazing unbeaten19, helped Mumbai cross the 150 run-mark.
While Rohit offered an easycatch to Mitchell Santner at mid-on,Kishan was undone by a swinging
yorker, which rattled his off-stump.Brewis (4) became Choudhary's
third victim. Brewis tried to chase adelivery outside the off stump, butended up nicking to Mahendra SinghDhoni.
Suryakumar Yadav (32) startedwith a boundary, an on drive. Hecreamed another drive off Choudharyand then launched into mysteryspinner Maheesh Theekshana (1/35),sweeping him for a maximum.
Mumbai were at 42/3 after the power-play.But it was Mitchell Santner (1/16), who dismissed
Surya, whose sweep was easily caught by Choudharyat long-leg and Mumbai were reduced to 47/4.
Then Tilak and debutant Hrithik Shokeen (25),tried to rally the innings, but managed to add only 41runs for the fifth wicket. The duo was brutal onRavindra Jadeja (0/30), who bled 13 runs in the 11thover, with Varma hitting a six with a slog-sweep.
Mumbai lost half their side for 85. Shokeen,who had three boundaries, top-edged aDwayne Bravo (2/36) short-ball only to becaught at Robin Uthappa at mid-on.
Wickets kept tumbling forMumbai with Kieron Pollard (14)and Daniel Sams (5) also fallingcheaply.
But thanks to a quick-fire 35-run eight-wicket stand off 16 ballsbetween Tilak and Unadkat, Mumbaigave their bowlers something todefend.
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