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THURSDAY25 November 2021

Published from Srinagar | Volume : 01 | Issue No: 115 Pages: 08 | Price Rs 10/-

Srinagar, Nov 24: Director Meteoro-logical department, Sonum Lotus on Wednesday said that there is no predic-tion for any major snowfall as the weather will remain dry till December 05.

Sonum Lotus said that tomorrow the weather will be bit cloudy with light snowfall in the higher reaches particu-larly in north Kashmir and Zojila Pass, but there is no pre-diction for any major snowfall. “The weather will remain dry till December

05.” He also advised people not to use

heating appliances much during night and allow fresh air to come into the rooms for ventilation in order to prevent themselves from suffocation.

“During winters people tend to use heating appliances to keep themselves warm and leave no room for fresh air to come which creates carbon monoxide inside

the room, making it harmful. So See Major on pg 7....

Frequent power cuts outcome of non-

judicious power usage: Chief Engineer

Srinagar, Nov 24: In order to ensure adequate electricity to the consum-ers, the Kashmir Power Distribution Corporation Limited (KPDCL) has suspended all the maintenance works till next two months, thus simultane-ously the frequent power shutdowns

will no longer be witnessed till January 2022 end.

Besides, the authorities in KPDCL also informed that a fresh plan vis-à-vis power curtailment is being implement-ed on trial basis for next couple of days, saying that metered areas to witness 1-4 hours power cut in 24 hours while the non-metered areas would witness 1-6 hours electricity cut.

Chief Engineer KPDCL, Aijaz Ahmad Dar said that the load has increased to a large extent in the last few weeks, adding that the people are

See Mulls on pg 7...

Jammu, Nov 24: The Chief Sec-retary, Dr. Arun Kumar Mehta chaired a meeting to review the registration of all unorganized workers in Jammu and Kashmir on the e-Shram portal of the cen-tral government.

Commissioner Secretary, Labour & Employment Depart-ment, Chief Executive Officer, J&K Building And Other Con-struction Workers Welfare Board,

Labour Commissioner, and other officers of the Department attend-ed the meeting.

It was informed that the Department has so far regis-tered 5,43,408 workers including 2,01,508 female and 3,41,900 male workers engaged in the unorga-nized sector.

It was further informed that the agriculture, construction,

See Chief on pg 7...

No major snowfall prediction, weather to remain dry till Dec 5:

Sonum Lotus

KPDCL mulls to ensure adequate electricity

Chief Secretary reviews registration of unorganized

workers in JK

New Delhi, Nov 24: Citing mul-tiple surges in coronavirus cases in several countries, the Union Health Ministry has written to 13 states and union territories, including West Bengal, Kerala, Maharashtra and Punjab, expressing concerns over declin-ing weekly testing rates and spiking positivity rates in some districts.

In a letter to Nagaland, Sikkim, Maharashtra, Kerala, Goa, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan, West Bengal and Ladakh, Union Health Sec-retary Rajesh Bhushan stressed on maintaining high testing rates given the recent increase in trav-

elling due to events like marriag-es, festivals and vacations that have recently concluded or are underway.

"A decrease in testing would undermine the actual infection spread within the community," Bhushan said in the letter.

Also, with the onset of winter and increased pollution in some

See Centre on pg 7...

'20 rare bird species have

come first time to Kashmir'

Srinagar, Nov 24: At least four lakh migratory birds have arrived in the Valley to keep their date with the region. This year’s bird migration has, how-ever, attracted the attention of bird lovers and wetland officials of Kashmir given the fact some 20 rare bird species have been found among the guests who have vis-ited the region for the first time.

Every year, Kashmir hosts lakhs of birds who come all the way from Central Asian flyway zones that include Siberia, North

China and North Europe. These birds stay in Kashmir till March.

“This year, we have four lakh migratory birds in our wetlands across Kashmir. The main highly of this year’s bird migration is that we have received some rare bird species who have been spot-

ted for the very first time in Kash-mir wetlands,” a senior official of the wild-life department said. “These birds know their route very well as they are always led by a pilot bird who has age and experience of travelling through

See Kashmir on pg 7...

Centre writes to 13 states, UTs, expresses concerns over declining

Covid testing rates

Kashmir wetlands, lakes host four lakh migratory birds this season

Statehood to JK will be restored soon: BJPAnantnag, Nov 24: Bhartiya Janata Party general secretary, Ashok Kaul on Wednesday said that the resto-ration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir is on cards and it will be restored soon.

Talking to reporters on the side-lines of a party meet in Anantnag, Kaul said that Prime Minister Nar-endra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah have already assured that after the situation gets normal in J&K, statehood would be restored.

"I believe that the days are coming near when the statehood of J&K

See BJP on pg 7...

BSF officials lodge protest over drone activity on IB with Pak rangersSrinagar, Nov 24: BSF officials held a commandant level meeting with Pakistan rangers at the International Border (IB) at the border outpost at Octroi in Jammu and lodged a strong protest over violation of IB through drone movement.

In a statement, a BSF spokesman said that BSF and Pakistan Rangers

See BSF on pg 7...

New Delhi, Nov 24: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a bill to repeal the three farm laws which led to protests at various Delhi border points by thousands of farmers for nearly a year, and it will be introduced in Parliament during the upcoming winter session.

The Cabinet approval comes follow-ing Prime Minister Narendra Modi's announcement on November 19 regarding withdrawal of the three farm legislations. He had said the Centre could not convince protesting farmers about the benefits of

these laws, while urging them to end their protest.

The Farm Laws Repeal Bill, 2021 has been approved to roll back the three laws which were passed by Parliament in Sep-tember last year with an objective to bring reforms in the agriculture sector, espe-cially marketing of farm produce.

"The Cabinet has completed the formal-ities to repeal the three farm laws. ...In the upcoming session of the Parliament, it will be our priority to take back these

See Cabinet on pg 7...

Announces deployment of helicopter for

Tribal population during medical

emergencies

Jammu, Nov 24: Lieuten-ant Governor, Manoj Sinha Wednesday inaugurated the closing ceremony of ‘Janjati-ya Gaurav Diwas’ here at the General Zorawar Singh Audi-torium, University of Jammu.

A two-day Literary cum Cultural Tribal festival is being organized to mark the

culmination of the celebra-tions of Birsa Munda’s birth anniversary. The festival will showcase the rich heri-tage, culture, art, craft, cui-sine, and herbal medicines of tribal communities of Jammu & Kashmir.

Addressing the gathering, the Lt Governor reiterated the Government’s commit-ment for ensuring the overall development of J&K tribal population.

“The UT administration has taken several initiatives

to ensure livelihood support and empowerment of Tribals. New transit accommodations, Tribal health scheme, and Smart schools will certainly improve the quality of life”, he remarked.

see Govt on pg 7...

Robust road network key to economic

growth: Sinha

Doda, Nov 24: Union Minis-ter of Road Transport & High-ways, Shri Nitin Gadkari; Union MoS (I/c), Ministry of Science & Technology, Earth Sciences, MoS PMO, Ministry

of Personnel, Public Griev-ances and Pensions, Atomic Energy & Space, Dr. Jitendra Singh; Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha, in the pres-ence of Member Parliament, Shri Jugal Kishore Sharma, today laid the foundation of 25 National Highway projects in J&K, worth Rs 11,721 Crores, here at the Sports Stadium, Doda.

Union Minister, Nitin Gad-kari, while speaking on

See Gadkari on pg 7...

Srinagar, Nov 24: Three mili-tants including a TRF (Lash-kar-e-Toiba) commander were killed in a shoot-out at Rambagh area of Srinagar on Wednesday, police said.

A police official said that acting on a specific lead about the three militants travelling in a vehicle in Srinagar’s Rambagh area, a team of Srinagar police cor-nered the vehicle and killed three militants.

Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kashmir Vijay Kumar said that among the slain trio, one has been identified as Mehran, a top TRF commander who was involved in the killing of two teachers and other civilians in the city. “The militants were travelling in a car and they were signaled to stop but instead, they opened fire in a bid to flee from the spot but were cornered by the police party,” he said.

As per police records, Mehran Yaseen Shalla, a resi-dent of Jamalatta area of old Srinagar, went missing on May 19, 2021 and joined TRF (LeT). The two other slain militants were identified as Arafat Ahmed Sheikh of Niklora, Pulwama and Man-zoor Ahmed Mir of Babhar,

Pulwama.A police spokesman in a

statement, said that acting swiftly on “our own specific input” regarding movement of militants in Rambagh area of Srinagar, a small team from Srinagar Police signalled a suspected Santro vehicle to stop. “However, the militants started firing indiscriminately on the police party from inside the car while trying to flee from the spot under the cover of firing. The fire was however effectively retaliated leading to gunfight,” the spokesman said, adding that “In the ensu-ing gunfight, three militants got killed and identified as militant commander of LeT

(TRF) Mehran Yaseen Shalla, resident of Jamalatta, Sri-nagar, Manzoor Ahmad Mir resident of Babhar, Pulwama and Arafat Ahmad Sheikh, a resident of Nikloora, Pul-wama.

The spokesman said that as per police records, the killed militants were linked with LeT (TRF) and part of group involved in several crime cases including attacks on security forces and civil-ian atrocities.

“Mehran Yaseen had a long history of crimes and was wanted by law for his involvement in several crime cases including grenade attack at Barbar Shah Sri-nagar on 26/06/2021 in which

one civilian namely Muda-sir Ahmad Bhat resident of Hanjigund Beerwah got killed & three other civilians got critically injured, kill-ing of Meeran Ali Sheikh at Bulbul Lanker Nawa Kadal on 27/07/2021, Killing of PSI Arshad Ahmad at Khanyar on 12/09/2021, Killing of School Principal Supinder Kour and teacher Deepak Chand of Government Higher Secondary School, Khankah Noorbagh Sangam on 07/10/2021,” the police spokesman said adding that “Prior to joining militancy, several cases regarding his involvement in stone pelting incidents are also registered against him. Moreover, the other killed militant Arafat Ahmad was also involved in several cases including kill-ing of a non-local labour at Litter area of Pulwama on 16/10/2021.”

the IGP Kashmir said that this year so far 144 militants were killed while two civil-ians were also killed in cross firing during encounters. “Last year, 207 militants were killed and only one civilian killed in encounters. So far only three civilians killed in cross firing during

See TRF on pg 7...

Cabinet clears bill to repeal 3 farm laws; to be tabled in upcoming Parl session

Govt committed to overall development of tribal population: Lt Governor

Gadkari lays foundation stone of 25 National Highway projects in JK

TRF commander among three militants killed in

Rambagh shootout

Advisor Bhatnagar visits DodaDoda, Nov 24: Advisor to Lieuten-ant Governor, Rajeev Rai Bhat-nagar Wednesday visited Govern-ment Medical College, Doda and inspected the ongoing construction works there.

The Advisor was accompanied by Principal Secretary PWD (R&B) Shalindra Kumar, Principal GMC Doda, Dr. Noor Ali, Additional District Commissioner, Doda, Ravi Bharti, XENs of R&B, PHE, PDD, senior officers of health, PWD and other allied departments.

During their visit, Advisor Bhatnagar examined the ongoing construction works on various seg-ments of the GMC like Administra-tion Block, Boys and Girls Hostel, residential Blocks and other out-door developmental works.

The Advisor directed the offi-cers of executing agencies

See Doda on pg 7...

Govt reconstitutes committee for disposal of enemy propertiesNew Delhi, Nov 24: The government has reconstituted a high level com-mittee for the disposal of enemy properties that have been left behind by those who migrated and took up citizenship of Pakistan and China.

The committee, which is headed by a senior officer of the Union Home Ministry, will look after the disposal of over 12,600 immovable enemy prop-erties, which may fetch up to Rs one lakh crore to the exchequer,

See Disposal on pg 7...

JK logs 174 new cases, 2 deathsSrinagar, Nov 24: Jammu and Kashmir Wednesday witnessed two deaths and 174 fresh positive cases taking the number of total active cases in the Union Terri-tory to 1,684.With two more deaths, the death toll in the UT stands at 4,466 and 174 fresh positive cases reported on Wednesday have pushed the tally of positive cases to 335,881.Of the exact number of 335,7881 cases, 211,017 are from Kashmir division and 124,864 from Jammu division. Officials said that among

See Cases on pg 7...

Govt extends 5-kg free foodgrains scheme till March 2022

New Delhi, Nov 24: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a proposal to extend distribution of 5kg foodgrains per month for free under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) to over 80 crore

See Govt on pg 7...

Contribution of unsung freedom fighters should be made known to public: Prez

Kanpur (UP), Nov 24 (PTI): President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday said the Inde-pendence of the country was achieved due to contribution of several unsung freedom fighters and their contribu-tion should be made known to the public.

Kovind arrived here on a two-day visit for the birth centenary celebrations of former MP Chaudhary Har-mohan Singh Yadav, who was also a Shaurya Chakra winner.

Harmohan Singh Yadav, who died in 2012, had been associated with the Sama-jwadi Party (SP), now in the Opposition.

During his address on the occassion, the president said, “Azadi ka Amrit Ma-hotsav is being celebrated all over the country to mark 75 years of our Independence. During this two-year-long Mahotsav, we will remem-ber the contribution of un-sung heroes of the freedom struggle who had laid down their lives.”

Remembering freedom fighters Ajijan Bai, Mai-navati, Jaidev Kapoor, Shiv Varma, Bijay Kumar Sinha and Gaya Prasad on the oc-casion, he said India could get Independence due to the important contribution of many such freedom fight-ers. Therefore, it is the duty of all of us to bring informa-tion about the contribution of such anonymous freedom fighters to the public, Ko-vind said.

He said the future of any nation is guided by the ex-perience of the past and en-riched by its heritage.

We all should actively

participate in building a strong, successful, devel-oped and prosperous India. Every hand of our country should rise together for the progress of the country, the president said.

Showering praise on the efforts of Harmohan Singh Yadav, who he said convert-ed a ‘purva’ (hamlet), known as Meharban Singh Purva, into a well developed town-ship, Kovind said his life is worthy of emulation for pos-terity.

Harmohan Singh Yadav was a perfect example of simplicity and an inspira-tion for public service. He

strove to bring happiness in the lives of the people, particularly those living on the margins and the farmers. From gram sabha to Rajya Sabha, his views about agriculture were heard very seriously by policy makers, the presi-dent said.

The doors of Harmohan Singh Yadav’s house were always open for all. In 1984, he set an excellent exam-ple of communal harmony when he saved a large num-ber of lives from a violent mob. In the year 1991, he received Shaurya Chakra for his exceptional gallantry and fearlessness, Kovind said in a reference to the ant-Sikh riots.

Noting that with Harmo-han Singh Yadav’s efforts, many educational institu-tions were established to give a fillip to the education-al awareness in this area, the president said that he understood that education is the basis of progress of every family and society.

New Delhi, Nov 24 (PTI): Former Congress chief Ra-hul Gandhi on Wednesday demanded that the govern-ment provide credible data on Covid deaths in the coun-try and pay a compensation of Rs four lakh each to fami-lies of those who lost their lives due to coronavirus.

Gandhi shared a video in which families, who lost their dear ones due to Covid in Gujarat, alleged that they did not receive timely help from the government.

He also attacked the “Gujarat model” which the BJP has projected as the best in the country.

“The Congress party has two demands that credible data on Covid deaths be dis-closed and compensation of Rs four lakh be given to the families of those who lost their kin due to COVID-19.The government will have to ease the pain of people and

they should get compensa-tion,” he said in a tweet in Hindi, using the hashtag “#4LakhDenaHoga”.

In the 4.31 minute video as part of “Congress Nyay campaign”, Gandhi said the Gujarat model is much talked about but the families whom they talked to said that during Covid times they neither got a hospital bed nor a ventilator.

“When you had to help them in the hospital, you were not there and when they lost Rs 10-15 lakh in hos-

pital and also their family members, you were still not there to provide compensa-tion. What type of Govern-ment is this,” he asked.

Gandhi said while the Gujarat government claims that only 10,000 people died due to Covid, the truth is that three lakh people have died due to Covid. He claimed that Congress work-ers have gone house to house to ascertain this.

“The official tally says 10,000 people died due to Covid, but the truth is three lakh,” he claimed.

He said in today’s Guja-rat model, only Rs 50,000 is being paid as compensation to people losing their kin due to Covid, whereas they should get Rs three lakh each.

“The prime minister has Rs 8,500 crore for buying a new plane, but the govern-ment has no money for pay-ing compensation to those

who lost their family mem-bers due to Covid,” he said.

Gandhi said the Con-gress wants the government to pay compensation of Rs four lakh to all the lakhs of people who died due to Covid in the country.

“Some select industrial-ists are being handed over the country and have been given relief in tax of lakhs of crore during Covid times, but the poor people of India are not being paid compen-sation due to Covid deaths,” he alleged.

“The Congress party will exert pressure on the government and will make sure compensation of Rs four lakh each is paid to all those poor families who lost their kin due to Covid,” Gan-dhi said in the video.

The Congress has stepped up its campaign against the BJP in Gujarat, which goes to polls late next year.

Credible data needed on Covid deaths in country: Rahul Gandhi

Mumbai, Nov 24 (PTI): BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur, an accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, ap-peared before a special NIA court here on Wednesday.

Thakur, out on bail, had last come to the court in Jan-uary 2021.

Earlier in the day, her lawyers told special judge for NIA cases P R Sitre that as she was in Mumbai for medical treatment, she would attend the court.

She had not been sum-moned by the court.

The Bhopal MP arrived at 12.25 PM and sat on a law-yer’s chair in the front row.

A soft `mulmul’ cloth was placed on the chair by her aides before she took the seat.

The judge asked about her health, to which Thakur

said, “Kabhi theek rehta hai, kabhi nahi (sometimes it is good, sometimes not).”

She has been taking treatment at the Kokilaben hospital in the city, and as the treatment suited her, she came for further treatment, the MP told the judge.

Asked about the nature of her illness, she said she was suffering for multiple ailments.

She will be staying in Mumbai for the next two days and if required get admitted to the hospital, Thakur added.

Judge Sitre then asked her to keep abreast of devel-opments in the trial.

Videos showing the Bho-pal MP taking part in ̀ Garba’ dance during Navratri festi-val and also trying her hand

at kabaddi, even though she has obtained bail on medi-cal grounds, had come out in recent months, creating controversy.

During her earlier ap-pearance, Thakur had com-plained about dirt and “lack of facilities in the courtroom.

On Wednesday, she said, “The present arrangement is good.”

The judge said there were some restrictions due the coronavirus pandemic and cleaning is done in a bet-ter way now.

The court then asked her to remain present whenever required, to which Thakur agreed.

Seven persons, includ-ing Thakur and Army offic-er Lt Col Prasad Purohit, are facing trial in the case.

New Delhi, Nov 24 (PTI): The Delhi High Court Wednesday said it will pass directions to ensure safety and security in courts which will remain in force till April 18.

A bench headed by Chief Justice D N Patel, which was hearing its suo motu case concerning the September 24 shootout which killed three people in a courtroom at Rohini Court, stated that it would incorporate as di-rections its earlier sugges-tions on strictly regulating ingress in judicial complex-es by deploying an appropri-ate number of personnel and devices based on a security audit.

The bench, also compris-ing Justice Jyoti Singh, said it will take up the matter in April again to review the di-rections and asked the Bar to cooperate in the meantime.

The directions can be amended later on if there is any difficulty in execution. I am adjourning this mat-ter... Changes can’t be made every 15 days (and) it can’t be a superfluous difficulty. Directions will remain in force till April 18, the Chief Justice said.

There is checking at air-ports also... All should coop-

erate. There is bound to be checking. Let us cooperate with the cumbersome pro-cess for some time, he added.

The court also asked the Delhi High Court Bar Asso-ciation (DHCBA) to ensure that it issues passes for entry of cars belonging to its mem-bers inside the high court premises.

Senior advocate and DHCBA President Mohit Mathur asked the court to al-low the association to issue cards to members for entry inside the high court.

On November 8, the court had said that it expect-ed full cooperation of Delhi government, city police and lawyers in matters of safety and security in courts and suggested a slew of direc-tions that could be issued.

It had proposed that the city government should be

accountable for allocation of budget for the purchase of security devices and since police have the expertise, such devices should be pur-chased by them under inti-mation to the government and the court.

The court had said that based on the suggestions received from Delhi police and various lawyers’ bodies, it made its own short sum-mary which may be put into practice.

Police Commissioner would put together a team of experts for a security audit of courts and then deploy an appropriate number of per-sonnel, the court had said.

Besides, it had stated that the entry of all, includ-ing advocates, would be subject to frisking which is quick and efficient and going through metal detectors, and

no baggage be allowed inside courts without scanning.

The court had also sug-gested placing all court complexes under round-the-clock CCTV monitoring, issuing stickers to vehicles that may be permitted entry inside a court complex and installing under vehicle scan-ning system as well as auto-mated gates to tackle crowd.

The court had further said that the Bar Council of Delhi should devise a mecha-nism to issue non-transfera-ble identity cards having a QR-code or a chip to lawyers.

It had also said that wherever possible, high-risk undertrials should be pro-duced virtually or else, in vulnerable witness rooms or in jails themselves. Earlier, the Delhi police had told that it has installed more metal detectors in all the seven district courts here Tis Haz-ari, Rohini, Karkardooma, Saket, Patiala, Dwarka and Rouse Avenue.

It had suggested that the use of technology should be maximised to reduce physi-cal presence of parties in all the seven district courts here and updated security gadgets be installed there to obviate security concerns.

New Delhi, Nov 24 (PTI): Amid concerns over the proposed Chardham project, Union minister Nitin Gadka-ri on Wednesday termed al-legations that road construc-tion triggered landslides in Uttarakhand as ‘misinfor-mation’ and asserted that the government is sensitive about ecology and environ-ment while carrying out de-velopment projects.

The road transport and highways minister also as-serted that the pace of high-ways construction in the country will cross 40 km per day in the current financial year.

The pace of highways construction in the country touched a record 37 km per day in the financial year 2020-21.

Recently, the Supreme Court reserved its verdict on pleas with respect to the am-bitious project. The strategic 900 kilometre-long Chard-ham project worth Rs 12,000

crore aims to widen roads and provide all-weather con-nectivity to four holy places -- Yamunotri, Gangotri, Ke-darnath and Badrinath -- in Uttarakhand.

“This is all misinforma-tion (Ye galat prachar hai). Earlier there used to be flash floods and cloud bursts which used to cause dam-ages and deaths,” Gadkari, who is known for expressing frank views on any matter, told PTI.

His remarks also come against the backdrop of concerns about ecological

issues expressed in certain quarters on the widening of the road for the Chardham project.

Gadkari pointed out that now, the hilly terrains have been secured with the construction of a tunnel (be-neath chamba town).

“We are being sensitive about ecology and environ-ment while carrying out development projects,” he asserted.

Recently, a bench of Justices DY Chandrachud, Surya Kant, and Vikram Nath, reserved its verdict

on a plea of the Ministry of Defence to modify its earlier order and a plea of an NGO ‘Citizens for Green Doon’ against the widening of the road.

The apex court was hear-ing the Centre’s plea seeking modification of the Septem-ber 8, 2020 order, which had asked the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) to follow the 2018 circular stipulating car-riageway width of 5.5 metre on the Chardham highway project, which goes up to the China border.

The Ministry of Defence has sought a modification of the order and directions that the national highways from Rishikesh to Mana, from Rishikesh to Gangotri, and from Tanakpur to Pithora-garh may be developed to two-lane configuration.

Gadkari said monetisa-tion of some national high-ways has already fetched the government Rs 25,000 crore.

Chennai, Nov 24 (PTI): The Madras High Court on Wednesday set aside an order of the previous AIADMK regime to convert late Ta-mil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa’s res-idence, ‘Veda Nilayam’ here as a memorial.

The property is located at the posh Poes Garden locality in the city.

Justice N Seshasayee quashed the order while allowing a batch of writ petitions from J Deepa Jayakumar, niece of Jayalalithaa and J Deepak, her brother, challenging the order of the state government, today.

After cancelling the conversion order dated July 22, 2020 of the Land Acquisition of-ficer in Guindy under the Right to Fair Com-pensation and Transparency in Land Acqui-sition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, the judge directed the authorities con-cerned to hand over the keys of the property back to the petitioners.

The court also permitted the Income Tax department to recover dues running to sev-eral crores of rupees from the petitioners.

The residential building in the upscale locality comprises office room, library, wait-ing room for guests and conference hall.

Reportedly, it was bought by Jay-alalithaa’s mother in the late 1960’s and it was home to the late chief minister for over three decades where several leaders includ-ing Prime Minister Narendra Modi had

called on her.On August 17, 2017 then Chief Minister K

Palaniswami had announced Veda Nilayam would be converted into a memorial and opened to public in remembrance of her achievements and service to the people.

The Tamil Nadu Assembly had in Sep-tember 2020 adopted a Bill to replace an ordi-nance issued for possession of the house and to facilitate vesting of movable properties therein with the government.

In January this year, Veda Nilayam, con-verted into a memorial, was declared open by Palaniswami.

Amaravati, Nov 24 (PTI): Pegging the overall damage caused by the recent heavy rains and floods at Rs 6,054.29 crore, the Andhra Pradesh government on Wednesday requested the Centre to im-mediately release Rs 1,000 crore as interim relief to-wards flood relief and resto-ration works.

Chief Minister Y S Jag-an Mohan Reddy wrote an identical letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, detailing the havoc caused by heavy rains and floods between November 13 and 20, main-ly in Anantapuramu, Ka-dapa, Chittoor and SPS Nel-lore districts.

“Despite arranging

teams well in advance and serious efforts by the gov-ernment to save the lives of people, 40, including a State Disaster Response Force constable, died and 25 others were reported missing. As many as 324 relief camps have been arranged, accommodat-ing 69,616 persons in the affected districts and they are still continuing,” the Chief Minister said.

He said several high-ways, irrigation tanks and canals have breached in Kadapa, Chittoor, Ananta-puramu and SPS Nellore districts.

“The worst affected were the farmers as crops (like paddy, Bengal gram, cot-ton, black gram, groundnut

and sugarcane) ready for harvesting were damaged,” Jagan added.

Agricultural crops in 1.42 lakh hectares suffered damage, with the estimated monetary loss being Rs 1,353.82 crore. Horticultural crops in 42,299 hectares, worth Rs 48.06 crore, were damaged.

Roads and irrigation systems were the worst hit, with the deluge causing a loss of Rs 1,756.43 crore and Rs 556.96 crore respectively, the Chief Minister pointed out in the letter.

Civic infrastructure like roads, pipelines, drains, school buildings and com-munity centres in munici-palities suffered a loss of Rs 1,252 crore.

New Delhi, Nov 24 (PTI): India added 9,283 new coro-navirus infections taking the country’s total tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,45,35,763 while the active cases de-clined to 1,11,481, the lowest in 537 days, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Wednesday.

The death toll climbed to 4,66,584 with 437 fresh fa-talities, according to the data updated at 8 am.

The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been below 20,000 for 47 straight days and less than 50,000 daily new cases have been reported for 150 con-secutive days now.

The active cases com-prise 0.32 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.33 per cent, the highest since March 2020, the ministry

said.A decrease of 2,103 cases

has been recorded in the ac-tive COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 0.80 per cent. It has been less than two per cent for last 51 days. The weekly positivity rate was also recorded at 0.93 per cent. It has been below two per cent for the last 61 days, according to the ministry.

The number of peo-ple who have recuperated from the disease surged to 3,39,57,698 while the case fa-tality rate was recorded at 1.35 per cent.

The cumulative doses administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive has exceeded 118.44 crore.

India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh

on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16. It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19.

The 437 new fatalities in-clude 370 from Kerala and 19 from Maharashtra.

Of the 370 deaths, 57 were reported over the last few days and 313 were desig-nated as COVID-19 deaths af-ter receiving appeals based on the new guidelines of the Centre and the directions of the Supreme Court, a state govt release said on Tuesday.

A total of 4,66,584 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 1,40,766 from Maharashtra, 38,182 from Karnataka, 38,045 from Kerala, 36,401 from Ta-mil Nadu, 25,095 from Delhi, 22,909 from Uttar Pradesh and 19,407 from West Bengal.

India logs 9283 new coronavirus infections, lowest in 537 days

Pragya Thakur appears before court in 2008 Malegaon blast case

Will pass directions to ensure safety, security in courts: Delhi HC

Govt sensitive about ecology: Gadkari amid concerns over Chardham project

Madras HC quashes order converting Jaya’s residence as memorial

AP seeks Rs 1,000 crore interim grant for flood relief

SC agrees to hear plea for direction to Centre, IITs to follow quotas in recruitment of

facultyNew Delhi, Nov 24 (PTI): The Supreme Court Wednes-day agreed to hear a plea seeking direction to the Centre and IITs to follow the reservation policies in ad-mission in research degree programmes and recruit-ment of faculty members.

A bench of Justices L N Rao, B R Gavai and B V Na-garathna said it is issuing notices to the Centre and all the IITs on the plea for prayer A which is related to following of reservation poli-cies in admission to research programmes and recruitment of faculty members.

During the brief hear-ing, Advocate Ashwani Ku-mar Dubey, appearing for petitioner Sachichida Nand Pandey, said the IITs are not following the reservation policies and direction may be issued by the court.

The bench said there are many prayers in the petition but it would only issue no-tice on the prayer A only.

Pandey has also sought directives for creation of mechanism for resolving the students/scholars and research harassment com-plaints and to constitute a committee of technical experts review the perfor-mance of existing faculty.

He has also sought can-cellation of the appointment of non-performing faculty due to violation of reservation norms, formation of transpar-ent recruitment policy.

It is submitted that the process of taking admissions in the research program and appointment of faculty members by the respond-ents (IITs) are completely unconstitutional, illegal and arbitrary. The respond-ents are not following the guidelines of reservation as per the constitutional man-date, the plea said.

‘If SP wins, will give farmers who died during farm

law protests Rs 25 Lakh’

Lucknow, Nov 24 (PTI): Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav on Wednes-day said if his party comes to power in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly election, its government will give Rs 25 lakh each to farmers who died dur-ing the farm laws agitation.

“The life of a farmer is priceless because he grows foodgrains for others,” he said in a tweet in Hindi.

“We promise that in 2022, as soon as the Samajwa-di Party government comes to power, farmers who died dur-ing the agitation against farm laws will be given a ‘Kisan Shahadat Samman Rashi’ of Rs 25 lakh,” Yadav added.

Physical classes in schools, colleges to resume from Nov 29 in Delhi:

Gopal RaiNew Delhi, Nov 24 (PTI): Suspended due to high pollu-tion levels, physical classes in schools, colleges and oth-er educational institutions will resume from Novem-ber 29, Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai said on Wednesday.

He said all government offices will open from Mon-day. Rai urged government staff to use public transport and said special buses will be deployed for them.

The minister said only CNG and electric vehicles, bar-ring those engaged in essential services, will be allowed to en-ter Delhi from November 27.

The ban on the entry of vehicles operating on other fuels will remain till Decem-ber 3, he said after a review meeting with senior officials.

Kashmir Tone 2Srinagar | Thursday

25 November 2021NATION

Kashmir Tone 3Srinagar Thursday25 November 2021NEWS

Block Diwas held across Bandipora district

BANDIPORA, NOVEMBER 24: Continuing with Block Diwas initiative of LG’s Administration, spe-cial public grievance redressal camps were held across Bandipora district on Wednesday to get the first hand appraisal of the issues faced by the public.

The public interaction programme witnessed huge participation of locals who were enthusiastic about presenting the issues of the area before the Dis-trict administration teams.

Deputy Commissioner (DC) Bandipora, Dr. Owais Ahmad attended the Public Darbar at Arin block of the district and gave patient hearing to all issues put forth and took spot decisions for speedy action.

The DC was accompanied by Member District De-velopment Council Gh Mohiuddin Rather, Assistant Commissioner Panchayat Altaf Hossain Mosvi, Chief Planning Officer Imtiyaz Ahmad, Deputy Superinten-dent of Police Dr Idrees Ahmad, BDC, PRIs and other senior officers of the district.

Apart from other issues people stressed on en-suring power supply as per schedule during winters, availability of pure drinking water and ration, Solid Waste management in Panchayats and town, renova-tion of water bodies, macadamization of left out roads besides bringing the area on Tourism Map.

DDC Rather on the occasion brought in light the issues faced by the people of upper reaches of the area including Shamthan, Kudara, Kotasathri etc. He also demanded the earlier estimation of works in the up-per areas so that time lapse issue is addressed. He in-formed the chair that their long pending demand of receiving station may be fulfilled.

While interacting with the public delegations, DC Bandipora directed the officers to launch a special awareness campaign at Panchayat level regarding various welfare schemes and the schemes for unem-ployed youths for establishing various income gener-ating units.

While responding to public issues, DC asked of-ficers to ensure electricity in winters as per schedule and urged people to co-operate by not using heating appliances that put load on the system and leads to frequent power cuts.

The DDC further asked the concerned officers to work in proper coordination in monitoring of mo-bilisation of target sub-groups of unorganised work-ers like MGNREGA workers, SHG members under NRLM and NULM, street vendors, Auto drivers, con-struction (BOCW) workers, mid-day meal workers, domestic workers, ASHA workers, Anganwadi work-ers, Agricultural laborers and Fishermen through respective line departments for registration under e-SHRAM in terms of defined targets.

He said e-SHRAM portal launched by the Gov-ernment is aimed at facilitating better execution of various Social Security schemes for all unorganised workers. He said the portal will not only register the unorganised workers of the district but also be help-ful in delivering various social security schemes be-ing implemented by the Government.

DC also called for adopting zero tolerance against encroachment of water bodies and instructed rev-enue and Irrigation and Flood Control Dept to ensure removal of encroachments.

Earlier a plantation drive was also held in the premises of Arin Block which was inaugurated by the DC in presence of DDC, BDC, and PRIs. District De-velopment Commissioner also inaugurated the DDC office on the occasion.

Additional District Development Commissioner Ali Afsar Khan presided over the Block Diwas at Sumbal while Sub-Divisional Magistrate Sumbal Dr Bashir Ahmad Lone and other concerned were also present on the occasion. Meanwhile, Sub-Divisional Magistrate Gurez, Dr Mudasir Ahmad Ahmad Lone attended the Block Diwas at Gurez where he heard the public grievances.

2nd dose of Covid-19 vaccination process in full swing: DM Shopian

SHOPIAN, NOVEMBER 24: The District Magistrate (DM), Shopian, Sachin Kumar Vaishya today said that to ramp up the vaccination process and to break the chain of virus transmission in the district, cent percent target of Ist dose of above 45 years of age group has been completed and for 2nd dose vaccina-tion process is in full swing.

The DM further said that all the people including Numberdars, Chowkidars, Auqaf Members, Social Activists and others are cooperating well and also fol-low the SOPs in letter and spirit besides, maintaining social distancing.

He said that all the health functionaries and other concerned have been geared up in the district and the process of vaccination for 2nd dose is going on speed-ily in the district to achieve the 100 percent target.

The DM said that cent percent vaccination of people in the first phase was possible only after the District Ad-ministration as well as health workers, Ashas, AWWs and others cooperated and worked hard. He said that people also did not pay any heed to the rumours and came forward by themselves to get vaccinated.

DM said that in the 2nd phase, 77 percent of the vaccination process has been achieved till date and the process is going on and shall be completed within the shortest possible time.

He also said that teams including Dy.CMO, BMOs and other health workers have been geared up and are jointly working day and night to complete the 2nd dose of vaccination process in the district.

DM said that all the health functionaries and oth-er concerned have been pressed into service for the vaccination process to save precious lives.

He requested everyone to get vaccinated to re-main safe and secure as vaccination is important for Covid-19 virus and added that vaccinated people have a slim chance of catching Covid infection.

Capacity building programme on drug abuse prevention held at Pulwama

PULWAMA, NOVEMBER 24: Integrated Child Pro-tection Office Pulwama today organised one day ‘Ca-pacity building programme on drug abuse’ in Pulwa-ma in collaboration with Social Welfare department Pulwama, here.

The programme was aimed at strengthening the capacity in understanding the psychological, social and security concerns in relation to drug abuse and prevention.

During the programme, enriching lectures were delivered by experts.

They appreciated the programme by stating that “Drug addiction is the bigger problems than terror-ism and other crimes, and the programs like these help people to understand its dimensions and how to tackle with these problems”.

District Social welfare Officer, Dr Mukhtar Ah-mad, also shared his views on drug abuse and preven-tion.

DDC B’gam conducts public outreach programme at

Khampora Sarai, ChadooraMughal era monument in the area shall be

preserved, face lifted: DC

BUDGAM, NOVEMBER 24: Continuing the public outreach initiative, the District Development Commissioner (DDC) Bud-gam today held a public darbar at village Khampora Sarai of Tehsil Chadoora.

The darbar apart from locals was also attended by many deputations of adjacent villages, civil society and PRI members.

Speaking on the occasion, the DDC said that instructions issued in public in-teraction programmes has brought signifi-cant confidence and change among general public, besides they now a day’s feel that District Administration with sincere de-sire and commitment is listening to them directly.

During the darbar, Mirza patiently took note of the issues and demands put forth by the representatives of local popu-lace, individually as well as through depu-tations.

The demands were mostly based on routine requirements consisting improve-ment in water supply, preservation and

conservation of Mughal era monument Sa-rai, fencing of its surroundings, making it attractive destination for tourists, in addi-tion develop the village keeping its old and present history in view.

Responding to the issues, the DDC said special focus will be envisaged to develop the village as modern tourist destination, besides the village as it already has one of its kind Mughal era monument deserves its preservation and face lifting. The resi-dents also need to share their responsibil-ity and give support to administration in each of its initiative and activities to be executed, he added.

Regarding other issues, the DC assured locals that fast track redressal process will be initiated subject to weather conditions.

Later, the DDC inspected PHC Hayat-pora and took stock of the status of its read-iness. He directed R&B department to expe-dite the process of remaining construction work before the weather conditions could deteriorate further.

DC Ang visits Khiram; holds public darbar at Dargah Sharief KhiramANANTNAG, NOVEMBER 24: The Deputy Commissioner (DC) Anantnag, Dr Piyush Singla today visited remote areas of Khiram and inspected several developmental works, there. He also held a public hearing under Block diwas pro-gramme at Dargah Sharief Khiram.

During the visit, Dr Singla held a public hearing to listen to the de-mands and grievances of local peo-ple gathered at the venue consisting of local population, PRI, civil soci-ety members besides people from adjoining areas.

Among the major demands put forth by the locals were augmenta-tion of capacity of Lift Irrigation Scheme at Khiram, Solar backup for tube well motor, night facility for PHC Khiram, access to water for Khiram Kasnad Gujjar Basti, up-gradation of middle school to high school and desiltation of lift irriga-tion scheme at Khadpora.

The DC gave a patient hear-ing to the public demands. He said

that all development works are be-ing reviewed on bi-weekly basis.

He further directed BDO Dachni-pora to initiate strict action against contractors delaying execution of works. He assured the locals that all works in the plan will be executed.

In reference to issues of water scarcity, he said that works to the tune of Rs 3 crore have been ten-dered for Khiram Khusnard under JJM and will be completed before August 2022. He further said that works of KPDCL under the CAPEX plan have been tendered and execu-tion will begin shortly.

The DC appreciated the PRIs and Block Development Officer for the promptness in execution of developmental works. He further asked PRIs to inspect the ongoing works and promote the practice of social auditing.

Earlier, Dr Singla inspected the multipurpose indoor stadium at Bijbehara and associated sports complex, being constructed at a cost

of Rs 11.5 crores under Languishing Projects and PMDP. The DC issued directions to immediately throw the facility open for utilization by youth.

Dr Singla also paid obeisance at the Pracheen Cave of Lord Ama-rnath situated at Thajiwara. He in-spected the protraction wall being constructed by RDD. He also issued directions for erecting fencing to the historic monument.

Reviewing the power scenario in Srigufwara and adjacent villages, the DC inspected the recently opera-tionalised Chiniwudar Receiving Station Srigufwara.

During surprise visit to PHC Khiram, Piyush Singla inspected the General OPD, Pharmacy and Dental OPD. He interacted with patients and ASHA workers and briefed them about ‘one person one golden card’ initiative. He issued directions to SDM and BMO to expe-dite the registration process.

Distt Admin, Tourism Deptt. organize Ahrabal Festival

AHRABAL (KULGAM), NO-VEMBER 24: To promote tourist destination Aharbal, District Administration Kul-gam in collaboration with Tourism Department orga-nized the first ever Ahrabal Festival here today which witnessed participation of people from different walks of life besides many tourists.

The programme was or-ganized near Ahrabal Water-fall Park.

In his opening remarks, the Deputy Commissioner Kulgam, Dr. Bilal Mohi-Ud-Din Bhat said that the objec-tive of the festival is to bring Ahrabal tourist destination in limelight of national and international level and to promote the beauty of Aha-rbal and its various beautiful spots/destinations includ-ing Kousarnag, Aharbal Wa-terfall, Chiranbal to people across the world.

On the occasion, Director Tourism Kashmir, Dr. G N Itoo said that the Department is making concerted and co-ordinated efforts to promote potential tourism destina-tions like Aharbal. He said

the festival is part of the Gov-ernment's initiative to pro-mote 75 offbeat destinations across Jammu & Kashmir. He said the Department in-tends to make Ahrabal a hub of tourism activities with Kongawaten, Guerwatan, Ku-sar Naag etc as its catchment destinations. The Depart-ment, he added, is working in this direction.

DDC Chairperson, Mo-hammad Afzal Parrey, CEO, Ahrabal Development Au-thority, Ghalib Mohi ud Din and other DDC members, offi-cers of Tourism Department and district administration, PRI members were present

on the occasion.During this festival col-

orful cultural programmes were held and soothing voic-es and melancholic musical streams by the performers reverberating through the cold breezes turned the show energetic and lively with the audience cheering for these artists.

Groups of boys also par-ticipated in cycling and trek-king events and were flagged-off by Director Tourism Dr. G. N. Itoo and Deputy Com-missioner, Dr. Bilal Mohi-Ud-Din-Bhat.

Multiple stalls were also installed by various depart-ments including Agriculture, Horticulture, Sheep, Animal Husbandry, Tourism, KVIB, Apiculture, Floriculture and Handicrafts and other depart-ments and entrepreneurs.

Painting competition was also organised and students from various schools partici-pated in this competition.

At the culmination of the programme top perform-ers in cycling, Painting and others competitions were awarded.

Registration of unorganized workers on e-SHRAM portal reviewed at Shopian

SHOPIAN, NOVEMBER 24: The Ad-ditional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) Shopian, Mushtaq Ahmed Simnani today chaired a meeting to review the implementation and registration of unorganized workers on National Database for Unorganized Workers (NDUW), e-SHRAM portal in the dis-trict.

On the occasion, the ADC direct-ed the officers of all the departments to register the daily wagers associated with their respective departments on an e-Shram portal to achieve the req-uisite target well on time.

He asked the concerned officers to work in proper coordination in monitoring of mobilisation of target sub-groups of unorganised workers like MGNREGA workers, SHG mem-bers under NRLM and Street vendors, Auto drivers, Agricultural labourers and Fishermen through respective line departments for registration under e-SHRAM in terms of defined targets.

Simnani said that e-SHRAM por-

tal launched by the Government is aimed at facilitating better execution of various Social Security schemes for all unorganised workers. He said that the portal will not only register the un-organised workers of the district but also be helpful in delivering various social security schemes being imple-mented by the Government.

Earlier, Assistant Labour Com-

missioner, Abdul Majid Tantray gave a brief about the use of e-SHRAM portal. He apprised the chair that the efforts are on to register other unor-ganized workers too in the district to achieve the required target and added that the unorganized workers can reg-ister at the nearest CSCs or can regis-ter themselves on the portal.

The ADC stressed the officers to ensure holding of regular registration camps at the district and CSC level for the unorganised workers.

He said such awareness camps would prove helpful to disseminate In-formation, Education and Communi-cation (IEC) amongst the prospective beneficiaries of e-SHRAM and their implementation through the Labour and Employment department and other official machinery.

The meeting was attended by As-sistant Commissioner, Employment, Abdul Majid Tantray and District Social Welfare Officer besides Repre-sentatives from Agriculture, Horticul-ture and ICDS among other officers.

Director, RDD Kashmir reviews implementation of flagship

schemes at BudgamEmphasizes on timely completion of works

BUDGAM, NOVEMBER 24: The Di-rector, Rural Development (RDD) Kashmir, Tariq Ahmad Zargar Wednesday visited Budgam and chaired a meeting to review the im-plementation of RDD schemes and also took on spot appraisal of vari-ous works under execution in the district.

Status of flagship programmes including MGNREGA, PMAY-G and 14th FCA besides progress of works under the Capex Budget (CD &Pyt Sector), renovation and construction of Panchayat Ghars under RGSA and other matters were reviewed in detail.

It was informed that Budgam has achieved over 100 percent target in respect of person days generated under MGNREGA. Against a target of 6.24 Lakh person days set for end-ing November 2021, 7.85 Lakh person days (126%) have already been gener-

ated till date.Moreover, MGNREGA wages

are being released in time among the MGNREGA Job Card Holders and till date Rs 16.72 Crore have been paid as wage component besides 100 percent geo-tagging of assets and over 95 per-cent Aadhaar Seeding of Job Card Holders is complete.

Furthermore, a total of 1690 works have been taken up under MGNREGA in F.Y 2021-22, out of which 220 have been completed and remaining are at various stages of completion

Moreover, 96 percent target has been achieved under PMAY-G. Against the target of 360 housing units, 346 units have been completed in time. Similarly, renovation work of 3 Panchayat Ghars taken up un-der RGSA has been completed and 8 more are under renovation besides 12 Panchayat Ghars have been taken up for execution.

Principal Secretary Agriculture launches farm machinery distribution camp

SRINAGAR, NOVEMBER 24: As a sequel to government’s endeavor towards realizing Prime Minister’s goal of doubling income of farmers by 2022, Principal Secretary Agriculture Production and Farmers Welfare De-partment, Navin Kumar Choudhary, today launched farm machinery dis-tribution camp at Agriculture Com-plex Lalmandi, Srinagar.

Principal Secretary handed over the keys of tractors and mobile vend-ing carts to the beneficiary farmers under CAPEX.

He also inspected the stalls es-tablished by some of the progressive farmers and agri-entrepreneurs of the valley during the camp.

Speaking on the occasion, Prin-cipal Secretary exhorted upon the officers to guide the farmers towards increasing production of different agriculture crops amid the changing climatic and environmental condi-tions. He said that promoting mecha-nization among the farming commu-nity, human resource development through trainings and awareness

programs, diversification of agricul-ture, organic way of cultivation are the important contours to achieve the vision of self reliance in the field of agriculture.

Navin Choudhary reiterated the importance of connecting farmers with the buyers saying that it should be done at Panchayat and block level so that the farmers could fetch maxi-

mum returns for their produce. 'We are unique in some crops and agri-culture products like saffron, black zeera, red chilli, green peas, Guchee (Wild Mushroom) ghee, and other

spices which needs to be promoted and introduced to the different mar-keting platforms at global level', he maintained. He highlighted the im-portance of strict adherence to the set parameters so far as the organic veg-etable cultivation is concerned. He said the organic vegetables produced must be purely organic and should meet the global parameters.

Director Agriculture, Kash-mir, Choudhary Mohammad Iqbal, briefed the Principal Secretary re-garding the initiative under which the farm machinery was provided to the beneficiary farmers.

Director J&K Horticulture Plan-ning and Marketing Vishesh Maha-jan, Joint Director Agriculture Ex-tension, Sheikh Shahid Iqbal, Joint Director Agriculture Inputs Farooq Ahmad Bhat, Joint Director Apicul-ture and Mushroom, Peer Syed Mo-hammad, Chief Agriculture Officer, Srinagar, Mohammad Younis Chow-dhary and other senior officers of the department were present on the occasion.

Rukmini Banerji

The Annual Status of Education Report ASER 2021 was released a few days ago. Given the pandemic conditions, it is

not the usual face-to-face ASER household survey focussed on reading and arithmetic. This ASER and the one in 2020 have been phone-based surveys exploring underlying trends and learning opportunities during a time of prolonged school closure.

ASER is an assessment of education status in rural areas. ASER 2021 probed the following types of questions: What decisions were taken within families about their chil-dren’s education? What opportunities were available to households in different parts of the country? What was the relationship be-tween home and school during this period of crisis? Such questions are important at any time but even more critical today. Whether as a family or as a school system or as a coun-try, we are looking at the next steps. Data that is systematically collected from a na-tionwide sample in a timely fashion is very valuable for planning the path forward.

A major finding from ASER 2021 has to do with a shift in school enrolment patterns. Whether by age or grade or state, across the board, there is a clear and substantial in-crease in enrolment in government schools. On the one hand, a downturn in private school enrolment can be directly linked to economic troubles in the family. Discon-tinuities and disruptions make families curtail or postpone expenditures. If schools are closed, why pay fees for children’s edu-cation? On the other hand, low-cost private schools in rural areas have struggled to stay afloat. At the same time, many state govern-ments have made concerted efforts to reach out to children with learning materials and also rations instead of midday meals. Direct cash transfers from schools to families have also increased in this time. Time will tell whether this is a transitory phase or a more permanent shift. Over time, as the economy recovers and as schools settle into a continu-ous working cycle, we will know if govern-ment schools are actually able to hold on to and increase the proportion of children di-rectly in their charge.

In this context, how the system helps children return to school will be critical. Unlike densely crowded urban areas where opinions can be divided, rural parents want their children to go back to school and chil-dren are eager and willing. This enthusiasm is essential fuel for “building back better”. Children in today’s Class 1 and Class 2 have never been to school. They have to be helped to get ready for schooling and learning. To-day’s Class 5 was in school almost two years

ago in Class 3. They are now returning to school older, perhaps more worldly-wise. But they will need help to settle in and recon-nect. Will government schools demonstrate new ways to welcome children in? Will the interaction between parents and teachers help to build trust and faith? If so, the shift to government schools can be long-lasting.

As the country navigates through this stage of the pandemic, there are academic strategies to be developed and modified to face current teaching-learning challenges. The use of grade-level curriculum may not be useful immediately. Instead, meeting children at the level where they are and us-ing the “teaching at the right level” approach is the need of the hour. Even the National Education Policy 2020 recommends that ac-quiring strong foundational skills needs to be the top priority. Available research from other countries shows that while school clo-sures can lead to learning losses, what school systems do once schools reopen is even more critical. Making children deal with grade-level curriculum after almost a two-year gap or hurrying them through the syllabus are not appropriate responses. In fact, invest-ing time and effort now in rebuilding and strengthening children’s ability to read with understanding, improving their capacity to apply problem-solving skills and enabling them to help each other in the classroom may provide the big boost needed to bring the ed-ucation system to where it was in pre-Covid times and move further ahead. Will schools respond quickly to children’s current needs? Or will they return to the age-grade linear curriculum that even in pre-Covid days had left many children behind?

ASER 2021 asked households about smartphones at home. Data indicate that the availability of smartphones in households

has almost doubled since 2018. This is true of families where children are enrolled in government schools and in private schools. From ASER 2020 figures, it was clear that a smartphone had been bought since the lock-down began in one out of 10 households to help children with studies. When asked the same question in ASER 2021, we found that the proportion had increased to 27.9 per cent. In 2018, 27.9 per cent families with children enrolled in government schools had smart-phones. This number increased to 56.4 per cent in 2020 and to 63.7 per cent in 2021. For families with children enrolled in govern-ment schools, the equivalent figure climbed from 49.9 per cent in 2018 to 74.2 per cent in 2020 and to 79 per cent in 2021. Overall, ap-proximately 67.6 per cent households with school-age children had smartphones in 2021.

ASER also shows that access does not automatically mean use. While there are wide variations across states, a little over one-fourth of all children with at least one smartphone can access the phone easily and another one-fourth is not able to access the phone at all.

The digital divide has been talked about widely. Assuming connectivity will continue to increase and level the playing field, having device libraries at the school or village level may be one solution. Individuals and fami-lies can borrow devices on a priority basis. Will government schools lead in this regard?

ASER 2021 enables us to get a glimpse into a period of education transition. Will schools return to their old ways? Will new methods of engaging with children and parents emerge? Will appropriate teaching-learning goals and activities be adopted for the rest of the school year? Ground-level ac-tion will indicate which way our education system will go in the near future.

Harmala Gupta

An Indian doctor in the US wrote to me a few years ago about the treatment meted out to his 81-year-old mother in a private hospital

in New Delhi. His mother had been admitted with a stroke and a fracture of the spine. What followed dur-ing the three weeks she was hospitalised was sheer torture. She was seen and followed by two internists, a spine surgeon, a general surgeon, a cardiologist, a neurologist, a dermatologist and a gastroenterolo-gist, in addition to an intensive care specialist and an anaesthesiologist. Though the family had requested no life support, their wishes were ignored.

Not much has changed. In India, those with fami-ly members who are hospitalised with serious health-related suffering continue to agonise over how they can ensure a dignified end for them. In 1997, when CanSupport began its free-of-charge home-based ser-vice for the underserved, hardly anyone in the medi-cal community recognised the term “palliative care”. The concept of delivering care at home was also new. In 1990, the WHO had defined palliative care as “the active total care of patients whose disease is not re-sponsive to curative treatment. Control of pain, other symptoms, and psychological, social and spiritual problems is paramount. The goal of palliative care is the achievement of the best possible quality of life for patients and their families.”

Palliative care is almost non-existent at the grass-roots in India. There is a lack of trained personnel, restricted access to opioids for pain control, and a refusal to accept that there comes a time when you need to work with the process of dying rather than against it. Moreover, it requires an interdisciplinary team of healthcare professionals who are sensitive and good listeners as well as excellent communica-tors and team players.

The need for palliative care has never been great-er. Non-communicable diseases like cancer are on the rise. At present, in India, we have 30 lakh (3 mil-lion) people with cancer at any given time. Of these, 75-80 per cent come with advanced disease and half of them die within a year, and yet no more than 2 per cent receive palliative care because of the paucity of services. Thanks to the reluctance of people to get timely check-ups during the pandemic, the number of people presenting with advanced cancers in the coming days is likely to swell. They will need pallia-tive support.

Palliative care respects patient autonomy. It re-quires end-of-life conversations to ascertain the wish-es of the person who is dying and those of the family. Training professionals and working in a collabora-tive manner with those in the field of palliative care is the way forward. Difficult choices often have to be made. This is why people must make a living will and designate a surrogate who will take decisions on their behalf should they be incapacitated.

We must also move from a death-denying society to one that accepts death. I once heard a physician say, “We should rename palliative care and call it symptomatic care so as to make it more acceptable.” The intention was to give hope to patients and their families. To me, it sounds more like avoiding reality. Everyone needs to know what they are up against. However, what is said, how it is said and when it is said is key. The practice of medicine is as much a sci-ence as an art.

There is also a need for the treating specialist to continue to be involved. There is a tendency to cut off relations once treatments fail. This is terribly unfair for patients and families who would like to receive the benefit of their advice and expertise.

In the Indian situation, not only should patients be referred to the palliative care team early to ensure a better quality of life, but the continued survival and safety of members of the family left behind is also a concern. Their rehabilitation is consequently also a part of palliative care. It will bring peace to a dying patient, who seeks assurance that his or her family will be safe and able to cope.

CanSupport’s programmes have grown in re-sponse to users’ needs. Besides the home-care ser-vice, we have a telephone helpline, day cares and out-patient clinics as well as a rehabilitation and social support unit. We also do research, educate and teach. What began 25 years ago as a voluntary effort by a few well-intentioned people is now an established organisation that runs the largest home-based pallia-tive care programme in the country. We owe a debt of gratitude to those who contributed their talent, time and resources. But most of all to families who put their trust in us.

ASER 2021 has insights on how schools can respond to post-Covid world

The need for palliative care in India has never

been greater

Printer, Publisher, Owner: Sheikh Mukhtar Ahmad, Editor-in-Chief: Sheikh Mukhtar Ahmad, Published from: Chinar House, Kathi Darwaza, Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir, Printed at: Lubaab Publications,

Radio Colony, Gund Hassibhat Bhat, Lawaypora, Srinagar 190017, RNI No: JKENG/2021/80588, Cell No: 8825090402, email Id: editor@kashmirtone.com

David Paulson

India’s supply chain and logistics market is one of the largest globally, valued at USD 215 billion and growing at a CAGR of 10.5%. The sector’s profile

was raised dramatically during the pandemic as many businesses, from start-ups to long-established brands, adopted “direct-to-consumer” (D2C) models during the lockdowns, thereby adding even greater pressure on their supply chains to be reliable, agile and responsive.

What these enterprises quickly found, however, is that it is not enough to design a great product, you need to also execute a superior supply chain strategy. However, many companies lack sufficient knowledge of and experience in the operational side of the product journey. Even Elon Musk, a man who has revolution-ized the field of rocket science, acknowledged in a 2016 interview: “this supply chain stuff is tricky.”

Tricky is, of course, an understatement. Through-out the end-to-end product lifecycle, organizations must rely on hundreds of trading partners for vari-ous parts and services. Not only are these enterprises most often geographically dispersed, but they have different levels of business experience, technological sophistication and capital. Consider risks like human error, economic volatility, natural disasters or the rare Black Swan event, and the complexity of modern sup-ply chains becomes apparent.The burgeoning need for streamlining supply chains

Many organizations underestimate the value of their supply chains since they don’t know what they don’t know about strategic supply chain management. One way to understand supply chain complexity is to think of it as an iceberg – there is a lot more to it than meets the eye.

Above the waterline, you have orders being placed, products pulled from shelves, packed and shipped to a production facility. But below the surface are the in-numerable logical, physical, digital and financial ele-ments that must be addressed to ensure the optimal flow of product, data and capital. When these elements are not expertly managed and coordinated, the risk of disruption, and your total cost of ownership, will in-crease exponentially.Leveraging third-party logistics and supply chain functions for greater success

Third-party companies offer an array of useful ena-bling technologies, platforms, consulting services, and more that address various elements of the supply chain process, from BOM assessment and planning to forecast-ing, risk mapping and logistics services. But, how do you choose the right ones? Here are some considerations:

Your supply chain extends throughout the end-to-end lifecycle of your product, so you need a partner who has a deep understanding of market dynamics that influence supply and demand and expertise that runs from the earliest stages of new product ideation all the way through end of life.

As digital technologies like IoT, cloud, and AI perme-ate corporate IT and OT, fluency and expertise in imple-menting intelligent automation technologies like robotic process automation and process mining are a must-have.

Component suppliers are often well-versed with technology innovation and new product development, and not supply chain. So, while you may enjoy prefer-ential pricing buying directly from a component man-ufacturer, your “total cost” calculation should include possible added expense from expedites, payment term penalties, missed production windows and other fulfil-ment disruptions.

Supply chain management is a team sport. You need a partner who can help break down strategic and technological barriers between external trading part-ners and internal silos among critical stakeholders like your engineering and sourcing teams. Better col-laboration can ensure component choices will satisfy critical brand objectives around time to market, user experience, and factors like environmental sustain-ability, ethical sourcing and recyclability.

Your partner should act as an extension of your or-ganization, facilitating the flow of products and infor-mation between your organization and your various trading partners.

There is no one-size-fits-all supply chain model. Look for a partner that will take the time to understand your specific challenges and priorities and has the range of capabilities required to build a model that best meets your needs.Trust: The foundation of supply chain excellence

Finally, you need a partner you can trust. The on-going shortage of key technologies in the high-tech sec-tor has generated a lot of buzz around shifting from “just-in-time” to “just-in-case” inventory strategies. Trusted global distributors will be capable of buffering inventory for its customers. Still, inventory for inventory’s sake can tie up capital resources and add potential obsolescence risk if buffer stock ultimately goes unused.

In addition, assurance of supply is just one element of an effective supply chain resilience plan. Agility and visibility are also critical. Front-running companies work closely with customers and suppliers to facili-tate a more open exchange of capabilities and require-ments, ensuring resources are best aligned to achieve our common goal of meeting market demand on time and at the right price.

With techniques like scenario planning, value at risk calculations, deep tier supply chain mapping and alternate source identification, such companies can help their supply chain partners quickly and cost-ef-fectively outmaneuver disruptions that threaten their business continuity.

In a world where the commoditization of technolo-gies makes it increasingly difficult for companies to stand apart from the competition, supply chain and op-erations have become the new frontier for differentia-tion. Today, sustainable growth and profitability result from delivering a differentiated, value-rich customer experience throughout the product lifecycle. This re-quires both leading-edge technical and best-in-class supply chain execution.

How to boost your product’s value with an end-to-end supply chain strategy

Kashmir Tone 4Srinagar | Thursday

25 November 2021EDITORIAL/ OPINION

DISCLAIMER: The content, information, research or whatsoever the matter in the articles that appear on the editorial pages of Kashmir Tone and are uploaded on its online edition, is strictly authors’ own work. Kashmir Tone does not take any responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, suitability, originality, and not plagiarised, or validity of any information on these articles. The information, facts or opinions appearing in these articles in no way reflect the views of Kashmir Tone , and Kashmir Tone does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same. The responsibility of the content, in whatever manner, is solely, and totally, of authors’.

Sharad Sanghi

In just eighteen months, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought about years of change in how organizations do business, regardless of segment, size, or vertical. Organizations have been forced to digitize their customer and

market outreach and accelerate their digital initiatives – initiatives that would have taken three or four years under ordinary circumstances have been accomplished, or nearly accomplished, in less than a third of that time.Digitally enabling the product portfolio

Regardless of industry or size, organizations have needed to learn how to reengage clients in the post-pandemic economy, and they’ve needed to learn quickly. What we’ve learnt is that companies that have moved quickly to adopt digital technologies are the ones that have been able to adapt to what’s now being accepted as the new normal.

When I speak to fellow senior executives that are clients of NTT, most of them say that they’ve implemented at least temporary solutions to meet the digital demands that are being placed on them, and that they’ve been able to do this faster than they thought was possible, which proves the old adage about necessity being the mother of invention.

To stay competitive in this new economic environment requires new strategies and practices, and to be able to bring them to market quickly – con-sumers have moved dramatically toward online channels of procurement, and companies have had to respond in turn.

PVR cinemas, for example, has moved quickly to create a platform that allows them to stream new movies to paying subscribers, much like Netflix and Amazon Prime. Large grocers have moved quickly to digitize their mar-ketplace and supply-chain to cater to consumers that suddenly moved from store to the mobile app.

What all of these organizations have in common is that they’ve moved quickly and significantly to increase the percentage of digital or digitally-en-abled products within their portfolios. The other thing they have in common is that the leaders within these organizations recognize technology’s strategic importance as a critical enabler of a differentiated product offering, and not just a source of cost efficiency.Network at the core of digital transformation

To be able to meet customers where they now reside – in the digisphere – having a network that is intelligent, secure, and agile is not just a great thing, it’s everything.

The network is truly the fabric of any digital organization, and allows organizations to deliver am improved client experience by increasing agil-ity, performance, availability and reduced risk. The network is also what allows companies to connect users, machines, sensors, and devices at the edge, and to bring that data from the edge into the cloud, and then into and across multiple clouds, ultimately powering the smarter, digital world we now live in.

The rise of the distributed workforce is another key driver for organi-zations to significantly transform their networks. To deliver a competitive advantage, distributed workforces need faster, more local access to data and applications, and the ability to process that data securely in order to make better decisions.Enter the software-defined network

Networks that are software-defined are inherently more agile, automated, and programmable which means they’re able to provide visibility into the traffic flowing across them, and allow for deep insight and analytics. This, in turn, allows for greater operational efficiencies and richer insights into ap-plication performance and customer behaviour. But while the network has to be software-defined, agile, and adaptable, it must be secure, first and foremost. Traditionally, networks, security and applications have all been architected independently of each other, creating unwarranted implications for organi-zational agility.

How Nimble businesses have responded, recovered and thrived in new environment

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Sweden's parliament approves first female prime minister

Copenhagen, Nov 24 (AP) Sweden's parlia-ment on Wednesday approved Magdalena Andersson as the country's first female prime minister, tapping the finance minis-ter who recently became the new leader of the Social Democratic party.

Andersson was tapped to replace Stefan Lofven as party leader and prime minister, roles he relinquished earlier this year.

The development marked a milestone for Sweden, viewed for decades as one of Eu-rope's most progressive countries when it comes to gender relations, but which had yet to have a woman in the top political post.

Lofven's government has describes it-self as feminist, putting equality between women and men at the heart of national and international work.

In a speech to parliament, Amineh Kaka-baveh, an independent lawmaker who sup-ported Andersson, noted that Sweden is cur-rently celebrating the 100th anniversary of a decision to introduce universal and equal suffrage in the Scandinavian country.

If women are only allowed to vote but are never elected to the highest office, de-mocracy is not complete, Kakabaveh who is of Iranian Kurdish descent, said.

There is something symbolic in this de-cision," she added.

In the 349-seat Riksdag, 117 lawmakers voted yes to Andersson, 174 rejected her while 57 abstained and one lawmaker was absent.

In all, the opposition cast 174 votes against Andersson but under the Swed-ish Constitution, prime ministers can be named and govern as long as a parliamen-tary majority a minimum of 175 lawmakers is not against them.

Lofven has been leading the Swedish government in a caretaking capacity until a new government is formed, something ex-pected Friday. Andersson likely will form a two-party, minority government with her Social Democrats and the Green Party.

Andersson, 54, sought to secure the backing of the two smaller parties that sup-ported Sweden's previous center-left, mi-nority government led by Lofven the Left Party and the Center Party. Both abstained from voting against Andersson.

After days of talks, Andersson and the Left Party reached a deal to win the latter's support. The deal focused on pensions and they on a supplement of of up to 1,000 kro-nor (USD 111) for about 700,000 pensioners on low incomes.

Israeli, Moroccan defense ministers meet in landmark visitRabat, Nov 24 (AP) Israel's defense minister met with his Moroccan counterpart on Wednesday in Ra-bat as part of a landmark visit to formalize security cooperation be-tween the two countries.

Israel and Morocco established formal relations last year as part of the U.S.-brokered Abraham Accords.

Benny Gantz's trip is the first official visit by an Israeli defense minister to one of the Arab states that established open relations, a trip that aims to further strengthen defense ties between the countries.

Gantz met with Abdellatif Loud-iyi, the Moroccan defense minister, and the two are expected to sign a memorandum of understanding that lays the foundation for security coop-eration and future arms sales.

Ahead of his meeting with Loudiyi, Gantz paid his respects at the tomb of Mohamed V, the grand-father of the reigning monarch.

Morocco, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan signed agreements to normalize

relations with Israel in 2020 as part of the diplomatic pacts brokered by the Trump administration known as the Abraham Accords.

Israel and Morocco enjoyed low-level diplomatic relations in the 1990s, but Morocco severed

them after a Palestinian uprising erupted in 2000. Despite that, the two states have maintained infor-mal relations. Nearly half a million Israelis claim Moroccan heritage more than 200,000 immigrated to Israel after the founding of the state

in 1948 and thousands visit the country each year.

Morocco is still home to a small Jewish community, and Rabat has one remaining synagogue.

In exchange for Morocco nor-malizing relations with Israel, the Trump administration promised in December 2020 to recognize Mo-roccan sovereignty over Western Sahara, a disputed north African territory. The announcement upset decades of U.S. policy and interna-tional consensus that Western Sa-hara's status should be settled by a U.N. referendum.

Since then, the Biden adminis-tration has cautiously walked back that recognition.

The Abraham Accords broke a longstanding consensus among Arab states that normalization with Israel only take place as part of a resolution of the Israeli-Pales-tinian conflict. Because of that, the Palestinians view the agreements as a betrayal that eroded their le-verage with Israel. (AP)

India-UK free trade agreement talks starting imminently': Chief of Confederation of British IndustryLondon, Nov 24 (PTI) Formal negotiations for an India-UK free trade agreement (FTA) are set to begin imminently and will be as com-prehensive as possible to cover all aspects of the bilateral relationship, the president of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) said on Wednesday.

India-born Lord Karan Bilimoria was addressing the CBI's annual conference with a focus on the UK as a great trad-ing nation , keen to increase post-Brexit trade with the European Union (EU) and beyond. He highlighted the enormous po-tential of the UK-India partnership, from easing the movement of people to slashing duties and tariffs on some of Britain's ma-jor exports.

For nearly four decades, all our trade deals were negotiated by the European Union. And, over the last five years, the UK's

Department for International Trade did an incredible job; it signed trade agreements with 66 non-EU countries and one with the EU. A remarkable achievement, which many thought would be impossible, said Bilimoria, the founder of Cobra Beer.

On top of this, the CBI, I am proud to say, has played a major role with helping with new trade agreements, such as with the UK- Australia FTA. This was followed by our FTA with New Zealand, and an enhanced trade partnership with India with a target to double bilateral trade by 2030. Formal nego-tiations with India-UK FTA are starting im-minently, he said.

Speaking ahead of his speech, the Lon-don-based entrepreneur and founding chair of the UK India Business Council (UKIBC) highlighted the areas of focus for the FTA, which the CBI as the industry representative

body for over 190,000 UK businesses will be involved with.

We are just scratching the surface with a country like India. India is the fifth largest economy in the world, emerging global eco-nomic superpower, we should be doing way more than GBP 24 billion bilateral trade, he said.

That FTA I hope will be a huge benefit in enhancing bilateral trade and very compre-hensive as comprehensive as possible. Move-ment of people; reduction of duties and tariffs the tariff on Scotch whisky is 150 per cent, that's got to be reduced drastically; academic collaborations and cross-border research is going to be huge between our countries; partnering on a Green industrial revolution. There is a vast array to really ramp up busi-ness and trade between our two countries, he added.

Germany faces grim COVID milestone with leadership in fluxEschweiler, Nov 24 (AP) Germany is set to mark 100,000 deaths from COVID-19 this week, passing a somber milestone that several of its neighbours crossed months ago but which Western Europe's most populous nation had hoped to avoid.

Teutonic discipline, a robust health care system and the rollout of multiple vaccines one of them homegrown were meant to stave off a winter surge of the kind that hit Germany last year.

Yet complacency and a national elec-tion, followed by a drawn-out govern-ment transition, saw senior politicians dangle the prospect of further lifting restrictions even as Germany's infection rate rose steadily this fall.

"Nobody had the guts to take the lead and announce unpopular measures, said Uwe Janssens, who heads the intensive care department at the St. Antonius hos-pital in Eschweiler, west of Cologne.

This lack of leadership is the reason we are here now, he said.

Doctors like Janssens are bracing for an influx of coronavirus patients as

confirmed cases hit fresh daily highs that experts say is also being fueled by vaccine skeptics.

Resistance to getting the shot in-cluding the one developed by German company Biontech together with its US partner Pfizer remains strong among a sizeable minority of the country.

Vaccination rates have stalled at 68 per cent of the population, far short of the 75 per cent or higher that the govern-ment had aimed for.

We've increasingly got younger peo-ple in intensive care, said Janssens.

"The amount of time they're treated is significantly longer and it blocks in-tensive care beds for a longer period.

Older people who got vaccinated early in 2021 are also seeing their immu-nity wear off, making them vulnerable to serious illness again, he said.

Echoing problems seen during the initial vaccine rollout, authorities have struggled to meet demand for boosters even as they tried to encourage holdouts to get their first shot.

Some German politicians are sug-

gesting it's time to consider a vaccine mandate, either for specific professions or for the population as a whole.

Austria took that step last week, an-nouncing COVID-19 shots will become compulsory for all starting in February

after seeing a similar reluctance to get vaccinated fuel fresh outbreaks and hos-pitalizations.

Germany's outgoing Chancellor An-gela Merkel said in June that she didn't favour such a measure.

Signaling a possible shift in posi-tion, Merkel summoned leaders from the three parties negotiating to form the next government for talks Tuesday at the chancellery to discuss the pandemic situation.

Merkel's likely successor, current Finance Minister Olaf Scholz of the center-left Social Democrats, has refused to be drawn on whether he would back compulsory COVID-19 shots.

Together with the environmentalist Greens and the pro-business Free Demo-crats, his party recently passed a law that replaces the existing legal founda-tions for pandemic restrictions with nar-rower measures, starting Wednesday.

These include a requirement for workers to provide their employers with proof of vaccination, recovery or a nega-tive test.

But the change also makes it harder for Germany's 16 governors to impose hard lockdowns without getting approv-al from state assemblies.

Getting those majorities may be hardest in those states where case num-

bers are highest. A recent study found infection rates are higher in areas where support is biggest for the far-right Al-ternative for Germany, a party that has campaigned against pandemic restric-tions.

Last week Saxony, an eastern state with the highest infection rates and where the Alternative for Germany is particularly strong, announced that cre-matoria would be allowed to operate on Sundays to cope with the higher-than-usual number of deaths.

Meanwhile, German authorities have activated an emergency system to coordinate the distribution of seriously ill patients across the country.

Earlier this month, two patients were taken from southern Germany to Italy for treatment, a significant change from last year, when Italian patients were being sent to German hospitals.

Germany boasted almost four times as many intensive care beds per capita as Italy had then, a factor that experts say was key to the low German death toll at the time.

US to require vaccines for all border crossers in January

President Joe Biden will require essen-tial, nonresident travelers crossing U.S.

land borders, such as truck drivers, govern-ment and emergency response officials, to be fully vaccinated beginning on Jan. 22, the administration planned to announce Tuesday.

A senior administration official said the requirement, which the White House previewed in October, brings the rules for essential travelers in line with those that took effect earlier this month for leisure travelers, when the U.S. reopened its bor-ders to fully vaccinated individuals.

Essential travelers entering by ferry will also be required to be fully vaccinated by the same date, the official said. The of-ficial spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity to preview the an-nouncement.

The rules pertain to non-U.S. nationals. American citizens and permanent residents may still enter the U.S. regardless of their vaccination status, but face additional test-ing hurdles.

South Korea sets pandemic high with 4,000 new virus cases

New coronavirus infections in South Ko-rea exceeded 4,000 in a day for the first

time since the start of the pandemic as a delta-driven spread continues to rattle the country after it eased social distancing in recent weeks to improve its economy.

The Korea Disease Control and Preven-tion Agency said most of the new 4,116 cases reported Wednesday came from the capital Seoul and its surrounding metropolitan re-gion, where an increase in hospitalisations has created fears about possible shortages in intensive care units.

The country's death toll is now 3,363 after 35 virus patients died in the past 24 hours. The 586 patients who are in serious or critical conditions also marked a new high.

South Korea is the latest country to see infections and hospitalisations rise af-ter loosening social distancing measures amid high vaccination rates. Cases are also climbing in the United States ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, while Aus-tria entered a major lockdown on Monday as a virus wave spreads across Europe.

Kashmir Tone 5Srinagar Thursday

25 November 2021WORLD

Europe is only region with more COVID, with 11% case rise

Geneva, Nov 24 (AP) The World Health Organiza-tion said that coronavirus cases jumped by 11 per cent in Europe in the last week, the only region in the world where COVID-19 has contin-ued to increase since mid-October.

In its weekly assessment of the pandemic released on Tuesday, the UN health agen-cy said cases and deaths glob-ally have risen by about 6 per cent, with about 3.6 million new infections and 51,00 new deaths reported in the previ-ous week.

WHO's Europe director Dr. Hans Kluge warned that without urgent measures tak-en soon, the continent could see another 700,000 deaths by the spring.

The European region re-mains in the firm grip of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kluge said, calling for countries to increase vaccination and to take other control measures like masking and social dis-tancing to avoid the last resort of lockdowns.

He noted that while more than 1 billion vaccine doses

have been administered across WHO's European re-gion, which stretches to cen-tral Asia, the range in vaccina-

tion coverage varies from 10 per cent to 80 per cent.

In the last week, Austria, the Netherlands and Belgium

have all adopted stricter mea-sures including partial lock-downs to try to stem the lat-est surge of the coronavirus.

Germany is also set to record more than 100,000 COVID-19 deaths this week, with some politicians now calling for a

vaccine mandate, like the one ordered in Austria.

Globally, WHO reported that COVID-19 in Southeast Asia and the Middle East dropped by 11 per cent and 9 per cent respectively.

The biggest decrease in coronavirus deaths in the last week was seen in Africa, where fatalities fell by 30 per cent, continuing a decreasing trend in COVID-19 that first began in late June.

Although cases remained stable in the Americas, WHO said the number of deaths rose by about 19 per cent.

The agency said the easier-to-spread delta variant remains the predominant ver-sion of COVID-19 globally. Of the more than 840,000 sequenc-es uploaded to the biggest publicly available database of viruses in the last week, about 99.8 per cent were the delta variant.

Other variants including mu, lambda and gamma made up fewer than 1 per cent al-though they continue to make up a significant proportion of sequences from Latin Ameri-ca. (AP)

WHO's Europe director Dr. Hans Kluge warned that without urgent measures taken soon, the continent could see another 700,000 deaths by the spring.

New Delhi, Nov 24: Former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Raghuram Rajan on Wednesday said that most of the existing cryptocurrencies will perish and only a handful of them may survive.

In an interaction, Rajan said that most cryptos have no permanent value, and only some with exist to provide payments, especially cross border payments.

“Of the 6,000 #cryptocurrencies, only 1 or 2 or a handful may survive,” he said.

Rajan further stated that a lot of people holding crypto assets are going to be ag-grieved with the Centre’s regulation bill, adding that most cryptos have value only because there is a greater fool out there willing to buy.

Citing the example of crypto markets in the US, the former RBI governor said: “In the US, crypto is a $2.5 trillion prob-lem that nobody really wants to regulate. In part, regulators don’t fully understand this industry and how to regulate it.”

Rajan’s comments come a day after the government said that it will introduce the much-talked-about bill to regulate and restrict cryptocurrency in the country.

The Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill seeks to ban all but a few private cryptocurrencies to promote underlying technologies while allowing an official digital currency by RBI.

The bill, if passed, would effectively ban people from transacting in most cryp-tocurrencies.

The announcement triggered heavy selling in the country’s digital currency markets, as investors look to exit posi-tions despite the losses, said traders and

investors.Several exchanges were facing deposit

and withdrawal challenges due to the high volume of selling, said cryptocurrency traders.

WazirX, one of India’s largest cryp-tocurrency exchanges, said earlier on its official Twitter account that it was inves-tigating reports that users were facing de-lays on its app and website. It later said the issue had been resolved.

There are an estimated 15 million to 20 million cryptocurrency investors in India, with total crypto holdings of around 400 billion rupees, according to industry estimates. There is no official data available on cyrptocurrency hold-ings and the user base.

New Delhi, Nov 24: Indian health insurance provider Star Health and Allied In-surance Co is aiming for a valuation of about $7 billion in its initial public offering, a banking source said on Wednesday.

Backed by ace Indian investor billionaire Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, it is look-ing to raise Rs 7,249 crore ($974.23 million) and has set a price band between Rs 870 and Rs 900 per share, accord-ing to a document from a bookrunner.

The offer will open for

subscription on Nov. 30 and comes as several firms, including prominent start-ups, go public to cash in on booming Indian stock mar-ket amid massive liquidity and increased retail investor participation.

If fully subscribed, Star Health’s IPO would be the third largest this year af-ter fintech firm Paytm and food-delivery firm Zomato, whose offerings raised $2.46 billion and $1.26 billion, re-spectively.

The proceeds will be used to improve the capital base

and maintain solvency levels, according to its prospectus.

The company’s shares are expected to be listed in

the Mumbai market around Dec. 10 and would make Star Health the first insurance provider to hit public mar-

kets since 2017.Investors will closely

watch its offer subscription as Paytm’s dismal debut last week has cast doubts on the upcom-ing IPOs and sparked concerns about overvaluation in the do-mestic equity market.

On Tuesday, Indian payments firm MobiKwik deferred its IPO plans, fol-lowing Paytm’s lackluster performance.

BofA Securities, Citi, Ko-tak Mahindra Capital and Axis Capital are among the book running lead managers to Star Health’s public offering.

New Delhi, Nov 24: Ipca Laboratories on Wednesday said that its board of di-rectors has approved the acquisition of 26.574% of the paid-up share capital of Lyka Labs for a cash consideration of Rs 97.89 crore.

The company’s board has also ap-proved entering into a joint manage-ment control agreement with the pro-moters of Lyka Labs.

Shares of Lyka Labs were locked in 5% upper circuit at Rs 135.60 on the BSE.

As per BSE bulk deals data, Ipca Lab-oratories purchased 17,74,142 shares (representing 6.184% stake) of Lyka Labs at an average price of Rs 126.11 per share on Wednesday.

Ipca Labs had acquired 10.50 lakh shares (representing 3.660% stake) of Lyka Labs via a bulk deal on the BSE on Monday (22 November 2021) at an average price of Rs 123 apiece.

In two sessions, Ipca Laboratories has acquired 28,24,142 equity share, rep-resenting 9.844% stake in Lyka Labs.

Lyka Labs said that IPCA Labs has received a letter on November 24, 2021

from its non-promoter public share-holders viz., Mayank J Shah, Shruti M Shah and Prasham M Shah offer-ing to sell in aggregate up to 48 lakh shares, representing 16.73% stake in the company, through stock exchange mechanism under block deal or normal market.

Consequent to the aforementioned acquisition of shares of Lyka Labs, IPCA Labs has also made a public an-nouncement to acquire 26% additional equity shares of Lyka Labs from its public shareholders.

The open offer to acquire 74,59,400 fully paid up equity shares, constitut-ing 26% of the issued, subscribed, paid up and voting share capital of Lyka Labs has been made at a price of Rs

130.50 per equity share.Lyka Labs is engaged in the manu-

facturing and marketing of injectables, lyophilized injectables and topical for-mulations. The major business of the company is from India and from rest of the world (ROW) markets. Products of the company are registered in several countries.

Ipca currently does not have any business directly from lyophilized in-jectables. Acquisition of this sharehold-ing will enable the company to enter into lucrative lyophilized injectables business in India and ROW markets.

Lyka will also immensely benefit from marketing expertise of IPCA Labs in the branded generic formulations business of the ROW markets of Africa, Latin America, South East Asia and the Middle East where it is currently not doing business.

Ipca is a pharmaceutical company with a strong thrust on exports which now account for 52% of company’s in-come. Ipca is vertically integrated and produces finished dosage forms and ac-tive pharmaceutical ingredients.

New Delhi, Nov 24 (PTI): The Income Tax Department has detected an estimated undisclosed income of Rs 400 crore after it raided two real estate groups based in Delhi and the national capi-tal region, the CBDT said on Wednesday.

The unidentified groups engaged in construction of commercial and residential projects were searched on November 17.

The Central Board of Di-rect Taxes (CBDT) said in a statement that the prelimi-nary analysis of the seized data found that the groups were receiving part of the sale consideration in cash against the sale of flats and such cash is not recorded in the books of accounts.

It claimed, there is a “large scale tax evasion” and due tax on such income has not been offered.

“The evidence gathered so far, prima facie, indicates that undisclosed income could be to the tune of about Rs 400 crore,” the statement said, adding Rs 10 crore cash was seized during the raids.

The CBDT said evidence gathered during the action indicated that unaccounted income that was earned was

routed into the business through non-descript and non-functional shell entities run by professional entry providers or employees/as-sociates of the group work-ing as directors.

“One of the groups has also been found to be us-ing a network of charitable organisations engaged in educational activities, pur-portedly for the purpose of tax evasion and financing its real estate business,” it said.

“Evidence has also been found showing that the books of accounts main-tained and produced before tax authorities are doctored by ‘reversal of payables’, ‘diminution of investment’ and ‘bad debts written- off’,” it said.

Certain instances of non-genuine claim of expenses by way of bogus purchases by connected parties from non-existent suppliers have also come to notice, the state-ment said.

It said certain “evidenc-es” of cash payments made to various parties towards securing land deals and oth-er contracts and making var-ious unaccounted expenses in real estate activities have also been unearthed.

Kolkata, Nov 24 (PTI): India has the potential to attain the top position in air travel in about a decade, Civil Aviation Minister Jy-otiraditya Scindia said on Wednesday, underlining the government’s commitment to pushing the sunrise sector to scale new heights.

The government, he said, is committed to im-proving connectivity on both regional and long haul international routes, and has set a target of raising the number of airports to 220 by 2025 from 136 at present.

“We have jumped from 74 airports in the last 70 years to 62 (more) airports in the last seven years. Now we have 136 airports. But that’s not where we are going to stop. We have a target of a total of 220 airports by 2025, and that include heliport and water ports. The task before us is gigantic. Tomor-row we are going to launch the Jewar airport (near Noida).

“If you look at what we have been able to achieve in the last 5-6 years from 2014-2019....the connectivity growth, civil aviation alone has (grown) 89 per cent, and that helped us in jumping from the seventh position in terms of travel numbers to almost fourth position in 2019. And mind you, we will be jumping to the number one position in the next dec-ade or so,” the union minis-ter told a virtual session of the Indian Chamber of Com-merce (ICC).

It has resulted in a whole new market opening up for connectivity and travel, he said, adding much of the growth in the civil aviation sector now will be driven by tier 2 and tier 3 cities as tier-1 cities have reached their maturity.

The minister said most metropolitan cities need a second airport.

“I am looking forward to a location for a second air-port in Kolkata. Our metro airports are almost burst-ing at the seams... I think we need to look at the new air-ports at all the metros. We are already in the process of a second airport in Delhi and Mumbai. We also need to do that in other cities including Kolkata,” he said.

“We have set strong tar-gets over the next 100 days....from either laying the foun-dation stone of or inaugu-rating five new airports, six new heliports and 50 new UDAN routes by December or so. Proliferating the last mile connectivity is our tar-get. I think that is fundamen-tal and key to the growth of civil aviation,” he said.

The minister said con-nectivity is not just about bringing people close togeth-er and driving the economy.

“Two paradigms have changed....from globalisa-tion to hyper localisation, and reaching your destina-tion in the shortest possible time. Connectivity has be-come the driver of growth. Civil aviation is in its sun-rise phase,” he said.

Scindia said the sector is going to see huge growth, at least in the foreseeable next two decades. However, it can be achieved only if all stake-holders work in unison, he said, urging the private sec-tor and state governments, too, to join in the effort.

He underscored the need for tapping the potential of civil helicopter space.

Mumbai, Nov 24 (PTI): The rupee recovered its ini-tial losses and settled 2 paisa up at 74.40 against the US dollar on Wednesday, ahead of the release of the minutes of the latest Federal Reserve meeting.

At the interbank fo-rex market, the local unit opened on a weak note at 74.53 against the greenback and witnessed an intra-day high of 74.31 and a low of 74.54.

It finally ended at 74.40 against the American cur-rency, registering a gain of just 2 paise over its previous close of 74.42.

According to Emkay Global Financial Services, the forex market is stuck in a lacklustre trading range, with focus being on Fed minutes and a slew of United States economic data.

New Delhi, Nov 24: In what would be a major reform for the telecom sector, the gov-ernment has started work on having annual auction of spectrum to ensure that the industry has enough sup-plies of the airwaves. The government is also working on a proposal of having real-time spectrum trading, on the lines of trading of elec-tricity.

Top sources within the government said that the matter of liberalised spec-trum norms was discussed “at the ministry level and also at the PM’s review of the telecom sector”, and thereaf-ter a reference has also been sent to sector regulator Trai.

Importantly, the pro-posal of annual auctions comes within two months of the government’s announce-ment of a bailout-cum-relief package for the telecom industry. Under this, the companies were given a new regime of lower taxes, longer

spectrum holdings (from 20 years to 30 years in future sale), comfortable bank guarantees, and easier air-wave surrender norms.

The idea of having an-nual spectrum auctions during pre-decided months is being considered with a timeline of fiscal 2023-24, as the government wants the industry to be assured of regular supplies. This would be crucial as technological

advancements happen at a rapid pace and the need for airwaves may go up in view of new applications around internet of things (IoT), aug-mented and virtual reality (AR/VR), smart factories, autonomous driving, and immersive education and medical facilities.

“If the industry is as-sured of regular availability of spectrum, then there will be no mad rush to buy the

airwaves at astronomical costs at the time of auctions, as has happened previously. Some of the earlier sales have seen companies go overboard during the bidding and there-after hamper their financial positions, which has led to the deterioration of the health of the industry,” one of the sources said.

The government feels that to facilitate easier mi-gration to new technolo-gies such as 5G and even higher upgrades, spectrum should be made available in adequate quantities and at regular intervals. “A refer-ence to Trai, seeking its recommendations on is-sues involved in auction of spectrum in different bands available for assignment to telecom companies, has been sent in September. We expect movement on this front over the coming months as Trai comes out with its set of recommenda-tions and suggestions.”

Mumbai, Nov 24 (PTI): The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is looking at using smart-phones as “universal au-thenticator” to establish a resident’s identity, a top of-ficial said on Wednesday.

At present, finger prints, iris and one-time password (OTP) are used for authen-tication and efforts are on to increase the scope of the same, its chief executive Saurabh Garg said, address-ing the ‘ETBFSI Converge’ summit.

“We are looking at how the smartphone can develop

as a universal authenticator. That is an area of work that is ongoing and we hope we will be able to proceed rap-idly in that direction. It will help people to do authentica-tion right from where they are living, staying etc,” Garg said.

He said at present, of the overall 120 crore mobile connections, 80 crore are smartphones which could be used for the authentica-tion. However, no additional details were shared on how the process of identification can get complete using the smartphone.

Garg said privacy and data security are important for the authority, and added

that the Aadhar number is on its way to becoming a “single identity which is

universally available and authenticable”.

Aadhar and the direct benefit transfers done using the number have helped the government save Rs 2 lakh crore by plugging leakages and duplication, he said.

The banking and the tel-ecom industry have rapidly adopted the Aadhar number for fulfilling the know-your-customer norms, he said, adding that 70 crore or half of the overall bank accounts are seeded with Aadhar.

However, the number of pension accounts (3 crore) and mutual fund holders

(around 10 crore) is very less and those industries should make use of the facilities of-fered by Aadhar to rapidly expand coverage, Garg said.

He said the UIDAI has now decreased charges for full KYC to Rs 3 per authen-tication and 50 paise for a simple ‘yes or no’ authenti-cation in order to drive up the usage.

At present, there are 130 crore Aadhar cards, covering 99.5 per cent of the country’s population, he said, adding that efforts are on to get the remaining 0.5 per cent of the residents into the fold.

New Delhi, Nov 24: Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said that the Centre’s mission is to in-crease the turnover of the automobile industry to Rs 15 lakh crore within the next five years.

“The current turnover of the automobile sector of the country is Rs 7.5 lakh crore, out of which Rs 3 crore is export. My aim is to make the auto industry to the volume of Rs 15 lakh crore within the next five year, “ Gadkari said as he inaugurated Maruti Suzuki and Toyota Tsusho Group’s government-approved scrap-ping in Greater Noida.

Recently, Prime Min-ister Narendra Modi at the COP26 summit said India is aiming for net zero carbon

emissions by 2070.Gadkari said that for

this purpose, the govern-ment was encouraging the usage of CNG, LNG, green hydrogen, ethanol fuels and electric vehicles.

“Our current import of fossil fuel is currently Rs 8 lakh crores and it will reach Rs 25 lakh crores in the next five years. We are working constantly on the diversi-fication of agriculture to-wards energy and power sec-tors. Flex engines are being used in US, Brazil and Can-ada, where they use 100 per cent petrol or 100 per cent ethanol. Bioethanol is a fuel that comes from sugarcane and molasses. The govern-ment has given permission to make bioethanol from rice, corn and foodgrains.

The government has taken the decision to open etha-nol pumps just like petrol pumps. It is a win-win situ-ation for all stakeholders. It can help in tackling pollu-tion and it is also good for the tribal, agricultural areas of the country,” he added.

He termed the launching of the scrapping unit and the vehicle scrapping policy as ‘historic’.

“The vehicle scrap-

ping policy is extremely important for our ecology and economy. It will reduce pollution generated by old vehicles. Through scraping, raw materials like alumin-ium, steel, copper etc will be available at lower costs which will also reduce the production cost of the vehi-cle. Raw material costs can be reduced by at least 33 per cent. It will reduce our de-pendence on imports as we

still import materials like al-uminium, copper and many other things. The industry’s issue of shortage of semi-conductors will be resolved by this policy,” he said.

He remarked that the policy will help in convert-ing ‘waste’ into ‘wealth’.

He also said that the vehicle scrapping policy will generate at least 2 lakh jobs directly and will boost the sales of automobiles. “Through the vehicle sales, incremental GST revenue worth Rs 30,000-40,000 lakh crore is also generated, which is beneficial for the govern-ment as well,” he added.

Gadkari said that the government aims to set up at least 4 scrapping centres in every district, with at least two in backward areas.

Presenting the Union Budget 2021-22, Finance Min-ister Nirmala Sitharaman on February 1 announced a vol-untary vehicle scrapping pol-icy to phase out old and unfit vehicles under which the per-sonal vehicles will undergo a fitness test in automated cen-tres after 20 years while the commercial vehicles will un-dergo the test after 15 years.

Talking about green hy-drogen production, he said that the government has start-ed a mission to support manu-facturers in producing it.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 15, the occa-sion of the 75th Independence Day of the country, announced the National Hydrogen Mis-sion with an aim to make India a hub for the production and export of green hydrogen.

Most cryptos will perish, only a handful

currencies may survive: Raghuram Rajan

Jhunjhunwala-backed Star Health looking to raise Rs 7k cr via IPO

Ipca Labs’ board approves acquisition of over 26% stake in Lyka Labs

I-T dept says found Rs 400 cr black income at 2 Delhi-NCR realty firms

India has potential to soar to No. 1 slot in air travel by

next decade: Scindia

Rupee settles 2 paise up at 74.40

against USD

Govt eyes annual spectrum auctions, real-time trading

UIDAI working to make smartphones as “universal authenticator”: CEO

Target is to take turnover of auto sector to Rs 15 trn in 5 years: Gadkari

Kashmir Tone 6Srinagar | Thursday

25 November 2021BUSINESS

ari

Kashmir Tone 7Srinagar | Thursday25 November 2021NEWS

FROM THE FRONT PAGE....

TRF...encounters in last two years that

is lowest collateral damage in last

three decades,” he said.

Govt...The Lt Governor observed that

the tribal-centric reforms and

policies that the government is

implementing on the ground for

the socio-economic development of

the tribal community will fulfill the

dreams of this community, while

keeping their unique culture, lan-

guages and traditions alive.

“Culture not only enriches indi-

vidual’s life but also strengthens

community. It is the need of the

hour to preserve and promote rich

tribal cultural heritage”, he added.

On the occasion, the Lt Gov-

ernor announced that the state

helicopter will be deployed for the

tribal population during medical

emergencies. ‘This will help in

timely diagnosis and treatment

for the needy patients’, he added.

While highlighting the reforms

introduced by the government

for the welfare and interest of the

Tribal community, the Lt Gover-

nor said that comprehensive strat-

egy has been developed for mod-

ernizing the requisite infrastruc-

ture and providing public services

in tribal dominated areas.

Under the guidance of the

Hon'ble Prime Minister, the J&K

Government is working relent-

lessly to usher in a new dawn of

social equality by implementing

the rights of this deprived section

guaranteed by the Constitution

and the Parliament of the country,

he added.

The Lt Governor noted that

through several interventions

like Tribal Tourist Villages, clus-

ters of Tribal Self Help Groups,

Tribal model and milk villages,

promoting Minor forest products

and more such programs of Mis-

sion Youth, the UT Government

is paving a strong foundation for

progress and growth of the pres-

ent and the future generations of

the Tribal community by connect-

ing them with the mainstream of

development.

To provide institutional support

to all scholars and thinkers work-

ing on tribal culture and civiliza-

tion, Tribal Research Institute is

being set up in the UT, he added.

The Lt Governor said that the

government is establishing Tran-

sit Accommodation at 8 different

places costing Rs 28 crore, for the

convenience of the tribal popula-

tion during their seasonal migra-

tion.

The Lt Governor also informed

that more than 4,500 tribal com-

munity youth have been made

entrepreneurs through mini sheep

farms and dairy units within three

months, exceeding the target of

3,000.

Farooq Khan, Advisor to Lt Gov-

ernor, in his address, termed the

occasion as one of its kind which

brought together all the tribal

communities on a single plat-

form. He congratulated the Tribal

Affairs Department for working

day and night for implementation

of schemes and policies on the

ground.

Dr. Arun Kumar Mehta, Chief

Secretary, while speaking on the

occasion, highlighted the ground-

breaking decisions taken by the

government for the welfare of

the tribal communities. The UT

administration will ensure that

every facility including education,

health, sports, banking, skill devel-

opment reaches the tribal popula-

tion across J&K, he added.

Dr. Shahid Iqbal Choudhary,

Administrative Secretary, Tribal

Affairs Department delivered

the welcome address and gave a

detailed overview of the various

activities organized to mark the

‘Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas’.

A documentary - “An introduc-

tion to Tribal groups of J&K” and

Tribal music & dance performanc-

es were the main highlights of the

occasion.

Prof. Manoj Kumar Dhar, Vice

Chancellor, University of Jammu;

Anshul Garg, Deputy Commission-

er Jammu; PRI representatives;

Javaid Rahi, writer and Tribal

Research scholar; senior officers

and a large number of Tribal com-

munity members attended the cer-

emony.

Mulls...not paying heed to the requests

regarding the judicious use of the

power.

“We had appealed to people to

use electricity judiciously espe-

cially during morning and evening

hours,” he said, adding that every

house is using 5-6KV electricity

regularly, which leads to the extra

curtailment. “Against the agree-

ment of 860KV, the department is

supplying 1400KV, thus the KPDCL

is supplying double power to the

consumers,” he said.

“As compared to previous year,

we have been planning to ensure

less power curtailment this year.

In this regard, a fresh plan is being

implemented on a trial basis. The

metered areas will witness nearly

four hours curtailment in a day

while the metered will witness

nearly 6 hours curtailment. There

is a possibility of more than 6 hours

curtailment at isolated places

where the usage remains too high,”

he said.

The Chief Engineer also stated

that inspite of the relentless inspec-

tions; the people don’t refrain from

the wrong doings, adding that the

KPDCL is trying its best to ensure

adequate electricity, but the people

are not cooperating at all.

“We have also decided to sus-

pend all the maintenance works to

put an end to the power shutdowns.

The works have been suspended

till January end to ensure a better

power scenario to the people,”

Chief Engineer KPDCL said.

Pertinently, people have been

complaining of unscheduled power

cuts since last couple of weeks

and stated that they are facing

immense hardships in absence of

the adequate electricity.

Disposal...officials said.

According to a Home Ministry

notification, an additional secre-

tary rank officer will be the chair-

man of the committee while there

will be five members from different

central government wings besides

a member secretary.

The move is seen as a fresh

effort by the government to mon-

etise the vast assets left behind by

people who left India during parti-

tion and after the 1962 war.

A total of 12,485 enemy proper-

ties were left behind by those who

took up Pakistani citizenship,

while 126 enemy properties were

left behind by those who took up

Chinese citizenship.

The highest number of enemy

properties were found in Uttar

Pradesh (6,255 properties), followed

by West Bengal (4,088 properties),

Delhi (658), Goa (295), Maharash-

tra (207), Telangana (158), Gujarat

(151), Tripura (105) and Bihar (94).

The committee will give its rec-

ommendation to the central gov-

ernment for the disposal of enemy

property or the manner in which

the enemy property may be dealt

with and matters connected there-

with.

The recommendations may

include sale, usage by a central gov-

ernment department or transfer of

enemy property.

So far, movable properties

worth about Rs 2,700 crore have

been disposed of and the amount

has been deposited in the consoli-

dated fund of India account.

However, no immovable enemy

property has been sold so far.

The notification said that an

additional secretary in the Min-

istry of Home Affairs (MHA) will

be the chairman of the committee

while members include the Finan-

cial Advisor in the MHA, a joint

secretary in the MHA, a joint sec-

retary in the Department of Disin-

vestment and Public Asset, a joint

secretary or equivalent in the Min-

istry of Law and Justice and the

chief engineer of the CPWD.

The Custodian of the Enemy

Property for India will be the mem-

ber-secretary.

Earlier, the custodian of the

Enemy Property for India was a

member while the joint secretary

in the MHA dealing with enemy

property matters was the member

secretary.

Enemy properties are vested

with the Custodian of Enemy Prop-

erty for India (CEPI), an authority

created under the Enemy Property

Act 1968.

According to the law, enemy

property refers to any property

belonging to, held or managed on

behalf of an enemy, an enemy sub-

ject or an enemy firm.

Major...people should take care of these

thing while using heating appli-

ances,” he said.

Lotus said that people should

turn off their heating appliances

before going to sleep as recently

there was an incident of death due

to suffocation in Ganderbal.

Meanwhile, a day after Srinagar

recorded the season's coldest night

so far, the minimum temperatures

rise in the summer capital and else-

where in Kashmir Valley.

The meteorological department

official said that mercury settled

at 0.3°C against previous night’s

minus 1.7°C which happened to

be the coldest low temperature

recorded so far this season.

Qazigund recorded a minimum

temperature of minus 0.6°C against

minus 2.2°C on the previous night,

he said. It was minus 0.7°C below

normal for the gateway town of

Kashmir, the official said.

Pahalgam, the famous resort in

south Kashmir, recorded a low of

minus 2.0°C against minus 4.4°C on

previous night and it remained the

coldest place across J&K.

Kokernag, also in south Kash-

mir, recorded a low of minus 0.1°C

against minus 1.1°C on previous

night and normal of 0.6°C, the offi-

cial said.

Kupwara town in north Kash-

mir recorded a low of minus 0.3°C

against minus 3.0°C on the previ-

ous night, the official said.

Gulmarg, the world famous

skiing resort in north Kashmir,

recorded a minimum of 0.0°C

against minus 3.0°C on the previ-

ous night, the official said.

Ladakh’s Leh recorded a low

of minus 7.1°C against last night’s

minus 8.5°C while Kargil town

recorded a low of minus 2.6°C.

Drass in Kargil, the second cold-

est place in the world after Siberia,

recorded a low of minus 8.7°C, the

official said.

Gadkari...the occasion said that the UT of

J&K has a huge tourism potential

which will finally reap the benefits

of upcoming modern road infra-

structure projects. These projects

will prove as an important lifeline

for the development of the indus-

trial sector too, he added.

“The construction of these road

projects will save time and fuel.

New employment opportunities

will be created in Jammu & Kash-

mir, tourism of the region will get a

boost, and social & economic devel-

opment of the people of the region

will be accelerated”, he remarked.

Observing that under the lead-

ership of Hon’ble Prime Minister

Shri Narendra Modi, the central

government is committed to the

all round development of Jammu

and Kashmir, the Union Minister

assured that road network works

worth Rs One lakh crore within

next two years will give a boost to

the socio-economic development

of J&K.

Addressing the gathering, the Lt

Governor expressed his gratitude

to the Union Minister for Road,

Transport & Highways for laying

the foundation of 25 new National

Highway projects and taking keen

interest in the continuous strength-

ening of road infrastructure across

the region.

On the occasion, the Lt Gov-

ernor also secured inclusion of

06 more road projects for Jammu

and 01 project for Kashmir divi-

sion under National Highways and

Bharatmala category. The inclu-

sion of 06 Road projects in Jammu

division will give a massive push

to the economic growth and indus-

trial development, besides tapping

the tourism potential in the region.

These newly included road

projects are: Kathua-Basholi-Bani-

Bhaderwah-Doda (170 KM); Doda-

Bhaderwah-Chamba (Himachal)

Road (132 KM); Dayalachak-Chal-

lan-Billawar-Mahanpur-Basohli

Road(118 KM); Tawi Bridge-Jam-

mu Airport-Miran Sahib-R.S.Pura

Suchetgarh (Old Jammu-Sialkot

Road) (29 KM); Surankote-Bafliaz-

Shopian-Srinagar (Mughal Road)

(145 KM); Atholi(Kishtwar)-Mach-

ail-Zanskar Road (Kargil); Narabal-

Tangmarg-Gulmarg-Baramulla (70

KM).

Underscoring that robust road

network and modern transporta-

tion is the key to economic growth,

prosperity of the region and trans-

formation in every sphere of life,

the Lt Governor said that the foun-

dations of Rs 11,721 crore National

Highways projects laid by the

Hon’ble Union Minister, besides 07

new projects will pave the way for

sustainable development in J&K.

“The new mega road projects

will open up new livelihood ave-

nues for the local population and

enhancing tourism & business

activities, besides strengthening

the strategic grid by ensuring all

weather connectivity”, the Lt Gov-

ernor added.

The Lt Governor said that the

25 National Highway projects will

connect all the villages of Udham-

pur, Doda, Jammu, Kathua, uplift-

ing thousands of small and big

businesses.

“I am confident that these proj-

ects will prove to be an important

economic lifeline and highways

of progress and prosperity for

Jammu division”, observed the Lt

Governor.

The Lt Governor said that after

the abrogation of Article 370 in

2019, the execution of new roads,

tunnels and other basic Infra-

structure has gained huge push to

ensure the overall development of

the UT of J&K under the dynamic

leadership of Hon’ble Prime Minis-

ter Narendra Modi.

The Lt Governor also noted that

the progress of construction of new

roads have been doubled across the

J&K under the guidance of Union

Minister, Nitin Gadkari.

Noting that roads are now being

built at twice the speed as before,

the Lt Governor said that there has

been a radical change in its prog-

ress under Pradhan Mantri Gram

Sadak Yojana. Last year, 2402 km

of road was constructed under

PMGSY in Jammu division. Since

August 2019, taking into account

the figures of October 2021, 3885

kms length of road has been built

under PMGSY in Jammu division

alone. 109 projects have been com-

pleted in Jammu division at a cost

of Rs 455 crore, including 14 bridg-

es. Apart from this, 9 bridges worth

Rs 19 crores have been completed

under various other schemes, he

added.

The Lt Governor said that

infrastructure development and

raising the standard of living of

the common man is an important

part of the overall economic pri-

orities of the GoI and the J&K UT

government. Now macadamisation

of the road is also taking place at

double or triple times the speed

as compared to earlier. In 2019,

2290 km of road was blacktopped,

while last year, 5136 km of road was

macadamized. This year a target of

macadamisation of 8000 km of road

has been set, he added.

Union MoS (I/c), Ministry of Sci-

ence &Technology, Earth Sciences,

MoS PMO, Ministry of Personnel,

Public Grievances and Pensions,

Department of Atomic Energy

and Space, Dr. Jitendra Singh also

addressed the gathering and said

that this is the historic day for the

Chenab region that 25 new NH proj-

ects are launched. He said that the

central government has framed a

separate road map for the develop-

ment of the UT and to accelerate

the developmental scenario, new

bridges, roads, tunnels are being

built on war footing involving

thousands of crores.

He said that the Union govern-

ment is giving special focus to the

areas which were neglected in the

last seven decades by the earlier

political parties. He said the pres-

ent dispensation has established

a new political culture by execut-

ing projects as per the demands

and requirements of the people

to ensure equitable and inclusive

development in Jammu & Kash-

mir.

Dhananter Singh, DDC Chair-

person Doda; Pooja Thakur DDC

Chairperson Kishtwar; Rajeev Rai

Bhatnagar, Advisor to the Lt Gov-

ernor; Shailendra Kumar, Princi-

pal Secretary to the Government,

Public Works (R&B) Department;

Mukesh Singh, ADGP Jammu;

Dr Raghav Langer, Divisional

Commissioner Jammu, besides

PRI members, former legislators,

besides key officials of Police and

Civil administration and a large

number of people were present on

the occasion.

Chief...healthcare, transport, and hand-

icraft sectors have contributed to

approximately 20% of the total

registrations. Other sectors with

high registration tally are tourism,

retail, domestic help, manufactur-

ing, etc.

Regarding the ease of access

to benefits under social security

schemes for construction work-

ers it was informed that through

the unique ID generated on the

e-Shram portal, the registration

information can be accessed by

multiple departments and agencies

for ensuring timely disbursement

of benefits to the verified benefi-

ciaries.

The Chief Secretary asked the

Department to register all the eli-

gible workers including the tem-

porarily engaged workers in the

Government sector; on the portal

and extend the benefits of workers’

welfare schemes to them within

one month.

Further, Dr. Mehta asked the

Department to focus on register-

ing the unorganized workers

being engaged under MGNREGA

scheme as well as various Self Help

Groups and cover them under the

blanket of workers’ related welfare

schemes.

To facilitate the registration on

the e-Shram portal, the Department

was asked to arrange the registra-

tion facilities across all Common

Service Centres of Jammu and

Kashmir, besides the district offic-

es of the Labour Department.

Cabinet...three laws," Information and

Broadcasting Minister Anurag

Thakur told reporters.

Thakur, however, did not reply

to queries related to setting up of a

committee to study minimum sup-

port price (MSP) and other farm

issues as announced by the Prime

Minister.

The winter session of Parlia-

ment will commence on November

29 and conclude on December 23.

The three laws to be repealed

are -- Farmers' Produce Trade and

Commerce (Promotion and Facili-

tation) Act; The Farmers (Empow-

erment and Protection) Agreement

of Price Assurance and Farm Ser-

vices Act; and The Essential Com-

modities (Amendment) Act.

Later, Agriculture Minister

Narendra Singh Tomar tweeted

that the Cabinet's approval in the

very first meeting after the Prime

Minister's announcement is a sign

of the uniformity of his "words and

deeds".

The repeal of these three leg-

islations has been one of the key

demands of around 40 farmer

unions protesting against these

reforms for nearly a year now.

These laws, which are under

suspension following a Supreme

Court order in January this year,

had triggered widespread protests

by thousands of farmers, mainly

from Punjab, Haryana and western

Uttar Pradesh, at Delhi borders.

The protest, which started at the

fag-end of November 2020, is still

continuing.

On November 21, the Samyukta

Kisan Morcha (SKM) -- the joint

body of farmer unions leading the

current protests -- had written to

the Prime Minister to immediately

resume talks on the farmers' six

demands, including legal guaran-

tee for procurement of crops at

MSP.

The other demands were sack-

ing and arrest of Union Minister

of State for Home Ajay Mishra in

connection with the Lakhimpur

Kheri incident, withdrawal of

cases against farmers and build-

ing of a memorial for those who

lost their lives during the agitation.

They also sought removal of

penal provisions on farmers in the

'Commission for Air Quality Man-

agement in the National Capital

Region and Adjoining Areas Act

2021' and withdrawal of the draft

'Electricity Amendments Bill,

2020/2021' proposed by the govern-

ment.

SKM had said it would continue

their planned protests, including

a march to Parliament on Novem-

ber 29, to mark the one year of anti-

farm law protests.

The Farmers' Produce Trade

and Commerce (Promotion and

Facilitation) Act is aimed at giving

freedom to farmers to sell their pro-

duce outside the mandis.

The Farmers (Empowerment

and Protection) Agreement of Price

Assurance and Farm Services Act

is to provide cultivators the right

to enter into a contract with agri-

business firms, processors, whole-

salers, exporters, or large retailers

for the sale of future farming pro-

duce at a pre-agreed price.

The Essential Commodities

(Amendment) Act was implement-

ed to remove commodities like

cereals, pulses, oilseeds, onion, and

potatoes from the list of essential

commodities and also do away with

the imposition of stock holding

limits on such items, except under

'extraordinary circumstances'.

Govt...ration card holders for four months

till March 2022, a decision that will

cost an additional Rs 53,344 crore to

the exchequer.

Free foodgrains under the

PMGKAY scheme, which was

announced in March last year to

provide relief to poor people during

the COVID pandemic, is over and

above the normal quota provided

under the National Food Security

Act (NFSA) at a highly subsidised

rate of Rs 2-3 per kilogram.

Briefing about the decision, I&B

Minister Anurag Thakur said

the Cabinet has extended the

PMGKAY programme by four

months till March 2022.

This will cost an additional Rs

53,344 crore to the exchequer, he

said, adding that the total cost of

PMGKAY would reach about Rs

2.6 lakh crore, including all five

phases of this ongoing programme.

In the wake of economic disrup-

tions caused by the unprecedented

outbreak of COVID-19 in the coun-

try last year, the government had

in March 2020 announced the dis-

tribution of additional free-of-cost

foodgrains (rice/wheat) to about 80

crore National Food Security Act

(NFSA) beneficiaries

The Phase-I and Phase-II of this

scheme were operational from

April to June 2020 and July to

November 2020, respectively.

The Phase-III of the scheme was

operational from May to June

2021, while Phase-IV of the scheme

is currently operational for July-

November, 2021.

"The PMGKAY scheme for Phase V

from December 2021 till March 2022

would entail an estimated addi-

tional food subsidy of Rs 53,344.52

crore," an official statement said.

The total outgo in terms of

foodgrains for PMGKAY Phase V is

likely to be about 163 lakh tonnes.

So far, under the PM-GKAY (phase

I to IV), the Centre has allocated

a total of almost 600 lakh tonnes

of foodgrains to the states/UTs,

equivalent to about Rs 2.07 lakh

crore in food subsidy.

"Overall, the government will be

incurring an expenditure of nearly

Rs.2.60 lakh crore in PMGKAY

Phase I- V," the statement said.

As per the reports from the

states/UTs so far, 93.8 per cent of

foodgrains have been lifted.

Nearly 37.32 lakh tonnes (93.9 per

cent of July 2021), 37.20 lakh tonnes

(93.6 per cent of August 2021), 36.87

lakh tonnes (92.8 per cent of Sep-

tember 2021), 35.4 lakh tonnes (89

per cent of October 2021), and 17.9

lakh tonnes (45 per cent of Novem-

ber 2021) foodgrains have been dis-

tributed to about 74.64 crore, 74.4

crore, 73.75 crore, 70.8 crore and

35.8 crore beneficiaries, respec-

tively.

BSF...commandant level border meet-

ing was held between BSF and Pak-

istan Rangers at the International

border of BOP Octroi.

“BSF delegation was led by

Ajay Suryavanshi, Commandant

and the Pakistan delegation was

led by Wing commander Lt. Col

Aquil of 13 Wing Chenab Rangers.

During the meeting commander

of both border guarding forces dis-

cussed various issues including

maintenance of border pillars and

latest infrastructure activities on

border, Pakistan Drone operations

and other activities,” the spokes-

man said, adding that the Paki-

stani Rangers objected to the BSF

defence construction work. “Both

commanders also agreed to resolve

all operational matters and border

issues through mutual understand-

ing,” the statement said.

It said that a strong protest was

lodged by BSF regarding violation

of IB by Pakistan based drones

and also apprised the Pakistani

commander to refrain from such

activities.

“The meeting was held in a cor-

dial & constructive atmosphere

and both commanders agreed to

work for maintaining a peaceful

atmosphere on the border,” the

statement added.

Doda...to expedite the pace of ongoing

works and complete the process

of construction within stipulated

time period. He asked the officer

to handover the buildings which

have been completed so that they

can be made functional and used

for the required purpose. Advisor

Bhatnagar further delved upon

the officers to carry regular visit

to construction site so that the

progress of work can be assessed

and monitored on regular basis

and quality of work is maintained.

While taking stock of basic facil-

ities in the GMC building, the Advi-

sor directed the XEN PHE and XEN

PDD to take up the matter on prior-

ity and provide the basic facilities

of water and electricity in the GMC

at the earliest.

Centre...states, prevalence of ILI/SARI

and respiratory distress symptoms

should be closely monitored, with

tests being conducted regularly for

timely monitoring and clustering

of cases for early hotspot identifica-

tion, the official underlined.

"In the absence of sustained

levels of sufficient testing, it is very

difficult to determine the true level

of infection spread in a geography.

With a majority of countries seeing

multiple surges in Covid cases in

recent times and a few developed

countries facing even fourth and

fifth waves despite high levels of

Covid vaccination, there is a need

for continued vigil given the unpre-

dictable and contagious nature of

the disease.

"Hence, all efforts must be

implemented to preserve the gains

made so far and to prevent deterio-

ration of COVID-19 scenario across

the country," the secretary said.

All the 13 states and UTs have

been given the same advice though

each letter mentions state-specific

testing details of particular dis-

tricts and positivity rates.

Cases...174 new cases, 149 belong to Kash-

mir division while as 25 are from

Jammu division, adding that the

total number of positive cases in

Kashmir division have reached to

211,017 including 207,298 recover-

ies and 2,282 deaths while as total

number of positive cases in Jammu

division have reached to 124,864

including 122,433 recoveries and

2,184 deaths

The officials said that the total

number of active cases in Jammu

and Kashmir are 1,684 including

1,437 from Kashmir division and

247 from Jammu division.

With 135 more recoveries, the tally

of total recoveries in Jammu and

Kashmir has reached 329,731 which

is 98.17 percent of the total cases.

“Cases tested positive in J&K

include 58 from Srinagar, 43 from

Baramulla, 18 from Budgam, 00

from Pulwama, 11 from Kupwara,

03 from Anantnag, 08 from Bandi-

pora, 07 from Ganderbal, 00 from

Kulgam and 01 from Shopian in

Kashmir division while as 25 from

Jammu division include 11 from

Jammu, 01 from Udhampur, 05

from Rajouri, 02 from Doda, 00

from Kathua, 00 from Samba, 04

from Kishtwar, 01 from Poonch, 00

from Ramban and 01 from Reasi,"

officials disclosed.

Meanwhile, authorities on

Wednesday said that no fresh cases

of Mucormycosis popularly known

as black fungus was reported in the

UT and tally stands at 49.

As per officials figures, 76,953 posi-

tive cases including 862 deaths

and 75,510 recoveries are from

Srinagar, 25,257 including 286

deaths and 24,616 recoveries are

from Baramulla, 24,105 including

23,796 recoveries and 210 deaths

are from Budgam, 15,581 including

15,336 recoveries and 194 deaths are

from Pulwama, 14,694 including 166

deaths and 14,411 recoveries are

from Kupwara, 16,661 including

16,435 recoveries and 205 deaths are

from Anantnag, 9,954 cases includ-

ing 9,790 and 104 deaths are from

Bandipora, 10,695 including 10,473

recoveries and 79 deaths are from

Ganderbal, 11,505 including 11,380

recoveries and 117 deaths are from

Kulgam and 5,612 including 5,551

recoveries and 59 deaths are from

Shopian.

In Jammu division, 53,571 includ-

ing 52,290 recoveries and 1,151

deaths are from Jammu district,

11,432 including 11,289 recoveries

and 137 deaths are from Udham-

pur, 11,315 including 11,057 recov-

eries and 238 deaths are from

Rajouri, 7,915 including 7,766 recov-

eries and 133 deaths are from Doda,

9,346 including 9,188 recoveries and

152 deaths are from Kathua, 7,163

including 7,041 recoveries and

120 deaths are from Samba, 4,826

including 4,776 recoveries and 44

deaths are from Kishtwar, 6,514

including 6,404 recoveries and

98 deaths are from Poonch, 6,054

including 5,984 recoveries and 67

deaths are from Ramban and 6,728

including 6,638 recoveries and 43

deaths are from Reasi.

Kashmir...long routes.”

The official said that they expect

more arrivals by February end. “At

present, we have around one lakh

migratory birds at Hokersar wet-

lands and another land at Hygam

while there are over 50,000 migrato-

ry birds at Shallbugh bird reserve.

In other lakes and bird habitats

of Kashmir, there are over a lakh

birds present,” he said.

He said that there are hundreds

of migratory birds also present

at Chatlum and also some 30,000

Wular Lake. In Dal Lake, there are

over a lakh migratory birds,” the

official said.

Wild life warden for Wetland

division Kashmir , Ifshan Dewan

said that at Hokersar there are

over a lakh migratory birds pres-

ent. “This time there are 10 to 20

rare bird species that have arrived.

Bird lovers and bird watchers have

identified the new guests along

with our staff and we are analys-

ing their nature and habitat etc,”

she said.

She said that the migratory

birds include new guests that are

Sharpe tailed sandpiper, Glossy

ibis, Dunlin, red necked phala-

rope, yellow hammer, tundra

swan, black tailed godwit, bar

tailed godwit, spotted redshank,

Kentish plover, Pacific Golden

plover, lasser sand plover, terrek

sandpiper, curlew sandpiper, Ruff ,

common redshank, common green-

shank , jack snipe , pin tailed snipe

, common snipe , little stint etc.

She said that a bird watcher

Riyan Sofi is working hard along

with the wetland staff to identify

new guests in Kashmir wetlands.

On poaching, she said that special

teams have been constituted to pre-

vent poaching.

BJP...would be restored. As situation

is getting back on track, so the res-

toration of statehood is on cards

and anytime it would be restored,”

Kaul added.

He also said that after every

three months, BJP held national

executive meeting and then state

executive meeting followed by dis-

trict Executive meeting.

“Today district executive meet-

ing of the party was held at Anant-

nag to discuss the progress of the

programs. Also future programs

were discussed for strengthening

of the party at the grassroots level,”

he said.

Kaul said that all the party

workers and leaders support and

work for the mission of Modi gov-

ernment that is “Sabka Sath Sabka

Vikas Sabka Vishwas and Sabka

Prayas.”

“Our aim is to take the country

along with Jammu and Kashmir

to new horizons of development,

peace and prosperity. For making

this mission come true, unification

of all the leaders and workers is

must so that we could serve the

people with dedication,” he said.

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8Kashmir Tone SPORTSSrinagar Thursday

25 November 2021

Not concerned about my form: RahaneKanpur, Nov 24 (PTI) Ajinkya Rahane was not amused with questions related to his poor form, insisting that concerns about his lean patch are unfounded and contribution doesn't mean a Test hundred in every game.

Rahane, who averages 19 in 11 Test match-es this year, seemed under visible pressure as he reasoned that even a "30, 40 or 50" from a specialist top-order batter would be an accept-able contribution provided the team wins.

"Not concerned about my form. My job is to contribute as much as possible for my team. Contribution doesn't mean that you need to score 100 in each game. Scores of 30, 40, 50 per innings are also important contributions," Ra-hane said ahead of the first Test against New Zealand.

He won't admit but Rahane knows that a poor string of scores in Kanpur and Mumbai can land him on a sticky place as far as selec-tion for the away South Africa series is con-cerned.

His thoughts on future was 'Que Sera Sera' (whatever will be will be)

"I am not too much bothered about what's going to happen in future. Whatever has to

happen in future will happen and I have to stay in the moment, to give my best in that particular moment."

But is it possible that one can segregate the batter and the leader.

"When I am batting, only batting is my fo-cus and staying in the moment. It's as simple as that. When we are fielding, I am thinking about what sort of gameplans and strategies we have."

Rahul bhai has told me and Pujara to back our gameplans

The skipper said new coach Rahul Dravid has not given them any special tips apart from asking them to keep it simple as they have ex-perience behind them.

"Rahul bhai told us to back our strengths and keep it very simple. Not to bother too much about it and for me and Pujara, we know our gameplans and we have been playing since so many years.

"So it's all about keeping it simple and backing ourselves and we are not worried too much," he said, something similar to what his deputy had said on Tuesday.

It's a challenge even for Indian batters to

play on spin-friendly tracksUsually Indian captains do not say it but

Rahane agreed that Indian batters also strug-gle on rank turners although he seemed happy with the track on offer at the Green Park.

It must be mentioned that over the years on Indian tracks, Rahane has had his share of struggles against slow bowlers and it will be interesting to see how he stacks up against left-arm spin of Ajaz Patel and if Mitchell Santner also gets a look-in.

"It's a challenge to play on spin-friendly wickets for Indian batters as well. We never play on such wickets. Batters, once they are in, will have to make (most use of) it. We are not bothered about (turners) as long as we are winning the Test match and the series," Rah-ane said.

He also didn't seem too unhappy with the track but said that whatever is on offer, the team will try and adapt.

"Yes, we are happy. I don't know how the wicket will behave. We have to adjust to what-ever kind of wicket is given and whatever kind of conditions are there, we have to adapt, we are ready," the skipper said.

Shreyas making his debut but won't re-veal combination

KL Rahul's injury has opened the doors for Shreyas Iyer, who would be playing his maiden Test but the Indian captain didn't re-veal who would be his third spinner and sec-ond pacer although Ishant Sharma looks all but certain to partner Umesh Yadav in fast bowling department.

In the spin department, Axar Patel, al-though he didn't train, has his nose ahead but Jayant Yadav looked in fine rhythm during the net session.

"Yes, Shreyas is going to make his debut," he confirmed.

"Obviously, it's a big blow," he said about injured KL Rahul but made it clear that he had faith in openers Mayank Agarwal and Shub-man Gill, both of whom had performed in Test matches.

"He (KL Rahul) did really well in England and he was in good form. Obviously, we will miss him but we have guys who can do the job, guys who did well for us in the past and are experienced. I am not too worried about open-ing slot."

Kiwi pacer Jamieson ready for different challenge in IndiaKanpur, Nov 24 (PTI) Hoping to appear in only his third Test abroad, New Zealand pacer Kyle Jamieson is aware that the challenge of playing Test cricket in India will be different from what it is back home, his enviable record notwithstanding.

India and New Zealand will clash in a two-match Test series with the first game starting here from Thursday.

Jamieson, who has made a record-breaking start to Test cricket, with 46 wickets in just eight appearances, is undertaking his first tour of the country with the national team.

"I haven't played a whole lot of cricket over here. I had the first half of the IPL which was good, but this will be different again," Jamieson was quoted as saying by stuff.co.nz.

"I've got Wags (Neil Wagner) and Timmy (Tim South-ee) here, so that'll be good to bounce ideas of them, to get their expertise on how to bowl here.

"It's certainly going to be a different challenge to what we get back home but really looking forward to it," the tall pacer added.

Jamieson played a crucial role in New Zealand win-ning the last three Tests against India, including the World Test Championship final against India in Southampton in June this year.

However, with Southee and Wagner in the squad, Ja-mieson might not be a part of the playing XI in the opener.

As the Kiwis start their WTC title defence, Jamieson enters the scene with five five-wicket hauls and an incred-ible average of 14.17 in the five-day format.

"It certainly feels a long time ago. No better way to start than the challenge of India in India."

The difference in conditions notwithstanding, Jamie-son said he will stick to his strengths as he looks to adapt.

Champions League: Man United, Chelsea advance; Barcelona made to waitEnergized by a change of manager and another opportunis-tic finish by Cristiano Ronaldo, Manchester United quali-fied for the knockout stage of the Champions League with a game to spare on Tuesday.

Another newly appointed coach sill has work to do, though, to get Barcelona into the last 16.

United was led for the first time by Michael Carrick following the weekend firing of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and, just like his predecessor, the interim manager was left to be thankful for a goal by the Champions League’s record scorer.

Ronaldo produced a sublime lobbed finish to put Unit-ed ahead against Villarreal and a 90th-minute strike by Jadon Sancho — his first goal since joining for $100 million in the offseason — sealed a 2-0 win to secure progress as the winner of Group F. Ronaldo has scored in all five group games so far, and now has a record-extending 140 Champi-ons League goals in his career.

Another English team, defending champion Chelsea, also advanced on the back of a 4-0 win over already-qual-ified Juventus, which slumped to its heaviest ever loss in the Champions League. With Liverpool also qualified and Manchester City likely to join them, the Premier League will again be well represented in the knockout stage.

Barcelona, now coached by former star midfielder Xavi Hernandez, has advanced from its group every season for almost two decades but a 0-0 draw at home to Benfica means the Spanish club might need to beat Bayern Munich in the final round of games to advance.

All four teams in Group G are separated by three points and could still qualify heading into their last games after wins for Lille and Sevilla over Salzburg and Wolfs-burg, respectively.

RONALDO DELIVERS AGAINRonaldo had already scored two winners and a late

equalizer in the Champions League this season before his smartly taken go-ahead goal against Villarreal in the 78th minute, prompted by Fred winning the ball high up the field.

And both Fred and Ronaldo featured in a counterat-tack that ended with Sancho smashing a shot in off the un-derside of the crossbar to seal the win.

Carrick made a big call in his first game in charge by dropping playmaker Bruno Fernandes in a bid to set up in a more solid fashion and protect a defense that has been over-run this season. It led to a first clean sheet of the group stage.

More joy was to follow as Atalanta’s wild 3-3 draw at Young Boys meant United cannot be displaced as group leader courtesy of its superior head-to-head record against Villarreal, which is three points back in second place.

I am starting from zero in shooting after dealing with cases linked to murder, theft, fights: VijayNew Delhi, Nov 24 (PTI) For now Vijay Kumar, the Olympic silver medallist shooter-turned law en-forcement officer, is done deal-ing with cases linked to burglary, brawl, and "even murder", apart from frequent court visits.

Posted at the Himachal Pradesh police headquarters (PHQ) in Shimla as a deputy superintendent of police (DSP), Vijay has made a comeback to competitive shooting after a gap of five years, "starting from zero", nearly a decade after crowning himself in glory by win-ning the silver medal in the men's 25 rapid fire pistol event at the Lon-don Games.

All these years he was busy car-rying out his responsibility as a se-nior police officer, and before that, in training to become a cop. That was after serving the Indian Army for 16 years.

Eyeing the 2024 Paris Olym-pics, his first challenge is the ongo-ing Nationals.

"I am taking part in the Nation-als. I am starting from zero as I am coming back to the sport after five years," Vijay told PTI during an in-terview.

"In the time that I was not shooting, I was too occupied with my training for entering the police force and then got busy with my

duty as a policeman. So never re-ally got the time to continue shoot-ing," he added.

He has been allowed by his department to participate in the ongoing championships, and Vijay also plans to seek his superiors' per-mission for training full-time as he trains his eyes on the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

He knows that it is easier said than done.

"I know the road ahead is go-ing to be extremely difficult. Four times more than it normally would have been as I am coming back af-ter a long time while the others are in touch with the sport and training regularly.

"But I am confident and have faith in my ability to get my bear-ings back in shooting. What also gives me confidence is the fact that I was able to win a silver medal at the Olympics. If I could do then, there is no reason to believe I can't in future.

"I am only 35 now and can hope to shoot for at least 10 more years," said Vijay.

A five-time Commonwealth Gold medallist, Vijay had left the Army to join Himachal Pradesh Po-lice in 2017.

"Office work kept me busy. As is its wont the job required me to

deal with cases ranging from theft, fights, and even murder. (Section) 302 ke case bhi the (302, section linked to murder was also there)," he said.

"Then there were the visits to the court. I tried to do my job with utmost dedication and I enjoyed do-ing it."

To start with, Vijay doesn't have high expectations.

"I know I will have to be pa-tient. But I certainly intend to train full time now and for that I will have to get the approval from my department."

India has not won an Olympic medal in shooting since Vijay's sil-ver at the Royal Artillery Barracks on the afternoon of August 3 in 2012.

While Kumar is back, it re-mains to be seen if he has also brought his ice cool nerves and big match temperament alongside.

The results at the 2016 Rio Olympics and the Tokyo Games left him disappointed.

"I felt bad, of course, as we couldn't win a medal there. Also not being able to win an Olympic quota in rapid fire left me disappointed. Let's see what's in store," he said.

Plagued by recurrent injuries post his London heroics, Vijay has undergone a surgery to treat his "is-sues".

With spin set to be big component, Williamson relying on inexperienced Ajaz and SomervilleKanpur, Nov 24 (PTI) Kane Wil-liamson is aware that spin is a "big component" in a Test series in India and expects his spe-cialist slow bowlers -- left-arm orthodox Ajaz Patel and off-spinner William Somerville -- to adapt to the conditions quickly and make a difference.

New Zealand were ham-mered in Kanpur back in 2016 with Ravichandran Ashwin playing a big part and skipper Williamson knows what to ex-pect in this part of the world.

"Throughout the whole series, spin component will be a definite factor," Williamson said on the eve of the first Test.

"Number of teams have faced similar challenges and our expectation won't be any different. There will be a large spin component."

On one side, there is Ash-win and Ravindra Jadeja with nearly 700 wickets between them while the Black Caps will rely on Patel and Somerville, who have so far collectively taken 41 sticks in 13 games (4 for Somerville).

"Spin factor is going to be there and someone like Ajaz and Somerville have played big

part in our bowling attack. Par-ticularly, in these conditions, so they will play an important role for us. There will be some reverse swing, we will try to cre-ate ways to get wickets so there will be role for both seamers and spinners," Williamson said.

Against Jadeja and Ash-win, the endeavour will be not only to survive when the ball turns but also to ensure that the

batters devise ways of scoring runs, the captain said.

"We know the strength of Indian spin bowlers and they have been fantastic over a pe-riod of time.

"We have to find ways to look to score and try and be ef-fective and try and build those partnerships. And every player is different, so their ways will be slightly different from one and

another."Williamson expects every

player in the side to know their roles and contribute in the best possible manner.

"Everybody is looking at different ways to be effective. We have to be prepared as well as we can for some of the chal-lenges we will face."

The Black Caps skipper said that the current Indian team, with as many as five changes from the eleven that played in Southampton for the World Test Championship crown, would also need to be factored in.

"Few different factors need to be taken into account and try and be prepared," he said.

So would Virat Kohli, Ro-hit Sharma, Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami's ab-sence make New Zealand the favourites, and the answer from the skipper was an em-phatic "no".

"I don't think we are favou-rites. The big strength of In-dian cricket is its depth. Their knowledge of own conditions is unique and the challenge is a big one. We are excited to take that on," he concluded.