I ndia saw the highest single- day rise of Omicron infections with 156 fresh cases on Monday, taking the case tally to 578 as infection spread to 19 States. The Union Home Ministry has now directed all Chief Secretaries in the States and UTs to impose “need-based” restric- tions on public movement dur- ing the festive season and imple- ment the advisory issued recent- ly by the Union Health Ministry to contain the pandemic. Delhi accounts for the highest number of Omicron cases(148), followed by Maharashtra (141), Kerala (57), Gujarat (49), Rajasthan (43), Telangana(41), Tamil Nadu (34), Karnataka (31), Madhya Pradesh (9), and Andhra Pradesh (6). The other States that have reported Omicron infections include West Bengal (6 cases), Haryana (4), Odisha(4), Chandigarh (3), Jammu & Kashmir (3), Uttar Pradesh (2), Himachal Pradesh, Ladakh and Uttarakhand one each. The Home Ministry has stressed “the need for greater foresight, data analysis, dynam- ic decision making, and strict and prompt containment actions at the local and district levels” to deal with the crisis. It has also issued statutory orders under the Disaster Management Act for the implementation of directions issued by the Health Ministry. “The country has wit- nessed an overall decline in active cases. However, the new variant, Omicron, is reported to be at least 3 times more trans- missible than the Delta VoC (variant of concern), and is posing a new challenge for the Covid containment measures,” Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla wrote in a letter sent to chief secretaries of all States. C ome January 1, 2022, and teenagers in the age group of 15-18 years will be able to register on the CoWIN app, two days before the Covid-19 vaccination programme is set to be unveiled across the coun- try to include them. Top sources said Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin is likely to be the only Covid-19 vaccine available for children in the age group of 15- 18 years, who will be inoculat- ed from January 3. This means Cadila Healthcare-developed deoxyri- bonucleic acid (DNA) vaccine ZyCoV-D, approved by the drug regulator for use in chil- dren aged 12 and above, will not be used right away to vac- cinate youngsters aged 15 and above, the sources added. They indicated the National Technical Advisery Group on Immunisation in India has not recommended the use of ZyCoV-D for the time being for kids below 18. On Saturday, the Drugs Controller General of India(DCGI) had approved the use of Covaxin for children aged 12 and above. On October 12, the subject expert commit- tee (SEC) advising the DCGI had approved Covaxin for use in children as young as 2 years and beyond. The DCGI, how- ever, has approved its use for 12 years and above. Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his address to the nation on December 25 said “precaution dose” will be given to the elderly (60 years and above) with comorbidities upon furnishing a doctor’s cer- tificate. There are around 20 major comorbid conditions listed by the Union Health Ministry. The comorbid conditions included cardiovascular dis- eases, diabetes, kidney ail- ments, cirrhosis, cancer, sick- le cell anemia, organ trans- plants, prolonged use of steroids or other immunosup- pressant drugs. The same set of comor- bidities will be considered when evaluating if someone is eligible for an additional shot or a third shot. “Someone may have dia- betes, but at what level the dis- ease qualifies as a comorbid condition is something a doc- tor will decide upon and certi- fy accordingly,” said a govern- ment source. D elhi reported 331 new cases of Covid-19 and one death on Monday. This is the highest single-day spike in the past seven months. According to the Delhi Covid-19 health bulletin, the positivity rate was recorded at 0.68 per cent. The death toll due to the coronavirus infection in Delhi rose to 25,106. The number of cumulative cases on Monday stood at 14,43,683. Over 14.17 lakh patients have recovered from the infection. Seven Covid-19 deaths were reported here in November this year, according to official data. Delhi had recorded four Covid deaths in October and five in September. A total of 48,589 tests, 46,549 RT-PCR tests and 2,040 rapid antigen tests were con- ducted a day ago, a bulletin released by the health depart- ment said. In view of the night curfew, hotels, restaurants, and bars allowed to function at their 50 per cent capacity will have to wind up before the curfew hours begin. As per the DDMA order, District Magistrates, Deputy Commissioners of Police and all the other authorities con- cerned will ensure strict com- pliance of the night curfew. Violaters will be punished as per the law. The DDMA order said patients, pregnant women, peo- ple out to buy essential items and those travelling to or from railway stations, bus stops and airports would be exempted from the curfew. Government employees carrying out emer- gency services, judges and judi- cial officers, medical personnel and media persons too are exempted. People going on foot for purchasing essential items like vegetables, milk and other household products from neighbourhood shops will be exempted from the curfew restrictions. Delivery persons carrying food or medical products, shops selling vegeta- bles, dairy products, meat and other edible products, phar- macy and drug stores too are exempted. A mid the rising cases of Omicron and the Allahabad High Court obser- vation to postpone the polls, the Election Commission (EC) on Monday held wide-ranging discussions with Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan and top brass of the Narcotics Control Bureau, paramilitaries. Top sources said the final decision about election sched- ule will be taken next month. “Both the poll body and the Health Ministry will hold another meeting in January to take a final call,” sources said. Earlier, top officials of the Election Commission met the Union Health Secretary to review the Covid-19 situation in the wake of the spread of highly infectious Omicron vari- ant ahead of Assembly polls in five States early next year. Bhushan briefed the EC about the Covid-19 situation and the rising cases of Omicron in the country. “The Health Secretary has given a detailed presentation to the poll body for nearly an hour, especially the poll-bound Uttarakhand, Manipur, Goa, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh,” the sources said. The Health Secretary also briefed the EC about the Covid protocol and Home Ministry guidelines issued in the recent past to check the spread of the virus. Another source said it was a session meant to get information. The EC assessed the situation based on statistics provided by the health secre- tary. The EC also met with the top brass of the Narcotics Control Bureau, the Indo- Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) and the Border Security Force (BSF) and pressed for main- taining strict vigil on international borders in poll- bound States to ensure drugs do not influence the upcoming Assembly polls in five States. The commission in partic- ular referred to Punjab and Goa with regard to drug smug- gling, the sources said. T he results of Municipal Corporation Chandigarh (MCC) elections which were declared on Monday threw up a hung verdict even as the new entrant Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) made a major impact in Chandigarh politics. The AAP, which contested the MC poll for the first time, emerged as the leading party, winning an impressive 14 of the 35 wards. Despite taking back the three farm laws, the BJP, which enjoyed a majority in the pre- vious MC House, could win only 12 wards while the Congress was relegated to the third position bagging eight seats. The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) won only one seat. Anti-incumbency seems to have gone in favour of the AAP instead of the Congress which was eying a comeback in the MC House. Among the prominent losers were sitting Mayor Ravi Kant Sharma, and former Mayors Davesh Moudgil and Rajesh Kalia. All three BJP candidates were Mayors in the current term of the party. Former Congress Mayor Kamlesh too was defeated. Chandigarh Congress president Subhash Chawla’s son Sumit Chawla also lost. In Ward No. 25, BJP Yuva Morcha leader Vijay Kaushal Rana was defeated by Yogesh Dhingra of AAP by a margin of 315 votes. The ward was earlier represented by Chandigarh BJP president Arun Sood. BJP’s senior leader Heera Negi lost from Ward No.22 to AAP’s Anju Katyal by a narrow margin of 76 votes. Though the AAP won the maximum seats, its election campaign committee chair- man Chandermukhi Sharma lost his seat. The richest can- didate in the fray, BJP’s Anup Gupta, won from his seat. He along with his wife had declared Rs 45 crore assets during the nominations filed for the polls. From the Congress, Devinder Singh Babla, Leader of Opposition in the MC House, showed his dominance. His wife Harpreet Kaur Babla contesting from a woman reserved seat won by the high- est margin of 3,103 votes. Traditionally, the munici- pal elections held every five years sees a locking of horns between the BJP and the Congress, but the AAP’s entry made the contest this time tri- angular. The AAP had promised freebies like free 20,000 litre water per month per house, free public parking lots, free door-to- door waste collection, free pri- mary education and mohalla clinics. Clearing the waste dumping ground was also its promise. People voted against the ruling BJP over the issues of increased water, sewerage and parking rates. Covid cess and cow cess were also the issues which the Opposition raised. National issues like price rise and inflation also seemed to have affected the BJP in the city. Hitting out at the BJP and the Congress, AAP leader Raghav Chadha said people were fed up with them as they failed to deliver despite being given a chance repeatedly. People were looking for an “honest, viable alternative”He called his party’s performance a “trailer” before next year’s Punjab Assembly polls. “These two traditional parties failed to undertake development and bring about a change in the sys- tem, which people wanted. People saw how an ordinary councilor, who used to roam on bicycle and scooter, has big farmhouses and accumulated properties,” said Chadha. BJP state president Arun Sood said the party accepts the mandate given by the resi- dents of the city and is com- mitted for its development and betterment. Sood said the BJP has the highest vote share while the vote share of Aam Aadmi Party is at number three, adding that the BJP will play an important role in forming a sta- ble Government in the city. As the result comes weeks before Punjab goes to Assembly polls, AAP chief and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said this shows that Punjab is ready for change. Taking to Twitter, Kejriwal said, “Victory of Aam Aadmi Party in Chandigarh Municipal Corporation is a sign of the coming change in Punjab. People of Chandigarh today have chosen honest politics of AAP, rejecting corrupt politics. Many congratulations to all the winning candidates and work- ers of AAP. This time Punjab is ready for change.” Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, in a tweet, hailed the victory of the party saying, “This victory is a sign that people want to give a chance to ‘honesty and politics that works’ if there is an alternative.” K erala has yet again emerged as the best State in terms of overall health performance while poll-bound Uttar Pradesh is the worst, according to the fourth Health Index released by Niti Aayog. The fourth round of the Health Index took into account the period 2019-20 as the reference year. The report, titled “The Healthy States, Progressive India”, ranks States and Union Territories on their year-on- year incremental performance in health outcomes as well as their overall status. This is for the fourth con- secutive round that Kerala emerged as the best performer in terms of overall performance. Tamil Nadu and Telangana have emerged as the second and third best performers on health para- meters among larger States. While UP is the worst per- former overall, it has made the maximum incremental gains over the period of one year fol- lowed by Assam and Telangana. Bihar and Madhya Pradesh were the second and third-worst per- formers on health parameters. Rajasthan was the weakest per- former both in terms of overall performance and incremental performance. Among the smaller States, Mizoram emerged as the best performer in overall perfor- mance as well as incremental performance. Mizoram and Tripura too showed improve- ments in incremental perfor- mance. Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur are the worst-per- forming States in terms of both overall and incremental per- formance. Among UTs, Delhi and Jammu & Kashmir ranked among the bottom UTs in terms of overall performance but emerged as the leading per- former in terms of incremen- tal performance, as per the Niti Aayog report.
Transcript
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India saw the highest single-day rise of Omicron infections
with 156 fresh cases on Monday,taking the case tally to 578 asinfection spread to 19 States.The Union Home Ministry hasnow directed all ChiefSecretaries in the States and UTsto impose “need-based” restric-tions on public movement dur-ing the festive season and imple-ment the advisory issued recent-ly by the Union Health Ministryto contain the pandemic.
Delhi accounts for thehighest number of Omicroncases(148), followed byMaharashtra (141), Kerala(57), Gujarat (49), Rajasthan(43), Telangana(41), TamilNadu (34), Karnataka (31),Madhya Pradesh (9), andAndhra Pradesh (6). The otherStates that have reportedOmicron infections includeWest Bengal (6 cases), Haryana(4), Odisha(4), Chandigarh(3), Jammu & Kashmir (3),Uttar Pradesh (2), HimachalPradesh, Ladakh andUttarakhand one each.
The Home Ministry hasstressed “the need for greaterforesight, data analysis, dynam-ic decision making, and strict
and prompt containment actionsat the local and district levels” todeal with the crisis. It has alsoissued statutory orders under theDisaster Management Act for theimplementation of directionsissued by the Health Ministry.
“The country has wit-nessed an overall decline inactive cases. However, the newvariant, Omicron, is reported tobe at least 3 times more trans-missible than the Delta VoC(variant of concern), and isposing a new challenge for theCovid containment measures,”Home Secretary Ajay Bhallawrote in a letter sent to chiefsecretaries of all States.
Come January 1, 2022, andteenagers in the age group
of 15-18 years will be able toregister on the CoWIN app,two days before the Covid-19vaccination programme is setto be unveiled across the coun-try to include them. Topsources said Bharat Biotech’sCovaxin is likely to be the onlyCovid-19 vaccine available forchildren in the age group of 15-18 years, who will be inoculat-ed from January 3.
This means CadilaHealthcare-developed deoxyri-bonucleic acid (DNA) vaccineZyCoV-D, approved by thedrug regulator for use in chil-dren aged 12 and above, willnot be used right away to vac-cinate youngsters aged 15 andabove, the sources added.
They indicated theNational Technical AdviseryGroup on Immunisation inIndia has not recommendedthe use of ZyCoV-D for thetime being for kids below 18.
On Saturday, the DrugsController General ofIndia(DCGI) had approvedthe use of Covaxin for childrenaged 12 and above. On October12, the subject expert commit-
tee (SEC) advising the DCGIhad approved Covaxin for usein children as young as 2 yearsand beyond. The DCGI, how-ever, has approved its use for 12years and above.
Prime Minister NarendraModi in his address to thenation on December 25 said“precaution dose” will be givento the elderly (60 years andabove) with comorbiditiesupon furnishing a doctor’s cer-tificate. There are around 20major comorbid conditionslisted by the Union HealthMinistry.
The comorbid conditionsincluded cardiovascular dis-eases, diabetes, kidney ail-ments, cirrhosis, cancer, sick-le cell anemia, organ trans-plants, prolonged use ofsteroids or other immunosup-pressant drugs.
The same set of comor-bidities will be consideredwhen evaluating if someone iseligible for an additional shotor a third shot.
“Someone may have dia-betes, but at what level the dis-ease qualifies as a comorbidcondition is something a doc-tor will decide upon and certi-fy accordingly,” said a govern-ment source.
death on Monday. This is thehighest single-day spike in thepast seven months. Accordingto the Delhi Covid-19 healthbulletin, the positivity rate wasrecorded at 0.68 per cent.
The death toll due to thecoronavirus infection in Delhirose to 25,106. The number ofcumulative cases on Mondaystood at 14,43,683. Over 14.17lakh patients have recoveredfrom the infection.
Seven Covid-19 deathswere reported here inNovember this year, accordingto official data. Delhi hadrecorded four Covid deaths inOctober and five in September.
A total of 48,589 tests,46,549 RT-PCR tests and 2,040rapid antigen tests were con-ducted a day ago, a bulletinreleased by the health depart-ment said.
In view of the night curfew,hotels, restaurants, and barsallowed to function at their 50per cent capacity will have towind up before the curfew
hours begin.As per the DDMA order,
District Magistrates, DeputyCommissioners of Police andall the other authorities con-cerned will ensure strict com-pliance of the night curfew.Violaters will be punished asper the law.
The DDMA order saidpatients, pregnant women, peo-ple out to buy essential itemsand those travelling to or fromrailway stations, bus stops andairports would be exemptedfrom the curfew. Governmentemployees carrying out emer-gency services, judges and judi-cial officers, medical personneland media persons too areexempted.
People going on foot forpurchasing essential items likevegetables, milk and otherhousehold products fromneighbourhood shops will beexempted from the curfewrestrictions. Delivery personscarrying food or medical products, shops selling vegeta-bles, dairy products, meat andother edible products, phar-macy and drug stores too areexempted.
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Amid the rising cases ofOmicron and the
Allahabad High Court obser-vation to postpone the polls,the Election Commission (EC)on Monday held wide-rangingdiscussions with Union HealthSecretary Rajesh Bhushan andtop brass of the NarcoticsControl Bureau, paramilitaries.
Top sources said the finaldecision about election sched-ule will be taken next month.“Both the poll body and theHealth Ministry will holdanother meeting in January totake a final call,” sources said.
Earlier, top officials of theElection Commission met theUnion Health Secretary toreview the Covid-19 situationin the wake of the spread ofhighly infectious Omicron vari-ant ahead of Assembly polls infive States early next year.Bhushan briefed the EC aboutthe Covid-19 situation and therising cases of Omicron in thecountry.
“The Health Secretary hasgiven a detailed presentation tothe poll body for nearly anhour, especially the poll-bound
Uttarakhand, Manipur, Goa,Punjab and Uttar Pradesh,”the sources said.
The Health Secretary alsobriefed the EC about the Covidprotocol and Home Ministryguidelines issued in the recentpast to check the spread of thevirus. Another source said itwas a session meant to getinformation. The EC assessedthe situation based on statisticsprovided by the health secre-tary.
The EC also met with thetop brass of the NarcoticsControl Bureau, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP),the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB)and the Border Security Force(BSF) and pressed for main-taining strict vigil on international borders in poll-bound States to ensure drugsdo not influence the upcoming Assembly polls infive States.
The commission in partic-ular referred to Punjab andGoa with regard to drug smug-gling, the sources said.
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The results of MunicipalCorporation Chandigarh
(MCC) elections which weredeclared on Monday threw upa hung verdict even as the newentrant Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) made a major impact inChandigarh politics. The AAP,which contested the MC pollfor the first time, emerged asthe leading party, winning animpressive 14 of the 35 wards.
Despite taking back thethree farm laws, the BJP, whichenjoyed a majority in the pre-vious MC House, could winonly 12 wards while theCongress was relegated to thethird position bagging eightseats. The Shiromani AkaliDal (SAD) won only one seat.
Anti-incumbency seemsto have gone in favour of theAAP instead of the Congresswhich was eying a comeback inthe MC House.
Among the prominentlosers were sitting Mayor RaviKant Sharma, and formerMayors Davesh Moudgil andRajesh Kalia.
All three BJP candidateswere Mayors in the currentterm of the party. FormerCongress Mayor Kamlesh toowas defeated. Chandigarh
Congress president SubhashChawla’s son Sumit Chawlaalso lost. In Ward No. 25, BJPYuva Morcha leader VijayKaushal Rana was defeated byYogesh Dhingra of AAP by amargin of 315 votes. The wardwas earlier represented byChandigarh BJP presidentArun Sood. BJP’s senior leaderHeera Negi lost from WardNo.22 to AAP’s Anju Katyal bya narrow margin of 76 votes.
Though the AAP won themaximum seats, its electioncampaign committee chair-man Chandermukhi Sharmalost his seat. The richest can-didate in the fray, BJP’s AnupGupta, won from his seat. Healong with his wife haddeclared Rs 45 crore assetsduring the nominations filedfor the polls.
From the Congress,Devinder Singh Babla, Leaderof Opposition in the MCHouse, showed his dominance.His wife Harpreet Kaur Bablacontesting from a womanreserved seat won by the high-est margin of 3,103 votes.
Traditionally, the munici-pal elections held every fiveyears sees a locking of hornsbetween the BJP and theCongress, but the AAP’s entrymade the contest this time tri-
angular. The AAP had promised
freebies like free 20,000 litrewater per month per house, freepublic parking lots, free door-to-door waste collection, free pri-mary education and mohallaclinics. Clearing the wastedumping ground was also itspromise. People voted againstthe ruling BJP over the issues ofincreased water, sewerage andparking rates. Covid cess andcow cess were also the issueswhich the Opposition raised.National issues like price riseand inflation also seemed tohave affected the BJP in the city.
Hitting out at the BJP andthe Congress, AAP leaderRaghav Chadha said peoplewere fed up with them as theyfailed to deliver despite beinggiven a chance repeatedly.People were looking for an“honest, viable alternative”Hecalled his party’s performancea “trailer” before next year’sPunjab Assembly polls. “Thesetwo traditional parties failed toundertake development andbring about a change in the sys-tem, which people wanted.People saw how an ordinarycouncilor, who used to roam onbicycle and scooter, has bigfarmhouses and accumulatedproperties,” said Chadha.
BJP state president ArunSood said the party accepts themandate given by the resi-dents of the city and is com-mitted for its development andbetterment. Sood said the BJPhas the highest vote share whilethe vote share of Aam AadmiParty is at number three,adding that the BJP will play animportant role in forming a sta-ble Government in the city.
As the result comes weeksbefore Punjab goes to Assemblypolls, AAP chief and DelhiChief Minister Arvind Kejriwalsaid this shows that Punjab isready for change. Taking toTwitter, Kejriwal said, “Victoryof Aam Aadmi Party inChandigarh MunicipalCorporation is a sign of thecoming change in Punjab.People of Chandigarh todayhave chosen honest politics ofAAP, rejecting corrupt politics.Many congratulations to all thewinning candidates and work-ers of AAP. This time Punjab isready for change.”
Delhi Deputy ChiefMinister Manish Sisodia, in atweet, hailed the victory of theparty saying, “This victory is asign that people want to give achance to ‘honesty and politicsthat works’ if there is an alternative.”
Kerala has yet again emergedas the best State in terms of
overall health performancewhile poll-bound UttarPradesh is the worst, accordingto the fourth Health Indexreleased by Niti Aayog. Thefourth round of the HealthIndex took into account theperiod 2019-20 as the referenceyear. The report, titled “TheHealthy States, ProgressiveIndia”, ranks States and UnionTerritories on their year-on-year incremental performancein health outcomes as well astheir overall status.
This is for the fourth con-secutive round that Keralaemerged as the best performer interms of overall performance.Tamil Nadu and Telangana haveemerged as the second and thirdbest performers on health para-meters among larger States.
While UP is the worst per-former overall, it has made the
maximum incremental gainsover the period of one year fol-lowed by Assam and Telangana.Bihar and Madhya Pradesh werethe second and third-worst per-formers on health parameters.Rajasthan was the weakest per-former both in terms of overallperformance and incrementalperformance.
Among the smaller States,Mizoram emerged as the bestperformer in overall perfor-mance as well as incrementalperformance. Mizoram andTripura too showed improve-ments in incremental perfor-mance. Arunachal Pradesh andManipur are the worst-per-forming States in terms of bothoverall and incremental per-formance. Among UTs, Delhiand Jammu & Kashmir rankedamong the bottom UTs interms of overall performancebut emerged as the leading per-former in terms of incremen-tal performance, as per the NitiAayog report.
benefited the people ofHimachal Pradesh to have adouble-engine government inthe state and at the Centre asthe speed of development pro-jects and the implementation ofdifferent schemes have gotmomentum.
Addressing a rally at thePaddal ground to mark fouryears of the Jai Ram Thakur-ledBharatiya Janata Party (BJP)government in the state, heunderscored the advantages ofa double-engine government.With less than a year to go forthe 2022 Himachal PradeshAssembly polls, Modi said thepeople of the hill state havebenefitted a lot over the lastfour years as various welfareschemes launched by theCentre were implemented in amore efficient manner by theThakur Government.
He inaugurated and laidfoundation stones of develop-mental projects worth about Rs11,581 crore for the State whichincluded 111 MW SawaraKuddu HydroElectric Projectvirtually from Mandi con-structed by the HP PowerCorporation Ltd (HPPCL) at acost of Rs 2,082 crore. He also
laid foundation stones of Rs7,000 crore Renuka ji Dam onGiri river in Sirmour districtand 66 MW Dhaulasidh HydroElectric Project, a joint venturebetween the Government ofIndia and the StateGovernment located on theBeas river in Hamirpur andKangra districts. In addition tothis, he laid the foundationstone of 210 MW Luhri Stage-I hydro-electric project to beconstructed by spending an
amount of Rs 1811 crore onSatluj river in Shimla and Kulludistricts of the State.
The Prime Minister saidthat he also shares an emotionalbonding with HimachalPradesh and congratulated theState Government for com-pleting four years of its event-ful tenure. He said that thisdouble engine Governmenthas ensured that the pace ofdevelopment goes uninter-rupted during the pandemic.
He also appreciated the effortsmade by the State Governmentfor effectively controlling theCovid-19 pandemic, addingthat the vaccine coverage ofcent percent eligible populationin the State was the result ofdedicated and committedefforts of the StateGovernment. He said that theState got AIIMS, Atal Tunneland four Medical Colleges dur-ing the tenure of the presentGovernment.
Modi said that ‘ease of liv-ing’ of the people of the coun-try is one of the foremost pri-orities and electricity plays ahuge role in this. Hydro-powerprojects launched today reflectIndia’s commitment to eco-friendly development. “Whenthe Shree Renukaji Dam pro-ject on the Giri river is com-pleted, a large area will bedirectly benefited by it.Whatever income will be gen-erated from this project, a largepart of it will also be spent ondevelopment here”, the PrimeMinister remarked.
He talked about the speedwith which India is meeting itsenvironment related goals andmentioned that “In 2016,Indiahad set a target to meet 40 per-cent of its installed electricitycapacity from non-fossil ener-gy sources by 2030. Todayevery Indian will be proudthat India has achieved thisgoal in November this yearitself.” The Prime Minister con-tinued “the whole world ispraising India, for how ourcountry is accelerating devel-opment while saving the envi-ronment. From solar power tohydro power, from wind powerto green hydrogen, the countryis working continuously tomake full use of every resourceof renewable energy”, he said.
The Prime Minister talkedabout elimination of single useplastic, saying that the govern-ment is alert about the damagecaused to the mountains due toplastic.
Along with the nationwidecampaign against single useplastic, the government is alsoworking on plastic waste man-agement.
Touching upon the needfor behaviour change. He said“tourists also have a hugeresponsibility in keepingHimachal clean, free of plasticand other waste. Plastic hasspread everywhere, plasticgoing into rivers, we have tomake efforts together to stopthe damage it is causing toHimachal.”
Modi praised the growth ofthe pharmaceutical sector inHimachal Pradesh and said, “IfIndia is called the pharmacy ofthe world today, then Himachalis the force behind it. HimachalPradesh has helped not onlyother states but also othercountries during the Coronaglobal pandemic.”
SECOND GROUND BREAKING CEREMONY
OF 287 INVESTIBLE PRO-JECTS WORTH �28,197 CR
The Prime Minister alsopresided over the second
Ground Breaking Ceremony ofthe Himachal Pradesh GlobalInvestors’ Meet at Mandi. In theevent, 287 Investible Projectsworth Rs 28,197 crore weregrounded. These groundedprojects are expected to pro-vide impetus to economicdevelopment in the region aswell as generate around onelakh job opportunities.
He also unveiled the‘Swaran Jayanti Energy Policy’of the State on the occasion andalso released Coffee TableBook, ‘Seva aur Siddhi Ke, 4Saal Samridhi Ke’, highlightingthe four years achievements ofthe present State Government,brought out by the Informationand Public RelationsDepartment.
A documentary film basedon various achievements ofthe present State Governmentbrought out by the Department was also screenedon the occasion.
The Prime Minister wasalso felicitated by the ChiefMinister by presenting himwith a shawl, Himachali Capand Trident.
Earlier, the Prime Ministerwas accorded a rousing wel-come by the Governor, ChiefMinister and his Cabinet col-leagues on arrival atKangnidhar Halipad, Mandi.
Chief Minister Jai RamThakur said that it was a recordin the history of HimachalPradesh that the PrimeMinister inaugurated and laidfoundation stones of develop-ment projects worth Rs.11,581crore in a single day.
He said that Renuka jiNational Project, foundationstone of which was laid by thePrime Minister today wouldnot only generate 200 millionunit of energy in a surfacepower house with 40 MWinstalled capacity, but wouldalso meet the 40 per centdrinking water requirement ofDelhi by supplying 23 cubicmeter water per second toNational Capital Territory of Delhi.
Thakur said the StateGovernment would strive hardto break the trend of changing of guards after everyfive years in the State with hardwork, dedication and serving the people in a befittingmanner.
He said that it was due tothe double engine governmentat the Centre and the State thattoday the State has six medicalcolleges in Government sectorand one in private sector, AtalTunnel, Satellite Centre PGI atUna, apart from AIIMS atBilaspur.
In the wake of rising cases ofCOVID-19’s Omicron vari-
ant at the national level, PunjabGovernment on Monday issueddirections to activate all thePrimary Health Centers(PHCs), Community HealthCenters (CHCs), and Oxygenplants across the State to caterto the possible surge of patients.
The directions were issuedby the state Deputy ChiefMinister OP Soni, who alsoholds the portfolio of Healthand Family Welfare, whilereviewing the situation of pre-ventative measures. Soniinstructed the Department’shigher officials to regularlycheck the bed availability in thegovernment as well as privatehospitals while asking them totake a thorough review per-taining to vacant posts of doc-
tors. The Deputy Chief Ministeralso directed the upgrade of thePHCs to CHCs, CHCs to SDHs(Sub-Divisional Hospitals).
On the issue of regularizingthe services of ANMs, NHMStaff, and ASHA workers, Sonisaid that he will take up the mat-ter with Chief Minister in highpowered committee meeting.
Deputy Chief Minister, dur-ing the meeting, also directedthat although the number ofcases was low currently, all thepreparations, including stock ofmedicines, oxygen tankers,oximeters, and other suchnecessities, should be readiedwithin a short span.
He pointed out that symp-toms were mild in the new waveof infections and hospitalizationwas not likely to be required inmost cases, so preparations forpeople getting treated in homeisolation should be prioritised.
Lal Khattar-led Haryana gov-ernment will take place at theRaj Bhavan on Tuesday. Thiswill be the second cabinetexpansion of the BJP-JJP ledcoalition government inHaryana since coming topower in the state in 2019.
Haryana Chief Minister’soffice (CMO) on Mondayinformed that the cabinet willbe expanded on Tuesday. Theswearing-in ceremony will beheld at the Haryana Raj Bhavanat 4 pm in Chandigarh. Twonew ministers, one each fromthe BJP JJP are likely to beadministered the oath of officeand secrecy.
Presently, there are 12 min-isters in the State, includingChief Minister and DeputyChief Minister- six of cabinetrank and four ministers ofState.
Among the 10 ministers,eight are from BJP and onefrom Jannayak Janata Party(JJP) and one Independent.
With two more ministersbefore the New Year, the gov-ernment will hope to accom-modate the aspirations of theMLAs.
There are many aspirantsin the BJP who want to becomea minister as senior MLAshave been pressuring theirpolitical mentors for the cov-eted post for a long time.Among those who are likely tobe inducted into the state cab-inet are Devender Singh Babli,the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP)MLA from Tohana. From BJPit could either be Gian ChandGupta, who is currentlySpeaker of the HaryanaAssembly and MLA fromPanchkula, or Kamal Gupta,MLA from Hisar.
The BJP emerged as thesingle-largest party in theHaryana elections in 2019,winning 40 seats in the 90-member Assembly. The saf-fron party formed a govern-ment in the State with the sup-port of Deputy CM DushyantChautala-led JJP, which won 10seats, and some independentMLAs.
Arealtor-turned-politicianand Mohali’s former mayor
Kulwant Singh on Mondayjoined the Aam Aadmi Party(AAP), which is likely to fieldhim as its candidate fromMohali assembly segment for2022 Punjab polls.
Owning a real estate busi-ness, Kulwant Singh — whojoined AAP in the presence ofits state unit presidentBhagwant Mann and Punjabparty affairs co-in-chargeRaghav Chadha — started hispolitical career with theShiromani Akali Dal (SAD) inthe mid 90s when he becamethe president of MohaliMunicipal Council (MC). Healso became the first mayor ofthe city in 2015 in a dramaticway after rebelling against hisparent party, SAD, and con-testing as an independent.
Kulwant Singh had alsounsuccessfully contested theLok Sabha elections fromFatehgarh Sahib on the SADticket. After this, he partedways with the party after theSAD fielded Balwant SinghRamoowalia for the Mayor’spost in Mohali.
Welcoming him in theAAP’s fold with his hundreds ofassociates and supporters,Mann said: “Kulwant Singh’sfamiliarity with Mohali’s issuesand voters will help AAP a greatdeal.” “Chandigarh proved thatpeople are the real power indemocracy. And the people ofPunjab have already decided todepart from traditional partiesto elect an honest governmentthat prefers development,” saidMann while thanking theChandigarh’s voters for choos-ing AAP that was contestingChandigarh MC Elections forthe first time.
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Taking on his all politicalrivals, Punjab Chief
Minister Charanjit SinghChanni on Monday lashed outat his predecessor CaptAmarinder Singh, the Akalis,the Bharatiya Janta Party, andalso the Aam Aadmi Party’s(AAP) supremo ArvindKejriwal.
Channi, addressing a gath-ering during the state-levelfunction to hand over thesanads of five marla plot eachto the houseless people, assuredthat the erstwhile SAD-BJPalliance government would bemade accountable for betrayalcommitted against Punjab andPunjabis during its decade longmisrule, while also blaming theAkalis for being hand-in-glovewith the BJP for framing thethree anti-farm laws.
At the same time, Channilashed out at his Delhi coun-terpart Kejriwal for apologizingto Akali’s former MinisterBikram Majithia. “HadKejriwal not knelt down before
Majithia, he would have beenbehind bars six years ago,” hesaid. “The people of the stateowe an explanation from Akalisfor pushing the youth intodrugs, sacrilege cases andbringing the State on the brinkof economic disaster...And thebeginning has already beenmade with the registration ofFIR against former AkaliMinister Bikram Singh
Majithia,” he said.Channi blamed the SAD
leadership for cahoots withPrime Minister Narendra Modiled BJP Government at theCentre for the implementationof three black farm laws.“Harsimrat Kaur Badal was thepart and parcel of CentralCabinet which was instrumen-tal in getting these draconianlaws framed and finally she was
forced to quit the Cabinet inwake of widespread angst ofpeople, especially the farmers,”he said.
Showing solidarity with thevictim families of farmers whodied during the year-long agi-tation at the borders of thenational capital, Channi saidthat his Government hadalready given government jobsto the eligible members besides
giving financial assistance of Rsfive lakh each in this hour ofgrief. He also declared thatMajithia would soon be putbehind the bars. “Had Kejriwalnot knelt down before Majithiaby tendering an unconditionalapology by filing an affidavit inthe court, he would have beenin the jail six years ago,” saidChanni while warning Kejriwalfor not giving fake guaranteesto the people of the State. Healso blamed Capt Amarinderfor allegedly resorting to a last-ditch effort to save the skin ofAkalis.
PUNJABIS DON’T WANTOUTSIDERS LIKE KEJRI-
WAL, SAYS CHANNI Speaking at Rohno Kalan
village near Khanna to inau-gurate a sports park, a pan-chayat ghar and a park-cum-satth in the day, the PunjabChief Minister said that AamAadmi Party supremo ArvindKejriwal should not takePunjabis for granted by buildingcastles in the air and shouldunderstand that Punjabis are
much more capable for leadingtheir own state and need not anoutsider like him.”ProudPunjabis would never let an out-sider like Kejriwal to rule them,”he said, adding that hisGovernment is implementingthe common man’s agenda inthe larger interest of the statewhile people like Kejriwal arepromising a moon to people inPunjab, rather than workingfor the betterment of Delhi’s‘aam aadmi’.
“Kejriwal is best at rollingout bundles of lies before thepeople of Punjab. It was sameKejriwal who, before the 2017Punjab Vidhan Sabha elections,had given a guarantee that hewould throw Bikram SinghMajithia behind bars for his rela-tions with the drug mafia...Andwhen AAP failed to form gov-ernment in Punjab, sameKejriwal offered unconditionalapology to Majithia in the court,that too on AAP letterhead,”said Channi, adding that fami-lies who have lost their sons dueto menace of drugs will neverforgive Kejriwal.
Haryana reported two morecases of the Omicron vari-
ant of the coronavirus onMonday, pushing the tally ofsuch cases to 12 in the state,according to the health depart-ment’s daily bulletin.
In view of emergence ofOmicron cases, HaryanaGovernment has alreadyimposed night curfew andrestrictions on gatherings. Ithas also said people eligible forvaccination but not fully vac-cinated will be banned fromentering shopping malls, cine-ma halls, restaurants and grainmarkets, among other crowd-
ed places, from January 1.Meanwhile, the state
reported 85 fresh COVID-19cases on Monday, including 61in Gurugram alone, the bulletinsaid. However, no fresh fatal-ity due to the viral disease wasreported in the state.
Total Covid case countrose to 7,72,718 in the state,while the death toll remainedunchanged at 10,062. Amongother districts, Faridabad andAmbala reported eight andthree fresh cases respectively.Number of active cases in Stateis 536, while 7,62,097 patientshave recuperated, bulletin said,adding recovery rate wasrecorded at 98.63 per cent.
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Haryana Chief MinisterManohar Lal Khattar on
Monday inauguratedIntegrated Pack House cumCrop Cluster Centre at Taraoriin Karnal district set up at acost of about Rs. 5.50 crore. Inthis, tomatoes, bitter gourd,ghee and okra and other veg-etables produced by the farm-ers can be stored for a longtime, which will give goodprofits to the farmers.
After the inauguration,Khattar said that this pack housewould play an important role inpromoting agricultural diversi-fication and help in achievingthe aim of the HaryanaGovernment of doubling theincome of the farmers. This isthe 7th pack house of the state,for which the government hasgiven a loan of Rs. 5.50 crore, onwhich a subsidy of about Rs. 4crore will be given. He said that50 more pack houses and crop
cluster centres would be estab-lished in the state, which wouldincrease the income of the farm-ers. To encourage the farmers ofthe state to make such packhouses, 70 to 80 percent subsidyis given, for strengthening themfinancially.
The Chief Minister saidthat this pack house has facil-
ities for washing, sorting, clean-ing, packing and cold storage ofvegetables, so that vegetablescan be kept safe for a long time.This will increase the incomeof the farmers as well as thelabourers working in the fields.With the construction of thispack house of Taraori, a groupof 272 farmers i.e. FarmerProduct Organisation will helpin storage of vegetables grownin about 600-700 acres. He saidthat with the formation ofintegrated pack house, theincome of the farmer wouldincrease as well as the workerswould get work which willhelp improve their financialcondition.
Khattar said that alongwith promoting organic farm-ing in the state, efforts are beingmade to strengthen the riskmanagement systems by imple-menting insurance schemesfor compensation of water inagriculture. The agriculturalsector has seen rapid progress
in terms of production such asfruits, vegetables, dairy andfisheries. With this achieve-ment of our progressive farm-ers, farmers of other states ofthe country are getting inspi-ration to work in this direction.The government is also striv-ing to expand its mandis bystrengthening proper process-ing technology and infrastruc-ture while maintaining diver-sification in the agriculturesector. He also called upon thefarmers to cultivate other cropslike fruits, flowers, vegetablesinstead of paddy, pointing outthat groundwater is available inlimited quantities.
Khattar launched theHaryana Pragatisheel KisanSamman Yojana andReclamation of Water Loggedand Saline Soil portal, on whichfarmers can register them-selves and avail benefits.Registration has started. Thelast date for registration isJanuary 15.
It’s official! Bharatiya JanataParty (BJP), Punjab’s former
Chief Minister Capt AmarinderSingh’s recently floated outfitPunjab Lok Congress (PLC),and veteran Akali leaderSukhdev Singh Dhindsa-ledShiromani Akali Dal (Sanyukt)will jointly contest the ensuingPunjab assembly polls, sched-uled to be held in February-March next year.
The brand new alliancewill jointly release a mani-festo, after holding talks withvarious sections. And to decideon the seat share, a six-mem-ber panel — comprising twomembers each from all parties— will take the call.
The saffron party, holdingsway among the urban popu-lace, is likely to contest fromurban and semi-urban seatshaving a major share; the rural
segments will be represented byformer Chief Minister’s PLCand Dhindsa’s SAD Sanyukt.
The decisions were takenduring the first meetingbetween the heads of all thethree parties — BJP nationalpresident JP Nadda, CaptAmarinder, and Dhindsa — togive a final shape to thealliance. Union Home MinisterAmit Shah and Punjab BJP incharge Gajendra SinghShekhawat were also presentduring the meeting.
Even as Capt Amarinderand the BJP leadership hadalready declared to cometogether for the crucial Punjabelections while claiming thattalks were on with Akali stal-wart Sukhdev Dhindsa, theRajya Sabha MP officially comeon board on Monday.
“Today, the party chiefs ofall the three parties BJP, PunjabLok Congress, and SAD
(Sanyukt) headed by Dhindsamet. All three parties will jointogether for elections. A com-mittee consisting of two mem-bers from each party will beformed to discuss the issues likeseat sharing and a joint mani-festo,” said Shekhawat after themeeting. Shekhawat, the UnionMinister, said that the names ofcommittee members “will befinalized today, and the com-mittee will meet in a day or twoto finalize the seat-sharing for-mula”. Maintaining that thethree parties will also come upwith a “common manifesto”,Shekhawat said: “Issues con-cerning Punjab, Sikhs, agricul-ture, and OBC will be discussedin detail and a joint manifestowill be made. The alliance willwork to build a new Punjab byrestoring the past prosperity ofthe state.”
Capt Amarinder, talkingabout the seat-sharing formu-
la, maintained that the prima-ry criterion for choosing thecandidates “will be theirwinnability irrespective of theparty they will contest from”,and the parties would worktogether to ensure the victory.
“With the massiveresponse and great demand forparty nomination from acrossthe state, I am confident of anew beginning in Punjab pol-itics...We will set a record withour electoral performance,” hesaid.At the same time, CaptAmarinder reiterated his assur-ances and commitment to allsections of people of Punjab,including the youth and thefarmers, that their interest willbe watched at all costs.“Agriculture is integral to thegrowth and progress of Punjaband there will be added empha-sis on this sector. Ways andmeans will be devised to gen-erate employment within
Punjab, so that youth do notseek greener pastures else-where outside the country,” hesaid.
BJP EYEING URBANSEATS
The saffron party hasalready made it clear that itwould no longer play the roleof the “small brother”, andwanted a lion’s share in the 117seats in the state. As of now, BJPwas a junior partner in itsalliance with the ShiromaniAkali Dal (SAD) contesting onjust 23 seats, leaving majority94 to SAD. Planning to contestfrom nearly 70-plus seats,sources informed The Pioneerthat BJP would try its luck onurban and semi-urban seg-ments, considering its supportbase among urbanites and busi-ness-trader community.
Taking into considerationthe popularity and grip of Capt
Amarinder and Dhindsa —the veterans of Punjab politics,the two would be fielding theircandidates from the assemblyconstituencies in the rural seg-ments. While Capt Amarinder’snew outfit may get somethingbetween 30-35 seats, Dhindsa’sfront is expected to contestfrom 10-15 seats. Of the total117 seats in Punjab, 40 are pure-ly urban seats, on which BJP islikely to field its candidates.Apart from this, the state has 51semi-urban seats, and the BJPis planning to contest from theseats which have a majority ofurban voters. The main reasonfor the decision is the anti-BJPstance among the rural popu-lace, which largely consists offarmers.
Moreover, Capt Amarinderand Dhindsa are known namesamong the Punjab voters andthe BJP wanted to take itsadvantage.
Banerjee claimed the Centrehad frozen all bank accounts ofthe Missionaries of Charity(MoC), the organisationfounded by Mother Teresa, theMinistry of Home Affairs onMonday refuted her assertions.
The MHA said the MoC’sapplication for renewal of theForeign Contribution(Regulation) Act (FCRA) reg-istration was refused onDecember 25 for not meetingeligibility conditions as someadverse inputs were received. Ina statement, the MHA also saidit did not freeze any account ofthe MoC but State Bank ofIndia has informed that theorganisation itself sent arequest to the bank to freeze itsaccounts.
“Shocked to hear that onChristmas, Union MinistryFROZE ALL BANKACCOUNTS of Mother Teresa’sMissionaries of Charity in India!Their 22,000 patients & employ-ees have been left without food& medicines. While the law isparamount, humanitarianefforts must not be compro-mised,” Banerjee tweeted.
The MHA said the appli-cation for the renewal of FCRAregistration of MoC wasrefused on December 25 fornot meeting the eligibility con-ditions under the FCRA 2010and the Foreign ContributionRegulation Rules (FCRR) 2011.“No request or revision appli-cation has been received fromMissionaries of Charity forreview of this refusal of renew-al,” the statement said. TheMissionaries of Charity’s reg-istration under the FCRA was
valid up to October 31, 2021. The MHA said the validi-
ty was subsequently extendedup to December 31, 2021,along with other FCRA asso-ciations whose renewal appli-cation were pending renewal.
“However, while consider-ing the MoC’s renewal appli-
cation, some adverse inputswere noticed. In considera-tion of these inputs on record,the renewal application of MoCwas not approved,” the state-ment said. The FCRA regis-tration of MoC was valid up toDecember 31, 2021 and theMHA did not freeze any
account of the MoC. “The State Bank of India
has informed that MoC itselfsent a request to SBI to freezeits accounts,” the statementsaid. The Missionaries ofCharity is a Catholic religiouscongregation established in1950 by Mother Teresa.
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Given the seriousness of theincident, an Army probe
team will visit the firing site inNagaland on December 29. AMajor General is heading thecourt of inquiry into the inci-dent in which 13 civilians anda soldier were killed onDecember 4 leading to massunrest in the state.
The State Governmentimmediately constituted aSpecial Investigation Team(SIT) to investigate into theincident. The centre on Sundaydecided to institute a five-member committee to lookinto the withdrawal of theArmed Forces Special PowersAct (AFSPA).
The committee is headed
by Registrar General andCensus Commissioner of IndiaVivek Joshi and additional sec-retary in the home ministryPiyush Goyal will be the mem-ber secretary. The panel willsubmit its report in 45 days.
The Army enquiry teamwill visit the site in Mon district,Nagaland where civiliansreturning from work in a minibus were fired upon by theArmy on the fateful day. It ledto irate village folks clashingwith the troops in which a sol-dier was killed and the troopsreportedly had to open fire.
As regards the army team’sforthcoming visit in Oting inMon district on Wednesday,officials said on Monday hereand Kohima the “Indian ArmyEnquiry Team solicits from the
public at large any primaryinformation (not forwarded ornot from secondary source)pertaining to the incident. Anyperson having such informationand desirous of deposing beforethe Enquiry is requested to doso at Tizit Police Station.”
This statement came a dayafter the Indian army in acommunique on Sunday said“We once again deeply regretthe loss of lives during theDecember four incident inMon District. Loss of lives isindeed sad and unfortunate.
The enquiry ordered byArmy is progressing expedi-tiously and all efforts are beingmade to conclude it at the ear-liest. We have taken out noticesfor people to come forward andassist us in the enquiry by pro-
viding any information includ-ing videos, photos or any othermaterial from original sourcesand will be grateful for thesame. This can be conveyed on
WhatsApp Messenger at+916026930283 or Army Exchange Helpline+913742388456.
The Indian Army is also
fully cooperating with theSpecial Investigation Team(SIT) enquiry ordered by theState Government and requireddetails are being shared intimely manner.
We request all brothersand sisters of Nagaland to bepatient and wait for the find-ings of the Army enquiry. Weassure you that action will betaken in accordance with thelaw to secure justice for all.
The people of Nagalandhave always cooperated andassisted the Security Forces inmaintaining peace and tran-quility over the last manydecades. We share a deep bondof brotherhood, trust andfriendship with you. Let uswork together for a brighterand better future,” it said.
New Delhi: The EnforcementDirectorate (ED) has attachedaround 47 properties, includ-ing 230 acres of land, 20 plots,gold, vehicle and bank deposits, worth Rs 5.74 crore inconnection with a money laun-dering probe linked to theTerm Deposit Fraud pertaining to Chennai PortTrust (CPT).
During the course of inves-tigation it was found that thesuspected persons had sub-mitted fake Fixed DepositReceipts (FDRs) in ChennaiPort Trust. By retaining theoriginal Fixed DepositsReceipts, they had fraudulent-
ly liquidated the fixed depositswithin a couple of days after theopening of the Fixed Deposits.
It was found that anamount of Rs 45.40 crore wasfraudulently transferred to afake current account in thename of Chennai Port Trust.Around Rs 15.25 crore waswithdrawn by cash from thesaid current account by imper-sonating as Deputy Director,Finance of Chennai Port Trust.
Remaining amount ofaround Rs 31.65 crore wastransferred to several bankaccounts through more than 49transactions and subsequentlywithdrawn as cash from those
accounts upon luring theaccount holders in lieu of smallcommission.
During the course of inves-tigation, the suspected per-sons were examined and itwas revealed that the proceedsof crime or the money obtainedout of liquidation of the fixeddeposits pertaining to ChennaiPort Trust were invested in pur-chase of movable and immov-able assets and the same wereattached on Friday.
The ED had searched morethan 15 premises across TamilNadu in June in connectionwith the money launderingprobe. PNS
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The Congress and the Centre wereat loggerheads on Monday over
Covid-19 vaccination targets, withformer Union Minister PChidambaram alleging confusionover the booster dose of the vaccinesand Union Minister DharmendraPradhan hitting back at the grand oldparty for “spreading disinformation”.
Chidambaram lashed out at theGovernment over the alleged sluggishpace of inoculation against the viraldisease and claimed that the countrywill not achieve 100-per cent first-dose vaccination by December 31.
“Let’s face the truth even if theGovernment is unwilling to do so.Not all 94 crore adults will receive thefirst dose of vaccination beforeDecember 31. We will not achieve100 per cent coverage. A very, verylarge number will not receive the sec-ond dose of vaccination,” he said ina tweet.
Pradhan described Congressleaders as “compulsive naysayers”who are out to “seeding panic, creat-ing fear and spreading disinforma-tion”. Chidambaram also alleged thatthe booster dose proposal is “shroud-ed in confusion”. “Which is the boost-er dose vaccine for Covishield? Notanother dose of Covishield, I hope.
“The chicken have come hometo roost. We are paying the price fordelayed orders, delayed payment,non-licensing of Pfizer & Moderna,and insufficient production andsupply,” he tweeted.
Hitting out at Chidambaram,Pradhan said, “The sadist attitude ofCongress and its coterie on everyprogressive step India takes neverfails to surprise!” “First, they misledpeople over safety of our homemadevaccines, stoked vaccine hesitancyand created panic by doubting thecollective capability of our country.
“And, now when India is yetagain taking proactive steps to effec-
tively manage the Omicron variant,flower-pot-farmers and compulsivenaysayers are doing what they arebest at — seeding panic, creating fearand spreading disinformation,” hetweeted. The Minister noted thatmany developed countries are facingthe brunt of Omicron despitedepending upon the said vaccines.
“Also, Chidambaram ji, let meremind you it was the Congress gov-ernment that sold vaccines for prof-it. Your intent to deceive will notderail India’s fight against the pan-demic,” he wrote on Twitter.
The country had launched theCovid vaccination drive on January16 and set a target to achieve 100 percent vaccination for the first dose byDecember 31.
As on Monday afternoon, thecountry had administered 142.31crore doses of Covid vaccines, withnearly 84 crore beneficiaries receiv-ing the first dose and over 58 crorereceiving both the jabs.
at a function in Raipur, formerCongress president RahulGandhi on Monday quotedthe Father of the Nation that his thoughts cannot beimprisoned.
His remarks came after asection of Hindu religious lead-ers sang paeans to NathuramGodse, the assassin of MahatmaGandhi, at a religious congre-gation in Raipur on Sunday.
“You can chain me, tortureme, you can destroy this body,but you cannot imprison mythoughts,” the former CongressPresident said quoting theMahatma.
During the conclusion ofthe two-day ‘dharma sansad’ atRavan Bhata ground in Raipur,Hindu religious leaderKalicharan Maharaj had usedan “abusive” word against theFather of the Nation and askedpeople to elect a staunch Hinduleader as the head of the gov-ernment in order to protect thereligion. Earlier, YatiNarsinghananda Giri hadpraised Godse as the symbol oftruth and religion.
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Senior bureaucrat SanjayKumar Singh has been
appointed as Steel Secretary as part of a majortop-level bureaucratic reshuffleeffected by the Centre onMonday.
Singh, a 1987 batch IASofficer of Madhya Pradeshcadre, is currently Secretary, Department ofAdministrative Reforms & Public Grievances (DARPG)and Department of Pensions & Pensioners Welfare(DoPPW).
V Srinivas, a 1989 batchIAS officer of Rajasthan cadre,will be Secretary, DARPG andDoPPW in place of Singh. Heis currently Special Secretary inthe DARPG.
Manoj Joshi, SpecialSecretary, Ministry of FoodProcessing Industries has been
appointed as Officer on SpecialDuty (OSD), Ministry ofHousing & Urban Affairs.
He will take over asSecretary, Ministry of Housing& Urban Affairs upon super-annuation of Durga ShankerMishra this month-end, aDoPT order said.
Bharat Lal, a 1988 batchIndian Forest Service officer ofGujarat cadre, has beenappointed as the Secretary tothe Lokpal.
Lal is Additional Secretary,Department of Drinking Water & Sanitation, Ministry ofJal Shakti.
Pankaj Jain, AdditionalSecretary, Department ofFinancial Services has beenappointed as Secretary,Ministry of Petroleum &Natural Gas.
Vini Mahajan has beenappointed as Secretary,Department of Drinking Water
and Sanitation, Ministry of JalShakti. Mahajan, a 1987 batch IAS officer, ispresently working in her cadreState Punjab.
Leena Nandan, Secretary,Department of ConsumerAffairs, Ministry of ConsumerAffairs, Food and PublicDistribution, has been namedas Secretary, Ministry ofEnvironment, Forests &Climate Change viceRameshwar Prasad Gupta,upon his superannuation onDecember 31, 2021.
Rohit Kumar Singh, SpecialSecretary, Ministry of Culturewill be Secretary, Department of ConsumerAffairs, in place of Nandan.
Rajeev Ranjan, SpecialSecretary, Department ofExpenditure has been appoint-ed as Secretary, NationalCommission for BackwardClasses.
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Union Home Minister AmitShah on Monday chaired
a meeting of the national coor-dination centre on narcoticsand directed the creation of apan-India portal, a canine unit,free call centre and specialisedtask forces in States to curb themenace of drugs, according toan official statement.
The Minister reviewed thedrugs abuse scenario and themechanism to counter it in thecountry during the third apex-level meeting of the narcoticscoordination mechanismNCORD, which has a theme oferadicating drugs from thecountry with the objective of“nasha-mukt Bharat abhiyan”
or drugs-free India movement. The meeting was organised
by the federal anti-narcoticsagency, Narcotics ControlBureau (NCB), and it wasattended by the secretaries andpolice chiefs of various statesand the Centre. “As per surveyreports, the number of drugabusers has increased approx-imately seven-fold in the lasttwo decades, which is alarming.
“To protect, especially ourchildren and youth, the homeminister emphasised that thereis a need to create awarenessagainst drugs and its ill-effectsfrom a young age by incorpo-rating it in academic curricu-lum,” the statement said. Shah“reviewed the prevailing drugtrafficking and abuse scenario
in the country and expressedhis concerns over its emergenceas national threat.”
“He stressed upon the needfor close coordination betweenthe States and CentralGovernment agencies to tack-le this problem that transcendsboundaries. The ministerunderscored the importance oforganising NCORD meetingsregularly at all the levels withparticipation of senior offi-cers,” the statement said.
For strengthening thecoordination mechanism, theMinister asked all states toform and notify a dedicatedanti-narcotics task force(ANTF) which can also func-tion as the NCORD secretari-at at the state level, the state-
ment said. The Minister alsodirected the agencies “to takesome important measures suchas creation of a nationalNCORD portal, constitution ofinter-ministerial standing com-mittees (IMCs) to devise effec-tive policies with regard todual use prescription drugsand precursors, raising of anational narco canine pool,and establishment of drug de-addiction centres in allprisons of 272 most affecteddistricts, etc.”
The Home Minister saidthe Union Government willalso create a 24x7 toll freenational narcotics call centrewhere the public can shareinputs and information ondrug matters. Shah directed
the NCB to build capacity ofvarious drug law enforcementagencies like the police, para-military forces, public prose-cutors and employees of civil departments “at nation-al-level on various areas ofnarcotics control.”
The minister also“expressed concern overincreasing drug traffickingthrough maritime route whichhas become an emerging chal-lenge on coastal front of thecountry and emphasised oninvolvement of all stakeholdersin the state NCORD meetingsespecially of coastal states andsuggested extending the man-date of existing joint coordination committee underthe NCB.”
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Anew study from Columbiaresearchers, in collaboration
with scientists at the University ofHong Kong, has added more evi-dence that the Omicron variant canevade the immune protection con-ferred by vaccines and natural infec-tion and suggests the need for newvaccines and treatments that antic-ipate how the virus may soon evolve.
The findings have been pub-lished in the journal Nature. DavidHo, MD, director of the AaronDiamond AIDS Research Center andthe Clyde’56 and Helen Wu Professorof Medicine at Columbia UniversityVagelos College of Physicians andSurgeons tested the ability of anti-bodies generated by vaccination toneutralize the omicron variant inlaboratory assays that pitted anti-bodies against live viruses and againstpseudoviruses constructed in the labto mimic Omicron.
A striking feature of the omi-cron variant is the alarming num-ber of changes in the virus’s spike
protein that could pose a threat tothe effectiveness of current vaccinesand therapeutic antibodies.
Large drop in Omicron neu-tralisation by antibodies from vac-cines. Antibodies from people dou-ble-vaccinated with any of the fourmost widely used vaccines —Moderna, Pfizer, AstraZeneca,Johnson & Johnson — were sig-nificantly less effective at neutral-ising the Omicron variant com-pared to the ancestral virus.Antibodies from previously infect-ed individuals were even less like-ly to neutralise omicron.
Individuals who received abooster shot of either of the twomRNA vaccines are likely to be bet-ter protected, although even theirantibodies exhibited diminishedneutralising activity againstOmicron.
“The new results suggest thatpreviously infected individuals andfully vaccinated individuals are atrisk for infection with the omicronvariant,” said Ho. “Even a thirdbooster shot may not adequately
protect against omicron infection,but of course it is advisable to getone, as you’ll still benefit from someimmunity.”
The results are consistent withother neutralisation studies, as wellas early epidemiological data fromSouth Africa and the UK, whichshow efficacy of two doses of thevaccines against symptomatic dis-ease is significantly reduced againstthe omicron variant.
Most monoclonal antibodiesare unable to neutralise Omicron.
When administered early in thecourse of infection, monoclonalantibodies can prevent many indi-viduals from developing severeCovid. But the new study suggeststhat all of the therapies currently inuse and most in development aremuch less effective against omicron,if they work at all.
In neutralisation studies withmonoclonal antibodies, only one(Brii198 approved in China) main-tained notable activity againstOmicron. A minor form of omicronis completely resistant to all anti-bodies in clinical use today. Theauthors note that omicron is now themost complete “escapee” from neu-tralisation that scientists have seen.
In this study, Ho’s lab alsoidentified four new spike mutationsin omicrons that help the virusevade antibodies. This informationshould inform the design of newapproaches to combat the newvariant. Ho suggested that scientistswill need to develop vaccines andtreatments that can better anticipatehow the virus is evolving.
bine has floated yet anotheroutfit that is styled as Al QisasMovement Jammu & Kashmirto target the forces throughgrenades and ImprovisedExplosive Devices (IEDs).
The outfit on Sundayclaimed responsibility for thegrenade attack in Pulwama inwhich two constables wereinjured. Two policemen wereinjured after the terrorists of theoutfit lobbed a grenade at apolice party near the post officein south Kashmir’s Pulwamadistrict on Sunday afternoon,Intelligence sources said.
Floating new outfits underdifferent outfits is part ofPakistan’s strategy to keep theradicalisation plot evolving toexecute terror designs and denyits role in the same to evadeinternational scrutiny, they said.
Qisas is an Islamic termwhich means “retaliation inkind” implying revenge on thelines for an eye for an eye.
Recently, Pakistani terrorgroups like the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) andLashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT) havefloated new outfits, includingone comprising stone-pelters toramp up terrorism in the Valley.
The Tahreek-e-Sangbaz, isone of the latest avatars of thePakistani terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammad, to carry outhits, including lone-wolfattacks, especially against secu-rity forces, officials said.
In the last few months,attacks against the securityforces, including Jammu &Kashmir Police have witnesseda surge, especially in capitalSrinagar.
Sangbaz means stone pel-ters and the Tehreek-e-Sangbaaz is essentially \recruit-ing stone-pelters in its fold fortargeting the security forces.
The activities of theTahreek-e-Sangbaz have beennoticed by the agencies soonafter The Resistance Front(TRF) suffered a major blowwith the liquidation of its topcommander Abbas Sheikhwho was driving the ter-rorist violence in Jammuand Kashmir capitalSrinagar.
Sheikh was thekey terrorist main-taining a large net-work of over groundworkers (OGWs) asalso terror cadres andhis killing by the Forcesdealt a major blow to theJaish project, officialsfrom Srinagar said.
New terror entitieslike Kashmir Tigers andIslamic State Wilayat
Hind are also part of the latestPakistani strategy to put inplace new outfits to carry outterrorist hits in the Valley.
The Kashmir Tigers is alsoa Jaish Front recently noticedby the security agencies. It hadclaimed responsibility for theKakapora police stationgrenade attack in Pulwama.
Likewise, the ISWH hadclaimed responsibility for car-rying out a lone wolf hit andwounding a traffic policemanin Rajouri Kadal area of
Srinagar. The pistol used totarget a non-local Hindu
street food vendor inSrinagar in October
was also used in thelone wolf attack inRajouri Kadal.
ISWH is also aPakistani project tokeep the low intensity
conflict alive in the Valley.In a similar manner, theUnited Liberation Front(ULF) is a new outfit float-ed earlier this year. It hadclaimed responsibility forthe attack on migrant
Pune: Twenty-eight more stu-dents and three staff membersof Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayain Maharashtra's Ahmednagardistrict have tested positive forCovid-19, taking the number ofsuch cases at the institute to 82in the last one week, a healthdepartment official said.
According to the official,a majority of the infected stu-dents are "asymptomatic" andcurrently admitted to hospital,where their health condition is
stable. "We had sent repeatswab samples of some stu-dents, who had earlier testednegative, for analysis as theyshowed some symptoms (ofcoronavirus). Last night, thesamples of 19 students returnedpositive and today 12 moresamples tested positive (three ofthem of staff members andbringing total new cases to 31),"said Dr Prakash Lalge, healthofficer of Parner tehsil in theadjoining district. Of the total
82 patients, 6 are staff membersof the school.
Ahmednagar district col-lector Rajendra Bhosale onSunday evening said the schoolcampus has been declared a'containment zone' after detec-tion of cases among studentsand staff members. "As a pre-cautionary measure, we havedeployed a medical team com-prising a doctor and two nurs-es to monitor other students inthe campus," he had said.
The administration hadsaid the samples of all the stu-dents who tested positive weresent for genome sequencing toascertain if any of them hadbeen infected by the new vari-ant of coronavirus Omicron.
The school, part of theNavodaya Vidyalaya networkthat comes under the Unioneducation ministry, is locatedat Takali Dhokeshwar village. PTI
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Lieutenant Governor ofUnion Territory of Jammu
& Kashmir, Manoj Sinha, onMonday said that the UnionTerritory is likely to receive�60,000 crore of investment inthe real estate sector in nearfuture as the present Govt’s toppriority is to transform thissector in order to have multi-plier effects on the UT’s econ-omy.
Addressing Jammu andKashmir Real Estate Summit2021, jointly organised byMinistry of Housing and UrbanAffairs, Government of India,Govt. of Jammu and Kashmirand NAREDCO Sinha indi-cated that investment propos-als worth �44 thousand croreswith their detailed projectreports have already been sub-mitted to the concerneddepartments of the Govt. Atotal number of 39 MoU's
worth �18,300 crores wereinked between the NAREDCODevelopers and Government ofJammu and Kashmir on thesidelines of Real Estate Summitheld at Jammu ConventionCentre.
Out of 39 MoU's in dif-ferent sectors, 19 were signedin the residential, 8Commercial, 4 Hospitality, 3Infrastructure, 2 Finance, and3 Film and Entertainment sec-tors.
The Lieutenant Governoralso announced that given thesuccess of the real estate sum-mit 2021 at Jammu, the Govt isso encouraged to see theresponse of investors that itwould host a similar conferenceon 21st and 22nd May 2022 atSrinagar and make it evenlarger in scale.
Sinha pointed out thatdespite inheriting a bad econ-omy from the previous regime,the present Govt has taken hostof initiatives to rationalize thethen prevailing administrativeweaknesses and made multiplecorrections on them whichincludes drastically reducingaviation fuel rate from 26% to1% and setting up a rational-ized stamp duty structureamong others.
He informed that multipleprojects relating to infrastruc-ture of around Rs. 1 lakh croresof investments are at variousstages of implementation in theentire Jammu and Kashmirregion and added that shortlywith the help of the central gov-ernment the Union Territorywill be able to launch themetro projects in both majorcities ‘Jammu & in Srinagar’.The Lt. Governor alsoinformed” the present govt. isbuilding a central secretariatand dwelling units for stateemployees including those thatwork for the police force. It isalso moving very fast to creat-ing infrastructure such ashotels, parks, IT hubs, and
more”.During the occasion a cof-
fee table book was alsolaunched which containedinformation relating to theUnion Territory and MoU’swere signed for over Rs. 18thousand crores of projects invarious areas of economy.Launch of Auction Portal andAuction of Assets portal werealso done during the occasion,besides a RERA portal was alsolaunched in the presence ofUnion Minister of State atPMO Dr. Jitendra Singh andUnion Minister of Housingand Urban Affairs and Ministerof Petroleum and Natural GasHardeep Singh Puri.
Speaking on the occasion
Hardeep Singh Puri thankedthe Lt. Governor of UnionTerritory of Jammu andKashmir for taking up devel-opmental projects for its peo-ple in such a short span of timeand created an atmosphere offriendly industry related poli-
cy on multiple fronts. TheUnion Minister particularlyemphasized on drastically reed-ucation on the rates of civil avi-ation fuel including massiverationalization in stamp dutystructure for the real estate.
Puri also urged the Lt.
Governor Mr. Manoj Sinha tocreate DAVOS type a platformwithin the Union Territory, beit at Jammu and Srinagar sothat conferences of very highscale are organsied in thisbeautiful landscape in whichinvestors worldwide couldassemble and deliberate anddebate issues and policy frame-work for betterment of theentire world.
Union Minister of State forPMO Dr. Jitendra Singh whoalso participated in the con-ference informed that eversince Modi govt. has come topower from 2014 onwards, thedevelopment and its pace wasaccelerated in the entire Jammuand Kashmir, the developmentof which was neglected by theearlier regimes.
Speaking on the occasionPresident NAREDCO IndiaRajan Narayan Bandelkarurged that his associationwould do its best to make theproposed May 2022 Real EstateSummit in Srinagar as the verybest in all parameters andensure larger participation forit. He also emphasized that theCentral Govt. should comeout with the policy measure sothat the issue of Input TAXCredit related to real estate is
sorted out in the sense thatthose developers who wish togo through this route may goor else who choose to deviatefrom it.
Vice Chairman, NARED-CO India, Dr. NiranjanHiranandani in his addresssought that the Jammu andKashmir administration shouldfocus on mixed use townshipdevelopment as its top priori-ty, and sought participationfrom industry stakeholders.
This will enable UnionTerritory to move up on thepath of growth in an equitablemanner with a win-win situa-tion for each participant.
Among others who werepresent on the occasion anddemanded industry participa-tion to building real estate inJammu and Kashmir includedPrincipal Secretary, Housingand Urban DevelopmentDepartment Govt. of J&KDheeraj Gupta, IAS, ChiefSecretary, Jammu and KashmirArun Kumar Mehta, SecretaryMoHUA Mr. Durga ShankerMishra, Mayor JammuMunicipal CorporationChander Mohan Gupta andMayor Srinagar MunicipalCorporation Junaid Mattoo.
Srinagar: Former Jammu &Kashmir chief ministers OmarAbdullah and Mehbooba Muftion Monday hit out at theadministration for opening theUnion Territory to real estateinvestors, alleging that it isbeing done to change thedemography of the region.
The comments came afterthe Jammu and Kashmiradministration signed 39 MoUsworth Rs 18,300 crore with thecountry's real investors for thedevelopment of housing andcommercial projects in theunion territory.
"Once again the true inten-tions of the government are
brought to the fore. Whileoffering to secure the land, jobs,domicile laws & identity of thepeople of Ladakh, J&K is beingput up for sale. People ofJammu should beware,'investors' will buy up land inJammu long before Kashmir,"Abdullah wrote on Twitter.
Mehbooba tweeted, "J&K'sspecial status was illegallyrevoked to dehumanise, dis-possess & disempower the onlyMuslim majority state in India.GOIs brazen loot & sale of ourresources shows that the solemotive is to annihilate ouridentity & change the demog-raphy." PTI
the Kolkata municipal polls theWest Bengal State ElectionCommission on Mondayannounced elections for fourother municipal corporationsof Bidhnnagar, Siliguri,Asansol and Chandannagar.
The elections to these fourmunicipal boards will be heldon January 22. The SEC SauravDas said adding “the modelcode of conduct will start rightfrom today.”
The election to the fourcorporations was announcedmoments after all the opposi-tion parties including BJP, Leftand the Congress walked out ofthe all-party meeting --- calledby the SEC --- after theirdemand to include first time-voters (whose names were to bepublished onJanuary 1,) in the
poll process was rejected by thepoll panel. The SEC said thatthe commission has adoptedelectoral rolls updated up toNovember 1, 2021.”
Das told reporters that“The last date for submittingnomination is January 3. Thepapers will be scrutinised theday after. January 6 has beenfixed as the last date for with-drawing the nominations.”Repoll, if any, will be conduct-ed on January 24, the SEC said.Counting of votes will be heldon January 25, 2022.
While Asansol has themost number of 106 wards has47. Chandannagar andBidhannagar have 33 and 41wards each.
Election for HowrahMunicipal Corporation wasnot announced by theCommission amid the ongoingbattle between the TrinamoolCongressGovernment and
Governor Jagdeep Dhankharover a pending bill earlier-brought the State Governmentseeking its bifurcation.
The State Government hadearlier brought a Bill bifurcat-ing the proposed Bally munic-ipality from HowrahCorporation. Curiously whilethe State Advocate generalrecently told the Calcutta HighCourt theBill had been passedby the Governor the latter sub-sequently said thathe hadn’tleading the opposition partiesto reveal the status of theBill.
The SEC and the WestBengal government had earliertold the CalcuttaHigh Courtthat it had planned to hold thecivic elections in two phases.While polls to five municipalcorporations (includingHowrah)in the state would beheld on January 22 those to theremaining municipalities, wouldbe conducted on February 27.
Taken aback by the massiveopposition to the Sky Line
Semi High Speed Rail Project,(the 529.45 km long rail routethat will connect Kasaragod andThiruvananthapuram), the rul-ing CPI(M) would undertake ahouse-to-house campaign pro-gramme to create an awarenessamong the people of the State.This was announced by ChiefMinister Pinarayi Vijayan onMonday while addressing theMalappuram DistrictCommittee Conclave of theCPI(M).
The chief minister saidthat the opposition to the Rs63,490 crore project was beingspread by the Congress-SanghParivar-extremist axis whichalways resisted all develop-ment projects in the State.“There is no question of usgoing back in this project andwe will implement it comewhatever may be,” said Vijayan.
Aanavoor Nagappan, theCPI(M) boss inThiruvananthapuram toldmedia on Monday that ChiefMinister Vijayan would holdseries of meetings with theState’s intelligentsia and intel-lectuals to clear the apprehen-sion in the mind of the peopleabout the Sky Line project.
K Sudhakaran, president,KPCC, issued a stern warningto Sasi Tharoor MP, who is fol-lowing a separate line from thatof the party in the issue.Tharoor has been supportingthe project from day one anddid not sign in the memoran-dum against the Sky Line pro-ject submitted by the party MPsto the union railway minister.
Meanwhile, the engineer-turned environmental activist CR Neelakantan on Mondayquestioned the stance of Tharoorand asked him to come out withclarity and transparency in theproject. “The Detailed ProjectReport or the Environmental
Impact Analysis of the projecthas not been made. It is certainthat the project cost wouldexceed Rs 1,00,000 crore once itis executed. If that is the case, atrip from Kasaragod toThiruvananthapuram wouldcost more than Rs 5,000/-,” saidNeelakantan.
John Peruvanthanam, envi-ronmental activist, said theGovernment is yet to come outwith the rehabilitation and reset-tlement plans for the people tobe displaced by the land acqui-sition. “What about the farmlands which would be taken overfor laying the tracks? Out of the1383 hectare land required forthe project, 1,200 hectare isfarm land owned by mini, smalland medium farmers. What willhappen to them? “ asked John.
The land acquisition thatbegan last week saw manyfamily members declaring thatthey would set themselvesablaze if the Government force-fully takes over the land.
(JV) between the Tata andSiemens groups will develop a23.3 kilometer elevated metroline between from Hinjewadi toShivajinagar Public PrivatePartnership (PPP) route.
A joint announcementmade on Monday said that thePune Metropolitan RegionDevelopment Authority hadawarded the contract to Tata-Siemens JV to develop theMetro Rail Line 3 corridorfrom Hinjewadi toShivajinagar.
Pune IT City Metro RailLimited, the special purposecompany Tata-Siemens JV, willdevelop the elevated metroline that connects HinjewadiRajiv Gandhi Infotech Park toShivajinagar via Balewadi inPune. The metro corridorwith 23 stations will be the firstmetro project in India underthe New Metro Rail Policy.
The JV comprises TRILUrban Transport PrivateLimited (a Tata GroupCompany) and Siemens ProjectVentures GmbH (subsidiaryof Siemens Financial Services)
According to a statementissued by the Siemens group,ta consortium between SiemensAG, Siemens Mobility GmbH,Siemens Limited and AlstomTransport India Limited hasbeen awarded the contract for
the electrical and mechanicalsystem works of the project byPune IT City Metro RailLimited.
The project is to be com-pleted in 39 months. SiemensLimited being a part of theConsortium will provide pro-ject management, turnkey elec-trification, signaling, commu-nications and depot works(equipment) for this presti-gious project. The order size ofSiemens Limited is to theextent of Rs. 900 crore (approx-imately).
“We would like to thankthe Pune Metropolitan RegionDevelopment Authority forawarding this project to us.Siemens is a leader in provid-ing state-of-the-art metrorailsolutions globally. Pune Metrois a prestigious project, andSiemens is glad to be partner-ing with the Tatas to jointlydevelop this project. We areconfident that the new metroline will play a key role in pos-itively impacting the quality oflife of Pune’s citizens to trans-form their everyday life,” SunilMathur, Managing Directorand Chief Executive Officer,Siemens Limited, said.
Siemens Financial Services(SFS) invests in infrastructureprojects around the world.Through PPPs, SFS is able tohelp cities meet their goals ofobtaining intelligent infra-structure solutions and enablesmarter, more sustainabletransportation networks.
With no let up in the spreadof Omicron infections,
Maharashtra on Mondayrecorded 26 fresh cases of thenew Covid-19 variant, takingthe total number of cases in thestate to 167.
Of the 26 Omicron casesrecorded, Mumbai accountedfor a maximum of 11 cases, fol-lowed by Thane—4, Raigad(Panvel MunicipalCorporation)-5 and Nanded-2.
The following is the break-up of a total 141 Omicroncases recorded in the state sofar, Mumbai: 84, Pimpri-Chinchwad: 19, Pune rural --16, Pune and Thane MunicipalCorporation (PMC)—7 each,Satara, Osmanabad and Panvel3 each, Kalyan-Dombivali,Nagpur –3 , Aurangabad andNanded -2 each, Buldhana,Latur, Ahmednagar, Akola,Vasai-Virar, Navi Mumbai,Mira-Bhayandar, Palghar andBhiwandi-Nizampur --01 each.
Of the total cases, 72patients have been dischargedafter a negative RT–PCR test.
Of the 26 cases reported onMonday, four are aged below 18years, while two are above 60years. Of the infected persons,14 are male, while 12 are female
Of the infected, all excepttwo patients have a history ofinternational travel, while theremaining two persons arehigh-risk contacts of an inter-national traveller.
Barring 3 minors and 3others, all 19 others are fullyvaccinated. Of the 26 infected,21 are asymptomatic while fiveare having mild symptoms.
Meanwhile, the authoritiessaid the total number of pas-sengers who arrived at Mumbai,Pune and Nagpur airports sinceDecember 1 was 1,84,072(26,887 from At-risk countriesand rest 1,57,185 are from othercountries), while passengerswhose RT-PC tests have beendone are 35,468 (26,887 arefrom high-risk countries and8581 are from other countries).Similarly, RT-PCR positive andsamples sent for genomicsequencing was 231 (165 arefrom at-risk countries and 66are from other countries).
Additionally, field surveil-lance of all international pas-sengers who have arrived since1st November is underway.
“Through airport and fieldsurveillance, 743 samples havebeen sent for genomic sequenc-ing. The results of 98 are await-ed so far,” the daily health bul-letin said.
Asenior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party sent shock wavesby publicly hurling expletives and later assaulting a Dalit
employee in Balrampur causing him a serious ophthalmic injury,recently.
Initially reluctant to take cognisance of the incident and ini-tiate action against the loose cannon politician, the local policefinally relented and registered a case after the victim’s colleaguesstaged a demonstration and a video of the incident went viral.
As per reports, Rojgar Sewak Pawan Kumar is posted atGokala Bazaar gram panchayat in Sadullah Nagar police stationarea of Balrampur. While Kumar was away to hire labourers towork in the MNREGA scheme, BJP's divisional general secre-tary Ajay Kumar Upadhyay and Krishna Kumar Upadhyayreached the site and hurled expletives at Pawan Kumar and ashe opposed the verbal diatribe, they severely beat him up caus-ing an eye injury.
The rojgar sewak somehow managed to flee the scene andsave his life.
As soon as Pawan’s colleagues learnt about the assault, mem-bers of UP Gram Rojgar Sewak Welfare Association staged ademonstration, demanding action against the BJP leader and hishenchmen. The association warned that they would not keep quietuntil strict action was initiated against the culprits.
Lucknow: An ElectionCommission of India (ECI)team headed by Chief ElectionCommissioner Sushil Chandracomprising two ElectionCommissioners Rajiv Kumarand Anup Chandra, SecretaryGeneral Umesh Sinha and tenother officials will arrive on athree-day visit to Lucknow onTuesday and take stock of thepreparations for the Assemblyelections due in early 2022.
The term of the present
17th UP Vidhan Sabha is end-ing on May 14 next year.
The visit of the ElectionCommission is significant inview of apprehensionsexpressed by opposition partiesthat fearing electoral setback,the Bharatiya Janata party wascontemplating the postpone-ment of the assembly elec-tions on the premise of a pos-sible third wave of COVID-19.
In the first quarter of 2022,five states -- Goa, Manipur,
Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradeshand Punjab -- are scheduled togo to the polls. Amid a surge inCOVID-19 cases and the threatposed by the Omicron variantof novel coronavirus, concernshave been raised over con-ducting elections and rallies inthe five poll-bound States.
On the first day of its visit,The Election Commission willmeet representatives of nation-al and regional political parties.
It will also hold meetings withtop officials of the administra-tion and UP Police and variousenforcement agencies.
On December 29, theElection Commission will meetdistrict magistrates, who arealso district election officers,divisional commissioners, dis-trict police chiefs, commis-sioners of Police and Zonal IGs.It will later hold a final meet-ing with the chief secretary anddirector general of police. PNS
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Lucknow: After receiving ashot in the arm with hugeturnout of girls who defiedadministration order to join the‘Marathon’ in Lucknow andJhansi, the Congress is all setto now hold the function atEkana Stadium here onTuesday morning.
The Yogi Adityanath gov-ernment on December 25denied permission forCongress leader PriyankaGandhi Vadra's 'Women'sMarathon' as part of the 'LadkiHoon, Lad Sakti Hoon (I'm agirl and I can fight)' campaignin Lucknow, citing Covid pro-tocols and imposition of pro-hibitory order under Section144 of the Criminal ProcedureCode in the capital.
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Prime Minister NarendraModi will inaugurate a sec-
tion of Kanpur Metro RailProject in the metropolis onTuesday and will also inaugu-rate development projects andattend the convocation of theIndian Institute of Technology,Kanpur.
Accompanied by ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath, theprime minister will travel by
the new Kanpur Metro train toinspect the 9 km-long stretchfrom IIT Kanpur to Motijheel.The entire length of the metrorail project in Kanpur is 32 kmand it is being built at a cost ofover Rs 11,000 crore.
“This Metro Rail projectwill give impetus to the devel-opment of Kanpur Nagar.People of the city will get thefacility of accessible, pollu-tion-free travel. Industrialactivities will also increase
rapidly,” a governmentspokesman said in Lucknow onMonday.
During his Kanpur visit,the prime minister will alsoinaugurate Bina-Panki multi-product pipeline laid at a costof over Rs 1,500 crore. The 356km-long project has a capaci-ty of about 3.45 million metrictons per annum.
Spread from Bina Refineryin Madhya Pradesh to Panki inKanpur Nagar, the project will
help transport petroleum prod-ucts from Bina refinery in theregion.
Later, Modi will attend the54th convocation of IITKanpur as the chief guest andaward all students digitaldegrees through the NationalBlockchain Project developedat the institute, for the firsttime.
The specialty of these dig-ital degrees is that the can beverified globally.
Corridor project is still in theworks. It would be a newentrant in the election. Movingaway from Ayodhya only dis-tracts attention from the Ramtemple. Yogi Adityanath has sopainstakingly nurtured lordRama — millions lit lamps, aRam statue on the drawingboard and construction of abhavya temple is underway. Ifthat is not enough, what is?
Despite Modi’s best efforts,and let us give him a long rope,the economy hasn’t looked up.Financially drained, frustra-tion is writ large on the facesof people protesting on thestreets of UP. Let’s assume hebelieved in right earnest thatdemonetisation would workand black money would pourout. He sincerely believed thatGST would fill up the Statecoffers. A zero-balanceaccount for the poor wouldtrigger financial inclusion.And, of course, scrapping theAgricultural Produce MarketCommittees (APMCs) wouldgive farmers a choice. It wouldhelp double their income.Unfortunately, the greatGujarat model didn’t work onthe national scale. All marksfor trying, but he miserablyfailed on the economic front.
India’s GDP has contract-
ed by 7.3 per cent over thepast year as per the NSO’sprovisional estimates. It’s beenfour decades since the lasttime the GDP was in the red.India’s GDP for 2020-21 hastaken the biggest hit in thenation’s history. Double-digitwholesale inflation, almostdouble-digit unemploymentrate (9.3 per cent) and lowinvestor confidence are toomuch to handle withoutGod’s intervention. The busi-ness sentiment is abysmallylow. In such a situation, onlythe blessings of ‘Maa Ganga’can offer salvation.
One dilemma that Modifaces is to win UP while hav-ing a CM of his choice. He hasto win it to look good in thenext general elections. Yogisometimes scores more pointson Hindutva than Modi him-self, much to his consterna-tion. The friendly strollnotwithstanding, the underly-ing tension between the lead-ers is visible. Anti-incum-bency caused by gross mis-management of the pandem-ic is a riding sentiment in UPright now. The State still suf-fers from Yogi’s policy blight.With a sizeable voter ensem-ble — Brahmins, OBCs andDalits, in particular — look-
ing despondent, there has tobe a unifying factor that tran-scends the caste predicament.Even after repealing the threefarm laws, western UPremains dicey for the BJP.
No doubt it was a greatchoice of timing, place andGod for appropriation. Yogihas firmly positioned himselfin Ayodhya while the PMtook three years to even visitthe place. Modi had to gosomeplace other thanAyodhya. Kashi also has anAurangzeb link and is thusconvenient for polarisation.Moreover, it also takes care ofarchrival Rahul Gandhi’s shivbhakti. The timing is perfectas it happens days before thenotification of UP elections.
Modi’s Ganga dip has setthe agenda for UP elections. Itwould be fought on emotivereligious issues rather than oncore existential crises. ThePrime Minister knows well theroad to 7, Lok Kalyan Marg,goes through UP’s dusty lanes.Would the dip in the Gangaredeem the BJP is somethingonly time can tell. Till then,quiet flows the Ganga….
(The writer is a columnistand documentary filmmaker.The views expressed are personal.)
���������������� ����Sir — Reviews in print media heap a lotof praise on the film 83, directed by aceHindi film director Kabir Khan. Thefilm is said to have captured India’s his-toric 1983 World Cup win in the mostbeautiful manner with Ranveer Singhin the lead role, enacting Kapil Devadmirably well and holding the teamtogether. The film became a buzz intown ever since its trailer was launched.
Apparently, the movie depicts wellthe emotion, excitement and euphoriathat gripped the nation on June 25,1983, when Kapil Dev held aloft theWorld Cup in the balcony of the icon-ic Lord’s cricket ground the image ofwhich framed in our memory and stillfinds a place in sports publications andtelevision documentaries around theworld. No doubt, the biopic will takethe audience back to the era of India’sgreatest cricketing triumph, the thoughtof which still gives us goosebumps.Indian cinema has not produced manysports movies and, therefore, movieslike 83 help us relive the moments thatonce created history.
Ranganathan Sivakumar | Chennai
��������������������������Sir —The decision of the Governmentof India to vaccinate children in the 15to 18 age group and give booster shotsto frontline workers and people above60 with comorbidities is welcome.These measures should act as a deter-rent to the spread of the pandemicamongst the vulnerable populationbut may not be adequate if the thirdwave is as virulent as the previous one.The efficacy of vaccines should be clin-ically tested and details published andonly the best of Indian vaccines shouldbe encouraged.
Further, crores of people havedropped out after taking their first doseof the vaccine and, therefore, all of themshould follow up with a second dose.It should be undertaken as a drive andboth the doses should be made com-pulsory by creating as many check-points as possible. Protocols, especial-
ly wearing face masks, should beenforced by imposing strict penaltiesand these can be administered throughwardens and volunteers. To handleemergencies, oxygen banks should becreated in hospitals to cater to the vicin-ity. This is the time to remain vigilant.If we let our guard down at the momentthen we could be looking at anotherhorrific COVID-19 wave, or maybeworse.
M Raghuraman | Mumbai
���������������������������Sir — Congress's woes are far from overgiven that no sooner the party high com-mand addresses one problem stem-ming from the internecine bickering, theother is in the offing, staring it in the face.This time, it is the ongoing standoffbetween its senior leader and formerUttarakhand Chief Minister HarishRawat and the State in-charge RanjeetRawat as both the leaders seem
embroiled in a show of having an upperhand in the poll-bound State.
Interestingly, it was none other thanRawat who helped the grand old partytide over the Punjab crisis recently.Ticket distribution in this HimalayanState is, on the face of it, the issue as boththe leaders want to field their respectivefavourites in the election, which isright around the corner. On the face ofit, the Congress leadership has yetagain prevailed over both the warringleaders to stay calm for the time beingnotwithstanding, such an issue will notcrop up again, stands no guarantee —to the BJP's glee. This is high time theCongress leadership took this recurringphenomenon seriously and found apragmatic solution to it before it is toolate and beyond repair.
Mahatma Gandhi oncesaid: “The Gangaflows in man’s heart,yet man is unable to
bathe in it and remains unaffect-ed.” Of course, he wasn’t talkingabout Prime Minister NarendraModi who would do the dip inthe holy river much later. Andthe Prime Minister knew exact-ly what he was doing.
Within a matter of 10 days,Modi has visited Varanasi twice:First to inaugurate the KashiCorridor and then to launchseveral development schemes.As is customary, the nationalmedia televised and broadcastevery nuance of Modi’s trip. Thewell-publicised and televisedevent was worth watching. It wasa visual treat, well covered by theState-owned Doordarshan andGovernment-owned privatechannels. Doordarshan’s 55cameras did not miss a shot asthe Prime Minister emergedfrom the Ganga after his dip atLalita Ghat.
A fitting start for the man onwhose charisma the BJP wouldgo to the hustings in UP. ThePrime Minister, for his part, didhis job well. He gave enoughmasala to the media to air andtalk about. He showered petalson workers, prayed under thefull glare of TV cameras, sat onstairs with children and, ofcourse, took a dip. It was a well-orchestrated and executed event.
We have indeed come a longway; a full circle from JawaharlalNehru who ran away from tem-ples, to Narendra Modi who runsto temples. In 1951, Nehru wroteto the then President and askedhim to reconsider his decision ofinaugurating the Somnath tem-ple. Times have changed, andhow! In 2021, the PrimeMinister’s temple run is a mediaevent for everyone to savour.Modi’s penchant for events is wellknown. There are “HowdyModi”, “Namaste Trump”, theChinese Premier’s grand tour ofGujarat and Shinzo Abe’s Benarastrip two years back, to name afew. This time, though, Modihimself was the star attraction.
The Prime Minister’s choiceof timing and the place is inter-esting, yet a bit perplexing. The�900-crore Kashi VishwanathDham (KVD) or the Kashi
In its bi-monthly Monetary PolicyCommittee's (MPC) reviewannounced by RBI GovernorShaktikanta Das on December 8, the
policy repo rate or RR has remainedunchanged at 4 percent.The reverserepo rate or RRR is also unchanged at3.35 percent. Besides, it has retained an'accommodative' policy stance for as longas necessary.
This is the ninth consecutive timesince last August that both policy rateshave remained unchanged. Das justifiedsaying, "given the slack in the economyand the ongoing catching-up of activity,especially of private consumption, whichis still below its pre-pandemic levels, con-tinued policy support is warranted for adurable and broad-based recovery".
Pertinently, in the review announcedin August 2020, he had justified maintain-ing low rates (then also, both RR and RRRwere kept unchanged at 4 per cent and3.35 per cent respectively) along with"accommodative" stance - as long as nec-essary — in terms of the need to revivegrowth and mitigate the impact of Covid-19, while ensuring that inflation remainswithin the target.
On both the occasions, low interestrate and accommodative stance (aeuphemism for enough availability ofcredit or liquidity in short and low cost ofcredit) has been posited as instruments ofsupporting growth, during 2020-21, forreviving it and now for ensuring durableand broad-based recovery.
Is this really so? Did this strategy helpin 2020-21 or even earlier? Is it workingduring the current year?
In the backdrop of the slide in the realGross Domestic Product (GDP) growththat had commenced in the third quarterof the financial year 2018-19, during 2019,RBI had delivered a cumulative cut in RRof 1.35 per cent in five instalments, the lastone being under the policy review onOctober 4, 2019. This resulted in lower-ing of RR from 6.5 per cent at the start ofthe year to 5.15 per cent. The apex bankalso pumped liquidity using instrumentssuch as Open Market Operations(OMO).Yet, FY 2019-20 ended withgrowth of a mere 4.2 per cent (during thelast quarter, this was 3 percent).
Following the onslaught of COVID -19, on March 27, 2020, the apex bankreduced RR by 0.75 per cent and a further0.4 per cent on May 22.It also injectedaggregate liquidity close to �5,00,000crore through measures such as reductionin the cash reserve ratio (CRR), auctionof Targeted Long-Term Repo Operations(TLTRO), hike in accommodation underthe Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) andso on.
Despite this massive booster — on topof the boost already given during 2019-20 - there was de-growth of 7.3 percentduring 2020-21 (in fact, during the firstquarter it was minus 24 per cent).
low RR continues and there is plen-ty of liquidity (currently, excesscash in the banking system isaround �920,000 crore), GDPgrowth during the first quarterrecorded 20.1 per cent and 8.4 per-cent during the second quarter.However, to see a connectionbetween the two is untenable. Hada loose monetary policy been apotent factor, then we would haveseen good growth even during theprevious two years.
The most crucial determinantof growth is demand (includinginvestment demand) which wasslack during 2019-20 and annihi-lated particularly during the firsthalf of 2020-21, courtesy Covidpandemic. As a result, despite thepolicy rate on a downward trajec-tory reaching a record low of 4 per-cent in May 2020 and RBI pump-ing tons of money, there was decel-eration in growth in both theyears. The rebound during the cur-rent year has to do primarily withsubstantially diminished effect ofthe pandemic and revival ofdemand, though fragile.
Another factor impedinggrowth during 2019-20 and 2020-21 was lack of full transmission ofthe rate cut announced by the RBI.For instance, during 2019-20, of the1.35 percent reduction in RR, onlyabout 0.6 percent was transmittedby banks by way of correspondingreduction in the lending rate. Thishas a lot to do with their non-per-forming assets (NPAs) apart fromthe fact that a bank can't ignore theinterest rate it pays on depositswhich is downward sticky; cour-
tesy, much higher rates on smallsavings schemes.
The growth of credit too hasbeen slack despite RBI armingbanks with tons of liquidity. During2019-20, bank credit grew by 6.1percent, less than half of the 13.4per cent growth registered during2018-19. During 2020-21 also, itcontinued to be sluggish at 5.6 per-cent. That apart, a big chunk wascornered by big corporate even asmost of the small businesses hadtheir shutters down; even thosewho operated didn't get access dueto the reluctance of banks to lend.
During the current year also(when GDP is in recovery phase),credit growth has not picked uppace, this being 5.8 percent duringthe first quarter. The micros, smalland medium enterprises (MSMEs)continue to be prime laggards.They have still not fully utilized themoney available under EmergencyCredit Line Guarantee Scheme(ECLGS) sanctioned last yearunder the Atmanirbhar BharatAbhiyaan. Against the limit of Rs450,000 crore, as on September 24,2021, the amount availed is�286,000 crore.
Without doubt, the efficacy ofmonetary policy in addressing theproblem of slack growth is in doubt.The RBI/MPC may have applied apause button on the policy rate butit continues with its 'accommoda-tive' policy stance which does notrule out the possibility of either afurther reduction in RR or pump-ing more liquidity or both. Any ofthese actions is strongly ill-advisedas without any guarantee of pro-
pelling growth, it will result in twobig negative outcomes.
One, by signaling reduction inlending rates, this will force banksto further reduce deposit rates.This will erode the income of mil-lions of depositors who have alreadysuffered due to reduction of at least2 percent thanks to RR cuts in thepast. For those, whose sole incomesource is interest earning fromdeposits, this will be suicidal.
Two, this will run the risk ofstoking inflation. Inflation — asmeasured by consumer price index(CPI) — is expected to stay elevat-ed around 5.5-6 percent through2021-22. Already, this is at thehigher end of the medium-term tar-get of 4 percent (+/- 2 percent). IfRBI were to continue with its gen-erosity (read accommodativestance), this could result in inflationgetting out of control.
In this backdrop, it is encourag-ing to see RBI making some movesto suck out excess liquidity in thesystem by raising the amount ofcash it absorbs through the 14-dayVRRR (Variable Rate Reverse Repo)auction. This process should con-tinue till all of the excess is erased.It should also consider restoring RRto 5.15 percent — the level that pre-vailed prior to the onslaught of pan-demic.
While these measures will bringcheer to depositors and public atlarge by reining in inflation, for sus-taining high growth, theGovernment should rely on ratio-nalizing/trimming taxes and replac-ing subsidies by direct income sup-port to boost demand.
(The writer is a policy analyst. The views
expressed are personal.)
Whatever progress wehave achieved in ourcountry whether it is
in the agriculture sector,healthcare sector or trans-portation are all because ofyears of breath-taking researchundertaken by our scientificcommunity. Be it the greenrevolution undertaken by ProfMS Swaminathan or the whiterevolution by Dr. VergheseKurien or the metro rail rev-olution of E Sreedharan, inevery sphere of life, our scien-tific community has delivereda lot.But many a time, most ofour scientists turn out to beunsung heroes.
India has emerged as aleading economy of the worldmainly due to the work doneby our scientists. Economicgrowth and scientific growthare interrelated. Our visionary
leaders and scientists havegiven the trust to science sincewe got independence.
We as a nation stand onthe pillars of scientific strengthbuilt by our scientists. On theoccasion of the 75th year ofindependence under theumbrella of Azadi ka AmritMahotsav, Vigyan Prasar, anautonomous organization ofthe Department of Science &Technology, has initiated year-long celebrations of birth cen-tenaries of inspirational scien-tists like Prof. H.G.Khorana,Prof. Rajeshwari Chatterjee,Prof. G S Laddha, Dr. YNayudamma, Prof. G.N.Ramachandran and Prof. B.Ramamurthi. They have alsoidentified 75 scientists, as rep-resentative members fromhundreds of scientists, whoplayed a major role in nation-
building. This is indeed a wel-come step that would bring thescientific community to thepublic limelight. With eachpassing generation, our peopleforget the contributions ofgreat scientists. It will be goodif our present generation atleast goes through the historybehind each discovery ourscientists have made, withminimum infrastructure avail-able during the time. Eventhough few have settled abroaddue to professional compul-sions, many have settled in
India and participated innation-building. The ingenu-ity of their work is somethingthat has to be appreciated.Most of these scientists comefrom a rural background, stud-ied in government institu-tions, and rose to the stature ofgreatness without any godfa-thers. This will instil confi-dence in our youngsters to takeup science as a career.
One problem we find inour society especially in scien-tific and academic circles isthat once a person retiresfrom service, we neglect themtotally. We often forget thata person carries 60 years ofexperience and that utilisingthem properly can move us 60years ahead. In most institu-tions, once a person leaves,nobody knows how a partic-ular work has been carried out
or how to solve the problemsone encounters during anexperiment, etc. In some cases,costly instruments purchasedby the scientists remain unuti-lized once the concerned per-son leaves the institution. Thismay be either due to a lack ofexperienced manpower orsheer negligence. The linkbetween the young and oldgenerations should be main-tained as far as possible, for ifthat loop is broken the conti-nuity of research work will beaffected.
We have to develop a cul-ture where every scientist in thecountry is provided a workingspace in their host institute foras long as they are active.There are many octogenarianscientists working in manyinternational centers, the sameculture is not visible in our
institutions. The moment aperson sits idle at home hisproductivity decreases. If thesame person is made active, wecan extract a lot of informationfrom his experience. Even thesight of senior persons andtheir interactions will enhancethe scientific output of young-sters.
Presently, many privateacademic and research organi-zations recruit scientists retiredfrom public sector institutionsoffering them good salaries andpositions. They know how toextract knowledge from ourgreat scientists and makemoney out of it. The samepractice can be utilized by ourpublic sector institutions. Mostof our responsible scientistsshall be happy to work for thegovernment if they get achance. Even though there are
emeritus scientists or professorschemes, very few get a chanceto serve post-retirement.
In science, most of the timewe focus on scientists who arein limelight, that may be veryfew, but there are hundredswho are relentlessly working inour institutions and universi-ties, they need to be recog-nized. There should be aNational Scientists Day tocommemorate their contribu-tions. Many youngsters whoare fleeing from science fearunemployment. Celebratingthe contributions of scientistswill create a new atmosphere inpromoting science among theyoungsters. Without good sci-entists' nation cannot progress.We need to preserve our scien-tific community and preventbrain drain for the welfare ofour country.
(The writer is a popular science writer. The viewsexpressed are personal.)
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After struggling with thecoronavirus for far too
long, the world understands alltoo well Belgium's word of theyear, "knaldrang!" - the urge toparty, the need to let loose. Yetas New Year celebrationsapproach, the omicron variantis casting more gloom.
Monday was a case inpoint, with several govern-ments considering morerestrictions to add to a patch-work of measures and lock-downs already in place aroundEurope.
The French governmentand British Prime MinisterBoris Johnson were assessingthe latest data and the need tocounter the record numbers ofCOVID-19 infections withmore measures to keep peopleapart at a time when they sodearly want to be together.
But with indications thatomicron might be a mildervariant despite its massivetransmissibility, politicianswere caught in a bind whetherto further spoil yet anotherparty or play safe to make surehealth care systems don't col-lapse. Further complicatingmatters was lack of full dataover Christmas weekend, mak-ing chronicling of rise of omi-cron more difficult. In Belgium,people faced their first real testwith several new measures onMonday.Shopping was reducedto maximum two adults, pos-
sibly with kids in tow, andmovie theatres and concerthalls closed at a time whencountless families are on vaca-tion together. The calls to closetheatres and arts centres camein for especially heavy criti-cism. "We need it also for ourmental health. It is the only wayfor people to live experiences,to tell stories.
It is of paramount impor-tance for us to be open in thesecomplicated and complextimes," said Michael De Kok,the artistic director of theFlemish Royal Theatre. Evencommunal celebrations likeNew Year's fireworks, thatwould usually see thousandsthronging Brussels for the bestviews, are off.
Nightclubs are alreadyclosed and restaurants andbars need to shut doors at 11pm. In the United Kingdom,there are similar creepingmoves. Scotland will close itsnightclubs Monday afterNorthern Ireland and Wales
already did so on Sunday,though they remain open inEngland. Prime Minister BorisJohnson, who has resistedordering new restrictions buthasn't ruled them out, isexpected to be briefed Mondayon the latest data on spread ofomicron.Even that staple ofBritish holiday celebrations,the steady stream of EnglishPremier League games, isunder threat. The league hasalready called off 15 soccer
matches in 2 1/2 weeks andmore could well be upcoming.UK daily infection numbersreached a new high of 122,186on Friday, but there were nofigures over the long Christmasweekend. France has recordedmore than 100,000 virus infec-tions in a single day for the firsttime in the pandemic andCOVID-19 hospitalizationshave doubled over the pastmonth. President EmmanuelMacron's government is hold-ing emergency meetingsMonday to discuss the nextsteps in tackling the virus. It ishoping that stepped-up vacci-nations will be enough.
The government is pushinga draft law that would requirevaccination to enter all restau-rants and many public venues,instead of the current healthpass system which allows peo-ple to produce a negative testor proof of recovery if they'renot vaccinated. This piece-meal, often hesitant approachis visible through much
of Europe. In Poland, anation of 38 million where thedaily death toll now oftenbreaks through the threshold of500 cases, nightclubs may beclosed, but they will be allowedto reopen on New Year's Eve,
with the governmentunwilling to go against themany voters opposed to restric-tions and mandatory vaccina-tions. In Italy, the governmenthas not mandated any rules forprivate gatherings, but it has
set its sights on New Year's Eve,banning outdoor events andclosing discotheques until endof January. The Netherlands iscurrently the exception to therule of disjointed decision-making. The government therehas gone farther than mostEuropean countries and shutdown all nonessential stores,restaurants and bars andextended the school holidays ina partial new lockdown.
Britain's early deployment ofthe Oxford/AstraZeneca
vaccine to protect againstCOVID-19 may be responsiblefor country's lower death ratescompared to other Europeancountries, a UK vaccines experthas said.
Dr Clive Dix, former chair-man of UK's Vaccine TaskForce, told 'Daily Telegraph'that Oxford/AstraZeneca vac-cine - manufactured andadministered in India asCovidshield-may offer strongerlong-term protection againstsevere COVID-19 and death."Ifyou look across Europe, withrise in cases, there's also a cor-responding lagged rise indeaths, but not in UK, and wehave to understand that," saidDr Dix."I personally believethat's because most of our vul-nerable people were givenAstraZeneca vaccine," he said.According to Our World inData, a website run byUniversity of Oxford, the UKhas 1.7 daily deaths fromCOVID per million people. Incomparison, the EuropeanUnion (EU) as a whole hasalmost four. The key, Dix
believes, is that although RNAjabssuch as Pfizer/BioNTechproduce a more obvious andrapid jump in antibody levels inlab tests, other vaccines may bebetter at priming another partof immune system called cellu-lar immunity. This includesvarious forms of T cells, includ-ing those that destroy infectedcells, and also memory cells,ensuring a person can fight offan infection several years afterthey are first exposed to it.
They are slower to reactthan antibodies and do notprevent infection, but do haltpathogen in its tracks, makingit harder for virus to cause dam-age."We've seen early data thatOxford jab produces a verydurable cellular response and ifyou've got a durable cellularimmunity response then theycan last for a long time. It canlast for life in some cases," Dixtold newspaper.
The only notable differ-ence, according to scientist,between UK and Europe's vac-cine rollout was approachtoOxford/AstraZeneca jab.European regulators approveduse of vaccine long after UK hadrolled it out among its older agegroups at end of last year.
Islamabad: Pakistan'sInformation Minister FawadChaudhry on Monday lashedout at Taliban regime inAfghanistan for its latest "ret-rogressive" move of banningwomen from travelling alone inpublic spaces.The Taliban onSunday said women seeking tomake long distance journeysshould not be offered transportservice, if they are not accom-panied by a close male relative.Chaudhry decried step."Women can't travel alone orgo to schools and colleges(alone)-this kind of retrogres-sive thinking is a danger for
Pakistan," minister said.Afghanistan has been underTaliban rule since August 15when Afghan hardline militantgroup ousted elected govern-ment of President AshrafGhani and forced him to fleecountry and take refuge inUAE. Girls are out of schoolsin several provinces and edu-cated females face a grimfuture. Chaudhry said Pakistanshould chart its own course ofprogressiveness. He paid trib-ute to Mohammad Ali Jinnah,saying Pakistan was created for"preserving (a) minority rightsand safeguarding them". He
also said that Jinnah clarifiedrole of minorities in Pakistanby envisioning a state having nobusiness with religious matters.He also said that Jinnah neverwanted Pakistan to become areligious state, and his entirelifestyle was at variance frompeople who used his nameeven today to make Pakistan abackward country. Chaudhrysaid current Pakistan was dif-ferent from what Jinnah andpoet Allama Muhammad Iqbalhad in mind as it was a prod-uct of retrogressive thinkingthat came to prevail later andled to decline of Pakistan. ����
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Police in southern Germanysay eight people were
arrested after violence duringa protest by opponents of coro-navirus restrictions and vacci-nations.
Eight officers werepunched or kicked as groups ofpeople tried to break thoughpolice chains set up to preventthe protesters marching in theBavarian town of Schweinfurton Sunday evening, police said.
Officers used batons andpepper spray. Police said a 4-year-old child whose motherwas among those trying tobreak through the barricadesbriefly had to be given medicalattention after coming intocontact with pepper spray.
Demonstrations againstrestrictions and a planned uni-versal vaccine mandate haveflared up in Germany at timesin recent weeks. Authorities arein the process of implementingrestrictions agreed last week toslow the spread of the newomicron variant. Four morestates were introducing curbsMonday that include cappingthe number of people at pri-vate gatherings at 10, excludingchildren under 14.
Israel has begun trials of afourth dose of coronavirus
vaccine in what is believed tobe first study of its kind. Thetrial began at Sheba MedicalCenter, outside Tel Aviv, with150 medical personnel whoreceived a booster dose inAugust receiving a fourth shotof Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.The staff receiving additionaldose were tested and found tohave low antibody levels.
The trial came as Israeliofficials have consideredrolling out a second tranche ofbooster shots to its populationas country grapples with ris-ing infections with new omi-cron variant. Prof Jacob Lavee,former director of heart trans-plant unit at Sheba, said "hope-fully, we'll be able to showhere… that this fourth boost-er really provides protectionagainst omicron, which ishighly needed." Israel rolledout a world-leading vaccina-tion campaign early this year.Just over 4.2 million of Israel's9.3 million people havereceived a third dose ofPfizer/BioNTech vaccine.
The Ministry of Food andDrug Safety said Monday it
expects the introduction ofPaxlovid to help diversifyoptions for COVID-19 treat-ments and prevent patients'conditions from becoming seri-ous amid surging infectionsand critical cases in SouthKorea.The Korea DiseaseControl and Prevention Agencysays the government has signedcontracts to procure Paxlovidpills enough to cover 362,000patients. It says the Paxlovidpills will be delivered to SouthKorea as early as mid-January.It says South Korea has alsosigned contracts to procureMerck's COVID-19 pills totreat 242,000 people.The drugsafety agency says it's stillreviewing whether to approveMerck's molnupiravir. AP
Jean-Marc Vallee, best knownfor directing films such as
"Dallas Buyers Club" and"Wild", along with the HBOseries "Big Little Lies", haspassed away at the age of58.Vallee's longtime producingpartner Nathan Ross con-firmed his passing in a state-ment with The HollywoodReporter.
The filmmaker died sud-denly over the weekend in hiscabin near Quebec City,Canada, and the cause of deathwas not immediately disclosed."Jean-Marc stood for creativ-ity, authenticity and tryingthings differently. He was atrue artist and a generous, lov-ing guy. Everyone who worked
with him couldn't help but seethe talent and vision he pos-sessed. He was a friend, cre-ative partner and an olderbrother to me.
The maestro will sorely bemissed but it comforts know-ing his beautiful style andimpactful work he shared withthe world will live on," Rosssaid in the statement.
Vallee was born inMontreal, Quebec and for-ayed into showbiz directingthrough music videos. Hemade his feature directorialdebut with 1995 thriller "BlackList", which earned nine nom-inations for Canada's GenieAwards, while his 2005 com-ing-of-age movie "C.R.A.Z.Y."won 11 Genies.His 2009 film"The Young Victoria", starring
Emily Blunt as Britishmonarch Queen Victoria,earned three Academy Awardnominations including a winfor best costume design. But itwas the 2013 film "DallasBuyers Club" that shot Valleeto prominence: it picked up sixOscar nods, including bestpicture and won MatthewMcConaughey and Jared Letotrophies in best actor and bestsupporting actor categories.
The film was a fact-basedstory of Ron Woodroof, whosold experimental drugs toAIDS patients. He followedwith "Wild," which starredReese Witherspoon and LauraDern. The film, an adaptationof Cheryl Strayed's memoir,was nominated for threeOscars.
London: 27 A video has sur-faced on social media in whicha fully masked man, identifyinghimself as an Indian Sikh, is seendeclaring to "assassinate" QueenElizabeth II to avenge the 1919Jallianwala Bagh massacre,prompting Scotland yard tolaunch a probe, days after anintruder was arrested atmonarch's Windsor Castle.
The video, shared onSnapshot, is that of a fullymasked man who identifieshimself as Indian Sikh JaswantSingh Chail and declares that hewants to "assassinate" monarchin revenge for 1919 JallianwalaBagh massacre, according toThe Sun newspaper whichobtained the video.
Meanwhile, the 19-year-oldintruder, who has not yet beennamed by Metropolitan Police,is now being held over mentalhealth issues. Scotland Yard offi-cers were investigating videoreportedly linked to intruderarmed with a crossbow arrestedat Windsor Castle on ChristmasDay.
The Metropolitan Policesaid that arrested suspect hasbeen sectioned under UK'sMental Health Act after a men-tal health assessment andremains "in care of medical pro-fessionals". "I'm sorry. I'm sorryfor what I've done and what I willdo. I will attempt to assassinateElizabeth, Queen of the RoyalFamily," the masked man isseen saying in the video.
"This is revenge for thosewho have died in 1919Jallianwala Bagh massacre. It isalso revenge for those who havebeen killed, humiliated and dis-criminated on because of theirrace. I'm an Indian Sikh, a Sikh.My name was Jaswant SinghChail, my name is Darth Jones,"he says. The massacre tookplace at Jallianwala Bagh inAmritsar during Baisakhi festi-val in April 1919 when BritishIndian Army under commandof Colonel Reginald Dyeropened fire at a crowd staging apro-independence demonstra-tion, leaving scores dead. PTI
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Acourt in military-ruledMyanmar postponed its
verdicts Monday on twocharges against ousted leaderAung San Suu Kyi in which sheis accused of importing andpossessing walkie-talkies with-out following official proce-dures, a legal official familiarwith the case said.
The case in the court in thecapital, Naypyitaw, is amongmany brought against the 76-year-old Nobel Peace Prizelaureate since the army seizedpower on Feb. 1, ousting herelected government and arrest-ing top members of herNational League forDemocracy party. The courtgave no reason for delaying theverdicts until Jan. 10, accord-ing to the legal official, whoinsisted on anonymity for fearof being punished by theauthorities, who have restrict-ed the release of informationabout Suu Kyi's trials. Suu Kyi'sparty won a landslide victory inlast year's general election, butthe military said there waswidespread electoral fraud, anassertion that independentpoll watchers doubt. Suu Kyi's
supporters and independentanalysts say all the chargesagainst her are politically moti-vated and an attempt to dis-credit her and legitimize themilitary's seizure of powerwhile keeping
her from returning to pol-itics. If found guilty of all thecharges she faces, she could besentenced to more than 100years in prison. Suu Kyi wasconvicted on Dec. 6 on twoother charges - incitement andbreaching COVID-19 restric-tions - and sentenced to fouryears' imprisonment. Hoursafter the sentence was issued,the head of the military-installed government, SeniorGen. Min Aung Hlaing,reduced it by half.
She is being held by themilitary at an unknown loca-tion and state television report-ed that she would serve hersentence there.Suu Kyi hasbeen attending court hearingsin prison clothes - a white topand a brown longyi skirt pro-vided by the authorities. Thehearings are closed to themedia and spectators and theprosecutors do not comment.Her lawyers, who had been asource of information on the
proceedings, were served withgag orders in October. A chargeunder the Export-Import Lawof having improperly import-ed the walkies-talkies was thefirst filed against Suu Kyi andserved as the initial justifica-tion for her continued deten-tion.
A second charge of ille-gally possessing the radios wasfiled the following month. Theradios were seized from thegate of her residence and thebarracks of her bodyguardsduring a search on Feb. 1, theday she was arrested. Suu Kyi'slawyers argued that the radioswere not in her personal
possession and were legit-imately used to help provide forher security, but the courtdeclined to dismiss the charges.
The court on Monday alsoheard video testimony from thevice chairman of Suu Kyi'sparty, Zaw Myint Maung, inanother case against her involv-ing alleged violation ofCOVID-19 restrictions dur-ing last year's election cam-paign, the legal official said.
Zaw Myint Maung, whohad been unable to appear incourt earlier for health reasons,testified that people had gath-
Tehran: Iran insisted onMonday that the United Statesand its allies promise to allowTehran to export its crude asnegotiations on restoring thetattered nuclear deal were toresume in Vienna. The remarksby Iranian Foreign MinisterHossein Amirabdollahian sig-nal that Iran is pressing its posi-tion ahead of the negotiationsover reviving the landmark2015 nuclear deal. The talkswere adjourned earlier thismonth after a round marked bytensions over new demandsfrom Tehran.Speaking toreporters in Tehran,Amirabdollahian said Iranwants the upcoming round of
talks to focus on achieving the"point where Iranian oil isbeing sold easily and withoutany barriers and its moneyarrives in Iran's bank accounts".Tehran's landmark accord withworld powers granted thenation sanctions relief inexchange for curbs on itsnuclear program. But in 2018,then-President Donald Trumpwithdrew America from thedeal and imposed sweepingsanctions on Iran, includingagainst its oil sector - the life-line of its economy. Iran's crudeexports plummeted and inter-national oil companiesscrapped deals with Tehran,weakening its economy. As the
parties to the 2015 atomic dealprepared to convene in Vienna,Amirabdollahian said Iranwanted to "be able to enjoy fulleconomic concessions undernuclear deal". "Guarantee andverification (of the removal ofsanctions) are among topicsthat we have focused on," hesaid. The new, conservativeadministration of IranianPresident Ebrahim Raisi hasrepeatedly demanded removalof all economic sanctionsbefore Iran reins in its nuclearadvances. Iran has steadilyabandoned all of accord's lim-its since American withdraw-al and is now enriching urani-um to 60% purity - a short,
technical step from weapons-grade levels. It spins ever-moreadvanced centrifuges alsobarred by deal. Iran insiststhat its nuclear program ispeaceful. But country's signif-icant nuclear steps havealarmed regional rivals andworld powers. Diplomats havewarned that time is runningout to restore deal as Iranmaintains a hard line in puttingthe onus on the US to lift sanc-tions. The talks involve all par-ties to original nuclear deal -Iran, Britain, France, Germany,Russia and China. Iran refus-es to talk directly to Americanenvoy, who is engaging throughother signatories. AP
Colombo: Sri Lanka hasmade it mandatory for for-eigners to get a clearance fromthe defence ministry if theywish to marry locals due tonational security reasons, amove criticised by theOpposition and civil groups.The new law will come intoeffect from January 1, 2022.Registrar General WMMBWeerasekera, in a circulardated October 18, said that thedecision has been taken due tonational security reasons.
According to the circular,relevant officials had discussed"national security and issuescan arise (sic) from marriagesbetween foreigners and SriLankans". It said that a decisionhas been made to register suchmarriages only through theAdditional District Registrarsafter obtaining a "securityclearance report" relates to for-eign party.Criticising move,leading Opposition legislatorHarsha de Silva questioned:"What kind of discriminationis this".Civil society personal-ities also questioned circular onsocial media. The securityclearance report will certifythat foreign party was free ofbeing convicted for any offenceduring last six months, the cir-cular reads. PTI
New Delhi: Tata Group’stakeover of loss-makingnational carrier Air India ismost likely delayed by a monthtill January as the completionof procedures taking longerthan expected, an official saidon Monday.
In October, the govern-ment accepted the highest bidmade by a Tata Sons companyfor 100 per cent equity sharesof Air India and Air IndiaExpress along with its 50 percent stake in ground-handlingcompany AISATS -- the firstprivatisation in 20 years.
At that time, the govern-ment had stated that it wantedto complete the transactions,which included Tatas paying Rs2,700 crore in cash, byDecember end.
As per the conditions inSPA, all formalities of handoverwould have to be completedwithin 8 weeks, but this datecan be mutually extended bythe buyer and seller and isbeing done in this case.
However, some regulatoryapprovals are yet to come in for
the handover, and certain for-malities are yet to be complet-ed, the official, who wished notto be named, told PTI.
"The process would becompleted by January," he saidwithout giving a specific date.
On October 25, the gov-ernment had signed the sharepurchase agreement with TataSons for the sale of nationalcarrier Air India for Rs 18,000crore. Tata's would pay Rs2,700 crore cash and takeoverRs 15,300 crore of the airline'sdebt.
The cash componentwould come once the han-dover process is completed,another official explained.
Tatas beat the Rs 15,100-crore offer by a consortium ledby SpiceJet promoter AjaySingh and the reserve price ofRs 12,906 crore set by the gov-ernment for the sale of its 100per cent stake in the loss-mak-ing carrier.
As of August 31, Air Indiahad a total debt of Rs 61,562crore. 75 per cent of this debtor Rs 46,262 crore will be
transferred to a special purposevehicle AIAHL before handingover the loss-making airline toTata Group.
Tatas will not get to retainnon-core assets, such as theVasant Vihar Housing colonyof Air India, Air India Buildingat Nariman Point, Mumbai,and Air India Building in NewDelhi.
Of the 141 Air India air-craft that Tatas will get, 42 areleased planes, while theremaining 99 are owned.
While this will be the firstprivatisation since 2003-04,Air India will be the third air-line brand in the Tatas' stable- it holds a majority interest inAirAsia India and Vistara, ajoint venture with SingaporeAirlines Ltd.
Tata's acquisition of AirIndia will give it access to a fleetof 117 wide-body and narrow-body aircraft, and Air IndiaExpress Ltd another 24 narrow-body aircraft besides control of4,400 domestic and 1,800 inter-national landing, and parkingslots at domestic airports. PTI
Mumbai: Equity benchmarkSensex rose by nearly 296points on Monday followinggains in IT, financials andpharma stocks amid a largely positive trend in glob-al markets.
After rebounding over 960points from the day's low dur-ing the session, the 30-shareindex settled 295.93 points or0.52 per cent higher at57,420.24. As many as 24Sensex stocks closed in thegreen while six declined.
The broad-based Nifty ofthe National Stock Exchangerecovered 82.50 points or 0.49per cent to close at 17,086.25with 40 of its constituentsadvancing. Tech Mahindra wasthe top gainer in the Sensexpack, rising by over 3 per cent.Dr Reddy's rose by 1.95 percent, PowerGrid by 1.6 percent, Kotak Bank by 1.56 percent and Sun Pharma by 1.16per cent.
Gains in ICICI Bank,HDFC Bank, HDFC, M&M,
Axis Bank and Bajaj Financehelped the Sensex recover fromthe day's low levels.
On the other hand,IndusInd Bank, Asian Paints,Maruti and Bharti Airtel wereamong the laggards.
RBL Bank tanked to its 52-week low before closing downby more than 18 per cent at Rs140.90 on BSE. The RBI onMonday said that RBL Bank iswell capitalised and its financialposition remains "satisfactory",amid speculations relating tothe private sector lender.
The statement came afterRBL Bank's MD & CEOVishawvir Ahuja stepped downand the RBI appointed its chiefgeneral manager as an addi-tional director on the bank'sboard. "Indian markets openedin red tracking mixed Asianmarket cues as investorstracked the impact of Omicronvariant amid holiday-thinnedtrade," said Narendra Solanki,Head- Equity Research , AnandRathi. PTI
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Major edible oil compa-nies, including Adani
Wilmar and Ruchi Soya, havereduced the maximum retailprice (MRP) of their productsby 10-15 per cent to providerelief to consumers, industry
body SEA said on Monday.The prices have been
reduced by Adani Wilmar (onFortune brands), Ruchi Soya(Mahakosh, Sunrich, RuchiGold and Nutrella brands),Emami (Healthy & Tastybrands), Bunge (Dalda, Gagan,Chambal brands) and Gemini(Freedom sunflower oilbrands), it said.
COFCO (Nutrilivebrands), Frigorifico Allana(Sunny brands), Gokul Agro(Vitalife, Mahek and Zaikabrands) and others have alsoreduced prices, it added.
"We are happy to share thatour leading members haveresponded proactively andreducedP on edible oils mar-keted by them, across the boardby 10-15 per cent to providerelief to consumers during thefestival season," SolventExtractors Association of India(SEA) said in a statement.
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India's growth as a manufac-turing hub for textiles will
depend on the attractiveness ofits domestic market and oninvestments in high-end textilemachinery, products in emerg-ing areas like technical textilesand man made fiber (MMF),the government said onMonday.
In its year-end review ofthe textile sector, the Ministryof Textiles outlined variousinitiatives taken during 2021including approving the settingup of 7 Pradhan Mantri Mega Integrated Textile Regionand Apparel (MITRA) Parkswith a total outlay of Rs 4,445crore.
"The government has noti-fied uniform goods and ser-vices tax rate at 12 per cent onMMF, MMF yarn, MMF fab-rics and apparel that hasaddressed the inverted tax
structure in the MMF textilevalue chain.
The changed rates willcome into effect from 1January, 2022," the Ministrystated.
This will help the MMFsegment grow and emerge as abig job provider in the country,it added.
Under PM MITRA Parks,world-class industrial infra-structure would attract cuttingedge technology/scale and FDI/ local investment in the sector,the textile ministry stated.
PM MITRA Parks willgenerate around 1 lakh directand 2 lakh indirect employ-ment per park, it added.
The ministry also high-lighted that the ProductionLinked Incentive (PLI) schemefor textiles is specially focusedat high value and expandingMMF and technical textilessegments of textiles value chain.
New Delhi: India's real estateindustry staged a rebound from2020's downturn, with housingsales seen rising by over 50 percent. The performance, thoughshort of pre-COVID levels,has property developers hopingfor stronger gains in the NewYear and the beginning of along upcycle.
A strong foundation hasbeen laid this year for revival inthe Indian real estate sector,which is projected to reachUSD 1 trillion mark by 2030from USD 200 billion in thepre-pandemic year.
Demand consolidationtowards reputed developers,disciplined new homes supply,changing attitudes of con-sumers towards home owner-ship with preference for bigger-better flats and faster adoptionof digital technologies bybuilders were some of thetrends witnessed during theyear that augured well for theoverall growth of the Indian
real estate sector.The year started on a pos-
itive note for the residentialmarket as sales were strongduring January-March period,aided by pent up demand, his-torical low interest rates onhome loans, lower stamp dutyoffered by some states and dis-counts from cash-starveddevelopers.
Just when builders startedto think that the 'worst is over',the country witnessed a muchstronger second COVID waveduring April-June that adverse-ly impacted demand in almostevery sector of the economy,including real estate.
Housing sales remainedmuted in the second quarter ofthis calendar year but bouncedback strongly in the second halfof 2021. The demand for resi-dential properties further con-solidated towards reputed andtrusted developers havingimpeccable track record ofdelivering projects. PTI
Mumbai: Rising for the eighthstraight session, the rupee onMonday appreciated 3 paise tonearly four-week high of 75against the US dollar amid afirm trend in domestic equitiesand rising appetite for riskierassets.
However, a strong US dol-lar overseas and firm crude oilprices restricted the rupee'srise.
At the interbank forex mar-ket, the local unit opened at75.15 against the greenbackand witnessed an intra-dayhigh of 74.95 and a low of75.16.
It finally settled at 75,showing a gain of 3 paiseagainst the previous close.
Over the last eight sessions,the domestic currency hasgained 132 paise against thegreenback.
Trading is likely to remainrange-bound this week aheadof the year-end holidays, forextraders said.
According to Dilip Parmar-Research Analyst, HDFCSecurities rupee further movednorth following strong risk
appetite and lacklustre dollardemand ahead of year-end.
Trading volume remainsthin as many European mar-kets remain shut and foreigninvestors are in a holiday moodahead of the new year.
"The Indian Rupee endedthe session marginally strongeragainst the US Dollar in achoppy trading session as for-eign banks' dollar sales onbehalf of exporters offset ear-lier greenback purchases bystate-run banks," said SriramIyer, Senior Research Analyst atReliance Securities.
Positive moves in Indianequity indices and strongerAsian currencies also aidedsentiments.
However, FPI's continuedto withdraw capital fromIndian equities and bonds andfears of a rapid spread ofOmicron variant of coron-avirus kept the appreciatingbias limited.
"Rupee traded muted as themarket was range-bound onthe back of flat range in the dol-lar and crude prices due to hol-iday season," Jateen Trivedi,
Senior Research Analyst atLKP Securities, said.
Crude prices can define thetrend for the rupee as marketsentiments were spooked dueto nervousness on lockdownsdue to the rise in cases in manyparts of the EU.
"OPEC+ updates in thefirst week of the new year canpush prices higher in the rupeeif Crude witnesses sell-off incase of weak demand outlookby OPEC. Going ahead rupeecan be seen in the range of74.75-75.25," Trivedi said.
On the domestic equitymarket front, the BSE Sensexended 295.93 points or 0.52 percent higher at 57,420.24, whilethe broader NSE
Nifty advanced 82.50points or 0.49 per cent to17,086.25.
Meanwhile, the dollarindex, which measures thegreenback's strength againstthe basket of six currencies,rose 0.21 per cent to 96.21.
Brent crude futures, theglobal oil benchmark, fell 0.01per cent to USD 76.13 per bar-rel. PTI
New Delhi: Investments inIndian capital market throughparticipatory notes (P-notes)dropped to Rs 94,826 crore tillNovember-end after hitting43-month high in the preced-ing month.
P-notes are issued by reg-istered foreign portfolioinvestors (FPIs) to overseasinvestors who wish to be a partof the Indian stock marketwithout registering themselvesdirectly. They, however, need togo through a due diligenceprocess.
According to Securitiesand Exchange Board of Indiadata, the value of P-note invest-ments in Indian markets --equity, debt and hybrid secu-rities -- was at Rs 94,826 croreby November end as com-pared to Rs 1,02,553 crore byOctober end.
The month of October sawthe highest level since March2018, when P-notes had invest-ed to the tune of Rs 1,06,403crore. PTI
New Delhi: The country's exports rose by 36.2 per cent to USD23.82 billion during December 1-21 this year, according to pre-liminary data of the commerce ministry.
Exports, excluding petroleum, have increased by 28.08 percent during the period under review. PTI
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Winter alters the physi-ology of the body inways that are difficultto adjust to. Whether
you like it or not, winters will havean effect on your respiratory sys-tem, especially if you suffer fromsleep apnea. It is a severe sleep dis-order that occurs when yourbreathing stops and starts whileyou are sleeping. If left untreated,it can lead to loud snoring, daytimefatigue, or more serious issuessuch as heart disease or high bloodpressure.
Obstructive Sleep Apnea(OSA) is a condition that occurswhen airways become completelyor partially blocked during sleep,usually due to the collapse of softtissue in the back of your throat.During the winter, there is a sub-stantial increase in OSA patients,and many of them are diagnosedfor the first time, despite havingundiagnosed mild to moderateOSA for many years. This winter,the number of OSA patients is ris-ing by around 15-20 per cent onaverage.
OSA rises during wintersBecause of the decrease in
humidity, sleep apnea becomesmore difficult to manage in thewinter. A 2012 study found this tobe the case after studying sleeppatients for a decade. It is believedthat this is due to the dry air andincreased use of fireplaces in thehome, both of which bring insmoke.
The symptoms of obstructivesleep apnea worsen in the winterdue to a variety of factors. The mostimportant factor is lower humidi-ty during the winter, and the use ofheaters tends to make the air evendryer by sucking moisture out of it.The respiratory passage dries outquickly due to the cold air. The sec-ond factor is poor air quality, bothoutside and inside, particularly incities, as well as the use of fireplacesand wood-burning. The third mostcommon reason is that many peo-ple suffer from recurrent upper res-piratory infections or allergies suchas rhinitis, nasal blockage, andrunny nose during the winter,which exacerbates their alreadysevere sleep apnea.
Treat OSAIn short, OSA will worsen in
the winter, but there are strategiesyou can use to allow this season tomelt away negative health effects.
When going outside, alwayskeep your mouth covered.Breathing in cold air can cause theairway and lungs to dry out. Dressin weather-appropriate attire. It ispreferable to add more layers toyour clothing. Breathe in throughyour nose and exhale throughyour mouth. Your nose aids in thefiltering of cold air.
According to a new study,maintaining an active lifestyle canlower the risk of obstructive sleepapnea, prompting doctors to pro-pose exercise-based therapies forpeople at risk. The study's findings
were published in the 'EuropeanRespiratory Journal.'The new studyby Brigham and Women's Hospitalresearchers looked at the linkbetween active lifestyles and therisk of OSA.
Over a 10-to-18-year period,the study followed approximately130,000 men and women in theUnited States and discovered thathigher levels of physical activityand lower levels of sedentarybehaviour were associated with alower risk of OSA. It is thereforeadvised to maintain your exerciseregimen even during the winters
Continuous positive airwaypressure (CPAP) Machine
A CPAP machine delivers aconstant stream of oxygen to yournose and mouth while you sleep.This helps you breathe correctly bykeeping your airways open. Thewinter season brings an increase incold and flu cases, which can inter-fere with CPAP compliance and arestful night's sleep.
When using and cleaning thedevice in the winter, extra cautionshould be exercised. We recom-mend using cleaning devicesdesigned specifically for CPAPs tomake daily cleaning easier. MostCPAPs have a humidification set-ting, but you should also have ahumidifier in your sleeping area.
If you are having troublesleeping or breathing at night, it canbe a sign of OSA. It is, therefore,recommended that you see a doc-tor as soon as possible.
Tuberculosis (TB) is oneof India’s major publichealth problems that
kills an estimated 4.8 lakhpeople every year. Despitebeing curable, it still remainsone of the most prevalent dis-eases in the country due tolack of awareness, stigma,discrimination, fear of beingdiagnosed with the disease,and misconceptions.
The TB patients in ruralareas live a life of poverty,severely limiting their optionsfor diagnosis and treatmentdue to lack of resources. Forachieving the aim to elimi-nate TB by 2025 under India’sNational Strategic Plan forTuberculosis Elimination, itbecomes crucial to reach thegrassroots level to addressissues related to TB care, andreduce the treatment gap.
This is where PanchayatiRaj Institutions (PRIs) playan important role. PRIs arebased upon the belief thatdevelopment can be comple-mented by a robust local
democracy, which holdsresponsibility for the com-munity and authority overlocal resources.
People with TB in ruralareas face challenges inaccessing healthcare facilities,continuing and bearing thecost of treatment. Many ofthem are not be aware of thefree-treatment facilities pro-vided by the government.Women in rural areas facethe most challenges due tosocial and economic con-straints and the stigmaattached to the disease.
To tackle this, an activecommunity engagementbecomes important with theinvolvement of the PRIs.This can improve and accel-erate the diagnosis and treat-ment process, as early detec-tion and timely access tomedication- increases thechances of a successful treat-ment. Engaging with PRI’swill also ensure that the stig-ma and discrimination asso-ciated with TB is also
addressed, which will lead tomore people seeking care.
The goal of eliminationof TB cannot be met if peo-ple are not made aware of thechallenges and opportunitiesto ensure TB control at locallevels, and diagnosis as wellas treatment options becomemore accessible to all.
It is also essential tounderstand the role of socialfactors that determine occur-rence of TB, like poverty,alcoholism, tobacco smok-ing, malnutrition- and howthese affect one's TB diagno-sis and treatment. All of this
can be made possiblethrough active engagementand under the leadership ofPRI’s.
The Karnataka HealthPromotion Trust (KHPT)has been working to empow-er PRI’s and encouragingtheir involvement in TB con-trol and ultimately, TB elim-ination. For example, theKHPT team reached out tothe Karpura Gram PanchayatPresident on being involvedin TB free panchayat activi-ties, in alignment with theState’s vision. The panchay-at is also committed to ensur-
ing awareness around TBprevention, cure and treat-ment, by informing the com-munity about TB in GramPanchayat Review meetings.
The members along withthe local religious leadersadvocated TB awarenessactivities in places of worship.The public address systemscontinue to play various TBawareness jingles curated byKHPT’s Breaking theBarriers (BTB) intervention.
Over a period twomonths, the panchayat mem-bers covered a population of9920 through multiple activ-ities. Of these, 4475 werescreened, 28 were referred forfurther testing, with patientsgetting initiated on treat-ment.
There is a need for aneffective delivery systemwhich can fill the gapbetween healthcareschemes and people’s accessto them, and PRI’s can playan instrumental role inmaking this possible.
FENUGREEK: It has beenused in alternative andChinese medicine for thou-sands of years to cure skinissues and a variety of otherailments. It has recent-ly gainedpopularityas a spiceand thick-ening agent. It can also befound in items likesoap and shampoo.For their nutrition-al profile and some-what sweet, nutty flavour,fenugreek seeds and powder
are also utilised in manyIndian cuisines. 35 caloriesand various nutrients are
found in one tablespoon(11.1 grammes) of
whole fenu-greek seeds.Fenugreek has
been shown toimprove breast-
feeding supplyand weight gain in
newborns in studies.Fenugreek's role in bloodsugar regulation and the
treatment of type 1 and 2diabetes is supported by evi-dence.
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In today's digital era, everyone's health is suffering from numer-ous diseases. A major cause for these is the high-stress lev-els we incubate during our work. This disrupts the work-life
balance and leads to many underlying conditions. One of themajor drawbacks of the hi-tech world is baldness. High-stressenvironments cause receding hairline and eventually, one endsup being bald. To avoid such embarrassing situations hair trans-plant seems to be an effective and long-lasting procedure for bald-ness.
Hair transplant surgery treats hair loss that is caused byvarious factors. Some of the factors include male pattern bald-ness (androgenic alopecia), scalp inflammation or scalpsurgery. This causes baldness. But during the start of the trans-plant, one should have realistic expectations such as if youhaven't had full hair or you have a thin hairline, you won't getthe head full of hairs. Various factors including genetics areinvolved in the hair loss process.
There are many techniques for hair loss that consist of graft-ing hairs from the hair-bearing parts of the scalp. After this,
the hairs are grafted to theless hairy or bald potions ofthe scalp. Although hairrestoration and bald patchremoval is a prudent proce-dure, most of the complica-tions are avoided by effectiveprocedures and knowledge-able surgeons who have yearsof experience.
There are two types ofhair transplant techniquesthat are popular, one is follic-ular unit transplantation(FUT) and another isFollicular Unit ExtractionTechniques (FUET).
Benefits of hair transplantIt is considered the most
relevant option for peoplewith thin hairlines and bald
patches. Evidence through the studies says that Clinical trans-plants have an 85 per cent to 90 per cent success rate as the trans-planted area grafts easily regrow. A high percentage of hair trans-plants proves that this is an extremely beneficial procedure forreceding hairlines. If we look at the brighter side of the hair, trans-plants include covering up the balder area and making one youth-ful in appearance. This also helps in improving the self-confi-dence and self-esteem of the person.
Dr Feily proficiently conducted a study that causes necro-sis, caused by the lack of blood and oxygen levels in the par-ticular area. It is triggered by various agents like chemicals orradiation, post hair transplant. He described this zone as thedense hair zone and suggested engraftment in the dense slit-ting and conducted it in the horse pattern. With this innova-tion, he performed many dense hair transplants without anypost-surgery complications including varicose complications.He has also treated complications post hair transplants like PostTrauma Stress Disorder.
He is renowned in non-surgical procedures such as lasers.injectables and fillers. According to him, taking patient’s eachdetail in account like age, head size, head shape and lifestyle isvery important and needs to be considered before any non-sur-gical procedure takes place.
In this, he customises hair conditions that suit the need ofthe individual according to one's hair colour and also the hair-style. Non- surgical procedures are renewed to give instant anddynamic results with painless processes.
The COVID-19 crisis has confined usto our homes. While the lockdownsmeant less traffic and reduced carbon
emissions, the forced confinement hasbrought to light a major health risk that’soften overlooked — Indoor air pollution.India has grappled with deteriorating airquality for years now. According to theWorld Air Quality Report 2020, six of theworld’s 10 most polluted cities are in India.
As per WHO, indoor air pollution maybe responsible for up to four million pre-mature deaths annually. The recent findingfrom WHO also states that about seven mil-lion people die every year due to the harm-ful impact of air pollution.
When we think of air pollution, whatoften comes to mind are car emissions,smog, dust, and smoke. The truth is thereis a lot more in the air than we had previ-ously imagined.
A recent study indicated that the airwithin our homes and other buildings canbe more polluted than outdoor air. Somecommon sources of indoor air pollution arevents, fibrous furnishings, and vents.
It is a common misconception that stay-ing indoors can effectively help evade airpollution. The health impact of indoor airpollution is not very well known even now,but studies have shown that it is as big akiller as outdoor air pollution. Bad indoorair quality can lead to the development ofvarious allergic and respiratory illnesses.Outdoor air pollution cannot be improvedovernight, but we can still take steps to makethe air inside our homes cleaner and safer.
Since most of us spend around 90 percent of our time indoors these days, it isessential to understand the hazardouseffects of poor indoor air quality on ourhealth. A new study also cited that poorindoor air quality is associated with subtleimpairments in a number of cognitive func-tions, including our ability to concentrateand process information.
Tips to improve it:�Ensure your premises are adequate-
ly ventilated. Ventilation and recirculationof air helps keep harmful airborne conta-minants at bay
�Installing air purifiers in varioushigh risk areas that have a combination ofcarbon filter, HEPA filter and UVC tech-nology can help to clean and decontaminateindoor air from all pollutants as well as elim-inate deadly viruses and bacteria. Checkbuilding materials and furnishings forsmall levels of toxins that can linger in theair for an extended period of time
�Clean and sanitize your HVAC airducts regularly
�Regularly maintaining air hygieneunits ensures good efficiency. Replace airfilters when required to prevent pollutantsfrom being reissued into the air
A comprehensive pest managementprogram along with good indoor air qual-ity can further help you prevent harmfulpathogens from entering your institutions.
Taking its inspiration from the Vedas andPuranas, the Sattvik Council of India was
launched in 2010 as a revolutionary project inthe Indian food sector. A non-profit organisa-tion and a pioneering vegetarian food &lifestyle standard development organisation,Sattvik Council was incepted to promote thecertification of vegetarian food.
It is a type of indigenous certification thatwas developed and designed in India to regu-late the vegetarian food and lifestyle industry.
The main aim of the company is to createa better environment for vegetarians all aroundthe globe. With the requirement for the newSOP's and standards in the food supply chain,the Sattvik mark guarantees that a vegan or veg-etarian product can be trusted completely, with-out a second thought.
The Sattvik mark assures the consumer thatthe product is safe and will protect them fromany food-borne illnesses. The company ensuresthat the quality and quantity of the commodi-ties conform to the internationally recognisedvegetarian standards in scope.
Starting from researching the ingredientlist well to investigating the supply chain, car-rying out surveillance sampling, on-siteinspections, lab testing, and follow-ups; thecompany makes sure that they prioritise theconsumer's health.
Paralympic champion KrishnaNagar continued his good
form as he won three goldmedals at the 4th National ParaBadminton Championship here
on Sunday. Nagar repeated his2019 National’s feat of winningthree gold as he emerged cham-pion in all the categories he par-ticipated in -- singles, men’s dou-bles and mixed doubles. Krishnaeasily beat Sudharshan 21-12 21-
12 in the men’s singles SH6 cat-egory in a game that lasted just20 minutes.
In mixed doubles, Nagarand Nithya Sre breezed pastDhinagaran and LatataiUmrekar in 17 minutes.
In the men’s double, he andRaja Magotra defeated the duoof Dhinagaran and Sivarajan21-15, 21-15 in 35 minutes.Nagar’s disability classifica-tion if for players of shortstature.
“I am delighted with myperformance, winning all 3gold in consecutive Nationalsis a great feeling. My focusright now is on the upcominginternational tournaments.This win will surely boost myconfidence and help me pre-pare better,” Nagar said.
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The Indian team will lookto reset its first inningstarget after the second
day’s play in the opening Test against South Africa
had to be called off without aball being bowled due to heavy
and persistent rain since morn-ing here on Monday.
What started as a drizzlethis morning became a steadydownpour in the afternoonand with 90 overs lost in thegame, Virat Kohli’s men, sittingpretty at 272 for 3 after day one,will now have to quicken up the
proceedings in the remainingthree days with a high proba-bility of winning the match.
Twice, the rain stoppedand umpires decided on inspec-tion but on both occasions justbefore they were to step out,heavens opened up once again.
“Unfortunately, due to the
large volume of rain today atCenturion, play has been calledoff for the day,” BCCI stated onits twitter handle with a pictureof the ground completelysoaked.
There was too much wateron the covers and with literal-ly no sunshine, there was very
little chance for the ground todry up and some overs of playto be possible.
At the end of the openingday’s play, India were stronglyplaced at 272 for three in 90overs.
KL Rahul was going strongat 122 not out off 248 balls, dur-ing which he hit 17 boundariesand one six. Giving him com-pany at the other end wasAjinkya Rahane, on 40 off 81balls, with the help of eight hitsto the fence.
Opener Mayank Agarwalmade 60 off 123 deliveriesbefore being dismissed by LungiNgidi.
Skipper Virat Kohli made35 off 94 balls.
Ngidi (3/45) picked up allthe three Indian wickets to fallon the first day of the match.
However, if India wouldhave thought of batting fornearly two days, they wouldperhaps look for a solid firstinnings score of 400 to 450 andput the pressure right back onthe Proteas, who only havethree quality players -- skipperDean Elgar, senior keeper-bat-ter Quinton de Kock and theseasoned Temba Bavuma intheir ranks.
These three are the onlyones with proven record to takethe attack back to the opposi-tion camp which boasts of aworld class seam attack, com-prising Jasprit Bumrah,Mohammed Shami andMohammed Siraj.
However, to get 20 wickets,India would expect 270 overs ofplay in the next three days, Thethird and fourth day’s forecastspredict sunny weather withpartly cloudy sky but on thefinal day, there is forecast ofthundershowers.
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Former India coach RaviShastri has supported the
recent splitting of national
Test and limited-overs captain-cy, saying it could well be ablessing for red-ball skipperVirat Kohli and his white-ballcounterpart Rohit Sharma as
they negotiate busy schedulesconfined in bio-bubbles.
Kohli was replaced aswhite-ball captain by staropener Rohit earlier this
month. “I think it’s the right way to
go. This could be a blessing indisguise for Virat, and forRohit, because I don’t think inthis era if the bubble life existsfor another year or so, one guycan handle all, that is not easyat all,” Shastri, himself a formerIndia all-rounder, said on StarSports show ‘BOLD & BRAVE:THE SHASTRI WAY’.
Kohli, during his pre-departure press conferenceahead of the tour of South
Africa, said that he was neverasked to stay on as T20 skip-per when he made his intentclear on relinquishing the post.
He also said that the com-munication of him beingremoved as ODI captain alsocame just 90 minutes beforeselection committee meeting.
Shastri, who has servedIndian cricket in variouscapacities, said he wanted toestablish Rohit as an opener.
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Amatch-winning 65-run sev-enth wicket stand between
Raj Bawa and Kaushal Tambeensured a fighting four-wicketvictory for India over a grittyAfghanistan as they entered thesemi-final of the U-19 AsiaCup tournament here onMonday.)
Bawa (43 not out) andTambe (35 not out) joinedforced when India were in trou-ble at 197 for six but they keptcalm to take the ‘Boys in Blue’to their required 260-run targetwith 10 balls to spare.
This was after in-formopener Harnoor Pannu (65)and his partner AngkrishRaghuvanshi (35) added 104 forthe opening stand. However, themiddle order caved in withskipper Yash Dull (26) andNishant Sindhu (19) failing toconvert starts. It was left to Bawaand Tambe to take the teamhome.
With this win, India weeplaced second in the groupbehind Pakistan team, whichwon all its matches.
India will face the winnersbetween Bangladesh and SriLanka, who are pitted againsteach other in the last groupleague encounter.
With India finishing second,they would meet the topper ofthe other group.
It was a game where Indiareturned to winning ways.
Put into bat at the ICCAcademy – Oval 2 here,
Afghanistan skipper SulimanSafi’s patient 73 coupled with ablistering unbeaten 86 off 68balls by Ijaz Ahmad Ahmadzaipropelled Afghanistan torespectable 259/4.
Chasing 260, Harnoor, whohit nine boundaries andAngkrish were off to a flyer asIndia raced to 44 for no loss insix overs.
It was raining boundaries atthe ground, with the two open-ers hammering the Afghanattack with utmost ease.
India was cruising at 74/0after 12 overs. However,Raghuvanshi was trapped inthe front by left-arm unortho-dox spinner Noor Ahmad (4/43)as he broke the 104-run open-ing stand.
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Atotal of 60 players havejoined the senior
women’s national hockeycamp which began at theSports Authority of Indiasouth centre in Bengaluruon Monday.
The players have beenselected on the basis of theirperformance at the recent-ly-held 11th senior women’snational championship, theinter-department nationalchampionship and otherHockey India sanctioneddomestic events.
The 60-member list alsoincludes players, who havebeen retained from thesenior women’s core group
based on their performancein international tourna-ments, a Hockey Indiarelease stated.
Players who have donewell for the junior women’steam have also been select-ed in this group which willbe pruned down to 33 play-ers ahead of their prepara-
tions for next year’s women’sAsia Cup.
“This list of players hasbeen selected keeping inmind their internationalperformances in both seniorand junior women’s tourna-ments as well as the SeniorWomen NationalChampionship 2021, 1st
Senior Women Inter-Department NationalChampionship 2021 andother Hockey India sanc-tioned domestic events.
“While most of the play-ers from the previous 33senior women’s core proba-ble group have made it tothis list, they are aware thatthey need to establish theirpotential during the trials toensure they are picked in thefinal list of 33 players,” saidwomen’s team chief coachJanneke Schopman.
“The next few weekswill surely be exciting as Iwill get to watch some of thefresh talent who are expect-ed to add depth to the exist-ing pool of players.
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Anthony Martial has toldManchester United he wants to
leave, manager Ralf Rangnick said.The France forward has dropped
down the pecking order at OldTrafford, making just two PremierLeague starts this season and only fourin all competitions. Rangnick said he
“spoke at length” with the 26-year-oldMartial last week. “He explained to mehe’s been at Manchester United nowfor the last seven years and he feels it’sthe right time for a change, to go some-where else,” Rangnick said Sunday.
“I think, in a way, this is under-standable. I could follow his thoughtsbut on the other hand, it’s also impor-tant to see the situation of the club.”
Martial became the world’s mostexpensive teenage player when Unitedsigned him from Monaco inSeptember 2015 for a fee of 36 millionpounds (then USD 55.1 million) thatcould potentially rise to 58 millionpounds.
Martial made a memorable debut,coming off the bench to score asuperb solo goal against Liverpool, andhas gone on to score 79 goals in 268appearances.
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Asensational hat-trick ondebut from Spanish strik-
er Sergio Mendiguchia pow-ered Neroca FC to a 3–2 victo-ry over I-League newcomersSreenidi Deccan at the NaihatiStadium here on Monday.
Girik Khosla and DavidCastenada Munoz got on thescore sheet for Sreenidi Deccan,but the odd goal fell NerocaFC’s way to give the side fromManipur all three points in thisclash.
After a scrappy start to theproceedings, Neroca FC werethe first side to make headwayin the contest as they broke thedeadlock in the 15th minutethrough new signing Mendi.
As his fellow new Spanishrecruit Juan Mera chipped in afree kick from a central posi-tion, Mendi came alive in thebox as he brought down theball with his chest and bundledit home from close range afterSreenidi goalkeeper Ubaid CKmade the save at the first timeof asking.
The Spanish duo of Mendiand Mera combined again froma set piece to devastating effectin the 22nd minute.
Standing over a free kickfrom a wider position thistime, set piece specialist Mera
whipped in a fantasticallyshaped flat delivery into thebox which was promptly nod-ded home by striker Mendi forhis second goal of the game.
Tiago Adan’s brace propelsReal Kashmir to 3-2 win over
Aizawl FCTiago Adan and Mason
Robertson found themselveson target as a determined RealKashmir eked out a thrilling 3-2 win over Aizawl FC in theirfirst game of the I-League
2021/22 season here onMonday. While Tiago scored abrace in the match, Robertsonscored the crucial third goal forthe Snow Leopards in the sec-ond half. Aizawl FC did well tolead in possession stats, andremained in contest till the finalwhistle.
Ayush Chhetri got the firstshot of the match away in the7th minute of play after hereceived a pass from a corner.But his long-range hit wentwide off the target.
Two minutes later, RealKashmir received a corner oftheir own and SurchandraSingh sent the ball straight intothe box, which was headed into the back of the net by strik-er Tiago Adan to give theSnow Leopards a 1-0 lead in the9th minute.
Aizawl FC continued toenjoy the possession as the firsthalf progressed but could cre-ate very little chances.
Aizawl FC received theirsecond corner in the 29thminute, but the long-rangeshot from skipper R
Malsawmtluanga went awryand the opportunity wasmissed. Nearly 10 minuteslater, Aizawl FC received theirthird corner, and this time,Lalthakima Ralte latched on tothe cross with a direct headerand scored the equaliser in the38th minute to make it 1-1.
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