4%˚(˚4( 5 64˙+2 7 %4˙ ˆ8 ˆ˘ ? ,0 !203? 3: )3$ ):+! ;!++!-3 ... · 1 day ago  · Commodities...

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F aced with massive unrest among the farmers, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Thursday distanced itself from its alliance partner BJP on the issue of a set of agriculture Bills by “sacrificing” the Cabinet berth in the NDA-led Central Government. Strongly opposing the farm Bills, Union Food Processing Minister and SAD’s lone rep- resentative in the Union Cabinet Harsimrat Kaur Badal resigned from the Ministry “in protest against anti-farmer Ordinances and legislation”. The three Bills — Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020, the Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, and the Farmers’ (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 — were passed by the Lok Sabha on Thursday night. Led by the Congress nearly all the Opposition parties opposed the Bill, calling it “anti-farmer”. “We stand with the farm- ers and will do anything for them. Next course of action will be taken by our party for which there will be a meeting short- ly,” said Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal, leaving open the possibility of walking out of the NDA. The BJP has a few allies left after Shiv Sena walked out of the NDA. “I have resigned from the Union Cabinet in protest against anti-farmer Ordinances and legislation. Proud to stand with farmers as their daughter & sister,” Harsimrat tweeted ahead of the passage of the Bills in the Lok Sabha. Farmers form a sizable chunk of the voting population in the agrarian State of Punjab and political parties have all along made attempts to have agriculturalists by their side. SAD’s rivals, including the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), have all along been accusing the Badal fami- ly of indulging in “double speak”. They have been target- ing the SAD for opposing the farm Bills while enjoying the Cabinet berth at the same time. The SAD has been at log- gerheads with its ally BJP over the farm Bills, which has trig- gered massive protests in Punjab and the neighbouring Haryana by farmer organisa- tions, apprehending that the new laws would bring to an end the assured minimum support price (MSP) regime for agri- culture produce, and would also benefit the corporates. The Badal husband-wife couple represents the SAD in the Lok Sabha, while the Upper House has three MPs. On Tuesday, Sukhbir voted against the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill in the Lok Sabha, saying that the proposed legislation is against the inter- ests of farmers. Later, it was passed by Parliament by voice vote. Initially defending the Ordinances, and even per- suading the farmers that it would have no bearing on existing procurement policy and the MSP regime, SAD, in a complete volte-face, claimed that the party was “not con- sulted” over the controversial farm Ordinances, and it would “destroy the food grain pro- curement system establishment painstakingly over a period of 50 years”. With Harsimrat’s resigna- tion, the SAD would aim at consolidating its stronghold in the State’s farming communi- ty in an apparent attempt to stage a comeback in the Assembly polls in 2022. Continued on Page 2 D efence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday said “no power on the earth can prevent” the Indian Army from patrolling its area in Ladakh and India will not allow China to unilaterally change the sta- tus quo on the Line of Actual Control (LAC). The Minister made these observations while briefing the Rajya Sabha about the current situation on the volatile border where stand-offs are on for the past four months. Cutting across party lines, the entire House expressed solidarity with the Government and the armed forces in handling the ongoing tense situation at the border. Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu said the entire House should send out a message that the country is united in this crisis. It will be an apt rebuff to “propaganda” in a sec- tion of the international media that there are differences in India on the LAC issue, he said. Naidu also said India for cen- turies has followed the path of peace and has never attacked another country. Updating the House, Rajnath said India has asked China to refrain from making aggressive efforts to unilaterally change the LAC. He also referred to his recent meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wei Fenghe in Moscow where this point was conveyed. China was also asked to honour all the pacts to maintain peace and tranquility at the LAC and told the Indian forces are deter- mined to protect its territory and sovereignty, the Minister said. Repeatedly underlining New Delhi’s stand that it want- ed to solve the complex issue through political and military level dialogue, Rajnath cau- tioned “war can be started by anyone but no one is sure about the end result.” Replying to questions by the former Defence Minister and senior Congress leader AK Antony and his colleague Anand Sharma about China obstructing Indian patrols, he said “no power on earth can prevent the Indian patrols. The patrolling pattern is tradition- al and well-defined.” He also said the stand-offs take place as the Chinese try to stop the Indian patrols. The first face-off in May this year also started after the Chinese intruded five km into India in the north bank of the Pangong Tso (lake) and obstructed an Indian patrol near ‘Finger 4.’ This led to exchange of blows between the two sides leaving scores of soldiers injured. The Defence Minister said he will not be able to share much more because these were sensitive operational issues. “I hope the House will under- stand the sensitivity of the matter,” he said. Appreciating the issue, Naidu urged Rajnath to call select leaders for a separate meeting to address deeper issues and answer their ques- tions. The meeting could be attended by senior defence officials, the chairman sug- gested. Rajnath did not deviate much from his statement given in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday. In the Rajya Sabha, he said the LAC in the past too had seen face-offs and they were ulti- mately resolved through dia- logue. However, this time the sit- uation is very different both in terms of the scale of troops involved and the number of friction points, the Minister said adding India remains committed to a peaceful reso- lution. “Starting war is in our hands but the end is not in our hands. I am astonished at times that peace is compromised. I want to tell our 130 crore countrymen that we will not let the country down. Neither will we bow before anyone, nor is it our intention to make anyone bow before us,” he said. Continued on Page 2 F our Indian cities Mumbai, New Delhi, Hyderabad, and Bengaluru — have seen a significant fall in the ranking of Global Smart City Index 2020 released on Thursday. Singapore is the top in the list, followed by Helsinki and Zurich in the second and third places respectively. Beijing is ranked 82 (down from 60 in 2019) while Lagos is at the bot- tom (109) in the list. As per the Global Smart City Index 2020, Hyderabad was placed at the 85th position (down from 67 in 2019), New Delhi at 86 (down from 68 in 2019), Mumbai was at 93rd place (in 2019 it was at 78) and Bengaluru at 95th (79 in 2019). The report said cities in India suffer significant drops this year due to the detrimen- tal effect of the pandemic, where technological advance- ment was not up to date. Indian cities have suffered more from the pandemic because they were not prepared, the report added. The report was prepared by the Institute for Management Development (IMD), in col- laboration with Singapore University for Technology and Design (SUTD). Respondents from Indian cities highlighted air pollution, road congestion as main problems. Others in the top 10 list include Auckland (4th), Oslo (5th), Copenhagen (6th), Geneva (7th), Taipei City (8th), Amsterdam (9th) and New York at the 10th place. Dubai ranked 43th while Abu Dhabi 42th. The IMD in collaboration with Singapore University for Technology and Design has released the 2020 Smart City Index, with key findings on how technology is playing a role in the Covid-19 era. Hundreds of citizens from 109 cities were surveyed in April and May 2020 in the sec- ond edition of Global Smart City Index 2020 and asked questions on the technological provisions of their city across five key areas — health and safety, mobility, activities, opportunities, and governance. Continued on Page 2 A special CBI court wants sale case of one of the grandest palace-hotels in Rajasthan, Laxmi Vilas Palace Hotel in Udaipur, to be reopened and former Union Minister Arun Shourie, former bureaucrat Pradeep Baijal and hotelier Jyotsna Suri to be charged as it claimed that it was grossly sold at a huge loss to the taxpayer in 2002. The court has asked for criminal cases against the three. “Unknown officers and private persons indulged in this conspiracy from 1999 to 2002 to cause loss of money to the government. The land was valued at 45 per square yard. Even a spoon in the hotel would be costlier than that,” said a special CBI judge. Hotel Laxmi Vilas was val- ued at over 252 crore but was sold for 7.5 crore to hotelier Lalit Suri, said the special CBI court. Jyotsna Suri took charge of the Lalit group of hotels after her husband Lalit Suri’s death. Shourie, a veteran journal- ist who was Disinvestment Minister at the time, said he would file a revision petition in the Rajasthan High Court. Continued on Page 2 Washington: A US court has declined to bar the Donald Trump administration’s move in US to curtail H-1B visas widely used by foreign tech- nology workers. The ruling on Wednesday was the second time this month that US District Judge Amit Mehta in Washington has denied a request to suspend the proclamation. Trump’s June 22 procla- mation declaring foreign work- ers a risk to the US labour mar- ket amid the coronavirus pan- demic triggered pushback from workers and business groups. An array of the nation’s biggest tech companies have warned that the policy will do “irreparable harm on busi- nesses and the US’ economy.” A group of wealthy nations representing 13 per cent of the global population have already bought up more than half of the promised doses of future Covid-19 vaccines, according to a report by Oxfam on Wednesday. The non-governmental organisation analysed deals struck by pharmaceuticals and vaccine producers for the five leading vaccine candidates cur- rently in late-stage trials, based on data collected by the ana- lytics company Airfinity. “Access to a life-saving vac- cine shouldn’t depend on where you live or how much money you have,” said Robert Silverman of Oxfam America. “The development and approval of a safe and effective vaccine is crucial, but equally important is making sure the vaccines are available and affordable to everyone. Covid- 19 anywhere is Covid-19 every- where.” The five vaccines analysed were from AstraZeneca, Gamaleya/Sputnik, Moderna, Pfizer and Sinovac. Oxfam calculated the com- bined production capacity of these five vaccine candidates at 5.9 billion doses, enough for three billion people given that all five future vaccines will or are highly likely to require two doses. Supply deals have so far been agreed for 5.3 billion doses, of which 2.7 billion have been bought by developed countries/union like the US, the UK, EU, Australia, Hong Kong and Macau, Japan, Switzerland and Israel. The remaining 2.6 billion doses have been bought by or promised to developing coun- tries, including India, Bangladesh, China, Brazil, Indonesia and Mexico. The non-profit added that one of the leading candidates, developed by Moderna, has received $2.5 billion in com- mitted taxpayers’ money, but has said it intends to make a profit and has sold the options for all its supply to rich nations. Continued on Page 2 New Delhi: Delhi internation- al airport on Thursday opened an exclusive terminal to handle the flight operations of private jets. The terminal has 57 park- ing bays and can handle up to 150 private jet flights per day. It was inaugurated by Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Thursday after- noon. The Minister said the Delhi airport was handling around 40 “general aviation” flights per day before the pandemic, and it is currently handling around 20 such flights per day. Flight operations of private jets are classified under the “general aviation” category. “This terminal looks good. People like me use the other terminals (earmarked for com- mercial passenger flights) but those who use this terminal, I am sure their feedback — when they start using it — will also be very positive,” Puri said. “I am sure this (terminal) will be a small but significant boost to general aviation,” Puri added. B JP’s Rajya Sabha member Ashok Gasti, who was bat- tling with Covid-19 in a criti- cal condition in a Bengaluru hospital succcumbed to it late on Thursday. The BJP leader had taken the oath as a Rajya Sabha member on July 22. Earlier in the day there was confusion about the condition of the MP and before the hos- pital issued the clarifications that Gasti was still critical, President of India Ram Nath Kovind, Home Minister Amit Shah, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, and many leaders tweet- ed condolences to mourn Gasti’s demise. Later they all deleted their tweets. According to Dr Manish Rai, director, Manipal Hospitals, Gasti was admitted to the hospital with severe Covid-19 pneumonia with multi-organ failure. He was on life support in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). On Tuesday, Balli Durga Prasad Rao, Lok Sabha mem- ber from Tirupati died due to Covid-19. Industrialist and Kanyakumari H Vasanth Kumar was the first sitting MP who succumbed to Covid- 19. The Congress MP passed on August 28. Already 30 MPs have been tested positive for Covid-19. New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who recently recovered from Covid- 19 and was admitted to AIIMS for a complete medical check- up, was discharged on Thursday evening, officials said. He was admitted to the premier hospital on September 12. Earlier in the day, the Union Home Minister had addressed an event in his con- stituency Gandhinagar in through video conference. Los Angeles: Vaccine candidates for COVID-19 should elicit a broad immune response that includes antibodies, and the body’s helper and killer T cells, according to a study which says weak immuni- ty may lead to a poor disease outcome. The research, published in the journal Cell, confirms that a multi-layered, virus-specific immune response is important for controlling the virus during the acute phase of the infection and reducing its severity.

Transcript of 4%˚(˚4( 5 64˙+2 7 %4˙ ˆ8 ˆ˘ ? ,0 !203? 3: )3$ ):+! ;!++!-3 ... · 1 day ago  · Commodities...

Page 1: 4%˚(˚4( 5 64˙+2 7 %4˙ ˆ8 ˆ˘ ? ,0 !203? 3: )3$ ):+! ;!++!-3 ... · 1 day ago  · Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020, the Farmers Produce ... The report said cities in ... cause

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Faced with massive unrestamong the farmers, the

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) onThursday distanced itself fromits alliance partner BJP on theissue of a set of agriculture Billsby “sacrificing” the Cabinetberth in the NDA-led CentralGovernment.

Strongly opposing the farmBills, Union Food ProcessingMinister and SAD’s lone rep-resentative in the UnionCabinet Harsimrat Kaur Badalresigned from the Ministry“in protest against anti-farmerOrdinances and legislation”.

The three Bills — EssentialCommodities (Amendment)Bill, 2020, the Farmers ProduceTrade and Commerce(Promotion and Facilitation)Bill, 2020, and the Farmers’(Empowerment andProtection) Agreement of PriceAssurance and Farm ServicesBill, 2020 — were passed by theLok Sabha on Thursday night.Led by the Congress nearly allthe Opposition parties opposedthe Bill, calling it “anti-farmer”.

“We stand with the farm-ers and will do anything forthem. Next course of action willbe taken by our party for whichthere will be a meeting short-ly,” said Shiromani Akali Dal

president Sukhbir Singh Badal,leaving open the possibility ofwalking out of the NDA.

The BJP has a few allies leftafter Shiv Sena walked out ofthe NDA.

“I have resigned from theUnion Cabinet in protestagainst anti-farmer Ordinancesand legislation. Proud to standwith farmers as their daughter& sister,” Harsimrat tweetedahead of the passage of the Billsin the Lok Sabha.

Farmers form a sizablechunk of the voting populationin the agrarian State of Punjaband political parties have allalong made attempts to haveagriculturalists by their side.

SAD’s rivals, including the

Congress and the Aam AadmiParty (AAP), have all alongbeen accusing the Badal fami-ly of indulging in “doublespeak”. They have been target-ing the SAD for opposing thefarm Bills while enjoying theCabinet berth at the same time.

The SAD has been at log-gerheads with its ally BJP overthe farm Bills, which has trig-gered massive protests inPunjab and the neighbouringHaryana by farmer organisa-tions, apprehending that thenew laws would bring to an endthe assured minimum supportprice (MSP) regime for agri-

culture produce, and wouldalso benefit the corporates.

The Badal husband-wifecouple represents the SAD inthe Lok Sabha, while the UpperHouse has three MPs. OnTuesday, Sukhbir voted againstthe Essential Commodities(Amendment) Bill in the LokSabha, saying that the proposedlegislation is against the inter-ests of farmers. Later, it waspassed by Parliament by voicevote.

Initially defending theOrdinances, and even per-suading the farmers that itwould have no bearing on

existing procurement policyand the MSP regime, SAD, ina complete volte-face, claimedthat the party was “not con-sulted” over the controversialfarm Ordinances, and it would“destroy the food grain pro-curement system establishmentpainstakingly over a period of50 years”.

With Harsimrat’s resigna-tion, the SAD would aim atconsolidating its stronghold inthe State’s farming communi-ty in an apparent attempt tostage a comeback in theAssembly polls in 2022.

Continued on Page 2

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Defence Minister RajnathSingh on Thursday said

“no power on the earth canprevent” the Indian Army frompatrolling its area in Ladakhand India will not allow Chinato unilaterally change the sta-tus quo on the Line of ActualControl (LAC).

The Minister made theseobservations while briefing theRajya Sabha about the currentsituation on the volatile borderwhere stand-offs are on for thepast four months. Cuttingacross party lines, the entireHouse expressed solidarity withthe Government and the armedforces in handling the ongoingtense situation at the border.

Chairman M VenkaiahNaidu said the entire Houseshould send out a messagethat the country is united inthis crisis. It will be an aptrebuff to “propaganda” in a sec-tion of the international mediathat there are differences inIndia on the LAC issue, he said.Naidu also said India for cen-turies has followed the path ofpeace and has never attackedanother country.

Updating the House,Rajnath said India has askedChina to refrain from makingaggressive efforts to unilaterallychange the LAC. He alsoreferred to his recent meetingwith his Chinese counterpartWei Fenghe in Moscow wherethis point was conveyed. Chinawas also asked to honour all thepacts to maintain peace andtranquility at the LAC andtold the Indian forces are deter-mined to protect its territory

and sovereignty, the Ministersaid.

Repeatedly underliningNew Delhi’s stand that it want-ed to solve the complex issuethrough political and militarylevel dialogue, Rajnath cau-tioned “war can be started byanyone but no one is sureabout the end result.”

Replying to questions bythe former Defence Ministerand senior Congress leaderAK Antony and his colleagueAnand Sharma about Chinaobstructing Indian patrols, hesaid “no power on earth canprevent the Indian patrols. Thepatrolling pattern is tradition-al and well-defined.”

He also said the stand-offstake place as the Chinese try tostop the Indian patrols. Thefirst face-off in May this yearalso started after the Chineseintruded five km into India inthe north bank of the PangongTso (lake) and obstructed anIndian patrol near ‘Finger 4.’This led to exchange of blowsbetween the two sides leavingscores of soldiers injured.

The Defence Minister saidhe will not be able to sharemuch more because these weresensitive operational issues. “Ihope the House will under-

stand the sensitivity of thematter,” he said.

Appreciating the issue,Naidu urged Rajnath to callselect leaders for a separatemeeting to address deeperissues and answer their ques-tions. The meeting could beattended by senior defenceofficials, the chairman sug-gested.

Rajnath did not deviatemuch from his statement givenin the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.In the Rajya Sabha, he said theLAC in the past too had seenface-offs and they were ulti-mately resolved through dia-logue.

However, this time the sit-uation is very different both interms of the scale of troopsinvolved and the number offriction points, the Ministersaid adding India remainscommitted to a peaceful reso-lution. “Starting war is in ourhands but the end is not in ourhands. I am astonished at timesthat peace is compromised. Iwant to tell our 130 crorecountrymen that we will not letthe country down. Neither willwe bow before anyone, nor isit our intention to make anyonebow before us,” he said.

Continued on Page 2

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Four Indian cities —Mumbai, New Delhi,

Hyderabad, and Bengaluru —have seen a significant fall inthe ranking of Global SmartCity Index 2020 released onThursday. Singapore is the topin the list, followed by Helsinkiand Zurich in the second andthird places respectively. Beijingis ranked 82 (down from 60 in2019) while Lagos is at the bot-tom (109) in the list.

As per the Global SmartCity Index 2020, Hyderabadwas placed at the 85th position(down from 67 in 2019), NewDelhi at 86 (down from 68 in2019), Mumbai was at 93rdplace (in 2019 it was at 78) andBengaluru at 95th (79 in 2019).

The report said cities inIndia suffer significant dropsthis year due to the detrimen-tal effect of the pandemic,where technological advance-ment was not up to date. Indiancities have suffered more fromthe pandemic because theywere not prepared, the reportadded.

The report was prepared by

the Institute for ManagementDevelopment (IMD), in col-laboration with SingaporeUniversity for Technology andDesign (SUTD). Respondentsfrom Indian cities highlightedair pollution, road congestionas main problems.

Others in the top 10 listinclude Auckland (4th), Oslo(5th), Copenhagen (6th),

Geneva (7th), Taipei City (8th),Amsterdam (9th) and NewYork at the 10th place. Dubairanked 43th while Abu Dhabi42th.

The IMD in collaborationwith Singapore University forTechnology and Design hasreleased the 2020 Smart CityIndex, with key findings onhow technology is playing arole in the Covid-19 era.

Hundreds of citizens from109 cities were surveyed inApril and May 2020 in the sec-ond edition of Global SmartCity Index 2020 and askedquestions on the technologicalprovisions of their city acrossfive key areas — health andsafety, mobility, activities,opportunities, and governance.

Continued on Page 2

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Aspecial CBI court wantssale case of one of the

grandest palace-hotels inRajasthan, Laxmi Vilas PalaceHotel in Udaipur, to bereopened and former UnionMinister Arun Shourie, formerbureaucrat Pradeep Baijal andhotelier Jyotsna Suri to becharged as it claimed that it wasgrossly sold at a huge loss to thetaxpayer in 2002.

The court has asked forcriminal cases against the three.

“Unknown officers andprivate persons indulged inthis conspiracy from 1999 to

2002 to cause loss of money tothe government. The land wasvalued at �45 per square yard.Even a spoon in the hotelwould be costlier than that,”said a special CBI judge.

Hotel Laxmi Vilas was val-ued at over �252 crore but wassold for �7.5 crore to hotelierLalit Suri, said the special CBIcourt. Jyotsna Suri took chargeof the Lalit group of hotels afterher husband Lalit Suri’s death.

Shourie, a veteran journal-ist who was DisinvestmentMinister at the time, said hewould file a revision petition inthe Rajasthan High Court.

Continued on Page 2

Washington: A US court hasdeclined to bar the DonaldTrump administration’s movein US to curtail H-1B visaswidely used by foreign tech-nology workers.

The ruling on Wednesdaywas the second time this monththat US District Judge AmitMehta in Washington hasdenied a request to suspend theproclamation.

Trump’s June 22 procla-mation declaring foreign work-ers a risk to the US labour mar-ket amid the coronavirus pan-demic triggered pushback fromworkers and business groups.An array of the nation’s biggesttech companies have warnedthat the policy will do“irreparable harm on busi-nesses and the US’ economy.”

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Agroup of wealthy nationsrepresenting 13 per cent of

the global population havealready bought up more thanhalf of the promised doses offuture Covid-19 vaccines,according to a report by Oxfamon Wednesday.

The non-governmentalorganisation analysed dealsstruck by pharmaceuticals andvaccine producers for the fiveleading vaccine candidates cur-rently in late-stage trials, basedon data collected by the ana-lytics company Airfinity.

“Access to a life-saving vac-cine shouldn’t depend onwhere you live or how muchmoney you have,” said RobertSilverman of Oxfam America.

“The development andapproval of a safe and effectivevaccine is crucial, but equallyimportant is making sure thevaccines are available andaffordable to everyone. Covid-19 anywhere is Covid-19 every-where.”

The five vaccines analysedwere from AstraZeneca,Gamaleya/Sputnik, Moderna,Pfizer and Sinovac.

Oxfam calculated the com-bined production capacity of

these five vaccine candidates at5.9 billion doses, enough forthree billion people given thatall five future vaccines will orare highly likely to require twodoses. Supply deals have so farbeen agreed for 5.3 billiondoses, of which 2.7 billionhave been bought by developedcountries/union like the US,the UK, EU, Australia, HongKong and Macau, Japan,Switzerland and Israel.

The remaining 2.6 billiondoses have been bought by orpromised to developing coun-tries, including India,Bangladesh, China, Brazil,Indonesia and Mexico.

The non-profit added thatone of the leading candidates,developed by Moderna, hasreceived $2.5 billion in com-mitted taxpayers’ money, buthas said it intends to make aprofit and has sold the optionsfor all its supply to rich nations.

Continued on Page 2

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New Delhi: Delhi internation-al airport on Thursday openedan exclusive terminal to handlethe flight operations of privatejets. The terminal has 57 park-ing bays and can handle up to150 private jet flights per day.It was inaugurated by CivilAviation Minister HardeepSingh Puri on Thursday after-noon.

The Minister said the Delhiairport was handling around 40“general aviation” flights perday before the pandemic, andit is currently handling around20 such flights per day.

Flight operations of privatejets are classified under the“general aviation” category.

“This terminal looks good.People like me use the otherterminals (earmarked for com-mercial passenger flights) butthose who use this terminal, Iam sure their feedback —when they start using it — willalso be very positive,” Purisaid.

“I am sure this (terminal)will be a small but significantboost to general aviation,” Puriadded.

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BJP’s Rajya Sabha memberAshok Gasti, who was bat-

tling with Covid-19 in a criti-cal condition in a Bengaluruhospital succcumbed to it lateon Thursday.

The BJP leader had takenthe oath as a Rajya Sabhamember on July 22.

Earlier in the day there wasconfusion about the conditionof the MP and before the hos-pital issued the clarificationsthat Gasti was still critical,President of India Ram NathKovind, Home Minister AmitShah, Lok Sabha Speaker OmBirla, and many leaders tweet-ed condolences to mournGasti’s demise. Later they alldeleted their tweets.

According to Dr ManishRai, director, ManipalHospitals, Gasti was admittedto the hospital with severeCovid-19 pneumonia with

multi-organ failure. He wason life support in the IntensiveCare Unit (ICU).

On Tuesday, Balli DurgaPrasad Rao, Lok Sabha mem-ber from Tirupati died due toCovid-19.

Industrialist andKanyakumari H VasanthKumar was the first sittingMP who succumbed to Covid-19. The Congress MP passedon August 28. Already 30 MPshave been tested positive forCovid-19.

New Delhi: Union HomeMinister Amit Shah, whorecently recovered from Covid-19 and was admitted to AIIMSfor a complete medical check-up, was discharged onThursday evening, officialssaid.

He was admitted to thepremier hospital on September12. Earlier in the day, theUnion Home Minister hadaddressed an event in his con-stituency Gandhinagar inthrough video conference.

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Los Angeles: Vaccine candidates for COVID-19 should elicit a broadimmune response that includes antibodies, and the body’s helperand killer T cells, according to a study which says weak immuni-ty may lead to a poor disease outcome. The research, published inthe journal Cell, confirms that a multi-layered, virus-specificimmune response is important for controlling the virus during theacute phase of the infection and reducing its severity.

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New Delhi: The internal secu-rity warriors of the CentralReserve Police Force (CRPF) areactively serving the countryacross several conflict zones.

Their duties often exposethem to threats to their limbsand life. On numerous occa-sions, CRPF Bravehearts havemade supreme sacrifice in theservice of the nation. Manyfearless warriors suffer grievousinjuries and lose limb or vitalorgans during their service.

To stand firmly with theseDivyang Warriors, CRPF hasinitiated several programs aimedat reinstating the pride, morale,and confidence of these war-riors. To this effect, skilling andReskilling programme has alsobeen instituted by CRPF where-in the Divyang Warriors will firstbe skilled for Para-Sports andlater re-skilled on technologiesas Cyber warriors.With unwa-vering spirit as their guide andsheer determination as theirfuel, a team of these indefatiga-ble divyang warriors hasembarked on a Cycle Rally fromSabarmati Ashram in Gujarat toRajghat in Delhi. Governor ofGujarat, Acharya Devvrat inau-gurated the rally with his e-mes-sage, where he praised theirendeavour by calling it inspira-tional. Chief Minister of Gujarat

Vijay Rupani also lauded thecourage of the divyang warriorsthrough his tweet. Starting onSeptember 17, 2020, the rally willconclude on October 2, 2020,birth anniversary of MahatmaGandhi. Covering a distance ofabout 900Km, the rally willpass through the states ofGujarat, Rajasthan, and Haryanabefore reaching Delhi after its 16days journey. PNS

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Hitting out at actressKangana Ranaut for her

comments against yester-yearactress Urmila Matondkarwhom she called “a soft pornstar”, Maharashtra Congressgeneral secretary SachinSawant on Thursday chargedthat Kangana had shown hertrue colours by using unbear-ably filthy language againstUrmila, an actress hailing fromMaharashtra.

“With the support from theBJP, Kangana is constantlyinsulting Maharashtra but nowshe has crossed all limits. Shehas also shown her true coloursby using unbearably filthy language about actressUrmila Matondkar,” Sawantsaid.

“Maharashtra is proud ofUrmila Matondkar. the BJP,which has repeatedly insultedMaharashtra through Kangana,should immediately apologiseto the 13 crore people of the

state,” the State Congress gen-eral secretary said.

“This is not just an insultto Urmila but an insult to allmy sisters. Urmila comes froma middle class Marathi familyand has always kept the cultureof Maharashtra and the flag ofMarathi high on the basis ofher quality acting. Her insult isan insult of Maharashtra. TheBJP is equally responsible for allthis. The BJP, which lost powerin Maharashtra, is takingrevenge now,” Sawant said in a

statement issued here.“Kangana, who calls

Mumbai Pak OccupiedKashmir, calls the Mumbaipolice a mafia and criticisesMaharashtra and Marathi iden-tity every day, is supported bythe BJP. The BJP calls herJhansi ki Rani, gives her Y-levelsecurity, and arranges her visitto the governor. The countryhas seen her holding a lotus inher hand while visitingGovernor Koshyari,” Sawantsaid, adding that Kangana had

gone on record saying shecould anytime get a BJP ticketto contest the elections.

Urmila, it may be recalled,had joined the Congress andcontested the Lok Sabha elec-tions from Mumbai unsuc-cessfully against BJP's RajuShetty in the 2019 polls. Shequit the Congress after the2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Sawant’s comments shouldbe in the context of the war ofwords witnessed betweenUrmila and Kangana. On her

part, Urmila slammed Kanganafor comment likening Mumbaito PoK and said she would"never tolerate any defamato-ry remark" about the city.

On Kangana’s commentabout rampant drug use byBollywood personalities,Urmila said that if Ms Ranauthad information about illegaldrugs in Bollywood she shouldlook to her state — HimachalPradesh and would be betterserved by going to the authorities rather than tweeting

about it. "Which girl from a civilised

cultured house would use thiskind of language? Like 'kyaukhaad loge', 'kiska baap ka kyahai', speaking about Jaya ji theway she did," Urmila said in atelevision interview.

Kangana hit back at Urmilaby calling her “a soft porn star”.“She isn’t known for acting forsure and is known for doingsoft porn. If she can get a tick-et, why won’t I get a ticket?,”Kangana asked.

“The way she ( Urmila)was talking about me, com-pletely teasing through theinterview, pulling faces or justmaking a mockery out of mystruggles, attacking me on thefacts that I am trying to pleaseBJP for a ticket. One doesn’t have to be a geniusto figure that for me it is notvery difficult to get a ticket. Idon’t have to play with my lifeor get my property ruined,”Kangana told a television channel.

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The Covid 19–triggereddeaths crossed 31,000 mark

in Maharashtra on Thursday, as468 more people succumbed tothe pandemic, while 24,619more people tested positive forCoronavirus in various parts ofthe state.

On a day when the totalnumber of deaths in the statewent up from 30,883 to 31,351,the total number of infections– with 24,619 fresh casesreported on Thursday –jumped from 11,21,221 to11,45,840 cases.

Of the 468 fresh deathsreported on Thursday, Puneaccounted for a maximum of 53deaths, while there were 43deaths each in Mumbai andSangli, 37 in Nagpur, 27 inThane, 25 in Jalgaon, 21 inKolhapur, 18 in Satara, 17 inAhmednagar, 15 in Palghar, 14in Nashik, 11 in Nanded and 10deaths in Solapur.

Similarly, in the lower

range, there were 9 deaths inBeed, 8 in Aurangabad, 7 eachin Raigad, Latur andOsmanabad, 6 in Parbhani, 3 inAmravati, 2 each in Dhule,Ratnagiri, Yavatmal, Buldhanaand Bhandara and one deatheach in Nandurbar,Sindhudurg, Jalna, Wardha andGondia. In addition two per-sons from outside died inMaharashtra..

In a couple of highlights,the districts of Sangli, Nagpur,Jalgaon, Kolhapur, Satara,Ahmednagar and Palghar wit-nessed sharp spikes in deaths,while as many as six districts inthe state recorded no-deaths.

With 43 deaths, MumbaiCovid-19 toll went up from8,280 to to 8,323, while theinfected cases rose by 2,411 totrigger a jump in the total num-ber of cases from 175,974 to178,385.

Pune district with 2,49,513infected cases continued to bethe worst-affected city-districtin Maharashtra. The number of

deaths in Pune increased from4936 to 5059.

Thane district remainedon the third spot --after Puneand Mumbai – with 1,64, 957total cases, while the pandem-ic toll rose from 4390 to 4417

In a related development, asmany as 19,522 patients weredischarged from hospitals in thestate after full recovery. As aresult, the total number ofpatients discharged from vari-ous hospitals after full recoverysince the second week of Marchthis year went up to 8,12,354.The recovery rate stood at70.90 per cent. The mortalityrate in the state is 2.74 per cent.The state health authoritiespegged the number of “activecases” in the state at 3,01,752

Out of 56,04,890 samplessent to laboratories, 11,45,840have tested positive (20.44 percent) for COVID-19 untilThursday. Currently, 17,70,748people are in home quarantinewhile 36,827 people are ininstitutional quarantine.

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World of medicine andhealthcare lost one of its

greatest sons as Dr P R KrishnaKumar, eminent Ayurvedicphysician, breathed his last onWednesday night.

Dr Krishna Kumar, a physi-cian who mastered Ayurvedathrough the Gurukula system ofeducation was 69 and was undertreatment for pneumonia atCoimbatore.Son of legendaryArya Vaidya P V Rama Warrierwho founded Coimbatore AryaVaidya Pharmacy, Dr KrishnaKumar was active till pneumo-nia struck him a week ago.

He had submitted a detailedprotocol for treating Covid-19patients and was closely associ-ated with medical warriors likeDr B M Hegde and Dr C VKrishnaswami.Dr KrishnaKumar had been honoured withPadma Sri by the President ofIndia for his selfless services tohumanity and was courted byleaders of many countries seek-ing guidance and directionabout health care policies to befollowed.

“Ayurveda would get its dueposition only if we establishIndian Council of AyurvedicResearch and our policy makersunderstand that Ayurveda too isa branch of medicine like mod-ern medicine,” DrKrishnakumar had told ThePioneer dates before he fellill."Shri P. R. Krishna Kumar’spersistent, enterprising and mis-sion-mode efforts contributed toAyurveda’s global popularity,”Prime Minister Narendra Modisaid in his social media posting.

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From Page 1He also commented that

what China said and did werevery different. The Chineseengaged in provocative militarymaneuvers on the night ofAugust 29 and 30 while the twosides were engaged in diplo-matic and military dialogue.“Unki kathani aur karni alag hai(their words and actions are dif-ferent),” Rajnath said.

Leader of OppositionGhulam Nabi Azad said hisparty stood with theGovernment in this hour of achallenge to the nation. Similarviews were expressed by almostparties including AAP, BSP andLeft parties. TMC leader DerekO’Brien just said “Jai Hind.”Prasanna Acharya, a member ofOdisha’s ruling BJD, warned theGovernment to be guardedwith China. “You cannot trustChina. They have gone back onevery agreement and theGovernment must be carefulwhile negotiating with the coun-try,” he said. A similar sentimentwas aired by the JD(U).

From Page 1The report also consid-

ered how technology played arole in the coronavirus era.

Meanwhile, from 15 indi-cators that the respondentsperceive as the priority areas, allfour Indian cities highlightedair pollution as one of the keyareas that they felt should belooked after as a priority. Roadcongestion was another dis-grace for cities like Bangaloreand Mumbai.

This year’s Smart CityIndex suggested that cities thathave been able to combinetechnologies, leadership, and astrong culture of “living andacting together” should be ableto better withstand the mostdamaging effects of such crises,the report said.

From Page 1“When you dispose of a

property the evaluation is basedon various factors - the landrate, possibility of growth, busi-ness potential, assets and lia-bilities. All these are studiedand were studied by not oneman but by a firm appointed bythe government. The entirecommittee looked at it. Dueprocess was followed and thenthe property was sold,” Shourietold NDTV.

The Laxmi Vilas Palace, aspectacular five-star hotel onthe banks of the lake FatehSagar, is a massive draw fortourists and one of the mostpopular destinations in India.

“Advocates will examinethe order and then we will

decide what to do next,”Shourie said

The CBI had filed a closurereport in late 2019 saying therewas “no evidence” in the 2002case.

“It is concluded that evi-dence worth launching prose-cution was not found in theentire process of disinvestmentof M/s Laxmi Vilas PalaceHotel, Udaipur,” the agencysaid.

But the special court inJodhpur rejected the reportand ordered further investiga-tion.

“The judge gave no groundfor not accepting the CBI clo-sure report. Non-bailable war-rants have been issued like weare terrorists, murderers andrapists,” Shourie said.

According to the CBI’s clo-sure report, accessed by NDTV,the disinvestment of the gov-ernment-run luxury hotel“resulted in wrongful loss ofabout ? 143.48 crore to the gov-ernment and correspondingwrongful gain to the accusedpersons individually/jointly”.

But the agency pinned theblame on the valuation by a pri-vate firm, Kanti Karamsey. TheCBI said the property wasundervalued at ? 7.85 crore andbased on this valuation, thereserve price was fixed at ? 6.12crore.

“During the course of theinvestigation, we had reevalu-ated the property through theIncome Tax Department and itwas valued at ? 193.28 crore.Undervaluation of the proper-

ty by Kanti Karamsey andcompany led to the loss to theexchequer,” sources in theagency told NDTV.

The CBI registered a caseon August 13, 2014 on the basisof a preliminary inquiry thatalleged that Pradeep Baijal hadabused his position asSecretary, Disinvestment, inthe hotel sale. But last year, itfiled a closure report.

Laxmi Vilas palacebelonged to the former kings ofUdaipur. During the accessionof princely states, the massiveproperty was handed over tothe government.

After independence, thegovernment ran it as a hotel. In2002 it was disinvested andbought by the Lalit Suri groupof hotels.

From Page 1Oxfam and other organi-

zations are therefore calling fora “people’s vaccine” free ofcharge, distributed fairly basedon need. “This will only be pos-sible if pharmaceutical corpo-rations allow vaccines to beproduced as widely as possibleby freely sharing their knowl-edge free of patents, instead ofprotecting their monopoliesand selling to the highest bid-der,” Oxfam said. It added thatthe estimated cost of providinga vaccine for everyone on Earthwas less than one percent of theprojected cost of Covid-19 tothe global economy.

From Page 1After ruling the State for a

decade, the SAD was routed in2017 polls and finished on thethird spot with just 15 seats inthe 117-member House.Farmers have always beenSAD’s strong vote bank, and by“sacrificing” the Cabinet berthin protest against the farmer’swelfare, the party has virtual-ly laid down the foundationstone of its campaign withtheir help.

Hailing the passage of theBills, Prime Minister NarendraModi said it was an importantmoment for the farmers andagricultural sector of the coun-try. The Bills will liberate thefarmers from middlemen andother obstacles said the PM.

“I assure the farmers thatthe system of MSP (MinimumSupport Price) andGovernment procurement will

remain. The Bills will provideopportunities to the farmersand empower them in the truesense, the PM said in his firstreaction to the passage of theBills in the Lok Sabha.

Defending the Bills,Agriculture Minister NarendraTomar said it was wrong tothink that contract farmingwould help the corporate at thecost of farmers.

“Contract will not lead totaking over of land. If the cor-porates build some infrastruc-ture, it will only benefit thefarmer in the end,” Tomar said.

Tomar also added that thecontracts signed under thislaw will also have a provisionthat if prices at the time of saleare more than what agreed toat the time of contract then thefarmer will get a certain per-centage of the additional prof-it. He said that the trade out-side APMCs will also give thefarmers an option to avoidpaying the mandi tax imposed

by various State Governments.Tomar said that the new

Bills will lead to more traderscompeting for farmers’ pro-duce, which in turn will getthem better prices. “License,Inspector Raj will end, cor-ruption will end and farmers,traders will be free to buy andsell anywhere in the country,”the Minister said.

Congress MP fromLudhiana Ravneet Singh Bittuslammed the Bills and termedthese as ‘black laws’. Bittu askedthe Government to not imple-ment this in Punjab andHaryana, and try it out inother States.

“Punjab is a border State,don’t needle it. Sometime youraise SYL and then you comeup with such Bills,” he said.

Punjab Congress MPsGurpratap Singh Aujla andJasbir Singh Dimpa alsoopposed the Bills so did AAPMP Bhagwant Mann.

The TMC, the AAP and

the BSP also opposed the Bills.The Shiv Sena supported theGovernment, the BJD wantedit to be sent to the standingcommittee.

Opposing the Bill, the TRSsaid it could not support con-tract farming at the cost of poorlocal farm tenants.

TRS MP BheemraoBaswanthrao Patil said that bybringing in corporate playersthrough contract farming, theGovernment is putting at riskthe hundreds of poor farmerswho rent farmlands from own-ers on feeble verbal contractswith little bargaining power.The MP said that landownerswill clearly prefer corporatesover poor farmers who areploughing fields on batai (ten-ants farm the land and split theproduce with absentee land-lords under this system).

The MP also said that theBill mentions some grievanceredressal mechanism for anydisputes but what chance will

farmers stand in the face oflarge corporations with infinitelegal resources at their dispos-al.

TMC MP Mahua Moitrasaid that the Government wastrying to crush the spirit of fed-eralism by its brute parlia-mentary majority. “By legislat-ing on the farm sector, theGovernment has once againdone what it does best, that isaggrandising itself the author-ity that is simply not vested init by the Constitution,” shesaid.

The TMC MP said theproposed legislations would toalso lead to black marketingand hoarding and push theentire sector towards privati-sation.

Stating that farm marketsand agricultural pricing areState subjects, TDP lawmakerK Ram Mohan Naidu urged theCentre not to presume that allOpposition parties have a polit-ical agenda.

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In a surprise move, the mainlitigant from the Muslim

side in the Ram Janmabhoomititle suit, Iqbal Ansari, hasissued an appeal that the Babrimosque demolition case bewithdrawn and all the 32accused be freed.

The appeal came a dayafter the special CBI court saidthe judgement on the demoli-tion case would be deliveredon September 30.

The 32 accused whomAnsari wants to be freedinclude former deputy prime

minister LK Advani, formerUnion minister MurliManohar Joshi, Uma Bharati,and former chief minister ofUP, Kalyan Singh.

Ansari told reporters inAyodhya on Thursday thatthe Supreme Court had giventhe entire land for the con-struction of Ram temple. Hesaid some of the accused in thedemolition case had died whilemost of the other accusedwere very old, so it would notbe right to punish them at thisjuncture.

Ansari also demanded thatall the cases related to Babri

mosque demolition be with-drawn immediately.

“Ayodhya issue had in thepast turned into a bone of con-tention between Muslims andHindus but after the historicSupreme Court decision, nowthe issue should be thrown inthe back burner and both thecommunities should end theirdispute and join hands for thebetterment of the country,” hesaid.

Ansari, who was also invit-ed at the bhoomi pujan for theRam temple in Ayodhya onAugust 5 when Prime MinisterNarendra Modi visited the

Ram Janmabhoomi complexand laid the foundation stone,said it was high time that allthe issues related to Babrimosque should end and anew chapter should begin sothat the country could achievea new height.

After 27 years, the specialCBI court will deliver itsjudgement on the demolitionof the Babri mosque onDecember 6, 1992.

A total of 49 people wereaccused for the demolition ofthe mosque in two FIRs butnow only 32 are alive as 17have died.

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In a sensational murder inBareilly, the district vice-pres-

ident of Hindu Yuva Vahini wasfound brutally hacked to deathin his nursing home earlyThursday morning.

The assailants stabbed him

some time late Wednesday nightand escaped.

The police rushed to thespot and sent the body for post-mortem. The police have arrest-ed one Imran and claim that hekilled the Hindu Yuva Vahinileader. Bareilly’s SeniorSuperintendent of Police Rohit

Singh said that they arrestedImran after a brief encounter.

The SSP claimed that themotive behind the murder wasa love triangle as the victim andthe killer were having an affairwith the same girl. He said thatas Imran was unhappy with this.he eliminated the Hindu Yuva

Vahini leader. The SSP said thatboth the victim and the killerknew each other very well. TheSSP said further investigationswere on and they would invokeNational Security Act (NSA)against the assailant.

Hindu Yuva Vahini leaderDr Sanjay Singh Bhadauria was

running a nursing home atDumka area of Shahi in Bareilly.On Wednesday night, he hadstayed back in the nursing home.

On Thursday, his staff spot-ted him lying in a pool of bloodand raised an alarm but theHindu Yuva Vahini leader wasalready dead.

���� 2:*( 31

Aman killed his daughter inRampur as he was unhap-

py with her affair. He laterwalked down to the police sta-tion and confessed to killing hisdaughter.

Reports said that NoorMohammed’s family was livingin Bharatpur area of Shahabadin Rampur for the last severalyears while he was working aslabourer in Chandigarh.

A few months back, hisdaughter also reachedChandigarh where she fell inlove with a boy and eloped.

Noor Mohammed some-

how recovered her with thehelp of police and sent her backto Rampur, asking her to for-get the youth.

However, last month sheagain left home and went to livewith the same youth. Thistime, Noor forcibly brought herback to Rampur and onWednesday evening, when thegirl refused to live without theyouth, he strangled her todeath and later surrenderedbefore the police.

A case was registered andNoor was sent to jail.

Meanwhile a case of ‘lovejihad’ has come to light fol-lowing the recovery of a minor

girl who was allegedly kid-napped from Meerut onSeptember 3.

The police on Wednesdayrecovered the girl, who waskidnapped from Kankarkhedaarea, and also arrested oneAbdullah, 42, who was posingas ‘Aman’ to lure Hindu girls.

Abdullah confessed beforethe police that he had threewives and four children. Hecreated a Facebook ID as‘Aman’ in which he posted hisphotographs wearing a wig tolook younger.

He admitted that he hadkidnapped the minor girl andhad raped her.

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Deputy Chief MinisterManish Sisodia on

Thursday said that some col-leges of Delhi University aredepositing their funds in FDsand incessantly demandingmoney from the Delhi Gov-ernment.

However, Delhi UniversityPrincipal’s Association hasrefuted the claim made by theDeputy Chief Minister ManishSisodia wherein he made “alle-gations” against the adminis-tration of the DelhiGovernment funded colleges,charging them of misappro-priation of funds and not pay-

ing salary from students soci-ety account.

Terming the incidentunfortunate, the association ina statement said that it is veryunfortunate that the DeputyCM is misleading people bysaying that enough funds havebeen provided in the currentfinancial year.

“The Delhi Governmentgives grant under two heads –plan and non-plan. It is clear-ly mentioned in every sanctionletter that funds cannot betransferred from one head tothe other. How come theDeputy CM is asking the col-leges to pay the salaries fromthe Student’s Society Fund,which is collected from the stu-

dents for specific activities andpurposes? Any diversion offunds, would amount to mis-

appropriation.“It is also a matter of con-

cern, as to the basis of identi-

fying the six colleges for specialaudit – Is it because theMembers of their choice couldnot be elected as Chairpersonin the governing body of thesecolleges? – If that is so, itamounts to scuttling the demo-cratic process,” it added.

“The DUPA stronglydemands the Delhi govern-ment to restrain from issuingsweeping statements andimmediately release 75per centof the grant i.e. Rs. 202.5 croresof their annual budget require-ment (Rs. 270 crores), so thatthe salaries and pension (pend-ing and current) of the staffmembers of these collegescould be paid,” it said.

Meanwhile, replying to the

statement, Sisodia said thatsome colleges of DelhiUniversity are depositing theirfunds in FDs and incessantlydemanding money from theDelhi Government.

According to the rulesregarding pattern of assistance,these colleges need to meet allthier expenses from the fundsthey get from various othersources and only after that, ifthere is any shortage, they willbe compensated by the Delhigovernment, he said.

Unfortunately, when theDelhi government asked for theaccounts for sources of incomefrom these colleges, theydenied presenting accounts,he said, adding that the Delhi

government has increased thebudget for these colleges bytwo-three times already.

“Despite that, these collegeshave failed to pay the salariesof their staff. If these collegesdo not disclose how they havespent their money, on whatbasis can the Delhi governmentrelease funds?” he said.

“On one hand, these col-leges have been saying that theydo not have sufficient funds topay the salaries of their staff,and on the other hand, themoney in their FDs is consis-tently increasing. This moneyis not provided by the Delhigovernment to deposit in theFD. Some colleges have FDsthat have up to Rs. 15 to 30

crores,” he said. Sisodia further asked

“What portion of this moneyhas come from which sources?How is it being used? Thisneeds to be investigated by theaudit team. I hope that theDelhi UniversityAdministration will cooperatewith the audit team in investi-gating the possibility of cor-ruption in the college funds”.

“Delhi University is a uni-versity with a proud history. Ihope that the DU administra-tion will take stern actioninstead of making politicalstatements. We believe thatthe transparency and cleanimage of the university shouldbe upheld,” he said. .

������������� 01�-02,$

An on duty Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) of Delhi Traffic Policewas killed after a speeding truck ran over him in north Delhi's

Burari area. The incident took place on Wednesday evening.The deceased has been identified as Radhey Shyam (49).

Police said that he was posted at Burari traffic circle. Police saidthat the accused driver, identified as Deepak Shukla, a residentof Ghonda in Uttar Pradesh, was arrested.

According to a senior police official, the assistant sub-inspec-tor (ASI) was on duty near ITI centre, Dhirpur, Ring Road onWednesday.

“Around 4.15 pm, he stopped a Tata 407 truck and asked thedriver to come on the side. Meanwhile, one Tata 909 truck camefrom behind and hit the Tata 407 vehicle which ran over the ASI,”said the senior police official.

“Shyam was rushed to hospital where he was declared broughtdead,” he said.

The ASI used to live with his family in north west Delhi'sRohini. He is survived by his wife, son and a daughter.

Earlier in July, ACP Sanket Kaushik of Delhi Police's trafficunit died in an accident while on duty near Rajokri flyover.

������������� 01�-02,$

Delhi International AirportLimited (DIAL) on

Thursday launched India’s firstprivate jet terminal can cater upto 150 private jet movementsper day. The newly developedApron is spread over 8 lakhssquare feet area with 57 park-ing bays and will also provide24*7 personal concierge ser-vices.

The facility has been inau-gurated by Hardeep Singh Puri,Minister of Civil Aviation, inpresence of GBS Raju, BusinessChairman, GMR Airports(India) and Videh KumarJaipuriar, CEO-DIAL.

“India’s civil aviation sec-tor is on a steady growth tra-jectory. The sector is all set toemerge stronger in a post-COVID world as more routesare opening up and number of

passengers are growing. Weexpect a bulk of pre-COVID-19 domestic air passengers’traffic to be back by Diwali thisyear, and General Aviationwill have a significant contri-bution to it. The new GeneralAviation terminal at DelhiAirport is the need of thehour which would significant-ly support this growth," civilaviation minister Hardeep Purisaid.

With this exclusiveGeneral Aviation Terminalfacility, Delhi Airport marksanother milestone of setting uphigh-end infrastructure for thepassengers thus strengthenedfurther the role of GeneralAviation in the country.

The General AviationTerminal has been built tosupport the movement andprocessing of passengers flyingthrough chartered flights from

IGI Airport.The terminal has been set

up in compliance with safetyand precautionary measuresimplemented in view ofCOVID-19 pandemic. Thisnew facility offers exclusivecity side car parking and con-

venient access towards the city.The terminal is ready to caterto 150 private jet movementson daily basis, including CodeC type aircrafts.

Facilities for crew mem-bers and staf f, such asrestroom and briefing area,

will also be available in thisnew Terminal. Besides, it willhave an access control system,Wi-Fi enabled services, ITsystem integrated with over-all IGIA platform, perimetersecurity control system, etc. toprovide a rich and personal-

ized experience to the "Thisexclusive General AviationTerminal is a great addition toDIAL’s passenger experience.DIAL acknowledges thetremendous efforts put in bythe construction teams todeliver this unique project,despite many challenges faceddue to COVID-19 crisis. Thisterminal will serve as an icon-ic gateway to India for busi-ness and leisure travellers andit signifies our recognition ofthe positive economic impactthe general aviation industryhas on this community. Thisterminal will cater to thegrowing passenger trafficwhen the aviation sector landsback to pre-COVID timesand make their travel experi-ence more convenient andcomfortable", said BGS Raju,the business head of GMR(airports) said.

������������� 01�-02,$

A30-year-old sweeper, working with MunicipalCorporation of Delhi (MCD), was injured when a

man attacked him with a knife after an argument brokeout between them in southeast Delhi's Jamia Nagar area.The incident occurred on Wednesday.

The victim, Sonpal, a resident of Nehru Nagar, worksas a sweeper with MCD on contract basis in Jamia Nagar.Police said they have arrested the accused identified asMohammad Shiraz (28), also a resident of Jamia Nagar.According to R P Meena, the Deputy Commissioner ofPolice (DCP), Southeast district, around 7 am onWednesday morning, when Sonpal was on duty, theaccused Shiraz, attacked him with a knife after an argu-ment broke out between them over cleaning.

“The accused told the victim that he was not clean-ing properly, after which the argument escalated.Sonpal sustained injuries on his neck and right arm. Hewas rushed to the Holy Family Hospital for treatment,”the DCP said.

“Based on the statement of Sonpal, a case under rel-evant sections of Indian Penal Code (IPC) has been reg-istered at Jamia Nagar police station and the accused havebeen arrested,” the DCP added.

������������� 01�-02,$

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) onThursday launched a fresh

attack against the BharatiyaJanata Party for bringing “anti-farmer” laws like Farmers'Produce Trade and Commerce(Promotion and Facilitation)Ordinance, 2020, the Farmers(Empowerment andProtection) Agreement on

Price Assurance and FarmServices Ordinance, 2020, andthe Essential Commodities(Amendment) Ordinance,2020.

Party senior leader andMember of ParliamentBhagwant Mann and AAPMLA Jarnail Singh Mann saidthat after AAP and farmerprotest, Akali Dal and Congresshave taken U-turn on the MSP

ordinance bills and this is ourvictory.

Mann said that bothPunjab CM CaptainAmarinder Singh and PunjabFinance Minister ManpreetSingh Badal from Congresssupported these bills in thepreparatory stage. “These anti-farmer bills should have beenstopped when these were in thepreparatory stage only and

Akali Dal Cabinet MinisterShrimati Harsimrat Kaurshould have resigned on theday when these bills weretabled for Cabinet nod,” he said.

Singh said that AAP willcontinue its protest inside andoutside the Parliament, and apprise people that bothSAD and Congress are anti-farmer.

Mann said, " I want to say

that whatever these parties dothe BJP will pass these bills inLoksabha as they have themajority but in Rajya Sabha, ifthe opposition comes togetherthen there might be a chance tostop these bills. AAP is protesting against these billsinside the Parliament and inPunjab also we are protestingon the roads against thesebills."

������������� 01�-02,$

To celebrate Sewa Diwas,which marks the birthday

of Prime Minister NarendraModi, Khadi and VillageIndustries Commission(KVIC) distributed 6 innova-tive cycle-mounted Tea/CoffeeSelling units under ProjectDigniTEA in New Delhi onThursday.

The cycle-mountedtea/coffee selling units havebeen distributed to 6 unem-ployed local youths by Memberof Parliament (Rajya Sabha)and BJP General SecretaryArun Singh, and MP fromNew Delhi,Meenakashi Lekhiin presence of KVIC ChairmanVinai Kumar Saxena. Theseunits will enable tea-sellersearn a respectable livelihoodwhile selling the beverageshygienically.

Each cycle-mountedTea/Coffee Selling unit costs Rs18,000 and has the provisionfor gas stove, gas cylinder, anumbrella, utensils and separatecontainers to keep tea, sugar,cups and snacks properly.

On Thursday, KVIC alsodistributed 17 such units in dif-ferent cities like Varanasi, Jaipurand Chandigarh.

Singh lauded this initiativeof KVIC saying it was con-ceived keeping in view thewelfare of the poor. The cycleswere flagged off by Arun Singhfrom the office of Smt Lekhi atMahadev Road.

Lekhi also said this KVICinitiative will enable poor toearn their livelihood with dig-nity.

KVIC Chairman said thecycle-mounted Tea/CoffeeSelling unit is an innovative andcost-effective way of creatingsustainable self-employmentand distribution of these unitsaims at extending the benefit ofwelfare schemes to the poorestof the poor. “These cycle unitsare well equipped. It has beendesigned keeping in mind thelogistical requirements andhygiene while selling tea/coffeeto public,” Saxena said.

������������� 01-02,$

The Delhi Government willsoon roll out a coordinat-

ed strategy to set up 200 pub-lic charging and battery swap-ping stations at prominentlocations in the city.

All Government agenciesin Delhi including the threemunicipal corporations, NewDelhi Municipal Council(NDMC), Delhi DevelopmentAgency (DDA), Public WorksDepartment (PWD), trans-port department, DelhiTransport Corporation, DelhiMetro Rail Corporation andDSIIDC will carry out a com-prehensive planning exercise inthe next two weeks to identi-fy concessional locations with-in their jurisdictions for thepurpose of setting up publiccharging stations.

This move was among thekey decisions taken at the firstmeeting of the ChargingInfrastructure Working Groupof Delhi Government that meton Thursday under theChairmanship of JasmineShah, Vice Chairperson ofDialogue and DevelopmentCommission of Delhi.

The Delhi electronics vehi-cles policy 2020 which wasnotified in last month by thetransport department lays aspecial emphasis on accelerat-ed rollout of public charginginfrastructure as a key enablerin rapid adoption of EVs inDelhi.

Given the multiplicity ofagencies in Delhi, the task of

devising and implementing acoordinated strategy for settingup charging infrastructure inDelhi has been entrusted to thecharging infrastructure work-ing group.

“Delhi government willsoon be rolling out financialincentives promised under theEV policy. By creating a charg-ing infrastructure workinggroup, Delhi government hasbrought on board all the dif-ferent agencies and discoms ofDelhi to initiate work on accel-erated rollout of charginginfrastructure in a collabora-tive manner,” Shah said.

“This is critical to realizingArvind Kejriwal’s vision ofmaking Delhi the EV capital ofIndia and among the top citiesglobally in terms of EV pene-tration”, he said.

All three discoms, EESL,DMRC, Delhi Transco Ltd.,NDMC, East MCD and NorthMCD gave a detailed presen-tation of their proposals forrapidly augmenting the publiccharging infrastructure as wellas private charging infrastruc-ture in the city.

“It was agreed at the meet-ing that given the emphasis ofDelhi EV Policy on mass adop-tion of EVs in the two-wheel-er and three-wheeler vehiclesegments, the charging infra-structure should focus pri-marily on setting up a largenumber of slow-charging sta-tions consisting of AC-001charging points (3.3 kW each)and limited number of DC-001fast chargers (15 kW each),instead of setting up a few

expensive fast-charging sta-tions that cater primarily forpremium four-wheelers.Additionally, developing awide network of battery swap-ping stations was also identi-fied as a key priority,” the gov-ernment said in a statement.

“ It is expected that localbodies will take a lead in iden-tifying locations at each of theirparking lots for developingEV charging stations, which isalso mandatory under Section12 of the Delhi Parking Rules2019,” it said.

Once this mapping exer-cise is completed, DelhiTransco. Ltd, which is theState nodal agency for settingup charging infrastructure,will implement a coordinatedplan for setting up of 200charging stations at the mostprominent places in Delhi,with subsidy support fromDelhi government, it added.

In addition to publiccharging stations, establishingcharging facilities in restrictedpublic spaces such as malls,office complexes, group hous-ing societies, hotels, educationinstitutions, hospitals etc. wasalso identified as a priority atthe meeting.

Given these premises havehigh capacity commercial con-nections, it was discussed thatsetting up of a large number ofslow-charging points at these facilities would be inex-pensive and a quick way of set-ting up thousands of additionalcharging points in the cityand reducing range anxiety, itsaid.

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GDA has sealed about half adozen commercial institu-

tions for illegal construction inPandav Nagar. After this hugeaction of GDA, there has beena stir in illegal manufacturinginstitutes.

Today, the New AiraCollege of Science was firstsealed. After this Vikrant FarmHouse Haveli Farm House,Salibration Farm House,Deviana Farm House andNaidhyam Restoration, weresealed by the GDA mobilesquad. GDA Secretary SantoshRai told here this evening thatthese institutes have been con-structing illegal constructionsabove the law. In this connec-tion, the GDA also issued showcause notices to the heads ofthese institutes, yet the illegalconstructions were notdropped.

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With the 2020 season of theIndian Premier League

(IPL) starting on September 19senior officials of the Gurugrampolice have issued necessary direc-tions to the Intelligence wing,crime branch units and the stationhouse officers (SHOs) of the con-cerned police stations of the dis-trict to keep an eye on bookie whorun illicit betting rackets andstart gathering information aboutsuch offenders.

According to sources, sever-al bookies, including Agra'sprominent bookie Shyam Vohraand his son Vatsal Vohra havetaken shelter in Gurugram due tothe strictness of police in Delhiand Noida.

A senior officer of theHaryana police on the conditionof anonymity said that “BookieShyam Vohra has a network in UPand Rajasthan. The Father-Sonduo is hiding in the city to run theillicit network of betting rackets

during IPL. Apart from this, thereis a possibility of betting aroundRs 35 crore on the IPL cricketmatches".

On the basis of these inputs,the Gurugram Police are on highalert and have asked the police in-charge of the Intelligence Unit toincrease surveillance in theirrespective areas.

According to an official data,a total of 148 cases of GamblingAct have been registered andaround 235 people have beenarrested in this year till now.While in the previous year around446 cases were registered and anumber of 700 people were arrest-ed in the Gambling Act.

Nitika Gahlaut, DCP (head-quarter) of Gurugram police said,that even though cops were busybecause of the Covid-19 pan-demic, units of the force werekeeping a close watch on such ille-gal networks and activities.

“We have alerted our force tokeep an eye on syndicates whorun illicit betting rackets. Our

teams are monitoring all cyberoperations to check for any ille-gal activity. Also, necessary direc-tions have been passed to allpolice unit to prevent gatheringmore people in a same place saidthe DCP, adding strict actionwould be initiated against thosecaught indulging in anti-socialactivities.

The DCP further said, alongwith the police units we haveinstructed our patrolling team tocross check and search the seclud-ed place building premises, hotels,restaurants, farmhouse, guesthouse, PG accommodations andrecently rented-out flats as thebookies usually sits at these placesafter work and engages in betting".

A crime branch official, whodid not wish to be named, saidthat the police generally rely oninformation collected from a net-work of sources to nail bookiesbecause it is difficult to monitortheir operations.

Meanwhile, the sources saidthat many gamblers were eagerly

waiting for the IPL, previouslyscheduled to begin from March29, but the announcement on thepostponement the matches cameas a jolt to them.

“IPL is a major event for usand the clients, and that beingcancelled was a big hit. Manyarrange for money to bet onthese matches from differentsources so that they can repaydebts or pump this money intotheir businesses,” said a bookie.

"Mumbai Indians are cur-rently priced at Rs 4.90 in the IPL.This is followed by Hyderabad'sRs 5.60, Chennai Super king Rs 5,RCB Rs 6.20, Delhi Rs 6.40, KKRRs 7.80, Kings XI Punjab Rs 9.50and Rajasthan Royals Rs 10. Thismeans, the team that has the low-est price is considered a strongcontender for victory. If right nowsomeone bets 1000 rupees that theMumbai Indians will win theIPL, they will get 4900 rupees.Match rates may go up and down,”said a bookie on the condition ofanonymity.

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The Centre on Thursdayinformed the Parliament

that the COVID-19 vaccinewill be made available in Indiaby the beginning of 2021.

Addressing the RajyaSabha over the coronavirussituation in the country,Health Minister Dr.Harshvardhan said that Indiais also making efforts likeother nations and three vac-cine candidates are in differ-ent phases of clinical trials.

“Three vaccine candidates(Zydus Cadila, Bharat Biotech,and the Serum Institute ofIndia) are in different phases.Under Prime Minister’s guid-ance, an expert group is look-ing at it and there is advancedplanning in place. We arehopeful that by the start ofnext year a vaccine will beavailable in India,” the HealthMinister informed the upper

house after a total of fourhours of debate during the lastthree days in the Rajya Sabha.

Harshvardhan’s remarkscome at a time when India hasreported over 50 lakh casesand people are expecting avaccine at the earliest.

On the criticism thatGovernment made no effortto tackle the pandemic men-ace at early signals,Harshvardhan stated that thePM, the ministers, and statehealth ministers have beenaddressing the situation sinceJanuary 8 fighting this battletogether.

He said that detailed advi-sories had been circulatedeven before the first COVID-19 case was detected in Indiaon January 30.

The Union Minister fur-ther noted that “extensivecontact-tracing was under-taken” with 162 contacts beingtraced to the first case.

Harshvardhan said thePM has handled Covid-19“meticulously.” “History willremember Prime MinisterNarendra Modi for meticu-lously monitoring the entiresituation himself,” he said.

Responding to CongressMP Anand Sharma’s query onhow large number of peoplewas prevented from beinginfected, Harshvardhan saidthat six scientific agenciesgave scientific data on thebasis of which it was stated the14-29 lakh cases were pre-vented by the coronaviruslockdown.

While the vaccine candi-dates undertaken by ZydusCadila and Bharat Biotechhave completed phase 1 ofhuman tests, SII has resumedits trials after getting clearancefrom the Drug ControllerGeneral of India (DGCI).

SII is the manufacturingpartner of the vaccine candi-date being developed jointlyby UK-based pharma giantAstraZeneca and University ofOxford’s Jenner Institute.

The Pune-based companyis looking after the humantests being conducted at 17trial sites across the country.

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The Indian MedicalAssociation (IMA) has

slammed the Government forfailing to reveal the data on thenumber of healthcare staffwho have been affected andwho died from Covid-19,when the Parliament debatedthe issue.

It said that at least 382doctors across the countryhave lost their lives in the lineof duty so far, but UnionHealth Minister HarshVardhan could not come upwith the number of fatalitiesoccurred in the medical fra-ternity when asked by MPBinoy Viswam in Parliamentrecently.

Besides, the IMA, whichrepresents a battery of privatedoctors from across the coun-try. also released the data ofthe doctors who died due to

Covid-19.“Health is a state subject.

Such data is not maintained atCentral level,” Vardhan hadtold Viswam in a written reply.

In a reaction to Vardhan’sstatement, the IMA said, “If agovernment does not maintainthe statistics of total number ofdoctors and health care work-ers infected by Covid-19 andthe statistics of how many ofthem sacrificed their life dueto the pandemic, it loses themoral authority to administerthe Epidemic Act 1897 and theDisaster Management Act.”

The IMA also stated thatthe reply by the UnionMinister also exposes thehypocrisy of calling the health-care workers ‘corona warriors’while denying them and theirfamilies the status and benefitsof martyrdom.

The IMA also expressedconcerns at the huge number

of deaths of doctors and healthcare workers.

“Doctors suffered fourtimes mortality of ordinary cit-izens, and private practition-ers suffered eight times mor-tality on the same scale. Tofeign that this informationdoes not merit the attention ofthe nation is abominable,” saidthe IMA.

The doctors’ body alsoobjected to the statementmade by Ashwini KumarChaubey, Minister of State(MoS) for Health, that insur-ance compensation data is notavailable with the UnionGovernment in Parliament.

“IMA finds it strange thatafter having formulated anunfriendly partial insurancescheme for the bereaved fam-ilies to struggle with theignominy of the Governmentdisowning them altogetherstares at them,” it added.

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Union Home Minister AmitShah was on Thursday

discharged from the All IndiaInstitute of Medical Sciences(AIIMS). Earlier in the day,Shah attended the inaugura-tion of a water work schemeunder smart city programmefor his Gandhinagar con-stituency through video con-ferencing from the Hospital.He also spoke for more than 10minutes.

Shah was admitted in thehospital on Saturday night fol-

lowing breathing trouble. TheAIIMS bulletin said that Shahwas admitted for a “completemedical checkup before theParliament Session for 1-2days.” On August 2, he wasadmitted to Medanta Hospitalfor Covid-19 treatment anddischarged on August 13. Buton August 17, he was admittedto AIIMs following postCovid-19 ailments and dis-charged on August 30.

The Home Minister isexpected to attend theParliament Session in the com-ing days.

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The CBI has registered a caseagainst six private compa-

nies based at New Delhi, Jaipur(Rajasthan), Noida (UP) andGurugram (Haryana) andother unknown persons on acomplaint alleging that thesecompanies have transmittedpop ups to the victims’ personalcomputers withwarnings/bogus messagesabout serious technical prob-lems including malware infec-tion in their MicrosoftWindows Systems.

The agency on Thursdayconducted searches at 10 loca-tions including Jaipur, Delhi,Noida, Gurugram, Faridabadand Mainpuri (Uttar Pradesh)

at the premises of the accusedcompanies and the residentialpremises of other related per-sons.

“The employees of thesecompanies allegedly advisedthe victims to install certainanti-malwares or anti-virus,which are essentially PUPs(Potentially UnwantedPrograms). The victims wereallegedly given the option toactivate PUPs by paying the feeonline or by calling a supportnumber advertised in the inter-face of the program. The vic-tims are fraudulently influ-enced in this manner andallegedly fall in their trap tomaintain their systems prop-erly,” the CBI said in a state-ment.

It was also alleged that thevictims were made to payonline by clicking the link onthe interface for resolving thenon-existent problem or whenthey ask the call centres to seekresolution of the fake problems,it further said.

The accused firms areSoftwill Infotech PrivateLimited, New Delhi, InnovanaThinklabs Limited, Jaipur,Benovellient TechnologiesPrivate Limited, Noida,Systweak Software PrivateLimited, Jaipur, Saburi TLCWorldwide Services Pvt. Ltd,New Delhi and Saburi GlobalServices Pvt Ltd, Gurugram.Some other unknown personshave also been mentioned asaccused in the FIR.

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Worried over skyrocketingonion prices in the retail

market, Bangladesh has request-ed the Modi Government towithdraw the ban imposed onits export as soon as possible.

The Government had onMonday banned the export ofall varieties of onions withimmediate effect to increaseavailability and curb prices ofthe commodity in the domesticmarket. Onion prices inBangladesh have touched 200taka per kg while it is being soldat �40-45 per kg across India.Onion traders and political par-ties including Congress andNCP are demanding reversal ofthe ban order while retailersexpect a �2-5 per kg drop in therate due to the export ban.

Expressing deep concernover the sudden ban on the

export of onions as it directlyaffects the supply of essentialfood items in market, theBangladesh government in a let-ter dated September 15, request-ed the Indian High Commissionto convey the message toauthorities in New Delhi andtake necessary measures toresume onion exports takinginto consideration the excellentties between the neighbours.

It pointed out that a secre-tary-level meeting between thecommerce ministries of thetwo countries held on January15-16, 2020 in Dhaka request-ed India not to impose exportrestriction on essential fooditems required by Bangladesh.The letter said the Bangladeshside also requested India toinform Dhaka ahead of time incase of any event necessitatingsuch a restriction.

During April-June period,

onion exports to Bangladesh,India’s largest overseas marketfor the key kitchen ingredient,shot up 147.5% to 1.9 lakh met-ric tonne. Overall, onionexports grew 23% during thesame period to 6.8 lakh metrictonne.

During her visit to India inOctober last year after theonion export ban, BangladeshPM Sheikh Hasina had said,“We are facing some issuesbecause of the ban on onionexports from India. I don’tknow why you banned exportof onions. It would have beenbetter if you had alerted us inadvance so that we could havesourced onions from othercountries. You banned it sud-denly and it became a problemfor us).”

Hasina had then said in jestthat she had asked her cook notto use onions in the kitchen.

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Two days after NationalSecurity Advisor(NSA)

Ajit Doval walked out of a vir-tual meeting when hisPakistani counterpart showeda wrong political map ofIndia, the Government onThursday told the Parliamentthat these maps have no legaland international validity.

Making this observationin a written reply in the RajyaSabha, minister of state forexternal af fairs VMuraleedharan said, a so-called ‘polit ical map’ ofPakistan was unveiled by its

Prime Minister on August4. It made absurd assertionsand laid untenable claims toterritories in Gujarat and theUnion Territories of Jammuand Kashmir and Ladakh,the minister said

The Government hasrejected Pakistan’s obsessionwith territorial aggrandise-ment supported by cross bor-der terrorism.

It has also been empha-sized that Pakistan shoulddesist from laying untenableclaims to Indian territories,which have neither legalvalidity nor internationalcredibility.

The Minister also saidthe government continues torespond appropriately toPakistan’s malicious actionsand propaganda, includingon the issue of Jammu andKashmir, at various interna-tional fora. The question wasasked by BJP MP JyotiradityaScindia.

Taking strong exceptionto the provocative act byPakistan, India had onTuesday walked out of a meet-ing of the National SecurityAdvisors(NSA)of theShanghai Cooperat ionOrganisation(SC0).

The Ministry of ExternalAffairs said what Pakistandid was in “blatant disregardto host Russia’s advisory”.

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The Khadi and VillageIndustries Commission

(KVIC) extended the benefitsof various employment gener-ation schemes to nearly 1,500persons in 10 Indian cities tocelebrate “Sewa Diwas” onThursday, marking the birth-day of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi.

From Arunachal Pradeshon the North Eastern Frontierto Bikaner on the WesternBorder and from Chandigarhand New Delhi in the North toMadurai and Coimbatoredown South, KVIC organised14 programs to expand the

ambit of its welfare projects tocreate local employment.

Minister of State forMSME Pratap ChandraSarangi inaugurated a SFUR-TI Cluster of 500 artisans formaking hand-knotted carpetsin Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh.Sarangi lauded the initiatives ofKVIC for empowering artisansand said this would help realisethe dream of resurgent India.He said Khadi is playing a bigrole in making India“Aatmanirbhar”.

KVIC Chairman VKSaxena launched six differentprograms in Varanasi, theParliamentary constituency ofthe Prime Minister. These

include the first FootwearTraining cum ProductionCenter in Varanasi for leatherartisans (Mochi) in collabora-tion with Central FootwearTraining Institute (CFTI),Agra.

Saxena distributed electricpotter wheels to 300 Kumharfamilies under KumharSashaktikaran Yojana and 200bee boxes to 20 farmers fami-lies under Honey Mission. TheKVIC Chairman also distrib-uted six hand-operatedAgarbatti making machines atSewapuri Block in Varanasiunder the Khadi AgarbattiAatmanirbhar Mission whilealso launching the plantation

of 100 saplings of BambusaTulda, a bamboo species usedfor making Agarbatti sticks.This will lead to local avail-ability of raw material forAgarbatti.

In Delhi, Rajya Sabha MPand BJP General SecretaryArun Singh, and MP fromNew Delhi Meenakashi Lekhidistributed six innovativecycle-mounted Tea/CoffeeSelling units under ProjectDigniTEA of the KVIC. TheKVIC Chairman said thesecycle-mounted tea/coffee sell-ing units will enable tea-sellersto earn a respectable livelihoodwhile selling the beverageshygienically.

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Congress leaders RahulGandhi, Priyanka Gandhi

and Shashi Tharoor wishedPrime Minister NarendraModi on his birthday onThursday but at the sametime their party also launcheda scathing attack on the PMover the growing unemploy-ment in India and heldprotests over the issue at sev-eral places across the country.

The Congress celebratedthe day as ‘NationalUnemployment Day’ to high-light the jobs lost since theCOVID-19 struck the coun-try earlier this year.

Youth Congress workersin Bhopal demonstrated byfrying fritters and holdingbanners such as ‘I am a youngunemployed’. In the nationalcapital, party workers wavedhuge banners with Modi’s

image and mentioning‘Berojgar Divas’.

“Massive unemploymenthas forced the youth to callt o d a y#NationalUnemploymentDay. Employment is dignity. Forhow long will the Govt denyit?,” Rahul, who is currentlyout of the country for treat-ment of his mother andCongress chief Sonia Gandhi,tweeted.

Priyanka said the youthof the country wants that theGovernment must holdexams for Government jobson time and the resultsshould be declared in a fixtime frame.

She added that theGovernment must createmore job opprtunities and ifthe Centre will fail to addressthe concerns of the youththen they will change theGovernment.

But Congress chiefspokesperson RandeepSurjewala made certainderogatory remarks againstthe PM likening him to mon-keys. Surjewala tweeted fromhis official Twitter handle,“Aab Ki Baar Bandar Ke Hath

Me Ustra Sarkar.” This is not the first time

that the Congress has madederogatory statements againstPM Modi. Congress leaderArjun Modwadia had alsoonce compared Modi to amonkey.

���� �������� ������!���6������� ����NEW DELHI: The Centre hassaid that if the Supreme Courtdecides on the issue of mediaregulation then such an exer-cise should be undertaken withthe digital media first as it hasfaster reach and informationhas the potential to go viral dueto applications like WhatsApp,Twitter and Facebook.

The Government told theapex court that sufficientframework and judicial pro-nouncements exist for the elec-tronic and the print media.

“Considering the seriousimpact and the potential, it isdesirable that if this courtdecides to undertake the exer-cise, it should first be under-taken with regard to digitalmedia as there already existssufficient framework and judi-cial pronouncements withregard to electronic media andprint media,” said the counteraffidavit, filed by the Ministryof Information andBroadcasting. PTI

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The Delhi Metroincurred a loss

of revenue of�1,609 crore dueto the lockdownfollowed byBangalore metrowith �170 crore.Lucknow, Chennaiand Kochi metroshave incurred loss-es of � 90 crore,�80 crore and �34crore respectively.

As per the Ministry ofHousing and Urban Affairs’data tabled in the Upper Houseon Thursday, a total loss of�1,983 crore was incurred infive cities due to closure ofmetro rail services amid thecoronavirus pandemic. Metroservices, which were shut onMarch 22 to contain the spreadof novel coronavirus, resumedon September 7 in a phasedmanner. Full-fledged normaloperations resumed onSeptember 12.

Replying to impact on loanrepayment by various metro

rail networks due to the lock-down, Union Housing andUrban Affairs Hardeep SinghPuri said that loan was paid asper their schedule. During thelockdown period, he said,preparatory work like detaileddesigning, preparation of ten-der schedule and finalisation oftenders, among other things,had been carried out by theDelhi metro.

According to metro railofficials, metro projects havetwo sources of steady revenue– farebox, which accounts foralmost 80 to 90 per cent of therevenue- ticketing, passes, sales.

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As many as 35 judges wereappointed to the Supreme

Court while 557 new judgeswere appointed and 483 addi-tional judges made permanentin various High Courts in thecountry between 2014 to 2020,the government informed theRajya Sabha.

In a written reply to aquestion, Minister for Law andJustice Ravi Shankar Prasadsaid the number of computer-ized District and Subordinatecourts has increased from13,672 in 2014 to 16,845 as onSeptember 14, 2020, registeringan increase of 3,173.

He said a new and user-friendly version of CaseInformation Software

has been developed anddeployed at all the computer-ized District and SubordinateCourts.

All stakeholders includ-ing Judicial Officers can accessinformation relating to judicialproceedings/decisions of com-puterized District &Subordinate Courts and HighCourts on the National JudicialData Grid (NJDG) as onSeptember 14, 2020.

The minister informed

that eCourt services such asdetails of case registration,cause lists, case status, dailyorders and final judgmentsare available to litigants andadvocates through the eCourtsweb portal, Judicial ServiceCentres (JSC) in all comput-erized courts, eCourts MobileApp, email service, SMS pushand pull services.

“Video conferencing facil-ity has been enabled between3,240 court complexes and1,272 corresponding jails,” hesaid.

“From May 1, 2014 toSeptember 14, 2020, 35 Judgeswere appointed in SupremeCourt. 557 new Judges wereappointed and 483 AdditionalJudges were made permanentin the High Courts. Sanctionedstrength of Judges of HighCourts has been increasedfrom 906 in May, 2014 to 1079currently,” he said.

The sanctioned and work-ing strength of Judicial Officersin District and SubordinateCourts has increased from19,518 and 15,115 respective-ly as on December 31, 2013,while the sanctioned strengthof judges on September 15,2020 is 24,203 and the work-ing strength is 19,171.

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Three terrorists belonging toa pro Pakistan terror outfit

Hizbul Mujahideen were neu-tralised by the joint teams ofsecurity forces in the congest-ed area of Batmaloo in Srinagarearly Thursday morning.

Two CRPF personnel,including a Deputy comman-dant identified as RahulMathur leading one of thesearch parties, received bulletinjuries during initial exchangeof fire while one civilianwoman was also killed in thecrossfire. So far 16 terroristshave been neutralised in sevendifferent operations in Srinagarthis year.

Director General of Police(DGP) Dilbagh Singh said that

all the three terrorists werelocals from South Kashmirand were heavily armed.

Since January 1, a totalnumber of 177 terrorists havebeen neutralised in 72 opera-tions across J&K. Out of these22 were foreign terrorists fromPakistan.

DGP termed the killing ofa 45-year-old kousar Jan in“cross firing” as unfortunateand expressed sympathy withthe bereaved family

Addressing a Press confer-ence at Police Control Room(PCR) Srinagar, DGP Singhsaid, “the operations werelaunched during wee hours inthe Batmaloo area after receiv-ing a tip off about the presenceof heavily armed terrorists inthe area”.

In a separate statement apolice spokesman said, “Thekilled terrorists have been iden-tified as Zakir Ahmad Paul sonof Nisar Ahmad resident ofAloora Imam Sahib Shopian,Ubair Mushtaq Bhat son ofMushtaq Ahmad Bhat resi-dent of Badragund Kulgamand Adil Hussain Bhat son ofAbdul Rashid Bhat resident ofBatapora Chersoo Awantipora,all affiliated with proscribedterror outfit HM. They wereinvolved in several attacks inSrinagar City and SouthKashmir.

Responding to a questionrelated to frequent encounterstaking place in and aroundSrinagar DGP said, “terroristsfrom other districts of Southand north Kashmir keep on

visiting Srinagar to carry outattacks on security forces”. “OnAugust 14, they targeted ourparty and killed two policemenat Nowgam. Before that, theyhad killed two BSF men atPandach on city outskirts. Andthen they made anotherattempt at Pantha Chowkwhere we lost a brave SoGman,” the DGP Singh said.

He said police and CRPFteams are alert and wheneverthey get a lead about presenceof terrorists in Srinagar, effortsare always put in to ensure zerocollateral damage. “Today’soperation was seventh one inSrinagar in the recent past, butbiggest success was the killingof Hizbul Mujahideen com-mander Junaid Sehrai,” theJ&K Police chief said.

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Another Pulwama type ter-ror strike was averted by

the joint teams of securityforces after they stumbled upon52 kgs of explosive materialwhich included over 400 pack-ets of explosives weighing 125gm and 50 detonators duringsearch operations near Karewaforest area of Gadikhal inAwantipora on Thursday.

According to officialsources, during a joint searchoperation in the Karewa forestarea security forces spotted asyntax tank. “On detailedsearch, a total of 52 Kgs of explo-sives were recovered . Therewere 416 pkts of explosives witheach pkt of 125gm. In anothersuch syntax tank 50 detonatorswere also recovered”.

The Karewa is located veryclose to the National Highway,9 km South east of Lethporaand in general area wherePulwama attack happened.

According to a policespokesman, “acting on tip offabout the presence of JeM ter-rorists , police along with 42 RRand 130 BN CRPF conducteda joint search of the nurseryarea near forests of villageGadikhal Awantipora. Duringsearch of the said forest area, 02

explosive dumps were foundwhich were concealed under-ground in 02 different 250litres plastic tanks”.

In one plastic tank, 416high explosive gelatine stickshave been recovered while inanother plastic tank, 50 deto-nators were recovered, a policespokesman said.

“The detonators were

destroyed by the BombDisposal Squad on the spot,due to their risk ofcarrying/transporting,” thespokesman added.

Meanwhile, a case FIRnumber 126/2020 under rele-vant sections of law has beenregistered in Police StationAwantipora and investigationhas been taken up.

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The gold smuggling scam,the LIFE Mission corrup-

tion charges and the drug traf-ficking case with its origin inBangalore in which the CPI(M)ministers and leaders standaccused have rejuvenated theopposition BJP and to a certain extent the MuslimLeague in Kerala.

“The resignation or sackingof K T Jaleel, the higher edu-cation minister and E PJayarajan, the industries min-ister from the council of min-isters will not solve the politi-cal impasse in the State. Thingshave gone out of control andthere is no guarantee that thename of a third minister wouldnot crop up in the next two-three days,” said Jayashankar ,Kerala’s leading political com-mentator who says that the sit-

uation looks like a political dis-aster for the CPI(M).

He said there was no guar-antee that Jaleel would not besummoned by the Customsand CBI in days to come. “It isa blot on the face of theGovernment led by PinarayiVijayan. The Government isfacing a three-pronged attackfrom the BJP, its women’s wingand the Muslim League.Though the CPI(M) tried tocommunalize the Quranimport scam, it didn’t materi-alize because of the interven-tion of a section of MuslimLeague led by its youthfulleader P K Feroze,” Jayashankartold The Pioneer.

Jayashankar said Vijayanstands exposed in front of thepeople of Kerala. “The links hissecretary had with gold smug-gling syndicates in Kerala andminister Jaleel’s liaison with

Swapna Suresh has been wellestablished. Same is the casewith Jayarajan and his sonJaison. What I see is total dark-ness at the end of the tunnel. Asection of the CPI(M) leadersare also upset with the actionsof Vijayan and they remainincommunicado,” saidJayashankar.

P Rajan, septuagenarianjournalist and former senioreditor of Mathrubhumi saidJaleel could be dropped by theChief Minister in the backdropof Thursday morning’s ques-tioning of the minister by theNIA. “As such there is no situ-ation mandating the dismissalof this government. It is truethat the opposition is stagingrallies and marches. These areall part of a democratic systembut the Government is not ona strong wicket as things standtoday,” said Rajan.

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KT Jaleel, Minister forHigher Education, was

interrogated by the NationalInvestigation Agency (NIA)on Thursday for almost eighthours in connection with theQuran import scam, goldsmuggling and violation ofprotocol guidelines by the former. Jaleel did not speakto the media.

This is being seen as thecontinuation of his interroga-tion last week by theEnforcement Directorate inconnection with these cases.Sources in NIA said there werecontradictions in the state-ments given by Jaleel to the EDand they needed clarifications.It has been alleged that Jaleelsmuggled in gold throughdiplomatic channels mas-querading as Qurans and dates.

The Muslim religious leadersare up in arms against the min-ister for insulting the holybook for illegal activities.

Activists of the BJP, itsfrontal organizations likeMahila Morchcha, BJYM andABVP and the Congress work-ers staged demonstrations andrallies across the State. Most ofthese rallies saw the demon-strators clashing with the policeresulting in use of water can-non and lathi charge. ManyBJP leaders were injured inpolice action.

The Opposition upped theante with K Surendran, BJPState chief demanding theimmediate resignation of thePinarayi Vijayan-ledGovernment. “This is the firsttime in the history of Kerala aminister is being interrogatedby an investigation agency inconnection with anti-national

activities. The NIA has clearevidence about the role of theminister in smuggling activi-ties. There is no way out forJaleel other than resignation.The attitude of Chief MinisterVijayan is also ridiculous.Vijayan knows that if Jaleel isasked to quit, other ministerstoo have to quit because theytoo are involved in smugglingand other anti-national activ-ities,” said Surendran.

Leaders of Muslim LeagueP K Kunhalikutty MP andTPA Majeed, took strong objec-tion to Jaleel dragging thename of party chief Hyder AliShihab Thangal into the caseand warned the minister todesist from such actions.Kunhalikutty said that the min-ister has no moral rights to bein the government as all thepremier investigation agenciesare probing him.

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Chief Minister PinarayiVijayan on Thursday

blamed the Opposition partiesfor the steep hike in Covid-19patients seen in Kerala over thelast few days. On Thursday, theState diagnosed 4,351 Covid-19cases, the highest number ofpatients identified on a singleday till date, said Vijayan in hisdaily media briefing.

The chief minister saidthat the National Institute ofVirology at Alappuzha hadconfirmed the deaths of tenpersons due to the pandemic.

This has taken the tally till dateto 489.

While Thiruvanantha-puram topped the table of 14districts with 820 positive cases,Idukki, the hilly district in theWestern Ghats recorded thelowest figure with 104 new cases.

Vijayan blamed the oppo-sition for the steep hike in thenumber of patients in the State.

“They are bent uponderailing all the good worksbeing done by the governmentwith the sole aim of increasingthe transmission of the disease,”said the Chief Minister.

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Tamil Nadu is limping back to normalcy as the number of Covid-19 patients is coming down gradually in all districts barring

Chennai and Coimbatore. On Thursday the State diagnosed 5,560positive cases while 59 persons succumbed to the pandemic. Thedeath toll in the State reached 8,618 on Thursday.

There were 46,610 patients all over the State by Thursdayevening. Chennai district had 992 new cases while Coimbatore had 530 patients. The three cluster districtsChengalpet ( 283), Kancheepuram (187) and Thiruvallur (239)showed considerable decrease in the number of new persons iden-tified with Covid-19.

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The Enforcement Directorate(ED) has filed a Prosecution

Complaint (chargesheet inpolice parlance) underPrevention of MoneyLaundering Act against BilquiesShah, wife of Shabir AhmadShah, before a Special Courthere in a terror funding case.

This is a SupplementaryProsecution Complaint to anearlier one filed against Shabir Ahmad Shah andMohammad Aslam Wani onSeptember 23, 2017.

“In this complaint, Dr.Bilquies Shah has been accusedfor her role in the commission ofoffence of money laundering interms of Section 3 of PMLA. EDhad attached the proceeds ofcrime in the form of property,located in posh area of Srinagar,belonging to Shabir AhmadShah being held in the name ofhis wife and daughters. Shabir

Shah has been found to be car-rying out illicit activities alongwith his accomplice MohammadAslam Wani, who is an activistof banned terror organisationJeM (Jaish-e-Mohammad). Hewas using Aslam Wani as a car-rier for collecting Hawala moneysent by his Pakistan-based out-fits through Hawala operators todeliver the same to him and hiswife Dr Bilquies Shah in Srinagarfor carrying out illegal activities,”the ED said in a statement.

Investigation under PMLArevealed that Shabir Shah, with-out having any legitimatesources of income, had receivedmoney for carrying out sepa-ratist activities in Jammu &Kashmir and had acquired var-ious properties through a mazeof dubious transactions.Bilquies Shah has also receivedillegitimate money fromMohammad Aslam Wani (car-rier of Shabir Shah) on variousoccasions, it said.

Jammu: Nineteen patients diedin Jammu & Kashmir while1,467 fresh cases of coron-avirus were detected takingthe tally of active positive casesto over 20,000 on Thursday.

With constant increase innumber of cases the health caremachinery especially inGovernment Medical College,Jammu is crumbling.

Patients and their caretak-ers have been raising hue andcry for past several days as thehospital authorities have failedto ensure uninterrupted supplyof oxygen to the patients admit-ted in the isolation ward. In theabsence of adequate healthcare workers several patients

have been left unattended inthe wards.

A video footage shot byone of the patients attendantwent viral late Thursdayevening on various socialmedia platforms painting thegrim picture of medical facili-ties. Some of the doctors andother staff members were seenjumping from the windows toavoid getting filmed.

Meanwhile, a high-levelteam of doctors from the UnionHealth Ministry is expected tovisit Jammu to review the mea-sures being adopted to containthe spread of the virus andimprove health care delivery inthe Covid hospitals. PNS

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It is the responsibility ofany Government to fulfill thehopes and aspirations of thepeople and bring positivechanges in the lives of thepoor. Prime Minister NarendraModi has been efficiently dis-charging this responsibilitythrough his hard work for the

last six years. On September17, Prime Minister NarendraModi is going to complete 70years of his life. This is the besttime to observe his great per-sonality and the many works ofpublic welfare that are takingplace under his leadership.

Since independence, gov-ernments have formulated theirown policy from time to timeon basic amenities like healthand education in India.

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Maharashtra Chief MinisterUddhav Thackeray will

lay the foundation stone for the350 ft statue of late BabasahebAmbedkar raised as part of thegrand memorial for the latearchitect of Indian Constitutionbeing developed at the InduMills compound at Dadar innorth-central Mumbai, on Friday.

Five years after PrimeMinister Narendra Modi laidfoundation stone of lateAmbedkar’s grand memorial,Uddhav will kick-start the workon building of a statue of theiconic Dalit leader.

Friday’s will be the biggest

state government programmeto be held during the lockdownperiod. Apart from Uddhavand deputy chief minister AjitPawar, many of the ministers inhis Cabinet will attend theprogramme which will be as per various social dis-tancing norms.

The work on the con-struction of the Ambedkar hadbeen hanging fire for the firstfour years. To be developed bythe state-run MumbaiMetropolitan RegionDevelopment Authority(MMRDA), the memorial willcost Rs 1,089 crore as per therevised estimates.

On its part, the MMRDAhas already started the

construction. Excavation and piling work

has been completed, while thework on the auditorium base-ment comprising two-floorsbelow its framework has beencompleted.

The height of DrAmbedkar’s statue, which wasearlier proposed to be of theheight of 250 feet, will now be350 feet. The statue will beerected on a pedestal of theheight of 100 feet. In essence,the collective height of thebronze statue will be 450 feet.

There will be elements ofthe Buddhist architecture in theAmbedkar memorial, which iscoming up on a 12 acre plot ofland.

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The Chief of Army Staff(COAS) General MM

Naravane Thursday conduct-ed first hand assessment of theprevailing security situationalong the Line of Control(LoC) in north Kashmir.

Immediately after landingin Srinagar General Naravaneproceeded to the forward areasalong with top brass of theNorthern Command.

Later in the day, the COASreviewed the overall securitysituation along with theNorthern Army Commanderand Chinar CorpsCommander. He was alsobriefed by the commanders inthe hinterland.

Defence Spokesman inSrinagar Col Rajesh Kalia said,

“During his interaction withthe soldiers deployed in highaltitude areas, Genereal MMNaravane appreciated theirhigh morale and compli-mented them on theirresponse to Pakistan ceasefireviolations.”

He also commended useof technology to ensure effec-tive day and night surveillance across the LoCwhich has resulted in manysuccessful operations to foilinfiltration bids from POK inthe recent past.

The COAS reinforced theneed to extend all possiblesupport to civilians residing inthe border areas who are vic-tims of targeted ceasefire vio-lations by Pakistan Army and are facing hardships dueto the pandemic.

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After months of uncer-tainty and speculation,the Indian PremierLeague (IPL) is all set tostart; outside the coun-

try of its origin and minus theshrieking fans. Everyone, even itscritics and detractors, admits to itsstupendous popularity. For most ofits supporters and fans, it is an eventalmost of national importance, noless than the General Elections. Infact, a year ago, a large majority ofIndians were simultaneously sub-jected to two kinds of spectacles:one in the sports arena and theother in the political playing field.The dates for both overlapped fora period of one month as the grandspectacle of the IPL (March 23-May12, 2019) coincided with the heatand dust generated by the GeneralElections. The Code of Conductwas immediately effective after thedates for the elections wereannounced on March 10, 2019. Inbetween the elections, the din overthe IPL rose to a crescendo and cli-maxed with the final in which theMumbai Indians defeated ChennaiSuper Kings at a “neutral” venue inHyderabad. As the great excitementover IPL subsided, all hell brokeloose over the no-holds-barredelection campaigns. There is nodoubt about the ephemerality andinconsequentiality of the first, norabout the epochal nature of the sec-ond. And yet, many cricket fansthink otherwise.

With the pandemic and econo-my playing havoc, and none of thevenues in India playing host, theevent may have already lost its usualsheen. Also, the forthcoming elec-tions in Bihar are no match for thenational polls last year. Yet, now thatboth the events are round the cor-ner, it is a good time to reflect onhow both affect the public psyche.For cricket has always been seen,at least in the former colonies, as aweapon for political dominance oreven as an instrument to fight backdominance; any reader of CLRJames’ Beyond the Boundary wouldknow that. Until the advent of IPL,cricket was about national teamsand races. As James says,“Cricket…had plunged” him “intopolitics long before [he] was awareof it. When [he] did turn to poli-tics, [he] did not have too much tolearn.” What lessons in politics doesthe IPL proffer?

The Election Commission laysdown the rules of the game in theModel Code of Conduct. The IPL

follows most of the rules laiddown by the InternationalCricket Council (ICC). Duringthe IPL and also the GeneralElections, many of these ruleswere flouted, decidedly orallegedly. The IPL cricketers,drawn from across cricket-play-ing nations, were bought andsold much before the event.Apparently, inconsequent to thefollowers of the game, the prices,sometimes incommensuratewith the reputation of manyplayers, were headlined. Manyhigh profile players and erst-while heroes were left unsold orsold late. Political parties alsotried to highlight names ofpoliticians who crossed overfrom their rivals’ party. Thereseemed to be a competition ofsorts to rope in glamorous crick-eters or film stars from Chennaiand Mumbai, from Bhojpuri toTamil stars. Many of them evenfloated new parties for the causeof democracy, freedom ofexpression and so on.

In a certain sense, they wereengaged in completely differentpractices; in another sense, theyshared certain commonalities,especially in the visual space ofthe electronic media. The highoctane media coverage, withexperts in both “fields” cryingthemselves hoarse regarding thecurrent performances, strategiesand forecasts, was common toboth the arenas. A few IPL spe-cialists like Gautam Gambhir,who until last year were com-menting both on cricket andpolitical matters, jumped intothe fray, hoping to prove theirpolitical prowess.

But, of course, the man in thestreet took a keen interest inboth, while the satellite channels

made merry with increasedTRPs and phenomenal com-mercial gains. In the back-ground of both, the Balakotairstrikes fed the emotionsdirectly and indirectly: directlyin the political arena of elections,and indirectly by the absence ofcricketers from Pakistan.

For one thing, the IPL is notabout national teams. No onecares which country the playerscome from. The jerseys are ofindividual franchises and onelooks in vain for the nationali-ty behind the jersey in case theplayer happens to be one of thelesser-known. No, IPL is notabout nations and nationalism.Nor is it about parochialism. Theteams are named after cities buteven the Indian players are notfrom these cities. They couldwell be from the city of the rivalteam. Sourav Ganguly can be thecoach of Delhi Daredevils play-ing against the Kolkata KnightRiders for whom he had earlierplayed and whose coach he hadeventually become. Shah RukhKhan (a Delhiite) living inMumbai is the owner of KolkataKnight Riders. The same kind offuzzing of identities is seen evenamong spectators.

Talking of Shah Rukh Khanbrings to mind the two sets ofaffiliation leading to a triangu-lar bonding. Politics andBollywood, politics and cricket,and cricket and Bollywood. Fordecades, Prime Ministers havemade it a point to pose with win-ning cricket teams and cricket-ing heroes. But these are aboutwinning international tourna-ments like the World Cup.Seldom does one see politi-cians in IPL events. Last year,around the time of the General

Elections, many actors posedwith major politicians. One ofthe X-factors in popularising IPLwas that popular film stars likeShah Rukh Khan and PreityZinta owned franchises.

Whereas communal-basedpolitics is the order of the day,cricket and Bollywood, at leastsuperficially seen, symbolisecommunal amity. Last year,exactly at a time when commu-nal identities were dominatingelectoral arithmetic, and politi-cians were busy dividing andstereotyping people with a cer-tain kind of facial hair, Indiancricketers had broken downthis identity divide by almost allof them flaunting facial hair.

Such is the privileging ofcricket over other sports. Theone cricketing spectacle thatthe spectators in the subconti-nent look forward to is theIndo-Pak encounter duringwhich rabid nationalism rises tothe fore. IPL, in contrast, is oneof the rarest sports spectacleswhich completely subverts oth-erwise ubiquitous nationalistand parochial discourses. Theone puzzle that social psychol-ogists need to sort out andexplain is how the same peoplecan be so deeply involved in twokinds of spectacles, oneentrenched in rabid nationalistdiscourse and another which isaggressively internationalist.This year, some of these ques-tions will be tested against thebackdrop of the Assembly elec-tions in Bihar.

(The writer is a well-knownscholar; he is the former head

of Dept. Of English, DelhiUniversity and author of books

such as Tenth Rasa and The Will to Argue)

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6��)����� ������AB

�������������� ��Sir — India must prepare toexport agricultural products toaccomplish the two aspirationalgoals set by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi: double theincome of farmers and achievethe aim of a $5 trillion economy,which seem rather far-fetchednow. Indian traders encounterseveral hurdles in exportingagricultural products and weneed the Government’s diligentintervention and support. Indianeeds to chalk out a strategic planand ensure increased percentagefrom 2.2 per cent to 5 per centin global trade before 2025.

Rahul ChouhanUjjain

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Sir — The rapid progression ofCOVID-19 has sent India’s con-firmed cases beyond the sombrefive million mark. It nowaccounts for about one-sixth ofthe total global cases. This alsomeans that one in every 260 peo-ple in India is infected with thevirus. The exponential growth isborne out by the fact that it hastaken just 11 days for the casesto rise from four to five million.

These are official figures; the truefigures could be far higher.

India is among the few coun-tries where there has been noflattening of the curve. It is pro-jected that India will emerge asthe country with the most num-ber of infections in a matter ofweeks. So far, more than 82,000people have died from the virus.

Yet the Government’s reply to“unstarred” questions in the

Parliament has been lacklustre.It further claims it has no data onthe number of deaths of migrantlabourers. It has not clearedGST dues to cash-strapped statesand is being secretive about PMCARES Fund. Derek O’Brien of Trinamool Congress rightlydescribed it as the “PM CARELESS Fund”.

G David MiltonMaruthancode

����������������Sir — Member of Parliament andveteran actor Jaya Bachchan waspraised by many in Bollywoodfor raising her voice againstthose defaming the Hindi filmindustry. Her remarks came aday after BJP’s Lok Sabha MPand Bhojpuri actor Ravi Kishansaid that there was a problem ofdrug addiction in the film indus-

try. Bachchan disagreed withthese claims. She said that thefilm industry had been ridiculedby social media and the CentralGovernment must protect andsupport it. While many withinthe industry praised the actor forspeaking up against the negativ-ity surrounding the industrysince Sushant Singh Rajput’sdeath, fact is they didn’t collec-tively campaign against mindlessvilification or try to restore theircredibility. Had not Bachchanraised her voice, the industrywould have kept silent.

Bhagwan ThadaniMumbai

������������������Sir — The Supreme Court hasstrictly prohibited showing theremaining episodes of SudarshanTV’s Bindas Bol programme as itsobjective was to “vilify Muslims.”The claims made by the channelalso question the credibility ofUPSC examinations. The mediamust be responsible and takeappropriate measures to not pro-mote oligarchy.

M N Alam Saharanpur

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Infants and children — naked, hungry, crying,sleeping in overcrowded trucks, on theshoulders of their tired parents and caretak-

ers. These were some of the heart-breaking pic-tures that emerged as everyday lives were disrupt-ed following the COVID lockdown put in placein March across India. The multiple fault linesof our societal order were more visible than everas migrant workers and their families were seenout on the roads across major cities, while therest of us took to working from home. This wasnot “a long walk to freedom”. It was a walk backhome through a terrain that was as indifferentas it was strange. It was reverse migration, a storyof lost livelihoods and ever-increasing struggles.For some, it was a walk to their deaths.

As we battle the Coronavirus and its variedimpacts on our lives, it is important that we donot lose sight of these fault lines. It has especial-ly hit the families of workers in the unorganisedsector, who do not have adequate social protec-tion, support and additionally find it hard to pro-vide adequate care to their children.

One of the casualties of the lockdown wasthe slew of programmes tackling malnutrition.As per the National Family Health Survey-4(2015-16), 21 per cent children below the age offive in India were undernourished, 91.4 per centof the children aged six to 23 months did notreceive an adequate diet, one in three (38 percent) of children under five years of age wasstunted, one in five (21 per cent) of the childrenwas wasted, 36 per cent were underweight. Thelockdown resulted in a more dire situation wherethe resulting socio-economic impacts, the clos-ing down of anganwadi centres and the resourcecrunch minimised the likelihood of availabilityof food to counter malnutrition.

These intersecting impacts of poverty, gen-der discrimination, caste and class differences,violence, issues of availability and accessibility ofservices to the young child and lack of profes-sionalisation of childcare workers are brought tothe fore in the State of the Young Child in India(SOYC) report, that Mobile Creches, an organ-isation working for early childhood development(ECD), released recently. While the report wasfinalised before the pandemic hit the world, itnevertheless offers important insights into the sta-tus of India’s children under six years of age —who form over 13 per cent of the country’s pop-ulation — in addition to a critical examinationof legislative frameworks designed to addresstheir needs. The report also goes beyond ahomogenising understanding of the child, as itemphasises various disadvantaged categorieswithin this age group and the dire situation theyare in. It calls for specific interventions for eachvulnerable category, otherwise it results in a riskof lifelong consequences of deprivation.

The results emerging from the indexing canbe used to draw out good practices from top per-formers like Kerala and Goa and turning moreattention towards the poor-performing regionsand States like Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Biharand Madhya Pradesh. With recommendationsstemming from exhaustive analysis, it can alsoenable in envisioning a post-pandemic worldwhere the issues of marginalisation and neglectreceive due attention and policy intervention.

The Integrated Child Development Services

scheme (ICDS), the world’s largestprogramme catering to children,requires recalibration for it suffersfrom design and capacity deficits, doesnot adequately address the componentsof care and early education and is stilla long way from reaching the most mar-ginalised in an effective and equitablemanner.

The youngest child is often themost invisible and exceptionally vulner-able. This calls for tapping developmentopportunities in this young age that canset a healthy foundation for life.Investment in ECD not only has thepotential to enhance individual capac-ity and economic growth, it also pro-vides an opening for women empow-erment by recognising the overlappingrights of women and children andbringing in State interventions andincreased budgetary allocations.

The SOYC report recognises thebiological role in care-giving yet ques-tions the gendered stereotypes thatresult in an undue burden on the moth-er. In the unorganised sector especial-ly, women are bogged down by a tripleburden — the responsibility of child-care, work outside the home that most-ly entails unequal access to the market,longer working hours, unhealthy work-ing environment and lesser wages,and the household work as well. Often,young children are seen lying or roam-ing around these unsafe work sites sincethese women are deprived of materni-ty or childcare benefits. This weak sup-port system compromises their abilityto provide quality care to theinfant/child. Therefore, it is importantthat where families are unable to pro-

vide due childcare, compounded bytheir multiple issues, the State steps inas an enabler. As the sole scheme tocater to the needs of children of womenengaged in the informal sector, theGovernment-sponsored NationalCréche Scheme has actually seen areduction in the number of creches,with only 7,930 of them functionalacross the country in 2019, which trans-lates into one creche per 21,000 chil-dren. The scheme needs to be re-imag-ined and strengthened with seriousrevision of the budget, and this can alsobe supplemented by a phased conver-sion of anganwadis into anganwadi-cum-creches.

The pandemic-induced lockdownwitnessed a rare visibility of anganwa-di and ASHA(Accredited Social HealthActivist) workers as they emerged to bethe first line of defence in dealing withthe contagion. However, as the SOYCreport notes, they are otherwise mar-ginalised — not seen as a professionalcadre, treated as part-time workers, paidwell below the minimum wages in mostStates. There is a pressing need for theircritical role in the childcare ecosystemto be recognised, acknowledged, pro-fessionalised and for their remunerationto be in line with their responsibilities.The professionalisation of this servicewill also mean adequate training ofthese workers and can strengthen theEarly Childhood Care and Education(ECCE) component, which remains aweak focus of the ICDS.

All children in the ages of three tosix should have a right to qualityECCE, irrespective of whether they arelocated at anganwadi centres, pre-pri-

mary sections of Government, privateschools or any other pre-school centres.

For the country, prioritising ECDcan translate into fulfilment ofSustainable Development Goals and itsinternational commitment towardschild rights. While data paucity on mul-tiple dimensions of child well-beinghampered the indexing process and amore accurate insight in certain areas,the budgetary analysis through nation-al-level data and allocations to Statesbrings forth issues of inadequate allo-cation, under-utilisation, lack of man-agement capacity to cater to the needsof children.

The per child expenditure in thecountry for 2018-19 was an abysmallylow figure of �1,723. This must beenhanced to �1.25 trillion annually tocover funding gaps and ensure holisticinterventions. This approach has thepotential to bring in returns that wouldexceed budgetary spends on any alter-native welfare programme.

Coronavirus has significantlyaltered the way we thought of our lives,our work and our very support systems.It has taught us lessons, tragic ones atthat.

Yet, it is in this moment that wemust recognise the deprivations, neglectand exclusion that mar equitable accessof various vulnerable groups, includingchildren, to essential services. Let ourchildren, including those at the marginsof territory, identity, services, social andeconomic interventions, find them-selves capable for the future.

(The writer is Executive Director atMobile Creches and an early childhooddevelopment activist)

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Fly ash, a by-product of coal-firedelectricity-generating powerplants, has always been a predom-

inant challenge for the environment, asits unsafe disposal or ineffective recy-cling can pose a direct threat to thequality of the air we breathe. Such is ourdependence on thermal power plantsfor energy that apart from the air pol-lution caused by these behemoths, thefly ash is also compromising otheraspects of our environment.

For instance, the breach of the flyash dyke at the Vindhyachal NTPCSuper Thermal Power Station inSingrauli district of Madhya Pradesh inOctober 2019 led to the seeping of near-ly 35 lakh metric tonnes of fly ash intothe Govind Vallabh Pant Sagar, pop-ularly known as the Rihand water reser-voir. The Essar power plant at Mahan

in the same district, too, saw breachesin its fly ash dykes leading to its seep-age into the environment.

The huge level of water pollutiontriggered by the seepage of fly ash intothe Rihand reservoir raised a red flagand the National Green Tribunal(NGT) imposed an interim penalty of�10 crore on the NTPC and Essar afterreviewing the ground report filed by itscommittee. Additionally, the NGTalso rapped the Lanco-Anpara powerplant to stem the excess ash pond flowinto the reservoir. The fly ash causedsoil pollution, too, due to which agri-cultural land became infertile andstanding crops suffered.

Thanks to the fly ash pollution, thelevels of mercury in the soil, air andwater spiked besides causing healthcomplications for local communities asthe Rihand reservoir is a source ofdrinking water for many. All theseadverse developments took placedespite the existence of statutory noti-fications from the Ministry ofEnvironment, Forests and ClimateChange (MoEFCC) under theEnvironment Protection Act (EPA) thatmandates a 100 per cent utilisation offly ash.

However, the full extent of thedamage caused by the fly ash pondbreach has come to light now thanksto a new report submitted recently bythe joint committee comprising theCentral Pollution Control Board(CPCB) and the Indian Institute ofTechnology (IIT), Roorkee. The reportestimated that the fly ash breach byEssar Power Limited caused damagesworth �7.35 crore while the damageinflicted by the fly ash dyke breach atthe NTPC plant was pegged at awhopping �104 crore. The committeebased its damage estimations on twoparameters: One was the Green House

Gas (GHG) emissions caused by theclean-up operations and two the extentof water pollution due to ash overflow.

The use of diesel during the clean-up operations caused the carbon foot-print to spike, leading to the damageestimation spiking as well. Similarly, thefly ash infusion into the water bodiesled to heavy metals and suspendedsolids leaching into the water. This, too,was translated into cost and added tothe damages.

Thermal power stations are still themainstay of our power sector withrenewable sources of energy beingnowhere near the required potential totake over as primary sources of ourneeds. Moreover, the opening up of thecoal sector for mining to private play-ers, besides nixing of the mandatorycoal-washing requirements, is set toincrease the production of fly ash in thefuture.

Already the ash ponds are over-flowing across the nation due toincreasing output and decreasing util-isation. As a result, the dykes are fre-quently breaking, leading to the ash pol-luting the nearby fields and water bod-ies.

The last 10 years saw the ash ponds

contain a humongous 627 milliontonnes of unused material. This is threetimes the fly ash being generated peryear today, which is 200 million tonnesper annum. The close of 2019 saw anunused fly ash stock quantity of 1,647million tonnes in India, which is eighttimes the annual generation quantity.

This is despite the fact that Indiahas the regulations in place that man-date 100 per cent usage of fly ash andthere is technology available to put thisinto action. Yet we are still far from a“full utilisation status.”

The Government-driven initia-tive to promote the use of fly ash in theconstruction material industry hasnot been a spectacular success as redbricks continue to be sold and used inopen violation of the Government’srules that ban them. Bricks are madeout of top soil which is a precious partof our environment. An inch of top soiltakes 500,000 years to form as it essen-tially involves the breaking down anderosion of rock.

If the Government cannot shut thecountless red brick kilns that can beseen dotting the countryside, it cannotpromote the use of fly ash in the build-ing material industry. The buyer will

have no option but to continue with thetraditional red brick, which is easilyavailable. Once the red brick produc-tion and supply chain is broken, it willnot only save the top soil but also stemthe pollution caused by these kilns asthey use diesel and sugarcane waste asfuel.

Fly ash can be successfully used toproduce bricks in combination withgypsum or lime. The resultant brick isnot only eco-friendly but lighter andstronger. Technologies are availabletoday that use compressed natural gas(CNG), an eco-friendly fuel, to fireautoclaves or huge ovens to manufac-ture fly ash bricks. Each autoclave canmanufacture 22,000 fly ash-lime bricksin an eight-hour span.

So, if the thermal power plants inthe country were mandated with a tar-get to produce a certain quantity ofbricks using the autoclave technology,then the problem of excess fly ashwould disappear. There are ways toensure full utilisation of fly ash; only astrong political will is required toimplement the rules that have been putin place for this.

(The writer is an environmentaljournalist)

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Washington: A former modelhas accused US PresidentDonald Trump of groping andforcibly kissing her in 1997 —the latest allegation madeagainst the Republican incum-bent just weeks before he seeksreelection.

Amy Dorris told Britain’sThe Guardian that Trumpsexually assaulted her in hisVIP suite at the US Open ten-nis tournament in New York— claims he denied via hislawyers.

“He just shoved his tonguedown my throat and I waspushing him off. And thenthat’s when his grip becametighter and his hands werevery gropey and all over mybutt, my breasts, my back,everything,” Ms Dorris said inan interview.

“I was in his grip, and Icouldn’t get out of it,” sheadded.

Trump has faced morethan a dozen allegations ofsexual misconduct, includinga claim by prominentAmerican columnist E. JeanCarroll that he raped her in adepartment store changingroom in the mid-1990s.

But he brushed them asidein his run for the WhiteHouse.

Shortly before the 2016election, a tape recordingemerged from 2005 in whichhe was heard boasting abouthow his fame allowed him to“grab” women by the genitalswhen he wanted.

Trump dismissed this as“locker room banter” but sub-sequently apologised. AFP

Beijing: Outgoing U.S.Ambassador to China TerryBranstad said he will help outRepublicans campaigning inhis native Iowa after returninghome next month.

Branstad also told HongKong’s Phoenix TV that heconsidered the phase one tradedeal between China and theU.S. As the biggest achieve-ment of his three years inChina. Branstad, 73, said hewould be working on behalf ofPresident Donald Trump,Senator Joni Ernst and others,but not in any official role.

“My son is very involved in(Trump’s) campaign, and I willbe a volunteer to help him, tohelp Joni Ernst and otherfriends for the election inIowa. But I will strictly be avolunteer,” Branstad told thestation in a report broadcastThursday.

Ernst, the state’s junior

senator, is locked in a tightrace, with Democrats hopingto capture her seat on the wayto flipping the Senate.

As Iowa’s governor,Branstad was an early Trumpsupporter and has served as histop envoy to China during themost tempestuous period inrelations since diplomatic tieswere established in 1979.

Branstad was governor ofthe major farming state for 22years over two spans, from1983 to 1999 and 2011 to 2017.Early in his first term, he metXi Jinping, now China’s leader,when the then county-levelCommunist Party official vis-ited Iowa on a 1985 trade trip.

The phase one trade dealreached between the U.S. AndChina in January amid theongoing tariff war betweenthe sides represented a trucebut did not address the morefundamental complaints of the

American side.Still, Branstad said he

believed it was ultimately in thebest interests of both sides tofollow-through with it.

“This was a long and difficult process,” Branstadsaid. “They worked long andhard to reach an agreementthat I think is fair and recip-rocal. And it’s going to make adifference for both of ourcountries.”

Branstad will leave at timewhen tensions between thesides are also running highover Taiwan, the South ChinaSea, the coronavirus pandem-ic and allegations of spying andtechnology theft. In July, theU.S. Ordered the closure ofChina’s consulate in Houston,calling it a “center of malignactivity.” China retaliated byordering the shuttering of theU.S. Consulate in the south-western city of Chengdu. AP

Taipei: US Undersecretary ofState Keith Krach arrived inTaiwan on Thursday for thesecond visit by a high-levelAmerican official in twomonths, prompting a sternwarning and threat of possibleretaliation from China.

Beijing considers Taiwanits own and opposes all officialcontacts between other coun-tries and the self-governingisland.

Krach arrived at an airforce base in Taipei, the capi-tal, for a three-day visit.Wearing a face mask, hebumped elbows in greetingswith Taiwanese Deputy ForeignMinister Harry Ho-Jen Tseng.

Krach, the highest-level

State Department official tovisit the island in decades, is tomeet Taiwanese President TsaiIng-wen and other senior offi-cials, the island’s foreign min-istry said.

The visit by Krach, who isundersecretary for economicgrowth, energy and the envi-

ronment, follows a high-profiletrip in August by U.S. HealthSecretary Alex Azar, the high-est-level U.S. Cabinet official tovisit since the U.S. Switched for-mal relations from Taiwan toChina in 1979.

However, the U.S. Hasmaintained unofficial ties with

Taiwan since the official diplo-matic break and is the island’smost important ally andprovider of defense equipment.

Ahead of Krach’s arrival,the U.S. Ambassador to theUnited Nations, Kelly Craft,had lunch Wednesday withTaiwan’s top official in NewYork, a meeting she called his-toric and a further step in theTrump administration’s cam-paign to strengthen relationswith Taiwan.

Craft said her lunch withJames K.J. Lee, director of theTaipei Economic and CulturalOffice in New York, was thefirst meeting between a topTaiwan official and a U.S.Ambassador to the UnitedNations since 1971, when theChina seat at the U.N. Waspassed from Taipei to Beijing.

“I’m looking to do theright thing by my president,and I feel that he has sought to

strengthen and deepen thisbilateral relationship withTaiwan and I want to continuethat on behalf of the adminis-tration,” she told TheAssociated Press.

In Taiwan, Krach is toattend a banquet hosted by Tsaion Friday and hold discussionson the creation of a new eco-nomic and commercial dia-logue, according to Taiwan’s defacto ambassador in the U.S.,Hsiao Bi-khim. He will alsoattend a memorial service forformer President Lee Teng-hui, who led the island’s tran-sition to democracy and diedat age 97 in July.

Krach’s visit and Craft’slunch with Lee are certain toexacerbate mounting tensionsbetween Washington andBeijing over the coronaviruspandemic, trade, technology,Hong Kong and the SouthChina Sea.

China condemned the visiton Thursday and warned itcould retaliate.

At a daily briefing Thursday,Chinese foreign ministryspokesperson Wang Wenbinsaid Krach’s visit violates U.S.Commitments to China and“bolsters the separatist forces ofTaiwan independence andundermines China-U.S.Relations and peace and stabil-ity across the Taiwan Strait,”adding that Beijing had “lodgedsolemn complaints” withWashington over the matter.

“We urge the U.S. To fullyrecognize the high sensitivity ofthe Taiwan issue ... Immediatelystop official exchanges andactions of improving substan-tive relations with Taiwan, andhandle Taiwan-related issuescautiously,” Wang said. “Chinawill make necessary responsesin accordance with the devel-opment of the situation.” AP

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Spain’s Supreme Court ishearing lawyers’ closing

arguments over whether to barCatalonia’s separatist-mindedregional leader from publicoffice.

Catalan regional presidentQuim Torra is attending thefinal hearing of his appeal ofa ruling by a lower court lastyear. That court, in Barcelona,ruled that Torra was unfit tohold public office for 18months for having violatedelectoral law.

Torra had refused toremove a banner reading “FreePolitical Prisoners and Exiles”during an official electioncampaign period, duringwhich public officials are pro-hibited from using publicbuildings to display politicalpropaganda.

Moscow: The nerve agent usedto poison Kremlin critic AlexeiNavalny was detected on anempty water bottle from hishotel room in the Siberian cityof Tomsk, suggesting he waspoisoned there and not at theairport as previously thought,his team said on Thursday.

Navalny fell violently ill ona domestic flight in Russia lastmonth and was subsequentlyairlifted to Berlin for treat-ment. Germany says he waspoisoned by a Novichok nerveagent. Russia says it has seen noevidence he was poisoned.

A video posted onNavalny’s Instagram accountshowed members of his teamsearching the room he had justleft in the Xander Hotel inTomsk on Aug. 20, an hourafter they learned he had fall-en sick in suspicious circum-stances.

“It was decided to gather upeverything that could evenhypothetically be useful andhand it to the doctors inGermany. The fact that thecase would not be investigatedin Russia was quite obvious,” thepost said.

It showed his team bagging

several empty bottles of “HolySpring” mineral water, amongother items, while wearing pro-tective gloves.

“Two weeks later, a Germanlaboratory found traces ofNovichok precisely on the bot-tle of water from the Tomskhotel room,” the post said.

“And then more laborato-ries that took analyses fromAlexei confirmed that that waswhat poisoned Navalny. Nowwe understand: it was donebefore he left his hotel room togo to the airport.”

Russia has carried out pre-investigation checks, but said itneeds to see more medicalanalysis before it can open a for-mal criminal investigation intothe case. AFP

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Berlin: The Austrian govern-ment has spoken up to correctUS President Donald Trump’sclaim that people in its countrylive in “forest cities.”

Trump recently citedAustria and other Europeancountries as models of good for-est management that US stateslike California, which has seendevastating wildfires lately,should learn from.

Calling in to Fox News onTuesday, Trump said that “youlook at countries, Austria, youlook at so many countries. Theylive in the forest, they’re con-sidered forest cities. So many ofthem. And they don’t have fires

like this. And they have moreexplosive trees.”

In an article Thursday forthe London-based Independent,Austria’s agriculture ministersought to set the record straight.

“There have been both seri-ous and humorous conversa-tions on social media about the‘exploding trees’ (Trump) men-tioned, as well as the fact that heclaimed we live within ‘forestcities’ which never catch fire,”Elisabeth Koestinger wrote.

“As Austrians, fortunatelyblessed with a healthy sense ofhumour, we normally take suchclichés about our country in ourstride.” AP

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Poland’s president, AndrzejDuda, has appointed his 25-

year-old daughter, Kinga, to bean unpaid adviser on socialissues.

The president stressed onTwitter late Wednesday that hisdaughter was working as a vol-unteer and “does not receiveany remuneration.”he appoint-ment nonetheless raised someallegations of nepotism by crit-ics of Duda and the rulingright-wing party that backshim, Law and Justice.

Kinga Duda, a lawyer, hasalready been dubbed by presi-

dential critics as “Poland’sIvanka Trump,” a reference toPresident Donald Trump’sdaughter, who plays a key rolein the U.S. Administration.

Kinga Duda has for themost part not played a visiblerole in the presidency of herfather, who won his first five-year term in 2015 and was re-elected in July.

However she seized thenation’s attention with an elec-tion night speech in July inwhich she called for all peoplein society to be respecteddespite their differences. It wasseen as an attempt to soften herfather’s image.

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Kyiv: The main oppositioncandidate in Belarus’ disputedpresidential election saidThursday that activists arecompiling a list of law enforce-ment officers who were alleged-ly involved in violence againstprotesters denouncing theresults of the vote.

Nearly 7,000 people weredetained and hundreds werebrutally beaten by police dur-ing the first several days ofpost-election protests inBelarus that are now in theirsixth week. Opposition sup-porters claim the Aug. 9 votewas rigged to reelect PresidentAlexander Lukashenko to a

sixth term and are demandinghis resignation.

Lukashenko’s main chal-lenger in the election, formerEnglish teacher and politicalnovice SviatlanaTsikhanouskaya, said onThursday that the oppositionwas drawing up a list of indi-vidual officers involved in thepolice crackdown.

“We have been given thenames of those who were beat-ing and torturing people,” shesaid in a statement.

“We are preparing a list ofofficials and law enforcementofficers who have taken part inlawless repressions.” Human

rights groups are working withopposition activists to identifythe officers and officials,Tsikhanouskaya said, addingthat the list will be sharedwith the United States, theEuropean Union and Russia.

Tsikhanouskaya, who leftfor Lithuania in the wake of theelection under pressure fromBelarusian authorities, said theopposition will name the list inhonor of AlexanderTaraikovsky, a protester whodied in Minsk the day after theelection as police dispersedpeaceful demonstrators.

Authorities initially saidan explosive device Taraikovskyintended to throw at policeblew up in his hands andkilled him. AP

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Kyiv: Ukraine on Thursdaystrongly warned thousands ofHasidic Jewish pilgrims whohave been stuck on its border fordays that it won’t allow them intothe country due to coronavirusrestrictions.

Ukrainian authorities saidabout 2,000 people have gath-ered at the border with Belarus,in hope of traveling to theUkrainian city of Uman to visitthe grave of an importantHasidic rabbi who died in 1810,Nachman of Breslov.

Thousands of the ultra-Orthodox Jews visit the city eachSeptember for Rosh Hashana,

the Jewish new year. It’s cele-brated Sept. 18-20 this year, andsome pilgrims had managed toget to Uman before Ukraineclosed its borders in late Augustamid a surge in COVID-19infections. Thousands of otherstraveled via Belarus, which has-n’t barred foreign visitors fromentering. On Thursday, Ukraineofficial Mykhailo Apostol reaf-firmed that the pilgrims will notbe allowed to cross the border.

“Ukraine has shut its bor-ders to foreigners, and no exclu-sions will be made for theHasidic pilgrims,” Apostol toldreporters. AP

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Islamabad: Pakistan PrimeMinister Imran Khan has saidthat his Government will soonintroduce a three-tier legislationproviding for registration of sexoffenders, exemplary punish-ment for rape and child abuseand effective policing.

Khan made the announce-ment while addressing a joint sit-ting of parliament after passageof a number of Financial ActionTask Force-related bills onWednesday. “Such incidentsruin the lives of victims and theirfamilies also have to suffer,” hewas quoted as saying by theDawn newspaper. Khan wasreferring to the gangrape of aFrench-Pakistani woman infront of her three children inLahore on Sept 9 which sparkedwidespread outrage. PTI

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New Delhi: Hindi Day wasorganised by Indian Bank, ZonalZone, South Delhi. On the occa-sion of Hindi Day, Area GeneralManager Vikas Kumar andRakesh Kumar Agarwal, ZonalManager, Zonal Office, Delhi,and Himanshu Kasat, ZonalManager, South Delhi were pre-sented by Home Minister,Government of India andFinance Minister, Governmentof India and Chairman of theBank and addressing all thestaff members from the text ofmessages sent on the occasion ofHindi Day of the ManagingDirector. The bank organisedvarious competitions Yaksha —Hindi poetry recitation, Hindistory writing Hindi songAntakshari, Hindi memoir writ-ing and Hindi Suetch competi-tion to encourage staffs. mem-bers to work in Hindi.

New Delhi: The sharp turn-around in the secondary marketswith the broader market alsoparticipating in the rally, hasenlivened the primary marketsonce again with a slew of initialpublic offerings (IPOs) from adiverse range of companies set tohit the street in the second halfof the 2020 calendar year. Market

analysts tracking the develop-ment said that a host of pro-moters are once again rushing tothe primary market to make themost of the opportunity whererecent IPOs have not only beenoversubscribed by several timesbut it has also brought back retailinvestors into the market whohold the key to maintain the rallyfor IPOs.

So in the pipeline now aremore IPOs like CAMS, UTIAMC, Angel Broking, ChemconSpeciality Chemicals, etc. that arelikely to open in September.Besides, Kalyan Jewellers,NCDEX, Barbeque Nation,Burger King, Bajaj Energy,

Lodha Developers are some ofthe names likely to hit the mar-ket in CY20. Of this CAMS andUTI AMC will be big ticket sizeIPOs.

LIC could also join thebandwagon later this year andcould be one of the largest IPOin the country ever -- going bythe company's size.The govern-ment is looking at offloading 25per cent stake in LIC in tranch-es, as it is falling short of itsdivestment target of Rs 2.1 lakhcrore this fiscal. For this, it is like-ly to incentivise the participationof retail investors/employees/pol-icy holders by providing somediscount. IANS

Mumbai: Advance tax collec-tion fell 25.5 per cent to Rs1,59,057 crore in the secondquarter of the fiscal, an incometax official said on Thursday.

However, there wasimprovement over the firstquarter ended June, whenadvance tax revenue hadplunged 76 per cent to a tepidRs 11,714 crore as the wholeeconomy was under a stringentlockdown.

During the year-ago peri-od to September 15, 2019,total advance tax collectionhad stood at Rs 2,12,889 crore,down from Rs 3,70,652 crore ayear ago.

"Total advance tax collec-tion in the second quarter fellby 25.5 per cent to Rs 1,59,057crore from Rs 2,12,889 crore y-o-y. While corporates paidonly Rs 1,29,619.6 crore inadvance tax, down by 27.3 percent in the reporting quarter,personal income tax collectionstood at Rs 29,437.5 crore,down 15 per cent from Rs34,632.9 crore.

"However, TDS (taxdeducted at source) fared bet-ter at Rs 1,38,605.2 crore, downby 5.6 per cent from Rs1,46,792.4 crore," a seniorincome tax official from theMumbai zone told PTI. PTI

New Delhi: More than 44%mobile network equipment ofstate-run BSNL is sourced fromChinese firm ZTE and 9 per centfrom Huawei, Parliament wasinformed on Thursday. Whilereplying to a question on themarket share of Chinese com-panies ZTE and Huawei in India,Minister of State forCommunications Sanjay Dhotresaid that the government main-tains no data of Chinese telecomgear makers. PTI

Mumbai:The rollout of SAROD-Ports for affordable and timelyresolution of maritime-relateddisputes is a credit positive for thesector even as its success remainsto be seen, ratings agency Icrasaid on Thursday.

Launched on September 10,'SAROD-PORTS' (Society forAffordable Redressal of Disputes– Ports) for dispute resolution inmaritime sector, comprising ofmajor ports, the PPP playersoperating at these ports as wellas non-major ports, the initiativeis targeted towards attractingmore private sector investments,Icra stated. "The launch of'SAROD-Ports' is a step toaddress such disputes through analternative route to ensure fasterresolution and in a cost effectivemanner and should be positivefor the sector," Icra said. PTI

Washington: India has beenranked at the 116th position inthe latest edition of the WorldBank's annual Human CapitalIndex that benchmarks keycomponents of human capitalacross countries.

However, India's scoreincreased to 0.49 from 0.44 in2018, as per the Human CapitalIndex report released by theWorld Bank on Wednesday.

The 2020 Human CapitalIndex update includes healthand education data for 174countries – covering 98 percent of the world's population– up to March 2020, providinga pre-pandemic baseline on the

health and education of chil-dren, with the biggest stridesmade in low-income coun-tries.

The analysis shows thatpre-pandemic, most countrieshad made steady progress inbuilding human capital of chil-dren, with the biggest stridesmade in low-income coun-tries.

Despite this progress, andeven before the effects of thepandemic, a child born in atypical country could expect toachieve just 56 per cent of theirpotential human capital, rela-tive to a benchmark of com-plete education and full health,the Bank said. PTI

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed a pleaby the State Bank of India (SBI) seeking a vacation of the staygranted by Delhi High Court on personal bankruptcy proceed-ings against Anil Ambani, chairman of Reliance Group.

The Supreme Court bench, headed by Justice L. NageswaraRao, directed the Delhi High Court to consider the issue on 6.

The bench, also comprising Justices Hemant Gupta and S.Ravindra Bhat, gave liberty to SBI to seek modification of thestay order passed by the High Court on August 27. The three-judge bench said, "Why don't you go back to high court to arguethe Anil Ambani case?"

On August 27, the High Court's division bench had passedan interim order staying the Mumbai bankruptcy tribunal's order.The bench had said proceedings against corporate debtors willcontinue and issued notice to the central government, SBI andothers. IANS

New Delhi:The country import-ed electronic components worthRs 1.15 lakh crore in 2019-20, outof which, 37 per cent camefrom China, Minister of State forCommunications andElectronics and IT Sanjay Dhotresaid on Thursday.The data wasshared by the minister on theimpact on the electronics sectordue to shutting down of factoriesin China. "As per data availablefrom the Directorate General ofCommercial Intelligence andStatistics (DGCI&S), the totalelectronic component imports inthe country in FY 2019-20 wasRs 1,15,558 crore, out of whichthe import from China was Rs42,983 crore, which amounts toabout 37 per cent," Dhotre saidin a written reply to the Rajya.Sabha. PTI

Mumbai: The rupee depreci-ated by 14 paise to end at 73.66against the US dollar onThursday tracking muteddomestic equities and strongergreenback in the global mar-kets.

Asian currencies weakenedafter the US Federal Reserve'snew forward guidance, analystssaid.

The Federal Reserve afterits two-day policy meeting onWednesday signalled to keepinterest rates near to zero till2023 sighting slower econom-ic recovery. PTI

Mumbai:Divesting majoritystake in state-run lenders by thegovernment will be "credit neg-ative" for such public sectorbanks (PSBs), a domestic ratingsagency warned on Thursday.

Many of the entities wherethe government is mulling sell-ing off majority stake as perreports have a weak credit pro-file, Icra Ratings said, adding amove to reduce the public own-ership will be hurtful.

These six lenders are pri-marily supported by sovereignownership and the ensuing sta-ble deposit base, the agency said. PTI

New Delhi: The Micro Smalland Medium Enterprises(MSME) ministry on Thursdaysaid it has come out with newguidelines for two schemes -pottery and beekeeping activ-ities. It said that for potteryactivity, the government willprovide assistance of potterywheel, clay blunger, and gran-ulator.

"It will also provide wheelpottery training for tradition-al pottery artisans and PressPottery training for pottery aswell as non-pottery artisans inSelf Help Groups," it added.

This is being done toenhance the production, tech-nical knowhow of pottery arti-sans and to develop new prod-ucts at reduced costs; and toenhance the income of potteryartisans through training andmodern / automated equip-ment. PTI

Mumbai: Equity indicessnapped a two-session risingstreak to close with sharp loss-es on Thursday, in lockstepwith global markets whichrecoiled after sobering eco-nomic assessment by the USFederal Reserve.

A weakening rupee andlack of fresh buying triggersfurther weighed on marketmood, traders said.

The 30-share BSE Sensexopened lower and stayed in thenegative zone throughout thesession. It finally finished at38,979.85, down by 323 pointsor 0.82 per cent.

Similarly, the NSE Niftyshed 88.45 points or 0.76 percent to close at 11,516.10.

Bajaj Finserv was the toplaggard in the Sensex pack, slip-ping 2.23 per cent, followed byPowerGrid, L&T, TCS, ICICIBank, Kotak Bank, Tata Steeland Bajaj Finance.

On the other hand, HCLTech, Infosys and Maruti fin-ished with gains of up to 2.36per cent. PTI

New Delhi: Faced with regu-latory heat on its controversialplan, Vodafone Idea Ltd (VIL)has dropped faster data speedclaims, which formed a promi-nent part of its pay-more-for-priority-treatment offering, andhas filed a revised plan withTrai, a source said.

The move assumes signif-icance as the TelecomRegulatory Authority of India(Trai) late last month slappeda showcause notice on VIL overits priority mobile plan, sayingthe tariff offer lacked trans-parency, was "misleading" andnot in compliance with regu-latory framework.

The source told PTI thatthe company has now submit-ted a new RedX plan with Traiand claims of faster data speeds— a major bone of contention

— has been done away with. The company's website is

also no longer touting claims offaster speeds for RedX plan,which had been under Trai'sscanner over the past fewweeks. Instead, VIL's website istalking of benefits purely interms of entertainment privi-leges (Netflix and AmazonPrime), travel privileges, mobil-ity benefits and other privileges. PTI

New Delhi: India's petrol salesrose for the first time in the firsthalf of September since thecountry's lockdown in lateMarch, signalling demand mayhave returned to pre-COVID-19 levels.

Petrol sales betweenSeptember 1 and 15 rose 2.2per cent year-on-year and wereup 7 per cent over the previousmonth, according to prelimi-nary industry data. Diesel salescontinue to be in negative ter-ritory, with demand falling 6per cent year-on-year. But thedemand was 19.3 per centhigher over August 2020.

This is the first time thatpetrol sales in the world's third-largest oil importer have risensince the March 25 nationwidelockdown crippled economicactivity and sent demandplummeting. PTI

Washington:The US JusticeDepartment has charged fiveChinese citizens with hackingover a 100 companies andinstitutions in America andabroad, including the Indiangovernment's networks, andstealing valuable software dataand business intelligence.

Deputy US AttorneyGeneral Jeffrey Rosen onWednesday announced threeindictments have been

unsealed in the matter that col-lectively charge five Chinesenationals with computer hack-ing and charge two Malaysiannationals for helping some ofthose hackers target victimsand sell the fruits of theircrime.The Malaysian nationalswere arrested on Sunday andthe Chinese nationals havebeen declared fugitive, accord-ing to a Justice Departmentstatement. PTI

New Delhi: The number of un-electrified households stood at3,20,422 till August-end thisyear under the SaubhagyaScheme, which is meant forachieving 100 per cent universalelectrification of homes in thecountry, Parliament wasinformed on Thursday.

These un-electrified house-holds are in Chhattisgarh,Assam, Uttar Pradesh andJharkhand. Power Minister R KSingh said in the Lok Sabha,replying to a question, that the

number of un-electrified house-holds identified under theSaubhagya scheme was 3,20,422as on August 31, 2020. Amongthe four states with un-electrifiedhouseholds, Uttar Pradesh topsthe chart with 2,53,785 house-holds followed by Jharkhand at60,925, Chhattisgarh at 3,519 andAssam at 2,193 as on August 31,2020. As per the reply, as manyas 2,62,84,350 families were pro-vided electricity connectionunder the Saubhagya scheme. PTI

New Delhi:Auto companiesshould cut costs by reducing roy-alty payments to their parentcompanies abroad instead ofasking the government to reduceGST, finance ministry sourcessaid on Thursday, responding tocriticism on high taxes in India.

Most globally establishedcompanies in the sector haveflourished in the current taxationand regulatory regime, which isevident from the huge royaltypayouts made by Indian partnersto their foreign parent firms, theyadded. Toyota Motor Corp is notlooking at further expansion inIndia due to the country's high

taxes, the firm's vice chairman ofIndia unit Shekar Viswanathanhad reportedly said in an inter-view earlier this week.

Finance ministry sourcessaid India's tax policy regardingthe automobile sector has beenquite consistent for the last threedecades now in the form ofallowing foreign investment andincentivising domestic manu-facturing. GST rates on auto-mobiles are less than what VATand excise duty rates used to bein the pre-GST times. All of asudden, dissent in some quarterson tax rates on automobiles issurprising, they added.

"In fact, these companiesshould cut down their costs ofmanufacturing by cutting downthe royalty payments to their par-ent companies abroad instead ofasking the government to reduceGST," a source said. Taxes onautomobiles are in the highestbracket across the globe withoutmuch exception, the sourcessaid. Japan currently has threetypes of taxes on automobiles -- once on the purchase, then anannual automobile tax basedon engine size, and finally aweight tax at inspectionsrequired once every two years. PTI

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Indian brand ‘Mithuna’ , singlemalt whiskey has been

adjudged ‘third finest whiskey’ inthe world by “Jim Murray’sWhisky Bible 2021”, making itthe first Indian liquor brand towin this coveted recognition.

Describing ‘Mithuna’ byPaul John Distilleries Pvt Ltd as“a whisky to devour”, whiskyreviewer Jim Murray says: “IfMithuna means “Ultimate,” thenit is the perfect name. Or maybeMithuna means “Perfect,” then itis pretty close. It is that very rarestof things. And, if nothing else,announces Paul John Distilleryon the world stage of truly greatdistilleries.”Set to be releasedworldwide in November 2020,Mithuna by Paul John is the sec-ond expression of the Zodiacseries of Paul John Indian SingleMalt from JDPL.

Neyveli:NLC India Limited cel-ebrated the 70 th Birth Day ofHon’ble Prime MinisterNarendra Modiji, by organizingBlood Donation Camp, MassTree Plantation,and COVID-19Screening Campaign in Neyveli

R . V i k r a m a n ,Director/Human Resources,NLCIL while inaugurating aBlood Donation Camp atJawahar Science College, Neyvelion Thursay (17-09-2020) saidthat the CSR Cell of NLCIL hasorganized Blood DonationCamp in Neyveli .

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Washington: A New Jersey-based staffing company hasagreed to pay USD 345,000 tosettle allegations that it has vio-lated immigration and employ-ment regulations concerningcontinuous employment andwage requirements of workers ithad brought to the US on H-1Bvisas. The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows UScompanies to employ foreignworkers in speciality occupationsthat require theoretical or tech-nical expertise. H-1B visas aremost sought-after among IndianIT professionals.

The US Immigration andCustoms Enforcement's (ICE)Homeland SecurityInvestigations (HSI), theDepartment of Labour and theUS Attorney for the District ofNew Jersey ordered SavantisSolutions to pay USD 345,000 toresolve allegations against H-1Brelated violations.

Savantis, formerly known asVedicsoft Solutions, has a pres-ence in India as well. The com-pany is involved in consulting,technology and staffing, utilisingprimarily foreign nationals in theUS pursuant to H-1B visas. PTI

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New Delhi: Welcoming thepassage of two bills related tothe farm sector in the LokSabha on Thursday, Niti AayogVice Chairman Rajiv Kumarsaid the legislation will empow-er farmers and have a colossal impact” on the futureof agriculture in the country.

The Farmers' ProduceTrade and Commerce(Promotion and Facilitation)Bill and the Farmers(Empowerment andProtection) Agreement onPrice Assurance and FarmServices Bill were passed byvoice vote. PTI

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History is evidence of how epi-demics have had a direct and animmediate impact on airlines,

travel aggregators and agencies. Andundoubtedly, the travel and tourism sec-tor is the first and worst hit due to theCOVID-19 pandemic. These unprece-dented times have forced the tourismboards to re-think radically. Nevertheless,their sight is fixed firmly on the future.Ideas are being floated as to how they willbe able to function under such chaotic sit-uations.

Recently, it was demonstrated thatevents can be held to everyone’s satisfac-tion even under these conditions.Gradually, some progress is being madeto hold some exchange events and eco-nomic activities as the travel restrictionsare being relaxed and participant num-bers are increasing.

Alexandra Kaszay, managing direc-tor, Vienna’s The Hofburg CongressCentre, tells us that meeting one anoth-er and communicating face-to-face willcome again. “The longing for that is huge,that’s the message we’re getting from mostconversations. People will have to adjustto events with fewer guests on site andinstead more participants joining inexternally,” she says.

In line with the safe and gradualresumption of events, the SingaporeTourism Board (STB) is starting toaccept applications for organisers topilot Meetings, Incentives, Conventionsand Exhibitions (MICE) events of up to250 attendees from October 1. There willbe pilot events taking place under thisarrangement such as the SingaporeInternational Energy Week (SIEW)Conference, in October.

The move takes into account theimportance of the MICE sector and itsinterest in the business events, and, inturn, a ray of hope for a fresh beginningof travel. This resumption will helpMICE retain critical capabilities, whilesafeguarding jobs and livelihood in theindustry and other related sectors. It is amajor part of the tourism ecosystem andthat of the economy as a whole, as it sup-ports numerous ancillary businesses,thus, contributing to jobs and growth.

Opening up bidding processes for MICEnow will help build liquidity across thetravel supply chain. It can, hence, spurtourism in India and at large.

Raymond LIM, area director, India &South Asia, STB, says, “Overall, visitorarrivals from India to Singapore have seengood growth in the past few years. Thiscan be attributed to the increased air con-nectivity between Singapore and India.There is a healthy flow of business travelat both sides due to the well-connectedeconomic exchanges. The leisure destina-tion position that Singapore enjoys amongthe Indian consumers are also other rea-sons why it is one of the top MICE sourcemarkets for Singapore, particularly formeeting and incentive travel. This is a keysector with quality visitors providinghigh tourism yield.”

He adds, “The evolved Indian MICEtraveller tends to seek out more uniqueexperiences. In this aspect, we are hometo a diverse range of events and MICEvenues, including unconventional desti-nations, which can provide creativesolutions for event owners. Beyond themeeting room, business travellers anddelegates can enjoy a wide range ofunique and interactive leisure experi-ences.”

Neliswa Nkani, hub head — MEISEA,

South African Tourism, believes thatMICE is soon going to be consumer-cen-tric. She says, “Companies and destina-tions will need to incentivise both corpo-rates and suppliers. We have collaborat-ed with policy-makers, industry leadersand media to educate about travel trade.”

According to organisations like

UNWTO, WTTC and others, MICEevents have wider implications for desti-nations as wherever events go wider,tourism activities follow attracting a lotmore leisure tourists in the ensuingmonths and years. Prashant Chaudhary,Representative of Russian Union of TravelIndustry in India believes that Russian

Tourism will emerge stronger from theCOVID-crisis and these events will leadthe way. “It has already begun,” says he.

It is noteworthy that the countryrecently hosted one of the leisure showsODYKH in its original physical format inMoscow. Prashant shares, “The MICE sec-tor of tourism is being opened. It impact-ed the larger domestic, inbound and out-bound of the tourism markets. Russiancharter flights are already seeking permis-sions and landing slots to Goa, probablythe most popular destination for Russiansin India.”

Arzan Khambatta, head, MacaoGovernment Tourism Office (MGTO)India, tells us that the convention andexhibition industry has been one of thefastest-growing emerging sectors in therecent years. “Rich cultural backgroundand tourism resources help us meet theneeds of different events,” he says.

Well, given the current situation,COVID-19 has definitely impacted theindustry in many ways. But the tourismboards are hopeful that MICE will beamong the early segments to rebound andspur tourism globally. In the comingmonths, they plan to work extensivelywith MICE agents and corporates in Indiato facilitate arrivals once travel restrictionsare lifted completely.

There is a myth out there, actually a par-tial fallacy, that it was the Beetle that cre-

ated the colossus of German manufacturing,the Volkswagen Group. Yes, the Beetle laidthe foundations for the post-World War IIcreation of the German carmaker. Some ofus know the story really well, that it wasBritish Army engineering corps officerIvan Hirst, who realised that the British inva-sion force needed vehicles to move about.He also felt the need to employ the local pop-ulation. After seeing the production die andtooling at Wolfsburg, he put together a pro-duction for the car we know, and some love,as the Beetle. Millions were produced inpost-War Germany. In the 60s, along withthe Volkswagen Van, the Beetle became asymbol of counterculture in the UnitedStates. Now, Germany and even the UnitedStates moved on from the Beetle by the 70sbut the car remained a best-seller in Mexicothrough the 90s. Over 21 million were pro-duced giving birth to a popular quiz ques-tion of the Beetle being the most sold car inthe world.

First, we need to correct that fallacy. Ifa single brand is considered, it is the ToyotaCorolla with over 44 million sold that is themost sold single car brand of all time.Second, a lot of the Beetle’s spectacular num-bers were thanks to its popularity in Braziland Mexico. It was not the Beetle that cre-ated the Volkswagen hegemony that weknow and we love today, the corporate over-lords of Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Ducati,Lamborghini, MAN, Porsche, SEAT, Scaniaand Skoda. But the car that gave it the finan-cial wherewithal to create such an empirewas the Golf. And it is the Golf, whichthrough its eight generations, the latest beinglaunched last year, that is the biggest sellingVolkswagen of all time with 35 million solduntil last year.

The Golf is the car that formed the basisof so many other Volkswagen cars as the car-maker moved to its platform architecture.Even the new MQB architecture that theGroup bases its small and mid-sized cars onwas essentially designed for the Golf. ManyVolkswagen fans I know in India have always

been disappointed that Volkswagen Indianever brought the Golf into the country. Yes,there was the Jetta, the sedan based on theGolf, a few variants of the new Beetle thatwas the Golf in a dress as well as other mod-els based on the Golf from Audi andSkoda. But the Golf itself as well as the leg-endary Golf GTI hot hatchback nevermade it to India even as an import.

But now we have the Volkswagen T-Roc,a twenty lakh crossover-y car from theGerman carmaker. Frankly, the T-Roc is thepurest expression of the Golf to have evercome to India. While it is nicely kitted out,with twin-tone upholstery and a virtualcockpit display, if you have been in a Golfin the recent past, you know you are some-where familiar. When you would see thesticker price of the T-Roc, you wouldunderstand why Volkswagen never broughtthe Golf to India. With an ex-showroomprice just under twenty lakh, it is very dif-ficult to make a use-case for this car, no mat-ter how nice it is to drive. While I shouldwrite another column on Volkswagen India’sdramatic shift away from Diesels — they sayit is to do with the government policy.Although I believe it is more of a perceptionthing since Dieselgate became equated withVolkswagen, the 150PS 1.5TSI petrol engineon the T-Roc is quite smooth particularlymated to the seven-speed DSG gearbox onthe car.

Frankly, if you do not need the extrarear space afforded by the likes of the Cretaand Seltos, say if you are single or a youngcouple, the T-Roc has more than enoughboot space to carry the luggage for a week-long getaway and drives way nicer than thecompetition. The interior feel with itsusage of light and dark tones is bright andthe cabin genuinely feels cheerful. If it is theGolf you have been waiting for, this is asclose to one you will get in India for now.I believe the T-Roc will have limited salesbut serves a statement. If the forthcomingTaigun in 2021 is built and drives as well asthe T-Roc, I will finally believe that theSkoda-Volkswagen group will have a win-ner on their hands.

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In a chat with Kia Motor’s chiefdesigner Karim Habib at the Auto

Expo, he spoke about the Kia Sonetwhose concept had just been unveiledat the show. While the Sonet retainedthe brand's signature and smart ‘TigerNose’ grille design, Habib indicated thatit had been inspired by a baby elephantfor the Sonet’s design. After spending aday with the new car from the Koreancarmaker, let me assure you of twothings. One, it is an elephant because itis going to trample the competition.Two, it certainly doesn’t handle like anelephant on the roads.

Why? Because it is saying a lot whenyou compare a car, whose highest specvariants would cost around 12 lakhrupees to a luxury car that costs fourtimes as much. But in terms of trim andcabin refinement, particularly on theGT-line cars, the Sonet is unbelievablygood. You really have to start nitpick-ing to find a flaw in the cabin of theSonet. You could argue that it is a bitbusy and that the plastic on the bezel ofthe screen is a bit shiny, but overall interms of how nice the Sonet feelsinside, it really blows the competitionaway. Possibly the Hyundai Venue, theSonet’s mechanical brother from anoth-er mother can face up to it because theengine and gearboxes are the same. ButI prefer the Sonet’s cabin. Over here,there is a case to be made that the vehi-cle that is launched later has superiorinteriors, I feel the Creta is better thanthe Seltos for example. But as far as sub-compact SUV-design cars go, the Sonetleads the pack.

Some say that I can prattle on aboutplastics, the metal feel, the quality of theinfotainment system and the seats morethan I do about the extreme speeds andhandling characteristics of cars. But theSonet will for 99 per cent of owners bea daily commuter. While you mightwant your daily commuter to be able togo very fast and stick to a corner likeindustrial glue, most importantly, youwant it to be comfortable. After spend-ing four hours driving around Delhi andGurugram, the Sonet’s cabin is one thatI really would not mind being stuck in.Given its sub-four meter length, it isn’tthe most spacious car but has morespace than most competitors.

Another aspect of this car where itliterally beats the competition is in itschoice of kit, starting with a hugehigh-quality 26-centimetre widescreen.With Apple Play enabled, you can usethe split screen mode to get other bitsof information. On Android Auto,there is an option to use the entirescreen. You do not get such screens incars that cost 50 lakh and you do not geta branded sound system as well unlessyou are paying 60-70 lakh. The GTX+

specification of the Sonet doesn’t justhave wireless charger, ventilated seatsand a panoramic sunroof but also aBOSE sound system. Then there is anair purifier that Kia claims has a virusshield. You sit inside and you really getamazed at just the level of kit you get onthe Sonet. Maybe the top-spec cars willcost a lot, but even if they touch 15 lakh,it is impossible to argue that they are notgood value.

But how is it to drive? Quite niceactually! I drove the 1-litre 120PS tur-bocharged petrol with the intelligentmanual transmission and well, mythoughts on the IMT aside, I’m still notquite used to the concept of a clutchlessmanual. The engine did its job well andonce you do figure out the IMT, yourealise that the ability to control thetorque makes a difference to an AMTgearbox car. This turbo petrol engineputs the Sonet (and venue) at the top ofthe performance charts for sub 4-metrecars, and it comes with the IMT as wellas a seven-speed Dual-Clutch automat-ic. The Sonet also comes with a natu-rally aspirated 83PS 1.2 petrol engineavailable with a five-speed manualtransmission as well as a 1.5 CRDi dieselin two power levels, 100PS for the six-speed manual and 115PS for the six-speed automatic. I also got to drive thediesel automatic, but let us get to thatlater.

The 120PS turbo engine is plentyfast and once you get the hang of it, thatis how to ride the turbocharger. It canbe extremely great fun to drive since itis a small and relatively light car. Also,

yes, it does feel slightly floaty around thecorners at speed. Genuinely, I can’t waitfor the turbo engines in something likea Hyundai i20, but it is fun on the Sonet.Coming back to the IMT, once you startgetting the hang of the car, you can havesome fun if you know nice emptystretches of tarmac, but it will still takeme some time to really get to grips withthe fact that while my left hand is work-ing my left foot isn’t. The diesel auto-matic with the 115PS engine also feelsnice to drive, and the larger engine blockin the front does give the front slightlymore bite. While you can have fun andgo fast, the Sonet is not a racer but it isa great, comfortable ride.

Toyota made some noises about notexpanding in the Indian market earlierthis week. While the Innova and Fortunerhave done very well in the Indian mar-ket thanks to their bulletproof reliabili-ty and superb resale value, the world’slargest carmaker has failed to crack themeat of the market. The Etios Liva wasa cop-out and while the Etios sedan wasa good reliable car and became very pop-ular with taxi drivers, it got caught outby the four-metre rule. To blame hightaxes when your product strategy failedis not exactly fair because you see theHyundai-Kia group. Both carmakers, nei-ther of them ‘well-known’ in India whenthey came, have cracked the market.Toyota executives in India can buy a KiaSonet and see for themselves where theywent wrong in India. The 6,500 plusorders it got on the first day, well thoseguys bet on a winner before they knewjust how good it would be.

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Disinfect most-touched spots, stayaware on how to protect yourselvesand others around, follow physical

distancing, wash hands and sanitise fre-quently, wear masks, step out only whennecessary — these are some of the normswhich became mandatory in 2020.However, no matter how much precautionswe take at our end, there are certain exter-nal contacts which can’t be avoided. Forexample, packaged food products, given thefact that footfalls at restaurants have seena sharp dip and online deliveries arebecoming the new and more convenientdine-out. And when the mainstream sell-ing channel went down, delivery didbecome the only option for food outlets towork on their businesses. And to survivein this competitive market, packaging is onething food industry has been focussingupon with more creative ideas to build thetrust of consumer.

And undeniably, the world of packag-ing has seen a prominent change. Followingthe best of safety measures, packaging foodproperly has become the most importantsegment in the food industry. However, thefear still lingers that the Coronaviruscould reach our homes through homedeliveries.

Well, a lack of complete awareness canbe an issue here. Recently, a delivery boytested positive in Delhi, who had deliveredfood packages to around 70 households.However, the families did not report anycases. It proved how the virus cannot betransferred through food unless one comesdirectly in contact with an infected person.As the World Health Organisation (WHO),it is highly unlikely that the virus can betransmitted through food.

Lack of this knowledge has impactedseveral businesses, making it tougher forthe industry to survive. While this certain-ly came as big relief for the industry but itneeded to reassure customers of the same.And hence, the process of packaging hasbecome very important. The factors thatare given utmost importance are:

��������% ���Food handlers’ personal hygiene is crit-

ical to keep food safe for which hygienemeasures like washing hands with soap oralcohol-based sanitisers, monitoring ofbody temperatures are being regularised.Workers are equipped with masks andgloves. Sanitisation norms are beingstressed upon in kitchens and grocerystores strictly. It’s made sure that cookedfood is not touched by bare hands. Rightusage and discarding of PPE is being imple-mented strictly to ensure the safety of foodpackages. After the food is put into the con-tainer, all risks of attracting the virus areeliminated. The packet is sanitised and thenput in the carry bag, which is also sanitised.

The cooked food and groceries arepacked in an extra outer bag apart from theprimary carry bag, which contains theitems to add another layer of protection asand when they are dispatched. The deliv-ery personnel’s temperature is being mon-itored regularly as a key measure.Downloading Arogya Setu app and mark-ing the personnel green is helping keep a

better track.The order payment is now preferably

not collected via cash on delivery but isonline or prepaid. As the delivery person-nel reaches a customer’s home, it is man-

dated that there will be no close contact.Many food delivery apps have also enabledan option for people to choose if they wanttheir package to be left at their doorstep toavoid any contact with the delivery boy. If

they don’t choose it, he will have to main-tain a healthy seven meter distance. Thecustomers are also given instructions onhow to open a package.

This is a very important piece of infor-

mation as it means building consumer faithto accept packaging without any doubts orfear. The customers are informed that theirpackage has reached their doorstep and areadvised to use disposable gloves whilereceiving it. The outer packaging to be dis-carded right outside. The customer shouldwear the gloves rightly and discard themafter taking the cooked food out of theinner packaging and then sanitise hands toavoid any cross-contamination. It is impor-tant to reheat the food, which results incomplete elimination of the risk to attractthe virus.

Through these steps, customers arebeing educated. Any packaging would failif these simple measures were not adopt-ed to build customer trust back.

This is how restaurants and grocerystore brands are now changing their posi-tioning and getting more aligned towardssafer food packaging and delivery. Socialmedia has become the main channel of thiscommunication. Perception and misinfor-mation is changing the consumer behav-iour but soon elimination of the virus trans-mission fear from packaging will bring arevolution in packaging and a much-needed positive change in the industry.

���#��������The focus is also on the nice, good-

looking appearance of the packaging so thatit provides a positive feel to the customer.

�����������!���For restaurants, the material used to

prepare food that can retain a dish’s tasteand texture is equally important. A cus-tomer that’s used to experience food at adine-in now has to be given closest expe-rience on delivery. A good and safe pack-aging will all lose their marks if the fooddoesn’t taste well.

���������%����#� � One-time use and Coronavirus-resis-

tant packaging have become the newessentials. While over the last few years,eco-friendly has been the focus in packag-ing but today, the one-time use packagingis contradicting this concept of sustainabil-ity. So keeping this in mind, new eco-friendly, bamboo paper, non-toxic packag-ing containers are being worked upon.Customers are becoming more aware thanbefore about anything that impacts immu-nity or raises health and environmentalconcerns.

For instance, Maharashtra has alreadybanned packaging, which wasn’t eco-friendly. The new packaging material con-tain 51 microns, the ideal quantity. For safe-ty, glass jars for condiments are also help-ful as they’re eco-friendly, washable and canbe brought to use in homes again. Andremember, mitti-handis (mud containers)?

Thus, while the packaging industry hasbeen evolving, material related to packag-ing are also finding a new face. Even a fewhealthcare companies are coming up withsanitisers specifically to be sprayed on deliv-ery packages to ensure the disinfection ofthe packaged material. Well, one could say,packaging is only getting better!

(The author is co-founder, Daryaganj.)

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Royal Challengers Bangalore skip-per Virat Kohli on Thursday said

his teammates have become “accep-tive” of living in the IPL bio-bubbleand there is no “desperation” for achange of environment as theyapproach the tournament properfrom September 19.

RCB landed in Dubai on August21 and have been training for morethan two weeks, including someintra-squad practice games.

“To be honest we have becomemore acceptive of the situationaround us. Acceptance is the biggestchange I have experienced (since day1 here),” said Kohli in a virtual mediaconference organised to honourcitizens who have become “COVIDHeroes” amid the pandemic.

“When we spoke of the bio-bub-

ble for the first time, we discussedabout appreciating the things wehave and the situation. All of ushave become very relaxed inthat environment.

It will be the first time thatIPL matches will be held in theabsence of a packed crowd butKohli said it is the need of thehour.

“All of us havethought about it(initially) and itwould be astrange feelingand I won’tdeny that. Butthe feeling haschanged little bit afterthe training sessionsand practices games,”he said.

“At the end of the day

you just need to understand why youstarted playing the game, you start-ed playing for the love of it. Crowds

are main part of the game but thatis not what you play for.

“I can only say one thing thatour intensity levels will notdrop, I can assure you. There isa larger reason why all this is hap-

pening.”Kohli was joined by

teammates ParthivPatel and the young

Devdutt Paddikal inthe interaction.

“It has sunkin (staying in bio-bubble). We did

not put saliva on theball during practice

games and are takingcare of ourself. It is veryimportant to be safe,”

said Patel.“Honestly, it is my third year

with the team, I have never seen thiskind of environment before in mycareer. Everyone is smiling andthat is what is important,” he added.

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Glenn Maxwell and AlexCarey struck centuries ina 212-run stand to help

Australia reach a record targetof 303 at Old Trafford with twoballs remaining and secure aODI series win over England.

Mitchell Starc started thethird and deciding game onWednesday by taking wicketsfrom the first two balls of thematch, and ended it by sweep-ing a four for the winning runsunder lights as the Australiansconsigned England to its firstloss in a bilateral ODI series athome since 2015.

It was a record ODI chaseat the Manchester venue — bet-tering England’s 286-4 againstNew Zealand in 1986 in a 60-over match — and gaveAustralia a famous series winover the world champions totake back Down Under fromtheir white-ball tour that alsoincluded a 2-1 loss in a T20series.

Replying to 302-7, Australiaslumped to 73-5 only for Careyand Maxwell to produceAustralia’s highest sixth-wicketpartnership in ODIs and turnthe tide. While Carey was thesteadier of the pair with his 106off 114 balls, Maxwell deliveredsome trademark big hits — hehad seven sixes, all over theshort boundary on one side ofthe ground — for his 90-ball108.

“Maxy is in the team to doa specific role, and that’s to beable to take the game away fromopposition but also be that guyto counterattack and swingmomentum in changingrooms,” Australia captain AaronFinch said.

“What makes him so dam-aging is he can play all aroundthe ground. I don’t think there’remany bowlers in the world thatcan trouble him when he is hav-ing one of those days. The wayhe navigated that innings andtook it deeper and deeper ... He

did that perfectly.”Maxwell eventually fell with

15 balls left and Australia need-ed 14 off the last two overs.Carey couldn’t see the touristshome, either, departing for 106to a fabulous diving catch byMark Wood off the seventh-to-last ball.

“It probably wasn’t the idealsituation when I came in butbeing the last batter, I supposeI had a bit of license to go for itright from the start,” Maxwelltold Sky Sports.

“We thought if we couldtake it as deep as we could,myself and Alex, we might be achance at the back end.”

Starc entered, with Australianeeding 10 off the last overbowled by legspinner AdilRashid, and smashed his firstball down the ground for six.After two singles, Starc sweptRashid round the corner andthe ball sped to the boundaryrope, sealing a three-wicket winand sparking cheers from histeammates on the balcony.

England captain EoinMorgan said Australia were“too good for us”, adding: “To

lose two wickets for no runs andthen post over 300 is a huge pos-itive for us. I think JonnyBairstow was outstanding today.Carey and Maxwell played out-standingly well.”

Playing without Steve Smithfor the third straight game thisseries after the star batsmanfailed to recover from a knockto the head, the Aussies lookedin big trouble after MarnusLabuschagne’s sloppy run-outleft them five down, with justbowlers to follow Maxwell.

England will regret a no-ballby Archer — his first in ODIcricket — off which he hadCarey caught at third man whenon 9. Wicketkeeper Jos Buttler

also dropped a tough chance offa nick by Maxwell when 44.

“Small opportunities that wemight have taken advantage ofmight have changed the game,”Morgan said, “but when you’vebeen beaten by a better side, youhave to put your hand up.”

It was England’s only seriesloss of its international summer— during which all of its gameshave been played in a bio-secure bubble without fans —after taking on the West Indies,Ireland, Pakistan and Australiain various formats.Brief scores: England 302/7(Jonny Bairstow 112, SamBillings 57; Adam Zampa 3/51)lose to Australia 305/7 (Glenn

Maxwell 108, Alex Carey 106;Chris Woakes 2/46) by threewickets.

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Julian Draxler’s header deep into stoppagetime gave Paris Saint-Germain a 1-0 home

win against Metz and spared the defendingchampion a fourth straight match withoutscoring.

After losing the Champions League final1-0 to Bayern Munich last month, PSGopened its league campaign with a 1-0 defeatat Lens followed by a 1-0 loss at home toMarseille on Sunday in which three PSGplayers were sent off.

PSG finished this game with nine menafter center half Abdou Diallo was red card-ed for a second yellow midway through thesecond half and left back Juan Bernat limpedoff injured near the end.

After missing a host of chances, anoth-er embarrassing setback looked likely forPSG until Metz goalkeeper AlexandreOukidja failed to properly clear Angel DiMaria’s cross from the left.

The opportunist Draxler headed homein the 93rd minute to save coach ThomasTuchel from more pressure.

“We had chances to score in the first

half, but we missed all of our good chances,”Tuchel said.

Key midfielder Marco Verratti wassidelined with a minor injury, while strik-er Kylian Mbappé was also absent as he con-tinues his recovery from the coronavirus.Mbappé could return for Sunday’s difficultmatch away to coach Patrick Vieira’s Nice.

PSG was also missing Neymar, left backLayvin Kurzawa and midfielder LeandroParedes against Metz. They were suspend-ed after being sent off following a stoppage-time brawl against Marseille. Neymar claimshe was racially abused during the game byMarseille defender Álvaro González.

But the league’s disciplinary commissionsaid on Wednesday night that so far thereis not enough evidence to summon the play-ers for a hearing.

The disciplinary commission suspend-ed Kurzawa for six games, while Neymar andParedes each got a three-game ban plus onegame suspended.

New Delhi: The Indian PremierLeague franchises will be heav-ing a sigh of relief as all the 21Australian and English playersarriving to the UAE from theUnited Kingdom will have toundergo just 36 hours of quar-antine instead of the earlierprescribed six days.

All the franchises whichhave English and Australianplayers arriving after the whiteball series in the UK hadappealed for reducing the quar-antine period and the BCCIunder Sourav Ganguly’s leader-ship has been able to successful-ly sort the issue out with localauthorities in the UAE.

“Yes, I can confirm that allthe English and Australian play-ers have to now undergo 36-hour quarantine instead of sixdays. The matter has been sort-ed and most of the teams willnow have their big stars availablefrom the first game itself,” asenior IPL functionary privy todevelopment told PTI.

The likes of Steve Smith,David Warner, Jofra Archer, JosButtler will arrive in the UAE lateon Thursday night (UAE time)and on arrival will undergo RT-PCR test for Covid-19.

“The BCCI did a great jobin reducing the quarantine peri-od to 36 hours. This meansteams like Chennai Super Kings(Josh Hazlewood and TomCurran), Rajasthan Royals(Smith, Buttler, Archer) willhave all their players availablefrom their first game. Ditto forKings XI Punjab that has GlennMaxwell in its roster and DelhiCapitals that has Alex Carry,” afranchise official said. PTI

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Mumbai Indians captainRohit Sharma on

Thursday conceded that“incomparable” Sri Lankan pacelegend Lasith Malinga, who hasopted out of this year’s IPL, willbe severely missed by hisdefending champion team givenhis “unbelievable” past perfor-mances.

The 37-year-old Malinga,who is IPL’s highest wicket-taker with 170 scalps to his cred-it, has pulled out citing person-al reasons in a major blow to thefour-time champions.

“I don’t think it is easy tocome and fill his boots. He hasbeen a match-winner forMumbai. I have said it manytimes, whenever we sort of findourselves in trouble, Malingawas the one to bail us out fromthat,” Rohit said in a pre-seasononline press conference.

“His experience will bemissed, what he did with MI isunbelievable and it is unfortu-nate that he is not a part of theteam this year.

“We have got likes —(James) Pattinson, DhawalKulkarni, Mohsin (Khan) andthese are the names that we arelooking to replace Malinga with.But obviously what Malingadid for Mumbai, it is not justcomparable,” he added.

Talking about his own role,Rohit said he will continue toopen.

“I opened the entire tourna-ment last year and I will contin-ue to do that. Again I keep all theoptions open, whatever the teamwants, happy to do that.

“Even when I play for India,message from my side to themanagement has always beenthe same ‘do not close anydoors’ keep all the options openand I will do the same here aswell,” he said.

India’s white-ball vice-cap-tain also felt that correct read-ing of conditions would be cru-cial to his team’s fortunes.

“The challenge for us will be

to adapt to these conditions herewhich probably none of us areused to, because not a lot ofcricketers from our group have

played here,” Rohit said.“I think mentally it is about

going out there and understand-ing what the pitch is doing, andbased on that, you need to planyour game — whether it is yourbatting or bowling. So we havehad a good chat around thegroup about that,” he elaborated.

Talking about the openingmatch against the ChennaiSuper Kings, he said Mumbai isready for the challenge.

“CSK are probably one ofthe successful IPL teams and youcan’t take them forgranted...They will come out allguns blazing. None of us haveplayed cricket for months now,so obviously everybody wants tostart on a high.

“So, we will be expecting agreat contest between the twoand we need to focus on what weneed to do as team and all ourbases are covered,” Rohit signedoff.

Abu Dhabi: Monitoring come-back man Hardik Pandya’sworkload is paramount forMumbai Indians coach MahelaJayawardene as he intends togroom a “few more finishers”for the upcoming edition of IPL.

Hardik will play his firstgame in a year on Saturday hav-ing undergone back surgery forstress fracture last year.

“Hardik is coming backfrom an injury. So we willhave to be mindful of thatbut he is looking very goodin the nets. Both the play-ers (Pandya broth-ers) have beenfantastic for MIover the lastthree or fouryears. It bringsa lot of energyto the group,”Jayawardenesaid during

MI’s virtual media conference.The Sri Lankan legend was

asked whether Hardik will againbe assigned the finisher’s job.

“We have used him(Hardik) in different roles in thepast and we will look into that.We will have quite a number ofother players who can fix into

that role as well, so whenev-er the opportunity isthere we ask anyone tofinish the game off,” saidthe former Sri Lankacaptain.

“It doesn’t just fall onHardik but it is one of

his responsibili-ties, so we wantto try and chal-lenge players indifferent ways inthis camp, so wewill continue todo that,” he said.

PTI

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Lionel Messi scored his first goals ofBarcelona’s preseason as coach Ronald

Koeman left Luis Suárez and ArturoVidal off his team for a second friendlymatch.

Messi netted two goals and set upone more in a 3-1 victory over sec-ond-tier Girona, Barcelona’s secondtraining match since Koeman tookover as coach.

The goals were alsoMessi’s first since his failedattempt to leave the clubthis offseason.

Barcelona posted aphoto on Twitter ofMessi and Koemanclasping hands whenthe star forward wassubstituted along withmost of his teammateswith half an hour to go. It

seemed meant to deliver a message ofunity between the player and manageramid one of the most tumultuous peri-ods in the club’s recent history.

Girona offered little resistance toBarcelona’s attack, formed by new sign-

ing Francisco Trincão, PhilippeCoutinho, Antoine Griezmann andMessi.

Messi’s perfectly placed passsent Trincão clear for the Portugalforward to square the ball to

Coutinho, who only had toscoop in the 20th-minuteopener. Messi doubled thelead in the 45th with a shotfrom outside the area thatwent in off the upright.

Samuel Saiz got Gironaon the scoreboard after half-time before Messi got his

brace with a shot that took adeflection off a defender to foolthe Girona goalkeeper.

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Kolkata Knight Riders left-handed batsman Nitish

Rana is excited to play alongsideEoin Morgan and hopes that hewill imbibe some of reigningWorld Cup-winning skipper’sleadership qualities.

The England limited-oversskipper was bought at the auc-tion for �5.25 crore as he’s setto reunite with the fran-chise after his stint from2011-2013.

The 34-year-old willbe joining the side afterleading England totheir maidenWorld Cup gloryin 2019 and Rana,who led Delhi atdomestic level, is excited.

“I hope I also havethat sort of leadershipquality so that it helps inmy domestic team andI grow as a player,”Rana said in a mediainteraction.

“He is one suchrare left-handed bats-man who dominateswhite ball cricket.He’s a World Cup-winning captain of asuccessful country. I’mlooking forward tolearning many thingsfrom him.”

On the slow pitches inthe UAE, a pace-heavyKKR line-up will have

limited spin resources in SunilNarine and Kuldeep Yadav.

Rana, who bowls part-timeoffspin, is also looking for-ward to get some more oversunder his belt this time.

“Bowling is not a new thingto me. I’ve been bowling indomestic cricket. It’s good thatspinners will get an advantagehere so that I also will get somegrip. I’ve improved as a playerand a bowler. Hope I get moreovers and help the team.”

The left-hander said hedoes not have a fixed battingslot and is ready to serve the

team at any position.“I will bat as per

team demand. Idon’t have a fixedbatting slot. I’mavailable to servethe team at anyspot.”

Having servedlong injury lay-offsrespectively, the 2018

U-19 World Cup win-ning duo of KamleshNagarkoti and ShivamMavi are back in fullthrottle, Rana said.

“Nagarkoti wasunfortunate to be injuredfor two years. He’s backstrong. But this time, bothof them are back in fullrhythm and clocking140kph-plus consistently.

It will be challenging forany batsman. I hope they

will do well,” he added.

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Cricket Australia on Thursdayrevealed that Steve Smith is fol-

lowing “concussion protocols” whichare crucial for his return to cricketin the IPL and asserted that it is “notwilling” to compromise with the fit-ness of the Rajasthan Royals skipper.

CA said it is working in tandemwith RR to ensure his smoothreturn to competitive action aftermissing the entire England ODI

series due to the concussion sufferedduring training.

“Cricket Australia has strictprotocols when it comes to headimpacts and concussions and, aswe’ve seen over the last 12 months,we’re not willing to compromise onthose,” CA’s head of sports scienceAlex Kountouris said in a statement.

“Steve is making progress andworking with our medical teamthrough the concussion protocolsrequired to return to play,” he added.

Smith was hit on the head during anet session prior to the first ODI inManchester and since then recov-ered well but not enough to play acompetitive cricket.

Kountouris said the franchiseand CA will be working together tomonitor Smith’s fitness upon hisarrival in the UAE.

Smith had also endured a con-cussion during last year’s Ashesgame at the Lord’s and subsequent-ly missed a Test match.

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?='�%�"��,&%��$�&,� ,!'@Manchester: Australia’s GlennMaxwell said “we had nothingto lose” after his century helpedseal a dramatic ODI series winover world champions Englandon Wednesday.

Asked what he was feelingas he walked out to bat,

Maxwell said: “I was probablyfeeling we had nothing much tolose. I suppose coming in at70/5, it is probably hit or bustat that stage.

“If you lose another wick-et in the next five or 10 overs itis pretty hard to expect the

bowlers to do the job at theback. Having trust in my owntechnique and in my partner atthe other end, myself and Alexhave had some good partner-ships over the last few of yearsand I really enjoyed batting withhim at the other end.” AFP

<���� ��6B���7-�� ��-�������������&������������"��������������������������������New Delhi: Royal ChallengersBangalore players will sport thejerseys with the “My COVIDHeroes” written on them allthrough the IPL to pay tribute toall those on the frontline in the bat-tle against the pandemic.

The slogan honouring the“COVID Heroes” will be printedon the back of the playing as wellas the training jerseys, the teamannounced on Thursday. PNS

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