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In an unprecedented assaulton democracy in the US,thousands of
supporters ofoutgoing President DonaldTrump stormed the
Capitolbuilding here and clashed withpolice, resulting in four
deathsand interrupting a constitu-tional process by Congress
toaffirm the victory of President-elect Joe Biden and
VicePresident-elect Kamala Harrisin the election.
The Electoral College votesof Biden and Harris were final-ly
approved early on Thursdayafter both the Senate and theHouse of
Representativesrejected all objections raised bythe Republicans to
the votes inthe States of Pennsylvania andArizona.
In the presidential electionheld on November 3, Bidenand Harris
received 306 elec-toral votes, while PresidentTrump and Vice
PresidentMike Pence got 232. The count-ing of Vermont’s three
electoralvotes put Biden and Harris overthe 270-threshold needed
towin the presidency.
In a statement released justafter the certification
wasfinalised, Trump at long lastacknowledged his election loss.He
said that even though hedisagrees with the outcome,
“there will be an orderly tran-sition on January 20th."
“I have always said wewould continue our ... Fight toensure that
only legal votes
were counted. While this rep-resents the end of the
greatestfirst term in presidential his-tory, it's only the
beginning ofour fight to Make America
Great Again!”The 78-year-old
Democratic leader and his 56-year-old Indian-origin deputywill
be inaugurated on January
20, it was announced after theconstitutional process wasfinally
completed by a joint ses-sion of Congress.
In the violence on
Wednesday, four people died,including one woman who wasshot by a
police officer, amidprotests and rioting on CapitolHill that
resulted in dozens of
demonstrators being arrested,police said.
Metropolitan PoliceDepartment Chief RobertContee called the
rioting bypro-Trump demonstrators“shameful” during a news
con-ference.
One woman was shot andkilled by Capitol Police duringthe
rioting. Police said threeother people — a woman andtwo men — died
after appar-ently suffering “separate med-ical emergencies” near
theCapitol grounds.
The joint session ofCongress, which is normally aceremonial
step, was haltedfor several hours when sup-
porters of Trump breached theCapitol. Proceedings resumedand
continued through thenight after the building wascleeared. Vice
President Pencebrought the Senate sessionback into order and
proceededwith the verification process.
“The announcement of thestate of the vote by thePresident of the
Senate shall bedeemed a sufficient declarationof the persons
elected Presidentand Vice President of theUnited States, each for
theterm beginning on the 20th dayof January 2021...,” Pence
saidfollowing the count of all of thestate’s Electoral College
votes.
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New Delhi: Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Thursdayjoined the
world leaders in con-demning the violence let looseby the US
President DonaldTrump’s supporters and tweet-ed, “Orderly and
peacefultransfer of power must con-tinue. The democratic
processcannot be allowed to be sub-verted through
unlawfulprotests.” P4
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Thousands of farmers onThursday hit the road atSinghu, Tikri,
Ghazipur andRewasan borders of Delhi, tak-ing out tractor rallies
to esca-late agitation against the newfarm laws.
The farmers said theirmarch on Thursday is just arehearsal for
their proposedJanuary 26 tractor parade dur-ing which they will
attempt tomove into the national Capitalfrom different parts
ofHaryana, Punjab and UttarPradesh.
The tractor march startedfrom four different points —Singhu to
Tikri Border, Tikri toKundli, Ghazipur to Palwaland Rewasan to
Palwal. As themarch started from all borders,the protest sites wore
a desert-ed look.
From Ghazipur border,Rakesh Tikait, the spokesper-son of
Bharatiya Kisan Union(BKU) lead the rally in whichthere were around
500 tractors,some cars and bike. WithPunjabi songs and
slogans,farmers on tractors startedtheir rallies around 11 am.
Meanwhile, the crowdthinned at the Singhu Border,the main
protest site, but lifecontinued as usual.
Langars kept dishing out
meals, and medical camps dis-tributed medicines to all thosewho
stayed back, particularlythe elderly and the women.
Logs for bonefire havebeen brought in huge quanti-ties to keep
people warm in thechilling temperature.
Meanwhile, the KMPexpressway was dotted withtractors and farmers
the wholeday. Several protesters lined onthe route to provide
fellowfarmers with all kinds of sup-plies, including peanuts,
tea,and newspapers.
Joginder Singh Ugrahan,
president of Bharati KisanUnion (Ekta Ugrahan), whoseunion is
one of the largestfarmer organisations in Punjab,claimed farmers
participated inthe march with over 3,500tractors and trolleys. He
saidthey will not accept anythingless than the repeal of thethree
farm laws.
Yogendra Yadav onThursday claimed people arestill joining the
protest in alarge number and it will beintensified in coming
days.
“Today’s tractor rally wasjust a trailer for the
Government. Around 5,000tractors were there today in thetractor
march. If theGovernment does not repealthese laws till January 26,
wewill enter Delhi on our trac-tors,” said Yadav.
“Women are also joiningthe protest and they have alsocome
forward to hold one dayhunger strike against theCentre’s new farms
laws. OnThursday, 11 women whosehusband died during theprotest sat
on one day hungerstrike,” said Yadav.
“We are the sons of soil. Ifthe laws are passed, we willstarve
to death. This rally is ourway of telling the Governmentthat we
will not give up unlessit gives in to our demands,” saidJaspal
Singh Deol from Punjab’sChamkaur Sahib.
The eighth round of talksbetween protesting unions andthe
Central Government isscheduled to be held on Friday.
Following the tractor rallycall, the Delhi, Gurugam andUttar
Pradesh (UP) policetightened its security along theborders. The
police also divert-ed routes and closed the KMPexpressway for
commuters fora few hours which led to traf-fic jams at several
places.
Braving severe cold andsporadic rain, the farmers havebeen
camping at Delhi borders.
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The Supreme Court onThursday expressed con-cern over large
gatherings offarmers protesting against thenew farm laws at Delhi
bordersand drew a parallel withTablighi Jamaat congregation
atNizamuddin Markaz.
The top court was hearinga plea seeking various reliefsincluding
CBI probe into thematter related to assembly ofpeople at Anand
Vihar BusTerminal and the TablighiJamaat congregation atNizamuddin
Markaz in thenational Capital after thenationwide lockdown
wasannounced last year to containthe pandemic.
“The same problem isgoing to arise in farmers’ agi-tation. I do
not know if farm-ers are protected from Covid.So, the same problem
is goingto arise. It is not that everythingis over,” said Chief
Justice SABobde, heading a Bench, alsocomprising Justices ASBopanna
and V
Ramasubramanian.The court asked Solicitor
General Tushar Mehta, appear-ing for the Centre,
whetherprotesting farmers are protect-ed from Covid-19.
Mehtareplied, “certainly not”.
Mehta said he will file areport within two weeks onwhat has been
done and whatneeds to be done.
The plea, filed by lawyerSupriya Pandita, alleged thatthe Delhi
Police had failed tocontrol the congregation ofpeople and the
NizamuddinMarkaz chief Maulana Saadwas still evading arrest.
Advocate Om PrakashParihar, appearing for the peti-tioner, said
no statement hasbeen made by the Centre aboutthe whereabouts of
Saad.
The SC told Parihar, “Whyare you interested in one per-son? We
are on the issue ofCovid. Why do you want con-troversy? We are
interestedthat Covid guidelines should bethere”.
The SC issued notice in thematter after which Mehta saidhe will
file a report.
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Bharat Biotech on Thursdayannounced “successfulcompletion” of
volunteer enrol-ment for Phase-3 clinical trialsof its indigenously
manufac-tured Covid-19 vaccine“Covaxin.”
“Covaxin successfully com-pletes Phase 3 clinical
trialsenrolment of 25,800 volun-teers,” informed Suchitra
Ella,Joint Managing Director,Bharat Biotech
InternationalLimited.
“We sincerely express ourgratitude to clinical trial
sites,principle investigators &healthcare workers for
theirrelentless support and trust inour public-private
partnershipvaccine discovery. My deepappreciation to all the
volun-teers for reposing trust andexpressing pro vaccine
publichealth volunteerism in the
phase-3 clinical trials of India’sfully indigenous Covid-19
vac-cine,” she added.
The announcement camedays after the Hyderabad-basedvaccine
manufacturerannounced successful recruit-ment of 23,000 volunteers
andcontinued progress towardsachieving the goal of
26,000participants for the phase 3 trialof its coronavirus vaccine
can-didate Covaxin in India.
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India’s GDP is estimated tocontract by a record 7.7 percent
during 2020-21 as theCovid-19 pandemic severely hitthe key
manufacturing andservices segments, as perGovernment
projectionsreleased on Thursday.
Amid overall decline ineconomic activities, somerespite was
provided by theagriculture sector and utilityservices like power
and gassupply, which have been pro-jected to post positive
growthduring the current fiscal end-ing March 2021.
“Real GDP or GDP atConstant Prices (2011-12) inthe year 2020-21
is likely toattain a level of �134.40 lakhcrore, as against the
ProvisionalEstimate of GDP for the year2019-20 of �145.66 lakh
crore...
“The growth in real GDPduring 2020-21 is estimated at-7.7 per
cent as compared tothe growth rate of 4.2 per centin 2019-20,” said
the first
advanced estimates of nation-al income released by theNational
Statistical Office(NSO).
The contraction in theGross Domestic Product(GDP), however,
would not beas steep as projected by certaininternational agencies
like theIMF and World Bank.
NSO also estimates theReal Gross Value Added (GVA)at basic
prices at �123.39 lakhcrore in 2020-21, as against Rs133.01 lakh
crore in 2019-20,showing a contraction of 7.2per cent. GVA does not
factorin net taxes.
GVA in the key manufac-turing sector is likely to see
acontraction of 9.4 per centduring 2020-21 as compared toa flat
growth of 0.03 per cent inthe year ago period.
“Mining and quarrying”,and “trade, hotels,
transport,communication and servicesrelated to broadcasting”
GVAsare likely to contract by 12.4 percent and 21.4 per cent,
respec-tively, said the first advancedestimates of the NSO.
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#�������������������.#�����+�������Washington : US
DeputyNational Security Advisor MattPottinger, first lady
MelaniaTrump’s chief of staff StephanieGrisham and White
HouseDeputy Press Secretary SarahMatthews have resigned fol-lowing
the violence at the USCapitol by supporters ofPresident Donald
Trump. P8
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Chief Minister Shivraj SinghChouhan has said that aunanimous
solution will befound soon for promotion ofGovernment servants in
theState.
The economy of the Statewhich had been destroyed dueto corona is
now graduallyimproving, as the financialcondition improves,
allGovernment servants will getall pending benefits.
Chouhan was addressingemployees at the New YearMilan Samaroh
organized byMantralaya Employees Unionat the Mantralaya
VallabhBhavan premises on Thursday.On this occasion, ChiefMinister
Chouhan was felici-
tated by the Employees Unionon the occasion.
Sangh President SudhirNayak, Shiv Choubey, Alok
Verma, Rajkumar Patel etc.were present. Additional Chief
Secretary of GeneralAdministration DepartmentVinod Kumar was
also present.
The Chief Minister said thatemployees are an integral part ofthe
Government and all welfareschemes and programmes of theGovernment
are implementedthrough the employees. Theroadmap of
AtmanirbharMadhya Pradesh is ready.
In the new year, let us allresolve that by implementing itfast,
Madhya Pradesh will bemade self-reliant and pioneersin the
country.
President of the EmployeesUnion, Sudhir Nayak said thatit is the
privilege of the statethat Shivraj Singh Chouhanbecame the Chief
Minister ofthe state during the Coronaperiod. With his
administrativeskills, Chouhan has worked dayand night to save the
state fromCorona crisis. Nayak said thatChief Minister Chouhan
isworking continuously in theinterest of employees.
Continued on Page 3
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Under the mega event Writer's Unplugged ‘Mentors Ki Mehfil’was
held on Thursday. The event was held on Facebook Live,organised by
Kalaa Kabab aur Kisse.
As the show is reaching its culmination the whole week isplanned
as Writer’s Unplugged special starting from January 4where various
shows are being held online describing the vari-ous aspects and
behind the scenes of Writer’s Unplugged.
In the row, the mentors are not guiding the participants
thistime, but, they performed live on Mentors Ki Mehfil
(HindiChapter) on Thursday.During the entire show the
mentorsensured only the best is served to our audience. They used
toexplain the challenges to the participants and helped them
withtheir performances. They poured their skills in the
participantsand brought out the best.
The mentors who performer lives included Ishika Gupta,Saizal
Gupta, Komal Mundhra, Sunit Agrawal, HimanshuDwivedi, Deepshikha
Agrawal and Thakur Banarasi.
Writer’s Unplugged is a show by Kalaa Kebab aur Kisse - start-ed
as a competition among writing communities and then evolvedas a
reality show.
The show is held in two chapters - Hindi and English
wherevarious challenges were given to the writers and they were
markedon their writing skills.
In the previous rounds , more than 200 writers participat-ed ,
and only TOP5 could make it up to The Grand Finale ofthe
competition ( Hindi and English chapter together).
The challenges given to them included - writing a letter to
adead historic person about another historical event, Rewriting
analready existing story from the perspective of a prominent
non-living object, Freestyle Poetry, reply to Poetry , Writing a
Microtalein Nav Ras.The final challenge for The Grand Finale is
writingand Performing a Podcast.
The finalists for Hindi Chapter are: Samiksha Salunke andAjay
Choubey. The Finalists for English Chapter are: Sarwar
Baker,Shilling Masih and Jasreen Kaur.
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Sensation prevailed in the areaafter a 30-year-old man wasshot
in his face at Arera Colonyon Thursday; tussle between twogunmen
lead to the incident inwhich son of one gunman wasshot by other
during dispute.
SHO of Habibganj policeRakesh Shrivastava said thatSher Singh
Baghel has beenarrested for opening fire atRajesh Singh Baghel at E
1/20 atArera Colony in the morningtoday after the verbal spate
between victim’s father andaccused turned violent.
The victim came to deliverlunch for his father and in thedispute
he was shot by theaccused who was later arrested.Victim was shot in
his face nearjaw and rushed to hospital, hiscondition is reportedly
stableand would be operated onSaturday, he added.
Panic prevailed in the areaafter gunshots were heard and itwas
found that two securityguard deployed at Kapoor’shouse entered a
violent fight and
one person was injured in thefight who was shot by
licensedpistol during the fight. Thesecurity guards carry pistols
forsafety and protection but in theincident it was used to harm
thevictim.
The victim and accused areresidents of Bhind and are rel-atives.
The police found that thevictim’s father Maan Singh andRajesh Singh
Baghel aredeployed as gunman at SunilKapoor’s house at Arera
Colonywho owns RKDF groups ofinstitutions.
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From Page 1The State has made steady
progress under his leadership.When the history of the statewill
be written, the periodbefore and after Chief MinisterShivraj Singh
Chouhan will becompared.
The employees demandedthat the Chief Minister shouldallow
pending promotions,pending dearness allowanceand increments, health
insur-ance benefits for employees and03 higher pay scales to
allemployees. Chief MinisterChouhan assured that all legit-imate
demands of employeeswill be fulfilled.
At the outset, ChiefMinister Chouhan inaugurat-ed the Health
Vigilance Centreset up by the MantralayaEmployees Union
inMantralaya. Oximeter, BPmachine, glucometers, vapor-izers,
thermal scanners etc.have been kept in the centre.
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Depressed for not havingchildren from marriage a45 -year-old
woman commit-ted suicide by hanging with theceiling at Peergate
area underKotwali police station area onWednesday.
According to the police,deceased Mamta Saxena wasfound hanging
in kitchen at herhouse and was rushed to anearby hospital where she
wasdeclared dead. Police have notfound any suicide note or
anyreason in the initial investiga-
tion andIn the initial investigation
police found that the Mamtamarried Gopal Saxena after hisfirst
wife died but from themarriage she do not have anychildren while
Gopal had twochildren from his first wife anddue to not having
childrenMamta used to remaindepressed and which is seen asprobable
reason of suicide.
Body was sent for the postmortem after the
preliminaryinvestigation. The police haveregistered a case under
section174 of the CrPC and havestarted further investigation.
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Nazeerabad police havearrested a drug peddler car-rying drugs
worth Rs 1.05 lakhnear Behrawal trisection road onWednesday;
Cannabis weighing5.43 kg was seized from the drugpeddler.The action
was takenafter receiving information thatdrug peddler would bring
goodquantity of drug and nabbed thedrug peddler.
Police received informationthat Cannabis has been hiddenin farms
near Behrawal village.A police reached rushed to thespot and find a
man walkingtowards Behrawal trisection.Thepolice seized over 5 kg
ofCannabis which were carried inbag. The drug peddlers was
identified as BrijeshDuring the initial investiga-
tion it was found that the accusedwas on his way to sell
Cannabiswhich he had hidden in farms.The details of procurement
andwere he was scheduled to sell thedrugs.After the initial
investiga-tion police have registered a caseunder sections 8 and 20
of theNDPS Act. The crime record ofthe accused would be
investi-gated. The local connection ofdrug peddlers would be
investi-gated in the further investigation.
The drug peddler used tosell drugs in small quantitieswhich
helped him to evade sus-picion and arrest and this timeto make big
money he tried tosell large quantity of Cannabis.
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The Nishaptura police havebooked two fraudsterinvolved in duping
a 47-year-old man to the tune of Rs 17lakh in the name of
facilitatingadmission in Peoples MedicalCollege to victim’s
daughter inthe year 2017.
Police said that the victimChandrajit Singh was duped bytwo
accused Manish andRakesh who duped the victimfor facilitating
admission inPeoples Medical College at Rs17 lakh.
In the case two accusedwere involved and went
absconding after victim pro-vided money for admission.
Notably in the year 2017the victim came into contactwith the two
accused. The vic-tim wanted admission inPeoples Medical College for
herdaughter and the accusedassured that they would facil-itate
admission and demandedRs 17 lakh for the process.
The victim after gettingassured provided the money intwo parts
Rs 5 lakh and Rs 12lakh. After collecting moneyand documents the
victim’sdaughter was not providedwith admission and her docu-ments
were also not returned.The victim lodged a complaintwith the
police.
The police registered a caseof fraud against the accused.During
the investigation it wasfound that few more peoplehave been duped
luring thesame admission trick. '����%��������
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The carcasses of 381 moremigratory birds were foundon Thursday
at Pong wetlandin Himachal’s Kangra districtpushing the death toll
of birdsto 3409 due to avian influenza-H5N1.
With the outbreak of birdflu at Pong wetland, a team ofexperts
from Wildlife Instituteof India (WII), Dehradun vis-ited the area
to assess the situ-ation while a control room hasbeen set up at
Nagrota Surainto oversee the entire operationsto control the
outbreak.
“Till Thursday afternoon,carcasses of 381 migratorybirds were
found and thecounting of carcasses was stillon at the Pong wetland.
A totalof 3409 migratory birds havedied till now due to bird
flu,”said a senior official of theWildlife wing of
ForestDepartment, Himachal whiletalking to The Pioneer.
The fatality in migratorybirds has increased in the lasttwo
days. On an average, deathof more than 300 migratorybirds is being
reported at thePong wetland every day now,the official said.
As per the protocol, thecarcasses are collected by thefield
staff wearing a PPE kit.These carcasses are then burntand the
remnants are buried ina deep pit to contain the spreadof bird flu,
the official said.
He said that the StateGovernment is following theadvisory of the
CentralGovernment and all the fieldfunctionaries have been
asked
to maintain strict vigil and sur-veillance.
It was on January 4 whenthe deadly avian influenza-H5N1 was
confirmed byNational Institute of HighSecurity Animal
Diseases(NIHASAD), Bhopal in fivemigratory birds, whose car-casses
were found in Pongwetland.
Meanwhile, a team ofexperts from Wildlife Instituteof India
visited the Pong DamWildlife Sanctuary to assess thesituation and
gave suggestionsfor control and containment ofthe outbreak.
The State Government hasalso deputed PCCF Wildlife,HP at the
site to take measuresto control the situation andDFO Wildlife
Hamirpur ismonitoring the daily operationsat the site.
The forest official said thatten rapid response teams
arecurrently working in nine beatsof the Pong sanctuary area forthe
collection and safe dispos-al of dead birds. Apart fromthis, 55
persons have beendeployed for daily surveillanceoperations in the
area.
He said that a control roomhas been established at NagrotaSurain
to oversee the entireoperations besides receivingand disseminating
all the infor-mation regarding the outbreakof bird flu.
Notably, the Pong wetland,about 100 kms fromDharamshala, is a
well-knownwildlife sanctuary and one ofthe international wetland
sitesdeclared in India by the RamsarConvention.
Around 60000 migratory
birds have reached the wetlandduring this winter and till
now,maximum fatalities have beenseen among Bar-HeadedGoose. There
have also beenreports of deaths of crows,pigeons and vultures in
differ-ent parts of the state.
The humans can also getinfected by H5N1 only uponclose
interaction with infectedlive or dead birds, or H5N1-contaminated
environments.If infected, humans tend to fallseverely ill and also
requirehospitalisation.
Oseltamivir, an antiviralmedicine is used widely toprevent
severity of the virusand death.
THREE MORE DEADBIRDS FOUND INCHANDIGARH
Carcasses of three morebirds were found in the unionterritory of
Chandigarh tillThursday evening amid theoutbreak of bird flu in
severalstates across the country.
A day before, four birdswere found dead at the regula-tor end of
Sukhna Lake whilea carcass of Common Coot wasfound on Tuesday
evening.
A carcass of Peacock wasfound at Sukhna Lake whileone dead crow
each was foundin Sector 36 and Leisure Valleyhere till the evening,
saidDebendra Dalai, UT ChiefConservator of Forest andChief Wildlife
Warden whiletalking to The Pioneer.
The samples have beensent to the Regional DiseaseDiagnostic
Laboratory(RDDL), Jalandhar for testing,he said.
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PNB Bank fraud master-mind Nirav Modi’s sisterPurvi Modi, alias
Purvi Mehta,and her husband MaiankMehta have turned approver inthe
case and also agreed toassist the authorities in realis-ing and
repatriating variousassets in India and abroadworth �579 crore to
theGovernment of India. Theseassets are in Purvi Modi’s nameor in
the names of companiesowned by her.
“They filed an applicationbefore the Special (PMLA)Court, Mumbai
for allowingthem to seek pardon underSection 306 and 307 ofCriminal
Procedure Code andundertook to make true andfull disclosure of the
circum-stances and events withoutconcealing any evidence andprovide
complete documents.Purvi Modi has also agreed toassist in realising
and repatri-ating various assets in India andabroad totaling to
�579 crore tothe Government of India,” theED said in a
statement.
These assets include oneresidential flat in (BreachCandy)
Bhulabhai Desai Road,Mumbai worth �19.5 crores,two flats in Central
Park South,New York, NY in the name ofa Trust worth US$
4,995,000(Equivalent to �36.52 crore),
one unit at Central Park South,New York, NY in the name ofa
Trust worth US$ 25,000,000(Equivalent to �182.82 crores)and a Bank
Account inSwitzerland in the name ofPurvi Deepak Modi with a
bal-ance of CHF 20,201,500.00(Equivalent to �168.08 crores)and
another bank account inSwitzerland whose beneficialowner is Purvi
Modi and it hasa balance of CHF 13,009,200.00(equivalent to �108.23
crore).Other assets are a flat atMarylebone Road, London,NW15PL,
UK. Worth GBP6,250,000 (equivalent to 62.1crores), a bank account
inSyndicate Bank, NarimanPoint, Mumbai in the name ofPurvi Modi
with a balance of�1.96 crores.
Prosecution Complaints(chargesheets) were filed byED before the
Special PMLACourt against Purvi Modi,Maiank Mehta and others inthe
Nirav Modi Bank Fraudcase, the ED said.
“Investigation underPMLA revealed that PurviModi has more than a
dozenbank accounts and has own-ership of various compa-nies/Trusts
abroad. Vide theirstatements and their submis-
sions before the AdjudicatingAuthority, Purvi Modi andMaiank
Mehta have categori-cally stated that all the com-panies,
properties andaccounts mentioned in theProsecution
Complaints(Except Pavillion PointCorporation) belongs to NiravModi.
She gave her willingnessto offer all cooperation torepatriate the
assets to India,”it said.
Both of the accused statedthat the funds channelisedthrough
their accounts werebelonging to Nirav Modi andon Nirav Modi’s
insistence, itsaid.
The Special Court hasallowed for grant of pardonunder Sections
306 and 307 ofCr.P.C., on condition of mak-ing full and true
disclosure andfurther allowed that theaccused shall be marked
asapprover in this case. Thecourt further directed that
‘theapplicant-accused shall appearbefore the Court by returningto
India, for which purpose thecomplainant-prosecution shallfacilitate
the approach ofaccused at earliest, and shalltake suitable steps
according-ly. Further investigation in thecase is in progress, it
added.
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The National InvestigationAgency (NIA) on Thursdayconducted
searches at six loca-tions, five in Jammu districtand one in
Tarn-Taran districtof Punjab, in connection withinvestigation of a
narco-terrormodule related to seizure ofabout 61 kg heroin along
witharms and ammunitions onSeptember 20 last year at
theinternational border at Arnia,Jammu.
The searches were con-ducted at the residences of sixaccused
persons— JasrajSingh, Sham Lal, Bishan Dass,Ajeet Kumar, Gurbaksh
Singhand Gurpartap Singh.
“These accused personswere arrested for hatching acriminal
conspiracy for car-rying out anti-national andunlawful activities,
and tohelp the terrorist organisa-tions by collecting funds
andchannelizing the proceeds ofdrugs for furthering the activ-ities
of such terrorist organi-sations like Babbar KhalsaInternational
(BKI),” the NIAsaid in a statement.
Gurpratap Singh of Tarn-Taran district of Punjab is thekingpin
of this module. In thesecond week of September,2020, Gurpratap
Singh hadreceived 10 kg heroin fromPakistan-based handlersthrough
his associates. Theconsignment in the case wasalso intended to be
received
by Gurpratap Singh to fundthe activities of BKI inPunjab, it
said.
During the searches con-ducted on Thursday, digitaldevices and
other incrimi-nating documents havingfinancial details and
accountsnumbers have been seizedfor further scrutiny andanalysis,
it added.
Originally registered ascase FIR No. 65/2020 onSeptember 20,
2020 at PoliceStation Arnia, Jammu undervarious Indian Penal
CodeSections relating to criminalconspiracy, attempt to murderand
waging war against thenation and provisions of theArms Act in
connection withunprovoked firing at a policepatrolling party from
Pakistanside to provide cover for thesmuggling activity. Sections
ofthe Narcotic Drugs andPsychotropic Substances Actand Unlawful
Activit ies(Prevention) Act were addedsubsequently during
investi-gation. The case was re-reg-istered by NIA on November26
and taken up for investi-gation.
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The NIA Special Court hereon Thursday sentencedan accused and
ISIS terroristShajahan VK of Kannur,Kerala to seven years
rigorousimprisonment (RI) and fine of�73,000 for the offences
undersection Indian Penal Code(IPC) Sections relating tocriminal
conspiracy, cheat-ing, forgery, criminal breachof trust and
provisions of theUnlawful Activit ies(Prevention) Act.
The ISIS-Kannur Casewas initially registered by theSpecial Cell
of the Delhi Policeas FIR No. 44/2017 datedSeptember 5, 2017 under
var-ious IPC Sections and provi-sions of the UnlawfulActivities
(Prevention) Actand the Passport Act.
Shajahan was arrested onJuly 1, 2017 at IGI Airporthere on
deportation by theTurkish authorities. Anotheraccused Mohd. Mustafa
wasarrested from Chennai, onJuly 12, 2017. Subsequently,the NIA
took over investiga-tion of the case on September5, 2017.
“Shajahan Velluva Kandyis a member of proscribedinternational
terrorist organ-isation ISIS. He had associat-ed himself with ISIS
with theintention to further its activi-ties. In October, 2016,
healong with his family hadgone to Turkey via Malaysiawith an
intention to go to Syriato fight on behalf of ISIS,” theNIA said in
a statement.
However, while crossingthe Turkey-Syria border, healong with his
family were
apprehended by the Turkishauthorities and deported backto India
on February 1, 2017.In his desperation to serve thecause of ISIS,
he procured anIndian passport again on thebasis of forged
documentsand in April 2017, he travelledto Turkey via Thailand
andwas apprehended again whileattempting to cross to
Syria.Thereafter, he was againdeported to India on July 1,2017 and
was arrested, theagency said.
After investigation, theNIA had filed a charge sheeton December
23, 2017 againsttwo accused persons--Shajahan Velluva Kandy
andMohd. Mustafa.
While Shahjahan has beenconvicted, trial against theother
accused person is con-tinuing, it added.
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Meeting India’s air qualitytargets across south Asiamay prevent
7 per cent ofpregnancy losses in the region,according to a study
publishedin the Lancet journal.
The modelling study sug-gested that pregnant women inIndia,
Pakistan, Bangladesh,who are exposed to poor airquality, may be at
higher risk ofstillbirths and miscarriages. Itsaid that an
estimated 349,681pregnancy losses per year insouth Asia were
associatedwith exposure to PM2.5 con-centrations that
exceededIndia’s air quality standard(more than 40 ig/m or
micro-grams per cubic meter air),accounting for 7 per cent ofannual
pregnancy loss in theregion from 2000-2016.
In the study, theresearchers included 34,197women who had lost a
preg-
nancy, including 27,480 mis-carriages and 6,717
stillbirths,which were compared to live-birth controls.
Of the pregnancy losscases, 77 per cent were fromIndia, 12 per
cent fromPakistan, and 11 per cent fromBangladesh.
Pregnancy loss associatedwith air pollution was morecommon in
the northern plainsregion in India and Pakistan.
Previous studies have sug-gested a link between air pol-lution
and pregnancy loss inother regions, but this is thefirst study,
published in LancetPlanetary Health, to quantifythe burden in south
Asia.
South Asia has the highestburden of pregnancy loss glob-ally and
is one of the mostPM2.5 polluted regions in theworld.
“Our findings suggest thatpoor air quality could beresponsible
for a considerable
burden of pregnancy loss in theregion, providing further
jus-tification for urgent action totackle dangerous levels of
pol-lution,” said lead study authorDr Tao Xue from PekingUniversity
in China.
To carry out their analysis,the authors combined datafrom
household surveys onhealth from 1998-2016 (fromwomen who reported
at leastone pregnancy loss and one ormore livebirths) and
estimatedexposure to PM2.5 duringpregnancy through
combiningsatellite with atmospheric mod-elling outputs.
The researchers, howevernoted several limitations oftheir study.
In the surveys,they were not able to distin-guish between natural
preg-nancy loss and abortions andthere was under-reporting
ofpregnancy losses because ofstigma or ignoring very earlypregnancy
losses.
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With just four States—Maharashtra, Kerala,Chhattisgarh and
WestBengal—accounting more thanhalf of the total cases in
thecountry, the Centre is fearingthat the continued rise in
infec-tion there might negate theresults gained in other parts
ofthe country where cases are ondecline.
The Centre has asked theStates to take corrective steps
tocontain the infection.
About 28.61 per cent casesare in Kerala, followed by 22.79per
cent in Maharashtra, 3.99per cent in Chhattisgarh and3.89 per cent
in West Bengal.
“These states have beenadvised by the Union HealthSecretary
Rajesh Bhushan tomaintain strict vigil and to takesteps to keep a
check on the ris-ing cases, especially in view ofthe new
coronavirus strainobserved in certain countries,which has also been
reportedin a few States in India,” said asenior official from
theMinistry.
In a letter to them,Bhushan drew the attention ofthe states to
their low anddeclining testing rates andwarned that any laxity at
this
crucial junction may squanderthe results of collective actionsin
containing the transmis-sion.
He advised them to analysethe surge at the district
andsub-district levels to under-stand the reasons for this riseand
aggressively implementthe ‘Test-Track-Treat” strategy.
The health authorities inthe states have also beenadvised to
proactively promote
wearing of mask and otherCovid appropriate behaviourseven while
the vaccinationdrive is about to begin.
In this regard, a high-levelcentral team led by Dr SKSingh,
Director, NationalCentre for Disease Control(NCDC), has been rushed
toKerala to review the publichealth interventions in man-agement of
Covid-19 in theState.
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As India gears up for amassive Covid vaccina-tion drive, private
investiga-tors have formed an interna-tional alliance to check
cir-culation of fake vaccines. Aninitiative of Delhi-basedAssociat
ion of PrivateDetectives and Investigators(APDI), the Global
AllianceAgainst Fake Vaccine(GAFV) has been formed
comprising professionalinvestigators from 16 coun-tries, while
more are likely tojoin this international cam-paign initiated from
India.APDI has written a letter toPrime Minister NarendraModi
offering help in thegovernment’s plans to dealwith the fake COVID
vaccineissue. The organisation hasalso written a similar letter
toUnion Health Minister DrHarsh Vardhan.
���+�����+�����������������/����������������������������������+�������
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Union Education MinisterRamesh Pokhriyal‘Nishank’ on
Thursdayannounced the Joint EntranceExamination (JEE) Advanced2021
examination date andthe eligibility criteria for admis-sion into
Indian Institutes ofTechnology (IITs). The examwill be held on July
3 while the75 percent eligibility criteriawill not be applicable
this year.
“JEE-Advanced will beconducted by IIT Kharagpuron July 3. The
relaxation inadmission requirement of 75per cent marks in class
12which was announced last yearin view of COVID-19 pan-demic will
be offered this yearas well,” Nishank said.The examwill be
conducted by IITKharagpur.
For admissions to IITs,apart from qualifying the Joint
Entrance Examination (JEE)-Advanced, the candidates arerequired
to secure either min-imum 75 per cent marks inclass 12 board exams
or rankamong the top 20 percentile intheir qualifying
examinations.
The JEE Advanced 2021would be attempted by thosewho had
qualified the JEEMains last year but could notappear for the next
examsdue to the coronavirus pan-demic. As a one-time excep-tion,
the National TestingAgency (NTA) has allowed thelatter BTech
candidates todirectly appear for JEEAdvanced 2021.
Ahead of Pokhriyal’sannouncement, candidateshave been requesting
to scrap75 percent criteria for JEEMains, grant multiple
attemptsfor JEE Advanced 2021.
The JEE Main 2021 will beconducted four times this year,
as per the suggestions of manystudents and parents.
The first attempt of theexam will be from February 23to 26. The
last date to registeronline is January 16.Candidates will now have
achoice to attempts only 75questions out of the 90 ques-tions
present in the paper.
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The Supreme CourtThursday soughtresponses fromRajasthan
AssemblySpeaker and others ontwo separate pleasagainst the merger
of allsix BSP MLAs into theruling Congress legisla-ture party in
the State.
Bahujan Samaj Party(BSP) and BJP MLAMadan Dilawar havefiled
separate appealsagainst an order of theRajasthan High Courtwhich
asked the Speakerto decide within threemonths a disqualifica-tion
petition against all
the six BSP MLAs ‘merg-ing’ with the rulingCongress party.
A bench of Justices SAbdul Nazeer and K MJoseph, in the
proceed-ings conducted throughvideo conferencing,also issued
notices tothe
Assembly secretaryand all the six MlAs whodefected and
mergedwith the Congress.
The merger was aboost to Ashok Gehlot-led State Government asthe
tally of the Congressincreased to over 100 inthe house of 200
MLAs.
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The Congress on Thursdayattacked the Centre afterthe petrol
price breached theall-time high in 73 years.While Congress
presidentSonia Gandhi on Thursday hitout at the Modi Governmenton a
range of issues includingthe fuel price rise, RahulGandhi took a
swipe ques-tioning the development agen-da of the ruling regime.
Boththe leaders besides the partyin a statement criticised
theGovernment also for theongoing farmers’ protest.
“I demand theGovernment to keep theprices of petrol and diesel
tothat of the UPA era and giverelief to the people and rollback all
the three farm laws.In independent India, thecountry is at
crossroads as
farmers are on the Delhi bor-ders for their genuinedemands while
the unbridled,insensitive government isbreaking the backbone of
thefarmers and middle class,”Sonia said in a statement.
Sonia, who has beenattacking the Modi govern-ment occasionally
as againstdaily criticism by her sonRahul, mentioned in
herstatement that due to covid, allaround the economy is alreadyin
shambles while the Modigovernment is putting moneyinto their
coffers.
Sonia alleged that despiteless cost of crude in the
inter-national market the benefitshould go to the consumersbut the
government is profi-teering on it.
“In the last six years, thegovernment col lected19,00,000 crore
as excise duty
from the people. Not only this,the rising costs of the domes-tic
LPG has also disturbed thehome budget,” she said.
Rahul took to Twitter andwrote: “There has been a‘Superb
development’ in theprices of petrol and diesel. TheModi government
is lootingthe public by charging heavytax on fuel. This is the
reasonwhy the government is notwilling to implement GST
onpetrol-diesel.”
Congress slammed the
government and wrote: “Suit-Boot-Loot Sarkar has proveditself
once again with anoth-er “historic” milestone: petrolprices are now
at an all-timehigh!”
“‘Cause looting moneyfrom the common man to fillthe pockets of
middlemenand crony-capitalists is whythe BJP came to power,”
theparty said in its Petrolootcampaign.
The cost of crude isaround 51 dollars whichmeans petrol should
bearound Rs 23 a litre but theprices are more than doublewhich is
highest in 73 years.
After the raise onThursday, the petrol price inDelhi increased
by 23 paise alitre, the second successive dayof fuel price rise, to
Rs 84.20a litre from Rs 83.97 on theprevious day. This is the
high-
est level of retail price ofpetrol in the national Capitalafter
October 4, 2018 when itsprice had risen to Rs 84 a litre.
In other metros, thoughthe price of petrol has not yetbreached
the all-time highlevels, it has reached veryclose to that level and
maycross it this week if fuel priceincreases further in
comingdays.
In Mumbai, petrol priceincreased to �90.83 a litre onThursday
just 51 paise short ofall-time high level of �91.34reached on
October 4, 2018.In Chennai, the petrol pricecurrently is �86.96 a
litre, ashade lower than historic highlevel of �87.33 a litre.
Similarly, petrol price alsoreached very close to recordlevel of
�85.80 a litre inKolkata increasing to �85.68 alitre on
Thursday.
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The Kerala Government’s decisionon Wednesday to meet half
theproject cost of Rs 2,815 crore in theconstruction of Angamali-
ErumeliSabari Rail Route has stirred up a hor-net’s nest in the
region through whichthe track is to be laid. Thousands ofresidents
staying along the route of theproposed track would lose
theirdwelling places and fertile farms oncethe Indian Railways
resume the landacquiring process. What is disturbingthe Railway
authorities in Kerala is thatthe majority of the people who wouldbe
displaced because of the projectbelong to the minority
communities.
The Pinarayi Vijayan-led KeralaGovernment on Wednesday
haddeclared that it would meet half thecost of Rs 2,815 crore
required for the111 km long railway line fromAngamali to Erumeli to
faciliate pil-grimage to the holy shrine ofSabarimala.
The legendary Dr E Sreedharan,India’s Metro Man, sounded
cautionabout the Sabari Rail project. TheKerala Government has
suddenlyraked up this project only to get polit-
ical gains for the next election. Thisrailway line will be of no
use to Keralaor to the Sabarimala pilgrims. On theother hand, it
will dislocate many peo-ple and cause severe environmentaldamage to
the green, beautiful hillranges.” Dr Sreedharan told ThePioneer on
Thursday.
He said that automatic signallingcan be introduced on the
Trivandrum-Mangalore section and the line capac-ity increased to
run many commutedtrains at half the cost meant for theproject.
“This will reduce the roadcongestion and road accidents,” saidDr
Sreedharan.
He said the lop-sided policies ofthe Kerala Government has
resulted inthe stagnation of growth in the State.“A more urgent
railway link is theextension of Trissur-Guruvayoor lineto
Thirunavaya, (a project sanctionedabout 14 years back) which will
reducethe running time of trains betweenErnakulam and Kozhikode by
at leastone hour and the severe congestion atShornur junction too
will be avoided,”he said.
There is widespread complaintagainst the Centre and Indian
Railwaysfor using high handed measures like
threats and coercion to acquire landfor the seven kilometre
stretch whichhas been built as part of the project.“This is a move
to displace the popu-lation belonging to the minority com-munities
from places likePerumbavoor, Kothamangalam up toErumeli. The
question where wewould go from the places where wehave been living
for decades remainsunanswered. The Kerala Governmenthad expressed
its helplessness inacquiring land for the construction ofNational
Highway in North Kerala andthe Centre was forced to shelve its
planto build a six-lane track,” said P MBasheer, former councillor
ofPerumbavoor Municipal Council.
Though the decision to partfinance the project has been taken
bythe Pinarayi Vijayan Government,legal experts are of the view
that landacquisition process would not be easy.“The Modi Government
itself hasamended the land acquisition laws andthe Railways would
find the processtough. The question is whether it isworthwhile for
Governments of Indiaand Kerala to squander public moneyon a white
elephant,” said a KeralaHigh Court lawyer.
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Much awaited IndustrialDevelopmental Schemefor Jammu &
Kashmir, aimedat generating employment inboth manufacturing and
ser-vice sectors, was made pub-lic by the Lt-Governor ManojSinha on
Thursday.
The scheme with a totaloutlay of Rs. 28,400 croreupto the year
2037 was earlierapproved by the Union governmentheaded by Prime
MinisterNarendra Modi on Wednesday.
The proposed scheme is like-ly to attract unprecedented
invest-ment and give direct and indirectemployment to about 4.5
lakh per-sons. Additionally, because of theworking capital interest
subvention,the scheme is likely to give indirectsupport to about
35,000 persons.
Sharing details of the scheme,Lieutenant Governor, Manoj
Sinha,in a press conference, claimed themain purpose of the scheme
is togenerate employment beyond gov-ernment jobs in both
manufactur-ing and service sectors whichdirectly leads to the
socio-economicdevelopment of the region.
The Lt Governor also expressed
gratitude towards the PrimeMinister for approving the NewCentral
Sector Scheme forIndustrial Development of Jammu& Kashmir.
Briefing media persons here atJammu Convention centre,
Lt-GovManoj Sinha claimed the NewIndustrial Development Scheme
forJ&K will give a boost to domesticmanufacturing in the region
& helpJ&K in becomingAatmaNirbhar.”The Scheme willencourage
new investment, sub-stantial expansion and also nurturethe existing
industries in J&K”, hemaintained.
The Lt Governor, while givingout the details of the
scheme,emphasized that it will be ensuredthat the implementation of
the newscheme shall be done in a manner
which is friendly and hasslefree to the investors. It will
beensured that entrepreneursfrom within J&K and outsidefind a
smooth and progres-sive ecosystem for their busi-ness plans, he
added.
Further, the Lt Governoremphasized that “With ourtransparent
policies, invest-ments in developing infra-structure, market
orientedpolicy environment and
skilled human capital, we aspire tobecome a growth pillar for
India inthe current decade”.
“Earlier schemes offered aplethora of incentives. However,
theoverall financial outflow was muchlesser than the new
scheme.Whereas, the earlier schemes haveprovided about Rs 1120
crores inall these years, this scheme shallprovide an outlay of Rs
28,400crores”, Lt-Gov Manoj Sinha said.
He further said thatGovernment and Industry willwork closely to
achieve the visionof the holistic and balanced devel-opment of
Jammu and Kashmir.
He also thanked the businessassociations and all who
con-tributed through their valuablesuggestions.
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In an apparent bid to send theright message to
non-Bengalibusinessmen amid “insider-outsider” debate ahead of
theAssembly elections BengalChief Minister MamataBanerjee on
Wednesday saidher Government would con-tinue to support them
flourishin the State.
Aware that her repeatedbranding of the north andwestern Indian
BJP politiciansas “outsiders” could alienate thenon-Bengali
industrialists whohave their ancestry in BengalBanerjee said the
industrialistswho were originally from otherStates but had made
Bengaltheir base would get all kindsof support from
herGovernment.
A whole lot of industrial-ists from Bengal like theNeotaias,
Goenkas, Agarwals,Budhias, Dalmias, Khaitans,Sonis and Sodhis
belong toMarwari, Gujarati and Punjabicommunities. “She told us
thatwe are as Bengalis as those whosay it as their mother
languageand hence we too are the partsand parcel of this State,”
busi-nessman who attended themeeting said adding the ChiefMinister
asked the businesscommunity to stay united andwork for the
development ofBengal.
Reminding how Bengalhad developed a mechanismtowards ensuring
ease of doingbusiness and how the forth-coming projects like
Tajpursea port, Deocha Pachmi coalblock and the newly found
nat-
ural gas reserve in North 24Parganas would help trade
andcommerce in days to come theChief Minister said how
herGovernment had worked hardto construct a number ofleather and
industrial parks inthe State besides developing theinformation
technology sector.
“The Chief Minister hadalready indulged in divisivepolitics.
First she tried to drivea wedge between Hindus andMuslims through
her minori-ty appeasement politics andwhen it boomeranged
pitchingthe majority communityagainst her now she has
raisinginsider-outsider issue tryingto segregate Bengalis
fromnon-Bengalis so as to divide theBJP votes … But this mayhave
repercussions in industrialinvestment because most
investors in Eastern India arenot locals but they come fromthe
western or northern part ofthe country … this is the rea-son why
she might have triedto fine-tune her rhetoric today,”said BN
Chakrabarty a politi-cal expert.
Banerjee had been underconstant attack from the
fellowpoliticians for repeatedly tryingto play ‘soft communal’ card
ina bid to garner votes by divid-ing the communities, castesand
linguistics groups.
In fact Governor JagdeepDhankhar too had on Tuesdayattacked her
policy of raisinginsider-outsider issue. “Todayit hurts me to know
how thecitizens of the country arebeing called outsiders in anopen
and politically consciousState like Bengal.” Dhankhar
himself hails from Rajasthan.About 75 representatives
from industry attended themeeting West Bengal
IndustrialDevelopment Corporation(WBIDC) Chairman RajivaSinha said
adding the govern-ment wanted to know fromthem what more could be
donefor ease of doing business.
“WBIDC will provide sin-gle window facility throughSilpa Sathi
office (physical)and Silpa Sathi portal to all sec-tors -- large,
MSME, textile,agro-processing, informationtechnology -- from next
week,”Sinha said.
Meanwhile the State BJP isall set to receive party nation-al
president JP Nadda who willvisit Bengal on Saturday. Naddawould
hold his first meeting atKatwa in Burdwan district.
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New Delhi: MOS Rattan lalKataria reviewed the progressof Jal
Jeevan Mission, a flagshipprogramme of theGovernment. A
presentationwas made about the progress ofthe Mission by
AdditionalSecretary, Department ofDrinking water and
sanitationBharat Lal.
Kataria informed that sinceIndependence till August 2019,a total
of 3.23 crore ruralhouseholds (out of total 18.93crore rural
households) had tapwater connections, but in ashort span of 1 year
alone, 3.04crore new connections havealready been provided to
ruralhouseholds under this mis-sion. Jal Jeevan mission has setan
ambitious yet achievable tar-get of giving piped water con-nections
to each and everyrural household with anapproach ensuring - ‘No one
is
left out’.He informed that Goa is
the first state to provide 100%piped connection and so far
27Districts, 458 blocks, 33,516Gram Panchayats, 66,210 vil-lages
have been declared tohave achieved‘ H a r G h a r J a l ’. R e c e
n t l y,Kurukshetra became the 27thDistrict in India and 3rd
inHaryana to have achieved thistarget.
He credited the successprimarily to the people of thesevillages,
Gram Panchayats,PaaniSamitis, public healthauthorities and other
stake-holders.
States of Telangana,Gujarat, Haryana, UT ofPuducherry are close
to achiev-ing 100% coverage. Stateswhich have made goodprogress in
terms of increasingthe coverage are - Himachal
Pradesh, Bihar,U t t a r a k h a n d , M a n i p u r,Mizoram, UT
of Andamanand Nicobar.
For the Road Map ahead,2 states ( Bihar, Telangana )and2 UTs (
Puducherry, Andaman& Nicobar ) are expected toachieve 100%
coverage in theyear 2021. The Ministry isworking to
leverageInformation Technology toprovide latest and
relevantinformation about the progressof this scheme in
publicdomain through web portaland mobile apps.
MrKataria informed thatthe project is ushering in asilent
revolution as water con-nections are being provided toall rural
households withoutany discrimination or biastowards any particular
caste,community, religion, race orcolor. PNS
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Chennai: Over 50 doctors andpeople for the Ethical Treatmentof
Animals (PETA) Indiaappealed to the Tamil Nadu Government to
immediatelywithdraw the permission for theannual bull taming event
--'Jallikattu'.
Jallikattu is typically cele-brated in the southern state
ofTamil Nadu as part of thePongal celebrations, on theMattu Pongal
day, which occursannually during this month.
Over 50 doctors havesigned a letter to the Tamil NaduChief
Minister, EdappadiPalaniswami and HealthMinister C. Vijayabaskar
urgingthem to immediately withdrawthe permission, which the
doc-tors warn poses a grave risk tothe general public because of
theongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
The appeal is in response tothe Tamil Nadu government'srecent
order allowing the con-duct of Jallikattu events withhundreds of
people present,People for the Ethical Treatmentof Animals (PETA)
India hasalso asked the state governmentto stop Jallikattu
events.
The letter signed by 50doctors, states, “To prevent therapid
spread of Covid-19 and toprotect public health, as well asto ease
the pressure on thehealthcare professionals, non-essential
activities such asJallikattu events, which lead tounnecessary
gatherings of peo-ple, must not be allowed.”
The letter also states, “Sincethe Tamil Nadu governmentlegalised
Jallikattu in 2017, atleast 22 bulls and 57 humanshave reportedly
died, while3,632 humans were injured inevents organised
throughoutthe state.”
They also warn that evenmore human deaths will likelyoccur
because of Covid-19 ifJallikattu events are allowed tobe organised
in the state.
PETA India ResearchAssociate Dr. Ankita Pandeyfurther cautions
that more peo-ple are expected to die this year,not only because of
Jallikattuitself but also because of Covid-19. “If Jallikattu
events are notstopped, if huge crowds gatherto torment bulls,
society will be
tormented, too,” she urges theTN government
The healthcare profession-als also forewarn that the mea-sures
of Covid-19 -- negativecertificates for participants andthermal
screening of spectatorsas pre-conditions for allowingJallikattu are
not enough tostop the spread of the virus.
And their letter furthersays, during the incubationperiod, a
contagious personmay be tested too early and pro-duce a
false-negative result andnot everyone with Covid-19develops or
sustains a fever.
This event is associatedwith strength and courage andhonours the
bull owners.However, it is undoubtedlycruel to animals. In
2014,Jallikattu was banned by theSupreme Court.
But the ban on Jallikattu,considered an importantauthentic
tradition and inalien-able part of rural society's cul-ture, had
spurred widespreadprotests in Tamil Nadu. Afterseveral years of
continuousprotests, in 2017 the TamilNadu government passed
theJallikattu Bill bringing into effectthe Prevention of Cruelty
toAnimals (Tamil NaduAmendment) Act, 2017, there-by allowing the
conduct ofJallikattu.
As early as 2010 itself, aninvestigation led by the
AnimalWelfare Board of India con-cluded that “Jallikattu is
inher-ently cruel to animals”. Animalwelfare organisations such as
theFederation of Indian AnimalProtection Organisations(FIAPO) and
PETA India haveprotested against the practicesince then.
However, pro-Jallikattuactivists countering the animalactivists
argue that Jallikattu hadbeen known to be practicedduring the Tamil
classical peri-od (400-100 BC) and inalien-able part of the rural
Tamil soci-ety's culture.
It was common among theAyar people who lived in the'Mullai'
geographical division ofthe ancient Tamil country. Later,it became
a platform for displayof bravery, and prize money wasintroduced for
participationencouragement. IANS
Hyderabad: Telangana report-ed 379 new Covid-19 cases andthree
deaths during the last 24hours, health officials said
onThursday.
The fresh cases pushed thestate's tally to 2,88,789 while
thedeath toll rose to 1,559.
According to director ofpublic health and family wel-fare, the
fatality rate remained0.53 per cent against thenational average of
1.4 percent.
While 44.96 per cent of thedeaths occurred due to Covid,55.04
per cent had comorbidi-ties.
A total of 305 people recov-ered from the virus, during thelast
24 hours, taking the cumu-lative number of recoveries
to2,82,177.
The recovery rate stands at97.73 per cent against than
thenational average of 96.4 percent.
The number of active casesin the state was 5,053 including2,776
who are in home orinstitutional isolation.
For the sixth consecutiveday, Greater Hyderabad record-ed less
than 100 new Covidcases.
The state capital logged71 new cases during the last
24hours.
Medchal Malkajgiri dis-trict recorded the second high-est number
at 37 followed byRangareddy (36), Karimnagar(19) and Warangal Urban
(14).
A total of 41,246 Covidtests were conducted across thestate
during the last 24 hours.While government-run labo-ratories
conducted 36,723 tests,the remaining 4,523 sampleswere tested in
private labs.
There are 19 government-run laboratories, 56 privatelaboratories
and 1076 RapidAntigen test centres in thestate. Samples tested per
mil-lion population ratio rose fur-ther to 1,91,983.
The data shows that 63.9per cent of those tested positiveso far
were aged between 21-50years. IANS
Patna: A Government highschool in Bihar's Gaya districthas
suspended all its classes foran indefinite period as a
pre-cautionary measure after theheadmaster of the institutiontested
positive for coronavirus,an official said on Thursday.
The Gaya district admin-istration on Wednesdayannounced the
closure of theschool, situated in Saraiya vil-lage.
The state government onDecember 4 reopened all thegovernment and
privateschools after a nine-month-long hiatus, in the wake of
theCovid-19 pandemic.
Sources said that over 1,000students study in the school.
Gaya's District EducationOfficer (DEA), M. Khan said:“The
principal wrote to uscomplaining of fever, a few daysback and also
cited that he washaving respiratory issues. Hehad also undergone
the neces-sary tests.” IANS
��3���������� !0#�102-+
With 560 crows havingbeen found dead in sev-eral States on
Thursday, theCentre has asked States to beprepared for any
eventuality ofAvian Influenza and to ensuresufficient stock of PPE
kits andaccessories required for cullingoperations.
Panic gripped in the poul-try traders sector across thecountry
with prices plungingbelow the cost of productiondue to apprehension
amongconsumers. Egg prices inMumbai have dropped to Rs5.45 from Rs
5.65 since the lasttwo days, while in Delhi theyhave slipped to Rs
5.55 per eggfrom Rs 6.00 on January 2 andRs 5.65 on January 4.
Prices oflive bird also dropped by Rs 20-30 per kg at farmgate.
Taking note of the panicamong the poultry traders, theMinistry
of Animal Husbandryon Thursday directed states toquell consumer
reactions,
affected by rumors andincrease awareness regardingsafety of
poultry or poultryproducts that were safe for con-sumption
following boiling /cooking procedures. Accordingto meat and poultry
vendors,traders are picking up lessstock due to the sudden dropin
the demand. According tothe Ministry of AnimalHusbandry, confirmed
caseshave been found in four states-Kerala, Rajasthan,
MadhyaPradesh and Himachal Pradeshso far.
On Thursday, as many as381 crows have been founddead in Himachal
Pradesh'sPong wildlife sanctuary,150 inJammu's Udhampur
district,nine in Uttar Pradesh, six eachin Karnataka and
inUttarakhand, four in Gujarat’sMehsana district and two inMadhya
Pradesh. According toofficials, their carcasses havebeen sent to a
laboratory tocheck if they died due to birdflu or some other
reason.
The ministry has suggest-ed measures to states/UTs forcontrol,
containment and pre-vention of spread of the disease.“Besides
increasing surveil-lance around water bodies,live bird markets,
zoos andpoultry farms. Proper dispos-al of carcass and
strengtheningof bio-security in poultry farmsmay be ensured,” the
ministrysaid.
Meanwhile a three-mem-ber central team comprisingUnion Health
Ministry's pub-lic health specialist Dr. RuchiJain, Pune National
Institute ofVirology scientist Dr. ShaileshPawar and Delhi RML
Hospitalphysician Dr. Anith Jindal vis-ited Kerala’s Alappuzha
andKottayam districts to held dis-cussions with district
authori-ties at their collectorate. Thecentral team will also
visitHaryana and HimachalPradesh to assess the situation.
The number of deadmigratory birds at theHimachal Pradesh's
Pong
wildlife sanctuary in Kangradistrict has reached 3,409 as381
more were found dead onThursday. Meanwhile, officialssaid 64 crows
have also beenfound dead in the past a fewdays in areas near the
Pongwetland.
In Delhi, Deputy ChiefMinister Manish Sisodia hassaid that there
is no case ofbird flu in the national Capitalyet and asked
officials to keepclose watch on poultry birdscoming in from
neighbouringstates to prevent any infection.
According to the ministryof animal husbandry, ninecrows were
found dead inUttar Pradesh's Sonbhadra dis-trict, but officials
said it seemslike the birds died due to cold.The deaths were
reported onWednesday evening from theDala area of the district
andsamples have been sent to a labin Bhopal for testing. It
appearsthat the crows died due to cold,officials of UP said.
In Karnataka, six crowshave died in the border districtof
Dakshina Kannada inKarnataka and their sampleshad been sent for
tests toascertain the cause of death.According to state health
min-ister Dr K Sudhakar, theauthorities have been main-taining a
strict vigil in the bor-der districts includingDakshina Kannada,
Kodagu,Mysuru and Chamarajanagar.
Four crows were founddead in Gujarat's Mehsana dis-trict on
Thursday.
The crows were founddead in the premises of thefamous Sun Temple
inModhera village of Mehsana.
The Centre on Wednesdayhad said that avian influenza orbird flu
outbreak has beenreported at 12 epicentres inKerala, Rajasthan,
MadhyaPradesh and HimachalPradesh, while Haryana is onhigh alert
due to unusual mor-tality at poultry farms inPanchkula.
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Amaravati: The Board ofIntermediate Education (BIE),
theregulator of the crucial two-yearintermediate course in
AndhraPradesh, will implement a teacher-student ratio of 1:40 from
the nextacademic year, 2021-22, an officialsaid on Thursday.
However, for the current 2020-21 academic year, obeying
theAndhra High Court ruling, BIEwill allow a maximum number of88
students per classroom.
“Yes, definitely we will reduceit to 40. Whatever studies
theHigh Court has directed us to do,we will conduct them,” BIE
secre-tary V. Ramakrishna told IANS.
The BIE envisioned restrictingthe number of students in a
class-room to 40, adhering to interna-tional standards of the
teacher-stu-dent ratio, considering the endlessnumber of students
corporate col-leges were cramming into class-rooms.
However, the court allowed 88students per classroom for this
aca-demic year.
Ramakrishna himself is clue-less about who recommended this88
ratio earlier, which was existingas a government order even
before
the court recommended it.The state government has cho-
sen not to challenge the HighCourt ruling in the Supreme Courtas
students and parents are eagerto start the academic year after
thetime they lost due to the coron-avirus pandemic.
“We cannot make the stu-dents keep on waiting. Already
theacademic year is almost over, theyare putting a lot of pressure
on usto open colleges. Even the man-agements want colleges to
beopened, they have admitted stu-dents and collected fees,”
observedRamakrishna.
In normal times, intermediateexaminations get over by
Februaryend. To make up for the lost time,the BIE will extend the
current aca-demic year till April and has alsoslashed some syllabus
for the firstand second year intermediatecourses, in synch with the
CBSE.
Syllabus reduction was coor-dinated with the CBSE so as not
toput the state students at a disad-vantage when they appear
fornational competitive examinationssuch as IIT, AIIMS and
others.
Ramakrishna, a 2009 batchIndian Revenue Service (IRS) offi-
cer has also clipped the wings ofseveral corporate colleges
overconducting their own admissiontests.
“The admissions should bemade based on the SSC (Xth stan-dard)
pass or equivalency obtainedin the qualifying examination.They
should not conduct any testfor admission. All the principals
areinstructed to take measures to pro-vide full security to girl
studentsand also follow the instructionsissued for prevention of
suicidedeaths strictly,” observed the BIEsecretary.
Likewise, intermediate col-leges have also been restrictedfrom
admitting students in the sec-ond year who have completedtheir
first year in Telangana inter-mediate colleges.
“The curriculum of the syl-labus is different in both the
states.If any student is interested tostudy in Andhra, they should
takeadmission into first year only,” hesaid.
Similarly, college principalshave been instructed to take
theBIE's permission before admittingstudents who studied in the
Xthstandard from other boards. IANS
Firozabad (UP): A 28-year-old man dragged a 16-year-old minor
girl into a field and allegedly rapedher while his friend filmed
the act on a mobile phoneto blackmail her later. The alleged
incident took placein Narkhi area of Uttar Pradesh's Firozabad
district.
An FIR has been registered against the twoaccused men of the
same village on the complaint ofthe victim and the main accused has
been arrested.
According to the father of victim, the accusedBhuri Singh had
raped his daughter when she hadgone to collect fodder for cattle on
December 1.
His friend Anil Kumar, 25, had shot video of thecrime. And both
of them threatened his daughter toupload the video on social media
if she told anyoneabout the incident.
The victim said that Singh and Kumar raped herseveral times over
the last one month by blackmail-ing her with the video. The girl
claimed that when sherefused to meet the two men earlier this
month, theycirculated her video on social media.
Additional Superintendent of Police, MukeshChandra Mishra said:
“On basis of the complaintreceived from the minor girl, a case has
been regis-tered against Bhuri Singh and Anil Kumar under theIPC
section 376 (punishment for rape), sections of theSC/ST act and
information technology act.”
He said that while Singh has been sent to jail oncourt orders.
The other accused will also be arrestedsoon. IANS
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Never before have globaleducation systemsundergone such
stress-ful times as wereunleashed on these — and theentire
humanity, in fact — by theCOVID-19 pandemic. The chil-dren suffered
unprecedentedrestrictions owing to lockdownand home confinement for
extend-ed durations; away from theirclassrooms, friends,
classmatesand teachers. There is considerableevidence of emotional,
mentaland neurological impact on chil-dren, among others. Learning
hasalso suffered much.
Mobiles, online learning andcontact with friends for the
luckyfew did bring some solace but theseexperiences had their own
limita-tions and inadequacies. Sufferingwas common to all, and
caring wasexperienced from all sides. In thesetough times, positive
vibes and ten-der, humane aspects were promi-nently evident all
around. That was,and remains, the biggest ray ofhope. The pandemic
is not yet overbut confidence has been regained:Vaccines are
available; and humaningenuity shall overcome all adver-sity, no
matter how major a deter-rent and of what magnitude theodds are. In
the spirit of “We shallovercome”, things shall be put backon rails
and start moving aheadmaybe with even greater vigour,confidence and
assurance. Theworld’s population in the aftermathof the Coronavirus
affliction wouldrequire new knowledge and newskill sets and, hence,
all countriesshall strive to transform their edu-cation systems in
the face of theemerging post-COVID world.
The world will no longer bethe same to which all of us havebeen
accustomed for generations.This is the time for
individuals,families, communities, countriesand international
organisations toenvision the measure and magni-tude of the
transition, be part ofit and ensure that the rhythm
ofcivilisational advancement is sus-tained. Just when the number
ofCorona positive cases had startedindicating a downward
trend,media reports about the detectionof a new and more
dangerousstrain in the UK have practicallynumbed the world.
Suddenly, thehope of the impending relief withthe arrival of the
anti-COVID vac-cines has given way to disturbingapprehensions and
uncertainty.
A long battle ahead against theinvisible, albeit
life-threatening,adversary appears inevitable. Itwould need people
of the highesttalent, commitment, dedication
and spirit of service, and itwould need institutions of high-er
education and research to getready at the optimum level oftheir
efficiency to serve a glob-al cause. There would be noinstitution
of higher learningthat could afford to ignore it inthe totality of
its functioning.
The ray of hope, one wouldlike to emphasise, lies in the
factthat human ingenuity wouldfinally win over. No calamity,
vio-lence, war or any pandemiccould ever dampen the humanspirit to
confront it, to explore theman-nature relationship and
per-sistently unearth deeper secrets ofnature. This eternal human
quest— symbolised by learning, re-learning and unlearning —
shallcontinue with renewed vigour inthe years ahead. It would be
sus-tained by the dynamic educationpolicies that would be
subjectedto serious transformationsimposed by the pandemic.
India came out with a much-delayed new education policythat
underwent finalisation in thethick of the Coronavirus crisis;thus
enhancing its relevance andreadiness for a pragmatic, quickand
sustained response. TheNational Education Policy (NEP-2020)
presents a lofty transforma-tional vision and
strategicallyindicates how to move ahead.One could scrutinise it
for theinclusion of experiences and itspotential to comprehend
theemerging aspirations and expec-tations of people. These shall
haveto be achieved by the educationsystem through enhanced levelsof
quality, dynamic skill acquisi-tion, appropriate
personalitydevelopment, character building,innovations and
research, andeverything else that is part of the
man-making education.Going ahead, the NEP-2020
shall be continuously assessed inits epistemological strength
onthe premise that SwamiVivekananda had put beforeIndia more than
125 years ago:“We must have life-building,man-making,
character-makingassimilation of ideas.” This, hetaught us, is the
summum bonumof education, an education thataims at developing the
an indi-vidual’s personality. He firmlydeprecated the practice of
edu-cation that drives into the minds“of the learner a mass of
infor-mation in which he may devel-op no interest”. The
individual-ity of every child is to be com-prehended and respected
as a liv-ing and growing up entity withinnate capacities and
potential-ities, which are to be drawn out.
When the “Report toUNESCO of the InternationalCommission on
Education forthe Twenty-First Century” waspresented under the
title“Learning: The Treasure Within”,it accepted the
philosophicalbase that Indian thinkers havepropounded since the
ancienttimes. There are no limits tolearning and growing up.
Theseelements need to be integralingredients in the implementa-tion
of the NEP-2020.
The Indian education systemsuffered as it ignored the
much-needed transition in strategy atthe time of Independence
andopted for the convenience of con-tinuing with the transplanted
sys-tem. In spite of commendableexpansion in access and
partici-pation, India’s youth had to wadethrough the dilution of
quality,inadequacy of personality devel-opment, lack of
self-confidence,
disturbing levels of inadequacy ofentrepreneurial spirit and
thespirit of caring and sharing. Thegap between the learner
attain-ment and the level required/expected has become
worrisome.
On the positive side, Indialearnt from its lapses and
theNEP-2020 responds to the chal-lenges as it opens its first
chap-ter with the words: “Education isfundamental for achieving
fullhuman potential, developing anequitable and just society,
andpromoting national develop-ment. Providing universal accessto
quality education is the key toIndia’s continued ascent
andleadership on the global stage interms of economic growth,
socialjustice, equality, scientificadvancement, national
integra-tion and cultural preservation.Universal high-quality
educa-tion is the best way forward fordeveloping and maximising
ourcountry’s rich talents andresources for the good of the
indi-vidual, the society, the countryand for the world.” The youth
ofIndia have the added responsibil-ity of acquiring the highest
lev-els of competence, knowledgeand entrepreneurial skills in
theglobal context and requirement.Our global presence would be
agreat opportunity to put India atthe high pedestal on the
world’sstage. India’s youth abroad shouldbe responsible ambassadors
of itsculture, history and heritage.
India needs to uplift its insti-tutions to the level of
Taxila,Nalanda, Vikramshila, Vallabhiand suchlike. The
NEP-2020acknowledges it and inspiresIndia’s youth to march ahead
onthe path of excellence. It recallsthe contributions made by
theluminaries in the fields of math-
ematics, astronomy, metallurgy,medical sciences,
engineering,architecture, ship-building, nav-igation and many
others. The tra-ditional Indian education systemproduced scholars,
researchers,scientists and philosophers of thehighest calibre;
whose contribu-tions were indeed astounding fortheir times, and
continue toserve humanity even at this junc-ture. Can anyone in the
moderncivilised world ignore the contri-butions of
Aryabhatta,Varahmihir, Bhaskaracharya,Brahmagupta,
Chanakya,Patanjali, Panini, Maitreyi, Gargi,Thiruvalluvur and
Gautama etal? Their contributions andexemplary dedication and
devo-tion were worthy of acharyas.
The NEP-2020 has preparedthe necessary outline and strat-egy for
the same. The challengeof implementation is facing thenation and
the extent of successat another milestone would real-ly make a
difference. The primeacceptors of the challenges thatwould unfold
at the implemen-tation stage would be teachereducators, teachers
and teachereducation institutions. Theywould determine the quality
ofthe persons coming out of theschools and universities.
The NEP-2020 takes a com-prehensive view on the role ofteachers:
“The teacher must be atthe centre of the fundamentalreforms in
education system.The new education policy musthelp re-establish
teachers, at alllevels, as the most respected andessential members
of our society,because they truly reshape theupcoming generations
of citizens.It must do everything to empow-er teachers and help
them dotheir job as effectively as possible.The new education
policy musthelp recruit the very best and thebrightest to enter the
teachingprofession at all levels by ensur-ing livelihood, respect,
dignityand autonomy while also instill-ing in the system basic
qualitycontrol and accountability.”
The effective implementa-tion of the NEP-2020 would bepossible
only through a trans-formed work culture that respectsthe learner,
his sensitivities, aspi-rations and expectations. Thiscan be
achieved only with theteachers who are lifelong learn-ers and
personally convinced oftheir role as the builders of “NewIndia”.
Only they would be ableto transform the learning envi-ronment, in
which every childwho enters the system is welllooked after, her/his
talent andinterests are nourished and nur-tured and s/he is
prepared toenter the world of employmentfully equipped
professionally,mentally and spiritually.
(The author works in edu-cation and social cohesion. Theviews
expressed are personal.)
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