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I ndia on Thursday refuted China’s claim that troops from both sides had disengaged from most of the friction points at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and said the process is “not completed.” This firm assertion by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) came sometime after Chinese Ambassador to India Sun Weidong said border troops of both the countries “have disengaged in most local- ities” and China was not a strategic threat to India. “Border troops have dis- engaged in most localities, sit- uation on ground is de-esca- lating and temperature is com- ing down. China is committed to peaceful development and is not a strategic threat to India,” Weidong said. MEA Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava, however, said, “Some progress has been made, but disengagement process has not yet been com- pleted. The senior commanders of the two sides will be meet- ing in near future to work out steps in this regard,” he added. Srivastava also said India and China agreed that early and complete disengagement of troops along the LAC and de- escalation from border areas, and full restoration of peace and tranquility was essential for smooth overall development of bilateral relations. Giving the background, the spokesperson said it was agreed last week by India and China in the 17th meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation & Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) early and complete disengagement of the troops along the LAC and de-escalation from India- China border areas in accor- dance with bilateral agreement and protocols and full restora- tion of peace and tranquility was essential for smooth overall development of bilateral relations. This was also the agreement reached between the two Special Representatives, National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, in their conversation on July 5. “As we have stated earlier, the maintenance of peace and tranquility in the border areas is the basis of our bilateral rela- tionship. Therefore, we expect that the Chinese side will sin- cerely work with us for complete disengagement and de-escalation and full restora- tion of peace and tranquility in the border areas at the earliest as agreed to by the Special Representatives,” Srivastava said. Meanwhile, the Chinese envoy also said both sides should properly handle differences to bring bilateral relations back to nor- mal track. “Both sides should grasp fundamental interests of two countries and their peo- ples, stick to friendly coopera- tion,” he said. The Chinese claim and India countering it came as both the sides are now prepar- ing for the fifth round of Corps Commander-level talks in the next few days. The two senior military officers will review the pace of withdrawal of troops from the four stand-off sites in Eastern Ladakh. India will also insist that status quo ante be restored by China by retreating to its posi- tions as were there in April end. The first face-off took place on May 5 when the Chinese troops intruded more than 5 km into India at the Pangong Tso (lake)and obstructed an Indian patrol. It resulted in fisticuffs and some soldiers from both sides getting injured. The Indian Corps Commander will also take up the issue of China not with- drawing its troops from Pangong Tso. The Chinese troops are now positioned on some of the crucial mountain spurs near the lake thereby pos- ing a grave threat to the Indian interests. In a positive development, the troops from both sides have pulled back to their respective rear locations from the stand-off sites in the Galwan valley and Hot Springs. The withdrawals from Hot Springs are slow from the Chinese side. Another cause of concern is the Chinese reluctance to pull back more than 40,000 troops now deployed at the front and depth areas. The two sides in the earlier meetings had agreed to thin down the strength of troops and weapons as a con- fidence building measure. This has not come about and the Indian security estab- lishment is also not taking any chances. The Indian Army has also trained and acclimatised more than 25,000 troops for deployment in Ladakh where oxygen levels are low. The Indian troops are also adjust- ed to cold weather as most of them have served tenures in Siachen and other such tough terrain. These troops are now in position at vantage places in Ladakh and will be deployed according to emerging situa- tion in the coming days, sources said adding the armed forces are ready for a long haul. In order to enable soldiers to function even during harsh winter months when tempera- ture dips to minus 20 degrees in Ladakh, the Army is making provisions for portable cabins to withstand cold. Also, to meet any additional require- ments, the Government has allowed the armed forces to buy more special tents and shelters meant for high altitudes from Indian and foreign vendors on emergency basis, sources said. A charya Pradeep Das, the assistant to the chief priest of the Ram Janmabhoomi tem- ple, said that he has tested pos- itive for coronavirus. Besides, 16 policemen on duty at Ayodhya, where the ‘bhoomi pujan’ ceremony for the Ram temple is scheduled to be held on August 5, have also tested positive for Covid-19. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to attend the ceremony along with about 200 guests. Last Saturday, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had visited the Ram Janmabhoomi complex to review preparations for the August 5 event. Photos and videos from the day show the coronavirus-pos- itive priest Pradeep Das stand- ing next to the Chief Minister during a ritual. The Ram Janmabhoomi chief priest, Acharya Satyendra Das, who will lead the August 5 ceremony, was also seen standing next to the men. Meanwhile, Trust sources said that the programme will go ahead as planned, maintaining all the safety rules for Covid-19. Ayodhya, at present, has 375 active cases of coronavirus while Uttar Pradesh has 29,997 cases. I n a major relief to people especially those using diesel vehicles for commercial pur- poses, diesel price in Delhi was on Thursday cut by 8.36 per litre after the AAP Government rolled back a VAT hike that had made the fuel uncompetitive in comparison to adjoining cities such as Gurugram and Noida. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced a reduction in VAT or sales tax on diesel from 30 per cent to 16.75 per cent, saying the move will help the city’s economy recover from the impact of coronavirus pandemic. The reduction in the value- added tax (VAT) rate, which would be effective from mid- night, will help bring down the price of diesel to 73.64 per litre, he said. The Delhi Government had on May 5 hiked VAT on petrol to 30 per cent from 27 per cent and on diesel from 16.75 per cent to 30 per cent. The May 5 VAT hike trans- lated into steepest ever price increase of 7.10 per litre in diesel. Rates of petrol went up by 1.67 a litre. The subsequent increase in the base price of diesel because of a surge in international rates led to an increase in the incidence of VAT as the tax is levied on ad valorem basis. The VAT hike made diesel costlier than it was being sold in adjoining cities - Gurugram, Noida and Ghaziabad, putting local industries using the fuel at a cost disadvantage. S eeking to launch a money- laundering probe against Bollywood actress Rhea Chakraborty and others accused in the case relating to the death of film star Sushant Singh Rajput, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday requested from the Bihar Police a copy of the FIR registered in this connection. The ED move comes even as the Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seek- ing transfer of the probe into Rajput’s death case from Mumbai Police to the CBI. The ED has written to the Bihar Police asking for the copy of the FIR as the Central agency wants to study the criminal case for exploring the possibility of going ahead with a probe under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Money laundering being a predicate offence, the ED needs to form the Bihar Police case as the basis to initiate the PMLA case, officials said.The deceased actor’s father Krishna Kumar Singh (74) had on Tuesday lodged an FIR in Patna against Chakraborty, her family mem- bers and six others on charges of alleged abetment to suicide of his son. Dismissing the PIL seeking transfer of the Mumbai Police case into Rajput’s deaths, an SC bench comprising Chief Justice SA Bobde and Justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian said that Mumbai Police be allowed to do the job and if there is some- thing, then a plea be filed before Bombay High Court. J ust when the experts had started becoming hopeful from the results of serological surveys conducted in Delhi about the possibility of achiev- ing herd immunity to contain the spread of the deadly Covid- 19, the Centre on Thursday said with its huge population, herd immunity cannot be a strategic option in the country as it will come at a very high cost in terms of human lives. “It can only be achieved through immunisation. The Health Ministry thinks it’s possible in future but for now we’ve to follow Covid-19 appropriate behaviour,” said Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan at a Press briefing here. “Herd immunity is an indirect protection from a dis- ease. In a country the size of India, it cannot be a strategic choice or option. It can only be an outcome, and that too at a very high cost as it means lakhs of people will have to be infect- ed, get hospitalised and many will die in the process,” Bhushan said. “Hence, it can only be achieved through immunisa- tion but that is in the future,” he said on the day when India registered 50,000 cases from across the country taking tally to over 15.30 lakh cases. J ust four days of launching “Rozgaar Bazaar” by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, 7,577 companies have registered on the job portal, 2,04,785 jobs have been adver- tised, and 3,22,865 job seekers have applied on the portal. Also, the Government con- firmed this data in a statement issued to the media on Thursday. The CM on Thursday held a meeting with 28 industry associations and urged them to join hands in reviving the national Capital’s economy. During the meeting held via video-conferencing, the CM listened to the suggestions made by the industry repre- sentatives and assured them of the Delhi Government’s full support to help their operations return to normal. “The CM assured industry representatives that he will per- sonally go through each of their suggestions to revive Delhi’s economy and if need be, get Centre’s support too, to ensure problems being faced by Delhi’s industries get resolved,” the Government said in a statement. Kejriwal also said many firms, businesses, and small and big industries were facing issues in finding labour and manpower to work for them. On the other hand, the existing job-seekers, who lost their jobs during the lock- down in Delhi, have not been able to find the right platform for better opportunities, the statement said. T hree Assam Rifles person- nel were killed and and six others injured in an ambush by suspected insurgents of the banned People’s Liberation Army in Manipur’s Chandel district, Indian Army sources said on Thursday. Suspected militants waited behind rocks and trees before triggering a blast that startled an Assam Rifles patrol in Khongtal near the India- Myanmar border around 6.30 pm on Wednesday. Even before the personnel could gather their wits follow- ing the explosion, possibly triggered by an improvised explosive device (IED), they came under a fusillade of gun- fire from automatic weapons. Army sources said the per- sonnel retaliated, forcing the attackers to flee. The deceased have been identified as Pranay Kalita, Ratan Salam and Methna Konyak, all from the fourth battalion of the country’s oldest paramilitary force. Their bodies have been sent to Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences Hospital, Imphal, for post mortem. The injured have been shifted to a military hospital in Manipur’s Kangpokpi district. Condemning the attack, Chief Minister N Biren Singh called it “an act of cowardice”. “I strongly condemn the cow- ardice attack on 4 Assam Rifles in Chandel district. My tributes to the security personnel mar- tyred in the attack,” he said. A Delhi court on Thursday awarded 4-year jail term to ex-Samata Party president Jaya Jaitley and two others for corruption in a 2000-01 case related to a purported defence deal saying they “compro- mised the entire defence sys- tem of the country.”However, the order was stayed by the Delhi High Court later in the day. Special CBI judge Virender Bhat also awarded 4- year jail term to Jaitley’s for- mer party colleague Gopal Pacherwal and Major General (rtd) SP Murgai in the case. There should be zero tol- erance towards corruption in defence procurement deals as these have direct bearing upon sovereignty of our coun- try, the court said. G uinness World Records on Thursday honoured Indian math genius Shakuntala Devi with the long overdue record title for “fastest human com- putation”, four decades after she achieved the feat. The fastest human com- putation is 28 seconds and was achieved by Shakuntala Devi by successfully multiply- ing two randomly selected 13- digit numbers, at Imperial College London, UK, on June 18, 1980. The certification was received by Anupama Banerji, daughter of the late mathe- matician. Banerji said she was barely 10 when her mother made the world record. “Wherever I went, all peo- ple would speak about was that record. So I knew it was a huge achievement worldwide.” C ongress MLAs will camp at the Fairmount hotel in Jaipur for another fortnight till the Assembly session starts on August 14. The rebel MLAs led by Sachin Pilot have indicat- ed they too will attend the Assembly session amid signs of some “cooling off” in the war between the two camps. The Congress legislature party (CLP) on Thursday decided that the MLAs should continue to be safely ensconced at the hotel to keep the “poachers” at bay. In a development that could worry Gehlot, the Rajasthan High Court issued a notice to Speaker and Secretary of the Legislative Assembly as well as the six BSP MLAs who merged with the Congress party on a petition filed by BJP lawmaker Madan Dilawar. The court has asked them to file their reply by August 11. Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said that as soon as the date of the Assembly session was fixed, the horse-trading amount offered has reached an “unlimited’ rate. “Earlier, the first install- ment was of 10 crore and sec- ond was of 15 crore. Now it has become unlimited and all know who is doing horse- trading,” said Gehlot. Gehlot also offered an olive branch to the rebel MLAs saying those who have not accepted money from the BJP should come back to the party fold. “Those who have not yet taken the first installments from the BJP should come back to the party,” he said. I mages of Lord Ram and 3D portraits of the grand Ram Temple in Ayodhya will be beamed across the giant bill- boards in the iconic Times Square here on August 5 to celebrate the temple’s groundbreaking ceremony, with organisers describing the commemoration as a one-of-a-kind and historic event. Prominent community leader and President of the American India Public Affairs Committee Jagdish Sewhani on Wednesday said that arrangements are being made to celebrate the historic moment in New York on August 5, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to lay the foun- dation stone for construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya. Sewhani told PTI that among the prominent bill- boards that are being leased for the occasion are the giant Nasdaq screen and the 17,000-square-foot wrap- around LED display screen, considered among the largest continuous exterior displays in the world and the highest- resolution exterior LED screen in Times Square.
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˘ ˇˆ ’ . ˛ & ˘ ˛ /0/ · 2 days ago · Chinese Ambassador to India Sun Weidong said border ... and some soldiers from both sides getting injured. ... The withdrawals from

Aug 02, 2020

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Page 1: ˘ ˇˆ ’ . ˛ & ˘ ˛ /0/ · 2 days ago · Chinese Ambassador to India Sun Weidong said border ... and some soldiers from both sides getting injured. ... The withdrawals from

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India on Thursday refutedChina’s claim that troops

from both sides had disengagedfrom most of the friction pointsat the Line of Actual Control(LAC) and said the process is“not completed.”

This firm assertion by theMinistry of External Affairs(MEA) came sometime afterChinese Ambassador to IndiaSun Weidong said bordertroops of both the countries“have disengaged in most local-ities” and China was not astrategic threat to India.

“Border troops have dis-engaged in most localities, sit-uation on ground is de-esca-lating and temperature is com-ing down. China is committedto peaceful development and isnot a strategic threat to India,”Weidong said.

MEA SpokespersonAnurag Srivastava, however,said, “Some progress has beenmade, but disengagementprocess has not yet been com-pleted. The senior commandersof the two sides will be meet-ing in near future to work outsteps in this regard,” he added.

Srivastava also said Indiaand China agreed that earlyand complete disengagement oftroops along the LAC and de-escalation from border areas,and full restoration of peaceand tranquility was essential forsmooth overall development ofbilateral relations.

Giving the background,the spokesperson said it was

agreed last week by India and China in the 17th meetingof the Working Mechanismfor Consultation &Coordination on India-ChinaBorder Affairs (WMCC) earlyand complete disengagement of the troops along the LACand de-escalation from India-China border areas in accor-dance with bilateral agreementand protocols and full restora-tion of peace and tranquilitywas essential for smooth overall development of bilateralrelations. This was also theagreement reached betweenthe two Special Representatives,National Security Adviser(NSA) Ajit Doval and ChineseForeign Minister Wang Yi, intheir conversation on July 5.

“As we have stated earlier,the maintenance of peace andtranquility in the border areasis the basis of our bilateral rela-tionship. Therefore, we expectthat the Chinese side will sin-

cerely work with us for complete disengagement andde-escalation and full restora-tion of peace and tranquility in the border areas at the earliest as agreed to by theSpecial Representatives,”Srivastava said.

Meanwhile, the Chineseenvoy also said both sides should properly handle differences to bringbilateral relations back to nor-mal track. “Both sides shouldgrasp fundamental interests oftwo countries and their peo-ples, stick to friendly coopera-tion,” he said.

The Chinese claim andIndia countering it came asboth the sides are now prepar-ing for the fifth round of CorpsCommander-level talks in thenext few days. The two seniormilitary officers will review thepace of withdrawal of troopsfrom the four stand-off sites inEastern Ladakh.

India will also insist thatstatus quo ante be restored byChina by retreating to its posi-tions as were there in April end.The first face-off took place onMay 5 when the Chinese troopsintruded more than 5 km intoIndia at the Pangong Tso(lake)and obstructed an Indianpatrol. It resulted in fisticuffsand some soldiers from bothsides getting injured.

The Indian CorpsCommander will also take upthe issue of China not with-drawing its troops fromPangong Tso. The Chinesetroops are now positioned onsome of the crucial mountainspurs near the lake thereby pos-ing a grave threat to the Indianinterests.

In a positive development,the troops from both sideshave pulled back to theirrespective rear locations fromthe stand-off sites in theGalwan valley and Hot Springs.

The withdrawals from HotSprings are slow from theChinese side.

Another cause of concernis the Chinese reluctance to pullback more than 40,000 troopsnow deployed at the front anddepth areas. The two sides inthe earlier meetings had agreedto thin down the strength oftroops and weapons as a con-fidence building measure.

This has not come aboutand the Indian security estab-lishment is also not taking anychances. The Indian Army hasalso trained and acclimatisedmore than 25,000 troops fordeployment in Ladakh whereoxygen levels are low. TheIndian troops are also adjust-ed to cold weather as most ofthem have served tenures inSiachen and other such toughterrain.

These troops are now inposition at vantage places inLadakh and will be deployedaccording to emerging situa-tion in the coming days,sources said adding the armedforces are ready for a long haul.

In order to enable soldiersto function even during harshwinter months when tempera-ture dips to minus 20 degreesin Ladakh, the Army is makingprovisions for portable cabinsto withstand cold. Also, tomeet any additional require-ments, the Government hasallowed the armed forces to buymore special tents and sheltersmeant for high altitudes fromIndian and foreign vendors onemergency basis, sources said.

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Acharya Pradeep Das, theassistant to the chief priest

of the Ram Janmabhoomi tem-ple, said that he has tested pos-itive for coronavirus.

Besides, 16 policemen onduty at Ayodhya, where the‘bhoomi pujan’ ceremony forthe Ram temple is scheduled tobe held on August 5, have alsotested positive for Covid-19.

Prime Minister NarendraModi is expected to attend theceremony along with about200 guests.

Last Saturday, UP ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath hadvisited the Ram Janmabhoomicomplex to review preparationsfor the August 5 event.

Photos and videos from theday show the coronavirus-pos-itive priest Pradeep Das stand-ing next to the Chief Ministerduring a ritual.

The Ram Janmabhoomichief priest, Acharya SatyendraDas, who will lead the August5 ceremony, was also seenstanding next to the men.

Meanwhile, Trust sourcessaid that the programme will goahead as planned, maintainingall the safety rules for Covid-19.

Ayodhya, at present, has375 active cases of coronaviruswhile Uttar Pradesh has 29,997cases.

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In a major relief to peopleespecially those using diesel

vehicles for commercial pur-poses, diesel price in Delhi wason Thursday cut by �8.36 perlitre after the AAP Governmentrolled back a VAT hike that hadmade the fuel uncompetitive incomparison to adjoining citiessuch as Gurugram and Noida.

Delhi Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal announced areduction in VAT or sales taxon diesel from 30 per cent to16.75 per cent, saying the movewill help the city’s economyrecover from the impact ofcoronavirus pandemic.

The reduction in the value-added tax (VAT) rate, whichwould be effective from mid-night, will help bring down theprice of diesel to �73.64 perlitre, he said.

The Delhi Governmenthad on May 5 hiked VAT onpetrol to 30 per cent from 27per cent and on diesel from

16.75 per cent to 30 per cent.The May 5 VAT hike trans-

lated into steepest ever priceincrease of �7.10 per litre indiesel. Rates of petrol went upby �1.67 a litre. The subsequentincrease in the base price ofdiesel because of a surge ininternational rates led to anincrease in the incidence ofVAT as the tax is levied on advalorem basis.

The VAT hike made dieselcostlier than it was being soldin adjoining cities - Gurugram,Noida and Ghaziabad, puttinglocal industries using the fuelat a cost disadvantage.

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Seeking to launch a money-laundering probe against

Bollywood actress RheaChakraborty and othersaccused in the case relating tothe death of film star SushantSingh Rajput, the EnforcementDirectorate (ED) on Thursdayrequested from the Bihar Policea copy of the FIR registered inthis connection.

The ED move comes evenas the Supreme Court onThursday dismissed a PublicInterest Litigation (PIL) seek-ing transfer of the probe intoRajput’s death case fromMumbai Police to the CBI.

The ED has written to theBihar Police asking for thecopy of the FIR as the Centralagency wants to study thecriminal case for exploring thepossibility of going ahead witha probe under the Preventionof Money Laundering Act(PMLA).

Money laundering being apredicate offence, the ED needsto form the Bihar Police case as

the basis to initiate the PMLAcase, officials said.The deceasedactor’s father Krishna KumarSingh (74) had on Tuesdaylodged an FIR in Patna againstChakraborty, her family mem-bers and six others on chargesof alleged abetment to suicideof his son.

Dismissing the PIL seekingtransfer of the Mumbai Policecase into Rajput’s deaths, an SCbench comprising Chief JusticeSA Bobde and Justices ASBopanna and VRamasubramanian said thatMumbai Police be allowed todo the job and if there is some-thing, then a plea be filedbefore Bombay High Court.

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Just when the experts hadstarted becoming hopeful

from the results of serologicalsurveys conducted in Delhiabout the possibility of achiev-ing herd immunity to containthe spread of the deadly Covid-19, the Centre on Thursdaysaid with its huge population,herd immunity cannot be astrategic option in the countryas it will come at a very high

cost in terms of human lives.“It can only be achieved

through immunisation. TheHealth Ministry thinks it’spossible in future but for nowwe’ve to follow Covid-19appropriate behaviour,” saidHealth Secretary RajeshBhushan at a Press briefinghere.

“Herd immunity is anindirect protection from a dis-ease. In a country the size ofIndia, it cannot be a strategic

choice or option. It can only bean outcome, and that too at avery high cost as it means lakhsof people will have to be infect-ed, get hospitalised and manywill die in the process,”Bhushan said.

“Hence, it can only beachieved through immunisa-tion but that is in the future,”he said on the day when Indiaregistered 50,000 cases fromacross the country taking tallyto over 15.30 lakh cases.

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Just four days of launching“Rozgaar Bazaar” by Delhi

Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal, 7,577 companies haveregistered on the job portal,2,04,785 jobs have been adver-tised, and 3,22,865 job seekershave applied on the portal.

Also, the Government con-firmed this data in a statementissued to the media onThursday.

The CM on Thursday helda meeting with 28 industryassociations and urged them tojoin hands in reviving thenational Capital’s economy.

During the meeting heldvia video-conferencing, theCM listened to the suggestionsmade by the industry repre-sentatives and assured them of

the Delhi Government’s fullsupport to help their operationsreturn to normal.

“The CM assured industryrepresentatives that he will per-sonally go through each of theirsuggestions to revive Delhi’seconomy and if need be, getCentre’s support too, to ensureproblems being faced by Delhi’sindustries get resolved,” theGovernment said in a statement.

Kejriwal also said manyfirms, businesses, and smalland big industries were facingissues in finding labour andmanpower to work for them.

On the other hand, theexisting job-seekers, who losttheir jobs during the lock-down in Delhi, have not beenable to find the right platformfor better opportunities, thestatement said.

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Three Assam Rifles person-nel were killed and and six

others injured in an ambush bysuspected insurgents of thebanned People’s LiberationArmy in Manipur’s Chandeldistrict, Indian Army sourcessaid on Thursday.

Suspected militants waitedbehind rocks and trees beforetriggering a blast that startledan Assam Rifles patrol inKhongtal near the India-Myanmar border around 6.30pm on Wednesday.

Even before the personnelcould gather their wits follow-ing the explosion, possiblytriggered by an improvisedexplosive device (IED), theycame under a fusillade of gun-fire from automatic weapons.

Army sources said the per-sonnel retaliated, forcing theattackers to flee. The deceasedhave been identified as PranayKalita, Ratan Salam and

Methna Konyak, all from thefourth battalion of the country’soldest paramilitary force.

Their bodies have beensent to Jawaharlal NehruInstitute of Medical SciencesHospital, Imphal, for postmortem. The injured have beenshifted to a military hospital inManipur’s Kangpokpi district.

Condemning the attack,Chief Minister N Biren Singhcalled it “an act of cowardice”.“I strongly condemn the cow-ardice attack on 4 Assam Riflesin Chandel district. My tributesto the security personnel mar-tyred in the attack,” he said.

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ADelhi court on Thursdayawarded 4-year jail term

to ex-Samata Party presidentJaya Jaitley and two others forcorruption in a 2000-01 caserelated to a purported defencedeal saying they “compro-mised the entire defence sys-tem of the country.”However,the order was stayed by theDelhi High Court later in theday.

Special CBI judgeVirender Bhat also awarded 4-year jail term to Jaitley’s for-mer party colleague GopalPacherwal and Major General(rtd) SP Murgai in the case.

There should be zero tol-erance towards corruption indefence procurement dealsas these have direct bearingupon sovereignty of our coun-try, the court said.

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Guinness World Records onThursday honoured Indian

math genius Shakuntala Deviwith the long overdue recordtitle for “fastest human com-putation”, four decades after sheachieved the feat.

The fastest human com-putation is 28 seconds andwas achieved by ShakuntalaDevi by successfully multiply-ing two randomly selected 13-digit numbers, at ImperialCollege London, UK, on June18, 1980.

The certification wasreceived by Anupama Banerji,daughter of the late mathe-matician. Banerji said she wasbarely 10 when her mothermade the world record.

“Wherever I went, all peo-ple would speak about was thatrecord. So I knew it was a hugeachievement worldwide.”

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Congress MLAs will campat the Fairmount hotel in

Jaipur for another fortnight tillthe Assembly session starts onAugust 14. The rebel MLAs ledby Sachin Pilot have indicat-ed they too will attend theAssembly session amid signsof some “cooling off ” in thewar between the two camps.

The Congress legislatureparty (CLP) on Thursdaydecided that the MLAs shouldcontinue to be safelyensconced at the hotel to keepthe “poachers” at bay.

In a development thatcould worry Gehlot, theRajasthan High Court issueda notice to Speaker and

Secretary of the LegislativeAssembly as well as the six BSPMLAs who merged with theCongress party on a petitionfiled by BJP lawmaker MadanDilawar. The court has askedthem to file their reply byAugust 11.

Chief Minister AshokGehlot said that as soon as thedate of the Assembly sessionwas fixed, the horse-tradingamount offered has reached an“unlimited’ rate.

“Earlier, the first install-ment was of �10 crore and sec-ond was of �15 crore. Now ithas become unlimited and allknow who is doing horse-trading,” said Gehlot.

Gehlot also offered anolive branch to the rebel MLAssaying those who have notaccepted money from the BJPshould come back to the partyfold. “Those who have not yettaken the first installmentsfrom the BJP should comeback to the party,” he said.

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Images of Lord Ram and 3Dportraits of the grand Ram

Temple in Ayodhya will bebeamed across the giant bill-boards in the iconic TimesSquare here on August 5 tocelebrate the temple’sgroundbreaking ceremony,with organisers describingthe commemoration as aone-of-a-kind and historicevent.

Prominent communityleader and President of theAmerican India PublicAffairs Committee JagdishSewhani on Wednesday saidthat arrangements are being

made to celebrate the historicmoment in New York onAugust 5, when PrimeMinister Narendra Modi is scheduled to lay the foun-dation stone for constructionof the Ram Temple inAyodhya.

Sewhani told PTI thatamong the prominent bill-boards that are being leasedfor the occasion are the giantNasdaq screen and the17,000-square-foot wrap-around LED display screen,considered among the largestcontinuous exterior displaysin the world and the highest-resolution exterior LEDscreen in Times Square.

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Aday after the CentralGovernment issued

Unlock 3.0 guidelines, PunjabChief Minister CaptAmarinder Singh on Thursdaymade it clear that any decisionon giving more relaxations,including ending night curfew,opening gyms etc, would betaken after ground assessmentand receiving inputs from alldistricts.

For the same, the ChiefMinister has sought the viewsof all the DeputyCommissioners on the open-ing of gyms, among otherthings.

During a videoconferenc-ing review meeting with theDCs and health officials onCOVID-19 containment andmanagement arrangements,the Chief Minister said: “Whilethe Central Government hasannounced certain relaxations,including permission for gyms,as per the Unlock 3.0 guide-lines, I will decide on the sameafter an assessment of theground situation.” He asked theDCs to think through andsubmit their views to the ChiefSecretary Vini Mahajan, fol-lowing which a final decisionwill be taken by theGovernment after due delib-erations.

Underlining the need forstrict enforcement in view ofincreasing number of cases inthe State, the Chief Ministersaid that while there was a lotof demand from youngsters foropening of gyms, the modali-ties would have to be thoughtthrough and all options to beexplored before the decisioncan be taken.

Taking serious note ofreports of violation of socialdistancing and other COVID-19 protocols by some shop-keepers, he directed the DCs toorder shutdown of shops forthree days in the case of thefirst offence and for a higher

number of days on subsequentviolations.He further askedthe DCs to strictly enforce allsafety protocols and norms,including wearing of masksand social distancing, to checkthe spread of the pandemic.

Health Adviser Dr KKTalwar pointed out that scien-tific data shows that wearing ofmasks is as effective as lock-down, as it not only preventsspread of infection but alsolowers mortality.

DGP Dinkar Guptainformed the meeting thatfrom March 23 to July 29, atotal of 14,384 FIRs have beenregistered and 19,850 personsarrested for various violations.As many as 5,50,150 personshave been fined for violation ofthe COVID-19 guidelines.

Expressing grave concernover the increasing mortality,the Chief Minister called forconcerted efforts to bringdown the fatality rate. Punjabhas so far lost 370 lives toCOVID-19, with 25 patientssuccumbing since last night, hepointed out, adding that thiswas not acceptable.

With early detection theonly cure, the message of earlytreatment has to go do downmore effectively, he said,directing the DCs to take allsteps necessary to create aware-ness among people to go fortesting at the first sign of ill-ness.Even as he thanked theDCs for the remarkable workbeing done in the battle againstCOVID-19 to keep the situa-tion in Punjab better thanmany other states, the ChiefMinister said that the risingnumber of cases was a matterof concern.

Given the spiraling cases,all DCs should work closelywith the Health Department aswell as the Police to secure thewilling cooperation and sup-port of the people, religiousand community leaders, hesaid. Overcrowding and polit-ical or religious gatherings

resulting in violation of socialdistancing should be strictlychecked, he said.The DCs ofsome of the worst affecteddistricts, namely Amritsar,Jalandhar, Patiala and Mohali,briefed the meeting on the sit-uation in their respectiveregions and the measures beingtaken to monitor, track, testand treat people.

Jalandhar SSP said thatgiven the social stigmaattached to COVID, the districtpolice has made it mandatoryfor all chemists to report thosebuying medicines for treat-ment of fever and flu.

The state currently has 64micro-containment zones, ofwhich 16 are in Jalandhar,which also has 20 clusters andone large outbreak. The max-imum number of clusters,however, are in Amritsar,though it has only two microcontainment zones.

Ludhiana (City), Jalandhar(City), Sangrur, Barnala,Patiala, Fatehgarh Sahib andFerozepur districts have seenthe maximum surge in cases ofpolice personnel testing posi-tive in the past one week.

The Chief Minister askedthe DCs to ensure that gov-ernment offices, includingtheir own, lead by example infollowing social distancingnorms. He suggested appoint-ment of a dedicated COVIDPrevention Monitor to ensurecompliance at every privateinstitution where a number ofpeople are expected to come.

He also asked DCs to takesteps for distribution of masksfree of cost to needy, and alsomake sanitisers and maskvending machines available atpublic places.He urged theDCs, along with NodalOfficers and appointedCOVID Patient TrackingOfficers, to engage with all ter-tiary care facilities, both gov-ernment and private, to opti-mise resource use to check anycomplaints in treatment.

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Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal on Thursday took

several important decisions toopen up Delhi's economyunder the Unlock 3 guidelinesissued by the CentralGovernment.

These decisions are in con-tinuation of several importantdecisions taken by Kejriwal inthe past few days to ensureDelhi's economy which wasimpacted severely by the lock-down, gets back on track.

Earlier in the week,Kejriwal launched 'RozgarBazaar' jobs portal to ensuresynchronisation between busi-nesses looking to hire andjob-seekers looking for job,permitted street hawkers tostart operating on a trial basisfor a week and de-linked hotelsfrom Covid hospitals so thatthey could start functioningnormally.

As part of the decisionstaken on Thursday underUnlock 3 guidelines, the DelhiGovernment has decided toend the night curfew that wasearlier in operation from 10pm to 5 am.

Since hotels of Delhi are nolonger linked to hospitals,Delhi Government has alsodecided to allow normal func-tioning of hotels and hospital-ity services, as already per-mitted under Centre's unlockguidelines.

As part of the order passedon Monday, the DelhiGovernment had allowedstreet hawkers to function inDelhi on a trial basis for a weekfrom 10am to 8pm. It wasdecided that the street hawk-ers will be permitted to func-tion in the future without anylimitations on operating hours.

Delhi Government hasalso allowed weekly bazaars tofunction on a trial basis for aweek with social distancingand all necessary precaution-ary measures.

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Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal on Thursday

met with the family ofCorona warrior late Dr JavedAli and offered them a finan-cial assistance of Rs 1 crore.

Kejriwal also said that theDelhi Government will dowhatever it can to support thefamily. Dr Javed Ali, a‘National Health Mission’(NHM) doctor had suc-cumbed to COVID-19. Hesaid that the people of Delhisalute the martyrdom andbravery of Dr Ali.

Dr Javed, 42, had con-tracted the infection in theline of duty. He contractedcoronavirus in June whileperforming his duties in acoronavirus facility.

“Today I met his familymembers and handed overfinancial assistance of Rs 1crore. This money cannotcompensate for the value oflife but it will at least bring

some relief to his family. It isa message that we care for ourCorona warriors and everycitizen of Delhi stands withthem,” he said.

Kejriwal said that the sit-uation in Delhi is controllednow by relentless work of ourCorona warriors. “This com-pensation amountannounced by the Delhi gov-ernment is giving confidenceto these warriors that the gov-ernment is with them andwill look after their family,” headded.

The CM also tweeted, "Inthe Corona period, our doc-tors are treating patients dayand night without caring fortheir lives.

One such CoronaWarrior Dr Javed Ali ji hadrecently succumbed to deathdue to COVID. Today I methis family and handed overRs 1 crore to his family asfinancial assistance and wewill help his family in futurealso."

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Delhi Deputy Chief MinisterManish Sisodia on

Thursday said that the newNational Education Policy(NEP) recommends a "highly-regulated" and "poorly-funded"education model, while it iseither confused or silent onhow the reforms outlined in itwill be achieved.

Sisodia referred the policyas a "progressive document"and said it recognises the flawsin the current education systembut was unable to break free ofthe pressures of old traditions.

"The NEP is a progressivedocument but there is no road-map for its implementation.The nation was waiting for a

new education policy for 34years. It is here now. It is a for-ward-looking document, whichaccepts the flaws of today’s edu-cation system but has twoissues with it -- it was unable tobreak free of the pressures ofeducation’s old traditions anddoes not say how the reformsthat it speaks of will beachieved,” he said.

The policy is either silentor confused on these issues,"Sisodia said, adding that thepolicy recommends a highly-regulated and poorly-fundededucation model. There is anattempt to escape from the gov-ernment'’s responsibility toprovide quality education in itsschools," he added.The deputychief minister further said that

fundamental teaching in moth-er tongue or regional languagesis a progressive step. We alsowelcome the focus on earlychildhood education,"

Teaching in the students''mother tongue or regional lan-guages up to Class 5, loweringthe stakes of board exams, asingle regulator for higher edu-cation institutions except forlaw and medical colleges andcommon entrance tests foruniversities are part of thesweeping reforms in the NEPunveiled on Wednesday.

Sisodia also said, "If thereare going to be commonentrance exams in universities,why do we need board exams?What is the need for duplica-tion? A policy, which is now

going to be in place for the nextfew decades, is completelysilent on sports."Replacing the10+2 structure of the schoolcurricula with a 5+3+3+4 cur-ricular structure correspondingto the 3-8, 8-11, 11-14 and 14-

18 age groups respectively,scrapping M.Phil programmesand implementing commonnorms for private and publichigher education institutionsare among other salient featuresof the new policy.

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Lieutenant Governor AnilBaijal on Thursday reject-

ed Delhi Cabinet’s decision onthe selection of lawyer panelto represent north-east riotcase and anti- CAA casesbefore the Delhi High courtand issued an order toimplement the lawyer panel ofthe Delhi Police to represent

the case.Importantly, underArticle 239AA(4) of the con-st itut ion, the DelhiGovernment is bound to fol-low the orders issued by theL-G.

Pertinently, on Tuesday,the Government’s Cabinetrejected the panel suggestedby the Delhi Police to repre-sent the riot cases citing seri-ous concern however L-GBaijal overturned Cabinet’sdecision by using his specialpowers.

The Delhi Governmentheld its Cabinet meeting onTuesday to decide on thematter of appointment of apanel of lawyers in theSupreme Court and HighCourt for cases related toriots in north-east Delhi andanti-CAA protests.

In this meeting, the DelhiCabinet rejected the panel oflawyers proposed by the DelhiPolice.

The Delhi Cabinet hasobserved that the courts havealready raised serious ques-tions on the fairness of inves-tigations done by the DelhiPolice in the riot cases.Cabinet has also observedthat in such a situation a free

and fair trial of these caseswould not be possible by apanel of lawyers selected bythe Delhi Police itself.

Keeping in mind the prin-ciples of the criminal justicesystem and the need to ensureindependence between inves-tigation and prosecution,

the Delhi Cabinet hasdirected the HomeDepartment to form animpartial panel of the bestpossible lawyers in the coun-try for the cases related to theDelhi riots.

“It was observed duringthe cabinet meetingthat atthe same time there shouldnot be any punishment orharassment of innocent peo-ple but the criminals shouldbe punished severely,” quotedCMO’ statement.

Releasing a statement onLG’s decision to reject cabi-net’s decision, the govern-ment said, “Cabinet of theDelhi Government had alsoobserved the fundamentalprinciple of any criminal jus-tice system is that the inves-tigation should be complete-ly independent and the inves-tigation should not interferewith the rest of the judicialprocess.”

“Keeping this principlein mind, the Delhi Cabinet

has observed that under suchcircumstances, it is not pos-sible to expect a free and fair

trial by lawyers appointed byDelhi Police. The Cabinet ofthe Delhi Government has

noted that the investigatingagency should not be allowedto decide the lawyers.”

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Even as key politicians oneafter another are reporting

covid-19 infection, MadhyaPradesh Government onThursday announced thateveryone may be he is a min-ister, MP or MLA or anyoneelse, is required to wear mask orwill be subjected to penalties.

Right from Chief MinisterShivraj Singh Chouhan, sever-al of his ministers, MPs, MLAsand senior bureaucrats havereported covid19 infections inthe recent past.

Office-bearers from RSSand Bharatiya Janata Partyincluding state head VDSharma and org general secre-tary Suhas Bhagat too havefound themselves in the list ofinfected persons, of late.“There

won’t be any visit from MP orMLA in districts till August 14,there won’t be no meetingwhich requires a mic, all ralliesand meetings are banned tillAug 14 and if required virtualmeetings could be carried outbut not more than five personscould gather at a single place,”Home minister NarottamMishra wearing mask toldmedia persons on Thursday.

Mask or cotton towel ismandatory for everyone andthose found in violation wouldbe punished with fine and min-isters, MPs and MLAs won’t beexception in this regard,affirmed the Home ministeradding everyone venturing intomarkets and public places isrequired to put on masks.Not tomention that this rule alsoapplies on the bureaucrats, said

Dr Mishra informing the mediathat rapid antigen tests havestarted in the state fromThursday.As Chief MinisterShivraj Singh Chouhan hasspecified, districts will be placedunder lockdown only whenthere is no alternative measureis left to rein in covid19,claimed the minister.

All these decisions weretaken in a review meetingchaired by Chief MinisterShivraj Singh Chouhan throughvideo conferencing.

Chouhan warned publicrepresentatives against violationof safety norms cautioningthem this could attract fine andregistration of cases as well. Helauded Morena and Gwalioradministration for bringingdown rate of covid 19 infec-tions.

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The Ramky Company isplanning to set up a waste

to energy plant for the dis-posal of the refuse derivedfuel (RDF) generated in theSheeshambada solid wastemanagement and recyclingplant.

In this waste manage-ment plant, about 100 metrictonnes of RDF is generateddaily but only half of it getsdisposed of by the manage-ment.

As informed by the pro-ject head of the plant, MASaify, there are no waste toenergy plants in Uttarakhandwhich makes the immediatedisposal of the RDF difficult.

Most of the RDF is beingsent to the companies ofDelhi, as stated by Saify, butstill, a considerable amount ofit remains in the plant. In thepast few months, several alle-

gations were levelled regard-ing the operation of the plant.

The locals had allegedthat the accumulation of thegenerated leachate had gath-ered outside the plant and wascontaminating the ground-water table.

Besides this, they alsosaid that the wet and drygarbage is not processed sep-arately in the plant that caus-es a nasty smell to spreadacross the area around theplant.

However, Saify denied allthese allegations stating thatthe sanitation workers collectdry and wet garbage sepa-rately with the help of about160 vehicles from the 69wards.

He further added thatabout 350 employees work tocollect garbage in these wardsand the staff of nearly 80 peo-ple works in the waste man-agement plant that operates it

quite systematically. Theleachate treatment plant(LTP) is also quite function-al in the plant to treat the gen-erated leachate so all the alle-gations regarding this are nottrue, said Saify.

Talking about the accusa-tion of the nasty smell spreadacross the area, he said thatthe enzymes are sprayed fivetimes a day in the plant sothere is no way that any kindof foul smell causes a nuisanceto the nearby people.

He also informed thatbesides the company, theMunicipal Corporation ofDehradun (MCD) has alsodeployed an employee just tospray enzymes to sterilise theplant which also assists in theremoval of pungent smellfrom the air.

Moreover, Saify statedthat the Ramky Company isworking toward setting up awaste to energy plant in

Dehradun to tackle the issueof the improper disposal ofRDF and for this, they havealready sent a proposal to theState Urban Developmentdepartment. If the proposalgets the green signal, thework on waste to energy plantcan be finished in about twoyears, added Saify.

Besides this, the companyis also going to commence thework on a new garbage trans-fer station in Indiranagararea. Saify said, "We are plan-ning to set up three moregarbage transfer stations hereto improve the procedure ofgarbage col lect ion andgarbage transfer process tothe waste management plant.

For now, two garbage sta-tions are currently function-al in the city and the work onthe third one will commencein a few days. The other twowill be planned after we getthe land for it,” he informed.

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After the State Governmentprovided some relaxations

to resume various operations inthe city, several beggars includ-ing children can be seen to beactive in the city again. Most ofthese children do not wearmasks and roam around in thecity which also makes themmore vulnerable to Covid-19virus amid the current pan-demic.

Child beggars are not anuncommon sight in Dehradunand some other parts of thestate. Despite a few measurestaken in recent years, limitedprogress has been madetowards effectively resolvingthis issue.

Talking about the persis-tence of the beggary in the city,the director of Dehradunwomen welfare directorate,Yogendra Yadav, who is alsosecretary of Uttarakhand child

protection committee, said thatno law, police force or theGovernment can change thispractice until somebody hits theroot cause of this problem andit can happen only if the stableearning people of a regioncome forward to help the needy.

According to him, interac-tion and contribution of suchpeople with the downtroddenand poor families of deprivedchildren is important. Ratherthan using force and power tothreaten child beggars, oneshould focus on strengtheningthe structure of their families,said Yadav.

He said that most of thechild beggars in Dehradunbelong to the families who donot have proper means to liveor afford two square meals aday. Due to this the children areused to supplement the earn-ings of the family. Moreover, healso stated that most of thesechildren also tend to get

involved in drugs and othercriminal activities in the future,so it becomes more importantto give these children directionand education. This can happenif the well to do section of thesociety comes forward to givetheir time and contribute to thelives of these people.

According to Yadav, thereare sufficient stable earners inthe city and even if only a fewthousand people come forwardto help these families, it can eas-ily eradicate the issues of childbeggary and juvenile crimesfrom Dehradun to a greatextent.

Giving an example of howa person can help an unprivi-leged child or a family, Yadavsaid that if a person can bear theone-time expenses of a child fora Government school in a yearthat includes books, schooluniforms and other stationeryitems which will be around Rs2000 besides some other trivial

monthly expenses which wouldbe around Rs 500, it is possibleto educate the child and supportthe child's family. Besides pro-viding financial help, it is alsoimportant for that person totake some responsibility of thechild regarding his or her stud-ies and spend some quality timeto interact and connect, addedYadav.

Furthermore, he also addedthat one can also adopt a des-titute family to improve theircondition and provide themwith the support they need dur-ing the current crisis.

To provide a platform tothose who want to help, Yadavsaid that women welfare direc-torate can assist such people toconnect with the underprivi-leged families and children.

He said that people canhelp the destitute through thedirectorate or can directly meetthem to enquire and learnmore about their requirements.

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Chief Minister TrivendraSingh Rawat inaugurated

a 300-bed Covid hospitalbuilding costing Rs 1012 lakhat the Pandit Ram SumerShukl Government medicalcollege in Rudrapur onThursday.

At the government med-ical college, the CM also inau-gurated respiratory and skindisease block, radiology blockand World Bank funded oxy-gen supply pipeline work.

Rawat also inauguratedand unveiled the foundationstones for a number of devel-opmental works in Rudrapur,Kashipur, Gadarpur andKhatima.

Earlier while chairing areview meeting in Rudrapuralong with UrbanDevelopment minister MadanKaushik who is also ministerin-charge of the district, theCM expressed satisfaction atthe work and arrangementsmade by the district adminis-tration in view of Covid-19.Stressing that awareness andprecautions are necessary tostall the spread of Covid, he

said that the usage of masks,use of sanitisers and main-taining social distancingshould be clearly communi-cated to the public.

Action should be takenagainst anyone who does notwear a mask, violates socialdistancing or breaks otherregulations. In this phase ofcontagion all should under-

stand their responsibility andcooperate, he said. The CMsaid that with the help of theministry of Health and FamilyWelfare, the State Governmentis arranging for the latestequipment.

From the viewpoint ofCovid-19, the coming time isvery important and sensitiveconsidering which it is essen-

tial to observe all necessaryprecautions.The CM stressedon the need for work on localproduce based growth centresto facilitate self employmentfor non-residentUttarakhandis and local resi-dents. Stating that the UdhamSingh Nagar district is knownfor farmers and industrialists,Rawat said that these two sec-

tions contribute considerablyto the development of thestate. He said that the stategovernment had initiatedefforts towards developingPantnagar airport in the formof an international airport.

Cabinet minister MadanKaushik appealed thosereturning to the state to strict-ly follow quarantine ruleswhile also directing officials totake strict action against thosebreaking the rules.

The minister said that sav-ing every citizen is the first pri-ority of the government. Thenumber of people returningfrom various states is increas-ing. Considering this, ade-quate facilities must be main-tained in Covid hospitals,Covid care centres and quar-antine centres.

He directed officials toregularly check those underinstitutional or home quaran-tine, adding that action betaken against anyone foundviolating quarantine.MLAsRajkumar Thukral, HSCheema, Pushkar SinghDhami, district magistrateNeeraj Khairwal and otherswere also present in meeting.

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The upward swing in thenumbers of the Covid-19

cases in Uttarakhand is contin-uing unabatedly. On Thursdaythe state health departmentreported 199 patients of Covid-19 which increased the tally ofthe disease to 7065 in the state.Four patients of the disease alsodied on day increasing thedeath toll to 76 .

The authorities discharged185 patients of the disease fromdifferent hospitals after theirrecovery. A total of 3996 patientsof the disease have so far recov-ered and have been dischargedfrom the hospitals where theywere admitted.

The recovery rate in thestate now stands at 56.56 per-cent while the doubling rate-which indicates the time inwhich the cases are gettingdoubled- is at 27.64 days.Thehealth authorities have so farcollected swab samples of163683 suspected patients andout of the total samples tested4.60 percent samples have test-

ed positive in Uttarakhand. InSushila Tiwari government hos-pital Haldwani two patients (a53 year old male and a 36 yearold female) were reported deadon Thursday. Similarly a 64 yearold female expired atGovernment Doon MedicalCollege (GDMC) hospital onthe day. At All India Instituteof Medical Sciences (AIIMS)Rishikesh a 21 year old maledied.

In provisional state capitalDehradun 74 patients of the dis-ease were reported on the day.Similarly 47 patients surfaced inHaridwar, 26 in Nainital, 17 inChampawat, nine inPithoragarh, seven inUttarkashi, six in Chamoli andthree each in Rudraprayag andUdham Singh Nagar districts onThursday. Two patients sur-faced in Bageshwar while onewas reported from Almora dis-trict.

In Haridwar 142 patientswere discharged from hospitalswhile 33 were released inDehradun district. In UdhamSingh Nagar and Uttarkashi

four patients each were dis-charged on the day while inAlmora two patients were dis-charged. The state now has2955 active patients of the dis-ease with Haridwar districtleading the table with 886 activecases followed by Udham SinghNagar district which has 777active cases.

Dehradun is in third posi-tion with 465 active cases whileNainital now has 451 activepatients of Covid 19. Almoranow has 83 active patients eachwhile Pithoragarh has 73 activepatients. Uttarkashi has 68,Tehri 52, Champawat 49, Pauri30 and Chamoli nine activecases of the disease. Bageshwarand Rudraprayag have six activecases each.

To prevent the infectionfrom spreading further theauthorities have now declared334 areas as containment zones.The Haridwar district alonehas 299 containment zones,Udham Singh Nagar has 17,Dehradun 13, Uttarkashi hasfour and Champawat has onesuch zone.

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Uttarakhand’s Tourism andCulture Minister Satpal

Maharaj met Union TourismMinister Prahlad Patel andthe Union Minister of Statefor Road Transport andHighways, VK Singh onThursday.

Meeting Patel, Maharajspoke about TibersainMahadev in Niti valley wherea snowy Shivling forms like inthe famous Amarnath cave.

Maharaj said that if theCentral Government grantspermission for the TibersainYatra, it will not just boost thetourism, but will also preventthe migration of locals from

border region of Uttarakhand.He also requested the Union

minister to promote and pub-licise the immunity booster

cuisines of Uttarakhand at thenational level. Maharaj also

informed Patel about the sta-tus of works being undertak-en under various schemes inthe state.

Meeting Union MoSSingh to discuss the all weath-er road being constructed forthe Char Dham Yatra,Maharaj requested him toconsider the condition ofroads during winter seasonand ensure that necessaryarrangements are in place toclean the accumulated snowfrom roads, so that touristscan travel conveniently.

Singh assured the State’sTourism minister that he willbe visiting Uttarakhand soonfor the inspection of the roadproject.

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The State Government hasterminated services of 20

doctors of State health servicesfor remaining absent fromtheir duties for a long time.

These doctors wereappointed in April last year onthe post of medical officer(MO) but they had not joinedtheir designated place of post-ing despite repeated warningsby the health department.

In an order the secretaryhealth and family welfare AmitSingh Negi terminated theservices of these doctors withimmediate effect. The removalof these doctors paves theway for recruitment of newdoctors on these posts. It is

pertinent to mention here thatthe Uttarakhand MedicalServices Selection Board(UMSSB) has recently initiat-ed a drive to recruit 763 postsof Medical Officers (MOs).The board had recruited morethan 400 MOs for the statehealth services in the month ofApril this year.

In view of the outbreak ofthe Covid-19, the state gov-ernment had given permissionto the board to recruit 276more doctors than the adver-tised posts last year. Thedecision of the state govern-ment to terminate missingdoctors is being seen as amessage to the recentlyrecruited doctors who havenot joined their duties.

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The Uttarakhand Congresshas demanded that the

state administration shouldtake action on President ofUttarakhand BJP, BansidharBhagat for not observingsocial distancing norms dur-ing a programme onThursday.

Bhagat gave a Muhurtshot of a movie in the statecapital on Thursday and thepictures released showed himwithout a facial mask.

Latching on to the oppor-tunity, the oppositionCongress party smarting froma series of cases registeredagainst its leaders and work-ers for not following socialdistancing norms attacked thestate government for adoptingdifferent standards for BJPand Congress leaders.

The spokesperson ofUttarakhand CongressGarima Dassauni said that inthe programme the BJP statepresident and the artists open-ly flouted the norms of thesocial distancing. She saidthat the Chief Minister

Trivendra Singh Rawat shouldtake cognisance of the issueand direct the administrationto take action on Bhagat.

She said that the admin-istration has registered casesagainst many Congress lead-ers and workers when theyheld protests for not followingthe norms and it should nowtake action on Bhagat.

Arguing that two types oflaws cannot be there for sim-ilar acts in a state, she exhort-ed the government to takeaction on the state BJP presi-dent.

Dassauni also shot off aletter to the Dehradun SeniorSuperintendent of Police (SSP)on the issue. In the letter shementioned that the HomeMinistry of government ofIndia has set up a protocol tomaintain social distancingduring the prevailing periodof Covid-19 pandemic and itis applicable on every citizenof the country.

She said that apart fromregistering cases on Congressleaders the police haveimposed heavy penalties onpeople not wearing masks in

public. The Congress leaderdemanded action should be

taken on Bhagat under simi-lar sections of law.

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Additional chief secretaryOm Prakash will be the

next chief secretar y ofUttarakhand. An order tothis effect was issued onThursday a day ahead of theretirement of the current chiefsecretary Utpal Kumar Singh.

An officer of the 1987batch of Uttarakhand cadre,Prakash has worked in vari-ous positions in undividedUttar Pradesh andUttarakhand.

His appointment to thetop bureaucratic post in thestate has put an end to spec-ulation which was continuingabout the choice of chief min-ister Trivendra Singh Rawatfor the post.

Meanwhile, the state gov-

ernment also reshuffled theresponsibilities of eight IASofficers and five PCS officers.

Udham Singh Nagar dis-tr ict magistrate NeerajKhairwal has been madeadditional secretary to theCM, energy and UPCL man-aging director whileBageshwar district magistrateRanjana has been made thedistrict magistrate of UdhamSingh Nagar.

Nainital chief develop-ment officer (CDO) VineetKumar has been made theBageshwar district magistrate.

Sonika has been relievedof her post as civil aviationadditional secretary andUCADA CEO withUttarkashi district magistrateAshish Kumar Chauhan beingtransferred to these positions.

Udham Singh NagarCDO Mayur Dikshit has beenmade the Uttarkashi districtmagistrate while Haridwarmunicipal commissionerholding the additional chargeof additional Mela officer,Narendra Singh Bhandari hasbeen made the Nainital CDO.

Pauri CDO HimanshuKhurana has been made theUdham Singh Nagar CDO

while UCADA ACEO andUTDB director AshishBhatgai has been made thePauri CDO.

NC Durgapal has beenmade the Udham Singh Nagardeputy col lector whileHaridwar deputy collectorholding additional charge ofSIIDCUL regional manager,Kusum Chauhan has beenmade the Dehradun city mag-istrate.

MDDA secretary SundarLal Semwal has been trans-ferred to the post of Tehri dis-tr ict level developmentauthority secretary whileAlmora deputy collectorAbhay Pratap has been madethe Pithoragarh deputy col-lector.

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Alarge number of personsunder the banner of Bhim

Army blocked the main roadin Laksar area of Haridwardistrict demanding immedi-ate arrest of a person bookedunder the SC-ST Act.

About 500 persons gath-ered in violation of social

distancing and other normson Thursday morning.

Demanding immediatearrest of an accused andtransfer of the Laksar policecircle officer,

the protesters blocked theroad and submitted a memo-randum to the sub divisionalmagistrate Puran Singh whoreached the spot.

According to the infor-mation received, a few daysago there was a quarrel in theLaksar area in which a casewas registered against a youngman under the SC-ST Act.

The police are investigat-ing the matter but the BhimArmy activists demonstrateddemanding immediate arrestof the accused.

The Laksar CO RajanSingh said that investigationis going on in the case. Thedemand of the Bhim Armymembers to arrest the accusedimmediately cannot be madesince an arrest can be madeonly after completion ofinvestigation.

He stressed that if theyhave any problem with him,they can approach his seniorofficials.

The CO further informedthat the Bhim Army membershad also been booked forviolating social distancingand blocking a public road.

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The BJP is planning big cel-ebrations on Friday to mark

the first anniversary of thepassage of the Muslim Women’sRight Protection Bill, whichabolished triple talaq and madeit a criminal offence, somethingthat drew protests from a sec-tion of Muslim community,mostly men who thought partof its provisions being harsh tohusband.

The BJP has maintainedthat there has been a sharp anddramatic fall in the cases ofinstant talaq in the Muslimcommunity in last one year.

The Modi-Governmentpassed the bill on July 31 2019and the next day, it received thePresident’s assent. The annul-ment of ‘teen talaq’ is being cel-ebrated as Muslim Women’sRight Day or the ‘MuslimMahila Adhikar Divas.’

As part of the programmeUnion Ministers, Smriti Irani,Ravi Shankar Prasad andMukthar Abbas Naqvi wouldconnect and speak with womenacross the country from theparty headquarters throughvideo conferencing.

The regressive Triple talaqhas been abolished for long inmost of the Islamic countriesbut persisted in India onaccount of vote bank politics.Congress Government in 1986diluted divorce law by passingan Act against the SupremeCourt ruling which had

favoured aggrieved Muslimwoman’s right to receive main-tenance from her husband inthe famous Shah Bano case.

Then, the then RajivGandhi Government enacted acontroversial law with its mostcontroversial aspect being theright to maintenance for theperiod of ‘iddat’ after thedivorce, and shifting the onus ofmaintaining her to her relativesor the Waqf Board.

BJP seeks to draw the sup-port of Muslim women whohad suffered under the oppres-sive provisions of the outdatedIslamic law. A number ofMuslim women had petitionedin the Supreme Court whichdeclared instant talaq as unlaw-ful. The legislation passed by theBJP Government had made it acriminal offence.

BJP units will be organis-ing meetings at all levels includ-ing the ‘mandal’ and district ‘through video conference.

These meetings by the BJPleaders would seek Muslimwomen to speak abut theirexperiences pre and post thepassage of the law. The Mahilamorchas of the party will appealto women to come forth andreject this practice openly, whichis now a law that is binding.

Cases of instant talaq arestill reported from across thecountry from economicallydeprived sections of Muslimwomen on account of lack ofawareness, support from thecommunity as also because ofeconomic dependence.

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Despite a spike of almost50,000 new Covid-19

cases daily in the past few daysand two States — Kerala andTelangana — declaring com-munity transmission of thevirus in their region, theUnion Health Ministry onThursday insisted that there isonly localised transmission.

To justify its point, it saidthat in 80 per cent of the newcases, source of infection andclose contacts can be tracedwithin 72 hours while out of740 districts, just 50 arereporting 80 per cent of thetotal cases.

“India has a cluster ofcases and pockets of localised

transmission. With a 138-crore population, only 50 outof 740 districts contribute to80 per cent cases.

In 80 per cent of newcases, source of infection andclose contacts can be tracedwithin 72 hours. How’s itcommunity transmission,”asked Union Health SecretaryRajesh Bhushan.

He was talking toreporters at a press briefinghere on the status of theCovid-19 in the country.

The official said that dueto enhanced testing infra-structure, on an average4,68,263 Covid-19 tests havebeen conducted daily fromJuly 26 to 30. The recoveryrate among Covid-19 patients

too has increased from 7.85per cent in April to 64.44 percent on Thursday, the officersaid.

“Recoveries are now 1.9times the number of activecoronavirus cases.” Bhushanfurther said that 21 Statesand Union Territories havecase positivity rate less than 10per cent, while in four it is lessthan five per cent.

The Covid-19 positivityrate in Rajasthan is 3.5 percent, Punjab 3.9 per cent,Madhya Pradesh 4 per cent,and Jammu and Kashmir 4.7per cent, he said.

The OSD also stressedthat effective clinical man-agement has led to a declinein COVID-19 case fatality

rate from 3.33 per cent onJune 18 to 2.21 per cent onJuly 30.

Bhushan further said that16 states of the country havea recovery rate that is morethan the national average.

Of these, Delhi has recov-ery rate of 88 per cent, Ladakh80 per cent, Haryana 78 percent, Assam 76 per cent,Telangana 74 per cent, TamilNadu & Gujarat 73 per cent,

Rajasthan 70 per cent, MP 69per cent and Goa 68 per cent.

“More than 1 million peo-ple have recovered fromCovid-19 in the country,” saidthe official as he attributed theachievement to the healthcareworkers. “This landmarkrecovery has been achievedbecause of the selfless workand dedication of our doctors,nurses and frontline workers,”he said.

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The Government has so farreceived 131 claims

under the �50 lakh Covid-19insurance scheme for health-care providers and paymentshave already been made in 20cases.

“Under the scheme, wehave received 131 claims.The claims are a bit slow incoming as the families areinitially in a state of shockand therefore, it takes time to

sign and fill up the necessarypaperwork.

“Out of these 131 claims,in 20 cases, payments havealready been made.

In Sixty-four cases, pay-ment has been processed andwould be made in the com-ing few days while 47 casesare with dif ferent StateGovernments ,” he said.The maximum number ofcases are in Maharashtra,Delhi and Telangana,Bhushan said.

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India may start conducting 10lakh Covid-19 tests daily

within next two months, upfrom five lakh being conduct-ed presently everyday, UnionScience and TechnologyMinister Harsh Vardhan saidon Thursday.

“In April, we used to con-duct 6,000 tests daily. Today, weare conducting over five lakhtests every day. Our plan is totake it to 10 lakh tests daily in1-2 months and we are work-ing towards it,” Vardhan saidduring the launch of a com-pendium on ‘Council forScientific and IndustrialResearch (CSIR) Technologiesfor COVID-19 Mitigation’here.

He also said that India isgradually becoming self reliantin various medical devicesparticularly those needed fortackling Coronavirus.

“Six months ago India wasimporting ventilators, but it has

now developed a capacity tomanufacture three lakh venti-lators.

“Most of the ventilators arebeing made within the coun-try now. India is supplyinghydroxychloroquine drug tonearly 150 countries,” he said.

There was a time whenexports related to COVID-19were stopped to meet therequirements within the coun-try. However, on Friday, in theGroup of Ministers, there willbe a presentation on what canbe again opened up for theexports, he said.

“This is possible because ofthe efforts undertaken by thecountry to ramp up produc-tion of critical equipment.”

Vardhan asserted thatwhile global efforts are on tofind a vaccine against thenovel coronavirus, India is notbehind.

“We have been able to dodetailed sequencing of over1,000 coronavirus genomes,”Vardhan said, adding that

India was among the fivenations who could isolate thevirus.

Referring to human trialsof vaccine candidates beingconducted by Bharat Biotechand Zydus Cadila, he saidIndia is among the very fewcountries to reach that stage.

Vardhan, who is also theUnion Health Minister, alsohailed the scientific commu-nity for fighting alongside themedical community in thebattle against the virus. Hesaid the country’s recoveryrate of over 64 per cent is thebest in the world while thefatality rate is nearly 2.2 percent.

The first COVID-19 casein India was detected onJanuary 30 and it has been sixmonths since then but thefight against the virus is stillon. Despite the vastness of thecountry and its population,the war against the virus hasbeen successfully taken up inevery corner, Vardhan said.

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Congress leader PriyankaGandhi Vadra on Thursday

vacated her bungalow at 35Lodhi Estate and handed overthe possession to CentralPublic Works Department(CPWD), two days before thedeadline of her eviction noticespecified in the July 1 evictionorder. Priyanka currentlyenjoys Z plus security.

Officials said that the keysto the bungalow were accept-ed after a full inspection estab-lishing that the house washanded over in good conditionby JE of CPWD P SenthilKumar in the presence of VikasRana, CE (NDZ-I), YogeshKumar Kardam, AE, ManojKumar Chauhan, AE, CPWDServices and B.S. Rana, JE(PAWD-I, CPWD). Theyissued her a ‘Vacation Report’for the premises on behalf ofthe CPWD.

Priyanka also passed on tothe CPWD and the Directorateof Estates a full inventory ofprivately installed fittings, fix-tures etc.

As per a statement releasedby AICC, she has paid all elec-tricity, water and previous duesand is awaiting the final assess-ment for the license fee of themonth of July from theDirectorate of Estates due toher on the 31st July to close allaccounts with reference to theallotment and subsequent can-cellation of the lease of the gov-ernment bungalow.

Priyanka is likely to relo-cate to a penthouse inGurugram’s Aralia residentialcomplex, where she has already

spent a night while scouting forhouses. The penthouse apart-ment is located in Sector 43 onGolf Course Road and isowned by her husband – busi-nessman Robert Vadra.

As per the AICC state-ment, she will be residing in atemporary accommodationuntil a more permanentaccommodation in Delhi rent-ed by her is ready for use.

The Government orderhad said that Priyanka is nolonger protected by the SpecialProtection Group (SPG) andhence not eligible anymore.The directorate of estatedepartment of the ministry ofhousing and urban affairs hadissued a notice to her on July 1to vacate her house within amonth. Priyanka was allottedthe 35, Lodhi Estate bungalowin New Delhi in 1997.

Earlier reports had claimedthat she will shift her base toLucknow once the Covid-19threat subsides in wake of theUttar Pradesh Assembly elec-tions in 2020. Meanwhile,reports had stated that a househas already been finalised forPriyanka in Lucknow whereshe will relocate once the lock-downs end. The Lucknowhouse where Priyanka will shiftbelongs to a lady named SheilaKaul, and is located on GokhaleMarg. The mansion is vacant atpresent and renovation work isalso done.

Kaul, who passed away in2015, was the sister-in-law ofIndia’s first prime minister andPriyanka’s great grandfatherJawaharlal Nehru. She was alsoa Union minister and aGovernor.

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During Corona period,though the results of the

12th standard may have beenreleased, due to the fear of pen-demic, all the students are in astate of confusion regardingthe future of their education.

Keeping in mind the cur-rent scenario where Covid-19pandemic has left studentsclueless about further educa-tion, ‘JenNext Mentors’ is orga-nizing a three-days ‘VirtualEdu-Fest 2020’ on Zoom ses-sion beginning August 1.

The aim is to help studentsprovide required information

about admission in universitiesin the country as well as abroadfrom their home, said AjayAggarwal, director of JenNextMentors.

Jyoti Aggarwal, from theJenNext Mentors added thatvaried services provided dur-ing this fest will be admissionto Universities, career counselling, information onavailing scholarships, financialplanning and guidance forstudying abroad, whichincludes interaction withalumni studied in foreignUniversities and further jobopportunities after studyingabroad.

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The Centre informed theSupreme Court Thursday

that an MoU has been preparedfor the installation of smogtower at Anand Vihar in eastDelhi and it will be signed bythe stakeholders.

Solicitor General TusharMehta told a bench headed byJustice Arun Mishra that afterWednesday's hearing, theCentre contacted IndianInstitute of Technology (IIT)Bombay and others, includingthe Central Pollution ControlBoard (CPCB), and the mem-orandum of understanding wasprepared.

The top court had yester-day slammed the IIT Bombayfor backing out of the projectand said that it would takeaction against the premierinstitute and others for violat-ing its order.

Smog tower is a structuredesigned as large-scale air puri-fier to reduce air pollution.

After Mehta informed thetop court about the MoU, thebench questioned him as towhy its January 13 order,directing the project to becompleted within threemonths, was not compliedwith.

"When the order says thatthis has to be completed with-in three months, then whywas it not complied with?," thebench asked Mehta, who wasappearing for the Ministry ofEnvironment, Forest andClimate Change.

The bench, which said theMoU be placed on record, alsoposed queries regarding fundsfor the project and the time tocomplete it.

Mehta told the court set-ting up of the smog towermay take around 10 monthstime.

When he said the technol-ogy will be procured fromMinnesota in the USA, thebench questioned the delay inthe project and said its ordershave been violated.

The court asked Mehta tofile an affidavit giving all therequisite details about the pro-ject, technology and observedthat it would "not tolerate" anylaxity.

The bench has posted thematter for hearing on August 4.

The apex court had yes-terday expressed shock at IIT

Bombay's backing out of thesmog tower project and saidthis was "not expected of suchinstitutions".

It had said it was "not at allhappy with the state of affairs"of the project for installing thesmog tower and non-compli-ance with its order would be"taken seriously".

Mehta had yesterdayinformed the court that IITBombay has backed out of theproject.

In its order on January 13this year, the top court had saidthat smog tower be installed atAnand Vihar and the project becompleted within threemonths.

The apex court had alsodirected use of anti-smog gunsin Delhi and national capitalregion (NCR) for large con-struction sites, road construc-tion stretches, mining activities,large parking sites on unpavedareas and during large publicgatherings, demolition activi-ties etc.

The top court had passedthese directives while hearing

the matter relating to air pol-lution in the Delhi-NCR.

In an affidavit filed recent-ly in the apex court, the min-istry and the CPCB has saidthat they had convened ameeting on July 27 with IITDelhi, NEERI and NBCC Ltdto discuss whether they will bewilling to take up the project.

“NEERI, IIT-D (Delhi)and NBCC have agreed totake up the project,” the affi-davit has said.

Earlier, the ministry andCPCB had filed another affi-davit in the court and claimedthat the MoU was notfinalised as IIT Bombay hasnot agreed to take responsi-bility of overall coordinationof the project and verificationof works to be carried out byTata Projects Limited, whichhas been involved by IITBombay for construction,operation and maintenance ofsmog tower.

It had said that fundsamounting to Rs 18.52 crorehave been sanctioned for theproject.

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The Election Commission(EC) on Thursday

announced that by-elections totwo Rajya Sabha seats in UttarPradesh and Kerala will be heldon August 24. These seats fellvacant due to the demise of themembers.

“The Commission hasdecided to hold by-elections tothe Council of States fromUttar Pradesh and Kerala to fillup the vacancies,” the EC said.The EC has also decided toconduct a bypoll for only oneof two vacancies in the AndhraPradesh Legislative Councilunder the MLAs quota onAugust 24.

The seats were left vacantdue to the deaths of SamajwadiParty MP Beni Prasad Vermafrom Uttar Pradesh and LDFbacked Independent MP, M PVeerendra Kumar from Keralaon 27 March and 28 May,respectively. Verma’s term wasupto 7 April, 2022 whileKumar’s tenure was upto 2April, 2022.

As per schedule, the EC hasplanned to complete the elec-tion process in both the statesbefore 26 August.

The commission has alsodirected the chief secretariesconcerned to depute a seniorofficer from the state to ensurethat the extant instructionsregarding COVID-19 contain-

ment measures are compliedwith while making arrange-ments for conducting the elec-tions.

Declaring the bypolls in thetwo seats, the EC said thenotification for the electionswill be issued on 6 August. Thelast date for filing nominationfor the elections is 13 August.The scrutiny of nominationwill be held on 14 August andthe deadline for withdrawal ofnomination is 17 August.Voting will take place betwe on24 August and the counting ofvotes will be completed on 24August.

PPE suits and ambulanceswere part of EC’s guidelines forconducting the elections tothe 24 vacant Rajya Sabha seatsacross eight states in June,which was the first major voting exercise since the pan-demic prompted sweepingmeasures in March to ensuresocial distancing to check itsspread. The polls were earlierscheduled for March.

Verma, a founding mem-ber of the Samajwadi Party andformer Union minister whowas considered close to partypatriarch Mulayam SinghYadav, died 27 March at the ageof 79. Verma was the telecomminister from 1996 to 1998 inthen Prime Minister H D DeveGowda’s cabinet and was thesteel minister in the Congress-led UPA Government.

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The CPI(M) on Thursdayalleged that the

Government has “deliberately”chosen August 5 as the date ofthe bhoomi pujan ceremonyfor the Ram temple atAyodhya as the “demolition” ofJammu and Kashmir and therebuilding of the temple areboth “core agendas ofHindutva forces”.

Last year on August 5, theabrogation of Article 370 ofthe Constitution wasannounced. This provisionprovided special status to theerstwhile state of Jammu andKashmir, that was turned intoa Union territory.

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Page 5: ˘ ˇˆ ’ . ˛ & ˘ ˛ /0/ · 2 days ago · Chinese Ambassador to India Sun Weidong said border ... and some soldiers from both sides getting injured. ... The withdrawals from

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Tamil Nadu Government onThursday extended the

lockdown in force due to coro-navirus pandemic to August 31with some relaxation. Theannouncement to extend thelockdown which would haveended on July 31 came imme-diately after Chief MinisterEdappadi Palaniswami metdepartment heads, district col-lectors and the team of medicalexperts advising theGovernment on the manage-ment of pandemic.

Details of the lockdown 7version were announced byChief Minister Palaniswami ina release on Thursday.

The new lockdown envis-

ages extension of the closure ofeducational institutions toAugust 31. The suspension ofpublic transport includingChennai Metro too would con-tinue. Shops and commercialestablishments would beallowed to function within theparameters specified by theGovernment including timeof business hours and numberof customers who could beserved serviced.

The State will see completeshut down on all Sundays.Believers will be allowed tooffer prayers at small templesand other places of worshipwhile big temples would con-tinue to be in shut down modetill further notice.

The State has been experi-encing hike in the number of

persons getting diagnosed withCovid-19. The last one weeksaw nearly 7,000 persons get-

ting tested positive on each dayof the week and with 80 deathson an average across the State.

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Anil Murali (56), popular Malayalam film actorpassed away at Ernakulam on Thursday. The

end came at a private hospital in the city wherehe has been admitted with liver ailments on July22, according to hospital sources.

Murali leaves behind his wife Suma and twochildren. The actor shot into fame with his firstfilm Kanyakumariyil Oru Kavitha in 1993 and hasnever looked back since then. His rough and toughlooks endeared him to the fans and he has actedin more than 200 films including Tamil, Teluguand Kannada movies.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan condoled theactor’s death and said he would be certainly missedbuy his fans. “The rough and sturdy characters pre-sented by him will definitely linger in the mindin years to come,” said the Chief Minister.

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Saffron is a dirty colour andanything associated with it

was not welcome in TamilNadu, according to the rulingAIADMK. The entire politicalspectrum in Tamil Nadu, bar-ring the BJP, were unanimousin condemning the action of‘anti-social elements’ drapingthe statue of late Chief MinisterM G Ramachandran’s statue atPuducherry with saffronshawl.

On Thursday, anothergroup of unidentified personsdraped the statue of late DMKleader and former ChiefMinister C N Annadurai withsaffron shawl at Kanyakumari.This too was condemned bythe leader of all political partiesbarring the BJP. Last week a

statue of Dravida Kazhakamfounder EV Ramasami Naickerat Coimbatore was painted insaffron and one person belong-ing to a fringe Hindu group hasbeen arrested.

Interestingly, leaders of theAIADMK and the DMK usedthe word desecration todescribe the action of drap-ing/painting the statues of theDravidian leaders in saffron.While the AIADMK did notdirectly blame the BJP for the‘desecration’, all other partieswere in the forefront to attackthe Hindutwa party.

Vaiko, the leader of theMDMK, put up a heart-rend-ing show at Coimbatore wherehe sobbed for an hour in frontof the Naicker statue and sworein the name of the latter that hewould ensure the destruction ofthe evil forces behind the

action.The BJP, upset over the

reaction of the AIADMK, con-demned the Dravidian ‘ele-ments’ for humiliating andinsulting Skanda ShashtiKavasam, a hymn in praise ofLord Muruga. An organisationGroup of Blacks had hosted aprogramme in the social mediaportraying Skanda ShastiKavasam as obscene and theyeven aired an obscene parodywhich read like the Kavasam.

“This was done with thetacit support of the DMK andother Dravida elements in theState. The chief minister or thedeputy chief minister did notutter a single word though theaction of the Group of Blacksamounted to blasphemy,” saidNarayanan Tiruppati, BJPspokesman.

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CHENNAI: Covid-19 claimed97 lives while 5,864 new per-sons were diagnosed with thepandemic during the last 24hours, according to the medicalbulletin issued by theGovernment of Tamil Nadu onThursday.

While the number of fatal-ities on Thursday exceededthat of Wednesday, the numberof new persons tested positiveshowed a fall from that ofWednesday (6,426). As onThursday, there were 57,962active covid-19 patients in theState. The total number of per-

sons tested positive for thepandemic till date crossed 2.39lakh by Thursday. The day saw5,295 patients getting curedand discharged from hospitalswhich took the number of totalpersons who got cured till dateto 1.78 lakh. The total fatalitiesin the State till date reached3,838 on Thursday.

While 1,175 new persons inChennai were identified withCovid-19, the districts ofChengalpet (354),Kancheepuram (175) andThiruvallur (325) remainedcritical. PNS

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Pinarayi Vijayan, Chief Minister,claimed on Thursday that the

world was following the coronavirusdefence mechanism initiated by Kerala.“Our strategy has earned widespreadappreciation and even advanced coun-tries are replicating the Kerala modelin countering the Covid-19 pandem-ic,” Vijayan said in his media briefingon Thursday.

Since the web portal of the IndianCouncil of Medical Research (ICMR)was facing technical hitch, the ChiefMinister said the update of the Covid-19 situation on Thursday was not avail-able.

“As per the data available up tonoon, 506 new Covid-19 patientshave been identified in the State. Two

persons succumbed to the pandemicwhile 794 patients who were recoveredfully got discharged from hospitals.Out of the 506 persons who were diag-nosed with Covid-19 on Thursday, 375 personscontracted the pandemic throughlocal transmission,” he said.

The Chief Minister said thatThursday marked completion of sixmonths of coronavirus in the State. “Itwas on January 30 that the firstinstance of the pandemic came to thenotice of the government. But my gov-ernment was fully prepared to meetany eventuality in the second week ofJanuary itself.All international organ-isations have praised the steps takenby Kerala to counter the pandemic,”said the Chief Minister who was in ajovial mood from the word go.

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Aformer Member of Parliament, a vet-eran politician of Jyoti Basu era and

two-time Bengal Pradesh Congress chiefSomen Mitra passed away on Thursday. Hewas 78 and is survived by his wife SikhaMitra, a former MLA and son Rohan.

Mitra was suffering from a number ofailments related to heart and kidney.

Mitra who was the sitting PCC pres-ident during the time of his death servedas the MLA from Kolkata’s Sealdah andChowrunghee seats for eight consecutivetimes between 1972 and 2006. He joinedthe Trinamool Congress in 2009 and waselected an MP from Diamond HarbourConstituency. Subsequently he left theTMC following his altercations with ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee on a numberof issues including the chit fund scam.

Tweeting his condolences CongressMP Rahul Gandhi wrote “All my love andsupport to family and friends of SomenMitra at this difficult time. We will

remember him with love, fondness andrespect.” His sister and Congress generalsecretary Priyanka Gandhi too spoke toMitra’s bereaved wife.

“Saddened to hear about the passingaway of veteran leader, former MP andPCC president Somen Mitra... My deep-est condolences to his family, followers andwell-wishers,” wrote Mamata Banerjeewho left the Congress in 1998 to form herown Trinamool Congress following his dif-ferences with Mitra the then PCC presi-dent. Congress Lok Sabha leader AdhirChowdhury said “I am deeply shocked byhis demise. He was not only a party col-league but my political mentor and aguardian who brought me to Congress andmade me what I am today.”

CPI(M) State secretary and politburomember Suryakanto Mishra said “SomenMitra’s death has cause a political vacuumin Bengal politics,” adding “he has been try-ing for a joint movement with the Leftagainst divisive and corrupt forces... we willtry to carry that forward.”

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Within a month after a BJP MLAsuffered a "mysterious" death by

hanging at Hemtabad in NorthDinajpur another BJP worker, a boothpresident from Ramnagar area in EastMidnapore was found hanging from atree, near his house.

The 44-year-old partyPurnachandra Das was found hangingfrom a tree late on Wednesday eveningsaid local BJP leadership adding he wasunder constant pressure from theTrinamool Congress to leave the saffronoutfit and join the State ruling party.

“His body was found hangingfrom a branch of a mango tree near”even as his feet touched the ground,Pabitra Patra a local BJP man allegedsaying he had refused to join the TMCwhich was why “he has been murderedby them.” The body had been sent forpostmortem and reports were awaited,sources said. The TMC however refut-

ed such claims.A local police officer said “all

angles are being probed,” adding “therewas a long-standing dispute over a roadgoing by the house of the victim.... wewill look into that angle also.”

“There was a feud going on withour neighbours. He went out today toattend a meeting which was scheduledaround 4 pm to find a solution to theproblem. Around 3 pm his body wasfound hanging from a tree a few hun-dred metres away from the house,” saidSubimal Das, the victim’s brother.

The latest incident comes within amonth of the death of BJP’s MLA fromHemtabad, Debendra Nath Roy whowas found hanging under mysteriousconditions outside a shop about a mileaway from his house. An investigationis on in that case too. The BJP has beenaccusing the TMC of “resorting to pol-itics of annihilation.” A couple of BJPworkers died in a similar fashion inPurulia last year.

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In a disturbing development, 30-year-old lab tech-nician working at a Government hospital at

Badnera in Amravati district of eastern Maharashtrahas been arrested for allegedly molesting and rapinga woman on the false pretext of taking ‘vaginal sam-ple’ for conducting a Covid-19 test.

Identifying the arrested lab technician as oneAlpesh Deshmukh, police officer investigating the casePunjab Wanjari said on Thursday that the incidenttook place on Tuesday at the Trauma Care Testing Labin the Badnera Government hospital in Amravati dis-trict when 23-year-old woman complainant-victimhad gone for a Covid-19 test.

The victim woman, an employee at a local mall,had been referred to the hospital along with 20 oth-ers after the “contact” of a colleague who had testedpositive for Covid-19.

After the test, the accused technician reported-ly told the victim woman that she had tested posi-tive and that she had to undergo a urinal test.

The victim woman asked if there were femaletechnicians to help her out to undergo the second test.However, the technician allowed her to bring a femalecompanion if she so wanted. Deshmukh laterallegedly took a vaginal swab sample of the victimwoman and informed her later that she had testednegative.

Finding Deshmukh’s conduct suspicious, the vic-tim woman confided in her brother, who spoke to hisdoctor-friend whether vaginal swab samples wereneeded Covid-19 tests. Subsequently, the victimwoman lodged a complaint against the lab technicianwith the Badnera police. The police bookedDeshmukh under sections 354 ( outraging modesty)and 376 ( rape) and arrested him later.

Deshmukh was on Thursday produced before alocal court which remanded him in police custodytill July 31.

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The CBI has registered a case against a thenscientist and his colleague working at the

Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology(IITM), Pune, Managing Director, a Directorof Mumbai-based private company andothers on the allegations of causing loss toIITM.

Those against whom the CBI registeredthe case under sections 120-B( conspiracy)420(cheating) 468 (forgery) and 471( usinga forged document) of IPC and section 13(2)r/w. 13(1)(d) of Prevention of CorruptionAct, included: the then Scientist – ‘F’, IITM,Pune; the then Senior Technical Officer, Gr-II, IITM, Pune; Managing Director, Mumbaibased private company and others, includ-ing unknown public servants.

A CBI spokesperson said on Thursdaythat during 2011-2018, the then public ser-vants entered into conspiracy with othersincluding Managing Director & Director ofa Mumbai based private company andawarded the contract for the supply, com-missioning and maintenance of ‘DigitalDisplay System of SAFAR-PUNE’, includingsupply of 12 nos. of Outdoor True ColourLED Display Boards to the private compa-ny in violation of the prescribed purchaseprocedure/rules and by way of disqualifyingother bidders on flimsy grounds.

The CBI’s charge is that the accused did“undue favour” to the said private supplierby accepting substandard and below speci-fications cheap Digital Display Boards onexorbitant rates for SAFAR Project, Pune andthereby caused huge loss to IITM.

The CBI said that searches were con-ducted at the residential and official premis-es of the accused at Pune and Mumbai whichled to recovery of incriminating documentsand articles. Investigation is continuing.

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Amaravati: Andhra Pradeshon Thursday reported its high-est single day spike in Covidcases with 10,167 persons test-ing positive, taking the state'stally to 1,30,557, health officialssaid.

As many as 68 people suc-cumbed to the virus in the last24 hours raising the total num-ber of fatalities in the state to1,281, the officials added.

A total of 70,068 tests wereconducted during this period,which included 38, 758 rapidantigen tests.

An unprecedented 10,093new Covid cases and 65 deathshad been reported onWednesday while the previoussingle day high of 8,147 caseswas recorded on Friday lastweek.

On Thursday, as many asthree districts reported freshcases in four-digit figures, whilethe remaining ten districts

reported three-digit Covidnumbers.

East Godavari continues toreport the highest number andThursday was no exception,which saw 1,441 new cases, fol-lowed by Kurnool with 1,252cases, and Visakhapatnam with1,223 cases.

Vizianagaram reported thelowest tally of 214 cases duringthe past 24 hours.

On a positive note, therewere higher recovery num-bers reported on Thursday.

As many as 4,618 patientswere discharged after recoveryfrom various healthfacilities. IANS

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A25-year old Covid-19 pos-itive woman in Tripura

has delivered her baby in anambulance during a 130-kmarduous journey from Unakotidistrict hospital in Kailasaharto G B Pant hospital, the statesmain corona care hospital inAgartala where she wasreferred, officials said onThursday.

The pregnant woman wastaken to three hospitals inabout 36 hours since Tuesdaybut all of them refused to treather.

The incident has led to thestate health director to initiatean inquiry against theKailasahar hospital and orderthe submission of a report onits refusal to provide medical care to the womanwithin two days, official sourcessaid.

Her baby was born in thedead of the night in an ambu-lance when it was crossing thehilly terrains of Atharomurahill range, about 50 km fromhere on Wednesday, her fami-ly members said.

Laxmi Rani Chowdhuryand her baby boy are safe andunder observation at G B PantHospital, sources in it said.

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Maharashtra appeared nowhere closer to getting

out of the woods on Thursday,as it recorded the highest-everdaily tally of 11,147 Covid-19infections, while 266 morepeople succumbed to coron-avirus in various parts of theState.

After it recorded the high-est-ever 10,576 infections onJuly 22, witnessed 9,895, 9,615,9251 and 9431 cases on July 23,24, 25 and 26 respectively,7,924, 7,717 and 9,211 cases onJuly 27,28 and 29 respectively,the State logged a staggering11,147, taking the total numberof infections in the state to4,11,798 on Thursday.

With 266 fresh deaths, thetotal number of deaths in thestate mounted to 14,729.

Of the total 266 deaths,Pune accounted 83 deaths,while Mumbai recorded 53deaths.

Apart from 83 deaths inPune and 53 deaths inMumbai, there were 30 deathsin Thane, 11 in Nanded, 10each in Solapur and Satara, 9 inNashik, 8 each in Raigad andJalgaon, 7 in Ahmednagar, 6 inAurangabad, 5 each in Palgharand Ratnagiri, 4 in Latur, 3 eachin Kolhapur, Sangli andOsmanabad, 2 in Nagpur anddeath each in Dhule,Nandurbar, Amravati,

Buldhana, Parbhani andWashim.

With fresh 53 deaths, thetotal number of deaths inMumbai rose from 6,247 to6,300, while the infected casesjumped by 1,208 cases – totouch 113,199 now.

In a related development,as many as 8860 patients weredischarged from hospitals inthe state after full recovery, tak-ing the total number ofpatients discharged from var-ious hospitals after full recov-ery since the second week ofMarch this year to 2,48,615.The recovery rate rose to 60.37per cent. The mortality rate inthe state is 3.58 per cent. Thestate health authorities peggedthe number of “active cases” inthe state at 1,48,150.

With 91784 infected casesand 2,525 deaths, Thane con-tinued to be the second worsthit district in Maharashtra.

Pune, which has emergedas the third worst affected dis-trict in terms of spread of thepandemic, has recorded 86,255infections and 2028 deaths tillnow.

Out of 20,70,128 samplessent to laboratories, 4,11,798have tested positive (19.89 percent) for Covid-19 untilThursday.

Currently, 9,04,141 peo-ple are in home quarantinewhile 40,546 people are ininstitutional quarantine.

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Page 6: ˘ ˇˆ ’ . ˛ & ˘ ˛ /0/ · 2 days ago · Chinese Ambassador to India Sun Weidong said border ... and some soldiers from both sides getting injured. ... The withdrawals from

Overall, the NationalEducation Policy(NEP), 2020, is a goodpolicy document as itpromises a slew of

changes that can lead to a majormakeover of the education sector.It takes into account all sections ofsociety which were hitherto leftunattended. In the times to come,such groups of learners will bemainstreamed and will stand tobenefit from the new education sys-tem. Some of the major aspects ofthe NEP, which I think can have a transformative impact, are asfollows:

First, the age criteria for admis-sion to the primary school was sixyears. By this time, children alreadylose more than a thousand days oflearning. Early years are crucial fora child’s development and losingthese phases has proved to be verydamaging. Most children, whodropped out of school, were first-generation learners and had joinedthe school at the age of six. TheGovernment’s decision to includeUniversalisation of Early ChildhoodCare Education (ECCE) into theNEP will do a lot of good to the chil-dren, especially those coming fromhumble backgrounds.

Second, it was inappropriate toput all the learners into one catego-ry as “school children.” Childrenchange as they grow and so shouldthe pedagogical structure. In thenew NEP, it has been decided toinclude children aged three-eightyears into one group. This group ofchildren will also be put under aschool curriculum, which has beenrecognised globally. Hopefully,teachers, too, will be made availablesoon. The next group will be thosechildren aged eight to 11 years ie,those who attend classes III to V.The following group of learners willcomprise children in classes VI toVIII ie, those in the age group of 11to 14 years. Above the age of 14,children will belong to the sec-ondary class and teacher competen-cies for this group of children willbe different.

The new pattern of schoolingwill be 5+3+3+4, which should berelevant for the children and theyshould be able to enjoy each stageof their learning process. The chal-lenge, however, will be to prepareteachers for each level and they needto be adequately remunerated, too.Teachers at the lower levels shouldbe paid equally so that the less qual-ified do not come for teaching atlower levels. Considering the poor

performance of the NationalCouncil for Teacher Education(NCTE), preparation of teacherswill be a challenge.

Third, education in themother tongue up to at least classV is a welcome and landmarkmove. Most children used todrop out of schools becausethey were given instruction in adominant language of the region.Take the example of Bihar, wherethe mode of learning was Hindiwhereas most children speaklocal languages like Magahi,Maithili and Bhojpuri. TheGovernment’s aim to provideeducation during the early yearswill make the children feel lessdisplaced (from home to school)and retention will be easier.This will directly benefit the lessprivileged children. This movewas a long time coming. TheKothari Commission Report of1964 had recommended that thefirst language to be studied mustbe the mother tongue or theregional language. However, suc-cessive Governments did not payheed to implement the three-lan-guage formula in schools.

Fourth, the system ofbundling of courses like physics,chemistry with either mathemat-ics or biology at the senior sec-ondary level has been doneaway with. Children can now optfor any combination of subjects

as per their choice. This will alsodissuade a large number of chil-dren from dropping out of seniorsecondary because they couldnot cope with the mathematicssyllabus.

The rigid formation ofstreams such as science, arts andcommerce will wither now.Learners will be able to choosesubjects from any discipline,including vocational subjects,to get certified. This will helplearners, who wish to get intovocational areas after the com-pletion of their school education.At present, the curricular andnon-curricular areas cannot becombined. In future, this shall bepossible. This will help reducethe drop-out rate and at the sametime lead to the creation of self-employment opportunities.

Fifth, formative assessmenthas been a major stumblingblock for school education.Children felt pressured as theemphasis was on rote learning.The new NEP has taken cogni-sance of the erroneous system ofassessment and has decided toprovide multiple chances to thelearners to write and accumulategrades to finally get certified.

It appears that the finalassessment will be done to testthe actual competency, whichchildren can undertake withoutpressure or the stigma of failing

the examination. Sixth, assessment has been

under smoke all through. Now,a self-assessment will be donealong with peer assessment ofevery child. The teacher will alsobe assessed unlike the presentsystem where only the teacherevaluates the child and the childhas no clue how he/she is judged.The child as well as the parentswill trust the new system ofassessment.

Seven, the less privileged andthe specially-abled have receivedspecial focus in the NEP allthrough. For the first time, thelatter will be put into a differenttrack of schooling, which willhelp them use their potential andget recognised.

Eight, in a similar move, alarge number of girls, who havetraditionally been marginalised,will get due attention. The NEP2020 established the “GenderInclusion Fund” to help the lessprivileged girls. The policy alsopromises to upgrade theKasturba Gandhi BalikaVidyalayas (KGBV) up to classXII. The KGBVs are fully resi-dential schools for girls fromhumble backgrounds but whoare very bright and deserving.This scheme has brought a dif-ference to their lives. With thisnew initiative, girls will be ableto directly enter college and

reap the benefit of schemes inhigher education, which at pre-sent go unused because they dis-continue education after theycome out of the KGBV.

In the true sense, the NEP2020 is an Antodyay school pol-icy. Every child, wherever he/shemay belong to, will be catered to.However, to achieve all that hasbeen promised in the NEP 2020,we will require a body of profes-sionals who understand school-ing. School education is at pre-sent managed by Governmentofficials and school educationdepartment of the Central or theState Governments. The officialsget transferred frequently. Theschool sector has been demand-ing a national body at par withthe University GrantsCommission or what has nowbeen proposed as the HigherEducation Commission of India(HECI). This time, too, their pleahas unfortunately been ignored.

It can be confidently saidthat the new NEP scores on sev-eral counts — be it the univer-salisation of education, promot-ing regional languages or theintroduction of a new circular.All such moves will help improvegovernance and improve theoverall quality of education.

(The writer is a professor ofeducation, IGNOU. Viewsexpressed are personal)

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Sir — Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)chief Mayawati’s ire at the induc-tion of all six of her RajasthanMLAs into the Congress byChief Minister Ashok Gehlot lastyear is understandable. She isright when she says that Gehlotis crying foul over the poachingof MLAs by the BJP but wasecstatic when the six BSP MLAsmerged with the Congress. If heenjoyed the prospect of defectionfrom other parties, Gehlot mustalso withstand the pain of defec-tion from his own party.

The 91st Amendment tothe Constitution in 2003 hadstrengthened the anti-defectionlaw by increasing the bar on thenumber of MLAs switching sidesfrom a third to two-thirds. TheRajasthan High Court has right-ly junked the plea of BJP MLAMadan Dilwar, challenging theSpeaker’s decision to allow themerger of the six BSP MLAs withthe Congress. If defection has tobe prevented, even if all the law-makers of a party cross over tothe other side, defectors shouldbe disqualified first.

KV SeetharamaiahHassan

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Sir — The year 2020 has beendifficult on multiple counts. Notonly has India witnessed thespread of the novel Coronavirusbut there has been an unprece-dented economic crisis andimmense rainfall and floods inmany parts of the country.

As people move out of theirhomes in flood-affected areaswithout taking necessary precau-tions, they are exposing them-selves to the virus, making it evenmore difficult to contain thedisease. People are also wary ofmoving to Government reliefcentres for fear of contractingCOVID-19. Meanwhile, the fate

of wildlife in these regions, too,is hanging by a thread. People inmany parts of the country arestuck in between the pandemicand unending rains on the other.The present state of affairs,despite Government efforts, isdisturbing.

Kavya ShahUjjain

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Sir — The way a war is foughthas undergone a massive trans-formation in the last twodecades. With two hostile neigh-bours always on the lookout tofoment trouble, it’s better forIndia to be prepared.

Rafale, a multi-utility combatfighter, can be used for groundsupport, anti-depth strike andanti-ship strike. Its acquisition isgoing to significantly improveIndia’s defence and strike capa-bilities. Rafale would not havecome at a more opportune timewhen the IAF’s squadron strengthhas been a cause of worry. Froma sanctioned strength of 42, thesquadron strength will soonreach 27. It must also not be for-gotten that only the first batch ofthe jets has arrived when the totalorder is of 36 fighters. The onlyhope is that there is no delay inthe delivery of the rest of the jets.Even with the arrival of these jets,our defence procurement needsto be beefed up.

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When the Karuna Trust, the Karnataka-based not-for-profit organisation,undertook the responsibility of manag-

ing the primary health centre (PHC) at Wakka,a village in Tirap district, Arunachal Pradesh,many were surprised. The location was remoteand access was difficult. There was also an addi-tional fear of insurgency. But Dr H Sudarshan,the founder and secretary of the trust, was unde-terred as he wanted to reach the under-servedat all costs.

His confidence stemmed from the fact thatthe trust had successfully managed 26 poorly-runand derelict PHCs in its home State of Karnataka.Many of the PHCs were in remote and difficultlocations. If the public-private partnership (PPP)with the Government to provide healthcare to themarginalised population in rural areas couldwork in difficult conditions in the southernIndian State, there was no doubt in his mind thatthis successful health intervention could be scaledup in the northeastern State as well. Such was hisdetermination that Dr Sudarshan remainedunfazed even after he was accosted by a groupof insurgents in Wakka, which is predominant-ly a tribal village, and asked to pay a sizeable sumas “protection money” if he wanted to keep thePHC open. Despite being threatened that hewould not be able to work without their support,Dr Sudarshan refused to succumb to theirdemand. He was convinced that the trust, whichbelieved in a community-based and people-ori-ented approach, would be able to make the PHCfunction without paying any “protection money.”

And he was proved right. A couple of weekslater, when the same insurgents who haddemanded money realised that Dr Sudarshan andhis team were not giving up, they came to himseeking healthcare advice for their wives. Peoplein the village needed healthcare badly but the lackof a PHC had made it difficult for them to accessproper services. Once they realised that the trusthad come to provide quality healthcare, the com-munity, including the insurgents, readily support-ed the team.

In fact, so overwhelming was the support thatlocal women healthcare workers were motivat-ed to report for duty on time daily. Under ordi-nary circumstances, this may not have been con-sidered a big achievement, but when the trustteam saw that the women health workers crossednarrow, swaying bridges across deep rivers andgorges, and also resorted to swinging on a ropeto reach the PHC, they were impressed by theircommitment. It was this dedication of thehealth workers that helped the trust to bring eightmore PHCs in nine districts under its manage-ment.

But can all successful health interventions bescaled up? What are the processes that need tobe followed so that these interventions are sus-tainable? Should a health intervention be scaledup just because it has achieved success as a pilot?

If the trust’s journey from managing one PHCin Karnataka to managing 71 PHCs in sevenStates, including Arunachal Pradesh, is any indi-cation, clearly the answer is “yes.” Economicgrowth can be meaningful only if it brings greaterbenefits to a greater number of people over awider geographical area. This should happenquickly, equitably and be lasting.

However, it has been seen that women areoften excluded from this growth process and theirrole and contribution is overlooked by policy-makers. Health interventions that are scaled upcan only be sustainable when women are put atthe centre of development. An excellent exam-

ple of this is the Home-Based Newbornand Child Care (HBNCC) model devel-oped by the Society for Education,Action and Research in CommunityHealth (SEARCH), a not-for-profitbody headed by Dr Abhay Bang and DrRani Bang. Based in Gadchiroli, a pre-dominantly tribal and Naxal-affecteddistrict in Maharashtra, the NGO hasproven that tribal women are capableof saving lives of newborns. It would bewrong to judge their capabilities justbecause of their lack of formal educa-tion, their traditional attire and cus-toms. The bejewelled Gonda tribalwomen in Gadchiroli have shown thatalthough they follow traditional cus-toms by wearing customary silver jew-ellery from head to toe, this does notcome in the way of saving lives.

The HBNCC intervention, whichsensitised and trained these women, hasdemonstrated that they are equallycompetent in recognising and identi-fying life-threatening symptoms innewborns and administering life-sav-ing injections. So, it is not what is beingdone which is significant but how it isdone. Here, too, the crucial factor is therespect given to the women during theintervention.

The biggest factor in their successin reducing neonatal mortality is thewomen empowering model followed bythem. Just training the village’s womenhealth workers to provide home-basednewborn and childcare helped toreduce infant mortality from 121 for1,000 live births to 30 within six yearsof its implementation. The key to thesuccess of this intervention was toensure women became partners and notmerely passive recipients. This under-lines the need for partnerships asinnovators do not have the capacity forupscaling. The SEARCH experience hasshown that women are the right part-ners for scaling up healthcare at the

grassroots through Self-Help Groupsand community-based organisations.SEARCH is at present working with13,000 tribal people in 48 villages inGadchiroli. Its HBNCC model, adopt-ed by the Government for its NationalHealth Mission, is also being used by12 countries.

This underscores not just theimportance of engaging people andcommunity-based organisations inhealth interventions but also shows howensuring gender equality is paramountto its sustainability.

Equally important is the creation ofsocial values by ending discriminationagainst girls. Besides, the infrastructure,the content and the process, too, haveto be empowering for women. Clearly,the Gadchiroli model seems to haveworked out how to adapt to local situ-ations. It has been replicated inBangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal and sevenAfrican countries.

The Karuna Trust model, too, isbeing used to address gaps in remotecentres through innovations in telemed-icine, health insurance, integration ofmental health and has reached 1.3 mil-lion people.

The Ekjut health model developedby Dr Prasanta Tripathy and DrNirmala Nair is another success storyof how interventions centred onempowering women can bring sustain-able change. Ekjut began its participa-tory and learning action (PLA)-basedintervention with just 20 women inthree tribal and remote villages aroundChakradharpur in West Singhbhumdistrict in Jharkhand.

The high maternal and newbornmortality in these areas led to theirbeing chosen for the pilot programme.During these monthly PLA meetings,women are trained to identify problemslike the two main causes of maternaland child death: Women delaying their

need for professional care and theirinability to find an appropriate health-care facility. They then discussed howto implement practical solutions andevaluate their effectiveness.

The impact of the programmebegan to be seen as the women over-came their fear, shyness and patriarchalbarriers to step out of their homes. Overthe next five years, it was scaled to eightdistricts and involved over 20,000women. By translating their newly-found knowledge into action, womenwere able to bring about a 20 per centreduction in maternal deaths and a 30per cent reduction in the neonataldeaths in 600 villages.

Ekjut now provides support to theNHM in scaling up its model in all 24districts in Jharkhand. Its PLA modelhas also been scaled in 17 districts inMadhya Pradesh. In 2016, the CentralGovernment began using the Ekjutmodel to bring down maternal andneonatal deaths in eight Indian States.Government frontline workers trainedby Ekjut are using the PLA method in40,000 villages all over the country toempower women to take charge.

However, challenges in scaling upsuccessful interventions still exist. Thelack of community participation is a bighurdle in scaling up interventions aswas seen in the resistance to a nation-wide roll-out of the weekly iron-folicacid supplementation programme foradolescents. Another impediment is theunavailability of requisite financialresources and trained personnel. Fundsfor research and monitoring and eval-uating data are often negligible. Greaterdissemination of successful scaled-upinterventions, strategic partnershipswith other stakeholders and integrationwith Government programmes will beuseful in overcoming some of thesechallenges.

(The writer is a senior journalist)

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The pandemic has disrupted edu-cation, primarily with schoolclosures affecting more than 32

crore students in India. Whether chil-dren continue to learn, what they arelearning and how so are questions thathave answers in a wide range.However, a common factor acrossmost schools, both private andGovernment, has been that teachershave stepped up to ensure that learn-ing continues.

Whether it is by experimentingwith various online platforms to seewhich one is most effective for their

needs or spending hours preparing foronline classes, uploading lessons onvideo-sharing platforms like YouTubeor patiently guiding students (andsometimes parents) on how to use theinterface, or by coming up with inno-vative solutions in resource-con-strained areas. We know of teachersusing loudspeakers to conduct class-es in villages while practising social dis-tancing where online learning is notviable.

Going by how the pandemic isunfolding, out of classroom teachingand learning is expected to continueat least for a while. And even once chil-dren go back to schools, blended learn-ing methods seem likely. The recent-ly-released guidelines for digital edu-cation, Pragyata, speak of “a healthymix of schooling at home and school-ing at school” to not let closures leadto loss of learning.

Pragyata outlines how variousdevices — computers, smartphones,television sets, radio sets or a basic

mobile phone — should be used byeducators to reach out to students andfacilitate learning. However, the use oftechnology in education is not a fall-out of the pandemic. Integration ofInformation and CommunicationTechnology (ICT) in education wasintroduced in various forms in differ-ent school systems.

In fact, the use of technology ineducation in India was adopted as earlyas in 1972 under the Fourth Five-YearPlan with the allocation of a budget forradio/cassette players and colour tele-vision sets.

Subsequent schemes, includingICT@Schools at the national level, andvarious others in the States reimaginedteaching and learning to integrate tech-nology-enabled pedagogy. Audio-visual classes became useful rein-forcement tools for concepts taught byteachers, apart from being an attrac-tion for students.

However, there has been consid-erable heterogeneity even within

Government and private schools, notjust between them. The usage of tech-nology in classes varied with infra-structure and resources available in theschool and then the level of readinessand comfort of the teacher in usingICT in the classroom.

Teacher readiness and prepared-ness in integrating ICT in pedagogyrequire relevant training and constantaid. Just as there are specific skills andcompetencies needed to impart lessonsin a classroom — including ensuringbasic discipline, eliciting responsive-ness from students, using the board towrite, developing and using otherteaching-learning materials (TLMs),facilitating student-to-student interac-tion, adopting relevant pedagogy as perthe concept being discussed, numberof students and resources availableamong many others — there areadditional skills that teachers requirein order to conduct classes on digitalplatforms. These range from beingfamiliar with the features of the plat-

form on which the class is to be con-ducted, choosing pedagogy that iseffective through the platform, design-ing activities and assessment that canbe administered digitally while ensur-ing that the learning objectives are met,finding ways to ensure that studentsengage with the teacher and with oneanother, while also figuring out howlife skills can be imparted within thespace and time constraint.

According to a recent UNESCOestimate, around 2.7 million teachersin India, who have been impacted bythe crisis, are untrained to tackle thesituation. Being a major cause of con-cern, there are multiple levels at whichteachers need to be supported. The firstlevel, which is a prerequisite to out-of-classroom teaching and learning, isthat of providing them basic and ade-quate infrastructural support. Thisincludes power supply, availability ofa computer and an internet connec-tion. The second level of supportwould be appropriate training in using

digital platforms for teaching andtechnical support for students and par-ents. ICT training for students wouldbe essential to ensure that teachers donot have to answer repeated questionsabout how to connect, troubleshooterrors and can focus on other aspectsof conducting the class. The third levelis remote training in digital and onlinepedagogy. This is particularly criticalbecause online classes or radio lessonsmay not work with reliance on conven-tional, in-classroom teaching methods.

A common concern shared byteachers is, in the absence of eye con-tact, how do we assess whether eachstudent is paying attention in class oridentify those that may have a doubtand are hesitant to ask. To address con-cerns like these, methods on a digitalplatform would be different fromthose in a physical classroom. Trainingand knowledge-sharing for digitalteaching would be helpful to answersuch questions.

The fourth level is socio-emotion-

al support. The pandemic has alteredeverybody’s life and we must not over-look its effects on the mental and emo-tional well-being of teachers. In addi-tion to tackling the pressures of remoteteaching along with household chores,teachers are dealing with anxiousparents and students. Online teaching,for most teachers, has resulted inextended working hours. For many ofthem, it is like learning a new skill,applying it and doing it — all at thesame time.

Another source of worry is the fearof pay cuts as also potential job loss-es. Real, concrete measures are need-ed to allay such fears and keep teach-ers motivated.

After all, it is how we support oureducators that would determinewhether this pandemic pushes ourcountry into a deeper learning crisisor sows seeds of resilience in our edu-cation system.

(The writer is an independentresearcher studying public education)

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London: China's ambassadorto the UK lashed out at what hesaw as one-sided reporting onhuman rights issues Thursday,presenting a series of videosdefending Chinese actionsagainst Uighur Muslims in thenorthwest Xinjang provinceand warning Britain to stopmeddling in his country'saffairs.

Liu Xiaoming's presenta-tion stressed that China'sactions in Xinjiang were meantto fight terrorism, and thegrainy images he played forreporters included bloodyscenes showing the aftermathof attacks.

The videos were meant tocounter a recent BBC interviewin which presenter AndrewMarr had challenged the diplo-mat to explain drone footagethat apparently showed Uighurprisoners being guarded andtransferred to trains by Chineseauthorities.

Liu denied Uighurs werebeing mistreated and postedscreen grabs that challenged,among other things, whether

the prisoners were kneeling orsitting on the ground. Hedescribed “so-called victims” ofhuman rights violations asbeing either separatists or“actors trained by anti-Chinaforces in the US and otherWestern countries”.

Liu added that disputesover human rights, the impo-sition of a new security law inHong Kong and Britain's deci-sion to ban Chinese tech giantHuawei from taking part in thebuilding the new high speedphone network had “seriouslypoisoned the atmosphere" ofrelations with the UK.

The rising tensions come asUS President Donald Trumpand his administration pushWashington and Beijing towarda new era of ever-growing con-frontation.

“China and U.K. Shouldhave enough wisdom and capa-bility to manage and deal withthese differences, rather thanallowing anti-China forces andCold war warriors to kidnap(the) China-UK relationship,''he said. AP

Islamabad: The IslamabadHigh Court on Thursday con-stituted a two-member benchto hear a review petition filedby the Pakistan government inthe case of Indian death-rowprisoner Kulbhushan Jadhav,according to the Pakistanimedia.

The bench comprisingIslamabad High Court (IHC)Chief Justice Athar Minallahand his fellow judge JusticeMiangul Hassan Aurangzebwould take up the govern-ment plea on Monday, thePakistani media, including the

Geo News, reported. In a uni-lateral move, Pakistan filed thepetition in the IHC on Jul 22,seeking appointment of a "legalrepresentative" for Jadhav.

However, the main parties,including the government ofIndia, were not consulted aheadof the filing of the applicationby the Ministry of Law andJustice under an ordinancewhich was enacted on May 20.

Under the ‘InternationalCourt of Justice Review andReconsideration Ordinance2020', which was enacted onMay 20, a petition for the

review of a military court'sdecision can be made toIslamabad High Court throughan application within 60 daysof its promulgation.

The ordinance wasapproved by the parliamentthis week. Jadhav, the 50-year-old retired Indian Navy officer,was sentenced to death by aPakistani military court oncharges of espionage and ter-rorism in April 2017. Indiaapproached the ICJ againstPakistan for denial of consularaccess to Jadhav and challeng-ing the death sentence. PTI

Beijing: China said onThursday that long-rangebombers were among the air-craft that took part in recent aer-ial drills over the South ChinaSea amid rising tensionsbetween Washington andBeijing over the strategic water-way.

The exercises includednighttime takeoffs and landingsand simulated long-rangeattacks, Defense Ministryspokesperson Ren Guoqiangsaid.

Among the planes were H-6G and H-6K bombers, upgrad-ed versions of planes long in usewith the People's LiberationArmy Air Force and the People'sLiberation Army Navy AirForce, Ren said.

He said the exercises hadbeen previously scheduled andwere aimed at boosting pilotabilities to operate under allnatural conditions. It wasn'tclear whether live bombs wereused.

Ren's statement appeared todistance the drills from recent

accusations exchanged betweenthe sides over China's claim tovirtually all of the South ChinaSea, which it has buttressed inrecent years by building man-made islands equipped withrunways.

The US this month for thefirst time rejected China's claimsoutright, prompting Beijing toaccuse it of seeking to create dis-cord between China and itsneighbors. Five other govern-ments also exercise claims in theSouth China Sea, throughwhich around USD 5 trillion intrade is transported annually.

Previously, US policy hadbeen to insist that maritime dis-putes between China and itssmaller neighbours be resolvedpeacefully through UN-backedarbitration. But in a statement,Secretary of State Mike Pompeosaid the US now regards virtu-ally all Chinese maritime claimsoutside its internationally rec-ognized waters to be illegitimate.

The shift does not involvedisputes over land features thatare above sea level, which are

considered to be “territorial” innature.

“The world will not allowBeijing to treat the South ChinaSea as its maritime empire,”Pompeo said.

Although the US will offi-cially continue to remain neu-tral in the territorial disputes,the announcement means theadministration is in effect sid-ing with governments whichoppose Chinese assertions ofsovereignty over maritime areassurrounding contested islands,reefs and shoals.

In other comments onThursday, Ren criticizedstepped-up military cooperationbetween the US and Taiwan, theself-governing island democra-cy that China claims as its ter-ritory, to be brought under itscontrol by force if necessary.

Washington and Taipeihave no formal diplomatic tiesbut the US is the island's keyprovider of defensive arms andis legally obligated to treatthreats to the island as mattersof grave concern. AP

New York: A federal judge onWednesday blocked a Trumpadministration rule that coulddeny green cards to immi-grants over use of public ben-efits from being applied duringthe pandemic.

The controversial guide-lines had gone into effect inFebruary, after legal challengesand amid concerns that theywould have a chilling effect onimmigrants in seeking medicalcare and other social services.

In issuing the preliminarynationwide injunction, U.S.District Judge George Danielsin Manhattan said, “Any poli-cy that deters residents fromseeking testing and treatmentfor COVID-19 increases therisk of infection for such resi-dents and the public. Adversegovernment action that targetsimmigrants, however, is par-ticularly dangerous during apandemic."

U.S. Citizenship andImmigration Services had saidin March that the new guide-lines would not apply to immi-grants with coronavirus or

virus symptoms if they got care,but Daniels said thatannouncement was “plainlyinsufficient" over a number ofconcerns, like whether otherforms that might be needed,like food stamps, would also beexempt.

“Simply relying on thecompassion or sympathy ofimmigration officials is notrational, either in rule-makingor in informally attempting toamend those rules," he wrote.

An email seeking com-ment was sent to theDepartment of Justice.Immigrant advocates werepleased with the decision.

“Immigrants, especiallypeople serving as essentialworkers combating the spreadof the coronavirus, need accessto life-saving healthcare, foodassistance, and other essentialservices in order to both tack-le the pandemic and protecttheir families without fear ofimmigration consequences,"said Susan Welber with theLegal Aid Society, among theplaintiffs' attorneys. AP

Hong Kong: Hong Kong policehave signalled their intent toenforce a new Chinese nation-al security law strictly, arrest-ing four youths Wednesdayon suspicion of inciting seces-sion through social mediaposts.

Three males and onefemale, aged 16 to 21, weredetained, a police official saidat an 11 pm news conference.All are believed to be students.

"Our investigation showedthat a group has recentlyannounced on social mediathat they have set up an orga-

nization for Hong Kong inde-pendence," said Li Kwai-wah,senior superintendent of anewly formed unit to enforcethe security law.

The 1-month-old law haschilled pro-democracy protest-ing as activists along with aca-demics and others wonder iftheir activities could be target-ed.

The Central Governmentin Beijing imposed the nation-al security law on the semi-autonomous Chinese territoryafter city leaders were unable toget one passed locally. AP

Beijing: China's COVID-19cases have crossed the 100-mark for the second consecu-tive day, belying the hopes thatthe country managed to con-tain the deadly contagion.

The National HealthCommission (NHC) onThursday said that 105 newcoronavirus cases, including102 domestically transmittedones, were registered in thecountry on Wednesday, main-ly in the Muslim Uygur major-

ity Xinjiang province whichreported a sudden spike incases.

The NHC on Wednesdaysaid that 102 cases werereported on Tuesday, crossingthe 100 mark for the first timein three months after it wascontrolled in Wuhan wherethe virus first emerged inDecember last year, sparkingfears of a second wave of theCOVID-19 attack in the coun-try. PTI

Washington: President DonaldTrump is for the first time float-ing a “delay” to November'spresidential election, as hemakes unsubstantiated allega-tions that increased mail-invoting will result in fraud.

The dates of federal elec-tions — the Tuesday after thefirst Monday in November —are enshrined in federal lawand would require an act ofCongress to change. TheConstitution makes no provi-sions for a delay to the Jan. 20,2021 presidential inaugura-tion.

Trump tweeted Thursday:“With Universal Mail-In Voting(not Absentee Voting, which is

good), 2020 will be the mostINACCURATE & FRAUDU-LENT Election in history.

It will be a great embar-rassment to the USA. Delay theElection until people can prop-erly, securely and safely vote???”There is no evidence of wide-spread voter fraud throughmail-in voting, even in stateswith all-mail votes.

Five states already relyexclusively on mail-in ballots,and they say they have neces-sary safeguards in place toensure that a hostile foreignactor doesn't disrupt the vote.Election security experts saythat all forms of voter fraud arerare, including absentee bal-

loting.Trump has increasingly

sought to cast doubt onNovember's election and theexpected surge in mail-in andabsentee voting as a result ofthe coronavirus pandemic.

And Trump has calledremote voting options the“biggest risk” to his reelection.His campaign and theRepublican Party have sued tocombat the practice, whichwas once a significant advan-tage for the GOP. Last month,Trump told supporters inArizona that “This will be, inmy opinion, the most corruptelection in the history of ourcountry." AP

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Minneapolis: A second formerMinneapolis police officercharged in the death of GeorgeFloyd will seek to have thecharges against him dismissed.

Defense attorney RobertPaule filed a motion Wednesdaysaying Tou Thao will ask thejudge to dismiss the charges ata hearing on September 11. Anattorney for former officerThomas Lane, Earl Gray, alsohas filed a motion saying he willargue to dismiss the chargesagainst his client.

Paule said he will argue thatthe charges against Thao are notsupported by probable cause.Prosecutors must prove thatThao knew former officerDerek Chauvin and others weregoing to commit a crime and“intended his presence oractions to further the commis-sion of that crime,” Paule said inhis motion.

Paule said Thao's bodycamera video will show thelack of probable cause. Thao, 34,was seen in cellphone videostanding near a crowd ofbystanders as Chauvin pressedhis knee to Floyd's neck. AP

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Bangkok: Hardcore supportersof Thailand's monarchy held asmall rally on Thursday in thecapital to express their concernover the country's pro-democ-racy movement, which they feelbesmirches the royal institution.

Their demonstration washeld at Bangkok's DemocracyMonument, a traditional venuefor protests that in recent weekshas hosted several larger pro-democracy, anti-governmentprotests organized by students.

Chanting “Long live theKing” and singing songs asso-ciated with past nationalistmovements, some 75 peoplegathered held signs calling forthe protection of the monarchy.

The protest was organizedby a little-known group callingitself “Vocational SchoolStudents Protecting the Nation,”

and about two dozen college-age students were among theattendees as were many seniorcitizens.

“I am here today becausethere are many protests thathave anti-monarchy sentiment,”said 17-year-old studentThanapat Putipat.

“We are able to live on ourland because of the kings andour ancestors. We must respectthem.” Todsapol Manujaras, arepresentative of the organizinggroup, vowed to stage counter-protests to any other demon-strations by the anti-govern-ment side. One was held laterThursday at another location inBangkok.

“We cannot accept thosewho violate our monarchy, theinstitution that should be withus forever,” Todsapol said. AP

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Hong Kong: At least 12 HongKong pro-democracy nomi-nees including prominentactivist Joshua Wong were dis-qualified for September leg-islative elections, with author-ities saying Thursday they failedto uphold the city's mini-con-stitution and pledge allegianceto Hong Kong and Beijing.

Others who were disqual-ified include democracy activistTiffany Yuen from the dis-banded political organizationDemosisto, as well as incum-bent lawmaker Dennis Kwokand three others from the pro-democracy Civic Party.

It marks a setback for thepro-democracy camp, whichhad aimed to win a majority ofseats in the legislature this year.Earlier this month, they held anunofficial primary, with candi-dates including Wong toppingthe polls. AP

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Columbus: The Ohio Houseousted its Republican speakeras the chamber's top leader ina historic, unanimous andbipartisan vote Thursday afterhis arrest in an alleged $60 mil-lion bribery scheme.

Rep. Larry Householder isthe first Ohio House speakerever removed by the chamber,according to the Ohio HistoryConnection. For now, he stillretains his seat in the GOP-ledLegislature.

Remaining members ofHouseholder's leadership teamhad said he deserves the pre-sumption of innocence but“lost the trust of his colleaguesand the public” and couldn'teffectively lead the House.

Householder, of Glenford,and four associates were iden-tified in a July 21 federal affi-davit as allegedly taking part ina pay-to-play scheme involving

corporate money secretly fun-nelled to them for personal andpolitical use in exchange forhelping to pass House Bill 6 tofinancially bail out twoFirstEnergy nuclear plants.

Householder was one ofthe driving forces behind thelegislation, which included a feeto every electricity bill in thestate and directed over $150million a year through 2026 tothe plants near Cleveland andToledo.

Householder, his long-timeadviser Jeffrey Longstreth, for-mer Ohio Republican Partychairman Matt Borges and lob-byists Neil Clark and JuanCespedes could each face up to20 years in prison if they'reconvicted for their alleged workto pass the bailout and blockattempts to overturn it, accord-ing to a criminal complaintfiled by the FBI. AP

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ACOVID-19 vaccine can-didate developed by the

University of Oxford in theUK elicits an immuneresponse and reduces the viralload in monkeys exposed toSARS-CoV-2 virus, accordingto a study published in thejournal Nature on Thursday.

The researchers fromNational Institute of Allergyand Infectious Diseases in theUS and the Oxford Universityfound that the ChAdOx1nCoV-19 vaccine protects themacaques from COVID-19pneumonia — a complica-

tion of SARS-CoV-2 infectionin which the lungs becomeinflamed and may fill withfluid.

Preliminary results fromthis research were used tofacilitate the start of clinical tri-als of the vaccine in humans,the researchers noted.

ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 ismade from a weakened chim-panzee adenovirus -- a groupof viruses that can cause arange of illnesses, includingthe common cold -- thatexpresses the SARS-CoV-2spike protein, a structure thatenables the coronavirus toenter human cells.

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The key Indian equityindices traded on a positive

note on Thursday with theBSE Sensex rising over 280points.The domestic indiceswere tracking gains on theAsian markets which rose afterthe US Federal Reserve keptinterest rates at low levels.

Around 10.18 a.m., Sensexwas trading at 38,352.25, high-er by 281.12 points or 0.74 percent from its previous close of38,071.13. It opened at38,262.83 and has so fartouched an intra-day high of38,366.43 and a low of

38,221.80.Nifty50 on the National

Stock Exchange was trading at11,280.30, higher by 77.45points or 0.69 per cent from itsprevious close.The top gainerson the Sensex so far were TCS,Maruti Suzuki India and AsianPaints, while the major loserswere IndusInd Bank, PowerGrid and Hindustan Unilever.

Ghaziabad: DMRC will nothave to pay the remaining twobillion rupees to the GhaziabadMunicipal Corporation for thenew bus Adda Metro RailSecond Phase from DilshadGarden, but DMRC will adjustthis amount as against thepayable taxes.

The Uttar Pradesh gov-ernment has also given a greensignal in this regard. Actually,correspondence between GDAMunicipal Corporation andDMR C was going on for a longtime regarding the outstandingcontribution of MunicipalCorporation. After this deci-sion, the dispute has now cometo an end.

This information was givenby Mayor Asha Sharma heretoday. On the issue of givingcontribution, the municipalcorporation argued that most

of the Metro railway line haspassed through the corpora-tion’s land.

Secondly, when the con-struction of second phase of theMetro Rail Project was com-pleted, at that time, DMRC hadstarted all its maintenanceoffices and stores etc. on theMunicipal Corporation land,for which no rent or tax waspaid to Ghaziabad MunicipalCorporation.

The Mayor said thatDMRC is currently owed a tax

of 100 crores of GhaziabadMunicipal Corporation, whichis to be taken from DMRC toMunicipal Corporation. TheMayor said that on the basis ofthe funding pattern of MetroRail, Naga Corporation hadincreased the revised DPR onMetro Rail to two billion thir-ty-three crores, if the taxamount from DMRC andRailways will be adjusted in thisamount of liability. The fund ofthe infrastructure fund receivedby the corporation will not becut, and this fund to be held inthe city will speed up the devel-opment works. The specialthing is that in this entire mat-ter, the Commissioner ofGhaziabad MunicipalCorporation, Dr. DineshChand Singh has alreadyinformed the Government inwriting.

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Rural and semi urban mar-kets have posted a strong

bounce back in FMCG sales inJune, while bigger cities con-tinue to witness decline as"industry revival in Bharat out-paces that in India", accordingto data analytics firm Nielsen.

Sales in rural and small-er town markets reportedincrease of 12 per cent and 7per cent, respectively, whilemetro and class I cities declinedby 4 per cent and 2 per cent inJune, Nielsen said in its reportQ2 FMCG Growth Snapshot.

The coronavirus pandem-ic was severe in Indian metrosand urban centres as com-pared to rural areas, and thenumber of days of functioningof retail stores dealing inFMCG products in metropol-itan cities were two-times less

as compared to outlets in ruralareas even in June, it said.

"As a result, the industrysales continued to decline inbigger cities (above one lakhpopulation, including metrosand Town Class 1) in June. Thesmaller towns and rural mar-kets, however, had a strongbounce back in June, after twomonths of negative growthduring the lockdown," Nielsensaid.

Interestingly in pre-CovidJanuary-March Quarter, ruralhad a slower growth rate thanurban.

"After witnessing slowergrowth compared to urban inQ120, rural markets led theindustry revival in June with adouble-digit (12 per cent)growth versus June of 2019.

"At an overall quarter levelalso, rural markets were lessimpacted as compared to their

urban counterpart (11 per centdecline for rural vs 20 per centfor urban)," it said.

Nielsen President - SouthAsia Prasun Basu expects thatgoing forward rural could out-perform the large cities drivenby multiple factors such asenhanced Governmentschemes, lower instances ofpositive cases and a relativelywell-spread out monsoon thatbodes well for the agrarianeconomy.

"While nobody knows theend story of the pandemic...Butrural has been largelyuntouched, the only caution Iwould put is as the lockdownsgetting opened up - there ismore movement at people -- Ihope that does not affect ruralmarket in any way," he said.

This was helped by sever-al other macro-environmentfactors such as rural stimulus

by the government as increasedMNREGA allocation, GaribKalyan Rojgar Abhiyan, sup-port to agriculture andupskilling programmes formigrant workers that returnedto their villages besides normaland timely rainfall.

Moreover, reverse migra-tion added to the rural labourand consumer base.

"States like Maharashtra,Gujarat, Delhi, AndhraPradesh that attract high num-bers of migrant population, hada negative impact due toreverse migration of labour.This gave a positive boost toFMCG sales in states of UttarPradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan andUttarakhand, where the localgovernments dialed up onemployment efforts reflectingin unemployment data as well,"it said.

Rural markets in the north

and east, which forms a bulk ofrural sales, have performedbetter than other regional mar-kets.

"These two zones saw ashift from negative industrygrowth of April-May to a highsingle-digit growth in June.On the other hand, the westzone that has a relatively high-er urban population and hadhigher severity of the pan-demic continued to decline inJune," it added.

Overall, Neilsen said,"Industry revival in Bharat out-paces that in india".

According to NielsenGlobal Connect Lead RetailVertical and RMS, SharangPant, the urban market wouldbounce back.

"Once the intermittentlockdown is over and the thirdphase of the Unlock, which hasbeen announced by the gov-

ernment, we are expectingreturning of normalcy as storesopened for more days andconsumer are given moreopportunity to go outside tobut thing which they need.Moreover, after Unlock, theunemployment situation is alsoexpected to come down," hesaid.

The FMCG industry start-ed to witness slowdown fromthe last week of March and gotamplified in April-May 2020when the industry declinedby 28 per cent as compared tothe same period of 2019. Thiswas due to massive disruptionsin production and supplychain, and low consumer con-fidence.

However, Unlock 1.0 inJune saw a revival, as the indus-try clocked a growth of 4.5 percent compared to the sameperiod a year ago.

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Eighty-two per cent of Indiancompanies expect to get

back to pre-coronavirus rev-enue run rate by June 2021,according to a report by PwCIndia. The report is based ona survey of 225 CXOs acrossindustries to assess the impactof the COVID-19 crisis. PwCconducted an anonymousonline survey between June 17,2020 and July 10, 2020, it saidadding that the survey respon-dents were a mix of CXOs andother senior management per-sonnel from various industriesin India.

The report suggests thatinfrastructure, real estate,industrials, retail, hospitalityand media and entertainmentsuffered significant revenuedecline due to the crisis, as perthe report titled ‘COVID-19:Path to Recovery’.

Collapse in demand, sup-ply-chain disruptions and liq-uidity constraints were the topreasons for the decline, it said.

"Sectors such as informa-tion technology, healthcare,

pharma, telecom, utilities andconsumer essentials weresomewhat resilient. Crisis man-agement and agility to adapt tothe changing market were thekey for resilience," it said.

According to the report, 73per cent respondents areexpecting lower revenues in2020-21, but only 15 per centexpect the decline extending tothe next fiscal.

Further, an overwhelming77 per cent of the respondentswould like to accelerate digitalenablement, it said.Other sig-nificant interventions antici-pated by the respondentsinclude localisation of manu-facturing/ supply chains, devel-opment of newer logistics mod-els, collaboration to add capa-bilities and navigate bottle-necks and development ofnewer products and services.

"Forty-five per cent of therespondents are keen to con-sider acquisitions, whereas 20per cent are considering divest-ing non-core businesses.

Twenty-six per cent of therespondents would be lookingto raise funds," said the report.

Sanjeev Krishan, partnerand leader (deals) at PwCIndia, said business leadershave adapted well to thisunprecedented situation andare optimistic of recovery.

"We noticed a pragmaticprogression in the steps takenby CXOs from ‘repair’ to‘rethink’ to ‘reconfigure’ infuture. In this tougher businessenvironment, digital enable-ment has become key forremaining competitive andresilient," he said.

He further said value cre-ation has become even morecritical and deal-making isgoing to be an important lever.

The crisis has broughtresilience to the fore and weexpect boardrooms to take duecognisance of it, he added.

The priorities for mostrespondent organisations haveevolved from survival initia-tives like employee well-beingand availability and businesscontinuity during the lock-down to rebound initiatives likerecapturing demand and opti-mising costs after the unlock,the report said.

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IT major Wipro on Thursdaysaid it has inked a multi-year

contract with UK-based MetroBank to deliver testing andenvironment management ser-vices.

As part of this partner-ship, Wipro will leverage itsdigital and quality engineeringcapabilities to drive transfor-mation through automation,service virtualisation andDevSecOps (development,security and operations)enablement, it said in a state-ment.

This will help Metro Bankachieve its objectives aroundcost, pace and quality of oper-ations and further differentiatethem from other high streetbanks, it added.

No financial details of thedeal were disclosed.

"This directly supports

Metro Bank’s strategy tobecome the UK’s best commu-nity bank by providing out-standing service and solutionsto our personal and businesscustomers," Metro Bank’s ChiefInformation Officer CherylMcCuaig said.

Wipro has also been cho-sen as one of the preferredpartners to deliver business-ITservices across Metro Bankfunctions, the statement said.

"We are delighted to bechosen as Metro Bank’s strate-gic transformation partner fortesting and environment ser-vices.

We look forward to work-ing together and delivering anambitious programme that willsignificantly improve the over-all efficiency of technologychange," Wipro Senior VicePresident and Head - Banking(Europe, Middle East andAfrica) Omkar Nisal said.

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Mother Dairy, a leadingmilk supplier in Delhi-

NCR, on Thursday forayedinto bread segment as part ofits strategy to diversify busi-ness, and announced its targetto more than double its revenueto �25,000 crore in the next fiveyears.

Mother Dairy haslaunched three types of breads-sandwich, brown, and fruit &milk - in a price range of �15-40 per packet.

The breads will be initial-ly available at its 1,800 milkbooths and ‘Safal’ outlets in theNational Capital Region(NCR).

The company is targetinga revenue of �100 crore frombread segment over the nextthree years.

"We are diversifying intoconfectionery and bakery seg-ment with the launch of ourbreads," Mother Dairy Fruit &Vegetable Pvt Ltd ManagingDirector Sangram Chaudharytold reporters in a video con-

ference.He said the size of the

bread market in India is esti-mated to be �5,300 crore cur-rently and is growing at anaverage rate of 10 per cent forthe last five years. The highestconsumption is of white bread.

Chaudhary said the com-pany has introduced around 20new products in the market,including five types of sweets.

Asked about the company’scurrent turnover and futureoutlook, he said Mother Dairy’scurrent annual revenue isaround �10,000-11,000 crore.

"We are targeting to reach�25,000 crore turnover by2025," he said, adding thatgrowth could be slow this yearbecause of COVID-19.

He said consumption pat-tern has changed a lot becauseof pandemic, with people pre-ferring home delivery of prod-ucts.

Elaborating on bread busi-ness, Chaudhary said, "Thebread market in India islocalised due to logistical andsupply chain issues.

With Mother Dairy, thishas never been a challengebecause of our existing net-work. Hence, having bread inour kitty was a natural fit."

The company is alsoexploring a larger bakery play,he said.

Sanjay Sharma, businesshead of dairy products, saidbreads are being currentlymanufactured by a third partyand will be sold through 1,800company outlets in the firstphase.

However, retail distribu-tion network as well as prod-uct portfolio would be expand-ed based on customers’response, Sharma said.

"We are looking at �100crore business in bread cate-gory over the next three years,"he said.

A 500 gm packet of sand-wich bread is priced at �30,while the cost of 700 gm pack-et is �40. Brown bread packetof 400 gm is priced at �30,while the rate for fruit & milkbread is �15 for 150 gm pack-et.

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Union Minister JitendraSingh said on Thursday

that bamboo can be the mainpillar of ecological, medicinal,paper and building sectors inIndia and it can become one ofthe important components ofthe country’s post-Covid-19economy.

Chairing a review meet-ing of the Ministry ofDevelopment of North EasternRegion (DoNER), Singh urgedthe Cane and BambooTechnology Centre (CBTC) toexplore setting up of voca-tional training and skill devel-opment centres for the bamboosector for its full exploitation,branding, packaging and mar-keting in India and abroad.

Bamboo can be the mainpillar of ecological, medicinal,paper and building sectors inIndia, he said.The Minister forDoNER said that CBTC, incoordination with NationalBamboo Mission, will work inthis direction to boost thebamboo economy in the north-

eastern region.The skill centres will pro-

pel the bamboo industry withnew start-ups and also enhancelivelihood opportunities, hesaid.Singh said the bamboosector will be one of the impor-tant components of India’spost-Covid economy and avital pillar of the ‘AtmanirbharBharat Abhiyan’ (self-reliantcampaingn) in the northeast-ern region.

Underlining the unexpect-ed potentials of this sector and"being neglected for the last 70years", he said the present gov-ernment has the capacity andthe will to unlock its potentialto the highest level as 40 percent of all bamboo resources liein northeastern region in thecountry.

Welcoming the centralgovernment’s decisions to banimport of finished productsand raising the import duty by25 per cent on raw bambooitems, Singh said the measureswill help the domestic bambooindustries, including incensestick-making, in a big way.

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The Attorney General hasopined that the Centre has

no statutory obligation to makeup from its coffers any short-fall in GST revenues of states,which may now have to look atmarket borrowings againstfuture revenue mop-up,sources said.

The Centre had in Marchsought views from AttorneyGeneral KK Venugopal on thelegality of market borrowing tomake good the shortfall incompensation fund - a corpuscreated from levy of addition-al tax on luxury and sin goodsto compensate states for rev-enue shortfall arising fromtheir taxes being subsumedinto the Goods and ServicesTax (GST).

Sources said the AG in hisview has said there is no oblig-ation on the central govern-ment to pay the GST com-pensation shortfall from itscoffers.

The AG has also said theGST Council has to decide onmaking good the shortfall in

the GST compensation fund byproviding the sufficient amountto be credited to it.

Sources said the optionsbefore the Council for meetingthe shortfall could be to ratio-nalise GST rates, cover moreitems under the compensa-tion cess or increase the cess, orrecommend higher borrowingby states to be repaid by thefuture collections into the com-pensation fund.

Since raising tax or cessrates might not be feasible inthe current pandemic situa-tion, the option that remainswould be each State borrowingfrom the market against theconsolidated fund of the stateto meet the shortfall in rev-enue.

Under GST law, states wereguaranteed to be compensatedbi-monthly for any loss of rev-enue in the first five years of theGST implementation from July1, 2017.

The shortfall is calculatedassuming a 14 per cent annu-al growth in GST collections bystates over the base year of2015-16.

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E-commerce spends surpassed pre-Covid-19levels after the lockdown across Delhi,

Mumbai and Bengaluru as more individualsopted to shop online for their discretionary andnon-discretionary spends, according to a reportby credit card bill payment platform CRED.

The report is based on an analysis of cred-it card spending patterns of over three millionmembers across the three cities. The data takes

February 2020 spending as a baseline andcompares it to spends in subsequent monthsunder which the lockdown and unlock time peri-ods fall, said the report.

CRED said there were two toplineinsights gathered from the study.

The study was done to understand larg-er trends reflected in spending behaviour of afflu-ent consumers pre-, during and post the lock-down.

More individuals opted to shop online fortheir discretionary and non-discretionary spendsduring the lockdown but have continued after thelockdown as well, indicating a larger behaviour-al trend, the report said.

Sharp spikes were recorded in online gro-cery and e-commerce surpassing even pre-COVID-19 levels, while spending on physicalgrocery and shopping fell substantially.

"E-commerce spends surpassed pre-Covid-19 levels post the lockdown across all three cities.Delhi spend grew to 135 per cent, while Mumbaiwas at 133 per cent and Bengaluru at 124 percent," CRED said.

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In the Amazon Prime Video’sforthcoming musical series,

Bandish Bandits, a story of love,betrayal and family, actor ShreyaChaudhary plays the character ofaspiring pop sensation‘Tamanna’, Ritwik Bhowmikplays a classical music prodigy‘Radhe’ and Naseeruddin Shahplays the character of Radhe’sguruji ‘Pandit RadhemohanRathod’.

When asked in a recentinterview if one of the reasons heagreed to do the series wasbecause his character had threeshades, Shah replied, “Well thatwas one of the reasons but I alsowanted to work with Anand(Tiwari). I’ve seen his work andfilms and I’ve always liked it. Sothat was a reason I wanted to dothis project.”

The actor further added,“The second reason was that I’vealways had a bit of a problemwith singing on screen. MirzaGhalib helped me to come tocrip with it and this film reallyhelped me to overcome my ter-ror of playback singing. This wasrather difficult because it hadsome pretty complicated upsand downs in the classical mold

and I’m not very familiar with itunlike Atul (Kulkarni) who hashad something of a backgroundof classical music and I didn’t.”

Shah continued, “So it wasgreat fun to try to get the man-ner of a classical singer. The thirdthing is that he’s not a goody-goody character because normal-ly the parts written for elderactors are either wicked, schem-ing, gentle or of doctors, fathers,something on these lines.”

Lastly, he added, “No onebothers to really go into depthwhere an elder character is con-cerned and this was a script inwhich this character is not alwaysshown in a sympathetic light. Infact, he’s responsible for a greatdeal of mishaps that occur to thecharacters in this series.”

The series, set in Jodhpur isproduced and created byAmritpal Singh Bindra anddirected by Anand Tiwari. Theshow also features an originalsoundtrack, composed byShankar-Ehsaan-Loy, who arealso making their digital debutwith this show. The series con-sists of 10 musical episodes.

(The Amazon Prime Originalreleases on August 4.)

When writing my first driveimpressions of the new

fifth-generation Honda City, Iwent back to the first-generationCity. While I might rememberthat car as if it was yesterday, butit was approximately two decadesago. That particular vehicle willremain embedded in my memo-ry because there really weren’t thatmany cars to play around withwhen I was growing up. Whilesome new carmakers such asFord, General Motors (Opel),Daewoo and Hyundai had comeby the mid-90s, it was the HondaCity that really redefined thegame in terms of affordability,quality and fun. Although todayyou can get a small hatchbackwith 100 horsepower, the City wasgenuinely the first car in Indiawhich gave a sense of enjoymentthat the general motoring publichad never had before. There arepeople who swear by the HondaCity because of that experiencethey had twenty years ago. Whilethe modern Honda City hasmoved from being a speedboat toa small luxury yacht, you can stillhave a lot of fun in the manualvariant.

Back in the early 2000s, carslike the Honda City with 100horsepower and the Maruti Zenwith 60 horsepower were thestandard bearers for power andperformance. But now, the typi-cal mid-sized sedan has around120-140 horsepower and thatdoes not seem enough. At a levelthat is because we are inundatedwith luxury German sedans with190-200 horsepower. But this is at

a time when carmakers are mak-ing 600 horsepower sedans, thenew BMW M5, Mercedes-BenzE63S and Audi RS 7 are all maniccars that redefine our relationshipwith power. I have driven a cou-ple of them and let me assure youthat 600 horsepower is a lot, a bittoo much in the Indian contextbecause these super sedans havemore power than supercars froma decade ago. The LamborghiniGallardo had 550-570 horsepow-er during its decade of production.

Believe me, 600 horsepower istoo much for most roads becauseyou get from a standing start tothree digits in under four secondsand even the best drivers treat theaccelerator pedal with trepidation.While it is tempting to switch offelectronic aids such as tractioncontrol and the stability pro-gramme or even the four-wheeldrive system on the M5, it is sur-prisingly easy to lose control ofone of those cars. I have nevereven switched off traction controlon an open public road, whetherit is India or abroad. In India, if

you do such a thing, that’s not avery smart move to say the least.Just yesterday, I was driving downthe highway to Kanpur and thankgod for traction control. Therewere some cows on the road, justafter a blind turn and I thankedmy lucky stars that I’d gonethrough high-speed zig-zaggingcourses where the traction controlkeeps the car in check. I was in a190 horsepower GLC 220d and Iwasn’t speeding. Trust me,Mercedes-Benz makes it impos-sible to cross 120 kilometres perhour in any of their new cars with-out getting a headache, whichbrings me back to the point.Even the nicer Indian highwaysare an exhausting and often ter-rifying experience to be on. I lovedriving some of the more power-ful cars out there, but only on aracetrack. I do not want aLamborghini to have an incidentwith an Indian bull, and youknow as well as I do, that is arather likely possibility in India.Of course, you don’t always buy acar in that class to drive like a

lunatic breaking speed limits, youbuy a car like that to be seen. Butif you do want to have a bit of fun,I believe 240-260 horsepower isthe sweet spot for fast accelerationand the occasional ‘fast’ drive.

I call cars like the Mercedes-Benz C300d, BMW’s range of 30ipower-rated engines or Audi’s 45TFSI power-rated vehicles ‘powerratings’ because the Germanshave long-since abandoned themodel numbers with engine sizes.Both the BMW 530i and Audi A645TFSI have two-litre petrolengines, go figure!

Power is your friend. In anemergency situation, you can usepower to get out of trouble, butyou should not abuse it becausethe power can whack you in theback of your head and then youwill need the help of the ‘mother’(the brakes). Given the conditionof Indian roads, speeding is not avery great option. While I lamentthat carmakers don’t offer moreengine options with around 300-400 horsepower, they know whatthey are doing.

It has been a tough year. With a pan-demic hitting people across theworld, it is the bond of relationships

that has kept humans going and facingthe situation strongly, albeit from a dis-tance. Rakshabandhan, the festival thatcelebrates the love-hate bond of siblings,is just round the corner but may not bethe occasion for hugs and kisses yet. Butwith technology, there’s no missing thehuman touch. E-commerce is playing akey role in making sure the festive spir-it is alive and keeping siblings connect-ed despite the lockdown and travel bans.And needless to say, gifting remainssacrosanct too. Here’s a guide ofthoughtful ideas you can use to sendlove to your siblings staying away fromyou.

Customised hampersVarious companies are offering sur-

prise gift cards. Bata is offering cus-tomised e-gift cards up to 15 per centoff. You can choose from differenttemplate options available and add acustomised message for your sibling,which will be delivered directly tothem. Finding a rakhi combo becomeseasy with Amazon, Flipkart and variousother platforms offering personalisedhampers, one of which includes a cof-fee mug, greeting card and a cus-tomised rakhi.

One such is also Occasionally Silly,which has introduced a range of quirkyhampers. Sumit Gaddi, CEO and

founder of the brand, says, “I believegifting is an emotion. In fact, people arespending substantially more time inchoosing their gifts and going an extramile in customising them. Brands arecoming up with unique ideas to curatepersonalised gift hampers as per theinterest of an individual and yet they arevery creative and thoughtful.”

Glam-up for ZoomWondering how to make for a per-

fect Zoom celebration and look yourbest? Well, you can add the new blue,round-neck kurta set from Aurelia.With grey-blue embroidery, a printed

skirt and a simple dupatta, it can be eas-ily accessorised with a pair of minijhumkis. With the floral pattern, a setfrom W has that complete festive vibeto it. It comes with a pink top, a dhotialong with a sheer jacket.

Comfort fit has always been themantra for men and t-shirts can be agreat gifting option. Buy your brothera blue collared neck t-shirt fromCantabil to make his wardrobe a littlemore stylish even while he is workingfrom home.

A gift of healthWhat could be more heart-felt gift

t h a ng o o d

h e a l t h ?Plans from

Religare HealthInsurance offer a wide-range of bene-fits from in-patient hospitalisation to preand post-hospitalisation. Some plansalso offer coverage for alternative treat-ments and annual health check-up withthe option of unlimited automaticrecharge of sum insured.

A gift that benefits health may beespecially helpful to someone whowouldn’t normally purchase such anitem or doesn’t know about availableoptions. A wearable fitness monitor is

helpful to track everything from heartrate to the number of steps walked perday. Try Hammer Fit Pro Smart FitnessBand, which comes with a detailedultralight fashionable design, built with0.96 inches LED colour HD display for

a better visual experience. It is use-ful in tracking and monitoring

almost all the daily activities likeblood pressure, sleep patterns,calories burned and more. Itis 100 per cent waterproof forstress-free use during wateractivities.

Gadgets for himTechnology can be a

wonderful thing as long as youclosely manage your relationship

with it. Show the gesture of love withOPPO A-series smartphones and give amuch anticipated upgrade, that toowithout burning a hole in your pocket.While the OPPO A-52 comes with apowerful 12 MP quad camera to turnevery beautiful memory into a photo-graph, the A12 comes with a 13 MP pri-mary camera to keep selfie game on top.

How about gifting your sibling aThomson Bluetooth Speaker that poursout 10watts of pure clean sound withgreat bass? Its added 10-metre range setsyou free. It will be something that onecan truly cherish. Most importantly, itwill last many years to remind you of aspecial year where your thoughts count-ed over the credit card.

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With cafes and barsshut and socialmeetings halted,

hospitality definitely has seena downturn in the first of2020. However, when it comesto food, delicacies can neverbe turned down. Hence, thefood delivery businesses haveas compared taken an upturnand booming.

Well, while many resort-ed to cooking new dishes andeven baking at home for thefirst time, we are also wellaware of the fact that many inIndia couldn’t stay back whenit came to ordering food attheir homes during the lock-down. Well, behind every per-son who didn’t step out oftheir homes, was a deliverypartner who ensured theydidn’t have to. Food deliveryservices certainly became alifeline for those stuck indoorsaway from family, busy atwork or bored with the dailyghar ka khana. However, dowe know what they ordered

the most?While the quarantine

opened a Pandora’s box ofbehavioural changes whichare becoming the ‘new nor-mal’, some old habits die hard.For instance, India’s love forBiryani continues to grow.

As many restaurants and sev-eral five-star hotels, nationalsupermarket chains, local con-venience stores and evenFMCG brands partnered withfood delivery app, Swiggy,through its Swiggy Genie andGrocery to make essential

items available to citizens,the app recently carried out asurvey as to what is beingordered the most — TheQuarantine Edition. Its analy-sis reveals what Indians havebeen ordering for the past fewmonths.

Even though distancingprotocols have been ardentlyfollowed, the survey revealshow the rules don’t apply toBiryani. The data shows thatwhen people weren’t whippingup Dalgonas or bakingBanana Bread in the early daysof the lockdown, they foundcomfort in their Biryani,which continued to rule theroost with nearly 5.5 lakhorders. It was followed byorders for Butter Naan andMasala Dosa.

When it came to desserts,while last year, Indiansindulged the most intoFaloodas, this year, we wit-nessed the moist and decadentchoco-lava cake grab the topdesserts slot. Around 1,29,000people turned to ordering achoco-lava cake. The humbleGulab jamun and chicButterscotch mousse cake fol-lowed suit. This surge is clearthat in times like these, every-body needs a pick-me-up.

Indians have been partic-ular about their eating timingsand now the survey proves ita little more. While workingfrom home or not, on an aver-age, 65,000 meal orders wouldbe already placed by 8 pm eachday to make sure food arrivesin time for dinner. This thusturned out to be the busiesthour for Swiggy delivery part-ners and restaurants. Thedeliveries came with a tip andstarting from approximately�23.65, a particularly generouscustomer ended up tipping�2,500!

As birthday parties shiftedto video calls and virtual cakecutting sessions, nearly1,20,000 cakes were delivered.

When it comes to stockingthings up at home, around 323million kg of onions and 56million kg of bananas havebeen ordered.

While some were busyshowing off their culinary skillson social media every day, alarge set of consumers resort-ed to the evergreen college hackof living on instant noodles.Around 3,50,000 packets of theeasy to cook meal were orderedduring the lockdown.

Swiggy’s Hope, Not Hungerinitiative also raised over �10crore, which helped serve 30lakh meals to people in needduring the lockdown.

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Pakistan Test captain Azhar Alion Thursday lauded bowlers

ahead of their series againstEngland and stated he is lucky tohave young pacers like ShaheenAfridi and Naseem Shah in theline-up.

20-year-old Afridi and 17-year-old Shah are on their maid-en tour of England and Pakistanhave pinned their hopes on theduo’s young shoulders totrouble the high-profile bat-ting line-up of the hosts.

“The way Naseem andShaheen have bowled inrecent series, I as captainfeel very lucky to havethem in my squad,”Ali said during aPCB podcast as perCricket Pakistan.

“The bestthing is that wehave experience inthe shape ofAbbas. SohailKhan is also onthis tour and he isalso sharing hisexperience withthe players.

“I think ourbowlers will get alot of advantage.Yasir Shah is there

as well who has ample experi-ence. He is a leg-spinner and hisguidance for young players is alsovery important,” he added.

This will be Pakistan’s firstseries after coronavirus stop-page while England will be com-ing into the series after register-ing a thrilling 2-1 series win overWest Indies in the #raisethebatseries.

Ali played down any con-cerns with respect to lack ofproper match practice forthe visitors ahead of theseries. He stated that play-ers are slowly and steadily

regaining theirrhythm and willbe ready whenthe series begins.

“Sometimesyou score runsand sometimes

you don’t. Ourplayers however seem tobe in good touch. The bal-ance of the side is alsovery good. Pakistanalways performs well inEngland,” the 35-year-old said.

“Because of coron-avirus we have been inlockdown for quite sometime. This has been achallenging experienceand in the start the play-

ers did seem a little rusty incamps especially in terms ofbowling.

“Slowly but surely, we are get-ting better with training and theplayers are recovering their form.The workload for the fast-bowlers has been good,” he

added.The first Test between the

two teams will be played inManchester starting August 5while the final two Tests arescheduled to be played inSouthampton from August 13and August 21 respectively.

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England’s limited-overs cap-tain Eoin Morgan has

revealed that his teammates’participation in the 2019 IPL,which was part of a wellthought out plan, played a keyrole in helping the side claim itsmaiden World Cup title.

Morgan said he pushedchairman of England andWales Cricket Board’s CricketCommittee, Andrew Strauss

to take the decision because hefelt the pressure associatedwith a world event can only bematched by the cash-rich IPL.

“Playing in IPL was part ofStrauss’s plan. I pushed him tomake that call because in inter-national bilateral series, it’s sodifficult to replicate the pres-sure that’s there in ChampionsTrophy or the World Cup,”Morgan told Harsha Bhogle on'Cricbuzz in Conversation’.

“He asked me what’s differ-ent? One, you play as an over-seas player so there’s hugeexpectations. If you play in IPL,there’s different pressure anddifferent expectation.Sometimes you can’t get awaywith it and you have to find away to deal with it.”

England won their maidenWorld Cup title at home turflast year, beating New Zealandon boundary count rule in adramatic final at the iconicLord’s.

Morgan said IPL helpsplayers come out of their com-fort zone.

“It takes you out of yourcomfort zone. It is completelybeneficial to play in IPL. Thatwas a big mindset shift for us.And I hope Indian cricket isalright with us because we areusing it as a vehicle to try andgrow players,” he said.

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New Zealand speedster LockieFerguson has said it is chal-

lenging to bowl to Rohit Sharmaas the Indian batting ace picks upthe length very quickly.

In an interview withSportskeeda, Ferguson was askedto name the batsmen he finds dif-ficult to bowl at. “Good question,there’s quite a few. Rohit, I’vefound him very challenging,”Ferguson said.

“With him, if you don't gethim out quickly, he tends to gobig. He picks up the length veryquickly and where my strengthslie, batters play the wrong shot.He’s a world-class batter,”Ferguson added.

“Rohit, I’m a huge fan of him,I think he's an exceptional batter.”

The Kiwi gun-quick alsoadded Australia stars Steve Smithand David Warner alongside Indiacaptain Virat Kohli to the list.

“Steve Smith, David Warner,Virat Kohli — these guys areworld-class for a reason. They’realways tough to bowl at but it feelsgood when you knock off the toporder and have a chance to get tobowl to the middle order or thelower order,” Ferguson said.

“We are 100 per cent back tonormal in New Zealand. We are

very fortunate,” he added on theCOVID-19 situation back home.

Ferguson helped NewZealand reach the World Cupfinal in 2019 where they lost bythe narrowest of margins toEngland.

“For many reasons I was feel-ing things were not quite going myway (before the World Cup). Itwas nice to get the wickets in thetournament. The bowling groupwas fantastic throughout. I got thebigger chunk (of wickets) thansome of the others but as a bowl-ing unit we did very well,” he said.

Ferguson bagged 21 wicketsin the tournament and finishedbehind Mitchell Starc as the sec-ond highest wicket taker.

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No 1-ranked Ash Barty has pulled outof the US Open because she doesn't

want to risk travelling during the coron-avirus pandemic.

The 24-year-old Australian is thehighest-profile player so far to opt out ofthe August 31-September 13 Grand Slamtournament in New York because of theglobal health crisis.

“My team and I have decided that wewon't be travelling to the ... Western &Southern Open and the US Open thisyear,” Barty said in a statement e-mailedto The Associated Press on Thursday.

“I love both events so this was a dif-ficult decision, but there are still signifi-cant risks involved due to COVID-19 andI don’t feel comfortable putting my teamand I in that position.

“I wish the USTA all the best for thetournaments and I look forward to beingback in the US next year.”

Barty is yet to decide if she’ll defendthe French Open title she won last year forher breakthrough singles major. The clay-court Grand Slam event was postponedearlier in the year and rescheduled to startSeptember 27, after the US Open.

Australia’s closed international borderswould make it difficult for Barty to trav-el during the pandemic.

Technically, Barty would have toreceive permission from the governmentto travel abroad, and flight options are lim-ited. Upon returning to Australia, travel-

ers face a mandatory two weeks in quar-antine.

Other players have expressed concernabout travelling to the US, where morethan 150,000 people have died fromCOVID-19.

Barty had to make her decisionbecause entries were open for the Western& Southern Open, which is scheduled forAugust 20-28 and was moved to the samehard courts at the Billie Jean King NationalTennis Center that are slated to host theUS Open.

Serena Williams, Coco Gauff, NovakDjokovic and Rafael Nadal were onWednesday's initial entry lists - but Barty,two-time Grand Slam champion NaomiOsaka and 2019 US Open championBianca Andreescu were not - for the tour-nament moved from Cincinnati toFlushing Meadows.

Being on Wednesday’s lists doesn’t nec-essarily mean a player will compete at thetournament.

No sanctioned professional tennisevents have been played since Marchbecause of the coronavirus. Both thewomen’s and men’s tours plan to return inAugust. The women's tour still aims toreturn next week at Palermo, Italy.

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Lazio kept alive its hopes of fin-ishing second in the Italianleague with a 2-0 win against

already-relegated Brescia in itspenultimate match of the season.

Ciro Immobile also boosted hischances of clinching the top scoreraward as he netted his 35th goal ofthe season on Wednesday, movingfour clear of Juventus forwardCristiano Ronaldo.

Immobile is also just one offequaling the all-time record of 36goals in a Serie A season, set byGonzalo Higuain when he was atNapoli in 2015-16.

Immobile’s late goal sealed the

win for Lazio, which had taken thelead in the first half through JoaquínCorrea.

Lazio moved level on pointswith Atalanta, one below second-place Inter Milan. Atalanta playsInter in the final round of the sea-son, when Lazio visits Napoli.

�����������ELecce was given a glimmer of

hope of avoiding relegation as it won2-1 at Udinese while Genoa wasrouted 5-0 at Sassuolo.

Lecce remained in the bottomthree but is just one point below17th-place Genoa.

Genoa hosts Hellas Verona onthe final day while Lecce welcomesParma.

������������Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored twice

to help AC Milan win 4-1 atSampdoria.

It was the second time in threematches that the 38-year-oldIbrahimovic has got a brace.

Juventus, which won a record-extending ninth straight Serie A titleon Sunday, fielded a much-changedteam and lost 2-0 at Cagliari.

Cagliari’s Luca Gagliano, whoturned 20 last week, scored and pro-vided an assist in his Serie A debut.

Federico Chiesa scored a hattrick to help Fiorentina beat Bologna4-0, Roma won 3-2 at Torino andVerona beat Spal 3-0.

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Top Indian boxer VikasKrishan has decided to

revive his professional career inthe US instead of training atthe national camp in Patiala ashe believes conventional isjust not good enough for apodium finish at next year’sTokyo Olympics.

Vikas is currently trainingin Bengaluru’s Inspire Instituteof Sports (IIS) with anotherprofessional boxer and closefriend Neeraj Goyat after beingasked to leave NIS Patiala foralleged violation of COVID-19quarantine norms, laterdeemed unintentional.

He has no plans of goingback even though the SportsAuthority of India (SAI) decid-ed to allow him to return afteran inquiry.

“I will continue traininghere (in Bengaluru). I have fall-en into a rhythm and I don't

wish to disturb myself by onceagain taking the trip to Patiala.I don't see the point," Vikas,who is training underAmerican coach RonaldSimms at the IIS, told PTI inan interview over phone.

Asked about the contro-versy in Patiala, and Vikasoffered a philosophical take.

“I have never harmed any-one. I have made mistakes butthe intent is only to do well forthe country. I have nevercaused problems for anyoneelse. That’s all I have to say,” hesaid.

The 28-year-old Haryana-lad is more eager to talk abouthis plans to return to the US,where he continues to have acontract with Hall of FamerBob Arum's Top RankPromotions.

The welterweight (69kgcategory) boxer will competein the 70kg division in the procircuit.

“As soon as I manage to geta flight, I am going to the USA.I am in touch with Top RankPromotions. They havepromised to arrange fights forme and I hope to compete in3-4 bouts before the Olympics,”he said.

“That would help myOlympic chances more thananything else because it is inthe pro circuit that I learnt thecrucial lesson of not believingin luck.

It is all about ability, thereis nothing called luck,” addedthe former world bronze-win-ner, who won his two probouts before returning to ama-teur circuit last year.

The Asian Games andCommonwealth Games gold-winner will be making thirdOlympic appearance in Tokyonext year. He is the most expe-rienced among the five menwho have made the cut so far.

“I took a break from pro-

fessional with due permissionfrom my promoter to pursuemy Olympic dream. Now thatI have qualified, I will go backto pro to prepare myself," hesaid.

Talking of preparations,do High Performance DirectorSantiago Nieva and nationalcoach C A Kuttappa know ofhis plans?

“They know and they aresupportive. They know what Iam capable of and they haveencouraged me. I have also gotimmense support from BoxingFederation of India ExecutiveDirector R K Sacheti,” he said.

Less than a year away fromhis third Olympics, Vikas saidhe has never enjoyed boxing asmuch as he does now.

“If you watch me fightnow, you can see the artistry.In my past two Olympics (2012and 2016), I used to be both-ered by pressure and expecta-tions, not anymore. I fee freeof that.

"This has made boxingvery enjoyable for me. Earlierthere was an element of stress,"he explained.

His friend Neeraj, also apro boxer, has been a constantin his life for the past few yearsand Vikas said he is grateful forthe support.

“I don’t think I will be ableto do as much for him as hehas done for me. He has cometo train with me, support mewhenever I have asked him,” hesaid.

Amid the strenuous prepa-rations, has he factored in theCOVID-19 mayhem, the onewhich forced the Olympics tobe postponed and which still isa threat to the Games goingahead even next year.

“I am destined to win anOlympic medal. Olympics willhappen because God can’t beso cruel to me. I know that,”asserted the boxer.

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Australia cricketer Matthew Wade onThursday heaped praise on New Zealand

fast-bowler Neil Wagner and recalled thebouncer barrage he faced from the latter dur-ing the Test series between the two teamsDown Under late last year.

Despite suffering a 0-3 hammering,Wagner returned home with his head held highas he was the only Kiwi bowler to trouble theAussie batsmen in the series.

Wagner ended the 2019/20 series with 17wickets and Wade claimed that he has neverseen a bowler who could bowl bouncers withsuch accuracy.

The southpaw also stated that Virat Kohli'stroops might go for similar strategy when thetwo teams clash in the Border-GavaskarTrophy later this year. Wade, however, saidIndian pace battery won't be as effective asWagner, as far as bouncers are concerned.

“Teams may try it but I don't think it willbe as successful,” Wade was quoted as sayingby cricket.com.au.

“I don’t think anyone in the game hasbowled bouncers the way he bowled and beenso consistent, and not gotten scored off whilealso picking up wickets. “I think we'll see it abit (from India) but I don’t think it will be aseffective as Wagner. He’s done it for a long timenow … to be honest I’ve never faced a bowlerwho is so accurate at bowling bouncers,” headded.

The four Tests of the much-anticipatedseries are currently scheduled to be played atGabba, Adelaide Oval, MCG and the SCGrespectively starting December 3.

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Indian golfer ShubhankarSharma began with a flourish,

but two slightly wayward teeshots cost him heavily as heended the first day with a roller-coaster one-over 73 in the HeroOpen on Thursday.

The 24-year-old Indian,who has two wins on theEuropean Tour, had a birdie fol-lowed by an eagle on the secondand third holes, but doublebogeys on the 10th and 13th onthe tougher back stretch sawhim drop a bunch of shots.

Overall, he had an eagle,three birdies, two bogeys andtwo double bogeys in an event-ful round at the Hero Open,which is the second event on theUK Swing, at the Forest ofArden Marriott Hotel &Country Club.

Spain's Sebastian GarciaRodriguez fired a stunning 62 tohold the clubhouse lead on dayone, as fellow Spaniard PabloLarrazabal shot 64. VeteranMiguel Angel Jimenez, the 56-year-old playing his record 707thEuropean Tour event, was five-under through 10 holes with five

birdies. Sharma said despite theover par round, he felt he playedwell. “Just the tee shot on 10thand 13th cost me a lot. On 10th,I hit it slightly to the left and thendid not have a shot, so chippedout and then missed an up-and-down too. On 13th, the windtook the tee shot a little toomuch to the left and I lost theball. “I feel I can get it all backtomorrow.” “As I said I did notfeel any rust because I have beenplaying and keeping scores athome in Chandigarh. Just needto tighten those small errors andit should be fine.”

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Left-arm fast bowlerMohammad Amir has joined

the Pakistan squad here afterclearing two consecutiveCOVID-19 tests following hisarrival in the United Kingdom.

The Pakistan Cricket Boardon Thursday confirmed thatAmir has integrated with rest ofthe squad after serving hismandatory quarantine period,during which he tested negativetwice.

“Amir left for England fromLahore on 24 July and, as per theUK government's guidelines,was in isolation for a period offive days during which he wastested twice,” the PCB said in astatement on its website.

Amir, who quit playing Testcricket, will feature in the three-match T20 series against

England to be played in a bio-secure environment at the OldTrafford, Manchester startingAugust 28.

Pakistan’s tour of Englandstarts with three Test matchesstarting August 5 at Manchester.

Besides, the PCB alsoinformed that fast bowler HarrisRauf, who had earlier testedpositive, is now clear of thevirus and is expected to join therest of the Pakistan squad inEngland soon.

“Fast bowler Haris Rauf hascleared his second COVID-19test and is eligible to join thesquad in England. As per theprotocols he was tested twice -Monday and Wednesday,” thecricket board said.

“He is expected to travelover the weekend. Details of histravel plan will be shared in duecourse.”

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