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A day after the killing of a Kashmiri Pandit man Rahul Bhat by terrorists, Kashmiri Pandit Government employees held protests on Friday, demanding relocation to safer places outside the Valley. At the same time, secu- rity forces gunned down three terrorists in an encounter that broke out in Brar Aragam area of Bandipora on Friday. Sources said two of the three ultras were involved in the attack on Bhat. Protests erupted at the Sheikhpora camp, located in Budgam district of central Kashmir, where Kashmiri Pandit employees have been given makeshift accommoda- tions. The police used batons and tear gas shells to disperse the protestors who were march- ing towards the airport road, seeking an audience with Lieutenant-Governor Manoj Sinha. The migrant employees were moving peacefully in the area when local police request- ed them to disperse. When they refused to budge and kept marching on, police used force and lobbed tear gas shells. A sit- in protest also continued in Vessu, Qazigund area of Anantnag district on Friday where migrant employees offered mass resignations to register their protest against the failure of the Union Territory administration to protect them. Seething with anger the aggrieved employees also demanded speedy justice and the “severest” punishment for killers of Bhat. Continued on Page 2 I ndia on Friday brushed aside reports that it had stopped issuing visas in Sri Lanka and said there were some problems as the staff in the High Commission, mostly locals, were not able to attend office. Operations will resume soon and New Delhi is com- mitted to ease of travel for the Sri Lankans, it assured. In another development, Indian High Commissioner to Colombo Gopal Baglay called on newly-appointed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and conveyed greetings and good wishes. They discussed continued co-operation for economic recovery and stability in Sri Lanka through democratic processes. As regards the visa issue, the Indian High Commission said the disruption was caused by operational difficulties. Continued on Page 2 U AE president and ruler of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan passed away on Friday, the Ministry of Presidential Affairs said. He was 73. India, a friendly coun- try has declared one day State mourning on his demise. “The Ministry of Presidential Affairs condoles the people of the UAE, the Arab and Islamic nations and the world over the demise of His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the pres- ident of the UAE,” the official WAM news agency said in a statement. Sheikh Khalifa served as the President of the UAE and ruler of Abu Dhabi since November 3, 2004. The Ministry of Presidential Affairs has announced 40 days of mourn- ing on passing of the President. Continued on Page 2 C ongress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday called for urgent reforms in the party as “extraordinary situations demand extraordinary action” and also launched a blistering attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi accusing him of keeping the country in a state of permanent polarisation, “brutalising” minorities and “threatening” political oppo- nents. The party, which is holding a three-day Chintan Shivir in Udaipur also held discussions on enforcing the ‘One family, one ticket’ formula, granting exemption to only another family member who has been doing “exemplary work” for the party for a period of at least five years. This will leave scope for members of the Gandhi fami- ly to contest polls and allow other senior leaders to get their sons and daughters accommodated in the ticket list. Sending out a clear mes- sage to Congress ranks while launching the brainstorming conclave, Sonia said the party will have to change its style of functioning and urged them to keep the organisation above their personal ambitions and pay back their debt to the party as it had given a lot to everyone. She urged around 450 del- egates to deliberate with an open mind but send out a sin- gle message of a strong organ- isation, resolve and unity. “In one way this (Congress trans- formation) is the most funda- mental issue. Our revival is only possible through collective efforts. Such collective efforts will not be deferred. This Shivir is the start of the journey,” Sonia said. The three-day ‘Nav Sankalp Chintan Shivir’ is being held in the backdrop of a string of electoral defeats and dissent in the party for the past many years. “The circumstances before our organisation are unprece- dented. Extraordinary situa- tions demand extraordinary action. I am fully alert to this. The organisation has to bring changes within itself, not just to stay alive but to move forward. We are in dire need of improve- ment and a changing strategy,” she also said. Continued on Page 2 L ight pollution is creating havoc with life of migrato- ry birds as at least one million of them are dying every year by running into lampposts and electric billboards on high rise buildings. The rise in artificial light globally by at least 2 per cent per year is also impacting birds in the breeding and winter seasons, disrupting feeding and other vital behaviours, experts said on the eve of the World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD). This year WMBD will focus on one such man-made threat: Light pollution. In India a number of for- eign birds find shelter every year. At least, 229 species of birds arrive in the country every year, including AsiaticSparrow-Hawk, Harriers, Peregrine Falcon, Osprey, Pacific Golden Plover, Graylag Goose, Bar-headed Goose, Northern Shoveller, Tufted Duck, and more. Pointing out that light pol- lution also risks seriously alter- ing migratory birds’ behav- iours, from migration and for- aging to vocal communica- tion, and disturbing their pre- cise internal clocks, experts have called upon policy mak- ers to take steps to reduce the impact of light pollution on birds across the globe. Attracted by artificial light at night, particularly when there is low cloud, fog, rain or when flying at lower altitudes, migrating birds become dis- orientated and may end up cir- cling in illuminated areas. Depleted energy reserves put them at risk of exhaustion, pre- dation, and fatal collision with buildings. Executive Secretary Amy Fraenkel of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) said, “Natural darkness has a conservation value in the same way as clean water, air, and soil. A key goal of World Migratory Bird Day 2022 is to raise awareness of the issue of light pollution and its negative impacts on migratory birds. Solutions are readily available, and we hope to encourage key decision-makers to adopt mea- sures to address light pollution.” Executive Secretary Jacques Trouvilliez of the Agreement on the Conservation of African- Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) said, “An enormous diversity of birds, active at night, experience the impacts of light pollution. Many noc- turnally migrating birds such as ducks, geese, plovers, sand- pipers and songbirds are affect- ed by light pollution causing disorientation and collisions with fatal consequences. Seabirds such as petrels and shearwaters are attracted by artificial lights on land and become prey for rats and cats.” The guidelines on light pollution covering marine tur- tles, seabirds, and migratory shorebirds were endorsed by the CMS Parties in 2020. Among their recommenda- tions, the guidelines set forth six principles of best lighting practices. According to the state- ment by the UN Environment guidelines on light pollution covering marine turtles, seabirds, and migratory shore- birds were endorsed by the CMS Parties in 2020. Continued on page 2 T he Supreme Court on Friday refused to postpone the NEET-PG-2022 examina- tion on a plea of doctors, say- ing the delay would cause an unavailability of doctors and seriously affect patient care. A Bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Surya Kant said postponement of the examination would create “chaos and uncertainty” and would affect the larger section of students, who have regis- tered for the test. “There are two categories of students -- one which is seeking postponement and the larger category of over two lakh six thousand candidates -- who would be affected by the post- ponement after having pre- pared for the examination”, the Bench said. The Judges noted that the Government was trying to bring the schedule of exami- nation back on time as it was affected due to the pandemic. “As the country gets back on the rails, which was derailed due to the pandemic, the time schedule laid down by this court must be adhered to”, said the Bench. On May 10, the top court had agreed to hear the plea of doctors seeking postponement of the NEET-PG 2022 which is scheduled to be held on May 21 on grounds that it will clash with the ongoing counselling for NEET-PG 2021. New Delhi: Tesla Inc has put on hold plans to sell electric cars in India, abandoned a search for showroom space and reassigned some of its domestic team after failing to secure lower import taxes, three people familiar with the matter told agencies. The decision caps more than a year of deadlocked talks with Government representa- tives as Tesla sought to first test demand by selling electric vehi- cles (EVs) imported from pro- duction hubs in the United States and China, at lower tar- iffs. But the Indian Government is pushing Tesla to commit to manufacturing locally before it will lower tar- iffs, as high as 100 per cent on imported vehicles. Tesla had set itself a dead- line of February 1, the day India unveils its budget and announces tax changes, to see if its lobbying brought results, the sources with knowledge of the company’s plan told Reuters. When Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Government did not offer a concession, Tesla put on hold the plans to import cars into India, added the sources. Continued on Page 2 Detroit: Elon Musk said Friday that his plan to buy Twitter is “temporarily on hold” as he tries to pinpoint the exact number of spam and fake accounts on the social media platform, another twist amid signs of turmoil over the proposed $44 billion acquisition. Musk has been vocal about his desire to clean up Twitter’s problem with “spam bots” that mimic real people and appeared to question whether the com- pany was underreporting them. Detailed Report P10 Bangkok: HS Prannoy pro- duced a lion-hearted effort in the decisive fifth match as the Indian men's badminton team scripted history by reaching the title clash of the Thomas Cup Final for the first time ever with a 3-2 victory over Denmark in an edge-of-the-seat semifinal, here. Indian team, which never went past the semifinals after 1979, showed tremendous fighting spirit as it came from a match down to outwit the 2016 champions. Detailed Report on P11 I n a tragic incident, 27 people were killed in the national Capital after a massive fire broke out in a four-storey commercial building near outer Delhi’s Mundka Metro Station in West Delhi on Friday evening. Around 12 people were injured in the incident while as many as 70 people were rescued. The search oper- ation was still going and the NDRF team had reached the spot at the time of filing of this report to retrieve people sus- pected to be trapped or buried under the debris. The Government has announced a compensation of 2 lakh for the kin of the dead, and 50,000 for the injured. Police have detained Harish Goel and Varun Goel, who had leased the building from Manish Lakra, the owner of the building. They both used to live on the top floor while around 150 people used to work in the building. It is suspected that there were only two exit gates in the building and locals said that the workers had to escape after breaking the glass of the win- dows on the ground floor. According to Atul Garg, Director, Delhi Fire Service (DFS), a call was received about the blaze at 4.40 P.M. fol- lowing which 24 fire tenders were rushed to the spot. “The fire broke out in a building near pillar number 544, Mundka Metro Station,” said Garg, adding that more than 100 firemen are on the spot. According to Sameer Sharma, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), a Police Control Room (PCR) call was received at Mundka police station at around 4.45 P.M. regarding a fire in an office. A police team immediately reached the spot and put in their best efforts to rescue the workers. “Police officers broke the windows of the building to res- cue the people and got 12 injured people admitted to hospital. Continued on Page 2
12
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Page 1: #( UVRU "# Z_[fcVU Z_ >f_U\R SfZ]UZ_X S]RkV - Daily Pioneer

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Aday after the killing of aKashmiri Pandit manRahul Bhat by terrorists,

Kashmiri Pandit Governmentemployees held protests onFriday, demanding relocationto safer places outside theValley. At the same time, secu-rity forces gunned down threeterrorists in an encounter thatbroke out in Brar Aragam areaof Bandipora on Friday.Sources said two of the threeultras were involved in theattack on Bhat.

Protests erupted at theSheikhpora camp, located inBudgam district of centralKashmir, where KashmiriPandit employees have beengiven makeshift accommoda-

tions. The police used batonsand tear gas shells to dispersethe protestors who were march-ing towards the airport road,seeking an audience withLieutenant-Governor ManojSinha. The migrant employeeswere moving peacefully in thearea when local police request-ed them to disperse. When theyrefused to budge and keptmarching on, police used forceand lobbed tear gas shells. A sit-in protest also continued in

Vessu, Qazigund area ofAnantnag district on Fridaywhere migrant employeesoffered mass resignations toregister their protest against thefailure of the Union Territoryadministration to protect them.

Seething with anger theaggrieved employees alsodemanded speedy justice andthe “severest” punishment forkillers of Bhat.

Continued on Page 2

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India on Friday brushed asidereports that it had stopped

issuing visas in Sri Lanka andsaid there were some problemsas the staff in the HighCommission, mostly locals,were not able to attend office.

Operations will resumesoon and New Delhi is com-mitted to ease of travel for theSri Lankans, it assured.

In another development,Indian High Commissioner toColombo Gopal Baglay calledon newly-appointed PrimeMinister RanilWickremesinghe and conveyedgreetings and good wishes.

They discussed continuedco-operation for economicrecovery and stability in SriLanka through democraticprocesses.

As regards the visa issue,the Indian High Commissionsaid the disruption was causedby operational difficulties.

Continued on Page 2

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UAE president and ruler ofAbu Dhabi Sheikh Khalifa

bin Zayed Al Nahyan passedaway on Friday, the Ministry ofPresidential Affairs said. Hewas 73. India, a friendly coun-try has declared one day Statemourning on his demise.

“The Ministry ofPresidential Affairs condolesthe people of the UAE, theArab and Islamic nations andthe world over the demise ofHis Highness Sheikh Khalifabin Zayed Al Nahyan, the pres-ident of the UAE,” the officialWAM news agency said in astatement. Sheikh Khalifaserved as the President of theUAE and ruler of Abu Dhabisince November 3, 2004.

The Ministry ofPresidential Affairs hasannounced 40 days of mourn-ing on passing of the President.

Continued on Page 2

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Congress president SoniaGandhi on Friday called for

urgent reforms in the party as“extraordinary situationsdemand extraordinary action”and also launched a blisteringattack on Prime MinisterNarendra Modi accusing himof keeping the country in a stateof permanent polarisation,“brutalising” minorities and“threatening” political oppo-nents.

The party, which is holdinga three-day Chintan Shivir inUdaipur also held discussionson enforcing the ‘One family,one ticket’ formula, grantingexemption to only anotherfamily member who has beendoing “exemplary work” for theparty for a period of at least fiveyears. This will leave scope formembers of the Gandhi fami-ly to contest polls and allowother senior leaders to gettheir sons and daughtersaccommodated in the ticketlist.

Sending out a clear mes-sage to Congress ranks whilelaunching the brainstormingconclave, Sonia said the partywill have to change its style offunctioning and urged them tokeep the organisation abovetheir personal ambitions andpay back their debt to the

party as it had given a lot toeveryone.

She urged around 450 del-egates to deliberate with anopen mind but send out a sin-gle message of a strong organ-isation, resolve and unity. “Inone way this (Congress trans-formation) is the most funda-mental issue. Our revival isonly possible through collectiveefforts. Such collective effortswill not be deferred. This Shiviris the start of the journey,”Sonia said.

The three-day ‘NavSankalp Chintan Shivir’ is

being held in the backdrop ofa string of electoral defeats anddissent in the party for the pastmany years.

“The circumstances beforeour organisation are unprece-dented. Extraordinary situa-tions demand extraordinaryaction.

I am fully alert to this. Theorganisation has to bringchanges within itself, not just tostay alive but to move forward.We are in dire need of improve-ment and a changing strategy,”she also said.

Continued on Page 2

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Light pollution is creatinghavoc with life of migrato-

ry birds as at least one millionof them are dying every year byrunning into lampposts andelectric billboards on high risebuildings.

The rise in artificial lightglobally by at least 2 per centper year is also impacting birdsin the breeding and winterseasons, disrupting feeding andother vital behaviours, expertssaid on the eve of the WorldMigratory Bird Day (WMBD).

This year WMBD willfocus on one such man-madethreat: Light pollution.

In India a number of for-eign birds find shelter everyyear. At least, 229 species ofbirds arrive in the countryevery year, includingAsiaticSparrow-Hawk, Harriers,

Peregrine Falcon, Osprey,Pacific Golden Plover, GraylagGoose, Bar-headed Goose,Northern Shoveller, TuftedDuck, and more.

Pointing out that light pol-lution also risks seriously alter-ing migratory birds’ behav-iours, from migration and for-aging to vocal communica-tion, and disturbing their pre-cise internal clocks, expertshave called upon policy mak-ers to take steps to reduce theimpact of light pollution onbirds across the globe.

Attracted by artificial lightat night, particularly whenthere is low cloud, fog, rain orwhen flying at lower altitudes,migrating birds become dis-orientated and may end up cir-cling in illuminated areas.Depleted energy reserves putthem at risk of exhaustion, pre-dation, and fatal collision withbuildings. Executive SecretaryAmy Fraenkel of the

Convention on theConservation of MigratorySpecies of Wild Animals(CMS) said, “Natural darknesshas a conservation value in thesame way as clean water, air,and soil.

A key goal of WorldMigratory Bird Day 2022 is toraise awareness of the issue oflight pollution and its negativeimpacts on migratory birds.

Solutions are readily available,and we hope to encourage keydecision-makers to adopt mea-sures to address light pollution.”

Executive SecretaryJacques Trouvilliez of theAgreement on theConservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds(AEWA) said, “An enormousdiversity of birds, active atnight, experience the impacts

of light pollution. Many noc-turnally migrating birds such asducks, geese, plovers, sand-pipers and songbirds are affect-ed by light pollution causingdisorientation and collisionswith fatal consequences.Seabirds such as petrels andshearwaters are attracted byartificial lights on land andbecome prey for rats and cats.”

The guidelines on lightpollution covering marine tur-tles, seabirds, and migratoryshorebirds were endorsed bythe CMS Parties in 2020.Among their recommenda-tions, the guidelines set forthsix principles of best lightingpractices.

According to the state-ment by the UN Environmentguidelines on light pollutioncovering marine turtles,seabirds, and migratory shore-birds were endorsed by theCMS Parties in 2020.

Continued on page 2

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The Supreme Court onFriday refused to postpone

the NEET-PG-2022 examina-tion on a plea of doctors, say-ing the delay would cause anunavailability of doctors andseriously affect patient care. ABench of Justices DYChandrachud and Surya Kantsaid postponement of theexamination would create“chaos and uncertainty” andwould affect the larger sectionof students, who have regis-tered for the test.

“There are two categoriesof students -- one which isseeking postponement and thelarger category of over two lakhsix thousand candidates -- whowould be affected by the post-ponement after having pre-pared for the examination”, theBench said.

The Judges noted that theGovernment was trying tobring the schedule of exami-nation back on time as it wasaffected due to the pandemic.

“As the country gets backon the rails, which was deraileddue to the pandemic, the timeschedule laid down by thiscourt must be adhered to”, saidthe Bench.

On May 10, the top courthad agreed to hear the plea ofdoctors seeking postponementof the NEET-PG 2022 which isscheduled to be held on May 21on grounds that it will clashwith the ongoing counsellingfor NEET-PG 2021.

New Delhi: Tesla Inc has puton hold plans to sell electriccars in India, abandoned asearch for showroom spaceand reassigned some of itsdomestic team after failing tosecure lower import taxes,three people familiar with thematter told agencies.

The decision caps morethan a year of deadlocked talkswith Government representa-tives as Tesla sought to first testdemand by selling electric vehi-cles (EVs) imported from pro-duction hubs in the UnitedStates and China, at lower tar-iffs.

But the IndianGovernment is pushing Tesla tocommit to manufacturinglocally before it will lower tar-iffs, as high as 100 per cent onimported vehicles.

Tesla had set itself a dead-line of February 1, the day Indiaunveils its budget andannounces tax changes, to seeif its lobbying brought results,the sources with knowledge ofthe company’s plan toldReuters. When Prime Minister

Narendra Modi’s Governmentdid not offer a concession,Tesla put on hold the plans toimport cars into India, addedthe sources.

Continued on Page 2

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Detroit: Elon Musk saidFriday that his plan to buyTwitter is “temporarily onhold” as he tries to pinpointthe exact number of spamand fake accounts on thesocial media platform,another twist amid signs ofturmoil over the proposed$44 billion acquisition.Musk has been vocal abouthis desire to clean upTwitter’s problem with“spam bots” that mimicreal people and appeared toquestion whether the com-pany was underreportingthem. Detailed Report P10

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Bangkok: HS Prannoy pro-duced a lion-hearted effort inthe decisive fifth match as theIndian men's badminton teamscripted history by reaching thetitle clash of the Thomas CupFinal for the first time ever witha 3-2 victory over Denmark in

an edge-of-the-seat semifinal,here. Indian team, which neverwent past the semifinals after1979, showed tremendousfighting spirit as it came froma match down to outwit the2016 champions.Detailed Report on P11

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In a tragic incident, 27 peoplewere killed in the national

Capital after a massive firebroke out in a four-storeycommercial building near outerDelhi’s Mundka Metro Stationin West Delhi on Fridayevening. Around 12 peoplewere injured in the incidentwhile as many as 70 peoplewere rescued. The search oper-ation was still going and theNDRF team had reached thespot at the time of filing of thisreport to retrieve people sus-pected to be trapped or buriedunder the debris.

The Government hasannounced a compensation of�2 lakh for the kin of thedead, and �50,000 for theinjured. Police have detainedHarish Goel and Varun Goel,who had leased the buildingfrom Manish Lakra, the ownerof the building. They bothused to live on the top floorwhile around 150 people usedto work in the building.

It is suspected that there

were only two exit gates in thebuilding and locals said that theworkers had to escape afterbreaking the glass of the win-dows on the ground floor.

According to Atul Garg,Director, Delhi Fire Service(DFS), a call was receivedabout the blaze at 4.40 P.M. fol-lowing which 24 fire tenderswere rushed to the spot.

“The fire broke out in abuilding near pillar number544, Mundka Metro Station,”said Garg, adding that morethan 100 firemen are on thespot. According to SameerSharma, DeputyCommissioner of Police(DCP), a Police Control Room(PCR) call was received atMundka police station at

around 4.45 P.M. regarding afire in an office. A police teamimmediately reached the spotand put in their best efforts torescue the workers.

“Police officers broke thewindows of the building to res-cue the people and got 12injured people admitted tohospital.

Continued on Page 2

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Having taken serious cogni-sance of a tweet — being

perceived as a “death threat” toNationalist Congress Party (NCP)president Sharad Pawar, the rul-ing MVA constituents — NCP,Shiv Sena and Congress onFriday demanded stringent policeaction against the “pervert”youngster who put out the tweet.The Shiv Sena and Congresstargeted the Opposition BJP forbeing behind the questionable“death threat” tweet posted by one@NikhilBhamre8 in Marathi onMay 11. The tweet posted@NikhilBhamre8 read thus:“Time has come for the‘Gandhi’ of Baramati… And forBaramati to prepare aNathuram Godse.... BaramatiUncle apologise”. The tweethas been “liked” and “retweet-ed” by scores of twitter usersduring the last two days.

Pawar’s staunch supporterand NCP’s Housing MinisterJitendra Awhad posted thescreenshot of the questionabletweet on Friday and demand-ed stringent action against@NikhilBhamre8.

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The Supreme Court Fridaystayed the Patna High

Court order directing theDirector General of Police(DGP), Bihar, to produceSahara Group chief SubrataRoy before it on May 16 in amatter in which it was said thatsome companies of the Groupwere not returning money tothe investors.

The apex court also stayedthe separate order passed by thehigh court which had onFebruary 11 directed to addSahara Credit CooperativeSocieties Limited and Roy asopposite parties to a bail peti-tion pending before it andlater, directed him to person-ally appear before it.

On April 27, the high courthad directed Roy to personal-ly appear before it noting thatSahara Group and other com-panies, which have been takingdeposits till about one monthback, are directed to come upwith a plan for the return ofinvestment of the investors.

A bench of Justices A MKhanwilkar and J B Pardiwalaissued notice on the petitionfiled by Sahara chief challeng-

ing the high court orders.“Issue notice. Stay of oper-

ation of the impugned judge-ment and order qua the peti-tioner,” the bench said andposted the matter for hearingon May 19.

Senior advocate KapilSibal, appearing for the peti-tioner, informed the benchthat earlier in the day, the highcourt has passed an orderdirecting the Bihar DGP toproduce Roy before the courton May 16 at 10.30 AM.

“We are informed that pur-suant to the impugned order,the high court has issued fur-ther order today which has theeffect of directing higherauthorities (police department)to produce the petitioner(Subrata Roy) before the court,”the apex court observed.

“In terms of this order, westay the operation of that direc-tion given by the high court,”the bench said, adding that allconcerned would act upon theorder of the top court.

Sibal told the bench thatthe high court had passedthese orders while hearing ananticipatory bail plea which hasnothing to do with the peti-tioner.

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The Delhi High Court hasset aside a man's conviction

in a 24-year-old case relating tothe abduction of a woman tocompel her for marriage inwhich the appeal was pendingin the high court since 2007while expressing “serious” con-cerns over delay in disposal ofcriminal appeals.

The high court allowedthe appeal of Jasbir Singh whohas challenged his convictionand three years imprisonmentfor the offences of abducting awoman to compel her for mar-riage and criminal intimidationand said the material witness-es have not been examined andthere are certain contradic-tions in the testimony of theprosecution witnesses with noexplanation for the delay inlodging the FIR.

Justice Chandra Dhari

Singh noted that the criminalappeal has been pending in thehigh court for disposal since2007 and “the delay in dispos-al of criminal appeals pendingin the high court is a matter ofserious concern to all thoseinvolved in the administra-tion of criminal justice”.

“The Supreme Court hasrepeatedly emphasised the factthat speedy trial or disposal ofthe criminal appeals pendingbefore high courts are a fun-damental right implicit in thebroad sweep and content ofArticle 21 (right to life and per-sonal liberty) of theConstitution.

“The aforesaid Article con-fers a fundamental right onevery person not to be deprivedof his life or liberty except inaccordance with the proce-dure prescribed by law. If a per-son is deprived of his libertyunder a procedure which is notreasonable, fair, or just, suchdeprivation would be violativeof his fundamental right underArticle 21 of the Constitution,”the high court said in its May12 order.

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The ruling Bharatiya JanataParty will be the major

beneficiary and increase itstally in Rajya Sabha from UttarPradesh. The three oppositionparties in UP — SamajwadiParty, Bahujan Samaj Partyand Congress — will be themajor losers in the upcomingelection to 11 seats of theupper House of Parliamentfrom UP.

Uttar Pradesh sends 31members to Rajya Sabha andthey are elected by members ofUP assembly.

Among the 11 retiring MPsfrom the state, five are from theBJP, three from the SP, twofrom the BSP and one from theCongress. The BSP with a sin-gle MLA and Congress withtwo MLAs are not in the racein this Rajya Sabha election.

With 403 elected membersin the UP assembly, a candidatewill require at least 37 votes forvictory. The outcome of therecently held state assemblyelection has changed the equa-

tion this time. With 273 MLAs,the BJP-led NationalDemocratic Alliance will beable to get seven memberselected easily, while SP and itsallies (Rashtriya Lok Dal andSuheldev Bhartiya SamajParty), with the strength of 125legislators will be able to ensurevictory of three candidates.For the 11th seat, both SP andBJP will be trying to win thesupport of other parties,including Raja Bhaiya's JansattaDal Loktantrik and theCongress which have twoMLAs each and the lone legis-lator of Mayawati's BSP.

Kapil Sibal from Congress,BSP general secretary SatishChandra Mishra, and ReotiRaman Singh of SamajwadiParty are among the memberswhose terms are ending. Afterthe retirement of Sibal, theCongress' representation in theupper House from UttarPradesh will be nil. After theretirement of the two BSP MPsSatish Chandra Mishra andAshok Siddharth, the partywill have only one member,

Ramji Gautam in the upperHouse of Parliament.

The five retiring BJP RajyaSabha members include ZafarIslam, Shiv Pratap Shukla,Sanjay Seth, Surendra Nagar,and Jai Prakash Nishad.

The SP members complet-ing their term include formerUP Legislative CouncilChairman Sukhram SinghYadav, whose son Mohit hasjoined the BJP. Besides Yadav,the tenure of Reoti RamanSingh and Vishambhar PrasadNishad will also end in July.

The Election Commissionof India on Thursdayannounced that voting will beheld on June 10 to fill 57 RajyaSabha seats from 15 states,including 11 from UttarPradesh. These seats will befalling vacant due to the retire-ment of members betweenJune and August. The electioncommission has announcedMay 24 as the date of notifica-tion for Rajya Sabha polls. Thevoting is to be held on June 10and the results will beannounced the same day.

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With the aim to get rid ofplastic waste in villages,

the Yogi Adityanath govern-ment has made plans to set upcollection centres for plasticwaste at 250 places in the statein the next two years and usethe waste plastic for road con-struction.

“The Panchayati Rajdepartment is preparing anaction plan for the preparationand selection of sites in devel-opment blocks in the next sixmonths so that waste plasticcollection centres could be setup there,” a governmentspokesman said.

Plastic, which causes pol-lution, reduces the groundwa-ter level by destroying the fer-tility of the land. Its use increas-es the risk of cancer along withrespiratory and skin diseases.Plastic is so dangerous that itcan even stop the develop-ment of the fetus. The smokereleased from burning poly-thene is damaging the ozonelayer, which is a major cause ofglobal warming.

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The Delhi Government onFriday gave nod to induct

1500 Low Floor Electric Busesin its public transportationfleet in the national Capital.

The Delhi TransportCorporation (DTC) hadalready provided approval forprocurement of 921 busesunder the Grand ChallengeScheme of ConvergenceEnergy Services Limited(CESL) which comes underFAME-II (Faster Adoption andManufacturing of Hybrid andElectric vehicle) category andremaining 579 buses undernon FAME-II category.

According to officials, forthe 579 buses in non-FAMEcategory, the city Governmentwill provide a subsidy of Rs262.04 crores. In response tothe tender floated by CESL onJanuary 20, Tata Motorsemerged as the most success-ful bidder for operation ofthese buses in Delhi.

“The city Government willalso spend a total of Rs 7,606.45crores on operation, mainte-nance, and development of theinfrastructure related to thesebuses,” said the official.

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India on Friday said it wasreopening its embassy in

Kyiv, Ukraine from Tuesday,May 17. The embassy opera-tions came to a halt in Marchafter the Russian militaryaction began there. The Indianembassy was temporarily relo-cated to Warsaw on March 13.

“The Indian Embassy inUkraine, which was temporar-ily operating out of Warsaw(Poland), would be resumingits operation in Kyiv with effectfrom May 17,” the Ministry ofExternal Affairs said here.

It said the embassy wastemporarily relocated toWarsaw on March 13. Theannouncement to resume oper-ation of the embassy from Kyivcame amid similar decisions byseveral Western powers such asGermany and the UnitedKingdom to reopen their mis-sions in the Ukrainian Capital.

Several Western politicalleaders, including UNSecretary-General AntonioGuterres, Canadian PrimeMinister Justin Trudeau, BritishPrime Minister Boris Johnson,and USA President Joe Biden’swife Jill Biden recently visitedUkraine.

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Punjab Police on Fridayclaimed to have cracked

Mohali’s Rocket-PropelledGrenade (RPG) attack case withthe arrest of six people, including awoman. They have launched amanhunt to nab

The State police chief VKBhawra claimed that Pakistan’sInter-Services Intelligence (ISI)was involved in the attack andthe key conspirator is gangsterLakhbir Singh Landa from TarnTaran, a close associate ofPakistan-based wanted terroristHarvinder Singh Rinda.

“Canada-based gangsterLakhbir Singh alias Landa hasemerged as the key handler, whoprovided the RPG, AK-47, andthe local network of criminalsfor logistic support to carry outthe terror attack at Punjab PoliceIntelligence Headquarters inMohali on Monday evening,”said the Director-General ofPolice (DGP) while addressing

the media at Punjab Policeheadquarters at Chandigarh.

Thirty three-year-oldLanda, who had fled to Canadain 2017, is a close aide ofHarvinder Singh alias Rinda andhad joined hands with BabbarKhalsa International (BKI).Rinda is close to BKI chiefWadhawa Singh and theISI.“Landa is based in

Canada...He is still involved inmaking ransom calls to doctors,businessmen, singers, etc,” saidDGP Bhawra.

The DGP said that thepolice have also arrested six peo-ple for their involvement inplanning and providing thelocal logistic support to theattackers for carrying out theattack.

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Acrime branch unit of theGurugram police held

three accused including fakearmy personnel with fake min-istry of defence identity card forsmuggling expensive liquorfrom Gurugram toAhmedabad, Gujarat, thepolice said on Friday.

The police have also recov-ered 224 expensive illegalliquor, 1 car (Maruti S-Presso)and 02 fake ID cards from theirpossession.

According to the policeacting on a tip-off, a team ofcrime branch unit Sector-39 ledby inspector Samer nabbedthe accused from KrishnaChowk in Palam Vihar area onThursday along with illegalliquor.

The accused have beenidentified as Gulshan Khanna,Ravi resident of Gurugramand Rathore Ashishbhai of Panchmahal,Gujarat.

"The accused disclosed thatGulshan and Rathore used tocollect liquor from differentplaces in Gurugram”, Preet PalSangwan, ACP (crime) said.

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From Page 1

Meanwhile, in Jammu, themortal remains of Rahul Bhatwere consigned to flames afterthe body arrived from Kashmirin the wee hours. The entireneighbourhood in DurgaNagar area of Jammu had con-verged outside the residence ofRahul to pay their homageand perform the last darshan.

Meenakshi, who broughtback the mortal remains of herhusband after traveling duringthe night, wept inconsolably onreaching their Durga Nagarhome in Jammu.

“My husband used to sayeveryone behaves nicely withhim and nobody can harmhim. Yet nobody protectedhim, they (terrorists) musthave asked someone about

him, otherwise, how wouldthey’ve known. I am left alone.He was everything for me,” shesaid.

Rahul leaves behind aseven-year-old daughter andaging parents. Rahul’s fatherBitta Jee Bhat retired fromactive police service years ago.Bitta Jee Bhat has also demand-ed a high-level inquiry to ascer-tain how the killers entered aGovernment office. “I havelost everything. My son is notalive. My only demand is todeliver justice to me,” he said.

Close family membersand siblings rememberedRahul as a ‘fearless’ and help-ful human being.

After performing rituals,the funeral procession wasjoined by hundreds of local res-idents and Kashmiri Pandits inthe area.

1�*���*������������555From Page 1“High Commission categorically denies that it or the

Indian Consulates-General or the Assistant High Commissionof #India in #SriLanka have stopped issuing visas. In the pastfew days, there were operational difficulties due to the inabili-ty of our Visa Wing staff, most of whom are #SriLankan nation-als, to attend office,” the Indian High Commission tweeted.

“We are striving to return our functioning to the normal lev-els soon. We remain committed to facilitating ease of travel for#SriLankans to #India. #SriLankans are welcome in #India justas #Indians are in #SriLanka,” it said.

Prime Minister Wickremesinghe, meanwhile, has said he looksforward to closer ties with India during his term and thanked Indiafor its economic assistance to the country as it tackles the worst eco-nomic crisis since independence. Wickremesinghe, 73, was sworn-in as Sri Lanka’s 26th prime minister on Thursday to stabilise thecountry’s debt-ridden economy and end the political turmoil.

“I want a closer relationship and I want to thank PrimeMinister (Narendra) Modi,” Wickremesinghe said, referring tothe Indian economic assistance to his country. India has com-mitted more than USD 3 billion to debt-ridden Sri Lanka in loans,credit lines and credit swaps since January this year. On Thursday,it said it looked forward to working with the new Sri Lankangovernment formed in accordance with the democratic process-es and New Delhi’s commitment to the people of the island nationwill continue.

���������� !!!From Page 1Flags will be flown at half-

mast and Ministries, depart-ments, federal and local insti-tutions will suspend work start-ing Friday, it said.

Sheikh Khalifa was electedto succeed his father, lateSheikh Zayed bin Sultan AlNahyan, who served as theUAE’s first president since theunion in 1971 until he passedaway on November 2, 2004.

Born in 1948, SheikhKhalifa was the secondPresident of the UAE and the16th Ruler of the Emirate ofAbu Dhabi. He was the eldestson of Sheikh Zayed.

Since becoming the presi-dent of the UAE, SheikhKhalifa has presided over amajor restructuring of both theFederal Government and theGovernment of Abu Dhabi.

����������,,,From Page 1Among their recommen-

dations, the guidelines set forthsix principles of best lightingpractices and call forEnvironmental ImpactAssessments for relevant pro-jects that could result in lightpollution.

These should consider themain sources of light pollutionat a certain site, the likely wildspecies that could be impacted,and facts about proximity toimportant habitats and migra-tory pathways.

“New guidelines focusingon migratory landbirds andbats are currently being devel-oped under CMS. They will bepresented to CMS Parties foradoption at the 14th Meeting ofthe Conference of the Parties to CMS in 2023,” said the state-ment.

From Page 1

For months, Tesla hadscouted for real estate optionsto open showrooms and servicecentres in the key Indian citiesof New Delhi, Mumbai andBengaluru but that plan is alsonow on hold, two of the sourcessaid.

Tesla did not respond to anemail seeking comment.

An Indian Governmentspokesman did not immedi-ately respond to a request forcomment.

Tesla has assigned addi-tional responsibilities for othermarkets to some of its smallteam in India. Its India policyexecutive Manuj Khurana hastaken on an additional “prod-uct” role in San Francisco sinceMarch, his LinkedIn profileshows.

As recently as January,Chief Executive Elon Muskhad said Tesla was “still work-ing through a lot of challengeswith the Government” inregard to sales in India.

But the strong demand forTesla’s vehicles elsewhere andthe standoff over import taxesprompted the shift in strategy,the sources said.

Modi has sought to luremanufacturers with a ‘Make inIndia’ campaign, but hisTransport Minister, NitinGadkari, said in April it wouldnot be a “good proposition” forTesla to import cars fromChina to India.

But New Delhi hadclinched a win in January,when German luxury carmak-er Mercedes-Benz said it wouldstart assembling one of its elec-tric cars in India.

From Page 1

She stressed that theCongress’ revival would onlyhappen with grand collectiveefforts, and those cannot be putoff. Noting that the shivir is animportant step in this journey,she said, “We are not obliviousto the recent failures, nor are weoblivious to the struggle wehave to undertake to win. Weare not unaware of the expec-tations of the people.”

The Congress presidentasserted that all have gatheredto take a collective and indi-vidual resolve to bring the

party in the same position itonce had and play the role thatpeople expected it to play inthese “deteriorating circum-stances.” Taking on theGovernment, she said, it hasbecome “painfully clear” whatModi and his colleagues real-ly mean by their frequently-used slogan ‘maximum gover-nance, minimum government’.She said the incumbent regimeis eroding the independenceand professionalism of all insti-tutions of democracy.

Sonia Gandhi also accusedthe BJP-led Government of“wholesale reinvention of his-

������������55555 tory”, constant denigration ofits leaders, especially JawaharlalNehru and the systematic moveto distort, deny and destroytheir contributions, theirachievements and their sacri-fices. “It means glorifying thekillers of Mahatma Gandhi,”the Congress chief said.

She also charged that theCentre was using fear to makethe bureaucracy, corporateIndia, sections of the civil soci-ety and the media fall in line.

Urging leaders to air theirviews frankly and openly dur-ing discussions at the Shivir, shesaid, “I urge you to openly putforward your views, but onlyone message should go out andthat is of a strong organisation,resolve and unity.

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������������-�")....From Page 1On preliminary enquiry it has been learnt that the building

is a four storey one used commercially for providing office spaceto companies,” said the DCP.

“The fire started from the first floor of the building whichhouses the office of a CCTV camera and router manufactur-ing/assembling company. Over 50 employees/workers of the com-pany were reportedly rescued while rescue teams have so farrecovered 27 bodies,” said the DCP.

Following the fire, thick fumes of black smoke could be seenbillowing out of the ill-fated building. The firemen used the firetruck ladder to reach the maximum possible height to spray wateron the blaze. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi,President Ram Nath Kovind and Delhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal have expressed their condolences.

“Distressed by the tragic fire accident at a building nearMundka Metro Station in Delhi. My condolences to thebereaved families. I wish for speedy recovery of the injured," tweet-ed the President.

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The demolition drive turnedmurkier in national Capital

with Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)threatening to carry out anti-encroachment drive at resi-dence of Delhi’s BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP) chief, AdeshGupta.

Senior AAP leaderDurgesh Pathak demandedcivic bodies to demolish unau-thorised construction at Gupta’sresidence by 11 am onSaturday, failing which partywill get them razed using bull-dozers.

“It has been weeks sinceillegal construction at Gupta’sresidence and office wasexposed but MCD refuses totake any action on it,” saidPathak. He alleged that DelhiBJP president's "political office"

in West Patel Nagar, too, was an"illegal construction" as it wasan encroachment on land of acivic body-run primary school.Pathak said his party had ear-lier written to mayor and com-missioner of civic body con-cerned demanding a probeinto alleged unauthorised con-structions at Gupta's residenceand office, but no action wastaken.

"This can't be done any-more. I demand BJP-ruledMCD that unauthorised con-structions at Gupta's residenceand his illegal political office bedemolished tomorrow by 11am," Pathak said. "Else, wewill go to his residence takingbulldozers and bring downunauthorised constructionsthere. We will also take actionagainst his illegal office," headded.

Meanwhile, the DelhiDeputy Chief Minister ManishSisodia has written to UnionHome Minister Amit Shahurging him to stop the destruc-tion. Sisodia also claimed thatcivic bodies are planning toraze 63 lakh dwellings in thenational capital.

The AAP will opposedemolition drive and I havewritten to Union home minis-ter to seek his intervention inmatter, said Sisodia addingthat they are even ready to goto jail. Sisodia said that ofthese, 60 lakh houses are inunauthorised colonies whileremaining three lakh are those

where people have extendedtheir balconies or coveredthem.“We have learnt thatnotices have been sent to them.This will lead to a huge destruc-tion in national capital. Almost70 per cent of the population ofDelhi will be rendered home-less,” said Sisodia.

“I have written to him(Shah) saying that this (demo-lition drive) should be stopped.If bulldozers are to be used,they should be used to demol-ish the houses of those BJPleaders and civic body repre-sentatives who took bribes toallow such structures to be con-structed,” said Sisodia.

In letter, Sisodia said thereare 1,750 unauthorised colonieswhere nearly 50 lakh peoplelive and 860 slum clusterswhich are home to around 10lakh people. “In Delhi, the BJPhas a plan to run bulldozers onthese colonies. Every day, someBJP leader reaches a colonywith a bulldozer," Sisodia saidin letter written in Hindi.

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The Delhi Government hasdecided to set up a nine-

member committee to suggestalternatives to overcome theshortage of land for tree plan-tation in the national Capital.

Delhi EnvironmentMinister Gopal Rai on Fridaymade the announcement whilerejecting a request by the DelhiDevelopment Authority torevise the compensatory plan-tation scheme guidelines andbring down the number ofsaplings to be planted for everytree felled from 10 to 2.

“The DDA wrote to theDelhi Forest Department say-ing they do not have land forcompensatory plantation. Theyhave requested us to makechanges in the guidelines. Weare rejecting the request con-sidering the status of the envi-ronment in Delhi,” said theMinister.

“The Government willinstead ask the DDA to informhow much land is available forplantation in the Capital. It hasalso been decided to set up a

nine-member "Green CoverDevelopment Committee" tosuggest alternatives to over-come the shortage of land fortree plantations,” said Rai.

The panel will have mem-bers from the Public WorksDepartment, DDA, ForestDepartment, municipal cor-porations, School of Planningand Architecture, CentralPublic Works Department,Delhi Urban Arts Commissionand the IARI-PUSA.

It will look at options likespace available on the roofs ofgovernment buildings, verticalgreening etc. Rai also said gov-ernment will ask Dehradun-based Forest Research Instituteto conduct a third-party audit

of tree transplantation in Delhi.“Over last two to three years, 27agencies and departments havebeen allowed to transplanttrees for their developmentalwork.

Prominent among themare National HighwayAuthority of India, NationalCapital Region TransportCorporation, NationalBuildings ConstructionCorporation, Delhi Metro,Delhi Jal Board, Public WorksDepartment, Central PublicWorks Department, Rail LandDevelopment Authority andMCD,” said Rai.

“We had directed them tosubmit a report on the numberof trees transplanted, theirlocations and their survivalrate by May 13. A report sug-gests a project-wise survivalrate of up to 55 per cent.However, some agencies haveperformed poorly," Rai said.

Based on FRI audit report,government will blacklist agen-cies and departments whichhave fared badly and reviewtheir permission for construc-tion work, the minister said.

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The Delhi Police hasdeclared Amanatullah

Khan, the Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) legislator fromSoutheast Delhi’s Okhla, as‘Bad Character’ (BC) of JamiaNagar area. Meanwhile, a DelhiCourt on Friday granted bail toAAP MLA Amanatullah Khan,arrested in a case of allegedrioting and obstructing publicservants from discharging theirduty, saying he is no longerrequired for custodial interro-gation.

According to police, theproposal for declaring Khan asa bad character was sent onMarch 28 by the Jamia Nagarpolice station in Southeast dis-trict and approved on March30. Khan had been previouslyinvolved in 18 cases. “Most ofthe cases registered againsthim are related to intimidation,threatening, hurt, riots causinghindrance duties of public ser-vants and causing enmities

between two groups and com-munities,” as per the documentby Jamia Nagar police stationAccording to the police, a per-son who has involvement inseveral cases, including that ofmurder and attempt to murder,and can disturb peace in anarea is declared as a "bad char-acter". Police keep an eye onsuch people.

Khan and five others werearrested on Thursday on thechanges of rioting andobstructing public servantsfrom discharging their duty,hours after the Okhla MLA

took part in a protest against ananti-encroachment drive in theMadanpur Khadar area insoutheast Delhi. The anti-encroachment drive sparkedviolent protests and pelting ofstones with locals alleging thatmany legal structures werebulldozed.

Esha Pandey, the DeputyCommissioner of Police(DCP), Southeast district hadsaid on Thursday AmanatullahKhan and five other support-ers have been arrested for riot-ing and obstructing public ser-vants in discharging their duty.

The FIR has been regis-tered under sections an 186(Obstructing public servant indischarge of public functions),353 (Assault or criminal forceto deter public servant fromdischarge of his duty) and 34(Acts done by several personsin furtherance of commonintention) of the Indian PenalCode (IPC) FIR on the com-plaint of South Delhi MunicipalCorporation (SDMC).

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The Jamia Millia Islamia(JMI) in the national

Capital on Friday extendedthe last date of submission ofonline application forms for allgraduate and postgraduatecourses till May 25.

The deadline for registra-tion has been extended for allJMI programmes such as post-graduate, undergraduate, post-graduate diploma, advanceddiploma and diploma pro-grammes, except for the PhDprogramme.

Earlier, May 13 was the lastdate for submission of theadmission forms. The univer-sity said this was done as thelast date for registration for theCommon University EntranceTest (CUET) has been extend-ed to May 22.

According to a notificationissued by the Jamia, in view ofthe extension in the last date ofCUET Admission form, theVice-Chancellor, JMI has verykindly approved the extensionin the last date of filling ofonline application form for allJamia programmes likePG/UG/PG Diploma/Advanced Diploma/ Diplomaprogrammes and ForeignNationals/NRI wards exceptPhD programmes for the aca-demic session 2022-2023 from13.05.2022 to 25.05.2022.

“The applicants who haveapplied for JMI programmesunder CUET are also requiredto fill the JMI registration formon the university examina-tions website till 25.05.2022,”the notification read.

The university had earlierannounced that admission to10 courses will be through theCUET. Last month, JMIreleased its admission prospec-tus and said online admissionforms were made availablefrom April 14.

Jamia Millia is also likely topostpone entrance tests foradmission to its undergraduateand postgraduate programmesas their dates are overlappingwith CBSE Class 12 boardexams.

The revised schedule islikely to be issued soon. As perthe schedule, entrance tests tocourses not covered under theCUET were to be conducted bythe institution from June 2.

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Delhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal has called upon a

key meeting with all AamAadmi Party legislators onSaturday on the anti-encroach-ment drives conducted by theBJP-ruled civic bodies.

The meeting will begin at11 am on Saturday at Kejriwal'sofficial residence in Civil Lines.Officials said on Friday that astrategy will be chalked out atthe meeting to counter theBJP's politics over the anti-encroachment drives.

Earlier in the day, DeputyChief Minister Manish Sisodiasaid he had written to UnionHome Minister Amit Shah andurged him to stop the "destruc-tion" in the name of anti-encroachment drives by theBJP-ruled municipal bodies.

The deputy chief minister alsoslammed the "bulldozer poli-tics" of the BJP and claimedthat the civic bodies were plan-ning to raze 63 lakh dwellingsin the national capital.In thepast few days, the three civic

bodies in Delhi have conduct-ed demolition drives in a num-ber of areas, including ShaheenBagh, Madanpur Khadar, NewFriends Colony, Mangol Puri,Karol Bagh, Khyala and LodhiColony.

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The power demand in thenational capital on Friday

cloaked 6805 MW, breaking allprevious records in the monthof May. According to thesources in discoms, the city’speak power demand broke therecord created just a day ear-lier. It not only clocked the sea-

son’s highest of 6805 MW at15:23 pm, but also the highestever in the month of May.“Yesterday, Delhi’s peak powerdemand clocked 6780 MW inthe afternoon, highest ever inthe month of May till then.

Just hours later, this recordtoo was broken, when thepeak power demand clocked6800 MW at 11:07 in thenight,” they said. “Delhi’s peak

power demand in May hadnever crossed the 6000 MW in2021 and 2020. In 2019, it hadcrossed the 6000 MW markonly on three occasions - May29 (6020 MW), May 30 (6240MW) and May 31 (6461MW),” sources said.

“Earlier, in April 2022, thepeak power demand had beenhigher on 100 per cent of thecorresponding days in respectto that of April 2021, 2020 and2019.

Moreover, on seven occa-sions in April 2022, city’s peakpower demand clocked thehighest ever in April, eachbreaking the previous record inquick succession. On April19, it was 5735 MW, 5761 MWon April 20, 5781 MW onAugust 21, 5786 MW on April27, 6050 MW on April 28 and6197 on April 29 and 6036MW on April 30,” sourcesadded.

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The maximum temperaturein the national Capital on

Friday settled at 42.5 degreesCelsius which is three notchesabove the normal for this timeof the year, according to theIndia MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD).

The minimum tempera-ture recorded at the SafdarjungObservatory was 28.1 degreesCelsius, which is three notch-es warmer than the normaltemperature for this season, asstated in the IMD data.

The relative humidity onFriday morning at 8:30 wasrecorded at 62 per cent and 35per cent in the evening at 5:30.

The weather stations atRidge, Ayanagar, Mungeshpur,Najafgarh, Pitampura, Palam,and Lodhi Road recorded max-imum temperatures of 42.5degrees Celsius, 44 degreesCelsius, 45.4 degrees Celsius,46.1 degrees Celsius, 44.7degrees Celsius, 43.8 degreesCelsius and 42.6 degreesCelsius respectively, stated the

IMD data. The IMD predicted“Heat wave spells overNorthwest and Central Indiaduring next three days andreduction thereafter.”

“No significant change inmaximum temperatures is verylikely over Northwest Indiaduring the next three days andfall by 2 to 3 degree Celsius,”IMD said.

“Rise in maximum tem-peratures by 2 to 3 degreeCelsius is very likely over EastIndia during the next two daysand no significant change,” itsaid.

While informing about thehealth concerns, the IMD saidthat heatwave could lead tomoderate health concerns forvulnerable people such asinfants, elder people and peo-ple with chronic diseases.

“Increased likelihood ofheat illness symptoms in peo-ple who are either exposed tosun for a prolonged period ordoing heavy work,” it said.

The Met department usesfour colour codes for weatherwarnings -- "green" (no action

needed), "yellow" (watch andstay updated), "orange" (be

prepared), and "red" (takeaction).

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The North Delhi MunicipalCorporation (NMC) on

Friday conducted anti-encroachment drive to removethe illegal encroachment inSamaypur Badli Metro Station,Rohini Sector 18 Metro Stationand Prem Nagar area, duringwhich 75 temporary struc-tures were cleared from publicland. The drive was not carriedout at Bawana due to nonavailability of police force.

According to theCommissioner of NMC, SanjayGoel, the civic body removedtemporary encroachmentsfrom Samaypur Badli MetroStation to Rohini Sector 18Metro Station in Rohini Zoneand Prem Nagar area in KarolBagh Zone.

“The encroachmentremoval drive was not carriedout at JJ Colony in Bawana area

due to non availability of policeforce,” he said.

“During the demolitiondrive in Rohini Zone fromSamaypur Badli Metro Stationto Rohini Sector 18 MetroStation around 75 temporarystructures and Jhuggies alongwith permanent platforms, sixwooden tables and woodenboards were removed with thehelp of one JCB bulldozer andsix dumpers. Total six trucks ofmalba were removed from thesite,” Goel said.

“In Prem Nagar, about1000 sq meters of area gotvacated with the help of localpolice and 25 municipal staff.Around 15 rounds of trucksand 60 rounds of garbage wereremoved from the site.

After the removal ofgarbage from the site, levelingwork of the entire plot has beenstarted,” he informed.Meanwhile, the South DelhiMunicipal Corporation

(SDMC) also removed the ille-gal encroachment in GopalNagar, Najafgarh, DichaonKalan, Roshanpura, SubhashNagar and Vishnu Garden andrazed over 15 illegally con-structed rooms and 42 tinsheds.

According to a seniorSDMC official, in an intensivedrive, 15 illegally constructedrooms were razed in Goyladairy and 42 tin sheds weredismantled. The civic agencysquad also destroyed 40 Khorsas well as six permanent stairs.

“In Najafgarh Zone, anti-encroachment drives were car-ried out in Gopal Nagar,Najafgarh, Dichaon Kalan,Roshanpura's Firni Mor, SomBazar and Tuda Mandi redlight area.

About 2000 metres of areawas made encroachment freeand 13 articles were seized,” hesaid.“In West Zone, anti-encroachment drives took

place in Milap Nagar market,Shyam Nagar Khayala roadcoming under Subhash Nagarand Vishnu Garden areas.Nearly 1400 metres area wasfreed from illegal encroach-ment. The civic body team hadseized 20 articles and

impounded two vehicles,” headded. On other hand, theNMC also wrote a letter to(SHO) of Pushpanjali Enclavepolice station, demanding theadequate force includingwomen police officials, toremove illegal structures.

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Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) chief Adesh Gupta

on Friday slammed the AamAadmi Party (AAP) leaderManish Sisodia over hisremarks on the ongoing demo-lition drive by the civic bodiesacross the Capital.

Gupta said that if Sisodiawere concerned about the

poor, then he would have givenslum dwellers pucca housesand provided them tap water,rations and helped them dur-ing the COVID-19 pandemic.

His remarks come afterSisodia, the Delhi DeputyChief Minister, claimed thatthe civic bodies are planning toraze 63 lakh dwellings in thenational capital.

Sisodia had also written aletter to Amit Shah, the UnionHome Minister urging him tostop the "destruction" ensuingin the national capital due to

the anti-encroachment driveby the BJP-ruled municipalbodies.Hitting out at Sisodiaover this, Delhi BJP presidentGupta said, "I can understandyour pain and panic becauseencroachments by Rohingyasand Bangladeshis are beingremoved who indulge in riot-ing and crimes, and are thengiven shelter by AAP leadersand MLAs." Addressing anonline briefing earlier, Sisodiahad said,"I have written to

him (Shah) saying that this(demolition drive) should bestopped. If bulldozers are to beused, they should be used todemolish the houses of thoseBJP leaders and civic body rep-resentatives who took bribes toallow such structures to beconstructed."

Claiming that Sisodia wasnot at all worried about poorpeople, Gupta asked him tostop indulging in politics overthe encroachment drive againstRohingyas and Bangladeshis.An anti-encroachment drive in

Delhi's Madanpur Khadaron Thursday sparked protestsand pelting of stones wherelocal people claimed that legalstructures were bulldozed.

AAP MLA AmanatullahKhan, who was part of aprotest in the southeast Delhilocality, was arrested oncharges of rioting andobstructing public servants indischarge of their duty, policeofficials said.

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The Supreme Court onFriday refused to grant an

interim order of status quo onthe survey of the Gyanvapi-Shringar Gauri complex atVaranasi in Uttar Pradesh.The apex court agreed to con-sider listing the plea of aMuslim party against the sur-vey of the Gyanvapi premises,when mention was made.

The Bench comprisingChief Justice NV Ramana andjustices J K Maheswari andHima Kohli was told by senioradvocate Huzefa Ahmadi,appearing for the Muslim sidein the Gyanvapi mosque case,that a plea has been filedagainst the survey being con-ducted at the Varanasi site.

“We have filed in relationto a survey which has beendirected to be conducted inrelation to the Varanasi prop-erty. This (Gyanvapi) has

been a mosque since timeimmemorial and this is clear-ly interdicted by the Places ofWorship Act,” Ahmadi said.

He said the direction toconduct a survey has beenpassed and an order of statusquo be passed at the moment.“I do not know anything. Howcan I pass such an order? I willread. Let me see,” the CJIsaid. The Muslim side has

been referring to the Places ofWorship (Special Provisions)Act, 1991 and its section 4which bars filing of any suit orinitiating any other legal pro-ceeding for a conversion of thereligious character of any placeof worship, as existing onAugust 15, 1947.

A Varanasi local court onThursday rejected a plea toreplace the advocate commis-sioner it had appointed forconducting a videography sur-vey of the Gyanvapi-ShringarGauri complex here andordered the completion of thetask by May 17.

The district court alsoappointed two more lawyers tohelp the advocate commis-sioner carry out the survey atthe mosque, which is locatedclose to the iconic KashiVishwanath temple. It orderedthe police to register FIRs ifthere are attempts to scuttlethe exercise.

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The Supreme Court onFriday sought a response

from the Centre, the Jammuand Kashmir administrationand the Election Commissionof India on a plea of twoKashmir residents challengingGovernment's decision to con-stitute the delimitation com-mission for redrawing theAssembly and Lok Sabha con-stituencies in the UT.

A bench of Justices SanjayKishan Kaul and MM Sundreshissued notice to the Centre andElection Commission of Indiaand sought their responses with-in six weeks and said the rejoin-der affidavit shall be filed in twoweeks thereafter. The bench said

the delimitation commissionwas formed sometime back andasked the petitioners, wherewere they during that time andwhy did not they challenge theConstitution of the commission.

The counsel said as per thedelimitation order, it is theElection Commission that isempowered to do any changes.

The bench told the counsel,who was making objectionablesubmissions, to choose hiswords properly and said thatKashmir was always part ofIndia and just a special provisionwas removed.

Solicitor General TusharMehta said effectively the plea istwo-fold and that delimitationcan be conducted only by theECI and not the delimitationcommission.

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Union Home Secretary AjayBhalla on Friday reviewed

the security preparedness forthe Amarnath Yatra scheduledto begin on June 30 after a gapof two years.

The Home Secretaryreviewed the security pre-paredness for the AmarnathYatra with top officials of para-military forces and the Jammuand Kashmir administration,officials said.

About 10,000 paramilitarypersonnel (100 companies) inaddition to Jammu andKashmir Police are expected tobe deployed along the two pil-grimage routes via Pahalgamand Baltal, they said. Aboutthree lakh pilgrims are likely to

take part in the yatra, which isexpected to end on August11.CRPF Director GeneralKuldiep Singh and BSF DGPankaj Singh, along with otherofficers, attended the meetingphysically, while Jammu andKashmir officials attended itthrough video conference.

The annual pilgrimage tothe cave shrine located in theupper reaches of southKashmir could not be carriedout in 2020 and 2021 due to thecoronavirus pandemic, while itwas cut short in 2019 justbefore the abrogation of Article370. Amarnath pilgrimage willbe a big security challenge forthe government as Jammu andKashmir has been witnessing anumber of targeted killings inrecent weeks.

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Against the backdrop ofPrime Minister Narendra

Modi repeatedly hitting out atdynastic politics asserting itdeprived the common manhis rightful place to participatein the political process, theMumbai-based RSS-BJP-linked think tank RambhauMhalgi Prabodhini (RMP) istaking the discourse further.

Aday-long seminar to dis-cuss the impact of

"dynasty based political par-ties" on the health of democ-ratic process in the countryand “ways and means to reg-ulate” party formation will be

organised here on May19 and the recommen-dations will be submit-ted to the ElectionCommission of India forits consideration.

The seminar organ-ised at Nehru MemorialAuditorium will be inau-gurated by BJP presi-dent J P Nadda.According to RajyaSabha member VinaySahasrabuddhe, who isalso Vice Chairman ofthe RMP, the discussionwould cover aspects like“democratic deficit” due todynastic parties and “possibleregulatory framework for pre-venting mushrooming ofdynasty based political par-ties”. Besides Nadda, RMP

Chairman DevendraFadanvis, senior advocateMahesh Jethmalani as alsorepresentatives of “non-dynastic parties” like UnionMinister RCP Singh of JD (U),AIADMK’s M Thambiduraiand AGP’s Birdendra PrasadBaishya will share their viewson “dynasty-ism.”

Academics l ike Prof

Anand Ranganathan and ProfSandeep Shastri will alsospeak at this Seminar. JNUVice Chancellor SantishreePandit will be delivering thevaledictory address.

“ R e c o m m e n d a t i o n sevolved at the end of deliber-ations will be presented to theElection Commission of India,later,” said Sahasrabuddhe.

“Defining that dynasticparties are those that are con-trolled by a particular dynastyfor generation after genera-tion, and where not just thePresidentship is held by a

dynast but other keyoffice bearers also comefrom the same family,organisers of the semi-nar said that such prac-tices dilute democraticcredentials and cause aserious harm to theinstitution of politicalparties,” said a state-ment by the think-tankwithout naming anypolitical parties includ-ing Congress,Samajwadi Party,Rashtriya Janata Dal ,National Conference or

the DMK. The ‘anti-dynasty theme’

was recently also raised by theCivil Aviation MinisterJyotiraditya Scindia, (whoincidentally hails from theroyal Scindia family and hisaunt Vadsundhara Raje , ex-Rajasthan Chief Minter; toois in the party).

Last week he said,“Dynastic politics has no placein the BJP and the PrimeMinister believes that partyworkers be rewarded based ontheir work and not as per fam-ily affiliations”.

Sahasrabuddhe sought tosay that the total monopoly ofdynasties over political parties“serves as a death-knell tointernal democracy in parties”.

“Under the existingmechanism in such dynastydriven parties a single familycontrols practically every-thing, party finance, partymembership, party candidacy,and also decisions aboutalliances and political part-nerships. This serves as adeath-knell to internal democ-racy in Parties”, saidSahasrabuddhe.

“ A party giving candida-ture to sons and daughters ofits leaders is one thing and afamily acquiring total controlof a party is totally different.The latter is most detrimentalto the cause of democracy,” hesaid.

In India, out of th 50major political parties fromthe 2700 registered and recog-nised parties, at least 4/5th aredynasty based. This phenom-enon “seriously narrows downthe available choices for avoter as it afflicts the elementof competition,” he said.

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The CBI has booked anArmy officer posted at Port

Blair for alleged corruptionand graft from different privatesuppliers in connivance withfield officers in procurement ofration and other materials forcanteen stores department.

It is alleged that Lt ColAbhishek Chandra, the thenStation Staff Officer SSO(Contract and Victualling) haddemanded bribes from differ-ent suppliers during 2018.

The CBI action came fol-lowing Government sanctionto the CBI to proceed with theprobe against the officer.

The FIR alleged thatChandra in 2018 entered intocriminal conspiracy withSubham Choudhary ofKolkata-based Rochak AgroFood Products Ltd and its rep-resentative Dayal Chandra Dasto "extend favours" in return forbribes.

Chandra allegedly misusedhis official position andensured award of the contractfor supply of food items includ-ing spices to Base VictuallingYard, Minnie Bay, Port Blair,Andaman without PriceNegotiation Committee (PNC)to Rochak Agro Food ProductsPvt Ltd., Kolkata and alsoextended favour in return ofbank guarantee of the saidcompany, deposited for theprevious contract with BVYard, Port Blair, it alleged.

In return for the favours,Chandra allegedly demandedand agreed to accept a bribe ofRs 75,000 from Choudharyeither in the form of twocheques issued from theaccount of anyone except thefavoured company or in theform of two gift vouchers ofjewellery brand Tanishq.

Choudhary could notarrange gift vouchers so

Chandra allegedly got theamount deposited in two bankaccounts in Bokaro(Jharkhand) through NEFT.

It was also alleged thatChandra had demanded abribe of Rs three lakh from arepresentative of another sup-plier based in Port Blair. OnJune 6, Muthu, the representa-

tive, allegedly tried to pay Rs 1lakh as part payment butChandra refused and demand-ed the full amount. Muthuthen used debit cards to with-draw money from the ATMand made a payment of Rs 2.5lakh to Chandra, the FIRalleged.

Chandra had also directedDas to negotiate with the offi-cers posted in BV Yard so thatthey "do not raise hue and cry"regarding late arrival of con-signment or discrepancy inmaterials ordered and sup-plied.

Das allegedly paid a bribeof Rs 10,000 in March 2018 toone Routh who was posted inBV Yard for not raising anyobjection with respect to thesupplies of Rochak AgroProducts.

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Aspecial CBI court inAhmedabad has sen-

tenced two retired and oneserving officers of the IndianAir Force (IAF) to life impris-onment for the custodial mur-der of a cook 27 years ago, offi-cials said here on Friday.

Girija Rawat, a cook at theair force station in Jamnagar,was tortured to death inNovember 1995 after it wassuspected that he stole liquorthe canteen.

The convicted officers areAnoop Sood, then a SquadronLeader at the Air Force-I inJamnagar, and then SergeantsAnil K N and Mahendra SinghSherawat.

Sood, who retired asGroup Captain, claims to be anorientation programme speak-er and a trained commandofrom the NSG on his socialmedia profile.

Anil also retired from theIAF, while Sehrawat was stillserving. The CBI had takenover the case on February 22,2012 on the orders of theGujarat High Court on a pleaof Rawat's wife.

"...It was further alleged

that on November 13, 1995,10-12 Air Force PoliceOfficials, including thenSquadron Leader AnoopSood, conducted searches atthe residence of Rawat andtook him with them

forcibly to confess aboutstealing of liquor from the AirForce Canteen," CBISpokesperson R C Joshi said.

He said Rawat's wife vis-ited the guard room in theevening seeking release of herhusband.

"She was told that herhusband would be releasedsoon. The accused allegedlytortured him which caused hisdeath. On November 14, 1995,she was informed about thedeath of her husband and wasasked to collect the body,"Joshi said.

After thorough investiga-tion, the CBI filed a chargesheet on July 30, 2013 againstthe accused on the charges ofcriminal conspiracy and mur-der, he said.

"The trial court found thesaid accused guilty and con-victed them (recently). Threeaccused were acquitted by thecourt and one accused expiredduring the trial," Joshi said.

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Senior IAS officer NidhiChibber has been appoint-

ed as the chairperson of theCentral Board of SecondaryEducation (CBSE) in a top-level bureaucratic reshuffleeffected by the Centre onFriday. Chibber, a 1994 batchIndian Administrative Serviceofficer of Chhattisgarh cadre, iscurrently Additional Secretary,Ministry of Heavy Industries.

Vivek Kumar Dewangen, a1993 batch IAS officer ofManipur cadre, has beennamed Chairman & ManagingDirector, REC Ltd., Ministry ofPower. He is currentlyAdditional Secretary in theMinistry of Power.

While S Gopalakrishnan,Additional Secretary in thePrime Minister's Office (PMO)has been appointed asAdditional Secretary,Department of Health andFamily Welfare, Rakesh Sarwal,Additional Secretary, NITI

Aayog will be ManagingDirector, National WaqfDevelopment Corporation Ltd.,Ministry of Minority Affairs,the order said.

Aditi Das Rout, JointSecretary, Ministry of Womenand Child Development hasbeen promoted as AdditionalSecretary in the same ministry.Shyam Bhagat Negi, JointSecretary, Ministry of Coalwill be Additional Secretary,Cabinet Secretariat.

Manisha Sinha, JointSecretary, Department ofEconomic Affairs, Ministry ofFinance has been appointed asAdditional Secretary, in thesame department and KumarAnugreh Prasad Sinha will beAdditional Secretary of theNational Disaster ManagementAuthority.

Sinha, a 1992 batch IASofficer, is currently working inhis cadre state Punjab. AmarNath, Additional Secretary inthe Ministry of Petroleum &Natural Gas, has been posted as

Additional Secretary,Department of AdministrativeReforms and PublicGrievances, Ministry ofPersonnel, Public Grievancesand Pensions.

Vikas Sheel, AdditionalSecretary, Department ofHealth and Family Welfare hasbeen named as AdditionalSecretary and Mission Director,Jal Jeevan Mission, Departmentof Drinking Water andSanitation while Alok Shekhar,who is presently working in hiscadre state Punjab, will beAdditional Secretary, Ministryof Statistics and ProgrammeImplementation.

Rakesh Kumar Singh, JointSecretary, Ministry of HomeAffairs will be AdditionalSecretary, Ministry of HomeAffairs and Surendra Singh,Joint Secretary, Department ofSocial Justice andEmpowerment has beenappointed as AdditionalSecretary in the same depart-ment. Pravir Pandey, a 1992

batch officer of Indian Auditand Accounts Service, has beenappointed as AdditionalSecretary and FinancialAdvisor, Ministry ofEnvironment, Forest andClimate Change.

Vandana Kumar, JointSecretary, Ministry of Newand Renewable Energy hasbeen named as AdditionalSecretary, Ministry of Newand Renewable Energy andAjay Tewari, currently JointSecretary in Ministry ofLabour & Employment will beAdditional Secretary, Ministryof Power.

Alka Nangia Arora, JointSecretary, Ministry of Micro,Small and Medium Enterpriseshas been named as JointSecretary and FinancialAdvisor, Department ofAgricultural Research andEducation by temporarilydowngrading the post ofAdditional Secretary andFinancial Advisor in thedepartment, the order said.

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Defence Minister RajnathSingh will on May 17

concurrently launch twoindigenously designed andbuilt warships at the MazgaonDocks Limited (MDL),Mumbai. The two ships aredestroyer ‘Surat’ and frigate‘Udaygiri.’

While the Surat is aProject 15-B destroyer,Udaygiri is a Project 17-Afrigate, officials said here onFriday. The Project 15B classof ships are the next genera-tion stealth guided missiledestroyers of the Indian Navybeing built at the MazgaonDocks .

‘Surat’ is the fourth ship ofProject 15B Destroyers whichheralds a significant makeoverof the P15A (Kolkata Class)destroyers and is named afterthe commercial capital of thestate of Gujarat and also thesecond largest commercial

hub of western India afterMumbai. Surat city has a richmaritime and ship buildinghistory and vessels built at thecity in the 16th and 18th cen-turies were known for theirlongevity (of more than 100years).

The ship ‘Surat’ has beenbuilt using the block con-struction methodology whichinvolved hull construction attwo different geographicallocations and has been joined

together at MDL. The firstship of this class was com-missioned in 2021. The secondand third ships have beenlaunched and are at differentstages of outfitting and trials.

‘Udaygiri,’ named after amountain range in AndhraPradesh, is the third ship ofProject 17-A Frigates. Theseare follow-on of the P-17Frigates (Shivalik Class) withimproved stealth features,advanced weapons and sensorsand platform managementsystems. _

‘Udaygiri’ is the reincar-nation of erstwhile ‘Udaygiri’,the Leander class anti-subma-rine warfare frigate, whichsaw numerous challengingoperations in its illustrious ser-vice to the country spanningover three decades from 1976to 2007.

Under the P-17A program,a total of seven ships, with fourat the MDL and three at theGarden Reach Shipbuilders

and Engineers, Kolkata areunder construction.

Various novel conceptsand technologies like inte-grated construction, megablock outsourcing, project datamanagement project lifecyclemanagement have been adopt-ed for the first time in indige-nous warship design and con-struction in this project. Thefirst two ships of P-17A pro-ject, were launched in 2019and 2020 at MDL and GRSErespectively.

Both P-15B and P-17Aships have been designed in-house by the Directorate ofNaval Design (DND), whichhas been the fountainhead forall warship design activities ofthe nation and during build-ing phase at Shipyard, around75% of orders for equipmentand systems have been placedon indigenous firms includingMSMEs which is a true testa-ment of ‘AatmaNirbharta’ inthe country.

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In the first ever visit by anIndian head of state,

President Ram Nath Kovindwill visit Jamaica and SaintVincent and the Grenadines(SVG) from May 15 to 21. Thisvisit to the two countries isreflective of a commitment toSmall Island Developing Statesand CarribeanCommunity(CARICOM).

Giving details of thePresident’s schedule,Secterary(East)Ministry ofExternal Affairs SaurabhKumar said here on Friday,Kovind will present cricketkits to aspiring Indian crick-eters during his visit to the twocountries including Jamaicaand St. Vincent and Grenadines

(SVG). The President will also

hold discussions with his coun-terpart Governor-GeneralSusan Dougan and will alsomeet Prime Minister RalphGonsalves. Kovind will addressthe Parliament of SVG. Kumarsaid the SVG has about 7,700people of Indian origin settledin the SVG.

As regards his itinerary inJamaica, the President will holddelegation-level talks with hiscounterpart Patrick Allen, theGovernor-General of Jamaica.Kovind will also meet PrimeMinister Andrew Holness. Hewill also address the JointSitting of the two Houses of theJamaican Parliament.

Jamaica and India havefriendly relations. Jamaica is

also one of the Girmitya coun-tries with a 70,000 strongIndian diaspora, who acts as aliving bridge with India,” theministry said. The visit comesat a significant milestone as2022 is the 60th anniversary ofestablishment of diplomaticrelations between India andJamaica, it added.

Jamaica and SVG are activemembers in the CaribbeanCommunity (CARICOM). Thefirst-ever Head of State visit tothese countries is a continua-tion of India’s high-levelengagement with the coun-tries in the Caribbean regionand emphasizes our continuedcommitment to work withSmall Island developing coun-tries, the external affairs min-istry had said a few days back.

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South-west monsoon, con-sidered as the lifeline of

India's agri-based economy, islikely to bring first showers toKerala by May 27, five days ear-lier than the normal onsetdate, the weather officeannounced on Friday.

"This year, the onset ofsouthwest monsoon overKerala is likely to be earlierthan the normal date of onset.The monsoon onset overKerala is likely to be on May 27with a model error of fourdays," India MeteorologicalDepartment (ID) said.

In 2009, the south-westmonsoon had reached Keralaon May 23. Weather scientistsattribute the early onset ofsouthwest monsoon over

Kerala to the influence of theremnants of cyclone Asani thattriggered the cross-equatorialflow, a key factor for the sea-sonal rains. The early arrival ofthe south-west monsoon comesat a time when parts of north-west India were experiencingextremely high maximum tem-peratures.

On Thursday, the weatheroffice had forecast the onset ofsouth-west monsoon overAndaman & Nicobar islandson May 15, nearly a weekahead of schedule.

"In association withenhanced cross equatorialwinds, conditions are becom-ing favorable for the advance ofSouthwest Monsoon into SouthAndaman Sea, Nicobar Islandsand some parts of southeastBay of Bengal, around May 15,"

the IMD said in a statement.At the same time, the

weather office made it clear thatpast data suggest that there isno association of the date ofmonsoon advance over theAndaman Sea either with thedate of monsoon onset overKerala or with the seasonalmonsoon rainfall over thecountry.

The IMD said due tostrong westerly flow fromArabian Sea to south peninsu-lar India in lower tropospher-ic levels fairly widespreadlight/moderate rainfall withisolated thunderstorm/light-ning/gusty winds likely overKerala, Mahe, Tamil Nadu,Puducherry and Karaikal,south interior Karnataka andLakshadweep over the nextfive days.

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Awoman, a rape victim, triedto commit suicide by pour-

ing petrol on herself outside theDM's office. Meanwhile, theeyes of the security personnelfell on her. They surroundedher and caught her. Thiswoman was hurt due to the lackof action in the case of rape onthe pretext of a job.

As soon as the mattercame to the notice, the DMcalled the women's police sta-tion, after which a report wasfiled on behalf of the victimwoman against Dr. Saud Ali,former principal of AligarhMuslim University's TibiaCollege, on charges of rape and

cheating. The victim has been sent for medical exami-nation.

A 24-year-old woman res-ident of the metropolis reachedthe collectorate. On meetingDM Selva Kumari J, she toldthat in the year 2018, she got atemporary job as a ward atten-dant in Tibbia College andHospital, Aligarh. Dr. SaudAli, who was the principalduring that time, called her andsaid if you arrange five lakhrupees, then he will make thejob permanent. When shetalked about not having money,Dr. Saud Ali proposed to havea physical relationship and onher refusal, Dr. Said Ali start-ed harassing her.

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The EnforcementDirectorate (ED) has filed

a Supplementary ProsecutionComplaint (charge sheet)against two leaders of thePopular Front of India (PFI)under the Prevention of MoneyLaundering Act (PMLA) beforethe Special PMLA Court,Lucknow with a prayer forawarding punishment to theaccused.

The Court has taken cog-nizance of the offence of moneylaundering against the duo.

Earlier, a ProsecutionComplaint had been filed bythe ED on February 6 last yearagainst five office bearers /members of PFI and its studentwing Campus Front of India.

The latest supplementaryprosecution complaint has

been filed against PFI leadersAbdul Razaq Peediyakkal aliasAbdul Razak BP and AsharafKhadir alias Ashraf MK who,in association with other PFIleaders and members associat-ed with overseas entities, weredeveloping a residential project- Munnar Villa Vista Project(MVVP) at Munnar, Kerala.

The motive of the accusedwas to launder money collect-ed from foreign countries aswell as within the country andto generate funds for PFI tofinance its radical activities, theED said in a statement.

“Investigation establishedthat ‘proceeds of crime’ in theform of unaccounted & unex-plained cash as well as foreignfunds were parked in MVVPand were projected as untaint-ed,” it said.

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The EnforcementDirectorate (ED) has seized

Rs 88.30 lakh in cash after itsearched the premises of aman, whose name figured inthe Panama Paper leaks, inMadhya Pradesh and Goa aspart of money launderinginvestigation against him.

The ED has conductedsearches at four premises basedat Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh)and Goa in a money launder-ing case registered againstSanjay Vijay Shinde.

“Sanjay Vijay Shinde figuredin the Panama Paper Leaks,wherein, names of various indi-viduals were revealed who hadbeneficial interests in various off-shore entities.

Sanjay Vijay Shinde hadbeneficial interests in a BritishVirgin Islands based offshoreentity, in whose Singapore-basedbank account, more than Rs 31crore were deposited by variousoffshore entities,” the ED said ina statement.

The Income TaxDepartment filed a prosecutioncomplaint against Sanjay VijayShinde under provisions of

Black Money (UndisclosedForeign Income and Assets)and Imposition of Tax Act,2015. Subsequently, investiga-tion under provisions ofPrevention of MoneyLaundering Act (PMLA) wasinitiated by the ED.

Searches were conducted atthe four premises related toShinde, including the residen-tial premises at Goa andBhopal, the premises of histhen employer VS DempoHoldings Pvt Ltd, Goa and thepremises of RPM SonicAdventures and CaravanResorts at Bhopal.

It said a cash amount of Rs88.30 lakh and various incrim-

inating documents were recov-ered from the premises andfurther investigation is underprogress.

Dubbed 'Panama Papers',An investigation of a stock-

pile of records fromPanamanian legal firmMossack Fonseca by theW a s h i n g t o n - b a s e dInternational Consortium ofInvestigative Journalists (ICIJ)in 2016 was dubbed as ‘PanamaPapers’. It named several worldleaders and celebrities whoallegedly stashed money abroadin offshore companies.

As many as 426 India-linked cases figured in thePanama Papers.

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Scientists from Wadia Institute of HimalayanGeology, Dehradun and a few other acade-

mic institutions including Panjab UniversityChandigarh and IIT, Ropar, have reportedsighting of the fossil of a Madtsoiidae snake fromthe molasse deposits of Ladakh Himalaya for thefirst time indicating their prevalence in the sub-continent for much longer time than previous-ly thought.

According to the scientists, Madtsoiidae isan extinct group of medium-sized to giganticsnakes, firstly appeared during the lateCretaceous and mostly distributed in theGondwanan landmasses, although theirCenozoic record is extremely scarce.

From the fossil record, the whole group dis-appeared in the mid-Paleogene across mostGondwanan continents except for Australiawhere it survived with its last known taxonWonambi till late Pleistocene.

The lucky team members included Dr.Ningthoujam Premjit Singh, Dr. Ramesh KumarSehgal, and Mr. Abhishek Pratap Singh fromWadia Institute of Himalayan Geology,Dehradun, India in association with Dr. RajeevPatnaik and Mr. Wasim Abass Wazir fromPanjab University Chandigarh; Dr. Navin Kumarand Piyush Uniyal from Indian Institute ofTechnology Ropar, and Dr. Andrej Cernanskýof Comenius University Slovakia.

The occurrence of Madtsoiidae from theOligocene of Ladakh indicates their continuityat least to the end of the Paleogene (geologicperiod and system that spans 43 million yearsfrom the end of the Cretaceous Period 66 mil-lion years ago). The research published inJournal of Vertebrate Paleontology shows thatthe members of this group were successful in thissubcontinent for much longer time than previ-ously thought.

The global climatic shifts and the prominentbiotic reorganization across the Eocene-Oligocene boundary (which correlates to theEuropean Grande Coupure), did not cause theextinction of this important group of snakes inIndia, said an official from the Science andTechnology Ministry.

He said that the newly described specimenis housed in the repository of the WadiaInstitute, an autonomous institute of theDepartment of Science and Technology.

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On the occasion of the 4thNaturopathy Day celebra-

tion here, "Disease Free IndiaCampaign" has been launchedwith an aim to ensure betterwell being of the society amidstCovid-19 crisis.

Those present on the occa-sion included DrMahenderbhai Munjapara,Union Minister of State forAyush, Raju Bisht, Member ofParliament, Jayaprakash,Founder Surya Foundation,Dr. Ishwar Basavaraddy,Director, Morarji DesaiNational Institute of Yoga, Prof(Dr) K Satyalakshmi, Director, National Institute ofNaturopathy, Dr RaghvendraRao, Director, Central Councilfor Research in Yoga andNaturopathy among

others. On the occa-sion of 'Azadi kaAmrit Mahotsav'with the support ofNational Institute ofNaturopathy, UnionMinistry of Ayush topropagate theNaturopathy, INO-Surya Foundationhas organizedapproximately 500naturopathy campsin which more than 50 thou-sand people from rural andurban area of India have par-ticipated.

“Today, there is a need toexpand naturopathy scientifi-cally to common men as anoption to the costly allopathicsystem,” Dr. Anant Biradar,National President-INO said.

He added that in this direc-tion, INO-Surya Foundation

has been working for the last 25years. “More than one lakhyoga naturopathy doctors, stu-dents and other people havejoined this campaign from allover the country whose motiveis to realize the dream of SelfHealth Reliance of Father ofNation Mahatma Gandhi jiand to reduce the health bud-get of family and country,” hesaid.

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Tamil Nadu HigherEducation Minister K

Ponmudy on Friday assertedthat the State Government willcontinue with the two-lan-guage formula as its policy, anddecried any attempts of allegedHindi imposition and ques-tioned claims that learning thelanguage will fetch jobs.

Taking a dig on those whoinsist jobs will be available forpeople learning Hindi, theMinister asked who are selling'pani puri' in the Coimbatorenow, an obvious reference tothe predominantly Hindi-speaking vendors involved inthe trade in the city. He, how-ever, later clarified his com-ments on pani puri sellers didnot amount to 'profiling.'

His comments came at the37th convocation of BharathiarUniversity in Coimbatore,presided over by stateGovernor R N Ravi, also thevarsity Chancellor, where theminister reiterated the ruling

DMK's stand against 'imposi-tion' of Hindi, a claim whichRavi sought to dismiss by say-ing "there is no question ofimposition of Hindi or anyother language on anyone."

Ponmudy said he used theplatform to highlight TamilNadu's sentiments over thelanguage issue as the Governorwould convey them to theCentre. He recalled thatEnglish and Tamil have been invogue in Tamil Nadu for longand that the same will contin-ue while students were notagainst learning other lan-guages, including Hindi.

"Many said you will getjobs if you learn Hindi. Is itso...Look here in Coimbatore,who is selling pani puri. It isthem (Hindi-speaking indi-viduals)," he said.

"If a cat can go through ahole, can't a rat," he askedcryptically. Ponmudi said stu-dents of the state were ready tolearn any language and thatthey were not against other lan-guages including Hindi.

Noting that the state gov-ernment was ready to adoptgood schemes in the NewEducation Policy (NEP 2020),the minister said there shouldnot be any imposition of Hindiand students can prefer anylanguage as the third option,but the state will follow the sys-tem prevailing now. AllegingHindi imposition through NEP2020, the Tamil Nadu govern-ment has already said the two-language policy, comprisingTamil and English, will con-tinue to remain in practice.

"We don't want to agitateagainst the good things inNEP. We are ready to followthem. But at the same time, inTamil Nadu we should haveour own language. India is aland of unity in diversity. InTamil Nadu we shoould followour own education system...We should follow certain goodpolicies from the NEP,"Ponmudy added.

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Streets in many places inwestern Rajasthan bear a

deserted look during much ofthe day as if a lockdown is inplace, with people keepingindoors due to the heatwave.

Barmer recorded the high-est day temperature of 48.2degree Celsius on Thursdaywhile the mercury soared to47.2 in Jaisalmer.

The MeteorologicalDepartment has issued a redalert for Bikaner, Churu,Jaisalmer, Ganganagar,Hanumangarh, Jhunjhunu, andKota districts for May 14.

It said the situation is like-ly to continue for next twodays, after which some respitemay be expected.

Meanwhile, dust stormscoupled with heatwave in ruralareas have disrupted the rou-tine life.

"The heat is unbearable. Asthe day progresses, conditionsbecome tougher and itbecomes a challenge to go outin the afternoon," Sunil Kumar,a trader in Barmer, told PTI.

He said the sale of ACsand coolers has suddenly shotup and customers visit either inthe morning hours or in lateevening hours to avoid heat-stroke.

The heatwave persists tilllate in the night and beforesleeping on the roof, peoplesprinkle water to reduce theimpact of the heat.

Generally, people used totake bath in the evening butdue to the scorching sun, waterof the tanks kept on the roofturns too hot to use.

Be it Barmer or Jaisalmer,people start the day quite earlyand finish morning routinework by 8-9 am.

"The situation is such that

even the use of water fromtanks kept on the roof late inthe evening can scorch thebody. Even in the morning, wetry to take a bath before the sunrise," Barmer resident RamSuthar said.

Most business establish-ments lower their shutters androads remain almost empty.

To minimise the impact ofsunlight, shopkeepers inJaisalmer's Pokaran town usegreen nets.

"It is too hot and blister-ing heat has made all of us suf-fer. Roads remain almost emptyfrom 12 to 5 pm, and it feelslike a lockdown like situation,"Jai Bhati, a local vendor inJaisalmer said.

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An NCP youth wingleader on Friday

approached the cybercell of Mumbai policeseeking action againstthe BJP for uploadingan alleged edited ver-sion of Sharad Pawar'srecent speech in orderto portray him as a"Hindu hater".

T h e@BJP4Maharashtra onWednesday tweeted ashort video of the speech andclaimed that "atheist SharadPawar always hated Hindu reli-gion" and he would not haveachieved his political successwithout taking such a stand.However, some social mediausers pointed out it was an edit-ed video and Pawar, in thespeech made at an event onMay 9 in Satara, was in factreferring to a poem by JawaharRathod that deals with casteismand untouchability.

In his complaint to thepolice, Suraj Chavan, presi-dent of the state unit of the

NCP's youth wing, said, "Anattempt was made to create adivide in communities andcause law and order problemsby sharing such a temperedvideo on Twitter. Action mustbe taken against the Twitterhandle (of the BJP) as per sec-tions 499, 500, 66A and 66F."Pawar had told reporters onThursday that he was readingout lines from a poem thatdepicts the pain of the labourclass, but went to take a swipeat the BJP by saying thosewho wanted to spread disin-formation were free to do so.

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Ajudicial panel instituted bythe Calcutta High Court to

look into an alleged West BengalSchool Service Commissionrecruitment scam has submitteda damaging report before thecourt that threatens to implicatea flock of senior Governmentstaff and Ministers, sources said.

Recommending criminalproceedings against four formerSSC officials and the then pres-ident of the autonomous insti-tution, Justice RK Bag (retd)committee on Friday submitteda report showing how 381 peo-ple were illegally appointed inGroup C posts circumventingthe panel of candidates who hadcleared the recruitment tests.The said 381 appointees had not

even appeared for the examina-tions. The report says that rec-ommendations for appointmentwere made by an advisory panelallegedly created during whenTMC General Secretary ParthoChatterjee was the EducationMinister. The advisory panelthus created by the ministry didnot have any legal validity as theSSC is an autonomous body —with its own time-tested recruit-ment procedures — the judicialcommittee has said.

According to sources anoth-er 222 successful candidates —whose names figured in thewaiting list — were givenappointments upon the recom-mendations of the advisorycommittee much after the dateof appointment had elapsed.

The report has also held the

then West Bengal Board ofSecondary Education and thefive-member advisory panelheaded by SP Sinha — createdby the Education Ministry tosupervise the appointment pro-cedures — responsible for therecruitment scam.

The Division Bench of jus-tices Subrata Talukdar andAnanda Kumar Mukherjeehearing the case would pass anorder on May 18.

The single Bench of JusticeAbhijit Gangopadhyay had ear-lier ordered a CBI investigationinto the matter asking the cen-tral agency to go to the extent ofarresting any one — even a min-ister. The ordered was stayed bythe Division Bench.

Similar recruitment casesinvolving hundreds of aspirants

for primary and secondaryteachers’ posts as well as GroupD staff are pending in the HighCourt while the aspirants whohad cleared the tests and whosenames appeared in the waitinglists were still holding dharnas.

According to sourcesappointments were made inlieu of crores of rupees.

“We have reports that any-where between Rs 5 and Rs 15lakh were accepted for Group Dand Group C and teachers’posts. According to Group Demployees who had earlier lostjobs following the order of thesingle Judge Bench “not only theTrinamool Congress but alsosome turncoat leaders fromEast Midnapore who are now inthe BJP had also accepted cashfor appointment…”

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Awoman was tied to a poleat a market place at Jowai

in Meghalaya and heckled foralleged pickpocketing prompt-ing police to initiate actionagainst those involved, officialssaid on Friday.

An undated video of theincident went viral on thesocial media on Friday.

It showed the woman beingtaken to a shed by unknownpeople during the daytime,asked questions and then beingtied to a pole amidst jeering byonlookers.

Children, young peopleand women present at the spot

were seen making fun of her. Her shawl and her bag,

which she was seen carrying tothe shed, could not be viewedin the video when she wasbeing tied to the pole or after-wards. A senior police officialtold PTI, “An officer and a teamfrom the women police stationin the area have been sent toinvestigate the matter. All thepeople seen in the video will becalled for questioning.”

He said, “Perpetrators willbe dealt with in accordancewith the law".

Meghalaya Police, whichwas tagged along with ChiefMinister Conrad K Sangma,said on Twitter, “Action has

been taken by @Jowai_Police inthis regard.” Details were, how-ever, not given.

The person who posted theimage of the woman tied to thepole said that the superinten-dent of police of West JaintiaHills district had beeninformed of the matter onThursday.

“I hope the perpetrators aredealt with and the woman issafe and rehabilitated,” he saidin his post. Women's rightsactivist Agnes Kharshiing con-demned the incident.

“We demand immediatearrest of all those involved intorturing the woman,” she toldPTI.

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Officials of the CentralGoods and Services Tax

(CGST) have busted racketinvolved in generating fakeinput tax credit worth Rs 8crore and arrested the propri-etor of a firm dealing in trad-ing of construction material, anofficial said on Friday.

Acting on a specific input,the anti-evasion wing of theCGST Thane Commissionerateinitiated an investigationagainst J.J. Lime Depot, whichdeals in trading of constructionmaterial, he said.

The probe revealed that thefirm had fraudulently claimedinput tax credit of Rs 8.05

crore and had also issued bogusinvoices of more than Rs 40crore for passing on of this taxcredit, without any supply ofgoods, in gross violation of pro-visions of the CGST Act, 2017,the official said.

In his statement, recordedduring the investigation, theproprietor of the firm admittedthat he had issued fake invoic-es to many Mumbai-basedinfrastructure companies, forcommission, he said.

The firm's proprietor wasarrested on Thursday under theCGST Act, 2017 and has beenremanded to judicial custodyfor 14 days, the official added.

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Uttar Pradesh DirectorGeneral of Police

(Intelligence) Devendra SinghChauhan assumed the addi-tional charge of the State'sDGP on Friday, two days afterMukul Goel was removed fromthe top post. Chauhan is anIPS officer of the 1988-batch.

DGP (Intelligence)Chauhan on Friday assumedthe additional charge of theUttar Pradesh police chief atthe police headquarters here.

He will hold the addition-al charge till the appointmentof a permanent director generalof police (DGP), AdditionalChief Secretary (Home)Awanish Kumar Awasthi hadsaid on Thursday.

Following Goel's removalfrom the post on Wednesday,Additional Director General ofPolice (Law and Order)Prashant Kumar was given theadditional charge of the statepolice chief. The officer hadalso a courtesy meeting withChief Minister Yogi Adityanathduring the day.

"I thank the chief ministerfrom my heart for giving methe opportunity to serve thepublic as the (acting) DGP ofUttar Pradesh Police,” Chauhansaid in tweet on the officialTwitter handle of the UP DGP.

“The UP police will workwith complete integrity andhonesty according to the pri-orities of the government whilemaintaining team spirit like afamily," he added.

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nism is the fourth sibling inthe Abrahamic family of reli-gions and shares their intoler-ance towards any other beliefsystem and like its siblings, hasno hesitation in turning uponits fellow siblings as well.

However, it must beadmitted that it is the Hinduswho have largely been at faultin first allowing the emergenceof a separate entity within thesovereign state of India after1947, and thereafter, notputting forth their point ofview eloquently and convinc-ingly enough. In fact, over thecenturies, they have not react-ed sufficiently for the Muslimsto know how badly they havehurt Hindu sentiments. Infact, more often than not,they have gathered aroundtheir destroyed edifices, weptand beaten their breasts. As aresult, when the Babri struc-ture at Ayodhya was broughtdown by Hindus, they hadsurprised the Muslims for thefirst time in centuries. Beingthe first such incident it couldbe taken as an exception thatproves the rule. Now, withdemands being raised for therestoration of Gyanvapi atVaranasi and the Idgah atMathura, there is amazement,albeit privately, as to what hascome over the Hindus.

Of equal consternation, ifnot greater, are the demands

for changes in the names ofroads named after medievalMuslim conquerors. Whilethere is much stomach-churning and hand-wringing,accompanied by a flurry ofattempts to turn the narra-tives in favour of the “secular-liberal” lobby, hardly anyonehas stopped to think, leavealone acknowledge that theinjuries were first inflicted byMahmud of Ghazni on thefamous Somnath Temple andsoon followed by his attack onthe Keshav Dev Mandir atMathura. Not long thereafter,were the unholy adventuresby Mohammed Ghori whenhe converted three templesinto one mosque at Ajmerand named it “Adhai Din KaJhopra”; the aggression wascompleted in 60 hours andhence the name. Barely a fewyears earlier, he had devastat-ed Kannauj, then consideredthe capital of India.Qutbuddin Aibak’s destruc-tion of 27 Jain temples atDelhi’s Meharauli and con-verting them into a mosquecalled “Quwwat-ul-Islam” orthe “might of Islam” was thenext chapter of deliberatehumiliation inflicted uponthe Hindus.

I suppose the type of sen-timents would differ fromperson to person. Even if weaccept this contention, it was

all supposedly settled with thepartition of the country onthe midnight of August 14,1947, when one-thirds ofHindu were given away toappease the progeny of thosemedieval conquerors, whosepolitical representatives haddeclared in unambiguousterms that they could not co-exist with the Hindus. Butsuch a settlement did notmaterialise and post-inde-pendent India allowed “astate within a state” to existand flourish. When VladimirLenin conquered the RussianEmpire for communism,most of the churches, syna-gogues and mosques wereconverted into municipaloffices, departmental stores orplaces of any other civil pur-pose. In 1973, I happened tovisit the sites of three suchconversions. These changeswere presumably acceptedon the morrow of the RussianRevolution.

Be that as it may, it wouldhave been much better if theHindus had found a sufficient-ly eloquent manner of express-ing their pain, the Muslimscould then have taken the cur-rent changes in their stride.

(The writer is a well-known columnist, anauthor and a former memberof the Rajya Sabha. The viewsexpressed are personal.)

��������� �����Sir—The killing of Al Jazeera journalistShireen Abu Akleh by the Israeli forces ina raid in Jenin in the occupied West Bankwas tragic. Documenting life under occu-pation was her sole crime. It was what ledto her targeted killing by the Israeli forces.The 51-year-old brave journalist did her jobin a place where her life was susceptible todanger. But undeterred by the prospect ofbeing killed, she discharged her duties. Shewas the epitome of a passionate and bravejournalist. She sympathised with thePalestinian cause.

She reflected in her work the pain andsuffering of the Palestinians living in occu-pied areas. She was affectionately called “adaughter of Palestine”. She keenly observedthe Israeli-Palestinian conflict; she chose tobe on the frontlines and at flashpoints totell the story – the Story of the stories of thePalestinians. Her face is familiar to all thosewho follow the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.Her unique way of telling the story won hermany admirers. Her voice conveyed thestrength of her feeling when she reportedthe systematic and structural oppressionand repression of the Palestinians on a dailybasis by the right-wing Israeli regime. TheIsraeli military stilled her voice, but her mar-tyrdom will inspire all those who cherishfreedom and justice.

G David Milton | Kanyakumari

������������ �������Sir— The retail inflation shoots up to a 95-month high in April, paving the way formore policy rate hikes by the central bank.Inflation has remained above the centralbank’s upper tolerance limit for four con-secutive months. The data released by theNational Statistical Office showed thefood inflation rate in April soared to 8.38per cent as prices of edible oils and vegeta-bles shot up by 17.3 per cent and 15.4 percent, respectively.

Fuel inflation also breached the dou-ble-digit mark at 10.8 per cent in April dueto rising retail prices of petrol, diesel, andcooking gas even as crude oil prices soft-ened from March. The second roundimpact of higher energy prices has become

visible with transport and communicationprices rising in double digits by 10.9 percent. The services sector inflation rate roseto a 115-month high at 8.03 per cent ashousehold goods and services (7.79 percent) and personal care (8.62 per cent)inched up. With this there is very heavy bur-den on the common people who are strug-gling for survival and the country is head-ing for a disastrous situation.

Bhagwan Thadani | Mumbai

������ ���� ����Sir—Recently, in Russia's neighbouringcountry Finland, a referendum was heldregarding joining the NATO. About 62 percent of people had given their consent tojoin the NATO. However, it is noteworthythat just before the Russian invasion ofUkraine, most people in Finland wanted toremain neutral. However, seeing the con-dition of the people of Ukraine, they felt thatjoining the NATO bloc would securetheir 13,00 kilometres border with Russia.Moreover, till 1917 Finland was a division

of Russia. Therefore, the vultures of Russiamay also have an eye on them. NATOSecretary-General Jens Stoltenberg hassaid he expects the membership process forSweden and Finland to be "quite quickly".

Jang Bahadur Singh | Jamshedpur

������ ���� � ����Sir—It is gut-wrenching to read the splitjudgment on marital rape by the Delhi HighCourt where one judge said it is not a crimeas the existing law. A husband has no rightto force himself on his wife. A rape is a rape,there is no exception.

The act of rape itself destroys the insti-tution of marriage. It was expected that boththe justices should have declared maritalrape as a crime. However, the only graceis that both the judges have allowed the par-ties to move the Supreme Court againsttheir split verdict on marital rape.

Vishal Mayur | Tumkur

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Afew people know whatSir Arnold Toynbeetold his Indian audi-ence when he came to

address them to commemorateMaulana Abul Kalam Azad.Toynbee had come at JawaharlalNehru’s special invitation in theearly 1960s. Arnold Toynbeesaid: “In the course of the firstRussian occupation of Warsaw,the Russians had built an EasternCathedral in the city that hadbeen the capital of the once inde-pendent Roman Catholic coun-try Poland. The Russians haddone this to give the Poles a con-tinuous ocular demonstrationthat the Russians were now themasters. After the re-establish-ment of Poland’s independencein 1918, the Poles pulled thiscathedral down. I do not blamethe Polish Government for hav-ing pulled down the Russianchurch. The purpose for whichthe Russians had built it had beennot religious but political, and thepurpose had also been intention-ally offensive.”

In the Abrahamic religioustradition, a church or mosque isa prayer hall. It is not unusual fora parish in Europe to sell formoney a church; say, for the rea-son it does not attract an ade-quate number of worshippers onSundays. I was present inEngland when such a sale wasmade in Leicester and the sold-off place was brought down to bereplaced with a temple. In WestAsia, including Saudi Arabia,mosques are brought down tostraighten or widen highways. Bysharp contrast, in the Hindubelief, a temple is the residenceof the divine. Therefore, it is veryimpious to meddle with its struc-ture. Contrast a prayer hall witha residence of God, and onewould know how deeply theHindu sentiment has been hurtfor centuries by the demolitionof temples by Islamic invadersand conquerors from West andCentral Asia; it is almost impos-sible for an Abrahamic person toimagine the extent of the psycho-logical injury thus caused.

Quite to the contrary, whenthe communists came to powerin Russia in 1917, they wentabout targeting all places of wor-ship. This is no surprise; commu-

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as ‘sustainable’ when it ‘meets theneeds of the present without com-promising the ability of future gen-erations to meet their own needs’.There are three pillars of sustainabil-ity - environment, society andeconomy. Environmental sustain-ability is the most familiar conceptwhich emphasizes on not overusingnatural resources and focus ontheir sustainable management.Global actions are required to pro-tect natural ecosystems and biodi-versity, for ensuring clean water andair. Social sustainability has theobjective to ensure that everyone hasaccess to basic necessities like,clean, water, adequate food, health-care, shelter, and human rights. Italso means setting policies toencourage fair policies at workplaceso that there is no exploitation anddiscrimination. Economic sustain-ability has been defined as practicesthat support long-term economicgrowth without negatively impact-ing social, environmental and cul-tural aspects of the community.Multi-level collaboration is requiredto achieve sustainability and addressinterconnected problems by balanc-ing the needs of economic growthand resource conservation equally.We all should all take steps to incor-porate sustainability into everyaspect of our life. Our willingnessto think and act differently byputting economic development andenvironment on equal footing ascentral parts of the same equationwill help us resolve glaring problemslike, air pollution, food shortage andfood scarcity.

Entities can have positiveimpact on society and the economyby improving their sustainabilityperformance. Sustainability

Reporting is gaining momentumyear on year due to stakeholder’sever-rising demands for more trans-parent and better communicationregarding their sustainability prac-tices, initiatives and performance.Much like their global counterparts,Indian corporates too are leaningtowards the reporting frameworksto demonstrate their ability to cre-ate, preserve and grow value for adiverse stakeholder base.

The Institute of CharteredAccountants of India (ICAI) has astrong tradition of service to thecountry towards sustainable as wellas economic development. ICAIthrough Sustainability ReportingStandards Board (SRSB), has takenseveral initiatives in the sustainabil-ity domain and is working tostrengthen the sustainability report-ing ecosystem in the country.Witha view to strengthen sustainabilityreporting ecosystem in the country,important publications like,Background Material on BusinessResponsibility and SustainabilityReporting (BRSR) and Standard onAssurance Engagements (SAE) 3410“Assurance Engagements onGreenhouse Gas Statements” havebeen released. SustainabilityReporting Maturity Model (SRMM)Version 1.0, a comprehensive scor-ing tool, has been developedtomeasure their sustainability perfor-mance in terms of four levels ofmaturity of sustainability reportingnamely Level 1 to Level 4.Publication on “SustainableDevelopment Goals (SDGs) -Accountants Creating SustainableWorld - Part 1, 2 and 3” has beendeveloped to encourage all stake-holders to contribute towards theattainment of SDGs. ICAI

Sustainability Reporting Awards2020-21 and ICAI SustainabilityReporting Awards 2020-21 arebeing conducted to recognize,reward and encourage Excellence ofBusinesses in SustainabilityReporting and bring to light theiroutstanding contribution to the2030 Agenda for SustainableDevelopment. Capacity buildingof the chartered accountants in thisemerging area is being done by con-ducting online Certificate onBusiness Responsibility andSustainability Reporting. Awarenessinitiatives like, Carbon FootprintChallenge, ICAI SustainabilityLiteracy Drive, Corporate film onSimple Steps to make our PlanetSustainable, Champions of SDGsand SDG Videos have also beenundertaken.Contributing to theinitiatives of SEBI to create anecosystem via Social StockExchanges, ICAI is in the process ofdeveloping Social Audit Standardsand working on CertificationCourse for Social Auditors.

ICAI is partnering with stake-holders, government, regulators,and others to help maximize con-tribution to SDGs and also collab-orating with international bodies inadvancing sustainability agenda.ICAI also welcomes the announce-ment of formation of newInternational SustainabilityStandards Board (ISSB) by theIFRS Foundation (IFRSF) andextends full support towards conver-gence to a single set of sustainabil-ity reporting standards. New initia-tives have been planned in the areaof Sustainable Finance, GreenBonds, ESG rating and Climaterelated Financial Disclosures. ESGTalk show, sustainability awarenessquiz, training program for boardmembers on ESG, tree plantationdrive are other initiatives in pipeline.All these initiatives are focusedtowards promoting sustainableorganizations that create long-termvalue for investors and society.

A sustainable future requiresthat homo sapiens live within plan-etary boundaries in harmony withnature. Governments and policy-makers should work together toenhance national implementationand strengthen institutions toachieve the SustainableDevelopment Goals by the targetdate of 2030, leaving no one behind.As individuals, we all should con-tribute in addressing this global cri-sis by changing our mindset andhabits and adopting sustainablechoices in our day-to-day life. Ahealthy planet will thrive and nurture happy and safe survival forpresent and future generations.

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(The writer is a C.A. and Chairman,

Sustainability ReportingStandards Board.

The views expressed are personal.)

The importance of start-ups in an economy can-not be undermined as

they are technological revolu-tionaries, disruptors and cre-ators. They create new indus-tries, provide jobs, increaseincome levels, improve qualityof life and play a critical role inthe changing the image of anation. With as many as 50,000startups, of which a significantincrease is from tier-II andtier-III cities like Kochi,Ahmedabad and Pune, India isnow considered world’s 3rdlargest ecosystem, accordingto Startup India portal.

However, failure is theother side of Startup industry.In a study conducted by OxfordEconomics and IBM’s Instituteof Business Value, it was foundthat 90% of India’s startups faildue to lack of innovation. In

fact, according to KPMGreport, in 2020, revenue ofatleast 30 percent of Indian star-tups declined by about 80 per-cent, whereas 70 percent ofthem had the probability ofrunning for the next threemonths only.

Apart from business envi-ronment created by govern-ment and a robust banking net-work, a strong venture capitalindustry is one of the crucialrequirements to develop suc-cessful startups. Overall, thesuccess of start-ups is a collab-orative effort of both entrepre-neurs and venture capitalists.

Venture capitalists work ina highly competitive environ-ment and yet typically generatea mediocre return. Add to thisthe high failure rate of entrepre-neurs, a better working strate-gy is a critical need of the hour

for venture capitalists. The typeof financing provided by ven-ture capitalists is unique andvery different from that provid-ed by private equity funds orcommercial banks. These orga-nizations provide funds in theform of corporate lending tofirms that are established andhave a proven track record ofoperations and profitability.On the other hand, venture cap-italists provide funding to new,

high risk, technology-orientedcompanies that operate in a fastand volatile environment withconstantly changing paradigms.They work with entrepreneurswith an idea but fairly lessexperience about implementingthe idea, identifying and puttingtogether a competent team anddeveloping the customer base.The lack of experience and anestablished record of perfor-mance of startups make invest-ments in them extremely riskyand uncertain. According toHarvard Business School’sentrepreneurship professorShikhar Ghosh, about three-quarters of startups backed byventure capitalists are not suc-cessful enough to return cash totheir investors. Therefore, therole of venture capitals has to bemuch more than selecting agood business and provide

funding and should extend tovalue-creation. In addition toproviding strategic direction,most venture capitalists arealready extending their supportto various functional aspects ofstart-ups. Firstly, venture capi-talists help in team building instart-ups by identifying andrecruiting appropriate talent,which is the most importantasset of a start-up. Secondly,providing support to theadministrative activities likeaccounting, legal and otherroutine organizational respon-sibilities can free up founders’time which can be further usedfor growing business. Thirdly,venture capitalists help start-upsin building the right skills for allemployees and the leadershipteam. Fourthly, probably themost important, is providingstrategic focus by defining the

target market, underlining thescope of the product or service,identifying the competitiveadvantage and providing appro-priate strategic direction.Additionally, support to build-ing a customer base is an essen-tial encouragement. And last-ly, the most important aspect ofventure capitalist and entrepre-neur relation is access to its net-work. Venture capitalists alsoprovide performance metrics tostartups to monitor, measureand report their performance attheir early stage.

So, on what basis should aventure capital fund decide theextent of its involvement in astartup - at a very basic level, theparticipation is only financial;the next level is mentorship andguidance; and the advancedlevel is operational. The deci-sion is ought to be made by ana-

lyzing its assets and resources.The most common and impor-tant resource of a VC is cashthat represents the absoluteamount of funds available. If thecash resources are strong, VCswould invest in an administra-tive function that would addvalue to a startup, and in casethe cash resources are notstrong, VCs can introduce thestartups to their network whichcan meaningfully assist them.Brand resources are also veryimportant for a VC which canbe evaluated by the frequencyof their citing in print, electron-ic and social media. Networkresources are perhaps the mostcrucial of all contributionstowards the growth of startups.Introductions to members ofpersonal networks can helpstartups in either time-savingsor cost-savings or both.

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(The writer is AssociateProfessor at Amity

University, Noida. The viewsexpressed are personal.)

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��-���=�.>� Mankind is facing the greatestthreat of climate emergencywhich is being termed as“Code red for humanity”.

Industrialization, urbanization andincreasing population has led to unprece-dented crisis catalysed by over exploitationof natural resources, and their contamina-tion with toxic chemicals and pollutants.There are far-reaching impacts of ever-increasing greenhouse gases on our plan-et. According to estimates of variousagencies like, Organization for EconomicCooperation and Development (OECD)this will result in rise of earth temperatureby 02 °C by 2050.

Global warming is giving rise to nat-ural calamities like, flood, drought, melt-ing of glaciers, etc. As per a UnitedNations report the human-caused rate ofextinction of species of both plants and ani-mals at present is hundreds of times high-er than the natural rate in the past and asthe situation is turning out it can be thou-sands of times higher in near future. Acrossthe world, people are facing challenge ofavailability of potable water, pure air tobreathe and also ever an alarming problemof land degradation.

“The Global Risks Report 2022” issuedby World Economic Forum states that overa 10-year horizon, the health of the planetdominates concerns: environmental risksare perceived to be the five most criticallong-term threats to the world as well as themost potentially damaging to people andplanet, with “climate action failure”, “extremeweather”, and “biodiversity loss” ranking asthe top three most severe risks. Human-induced climate change is causing danger-ous and widespread disruption in natureand affecting the lives of billions of peoplearound the world, despite efforts to reducethe risks. People and ecosystems least ableto cope are being hardest hit.Non-degrad-able wastes being generated is increasingevery minute and are the cause of conta-mination of natural resources and also caus-ing harm to the humans. As per a recentreport, a mass of plastic waste named as“Great Pacific Garbage Patch” approximate-ly 1.6 million km in size, twice the size ofTexas, is floating on the surface of PacificOcean.

This alarming situation is the majorattention area and it is the need of thehour that Governments and non-govern-ment organizations involving individuals,communities, countries, and the globe aswhole, aligns themselves with the basicprinciples of ‘sustainability’. Human soci-ety and economy are thriving on nature,and only harmonious existence will allowHomo sapiens to persist and thrive on this planet.

Sustainability emphasizes the need forsociety to conserve resources, protect nat-ural ecosystems, minimize pollution andpromote social equity. In 1987 the WorldCommission on Environment andDevelopment, also popularly known as theBrundtland Report, defined development

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India has said that it is exploring optionsto minimise the impact on the education

of Indian students in Ukrainian universities,as several of them, mostly studying at med-ical colleges, were worried about theirfuture after fleeing the war-torn EastEuropean country.

India's Deputy PermanentRepresentative at the UN Ambassador RRavindra, during a briefing on the human-

itarian situation in Ukraine at the UNSecurity Council, said the impact of the sit-uation on the education of children has beensevere and further aggravated the pandemic-related challenges that children were alreadyfacing.

He said that the situation hasaffected foreign students, including thosefrom India. India facilitated the safe returnof about 22,500 Indians, mostly students,from Ukraine after Russia launched a largescale military aggression against it.

"We are exploring options tominimise the impact on our students' edu-cation. We appreciate the relaxations madeby the Ukrainian Government for this aca-demic year in respect of medical students,"Ravindra said. Ravindra reiteratedthat India supports calls for guarantees ofsafe passage to deliver essential humani-tarian corridors. He also noted that the foodsecurity challenges emanating from the con-flict "requires us to respond by goingbeyond constraints that bind us presently.

�� 9B�C

The trial of a Russian sol-dier accused of killing aUkrainian civilian

opened Friday, the first warcrimes trial since Moscow'sinvasion of its neighbour.

Scores of journalistspacked inside a small court-room in the Ukrainian capitalwhere the suspect appeared ina small glass cage for the startof a trial that has drawn inter-national attention amid accu-sations of repeated atrocities byRussian forces.

Vadim Shyshimarin, 21, isaccused of shooting a 62-year-old Ukrainian man in the headin the northeastern village ofChupakhivka. He could getup to life in prison.

The killing occurred inthe early days of the war, whenRussian tanks advancing onKyiv were unexpectedly routedand tank crew retreated.

Shyshimarin, a member ofa tank unit that was capturedby Ukrainian forces, admittedthat he shot the civilian in avideo posted by the SecurityService of Ukraine.

"I was ordered to shoot,"said Shyshimarin, of the killingon Feb. 28. "I shot one (round)

at him. He falls. And we kepton going."

Shyshimarin's video state-ment is "one of the first con-fessions of the enemy invaders,"according to the Ukrainiansecurity service.

The trial comes as Russia'scampaign to take Ukraine'seast slowly grinds on - but itsinvasion has resulted in wide-spread repercussions beyondthe battlefield.

Two and a half monthsafter Russia's invasion ofUkraine sent a shiver of fearthrough Moscow's neighbors,Finland's president and primeminister announced Thursdaythat the Nordic country shouldapply right away for member-ship in NATO, the militarydefense pact founded in part tocounter the Soviet Union.

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Ukrainian PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskyy says

that he's ready to talk withRussian President VladimirPutin and that "we must find anagreement,'' but with no ulti-matum as a condition.

Zelenskyy also told ItalianRAI state TV in an interviewscheduled to be broadcast onThursday night that Ukrainewill never recognize Crimea aspart of Russia, which annexed

that part of southern Ukrainein 2014.

"Crimea has always had itsautonomy, it has its parlia-ment, but on the inside ofUkraine," Zelenskyy said, inexcerpts of the interview thatRAI released earlier onThursday.

The interviewer asked theUkrainian leader about a com-ment by French PresidentEmmanuel Macron cautioningagainst any humiliation ofPutin.

"We want the Russian armyto leave our land, we aren't onRussian soil, ' ' Zelenskyyreplied. "We won't save Putin'sface by paying with our terri-tory. That would be unjust."

In another comment,Zelenskyy sounded a forward-looking note. "We have to thinkof the future of Russia. I, aspresident of Ukraine, say theseare our neighbors. There will beother presidents, other presi-dents and other generations" ofRussia, Zelenskyy said.

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The war in Ukraine is a"child rights crisis" where

education is under attack, near-ly 100 youngsters have beenkilled in just the last month,and millions more have beenforced to flee their homes, theUN children's agency saidThursday.

Omar Abdi, deputy execu-tive director of UNICEF, toldthe UN Security Council thatchildren are paying "an uncon-scionably high price" in thewar, with 239 confirmed killedand 355 wounded sinceRussia's invasion of Ukraine onFebrurary 24. He said the actu-al numbers are much higher.

"These attacks must stop,"he said. "Ultimately, childrenneed an end to this war -- theirfutures hang in the balance."

Abdi said the school yearcame to a standstill after Russiainvaded its smaller neighbour,and as of last week, at least 15of 89 UNICEF-supportedschools in the country's easthad been damaged ordestroyed in the fighting.

"Hundreds of schoolsacross the country are report-ed to have been hit by heavyartillery, airstrikes and otherexplosive weapons in populat-

ed areas, while other schoolsare being used as informationcentres, shelters, supply hubs orfor military purposes -- withlong-term impact on children'sreturn to education," Abdi said.

In mid-March, over 15,000schools resumed education inUkraine, mostly throughremote learning or in-personhybrid options, he said. "It isestimated that 3.7 million (37lakh) children in Ukraine andabroad are using online anddistance learning options," hesaid.But, Abdi said "enormousobstacles" to education remain,including school availability,resources, language barriersand movement of children andtheir families. Less than five percent of refugee pre-school chil-dren are estimated to beenrolled in public kinder-

gartens, he said.Abdi and many council

members spoke about what hecalled a "horrifying attack" ona school in the easternUkrainian town of Bilohorivkalast weekend, when a bomb hitwhile women and childrensheltered in the building.

US deputy ambassadorRichard Mills said the blastkilled as many as 60 people,many of them children. "Andreliable reports indicate thatwhen first responders arrivedat the school to assist victims ofthe bombing, Russia's forcesopened fire on them," headded.

Ukraine's UN ambassador,Sergiy Kyslytsya, said only 30civilians were rescued and theschool that had once beenfilled with joyful children "wasturned by a Russian pilot intoanother mass grave".

British AmbassadorBarbara Woodward said thereis evidence "that Russia is com-mitting four of the SecurityCouncil's six grave violationsagainst children in times ofwar" -- violations listed in a1999 council resolution thatcondemned the targeting ofchildren in conflict as well asrecruiting and using children assoldiers.

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The United States continuesto be in close touch with

India about its efforts to rallythe world to stand up againstRussian aggression, the WhiteHouse said on Thursday.

"We continue to remainin close touch with Indiaabout our efforts to rally theworld to stand up againstRussian aggression. Thatmeans implementing andabiding by sanctions that havebeen put in place," WhiteHouse Press Secretary JenPsaki told reporters at herdaily news conference.

US Deputy Security

Advisor Dileep Singh recent-ly took a trip to India to havea conversation about that,she said.

"We continue to encour-age countries to speak outabout Russian aggression.And obviously on COVID-19,we have been an importantpartner with India in provid-ing supply and vaccines in

their times of need over thecourse of the last 15 monthsand certainly will continue towork with them on that,"Psaki said in response to aquestion.

Responding to anotherquestion, Psaki said she is surePresident Biden would trav-el to two Quad countries --India and Australia -- in thefuture. Biden is scheduled totravel to Japan and SouthKorea later this month.

"I am sure he will, in thefuture. But we have two for-eign trips we are still trying tofinalise at this point. And soI do not have any predictionsabout when," Psaki said.

�� 9B�C

Finland's leaders Thursdaycame out in favour of apply-

ing to join NATO, and Swedencould do the same within days,in a historic realignment on thecontinent two-and-a-halfmonths after Russian PresidentVladimir Putin's invasion ofUkraine sent a shiver of fearthrough Moscow's neighbours.

The Kremlin reacted bywarning it will be forced to takeretaliatory "military-technical"steps. On the ground, mean-while, Russian forces poundedareas in central, northern andeastern Ukraine, including the

last pocket of resistance inMariupol, as part its offensive totake the industrial Donbasregion, while Ukraine recap-tured some towns and villages inthe northeast.

The first war-crimes trial ofa Russian soldier since the start

of the conflict is set to openFriday in Kyiv. A 21-year-oldcaptured member of a tank unitis accused of shooting to deatha civilian on a bicycle during theopening week of the war.

Finland's president andprime minister announced thatthe Nordic country should applyright away for membership inNATO, the military defencepact founded in part to counterthe Soviet Union. "You (Russia)caused this. Look in the mirror,"Finnish President Sauli Niinistosaid this week. While the coun-try's Parliament still has toweigh in, the announcementmeans Finland is all but certain

to apply -- and gain admission-- though the process could takemonths to complete. Sweden,likewise, is considering puttingitself under NATO's protection.

That would represent amajor change in Europe's secu-rity landscape: Sweden hasavoided military alliances formore than 200 years, whileFinland adopted neutrality afterits defeat by the Soviets inWorld War II. Public opinion inboth nations shifted dramati-cally in favour of NATO mem-bership after the invasion, whichstirred fears in countries alongRussia's flank that they could benext.

�� 9B�C

Russia lost significant numbers of troops and impor-tant equipment when Ukrainian forces thwarted

their attempt to cross a river in the east, British offi-cials said Friday, another sign of Moscow's struggle towin decisive victories and salvage a war gone awry.

Ukrainian authorities, meanwhile, openedthe first war crimes trial of the conflict, in proceed-ings that will be closely watched by internationalobservers eager to ensure atrocities are fairly prosecuted.A Russian soldier stands accused of killing a Ukrainiancivilian in the early days of the war.

The trial gets underway as Russia's campaignin Ukraine's eastern industrial heartland of the Donbasmakes faltering progress.

Ukraine's airborne forces command hasreleased photos of what it said was a damaged Russianpontoon bridge over the Siversky Donets River and sev-eral destroyed or damaged Russian military vehiclesnearby. Ukrainian news reports said troops thwartedRussian passage across the river earlier this week, leav-ing dozens of tanks or military vehicles damaged or forc-ing troops to abandon them.

Britain's Defense Ministry said Friday thatRussia lost “significant” elements of at least one battaliontactical group — about 1,000 troops — as well as equip-ment used to quickly deploy a makeshift floating bridgewhile trying to cross the river.

“Conducting river crossings in a contestedenvironment is a highly risky maneuver and speaks tothe pressure the Russian commanders are under to makeprogress in their operations in eastern Ukraine,” theministry said in its daily intelligence update. They havestruggled to do so, even after diverting troops from otherparts of the country to the Donbas, the statement said.

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Moldova's foreign minister says the smalleastern European country is on alert for

any signs the conflict in neighboring Ukrainecould spill across the border.

Foreign Minister Nicu Popescu toldreporters Friday on the sidelines of a G-7 for-eign ministers' meeting in Germany that "thesituation is of course fragile, but it is nonethe-less relatively calm. We do not face an acutemilitary crisis today." At the same time the gov-ernment has been preparing for "the full spec-trum of options," he said. "Our interiorministry, defense ministry, intelligence servicesare on high alert," Popescu said, citing the pres-ence of Russian troops in the separatistMoldovan region of Transnistria.

Transnistria is a disputed, Russian-backed breakaway state that borders south-western Ukraine. Popescu said theMoldovan government was in regular contactwith the de facto authorities in Transnistria"because we all have a commitment and anobligation and a duty to keep peace in the entireMoldova, which includes the Transnistrianregion."

�� �����

Natural gas prices roseFriday after Russian state-

owned exporter Gazprom saidit would no longer send sup-plies to Europe via a pipeline inPoland, citing new sanctionsthat Moscow imposed onEuropean energy companies.The move doesn't immediate-ly block large amounts of nat-ural gas to Europe but intensi-fies fears that the war inUkraine will lead to wide-rang-ing cutoffs.

Gazprom said Thursdaythat it would ban the use of theYamal pipeline that reachesGermany through Poland.While that cuts off a supplyroute to Europe, the pipeline'sentry point to Germany has notbeen used in recent months.Plus, Gazprom has already cutoff gas to Poland for refusing tomeet Moscow's demand tomake payments in rubles.

"A ban is in place on mak-ing transactions with and pay-ments to persons under sanc-tions. In particular, forGazprom, this means a ban onthe use of a gas pipeline ownedby (the Polish company)EuRoPol GAZ to transportRussian gas through Poland,"Gazprom representative SergeyKupriyanov wrote in aTelegram post.

The fear is that gas disputesand cutoffs will keep escalatingamid the war in Ukraine. Lastmonth, Gazprom said it hadcompletely cut off natural gassupplies to Poland and Bulgariaover the rubles dispute.

On Tuesday, Ukraine'spipeline operator shut down apipeline that carries gas fromRussia to Europe, sayingRussian forces were interferingwith a compressor station inRussian-held territory anddiverting gas. It asked Gazprom

to move gas through anotherpipeline, which the companysaid it could not do. By itself, theshutdown was not expected tocut off major amounts of gas.

Energy tensions ramped upwhen Russia imposed sanctionsWednesday on GazpromGermania, a subsidiary of theRussian supplier that the Germangovernment took control of inApril.

German Vice ChancellorRobert Habeck said the loss ofgas from the Russian moves was"manageable" at around 10 mil-lion cubic meters per day andcould be made up from othersources.

The actions further roiledvolatile energy markets. Naturalgas traded Friday at 104 euros permegawatt hour, up from 94 eurosbefore the announcements.

"Moscow has fired a secondvolley of gas disruption atEurope, causing fresh uncer-tainty and spiking prices," saidKaushal Ramesh, senior analystat Rystad Energy.

European utilities and gov-ernments have scrambled torefill underground gas storagethat was depleted over the win-ter and have made enoughprogress to cover gas needs forthe year without Russian sup-plies. But they would face dif-ficulty in getting through theend of the upcoming winterwithout rationing. High natur-al gas prices have led to higherbills for home heating and elec-tricity generated by the fuel.

European governments aretrying to get off Russian ener-gy and the EU's executive com-mission has proposed mea-sures to reduce imports fromRussia by two-thirds by yearend. It remains to be seen if thatcan be achieved.

Before the war, Europe got40% of its natural gas and 25%of its oil from Russia.

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India abstained in the UN HumanRights Council on a resolution on

the deteriorating human rights situ-ation in Ukraine stemming from theRussian aggression, in which theCouncil reiterated its demand for animmediate cessation of military hos-tilities.

The Geneva-based Council onThursday closed its 34th special ses-sion after adopting the resolution. Theresolution was adopted by a vote of 33in favour, China and Eritrea votingagainst and 12 abstentions, includingIndia, Armenia, Bolivia, Cameroon,Cuba, Kazakhstan, Namibia, Pakistan,Senegal, Sudan, Uzbekistan andVenezuela.

Since January this year, India hasabstained on procedural votes anddraft resolutions in the UN SecurityCouncil, the General Assembly andthe Human Rights Council that

deplored Russian aggression againstUkraine.India's PermanentRepresentative to the UN and otherInternational Organisations inGeneva, Ambassador Indra ManiPandey, at the session said that India'sposition on the Ukraine conflict hasbeen steadfast and consistent.

"We remain deeply concerned atthe unfolding developments inUkraine. We have constantly called forimmediate cessation of violence andan urgent end to hostilities," he said,adding that Prime Minister NarendraModi has reiterated this in his inter-actions with global leaders, includingthe leaderships of Russia and Ukraine."India continues to believe that pur-suing the path of dialogue and diplo-macy is the only way out," he said.

In the resolution as orally revised,the Human Rights Council reiterat-ed its demand for an immediate ces-sation of military hostilities againstUkraine, to refrain from any human

rights violations and abuses in thecountry, refrain from any State-spon-sored disinformation, propagandafor war or advocacy of national,racial or religious hatred that consti-tutes incitement to discrimination,hostility or violence, related to theaggression against Ukraine.

The Council also requested theCommission of Inquiry to conduct aninquiry, consistent with its mandateand international standards, and incoordination with other national andinternational mechanisms, to addressthe events in the areas of Kyiv,Chernihiv, Kharkiv and Sumy regionsin late February and March 2022,including their gender dimension,with a view to hold to account thoseresponsible.

Pandey said that the impact of theUkraine situation is being felt beyondthe region as oil prices are skyrock-eting, there is shortage of food grainsand fertilisers in the world.

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Helsinki: Turkish PresidentRecep Tayyip Erdogan onFriday said his country is "notfavourable" toward Finlandand Sweden joining NATO,indicating that Turkey coulduse its status as a member of

the Western military alliance toveto moves to admit the twocountries. "We are followingdevelopments concerningSweden and Finland carefully,but we are not of a favourableopinion," Erdogan told

reporters. The Turkish leaderexplained his opposition by cit-ing Sweden and otherScandinavian countries' allegedsupport for Kurdish militantsand others whom Turkey con-siders to be terrorists. AP

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The UK Government onFriday added further

names to its list of financialsanctions aimed at RussianPresident Vladimir Putin,including his former wife anda retired gymnast allegedly ina relationship with him, inreaction to the ongoing con-flict with Ukraine.

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Most of the Opposition par-ties in Sri Lanka on Fridayannounced that they would

not become a part of Prime MinisterRanil Wickremesinghe's interimgovernment but would support itseconomic policies from outside tohelp the debt-ridden island nation'searly recovery.

The 73-year-old UnitedNational Party (UNP) leader wasappointed as Sri Lanka's 26th primeminister on Thursday as the coun-

try was without a government sinceMonday when President GotabayaRajapaksa's elder brother and primeminister Mahinda Rajapaksaresigned after violence erupted fol-lowing an attack on the anti-gov-ernment protesters by his support-ers. The attack triggered wide-spread violence against Rajapaksaloyalists, leaving nine people deadand wounding over 200 others.

"We cannot become a part ofthis Rajapaksa-Wickremesinghegovernment," Wimal Weerawansa,a legislator for the independentgroup from President GotabayaRajapaksa's SLPP said.

Former President MaithripalaSirisena's SLFP central committeehas also decided not to be part of thegovernment.

The Marxist Janatha VimukthiPeramuna (JVP) said they wouldalso not be part of the government

while the main Opposition SamagiJana Balavegaya (SJB) said UnitedNational Party (UNP) leader

Wickremesinghe has no legitimacyas he was not even elected in the2020 parliamentary election.

SJB general secretary RanjithMadduma Bandara said the partywould not accept ministerial posi-tions and called forWickremesinghe's resignation.

JVP leader Anura KumaraDissanayake said the decision takenby President Gotabaya Rajapaksa toappoint Wickremesinghe as PrimeMinister, is one that was madewith zero regard to the voice of thepeople. The JVP leader ridiculed thedecision, saying the appointmenthas no legitimacy and has no demo-cratic value.

"Wickremesinghe is a personwho held the post of Prime Minister,formed governments, and yet couldnot even win a single seat at the lastGeneral Election. He did not evenhave the required number of votesto enter parliament. If an election isused to measure the consent of thepeople, elections have shown that he

has no mandate, and that is why thepeople sent him packing," he said.

The interim government ideawas mooted by the powerfulBuddhist clergy and civil society asa means to find a solution for theongoing economic crisis. WithMahinda Rajapaksa's resignationon Monday, President GotabayaRajapaksa said he was talking topolitical parties to set up an inter-im government.

Wickremesinghe, who had beensworn in as the prime minister of SriLanka on five occasions before,said his primary task was to tacklethe worst economic crisis withassistance from all parties.

The new prime minister, whohas only his seat in the Parliament,said he commanded a majoritycoming from both sides.

Sri Lanka's worst economic cri-sis has provoked widespread protests

calling for political reform and theresignation of President GotabayaRajapaksa. On April 1, PresidentRajapaksa imposed a state of emer-gency, lifting it five days later. Thegovernment reimposed a state ofemergency on May 6 after policefired teargas and arrested studentsprotesting near parliament, whichwas adjourned until May 17.

Although the protests havebeen overwhelmingly peaceful, thepolice fatally shot a protester onApril 19, and on several occasionshave used teargas and water can-nons against protesters. The author-ities have made numerous arrestsand repeatedly imposed curfews.The political crisis was triggered inlate March when people hurt bylong hours of power cuts and essen-tial shortages took to the streetsdemanding the resignation of thegovernment.

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China, one of the largestcreditors of Sri Lanka, on

Friday reacted warily to theappointment of RanilWickremesinghe as the coun-try's Prime Minister suc-ceeding pro-Beijing MahindaRajapaksa, saying it supportsthe government's efforts tosustain stability in the face ofchaos.

"As a traditional, friend-ly country to Sri Lanka, weclosely follow the latest devel-opments, and we also supportthe Sri Lanka government'seffort to sustain stability,"Chinese Foreign Ministryspokesman Zhao Lijian tolda media briefing here.

He was replying to ques-tions, seeking China's reac-tion to United National Party(UNP) leaderWickramasinghe's appoint-ment considering that he hada history of probing Chineseinvestments and whetherBeijing will offer debt relief toSri Lanka like India.

Zhao reiterated Beijing'searlier call to all politicalparties in Sri Lanka to main-tain solidarity, sustain stabil-ity, and overcome difficultiestogether but gave no indication whether Chinawill step in to help the debt-ridden island nation likeIndia which has committedmore than USD 3 billion inloans, credit l ines and credit swaps since Januarythis year.

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Amissile struck a Syrian mili-tary bus in the country's north

early on Friday, killing 10 soldiers,Syria's state-run media and anopposition monitor said.

It wasn't immediately clearwho was behind the attack, one ofthe deadliest since a truce dealreached more than two years ago.

The official news agencySANA said "terrorists" targeted thebus in the western countryside ofAleppo, in the Anjara area. Ninesoldiers were wounded in theattack, the report said.

There was no claim of respon-sibility. The area is dominated bythe al-Qaida-linked militantgroup, Hayaat Tahrir al-Sham.

The Britain-based SyrianObservatory for Human Rights -

a war-monitoring group with anetwork of activists on the ground- reported the attack but said thatSyrian opposition forces fired themissile and that the 10 killedwere government-allied fighters.

Most of Syria has returned togovernment control after a decadeof war, with the exception of the

opposition-held bastion of Idlib inthe northwest and nearby areas,and the oil-rich northeast, held byUS-backed Syrian Kurdish groups.

The violence has largelytapered off in most of the country,but few among the nearly sixmillion refugees scattered acrossthe globe have returned.

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Several people were injured after a large fightbroke out and shots were fired outside of an

Arkansas convention center where a graduationceremony had taken place, police said.

The shooting happened Thursday night out-side of the Hot Springs Convention Center,which had hosted a graduation ceremony for HotSprings World Class High School, The Sentinel-Record reported.

The fight and subsequent shooting happenedin a parking lot adjacent to the convention cen-ter, said Hot Springs Police Officer First ClassOmar Cervantes. He said "multiple people" wereinjured but did not have an exact number or thenature of their injuries.

The injured were taken to hospitals and theirconditions weren't immediately released. Noarrests have been announced.

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Six people have died and 350,000 have beentreated for a fever that has spread "explo-

sively" across North Korea, state media saidFriday, a day after the country acknowledgeda COVID-19 outbreak for the first time in thepandemic.

North Korea likely doesn't have sufficientCOVID-19 tests and said it didn't know thecause of the mass fevers. But a big coronavirusoutbreak could be devastating in a countrywith a broken health care system and anunvaccinated, malnourished population.

The North's Korean Central News Agencysaid of the 350,000 people who developedfevers since late April, 162,200 have recovered.It said 18,000 people were newly found withfever symptoms on Thursday alone, and187,800 are being isolated for treatment.

One of the six people who died wasinfected with the omicron variant, KCNAsaid. But it wasn't immediately clear howmany of the total illnesses were COVID-19.

North Korea imposed a lockdownThursday after acknowledging its firstCOVID-19 cases. Those reports said testsfrom an unspecified number of people cameback positive for the omicron variant.

It's unusual for isolated North Korea toadmit to the outbreak of any infectious dis-ease, let alone one as menacing as COVID-19, as it's intensely proud and sensitive to out-side perception about its self-described"socialist utopia."

While North Korean leader Kim Jong Unhad occasionally been candid about hisworsening economy and other problems, hehad repeatedly expressed confidence aboutpandemic response and wasn't seen wearinga mask in public until Thursday.

State TV showed Kim wearing a mask ashe entered what the broadcast described asthe country's headquarters of its pandemicresponse, which appeared to be Pyongyang'slandmark Koryo Hotel. He took off the maskand smoked a cigarette while talking with offi-cials.

KCNA said Kim criticized officials forfailing to prevent "a vulnerable point in theepidemic prevention system." He said the out-break was centered around the capital,Pyongyang, and stressed all work and resi-dential units should be isolated from oneanother while residents should be providedevery convenience during the lockdown.

"It is the most important challenge andsupreme tasks facing our party to reverse theimmediate public health crisis situation at anearly date, restore the stability of epidemicprevention and protect the health and well-being of our people," KCNA quoted Kim assaying.

The spread of the virus may have beenaccelerated by a massive military parade onApril 25, where Kim gave a speech and show-cased his army and weaponry in front of tensof thousands of people.

Cheong Seong-Chang, an analyst atSouth Korea's Sejong Institute, said the paceof the fever's spread suggests the crisis couldlast months and possibly into 2023, causingmajor disruption in the poorly equippedcountry.

According to the latest figures from theWorld Health Organization, North Koreareported to the U.N. Agency that it tested64,207 people for COVID-19 in 2020 throughMarch 22 this year, a small number that mayindicate insufficient tests for a population of26 million.

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Pakistan's former primeminister Imran Khan

has filed a review petitionin the Supreme Court,challenging the apexcourt's April 7 decision onthe ruling of the thenNational Assembly speak-er on the crucial vote ofno-confidence.

In a major blow toKhan, the Supreme Courthad struck down thenNational AssemblySpeaker Qasim Suri's con-troversial move to dis-miss a no-confidencemotion against the crick-eter-turned-politician.

Suri, who is associat-ed with Khan's PakistanTehreek-e-Insaf party, onApril 3 dismissed the no-confidence motion againstthe ex-premier, claimingthat it was linked with a"foreign conspiracy" totopple the governmentand hence was not main-tainable.

Minutes later,President Arif Alvi dis-solved the NationalAssembly on the advice ofKhan who had effectivelylost the majority.

The Express Tribunenewspaper reported onFriday that in his reviewpetition on Thursday,

Khan pleaded that Article248 of the Constitutionbarred any other institu-tion from interfering inthe affairs of Parliamentand Suri's ruling was inaccordance with Article 5,when he rejected the no-confidence motion.

The review petition,filed through ImtiazSiddiqui and ChaudhryFaisal Hussain, stated thatArticle 248 did not makethe applicant answerablefor exercising any consti-tutional powers before anycourt. It contended thatthe bench had erred toappreciate the provisionsof Articles 66, 67 and 69,

the report said."The Apex Court has

erred to appreciate themandate of theConstitution whichensures that Parliament, aswell as the members/offi-cers thereof, the Presidentas well as the PrimeMinister, are not answer-able in the exercise oftheir functions as well asdiscretionary powersbefore any Court," theplea said.

Also, their dischargeof constitutional obliga-tions could not be calledinto question before anycourt under theConstitution, it added.

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The Biden administration is tak-ing the first steps to release USD

45 billion to ensure that every USresident has access to high-speedinternet by roughly 2028, invitinggovernors and other leaders onFriday to start the applicationprocess.

Commerce Secretary GinaRaimondo is overseeing the distri-bution and said that universal accessto broadband internet would be akinto the electrification of ruralAmerica during the 1930s, a recog-nition that the internet is a utilityneeded for US residents to functionin today's economy. "There's morethan 30 million Americans whodon't have internet," Raimondosaid."And in this day and age with-out high-speed internet, you can't goto school, can't go to the doctor,can't do simple things. Think of howmany times in a day you Googlesomething or go online."

The funding is part of the USD65 billion for broadband in the USD

1 trillion infrastructure packagethat President Joe Biden signedinto law last November.

That bipartisan package is oneof the policy achievements that theDemocratic president is trying tosell to voters ahead of the mid-termelections, though it's unclear howmuch the message will resonatewhen much of the country isfocused on high inflation, culturaldifferences and political identity.

Former President DonaldTrump has dismissed the infra-structure spending as "fake" eventhough the broadband spending wasone of his own priorities.

His Agriculture Departmentsaid in 2020 that it had investedUSD 744 million on rural internetconnectivity, a sum that was mean-ingful yet insufficient.

Raimondo is travelling toDurham, North Carolina. She'llannounce that governors can sendtheir letters of intent to receive thebroadband money, which comesfrom three programmes totallingUSD 45 billion. Each state wouldthen get USD 5 million to help itconsult with residents and write itsplan.The Commerce Departmentrecognises that internet needs varyby state. The money could be usedto lay fibre optic cable, build out Wi-Fi hotspots or even reduce month-ly charges in places where price isthe main challenge.

After the administration'sannouncement on Monday that itwould provide a USD 30 monthlysubsidy to low-income households,Raimondo noted that states coulduse the additional money fromthese programs to make the servicefree to some users.

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Pakistan has ruled outany imminent talks

with India due to theabsence of a proper "envi-ronment" for "a fruitful,constructive dialogue".

The remarks byForeign Office spokesmanAsim Iftikhar came inresponse to questions onties with India during aweekly briefing onThursday.

He was asked abouttalks in the context ofovertures by the new gov-ernment and the appoint-ment of a trade minister inDelhi.

Iftikhar said there wasa national consensus onthis issue and successivegovernments had pursuedthe same policy of seekingpeaceful settlement of dis-putes with India.

"In diplomacy, younever shut the doors," hesaid.

Iftikhar said thatn o t w i t h s t a n d i n gPakis-tan's desire for a

diplomatic resolution ofdisputes, "the environmentfor a fruitful, constructivedialogue is not there".India has repeatedly toldPakistan that it desiresnormal neighbourly rela-tions with Islamabad in anenvironment free of terror,hostility, and violence.India has said the onus ison Pakistan to create anenvironment free of terrorand hostility.

Hopes for the revivalof talks between the twocountries were rekindledafter Pakistan decided toappoint a trade minister atits High Commission inNew Delhi after more than

two years.However, the com-

merce ministry in a state-ment on Thursday ruledout any change in the tradepolicy toward India.

Pakistan PrimeMinister Sharif and hisIndian counterpartNarendra Modi hadexchanged messages afterthe former was elected asthe prime minister to suc-ceed Imran Khan. Soonafter he was elected asPakistan's PrimeMinister, Sharif in hisinaugural speech hadraised the issue of abroga-tion of Article 370 inKashmir.

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Biden admin to release $45bn for nationwide internet

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Scientists have for the first timegrown plants in lunar soil

brought back to Earth by astro-nauts in the Apollo missions, astep towards producing foodand oxygen on the Moon or dur-ing future space missions.

The researchers at theUniversity of Florida (UF) in theUS showed that plants can suc-cessfully sprout and grow inlunar soil.

Their study, published in thejournal CommunicationsBiology, also investigated howplants respond biologically to theMoon's soil, also known as lunarregolith, which is very differentfrom soil found on Earth.

This research comes asNASA's Artemis Program plansto return humans to the Moon.

"Artemis will require a bet-ter understanding of how to

grow plants in space," said RobFerl, one of the study's authorsand a professor at UF Institute ofFood and Agricultural Sciences(UF/IFAS).

"For future, longer spacemissions, we may use the Moonas a hub or launching pad. Itmakes sense that we would wantto use the soil that is alreadythere to grow plants," Ferl said.

The researchers designed asimple experiment: plant seedsin lunar soil, add water, nutrientsand light, and record the results.

They only had 12 grammes-- just a few teaspoons -- of lunarsoil with which to do this exper-iment. On loan from NASA, thissoil was collected during theApollo 11, 12 and 17 missions tothe moon.

The researchers appliedthree times over the course of 11years for a chance to work withthe lunar regolith.

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Elon Musk said on Fridaythat his plan to buyTwitter for $ 44 billion is

“temporarily on hold” as hetries to pinpoint the exactnumber of spam and fakeaccounts on the social mediaplatform, another twist amidsigns of internal turmoil overthe proposed acquisition.

Musk, who has been vocalabout his desire to clean upTwitter's problem with “spambots” that mimic real people,appeared to question whetherthe company was under-reporting them.

In a tweet, the Tesla bil-lionaire linked to a Reutersstory from May 2 about aquarterly report from Twitterthat estimated false or spamaccounts made up fewer thanfive per cent of the company's“monetisable daily active users”in the first quarter.

“Twitter deal is temporari-ly on hold pending details sup-porting calculation thatspam/fake accounts do indeedrepresent less than five per centof users,” Musk said, indicating

he's sceptical that the number ofunauthentic accounts is that low.

It wasn't clear whether theissue could scuttle the deal.Stocks of both Twitter andTesla swung sharply in oppo-site directions, with Twitter'sstock tumbling 18 per cent, andshares of Tesla, which Muskhad proposed using to helpfund the Twitter deal, jumpingfive per cent.

Musk has already sold offmore than USD 8 billion worthof his Tesla shares to finance

the purchase.Wedbush analyst Dan Ives,

who follows both Tesla andTwitter, said Musk's “bizarre”tweet will lead Wall Street toeither think the deal is likelyfalling apart, Musk is attempt-ing to negotiate a lower dealprice, or he is simply walkingaway from the deal with a USD1 billion penalty.

“Many will view this asMusk using this Twitter fil-ing/spam accounts as a way toget out of this deal in a vastlychanging market,” Ives wrote.

He added that the Musk'suse of Twitter rather than afinancial filing to make theannouncement was troublingand “sends this whole dealinto a circus show with manyquestions and no concreteanswers as to the path of thisdeal going forward.”

Investors have had toweigh legal troubles for Musk,as well as the possibility thatacquiring Twitter could be adistraction from running theworld's most valuable auto-maker. PTI

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Members of the WorldTrade Organization

(WTO) will hold intensivenegotiations from May 16-20 inGeneva to resolve contentiousissues related to the proposedglobal deal on curbing harm-ful fishing subsidies, ahead ofthe 12th MinisterialConference (MC12) nextmonth.

The chair of the negotia-tions, Ambassador SantiagoWills of Colombia, has said this'Fish Week' will be an oppor-tunity for members to work onfinalising the draft agreement,according to a WTO statement.

"WTO members on May16-20 will hold intensive nego-tiations aimed at resolvingremaining issues for a globaldeal to curb harmful fishingsubsidies ahead of the MC12next month," it said.

Members are negotiating aproposed fisheries subsidiesagreement. The objective is todiscipline subsidies for sus-tainable fishing and eliminateIUU (Illegal, Unreported andUnregulated) fishing subsidiesand prohibit them from con-tributing to overcapacity andoverfishing.

"MC12 is now scheduled tobegin on June 12 — that is onlyfour weeks away. So now is thetime to end decades of negoti-ations and conclude the WTOfisheries subsidies negotiationsso that the results can be adopt-ed by ministers," the chair saidin a video message.

The 12th ministerial con-ference, the highest decision-making body of the WTO, isscheduled to meet on June 12-15 in Geneva.

"Ultimately, we should notbe negotiating against eachother but against the unrelent-ing depletion of global fishstocks so vital for livelihoods,food security, and a healthy

planet," he said.The contentious issues

which ar yet to be resolvedinclude matters related to spe-cial and differential treatment,and non-specific fuel subsidies.

India has time and againemphasised that it is keen tofinalise an agreement on fish-eries subsidies in the WTO asirrational benefits and over-fishing by many countries arehurting domestic fishermenand their livelihood.

The country wants anequitable and balanced out-come as it provides support toits small and marginal fisher-men who depend on the sectorfor sustenance. PTI

New Delhi: The governmenthas fixed the issue price of LICshares at Rs 949 apiece, theupper end of the IPO priceband, ahead of the listing of thecountry's largest insurer onMay 17.

However, LIC policyhold-ers and retail investors have gotthe shares at a price of Rs 889and Rs 904 a piece, respective-ly.

The Initial Public Offering(IPO) of Life InsuranceCorporation (LIC) closed onMay 9 and shares were allo-cated to bidders on May 12.The government sold over22.13 crore shares or 3.5 percent stake in LIC through theIPO at a price band of Rs 902-949 a share.

The retail investors and eli-gible employees of LIC wereoffered a discount of Rs 45 perequity share over the issueprice, while policyholders got

a discount of Rs 60 per share.As per the prospectus

filed by LIC on May 12, theoffer price of the share sale hasbeen fixed at Rs 949 per equi-ty share.

Shares were allocated topolicyholders and retailinvestors after applying thediscount applicable to them.

The share sale fetched thegovernment around Rs 20,557crore. The LIC IPO -- India'slargest to date -- closed withnearly 3 times subscription,predominately lapped up byretail and institutional buyers,but foreign investor participa-tion remained muted.

So far, the amountmobilised from the IPO ofPaytm in 2021 was the largestever at Rs 18,300 crore, fol-lowed by Coal India (2010) atnearly Rs 15,500 crore andReliance Power (2008) at Rs11,700 crore. PTI

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New Delhi: The country'slargest carmaker Maruti SuzukiIndia (MSI) on Friday said itwill invest Rs 11,000 crore inthe first phase of its new man-ufacturing facility in Haryana.

The company on Fridaycompleted the process of allot-ment of an 800-acre site at IMTKharkhoda in Sonipat districtwith HSIIDC (Haryana StateIndustrial and InfrastructureDevelopment CorporationLimited), the auto major said ina regulatory filing.

The new plant's first phasewith a manufacturing capaci-ty of 2.5 lakh units per annumis expected to be commis-sioned by 2025, subject toadministrative approvals.

In the first phase, theinvestment would be over Rs11,000 crore, MSI said.

"The site will have spacefor capacity expansion toinclude more manufacturingplants in the future," MSInoted.

At present, MSI has acumulative production capac-ity of around 5.5 lakh units perquarter or about 22 lakh unitsper annum across its manu-facturing plants in Haryanaand Gujarat. PTI

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New Delhi: Even as debt-rid-den telecom operator VodafoneIdea's financial performance inthe March 2022 quarter hasbeen in line with the industryexpectations, the long-pendingfundraise is crucial for thecompany to remain competi-tive, say analysts.

According to a JP Morganreport, high leverage makes thevalue of Vodafone Idea (VIL)equity complicated and verysensitive to small changes inassumptions, thus largelyunforecastable.

"We expect value tomigrate to debt holders, includ-ing the government of India,which is effectively the largestcreditor via spectrum obliga-tions including AGR dues,"the report said.

VIL expects the govern-ment to complete the conver-sion of around Rs 16,100 croredues into 33 per cent stake inthe company in the comingweeks, a top official of the firmsaid.

During the company'searnings call, Vodafone IdeaCEO Ravinder Takkar said aspart of the telecom reformspackage, the company hasopted for converting govern-ment dues into equity and itsproposal has been confirmedby the Department of Telecom(DoT).

Post the conversion, thegovernment will hold a 33 percent stake in the companywhile promoters' holding will

come down from 74.99 percent to 50 per cent, he said.

"We have already optedfor deferment of spectrum andAGR dues as well as conversionof interest arising from suchdeferment into equity.

"The net present value ofthe interest liability on mora-torium period amounting to Rs161.3 billion towards AGRdues and deferred spectrumliabilities have been confirmedwith the DoT. With this weexpect the conversion subprocess to conclude in thecoming weeks," Takkar said.

JP Morgan said that theMarch 2022 quarter was adecent one but fundraise stillremains critical for VIL's com-

petitiveness."The board has approved

another Rs 100 billion (Rs10,000 crore) of fundraise andthe company is in talks withinvestors and lenders. Webelieve fundraiser is critical toimprove competitiveness," thereport said.

VIL has reported narrow-ing of its consolidated losses toRs 6,563.1 crore for the fourthquarter ended March 2022compared to the same periodof the previous year, while itsAverage Revenue Per User(ARPU) improved sharply ona sequential basis aided by tar-iff hikes in November last year.

VIL's losses were at Rs7,022.8 crore a year ago,

according to a company filing.Its revenue from operations

rose 6.6 per cent year-on-yearto Rs 10,239.5 crore in Q4FY22. Seen sequentially, therevenue was up 5.4 per centsupported by tariff hikes effec-tive November 25, 2021, thecompany said in a statement.

The realisation per usermeasured in terms of ARPU -- a key metric for telcos -- roseto Rs 124 for the just-endedquarter from Rs 115 in the pre-ceding three-month period.This translated into a sequen-tial increase of 7.5 per cent inARPU, although the company'ssubscriber base declined to24.38 crore against 24.72 crorein Q3 FY22, primarily due tothe tariff hike.

Takkar also said the indus-try needs more tariff hikes.

"We would like to seeARPU going up to Rs 200 inthe short term and then furtherincrease to Rs 250 or higher inthe longer term," he said.

As on March 31, 2022, thetotal debt (including interestaccrued but not due) of thegroup was Rs 1,97,878.2 crore.

The company has aroundRs 8,160 crore of payments dueover the next 12 month.

An IIFL Securities reportsaid that the moratorium ongovernment payouts untilOctober 2025, refinancing ofmaturing debt bonds andrecent tariff hikes provide near-term relief. PTI

New Delhi: The country'slargest lender SBI on Fridayreported a 41 per cent surge instandalone net profit at Rs9,114 crore for the fourth quar-ter ended March 2022, helpedby decline in bad loans.

State Bank of India (SBI)had registered a profit of Rs6,451 crore during January-March period of 2020-21, thelender said in a regulatory fil-ing.

Total income of the bankduring the March quarterincreased marginally to Rs82,613 crore, from Rs 81,327crore in the same period of theprevious fiscal.

On a consolidated basis,the bank reported a 56 per cent

increase in net profit at Rs 9,549crore, compared to Rs 6,126crore in the fourth quarter ofthe previous fiscal.

With regard to asset qual-ity, gross non-performingassets (NPAs) of the bankdeclined to 3.97 per cent ofgross advances as on March 31,2022, as against 4.98 per centby the same period of 2021.

Net NPA or bad loans toocame down to 1.02 per cent ason March 31, 2022 from 1.50per cent in the year-ago peri-od. For the entire financial year2021-22, the bank reported a 55per cent rise in standaloneprofit at Rs 31,676 crore, fromRs 20,410 crore in the previousfinancial year. PTI

����@A����)���5&!� A�B�����C0��A�.����)�%%����"���%��� Mumbai: The comprehensive

trade agreement between Indiaand the UAE will help in cre-ating huge job opportunitiesand boost growth of thedomestic economy, Commerceand Industry Minister PiyushGoyal said on Friday.

The bilateral pact, official-ly dubbed as theComprehensive EconomicPartnership Agreement(CEPA) is expected to increasethe bilateral trade in goods toover USD 100 billion and tradein services to over USD 15 bil-lion within five years.

It came into effect fromMay 1. The agreement opensthe door for many sectors,particularly labour-intensiveones such as textiles, gem andjewellery, pharmaceuticals andagriculture, Goyal said whilebriefing the media along withthe UAE Minister for EconomyAbdullah Bin Touq Al Marrihere. The ministers launched'India-UAE Start-up Bridge' atthe India-UAE PartnershipSummit, organised by industrybody CII here.

"Clearly millions of jobswill be added if our exportswhich are now at about USD 36billion, which is about nearly Rs2.5 lakh crore, grows as we areplanning. And my own guessestimate is this partnership

can finally go up to aboutUSD 250 billion of bilateraltrade on both sides.

"So my sense is that thiswill give a big boost to eco-nomic growth, to jobs. And theopportunities it opens not onlyin the UAE, but in the largerground for the African region.(It) should significantly give abump up to the Indian econo-my as well," Goyal said.

He added that the pactwould not only open doors forIndian businesses to UAE butalso to other countries as UAEis a transit point for large partsof Africa, CIS (Commonwealthof Independent States) coun-tries, and the Gulf region.

CIS countries includeArmenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus,Georgia, Kazakhstan,Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia,and Tajikistan.

Further, Goyal said thatIndian pharma products willget immediate access to theUAE market and "we believe(bilateral) trade will grow to atleast to USD 100 billion in thenear future....Our own com-mitment is to take it to a muchhigher level".

According to the minister,the framework is expected toadd a million jobs in India andprovide opportunities to thestartup ecosystem in the coun-

try and has huge potential forengagement on skill develop-ment and education.

"We are looking at signifi-cant investments as the UAEhas committed over USD 100billion of investments intoIndia in manufacturing, infra-structure, (and) service (s). Sothe business will get a boostershot,” the minister said.

He informed that there area large number of startupswhich have emerged in the lastsix years, with more than65,000 registered with the min-istry. India also has over 100unicorns with the third largeststartup ecosystem in the world,he said.

The UAE minister said thepact will add 1.7 per cent GDPgrowth to their economy.

He also said the agree-ment is not just on productsand commodities but also intoservices, adding that there areother opportunities that cancome along.

"Now, the growth thatwe're looking at, that we wantto reach USD-100 billion dol-lars from USD 40 billion or sotoday, in the next decade...Our economic modellingshowed that this is an oppor-tunity of growth, it can actual-ly reach that number," theminister said. PTI

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New Delhi: On-demand con-venience platform Swiggy onFriday said it has entered intoa definitive agreement withTimes Internet to acquire din-ing out and restaurant techplatform Dineout for an undis-closed sum.

Dineout, which serves din-ers across its network of 50,000restaurants in 20 cities, willcontinue to operate as an inde-pendent app post the acquisi-tion, Swiggy said in a state-ment. Founders of Dineout --Ankit Mehrotra, Nikhil Bakshi,Sahil Jain and Vivek Kapoor -- will join Swiggy once theacquisition is completed, itadded.

"The acquisition will allowSwiggy to explore synergies andoffer new experiences in ahigh-use category," SwiggyCEO Sriharsha Majety said.

Dineout co-founder & CEOAnkit Mehrotra said, "Westrongly feel that with Swiggy'sdeep understanding of theecosystem and our shared pas-sion for a superior consumer andrestaurant experience, our jointforces will help provide a holis-tic platform in this industry. PTI

New Delhi: Billionaire MukeshAmbani's Reliance IndustriesLtd climbed two spots to No. 53on Forbes' latest Global 2000list of public companies world-wide. Forbes Global 2000 ranksthe largest companies in theworld using four metrics: sales,profits, assets and market value,Forbes said releasing the 2022ranking of the world's top2,000 companies.

Reliance is the top-rankedIndian firm on the list, followedby State Bank of India at No.105, HDFC Bank at No. 153and ICICI Bank at No. 204.

Other top 10 Indian firmson the list include state-ownedOil and Natural Gas Corporation(ONGC) at 228 rank, HousingDevelopment FinanceCorporation Ltd (HDFC) at No.268, Indian Oil Corporation(IOC) at No.357, TataConsultancy Services Ltd (TCS)at No. 384, Tata Steel at No. 407and Axis Bank at No. 431.

"Energy and banking sec-tor corporations were amongthe highest-ranking Indiancompanies in Forbes' Global2000 list of public companiesthis year," the publication said.

Oil-to-telecom-to-retailconglomerate Reliance, which

recorded sales of USD 104.6 bil-lion between April 2021 andMarch 2022, became the firstIndian company to generateover USD 100 billion in annu-al revenue. "On the Global2000, Reliance climbed twospots to No. 53 among all pub-lic companies worldwide andranked first among Indian com-panies," it said. "Earlier this year,Forbes estimated Ambani's networth to be USD 90.7 billion,landing him at No. 10 on thisyear's billionaires list."

Mukesh's father Dhirubhailaunched the business in theearly 1960s, starting withimport and export licences fornylon, rayon and polyester.

Today, the company's busi-nesses include plastics andpetrochemicals, mobile tele-com services and retail.

With a market cap of USD56.12 billion, SBI grabbed theNo. 2 spot on the list of India'slargest. "The bank, headquar-tered in Mumbai, has 24,000branches and 62,617 ATMsacross the country. Private sec-tor banks ICICI and HDFC fol-lowed next on the Global 2000list of Indian companies, high-lighting the growth of the bank-ing sector in India." PTI

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New Delhi: US auto majorFord has shelved plans to man-ufacture electric vehicles inIndia for exports despite gettingapproval from the governmentfor production-linked incen-tives.

The company, which inSeptember last year hadannounced that it would stopvehicle production at its twoplants in the country as part ofa restructuring exercise, said itis exploring other alternativesfor its manufacturing facilitiesat Chennai and Sanand inGujarat.

As part of the ongoingbusiness restructuring in India,Ford has continued to explorepossible alternatives for itsmanufacturing facilities. Thisincluded applying for the pro-duction-linked incentivesscheme, which allowed us toexplore utilising one of theplants as a potential EV man-ufacturing base, a Ford Indiaspokesperson said.

"After careful review, wehave decided to no longer pur-sue EV manufacturing for

exports from any of the Indianplants.

We remain grateful to thegovernment for approving ourproposal under theProduction-Linked Incentivesand for being supportive whilewe continued our exploration,"the spokesperson added.

Ford was among the 20automotive firms, along withthe likes of Tata Motors, Suzuki,Hyundai, Kia and Mahindra &Mahindra, that got approval forthe Rs 25,938 croreProduction-Linked Incentive(PLI) scheme for the automo-bile industry in February thisyear.

On the future of the com-pany's two plants, thespokesperson said, "Ford India'spreviously announced businessrestructuring continues asplanned, including exploringother alternatives for our man-ufacturing facilities. We con-tinue to work closely withunions and other stakeholdersto deliver an equitable and bal-anced plan to mitigate theimpacts of restructuring." PTI

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Smarting from four straightlosses, Sunrisers Hyderabad

will need to sort out their bowl-ing issues when they face aninconsistent Kolkata KnightRiders, as both the teams lookto stay afloat in the IPL play-offsrace here on Saturday.

A series of losses after a five-match winning streak hasdragged SRH down to the sixthspot with 10 points and theywould need to win all theirremaining three games to har-bour any hopes of making it tothe play-offs.

KKR, however, are on thebrink of elimination and theirwoes were compounded withthe ruling out of pace spearheadPat Cummins owing to a hipinjury.

Shreyas Iyer's men havejust two more matches to go andwins in both will only take themto 14 points, which might not beenough with Rajasthan Royalsand Royal ChallengersBangalore already sitting pret-

ty in the top four with 14 pointsfrom 12 games.

One of the main reasonsbehind SRH's awful run in thelast few games is injuries tofrontline bowlers -- WashingtonSundar and T Natarajan -- andthe sudden loss of form ofspeedster Umran Malik.

It culminated in SRH con-ceding more than 190 plus runsin each of the last four games.

While Sundar had injuredhis bowling hand again, deathover specialist Natarajan hadpicked up a niggle. But coachTom Moody was hopeful of theduo's return against KKR.

Malik, who looked fast andfurious in the earlier gamesclocking 150kmph consistently,has gone wicket-less and con-ceded too many runs in the lastfew matches and his form willbe key for SRH.

Fazalhaq Farooqi andKarthik Tyagi were taken to thecleaners by RCB in their lastgame, adding to SRH's prob-lems.

In batting, SRH have the

quality but skipper KaneWilliamson will have to takemore responsibility as he hasjust one fifty to show for thisseason. Although AbhishekSharma has given them solidstarts, the youngster has notbeen able to anchor the innings.

Rahul Tripathi, NicholasPooran and Aiden Markram,too, have been among runs butSRH batters will need assistancefrom their bowlers, who willhave to ensure that they limittheir opposition to a reasonabletotal.

KKR, on the other hand, arepaying the price for makingconstant changes to their play-ing XI and are staring at elimi-nation after losing seven oftheir 12 games.

KKR, however, are cominginto the match after beatingMumbai Indians in their lastgame and they would look toend things on a high.

The 2021 finalists havestruggled in the power play thisseason but with Venkatesh Iyer,who was dropped due to hislean run, back in the mix, KKRproduced a good effort againstMI.

The seasoned Tim Southeeand Cummins produced a solideffort after returning to the XI,sharing four wickets againstMI. However, KKR were dealta massive blow as the teammanagement confirmed thatCummins has been ruled out ofthe remainder of the IPL witha mild hip injury and hasalready left for Australia forrehabilitation.

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With nine wins in 12 match-es played so far, IPL debu-

tants and table-toppers GujaratTitans have confirmed theirplace in the Indian PremierLeague playoffs.

On the other hand, the twomost successful teams in thetournament's history, MumbaiIndians and Chennai SuperKings, are out of contentionafter having a disastrous season.

But the remaining seventeams are still in the fray for thethree vacant spots, and the raceto reach the last four is all set togo down to the wire once again.

While the likes of RajasthanRoyals, Lucknow Super Giants,and Royal ChallengersBangalore are in a more com-fortable situation, one can't ruleout Delhi Capitals, SunrisersHyderabad, Kolkata KnightRiders, and Punjab Kings aswell.

KL Rahul-led LucknowSuper Giants have a betterchance of making the playoffsthan the other six franchises.They are currently in secondplace with 16 points and needonly one more win to securetheir position.

Under the leadership ofSanju Samson, the RajasthanRoyals have lit up the 2022 edi-tion. And even though theJaipur-based side has failed inthe last few matches, they alsohave better chances of makingit to the next round than the

others. They have two morematches to play, and a win willbe enough to get them through.

After suffering 54-rundefeat against Punjab Kings onFriday, Royal ChallengersBangalore now have 14 pointsfrom 13 matches and will needa win in their last league stagematch to keep themselves alive.

If Rajasthan Royals,Lucknow Super Giants, andRoyal Challengers Bangaloremanage to win all their remain-ing matches, then irrespective ofhow others perform, otherswon't be able to qualify for thelast four. But if the three teamsmentioned earlier slip at anypoint, then DC, SRH, PunjabKings, and KKR can sneak achance.

For Delhi Capitals, theequation is simple; they need towin the remaining two match-es anyhow if they want to reachthe playoffs for the fourth con-secutive year.

The same is the story withthe Punjab Kings as well. BothDC and PBKS have 12 pointsfrom 12 matches.

S u n r i s e r sHyderabad willhave to workharder thanother teams tomake it to theplayoffs afterfour consec-u t i v ed e f e a t s .They have towin all ther e m a i n i n gthree leaguestage matchesand also keeptheir net runrate better than theothers. KKR can onlyreach a maximum of14 points and theyneed favours fromother teams as well ifthey are to advance.

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Umran Malik will surely play forIndia but to survive the rigours of

international cricket, raw pace alonewouldn't be enough and the young-ster will need to supplement his skillswith quality execution, star SouthAfrican pacer Anrich Nortje said onFriday.

Nortje, one of the fastest bowlersin world cricket and who has made acomeback in this IPL after a four-month lay-off due to a hip injury,spoke about the hardships related tohis return and missing his new ballpartner, Kagiso Rabada.

When asked about his assess-ment of India's new pace sensation,who is regularly hitting upwards of 90

miles per hour, Nortje sounded cau-tiously optimistic.

"I am sure Umran is going to beone of the key players for India in nearfuture. Luck will also have to play itspart. But most importantly, it's aboutthe quality of what you deliver as wehave seen fastest deliveries that arebeing awarded are going for bound-aries," Nortje said.

"It doesn't matter at what pace itis bowled. Pace is not the be-all andend-all.

"It is about the quality of execu-tion. And I believe he is improving onthat aspect of having control withpace. Also at Sunrisers Hyderabad,under Dale (Steyn, fast bowlingcoach), Umran is in good hands. Hehas a lot of senior and experienced

players around him, so he will certain-ly improve," the Proteas speed mer-chant said.

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The current season hasn't beenthe best for Nortje as he got picked inonly four of Delhi Capitals' 12 games,taking six wickets in them.

"It's been a long break but it's goodto be out there on the field with theteam and it was long time at home. Ineeded a break at the start (of myinjury) but got very long at the endnot knowing what's going on.

"It's really good feeling to getgoing again and obviously trying tobowl at level I was bowling," the 28-year-old .

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HS Prannoy produced a lion-hearted effort in the deci-

sive fifth match as the Indianmen's badminton team script-ed history by reaching the titleclash of the Thomas Cup Finalfor the first time ever with a 3-2 victory over Denmark in anedge-of-the-seat semifinal, here.

Indian team, which neverwent past the semifinals after1979, showed tremendous fight-ing spirit as it came from amatch down to outwit the 2016champions.

While world champi-onships Silver medallistKidambi Srikanth and worldnumber 8 doubles pair ofSatwiksairaj Rankireddy andChirag Shetty kept India in thehunt, it was once again left to HSPrannoy to take the team homewhen the tie was locked 2-2.

Up against world number13 Rasmus Gemke, Prannoysuffered an ankle injury afterslipping on the front courtwhile going for a return but theIndian continued after taking amedical timeout.

He looked in pain and hison-court movement also lookedrestricted but despite all odds,he produced a sensational per-formance to come up trumps13-21, 21-9, 21-12 to etch India'sname in the history books.

India will now take on 14-time champions Indonesia, themost successful team in the his-tory. Indonesia edged out Japan

3-2 in their semifinal.It was a creditable perfor-

mance from the Indian team,which on Thursday hadsnapped a 43-year long wait byreaching the semifinals with a3-2 win over five-time champi-ons Malaysia, a feat last achievedin 1979.

It was always going to be anuphill task for India to tame theformidable Denmark, whichhad become the first Europeancountry in history to secure thetitle in 2016.

A lot rode on world cham-pionship Bronze medallistLakshya Sen, given his recentwin over Viktor Axelsen at theGerman Open Super 300 but hecouldn't replicate his perfor-mance as the world number onescripted a comfortable 13-21,13-21 win to hand Denmark a1-0 lead.

Denmark decided to splittheir world number 9 pair ofKim Astrup and AndersSkaarup Rasmussen into twohalves with Astrup partneringMathias Christiansen in thefirst doubles.

However, Rankireddy andShetty dished out a gritty per-formance, holding their nervesin the final stages to beat Astrupand Christiansen 21-18, 21-23,22-20 to bring India back in thecontest.

The Indian pair faced fivematch points — two in the sec-ond game and three in thirdgame — before converting oneto bring joy back to the Indian

camp.With the tie locked 1-1,

world number 11 Srikanth andworld number 3 AndersAntonsen engaged in a battle ofsupremacy in the second singleswith the former coming out ontop with a gritty 21-18, 12-21,21-15 result to give India a 2-1lead.

India's second doublescombination of Krishna PrasadGaraga and VishnuvardhanGoud Panjala, however, was nomatch for Anders SkaarupRasmussen and FrederikSogaard, losing 14-21, 13-21 asthe tie was tentatively posed at2-2 after the fourth match.

The experienced Prannoythen lost the opening game but,quite incredibly, led 11-1 in thesecond game, despite injury. Hedepended more on his attack togather points even as Gemkefailed to create pressure on theIndian.

Prannoy dominated thefront court and soon roaredback into contest with Gemkecommitting too many errors.

Prannoy, ranked 23rd,stamped his authority with histrademark smashes as Gemke'sdefence lay in tatters. The Indianwas up 11-4 up at the intervaland continued to dominate theproceedings.

Prannoy grabbed ninematch points with a straightdown the line smash and sealedit on the second opportunity ashis teammates huddled togeth-er in celebration.

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Kolkata Knight Riders pace spearhead Pat Cummins will nottake part in the remainder of the IPL and has left for home

to recover from a minor hip injury.His franchise confirmed the development on Friday, few

hours after a report in cricket.com.au said that the AustralianTest captain, who was roped in by KKR for Rs 7.25 crore, isreturning to Sydney for his rehabilitation ahead of the nation-al team's tour of Sri Lanka next month.

"Pat Cummins has been ruled out of the remainder of theTATA Indian Premier League with a mild hip

injury and has returned to Australia for twoweeks of rest and rehabilitation," statedthe official release. Cummins' recovery isexpected to take a fortnight.

Before leaving for Australia,Cummins said, "I had an amazing timein India, and I would like to thank KKRfor taking care of my family and me. I

wish all the team members the best ofluck for the remainder of the tournament.

I will be watching the games and becheering on."

Following the match againstMumbai Indians on Tuesday,Cummins, who bagged 3-22

from his four overs, under-went an MRI on his righthip.

KKR, who will takeon SunRisersHyderabad in Pune onSaturday, has not askedfor any replacement forCummins.

Cummins playedonly five matches in the

IPL this year and picked upseven wickets at a strike

rate of 17.0.With the bat, he scored 63 runs,

which includes a blazing 14-ball 56not out against Mumbai Indians -- the joint fastest fifty in the histo-ry of the IPL — last month.

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Punjab Kings buried RoyalChallengers Bangalore under adeluge of runs as they kept

their play-off hopes alive with 54-runvictory, riding on superb half-cen-turies from Jonny Bairstow and LiamLivingstone in an IPL match here onFriday.

Bairstow (66 off 29 balls) andLivingstone (70 off 42 balls) propelledPunjab Kings to 209 for 9 in a must-win game and the scoreboard wasalways going to be telling as RCB wererestricted to 155 for 9 in 20 overs.

While Punjab remain in the mix

with 12 points from as many games,the margin of victory considerablyimproved their net run-rate to +0.210and RCB despite having 14 pointsfrom 13 games are at a -0.323.

RCB will have to win their finalgame and move to 16 points but alsonow need to have some rub of thegreen with a few favourable resultsgoing their way.

It was another day and anotherfailure for Virat Kohli (20), who gota faint under-edge tickle on his glovesbefore it hit his thigh pad and bobbedup to short fine leg off a KagisoRabada (4-0-21-3) delivery.

Rabada was literally unplayable

on the day as he worked good paceand hit the ideal fuller length for bet-ter part of his spell.

Rishi Dhawan (4-0-36-2), perhapsthe weakest link in Punjab attack, thenmade up for his lack of pace by hit-ting immaculate length as Faf duPlessis edged one to Jitesh Sharmabehind stumps and Mahipal Lomror'srasping pull shot was taken by ShikharDhawan.

Rajat Patidar (26) and GlennMaxwell (35) did add 64 runs but theywere never in the game with bothdeparting in quick succession.

And when Dinesh Karthik (11)was snuffed out by the brilliant

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Arshdeep Singh (4-0-27-1) with a wide york-er and a catch by short third-man on the cir-cle, RCB fizzled out in a jiffy.

Earlier, Bairstow's opening blitzkriegfound its ideal match in Livingstone's finish-ing carnage.

While Bairstow laid the foundation witha 29-ball-66, Livingstone was equally goodin his 42-ball-70 as the RCB bowlers had aday which they would like to forget in ahurry.

Bairstow, who was rusty during the ear-lier phase of the tournament, was back in hiselement with as many as seven sixes and fourboundaries during a knock where he liter-ally went hell for leather.

Such was his dominance that by the timesix overs of Powerplay ended, Bairstow hadhit seven towering sixes and Shikhar Dhawan(21 off 15 balls) rubbed salt to the woundwith another one which made it eight in all.

Punjab Kings, which had set the templateof blazing Powerplay starts, got 83 in six overswith Glenn Maxwell (1/17 in 2 overs), JoshHazlewood (0/64 in 4 overs) and MohammedSiraj (0/36 in 2 overs) being treated with utterdisdain.

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Gianluigi Donnarumma haswarned Paris Saint-

Germain that they must choosebetween him and rival goal-keeper Keylor Navas next sea-son.

Italian Donnarummasigned from AC Milan lastsummer to join veteran Navas,35, who has been in the Frenchcapital since leaving RealMadrid in 2019.

Despite stressing his "verygood relationship" with Navas,Donnarumma insisted it wasout of the question to share thejob next season.

"No, I think it will surely nothappen like that, because Ithink the club will make choic-es," Donnarumma said.

"We're two good guys, weunderstand the situation, but itwas hard, and for him too, butlet's say that we managed itwell."

Donnarumma said "yes ofcourse" he wanted to stay nextseason with his contract run-ning until 2026.

The 23-year-old lifted hisfirst league title with PSG, whilefor Costa Rican Navas it was asecond in France to join the LaLiga trophy and threeChampions League trophies hewon in Spain.

"It's beautiful, it's my firstleague title, I'm very happy, andit's my first trophy with the ParisSaint-Germain shirt," said

Donnarumma."I'm very proud to belong to

a great, very ambitious club,always aiming higher."

Donnarumma arrived inFrance after being named thebest player in the Europeanchampionships which Italy won.

"The debut was not easy,because it was my first outsideItaly, in a new club, a new city(but) pressure, no," explainedDonnarumma, who had spentsix years in Milan.

"I feel a big family behindme, a big club, the welcome wasgreat, and after it was easier forme."

Donnarumma sid it hadn'tbeen an "easy" season, giving itseven out of 10.

"I know I can do more," hesaid. "I haven't played so manymatches, only half, that wasn'teasy. In the conditions I expe-rienced, I couldn't give themaximum, but I'm convincedthat I can give a lot more to thisteam and this club."

In addition to PSG'sChampions League exit to RealMadrid in the last 16,Donnarumma's Italy failed toqualify for a second straightWorld Cup.

"It was hard, very hard," hesighed.

"The following days werevery difficult, but there is nogoing back. What we did at theEuro will remain in history, wehave achieved somethingincredible.

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Stefanos Tsitsipas reached the semi-finals of the Italian Open on

Friday after beating local hero JannickSinner 7-6 (7/5) 6-2 in a match whichwas stopped for over 10 minutes atmatch point after a spectator fell ill.

World number five Tsitsipas hasalready won the Monte Carlo Mastersthis season and reached the last fourin impressive style against ItalianSinner, who was in his first ever Romequarter-final.

Next up Tsitsipas will faceAlexander Zverev, who made thesemis after comfortably seeing offCristian Garin, the only unseededplayer left in the tournament, 7-5, 6-2.

It will be the third time in thespace of a month that the Germanwill meet the Greek in the last four,with the pair sharing the honoursfrom clashes in Monte Carlo andMadrid.

The Greek finally took the open-ing set after breaking Sinner to take

the tie-break to 6-5 and from their hisopponent didn't recover.

The fervent atmosphere wasfinally dampened when Tsitsipasbroke Sinner in game three and worldnumber 13 Sinner had no reply, los-ing his serve again to love in gameseven.

Sinner's fate seem sealed but atmatch point for Tsitsipas someone inthe crowd appeared to collapse andplay was stopped amid loud whistlesdirected at the umpire who wantedto continue.

What seemed like an age passedbefore the spectator was stretcheredout of centre court and Tsitsipas couldfinally serve his match point, and asimple passing shot from Sinner'smiscalculated drop shot sent himthrough.

�(�������Tsitsipas will take number four

spot in the world rankings onMonday after Rafael Nadal's shockthird-round exit at the hands of DenisShapovalov on Thursday night.

Shapovalov faces Casper Ruudknowing a win would give him a pos-sible semi-final against NovakDjokovic, who is in action in the day'sfinal match against Canada's FelixAuger-Aliassime.

Djkokovic needs to beat Canada'sAuger-Aliassime in order to maintaintop spot in the world rankings, a posi-tion he has held for a record 369weeks.

Aryna Sabalenka reached thewomen's semi-finals after beatingAmanda Anisimova 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 andsetting up a potential clash with worldnumber one Iga Swiatek.

Third seed Sabalenka beatAmerican Anisimova for the firsttime in five attempts and now awaitsthe result of Swiatek's last-eightmatch with Bianca Andreescu.

Anisimova had endedSabalenka's Madrid title defence inthe first round at the end of lastmonth. Swiatek, the reigning cham-pion in Rome, is on a run of 25straight wins and gunning for a fifthtournament victory in a row.

�� ����

Harry Kane scored twice asTottenham beat 10-man

Arsenal 3-0 on Thursday witha north London derby master-class that kept alive their hopesof finishing in the PremierLeague's top four.

Antonio Conte's sidewould have been eliminatedfrom the race to qualify for nextseason's Champions League ifthey had lost to their bitterrivals on Thursday.

But Kane tormentedArsenal once again as theTottenham striker opened thescoring with a controversialpenalty.

Crucially, Arsenal's RobHolding was sent off for twobookings in seven minutes.

Kane netted again beforethe interval and Son Heung-min bagged Tottenham's thirdgoal in the second half.

Instead of sealing a returnto the Champions League forthe first time since the 2016-17season, fourth-placed Arsenalnow face a nerve-jangling con-clusion to the top-four battle.

Arsenal still hold a slenderadvantage, but the end of theirfour-match winning run leavesthem just one point ahead offifth-placed Tottenham, withboth sides having two gamesleft.

Conte said several weeksago that it would be a "miracle"if Tottenham reached theChampions League given theirlowly position when hereplaced the sacked NunoEspirito Santo in November.

But their victory inarguably the biggest northLondon derby since Arsenalwon the league at White HartLane in 2004 ensured that mir-acle could still come true.

Conte believes finishingin the top four is "like winning

a title in another country, a bigachievement" given the depthof talent and wealth at the topof the Premier League.

To decide who takes thelucrative prize, Tottenham hoststruggling Burnley on Sundaythen travel to relegatedNorwich, while Mikel Arteta'smen visit Newcastle onMonday and entertain Everton.

Arteta's bewildered expres-sion throughout Arsenal'scapitulation suggested it is farfrom certain he will be able to

lift his players to finish the job.Third-placed Chelsea, five

points above Tottenham, willlikely need a draw from theirlast two games to be sure oftheir top-four place given theirvastly superior goal difference.

As well as the hugeEuropean stakes for both sides,Tottenham also felt lingeringresentment about Arsenal'ssuccessful appeal to have thisfixture postponed in Januarydue to Covid and injury prob-lems.

������

Karim Benzema continuesto add his name to Real

Madrid's record books, scoringhis 323rd goal on Thursday todraw level with Raúl Gonzálezas the club's second-highestscorer behind CristianoRonaldo.

Benzema netted in the firsthalf of the team's 6-0 rout of last-place Levante in the Spanishleague, with Madrid havingsecured the title a few roundsago.

The result sealed Levante'srelegation after five consecutiveyears in the first division.

Vinícius Júnior, Benzema'strusted attacking partner allseason, scored a hat trick forMadrid as it continues to pre-pare for the Champions Leaguefinal against Liverpool in Parison May 28, when it will try towin a record-extending 14thEuropean title.

Benzema is now 128 goalsshy of the 451 scored byRonaldo, who played at theclub until 2018.

Benzema's close-rangeheader in the 19th minute off across by Vinícius gave theFrench striker his league-lead-ing 27th goal, which is nine bet-ter than any other player in thecompetition this season. He hasscored more than a third of

Madrid's 77 league goals so far.It was the 20th goal in the

last 15 matches in all competi-tions for Benzema, who hasbeen key in the team's run to theChampions League final, scor-ing decisive goals in everyknockout round of the Europeantournament — including twohat tricks.

He could have added anoth-er goal on Thursday butunselfishly fed Vinícius the ballfor the team's fifth after clearingthe goalkeeper inside the area.

Vinícius had netted his firstgoal in the first half before clos-ing the scoring in the final min-utes for his maiden hat trick withMadrid. Ferland Mendy andRodrygo scored their goalsbefore halftime. Benzema wasreplaced in the 75th along withLuka Modric, who set up threeof Madrid's goals.

�� ����

Liverpool will bid to keep theirquadruple chase alive in Saturday'sFA Cup final against a Chelsea

side hoping to welcome incomingowner Todd Boehly with victory atWembley.

Jurgen Klopp's men have fourmatches left in their historic attempt tobecome the first English team to winall four major trophies in one season.

They beat Chelsea to lift the LeagueCup in February and have reached thefinals of the FA Cup and ChampionsLeague, where they face Real Madridon May 28.

No English club has come this closeto such an incredible clean sweep, butLiverpool know their hopes of winningthe Premier League are starting to fade.

Manchester City moved threepoints clear of the second-placed Reds

with a 5-1 win at Wolves on Wednesdayand need four points from their last twogames against West Ham and AstonVilla to retain the crown.

If a second English title in three sea-sons proves beyond Liverpool despitetheir blistering form in the second halfof the season, then winning two morecup competitions would be a memo-rable consolation.

First up is a rematch with Chelsea,who fought gamely in an intenseLeague Cup final in February beforeLiverpool prevailed 11-10 in the shoot-out that followed a 0-0 draw.

Liverpool and Chelsea are the firstEnglish teams to meet in both domes-tic finals in the same year since Arsenaland Sheffield Wednesday in 1993.

Klopp's side will hope they emulateArsenal, who did the cup doubleagainst Wednesday that season.

But, in their 60th game this season,

fatigue could be a threat to Liverpool'shopes of a first FA Cup triumph since2006. In a bid to keep his stars fresh,Klopp made several changes inTuesday's win at Villa, yet still lost Brazilmidfielder Fabinho to an injury thatrules him out of the final.

The history chasers will be back onleague duty at Southampton on Tuesdayand, aware of the strain on the squad,Liverpool captain Jordan Hendersoncalled for one last push, starting atWembley.

"The more it goes on, the moreimportant and intense the games are.We are using all the squad and I thoughtthe boys that came in were brilliant(against Villa)," Henderson said.

"That's football and there's going tobe ups and downs in a game. You've gotto react in the right way. To be honest,the boys have done that for a long peri-od of time.

"The boys have been incredible.Stay together in important momentsand you get your rewards in the end.

Let's prepare now for a big game onSaturday."

Like Liverpool, Chelsea's seasonwill conclude with 63 games played, butit has been Thomas Tuchel's side whohave looked more drained in recentweeks.

Before Wednesday's 3-0 victory atLeeds consolidated their grip on thirdplace, the Blues had won just once infive league games as they struggled torecover from their painful CL quarter-final exit at Real Madrid.

�����$Robert Lewandowskihas opened the door to ahigh-profile transfer aftertelling Bayern Munich that hewill not be extending his con-tract beyond June 2023 whenit expires, German mediareported on Friday.

The 33-year-old Polandinternational forward hasscored 343 goals for Bayern

and twice picked up FIFA'sPlayer of the Year Awardsince joining from Dortmundin 2014.

"Goal machine RobertLewandowski will leave theclub no later than the summerof 2023," claimed the dailySport Bild.

"In recent weeks, FIFA's2021 Player of the Year told

his bosses at Bayern that hewould not extend his contract,which is still valid for oneyear."

The Sport1 site, citing itsown sources, confirmed thisinformation.

According to severalreports, Lewandowski hasrecently been in contact withBarcelona. AP

It’s Liverpool vs Chelsea in FA Cup final

�� ������=���

Aston Villa completed the per-manent signing of Barcelona

playmaker Philippe Coutinho onThursday in a deal the La Liga clubsaid is worth 20 million euros.

The Brazilian has impressedsince arriving at Villa on loan inJanuary after struggling to make animpact at Barcelona.

Barca confirmed the transferincludes a 50 percent sell-on clause

if Coutinho leaves Villa.The former Liverpool star,

who has scored four times andcontributed three assists for Villa,has agreed a contract that runsuntil 2026.

"This is a brilliant signing forAston Villa," Villa boss StevenGerrard told the club's website.

"Phil is a model professionaland his impact on the group hasbeen very clear since he joined inJanuary."

��������-���

One of the most famousmoments in Premier League

history has been immortalizedoutside the Etihad Stadium inManchester.

To mark the 10-year anniver-sary of Sergio Aguero's title-clinch-ing goal against Queens ParkRangers in 2012, Manchester Cityunveiled a statue of the Argentinestriker celebrating his dramaticstrike.

"Truthfully, it is a very beauti-ful thing for me, to see myself 10years ago is very moving," Aguerosaid.

"In those 10 years, I was ableto win a lot of trophies and was ableto help the club become one of themost important in the world.

"I am very grateful to the clubfor making this statue in recogni-tion of my football career inManchester. It is something veryspecial."

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Rafael Nadal crashed out of theItalian Open in the third

round on Thursday after fallingto a shock 1-6, 7-5, 6-2 defeat atthe hands of Denis Shapovalov.

Defeat in Rome for 'King ofClay' Nadal casts doubt over hisprospects at the upcomingFrench Open, where he has beencrowned champion 13 times butfaces a threat from teenage phe-nomenon Carlos Alcaraz.

The 35-year-old had been outfor six weeks with a rib injurybefore returning for last week'stournament in Madrid, and hebegan limping in the third set.

Nadal has won an all-timerecord 21 Grand Slam titles in aglittering two-decade careerwhich may now finally be reach-ing its downturn.

World number 16Shapovalov, who had pushedNadal all the way when knockedout at this stage of the tourna-ment last year, will now faceCasper Ruud in the quarter-finals.

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