C M Y B C M Y B C M Y B C M Y B C M Y B C M y B Truth Prevail RNI No: JKENG/2012/47637 Email: [email protected] POSTAL REGD NO- JK/485/2016-18 Internet Edition www.truthprevail.com Epaper: epaper.truthprevail.com VOL: 10 Issue: 130 JAMMU AND KASHMIR, TUESDAY, MAY 25 2021 DAILY PAGES 12 Rs. 2/- 3 Advisor Khan hails Union Ministry for adding two more disciplines at JK's Water Sports Centre 5 SMVD Shrine Board supports Katra and Panthal Blocks for establishing COVID Care Centres 12 Maj Gen Ranjan Mahajan takes over as ADG NCC directorate Jammu Kashmir and Ladakh Atletico Madrid lift La Liga title IN BRIEF IN BRIEF SRINAGAR, MAY 24 : Department of Law, Justice & Parliamentary Affairs has start- ed special vaccination drive for advocates of eight districts of J&K in the age group of 18-45 years. The step has been taken as an immediate measure for ensuring that advocates, who are at greater risk of contract- ing infection owing to their vocation are vaccinated, a statement issued here by the Department said.It said that for administration of vaccination to advocates, special camps are being organized in districts. It added that in the first phase, besides Jammu and Srinagar districts, vaccination shall be carried out in Anantnag, Baramulla and Budgam dis- tricts in Kashmir division and Kathua, Udhampur and Rajouri districts in Jammu division from May 24 to May 26, 2021. Govt starts vaccination drive for advocates in eight districts for 18-45 yrs age group TP Correspondent Jammu May 24 : Today on receipt of special informa- tion about possession of con- traband substance in the house of Talib Hussain S /O Mohammad Shafi Mir R/O Kako Dossa Gandoh, Gandoh Police headed by SHO Gandoh Vikram Singh, raided the house of accused and found *Charas* weigh- ing about 750gm, weighing machine, and cash of 30 thousand and said material was siezed immediately on spot infront of Executive Magistrates and Fir No 46/2021 U/S 8/20 of NDPS ACT stand registered in PS Gandoh and investigation taken up. During preliminary inquiry it was found that accused Talib Hussain used to supply the Charas among Youth in small quantities using small weighing machine. 750 grams CHARAS Recoverd in Gandoh by Doda Police SHOPIAN, MAY 24 : Ensuring the improvement of work culture at all levels, the Director Agriculture Kashmir, Chowdhary Mohammad Iqbal today conducted a surprise visit to different offices of the District Shopian including Seed Multiplication Farm (SMF) Allowpora. While inspecting different sections of the Farm, Director took cognizance of the dis- couraging conditions of the farm. All the delinquent staff was placed under suspension with immediate effect and enquiry to this effect was ordered. Taking strict notice of the events, Director Agriculture Kashmir Chowdhary Mohammad Iqbal has direct- ed all the concerned officers/ officials working in the department to strictly adhere to the office timings and improve work culture, so that farming community is served to the best of capabilities and warned of strict action against erring employees in future. Director Agriculture Kashmir suspends 29 employees of SMF Allowpora Fruit & Vegetable Commission Agents Specialist In : Potato, Onion Shop No. 69, Sabji Mandi Narwal, Jammu. Ph. 2475446, 94191-93836 Jai Baba Kali Veer Ji MANOJ KUMAR & CO. FOR Computer Services Laptop Services BSNL Broadband Pan Card Passport Contact :- Rohit: Mob. 9419626826 JAMMU, MAY 24 : In order to assess the effective implementation of various welfare schemes in J&K, Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha today chaired a review meeting and sought the detailed status of relief meas- ures being extended to differ- ent sections of the society affected due to Covid-19 pan- demic. Pertinently, the Lieutenant Governor had recently announced a slew of measures to mitigate the sufferings of various vulnerable sections of community due to Covid-19. The Lt Governor asked the officers to work with compas- sion and empathy and take all required steps to enable peo- ple overcome their difficulties during this pandemic. “It’s a collective responsi- bility of the officers at various levels to ensure that no one goes hungry. You all must reach out to every citizen in need. Mid-day meal supplies, supplementary nutrition must continue for the beneficiaries. Take care of the families of daily wage earners, migrant labourers and address the issues caused by the pandem- ic,” the Lt Governor said. The Lt Governor observed in the meeting that the pan- demic has broad range of impact on different aspects of people's lives. If required, specific inter- ventions should be taken immediately to support the most vulnerable population, workers, women, children, small businesses, farmers, communities and senior citi- zens. Collaborative, consis- tent and continuous efforts are required to further strengthen the social protection,” the Lt Governor added. While taking a compre- hensive overview of the implementation of welfare schemes, the Lt Governor was briefed that the relief has been extended to around 40 lakh beneficiaries under different components. It was informed that under Interest Subvention, about 3.50 lakh borrowers have received installments of 5% interest subvention worth Rs 200 crore. On benefits extended to construction workers, the Lt Governor was informed that the first installment of more than Rs 34.50 crore has been provided to 3,49,303 active construction workers at the rate of Rs 1000 per benefici- ary. Moreover, Rs 5.6 crore have been provided for around 28 thousand Shikarawalas/Ponywalas/ Dandiwalas/Palkiwalas/Touri st guides at Rs 1000 per month per beneficiary as two months' relief. Of the total, 14,627 beneficiaries are from Kashmir division and 13,153 are from Jammu Division. As a part of COVID miti- gation measures, Rs 55 crore have been provided to all District Development Commissioners at the rate of Rs 2.25 crore each and Rs 5 crore to each Divisional Commissioner of Jammu and Kashmir. The Lt Governor was informed during the meeting that Rs. 2000 was disbursed each to 9.5 lakh farmers under PM-KISAN Yojna involving a total amount of Rs. 190 crore. Further, the Rural Development Department has provided employment to 26,673 households covering 35,484 individuals, involving Rs 8.21 crore under MGNRE- GA during April and May, 2021. About 7.10 lakh pension- ers have received their pen- sion (through DBT mode) amounting to Rs. 71 crore under ISSS Pension for the month of April. Under the Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension scheme, amount to the tune of Rs. 25.68 crore for the month of March and April has been paid in favour of 1.28 lakh pensioners (through DBT). Bank accounts of 83,617 beneficiaries of Ladli Beti scheme have been credited with an amount of Rs. 50.00 cores (through DBT). Another amount of Rs 25 crore is being credited to the individ- ual bank accounts of the ben- eficiaries. Besides, 1212 beneficiar- ies belonging to different dis- tricts of UT of J&K have been given an amount of Rs 4.836 crore as financial assistance to poor marriageable girls (through DBT) under State Marriage Assistance scheme during the current financial year. It was informed that the School Education Department is providing Dry Ration (Rice) to 8.46 lakh students under the Mid-Day Meal Scheme. Under Supplementary Nutrition Programme, a total of 7,89,586 beneficiaries including pregnant & lactat- ing women, children under 6 years of age have been pro- vided dry ration in the UT. The Lt Governor expressed gratitude to Hon’ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi for all the assistance to the Union Territory. He also asked the concerned officers to adopt various mitigation strategies in line with the dynamics of the situation at hand and ensure seamless extension of benefits to the citizens under various beneficiary oriented schemes. Sh. Arun Kumar Mehta, Financial Commissioner, Finance Department and con- cerned senior officers attend- ed the meeting. JAMMU, MAY 24 : The administration of Government Medical College Jammu today said that the process for recruitment of the staff on contractual basis required for early commissioning of DRDO- Hospital has already been initiated and the team will be available by May 26. Responding to a news report “DRDO Hospital to function from May 25, staff not recruited yet” appearing in a section of press, the authori- ties stated that that the Government, Vide Order No. 398-JK (HME) of 2021 dated 18.05.2021, has created 683 posts to be deployed in 500 bedded DRDO- COVID Hospital, constructed in col- laboration with Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) at Bhagwati Nagar Jammu. “The post of Medical Superintendent and Deputy Medical Superintendent shall be filled-up on deployment basis from the Health Services Department. The post of Physicians, Anesthetists, Pediatricians and Medical Officers shall be filled- up both on deployment from the Health Services Department as well as on contractual basis. The Nursing Staff and Paramedical/Technical Staff shall be filled up both on deployment from Health Services Department as well as on contractual basis” the Medical College Authorities informed. The GMC authorities said, the process for recruitment of the staff on contractual basis was started with publishing of three advertisements in the leading newspapers of J&K on 20th of May 2021, indicat- ing the designation, number and the eligibility qualifica- tion required for the staff to be posted in DRDO Hospital. “The aspirants of the same were given three day time for filling the forms up to 23rd of May 2021. Accordingly the selection process for the same was completed by 24th of May 2021. As per plan, an ori- entation programme for newly recruited staff will be held on 25th of May 2021” the GMC authorities said. Srinagar, May 24 : The Jammu and Kashmir adminis- tration on Monday declared black fungus (Mucormycosis) an epidemic in the state. A notification regarding the same was issued by Health and Medical Education Department of the Union Territory under Section 2 of the Epidemic Disease Act 1897. This comes a few days after the Centre directed all the states and UTs to make black fungus a notifiable disease. According to the notification, all the govern- ment and private health facili- ties and medical colleges are required to follow the guide- lines for screening, diagnosis and management of the dis- ease issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and J&K government as amended from time to time. The guidelines make it mandatory for all such facili- ties to report suspected and confirmed cases to the health department through district- level officers and Integrated Disease Surveillance Program (IDSP). The notification further read, "no person, institution or organisation will use any print, electronic or any other media for Mucormycosis without prior permission from Director Health Service Jammu/ Kashmir." The DHS will constitute a committee headed by Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of the concerned district, which will have specialist of internal Medicine, Ophthalmology, ENT and Epidemiologist as members to review any viola- tions. The violators will be punished under Section 188 of Indian Penal Code. The UT reported its first death due to black fungus on Friday. Deptts asked to mobilize target groups for special vaccination drives Each group’s vaccination to be fast-tracked from 25th May 2021 JAMMU, May 24 : The rollout of special vaccination drives for high risk and vul- nerable groups within the 18- 45 age category was today finalized during a high-level meeting chaired by the Chief Secretary, B V R Subrahmanyam. Administrative Secretaries of the departments of Housing & Urban Development, Information, Transport, Labour & Employment, Jal Shakti, Social Welfare, Higher Education, Tourism and Law, Justice & Parliamentary Affairs, besides Mission Director, National Health Mission (NHM) and Director, Family Welfare participated in the meeting. To implement the decision taken by the Government for prioritized coverage of high risk and vulnerable groups under 18-45 age category, it was decided that the special vaccination drives will initial- ly be kick-started in 8 districts having the highest disease caseload and positivity ratio and will be extended to all the districts once the supply of vaccines increases. The roll- out will begin in Anantnag, Baramulla, Budgam and Srinagar districts of Kashmir, and Jammu, Kathua, Rajouri and Udhampur districts of Jammu. It was further informed that the target groups have been identified considering their risk assessment and vul- nerability to the disease. It was directed that as a part of the special vaccination drive, additional dedicated vaccina- tion centres are established for centralized and fast- tracked coverage of all identi- fied beneficiaries after proper verification. The Chief Secretary directed the Law Department to organize 2-days special vaccination drives at High Court complexes and District Courts to vaccinate all lawyers. The Information Department was directed to organize similar vaccination drives for journalists at twin Directorates of Jammu and Kashmir, while the Tourism Department was asked to hold such drives at concerned dis- trict offices to cover stake- holders associated with the tourism industry. Jammu, May 24 : The pil- grimage to World famous Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine, located in the Trikuta Hills of Reasi district in Jammu and Kashmir has witnessed slump in the past two months due to surging cases of COVID-19 in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir like other parts of the country. "The number of pilgrims per day visiting Katra town to per- form pilgrimage has declined due to COVID," an official said. He said that only a few hun- dred pilgrims, mostly local devotees from parts of Jammu and Kashmir, are visiting the cave shrine to pay obeisance. "The tracks are wearing a deserted look and the eating points along the twin routes are shut," said a local shopkeeper adding that the food points being run by the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board are operational. "The services like helicop- ter, battery car and cable car are also functional for the conven- ience of the pilgrims," he added. Chief Executive Officer, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board, Ramesh Kumar here told TNN, "all facilities being provided by the Board are func- tional." "The Shrine Board is taking care of pilgrims with all safety measures in place including testing on their arrival," said the CEO adding that the Board is following SOPs, guidelines being issued time to time by the Centre and the J&K Government including the Health Department. On an average, 300 to 400 pilgrims are visiting the Cave Shrine daily, he added. Amidst COVID, more than 16 lakh pilgrims paid obeisance at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi in the first four months of 2021. In the first two months, pil- grimage increased and the per day figure reached 15000 to 20000 but with the second COVID wave, the number decreased and in the first four months, 16,45,333 pilgrims vis- ited the Bhawan. In January, a total of 40,8861 devotees reached the Bhawan, in February, 3,89,549 devotees, in March, 5,25,198 and in the month of April, 3,21,725 pilgrims. JAMMU, May 24 : The Government on Monday informed that2237 new posi- tive cases of novel Corona virus (COVID-19), 854 from Jammu division and 1383from Kashmir division, have been reported today, thus taking the total number of positive cases in Jammu and Kashmir to 272858. Also 45 COVID-19 deaths have been reported, 29 from Jammu Division and 16 from Kashmir Division. Moreover, 3999 more COVID-19 patients have recovered and discharged from various hospitals includ- ing 1490 from Jammu Division and 2509 from Kashmir Division. According to the daily Media Bulletin on novel Corona virus (Covid-19), out of 272858 positive cases, 45630 are Active Positive, 223619 have recovered and 3609have died; 1732in Jammu division and 1877 in Kashmir division. The Bulletin further said that out of 8270069test results available, 7997211 samples have been tested as negative till 24thMay, 2021. Till date 2035593 persons have been enlisted for obser- vation which included 74787 persons in home quarantine including facilities operated by government, 45630 in iso- lation and 141002in home surveillance. Besides, 1770565 persons have com- pleted their surveillance peri- od. Providing district-wise breakup, the Bulletin said that Srinagar has 62468 positive cases (including 309 cases reported today) with 5683 Active Positive, 56048recov- ered (including 863cases recovered today), 737 deaths; Baramulla has 19955 positive cases (including 103 cases reported today)with 2823Active Positive, 16889recovered (including 119 cases recovered today), 243 deaths; Budgam reported 18895positive cases (includ- ing221 cases reported today)with 4464 active posi- tive cases, 14267 recovered (including 304cases recovered today), 164 deaths; Pulwama has 12008 positive cases (including 77 cases reported today)with2232Active Positive, 9620recovered (including 45 cases recovered today)and 156 deaths; Kupwara has 10887 positive cases (including 204 cases reported today), 1905 Active Positive, 8847 recoveries (including 225 cases recov- ered today), 135 deaths; Anantnag district has 13280 positive cases (including 106 cases reported today)with 3797 Active Positive, 9334recovered (including 558 cases recovered today), 149 deaths; Bandipora has 7957 positive cases (including77 cases reported today), with1217Active Positive and 6657 recoveries (including 58cases recovered today),83 deaths; Ganderbal has 7876 positive cases (including 91cases reported today)with 1168Active Positive, 6642 recoveries (including 97 cases recovered today)and66deaths; Kulgam has 9159 positive cases (including 169 cases reported today)with 2516 Active Positive, 6553recover- ies (including198 cases recov- ered today)and 90 deaths while as Shopian has 4995 positive cases (including 26 cases reported today),1087active positive cases, 3854 recoveries (including 42 cases recovered today)and54 deaths. Similarly, Jammu has 48128 positive cases (includ- ing 441 cases reported today) with 7053 active positive cases, 40099recoveries (including 474 cases recov- ered today), 976 deaths; Udhampur has 10118 positive cases (including 55cases reported today), 1372active positive cases, 8634 recover- ies (including211 cases recov- ered today)and112 deaths; Rajouri has 9059 positive cases (including 66 cases reported today)with 2991active positive, 5909recoveries (including 253 cases recovered today)and 159 deaths; Doda has 5193 positive cases (including 43cases reported today) with 1082Active posi- tive, 4029 recovered (includ- ing 61 cases recovered today)and 82deaths; Kathua has 8335 positive cases (including 49 cases reported today), 1059 active positive cases, 7160recovered(includ- ing 166cases recovered today) and 116deaths; Kishtwar has 3813 positive cases (including 47 cases reported today)with 314 Active Positive, 3469 recoveries (including 82 cases recovered today)and30 deaths; Samba has 6441 posi- tive cases (including 31 cases reported today)with 2377 active positive cases, 3964 recoveries (including 54 cases recovered today)and 100 deaths; Poonch has 4776 pos- itive cases (including 27 cases reported today) with1000active positive, 3700recoveries (including 57cases recovered today)and 76 deaths; Ramban has 4556 positive cases (including 47 cases reported today)with883 active positive cases, 3626 recoveries (including 67 cases recovered today)and 47 deaths while Reasi has 4959 positive (including 48 cases reported today)with 607 active positive cases, 4318 recoveries (including65 cases recovered today)and 34 deaths. According to the bulletin, among the total 272858 posi- tive cases in J&K, 21298have been reported as travelers while 251560as others. Lt Governor assesses effective implementation of welfare schemes in J&K; various relief measures extended in view of Covid-19 Recruitment of contractual Staff for DRDO- Hospital being ensured on time: GMC Jammu Black fungus declared an epidemic in J&K Vaisno Devi pilgrimage witnesses slump due to COVID COVID-19 : JK reports 2237 new positive cases, 223619 recovered so far JAMMU, MAY 24 : Deputy Commissioner Jammu Anshul Garg today said that over 20 thousand persons of 18-45 age- group have been inoculated in the district. Briefing the media persons about the covid care and control measures, he said that more vaccination centers will be added soon with the augmenta- tion of vaccine supply. He also informed that as a measure of large-scale preparedness and with a view to provide institu- tional medical care to the Covid 19 positive patients of rural areas, a five bedded covid isola- tion centre has been established in all the 305 Panchayats of District Jammu. While empha- sising on covid restrictions, the Deputy Commissioner said that to continue with the declining trend, the restrictions imposed are important to break the trans- mission chain. Applauding the efforts being put in by health workers, Anshul Garg said that medico and Para- medic teams are working tire- lessly to win the battle against Covid-19. Responding to media queries, the Deputy Commissioner said that non- covid health care facilities are equally important and Sarwal hospital has been designated for the same. He added that the administration of Sarwal hospi- tal is doing tremendous work in order to facilitate the patients other than Covid-19. Regarding black fungus cases in the district, the Deputy Commissioner said that the Health department has issued a detailed advisory regarding pre- cautions against it and asked the people to stay alert and contact the doctor on developing any symptom. He also asked the people to use helpline numbers in case of any emergency regarding Covid- 19 or in need of medical facili- ties. The Deputy Commissioner appealed the people to continue their support and follow the guidelines/directions issued by Administration to curb the Covid-19. Giving details about the isolation centres established at Panchayat level, he said Panchayat Raj Institutions were fully involved in the exercise and their support and cooperation helped to complete the task before timeline. The establishment of these centres is primarily aimed at pro- viding isolation facilities to the covid positive patients of rural areas, who find it difficult to get them isolated at homes due to space constraints, he informed. “All these centers have been equipped with basic medical facilities and the staff for these centers has also been deputed by the concerned Block Medical Officers. Covid Management Kits containing basic medical equipments like oximeter, ther- mometer etc., quite essential in the management of covid posi- tive patients have also been pro- vided to these centres in the pres- ence of PRIs” the DC added. Isolation centers established in all 305 Panchayats of Jammu district : DC See All Truth Prevail Videos News at www.truthprevail.com 8.38 lakh pensioners receive their pension under ISSS, National Old Age Pension scheme Government contribution credited to 83,617 bank accounts of beneficiaries under Ladli Beti scheme Employment provided to 26,673 households involving Rs 8.21 crore under MGNREGA 45 COVID-19 deaths : 29 from Jammu Division and 16 from Kashmir Division
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C M
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Truth PrevailRNI No:JKENG/2012/47637
Email:[email protected]
POSTAL REGD NO-JK/485/2016-18
Internet Editionwww.truthprevail.com
Epaper:epaper.truthprevail.com
VOL: 10 Issue: 130 JAMMU AND KASHMIR, TUESDAY, MAY 25 2021 DAILY PAGES 12 Rs. 2/-
3Advisor Khan hails Union Ministry for adding twomore disciplines at JK's Water Sports Centre
5SMVD Shrine Board supports Katra and PanthalBlocks for establishing COVID Care Centres
12Maj Gen Ranjan Mahajan takes over as ADG NCCdirectorate Jammu Kashmir and Ladakh
Atletico Madrid lift La Liga title
IN BRIEFIN BRIEF
SRINAGAR, MAY 24 :Department of Law, Justice &Parliamentary Affairs has start-ed special vaccination drive foradvocates of eight districts ofJ&K in the age group of 18-45years.
The step has been taken asan immediate measure forensuring that advocates, whoare at greater risk of contract-ing infection owing to theirvocation are vaccinated, astatement issued here by theDepartment said.It said that foradministration of vaccinationto advocates, special camps arebeing organized in districts. Itadded that in the first phase,besides Jammu and Srinagardistricts, vaccination shall becarried out in Anantnag,Baramulla and Budgam dis-tricts in Kashmir division andKathua, Udhampur and Rajouridistricts in Jammu divisionfrom May 24 to May 26, 2021.
Govt starts vaccination drive
for advocates in eight districts
for 18-45 yrs age group
TP CorrespondentJammu May 24 : Today
on receipt of special informa-tion about possession of con-traband substance in thehouse of Talib Hussain S /OMohammad Shafi Mir R/OKako Dossa Gandoh,Gandoh Police headed bySHO Gandoh Vikram Singh,raided the house of accusedand found *Charas* weigh-ing about 750gm, weighingmachine, and cash of 30thousand and said materialwas siezed immediately onspot infront of ExecutiveMagistrates and Fir No46/2021 U/S 8/20 of NDPSACT stand registered in PSGandoh and investigationtaken up. During preliminaryinquiry it was found thataccused Talib Hussain usedto supply the Charas amongYouth in small quantitiesusing small weighingmachine.
750 grams CHARAS
Recoverd in Gandoh
by Doda Police
SHOPIAN, MAY 24 :Ensuring the improvement ofwork culture at all levels, theDirector Agriculture Kashmir,Chowdhary Mohammad Iqbaltoday conducted a surprisevisit to different offices of theDistrict Shopian includingSeed Multiplication Farm(SMF) Allowpora.
While inspecting differentsections of the Farm, Directortook cognizance of the dis-couraging conditions of thefarm. All the delinquent staffwas placed under suspensionwith immediate effect andenquiry to this effect wasordered.
Taking strict notice of theevents, Director AgricultureKashmir ChowdharyMohammad Iqbal has direct-ed all the concerned officers/officials working in thedepartment to strictly adhereto the office timings andimprove work culture, so thatfarming community is servedto the best of capabilities andwarned of strict action againsterring employees in future.
Director Agriculture Kashmir
suspends 29 employees of
SMF Allowpora
Fruit & Vegetable
Commission Agents
Specialist In : Potato, Onion
Shop No. 69, Sabji
Mandi Narwal, Jammu.
Ph. 2475446, 94191-93836
Jai Baba Kali Veer Ji
MANOJ KUMAR & CO.
FORComputer Services
Laptop Services
BSNL Broadband
Pan Card
Passport
Contact :-
Rohit:Mob. 9419626826
JAMMU, MAY 24 : Inorder to assess the effectiveimplementation of variouswelfare schemes in J&K,Lieutenant Governor, ManojSinha today chaired a reviewmeeting and sought thedetailed status of relief meas-ures being extended to differ-ent sections of the societyaffected due to Covid-19 pan-demic.
Pertinently, the LieutenantGovernor had recentlyannounced a slew of measuresto mitigate the sufferings ofvarious vulnerable sections ofcommunity due to Covid-19.
The Lt Governor asked theofficers to work with compas-sion and empathy and take allrequired steps to enable peo-ple overcome their difficultiesduring this pandemic.
“It’s a collective responsi-bility of the officers at variouslevels to ensure that no onegoes hungry. You all mustreach out to every citizen inneed. Mid-day meal supplies,supplementary nutrition mustcontinue for the beneficiaries.Take care of the families of
daily wage earners, migrantlabourers and address theissues caused by the pandem-ic,” the Lt Governor said.
The Lt Governor observedin the meeting that the pan-demic has broad range ofimpact on different aspects ofpeople's lives.
If required, specific inter-ventions should be takenimmediately to support themost vulnerable population,workers, women, children,small businesses, farmers,communities and senior citi-zens. Collaborative, consis-tent and continuous efforts arerequired to further strengthenthe social protection,” the LtGovernor added.
While taking a compre-hensive overview of theimplementation of welfareschemes, the Lt Governor wasbriefed that the relief has beenextended to around 40 lakhbeneficiaries under different
components.It was informed that under
Interest Subvention, about
3.50 lakh borrowers havereceived installments of 5%interest subvention worth Rs200 crore.
On benefits extended toconstruction workers, the LtGovernor was informed thatthe first installment of morethan Rs 34.50 crore has beenprovided to 3,49,303 active
construction workers at therate of Rs 1000 per benefici-ary.
Moreover, Rs 5.6 crorehave been provided foraround 28 thousandShikarawalas/Ponywalas/Dandiwalas/Palkiwalas/Tourist guides at Rs 1000 permonth per beneficiary as twomonths' relief. Of the total,14,627 beneficiaries are fromKashmir division and 13,153
are from Jammu Division.As a part of COVID miti-
gation measures, Rs 55 crorehave been provided to allDistrict DevelopmentCommissioners at the rate ofRs 2.25 crore each and Rs 5crore to each DivisionalCommissioner of Jammu andKashmir.
The Lt Governor wasinformed during the meetingthat Rs. 2000 was disbursedeach to 9.5 lakh farmers underPM-KISAN Yojna involvinga total amount of Rs. 190crore.
Further, the RuralDevelopment Department hasprovided employment to26,673 households covering35,484 individuals, involvingRs 8.21 crore under MGNRE-GA during April and May,2021.
About 7.10 lakh pension-ers have received their pen-sion (through DBT mode)
amounting to Rs. 71 croreunder ISSS Pension for themonth of April. Under theIndira Gandhi National OldAge Pension scheme, amountto the tune of Rs. 25.68 crorefor the month of March andApril has been paid in favourof 1.28 lakh pensioners(through DBT).
Bank accounts of 83,617beneficiaries of Ladli Betischeme have been creditedwith an amount of Rs. 50.00cores (through DBT). Anotheramount of Rs 25 crore isbeing credited to the individ-ual bank accounts of the ben-eficiaries.
Besides, 1212 beneficiar-ies belonging to different dis-tricts of UT of J&K have beengiven an amount of Rs 4.836crore as financial assistance topoor marriageable girls(through DBT) under StateMarriage Assistance schemeduring the current financial
year.It was informed that the
School Education Departmentis providing Dry Ration(Rice) to 8.46 lakh studentsunder the Mid-Day MealScheme.
Under SupplementaryNutrition Programme, a totalof 7,89,586 beneficiariesincluding pregnant & lactat-ing women, children under 6years of age have been pro-vided dry ration in the UT.
The Lt Governorexpressed gratitude toHon’ble Prime MinisterNarendra Modi for all theassistance to the UnionTerritory. He also asked theconcerned officers to adoptvarious mitigation strategiesin line with the dynamics ofthe situation at hand andensure seamless extension ofbenefits to the citizens undervarious beneficiary orientedschemes.
Sh. Arun Kumar Mehta,Financial Commissioner,Finance Department and con-cerned senior officers attend-ed the meeting.
JAMMU, MAY 24 : Theadministration of GovernmentMedical College Jammutoday said that the process forrecruitment of the staff oncontractual basis required forearly commissioning ofDRDO- Hospital has alreadybeen initiated and the teamwill be available by May 26.
Responding to a newsreport “DRDO Hospital tofunction from May 25, staffnot recruited yet” appearing ina section of press, the authori-ties stated that that theGovernment, Vide Order No.398-JK (HME) of 2021 dated18.05.2021, has created 683posts to be deployed in 500bedded DRDO- COVIDHospital, constructed in col-laboration with DefenceResearch DevelopmentOrganisation (DRDO) atBhagwati Nagar Jammu.
“The post of MedicalSuperintendent and DeputyMedical Superintendent shallbe filled-up on deploymentbasis from the Health ServicesDepartment. The post ofPhysicians, Anesthetists,Pediatricians and Medical
Officers shall be filled- upboth on deployment from theHealth Services Departmentas well as on contractualbasis. The Nursing Staff andParamedical/Technical Staffshall be filled up both ondeployment from HealthServices Department as wellas on contractual basis” theMedical College Authoritiesinformed.
The GMC authorities said,the process for recruitment ofthe staff on contractual basiswas started with publishing ofthree advertisements in theleading newspapers of J&Kon 20th of May 2021, indicat-ing the designation, numberand the eligibility qualifica-tion required for the staff to beposted in DRDO Hospital.
“The aspirants of the samewere given three day time forfilling the forms up to 23rd ofMay 2021. Accordingly theselection process for the samewas completed by 24th ofMay 2021. As per plan, an ori-entation programme for newlyrecruited staff will be held on25th of May 2021” the GMCauthorities said.
Srinagar, May 24 : TheJammu and Kashmir adminis-tration on Monday declaredblack fungus (Mucormycosis)an epidemic in the state.
A notification regardingthe same was issued byHealth and MedicalEducation Department ofthe Union Territory underSection 2 of the EpidemicDisease Act 1897.
This comes a few daysafter the Centre directed allthe states and UTs to makeblack fungus a notifiabledisease. According to thenotification, all the govern-ment and private health facili-ties and medical colleges arerequired to follow the guide-lines for screening, diagnosisand management of the dis-ease issued by the Ministry ofHealth and Family Welfare(MoHFW), Indian Council ofMedical Research (ICMR)and J&K government asamended from time to time.
The guidelines make itmandatory for all such facili-ties to report suspected andconfirmed cases to the healthdepartment through district-level officers and Integrated
Disease Surveillance Program(IDSP).
The notification furtherread, "no person, institution ororganisation will use anyprint, electronic or any othermedia for Mucormycosis
without prior permission fromDirector Health ServiceJammu/ Kashmir."
The DHS will constitute acommittee headed by ChiefMedical Officer (CMO) of theconcerned district, which willhave specialist of internalMedicine, Ophthalmology,ENT and Epidemiologist asmembers to review any viola-tions. The violators will bepunished under Section 188of Indian Penal Code.
The UT reported its firstdeath due to black fungus onFriday.
Deptts asked to mobilize target groups for special vaccination drivesEach group’s vaccination to be fast-tracked from 25th May 2021
JAMMU, May 24 : Therollout of special vaccinationdrives for high risk and vul-nerable groups within the 18-45 age category was todayfinalized during a high-levelmeeting chaired by the ChiefSecretary, B V RSubrahmanyam.
Administrative Secretariesof the departments ofHousing & UrbanDevelopment, Information,Transport, Labour &Employment, Jal Shakti,Social Welfare, HigherEducation, Tourism and Law,Justice & ParliamentaryAffairs, besides MissionDirector, National HealthMission (NHM) and Director,Family Welfare participatedin the meeting.
To implement the decisiontaken by the Government forprioritized coverage of highrisk and vulnerable groupsunder 18-45 age category, itwas decided that the special
vaccination drives will initial-ly be kick-started in 8 districtshaving the highest diseasecaseload and positivity ratioand will be extended to all thedistricts once the supply ofvaccines increases. The roll-
out will begin in Anantnag,Baramulla, Budgam andSrinagar districts of Kashmir,and Jammu, Kathua, Rajouriand Udhampur districts ofJammu.
It was further informedthat the target groups havebeen identified consideringtheir risk assessment and vul-nerability to the disease. Itwas directed that as a part ofthe special vaccination drive,
additional dedicated vaccina-tion centres are establishedfor centralized and fast-tracked coverage of all identi-fied beneficiaries after properverification.
The Chief Secretarydirected the Law Departmentto organize 2-days specialvaccination drives at HighCourt complexes and DistrictCourts to vaccinate alllawyers. The InformationDepartment was directed toorganize similar vaccinationdrives for journalists at twinDirectorates of Jammu andKashmir, while the TourismDepartment was asked to holdsuch drives at concerned dis-trict offices to cover stake-holders associated with thetourism industry.
Jammu, May 24 : The pil-grimage to World famous ShriMata Vaishno Devi Shrine,located in the Trikuta Hills ofReasi district in Jammu andKashmir has witnessed slump inthe past two months due tosurging cases of COVID-19 inthe Union Territory of Jammuand Kashmir like other parts ofthe country.
"The number of pilgrims perday visiting Katra town to per-form pilgrimage has declineddue to COVID," an official said.
He said that only a few hun-dred pilgrims, mostly localdevotees from parts of Jammuand Kashmir, are visiting thecave shrine to pay obeisance.
"The tracks are wearing adeserted look and the eatingpoints along the twin routes are
shut," said a local shopkeeperadding that the food pointsbeing run by the Shri MataVaishno Devi Shrine Board areoperational.
"The services like helicop-ter, battery car and cable car arealso functional for the conven-ience of the pilgrims," he added.
Chief Executive Officer,Shri Mata Vaishno Devi ShrineBoard, Ramesh Kumar heretold TNN, "all facilities beingprovided by the Board are func-tional."
"The Shrine Board is takingcare of pilgrims with all safetymeasures in place includingtesting on their arrival," said theCEO adding that the Board isfollowing SOPs, guidelinesbeing issued time to time by theCentre and the J&K
Government including theHealth Department.
On an average, 300 to 400pilgrims are visiting the CaveShrine daily, he added.
Amidst COVID, more than16 lakh pilgrims paid obeisanceat Shri Mata Vaishno Devi inthe first four months of 2021.
In the first two months, pil-grimage increased and the perday figure reached 15000 to20000 but with the secondCOVID wave, the numberdecreased and in the first fourmonths, 16,45,333 pilgrims vis-ited the Bhawan.
In January, a total of40,8861 devotees reached theBhawan, in February, 3,89,549devotees, in March, 5,25,198and in the month of April,3,21,725 pilgrims.
JAMMU, May 24 : TheGovernment on Mondayinformed that2237 new posi-tive cases of novel Coronavirus (COVID-19), 854 fromJammu division and1383from Kashmir division,have been reported today, thustaking the total number ofpositive cases in Jammu andKashmir to 272858. Also 45COVID-19 deaths have beenreported, 29 from JammuDivision and 16 fromKashmir Division.
Moreover, 3999 moreCOVID-19 patients haverecovered and dischargedfrom various hospitals includ-ing 1490 from JammuDivision and 2509 fromKashmir Division.
According to the dailyMedia Bulletin on novelCorona virus (Covid-19), outof 272858 positive cases,45630 are Active Positive,
223619 have recovered and3609have died; 1732inJammu division and 1877 inKashmir division.
The Bulletin further saidthat out of 8270069test results
available, 7997211 sampleshave been tested as negativetill 24thMay, 2021.
Till date 2035593 personshave been enlisted for obser-vation which included 74787persons in home quarantineincluding facilities operatedby government, 45630 in iso-lation and 141002in homesurveillance. Besides,1770565 persons have com-pleted their surveillance peri-od. Providing district-wisebreakup, the Bulletin said thatSrinagar has 62468 positivecases (including 309 casesreported today) with 5683
Active Positive, 56048recov-ered (including 863casesrecovered today), 737 deaths;Baramulla has 19955 positivecases (including 103 casesreported today)with
2823Active Positive,16889recovered (including119 cases recovered today),243 deaths; Budgam reported18895positive cases (includ-ing221 cases reportedtoday)with 4464 active posi-tive cases, 14267 recovered(including 304cases recoveredtoday), 164 deaths; Pulwamahas 12008 positive cases(including 77 cases reportedt o d a y ) w i t h 2 2 3 2 A c t i v ePositive, 9620recovered(including 45 cases recoveredtoday)and 156 deaths;Kupwara has 10887 positivecases (including 204 cases
reported today), 1905 ActivePositive, 8847 recoveries(including 225 cases recov-ered today), 135 deaths;Anantnag district has 13280positive cases (including 106
cases reported today)with3797 Active Positive,9334recovered (including 558cases recovered today), 149deaths; Bandipora has 7957positive cases (including77cases reported today),with1217Active Positive and6657 recoveries (including58cases recovered today),83deaths; Ganderbal has 7876positive cases (including91cases reported today)with1168Active Positive, 6642recoveries (including 97 casesrecovered today)and66deaths;Kulgam has 9159 positivecases (including 169 cases
reported today)with 2516Active Positive, 6553recover-ies (including198 cases recov-ered today)and 90 deathswhile as Shopian has 4995positive cases (including 26
cases reportedtoday),1087active positivecases, 3854 recoveries(including 42 cases recoveredtoday)and54 deaths.
Similarly, Jammu has48128 positive cases (includ-ing 441 cases reported today)with 7053 active positivecases, 40099recoveries(including 474 cases recov-ered today), 976 deaths;Udhampur has 10118 positivecases (including 55casesreported today), 1372activepositive cases, 8634 recover-ies (including211 cases recov-ered today)and112 deaths;
Rajouri has 9059 positivecases (including 66 casesreported today)with2991active positive,5909recoveries (including253 cases recoveredtoday)and 159 deaths; Dodahas 5193 positive cases(including 43cases reportedtoday) with 1082Active posi-tive, 4029 recovered (includ-ing 61 cases recoveredtoday)and 82deaths; Kathuahas 8335 positive cases(including 49 cases reportedtoday), 1059 active positivecases, 7160recovered(includ-ing 166cases recovered today)and 116deaths; Kishtwar has3813 positive cases (including47 cases reported today)with314 Active Positive, 3469recoveries (including 82 casesrecovered today)and30deaths; Samba has 6441 posi-tive cases (including 31 casesreported today)with 2377
active positive cases, 3964recoveries (including 54 casesrecovered today)and 100deaths; Poonch has 4776 pos-itive cases (including 27 casesreported today)with1000active positive,3700recoveries (including57cases recovered today)and76 deaths; Ramban has 4556positive cases (including 47cases reported today)with883active positive cases, 3626recoveries (including 67 casesrecovered today)and 47deaths while Reasi has 4959positive (including 48 casesreported today)with 607active positive cases, 4318recoveries (including65 casesrecovered today)and 34deaths.
According to the bulletin,among the total 272858 posi-tive cases in J&K, 21298havebeen reported as travelerswhile 251560as others.
Lt Governor assesses effective implementation of welfare schemesin J&K; various relief measures extended in view of Covid-19
Recruitment of contractual Staff for DRDO-Hospital being ensured on time: GMC Jammu
Black fungus declared an epidemic in J&K
Vaisno Devi pilgrimage witnessesslump due to COVID
COVID-19 : JK reports 2237 new positive cases, 223619 recovered so far
JAMMU, MAY 24 : DeputyCommissioner Jammu AnshulGarg today said that over 20thousand persons of 18-45 age-group have been inoculated inthe district. Briefing the mediapersons about the covid care andcontrol measures, he said thatmore vaccination centers will beadded soon with the augmenta-tion of vaccine supply. He alsoinformed that as a measure oflarge-scale preparedness andwith a view to provide institu-tional medical care to the Covid19 positive patients of ruralareas, a five bedded covid isola-tion centre has been establishedin all the 305 Panchayats ofDistrict Jammu. While empha-sising on covid restrictions, theDeputy Commissioner said thatto continue with the decliningtrend, the restrictions imposedare important to break the trans-mission chain.
Applauding the efforts beingput in by health workers, AnshulGarg said that medico and Para-medic teams are working tire-lessly to win the battle againstCovid-19.
Responding to media
queries, the DeputyCommissioner said that non-covid health care facilities areequally important and Sarwalhospital has been designated forthe same. He added that theadministration of Sarwal hospi-tal is doing tremendous work inorder to facilitate the patients
other than Covid-19.Regarding black fungus
cases in the district, the DeputyCommissioner said that theHealth department has issued adetailed advisory regarding pre-cautions against it and asked thepeople to stay alert and contactthe doctor on developing anysymptom.
He also asked the people touse helpline numbers in case ofany emergency regarding Covid-19 or in need of medical facili-
ties. The Deputy Commissionerappealed the people to continuetheir support and follow theguidelines/directions issued byAdministration to curb theCovid-19. Giving details aboutthe isolation centres establishedat Panchayat level, he saidPanchayat Raj Institutions werefully involved in the exercise andtheir support and cooperationhelped to complete the taskbefore timeline.
The establishment of thesecentres is primarily aimed at pro-viding isolation facilities to thecovid positive patients of ruralareas, who find it difficult to getthem isolated at homes due tospace constraints, he informed.“All these centers have beenequipped with basic medicalfacilities and the staff for thesecenters has also been deputed bythe concerned Block MedicalOfficers. Covid ManagementKits containing basic medicalequipments like oximeter, ther-mometer etc., quite essential inthe management of covid posi-tive patients have also been pro-vided to these centres in the pres-ence of PRIs” the DC added.
Isolation centers established in all 305Panchayats of Jammu district : DC
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8.38 lakh pensioners receive their pension under ISSS, National Old Age Pension schemeGovernment contribution credited to 83,617 bank accounts of beneficiaries under Ladli Beti scheme
Employment provided to 26,673 households involving Rs 8.21 crore under MGNREGA
45 COVID-19 deaths : 29 from Jammu Division and 16 from Kashmir Division
Dr. Farooq, Omar Abdullah condole demise offormer Information officer Fida Ali
Srinagar, 24 May : TheJammu and Kashmir NationalConference President, Memberof Parliament from Srinagar DrFarooq Abdullah and VicePresident Mr. Omar Abdullah onMonday expressed profoundgrief and sorrow over the demiseof former Deputy DirectorInformation, and PublicRelations Kashmir Fida Ali.
In his condolence messageDr. Farooq said, “Received the
news of Fida Sahib’s passingaway with profound grief. Hehad the distinction of workingwith Sher e Kashmir. He will beremembered for his meritoriousservice to the department ofinformation. During his stint asthe deputy director DIPRKashmir, he made earnest effortsto diversify the roles played bythe department. I pray toAlmighty to bestow highest sta-tions to the deceased in the
Jannat and forbearance to thebereaved to bear the incon-solable loss.”It is pertinent tomention here that Late FidaSahib had also served as public-ity secretary to Party PresidentDr. Farooq Abdullah.In his con-dolence Message, OmarAbdullah said, “The news ofpassing away of Fida Sahib hassaddened me. I had the opportu-nity to closely view his attitudeof determination and work
ethics, in his capacity as myOSD Media. A meritoriouswriter, journalist and civil ser-vant, he rendered commendableservice to information depart-ment. I express my heartfeltcondolences to the bereavedfamily and pray for peace to thedeparted in the highest echelonsof Jannat. I share the grief of thebereaved family and pray forfortitude to them at this difficulttime,” he said.
Who is tricking the Nation? Oppositionor the Government? : AAP
JAMMU, May 24 :Expressing deepest concernover the spate of daily deathsof Corona- patients in thecountry and the tricking ofBJP spokes persons allegingthat opposition is busy indenouncing the image of PMNarinder Modi, while keepingmum over the shortage of vac-cine, oxygen, beds, ambu-lances as also medicines ofnew variant Black & WhiteFungus,, Shamshan GHATS& grave yards as a result thou-sands of dead bodies havebeen noticed floating in riverGanga and the GODIMEDIA hiding the factualposition from countrymen, theAAP Jammu, in a pressrelease issued has vehementlyraised the question whetherMODI is above the Nation or
Nation is above MODI? WhyBJP leaders & spokes personsare day in & day out busy inglorifying the incessant dwin-dling image of PM Modi overhis utter failure in handlingthe pandemic instead of antic-ipating & doing practicalthings in containing the dread-ed COVID-19? Why orders tomanufacture vaccine for 135crores of Indians has beengiven to only two companiesincluding Bio-Tech at a verylate stage, while some Nationshave already stocked vaccinesat a number of double of theirpopulation? The release ques-tioned and added that whyresponsibility is not fixed onthe managers of pandemic forloss of lives who not findingany room in Hospital, standburied along the bank of river
Ganga & becoming diningstock for crows, vultures,dogs & fowls ? Has not theimage of country dived deepbefore the international com-munity while the “ AndhBhakats” are worried for thepopularity of PM, Modi?
Expressing great wonderthe TUGLAK order ofDivisional CommissionerKashmir deputing class IVorderlies, gardeners etc forhandling COVID-19 inKashmir the release felt sur-prise that instead thousands ofDoctors & Paramedics whomPM describes as “ Front war-riors” are not being regulaisedin J&K despite putting themon regular jobs. In a demo-cratic country like Indiawhich has the credit of beinggreatest democracy of the
world, the opposition has themoral and constitutional dutyto bring to fore the weakness-es of the government and anystep which is detrimental tothe interests and rights of itscitizens, then why the opposi-tion is dubbed as anti-nationalthe release asked & exhortedupon ruling dispensation notto become adamant and dicta-tors when healthy suggestionsare put forth by the opposi-tion. The AAP Jammuappeals the masses to read thewritings on the walls andjudge for themselves as towho is tricking whom? Theruling Party should gird uptheir loins for saving the livesof countrymen instead of hid-ing the truth and misleadingfor cheap politics and fakenationalism.
DIG chairs Police Darbar at DPL RambanHands over scooties to women help desk of all police stationsRAMBAN, MAY 24 :
Deputy Inspector General(DIG) of Police, Doda-Kishtwar-Ramban, Range,Udhay Bhaskar Billa,presided over a police darbarand listened to the issues ofpolice personnel at DistrictPolice Lines, Ramban, heretoday.
The Darbar marked thefirst official visit of DIG,DKR to district Ramban afterhis joining.
Senior SuperintendentPolice, PD Nitya; AdditionalSuperintendent Police, RajiniSharma, Dy. SP, DAR,SDPOs, Gool and Banihal,besides other senior officerswere also present on the occa-sion.
The DIG, after giving a
patient hearing to the issuesraised by police personnel andofficials, assured to addressall the issues at the earliest.
Issues related to transfer, pro-motion and rewards etc willbe addressed on priority, hesaid. The DIG appreciated the
role of Ramban police in con-taining the spread of this pan-demic and urged the Jawansto follow the SOPs, while per-
forming their duties. He fur-ther exhorted them to be firmand polite to the public whileenforcing the lockdown in the
areas of their jurisdiction.Meanwhile, the DIG hand-
ed over scooties to all thepolice stations to facilitate thewomen help desks.
“The initiative of thepolice to provide these bikesto police stations aims at tocurb the crimes against thewomen and increase the out-reach of police to women liv-ing in distant areas,” the DIGsaid on the occasion.
Earlier, SSP gave adetailed briefing to DIG aboutfunctioning of police depart-ment, challenges, develop-mental activities, demographyand topography of the districtbesides preparedness andmeasures being taken to con-tain spread of second waveCOVID-19 in the district.
Covid warrior Som Raj works day & night inHousekeeping section of GMC Rajouri
RAJOURI, MAY 24 :Notwithstanding his nearlyretiring age and family expec-tations, Som Raj, Inchargehousekeeping in GovernmentMedical College, is workingday and night to ensure thattasks on his shoulders fortreatment of COVID patientsare met well before time.
Som Raj is not only look-ing after the housekeepingrelated responsibilities inGovernment Medical Collegeand Associated HospitalRajouri but is also assistingauthorities in the managementof COVID patients admitted
in the isolation ward."We have our own set of
tasks drawn under the catego-ry of housekeeping, but this isthe time when everyone needsto work beyond routine jobs,"said Som Raj.
He said that the house-keeping staff and privatesecurity personnel in the med-ical college are also assistingauthorities in the transporta-tion of oxygen cylinders,shifting of patients and ambu-lance services, by duly fol-lowing the safety protocolsand Covid SoPs .
"I ferry dozens of oxygen
cylinders from the isolationward to the cylinder bank on a
daily basis," said Som Raj andadded that he also shifts
patients at a time when theirattendants maintain a dis-tance.
In some circumstances, Ieven accompany the ambu-lance driver, wearing safetygear, for shifting the COVIDpatient from home to hospitalor carrying the body of apatient, who dies in an isola-tion ward.
"Services rendered duringthis pandemic when peopleare maintaining distance fromtheir family members is thebiggest service to mankindand I am working on this prin-ciple only" Som Raj added.
JAMMU, MAY 24 : Inorder to carry out variousupgradation/repair works, thepower supply to Dansal,Khah Puta, Janayala, Janakaand adjoining areas shallremain affected on May 25from 11 am to 03 pm.
Similarly, the power sup-ply to the areas fed fromBirpur Complex R/Stn. shallremain affected on May 25from 9.30 am to 10.30 am.
Power shutdownRAMBAN, MAY 24 :
Continuing the drive to imple-ment Covid protocol acrossthe district Ramban, theEnforcement teams todayfined scores of violators forroaming without wearing facemasks and not maintainingphysical distance.
The enforcement teams,during the inspection in theirrespective jurisdictions,recovered a fine of Rs 7100
taking the total amount finedsince April 1, 2021 to Rs. 8,84,700. The Enforcementofficers urged the people towear face masks and maintainphysical distance besides tak-ing Covid vaccination dosesat their nearest CVC.
District ImmunizationOfficer, Ramban, Dr, Sureshinformed that as many as1009 persons were adminis-tered first and second Covid
vaccine doses across Rambandistrict on Monday. As perdaily bulletin issued by theChief Medical Officer,Ramban, Dr. MohammadFareed Bhat, the HealthDepartment has collected1239 samples including 332RT-PCR and 907 RAT sam-ples besides administeringCovid vaccine to 1009 per-sons at dedicated VaccinationCentres in the district.
Enforcement teams recovers 7100fine from violators in Ramban
TRUTH PREVAILJAMMU TUESDAY MAY 25, 20212 SPECIAL
Testing, vaccination key tools to fightCovid-19 : Dr. Geetanjali
SAMBA, MAY 24 : Thekey to covid-19 control lies inintensive testing and vaccina-tion in each block, each vil-lage and a sustained hope forencouraging result of relent-less work, says Dr. GeetanjaliRajput, posted at a covid test-ing centre in district Samba.
Dr. Geetanjali Rajput,Nodal officer for covid-19testing at Bassi Kalan, BlockPurmandal, knows the fear ofworking in such circum-stances, and it makes no lessof her in exhibiting compas-sion towards visiting patientsto her center. "It’s a humantouch to every problem thatresolves most tedious and tan-gled situations," said DrGeetanjali.
“Sampling of persons sus-pected to carry infection does-
n’t stop us from taking care oftheir well being. We havekept tents, chairs, air coolers,masks, sanitizers, made provi-
sion of social distancing as wewant them to return with apleasant experience andencourage others to visit thecenter to take test and facili-tate breaking the chain of
transmission” said the Doctor."District administration
Samba has fully supported usin keeping this testing centerfunctional and we have beenprovided with adequate PPEKits, Masks, Gloves,Facesheilds and Sanitizers toprotect ourselves,” Dr.Geetanjali informed.
She opined that testing isprimary tool for combatingcovid-19 spread, as intensivetesting can break the chain,help isolate and provide earlymedical interventions for pos-itive cases.
“We conduct both RTPCRand Rapid antigen test in thisCentre. The People comeearly morning as temperaturesoars mid-day here, so westart registration and samplingside by side as it saves waiting
period” the Doctor said whileexplaining how due care isbeing taken to ensure conven-ience of the visitors.
She said on testing posi-tive the person is providedcovid kit containing oximeter,thermometers, masks, do'sand don'ts and other check listprovided by health and med-ical department, also providehim available ambulance toensure he stays in isolatedroom in home quarantine ortaken to covid care centre.
When asked about work-load, she said it is a part ofduty to be patient and showempathy towards the patients,but I believe only diamondscan shine and sustain underhigh pressure and that is whatmotivates me to me to keepgoing.
BJP committed to augment Govt’s efforts, servepeople in ongoing crisis : Kavinder
JAMMU, May 24 :Senior Bharatiya Janata Partyleader and former DeputyChief Minister, KavinderGupta has asserted thatBharatiya Janata Party, whilestanding to its commitment toserve the families of thosewhose have suffered due toCOVID-19 pandemic, contin-ues to reach out to the affect-ed lot in every nook and cor-ner of the Union Territory,irrespective of the factwhether it is rural or the urbanarea.
Addressing the party cadrewhile chairing a meeting ofthe senior Party functionaries,Kavinder impressed uponthem to ensure that there isleft no stone unturned in ful-filling the party’s commit-ment to serve the people espe-cially the needy, poor and theCOVID-19 victim families inthis hour of deep crisis to aug-ment the relentless efforts ofthe administration to providesuccour to the needy in thishour of crisis.
Eulogizing the aims andobjectives of the programme‘Sewa Hi SangathanAbhiyan’, the former DeputyChief Minister asserted that
the main purpose of thishumane endeavour is toensure that people in distressin the pandemic do not feelalone or helpless. By beingthere standing with them onground and serving them pro-vides them tremendous moral
and psychological supportwhich is necessary to defeatthis deadly Corona virus thathas already taken heavy tollacross the nation, he added.
The former Dy. ChiefMinister asked the BJP work-ers and activists to provide allpossible help to the affectedpeople in this hour of crisis.He asked them to focus theirattention on the aggrievedpeople whose family mem-
bers are suffering due to thislethal virus. He also urged theparty cadre to create massiveawareness about the direnecessity to get themselvesvaccinated at the earliestbesides following with utmostsincerity and strictness theSOPs and restrictionsannounced by the administra-tion from time to time. Heinformed that the party is alsocontinuing its endeavour inthe direction of free distribu-tion of food to the poor andneedy section of the society sothat none sleeps hungry in theongoing unprecedented situa-tion. Thanking the people formaintaining patience andfully cooperating with theadministration, KavinderGupta assured that with syn-chronised efforts of all thestakeholders we will soon winthe battle against the lethalcorona virus.
Former MLC VikramRandhawa, State SecretaryArvind Gupta and others werepresent in the meeting.
Modalities for vaccination of people under 18-45age category discussed at Ganderbal
GANDERBAL, MAY 24: The Deputy Commissioner(DC) Ganderbal, KrittikaJyotsna today chaired a meet-ing with concerned officers todiscuss the modalities for vac-cination of people between18-45 age category in the dis-trict.
At the outset, the DC saidthat the Government ofJammu and Kashmir hasdecided to accelerate the vac-cination of people between18-45 age category in afocused and targeted manner.
During the meeting thread-bare discussion was held uponthe data collection exercise,categorization of high-riskand vulnerable groups, estab-lishment of vaccination cen-ters and other related arrange-ments.
The DC informed that forthe 18-45 age group, the high-er risk and vulnerable groupshave been identified whichinclude shopkeepers/dhabawallas, hotel waitersand staff, services sector, peo-ple engaged in door-to-door
work including barbers,repairmen, drivers/conduc-tors, lawyers, journalists, fac-ulty/staff/ workers of the uni-versities/ colleges,
Government employees onCOVID duty, constructionworkers registered withLabour Department, tourismsector workers, people withdisabilities, widows/singlemothers, orphans and personswith comorbid conditions.
Regarding collection ofrelated data, the DC directed
all the officers to conduct sur-veys wherever necessary toensure coverage of data of tar-get groups like their name,Aadhar and contact number
within the time frame. EO Municipal Council
Ganderbal and Tehsildarswere directed to collect datain their respective jurisdic-tions as per the format besidesTehsildar Kangan was askedto also collect the data of serv-ice providers during ShriAmarnath Yatra.
Similarly, ARTOGanderbal was asked to col-lect the data of Drivers andconductors and Dy. CEO wasasked to collect the data ofteachers, lecturers and otherstaff of schools and universi-ties in the district.
The District SocialWelfare Officer was directedto collect data of persons withDisability, widows andorphans and DIO was askedto share data of all journalistsworking in the district.
Furthermore, heads ofother departments were alsoasked to share the data of theiremployees who are on Covidduty under the 18-45 agegroup.
Additional DistrictDevelopment Commissioner,Additional DeputyCommissioner, Dy.SP HQ,Assistant CommissionerPanchayat, ExecutiveEngineers of various wings,ARO, EO Municipality, Dy.CMO, Dy. CEO, Tehsildars,BDOs and other concernedattended the meeting.
‘Awaam Ki Awaaz’Kashmir FMPHW thanks LG Manoj Sinha for mentioning
her in Radio Talk show ‘Awaam ki Awaaz’Says it is inspiring that our work is being recognized by LG himself
SRINAGAR, MAY 24 : AFemale Multipurpose HealthWorker (FMPHW), workingat PHC Srigufwara, MurtazaMohi-u-din Jan has thankedthe Lieutenant Governor ofJammu and Kashmir, ManojSinha for mentioning hername in monthly Radio Talkshow ‘Awaam ki Awaaz’ andrecognizing her work duringthe ongoing pandemicCOVID-19.
Last week, LieutenantGovernor, Manoj Sinha dedi-cated monthly Radio talkshow to corona warriors whoare at the forefront in the
ongoing COVID-19 pan-demic across the UnionTerritory and recognizedtheir work and efforts theyare putting in while dealingwith the hard task ofCOVID-19.
During the programme,LG Sinha, shared some ofthe inspiring stories of goodSamaritans and saluted theirspirit and dedication towardshuman service.
Like other frontlinehealthcare workers (Nursesand paramedics), MurtazaJan is at the forefront of thisCOVID-19 health crisis and
is constantly managing bothoffice work as well as homerelated responsibilities.
Murtaza Jan, who hasbeen dealing with theCOVID related work sincethe day of her appointment,said that it was heartening tohear that LG Manoj Sinhamentioned my name inAwaam ki Awaaz talk showand recognized my work.
“It was an amazing feel-ing that I was approached byLt Governor’s office and hehimself mentioned my namein the radio talk show andrecognized my work”, an
elated Jan said. She addedthat it is inspiring that ourwork is being recognized byLieutenant Governor him-self.
Jan further says thatdespite catching Covid, sherecovered and continued herwork of testing as well astreating COVID patients. Janadds that CORONA is a verydreadful disease and appealsto the general public to fol-low covid appropriate behav-ior, follow proper SOPs andguidelines so that the chainof virus breaks and thespread of virus is contained.
Yudhvir distributes face masks,sanitizers at General Bus Stand
Jammu, May 24 :Yudhvir Sethi, J&K BJP VicePresident and Convener,Sewa Hi Sangathan, J&Ktoday distributed face masks,sanitizers and disseminatedinformation about Covid pre-cautions and SOPs, at GeneralBus Stand Jammu.
SHO Bus StandDeepanker Manhas, AshuGupta, Roshan Sharma,Parven Kerni and Ajit Yogiaccompanied the senior BJPleader.
Speaking on the occasion,Sethi said that he takes this ashis responsibility and told thathe has been continuouslyengaged from the initial stageto provide essentials to theneedy persons.
Sethi asserted that BJP isat forefront in tackingCOVID-19 crisis in theJammu and Kashmir UnionTerritory. He said that BJP asan organization has been on
the toes since the beginning ofthe Pandemic and takingevery possible measure toease the tough times beingfaced by the residents of ourgreat Nation.
The senior BJP leadermaintained that the partyworkers were serving freeration, food, masks, sanitizersand other essential commodi-ties to needy to mitigate thesufferings of poor people whogot affected due to lockdownat different places of UT. "Theway the people of the countryhave supported to the PrimeMinister Narendra Modi pre-senting a new hope for thenation in its fight against theglobal crisis of Corona virus,"he said.
Yudhvir also appealed tothe people of J&K to get unit-ed and support Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and UTGovernment's proactivemeasures to contain the
spread of coronavirus conta-gion and strictly follow guide-lines issued on various occa-sions. He also appealed to the
people to come forward todonate ration and other essen-tial items so that a large num-ber of families, in distress,may be covered and provided
ration items as an interimrelief. He also laid stress uponthe party workers to ensurethat ration, medicines and
other necessary commoditiesare provided to needy per-sons, while maintaining per-sonal hygiene and social dis-tance.
August'19 developments reflect dynamics of geo-politicalpower, Pakistan's flip-flop won't work : Chrungoo
JAMMU, May 24 : "Thedevelopments pertaining toAugust 2019 in regard toJammu and Kashmir are per-manent in nature and reflectthe dynamics of geo-politicalpower. Any sort of flip-flopon the part of Pakistan won'twork at all, whatever be thecost", said Ashwani KumarChrungoo, senior BJP and KPleader and Incharge, Deptt ofpolitical affairs and Feedback,J&K-BJP.
This he said while makinghis presentation in a globalwebinar conducted by TheNeem Tree, London today. Hewas on the panel of distin-guished speakers on the topic,"Kashmir is mine". Thoseother prominent persons whoparticipated in the seminarincluded among othersAbdullah H Haroon, SenatorJaved Jabbar, HashimQuraishi, O.P.Shah, AndrewWhitehead and Justice (retd.)Abdul Majid Malik. ZahirBabur, the prominent intellec-tual of the West was theorganiser of the 23rd series ofwebinar and Zahid Hussainconducted the proceedings ofthe widely watched event.
Chrungoo maintained,
while addressing the first suchwebinar after his dischargefrom the SS Hospital recentlydue to his Covid positivity,that there can be no compro-
mise on the position that thegovernment of India has takenconsistently over the lastmore than a decade regarding"terror and talks won't gotogether". It was an estab-lished doctrine acceptableacross India and all party lines
in India."The issue of dialogue and
talks might not be subject toany sort of whimsically ori-ented menifestation of poli-
tics, unless Pakistan imple-ments its sacred commitmentsthat it made to India and theworld. Otherwise there is abrittle chance of movement-forward in this regard. A lotof statesmen and leaders ofthe world classified Pakistan,
unfortunately, as the epicentreof global terorism".
The statements emanatingfrom close quarters of thegovernment in Pakistan speakits double-talk unfortunatelyagain for Pakistan. Those whoare yet in the wilderness of theso-called freedom or self-determination are the realenemies of Jammu andKashmir and those who pro-pogate terrorism to 'pursuetheir cause' are not only thevillians of peace developmentbut also of the humankind as awhole"
There can be no two opin-ions regarding the fact thatIndia won't allow any furtherdivision in the name of reli-gion and creed. The mistakesof 1947 can't be repeated,whatever be the cost. In orderto establish peace, order, tran-quality and goodwill,Pakistan needs to come out ofthe seven decade old irrele-vance of politics and socialcombines & cogmires inrespect of Jammu andKashmir, the KP and BJPleader further added, who rep-resented the Indian andKashmiri Pandit displacedpeople's cause in the Webinar.
Navin Choudhary launches new E-PlantClinics, “JMU KHETI” Brand
Inaugurates LED Display Screen at Krishi Bhawan JammuJAMMU, MAY 24 :
Principal Secretary,Agriculture Production andFarmers Welfare Department,Navin Kumar Choudhary,today launched e-Plant clinicsin 5 uncovered districts ofJammu division.
He formally launchedthese e-clinics in Ramban,Doda, Kishtwar, Reasi andPoonch by handing over theUSB microscopes and otherrelated material to concernedChief Agriculture Officer. Heoutlined that this step willpave way to mitigate theinsect pests, disease and defi-ciency problems of variousagricultural crops.
Meanwhile, PrincipalSecretary inaugurated an out-door LED Display Screen inthe premises of KrishiBhawan, Talab Tillo besideslaunching JMU KHETIBrand. Principal Secretary,while speaking on the occa-sion, said that this initiativetaken by AgricultureProduction Department willaid in educating the visitingfarmers regarding variousfarmer friendly schemes andlatest technological interven-tions in the field using audiovisual mode.
He suggested uploading
the daily subject wise displayschedule on the departmentalwebsite so the farmers canattend the programme accord-ing to their need.
Director AgricultureJammu, K. K. Sharma,informed that the department
is operating 40 e-plant clinicsin ten districts of Jammu divi-sion in coordination withmain Plant Health Clinic,Directorate of AgricultureJammu for technical back up.He impressed upon the offi-
cers of department and CABIto educate the farmers regard-ing adverse effects of indis-criminate use of pesticidesand their residual effect.
Dr Vinod Pandit,Programme Leader, CABI,South Asia told that Plant
clinics work on differentaspects of the pest manage-ment including data collec-tion, online validation, analy-sis and recommendations tothe farmers through SMS.
Meanwhile, Principal
Secretary formally launchedthe Brand ‘JMU KHETI’under Project Brand promo-tion of area specific crops ofhills of Jammu division.
The officers apprised thePrincipal Secretary that areaspecific products like Saffron,Guchi, Honey, Rajmash,Anardana, Kala Zeera,Turmeric etc will be providedbar coding after quality checkby FASSI and ultimatelylinked with the big commer-cial stores and food chains forbetter marketing.
Principal Secretary direct-ed the concerned to promotemore brands on similar linesbased upon product type likedairy, horticultural crops, veg-etables etc.
Those present on the occa-sion were DirectorHorticulture Jammu, RamSavak, Joint Director (Inputs),B. D. Sharma, Joint Director(Farms), Rajinder Sharma,Joint Director (Mushroom &Apiculture Development),Iqbal Singh, Deputy DirectorAgriculture ( Central), PlantProtection Officer,Agronomist Vegetable,Deputy Director Trainings,Chief Agriculture officers ofall districts besides other sen-ior officers.
Putting future plans on hold, young doctors serveCovid patients at GMC Jammu
Only work, eat, sleep; the medicos reveal their job routineJAMMU, MAY 24 : ‘In
the first five minutes of join-ing, I watched a Covid patientsuccumbing to critical condi-tions. I was there, I did all Icould but it wasn’t enough. Istill get chills reminiscingabout the fateful day’, recallsDr Shefali Verma, an intern,presently serving in Covidcare ward at GovernmentMedical College & Hospital,Jammu.
MBBS pass outs, DrNeeda Dar and Dr ShefaliVerma are among severalyoung doctors providingexceptional services in timesof Covid pandemic. They’vebeen serving for about amonth now.
Detailing their routine,they said, “We usually attendserious Covid patients, moni-tor their vitals, operate BiPAPmachine, high flow andmechanical oxygen supplyapparatus, and if need be,report to our seniors’.
Asked about their post-work routine, Dr Shefalireveals, ‘We work around 12hours a day, seven days aweek. When we’re not work-ing, we retire back to the iso-lated accommodations pro-vided to us by the govern-ment. The time is mostlyspent sleeping, doing laundry
and speaking with family overoccasional video conference.Not much time is left to doanything else.”
Dr Needa has a differenttake on the situation and says,‘When I’m not working, Imake sure I take an 8-hoursleep. Besides sleeping, laun-dry is another thing that con-sumes time’. Setting a philo-sophical tone to the con-versation, she said, it isironical that a Covidpatient has to isolatehimself maximum fortwo weeks, while thedoctor taking care ofsuch patients needs tolive in isolation for a farlonger time.
Speaking about fami-ly, the two said, “Most ofour conversationsrevolve around Covidand are filled with ten-sion. Our parents arealways Covid- consciousand apprehensive; tellingus to take good care and pre-cautions,” said Dr Needa.“I’m mostly worried aboutmy grandparents and makesure to talk to them every timeI call home,” Dr Shefaliadded.
When asked about how thetwo feel about local mediacoverage, they don’t seem
much hyped. ‘We want to tellthe world that the patient todoctor ratio in India is huge.Even in a ward with 50patients, if we spend 2 min-utes with one patient, it takesus more than an hour to attendto the same patient again,”said concerned Dr Shefali.
Sounding a bit optimistic,Dr Needa said, yet new
wards, new health profession-als and new ventilators arebeing added by the govern-ment. “We can hope that wewon’t remain so hard pressedfor ever’. In a steadfast tone,the two said, ‘We are here todo our duty! Negativity andbad press won’t deter us fromdoing our job.’
The only qualm the twohave is not being able to eatand breathe properly withtheir PPE kits. ‘It isn’t easyspending an entire day in aPPE kit. A couple of our col-leagues suffered dehydrationand tremors due to it. We alsoavoid eating while wearingthe kits as it is neither safe norconvenient. We mostly limitour day-time meals to fruitjuice, liquid foods and wateronly’, they said.
Sharing her thoughts onthe pandemic, Dr Needa said,‘Unless we spearhead ourfight against it by adoptingCovid appropriate behaviour,it won’t end soon. I hope thefuture generations also takelessons from the present situa-tion,” she added.
Dr Needa wants to becomea surgeon in future and said,‘with the way Covid is ham-pering our routine lives, Ican’t say how long it will takeme to take up Specialisationand Super Spealisation cours-es, as all entrance exams areon hold."
On the other hand, DrShefali doesn’t have any par-ticular discipline in mind andsaid, “Whichever specialisa-tion I opt for, I will make sureit involves direct interactionwith the patients.”
TRUTH PREVAILJAMMU TUESDAY MAY 25, 20213 NEWS
SRINAGAR, MAY 24 :Director Information andPublic Relations (DIPR),Rahul Pandey condoles saddemise of former DeputyDirector Information FidaAli, who passed away todaymorning.
In a condolence message,Rahul Pandey expressed deepsorrow and grief over thedemise of Fida Ali andremembered him for his con-tribution to the department.
He offered his deepestcondolences to the bereavedfamily and prayed for peaceto departed soul.
Meanwhile, the employeesof DIPR also expressed theirgrief and sorrow over thedemise of Fida Ali. Theyoffered their deepest condo-lences to the bereaved familyand prayed for eternal peace tothe departed soul and couragefor the bereaved family to bearthis irreparable loss.
DIPR, employees condolesad demise of Fida Ali
JAMMU, May 24 :Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) has expressed grief andsorrow over the death of DrAijaz Beig, brother ofMehbooba Beig, GeneralSecretary (Org) PDP.
In a statement issued, thePDP leaders mourned the sadand untimely demise of DrAijaz Beig, who was known forhis social work for society andit is a shocking and irreparableloss to the society.
The PDP leader prayed toAllah to bless the departed soulwith eternal peace in heavenand give enough strength tofamily members to bear sor-row. The PDP leaders haveextended heartfelt condolencesto Mehbooba Beig over thedemise of Dr Aijaz Beig, whohappens to be the brother of thedeceased.
Those who mourned thedemise included Vice PresidentAbdul Hamid Chowdhary;General Secretary Amrik SinghReen; General SecretaryArshad Malik; AdditionalGeneral Secretary RashidMalik; PAC members FirdousTak (ex MLC) and RashidQuraishi; State Secretaries asRajinder Manhas, MaroufKhan, Javed Choudhary, RKPardesi, Shafiq Rehman Bhattand Nassir Sheikh; Media coor-dinator Ch Parvez Waffa andAshok Yogi.
PDP mourns demise ofbrother of Mehbooba Beig
Chandel said that the government should create state-of-the-artgovernment hospitals of one thousand beds in each state
Jammu May 24 :Hinduist leader Raju Chandel,while speaking to journalistsin Jammu today, hit China,Mr. Chandel said that now thewhole world has accepted thatthis trickster who is dreamingof China to become theworld's superpower power,China I can not directly com-pete with India and America,by spreading the biologicalweapons in the form of virusby the trickster China, spread-ing it to the countries of theworld and weakening all thecitizens of those countries andfulfilling their dream ofbecoming a superpower.Trickster China wants thisworld to know that whateverweapons of China are notgoing to stand in front of anypower of the world, but thebiological weapon of the virusthat is present in China iscompletely successful. Theyhave made everything else.Counterfeit goods are sold allover the world. Most ofChina's weapons are notgoing to stand in front ofAmerica or India for long.Chinese politicians in Chinaare well aware that today,trickster China using its bio-
logical weapons, India Wantsto weaken all the countries ofthe world including Wants tobring
Mr. Chandel said that the
scientific doctors of our coun-try can overcome one virus ofthis China, then China givesthe other virus a biologicalweapon secretly on India,becoming the second chal-lenge before the country, theysaid that China wants That allthe countries of the worldshould succumb to the virusin front of him and that themost powerful country in theworld become the world's
superpower.Now the time has come for
China to fight on the otherhand, otherwise the citizens ofour country will continue to
die one by one with this bio-logical weapon and virus ofChina and all the state govern-ments have to fight againstthis biological weapon ofChina. State-of-the-art gov-ernment hospitals of onethousand beds in all the dis-tricts of our state should bebuilt with immediate effectand oxygen plants must beinstalled in those hospitals tofight these viruses with bio-
logical weapons becauseChina or its army does nothave so much power It is saidthat the weak soldiers ofChina were able to fight faceto face with the soldiers andsoldiers of India, trying tofight in the Galvan valley, inwhich they have lost their faceand lost many of their soldiersin the hands of the brave sol-diers of India.
Mr. Chandel said thatChina is not a very bravecountry nor does its soldiershave enough strength to com-pete with Indian soldiers.Today, hundreds of civiliansin various states of our coun-try have sent relatives to theirrelatives, this biologicalweapon of China and Today,we have seen all the citizensof India losing their patience,saying that the country andthe demon who spread thisepidemic, invading China andbeing wiped out of this world,is the need of humanity andalso the need of India. is
Mr. Chandel said that nomatter how cleanly China is,but this coronavirus is the giftof China, all the countries ofthe world should cometogether and destroy China.
Advisor Khan hails Union Ministry for adding twomore disciplines at JK's Water Sports Centre
Efforts afoot to make Jammu, Kashmir as countries’ best water sports destinationsSRINAGAR, MAY 24 :
Union Ministry of YouthAffairs and Sports hasapproved addition of twomore water sports disciplinesof Kayaking and Canoeing atthe Khelo India State Centreof Excellence (KISCE),Srinagar, which had earlieronly facility for rowing.
According to a commu-niqué issued by J&K SportsCouncil in this regard, thissignificant move is aimed atto encourage and facilitatethe outstanding athletes ofJammu and Kashmir in thesedisciplines.
Pertinently, the J&KSports Council and the UTgovernment had initiated therequest for addition of thesesporting disciplines in theCentre. The KISCE, whichwas launched in April 2021,after revamping facilities inthe existing J&K WaterSports Academy in J&K shallnow train athletes in threedisciplines instead of one.
Advisor to Lieutenant
Governor, Farooq Khan,while hailing Center govern-ment for this significant deci-sion, said, “The addition ofKayaking and Canoeing dis-ciplines shall pave way formore impressive performanc-es in international competi-tions such as the WorldChampionships and theAsian Championships. TheKISCE Water Sports Centreshall help in tapping and nur-turing of athletes in two newdisciplines enabling them toexcel in the sport and repre-sent India in world-classcompetition.”
Farooq Khan expressedgratitude to LieutenantGovernor of J&K, ManojSinha, Union Minister forYouth Affairs and Sports,Kiren Rijiju, for addition ofthese disciplines to the KheloIndia State Centre ofExcellence. He said that ath-letes are overwhelmed thatthey can get world classtraining in more disciplinesunder one roof.
Advisor said that with theaddition of these two sport-ing disciplines there is scopefor greater participation andthis shall also draw sportingtalent from all across thecountry. He praised the teamsfrom UT administration andMinistry of Youth AffairsGovernment of India to makethis possible.
Briefing about addition oftwo new disciplines,Secretary, J&K SportsCouncil, Nuzhat Gull,informed that the SportsAuthority of India and theSports Council will assessthe requirements to imple-ment training in newly addeddisciplines including coach-ing and equipment. She saidJ&K abounds for water bod-ies and facilities shall beadded to other places in bothJammu and Kashmir divi-sions to make it countries’best water sports destina-tions.
Earlier, welcoming thedecision, Secretary General,
Indian Kayaking andCanoeing Association,Prashant Khushwaha, said,“We are thankful to theCentre Government for thisdecision. Kayaking,Canoeing and Rowingtogether have a total of 63medals in the Olympics. Ifwe can provide training toyoungsters in these disci-plines then India’s medalhaul in the Olympics can goup significantly. He alsoadded that Kashmir is a verystrategic location for theKISCE academy as theweather matches withEuropean countries wheremost competitions are heldand this will only strengthenthe chances of our athletes tocontend for the Olympic andworld title.
Meanwhile, all the sportsenthusiasts of J&K havetermed this decision as a sig-nificant development as faras augmenting sports infra-structure in J&K is con-cerned.
Dr. Farooq, Omar Abdullah condole demise of Mirza Aijaz BegExpress sympathy with Mir GM Saqi on demise of his sister
Srinagar, 24 May : TheJammu and Kashmir NationalConference Party President,Member of Parliament fromSrinagar Dr Farooq Abdullahand Vice President OmarAbdullah on Mondayexpressed profound grief andsorrow over the demise of Dr.Mirza Aijaz Beigh, son ofFakhr-e-Kashmir late MirzaMuhammad Afzal Beg.
In his condolence messageDr. Farooq said, “I receivedthe news of passing away ofAijaz Sahib with heartbreakand sorrow. It is indeed acolossal loss for Beg family.The deceased was a dedicat-ed, compassionate andthoughtful medical doctor. AGod conscious soul, Ajaz sbwas a genial and humble per-son. My heartfelt thoughts goout to the bereaved family inthis hour of sorrow. Sharing
in their sorrow, I also pray foreternal peace to thedeceased,” he said.
In his condolence messageOmar Abdullah said, “Thenews of passing away ofAijaz Sahib has saddened me.I pray to Almighty to bestowthe deceased with highestechelons in Jannat and for-bearance to the bereaved tobear the inconsolable loss. Ishare the grief of thebereaved family,” he said.
Among others PartyGeneral Secretary AliMuhammad Sagar,Additional General SecretaryDr Sheikh Mustafa Kamal,Provincial President NasirAslam Wani, State SecretarySakina Itoo, Party MPsMuhammad Akbar Lone,Hasnain Masoodi, Dr. BashirAhmed Veeri, Showkat Mir,Altaf Ahmed Wani, Abdul
Majeed Bhat Larmi, ImranNabi Dar have also condoledthe demise of Dr Aijaz Beg,expressed sincerest condo-lences to the bereaved andprayed for peace to thedeparted.
Meanwhile PartyPresident and Vice Presidenthave also expressed profoundgrief and sorrow over thedemise of the sister of Party’sPublicity Secretary Mir GMSaqi. In their condolencemessage Dr Farooq and OmarAbdullah expressed unisonwith the grief stricken familyparticularly Saqi Sahib, andprayed for peace to thedeparted in the highest sta-tions of the Jannat.
Among others PartyGeneral Secretary AliMuhammad Sagar,Additional General SecretaryDr Sheikh Mustafa Kamal,
Provincial President NasrAslam Wani, Senior leadersAbdul Rahim Rathar,Muhammad Shafi Uri,Sharief Ud Din Shariq,Chaudhary MuhammadRamzan, Mian Altaf,Mubarak Gul, Sakina Itoo,Shameema Firdous, IrfanShah, Dr. Bashir AhmedVeeri, Ali Mohammad Dar,Showkat Ahmed Mir,Muhammad Syed Akhoon,Peer Afaq Ahmed, G QPardesi, Tanvir Sadiq, ImranNabi Dar, Salman Ali Sagar,Ahsan Pardesi, Sarah HayatShah, Er Sabiya Qadri havealso expressed heartfeltsympathies with GM Saqi onthe demise of his sister,prayed for peace to herdeparted soul and strength tobereaved particularly SaqiSahib to bear the irreparableloss.
BARAMULLA, MAY 24: Principal Secretary, Housingand Urban DevelopmentDepartment, Dheeraj Gupta,accompanied by DirectorULB and other senior func-tionaries today paid visit toBaramulla where he chaired ameeting to review overalldevelopment scenario ofurban areas of the district.
District DevelopmentCommissioner, BhupinderKumar, ADDC, JDP, ADC,PRIs, Chief ExecutiveOfficers of MCs, district andsectoral officers attended themeeting.
DDC briefed the meetingabout the status of severaldevelopment projects andissues associated with urbanareas through power pointpresentation. He also high-lighted several demands andsought their timely redressalfor smooth development of
urban regions.After taking a thorough
review of various pro-grammes and schemes,Principal Secretary stressed toensure that all the eligible
beneficiaries are coveredunder welfare schemes likePM Awas Yojana (U), socialsecurity schemes for streetvendors and others working ininformal sector.
Meanwhile, PrincipalSecretary directed the con-
cerned to ensure effective san-itation through proper wastemanagement adding that sani-tation of our surroundings iscrucial at this critical junctureemerged out of COVID-19
pandemic. He informed thatall the necessities for estab-lishing solid waste manage-ment plants in all the munici-palities of the district havebeen completed and the workon such projects shall be start-ed shortly.
Dheeraj Gupta visits B'la, reviews developmentscenario of urban areas
Asks to focus on Proper Waste Management at this critical juncture
Jammu May 24 :Maharani YashoRajyalakshmi was born inNepal as a Rana Princess tothe family of the lastRana Mohan ShamserJung Bahadur. She mar-ried Dr Karan Singh in1950. For a period ofmore than 17 years afterher marriage, MaharaniYasho Rajyalakshmihappily undertook theresponsibilities of beingthe wife of the Head ofState (Sadar-e-Riyasat).Many people in Jammu,Kashmir and Ladakh andeven in POK stillremember the dedicationand seal with which shedid relief work in differ-ent areas of J&K. Shewas a kind and compas-sionate woman who did a lotof Social work. Her one of themajor contributions was thecreation of ‘Delhi Society forthe Welfare of MentallyRetarded Children’. As aresult of her initiative anddedicated fund raising effortswhich essentially included asubstantial personal contribu-tion, a grand institution wasset up. This institution nowcaters to over 300 mentallyretarded children with a shel-tered workshop, a vocational
training centre, a diagnosticclinic and latest other rehabil-itation facilities. At themoment it is a premier institu-
tion of its kind in the country.Though born and brought
up in Nepal, she was quick topick up Dogri language, rec-ognized in 10th Schedule ofthe Indian Constitution as oneof the recognized languagesin J&K. She was fluent inHindi, Dogri and even inKashmiri besides English.She assisted Dr. Karan Singhat many occasions in socialand even political gatheringsin India and abroad.
Prof.Bhim Singh,
President, J&K NationalPanthers Party & Sr.Advocate, Supreme Court ofIndia had a chance to see
Maharani ji in 1962 whenhe was released fromprison. Prof.Bhim Singhconveyed in his touchingmessage on this occasionto Maharaja Dr. KaranSingh with a hope thatMaharaja Karan Singhshall succeed in the greatmission which MaharajaHari Singh had given tohim to fulfill to serve thepeople of J&K in particu-lar.
Several senior leadersof the Panthers Partyincluded P.K. Ganju (Sr.Vice President-JKNPP),Ms. Anita Thakur (GeneralSecretary), Farooq Ahmed
Dar, Sr. Paramjit SinghMarshall, Bansi Lal Sharma,Advocate (Advisor-JKNPP),Yashpaul Kundal (GeneralSecretary) paid tributes toLate Maharani YashoRajyalakshmi and alsoexpressed sympathies withher family with a strong hopethat Dr. Karan Singh shallcomplete the mission whichMaharani YashoRajyalakshmi could not sharebecause of her early departurefor heaven.
Death Anniversary of Maharani Yasho RajyalakshmiIn Memory of Maharani Yasho
Rajyalakshmi who died in 2009
Congress Councilor with other leadersjoins Apni Party in Thathri
Thathri, May 24 :Councilor of ThathriMunicipal Committee, AsgarHussain Khanday alongwithother Congress Party leaderstoday joined Apni Party inpresence of senior leaders.
President of Apni PartySyed Mohammed AltafBukhari welcomed them intothe party telephonically andhoped that their joining willstrengthen the party inChenab Valley.
District President,Kishtwar, Mohinder SinghParihar also welcomed thedecision of Congress Partyleaders who joined ApniParty.
Meanwhile, Councilor,Municipal Committee,Thathri, alongwith BlockGeneral Secretary MushtaqAhmed and some othersworkers including Ex NaibSarpanch Thathri B, JavedAhmed, Nazir Ahmed, AshiqHussain and Javed Iqbal inThathri tehsil of Doda districtjoined the Party.
On this occasion, a virtualmeeting of Apni Party wasorganized under the leader-ship of Provincial VicePresident Syed Asgar Ali and
Advocate Zulkernain Sheikhwith Congress BlockPresident Thathri AsgarHussain Khanday, BlockGeneral Secretary MushtaqAhmed and others workersincluding Ex-Naib SarpanchThathri-B including JavedAhmed, Nazir Ahmed, AshiqHussain and Javed Iqbal.
Speaking on the occasion,Provincial Vice President, andEx-MLC Syed Asgar Ali wel-comed the Congress Partyleaders into the Party.
Asgar Ali said that peoplehave developed faith in theparty leadership and its poli-cies for the welfare and unityof Jammu and Kashmir.
“We promise only doablethings to the people. We havenot come into politics to mis-lead the poor masses. We
want to work for the peopleand unemployed youth whohave been deprived in ChenabValley of the employmentsector by the companiesengaged in hydro electricprojects. We will not nexusbetween some officials andpoliticians to selectivelyemploy youth in the develop-
mental projects/hydro electricprojects and deny the right oflocals to get first preference,”said Syed Asgar Ali.
He said the political lead-ership has failed to developChenab Valley where the con-dition of road connectivity isvery poor in rural areas, andclean drinking water supply isa distant dream.
“The discriminatoryapproach of the leaders andadministration is responsible
for underdevelopment inChenab Valley. The tourismsector has failed to highlightthe natural beauty and picnicspots of Kishtwar, Doda andRamban. Therefore, thetourist influx is very little,” hesaid. He said that “We have toredress the public issues ofelectricity, water and ration byhighlighting them and restor-ing trust of the people in thepolitical system which theyhave lost because politicalparties have made hollow slo-gans but did nothing for thepeople.”
“Health sector has com-pletely crumbled in ChenabValley and they are workingmainly as referral hospitals.The want of specialized doc-tors is still remaining unful-filled in many of the hospitalsand the PHCs.”
Speaking on the occasion,Advocate Zulkernain Sheikhsaid that “Many senior leader-ship of Congress BlockThathri have refused to sur-render to the dictatorial atti-tude of Congress leadership inThathri and therefore, theyjoined Apni Party which ishope for the hopeless andhelping people.”
TRUTH PREVAILJAMMU TUESDAY MAY 25, 20214 EDITORIAL/ARTICLE
TERRORISM ON LAST LEGThere is not an iota of doubt that
soon after the Prime Minister tookover the reins of the country the tur-moil and terrorism in the UnionTerritory of Jammu and Kashmir start-ed fading away and today what is leftin J&K is terror residual which willalso be wiped out sooner than later.There is no doubt in the statement thatthe UT is witnessing the last phase ofterrorism and the pace with which thesecurity forces are neutralizing the ter-ror mongers one can easily say thattheir days are numbered and Valleywill soon see normalcy returning to itssplendid beauty with people from thecountry and abroad moving aroundwithout any fear of guns and goons.Already the security situation haschanged drastically and as far as ter-rorism is concerned, it is on last leg inKashmir. The violence which is takingplace is in desperation as the terrormongers are running for life becausethe security forces especially the JKPhave tighten noose around them. Thetrue picture was shown to the worldby the Jammu and Kashmir’s DirectorGeneral of Police (DGP) Dilbag Singhthat the number of terrorists active inJ&K has reduced to 200 from a countof 300 just two years before. It isquite laudable that the synergybetween the different wings of securi-ty forces has lead to this achievementand there is no doubt in the statementof DGP Singh that sooner than laterthe rest of the terrorists in Valley willalso be taken care of to put an end tothe dark era of violence and fear inJ&K. The momentum with which thesecurity forces are taking the terrorhead on there is every chance that thecharm which Valley used to offer itsvisitors will soon be a reality again.Looking into the valour and sacrificeof security forces which are facingnumerous challenges including terror,proxy war, Pak aggression, and nowcoronavirus, the feeling of pridecomes into the mind. Really, the secu-rity forces deserve kudos for theirefforts and dedication towards ensur-ing security, safety and integration ofthe country.
EDITORIAL -Prasenjit BiswasThe Bharatiya Janata
Party's loss of an over-hyped West Bengal elec-tion only created confusionabout the best electoralstrategy of its victorymachine. While it broughtthe hound of 'SonarBangla', it failed to runwith the hare of Bengalinationalism. Its image of aprosperous future 'Bangal'lost to the Bengali intel-lect-driven, genteel andeven maternal national-ism.The hyped 'SonarBangla' and 'asolporibor-ton' of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi met thefirewall of Bengali nation-alism. Bengal sidesteppedthem by reviving a kind of'Bengal first and Bengalifirst' narrative, instead ofBJP's thrust on 'Let's makeBengal great again'. Theirony of Bengal's electionresult was so sharp on theBJP that Prime Minister'sallusion to Gopal KrishnaGokhale's dictum, "WhatBengal thinks today, Indiawill think tomorrow"gotrephrased as "what Bengalthinks in 2021, India willthink in 2024". On the flip-side, the BJP held onto itsproject of a unitary power-ful centre against Bengal'sindivisible Bengali identi-ty.
While the BJP inBengal did not or ratherpreferred not to come toterms with Bengali nation-alism and its sensitivities,the case of Assam is justthe opposite. LikeCongress of yore, BJP inAssam came to terms withindigenous ethnic national-ism of various communi-ties and tried to arraignthem against a commonenemy of 'illegal immi-grants'. In the case ofBengal, the BJP's emphasison changed demography inborder areas due to illegalimmigration fromBangladesh coupled withMamata Banerjee'sappeasement of Muslimsand neglect of Hindus tobecome a two-prongedcampaign aimed at alteringthe settled contours ofBengali nationalism. TheBJP wanted to create a seg-ment of Bengalis buyingideas of anti-MuslimHindu nationalism, whowould also buy into theperception of an incomingcorporate-business nexusthat BJP's Hindi-Hindunationalism might facili-tate. To counter this mis-match, Mamata just had toallude to Bengal's traditionof social harmony and herrobust social security pro-grammes as being the coreof her philosophy of gover-nance. In effect, nothingsuch as appeasement theo-ry, illegal immigrants,Hindu victimization,Gujarat and Uttar Pradeshmodels of Vikascouldstand upto her play ofBengali nationalism. Anationalism that includesall with their distinctivelinguistic and cultural traitsbrought together underMamata's social securityprogrammes coveringwomen, SCs, STs andminorities in areas ofemployment, education,healthcare and housing.Her campaign drew moreresonance than the BJP'sidentity-based nationalism.
This contest betweenregional nationalism andcentrist nationalism inAssam assumes a very dif-ferent shape. Assamesemiddle class and elite-driv-en nationalism always con-structed an outer limit ofBengalis of East Bengalorigin, who are often cate-gorized as Bangladeshis.Based on this perception,the BJP could successfullyturn upper rungs ofAssamese society againstmain opponent Congress'dalliance with All IndiaUnited DemocraticFront(AIUDF) of MaulanaBadruddin Ajmal as part-nering with a party of ille-gal immigrants. Theincumbent chief ministerHimanta Biswa Sharmatermed 'Miyas' or so calledillegal immigrants as athreat toAsomiyaVaishnavite cul-ture and to Asomiya identi-ty at large.It created a toxicmixture of anti-immigrantsentiments with pro-
Asomiya native identity,which can act as the mainplank of Assamese ethno-nationalism. It is here thatHindutva nationalismgelled with Assamesenationalism to presentitself as an open ally of thelatter. This strategy of notpursuing a Centrist Hindunationalism in Assam, incontrast to BJP's Bengalstrategy, gave it the biggestelectoral benefit. Itstoppedthe Congress-ledalliance in establishing alarger alliance withAssamese nationalist polit-ical outfits like the AssamJatiyo Parishad(AJP) ledby erstwhile student leaderLurinjyoti Gogoi and alsowith Raijor Dol (RD) ledby Akhil Gogoi. Anti-BJPvotes suffered a splitbetween Congress andthese regionalist outfitsincrucial seats of upperAssam. This success storyscripted singlehandedly byBJP's new Chief Ministerof Assam Himanta BiswaSharma has catapultedAssamese regional nation-alism as an indispensi-bleally of BJP's centristHindutva nationalism.
In Bengal, Hindutvanationalism's projection ofHindi as its lingo met itstoughest political resist-ance in Bengali linguisticnationalism that abhorredundue dominance by Hindiin the state. This emergedas the most importantstrand of cultural resist-ance that could makeMamata label BJP cam-paigners as 'outsiders'. Inelectoral terms, this resist-ance left Bengal's nativeHindi speakers in a dilem-ma, as their votes losttheircounterweight to Bengalivoters. Further, BJP's pro-jection of Muslims as ille-gal immigrants and as tor-mentors of Bengali Hindusin the partition days andlater in East Bengal stirredthe dormant Bengali imag-ination of a unified Bengalinational identity thatalready rose much abovesuch narratives of violenceand division of countries.BJP's mouthing of Bengal-turning-into-Bangladeshinternally rewired the his-toric bond between Bengaland Bangladesh. PrimeMinister Modi's visit toBangladesh to offerprayers atOrakandi templeof the Guru ofMotuacommunity onlysubstantiated existence ofsuchan umbilical emotion-al bond. In effect, thePrime Minister stirred thatstrand of Bengali national-ist sentiment which risesabove territorial and politi-cal divisions and finds its'roots' in larger history, forexample, in the episodewhen Jogen Mandal, theDalit Bengali leader cededDalits from upper castedominated 'bhadralok'Bengali society. Mamata'soutsider jibe at such politi-cally pregnant acts ofBJP'scampaign to win overBengal's Dalits pointed outexclusivism played by out-siders within Bengali lin-guistic and cultural identi-ty. BJP's attemptedexclu-sivism createda furorewhen the image of KaziNazrul Islam, the quintes-sential rebel Bengali bardand musician, wasremoved from campaignstage of the Prime Ministereven as he was delivering acampaign speech barely akilometer away from poetNazrul's birthplace.Bengali firewall againstexclusivism and outsiderstrying to take over Bengalonly gotvindicated whenCentral forces fired atSitalkuchi, leaving fourBengali Muslims dead.
BJP's electoral play ofreligious card only stifledits headway into the state.By pitching NRC andCAA, the BJP created animpression amongBengalis that it wants toplay with their 'citizen-ship'. BJP fuelledanti-CAAsentiments in Assam weremuchrestrained this time.It could just wade throughbecause the oppositionlacked unity in Assam. InBengal, the BJP wanted togain advantage by divisionof minority votes after aprominent Muslim clericfloated the Indian SecularFront(ISF).
Decoding the complex
electoral regionalism
ATTENTION ECONOMY: DISTRACTION BY DESIGNIn June 2020, Patanjali
Ayurved, an Indian pack-
aged goods company,
launched Coronil, an
ayurvedic medication. It
was marketed as a treat-
ment for respiratory dis-
eases, including Covid-19.
Initially, it drew a luke-
warm response but by July
its hashtags were made to
trend on social media plat-
forms. By October, the pur-
ported herbal remedy
recorded sales of Rs 250
crore. The readiness of the
people to believe in a 'cure'
for Covid-19 and then actu-
ally use it aptly illustrates
the contours of the 'atten-
tion economy' created by
modern technology.
The hallmark of the
internet age has not only
been the rise of convenient
and boundless information
but also the scarcity of
human attention. Our atten-
tion is now a valuable com-
modity, harvested by tech-
nology companies to keep
us trapped in a spiral of
infinite searching and
scrolling. Several of these
attention-capturing tricks
have been borrowed from
the gambling industry that
harness our brain's
dopamine pathways and
encourage instant reward-
based behaviour.
The technology compa-
nies, enabled by social
media platforms, engage in
subtle techniques of psy-
chological manipulation,
plunging us into a world
structured to prioritize not
the truth but whatever con-
tent is most compelling to
us. The result is a prolifera-
tion of misinformation,
fake news and techniques
like bot-swarming whereby
fake online accounts are
created to give the impres-
sion that a large number of
people support a given
position. A study by
Benjamin Strick, a digital
investigator, suggests a
substantial impact of auto-
mated bots in amplifying
the hashtag,
#AmitShahInBengal, on
February 18, 2021 in the
run-up to the West Bengal
elections.
The attention economy
also promotes a culture of
fear, an effective emotion
to leverage, especially in an
environment of limited and
fractured attention.
Nothing exemplifies this
more than WhatsApp,
which delivers an
onslaught of misinforma-
tion directly to millions of
Indians. The misinforma-
tion strategy on WhatsApp
is effective because mes-
sages are forwarded and re-
forwarded by friends and
family who are otherwise
considered as credible
sources of information.
A study by the Indian
Institute of Technology,
Kharagpur and the
Massachusetts Institute of
Technology looked into the
pernicious use of
WhatsApp in India for the
spread of Islamophobia
with topics such as "Love
jihad", "Kerala Riots" and
"Islamisation of Bengal".
The study reviewed two
million posts of 5,000
WhatsApp groups and
found that fear speech
spreads faster, keeps circu-
lating for much longer than
non-fear speech, and is
amplified by the strategic
use of emojis.
Amplification of fear
and false content is ram-
pant on YouTube too. Take,
for instance, the genre of
Hindutva pop music, a
cocktail of 'DJ music,' tech-
no-beats and bhajans,
which openly calls for reli-
gious war against Islam and
Muslims. Recently, propa-
ganda-spewing YouTube
channels camouflaging as
news channels had sprung
up in the run-up to the West
Bengal elections. These
channels regularly peddle
fabricated news and con-
duct dubious opinion polls
to muddy the difference
between facts and false-
hoods, a distinction that
few are equipped to make
in the current media envi-
ronment. This is further
complicated by the erosion
of trust in long-standing
public institutions. Google
search results or Facebook
newsfeed of friends are
deemed to be trustworthy
sources of news today.
What counts as a fact is
merely a view that some-
one feels ought to be true,
and technology has made it
easier for these 'facts' to cir-
culate expansively. Experts
are certified by high
Google search ranks or by
the number of Twitter fol-
lowers. What matters is a
loud voice that disrupts the
flow of the narrative rather
than a substantial engage-
ment with facts.
The constant undermin-
ing of institutions distort
and demean public debate,
contributing to a hate-
filled, divisive politics.
History offers a reminder of
what could be an outcome
of such divisiveness.
During the 1994 genocide
in Rwanda, the vitriolic
propaganda of the radio
station, RTML, in inciting
Rwandan Hutus to attack
the Tutsi minority serves as
a stark reminder about the
dangers of misinformation
and fake news.
The brave new world of
today's information age,
however, was born not in
the Silicon Valley but
around 1933 in Berlin.
With the assistance of
IBM's Hollerith machine -
an electro-mechanical
punch card tabulator - the
Nazis operated a surveil-
lance State based on citi-
zens' demographic, finan-
cial and other information.
This classification system
found its concrete manifes-
tation among the concen-
tration camp prisoners who
had a five-digit Hollerith
number tattooed onto their
forearms. The journalist,
Edwin Black, in his study
of IBM's involvement in
Nazi Germany, wondered
why IBM got involved in
the market of fascist death
camps. It was "never about
Nazism," he argues, "...
never about anti-Semitism.
It was always about the
money." Today, when new
technologies threaten to
remake us into disposable
commodities, we can only
look back on what the
Nazis could accomplish
prior to the information
age.
The question, then, is
not whether this economy
is convenient or creepy but
a more fundamental one
about who we are and who
we might become in a
world that increasingly
blurs the line between the
physical and the digital.
Moving forward, we need
to recognize our complicity
in delivering our own data
to a handful of corporations
that fuel this data-driven
economic model. Until that
happens, ascribing blame to
corrupt politicians, the tech
industry, or to the prevail-
ing economic system will
not accomplish much. The
problem, as often is, starts
with us.
END OF AN ERA IN GERMANY-Makhan SaikiaBorn as Angela Dorothea
Kasner to Horst Kasner andHerlind Kasner in Hamburg,Angela Merkel became thefirst woman Chancellor ofGermany in 2005. Herfather was a LutheranMinister, and her mother anEnglish teacher. Merkel isnow 66 years. She has madean indelible impression onthe public life in Germany,Europe and around theglobe. She is the firstwoman and the first EastGerman to hold the highestelected office of the country.Merkel has won four con-secutive elections for theoffice of the Chancellorsince 2005. She is set toretire from active politics inSeptember 2021. When sheleaves her office this year,she will be Germany's sec-ond longest
serving leader in themodern era only after hermentor and formerChancellor Helmut Kohl.
Merkel is branded as afigure of "Hope". The bestpart of her career is that sheknows who she is, and shedoes not try being someoneelse. She does complete jus-tice to herself and her abili-ties. Friends, critics, diplo-mats, and historians say sheknows German historyexceedingly well. Thoughshe does not like the term,some American and Britishcommentators started call-ing her "the leader of thefree world". In fact, this hashappened because most ofthe locals in these two coun-tries were for some timefully frustrated with theirdemocratically elected lead-ers and set to spot the futureof the western world inMerkel's leadership.
In 2009, after four yearsof her chancellery, MattelInc, an American toy manu-facturing multinationalgiant, made an AngelaMerkel Barbie Doll. TheForbes magazine has rankedMerkel the world's mostpowerful woman for tenyears consecutively. In2015, she was declared asthe Time magazine's"Person of the Year".
Time in its profile rightlynoted, "Her political stylewas not to have one; no flair,no flourishes, no charisma,just a survivor's strong senseof power, and a scientist'sstrong devotion to data".And finally, in 2020, aremarkable Pew Poll surveyfound that Merkel is theworld's most trusted leader.What more you need toclaim her to be the most suc-
cessful politician of ourtroubled times.
Today, the most danger-ous crisis in the westernworld is that democracy isunder siege. It's constantlychallenged by anti-demo-cratic populist politics,Russia's cyber-attacks, riseof the right, and variedshades of Trumpism preva-lent almost everywhere.When we think a Westminus democracy is nothingbut an omen for humanity,then many of us can find ouranswer in Merkel only. Sheis the one who is capable ofturning the tide and makingdemocracy viable and sus-tainable in the westernworld.
When she made publicthat she will step down asthe leader of her party,Christian Democratic Union(CDU), on October 29,2018, many politicalobservers said the mostpowerful woman of theworld is looking for an ele-gant and dignified exit. Sheis also termed as the de factoleader of the EuropeanUnion (EU).
At present, the coalitiongovernment of Merkel con-sists of three political par-ties, namely her own CDU,the Christian Social Unionof Bavaria (CSU) and theSocial Democratic Party(SPD). It is uncertain todaywhether Merkel would beable to continue asChancellor till September. Itmay so happen that the SPDmay force her to resign bywithdrawing support andpush the country for a freshelection. However, the opti-mists opine that she is in fullcommand of her govern-ment. And coalition partnershopefully will not dislodgeher and will allow her to gofor a graceful exit.
In fact, Markel has had afirm grip on the country,except in one instance in2015 when it was felt thatMerkel is not in control ofthe country's borders. Thatyear seemed to be a catastro-phe as nearly a millionrefugees mainly from WestAsia streamed intoGermany. Referred to as"das Madchen" "That Girl"by the former ChancellorHelmut Kohl, Markel is alsoknown as Germany'sbeloved mom. Initiallytrained as a quantumchemist, she spent the first35 years of her life in theSoviet-controlled EastGermany, until the fall ofthe Berlin Wall onNovember 9, 1989. It was ahistoric moment for both
Europe and for the entireworld. And also for thisquiet scientist. She has donewhatever it takes to preventthe EU from falling in herentire four terms of chancel-lorship.
Currently, she inspiresand influences people, espe-cially women around theworld. The world of politicsis seriously under-represent-ed by woman. She hascarved a niche for herself asgrand unifier of Europe at atime when forces of disinte-gration have been loominglarge across the continent.One can clearly say thatwhen crisis comes, Merkelresponds to them withunabated success. She hasfigured out a well-managedteam to answer crisis zonesall throughout her career ofmore than one and a halfdecade in office. Markel haseven quietly digested all thetaunts, fabrications, unilat-eral actions and slights byDonald Trump in his fouryears in office againstGermany and many otherallies of the US in Europe.
However, her criticsthink otherwise. To them,she is a cynical operator.She is one big ruthlessleader who sidelines heropponents in aMachiavellian style. Whileacting in this manner, whatreigns on her mind is theinterest of the voters. Thecritics think as a de factoleader of Europe, she hasfailed to craft a real architec-ture for the future integra-tion of Europe.
Merkel welcomed morethan a million refugees fromWest Asia in 2015 and 2016.When refugees crossed overto Germany, she simplysaid, "We will manage this".Her critics said it was hergreat mistake, but sheproved them wrong finally.This created a furore acrossEurope and particularly inGermany. Anyone critical ofMerkel's open-door policytowards the migrants werebranded as racist. Nearly amillion refugees and asylumseekers reached the countrybefore the Chancellorordered to close the borderentries in March 2016 whenBalkan states cut off themigrant route. Many latersaid some of the mediareports were biased and theyfailed to cover the influx ofrefugees responsibly. Anddespite having a strongintervention from Merkel,the German society is splitover the migrant issue.
Some internationalexperts criticise her for pur-
ported lack of vision and ofcourse stagnation during herfour terms as Chancellor.What Germany eventuallyhas done mattered a lot thanwhat it said in the past six-teen years. Europe has expe-rienced massive waves ofchange, especially thedeparture of Britain fromthe privileged EU.
Against the backdrop ofthe crisis, the far-rightgroups and political partiesacross Europe voiced theirstrong concerns over themigrants. The Alternativefor Germany (AfD), themost influential party of therightists in Germany, vehe-mently criticised the open-door policy of Merkeltowards the migrants. Thisbacklash led to the worstperformance of her party inthe last 70 years in 2017.Her grand coalition isseemed to be fraught withmajor difficulties in her lastterm in office.
She clearly says she hasno plan to hold any publicoffice beyond 2021. But thefact is that since the unifica-tion of Germany, she hasbeen either holding one orthe other important office,including the Chancellor's.So practically speaking, it istime for her to go.
Now the question is:Does Merkel has a trans-Atlantic legacy or impact?Merkel's departure frompublic life would be pro-found both in Germany andin entire Europe. She hasexperimented a lot: She wasone who stopped militaryconscription, allowed theECB to pump money intothe economy to save theEuro, initiated a radicalenergy policy, and top ofthat, despite all odds, invitednearly a million refugees tothe country. However, sheproved her detractors wrongwho predicted the total col-lapse of the German system.Though she has introducedvoluminous changes, shehas projected to the worldthat things have remainedstable. It must be said thatGerman politicians areadept in making new ideaslook old, sturdy and durable.Merkel has read Germansexceptionally well, andknows they were looking foran emotional insurance poli-cy before stepping into anew narrative of change. Soshe religiously followed theprophetic words of KonradAdenauer, the firstChancellor of the FederalRepublic of Germany from1949-63, who said: "NoExperiments".
TRUTH PREVAIL
JAMMU, TUESDAY, MAY 25, 20215 NEWS
Morcha hails Children, Distributed Eatables and Juices Among Children
TP CORRESPONDENTJAMMU, MAY 24: In the
View of Covid 19 secondwave BJP OBC MorchaAccelerates "Sewa HiSangathan" drive andOrganising various socialtasks for the wellbeing ofpublic across JammuKashmir.
Today on the directions ofBraham Jyot Satti, PresidentBJP OBC Morcha JK-UT;under "Sewa Hi Sangathan"drive BJP OBC Morchaorganised distribution pro-gram in Jammu-West.
Ravi Mehra (OfficeSecretary and Co-Convenor
Sewa Hi Sangathan driveBJP OBC Morcha JK-UT)and Kewal Verma were pres-ent in main in the program.
It was organised byRakesh Mandal Vicky(Mandal President BJP OBCMorcha), BJP OBC MorchaMandal Janipur team Sham(Vice President), Sanjeev(Vice President), Ramesh(General Secretary), Subash(General Secretary), Aman(Secretary) were present onthe occasion.
In the program they hailsChildren as children playsvital role in the family anddistributed eatables and juice
among 100 children of thearea. They guided childrenabout Covid-19 SOPs,importance of Face Coversand Sanitizers and took com-mitment that Children won'tallow their Father, Motherand other family members gooutside without Face Coverand Sanitizer. They ensurethat no one will allow toenter their home withoutFace cover.
All Covid-19 SOPs werefollowed by organisers andChildren present there.Children were very happy bythis program and said onlyBJP OBC Morcha is serving
to humanity in this hard time.Braham Jyot appreciated
Ravi Mehra, Kewal Vermaand Rakesh Kumar Vicky forexecuting commendablework. He said Childrenalways plays a very vital rolein every family and they canensure that no family mem-ber can come and go outsideface covers, today BJP OBCMorcha Appreciated thesechildren. He said this is verycrucial time for all of us andwith unite efforts we willovercome this pandemic verysoon. He advised public toavoid social gatherings forsome days and said Sewa HiSangathan means serving tohumanity so in this hard timeBJP OBC Morcha is servingpeople across JammuKashmir and in this crucialtime OBC Morcha standswith every needy person ofthe state and is committed towork for the wellbeing ofpublic.
If anyone needs any kindof help can contact DistrictPresident of BJP OBCMorcha of respectiveDistrict, BJP OBC Morchawill provide him appropriatehelp, he added.
BJP OBC Morcha JK-UT is the first who appreciates
the positive role of Children during this Pandemic
Induction program on "Sustainable Product
Design and Manufacturing" begins at SMVDU TP CORRESPONDENT
JAMMU, MAY 24: One-week online phase 3 ISTE-AICTE sponsored InductionProgram on "SustainableProduct Design andManufacturing" (21-27 May2021), coordinated by DrRaghvendra Kumar Mishraand Dr Ankush Anand, hasstarted at the School ofMechanical Engineering,Shri Mata Vaishno DeviUniversity (SMVDU), Katra.The course focuses on thesustainability aspect of prod-uct design, reuse of materialsfor Engineering products,
various sustainable manufac-turing methods to make prod-ucts greener and sustain-able.The program was inau-gurated by Mr Vijay Vaidya,Secretary ISTE and Prof.Eswarmoorthy Muthusamy,Dean, Faculty ofEngineering, SMVDU. MrVaidya informed about dif-ferent courses and programoffered by AICTE, and therole of AICTE to promotenew education policy.
Prof. Muthusamy empha-sized the purpose of organiz-ing this course and its useful-ness. He lauded the efforts
for coordinating this event.Around 100 teachers of vari-ous Engineering collegesacross the Indian states regis-tered for this course.Variousexperts from NIT, IIT andother renowned instituteshave been delivering lectureson the importance andaspects of sustainability andproduct design in three ses-sions each day.
Previously, on day one &two, Dr Rajeev Agrawal andProf. Pradeep Kumar high-lighted the need for includinggreener initiatives in productdesign.
Eco Club of Govt. Degree College, Nowshera organized
Online Quiz Competition on "Environmental Awareness"TP CORRESPONDENT
JAMMU, MAY 24: TheEco Club of Govt. DegreeCollege, Nowshera under thepatronage of esteemedPrincipal Dr. SurinderKumar conducted OnlineQuiz Competition on 24th ofMay 2021 on the topic"Environmental Awareness".The competition focused onimportance and values ofEnvironment and makingstudents aware of the natural
environment and makingchoices that benefit the earth,rather than hurt it. Some ofthe ways to practice environ-mental awareness include:using safe and non toxicbuilding supplies, conservingenergy and water, recyclingetc. A large number of stu-dents from various collegesacross the UT of Jammu andKashmir participated in theevent. Top 3 positions wereawarded E-Certificates. The
first position was bagged bythree students namely HarshSharma, Harpreet Singh andGagandeep Singh whosecured 100% marks. Thesecond position was awardedto Sajad kareem, ReetikaSharma and Jabar Ul Haq.While Esha Sharma, SanjanaSharma and Sandeep Koursecured third position in thecompetition. The event wasorganized by "ECO Club"Coordinator Prof. SanjayKumar of Department ofChemistry, GDC Nowshera.
Photo by Vivek
Distribution of Covid kits,
relief items to PHC
TP CORRESPONDENTJAMMU, MAY 24: On
account of growing COVID-19 positive cases in DistrictPoonch (J&K), Indian Armydistributed COVID kits andrelief items to PHC for assistlocal populace of the regionto fight against COVID-19.Indian Army has providedmedical support to PHCwhich include Battle FieldNursing Assistance forspreading awareness on pre-cautions to be taken to pre-vent spread of the virus.
Army distributed COVID-19 kits to PHC Budhal andinteracted with the villagersincluding Sarpanches andPanches. Villagers werefamiliarised with symptomsobserved in 2nd strain ofCOVID-19 and on theimportance of practicing pre-ventive measures. 1200COVID medical kits consist-ing of Gloves, Masks andHand Sanitisers were distrib-uted to the locals. The effortsof Army have been appreci-ated by the locals.
Educated them about the importance of Covid19 appropriate behaviour TP CORRESPONDENT
JAMMU, MAY 24: ASenior BJP leader ShailenderVaid,also holding charge ofthe Additional SecretaryProtocol- J&k UT, Mondaydistributed 'corona kits'which included masks andsanitisers among the ruralpopulation in villageKhariyan of Chenani tehsilin Udhampur district. Vaidsaid the aim behind conduct-ing this special awarenessdrive was to educate the ruralpopulation about the appro-priate Covid-19 behaviour tocontain the spread of the
virus. He appreciated the roleof the UT administration inorganising awareness cam-paigns and distributing kitsto corona positive patients bytracking them and launching
testing and tracing of con-tacts.
The special drive was con-ducted as per the guidance ofPrime Minister NarendraModi who wanted to ensure
that the population in ruralIndia should not be affectedand adequate measures weretaken in time to prevent thespread of the virus.
BJP J&K unit ChiefRavinder Raina is supervis-ing these programs
Balwan Chand (ExMandal Pradhan) & VijayKumar Sharma(Ex.Sarpanch of village)were also present there andextended a helping hand tothe villagers and the BJPleader in organising the spe-cial drive. After handing overthe Corona Kits to the vil-
lagers, Shailender Vaidaddressed the local residentsin the area and shared hisexperience about the impor-tance of adopting appropriatecovid19 behaviour to breakthe chain of the virus.
He also informed the localvillagers to remain in touchwith health workers andother volunteers in their vil-lages to extend help to anycorona positive patient. Vaidsaid, by remaining alert,adopting social distancingand wearing masks the com-mon people can win this waragainst Covid-19
TP CORRESPONDENTJAMMU, MAY 24:
Convenor, UnitedDemocratic Alliance (UDA),Jammu and Kashmir, RajivMahajan urged the LtGovernor of J&K UT, ManojSinha to vaccinate studentsand teachers of schools, col-leges and universities on pri-oritise against COVID-19before the opening of schoolsand colleges.
“We have appealed to theUT government to ensurethat the students and teachersare taken on priority for vac-cination wherever they are.This will build a lot of confi-dence among the students ifvaccinated,” Rajiv Mahajansaid.
“Vaccination would makestudents feel safe headingback to schools and parentswould also be confidentsending their children toschools,” Rajiv Mahajan saidand added that not only will
vaccine protect teachers andstudents, but it will protecttheir families as well.
He said unvaccinated stu-dents are at increased risk ofgetting the virus and warnedthat they would give it toother students with whomthey are in contact most ofthe day.
“That means unimmunizedstudents would play animportant role in the spreadof COVID-19 infection with-in the schools,” RajivMahajan said and added thatschools could become breed-ing grounds for virus trans-mission and we could end upin another deadly wave ofCOVID-19 infection.
“Children can get infectedat school and spread the virusto parents and grandparentsat home who are more likelyto develop severe disease,”said Rajiv Mahajan.
At the same time whileexpressing serious concern
over the continues surge inCOVID positive cases inJammu, Rajiv Mahajan askedthe UT administration tostrictly implement the SoPsand ask all the residents andgovernment officials toadhere to the practices ofsocial distancing norms andhealth and hygiene practicesto contain the spread ofCOVID 19 in importantplaces like Manda, Narwaland other vegetable marketsuniversity campus.
He said there is no checkon guidelines issued by gov-ernment for COVID-19 bythe administration as there isheavy rush witnessed inaforesaid the areas that toowithout maintaining socialdistancing which is the mainreason of spreading of coron-avirus in Jammu region.
He said that the strict com-pliance of instructions issuedby Government in this regardis need of hour.
Vaccinate students on priority before
opening educational institutions: UDA
TP CORRESPONDENTJAMMU, MAY 24:
Chairman of Internationalhuman rights organisationadvocate P. S. Chib wants tosay that in a situation of thisdisaster we cannot get out ofthe house due to the lock-down and all work is closed.So, people do not even havemoney to eat and drink. Chibrequests to all of you that inthis situation of pandemic,you can give food (ration)asmuch as you want to theneedy people and help hun-gry families . This time thesituation has become suchthat along with the poor peo-ple some middle class familypeople are also forced to dieof hunger but the people ofmiddle class family areunable to say because ofshame and their conditionhas become critical withhunger. Our organisation istrying to help people as much
as possible but with littlecooperation of yours, we alltogether could save smallchildren, the elders and theold age people forced byhunger. We don't want moneyfrom you but we request youto help the people in need.These people in need mayprobably survive in Coronabut due to the lockdown theywill surely die of hunger inthis time of pandemic. It isthe test of our humanitybecause we all are like onefamily on this earth and howcan we leave our familyalone in this trouble. Weshould help the people whoare helpless and in need offood. If you want to giveRation to needy people thenyou can contact this number(9419138032 , 7006355512).Our organisation team willtake Ration from your houseto the needy people who arein need of it.
IHRO believes that people of J&K
will never let anyone to sleep hungry"
Photo by Vivek
TP CORRESPONDENTJAMMU, MAY 24:
International acclaimed actorand renowned folk artist,Gulzar Ahmed Bhat has beenelected as the new Presidentof Rashtriya KalakarAssociation for Jammu andKashmir.
He was elected to the posi-
tion during an online electionconducted recently.
Expressing gratitude, Bhatthanked B N Tiwari, nationalchairman of RashtriyaKalakar Association, BebaakBollywood Khabre and FilmFederation of Mumbai fornominating him and paveway for election.
Gulzar Ahmed Bhat elected as president
Rashtriya Kalakar Association
Safety of Citizens first
Police Official to Pillion
Riders in GanderbalTP CORRESPONDENT
GANDERBAL, MAY24: Dark Side of bike riderwho was riding his bike atManigam Chowk inGanderbal without wear-ing helmet.
ASI PS Lar Mohd Shafi,who stopped the bike riderwho was travelling withouthelmet and Police officialwore him a helmet. He alsodiscuss do,s and dont ofwearing helmet wheneveryou ride a bike, improveroad safety rules and saveyourself from accidentspolice official said.
Recalling his episode ofday official said to thisreporter We always wantthat there should be aware-ness among people aboutthe helmet and its impor-tance and want to send astrong message to the twowheeler riders that helmetis very important to savetheir own lives, ASI PS LarMohd Shafi said adding
that helmet is compulso-ry for both motorcyclistsand pillion riders.
He further made aware-ness drive among trafficviolators.
And appealed the peopleto follow all traffic rulesproperly and spread gener-al awareness among theyouth who didn't botheredto follow traffic rules.
Dimple holds protest against non-availability of COVID
vaccination for second dose in Jammu divisionTP CORRESPONDENT
JAMMU, MAY 24: SunilDimple President MissionStatehood and Jammu WestAssembly Movement alongwith traders, prominent citi-zens, holds strong protest &press conference against theno vaccinations in Jammuand J&K for the second doseof COVID vaccinations, novaccination to treat the blackfungus and to demand todefer the CBSE 12TH classexams in this pandemicsurge.
Addressing the protestersSunil Dimple alleged that inJammu region we don't havethe vaccinations for the sec-ond dose. He disclosed aftervisiting GMC, CD, SupperSpecialist, Sarwal Hospital &touring the variousLocalities.
He said he is also roamingto get the second dose of vac-cination, but not getting thesecond dose of his vaccina-tion. He said one can imaginefrom this what will be thecondition of the commonman in the Jammu regionwhen a hardworking, socialworker is without a seconddose of vaccine.
Dimple demanded theGovt to intensify the vaccina-tion process for the 18 to 45age group & arrange blackfungus vaccinations, medi-
cines in J&K. He said at pres-ent in GMC and all otherGMC hospitals of all districtsare without the black fungusvaccinations as one cost 7000Rs per viol. He demanded theLG Manoj Sinha & the Govtof India to Defer CBSE 12class exams in JammuKashmir as the surge in pan-demic and death rate is veryhigh in Jammu region. Hedemanded LG administrationto take effective steps toCounter black fungus &intensify the pace of 18 TO45 age group vaccinationsand arrange the second doseof the due vaccinations.
Dimple alleged the deathrate in Jammu region is sohigh that the people areafraid of going to GMCJammu, protesting over theslow pace of vaccinations of18 to 45 age group and aboveage. He demanded LG ManojSinha to open Mugal Roadfor Poonch, Rajouri districtpeople to go Kashmir in threehours for treatments inSKIMS, SOURA as they
don't want to come to GMCJammu. He demanded PrimeMinister Narendra Modi &LG Manoj Sinha to arrangevaccines & medicines ofblack fungus and supplyimmediately, in Jammu hos-pitals and all hospitals inJ&K. He demanded to waiveoff the Bank loan interests,RTO token fee, insurance,toll taxes & waive off elec-tricity rent of traders & trans-porters for one year.
Dimple appealed PM Modi& LG Manoj sinah, to dis-tribute cash and free ration toall Ration card holder fami-lies of jammu Kashmir onration depots. He disclosedthe "Mission state hood" willsupport 26 May farmer'snationwide agitation. Hedemanded to Modi Govt towithdraw, repeal the threeanti farmer's bills.
The other leaders areManjeet Anand, Sachin Soi,Satpal Sharma, Om ParkashSharma, Sanjay Nagraj,Rishav Bhat, Anmol Anand,Arjun and others.
SMVD Shrine Board supports Katra and Panthal
Blocks for establishing COVID Care CentresTP CORRESPONDENT
JAMMU, MAY 24: Tocontribute towards the effortsbeing undertaken to mitigatethe spread of COVID-19,Shri Mata Vaishno DeviShrine Board today providedhand sanitizers, face masksetc for the Panchayat LevelCOVID Care Centres estab-lished by the DistrictAdministration at Katra andPanthal Blocks. In this con-text, Mr. Ramesh Kumar,Chief Executive Officer, ShriMata Vaishno Devi ShrineBoard handed over the pro-tective gears to the concernedat Spiritual Growth Centre atKatra for utilisation by theneedy persons in COVIDCare Centres.
Speaking on the occasion,the CEO Shrine Board saidthat once again in these diffi-cult times and as a contribu-tion to the society for con-tainment of the second waveof COVID-19, the ShrineBoard has provided variousitems for 10 GramPanchayats of Katra and 8Gram Panchayats of PanthalBlocks of Reasi district forutilization in the PanchayatLevel Covid Care Centres.These items include FaceMasks, Surgical Masks,Hand Sanitizers and Re-fillsof Hand Sanitizers.
It is pertinent to mentionthat earlier SMVD ShrineBoard has supportedMunicipal Committee Katrain its fight against COVID-19. SMVDSB has provided
dedicated vehicles for disin-fection of Katra town,besides providing protectivegears for employees ofMunicipal Committee Katra.During the lockdown periodin 2020 due to COVID-19,the Shrine Board had alsoextended support to the vari-ous organisations likeMunicipal Committee Katra,CHC Katra, DistrictAdministration, Reasi andUdhampur besides other vol-untary and social organisa-tions by way of providingvarious protective gears andother items for distributionamong the needy persons.
The officers of the RuralDevelopment DepartmentReasi, present on the occa-sion, lauded the Shrine Boardfor providing protectivegears to the COVID CareCentres established in GramPanchayats of Katra andPanthal Blocks.
The CEO further assuredthat Shri Mata Vaishno DeviShrine Board is committed toprovide support for establish-
ment of COVID CareCentre(s) in Katra and sur-rounding areas by way ofproviding medical equip-ments, medicines and protec-tive gears etc, in future.
Photo by Vivek
Photo by Ajay
Together we
fight against
Covid-19TP CORRESPONDENT
JAMMU, MAY 24: Onaccount of lockdown restric-tions and in order to main-tain social distancing, theIndian Army organised anonline lecture on COVID-19pandemic for locals atGaluthi in District Rajouri(J&K). The online lecturefocused on increasing aware-ness about the prevailing sit-uation of COVID-19 pan-demic. The locals wereinformed about COVID-19outbreaks and basic preven-tive measures such as socialdistancing, health andhygiene issues includingwashing of hands, wearingdouble masks, use of sanitis-ers and avoiding social gath-ering.
Through the online lecturethe locals were also famil-iarised about the online pro-cedures to register them-selves for third phase of vac-cination drive and theincreased duration of mini-mum 84 days between firstand second dose of vaccine.
Department of Geography, GDC Nowshera
Organized guest lecture on "Natural
Disasters and their Control Measures"TP CORRESPONDENT
JAMMU, MAY 24: TheDepartment of Geography,Govt. Degree CollegeNowshera organized a guestlecture on "Natural Disastersand their Control Measures"on 22nd May, 2021.Theresource person for the eventwas Mr. Kashaf SajadDepartment of GeographyGGM Science College Jammu.The students of Department ofGeography and faculty mem-bers participated in guest lec-ture through WISE App.
The resource personexplained very well the naturaldisasters, their causes, mitiga-tion, prediction and controlmeasures.
Photo by Vivek
TRUTH PREVAIL
JAMMU, TUESDAY, MAY 25, 20216 NATIONAL/STATE
Muslim Man In UP Assaulted By Cow
Vigilantes, Cops File Case Against HimLUCKNOW: A Muslim
man in the business oftransporting and sellingmeat was assaulted Sundayafternoon in western UttarPradesh's Moradabad dis-trict by a group of men ledby a person calling himselfa "gau rakshak (cow vigi-lante)".
The police have filed acase against the men whocarried out the assaultbased on a complaint bythe victim's brother.However, they have alsofiled a counter case - oftheir own volition - againstthe victim, who has beenidentified as MohammedShakir.
The counter case listscharges relating to 'mis-chief by killing an animal','committing an act likely tospread infection', and 'vio-lation of Covid lockdownguidelines'.
A senior police official -a Deputy Superintendent -posted in the area toldNDTV Shakir had beenarrested but not jailed asthe charges against him are'bailable'.
Shakir is currentlyrecovering at home, hisfamily has confirmed toNDTV.
The man who led theassault against Shakir -Manoj Thakur - has notbeen arrested yet. Fourothers have been arrestedand two more are on therun, Moradabad police saidtoday.
"We got a video of ameat-seller being beatenup and we have filed acase. There are five to sixaccused who have beennamed. We are carryingout searches and will arrestthem soon," PrabhakarChaudhary, the Moradabadpolice chief, said in a state-ment.
The incident took placein a village located within
the Katghar Police Stationlimits in Moradabad.
In a written complaint tothe police, Shakir's brothersaid he was accosted byManoj Thakur and hisassociates while carrying50 kg of buffalo meat on ascooter.
The FIR says the vigi-lantes demanded ? 50,000from Shakir and thenassaulted him, beforethreatening him againstgoing to the police.
Visuals from a mobilephone show Shakir sur-rounded by Thakur andother men. Thakur thenattacks Shakir with a lathitill he falls to the ground. Alonger video shows Shakirheld by a few men as heargues with Thakur, askingto be released.
As the police search forthe assaulters, ManojThakur issued a statementfrom an undisclosed loca-
tion that has been circulat-ed to journalists in the dis-trict.
"We tried to stop thisman but he hit us with hisvehicle. Using two lathis tohit a man is a crime but try-ing to kill someone isn't? Iam trying to stop cowslaughter but the police arenow threatening me. Letthe administration give mea police team... I willexpose this racket," hesaid.
The incident has trig-gered outrage and the localSamajwadi Party MP hasdemanded action.
"I heard he got the meatfrom a factory and had areceipt. Yet he was assault-ed. I want to say that thishatred in the name of cowslaughter has to stop. It isGod's grace this man wasnot killed," ST Hasan, theMP from Moradabad, saidin his statement.
"Pfizer, Moderna Won't Sell Shots ToUs. They Said...": Arvind Kejriwal
NEW DELHI: US phar-maceutical giants Pfizer andModerna have said they won'tsell vaccines directly to Delhi,Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal said today, stressingthat vaccine manufacturershave made it clear "they willdeal with the central govern-ment". Vaccine rollout for the18-44 age group was pausedin Delhi on Saturday due tothe shortage of doses.
"We've spoken to Pfizer andModerna for vaccines, andboth the manufacturers haverefused to sell vaccines direct-ly to us. They have said theywill deal with the central gov-ernment. We appeal to thecentre to import vaccines anddistribute to the states," Mr
Kejriwal told reporters thisafternoon.
His statement comes a dayafter Punjab said Moderna hasrefused to sell vaccines to thestate directly. The Amarinder
Singh government hadreached out all such manufac-turers, according to officials,looking for direct purchases.
Arvind Kejriwal onSaturday wrote to Prime
Minister Narendra Modi toincrease the supply of dosesfor Delhi. "Every month,Delhi needs 80 lakh doses butit received only 16 lakh dosesin May, Mr Kejriwal told thePrime Minister in his letter."For June, our share has beenreduced further to eight lakhdoses," he said.
In his letter, Mr Kejriwalalso gave four suggestions tothe Prime Minister on speed-ing vaccine drive. "The centreshould speak to internationalvaccine manufacturers, buyfrom them and distribute tostates. States and union terri-tories are fighting with eachother," he said.
International vaccine manu-facturers should be given per-
mission to manufacture inIndia, he added, and he alsoinsisted that the countries thathave stocked more vaccinesthan they need should sendexcess doses to India.
"All vaccine makers inIndia, within 24 hours, shouldbe ordered to manufactureBharat Biotech's Covaxin toramp up stocks," he appealedto the centre.
Lockdown in Delhi wasextended for the sixth straightweek on Sunday even as thecity saw positivity rate drop-ping to less than 2.5 per cent.The national capital, whichhas witnessed hospitals buck-ling under the pressure ofIndia's second Covid wave,saw 1,649 new cases.
Should Not Be Any "Ego Issue": Court To
Doctor On Delhi's Covid OrderNew Delhi: The Delhi
High Court Monday saidthere was nothing wrong inthe decision of the DelhiGovernment directing alldoctors and medical staff tofunction in a single category,irrespective of the differ-ences in their seniority andspecialisation, in treatmentof COVID-19 patients, say-ing there should not be any"ego issue". Justice RekhaPalli said that "prima facie"there was nothing wrongwith the May 16 notificationwhich appeared to be dealingonly with COVID-19 man-agement duties of doctorsand they should not come tocourt with such pleas. "Whatis the problem with this?What is your ego issue inthis? I don't see anythingwrong. I am sorry a doctor iscoming to court like this."
"Prima facie I see nothingwrong with the order. It isonly with regard to COVID-19 management," Justice
Rekha Palli said at the startof the hearing of the petitionwhich challenged the notifi-cation contending that it wasarbitrary and issued withoutthe approval of the LtGovernor as required underthe amended GNCTD Actwhich came into force fromApril 27. The petitioner-doc-tor, represented by advocatePayal Bahl, was aggrieved bythe notification as it put allo-pathic and non-allopathicdoctors as well as junior andsenior residents in one cate-gory for treating COVID-19patients, claiming that thiscould put patients lives atrisk.
Delhi government, repre-sented by additional standingcounsel Anuj Aggarwal, toldthe court that the idea behindthe notification was to ensureevery ward was manned dur-ing the pandemic and onlythe authorised doctors canadminister medicines or pro-vide treatment.
Nearly 100 Monks Test Positive
For COVID-19 In Sikkim
NEW DELHI: Nearly 100Buddhist monks have testedpositive for coronavirus inSikkim. The state governmentis closely monitoring eachand every Buddhistmonastery, officials said.
Thirty-seven Buddhistmonks tested positive fromDharma Chakra Centre inRumtek Monastery, a worldheritage site, 30 kilometresaway from Gangtok.
The Gunjang Monastery inSikkim has been declared acontainment zone until fur-ther orders after more than 61Monks tested positive forCOVID-19. The monks havebeen shifted to SaramsaGarden isolation center.
Robin Sewa, Sub-Divisional Magistrate ofGangtok said, "Themonastery has been declaredas containment zone that
would restrict any movement.The other monks of themonastery and those whohave come in contact withthem are also being tracedand tested."
As the coronavirus casescontinue to rise in the state aswell as across country, theSikkim government extendedthe ongoing lockdown foranother week.
On Sunday, Sikkim report-ed 324 fresh COVID-19cases, raising the tally to13,132, while the death countclimbed to 224 after threemore patients died, the healthdepartment said on Sunday.
The Himalayan state nowhas 3,317 active cases and9,381 people have so farrecovered, it said. The freshcases include 204 from EastSikkim, West Sikkim (69) andSouth Sikkim (51).
Many states have floatedglobal tenders for vaccinesas doses for the 18 to 44 agegroup fall short, but Bihar,ruled by BJP ally NitishKumar, has decided againstit.<Bihar Health MinisterMangal Pandey indicatedthat the state is unlikely togo shopping for global vac-cines.
"See how other statesfloated global tenders andwhat the results were," MrPandey told NDTV, whenasked why Bihar had notfloated any global tendersto buy vaccines directly.
"We received 1 crore 1lakh vaccines. 98 lakh peo-ple have been vaccinatedtill Sunday," the ministersaid.
BJP-ruled MadhyaPradesh has reportedly alsodecided not to take thatroute, according to sources.
Several states announcedthey would try to buy vac-cines directly from interna-
tional manufacturers afterthe lack of doses sloweddown or halted vaccinationsthat were opened to alladults on May 1.
So far, that process hasnot produced any results.
Vaccine-makers Pfizerand Moderna have said as amatter of policy they willdeal with the centre insteadof states.
Moderna told the Punjabgovernment that their poli-cy was to deal with theGovernment of India andnot with any state govern-ment or private parties.
The Punjab governmenthad approached for SputnikV, Pfizer, Moderna andJohnson and Johnson, butonly Moderna responded,that too in the negative.
Tamil Nadu and AndhraPradesh have also floatedtenders, but the response toPunjab's attempts indicatesit is largely a symbolic andfruitless move.
Others like UttarPradesh, Maharashtra,Karnataka and Telanganahave also opted for globaltenders.
Delhi Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal wrote toPrime Minister NarendraModi that instead of leavingit to states, the Centreshould import COVID-19vaccines at a national level.
The Centre's new policyallows states and privatehospitals to buy vaccinesdirectly from manufactur-ers, who, however, say theywill prioritise the centralgovernment and do nothave the resources to meetthe current nationwidedemand. India has beenusing Serum Institute ofIndia's Covishield andBharat Biotech's Covaxinso far in the vaccinationdrive that began in January.Russia's Sputnik will bethird vaccine to be used.
Bihar Won't Shop For
Vaccines, Cites Other States
NEW DELHI: CycloneYaas is likely to intensifyinto severe cyclonic storm inthe next 24 hours and willbring winds of speed of up to180 kms per hour when itmakes landfall on WestBengal and Odisha coasts onWednesday, the weatherdepartment said today. Yaas -which is expected to beabout as intense as CycloneTauktae which slammed intothe west coast last week -will intensify into verysevere cyclonic storm whenit hits the land in the next 48hours, it said.
The cyclonic storm is cur-rently about 600 km of PortBlair, the IMD said in aupdate this morning.
Deep Depression overEastcentral Bay of Bengalintensified into CyclonicStorm ‘Yaas' and about 600km of Port Blair. To intensifyinto a Severe Cyclonic Stormduring next 24 hours and intoa Very Severe CyclonicStorm during subsequent 24
The governments ofBengal and Odisha are onhigh alert for the very severecyclonic storm that willbring winds with a speed
ranging 155-165 kmph andgusting to 185 kmph.Cyclone Yaas is very likelyto cross north Odisha-WestBengal coasts betweenParadip and Sagar islandsaround noon of 26th May asa Very Severe CyclonicStorm.
In both the states, theNational Disaster ResponseForce or NDRF, the militaryand the Coast Guard havebeen pressed into service.
Of 85 NDRF teams, 32have been deployed inBengal and 28 in Odisha.Some teams are also out inAndhra Pradesh, Tamil Naduand the Andaman andNicobar Islands.
NDRF chief SN Pradhanhas asked authorities in thetwo states to adopt an over-preparing approach for theimpending natural disasterand carry out evacuationeven in the least vulnerableplaces.
"What we have learnt sofar from our experiencesover the years is that if thedisaster prediction is X, thenyou must prepare for 2Xbecause a natural phenome-non can turn worse in a mat-
ter of hours. So, if the fore-cast is for a very severecyclone of 150 kmph, youshould gear up for anextremely severe cyclone,"Mr Pradhan said.
"My advice to all the dis-trict magistrates would be togo for extra evacuation evenin places identified as mildlyvulnerable. Please remem-ber, timely evacuation is alife saver. I believe the cul-ture of over preparing has tocome to India now," theNDRF Director Generalsaid.
Home Minister Amit Shahwill hold a meeting todaywith the chief ministers ofOdisha, Andhra Pradesh,West Bengal and theLieutenant Governor ofAndaman and NicobarIslands to review the prepa-rations, officials said.
This the second reviewmeeting to be held in view ofthe cyclone in two days.
Prime Minister NarendraModi, during a high-levelmeeting to review the pre-paredness of the state andcentral agencies on Sunday,asked officials to work inclose coordination with the
states to ensure safe evacua-tion of people from the high-risk areas and stressed theneed to ensure that the timeduration of outages of thepower supply and communi-cation network is minimumand these links are restoredswiftly
He also asked the officialsto ensure that no disruptionis caused to the treatment ofCOVID-19 patients in hospi-tals and vaccination againstthe viral disease., a statementissued by the PrimeMinister's Office (PMO)said.
Yaas is expected to beabout as intense as CycloneTauktae which slammed intothe west coast last week buttamer than Cyclone Amphanwhich hit Bengal exactly oneyear ago and for about threedevastating minutes sus-tained wind speeds of 240kmph. At least 80 people losttheir lives.
The windspeed of the1999 super-cyclone, the mostsevere one ever in the Bay ofBengal, is reported to havehit Odisha with winds speedsof 260 to 300 kmph andclaimed nearly 10,000 lives.
Cyclone Yaas To Intensify Into "Very
Severe" Storm, Landfall Wednesday
CBI Challenges In Supreme Court Top
Trinamool Leaders' House ArrestNEW DELHI: The CBI
on Monday morning went tothe Supreme Court to chal-lenge the Calcutta High Courtorder allowing the housearrest of four political leadersfrom Bengal - three fromChief Minister MamataBanerjee's Trinamool - in theNarada bribery case. Thefourth is a former partyleader.
The central agency wantstoday's High Court hearing -a five-member bench isscheduled to hear the politi-cians' bail plea - to be can-celled.
The Supreme Court is like-ly to hear the case around10.30 am. This puts a ques-tion mark over the HighCourt hearing that has beenscheduled for 11 am.
Those arrested are minis-ters Firhad Hakim andSubrata Mukherjee, MLAMadan Mitra, and SovanChatterjee, who quit theTrinamool to join the BJPbefore leaving that party tooin March. Mr Hakim is a keyminister in the fight againstCOVID-19 in Kolkata, wasalso allowed to work fromhome. On Friday the HighCourt denied interim bail forall four.
This was after a differenceof opinion split the two-mem-ber bench - acting ChiefJustice Rajesh Bindal ordered
house arrest but Justice ArijitBanerjee ordered interimbail. The court also rejected aCBI request to stay its order -which allowed the four toleave jail. The agency hadargued they were influentialleaders and could threatenwitnesses.
The agency also wants allproceedings to be transferredout of the state.
The arrests sparked mas-sive protests and a furiousMamata Banerjee - who hasbeen made party to the caseraced to the CBI's Kolkataoffice - daring investigatorsto arrest her too.
A CBI special court heardthe case virtually and grantedbail to the four, but when theagency sought the transfer ofthe case to the High Court,their bails were put on hold.
The Trinamool has ques-
tioned the timing of thesearrests, which come daysafter Ms Banerjee's victory inApril-May elections thatbecame a nasty battle withPrime Minister NarendraModi.
The party has also ques-tioned the decision to notprosecute Suvendu Adhikari -a ex-Trinamool member whois now a BJP MLA - andMukul Roy - another ex-partyleader now with the BJP.
The Narada case involves a2014 sting op by a journalistwho posed as a businessmanplanning to invest in Bengal.He gave wads of cash toseven Trinamool MPs, fourministers, one MLA and apolice officer as a bribe andtaped the entire exchange.
The tapes were releasedjust before the 2016 assemblyelections in the state.
NEW DELHI: The cen-tre has said it will allow on-site, or walk-in, registrationof "a few beneficiaries" inthe 18-44 age group atstate-run Covid vaccinationcentres to "minimisewastage".
This, a notification issuedMonday afternoon said,was to use "some doses...left unutilised in caseonline appointee benefici-aries do not turn up on dayof vaccination".
The centre has alsoallowed on-site registrationfor people "without accessto internet or smart phones,or mobile phones" and whomay otherwise have limitedaccess to the process.
However, the centralgovernment notificationsaid allowing on-site regis-trations would also dependon individual state/UT gov-ernments' decision, whichwill be based on "local con-text".Should state/UT gov-ernments decide to allowon-site registrations, it canonly be made available atgovernment-run vaccina-tion centres and not thoserun by private hospitals, thecentre said.
The notification comesamid a tidal wave of criti-cism over the centre's han-dling of the vaccinationdrive, which has seen statesforced to shut down inocu-lation centres because of a
lack of doses.Delhi, on Saturday,
became the latest state tosuspend vaccination of the18-44 age group for thatreason. The others includeBengal, Maharashtra,Punjab, Rajasthan andChhattisgarh.
The lack of doses hasalso forced states to try andimport vaccines directlyfrom foreign manufacturers- a process that ran into aroadblock over the past 48hours after US pharmagiants Pfizer and Modernasaid they will not deal withindividual states.
Hours before the centre'snotification Delhi ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwalsaid: "They have said theywill deal with the centralgovernment. We appeal tothe centre to import vac-cines and distribute to thestates". A day earlier PunjabChief Minister AmarinderSingh said Pfizer hadturned his state down aswell.
India has so far clearedtwo vaccines - BharatBiotech's Covaxin andCovishield - which is madeby the Serum Institute andwas developed byA s t r a Z e n e c a - O x f o r dUniversity. A third -Russia's Sputnik V - hasbeen approved for emer-gency use but has yet to berolled out.
For 18+, On-Site Registration Allowed
At Government Vaccine Centres
Odisha Officer Tasked With Covid Duties
Dances At Baraat, No MaskJAJPUR: A woman
Odisha AdministrativeService (OAS) officer wasfound dancing at a marriagefunction of her brother vio-lating the COVID-19 lock-down guidelines imposed bythe state government in thewake of surge in coronaviruscases across Odisha.
The woman officer danc-ing at the marriage proces-sion of her brother came tothe fore through social mediaplatform prompting Jajpur District Collector,
Chakravarti Singh Rathore tosay that: "The woman tehsil-dar is on leave right now.Once she joins, an explana-tion will be called. Based onthe explanation, a furthercourse of action will bedecided". The DistrictCollector said this is not thetime for anyone to violateCovid lockdown guidelines."Be it an officer or the public.All should have some ration-ality in their approach," headded. The woman officerwas working as tehsildar ofSukinda. She was found invideo dancing without hav-ing face mask or social dis-tancing at a time when thestate government has com-pletely banned marriage pro-cessions and made a ceilingof 25 participants to attendsuch an event.
The woman officer wasalso assigned the responsibil-
ity to impose the COVID-19guidelines and ensure that thegeneral public abide by therules. The woman officer,was, however, not immedi-ately, available for comment.
Though the woman officerwas working in Jajpur dis-trict, she had gone to attendthe barat of her brother innearby Jagannathpur villageunder Tirtol block ofJagatsinghpur district onMay 21. Throwing Covidrestriction guidelines towind, the marriage proces-sion was held during thenight. Earlier an AssistantSub Inspector of Police ofPanikoili police station inJajpur district was suspendedafter a video showing fourcops including a womanhome guard in uniform danc-ing to the tunes of Odia songsinside Panikoili police stationwent viral on social medialast month.
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TRUTH PREVAIL
JAMMU, TUESDAY, MAY 25, 20217 HEALTH
When your baby is born,they’re given the first oftheir vaccinations.
Ideally, by the time yourchild starts kindergarten,they will have received:
all three hepatitis B vac-cinations
diphtheria, tetanus, andpertussis (DTaP) vaccine
haemophilus influenzaetype b vaccine (Hib)
pneumococcal conjugatevaccine (PCV)
inactivated poliovirusvaccine (IPV)
measles, mumps, andrubella (MMR) vaccine
Many schools requireproof that your child hasbeen vaccinated, and mightnot admit your child if all ofthe vaccinations listedabove haven’t been given.
But there are severalother important vaccinesyou might also want to con-sider for your kids — aswell as yourself.
Read on to learn moreabout these valuable vac-cines.
1. Varicella (chickenpox)vaccine
It wasn’t that long agothat parents would sendtheir kids off to play withschoolmates and friendsinfected with chickenpox.The logic was that it wasbetter to have chickenpox
when you were young, ascases are worse whenyou’re older.
However, getting thechickenpox vaccine ismuch safer than getting thedisease. While chickenpoxmay not cause many prob-lems for some people, oth-ers may have serious com-plications such as bacterialinfections and pneumonia.
Vaccine recommenda-tions
According to the Centersfor Disease Control andPrevention (CDC)TrustedSource, all healthy childrenages 12 months through 18years should have twodoses of the chickenpoxvaccination.
The CDC recommendsthe first vaccination begiven between 12 and 15
months, and the secondbetween ages 4 and 6.
Each state has its ownchickenpox vaccinerequirements for youngchildren in childcare andschool, and young adults incollege.
Even if you don’t live in astate where your child isrequired to get a two-dosevaricella vaccine, some pri-vate childcare centers,schools, and collegesrequire their students to beinoculated for chickenpox.
Possible side effectsResearch suggests that
the varicella vaccine is safefor most people. Sideeffects are usually mild.They can include:
soreness, swelling, andredness around the injectionsite
feverrashRare but serious side
effects can include:seizurepneumoniameningitisrash all over the body2. Rotavirus vaccine
(RV)Rotavirus is a highly con-
tagious virus that can leadto severe diarrhea in infantsand young children. It oftencauses vomiting and fever.If left untreated, it cancause severe dehydrationand even death.
According to PATH, aninternational nonprofithealthcare organization,each year more than500,000 children aroundthe world die from diarrhealdisease, and one-third ofthese deaths are caused byrotavirus.
Millions more are hospi-talized each year after beinginfected with the virus.
Vaccine recommenda-tions
The CDC recommendsthat most babies get vacci-nated to avoid contractingthis virus.
Two oral rotavirus vac-cines have been approvedto prevent the rotavirusinfection (Rotarix andRotaTeq).
The 6 Most Important Vaccines
You Might Not Know About
Vaccination is a valuabletool for preventing many dif-ferent types of infectious dis-eases. When you’ve beenvaccinated against a specificdisease, you can gain protec-tion — or immunity —against it. The Food and DrugAdministration (FDA) in theUnited States has, to date,given emergency use authori-zation to two vaccines againstthe virus that causes COVID-19. These vaccines are thePfizer-BioNTech andModerna vaccines. Johnson& Johnson has also appliedfor emergency use authoriza-tion by the FDA for their sin-gle-dose vaccine.
The COVID-19 vaccine isa vital tool in the effort tostop the spread of the newcoronavirus, known asSARS-CoV-2. But, you maybe wondering about the safe-ty of the vaccine as well as itspotential short- and long-termside effects.
In this article we’ll dig intowhat’s known about the safe-ty of the COVID-19 vaccine,the possible side effects, andhow the vaccine works toprotect you from becomingill.
How were the COVID-19vaccines able to be developedso fast?
Vaccine development typi-cally takes many years.However, COVID-19 vac-cines have been developed ina short amount of time.
In fact, according to theWorld Health Organization(WHO)Trusted Source, thereare over 200 potentialCOVID-19 vaccines in devel-opment as of December2020. At least 52 of thesehave entered clinical trials inhumans.
How were these able to bedeveloped so quickly?Below, we’ll take a look athow this was achieved.
Scientific collaborationAs soon as the new coron-
avirus was identified and itsgenetic material wassequenced, scientists around
the world began studying it inearnest. Along the way, theyshared important researchresults with other scientists.
This high level of coopera-tion helped to better distrib-ute valuable knowledgethroughout the scientific andmedical community about thevirus itself, how it causes ill-ness, and potential vaccina-tion and treatment methods.
Existing researchThe technology that went
into the COVID-19 vaccinemay seem new. However, it’sactually been around forsome time. Scientists havebeen studying new ways tomake vaccines for manyyears now. This includesmRNA vaccines like thosemade by Pfizer-BioNTechand Moderna. In fact, prior tothe pandemic, scientists hadbeen studying this method asa way to make vaccines forother viruses. This existingresearch gave scientists animportant head start fordeveloping vaccines forSARS-CoV-2.
FundingVaccine development is
very costly. One of the mainreasons for this is that itrequires an abundance of test-ing for both effectiveness andsafety. When a vaccine entershuman clinical trials, thesecosts begin to expand rapidly.
Three different phases ofclinical trials must show safe-ty and effectiveness before avaccine can be authorized orapproved. As these trialsprogress, the number of par-ticipants grows and so do thecosts.
Early in the pandemic,funding was poured into thedevelopment of COVID-19vaccines. This funding,which came from both publicand private sources, allowedcompanies to effectively con-duct the necessary vaccineresearch and clinical trials.
Timeline accelerationNormally, the stages of
vaccine development andtesting occur one after the
other. For example, a phase 2clinical trial would only pro-ceed after a phase 1 trial hadbeen completed. This cantake a lot of time.
During the pandemic,some of these timelines wereaccelerated in order to short-en development time.
Additionally, companiesscaled up the manufacturingof their vaccines while theyperformed clinical trials.
This is a large financialrisk for these companies, asdata could show that theirvaccine isn’t effective or safe,leading them to scrap the vac-cine altogether. However, ifthe vaccine is found to besafe and effective, a readysupply of doses is on hand, aswas the case for the currentvaccines. What hasn’tchanged is the fact that allCOVID-19 vaccines stillneed to undergo rigorous test-ing protocols aimed at deter-mining their effectivenessand safety. Although devel-opment is sped up, accelerat-ed timelines don’t compro-mise scientific standards orintegrity. Companies muststill present solid data fromhuman clinical trials to theFDA that shows a vaccine isboth safe and effective.Additionally, vaccine safetycontinues to be monitoredafter authorization orapproval.
How Safe Is the
COVID-19 Vaccine?Can I Use Castor Oil
for Hair Growth?Castor oil is most com-
monly used as a laxative. Butcastor oil’s natural antiviraland antimicrobial propertiesmake it a popular treatmentfor skin problems known asdermatosis as well as fungalinfections. It’s also used forhair growth.
Castor oil for longer locksSome people use castor oil
to grow longer hair or to treathair loss, also known asalopecia. It’s marketed as atreatment for dry scalp andother scalp conditions aswell.
While the average humanhair follicle grows just over acentimeter a month, someclaim anecdotally that usingcastor oil once a month canspur growth three to fivetimes the normal rate. Thereis no clinical evidence tosupport this, however.
If you still want to try cas-tor oil on your hair, here’s asafe, easy at-home method.You’ll need the followingsupplies:
castor oilan old T-shirtrubber glovesapplicator brushcombshower caplarge towelWe believe in health equi-
ty—the equal opportunity foreveryone to live their health-iest life. Join us in transform-ing health outcomes throughthe power of storytelling.
Your height isn’t fixed and changesthroughout your life.
Through childhood and adoles-cence, your bones continue to growuntil you reach your adult stature inyour teens or early twenties. Duringmiddle age, your body usually startsshrinking slowly due to years of com-pression on your spine. People typi-cally lose about 2 to 4centimetersTrusted Source (0.8 to 1.6inches) throughout their life comparedto their peak adult height.
Your height is largely determinedby your genetics and there’s no feasi-ble way to purposefully make yourselfshorter. However, it’s only one of themany qualities that makes you who
you are and there are no health bene-fits to being shorter.
Many people well below and aboveaverage height go on to live success-ful and happy lives. Accepting yourheight isn’t always easy, but it’s ulti-mately the best option if you’re dissat-isfied with your stature.
Let’s look at what influences yourheight and ways you can create theillusion of being shorter than youactually are.
Is it possible to get shorter inheight?
There’s no feasible way to makeyourself shorter intentionally. Thelong bones that make up your armsand legs stay relatively the same
length your entire life. Most of theage-related height loss you’ll experi-ence comes from compression of thediscs between your vertebrae.
Compression of your spinal discscan also cause day-to-day fluctuationsin your height. If you’re like somepeople, your height may change bymore than an inch from the time youwake up to the time you go to bed. Formost people, this change is more like-ly to be closer to half an inch.
Bone-shortening surgeries do exist,but it’s extremely rare for them to beperformed for the sole intention ofmaking you shorter. These surgeriesare usually reserved for counter-bal-ancing leg length differences.
Are there exercises to get shorter?It’s a common myth that lifting
weights in childhood or adolescencestunts your growth. But there’s no evi-dence that this is the case. A properlydesigned exercise programTrustedSource can help strengthen yourbones and protect your joints frominjury.
Even though lifting weights doesn’tlead to growth stunting, resistance
training with poor technique — orwith weights that are too heavy — candamage your growth plates. Yourgrowth plates are the soft parts of yourlong bones from which they grow.
Injuries to your growth plate are notunique to lifting weights. About 15 to30 percent of childhood bone frac-tures affect the growth plate. Withproper treatment, serious complica-tions are rare.
Change your relationship with yourfood by focusing on a new aspect ofmindful eating each day. Join ournutrition newsletter for 21 days ofmindful eating!
Although there’s no feasible way tomake yourself shorter, there are manyways you can give yourself the illu-sion of being shorter. Your wardrobeplays a big role in determining howtall you look. If you want to lookshorter, it’s generally a good idea towear oversized clothes and clothesthat add volume to your figure.
Many people believe that wearinghorizontal stripes may make you lookwider and that vertical stripes maymake you look taller.
COVID-19 is the illnesscaused by the novel coron-avirus, SARS-CoV-2. Whilemany people with COVID-19get mild symptoms, others canbecome seriously ill. Severalvaccines have been developedto protect against COVID-19.
The Food and DrugAdministration (FDA) has sofar authorized three COVID-19 vaccines for emergencyuse. Two of these are thePfizer-BioNTech and Modernavaccines. Both of these vac-cines require two doses.
The Johnson & Johnsonvaccine has also been author-ized for emergency use.However, this vaccine onlyrequires one dose.
Why do some vaccinesrequire two doses? How longdo you need to wait betweendoses? Do you have anyimmunity after the first dose?
This article will help explainwhy you need two doses of thePfizer-BioNTech and Modernavaccines, and will provideanswers to many other ques-tions, too.
How do these vaccineswork?
The Pfizer-BioNTech andModerna vaccines both usemRNA technology. The cellsin your body naturally usemRNA all the time to createmany different types of pro-teins that you need to stayhealthy.
The mRNA in the two-doseCOVID-19 vaccines providethe cells of your body withinstructions on how to makethe spike protein that’s specificto the new coronavirus. Thisspike protein is found on thesurface of the virus. It uses thisspike protein to attach to andenter a host cell in your body.
When you get your COVID-19 vaccine, your immune sys-tem processes information onthe spike protein and generatesan immune response to it. Thisincludes the production ofantibodies.
Vaccines hinge on a veryimportant aspect of yourimmune system, which is thefact that it has memory. Afteryour vaccination, yourimmune system continues tostore information on the spikeprotein.
If you’re exposed to the new
coronavirus, your immune sys-tem will then use this storedinformation to respond andprotect you from the virus.This can help prevent youfrom becoming sick withCOVID-19.
The entire immunity processtypically takes around 2 weeksafter the second dose of vac-cine. That’s why you can stillcontract the new coronavirusand become ill if you’reexposed to it shortly after get-ting your vaccine.
Why do the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vac-cines require two doses?
During early studies,researchers found that thePfizer-BioNTech and Modernavaccines provoke a relativelyweakTrusted Source immuneresponse when given as justone dose. However, there wasa stronger immune responsewhen a second dose wasadded.
Basically, the first dose ofthe vaccine starts the processof building up protection. Thesecond dose works to greatlyreinforce this protection.
Here’s an analogy to help
explain this: You and a friendare trying to move a heavytable across a room. Betweenthe two of you, you’re able toget it partway there. Then,another couple of friends jumpin to help, and you’re all ableto move it the rest of the way.
Vaccines that need morethan one dose aren’t thatuncommon. Some examples ofother vaccines that are part of amulti-dose series include:
the measle-mumps-rubella(MMR) vaccine
vaccines against hepatitis Aand hepatitis B
the shingles vaccineAre there other COVID-19
vaccines that require twodoses?
Several other types ofCOVID-19 vaccines, includ-ing ones still under develop-
ment, also require two doses.Some examples include:
Oxford-AstraZeneca: twodoses given 8 to 12weeksTrusted Source apart
Novavax: two doses given 3weeksTrusted Source apart
Sputnik V: two doses given3 weeksTrusted Source apart
Coronavac: two doses given1 monthTrusted Source apart
Do some COVID-19 vac-cines only require one dose?
The COVID-19 vaccinethat’s been developed byJohnson & Johnson onlyrequires one dose.
After reviewing safety andeffectiveness data from large-scale clinical trials, the FDAhas granted this vaccineEmergency UseAuthorizationTrusted Sourcein the United States.
Why Do You Need Two Doses for
Some COVID-19 Vaccines?
Is this normal?Acne is generally seen as
an adolescent issue, but it’scommon across all agegroups.
Nearly 50 million peoplein the United States haveacne at any given time. It’sthe most common skin con-dition in the country.
Pimples can form any-where, though they prima-rily affect the areas with themost oil glands. Thisincludes your face and yourback.
It’s not uncommon forpimples to form inside ofyour ear, too. Pimples inyour ear can usually betreated at home withoutguidance from your doctor.
We’ll cover more aboutwhat causes pimples toform in your ear and how tomake them go away.
What causes a pimple toform in the ear?
Acne is a broad term thatdescribes a variety of skinconditions. It refers toeverything from white-heads and blackheads tocysts and nodules.
A whitehead occurswhen oil, or sebum, clogs apore. A blackhead occurswhen sebum is exposed toair and turns dark. The sacunder the skin can break,become irritated, or eveninfected, leading to the for-mation of cysts and nod-ules.
Acne in its various formscan appear in your ear, likein the outer ear (auricle)and the external ear canal.The skin of the outer earcovers cartilage and a
small amount of fat.
The skin of the ear canalhas hair cells as well asglands that produce oil andear wax.
If these glands producetoo much oil, it may causeacne to form in your ear.This can also happen whendead skin cells or bacteriabuild up in your pores.
When these things hap-pen, you may develop apimple in the affected area.A pimple will form in yourear if the oil is unable toescape or bacteria grows ina clogged pore.
A buildup in bacteria canbe caused by a few things,such as sticking your fingerin your ear or using ear-buds or headphones thataren’t cleaned often.
Other causes of acneinclude stress and a hor-monal imbalance.
The same things thatcause acne elsewhere onthe body can also causepimples in the ear.However, due to the sensi-tive nature of the ear, acnein this location has to betreated with care.
We believe in healthequity—the equal opportu-nity for everyone to livetheir healthiest life. Join usin transforming health out-comes through the powerof storytelling.
Is it safe to pop a pimplethat’s formed in my ear?
Although it may betempting to pop or squeezethe pimple, you shouldavoid this at all costs. Thismay get rid of the blemish,or it could make it muchworse.
Squeezing the pimple
can force bacteria and pusdeeper into your pores.This may cause the area tobecome more irritated andinflamed. If you do squeezethe pimple and pus comesout, the area will scab. Thistrauma may encourage ascar to develop.
If the pimple gets infect-ed, it can become a boil.These pus-filled bumps aregenerally painful and canoften be treated with thesame methods as pimples.
A pimple can turn into aboil on its own too. It canalso happen because oftrauma to the area as aresult of picking, poking,and squeezing.
How are pimples in theear typically treated?
You can try a warm com-press to loosen and softenany existing pimples. Theheat may help bring the pusto the surface and allow itto drain out on its own.
If this happens, be sure toclean up the liquid quicklybut cautiously. You don’twant to irritate the affectedarea any further, and youdon’t want the bacteria tospread. Be sure to wash thearea thoroughly.
If you have persistent orpainful breakouts, youshould consult your doctor.They’ll assess your acneand give it one of these“grades”:
mildmoderatemoderate to severesevereYour doctor will recom-
mend a treatment plan bestsuited to your needs. Yourtreatment may include:
Topicals. Topical med-ications derived from vita-min A are available by pre-scription and over thecounter (OTC). Tretinoin(Retin-A) is the most com-mon prescription option.Shop for OTC acne creamsonline.
Benzoyl peroxide. Avariety of OTC benzoylperoxide compounds arealso available. For moder-ate acne, use a solutionthat’s 5 percent benzoylperoxide.
Pimple in Ear: How It
Happens and How to Treat It
Is It Possible to Get
Shorter in Height?
Surgery can correct legsthat are different lengths aswell as help increase a per-son’s height. Because the sur-gical procedure requires timeand frequent adjustments, notall patients who want the sur-gery are good candidates.While doctors can do the sur-gery on those of all ages, it’stypically performed on youngpeople.
This article will describesurgery to get taller, includingsome of the approaches, con-siderations, and recovery out-look.
What is surgery to gettaller?
Surgery to get taller, alsoknown as limb-lengtheningsurgery, involves surgicalapproaches to stimulate bonegrowth in the legs. Thisapproach often involves sever-al surgeries to lengthen notonly the leg or legs but also
the tendons in the legs.Some of the earliest
described limb-lengtheningapproaches involved applyingtraction — stretching pressure— to the limbs to encouragethem to grow.
What does limb-lengthen-ing surgery treat?
Limb-lengthening surgeryis typically performed to cor-rect legs that grow unequal insize. For example, a doctormay recommend limb-length-ening surgery if a person hasone leg that is abnormallyshort compared to the other,due to injury or conditionspresent at birth.
Doctors will not usuallyrecommend the procedureunless a person has a leglength difference of a least 2centimeters. Otherwise, a doc-tor may recommend othertreatments, such as wearing ashoe insert to correct limb dif-
ferences.However, a person may not
experience symptoms untiltheir leg length difference is atleast 4 centimeters, accordingto the Journal of Orthopaedicsand TraumatologyTrustedSource.
Underlying causes that canlead to differences in leglength include:
birth defects that impactbone growth
cerebral palsyhistory of broken bones or
injuries to the lower legsaffecting growth
history of poliomyelitishistory of shortened or tight
musclesLegg-Perthes disease,
which affects the hipsLimb-lengthening surgery
is more common in youngadults ages 18 to 25, near theend of bone growth. However,in rare cases the procedure
may be performed in olderadults.
If a person’s bones aren’tgrowing anymore, a doctorwill usually recommend leg-shortening or leg-restrictionsurgery.
A doctor will usually onlyrecommend limb-lengtheningsurgery for both limbs in casesof dwarfism, specificallycaused by achondroplasia, agenetic form where one legmay be slightly turned.
While limb-lengtheningsurgery does correct cosmeticconcerns, a person can experi-ence side effects due to havinglegs of unequal length.Examples include scoliosis —curving of the spine — orpelvic misalignment.
What are the risks of limb-lengthening surgery?
Because limb-lengtheningprocedures are invasive, thereare risks. These include reac-
tions to anesthesia, bleeding,and infections, particularly atthe pin sites.
One review of literatureabout bone-lengthening sur-gery procedures and outcomesreports that up to 100percentTrusted Source of peo-ple who have leg-lengtheningsurgery have some type ofcomplication, but most peopledon’t experience major com-plications.
There’s also a risk the sur-gery will be ineffective due tothe bones improperly healing.Some patients may also healin a way where the bones are
not straight.We believe in health equi-
ty—the equal opportunity foreveryone to live their healthi-est life. Join us in transform-ing health outcomes throughthe power of storytelling.
What are the side effects oflimb lengthening surgery?
A doctor should discuss thelong-term effects of limb-lengthening surgery with you.
Examples include:joint stiffnessskin painsoft tissue tightnessincreased risk for bone
breaks or fractures
Can Surgery Help You Get Taller?
TRUTH PREVAIL
JAMMU, TUESDAY, MAY 25, 2021INTERNATIONAL8
Cairo, Egypt: AnEgyptian court on Sundayrejected a complaint bythe Japanese owner of acontainer ship thatblocked traffic in the SuezCanal for six days inMarch against the vessel'scontinued detention bycanal authorities, a lawyersaid.
The Ever Given, one ofthe world's largest con-tainer ships, becamejammed across the canalin high winds on March23, halting traffic in bothdirections and disruptingglobal trade.
The complaint wasattached to a case at theeconomic court inIsmailia in which the SuezCanal Authority (SCA)sought $916 million incompensation from theEver Given's owner ShoeiKisen. Also on Sunday,the head of the SCA sug-gested in a TV interviewthat the canal could acceptthe reduced sum of $550million, slightly lowerthan the $600 million hehad mentioned earlier thismonth for a potential outof court settlement.
SCA Chairman OsamaRabie said a $200 milliondeposit could be enoughto secure the ship's
release, with the restpayable separately.
The Ismailia court onSunday referred the caseback to a court of firstinstance, which is due toconsider it on May 29,said Ahmed Abu Ali, oneof the lawyers represent-ing the owner.
Any ruling made by thelower court could triggerappeals, said anotherlawyer, Ahmed AbuShanab, indicating thatlegal wrangling coulddrag on.
In a statement followingSunday's ruling the SCAsaid it bore no responsibil-ity for the Ever Given'sgrounding, reassertingthat responsibility laywith the ship's captainalone, and rebutting argu-ments made a day beforeby Shoei Kisen's legalteam.
It also broke down its$916 million claim, citingthe costs of freeing theship and a salvage bonusstipulated in maritime law,material and reputationaldamage, and the diversionof some shipping awayfrom the canal.
One boat sank duringthe operation to free theship, resulting in the deathof a worker, the SCA said.
Court Allows Suez Canal To Keep
Holding Ever Given: Lawyers Current Covid shots pro-vide a high level of protec-tion against hospitalizationand death, according to asummary of the efficacy ofeight vaccines that showedthe Pfizer Inc.-BioNTechSE jab may better at stop-ping at least two worrisomecoronavirus variants.
Efficacy against Covid-linked disease averagedabout 85% after a fullcourse, rising to almost100% protection againstsevere disease, hospitaliza-tion or death, Julia Shapiro,Natalie Dean, Ira Longiniand colleagues said in apaper released Fridaybefore peer-review andpublication. The Universityof Florida researchers com-pared data from journalarticles and media reportsfor products that have gonethrough double-blinded,placebo-controlled, late-stage vaccine trials, as wellas observational studies.
"These estimates shouldbe useful for constructingmathematical models forvaccination impact and formaking policy decisionsinvolving vaccination,"they said. They plan toupdate their research,which received fundingfrom the U.S. NationalInstitutes of Health, asmore information becomesavailable. The unprecedent-ed speed with which safeand effective vaccines have
been developed and rolledout across the world haveenabled many economies toreopen, paving the way fora recovery from the worstpandemic in a century. Still,uncontrolled spread of theSARS-CoV-2 virus risksspawning new variants thatmay undermine the potencyof these immunizations.
Protection against anydisease with infection forthree so-called variants ofconcern averaged 86% forthe B.1.1.7 strain firstdetected in the U.K., 61%for the P.1 strain that drovean explosive outbreak inBrazil, and 56% for theB.1.351 strain discoveredin South Africa, theUniversity of Floridaresearchers said.
Vaccine efficacy wasestimated for immuniza-tions that are being rolledout on local and globalscales, they said. Theseinclude the Pfizer, ModernaInc., Johnson & Johnson,AstraZeneca Plc,"Sputnik", Novavax Inc.,Sinovac Biotech Ltd., andSinopharm Group Co.products.
"Some of the estimatesare based on rigorous, pre-planned statistical analysesfrom double-blinded,placebo-controlled trials,while others are extractedfrom observational studieswith different levels of con-trol," the researchers said.
Covid Shots Are All Highly Protective
Against Death, Study Shows
Dogs Can Be Trained To Detect 90% Covid
Cases, Even Asymptomatic: StudyMinutes To Touchdown: The Moment
Belarusian Dissident Knew His Time Was UpVILNIUS: Ryanair
Flight 4978 had alreadybegun its descent into theLithuanian capital when thepilot announced that theplane would be suddenlydiverting to Minsk, capitalof neighbouring Belarus.
There was no explana-tion.
But one of the passengersaboard the Boeing 737reacted immediately, stand-ing up from his seat, reach-ing into the overhead locker,pulling a laptop computerfrom his hand luggage andpassing it to a female com-panion along with hismobile phone.
Belurusian dissident jour-nalist Roman Protasevich,who is wanted in Belarusfor his role in broadcastinghuge opposition protests inMinsk last year, did nothave much time. Minsk isless than 200 km (125miles) from Vilnius. Thediversion would take min-utes. "When it wasannounced they were goingto land in Minsk, Romanstood up, opened the lug-gage compartment, tookluggage and was trying tosplit things," said theLithuanian passenger, whogave his name only asMantas.
"I think he made a mis-take. There were plenty ofpeople so he could give thethings to me or other pas-sengers and not the girl-friend, who was also I thinkarrested." Outside the plane- although not visible to
Mantas - was a Soviet-eraMiG-29 fighter jet, onorders from BelarusianPresident AlexanderLukashenko to force theplane to Minsk.
Mantas was speaking toReuters after a day-longordeal that began in Athensand finally ended late in theevening in the Lithuaniancapital, Vilnius, after astopover of more than sevenhours in Minsk.
Another exhausted pas-senger, speaking toreporters without giving hername, said Protasevichlooked "super scared".
"I looked directly into hiseyes and he was very sad,"she said.
Belarusian authorities haddiverted the flight as itpassed over the countrybecause of a suspectedbomb alert, state newsagency BelTA said. Thealert later turned out to befalse.
'STANDING ALONE'Protasevich, 26 was
immediately separated onarrival in Minsk and checksof luggage using sniffer
dogs turned up nothing."We saw that Roman was
stopped due to some thingsin the luggage," Mantassaid, adding that the otherpassengers also had theirluggage checked and weretaken by bus to the terminalwhere they spent severalhours waiting to reboard theplane.
"We saw from the win-dow that Roman is standingalone, and one policemanwith dog was trying to findsomething (in his luggage)."
Another passenger, whoalso did not give his name,told Lithuanian media thatProtasevich had identifiedhimself to Belarusian secu-rity officials on arrival. "Isaw how his passport wastaken away.
He took off his mask andsaid: 'I'm so-and-so and I'mthe reason why all this isgoing on.'" The EuropeanUnion called forProtasevich's immediaterelease, with the head of theEU's executive EuropeanCommission and the Polishprime minister describingthe incident as a hijacking.
Japan Considers Zero-Spectator Olympics
Amid Backlash Over Covid Surge
PARIS, FRANCE: Dogscan be trained to detect morethan 90 percent of Covid-19infections even whenpatients are asymptomatic,according to research pub-lished Monday, whichauthors hope could helpreplace the need to quaran-tine new arrivals.
Using their remarkablesense of smell -- which canpick up the equivalent of halfa teaspoon of sugar in anolympic-sized swimmingpool -- dogs have alreadyshown that they can sniff outmaladies such as cancer,malaria and epilepsy.
Several previous studieshave shown proof-of-con-cept that dogs can detectSARS-CoV-2.
Researchers from theLondon School of TropicalMedicine wanted to see ifdogs could detect a distinc-tive odour given off fromchemical compounds associ-ated with someone who isCovid positive but doesn'tshow symptoms.
They gathered samples ofclothing and face masksfrom people who had testedpositive for mild or sympto-matic SARS-CoV-2.
Samples of the socks of200 Covid-19 cases werecollected and arranged in labtests for six dogs that hadbeen trained to indicateeither a presence or absenceof the chemical compound.
The dogs needed to betrained not to identify "falsepositives" in a bid to hacktheir reward system andobtain treats even if therewere no Covid-19 samples ina given test. "This means that
the dog fully understandsand gets a reward for a cor-rect negative as well as a cor-rect positive," said ClaireGuest, from the school'sFaculty of Infectious andTropical Diseases.
Overall, the dogs weresuccessfully able to identifybetween 94 and 82 percentof SARS-CoV-2 samples.
The researchers then mod-elled how effectively thesesuccess rates, combined withtraditional PCR tests, couldhelp detect mild or asympto-matic Covid-19 cases.
They found that usingdogs to screen arrivals at ter-minuses such as airportscould detect 91 percent ofcases, resulting in a 2.24times lower rate of transmis-sion than with PCR testsalone.
- 'Important start' -Authors of the research,
which has yet to be peer-reviewed, said they hoped itcould eventually replace theneed for travellers to quaran-tine -- which necessarily dis-rupts every arrival eventhough the vast majority arenot Covid positive.
"The key thing is that dogsare significantly quicker thanother tests," said co-authorJames Logan.
"What we're suggesting isthat dogs would give the firstinitial screening, and thenthose (arrivals) that wereindicated as positive wouldthen receive a complimenta-ry PCR test." The team saidthat out of a plane full ofarrivals -- around 300 people-- less than one percent werestatistically likely to be car-rying SARS-CoV-2.
W A S H I N G T O N ,UNITED STATES: Adozen people were killedand about 50 injured inshootings across the UnitedStates over the weekend,after President Joe Bidenlast month branded thecountry's gun violence an"epidemic."
The spate of shootingincidents included deathsin New Jersey, SouthCarolina, Georgia, Ohioand Minnesota.
In total, the attacksclaimed 12 lives andwounded at least 49 others.
Two people died whengunfire broke out at ahouse party in Camden,New Jersey on Saturdaynight, and at least 12 peo-ple were injured, accordingto police.
In South Carolina, one14-year-old girl was killedand 14 people wounded ata concert. Police in Atlanta,Georgia, found three gun-shot victims early Sundayafter responding to a callabout shots fired. All threevictims were pronounceddead at the scene, USmedia reported.
Three others were killedand eight injured outside abar in Youngstown, Ohio,early Sunday morning,while a 16-year-old girl
was killed and seven peo-ple injured in a park inColumbus.
A deadly shooting alsooccurred in Minneapolis,Minnesota, the nightbefore supporters and rela-tives of George Floyd, theBlack man killed by awhite former police officerlast spring, held a marchSunday on the firstanniversary of his death.
One person was killedand eight injured, with onevictim in critical condition.
Minneapolis police toldAFP that one suspect in theshooting had been arrested,while a second suspect haddied.
The United States hassuffered a series of massshootings in recent months,including at a FedEx facili-ty in Indianapolis, an officebuilding in California, agrocery store in Boulder,Colorado -- as well as abirthday party in the samecity a few weeks later --
and at several spas inAtlanta.
Biden has introduced sixexecutive measures aimedat tamping down the crisis,including a proposed ruleto halt "ghost guns," asfirearms built from homekits are known, and boost-ing support for agenciesinvolved in tackling com-munity violence.
In addition to massshootings, gun violence ingeneral -- including less-publicized incidents ofteninvolving family membersor acquaintances -- hassurged across the UnitedStates last year.
Gun sales jumped at thebeginning of the Covid-19pandemic. Overall, 2020was one of the most violentyears in the United Statesin decades.
So far this year, therehave been at least 200 massshootings in the UnitedStates, according to theGun Violence Archive.
12 Killed In Weekend
Spate Of US ShootingsBEIJING, CHINA: An
investigation was underwayMonday into the deaths of21 runners during a moun-tain ultramarathon in north-west China, as harrowingtestimony emerged fromsurvivors who battled tosafety through freezing tem-peratures and bone-chillingwinds.
The extreme weatherstruck a high-altitude sec-tion of the 100-kilometre(62-mile) race held in thescenic Yellow River StoneForest in Gansu provinceSaturday afternoon.
Provincial authoritieshave set up an investigationteam to look into the causeof the incident, state mediareported, as questionsswirled over why organisersapparently ignored extremeweather warnings from thecity's Early WarningInformation Centre in thelead up to the race, whichattracted 172 runners.
China's top sports bodyalso vowed to tighten safetyrules on holding eventsacross the country.
Survivors gave shockingtestimony of events on therugged mountainside, whereunconfirmed meteorologicalreports to local media saidtemperatures had plunged toas low as minus 24 degreesCelsius (minus 11 degreesFahrenheit).
"The wind was too strongand I repeatedly fell over,"wrote race participant ZhangXiaotao in a Weibo post.
"My limbs were frozenstiff and I felt like I wasslowly losing control of mybody... I wrapped my insula-tion blanket around me, tookout my GPS tracker, pressedthe SOS button and lost con-sciousness."
He said when he cameround he discovered a shep-herd had carried him to acave, placed him by the fireand wrapped him in a duvet.
'Foaming at their mouths'Marathon survivor Luo
Jing told state broadcasterCCTV she saw runnersstruggling back down themountain wearing only T-shirts and shorts.
They "described to uspeople foaming at theirmouths, and urged us to quitthe race as soon as possi-ble," she said.
Other survivors said insu-lation blankets provided byorganisers were blown toshreds by strong winds.
One told state media as hebattled down the mountainhe saw many people lyingon the ground, some hebelieved to be dead.
Gansu province is oftensubject to extreme weatherconditions including sand-storms and earthquakes.
The GansuMeteorological Bureau hadwarned of "sudden heavyshowers, hail, lightning,sudden gale-force winds"and other adverse weatherconditions across theprovince in a report datedFriday.
China Probes Deaths Of 21 Ultramarathon
Runners After Freak Weather Hits Race
"It's Piracy": Global Aviation Stunned
Over Belarus Flight Diversion
The United Nations' avia-tion agency said it was"strongly concerned" by theapparent forced landing of aRyanair jetliner in Belarus, asglobal airlines called for aninvestigation into Sunday'srare incident.
Aviation leaders reactedwith shock after Belarusscrambled a fighter andflagged what turned out to bea false bomb alert to force aRyanair jet to land, beforedetaining an opposition-minded journalist who hadbeen on board. The UN'sInternational Civil AviationOrganization (ICAO) saidthe incident may have contra-vened a core aviation treaty,part of the international ordercreated after World War Two.
"ICAO is strongly con-cerned by the apparent forcedlanding of a Ryanair flightand its passengers, whichcould be in contravention ofthe Chicago Convention," itsaid.
"We look forward to moreinformation being officiallyconfirmed by the countriesand operators concerned."
Airlines joined a flurry of
government protests."We strongly condemn any
interference or requirementfor landing of civil aviationoperations that is inconsistentwith the rules of internationallaw," said the InternationalAir Transport Association.
"A full investigation bycompetent internationalauthorities is needed."
Aviation experts said therare incident could fueldebate over the resilience ofa decades-old system ofcooperation. ICAO has noregulatory power, but sits atthe centre of a system ofsafety and security standardsthat keep most airways openacross political barriers.These are managed throughthe Montreal agency by its193 member states, includingBelarus.
Key Corridor"It looks like a gross abuse
of the (Chicago) Convention.It's piracy," KevinHumphreys, a former Irishaviation regulator, toldReuters.
He added he would "not besurprised" if some airlinesskirted Belarus airspace
while they awaited moredetails, but stressed eachwould make its own threatassessment.
"People in the industry willbe worried," he added.
Belarus is an importantcorridor between Europe andMoscow or southeast Asiaand Europe, according toFlightradar 24.
Lawyers say Sunday'sflight was emblematic of atangle of jurisdictions thatshare a delicate co-existencein aviation - involving aPolish-registered jet flown byan Irish group between EUnations Greece andLithuania, over non-EUBelarus.
Under the 1944 ChicagoConvention, each countryhas sovereignty over its ownairspace, though the treatyprohibits any use of civil avi-ation that may endanger safe-ty.
But the right to overflyother countries is enshrinedin a side treaty called theInternational Air ServicesTransit Agreement, of whichBelarus is not listed as amember. Non-treaty mem-bers grant overflights accord-ing to varying rules.
A separate 1971 treaty thatincludes Belarus outlaws theseizure of aircraft or know-ingly communicating falseinformation in a way thatendangers aircraft safety.
The European UnionAviation Safety Agency(EASA) said it was "monitor-ing the situation from thesafety perspective."
After a year of emptybleachers and fake crowdnoises, sports fans are return-ing to stadiums around theworld. But the one arenawhere they might not be wel-come is the biggest event ofall.
Organizers of the TokyoOlympics are set to decidenext month if local spectatorswill be allowed to attendevents, even as Japan worksto tamp down a wave ofinfections that has cast doubtover the prospects of a massgathering with cheering fans.Public opinion, alreadystrongly against holding thegames at all, is trendingtoward support for a zero-spectator Games.
Barring domestic fanswould deliver a significantfinancial blow, eliminating amajor source of revenue.Their absence will alsodampen consumption andspending by sponsors count-ing on most ticket holdersbeing allowed to attend. Yet a
ban would ease the strainexpected on an already-stretched medical system,and may be the organizers'last card to play in order topull off the Games at all.
"We are prepared for nospectators," SeikoHashimoto, president of theJapan Olympic OrganizingCommittee, said late lastmonth. "But we want asmany people to watch as thesituation allows."
Japan has expanded andextended a third state ofemergency as cases continueto climb throughout thecountry. They have largelybeen driven by more infec-tious strains from abroad,adding to concerns aboutinviting thousands of over-seas participants. Foreignathletes, meanwhile, haveexpressed safety concerns,with the U.S. track and fieldteam canceling pre-Olympicstraining in the country.
A recent poll by the Asahinewspaper found 59% of
respondents were against anyfans, up from 45% in April,with those in favor of justcapping attendance dippingto 33% from 49%. While thepublic may favor no fans, itwould create a significantfinancial burden; organizersare projecting about $800million from ticket sales.
Medical AttentionInitially, 600,000 fans
from abroad had been pro-jected to attend, but organiz-ers ruled out that possibilityin March, and punted a deci-sion on domestic spectatorsto June as cases in Japanrose.
Rather than the state of thepandemic, however, the deci-sion may hinge on the abilityto secure medical staff.Japanese professional sportshave continued to welcomefans in limited numbers evenduring the state of emer-gency, with baseball and soc-cer games capping spectatorsat 5,000 per game afterextending the current emer-gency. "They are consideringholding the Olympics with-out spectators even thoughvarious other sports eventsare welcoming them; thiswill probably help from thestandpoint of reducing theburden on medical staff,"said Hiroshi Okudera, a pro-fessor at the University ofToyama, who was responsi-ble for medical care at theNagano Winter Olympics in1998.
Wuhan Lab Staff Sought Hospital
Care Before Covid Outbreak: ReportWASHINGTON: Three
researchers from China'sWuhan Institute of Virology(WIV) sought hospital carein November 2019, monthsbefore China disclosed theCOVID-19 pandemic, theWall Street Journal reportedon Sunday, citing a previ-ously undisclosed US intel-ligence report.
The newspaper said thereport - which providesfresh details on the numberof researchers affected, thetiming of their illnesses, andtheir hospital visits - mayadd weight to calls for abroader probe of whetherthe COVID-19 virus couldhave escaped from the labo-ratory.
The report came on theeve of a meeting of theWorld Health Organization'sdecision-making body,which is expected to discussthe next phase of an investi-gation into the origins ofCOVID-19.
A National SecurityCouncil spokeswoman hadno comment on the Journal'sreport but said the Bidenadministration continued tohave "serious questionsabout the earliest days of theCOVID-19 pandemic,including its origins withinthe Peoples Republic ofChina."
She said the US govern-
ment was working with theWHO and other memberstates to support an expert-driven evaluation of the pan-demic's origins "that is freefrom interference or politi-cization."
"We're not going to makepronouncements that pre-judge an ongoing WHOstudy into the source ofSARS-CoV-2, but we'vebeen clear that sound andtechnically credible theoriesshould be thoroughly evalu-ated by internationalexperts," she said.
The Journal said currentand former officials familiarwith the intelligence aboutthe lab researchersexpressed a range of viewsabout the strength of thereport's supporting evi-dence, with one unnamedperson saying it needed
"further investigation andadditional corroboration."
The United States,Norway, Canada, Britainand other countries in Marchexpressed concerns aboutthe WHO-led COVID-19origins study, and called forfurther investigation and fullaccess to all pertinenthuman, animal and otherdata about the early stagesof the outbreak.
Washington is keen toensure greater cooperationand transparency by China,according to a source famil-iar with the effort.TheChinese Embassy inWashington did not immedi-ately respond to a requestfor comment on Sunday.
On Sunday, China's for-eign ministry noted that aWHO-led team had con-cluded a lab leak was
extremely unlikely after avisit in February to the virol-ogy institute.
"The US continues tohype the lab leak theory,"the ministry said in responseto a request for comment bythe Journal.
"Is it actually concernedabout tracing the source ortrying to divert attention?"
The Trump administrationhad said it suspected thevirus may have escapedfrom a Chinese lab, whichBeijing denies.
A State Department factsheet released near the endof the Trump administrationhad said "the US govern-ment has reason to believethat several researchersinside the WIV became sickin autumn 2019, before thefirst identified case of theoutbreak, with symptomsconsistent with bothCOVID-19 and commonseasonal illnesses." It didnot say how manyresearchers.
China refused to give rawdata on early COVID-19cases to the WHO-led teamprobing the origins of thepandemic, according to oneof the team's investigators,Reuters reported inFebruary, potentially com-plicating efforts to under-stand how the outbreakbegan.
TRUTH PREVAILJAMMU TUESDAY MAY 25, 20219 SPORTS
New Delhi : Tipped to bethe next big thing in Indian bas-ketball, Princepal Singh, whoplayed in the G league last sea-son as part of Ignite, which wasa first-of-its-kind team, is yet todecide whether he will enlist forthe upcoming 2021 NBA Draft,which will be held on July 29.
"I'm not sure whether I willenter the Draft. I would like toplay in the NBA and would liketo be drafted as soon as possi-ble, if not this year, then at leastnext year," Princepal said.
Ignite was set up by theleague for Draft-eligibleprospects. Initially, Ignite wereexpected to play just a fewexhibition games, but whenmany G League teams optedout of playing in the bio-securebubble, Ignite were given a spotalong with 17 other teams,which ensured at least 15 gamesfor the youngsters.
During an online mediainteraction from Ohio, where heis currently training, Princepalsaid, "My contract is over withG League. So I am just focusingon getting as much practice as Ican. It is off season and I hopeto play in the Summer Leagueand join another G Leagueteam." By playing another sea-son in the G League, Princepalcould make a more pressingcase for himself to the 30 NBAteams than he did in his firstseason. In his debut G Leagueseason, he got just 25 minutes(in four appearances) on thecourt under coach Brian Shaw,who is a five-time NBA cham-pion. In those minutes, hetotalled nine points and grabbedfour rebounds.
Speaking about the experi-ence and learning of G League,the 6'9'' tall player said, "In oneseason in the G League, I start-ed to play a more power-basedgame. I have improved myshooting and physically I havebecome a better player."
Princepal yet todecide on NBA draft
Atletico Madrid lift La Liga titleMadrid : Atletico Madrid
won La Liga and Luis Suarezfound vindication, his goalsecuring the 2-1 victory overReal Valladolid on Saturdaythat clinched his team anotherremarkable Spanish title.
Suarez began the seasoncrying after being forced outof Barcelona but ended it withhis 21st goal of the seasonearning Atletico a first leaguetriumph since 2014, this oneat the expense of RealMadrid.
Atletico knew victorywould guarantee them the titleregardless of what RealMadrid did at home toVillarreal but it was nevercomfortable, with Valladolidtaking a shock early lead.
Real Madrid were behindtoo for most of the afternoonbut Karim Benzema equalisedin the 87th minute and LukaModric even scored a latewinner for 2-1 at Valdebebas,leaving Atletico hanging on atthe end, as they were sudden-ly one goal away from squan-dering it all.
When the final whistleblew, the players ran onto thepitch, Suarez underneath apile of red and white shirts,with Europe's most nerve-wracking and unpredictabletitle race finally complete.
Just over a week ago,coach Diego Simeone saidthis was the "Suarez Zone"and so it proved, theUruguayan scoring the winneragainst Osasuna last week tokeep the title in Atletico'shands and then again on thelast day to put their name onthe trophy.
This is only the secondtime in 17 years that a teamother than Barcelona or RealMadrid have won the title,with Atleti claiming the otherone under Simeone in 2014.
Atletico went into thegame having been top sinceDecember and on the back ofbeating Osasuna with twogoals in the last eight minutes,a victory that was so dramaticit felt like it would prove deci-sive.
But Atletico have donenothing the easy way this sea-son, with their 10-point leadin February cut to two in Mayand their position at the top ofthe table relying on numerousslip-ups from both RealMadrid and Barcelona.
So it was apt that facedwith beating Real Valladolid,who were 19th in the table,they still had to scrape overthe line.
Several hundred Atleticofans gathered in Valladolid'sPlaza Mayor in the hoursbefore kick-off to sing songsand a similar number made itoutside the stadium, where
they were cordoned off in acess-pit of nerves and antici-pation.
Players screamedSuarez had a couple of
early openings but any hopesfor a comfortable afternoonwere dashed in the 18thminute when Valladolid tookthe lead.
It came from an Atleticocorner as Yannick Carrascolost the ball and Valladolidbroke at speed, pinging passesthrough midfield and finallythrough to Oscar Plano, theformer Real Madrid young-ster who pulled away andfired past Jan Oblak.
There was plenty of timeleft and the other consolationfor Atletico was Real Madridfell behind too, GerardMoreno's poked pass causingconfusion at the back, withYeremi Pino proddingVillarreal into the lead.
Atletico pushed asSuarez's effort curled wideand Felipe headed straight atJordi Masip but they alsolooked for calm. Playersscreamed at Oblak to give theteam a moment to regroup.Simeone told the substitutesto quieten down.
Both title contenders weretrailing at half-time butAtletico came out withrenewed vigour and a crucialfew minutes fell their way.
Real Madrid struck first,Benzema heading inCasemiro's cross before AngelCorrea levelled for Atletico aswell, collecting on the edge ofthe area and firing through thelegs of Jawad El Yamiq.
Atletico's equaliser,though, was made all themore precious after Real
Madrid's was ruled out,Benzema's left arm shown tobe offside by VAR.
Valladolid might havescored again but ShonWeissman headed over withthe goal gaping and thenAtletico took the lead, a gift ofa pass-back by SergiGuardiola allowing Suarez to
skip clear.Suarez slid the ball past
Masip before ending up undera pile of Atletico teammates.
Real Madrid equalised inthe 87th minute, Benzemacurving a delightful finish intothe top corner and it was stillnot over, Modric scoringagain to leave Atletico withsome nail-biting finalmoments.
They got over the line.5 matches that wonLiga Atletico 1-0 Barca,
Nov 21Yannick Carrasco scored
the winner as Atletico regis-tered their first La Liga winover Barcelona in more than adecade and stretched theirunbeaten run to 24 matches.
It would be this result thateventually gave Atletico abetter head-to-head recordover Barca, who were left10th in the table and withoutthe injured Gerard Pique forthree months.
Elche 0-1 Atletico, May 1Atletico were inches away
from surrendering victory andtheir lead at the top of thetable to Real Madrid asElche's Fidel Chaves missed adramatic 91st-minute penalty.
Fidel's shot struck the postas Atletico held on for a 1-0win that kept them two pointsahead of Real Madrid andalso in front of Barcelona
going into a crunch meeting atCamp Nou.
Barca 0-0 Atletico, May 8Barcelona had the chance
to shift the dynamic of thetitle race on their home turfbut Atletico dominated thefirst half and Barca never didquite enough in the second.
The stalemate ended up
being an even better result forAtletico after Real Madridwere held by Sevilla a daylater, Atleti's two-point leadpreserved at the end of whatmany had circled as a pivotalweekend.
Atletico 2-1 Osasuna, May16
With nine minutes left,Atletico trailed Osasuna 1-0at the Wanda Metropolitanoand Real Madrid were goingtop of La Liga, the title intheir hands, with a win againstAthletic Bilbao.
But Atletico pulled off anincredible turnaround, RenanLodi equalising in the 82ndminute and Suarez scoring thewinner in the 88th, with hun-dreds of fans celebrating out-side in the stadium car park.
Victory kept Atleti top andleft them one more win away.
Valladolid 1-2 Atletico,May 22
Atletico knew victorywould win them the titleregardless of how RealMadrid fared againstVillarreal but they did it thehard way, coming frombehind after Valladolid took ashock lead through OscarPlano.
But Angel Correaequalised and then Suarezscored the winner, a nervytitle race decided by a nail-bit-ing victory.
India could begin practice after 3-day hard quarantine in England
New Delhi : The Indiancricket team touring Englandmay be asked to undergo onlya three-day hard quarantinebefore being allowed to prac-tice in a bio-secure environ-ment during isolation aheadof the World TestChampionship (WTC) final inSouthampton.
The roadmap could besimilar to what New Zealandis following on arrival inEngland for their Test tourthat comprises a two-Testseries against host from June2 as well as the WTC finalagainst India from June 18.Apart from the WTC final,India play five Test matchesagainst England in August-September.
India depart from Mumbaion June 2 and will undergo,on arrival in England, a 10-day isolation period, details ofwhich are not yet clear sincethere has been no official inti-mation from the Board ofControl for Cricket in India(BCCI).
However, it is understoodthat discussions betweenBCCI and England and WalesCricket Board (ECB) havebeen going on and since mostIndia players are already in
bio-secure bubble in Mumbaiwith others joining over thenext couple of days, the quar-
antine wouldn't be a hard onefor all 10 days despite Indiabeing in the red list of UKgovernment due to risingnumber of Covid-19 cases.
New Zealand were askedto undergo a mandatory three-
day hard quarantine beforebeing allowed to practice ingroups of six. They had
arrived on Monday andTuesday in batches.
"The first three days willbe spent in hotel room isola-tion, before mini-traininggroups of six can be estab-lished from days 4-6, pending
negative covid results," NewZealand Cricket had said onarrival.
While New Zealand, whoare camping in Southamptonnow, will move to London atthe end of this month for theTest series against England,India will move in from June2.
AC Milan and Juventus take final 2Champions League places
Milan : Seven-timeEuropean champion ACMilan is back in theChampions League after aneight-year break. AndJuventus also narrowly quali-fied on the final night of SerieA.
Two penalties from FranckKessie on Sunday helpedMilan to a 2-0 win at Atalanta,which had already claimed atop-four spot along with SerieA champion Inter Milan.
Juventus won 4-1 atBologna with two goals fromAlvaro Morata plus scoresfrom Federico Chiesa andAdrien Rabiot.
Still, Juventus needed helpand got it when Hellas Veronaheld Napoli to a 1-1 draw,leaving Napoli in fifth place.
Amir Rrahmani had putNapoli ahead on the hourmark but Davide Faraoniquickly equalized for Verona.
When Juventus' game fin-ished a few moments earlier,Bianconeri players watchedthe final moments of theNapoli-Verona match on thetouchline before they couldcelebrate. The final standingsread: Inter (91 points), Milan(79), Atalanta (78), Juventus(78) and Napoli (77).
C O N F E R E N C ELEAGUE
Roma came back from twogoals down against Spezia fora 2-2 draw to take seventhplace and a spot in the newEuropa Conference Leaguefor incoming coach JoseMourinho.
Stephan El Shaarawy and
Henrikh Mkhitaryan equal-ized for Roma after DanieleVerde and Tommaso Pobegahad put Spezia ahead.
Sassuolo, which finishedeighth, beat Lazio 2-0 withgoals from GiorgosKyriakopoulos and DomenicoBerardi despite finishing with10 men after Kyriakopoulospicked up his second yellow.
Lazio was already assuredof finishing sixth and will gointo the Europa League withNapoli.
Also, Torino and already-relegated Benevento drew 1-1.
INTER CELEBRATESInter got its title party
started by crushing Udinese5-1 in the final round.
Inter had clinched the titleearlier in the month but therewas an award ceremony onthe field after its final match,
with captain SamirHandanovic lifting the trophyto huge cheers from insideand outside the stadium.
There were 1,000 invitedguests allowed into San Siroas friends and family and4,500 fans outside in an allo-cated area. Hundreds of themhad started gathering hoursbefore the team arrived, carry-ing flags and setting off flareswhile chanting songs to cele-brate Inter's first Serie A titlein 11 years.
After the celebrations onthe field, the players went toone of San Siro's iconic tow-
ers to continue the party withthe fans below.
Fans have been bannedfrom matches in Italy for the
majority of the past yearbecause of the coronaviruspandemic, apart from a briefperiod shortly after the start ofthe season when up to 1,000spectators were allowed intostadiums.
Ashley Young andChristian Eriksen set Inter onthe way to victory with first-half goals. Lautaro Martínezconverted a penalty 10 min-utes after the break with IvanPerišic and Romelu Lukakualso scoring to add to the fes-tive atmosphere.
Roberto Pereyra netted alate penalty for Udinese.
India will be more conditionedfor WTC final : Taylor
London : Senior NewZealand batsman Ross Taylorfeels the suspension of theIPL "played into India'shands", giving Virat Kohli'steam more time to get accli-matised to English conditionsbefore next month's WorldTest Championship final.
The Indian PremierLeague, which was suspendedearlier this month due to mul-tiple cases of Covid-19 insideits bubble, was due to finishon May 30, while the WTCfinal between New Zealandand Indian is scheduled tostart from June 18 inSouthampton.
"For India, IPL finishingearly under unfortunate cir-cumstances has probablyplayed into their hands a lit-tle," Taylor told reporters onSunday.
"If IPL would have goneon they would have had asmaller preparation but nowthey will be a lot more condi-tioned, their bowlers will havetheir loads up," he added.
However, Taylor reckonsNew Zealand will still haveslight advantage over India asthey are are scheduled to playtwo Tests against England inthe run up to the WTC final.
"I would be lying if youthink there isn't some sort ofthought about the WTC finalbut I couldn't think of a betterpreparation than playing twoTests against England. At theend of the day it's a neutralvenue.
"Playing two Tests givesus a slight advantage but thisIndian team has been numberone for a long period of timeand has had a lot of successover here," he added.
The right hander, who hasfeatured in 195 Tests, 233ODIs and 102 T20Is for NewZealand also squashedrumours regarding his retire-ment.
"Age is just a number andas long as you're still enjoyingit and feel like you're goodenough and can contribute tothe team on and off the field."
"I did have 35 in my mindbecause of the 2019 WorldCup but I went there and felt Icould still contribute, and
therefore, I didn't think justbecause it was a World Cup itwas time to retire, but no Idon't have a number in mind,"he added.
There had been some talksthat the BCCI has requestedto alter the schedule forIndia's five-Test series againstEngland for completing theIPL, something the Englandand Wales Cricket Board(ECB) has denied.
Asked if he was concernedabout the future of interna-tional cricket amid T20leagues' boom, Taylor said,"IPL is probably the mosthigh-profile and countriesmove it around when theydon't have the same power. Itis what it is, players want toplay in it.
"I hope that Internationalcricket still has relevance andpriorities at times. As long asthings are being movedaround it is fine... As long asthey aren't getting cancelledand what not."
Dukes prep beneficialNew Zealand batsman
Devon Conway feels prepar-ing with the Dukes ball backhome has helped his sideimmensely as it gears up forthree Tests in England,including the WTC final
against India here.Conway, who is among the
three uncapped players in the20-man squad, feels the campback home in Lincoln ahead
of the tour was ideal. NewZealand play with theKookaburra at home.
"That was very beneficialfor us, you know, having thatopportunity to play amongstthe Dukes ball, get to learnhow it works, and try and for-mulate a game plan, how togo about things," Conwaysaid in an online press interac-tion.
"But yeah, I think not a lotchanges. You know, weunderstand that the Dukes balldoes swing a little bit morethan than what theKookaburra does, but youknow, you've just got to facethe ball and come up with agame plan and stick by it,"said the South Africa-bornplayer, who made the teamafter impressing in limitedovers cricket.
During the camp backhome, Conway sprinkled catlitter on practice wickets tosimulate spin bowling on therough, hoping it will help himcounter the likes ofRavichandran Ashwin duringthe WTC final.
On his first Test tour, the29-year-old is trying to soakin as much as he can fromestablished names like TomLatham and Ross Taylor in his
team."It has been a massive
learning curve for me, interms of how the protocols areall set set in place, and justtrying to adhere through allthat. You know, just seeing theguys being around the groupfor an extended period, it'sbeen fun. And, yeah, a lot ofmemories created already inthe short period.
"In the Test set up the guyshave been here for a very longtime. So you know, it's goodto sort of learn from the expe-rience of players that havebeen at this level, they've beenplaying at this level for a longperiod.
Adjusting to the coldweather in England is a chal-lenge though, feels Conway.
"...It's about adapting tothe lower degrees. I thinkthat's a slight challenge initself but I think, you know,once the body acclimatised tothat, it's about just reallyunderstanding what you wantto do and not overcomplicatethings...," the southpawadded.
New Delhi : SergioAguero signed off forManchester City in style onSunday, scoring twice in a 5-0romp for the Premier Leaguechampions against Everton.
City's record goalscorer,who is leaving the club afternext week's ChampionsLeague final, hit a quickfiredouble after coming off thebench with 25 minutesremaining.
His efforts added to earlierstrikes from Kevin DeBruyne, Gabriel Jesus andPhil Foden as City showed nosign of letting up ahead of theshowpiece clash againstChelsea in Porto.
Everton were over-whelmed on an emotionaloccasion, with City presentedwith the Premier League tro-phy and fans returning to thestadium after 14 months away
due to coronavirus restric-tions.
It was the first chance forthe supporters to salute thechampions and acknowledgetheir European exploits.
Before the game largenumbers spilled into the roadas City's team coaches madewhat is normally a straight-forward journey from thetraining complex to the stadi-um.
Only 10,000 were permit-ted inside the Etihad but theatmosphere they generatedinspired the team and few leftbefore the post-match cere-monies, which included theclub tributes to Aguero.
Everton formed a guard ofhonour to greet City onto thefield and players from bothsides then did likewise forAguero.
Supporters would have to
wait to see the Argentine inaction, however.
The striker, having beentroubled by injury in recentweeks, was not fit enough toplay the full 90 minutes andhad asked manager PepGuardiola if he could startfrom the bench.
City, who were 3-0 up,sent on Aguero with justunder half an hour remainingand he soon made his mark.
The Argentine made it 4-0as he jinked through the areain the 71st minute and deftlyflicked the ball past Evertongoalkeeper Jordan Pickfordwith the outstep of his rightboot.
He claimed his second,and City's fifth, soon after ashe leapt from the edge of thearea to plant a header pastPickford from a Fernandinhocross.
Aguero signs off in stylein Man City romp
Paris : A tight French titlerace culminates on Sundaywith table toppers Lille a winaway from dethroningNeymar and Mbappe's ParisSaint-Germain as champions.
Christophe Galtier's outfithave no major stars but areunbeaten away sinceNovember and travel to mid-table Angers, a team whohave lost five of their last sixleague games.
On 80 points, Lille hold aslender one-point lead overPSG who won the FrenchCup in midweek.
Galtier has been a tower ofstrength at the head of three-time former champions Lille,and is confident his chargeswill complete the job.
"Our campaign has beenbuilt on away performances,we just have to stick to ourguns," he said.
Turkish veteran strikerBurak Yilmaz, 35, is Lille'stop scorer with 15 goals, com-pared to the league-leading 26of Mbappe, but there is a pal-pable sense of unity at theclub. Lille, bidding to win thetitle for the first time in adecade, have a budget whichis smaller than that of Lyon,Marseille and Monaco as wellas PSG. PSG coach MauricioPochettino insisted his sidewill hold their nerve at Brestwho are desperate to avoidbeing dragged into the relega-tion play-off spot.
"We have to believe it'spossible, do our job by win-ning our match at Brest andsee if Lille run into trouble,"said Pochettino, whosecharges will take the title witha win if Lille draw or lose.
If they are successful, PSGwill be crowned French
champions for a record-equalling 10th time.
On what could be anenthralling last day, NikoKovac's Monaco, on 77points, will hope to qualify forthe Champions League for thefirst time since 2018.
Monaco were beaten 2-0midweek by PSG in theFrench Cup final but formerBayern coach Kovac said hisside had already moved on.
"If we win at Lens onSunday we will have trans-formed our season into some-thing wonderful," said Kovac.
The south coast side willhowever be looking anxiouslyover their shoulders at Lyonwho can still snatch thirdplace.
At the bottom, Nimes andDijon are already relegated,but there are six sides fightingto avoid a relegation play-off.
Lille look to dethrone PSG
TRUTH PREVAILJAMMU TUESDAY MAY 25, 2021ENTERTAINMENT10
Manav Kaul on OTT competition tofilms: Options are always a good thing
Actor Manav Kaul doesn'tthink the web-space will everovershadow the theatricalexperience.
"We are so many people inthis country and everyone has
their own way of entertainingthemselves. So, people wholike going to the theatres willgo to the theatres but the ideais that there are options now,and options are always a goodthing," Manav told IANS.
"It is a healthy competi-tion. There are so many OTTplatforms and people areactually thriving," he added.
On his process of acting,
Manav says he performs sole-ly for the director, and it isalways only the director's callthat matters to him as anactor.
"As long as my directorand co-actor and the team areon the same page, I am com-fortable because I am per-forming for the director. I amnot at all interested in anyoneelse. I go all out for the direc-tor," Manav told IANS.
He added: "Sometimes I'llbe not good and sometimes Iwill be very good, but it isalways the director's call. Justas it is the make-up person'scall how I look and not mycall. So, everyone is doingtheir job and you just have tostick to yours, and I love myjob. It is so good."
The actor was recentlyseen in the Netflix's antholo-gy "Ajeeb Daastaans". Hefeatured in Kayoze Irani'ssegment titled "Ankahi",which also stars Shefali Shahand Tota Roy Chowdhury.
Priyanka Chopra Jonas: No oneis safe unless everyone is safePriyanka Chopra Jonas
has set up a fundraiser to helpIndia amid the ongoingCovid-19 crisis. In anInstagram video she postedon Thursday, she talks how itis important for everyone tocome forward and help thecountry.
"India, my home, is suffer-ing the world's worst Covid
crisis, and we all need to help!People are dying in recordnumbers. There is illnesseverywhere, and it's only con-tinuing to spread and kill atgreat speed and scale," shewrote alongside the clip.
She added: "I have set up afundraiser with GiveIndia, thelargest organization on theground in India providingCovid relief. Whatever youcan spare, truly makes a dif-ference. Nearly 63 millionpeople follow me on here, ifeven 100,000 of you donate
$10, that's $1 Million, andthat's huge.
"Your donation will godirectly to healthcare physicalinfrastructure (includingCovid care centres, Isolationcenters, and oxygen genera-tion plants), medical equip-ment, and vaccine supportand mobilization."
She shared that no one is
safe unless everyone is safe."Please please donate.
Nick and I already have andwill continue to contribute.We have all seen how far andwide this virus can spread, anocean between us makes nodifference. No one is safeunless everyone is safe. It's soheartening to see so manypeople stepping up to help inso many ways. We need tobeat this virus, and to do thatrequires ALL of us. From thebottom of my heart THANKYOU!" she said.
Actor Sharad Malhotra'sdebut directorial "Prem GajraAur Chilli Chicken" recentlyreleased digitally, and he saysmaking the short filmwas challenging but anamazing experience.
"When you dosomething new, it isnever a smooth ride.But your efforts andprayers never go unan-swered. We are gettingso much love for thefilm that also gives outa strong message tosociety. Making thefilm has been a chal-lenging, blissful andfull-filling experience.It's my labour of love.I'm happy how it turnedout," he told.
Sharad recalls hewas shooting for theshow "Kasam TerePyar Ki", when he startedwork on his film.
"We were on a tight sched-ule but I somehow managedmy time to work on this proj-ect. The moment the show gotover, I started building my
team. First, we formed a pro-duction team, and then Iapproached my close friendPrateek Chakravorty of
Pramod Films," shares theactor.
He added: "Prateek likedthe concept and thought Iwould act in it. He was takenby surprise when I told him Iwant to direct it. But he was
more than happy to fund mydream. He always pushes meto do my best. We both haveimmense trust in each other
that has not changed overthe years. He was like'you make the film, I'lltake care of the rest'. He'salways there for me."
A team of around 30 to40 members worked for32 hours to complete this20-minute short feature.He recalls the day it sud-denly started raining dur-ing an outdoor shoot.
"I got worried andsecretly prayed for a mir-acle to happen. The rainstopped for about 15 min-utes, allowing us time toget what we wanted. Thenthere was another timewhen I wanted to shooton a particular bridge inPowai but was told it'd
take time to get permission.Everyone wanted me tochange the location but I did-n't want to compromise orlose hope, and we did get thepermission after two days," hesays.
Sharad Malhotra opens up onhis directorial debut
Sunil Grover has beenmaking people laugh with hisantics as a funnyman on tele-vision for years. He has alsoimpressed with the odd seri-ous role, as he did recently inthe web series "Tandav", orthe Akshay Kumar-starrerfilm "Gabbar Is Back". Theadvent of social media hasbeen a boon for new-age tal-ent over the recent years andSunil, too, has benefitted fromthe platform.
"You have to see so muchtalent has come forth becauseof social media. Everyone hasgot a platform to expressthemselves and people canwatch whatever they like," hesaid.
If the advent of socialmedia and OTT is changingart of storytelling, Sunil notedthis is something that happensevery few years. From theatreto films to television to socialmedia and OTT now, viewershave proved they can adapteasily.
"Change is inevitable.When films started coming,people thought that may beaudience for plays would beaffected but theatre has con-tinued. Eventually, socialmedia came and now we haveOTT. With time, people adaptto evolution," he said.
For him, as an artiste, avariety in platforms means abetter chance to experiment,which in turn throws new
challenges."I love taking up chal-
lenges. I recently did a show
on OTT and the challengethere was that it was a veryserious role and I was worriedabout what if people laugh atthat. Of course, it worked forme and I liked the fact that in'Tandav' the audience accept-ed me as something different.I think what the audiencewants is good performanceand not anything else. Theywant to an amount of fresh-ness, too," he said.
"I have been doing similarkind of things for a while, sowhen I do something differentand it works, the audience
appreciates it and I like (thefact) that I got to do some-thing fresh," he added.
Sunil will soon be seen inthe upcoming comedy show"Hasee Toh Phasse", where10 comedians will be lockedin a house, trying to makeeach other laugh. The chal-lenge for them is to not laugh,and the last contestant whocan stay without laughing,wins the show.
"The show's format is dif-ferent and it has a mentalmechanism that I have neverdealt with before," said Sunilabout the show, which willdrop on Amazon PrimeVideo.
Sunil Grover: So much talent hascome forth because of social media
Huma Qureshi, who starsin filmmaker Zack Snyder's"Army of the Dead", said her"heart bleeds" for fellowIndians facing the coronaviruspandemic but as an actor she'ssharing her work as her pro-fessional duty.
The film is set after a zom-bie outbreak in Las Vegas,when a group of mercenariestake the ultimate gamble, ven-turing into the quarantinezone to pull off the greatestheist ever attempted.
Sharing the poster of herfrom the movie on Thursday,Qureshi said even though sheis deeply saddened with thecrisis in India, she is sharingglimpses from her upcomingwork.
"My heart bleeds as mycountry and my fellowIndians fight personal loss,hurt, pain and devastationevery day because of theCovid-19 pandemic. I standalongside them in sharingevery bit of it with them," shesaid in a statement here.
"With a heavy heart how-ever, in keeping with myduties as a professional, Ishare my work for all of you
to view. 'Army of Dead', theZack Synder film I shotthrough 2019," she said.
In the film, the actor willbe seen alongside DaveBautista, Ella Purnell, Ana dela Reguera, Garret Dillahunt,Raul Castillo, OmariHardwick, Hiroyuki Sanada,Tig Notaro and MatthiasSchweighofer.
Qureshi, 34, said the filmwill release on May 14 inselect theatres and on May 21
on Netflix.The actor also urged
everyone to follow all the
necessary COVID-19 proto-col to curb the spread of thevirus. "Urging those who aresafe to continue staying safeand follow every possible reg-ulation in these torrid times,while dedicating my work tothose who have encounteredthe wrath of this pandemicand wishing them health &peace," she said.
Heart bleeds, but keeping up with professionalduty: Huma Qureshi on new film
As I sat down to write thisreview, the loudspeakers inmy para, ushering in Id festiv-ities, blared Jaanam samjhakaro, from Salman Khan'seponymously titled '90s film.Pretty portentous, consideringI had barely made outunscathed (just about) of aviewing of Radhe, and alsobecause Salman - in what is acommon rider for all his films- has been making a standard'commitment' to us for years,"Main dil mein aata hoon,samajh mein nahin". Well,one doesn't get into Radheexpecting it to be TheGodfather. But the assault onthe brain aside, two hours ofSalman's latest film is guaran-teed to bring on heartburn fora lifetime.
First, let's get the thread-bare 'plot' out of the way.Radhe is supposedly based onthe South Korean hit TheOutlaws. Salman is Radhe, anencounter specialist, who isbrought back from suspensionto clean up the city. "SwachhBharat", he screams (we kidyou not) and sets out to huntdown Randeep Hooda's Rana,the most personality-less vil-lain you would have seen in along time. Rana sauntersabout in Mumbai's heat andhumidity dressed in blackfrom top to toe and alwayshas an axe handy to butcherpeople at will. Rana also dealsin drugs, which is directorPrabhu Deva's way of addinglayers to the narrative. Therest of it is the same ol', thesame stale.
Our encounter specialist,however, doesn't come face-to-face with his nemesis asmuch as he 'bumps' into Diya(Disha Patani), the mostdimwitted woman you wouldhave seen on this side of theEquator. When Diya firstmeets Radhe, he pretends tobe blind and makes a crassjoke about how, if he had asister, he would have namedher Nadiya (or 'na diya'). Shemeets him again, but doesn'tbother to ask him how hestopped being blind in a day.
Logic is, of course, not oneof Radhe's strong points, but
neither is the way it presentsits women. There are a fewfemale characters scatteredhere and there, but their onlyfunction in the film is to getraped or molested. In thename of inclusivity and eman-cipation, there's a female cop,but one who's so scared after acops-vs-criminals shootoutthat she needs a 'pep talk'from our hero Radhe to con-tinue doing her job. In thefinal scene, she tries taking onthe villain with a stick. Andpromptly needs to be rescuedby the men.
In the run-up to Radhe's
release, an article hasresearched and calculated theaverage age of Salman's hero-ines through the years. Themagic number: 25.493 years.At 28, Disha is half ofSalman's age (he'll turn 56 inDecember), and twice hisheight. Through the film, sherefers to him as "cute boy"and "chocolate boy". Salmanhasn't, of course, been a boyfor many decades now.
But age is just a number inRadhe. Jackie Shroff playsDisha's brother in the film,and will possibly land up asher father-in-law in real life ina couple of years. To warnyou, there is a scene in whichJackie dances with Salman ina maroon negligee. Jackie -despite the fact that there is aJohny Lever lookalike in thefilm - functions as Radhe'scomic relief, and miserablyfails. Did we mention a JohnyLever lookalike? There's alsoa Khal Drogo knock-off in thefilm. When he isn't spouting
lines about punching out peo-ple's kidneys and hearts ("Jailke andar daloonga ya zameenke andar" is his clarion call),Radhe pretends to be a strug-gling model to win over ourbimbette heroine. One scenehas him taking off his shirt(but of course!), while his leftnipple throbs, with the samelevel of vulgarity as VarunDhawan's did in Main TeraHero. She asks him, "Wohkya hain?" "Heartbeat," hereplies. "Chalo, isko bandhkarte hain," she smiles andpromptly starts feeling himup. Well...
Radhe, in fact, is prettymeta in a way. Diya dropsRadhe in front of an apart-ment called Galaxy (for thosenot aware, Salman's home inMumbai is called Galaxy).Participants from Bigg Boss,that Salman hosts, walk in andout of the film. At one point,one of them tells Radhe,"Bigg Boss mein kyun nahinchale jaate?" While Radhe ischasing a gangster on foot, acycle materialises out ofnowhere. JacquelineFernandez pops in for a for-gettable item number. SingerArjun Kanungo, said to beSalman's latest protege,makes his acting debut.
We think.Radhe has reportedly
crashed the Zee5 server, onwhich it released, onThursday, with about a mil-lion people tuning in. All thatis fine. I am just wonderingwhat to do with my smashed-to-pulp brain. Any Aamir filmcoming up?
Radhe: An assault on the brain
I would like to ask ArjunChakrabarty as to how he pre-pared himself to slip into theshoes of Apu in SubhrajitMitra's film Avijatrik? (Doyou have questions for Team'Avijatrik'?... May 4)
Madhumanti ChakrabortyArjun Chakrabarty: All
credit goes to the team.Subhrajitda made an amazingscript, Sohag Sen guided mevery well to help me under-stand Apu's character. Andthere are several people in afilm unit who keep ensuringthat things are in place tomake it look as convincing aspossible. I just had to growmy beard and pay attention tothis team.
About his third installmentof the Apu Trilogy, Ray saidin an interview that Apu isalmost an intellectual in it andhe hopes to see his ownreflection and his nuances inthe character. Is Apu the sameApu of Apur Sansar, where hegrieves the tragedy of Aparnaand finds solace in the compa-ny of his son?
S. GangulySubhrajit Mitra: Every
director interprets the charac-ters and the emotions in hisown unique way, with his ownsignature. I followed thenovel Aparajito and the char-acterisation of Apu asB i b h u t i b h u s h a nBandyopadhyay has writtenand wanted to be. The charac-ter graph of Apu in ApurSansar and Apu in Avijatrik isdifferent in certain aspects asthis film depicts a differentpart of Apu's life, his journey,his wanderlust. But the basicinterpretation of the emotionsby Apu are the same in boththe films as it is well estab-lished and written byBibhutibhushan.
Arjun: Yes this is definite-ly the same Apu. It's from thesame novel (Aparajito). Webegin right where ApurSansar ended, keeping every-thing exactly as they wereshown previously. This is justa continuation.
Does Apu (ArjunChakrabarty) have any cher-ished anecdotes with his
father (SabyasachiChakrabarty) on the sets? Orsome fun moments behind thescreen?
Kiona MondalArjun: Sharing screen
space with Baba on the bigscreen is a dream come true.He's fun to be around, whilealso being a legendary actor.Performing alongside him
helped me deliver better.Moreover, I didn't think I'dever play his "friend", so thatwas amusing.
I would like to know thesignificance of the titleAvijatrik.
Arshi HazraSubhrajit: Avijatrik means
"the adventurer", who longsfor wanderlust. Why thisname? For that you have tosee the film. It is self-explana-tory.
I am a big fan ofSabyasachi Chakrabarty. It isextremely interesting to seethe father-son duo on thescreen and I'm hopeful thatthey will prove to be one ofthe USPs of the film.
Arshi HazraSubhrajit: Sabyasachi
Chakrabarty is playing theaged Shankar of ChanderPaharfame, another immortalcharacter of Bibhutibhushan.He is playing a major charac-ter here, not a cameo. He wascast well ahead of Arjun. ForApu's part, we'd considered
several big names fromCalcutta as well asBangladesh and they all camefor screen tests. Finally, Izeroed in on Arjun, the reasonis there to see on screen foreveryone. This film remainstrue to the concluding part ofthe novel Aparajito.
First of all, I want to tellTeam Avijatrik that I liked the
trailer of the film very much.And through this mail, I wantto convey my best wishes tothe team. My questions forTeam Avijatrik are: What isthe name of the child-actorwho played the important roleof Kajol in the movie? Andhow did Team Avijatrikfindhim?
Sourish MisraSubhrajit: Thank you for
your wishes. AyushmanMukherjee played the charac-ter of Kajol. He was selectedafter a rigorous audition ofmany kids. For the characterof Kajol I took screen tests ofmany kids aged between sixand seven years. I had a veryspecific look in mind. Heshould have deep, melan-cholic eyes as well as naughti-ness in his looks. My friendsand team members started aprimary hunt to find such akid. We did screen tests onevery weekend with SangeetaChakraborty, who did thechild actor workshops.Ayushman Mukherjee was the
83rd kid... I finally zeroed inon him after three stages ofscreen tests. It took me almostthree/four months to completethe process.
t2: How did you directhim? What would you tellhim?
Subhrajit: Ayushman is avery obedient kid. He wasaccompanied by his mother
all along, other than Sangeeta.She primarily took the brief-ing from me and preparedAyushman for nearly four/fivemonths before actual shootingstarted. It was almost a regularaffair for them. I visited theworkshop every weekend tosee the progress. Not onlyAyushman, other kids whowere part of the film have alsoattended the workshop regu-larly. Arjun spent time withAyushman, during SohagSen's workshop, so that thebond grows between them.Ayushman was well preparedbefore the actual shootinghappened. He was a bit nerv-ous on the first day of theshoot, in the midst of so manypeople. He only met couple ofmy ADs (assistant directors)during workshops and looktest. Debanjana, Risha, Amitaand Pratiksha, the womenbrigade in the AD team aswell as Sangeeta and hismother helped him to over-come the nervousness.Ayushman was very fond of
me. We spent lot of timetogether after pack up duringoutdoors. I had to enact theentire shot in front of him andI asked him to blindly copythat. To his credit, he pulledthat off beautifully. I mustadmire his dedication as oncertain days the shoot contin-ued for more than 13/14 hoursand he didn't complain orthrow tantrums even for amoment, as was expectedfrom a little kid. He wasalways ready for the shot intime, whenever I needed him.We even celebrated his birth-day in our last schedule. Hewas super happy. I was luckyto have Ayushman to playKajol.
Satyajit Ray's Apu Trilogycarries an emotion. How diffi-cult is it to put forward thesame sense of emotions inAvijatrik and at the same timemaking it relevant in modernsociety?
Payal RoySubhrajit: I tried to remain
true to the novel. The emo-tions are there itself. Avijatrikis based on the remaining partof the classic novel Aparajito.Classic means it is relevantbeyond the confinement oftime and space. The emotionsand the journey are relevant toeveryone, irrespective of theirnationality, class and socialstrata, irrespective of the time.That's the very reasonAvijatrik has already garnered18 laurels so far across theglobe from the A-listed inter-national film festivals.
Arjun: Hats off to themeticulously researchedscript, make-up, productiondesign and costumes. Thesedepartments made the per-formers' jobs easy. Avijatriktakes off right where ApurSansar ended and we knowhow timeless these films are.So we just had to be honest toB i b h u t i b h u s h a nBandyopadhyay's novel.There was never going to bean attempt to make it fit into a21st century mould. Old sto-ries and their emotions arenever stuck in time. Wealways feel the way previousgenerations felt.
Sharing screen space with Baba is a dreamcome true, says Arjun Chakrabarty
Jacqueline Fernandez's Insta following hits 50 million-mark
TRUTH PREVAILJAMMU TUESDAY MAY 25, 2021
BUSINESS NEWS11
How to become CEO despite skipping college,and talk to the likes of Steve Jobs
New Delhi : A lot of peo-ple these days follow uncon-ventional academic paths,launch start-ups and appointthemselves CEO. But how doyou become the capo at a tra-ditional, established giantdespite skipping college?
Andy Mooney, CEO ofFender Musical InstrumentsCorp., which against odds hada thriving 2020, would havesome answers.
Mooney, 66, was a music-crazed son of a coal miner inScotland. He couldn't afford aFender those days, the verybrand he now heads. But hewanted to play some musicand also desired a goodcareer. The young Mooneyfigured out that companieswere really run by the financechaps. With the goal ofbecoming a chief financialofficer, he studied accountan-cy by correspondence andtook up a day job. This way,he had some professionalexperience and a relevantqualification without havingto spend resources on a fullcollege education. And hecould spend some time play-ing music.
"You need money even tobe a semipro musician,"Mooney told the LA Times afew years ago. "I took a jobout of high school at Uniroyal
Tyres UK and skipped col-lege. I took my accountancyexams by correspondencecourse. I did it at night when Igot home. By the time Iturned 25, even though I had-
n't gone to college, I was aqualified accountant."
Nonetheless, Mooney'sresume did not have highemployment chances. Unlesssome brash young companycame along the way. That isexactly what happened. Anirreverent new shoe brandnamed Nike hired him,straightaway, as its CFO forUK.
"The only company insaneenough to give me that chancewas Nike," Mooney said."Being CFO meant unloading40-foot containers of shoesonce a month and shipping
them arm-to-arm with theguys in the warehouse to meetyour sales goals."
Later on, Mooney movedto Disney, where a meetingwith Steve Jobs led to a learn-
ing he still remembers."When I left Nike after 20
years and moved to Disney,one of the first few people Imet was Steve Jobs," Mooneytold Guitar World last year."He was the founder of Pixarat that time and Disney had arelationship with them fromdistributing their movies.
"Steve kinda grilled me thefirst time I met him. He askedme what I felt made greatbrands and I told him a greatbrand was the accumulativeeffect of great products.Luckily he said that heagreed, but with one caveat.
He said every single productyou work on is like a deposit(if it's good) or withdrawal (ifit's not) from the brand equity.I kinda held that in the back ofmy mind."
In another interview lastmonth, Mooney spoke aboutthe importance of data, andhow it led to the crucial find-ing that as many as 90% offirst time guitar buyersstopped playing in the firstyear. This motivated Fenderto offer a guitar learning appthat could reduce that number.
"When I joined Fender Iasked who was buying ourguitars and nobody knew,"Mooney toldMonocle. "So weconducted research and out ofthat came five key initiatives.One was that 45 per cent ofguitars that we sell go to first-time players and 50 per centof these are women. The big'ah-ha' was that 90 per cent ofthose first-time players aban-don the instrument in the firstyear; the 10 per cent that don'tquit tend to commit for lifeand spend about $10,000 [Rs7.3 lakh approx] in the indus-try over a lifetime. Now weknew what digital product tocreate (with Fender Play); ifwe were able to reduce theabandonment rate by even 10per cent we could double thesize of the hardware industry."
Unmanned supermarkets to therescue in Sweden's rural areas
New Delhi : One afteranother, grocery stores areshutting down in ruralSweden, leaving villagers totravel miles to buy food. But anew type of shop has sprungup in their wake: unmannedsupermarkets in mobile con-tainers.
In Veckholm, a village of afew hundred people 80 kilo-metres (50 miles) fromStockholm, the last grocerystore closed more than adecade ago.
Then, a year-and-a-halfago, even the little conven-ience store at the only petrolstation locked its doors.
Villagers were left with nochoice but to travel a half-hour by car to the closestsupermarket.
But in July 2020, an auto-mated, unmanned grocerystore came to town.
In a container dropped inthe middle of a field, open 24hours a day, the 20-square-metre (215-square-foot)supermarket sells hundreds ofitems -- and there's no cashierin sight.
"Since a while back, therehas been nothing in this areaand I think most of us livinghere have really missed that,"said Giulia Ray, a beekeeperin Veckholm.
"It's so convenient to havethis in the area," she told AFP,doing her own shopping andrestocking the shop's shelveswith her honey at the sametime.
Shoppers unlock thesupermarket's door with anapp on their smartphone.
"We come here three timesa week and buy stuff weneed," Lucas Edman, a tech-nician working in the regionfor a few weeks, told AFP.
"It's a little bit more expen-sive but it's fine. It's a price Ican pay to not go to anotherstore."
He scanned his pizzas andsoda on the app on his phone,which is linked to his bankaccount and a national identi-
fication system -- an addedanti-theft security, accordingto the store.
And it's all done under thewatchful eye of a single secu-rity camera.
Keeping costs downIn Sweden, the number of
grocery stores -- everythingfrom superstores to small con-venience stores -- has droppedfrom 7,169 in 1996 to 5,180in 2020, according to officialstatistics.
While the number ofsuperstores has almost tripledin 24 years, many rural shopshave closed down, often due,like elsewhere in Europe, to alack of profitability.
Daniel Lundh, who co-founded the Lifvs, has openedalmost 30 unmanned stores inrural Sweden and in urbanareas with no shops in the pasttwo years.
"To be able to keep lowprices for the customer, wehave to be able to control ouroperation costs. So that means
controlling the rent -- that'swhy the stores are quite small-- but also controlling thestaffing cost," Lundh said.
He plans to open his firstunstaffed supermarkets out-side Sweden early next year.
Domenica Gerlach, whomanages the Veckholm store,only comes by once a week toreceive deliveries. She alsomanages three other shops, allof them mobile containers.
Peter Book, the mayor ofEnkoping, the municipality towhich Veckholm belongs, hasonly good things to say aboutthe three container stores thathave opened in his patch. Andhe'd like to see more.
"It makes it easier to take astep to move there if youknow you have this facility,"he said.
Meeting place and 'salva-tion'
In Sweden, one of themost digitalised countries inthe world, Lifvs, like itsSwedish rivals AutoMat and24Food which have alsopopped up in rural areas, ben-efits from a very wired popu-lation.
In 2019, 92 percent ofSwedes had a smartphone.
Ironically, the unmannedshops -- plopped down in the
middle of nowhere -- alsoplay a role as a "meetingplace" for locals.
"You come here, you getsome gas and you go insideand get something, andmaybe someone else is hereand you can have a chat," Raysaid.
Mayor Book echoed thenotion, saying the stores makeit possible to "connect socie-ty".
The pandemic has alsoproven the stores' usefulness,since no contact with otherpeople inside the shop is nec-essary.
Because of Covid-19, onlyone person at a time isallowed inside the Veckholmstore.
"My mother lives nearbyas well and ... this has been ashop she could actually enterduring all this time. She hasn'tbeen (able to go) anywhere,"Ray said of her 75-year-oldmother. "This has been a sal-vation for her."
L&T intensifies efforts to retain workforce: CEONew Delhi : Engineering
and construction majorLarsen & Toubro (L&T) hasintensified its efforts to retainits workforce post the out-break of the second COVID-19 wave, a top company offi-cial has said.
The company said it hasbeen able to retain almost 70per cent of its 2,45,000 con-tract labourers at its variousproject sites on account ofmedical care facilities andother support measures duringthe pandemic.
During the first wave ofthe pandemic last year, thecompany had witnessed asimilar situation when labour-ers went back to their villagesafter the government imposedthe lockdown to curb thespread of the coronavirus.
"What has happened afterthe first wave (of COVID-19)is that much of the labourerswent back to their villages andtowns. With huge efforts, Ican talk about Larsen &Toubro, we brought many ofthem back," company's CEOand managing director S NSubrahmanyan said.
Explaining the present sit-uation, he said that aroundMarch-end, "we had about2,45,000 labourers on ourrolls. It has come down toabout 1,71,000 now. So, therehas been some people whohave gone back, one could saythat. But we have intensifiedhuge campaigns at all oursites, especially (at) the labourcamps...To tell them that theyare safe with L&T," he said.
Subrahmanyan is of viewthat the labourers should stayback at their current places, asin the hinterland there is a cer-
tain amount of COVID infec-tion and due to lack of med-ical infrastructure at theseplaces, there are hardships.
Many state governments,he said, are also requesting
public to stay where they arebecause the movement ofpeople also creates infectionand therefore, there is a gener-al feeling to keep peoplewhere they are.
The lockdowns announcedby the various state govern-ments, especially in the west-ern and southern India wheremost of the labourers migratefrom the eastern part, has alsoin some way or the otherhelped in curtailing move-ment of people too much fromone place to the other, theL&T MD said.
So, all these intense andterrific measures taken by
various governments arekeeping labour force where itis, he said.
"We do hope, if the casescome down, we will be able toretain and move forward as
we go on," he explained.On the possibility of job
losses at L&T in view of pres-ent situation, Subrahmanyamsaid, "If people are not work-ing and they move back, ifyou want to call it job losses,(then) yes."
"But it is also a possibilitythat there are jobs in thoseplaces, they left that and camehere, maybe they have to goback and get employed there,"he explained.
The company said that thediversity of businesses andthe scale of operations, withits wide array of high andmighty complex engineering,
construction, technology,defence projects also requiresL&T to engage skilled andunskilled labour on contractfor specific projects from timeto time.
Their numbers vary as perthe demand from the projectsas well as seasonal activitiessuch as harvesting or ongoingpandemic etc.
By March 2021, for itssmall and big projects, thecompany had about 2,45,000contract labourers on its roll,while currently L&T is ableto retain around 70 per cent ofthis contracted workforcewith proactive medical careand hygienic facilities madeavailable at their camps.Efforts are on to rehire thosewho have gone back to theirnative places, the engineeringand construction giant said.
Sensex surges over 300 pts inearly trade; Nifty tops 15,200
Mumbai : Equity bench-mark Sensex rallied over 300points in opening trade onMonday, tracking gains inindex majors HDFC twins,SBI and ICICI Bank amidmixed cues from global mar-kets.
The 30-share BSE indexwas trading 310.72 points or0.61 per cent higher at50,851.20, and the broaderNSE Nifty surged 71.90points or 0.47 per cent to15,247.20.
PowerGrid was the topgainer in the Sensex pack,advancing over 2 per cent,followed by SBI, L&T,HDFC Bank, Maruti, AxisBank and Dr Reddy's.
On the other hand, Titan,M&M, IndusInd Bank andHUL were among the losers.
In the previous session,Sensex soared 975.62 pointsor 1.97 per cent to finish at50,540.48, and Nifty soared269.25 points or 1.81 per centto close at 15,175.30.
Foreign institutionalinvestors (FIIs) were net buy-ers in the capital market asthey purchased shares worthRs 510.16 crore on Friday, asper provisional exchangedata.
Markets finally ended atwo-month-long consolida-tion phase and gained over 3
per cent last week. Signs ofCOVID cases peaking outcombined with favourableglobal cues lifted sentiment,said Ajit Mishra, VP Researchat Religare Broking.
"We expect volatility to
remain high next week due tothe scheduled derivativesexpiry of May month con-
tracts. Besides, participantswill be closely eyeing theCOVID-related updates as thereduction in the cases hasraised hopes of gradualunlocking by the states," headded.
Elsewhere in Asia, boursesin Shanghai and Tokyo weretrading on a positive note in
mid-session deals, whileHong Kong and Seoul were inthe red. Meanwhile, interna-tional oil benchmark Brentcrude was trading 0.65 percent higher at USD 66.78 perbarrel.
COVID-19 impact : FPIs net sellersat Rs 4,444 cr in May so far
New Delhi : Overseasinvestors withdrew Rs 4,444crore from Indian markets inMay so far amid concernsover the second wave of thecoronavirus pandemic and itspossible impact on the Indianeconomy.
As per depositories data,foreign portfolio investors(FPIs) took out Rs 6,370 crorefrom equities but pumped inRs 1,926 crore in the debt seg-ment between May 1-21.
This took the total net out-flow to Rs 4,444 crore.
"The concern over the sec-ond wave of coronavirus pan-demic and its possible impacton the Indian economy con-tinue to keep foreign investorson the sidelines and restrainthem from investing substan-tially into the Indian equitymarkets," said HimanshuSrivastava, associate director- manager research,Morningstar India.
At the same time, signs ofimprovement in the coron-avirus situation in the last twoweeks have provided somecomfort and has resulted insharp decline in net outflow
numbers, he added.In April, the total net out-
flow from the Indian capitalmarkets stood at Rs 9,435
crore. Shrikant Chouhan,executive vice president,equity technical research atKotak Securities Ltd notedthat concerns of rising infla-tion and rising debt levels are
keeping emerging marketssuppressed. "Amongst emerg-ing markets South Korea andTaiwan saw highest month to
date FPI outflows of USD 825crore and USD 344 crorerespectively. On the contrary,Indonesia saw month to dateFPI inflows of USD 4.6crore," Chouhan said.
FPI outflows is a tempo-rary phenomenon as perHarsh Jain, co-founder andCOO at Groww.
The number of covid casesin the country is falling andvaccination rates are slowlyclimbing; and as the economyreopens, FPI investments will"dramatically climb," he said.
Counting on cynicismNew Delhi : The personal,
we are told, is political, yetthe SARS-CoV-2 pandemic,the second wave of which iswreaking havoc across Indiaat this moment, seems to havedriven a perceptible wedgebetween the two. Since thiscolumn last appeared in thepages of this newspaper amonth ago, roughly threedozen people I know quitewell have contracted the coro-navirus disease, and somehalf-a-dozen have succumbedto it. Among those who havedied of Covid-19 are formerteachers and colleagues,neighbours, friends of rela-tives, and relatives of friends.Every death has come as ashock, every new case hasbrought in its wake a dreadfulforeboding of what might fol-low. Even as I type this out,several of the students in mydepartment are battling thedisease, a childhood friend ishospitalized with it, and aclose friend and colleague is(thankfully, fingers crossed)on his way to gradual recov-ery. Add to this the tensionabout where near and dearones might receive their sec-ond dose of the vaccine; thefrantic search for oxygen foran aged relative a fortnightago; the constant worry anddespair about those we knowand love; and the apprehen-sion that each day will bringyet another piece of ill news.In every single instance thehorror and dread have been ata deeply-felt, personal level.Every email one sends orreceives either begins or endswith an expression of hopethat the recipient is stayingsafe and keeping well, andevery telephone conversationbegins with an enquiry abouteach other's health and that oftheir loved ones. My experi-ence is by no means excep-tional or unusual - I suspectanyone reading this has feltthe same emotion any numberof times, especially duringthese last few months.
Yet, if one is able to pullback, as it were, and look atthe larger picture, thingsappear different. The leaders
of the party in power in NewDelhi are seemingly moreconcerned with building thehideously expensive newCentral Vista, fudging thenumbers of those infected,dead or dying, and denyingeither that there is a shortageof oxygen in our hospitals andhealth centres or that unac-ceptable numbers are dying ofthe virus (even as corpsesfloat down the Ganges). Withthe official figure of those
who have contracted the dis-ease having crossed 25 mil-lion (widely believed byexperts to be a gross underes-timate), and deaths exceeding2,80,000 and counting, how isthis possible? The usualanswer finds the root cause ofthis disaster in a combinationof misplaced confidence, dis-trust of expert opinion, lack ofplanning, inept governance,and plain callousness. Butcould it be that there is amethod in this seeming mad-ness? A calculation based on acost-benefit analysis that hasconcluded that the misery andmortality wrought by thevirus are worth it? That thelong-term gains in terms ofpower and influence are con-siderably greater than theshort-term losses in terms oflives and livelihoods?
India has a little less than1.4 billion inhabitants, and ifwe accept the official figureof roughly 25.5 million coron-avirus cases as of date, thatworks out to less than two percent of the population. Even ifthe count is multiplied 10times, or even more, as some
experts think it ought to be,the number of cases comes toabout 20 to 30 per cent of thetotal population. Deaths arebeing undercounted too, butprobably by not much morethan a factor of two or three.Where mortalities are con-cerned, the official toll isbarely over one per cent of allcoronavirus cases, and if wetake the higher figure for bothinfections and deaths (10times the number of infec-
tions, three times the numberof deaths), the number falls toone-third of one per cent, or0.33 per cent. Now, one-thirdof one per cent of 1.4 billion is4.66 million. The UnitedStates of America has hadover 6,00,000 deaths so far ina population of 333 million,or a mortality rate of roughly0.18 per cent, if one considersthe population as a whole. Ifthe same mortality rate wereto be seen in India, the num-ber of deaths would be 2.52million, but, in actual fact, itwill probably be smaller, notleast because a virus tends tomutate to the point where itcan thrive without killing offits host organism. This is like-ly to happen with the SARS-CoV-2 virus as well, so thateventually we will becomeaccustomed to living with it,as it makes the shift from pan-demic to endemic. Whicheverway one looks at it, even if theabsolute figures are horrify-ing, the percentage of the pop-ulation which may eventuallysuccumb to the coronavirus isactually quite small. Thisongoing pandemic will infect
tens, if not hundreds, of mil-lions of Indians, and leavehundreds of thousands, if notmillions, of us dead.
It doesn't matter what ourindividual fears and personaltragedies might be, when seenfrom a distance, as a collec-tive, the percentage of Indianswho will actually succumb tothe virus is negligible. Or, inother words, once the dust set-tles, and the dead are disposedof, the number of people whowill still be around to vote inthe next general elections willnot be very much less thanthose who voted in the lastone. This, essentially, is thealgorithm of cynicism, a bare-ly-disguised contempt for thepeople, which seems to bedriving those at the helm ofpower in our country. The factthat no other nation is askingits people to pay for theCovid-19 vaccine, or askingstates to foot the bill for vac-cine purchase (instead ofdoing so Centrally), orencouraging differential pric-ing by private vaccine manu-facturers is just one instanceof this calculated, number-based cynicism. Bodies willbe burned, or buried, orthrown into rivers andstreams, but the edifice of thenow-under-const ruct ionCentral Vista in our grandly-imagined capital city willremain. In the years to come,we, the atmanirbhar people ofIndia, will learn to live withthe memory of the pandemic(which will fade, as memoriesdo), a government that isindifferent, and often hostile,to our woes (which we willget used to, as humans do), ashining new multi-billion dol-lar capital city, and toweringstatues of noble Indians dot-ted across the landscape, invillages and towns (which wewill grow to love and admire,as we do so much of the grandpanoply of state). The originalcynics of ancient Greeceabjured all worldly posses-sions and sought to live on aslittle as possible; the present-day cynics who rule our des-tinies feast on delusions ofeternal grandeur.
Resolve departmental hindrances on priority atMCH Gandhi Nagar-Sham Sharma
‘Manpower shortage affecting MCH functioning badly’TP CorrespondentJAMMU, May 24 : Sham
Lal Sharma, former Ministerand State Vice President BJPalong with Mayor ChanderMohan ,DDC ChairmanJammu, Bharat Bushan todayvisited MCH Gandhi Nagarand take stock of medicarefacilities being provided tothe people. Dr Arun SharmaMS MCH Gandhi Nagar wasalso present.
The BJP team observedthat the major administrativeflaw hampering the workingof this ultra modern healthfacility. They said that MCHand old Gandhi Nagar hospi-tal are though situated insame premises but their con-trols are in different hands.
"MCH falls under theambit of Medical EducationDepartment while old hospi-tal comes under realms ofHealth Department leading toutter confusion and hiccupsdue to departmental issuesand procedural delays", theysaid, adding that staff crunchis also a big issue whichMCH is confronting since itsinception. They also said thatsenior doctors seldom visitthis health facility making itvirtually a non-clinical insti-tution. "The specialists visitthis hospital on call onlymaking it almost redundantas far as facilities given topatients", they said and askedfor an early resolution.
They further observedthat there is acute shortage ofstaff which is affecting thefunctioning badly.
Another issue which cameto fore during the visit, thatdespite old hospital having aCT Scan facility the doctorsin MCH have to refer theirpatients for CT scans, bloodbanks to CD Hospital BakshiNagarand GMC . They alsoobserved that there is direneed to establish wellequipped lab for the welfareof people visiting there.
They also objected overnon delegation of power tothe MS MCH. They said thatMS's post in MCH is bereftof DDO power thus makingit powerless in making localpurchases and taking otherdecisions involving funds."This has made the healthfacility handicapped in tack-
ling emergent situations",they said.
BJP leaders said suchdepartmental hindrances canaffect the ongoing combatwith Coronavirus therefore itis important to address all inone go.
They also interacted withthe attendants of patients and
they seem to be satisfied bythe services of the staff andhospital. They further saidthat the mortality rate is thelowest in MCH GandhiNagar.
Later, the BJP leaders vis-ited the under constructionDRDO Covid hospital toreview the progress of work.
On their arrival at the con-struction site in BhagwatiNagar, Dr Narinder Batyal,MS DRDO Covid Hospitalapprised the senior BJP lead-ers about the medical facili-ties and services which thishealth facility will offer tothose falling prey to coron-avirus after its completion.
The BJP leadersexpressed gratitude to theHon'ble PM Sh NarinderModi,Union Home MinisterRajnath Singh and LtGovernor Manoj Sinha forestablishing the DRDOCovid Hospital in the veryshort period amidst Covidpandemic.
After taking stock of thestatus of construction work,the leaders said that the state-
of-art health facility atBhagwati Nagar being raisedin a record number of dayswill augment healthcare inJ&K in a big way.
They urged the govern-ment to make adequatearrangements for DRDOdoctors in the hour ofunprecedented crisis. They
appealed to the JammuMunicipal Corporation formaintaining cleanlinessaround the DRDO CovidHospital.
They demanded a singlewindow system of CT Scanin the forthcoming hospitalso that the patient may notsuffer during medical emer-gencies. This facility is being
created for the patient care soits our responsibility that allthe facilities should be peo-ple friendly.
The BJP leaders alsoraised serious concern overthe chaos created by theadministration in the ongoingrecruitment drive of DRDOCovid hospital. They said
that hundreds of aspirantswere gathered for submittingtheir application form physi-cally instead of online amidstthe ongoing pandemic situa-tion. They again thanked PMModi for giving standinginstructions to all stakehold-ers for taking extreme care indealing with Coronavirus inthe UT of J&K.
TRUTH PREVAILJAMMU TUESDAY MAY 25, 2021NEWS12
NPP shall ensure that no onesleeps hungry : Harsh Dev
TP CorrespondentRamnagar, May 24 :
Despite rural areas becomingthe hot beds of corona pan-demic, the govt had miserablyfailed to provide the muchneeded infrastructure in thevast hinterland of J&K whichinhabited 3/4th of the popula-tion. Several deaths occurringin remote areas, reportedlydue to ‘fever’ and ‘chest dis-eases’ had stoked fears thatcorona was raging unseen inthe villages with a haplessadministration failing to dealwith the grim situation. Withmajority of the rural areas fac-ing chronic deficiency of doc-tors, paramedicos and othermedical equipments, the govthad failed to fulfill its consti-tutional obligation of provid-ing appropriate healthcare toits citizens particularly thoseresiding in the villages withhardly any measures taken toprevent the spread of coronain such areas or to even con-duct the testing of suspectedpatients. The belated scram-bling and skewed priorities ofthe govt functionaries hadaggravated the woes of hinter-land that faced an imminentthreat of explosion of thedeadly pandemic. The ruralareas suffered neglect not
only in health sector but wereworst victims of mal-gover-nance of the current regime”.This was stated by Mr. Harsh
Dev Singh Chairman-JKNPPand former Minister. He wasdistributing ration and otherrelief to poor and marginal-ized sections during his tourof villages Pinger and Bainstaof Ramnagar constituency. Hewas accompanied by Mrs.Manju Singh GeneralSecretary of the PanthersParty.
Mr. Singh regretted thatwith hardly any corona testingor helpline centres in the rural
and remote areas, the panicstricken people were simplybeing cautioned by the admin-istration to stay indoors.
While the govt had failed toaddress rural health careissues, the existing dispen-saries and other health centreshad become defunct in major-ity of the villages which facedchronic deficiency of staff andother essential drugs andequipments. He said that pro-vision of five beds inPanchayats in the name ofCovid care centre was a futileexercise without providingany health staff therein to take
care of patients.Mr. Singh asserted that not
only had the workforce suf-fered adversity due to theongoing pandemic but theirwoes stood compounded bythe sharp rise in the prices ofessential commodities includ-ing pulses, vegetables andother articles of daily use. Theraging inflation during thecurrent crisis had posed themost menacing threats to thevery survival of the marginal-ized sections with the littlesavings whatsoever of majori-ty of rural poor having beenexhausted during the last oneyear. There were reports ofseveral households having cutdown their food intake to copewith the situation arising dueto loss of livelihood and dam-age to crops. He said that NPPshall ensure that no one sleepshungry during corona pan-demic.
Calling upon the helms-men to come to the succour ofthe poor and marginalizedpopulation of the country andJ&K in particular, Mr. Singhsaid that huge funds raisedunder PM’s Cares Fund need-ed to be utilized to save thevulnerable sections from star-vation and other adverse fall-outs of the deadly pandemic.
Maj Gen Ranjan Mahajan takes over as ADG NCCdirectorate Jammu Kashmir and Ladakh
TP CorrespondentJammu, May 24 : Major
General Ranjan Mahajan hastaken over as AdditionalDirector General of NCCDirectorate Jammu Kashmirand Ladakh.
Major General Mahajan isan alumni of Indian MilitaryAcademy, Dehradun and wascommissioned in RajputanaRifles in December 1987. TheGeneral Officer has served invaried terrain and appoint-ments, holds multiple militaryqualifications and also attend-ed many prestigious courses.In his 34 years of distin-guished service, the Generalofficer has tenanted presti-gious command and Staffassignments, includingtenures in active operationalareas. He commanded theBattalion and an InfantryBrigade in Counter
Insurgency Area of NorthernSector. He was General
Officer Commanding of aDivision in Western Sector
before taking over the presentappointment. For his illustri-
ous career and devotion to theduty he was awarded Sena
Medal in the year 2007.The Officer assumes the
appointment at a time whenNCC is undergoing a para-digm shift in its focus wherein youth from the BorderAreas of Jammu Kashmir andLadakh are being enrolledinto NCC under Border Areaexpansion scheme and youthof private Schools underFully Self Financing Scheme.Emphasis is also on impartingAir Force Training to theyouth of the twin Union terri-tories by raising an AirSquadron besides existingArmy and Navy wings,ensuring maximum youthjoin Defence Forces byimparting SSB training inclose liaison with the ArmyUnits in Jammu Kashmir andLadakh and continuing train-ing online despite COVIDpandemic.
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Free Distribution of AYUSH-64 Kit in Jammu & Kashmir by MINISTRYof AYUSH in collaboration with SEWA BHARTI (J&K)
TP CorrespondentJammu, May 24 :
AYUSH Department in col-laboration with SEWABHARTI opened 29 AYUSH-64 kit Distribution centres inJammu Province on 24-05-2021. The inauguration wasdone in SEWA BHARTI’s(J&K) Office Amphalla,Jammu in the presence ofNodal officers from Ministryof Ayush Dr Subash Sharmaand Dr Aditya Shah and mem-bers of Sewa Bharti. Further,Dr Sumit Mahajan Ji SamparkPramukh Sewa Bharti J&K(Incharge Ayush-64 Kit distri-bution program) said that allthe workers of SEWA BHAR-TI have provided their selfless services day & night fromthe day COVID-19 stepped into India and this initiative ofdistributing AYUSH-64 Kitswill be taken very seriouslyand workers have been told tocreate awareness and provide
these kits to maximum need-ful patients. 04 No. centres arelocated in Jammu City andother 25 centres in all otherdistricts of JAMMU
Province. Patients or their represen-
tatives can visit these centerswith the hard or soft copies ofthe patient's COVID positivereport and Aadhar Card orValid Govt I’d proof to get a
free pack of AYUSH 64tablets. It may be noted thatAYUSH 64 is a poly herbalformulation that has beenfound useful in the treatment
of asymptomatic, mild andmoderate COVID-19 infec-tion. AYUSH-64 is recom-mended in National ClinicalManagement Protocol basedon Ayurveda and Yoga whichis vetted by National Task
Force on COVIDManagement of ICMR andGuidelines for AyurvedaPractitioners for COVID-19affected Patients under HomeIsolation.
AYUSH 64 is also recom-mended in National ClinicalManagement Protocol basedon Ayurveda and Yoga. Theresults of the clinical trialsdemonstrated that AYUSH 64showed clinically significantimprovement and thus lesserperiod of hospitalization wasreported as compared to thesubjects who were on stan-dard care alone. It also hassignificant beneficial effectson general health, fatigue,anxiety, stress, appetite, gen-eral well-being, and sleep.Ayush 64 will be available toasymptomatic, mild and mod-erate COVID-19 patientsfrom 24-05-2021 onwards atall the 29 centres being man-aged by Sewa Bharti.
Youth Congress hands over PPE to Kangrail Panchayatfor distribution among cremation grounds workers
JAMMU, May 24 : J&KPradesh Youth CongressCommittee (JKPYC) todaydistributed PPE kits amongthe representatives ofKangrail Panchayat for distri-bution of the same among theworkers of cremation groundsin the wake of the secondwave of Covid-19 pandemic.
The PPE kits were handedover by Sunny Jatt, AYCPresident Raipur Domana andSourav Sharma VicePresident AYC RaipurDomana to Sarpanch DrShallu Sharma in presence ofPanch Parsotam Lal,Ravinder Sharma and SanjuParveen. These kits were pro-cured by Uday Bhanu ChibPresident JKPYC.
Speaking on the occasion,Sunny Jatt said that the work-ers at various cremationgrounds across Jammu areleast bothered about their life
while offering the most sig-nificant services of cremating
the dead bodies of COVID-19victims. He appealed to thepeople to stay at home and
observe all Covid SOPs andguidelines very strictly as this
would go a long way in win-ning the crucial battle againstthe pandemic which has
already taken a heavy toll ofpeople across the nation.
Sarpanch Dr ShalluSharma expressed gratitude tothe Youth Congress for recog-nizing the services of workersof cremation grounds who aredoing yeoman service for thewelfare of humanity. She saidthat the Congress Party hasalways stood with the peoplein the hour of crisis.
Uday Bhanu Chib, in hismessage, lauded the workersof cremation grounds for theirselfless contribution to thesociety amidst Covid pan-demic. He said that they wereinvolved in doing the piousact of cremating the dead bod-ies in the wake of the secondwave of Covid-19 pandemic.He asserted that the distribu-tion of the aforesaid kitswould act as life saviours forthe workers risking their livesin the ongoing pandemic.
One found covid-19 positive duringrapid antigen tests at Ware House
TP CorrespondentJammu, May 24 : The
Health department onMonday once again conduct-ed rapid antigen tests forCOVID-19 on a pilot basis inware house. Total 100 tests
were conducted out of whichonly one person testedCobid-19 positive. The spe-cial camp was organizedunder the supervision of Mr.Deepak Gupta, President ofTraders Federation WareHouse Nehru MarketJammu.
Mr. Deepak Gupta, on
this occasion said that thestrain has already provendeadly and hundreds of peo-ple have lost their battlesince April 2021. Mr. DeepakGupta said that this newCOVID strain is said to be 70
percent more transmissiblefrom the novel coronavirusdisease, triggering fear andpanic amongst the societyand as a precautionary meas-ure Federation once againconducted these camps."Many more such camps willbe organised in comingdays." He said.
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