3...2021/02/05 · ant to his advice. After 15 minutes, the House was adjourned till 5 pm. When the House resumed BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi was in the chair. Amid slogan-shouting, Union

�� !"�� #��$�� #��%�

�� !��!�"��#$%��&��& �� '��$ �� #�� (�� $�)��*�� )� ��#��#�� +��,��*��-��.�� %

�� /0$�&01'2

The farmers’ agitation seemspoised to occupy centre

stage in the Budget Session ofParliament. On Thursday, theOpposition once again tried tocorner the Government on theissue of farm laws, forcingadjournment of the Lok Sabhaand raising the heat of discus-sion in the Upper House.

The Lok Sabha proceed-ings again remained paralysedwith the Opposition memberscontinuing their protest againstthree new farm laws. TheHouse started amid the dinwith Opposition MPs on theirfeet and carrying placardsagainst farm laws.

As Union TransportMinister Nitin Gadkarianswered questions on“Bharatmala Pariyojna” onroads and highways, theOpposition parties shoutedslogans “India wants justice”,“we want justice” and “Modi-Government shame-shame”.

Gadkari continued tospeak amid the din givingdetails of “Char Dham” roadproject in Uttarakhand.

The Speaker appealed tomembers to take their seats butthe Opposition remained defi-ant to his advice. After 15minutes, the House wasadjourned till 5 pm.

When the House resumedBJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi wasin the chair. Amid slogan-shouting, Union Law MinisterRavi Shankar Prasad intro-duced Rehabilitation andReconciliation (amendment)Bill, 2021.

Bedlam continued and the

House was adjourned till 6 pm.When it resumed proceedings,BJP MP Rajendra Agarwal wasin the Chair who againappealed to the Oppositionmembers to take their seats andstart a discussion but loudprotests continued in theHouse, derailing the proceed-ings. The din continued andthe House was adjourned againby the Chair till 7pm.

In the Rajya Sabha, on thesecond day of discussion onmotion of thanks to thePresident’s address, severalOpposition members observeda minute’s silence in memory ofdeath of more than 150 farm-ers. They reportedly died in theongoing agitation for the lastmore than two months at theborders of the national Capital.

The Treasury Benches,

however, denied the chargethat the laws are anti-farmerand BJP member JyotiradityaScindia said the Congress in itselection manifesto in 2019 hadpromised to bring these laws.He also referred to a letter writ-ten by then AgricultureMinister Sharad Pawar in 2010to various AgricultureMinisters in the States aboutthe advantages of such laws togive more freedom to the farm-ers by involving the private sec-tor and increasing theirincome.

Participating in the dis-cussion, Petroleum MinisterDharmendra Pradhan held theprevious UPA regime respon-sible for not paying an adequateMinimum Support Price(MSP) and claimed the NDAGovernment has increased

MSP manifold in the last fewyears.

Resuming the discussionon Thursday, the first speakerManoj Jha (RJD) blamed theGovernment of adopting anaggressive posture while talk-ing to the agitating farmers. Healso said the 11 rounds held sofar were more of a monologueby the Government.

Calling for the immediaterepeal of the three laws, Jha saidthe Government had lostpatience to listen and bearcriticism. Instead, any con-trary view was painted as anti-national, he said.

Stressing the point thatprotests and agitations are thelifeblood of democracy, hecontested the Governmentstatement of 11 rounds of dia-logue have concluded with agi-

tating farmers, saying itsMinisters “believe in mono-logue and not dialogue.”

“They talk of having giventhis and that to farmers, butthere is no place for languageof charity in a democracy. Themonologues should be ended,”he said.

Lamenting that the pro-testers were labeled as terror-ists and Naxalites, Jha said set-ting up barricades and barbedwires at the borders looked asif the Government was treatingthe farmers as enemies.

Digvijaya Singh (Congress)lashed out at the BJPGovernment, saying right fromdemonetisation to theCitizenship Amendment Act(CAA) and the management ofcorona fight were blundersthat hit the people hard. He alsoalleged corruption in procuringventilators and PPE kits.

Former Prime Ministerand JD(S) leader HD DeveGowda called farmers the back-bone of the country and saidmiscreants and anti-social ele-ments were behind the eventsof Republic Day and all polit-ical parties have condemnedtheir actions and agree thatthey need to be punished. Butthe farmers’ issue should not bemixed with it, he said andadded that the issue should bedealt with amicably.

Sanjay Singh (AAP)charged the BJP with engi-neering the incidents at the RedFort on January 26. Claimingthat seven other routes onwhich the tractor rally wasbrought out no incidents werereported.

Continued on Page 11

��

�� /0$�&01'2

Aday after Swedish teen cli-mate change activist Greta

Thunberg tweeted about toolk-it, while supporting the farm-ers’ protest, the Delhi Police haslodged a First InformationReport (FIR) in connectionwith the matter which con-tained information on how toback the farmers’ protests. Thetoolkit has been doing therounds on social media andpolice have also booked toolk-it creators. The climate activistdeleted that tweet and laterreposted an updated version ofthe toolkit.

Praveer Ranjan, the SpecialCommissioner of Police,Crime, along with ChinmoyBiswal, the DeputyCommissioner of Police(DCP), Crime, and AnyeshRoy, the DCP, Cyber Crime,addressed a Press conferenceon Thursday where he said thepolice are monitoring socialmedia in connection with thekisan agitation and police havealso identified more than 300accounts which have been usedfor pushing hateful and mali-cious contents.


��

�� /0$�&01'2

Aday after the USA backedthe new farm laws of India

and favoured resolving theongoing agitation through dia-logue, New Delhi on Thursdaysaid the US has acknowledgedsteps taken towards agriculturalreforms in the country.

Making this assertion here,Ministry of External AffairsSpokesperson AnuragSrivastava said, “We have takennote of comments of the USState Department. It is impor-tant to see such comments inthe context in which they weremade and in their entirety. Asyou can see, the US statedepartment has acknowledgedsteps being taken by Indiatowards agricultural reforms.Any protests must be seen inthe context of India’s democ-ratic ethos and polity, and theongoing efforts of theGovernment and the con-cerned farmer groups to resolvethe impasse.”

He also said India and the

United States are both vibrantdemocracies with shared val-ues. The incidents of violenceand vandalism at the historicRed Fort on January 26 haveevoked similar sentiments andreactions in India as did theincidents on the Capitol Hill on6 January and are beingaddressed as per our respectivelocal laws.

The temporary measureswith regard to internet accessin certain parts of the NCRwere therefore understandablyundertaken to prevent furtherviolence, Srivastava said.

The Spokesperson’s obser-vations were in response to theUS State Department termingthe farm laws as welcome stepsthat will “improve the effi-ciency” of Indian markets andattract greater private sectorinvestment. As regards theongoing farmers’ agitation, aState Department spokesper-son said Washington recog-nises that “peaceful protests area hallmark of any thrivingdemocracy.”

��!��"�� #��$%� �� /0$�&01'2

The Delhi Police onThursday repositioned the

iron nails studded on roads atGhazipur border to restrictthe movement of farmers agi-tating against the agri laws.

A statement was also issuedby police after videos and pho-tos of workers removing thenails near Ghazipur bordersurfaced on social media.

According to DeepakYadav, the DeputyCommissioner of Police(DCP), East district, the secu-rity arrangements at the borderwill remain the same.

“Videos and photos aregetting circulated in which it isshown that nails are beingtaken off at Ghazipur. These arejust being repositioned.Security arrangement at theborder remains the same,” saidthe DCP.

Security arrangementscontinue to be strengthened atGhazipur border, days afterBharatiya Kisan Union leaderRakesh Tikait’s emotionalappeal had galvanised farmersfrom Uttar Pradesh.

��

�� /0$�&01'2

Unfazed by a Delhi PoliceFIR in an alleged overseas

“conspiracy” and an attempt to“promote enmity betweengroups, climate activists GretaThunberg has tweeted that she“still” stands with farmers and“no amount of threats” wouldchange that.

The Delhi Police citedGreta’s first tweet backing of thefarmer’ protest in an FIR thatincludes charges of sedition, anoverseas “conspiracy” and anattempt to “promote enmitybetween groups”.

Thunberg and a host ofinternational celebrities, includ-ing US Vice President KamalaHarris niece and pop starRihanna, have come out in sup-port of the farmers’ protest.

The subject of the FIRrefers to Thunberg’s tweet thismorning on a “toolkit” guiding

people on how to support thefarmers’ protests. The DelhiPolice said “some elements”were trying to take advantageof the farmer protests and “oneaccount” had posted a toolkitthat was authored by a groupcalled the “Poetic JusticeFoundation” that was a“Khalistani organisation”.

Meanwhile, BJP MPMeenakshi Lekhi took a swipeat Thunberg saying she wouldpropose her name for “childbravery award” as the 18-year-old activist has done a “huge”service to the country byuploading the toolkit which,according to Lekhi, proved theconspiracy being designed todestabilise India. Another BJPspokesman Gaurav Bhatiadescribed Thunberg’s toolkit as“anarchy-school-kit” that gaveaway evidence of internation-al conspiracy against India.


��#��&��

�� /0$�&01'2

The Government onThursday cautioned the

people against letting theirguard down noting that a largeproportion of population isstill vulnerable to the Covid-19infection as it cited the latestnational sero-survey conduct-ed by the Indian Council ofMedical Research (ICMR).

Presenting the findings ofthe survey conducted by thecountry’s premier healthresearch body betweenDecember 7 last year andJanuary 8, ICMR DirectorGeneral Dr Balram Bhargavasaid that 21.4 per cent of the28,589 people, aged 18 yearsand above, surveyed during theperiod showed evidence ofpast exposure to the coron-avirus infection.

“While 25.3 per cent ofchildren aged 10 to 17 yearsfrom the same number of sur-veyed population have had thedisease,” he said. The 3rd sero-survey was done fromDecember 17, 2020 to January8, 2021, says Balram Bhargava,

DG ICMR.Urban slums (31.7 per

cent) and urban non-slums(26.2 per cent) had a higherSARS-CoV-2 prevalence thanthat in rural areas (19.1 percent), Bhargava said, addingthat 23.4 per cent of individu-als above 60 years of age hadsuffered from Covid-19.

Blood samples of 7,171healthcare workers were alsocollected during the same peri-od and the seroprevalence wasfound to be 25.7 per cent, theICMR director general said.


��

��'(� �� /0$�&01'2

The year 2021 has not begunon a good note for the royal

big cats with at least 16 of them,including three cubs, dying inthe first month of Januaryitself. On an average a stripedcat succumbed to various rea-sons such as injuries, territor-ial fights, speeding vehicles,human-animal conflicts andpoisoning every second day.

Maharashtra topped thelist with the death of six big catsclosely followed by MadhyaPradesh where five tigers diedin the said period, as per dataavailable from the Tigernet, anofficial database of the NationalTiger Conservation Authority,a statutory body under theUnion Environment Ministry.

At least ten big cats werefound dead outside their pro-tected habitat, suggesting thateither they were poisoned orsuccumbed in man-animalconflict with the locals as they

moved out in search of foodprobably after they were dis-placed from their terrains fol-lowing a territorial fight withtheir counterparts.

But what was shockingwas the four deaths inMaharashtra where in two sep-arate incidents a tiger and atigress with her three cubswere poisoned by the locals inUmred-Karhandla-PaoniWildlife Sanctuary (UKPWS).

According to an official

from the Ministry, one DivakarDattuji Nagekar, Navegaon(Sadhu) village bordering thesanctuary was taken into cus-tody. He is said to have admit-ted that he had poisoned thecarcass of his cow when hefound that his livestock waskilled by the tigress. The felinewas a resident of the sanctuaryand was about 4-5 years oldwhile the cubs were about 5months old.

On January 27, a tiger was

found dead under BhadravatiForest Range of Chandrapurdistrict in Maharashtra. A for-est department staffer onpatrolling duty detected thecarcass of the feline at com-partment no-210 under therange.

In the last two years, 40tigers have died in the financialcapital, Maharashtra, of thecountry.

Apart from Maharashtraand Madhya Pradesh, the Stateswhich lost tigers wereUttarakhand (2) while Bihar,Chhattisgarh and Kerala lostone each tiger in January itself.

In Uttarakhand, on January16, the forest authorities ofHaridwar forest division foundthe carcass of a tigress, aroundfive-year-old, in the Shyampurforest range. The DFO ofHaridwar, Neeraj Verma, ruledout any poaching attempt orany accident behind the deathof the big cat and attributed itto anaemia. On January 6, yet

another 12-year-old tigress wasfound dead at Fatehpur rangeof Haldwani forest division inUttarakhand by a speedingSUV while in Bihar, a tiger’scarcass was found in the forestof Valmiki Tiger Reserve(VTR) in the State’s WestChamparan district midJanuary.

Similarly, on January 28, atiger who was around 18 wasfound dead in the core area ofMadhya Pradesh’s Pench TigerReserve. “The carcass wasrecovered by the patrollingparty, in the Gumtara Range ofthe tiger reserve,” its field direc-tor Vikram Singh Parihar said.

A senior official from theMinistry said that death of 16tigers in a month is a matter ofconcern and calls for furtherstrengthening the conserva-tion measures, including com-munity participation to protectthe tigers.

Intriguingly, just when thetiger number has been showing

increase in the country —home to nearly 3,000 predatorsand there is an urgent need toprotect them, the fiscal’s allo-cation of �350 crore for ProjectTiger, an initiative for con-serving the wildcat has beenreduced to �300 crore in theBudget 2021-22.

Also, the Budget forNTCA, responsible for tigercensus and conservation ofwild cats, saw a minor raise of�50 lakh from �10 crore lastyear to �10.5 crore for 2021-22.

Union EnvironmentMinister Prakash Javadekar,last year, after releasing thedetailed Status of Tigers Co-predators and Prey in India2018 had said, “Despite India’sconstraint of 2.5 percent ofglobal land, four per cent ofrainfall and 16 per cent ofworld’s human population,India is home to eight per centof world’s biodiversity whichincludes 70 per cent of world’stiger population.”

'(')��#�)*��+��

�� /0$�&01'2

Nineteen days after launch-ing the nationwide mega

vaccination drive on January16, the Government onThursday said the seconddose of vaccine against thecoronavirus will be adminis-tered to healthcare workersfrom February 13.

“Only the first dose hasbeen given to them so far,”NITI Aayog member VK Paulsaid at a Press conferencehere.

Details are being workedout, said an official from theUnion Health Ministry.

Meanwhile, the Ministrysaid that nearly 4.5 millionbeneficiaries have receivedCovid-19 vaccine shots in 19days.

“Many other countrieshave had a head start ofalmost 65 days. Indialaunched the countrywideCovid-19 vaccination drive onJanuary 16. The number ofbeneficiaries being vaccinat-ed every day has also showna progressive increase,” theMinistry said.

In a span of 24 hours,3,10,604 people were vacci-nated across 8,041 sessions, itsaid, adding 84,617 sessionshave been conducted so far.


'��,��!�� -��).

�� !"��#"

3� &��#(�� %��4��#�� $

��

��%��4��#�� 4

1�� # )�*+�!56� ��#, 789�� 0:��

(�� &01'2��1��;/<$ *'<(�1��*'�*�/0�$�+

+�/�'2�+�2(�+ �'�/&2=�+'�&0'+�&�/ '�&0+�*�&�>2,��$�&�

��-*��,.�/012��

��3�� (��( 43� 5 /6��/2��7

%&'�'%��(��'<$�/<��<10+�/�0�<�0&��2</�-��2�

"&%#)�*+*+2='�</�*0��12>0+(<<1�2/�(1

��

,%#!-�**-��/-�+�*1<�;��*��+0�2��/�0�=+<$�

�� 1��;/<$

Highlighting the importantrole that farmers played

during the Chauri Chaura inci-dent, Prime Minister NarendraModi said that earlier farmerswere considered as a vote bankbut the situation had changedas his government believed intaking all countrymen alongwith it as the unity of the coun-try matters the most.

“Amidst the challenges ofthe coronavirus pandemic, ouragriculture sector grew strong-ly and the farmers showedtheir might and clocked arecord production. If ourfarmer becomes stronger, theprogress of agriculture will befurther accelerated,” the primeminister said while invokingthe sacrifices of the freedomfighters as he inaugurated thecentenary celebrations of thehistorical Chauri Chaura inci-dent virtually on Thursday.

He also released a postalstamp dedicated to the ChauriChaura centenary, marking thebeginning of the year-long cel-ebrations.

Talking about the UnionBudget 2021, the prime minis-ter said that many people werecritically looking at the budgetas they were skeptical thatduring this period of COVID-19 pandemic, the budget wouldtake the hit.

“But with the Budget 2021,we have shown that nothingcan stop us from making thedream of a self-reliant Indiacome true,” he said.

Pointing out that the

Budget 2021 had a specialfocus on strengthening theagriculture sector and boostingfarmers’ income, the primeminister said: “We haveannounced the inclusion of1,000 more mandis or agricul-ture product marketing com-mittees (APMCs) to be linkedto the e-National AgricultureMarket (e-NAM).”

The prime minister alsosaid that the aim of the budgetwas not to increase the burdenon the countrymen rather thegovernment had decided tospend more and more moneyto make the country self-reliant.

“For me and my govern-ment, the thing that matters themost is the unity of the coun-

try. We believe in taking everycountryman along with us,” hesaid

Stating that every villageand town would have a prop-er health system, the primeminister said that his govern-ment was making efforts tohave a proper system of treat-ment in every village and townso that the people of the par-ticular location did not sufferand migrate to big cities fortreatment of every small dis-ease.

“The infrastructure fundfor the rural sector has beenincreased to Rs 40,000 crorewhich will directly benefit thefarmers of the country. All

Continued on Page 11■ Related Reports on Pg 2

,��$��/�� ,��,��!��!��

�$��,��,��!��!��

��

�� ! ��""��!�#��$��%&''()*(��+��+��,��&--./��0�� .��1��%�2��3��$��2��3��$101��')*(456��%+� �"��32�.783 )-(())!93'- 55:'�. ��;��3<)5-'=' '):*:�' '*)*:�-'>) ()��"��;��3<)5*'='-) ))(�'-) *(��;��3<)5 '=' * '> �' * '>5�?� ��;��31��(�7��@� �7�%��7��A��1�%?� ��&**)))'��3)**& )**) 55��//��;��3!&-*��(�1;0?.�@��/7��1��&')*-)*�B��3)*')& :6>:))C :6>>))

�� !�� "�� #��$��%�� &�� !��

�� !"�#$#%

NOTICE

I Ved Prakash Resident ofVill & Post Jalalpur PukhrayanKanpur Dehat U.P. havechanged my name from VedPrakash to Ved PrakashSachan Vide affidavit dated04.02.2021 at Kanpur.

NOTICE

My self Smt. Sunita SharmaW/o Rajesh Sharma owner ofthe Bhawan No. 341 Mini LIGBarra Kanpur of which area-30.42 Sq. Mtr. in chaindeed ofproperty in a OriginalRegistered POA which Doc.No.- 1508 dated 18.8.2008 havemissed on the way, which useof above document by anyperson will be illegal.

Notice

NOTICE

I have changed my namefrom Firoja Begam to FirozaBegum W/o mohammad RafiR/o 105/384, Plot No-2Chamanganj Kanpur

NOTICE

I Vimla Devi Yadav W/oSurendra Singh Resident ofVill./Post Mohammadpur, Distt.Kanpur Dehat U.P. havechanged my name Vimla deviYadav to Vimla Yadav for allfuture purposes.

��

JBS PG �� !��UGC/University �� "�� #��"$��"�%�&��#�'��(� ��) ��#*��)+��,�-./0.101(/

�� 1��;/<$

Congress general secretaryPriyanka Gandhi Vadra on

Thursday announced that thefarmers' agitation would contin-ue till the three farm laws werenot withdrawn. Vadra, who vis-ited Rampur to meet the fami-ly of Navreet Singh who waskilled during farmers' tractorrally in New Delhi on theRepublic Day, expressed hercondolence and assured thevictim's family that Navreet'smartyrdom would not go waste.

After reaching thedeceased's residence in Rampur,Vadra met the family membersof the farmer in the Dibdiba vil-lage in Bilaspur tehsil and alsoattended the 'antim ardas'(prayer meeting) of thedeceased.

The Congress leader lateraddressed a gathering and saidthat the martyrdom of Singhwould not go in vain.

"The whole nation is withyou. Everyone knows that farm-ers are being targeted by thegovernment just to save their

skin. To term farmers as terror-ists is unacceptable," Vadra said.

She said that youths inlarge numbers had joined theagitation and Navreet was oneof them. "His death is unfortu-nate but the country will neverforget him," she said.

Claiming that the farmers'agitation had nothing to do withpolitics or political parties,Vadra said that the agitation hadall the support of the politicalparties as it was a genuineprotest and the governmentwould have to withdraw theblack farm laws.

"I am here to console thefamily members of Navreetand assure them that we arewith them," she reiterated.

It may be noted that thoughthe family members had saidthat it was not a political eventbut the prayer meeting was alsoattended by Samajwadi Partyleader Ram Govind Chaudharyand Rashtriya Lok Dal leaderJayant Chaudhary. SeveralCongress leaders, includingUPCC president Ajay KumarLallu were also present.

Earlier in the day, two acci-dents marred the visit of theCongress general secretary butluckily no one received anymajor injury. First, four cars ofPriyanka Gandhi Vadra's cav-alcade hit each other in Hapurwhile she was on her way toRampur to meet the family ofSingh. Fortunately, no injurieswere reported. The four carsbumped into each other onNational Highway-9 in Hapurdistrict while the convoy wasmoving towards Rampur.

Later in another mishap,Priyanka's cavalcade met withanother accident in Amroha. Itis being said that a BJP leader'scar collided with one of the carsof the Congress leader's convoy.No injuries were reported.

Navreet died in a freaktractor accident on January 26during farmers' tractor rally inNew Delhi. Earlier it wasreported that he was killed bya bullet shot but the post-mortem revealed that hereceived severe head injury inthe accident which led to hisdeath.

�� 1��;/<$

Chief Minister YogiAdityanath's clear stance

towards mafia once againbecame public on Thursdaywhen he not only got a prop-erty freed from illegal posses-sion in an hour but also warnedthe officers.

During a Janata Darshanprogramme at the Gorakhnathtemple in Gorakhpur, oneRajendra Yadav of Khoa Mandilocality, complained to thechief minister about the illegalpossession by a land mafia onhis land.

"The land was registered inmy name in 1983 and it was inour occupancy since then.However, a land mafia got theland illegally registered in hisname and also demolished thehouse on it by misleading offi-cials," Rajendra informed thechief minister.

Chief Minister YogiAdityanath not only lined-up

the officials, but to the surpriseof everyone present there, hesaid, "I remember that about 10years back I myself went thereand after getting the housevacated, Rajendra was given thepossession. How come themafia was again given the pos-session without examining thefacts and the house was demol-ished?"

Following the directionfrom the chief minister, theofficials of the district admin-istration, police and Revenuedepartment reached the spotwith a JCB and demolished theunder- construction housewithin an hour.

It may be mentioned herethat the chief minister metabout 200 people during theJanata Darshan programme onThursday morning and lis-tened to their complaints.Besides assuring the people ofspeedy redressal, he also direct-ed the officials to take neces-sary action.

�� 1��;/<$

Paying respect to the martyrswho sacrificed their lives in

the freedom struggle, ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath saidthat the sacrifice of ChauriChaura was a symbol of India'sexpression where there was aconfluence of commitment,motivation, and maturity.

"Chauri Chaura ShatabdiMahotsav is the anthem of theheroic saga of freedom fight-ers' sacrifice. Every street of thestate, every educational insti-tution, every crossroad shouldbuzz with the heroic tales ofmartyrs so that the future gen-eration is not ignorant of theexcellent tradition of sacrificeand can imbibe it easily," thechief minister said whileaddressing the inauguration ofthe centenary celebrations ofthe Chauri Chaura incident.

The chief minister alongwith Governor AnandibenPatel took part in the event thatwas held at Chauri ChauraMemorial in Gorakhpur onThursday. Prime MinisterNarendra Modi also attendedthe event via video conferenc-ing. As a tribute to the unsungheroes of the freedom struggleand to sensitise the younggeneration about the valour of

�� '��$�.��

the little known or unknownfreedom fighters, the Yogi gov-ernment has decided to holdyear-long centenary celebra-tions of the historic event.

Invoking the valour of thefreedom fighters and their sac-rifices in the wake of theChauri Chaura uprising whichtook place on February 4,1922, the chief minister saidthat the incident had given anew direction to India'sIndependence movementagainst the British rule.

"We are gathered heretoday to pay reverence andrespect to all those immortalsacrifices," the chief ministersaid. Talking aboutAtmanirbhar Bharat, the chiefminister said that Swachhta,Swavalamban and Swadeshiall together would lead ustowards making India self-reliant. "Inculcating these inour daily lives will be a truespirit of nationality,'' he point-ed out.

Explaining the meaningof the logo of the centenary cel-ebrations released by the UPgovernment on the occasion,the chief minister said that thewords 'Swarakte, SwarashtramRakshyet' meant 'Tera vaibhavamar rahe Maa, hum din charrahe na rahe' (we protect ournation with our blood) ."

Remembering the inci-dent, the Chief Minister Yogisaid, "We all know that onFebruary 4, 1922, a group of

people clashed with the police.The police then opened firewhich led to the death of threefreedom fighters. As many as228 people were prosecuted bythe British rule at that time, inwhich 225 people were pun-ished in various ways by theBritish government. At least 19freedom fighters were givendeath sentences, 14 were givenlife imprisonment and 19 wereput behind the bars for eight years."

Yogi Adityanath regrettedthat this chapter of the freedomstruggle had been consigned toanonymity, adding that fromnow onwards this place wouldbe a new teerth (pilgrimage).

The programme startedwith the police band playingand floral tributes being paidto the martyrs. The centenarycelebrations will be marked bythe illumination of all themartyrs' memorials in the statealong with a series of events toinvoke the sacrifices of thefreedom fighters.

Ending his speech, Yogisaid: "Let us remember the truesons of our nation who sacri-ficed their lives in the freedomstruggle of the country and paytribute to them. Chauri ChauraShatabdi Mahotsav is theanthem of the heroic saga offreedom fighters' sacrifice."

�/�� ) ��Lucknow (PNS): In a tributeto the martyrs of the ChauriChaura uprising, ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanathon Thursday replaced theDP of his official Twitterhandle with the logo of theevent for 15 hours.

The DP of the officialTwitter handle of the chiefminister has his photo and itwas replaced with the logo ofthe Chauri Chaura incidenton the occasion of the com-pletion of 100 years of theChauri Chaura uprising.

This is for the first timein the state that a chief min-ister has removed his photofrom his official Twitter han-dle in the honour of martyrs.

The logo also has a slo-gan written in Sanskrit,Swarakte SwarashtramRakshyet which meansProtect Your Country bySurrendering Yourself.

,��,��"�� 0��"��,$�� 1��;/<$

The protest at Chauri Chaurain Gorakhpur was a spark

that lit the flame of the freedomstruggle in the entire country.In that incident, the freedomfighters destroyed a policethana, which was a symbol ofthe British empire. This inci-dent should be commemorat-ed as a mahotsav.

These are the viewsexpressed by Deputy CMDinesh Sharma on the inaugur-al day of the Chauri Chauracentenary celebrations atShaheed Smarak in Lucknowon Thursday. It was a suddenhappening in which the peopleprotested aggressively againstthe oppressive policies of thethen British empire, he said.

“It was an incident whichforced the British system tothink,” he added.

He also recalled the contri-butions made by MadanMohan Malviya in trying tohelp those involved in the inci-dent escape the gallows.Among those who paid tributesto the freedom fighters wereMayor Sanyukta Bhatia,Divisional CommissionerRanjan Kumar and DistrictMagistrate Abhishek Prakash.The families of freedom fight-ers were also present on theoccasion. A programme wasalso held at the point in Kakoriwhere the ‘Kakori Conspiracy’was executed.

Meanwhile, the cityresounded with patriotic songswhich played at various loca-tions, including Kakori Stambhat GPO, Mohan Bhog crossing,Shaheed Bhagat Singh crossing,Shaheed Smarak Kumrahava,Raja Digvijay Singh ShaheedSmarak Umaraiya, ShaheedSmarak in Sarojininagar andManoj Pandey crossing.Prabhat pheris were also takenout at these venues.

The families of freedom

fighters were felicitated on theoccasion by public representa-tives. The police band played inthe morning and diyas werelighted at Shaheed Smarak inthe evening.

Officials said that in thecoming year, they are planningseveral events such as debates,quiz and painting competi-tions in schools and colleges onthis theme.

The DM directed officialsconcerned to carry out devel-opment works at the martyrmemorials and said pro-grammes related to swadeshiand swachhata should also beorganised.

Meanwhile, the CulturalBoard of Lucknow Universityon Thursday started a series ofevents associated with theChauri Chaura centenary.

A brief introduction of theincident, its significance andrelevance was given by ProfRakesh Chandra. Vice-Chancellor Prof AK Rai inau-gurated the Chauri Chauracentenary celebrations andspoke about the incident inbrief. Prof Aroop Chakravartipresented his remarks and dis-cussed facts and opinions aboutthe incident.

It was followed by patriot-ic songs by students Avinashand Aditya. VC medal winnerShivansh gave a brief speechwhile DSW Prof PoonamTandon and the registrar alsoshared their views.

Prof Tandon said that thegovernment has launched thepostal ticket for this event inwhich some glimpses of thepostal ticket floated by LUduring its own centenary cel-ebration can be seen. The eventwas witnessed by many stu-dents following social distanc-ing and other Covid protocols.

At the State Museum, aportion of the ashes of freedomfighter Chandrashekhar Azadwas put on display and tributes

were paid to him as a part ofthe Chauri Chaura centenary.Director AK Singh said thatthe State Museum procuredthe asthi kalash from ShivVinayak Mishra, who hadthe ashes preserved for a longtime. Singh spoke aboutChandrashekhar’s journey tillhis death in Alfred Park ofPrayagraj.

Lucknow (PNS): Nearly 1.40lakh videos were uploadedfrom across the state using aspecial link provided by theCulture department in anattempt to foray into theGuinness Book of WorldRecords under the ChauriChaura centenary celebrations.

Principal Secretary,Tourism and Culture, MukeshMeshram said the videos havebeen submitted to theGuinness authorities who willmake the official announce-ment after going through the

entries. He said that the max-imum participation was bythe students and youth.Meshram said they had alreadycrossed the previous record of10,000 video albums uploaded,set by China, within an hourfrom the beginning at 10 amon February 3. He said that inthe first hour itself, they haduploaded 20,000 videos.

The video albums had tobe uploaded while salutingand singing the first para-graph of ‘Vande Mataram’.“The previous record of the

maximum online video albumsof people saluting consisted of10,369 videos and it was set inBeijing on December 25,”Meshram said. He added thatthe aim was to bring about afeeling of patriotism amongstpeople.

DIOS Mukesh KumarSingh said: “A link had beenprovided by the Culturedepartment for uploading thevideos and apart from theschools, any individual couldupload the video to have a shotat the Guinness record.”

�� !��"#��

��"��,$��$�� "�� ! ��

�� !� ��"�"# $#%$�&$'�#'�&�(�

��0�� $�&��

�� !"�#$#%

Lucknow (PNS): Narepal akaSonu (32), who was convictedwith life imprisonment for rap-ing and killing a minor, endedhis life in judicial custody.

He escaped from theBareilly Central Prison and waslater nabbed in his native placein Bijnor. After his arrest, he wasplaced in Bijnor's makeshiftprison, where he was foundhanging on Thursday morning.

Sonu was arrested byKiratpur police on Tuesday. Apistol was also recovered fromhim. On Sunday night, he hadescaped from the BareillyCentral Jail. Reports confirmedthat Sonu was sentenced to lifeimprisonment and was servingthis sentence at Bareilly CentralPrison. Sometime late Sundaynight, he escaped from theprison. With the help of an ironbar, Sonu made a hole in thewall, changed clothes and fled.

After the local police failedto arrest him, the ADG, BareillyZone, had announced a cashreward of Rs 50,000 for hisarrest. Sources said the Bareillypolice were looking for the pris-oner but in the meantime, the

cops from Kiratpur police sta-tion in Bijnor learnt that he waspresent in his house atMaujampur Raipur locality ofKiratpur so they raided theplace on Tuesday evening andarrested him.

The cops also claimed tohave recovered a pistol from hispossession. After his arrest, hewas placed in Bijnor's makeshiftprison to as per the Covid pro-tocol but he committed suicide.

The police sent the body forpost-mortem and were makingfurther investigation. OnFebruary 14, 2009, Narepal aliasSonu was arrested after heallegedly raped a girl in a villageand later murdered her. The trialwas referred to a fast trackcourt which sentenced Sonu tolife imprisonment and a fine ofRs 15,000. Sonu was shifted tothe Bareilly Central Prison in2012. Sonu, who was in jail forthe past 11 years, was engagedin carpentry in Bareilly CentralPrison and seeing his behaviorhe was shifted and engaged as‘nambardar’. The night heescaped, he was on duty outsidethe prison office.

Lucknow (PNS): The studentand women wing of Aam AadmiParty hit out at the YogiAdityanath government overthe law and order situation in thestate and condemned the Bidhnuincident in Kanpur Nagar inwhich a class IX girl student washeld hostage and raped.

State president of AAP stu-dents' wing, Vanshraj Dubey, saidthe BJP government schemes likeBeti Bachao, Beti Padhao,Mission Shakti and Anti-RomeoSquad were mere paperwork andhad proved damp squib. "In theBJP rule, girls are being subject-ed to assault every now and then

and working women are unsafe.The girls have stopped pursuingacademic courses and going toschool due to fear," Dubey.

State president of AAPwomen's wing, Neelam Yadav,said the state government hadfailed to provide safety towomen.

�� 1��;/<$

The Gomti Nagar Vistarpolice attached property

worth above Rs 2.1 crore of anaccused, said to be a hardenedcriminal, on Thursday. Theaccused was identified as DilipKumar aka Deepu and theproperty attached included twoplots and a house. The policesaid the accused is one of themost feared persons in thelocality and people hardlymuster courage to lodge com-plaints against him.

“He runs an organisedgang in the locality and subjectspeople to oppression,” thepolice said, adding that the

accused would also force peo-ple to let go of their land orcough up money, failing whichthey are bullied, terrorised andattacked. The police said thatthe accused grabbed the land ofpanchayat and abused the com-plaint who filed a petition inthe court. “He has as many asten cases of crime registeredagainst his name at differentpolice stations in Lucknow,” thepolice said.

Meanwhile, two menattacked their rival and hisnephew over an old enmity inCantonment police stationarea. The duo sustained injuriesin the attack. A case was regis-tered following a complaint and

�� 1��;/<$

As many as 7,578 (63 percent) out of a total of

12,001 health workers wereadministered Covid vaccineshots at 33 centres on Thursday,according to district immuni-sation officer MK Singh. OnlyCovishield was given at all the97 booths where the drive washeld. Singh said the vaccinationdrive passed off smoothly andno case of adverse effects wasreported from anywhere.

“These results wereobtained by continuous effortsas the beneficiaries were calledby the Integrated Control andCommand Centre as well as thebooths,” he said. He addedthat a good number of healthworkers were vaccinated atAvanti Bai, Medanta, Apolloand several other hospitals.

On Friday, the vaccina-tion drive will be conducted at76 booths where frontlineworkers will be administeredCovid vaccine shots. “The ben-eficiaries will include healthworkers at 55 booths and front-line workers at 21 booths,” hesaid.

At KGMU, 2,500 out of a1,030 were vaccinated, nodalofficer for Covid immunisationDr Nishant Verma said. Thebeneficiaries included MBBSstudents and health workerswho had missed out on thedrive earlier. Dr Sandeep

Tewari from KGMU TraumaCentre was vaccinated onThursday and he said he hadno side effects and he got backto work soon after. He had test-ed positive for coronavirusinfection in August last year.

Dr Anita Singh, who alsoreceived the vaccine shot, said:“Covid vaccination is similar tothe other vaccinations. I moti-vated people in my departmentto get vaccinated.”

Ashish Sharma, a wardboy who was vaccinated, saidhe was feeling fine. He said itwas important for him becausehe has tested Covid positiveearlier.

Nodal officer for Covid atKGMU Dr Nishant Verma saidthey did not have any com-plaints from the beneficiariesunlike the last time when somehad complained of fever last-ing three days.

At Ram Manohar LohiaInstitute of Medical Sciences,254 out of a total of 625 healthworkers were vaccinated.Director Dr AK Singh saidthere were certain problems interms of the Cowin portal,which was not allowing to addnew names while some of thenames of the health workershad already been left out. “Also,there were fewer health work-ers who turned up for the vac-cination,” he added.

Staff nurse Anita said shefaced no problems after vacci-

nation and that she was notscared as several others in thehospital had been vaccinatedearlier. She said she tested pos-itive for Covid in August lastyear. Mamta Sonkar, a secondyear student of RMLIMS, saidher father was a bit concernedabout the vaccination but sheconvinced him. “I told him thatI get exposed to many patientsin the hospital and therefore, Ineed the vaccine shot,” she said.

Dr Mohammed Amir, apulmonologist at VivekanandaPolyclinic Institute of MedicalSciences said he is urgingeveryone to get vaccinated.“My wife and brother are alsodoctors and they are eager toget vaccinated,” he said.Spokesperson of the hospitalDr Vishal Singh said the drivepassed off smoothly. Therewere three booths and the tar-get was 325. By noon, 40 per-sons had already been vacci-nated, he pointed out.

Dr Pramila Agarwal (71),who is a renowned pathologist,said she faced no issues aftergetting the vaccine shot. “Ihave all kinds of co-morbiditiesincluding hyperthyroidism,hypertension and diabetes, butI still chose to be vaccinated,”she added.

At SGPGI, 1,017 out of atotal of 1,500 health workerswere vaccinated on Thursday.

There were 12 booths setup for the vaccinations and by

4 pm, nearly 800 people hadbeen vaccinated.

Meanwhile, NagarSwasthya Adhikari SunilKumar Rawat said the vacci-nation of LMC employeesemployee will begin fromFriday (February 5).

“We will hold a meeting ofall the zonal officers and sani-tary inspectors. These peoplemanage all the workers and willbe instrumental in motivatingthem for the vaccination ses-sions scheduled for February 10& 11. I will also be presentwhile these employees are vac-cinated tomorrow,” he said.

Additional municipal com-missioner Archana Dwivedisaid they have the data of over8,900 workers who will be vaccinated.

Meanwhile, 22 personstested positive for coronavirusin Lucknow on Thursday while36 patients recovered. In thestate, 169 persons tested posi-tive, including 10 each inKanpur & Ghaziabad, six inGautam Buddh Nagar, four inVaranasi and eight in Meerut,taking the UP tally to 6,00,970.There were six deaths in thestate, including two in Meerutand one each in Kanpur,Gorakhpur, Mathura &Saharanpur, pushing the toll to8,680. Besides, 263 patientsrecovered, taking the recoveryfigures to 5,87,661. There are4,629 active cases in the state.

1��$�2&� ��34�� 1��;/<$

Uttar Pradesh became thefirst state to cross the five

lakh mark in Covid vaccina-tion on Thursday. As per offi-cial figures, a total of 1,25,308health workers were vaccinat-ed across the state against a tar-get of 1,72,396, which was atotal of 72.69 per cent of thosevaccinated in the state. DG,Medical Health, DS Negi saidthat they were able to achievethis target through properpublicity and the confidencegenerated by people who tookthe vaccination shots andencouraged others to do thesame.

“Also, the team effort of theentire medical team made adifference,” he said. Negi saidthat better figures will emergein the coming days.

He said that no significantadverse effect was also noticedafter the vaccinations acrossthe state. Incidentally, as perthe figures released for vacci-nations that took place onThursday, smaller districtsfared well.

Districts like SantKabirnagar have achieved99.01 per cent vaccination,Unnao 99.37 per cent, Sambhal101.87 per cent and Gonda115.69 per cent. Other districtswhich have received over 90per cent vaccinations includeMahoba, Bareilly, Banda,Auraiyya, Shahjahanpur,Deoria, Kheri, Siddharthnagar,Sonbhadra, Hathras andFerozabad.

Those districts whichachieved more than 80 per centvaccination include Lalitpur,Fatehpur, Saharanpur,Amroha, Mathura, Jhansi, RaeBareli, Jaunpur, Bahraich ,Kushinagar. Basti, Hardoi,Balrampur, Rampur, Barabankiand Hamirpur. There were1,607 sessions planned for thevaccination across the state in 75 districts on February 4.

5�35(��

,��!!��1$��$� ��2�2��

�3��!��!��!��0�1�4�� 1��;/<$

Defence Minister RajnathSingh said that UttarPradesh Defence

Industrial Corridor wouldattract foreign investors whichin turn would open new doorsof investment in the state.

Singh inspected the stall ofUP Defense IndustrialCorridor established by theUttar Pradesh DefenceAuthority (UPDA) at AeroIndia -2021 on Thursday.

"The next few years are set

to transform the face of UttarPradesh as foreign investorshave shown interest in thedefence corridor. This will bea boon for the educated youth(of UP) who go to other statesto earn their living," Singhsaid.

Earlier, UP's IndustrialDevelopment Minister SatishMahana inaugurated the stall ofUP Defence IndustrialCorridor at Aero India -2021and later launched the officialmicro website of UP DefenceIndustrial Corridor. This web-

site will provide investors infor-mation about the latest policiesand updates of the corridorsuch as availability of land,existing basic infrastructureand connectivity at the nodes.

Mahana also met repre-sentatives of several foreigncompanies such as Honeywell,Ukraine and Belarus that haveshown interest in investing inthe defence corridor.

UP is expected to signmemorandums of under-standing (MoUs) with approx-imately 17 companies.

66&��

efforts were on to nab theaccused. As per reports, BadalKumar of Rajeev Gandhi Nagarlocality and his nephew Aniketwere sitting outside a temple inthe area when his rivals, iden-tified as Surendra and Arun,reached the scene. “We had anold enmity but we did not ini-tiate the fight. They picked upa fight with us without anyprovocation and started abus-ing us. When we objected,they started beating us and laterpelted us with bricks. As peo-ple started converging on thescene, the attackers escaped,”Badal said. On being informed,a police team reached the scenebut it was too late. The policetook a complaint letter from thevictim and sent him and hisnephew to a hospital. A casewas registered in this connection.

)��%��&��*��+�� &#�!�'�!�+�$"$'#,�#��#+&�!

#��

!��$��%��$��%��"��Lucknow (PNS): The depart-ment of Endocrine Surgery(KGMU) organised its month-ly meeting of the LucknowBreast Cancer Support Groupon the occasion of WorldCancer Day. The theme of themeeting was ‘Lifestyle modi-fication and healthy living asa risk reduction strategy forcancer prevention’. AnukritiGovind Shukla shared herviews and experiences onlifestyle modification forholistic living. The talk waslively and she made somesimple suggestions whichcould be followed by all indi-viduals irrespective of theirprofession and social or eco-nomic backgrounds.Suggestions were sought fromthe survivors to make thenewly launched website ofLBSG more meaningful anduser-friendly for society andpatients alike.

�� !"��#$#%

��!��"��,.��"��2��3

�� ##$��1#�1�4,56/781�18#179�,9�,.7:1:1,:/ � ��4,�;<:<:1:/

8� =>��!��"�2��3�"��?� ��#��*��2��"��) �� @��/071:7:1:/��#��;411�� A#�"��"��&�� B�&��#��!�� #�"�� @��/071:7:1:/��:411�� "$�� !��C)��"��B�D��#�� A#�#�B�D�� C��E'�� #"F�#��;4;1��2��#"��+��B�D�� 9��

��"�8�� B�&�"�� 9��)��#��!�� #�"�� 2��G��#�� #�'��H��+��8I1J�1��17#�1J�1��17��+��#��!��)��"��)+��"��G" ��%� �� +��#�1 "$�� +��/ ��,.��)��K��?��8�� JL 011<11 -111<11�

�E'��,��*��E��E�M��9��$��8��I�A#��

��+��#��!��)��,.��!��"�

�� 1��;/<$

The research paper of thetool developed for screen-

ing of Covid-19 patients withthe help of artificial intelli-gence in a joint venture ofAKTU and KGMU has beenpublished in a renowned sci-ence journal. AKTUspokesperson Asheesh Mishrasaid that the tool was inaugu-rated by Chief Minister YogiAdityanath, after which this itis being used for screening ofCovid-19 patients at manyhospitals across the country.

“The research paper istitled ‘A Deep Learning-BasedCovid-19 AutomaticDiagnosis Framework UsingChest X-ray Images’. This toolis capable of screening Covid-19 patients with the help of X-ray image only. Its analysis hasbeen found to be able to workwith 99.98 per cent accuracy.This is visible as a leadingresearch not only in the state,but also within the country

and abroad,” he said.He said that in the publi-

cation of this research paper,Indian scientists, along withforeign counterparts, alsoplayed an important role. Thescientists included MK Dutta,Anit Parihar, Carlos M, CaesarEllippy, Redeem Bargett, VKPathak, MLB Bhabhi, NeeraKohli, Himanshu, HardeepSingh Malhotra, RK Garg, RajKumar, Naresh Pal Singh,Vijay Sardana, Harsh VardhanSingh Khokhar, RakeshChandra Joshi and SoumyaYadav.

MK Datta has also been amajor contributor to the pro-jects involved in the detectionof serious diseases such as dia-betic retinopathy, glaucomaand macular edema from thefund images. Most of hisresearch works have been incollaboration with scientistsfrom the USA, Canada, UK,Czech Republic, Spain,Germany, Taiwan, China,Australia, Korea etc.

Lucknow (PNS): A two-dayprogramme under MissionShakti, an initiative of the UttarPradesh government, wasorganised by the the depart-ment of Applied Economics,University of Lucknow. Thestudents were connected tothe US Embassy for empower-

ing them to pursue higherstudies abroad. The guestspeakers included US EmbassyConsular Candice Laplanteand Education Consulate fromthe Indian Embassy RupaliVerma. All the students of thedepartment attended the ses-sion.

Lucknow (PNS): Propertyworth lakhs was damaged in afire which broke out at a bak-ery in Chowk on around mid-night on Wednesday. However,no casualty was reported in theincident. As per reports, theshop is situated at a shoppingcomplex at Subhash Marg in

Chowk and is owned by Rajeshof Pandeyganj. Locals sawfumes emanating from theshop and they alerted thepolice. Firefighters had a toughtime dousing the flames. Thepolice said that the fire brokeout probably due to short-cir-cuiting.

In another session, ProfVibhuti Patel, former professorat Tata Institute of SocialSciences and SNDT University(Mumbai) held an interactivesession on ‘Support to adoles-cents girls and boys againstsexual violence’. The sessionwas meaningful in dissemi-nating the knowledge andawareness on the topic.Director of WomenEmpowerment Cell AkankshaRicharia made a presentationon self-defence and legalframework for women.

A poster competition washeld on the same theme inwhich 19 students of MComand PhD participated. The firstprize went to Preeti Kanaujiyaand second to AishwaryaAwasthi while Manasi Yadavand Akanksha Singh shared thethird position.

��$�� #�� 7��

��

��,��$��!��#�5��"��1��,��"��#�� !��!��)((��,��,��!��

�� 1��;/<$

Two Delhi-based sistersmoved the Allahabad High

Court on Wednesday claimingthe ownership of the five-acreland allotted to the UttarPradesh Sunni Central WaqfBoard for the construction ofa mosque in Ayodhya in accor-dance with the Supreme Courtverdict in the RamJanmabhoomi-Babri Masjidcase.

The petition before theLucknow Bench of AllahabadHC was filed in the court’s reg-istry and is likely to come upfor hearing on February 8.

Rani Kapoor alias RaniBaluja and Rama Rani Punjabihave said in the writ petitionthat their father Gyan ChandraPunjabi had come to Indiaduring partition in 1947 fromPunjab and settled in Faizabad(now Ayodhya) district.

They have claimed thattheir father was allotted 28-acreland in Dhannipur village bythe Nazul Department for fiveyears which he continued topossess beyond that period.Later, his name was included inthe revenue records, the peti-tioners have said.

However, his name wasstruck down from the recordsagainst which their father filed

an appeal before the AdditionalCommissioner, Ayodhya,which was allowed, they haveclaimed.

The petitioners furtherclaimed that the consolidationofficer again removed theirfather’s name from the recordsduring consolidation proceed-ings.

Against the order of theconsolidation officer, an appealwas preferred before theSettlement Officer of

Consolidation, Sadar, Ayodhya,but without considering thesaid petition, the authoritieshave allotted five-acre of their28-acre land to the Waqf Boardfor the constructing of mosque,they said.

The petitioners havedemanded the authorities berestrained from transferringthe land to the Sunni WaqfBoard till the pendency of dis-pute before the settlement offi-cer.

The State Government hasallotted five-acre land to theSunni Waqf Board inDhannipur village for con-struction of mosque in com-pliance with Supreme Courtdirection on November 7, 2019in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri mosque title suit.

) ��

�8,�),'")��%#�6.%-9.6�/%":28

��,�8,��-,9�:,��,�#$%��&��,�$��9

�**��-�.��&��9�*,.��,�$�#:�;��:,��:<��.��*�%,*<��$�=,�#8�9�:�,�:��,-:#�:<�0

��!�� ;<�'2

The cynosure of all eyes at thehistoric Thekkinkaadu

Maidan on Thursday eveningwas Jacob Thomas, former direc-tor general of police, Kerala, whoformally joined the BJP.

Dr Jacob Thomas, the agri-culture scientist-turned-supercop of Kerala, was welcomed tothe Hindutwa party by BJPnational president J P Nadda asthousands of party cadre whohad gathered for the publicmeeting gave the former astanding ovation.

A crusader against corrup-tion in high places, Dr Thomashad been victimised by both theFronts that ruled the State alter-natively by denying him pro-motion and posting which weredue to him as a senior IPS offi-

cer in the State. His uncom-promising stance against cor-ruption as the chief of the vig-ilance department saw both theCPI(M) and the Congress com-ing together against this officer.Though the BJP has not madeany announcement till nowabout the role to be played byDr Thomas, it is widely believedthat he is likely to be fielded asa candidate from an assemblyconstituency in Thrissur district.

Dr Thomas is the starrecruit from the Christian com-munity to join the BJP afterAlphonse Kannanthanam, theIAS officer who quit the gov-ernment service to fight cor-ruption. Of late many opinionmakers from the Christiancommunity are casting theirlots with the BJP.

;��4-�&�<��)��7��=<&

�� -�-*�2

Maharashtra Speaker NanaPatole resigned from his

post on Thursday, amid anintense speculation that hewould be appointed as theState Congress chief.

After call ing onMaharashtra Chief MinisterUddhav Thackeray, Patole metDeputy Speaker NarhariZirwal and handed over hisresignation from his post asthe Speaker. Pending the elec-tion of a new Speaker, Zirwalwill function as the Speaker ofthe State Assembly.

Informed sources in theCongress said that Patole hadput in his papers after he metparty’s senior leader and for-mer president Rahul Gandhiin New Delhi on Wednesday.

Thursday’s developmentcame in the backdrop of thefact that Congress high com-mand was seriously consider-ing appointing a full-fledgedMaharashtra Pradesh CongressCommittee (MPCC) presidentin place of State RevenueMinister Balasaheb Thorat,who is holding MPCC chief ’spost as an additional respon-sibility.

Within hours after theresignation of Patole’s resig-nation from Speaker’s post,NCP chief Sharad Pawarsparked a new debate in thestate political circles througha statement that there wouldbe fresh negotiations amongthe ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi(MVA) — Shiv Sena, NCP andCongress — to choose a newnominee for the vacantSpeaker’s post in the StateAssembly.

Talking to media personsin the national capital, Pawarsaid: “All the three MVAconstituents had a role in

appointing the outgoingSpeaker. Now that this posthas become vacant, there willnow be discussion among theleaders of the three MVAconstituents to decide on thechoice of a new Speaker’spost. Queried if the Speaker’spost would continue toremain with the Congress,Pawar said: “This will bedecided after discussions.Now that the vacancy hasarisen it is likely that all thethree parties will deliberate onthe issue”.

During the impendingdiscussions among the threeMVA constituents on thechoice of the Speaker, theNCP is likely to stake a claimfor the post. The Congress willin all likelihood retain thepost. However, it is quiteunlikely that the Congresswill give up the post, a postthat it had got after grand-standing and considerablehaggling that took place in thetalks over the sharing ofpower in the government afterthe Shiv Sena, NCP andCongress came together andformed the MVA dispensationin the state in the last week ofNovember 2019.

The Congress high com-mand may have now decidedto appoint Patole as the newMPCC chief, but his namewas seriously considered forthe party post in the run-up tothe formation of the MVAgovernment in Maharashtra inNovember 2019. However, theparty agreed to let him

become the State AssemblySpeaker.

Patole is an MLA fromSakoli Assembly segment inVidarbha region. He had ear-lier been elected to the StateAssembly for three termsbetween 1999 and 2014. Hewas elected to Lok Sabha inthe 2014 polls from Bhandara-Gondiya constituency on aBJP ticket.

It may be recalled thatPatole had created a major stirin the political circles in thelast week of August 2017 bysaying that Prime MinisterNarendra Modi did not likeparty men asking him ques-tions. He had in the processmade no bones about hisunhappiness about the state ofaffairs in the ruling BJP.

Patole had said on August31, 2017: “Modi doesn’t liketo take any questions. He gotvery angry when I raisedsome issues about the OBCMinistry and farmer suicidesat a meeting of BJP MPs.When Modi is asked ques-tions, he asks you if you haveread the party manifesto andare aware of various govern-ment schemes”.

Patole resigned from *theLok Sabha and BJP.Subsequently, he joined theCongress in December 2017.

Patole had unsuccessfullycontested the 2019 Lok Sabhapolls against senior BJP leaderfrom Nagpur Nitin Gadkari.While Gadkari had polled6.60,221 votes, Patole hadsecured 4,44,212 votes.

In October 2019, Patolecontested and won the Sakoliseat to enter the MaharashtraLegislative Assembly and waslater elected the Speaker afterthe MVA governmentassumed office in November2019.

&��'��$��#��%��(��$��)��%�#��

�9�:=,.��#:$,��,��:,��.��*,��.�8#��8�8,:��9�,:

�,�=,��8�:�<;��,��:*,�.,:��.�9�:=,:

8:,��.,��#*��.��,&��,*��,.�,�.�<

�� 5�� !"�#$#%

� ��) ��>�+�/��2�

Vice-Chancellor (V-C) ProfRakesh Bhatnagar inau-

gurated the well-equipped‘Digital Resource Room’ of theDepartment of PhysicalEducation, Banaras HinduUniversity (BHU) here onWednesday. Speaking on theoccasion, the V-C appreciatedthe initiative of the departmentto establish this internationalstandard facility in view tohelp the students in their edu-cational as well as profession-al learning process. ProfBhatnagar also encouraged thestudents for its optimum util-isation in order to compete atworld level. ‘The current sce-nario makes us understandthe importance of technologyand there has been a significantshift in the volume and natureof use of the IT as we respond

to changing needs,’ he said.Welcoming the guests, head ofPhysical Education departmentProf Abhimanyu Singhinformed that the facility helpsto impart IT knowledge to thestudents of the department. Itwill support students, faculty,and staff from all academicprogrammes by providingaccess to technologicalresources, including internetaccess, distance learning com-munication tools, and selectedsoftware for data analysis.Apart from this, it is consideredas a convenient and familiarplace for faculty, staff and stu-dents to access e-books, jour-nals, write papers, technologyadvancement as per the educa-tional needs. Moreover, this willalso help in enriching thelearning experiences with thelatest knowledge developments,he added. He also announcedthe start of a digital library

under the digital resourceroom.

The function was alsoattended by Dean, Faculty ofArts, Prof Vijay Bahadur Singh,Dr Vidya Sagar Singh, ProfDilip Kumar Dureha, ProfSushma Ghildyal, Prof BCKapri, Prof Rajiv Vyas, ProfVikram Singh, Dr AkhilMrhrotra, Dr Binayak KumarDubey, Dr Krishnakant, DrDeepak Kumar Dogra, DrAbhishek Verma, Dr PradeepSingh Chahar, Dr ShaileshKumar, Dr Linet Khakha,research scholars and the stu-dents.

LIFE OF A DOG, NINEPUPS SAVED: Caesarean wasperformed at the Departmentof Veterinary Surgery andRadiology, Faculty ofVeterinary and Animal Scienceat Rajiv Gandhi South Campus(RGSC) of BHU onWednesday, to save a female

labrador dog and successfullyrelieved nine pups and savedthem too.

The dog in full term wasreferred to the departmentwith an unusually inflatedabdomen which caused severerespiratory distress. The doc-tors in the Surgery depart-ment performed an emergencysurgery and saved the dam andpups. Dr NK Singh, Professorand Head, Department ofVeterinary Surgery andRadiology, said ‘this was a veryunusual and rarest case in dogsand since the animal was hav-ing difficulty in breathing(which would have cost the lifeof both dam and pups) we hadto perform it as an emergencysurgery’. He also added that thedam is recovering and pups arealso fine. The surgery was per-formed by Dr NK Singh, DrDD Mathew, Dr RK Udehiyaand Dr V Kumar.

� ��) ��11�'�*�&

Union Budget has show-ered its blessings on

Railway projects in the state ofUttar Pradesh for the year2021-22.

As many as 83 projectscosting � 96,697 crore for 7,143km length falling fully/ partlyin Uttar Pradesh are under dif-ferent stage of planning/approval/ execution while 16New Line Projects covering alength of 1,743 km at a cost of� 29,051 crore has been sanc-

tioned.Six Gauge Conversion

Project covering a length of 447km at a cost of � 2,625 croreis underway and 61 doublingprojects covering a length of4,953 km at a cost of �65,021crore are also on the card.

Average Budget allocationfor Infrastructure projects andsafety works, falling fully/ part-ly in State of Uttar Pradesh,during 2014-19 has beenenhanced to �5,278 crore peryear from �1,109 crore peryear(during 2009-14).Thus, the

average budget allocation dur-ing 2014-19 is 376 per centmore as compared to averageallocation during 2009-14 (Rs1109 crore r/Year).

Total allocation of Budgetfor Infrastructure projects andsafety works falling fully/ part-ly in State of Uttar Pradesh, in2019-20 is Rs 8,403 crore whichis 658 per cent more than theaverage of 2009-14 (�1109cr/Yr). Total allocation ofBudget for Infrastructure pro-jects & safety works fallingfully/ partly in State of Uttar

Pradesh, in 2020-21 is �8,576crore which is 673 percent more than the average of2009-14 (�1109 cr/Yr). Totalallocation of Budget forInfrastructure projects & safe-ty worksfalling fully/ partly inState of Uttar Pradesh, in 2021-22 is �12,696 crore which is1045 per cent more than theaverage of 2009-14 (�1109cr/Yr).

New Survey (RET Survey)for new BG Line from Ballia toArrah (65 Km) is also to bedone in this financial year.

� ��) ��11�'�*�&

In Pratapgarh, the arrange-ment of protecting the police

personnel from the coron-avirus has started. Police per-sonnel will be vaccinated onFriday. Police officers and per-sonnel also worked on thefront during the Corona peri-od. The government had alsomade their list ready for vacci-nation.

Policemen will be vaccinat-ed from 9 am to 5 pm onFriday. For this, a vaccinationcentre has been built in thePolice Line, where two boothsare built. In the first phase, 2800police have been placed in thelist. After this, homeguardswill also be protected fromCorona. They will also getvaccinated.

CMO Dr AK Srivastavasaid that now most medicalworkers have been vaccinated.

In such a situation, the frontline corona warriors are nowbeing given priority. This is alsothe direction of government. 11booths have been set up in thedistrict for the vaccination to beheld on February 5. All the nec-essary arrangements have beenmade on these. Trained vacci-nators have been deployedeverywhere.

Non-medical workers mayrequire relatively more counsel-ing while vaccinating. Workershave been trained for this. OnThursday, officers includingCMO Dr AK Srivastava,Additional CMO Dr CPSharma, Deputy ImmunisationOfficer Mahesh Pratap Singh,DPM Rajasekhar took stock ofthe booths and finalised it.Meeting with SP ShivhariMeena and requested for coop-eration. Beneficiary policemenhave been informed.

PROGRAMME ON

ENVIRONMENT INAUGU-RATED : A three-dayOutreach Programme on‘Environment Sustainability’was inaugurated inHNB.Government PG College,Naini, Prayagraj with the objec-tive of ‘To nurture the natureto be nurtured by nature’. DrAparna Mishra, Principal ofBRA Government PG College,Fatehpur , the chief guest of thesession emphasised about thedevelopment of entrepreneur-ship qualities in the students.

Prof Sunanda Chaturvedi,the Principal of college said thatwe all should work together toprotect the environment. Shefocused to make the campuspolythene free. Dr PoonamShukla, HOD Chemistry andDr Vipin Kumar organised theprogramme in continuation ofthe chain of programmes underthe theme based literary festand fine arts summit. Dr

Poonam Shukla discussedabout the benefits of herbalsoaps and its sustainability forthe environment in her presen-tation. To inculcate entrepre-neurship skills in the studentsa ‘student bazar’ was organisedby the Chemistry departmentwhere they sold out 100%herbal and natural soaps pre-pared in the lab. Finally, vote ofthanks was put forward byorganising secretary DrPoonam Shukla and moderat-ed by Dr Anubha Srivastava.The event witnessed the pres-ence of many distinguishedpersonalities such as Dr AKJha, Dr Manju Lata, Dr VijayPrakash, Dr Om Prakash,DrBhaskar Shukla, Dr SureshKumar Patel and many others.Over 100 students participatedin the event with immensepassion, enthusiasm and vigourto make a mark in the field ofsustainable chemistry.

� ��) ��>�+�/��2�

Showing their solidarity withthe agitating farmers, the

activists of district unit ofKisan Congress, UP onThursday organised the pro-gramme of Buddhi Shuddhiyagya at Shastri Ghat, here anddemanded, the governmentshould immediately repeal thenew agriculture laws.Meanwhile, the Congress Partyhas decided to launch a cam-paign at block level to establishcontact with unemployedyouths to collect their data inthe state.

The government at Centreis making excess on the farm-ers and terrorising the farmerswho have been agitating atDelhi borders for the last morethan two months in protest

against the new farm laws, theagitated activists blamed andthreatened to launch a move-ment in favour of the farmersif the government fails in rollbacking the laws.

All three farm laws areanti-farmers, they said anddemanded the government toenact a law on MSP and pro-vide the dues of sugarcanegrowers. The governmentshould stop the atrocity of agi-tating farmers and also addressthe problems being faced by thefarmers.

They performed yagyapraying to the almighty to givegood sense to the government.They also handed over a mem-orandum regarding theirdemands to the district admin-istration. Important amongthose who joined the pro-gramme included ex-MLA

Ajay Rai, Alok Kumar Pandey,Lakshmeshwar Nath Sharmaand Prajanath Sharma.

In the meantime, the lead-ers of Congress Party Ajay Rai,party in-charge of Varanasidivision Satish Mishra, citypresident Raghvendra Chaubeyand city chief of YouthCongress Mayank Chaubeywhile talking to presspersons atparty office in Maidagin, hereinformed that the party wouldlaunch a door to door cam-paign at block level to establishcontact with the unemployedyouths.

The aim behind launchingthe campaign is to collect dataof unemployed youths in thestate and a report regardingthis would be submitted toparty central leadership, theyadded.

Three youths are commit-

ting suicide per day in the statebecause of unemployment,they blamed adding, more thanone thousand factories wereclosed during last 30 years. Theunemployment rate has dou-bled during last year whichglaring example is that 50,000graduates, 28,000 post-gradu-ates and 37 PhD scholarsapplied for just 62 posts of peonin the Police department ofstate, they blamed adding, asper a data by NSO, the unem-ployment rate is more at pre-sent during the last 45 years.The government has plan tomake retrenchment in variousdepartments including railwayand army, they blamed adding,a total of 12,936 unemployedyouths committed suicide in2018 as per a data which ismore than the suicide commit-ted by farmers.

� ��) ��>�+�/��2�

The centenary celebrations ofhistoric Chauri-Chaura

incident that took place duringthe freedom struggle were heldon Thursday in which PrimeMinister Narendra Modi madehis presence through videoconferencing while Ministerincharge of the district andUttar Pradesh’s Minister forUrban Development AshutoshTandon paid floral tributes atAmar Jawan Shahid Smarak atShaheed Udyan (Sigra) here.The minister also honoured thefreedom fighters. The maincentenary celebration eventwas held at Gorakhpur whereChief Minister Yogi Adityanathwas also present.

Addressing the functionin Varanasi, Tandon said whenduring the Non-cooperationMovement, the people werebeing harassed by the imperi-alist British forces, an anger ofsome freedom fighters wasseen in Chauri-Chaura inwhich 19 people were burntalive in the police station a cen-tury ago. Later, acting inrevengeful manner, the Britishprosecuted 222 people includ-ing 19 of them were hanged todeath. Highlighting the eventfurther, the Minister said thatthe entire case was fought byPandit Mahamana MadanMohan Malviya and he hadsucceeded in acquitting 200people in the case.

On the occasion, culturalprogrammes were presented byschool students. Children recit-ed patriotic poetry. They also

took out Prabhat Pheri (proces-sion) which was taken outfrom the celebration site atShaheed Udyan. The pro-grammes were also organisedat 30 places in the districtsincluding some leading parksand temple premises includingChandrashekhar Azad Park(Lahurabir), Chittaranjan DasPark (Dashashwamedh),Shaheed Udham Singh Park(Girjaghar Crssing), SardarVallabhbhai Patel statue(Maldahia), Malviya statue(BHU Gate), Dr BhimraoAmbedkar Park (near BanarasClub), Markandeya MahadevTemple (Kaithi), Rashtravir

Nihala Singh statue(Kapasethi), ShooltankeshwarMahadev Temple (Madhopur,Rohania), RameshwarMahadev Temple and BhimChandi temple and others.

Later, Tandon inspectednearby Rudraksha ConventionCentre, being constructed withthe assistance of Japanese gov-ernment in Nagar Nigampremises and instructed theofficers concerned to completeit on time.

He said that this centre willbe a symbol of development asduring the tenure of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, manysuch works were done in his

parliamentary constituency,which has popularised the cityat national and internationallevel.

He also inspected NagarNigam. Shaheed Udyan func-tion was also attended byMayor Mridula Jaiswal, MLASaurabh Srivastava, RegionalBJP President MaheshSrivastava, District PresidentHansraj Vishwakarma, CityChief Vidyasagar Rai and manyothers.

The Information depart-ment made the arrangement oflive broadcast of the entireprogramme on a big LEDscreen.

� ��) ��11�'�*�&

The Magh Mela on theSangam coast in Prayagraj

is very important in terms ofhealth facilities this year.Allopath, Homeopath,Ayurveda medical serviceshave been made availableeverywhere; now a camp ofphysiotherapy has also startedon parade near Kali dam. Herethe diseases of the people willbe diagnosed with physiother-apy, so people will also bemade aware from time to timewith this mode. Justice NeerajTiwari inaugurated the campand also explained the impor-tance of physiotherapy.

This camp is organised bythe Physiotherapy VentureAssociation. People will betreated free of cost in thiscamp under the direction ofChairman Dr Santosh Pandey.Justice Neeraj Tiwari, whoattended it, expressed happi-ness that physiotherapy is amode of medicine which isneeded in different diseasesfrom head to foot.

Physiotherapy in particular isa major part of medical science.It is said that physiotherapy isneeded after all types of surg-eries, even in the treatment ofcancer, this therapy holds itsimportant place.

Ironically, primary andcommunity health centres donot have positions of physio-therapist despite the need. Dueto this physiotherapy is not ableto reach rural areas. He furthersaid that they will do whatev-er will be possible at the statelevel to promote physiothera-py.

Dr Deepti Yogeshwar con-ducting the programme, saidthat physiotherapy has differ-ent importance not only inbone and veins but also ingynecology related diseases,pediatrics, all types of diseasesin the elderly, cardio, ICU andNICU. Association PresidentDr Santosh Pandey thanked thechief guest and members of thegroup. He said that there aremany branches of physiother-apy which is effective forimproving the physical condi-

tion of the patient after all thesurgeries.

ELDERLY MAN KILLED:In a sensational incident, anelderly man was killed after histhroat was slashed with a sharpedged weapon in theKaushambi district of UP. A 70-year-old elderly man wasslashed to death while the for-mer was sleeping outside hishouse in Akbarabad Guhaulivillage under the Saraikilpolice station on Tuesday night.The curtain has not been lift-ed on who and why committedthis guesome murder. However,the police questioned the fam-ily members and villagers afterthe investigation of the crimescene. The family membershave given a written complaintagainst the unidentified miscre-ants involved in this murder.

Shrinath (70) son of lateNathu, resident of AkbarabadGuhauli village under the SaraiAkil police station used to cul-tivate farming. After havingdinner on Tuesday night,Srinath was sleeping in theverandah outside the house. In

the meantime, some unidenti-fied miscreants killed Srinathwith a sharp edged weaponafter slashing his neck in thenight.

On the next morning,when the family memberswoke up, they saw the body ofShrinath lying on the bed in theverandah. Crowds of villagersfrom nearby also gathered tohear the shouts of family mem-bers.

Meanwhile, informationwas also given to Sarai Akilpolice following which ChailCO Shyamakant and Sarai AkilPolice Station Incharge VijayVikram reached the spot withthe police force.

Police personnel investigat-ed the scene.

The CO questioned thevillagers besides the familymembers. However, the policehave not yet found any clue thatcould reach the killers.However, the police are inves-tigating the case. People ofSrinath’s family have filed acomplaint against the unknowngoons in the police station.

� ��) ��11�'�*�&

Ac h a r y aM a h a m a n d a l e s h w a r

Swami Lakshmi NarayanTripathi Maharaj of KinnarAkhara has expressed displea-sure over the religious persecu-tion of Kinnars. She bluntlysaid that Kinnar Akhara will nolonger tolerate religious perse-cution. The Supreme Court willbe approached against thisatrocity. She claimed that theKinnar Akhara is engaged instopping the conversion. Alarge number of people havestarted making a comeback toSanatan Dharma, however,many officials of the AkhilBhartiya Akhara Parishad keepreligious and social attacks onKinnar Akhara and its office-bearers every day.

After the formation of theAkhara in the year 2015, alarge number of such peoplealso returned to SanatanDharma who had acceptedother religions except SanatanDharma for some reason.

They are returning toSanatan Dharma again. Notonly this, the Kinnar Akharais bringing social and financialprotection to those whoreturn home. During theCorona period, 100 tonnes offoodgrains, oil, sugar, ghee,soap, surf, tea leaves, spices,

salt, powdered milk, masks,sanitisers and other materialswere distributed among theaffected people and transgen-ders.

During the conversationon Wednesday at the camp onOld GT Road and SangamLower Marg of Magh Mela,she said, the Kinnar Akhara isneither afraid nor suppressed.In such a situation, it will be

given a befitting reply on anykind of protest. The SupremeCourt's decision has come infavour of the Kinnars, but sofar no work has been startedby the government for the bet-terment of transcenders, norare they getting the benefit ofgovernment schemes. Prior tothis, after Achar yaMahamandaleshwar SwamiLakshmi Narayana Tripathi

Maharaj reaching Bumrauli itsstate president SwamiKaushalya Nand Giri,Mahamandaleshwar SwamiKalyaninand Giri,Mahamandaleshwar Pavithra,Kirananand Giri , AnilDwivedi, Amita Mishra, RajivMishra, Ashish Kesharwani,Komal, Neel etc among othersgiven her a rousing receptionat her arrival.

� ��) ��>�+�/��2�

It was the fifth day ofCOVID-19 vaccination on

Thursday since it began in thedistrict on January 16 lastwhen the vaccines started beinggiven to the health workersincluding doctors. The healthworkers were vaccinated in 39sessions at 27 centres and theprocess would continue onFriday. Despite all the appealsof senior health officers, a largenumber of people being cov-ered in the first phase hasavoided turning out at theirrespective centres and in ear-lier phases just 58.14 per centof health workers were vacci-nated till the end of last phaseon January 29 as 7,706 werevaccinated out of 13,253. It sawsome enthusiastic response onJanuary 29 when the percent-age rose to 62.31 as 2933 got

vaccines out of 4,386 at 34 cen-tres whereas just a day ago, itwas only 53.8 percent as 2,898health workers were vaccinat-ed out of 5,384 at 34 centres. Infirst two phases on January 16and 22 as many as 393 and1,682 got vaccines at six and 15

places respectively. 3 TEST COVID POSI-

TIVE: As many as three newCOVID-19 patients have beendetected in the district onThursday, increasing the totalnumber to 21,930. No casual-ty has been reported during the

day and the death toll remainedat 377. During the day, threepatients have been cured andall of them from home isola-tion, increasing the number to18,512. As no patient has beendischarged from any of the hos-pital, the number remained at2,967.

The total number ofpatients who have been recov-ered so far has increased to21,479, leaving 74 active cases.The recovery rate is 97.94 percent, while the mortality rate is1.71 per cent. In the first reportof the day, three positivepatients were found out of1,933 reports received.

Till then, the total testreports received were 6,04,329and the results of 2,743 areawaited. Out of them, 5,82,399were negative while 21,930were positive. The total num-ber of samples collected was6,31,746.

/��

��$��,��6,��!��7��

9�� %1'-4*>��

8�� ,97��6):��!!��;��<��8��"��7��

*"��"��$�%$��%��

-��#��#��

+�#��,#��#��"��%��"��#��"��-��

)�#��$�

=�� #�� 7��2&�

.�$��#$��#��"%"��

�� 6�� !"�#$#%

�0;122$12D��2$�0�2�'��(�)*

Under the doubling project ofChhapra-Aunrihar rail sec-

tion after the completion of thesafety test of the second newly-built electrified line betweenBallia-Phephna by theCommissioner of Railway Safety(CRS), NE Circle, MohammadLatif Khan, the speed trial wasconducted on Monday. Duringthe inspection North EasternRailway (NER)’s ChiefAdministrative Officer(Construction) RK Yadav,Divisional Railway Manager(DRM), Varanasi, Vijay KumarPanjiar, Chief Electrical Engineer(CEE) Santosh Bairwa, Chief EngineerConstruction, Ashutosh Mishra, Chief ElectricalDesign Engineer (CEDE) RK Gupta along withDeputy Chief Safety Officer BK Sharma werepresent. Mohammad Latif Khan first inspect-ed the Phephna railway station and according

to the standard of doubling-cum-electrified rail sectiondid the safety test of yardplan, interlocking standard,block instrument, stationworking rule, centralisedstation panel, foot over-bridge, platform clearance,point crossing, signal instal-lation, berthing track bal-last, overhead tractionheight, signal over lap, foul-ing mark, sand hump, panelinterlocking, feeder powersupply distribution systemand control feeder isolationetc. At Phephna station theCRS during the inspectionof various works developed

according to doubling and electrificationfound all of them as per the standard.Subsequently, the CRS did speed trial on thenew line through the electric-driven CRS spe-cial. The CRS special touched a maximum speedof 110 km/h during the speed trial.

�;$$2��;1?21+� )+(,-�.��

Suhasini Sangh distributed shawls amongaround 100 poor and

needy women inGahilgarh village recent-ly. Suhasini Sangh chair-person Mridula Johri, vice-chairperson, ShrotaswaniNayak, adviser (AdultEducation), Anju Mishra,secretary Richa Manglaand co-secretary KusumSingh were present dur-ing the programme. In her address while hand-ing over the shawls to women belonging to therural areas on the occasion, chairperson Johri said

Suhasini Sangh is committed to working con-tinuously for the economic and social welfare ofhousewives, children and others belonging to the

surrounding areas.The Sangh is operat-ing three adult educa-tion centres inGahilgarh, Dhoti andNavjivan Vihar vil-lages, she said. Besideswomen and youngwomen are beinggiven training insewing, embroidery etc

in the direction of making them self-reliant. Onthe occasion the women were happy on receiv-ing the shawls provided by Suhasini Sangh.

�;$$2��;1?21+�/*�0�#1�

District Panchayat Raj Officer (DPRO)Arvind Kumar at a meeting held at Jamalpur

block on Wednesday directed the panchayat sec-retaries to expedite the works of community aswell as individual toilets and complete them tillFebruary 10. During his inspection of the ongo-ing works in the block he expressed his dis-content over the stalled work of community toi-let at Suraha village and directed the officialsconcerned to complete it within the deadline andappreciated the works of community toilets atBhonkaraundh and Raghunathpur villages. Hedirected the staff to ensure cleaning of com-munity toilets at Lathia Sahijani, Bhaaipur Kalaand Suraha villages.

PUBLIC HEARING: Uttar Pradesh RajyaMahila Ayog member Anita Singh onWednesday held a public hearing at Jila

Panchayat during which a total of 18 cases, includ-ing those related to mental torture of women bytheir husband and family, cheating, job to thedependent of a deceased on compassionateground, land dispute etc were heard. On the

occasion the member directed SOs of police sta-tions as well as officials concerned to dispose ofmatters on merit without inordinate delay. Themember reviewed the cases of the last visit anddirected the officials concerned to ensure jus-tice to the victims. During public hearing, tak-ing action in a case of domestic violence themember summoned the inlaws who expressedtheir regret and assured her not to repeat itagain. In two other cases the member reunit-ed the families. Prominent among those whoattended the meeting were sub-divisional mag-istrate (SDM) (Sadar) Gaurav Srivastava, citymagistrate Vinay Kumar Singh, Basic ShikshaAdhikari (BSA) Gautam Prasad, Circle Officer(City) Prabhat Rai, PO ICDS and district pro-bation officer Hitesh Dubey. The member vis-ited the district jail too and interacted withwomen prisoners. Besides she directed the jailauthorities to ensure availability of facilities tothem as per the provisions.

ARRESTED: Halia police on Wednesdayarrested two accused of raping a minor girl. Asper the reports, a man had lodged a named firstinformation report (FIR) against the two onJanuary 29 in which he had alleged that they hadenticed his minor girl away. However, duringinvestigation the section of rape was also addedin the case. The men in khaki nabbed the duoon Wednesday and after completing the legal for-malities sent them to jail. They accused wereidentified as Babloo and Sonu, residents of DeoriPoorab village under Halia police station.Meanwhile in another case, Kachhawaan policearrested two accused along with �15,000 cash.According to a police report, Anil Kumar ofSemari village under Kachhawaan police stationhad lodged the case about the theft on January23. Police recently arrested Panchlal Yadav andKrishna Kumar, residents of Udaykaranpur vil-lage under Aurai police station in Bhadohi, alongwith cash �7,000 and �8,000 respectively fromSanvara village under Aurai police station inBhadohi and sent them to jail.

�;$$2��;1?21+� $+��2-#1�

The railway administrationfor the convenience of pas-

sengers has decided to run the03137 Kolkata-Azamgarhweekly special train everyMonday from February 8 andthe 03138 Azamgarh-Kolkataweekly special train everyTuesday from February 9 untilfurther notice. All coaches willbe of reserved category and pas-sengers travelling in them willhave to follow the Covid-19guidelines, Chief PublicRelations Officer PK Singh said.

The 03137 Kolkata-Azamgarh weekly special trainwill from February 8 everyMonday depart from Kolkata at11.25 hrs, from Barrackpore toat 11.53 hrs, from Naihati at12.20 hrs, from Bandel at 12.50hrs, from Barddhaman at 14.00hrs, from Durgapur at 14.55pm, from Asansol at 16.15 hrs,Chittaranjan at 16.39 hrs,Madhupur at 17.19 hrs, Jasidihat 17.46 hrs, Jhajha at 19.00 hrs,Kiul at 19.37 hrs, Barauni Jn at21.35 hrs, Shahpur Patori at22.37 hrs, on second day fromHajipur at 00.15 hrs , Chhapraat 02.15 hrs, Ballia at 03.38 hrs,Rasra at 04.15 hrs, Mau at 05.08hrs, Muhammadabad at 05.34hrs and reach Azamgarh at06.00 hrs. During the returnjourney the 03138 Azamgarh-Kolkata weekly special willfrom February 9 on everyTuesday depart fromAzamgarh at 08.00 hrs, fromMuhammadabad at 08.19 hrs,from Mau at 08.50 hrs, from

Rasra at 09.28 hrs, from Balliaat 10.31 hrs, Chhapra at 11.50hrs, Hajipur at 13.10 hrs,Shahpur Patori at 14.25 hrs,Barauni at 17.00 hrs, Kiul at18.30 hrs, Jhajha at 19.35 hrs,Jasidih at 20.12 hrs, Madhupurat 20.42 hrs, Chittaranjan at21.22 hrs, Asansol at 22.50hrs, Durgapur at 23.23 hrs, thesecond day from Barddhamanat 01.04 hrs, Bandel at 02.13hrs, Naihati at 02.38 hrs,Barrackpore at 02.55 hrs andreach Kolkata at 03.50 hrs. Atotal of 16 coaches, includingtwo coaches of SLRD, six ofgeneral second class, six ofsleeper class and one of air-con-ditioned third class and one ofAC second class will beattached in this train.

EXTENDED: The railwayadministration for the conve-nience of passengers has decid-ed to extend the run of the02107/02108 Lokmanya TilakTerminus (LTT) - Lucknow Jn(LJN)- Lokmanya TilakTerminus superfast tri-weeklypuja special train, CPRO PKSingh said. As a result the02107 Lokmanya TilakTerminus- Lucknow Jn -Lokmanya Tilak TerminusSuperfast puja special trainfrom February 6 to March 31on every Monday, Wednesdayand Saturday will be run fromLokmanya Tilak Terminus andthe 02108 Lucknow Jn -Lokmanya Tilak Terminussuperfast puja special trainfrom February 7 to April 1every Tuesday, Thursday andSunday from Lucknow. A total

of 22 coaches, including two ofgenerator-cum-luggage van, 12of sleeper class, three of generalsecond class, four of air-con-ditioned third class and one ofair-conditioned second classwill be attached in this specialtrain. All coaches in it will beof reserved category and pas-sengers will have to follow theCovid-19 guidelines.

SHORT TERMINA-TION/ORIGINATION: Theshort termination/ short orig-ination of the following trainswill be done by the railwayadministration due to the basicmaintenance work in Chopan-Singrauli and Chopan-Shaktinagar section. The 05075Shaktinagar-Tanakpur specialto run from Shaktinagar fromFebruary 5 to March 31 will berun from Chopan. The 05074Tanakpur-Singrauli special torun from Tanakpur fromFebruary 5 to March 31 will beterminate journey in Chopan.The 05073 Singrauli-TanakpurSpecial train running fromShaktinagar from 06 Februaryto 01 April 2021 will be runfrom Chopan.

ONE CAUGHT: TheRailway Protection Force (RPF)North Eastern Railway (NER),makes constant efforts to pro-tect passengers and providethem better travel facilities. Inthe same sequence, the RPFpost, Kashipur, caught one per-son along with 27 illegal e-tick-ets from a shop recently againstwhom action was taken underthe Railway Act and a case wasregistered in this connection.

)�� $'��+��'��$'��%��-�

��!��$#,�+�'!(+��!�

��%��#��

5�� 6�&��"��-��=�

��1�4��$��"��!��+��!��$��&�"��;��

� ��) ��;�/(�+

Kanpur DivisionalCommissioner Dr Raj

Shekhar, while addressing thelaunch of the Chauri ChauraShatabdi Samaroh at Bithooron Thursday said the ChauriChaura incident was in fact theharbinger of ‘sangram’ (free-dom movement) and createdhistory nearly a century ago.

He stressed on the need forappraising the youth of thecountry about the freedomstruggle so that they wereinstilled with patriotism.

Shekhar said the credit tohold a centennial celebrationon this day went to PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andChief Minister YogiAdityanath.

He said if one went downthe memory lane, one couldrealise the sacrifices that thepeople had made so that thecountrymen could breathe in afree India.

He said because of theChauri Chaura incident,Mahatma Gandhi had abrupt-ly called off his non-coopera-tion movement because whathappened in Chauri Chaurawas in sharp violation of theprinciple of non-violence.

It may be recalled that atChauri Chaura in theGorakhpur district of theUnited Province (modern UttarPradesh) in British India, alarge group of protesters par-ticipating in the non-coopera-tion movement clashed withpolice on February 4, 1922when the cops opened fire onthem. The incident led to thedeath of three civilians and 22policemen.

The divisional commis-sioner said Gandhiji wanted toshow to the world that Indiahad the power to give a befit-ting reply but it believed innon-violence and that violencewas against the tenets of ‘shan-

ti’ (peace) and ‘ahimsa’ (non-violence).

Shekhar said it was thebounden duty of the youth topromote Gandhian principlesand show the world that thecountry was capable to standup for its rights.

He said it was good to seethe huge participation of theschoolchildren as it was major-ly for them to understand whatour ancestors had done for thefreedom of the country. He saidthe celebrations were simulta-neously being held at over 72cities of Uttar Pradesh.

Addressing the gathering,

Kanpur Nagar DistrictMagistrate Alok Tiwari said theChauri Chaura incident wasthe most unforgettable andimportant chapter of Indianhistory. He said the message ofthe whole incident was that notfear but to display that Indiavaunted on its heritage andprinciples.

He said Gandhiji's decisionshowed that India was a bravecountry which could protect itsfreedom and integrity.

Tiwari said Bithoor was aprominent Hindu pilgrimagecentre and thus the celebrationon this pious land was in fact

a tribute to those who had laiddown their lives for the nation.

Later, the divisional com-missioner and district magis-trate felicitated chief guest DKSingh, a freedom fighter whosefather had made major contri-butions in the freedom strug-gle. The chief guest had earli-er paid floral tributes to NanaSaheb Peshwa.The families ofthe martyred warriors werealso felicitated on this occasion.

The students presented acultural programme.

The organisers later nar-rated the history of the ChauriChaura incident.

2��"�"��8��"��!�� 1�8��"��5�$��"��/��"��

�� ?��$�-�

5��"��,��#�1�4�� !��"��!��,��,��>��

)��#"��#��/��&�� ) ��;�/(�+

Lohia Corporation HR ChiefMadhavi Golash, welcom-

ing the students of Dr GaurHari Singhania Institute ofManagement and Research,said that the company had arich and impressive past recordand thus it had decided toimprove its manpower byrecruiting youngster withpotential and competence totake the company to furtherheights. She said GHSIMR wasamong the prestigious institutesof the country.

The students were firstasked to take part in group dis-cussion where their oral skill,reasoning and intelligence weretested. Later the students wereexposed to strict interview.The students of the instituteproved their excellence in bothand impressed the interviewerswith the knowledge and softskills. Corporate RelationsSiddiq Azam, said theGHSIMR was set up in 1995 toimpart quality managementeducation to produce idealexecutives for the companies.

He said the institute had

always preferred to summonthe leading and the best com-panies for campus recruitmentand later good placements. Hesaid the process of 10 compa-nies had been accomplished forthe students of 2019 and 2021and many more companieswere to arrive for campusrecruitment.

EMPLOYEE FOUNDHANGING: A middle-ageddefence employee was foundhanging in the Ordnance

Factory under Armapore policestation on Thursday morning.

He had gone on duty onWednesday and did not returnhome in the evening.

According to reports, RoseAli (55) was employed inOrdnance Factory and livedwith his wife Anisun Nisha,three sons and a daughter inType-1 quarters in ArmaporeEstate.

On Wednesday evening,while all other employees went

to their home, Rose Ali stayedin the factory. On Thursdaymorning, when the employeesreached the factory, they foundRose Ali hanging and informedtheir senior officers.

The Armapore police alsoreached the spot and carriedout investigations. StationHouse Officer Ajit Verma saidthe cause of the incident wasnot clear. He said further actionwould be initiated on the basisof the autopsy report.

28��$1��!��"��"��!��>��

1��!��8��"��"�!��!��!��!��"�� ) ��;�/(�+

At a time when accessibleand affordable cancer

treatment has become the needof the hour, the Regency Groupof Hospitals has emerged as ahub of cancer care in UttarPradesh. They have been pro-viding comprehensive and thebest health care services in thestate with their state-of-the-artfacilities and dedicated spe-cialists, helping the patients tocombat the increasing impactof cancer from over twodecades.

Addressing media persons,Regency Group of HospitalsManaging Director Dr AtulKapoor said February was cel-ebrated as the National CancerPrevention Month and as a partof the group’s corporate socialresponsibility (CSR) activity,would work more on the pre-ventive aspects by reaching tomasses.

“Our doctors will visit theadjacent districts like Etawah,Auraiya, Kannauj, Banda etc. toset up cancer screening campsat free of cost for early detec-tion and to create awarenessamong people about cancerand provide access to qualitycare. Also, at the Kanpur unitfree screening camps will beconducted every Thursday andSaturday for the entireFebruary month and 20 percent discount would be givenon lab investigations on newregistrations.”

He said the Regency Grouphad top-ranked oncologistsand paramedics with the finestexperience in cancer care at itshospitals.

Dr Kapoor said theRegency hospital in Kanpurhad the state-of-the-art PETCT Scan facility and it was theonly centre in the entireKanpur region to have this ser-vice. He said the cancer carecentre had departments likemedical oncology, surgicaloncology, hemato oncology,radiation oncology, nuclearmedicine oncology, and offeredbrachytherapy and TrueBeamlinear accelerator radiotherapysystems.

“In a span of two decades,we have treated 2,000 patientsin surgical oncology, 60,000cycles in radiation oncology,2,500 patients for PET CT and10,000 cycles for chemothera-py,” he added.

He said the COVID-19pandemic had left a negativeimpact on cancer care as near-ly 30 per cent of people under-going treatment for cancer hadexperienced some delay in carebut things are getting back tonormal.

Dr Kapoor said radiationoncology was one of the mostprominent departments in thehospital that offered externalbeam radiation andbrachytherapy or intracavitaryradiation therapy.

��$��#��"��.K A N P U R ( P N S ) :Superintendent of Police(Traffic) Basant Lal, whileaddressing a Road SafetyMonth programme at MahilaMahavidyalaya on Thursday,said if the youth were apprisedabout traffic rules and moti-vated to follow them, roadaccidents, in which preciouslives were lost, could bereduced drastically.

He said in India, 18 peoplefall victim to road accidentsevery hour and somethingneeded to be done in thisdirection.

Principal Dr BR Agarwalsaid youth were the most pre-cious resource of the countryand thus every effort had to bemade to ensure that these pre-cious lives were saved on pri-ority. She advised the collegestudents that before coming outon streets on their two-wheel-ers they must be in possessionof a driving licence and wellaware of the traffic signs. Shesaid all two-wheeler usersshould ensure that they usedhelmets and followed trafficrules.

Traffic Inspector ShivSingh, who was the resourceperson, said the highest fatalaccidents occurred with two-wheeler riders and the reasonwas that the youth were notaware of traffic rules and daredto move on roads that too with-out wearing helmets.

�� 7�� !"�#$#%

�� /0$�&01'2

The North-East could wellbecome the country’s can-

cer hotspot with health expertscautioning that the number ofnew cases in the region is like-ly to increase to 57,131 by 2025in comparison to the estimat-ed 50,317 in 2020.

Citing the report by theIndian Council of MedicalResearch (ICMR) and theNational Centre for DiseaseInformatics and Research(NCDIR), Bengaluru, whichwas released on Thursday onthe occasion of World CancerDay, the experts said that thereis a need to focus on early diag-nosis and prevention of cancer.

As per the report ‘Profile ofcancer and related health indi-cators in the Northeast Regionof India’, in all the States, theincidence of cancer was high-er in males than in femalesexcept in Manipur and Sikkim.The commonly occurring can-cers among males were cancerof the oesophagus (13.6 percent) and lung (10.9 per cent),while in females, cancer of thebreast was the leading site(14.5 per cent), followed by thatof cervix uteri (12.2 per cent).

The highest incidence ratein males (269.4 per 100,000population) was recorded inAizawl district in Mizoramand among females (219.8 per

100,000) in Papumpare districtin Arunachal Pradesh.

The proportion of tobacco-related cancers was 49.3 percent in males and 22.8 per centin females, said the report.

At the time of diagnosis ofbreast, cervix, head and neck,stomach and lung cancers, lessthan one-third were localised,while the remaining werespread either nearby or dis-tantly in the body. The pro-portion of cancer patients seek-ing treatment outside the northeast was highest for Sikkim(95.3 per cent) and Nagaland(58. Per cent).

“The report has given usvaluable insights into the pre-vailing risk factors of cancer -all the stakeholders must nowcome together to fight itsincreasing incidence,” said DrGK Rath, Head of AIIMS,BRAIRCH and NCI, Jhajjar.

The Report also includesdata from seven hospital-basedcancer registries (HBCRs) inAssam, Manipur, Mizoram andTripura from 2012 to 2016.

“The scientific evidencegenerated from the registrieshas led to strengthening ofhealth infrastructure in theregion and will provide theguidance for future policy deci-sions,” Dr Balram Bhargava,Director General, ICMR, saidin a statement.

Terming it as a wakeup call

amid Carona pandemic, DrRahul Bhargava, Director-BoneMarrow TransplantProgramme, Fortis MemorialResearch Institute, Gurugramstrongly felt that cancer patientsneed to be given priority forvaccination.

“We know that the mostvulnerable group is people whohave suffered cancer or areundergoing chemotherapy.They should get vaccination ona priority basis so that theycontinue with the chemother-apy treatment. However, theymust consult their doctors forthe type of vaccine and timingof the vaccine inoculation sothat they can develop the ade-quate amount of antibodiesbefore they take chemothera-py.”

Besides providing cancerdata, the ICMR report alsogives insight into the prevailingcancer risk factor profile capac-ity for treating cancer anddeath statistics for each statefrom various sources. Amongthe eight northeast states, cur-rent tobacco use was highest inTripura at 64.5 per cent andlowest in Sikkim at 17.9 percent.

Men (59 per cent) andwomen (26.3 per cent) fromArunachal Pradesh, who wereover 15 years of age, consumedhigher proportions of alcoholthan in other NE states whilethe prevalence of obesityamong women aged 15-49years was highest in Sikkim(34.7 per cent) followed byManipur (34.1 per cent). Incontrast, in men, it was high-est in Sikkim (36.3 per cent)and lowest in Meghalaya (13.9per cent).

The report said Sikkimhad the highest prevalence ofhypertension in men (41.6 percent) and women (34.5 percent), followed by Manipur(men 33.2 per cent and women23.0 per cent).

�48��

�� /0$�&01'2

The National InvestigationAgency (NIA) on Thursday

said it has recovered �20 lakhin cash and 130 live rounds inconnection with the probe intoHizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM)narco terror case.

The NIA conductedsearches in Amritsar andGurdaspur districts of Punjab atthe premises of suspectManpreet Singh of KalaAfghana, Teja Khurd, Batala,Amritsar, a close associate ofcharge-sheeted accused RanjitSingh alias Cheetah and IqbalSingh alias Shera in connectionwith investigation of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) NarcoTerror Case, the agency said ina statement.

The case relates to arrest ofHilal Ahmad Shergojri, an overground worker of HM and aclose associate of Riyaz AhmedNaikoo, the then commander ofHM who had come to Amritsarto collect the funds to furtherthe terrorist activities in Jammuand Kashmir.

� 29 lakh along with a Tatatruck was seized from theaccused on April 25 last year byPunjab Police.

This case was originallyregistered as case FIR number135/20 dated April 25, 2020 atPolice Station Sadar, AmritsarCity, Punjab, under varioussections of Unlawful Activities(Prevention) Act, 1967 in con-

nection with seizure of �29lakhs which were drug pro-ceeds. Subsequently sectionsof the Narcotic Drugs andPsychotropic Substances(NDPS) Act were added duringinvestigation.

The case was re-registeredby NIA on May 8, 2020 andtook up the investigation.

The NIA has filedchargesheets against 11 accusedpersons in Special NIA Court,Mohali in the case.

“During investigation, itwas revealed that ManpreetSingh a hawala operator, hadcollected heroin, drug proceedsand weapons and transportedthem in his i20 and Verna caras per directions of accusedRanjit Singh alias Cheetah andIqbal Singh alias Shera. Further,Manpreet Singh delivered thedrugs proceeds to the tune of�35 lakh and weapons to thecharge-sheeted accused BikramSingh alias Vicky, relative ofRanjeet Singh during themonth of March, 2020,” theNIA said in a statement.

During the searches con-ducted on Thursday, �20 lakh(drug proceeds) 130 live roundsof 9 mm, mobile phones, pendrive, one bunch of polythenebags used for packing heroin,one Hyundai Verna car, a twowheeler, documents related toproperties, and other incrimi-nating documents have beenseized from the house of thesuspect, it added.

��&��'(�� !��#�).(��8�&��!��!�� /0$�&01'2

The EnforcementDirectorate has attached

assets worth over �14 crorebelonging to the GitanjaliGroup and its promoter andjeweller Mehul Choksi, one ofthe prime accused in thealleged over �13,000 crorePNB loan fraud case.

The properties attached,under the anti-money laun-dering law, include a flat mea-suring 1,460 sq feet located atO2 Tower in Goregaon area ofMumbai, gold and platinumjewellery, diamond stones,necklaces made of silver andpearls, watches and aMercedes Benz car, the EDsaid in a statement.

A provisional order forattachment has been issuedunder the Prevention ofMoney Laundering Act(PMLA) for the assets worth atotal �14.45 crore that are inthe name of Gitanjali Group ofcompanies and its directorMehul Choksi, it said.

Choksi, 61, is the maternaluncle of Nirav Modi who is theother prime accused in thealleged over �13,000 crore)Punjab National Bank (PNB)fraud case.

Choksi has fled India andis stated by probe agencies tobe based in Antigua andBarbuda.

Modi, 49, is in a Londonjail after he was held byauthorities there in 2019 onthe basis of a legal requestmade by the ED and theCentral Bureau ofInvestigation (CBI) in thiscase. He is contesting extradi-tion to India.

The two, their familymembers and employees, bankofficials and others werebooked by the ED and the CBIin 2018 for perpetrating thealleged fraud in the BradyHouse branch of the PNB inMumbai.

%��!��)?�!��,�� !��

�� /0$�&01'2

In the revised guidelines forvoting through postal ballot

by absentee voters, the ElectionCommission has allowed postalvoting for ‘Senior citizens’(above 80 years of age), PwDs(persons with Disabilities), andCOVID-19 suspect or affectedpersons. In a letter to all Statesand Union Territories, the ECforwarded the revised guide-lines for voting through postalballot by absentee voters in thecategory of senior citizens(above 80 years of age), personswith disability flagged in theelectoral roll and Covid-19 sus-pect or affected persons, forcompliance in all future elec-tions.

The EC further directedthe State Chief Electoral Officerto bring these new provisionsto the notice of DistrictElection Officers (DEOs),Returning Officers (ROs) andother election authorities con-cerned besides the State unitsof recognised political partiesand all registered unrecog-nised political parties based inthe State.

Referring to the proce-dure, the EC guidelines stated,“An ‘Absentee Voter’ wishing tovote by postal ballot has tomake application to the RO ofthe Constituency concerned, in

Form-12D, giving all requisiteparticulars. Such applicationshould reach the RO during theperiod from the date ofannouncement of election tofive days following the date ofnotification of the election.

“The BLO (Booth LevelOfficers) will visit the houses ofabsentee voters, as per detailsprovided by the RO, in thePolling Station area and deliv-er ‘Form 12D’ to the concernedelectors and obtain acknowl-edgements from them. TheBLOs will have to deposit all theacknowledgements obtainedfrom the electors with the RO.”Mentionably, each polling sta-tion is assigned a BLO. The ECIguidelines added, “If an electoris not available, the BLO willshare his/her contact details andrevisit to collect it within fivedays of the notification.

“If the elector opts for the‘Postal Ballot’, then the BLO willcollect the filled-in-Form 12Dfrom the house of the electorwithin five days of the notifi-cation and deposit it with theRO forthwith.

The Sector Officer shallsupervise the process of distri-bution and collection of Form12) by BLOs under the overallsupervision of RO.” The pollingofficials will brief the electorsand also collect the marked bal-lot papers (after the vote is caston postal ballot).

'��8��

�� /0$�&01'2

The work on redevelopmentof central vista Avenue with

an estimated cost of �608 crorestarted on Thursday with a‘bhoomi pujan’, ceremony. Thegovernment plans to hold the2022 Republic Day parade onthe newly-developed Rajpath,a project that is being execut-ed under the government’sambitious Central Vista rede-velopment plan.

Union Housing and UrbanAffairs Minister Hardeep SinghPuri performed the ‘bhoomipujan’ for the redevelopment ofCentral Vista Avenue betweenthe Rashtrapati Bhavan to theIndia Gate on Thursday.According to the Central PublicWorks Department, theground-breaking ceremonywas held at India Gate Lawnwhere senior officials, includ-ing ministry secretary DurgaShanker Mishra, were present.

According to the Ministryof Housing and Urban Affairs,this would be one of the bestCentral Vista Avenue of theworld. “Refurbished Avenuewill come out as one of the bestCentral Vistas in the world. Itwill be ready for hosting nextyear’s Republic Day Parade &events in the 75th year of

Indian Independence. Withhighest footfalls of Delhiites &domestic/foreign visitors, itwill bring pride to Indians,”HUA secretary Durga ShankarMishra tweeted after bhoomipujan.

The objective of the projectis to make the Avenue an iconthat truly befits New India.

The Central Vista Avenuestarting from North and SouthBlock to India Gate thatincludes the Rajpath, its adjoin-ing lawns and canals, rows oftree, Vijay Chowk and theIndia Gate plaza is a 3 km longstretch.

The work for the phase Ihas been awarded to one of themajor construction companiesM/s Shapoorji PallonjiCompany (Pvt) Limited withthe cost of Rs.477.

In the phase I, the CentralVista Avenue development planinclude the artificial canalalong Rajpath will be refur-bished using sandstone; ade-

quate walkwaysbeing provided alongRajpath, canals;Walkways acrosslawns with low levelbridges over canalsare being provided toensure better con-nectivity with park-ing, public ameni-

ties at 12 suitable locationsbetween India Gate and VijayChowk for visitors and tourist.Keeping pedestrian safety inmind, four underpasses underJanpath and C-hexagon will bebuilt. Foldable seating arrange-ment to reduce time taken forinstallation and removal oftemporary seating arrange-ment during Republic DayCelebrations will also beensured.

The phase I plan alsoinclude proper parking forbuses, two wheelers and fourwheelers, signages, lighting,CCTV cameras, drainage, rainwater harvesting, water supplysystem and sewerage treat-ment plant for recycling ofwaste water.

“Requisite permissionsfrom Delhi Urban ArtsCommission, HeritageConservation Committee,Central Vista Committee, LocalBody etc. have been obtained.The design also provides space

and facilities for vendors,ensures that arrangements fornational events cause minimaldisruption, and ensures integri-ty and continuity of the Vista’soriginal layout, its geometriesand its architectural character,”the ministry said in a state-ment. At a press conference lastmonth, HUA Secretary DurgaShanker Mishra said the HCChad discussed the proposaland cleared it.

Along with the redevelop-ment of Central Vista and con-struction of a new Parliament,the Central Public WorksDepartment (CPWD) has pro-posed a garden along the banksof the Yamuna near PuranaQila to mark 75 years ofIndependence. The CPWDhad launched a design compe-tition in November 2020 for thestructure, which can be a toweror a sculpture. A total of 98entries had been received,according to the CPWD’s web-site.

The redevelopment of cen-tral vista and Parliament pro-ject includes the constructionof a new Parliament building,redevelopment of Rajpath,development of a CentralSecretariat for all Ministries,new Prime Minister’s residenceand office and Vice-President’sresidence.

�� /0$�&01'2

Attempting to counterNobel Peace Prize nomi-

nee and Swedish climateactivist Greta Thunberg’s crit-icism of the IndianGovernment’s handling offarmers’ movement, BJP MPMeenakshi Lekhi on Thursdaytook a swipe at her saying shewould propose her name for“child bravery award” as the18-year-old activist has done a“huge” service to the countryby uploading the toolkit whichaccording to her proved theconspiracy being designed todestabilise India.

Another BJP spokesmanGaurav Bhatia describedGreta’s toolkit as an “anarchy

school-kit” that gave away evi-dence of international con-spiracy against the country.

Greta has extended sup-port to the ongoing farmers’protests and hit out at theIndian government. Her tweetcame soon after American popsinger Rihanna tweeted a CNNarticle on farmers’ protest andpartial internet suspension.

Greta who had deleted herfirst tool-kit, however, cameout with the second one back-ing agitating Indian farmers.The Delhi Police on Thursdayfiled an FIR against the toolk-it creators.

Lekhi said the earlier delet-ed document of hers made itclear that there have beenelaborate plans to “destabilise”India since January 1.

�+��$�� 2��#��@"��<��"�� /0$�&01'2

Additional Director of CBIPraveen Sinha on

Thursday took charge of theinterim director of the agencyfollowing vesting of the chargethrough an order issued by theDepartment of Personnel andTraining (DoPT) onWednesday.

The move came after thethen incumbent CBI Chief RKShukla retired from service onWednesday.

Sinha, a Gujarat cadre offi-cer of 1988 batch had earlierserved in the CBI asSuperintendent of Police, DIG,Joint Director and AdditionalDirector over two stintsbetween 2000 and 2021, theCBI said in a statement.

He also served as

Additional Secretary, CentralVigilance Commission (CVC)during 2015-2018. He hasserved at various places in theState in various capacities fromASP to Additional DirectorGeneral of Police.

“He had also served asDeputy Director, Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB),Ahmedabad in 1996. In thepast, Sinha has been associat-ed with the investigation ofvarious Supreme Court/HighCourt entrusted/monitoredscams; major bank frauds andfinancial crimes and serialbomb blasts. He was instru-mental in unearthing majorexamination paper leakagesincluding those of CAT andAIPMT, it added.

“Sinha has the unique dis-tinction of having drafted the

Manual of both the apexintegrity institutions –Vigilance Manual 2017 ofCentral Vigilance Commissionand CBI (Crime) Manual,2020. He has been involved inseveral innovative and reforminitiatives. Sinha is a Memberof several Reform Committeesconstituted by the CVC. He isalso a Member of theCommittee for Reforms inCriminal Laws constituted byMHA,” it added.

Meanwhile, the agency onThursday conducted searchesin Bhubaneswar/Cuttack atthe premises of seniorTravelling Inspector(Accounts), East CoastRailway, Bhubaneswar, RabiNarayan Rath in a case relat-ed to possession of dispropor-tionate assets.

)�#.��'�$'&#��#-��.��#��$'��$"�$��+�� /�

�� /0$�&01'2

After Swiggy, the Ministry ofHousing and Urban Affairs

tied up with online food order-ing platform Zomato onThursday under the PrimeMinister Street Vendor’’sAtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PMSVANidhi) scheme to onboardstreet food vendors on its food-tech platform. This will givestreet food vendors online accessto thousands of consumers andhelp these vendors grow theirbusinesses.

As per the MoU signed, ini-tially MoHUA and Zomato willrun a pilot program by on-boarding 300 vendors across sixcities namely – Bhopal,Ludhiana, Nagpur, Patna,Raipur, Vadodara.The MoUwith Zomato was exchangedbetween Shri Sanjay Kumar,

Joint Secretary, MoHUA andShri Mohit Sardana, ChiefOperating Officer, Zomato, inthe presence of Shri DurgaShanker Mishra, Secretary,MoHUA, and officials ofZomato and Ministry.

Zomato will provide PANand FSSAI registrations, digi-tised menu, fix prices, train andcertify vendors in food safetyand hygiene, packaging, pre-sentation and use of ZomatoApp, as part of the trainingprocess. It has been learnt thatZomato will upscale to 125cities. As on February 4th, 2021,data collection of over 95,000PMSVANidhi beneficiariesalong with their 50, 000 familymembers is done.

In December last year,Swiggy announced the expan-sion of its street food vendorsprogram to 125 cities under the

PM SVANidhi scheme. In thefirst phase, the company willonboard 36,000 street food ven-dors to whom the loan hasbeen disbursed in 125 cities onits platform. The PM SVANidhiScheme was launched under theambit of ‘AtmaNirbhar BharatAbhiyan’. It aims at facilitatingcollateral free working capitalloans upto �10,000 of 1 yeartenure, to about 50 lakh streetvendors in the urban areas,including those from the sur-rounding peri-urban/ ruralareas, to resume their business-es post COVID-19 lockdown.Incentives in the form of inter-est subsidy of 7% per annum onregular repayment of loan, cash-back upto �1,200 per annum onundertaking prescribed digitaltransactions and eligibility forenhanced next tranche of loanhave also been provided.

8�� $��4��A��!!��

)(�$�� "��01&��"$��(2#'3 ��'��#,��$��#��2�+��

�� /0$�&01'2

Lawyer and their clerks willbe permitted to physically

access the Supreme CourtRegistry from February 8 inthree slots by following strictCOVID-19 protocols andguidelines, the Supreme CourtA d v o c a t e s - o n - R e c o r dAssociation (SCAORA) saidon Thursday.

“In the coordination com-mittees meeting held todayevening, by the competentauthorities of the Registry withthe executive committee ofSCAORA and Supreme CourtBar Association it was decidedthat pursuant to SCAORA’srepresentation dated December31, 2021, access to the registryto Advocates OnRecord/Authorised Advocatesof AOR’s/Registered Clerks willbe available from February 8,2021, on the basis of 100 peo-ple per one and a half an hourin three slots i.E., 10.00 am to11.30 am, 11.30 am to 1.00 pmand 2.30 pm to 04.00 pm ,” arelease from the bar body said.

The release also said thataccess to Libraries, Bar roomand Ladies bar Lounge will beallowed to limited membersfrom 09:30 am to 5:30 pmwhile access to limited open-ing of Advocates Locker Area

will also be allowed. “The Cafeteria for Litigants

will be opened as per existingand applicable COVID-19 pro-tocols.

The timings of theChamber blocks will be extend-ed to 07.00 pm and the cham-ber blocks will remain open onall days including gazetted hol-idays.,” the release said.

The bar body said thataforesaid access will be availablefrom February 8, followingstrict existing protocols andguidelines for containment ofCOVID 19, in the country.

The requisite standardoperating procedure (SOP) willfollow shortly, the release said.

The information was com-municated by Dr JosephAristotle S, Secretary, SCAO-RA.

Amid protest by severaladvocates demanding resump-tion of physical hearing in thetop court, a meeting was heldon February 1 in which the CJI,Solicitor General Tushar Mehta,bar leaders including BCI

chairman Manan KumarMishra as also office bearers ofthe Supreme Court BarAssociation (SCBA) as well asSupreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association and senioradvocate Vikas Singh discussedthe issue.

��#�!�� !��"��!��!!��,�1��-��=��

�� /0$�&01'2

The 300 heritage trees thatare to be chopped for the

construction of five railwayover bridges in West Bengal arevalued at �2.2 billion in termsof oxygen and other productsthey offer which means a livingtree will be more beneficialthan the project, an expertcommittee has told theSupreme Court.

A heritage tree is a largetree that takes decades or Thecommittee of experts told abench headed by Chief JusticeS

A Bobde that a heritagetree serves the civil society andthe environment and its valu-ation can be reached on vari-ous counts including oxygen,micro-nutrients, compost andbio-fertiliser.

It said that if all costs areadded and multiplied by theremaining age of a tree, in thepresent case 100 years, thegrand total would be Rs 74,500per tree year.

“This means that 300 treesif allowed to live for a periodof 100 or more years, will giveproducts worth�2,235,000,000 or �2.2 bil-lion. This is the future value of300 trees. If the entire stretch

of 59.2-kilometre road is takenin into consideration, whichwill become congested in aperiod of a decade or so,authorities will be forced towiden its width and on thiscount 4,056 trees will berequired to be cut down.

“In that case, the cost ofproducts over a period of 100years will be � 30.21 billion. Soto avoid this environmentalcatastrophe a solution out ofroutine framework is need ofthe hour,” the committee saidin its report.

The five proposed bridgesare part of a “Setu BharatamMega Project” financed by theCentre to build 208 rail over-and under-bridges across 19states in the country with asanctioned cost of �20,800crore.

The five-member com-mittee informed the apex courtthat before implementing aproject of national importanceenvironmental impact assess-ment is desired and this hasnot been done in West Bengal.

The committee said thatstate authorities are consider-ing project under considera-tion as an independent projectwhich is affecting a distance of59.2 km only from Barasat toBongaon.

8��!��!��!��1��0��,�

sions and service contours.The agonising conditions inTEIs are accentuated by thearchaic and opaque recruit-ment procedures. An example:In July 2020, 1,427 schoolteach-ers with fake degrees wereidentified in UP, 927 removedand �900 crore fraudulentlydrawn as salaries. The author-ities must gear up to ensurecleansing of the system as wellas of the recruitment process.Surely punish the teacherswho committed fraud, but donot also spare those who gotthem appointed.

Sincere efforts made to setthings right after the JusticeVerma Commission reportresulted in the mafia comingtogether and filing innumer-able court cases against theNCTE. The mafia brother-hood resisted the change vig-orously and led to the head ofthe organisation demittingoffice, probably in sheer frus-tration. The observations of theJustice Verma Commissionalso find a mention in theNational Education Policy(NEP-2020): “Regulatoryefforts so far have neither beenable to curb the malpractices inthe system nor enforce basicstandards for quality and, infact, had the negative effect ofcurbing the growth of excel-lence and innovation.” In light

of the Shimla reports, would itbe incorrect to infer that hun-dreds of thousands of youthhave been lured, cheated andleft to fend for themselveswith fake degrees? Apparently,the regulatory systems havefailed, or were lethargic andprofessionally inadequate. Butthis is only partially true. It isthe inadequacy within the sys-tem that has not shown enoughalertness and commitment toprofessional ethics.

This topic is normallyavoided lest it hurt certainsensitivities. It must, however,be stated plainly in profession-al interest. Each of the 10,000institutes mentioned in theJustice Verma Commissionreport was visited by a profes-sional experts’ committee for acouple of days to inspect,examine and ensure that all theprescribed norms and stan-dards are in place; that the insti-tute is fully equipped to preparequality teachers. If these aresubsequently found deficient,why must responsibility not befixed on the 30,000 expertswho had accepted the hospital-ity and put their signatures onthe institutes’ worthiness?Imagine the measure of dam-age that could be inflicted onstudents by a poorly trainedteacher, or by someoneappointed on the basis of a fake

degree. This vicious circle mustbe exposed and broken. Theinitiative for it must comefrom within, from every aca-demic, every professional andevery committed teacher. Thisis how it finds reflection in theNEP-2020 where it stipulates:“In order to improve theintegrity and credibilityrequired to restore the prestigeof the teaching profession, theregulatory system shall beempowered to take stringentaction against the substandardand dysfunctional TEIs that donot meet the basic education-al criteria, after giving oneyear for remedy of breaches. By2030, only the educationallysound, multidisciplinary andintegrated teacher educationprogrammes shall be in force.”This is an encouraging recom-mendation; it applies in equalmeasure to professional cours-es like medical, engineering,pharmacy, and others.

As the NEP-2020 is beinganalysed at every level and itsimplementation has begun inearnest, it would be in order thatthe most critical role is playedby competent and committedteachers — right from the pri-mary level to the academics ofthe institutes of excellence.

(The author works in edu-cation and social cohesion. Theviews expressed are personal.)

)��/��34��(��5��

��,��/��"��67"��*��8*�� 89�� :��*��(��/��%��/�� ;��!��!��!

�� "��"��<+'*.!3=��!��/��%��!�� /�� *��%��

;��*��!�� !��!�� *� ��

��!��*��%��!�� !��!�� 7+�� /��!� ��9�7(�� 9��7"��%��/��9��"�� "�� !��/�� -��/�� *�� <+'*.!3=��

"��55��*��%��>��"��,��?$��%��>��*��

��*��<+'*.!3=��@��"�� )��A�� ?��!��%�� <��#��!��%��)��A��

A��"��<��*��@�� (� 0�� @��*��B!4��B!3��!��/��"��A��@�� /��*��%��!�� B4*��*��!��

�� *��'��2�� !

��"��,�)��C��@�� !�� (�0��!��)��-��@�� $��)�� *�� A��"��0��<�� @��!��+�� *��-��!�� "�� -�� *��*��!��-�� (�0��@��

��

�� Sir— The farm protests have capturedglobal attention, with a set of political, cul-tural and environmental figures — includ-ing pop singer Rihanna, the fourth mostfollowed person on Twitter — tweetingtheir solidarity with the protesters. TheMinistry of External Affairs (MEA) state-ment terming them “vested interestgroups” looks unusual because theGovernment normally ignores commentsfrom non-State actors and individuals.

The international solidarity that themovement has been able to gain is eitherdue to the Sikh diaspora or due to activ-ities of human rights groups or thenature of coverage in the internationalmedia. But irrespective of the causes andmerits of the criticism, the fact is that iterodes India’s soft power and is a blot onits image as a healthy democracy. TheGovernment will have to recognise theintricate ways in which domestic devel-opments intersect with global politics,especially at a time when social media hasdisproportionate power in shaping per-ception.

But what is clear is that India, becauseof the ideological and economic shiftsunderway in the country and the subse-quent polarisation, will face questions.There is a need to ensure that these trans-formations are democratically managedinternally, as well as smarter strategic com-munication made about the nature ofthese changes externally.

N Sadhasiva Reddy | Bengaluru

�� Sir — This refers to the editorial ‘Floodgatesshut’ (February 4). The BJP has witnesseda steep ideological fall under the currentleadership. Leaders like Atal BihariVajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani wereready to give up power rather than take thesupport of defectors. Atalji had said: “Ifpower comes by breaking the party andmaking new alliances, I wouldn’t like totouch this power even with a pair of tongs.”But the incumbent regime is freely usingthe tongs to catch power-hungry leadersfrom other parties.

Many TMC leaders in West Bengalswitched sides fearing anti-incumbency. It’sgood for the party’s health that suchunfaithful leaders have shown their truecolours and left the party before elections.For the BJP, accepting them into its fold willprove counterproductive to its interests asthese power-greedy leaders will not remainfaithful to the new party also. The PrimeMinister often talks of ‘Aatmanirbharta’, aword which has now found place in theOxford Hindi Dictionary. The question thatcomes to one’s mind is that why the BJPhas no ‘Aatmanirbharta’, or self-reliance,when it comes to elections as the saffronparty largely depends on defectors fromother parties.

N Nagaraja | Secunderabad

��Sir — The protesting farmers are defi-nitely clever in building up the requiredmomentum by involving their friendsand even their families, making the issuea “do or die battle”. When this actually

happens, it will completely slip out of thehands of the Centre. The situation is stillnot under control. The longevity of theprotest will give time to the agitatingfarmers to escalate the emotions of theentire farming community and createunrest in areas of western Uttar Pradesh,Punjab and Haryana. It will have adverseimplications for the BJP and will have abearing on its vote bank.

It is high time that Prime MinisterNarendra Modi involved himself in theissue by making a direct and emotionalappeal to the farmers’ unions to with-draw their protests and resume talksdirectly under his chairmanship todecide the issue in a time-bound man-ner. After all, by doing so, the PM willnot lose anything but, in fact, his popu-larity and magnanimity will get elevat-ed in the minds of crores of Indians.

Durga Prasad Rao | Hyderabad

& 6 & 8 # � , ' ) 9 � & 6 " " ' % �

%%%*!#$,��$�'��*+�"�� %��4��#�� ? 3� &��#(�� ? ��%��4��#�� 4

�� !"�#$#%

�8

��! ��0*,��,:��8��,,:>�=��*+$�=�

'��'��#��"��#��"��#��(��#��#��(��#��%

� �� #��

��4

��$��+��"��,��!��"��)(��

2-�=2/0��'0-0��+0�<�

&�-�=0��'��<�1&�*0

2/�12��0&�</��&0/��*��

(<<+1��+�2/0&�0��'0+��<+�*�

�<-0</0�((<2/�0&�</��'0

*��2��<��;0&0=+00%��'2�

>2�2<��2+�10-��*0�0@(<�0&

�/&�*+<;0/

��

5��%��%��0�%��"��"��$�#��$��

A� � �� +��.��#�� # ��%�(� ��#�� 2��

� �� %�� #%�0�� #� �� :�� %��/�� :��# ��

�� %�� #� :�� +��.� ��#B� ��%� � <� ��#�� :��# ��%�� C��D�� +��.��#�� *�� 2��%

<�� *��#�� 2��(� � ��1 �� E2(1F��%�'� �� #G�� %�<�� #�� ' �� *��%�-��#�� *�� %�2�� #�� # ��%�� *�� +��.��#�� %�*�� # �� %�

Ganapathi Bhat | Akola

�� !��"��#$��

��"��

As per latest reports onthe education mafiaemerging fromHimachal Pradesh, a

recognised private universitydid brisk business for over adecade and is reported to havesold 36,000 degrees across 17States. It is not front-page newsas similar reports keep appear-ing at regular intervals. One hasread and analysed such reportsfor over 40 years. The mafia canget papers leaked, arrange thesale/purchase of universitydegrees, paper solvers can beprocured for big-ticket exams,“sympathetic” support systemsare ever ready to help aspirantswith admissions to profession-al courses and bag academicappointments. One could speakfrom personal and institutionalexperience gained during 1994-99 as the head of a regulatorybody; advertisements regularlyappear in the national and Statenewspapers exhorting the youthto get a BEd degree. These werecollected and submitted to theChancellor of two universities —not private ones — by theNational Council for TeacherEducation (NCTE).

It resulted in what may berecalled as the Bihar BEd scandalof 1999. What emerged was moreshocking than what was previous-ly known: They were not sellingonly BEd degrees but even post-graduate degrees that were indemand for promotions! Theremedial action was short-lived;the practice perpetuated andexpanded. Teacher education wasthe worst sufferer. There was anupsurge of private BEd colleges.In 2012, a report submitted by acommission — constituted by theSupreme Court of India andheaded by former Chief Justice JSVerma — asserted that “a major-ity of standalone TeacherEducation Institutions (TEIs),over 10,000 in number, are notattempting serious teacher edu-cation but essentially sellingdegrees for a price”. Comingfrom a respected former CJI, thisrecommendation should havejolted the entire education system.The recent report from Shimlareiterates that the “business” is notconfined only to teacher educa-tion degrees, it has wider dimen-

�� #�� #�� 2�� %�� #�� 2��%

�:�=,�!��,:�H�/�� -��

� � �� ;��#�� :��

�� %� � /��' �� %��

��:�=,�!��,:�H*��,��

��2�� .�#�� %� /�� 2��#�� *�� #��%��

�$��:H+��-�� .

�� & �%' �� 2�� #� ��# � �� %��

�,*��,9�!��,:H�� ; .��

2��D�� #��

��0�� #�� 2��%��

��*��.�$�8��H,� �+��

��#��%�%��

�� )��)��?��! �� +

@�� ! � ��!�!��'��

�� (�� !�� !�� !�� (�� !�� A�@�'��' ��'��

The agitation over the three farm reforms hasbecome protracted and vexed. TheGovernment which initially claimed that theActs will benefit the farmers has now recog-

nised that there are problems in the AgriculturalProduce Trade and Commerce (Promotion andFacilitation) Act (popularly known as APMC mandiBypass Act) and the Farmers (Empowerment andProtection) Agreement on Price Assurance and FarmServices Act (in short, Contract Farming Act).Therefore, it is now open to amending them, whilethe farmer unions are demanding a repeal of all three,including the Essential Commodities Act (ECA,2020) though the ECA is not a new Act, arguing thatthey are so poorly designed that amendments won’tdo. Let’s see some of the provisions and implicationshere.

ECA, 2020: The ECA, as per its original man-date, can be amended in terms of inclusion or exclu-sion of any commodity from the list of essential com-modities. The amended ECA provides for relaxationfor stocking of cereals, edible oil, pulses, onion andpotato crops, though that would still not be absolutefreedom from the ECA. Such freedom can never bepossible in a country like India where agriculture isgoverned by both producer and consumer interest.Even the Minimum Support Price (MSP) is deter-mined keeping in mind both producer and consumerinterest. This ECA relaxation allows larger stockswithout limits for various users of farm produce likeexporters, processors and value chain participants.Still, the option of imposing stock limits for reasonsof war, famine, natural calamity and extraordinaryprice rise is retained. The amended Act places stocklimits if horticultural produce prices rise 100 per centand prices of non-perishables by 50 per cent abovethe previous year/five-year average price respective-ly. It is debatable whether this kind of price rise shouldbe allowed before imposing stock limits given the lev-els of food insecurity and poverty in India.

These ECA relaxations sound good from the per-spective of value chain participants but may not real-ly help growers directly. In fact, the “de-fanging” ofthe ECA would be a windfall for trading companieswho speculate on prices. Only some FarmerProducer Organisations (FPOs) may be able to useit for storing their produce for better prices and pro-cessing/value addition, if they have warehouses andare into processing, storage, packing, transport anddistribution. The consumer benefit of this relaxationis not a given as it may actually lead to larger hoard-ing and therefore, higher consumer prices.

The APMC mandi bypass Act, 2020: This cre-ates a new trade area outside the APMC marketyards/sub-yards where any buyer with a PermanentAccount Number (PAN) can buy directly fromfarmer sellers and the State Government can’timpose taxes on such a transaction. It is expected tolower costs for buyers and bring higher prices forfarmers. But, buying at a lower price does not nec-essarily mean that buyers would pass on the savingto farmers as a higher purchase price.The claim isalso made of growers having many channels for sell-ing now and not just the APMC one. This is mis-placed as majority of the farm produce (with theexception of some States like Punjab and Haryana)did not go through APMCs. Further, most agricul-tural States have already provided for a channel choiceby amending their APMC Acts and direct purchaseand contract farming are common now.Problematically, in the new trade area, there is noauthority to provide counterparty risk coverage forfarmer sellers unlike the APMC where licenced buy-ers and commission agents had to give bank guar-antees. The argument that APMC mandis are

monopolistic and exploitative is notentirely true. In States like Karnataka,Gujarat and Maharashtra, there areelections for APMC office-bearers.There are representatives of traders,commission against, farmers, cooper-atives and the Government onAPMCs and they are multi-stakehold-er elected bodies. Only Punjab has nothad an election to the APMCs in near-ly 40 years. It only nominates chair-persons and members. It is importantto recognise that, for small and mar-ginal growers, the APMC mandi is thelast resort channel of sale. If APMCsare reduced in importance, smallfarmers would not gain unless moreof them are organised into FPOs andbecome attractive to private agenciesfor contract farming or direct pur-chase from which they are, by andlarge, excluded till now.

Contract Farming Act, 2020: Theuse of the term farming agreement inthe Act itself is unusual as it is beingconfused with other arrangements likesharecropping or leasing pacts. Thebiggest problem is that it is being con-fused with corporate farming (firmsdoing their own farming on leased orowned land) and it is definitely notthat, as land leasing and land ceilingsActs at the State level are still intactthough they may not remain so forlong, going by what Karnataka,Rajasthan and Punjab are planning interms of opening up of land markets.But, the way the “production agree-ment” is defined raises doubts whetherit is more about land leasing and cor-porate farming rather than contractfarming. The confusion has led to theRajasthan Amendment Bill, 2020assuming that the sponsor can leasefarmers’ land. The “trade and com-merce agreement” under the Act alsoincludes direct purchase which is notthe appropriate transaction underthis Act. The other indication that

direct purchase is a part of this Act isin the fact that large retailers are men-tioned as contracting parties.

The global and the Indian truthabout large retailers or supermarketsis that they don’t have contract pactswith farmers and buy directly withoutany advance commitment of price orquantity and a farmer does not growfor them to begin with.

The Act links bonus and premi-um over and above the guaranteedprice, with the mandi price or electron-ic market price which is anti-contractfarming in nature. The contract price,like many other basic aspects of con-tract, should be left to the parties tonegotiate and can’t be tied to any otherchannel especially APMC price, asthese markets were seen as not decid-ing the prices efficiently. Now, goingback to the same mandi does not speakvery well of the Act. Since contractfarming takes mandi to the farm, it isa channel with serious implications forfarmers in terms of production. But itleaves out many sophisticated aspectsof modern contract farming practiceslike contract cancellation clauses anddamages therein. The very basicaspects of contract farming likeacreage, quantity and time of deliveryare not specified, which is a must forany law regulating it as these aremandatory aspects of such an arrange-ment whether with supply of inputs orotherwise. In fact, the 2003 model ofthe APMC Act had such provisionsand even a model contract farmingpact. Therefore, it required well-thought-out regulation but the Actfares poorly on that count.

The Act specifically mentionsthat quality, grade and standards forpesticide residue, food safety, goodfarming practices, labour and socialdevelopment standards may also beadopted in the farming agreement. Itis sad that the social and labour aspects

are only suggested and not mademandatory given the fact that childlabour and labour exploitation inwages and work conditions are wide-ly prevalent in contract farming. It isalso affecting India’s exports and rep-utation in global markets for fair tradeand ethical products.

The Act is more about facilitationand promotion of the contract farm-ing mechanism rather than its regu-lation. That the Act goes all the wayto facilitate contract farming is clearfrom the fact that it mentions thatECA, 2020 would not apply to contractfarmed produce. Why should this pro-vision of another Act be specificallymentioned in another law which hasnothing to do with this law directly orindirectly?

In both the new farm Acts, FPOsare treated only as a farmer and not abuyer which also needs correction asthese entities themselves also under-take contract farming in many Statesand are never involved in productionand, therefore, can’t be called farmer.The APMC mandi bypass Act alsoprovides for separate payment rules forFPOs which is unnecessary as these aremember-owned bodies and don’tneed to be told when and how to paytheir members. It is like telling Amulhow to pay its members!

One of the major objectives of thenew Acts is to attract private invest-ments in agri-business and markets.But investments come not due to achange in law, but incentives. Biharcompletely deregulated the marketinstead of reforming it in 2006 byrepealing the APMC Act. But one hasnot seen any new investments there.The APMC structure has collapsedthere with procurement and purchasecentres falling. The two farm Acts andthe ECA seem more like a package offreedom for corporate buyers in thename of freedom for farmers.

+��'��0)'��#��%��#��"$��

4��) ��

</0�<��'0-�,<+�

<*,0��2>0��<��'0�/0$��2�

�<��+��(+2>��0�

2/>0��-0/��2/�=+2�*��2/0��/&�-�+;0��%

*��2/>0��-0/��

�<-0�/<��&�0��<��'�/=0�2/�1�$�*��2/�0/�2>0�%

*2'�+��<-(10�01�

&0+0=�1��0&�'0�-�+;0�2/��0�&�<�

+0�<+-2/=�2��2/IAAJ�*��

+0(0�12/=��'0�(-��*��</0�'��/<�

�00/��/��/0$2/>0��-0/��

�'0+0%��'0��(-��+��+0�'��

�<11�(�0&�'0+0�$2�'�

(+<��+0-0/��/&�(�+�'��0

�0/�+0��112/=�

"�� 1��,��*��!��,�� *�� *��,�� !��

��;��/��D;/E�� *��!��!��!�!�� ,��$��5��

"�� "�;/�� !�� !��!��*�� !��,��A��BF�F3B��"�� !��"� �� "�� !��%��

*��"��*<��))��(��-�� ?� ��,��%��!�� !��,��

*�� ;/�� !� ��*�� !��*�� "��!�� !��!��!�� "��!�� !��*�*��7!�� 9��

;�� !��!�� "��!�� *��$��*�� #)1��,�� "��#)1�� G�� (�� "��!��*�� $��!��,��B3!BB��

D�� E

The Union Budget hasalways been a hit and amiss and this year is no

different as the annual financialstatement for the year 2021-22brought cheer to a section of the1.38 billion-strong populationwhile it disappointed someothers. The 350 million-strongmiddle class that bore the majorbrunt of the COVID-19 pan-demic was expecting somerelief from the Budget thisyear. However, it was left disap-pointed as the Income-Taxslabs remained unchanged.

On the other hand thebusiness community seems tobe satisfied with the provisionsin the financial spreadsheetthat aim to rejuvenate the ail-ing economy. The environ-ment, however, has landed in amixed bag.

In a surprise move, itslashed the funds meant for theNational Climate ChangeAction Plan from �40 crore to�30 crore. The Budget reducedthe allocation to the Ministry ofEnvironment, Forests andClimate Change (MoEF&CC)by a whopping �230 crore —from � 3,100 crore last year to�2,869 crore this year.

A reduction in fundsmeans that many green initia-tives and critical projects willcome to a grinding halt. Thisalso implies that the total bud-getary allocation to the fiveautonomous institutes, underthe MoEF&CC has been effec-tively reduced by 20 per cent.

These figures in fact caughtmany environmentalists off-guard as a rise in budgetaryallocation was expected instead

of a reduction, given India’scommitment to the cause onthe global arena. However, thisslashing of allocations showsthe lack of seriousness on thepart of the Government whenit comes to dealing with press-ing environmental issues.

At this critical juncture,“recovery in all spheres” includ-ing the environment shouldhave been the key theme of theBudget. Instead of making a bigreduction in the allocations tothe MoEF&CC theGovernment would have donewell to adopt a phased approachfor fund disbursal while at thesame time ensuring that thefunds to fight pollution andother environmental degrada-tion issues are diverted more tothe areas that are highly com-promised urban hotspots of

pollution. The Centre shouldhave reduced the fund alloca-tion for other parts of thecountry where the conditionsare relatively better.

Similarly, it was also a greatopportunity for the Centre toconvey its vision of recovery in“all spheres” in the present sit-

uation. Ironically, the lion’sshare of recovery measuresseems to be earmarked for theeconomy and healthcare only.

On a positive note, theGovernment’s financial state-ment gave a shot in the arm toclean air by earmarking �2,217crore for controlling air pollu-tion in 42 cities across India.However, there is no clarity onhow this fund will be utilised.This clarity is very essentialgiven the fact that no concreteinformation is available onpublic domain regarding howlast year’s allocation of �4,400crore for clean air was spent. Itis a issue of grave concerngiven the fact that 231 cities outof 287 have Particulate Matter10 (PM10) levels exceedingthe limits prescribed by theCentral Pollution Control

Board (CPCB). A baffling aspect of the

Budget is the voluntary vehiclescrapping policy under which20-year-old personal vehicles,instead of being scrapped, willbe sent to automated fitnesschecking centres for health cer-tificates and will be re-regis-tered. Can the Governmentensure the much-needed trans-parency in the process? It is alsounfortunate that the NationalGreen Tribunal (NGT) rulepertaining to mandatory scrap-ping of 10-year-old diesel vehi-cles and 15-year-old petrolvehicles seems to have beenscrapped automatically. Thismay prove costly for the envi-ronment in the long run, as oldvehicles during the process ofre-registration can slip throughsystem loopholes and keep pol-

luting the environment. Instead of allowing 20-

year-old vehicles to ply, theGovernment through theBudget could have put theurban electric energy drivenmass transit system and passen-ger electric vehicle policy on fasttrack. This would have helpedachieve multiple objectives offostering entrepreneurship,increasing employment, con-serving the environment and soon. The Budget cuts for theMoEF&CC reflect theGovernment’s tepid responsetowards fulfilling its environ-mental commitments.However, steps such as settingup of the Hydrogen EnergyMission in 2021-22 to harnesshydrogen from green sourceswill go a long way in reducingIndia’s carbon footprint.

� �� !"�#�"#�$�#�%�$��!&��#'"��#(�#!�)"#"%!�*�(�+#%�!&+!�(+#*�,��#�"#"!"+!"'�%�+#�� "!" +-�.��/� !%�0"--� �(��!��+�,�"#�"#,�&+-!

�� !"�#$#%

�9%%%*!#$,��$�'��*+�" �� %��4��#�� ? 3� &��#(�� ? ��%��4��#�� 4

�� =2-�8)��%#�#8�%#/

6�-��#%,)9�2�� =� �K��

�4�)�� !�

��

The writer is Professor,Centre for Management

in Agriculture, IIM,Ahmedabad. The viewsexpressed are personal.

0��#"��$��*"�%��

4��

The writer is an environmental journalist.The views expressed are

personal.

"�� 10�� !"�#$#%

Script Open High Low LTPRELIANCE 1921.00 1939.70 1905.05 1923.95TATAMOTORS 330.70 334.40 322.50 326.10SBIN 335.00 358.00 331.30 355.10HDFC 2710.00 2739.95 2658.65 2707.85BAJFINANCE 5212.00 5539.75 5207.35 5502.00INFY 1287.00 1291.45 1272.20 1279.70BHARTIARTL 618.30 623.00 595.95 600.35TCS 3206.00 3233.95 3177.00 3187.30PNB 38.50 41.00 37.95 40.50HINDUNILVR 2234.00 2258.45 2226.95 2247.05ITC 216.70 231.45 216.00 230.00AXISBANK 731.70 745.50 720.85 744.05APOLLOTYRE 238.30 255.55 232.25 243.85SIS 412.50 417.00 400.95 403.85TTKPRESTIG 6069.00 6170.00 6009.00 6150.00ICICIBANK 618.00 631.50 609.00 627.50M&M 835.00 893.40 835.00 866.50MARUTI 7600.55 7764.95 7540.00 7639.90INDUSINDBK 1032.00 1041.75 1016.20 1031.95HCLTECH 965.00 969.45 950.20 957.80IBULHSGFIN 218.00 226.35 214.45 222.05DLF 289.25 312.35 286.00 304.80IDEA 12.29 12.48 12.10 12.16LT 1523.35 1549.40 1509.80 1529.45ASIANPAINT 2465.00 2465.00 2398.15 2402.00SUNPHARMA 630.55 641.00 626.00 631.50CANBK 153.05 163.80 151.20 162.20JSWSTEEL 392.85 402.10 391.35 400.35HDFCBANK 1564.15 1587.80 1543.45 1578.15ZEEL 244.70 261.00 240.00 249.40HEROMOTOCO 3454.90 3514.20 3404.10 3440.65BANKBARODA 77.50 83.10 76.10 82.05TATAPOWER 85.20 90.60 84.55 89.65PVR 1520.00 1520.35 1483.20 1492.45BHEL 40.00 42.50 39.60 42.20ADANIPORTS 559.30 573.00 552.15 568.40ULTRACEMCO 6071.65 6205.45 6036.80 6182.60TITAN 1534.90 1540.30 1488.20 1514.00EICHERMOT 2925.00 2977.10 2900.00 2961.05KOTAKBANK 1857.90 1914.50 1831.05 1911.25WIPRO 433.50 436.65 428.15 429.90INDIAMART 8273.00 9390.65 8268.05 9217.85DRREDDY 4699.00 4705.00 4622.00 4665.70JUBLFOOD 2710.00 2868.45 2681.85 2828.90TECHM 987.00 988.00 964.30 969.25TATASTEEL 653.00 663.50 638.80 656.10ASHOKLEY 134.45 138.85 133.00 135.90IOC 102.20 104.40 102.20 103.65POWERGRID 206.95 207.55 204.25 205.30ADANIENT 567.70 611.80 557.35 590.00ENDURANCE 1445.95 1468.75 1390.00 1446.25BALKRISIND 1721.60 1849.85 1718.75 1827.70ONGC 93.90 98.60 93.90 97.70BAJAJFINSV 9531.50 9764.40 9477.00 9718.60SUNTV 518.00 552.95 515.25 548.75CEATLTD 1614.00 1763.15 1614.00 1666.50MRF 91340.00 93768.10 90136.00 92242.70DIVISLAB 3715.00 3736.80 3650.00 3678.85HDFCLIFE 687.80 690.90 678.30 680.80BAJAJCON 258.90 283.75 255.10 262.10STAR 902.20 938.00 866.30 886.80NESTLEIND 17250.00 17250.00 17054.80 17073.20DMART 2916.00 2975.00 2874.00 2963.40NTPC 97.50 100.15 97.00 99.05ADANIGREEN 1045.00 1077.30 1042.60 1077.30VEDL 174.35 180.00 174.20 176.30SRTRANSFIN 1448.05 1448.05 1395.00 1419.75BAJAJELEC 744.00 811.50 739.30 767.90GAIL 131.35 135.40 130.35 130.70INDIANB 103.80 120.80 100.85 118.75BAJAJ-AUTO 4236.00 4361.20 4200.00 4219.55HINDALCO 260.90 267.40 259.05 261.90IRCTC 1470.70 1540.00 1465.00 1523.40NCC 77.00 79.65 74.15 75.20ESCORTS 1391.00 1439.90 1377.65 1401.50BIOCON 402.50 410.60 400.10 409.65SUMICHEM 317.25 324.65 317.00 322.20COALINDIA 138.00 144.20 136.95 143.55RBLBANK 254.65 258.90 250.85 257.30CIPLA 842.00 856.05 832.40 834.45MANAPPURAM 173.50 184.90 173.40 181.55MOTHERSUMI 158.50 162.00 157.15 157.95JKTYRE 132.25 144.25 131.50 135.00TATACHEM 519.00 535.00 515.00 529.55FEDERALBNK 81.55 85.80 80.50 85.50MUTHOOTFIN 1168.50 1195.00 1159.90 1184.40PIIND 2260.00 2338.00 2187.00 2249.70BANDHANBNK 345.00 352.10 335.50 346.40BPCL 415.00 422.50 410.40 418.90BEL 140.00 141.75 137.10 140.90SHREECEM 25771.25 27356.25 25624.45 27185.50CHAMBLFERT 242.50 267.00 237.20 262.90M&MFIN 184.45 184.45 177.55 181.75GRASIM 1175.10 1217.00 1172.75 1186.65TATAELXSI 2890.00 2898.00 2818.00 2826.90SAIL 63.95 64.90 63.00 64.45SUZLON 6.84 7.07 6.75 7.00NMDC 111.80 117.20 110.25 116.45THERMAX 1015.25 1218.50 1015.25 1210.30AMBUJACEM 268.75 275.00 266.35 272.60CHOLAFIN 460.25 471.00 458.70 464.35BRITANNIA 3516.80 3608.00 3512.15 3579.75BANKINDIA 53.90 57.95 53.15 57.40CADILAHC 480.20 482.55 475.30 479.15IDFCFIRSTB 48.00 49.50 47.45 49.05TVSMOTOR 644.00 657.85 638.00 653.20L&TFH 92.40 94.60 91.70 93.30

ABFRL 152.00 163.30 150.50 158.90LICHSGFIN 448.00 457.65 445.70 452.40GODREJPROP 1400.00 1423.80 1310.50 1341.20JINDALSTEL 285.50 292.50 282.25 288.55UPL 557.90 568.40 544.25 548.05INDIGO 1624.00 1681.00 1611.90 1670.80ASTRAL 1993.00 2085.00 1908.00 2063.20SWSOLAR 251.00 257.00 248.60 250.55GMRINFRA 26.30 27.50 26.10 26.75PEL 1506.20 1540.50 1501.25 1522.40WHIRLPOOL 2577.50 2737.10 2435.00 2447.70CONCOR 464.40 481.75 460.95 478.45AUROPHARMA 916.05 935.55 912.10 926.50HINDPETRO* 226.50 231.70 225.40 229.45TATAMTRDVR 132.85 135.15 129.60 130.90NATIONALUM 50.95 52.25 50.55 51.65LUPIN 1046.00 1061.00 1032.75 1051.00BSOFT 262.50 276.75 261.10 269.35BLISSGVS 190.00 191.70 186.70 187.90DEEPAKNI 1060.00 1060.05 1020.00 1027.60HAVELLS 1126.50 1138.20 1100.80 1134.70PFC 126.00 127.35 124.90 126.90SIEMENS 1791.00 1877.00 1791.00 1849.45INDUSTOWER 250.00 256.50 248.90 253.85TRIDENT 14.15 14.80 13.99 14.51CUMMINSIND 753.00 791.00 753.00 785.80TATACONSUM 586.45 589.90 577.85 588.00PGHH 12000.00 12595.00 11846.00 12288.95MINDAIND 481.25 519.70 481.25 505.40ICICIPRULI 477.10 488.00 472.60 476.50GRANULES 345.00 355.75 343.85 347.35IPCALAB 2051.00 2057.65 1962.35 2000.65EXIDEIND 204.00 209.00 201.50 203.40QUESS 611.00 649.95 606.80 634.80BATAINDIA 1584.55 1595.00 1566.10 1590.40RECLTD 148.40 152.75 147.10 152.15LTI 4300.05 4380.00 4199.65 4300.10UNIONBANK 33.85 34.90 33.20 34.55FSL 93.00 99.60 93.00 97.40HAL 973.00 978.35 964.05 976.15VOLTAS 999.45 1022.00 998.85 1003.10DIXON 15988.00 16268.85 15580.10 16086.55FINOLEXIND 657.00 694.15 647.00 673.00SPARC 189.70 192.55 189.50 189.90RADICO 538.00 541.65 522.10 524.60FRETAIL 74.20 74.80 74.20 74.20BEML 939.90 948.80 932.00 940.90INDIACEM 166.00 175.85 163.70 172.60GLENMARK 503.00 509.00 499.05 501.45TORNTPOWER 329.80 329.80 320.25 321.20UJJIVANSFB 34.10 36.20 34.00 35.80BIRLACORPN 815.40 830.00 808.05 821.00ALKYLAMINE 5030.00 5098.95 4956.60 5002.85ICICIGI 1439.15 1480.00 1410.00 1466.85ACC 1732.00 1760.65 1717.00 1749.50MINDTREE 1710.00 1729.60 1699.40 1714.15SBILIFE 878.00 878.00 859.05 864.65ADANITRANS 513.00 525.10 504.00 516.75RAYMOND 338.00 350.75 338.00 343.00NAUKRI 4838.95 4860.00 4719.30 4788.05ADANIPOWER 52.95 54.85 52.75 53.20MCX 1590.00 1604.70 1575.10 1582.50TASTYBIT 12100.00 13333.00 12100.00 13061.30BOSCHLTD 16500.10 16823.35 16293.60 16333.00PERSISTENT 1663.65 1738.75 1629.40 1690.35FCONSUMER 7.80 8.00 7.80 7.86SEQUENT 237.00 245.00 226.85 232.80GSPL 201.60 205.55 200.15 205.00SOUTHBANK 8.48 8.88 8.42 8.60HAWKINCOOK 5929.80 5950.00 5660.00 5729.25EMAMILTD 478.00 511.00 478.00 502.20INDHOTEL 121.90 122.95 119.15 120.00BHARATFORG 634.00 642.05 625.35 629.05PHILIPCARB 197.15 205.40 195.15 203.65IBREALEST 81.90 85.85 80.60 83.95HINDCOPPER 69.15 69.15 67.75 69.15HFCL 28.20 28.40 26.30 26.45NOCIL 146.60 154.55 146.20 151.50LEMONTREE 41.75 43.90 41.20 42.45IDBI 29.90 31.60 29.70 30.65ABB 1445.05 1533.90 1444.80 1517.50KALPATPOWR 350.00 364.75 346.65 362.90GNFC 223.00 233.00 222.10 230.85RAMCOCEM 874.60 878.55 854.00 867.50PAGEIND 29066.55 29973.20 29038.00 29591.20SBICARD 999.00 999.00 982.90 988.85CROMPTON 422.50 422.70 401.35 413.25BERGEPAINT 734.65 736.00 722.00 733.65AMARAJABAT 955.95 971.90 954.05 959.75RCF 55.10 56.65 54.85 55.75KAJARIACER 848.05 908.95 848.05 896.35SRF 5680.00 5739.90 5565.85 5708.55ABBOTINDIA 14530.00 14544.20 14385.40 14486.95MFSL 710.00 723.40 696.00 719.95UJJIVAN 259.05 259.30 250.00 254.20APOLLOHOSP 2735.00 2746.40 2688.00 2731.35HINDZINC 289.90 297.85 288.35 294.65JKCEMENT 2296.00 2318.00 2232.00 2275.60COLPAL 1609.35 1627.80 1593.05 1620.10CYIENT 630.00 665.00 626.20 657.10PIDILITIND 1770.00 1770.90 1732.25 1759.75RAIN 130.60 136.90 130.60 133.65HEG 1035.00 1071.00 1032.00 1058.65BLUEDART 4220.00 4396.00 4210.55 4366.35LALPATHLAB 2388.00 2510.00 2387.95 2478.70HDFCAMC 3029.70 3067.25 3004.40 3016.70NBCC 32.35 33.30 31.90 32.65J&KBANK 30.50 30.85 29.25 30.85

LTTS 2584.00 2644.40 2500.00 2615.85GODREJCP 746.55 771.35 746.45 768.65PETRONET 248.20 253.80 248.00 250.30TATACOMM 996.00 1059.00 996.00 1051.75GDL 160.20 171.85 152.95 163.80POLYCAB 1299.65 1328.90 1284.40 1320.80WOCKPHARMA 515.00 526.50 512.50 517.00TEAMLEASE 2785.40 3192.00 2785.40 3131.05FORCEMOT 1413.00 1477.25 1413.00 1435.70TV18BRDCST 29.05 31.50 28.80 30.65GSFC 82.00 85.25 79.50 82.35ABCAPITAL 89.90 91.40 87.70 90.40DBL 490.10 496.95 475.00 479.85VENKYS 1688.00 1700.00 1610.00 1652.95IEX 253.90 258.50 251.55 257.20IGL 545.60 551.80 539.75 545.20LAURUSLABS 342.90 347.95 341.30 346.80ASHOKA 108.00 109.85 101.50 102.50CGCL 367.00 368.60 363.00 363.60RVNL 29.55 31.45 29.55 31.10PNCINFRA 228.90 232.70 219.00 229.65KSCL 551.25 571.40 551.25 560.85ALOKTEXT 20.95 21.20 20.90 21.00AUBANK 962.85 978.35 942.05 964.20DCBBANK 116.15 117.85 113.30 116.00MGL 1083.75 1105.00 1082.20 1101.00COROMANDEL 789.90 795.25 764.00 768.15TORNTPHARM 2679.00 2725.00 2650.00 2682.55ORIENTELEC 276.50 295.95 276.30 282.90MARICO 415.70 418.00 412.70 414.70METROPOLIS 2234.00 2268.50 2156.20 2227.35VGUARD 242.40 253.75 238.95 252.25TATAMETALI 765.50 794.40 750.00 774.00ISEC 426.90 430.25 407.00 414.65ATGL 399.00 399.95 386.10 388.35KNRCON 224.70 235.00 220.55 227.20IIFL 210.00 211.70 196.50 198.30JSWENERGY 79.00 79.00 71.65 72.20SYNGENE 580.00 584.00 566.65 569.65CASTROLIND 129.30 132.15 128.95 130.60VBL 900.00 909.00 881.00 903.55CENTURYTEX 461.35 463.95 451.10 454.85SPICEJET 85.15 88.10 85.05 87.20MIDHANI 191.30 196.30 189.75 194.85NHPC 23.65 24.25 23.40 24.10KPITTECH 135.60 137.80 135.55 136.40MEGH 84.20 86.70 84.20 85.80KTKBANK 64.95 66.50 63.40 65.90GMDCLTD 58.15 61.75 57.50 60.05

RAJESHEXPO 482.00 482.00 477.55 478.40IOB 11.18 11.91 11.10 11.80ENGINERSIN 74.40 75.90 73.85 74.60WELSPUNIND 73.00 74.90 71.50 72.60JINDALSAW 76.85 78.70 76.65 77.60CAPPL 490.50 494.80 475.00 481.85CUB 182.00 182.00 174.45 175.75MAHABANK 15.40 16.18 15.36 16.05HSCL 45.70 48.30 45.70 47.80AVANTI 526.95 530.30 508.00 512.95SUNDRMFAST 601.05 624.95 596.00 604.05AARTIIND 1194.00 1211.75 1186.00 1195.80DABUR 529.40 529.75 524.55 526.15IDFC 44.00 44.80 43.30 43.95COFORGE 2589.00 2589.00 2510.45 2547.00UBL 1308.00 1308.00 1275.30 1289.05GODFRYPHLP 942.00 971.45 939.30 959.75SONATSOFTW 388.80 407.45 387.45 402.40EIHOTEL 95.80 95.80 92.60 93.05GRAPHITE 331.00 337.00 329.00 331.60NATCOPHARM 897.00 910.00 890.90 899.75VAKRANGEE 54.80 55.15 53.15 53.70FORTIS 170.00 171.95 167.55 171.30AFFLE 3820.00 3824.00 3769.30 3793.85SKFINDIA 1875.75 2060.60 1875.75 1998.65JUSTDIAL 630.00 635.40 620.35 623.10GUJGAS 373.00 385.95 371.50 380.80FDC 294.80 310.00 294.80 304.95JKPAPER 129.35 135.60 129.05 134.90DEEPAKFERT 169.40 172.75 166.00 167.35PFIZER 4534.00 4590.00 4495.00 4500.10TANLA 703.00 718.90 698.55 704.10MPHASIS 1624.00 1624.00 1578.40 1589.70SUPREMEIND 1920.00 1989.95 1920.00 1974.80BAYERCROP 5183.05 5450.00 5183.05 5407.85IOLCP 714.00 719.35 701.25 705.10PGHL 7081.00 7350.00 7021.50 7091.45

PTC 64.00 65.00 62.95 63.95SUVENPHAR 482.00 502.00 481.80 494.50APLLTD 960.00 969.15 943.00 945.85INOXLEISUR 322.15 336.55 322.15 329.85CARERATING 525.00 532.40 501.00 526.10VINATIORGA 1214.00 1248.00 1214.00 1244.05SJVN 25.50 26.60 25.45 26.35SFL 2137.85 2280.00 2021.15 2036.25DELTACORP 156.00 156.10 153.80 154.30NAVINFLUOR 2557.00 2557.75 2498.00 2510.50AJANTPHARM 1821.90 1845.40 1800.50 1811.45GODREJIND 459.00 466.00 455.00 459.65UCOBANK 13.25 13.45 13.16 13.41BALRAMCHIN 158.00 163.35 158.00 161.75EPL 222.30 224.80 218.00 219.00ASTRAZEN 3733.00 3856.05 3733.00 3848.25JYOTHYLAB 156.30 161.15 156.20 157.60CENTRALBK 14.09 14.45 14.05 14.40JKLAKSHMI 360.00 361.00 353.50 357.60EQUITAS 80.50 81.90 78.00 81.55SHRIRAMCIT 1450.00 1450.00 1380.00 1414.45VIPIND 359.55 360.00 350.75 356.10ESABINDIA 1999.00 2090.50 1996.25 2075.45AIAENG 1972.00 2073.95 1972.00 2040.05SOBHA 477.70 477.70 445.10 462.90BOMDYEING 75.60 77.75 75.60 76.80SWANENERGY 132.25 133.70 127.15 132.60CENTURYPLY 265.35 278.60 265.35 271.00AARTIDRUGS 690.00 693.50 684.85 689.65SANOFI 7875.00 7927.70 7774.95 7802.65SHILPAMED 446.00 455.35 439.70 441.65SUNTECK 357.90 360.55 346.10 349.05MMTC 29.35 29.80 29.20 29.35ATUL 6520.00 6551.70 6413.45 6448.50JMFINANCIL 86.10 87.65 85.40 86.90MOTILALOFS 631.00 640.00 628.85 636.75HEIDELBERG 235.05 240.60 235.05 238.55LAXMIMACH 5968.95 6040.00 5820.10 5982.45OIL 115.20 118.45 114.40 118.15TVSSRICHAK 2076.75 2232.70 2076.75 2154.15TRENT 680.80 680.80 662.10 668.85KRBL 212.35 212.60 206.75 207.45KANSAINER 579.00 590.95 578.40 585.75NAM-INDIA 331.15 334.50 328.85 330.45KEC 400.00 419.55 398.00 413.85THYROCARE 897.70 933.35 897.70 919.65CARBORUNIV 430.00 454.60 429.25 448.75JAMNAAUTO 68.30 69.30 67.40 68.00STLTECH 178.00 179.55 175.60 176.40SHK 124.50 128.25 124.35 126.60TATACOFFEE 113.50 114.35 112.35 113.70GEPIL 288.20 294.25 283.20 288.60MINDACORP 98.00 100.90 96.00 99.55DCMSHRIRAM 448.00 458.00 448.00 452.05DALBHARAT 1244.90 1274.30 1244.90 1265.25AMBER 2715.00 2746.50 2679.50 2709.95WELCORP 126.90 126.90 124.50 125.45CANFINHOME 492.00 507.70 490.80 504.85JSL 77.80 78.80 76.85 78.20CESC 637.20 637.20 614.80 615.80HONAUT 42169.60 42840.00 42169.60 42556.70GALAXYSURF 2210.00 2250.00 2188.50 2231.30JAICORPLTD 87.35 93.40 87.35 91.55ECLERX 998.90 1036.00 998.90 1028.40BLUESTARCO 797.00 810.00 795.85 801.50BALMLAWRIE 122.05 123.80 120.00 120.55SOLARA 1550.00 1550.00 1417.55 1422.10SUPRAJIT 209.80 220.00 209.00 214.85CHENNPETRO 94.40 97.05 93.45 95.70PRSMJOHNSN 101.90 103.70 99.30 102.85ALKEM 2941.25 2998.70 2941.25 2975.90SCHNEIDER 101.45 104.75 101.20 101.55OBEROIRLTY 559.25 576.90 553.25 574.00IRB 108.00 111.40 108.00 108.80UFLEX 352.75 359.20 351.00 351.70BAJAJHLDNG 3391.10 3425.00 3372.55 3420.45VARROC 443.20 461.15 436.80 441.05SUDARSCHEM 519.00 523.00 498.00 501.80RALLIS 274.00 277.30 268.50 269.25VRLLOG 200.20 202.75 197.00 199.95PNBHOUSING 353.35 366.75 353.35 361.15MRPL 34.75 36.35 34.50 36.15GLAXO 1498.90 1498.90 1449.55 1455.75DISHTV 12.45 12.64 12.34 12.42OFSS 3315.00 3342.50 3288.30 3303.25ZYDUSWELL 1880.00 1900.80 1876.00 1887.70GODREJAGRO 532.65 538.45 529.00 531.80ORIENTCEM 92.00 95.75 92.00 94.65BBTC 1237.50 1282.40 1237.50 1268.95HUDCO 43.40 44.30 43.00 43.50NETWORK18 37.10 38.25 36.75 37.50DCAL 127.95 129.85 126.05 126.90BASF 1606.20 1640.00 1606.20 1630.95INDOCO 325.00 325.00 304.65 320.90KEI 480.00 492.00 479.05 482.10PRESTIGE 289.05 290.85 282.05 282.60NBVENTURES 60.95 62.30 60.85 61.30GREAVESCOT 89.95 90.50 88.55 89.25IFBIND 1419.00 1420.20 1385.10 1402.65NESCO 623.05 634.50 609.00 611.75ERIS 594.00 600.40 583.60 585.35VAIBHAVGBL 2778.45 2788.85 2689.00 2702.50EDELWEISS 70.55 70.55 68.10 68.603MINDIA 21245.30 21289.95 20799.00 21177.05RELAXO 836.00 843.00 835.00 840.10CSBBANK 227.45 229.10 224.00 226.60MHRIL 243.20 247.00 232.50 236.65SCI 86.55 88.20 86.55 87.55

IRCON 85.00 86.75 85.00 86.25RITES 265.75 265.75 259.20 260.40NIACL 133.20 140.40 133.10 138.55COCHINSHIP 356.65 357.80 349.50 350.00SCHAEFFLER 4510.00 4638.35 4492.75 4606.25EIDPARRY 342.00 347.55 338.85 339.90POWERINDIA 1310.00 1310.00 1250.60 1276.15NLCINDIA 54.00 55.60 54.00 55.20GMM 3635.05 3670.60 3605.00 3609.70JSLHISAR 128.00 131.15 126.65 128.75GRINDWELL 800.00 810.00 781.00 787.45TIINDIA 864.90 864.90 805.00 825.30CREDITACC 727.00 737.35 720.00 732.95NH 476.00 496.45 468.00 488.00AAVAS 1969.95 1998.60 1902.60 1990.90GPPL 94.55 96.85 93.80 95.35NILKAMAL 1523.90 1569.80 1520.00 1530.35CERA 3548.40 3592.95 3464.15 3515.40VMART 2484.15 2549.80 2438.75 2493.30MOIL 141.20 145.50 141.20 142.25IFCI 9.00 9.05 8.95 8.98FINCABLES 370.00 376.30 369.65 370.95SPANDANA 766.95 766.95 738.20 749.90JBCHEPHARM 996.10 1012.90 995.95 999.95APLAPOLLO 946.00 949.95 926.00 928.85STARCEMENT 102.30 102.90 100.50 100.95RATNAMANI 1555.05 1642.75 1555.05 1636.00AEGISLOG 293.00 296.15 288.85 294.75LUXIND 1655.00 1676.95 1651.00 1661.25GESHIP 258.20 265.00 258.00 261.75BDL 335.00 339.00 333.85 336.90MAHLIFE 416.90 422.75 405.20 407.30LAOPALA 216.00 222.00 214.00 214.95ITDC 298.85 311.90 298.85 302.30GICRE 138.25 141.55 137.40 140.40MAHSCOOTER 3801.45 3864.85 3794.00 3850.70ITI 127.00 129.00 126.50 126.70JCHAC 2570.35 2641.95 2558.35 2592.85CCL 253.35 255.80 250.60 251.95ADVENZYMES 339.00 341.70 333.50 334.20GILLETTE 5708.50 5820.00 5708.50 5789.75SHOPERSTOP 207.15 209.05 204.00 204.85WESTLIFE 450.30 471.55 446.85 464.75DBCORP 92.70 94.85 91.25 92.00PHOENIXLTD 821.00 835.00 801.10 809.65DHANUKA 747.70 760.00 742.00 745.80MAHLOG 465.75 489.00 465.75 485.00GRSE 186.40 191.00 185.50 189.00KPRMILL 939.90 945.55 920.00 926.15LINDEINDIA 968.70 990.00 956.00 981.75ASTERDM 154.00 155.60 152.00 153.10GUJALKALI 342.00 342.00 334.00 336.25REDINGTON 154.00 155.30 151.70 152.35CRISIL 1927.00 1937.75 1911.50 1922.95POLYMED 508.15 522.00 508.15 520.55JTEKTINDIA 92.30 93.15 89.60 90.25GHCL 207.65 216.40 207.65 212.15FINEORG 2434.90 2441.80 2405.45 2426.30TATAINVEST 1110.00 1112.60 1095.55 1103.00CHALET 180.00 180.00 172.15 172.75SYMPHONY 1020.35 1021.90 1005.05 1008.35ALLCARGO 131.00 131.00 129.95 130.10INDOSTAR 355.75 365.00 355.05 360.80ORIENTREF 231.80 233.15 225.65 231.40HATHWAY 30.30 31.35 30.30 30.60ZENSARTECH 235.15 239.40 234.60 236.95TIMKEN 1280.00 1288.95 1260.60 1274.05HERITGFOOD 281.55 283.50 277.00 281.35TCIEXP 969.00 975.95 935.00 959.10GARFIBRES 2274.00 2294.95 2229.35 2243.10VTL 1081.45 1085.95 1061.50 1065.85OMAXE 76.00 77.75 73.60 75.50JAGRAN 43.10 44.20 42.75 43.70AKZOINDIA 2286.10 2316.45 2283.25 2291.75BRIGADE 256.65 268.95 256.20 263.75NAVNETEDUL 82.05 83.15 81.45 82.30MAHSEAMLES 292.00 297.00 291.45 293.95RESPONIND 186.90 190.00 181.00 188.10TVTODAY 249.45 254.25 246.80 250.85TCNSBRANDS 397.85 407.00 395.85 398.15TIMETECHNO 52.10 53.80 51.65 53.05KSB 654.00 661.70 648.00 654.95VSTIND 3646.95 3651.15 3601.60 3617.50MAHINDCIE 167.30 167.35 162.25 164.95IIFLWAM 1067.10 1071.95 1059.95 1070.15SOLARINDS 1228.75 1231.45 1206.55 1219.60CHOLAHLDNG 543.95 563.95 543.65 558.35WABCOINDIA 5678.00 5696.30 5650.15 5664.90GULFOILLUB 724.00 724.00 683.25 690.00TRITURBINE 89.05 91.00 89.05 90.85MASFIN 902.00 916.30 894.05 912.85FLUOROCHEM 588.25 592.75 584.75 590.45

��

SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY 50 14789.05 14913.70 14714.75 14895.65 105.70SBIN 334.40 358.00 331.10 357.95 22.00ITC 216.10 231.40 216.00 230.05 13.30BAJFINANCE 5214.00 5543.00 5206.05 5505.00 259.90SHREECEM 25990.00 27329.25 25607.60 27250.00 1255.60ONGC 94.25 98.60 94.00 97.80 4.45COALINDIA 137.90 144.25 136.80 143.30 6.05M&M 835.00 893.55 835.00 868.00 34.80KOTAKBANK 1839.00 1915.00 1831.00 1912.00 59.80NTPC 97.30 100.20 97.00 99.15 2.20HINDALCO 259.95 267.40 258.95 262.65 5.40ULTRACEMCO 6093.00 6210.00 6041.55 6199.00 124.30JSWSTEEL 392.90 402.00 390.45 400.90 8.00IOC 102.80 104.35 102.50 103.80 1.95HEROMOTOCO 3441.00 3515.00 3404.10 3442.00 61.20BAJAJFINSV 9510.00 9760.00 9470.50 9708.00 171.95EICHERMOT 2900.90 2978.00 2881.00 2965.00 48.10BRITANNIA 3521.95 3608.05 3511.05 3572.00 55.50ADANIPORTS 557.90 573.40 554.05 568.70 8.60AXISBANK 730.00 745.50 720.60 743.60 9.80BPCL 413.60 422.50 410.55 418.05 3.15TATASTEEL 654.00 663.50 638.60 658.00 4.85ICICIBANK 618.80 631.65 609.00 626.35 4.00HINDUNILVR 2239.00 2259.00 2226.20 2247.00 14.15MARUTI 7600.00 7765.00 7529.05 7635.25 46.05SUNPHARMA 632.50 641.00 626.25 632.95 3.75GAIL 131.00 135.25 130.25 130.95 0.50DRREDDY 4693.00 4706.00 4622.10 4662.20 12.65HDFC 2740.40 2742.00 2659.00 2707.00 3.45BAJAJ-AUTO 4236.35 4361.40 4200.00 4234.80 -1.55HDFCBANK 1566.00 1588.00 1543.45 1574.00 -0.80LT 1525.00 1550.00 1510.00 1526.00 -2.55SBILIFE 866.15 870.70 859.00 864.50 -1.65DIVISLAB 3713.95 3724.75 3651.00 3671.80 -8.45POWERGRID 206.50 207.65 204.20 206.00 -0.50HCLTECH 964.70 970.45 950.15 957.00 -2.90GRASIM 1180.00 1217.45 1171.05 1187.00 -3.85TCS 3216.05 3237.85 3176.00 3185.50 -14.55RELIANCE 1924.00 1940.00 1905.00 1921.50 -9.15INFY 1285.00 1293.40 1272.05 1278.50 -6.15NESTLEIND 17199.90 17226.95 17052.45 17078.00 -88.40WIPRO 433.50 436.90 428.25 430.40 -3.10TITAN 1530.00 1540.00 1488.10 1511.95 -13.20HDFCLIFE 685.25 690.65 678.15 682.00 -7.20TECHM 987.95 988.00 964.30 968.60 -12.85TATAMOTORS 329.00 334.50 322.45 326.10 -4.90BHARTIARTL 614.90 623.00 595.65 599.80 -9.05INDUSINDBK 1034.90 1042.00 1016.00 1031.95 -16.60CIPLA 847.55 856.50 832.60 835.25 -14.00UPL 558.70 568.55 544.30 548.90 -9.35ASIANPAINT 2456.00 2456.00 2398.00 2406.00 -47.65

SE 500B

��

SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY NEXT 50 33606.10 34064.70 33477.75 34023.95 537.85PGHH 12319.85 12600.00 11800.00 12268.00 908.15BANKBARODA 77.10 83.10 76.10 81.80 4.70NMDC 110.90 117.40 110.20 117.05 6.50DLF 287.00 312.30 285.75 304.90 14.95PNB 38.50 41.00 38.00 40.30 1.95ADANIGREEN 1047.95 1078.00 1035.00 1078.00 51.30CONCOR 464.40 481.80 460.40 481.55 17.10INDIGO 1615.00 1680.00 1605.55 1679.00 57.30SIEMENS 1795.10 1878.00 1790.10 1851.85 56.85ICICIGI 1449.00 1481.85 1410.00 1480.65 44.25DMART 2891.35 2975.00 2871.00 2961.00 84.00GODREJCP 745.80 771.00 745.25 768.00 21.10INDUSTOWER 250.50 256.50 249.00 254.00 5.90ADANITRANS 505.90 525.00 503.15 516.00 11.30MCDOWELL-N 583.40 595.00 578.55 590.95 12.25BIOCON 402.00 410.90 399.75 409.50 8.30GICRE 138.35 142.00 137.40 140.50 2.75HINDPETRO 225.85 231.75 225.60 229.75 4.50HAVELLS 1113.00 1137.85 1100.10 1132.90 20.15AMBUJACEM 268.00 275.00 266.15 272.95 4.00PFC 125.50 127.40 124.95 126.80 1.85TATACONSUM 585.00 590.00 577.55 588.60 8.45ACC 1734.50 1761.40 1716.35 1752.15 24.50MUTHOOTFIN 1170.00 1195.90 1162.30 1184.75 16.20LUPIN 1040.50 1061.70 1032.00 1053.00 14.15ALKEM 2956.25 2998.00 2940.15 2980.00 38.30BANDHANBNK 338.00 352.00 335.15 347.00 4.15BAJAJHLDNG 3387.00 3430.00 3368.05 3425.95 37.40COLPAL 1606.10 1626.90 1592.55 1626.70 17.60PETRONET 248.00 254.00 248.00 250.40 2.55BERGEPAINT 730.70 736.00 722.00 736.00 7.05HINDZINC 289.40 298.00 288.25 292.00 2.80AUROPHARMA 921.80 935.80 912.20 928.00 8.00PIDILITIND 1748.05 1771.50 1731.00 1752.10 12.70PEL 1523.00 1540.95 1501.00 1523.10 7.80CADILAHC 482.00 482.40 475.25 479.00 2.10DABUR 524.75 529.90 524.05 526.90 2.15ABBOTINDIA 14575.00 14586.90 14360.00 14480.00 47.90IGL 544.80 551.95 539.00 547.00 1.20NAUKRI 4790.00 4864.20 4717.00 4816.95 6.90TORNTPHARM 2700.00 2726.00 2647.60 2679.10 2.05HDFCAMC 3025.00 3069.00 3002.60 3025.00 -0.20LTI 4317.00 4379.95 4252.15 4297.00 -8.50MOTHERSUMI 158.60 162.00 157.10 158.00 -0.40UBL 1292.80 1300.00 1275.35 1289.25 -3.55MARICO 415.75 418.40 412.55 413.70 -2.00OFSS 3321.75 3344.00 3281.00 3285.00 -20.15ICICIPRULI 482.90 488.20 472.55 475.60 -2.90SBICARD 998.45 998.45 982.65 984.00 -11.45BOSCHLTD 16525.00 16830.05 16257.20 16355.10 -195.95

�� <;�<

Asian shares fell butEuropean benchmarks

edged higher Thursday as cau-tion set in over company earn-ings reports, recent choppytrading in technology stocksand prospects for more eco-nomic stimulus for a world bat-tling a pandemic.

France’s CAC 40 rose0.5per cent to 5,591.22 andGermany’s DAX added 0.5percent to 14,004.17. Britain’sFTSE 100 rose 0.6% to

6,548.01. U.S. Shares were set todrift higher with Dow futuresinching up less than 0.1% to30,638.5. S&P 500 futureswere also up by nearly 0.1%, at3,826.62. Also on market play-ers’ minds is the global vaccinerollout, which is becomingmore organised in the U.S., buthas yet to play out in much ofAsia, except for China, wherethe pandemic started. Japan’sNikkei 225 slipped 1.1per centto finish at 28,341.95, whileSouth Korea’s Kospi dropped1.4per cent to 3,087.55.

�� /0$�&01'2

Shares of State Bank of India(SBI) on Thursday jumped

over 6 per cent after the com-pany’s asset quality improvedsubstantially in Decemberquarter. The stock rose 5.73 percent to close at Rs 355.10 onBSE. During the day, it zoomed

6.59 per cent to its 52-weekhigh of Rs 358.

On NSE, it gained 6.55 percent to settle at Rs 357.95.Itsmarket valuation gained Rs17,179.96 crore to Rs3,16,912.96 crore on BSE. Onthe traded volume front, 65.26lakh shares were traded on BSEand over 14.52 crore on NSE.

�� -�-*�2

Equity indices defied gravi-ty for the fourth straight

session to close at fresh lifetimehighs on Thursday as FMCGand banking counters sawrobust demand amid encour-aging quarterly earnings.

Participants shrugged offweak Asian cues and keptaccumulating stocks ahead ofRBI’s policy decision on Friday,traders said.

After touching an all-timehigh of 50,687.51 during theday, the 30-share BSE Sensexended 358.54 points or 0.71 percent at its new closing record of50,614.29. Similarly, the broad-er NSE Nifty finished 105.70points or 0.71 per cent higherat its closing peak of 14,895.65.It touched an all-time high of14,913.70 during the session.

ITC was the top gainer inthe Sensex pack, soaring 6.11%, followed by SBI, BajajFinance, ONGC, M&M, KotakBank, Bajaj Finserv, NTPC andUltraTech Cement.

SBI climbed 5.73%after thecountry’s largest lender posted

a standalone net profit of Rs5,196.22 crore for theDecember quarter, down 7 %year-on-year but above streetestimates. The bank’s assetquality improved substantiallyas the gross NPA ratio fell to4.77 per cent from 6.94% ear-lier. The laggards includedAsian Paints, IndusInd Bank,Bharti Airtel, Tech Mahindra,

Titan and Infosys, shedding upto 2.08%. “Domestic equitiesdefied weak cues of Asian mar-kets and extended gains for thefourth consecutive day as grow-ing optimism about prospectsof Indian economy post theannouncement of bold Budgetcontinued to attract investors,”said Binod Modi, HeadStrategy at Reliance Securities.

�� /0$�&01'2

Niti Aayog will prepare thenext list of central public

sector companies for disin-vestment in the next few weeks,its Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumarsaid on Thursday andexpressed hope that the pro-posed asset reconstruction andmanagement companies toaddress banks’ bad loan woeswill do a good job like the UTI.

Days after FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharamanannounced the Union Budgetfor 2021-22 laying out variousmeasures (including disinvest-ment proposals) to bolster thepandemic-hit economy, Kumaralso emphasised that the Modigovernment has shown con-sistent commitment for thewelfare of farmers and for theimprovement of the agriculturesector.

“Now the process has

begun... We will completepreparation of the next list inthe next few weeks, we have gotthe marching order,” Kumarsaid about the list of public sec-tor companies for the nextround of stake sales.

To fast track the disin-vestment process, Sitharaman,in her Budget speech onMonday, said Niti Aayog wouldwork out on the next list of cen-tral public sector companiesthat would be taken up forstrategic disinvestment.

The government thinktank has already given fivedifferent sets of recommenda-tions on disinvestment.

On the government’s pro-posal to set up an asset recon-struction company and an assetmanagement company to cleanup non-performing assets inthe banking sector, Kumar saidthat was necessary to get thebanks to start lending again as

they were mired in so-calledtwin balance sheet problem.“Otherwise, it would havetaken very long to clean up thebank balance sheet, or taken ahuge amount of capital forgetting it done,” he told PTI,adding that the alternative wasto try and take these non-per-forming loans out of banks’balance sheets.

“Hopefully, (proposed)asset reconstruction companyand asset management com-pany will do the same good jobthat the UTI (Unit Trust ofIndia) did at one point oftime.

“And help us to restart theprocess of greater credit flowsfrom the banking sector to thereal sector of the economy,” hetold PTI in an interview.

UTI was established in1963 by an Act of Parliamentand was regulated by theReserve Bank of India.

&"2�� $��6��

��,(�1��$��"�

New Delhi: The market cap-italisation of BSE-listed com-panies on Thursday crossedthe historic Rs 200 lakh croremark for the first time, dri-ven by a continuous rally inthe broader market.

Riding high on the bull-ish investor sentiment, themarket capitalisation of BSE-listed companies reached arecord Rs 2,00,47,191.31crore at close of trade.

New Delhi:Gold in thenational capital on Thursdaydeclined Rs 322 to Rs 47,135per 10 gram, recording fall forthe fourth consecutive day,with drop in global preciousmetal prices and rupee appre-ciation, according to HDFCSecurities. In the previoustrade, it had closed at Rs47,457 per 10 gram.Silver alsodeclined Rs 972 to Rs 67,170per kg, from Rs 68,142 per kgin the previous trade.

*�0�� IAA�1��

2��!��!��!��B��.''

.��(��#��%�

�� *�� .�� J�� #�$�� "��$�% &��'� � ��(�) ($�#%� *�& +!, �$��% �� /0$�&01'2

Bharti Airtel - which recent-ly declared that its net-

work is 5G-ready - does notanticipate any material changein its capital expenditure pro-file with the advent of fifth-gen-eration services, its CEO GopalVittal said on Thursday.

Addressing an investor call

after announcing a strong Q3performance, Vittal also saidthat the company will shutdown its copper infrastruc-ture in a year or so, and onlyhave fibre to the home.

“We are...In the process ofrapidly upgrading our legacycopper assets completely toFibre,” he said, terming it a“game-changing move”.

Outlining the company’sspectrum strategy, Vittal saidBharti Airtel is keen on a fullfootprint of sub-GHz spec-trum across the country, evenas it looks to balance a combi-nation of capacity andrenewals.

“There are many cir-cles...Where we don’t have a subGHz spectrum,so we would

love to have that. There aresome renewals coming up on1800 band, there is also somecapacity spectrum available on2300 band where we alreadygot deployed equipment...Acombination of capacity orrenewal we will look and bal-ance it, and make sure weoptimise what we do,” Vittalsaid. His comments came at a

time when the governmenthas set the ball rolling for thespectrum auction, in whichradio waves valued at Rs 3.92lakh crore will be put on theblock.

The auction in seven spec-trum bands for mobile services- 700, 800, 900, 1800, 2100,2300 and 2500 MHz bands - isscheduled to start from March

1. On tariff hikes, the Airtel tophoncho declined to commenton specific timing when rateswould go up, saying it is a com-petitive issue and based onmarket dynamics.

“I believe, we will be readyto take up tariffs if and whenany player actually moves tar-iffs, given that we are already ata premium,” he said.

=�� : ��

�� /0$�&01'2

Petrol and diesel prices on Thursday climbed to fresh highsin the country as rates were hiked by the most in recent times,

even as fuel retailers said the government can cut taxes to easeconsumer burden.

Petrol and diesel price was hiked by 35 paise per litre eachafter a gap of a week, according to price notification of state-owned fuel retailers. The increase took petrol prices to a freshhigh of Rs 86.65 a litre in Delhi and to Rs 93.20 in Mumbai.Diesel rates touched Rs 76.83 in Mumbai and an all-time highof Rs 83.67.

*�$%- ..�� !"�#$#%

Moscow: The Kremlin said onThursday that thousands ofarrests at protests against thejailing of Opposition leaderAlexei Navalny were a neces-sary response to the unsanc-tioned rallies and stronglyrebuffed Western criticism.

Asked about the harshtreatment of thousands of

detainees, many of whom spentlong hours on police buses andwere put in overcrowded cells,Russian President VladimirPutin’s spokesman, DmitryPeskov, said that they have tobear responsibility for joiningthe unauthorised protests.

“The situation wasn’t pro-voked by law enforcement, it

was provoked by participants inunsanctioned actions,” Peskovsaid in a call with reporters.

Massive protests eruptedafter Navalny was arrested Jan.17 upon returning from hisfive-month convalescence inGermany from a nerve agentpoisoning, which he hasblamed on the Kremlin. AP

Yangon: Myanmar’s new mil-itary Government blockedaccess to Facebook as resistanceto Monday’s coup surged amidcalls for civil disobedience toprotest the ousting of the elect-ed Government and its leader,Aung San Suu Kyi.

Facebook is especially pop-ular in Myanmar and is howmost people access the internet.

The military seized powershortly before a new session ofParliament was to convene onMonday and detained Suu Kyiand other top politicians.

It said it acted because thegovernment had refused toaddress its complaints that lastNovember’s general election, inwhich Suu Kyi’s party won alandslide victory, was marred bywidespread voting irregularities.The state Election Commissionhas refuted the allegations.

About 70 recently electedlawmakers defied the new mil-itary government on Thursdayby convening a symbolic meet-ing of the Parliament that wasprevented from opening.

They signed their oaths ofoffice at a government guest-

house in the capital, Naypyitaw,where about 400 of them weredetained in the aftermath of thetakeover. They have since beentold they can return to theirhome districts.

The unofficial conveningwas a symbolic gesture to assertthat they, not the military, arethe country’s legitimate law-makers. Some expressed theiranger and their determinationto resist the coup as they left theguesthouse.

“This violates the humanrights of the whole citizenry.

This is not a coup. This is atreason against the govern-ment. I will have to say that thisis state treason,” said Khin SoeSoe Kyi, a member of SuuKyi’s National League forDemocracy party.

The military declared aone-year state of emergencyand put all state powers intothe hands of the junta, includ-ing legislative functions. Itsaid that at the end of thatperiod it will call an electionand turn over power to thewinner. AP

The Hague: The InternationalCriminal Court on Thursdayconvicted a former commanderin the notorious Ugandan rebel group the Lord’sResistance Army of dozens ofwar crimes and crimes againsthumanity ranging from multi-

ple murders to forced mar-riages.

Dominic Ongwen, whowas abducted by the shadowymilitia as a 9-year-old boy andtransformed into a child soldierand later promoted to a seniorleadership rank, will be sen-

tenced at a later date. He facesa maximum punishment oflife imprisonment.

The judgment outlined thehorrors of the LRA’s attacks oncamps for displaced civilians innorthern Uganda in the early2000s, and of Ongwen’s abuse

of women forced to be his“wives”. Presiding JudgeBertram Schmitt said thatOngwen’s history as an abduct-ed child turned fighter could beconsidered at the sentencingstage of the trial. But he madeclear: “This case is about crimes

committed by DominicOngwen as a fully responsibleadult as a commander of theLRA in his mid- to late 20s.”Defence lawyers had argued thatOngwen was a “victim and nota victim and perpetrator at thesame time.” AP

Kathmandu: The normal lifewas paralysed across Nepal onThursday during a nation-wide general strike called by theNepal Communist Party’ssplinter faction-led by PushpaKamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ tooppose the appointment ofoffice bearers and members ofvarious constitutional bodies byPrime Minister KP SharmaOli-led caretaker Government.

Major markets, education-al institutions, offices and fac-tories were shut down whiletransport services were dis-rupted during the strike.

The Government hadmobilised at least 5,000 securitypersonnel in KathmanduValley to prevent any untowardincident. Only few motorbikeswere seen moving around thecapital city since morning.

Meanwhile, police havearrested at least 157 cadres ofthe Prachanda-led faction forenforcing the general strike indifferent parts of the country.Nepal Communist Party’sCentral Committee membersAshta Laxmi Shakya, Himal

Sharma and Amrita Thapawere among those arrested.The protesters vandalised atleast three vehicles inKathmandu for defying thestrike.

“Eighty people have beenarrested from the KathmanduValley, while the remaining 77were arrested from outside theValley,” Senior Superintendentof Police Basanta Kunwar,spokesperson for Nepal Police,

told reporters.Her said that those

involved in vandalism andarson have been arrested.According to the MetropolitanTraffic Police Kathmandu, ataxi was set on fire by demon-strators near Gongabu BusPark early in the morning.Another taxi and a microbuswere vandalised at Swoyambhuand Chabahil areas on the out-skirt of Kathmandu. PTI

Washington: A pro-China net-work of fake and imposteraccounts found a global audi-ence on YouTube, Facebookand Twitter to mock the USresponse to the Covid-19 pan-demic as well as the deadly riotin Washington that left fivedead, new research publishedon Thursday found.

Messages posted by thenetwork, which also praisedChina, reached the socialmedia feeds of governmentofficials, including some inChina and Venezuela whoretweeted posts from the fakeaccounts to millions of theirfollowers.

The international reachmarked new territory for a pro-China social media networkthat has been operating foryears, said Ben Nimmo, head ofinvestigations for Graphika,the social media analysis firmthat monitored the activity.

“For the very first time, it started to get a little bit ofaudience interaction,” Nimmosaid.

The network’s messagingaligns closely with posts andcomments made by Chinese

state officials. But it is unclearwho is behind the fakeaccounts, which posted morethan 1,400 videos in English,Mandarin or Cantonese,Nimmo said.

One of the Twitteraccounts, which had a follow-ing of roughly 2,000 usersmostly from Latin American,also tweeted the messaging inSpanish.

The posts appear to targetsocial media users outside ofAmerica, gaining traction in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Venezuela — places where Chinese and US diplo-matic or financial interestshave increasingly come intoconflict.

“The overall message is:America is doing very badly.China is doing very well,”Nimmo said. “Who do youwant to be like?”

The network used photosof Chinese celebrities on theaccounts and, in one case,hijacked the verified Twitteraccount of a Latin Americansoap opera show to post mes-sages, according to Graphika’sreport. AP

/��=��

! � ��(��

$��6��"��!��"��/��

-� ��!!��!��"��,��#��! � �

;��!��!��"��0� ��!��New York: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has vowed to mobilise theinternational community toput enough pressure onMyanmar to ensure that themilitary coup in the country“fails”, saying it is unfortunatethat the Security Council is not yet united in dealing withthe crisis.

The UN Security Councilmet on Tuesday to discuss the situation in Myanmar after the military seized powerand detained State CounsellorAung San Suu Kyi, President UWin Myint and other top polit-ical leaders in the bloodlesscoup.

Suu Kyi has been chargedwith illegally importing walkie-

talkies, a move by which shecan be detained until February15.

In an interview to TheWashington Post, Guterressaid: “Unfortunately, theSecurity Council was not yetable to have unity in this regardand we will do everything wecan to mobilise all the keyactors of the international com-

munity to put enough pressureon Myanmar to make surethat this coup fails”.

Guterres said that after theNovember elections inMyanmar, which “took placenormally” and after the largeperiod of transition, it is“absolutely unacceptable” toreverse the results of the elec-tion and the will of the people.

The Council is yet to issueany statement on the situationin Myanmar.

An initial draft by Britainput forth for discussion among the 15-member Councilcondemns the coup, calls for the military to respect therule of law and for the imme-diate release of the detainedleaders. AP

�� *35��

��"��"��!��!��! �� 5��

5��0��"��!��"��

�))��2%��Islamabad: Pakistan on Thursday said thatChina’s Sinopharm vaccine is not effective for peo-ple over 60 years of age, a day after it began itscountrywide covi vaccination programme withthe Chinese jabs.

China donated half a million doses ofSinopharm vaccines to Pakistan which sent a

special plane to airlift the jabs on Monday.Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on

Health, Dr Faisal Sultan told the media onThursday that Pakistan’s expert committeewhile considering the preliminary analysis datarecommended the vaccine only for peopleaged 18-60 years.

)��#��#��3 �$��.��

/��2 ��!� .��+-0+�K�$<0��<��(��1��+�

He also said the Arvind Kejriwal-led Governmentin Delhi will keep backing the farmers.

Derek O’Brien (TMC) said the present regime wasa failed Government, be it handling the corona chal-lenge or implementing the farm laws. Terming the deathof a farmer in a tractor overturning incident on January26 under “mysterious circumstances”, he said thePrime Minister and Home Minister were responsiblefor law and order in the national Capital.

In a scathing attack on the Government over its han-dling of the ongoing farmers’ agitation, MV ShreyamsKumar (Loktantrik Janata Dal) said the Governmentremained a mute spectator while democracy was“butchered” just a few kilometers away from theRashtrapati Bhavan.

=<>��2</��=�2/��<>2&1�@2��1�+=0�(<(�1��2</>�1/0+�*10

“Also, amongst healthcare workers, sero prevalencewas highest overall with 25.7 per cent. Statistically it wasnot different between doctors, nurses, field staff andparamedics, but it was highest among doctors and nurs-es with 26.6 per cent as against the administrative staffwhich was 24.9 per cent,” he said.

The survey was conducted in the same 700 villagesor wards in 70 districts in 21 States selected during thefirst and second rounds of the national serosurvey.

On the coronavirus situation in the country, theUnion Health Ministry said India’s Covid-19 cumula-tive positivity rate is 5.42 per cent and declining. Theweekly positivity rate (last week) was recorded at 1.82per cent, it said.

“There are two States that have 70 per cent of theactive cases - Kerala and Maharashtra. 47 districts haven’treported any new cases in the last 3 weeks and 251 dis-tricts have not reported any Covid-related deaths in thelast three weeks,” said Union Health Secretary RajeshBhushan.

�2+�<>0+�=+0��C�<<1;2�K��$00�</�'<$��<�*��;��+-0+�K��2+

“These handles are being used by some organisa-tions and individuals having vested interest and they arespreading disaffection against the government,” said theSpecial CP.

“One document titled toolkit was uploaded throughone of the handles on a particular social media platform.Preliminary enquiry has revealed that the toolkit in ques-tion appears to have been created by a pro-Khalistaniorganisation Poetic Justice Foundation. A section of thedocuments titled prior action delineates the action plan,”he said.

“The action plan was a digital strike through hash-tags on or before January 26. Plan also included phys-ical action on January 26. Watch-out or join farmersmarch into Delhi and back to borders,” said the SpecialCP.

“The unfolding of events past a few days includingthe violence of January 26 has revealed copycat execu-tion of the action plan detailed in the toolkit. Designof the author of the toolkits is to create disharmonyamong various social religious and cultural groups and

encourage disaffection against government,” said theSpecial CP.

“It also aims at waging social, cultural and economicwar against India, the Delhi Police has registered a caseunder section 124-A, 153-A, 153 and 120-8 IPC whichwill be investigated by the Cyber Cell of Delhi Police,”he said.

The Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg ear-lier tweeted, “We stand in solidarity with the#FarmersProtest in India. Thunberg shared the sameCNN story about the protests and the Governmentrestricting internet near protest sites.

On Wednesday evening she in another tweet post-ed a toolkit that sought support for the farmers’ RepublicDay protests. She deleted the tweet soon after. She laterin another tweet said she was sharing an updated toolk-it, which included seven ways to back the agitation. Shealso suggested organising protests near the closest IndianEmbassy on February 13 and 14.

Reacting to comments made by foreign individu-als and entities like Thunberg, the Indian ForeignMinistry issued a statement on Wednesday saying theirtweets as “not accurate”.

The statement said, “The temptation of sensation-alist social media hashtags and comments, especiallywhen resorted to by celebrities and others, is neitheraccurate nor responsible. Before rushing to commenton such matters, we would urge that the facts be ascer-tained and a proper understanding of the issues at handbe undertaken.”

I/&��<>2&��'<��<�'0�1�'��+0$<+;0+��+<-��0*+��+��!7

“While we are doing the immunisation of health careand frontline workers across the country, we are using1,239 private places as vaccination session sites. At thesame time, we are using 5,912 public hospitals as vac-cination sites,” said Union Health Secretary RajeshBhushan.

The Ministry officials also claimed that India hasbecome the fastest country in the world to achieve the4 million milestone in just 18 days.

Citing a survey, he said that over 97 per cent of 5.12lakh people surveyed after being inoculated againstCovid-19 have expressed satisfaction with the vacci-nation process.

The Government is taking feedback from vaccinatedpeople since January 17 through its mobile app CoWINand has got responses from 5,12,128 people out of the37 lakh it had approached for feedback on the immu-nisation process, Bhushan said.

The nationwide inoculation drive was launched onJanuary 16 with over three crore healthcare and front-line workers prioritised to get the jabs initially.

Bhushan said, “On January 17, we started takingfeedback on CoWIN application through the RapidAssessment System (RAS) from those users who havebeen vaccinated.”

“Ninety-seven per cent people are satisfied withoverall vaccination experience. This data is based onfeedback from 5,12,128 people.

Out of 37 lakh people to whom we sent the SMSesand followed up with outbound calls, a size of 5,12,128people actually replied. They have been analysed,” hesaid.

Through the system, beneficiaries were asked fourquestions in a personalised message, a day after Covid-

19 vaccine was administered to them, Bhushan said.“Once the user confirms receiving the vaccination,

questions are asked. If no reply is received, an outboundcall is made to them through the system asking for feed-back,” he said.

Out of the total feedback received, 97.38 per centexpressed satisfaction with the overall process of vac-cination and 97.41 confirmed that proper social dis-tancing was maintained at immunisation sites, Bhushansaid.

He said that 98.43 per cent confirmed that they wereinformed about the process of vaccination and that itwas given properly, 88.95 per cent people said they wereinformed about adverse event following immunisationand 97.13 per cent confirmed that they were asked towait for 30 minutes for monitoring after they were vac-cinated.

The Ministry also informed that only seven Stateshave contributed to 55 per cent of the total vaccinationdrive.

Uttar Pradesh topped the chart with 4,63,793 vac-cinations, followed by Rajasthan with 3,63,521,Maharashtra with 3,54,633, Madhya Pradesh with3,30,722, Karnataka with 3,16,638, Gujarat with 3,11,251and West Bengal with 3,01,091. In total vaccinations,these States share a percentage of 10.4, 8.2, 8, 7.4,7.1,7,and 6.8 respectively.

��211��/&�*��+-0+��/��L0&��'�/*0+=

“We stagreat-p1nd in solidarity with the#FarmersProtest in India,” Thunberg had tweeted onTuesday, tagging a CNN news report headlined: “Indiacuts internet around New Delhi as protesting farmersclash with police.”

Meena Harris, an American lawyer who is the nieceof Kamala Harris, had said, “It’s no coincidence that theworld’s oldest democracy was attacked not even a monthago, and as we speak, the most populous democracy isunder assault.”

“This is related. We ALL should be outraged byIndia’s internet shutdowns and paramilitary violenceagainst farmer protesters,” Meena Harris tweeted.

Earlier, Rihanna had tweeted, “Why aren’t we talk-ing about this?! #FarmersProtest.”

(-�2/��=�+��0��'��+2�'��+��0/�0/�+��010*+��2</�

these decisions will make our farmers self-reliantand make agriculture a profitable business,” he said.

Talking about the Chauri Chaura incident, the primeminister said it was more than a fire at a police station.It was symbolic of the fire that was ignited in the heartsof the freedom fighters.

He also paid tributes to the freedom fighters whosacrificed their lives in Chauri Chaura in Gorakhpur,on February 4, 1922.

It may be mentioned that the UP government hasplanned a year of celebrations till February 4, 2022 inall 75 districts of the state. During the year-long event,essay writing, debate, poetry recitation, painting andother competitions will be organised in schools. In addi-tion, exhibitions, book fairs, and other events will alsobe held.

4��#�$��*��

�� /0$�&01'2

Amid farmers’ protest over the farmlaws, Union Agriculture Minister

Narendra Singh Tomar on Thursday said thatunarmed aerial vehicles (UAVs) or droneswill be used over 100 districts growing riceand wheat to assess crop yields at gram pan-chayat level to ensure timely settlements ofclaims under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal BimaYojana (PMFBY).

The drone-based images are one of theimportant inputs in the models for crop yieldestimation and validation. This is the firstremote sensing technology-based largestpilot study being conducted in 100 districtsspread in 10 States in the country so far forcrop yield estimation.

Tomar said that the Directorate Generalof Civil Aviation (DGCA) has allowed theDepartment of Agriculture using drones over100 districts growing rice and wheat toensure timely settlements of claims under thePMFBY. The drone-based images will becaptured in 10 States — Andhra Pradesh,Bihar, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka,Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu,Telangana and Uttar Pradesh.

According to Tomar, several remotesensing data-driven pilot studies have beenconducted under the PMFBY across thecountry to determine optimum number ofCrop Cutting Experiments for accuratecrop yield loss at insurance unit, SmartSampling Technique & Rationalisation ofCCE & direct yield estimation.

Tomar said that the Ministry ofAgriculture had engaged 13 international/national/ private agencies for conductingpilot studies to develop technology driven

approaches for direct yield estimation atgram panchayat level for kharif 2019 and rabi2019-20 season.

Based on advanced technology used bythe agencies and modelling accuracies,seven agencies (AMNEX, AGROTECH,CROPIN, ICRISAT, NIRUTHI, RMSI,WRMS) have been selected for large-scalepilot studies for kharif 2019 and rabi 2019-20 season,” Tomar said in a series of tweetson Thursday. Apart from drone-basedimages, high spatial resolution satellite data,biophysical models, smart sampling,CropSnap, IoT, etc, are also being used in thislarge-scale pilot study.

“The agencies had conducted studies in64 districts of 15 States for 9 crops for kharif2019 season with the help of satellite, UAV,biophysical models, smart sampling andother advanced statistics technologies forcrop yield estimation. The pilot studies werecontinued in rabi 2019-20 season in rabi riceand wheat growing districts for validation ofcrop yield results obtained in kharif 2019 sea-son,” he tweeted.

“Use of UAV data in the scheme will addnew dimension to ensure timely settlementof claims in the scheme as well as for croparea estimation, losses due to localisedcalamities and to resolve yield disputebetween different stakeholders under thescheme. The use of high spatial resolutionUAV data may also be explored in other agri-culture-related schemes in India”, stated theMinister.

*@@��*@�"�� $�)��

A��3�� +�2(�+

Five Naxals, two of them allegedly involvedin multiple attacks on security forces and

carrying huge rewards on their heads, sur-rendered in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada dis-trict on Thursday, police said.

The rebels, including a woman, turnedthemselves in before police and CRPF offi-cials, said district Superintendent of PoliceAbhishek Pallava. They told officials that theywere disappointed with the “hollow Naxalideology” and the police’s rehabilitation drive“Lon Varratu” prompted them to lay down

arms, he said. So far, 293 persons have quitnaxalism in the district since Lon Varratu(`return to your home’ in Gondi) campaignwas launched in June 2020, Pallava said.

Those who surrendered on Thursdayincluded Gangu alias Lakhan Kuhdam (38),`commander’ of Bhairamgarh area committeeof Maoists, who was wanted in at least 21 casesin Dantewada and neighbouring Bijapur dis-trict, he said. Kuhdam was allegedly involvedin the killing of three civilians in separate inci-dents in Bijapur last year and in the Tadkelencounter in 2008 where six policemen and asmany ultras were killed, he said.

�� !"�#$#%

.2��&��'��()*��+��,

�) �')��''��*��'��*-.��,�()*��/��''�'*) ��'��.)*��01 �*-�/��'-��

-**'233�� 34�4��*�3

��

<��$�� &�#�� (�� %

� �� #�� %-�� $�� &�#�� .�� #�� #�� %�

&� ��#�� :� � �� %

M2�� #�� # �� 2�� >%��# ��2�� N�'��%

��3��6��7�

C-#��. ��%�2��#��%�� D�� %�� D� �#� :�� #��.�� %�2�� 2D�� :��#�� D�� #� �%�2��D�� %K

�� 4��fairtalk

��

C0 �#��#�� #��.�� #�� #�� #��#��#�� #��#�� %�*�� #�� %�2�� %K

dailytalk��

Let me be honest for a second,the new Tata Safari is the best

‘new’ Tata car I have driven ina while. But therein lies the rubbecause one has to ask thequestion whether it is a new caror just a longer version of theTata Harrier. Don’t get mewrong, that is not a bad thingbecause despite major initialteething troubles, my friendBharat having major steeringissues with his very early buildHarrier, Tata Motors has pro-gressively made the Harrier acompetent car. And the overallbuild of the OmegaARC plat-form and the Kryotec engine areactually quite good. But youkeep on looping around to thesame question over and over,does this car deserve the ‘Safari’name?

Seriously, had Tata calledthis the ‘Gravitas’ as they hadshowcased it at the Auto Expoa year ago, I would be here wax-ing eloquent about this car. Idrove the six-seat version witha six-speed manual transmis-sion. Frankly, the only issues Ihad on the drive were aroundthe fact that I stalled a few times,

but I’d blame myself and myautomatic addiction of late forthat. While Gravitas is an awful-ly serious term and well, notexactly a name suited for a car,Tata Motors went with Safari. Ifyou believe the rumours, onereason was that the Old Manhimself wanted the name.

Truth be told, sticking anolder brand name with someserious connotations to this carmakes evaluating it quite diffi-cult indeed. See, as a Gravitas orany other name it is a perfectlygood car. Indeed, I’d believe thisto be a better bet than someother three-row cars out therelike the Hector+. With the lastrow down, this can be a greatlong distance luxury ride, thePearl white interiors are nice,although there are open ques-tions about how well white inte-riors age in a dirty and dustycountry. But the second rowcaptain seats are fantastic andwith those seats accessing thethird row isn’t too difficult,indeed the captain seats meanthat third-row passengers canstretch one foot out. But thereis no luggage space when the

third-row is in operation, so itis good enough for a school runor an evening out but not forlong distances. Sure, on thebase models without the sun-roof, the roof rails are load bear-ing so one could technically loadup the roof with luggage. But I’drather have the panoramic sun-roof, even though I’d be the firstto tell you that sunroofs are use-less in North Indian summersand panoramics are especiallybad, but my infant son reallylikes staring out the top when heis strapped into his car seat. Onthe safety front, the Safari comeswith ISOFIX anchorages, lots ofairbags and I’m pretty sure withthe work Tata Motors has put inof late, it will get a great safetyrating. It is a good vehicle andonce the prices are revealed it is

going to be great value as well,although going head-to-headwith the Toyota Innova requirescojones. One can safely assumethat the Safari will have a priceadvantage along with far supe-rior features. The Innovaremains the best retainer ofvalue in the Indian market andwe will have to wait and see howthe Safari ages. Tata vehicles aremuch improved from a decadeago, but reputations are noteasy to remove.

This allows me a segue intothe Safari aspect. The Safari ofyore, all the way to the Stormewere well-known as cars thatcould go off the beaten track. Asoften happens when I go on test-drives, rather ‘first drives’ wherethe car is still very new or yet tobe launched, where I get pulled

over by potential buyers, carenthusiasts and even police —there was this one time when Iwas driving the M5 in Portugalwith Hormazd Sorabjee and wegot pulled over the cops. Iwasn’t speeding since I wasbehind a white Renault vanwhen the police pulled us over.Well, they were just curiousabout the car — so with theSafari I was pulled over threetimes in and around LodhiColony and Khan Market. Thetop-end Safari has a nine-speaker JBL system as well asappreciation for third-rowspace, not to forget that thethird row gets USB chargingports. But this is Delhi, whilethe Safari has a ‘TerrainManagement System’ (TMS)that adjusts the traction control

and stability programs to dealwith very wet and very roughroads, the Safari available todaydoes not have a four-wheeldrive system.

There are many viewpointson this. But the truth is thatfront-wheel drive monocoqueSports Utility Vehicles aremuch more capable today thanthey were a decade ago. Whilesome reviewers did take theSafari off-road and I mustadmit that I did not. Honestly,I do not believe that otherthan a handful of Safari’s thatwill be sold over its lifetime willgo serious offroading. The TMSshould be able to deal withmost conditions. But, there is alarge class of buyer who wantsa 4x4 system, especially sincethe car wears the Safari badge.While I understand the logic ofTata Motors not equipping theSafari with a 4x4 system, maybea top-end variant with a 4x4would have done a great servicein terms of image. Of course,there might have been majorcost considerations involved,given the engineering costs offitting a 4x4 system in theOmegaARC platform.

Sure, design has not been aTata Motors’ problem andPratap Bose, the company’sdesign guru is the best cardesigner to emerge from India.The rear third of the car defi-nitely has a Safari feel to it. Iwish a bit more differentiationhad been done on the front ofthe vehicle and maybe evengiven the owner a hint of whats/he is driving inside. So yes,good to look at, good to sitinside and even drive. But aSafari? Hmm, I’m not sure.

If there is one aspect of theongoing digital revolutionthat we can be certain about,

it is the growth in consumptionof audio-based content, and thepromise it holds for the future.Within a span of a few years, wehave witnessed an increase inthe average time invested byusers in listening to audio acrossplatforms. Be it music, news,podcasts, religious hymns &chants, commentary on politicsor even learning material forprofessional development, theaffinity towards audio is backedby improved accessibility andthe hands-free nature of its con-sumption. Moreover, the pan-demic has accentuated the lis-tenership on these platforms, aspeople have more time at theirdisposal.

The move to audio is alsoattributed to the health effects ofexcessive screen time of users,considering that people of all agegroups had to adopt home-based work and learning,including long duration viewingof television and computerscreens for entertainment. Withschools, colleges and officesbeing shut due to the lock-down, and the subsequentadherence to social distancing

norms, the average screen timeshot up significantly. There areseveral other aspects that gobeyond the toll of excessivescreen time on people’s health,and they concern connectivitychallenges, retainability throughhearing, among others.

��) ��!��

Since the pandemic, evenvideo streaming and OTT plat-forms have risen in terms of sub-scriptions and entertainmentchoices, as several regional OTTservices have mushroomed tocapitalise on the surge in view-ership. While consumers areaccessing the discounted offer-ings of such video streamingplatforms, it remains largely anurban and semi-urban phenom-enon. Not all parts of the coun-try are able to access latency-freeservices round the clock. As oftoday, companies are investingheavily in improving the band-width and the requisite infra-structure to deliver top qualityviewing experiences. However,it is an exercise that is bound totake time, as implementationand affordability are arduousand time-consuming pursuits.

In a country that is breaking

onto the global stage throughthe mobile phone revolution,high bandwidth and connectiv-ity requirements continue tostall accessibility for the leastcommon denominator. Audio-based content fills this gap aptly,since it neither consumes largequantities of data, nor does itneed the installation of high-costinfrastructure for basic internetconsumption. Moreover, a con-stant challenge arises for trav-ellers, as low network areasoften impact the usage of appsand internet.

�� ;�� !��

In the past, areas that lackedconnectivity created a vacuumfor the proliferation of radio ser-vices, and people used them toremain connected with the restof the country. With the adventof the mobile phone, radio isnow replaced by the mobileconnectivity even in low-band-width environments. There is ascope for wider accessibility toinformation about the worldthrough mobile apps, as it is dis-rupting distance & e-learningmethodologies, beyond regularcalling services. In fact, users inurban areas have shown keen-

ness to adopt passive learningmethods as a result of the pan-demic, and they are tuning intopodcasts, music, news etc.,allowing them to listen andperform other tasks simultane-ously.

There are numerous reportsabout how fatigue has set in dueto the overuse of screens andvideo viewing. Listening to longconversations has a positiveimpact on learning, and audioscores better over video in thisregard. It requires cognitiveabilities and the power of imag-ination, which are the standardrequisites for maximum reten-tion.

�� )�� ;��

The West had begun tomake the most of audio content-based services on the internet inearly 2000s. Several players haveemerged since, offering audiobooks as an alternate to physi-cal books, keeping those who arepressed for time in mind. WhileIndia has learnt to embrace thephenomenon only in the pastdecade, the stacking up of ver-nacular and local content in theform of audio libraries, is truly

transforming user experiences. One of the biggest draws

towards audio lies in the flexi-bility it offers, as people can takeit wherever they go withoutworrying about network issues.Second to this, people are ableto enjoy diverse content in theirlanguages, thanks to lesser pro-duction costs and affordability ofthe services. Furthermore, usersare cognisant about saving bat-tery power on their devices, andaudio allows them to avail morewith very minimal investmenton hardware.

In 2021, people are con-stantly on the move, and voice-searches and voice-based audiodevices are offering new-agesolutions. Consequently, audiowill become the interfacebetween humans and electron-ic devices in the near future,turning functions like typing,touching, or pressing buttonsinto obsolete actions. This pre-diction is not far-fetched evenfor the non-urban part of India,Bharat, owing to the sheergrowth observed over theseyears, which shall soon make itthe most preferred medium forthe masses.

(The writer is the COO of anaudio platform, Khabri.)

When it comes to jewels, our choiceshave remained restricted to metals,

diamonds or pearls as they have ruled thejewellery trends for centuries. But not manypeople are aware that the mining of pre-cious metals is responsible for a great dealof environmental damage, from soil ero-sion to lead emissions and the creation ofsinkholes. Even the modern trend of ‘fast-fashion’ that has fuelled the demand forcheap jewellery also comes with a carbonfootprint. Responding to heightened inter-est in sustainable and ethical practices, anew wave of jewellery designers are start-ing to incorporate sustainable materials forcreating exotic pieces, which comple-ments the contemporary fashion landscape.

Here are some of the sustainable jew-ellery trends that will rule in 2021.

CONCRETE JEWELLERY PIECESConcrete is a wonderful and ubiqui-

tous material with a real presence, adapt-ed in its most refined form to form jew-ellery pieces. Concrete jewels are somethingnew and revolutionary, which is driven bysustainability. With statement designs andminimal embellishments, the handcraftedconcrete jewellery pieces are ideal for peo-ple who are not afraid to experiment withtheir looks. From hoops to shoulder-grazing earrings, stackable rings to layerednecklaces, chokers to festive pieces, theindustrial-grade material never seems todisappoint with its unique look.

RECYCLED ONESTo minimise waste and reduce carbon

footprint, recycled jewellery can definite-ly be a game-changer. Recycling is not anew concept in the jewellery industry asmany jewelers have been recycling metalor other precious stones in one form oranother for decades to create new pieces.Choose to recycle or upcycle jewellery thatneeds a new lease of life instead of buyinga new one that could leave a larger carbonfootprint.

ECO-FRIENDLY SUBSTITUTESThe jewellery designers are proactive-

ly replacing gemstones with sustainablematerials in their pieces to create mind-blowing eco-friendly jewellery. Some ofthese materials include clay, wood, sea glassand cork. Clay can be molded in any formor shape, and it can also create the illusionof a stone. Pressing stencil onto the wet clay,the designers can add various textures and

colours can be added to mimic the look ofgemstones or even metals. Wood is anoth-er material that can be incorporated intojewellery to add an ethnic touch to it. Thelightweight material can be strained, pol-ished, painted and carved to make intricatedesigns. Although sea glass exists from anon-eco-friendly activity, the byproductcan be used to create beautiful pieces.

STAINLESS STEELStainless steel is one of the most

durable and hard-wearing materials, start-ing to get a new reputation as an eco-friend-ly alternative in jewellery. Stainless steel is100 per cent recyclable and non-degrad-able. Artisans can create classy, elegant,quirky or junk jewellery using it. Unlikemetals that have limitations due to theirintrinsic characteristics, stainless steel canbe easily molded in dramatic geometricshapes for vintage and modern styles. Thehard material resists scratches and corro-sion, allowing the jewellery piece such asrings, bracelets or anklets to resist wear andtear from everyday activities, which makesit a wonder of choice for jewellery.

(The writer is Gurpreet Kaur Tuteja.)

��&��

��#��"�� &��(��#$'#1,��2�%�,,��'!��&#��%$,,��(,��$'��&��#��8��

Actor Richa Chadha has joined a movement tocelebrate the strong, resilient women of India.

She has extended her support to a special editionof Oxfam India’s fundraising walkathon — theOxfam Trailwalker-virtual challenge — set to takeplace around International Women’s Day 2021. Theidea behind this edition is to aware people andempower them to fight and end all kinds of discrim-ination against women.

Just like the previous one in 2020, this one willtake place virtually keeping in mind the pandem-ic restrictions and social distancing guidelines.Starting from February 25 to March 6 and March8 to 17 2021, the edition is themed around#WalkForHer, with the tagline, ‘Walk to end all dis-crimination against women.’

The pandemic has been tough on everyone butwomen and the marginalised communities bore thereal brunt of it. Statistics paint agrim picture of women sufferingdue to domestic, professionaland health issues. The theme isa response to the countlessexamples of gender-based vio-lence, extreme injustice anddeep rooted discriminationagainst women thatshocked the nation in2020.

Richa says, “Theway we treat ourwomen in emergen-cies is a testament tohow much we as asociety respect thegender at large. Ourfight for equalopportunities for women isconsistent. A movement forequality, this call to is a stepin the direction of zerodiscrimination.”

�$+&#��#'!� ��9(#,$��

��:)��7��

��: �� !��(!$��%$,,��'�1�+�"��&��$'�� #+��1��%��'�&("#'��#'!��,�+��'$+�!�.$+��;��(�'$'�� ('+�$�'�,$-��$'�;��(+&$'��$'��1(��'��$'��1��,��#+�$�'�*�/�� 4��

;��'�/�-2�+�

'�� #�� C��K��

�� !"�#$#%

-**'233�� 34�4��*�3.3# -

�� (��● ��B�7��● + �� ● ��B�5��● <��E� ��FB�!�● �� ● <+�<��● <�� ● <�� B�!48��● =��B�8�● <��;�� B�7��● <�� B�● *�� B�!48��

!��

● 2�� #�� !A��!5�� %( �� #�� %; �� %● $� �� #�� %● �� #�� #�� #�� %● 2�� %�� #�� %● �� #�� %��#��:��%● <�� %● � � �� %

,��0�91,9

�� (��● (�� B�75A��● = �� B�!IA��● �� B�JAA��● ,�� #B�75A��● =��,��B�O�● �� B�!��● �� B�IAA��● 0��E��#�� FB�8● ��B�!47��● 1 ��.�� B�I��● *�� #�� B�5A��

!��

● (� �� !OA��%=� �� IA�� %�� %

● (�� P��%�� P�� %(� ��

�� %● (�� I5A��.�� #��: ��

�� %�* �� %�� %�* ��

�� .�� %�� %�� :�� %�$�� # �� %�� #�� %● + �� !5A�� 8A�� .�� %● �� :�� #��%�+ �� %● $ �� #�� !AA��.�� #�� .�� #%�� #�� %�● =�� #�� %,��0�,��C��$��!��>�

��(��● $�� B�!5A��● *�� B�!5A��● �� B�85��● ��B�5��● ��IAA��● 0��B�O● -��B�8IA��● �� B�I5��● $� ��B�!AA��● �� B�IA��

!��

● (� �� %�1� �� %● 2�� !5A�� 5��%��#� �� :�� )� ��#��

�� %�� :�� %● + �� %�� :� ��:�� %● �� %�● �� :�� : ��:�� :�� %● �� %� �� #�� #��#%● ��:��#�� #�� P �#��%�● �� #��

�� #�� 8��7�� %�● *�� :��IA

�� %● �� #

� �� %● (� �� #�� # ��I5A�� %�- �� :��

IA�� %��%● $ �� 8A�� %; �� %● $��%�� ● �� %�� #%● /�� Q��#�� Q�� #�� Q�� %�● &�� Q�� %�,��0�,��5��39"D��

�� (��● *��B�7A��● *�� #�B�7A��● $�� B�� ● 0�� #�� B�JA��● �� :��:��● �� %�● &�� E�� #�� #�� F�� %● &�#�� H� �� E�� F!��● �� #��*�� #�� %�● ��0�� #�� %�● �� %�� #�� #�� %�● �� %,��0��!��,��8��#��>�

�What led to the formation of MaiBao, a modern Singapore streetfood restaurant?

One day Avantika (Sinha Bahl,the founder of the restaurant) calledme about opening a Singaporeanrestaurant in New Delhi. I thoughtit’s quite daring of her. Her brief wasexactly the dream restaurant Iwished we had in some major city:A smart, upscale space withthoughtful modern décor and a con-temporary presentation ofSingapore’s best dishes. I was verytouched by Avantika’s vision. Iknow that this concept is going tobe a huge success.

�What’s the theme behind thecurated menu?

Singapore is a melting pot ofIndian, Chinese, Malay and othermigrant cultures. To take just thesnapshots of the most famousSingaporean dishes would have notdone justice. So here, we have takena contemporary approach and havepresented all the Singaporeanflavours in a fun and exciting for-mat.

�What is your signature dish andhow did you come up with such anexperiment?

One of my first early dishes thatbecame popular was Rakusaba (alsoknown as Laksa Bar). I served theSingaporean Laksa in a Tsukemen-style (dipping noodle style), fashion-ing it like ramen. In Singapore, noteveryone thinks our culinary her-itage is a treasure. Although that tideis turning, many still think thatother cuisines are exotic and ofhigher quality.

Rakusaba explores the idea ofcounter culture. What if Laksa wasa Japanese dish? WouldSingaporeans still pay a premium forit? So the question is, is the dish aJapanese one or Singaporean? Whydo we pay so much for ramen butnot Laksa?

It was quite a controversial del-icacy and I had a lot of fun with it.The dish ran for three months aspart of a contemporary arts pop-upand it is no longer served anywhere.But I reprised it in Paris two yearsago.

�How have you explored variousfood cultures across the globe?

I love to travel but I am especial-ly enamoured with exploring specif-ic neighbourhoods. My mostfavourite thing is to check outwhere the locals shop, be it at the

supermarket or at any bazaar. I havememories of buying freshly shuckedoysters and sharing them withstrangers who shared their wine inBordeaux or even cooking fresh pro-duce with house mates at an Airbnbin Loire. In Azabu-Juban in Tokyo,

I can recall buying fruits and wagyufrom the small little shops andcooking it myself in the kitch-enette. I’ve made the craziest con-nections and always end up with somany more memories than just eat-ing at a restaurant.

�How do you think the Indianaudience is accepting the globalfood trends?

Well, Indian cuisine itself is sodiverse and amazing. And millen-nials these days love exploring newcuisines. Even in the malls, the ener-gy in the restaurants and the snacksstreets are just buzzing. I believe thatas more Indians, especially millen-nials become curious about theworld and other cultures, thedemand for global food trends isgoing to explode.

What I’m really looking forwardto seeing is how a new generationof Indian, chefs, artisans and grow-ers will once again shape foodtrends and cultures across the world.

�What shaped your food logicwhile growing up? What are yourinspirations? Any anecdotes toshare?

For me, I try to respect the foodand remember the farmers andgrowers who produce the food. I amgrateful for my customers whosupport my work and allow me tocontinue what I love to do. In theend, a dish well cooked is its ownreward and a smile a bonus.

I just want to highlight that ourlocal food also demands skill andhigh quality of ingredients, so ourhawkers and chefs also deserve theirdues. I am happy to say that whilethere is still some work to do, thereis much greater awareness now for

their craft and a higher willingnessto pay for our heritage cuisine.

�How do you adapt your dishes tolocal ingredients while travel-ling? Any Indian spices or dishesthat may have caught your fancy?

In Singapore, all children learnhow to eat spicy food first, like eat-ing prata and then maybe a smalldip of the curry sauce. I eat dosaoften for breakfast and prata forsupper. I think it’s the best thing toeat after clubbing and drinks withfriends. I love a hearty biryani forlunch (food coma for sure), and cel-ebrate many special family occa-sions with rotis and curries at high-end Indian restaurants or withcatering at home.

One of the recent Indian cook-ing techniques I’ve learned isDhungar. It’s a way of introducinga buttery, smoky flavour as a finish-ing touch to the food. You set a smallmetal tin and heat coal in it until itis glowing red and pour butter orghee over it. This typically goes overdal and rice, covered together so thesmoke permeates the dish. Themain purpose here is to perfume thefood with the specific aroma that’sderived from using heat to alter themolecules of the ghee. I’ve starteddoing this with small pieces of porkfor Char Siu before I roast it or evena Chinese-style claypot rice withdried sausages.

Yes definitely! Indian cookingtechniques bring such a depth andrichness to the dishes. I’d be keento translate some of these tech-niques over to provide an excitingand interesting experience for ourguests.

�Any unique Singaporean tech-nique that you use in cooking anyof the Mai Bao dishes?

Singaporean food is not likeIndian one, which is widely consid-ered to be the mother of thecuisines. It borrows, adapts andinternalises from many different cul-tures. That is why Singaporeanfood is the one that is constantlyevolving and it’s our DNA. We donot object to why a certain combi-nation exists but rather, embraceand celebrate how it has come to be.

� � � / � � � :

��7�)��)��$��50�0&6�1200��'62�/� �/'�&' ��%�#��"��$��%��(��#��$��"��"��

� � � � � � �

�(�$� .4�� !"�#$#%

�� '0//�2

Adream took flight dur-ing an unforgettableAustralian summer and

a confident India will aim tosoar higher with the return ofVirat Kohli against Joe Root’sEngland during a four-Testseries starting from Fridaywith both sides bidding toqualify for the World TestChampionship final.

International cricketreturns to India after a year-long Covid-19 break and itcouldn’t have been bigger thana series against a world-classside which is led by a modernday great in Joe Root.

Root would be playing his100th Test match and the teamalso features the most respect-ed new ball attack in contem-porary cricket besides havingthe game’s best all-format all-rounder.

And in the middle of allthis will be the awe-inspiringpresence of Kohli, fresh froma paternity break, leading a sidewhich would be expected topresent another enthrallingshow after a miracle come-from behind series win inAustralia.

But in England, they facea team that in the last 15years, is the only one to havewon a Test series (2012) in thesub-continent.

In Root they have a play-er, who knows a thing or twoabout how to tackle spinnerson sub-continental turners ashe showed during the just-con-cluded Sri Lanka series.

James Anderson, theworld’s highest wicket-takingseam bowler, will again testRohit Sharma’s patience andShubman Gill’s techniqueusing the pronounced seam ofthe red SG Test while prepar-ing a tough set of questions inthe corridor of uncertainty forthe Indian captain.

Jofra Archer would like touse the bouncer sparingly andBen Stokes wouldn’t mind if

the old ball reverses a bit.“Australia series is past

now. We have to respect theEngland side and take onematch at a time,” said India’svice-captain Ajinkya Rahane,back in his familiar role butperhaps with a lot moreresponsibility after emerging asa leader during the Australiaseries.

India will be wanting toguard themselves against thecomplacency that can alwayscreep in after a triumph likeAustralia.

So, after batting on firm,even bouncy Australian tracks,it’s time for them to adjust tothe red soil traditional Chennaipitch which will have bounceon the first day and start help-ing the spinners from the thirdday.

One might f indCheteshwar Pujara sheddinghis combative “take bodyblows” style to a slightly more

attacking one on a track wherethe ball won’t be consistentlyflying above the waist level.

The Indian batsmen arelikely to enjoy an upper-handagainst the England slowbowlers as save Moeen Ali, theother two — off-spinner DomBess and left-arm spinner JackLeach — haven’t had the expe-rience of bowling against a for-midable Indian batting line-up.

“As a whole bowling group,it is important that we allwork together. It is importantthat collectively we all play ourparts,” England skipper JoeRoot said on the eve of thematch.

Against the old ball, onemight see India unleashingRishabh Pant, who on his daycan murder any bowling line-

up.Speaking of his bowlers,

Root said that all three spin-

ners are fit and available forselection.

“I think it’s great that all

three are fit and available forselection. We look at partner-ships and look at how bowlinggroup performs in these con-ditions and not put pressure onindividuals to try and wingames on their own.

“That’s going to be themain mentality for this series,”the England skipper said.

However, it is the bowlingcombination that will be keyfor India as they aim to win atleast two Test matches or moreduring the series in order toclinch a face-off against NewZealand in the WTC final atthe Lord’s.

Jasprit Bumrah will also bemaking a different kind ofdebut — hist first Test at homesince his debut against SouthAfrica in 2018.

Ishant Sharma, in his lastTest appearance nearly a yearback claimed a five wickethaul at the Basin Reserve buthasn’t played a red ball gameever since due to injury andCovid-19 induced break.

But Mohammed Siraj’sgutsy performance DownUnder can’t be forgotten in ahurry and it will be one of thetoughest calls for Kohli andcoach Ravi Shastri in recenttimes when they decidebetween Siraj and Ishant.

The logic in favour ofIshant is that he was out due toinjury and now gets his right-ful place back as the man whois just three short of 100 Testmatches.

But then a form playeralways has an advantage andSiraj, over the years in first-class cricket, has toiled hard onunresponsive wickets.

India are likely to playthree spinners and Axar Patel,who has always been dubbedas “poor man’s RavindraJadeja”, is in contention to gethis maiden Test cap.

Ravichandran Ashwinpicks himself while KuldeepYadav, being a wrist spinner, isan attacking option that skip-per Kohli would fancy.

�� +�$�1(2/&2

Skipper Babar Azam hit anattractive half-century and in-

form Fawad Alam batted solid-ly to help Pakistan fight back asthe opening day of the secondTest was cut short by rain inRawalpindi on Thursday.

Azam was batting on 77 andAlam on a solid 42 as Pakistanrecovered from a precarious22/3 to 145/3 in 58 overs, butplay could not be started afterthe tea break.

Heavy rain lashed the sta-dium and covers were placed onthe pitch before play was calledoff due to rain and a wet outfieldat 4:38 pm local time (1138GMT). The home team had wonthe toss and batted on a flat,brownish Rawalpindi Stadiumpitch, which helped spinnersfrom the outset, but Pakistanrecovered from the early loss ofthree wickets. Spinner Keshav

Maharaj (2/51) and pacerAnrich Nortje (1/30) had leftPakistan struggling on 63/3 atlunch but Azam and Alamadded 123 for the unbrokenfourth wicket stand to steady theinnings.

Earlier, Pakistan reached 21without loss before throwingaway three wickets for one runin the space of 23 balls. Maharaj,brought into the attack in just theninth over, had opener ImranButt caught behind for 15 andthen trapped senior batsmanAzhar Ali leg-before for noughtin his next over.

Nortje then produced asharp rising delivery toAbid Ali, whose fendedpush was caught smart-ly at short-leg by AidenMarkram.

�� 12>0+(<<1

Liverpool’s Premier League titledefence suffered a damaging

blow as Brighton earned a shock 1-0 win at Anfield, while ManchesterCity moved three points clear at thetop with a 2-0 victory againstBurnley on Wednesday.

Jurgen Klopp’s side paid theprice for a sloppy display as StevenAlzate’s second half strike gavestruggling Brighton a memorablesuccess at the expense of the injury-hit champions.

Brighton’s first away league winagainst Liverpool since 1982 wassecured in the 56th minute whenDan Burn headed a cross towardsAlzate and the Colombia midfield-er flicked his shot inside the far post.

Liverpool are languishing infourth place and trail ManchesterCity by seven points, with the lead-ers holding a game in hand.

�� Pep Guardiola’s side had

watched Manchester United drawlevel on points with them onTuesday after their bitter rivals

crushed Southampton 9-0.But City underlined their deter-

mination to hold onto top spot witha composed, mature display at TurfMoor.

Gabriel Jesus opened the scor-ing after a mistake from Burnleykeeper Nick Pope and RaheemSterling grabbed the second beforehalf-time.

Elsewhere, Leicester beat strug-gling Fulham 2-0 to improve theirsuperb away league record.

Despite the absence of injuredleading scorer Jamie Vardy, KelechiIheanacho opened the scoring forBrendan Rodgers’ men and JamesJustin doubled their lead on thestroke of half-time.

Jesse Lingard scored twice onhis West Ham debut to clinch a 3-1 victory at Aston Villa. WhileDominic Calvert-Lewin and GylfiSigurdsson scored in Everton’s 2-1victory at Leeds.

�� London: �� 8�� 0��D�� 2�� #�� %�� ;�� IAA5�� %�M�� 8�� :�� 0��D�� 2��N�� %

�� Auckland: � ��*�� D�� / �� L �� #� �� #� �� M�� N�� )�� #D�� %�� *�� #�� <&2�� )�� IA�2�� -��IA��!%

�� Naples: '�� /�� $ �� #� �� 2�� #� �� * �� :�� %�/�� &� ��<�� #� �� & ��-��%=��( ��=�� D�� #�� .��#�� #%�

� �� Berlin: �� (� �� *��-R�� )�� = ��#�� I�!�� $ �� #�� ,��+ � ��%�=�� $�� %�-�� )��P �� .��#� �� (� �� #�� 5A�%�

�� Paris: (��= �� / #�� /� �7�A� ��1�� !��$ �� #�� -�� 1 ��%�� -�� (�=� ��!6�� (�� (�� (�� %� ;#�� -�� #� �� IA�#��%

��New York: �� /�1� �� ,�.�� S!A�AAA� �� 2�� /*��;#� ;�P�� :� �� %� � ��D�� +�� 2��=� �� D�� %

� � �� !�� Rawalpindi: �� (�� %�(�*��#� � �� =� �� IAT��#� ��(�1�� %� M� �� 6�5AA� �� /�� E�;��F�� #�� 5�5AA�� #�� =��E��1�� F�N�(�*�� %� ��!��

"'��!8"

��-�&+2&

Antoine Griezmann ledBarcelona back from the brink

on Wednesday as the Catalans beatGranada 5-3 after extra-time towin a riveting cup tie and reach theCopa del Rey semi-finals.

Barca looked set to crash outat Los Carmenes when Granadaled 2-0 with two minutes of nor-mal time remaining butGriezmann scored one goal in the88th minute and then set up JordiAlba for a dramatic equaliser in the92nd.

Griezmann headed his teamin front in extra-time only forGranada’s Fede Vico to make it 3-3 with a penalty.

Yet Frenkie de Jong’s finishand a thumping volley from Alba,also set up by Griezmann, sent arelieved Barcelona through.

Granada, though, came with-

in a whisker of another hugeupset as goals from Robert Kenedyand Roberto Soldado put them insight of the last four.

Instead, Koeman’s side rallied,with Lionel Messi the architect andGriezmann delivering surely hisbest performance since he joinedBarcelona from Atletico 18months ago.

�� '0//�2

India captain Virat Kohli on Thursday saidhis relationship with Ajinkya Rahane is

based on trust and hailed his deputy for ful-filling his responsibility with “flying colours”in Australia.

Only days after Kohli had gone on apaternity leave following the disastrous firstTest in Adelaide, Rahane led an injury-rav-aged Indian team to a 2-1 series victory. OnWednesday, Rahane had said he was “happyto take the back seat”.

A day later, it was Kohli’s turn to speakon their equation.

“Not just Jinks and me, the camaraderieof the whole team is based on trust and allof us are working towards only one goal andthat is to see India win.

“I would like to mention, he fulfilled hisresponsibility in Australia with flying colours,it was amazing to see him lead the teamtowards victory, which has always been ourgoal,” Kohli said .

Kohli believes that his bondingwith Rahane off the field alsohelps in their on-field relation-

ship.“Me and Jinks, we have

always enjoyed batting witheach other. It’s quite evident on

the field that we share mutu-al respect. There is bond-

ing off the field also. Wedo chat a lot, stay intouch and it’s a relationbased on trust.”

�� '0//�2

Rishabh Pant has earned hisstripes with excellent bat-

ting performances in Australiaand will get a long rope in thefive-day format, said Indiacaptain Virat Kohli, who alsoloosely hinted that Axar Patelmight be in line for a Testdebut against England.

The Indian captain alsomade it clear that whilebowlers, who can bat well, willbe in the “forefront of theirplans” during the four Tests,the opening combination ofRohit Sharma and ShubmanGill is expected to be persist-ed with during the entireduration of the series.

“Yes, Rishabh will startand take the gloves tomorrow.He had impact performancesrecently and he is in a goodspace, and we want him tobuild on this along withimprovement in all aspects ofhis game,” Kohli said whileelaborately discussing vari-ous aspects of team combi-nation.

“This will happenwith game time and con-fidence hegains withp l a y i n gt h o s egames, that’show we lookat Rishabh,” headded.

“We havebacked himquite a lot andfor good reason whatwe saw in Australia,what he can dowith the bat andthat brings in a lotof value to thisteam. He will becontinued to bebacked becausehe is an impactplayer andopposition willbe wary ofhim,” Kohlisaid.

The skipper said that theywill continue to back bowlingall-rounders, which has beenthe pattern for the team’s suc-cess in home conditions.

And therein, Axar,according to the captain, fitsthe bill perfectly if one factorsin Ravindra Jadeja’s absence.

“The reason was basical-ly to have someone similar toJadeja’s skills as to what theyprovide to the team whichAxar brings in all threedepartments of the game.That falls in our plans...SinceJaddu was not available, Axarwas preferred, because hebrings in the same kind of dis-cipline on the field.”

Kohli was very clear abouthis plans on Rohit-Gill com-bination.

“We are looking forwardto giving them all four Testsand give us good starts. Thekey to winning the Tests washow they batted in Australia.We are looking forward to

more of that in thisseries,” he said.

On a differentnote, he indicatedthat with fourTests at home,

Kuldeep Yadav isexpected to get his

share of chances,having last playeda five-day gamein January, 2019.

“ S o m e o n elike Kuldeep has-n’t had much of agame time in the

longest formatfor a while

now. Butnow that

the homes e a s o n

starts,he will

be inthe scheme ofthings. To keepguys motivated,you need to givethem goals,”

Kohli said.

�� '0//�2�

In awe of his ability to play longinnings, England skipper Joe

Root on Thursday underlinedthe importance of CheteshwarPujara’s wicket and the need forbatting like him during thecourse of the four-Test seriesagainst India.

Rajkot-born Pujara provedto be Australia’s nemesis yetagain in the recent four-matchseries Down Under, scoringthree half-centuries but moreimportantly consuming over900 balls.

Root described him as a“fantastic” player.

“I think, he (Pujara) is a fan-tastic player. I had (the) pleasureof playing alongside him only acouple of games at Yorkshire andyou know to learn from him,speak to about batting and hislove of the game, it is really inter-esting,” Root said at the virtualpress conference on the eve ofthe first Test.

Root said Pujara’s wicketwould be huge for his team.

“So, having played againsthim as well and being at thewrong end of him, makingsome huge scores and been outthere for long periods of time,you know you learn from thosekinds of innings.

“And you have seen hisimportance, the value that he

adds to the Indian team, he isgoing to be a huge wicket for us,no doubt about that.”

The England skipper, infact, went ahead and said that attimes, England players will haveto bat long and see whether theyare as mentally strong as Pujara.

“At times, it might be wehave to try our patience and playa long game and see if we can beas mentally strong as he is at thecrease, when we are out there inthe field.

“We know he is a fantasticplayer and he has got a fantas-tic record in particular, so it isgoing to be a great challenge tocome up against him,” saidRoot.

Chattogram: Mehidy Hasan’smaiden hundred liftedBangladesh to 430 and on top ofthe West Indies after two daysof the first Test on Thursday.

The West Indies was 75-2 inreply, captain Kraigg Brathwaiteon 49 at stumps and newcom-er Nkrumah Bonner on 17 in anunbroken 51-run partnership.

Batting at No 8, the all-rounder Mehidy scored 103 off168 balls, and included 13boundaries. Mehidy formedthree important partnershipsto help Bangladesh establishfull control on a slow pitch.

He shared a 67-run standwith Shakib Al Hasan for theseventh wicket, 45 runs withTaijul Islam (18) for the eighthwicket, and 67 with NayeemHasan (24) for the ninth wicket. AP

��*�#��$.�� "�<=>8#"��")6#�"&%#)"�*��8),%#;

�'!��*�#��$.�� "��8=88#"��"%�.�)8��A��8),%#;

-��!��"�� E ��,�"��5��#��;�, ��"��1��E ,�

&��'��

��"��

),�#,� �*�<,.� �.�� :�&

2��0�� JI� 6� 78� I!

2��2�� JA� !"� !7� IO

��*� !II� IJ� 86� 8"�

�� "� 5� 7� !

� �� 0�� 6!A�6�� *�� IA!!�2�� 65"�6�� IA!J�!6

�� ) ��0�� 777�=��=��1��D�� !""A�2�� 7A79�;��/�� IA!J�!6

�� B ��C0�� O�7!�� -�� !"5I�2�� O�55�>��-�� !"5!�5I

-��%��--%�� 1%�

��%��%��#��7��

��#��

C�.��#�� #��#��K

�=>�$� *%% ?� &='�*@�� #�$ =�, ��

�� #��I�� Chennai: Fast-rising Englandopener Zak Crawley was onThursday ruled out of the firsttwo Test matches after sus-taining a freak wrist injury onhis 23rd birthday.

Crawley, who turned 23on Wednesday, had slippedon the marble floor of theChepauk dressing room,thereby injuring his wrist.

“Following the results oflast night’s scan, England top-order batsman Zak Crawley

has been ruled out of the firsttwo Tests of the India versusEngland series,” the ECB saidin a release.

“Scan results have con-firmed that Crawley hasjarred his right wrist, whichhas sprained the joint and ledto local inflammation.

The right-handed openerCrawley has 616 runs from 10 Test matches, includingone hundred and three fifties. PTI

��!��,�1��!�� - �#K��!A7�� !��

3...2021/02/05 · ant to his advice. After 15 minutes, the House was adjourned till 5 pm. When the House resumed BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi was in the chair. Amid slogan-shouting, Union

Documents